Punk & Politics Make Pigs Panic in South-West Towns

Our sources report that the Police are using threats and intimidation in an attempt to repress anti-cuts groups forming in town across the region.

Yeah yeah, not exactly an exclusive we know. But we aren’t talking about the cops coming down hard on organised groups of international anarchists having secret meetings with their leader Chris Knight. In Swindon, Wiltshire police have been harassing members of their local anti-cuts group who have been organising stalls and giving out flyers about the cuts in the town centre.

Beyond Broken Windows: Anti Cuts Action in the West

On January 15th & 16th some anti-cuts activists from Bristol headed up to Manchester for the first Network-X gathering. The aim was “to establish a network that will allow libertarians to co-ordinate and support each others struggles” as part of the wider anti-cuts movement.

The decision was taken to form regional networks of anti-authoritarian groups fighting the cuts. As Bristol Anarchist Federation’s Anti-cuts Action Campaign has already been working on this for a while we hope to further this network. At present we have built links and are in contact with groups and individuals in Bristol, Bath, Gloucester, Stroud, Taunton, Hereford, Wiltshire, Cardiff, Newport and slightly further away in north Wales and Northern Ireland.

We don’t look to replace groups like Bristol Anti-Cuts Alliance and our affiliation form is winging its way to their secretary as I type. Our simple aim is to network with groups and individuals in the west to share ideas and mobilise for actions.

We support alliances such as BADACA and believe there are some great individuals working in them, their strong union links and ability to organise large scale mobilisations are vital to the anti-cuts movement. However they are all to often stifled with bureaucracy and party politics making them unable to mobilise at short notice and some within groups such as these abuse the platform to push their party line and show little interest in actually taking action.

The Facebook revolution has made it almost too easy to call demos, although it is great to level the playing field in this way, people are calling events and then not providing and propaganda/placards/banners etc needed, and as a result (like the recent Bristol EMA demo) protests are failing. Conversely where materials are provided and a demo properly organised the group calling the demo can take the opportunity to push their particular brand of politics and puts newspaper sales before fighting the cuts. We are also concerned about certain political parties who are moving to build power by hijacking organisations such as the NSSN and NCAFC.

Radical Workers, Unionist, Anarchists & Students on Bristol demo October 23rd

Anti Cuts Actions 13th – 19th

Heres the latest of your (nearly) weekly updates on how the restiance is fighting back against the state bank and business backed attacks on the working class, students, elderly, disabled and just about everyone who isn’t them and their rich mates.

Monday 13th:
The Daily mail wanted to get its readers to vote against the students since the riots, however a backlash against the paper got them the opposite result.

Tuesday 14th:
The Education Activist Network holds a protest at the department of business against the cut of EMA.

In Italy blockades, riots and street protests errupt around the country as Berlusconi narrowly avoids loosing a no confidence vote. (remember, the movement is international!)

Second Ben Brown interview about the protests

Ben Brown: Footage APPEARS to show the royal car surrounded by demonstrators.
Ben Brown: Camilla, what happened to you?
Camilla: I was shocked by the demonstrators shouting at me and throwing things at my car.
Ben Brown: There is a suggestion you were rolling towards the demonstrators in your rolls royce is that true?
Camilla: Do you really think that half a dozen armed body gaurds in three vehicles really posed any threat to the demonstrators and children we were driving in to?
Ben Brown: You’re reported as saying you and your husband want to become the unelected heads of state, and this surely requires the subjugation of the working class?
Camilla: Look, subjugation, poverty, inherited privledge, these are just words!

Link to video of Ben Browns ludicrously bias interview with Jody Mcintyre: rolling towards police in your wheel chair.

Action Update 6-12th December

Well, its a week that saw council chambers and the treasury stormed, gurilla orchestras and 12 year old boys facing up to the cuts, the coalition start to crumble, credit card websites taken down by wikileaks supporters, more new and ongoing university occupations than we care to count and fires burning around parliment.

So heres the round up for the last 7 days in the fight against the cuts, if you’re anything like us its getting hard to keep track!

Monday 6th:
– Art Against Cuts occupy tate britain on the day of the turner prize.
– Bristol university occupied
– Bath and Bath Spa occupied
– UAL occupied
– Bradford Uni occupied

Tuesday 7th:
– Demonstrators in newcastle storm the civic centre, occupy the council chambers, then phone libdem councilers and get them to come in, hear their demands and issue a statement opposing tuition fees. Not bad for a few hours work!

Rebellion is in the air – report from the front lines of london

While we’re sure most of you have already seen the news reports, for a slightly more radical take on todays events read on…

(We’ve collated the first hand reports friends and comrades who were on the streets of london have relayed to us, no hearsay, rumours or corporate media lies).

From the start of the day police attempted to control the march (with the infamous TSG lining up at the front to lead the way) and failed. Hundreds of protesters ran down side streets to keep ahead of the police lines, rendering them useless.
As people made their way into parliment square, fists, battons, horses (and the existing fencing) were used to attempt to keep the demonstration on the whitehall side, and perhaps feed it to the rally point on embankment. Again the police couldn’t contain the angry students who quickly took the whole of parliment square. As police battled the main group there, hundreds broke through police lines into the surrounding area. Many came back to catch the police unaware, charging in to weak spots behind their lines, at one point they ran through lines of parked and empty police vans getting to within a stones throw of parliment.

The kids are united : students take the streets of Bristol

On wednesday the 24th, as part of the national day of action against cuts & fees anywhere upto 4000 students, lecturers and supporters took to the streets of Bristol. They planned to voice their anger at the coalitions plans, and the result was one hell of a good start. Heres how the kids in school unifrom taught the uniformed officers of the law a thing or two about demonstrations…

The morning began with a few hurried phone calls between different groups arranging to meet up, very quickly fears that today would be a washout were quickly aswayed.
“Where are you?”
“Still on college green, there are hundreds of people here seems like most of CoB college is about to march up park street!”

Roundup 15th – 21st November

This weeks anti-cuts news.

Anti Cuts Protest Tomorrow in Bath

A reminder to those in bristol and bath that they should be out on the streets tomorrow!

Action Roundup 8th-14th Novermber

Welcome to the second of our weekly anticuts action round ups.
Something you think should be included? Email us and let us know!

10/11/10 Student Protest:
Well this is obviously the big one this week – 50,000 students, lecturers and supporters took to the streets of london. Double the number of people the organisers were expeting, and certainly far above the number the 250 met police were expecting to deal with. Then of course the march became an occupation of tory party HQ and the windows came smasing down.
Our report
Half decent guardian article
AFED Report of the day

11/10/11
Students in Manchester occupied their uni’s finance dept in protest at the rise in fees.

11/10/11 Student Protest : The aftermath
As could be expected the right wing press went nuts about this one. After years of refering to anarchists as “middle class students”, they decided we were all “violent yobs, who infiltrated a march of middle class students”. Well they really can’t have it both ways can they? Maybe they should realise that ‘anarchist’ does not exclude being a student, worker, parent, or many other things, and that not being an anarchist doesn’t mean you can’t get angry and smash up tory party HQ!
Many papers are calling on people to snitch on those involved, and some people are currently clogging up their inboxes. Why not send your own  ‘useful pointers’ to studentriots@telegraph.co.uk or exclusive@the-sun.co.uk.