Resistrance. A benefit for defendant solidarity in Bristol

Here’s the full details of the massive political party planned for Saturday 3 December in Bristol, with all proceeds going to maintain the work of Bristol Defendant Solidarity in supporting those arrested and/or imprisoned following the disturbances earlier this year in Stokes Croft and elsewhere. Organised and hosted by Resistrance, Kebele Sound, Next2Nothing and friends…

BDS info

Letter From Uk Comrade Huw ‘badger’ Norfolk From Clandestinity

Expressions of support for Bristol anarchist Huw ‘Badger’ Norfolk have been growing since he published an open letter online last month. The letter first appeared on an international solidarity website and has since been linked to numerous other sites, before being front paged on the Bristol Indymedia site on 22 October (and also therefore showing on the UK Indymedia newswire).

Here’s the text from his communiqué:
1st communication October 2011. An open letter to whoever wants to be concerned.

Two months have passed since the police execution of Mark Duggan tipped the already-fragile balance of power in the UK, unlocking an orgy of defiance across this island. A well of frustrations finally boiled over and the system was left reeling by a determined insurrection from a wide range of people. Following these days and nights of brazen attacks in Bristol (as in other places) a house is raided in a police and media orchestrated scene as part of their revenge operation for the blows they have both received in the uprising – they leave without the hostage they sought there, but I am made aware by their blunder that I am on their wanted list.

Two months have now passed of successful evasion, and meanwhile the winds of insurgency still blow in many towns and moments – indeed, for many they started long before this summer. There have also been at least two more deaths at the hands of the Law in August alone…

Resistrance prezentza Riotous Assembly

RESISTRANCE returns on 3 December bringing ya an all-nighter to remember!

Band lineup so far includes: A0S3; Autonomads; Cop on Fire; Spanner; No Choice; Primeval Soup.
Plus at least 2 rooms of DJ’s and crews, and much much more TBC.

All monies raised go directly to support Bristol Defendant Solidarity.
Hosted by Resistrance, Kebele Sound, Next2Nothing & Friends: “Big shout out to the Bristol Old School. This is a Resistrance rallying cry to all radical ravers, partying punkers n serious skankers out there – lets have a political party!!! Recent events in Stokes Croft have persuaded us here at Resistrance HQ to drag our sorry arses out of retirement for a one-off riotous rave-up in aid of the Stresscos Rebels. We ain’t had it – we’re avin’ it!!”

So keep the night free – full details to follow shortly…

Anti-repression round up

So two weeks after the wave of disturbances swept across England, and the state’s blinkered response is clear to one and all – revenge against all those that stepped outside the accepted norms of of our disfunctional society. Unless of course you are a politician, media tycoon, corporation, or cop, in which case the normal rules dont apply and you are free to get away with just about anything – like stealing £’s thousands and millions, and of course shooting people dead.

What we are seeing is naked class justice from the ruling class directed at the working class, as they break all the rules they expect us to abide by and make up new ones to suit themselves along the way. Or to look at it another way, on the 10th August they were scared, very scared, and they didn’t like it one bit. So thousands arrested, over 1600 so far railroaded through emergency courts, hundreds of images of people published by the media before any sort of trial, unusually long prison sentences and irregular bail conditions handed down, and so on. With the prisons & police cells full to bursting with both remanded and sentenced prisoners, it only needs one spark for the whole prison system to break down, whilst the conditions inside the prisons will cause many prisoners to break down. The suicide of a remand prisoner at Bristol prison last weekend will not be the last (remember that whatever charges the person may face, they aint even been to trial yet). Meanwhile back on the streets its business as usual for the ruling class with rising unemployment and inflation, more cuts to services, devalued wages and pensions and savings, and of course more bank bailouts from public money.

Prisoner support film and letter-writing night

FILM & LETTER WRITING NIGHT

Wednesday 13 July, 7 to 9pm
The Factory social space, Cave St/Portland Sq, St Pauls, Bristol BS2 8RU
All welcome, free entry, donations welcome. Cake & drinks available.

FILMS
Ashanti Alston
The former political prisoner & anarchist black panther spoke at Monkeywrench books in Feb 2010 (Texas, USA). He talks about his politicisation, the black panther movement, black liberation army, solidarity & anarchism (50mins)

Submedia punk shit up!
Submedia bring us their classic brand of humorous political updates from around the world. In this episode they talk about the Vancouver ice hockey riots, Chilean urban ecodefense & updates on those facing charges following the G20. (15mins)

Bristol Defendant Solidarity

Bristol ABC has agreed to host a page for Bristol Defendant Solidarity. Here’s the intro to the page:

Bristol Defendant Solidarity
Bristol arrestee support first made an appearance in late 2010 providing support and advice by phone & email during/after the student protests. Now following the Stokes Croft resistance of April 2011 the Bristol Defendant Solidarity (BDS) has been formed, incorporating and building upon the work of arrestee support. BDS involves a number of activists with experience of arrests, police station and court processes, suing the cops, and legal, defendant & prisoner support.

Whilst we were away Bristol rebelled

The Bristol ABC blog has been quiet the last 8 weeks, whilst Bristol has been very rebellious and making national headlines. We’ve not exactly been away, but lack of people to do the work has meant the blog hasn’t been maintained as we’d like it to be. In fact those of us who have been around and about and healthy have been very busy locally, including helping out with legal and prisoner support. We’ll be trying to keep the blog upto date from now on, and we have a pile of info and news to pass your way.

Stokes Croft
Whilst Stokes Croft is actually just a fairly short street to the north of the city centre, it has become known as an ‘area’ that extends north, west and east into surrounding streets and neighbourhoods. On April 21/22 and 28/29 it was the scene of some fairly serious resistance to a police invasion and attempts at repression, events that have been heavily reported on Bristol Indymedia, and the local corporate press, and nationally. Whilst some saw it as just opposition to Tescos locally, in fact it was much more than that. Such high profile resistance does come inevitably with a state and media crackdown afterwards, with at least 50 arrests so far, and the need for some serious defendant solidarity.