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So Switched On – The dream of London’s energy democracy
The train hurries south on the main line towards Brighton, carrying me away from the event I have just attended, ‘Power to Us’ organised by Switched on London at Myatt’s Fields in Brixton. Looking out from the carriage, over the roofs of the houses of Purley stacked up this steep sided North Downs valley at…
4 Nov 2016 james -
This is water defending itself – Protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline on Westminster Bridge
Forty feet wide by ten feet high the banner drapes delicately from the solid structure of Westminster Bridge. Standing at the parapet, gazing down at the brown river, we can see the upturned faces of over a hundred passengers looking up at us from the tourist vessel ‘Millennium Dream’. They are clearly trying to decipher…
22 Sep 2016 james -
Ffos-y-Fran and Nant Llseg – the struggle to #keepitintheground
On the morning of 3rd May 2016 there was a successful occupation at the Ffos-y-Fran opencast mine in South Wales by Reclaim the Power. This blog was written in the build up to that action. We’re heading for our tent in the incessant drizzle, weaving between clusters of newly sprouted tents and trying hard to…
5 May 2016 james -
Breaking: The Struggle to Free the Bus: The Twists, the Turns and the Conspiracies
BREAKING Guest Blog by Ken Henshaw, Social Action, Nigeria The extraordinary behind-the-scenes story of the Bus memorial seizure and the struggle to release it, on the day of the 3rd Hearing to release the memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni 8. Show your support – follow and tweet @GreatOgoni, @Kenn_Henshaw, @S_DouglasCamp. Support the Movement…
24 Feb 2016 jane -
Possession – the Boxing Day Floods and the recommoning of the rivers
We wake in a B&B in Kilnsea, the last village before the shingle bar of Spurn Head that juts out from Holderness in East Yorkshire. All night a South Easterly wind of Force 6, gusting to Force 7, has buffeted the farmhouse. From the windows we can see white horses on the River Humber and…
13 Jan 2016 james -
“This is a victory for the people, especially the Inupiat”
Seven years, $7 billion, and hundreds of protests was what it took. Shell is leaving the Alaskan Arctic. This morning we were outside Shell’s HQ on London’s South Bank to celebrate. I ended up sharing the stage with Aurora – Greenpeace’s spectacular bus-sized polar bear puppet – and Emma Thompson. But I really wish I…
29 Sep 2015 anna -
Civil Society in Nigeria calls for deeper commitment to clean-up
This month marked the 4th anniversary of a historic UNEP report calling for extensive action for the clean-up in the Niger Delta. I caught up with reactions from our partners in Nigeria and jumped on Arise TV to share our responses to the meetings that took place and to ramp up pressure on Shell to follow through…
25 Aug 2015 admin -
UK human rights campaigner detained & red-listed in Baku Airport in run-up to European Games
Emma has been deported. Up to date press release: https://platformlondon.org/p-pressreleases/emma-hughes-deported-azerbaijan-bp/ Emma Hughes of Platform, a member of the Sport for Rights coalition, has been detained in Baku airport on her way into Azerbaijan, by the BP-Aliyev regime. She has been told she is on a “red list”, had her passport taken from her and will…
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Free Mahienour: Egyptian revolutionary & climate justice activist
Our ally Mahienour El-Massry is facing 2 years in jail in Egypt for speaking out against human rights abuses. This Sunday 31 May, a court will rule on her case. She faces a two year sentence on trumped up charges, for a small lawyers protest at Raml police station after cops assaulted another lawyer. The…
28 May 2015 admin