Video collection: Jeremy Hunt running away
On May 3rd a video by Sandra Ash of Keep Our St Helier Hospital (Koshh) made it into the papers as she tried to ask Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt about his role in “demolishing” NHS funding and softening the service up for a wave of privatisation.
But this is far from the first time we’ve been treated to those slightly hunched shoulders retreating into… Continue reading
Notes from the US
Louis Further brings us his latest update from across the pond, rounding up some of the happenings you won’t have heard of in the land of the “free”
Environmental damage
One of the most dangerous appointments which Trump has made is that of Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Not only does Pruitt (as well as Trump) deny (the human causes of) climate change; but he has… Continue reading
National Action Rebranded: Neo-nazis are trying it on again
Banned neo-nazi group National Action (NA) is attempting to re-establish itself using the name National Socialist Network.
Despite being banned by the Home Secretary, Hope Not Hate reports that the neo-nazi youngsters are continuing to grab media headlines in much the same way as Combat 18 did in the 1990s. The group became the first right-wing political group to be proscribed by a Home Secretary, meaning it is illegal for… Continue reading
Nuclear Power At What Price?
March 11th will mark the sixth anniversary of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, releasing radioactive material into the atmosphere in what was the biggest nuclear disaster since the explosion at Chernobyl twenty five years earlier.
The initial earthquake caused the reactors at the plant to shut down automatically, activating the emergency generators. But the tsunami which followed the earthquake flooded… Continue reading
Multimedia: Transnational social strikes and Dissident Radio
Anarchism isn’t usually over-endowed with multimedia production, particularly since the regular Stimulator show went offline and the Circled A stopped broadcasting, but a fascinating trove of talks has just been released by Plan C from its Transnational Social Strike talks at almost the same time as the latest show from long-running anarchist radio show Dissident Island.
Transnational Social Strike
A full lineup and introductory texts for the… Continue reading
Louis Further: Notes From the US
Freedom’s long-running US correspondent does his monthly roundup of some of the lesser-known stories that have emerged over the last few weeks.
The Run ’em Over law
In the middle of January, the legislature in North Dakota took an extraordinary move to confront those protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). They tried to make it legal to injure or kill them! Included in the wording of House Bill 1203 [… Continue reading
Breaking BAE: Direct Action Against the Arms Trade
In the early hours on Sunday 29th January two men, Leeds-based Methodist minister Daniel Woodhouse and Quaker activist Sam Walton issued the following statement:
We intend to enter BAE Systems Air Base Site in Warton, to locate warplanes bound for Saudi Arabia, and disarm them. We take this action in order to prevent the export of weaponry that will almost certainly be used in war-crime.
They subsequently entered the BAE… Continue reading
Bristol Council and Camelot on back foot as property guardians fight for rights
Bristol Council’s decision to dive into the property guardianship game seems to be coming a cropper as several “guardians” have launched legal and direct action challenges demanding something be done about rat-infested and dangerous tenancies in its buildings.
Having closed public services across the city, the council has found itself flush with empty commercial and office properties, which it decided to make a few pennies… Continue reading
Frack the system: The UK’s hydrocarbon threat
With the fracking industry poised to attempt its largest assault on communities across the country to date, and what would be its most significant advance in this country since 2011 if not resisted, it seems an appropriate time to take a look back at what has led to this threat we are facing and examine what we are fighting for.
The Fracking Threat
The last decade has seen an explosion… Continue reading
Suicide rates soar as mental health funding falls
Pic: Michelle Robinson CC2.0
January saw Theresa May launch her vision of a “shared society” with a focus on mental health and reducing the stigma attached to it. The Prime Minister pledged new initiatives for schools and employers to provide mental health support, as well as plans for new alternatives to hospital treatment, however barely any extra funding was promised to improve already struggling mental health services, only a… Continue reading →