Find out about Shake's new youth-led research collective and its new work on public space, young people and 'violence'

Find out about Shake’s new youth-led research collective and its new work on public space, young people and ‘violence’

Shake! is excited to launch its youth-led research collective. It starts from questions about power that come up time and again as we make and remake Shake! Why are we young people always the objects of ‘research’ and ‘policy’? And why young people of colour in particular? We are not interested in being described, explained, being told...
Oil Be Back: could drilling begin again in Ogoniland 22 years after the people kicked Shell out?

Oil Be Back: could drilling begin again in Ogoniland 22 years after the people kicked Shell out?

Recently there has been a flurry of Nigerian media headlines stating that oil drilling in Ogoniland could soon re-start. I have tried to dig deeper to assess what is currently known and what questions remain. Has Shell sold assets in Ogoniland? So far, there have been no news stories outside of Nigeria about Shell’s plans...
Ogoni protests escalate in Nigeria as Shell fails to implement UNEP report

Ogoni protests escalate in Nigeria as Shell fails to implement UNEP report

A few weeks ago we were crammed into a small radio station studio in Port Harcourt. We listened with bated breath to our friend Celestine AkpoBari from the Ogoni Solidarity Forum being interviewed.  “There is no going back on the 90 day deadline ultimatum delivered to the Nigerian Government and oil companies to implement the...
“Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution” comes to London

“Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution” comes to London

A guest blog post by Mara Ranville. “Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution” (OR Books 2012) is a book and web toolbox that puts the accumulated wisdom of decades of creative protest into the hands of the next generation of change-makers. Part manifesto, part reference guide, Beautiful Trouble is the anti-textbook—not another how-to manual, but...
BP sponsors lobby group that welcomed executions in Egypt "to restore order" in post-election crackdown

BP sponsors lobby group that welcomed executions in Egypt “to restore order” in post-election crackdown

BP is sponsoring a business lobby organisation that enthusiastically welcomed election promises to crack down on dissent in Egypt with executions and brutal force, aiming to crush the revolution after the imminent Presidential elections AmCham  – the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt – hosted Mubarak-era Prime Minister and current Presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq for...
15th March - an evening with the Journal of  Aesthetics & Protest

15th March – an evening with the Journal of Aesthetics & Protest

One of the co-editors of the groundbreaking Journal of  Aesthetics & Protest is passing through town, and we're hosting him for an evening that will include a lecture/presentation and  production/performance (group-research) elements. When – Thursday 15th March, 18.30 – 20.30 Where – The Platform office, 7, Horselydown Lane, Tower Bridge, SE1 2LN

Egyptian Oil Ministry protestors break through police barricade

Yesterday hundreds of protesting petroleum ministry workers broke through police barricades, pushing towards the Egyptian Cabinet’s offices in downtown Cairo. Large workers’ protests take place every day, demanding contracts and a minimum wage of 1200 Egyptian pounds a month. Al Ahram English reported that on Tuesday

Free University of Liverpool, full of love

(a personal view…) “Why free?” “Who is it?” “What scares you?” “What trouble do you expect to get into?” “What existing structures and conventions of universities do we want to ditch?” “How Liverpool is it”? “Are we students? Who are we?” “How will we know when people/we are committed?” “Is it about curriculum or freeness?...

Colombian police repression of BP workers

On 15 February the notorious ESMAD ‘anti-strike’ police attacked a community and workers’ picket line by the Tauramena BP plant in Casanare, Colombia.   Three workers were hospitalised and several children affected heavily by tear gas. Workers at the BP plant at Tauramena, part of the Cusiana oil field in Casanare, Colombia have been protesting...

The Great Climate Swoop comes to Nottingham

17-18 OCTOBER 2009, RATCLIFFE-ON-SOAR Climate Camp is back – next weekend, hundreds of people will descend on E.ON’s coal power station near Nottingham and occupy it for the weekend.   Fences 2.0 from the very co-operative on Vimeo. Great Climate Swoop: “Don’t be confused – 2009 is just another year of climate talks, in which governments and corporations will...