Babi Badalov Campaign Video

Video of a Demonstration in solidarity with Babi, 17 Sept from No Borders South Wales on Vimeo.

A demonstration took place outside the UK Border Agency offices on Newport Road in Cardiff on Wednesday. These are the offices where Babi was snatched from his friends and loved ones, where the decision to deport Ama Sumani to her death was taken, and where dawn raid snatch squads leave from every week to kick down doors and drag asylum seekers from the beds in the middle of the night.

As you can see from the video around 50 people turned out at 12 hours notice to show solidarity with Babi, and express their anger and frustration at the increasingly cruel and violent UK immigration regime.

Babi's supporters have been working around the clock to delay his imminent deportation. They have persuaded MPs across parties to lodge appeals with the Home Office to give his solicitor time to submit a fresh claim for Asylum based on new evidence of his deteriorating mental health and the persecuation he faces back home in Azerbaijan.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP BABI?

You can write to your MP and ask them to appeal to the Home Office to allow Babi time to consilidate his evidence and submit a fresh claim for Asylum.

You can e-mail and telephone the airline to ask them to exercise their discretion in this matter and refuse to fly Babi, as he is medically unfit to travel, an, he is unwilling to be deported, and he faces extreme persecution back home.

All up to date in formation, including contact details for the airline and model letters, can be found at the No Borders South Wales blog.

Babi Badalov Snatched

This morning I got an e-mail from my friend Babi inviting me to an exhibition featuring some of his artwork. This evening I got news that I may never see him again, let alone have the peasure of viewing his art in a Cardiff gallery.

Babi, an openly gay, internationally renowned, radical artist and poet from Azerbaijan was arrested this morning while signing on at the UK Border Agency Offices in Cardiff.

He arrived at the unassuming building on Cardiff's Newport Road with friends from the Keep Babi Safe in Cardif Campagin as he does every week. When he didn't come back out of the building campaigners became concerned, and enquired after his wellbeing only to be told he had been detained and would be removed from the country as soon as possible.

At the time of writing he's at Rumney Police station, though he may be moved to one of the UK's detention prisons at any time. A friend was able to visit him in custody, and reported that the police who were holding him were friendly, open, and visibly uncomfortable about locking up someone who has clearly commited no crime.

Babi was already in a very fragile mental state before his arrest, worn down by months of mistreatment at the hands of our cruel migration regime. Friends say he was a complete wreck as he sat in his police cell. No Borders activist Hywel Bishop said:

"I've Never seen Babi so scared. If he gets sent home he faces persecution from the state for his art, as well as the threat of honour killing from his family because they can't live with the fact that he's gay."

When he was informed that he was going to be detained and deported Babi responded by saying:

“I feel sick”

To which the UK Border agent told him:

“well you make us sick, you're going back where you belong”

Babi had his appeal to stay in Wales rejected at the end of July and has been in the process of filing a fresh claim detailing new evidence of the dangers he faces back in Azerbaijan. However, his solicitor has been waiting to obtain a diagnosis of his decaying mental heath, which has been delayed. Alarming new witness statements detailing Babi's history of violent persecution have also recently came to light, which would allow him to make a strong fresh claim for asylum

There will be a protest against Babi’s incarcration outside of the place where he was grabbed; the UK Border Agency offices at 31-33 Newport Road, Cardiff at 12noon. All are welcome.

More information on Babi's story and continuing fight to stay in the UK can be found at the South Wales No Borders blog here.

Video: Stop and Search under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act

This quick-thinking potential terrorist whipped out his mobile-phone camera and did a live webcast of his stop and search under the terrorism act at Waterloo Station. This video offers a very good insight into how intrusive such a search can be for anyone who's not been searched by the police before.

Of course, if you've ever been on a political demonstration in the past few years there's a high chance you've been searched by the police under some law or other. Personally I've been stopped and searched over 30 times at protests since 2003 (on a number of occasions under the Terrorism act).

Human rights group Liberty explain, "Before Section 44, the police could only stop and search individuals if they had 'reasonable grounds' and certain criteria were met. That is no longer necessary, and we have seen Section 44 powers used against anti-war, anti-weapons and anti-capitalist protesters."

Stop and search of protesters under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act hit the headlines this month when almost everyone who tried to attend the Climate Camp protests was searched.

From the evidence of this video, the criminalisation of tourism seems to have joined the criminalisation of protest, though. High on the list of items being searched for in this poor bloke's bags are maps with details of high-profile locations around London. Pity the poor visitor with a map showing St Paul's, Parliament, or Buckingham Palace.

The coppers doing the searching here didn't like being filmed, but as he points out, there are plenty of CCTV cameras about which the police have access to, so it's only fair he should be allowed to make his own record of the encounter.

Can Edwina Hart Help Sex-Trafficked Asylum Seeker?

Sick, 6-months pregnant, sex-trafficked asylum seeker Kemi Ayinde and her family have been told that her their application for a Judicial Review of their asylum claim has been refused.

After being snatched from their beds in the middle of the night, spending weeks in detention prison without proper medical care, and being hauled off two removal flights at the last minute after public outcry at their deportation, the family must now live with the knowledge that their temporary reprieve is over. The immigration snatch squads could come at any minute and last month's nightmare is about to start all over again.

This situation is made far worse by the fact that Kemi is experiencing complications with her pregnancy which have led doctors to fear that she could lose her baby. She has been receiving regular treatment at a Cardiff Hospital.

When Ama Sumani was denied essential cancer treatment on the NHS in Cardiff, and was sent back to Ghana to die, there was public outcry. Everyone, from the Archbishop of Wales to medical journal The Lancet complained about her barbaric treatment at the hands of the UK Borders Agency and the Home Office.

Many Welsh politicians were vocal in their support, and expressed sadness that they couldn't intervene because immigration is not a devolved issue. Edwina Hart, the Welsh Assembly Health Minister did, however, commit to forging an agreement with the Home Office to ensure history wouldn't repeat itself. In a reply to a letter from Leanne Wood AM she said:

“I was deeply saddened to hear of the death of Ms Sumani. However, as you will be aware Immigration is a policy area that is not devolved to Welsh Ministers, and after careful consideration the decision to remove Ms Sumani was undertaken by the Home Office. In relation to the point you raised about developing a protocol with the Home Office to allow others in Ms Sumani’s situation to remain in Wales to receive treatment, this will require detailed consideration, and also changes to the current NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 1989 as amended in 2004. I have asked my officials to explore this issue further and will write again in due course.” (Source)

Later, when announcing the policy of providing free health care to failed asylum seekers, Hart used a prescient example to illustrate the humanitarian principles that should underpin our treatment of those in need:

"No-one would want to see a pregnant woman turned away from hospital if they were having difficulty with the pregnancy and people are fundamentally decent and they will understand this argument. I'm simply looking at the human being at the end of the chain and saying if they've got severe health problems and they require help and assistance, as a civilised country we should give it." (source)

The free health care policy was a step in the right direction. But now is the time for Edwina Hart to let us know the outcome of the "detailed consideration" she promised would be given to Leanne Wood's request that asylum seekers in similar situations to Ama Sumani could be allowed to "remain in Wales to receive treatment". And she should let us know quickly, because the life of Kemi's unborn baby may depend on it.

____________________________________________________________________

Campaigning group No Borders South Wales are working with Kemi and her family to try and make sure they're not deported. They are calling for help, and desperately need:

• Public support and help with campaigning (writing letters to the Home Office, and encouraging others to do so, etc)
• All the politicians who supported Kemi last month (Kevin Brennan MP, Leanne Wood AM, Jill Evans MEP, Coun Neil McEvoy, Coun Rodney Berman, etc) to publicly re-iterate their support now, and again write to the Home Secretary asking for them to be allowed to stay.

At Last: Public Discussion of Lewis and Neagle Expenses

Last March I blogged about an incendiary issue of the South Wales anarchist newsletter Gagged! and its condemnation of some AMs' snouts-in-the-trough attitudes to allowances.

The newsletter's harshest condemnation was reserved for Huw Lewis and Lyn Neagle. Talking about the now notorious additional costs allowance and how some AMs are using it to pay off interest only mortgages to make mega profits Gagged! wrote:

"Step up Lynne Neagle & Huw Lewis; Labour AMs for Torfaen & Merthyr Tydfil respectively, who both claim the full allowance even though they live in the same house in Penarth. Why are they even claiming an allowance in the first place since Penarth is a suburb of Cardiff?!? Average house prices there have risen 95% since 2000. Thus a house costing £95,000 is now worth £185,000 & with an annual mortgage allowance of £24,000, the Lewis-Neagle combination is, without doubt, a winner! How apt that both represent two of the poorest constituencies in Europe."

Now the couple have suddenly come over all altruistic and promised to plough the profit from their lucrative second home back into assembly coffers. And just before the anouncement of detailed breakdowns of AMs' expenses, too. Nice timing.

AMs Allowances Published

Image by jo'nas'

So our AMs have finally come clean and published the details of some of their generous expenses (albeit at the behest of a BBC FOI request)! The notorious 'additional costs allowance', that gives politicians up to £12,500 a year to spend on accommodation outside their constituencies is at the heart of a document published today.

The Western Mail reports on it here, and also provide a handy PDF download with detailed breakdowns of this kind of expenditure.

Reading through this stuff you can't help but feel a little shabby, grubby, voyeuristic even. There's no pleasure or satisfaction to be got from seeing how much our AMs have spent on soft furnishings, plumbing, or crockery.

What's really worrying is what's not detailed in these figures, however.

AMs whose main homes are outside Cardiff have exploited this allowance and made tens of thousands of pounds of profit at our expense by using it to fund payments on interest-only mortgages on second homes in & around the Bay. The average price of a property in Cardiff Bay in 2000 was £124,000. By November 2007 this had risen to £177,000. Over the same period the AMs could have each used £84,000 of taxpayers' money to pay off the interest before selling up & trousering a tidy £50,000 profit. This figure shoots up if you happen to be married to another AM who also claims high amounts on the additional costs allowance. Not a bad way to top up the cash creamed from a recent 10.2% pay-increase, eh?

None of this shows up in the detailed lists of expenditure published today because it isn't against the rules. It's a deeply unpalatable way of playing the system, and using public cash to enrich oneself.

More on AMs' Expenses

There was a good leader in the Indy today about the scandals around MPs' bloated expense accounts. It noted recent recommendations from the Commons Members Estimate Committee designed to at least give the impression that our representatives are thinking of ways to make themselves look more responsible with public money.

Says the Independent:

'One proposal that has already grabbed headlines is for MPs to be prevented from using public money to furnish and renovate their homes. This would spell the end of the notorious "John Lewis" shopping list, of which MPs have made such extensive use over the years. Another suggested reform is for members representing outer London constituencies to lose half of their second home allowance.'

'There is also to be better policing of the system. "External professionals" will carry out "financial health checks" on the costs of running MPs' offices. Every year, a fifth of MPs will face "spot checks" on their claims by the National Audit Office. Then there are a host of minor curbs, such as new car mileage limits linked to the size of constituencies, and a freezing of communications allowances.'

But the piece also very shrewdly points out that while everyone agrees that MPs with constituencies faraway from London need a base near Westminster. What the public can't understand is why MPs should enjoy all the capital gains from properties bought, effectively, with public money.

I've said it before, twice in fact, and I'll say it again: the same goes for Wales, and has done since the WAG was set up!

AMs with second homes whose mortgages are paid for from the notorious 'Additional Costs Allowance' have been raking in the dosh for years, now. And they've been blessed by a booming property market which has left them very much richer than they were at the start of their stints in public office.

Indeed, some AMs who serve constituencies not a million miles away from Cardiff, and who could no doubt manage quite well with one home, have still been raking it in for years. As they watched the value of these properties rocket, they must have been hoping that public scrutiny of our public representatives' expenses wouldn't hit the headlines in a big way. And, I'd imagine much to their relief, they've remained off the hook.

With MPs expenses such a political hot potato at the moment one has to wonder what Welsh journalists are doing to hold our politicians to account over this. Has the Welsh press become so toothless that it's happy to buy certain AMs' all-too-easy assurances that any foul play is limited to Westminster? Where's the detailed investigation? Where are the calls for full disclosure on AMs' allowances? Where are the calls for details of AMs' second homes expenditure?

I for one think that a Google mashup of AMs' second homes alongside the amount of money they've claimed under the 'additional costs allowance' would yield some pretty shocking data. I've already graphed the amounts claimed for alternative accommodation by AMs, and that can be seen here. I call again for people to match this data up against their AMs' home addresses. Let's see who's playing the system for their advantage. Let's have some open and frank debate about what our politicians should be allowed to claim for.

Israeli Ambassador Senedd Demo!

The Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor will soon pay his first visit to the National Assembly for Waes. This is the same Israeli ambassador who in his 'charm offensive' since taking office has criticised trade unionists, academics and activists for their support for Palestinians under siege in Gaza and the West Bank.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign and other organisations have called a demonstration to show Ambassador Prosor what the people of Wales feel about:

• his government's denial of basic human rights for Palestinians;
• the outrageous Apartheid Wall;
• the road blocks and checkpoints which strangle the Occupied Territories;
• the constant bombing of Gaza and the rising death toll from war;
• and Israel's blockade of medical supplies, fuel and food.

If you care about these things, and want to protest about the way most Welsh politicians are welcoming a representative of the rogue state that is Israel demonstrate outside the Senedd: Tuesday 24 June at 5pm.

Patrick Jones Poetry and Music Night

On Thursday 19th June at 7:30pm there will be an evening of poetry, theatre, and acoustic music, to raise awareness of artist and asylum seeker Babi Badalov's appeal against deportation at Butetown History and Arts Centre. The event's being organised by the Welsh poet and playwrite Patrick Jones, who dedicated this poem to Babi, and is a passionate campaigner on asylum and immigration issues.

Patrick recently commented:

"I feel strongly that Babi should be allowed to stay. Wales is founded upon immigration and welcoming people from other places. After all, what is Welsh? Calzaghe or Jones, Kahn, or Gatland? We all come from somewhere. If we can offer Ronaldinho, Nani, and Madonna a place to live and work we should be able to offer the same invitation to Babi and others like him."

The night will feature acoustic music from New State Radio and Lethargy, poetry from Patrick Jones, Mike Jenkins, Dan Drummond (Hangetsu) and Mike Church. Plus physical theatre from Gaijin San (which means "Mr Foreigner" in Japanese).

It'll be a free event, but any donations to Babi's campaign will be very welcome.

Here's report by the International Lesbian and Gay Association which gives information on the experiences of LGBT people in Azerbaijan, babi's home country. It further supports Babi's case in that it details how the government represses supporters of any political opposition movement, how Azerbaijan doesnt honour the Human Rights treaties it has signed up to, and how homosexuality is barely recognised there: Forced Out: LGBT People In Azerbaijan.

For more info and links on Babi and his case read my earlier blog post.

Keep Babi Safe in Cardiff

The Home Office recently turned down the asylum application of Babakhan Badalov, an internationally renowned artist who was forced to leave his home country after experiencing serious homophobic and politically motivated persecution.

I first met Babi at the PAD social centre in Adamsdown last year, and since then I've worked with him on a number of campaigns and media projects and come to like and respect him immensely. When you get to know Babi it's difficult not to appreciate his humour, creativity, talent, and political commitment. Of course, I wouldn't expect the Home Office to care about any of this.

Unfortunately it's some of these traits, along with the fact he's openly gay, which caused him to have to leave his homeland, Azerbaijan (a very conservative country not known for its tolerance of either homosexuality or freedom of expression). This, one might expect the Home Office to take into consideration. But it clearly isn't enough.

In spite of his tragic history, and the continuous pressure of living a precarious life enduring the needs of our barbaric asylum system, Babi's managed to stay positive and become a valued part of the community here in Cardiff. But the threat of his impending deportation is becoming unbearable, and his friends really fear for his physical and mental health should he be deported.
He's already spent a month in a number of the UK's notorious detention centres (the overcrowded prisons into which we throw all those seeking sanctuary from lives they wish to escape). The thought of being ripped from his new life, taken back into custody, and shipped back to a dangerous and uncertain future is almost unbearable for him.

What can you do to help? There are a number of things:

• Read more about Babi's story here
• Sign this online petition to the Home Secretary Jaqui Smith and ask your friends and family to do the same
• Write to the authorities and ask that he be allowed to stay in the UK on compassionate grounds (you can get all the details, including a model letter here)
• Collect signatures on a paper petition in you workplace and among your friends (resources here)
• And spread the word - the more noise we make, the more likely Babi's appeal is to succeed

Are Our AMs Plane Stupid?

According to the Western Mail Welsh taxpayers are subsidising a damaging air link between Cardiff and North Wales to the tune of £84 per passenger – a sum which works out as double the average cost of using the service! The first plane took off last May, and since then the flight operator, Highland Airways, has netted £800,000 of our money. This is likely to be trebled by 2010 since the Assembly has already signed up to throw away the same amount of cash for another two years.

AMs are throwing away our money, contributing to runaway climate change, and kow-towing to the powerful air-travel lobby even though they know train and bus travel is around 10 times less polluting than flying. Despite myths pushed by politicians and the airline industry, flying already accounts for 13% of the UK’s contribution to climate change, and aviation is the UK's fastest-growing source of greenhouse-gas emissions. According to campaigning group Plane Stupid, we could close every factory, smash up every car, and turn off every light in the country, but it won't halt global warming if we carry on taking planes as much as we do currently.

And who is it we’re subsidising? If figures from the Civil Aviation Authority are anything to go by it's the rich! 75% of those who use budget airlines are in social classes A, B and C, and most of the predicted growth in the airline industry will take place among the wealthiest 10% of the population.

The Welsh Assembly should be funding truly green and sustainable travel for everyone – not environmentally damaging flights for the few. How about a high speed rail link between North and South Wales for a start?

Still More Gravy: Elis Thomas Pronouncement on AMs Expenses

Dafydd Elis Thomas has revealed new rules will be introduced on AMs expenses, especially those which allow Assembly Members to pay mortgages on second homes near the Assembly. He was pretty keen to stress that AMs haven't done anything wrong, and that, compared with their Westminster counterparts, they are whiter than white.

Readers of this blog will know that's not the case, however, having read in March about the way some Welsh politicians have played the system to quite spectacular advantage. Elis Thomas released a broadside of criticism against how Westminster MPs have managed their expenses. Speaking to the Western Mail he said:

“We don’t want to be tarred with the same brush as Westminster, and we want to make it absolutely clear that everything we do is transparent and there can be no suspicion at all. There’s no suggestion that anybody’s done anything which is not appropriate according to our current rules. It’s the people at the end of the line, [...] they’re a disgrace, I think, the way they carry on. It’s in all our interests that nobody has any suspicion about what’s going on and democracy in Wales is seen to be clean and serene.”

AMs might not have officially broken the rules. But in some cases they don't need to, because the rules allow lavish skimming of tax-payer cash already. Sources within the assembly fed some quite juicy tidbits to these budding citizen journalists at grassroots newsletter Gagged!. The article states:

Forget the employment of relatives, the free tickets to rugby internationals, all-expenses paid trips abroad, the lavish new assembly member-only restaurant and subsidised nosh. They are but trifles compared to the euphemistically-named ‘additional costs allowance’ of £12,000 which, according to the rulebook ‘reimburses members for expenses necessarily incurred staying overnight away from their main home for performing their duties as a member’."

"But what people are unaware of is that [...] up to one third of AMs living outside Cardiff are exploiting this allowance and making tens of thousands of pounds of profit at our expense by using it to fund payments on interest-only mortgages on second homes in and around the Bay. Consider this: the average price of a property in Cardiff Bay in 2000 was £124,000. By November 2007 this had risen to £177,000. Over the same period the AMs could have each used £84,000 of taxpayers’ money to pay off the interest before selling up and trousering a tidy £50,000 profit! Not a bad way to top up your £45,000 salary."

Do "They" Care About "Our" Protest?

It's easy to get dispirited as a protestor against something as large and daunting as the privatisation of military training and the building of a huge military academy on your doorstep.

"Our" oponents in this struggle are large, rich, and powerful and consist of some of the most ruthless organisations in the world (Raytheon, Qinetiq, and until recently the Carlyle Group).
"We", on the other hand are a small group of comparatively powerless people armed only with a bagfull of righteous indignation, a smidgen of commitment, and some compelling moral and political arguments.

It's not surprising, then, in the face of such oposition that from time to time we ask ourselves whether it's worth doing what we do. Do the public buy our arguments? Will the media report on our protests? And do our enemies even notice that we're here?

Well, I think we're getting there with the first two questions: we're developing a public profile for our campaign and spreading the word about why the academy is such a spectacularly bad idea; and big media groups have finally started to admit we exist.

And in a small way, I've recently found some evidence that "they" are also interested in what we say. Like many bloggers, I use statistical software to allow me to kep tabs on the numbers of readers I get. The programme I run, Statcounter, also lets me see some basic inforation about who my readers are and what they do (IP adresses, where they are based, how long they read the blog, etc).

Since the 1st of May this year I've had multiple visits from readers using computers at arms company Qinetiq's facility in Fleet, Hampshire. It seems I also have a fan who uses a Ministry of Defense computer (IP Address dh208.public.mod.uk). From the initials at the start of address this repeat reader might well be stationed at RAF Daws Hill on the outskirts of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, an air force base currently shared by UK MOD staff and occupying american forces from the US Navy.

So a big shout out to you guys, whoever you are - it's nice to know you care!

Cardiff University: Anti Coca Cola Protest Video

Students and staff at Cardiff University have joined forces in a campaign to get Coke booted off campus because of the company's human rights abuses across the world.
After a succesful public meeting in March, followed by awareness raising about Coke's track record of colluding with death squads against trades unionists in Colombia and stealing ground water and polluting farmland in India, students got together and held a mock-funeral in protest against the drink's presence on shelves in University shops.
Over the next year they plan to target the students union and the university catering services to pressurise them to withdraw coke from their workplace.
This video was produced by journalism students at Cardiff University.

Anti St Athan Military Academy Protest Video

Here's a short film shot to document a recent protest in Cardiff against the St Athan military academy - it was a contraversial one because the police banned us going through the centre of town, instead insisting that the march take incredibly quiet roads around the outskirts.
There were LOADS of police there, including some from the MET's specialist Forward Intelligence Team (FIT).
The feeling of being filmed, photographed, and observed at every turn was intimmidating in the extreme, especially for those young people who had not been on a demo before.
More reason than ever, then, for people to get involved with FIT-watch, the protest group which turns the cameras on the cops who erode our civil liberties.
The video was created by some young film makers at the University of Wales, Newport.

EU "troublemaker" border law to affect protestors

Statewatch has revealed a proposal is being examined by high-level EU policy makers to share information on the movements of political "troublemakers" in the wake of last year's protests against the G8 in Heiligendam, Germany.

Proposals will examine how and whether to "prevent individuals or groups who are considered to pose a potential threat to the maintenance of public law and order and/or security from travelling to the location of the event" and to put in place "The necessary arrangements for a quick and efficient implementation of the potential expulsion measures".

On the EU Security Handbook the meeting noted: "The scope of the manual is now such that it applies to the security (both from a public order point of view as well as counter-terrorism) of all major international events, be it political, sporting, social, cultural or other."

I blogged last January about a new agreements to share Police and other database information held on UK citizens with all EU police forces should they ask for it. This is just another example of the emergence of an EU-wide police state that can only have negative consequences for politically active people.

Freedom of movement, like freedom to protest, is a human right that we shouldn't be letting go of so easily.

Immigration Snatch Squads Blockaded in Cardiff

Activists from South Wales No Borders blockaded the Cardiff offices of the Border and Immigration Authority from 5am-9am today. They prevented snatch squads from leaving the building on their way to a dawn raid, and held a picket outside.

The demonstration was part of a nationwide day of action against repressive immigration policies. The protesters arrived early in the morning, and they said that they would stay until they could ensure that, for today at least, families in South Wales will be safe regardless of where they come from.

In response to the growing number of attacks on family homes by the Borders and Immigration Agency, the No Borders network have taken action in different cities across the country today to expose and prevent the sinister tactic of “dawn raids” employed against families and young children. Dawn raids are used to gain custody of whole families in order to imprison them. Every day, doors are kicked in and families are snatched from their beds and taken to detention centres, where they are punished for seeking refuge in this country. They are taken away from their houses, jobs, schools and communities.

Bob Davies of the No Borders network in Cardiff said: “This is the agency responsible for removing the Ghanaian woman Ama Sumani from her hospital bed in Cardiff and forcing her to return to a country where she couldn't afford treatment & died. This is the agency that sends out snatch squads to perform dawn raids on unsuspecting families, and who launch attacks on innocent people to maintain Britain’s unjust border controls. It looks like a normal building, but these walls mask some really nasty injustices”.

Nia Smith, another activist explained: “we’re here to expose what the government is doing here in Cardiff and across the country – breaking down doors and snatching children from their beds in the middle of the night. Some children go to school, others go to prison. Immigration officers regularly target the vulnerable – families, children and the ill or traumatised – in order to boost their official figures of deportations. I think it’s sick”

Direct Action Double Whammy Against Welsh Carbon Dinosaurs

Climate change protestors shut down two major centres of the Welsh fossil-fuelled energy industry this month to draw attention to the madness of continuing to burn coal as global warming slowly cooks the earth. First the Ffos Y Fran Coal mine in Merthyr Tydfil, and then the huge Aberthaw power station, were closed down by activists.

On April 1^st a group targeted one of the biggest open cast coal mines in Europe, Ffos Y Fran on the outskirts of Merthyr Tydfil. One group chained themselves to large excavation machinery, a second group have blockaded one of the main entrances to the site, and a third climbed a huge coal-washing machine and dropped a 36-metre long banner.

One protestor told me: “There’s 30,000,000 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide locked up in that coal down there, which is a lot of carbon dioxide and a lot of coal. And Wales has got the best resources to exploit renewable energy in Britain, and it really should be looking to exploit that for a sustainable future rather than harvesting coal which just increases global warming and adds to climate change”.

Explaining what had happened at the protest she continued: “We got here at 6am this morning, and we’ve been locked together in arm tubes across the road here since then, and we have people locked to the main gate by the neck with bicycle D-locks. We’ve had people climbing and locking onto diggers, and there’ve also been people climbing onto the coal washer to drop a huge banner reading ‘coal is a black hole in UK climate change policy’. The government say we need a low carbon economy, but then they also say we’re gonna keep funding lots of coal mines in Wales, which is just a bizarre contradiction”.

Another protestor told me: “I’m a renewable energy engineer based in Mid Wales, and the more I hear about the government’s intentions to burn lots of coal as part of our energy commitments the more it worries me really.” He also spoke of the support local people had given them. “One of the main reasons we’re protesting in this way is that we were asked to by the local people really. There’s definitely support for direct action here from people living nearby.”

A few days later demonstrators brought the Vale of Glamorgan’s massive Aberthaw coal-fired power station to its knees by locking themselves to conveyer belts, blockading the main entrance and occupying buildings.

A protestor at Aberthaw said in a press release: “While we might be technically breaking the law today, we are really trying to uphold it. The government is committed to emissions reductions and if we are to meet those targets we cannot go back into the coal age. Clean coal technology is 20 years away at least, and we don’t have time to waste in addressing climate change. We need to phase out coal and replace it with renewable sources of energy. Numerous technical studies have shown it is possible to power the UK without fossil fuels.”

Another said: “We’re at Aberthaw to expose the Government’s hypocrisy on climate change,” one protester said. “Ministers talk about reducing emissions by 60 or 80%, but they continue to support destructive methods of power generation like coal. Aberthaw is the biggest polluter in Wales - power stations like this should be phased out and replaced with renewable energy. Here in South Wales, we have an incredible potential for wind and tidal technologies. We need to act immediately - there is very little time left to avoid the point where climate change runs out of control.”

Both protests showed up the hypocrisy of a government that claims to be taking climate change seriously, while approving new coal mines and coal-fired power stations. Coal has the biggest impact on climate change of any fuel - despite opposition from the world’s leading scientists, the Government is supporting an outdated and hugely dangerous technology that has no future.

AMs' Property Expenses: More Gravy Anyone?

South Wales radical newsletter Gagged! has revealed the shocking ways some AMs are raking in 1000s of pounds using their ample expense accounts. Gagged! says:

"Forget the employment of relatives, the free tickets to rugby internationals, all-expenses paid trips abroad, the lavish new assembly member-only restaurant and subsidised nosh. They are but trifles compared to the euphemistically-named ‘additional costs allowance’ of £12,000 which, according to the rulebook ‘reimburses members for expenses necessarily incurred staying overnight away from their main home for performing their duties as a member’."

"But what people are unaware of is that [...] up to one third of AMs living outside Cardiff are exploiting this allowance and making tens of thousands of pounds of profit at our expense by using it to fund payments on interest-only mortgages on second homes in and around the Bay. Consider this: the average price of a property in Cardiff Bay in 2000 was £124,000. By November 2007 this had risen to £177,000. Over the same period the AMs could have each used £84,000 of taxpayers’ money to pay off the interest before selling up and trousering a tidy £50,000 profit! Not a bad way to top up your £45,000 salary."

The generous expenses of our AMs are all detailed on the Welsh Assembly website. Party leaders such as Ieuan Wyn Jones, Mike German and Nick Bourne top the list for 2006-7 (the last year we have full records for): Bourne claimed around £271,202, closely followed by Deputy Dawg IWJ on £270,792, with £245,995. These figures include money for travel, office costs, staff costs, the Party Leaders' Allowance, as well as the controversial "Additional Costs Allowance" identified by Gagged.

This is a lot of public money, but clearly many of these allowances are necessary to the smooth running of the assembly, and AMs wouldn't be able to do their jobs without them. Few would dispute the need for AMs to be able to re-imburse themselves for travel, accommodation, and subsistence, or for running an office, and paying staff to do research or case work in constituencies... within reason. But this just takes the piss.

I don't know where many AMs live or what second homes they might own, so telling if anyone is abusing the system is difficult. But I've compiled a graph of each member's individual Additional Costs Allowance from 2006-7 so people can see if they can spot any foul play. You can find it here: Additional Costs Allowance Graph

Keep me informed if you find anything!

Open University St Athan Ethics Row

There is growing discord at the Open University (OU) over its continued involvement with the unsavoury Metrix Consortium, the group of arms dealers and other ne'er-do-wells at the centre of much of the privatisation of UK military training.

It seems some staff at the OU agree with protestors that rubbing shoulders with the likes of Raytheon (cluter bomb makers) and Qinetiq (experts in ballistic missile manufacture) in the pursuit of filthy lucre doesn't really square with the University's historic commitment to ethical practice and social justice.

After a recent demonstration outside the OU's spanking new building in Cardiff campaigners recieved an anonymous phone call from a University employee saying that a number of staff at the institution were opposed to involvement in the Metrix consortium, specifically arms companies like raytheon, and that they should "keep up the good work".

A campaigner told me:

"From the phone call it's clear that a group of people at the Open University were unhappy about the University's place in the Metrix Consortium. They said that if we keep up the pressure on the OU in Cardiff that will help out those within the OU who oppose it's place within Metrix".

If you oppose the St Athan murder academy then come to the demonstration at the end of the month:

Meet 1.30pm outside City Hall, Cardiff, Sat 26th April