UK news round-up

by: various

Britain:

G8 Climate Counter Summit

Rising Tide UK

On 14 March more than 70 people attended the G8 Climate Counter Summit in London.The G8 Climate Counter Summit was organised to share information, hear reports and strategise for campaigns and action around the G8 and the issues of climate change. On 14 March, Toynbee Hall was packed with people from a variety of groups, from local environmental groups to alternative media outlets to global south solidarity groups. During the first part of the evening there were first-hand reports on climate-related issues. The presentations were:

• Introducing the links between the G8 and climate change

• Report from the Hadley Centre’s Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change conference

• The Kyoto Protocol, carbon trading, and effects on the ground in Brazil

• Development aid and oil

The second half of the evening was a series of strategy sessions to organise for action on climate change in the run up to the G8, during the summit and beyond. Participants first brainstormed exciting and diverse ideas for campaigns, actions and tactics, then broke into small working groups to develop these ideas a little further. The groups strategised around aviation; action in Scotland; action around the country; focusing on the oil industry; education and outreach; and positive alternatives and solutions. These sessions were really productive, but all those present agreed that more planning was needed to take all the great ideas forward.

No welcome for greenwash guerrillas at Ethical Corporation conference

Brian Bunyan

The Ethical Corporation business/NGO partnerships and engagement conference in London had some unwelcome visitors on its second day as the greenwash guerrillas decided to gatecrash it. The conference had "How to make sure everyone gets what they want" as its subtitle. Sadly, the protesters were quickly ejected, but thinking on their feet, they engaged some of the delegates in debate and persuaded some of them to smuggle in some of their leaflets. Arriving at the Swiss Cottage Marriott hotel so as to coincide with a joint presentation by British petroleum and Flora & Fauna, the protesters donned "protective" clothing and checked their "greenwash-detecting" equipment. Naturally, their actions got the attention of the local police and just as they entered the hotel, both the hotel security and police manhandled them out of the hotel.

The protesters were focusing on their attention on the presence of supposedly environmentally concerned NGO’s sitting down with corporations of the like of BP and Shell.The protesters tried to convince the staff that the conference represented a new and sophisticated form of colonialism, i.e. the North trampling on the poor and oppressed of the global South under the gentle guise of corporate social responsibility.

To the protesters’ argument that economic growth is finite and killing the planet, the magazine staff responded that everyone had to live and work in the real world.

For more information on the conference, please see: www.ethicalcorp.com/engagement.

Nuclear risks highlighted: Energy policies conference to examine terror threat and environmental concerns

Brian Bunyan

Under the shadow of a new programme to build nuclear stations and in the brave new world of terrorist threats, a conference was held on the topic of ‘Nuclear Energy: does it have a future?’ at the Westcourt Hotel in Drogheda, Co Louth, Ireland on 10 and 11 March 2005. Representatives from the worlds of politics, research and campaigning came and presented papers on a variety of topics ranging from sustainable energy to nuclear waste and proliferation.

Proposals to build a new generation of nuclear reactors in the United Kingdom were placed under a critical spotlight by councillors and officers from local authorities across the United Kingdom and Ireland at the annual Irish & UK Local Authorities standing conference on nuclear hazards, organized by the Nuclear Free Local Authorities network in Drogheda, County Louth, which is the first Irish local authority to join the Nuclear Free Local Authorities network Delegates heard from politicians, researchers, and campaigners about the implications of a new programme for building nuclear power stations, which it is widely thought that the UK government will announce during the lifetime of the next parliament.

Sustainable alternatives to nuclear energy were proposed by Neil Crumpton, who is an energy campaigner with Friends of the Earth Cymru, when he examined how energy conservation policies and renewable energy can be alternative strategies for addressing energy needs without contributing to climate change, while Dr Morgan Bazilian, head of Sustainable Energy Services at Sustainable Energy Ireland, discussed Ireland's future energy options.

One of the closing presentations was by Peter Burt, who is the development advisor for the Nuclear Free Local Authorities. He declared, "Tony Blair is known to be a nuclear power enthusiast, and it is widely believed that after the election he will unveil plans to build a new generation of nuclear reactors in the United Kingdom. Local authorities would have to deal with applications to build these reactors through the planning process, and would also have to make preparations for dealing with emergencies at the nuclear sites and addressing the concerns of local people. Embarking on a new nuclear build programme is a high-risk strategy for meeting Britain's energy needs, which would affect communities in Ireland and other European neighbours as well as those in the UK.”

For more information see:: www.nuclearpolicy.info

Parliament Square peace campaigner wins appeal

Source:www.parliament-square.org.uk

Brian Haw, the Parliament Square peace protestor, who has spent nearly four years in a continuous anti-war protest vigil opposite the Houses of Parliament (1), has won an appeal against a conviction of 'ailing to leave a cordoned area'. Brian Haw has been in Parliament Square continuously since 2 June 2001 in protest against the US/UK support of economic sanctions in Iraq,the invasion of Iraq and the on-going "war on terror". Mr Haw was arrested and his extensive protest display removed in a sudden midnight police operation on 10 May 2004. At the trial the counsel for the defence had argued that there had been no evidence of a cordon being properly established and that the police had given conflicting accounts.

Emma Sangster, a character witness for Mr Haw said that, "Brian's protest has been accepted as lawful since he won his landmark High Court case in October 2002. Rather, it is the actions of the police on more than one occasion that do not stand up in court. The fact that Brian keeps winning cases in the courts demonstrates the justice behind his protest. His is a message that the Government does not want to hear. In their increasingly desperate attempts to silence Brian, the Government is resorting to forcing through a new law, that will effectively stop most protest, whatever the issue, in the heart of London."

The Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill is currently going through Parliament and will be debated in the House of Lords on 5 April. Liberty have said, "The right to peaceful protest goes to the heart of the British tradition of liberty. It is an indictment upon the Government that they seek to pass primary legislation which will end demonstrations near Parliament…It is difficult to see how clause 129 can be compatible with Article 11 Human Rights Act (the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association)."

See www.parliament-square.org.uk for more information