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?

Summit for the weekend - roll up! Roll up for the G-20 circus!

Next week, the leaders of the world’s richest 19 countries, plus delegates from all EU states, will be meeting in London to discuss deepening the global recession. And as it is getting more and more obvious that it is them and their fatcat and banker buddies who have got us into this mess, we’ll be there to meet them! The week of action kicks off with the ‘Put People First’ march on Saturday the 28th. Meeting at 11am at the Embankment, it calls for “jobs, justice and climate” and is shaping up to be pretty huge. The demo will consist of thousands of people who’ve had just enough of ‘business as usual’, as well as the usual suspects: socialists, environmentalists, trade unionists and anarchists. This will be followed up by several midweek events, starting with ‘Storm The Banks’: starting at 11am on Wednesday the 1st of April, four simultaneous protests will make their way into the heart of London’s financial districts, where some will party, some will protest and some will be a little bit naughtier! There’s room enough for all forms of dissent - peaceful protesters, direct action enthusiasts, experienced and inexperienced protestors alike. Towards the end of the event, the Network for Climate Action have called for a camp to be set up in the financial district to oppose the carbon-driven economy that led to this recession – bring a sleeping bag, food, and sense of adventure, ‘cos this one’s not to be missed! The following day will see a series of protests around the venue of the G20 summit (the ExCeL Centre), during which some will attempt to block the delegates out, some will try to get in, and others will hold a rally. The actions are looking to be pretty dynamic, so if you’re feeling pissed of at the state we’re in, then this is the event for you. People will be travelling to all of the events from Bath, so to find someone to travel down with, drop Bath Activist Network an email to the usual address. What will you tell your grandkids when they ask you where you were when the revolution started? full info and timeline of events at www.g-20meltdown.org

BAN launch local radical lending library!

We are pleased to announce the setting up of another free, local resource - the radical lending library. Books in the library cover a huge range of topics, from anarchism to the environment and cooking, both fiction and non-fiction. Follow this link - http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/03/423520.html (or check out the BAN myspace)for a full book listing, or to find out what we have, or borrow a book, email us at bathactivistnet@yahoo.co.uk. The library will hopefully soon have a physical home at Twertons soon-to-be social centre 'Off the Map' (the old Twerton railway station). Happy reading folks!

P.s - we have also recently uploaded a mass (yet far from complete) bank of info about BAN activities over the last couple of years. To view it, follow this link - http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/03/423519.html