Skip Navigation | Sheffield IMC | UK IMC | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

UK Indymedia UK Indymedia Sheffield Indymedia Sheffield Indymedia

The Corporate Academy and the George Fox 6

freethepeeps | 18.09.2005 16:36 | Anti-militarism | Education | Social Struggles | Liverpool | Sheffield

On Monday 26th September, the trial of the George Fox 6 commences at Lancaster Magistrates Court. Six student activists face charges in a three day arising out of an action that took place at Lancaster University in September 2004 where protestors had gone into the George Fox building at the university to hand out leaflets and talk to people at the "Corporate Venturing" Conference - a networking meeting for multinational corporations. Speakers at the conference were drawn from controversial arms manufacturer BAE Systems, Shell and other companies the six say have 'long histories of human rights abuses and environmental destruction'. Police attended and told the protestors they were doing nothing wrong, but some months later they received summonses through the post. The defendants are seeking support at the trial.


...a trial - a charge against those who share and nurture knowledge that the old men do not like

In 1660, George Fox, founder of the Quakers, was imprisoned in Lancaster for refusing to swear allegiance to the king. The world has changed in the last 350 years, and these days the worst thing that could happen to you if you refused to swear allegiance to the queen is refusal of UK citizenship for immigrants, or the boot from the local Brownie pack.

Lancaster University, founded in 1964 ,and according to it's own website "one of Britain's top universities. The Times Good University Guide 2004 said Lancaster was "among the top dozen universities for research and in the top 20 for teaching".

In 1974, new colleges were opened at the Uni, which operates an Oxford style collegiate system. One of them was Pendle, named after the region associated with the 17th century witch trials of 1612, where 10 accused were sentenced to death after a three day trial in which they refused counsel or the right to call witnesses.

There is some irony in the fact that a University which, in the recent past, chose to identify buildings and colleges with miscarriages of justice, is now actively involved in the suppression of academic freedom and an attempt to criminalise dissent against corporations such as Bae and the nefarious Carlyle Group. Their actions are yet another indication of the growing intolerance of dissent in a society which sees growing corporatisation of all spheres, including the academy.

"Disrupting lawful activity"

The students have been charged with the 'offence' of aggravated trespass, a charge which has been used against animal rights activists and anti-corporate protestors on numerous occasions since the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill made the offence, which was first used against squatters on outdoor land, applicable to events which take place inside buildings.

Charges were dropped against activists who entered the Iraq Procurement Conference in April 2004, after they sought to use the trial to highlight the illegality of an occupation force selling off Iraqi assets. When a group occupied the offices of the conference organisers, the CPS substituted a different charge.

Protestors operating under the smashEDO banner in direct actions against Brighton "weapons interface" manufacturers EDO MBM have also been prosecuted for the offence in two separate trials, where despite one group being found not guilty, the defendants were subsequently named in an application for an injunction against harrassment brought be the company which exhibits at DSEi

It is perverse that students risk being criminalized for leafleting conferences where companies that are widely known to be involved in a activities such as corrupt dealings with military dictatorships, climate change and human rights violations and cronyism and nepotism are in attendance, whilst the corporate criminals cry that they are intimidated, and the state pretends that what the companies do is lawful.

That the University pretends that students are tresspassers on their own campus is astounding to many!

The corporatisation of the Academy

To see the academy hurrying to join the state in prosecuting those who take a stand against the very impersonal trans-national corporations that rob, rape and pillage our planet should come as a surprise to no one. Neo-liberal policies have effectively ensured that the impoverished academy is more likely to side with its corporate sponsors, who pump in larger amounts of capital than individual fee paying students, undermining academic freedom in the process.

Individual students, the majority of whom will leave university up the eye-balls in debt, are pressured to pursue the agendas that the corporations dictate, at the expense of student solidarity. Thus there appears to be no mention of the travails of the George Fox 6 on the Universities Student Union site leaving many applicants to the University unaware that they are about to join a University that has little respect for academic freedom or dissent.

Interventions by groups such as Liberty, local counciloors, Lancaster Quakers and the National Students Union have fallen on deaf ears. An online petition has had no effect on the Vice-Chancellor, and a letter writing campaign has elicited standard replies which suggest that the letters are not even being read. NeoLiberal nuLabour minister Ruth Kelly, in her first speech on Higher Education, urged other Vice Chancellors to follow suit.

As a theatre critic at a Lancaster University production of 1984 noted:

" But in this case, I was also painfully aware, on this occasion, that 1984 was being played – by students, at Lancaster University - at just the same time as six of these students’ peers were being hauled through the courts on politically-motivated charges at the behest of the faceless bureaucrats and the global capitalists."

George Fox must be turning in his grave...

freethepeeps

Comments

Hide the following 2 comments

Open Letter from the VC: My U-turn

19.09.2005 04:02

Lancaster University Coat of Arms
Lancaster University Coat of Arms

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:



________________________

It really concerns me that so many people have been interested in the case about the socalled George Fox Six. I am, to say the least, uncomfortable with the image of Lancaster University that is being circulated in Cyberspace as a consequence of this unfortunate case. It is a not a quick, done deal as the Crown Prosecution Service promised us and the threat of the use of ASBOs - which is a matter dubious per se in legal terms - looks disastrous for this institution's social responsibility project. That is why I have decided to do a U-turn.

I herewith support the GF6 and call for action to be taken against my institution. Democracy relies upon social movements and the work place requires some reasonable demands from the labour force to stay dynamic, so please help us correct our mistake and come and show your support for the GF6:

The trial begins on Monday 26th of spetember, at Lancaster Magistrates court. Lots of people have expressed an interest in turning up on the day to show their support - and we would indeed like as many people as possible to come and display their solidarity, not just with those being prosecuted, but with the belief in the right to protest and freedom of speech, and against the oppressive behaviour of the uni and the police.

Moreover, people interested in collaborative research around and beyond the implications of this sad case are also welcome at the (Counter-) Knowledge Lab, organised at Lancaster University by a coalition of students, academics, and activists. It is with great pride that we manage to incorporate such contradictions at Lancaster. One of the sessions will be focused on the GF6 and also the wider struggle in the work place

Hopefully the sessions will lead to a stronger vision of strategies and tactics for action.

Sincerely, Paul

Vice-Chancellor Prof. Paul Wellings Tel: 01524 592001 m.needham@lancaster.ac.uk http://knowledgelab.pbwiki.com/

PS: Join the gathering in the belly of the beast: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/03/286571.html

Paul Wellings
- Homepage: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/vc/vc.htm


support the six at their trial

19.09.2005 12:13

The George Fox Six are on trial from the 26th September!

Join them at court on Monday to show solidarity and support Free
Speech and "Education not Exploitation"!

details on  https://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/09/323778.html
or for continually up to date details on:  http://www.free-webspace.biz/GeorgeFox/

george fox the ninth!


Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Sheffield Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Sheffield [navigation.actions2016]

Sheffield [navigation.actions2015]

Sheffield [navigation.actions2014]

NATO 2014

Sheffield Actions 2013

G8 2013

Sheffield Actions 2012

Workfare

Sheffield Actions 2011

2011 Census Resistance
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Occupy Everywhere

Sheffield Actions 2010

Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands

Sheffield Actions 2009

COP15 Climate Summit 2009
G20 London Summit
Guantánamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
University Occupations for Gaza

Sheffield Actions 2008

2008 Days Of Action For Autonomous Spaces
Campaign against Carmel-Agrexco
Climate Camp 2008
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Smash EDO
Stop Sequani Animal Testing
Stop the BNP's Red White and Blue festival

Sheffield Actions 2007

Climate Camp 2007
DSEi 2007
G8 Germany 2007
Mayday 2007
No Border Camp 2007

Sheffield Actions 2006

April 2006 No Borders Days of Action
Art and Activism Caravan 2006
Climate Camp 2006
Faslane
French CPE uprising 2006
G8 Russia 2006
Lebanon War 2006
March 18 Anti War Protest
Mayday 2006
Oaxaca Uprising
Refugee Week 2006
Rossport Solidarity
SOCPA
Transnational Day of Action Against Migration Controls
WSF 2006

Sheffield Actions 2005

DSEi 2005
G8 2005
WTO Hong Kong 2005

Sheffield Actions 2004

European Social Forum
FBI Server Seizure
May Day 2004
Venezuela

Sheffield Actions 2003

Bush 2003
DSEi 2003
Evian G8
May Day 2003
No War F15
Saloniki Prisoner Support
Thessaloniki EU
WSIS 2003

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech