A-Infos (en) Britain, South Wales Anarchist Newsletter GAGGED! #25 Winter `08/09 these days belong to us all! - Page 1 (1/2)

"These days belong to all the marginalised, the excluded, the people with the difficult names and 
THE unknown stories..." ---- On Saturday 6th December at around 10pm two Greek policemen were on 
patrol in central Athens. They had an argument with some young people, during which one of the 
policemen pulled out his gun & shot 15 year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos twice. He was later 
pronounced dead. Eye-witnesses report that the police officer had been swearing at Alexandros & 
showing his genitals, before shooting him. ---- The murder has sparked angry riots throughout 
Greece. Hundreds of schools & universities are under occupation, radio & television stations have 
been hijacked. Banks & shopping malls, symbols of greed & corruption, have been attacked. The 
demonstrations are clearly about something more than the murder of an innocent young man. As an 
employees association in Agios Dimitrios, Athens stated: "His assassination was the straw that 
broke the camel's back".

The international media have misrepresented the protesters as 'mindless
thugs'. This is wrong. In the blink of an eye the Greek police snuffed out
the life of a young man. Yet during two weeks of angry protests, the only
thing that has been 'hurt' is the property of the rich & powerful. The thugs
are the ones in uniform. The protesters include students, school children,
workers, anarchists, migrants & the unemployed. People everywhere are
waking up to the fact that governments do not care about them, but are
willing to spend billions to prop up the very financial institutions which
have caused so much damage to our lives.

The ongoing demonstrations continue to be violently suppressed by the
government who are using police brutality to attempt to control the
uprising. Solidarity with Greek protesters is spreading like wildfire across
the world. Demonstrations have taken place in Paris, Berlin, Melbourne,
New York, St Petersburg, Madrid & throughout the UK including Cardiff.
South Wales Anarchists support the protests & stand in solidarity with
people everywhere who resist state violence & oppression. "Remember
that it is always authority killing the people, it is always the powerful who
kill the powerless"

For independent, alternative news on the protests see: indymedia.org.uk

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ID CARDS ARE HERE!

Biometric ID cards came into force for non-EEA students & spouses on
25th November. The UK Border Agency office at 31-33 Newport
Road, Cardiff is one of only six registering centres in the country. No
Borders South Wales protested there on the day ID cards came into force
as part of a coordinated day of action outside every centre & also on
the day the Cardiff office started the process of interrogation,
photographing & fingerprinting.

Both the protests were well attended, attracting well over 50 people each; we
displayed banners, held placards, waved giant mock ID cards & distributed
over 1000 leaflets. The public reaction was overwhelmingly supportive.
These new ID cards are not only a repressive measure against non-EEA students
& spouses, they are the first shot in an attack against everyone's liberty. This
initial step by the UK authorities targets a largely voiceless migrant group, who
have the least chance to complain & the most to lose. By using a cynical appeal
to the worst kind of bigotry the government is following the example of
repressive regimes throughout history. Immigration law already gives the Home
Office powers it would like to exert over everybody. By resisting the repression
of migrants, we defend the freedom of everyone!

ID cards are just one part of a wider plan to increase government regulation
over all our lives. To reverse the waves of authoritarianism that currently
dominate the political mainstream, we need to build a movement that is
committed to universal freedom & rejects the legitimacy of state interference. It
Is up to everyone who cares about freedom & equality to organise to oppose
these worrying trends

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     "Anti-Terror" Stop & Search at  Cardiff Central

The South Wales Echo has reported that armed cops are
carrying out stop & searches under Section 44 of the
terrorism act at Cardiff Central railway station.
Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 allows the coppers to
stop & search anyone in a specific area. Before this law
was introduced they could only stop & search individuals if they
had "reasonable grounds" & certain criteria were met.
This is no longer necessary, & in recent years we've seen
these anti-terror powers used against anti-war, anti-
climate change, & anti-capitalist protesters.
Human Rights group Liberty still insist that, "the power to
stop & search under anti-terrorism powers should only
be used when there is evidence of a specific terrorist
threat". But cops revealed the searches in Cardiff were
not led by specific intelligence about a threat, & were
instead a "routine" operation. Sergeant Alan
Muggleton from British Transport Police said:
"These operations are carried out as a matter of routine
to make the railways as difficult a target for terrorist
activity as possible. We hope that, as well as disrupting
& deterring possible terrorist activity, it will also provide
visible reassurance to the travelling public that the
police are being vigilant for their safety."
A spokesperson from British Transport Police underlined
that this was not linked to any credible threat:
"This is not intelligence-led & there is no reason to
believe these areas are more at risk from terrorism than
anywhere else. This is a routine operation the like of
which British Transport Police carries out at various
locations. It aims to disrupt & deter potential terrorist
activity & we assure the public are being active in
ensuring their safety."

Just to translate from cop-ese into English: "There's no
specific terrorist threat in Cardiff, but we're going to
patrol your streets with guns & search people's bags at
random anyway, & there's nothing you can do about it"
We see the use of ever more draconian surveillance
techniques as an invasion of our personal freedoms, & a
blatant attempt to use an ill-defined yet seemingly ever-
present "terrorist threat" as an excuse for the state to
infringe on our everyday lives in increasingly invasive
ways. The fact that they are done at random proves this.
But even if you don't share this belief, anyone can see
that sporadic random searches like this in different cities
across the country are a singularly stupid way of trying
to stop terrorism on the railways. Looking for terrorists
at random in a crowd of commuters is at best like
looking for a needle in a haystack, & at worst will end
up with ignorant rozzers stopping disproportionately
high numbers of young Asian men & further alienating
this group (something the Islamic Human Rights
Commission are clearly worried about). & if a terrorist
wants to blow up a train they aren't going to try to do it
in plain sight of armed police. They are far more likely
to target a quiet secluded spot somewhere along the
1000s of miles of virtually unguarded track that lies
outside the heavily policed metropolitan areas.

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WHO ARE SOUTH WALES ANARCHISTS?
South Wales Anarchists are a network of
autonomous collectives who are against all forms
of exploitation & bigotry. We engage in direct
action against capitalism & government,
spread information, & build resistance to
create a world based on justice & freedom.
· Government & capitalism is chaos, pitting person against
person, encouraging domination & exploitation to preserve
inequality & privilege. Anarchism is order, delivering
individual liberty & social equality through a system of
voluntary cooperation without political, economic or social
hierarchies.
Government & capitalism are not only undesirable, but also
unnecessary. As anarchists we operate without hierarchy, co-
operating on a basis of mutual aid & solidarity.
· The ruling class control & dominate all economic & political
systems, through government & capitalism they use violence, &
poverty to amass wealth & coerce everyone else into
obedience.
Our enemy is the ruling class, embodied in institutions like the
G8, WTO, states & corporations. We aim to confront their
activities & defend personal freedoms.
· Parliaments cannot be reformed because representative
systems are inherently undemocratic. Voting is not an
expression of power, but an admission of powerlessness, since
it just reaffirms the government's supposed legitimacy.
Whenever people resist, practice solidarity & organise without
leaders, anarchism lives. We aim to strengthen these
libertarian tendencies & help them however we can.
Check out: southwalesanarchists.org. Come to our fortnightly
open meetings if you'd like to get involved. Contact:
cardiffanarchists@riseup.net or gwentanarchists@yahoo.co.uk
Anarchism is a very diverse political theory with many different
tendencies. Check out: anarchismfaq.org
    Circulation: 8,000 - 4 times a year. Distribution: Willing to
  help? Get 15 copies delivered anywhere in south Wales to
  handout to friends & strangers. Totally free. Funding: We
  could really do with some! Please come to our benefit gigs,
   remember us in your will, or just give us some cash. Cheers.
Come across any corrupt politicians or councillors? Know of
any bent coppers? Dodgy businessmen? Loan sharks? Any
news of demonstrations or direct action you've taken part in?
If you think Gagged would be interested, send the details to:
cardiffanarchists@riseup.net Confidentiality assured.

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  For more news like the kind  you find in GAGGED! :

indymedia.org, anarkismo.net,
schnews.org.uk & libcom.org

No Borders South Wales is a collective of people, who organise
against migration controls & for the freedom of movement for all.
We work on a non-hierarchical, antiauthoritarian basis, using
consensus decision making.

Weekly meetings are on Thursdays at the Riverside
Community Centre, Brunel Street, Cardiff at 7pm.
noborderswales.org.uk

Cardiff Anarchist Black Cross is part of an international
movement supporting the struggles of prisoners, & of
anarchist & class struggle prisoners in particular.
We believe in the total abolition of the prison system,
not it s reform. We are driven by solidarity & not charity.
cardiffprisonersupport.tk

Westside Climate Action are a motley crew of anarchists         &
activists from Bristol, Bath & South Wales who
organise a neighbourhood at the Camp for Climate Action
as well as taking action all year round against the root causes
of climate change.

westsideclimateaction.wordpress.com
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                                southwalesanarchists.org
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