Week of action launched against construction giant Kier
Who are Kier – Kier is a major construction company that profits from developing socially and ecologically destructive projects. They take on contracts with the motive to acquire natural land, destroy it, and replace it with infrastructures that harm us and fill their pockets.
What they build – Kier are building HMP 5 Wells, the first of the mega-prisons. The prison will have capacity to hold 1680 people captive. We know prisons are structures that uphold white supremacy, classism and ableism and the prison will be filled with those at the sharpest end of those inequalities.
It comes as no surprise that construction coincides with the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. As Kier profit from building new cages, the state must also find ways to fill these places. The new bill would further criminalise Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. They plan to increase the time spent behind bars with measures such as increasing sentencing powers held by magistrates; reinforcing mandatory minimum sentences. Obtaining parole would be made harder, such as a scary punitive measure whereby 18-21 year olds would be eligible for a “whole life order” sentence where there is no possibility of parole.
Alongside prisons, Kier also pursue unaffordable housing projects, furthering gentrification that pushes poor, Black and Brown people from their homes. They build animal testing labs that trap and torture masses of non-human animals in cages for cruel experiments.
Why take action against Kier – As a component of the capitalist machine Kier are an enemy and a target for those engaged across a number of campaigns and struggles: the anti-HS2 movement, struggles against the prison industrial complex, anti-gentrification struggles and tenants unions, workers unions, animal liberation, anti-war campaigns, anti-nuclear and wider anti-capitalist struggles.
Importantly, Kier are in financial jeopardy. Their stocks have been falling, their contracts failing, their staffing cut and their assets sold in an attempt to save themselves. By targeting Kier when they are vulnerable we can see tangible victories in our movements and create deeper bonds of solidarity between those seeking radical social change. We can send a message to the next developers eyeing up these contracts that our communities will come together and fight against the destruction they cause.
We encourage everyone who reads this to be bold and take action. We do not need to ask permission from anyone.
Kier Ends Here.
