CONFLICT VIDEO MAN SERIOUSLY INJURED IN GENEVA G8 DEMO! Conflict’s video producer and album cover photographer, Guy Smallman, was badly injured in the G8 demonstrations in Geneva. A stun grenade exploded on his leg, causing serious muscle damage with ‘a hole the size of a fist’ in his calf. He underwent two hours of surgery, will have to undergo skin grafts and was lucky not to lose his leg. He was wearing a Conflict t-shirt and witnesses say the riot police targeted him deliberately after they were very unhappy he was taking photos of their actions. He has already consulted a solicitor in order to take action against the police. Guy was at the G8 demo working as news photographer of Brixton-based Images Sans Frontèiers, and as an Indymedia volunteer reporter. Kerrang! heavily praised Guy’s video for the ‘Carlo Giuliani’ single in their ‘Single Of The Week’ review – coincidentally Carlo being the Italian protester killed on the Genoa G8 demo – and Conflict were collaborating further with Guy for a video of their entire album. But with Guy now in hospital, the video project can’t now be completed for some while. Conflict wish Guy a speedy recovery and look forward to working with him again soon. So the previously announced enhanced ten-track video-album version of Conflict’s new studio album has been shelved until later. Now just the regular audio version of ‘There’s No Power Without Control’, with a 20-page full-colour booklet featuring many of Guy’s photos, will be issued on June 30th. Guy’s photo of a line of advancing riot police on the cover of the Conflict album, shows how fearless, dedicated and determined he is in getting his picture! LINKS to background info & pics:
Lots of downloadable pics & 'deliberately targeted' story:
Stop press: Guy did a press conference at the NUJ offices on his return to UK on June 13th. From the NUJ press-release: “Guy Smallman is an experienced photographer who has covered numerous such events. Photographer colleagues in the NUJ have given him tremendous help and last Friday (June 6) staged a protest at the Swiss Embassy in London. NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear joined the protest and succeeded in meeting the Consul General, who promised to arrange a meeting with the Ambassador.
A low-res version of the video shown at the press conference is at the
following website link, together with framegrabs that clearly show Guy
Smallman attempting to get away and police firing at him:
CONFLICT HAVE CONFIRMED THE FOLLOWING APPEARANCES FOR 2003:
Further appearances are at present being organised including Spain, Portugal, Prague, Hungary, The USA, Japan and Brazil. Conflict welcome further invitations and suggestions for consideration and at present will confirm dates until May 2004.
THE INNER TERRESTRIALS will appear alongside Conflict at most of the forthcoming appearances whilst also touring extensively in their own right with various supports.
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Anarcho Punk Rockers release their first new studio album in ten years, 'No Power Without Control' on July 7th on Mortarhate via Jungle
Conflict have been described as the world’s foremost activist punk rock band. In the USA, the Seattle riots and the ‘straight-edge’ punk movement have accredited Conflict as inspiration, giving an incentive to resume activities and leading to huge interest in their Mortarhate label catalogue. Last year Conflict headlined a sold out Astoria theatre gig in London (in memory of Barry Horne, the animal rights activist who died in prison on hunger Strike) and subsequently began writing their first studio album in ten years, ‘No Power Without Control’, set for release on July 7th on Mortarhate via Jungle / SRD. Conflict have also confirmed a headline gig at London's Forum on September 21st with Anti-Flag and Napalm Death and many others supporting. Conflict's recently released single, taken from the album, 'Carlo Giuliani', (the first ever AVCD to be released in the UK), was awarded five KKKKK's and made single of the week in Kerrang! in the May 17th issue. (An AVCD is a video-enhanced single playable in DVDs and Playstations, as well as computers and conventional CD players). The video for ‘Carlo Giuliani’, an anti globalisation song about the demonstrator who was killed by Police in Italy - ‘a call to arms to make May Day our day’ - contains a large amount of footage from the riots there last year. Conflict hold a unique and fascinating position as a punk band, being hugely influential in the anarchist movement and inspiring many to direct action in numerous alternative life-style causes, such as Anti-Globalisation and the Animal Liberation Front. In the 80’s their records went straight to the top of the indie charts. One even made the national chart at no. 33, causing chart commentator Alan Jones to note this was one band that would never ever be stocked next to the pick’n’mix in Woolies! Starting out twenty years ago on their mentor’s Crass’ label Corpus Christi, with a nod to the militant side of The Clash, Conflict inhabit an idealistic punk world, where records had to say ‘Pay No More Than…’ and all gigs were benefits for either causes or bust-funds. Campaigning groups contacts were often advertised on sleeves - or otherwise the home addresses of vivisectionists and turkey-farmers like Bernard Matthews! Preaching intense insurrectionary anarchist politics at their gigs, they whipped up audiences into a riotous frenzy. Arrests after gigs were in the dozens: 23 in Kingston, 24 at Surbiton, 32 at Leeds University (when Chumbawamba supported), culminating in the Brixton Academy riot that hit the front pages of the national newspapers: "52 punks held in Brixton – Six Police Hurt". Booked on a stolen Rough Trade letterhead, the Academy gig attracted 4,000 punks to hear Conflict perform together with Crass’ front-man Steve Ignorant. Leaflets with maps of Brixton showing ‘targets’ such as McDonalds and Barclays Bank were handed out to the crowd… Following that major incident, Conflict were effectively banned in the UK. Any promoter booking them had a police visit and a huge ‘security’ bill imposed on them, and their insurance companies would withdraw cover. Conflict continued with overseas tours and a few rave-style events where the secret venue was found after charades to confuse the police, but became dormant in the early 90’s - until now. Conflict kicked off 2003 with a track on 'Salt In The Wound', an anti-war 'Triple AAA Single For the Protest Vote', also featuring ex-Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra, members of Chumbawamba and Crass produced Australian band Change, which was released Monday 24th March. In the melee that they create, Conflict’s music has often been overlooked. Fierce, tense, cajoling and militant, the reverberation alone is enough to provoke an emotional response. They can be looked on as an amalgam of what The Clash and Crass could have been – rallying protest, exhorting uprising, uniting crowds against common foes – all over a ferocious punk backing. The history of rock music has always been intertwined with that of rebellion and protest, from Bob Marley to Public Enemy, the Stones to the Pistols, etc. Conflict are the sound of the real underground rebels, who are not in any mood for compromise!
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