The intra-anarchist debate over the black bloc in the wake of the March 26th London demonstrations is the latest stage in a debate that has characterised anarchism - and indeed the radical left in general - since the mid 1800s. One hundred and fifty years on, the controvery is still raging. Where this disagreement has been comradely, it has shown a great strength of anarchism - the belief that a w…

Hi! And thanks for visiting fortnum145.org!

Fortnum 145 is a campaign by friends and family to support the 145 people who were arrested and charged following the occupation of Fortnum and Mason on 26 March this year.

So far, we’ve been part shocked, part amused, by the awful media coverage of the events of that day. Media spin about violence and attacks has been undermined by footage actually ta…

PC Mark Kennedy spotted at TUC demo

http://vimeo.com/22090688

Filmed over the day of anti-cuts protest on Saturday 26 March 2011 in London.

(c) Jason N. Parkinson/reportdigital.co.uk

Social Centre Plus, 122 Deptford High Street SE8

Social Centre Plus, 122 Deptford High Street SE8

Police admit UKuncut arrests made for ‘intelligence gathering’

A senior police officer has admitted, while giving evidence to MPs, that “intelligence gathering” was one of the main reasons that UKuncut protesters were arrested at the March 26th demonstration.

UKuncut had already accused the Met of politically-driven arrests. This is the first time an admission has been made publicly …

Central London

NUJ criticises Met's 'fishing trip', warning journalists of risks being seen as 'information gatherers'

BBC journalists have been asked if they would be willing to hand over unbroadcast footage of last month's march against government cuts in central London, as part of the Metropolitan police's investigation into violence at the demonstration.

The ini…

A lot of people had disturbing experiences in the cells after the Fortnum & Mason arrests, one girl was told she couldn’t use her own tampon because they didn’t know what was in it, another was denied her contraceptive pill, mothers were kept locked up for close to 24 hours while worrying about their children who’d been left with childminders. These experiences shouldn’t be belittled. And it’s imp…

We are not storming heaven, but being marched precariously close to the precipice. The Trade Union Congress is not our tool for emancipation – and neither can it be. Why are we being so skilfully pacified by ‘our’ institutions? We should see clearly how Brendan Barber, Ed Miliband and friends have steered us so neatly toward the cliff-edge. We might crash onto the rocks below, and in the waters th…

"Wacky" capitalist troublemakers are planning to descend on London on Saturday May 14th for what they are calling a "Rally Against Debt."

Outside Westminster Park Plaza Hotel

200 Westminster Bridge Road

City of London

SE1 7UT

We'd like you to check this out and ask yourself some questions; do you live in a free country?

Are human rights upheld in this country?

Are these police in contravention of the Human Rights Act, are they to be found in direct deriliction of duty?

We'd also like to know why this has not been covered by the media

Where were the legal observers from Liberty of the TUC when this happene…

UK Uncut accuses police of politically motivated arrests

Campaign group claims police are trying to disband it following arrests at Fortnum and Mason sit-in.

Protest group UK Uncut has signalled its intention to continue occupying high street stores.

A spokesman for the tax avoidance campaigners insisted that they would not be cowed, despite concerns that the Metropolitan police was intent on d…

Thursday, April 14 · 5:00pm – 9:00pm

Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6QP

Daily Mail Headquarters, Young Street (off Kensington High Street), London W8 5TT

More photos and pics from the 26th of March demo

www.dissidentisland.org

Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL. (nr tube Holborn)

For a map: http://bit.ly/e2Nllk

From the way the news has been since Saturday, I expect this week's episode of Gardeners' Question Time to go: "Before answering the question about Mister Dibley's crocus, do the panel condemn the violence we saw in Oxford Street? Well come on, do you? DO YOU?"

By tomorrow the Shipping Forecast will go: "Rockall, gales, South-Westerly, Oxford Street, paint, hurled at windows, force nine, shocking…

"Meet us outside the British Library. That seems appropriate." I'm due to interview two men in their late 20s who were part of the "black bloc" direct action wing of last Saturday's anti-cuts protest. We'd originally agreed to meet at a bar in King's Cross, but they tell me later it was "too media" for their security concerns.

I conduct an interview of sorts, but they are reluctant to tell me muc…

Everybody who took part in the demonstrations on 26 March in person or at home through virtual protest should be proud.

As exhaustion kicks in and the adrenaline levels subside, doubts arise. As politicians and their pets in the media unite in blanket condemnation, it's easy to entertain thoughts of despair.

But the outrage and propaganda from sections of the press and the House of Commons bench…

There were lots of alternatives on offer on last Saturday's March for the Alternative. Alternatives to marching. Alternatives to peaceful protest. Alternatives to non-political policing. Alternatives takes on what the other protesters were up to. Alternative tales of how your day went. And ‘alternative' versions of the the truth in the media the next day. Protesters have had a go at each other and…

The 26th may well turn out to be a turning point in the anti cuts movement.

Firstly as an event it was an undoubted success. Up to half a million marched, sang and chanted their way in lively procession from Embankment to Hyde park. The march clearly attracted many thousands who had not been on a demo before, many who had pulled back from political activity and were pulled back in, in short t…

There are surprisingly few write ups of Saturday, the March 26th TUC Demo in London. Perhaps many have been feeling the way the ROU has been and is unable to work out quite what happened.

The media portrayal of events has to be expected. Sure, the police seem to have gone on a PR mission to make themselves not look like arseholes. They did a press conference with that lovely, entirely uncrit…

The massive March for the Alternative demonstration and day of action has come and gone, and what a day it was! Indymedia London was busy reporting the whole day and, together with other radical media projects such as the x26radio live streaming, it offered reporting infrasructure so those taking part in the demonstrations, occupations and actions could tell the story collectively in real time, f…

I spent quite a few hours on Saturday, 26 March, walking the streets of London fairly slowly with approximately half a million other people. Some of the time I carried a flag, for a short while I help carry the national banner of my union, the National Union of Journalists (http://twitpic.com/4di1se). When I finally got to Hyde Park, some friends and I walked down towards Victoria Station to …

SchNEWS emergency bulletin on the M26 demos in London

"HUNDREDS of anti-royal anarchists ran riot across central London yesterday, turning a peaceful demonstration about spending cuts into a class war" - Sunday Express

Well - somebody had to do it. - The TUC's glad-hand fest was never going to change the ConDEMS course by even one degree. It was hijacked by anarchists and it deserved to be. …

I’m going to add my personal account of Saturday’s protest to the many that are already out there, and hopefully draw some political conclusions from it. As always, discussion is welcomed and encouraged.

Marching and Uncutting

On Saturday I spent most of the day, more by accident than design, leaving areas just before things kicked off in a big way. This happened at Fortnum and Mason’s, …