Kevan Thakrar is a long-term prisoner in HMP Woodhill that was jailed under the Joint Enterprise law.
In Kevan’s words, this law means “if one person commits a crime all of his contacts who knew it would happen or participated in a crime believing it could evolve in to something else (like a playground fight ending up in murder) are all guilty of it”.
The fortnight of action against IPP sentences will culminate in a noise demo at HMP Peterborough on Sunday 23rd July. This will be in the name of Charlie Noakes, who took her own life whilst still on an IPP sentence.
In addition to the local events we’ll be organising for the fortnight, we will also be heading across to Peterborough for this.
If you’re interested and want to join us there and back then we hope to be able to offer transport for other local people wanting to go. However in order to do so we’ll need to have an idea of numbers so please send us a message or email so that we can begin organising vehicles.
Talk can be found at our Archive.org page
A couple of weeks ago we gave a talk at the Norwich Vegan Festival about anarchism and anti-authoritarian politics within veganism. Given the explosion of vegan consumerism in the UK today – and especially in Norwich, where there seems to be a new vegan joint opening every couple of months right now – it is important to remember that veganism has grown from fertile radical soil, where it strengthened and was strengthened by radical anti-authoritarianism. In this talk we look at some of the ways that veganism connects with other radical politics such as ecology, feminism, and class struggle.
At next weekend’s Cambridge Radical Bookfair we’ll be launching part two of the Veganism – A Different Approach series. Titled “The State Is Not The Answer”, this edition takes a look at the effectiveness of trying to use State power to achieve a better world for non-human animals. In particular, it focuses on two key pieces of UK legislation: the banning of battery cages, and the Hunting Act 2004. Using these two 21st Century examples the text attempts to illustrate why the pursuit of animal liberation through legal means can only lead to dead ends.
DIT Collective is proud to be participating in the newly formed EA-AFN. This is a network of individuals, groups, and organisations working to broaden communication about anti-fascism across the region. While Norfolk isn’t a hotbed of activity as some other parts of the region are, there is nonetheless an undercurrent that we must remain vigilant about.
If you have any questions or concerns relating to fascist, neo-nazi, traditionalist, or other far right activity and feel comfortable talking to us about it then please send us an email or message us on FB. All information will be treated with sensitivity and security.
Even during the so-called “golden age” of hunting during the 19th Century, the sport was no more popular amongst people of the countryside than it is today. This letter by William Skinner Phillippo to the Norfolk News in 1856 illustrates how the problems of fox and other game hunting – including how it hides behind the machinations of Law – haven’t changed in more than 150 years.
We received this message slightly too late to be shared at our Rojava screening but it is insightful and practical so we wanted to share it here. It comes from Jo at A Girl and Her Thumb.
So obviously the biggest news is that Turkey has invaded Rojava under the pretext of fighting ISIS, and is instead killing Kurds (as usual), including unarmed civilians in Rojava who are protesting the building of a new wall that Turkey is erecting along the border, between North Kurdistan (East Turkey/Bakur) and West Kurdistan (North Syria/Rojava).
It’s important that we stand up and take action on this. Turkey is a NATO member and our government is permitting this to happen. If we want Rojava to survive, this is the time to act. It has never been as important as this before. There is a new strategic alliance between Erdogan, the USA, Assad, Iran and Barzani (KRG/Iraqi Kurdistan) ALLLLL against Rojava and the wider Kurdish movement. These people and states all hate each other, but they are coming together to fight the Kurds.
Another important campaign is the campaign to free Ocalan. There are currently 50 people from multiple Kurdish parties and platforms on an “indefinite and irreversable” hunger strike. They are really ramping up the pressure on this one now, as Ocalan has been entirely cut off from absolutely everyone for something like 2 years now. The other day I met 2 men who have been on hunger strike for over a week already in Strasbourg, who were on their way to a meeting with the European committee against torture. They want them to apply to visit Ocalan on Imrali island and check his condition, as all other applications from lawyers, etc have been denied. There have also been fringe meetings at all the big trade union meetings, with the aim of getting the trade unions to sign up as supporters of the campaign. I believe this process is going very well.
There are also other campaigns, such as the campaign to delist the PKK and the campaign to open the Simalka border crossing, previously the only open border into Rojava, in order to allow vital supplies of food and medicines to enter.
You can also still fundraise for Feed the Revolution. I have their bank details, though they very much prefer cryptocurrency as they “don’t like to encourage the use of banks”.
On a smaller level, these are a couple of interesting articles about things people are doing in solidarity on the coops front:
One coop has partnered up with a bakery coop starting up in Rojava and they are fundraising specifically for that coop.
There is going to be this conference here in Brighton in November that might interest people:
http://steps-centre.org/events/emancipatory-transformations-radical-democracy-kurdistan/
Our August screening will be of the fun 70s BBC documentary about The Angry Brigade, who were the most fun gun-toting and bomb-wielding anarchist crew walking London’s streets during the late 60s and early 70s.
Please check out the Facebook event here.
This will be at yet another new venue: Space Studios. It is located on Swan Street, in Norwich, and the entrance is basically a gate between two shops. Because the venue is on a third floor it’s not friendly for people with difficulties climbing stairs this time around but if you are such a person and want to come along to the screenings then please let us know and we’ll try to make other arrangements for the future.
There’s no entrance fee and, as per usual, there will be space and time after the documentary itself to discuss the topics and issues that the film brings up.
See you there, compañerxs.
Thank you to all that came and participated in our Zapatista documentary screening. It was small but hopefully everyone involved felt they gained something from the night. It seems likely we’ll do another screening in early July so keep your eyes open for more details regarding that. Furthermore, it’s likely this will not be the last time we look at the Zapatistas.
In other news, our next discussion group is during the evening of 23rd June, in Norwich, where a text regarding hunt sabotage and animal liberation written by one of the group will be looked at. There is no expertise or experience required to participate: getting together, socialising, and getting to know one another is as valuable as any political debate.
If you’d like to come along please email us or send us a message to our Facebook page.
We are well chuffed to announce our first attempt to screen a documentary focused on topics of interest to radicals. This one is called “Zapatistas: Chronicle of a Rebellion”, produced by the Mexican media outlets La Jornada and Canal Seis de Julio, and provides a linear timeline of the Zapatistas from their insurrection in 1994 until the date of production in 2007.
The Facebook event can be seen here.
It will be upstairs at The Owl Sanctuary on 2nd June, 7pm. The film contains some scenes of graphic violence.
Depending on how this works out, we hope there will be more and on a monthly basis, with an aim of building a community that is regularly engaged in conversation and action toward total liberation. There are so many more possibilities in this world that the society we live in cannot be how we end.