Green protestors set up camp near Oakley - Dunfermline Press

A GROUP of activists have climbed trees and started a protest camp on the Blair House open cast coal site near Oakley.

Around 20 campaigners are involved in the protest and say they are acting in solidarity with local opponents of the development.

UK Coal were given permission to mine 720,000 tonnes of fuel on the site despite 150 objections.

The activists say trees have been chopped down as part of preparatory work and they are acting to prevent any more being lost.

Fiona Richards, one of the protestors, said, "This new coal mine is only one of 20 such others to have recently been given planning permission in Scotland.

"If we are to have any chance of limting dangerous climate change and protecting communities from carbon intensive industries direct action must be taken as councillors, mining companies and the Government have shown their unwillingness to solve the problems we face."

West Fife villages councillor Gerry McMullan was planning to visit the protestors this afternoon (Monday).

He said, "I was one of the few councillors to vote against this development especially given the site's close proximity to homes in the area.

"However, during that democratic decision making process we heard nothing from this group who are Johnny Come Latelys on this issue.

"They're not interested in health or the environment. All they're interested in is causing disruption."

For Fife police, Chief Superintendant Brian Plastow said, "This appears to be a peaceful protest and there has been no impact on the local roads or public, We will continue to liaise with the protestors and monitor their actions."

St Andrews G20 Protest - "Press Release"

*************PLEASE DISTRIBUTE, FORWARD & RE-POST FAR & WIDE*************

In St. Andrews, we say "Nae Tae G20!

No to G20 neo-liberalism! No to economic exploitation! No to environmental
destruction!

Yes to sustainability, community cooperation and peoples' representation!
Yes to liberation, solidarity, equality, human rights and peace!
Yes to revolution!

On the first weekend in November, the financial leaders of the world's
twenty richest countries will be hosting closed door meetings in order to
decide how our world should be run. The Group of Twenty (G20) finance
ministers have chosen to host these meetings in the town of St. Andrews,
Scotland, and in response groups of residents and students have paved the
way to make our voices heard.

We the residents and students of this community are coming into the streets
to say loud and clear, "The G20 is not welcome in our town," or as the Scots
say, "Nae tae G-20!" We are joining together to say that the neo-liberal
development, trade and environmental policies furthered by the G20 will not
solve the global financial crisis, not solve the global ecological crisis
and do not address the ever-increasing wealth gap. We are resisting the G20
because it is a mechanism of the global ruling elite that seeks to enrich
the "1st world" at the expense of increasing poverty for the
"underdeveloped" and "developing" world.

There are a number of organizations making exciting plans in St. Andrews
during the weekend of the G20 meeting, and while Put People First (
g20standrews.org) has organized an educational event, we have set our sights
on getting people into the streets to show our collective dissent. To this
end we have called for two days of festive actions:

- Friday, November 6, 2009, 11:00am, join us for a protest rally at the
center of town fountain, located near the intersection of Market Street and
College Street.

- Saturday, November 7, 2009, 1:30pm, join us for a march, also starting at
the fountain at the center of town. The march will be gathering at 1:30pm
and departing by 2:00pm.

In addition to these actions, groups are encouraged to organize locally in
their communities, and come to St. Andrews to share their creative
resistance with us during these two days. We will do our best to support
your action if you require some assistance.

This action has been endorsed locally by Stop the War, the Scottish
Socialist Party, numerous St. Andrews University student societies, and
assorted Scottish workers unions.

Please direct all questions, endorsements, press inquiries and hate mail to
NaeTaeG20@gmail.com and for more information as it arises visit:
http://naetaeg20.wordpress.com/

See you in the streets, November 6th & 7th!

Wyndford Primary School Re-Occupation

Parents re-occupied Wyndford Primary School (Maryhill, Glasgow) on Friday after its official closure.

Water has now been cut off, and the occupants are in need of supplies, so anybody in the area is encouraged to take anything they can to the occupants.

More details on the occupation can be found here

And more news will follow in the near future...

Crunch Time for Trident - Sing Out For Peace - 20th June

'Join with us (CND) to march and sing for peace and against the Government's plan to spend billions of pounds on nuclear weapons.

Saturday, 20 June 2009, 11:00am - 2:00pm

11 am Assemble George Square Glasgow
11.30 am March Off from city centre to Kelvingrove Park

12.30 pm Sing Out for Peace, Kelvingrove Park

Compere Dave Anderson. Choirs including Protest in Harmony and Euradyce.


Organised by Scotland's for Peace'

Quoting Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

Students Protest Against Exxon

On Saturday May 2nd, day two of the St Andrews Economic Forum, or SAEF, a handful of students from the University of St Andrews Left Society protested against ExxonMobil, one of the sponsors of the conference. The group leafleted outside Lower Parliament Hall, where the conference was taking place, and managed to converse with attendees about ExxonMobil, who are notorious climate change deniers, in addition to being personally responsible for 5% of the world's total carbon emissions, as they entered. Unfortunately, one member of the Left Society (also a member of the SSP), who was a paid attendee, was not allowed to leaflet in the conference; an organizer threatened to chuck him out if he continued to pass out information.

(Written and Photographed by Nikki Duda - Left Society. Edited by James Morris - SSP)

Glasgow Protests Deepen

The Glasgow Save Our Schools Campaign has called city-wide protests outside the schools and nurseries threatened with closure, at 3pm on Monday 27th April – as reports confirm that Labour plans further school closures.

Glasgow Save Our Schools Campaign organiser, Richie Venton, today said:

“Spineless Labour councillors voted to close down 22 schools and nurseries last week, but they won’t find it so easy to implement their scandalous decision!

“Far from being defeated, we are defiant. The Glasgow Save Our Schools Campaign has a whole raft of protests planned, starting with a city-wide series of human rings around the schools and nurseries they want to shut. Our defiant message is: ‘Labour can vote to ignore the public, to shut our schools, but we shall not be moved’.

“And as reports confirm what we have warned of since January – that anything up to 34 more Glasgow schools could face closure in the next year or two – we appeal to parents from those schools and communities to join our protests, to add power to our battle to defy, obstruct and reverse the closures.

“This show of continued defiance is only one strand to our struggle.

“We are pursuing legal challenges to a brutally flawed procedure.

“And we are taking our case to the Scottish parliament. The Scottish government should come out clearly in opposition to these closures, wield its political power to demand they be reversed, and side with the people of Glasgow against the Labour council’s vandalism. The Glasgow SOS Campaign plans a lobby of the parliament to seek support in the next few weeks.”

For more info contact Richie Venton on 07828 278 093 or at richieventon@hotmail.com