Sheffield Feature Archive

Around 70 people had set of to travel on a bank holiday Monday which is no easy task as public transport has a natural tendency not to run or has a limited service on bank holidays, for a picnic in a remote part of Derbyshire. The weather reports had all predicted thundery showers for the day, which seems to be normal for a bank holiday outing, but this did not seem to deter the people who had gathered at the visitors centre at Shipley Country Park, Heanor Derbyshire.

The event had been organised by a new campaign group called Leave it in the Ground and Earth First! to oppose new and existing open cast mining in the UK and solidarity to international groups who are having their lives and land trashed in places like Phulbari, Bangladesh by British company GMC Resources PLC.

Upcoming: Noise demo against imminent open cast coal mine 9th June

Audio: as featured in #5 the June Show ~ Riseup! Radio

Newswire: Leave it in the Ground’s Picnic in the Park trespass report | Trespassers oppose coal mine plan | Leave it in the Ground! - 26th May open-cast coal mass trespass and picnic | New website: Leave it in the Ground

Links: Leave It In The Ground | Campaign Blog | Earth First UK | Phulbari Resistance, Bangladesh | No Opencast! article in Do or Die | UK Coal | GMC Resources PLC | Notts Indymedia Ecology topic page

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On Friday 15th Feburary protestors from the Sheffield Activist Network (SAN) blockaded the city's military recruitment centre on Church Street [ photos | video ]. The protest was to mark the 5th anniversary of the 2003 F15 protests against war with Iraq.

The BBC has reported that two activists were remanded into custody on Saturday and a third was due in court on Monday.

Other recent Sheffield protests against war include invasion of a lecture on aerial warfare and the disruption of arms dealers at a careers fair.

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On Saturday, activists from across the Midlands and Yorkshire met in Nottingham to co-ordinate activities against the British National Party (BNP).

Around 100 campaigners met at the Queen's Walk Community Centre in the city for a conference organised by Nottinghamshire Stop the BNP.

Participants discussed the ways in which the BNP could be opposed, the formation of a regional anti-fascist network and the possibility of protests against the BNP's Red, White and Blue Festival.

Links: Midlands and South Yorks Activists Organise Against Racist BNP | Nottinghamshire Stop the BNP Event : Leaflet PDF

Newswire: Stop the BNP in Brinsley gains ground | Broxtowe BNP Councillor Expelled From Party | BNP threaten anti-fascist leafletters in Brinsley | Anti-fascists successfully blockade BNP meeting venue

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The "Dignity Not Detention" 3 day march on Lindholme started on Friday 26th October with a demonstration outside the Home Office in Sheffield, and a march, via the Town Hall [photos] to Ellesmere Green, Burngreave [photos]. They stayed the night in Rotherham and spent Saturday marching to Doncaster. On Sunday 28th the march arrived at Lindholme where about 70 people demonstrated solidarity with detainees and called for the centre to be shut down.

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A benefit gig and party put on by the Sheffield Anarchist Federation to raise money for Oaxacan autonomous organisations was raided and closed down by the police on Saturday 29th September.

"From 3:00 til about 8:30 everything was going well. Plenty of people had turned up, we had raised quite a bit of money and people were generally having a good time... At around nine, the police turned up. At first, we were only met with a couple of bobbies on the beat. They told us to turn the music down and that they didn't want to have to come back to tell us again. We complied with this order. A short while later they returned, this time they cited breach of the peace and noise complaints from local residents. At this point we were given no legal warning and shown no noise abatement order... At this point TSG arrived. The officer arriving on the scene demanded two spokespeople from the organisers to negotiate a de-escualtion of the situation. Two spokespeople were mandated and let outside of the property. The negotiation was a complete farce. The officer had no interest in an open dialogue, he ordered that the soundsystem be removed from the premises within ten minutes and when the spokespeople refused to give out their personal details repeatedly threatened them with arrest." See the full report for more details and photos.

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An international campaign to prevent the UK government deporting Pegah Emambakhsh to Iran, where she fears persecution, for being a lesbian, has so far succeeded in getting her deportation delayed.

Pegah sought asylum in the UK in 2005, her claim failed despite appeals, and she was arrested in Sheffield on Monday 13th August and is being detained in Yarlswood detention centre.

Her case has been taken up by the Iranian Queer Organization, who have said: "If she is going to be returned to Iran, there is much of possibility that she, due to her sexual orientation and her past life in Iran, will be sentenced to death, or, in a most optimistic view, be prosecuted and tortured in some of the ways that are all common among Iran's religious officials when having made the decision to chastise the so called 'corrupted' citizens.".

The global anti-deportation campaign, which has included approaches to the British ambassador in Rome and the Deputy Consul General in San Francisco has resulted in her case getting coverage in the local media, the Iranian media and the gay press [ 1 | 2 ] around the world. However there has been no coverage of her case in the mainstream media in the UK but it has made the TV news been in and la Repubblica in Italy.

Articles: Urgent help needed to save the life of Pegah Emambakhsh | Appeal for the life of Pegah Emambakhsh | Pegah Emambakhsh Must Stay | British Ambassador promises: "We will not deport Pegah Emambakhsh" | Who wants Pegah’s Blood? | Urgent! - Save Pegah From Death. Don't Alow That Pegah Goes Up On The Airplane | Lesbian facing Deportation to Iran needs your Support | URGENT: Don't Deport Pegah Emambakhsh

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The Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases' (CAAB) annual Independence From America demonstration at NSA Menwith Hill was the first where protestors were not allowed to circumnavigate the base due to a Section 12 order. There were two arrests, one for wearing a shirt with the word "fuck" on it and the second for arguing against the arrest. The rally at the start was addressed by Alan Bennett and Mark Steel and the marchers from Footprints for Peace [ 1 | 2 ]. A Declaration of Independence was read out, "we... do solemnly demand the return of the land, once within the boundaries of the ancient townships of Birstwith, Felliscliffe, Norwood and Menwith, now occupied by the United States National Security Agency and their military forces.". There was a heavy police presence, food was provided by Veggies and Yorkshire CND had a stall.

Report | Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Audio: 1 | 2 | 3 | 2006 Feature

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Over three weeks ago, the government's chief scientist warned that for the UK, flash floods were likely to be the biggest immediate problem caused by global warming. David King told a committee of MPs that the country would have to prepare for extreme weather such as heatwaves and "torrential downpours". Two weeks later, large areas are counting the cost of the worst flooding this country has seen for over 50 years. The floods have left seven people dead and over 40,000 homes damaged. The army was mobilised to help with emergency efforts as two more rivers broke their banks and water continued to rise. Experts agree that the severe storms and flooding will become more frequent as temperatures rise.

Photos: Did Climate Change Cause Floods around Nottinghamshire? Pictures 1 | Pictures 2 | 25th June 2007: Sheffield Floods

Other Articles: Wet and wild, a taste of things to come | Floods hit York | Climate Chaos - read (and weep) all about it | Sheffield: 'Cut the Carbon' Cyclecade | A new weather Front

Links: Sheffield Indymedia | Notts Indymedia | Climate Indymedia | UK Indymedia Climate Chaos page | June 2007 United Kingdom floods on Wikipedia | Notts Indymedia Weather Page | Slideshow of Floods in Nottingham in 2000 | Climate change and flood (Environment Agency) | Cool Kids For a Cool Climate

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This years Peace in the Park festival was a great success with a large turnout, on a nice warm day, there were lots of bands and political stalls. Money was raised for Sheffield Assist and Stepping Stones Nigeria.

Peace in the Park came out of the massive anti-war movement in Sheffield that grew in response to the "war on terror" and the Anglo-American occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Photos: 1 | 2 | Audio

Previous festivals: 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003

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The northern branches of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign held a series of events in Sheffield on 12 May, 2007, in what was described as the biggest Palestinian solidarity event outside London for many years, calling for an end to 40 years of Israeli occupation and for justice in Palestine. The day's events included a march and rally, a mock-up of a checkpoint, food, dancing and a photo exhibition. Sheffield Live! have a report on their site and a audio compilation (MP3 | 36 MB | 41:57 min) from the day.

Reports and photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Links: Sheffield Palestine Solidarity Campaign | Palestine Solidarity Campaign | Enough Coalition | Palestine topic page

Related: Call for Action - 40 Years of Occupation in Palestine | latest This Week In Palestine audio

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Striking civil servants joined other protestors to march through the city centre on 1st May 2007. The Mayday protest was called by the Sheffield Trade Council, NUJ and Sheffield Keep Our NHS Public.

Elsewhere in Europe the precarious took to the streets and on Monday 7th May the Chesterfield Mayday march and rally took place. See the Mayday 2007 page for reports from across the UK.

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On 21st April 2007, protestors marched through the city centre to oppose the Government proposals to cut the provisions of free ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes.

At the moment, some ESOL classes are free to those on benefits, and can be accessed by asylum seekers and newly arrived refugees and others, such as migrant workers, who have an immediate need to begin learning English in order to manage their daily life-not to mention dealing with the bureaucracy of the Home Office, JobCentre, and other organisations.

Food Not Bombs had a stall in Bakers Pool and fed many of the protestors.

Photos | Report

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Saturday, 3rd March, saw a national day of action to defend the National Health Service (NHS), called by NHS Together, an alliance of health service unions and staff associations together with the TUC. Demonstrations and rallies took place across the country, in Birmingham, Cambridge, Hackney (London), Leeds, Preston, Sheffield and other places. The aim of the protests, according to the organisers, was "to send a powerful message in celebration and defence of the NHS" against more cuts and privatisation. Almost three quarters of NHS trusts in the UK are reported last year that financial deficits are forcing them to make massive cutbacks; wards are being closed down, hospitals shut and jobs cut. Billions are going into 'restructuring' the service along market lines, with millions going on management consultants and financial advisers and millions more, in massive PFI payments, to shareholders and bankers.

Reports and pics: Defend the NHS Day: Sheffield Demonstration [photos] | Demo against the privatization of the NHS in Preston | Hackney Save NHS Demo | Leeds General Infirmary For Sale!

Previous Indymedia Features: Is Britain ready to defend its NHS? | The NHS in Crisis | Sheffield Children's Hospital: Save Ward S2 | Local Trusts Take Scalpel To NHS | Indymedia UK's Health topic page

Links: NHS Together | Keep Our NHS Public

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Cooling the Planet is said to be "undoubtedly one of the most important environmental conferences being held in the world over the next 12 months". Nearly 1,000 delegates from around the world are expected to attend and it's happening in Sheffield, at the Octagon Centre on February 7th. But what are its aims, whose behind it and why are the Sheffield Campaign Against Climate Change organising their own conference in the same week?

Sheffield is My Planet is a week of events on climate change in Sheffield from the 5th to the 9th February. The highlight of the week is a lecture by former US Presidential candidate Al Gore at Sheffield University. It's part of Wednesday afternoon's "global climate change conference" Cooling the Planet. Al Gore's lecture was the main substance of his recent film on climate change, An Inconvenient Truth. But access is by strict invite only and it's not a conference for campaign groups, environmentalists or even climate change scientists. Cooling the Planet is a conference for business leaders.

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The work to widen the M1 has started today near Sheffield. The M1 is due to be widened from Luton along Nottingham and Sheffield to Leeds, costing a total of £3.74 billion. Many people believe the widening will allow traffic to grow and cause more CO2 emissions. Road transport currently accounts for 21% of emissions in the UK and rises every year. The work started today is to widen a 2km stretch to four lanes between junction 31-32 near Sheffield. The contractors, Jacksons Civil Engineering, expect that the work will last for a year. Work on a stretch around Nottingham is due to start this summer.

The No Widening M1 Alliance has been rallying local residents and local groups currently exist in Nottingham, Derby, Leicester and Sheffield. Ever since the campaign launch and the first bannerdrop on motorway bridges around Sheffield it has been busy. Various promotional exhibitions by the Highways Agency have been picketed and distrupted by activists in Long Eaton (reports: 1 | 2 ), Kegworth, Selston and Sheffield (reports: 1 | 2 ) Various public meetings and benefit gigs have been organised and at the end of October a mass bannerdrop from Luton to Sheffield coincided with the publication of the Government's 'Stern Report' on Climate Change.

Links: No Widening M1 Alliance | The Highway Agency | Jackson Civils Engineering

Articles: Sheffield M1 widening starts! | M1 widening contract announced | Banner drops along M1 link roads to climate chaos | No M1 Widening Protest | The reality of M1 Motorway noise | Anti M1 campaign gains momentum | M1 widening opposition | No M1 widening visit Kegworth | Anti M1 widening group visit Selston | No M1 widening visit Long Eaton | M1 Widening? Multi occupational bridges! | No Widening M1 Campaign Launch

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Co-ordinated actions under the banner of Plane Stupid - including the occupation of Easyjet's London headquarters - took place today as part of a national campaign against short haul flights. Conceived at this summer's highly successful Climate Camp and enabled by the formation of affinity groups in Sheffield, Cambridge, Manchester, Southampton and London, it follows on from the occupation of East Midlands Airport, dubbed Climate Camp 2 in September.

Travel agents closed: London and pictures | Bristol | Manchester | Cambridge | Reading
Other Actions : Easyjet HQ occupation | Leeds/Bradford airport protest | London Rising Tide invade CAA | Day of action in Manchester
Background Information : Climate Camps 1,2&3 | Plane Stupid website | Blair's speech at launch of Stern review

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Five years after 9/11, a large number of protests, screenings, concerts and meetings were held across the US (New York: 1 | 2 | SF Bay Area: 1 | 2 | Los Angeles: 1 | 2) to demand the truth about the events of September 11th 2001 and the subsequent "War on Terror" and the imperial invasion of key countries in the oil-rich Middle East. In the UK over 100 truth protestors gathered outside the US Embasy in London to oppose the official conspiracy theory, see the report, video and photos: 1 | 2.

The attacks of September 11th 2001 have been used, on both sides of the Atlantic, to justify a spectrum of attacks on civil liberties and illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The 9/11 Truth Movement fears that until the lies are exposed the attack will continue to be used to justify perpetual war, with the next one possibly being with Iran and/or Syria, and further attacks on dissent and freedoms at home. In the UK post-9/11, steps down the road to a police state have included terror raids, shoot to kill, detention without trial, torture training, profiling, rendition and a host of other Orwellian "Big Brother" proposals like ID cards.

The 9/11 Truth Movement has received varied responses from Indymedia, ranging from feature articles condemning conspiracy theorists (NYC) to dedicated 9/11 topics and feature articles asking why the network is ignoring the call for a 9.11 investigation (Portland). In the months following the attack UK-IMC carried many articles questioning the official story and analysing what the attacks would mean for the anti-capitalist left (for example: 9/11: A Desperate Provocation By U.S. Capitalism), but in the years following the attack an ad-hoc policy of hiding all articles questioning 9/11 was adopted. This has now changed, the 9/11 Truth Movement is gradually gaining recognition as a legitimate, albeit still controversial, part of the broad global justice movement.

Read on for more on the events of 11th September 2001, the 9/11 Truth Movement and a look at one of the big unanswered questions, what happened to World Trade Centre Building 7?

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Protestors took to the streets of Sheffield on Saturday 9th September in response to Ward S2 in Sheffield Children's Hospital being threatened with closure.

S2 is a specialist childrens ear, nose and throat ward and its closure is part of a £3 million cuts package for the Hospital, which is just a fraction of the 3 year £100 million cuts package for the NHS in Sheffield. Hospital unions are objecting to cuts which include not filling vacancies and workers' hours being cut.

These cuts are not an isolated incident, in July there was a protest against privatisation on the 58th anniversary of the founding of the NHS. The Government's ongoing underfunding, cuts and privatisation of the National Health Service have also been covered by Cambridge and Liverpool IMCs.

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Climate Action News: Tues 29th August:
From 8am a group of nine climate change campaigners blockaded the front and back gates of Hartlepool Nuclear Power Station, sending out the message that nuclear power is not the solution to climate change. The blockade was in place for ten hours until the last person was cut out of the arm tubes they had locked themselves into to form the blockade. Police arrested a total of twenty people including non-blockading supporters and a freelance journalist.
[see Blockade Reports + Updates | Reclaim Power Press Release | Mobile Photos | More Photos + Report]

Climate Camp News:
The comprehensive programme of workshops continues at the camp, with sessions on practical steps individuals can make to reduce their impact upon the environment, across to debates about biofuels and carbon trading schemes. See Workshop Audio Interviews [1 | 2]

A Bicycology cycle caravan left en masse from the Climate Camp to establish a presence in nearby Selby town centre, holding bicycle maintenance workshops and promoting sustainable energy [Report and Pics | video].

During the day the police were allowed onto the site for a walking tour around the camp, as well as the fire brigade [see Reports + Pics]. Meanwhile in the evening people at the camp continued preparing for the day of mass action on thursday.

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In the shadow of Drax power station, hundreds of activists have gathered at the Camp for Climate Action [see report and location | first pictures and call out | video]. The camp, which started officially on Saturday, August 26th, is based on squatted land and will have over 160 workshops over the course of the week. For more information and background, see the climate camp special reports section. Click the Full Article link for updates.

Sunday, 27 Aug - reports: 1 | 2 - photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Monday, 28 Aug - reports: Police Refuse Offer to Tour Climate Camp Site [2] | Kids Walk to Drax Power Station | Audio of Faslane Workshop

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