Oxford Feature Archive

As work resumes on Oxford University's controversial new animal lab, the protests against it are becoming bigger, noisier and more determined than ever. In addition to the tightly controlled weekly Thursday demo a variety of impromptu gatherings have been taking place, skirting the injunction area and keeping the authorities on their toes.

The proposed lab follows on from an attempt to build what would have been Europe's largest primate lab in Cambridge. Meanwhile Oxford University are still avoiding an open public debate on vivisection.

[ Latest report | Work resumes ] [ Background info ] [ SPEAK campaign | Europeans for Medical Progress ]

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You may notice we have changed the way comments to articles are displayed. If you want to know why and how, please read the full article.

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TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson was pied last Monday after receiving an honorary degree from Brookes University. The pie, and accompanying demo, were in protest at his bigoted and ignorant views on many topics, and there had been a campaign at Brookes against awarding him the degree.

call for protest | links to mainstream reports | brief report


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Update (16/09/2005): The boatyard is having an open day on Sunday 25th September, with a buffet, BBQ, exhibition, tat auction, talks, films, music and tons of other entertainment

Update 10/08/2005, from http://www.portmeadow.org/:WE WON !....Planning inspector deems that the BW Bellway plan is not suitable. See latest newswire report.

The Jericho Boatyard was officially handed over to British Waterways on Friday, July 29, but has been occupied since then by people who want to keep it as a boatyard and a community space rather than letting it be sold off to Bellway Homes to build yet more luxury flats.

The boatyard is a vital resource for people who live in boats. British Waterways, the body that is supposed to maintain the UK's canals, is selling off bits of land around the country - Jericho is not the only boatyard that is under threat. British Waterways plans to sell the site to Bellway Homes, which is seeking planning permission (not yet granted) to build luxury flats. There is a need for sustainable and affordable living space in Oxford but this would not be provided by the Bellway development.

The Jericho boatyard is also famous for having inspired Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy. A lot of history and culture would be lost by building over it, making Jericho and Oxford a culturally poorer place.

To keep the site it needs to be occupied all the time, so visitors are always welcome! There's food and tea and plenty to do. The site has only been under occupation for a few days so it's an exciting time and people with ideas and enthusiasm are needed to come and contribute. At the moment it's all of our space - let's keep it that way.

For more info on this follow the Oxford Indymedia newswire or go to http://www.portmeadow.org/ - or just go to the boatyard!

Reports: 1 | 2 | 3 | Video | Website: Save Castle Mill Boatyard

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Hooray! No cars! All the fun of a reclaim the streets action but no hassle from police! Despite the day's greyness Oxford's cultural diversity was celebrated in all its multi colour fabness. The freedom of the streets came to East Oxford in an organised fashion this year celebrating the theme of the 'Earth'.. with everyone dressed up as hippies with lots of green and flowers everywhere.. I even spotted some people dressed up as vegetables.. All with the exception of the cheeky 'G8 leaders' who made a re-appearance to celebrate capitalism and poverty only as they know how, with a brief stop to bow down and worship at Tesco's on their way..

There was some great music to be heard from all walks of life, with artists and performers from the local community and from overseas too... with some specially sponsored graffiti above some local shops to jazz it all up and remind us of a great day had by all.

Check out the main carnival website for more info and photos.

[ main web page ] [ photos: 1 | 2 (lo-res / hi-res) | 3 | G8 leaders ]

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Update (14/06/05): The G8 leaders surfaced again at the Cowley Road Carnival where they were spotted worshipping chainstores, dancing to the samba and attempting to shake hands with the crowd.

Leaders of the powerful G8 countries ran wild in Oxford on Saturday, shaking hands, waving and dancing to samba rhythms.

The performance drew cheerful crowds and called for more power to be given to multinational corporations. Oxford residents were warmly invited to join the leaders at their next summit in July near Edinburgh. Vladimir Putin and George Bush cried out for people's support in practical terms, particularly by continuing to "work your boring jobs and do what you're told".

The oligarchal octet and its samba entourage also took in the army recruitment event in Gloucester Green, where the G8 leaders gave thanks for the help of the armed forces in controlling the world and opening new markets for corporate ownership. War was also praised as a great way to keep down the population of poor people, thus helping to reduce world poverty. Omitted were the ways in which military spending contribute to the global economy and create opportunities for governments to invest heavily in technical research while leaving the corporations in control of the final products.

Don't forget to come to the G8 action meeting at OARC (Oxford Action Resource Centre) on Wednesday 18 May, 6pm!

Report and Pictures | Corporate-Governmental Global Relationships and the G8 | New Corporate Watch Report on the G8 | Dissent Network | Oxford Action Resource Centre | Breach of the Peace Radical Samba Band

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A strange thing happened in the town of Carterton today (23/4/05)– a peace march, believed to be the very first ever protest march through the town.

Carterton is host to RAF Brize Norton - Britains main airbase for waging the war and occupation in Iraq. Most of the British Troops that fly out to Iraq do so from Brize Norton as does much of the supplies. Carterton community is heavily dependent on the base for work and thus heavily affected by British war casualties.

The demo explicitly aimed to interact with the people of Carterton: its message "The war/occupation is illegal and immoral - support the troops bring them home."

report | report+pics | more pics

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Last month saw Oxford's first seed swap. In a repeat of a formula tried and tested in other areas, growers came to exchange seeds and knowledge and got to go away with some rare and unusual veg varieties, as well as some that are local to Oxford.

The importance of saving seeds has never been more relevant as the erosion of our genetic heritage continues, not just here but all over the world, and with potentially disasterous consequences. Please read the following links, and remember 'Think Global, Act Local'.

report + video | Our Vegetable Heritage | Brighton group website
Traditional Seed Saving Made Illegal in Iraq | Seedswapping at LARC

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Update (11/03/05): The planning enquiry is ongoing and will continue on 16th-17th May. Meanwhile British Waterways have served a notice for repossession of the site. More details here.

This historic boatyard in the heart of Jericho is about to be closed if the planning enquiry (8th March ongoing) finds in favour of British Waterways and Bellway Homes, (yes you guessed it - more luxury apartments are being planned).

This site has been a boatyard for over 150 years, and continues to provide an essential service for residential and pleasure craft. If this closes, it will force boatowners to travel a day each way to get their MOT equivalent (can you imagine the furore if car drivers were made to do a similar thing?). It is even more essential for emergency repairs as it is the only boatyard in the region which has a crane lift to clean and repair hulls.

[ Reports: 1 | 2 ] [ Video | Boatyard pics ]
[ Campaign Website | Proposed Development | Online Petition ]

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Update (03/03/05): The authorities were left looking rather silly when the protest camp disappeared under cover of darkness, the night before a massive eviction was staged. A demo is planned for 9:15am this Saturday (5th March) at Wing Hill Roundabout, near Linslade.

Local residents near Linslade in Bedfordshire have been disrupting work on the Stoke Hammond to Linslade Bypass, a new £50m road which is the first part of John Prescott's "development" plans for the region, including a massive expansion of Luton airport. The 5 mile planned route cuts across some beautiful open countryside and includes the destruction of several groups of trees.

[ Main Campaign Website (with latest updates) | Road Alert | Road Block ]

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Oxford indymedia works on your contributions. That means you get to tell your own story, in your own words and in your own style. There are no 'experts' here to muffle, distort or ignore your voice, nobody to report your actions and experiences for you - on indymedia you D.I.Y.

You don't have to register a username to publish here, nor will your article be screened by moderators before appearing online. We do have a set of editorial guidelines, and occasionally hide articles or comments which break them, but this is done after articles appear, so that the flow of information is not held up by bureaucracy. Even hidden articles are not completely deleted from the site; they disappear from the front page but can still be viewed on the view all posts page.

So go on - take the plunge - publish your news!

[ Need help to publish? | More about Indymedia | Get involved | Editorial Guidelines | View All Posts | Explanation of website problems ]

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Beautiful street art is popping up all over Oxford. Here's a roundup of the latest pieces. Graffiti is easy (check out the sites below for ideas). Anyone can pick up a piece of chalk - express yourself!

[photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | latest]
[ stencils tutorial | OSI | Wooster collective | war graffiti ]

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Quite a few of you will have noticed the decline in reliability and speed of publication over the past few weeks. Some people have contacted us to ask why we have 'hidden' or censored their articles. We haven't. It has been down to problems with the server. UK Indymedia Collectives are in urgent discussion about how to resolve this, and very soon we hope to have a faster, more robust server in place. In the meantime please keep posting, and bear with us if your post's appearance on the site is a little slow.

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I knew Arafat had finally (officially at least) died when the 1st mosque call of Thursday morning didn't end. As usual it began around 4am but on Thursday it continued until 12 noon. Partly in denial and partial in early morning confusion I dragged myself out of bed as usual and began walking down to the main street. I passed Ream – my land lady. Ream didn’t offer her usual recognition. Her black figure walked passed quickly; she was in a hurry to mourn. The streets looked strange. They were filled only with an unusual atmosphere. The shop doors were all shut and firmly locked, hiding the usual colour and vibrancy of Beit Sahour, while turning the beautiful stone walls of the old city into a metal corridor...
-Extract of a diary from Bex Tyrer from Oxford, writing from Beit Sahour, Palestine)

[ read full report ]

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Update 10/11/04: On Saturday the attack on Falluja started. Since then there have been protests and actions all over the UK, including vigils in Oxford. Keep an eye on the calendar for more protests or plan your own and tell us

Last Thursday, with the horror of the US build up to the attack on Falluja coming ever closer dead bodies in Cornmarket made a sombre impact. The public were noticeably moved to see a number of bodies, some of whom appeared to have blood on them. They were lying on the street in Cornmarket, the main shopping street in Oxford. All around them were statements chalked on the pavements giving information and explanations. This caused people to stop longer to read what they said. Others took the leaflets or read the posters which had more information.

This was a 'die in' organised by OSAN to remind people of the over 100,000 Iraqi's who have already died since the invasion. With a loud speaker Moslem women and others read out the names of those who have died, their age and how they died. For many of them the cause of death was shrapnel. While I was giving out leaflets I watched the public stopping and with puzzled stares look at the bodies while they listened to the names of the dead Iraqis. It was as if they could not move on and a great sadness seemed to hang over the street. Many people told me they were in support. Of course there were the others who said that it was a waste of time or that we were wrong but the main response was one of real sorrow, feelings of desperation and a need to show we do not agree with what is happening during this very illegal occupation.

report | report + pics | OSAN | NOW | Voices

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The Fairford coach case is at the Court of Appeal this week, on the 14 and 15 of October. The coach detainees will be taking the police to court once again over the basic human right to protest and the right not to be detained. The following press release recently appeared on the Fairford Coach Action website.

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Update 10 Oct: "The Taliban did not need to disrupt the elections; the UN managed it for them [...] Instead of bombs there could easily be a riot."
[ Afghan Election Mess ]

As the 9th October presidential elections draw near, many people in Afghanistan are anticipating violence and electoral fraud. Already there have been reports of intimidation and vote-rigging.

With aid being manipulated for political ends, 20'000 US troops still (illegally) remaining in the country, powerful warlords and commanders abusing people with impunity in many areas and various armed groups trying to prevent the elections, Afghanistan is fast becoming an even more dangerous place to be, and lots of internationals are leaving the country ahead of this weekend.

"There is no difference between the forces of the Taliban and the Mujahidin and all the others who carry guns. Only the faces and the clothes have changed," -a man from Herati

It seems that the US is pushing hard for a victory for Hamid Karzai, with Bush in need of a media coup in time for his own elections in the US. Hence the attempts to engineer something that can be spun as a 'democratic success', whatever the human cost.

[ reports: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]

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UPDATE 14th Oct:

Hard drives returned
The two servers recently seized by US Authorities were returned yesterday morning to Rackspace (the hosting service where the servers were first taken from). Indymedia is now weighing additional legal options after this illegal seizure of its servers. Many of the original questions still remain.
Sign the Global Support Declaration

UPDATE 13th Oct: Indymedia UK Call for Solidarity
Indymedia Press Release: 11/12th Oct
Reporters Without Borders Solidarity Statement: "Home Secretary David Blunkett challenged over Indymedia website closures"
Association for Progressive Communications Statement: "APC condemns "arbitrary" seizure of IndyMedia web servers by US and European law enforcers."

Further links to mainstream media coverage can be found at the bottom of this feature. Correspondence between an indymedia activist and Rackspace, and lists of sites that are and are not back on line, can be found on this blog.

It is ironic that that this happens now, just days before Indymedia is due to participate in the European Forum on Communications Rights being held alongside the European Social Forum and several other days of discussions about electronic civil liberties and community media. For more information on these events see www.efcr2004.net

[ Original Press Release | Global Indymedia article and comments | IMC FBI pages]

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Controversy at Oxford City Council hit the pages of Indymedia last month as Green councillor Matt Sellwood accused Labour and Liberal Democrat members of wasting £100,000 in tax payer’s money on the demolition of a block of social housing.

In a newswire item posted to this site Sellwood claimed that the council’s decision to demolish Stephenfield House in Rose Hill with council funds would effectively mean a massive subsidy for the private developer’s brought in to redevelop the site. He further alleged that the new development would not be retained as a 100% social housing as the Green party had demanded.

In a reply posting Labour councillor Rick Muir defended the council’s decision arguing that under government regulations they have no choice but to bring in a private developer. He also claimed that the new development once completed will provide more, not less, social housing.

Meanwhile the practise of squatting empty, unused properties continues to be necessary in a city of massive house prices and waiting lists.

[ Stephenfield House article | Squatters in normal interaction shock ]

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Latest roundup of Oxford Indymedia posts.

Hiroshima Day protest at Aldermaston
At AWE Aldermaston - the military base where Britain's nuclear weapons are researched and produced - Hiroshima Day was marked by protest and theatre. The focus is on disrupting plans for expansion of the base and the development of a dangerous new generation of 'mini-nukes'.
[report + pictures]

Council demolish affordable housing with taxpayers money
Oxford City Council has decided to knock down a social housing complex in Rose Hill and spend over £100,000 of taxpayers money on demolition, subsidising the private builders to whom they are selling the land.
[report]

Planned campsfield expansion a disaster in the making
Campsfield - an asylum seeker detention centre near Oxford - could be the site of massive suffering and disturbances if the inhuman policy of detention continues.
[report] | [Campaign to Close Campsfield]

Platypus Theatre's double bill 'excellent'
A review of the double bill showing of "eat your words" and "sunday (or any day)" showing at the Pegasus Theatre.
[review]

Eyewitness reports from Palestine, Afghanistan and Belgrade
A former Oxford resident now working for the UN in Afghanistan reports on the situation there leading up to the elections.
[report]
A participant reports on the 'People's Global Action' anti-capitalist conference in Belgrade.
[report + pictures]
An Undercurrents 'video activist' reports on the checkpoints and teargas of the West Bank. Meanwhile a student planning to travel to Palestine in August would welcome donations.
[report] | [donations appeal]

Permaculture gathering planned
The "Permaculture NetTogether" - a weekend of events celebrating permaculture in Britain - will be held at Braziers Park in Oxfordshire.
[report] | [What is permaculture?]

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