UK Indymedia

Secret City Council Report Now Public

12-05-2009 23:51

A damaging report into the 'culture and leadership' at Nottingham City Council has so far been kept hidden in a locked cabinet at the Council House. Classed as 'confidential', the city council has systematically tried every effort to keep the report out of the public domain. In February, Stephanie Pearson, the information governance officer of Nottingham City Council, refused to provide the information requested by a councilor and the Evening Post under the Freedom of Information Act. The Council argue that the information disclosed in the report is 'not in the public interest'. It is also claimed that those seeking exposure of the controversial documents have not demonstrated a 'need to know' of its contents.

We believe that it is not for the City Council to judge whether information concerning their activity is in the public interest or not. Council officers should remember that they are in their positions to serve the people of Nottingham. To ensure full transparency of the activities of our City Council and in the interest of accountability we have decided to publish a direct download link of the full report.

Download: Nottingham - the hidden report (PDF / 11mb)

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A Conspiracy too far?

17-04-2009 15:51

In one of the best reports on the incident so far, Daithai asks some pertinent questions about the police raid involving more than 200 officers from Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire and British Transport Police which saw 114 people arrested for conspiracy at the Iona School in Sneinton Nottingham shortly after midnight on Monday.

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Parliamentary scrutiny of political policing

24-03-2009 11:46

With only ten days to go before the massive protests against the G20 summit taking place in London, the Parliament's Joint Select Committee on Human Rights accused British police of being heavy-handed, misusing counter-terrorism laws and anti-social behavior legislation when dealing with demonstrators.

"The right to protest is a fundamental democratic right and one that the state and police have a duty to protect and facilitate," said Andrew Dismore, Labour MP for Hendon and chair of the committee.

After a year of inquiry, the seventy-page report raised serious concerns about the police forces ability to distinguish appropriate use of the powers they are given. The committee complained that police have been routinely using "legal powers not designed to deal with protests such as anti-social behaviour legislation and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997."

The report was particularly damning regarding the police's abuse of stop-and-search powers to intimidate, unjustifiable seizures of personal property, and improper detention and containment of protesters. The committee's chairman said: "The state must not impose restrictions unless it is necessary, and proportionate, to do so. That is a high threshold. The presumption is in favour of protest without state interference."

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What Does The Economic Crisis Mean For The Climate Change Movement?

19-02-2009 00:51

We are in the middle of two crises, the climate crisis and the economic crisis. Although we we seem to treat them as separate, it can be argued that they are completely entangled. Tackling one without tackling the other is impossible and fruitless, but the connections are complex and shifting. To intervene effectively, we need to look carefully at how we think about time and change, and how we relate to markets and the state. But first, let's look at how the economic crisis arose and draw some link between this history and the problematics of climate politics.

Other aspects of economic crisis: Leeds | Liverpool | Public services cuts | Evictions | Factory Occupations

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How do you know that Indymedia does not keep logs?

19-02-2009 00:00

Indymedia UK (IMC-UK) is a network of activists who provide an open publishing platform. We are part of the wider Indymedia Network that started in Seattle during the protests against the WTO in November 1999, and the UK site was one of the first to join the network in early 2000. In common with all Indymedia Centres (IMCs) around the world, as designated in the (draft) Principles of Unity, IMC-UK does not log IP addresses - as detailed on the security page. Moreover, following on from previous requests by governmental authorities for logs, IMC-UK and many other Indymedia sites (e.g. the global website, www.indymedia.org) do not retain any logs related to the website. These facts are documented on our open mailing lists and on the open IMC documentation site, docs.indymedia.org. (here for example).

In the rest of this article, we provide some advice on how to improve the measures you take when publishing on the website if you want to do so anonymously. We also outline some legal procedures that could potentially be used to attack Indymedia and the right to free expression, as well as describing some of the technical points in more detail.

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HLS Exposed - Yet Again! SHAC To Shakedown Financial Investors In The City

10-02-2009 16:07

For the seventh time in ten years Huntingdon Life Sciences have been infiltrated and exposed, revealing shocking cruelty and footage of animal experiments filmed inside HLS during 2007 and 2008. The investigation exposes the primate trade across three continents, including individuals captured in the wild and shipped over, enduring 30 hour journeys in small cages from as far as Vietnam.

An undercover worker inside a primate unit at HLS in Cambridgeshire filmed struggling monkeys strapped to chairs and forced to inhale products. Many were housed in one cubic metre cages and then taken out to be held down by workers as tubes are forced down their throats. 217 monkeys were killed in just five studies for customers including AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithkline and the Ministry of Defence. The company are a contract testing laboratory, testing any products, on any non-human animals, for any company; pharmaceuctical, household, beauty or otherwise.

In response to the horrific footage, the imprisonment of seven SHAC campaigners for 'conspiring to blackmail' the notorious vivisection laboratory and the business' falling share price, anti-vivisectionists will be taking to the streets of London on Friday 27th February during a global week of action against HLS' financials. The SHAC City Shakedown march and protest will be for the 70,000 animals imprisoned and abused inside the labs, targeting the financial institutions who profit from and delay the companies collapse.

As the value of Europe's largest and most exposed animal testing laboratory drops by over 80% in recent months, the New York Stock Exchange now have an extra reason to again kick the abusers off the exchange. Other reasons include the labs financial problems, serious debt, animal abuse, data falsification and scientific fraud.

Demo Resources: SHAC City Shakedown Webpage | Why HLS? | The Protest | Download resources

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Liverpool 2009: Capital of Crisis?

06-01-2009 21:55

As Liverpool hands the Capital of Culture baton over to Vilnius and Linz, the city’s economy is in for an extremely tough year. Top council leaders claim Liverpool is in particularly good shape to ride out the global economic collapse, but statistics and analysis show they could not be further from the truth.

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BNP Threatens Free Media

28-11-2008 23:51

Indymedia is yet again facing legal threats to prevent the free flow of communication, this time from a political movement known for its hostility to free speech. On the 21st November 08 Indymedia UK received an email from someone claiming to be a legal representative for the British National Party, threatening to take legal action on a number of counts for publishing information on BNP members.

After the hilarity of the “little Fuhrer”, Nick Griffin, running to the safety of the Human Rights Act to try to prevent the publication of members’ details, Britain’s fascist party has resorted to threats.

The letter sent to Indymedia by Lee John Barnes LLB (hons), from the “BNP Legal Affairs Unit”, threatens to take legal action, on the basis of theft, data protection and contempt of court, unless the list of members is removed.

The “lawyer” also attempts to shoehorn his charges into the form of anti-terrorism legislation, “The use of this information we feel is being hosted on your site for use only to incite acts of harassment, incite violence and direct targeted attacks against our members in the Leeds area”. He then goes on to explain the sections of the Terrorism Act under which Indymedia would be charged.

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Streets A Beach - The Indymedia Story

18-04-2008 11:21

Ever wondered just how indymedia started? or where it came from?

Free Event - Monday 5th May

As part of a season of events exploring the political and cultural legacies of 1968, this free Monday Love Special at the Roxy Bar & Screen will present the history of indymedia,
from the hills of Chiapas to Reclaim The Streets, Genoa and the G8

with guest attendant and Master of Ceremonies, MC Lee Harris, footsoulja of '68

Live music, DJ's and anarchy till 1am

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