Supporting political campaigns for social change is an important part of the gig collective's DIY ethos. During our time at Matilda we have supported campaigns such as:
The Zanon factory workers in Argentina
The Zanon tile factory in Neuquen is one of many “recovered’ factories in Argentina – factories taken over and run by the workers in the last five years, in the wake of capitalist economic collapse in the that country. A benefit night was done by Sheffield's No Sweat group
Stop Killer Coke campaign
A campaign to stop a gruesome cycle of murders, kidnappings and torture of SINALTRAINAL (National Union of Food Industry Workers) union leaders and organizers involved in daily life-and-death struggles at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia. Another night organised by Sheffield's No Sweat group.
Voices in the Wilderness
Voices in the Wilderness (VitW) was formed in 1996 to nonviolently challenge the economic warfare being waged by the US against the people of Iraq. Voices continues its work today, acting to end the US occupation of Iraq.
http://www.voices.netuxo.co.uk/
Rising Tide
Rising Tide UK is a network of groups and individuals dedicated to taking local action and building a movement against climate change. A benefit night was organised by the Independent Socialist Youth Forum in Sheffield.
Thornberry Animal Sanctuary
A event was held to raise donations to keep Thornberry open.
http://www.thornberry-animal-sanctuary.org
Hunt Saboteurs
The need to take direct action to stop hunting is still there
Pakistani Earthquake Appeal
Supporting the setting up of a media centre at the World Social Forum in Mali
Helped sheffield indymedia host an event to fundraise for the media centre. For the report on the media centre see http://sa.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/9532.php
In addition to working with other groups to help them put on benefit nights in the gig spaces, the collective have been raising money through refreshments, cake and cafe nights to support two particular campaigns.
Stop Shell Hell in County Mayo
Supporting the struggle to stop the construction of a gas pipeline and refinery in County Mayo, which would transform a remote conservation area of outstanding natural beauty into an environmental disaster zone with serious public health and safety implications. The pipeline and refinery will poison the area, threatening the safety of the residents who live just metres away, endangering the marine environment and destroying livelihoods based on fishing. Shell’s plans are fully backed by the Irish State, which used compulsory acquisition orders to give Shell access to local people's lands.
Local residents and people from across Ireland are fighting back, and in 2005, five Rossport residents were jailed for 3 months for attempting to prevent construction workers from entering their land. Last summer, residents and activists set up a protest camp on the site of the proposed pipeline and prevented construction by shutting down both the pipeline and refinery building sites. Work on the project has still not begun, and the camp is seeking as many people as possible to join them this summer to stop Shell again.
The battle in Ireland is just one of many struggles against Shell’s environmental and human rights abuses around the world. Shell’s oil empire is also making a huge contribution to climate chaos, trading over 14 million barrels of crude oil equivalent every day. The company’s recent record profits of $23 billion come only at the expense of massive damage to the climate.
Rossport Solidarity Camp is the first protest camp around an ecological theme to take place in Ireland for several years. The camp began after local opponents of Shell's plan to build an unprecedented high pressure gas pipeline through the hamlet of Rossport invited activists there to back up their struggle.
In June members of the gig collective will be travelling to the camp to deliver the things off the camps ‘wish list’ that we have been able to fund raise for.
Iceland Anti-Dam campaign
The Icelandic highlands are the last great expanse of true wilderness left in Western Europe. Now the country's hydroelectric potential has been targeted by multinational corporations, who intend to establish large-scale heavy industry in these hitherto pristine hinterlands. These multinational vandals – willingly helped by the Icelandic government – are about to produce an environmental catastrophe of unprecedented proportions.
A series of gigantic dams is already under construction at Kárahnjúkar in the eastern highlands of Iceland. These dams are designated solely to generate energy for one massive ALCOA aluminium smelter to be built by war-profiteers Bechtel in the beautiful fjord of Reydarfjördur, and due to be operational in 2007. The national grid will not derive a single kilowatt from it for domestic use. The natural habitat of many rare and endangered plants and animals will be submerged, lost, destroyed.
Members of the collective will be travelling to Iceland to support the campaign this summer.