#KILLTHEBILL PROTESTS – WHO GETS TO DECIDE WHAT COUNTS AS VIOLENCE?

Posted on April 30, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged #KillTheBill, Avon & Somerset police, Bristol, Bristol protests, capitalism, civil disobedience, Covid-19, featured, government, GRT, mainstream media, media, monopoly on violence, morality, norwich, PCSC Bill, poli, police, police murder, police state, protest, state violence, Tories, uk, violence, WHO.

By Howard Green

The most important intergovernmental organisation of the last year, the World Health Organisation, defines violence as:

the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.

The media in this country have used the terms ‘violence’ and ‘violent’ to categorise the recent civil disruption surrounding the Kill The Bill protests. Norwich’s recent protests couldn’t be called ‘violent’ by any stretch of the imagination, but there have still been reactionary responses attempting to write off their importance, including from the EDP. However in the case of places like Bristol, the word ‘violence’ has been openly used against protestors by the media and influential reactionary figures.

OUR LAND, OUR STREETS: NORWICH’S KILL THE BILL PROTEST

Posted on April 7, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Community, Inter|national and tagged civil disobedience, civil liberties, dissent, featured, GRT, gypsy, human rights, killthebill, norwich, occupy, police, police violence, right to protest, Robert Kett, Roma, traveller, trespass.

by Yali Banton-Heath

While Archant published clickbait headlines in the EDP and Norwich Evening News that chose to spotlight the pink chalk ‘vandalism’ of a war memorial, Saturday’s Kill the Bill protest in Norwich city centre was in fact a peaceful display of solidarity, and an empowering antidote to the violence that protesters elsewhere in the country have been subjected to. In Bristol, boards reading ‘People Over Property‘ now surround the former plinth of the Edward Colston statue, and act as a visual reminder of both the police and the media establishment’s skewed priorities when it comes to covering protests. Chalk gets washed away with a spell of wet weather. Authoritarian bills don’t.

BRISTOL RIOTS: THE BIGGER PICTURE

Posted on March 23, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged austerity, Bristol, Bristol protests, Bristol riots, civil disobedience, Covid-19, featured, Gypsy Roma Traveller, Kill the Bill, peaceful, police, Police Crime Courts and Sentencing Bill, police violence, Priti Patel, protest, right to protest, sarah everard, squatters, squatting, trespass.

by Tesni Clare

Sunday’s events in Bristol have made headlines. Predictably, however, mainstream media has fallen into the trope of shortsighted reporting, indulging in simplistic, one-sided narratives of protestors as ‘mobs of animals’ who ‘attacked’ and ‘badly injured’ police officers. Whilst they make good headlines, these intentionally inflammatory discourses, alongside powerful images of burning vans, serve to eclipse the bigger story.

THE ANTI-POLL TAX UNIONS: LESSONS IN COMMUNITY ORGANISING

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Community, Inter|national and tagged acorn, activism, All-British Anti-Poll Tax Federation, anti-poll tax unions, austerity, bailiffs, campaigning, civil disobedience, class, community organising, Danny Burns, featured, grassroots, miners strike, non-payment, poll tax, Poll Tax Rebellion, poll tax riots, protest, Thatcher, Tories, uk, unions.

By Niahl Hubbard

When activists look back to the movement that arose to challenge the introduction of the Poll Tax, they will see it as one of ordinary people taking on the establishment and coming out victorious. Whilst the rioting in Trafalgar Square and similar confrontations between police and protestors often takes centre stage in our collective memory of this period, there is the risk of overlooking the grassroots and community led resistance that fought every step of the way during the Poll Tax’s introduction – the resistance of the Anti-Poll Tax Unions.

THE BLIND SPOTS OF THE GERMAN ENERGY TRANSITION — 2ND ROUND FOR ENDE GELÄNDE

Posted on April 13, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged #breakfree2016, #breakfreefromfossilfuels, #keepitintheground, activists, break free, break free from fossil fuels, civil disobedience, climate change, climate crisis, climate negotiations, co2, coalfields, ecologist, economist, ecosystems, emissions, Ende Gelände, Energiewende, energy transition, environment, EU, exploitation, Ffos y fran, fossil fuel, germany, Germany energy, global warming, good life, green economy, keep it in the ground, lignite, Lusatia, Naomi Klein, natural destruction, Nigeria, open cast mines, people power, profit, reclaim the power, renewable energy, resistance, rhineland, social exclusion, system change, this changes everything, turkey, Vattenfall, Wales, welcome2stay.

by Dorothee Häussermann

Last August, more than 1000 people rushed into one of Germany’s biggest open-cast lignite mines and stopped mining operations for a day. This action of civil disobedience went under the slogan ‘Ende Gelände — stop the diggers — protect the climate’; ‘Ende Gelände’ translates as ‘here and no further’. The campaign called for an immediate coal phase-out, emphasizing the urgency for DIY solutions to the climate crisis in the face of governmental inaction.

What is the problem? Isn’t Germany the paragon of energy transition? Aren’t ecologists and economists alike inspired by progressive policies such as the feed-in tariff that supported the rapid expansion of renewable energy sources? Even Naomi Klein’s film This Changes Everything depicts the German ‘Energiewende’ as a way to go forward. So what are these activists complaining about?Continue Reading

BAHAR MUSTAFA’S CHARGE SHOWS WHY FEMINISM SHOULDN’T RESPECT THE LAW

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives, Student and tagged activism, arts, bahar mustafa, bahar mustafa charge, bahar mustafa killallwhitemen, bikini kill, BME, british justice, civil disobedience, feminism, free speech, hate speech, in theory, justice, killallwhitemen, mainstream feminism, male tears, militant feminism, morality, NUS, Perspectives, right wing society, twitter, twitter charge, university, white feminism, white privilege.

by Robyn Banks

It all started with a Facebook event. Goldsmiths Student Union Welfare and Diversity officer, Bahar Mustafa, wanted to find out how she could help women and non-binary students of colour at her university. Aware that the voices of these minority groups were often difficult to hear, she decided to organise an event to talk to women and non-binary BME students alone. She created a Facebook event and politely requested that men and white people did not attend the event for people who weren’t men or white people. I don’t pretend to understand the reasons that white men at Goldsmiths were so upset that they weren’t wanted at the BME meeting, but they were, and before long the story had made it in to the right wing press and Bahar was splashed across the pages of the Daily Mail. After being put under harsh scrutiny and being the subject of a campaign of harassment, Bahar tweeted that familiar sentiment which has come to epitomise the frustration of third wave feminists, from Bikini Kill to Jezebel, in the form of a hashtag: “#Killallwhitemen”.

CLIMATE CAMP, RHINELAND 2015: ENDE GELANDE – LEAVE IT IN THE GROUND!

Posted on June 21, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged activism, anti nuclear, civil disobedience, climate, climate camp, climate change, climate movement, climate summit, degrowth summerschool, direct action, education, Ende Gelände, energy, environment, Europe, fossil fuels, germany, klimacamp, lignite, mass action, media, nuclear, open cast mining, politics, protest, renewable energy, rhineland, sustainable, UN.

by Klimacamp im Rheinland

In August, the 6th Climate Camp in the Rhineland (Germany) will take place. From the 7-17th August there will be 10 days full of workshops, networking, exploring sustainable lifestyles, and direct action.

Why a Climate Camp, anyway?

With its three open cast mines and five power plants, the Rhineland coalfield is Europe’s biggest emittant of carbon dioxide. The power plant Niederaußem alone emits about 29 million tons of CO₂per year. That is almost one ton per second — more than one person in Bangladesh causes in a whole year. While the ailing power company RWE can make a lot of profit with that, it means the loss of their livelihoods for hundreds of millions of people especially in the global south. This year’s Climate Camp will most likely take place in the immediate vicinity to the open cast mine Garzweiler, right where the destruction of the global climate begins.Continue Reading

civil disobedience

#KILLTHEBILL PROTESTS – WHO GETS TO DECIDE WHAT COUNTS AS VIOLENCE?

By Howard Green

OUR LAND, OUR STREETS: NORWICH’S KILL THE BILL PROTEST

BRISTOL RIOTS: THE BIGGER PICTURE

THE ANTI-POLL TAX UNIONS: LESSONS IN COMMUNITY ORGANISING

BAHAR MUSTAFA’S CHARGE SHOWS WHY FEMINISM SHOULDN’T RESPECT THE LAW

CLIMATE CAMP, RHINELAND 2015: ENDE GELANDE – LEAVE IT IN THE GROUND!

Why a Climate Camp, anyway?

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