RADICAL WORKERS’ BLOC AT TOLPUDDLE 2019

Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival and rally 2019 Friday, 19th to Sunday, 21st July 2019. View map No stall this year, apparently they were “oversubscribed”. Nah we don’t either, more time to get drunk then.

On the plus side the IWW are back, with a new improved stall run by Dorset branch.

Wob kitchen will run from Friday evening to Sunday lunch, next to the Big Tent; you’ll hardly notice the difference. Wessex Solidarity will make some of our literature catalogue available on the day. We’ve lots of new stuff that isn’t in the reference library as we’re running out of storage space – it hasn’t been updated for years. Why not get in touch now if there’s a subject you’re particularly interested in.

Catering Cadre: Comrade Les, our Wob kitchen chef is offering free training on outside and event catering for Radical Workers and groups who want to feed their members, homeless or unemployed workers in a safe and cost-effective way. Topics including:

  • Basic Health safety and hygiene.
  • Basic budget and Menu planning.
  • Basic dietary requirements.
  • Basic safe use of LPG and Butane gas cookers.

Let us know if you’re interested or come and see us about it at the festival.

Safe Space Policy: “don’t be a dick”.

This year we ask Radical Workers to be especially kind to members of the Prison Officers Association, as they are ever so sensitive, and easily upset by loud noises and rude words.

Bloody hell it was hot! Tolpuddle R.W.B. 2018

End Toxic Prisons Tour Dates & Details

All over the world prisons are toxic environments causing social and ecological harm. Folks from the US have been organising resistance at the intersection of mass incarceration and the environment, successfully delaying the only current Federal prison construction for over 2 years!

Through grassroots organizing, advocacy and direct action they have been challenging the prison system which is putting prisoners at risk of dangerous environmental conditions, as well as impacting surrounding communities and ecosystems by their construction and operation. Learn about their strategy and tactics, as well as broader struggles of prison abolition, anti-racism, and environmental justice.

Information will then be shared about resistance to the six new mega-prisons in England and Wales, which themselves are proposed for toxic sites, including radiological contamination and asbestos pollution, as well as habitat destruction at every site. Learn how you can get involved!

Learn more:

Check out a recent article we wrote:  –  Fight Toxic Prions: Mass Incarceration and Ecology

About

This Autumn, the Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons from the US will be touring the UK with Community Action on Prison Expansion.

All over the world prisons are toxic environments causing social and ecological harm. Folks from the US have been organising resistance at the intersection of mass incarceration and the environment, successfully delaying the only current Federal prison construction for over 2 years!

Through grassroots organizing, advocacy and direct action they have been challenging the prison system which is putting prisoners at risk of dangerous environmental conditions, as well as impacting surrounding communities and ecosystems by their construction and operation. Learn about their strategy and tactics, as well as broader struggles of prison abolition, anti-racism, and environmental justice.

Information will then be shared about resistance to the six new mega-prisons in England and Wales, which themselves are proposed for toxic sites, including radiological contamination and asbestos pollution, as well as habitat destruction at every site. Learn how you can get involved!

Tour Details

Thursday 28th September
London
7pm, 125 Caledonian Road, London, N1 9RG
https://www.facebook.com/events/114869449183950/

Friday 29th September

Cardiff
With IWW Cymru Wales and No Prisons De Cymru
Connect International English Academy, First Floor, 26-28 Churchill Way, CF10 2DY Cardiff https://www.facebook.com/events/129793397664005/

Saturday 30th September
Port Talbot
10.30am, Aberavon Beach Hotel, The Princess Margaret Way, Swansea Bay, Port Talbot, SA12 6QP https://www.facebook.com/events/116023012410416/

Swansea
With No Prisons De Cymru
7pm, Swansea Environment Centre, SA1 1RY
https://www.facebook.com/events/115834292452554/

Sunday 1st October
Bristol
With Bristol Anarchist Black Cross
7pm, Kebele, 14 Robertson Road, Bristol, BS5 6JZ
https://www.facebook.com/events/686514301554356/

Monday 2nd October
Manchester
With Manchester No Prisons
11am, Partisan Collective, 19 Cheetham Hill Road, M4 4FY Manchester, https://www.facebook.com/events/695802160615245/

Tuesday 3rd October
Leeds
With Yorkshire Campaign Against Prisons
Wharf Chambers, 23-25 Wharf St, Leeds LS2 7EQ
https://www.facebook.com/events/262431267610681/

Wednesday 4th October
Leicester
With Leicester Prison Resistance
Venue TBA
https://www.facebook.com/events/664969193699307/

Thursday 5th October
Norwich
With DIT Collective
Space Studio, Swan Lane, Norwich, NR2 1HZ
https://www.facebook.com/events/538149689910439/

Friday 6th October
Liverpool
Venue TBA
https://www.facebook.com/events/167401487144097/

Day of Action Against Youth Prisons

The Empty Cages Collective is calling for actions in solidarity with the Australian campaign against youth prisons, Shut Youth Prisons Mparntwe.

First nations people and non-Indigenous people from around Australia have called for an International Week of Action at the end of September to shut youth prisons and end deaths in custody. We want to strengthen their action and bolster their message, whilst also raising awareness about the traumatic reality of our own youth prison system. The UK call-out can be read here.

Two events are taking place in London on Friday September 29th to support the Week of Action:

Please get along if you can and share the events online!

National Action and South Wales Police / Heddlu De Cymru: from the Anti Fascist Network.

SWP-101-logo-Landscape

Here’s something that caught our attention here at AFN. We’re clear what conclusions we can draw from it, but encourage you to make up your own minds.

The posh boy neo nazis of National Action recently published a triumphant, yet hilariously delusional “action report” of their efforts to impress in Swansea. They attempted to infiltrate an antifascist demo to cause trouble back in March but it didn’t end well for them, with the attempt exposed and seen off by vigilant antifascists and almost the whole group arrested. Their online version of events was the source of much mirth and amusement for antifascists who have seen (the backs of) them in “action”.

Less entertaining was the bit where they gloat about all their charges being dropped. Not because we want them to be “brought to justice” (as militant antifascists we do not believe the state has anything to offer in this department), but because of what it means.

The antifascist comrade who was arrested for being part of defending the demo against the attack from National Action was recently approached by the police to be an informer.

Officers from the Welsh Counter Extremism and Terrorism Unit (WECTU) stated that if the comrade agreed to give information on other activists they would “help out” the comrade. When asked, the cops confirmed they would be making the neo nazis the same offer / request to grass. That same day it seems all the charges against the neo nazis were dropped. ‘Ello ’ello! What’s all this then? Could it be that South Wales police and the surveillance state have found some new helpers? Well, it all seems to be pointing in that direction to us.

Yorkley court map for resistors.

yorkleyThe resistance to eviction at Yorkley Court Community farm goes on. Here’s a map for those coming to help, supplied by Forest of Dean Anarchists.

.
Here's a map with footpath routes in... don't try and park on the Yorkley-Lydney road beyond the village as there won't be anywhere, nor on Yorkley Wood Road.

Here’s a map with footpath routes in… don’t try and park on the Yorkley-Lydney road beyond the village as there won’t be anywhere, nor on Yorkley Wood Road.


Urgent solidarity callout 12th March Yorkley court community farm Gloucestershire.

Please share with your networks: there is a public callout: to resist eviction at Yorkley court community farm on Thursday 12th March (tomorrow)

yorkley

Fair play for Mike Haney! Communications blockade of Gwalia housing association.

Mike Haney has worked for Gwalia, a large housing association for 8 years, in July 2013 they changed his workplace without any consultation, increasing his annual mileage to and from work by 3,525 miles. In addition to fuel and vehicle maintenance costs he incurred extra insurance premiums. Gwalia have since cut Mike’s salary by £300 per month, making it financially impossible for him to continue. Mike has volunteered for redundancy but is being refused.

Mike has resorted to camping outside his work place at Brecon House, Llantarnam Industrial Park Cwmbran. Np44 3AB. Phone: 01633 833540 He’s camping out 22nd 23rd 29th & 30th Dec, then from 5th Jan he’s there from Monday-Thursday for as long as it takes!

Please support Mike Haney by contacting Gwalia Hierarchy telling them to give him redundancy he deserves otherwise the fight goes on! He’s on his own but with plenty of fighting spirit.

If you would like to go and support Mike in person get in touch first (as he might be working). We will will pass on any messages of support and solidarity to him.

Here’s Mike’s statement:

I have worked for Gwalia for 8 years.

Two years ago I took out a mortgage. I could afford this based on my salary at that time. I could not have anticipated a cut in salary as Gwalia had stated in their 2012 corporate report that they had increased surplus and that their finances were robust. Indeed they had factored in yearly wage rises.

In July 2013 they changed my workplace without any consultation. This increased my annual mileage to and from work by 3525 miles. It also put me over my insurance mileage limit and so incurred me further costs.

Increasing cost of living was also taking its toll, but by cutting back on every possible expense I was continuing to keep a roof over my head. Gwalia have now cut my salary by £300 per month.

There is no living expense I can cut now, except my home to work mileage. I now have no alternative but to pitch a tent outside the office premises during the working week.

Gwalia directors have shown complete contempt for my situation. I volunteered for redundancy but was refused. I believe that this was a deliberate effort by Gwalia to force me to leave the company with no recompense for the years of service and contribution to the company’s reputation that I have given.

The constant changes within my terms and conditions and pay means that I am being forced to leave my job. However, if I resign and cannot obtain immediate employment, then I am unable to either claim any benefits or claim on my mortgage protection. Hence my current situation.

Ironically I was a key member of a group who raised money for rough sleeper kits, including sleeping rough on one of the coldest nights of 2014. Gwalia were happy to make the most of the publicity this generated.

It’s started…

Taken from a facebook page in Wales.

spoons poster

Is it time to shut down J.D. Wetherspoons? – Mal Content.

Last orders for the Prince of Wales Cardiff?

There are a few things I like about Wetherspoons; real ale at around £2.50 a pint, plenty of space, and you can always eat for free if you hang around long enough, no one ever seems to finish their dinner and I’m not really that bothered what I eat when there isn’t a transaction involved.

Their selling point is you know what to expect and can more or less budget for it before you walk in, and that’s all they’ve got going for them really, the privileges that come with a large chain, high turnover and the resulting leverage with suppliers. Chairman Tim Martin was heavily influenced by Wal-Mart’s founder Sam Walton, to the extent of making his book required reading for pub managers. His policy was to corner the market by buying up and selling off smaller pubs then open larger ones nearby. Your local struggling independent hostelry may charge up to a pound a pint more. Chances are it also puts on live music, participates in a local sports league and is embedded in the community; you’ll miss it when it’s gone.

The elephant in the room is Wetherspoons’ notorious tolerance of the far right; the lure of cheap beer from breakfast time could have been made for the E.D.L. to organise its political piss-ups for feckless bigots. I’m not giving much away by saying that antifascists usually sus out the nearest ‘spoons to the railway station as the most likely locus of any fascist infestation. The police tactic, excused as containment, is to give the fascists a ‘muster pub’ to get tanked up in with a blind eye turned to racist chanting and the kind of drug use that would get anyone else barred if not arrested.  On the other side of the bar are our fellow workers, most of whom will not have chosen pulling pints as a career path but because they need the money. Antifascists on the other hand are always contained in street kettles, because the police are set the task of making sure the fascists can proceed unmolested.

The dark side of Wetherspoons surfaced in Cardiff last weekend, at the Prince of Wales 81-83 St Mary’s Street Tel: 029 2064 4449, opening a heated debate on their business practices. The disgrace of out of town fascists drinking with police protection in the main city centre pub whilst the overwhelmingly local antifascists were refused service or barred entry was followed by frantic buck-passing between the licensee and the police, each blaming the other for the decision. Had they done this anywhere but South Wales, with its proud Working Class antifascist traditions, they may well have got away with it. The fascists are now gloating on the internet that Wetherspoons is theirs, but are there enough fascist sympathisers in Cardiff to keep the Prince of Wales open?

An entity that has so painstakingly identified itself with Working Class culture now has to demonstrate its loyalty by publicly disassociating itself from anti-Working Class movements and show a bit of backbone where the state is concerned, as we have to, every day. As a minimum, we should demand a statement from Wetherspoons on its policy toward fascists, the immediate dismissal of the Prince of Wales licensee, and that those staff who were forced into contact with fascists should be compensated with a day off on full pay, as they should have expected had their management behaved honourably. We would especially like to hear from Wetherspoons staff on this issue, we strongly advise joining a union, and recommend the IWW. Until this matter is resolved, we need to take direct action against this and all Wetherspoons’ premises, with boycotts, pickets, communications blockades, occupations and the like. Why not vote with your feet and drink in an independent? They’ll be pleased to see you.

One thing’s for sure, the fate of J.D. Wetherspoons will not be decided by their board of directors, the police, councils or licensing authorities, but by the Working Class, who have made it what it is, and without whose consent it will not survive for another month.

Tell them so: 01923 477777

Mal C x

Too busy to blog! Fascist manifestations this weekend.

First of all, respect to all those who turned out at short notice to oppose the EDL in Westminster last weekend, there’s a bit of comment on it below, and if you can make the counter-BNP action tomorrow, you will be most welcome. If not, you will probably find an EDL demo within gobbing distance of your living room! They are springing up like mushrooms – check social media for details.

What is going on is basically a turf war between far-right groups to exploit the horrific death of Lee Rigby. The eddles are holding simultaneous ‘wreath laying’ events at war memorials all over the land as a spoiler for the BNP’s march. Wherever they get sufficient numbers, these will most likely turn into piss-ups and drunken rampages so it’s important that none of them are unopposed.

If your area has a mass mobilisation, please support it; if they are coming to your neck of the woods and you’re the only anti-fascist in the village, you have a choice of attending one of the others or mobbing up with some of your mates – who may not agree with your politics but may not want their town centre controlled by right-wing extremists either. Failing that, if you can do so inconspicuously, hang around and take pictures, or notes, and pass your observations to the network through your local group.

Also be aware that left and radical meetings, cultural events, anti-austerity demo’s etc may be attacked and will need stewarding; union offices and Muslim businesses are also possible targets for the fascists. Whatever you do, don’t just sit at home and watch it all unfold on the Internet.

The present spike in fascist activity ought to kick us out of bed, anti-fascism is not a hobby, it’s a necessity. One observation from Monday was that whilst they outnumbered us massively, few of them were up for any contact beyond throwing stuff and threatening bystanders. The fact that they stood in the sun for hours listening to a bunch of old con-men who all hate each other indicates that many of them are completely new to this, it beggars belief that anyone would give the time of day to an arse-bugle like Yaxley-Lennon if they’d been following what’s gone on in the last few years.

So for now, it looks like the EDL have managed to pull the disaffected UKIP voters on to the streets, the facebook fascists have become fair-weather fascists, they must be discouraged before they get a taste for it.

Fascist manifestations are expected in the following locations:
Leicester, Luton, Peterborough, Dereham, Ipswich, Cambs, Sheffield, Stoke, Halifax, Leeds, Lowestoft, Wolverhampton, Islington, Manchester, Aldershot, Burton on Trent, Rochdale, Ashford (Middlesex), Stevenage, Loughborough, Bromsgrove, Preston, Sunderland, Dudley, Coventry, Takeley, Wootton Bassett, West Bromwich, Oldham, Romford, Macclesfield, Cardiff, Lewisham, Southampton, Glasgow, Ayr, Colerne, Walsall, Scarborough, Hemel Hempstead, Conwy, Chingford, Doncaster, Rotherham, Huddersfield, Bristol, Southampton, Portsmouth, Exeter, Brighton, Weymouth, Bournemouth, Slough, Reading, Oxford, Northampton and Basingstoke.

Drummer Lee Rigby’s family reject “extremist” groups using Woolwich murder for political gain – The Independent

Why take direct action against fascism?

NO to National Front White Pride Demo in Swansea

Tell 'em to fuck off!

Urgent call out from Welsh Antifa!

On  9th March the National Front are holding a White Pride Demo on the streets of Swansea where they will be spewing their Racial hatred, so let’s show them what we think of their bile and show them they are not wanted in Swansea or anywhere else.

Welsh Antifa have received verified information that the NF shall be forced to undertake a static protest in a back street/Carpark near the Strand area of Swansea, away from the shops and out of sight of the public. The UAF shall be holding their Counter Demo in the Strand Quay so if you would rather not be put into a Kettle situation, try to avoid ;). Please make your way to the Strand area about 10.30am. Bring Flags, Banners and Placards, Musical Instruments if you so wish. Stay Safe People 🙂

 

 

You know the drill – No Pasaran!