Social struggles

On 1 May, former Prisme workers re-launched themselves as Discovery Packaging and Design (DPD) after the “long hard slog” of a seven-week occupation (see PN 2508). A week later, David Taylor from DPD told me how business was looking promising for the new company, which employs half of the original workforce of 12. There are potential customers in the pipeline and an open day was planned, aiming at small- to medium-sized clients from the engineering, confectionery and whisky industries.…

As the financial crisis continues to rage throughout the world, and unemployment rates climb ever higher, workers came together for this year’s May Day in a spirit of discontent rather than celebration. Although most demonstrations were peaceful, some violence was seen in Turkey, Greece and Germany.

Clashes with police broke out throughout Istanbul, as protestors threw rocks and were combated with teargas. Though the Turkish government had finally conceded to unions and declared…

When Fred Goodwin’s house was vandalised on 25 March, the media portrayed this action against the former head of the Royal Bank of Scotland as political opposition to the financial crisis. The Telegraph claimed that anti-G20 activists had responded “gleefully” to the news of windows being broken at Sir Fred’s £3 million home.

What failed to get onto the news channels was the authentic and coordinated activity of an Edinburgh campaign that has adopted an assertive approach to…

Midday, 1 April. Our group from Wales joined a mass swoop on Bishopsgate in the financial district of London. We were there to highlight our concerns about the financial system and carbon trading on the eve of the G20 summit. Despite the disastrous effects of free-market economics on people, our beloved leaders seem set on applying the same system to the planet. At Bishopsgate there was a moment of suspense before someone shouted: “Put up your tents!”

In what felt like no time at…

Several demonstrations were organised to protest at the present state of the world on 1 April, on the eve of the “G20” world leaders’ summit in Docklands, East London.

In the G20 Meltdown event, demonstrators arrived in front of the Bank of England at about noon, coming in four marches from four directions, each led by one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Red Horse against War, Green Horse against Climate Chaos, Silver Horse against Financial Crimes and Black Horse against…

When the owners of Prisme Packaging in Dundee decided to shut up shop, they were hoping that their employees would go quietly. They certainly weren’t expecting them to refuse to leave and to occupy their former place of work!

But that’s exactly what 12 workers did in response to management’s shock announcement on 4 March that the firm was closing down with immediate effect and without redundancy pay.

The fact that this was a non-unionised workplace may have something to do with…

Edinburgh’s refuse workers are currently in dispute with City of Edinburgh Council over “modernisation” plans that would see them lose £300 a month in wages. They are conducting a work-to-rule, which means no overtime. There have been reports of bully-boy tactics by the council, including the suspension of workers who have spoken out.

Council tax payers will be footing the bill for an estimated £40,000-£50,000 spent to date on importing untrained “bin men”, recruited and managed by…

`Tara is, because of its associations, probably the most consecrated spot in Ireland, and its destruction will leave many bitter memories behind it'. Those were the words of WB Yeats and others in a protest letter to The Times in 1902, when the Hill of Tara was last threatened. Over a century on, it seems little has changed as the Irish government pursues its plans to build a motorway though one of the most important archaeological sites in Europe.

There are already forty known…

Living in an area being ravaged by development in the name of the Olympics, in a London changing fast with the influx of foreign capital, I recognised a lot in this study of the experience of seeing much of the heart and soul removed from your community.

Written from within, and at the height of, “the siege”, this book reads as a call to action to those whose lives will be fundamentally affected to take control over the forces of change.

Solnit mixes anecdote, research and a…

About: Shell to Sea is a grassroots campaign in County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland. The local community is pitted against a powerful consortium of oil companies, led by Shell, who want to build a high pressure gas pipeline and processing terminal in the area. The Irish government is totally in support of Shell and has treated its own people with contempt. Prime Minister Bertie Aherne specifically changed the law so that private companies can acquire land without the owner's permission…

On 29 December 2006 a Reclaim The Night march was held in Ipswich: 250-300 people attended from around the country. It was sad, moving, joyful and amazing all at the same time.

It was held in response to the tragic murders of five women in our town. A collective of concerned people, including Ipswich Anarchists, formed shortly after to organise the march and vigil. The deaths opened debate and discussion on many other issues such as the decriminalisation of prostitution, street…

On Sunday 2 July , general elections were held in Mexico. The three main parties; the ruling PAN (Party of National Action), the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) and the PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution) are fighting a close battle, but this year they face a fourth opponent which seeks to shake the foundations of the whole political system. Originating “from below and to the left”, it calls itself La Otra Campana (The Other Campaign).

The Other Campaign was conceived by…

In early April the autonomous peace village of Daechuri in South Korea was brutally attacked by thousands of riot police and private contractors.

Protest against the presence of the US military in the region have taken place for many years: the village of Daechuri declared its autonomy in February in response to threats of displacement as the local US base at Anjungri plans a further expansion. In recent months thousands of people have participated in protests against this - and the…

At Easter, around 100 protesters visited the Lake Cowal Gold Project inNew South Wales, Australia, in protest at the environmental damage caused by cyanide used in the mining process, and in support of the claim of the Wiradjuri Nation, on whose traditional lands the mine resides. Work was reportedly halted for five hours and there were eight arrests. One of the arrestees called the mine a “desecration of the Wiradjuri Sacred heartland and an environmental disaster”. This is just one of many…

Here we give you a roundup of some of the good stuff that’s going on ... yes – it really does exist! Two recent US opinion polls have shown that most Americans think the Iraq war was a mistake. A USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll showed that 52% of Americans believed it was a mistake sending troops to Iraq and a Washington Post/ABC News poll showed that 55% felt the Iraq war was not worth fighting. Meanwhile, a poll commissioned by the Campaign Against Arms Trade has blown away government myths…