No GM crops were grown in the UK in 2005 for the first time since 1993. This is a huge success for the GM campaign in the UK. However, GM soya and maize continue to be imported as animal feed and the recent WTO judgement will bring further pressure from the likes of Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta and Dow to open up our shores to GM imports.

The GM Global Day of Action on 8 April is ideally timed to remind the UK government, US government, EU, the biotech companies and the food/feed industry that the UK wants to be a GM-free country in a GM-free Europe in a GM-free world. It has been proposed that we all take part in one action to mark the Global Day of Action across the country.

The suggestion is that groups and individuals join up to light Beacons on the highest points or other prominent hills of their county (list by county available from Pete Riley at pete@gmfreeze.org). We would all aim to light up at 16:00 on 8 April and photograph our GM-Free Beacon plus suitably worded banner for the local media and issue a press release. This action is being jointly supported by GM Freeze, GM-free Cymru and Friends of the Earth. For fliers and posters please contact Pete Riley on the above email address.

THE BEACONS

The beacons need not be massive - just big enough to look impressive in a photograph. A minimum of three people would be needed to act as sherpas for a banner, wood, newspaper, lighter/matches, fire lighters, water and digital camera to the top of the hill. The best way to carry such loads would be on your head but on your back is a good second! Choose a bare piece of ground or rock to make your beacon. Fire lighters and a lighter might be handy in very windy weather.

GETTING A GOOD PICTURE

You will need a reasonably high resolution digital camera to get pictures accepted by newspapers.

Three to four million pixels should do. Work out your best angle before lighting the beacon. Take several shots and pick the best ones.

SAFETY AND FIRE PREVENTION

If the weather remains dry and windy the risk of fire spreading may be high so we need to be seen to be acting in a responsible manner. Here are a few tips:

* Check that there is not a ban on fires on the hill tops you intend to use for the beacon before starting to plan.

* Smaller beacons will be easier to control than large ones.

* Choose bare ground or a flat rock to build your beacon.

* Extinguish the fire completely, including embers before you leave (hence the water).

BAD WEATHER

The weather in early April can be appalling on high ground (and low ground!) so check the forecast before you set out. Take water proof and warm clothing, food and water, plus torch, map etc. If it is a day when the cloud cover is very bad or very poor weather is forecast please do not proceed.

It's simple enough to inform your local media that bad weather forced you to cancel.

LOCAL MEDIA WORK

Send an announcement of your GM-free beacon ahead of the Global Day of Action to warn your local papers that they can expect a picture by email over the weekend. Talk to someone to get them interested and find out the right person to email photographs to after the event. Include background information and a good quote. You never know they might even send their own photographer. You might consider dressing as GM-free scare crows to increase the appeal of the pictures. After the GM-Free Beacon select your two best pictures and email them to all your local press contacts again enclosing a press release and quote in time for the first edition of the paper. If you are trying to get coverage in several papers it's best to send a difference picture to each one - they are funny like that. Ideally send pictures as soon as possible after the event to maximize chances of getting it in. Include local radio and TV as you might get a pre or post beacon interview.

NATIONAL MEDIA

If we get sufficient support (say 20 Beacons) we will compile a list of actions and issue a national press release. Please copy pre-Beacon announcements to us Monday 3rd April so we can get them to any paper that might be interested. Copy photos to us as well - we'll put them on the web.

WHAT TO DO

If you would like to get involved either by lighting a beacon, organising people to do it, or arranging publicity please contact: Gerald Miles: gm@stdavids.co.uk 07879 664703 or Pete Riley: pete@gmfreeze.org 07903 341065. Give your name, number and the area in which you wish to operate.

We will then send you more information and compile a list of actions.

DON'T THINK ABOUT IT - DO IT NOW!

Carrie Stebbings, Co-ordinator
GM FREEZE CAMPAIGN
94 White Lion Street
London
N1 9PF

Call For Papers and Participants

Next April, anarchist academics and activists will gather for three days of culture jamming, music, film, art, panel presentations, discussions, lectures, and demonstrations. Whether you are an anarchist or just curious about anarchism, all are welcome to participate. The purpose of the conference is to strengthen connections among anarchists on the streets and in the academy, to sharpen the anarchist critique of the present, to deepen our understanding of the origins and history of anarchism, to stimulate further activism, and to present the anarchist vision to a wider audience. The conference will take place on the campus of Pitzer College, which is one of the five undergraduate institutions collectively known as the Claremont Colleges, and the host of Anarchy Archives http://anarchyarchives.org.

The conference will begin with some culture jamming of our own. Students at Pitzer have begun organizing a "Whirl" down the aisles of a local marketing behemoth where we will form a conga line with empty shopping carts and raise awareness about the high cost of low prices. Then, for the next three days there will be continuous live music, films, presentations and discussions. The topics will be as wide ranging and diverse as the anarchist movement itself. If you would like to present a formal paper, make an informal presentation about activist projects, join a panel discussion, or simply soak up all the conference has to offer, please contact Dana Ward as soon as possible. There is no formal deadline or format for proposals, but the earlier you respond, the easier it will be to schedule presentations. If all you want to do is attend the conference, it would greatly facilitate planning if you would also contact Dana Ward soon. Space will also be made available for book sales and for activist groups to distribute literature and information about their activities.

Keynote speakers include: Alan Antliff, John Clark, Josh Connole, and Sharon Presley. Marianne Enckell of CIRA will organize the film festival, and Wolf Edwards will be the music master, including a performance of an original composition produced for this conference.

From 1995 to 2005, Manchester Metropolitan University hosted a series of very successful annual international conferences on 'ALTERNATIVE FUTURES and POPULAR PROTEST'.

We're very happy to announce that the Eleventh AF&PP Conference will be held, between Wednesday 19th April and Friday 21st April 2006.

The Conference rubric remains as in previous years. The aim is to explore the dynamics of popular movements, along with the ideas which animate their activists and supporters and which contribute to shaping their fate.

Reflecting the inherent cross-disciplinary nature of the issues, previous participants (from over 40 countries) have come from such specialisms as sociology, politics, cultural studies, social psychology, economics, history and geography. The Manchester conferences have also been notable for discovering a fruitful and friendly meeting ground between activism and academia.

CALL FOR PAPERS

We invite offers of papers relevant to the conference themes. Papers should address such matters as:

• contemporary and historical social movements and popular protests
• social movement theory
• utopias and experiments
• ideologies of collective action
• etc...

To offer a paper, please contact either of the conference convenors, by 6th February 2006, with a brief abstract:

EITHER Colin Barker, Dept. of Sociology
OR Mike Tyldesley, Dept. of Politics and Philosophy
Manchester Metropolitan University
Geoffrey Manton Building,
Rosamond Street
West Manchester M15 6LL
England
email: c.barker@mmu.ac.uk
Tel: M. Tyldesley 0161 247 3438
email: m.tyldesley@mmu.ac.uk
Fax: 0161 247 6312 (+44 161 247 6312)
(Wherever possible, please use email, especially as Colin Barker is now a retired gent. Surface mail and faxes should only be addesssed to Mike Tyldesley)

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Those giving papers are asked to supply them in advance, for inclusion in the bound volumes of papers which will be available from the conference opening.

• Preferred method: send the paper to Colin Barker as an email attachment in Word
• if this is impossible, post two single-spaced copies to Mike Tyldesley, on A4 or US Letter paper, with one inch margins, and with a copy of the text on a DOS floppy or CD disk in MS Word format
• Word limit 7,000 words (including notes etc.)
• Final date for receipt of abstracts: Monday 6th February 2006
• Final date for receipt of actual papers: Monday 20th March 2006
• Participants who do not supply their papers by the final date are asked to bring 50 copies to the Conference for distribution

CONFERENCE ARRANGEMENTS

The conference will run from lunch-time Wednesday 19th April March to lunch-time Friday 21st April 2006.

We are currently awaiting University approval of the conference budget. Details of costs will follow shortly, and will be inclusive of three lunches, teas/coffees and copies of the bound Proceedings. The cost to students will be lower than for full-time staff.

Bed and Breakfast accommodation either in student bedrooms or in ensuite accommodation can be booked through the conference organizers at nearby University of Manchester accommodation night. Delegates preferring hotel accommodation should make their own bookings. The most convenient hotel is IBIS, Charles Street, Manchester M1 7DG (tel 0161 272 5000).

Conference participants will be invited to dine together at two local (fixed price, not too expensive) restaurants on the two conference evenings. Payment for dinners should not be made in advance, but directly to the restaurants on the night.

If, within two weeks, you have not received a further copy of this notice, including conference costs and booking form, please contact Colin Barker at c.barker@mmu.ac.uk.

A conference on the effects of peak oil and the growing global energy crisis will take place in Washington, DC on May 6th at the All Souls Church, Unitarian from 9 A.M. to 7 P.M.. Speakers include peak-oil author Richard Heinberg.

Experts on peak oil, small-scale agriculture and alternative energy will discuss "petrocollapse," the imminent failure of the petroleum infrastructure to continue to provide the myriad goods and services that our consumer economy has grown accustomed to. Multimedia presentations will suggest solutions to the audience.

Conference organizer and speaker Jan Lundberg is a former oil industry analyst who ran the market research firm Lundberg Survey. Lundberg, who quit serving the oil industry so he could put his knowledge to use to protect the environment, says "M. King Hubbert, who developed the theory of peak oil, observed that we do not have an energy crisis but rather a culture crisis. This fits with the theme of the Washington DC Petrocollapse Conference that there is no technofix for our energy dilemma. Society will have to bring about a closer level of community and rediscover what local economics are about."

Lundberg and a community-oriented network called Culture Change organized a similar conference in New York on Oct. 5. The May 6 conference will feature the addition of Richard Heinberg, the most-read peak oil author (The Party's Over, and Powerdown). Films and music will be also offered as part of a varied program to stimulate discussion and action by attendees. Heinberg and Lundberg and others will perform music including oil-satire songs. Films include premiers of "Our Synthetic Sea" (plastics pollution in oceans) and "The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil."

Lundberg says the Petrocollapse Conference asks, "What we can do in advance of the social upheaval and chaos that may produce a 'national New Orleans,' to prepare or mitigate? What will the future look like during and after a transition to non-petroleum living?"

For more information, see

Background briefing:

Most independent oil experts agree that the peak in global oil extraction is occurring approximately now. The pressures of the market to distribute the fuels and materials made from petroleum are already creating intense competition for energy supplies around the world. As the gap between supply and demand widens and prices skyrocket, supply will tighten as never before due to hoarding. This will cause massive repercussions in daily living and the global economy. Not only will people have to adapt to an energy-poor world by concentrating on sustainably working with their regional ecosystems for all their needs, but also have to cope with climate change which is rapidly accelerating. This scenario is referred to by oil expert and conference organizer Jan Lundberg as Petrocollapse.

As stated in the conference brochure, "the world's peak in oil extraction is about now -- although there is uncertainty and debate. The pressures of the Market to smoothly spread around the fuels and materials made from petroleum promise to create intense competition for energy supplies, as seen already today on the world stage. As the gap between supply and demand widens and prices skyrocket, supply will tighten as never before due to hoarding. This will cause massive repercussions in daily living and the global economy. Not only will people have to adapt to an energy-poor world by concentrating on sustainably working with their regional ecosystems for all their needs, climate change is accelerating."

Richard Heinberg presents irrefutable evidence in his books and powerpoint presentations that the world's maximum oil extraction has most likely been reached. He also shows what limited contributions can be offered by various countries to increase their oil output, and what alternative sources of energy can possibly provide to replace petroleum. Besides his solutions of "powerdown" and "lifeboats," Heinberg promotes the Oil Depletion Protocol proposed by Colin Campbell, the geologist who founded the international Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas.

Speakers include:

Albert Bates - Global Ecovillage Network; author
Diana Leafe Christian - Communities Magazine
John Darnell, Ph.D - Energy advisor
Richard Heinberg - Author, The Party's Over and Powerdown
Michael Kane - From the Wilderness publications
Jan Lundberg - Petroleum industry analyst; culturechange.org
Jenna Orkin - Moderator; World Trade Center Environmental Organization
Joel Salatin - Organic Agriculturalist
Mark Robinowitz - Oilempire.us; author, Permatopia
David Room - Post Carbon Institute; Global Public Media

Invited:
Cynthia McKinney, member of Congress
Faith Morgan, Community Solutions
Daniel Quinn, author, Ishmael

The registration cost is $100, payable on the website via PayPal. Scholarships are available, as are discounts for volunteers.

Culture Change's recent newsletter:

Culture Change P.O. Box 4347 Arcata, California 95518 USA

NOTE NEW DATE, in hopes of avoiding a clash with the Italian elections.

• The largest anarchist event in North America
• Part of the month-long Festival of Anarchy (May 2006)
• Followed by a full day of Anarchist Presentations and Workshops (May 21, 2006)

The BTC pipeline props up authoritarianism in Azerbaijan, has rendered homes in some villages in Georgia uninhabitable and polluted water supplies, while leading to intimidation of critics by the Turkish state.

Local communities fear that when the oil starts flowing, we'll forget about them. Prove them wrong!

WHEN: Friday 26 May 2006, 5-6pm - before the pipeline comes onstream!

WHERE: BP Amoco Building, 1 St James Square, London, SW1Y 4PD (Piccadilly/ Charing Cross tube)

WHY: Show BP that we will monitor the project for its lifetime

The Baku Ceyhan Campaign is a coalition including Friends of the Earth EWNI, Corner House, PLATFORM and Kurdish Human Rights Project

Adnan Midilli
IGEC-2 Technical Coordinator

The Bear Will Raise Her Head!

Right now an unprecidented event is taking place in the outbacks of South Dakota, something that is very disturbing and yet, not surprising. One of the most sacred and cherished sites on the entire Earth is being attacked. A guy from Florida who ownes bars in the Sturgis, SD area has decided that he, and his investors, wants to step it up a notch. That step is right in the middle of the heart of the Bear! They have requested permission to build the ultimate 22,500 square foot Salon and black top more than 155,000 square foot of Mother Earth with a parking lot. This new facility will look right into the belly of the bear; 600 acres of sacred earth will be dececreated. What would Crazy Horse do? What prayers would sing from the lips of Fools Crow? What new dance would Sitting Bull lead? What new songs would the Bear hear? But most importantly, what will we do?

I could go on and on about how bad this is for the collective citizens of the entire Earth but instead I would like to recommend a few links that will eloquently, intelligently and clearly guide you to the people on the front lines of the defense effort. Among some of the actions taking place is the Defending the Bear encampment planned for July 4, 2006. Please visit the follow websites:

Inter-Tribal Coalition to Defend Bear Butte.
Bear Butte International Alliance
Bring Back The Way

Also PLEASE take a moment (30 seconds) to read and sign the online petition: "Protect Bear Butte a National Monument" I have not always been a big fan of these petition but I am a big fan of Bear Butte and if this helps from my remote location on this sweet earth then it's worth doing. The petition is seeking 500,000 names by April 4, 2006! I was the 1,382th person to take the time to sign. It's a gigantic endeavor but one spirit at a time, one click at a time, one name at a time will make it happen.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/843054051

Once you have signed, please pass the information along to others!

ASPO-5, the Fifth International Conference of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO) will be held in San Rossore (Pisa), Italy, on July 18-19 2006. Previous international ASPO conferences were held in Lisbon (2005), Berlin (2004), Paris (2003) and Uppsala (2002).

The main objective of the conference is to raise the awareness of the impending peak of oil extraction and the general phenomenon of depletion of all mineral resources. For this purpose, international experts will evaluate the consistence of the resources, assess the effects of depletion on society and economy, and discuss dynamic models able to help us understand the present and future situation. The conference will also examine the need for political action to reduce the impact of depletion, such as the "depletion protocol" proposed by Colin Campbell.

The conference will be held in the open air, in the park of San Rossore, near Pisa, an area conveniently located near the international "G. Galilei" airport and a few km from the leaning tower. It is organized by the Italian section of ASPO (ASPO-Italia, http://www.aspoitalia.net ) with the support of the University of Firenze and of the Tuscan Regional Government. Attendance fee will be Eur 120 (Eur 25 for students, negotiable for non profit associations).

The submission of scientific contributions for oral presentation or posters is welcome. The conference language will be English. More details and a pre-registration form can be found at the conference web site at: http://www.aspoitalia.net

If you wish to be placed in the conference mailing list and receive further announcements, just reply to this mail. For any question, please contact the organizers at aspo5@aspoitalia.net

ASPO web site: www.peakoil.net

Green & Away at Gloucester is Europe's only tented conference centre. Organic food, wood burning showers, crafts activities, electricity from the sun and wind, saunas, some yurts for rent. People with disabilities welcome. And all with the friendliest people in the world!

http://www.resurgence.org

For further information send an SAE to:

Green & Away
PO Box 40
Malvern
WR14 1YS

or email as per below:

The Examination School
High Street
Oxford