Glenn McMahon

Condemned Women's Library, evicted after overnight occupation

2013-03-11T16:03:38Z

THE UK’s premier women’s library was given an appropriate send-off before it closed its doors for the last time after a group of female activists occupied the building in Whitechapel overnight.

The Women’s Library, that houses the nations most extensive collection of material on the lives of women in the UK and their struggles, was set to close yesterday (Friday, March 8) as part of an ongoing cost-cutting exercise by the beleaguered London Metropolitan University.

A reading room will remain open for another two weeks.

It’s not clear whether the decision to schedule the closure on International Women’s Day was an oversight, intentional or a sign of indifference, but the irony was.

The staff and books will now been transferred to the London School of Economics, who had been running the library since December 2012. It is the third of five libraries London Met has wound up.

The occupation began yesterday afternoon while staff and students continued to work and use the library’s facilities, according to one activist who helped with the occupation.

He said staff seemed nonchalant when they settled in for the afternoon to begin the occupation and despite security and a health and safety officer taking an interest no action was taken leaving the building to the activists when the doors were closed at 6.30pm.

The University was reported to be planning an eviction for 11am this morning (Saturday) with dozens of supporters congregating outside since this morning, but it was 3.30pm by the time it was complete when police officers and security entered the building from the back.

One-by-one police officers and security dragged the women out of the building as they sat in a circle with arms linked as dozens of supporters chanted ‘solidarity with the women’s occupation’ outside.

In a statement yesterday, the activists from Reclaim It! said: “We are an independent coalition of feminist and anti-cuts activists who think its time to take matters into our own hands. We are particularly concerned about the gendered impact of the cuts which will jeopardise safe and free access to abortion, force single mothers back to work when their children are still young, close down rape crisis centres and women’s refuges as well as many more services for women and LGBT people.”

Meadows trial: baton use on protesters' heads 'superbly restrained'

2013-02-17T14:12:06Z

Sketch by Mathew Meadows: Zak King and Alfie Meadows at Woolwich Crown Court for their second retrial

A POLICE Commander has described his officers as 'superbly restrained' after watching video footage of them striking down at protesters' heads with batons during a student demonstration.

Bronze Commander Woods, who was giving evidence at the trial of Alfie Meadows and Zak King for violent disorder at Woolwich Crown Court, had earlier said that 'batons should only be used as an absolute last resort' and that officers are made 'aware of the potential for injury or death from a strike to the head'.

Woods was responsible for policing in Parliament Square during the student protests on December 9, 2010, that left Meadows with a life-threatening head injury following a baton strike to the head.

After watching a video of officers striking out at protesters, some with bandanas around their faces, as they slowly jostled past, Woods said: “I believe the officers were incredibly restrained. Superbly restrained. I'm with them all the way. You have protesters masked up.”

When the defence suggested being masked-up did not justify the use of batons, Woods said: “No but they didn't want their identity revealed. We've had officers dragged into the crowd and that's the fear.”

The footage was filmed by police evidence gatherers as thousands of students demonstrated against a rise in tuition fees that was to be voted on in Parliament later that day.

After watching a four second video clip of a protester being struck on the head with a baton as he appears to raise his hands to protect himself, Woods said: “[The officer] may have been spat at. I would prefer to see [the officer] hit [the protester] on the collar bone. [But] spitting is an assault in my view.”

Sketch by Mathew Meadows: Bronze Commander Woods gives evidence on the use of batons on demonstrations

A third video showed an officer reaching over colleagues to land a baton strike on a protester's head or collar bone.

Woods said: “He hit him on the collar bone, but without knowing the background I can't put it into context. You don't know what [the officer] can see. He's going to say it's justified. He's gone for it, he's gone for a full blooded blow, but I can't explain that one. He knows he's on film. If his actions are over the top he can be prosecuted. People don't do it [baton strikes] lightly.”

Another clip showed protesters attempting to ram a metal fence at police and their shields prompting raised baton strikes in return. Woods said: “I totally support what they're doing. I'm very pleased to see it.”

Woods previously told the court of his wish to avoid 'toe-to-toe' confrontation between protesters and officers. He said his recommendation to use a Wapping Box, two barriers fixed together in parallel a metre apart, was ignored by 'the gods above'. He said the distance stopped officers' baton strikes reaching protesters unless they climbed over the first section of barrier.

He said: “If you have police and protesters going toe-to-toe you're going to have conflict. I wanted to have a Wapping Box … it's easier to push protesters back without having to hit them with batons.”

He said: “By not having a Wapping Box, using an asp (a thin metal cosh) can potentially kill somebody. I don't want that to happen.”

A fifth video clip showed a line of officers in riot gear hitting out at protesters from behind a single barrier.

Referring to Woods' earlier comments on avoiding 'toe-to-toe' confrontation, King's counsel said: “The baton strikes we see taking place … is that the type of scene you want to avoid?”

Woods responded: “Yes. But these officers, we don't know what else they are facing [out of shot], so I don't know what the threat was. If [the protesters] were just standing there or shouting it would be wrong.”

Referring to Woods' description of shows of force being gradually escalated starting with shouting at protesters, putting on helmets, deploying shields, withdrawing batons and so on, the defence said : “Would you say these baton strikes are an absolute last resort?”

“The absolute last resort is getting a machine gun out but in this instance, yes, a baton strike or horses,” Woods responded.

After watching the videos, King's counsel suggested to Woods that there was an 'excessive use of force on the demonstration' that day.

Woods said: “I totally disagree. From seeing the footage I'm very proud of what the officers have done. Apart from giving them flowers I don't know what else they could have done.”

Meadows and King deny charges of violent disorder.

The trial continues on Monday 18 at 10.15am.

Student charged with violent disorder after police knocked him unconscious set for third trial in February

2012-11-20T22:36:47Z

The retrial of two protesters charged with public order offences following a student demonstration in 2010 has been aborted three weeks into the trial after a series of illnesses.

Alfie Meadows and Zac King, who were arrested following the December 9 demo when parliament voted to allow universities to triple tuition fees, will now face a third trial in February.

The decision was made by Judge Moore after a member of the defence team was taken ill on Monday. The judge had taken Thursday and Friday off sick last week himself and a barrister was unable to attend court this Thursday adding at least another week to the trial.

The continuous delays meant the case was set to head into a fifth week and possibly a sixth with jurors usually only expected to sit for two.

In a statement the defendants' solicitors said: 'The jury in the retrial of Alfie Meadows and Zac King at Woolwich Crown Court was discharged today. His Honor Judge Moore made the decision after a number of illness related delays in the proceedings.'

The decision means Meadows will no longer be represented by Michael Mansfield QC who had acted on his behalf until now due to existing commitments.

Meadows suffered a serious head wound during the march two years ago - that police described as life-threatening - after he was struck on the head with a police baton.

However, while King was arrested the following day, Meadows was not arrested until March the following year after he filed a complaint with the IPCC against the police.

The first trial at Kingston Crown Court saw several protesters acquitted for violent disorder, two pleaded guilty and the jury failed to decide on Meadows and King.

Proceedings at Woolwich Crown Court, which began on 29 October, have been beset by delays with the illnesses only the latest.

Other hold-ups were caused by the judge dealing with previous cases, efforts to fit witnesses in at convenient times and setting up equipment to show video evidence.

After recovering from brain surgery following the injury, being forced to drop out of university and enduring two long trials – one failing to reach a verdict and the other aborted – it has been a long two years for Meadows

The former philosophy student was said to be distraught over the decision which means his life would be put on hold for a further three to four months.

Nina Power, a philosophy lecturer and activist who has supported Alfie throughout, said: “It's pretty depressing. It's going to be two and a quarter years by the time this is dealt with. It feels like just another punishment. It's as if they are sending out a warning message to others.”

Meanwhile scores of supporters on social media called for the case to be kicked out with questions being raised over the cost and public interest in pursuing the trial.

According to the Crown Prosecution Service's own guidelines the public interest in holding a retrial depends on the seriousness of the offence, the length of time since the offence was committed, whether the defendant is in custody, the likely sentence if convicted and the consequences of not proceeding – for example on co-defendants.

It is rare for a case to be tried a third time with the CPS itself recommending against it, but with the second trial being aborted under such circumstances this is unlikely to apply.

Only recently the Crown dropped its racism case against PC Alex MacFarlane who was recorded telling a black suspect 'the problem with you is you will always be a nigger' following two hung juries.

Simply 'Moving Your Money' isn't enough if you want to support ethical banking

2012-10-12T13:30:04Z

Last week the new Barclays chief, Anthony Jenkins, called on banks to become more socially useful and to rebuild their customers' trust as revelations of greed, risk and fraud continue four years after the financial meltdown. Until that day arrives, however, there are already banking service providers that are just that; trustworthy and socially useful. They're called credit unions.

Credit unions usually operate in areas with deprivation providing banking services to those shunned by high street banks and at risk of being ripped off by high interest lenders because of bad credit or a low income. But on the back of the ongoing furore and a national campaign to 'move your money' they have started to appeal to a new demographic protesting at their bank's behaviour or attracted to a more ethical operation devoid of investments, shareholders and bonuses.

Grenville Bingham, vice president at the London Community Credit Union (LCCU) in east London, said: “We can't invest and do the same kind of nonsense that banks do. It's the way we are constituted. What we do is hold accounts in very secure and sensible places like the Co-op where we get a decent return on the members' money. We are a simple operation that can be run by communities.”

But at a credit union open day in Hackney this weekend, Sian Williams, head of financial inclusion at Toynbee Hall, a charitable trust and think tank tackling poverty and social inclusion, explained to an attentive crowd that just moving your money to a credit union or co-operative isn't enough if you want to help effect change.

She said: “[Closing] your account doesn't mean a thing [to the banks] unless everyone moves their money, but that's not going to happen, so you need to do the next step and explain [in a letter] why you're moving. You can list all the macro economic things like the LIBOR scandal, but that's not enough, they hear that all the time. You need to say what that bank could have done differently to keep you as an individual. You need to say that you [the bank] need to behave in such a way that I can trust you, don't just jump on some band wagon.”

She said if people really want to support ethical banking they need to help credit unions provide those at the lower end of the economic ladder with the basic banking services the rest of us take for granted. Having a bad credit rating or a low income can mean paying exorbitant rates on loans, being refused a bank account and missing out on direct-debit discounts or being hammered for going overdrawn.

But to further their aims, which includes opening branches on high streets to squeeze out the loan sharks and attract customers from the big five, credit unions need middle-class money. Williams said: “If the only people joining the credit union are on very low incomes the credit union will sink, it needs money coming in. And where does that money come from? Middle class people and ideally even the super rich. Some of them will think they'll just save in the credit union, which is great, but that's not where the credit union makes its money. Just like a bank, credit unions make their money from charging interest on lending. And that interest is what pays for the premises and salaries to run the credit union and to support outreach to support people on lower incomes with lower cost loans.”

And so Credit Champions was formed, a project to teach and support volunteers to go into their communities and workplaces to educate people about credit unions and encourage them to open an account and use their services. Curiously Credit Champions has been funded by Barclays Bank. Presumably as part of its image cleansing process.

According to campaign group Move Your Money around 500,000 people have already moved bank accounts this year with a million people now signed up with a co-operative or credit union.

Dan Hopewell, director of strategy at Bromley-by-Bow community centre, who helped set-up the Credit Champions initiative with LCCU, admitted that even for the better off using a credit union for a loan will cost a little more than using a high street bank, but for those on the breadline it can save a whole lot more than that.

Stop Terrorising Our Young People, Community Cries

2012-10-08T14:41:34Z

Despite the Metropolitan Police Commissioner announcing a new approach to stop-and-search in January after a report linked its aggressive and repeated misuse to the riots last year, thousands of innocent people are still being detained every week prompting concerns that the foundations are being laid for further unrest.

Police officers stop-and-search a thousand people a day in London, according to the Met's own statistics, arresting little over ten per cent. Figures on how many are actually charged are currently unavailable.

While Section 60s, where a stop-and-search can be conducted without suspicion of criminal involvement, have dropped significantly young people between the ages of 10 and 24 – particularly black males – are still being heavily targeted through PACE (the Police and Criminal Evidence Act).

Most are suspected of being involved with drugs or weapons, according to the Met's stats, although most of the young people I have spoken to say they are accused of matching the description of a burglar or robber.

While few are arrested, teenage victims of stop-and-search complain of being manhandled, treated like criminals, and humiliated in front of their friends, neighbours and even parents while hanging out or making their way home from school.

One teenager from Hackney said he missed a GCSE exam after being stopped on his way in to school.

Ondre Roach, who says he has been stopped about 30 times, said: “It affects your confidence. You're just going about being teenagers. We would go somewhere to chill and have a joke after school and then someone would be stopped by the police and it would just change your whole mindset and we would get annoyed and say something and they would say something back and that's when the problems start.”

While few people would dispute the informed use of stop-and-search based on intelligence is a necessary tool to tackle some crime, campaigners say the collateral damage from the current fishing exercise approach is counter-productive.

Lucy Ferguson, director at creative youth organisation YHWorld in Hackney and spokesperson for a new initiative calling for officers to stop-and-talk instead, says it's not just the immediate impact on young people that is of concern.

She said: “We're breeding a generation of young people with negative attitudes towards the police. The knock on effect is that young people don't think about going to the police to report crime or to explain what's happening in their communities.”

When asked what they can do to tackle the problem young people shrug saying they feel powerless. Unaware of their rights or how to complain - or if indeed its even worth doing so - they accept stop-and-search as a fact of life.

However, at a public meeting in Hackney last week parents, lawyers, journalists, academics, youth workers, teachers and concerned residents met to hear the thoughts and experiences of local youths and discuss the problem.

While groups have been campaigning unsuccessfully against the misuse of stop-and-search for years, communities are now attempting to take things into their own hands to empower and support young people into asserting their right to be treated like any other member of society.

In what could be described as a multi-pronged attack a group of volunteer lawyers, from the Stop and Search Legal Project, are training local people to go into schools and colleges to teach young people their rights while being stop-and-searched.

They are being encouraged to download the stop-and-search phone app that lists their rights and offers a portal to record their experience.

Advised they should demand the receipts police are obliged to hand out after conducting a stop-and-search as evidence of its occurrence and told how to complain.

And told of lawyers who will take up their case if they feel they have been abused or mistreated.

Sophie Khan, a lawyer who specialises in litigation against the police, said: “We need to challenge the legality of stop-and-search in the courts and find out what is and what isn't necessary.”

The wider community, particularly older, white or middle-class people, were also encouraged to get involved by monitoring stop-and-searches they see putting pressure on the police to act professionally and use their phone to film any mistreatment.

One teenager in the audience agreed. He said: “Get to know the young people, talk to them, talk to their families and if you see one of them getting stop and searched on the streets speak to the police, say wait, why are you stopping this young person. I've been stop and searched running to Tescos with my hood on because you have that stereotype.”

Kam Gill, of the stop-and-search reform group Stopwatch, said: “It's always targeted at the working class and particularly minority groups, but these are the groups that are most vulnerable when policing breaks down and who need a police force they can rely on, but you can't rely on a police force that treats you like a criminal population.”

With little faith in the authorities making any real change the plan is to hit the police with an avalanche of complaints, litigation, negative press and public surveillance of its behaviour to ratchet up the pressure for them to consistently act professionally while carrying out stop-and-searches and only to use them with good reason.

As an older member of the audience said: “What we want to do is say to the police enough is enough. We're sick and tired of you terrorising our young people and now we're going to start fighting back.”

* Hackney Council will be discussing stop-and-search and its effects on Wednesday at the Town Hall from 7pm. The debate was triggered following a petition by Stop Criminalising Hackney Youth

Olympics: Judge rules government can base missiles on peoples homes

2012-08-02T16:43:27Z

A High Court judge refused a group of residents in East London permission to challenge government plans to site missiles on the roof of their block of flats today dismissing the need for them to be consulted and that their fears of an attack were unjustified.

Tenants at Fred Wigg Tower, in Leytonstone, brought the action claiming the move would infringe their right to a private life and peaceful enjoyment of their home under the Human Rights Act.

They also expressed fear the tower block could become a target for a terrorist attack itself and that the government should have consulted them first.

The missiles are expected to be installed on Friday for the duration of the Olympics and Paralympics and operated by ten soldiers with armed police officers on guard 24 hours-a-day.

The residents' barrister, Mr Willers, suggested to the court a temporary gantry could be built nearby to site the missiles after the government claimed Fred Wigg Tower was the only viable location, but the Judge said this was inconceivable.

However, after the hearing Martin Howe, the claimants' solicitor, said he had been contacted by a scaffolding firm that could build a suitable 16-storey structure within two days.

Willers also requested that if the claim were to be dismissed then those in fear of the installation should be temporary relocated and compensated for the inconvenience.

But Mr Justice Haddon-Cave ruled that any fears the residents had were a perception and not a reality so this was unnecessary.

Outside the court following the verdict David Enright, part of the claimants' team, said: “This case was brought by very ordinary British people living in a council block of flats in east London. Without notice and without ever being asked a missile system was to be put on the roofs of their homes; an unprecedented step in peace time or a time where there's no national emergency.

“The clear implication of today's judgment is that the Ministry of Defence now has the power to militarise the private homes of anyone in Britain as long as they can demonstrate that there is in their view a matter of national security at play. They do not need to ask you, they do not need to consult you, but can take over your home, put a missile on your roof, put a tank on your lawn or soldiers in your front living room. That's a fact.”

Mr Forsdick, representing the MOD, assured the court that those responsible for national security were clear there was no credible threat to the residents from an attack and in fact there was no threat to the Olympics as a whole.

On this basis, he said, there was no reason to relocate residents and that any fears were unjustified, could not be substantiated and so were not the states responsibility.

The claimants said they will consider whether to appeal.

Azeri IDPs Live Ten-To-A-Room After 20-Years Despite Country's Oil Wealth

2012-07-02T19:07:53Z

Living with your parents, partner and kids until you can afford to move out can be stressful for the most harmonious of families.

Doing so for years with one room between you to eat, sleep and relax in is psychologically damaging.

But that is the reality for thousands of Internally Displaced People in Azerbaijan who were promised new homes for years by the oil-rich state before it spent the best part of a billion dollars on new trophy buildings, roads and gardens to impress the world in the run-up to Eurovision.

Unfortunately none of that money benefited the families living up to ten-to-a-room in rundown student accommodation in the capital Baku.

Instead they were left to watch state TV portray the country as a beacon of success and modernity as the more affluent and compliant spoke of the nation's pride in holding the competition; a glitzy party the IDPs were never invited to.

Around 600,000 Azeris were made homeless by 1994 after a three-year war with Armenians over Nagorno Karabakh - an autonomous piece of land that sits within Azerbaijan's borders – following ethnic tensions and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

While the Armenians' essential victory left them in control of Karabakh they also cleansed and occupied the surrounding districts in Azerbaijan proper where some half a million Azeris once lived.

Following an internationally declared ceasefire in 1994, Azeris hoped they would soon return home, but as the years passed it became clear they would need to be rehoused.

Many lived in tents and disused train carriages for years before the government began to seriously address their predicament.

While the camps have been emptied, 300,000 IDPs were still living in 'dilapidated and overcrowded collective centres and makeshift accommodation' by the end of 2011, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).

One 23-year-old woman, from Stepanakert, the capital of Karabakh, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of her government's reaction to criticism, showed me the six by three metre room she shares with her parents, partner and two children in the former student halls where she has lived since 1993.

She said: “Year-by-year the government gives new promises but nothing ever happens. We were told that after Eurovision we would be resettled but we don't believe them. When we came from our home [in Karabakh] we were three people, but now we have seven living in the same place. We have one room for dressing, living and sleeping.

“We had separate rooms before and used to have a moral curtain [so a husband and wife can have some privacy] between the rooms, but now its not possible. Its shameful. Sometimes I think the way I live I should die.”

Her mother blamed Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliyev, for their situation saying he is more interested in looking after the rich.

She said: “I understand the reality of IDPs. One day we should go back, but until that time we should live as human beings not as animals, so why don't they give us just a small apartment to live. You see the skyscrapers in the city [Baku], who are all these buildings for?

“Eurovision was a party for the wealthy. They went there and spent so much money and got entertained, but that wasn't for us. Everything in this country is for the rich people not for people like us. We also wanted to see the show and have some fun, but its not possible.”

While reports abound of massive corruption among the ruling family and elites, billions of dollars has been spent on aiding IDPs and refugees, including a monthly food allowance, over the past ten years, however, it is a drop in the ocean given the cost and numbers in need of help.

In 2007 a billion dollars was earmarked for a four-year government programme to build 15,000 homes along with schools, hospitals and community facilities that would cater for around 75,000 people, the UNHCR reported.

Unsurprisingly then, only 100,000 IDPs had been properly housed by the end of 2011 although current funding should increase that to 185,000, the IDMC stated.

At this rate it could be another 20 years before the task is complete, however, some of the new housing has come under criticism for their poor build and bad water and electricity supply while many of the new settlements are so remote residents cannot access employment or essential services.

While the housing should only need to be temporary given their right-of-return under international law, the lack of progress in negotiations between the Armenian and Azeri government – brokered by France, Russia and the USA – over the past 18 years and the regular ceasefire violations means that doesn't look like it will be anytime soon.

Consequently the mother from Stepanakert believes military action is the only way forward.

She said: “The only solution is to ... start a war to get back the lost territories and sign a peace agreement. This is the only solution. To take real action.”

Ironically it is the same kind of rhetoric the Azeri government uses to distract its citizens from domestic problems such as hers.

Azerbaijani activists look to the past for visions of the future

2012-06-08T13:43:42Z

As the high of holding the Eurovision Song Contest turns into a hangover, Azerbaijanis could be forgiven for their independence day celebrations appearing somewhat muted.

But in a small village 50km from the capital Baku several hundred people gathered before a statue of the man who symbolises their hopes for the future.

Mohammad Rasulzade oversaw the creation of the first democratic Azerbaijani state in 1918 during a brief window between the collapse of the Russian Empire and the emergence of the Soviet Union.

Despite independence from the Soviets in 1991, the country has been controlled by former communist leaders and their offspring - bar a brief calamitous reprieve in 1992 - who's notions of democracy are more in-line with Russian President Vladimir Putin than Rasulzade.

So every year opposition figures, pro-democracy campaigners and human rights activists come to the coastal town of Novkhani, the birthplace of Rasulzade, to wave flags, listen to speeches and rally for a return to his vision.

The small gathering in a seemingly far-flung village was a romantic but sad sight and reflective of the strength of opposition politics in Azerbaijan that failed to win a single seat at the last parliamentary elections – although this was down to rigged elections rather than a lack of popularity.

Years and fears of harassment, beatings, dismissals from work and prison sentences have taught a tired opposition to fall into line leaving only the most energetic to continue the fight.

One of those is Osman Kazimov, a human rights lawyer who says he has been threatened, beaten, almost kidnapped and eventually kicked out of the bar association last year for defending political prisoners.

He said: “I could find an easier life if I was dishonest, but I must listen to my heart. While it's hard defending people against the government at least it shows the justice system isn't fair.”

The two main opposition parties Musavat and the Popular Front have united, for now, to create The Public Chamber in a bid to pool their limited resources and rally support across the country.

But their respective newspapers have a circulation of little more than 10,000 copies in a country of nine million with sales restricted, according to activists, by kiosks too afraid to stock them or government representatives buying up the copies making it hard to get their message out.

However new youth movements have surfaced who are finding new ways, with the help of the internet and social media, to engage with their peers and unite against the dated communist-era politics and business practises having grown up with an eye to the west.

Turgat Gambar, who helped set up the NIDA youth movement in 2011 following the rigged presidential elections of 2010 and whose father, Isa, was briefly acting president for the Popular Front in 1992, said: “Until huge crackdowns of democratic opposition in 2003 and 2005 there was a very strong and popular movement for democracy here. Then there was silence for four or five years and the process has started to build up again.”

Fuad Hasanov, the director of civil organisation Democracy Monitor, believes the graphic and increasing economic and political polarisation of society is re-invigorating people into challenging the status-quo.

However, Nigar Yagublu, a young press officer for the Musavat Party, believes it wont be through elections that change will happen.

She said: “If we want to get democracy it wont be through elections, I have never seen real elections. People must stand up and demand what they want.”

Should we be taking Eurovision more seriously?

2012-05-25T17:26:12Z

Eurovision has long been subject to ridicule by much of western Europe with its trashy and manufactured pop considered far below our musical tastes with audiences consisting of largely excitable teenage girls and members of the gay community.

But as this year's competition in Azerbaijan is used as a platform by human rights and pro-democracy campaigners to highlight abuses largely ignored by the western media until now, should the conscientious among us be taking it a little more seriously as a tool for change?

The oil-rich state in the south caucus was barely known to most before reports began to emerge of families being evicted from their homes to make way for the glittery Crystal Hall, which hosts this year's show.

But a simple Google search will unleash a torrent of articles offering an insight into the authoritarian regime's crackdown on independent media, opposition parties and human rights activists.

Fuad Hasanov, director of the Azeri human rights and democracy organisation Democracy Monitor, said before last week it was almost impossible to get any media attention to cover their plight. Now he's juggling more international journalists than he can manage.

Previously the competition has been used by other former soviet states to promote themselves to a western Europe who barely knew they were there.

When Estonia won in 2001 the government launched a multi-million pound nation-branding campaign on the back of it and Ukraine specifically entered the competition to improve its international image, according to Paul Jordan, who recently completed a PhD on the Eurovision and state-building and branding by former soviet states.

Dr Eurovision, as he is also known, said: “It's not seen as a tacky contest as it is in the west. It's seen, for some countries, as the only way of promoting themselves - along with the European football championships and the Olympics. Estonia's [Eurovision] was called Return to Europe distancing itself from its soviet past, but tragically, its also a way of getting themselves on the world map.”

Azerbaijan is also clearly taking it very seriously, spending more than a billion dollars on the event - the most expensive contest ever, and equally hoping to put themselves on the map, bolster tourism and prove they are capable of putting on prestigious international events.

But the government clearly didn't bargain on the attention given to its human rights record with activists getting almost as much attention as the 56-year-old event.

The European Broadcasting Union, which runs Eurovision and is made up of each member's state broadcaster, has also come under criticism for failing to put pressure on the Azerbaijani government or for even allowing it to compete.

Jordan said: “Eurovision is first and foremost a television show and EBU is not a political organisation, but there are questions when the organisation has survived on a free press and Azerbaijan has journalists in prison for criticising the government. There is no free press here, and they have not addressed that at all. I would say the EBU are at fault, but it's maybe not a question for now, it's a question for who they let in to the EBU in the first place. These sort of questions are for when they joined in 2008.”

Despite his political interest Jordan is also a fan of the competition, but says he has given up on predicting the winner, however, while the Russian entry is clearly an obvious choice he would love to see Ukraine's entrant take first place after an MP described the mixed-race singer as 'unorganically Ukrainian'.

Whether you love it or hate it, he said, the Eurovision has at least created a dialogue on the issues facing Azerbaijan. However it remains to be seen whether once the Eurovision road-show moves on, the media circus moves with it.

Human rights campaigners step-up protests for Eurovision in Azerbaijan

2012-05-21T20:38:26Z

Dozens of pro-democracy campaigners were arrested in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, today as they took part in an unauthorised protest to highlight human rights abuses in the run-up to Eurovision.

The Sing for Democracy campaign, which organised the rally outside the old city, also called on entrants to the contest to speak out during live performances and interviews against the lack of political and media freedom the country endures.

The authoritarian government has been highly criticised by human rights organisations and some foreign governments for rigged elections, clamping down on independent and critical media, false imprisonment, and even torture.

It is the first time the former soviet state and little-known country in the south caucus has hosted an international event of this size and activists hope to take advantage of the presence of the world's media to get their message out.

Visitors to the newly developed capital could be forgiven for being oblivious to the country's ills, but those who organise, speak-out or stand against the regime of the oil-rich state have found themselves publicly smeared, viciously attacked, jailed on trumped-up charges and even murdered over the years.

At the time of writing there was no news of those arrested today, but last week the bass player of an Azeri rap band, which played at an opposition rally, was illegally drafted into the army after its rapper, Natiq Kamilov, criticised the President's wife.

Kamilov, who was released after ten days following international coverage of his arrest, said he was tortured during detention and has since fled the country convinced it's unsafe for him to remain.

Relatives of arrestees working within goverment or government-controlled companies - of which there are many - are also targeted and forced out of their jobs as punishment and to scare others from standing-up against the corrupt regime.

Azerbaijan's most famous investigative journalist was recently viciously smeared after highlighting massive corruption at the highest levels of government where family members and trusted friends of the president are given plum positions in state departments and companies.

Khadija Ismailova, who reports for Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, was threatened with blackmail after, she believes, state security services filmed her having sex in her apartment.

However the plan backfired after she went public, despite the risk of a backlash amongst the socially conservative population, with even the most religious groups defending her and lambasting the government for such low tactics as the video was published on a fake opposition website.

And when two activists, Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade, posted a video on Youtube in 2009 of a press conference mocking the government purchase of two donkeys from Germany for £40,000, they were set-upon by thugs a week later as they ate in a restaurant.

They were subsequently arrested and charged with violent behaviour when they reported the incident to police while their attackers were released without charged.

The pair were sentenced to two and two and a half years respectively until they were released last year following huge international pressure.

Thousands of people have also been evicted from their homes, often with little notice or compensation and nowhere to go, by representatives of the state to make way for new buildings and infrastructure including the fancy new Crystal Hall that the Eurovision contest will be held in.

Only recently a journalist was beaten unconscious as he documented such evictions by the state oil company SOCAR in Baku. Idrak Abbasov believes the private security guards intended to kill him while police watched on.

While those arrested today can expect to be dealt with more leniently or have any court cases delayed until after Eurovision it is far from clear whether the international media's attention and scrutiny will have a lasting impact beyond next week without further international govermental pressure.

However, if past performance is anything to go by the Council of Europe, which sets democratic and legal standards to its member states of which Azerbaijan is one, should not be relied on to act.

Despite regular reports to its parliamentary assembly on the state of affairs in Azerbaijan, the CoE has reduced its criticism and even begun praising the President for his attempts at reform despite the special rapporteur charged with assessing the treatment and situation of political prisoners being denied a visa for the past two years.

A report is due out imminently revealing why the CoE has failed to act, however, its author, Gerald Knaus of the European Staility Initiative, warned it was not just a matter of lobbying and free trips to MPs that is keeping them quiet, but refused to be drawn on the cause before publication.

However, Azerbaijan, sandwiched between energy suppliers Iran and Russia, is proving to be an attractive and reliable alternative source of oil and gas to its soon-to-be sanctioned and unpredictable neighbours.

Naturally, the government denies it rigs elections and abuses its citizens' human rights while accusing independent media of failing to meet moral standards, but with defamation being a criminal offence it essentially makes criticising members of the government illegal.

Infectious workshops spread mobile-phone reporting bug

2012-04-18T04:41:54Z

AFTER hearing the director of a creative youth organisation complain about filmed interviews rarely getting uploaded to a PC, let alone edited, I suggested a no-edit mobile-phone reporting workshop.

You get professional looking interviews with no expensive equipment, no editing and that are quick to get up online – perfect for people with short attention spans, I said.

'Do it', she said.

Gulp!

This would be the first workshop I had given, but thinking about it all I had to do was share the passion and belief I have in this model that I believe takes citizen journalism to another level.

As a print journalist I am constantly told how so many people prefer to watch a video news report than read an article, not least the 'younger' generation.

The added bonus is that when the interview is done it can be a matter of minutes before you have it embedded on a news site or blog and tweeted across the world and your work is done.

The only preparation required is getting your hands on an external microphone, an adaptor to connect it to your phone's headphone socket and a partner to film with.

Yhworld, which had asked me to give the workshop, provides creative opportunities to young people in Hackney to learn new skills in the world of media encouraging a hands-on approach in real life roles with its public sector, charity and business partners and online magazine.

Some of them have experienced difficult periods in their lives while others just want to be given a chance in a difficult industry, but all have stories they want to tell.

I began the workshop by explaining how a media activist's film footage of Italian police savagely beating people after a demonstration in Genoa, Italy, in 2001, was used to prosecute those responsible after the authorities failed to act.

The TV networks had ignored or missed the attack following a G8 summit.

The subsequent case resulted in dozens of police being sent to prison and significant sums in compensation paid to the victims.

This led to the creation of Visionon.tv and a focus on developing a model for independent video journalism of a high standard but that was accessible to all.

Cue mobile phone reporting.

After showing the six participants the little equipment that was needed I took them through both the reporter's and camera operator's template – a simple series of steps to achieve a clear, concise and consumable report – and they were ready to give it a try.

Naturally a workshop should be as practical as possible to ingrain the ideas and techniques being taught – I would quote some stats that reflect the incremental amount of information people take in through listening, reading and doing if I had them to hand, but you will have to trust me when I say they support my point.

In any case, the positive and enthusiastic response was clear to see and the director of the organisation immediately ordered a mic, adaptor and phone – although I did point out how that defeats the object somewhat as they should be using the devices they already have in their pocket!

No matter, expect to see another six citizen journalists on the streets of east London with a new found voice.

TedxBrickLane: Redefining the DJ - the highs and lows of club culture

2012-04-03T11:44:28Z

IT was supposed to be a reflection on all things good about DJ and club culture; the music, the technology, the history, but journalist and blogger Joe Muggs wanted to add a touch of dark reality to the special Tedx event Redefining the DJ.

'DJ Culture is appalling; it's people who are just a set of cogs playing the same old tracks again and again', he said.

The audience laughed nervously as he continued lambasting the romantic ideas of kids in a hedonistic daze believing they will find all they are looking for in a dark and sweaty room.

Naively turning your back on education, work and relationships thinking you don't need anything else except a good time before, years later, crashing back to reality unable to do much more than flip burgers or pull pints is not big, clever or underground.

Fortunately he made an exception of those present, but his points were a valid and an important reminder of the collateral damage that goes hand-in-hand with the electronic music and party scene.

But it wasn't all bad news at the seminar, at the Truman Brewery, in East London, organised by Tunde Olaoye, a promoter, DJ and Ted lecture fan, who wants to see more serious discussion on what he says has been a marginalised part of British culture, the economy and even education.

The speakers covered a broad range of subjects and histories that have informed and split the scene over the decades as well as offering personal examples of how to get on in a difficult industry.

Jerome Sydenham, who moved to New York in the eighties as a young Nigerian to follow his dream of becoming a successful DJ and producer, told how he nearly threw it all away partying seven nights a week before waking up to what he could lose - his green card and residency at one of New York's most exclusive clubs.

Being a success in this industry is down to the individual remaining focused, he said, just look at Jeff Mills who's in his fifties and still cutting it at the top.

Sydenham went on to give a fascinating insight into the world of A&R at Atlantic records explaining how the big labels' failure to nurture and give a public face, through video and radio coverage, to the new house and techno producers they signed in the late eighties meant there was little return on their investment.

Released from their contracts the new wave of producers returned to the independents where they enjoyed considerable success.

But this left it to the club DJs playing the records, often producers themselves, to soak up the credit and become the face of the new sound.

He also revealed the bosses' at major labels concerted effort to kill off vinyl in favour of CDs by buying up presses around the world before literally dumping them in the ocean.

Fortunately independents took up the mantle, printing the records themselves, leading to a resurgence in vinyl in recent years, although print runs are notably counted in their hundreds rather than the thousands of yesteryear.

The move from vinyl to CDs and more latterly MP3s was the subject of Tony Andrews, founder of the legendary Funktion-One sound-systems, talk on the quality of music.

His message was simple: don't touch MP3s with a barge pole!

He said: “Sound quality and our hearing isn't given the attention it deserves … and it's really got worse since the advent of digital and the overuse of gain – particularly by DJs.”

Andrews said he wasn't against digital and that if WAV files, the digital format on CDs that stream at 1440kbps, are used it could be better, but so-called high quality MP3s (320kbps) are being recorded at a quarter of that.

Staying on the technology tip the audience saw the first public demonstration of the Alphasphere, which evolved from a bunch of polystyrene coffee cups, balloons and a hacked midi-keyboard five years ago to the fully functioning prototype (see below) completed last week.

Creator Adam Place, of Nu Desine, said he was inspired to make a new interface to replace the midi-keyboard that felt 'unnatural' for playing anything other than piano.

There were also talks on setting up a radio station come record label come whatever it morphed into, the history of the record and looking at copyright and how it restricts progress, but the underlying theme and lesson was one of originality, non-conformity, freedom of expression, re-inventing yourself and strength of mind.

However it would have been a fallacy to suggest that it's all highbrow and drugs weren't a fundamental part of the scene - for good or for bad - and so it was entirely appropriate that Dr Karenza Moore, of Lancaster University, spoke about their role in club culture.

A party girl herself, she has been officially researching club and drug culture for the past six years but unofficially for more than 20.

She took the audience through the explosion of the rave scene back in the late eighties and the moral panic that surrounded it - fuelled by the red-tops and the death of Leah Betts - before the Criminal Justice Bill largely put an end to outdoor raves forcing them into restrictive clubs.

The move was 'coincidentally' mirrored by an aggressive marketing campaign by the alcohol companies, which had seen a massive decline in sales, with alco-pops and energy drinks pitched as the new ecstasy.

Moore also reminded us of the lesser-known Criminal Justice (Raves) Bill 2008 that made it illegal to even look like you were setting-up a rave!

But ultimately her research revealed that 20-years-on ecstasy was still the clubbers' drug of choice despite it's disappearance between 2008 and 2010 and the increased use of drugs like ketamine and mephedrone.

And despite warning of the consequences of young people being criminalised by drug convictions she stopped short of calling for legalisation.

However despite Muggs' annihilation of much of club culture, Moore's academic research decreed it's effects had been largely positive; a point supported by the agreeable crowd.