radiofree.asia

Category: Protest

  • ‘Free School Meals For All’ should be a no-brainer from Labour

    On Tuesday 23 July, campaigners, politicians, and trade unions gathered at parliament to call on the new Labour Party government to provide #FreeSchoolMealsForAll. You’d think, given the evidence, that giving all primary and secondary children free school meals would be a sure-fire move from Keir Starmer’s government.

    ‘Free School Meals For All’: campaigning at parliament

    It shouldn’t need saying, but providing free school meals to all primary and secondary school children in England is a crucial measure that can significantly improve the health, well-being, and educational outcomes of millions of students.

    Currently, the entitlement to free school meals is limited, leaving many children from low-income families without access to this essential support. Expanding this program to include all students would address food insecurity, promote equality, and enhance academic performance.

    So, the National Education Union (NEU)-powered campaign No Child Left Behind organised a rally outside parliament on 23 July:

    It was well attended – with other campaign groups and charities lending their support:

    Some Labour MPs put their heads above the parapet to call on their government to act:

    Of course, these people were right to call on Labour to act – as the situation and the evidence shows just why the government needs to.

    Entrenched poverty and inequality

    As of 2022, approximately 4.3 million children in the UK live in poverty, accounting for around 31% of all children. In England, about 1.9 million children are eligible for free school meals, but this leaves a substantial number of children who are still in need but do not meet the eligibility criteria. This is because of Universal Credit’s tight rules around free school meals.

    The current system fails to cover children from working-poor families who earn just above the threshold, resulting in many children missing out on the benefits of free meals.

    Food insecurity is a pressing issue that also affects children’s ability to learn and thrive.

    According to a report by the Food Foundation, 14% of households with children experienced food insecurity in 2021. Children who are hungry or malnourished are less likely to concentrate in class. This in turn leads to poorer educational outcomes.

    By providing free school meals to all children, England can ensure that every child receives at least one nutritious meal a day. This is fundamental for their physical and cognitive development.

    Promoting equality, enhancing performance

    Free school meals for all would also promote equality among students.

    The current system creates a visible divide between those who receive free meals and those who do not. This potentially leads to stigma and social exclusion. By offering free meals to every child regardless of their background, schools can foster a more inclusive environment where all students are treated equally.

    This universal approach would help eliminate the shame and embarrassment that some children might feel. It would encourage better social integration and a sense of belonging.

    Research has consistently shown that well-nourished children perform better academically. A study by the Institute for Social and Economic Research found that children who received free school meals made more progress in school than those who did not.

    Proper nutrition is linked to improved concentration, better behavior, and higher attendance rates. All of these contribute to better educational outcomes. By ensuring that all children have access to nutritious meals, schools can create a more level playing field and help close the achievement gap.

    ‘An investment in all our futures’

    Experts in nutrition and education advocate strongly for the expansion of free school meals.

    Dr Mary Bousted, former joint general secretary of the NEU, argues that:

    a universal free school meals program would be a game-changer for education in England. It would remove the barriers that hunger creates and allow all children to engage fully in their learning.

    Similarly, Dr Megan Blake, a food security expert at the University of Sheffield, emphasises the long-term benefits:

    Investing in free school meals for all is an investment in the future of our country. Well-fed children are healthier, more focused, and better equipped to succeed academically and socially.

    Overall, as the No Child Left Behind campaign says:

    We are living through the greatest cost of living crisis in a generation, and too many families with young children are being pulled into poverty.

    Free school meals for every child will put money back in parents’ pockets. That’s money they can use to pay for other essentials for their children, from heating and food at home to hobbies and after-school clubs.

    Free school meals: do it now, Labour

    Implementing free school meals for all primary and secondary school children in England is a necessary step toward addressing child poverty, promoting equality, and enhancing educational outcomes.

    With a significant number of children living in poverty and many more experiencing food insecurity, a universal free school meals program would ensure that every child has access to the nutrition they need to thrive.

    By investing in the health and well-being of our children, we invest in the future prosperity of our society.

    You can support the No Child Left Behind campaign. Use its template to write to your MP here. Also, sign its open letter here.

    Featured image via NSSN – X

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Extinction Rebellion activist who singlehandedly STOPPED a TRAIN not jailed

    An Extinction Rebellion activist who stopped a freight train carrying 2,500 tonnes of wood pellets to the DRAX power station in Selby, Yorkshire, walked free from court on Monday 22 July despite being found guilty of a criminal charge with a maximum two-year jail term.

    DRAX: calling out its greenwashing

    English teacher and grandmother Karen Wildin climbed on a carriage roof of the train heading for DRAX in November 2021:

    Her protest was filmed and shared online around the world. It was designed to highlight a shocking greenwash campaign that portrays the power station as a source of renewable energy:

    In fact, DRAX burns through 14 million tonnes of wood every year. It is one of the UK’s biggest carbon emitters. It heavily contributes to the climate crisis.

    A jury at Leeds Crown Court found Karen, from Leicester, guilty of obstructing the train after the Judge Guy Kearl told them that they could not acquit her if their conscience told them she was not guilty – despite that being a principle so deeply ingrained in British legal tradition that it appears on a plaque outside the country’s most famous court, the Old Bailey in London.

    On 22 July, the judge announced he was not going to jail Karen. Instead, he sentenced her to a conditional discharge for two years and a £3,000 fine:

    Karen Wildin: “I stand by my actions”

    Outside of the court building, Karen said:

    I stand by my actions because what I did wasn’t about stopping a train – it was about stopping the destruction of our planet.

    The true crime lies in the environmental carnage caused by DRAX’s operations, not in my peaceful protest.

    The carbon emissions and deforestation caused by this power station are hidden by greenwashing and subsidised by our government and I felt it was my duty to expose all of it to the public gaze. I’m proud that I’ve done so despite it coming at the cost of a criminal conviction.

    We must hold corporations accountable and demand a sustainable, honest approach to energy production. The fines and sentences won’t deter our commitment to this cause because fighting for our planet’s health is not a crime – it’s a necessity.

    Now I urge the governments of the world to do their duty and stop climate breakdown and these environmental injustices so that thousands of activists like me don’t have to put our lives and liberty on the line to make them do their jobs.

    DRAX: its actions cannot be ignored & Extinction Rebellion won’t

    Supporting Karen’s actions, leading climate scientist Dr. Emily Turner said:

    Karen’s actions bring much-needed attention to the urgent crisis we face. The environmental impact of corporations like Drax cannot be ignored if we are to have any chance of mitigating climate change. Halting the destruction of our forests is critical for our planet’s future.

    Amelia Roberts is a prominent human rights expert. She criticised the judge’s decision to deny Karen any legal defence. Roberts said the judge’s decision to tell the jury that they could not act on their conscience to find her not guilty was “deeply troubling”.

    She added:

    The right to protest and to defend oneself in court are fundamental human rights. Karen’s case highlights the challenges faced by environmental activists in their fight for justice and the protection of our planet.

    Featured image via Extinction Rebellion

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Just Stop Oil issue an airport-shaped ultimatum to Keir Starmer just as summer holidays begin

    The following is a comment piece from Just Stop Oil

    Just Stop Oil has won its initial demand, calling for the UK government to end all new oil, gas and coal licences – but it does not go far enough. So, the group will be disrupting airports this summer.

    Just Stop Oil: airports will be disrupted

    The ending of new fossil fuels licences is a welcome step in the right direction. However, the science is abundantly clear that this will not be enough to protect our families and communities from the worst effects of the climate crisis. Current climate policies have been declared unlawful in the High Court, not once but twice. The scientific consensus is telling us that fossil fuels must remain in the ground if we are to maintain any sort of stable society.

    It is imperative that the UK government act to protect lives both here and abroad. It must work with other nations to establish a legally binding treaty to stop extracting and burning oil, gas and coal by 2030, as well as supporting and financing other countries to make a fair and just transition.

    Just Stop Oil wrote to all party leaders on 24 June, advising that the next prime minister must immediately commit the UK government to working with other nations to establish such a treaty. We indicated that unless such assurances were provided by 12 July, supporters of Just Stop Oil would be forced to take action to protect our communities. This would be by engaging in a campaign of noncooperation against fossil fuel use, at airports across the country.

    As of yet, no such assurances have been received. Therefore Just Stop Oil supporters will be taking action at airports this summer.

    Expect us

    This is not a course of action undertaken lightly. However, action from governments must be commensurate with the scale of the crisis faced by humanity. Until that is the case, it is on the conscience of every ordinary citizen to utilise whatever mechanism is available to us to nonviolently pressure for necessary change.

    Just Stop Oil supporters are trained in nonviolence. They will undertake all possible steps to ensure that the safety of those using airports, as well as those in the air, will not be compromised by our actions. This includes avoiding going on any active or inactive runways.

    Our request for a meeting with Keir Starmer or a member of his cabinet remains open. We seek to negotiate. As ever, we remain open to dialogue with the government. And we are willing to immediately halt taking action should they commit to an international fossil fuel treaty to Just Stop Oil by 2030.

    Featured image via Just Stop Oil/the Canary

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The Tories’ legacy on our basic civil rights has been ripped apart in a major new report

    On Tuesday 23 July, Bond, the UK network for civil society organisations working in international development, released its first annual UK civic space review.

    Civic space UK: under threat and under pressure

    Under mounting pressure, civic space in the UK has faced unprecedented challenges over the past year. As Bond wrote:

    Last year, UK civic space reached its nadir. In March 2023, the international monitoring group, CIVICUS, downgraded civic space in the UK from ‘narrowed’ to ‘obstructed’.

    Since then, Bond has continued to track and analyse the political and operating environment for civil society in the UK. Our new review, which covers the 18 months preceding the UK General Election, shows how this downward trend has continued.

    Civic space refers to the context in which civil society exists. To flourish, the people and groups who make up civil society need enabling laws and government policies which uphold our rights and freedoms, a fair and independent regulator who enables charitable organisations to act as agents of social change, and an open and inclusive political sphere that supports public debate and scrutiny.

    Our review shows we are further away from this vision than ever before. The excessively long sentences handed out to five protesters only last week, show how restrictions are continuing to have an impact despite the recent change in government.

    Bond’s latest review details key trends that threaten civil society’s core functions, including harsher anti-protest laws, tone-policing of charity campaigns, restrictions on public scrutiny and an emerging trend on the expansion of the definition of extremism.

    Protest rights

    Trend 1: There has been a move towards ever stricter anti-protest laws to clamp down on disruption.

    Over the last year, the government has increasingly sought to clamp down on activities it deems to be too disruptive. In May 2024, three climate protestors were found guilty by a jury after taking part in a slow march and blocking traffic.

    Trend 2: Protesters are being prevented from mentioning motives in court.

    Judges have repeatedly prevented protesters from mentioning their motivations, specifically on climate change or fossil fuels, during trials for protest-related offenses. In March 2023, three environmental protesters were imprisoned for contempt of court after ignoring one such ruling.

    Charity campaigning

    Trend 3: Charity campaigns are increasingly seeing the “tone” of their campaigns being policed.

    While charity law regulates the issues charities can campaign on, the tone they use is not regulated. Yet over the past year, politicians have criticised the tone of charity campaigns – for being too emotive or critical – as much as the issues or policies they address.

    Trend 4: There is now significant pressure on migrants’ rights charities from government.

    Charities and campaigners working on migration issues have faced intense pressure for opposing government policies. For example, former Home Secretary Suella Braverman publicly criticised charities for speaking out against the Safety of Rwanda Bill and other migration policies.

    Public scrutiny and criticism

    Trend 5: There is now increasing use of Henry VII powers.

    Parliamentary scrutiny has diminished due to the increased use of Henry VIII clauses, allowing ministers to change laws without full parliamentary approval. For example, the government used these powers to amend the Public Order Act 2023 after it had already passed to significantly lower the threshold for which protests are caught by the new law, a decision later ruled unlawful by the High Court.

    Trend 6: Experts are increasingly being vetted and banned.

    Experts have been prevented from speaking at government events if they are seen to be critical of the government or its policies, which has clear implications for freedom of speech.

    An emerging trend that Bond is keeping an eye on is: expanding the definition of extremism.

    In 2024, the government broadened the definition of extremism, potentially affecting many more groups. This will prevent certain organisations from meeting with government officials and parliamentarians, and from receiving public funds. It’s entirely up to the government to decide which groups it believes meet this decision and there is no appeals process.

    A “continuing decline” in civic space UK

    Speaking about the review, Rowan Popplewell, policy manager on civic space at Bond, said:

    This review highlights the shifting operating environment for civil society and campaigners and draws attention to the evolving challenges they face. By offering an annual analysis, we hope to boost awareness and understanding of trends and help campaigners better navigate restrictions.

    The UK’s global standing was damaged last year when our civic space was downgraded by international experts and this review confirms a continuing decline. The excessively long sentences handed out to protesters only last week show how this issue continues to be a concern, despite the change in government.

    The new government must act now to halt democratic backsliding here in the UK. Repealing anti-protest laws and supporting public scrutiny and debate are crucial steps to help civil society flourish and restore our international reputation.

    You can read the full Bond review here.

    Featured image via Bond

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Disabled people took over Parliament Square to once again fight for their basic rights

    Chronically ill and disabled people took over Parliament Square to demand that the new Labour Party government undo years of damage caused by the Tories. From the DWP to social care via housing and hate crime, the system and its proponents have wilfully marginalised millions of people. Now, those people are demanding their rights back. But will chronically ill and disabled people’s calls be heard?

    Disabled people: out again to protest their basic rights

    Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) led a coalition of campaign groups in organising the ‘Disabled People Demand’ demo. From 12pm on Thursday 18 July, people gathered on Parliament Square’s green on what was one of the hottest days of the year:

    The turnout was one of the largest seen for a DPAC demo since before the pandemic. Over 100 people were present:

    Speakers included John McDonnell MP, Ben Sellers from People’s Assembly, and Paula Peters from DPAC:

    John McDonnell speaking to Nicola Jeffery. He is wearing a shirt and trousers, she has bright pink hair and is wearing a black top and patterned flared trousers disabled people

    There was also performances from artists and musicians, and artwork on display:

    As DPAC itself said, the overriding thrust of the event was that:

    Closing the door on the past doesn’t just mean closing it on the policies of the past – but also on the negative and exclusionary practices of the past too. This day will celebrate our communities survival through austerity, benefit cuts, assessment torture, covid and cost of living crisis – and a reminder that too many of us didn’t survive them.

    We have a long history of devising our own solutions to whatever crisis we find ourselves in. That’s why we are taking this opportunity to present our solutions to political decision makers and to the rest of the people in the UK. We are putting what we believe are both possible and achievable out there.

    So, there’s no hiding place from them. Nobody can say they didn’t know.

    We will use them as a marker to measure the success or failure of the next government.

    Various demands

    DPAC and its allies have created a template of demands that they want the new Labour Party government to enact. The core demands are:

    • Legislate to fully incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) into UK law.
    • A “triple lock” on annual benefit rate increases.
    • Legal Right to Independent Living with a National Independent Living Service.
    • Introduce a national requirement for all new build homes to be accessible and 10% to be wheelchair accessible.
    • A right to mainstream education and to education in fluent British Sign Language for Deaf and Disabled students.
    • A fully integrated, fully accessible, affordable publicly owned transport system for all.
    • A right of disabled access to built and natural environments.
    • Introduce mandatory two-week timeframe for reasonable adjustments and an enforcement framework which does not fully depend on an individual.
    • An independent public inquiry into the deaths and maltreatment of disabled children and adults incarcerated in mental health institutions.
    • Legislate to abolish forced detention and treatment of people on mental health grounds.
    • No Assisted Dying.
    • Adequate provision of technical aids and equipment, eg. wheelchairs, and adaptive communication aides for people who are nonverbal.

    There was a small police presence throughout the afternoon. The Canary noticed ‘blue bibs’ (police liaison officers) asking attendees about when the next demo was going to be. This, as group Netpol has repeatedly warned, standard behaviour from these pretend cops whose job on the ground is intelligence gathering. Fortunately, everyone there was wise to this and kept schtum.

    A mixed bag of speakers

    The rhetoric coming out of the event on 18 July was a mixed bag. A speaker from the Disability Poverty Campaign Group (DPCG) was there talking about the letter that it had written to Keir Starmer. As the Canary’s Hannah Sharland previously noted, it really didn’t go far enough – in fact, the letter felt like a begging bowl for disabled people, rather than anything ‘demanding’.

    Moreover, the speaker from DPCG whose name the Canary missed on 18 July name-dropped Mind – a charity which should not have been anywhere near this kind of event, nor had anything to do with chronically ill and disabled people’s campaigning more broadly – given its historical involvement with the DWP.

    This was juxtaposed by the always fiery and passionate Paula Peters – who sent a clear warning to the new Labour government while also remembering allies who had died during the 13 years DPAC had been active for. She said:

    Many people are not here today because they did not survive. We will never forget our disabled friends, relatives, activists, and trade unionists. We hold them in our hearts and in our minds today, tomorrow, and always. And we promise this: that we will continue the fight that they began; that we honour them by not mourning them, but my organising, by mobilising, and fighting on for equality and social justice.

    The Chronic Collaboration’s Nicola Jeffery spoke of how having a Labour Party government won’t make any difference to chronically ill and disabled people:

    We are here because we know that regardless of which political party is in power or what policies they choose to implement, we need a wider societal change in the way that disabled people and chronically ill people are treated…

    We have already witnessed the United Nations find our country guilty of grave and systematic violations of disabled people’s civil and human rights and we have seen nothing change.

    We have already witnessed the treatment of chronically ill people being described in Parliament as the greatest medical scandal of the 21st century and we have still seen none change. This is not good enough and we as chronically ill people and disabled people demand better. We as chronically ill and disabled people demand more.

    The ball is in Labour’s court

    Now, the ball is in Labour’s court. So far, the signs have not been good. It seems that the party will not treat chronically ill and disabled people much differently to how the Tories did.

    What came across from DPAC’s event was that this was far less of a protest than normal. Road blocks were out, and music and art were in. This seemed more of a gathering, less of a demo.

    One can only assume that this paring back of tactics by DPAC and others is to give Labour a technical chance to prove they’re not a reincarnation of the Conservative Party and actually start to work with chronically ill and disabled people, instead of torturing and killing them.

    It doesn’t sound like a big ask – but based on the historical evidence, it clearly is. Unfortunately, it feels likely that DPAC and others will be back to blocking roads and blockading parliament sooner rather than later.

    Hopefully, Labour will prove us wrong.

    Featured image and additional images via the Canary

     

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Palestine Action just hit TWO Israel weapons suppliers before the sun came up

    Palestine Action has just targeted two weapons manufacturers which supply Israel arms firm Elbit Systems – one in Manchester, and another in Sunbury.

    Palestine Action: conducting its own early morning raids

    Just before 5am on Monday 22 July, one group of Palestine Action activists broke inside Manchester-based arms components manufacturer Dean Group International and dismantled machinery and equipment:

    Police have cordoned off the premises and remain at the scene as activists continue to occupy Dean Group International, Brinell Dr, Irlam, Manchester M44 5BL.

    Then, in Sunbury-on-Thames another group jumped security fences, shattered windows and hardware belonging to an arms supplier, Ametek Airtechnology:

    Both companies supply parts to Israel’s largest weapons firm, Elbit Systems.

    Israel weapons suppliers

    Dean Group International uses a specialised technique called ‘investment casting’ to manufacture components for arms companies, including Elbit’s Kent-based subsidiary, Instro Precision. According to the manufacturer, “so much from a military standpoint requires investment casting, including weapons, missiles, radar, and communications equipment”. The supply of components to Instro Precision, who’ve held over 80 licenses to export arms to Israel since 2016, was verified when other activists broke inside the Elbit arms factory during an action last month.

    Ametek Airtechnology specialises in designing, developing and manufacturing custom-made thermal and motion control solutions for weapons including missiles, military vehicles and fighter jets. Amongst weapons their products are used for is Israel’s F-35 fighter jets, which are frequently used during Israel’s ongoing Gaza genocide. Ametek’s subsidiary United Electronic Industries lists Elbit Systems as a “valued customer” – a connection which was also confirmed through sightings of deliveries to Elbit’s Shenstone-based subsidiary, UAV Engines Ltd.

    The Israeli military has killed over 38,295 Palestinians since 7 October, most of whom are women and children. Schools, hospitals, refugee camps, residential buildings and general infrastructure is frequently bombed during the ongoing Gaza genocide. In response to the growing demand for munitions by the Israeli military for such attacks on Gaza, Elbit has “ramped up production” of its weaponry.

    Elbit Systems manufactures 85% of Israel’s military drone fleet and land-based equipment, as well as missiles, ammunition and digital warfare. The Israeli arms company uses Gaza, which was recently confirmed by the International Court of Justice to be illegally occupied territory, as a laboratory to develop their “battle-tested” weapons.

    Shut it down

    A Palestine Action spokesperson said:

    Without suppliers such as Dean Group International and Ametek, Elbit couldn’t make weaponry which is used to commit genocide. Whilst our government continues to facilitate Elbit’s crimes, Palestine Action will continue to use direct action to end the complicity and shut Elbit down. Every link in Israel’s military supply chain will be uncovered and dismantled.

    Featured image and videos via Palestine Action

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The Guardian just threw every activist under the bus

    Every Sunday, the Guardian Media Group puts out the Observer – a paper riddled with columnists who make regular Guardian contributors seem barely annoying at all. Sonia Sodha is one such columnist and this week she produced an absolute forest fire of a piece:

    Harsh climate

    This is the central argument in Sodha’s piece:

    There are certainly questions about whether the sentences for their offences are proportionate or appropriate in the context of the wider criminal justice system. But to suggest that freedom of conscience creates an unlimited right to cause other citizens harm is to fail to engage with the nature of their offence. And, more broadly, to misunderstand what it means to live in a democracy where we enjoy a right to noisy protest, but are also bound by obligations to each other that are framed by the rule of law that applies to us all equally.

    The central argument against this is that the climate crisis exists because politicians have shown ‘an unlimited right to cause other citizens harm’ through their actions on the climate, making an escalation of resistance inevitable.

    You can say ‘what about the law’ all you like, but until we seriously ask ‘what about the planet’, people are going to get angry or check out completely – both of which will have a cataclysmic effect on society.

    The government cannot police its way out of this. The climate is changing – both the literal one and the societal one – and the solution to both these issues is to implement serious changes – to ‘just stop oil’, if you will.

    She’s no doubt acclimatised to this, but Sodha’s latest piece is drawing backlash online:

    To be fair, Sodha does think five years in prison is too long. It’s not because she’s anti-authoritarian, though, it’s because she thinks prison places are too expensive:

    So at the very least there needs to be a review of sentencing in this area to check its proportionality. I would go further: these protesters committed a serious offence that justifies punishment, but does this have to mean prison? Prison is an expensive, finite resource that should be reserved for criminals who pose a serious risk to the community that cannot be otherwise mitigated; our prisons are overfull to the point they cannot fulfil their rehabilitation role and so are putting society at greater risk. Why not deprive non-violent offenders of their liberty through restrictive curfews monitored through electronic tagging instead?

    What a grim and austere death march these people think the future should be.

    Something or nothing

    We have at times criticised Just Stop Oil ourselves. A key issue with their protests is that they’ve largely targeted the public rather than the politicians and executives causing the problems. Their reasoning seems to be that the public need to be made aware of these issues, because it’s only then that change will happen. The problem is that the public by-and-large is incredibly aware of climate change and is keen to see the issue tackled; the hold up is political.

    At the same time, though, there are also arguments in favour of Just Stop Oil’s approach. Climate change will cause barely-imaginable disruption to all our lives. The Just Stop Oil protests give us a small taste of that, exposing how poorly equipped we are to handle anything more severe.

    The other point to make is that if any of us have a problem with how Just Stop Oil are protesting, we’re free to stage better protests ourselves (free until Starmer and the Guardian ankle-tag us anyway). The fact is that unless vast changes are made, we are all fucked – and that leaves us all with the following choices:

    1. Deny the severity of the upcoming climate catastrophe.
    2. Support Just Stop Oil or one of the other protest groups.
    3. Resist in your own way.
    4. Be slowly driven mad by what seems like a foregone climate conclusion.
    5. Accept the severity of the upcoming climate catastrophe; don’t actually do anything to try and stop it, and yet moan about the actions of activists who are getting their hands dirty.

    Guardian: the sixth way

    Oh, sorry, we forgot – there is a sixth option, and that’s to do everything in option five while simultaneously begging for money to fight against climate change. Because this is what it currently says at the end of every Guardian article in the section where they ask you to sign up for £12 a month (emphasis added):

    This is what we’re up against
    Teams of lawyers from the rich and powerful trying to stop us publishing stories they don’t want you to see.

    What’s more, there are lobby groups with opaque funding who are determined to undermine facts about the climate emergency and other established science.

    To ‘undermine facts’, they write. Is it a fact that the climate emergency has the potential to kill millions, billions, or even all of us? If the answer is yes, then it seems like imprisoning activists right now – when the time we have to act is quickly running out – is a very, very bad idea – and that denying that reality is in itself a form of denial.

    But hey, if this opinion piece wasn’t riddle with very, very bad ideas, the Observer wouldn’t have published it.

    Featured image via Christian Ibarra Santillan – Flick

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The US is going to store its nukes in the UK again – but people are pushing back

    CND general secretary Kate Hudson will address a rally outside the main gate of the US-controlled RAF Lakenheath airbase in Suffolk on Saturday 20 July, in opposition to the return of US nuclear weapons to Britain.

    Lakenheath to host US nuclear weapons

    As BBC News reported:

    Plans to deploy American nuclear weapons to an airbase in Suffolk have progressed, according to a US Department of Defence (DoD) notice.

    A contract , externalto build shelters to protect troops that would defend storage facilities at RAF Lakenheath has been awarded.

    The document states the work was in preparation for the base’s “upcoming nuclear mission”.

    The US Air Force (USAF) has yet to respond to a request for comment.

    The Ministry of Defence said there was a longstanding agreement among NATO partners not to comment on the location of nuclear weapons.

    In March 2023, a document, external from the US Office of the Under Secretary of Defense disclosed how $50m (£39m) had been earmarked to build a facility known as a “Surety Dormitory” at RAF Lakenheath.

    This phrase is understood to refer to nuclear weapons storage, external.

    The Canary has previously covered CND and other group’s objections to the plans – with a legal challenge being launched to it. Now, people have taken their objections to US nukes on UK soil one step further.

    A peace camp

    A 24/7 vigil and peace camp was established outside the main gate of the base on Monday 15 July by members of the Lakenheath Alliance for Peace after a three-day march from Norwich; the camp will run until Thursday 25 July:

    Predictably, military police were not too far behind:

    https:/twitter.com/LakenheathAfP/status/1813511819472109936

    CND groups and members from across Britain will be among supporters joining the rally on 20 July, which will begin at 12 noon and run until 2:30pm. A full programme of events can be found here.

    The rally comes after Hudson gave evidence to the Undercover Policing Inquiry on Monday. CND is a ‘core participant’ in the Inquiry, owing to the fact that it was infiltrated by undercover police officers during the 1980s at the height of CND’s mass campaigning against US cruise missiles in Britain.

    This activity included the setting up of peace camps and the use of non-violent direct action (NVDA) by campaigners at bases like Greenham Common.

    While British intelligence reported early in the 1980s that CND did not pose a threat to national security, evidence produced at the Inquiry exposed “a clear and deeply alarming use of political undercover policing by the then Conservative government” and the “most explicit example of subverting parliamentary democracy uncovered” by the inquiry so far.

    Taking decisive action at Lakenheath

    CND general secretary Kate Hudson said:

    Having taken decisive action to stop the outbreak of nuclear war in the 1980s, Greenham Common women are among those protesting against the return of US nuclear weapons to Britain.

    Peace camps and NVDA are important parts of the anti-nuclear movement and have long been effective in raising awareness of nuclear dangers. Peace camps form a rallying point for all those who favour peace over war and CND encourages everyone to come and visit the camp for Saturday’s rally.

    CND calls on the new British government to stop hiding behind the tired excuse of neither confirming nor denying the presence of NATO nuclear weapons in this country. It’s time for a new agenda for peace, which starts with publicly refusing the US permission to host their weapons of mass destruction in Britain.

    Featured image via CND

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Just Stop Oil 21-year jail sentences are an obscene perversion of justice

    In an obscene perversion of justice, five Just Stop Oil supporters were just handed multi-year prison sentences today for nothing more than attending a Zoom call.

    Just Stop Oil sentences: perverse and obscene

    At Southwark Crown Court, Judge Christopher Hehir jailed Roger Hallam for five years, whilst Daniel Shaw, Lucia Whittaker De Abreu, Louise Lancaster, and Cressida Gethin were each sentenced to four years.

    They were convicted last week of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance in relation to the M25 motorway disruption in November 2022.

    They will join Amy Pritchard who was sentenced in June to 10 months in prison for breaking a window belonging to the world’s largest fossil fuel funder, JP Morgan.

    The sentences exceed those handed down last year to Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker. They were jailed for three years and two years seven months, respectively, after being convicted of ‘public nuisance’ under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 for climbing the QEII bridge in October 2022 and suspending a banner saying ‘Just Stop Oil’.

    The law – and Judge Hehir – are an ass

    At last week’s trial, Judge Hehir ruled that climate issues were ‘irrelevant and inadmissible’, dismissing them as mere ‘political opinion and belief’.

    Although the legislation includes a defence of ‘reasonable excuse’ and despite the prosecution acknowledging the imminent catastrophic and irreversible harm from burning fossil fuels, the judge prevented the jury from considering whether the defendants had a reasonable excuse and directed them to ignore any evidence about the climate crisis.

    When the defendants insisted on honouring their oaths to tell the jury the whole truth about their actions and refused to leave the witness box until they had done so, the judge repeatedly had them arrested and jailed throughout the trial.

    The judge also refused the defence request to call Professor Bill McGuire as a witness, one of the world’s leading experts on climate impacts.

    ‘Disgraceful’

    Today Professor McGuire, Emeritus Professor of Geophysical & Climate Hazards at University College London, said of the Just Stop Oil sentences:

    The trial and verdict were a farce. They mark a low point in British justice and they were an assault on free speech. The judge’s characterisation of climate breakdown as a matter of opinion and belief is completely nonsensical and demonstrates extraordinary ignorance. Similarly to suggest that the climate emergency is irrelevant in relation to whether the defendants had a reasonable case for action is crass stupidity.

    Sir David King, the government’s former Chief Scientific Adviser, said:

    This is so disgraceful. We are all hoping that the change in UK government will also change the situation in our courts.

    Referring to a previous ruling of Judge Silas Reid that the evidence of the climate crisis was irrelevant and inadmissible in a similar trial, Professor James E. Hansen of Columbia University, New York, said:

    The cruelty of such ‘know nothing’ judges is not so much to the defendant, as it is to our children and grandchildren.

    The UN intervened – to no avail

    On 24 June, the first day of the Just Stop Oil trial, the UN Special Rapporteur for Environmental Defenders, Michel Forst, issued an extraordinary public statement, relating to one of the defendants, Daniel Shaw, describing the threat of a two year prison sentence as ‘appalling’ and potentially unlawful under international law:

    I have now received new information regarding the imminent criminal trial of Mr. Shaw that I consider deeply concerning. With Mr. Shaw’s criminal trial set to start today, on 24 June 2024, I have been informed that Mr. Shaw may reasonably expect to face a prison sentence of up to two years (or more) for, in essence, his participation in a Zoom call to discuss a proposed peaceful environmental protest. The imposition of such sanction is not only appalling but may also violate the United Kingdom’s obligations under international law.

    Judge Hehir was made aware of the UN Rapporteur’s statement prior to the sentencing.

    Just Stop Oil will continue the fight

    The naturalist and TV broadcaster, Chris Packham, issued a statement on X, referring to the court case as a “sham”, adding:

    we should not allow our courts to be corrupted by [the might of the fossil fuel industry].

    Today Packham appeared at court in support of the Just Stop Oil defendants, and is expected to make a public call for a meeting with Attorney General, Richard Hermer KC, calling for an end to the silencing and jailing of people who shout ‘fire’ because there’s a fire.

    14,000 people have already signed Just Stop Oil’s petition calling for an end to the imprisonment of truth tellers. You can join them here.

    Featured image via Just Stop Oil

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Uyghurs protest 15th anniversary of Urumqi riots in northwestern China | Radio Free Asia (RFA)


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Starmer faces major test as pro-Palestine protest set to take place outside parliament

    As ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel stall – once again thanks to the latter – and the new Labour Party UK government refuses to change position on the International Criminal Court (ICC), people will be protesting for Palestine outside parliament – in a direct provocation against Keir Starmer.

    Israel: the genocide continues as Labour watches

    Israel killed dozens of Palestinians on Tuesday 16 July in three separate strikes, as it pounded the territory. Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the three air strikes killed at least 44 people and wounded dozens within an hour across the Palestinian territory. Israel confirmed it carried out two of the strikes.

    The health ministry said a strike on a fuel station in Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza killed 17 people, and the Palestinian Red Crescent said a separate strike at almost simultaneously hit the UN-run Al-Razi School in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing five people.

    Israel has now killed nearly 39,000 people in Gaza and displaced 90% of the population. However, the UK under the Labour Party is still toeing its line. As the Canary’s James Wright has been documenting, foreign secretary David Lammy recently met with Benjamin Netanyahu in what was a snivelling display of sycophancy.

    Then, independent MPs piled the pressure on Starmer. As Wright noted, they wrote to the PM calling on him to:

    • Suspend arms sales and licences.
    • Restore funding to UNRWA.
    • Stop the legal challenge to the ICC over its potential arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant.

    Of course, the Labour government is unlikely to listen to any of this.

    Hands around parliament

    So, a protest is taking place on Thursday 18 July to further pressure Starmer’s administration.

    Stop the War Coalition said in a statement:

    Israel is committing war crime after war crime. Meanwhile Keir Starmer and our new government continue to arm Israel and may be taking forward the blocking of the ICC’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s PM Netanyahu.

    On parliament’s first full day back, the Palestine coalition is calling for a hands round parliament protest this Thursday 18 July at 6pm. We are asking all our supporters in London and the South East to help us link hands around Parliament to show the new government the strength of feeling there is for a ceasefire and an end to arms sales to Israel.

    Join us on Thursday as we come together and form a ring of linked hands around Parliament to call on our political leaders to stop arming Israel and push for an immediate #CeasefireNOW in Gaza. Please assemble for a briefing in Parliament Sq. at 6pm before the protest begins.

    Given Labour’s near-identical stance on Israel as the Tories’, it is likely protests like this will continue unabated. How Starmer and his team respond is another matter entirely.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Steve Topple

  • Just Stop Oil has warned Keir Starmer it’s set to disrupt UK airports this summer

    Just Stop Oil has delivered a warning to new prime minister Keir Starmer – after he and the Labour Party failed to acknowledge a previous ultimatum the group sent. It says that because of his failure to respond, it has been left with no choice but to prepare to take action at UK airports this summer over the climate crisis.

    Just Stop Oil: a warning to Starmer

    As the Canary previously reported, Just Stop Oil wrote to all political parties in June ahead of the general election. The group called on leaders to join the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.

    13 countries including Colombia and Fiji, and the European Parliament, have endorsed the treaty. As it says on its website, it aims to:

    complement the Paris Agreement by providing the global roadmap needed to halt the expansion of fossil fuel, manage an equitable phase-out of coal, oil and gas, and lay the foundations for a true just energy transition in which no worker, community or country is left behind.

    However, Labour and Starmer did not respond. So, Just Stop Oil has written to him again.

    The group wrote:

    We write to congratulate you on becoming Prime Minister and to acknowledge that one of the first steps of your new government has been to reaffirm your commitment to end new UK oil and gas licensing. This is an essential first step towards what is required to end the UK’s contribution to the climate crisis. However, we all know that it is not enough.

    We also need to rapidly phase out our existing oil and gas projects and to end the use of fossil fuels across our economy. This is not only the view of Just Stop Oil; the call for a rapid phase out of fossil fuels is backed by climate science, by global equity considerations, by international law and by global public opinion.

    Airports in its sights

    It noted that in its last letter, Just Stop Oil:

    indicated that unless such assurances were provided by 12 July, we would be forced to take action to protect our communities by engaging in a campaign of noncooperation against fossil fuel use, at airports across the country.

    We are writing now to let you know that since no such assurances have been received we remain in civil resistance and are preparing to take action, but that, as ever, we remain open to dialogue

    It is, of course, unlikely that Starmer will respond.

    The group’s plans to protest at airports were leaked thanks to a snitch journalist back in April. This led to cops arresting dozens of members in June over the plans.

    Just Stop Oil may be coordinating across Europe as well as the UK. However, airports have already fought back – with courts already granting Heathrow, Stansted, Manchester, and East Midlands airports with injunctions against protests.

    As the group summed up in its letter to Starmer:

    The era of fossil fuels is over. It’s time to stop waging war on humanity.

    How this summer will pan out in terms of the group’s actions at airports remains to be seen – but injunctions and Starmer’s inaction will be unlikely to stop them.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • John McDonnell set to join disabled people at protest outside parliament

    Labour Party MP and former shadow chancellor John McDonnell is set to join chronically ill and disabled people at a protest on the first full day of the new parliament. It comes amid concerns over the Labour government’s position on disability rights – and campaigners want to send a clear message to MPs that they best listen to ‘disabled people’s demands’.

    Disabled People Demand…

    On Thursday 18 July at Parliament Square, a host of disability rights campaigns and allies will welcome the new Labour government into office by presenting a set of solutions to the multiple crises faced by disabled people across the UK; followed by a celebration of their culture through music, art, and poetry.

    Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), Recovery In The Bin, Bromley and Croydon Unite Community, Disability and Migrant Network (DAMN), and the Trans Safety Network are just some of the organisations taking part in an event titled “Disabled People Demand” – a day that promises to be both a creative spectacle and a statement of intent towards the newly elected prime minister and his party.

    The narrative used by successive Labour, coalition and Tory governments to cut resources and services have seen disabled people unjustifiably being blamed for government spending. These cuts to public services were not forced upon the government by disabled people or migrants; they were a political choice.

    So, now is the time for a new chapter to be written.

    Labour won’t be coming to people’s rescue

    But DPAC and others aren’t expecting the new government to come to our rescue. They will present their solutions to these crises – solutions borne out of their shared experiences of years and of decades fighting back and challenge the new government to deliver them.

    DPAC said that:

    #DisabledPeopleDemand our voices are heard and we demand our rightful full participation in the rebuilding our society.

    The event will start at 12 noon at Parliament Square, with a series of speeches, including from:

    • John McDonnell MP.
    • Ben Sellers of People’s Assembly.
    • DPAC’s Paula Peters.

    This will be followed by a showcase of creativity, including exhibitions, music, entertainment, and poetry.

    There will also be events in Liverpool and Leeds on the same day, organised by local DPAC groups in those cities.

    More than protesting

    DPAC said in a statement:

    This is more than a protest.

    Closing the door on the past doesn’t just mean closing it on the policies of the past – but also on the negative and exclusionary practices of the past too. This day will celebrate our communities survival through austerity, benefit cuts, assessment torture, covid and cost of living crisis – and a reminder that too many of us didn’t survive them.

    We have a long history of devising our own solutions to whatever crisis we find ourselves in. That’s why we are taking this opportunity to present our solutions to political decision makers and to the rest of the people in the UK. We are putting what we believe are both possible and achievable out there.

    So, there’s no hiding place from them. Nobody can say they didn’t know.

    We will use them as a marker to measure the success or failure of the next government

    We have a list of demands that we will campaign for and hold the new government’s feet to the fire on – for the UNCRPD to be enshrined in UK Law, for social care charges to be scrapped, for social security to be re-designed and co-produced by us and many more.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Palestine Action shut down Elbit for TWO DAYS and break into another arms manufacturer’s factory

    Palestine Action have shut down arms manufacturer Elbit System’s Bristol HQ for two days running – along with damaging the factory of one of its suppliers in the process. Once again, the group has shown direct action can actually make an impact; here, disrupting the supply of arms to Israel amid its ongoing genocide in Gaza.

    Palestine Action: shutting Elbit for two days

    From 6.30am on Tuesday 16 July, three activists from Palestine Action locked themselves to a vehicle blocking the only access point to the UK headquarters of Israel’s biggest weapons producer, Elbit Systems. Police have arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area:

    As of 12pm on 16 July, the cops were still scrabbling around trying to stop Palestine Action:

    Yesterday, another three activists similarly blocked the entrance, forcing the site to close:

    So, for the second day in a row, Palestine Action have shut down Elbit’s Bristol HQ at Aztec West 600, Bristol:

    They also broke inside Hydrafeed’s central premises in Milton Keynes, damaging the company who provide machinery for Elbit’s Instro Precision factory in Sandwich, Kent:

    Supplying Israel’s war machine

    Hydrafeed’s machinery is used to produce arms by Elbit’s Instro Precision factory which have had over 80 separate licenses to export weapons to Israel since 2016.

    Hydrafeed’s involvement in the production of Israeli arms was confirmed during a break in of the Instro factory by Palestine Action last month. By dismantling the inside of the machinery maker’s central premises, activists have prevented the company’s ability to provide Elbit Systems with “a rapid response for breakdowns, repairs, spares and replacement parts”.

    They have also disrupt the supply of machines to be used for arming the Gaza genocide.

    Meanwhile, according to Elbit’s CEO Bezhalel Machlis, Elbit Systems weaponry is “currently being used extensively by the Israeli military”. The Israeli weapons maker produces 85% of Israel’s military drone fleet and land-based equipment, ammunition, missiles, digital warfare and training simulators.

    During the onslaught of Gaza which the ICJ has ruled is a plausible genocide, Elbit have “ramped up production” to meet the increased demand of the Israeli military for munitions.

    Elbit Systems are the majority provider of Israel’s military drone fleet and land-based equipment, as well as bullets, bombs, missiles and digital warfare.

    Palestine Action ‘will not stop’

    Over the weekend more than a hundred Palestinians were massacred by the Israeli military. On Saturday, Al-Mawasi refugee camp which was an Israeli designated safe zone was targeted by Israeli air strikes killing over 90 Palestinians. The next day Israeli missiles struck a UN school sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians, killing 16 of them and injuring many more.

    The Bristol HQ which activists have once again shut down is owned by Somerset Council.

    In April 2024, a motion was passed by councillors calling for Somerset Council to explore all legal routes to evict Elbit before disposing of the Bristol premises. The council also received legal advice from Palestine Action’s lawyers, Public Interest Law Centre, setting out a clear route to remove Elbit as a tenant[6]. Despite this, the council continue to fail their legal and moral obligations to evict Elbit.

    A Palestine Action spokesperson said:

    Under Article 1 of the Genocide Convention, parties are obliged to prevent the commission of genocide and punish those responsible. When our government remains complicit in genocide and allows Israel’s Elbit Systems to operate in this country, it’s the responsibility of ordinary people to take direct action.

    Anyone who remains a partner of the Israeli weapons maker has done a serious moral and financial miscalculation as Palestine Action will break every link of Elbit’s supply chain, which involves targeting Elbit’s suppliers and of course, shutting Elbit down. We will not allow any institution to continue facilitating the bloody massacres of the Palestinian people.

    We will not stop until Elbit is shut down.

    Featured image and additional images and video via Martin Pope Photography

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Pressure increases on Labour to bin Bibby Stockholm as more protests erupt

    Asylum seekers have held a sit-in demonstration outside the floating asylum accommodation the Bibby Stockholm. They were protesting their quasi-detention limbo on the barge as the new Labour Party-run Home Office puts them through huge waits for their claims to be processed.

    Bibby Stockholm sit-in and solidarity protests

    As the Guardian reported:

    Dozens of asylum seekers living on the Bibby Stockholm barge are staging a sit-down protest over delays in processing their asylum claims, overcrowding conditions and trouble accessing medical treatment.

    A man this week described the boat in Dorset as the “hell barge”. There are about 400 asylum seekers onboard, one of the highest rates of occupancy since it opened in 2022.

    From the start, the Tories de facto floating prison has been riddled with controversy. Days after the Home Office had forced 39 migrants aboard the vessel in August 2023, tests detected the bacteria legionella within its water system. This bacteria can cause a potentially deadly respiratory condition known as Legionnaires’ disease.

    As a result, the government had to evacuate the refugees from the barge. In September, freedom of information requests (FOIs) revealed that tests had identified the most deadly strain of legionella on the vessel.

    Meanwhile, others have highlighted the huge sums of taxpayer’s money the government has thrown at the abhorrent floating cage. A migrant solidarity group had estimated the cost of the barge at £560k for just four weeks. However, information obtained by investigative group Corporate Watch revealed the Bibby Stockholm’s bill to be much higher in total. It found that the weekly cost amounted to nearly £300k. This means that the government squandered £2.2m to private contractors while the barge remained vacant due to legionella.

    Campaigners have also underscored the appalling conditions and treatment on board. For instance, refugees on the barge have described the poor food quality and restricted access to it. Notably, for nearly half the day, they are entirely unable to access food from the on-site canteen.

    The traumatic experience of living on the isolated Bibby Stockholm has led to suicide attempts, with one Albanian man, Leonard Farruku, dying by apparent suicide in December 2023.

    Legal action has been a feature of the barge’s controversial history from the word go too. First, in August 2023 the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) launched a challenge against the Home Office over fire safety concerns.

    Then, local councillor and Portland Mayor Carralyn Parkes embarked on a legal battle over the Bibby Stockholm. In October 2023, the courts quashed her initial judicial review against the Home Office. However, Parkes pursued her legal action, this time against Dorset Council. In May 2024, the courts once again dismissed the case. In both instances, the High Court had ruled that neither the Home Office or Dorset Council had planning authority over the barge.

    Bibby “hell barge”

    Many on the barge have waited long delays in the Home Office processing their asylum claims. Some on board haven’t received a decision after three years. In fact, an iNews report from December 2023 revealed that the Home Office won’t even approve claims while asylum-seekers are housed on the Bibby Stockholm.

    So now, asylum-seekers have launched a first-of-its-kind protest. Carrying placards that read “life not limbo” and others calling for “freedom” from the Bibby Stockholm, they sat together in the outside courtyard:

    Meanwhile, local residents and campaigners from Stand Up to Racism Dorset stood in solidarity with them at the port:

    A number of refugee rights groups backed their calls for the new Labour government to shut down the Tories racist legacy:

    As refugee and asylum specialist Lou Calvey noted, the right-wing vanity project was always a deliberate decision by a the rancidly racist Tory government. Instead, Labour could now choose to house asylum-seekers in communities, where local people and services can support and welcome them:

    Labour prioritises right-wing pandering and publicity stunts over people

    Indeed, the 18-month contract for the barge is set to expire soon. So, it would present the perfect opportunity for Labour to ditch it.

    Despicably however, in the in the final weeks of the election campaign, then shadow and now Home secretary Yvette Cooper said Labour would initially keep the barge. Cooper told LBC that the party would seek to end its use “as fast as possible”, but argued that:

    what you have to do first of all, the system is broken, so we need to prevent small boats arriving in the first place and that means smashing the criminal gangs.

    Already, Cooper has launched Labour’s game of migrant scapegoating from the outset. First on the agenda, Labour waving its dick around with its rightwing pander-project-come-border security plans. As the World Socialist Web Site reported:

    Within 48 hours of Labour coming to power, British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced the creation of a Gestapo-like Border Security Command (BSC).

    However, the Canary has pointed out before how these plans will do little to actually end dangerous boat crossings. To prevent people making the perilous crossing, Labour needs to expand safe routes to asylum.

    Ostensibly, its “stop the boats” chest-beating is not – and never was – about saving lives. If it were, the new Labour government would put a stop to the enormous abhorrent racist prison boat in its own backyard once and for all.

    This Thursday – 18 July – will mark one year since the barge arrived in Portland. Labour should end Dorset’s – and the country’s – ship of “shame” for good. 

    Feature image via Tom Lawrence – X

    By Hannah Sharland

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The MSM just buried news of a protest over Gaza at the Wimbledon men’s final

    Fossil Free London activists staged a demonstration outside the Wimbledon men’s finals, in protest of its sponsorship by climate crisis-catalyst and Israel genocide-enabling Barclays. You’d be forgiven for not knowing this, as the corporate media appears to have ignored the actions altogether.

    Wimbledon: ‘block for Palestine’

    Activists, dressed in tennis whites, poured “oil” (molasses) on themselves and chanted as they called on Wimbledon to drop Barclays as a sponsor due to its fossil fuel and Israeli defence company ties.

    They also ‘photobombed’ major celebrities entering the Wimbledon match with a ‘block for Palestine’ sign:

    Wimbledon Barclays

    Despite Barclays publishing a new energy policy at the start of this year that it hailed as a step towards a “science-based” approach towards “financing the transition”, Barclays continues to finance fossil fuel companies such as Shell. In 2023 alone, the hottest year ever recorded, Barclays provided $24.221 billion of financing to fossil fuel companies.

    Barclays: a stain on sport

    A report released in April also found that Barclays provides over £6.1 billion in loans and underwriting to arms and military technology companies that are involved in Israeli operations in Palestine. This includes holding £2.7m in Elbit Systems, which supplies the Israeli military with armoured drones, munitions, and artillery weapons used in its attacks in Gaza.

    Pressure is building on Barclays and those institutions like Wimbledon with links to the bank, after its multi-year sponsorship deal with Latitude, Download, and Isle of Wight festivals was suspended following protests from bands and fans.

    Joanna Warrington, spokesperson for Fossil Free London, said of Wimbledon:

    Barclays is a shameful stain on Wimbledon’s reputation. Treasured sporting events should not be sponsored by the billions this oily bank makes funding bombs and big oil. Clean up your image and drop Barclays, Wimbledon, or you’ll be hung out to dry alongside them.

    Featured image and additional images via Fossil Free London

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Youth Demand take action at the Cenotaph – threatening to disrupt state opening of parliament too

    Two Youth Demand supporters have laid flowers and a Palestinian flag at the Cenotaph, to commemorate the thousands killed in Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza. Youth Demand are calling for a two-way arms embargo on Israel and for the new UK government to halt all new oil and gas licences granted since 2021. However, before that the group has also said it will be disrupting the state opening of parliament.

    Youth Demand at the Cenotaph: never again?

    At around midday on 15 July, the two Youth Demand supporters laid a Palestinian flag and white flowers at the Cenotaph. White flowers are traditionally seen as a symbol of peace and of anti-war sentiment. The pair then displayed signs which read: ‘Never Again for Anyone’ and ‘Stop Arming Israel’:

    The pair used washable chalk paint to write ‘180,000 dead’ on the tarmac in front of the monument, in reference to a recent report in the Lancet which warns the death toll in Gaza may be significantly higher than the figures commonly reported:

    One of those taking action at the cenotaph was Olivia Burnett, 22, from Leeds, who said:

    At the end of WWII, this country looked at the bodies and promised we would never allow these kinds of atrocities to happen again. This monument reminds us of those who gave their lives fighting a genocide, and that ‘never again’ means never again for anyone. Labour is direspecting this legacy by being complicit in genocide and allowing arms to be sold to Israel.

    The Lancet journal has said that the real long-term death toll in Gaza could be over 180,000, due to destruction of hospitals as well as clean water and food sources. The government must commit to an arms embargo now! That is why Youth Demand will be disrupting the state opening of parliament. Join us at 9:30 am on Wednesday 17 July at Victoria Embankment Gardens.

    Also taking action is Esther Akatwijuka, 20, a student from Bristol, who said:

    In Palestine, four year olds are having heart attacks from the sound of bombs dropping around their homes and Gaza is so decimated it literally looks a different colour from space.”

    Everything that the cenotaph stands for is contrary to the Labour government allowing British companies to profit from genocide. The government continuing to uphold the status quo they have inherited from the Tories shows us that party politics has failed us and we need nonviolent direct action to make a change.

    Enough already

    After the cenotaph protest, Youth Demand will be taking further action in Central London this week to demand the UK government take action to protect life here and abroad by immediately cancelling all oil and gas licences granted by the Tories since 2021, whilst ensuring that the UK stops all weapons trading with Israel.

    Youth Demand will disrupt the state opening of parliament on 17 July, and are calling on those disgusted by the atrocities unfolding in Gaza to stand with them and to meet at 9:30 am on Wednesday at Victoria Embankment Gardens.

    The group said in a statement:

    Today’s action comes after a report was issued in the respected journal ‘The Lancet’, which warns the death toll in Gaza may be significantly higher than the death figures commonly circulated. The authors state that indirect deaths as a result of conflict can equate to far higher numbers than those killed as a direct result of bullets and bombs. Indirect deaths as a result of conflict can range from three to 15 times the number of direct deaths.

    Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct deaths to the 37,396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.

    Featured image via Youth Demand

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Journalist shoved, equipment damaged at UCLA student protest

    Reporter Cam Higby said he was assaulted while attempting to report on the occupation of a building on the University of California, Los Angeles, campus on May 23, 2024.

    UCLA’s student newspaper, the Daily Bruin, reported that protesters staged a sit-in at an academic building after law enforcement officers cleared a second pro-Palestinian encampment on campus.

    Higby told the Tracker he was blocked from entering the building through the front doors but was able to find a way in through a side entrance. “I was just filming and kind of walking around, taking pictures of the graffiti they had spray-painted inside the building,” he said.

    Shortly after, someone recognized him and called out, “This guy’s a Zionist!”

    Multiple individuals then surrounded him near the top of a set of exit stairs, jeering at him and challenging his status as a journalist. Higby confirmed with the Tracker that he was wearing a press credential from Today Is America, which he described as a digital news media and commentary site.

    Higby said he started to walk away from the individuals, but someone came from behind and struck his camera with what he believes was a closed fist.

    In his footage of the incident, a voice can be heard asking Higby, “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

    He said that while the individuals surrounded him, someone poured cold coffee into a pocket of his equipment bag, damaging his solar charger. In the footage, after Higby pulls out the soaked charger, a voice can be heard stating, “Your actions have consequences,” while others chant, “Busted!”

    “They berated me, taunted me, told me it would be a shame if I slipped on the coffee that was now leaking out of my bag,” Higby said. “Then they pushed me down the stairs. I remained on my feet and then they pushed me out the door and I fell on my back.”

    He added that he later attempted to reenter the building by donning a kaffiyeh and posing as a protester, but was again identified, assaulted and forced out of the building. Higby told the Tracker he filed a police report about the incidents.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Photojournalist pushed multiple times at protest outside LA synagogue

    Freelance photojournalist David Swanson was pushed multiple times while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least nine journalists were assaulted while covering the violence that day.

    The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement called for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, according to the Los Angeles Times.

    Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.

    Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN reported that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.

    Swanson told the Tracker that he was on assignment for Agence France-Presse and documented various skirmishes that broke out in the street. He said he was wearing a lanyard with a press pass issued by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and had his LAPD-issued credentials in his bag.

    In footage captured by photojournalist Shay Horse, Swanson, in a gray shirt, can be seen moving in to photograph a young man whose face is covered in blood following a brawl. The man then grabs Swanson’s lens and shoves it into his face and to the side.

    “That gentleman was there in support of the Jewish neighborhood and he got into a scuffle and he was bloodied when he got up,” Swanson said. “I got close with my camera. He saw me and I think he reached forward a couple of times, grabbed my lens and pushed it away from my face.”

    He said he had almost forgotten about the incident, as he had been so focused on getting the photo, though he added that others attempted to interfere as well. “There was a person — who I think we all had trouble with — that was pushing me and didn’t want me to photograph the bloodied person,” Swanson said.

    Swanson told the Tracker that he was shoved by individuals at the demonstration at least once or twice more that day, but that he was uninjured. He said that anyone who was documenting the day’s event was being targeted with violence.

    “The gist of it is that in the current climate, we’re getting attacked more by protesters,” he said. “Nobody tried to take my camera, but I know some of the reporters who use their cellphones for video had their cameras stolen.”

    The Tracker has documented the theft of at least four journalists’ devices at the demonstrations that day.

    The LAPD said in a news release that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Photojournalist pushed, camera lens broken during LA protest clashes

    An independent photojournalist was shoved and his camera was kicked, breaking the lens, while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least nine journalists were assaulted while covering the violence that day.

    The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement called for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, according to the Los Angeles Times.

    Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.

    Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN reported that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.

    The photographer, who asked not to be identified because he fears harassment, told the Tracker that he arrived at the protest with another photojournalist and verbally identified himself to protesters as a journalist, although he didn’t wear a press pass.

    As the protest came to an end, he was attacked when someone in the crowd falsely said he worked for Al Jazeera, the Qatari-based international TV news network that the Israeli government has barred from operating in the country amid the Israel-Gaza war. The photographer denied that he worked for the news organization, but said no one could hear him in the chaos.

    A large man then walked up to him and, standing chest to chest, pushed the journalist into the street with his torso, he recounted to the Tracker. Another person at the protest pulled the large man away.

    The crowd around the photojournalist grew to at least a dozen people, he said. They were walking toward him and he was slowly walking backward.

    “I felt my camera get kicked,” he told the Tracker. “It was in my hand. I sort of wrapped my strap around my hand, so it didn’t fly away.”

    The lens, a Sigma 20 mm F1.4 Canon mount worth about $900, was broken in the encounter. He said he has since sent the lens to be repaired, which he expects to cost hundreds of dollars.

    After the kick, the photographer’s friend and fellow journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel got between him and the crowd and told him to get away, which he did, despite several people grabbing at his backpack. Meanwhile, Beckner-Carmitchel and journalist Justin Jun were beaten.

    The photojournalist returned to try to help the journalists who were being assaulted, but someone else walked him away. He returned one more time and when Beckner-Carmitchel shouted at him to get away, he did.

    After the event, the photojournalist said he was particularly worried about people from the protest tracking him down and so now sleeps with a baseball bat by his bed.

    “I still would happily do photojournalism,” he told the Tracker. “I’m just really disheartened that police didn’t even bother to stop any violence that was happening right in front of their eyes.”

    He continued: “I’m scared for my safety at protests now. And I’m worried that I’m going to get targeted for no reason other than having a camera.”

    The LAPD said in a news release that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Starmer is ALREADY facing his FIRST proper protest as prime minister

    Keir Starmer has only just walked into 10 Downing Street, and the Labour Party into government, but already they’re facing the first protest of their reign.

    Palestine: on the election agenda and back on the streets

    Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to converge in London on Saturday 6 July to demand the new Labour government ends UK complicity with Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It’s the 16th major London March for Palestine since October, and it comes directly after the general election.

    Starmer’s government will be pushed to call for immediate ceasefire, halt arms sales to Israel, and restore funding to UNRWA. Speakers at the rally include Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leanne Mohamad, Mick Whelan (ASLEF), Kamila Shamsie, Steve North (Unison President), Apsana Begum MP, and Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta.

    Despite the genocide in Gaza being buried by both main parties and much of the media, pro-Palestine candidates made serious gains and delivered historic victories from Blackburn to Islington via Bristol and Birmingham.

    The march comes after an election campaign in which, as even Peter Mandelson admitted, Palestine has been placed firmly on the ballot. The Labour Party, which came under severe criticism for comments made by Keir Starmer supporting Israel’s “right” to cut off food and water in violation of International law, has lost swathes of votes to independents.

    Pro-Gaza MPs

    Overall, four pro-Gaza independent candidates unseated Labour MPs including shadow cabinet member and Starmer ally Johnathon Ashworth in Leicester. The Greens, who stood on a pro-Palestine ticket, also gained three seats and over 300 of their candidates candidates signed up to all of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) candidate demands.

    Elsewhere, Stop the War Founder member Corbyn won a massive victory in Islington North, while Leanne Mohamad came within a whisker of unseating Wes Streeting in Ilford and Andrew Feinstein considerably dented Keir Starmer’s majority in Holborn and St Pancras.

    Stop the War Coalition said:

    Despite the odds, we have emerged from this election energised and emboldened. The new Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, will be well aware of the profound effect our movement has had on the formation of the next parliament and the challenge we pose to him. Now it is time to immediately step up the pressure on Starmer and push him to call for an immediate, comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza and to recognise the state of Palestine.

    As the suffering in Gaza increases with more than 38,000 people dead, up to 21,000 children missing and famine on the horizon, it is vital that as many people as possible welcome the new government by demanding an end to the war in Gaza, an end to the genocide and an end to the selling of arms to Israel.

    End this, now

    Ben Jamal, PSC Director, said :

    Palestine has definitely been on the ballot in this election. Many of the results indicated that millions of voters cannot accept the UK takes a complicit role in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It is a shot across the bows of the incoming Labour Government. It needs to sit up and take notice. It needs to demand an immediate ceasefire, halt arms exports to Israel and restore funding to UNRWA.

    The campaign for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza and a free Palestine will continue with urgency and renewed determination in the new Parliament. We cannot sit back and expect our political leaders to suddenly decide to act in line with international law and the principles of human rights – we will have to push them to do so.

    That is why on Saturday, immediately after the general election, we will march on Westminster in our hundreds of thousands. We will campaign throughout this Parliament for the UK to support the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes as repeatedly affirmed by the UN General Assembly and Security Council.

    We will also ramp up our work calling for the boycott of complicit companies and divestment by public bodies including universities and local authorities from those companies, with a high profile Divestment Conference planned in London for August 10th. We will not stop until Palestine is free.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • While all eyes were on the election, Palestine Action was actually doing something meaningful

    While many of us were watching the Labour Party romp to the most uninspiring and unsupported general election victory in modern times, Palestine Action was doing something worthwhile: shutting down the supply chain to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

    Palestine Action: what election?

    Three Palestine Action activists were arrested on Friday 5 June after they shut down another site of the Teledyne Technologies company, striking at the Israeli-genocide-supplying ‘Teledyne CML Composites’ factory in Bromborough, Wirral.

    Through driving a van through the gates and spraying the premises red, activists have forced the site shut:

    This will prevent its contributions to Israel’s genocide – namely, its manufacture of parts for the F-35 fighter jets dropping 1,000lb and 2,000lb bombs over the most populated place on earth, for which Teledyne CML Composites has the blood of tens-of-thousands of Palestinians on its hands:

    Of course, complicit cops were on hand to protect corporate interests:

    Teledyne CML directly manufactures “Aircraft Structural Components: Complex-geometry glass-fibre packers” for the fighter jet programme, as well as acting as a supplier to numerous other ‘tier 1’ F-35 partners, including BAE Systems, Marand, and Magellan. To BAE Systems alone, Teledyne CML provides at least ten different “Special processes” for their F-35 programme contributions.

    It is crucial to Britain’s manufacturing contribution to the F-35, and by extension it is central in the country’s complicity in the atrocities under Israeli occupation of Palestine.

    Shut it down

    Its sister site in Shipley, ‘Teledyne Defence and Space’ has been granted dozens of export licenses for military electronics and munitions category arms annually, and was occupied by Palestine Action activists only three months ago.

    An activist held on remand in HMP Doncaster since that action was released just this week – with that action itself coming after activists raided and took apart the Teledyne Labtech factory in Presteigne, Wales, in December 2022.

    Palestine Action said in a statement:

    All of these actions are taken to undermine and undo British complicity in Israeli occupation, genocide, and colonial violence. Across all of their dormant and active subsidiaries, including ev2, Labtech, and others, the Teledyne Technologies company is the single largest exporter of weapons to Israel, by volume of licenses, from Britain.

    Their presence in Britain is a stain on our collective humanity. Palestine Action will continue to act where others fail to, to prevent further contributions to the attempted erasure of Palestinian existence.

    Featured image and additional images via Palestine Action

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Tory SHAME as a UN rapporteur just showed up to support Just Stop Oil in court

    A UN rapporteur has shown support for Just Stop Oil – by attending the trial of five of the group’s members after cops arrested them BEFORE they even did anything.

    Just Stop Oil: UN rapporteur out in support

    UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders under the Aarhus Convention and former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Michel Forst is attending the ongoing trial of five Just Stop Oil supporters at Southwark Crown Court.

    The special rapporteur’s office released a statement on 24 June detailing his views regarding the criminal prosecution of Daniel Shaw in this trial. The statement can be read here.

    The Aarhus Convention, to which the UK is a signatory, aims to promote environmental democracy by ensuring public access to information, participation in decision-making, and access to justice in environmental matters.

    The Special Rapporteur monitors the implementation of the convention’s provisions by its parties, ensuring compliance with obligations related to access to justice. Additionally, the Special Rapporteur investigates complaints from individuals or groups alleging violations of their rights under the Aarhus Convention, assesses specific cases, and makes recommendations to ensure compliance.

    Daniel Shaw, Cressie Gethin, Lucia De-Abreu-Whittaker, Louise Lancaster and Roger Hallam are currently on trial at Southwark Crown Court, charged with conspiracy to cause a public nuisance in connection with the M25 gantry actions in November 2022.

    On trial for ‘precrime’ based on the words of a hack at the Sun???

    They were arrested either pre-emptively in police raids at their homes after attending a Zoom call in which a snitch Sun journalist was present, or arrested travelling near the M25 respectively. The Sun alleged it had ‘infiltrated’ the meeting and boasted of tipping off the police and enabling National Highways to secure a public injunction.

    Some of these five were imprisoned for up to 113 days without trial. They were released subject to stringent conditions including a 10pm to 7am house curfew, not to be within a one-mile radius of the M25, no contact with other defendants and not to participate in any climate change demonstration.

    Campaign group Defend Our Juries was also still outside the Just Stop Oil trial. As the Canary previously reported, on 2 July cops arrested 11 of its members over sign-holding – on the orders of the judge. Since then, more people from Defend Our Juries have come out:

    The 11 will be back in court in September for potential contempt of court action.

    Meanwhile, in another trial involving Just Stop Oil supporters, which was the first under the new Public Order Act 2023 for a Section 7 offence, Judge Hehir who is overseeing the current proceedings barred all legal defences from the defendants and prohibited any mention of the climate crisis to the jury.

    This trial concluded with a conviction, and Judge Hehir is expected to sentence the defendants at a future date.

    Featured image via Just Stop Oil

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Royal Albert Hall saw a stunning performance from Extinction Rebellion last night

    The UK’s top insurers were forced to face up to their lethal role in climate breakdown at their annual awards ceremony on Wednesday 3 July. This is because Extinction Rebellion launched Insure Our Survival, a sustained campaign of nonviolent direct action demanding the insurance industry pull the plug on new fossil fuel ventures. The group did so at the Royal Albert Hall – even performing for onlookers.

    Extinction Rebellion: facing down the fossil fuel-backing insurance industry again

    As leading figures arrived at the major industry event at the Royal Albert Hall, activists held up huge images by photographer Gideon Mendell of extreme climate crisis-driven flooding across the country that is wrecking homes, destroying lives, ruining crops and driving up food prices:

    The sound of a violin played mournfully in the background as Extinction Rebellion’s Oil Slickers swirled around the entrance area symbolising the pollution and environmental destruction caused by the fossil fuel crimes that only happen because they are underwritten by insurance firms:

    An Extinction Rebellion choir sang a new version of John Lennon’s Imagine that included lines such as ‘Imagine all insurers, fighting for us all’. Activists held banners reading Stop Insuring New Fossil Fuels and Insure Our Survival:

    Extinction Rebellion Royal Albert Hall

    Each award goer was handed an Insure Our Survival business card warning that firms who continue to underwrite new fossil fuel projects will be targeted for non-violent direct action across the UK designed to cause reputational and revenue damage.

    Insure our survival not fossil fuels

    Alex Penson, a spokesperson for Insure Our Survival, said:

    This is just the beginning. Thousands of XR activists stand ready to focus their non-violent direct action energy on the insurance firms who are greenlighting the climate crisis by providing fossil fuel crooks with the insurance they need to dig and drill for oil, gas and coal.

    Over the months ahead, we will be using a wide range of nonviolent disruptive actions and protests to cause maximum reputational and revenue damage to the insurers, underwriters and reinsurers who refuse to meet our single demand: stop insuring all new oil, gas and coal projects and infrastructure completely and for good.

    Last night we challenged insurers having a good time and congratulating each other on their good work at the Royal Albert Hall to face up to some uncomfortable truths – that some of their work leads to flooded homes and wrecked lives for their customers facing more and more climate crisis-driven extreme weather events.

    We left the leading lights of the industry in no doubt about what they need to do: stop insuring new oil, gas and coal and focus on underwriting renewable energy to speed a just transition to a low or no-carbon economy.

    The insurance industry has a superpower. At a stroke, it could stop the fossil fuel crooks in their tracks and save the lives of billions of people threatened from the worst-case climate scenarios that scientists are saying are increasingly possible.

    It’s time for insurers to use their superpower or be held responsible when all of our children face a future like the children in the photographs we showed at our protest – struggling to survive in barely habitable countries haunted by crop failures, malnutrition, deadly storms, floods and heatwaves.

    Extinction Rebellion: insurance industry is on notice

    Insure Our Survival has grown out of a week of Extinction Rebellion actions that took place in the City of London, and in towns and cities across the UK in February in partnership with Insure Our Futures, an alliance of movements across the world.

    Lucy Porter, of Insure Our Survival, said:

    After our week of actions, Zurich Insurance announced they would no longer insure new oil and gas projects and infrastructure. Since then we have been approached by senior and junior staff from many insurers and underwriters supporting our aims.

    We intend to work with them to make insurance part of the climate solution, not part of the problem, and we invite other people in the industry to contact us and work with us.

    To those who continue to put their profits before a liveable planet we say: we will hold you accountable through an escalating campaign of nonviolent direct action across the country.

    Featured image and additional images via Extinction Rebellion

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Journalist shoved, phone briefly stolen during clashes at LA protest

    Independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg was shoved multiple times and her phone briefly stolen while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least nine journalists were assaulted while covering the violence that day.

    The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement called for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, according to the Los Angeles Times.

    Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.

    Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN reported that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.

    Berg was targeted with aggressions multiple times throughout the day, according to reports from other journalists covering the protests. Berg did not respond to requests for comment.

    Investigative journalist Kate Burns, who was covering the protest for Left Coast Right Watch, captured footage shortly after 2 p.m. of multiple men watching Berg film the protests. At 0:11 in the clip, one man appears to lightly push a second toward Berg. The second man then crashes into her with his shoulder and raised arms, toppling her several feet over and sending her phone flying.

    When Burns confronts the man about what happened, he responds simply with, “I got pushed.” Later in the clip, the same man appears to attempt to block multiple journalists from filming.

    After police cleared the area surrounding the synagogue, the pro-Palestinian demonstrators began to move back and the pro-Israeli protesters followed and chased them through the neighborhood, according to reports to the Tracker.

    Independent photojournalist Nick Stern said that he and Berg were standing on a grassy embankment when a pro-Israeli protester carrying a large yellow flag came up to them and tried to block his shot.

    Another pro-Israeli protester shoved Berg off the embankment before then grabbing Stern’s video camera as he was recording. Stern shared the video of the incidents with the Tracker.

    The protests eventually looped back to Adas Torah, which is when independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel said a switch flipped and violence escalated, particularly with the targeting of journalists.

    Beginning at 1:20 in footage captured by KCAL-TV, Berg can be seen running toward the right side of the street; when the camera zooms in, she can be seen grabbing what looks to be a cellphone from the hands of an individual who appears to be wearing a skullcap. As she walks back toward the protest, another man stands in her way and prevents her from continuing forward. The clip ended without showing how the interaction ended.

    Around that same time, another demonstrator grabbed the phone from Burns’ hands and ran off, dropping it on the sidewalk when he noticed police nearby, the reporter told the Tracker.

    The LAPD said in a news release that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Police just arrested 11 people on the orders of a judge for HOLDING SIGNS OUTSIDE A COURT

    On Tuesday 2 July police arrested a group of 11 people for holding signs outside Southwark Crown Court which said “Juries deserve to hear the whole truth” and “Juries have the absolute right to acquit a defendant on their conscience.” A 12th person holding a blank sign was not arrested. The police action was taken on the orders of Judge Hehir, a Crown Court Judge, who described the sign-holders as “trouble-makers”.

    The Judge’s actions come amid mounting concerns that the government’s so-called ‘crackdown on protest’ is undermining fundamental democratic rights in the UK, such as rights to freedom of expression and assembly.

    Judge appears to defy High Court ruling in case of Trudi Warner

    Judge Hehir’s actions are all the more extraordinary for their apparent defiance of the ruling of the High Court in the case of Trudi Warner.

    In March 2023, Judge Silas Reid ordered the arrest of Trudi Warner, a 69 year-old retired social worker, after she held a sign outside Inner London Crown Court which communicated the principle of jury equity:

    JURORS YOU HAVE AN ABSOLUTE RIGHT TO ACQUIT A DEFENDANT ACCORDING TO YOUR CONSCIENCE

    The Solicitor General, one of the government’s most senior lawyers, brought contempt of court proceedings against her, which were considered by the High Court in April this year. In dismissing the Solicitor General’s case, Mr Justice Saini ruled:

    It is fanciful to suggest that Ms Warner’s behaviour falls into this category of contempt. The category is limited to threatening, intimidatory, abusive conduct or other forms of harassment…

    The prosecution of the Insulate Britain cases, the decisions of law reached by judges in those cases, and the scope for the jury to hear evidence on matters of conscience in relation to offences allegedly committed as acts of political protest have become matters of serious public debate.

    A criminal prosecution is a disproportionate approach to this situation in a democratic society.

    There’s no question that Judge Hehir was aware of the High Court’s judgement. Raj Chada, one of the lawyers in the case he is currently hearing, referred it to him directly, urging the judge to ‘proceed with caution’.

    Arrests follow unprecedented UN intervention on juries

    Last March, Judge Silas Reid banned defendants in Insulate Britain trials from using the words ‘climate change’ and ‘fuel poverty’ in court. He imprisoned a number of people just for using those words in court, in defiance of his order.

    Earlier this year, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Environmental Defenders, Michel Forst, visited the UK and issued an unprecedented ‘End of Mission’ statement, which said:

    I was also alarmed to learn that, in some recent cases, presiding judges have forbidden environmental defenders from explaining to the jury their motivation for participating in a given protest or from mentioning climate change at all.

    It is very difficult to understand what could justify denying the jury the opportunity to hear the reason for the defendant’s action, and how a jury could reach a properly informed decision without hearing it, in particular at the time of environmental defenders’ peaceful but ever more urgent calls for the government to take pressing action for the climate.

    On 24 June, Michel Forst issued a statement calling into question the legality of a prosecution of members of Just Stop Oil, indicating that he would attend the current trial being heard by Judge Hehir .

    “Arrogant muscle-flexing” over juries

    Following a pattern of jury acquittals in so-called ‘protest’ cases, which have embarrassed the government and vested interests in the arms and oil industries, some judges appear determined to do whatever it takes to secure guilty verdicts.

    In February, Judge Silas Reid threatened a jury with criminal proceedings if they applied their conscience to a case of a group of women who broke windows at JP Morgan, the leading financier of fossil fuel projects around the world.

    Leading investigative journalist Amy Westervelt has unearthed evidence which suggests the crackdown is being driven not by public sentiment, but by so-called ‘think-tanks’ such as Policy Exchange, which are being funded by the fossil fuel industry.

    Indeed that would explain why so many juries are reaching not guilty verdicts in these cases, when they are allowed to hear the context for the defendants’ actions.

    ‘Acting like King Cnut’

    A spokesperson for campaign group Defend Our Juries said:

    Judges, such as Judge Hehir and Judge Reid, have no time for democratic principles such as trial by jury or freedom of expression.

    Like King Cnut, they act as if they can order the climate crisis, and the mass loss of life it is causing, to stay out of their courtrooms.

    They are taking increasingly desperate measures to secure the guilty verdicts they want for environmental defenders, including by threatening jurors and arresting people who peacefully exercise their democratic rights to freedom of expression and assembly.

    In defying the High Court and disregarding the concerns of the United Nations with their arrogant muscle-flexing, they imply that as Crown Court judges, they are above the law.

    Featured image via Defend Our Juries

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Independent videographer attacked by demonstrators at LA protest

    Independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was surrounded and attacked by multiple individuals while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least nine journalists were assaulted while covering the violence that day.

    The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement called for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, according to the Los Angeles Times.

    Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.

    Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN reported that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.

    Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker that tensions were high from the start, and that while covering the clashing demonstrations for several hours he observed an “intense” amount of security, tit-for-tat assaults and lots of bear spray in use.

    After police cleared the area surrounding the synagogue, Beckner-Carmitchel said, the pro-Palestinian demonstrators began to move back and the pro-Israeli protesters followed and chased them through the neighborhood. When the groups looped back to Adas Torah, he said it was like a switch flipped.

    “I’ve been doing this a long time, and I know when things are about to turn from violent to even more violent, and I could feel it,” he told the Tracker. “That was the moment where I was like, ‘Oh boy, I need to start figuring out a way to get out of here because this is not good.’”

    Beckner-Carmitchel said journalists were being deliberately targeted, so when he saw a large group following independent journalists Kate Burns and J.W. Hendricks, he approached them to film in case something happened and to plead with the crowd. That’s when he became the target of the crowd’s aggression.

    At 0:28 in footage captured from a helicopter by KCAL-TV photojournalist John Schreiber, a man can be seen kicking the phone from Beckner-Carmitchel’s hand. The phone was caught by videographer Justin Jun, but when Jun attempted to return it the pair of journalists were swarmed by individuals Beckner-Carmitchel identified as pro-Israeli demonstrators.

    “The crowd surrounded us, so I grabbed him (Jun) really close and gave him a bear hug to try to make sure that nobody can get us down on the ground and to protect my face and stomach and to protect my gear,” Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker.

    Schreiber’s footage shows two men pulling Jun back while a third attempts to kick his video camera. As Beckner-Carmitchel holds onto Jun, the third man grabs onto his shoulder and punches him twice in the back of the head.

    Independent photojournalist Nick Stern steps in to attempt to stop the attack, but as the journalists move away from the crowd one of the men nearly rips the shirt off Beckner-Carmitchel’s back and another kicks the videographer in the groin.

    Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker that he went up to the police line and was eventually allowed through to file a police report. He said that he had a large bump on his head and that, while there were some light scratches on one of the phone’s camera lenses, it was otherwise undamaged.

    The LAPD said in a news release that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. Beckner-Carmitchel said he believes his report is one of those cited. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Independent videographer attacked by demonstrators at LA protest

    Independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was surrounded and attacked by multiple individuals while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least nine journalists were assaulted while covering the violence that day.

    The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement called for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, according to the Los Angeles Times.

    Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.

    Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN reported that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.

    Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker that tensions were high from the start, and that while covering the clashing demonstrations for several hours he observed an “intense” amount of security, tit-for-tat assaults and lots of bear spray in use.

    After police cleared the area surrounding the synagogue, Beckner-Carmitchel said, the pro-Palestinian demonstrators began to move back and the pro-Israeli protesters followed and chased them through the neighborhood. When the groups looped back to Adas Torah, he said it was like a switch flipped.

    “I’ve been doing this a long time, and I know when things are about to turn from violent to even more violent, and I could feel it,” he told the Tracker. “That was the moment where I was like, ‘Oh boy, I need to start figuring out a way to get out of here because this is not good.’”

    Beckner-Carmitchel said journalists were being deliberately targeted, so when he saw a large group following independent journalists Kate Burns and J.W. Hendricks, he approached them to film in case something happened and to plead with the crowd. That’s when he became the target of the crowd’s aggression.

    At 0:28 in footage captured from a helicopter by KCAL-TV photojournalist John Schreiber, a man can be seen kicking the phone from Beckner-Carmitchel’s hand. The phone was caught by videographer Justin Jun, but when Jun attempted to return it the pair of journalists were swarmed by individuals Beckner-Carmitchel identified as pro-Israeli demonstrators.

    “The crowd surrounded us, so I grabbed him (Jun) really close and gave him a bear hug to try to make sure that nobody can get us down on the ground and to protect my face and stomach and to protect my gear,” Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker.

    Schreiber’s footage shows two men pulling Jun back while a third attempts to kick his video camera. As Beckner-Carmitchel holds onto Jun, the third man grabs onto his shoulder and punches him twice in the back of the head.

    Independent photojournalist Nick Stern steps in to attempt to stop the attack, but as the journalists move away from the crowd one of the men nearly rips the shirt off Beckner-Carmitchel’s back and another kicks the videographer in the groin.

    Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker that he went up to the police line and was eventually allowed through to file a police report. He said that he had a large bump on his head and that, while there were some light scratches on one of the phone’s camera lenses, it was otherwise undamaged.

    The LAPD said in a news release that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. Beckner-Carmitchel said he believes his report is one of those cited. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Photojournalist’s camera snatched, smashed during clashes at LA protest

    Independent photojournalist Nick Stern’s video camera was stolen and broken while he was documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least nine journalists were assaulted while covering the violence that day.

    The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement called for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, according to the Los Angeles Times.

    Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.

    Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN reported that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.

    Stern, whose work is largely published in British outlets, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was wearing press credentials on a lanyard and was easily identifiable as a journalist by the two cameras strapped around his neck.

    But that may have put him more at risk, he said, as the attacks appeared to be targeting journalists. “I think it would have been safer if I hadn’t,” he told the Tracker.

    Stern said he and journalist Tina-Desiree Berg were standing on a grassy embankment when a pro-Israeli protester carrying a large yellow flag came up to them and tried to block his shot.

    Another pro-Israeli protester shoved Berg off the embankment, then grabbed Stern’s video camera as he was recording. Stern shared the video of the snatch with the Tracker.

    Stern said he chased the protester, who threw the camera down on the ground. Stern retrieved it, but the camera, a DJI Osmo Pocket 3 worth about $600, had a broken lens and battery pack, rendering it unusable.

    Stern told the Tracker that as of June 28 he hadn’t yet reported his broken camera to police.

    The LAPD said in a news release that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.

    Stern told the Tracker that he plans to continue covering protests, but after witnessing the assaults on journalists on June 23, he expects to carry a Taser with him for protection.

    “I think we’ve got to a point now where a journalist will get significantly injured or even possibly killed at a protest event,” he told the Tracker. “This needs to stop. As journalists, we need to do what we’re out there doing.”


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Activists serve up the truth on Barclays’ Wimbledon sportswashing

    Protesters have called out Barclays’ sportswashing – and asked Wimbledon why it’s batting for the fossil fuel and arms financier.

    Because, far from the “strawberries and cream” image Wimbledon projects to the world, this year’s sponsor is drenched in complicity for Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the devastating impacts of the climate crisis.

    Barclays brandalism action at Wimbledon

    Activists started Monday 1 July with a series of brand vandalism ads across London:

    Campaign group Brandalism UK engaged in a mass subvertising action. They installed hundreds of posters and billboards in ad spaces near the major Tennis stadium:


    Commuters on London’s Underground and at nearby bus-stops were also met with the powerful ads:

    Protest against Barclays sportswashing

    Following the ad action, protesters from multiple pro-Palestine and anti-fossil fuel groups turned up to take Wimbledon to task:

    They stood outside the stadium sporting Palestinian flags:

    Demonstrators carried placards and banners calling for a boycott on Barclays:

    Alongside its artistic ad action, activists staged further creative protest:

    Barclays bankrolling genocide and the climate crisis

    As the Canary has consistently reported, campaign groups like Palestine Action and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) have repeatedly targeted UK-based multinational bank Barclays. The groups have done so since Barclays has infamously maintained gargantuan investments in the arms companies facilitating Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

    In particular, the Canary previously noted that:

    According to a recent report by War on Want, the bank holds £1,300,688,880 in shares of companies whose weapons, components, and military technology have been used in unlawful violence against Palestinians. This includes investments in BAE Systems, Boeing and Elbit Systems,

    Moreover, it provides over £3bn in loans and underwriting to nine companies whose weapons, components, and military technology have been used in Israel’s armed violence against Palestinians.

    What’s more, Barclays has an ill-reputed record on everything from financing fracking and the climate-wrecking East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), to propping up union-busting corporations.

    Between 2016 and the end of 2023, Barclays has poured US $235.2bn into fossil fuels. This is according to the latest ‘Banking on Climate Chaos’ report, which placed Barclays among its ‘Dirty Dozen’ – the top twelve worst banks for financing the polluting sector.

    In July 2023, Just Stop Oil disrupted Wimbledon. Then too, they did so to draw attention to the Tennis stadiums sponsorship deal with the bank.

    Now, climate campaigners have rallied together with Palestine protesters to serve up the truth on Barclays’ blood money. Together, they’re calling game, set, and match on Barclays’ shameless sportswashing, as Israel continues its brutal massacre, and the climate crisis rages on with the banks financial backing.

    Feature image via Brandalism UK – X 

    By Hannah Sharland

    This post was originally published on Canary.