Anti-Fracking Action — Next Round.

A brief summery of the resistance to the fracking industry during 2017.

During 2017 the fracking industry’s activity continued but strong, well organised and imaginative community opposition resulted in delays and heavy costs for the corporations involved. This year promises to be another grinding, slow slog for the fracking industry with money being lost hand over fist due to community opposition around the UK.
The fracking industry has to artificially crank up the possibility of profit to draw in investment capital that is its life blood. But there are over 300 local groups in the anti-fracking movement which has successfully increased in numbers, strength and motivation. It is this direct action movement which threatens to bleed the fracking industry of its profit and stop it dead in its tracks.
Last year saw a broad range of creative resistance to the fracking industry. That resistance focused on the fracking sites with protest camps, marches and blockades. But the challenge to fracking also involved organising disruption of the network of supply routes and support sites. Lorries have been held-up for days with different tactics including lorry surfing. 
The tactic of communications blockades such as coordinated mass phone-ins has also been used to effect business and cut the profit of those companies engaged in fracking. In the face of these organised protests some suppliers have stopped working with the fracking industry. Some fracking operations have been slashed. Cuadrilla planned two large shale gas sites in Lancashire but the these were scaled down to only one at Preston New Road. That site was going to have four wells but those were then reduced to just two. The construction work took over six months — double the planned time. 
While Lancashire is a major front in the battle against fracking, North Yorkshire, the East Midlands, South East and other areas are important and anti-fracking actions are ongoing in these places. A winning strategy of causing construction costs to skyrocket by creating painful delays through organised disruption using a whole array of tactics could mean that the fracking industry grinds to a halt. Organised direct action against fracking can win, both in the UK and internationally.
For extensive info about the anti-fracking movement, including updates, local groups, maps and other resources check: frack-off.org.uk

Anti-Fracking Action — Next Round

National Day of Action against Universal Credit

"On Thursday 1st March there will be a national day of action to call for Universal Credit to be scrapped. We hope local groups will be able to support this and please send details of any planned events to mail@dpac.uk.net "

Day of Action against Universal Credit - local protests

Brighton – March 1st Clock Tower, Brighton, 10.30 am – 1pm information handout    https://www.facebook.com/events/327263861014031/

Bristol – March 1st at Broadmead Shopping Centre 12 – 2 pm. All meeting up in the middle. Please wear black if possible.


https://www.facebook.com/events/1725015990888709/
 
Edinburgh: Thurs 1st March 1pm - 2:30pm.
Leith Jobcentre, 199 Commercial St, Edinburgh EH6 6JF.
Edinburgh action called by Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty – grass-roots anti-austerity and disability rights groups invited to participate with their banners and stalls.
https://www.facebook.com/events/437482893334245/ 
 
Falmouth: March 1^st 8-11am at Penryn Jobcentre, Penmarin House, Commercial Rd, Penryn TR10 8SB.
https://www.facebook.com/events/560750934288894/ 
 
Manchester: March 1st at 13:00–15:00pm.
St Peter’s Square, Manchester,
https://www.facebook.com/events/382322465513090/ 
 
Norwich – Norwich City Hall 12.30 – 2pm

More info https://dpac.uk.net/2018/01/national-day-of-action-to-stopandscrap-universal-credit-march-1st/ https://dpac.uk.net/2018/01/dpac-position-statement-and-motion-for-union-branches-on-universal-credit/   

http://communistanarchism.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/national-day-of-action-against.html

Bristol Radical History Group

Check this excellent website by the Bristol Radical History Group. As they say themselves: "Since 2006 BRHG have organised over 250 events; staging walks, talks, gigs, recreations, films, exhibitions, trips through the archives and fireside story telling. We have several active research projects, publish a range of books and pamphlets and host an archive on this website.
BRHG projects and events are organised by local people from Bristol and are NOT funded by universities, political parties, business or local government. To break even we rely on members giving their labour for free, donations from the audiences and the sale of publications.
BRHG are associated with several other history groups in Bristol including Remembering the Real World War One, Eastville Workhouse Memorial Group and the Counter-Colston Group. BRHG have also recently become a member of the International History From Below Network."

Bristol Radical History Group

Stop Universal Credit!

May's Tory government is bringing in Universal Credit (UC) by stages. It replaces Job Seekers Allowance, Income Support, ESA, Housing Benefit, Tax Credits and Working Tax Credits. At the moment there are 590,000 people on Universal Credit in England and Wales, with around 50,000 new claims each month.

The Tories have been planning this since the 2010 Election and have been slowly introducing Universal Credit since 2013 
Lies

·        The Tories say it will encourage more people back to work

·        It will be more efficient than previous benefits

·        It will improve people’s lives and raise their incomes

Facts 
More people back to work?- in minimum wage, zero hour contract or other unreliable jobs!

·     More efficient? You can only apply for Universal Credit online, and only get messages about UC online. But many don’t have the internet at home, and with the closing of many public libraries with free internet access, many a will be forced to pay to use a cybercafé.  Already, people have to wait six weeks or longer to receive their first UC payment. This causes hardship to many who have no savings to rely on.

Billions taken from the unemployed, the disabled, the needy

When fully implemented millions will be worse off. What this is really about is cutting social security.
Housing subsidy will be cut creating more homeless.
Disability elements cut or abolished
completely.
Some rates lower than current benefit rates.
Support for child care massively cut.
Easier sanctioning, forcing people off UC to live on nothing.
UC will be time-limite.

Facts

Many have turned to Citizens Advice - one in ten of those already claiming UC.
The six weeks already means referrals to food banks, many getting in arrears with their rent, resulting in evictions. One foodbank has said that its referrals have doubled. Two south
London boroughs have said that half of the claimants there have gone into further debt as a result.
“While the Universal Credit will in many cases increase the financial incentive for one person in couple households to move into some form of employment, incentives for many second earners will be weakened in comparison to the current situation…This will particularly affect women as they are more likely to be the second earners in households and they usually earn less than men and do more informal caring work. Worryingly, the Government finds ‘that any such risk of decreased work incentives for women in couples is justified.’ … this could mark the start of a return to a ‘male breadwinner model’ in which men do paid work and women stay at home to look after children and other dependants.” (Women’s Budget Group)

The Way Forward

Universal Credit could be the equivalent of the Poll Tax for the May regime. The Thatcher government’s very unpopular Poll Tax resulted in mass non-payment, riots and the eventual resignation of Thatcher.

This government is weak and fragile and mass resistance could topple it. But we have to turn the despair at worsening conditions into a positive anger and a determination to resist. But don’t rely on the Labour Party to help. All they can offer is not abolition of UC but a tinkering with it.

Already the Tories have been forced to climb down over the 55p a minute Universal Credit helpline charge. As well as that, twelve back bench Tory MPs are worried about a Poll Tax style scenario and about their seats and asked the Work and Pensions Secretary David Gauke to pause the roll out back in September 2017.

The message has to be NO! We won’t pay for your crisis!

London Anarchist Communists

The above text is for a leaflet for the Universal Credit demo this Saturday Jan 27th at 1pm, Trafalgar Square

London Anarchist Communists blog

London Anarchist Communists support Anti-Fracking Leafleting in Dorking

Members of London Anarchist Communists helped out with leafleting alongside Surrey & Hants Anarchist Federation members plus a member of Surrey Communist Anarchists on Saturday January 13th in Dorking to publicise the proposed drilling at nearby Leith Hill.

Europa Oil & Gas have fought a six year battle against local residents to impose the drilling site on the community, first submitting their planning application in 2009.

All necessary planning consents are now in place for the drilling of the Holmwood-1 exploration well. This well is intended to test the Portland sandstone, Kimmeridge Clay and Corallian targets, and is similar to the Horse Hill-1 well drilled by UKOG. At present Europa is planning to attempt to drill the Holmwood-1 well in late 2016 or 2017.

Fracking company UK Oil and Gas Investments (UKOG) have stated that the proposed Holmwood-1 well at the site would provide a further valuable “proof of concept” step in UKOG’s plans to exploit the Kimmeridge Clay for shale oil. This threatens the drilling of thousands of wells across the Weald. The British Geological Surveys estimates well over a thousand wells while those from UKOG, based on data from Horse Hill, might require over 3000 wells.

Frack Off

Frack Off: Voice for Leith Hill

Facebook Info

The New London Plan

The new London Plan: more of the same- profits for the rich, crumbs for the rest of us. 

 

The draft London Plan was released at the end of November 2017 and is open to ‘consultation’ until the beginning of March. Given how little the Mayor and his officers listened to those consulted whilst formulating the draft, it is unlikely that any major changes will be made.  

It is easy enough to understand the reality behind the new draft London Plan once we ignore the meaningless phrases such as ‘good growth’, ‘affordable’, ‘resilience’ and ‘inclusive’. Firstly, the Plan is only a framework and the word ‘should’ is the most used word. This means that even if the aims are desirable, they can be ignored if they turn out to be economically unrealistic. In addition, most of the planning powers lie with local boroughs. The London Plan is only a series of guidelines which again can be ignored by local councils if deemed ‘necessary’. So even if some aspects of the Plan seem positive, it is effectively meaningless if they are only guidelines. Local boroughs are prone, as we have seen again and again, to do what is ‘economically necessary’.  

The main reason that the Plan lacks any real substance is that the key assumption underlying this Plan, as all other previous ones, is that the future of London is to be dominated by the needs of private corporations. Instead of remaining in public hands or being transferred to community co-operatives, land is being handed on a plate to private corporate interests. This is because it is assumed that this is the only way to get the needed finance. This immediately limits the ability of the Plan to deliver any of its objectives. The goal of private capital is to make profit not to create the kind of city that Londoners want to (and can afford to!) live in.  

This can be shown by considering the implications for housing and the environment. In order to increase the number of houses councils encourage private property developers to either take over estate regeneration or else provide land on which to build residential properties. Or else, the developers can buy the land themselves from another private owner. However, they get hold of the land, the next step is to get planning permission to build homes. The new London Plan 

wants ‘densification’ and ‘intensification’ of land use. This is the same as what has already been happening. It simply means that in order to make the most profit out of a piece of land, as many properties as possible need to be squeezed into a piece of land. This will include a combination of tall building, more dwellings squashed together and/or less floor space per property. Tall buildings have the added advantage of being able to offer ‘views’ which can be marketed to the very wealthy. (How many of the world’s rich have a penthouse suite in London? To offer this to all the wealthy of the world means a hell of a lot of tall buildings!) 

The new privately-built developments are the main way of getting new homes. It is already admitted that the vast majority of new homes built in the past few years are not affordable for the vast majority of Londoners. The new Plan attempts to address this issue. However, despite having new definitions of ‘affordable’ (below the current 80% of market rents), the rents will still be above council or social rents. This means that they will still be higher than what the majority of Londoners can afford. And, this will be only 50%, at the very most, of the new properties being built. If we look at the figures in another way, we can say that between 50 and 100% of new properties built in London will be unaffordable for the vast majority of Londoners. So just like now, the new Plan means we will be getting higher and higher buildings, less green and open spaces, smaller flats, and no family homes with gardens. This is all so that we can provide more and more properties for the well-off and the buy-to-let or the buy-to-leave investor 

In terms of land use, this focus on enabling property developers to make as much profit as they can on London land makes it difficult to fulfil other aims such as for more green and open spaces and reducing pollution. At most, developers will tick the ‘green box’ by planting some trees or putting in a few green patches, squeezed in between the high buildings. Despite developments supposedly being ‘car-free’, those who can afford the high prices will find some way of having their car in London, creating even more traffic-congested streets. 

This plan, like plans before it, is a gold-mine for the property developer and landlord and a disaster for the majority of Londoners. However, it is not by more lobbying of the GLA that we will get any change. We must continue and intensify our grass roots campaigns and direct action, including protests against property developers, squatting and occupations. We must not only campaign for public housing but also for more green and open spaces and less pollutions, in general for the kind of London we want to live in.  

Written by London Anarchist Communists and originally posted on their blog:
The New London Plan