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Cat Meat, Teen Votes, Venezuela, Newham Nag & Monsanto – 2017

Cat Meat, Teen Votes, Venezuela, Newham Nag & Monsanto: My day on Saturday 20th May included a very wide range of protests, beginning in Trafalgar Square with protests calling for an end to the killing of dogs and cats for their fur and meat as well as a protest demanding for votes in all UK elections at 16.

From there I went to a protest outside the offices of The Guardian newspaper against their biased reporting on political events in Venezuela – opposed by a handful of Venezuelans who called President Maduro a murderer.

Housing campaigners Focus E15 were outside Stratford Station handing out copies of ‘The Newham Nag’, based on Newham Council’s information sheet but condemning the council for their financial mismanagement and failure to address housing problems in the borough.

Finally at the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square March Against Monsanto were holding a rally, part of an international grassroots movement and protest supported by Bee Against Monsanto.

More details of all these and more pictures on My London Diary at the links to them below.

End dog and cat meat trade – Trafalgar Square

Cat Meat, Teen Votes, Venezuela, Newham Nag & Monsanto - 2017

Apparently it was ‘Fight Dog Meat Kindness and Compassion Day‘ and there were protests across the world calling for laws to protect animals, especially dogs and cats, who are cruelly killed for their fur and to be eaten.

Cat Meat, Teen Votes, Venezuela, Newham Nag & Monsanto - 201

More pictures End dog and cat meat trade.

Teen Voice says votes at 16 – Trafalgar Square

Teen Voice, who last year protested over 16-18 year olds having no say in the Brexit vote, came to Trafalgar Square to call for votes in all UK elections at 16. Had young people been given a vote we would almost certainly have voted to remain in Europe.

They say it is unfair that while they can work, pay taxes and even join the armed forces they have no say in votes which effect their future to an arguably greater extent than anyone who is allowed to vote in elections at the moment.

There were a few short speeches before I had to leave but the group were still waiting for other teenagers to join them. Probably holding a protest early on a Saturday morning was not the best idea.

More at Teen Voice says votes at 16.

End Media Lies Against Venezuela – The Guardian

People protested outside The Guardian in London calling for an end to the lies and censorship of the UK press about the events in Venezuela.

They say that the current unrest is a right-wing coup attempt to overthrow President Maduro and the working class Bolivarian revolution, backed by the US, which the privately-owned Venezuelan press misrepresents as ‘pro-democracy’ protests and fails to report their attacks on hospitals, schools and socialist cities which have led to many deaths.

More on My London Diary at End media lies against Venezuela

Focus E15 launch The Newham Nag – Stratford Station

*The protesters had to keep telling people their ‘Nag’ wasn’t from the council and so was worth reading*

Housing campaigners Focus E15 launched their latest handout, ‘The Newham Nag’, based on Newham Council’s information sheet, handing it out outside Newham Station.

Police came and harassed them and Newham Council staff handed out a fixed penalty notice of £100 for alleged obstruction of the highway in the very wide public pedestrian open space in front of the station.

Newham’s use of risky and expensive long-term loans had resulted in 80% of the income from Newham’s council taxpayers going directly to the banks as interest payments. And one in 27 Newham residents are homeless – the largest proportion in any local authority in England. They say the council led by Mayor Robin Wales has failed in its duty to provide housing for residents.

More at Focus E15 launch The Newham Nag,

March Against Monsanto – US Embassy, Grosvenor Square

he March Against Monsanto protest outside the US Embassy was a part of the international grassroots movement and protest supported by Bee Against Monsanto.

Speakers addressed various issues around the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), Roundup, a glyphosphate herbicide, dangerous bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides, and the need for improved protection victims of multinational corporations.

Campiagner Linda Kaucher speaks about the danger of trade deals such as TTIP which override national laws which protect our health and safety and endanger the integrity of our food supplies.

March Against Monsanto

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Bank of England Told Return Venezuela’s Gold

Bank of England Told Return Venezuela’s Gold: Back in 1980 the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) deposited almost a hundred tons of the Venezuelan government’s gold reserves in the Bank of England for safe keeping, and around 31 tons of that are still held in the Bank’s vaults.The value of gold goes up and down, but the around 2,500 standard gold bars would be worth around £1.3 billion.

In 2019, shortly before this protest on Thursday 7th Feb 2019 organised by the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign, the BCV asked to have its gold back and the Bank of England refused to return it. It is still their in its vaults.

Venezuela had entered a crisis after the 2018 elections when the National Assembly declared the poll which had elected President Maduro invalid. There had been some irregularities in how the election had been run (and many unproven allegations) and some parties had boycotted the polls or not been allowed to stand. The turnout was low, with less than half of those registered voting, but even so the result seemed clear as Nicolás Maduro had gained two thirds of the votes cast, more than three times his closest rival.

Juan Guaidó and the National Assembly declared him to be the acting president of Venezuela in January 2019 and a long power struggle ensued. Many foreign governments, led by the US and including the UK, Canada and various Latin American and European countries recognised Guaidó as the head of the legitimate Venezuelan government, though after his interim government was dissolved in January 2021, many ended their recognition.

After a disputed period in 2019 to 2023 Maduro is now firmly back as President with Guaidó expelled from Venezuela in April 2023 and now living in exile in Florida. The UK had supported Guaidó but its position now seems deliberately unclear.

Both Maduro and Guaidó had set up their own governing boards for the Central Bank, and both claimed the gold in the Bank of England leading to a number of battles in the UK courts. But although Maduro has clearly emerged as the legitimate leader of Venezuela the Bank of England is still refusing the BCV request – and will probably continue to do so until the UK government makes its position clear.

Ken Livingstone when Mayor of London had negotiated a deal with the Venezuelan state oil company to provide cheap fuel for London buses in exchange for help with urban planning. Later he blamed an “establishment elite” for the problems that Maduro was having and accused the US of meddling in the country.

Media coverage of the struggle between Maduro and Guaidó in the UK by the BBC and newspapers was almost entirely one-sided, largely relying on the views of the Venezuelan middle and upper classes who see themselves as severely threatened by the policies of Hugo Chávez and his successor Maduro who have done much to increase literacy and improve conditions for the poorest in the country.

Bank of England return Venezuela’s Gold

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Guardian Lies on Venezuela

Back to looking back at my own work from a few months ago, and a protest outside the offices of The Guardian, a canal-side block on York Way to the north of Kings Cross, part of King’s Place. It’s a place I’ve visited a few time as in the ground floor entrance they have regular exhibitions of photographs, but on this occasion they were not letting people in to see them, with security staff at the door.

The protest was organised by the Revolutionary Communist Group, a name that might put some people off, but who I think are one of the friendliest and most sensible groups in left politics, and while I may not always agree with their views, they have been very active in campaigning on some of the our pressing social issues – including housing, universal credit and other benefits and disability, working together with other groups without trying to take things over. Often they are the people who bring a PA system to protests and make it available as an ‘open mike’ for others as well as them to speak.

They have a newspaper too, ‘Fight Racism, Fight Imperialism’ and it runs readable and well-researched articles on many subjects, and it includes much coverage of events in South America, informed by people who have lived and worked and have good contacts there.

Of course they view the situation from a particular political perspective, supporting the left-wing popular movements in the continent, and in the case of Venezuela, the government under President Nicolas Maduro. Of course not everything is rosy in the country which has suffered greatly from US sanctions, low oil prices and other economic pressures, but they are very aware of these pressures and the problems they have led to.

The stringences in Venezuela have particularly affected the middle-classes, while the Bolivarian revolution begun under Hugo Chavez meant great gains for the peasants and indigenous peoples, even though there has been deterioration in recent years.

The Guardians coverage of events in Venezuela have been almost entirely from the point of view of the middle classes who their correspendent clearly is at home with, and have largely ignored the popular support still enjoyed by Maduro. While the support of most of our press owned by billionaires as well as the establishment BBC for the US-backed efforts to mount a coup in the country against the democratically elected leadership is hardly surprising, many on the left are surprise that The Guardian should so one-sidedly support it.

The protesters held up posters listing some of the successes of the Venezuelan government under Chavez and Maduro with the Bolivarian revolution building socialism and transforming the lives of the poor which have led to the crippling US sanctions and the US-backed coup and called on The Guardian to stop publising lies and to report the facts and both sides of the argument in Venezuela rather than simply parrot the views of the US-backed opposition.

Towards the end of the protest a small deputation attempted to deliver a letter to The Guardian but were not allowed to enter the building. Instead the security man at the door accepted their letter and promised that it would be delivered.

More pictures at Guardian lies about Venezuela.

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