Necessity Still Breeds Ingenuity - Archive of SQUALL MAGAZINE 1992-2006

Frontline Communiques

All Frontline Communiques are unedited dispatches from the frontline of an action, event or incident


Boomchucka Basra
Jo Wilding visits Basra with the Circus2Iraq troupe - 31st March 2004

A Small Circus Outside Out House
British circus troupe Circus2IRaq tours occupied Iraq, by Jo Wilding - 12th Jan 2004

Christmas Day In Occupied Iraq
Report from Baghdad on Christmas day, by Jo Wilding - 25th Dec 2003

"Now He's Gone, It's Pure Jihad"
Jo Wilding in occupied Iraq gauges public reaction to Saddam Hussein's arrest - 16th Dec 2003

The Arrest Of Saddam
Jo Wilding captures the moment in Baghdad after Saddam Hussein is arrested - 14th Dec 2003

The Mess Between Two Rivers
Jo Wilding reports back from Baghdad on the sewage and radioactivity seeping into the lives of citizens in occupied Iraq - 6th Dec 2003

Pissing People Off
In her latest dispatch from inside occupied Iraq, Jo Wilding experiences the growing discontent amongst Iraqi citizens fed up with the unruly behaviour of US soldiers - 27th Nov 2003

Desperately Seeking Solidarity
Writing from Baghdad, Jo Wilding discovers how the whole concept of solidarity has been driven off by fear and hunger in Iraq, and by complacency and recklessness in the UK - 24th Nov 2003

No More Cheap Chickens
Jo Wilding talks to the Baghdad hospital doctors who drive taxi's in their spare time to make ends meet, and hears how some patients are getting off their heads on ketamine - 21st Nov 2003

The Baath Are Back
Ewa Jasiewicz reports from Basra as the US led occupation re-employs elements of the old regime - 7th Nov 2003

Rifling Through Rafah
International solidarity activist, Atif, sent this dispatch to SQUALL from Rafah in the southern part of the Gaza Strip - 12th Oct 2003

Rocks Against Rifles
Ewa Jasiewicz describes the relentless and injury strewn scrapping between stone throwing Palestinians and heavily armed Israeli soldiers in the West Bank town of Nablus - 5th June 2003

Bullet Blizzard
British solidarity activist Ewa Jasiewicz sent this bullet battered report back from the towns and refugee camps of the Gaza Strip, as they suffer a maelstrom of attacks and beatings by Israeli forces - 24th May 2003

Raid On Jenin
Ewa Jasiewicz sent this dispatch from inside Jenin as the Israeli Occupation Force once again went steaming in West Bank - 11th May 2003

Raids And Blockades
Ewa Jasiewicz dispatched this report from the West Bank on the increased targeting of International Solidarity Activists by the Israeli army and the kids who steal tank gun barrels - 10th May 2003

Inside Jenin
In her latest dispatch from the West Bank, Ewa Jasiewicz describes the situation in Jenin and gauges Palestinian reaction to the new 'Road Map' for the future of the Middle East recently devised by the United States - 7th May 2003

Goodbye Baghdad
Having been told to leave the country by the Iraqi foreign ministry, a saddened Jo Wilding sent this last dispatch from Baghdad before heading for Jordan - 30th March 2003

"I Am His Mother"
Jo Wilding sends this dispatch from Baghdad with graphic reports of the ground-level human carnage as the US-led bombing goes into its second week - 29th March 2003

Lost For Bloody Words
Having once again been robbed of rest by another night of heavy bombing, Jo Wilding contemplates the insanity of the worsening situation whilst temporarily confined to her hotel room in Baghdad - 28th March 2003

Nowhere Is Safe
The latest harrowing report from Jo Wilding, in Baghdad as the US-led bombing continues - 27th March 2003

A World Turned Orange And Red
In her latest dispatch from the besieged Iraqi capital, independent human rights observer Jo Wilding visits another hospital in Baghdad and finds a tragic place full of bemused and injured Iraqi civilians - 26th March 2003

Malicious Missiles And Dead Farmers
After discovering a bombed out family of farmers in a Baghdad hospital, Jo Wilding went to the rubble of their former farm in Dialla, outside the Iraqi capital, to try and find out why a US fighter plane had specifically targeted their home - 25th March 2003

We Are Farmers
In Baghdad during the first days of the Invasion on Iraq, Jo Wilding reports that significant numbers of so-called Smart Bombs are falling on civilian targets - 24th March 2003

Birthday Party
As the sky turns black and rumour mingles seemlessly with fact, Jo Wilding sent this dispatch from inside the beseiged Iraqi capital during the first days of the US-led Invasion on Iraq - 23rd March 2003

A City On Fire
Communique from Antoinette, a British activist who has remained in Baghdad as part of the international human shield initiative, in the first days of the US-led Invasion - 21st March 2003

War: Day One
As the bombs finally begin falling on Baghdad, Jo Wilding sent back this dispatch from inside the Iraqi capital - 20th March 2003

Death Metal Falls Silent
On the day before war, Jo Wilding sent this communique back from inside Baghdad - 18th March 2003

Life On The Critical List
Determined to stay on in order to monitor human rights abuses and report the truth on where the bombs land, Jo Wilding sent this latest dispatch back to SQUALL from a city on the brink of destruction - 17th March 2003

Sandbags And Gladrags
Jo Wilding sents this dispatch from Baghdad as preparations continue before the bombing starts - 13th March 2003

Living With Oil
Sending back this dispatch from inside Baghdad, Jo Wilding considers the lives and deaths of a community living next to an Iraqi oil refinery - 7th March 2003

Everyone Jumps When It Thunders
In her sixth dispatch to SQUALL from inside Iraq, Jo Wilding describes a capital city bracing itself for the big bangs, and talks to a Vietnam veteran who wants history to stop repeating itself - 26th Feb 2003

Eerie Calm Before Desert Storm
In her fifth dispatch from the Iraqi capital, Jo Wilding describes life in Baghdad as families buy up rations and coffins and porno films are all that's on at the cinema - 25th Feb 2003

The Domino Effect
Jo Wilding sends her fourth dispatch back to SQUALL from inside Baghdad - 23rd Feb 2003

Mr Blush And The Bombs Of Democracy
In her third dispatch back from the Iraqi capital, Jo Wilding witnesses the preparations under way for another bout of bombing - 21st Feb 2003

From Inside Iraq - 2
In the second of her dispatches back from Baghdad, Jo Wilding samples an anti-war march Iraqi-style - 18th Feb 2003

From Inside Iraq - 1
In the first of her dispatches back to SQUALL, Jo Wilding describes her arrival back in a country bracing itself for a military onslaught - 16th Feb 2003

Stop The War March
Jimmy Seed sent this bubbling communique into SQUALL straight after the biggest political demonstration in British history, the Anti-War march in London on February 15th 2003 - 15th Feb 2003

Reclaim The Future
Seamus O Conner reports back on one of the best underground parties-with-purpose for years in London, the second 'Reclaim The Future' - 1st Feb 2003

All Aboard A Nuclear Submarine
Petter Joelson describes how easy it was for he and fellow Trident Ploughshares activist, Elisa Sivennoinen, to gain access to and climb aboard one of Britain's nuclear warhead-carrying submarines - 15th Nov 2002

The Occupation Of Jenin - Day 14
Ewa Jasiewicz sent this report from Jenin, two weeks into the latest Israeli occupation of the camp - 7th Nov 2002

The Reinvasion Of Jenin - Day 6
Solidarity activist Ewa Jasiewicz sent this report back from a battered Jenin on the Palestinian West Bank, 6 days into the latest Israeli invasion of the camp - 30th Oct 2002

Pedaling Peace
An anonymous cyclist sent in this dispatch after the Burning Planet Awards ceremony and Halloween demonstration against war, both in London - 31st Oct 2002

The Day Baha Took The Bullet
In her third dispatch to SQUALL from Nablus, Ewa Jasiewicz describes the day she felt a bullet whizz by and end the life of a fourteen year old Palestinian she had come to know - 22nd Sept 2002

The Anatomy Of A Rocket Attack
In her second dispatch to SQUALL from the West Bank, Ewa Jasiewicz reveals the reality behind a rocket attack on a car north of Nablus - 3rd Sept 2002

Gaza And Hebron
Ewa Jasiewicz sends her first dispatch back to SQUALL having visited both the West Bank and Gaza - 30th Aug 2002

Football Reclaimed
Squall sends its seldomly commissioned footy corresponent to watch the first ever match of a club formed by its fans, AFC Wimbledon - 21st Aug 2002

Al-Quds, West Bank
International solidarity activist Sarah Irving sent this dispatch back to SQUALL from the West Bank - 4th Aug 2002

Ravers Return
Matt Smith sends this dispatch back from the Castlemorton 10th Anniversary Free Festival/Rave at Steart Beach, Somerset - 5th June 2002

Video Vantage Points
Invited to attend a student video festival in Israel, camcorder activist Paul O' Connor seized the opportunity to seek out some clandestine footage, and point his camera into the heart of an uneasy peace - 7th June 2002

Trackside Tales
Jim Carey was part of a SQUALL production team filming the graffiti artist Banksy on some of his recent nocturnal graffiti forays in the capital - June 2002

Inside The Church Of The Nativity
UK activist Alistair Hillman sends this eyewitness report from the siege in the Church Of The Nativity, Bethlehem - May 2002

Bethlehem - Church Of The Nativity
Jo Wilding writes of how she and a group of international solidarity colleagues managed to pass tanks, snipers and barbed wire to get food into the Church of the Nativity whilst it was still under Israeli siege - 10th May 2002

Mayday Festival London
Seamus O Conner steps out with the Deptford mob for the first of the Mayday Festival of Alternatives events in south London – 27th April 2002

Palestine - Nablus
The Israeli government are claiming a bomb they found in a Palestinian ambulance is good reason to treat medical staff like potential terrorists. Irish nurse, Mary Kelly, sent back this frontline dispatch from Nablus – 25th April 2002

Palestine
Trident Ploughshares' press spokesman David McKenzie flew out to Palestine to join the International Solidarity Movement trying to prevent Israeli massacres. He sent back this report - 12th April 2002

Venezuela
A dispatch written by two students - Maximilien Arveláiz and Temir Porras Ponceleón - who were present in the Miraflores Palace, Caracas, Venezuela during the recent US-backed attempt to oust the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez. Their testimony was sent to SQUALL within a day of the extraordinary events - 11th April 2002

Bethlehem 4
Second dispatch from Sarah, British peace activist in Bethlehem - 10th April 2002

Bethlehem 3
A UK peace activist in Bethlehem called Sarah sent back this dispatch from the frontline - 8th April 2002

Bethlehem 2
This dispatch sent in to SQUALL was written by a group of activists determined to help prevent a massacre in a town surrounded by the Israeli Army - 5th April 2002

Bethlehem 1
A statement from British activists staying in the Al-Azzeh refugee camp in Bethlehem addressed to British Consulate and cc'ed to SQUALL - 4th April 2002

Incinerator Squatting
Camerawoman Zoe Broughton sent this report back after being evicted by bailiffs from a Greenpeace occupation of a 100 feet incinerator tower in south London - March 2002

Interrogation At US Border
Canadian poverty activist John Clarke is given the third degree at US border in telling incident about War On Terror paranoia - 19th Feb 2002

Labour Party Conference, Brighton
Tim Notech's day out in Brighton at the Labour Party Conference - 1st Oct 2001

DSEI Arms Fair
On the day the two twin towers of the World Trade Centre collapsed in New York, activists were targeting a massive arms fair in London Docklands. Andy Robertson sent in this dispatch from the middle of the action - 11th Sept 2001

Genoa G8
Having narrowly avoided the police raid on the Indymedia and Genoa Social Forum, Andy Robertson escaped from Italy and sent this report back to SQUALL - 23rd July 2001

Video Journalist Nicked At Incinerator Action, Sheffield
Zoe Broughton has been a prolific environmental camerawoman for years. Then one day in May, whilst filming a Greenpeace action in Sheffield, the police went OTT - 22nd May 2001

Tactics At The Not OK Corral - Mayday 2001 London
Seamus O Conner reports on the heavy-handed policing of the London Mayday street demo, which including corralling protesters for hours - 1st May -2001

Stark Staring Bonkers
Devon organic farmer Tim Malyon sends this dispatch from the heart of an exasperated British countryside in the middle of the Mad Cow fiasco - April 2001

Atherden Community Centre
Atherden Nursery in Hackney, closed because the council went bankrupt, is squatted and re-opened as a community centre - March 2001

Digging In Chiapas
Shaymus King is a member of the Easton Cowboys, a team of football-playing activists from Bristol. He sent this dispatch from the Chiapas jungle during a recent away fixture against the Zapatistas - March 2001

Activist Gets A Visit From Special Branch
The story of anti-nuclear and internet-rights campaigner Stella Purvis in Cumbria being spooked and targeted by Special Branch - Feb 2001

Ramallah
Bristol based video activist Ian Ferguson travelled to Ramallah on the Palastinian west-bank with the aim of filming life in the region. When the current political upheavals flared up he decided to stay on as an alternative media witness. He sent this frontline report back to SQUALL - 13th Nov 2000

Prague S26 In The City Of 100 Fires
Direct from frontline Prague, Si Mitchell sent back this breathless report - 27th Sept 2000

Report From Prague S26
Report back from Prague as the demonstrations against the World Bank/IMF rage, written by Undercurrents film-makers Martin Palmer and Paul O'Conner - 26th Sept 2000

Severn Revels Festival
Warren Makepeace was among a number of festival-goers none too impressed with the policing strategy at one of the UK's more established summer festivals - Aug 2000

Cambridge Two: Prisoner EH6324 Wyner
Ruth Wyner has been imprisoned for five years for failing to tell police that drug dealing was allegedly taking place at a Cambridge homeless centre where she worked. This is from a letter sent by Ruth from prison - 31st May 2000

Blowing The Lid On The Bilderbergers
Tony Gosling travels to the location of this year's Bilderberg Group conference at the Chateau Du Lac Hotel, Belgium to shine light on this secret annual meeting of some of the world's most economically powerful men - June 2000

Knuckleheads With Nightsticks At 20th And 1st
Third eye witness account from SQUALL's Si Mitchell, in Washington DC as protest continue to rage against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Summit in the capitol - 17th April 2000

Black Blockades In Babylon
Report from day two of the mass actions on the streets of Washington DC against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Summit, by SQUALL's Si Mitchell - 16th April 2000

Crack Heads And Crack Troops On The Streets Of DC
Washington DC is buzzing with thousands of anti-capitalist direct activists, in town to prevent the World Bank and International Monetary Fund from cementing its plans for an economic world order. First a series of three contemporaneous reports from the frontline, SQUALL's Si Mitchell gets into the thick of it - 15th April 2000

Cambridge Two Imprisoned
Ruth Wyner (Director) and John Brock (Manager) were jailed for five and four years respectively in 1999 for failing to tell police that drug dealing was going on in the homeless drop-in centre where they worked in Cambridge. These are excerpts from their letters from prison - 17th Feb 2000

2:30am, Jan 1st 2000 AD, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England
Whilst the official millennium events celebrated UK plc, underground free parties were still deemed unacceptable. Phil Rigby reports from Newcastle on the riot squads new year present to the geordie ravers - 1st Jan 2000

Battle For Seattle 2
Si Mitchell's second report from the streets of Seattle capturing the spirit of the protesters against the WTO Summit in the city - 6th Dec 1999

Battle For Seattle 1
Si Mitchell found enough respite from the maelstrom of Seattle's first ever declared state of emergency to send SQUALL this report on the curfews, robocops, rubber bullets and multifarious protest actions which have blown a whole in the image of globalisation - Dec 1999

Crash, Bang, Wallop, Wot A Picture
At the N30 anti-capitalist demonstration at Euston Station, one individual in particular sparked violence before rapidly leaving the scene - Nov 1999

Stopping Mox Boxes - Fukushima, Japan
Photographer Nick Cobbing sent this report from Japan about a Greenpeace sea action trying to prevent a shipment of British-made nuclear fuel being docked in Japan for processing - 27th Sept 1999

Trident Computers Go Overboard In Loch Goil
Establishing an extraordinary legal precedent, three female Trident Ploughshares activists were recently acquitted in court of causing criminal damage at Faslane nuclear naval base, successfully arguing that Britain's nuclear arsenal was illegal under international law. This is an account of events by one of the defendants, Ellen Moxley - 1st Sept 1999

A Free Mann At Last
Animal rights activist Keith Mann describes the surprise of being released from prison - March-1999


To read the earlier frontline communiques along with all the other articles published in the print issues, click here