STOP THE WAR COALITION GLASGOW
NEWSLETTER
26 January 2009
www.glasgowstopwar.blogspot.
Donate to the Gaza Appeal at http://www.dec.org.uk/
IN THIS NEWSLETTER
1) BBC – KEEP UP THE PRESSURE
2) UP COMING MEETINGS – PUT THEM IN YOUR DIARY – GET INVOLVED
3) GLASGOW BBC OCCUPATION RECEIVES WORLD-WIDE COVERAGE
4) BLOGS FROM GAZA
5) SUPPORT THE UNIVERSITY OCCUPATIONS
5) PETITIONS TO NUMBER 10 DOWNING STREET
6) LOBBY YOUR MP – includes Sandra White motion to Scottish parliament
7) FINANCIAL APPEAL
8) LOCAL GROUP CONTACTS
9) VIDEOS AND PICTURES
10) HELP US EXPAND OUT MAILING LIST
PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO YOUR TRADE UNION, NETWORKS, CONTACTS, FRIENDS AND FAMILY.
1) BBC – KEEP UP THE PRESSURE
The BBC has so far received over 11,000 complaints about its decision not to air the DEC Appeal for Gaza (and only 68 in support!). The telephone lines were jammed for most of the weekend. The telephone is the most effective way to register your complaint, add your voice! Call 03700100222.
Protest outside the BBC during the meeting with BBC Scotland Controller and Director of News:
4:30pm Wednesday 28 January
BBC Scotland Headquarters, Pacific Quay
BRING YOUR TV LICENCE TO HAND BACK TO THE BBC
We would like to thank the countless number of people from across the world who have telephoned and texted messages of support for the action taken at the BBC Scotland HQ.
2) UP COMING MEETINGS – PUT THEM IN YOUR DIARY – GET INVOLVED
A) GET INVOLVED – ORGANISING MEETING FOR GAZA – TUES 27 JAN
All welcome to get involved with planning future actions for Gaza.
Tuesday 27 January
16 Queen's Crescent
7.30pm
Two minute walk from George's Cross Underground station.
B) Stop the War Coalition (Scotland) Conference – 21st February 2009
Organising meeting for conference:
STUC, 333 Woodlands Road, Glasgow - MAP: http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=257503&Y=666725&A=Y&Z=110
THURSDAY 29 JANUARY – 7.30PM
Stop the War Coaltion is asking all their supporters to attend this meeting to help organise this conference. The conference has already been supported by six unions branches in Scotland including the STUC.
The line up of international speakers already include – Walter Wolfgang, Ghada Karmi (Palestinian campaigner), Kate Hudson (British CND), Aamer Anwar, Pauline McNeill (MSP), Sandra White (MSP), Bill Kidd (MSP), Neil Mackay (journalist), Hossam al-Malaway (Egyptian journalist), Osama Saeed (Scottish Islamic Foundation), Rose Gentle (military families against war), Eamonn McCann (Raytheon Nine), Mohammad Asif (Scottish Afghan Society), Lindsey German (Stop the War Coalition), Ivona Novomestska (Czech bases campaign), Mary Senior (STUC), Alan McKinnon (SCND), Kenny Ross (FBU), Mujahid Islam
Bring your ideas and skills. We’ll need to organise publicity and press teams, cultural inputs, conference setup and much more.
C) TWO SIDES - ONE STORY:
GUANTANAMO FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE WIRE
A national tour to mark seven years of unlawful detention, abuse and torture
The tour is coming to Glasgow on Friday 30th January
Friday 30 January
Adelaides, 209 Bath Street, Glasgow , G2 4HZ
Meeting starts at 7.30pm (doors open from 7.00pm)
Cageprisoners Presents:
MOAZZAM BEGG
(Ex-Guantanamo Detainee, Spokesman for Cageprisoners)
SAMI AL HAJ, (Ex Guantanamo Detainee and Aljazeera Journalist)
CHRISTOPHER ARENDT, (Ex-Guantanamo Guard)
http://www.cageprisoners.com/
Presented by Cageprisoners, supported by Glasgow Stop the War Coalition, SACC, the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Scottish Media Workers Against the War and the Federation of Student Islamic Societies
100 days to close Guantanamo: http://www.johnlayton.co.uk/
2) WORLD-WIDE COVERAGE OF OUR OCCUPATION OF BBC SCOTLAND HEADQUARTERS
Over 100 people participated in an occupation of the BBC Scotland headquarters on Sunday, demanding that the broadcaster show the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal for Gaza. Occupiers entered the building at 5pm, and despite the police threatening mass arrests to remove everyone within 15 minutes, the occupation remained for almost 4 hours.
The occupation was successful in applying additional pressure on the BBC through extensive national and international media coverage, including front-page coverage in the Metro as well as coverage on CNN and CBS. It was announced live on Channel 4 news as well as on Sky TV. Al-Jazeera Arabic ran a live telephone interview from the occupation, and Press TV will today interview Strathclyde University media expert Professor David Miller. Another Iranian television station rang Stop the War at 4:30am to do an interview, and the story was the third item on their morning news bulletin.
Tony Benn also telephoned the occupation to offer his support, saying ‘The decision to occupy the BBC in Glasgow must be understood as a plea for the people of Gaza, who are suffering so much and who need our help to help get the money through’.
A delegation from the occupation was elected to meet with Ian Small, Head of Public Policy & Corporate Affairs and member of the BBC’s Executive Board, who was called in specially to meet with the occupiers. The BBC agreed that it will arrange a meeting with the delegation with Ken McQuarrie, the Controller of the BBC Scotland, and Atholl Duncan, the head of news for BBC Scotland on Wednesday the 28th of January. Glasgow Stop the War Coalition is asking its supporters and those who support humanitarian aid to Gaza to gather outside the BBC on Wednesday at 4.30pm.
Protestors also promised to return unless the DEC appeal is aired. Glasgow Stop the War also called for others to take similar actions around the UK.
All the occupiers decided to leave the building together, and no arrests were made. By that time, television cameras from SKY TV, BBC, and GMTV had arrived, as well as a reporter from the Daily Record. Numerous interviews were also conducted by telephone from inside the occupation.
Videos from inside the occupation at - http://uk.youtube.com/user/
Pictures at - http://www.flickr.com/photos/gphrc-palestine/sets/72157612985084878/show/
BBC staff protest over gaza aid appeal – ‘fury’ at the news desk meeting.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Unions protest over BBC and Sky’s Gaza appeal ban
http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1089
Some of the coverage:
The occupation made the front page of the Metro. There is a 2-page spread about the occupation in the Daily Mail, and reports on Page 2 of the Daily Record and p.8 of the Herald amongst many others. News24 have been covering the DEC appeal protests at the BBC Scotland all day today and Glasgow Stop the War Coalition was interviewed in the early hours of Monday morning on Press TV.
http://www.google.com/
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
We would like to thank the countless number of people from across the world who have telephoned and texted messages of support and solidarity for the action taken at the BBC Scotland HQ.
Unseen Gaza
Channel 4 Video Report - Broadcast - January 22, 2009
Is what has been presented on our screens and in our papers a true reflection of events on the ground in Gaza? And how do these reports differ to those aired in other countries?
With reporters unable to enter Gaza, attempted media manipulation from both sides and strict regulations governing what images that can be shown on British TV, Jon Snow asks a range of journalists from at home and abroad about the challenges of getting the full story.
Featuring images that haven't before been aired on mainstream television, Jon also examines the difference between the coverage at home and that in the US, Europe and the Middle East. He compares the coverage available on terrestrial channels with satellite TV and the internet and investigates the extent to which some British Muslims are by-passing the mainstream British media and looking elsewhere for their information.
To what extent does the choice of news outlet affect opinion of the conflict?
Watch the progamme here:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21833.htm
4) BLOGS FROM GAZA
These blogs are all written by people presently in Gaza who are trying to document and communicate the destruction that has been wreaked there:
http://talestotell.wordpress.
http://sunshine208.blogspot.
Check out: www.wanted.org.il
5) SUPPORT THE UNIVERSITY OCCUPATIONS
Over the past two weeks students at 17 universities in the UK have occupied buildings in solidarity with the people of Gaza. They have been demanding that their universities divest from companies that support the Israeli occupation, that their universities provide support and scholarships to Palestinian students whose universities have been destroyed, that their universities conduct official charity collections for Gaza, and that their universities send extra equipment to Gaza. Many have won significant victories.
Please send messages of support! They make a big difference to those on the inside. Visit http://
Latest footage from the LSE occupation:
5) PETITIONS TO NUMBER 10 DOWNING STREET
There are two petitions on the no 10 downing street website: one calling for sanctions against Israel, and one calling for arms sales to Israel to be banned:
http://petitions.number10.gov.
http://petitions.number10.gov.
6) LOBBY YOUR MP
The organising meeting last week discussed visiting the surgeries of MPs to call on the government to take concrete action against Israel, such as closing the Israeli embassy, and cancelling all arms sales to Israel.
To write to your MP and find out when they have a surgery see www.writetothem.com.
We commend the motion presented to the Scottish Parliament.
S3M-3304 Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): BBC Refusal to Help in Humanitarian Appeal for Gaza
That the Parliament condemns the decision by the BBC, a public funded body, not to air the appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) for humanitarian aid for Gaza; notes that ITV and channels 4 and 5 will air this appeal and commends them for doing so; considers that refusing to air this appeal leaves the BBC in isolation and brings into question the independence of the BBC, and draws attention to the fact that people who wish to contribute to the DEC Gaza Crisis Appeal can do so by contacting DEC at O37O 6O 6O 9OO or DEC Gaza Crisis, PO Box 999, London, EC3A 3AA or visit www.dec.org.uk.
Contact your MSP today to support this motion.
7) LOCAL GROUP CONTACTS
Get in touch with your local Stop the War group:
Edinburgh: edinburghstw@tiscali.co.uk - 07866 176 960
Glasgow: glasgowstopwar@gmail.com - 07952 452 906
Aberdeen: etmorison@yahoo.co.uk – 07505 006 170
Dundee City: 07828 055 586
Dundee University: i.e.whiteside@dundee.ac.uk – 07918 774 177
Abertay University: e.dargie@btinternet.com – 07916 215 331
St Andrews: martinschmierer@yahoo.co.uk – 07765 376 730
Glasgow uni: gustopthewar@gmail.com, 07920 403 766
Strathclyde uni: strathunistopwar@yahoo.co.uk
School Students Against the War – Edinburgh@ssaw.org.uk
8) FINANCIAL APPEAL
The donations and new membership subscriptions have been a tremendous help in the past four weeks in funding the costs of our campaign against the Gaza massacre. Many thanks to all those who contributed. However, demonstrations are very expensive to organise and we still need more funding to cover the full costs of the last three week's events and to ensure we can be as effective as possible in our Gaza campaign and other anti-war activities. Do a collection in your workplace, amongst your friends and family.
Please consider making a monthly direct debit contribution or making a one off donations. Here's how –
IN PERSON- Telephone 07912348366
BY POST: Cheques made to 'GLASGOW STOP THE WAR COALITION' C/o Dave Sherry, Branch Secretary, TGWU Scottish Housing Branch, TGWU Offices, 290 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4LD.
9) VIDEOS AND PICTURES
Thanks for continuing to send in your videos and pictures to help us spread the message of the anti-war movement.
Photos of BBC occupation:
http://leninology.blogspot.
Photos of Glasgow demonstration on 3rd January - http://www.flickr.com/photos/
National Demonstration in Edinburgh 10th January - http://www.flickr.com/photos/
Latest - http://www.flickr.com/photos/
(including Lloyds TSB 17th Jan)
These are for view purposes only and cannot be used for commercial use.
BBC Demonstration over coverage of Gaza massacre:
View video here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?
10) HELP US EXPAND OUT MAILING LIST
We collect many email addresses from on demonstrations and at events. They are not always easy to read and therefore we cannot keep in touch.
Collect emails addresses from your friends, family and workmates and email them to glasgowstopwar@gmail.com
Please forward this email to your email address book.
Check www.stopwar.org.uk for more info. Also www.glasgowstopwar.blogspot.com
PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO YOUR TRADE UNION, NETWORKS, CONTACTS, FRIENDS AND FAMILY.
MORE INFO AT www.stopwar.org.uk OR www.glasgowstopwar.blogspot.
I am a non-distinguished alumni of UoG and was part of various anti-war and human-rights groups when I was at Uni 2+ years ago. I made something to express myself about the recurring Gaza bombings here -
ReplyDeletehttp://sriks6711.wordpress.com/2009/01/04/israel-and-palestine/
Just want to say that if these can be used in any material, please feel free to use it. And if there is anything else I can do (cartoons wise), please do not hesitate to contact and pitch a suggestion or just carry the discussion forward. This is the least I can do while I am away in India.
Peace.