BP Protest

Have been watching the protests outside BP with interest. I spoke to one of the demonstrators on Tuesday. Its all quite exciting. We've been ribbing a girl at work who is about to go and start working there.

There is a full background (with picture) on indymedia

Their report is here:
BP tree sit enters another night with one activist left planning to stay in the tree in St James Sq overnight – support is needed, there’s a continued police presence According to the UN, climate change kills 150,000 people every year. Tony Blair has described the threat as the gravest we face, but does nothing to address the issue. In an attempt to put climate change and energy policy on the public agenda, tuesday saw not one but two actions. Four women and four men scaled the Deputy Prime Minsiter house in Hull at dawn, erecting solar panels. A banner read, ‘Hi, 2 Jags! Hit targets not voters’. Their statement said that John Prescott’s is putting Britain’s climate change targets at risk by failing to make UK homes more energy efficient.“The Deputy PM’s got a reputation for straight-talking, but since the election kicked off we’ve heard barely a squeak about climate change from big hitters like him… Whoever wins on May 5th needs to get serious about energy efficiency.”, said one of the protesters from the roof. Meanwhile in London, protesters from London Rising Tide climbed two huge trees opposite the head office of British Petroleum in St James Square. They unfurled a huge banner reading ‘BP fuels climate chaos’ while others leafleted passers-by, BP workers and member of the press. Earlier this month, the BP AGM was targetted by the ‘Greenwash Guerrillas’.Tuesdays actions coincided with BP announcing record profits (£1.3m per hour this quarter) as they reap the rewards of surging oil prices since the invasion of Iraq. Some of the protesters stayed up the trees overnight and greeted workers as they arrived in the morning.BP action : press release, leaflet, photo story, more photosPrescot action : report, photoNote: There will be a day of action against climate change on the 8th July as part of the mobilisations against the G8 summit.

Iraq: Mainstream media and trust

From bobharris.com:

If you missed it -- and that was actually surprisingly easy to do -- hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in Baghdad, demanding a withdrawal of U.S. and U.K. troops.


Just for fun, compare and contrast the size of the crowd with this photo of the supposedly massive celebration when Saddam's statue was ripped down by a U.S. military vehicle for the benefit of CNN and similarly honest western news outlets.



The whole thing was eventually revealed as an Army psyops job. Really, it was. The Army itself admitted it. Like, almost a year ago.

If you read the link to CNN, note the careful framing of the photo, the lack of a crowd in the background (matching this wide-angle shot), and just how little the article actually says about the size of the "crowd."

(And now that the fakery has been officially admitted, you'd think the folks who published things like this laughably doctored photo of a large crowd, containing obvious Photoshop artifacts, would admit it. But so far... not so much, nope.)

You'd think that learning all this would have crippled the American public's faith in both the government and media.

Maybe it would have... if we had heard about it."

Just for info, CommonDreams reproduced this LA Times article which acknoedges the US Army and Psyop's role in the staute being taken down. Ie, it was a staged event.

Gay Rights

I went to a party last night. It was given by Tom Robinson, he of "Sing if you're glad to be gay" fame. He's a really top bloke and his site is well worth checking out.

Some of the lyrics from the infamous song are here:

" The British Police are the best in the world
I don't believe one of these stories I've heard
'Bout them raiding our pubs for no reason at all
Lining the customers up by the wall
Picking out people and knocking them down
Resisting arrest as they're kicked on the ground
Searching their houses and calling them queer
I don't believe that sort of thing happens here"

Also met the editor of Gay times, and asked him about doing some work experience for him. I have had the idea of doing a short piece on gay rights. I thought I could interview Peter Tatchell (site here, another top bloke), maybe Tom Robinson as well, and maybe someone from Amnesty as well.

Gay Human Rights abuses

There are some shocking abuses of human rights described here:

Last June, two police officers beat Victor Jarrett, 24, near Montego Bay. His crime? They suspected he might be gay. As the officers continued to beat Jarrett, a large mob armed with stones and sticks soon gathered.

Other examples here:

"The crowd stood around watching chanting 'battyman, battyman, battyman' .... The crowd beat, punched and kicked him. They threw water from the gutter and garbage on him. Then they dragged him down the road ... They shouted 'battyman fi' dead'. As I stood across the street I realised there was nothing I could do to help him. Some mothers were actually in tears at what they were witnessing but there was nothing they could do either ... The crowd was saying 'Give him to us! Let us kill him! He’s a battyman!'" Eyewitness statement of how six men blocked a road to beat a gay man.

PS Have just found out that Peter Tatchell has already written an article on this very subject:

"News feature: State control: Peter Tatchell looks at the shocking use of male rape as a weapon to control opponents of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe"

More info:

Amnesty International has expressed deep sadness at the death of leading Jamaican gay rights activist Brian Williamson, who was brutally murdered on 9 June 2004, and has urged the Jamaican authorities to ensure that his death is thoroughly and impartially investigated.

Amnesty International said:

“Brian Williamson was a courageous individual prepared to speak out for one of the most marginalised and persecuted communities in Jamaica: the gay and lesbian community. The loss of such a fearless champion of human rights is a tragedy. He will be sorely missed.”

Human Rights Watch has some more info on the situation in Saudi Arabia

"In sentencing more than 100 men to imprisonment and flogging after unfair trials for reputed homosexual conduct, Saudi Arabia has advertised its contempt for the basic rights to privacy, fair trials and freedom from torture, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists said today."

imagesmith.co.uk

Hello to the two attractive lesbians I met in a bar in Soho the other day.