HOME | IMC UK | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

Oxford Indymedia

Oxford's January round up

Player of Games | 07.02.2011 21:30 | Anti-militarism | Energy Crisis | Free Spaces | Migration | Public sector cuts | Social Struggles | Oxford

Welcome to the latest round up of grassroots news from Oxford. It's proven to be another busy month for activists and campaigners in Oxford. Local, national, and international attention has focused on our little city somewhere between London and the Midlands.


Is that a truncheon, or are you just pleased to see me?

By far the biggest story of the month goes to Ratcliffe-on-Soar activists, some of whom were from Oxford. Early in the month, 18 activists were found guilty of 'conspiring to commit aggregated trespass in the largest pre-emptive police raid in the UK. The defendants pleaded guilty on the basis that they were attempting to prevent a bigger crime from happening (due to the effect of climate change). Despite the judge referring to the accused as ‘honest’, ‘dedicated’, ‘committed’, ‘intelligent’ and ‘caring’, sentences from a £1,000 fine to conditional discharges were handed down.

This was just the start of the story. It later emerged that one of the 114 arrested at Ratcliffe-on-Soar was an undercover copper - Mark Stone, and he was not alone. [Ed - it was here on Indymedia first]. Faced with evidence for the defence (that the police have still not be willing to provide), the trial of a further six activists alleged to be involved in the Ratcliffe-on-Soar incident collapsed. The prosecution decided to offer no evidence. One of the defendants gave his story on Oxford Indymedia.

Many questions from the case remain. Not least: why are the police spending £150,000 per year per undercover officer to spy on a movement that has, for the last 10 years, been completely peaceful; why do undercover officers seem to feel the need to form sexual and emotional relationships to get the information they need; who has authorised these types of covert action - who is accountable?

Important questions, but let's not forget what the 114 were trying to do - stop climate change. So it was good to see people from Oxford keeping up the fight against the Canadian Tar Sands.

Peace & Prison

This month saw the imprisonment of peace activist Chris Coles. In September 2009, Chris allegedly sprayed ‘Build Peace Not War Machines’ and “Stop this Bloody Business” in paint across the entrance to the DSEi fair (Defence & Security Equipment International). Chris refused to pay over £1,500 in fines for his actions, and was imprisoned for 30 days. Chris has since been released.

The deepest cut

As you might expect, resistance to the cuts continues in Oxford. This month saw a direct action sit-in by UK Uncut at Vodafone on Cornmarket Street. There's an initial report, and a follow up.

The Save Temple Cowley Pools campaign goes from strength to strength by badgering the council and getting loads of info, including FoI requests.

Wherever I lay my hat …

It seems that the squat on Turl Street has been closed down. Few details (other than the linked story) are available.

But there's a new project, NAMSTE, to help asylum seekers with no home to go to. Help if you can.

Don't hate the media. Be the media.

The stories here are based on the Oxford Indymedia Newswire. This is an open publishing platform where you set the news agenda. Please contribute by putting your stories on the newswire. We've even put up a video to tell you how to do this - so there's no excuse!

Player of Games
- Homepage: http://oxford.indymedia.org.uk

Comments

Hide the following comment

keep it up!

25.03.2011 00:01

the activist community grows stronger and stronger in Oxford, keep up this monthly news feeds please, as each post opens the eyes of people, furthering the movement.

David
mail e-mail: uncertain-world@hotmail.com


Publish your news
-->

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Oxford Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech