Fairford Air Tattoo Weekly Bulletin No. 5

Dear All,


We have had our police escorted ride around the perimeter base. How things have changed - he was just so helpful and helped us work out all the best places to demonstrate.

Importantly, he has given us the offer of providing us with a police escort on our rides.

The main area of contention remains the leaflets that we have prepared - first draft below. Our police friends are concerned that they may be deemed offensive to visitors and therefore may not be allowed - well on the basis that the Air Tattoo visitors have made the conscious decisions to attend the show, and to be awed by the weapons on display and that the Air Tattoo literature has made no mention of depleted uranium, then we don't really see why we should be censored on an issue of major public interest, just because a few might be offended. The police are reviewing the material with their lawyers.

Draft copies of leaflets and please feel free to suggest any changes:

Originals at this address:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16411325@N04/5867080367/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16411325@N04/5864162979/


Great debate ongoing at direct action station, where Kate Holcombe has exposed the totally corrupt way that the Air Tattoo is granted its charitable status.

Also there will be a talk on the 6th July in Bristol on the theme of how we stop the rich waging war on the poor.

Fairford Air Tattoo Weekly Bulletin No. 4

After an interesting exchange of emails - we have agreed to meet with the police prior to the event, and we will be cycling around the perimeter on the 23rd June. We will be meeting at the Old Spotted Cow, The Street, Marston Meysey, nr Swindon, SN6 6LQ at 4:00 pm. If you are available on that date please do join us. 

I have attached another copy of the sponsor form - if you can ask local shops in your area to display them and collect money, that would be excellent. Shops are already doing so in Nailsworth. 

See exchange of emails below:

From: Kev Climate Column [mailto:kevsclimatecolumn@btinternet.com] 
Sent: 13 June 2011 21:24
To: Ravenscroft, Mark
Subject: RE: Air Tattoo

Dear Mark,  Thank you for the response below - and your formatting is fine.  I would like to assure you that non-violence is a strict ethos on all environmental protests. As such there will be no risk that any participants on our sponsored cycle ride  will commit serious public disorder, serious damage to property or serious disruption to the life of the community. In fact most of them are middle aged women and would not even dream of contemplating such action.  By contrast, we do hope that you have noticed that your potential charge sheet relates to all aspects of the Air Tattoo. The air show deliberately creates serious noise and disruption for several days across the normally beautiful sky of the Cotswolds disrupting peoples lives and the normal rhythms of nature. In case you haven't noticed, their flier this year states they will be, "the loudest celebration on earth." Many local people recognize how successful they are at this and are forced to leave their homes over the weekend; we will be delighted to introduce you to noise experts such as John Stewart if you need further evidence on noise. I do also hope that you noticed that they have had as a charitable objective for some years the aim of "supporting aviation in all its guises." This industry has done more than any other to subvert the science of climate change, which ultimately will cause more serious damage to property than any sponsored bike ride can manage. Then of course, there is the slight issue of the arms being sold and flaunted, which are also seriously damaging property throughout the planet.  And, finally a sponsored bike ride will not cause that much disruption to the local community as compared to a hundred thousand motorists and the carcinogenic pollution from an air show. Given your concerns above, I will be delighted to join you for a bike ride around the perimeter of the Air Base. I look forward to a pleasurable cycle and hopefully finishing in one of the many very nice pubs in the area, where it will be my pleasure to buy the first pint.  I would propose the afternoon of the 20th June, starting at about 4 pm. Please confirm that this is convenient.  Best regards, thank you for your patience and I look forward to meeting you. Kevin --- On Mon, 13/6/11, Ravenscroft, Mark  wrote: From: Ravenscroft, Mark Subject: RE: Air Tattoo To: "Kev Climate Column" Date: Monday, 13 June, 2011, 19:57 Kevin Conscious i promised a more complete answer today.. I'm doing this on mobile phone, please excuse the lack of formatting. Spontaneous procession, and pre-planned, where a senior police officer or chief constable reasonably believes there may be serious public disorder, or serious damage to property or serious disruption to the life of the community may impose conditions to prevent.. Under section 12 public order act 1986. Section 14 of the same act covers procession in the same way. Procession is defined as 2 or more people with a common purpose in motion. Both are commonly used when there is no pre-agreement on protest, or where what was agreed is deviated from. What i'd like to do is ensure that a no suprises approach ensures we have no need of such legislation whilst you still get the protest you want. The road network around fairford is altered considerably for the air show, and to plan a cycle ride (mass or otherwise) you need to understand/know the amendments. Happy to share this with you, but would like to do so in the context of knowing what you want to do.. Hope this helps for now - let me know what next.. Regards Mark. Sent from my HTC From: Kev Climate Column Sent: 11 June 2011 10:22 To: Ravenscroft, Mark Subject: RE: Air Tattoo Dear Mark,  Apologies for the delay in reply, but I have been consulting with my colleagues and taking legal advice and will confirm next week next course of action.   To confirm I have spoken to Paul, who spoke very highly of you.  I would specifically appreciate if you could elaborate further on public order legislation  ("particularly around assembly and procession") that you refer to in your email. Regards, Kevin --- On Wed, 8/6/11, Ravenscroft, Mark  wrote: From: Ravenscroft, Mark Subject: RE: Air Tattoo To: "'Kev Climate Column'" Date: Wednesday, 8 June, 2011, 9:01 Kevin The chaps name is Paul Trehearne, he is Gloucestershire's branch secretary of the Communication Workers Union (he works for the Post Office). His e-mail is xxxxxxxxx@xxxx their event was Saturday March 12th. If you get no response from e-mail I've also got a mobile number but as I've not spoken to him about this I'd rather not give that out yet (sure you understand). I'm aware of some of the contact you've had previously with Gloucestershire Police, and thank you for not judging me by that. More than happy to take this one small step at a time; and I hope to hear from you soon. Regards Mark. Inspector Mark Ravenscroft Resilience Operations Department  Gloucestershire Constabulary + Police Operations Centre|Bamfurlong|Bamfurlong Lane|Cheltenham|GL51 6ST (  0845 090 1234|Mob:07736084549 8  www.gloucestershire.police.uk From: Kev Climate Column [mailto:kevsclimatecolumn@btinternet.com]  Sent: 07 June 2011 22:51 To: Ravenscroft, Mark Subject: Re: Air Tattoo Thank you for contacting me and explaining your role in supporting protest. Unfortunately, my experience with Gloucestershire Police to date has not been good in terms of legitimate rights to protest. Please be aware that this is in no way a reflection on you.  I will consider your kind offer of a bike ride around the perimeter base, though I would appreciate if you could provide me contact details first from the anti cuts movement. Regards, Kevin Lister --- On Mon, 6/6/11, Ravenscroft, Mark  wrote: From: Ravenscroft, Mark Subject: Air Tattoo To: "'kevsclimatecolumn@btinternet.com'" Date: Monday, 6 June, 2011, 15:52 Kevin I'm the officer charged with security coordination on behalf of Gloucestershire Police at this years air tattoo. Part of that role is the facilitation of protest. I'd like to meet up with you and talk through how we make sure your cycle rides happen trouble free and safely. I'm one of a handful of officers that plan and manage the policing response to protests across Gloucestershire, we like to try and maintain a spirit of 'no surprises'. And in that spirit I'll happily share with you my broad policing plans for the show and our response to protest (pop up, and pre-planned). What I'd really like to do is meet up with you at Fairford Airbase and cycle the perimeter fence together so we can discuss and agree when, where and how you hold your protests without banging heads with traffic regulations (there are a lot of temporary orders in place imposing one way systems on event days that are not usually there), or public order legislation (particularly around assembly and procession). My mobile number is highlighted below - and you now have my e-mail. Please feel free to get in touch and discuss what we do next. I'm happy to supply contact details of the union leader I worked with on the last anti-cuts protest through Gloucester if you want to check me out a little first.. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Regards Mark. Inspector Mark Ravenscroft Resilience Operations Department  Gloucestershire Constabulary + Police Operations Centre|Bamfurlong|Bamfurlong Lane|Cheltenham|GL51 6ST (  0845 090 1234|Mob:07736084549 8  www.gloucestershire.police.uk

Fairford Air Tattoo Weekly Report No. 3

In light of the kind offer from the police to ride around the perimeter of the base with us, we are continuing to look at the legal implications of the offer, and in particular the specific violations of the Geneva Convention and international law associated with depleted uranium and climate change that any excessive policing would support.

An excellent report has just been released on the impact of depleted uranium and it lists specific violations of the Geneval Convention associated with DU:


Article 35 of Protocol I, a 1977 amendment of the Geneva Conventions, prohibits any means or methods of warfare that cause superfluous injuries or unnecessary suffering among 168 signatory nations. Article 35 also prohibits those nations from resorting to means of war that could inflict extensive and long-term damage on human health and the environment. The observed impacts of DU in Iraq suggest that DU weapons fall under Article 35 as prohibited weapons, by the very nature of their suspected long-lasting effects on human health and the environment.

Article 36 (of Protocol 1) also obliges any state studying, developing, or acquiring a new weapon to hold a legal review of that weapon. This binding law also requires the 168 signatory states to ensure that any new weapon or means of warfare does not contravene international law, which thereby prohibits the use of weapons that cause widespread, long-term damage, as is being experienced in the aftermath of DU weapons usage in Iraq.

Article 51 (of Protocol I) prohibits indiscriminate attacks “which employ a method or means of combat” of which the effects “cannot be limited as required,” which certainly characterizes attacks involving DU.


Further more, Nations who are party to the Geneva convention, must enact and enforce legislation penalizing any of these crimes. Nations are also obligated to search for persons alleged to have committed these crimes, or ordered them to be committed (Rome Statute of International Criminal Court, Article 28). If a person has been ordered to commit the crime, that does not negate their responsibility under Rome Statute of International Criminal Court, Article 33.

As regards climate change, we will also highlight to the police that we have no choice but to take direct action as Serious Fraud Office and other police forces continue to allow fraudulent environmental claims in violation of the Fraud Act, 2006, (e.g. at present no action is being pursued by the SFO at Birmingham Airport) and that it is inconceivable that events such as this would be allowed to continue if the organisers and aviation industry were truthful about their environmental impact.

Fairford Air Tattoo Weekly Bulletin No. 2

A leader for the rides

We are delighted to announce that Liz Keeble will both be supporting our campaign and leading the cyclists ride to the Air Tattoo. Liz is a 91 years old who fled Idi Amin's regime in Uganda. She has first hand experience of the devastation that the arms industry has caused in Africa.

Liz will clearly be rather slow, and we ask that cyclists are patient and follow behind her.

Local Residents offering support

Local residents have contacted us to offer support. They have expressed their anger at the event and the noise that it inflicts on them year after year. It is so bad that many residents are forced out their homes for the weekend as their young children are too scared by the noise. To demonstrate the Air Tattoo disdain for their local community, they have this year claimed on their leaflets that they will be “the loudest celebration on earth.”

Barclays bank

We have been told that Barclays Bank is selling tickets on behalf of the Air Tattoo. Hardly a surprise that a bank that has made millions by supporting the arms industry and helping BAE Systems complete corrupt arms deals in Africa is actively engaged in promoting the industry.

I intend that we contact Barclays banks in the area that are selling tickets this week and demand that they desist. If they fail to do so – we will take non violent direct action aimed at shutting their branches and highlighting their funding of illegal arms contracts. See the You tube clip where all Natwest Branches in Birmingham were shut following the banking bonus protest.

If people on the circulation list could confirm if their local Barclay's branches are selling tickets and if they want to engage in non violent direct action, then please let me know.

Business rejecting Air Tattoo Leaflets. 

Shiny Goodness, a health food shop in Nailsworth was visited by the Air Tattoo reps and asked if they could distribute leaflets and display fliers. They said no, and instead, are supporting our campaign by collecting sponsors. 

Talks and presentations

I am hoping to do a talk in Bristol with Child Victims of War in the lead up to the Air Tattoo – date and time to be finalised.

If any other groups would like me to present to them our objectives and aims then please contact me.

You Tube Clip

I have prepared a second You Tube clip, which is the Challenge that we want to give the Air Tattoo and the Military Industrial complex that they represent.

Please circulate around your social networks.

Gloucester Shire Wilts and Standard

The Gloucestershire Wilts and Standard have done an excellent article on the Sponsored bike ride – it should be online later today at http://www.wiltsglosstandard.co.uk/ . A scanned copy is available on the Facebook page.

This weeks Poem

First they came for the communists and I did not speak up