On the weekend of 12-14 March, Nottingham Animal Rights and Veggies hosted the national animal rights spring gathering at Nottingham's Sumac Centre. This was a weekend of networking, workshops, discussions, actions and social activities and well attended by activists from across the county.

This included a city-wide (and beyond) Day of Action on Saturday 13 March, with campaigns against shops selling fur, foie gras and KFC, Greyhound Action, a demo against the 'great' British Circus, a vegan free food giveaway & McDonalds demo and a mass hunt sab. Following the day's campaigning, French Living have pledged to discontinue the sale of foie gras and thanks to the presence of Nottingham Hunt Saboteurs and many friends, no foxes were killed by the Grove and Rufford Hunt, on the last day of their season. Meanwhile residents at Waddington, near Lincoln, have pledged that the Great British Circus will never return.

On Sunday, Notts Stop the BNP got news that Nick Griffin was to speak at the Nag's Head, Sutton-in-Ashfield. Due to the short notice only a few campaigners were able to make the hastily organised protest. Fortunately, three minibuses of animal rights activists arrived from the gathering arrived to show their opposition to the BNP.

Upcoming event; Animal Rights Summer Gathering, 27-30 August, near Northampton.

On the newswire: Report on protest against BNP Sutton meeting | KFC protest | Free Vegan food Giveaway at the AR Spring gathering | Nick Griffin vs animal rights | National Animal Rights Spring Gathering

Previous features: Another victory for anti-fur campaigners | Busy year for Nottingham hunt sabs | Nottingham Animal Rights get active

Links: Fur Free Nottingham | Greyhound Action in Nottingham | National Animal Rights Gathering | Nottingham Animal Rights | Nottingham Hunt Sabs | Notts Stop the BNP | Veggies | Notts Indymedia animal liberation newswire

Anti-coal campaigners have set up a protest camp in Shropshire to fight the establishment of an open cast coal mine in an area of outstanding local beauty.

In 2007 UK Coal submitted plans to Telford and Wrekin Council to open cast mine 900,000 tons of poor quality coal from an area at the foot of the Wrekin in Telford over 32 months. The plans included destroying parts of an ancient woodland and will be responsible for a minimum of 1,500,000 tonnes of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere. The Wrekin is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

After discovering last week that many of the trees had already been felled signaling that work was due to begin imminently, West Midlands Climate Action and a coalition of local groups and activists last week swooped upon the Huntington Lane Surface Mine Site to claim the land.

As part of Fossil Fools Day, West Midlands Climate Action are putting on a weekend gathering at the newly established Huntington Lane Camp from April 1st to 4th. The weekend will include a ramble over the proposed Surface Mine Site, Banner drops, campaign planning and most importantly carrying out any work on site that needs doing to help establish a permanent base on site. They are calling on people to attend the weekend, and to support and defend the camp in any way they can.

Links:
West Midlands Climate Action | Defend Huntington Lane
Previous actions against open cast mines: Ffos-y-Fran | Mainshill Solidarity Camp | Broken Cross | Shipley

March 8 is International Women's Day. Rooted in the history of struggles for female equality, it is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. While Britain does not recognise it as a public holiday, as do a number of countries, it remains an important date for feminist campaigners.

On March 6, Million Women Rise organised a female-only march through central London to protest against male violence and in celebration of International Women's Day. This was the third such demonstration. Transport was arranged from Nottingham and a number of local groups were among the supporters including the East Midlands Feminist Network, Nottingham Women's Centre, Roshni (Nottingham Asian Women's Aid) and Nottingham Community Housing Association.

On March 13, Nottingham Women's History Group celebrated by organised a women's history walk around the city, exploring the role women have played in making Nottingham the city we know today.

On the newswire: Nottingham Women's History Walk | Million Women Rise London March

Links: East Midlands Feminist Network | Million Women Rise | Nottingham Women's Centre | Wikipedia: International Women's Day

On March 8th, Nottingham City Council met to approve the 2010/11 budget. Like many council budgets this included a series of cuts to services, in this case amounting to £18.8 million. Nottingham City Unison called a lunchtime protest outside the Council House to show their opposition. Disabled campaigners blocked the tram to express their anger at the proposals.

Council plans to close Victoria Leisure Centre, which were brought forward to save money, have also faced opposition and their is growing dissent about plans to close libraries in Wilford and Beechdale.

Unison's protest coincided with the first day of a forty-eight hour national strike by members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) over attacks on their redundancy scheme. In Nottingham strikers marched from Castle Meadow to the International Community Centre (ICC) for a rally.

On the newswire: Protest against cuts at city council | PCS strike March 8/9

Previous features: Protests against county council cuts | Nottingham City Council workers protest job cuts | Campaign to save Victoria Baths takes fight to the council | Credit Crunch Hits Nottingham

Links: Unison Nottingham City Branch | Public and Commercial Services Union

On March 5th 1990, Nottingham City Council, then as now Labour-led, met to set the Poll Tax rate for the city. Protesters burst into the council chamber dressed as Robin Hood. Several councillors were custard pied and the campaigners were arrested by the police. Despite expert evidence that custard pies were not dangerous, the Magistrate failed to see the funny side and two of the campaigners were sent down. This action was part of a wave of protests, disruptions and riots at council meetings across the country which set the scene for the famous riot in Trafalgar Square at the end of March, the day before the tax was to come into force in England and Wales.

To mark the 20th anniversary of this event, Nottingham Radical History Group organised an event to look back on the struggle. This is part of a wider project to make available documents from the time and to record interviews with some of participants in the struggle so that the lessons of the campaign are not lost.

Upcoming event: Wednesday March 31st 3pm Trafalgar Square to commemorate 20th anniversary of Poll Tax Riot. "Open loud hailer, top speakers, Class War, misty-eyed memories, pub afterwards!"

On the newswire: The Poll Tax: twenty years on

Links: The Sparrow's Nest | Nottingham anti- Poll Tax 1989-91: press cuttings, newsletters & leaflets | Notts Indymedia History newswire

Despite high levels of unemployment due to the recession jobseekers in Greater Manchester will be forced to work up to 40 hours a week as part of the Work for Your Benefits (WfYB) pilot scheme. The region is set to be the trialling ground for a government initiative that will see unemployed people put into mandatory work placements for up to six months just to hold on to their Jobseeker’s Allowance.