Boxing day round-up: news of repression, housing struggles, workplace disputes and more

Cautiously pessimistic

It’s been a while, but I’ve finally got around to catching up with the news and events I’ve been meaning to share over the last month or two.

In repression news, Shilan Ozcelik is still inside after having been convicted of wanting to fight against ISIS. She was given a relatively short sentence in the end, after having already been held in prison awaiting trial for months and months, but it’d still be worth writing to her via her solicitor to show solidarity. In similar news, it’s worth keeping an eye on the case of Joe Robinson, who seems to have been questioned by anti-terror police on his return to the UK after having fought with the Kurdish resistance in Syria.

Meanwhile, Peter Simpson is still detained awaiting trial for charges related to a Cardiff Mayday demo, and four comrades are being held in an Italian…

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Dorset rejects bureaucrats’ plan to risk children’s lives.

Wessex Solidarity

For the second time this year, a couple of thousand Dorset residents jammed the county town of Dorchester to remind the Clinical Commissioning Group that we will not accept cuts to paediatric or maternity services in West Dorset under any circumstances. For some time now, the ordinary people of this county have been at war with those who would pillage the health service we built for ourselves, and leave us at the mercy of private corporations who see us as commodities.

Our campaign, started by a determined group of working class women whose only motive was defending their kids, has grown and spread beyond the county. We now have the support of thousands of Dorset residents plus Unite Community, Unison, Industrial Workers of the World, Dorset People’s Assembly, Dorset Eye, Dorset Socialists, Bristol SolFed, the local Zumba community, scaffolders, Daleks, anarchists, snowmen, footballing bears, local media and some politicians.

Oliver…

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Cameo, Bournemouth’s racist night club exposed.

Rumours that the cameo club in Bournemouth operates a racist door policy were confirmed last night when a pre-booked party was turned away on the grounds that all were black. A group of white men was allowed in at the same time. Please do not patronise this place.

Save Kingfisher & SCBU: Mass march for wards, Dorchester 12th December.

On the 12th December people will take to the streets of Dorchester en masse for the second time this year to defend paediatric and maternity services at Dorset County Hospital. This is part of the continuing resistance to long-term plans to degrade health facilities in West Dorset, privatise, sub-contract and/or transfer them Eastward to the conurbation of Bournemouth/Poole. We hear sympathetic noises from politicians but as we all know they speak with forked tongues.

If you take a look at the county of Dorset, you can see it is roughly diamond-shaped, and Dorchester is bang in the centre; where else would you put the county hospital? Public transport in West Dorset is sparse to pitiful, and many regular users of children’s services struggle to get to Dorchester, let alone Poole – an hour away by car (or ambulance) from most communities. Imagine caring for a chronically ill or disabled child in the Winterbourne valley, where there are only two buses a day. This is simply a matter of life and death.

If you are able to get to Dorchester on the day, please support us, we need everybody out on the streets, bring your banners, flags, etc, for a family friendly, carnival atmosphere!

Download flyer 2x A5

Save Kingfisher and SCBU at DCH facebook page

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