The Red Pepper round-up: 14 September

14 September 2012: A selection of ace articles and videos from this week and upcoming actions for the following week, by Izzy Koksal

And the booing of politicians continues... this time it was Ed Balls who was put in his place by angry trade unionists after he refused to promise them pay rises if the Labour government come into power.

There was good news for the majority of the 182 Critical Mass cyclists who were arrested on the night of the Olympics Opening Ceremony for the crime of cycling; realising that they had no case whatsoever the Metropolitan police will be taking no further action against them. The police’s actions on that night – which saw people detained on buses, denied food and water, and given punitive bail conditions – were a clear abuse of police power as they sought to use the Olympics as an excuse for heavy handed tactics.

After anti-workfare campaigners forced the retreat of workfare in corporate stores across the country, the government have shifted their workfare schemes into the charity sector in the hope of rebranding workfare. Here are 10 arguments detailing what is wrong with charity workfare. In other workfare news, yet another case study has emerged of workfare being used to replace paid workers jobs.

As the housing crisis intensifies, resistance to it is building. Brum Tenants and Homeless Action Group have produced a report and an interactive map showing the 607 empty houses owned by Birmingham city council. If the council do not act, they will use the information they have gathered and take action themselves. In west London, West Ken and Gibbs Green tenants have been campaigning against Hammersmith and Fulham council’s plans to sell of their homes to private developers. The council agreed a £105 million land sale to developer CapCo last Monday, but local residents promise ‘we shall never surrender!’

Climate protesters built a giant ice pyramid blockading Shell’s London HQ in protest against their Arctic drilling.

Listen to Open Democracy’s ‘What was the true legacy of the Olympics?’ discussion with Suzanne Moore and Dan Hancox and join in the debate online.

The Centre for Labour and Social Studies has published a pamphlet presenting the key findings from Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson’s ground breaking book ‘The Spirit Level’.This is a great resource for furthering our discussions on inequality and what we can do about it. Owen Jones discusses the pamphlet here.

The latest edition of ‘Social Movements Studies’ is a special issue dedicated to the Occupy movement to mark its one year anniversary. The articles will be free to access and download until mid-November. Follow this link and register to access.

Upcoming events

Pussy Riot protest London as part of the Global Day of Action, Saturday 15 September, 11am, opposite the Russian Consulate at Bayswater Road

UK Feminista Summer School, 15-16 September, 10am, University of Bristol Students’ Union

Lambeth Save Our Services ‘Stop the Cuts’ lobby of Lambeth Council, Wednesday 19 September, 6pm, Lambeth Town Hall, Brixton

Fight for Sites public meeting organised by the Traveller Solidarity Network, Thursday 20 September, 7.30pm, Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street, E1 6LS