Posts Tagged ‘climate’

A critical look at the G20 London protests one year on

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

Well we nearly stormed one of them...

Well we nearly stormed one of them...

The article below is fairly short, sharp and to the point in its critique of last year’s G20 protests and the ‘movement’. It first appeared today on UK Indymedia, the author is unknown. However it articulates what some people, at least, are thinking, and is reposted here to generate discussion. (Images added by Bookfair person. For post-G20 info on arrests and Ian Tomlinson see the Bristol ABC blog).

You may disagree? Perhaps you were on the roof at Jesters No-Tesco squat, or out trashing other Tescos? A climate camp veteran perhaps? Or maybe you’ve come out as an anarchist-communist or class-struggle anarchist and just joined/set up a new group? Maybe from where you are standing the future looks bright and the revolution is just one more action away? In which case thats great, get stuck in, may the force be with you. If you’d like to disagree with this (unknown) author then send in your view.

The Summer of Rage? A critical look at the G20 London protests one year on (original article here)

Did anyone notice the summer of rage? Like all British summers, it was disappointingly non-existent: a few letters in the guardian, a climate camp of Cath Kidston tents and, to top it all, hardly a day of sun. (more…)

Bookfair organising and other upcoming events

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Tonight, Tuesday 9 February, sees our second organising meeting for the 2010 Bristol anarchist bookfair. We have been checking out various venues, which we’ll be discussing further. Plus we have a couple of pencilled in potential bookfair dates - the 11 or 18 September. We’ll also be looking further at possible themes for the bookfair, and its format. Plenty of items for keen anarchists to get their teeth into. We do need more people to get involved in the bookfair collective - the more people means we can organise better and more varied events. The bookfair is a very public anarchist event and a great opportunity for anarchists in Bristol to engage with a wide range of people. It is essentially your event, so dont just expect us to organise it for you.

circle-a_red_star_textTonights meeting takes place at Kebele social centre, 14 Robertson Rd, Bristol BS5 6JY, from 7.30 to 9pm. In the near future we hope to take the organising meetings to other venues, and we’d also be happy to scome and talk about the bookfair with your group, campaign, or network. get in touch.

Following on from our well attended event at The Cube on 1 February about the J18/Seattle protests, we have plenty of ideas for other events covering various topics. Again we’d like to hear from other anarchists what they think needs discussing? For example, some of us think Bristol’s anarchists would do well to hold some sort of weekend ‘politics and strategy’ gathering, which would mix political debate with some forward planning and co-ordination around agreed strategies. What do you think?

Of course many of Bristol’s healthy mix of campaigns, groups and networks continue to organise ongoing activities, many but not all of which appear on the Bristol Indymedia newswire and calendar. Here’s a few upcoming: (more…)

Matters of interest to local anarchists

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

and for those who would like to know more about anarchism

a-bookThe bookfair collective reconvened last week. At our meeting we looked over an organisational timeline for organising the next Bristol anarchist bookfair (or indeed any bookfair), and chewed over a few other ideas for the coming months that some or all of us will be involved in: (more…)

Is the recession really over?

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Much spinning in the media in recent months trying to talk up recovery from the present recession, with headlines this past week that the recession really is over - based of course on the governments own data. We all trust the government and its advisers don’t we?

However whilst stock exchanges may be starting to fly again, and bankers make like they never nearly crashed the world’s financial systems last year, the reality of the situation may lie somewhere behind the hopeful headlines and spin.

For a more down to earth view check out Will Brown’s article below, ‘Can China Save The World Economy?’, and come and discuss the topic with him at the bookfair on Saturday (room 2, 4pm). You can also find some interesting articles/links on China here. Meanwhile our friends at East Bristol Debtors Alliance have issued an impassioned plea for the cancellation of all personal debt, because its literally killing a lot of people. They’ll be taking this discussion further on Saturday too (room 1, 12 noon), as well as looking at what we can do locally in solidarity with those who have bailiffs and other debt collecting scum at the door. (more…)

Capitalism, energy and climate change

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

An article appeared on Tuesday, somewhat ironically as the London climate camp was still in progress, suggesting that the UK faces serious power cuts in years to come, for the first time since the 1970’s. According to the government’s own predictions, this will not be due to strike action by workers (but you never know…), but because the demand for electricity from homes and

Do not rely on capital and the state to do it!

Do not rely on capital and the state to do it!

businesses is set to exceed the available supply within eight years. Apparently this is largely due to the UK’s inability to replace in time its ageing generating capacity, which is in main due to the unresolved debate over nuclear versus renewables versus fossil fuel. It is also due of course to the fact that, despite growing concerns over climate change, the gobbling up of resources to ensure the growth needed by capital (present dip excepted) continues apace.

There are many who argue, quite correctly, that the economic growth (and profit) required by capital is unsustainable. There are others, not least the capitalists, and not just those who’ve buried their heads in the sand to ignore climate change/peak oil reality, who argue capitalism itself can resolve the apparent contradictions of achieving growth & profits whilst reducing the burn of fossil fuels and production of CO2. (more…)

Power: Coal - Class - Climate Change!

Monday, June 1st, 2009

Two cracking events coming up right now from the excellent Bristol Radical History Group’s spring programme, both organised in conjunction with Bristol Indymedia. The two events are both on at The Cube Cinema, Dove St South, Bristol BS2, and cost £3/4 but nobody turned away for lack of money. (more…)