Dan out of prison and fighting on

Dan Viesnik was released from Pentonville last week after serving four days imprisonment for refusing to pay his fine. He is now busy helping with the Aldermaston Big Blockade which is happening tomorrow.

This video shows Dan setting out his reasons for not paying the fine and his background in anti-nuclear weapons activity. It also contains footage of Caroline Lucas, Green Party leader, speaking on the nuclear weapons issue.

Kensal Rise Victory?

We have received this message from Doron & Minkie who were campaigning against the re-siting of the Kensal Rise bus stop

Victory!... thank you!


It appears that due to overwhelming community pressure Brent Council have decided to withdraw their new bus lay-by proposal... even though they recently completed pavement works to reposition cables to make way for the proposed bus lay-by!


WELL DONE TO EVERYONE. We submitted a petition to Tim Jackson with over 1500 signatures, and of course copies of all emails. They were also inundated with emails!


This afternoon we have received an email from Emily Tancred (local Lib Dem councillor) , who in turn received an email from Tim Jackson, Head of Transport at Brent. We have asked for a copy of this e-mail and believe it says something to the affect of... the council’s plan for removing these buses by making a bus stop 'was clearly mistaken'.


We are so heartened by the immensely warm and caring community we live and also work in and would like to thank you all for your time, effort and hard work given to help overturn this ludicrous proposal.


Clearly something needs to be done about the buses but hopefully in the future we can be consulted as a community in order to find a sensible solution. We have asked Tim Jackson that we be personally consulted in all future proposals. You will in turn of course be contacted by us with any such news, which of course there will be... the problem with buses and traffic congestion has not gone away!

Think local, change the whole country

Empty Democracy?

The comments on the Youth Parliament story indicate widespread disenchantment with the political process as it stands. This message may be of interest to you.

My name is Annie Quick.

I'll be organising POWER2010 in London. It's my job to make sure that people in our community stand up to our politicians - making sure that they all sign up to our Pledge - and then follow through on their commitment in the next Parliament.

We need to let our candidates know that we want our democracy to have a fresh people powered start.

Help me tell them - click here to vote for the reforms you most want to see in the POWER2010 Pledge.

POWER2010 is a UK-wide movement, but it's most important at the local level. Together we will ensure every candidate standing for election backs these reforms so that the next Parliament delivers the change we need.

The best way to communicate that to them now is to vote. The more votes we have, the more legitimate we'll appear to the politicians, and the more they'll respect us.

I'll ask for more help as we get closer to the elections, but for now the most important thing you can do is vote for the reforms you want to see in the POWER2010 Pledge:

http://www.power2010.org.uk/VoteLondon

Together, we can make our democracy better, stronger and fairer.

Thank you,

Annie Quick

P.S. In the next few weeks POWER2010 will be stepping up the campaign in London, so if you'd like to get more involved in supporting us in your community sign up here:

http://www.power2010.org.uk/LondonAction









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Kensal Rise Plea - Save Our High Street Now

An important message from Doron at Minkie’s Deli…

Dear Friends,

We have only one week to pull together and fight what will ruin the top of Kensal Rise. We need your support to preserve our thriving community and not turn it into a giant bus depot!

Brent Council is trying to build a new bus stop and layby to accommodate three buses on Chamberlayne Road, just outside Minkie’s. This involves cutting down the beautiful healthy and mature tree, and narrowing the pavement which will then be too narrow for a pushchair – all to create a layby at the top of the hill: unsightly and noisy, and exacerbating already dreadful traffic congestion on Chamberlayne Road.

No residents or local businesses were consulted before this was put into play, jeopardising Kensal Rise’s family and child friendliness. Brent Council has kept this under wraps and is closing the ‘consultation period’ on FEBRUARY 5, 2010… which is THIS FRIDAY. The consultation document neglects to state that the council also intends to abolish the bus stands in Station Terrace (which holds up to six buses): this has only emerged from a telephone conversation with the transportation department. This will cause an even greater congestion problem on Chamberlayne Road.

In the last three years, Minkie’s Deli has tried to help make Kensal Rise and Chamberlayne Road an aesthetically pleasing, welcoming, family-friendly and community-driven neighbourhood. Imagine walking up Chamberlayne from Harvist Road and all you see is stationary buses on the left and right hand sides of the hill.

Send your views to Phil Rankmore, Head of Special Projects, Transportation Service Unit: Phil.Rankmore@brent.gov.uk BCCing us at info@minkiesdeli.co.uk so we have evidence that residents are complaining. Please ask your friends and neighbours to do so too. I am sure you understand why this is extremely important to us!

View the consultation documents HERE Click on Chamberlayne Road Layby and then on the two links to the consultation document and questionnaire. We really appreciate your support in maintaining a welcoming and safe environment on our high street.

Ironically, this bus lay-by will not affect Minkie’s trade. In fact it is likely to increase our direct footfall – it will just ruin the look of the area as a whole and Chamberlayne Road will be further riddled with traffic.

You can also come into Minkie’s and sign our petition.

Wembley Peace Activist Sentenced to 14 Days Imprisonment

Sit-down protest at AWE Aldermaston, 27 July 2007 - pic by M. Atkinson

Wembley peace  and environmental justice campaigner, Daniel Viesnik, was today sentenced to 14 days imprisonment at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court.  The sentence was in relation to an unpaid fine of £50 and costs of £465 resulting from a peaceful symbolic sit-down protest outside the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston, Berkshire in July 2007, during the Footprints for Peace International Walk towards a Nuclear-Free Future from Dublin to London.

In December Daniel had written to the Court in the following terms:

I have given the matter plenty of consideration and have thus arrived at the decision that as a matter of conscience I shall not pay the outstanding sum, either as a lump sum or by instalment. My wholly unnecessary, disproportionate and unjust prosecution, conviction and penalty for "obstructing the highway" arose from my participation in an entirely peaceful symbolic sit-down protest in opposition to what I consider to be the illegal, immoral and criminally irresponsible maintenance and development of weapons of mass murder and destruction, namely Trident nuclear warheads, and supporting infrastructure at the Aldermaston atomic death factory (also known as Atomic Weapons Establishment) in West Berkshire. The event in question took place on 27 July, 2007 as I walked nearly 900 miles from Dublin to London via Belfast and Glasgow for a nuclear-free future with an international group called Footprints for Peace. I was doing nothing more that day than peacefully carrying out my moral duty to protect humanity and life on planet Earth from the grave threat of nuclear annihilation and radiation exposure. My strength of feeling on this issue is such that I am prepared to face imprisonment rather than pay the fine, despite never having experienced prison before. I initiated a case-stated appeal to the High Court against my conviction, but eventually withdrew for reasons that do not concern this Court. In my experience the courts in general appear to be deaf to arguments of morality, conscience and common sense, especially in politically-sensitive cases such as this, with the result that true justice is often sacrificed in favour of appeasing the Establishment.

Showing his usual quiet courage and perseverance Dan maintained his dignity and respectful demeanour throughtout his appearance and addressed. the court from the dock. He was supported by about 20 sympathisers and will serve his sentence at Pentonville.

I express my admiration for Dan's principled action and his courage at a time when there is so little of either in evidence from our politicians. It is incredible that on Friday the Chilcott Inquiry failed to make Tony Blair answer for waging an illegal war, which killed thousands of innocent civilians, on a pretext of non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction; and on Monday a peace activist was jailed for not paying a fine incurred when he demonstrated against our own Weapons of Mass Destruction.

The Impossible Hamster

Huge increases in consumption, fueled by huge increases in debt, are behind much of the current economic crisis. Many politicans and economists believe that the economy has to keep growing without limit: industry, finance and commerce need a constantly expanding market in order to make profits. Everything is monetised (has a money value) and our 'wants' replace our needs. It doesn't make us happy and meanwhile millions don't have their basic needs met.



More from Impossible Hamster Club

We must not let Blair get away with murder

The comments on my story about the Youth Parliament show how angry, frustrated and disenchanted people feel with local politicians. At a national level the expenses scandal got massive publicity, but to my mind the public lies told by Tony Blair and his government over Iraq are of a different magnitude. The number of British soldiers killed is in the hundreds - the number of Iraqi civilians killed is in the hundreds of thousands. War crimes are more important than financial crimes.

That was the reason I went down to the demonstration outside the Chilcott Inquiry on Friday when Blair was due to testify. Interviewed by Australian TV for Channel 9, I stated baldly that the Iraq War had been illegal and that therefore Blair should be put on trial for war crimes. I predicted that he would easily manage the Inquiry Panel and would be unapologetic.  I stated my belief that his action had been predicated on staying onside with President Bush and the US at any cost.

So it turned out. The low number of people attending the demonstration, after the hundreds of thousands who marched against the war in the first place, was a big disappointment. It may be that everyone expected Blair to dance circles around a toothless panel but I fear that our failure to express massive anger about Blair's actions is a sign of our feelings of helplessness and resignation. If this is part of a wider political disengagement we leave the way clear, internationally for an attack on Iran, and nationally for the shadowy Right to exert more influence. 

Earlier in the week I read an account on the front page of the local paper in Leighton Buzzard of a row about the BNP renting the local British Legion club for a meeting. A BNP spokesperson was quoted as saying that the BNP should be heard because it was the only political party opposed to the British presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. Such a stance opens up all sorts of scenarios for the General Election.

Wembley Southern Train Link: a little more official!

Since I publicised the Wembley Central Southern Trains route north to Milton Keynes (Platform 5) and south to Shepherd's Bush, Clapham Junction and East Croydon (Platform 6), here and in a letter to the Wembley Observer, there has been an increase in passenger traffic on the routes.

In a welcome and sensible step, station staff have now posted timetables at the rather forbidding entrances to Platform 6 (Southbound) and Platform 4 (Northbound). If changing from the Bakerloo or Overground you have go through the barriers to Central Square to access the Southern/London Midland platforms.  If you find the doors locked don't worry, they are opened just before the train is due. Trains in both directions leave just past the hour up to just after 9pm on weekdays, but finish earlier on Saturdays. They do not run on Sundays.

On Wednesday February 3rd I observed passenger traffic on the trains that depart just after 4pm. I counted 10 passenger boarding s the north bound train  and 22  the south bound service.