Miners Shot Down - commemorating the Marikana massacre

 

Remembering Marikana - Friday 14 August 2015

On 16 August 2012 South African police opened fire with live ammunition on thousands of striking platinum miners at Lonmin’s Marikana mine in the North West Province of South Africa. One hundred and twelve miners were shot and of those 34 died. The actions of police at Marikana were reminiscent of the apartheid era - Sharpeville in 1960 and Soweto in 1976 - where black people were shot for protesting. The Farlam Commission of Enquiry which was set up to investigate these killings ...largely absolved the police, the state, and Lonmin of any responsibility for this event. To date the families of the miners killed at Marikana have received no compensation.

What made the events at Marikana so shocking is that these killings took place under the auspices of a democratic, post-apartheid state with one of the most progressive constitution and bill of rights in the world. These killings are part of a growing trend of violence by the state toward non-violent protest and dissent in South Africa. The increasingly authoritarian tendencies of the South African state are retrogressive. These tendencies are undemocratic and threaten the right to free expression and legitimate protest.

The struggle to end Apartheid was long and hard. Many people gave their lives to this struggle. Don’t let the deaths of the Marikana mine workers be in vain. Join War on Want to remember the miners and their families

Programme:

• 19:00 Opening Address by War on Want and representative from UNITE the Union
• 19:10 Screening of Miners Shot Down
• 20:10 Marikana: The Aftermath by James Nichol
• 20:30 Q&A with film maker, Rehad Desai

Book your tickets here

Read Ken Olende's piece about the cover up of the South African state here

Gary Younge on the killing of Walter Scott

The cold-blooded killing of Walter Scott, who was shot eight times in the back as he ran away from a policeman in North Charleston, South Carolina, is not news in the conventional sense. Such shootings are neither rare nor, to those who have been paying attention, surprising. Sadly, they are all too common. It is news because, thanks to the video footage, we have incontrovertible evidence at a moment when public consciousness has been heightened and focused on this very issue. While in this case the policeman involved has been fired and charged, such a degree of proof is no guarantee of justice. There was video evidence of police choking Eric Garner to death in Staten Island while he protested “I can’t breathe”, and his killers were acquitted; there was video of evidence of Rodney King’s beating in Los Angeles, and his assailants walked free. But in an era of 24-hour news and social media, video guarantees attention.  Black people have been dying for this kind of attention for years...
Full article here

Conference: The Arab Uprisings Four Years On

The Arab Uprisings Four Years On
A conference organised by MENA Solidarity, Egypt Solidarity Initiative and BahrainWatch
6-9pm Friday 13 February – 10-5pm Saturday 14 February
School of African & Oriental Studies, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG 
£5 student or unwaged / £10 waged

Four years after uprisings swept the Middle East millions of people still struggle for freedom and social justice. In 2011 dictators fell and new movements emerged in countries from North Africa to the Gulf. Their demands won support worldwide and inspired a host of campaigns for radical change.

Challenged by the prospect of democracy, regimes have since attempted counter-revolution. Some have used extreme violence; some have encouraged sectarian division or attempted to co-opt and control organisations of the mass movement. Activists across the Middle East nonetheless continue to work for change.

This conference addresses achievements of the revolutions and the challenges that now confront them:

• what can we learn about struggles from below and the responses of the state?
• have attempts at counter-revolution been successful?
• how are activist networks sustained – and how can we support them?

The conference will draw on experiences in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya and Morocco – and other countries in which activists have attempted to launch movements for change. It will consider the centrality of Palestine for movements across the region – and the impact of the uprisings within Palestine. Speakers will include activists from the front line, with assessments from academics, human rights experts and media analysts.

Speakers include: Ali Abdulemam – Gilbert Achcar – Anne Alexander – Miriyam Aouragh – Joseph Daher – Kamil Mahdi – Nadine Marroushi – Sameh Naguib – Ala’a Shehabi and others.

Sessions include:

• Revolution and counter-revolution: the people and the state
• Neo-liberalism and struggles for change
• Sectarianism
• Gender matters: women and the movements
• The workers’ movement and social justice
• Democratic agendas
• Solidarity and regional links
• Palestine and the struggle for liberation in the Arab world

Day School: China, World Capitalism and Workers' Resistance

A one day Conference Hosted by International Socialism

Saturday 28 February 2015
10.30am – 5pm
Central London

Sessions on:

• The Political Economy of China Today
• China in the World
• Labour struggles, the umbrella protests and new movements for democracy

Speakers include:

Tim Pringle, lecturer at SOAS and author of Trade Unions in China: The Challenge of Labour Unrest 

Jenny Chan, lecturer at Oxford and expert on labour in China and the workers at Foxconn in particular. 

Jane Hardy, professor of political economy at University of Hertfordshire and author of Poland’s New Capitalism 

Adrian Budd, lecturer in politics at London South Bank University and author of Class, States and International Relations: a critical appraisal of Robert Cox and neo-Gramscian theory

For more details and how to book see here

Open statement of solidarity with Warwick Students occupying against police brutality

Open statement of solidarity from the Student Assembly against Austerity

We support the student occupation and ongoing protests at Warwick University in response to police violence, for free education and against fees, cuts and debt. We send out solidarity to all the students concerned and condemn the escalating use of police violence on our campuses.   

On Wednesday 3 Dec 2014 students at Warwick University were holding a peaceful sit-in protest on campus as part of the national day of action for free education called by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts and the Student Assembly Against Austerity. They were sat in a circle discussing free education and the university community.

However, this was met with violence from police and who attacked them using CS spray and drawing tasers.  A number of students were assaulted and injured, and some arrested only to be released without charge later that evening. 

We support the demands of the students occupying their campus and echo their calls on the University of Warwick management to “support the right to protest and condemn any form of state violence including the use of CS gas and tasers on our campus.”

This attack on peaceful protesters at Warwick University represents a further ratcheting up of police violence used against student activists following the disgraceful scenes that followed a student occupation at Senate House in December 2013 and those at Birmingham University last year.
Students and staff should be able to protest against policies and practices with which they disagree. They should be able to take part in protests without fear of attack or the use of tasers or CS gas.  Universities are meant to be places of debate and discussion.  We condemn the actions of the University, the police and security. We support all those students involved and offer solidarity to protests and occupations now taking place. 

To sign please email info@thestudentassembly.org.uk 

Still the Enemy Within

Short of ideas for Xmas presents?  Why not pre-order the Still the Enemy Within film about the Great Miners' Strike of 1984-85 on DVD?

Justice for Mike Brown - US Embassy Emergency Protest

Justice for Mike Brown – US Embassy Emergency Protest 
5.30pm Wed 26 Nov
called by Stand up to racism 

Wed 26 November 5.30pm 24 Grosvenor Square, London W1A 2LQ

 We condemn the decision of the Grand Jury not to indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson for killing 18-year-old Michael Brown in St Louis. This comes on the same day that Tamir Rice, a 12 year old boy, was shot dead by the police after carrying a toy gun. We call on all those who oppose this injustice to join us at the US Embassy tomorrow for an emergency protest.

 Speakers will include Carol Duggan, aunt of Mark Duggan and Marcia Rigg of the Sean Rigg Justice and Change campaign, anti-racist campaigners and others.

 Diane Abbott MP said:
 “My deepest sympathies go out to the family of Mike Brown. Not only have they lost a loved one but following the Grand Jury’s decision they no doubt feel the strongest sense of injustice, which can only make their pain worse. The anger and disruption that has already followed this decision extends beyond the killing of Mike right to the root of long standing issues with the criminal justice system. Just as in Britain, the Black community in the US has a fraught history with the police. It is one of the reasons I have always been against the arming of police. A recent report has shown that in recent years young black males in the US were 21 times more likely to be shot dead by police than their white counterparts. This is shocking, but inequality in policing is not a new phenomenon. Therefore how can it ever be reasonable to allow police to use deadly force against an unarmed young man? And just this week-end A 12-year-old boy has been shot dead by police in the US as he played with a fake gun in a park. And time and time again no one is held accountable. When yet another unarmed young black man is killed and it is “lawful”, it can be no surprise that black people are questioning how much value these same laws place on their lives"

 Carol Duggan, aunt of Mark Duggan who will be speaking at the event said:
 “Murder is not legitimate. No one should lose their child. Michael Brown has not got justice and neither has Mark Duggan. The Police are there to protect, not to kill our children”

 Marcia Rigg of the Sean Rigg Justice and Change campaign said:
 “My heart goes out to Michael Brown’s family and the community in Ferguson. No Justice No Peace.”

 Zita Holbourne National Co-Chair BARAC UK said:
 "Until there is a balance of powers there will be no balance of the scales of justice. Oppression, institutional racism, inequality, poverty & injustice occur because of a division of rights where black people are treated like third class citizens. As Martin Luther King said, a riot is the voice of the unheard. When will the powers that contribute to injustice be prepared to hear?"

 Aaron Kiely NUS NEC said:
 "We join the family of Mike Brown in calling for an indictment of the officer who shot their son dead. We currently live in a world where young black people can be shot dead on the street with impunity. This has got to stop. No justice, no peace."

 Sabby Dhalu for Stand up to racism said:
 “We fully support the family of Mike Brown. Having seen at first hand the pain of his family in Ferguson. We fully support the family’s call for the indictment. This comes within a day of Tamir Rice, a 12 year old boy, being shot dead by US police carrying a toy gun. The cheapness of black lives in the US is a reflection of racism that black communities face at the hands of the police that must be stopped.”

 Weyman Bennett of Stand up to racism said:
 “I went to Ferguson and met Mike Brown’s family. They have our full support justice must be served.”

 for more information contact info@standuptoracism.org.uk https://www.facebook.com/events/742965182457535/

Justice for Mark Duggan

Shaun Hall Mark's brother said, "We came for justice today but we did not get justice. We are leaving with injustice. "We have got nothing to hide, we have done nothing wrong. We will still fight for justice." Carole Duggan, Mark's aunt said, "The majority of the people in this country know that Mark was executed. "We are going to fight until we have no breath left in our body for Mark and his children." She promised not to give up, shouting, "No justice, no peace."
 The response from the family of Mark Duggan of shock and fury to the decision of an inquest jury into his killing by police on Wednesday, which concluded that Mark Duggan was "lawfully killed" by police in August 2011.
Twitter: @justice4mark on Twitter Facebook: bit.ly/justice4mark Email: justiceformarkduggan@gmail.com

Defend University of London Student's Right to Protest

Please sign this statement:

We, the undersigned, unreservedly condemn the escalating use of police against peaceful protests at the University of London.
On 4 December, students were violently evicted from Senate House, University of London (UoL), by private security and police. On 5 December, a protest march in Bloomsbury in their support, calling for 'cops off campus', was attacked and kettled by police, and over 30 staff and students were arrested.
We believe this marks an escalation in the level of force against student-led protests at the University of London which threatens the ethos of the University. It seems clear that UoL Management are not negotiating with students and staff who protest - including occupying students - but are simply attempting to suppress dissent. We condemn the blanket injunction brought by the UoL against demonstrations or occupations across their many campuses.
We call on all who care about the future of our Universities to object to this invited invasion of the police onto campuses. Police intimidation has no place in a seat of learning. Many staff and students have fled repressive regimes. We are horrified at supposedly 'liberal' university managements adopting these tactics.
We demand an immediate repudiation of the injunction by UoL Management, no more police on campus, and for UoL Management to engage with students and staff about the concerns that led to the protests in the first place.

Marxism 2013 - new meetings announced

From the Marxism 2013 office:

With revolt and resistance breaking out across the globe we are pleased to confirm these new meetings at Marxism 2013 (11-16 July, central London):

 ·'The Turkish Revolt' with Ron Margulies, from the DSIP socialist organisation in Istanbul. For his eyewitness accounts from Turkey go to here
· Alfredo Saad Filho on the recent explosions in Brazil
· 'How should socialists organise?' Panel debate with Gilbert Achcar, a founding signatory to Left Unity, Paul Le Blanc and Esme Choonara
 Plus ·Richard Boyd Barrett, Irish TD, People Before Profit will join Maria Stylou from Greece and Jesus Castillo from the Spanish State to discuss the 'Struggle against austerity in Europe'
  
New book out at Marxism 2013:

Say it loud! Marxism and the Fight against Racism
This important new book from Bookmarks will be launched at Marxism 2013 and could not be more timely. Twenty years on from the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence and yet more shocking revelations have been revealed. The disclosure that police spies attempted to smear the Lawrence family and discredit their campaign for justice raises many questions of police racism, corruption and the state. Hassan Mahamdallie covered the case for Socialist Worker at the time. He is one of the contributors to the new book and will be speaking at Marxism on 'A defining struggle: The Stephen Lawrence campaign 20 years on'. This is part of the Racism and Resistance course at Marxism 2013 which takes up the themes of the new book. These include:
- 'After Woolwich: How do we stop the BNP and EDL?' with Weyman Bennett
 · 'Where does racism come from?' with Ken Olende
 · 'From confrontation to compromise: Black politics in Britain today' with Brian Richardson
 · 'The Politics of Islamophobia' with Talat Ahmed

Bookmarks, the socialist bookshop, will be transferring their entire shop to Marxism for the full five days of the festival. They will be located in the Institute of Education. Make sure you get your copy of Say it loud! Marxism and the Fight against Racism there and check out all their other books - old and new!

(Still) The Enemy Within: a film about the Great Miners' Strike

To help support this important film project see here

Pigs, Plebs and Tory scum

If you are a Tory government facing talk from trade union leaders of mass co-ordinated strike action - possibly even a general strike - in the coming months, then it might be a good idea to at least try and make sure you have the police on your side - they after all are going to be the people you might be using to help break strikes, maintain 'law and order' etc in the near future.  Unfortunately for Cameron, the unconditional support of the police has been rather difficult to rely on recently amidst his plans to cut their numbers and raid their pensions - and the police have even organised marches in protest.  Given this context, the words of Tory chief whip Andrew Mitchell to the police guarding Downing Street - 'Best you learn your fucking place ... You don’t run this fucking government ... You're fucking plebs' - not only epitomised the disgusting ingrained ruling class elitism of Cameron's government - and was not only particularly insulting to the police in question given the recent deaths of two cops in Manchester - but critically also appallingly bad strategy and tactics in the wider class war the Tories are currently waging on behalf of the rich against, er, us plebs.  The fact that Mitchell's rant was leaked to the Sun tells you much about the bad tensions between the rank and file of the police and the Tories currently (though the current corruption exposed by the phone-hacking scandal reminds us of the pre-existing close connections between News International and the London Met Police...)

Yet the fact that Mitchell was not immediately arrested by the police officers in question for using 'foul and abusive language' also highlights the class nature of the law and the role of the police in society.  The whole incident reminded me of a time I was arrested almost a decade ago 'for using foul and abusive language' during the Iraq war while taking part in an anti-war protest.    A group of anti-war activists had got up early and were now lying down in a 'die in' outside the local BBC (in protest at their craven pro-war stance) in a fairly main road, blocking rush hour traffic.   I was not actually involved in the 'die in' but was handing out leaflets nearby and joining in the chants of 'BBC - Propaganda TV'.  Eventually a series of police riot vans showed up and about forty or so police leapt out of them.  No doubt annoyed at having had their leisurely morning cooked breakfasts rudely interupted by reports of this protest, the police were not in a particularly good mood and started indiscriminately arresting protesters lying down in the road, with all the characteristic politeness and gentility one has come to associate with the British police (1429 deaths in police custody from 1990-2011).   Together with another anti-war activist I began remonstrating with the police from the sidelines along the lines of 'Well done', 'What heroes you guys are', 'What a great democracy we are living in' etc.

This line of sarcastic commentary did not earn me the warmth of the police as they were going about arresting those involved in the 'die-in' and dragging them into police vans, and one massive police officer came up to me and told me to leave the area.  I say told me to leave the area, essentially he started pushing me back - indeed nearly pushing me over.  Though I did not argue at all and was slowly moving back, I was clearly not going back fast enough for the cop who then nearly shoved me over backwards.  I remember saying something like 'What the f**k are you doing - I am moving back okay?' at which point he said 'If you swear at me again I will arrest you under Section 5 of the Public Order Act [or something along those lines]'.  I was sceptical that nearly pushing someone over backwards and then threatening to arrest them for accidentally swearing was really fair - and so said 'What the f**k?' again - at which point I was promptly arrested by the cop for using 'foul and abusive language in a public area'.  I was not ultimately charged - the police statement about what I allegedly had said was so manifestly self-evidently bullshit that I think they realised it was best not to pursue it in a court of law - but the point remains - the police are there to protect the interests of the rich and powerful - which is why even when a rich millionaire Tory like Mitchell openly acts like the absolute arrogant tosser he is there is no talk of him facing any kind of criminal charge.    It seems a timely moment nonetheless to plug the following event:

Defend the Right to Protest 2012 National Conference

 AUSTERITY, INJUSTICE & THE POWER OF PROTEST 
Sunday 14th October, 2012, 11:30am – 5:30pm, University of London Union, Malet Street. 

Across the world people are resisting austerity. They also have to confront violent tactics by the police and the draconian use of the law.

In Britain students demonstrating against fees were subject to kettling and mounted horse charges. In Quebec the authorities responded to an all out strike with emergency laws.

Governments are attempting to undermine effective protest at a time of unprecedented cuts. Faced with public sector strikes, Coalition ministers threatened to introduce more hard line anti-trade union laws. Such attacks also take place against a wider context of injustice and clampdown involving stop and search, police racism and deaths in custody. They include the use of protester “ASBOs”, pre-crime arrests and other infringements of civil liberties as seen around the Royal Wedding and the Olympics.

This conference will take place as people prepare for an autumn of struggle: the TUC march against austerity, the NUS education demonstration and strikes in the private and public sector. It will examine the nature of the current attacks on protest, what laws and tactics are being employed and why. It will look at how protest movements have confronted these challenges in the past and discuss the future of resistance here and internationally. Practical workshops will also inform people of their rights and how to run a defence campaign.

Who’s Speaking?

DARCUS HOWE, OWEN JONES, NINA POWER, MARCIA AND SAM RIGG [SEAN RIGG JUSTICE & CHANGE CAMPAIGN], JANET ALDER [JUSTICE FOR CHRISTOPHER ALDER], JOHN MCDONNELL, TONY BENN, ALFIE MEADOWS [INJURED STUDENT PROTESTER], MATT FOOT [CAMPAIGNING LAWYER] KEN FERO [FILM MAKER/DIRECTOR OF 'INJUSTICE'], NICK WRACK [SOCIALIST LAWYER]. UNJUM MIRZA [RMT]. DANNIE GRUFFERTY [NUS VP], DEBORAH COLES [INQUEST], FAHIM ALAM [ACQUITTED AFTER POST-RIOT ARREST], SUSAN MATTHEWS [MOTHER OF DEFENDANT], ESTELLE DU BOULAY [NEWHAM MONITORING PROJECT], JOHN TIPPLE [POLL TAX DEFENDANT], JELENA TIMOTIJEVIC [UCU NEC], MAGGIE MITCHELL [MOTHER OF IMPRISONED STUDENT PROTESTER], NADINE EL-ENANY [EGYPTIAN ACTIVIST], JENNIFER HILLIARD [MOTHER OF ACQUITTED STUDENT],  SARA TOMLINSON [NUT], HANNAH DEE [CHAIR OF DEFEND THE RIGHT TO PROTEST],  JUSTICE FOR BOLTON, OCCUPY, UKUNCUT, A MINER ACQUITTED FROM ORGREAVES… JULES CAREY [SOLICITOR TO IAN TOMLINSON'S FAMILY], MARK SERWOTKA [PCS GENERAL SECRETARY], GARETH PEIRCE, plus many more...

Laying down the law

‘When we see disruption and disorder around marches and demonstrations that otherwise would be peaceful, very often it is groups that have covered up and go in and create disorder on the fringes of these demonstrations...'
Home Secretary Theresa May yesterday - sadly she was not talking about defending the right to protest in the face of the disorder created by groups of covered up police thugs...

British police finally admit killing Blair Peach

After a 31 year long state cover-up, the suppressed 1979 police report into the murder of Blair Peach, an anti-fascist protester and revolutionary socialist, has finally been published - admitting that a British cop did indeed 'almost certainly' kill Peach and that a cover up subsequently took place to protect the guilty officer. Finally, some justice for Peach - may all the other campaigns for justice for those many others who have died at the hands of the British police draw some inspiration from the long heroic campaign waged by his family, friends and comrades, which has now been vindicated.

Edited to add: For Blair Peach, a little justice

Anti-fascism Past and Present: Veterans of Cable Street Interviewed

'Cable Street knocked the Blackshirts’ confidence. They never tried to march through Whitechapel again. That is why it is essential to fight today’s rascists and fascists – you’ve got to stand up to them, and stop them from marching.
The police said don’t march in the 1930s as well. There were huge arguments at the time against confronting them.
My father was a Jewish immigrant who escaped from the Baltic in a hay cart – he knew from experience what the pogroms in eastern Europe were like and he was terrified.
He said, “‘Keep your head down, and keep out of the way. If you ignore them and laugh at them they will go away.’
“But we knew that staying at home wasn’t the answer”..
I was on my own, none of my family were with me. I wasn’t scared, I had been on demonstrations before. But I didn’t know what to expect – I only became acquainted with police tactics later. I was fairly innocent and wasn’t expecting trouble.
There were so many of us that you couldn’t move. I can remember the elation in the crowd that so many people were there.
The dockers came from Limehouse and Poplar – to my amazement, because they had a reputation for being antisemitic. There were cabinet-makers from Bethnal Green and tailors from Whitechapel.
There were so many different accents. Miners came from Wales and Communists from all over Britain.
“They shall not pass,” was on everybody’s lips. The sheer scale of numbers meant the fascists couldn’t get through.
Eventually, after some hours, the word went round that the fascists had been turned back.
Everyone was cheering. Where I was people were dancing and singing and throwing their arms around one another.
I think it is essential to fight. You’ve got to stand up to them, you have to be prepared to stop them from marching.'
Alice Hitchin, who was 17 at the time of The Battle of Cable Street, and who supports the anti-fascist mobilisation in Bolton this Saturday

The British Way of Death

Between 1969 and 1999 over 1000 died in police custody in Britain. Film maker Ken Fero, who made the classic film Injustice, writes on domestic British state terror in the new Socialist Review

Want to campaign against killer pigs?

Now's your chance