Category: Human Rights (Page 1 of 3)

The undercover copper who spied on Keir Starmer and seduced the activist the young Leftie lawyer was representing

John, a fellow activist, talked to Helen about everything. The death of his father. The sudden death of his mother back in New Zealand. His sadness at having no siblings. His dreams of having six children. His anxieties and insecurities.

Gradually, they became closer. Soon, they were not just campaigning together, but living together, loving one other, taking holidays to Scotland and Camber Sands on the south coast, all while making plans for the future.

They had so much in common. As if by magic, everything she liked, he seemed to be interested in, too.

Dave and Helen outside a McDonald's restaurant in 2005 as part of the television programme, McLibel

Dave and Helen outside a McDonald’s restaurant in 2005 as part of the television programme, McLibel

 
A young Sir Keir Starmer is pictured being interviews on Life Stories by Piers Morgan

A young Sir Keir Starmer is pictured being interviews on Life Stories by Piers Morgan

McDonald’s won – winning a £40,000 award against the pair which was never paid – but which backfired into a monumental PR disaster.

But John Barker was not actually an activist like Helen. Instead, he was an undercover policeman called John Dines employed by the top-secret Metropolitan Police Special Demonstration Squad (SDS).

And not the only one. Between 1968 and 2010, the SDS deployed 139 undercover officers to infiltrate and spy on more than 1,000 political, social and environmental groups and trade unions.

Today, the appalling scope, depth, darkness and deception of their operations continue to be revealed at the ongoing Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI).

This week, the SDS’s reputation hit a new low when the inquiry learned that, as well as inveigling himself into the home, head and bed of Helen (and the trust of her co-defendant David), Dines also spied on their young barrister – a newly-qualified Keir Starmer – who was working pro bono to help them prepare their defence against mighty McDonald’s.

So we now know how Dines, purporting to be Barker, would pick up Helen from legal meetings at Doughty Street Chambers in his van so he could talk through any confidential details of Starmer’s defence arguments on the journey home – and feed them straight to his managers at Scotland Yard. There are swirling allegations that Dines was also a bag carrier and occasional driver for Starmer – whose high-profile work in the McLibel case launched his legal career and eventual rise to become Director of Public Prosecutions.

McDonald's won ¿ winning a £40,000 award against the pair which was never paid ¿ but which backfired into a monumental PR disaster (stock image)

McDonald’s won, winning a £40,000 award against the pair which was never paid, but which backfired into a monumental PR disaster (stock image)

Even more damagingly, the Guardian reported this week that any juicy details gleaned were allegedly shared with McDonald’s, perhaps to help it win the case and defeat the activists.

But for now, let’s head back to 1986. When Helen Steel, David Morris and a handful of other members of London Greenpeace (separate to the main Greenpeace) were so appalled by what they saw as McDonald’s underhand practices, that they drafted a six-page leaflet, ‘What’s wrong with McDonald’s: everything they don’t want you to know‘, that set out what they saw as the corporation’s wrongdoings.

Their allegations were far and wide, including everything from McDonald’s exploiting children through its advertising, to promoting unhealthy food, paying low wages, being anti-union and responsible for animal cruelty and environmental damage.

They handed out the few hundred copies they could afford to print on The Strand in London.

Not surprisingly McDonald’s went bananas, threatening to throw all its legal might at London Greenpeace.

It was surely madness to try to fight it out. But two of the campaigners – Helen and David – refused to apologise.

It was soon after, in 1987, that Dines, then 28, popped up on the scene. He was quick to get involved in the anti-McDonald’s campaign, giving everyone lifts in his van, becoming a key member of the group and taking part in discussions in their office, the pub or each other’s homes.

There are swirling allegations that Dines was also a bag carrier and occasional driver for Starmer ¿ whose high-profile work in the McLibel case launched his legal career

There are swirling allegations that Dines was also a bag carrier and occasional driver for Starmer, whose high-profile work in the McLibel case launched his legal career

Slowly, he closed in on Helen. He dropped her home after meetings. Confided in her. Borrowed money so that he could fly back to New Zealand for his mother’s funeral. When he returned, several months later and two years after they’d first met, they became romantically involved. They found a flat in London, moved in together and started planning their future. He wanted to buy a small house in the countryside with his inheritance, somewhere he could ‘dig a duck pond for her’ and they could settle down and start a big family.

As Helen has recalled: ‘He said he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. In a short space of time I fell absolutely, madly, in love with him in a way I had never fallen in love with anyone before or since.’

So when she (and others) received a writ from McDonald’s, he wrote her a letter, advising her not to fight the case for fear she’d end up isolated and alone. And when still she refused to step back, he was there by her side, discussing Starmer’s free legal advice from every angle.

(The two co-defendants were never awarded legal aid and, for 313 days, had to defend themselves against McDonald’s £10 million legal team in the High Court).

Alas, as we all know now – but at the time poor Helen did not – it was all lies. John Barker didn’t exist. Or not any more. Dines was hiding behind the identity of an eight-year-old boy from Derby who had died of leukaemia years ago in 1968.

Dines’ parents, meanwhile, were both alive and well. He had siblings galore. Oh yes, and a wife called Debbie, who he’d married back in the 1970s. And he was just one of dozens of undercover officers working for SDS, for whom it seems there were no limits to what they would do to protect their cover.

Some even committed crimes. According to a former colleague of Dines, he reportedly carried marbles at demonstrations to throw under the hooves of police horses and once injured himself so he could pretend he had been beaten up in the back of a police van.

Steel will probably never know whether she was chosen randomly to give Dines a foothold in the Greenpeace community, or specially selected because of her role in the McLibel campaign.

Whatever. Their relationship – and its inevitable end – had a catastrophic impact on her life. Because Dines’ departure in March 1992 was textbook SDS.

In the months preceding, his behaviour became erratic as he started complaining of mental health issues, saying there was too much pressure and stress and that he needed time away to sort his head out.

Then, one morning, Helen came downstairs to a note on the kitchen table saying that he needed some space and had flown to South Africa.

And that was that. He was gone, leaving no trace. No birth certificate. No record. Nothing but memories and a few dog‑eared holiday snaps.

‘I felt both physically and mentally spent. John’s disappearance still consumed my thoughts every day,’ said Helen.

Partly because she loved him. But also she was worried sick that he might do something to harm himself.

It took her years – and relentless digging – to get to the truth. In 1994, she discovered that John Barker had never existed. Then, in 2003, she discovered he had been a married police officer.

And, finally, in late 2010, she received confirmation he had been an undercover officer. And not the only one. Because around this time, it emerged that another undercover officer, Mark Kennedy, had had several relationships with the environmental activists he’d spied on.

And bit by bit, activists, journalists and the whistle-blower Peter Francis – one of Dines’ former colleagues – began to share the truth about SDS.

Sadly, it took Helen so long to trust anyone again that she lost her chance to have children.

But it didn’t stop her from campaigning to prevent the same happening to anyone else. And in November 2015, after bringing legal action against the Metropolitan Police and battling for years, she and seven other women – some of whom had had children with undercover officers who later disappeared – secured a settlement and an unreserved apology.

Lord only knows what drove Dines. Or what drove any of them to leave their own families and go so deep undercover that other women came to love and cherish them as their own.

After all the lies, his real-life story seems rather anodyne.

Two years in a desk job back at the Met HQ, before being retired early on an ill health pension and moving – first to New Zealand, where his in-laws lived, and, later, to Sydney, Australia, where he worked training Indian police officers to tackle Left-wing extremists.

And where, thanks to Google, Helen finally tracked him down – in 2016, exactly 24 years to the day since he’d walked out that morning. ‘I knew it was the same date, because it was International Women’s Day,’ she says wryly.

There is a video online of her confronting him in the airport. Look it up. It’s worth a watch.

You can’t hear the audio but, apparently, and looking tanned and crisp in a pink shirt, he apologises unreservedly for his behaviour.

But what good is that? The damage is done. The impact on Helen’s life. The lies, lies and more lies.

And now, this week, yet another layer of deceit emerged. Spying on barristers! Feeding stolen legal advice to McDonald’s? Lord knows what else will be uncovered in the coming months. But perhaps one day Dines will put his pink shirt on again and apologise to the Prime Minister, too.


See also the original Guardian article on which this story is based.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/oct/15/undercover-policeman-admits-spying-on-keir-starmer-when-he-was-a-barrister

 

Also “Fighting McDonald’s took half my life. Now I’m taking on the Met” . Sunday Times, October 20th 2024

 


Environmental and social justice campaigner Helen Steel talks about being spied on by undercover police officer John Dines.

Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance meeting, London Metropolitan University, 12 November 2014.

Video by Reel News.

Helen Steel speaking at Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance (COPS) meeting


The undercover copper who spied on Keir Starmer and seduced the activist the young Leftie lawyer was representing

See also:

#Spycops Info

The Case

Nottingham Green Festival

We are delighted to announce that the Nottingham Green Festival will return on Sunday 11th September, following its hugely successful relaunch in 2015.

The event is organised by grass roots, community based volunteers, with no statutory funding, so your help would be most welcome. Whilst we are only a small part of the organising team, Veggies is pleased to provide support by facilitating planning meetings, hosting the NottmGreenFest.org.uk website and, of course, providing Food by Veggies on the day!

Due to the withdrawal of funding the event did not happen in 2014, but Veggies covered essential up-front expenses and the Nottingham community rose to the challenge of making it happen in 2015, regardless of the tight budget. However these funds will need to be recouped and recycled long before 11th September to fund this year’s event, so your support is invited:

Show support for the event by making a small donation. Click the button to donate with PayPal or credit/debit cards; send a cheque to “Nottingham Green Festival”, c/o Sumac Centre, 245 Gladstone Street, Nottingham NG7 6HX; or transfer directly to: Nottingham Green Festival, Unity Trust Bank, sort code 08-60-01, a/c no 53110426 …more…

Nottingham Green Festival Ethos

Inspired by the decision by Shambala Festival to be the first mid-scale commercial festival to declare a meat free policy – a position established by Nottingham Green Festival over 30 year ago – we welcome a debate about whether to stay ahead of the game by taking the next logical step, aiming for vegan catering, whilst sharing info inviting other stall holders to leave animal products at home on this occasion.

“Shambala HQ is a mixed bag, with vegans, veggies and meat eaters co-existing harmoniously together, but the whole team agrees that it is important to be bold with our environmental stance, and encourage this debate.”

“The research available clearly demonstrates that overall, a meat-free diet has about half the carbon impact of a meat diet, and a dairy-free vegan diet has a third of the impact.”

Please, see the full meat-and-fish-free-for-2016 discussion.

As Shambala say: “We’re certainly not trying to tell everyone they should become vegan overnight. We are simply not serving meat for [4 days at] the festival to reduce the festival’s impacts, to take a stance, and to encourage an important debate.”

Please let us know what you think: info@NottmGreenFest.org.uk


Nottingham Green Festival Gallery

Veggies is also hosting a mailing list for announcements, news and information about Nottingham Green Festival. (Note: You may get a ‘security certificate‘ warning! Fear not; this is because the list is provided by The Riseup Collective, an activist internet group that doesn’t tick all the corporate boxes). You can safely click through. Honest. Please do subscribe.

Nottingham Green Festival LogoYour support will make all the difference in ensuring the success of Nottingham’s own Green Festival, the place for the whole family to learn, explore and try the latest in everything environmentally friendly and ethical, whilst also having lots of fun in the beautiful setting of the Arboretum Park, Waverley Street / Addison Street, a couple of minutes from Nottingham’s Old Market Square.

With your help, the event will have over 100 product, information and food stalls, kids rides, workshops, natural therapies and sustainable technologies, performers and entertainment throughout the park and live music from the bandstand.

Visit the Nottingham Green Festival website for more event details.


Food for a Future

Food for a Future imageFor over 20 years at Glastonbury Festival, Veggies has invited different groups to campaign alongside us, including Camp for Climate Action, Bicycology, Animal Aid, Indymedia, Calais Migrant Solidarity and many more.

This year we were going to invite ‘Food for a Future‘ to work with us, but their proposal was so amazing we think it would be lost in Veggies cafe space.

We suggested that they go it alone and pitch their ideas directly to the Green Fields team. They said “YES”, so we are excited to look forward to seeing a unique new campaign space at Glastonbury Green Futures, which we think would add something exciting and new to the great diversity of things that already take place at the event.

As well as running this space at Glastonbury Festival, we are keen to invite the Food for a Future team to work alongside us at our many other other green-orientated events on our tour, including the Green Gathering, the Northern Green Gathering and Nottingham Green Festival

They say:

“Essentially we would like to empower people to make green lifestyle choices through what they eat, something simple anyone can do at home that would have a positive impact on the environment. Current estimates for the global greenhouse gas emissions for animal agriculture are at least 20%, which is more than all the world’s transport combined.

Therefore a green cookery, talks and workshop space would be very appropriate for an ethically-minded event such as Nottingham Green Festival. We would like to show people in a creative and interactive way how ethical food choices can create a greener, more sustainable planet.

All workshops and resources will be available just by donation, with any proceeds likely going to Vegfam, a registered humanitarian charity that helps people overseas by providing funds for self-supporting, sustainable food projects which do not exploit animals or the environment.

“We have a large recycled canvas tent, which would be an ideal space for hosting talks, workshops and environmental documentaries. We would like to put together a programme of activities including ‘Ethical Eating Cookery Workshops’, which would teach people how to cook creatively with plant-based foods and reduce food wastage, raw food demos, and ‘Greener World Talks’, which would include talks by eminent nutritionists, green athletes and green campaigners about how a plant-based diet is the most healthy and sustainable for the planet and the issues surrounding this.

“The ultimate aim of our space is to give festival goers a fun, creative experience, combined with information and skills to lead a greener, healthier and more compassionate life. The leading of such a life will benefit the individual, the planet’s rainforests, oceans and air, and its animals.”

We look forward to hearing your feedback.

The ‘Food for a Futures’ campaign team.

Weirdigans Tent

Follow Foodforafuture on Twitter and on Facebook


Latest News Tweets

Veggies Twitter Account includes news of Veggies Events and other activities, and substantial items from like-minded friends.

As we are busy people, and expect that you are too, we do not tweet too often. We do not intend to document the trivia of our daily lives! Likewise we tend not to follow others on twitter who tweet too often.

Follow our news at http://twitter.com/veggiesnottm or on Facebook.

Search Veggies Tweets:

Recent news tweets from http://twitter.com/veggiesnottm
Use scroll bar to read more


The Vegan Side of Twitter

Twitter co-founder, Biz Stone, went vegan in 2001 after visiting Farm Sanctuary.

Biz Stone is also lobbying for vegetarian meals in school lunches. He sent a letter to Rep. George Miller, chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, writing: “Hundreds of thousands of students across the country don’t eat meat, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. However, these young vegetarians often can’t find healthy, meatless meals in the school cafeteria.”

Biz Stone obviously believes in the power of lunch, because Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters provides free vegan lunches to its employees.

…more…

See also Interview at Farm Sanctuary on YouTube.


Veggies Summer Tour

Between now and the end of August, Veggies has eight weekend camping events, as well as several single day events.

Veggies Action CateringWe recommend you to check out all these events with view to attending / supporting them.

Even better, if you are attending any of these events you might like to help with Veggies Campaign Catering.

Please contact us if you might help in any way.

Warmest wishes and motivational ‘Go Team Veggies!’

Friday 18th to Sunday 20th July
Peace in the Park – Oxfordshire

A Buddhist event at the Global Retreat Centre with a mix of music, talks and meditation pavilions. Events and activities will include ‘Mindset Talks’, new ‘One Question’ events, woodland activities for children and adults, story-telling from ancient lands, an open air chill-out meditation lounge, sacred music in the grounds, and the hugely popular ‘Meditation & Music for the World’ event.

See: http://peaceinthepark.globalretreatcentre.org/


Friday 18th to Sunday 20th July
and Friday 25th to Sunday 27th July
Goddess Camp – Bestwood Park, Nottm

Women, men and children are welcome for a weekend of celebration, ritual and workshops at the Goddess Camp at Bestwood Country Park.

See: http://peakspirit.wix.com/goddesscamp


Thursday 24th to Sunday 27th July
Northern Green Gathering
Derbyshire Dales, Nr Ashbourne, Derbyshire

A small volunteer-run environmental/educational gathering, a 4 day event on a beautiful new site, focussed around sustainable living and green campaigns. There will be environmental workshops & campaigns, permaculture, organic veggie cafes, stalls, healers & alternative therapies, kids space, theatre & circus workshops, and a showcase of environment living in action, including solar power and wind power.

See: http://www.nggonline.org.uk/


Thursday 31st July to Sunday 3rd August
Green Gathering – Chepstow, Wales

At the Green Gathering you can rediscover ancient skills and explore
pathways to future sustainability; talk with key speakers from the Green movement and engage in lively debate at the Green Forum venue and inform yourselves about current issues and causes with groups in the Campaigns area, which will include a Co-ops Camp, co-ordinated by Radical Routes.

See: http://www.greengathering.org.uk/


Thursday 31st July to Monday 4th August
Peace News Summer Camp 2014 – E.Suffolk

Event to help build a radical movement for the future by building a living community today, with local activists – top trainers – revolution – non-violence – learning from other movements – community – glorious countryside.

See: http://peacenewscamp.info/


Thursday 7th to Monday 11th August
Animal Rights Gathering – Notts/Derbys

The Animal Rights Summer Gathering exists to promote cooperation and to spread information between the various groups and individuals working throughout the UK to stop animal abuse.

See: http://www.argathering.org.uk/


Thursday 14th to Wednesday 20th August
Reclaim The Power – location TBA

August will see thousands ‘Reclaim the Power’ and stand in solidarity with communities opposing fracking. Camp will be a hub for skillshares, workshops, entertainment and direct action. There will be a probable Veggies Cafe space & action catering.

See: http://www.nodashforgas.org.uk/


Thursday 28th to Monday 1st September
Earth First Summer Gathering

The Earth First! Summer Gathering is the place where people involved in radical ecological direct action – or those who want to be involved – get together for five days of time and space to talk, walk, share skills, learn, play, rant, find out what’s going on, find out what’s next, live outside, strategise, hang out, incite, laugh and conspire. The workshops, networking and planning of actions at this low impact eco-living camp is organised non-hierarchically.

See: http://efgathering.weebly.com/


During this period we also have these one day events:

Community Circle

Tuesday 22nd July &
Tuesday 19th August
Details from http://www.veggies.org.uk/event.php?ref=555

Cycle Mania

Friday 8th August
Details from http://www.veggies.org.uk/event.php?ref=994

Brinsley Animal Rescue Open Day

Sunday 10th August
Details from http://www.veggies.org.uk/event.php?ref=423

London Vegan Festival

Sunday 17th August
Details from http://www.veggies.org.uk/event.php?ref=269


Much more on Veggies Events Diary

More on Veggies Catering for Gatherings

Veggies vs the Arms Trade

Published: September 17, 2013 21:54 at Nottingham Indymedia by Tally

Last week saw peaceful days of action co-ordinated by the ‘Stop the Arms Fair Coalition’ in response to the bi-annual arms fair DSEi (Defence & Security Equipment International) at the London ExCel Centre. DSEi is the world’s largest arms fair and it exists so that arms buyers and sellers can come together, network and make deals.

From ‘Campaign Against the Arms Trade’ (CAAT): ‘DSEi 2013 featured 1,500 exhibitors from around the world displaying arms ranging from rifles to tanks to fighter jets to battleships. They were joined by “trade visitors” and military delegations, including countries involved in conflict and from human rights abusing regimes, as well as those with desperately underfunded development needs.’

On the Sunday 8th September the week of action was kicked off with a demo organised by Occupy London: Occupy vs the Arms Trade. Volunteers from Nottingham-based Veggies, the vegan catering campaign, went down to London on this Sunday to provide food by donation for the peaceful protesters. Veggies has been supporting campaigns for humans, other animals and the environment since 1984.

Dsei_1-medium

Dsei_1-medium

On Sunday 8th September, Veggies of Nottingham packed up their vegan cakes and samosas and headed down to London to give their support to the hundreds of peaceful protesters campaigning against the immoral and unethical DSEi arms fair. 

At least two Nottingham companies had stalls at DSEi. Heckler & Koch and Ergo Computing exhibited their wares to military delegations from around the world. H&K, which is based in the Lenton Lane industrial estate, sells assault rifles and submachine guns to repressive regimes such as those in Bahrain and Egypt.

Campaigners were very happy to see the Veggies team (and their delicious vegan food!) along on the day. The team provided a boost of morale to those that had been out protesting since the early hours of the day and hadn’t had anything to eat. In fact people were so happy to see Veggies that the stall was swamped with those eager to get hold of food by donation and all boxes of food and trays of cake quickly sold out. 

People were also very interested in the campaign literature the team had brought along, as human rights and animals rights campaigning is all part of the same struggle against needless suffering and injustice. Animal Aid’s purple poppies, sold to commemorate the many animal victims of war, were available on the day and people donated generously for these.

If you would like to join the friendly Veggies team to campaign against social injustice, animal abuse and enviromental destruction then you can contact them at: info@veggies.org.uk

Information on the website: www.veggies.org.uk

More details about the Arms Trade and what happened during the week of action can be found on the following websites:

www.stopthearmsfair.org.uk

www.caat.org.uk/issues/arms-fairs/dsei/

Animal Aid’s purple poppy appeal:
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/living//2256//

Email Contact email: info@veggies.org.uk


Sumac Centre – a future vision

In 1985 Veggies helped establish Nottingham’s Rainbow Centre, later taking on the co-ordination of the running of the space. In 2001 the support generated over the previous decades enabled the purchase of the Sumac Centre, a collectively owned space supporting a wide range of interconnected initiatives, including being the home of Veggies Catering Campaign.

Sumac ImageOn Satuday 8th December 2012 there is to be a discussion on the future of the Sumac Centre noting, amongst other things, its role as “a meeting place for politically motivated activists, a resource centre and library. Meeting place for vegans and animal rights activists/campaigners and a tool for their propaganda.”

This role hasn’t just happened in isolation.
It is due to Veggies and others being centrally involved in the running of Sumac from 15 years before it even existed. We may feel this role to be carved in stone, and this may well be the case.

However Sumac is simply the sum of its parts so we, as ‘vegans and animal rights activists/campaigners’ must continue to play our part.

If you are free on Saturday 8/12/12 (11am-6pm) please consider supporting the vegan status of the Sumac Centre and its role as a national resource for the animal rights movement.


This Saturday is a Sumac visioning day, a chance for all of you who come to the Sumac Center to bring your excitement, enthusiasm and inspiration in order to help shape the future of the Sumac Centre.

1) Intro

2) Use

– How is the Sumac used?

Meeting place, tat storage, music venue, peoples kitchen, food bank, a base for lots of varied campaigns/alternative cultures, bike project, fundraiser events, information and awareness raising events, film screenings, autonomous DIY infrastructure, ABC letter writing, gardening club.

– Is this the kind of useage we want to continue?

3) Purpose

– What is the current purpose of the Sumac?

A meeting place for politically motivated activists, a resource centre and library. Meeting place for vegans and animal rights activists/campaigners and a tool for their propaganda.

This will include a conversation about whether the sumac is there to engage with the local geographical community or the activist community. It’s a stable part of infrastructure for ‘our movement’.

– Is this the purpose we want to go forward with?

There will be lunch in the middle and we’ll all have a big ole delicous peoples kitchen at the end.

Hope to see you all there.

Sumac Visioning Poster
The Sumac Centre
http://www.sumac.org.uk
0845 458 9595
245 Gladstone Street, Forest Fields, Nottingham, NG7 6HX


The Sumac Centre is an independent community and activist resource centre. It is made up of a community cafe, social club, library, exhibition space, veggie catering campaign, filmnights, talks, meeting spaces and the residents. The centre is used by various campaign groups and collectives working towards social change and justice for all. Come and visit us!

_________________________________________________________________

Full details of Sumac Events (and more from like-minded groups):
http://www.sumac.org.uk/diary.htm

Veggies News: http://twitter.com/veggiesnottm

Gatherings for Social Change

Three gatherings . One Location . Three successive weekends

Come for one or come for all

Peace News Summer Camp

Thursday 26th to Monday 30th July

Peace News Summer Camp logo

Local activists – top trainers – revolution – non-violence – learning from other movements – community – glorious countryside.

Join us in 2012 for more discussions, training and debates on nonviolence, education and the anti-war movement, fuelled by “wonderful (vegan) food from Veggies of Nottingham”

More PN Camp Details…

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Earth First! Summer Gathering

Wednesday 1st to Monday 6th August
Ecological Direct Action without Compromise

EF Summer Gathering logoWorkshops, skill sharing and planning action, plus low-impact living without leaders. Meet people, learn skills, take action.

The Earth First! Summer Gathering is the place where people involved in radical ecological direct action – or those who want to be involved – get together for five days of time and space to talk, walk, share skills, learn, play, rant, find out what’s going on, find out what’s next, live outside, strategise, hang out, incite, laugh and conspire.

The 2012 Earth First Summer Gathering will be held on the first weekend of August.

As ever Veggies will be co-ordinating the d-i-y cafe space and holding cake baking workshops.

More EF Gathering Details…

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Animal Rights Summer Gathering

Friday 10th to Sunday 12th August

AR UK Summer Gathering LogoThe UK Animal Rights Gathering is to a great weekend not to be missed, with talks, discussions and workshops on a wide range of issues and activities related to animal rights campaigning, as well as a chance to relax with like-minded people and socialise and network with other campaigners from all over the UK.

The 2012 Animal Rights Summer Gathering on the second weekend of August.

As ever Veggies will be co-ordinating the catering, running a cafe space and holding vegan cookery workshops.
More AR Gathering Details…

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These three key Gatherings, inspiring and networking for action for humans, animals and the environment, are all to be hosted by hosted by Crabapple Housing Co-op near Shrewsbury.

Details from each respective group or at Veggies Website



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