'Stop the fascist BNP' protest - this friday (22nd), Bath

SMASH THE FASCIST BNP! FRIDAY 22ND MAY, 6PM, QUEENS SQUARE, BATH This friday (22/05) sees the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution play host to local fascist and BNP candidate Jeremy Wotherspoon. As a result, Bath Activist Network and other local groups are calling for the largest possible demonstration to oppose this. We are calling for everyone who is disgusted by the fascist policies of the BNP to meet at 6pm on Friday the 22nd in Queens square, Bath to oppose the spread of the fascist lies and hatred propogated by the BNP. Bath Activist Network is an umbrella group and hope to make the protest as inclusive as possible, providing a space for people of all political backgrounds and tactical preference. many of us in BAN hold a 'no platform' position. This means that we do not believe that the BNP should be given the chance to spread their hatred and lies. We believe in peoples right to say and do what they like, until those words of actions are designed to infringe on the freedom of somebody else to do the same. In the case of the BNP, their freedom of speech is used to spread racial hatred, encourage racial violence, deny the holocaust and preach for a society of racial division and white supremacy. Wherever the BNP gain a foothold, racially motivated attacks, vandalism and abuse skyrocket - this is what the nazi BNP hope to achieve with their 'freedom of speech'. We are not willing to sit back and allow this. We also want to spread the message that in these hard times of lying and corrupt politicians and greedy banks and bosses, a vote for the BNP is not a 'protest vote' - its is a vote for fascists, plain and simple. If we want to changesociety for the better, we cannot rely on scumbags like the BNP, Labour or Tories, we must do it ourselves. The last time the BNP held a meeting in bath, it ended in shambles, with the Bath Uni students passing a 'no platform' motion. Banned from the campus, the BNP tried to hold a 'secret' meeting in town which ended with Nick Griffin and 10 hangers on being chased from pub to pub before being allowed a five minute speech in an empty park! It is vital that we continue this resistance to fascism and the BNP and hope you will join us on friday to continue this tradition and join together with people from all backgrounds to demand an end to the nazi BNP. Please help to build this protest by passing this callout on and spreading information to friends and collegues. For more information, please contact Bath Activist Network on bathactivistnet@yahoo.co.uk, or by calling us on 07794774938

Mayday! Mayday!

Monday the 4th of May saw BAN and friends take a large affinity group down to the Smash EDO hosday mayday shindig in Brighton. The theme of the event was to oppose militarism greed and war - the main target being EDO/ITT a Brighton based bomb building factory on its last legs after a relentless 5 year activist assault.

The 2000 strong march started peacefully enough, save the odd paint bomb lobbed at army recruitment centres and a little disagreement over wether or not the cops should arrest some activists hanging a banner from barclays. Things got livlier however when the cops decided to stop us airing our feelings outside a local McDonalds. During the scrap, a riot van got smoked out and spraypainted and the police tried uncussesfully to split the protest. From then on, the day became a running battle with angry police, back to the same tactics that have recently brought so much anger thier way. However, the crowd stayed mobile and free of police kettles at all times, using a variety of tactics (paint bombs to obscure police visors being our favourite!). We didn't make it to the EDO factory, but we did leave the police confused and out of control. Throughout the day, the activists were in charge, and despite a few bruises it was us and not the police that controlled the protest. Later in the night, several banks and companies with links to EDO were smashed in solidarity with the protest. Our tactics on the day showed that a fluid, leaderless movement is far more caopable of adapting to situations than the graey, authoritarian structure represented by the police. It is just such fluidity, creativity and diversity that we need more of to create a world of justice and peace, free from the deprivations of capitalism and the state.

Demo reports - Bath weekend of Rage!

Proceedings kicked off on the Friday with a visit to our local Ford garage in Solidarity with the sacked Ford/Visteon workers. During the demo, we handed out loads of leaflets and got plenty of support and beeping horns from passing drivers and pedestrians. More info on the Visteon workers and their struggle can be found at www.visteonoccupation.org.

The following day, BAN split their forces, sending nearly 15 activists to the world day for lab animals in London, and 1 to the Swindon vs Bristol Rovers derby game - resulting in a resounding 2-1 win for the mighty Swindon. Anyways.....

On Sunday we were all back in Bath and holding an anti police brutality demo. Once again, it was well supported by the public and attracted around 15 activists. The cops, who were treated to a chalk redecoration of the front of their station (see pics) kept a shockingly low profile throughout the demo, possibly aware of the consequences of being seen to repress an anti-repression demo! Some good chats were had with the public, many of whom were sympathetic, or had first hand experience of police mistreatment (leaflets went down particularly well with people leaving the station!).

All in all, the weekend proved to be a sucess. Both demos were totally unauthorised by the autorities, and we intend to keep it that way!

Bath Weekend of Rage! - 24th-26th April

Proceedings kick off on the Friday with -

*Friday 24th April - Visteon solidarity picket - 5.30pm-7pm - meet at Ford garage on Lower Bristol road (opposite Bath Press)

Demo to support the sacked visteon/ford factory workers made redundant without any back pay, redundancy pay or notice. There is a strong (and growing) campaign to fight for justice for the Visteon/ford workers. This struggle has huge implications for workers rights/struggle across the UK.

On saturday, BAN are splitting their energies between the World day for lab animals in London (www.shac.net) and casual, football related holliganism, then back to bath on the Sunday for -


*Sunday 26th April - anti-police brutality demo - meet at midday outside Bath Spa train station

To demand justice for Ian Tomlinson (paper seller murdered by cops at G20), and to demand an end to police brutality and inhumane police tactics such as kettling, mass arrests and beatings.

For any more information, or to get involved with BAN, contact us at bathactivistnet@yahoo.co.uk, or chack out www.bathactivistnet.blogspot.com

Support on these demos from the South West and beyond would be warmly mentioned!

G20 - we had a smashing time!

Just a quick report - The G20 is over and, as expected, has failed to come up with a cure for the global recession blues. The best our glorious leaders can come up with is throwing an extra £765 billion at the IMF, the same corrupt institution that is responsible for the free market economics and related starvation/exploitation that makes the majority of the world poor in the first place. Eager to suggest a world free of capitalist exploitation, around 10,000 protesters gathered in London to make their voices heard. The results? A huge street party, a 2,000 strong climate camp in the city, several trashed banks, including RBS HQ, a dose of police brutality and a fair amount of angry rioting that succeeded in running rings around the cops despite an £8 million security operation including 5,000 cops from 30 forces. The murderers claimed the life of passerby Ian Tomlinson, tragically caught up in the police's violence, and for that we offer our grief and solidarity, but have some doubts that those uniformed thugs will learn from it. The demo showed the rage that people are feeling about being taken for mugs by bankers, politicians and fatcats - the message was clear - NO MORE! But the question is, where do we go from here?