Manchester has been home to the Alternative Futures and Popular Protest conference for 30 years. Originally organised by Colin Barker in the 90s, it continues to inform how activists and academics all over the world understand and create change through social movements.
Manchester Five – is justice in a wig and gown or in orange paint?
On Friday 21 February 2025, Just Stop Oil protestors Daniel Knorr, Margaret Reid, Indigo Rumbelow and Ella Ward all were found guilty of the crime of ‘conspiracy to commit a public nuisance’. Noah Crane, just 19 years old, held in prison since August 2024 on this charge, was acquitted since there was no evidence specifically tying him to the crime on the day of the planned action.