Apparently this is public: the English Scottish Defence League are coming to Edinburgh (they say) on February 20th.
So, there will be counter-protest(s). Discussion at the Meadows Bar on Buccleuch St., tomorrow (Weds 9th) @ 7PM.
From a first hand report. (Background to the dispute and an earlier action.)
Two WCR scab bin lorries were blockaded for an hour in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket on 25 September. This was the third successful blockade of the scab bin lorries operating in the Edinburgh Council Cleansing workers dispute.
The two lorries were spotted by the roving band of Scab Stoppers as the scabs went to pick up rubbish bins in the Grassmarket. The crowd of around 25 quickly surrounded the lorries, which were then abandoned by the dispute breakers for the next 40 minutes or so. Eventually they returned, but were unable to drive off due to protesters being present at the front and back of both lorries – though one scab supervisor was heard to urge the driver to just reverse into the path of the demonstrators.
IWW union placards proclaimed NO WAGE CUTS , NO MORE CUTS, BIN THE SCABS and SOLIDARITY WITH COUNCIL BIN WORKERS. Copies of the new EDINBURGH MUCKRAKER news-sheet, telling the truth about the Council’s efforts to cut its workers wages, were distributed. The scab lorries were covered with bin solidarity stickers. When the police eventually turned up the crowd melted into the closes of Edinburgh’s Old Town, no arrests and everyone free to renew the direct action solidarity in the near future.
This action followed successful half-hour long blockades at Hunter Square/ Blair Street on 18 September and at Spittal Street/ Bread Street on 21 September. The blockades were highlighted on the front page of the Edinburgh Evening News on 22 September.
BIN SOLIDARITY organising meeting – 7.30pm Tues 29 Sept at ACE, 17 W Montgomery Place EH7 5HA
Info edinburghmuckraker [at] riseup.net
Following on from the productive discussion last month, covering general thoughts and strategising about directions for anarchism in Edinburgh, we present a meeting focussing on the workplace. Speakers from the Anarchist Federation and the anarcho-syndicalist Solidarity Federation will be talking on their organisations’ approach to organising resistance in the workplace. The meeting is tonight at ACE, 6:30 for a 7:00pm start.
In the face of a recession and a supine trade union bureaucracy, what can be done to fight back on this terrain?
Both Afed and Solfed have recently looked deeply and freshly at this question (Read them: AF new workplace strategy – SF “Brighton Manifesto”), making this meeting a valuable opportunity to look forward at ways of sharing practice and knowledge.
An opportunity for people to get together to share info and ideas on the border regime and the growing movement against borders and for the freedom of movement for all!
10.30am til 6pm, plus evening social and music @ the Forest Café, 3 Bristo Place, Edinburgh, EH1 1EY
Migration has always been present in human history. Recently, European governments have been developing ever more rigid and forceful immigration control. This dayschool will explore this ‘Fortress Europe’, look at its effects on those who migrate, and explore concrete proposals for what we can do about it.
Workshops include
• Solidarity with asylum seekers – Stopping ‘dawn raids’ – the experience in Glasgow with Unity & community struggles in Scotland
• Migrant Workers – How we can support documented workers and those ‘sans-papiers’? With input from the Industrial Workers of the World.
• ‘Fortress Europe’ & the UK Border Regime – Info on the situation facing migrants in Calais and UK plans for ID cards.
• Destitution – How the UK government deliberately uses destitution as a weapon against asylum seeker families with info on ‘luncheon voucher exchange’ schemes and ‘Section 4’
• Environmental Refugees – Fleeing environmental degradation will soon be the number one reason for migration. How can we make the links, tackle the root causes and show solidarity?
• Migration Profiteers – BMI, Angel, G4S – What we can do about companies making a profit from other people’s misery?
With No Borders UK Info Tour 2009 – an exhibition of striking photographs from Calais by French photographer Julie Rebouillat, along with information displays on the European border regime and the forthcoming Calais No Border Camp, 23-29 June 09 (See Scotland Indymedia for more Tour events)
Plus updates and films on current struggles for freedom of movement and discussion about setting up a Scottish No Borders network.
No Borders is a network of groups and individuals resisting migration controls and the persecution, detention and exploitation of refugees and other migrants, and working for a world without borders.
Supported by:
There’s going to be a meeting to discuss what we’re up to in Edinburgh. This Thursday, 6pm, Tollcross Community Centre. From an invitation:
A few people are meeting next week for an informal chat about organising and resistance in Edinburgh. The call for the upcoming Anarchist Movement Conference asks whether ‘we’ are relevant? whether ‘we’ are progressing? how and where should ‘we’ organise? Maybe we might benefit from asking questions like these locally.
So far there has been a fair amount of interest in having some kind of discussion along these lines. There is no set agenda, as it is an informal discussion to see what things crop-up and where individuals, groups, networks and federations might have common ground and to encourage co-operation where common ground can be found. So if there is ANY organising/actions that you”ve thought ‘hmmm, wouldn’t it be good if that happened’, then come along and throw the idea into the mix.
Like with the Anarchist Movement Conference, if we can come together to put our ideas on the table, perhaps something useful will come out of it.
The meeting will take place at Tollcross Community Centre (117 Fountainbridge) on Thursday 23rd April from 18:00 until 21:00. The venue has no tea making facility so maybe you might want to bring along a flask and a small bite to eat to share.
Tomorrow some of us will be meeting at 8pm in ACE for an Edinburgh Anarchist Federation meeting. The last meeting was of members and non-members, it’s an open meeting so feel free to come along whether you are a member or not as I’m sure there is lots of common ground we can find in our struggles and campaigns. There is quite a lot on the agenda, but if there is something you want to discuss then feel free to add to it.
Short notice, I know. There’s a post scheduled for tomorrow that will make for ironic lulz.
