Bristol anti-militarists paste a message on a billboard in St Werburghs, the day after the Pakistan President called for an end to US drone strikes and week before a planned protest at the Bristol drone conference.

In a statement delivered yesterday  Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari expressed support for parliament’s recent positions on the Pakistani-US relationship, saying they were a sign of “democracy taking roots in Pakistan.” Zardari’s statement even went on to directly address the most controversial aspect of US relations, the ongoing US drone strikes against Pakistan’s tribal areas. Zardari said that the strikes violated Pakistan’s sovereignty and were counterproductive.

Drones or unmanned aerial vehicles are pilotless planes which are used around the globe in armed conflicts. Civilians are the main victims.  Based on extensive research, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (london) found that in Pakistan between 391 – 780 civilians were killed out of a total of between 1,658 and 2,597 and that 160 children are reported among the deaths. Pakistani reports claim the civilian death toll is far higher.

There isn’t a war in Pakistan but the death toll from drones is in the thousands. Legal experts and human rights organisations have condemned the rise in targeted extra-judicial killing enabled by the use of drones.

Monday 2nd April 12pm Meet At The Fountains – Opposite The Hippodrome  For a noise demo. A few folk will be starting out at 8am at the entrance to Telephone Avenue.
The Conference is being held at Armada House, Telephone Avenue. (off Baldwin St)

Bristol saw a anger spill out onto the streets over the government's anti-NHS bill. People gathered in a Flash-Mob outside one of the city's main hospitals, the Bristol Royal Infirmary to protest the new law. With 1 in 4 tory peers who's push passed the bill into law having a direct financial interest in the changes via insurance companies, private health-care and private equity groups and the government itself being heavily lobbied and funded by corporations who will benefit from the changes, there is a growing sense of anger in many over the changes the bill will leave in care for all. Many fear the NHS is being dropped in favour of the more brutal US system where private interests take priority over patient care. The next demo is planned for 4pm today.

sick writes: You know when you read a headline that just trips the world from under you? For those of us who'd been trying not to pay attention, there was a certain vertigo that came from seeing that last night they rubber stamped the privitisation of the NHS. You know, the NHS. That system that has saved the lives of probably at least half a dozen people you love. That remarkable outcome of struggle for a better world in our strange little country. The service that used to be about saying- making money out of illness is wrong. That free universal healthcare is too important to leave to buisness. They're selling it off. And within 40 minutes of a shout going out 20 or so folk had gathered outside the Bristol Royal Infirmary, to show solidarity with the people whose vocations and lives are threatened, and to get some commuter traffic honking, so that we can hear each others grief and defiance. I was a bit worried the car horns might bother patients, but the ambulance drivers were some of the most enthusiastic participants. It was great to just speak to people about it, to have banter with patients and staff and create a bit of space outside that wasn't about buisness as usual. Spontaneous demo against privitisation of NHS

Anticuts writes: NHS: the end is Nye. So the Condems have got this appalling bill through, which will lead to a commodification of peoples health, which could ironically be labelled sickening, it is likely to lead to disparate health services as GP's are forced to protect budgets rather than tend to people's health issues. We already have a two tier health system, but this is going to force more people into the private sector as they seek help with health problems, that GP's are going to struggle to provide due to putting money first over people. Also GP's are going to have to deal with internal markets and competition through a new 7 tier system..... Guide to NHS Bill, Pics Bristol NHS Demo and useful links for sharing

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Update! Big thanks for Benny for an inspiring night! Take a few minutes to find out more about the West Papua struggle for freedom and find out about the giant corporation Freeport, making money off the back of the repression in West Papua.

Event: Forgotten Bird of Paradise is a 2009 documentary by British filmmaker Dominic Brown, when he travelled to West Papua without the permission of the Indonesian authorities, putting himself in great danger. It provides a rare and moving insight into the forgotten struggle for independence that has gripped West Papua for nearly 50 years. The film's director will be at the event for a Q&A after the screening.

The documentary features an interview with Yusak Package, a high profile West Papuan political campaigner recognised by Amnesty International as a 'prisoner of concience'. He is currently serving a ten year prison sentence for raising a West Papuan flag during a ceremony in 2004. The interview was recorded in secret, whilst Yusak was in hospital receiving treatment for torture injuries.

The film also shows other human rights victims and political prisoners and never seen before footage of OPM rebels in their jungle stronghold, and discusses recent developments in the international arena, including the launch if the International Parliamentarians for West Papua with the aim of giving the West Papuan people their long-lost right to self-determination.

This is a world where ancient traditions and culture lives on in the modern age. Above all it shows a remarkable resilience of a people oppressed under Indonesian rule, but whos determination for freedom burns stronger now than at any time in history. Finally now their cries are beginning to be heard.

Bristol Indymedia are excited to bring you at least one speaker (hopefully two!), Benny Wenda who is a Free West Papua campaigner and his friend Serogo - a West Papuan refugee and the filmmaker, Dominic Brown.

This documentary will be shown at 8pm at the Cube cinema, Dove St, Bristol, BS2 8JD £4 entry (though nobody refused for lack of funds).

Directions: cubecinema.com/cubewebsite/directions

More info: forgottenbirdofparadise.net

The government's workfare scheme is looking increasingly untenable. Protest has so far shamed many companies into pulling out. We now need to keep up the pressure to force the scrapping of this slave labour scheme altogether. Under the scheme unemployed people can be made to work for their dole. They are denied what should be a real job, existing workers can be replaced for free and taxpayers have to carry on paying out dole money while big companies can profit from free labour.

 As part of a national day of action against workfare Bristol Youth Fight for Jobs have organised a protest for Saturday 3rd March. We are meeting at 1pm outside BHS in Broadmead and will be touring some of the shops and restaurants still using the scheme to protest outside. This will be followed by a short rally on Castle Park at 2.30pm. There will also be a public meeting on Monday 5th March, details to follow.

For more information contact Tom on 07986951527 or tomobaldwin@gmail.com. Facebook event here. For more info on Youth Fight for Jobs visit www.youthfightforjobs.com