By Caroline Colebrook
SEVERAL thousand photographers – amateur and professional – assembled in Trafalgar Square last Saturday to protest at the continuing police use of anti-terrorist laws to stop and arrest just about anyone using a camera in a public place.
Normally Westminster is thronged with tourists and journalists taking pictures of the sights, the famous buildings and the political and show-business comings and goings and events.
Almost everyone is carrying a camera if you count those included in mobile phones and there are thousands of sights worth snapping in central London.
Now they are all at risk of being arbitrarily stopped, questioned and having their cameras confiscated because of Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
Since a recent ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, police are not supposed to stop ordinary members of the public, including journalists, going about their business unless there is some reason to suspect they may be terrorists surveying a potential target.
Senior police have acknowledged this and sent memos to the constables on the beat but these memos are being ignored and photographers are still being stopped for taking pictures of sunsets over the river.
Waving placards with the message, “I am a photographer, not a terrorist,” the protesters called for an end to the arbitrary stopping and obstructing of photographers.
“We’re coming together to show solidarity and to show that we won’t be intimidated,” said Jonathan Warren, a freelance photographer and one of the founders of the campaign group.
Warren said he was approached by police a couple of years ago while covering an anti-arms protest.
“I was waiting for the protest to start when I was stopped and searched, even though I had my press card and was an accredited photographer,” Warren said.
“I showed it to the police, and they didn’t believe me. They went through my bag and my pockets,” he said.
Organiser Marc Vallee, a freelance photographer, said: “It’s a common law right to take pictures in public places and we are here to show that.”
Britain’s terrorism laws were dealt a blow last week when the European Court of Human Rights ruled that stop-and-search powers under Section 44 of the Act were a breach of human rights.
The ruling came after lengthy legal fight by two people who were stopped and searched on their way to a London demonstration.
The court found that the “coercive powers” of the anti-terrorism legislation amounted to a clear interference with the right to respect for private life. The Government is appealing the decision, saying the powers are an important tool in the fight against terrorism.
Another founding member of “I’m a photographer, not a terrorist,” freelance photographer Jess Hurd, felt that she too had been unfairly stopped under Section 44.
She said these random checks have affected photographers’ ability to work. “I was stopped last year for 45 minutes covering a traveller wedding,” the freelance photographer said.
“Everyone, if they haven’t been stopped already, knows someone who has been. This is becoming a problem. People stopped over sunsets at St Paul’s, chip shops, roundabouts – it’s getting a bit crazy. “I would personally like a repeal of this law,” Hurd said.
“It’s absolutely outrageous that the terrorism act is being used to stop photographers from doing their job,” said another participant, freelance photographer Adam Woolfitt.
“My message is stop. Leave us alone,” Woolfitt said. “We’ve got a job to do.”
Meanwhile the police in Britain are planning to use unmanned spy drones, of the type that have been deployed in Afghanistan, to routinely monitor protesters, antisocial motorists, agricultural thieves and fly tippers.
The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are produce by BAe Systems for use in war zones. Now the company is producing a modified version for a consortium of Government bodies, led by Kent police.
They are expected to be in use before the 2012 Olympics.
Kent police have told the Civil Aviation Authority, which regulates airspace over the country, that civilian UAVs will greatly extend the Government’s surveillance capacity and “revolutionise policing”.
The plan is being developed by the South Coast Partnership, a Home Office backed project, which is led by the Kent police. Police have discussed selling the surveillance data to private companies.
The first test flights are due to happen later this year.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Gaza Victims Remembered!
by Karen Dabrowska
MORE THAN 150 protesters holding large sheets of paper with the names of the 1,417 victims of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza in late 2008, observed five minutes of silence in London’s Trafalgar Square last Saturday.
The protesters were flanked by a large slogan: “1417 is not just a number, it is the number of Palestinian men women and children killed by the Israelis”. After the five minutes of silence they chanted “long live Palestine, from the river to the sea Palestine will be free” and “Gaza don’t you cry, we will never let you die”. A similar protest was held in Turkey and messages of support were received from Iran.
The protest was part of the activities of Palestinian Memorial Week, including exhibitions, films and talks, called to mark the 1st anniversary of the Gaza War by the Palestine Return Centre, along with a number of other Palestinian and Muslim organisations as well as the Russell Tribunal and the student council of Goldsmith University. The organisers of the London protest are also calling for a boycott of Israeli products sold in British supermarkets
In Trafalgar Square the protesters were addressed by a Palestinian woman who lost members of her family in the latest Gaza war. “The victims are people like yourselves”, Manal said. Struggling to hold back her tears she told the protesters that when she looked at them she felt she was looking at her family.
Manal spoke about how her auntie survived the war but subsequently died in the shelter due to a lack of medicine.
“I don’t believe in politicians, I believe in shared humanity. Everyone needs to be treated with respect. Peace is coming through people not the politicians. We need to make sure the names we are reading today will not be repeated. We need to go to the Holy Land and tell the people we share their humanity. We go to Spain and France so why don’t we go to the Holy Land to see the truth”.
Many of the protesters were motivated by a sense of injustice about what is happening to the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
“I came here to show my solidarity with the Palestinian people. I feel that they are being ignored. This is the least I can do”, said Steven Murphy, a picture framer.
Anthony Timmins, an American poet, said he wanted the people of Palestine to be reassured that they were not forgotten, while Eddie Powell, a British pensioner, said that he wanted to add his voice to the growing voices in Britain against the policies of the Israelis. “This movement is growing and gaining strength and I want to add my support”, he said.
Huma, an artist and dancer of Irish and Pakistani origin, said she felt a deep sense of anger at the British government and other governments for allowing the injustices perpetrated against the Palestinians to continue. “The Israelis speak of the rockets that were fired into their territories but they have responded with white phosphorous. The more I read about what is happening, the more I talk to people who have been to the occupied territories the more appalled I become. Palestinian homes are being destroyed and settlers are encouraged to move in. We also have to support Israeli peace groups who are against what is happening”.
Emilie, a teacher of Latin, said that the human rights violations of the Palestinian people have been going on for 60 years. She pointed out that lawyers have described everything that is going on in Gaza as a war crime.
Andrew Medhurst, a banker, said : “I am appalled that the British government is either too scared or has an agenda which means it can’t criticise the Israelis. Everybody needs to say this is not right and put pressure on the government”. His daughter compared the damage to Gaza to the damage caused by the earthquake in Haiti. “But Gaza could have been avoided”, her father added.
The speakers drew attention to the following facts:
• 1,440 Palestinians dead, mostly civilians, with over 5,000 wounded and 50,000 displaced;
• On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and three civilians killed;
• 90 – 95 per cent of Gaza’s water fails to meet WHO standards;
• According to the UN, Gaza is undergoing “a process of de-development” with terrible consequences;
• More than 4,000 buildings destroyed in Gaza, more than 20,000 severely damaged;
• Redevelopment is almost impossible due to the embargo on construction materials;
• Unemployment is endemic while the siege is devastating the lives of civilians;
• According to the Goldstone Report the Israeli Defence Forces committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity;
• The Israeli military offensive was disproportionate and directed against civilians.
Palestinian Memorial Week was launched at a meeting in central London on 13th January with speeches by Ghasan Faour of the Palestinian Return Centre, Baroness Jenny Tonge, Afif Safieh a former Palestinian ambassador to the UK, film director Ken Loach, Middle East consultant Peter Eyre and Obada Swalha of the Palestinian Forum in Britain.
Ghasan Faour described the war on Gaza as a watershed which led to a more vocal outcry than is usually witnessed when the Palestinians are subjected to hostilities. But he emphasised that last year’s war was only one of many atrocities perpetrated against the Palestinian people.
Sixty years of aggression and countless violations of international law are evidence of Israel’s ideology and a political programme that seeks to deny the Palestinians their basic humanity. But the time is coming when morality, justice and law will come to the aid of the Palestinians. The time is coming when the criminals will be brought to justice as seen by the issuing of arrest warrants for Israeli war criminals.
Ghasan Faour believes that the Goldstone report will not be the last, as there will be further aggression and crimes against the Palestinian people will continue. Gaza has become an open prison and there is an almost complete media silence when Israel continues to drop bombs on Gaza. The international community desperately needs to act to ensure the Palestinians do not continue suffering.
Baroness Tonge called on the public to make Gaza an election issue in Britain. Politicians should be convinced that they would not be elected unless they pledged to take a stand an Gaza and the Palestinian issue.
She described Gaza as an obscenity because not far away in Jerusalem the Israelis have the best hospitals and plenty of food and water while the Palestinians are dying due to lack of medical care, the children are malnourished and there is a shortage of drinking water. Even if they received medical treatment many Palestinians had no homes to return to as they had been reduced to rubble.
Baroness Tonge also spoke about her visit to Gaza last year and paid tribute to the schoolchildren who were laughing, singing songs and showing how much drive they had despite the appalling conditions in which they were living.
Afif Safieh recalled a time when it was electorally rewarding for politicians to be seen as anti-Palestinian. But he emphasised that the Palestinians have now won the battle for European and Western public opinion. Gaza was a moral defeat of Israeli barbarity.
The world knows that territory and not terrorism is the obstacle to the peace process. The policy of Israeli politicians on both the right and left has been to appropriate as much Palestinian land as possible.
Afif Safieh said the Palestinians opposed holocaust denials but they themselves have been subjected to four denials: denial of their physical existence, denial of their national rights, denial of their suffering and denial of those who are responsible for their suffering. The Palestinians are unbowed, untamed and undomesticated and their cry for freedom will be heard by the whole world.
Ken Loach called for a boycott of Israeli cultural events and goods. “The more we do that, the stronger will be the message that their behaviour is unacceptable,” he said.
Obada Swalha said the Palestinian problem started with the lie of “a land without a people for a people without a land”. He emphasised that the war may have ended but the siege continues and the people of Gaza are still living in tents, children are dying of malnutrition and hospitals have a minimum of medicines.
Peter Eyre gave a power point presentation which focused on Gaza’s decimated fishing industry and the horrific injuries caused by the use of white phosphorous by the Israelis.
The Palestine Return Centre now intends to hold a memorial week every year for the people of the Gaza Strip, most of whom have been the victims of Israeli aggression since they were driven off their land by the Zionists in 1948.
MORE THAN 150 protesters holding large sheets of paper with the names of the 1,417 victims of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza in late 2008, observed five minutes of silence in London’s Trafalgar Square last Saturday.
The protesters were flanked by a large slogan: “1417 is not just a number, it is the number of Palestinian men women and children killed by the Israelis”. After the five minutes of silence they chanted “long live Palestine, from the river to the sea Palestine will be free” and “Gaza don’t you cry, we will never let you die”. A similar protest was held in Turkey and messages of support were received from Iran.
The protest was part of the activities of Palestinian Memorial Week, including exhibitions, films and talks, called to mark the 1st anniversary of the Gaza War by the Palestine Return Centre, along with a number of other Palestinian and Muslim organisations as well as the Russell Tribunal and the student council of Goldsmith University. The organisers of the London protest are also calling for a boycott of Israeli products sold in British supermarkets
In Trafalgar Square the protesters were addressed by a Palestinian woman who lost members of her family in the latest Gaza war. “The victims are people like yourselves”, Manal said. Struggling to hold back her tears she told the protesters that when she looked at them she felt she was looking at her family.
Manal spoke about how her auntie survived the war but subsequently died in the shelter due to a lack of medicine.
“I don’t believe in politicians, I believe in shared humanity. Everyone needs to be treated with respect. Peace is coming through people not the politicians. We need to make sure the names we are reading today will not be repeated. We need to go to the Holy Land and tell the people we share their humanity. We go to Spain and France so why don’t we go to the Holy Land to see the truth”.
Many of the protesters were motivated by a sense of injustice about what is happening to the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
“I came here to show my solidarity with the Palestinian people. I feel that they are being ignored. This is the least I can do”, said Steven Murphy, a picture framer.
Anthony Timmins, an American poet, said he wanted the people of Palestine to be reassured that they were not forgotten, while Eddie Powell, a British pensioner, said that he wanted to add his voice to the growing voices in Britain against the policies of the Israelis. “This movement is growing and gaining strength and I want to add my support”, he said.
Huma, an artist and dancer of Irish and Pakistani origin, said she felt a deep sense of anger at the British government and other governments for allowing the injustices perpetrated against the Palestinians to continue. “The Israelis speak of the rockets that were fired into their territories but they have responded with white phosphorous. The more I read about what is happening, the more I talk to people who have been to the occupied territories the more appalled I become. Palestinian homes are being destroyed and settlers are encouraged to move in. We also have to support Israeli peace groups who are against what is happening”.
Emilie, a teacher of Latin, said that the human rights violations of the Palestinian people have been going on for 60 years. She pointed out that lawyers have described everything that is going on in Gaza as a war crime.
Andrew Medhurst, a banker, said : “I am appalled that the British government is either too scared or has an agenda which means it can’t criticise the Israelis. Everybody needs to say this is not right and put pressure on the government”. His daughter compared the damage to Gaza to the damage caused by the earthquake in Haiti. “But Gaza could have been avoided”, her father added.
The speakers drew attention to the following facts:
• 1,440 Palestinians dead, mostly civilians, with over 5,000 wounded and 50,000 displaced;
• On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and three civilians killed;
• 90 – 95 per cent of Gaza’s water fails to meet WHO standards;
• According to the UN, Gaza is undergoing “a process of de-development” with terrible consequences;
• More than 4,000 buildings destroyed in Gaza, more than 20,000 severely damaged;
• Redevelopment is almost impossible due to the embargo on construction materials;
• Unemployment is endemic while the siege is devastating the lives of civilians;
• According to the Goldstone Report the Israeli Defence Forces committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity;
• The Israeli military offensive was disproportionate and directed against civilians.
Palestinian Memorial Week was launched at a meeting in central London on 13th January with speeches by Ghasan Faour of the Palestinian Return Centre, Baroness Jenny Tonge, Afif Safieh a former Palestinian ambassador to the UK, film director Ken Loach, Middle East consultant Peter Eyre and Obada Swalha of the Palestinian Forum in Britain.
Ghasan Faour described the war on Gaza as a watershed which led to a more vocal outcry than is usually witnessed when the Palestinians are subjected to hostilities. But he emphasised that last year’s war was only one of many atrocities perpetrated against the Palestinian people.
Sixty years of aggression and countless violations of international law are evidence of Israel’s ideology and a political programme that seeks to deny the Palestinians their basic humanity. But the time is coming when morality, justice and law will come to the aid of the Palestinians. The time is coming when the criminals will be brought to justice as seen by the issuing of arrest warrants for Israeli war criminals.
Ghasan Faour believes that the Goldstone report will not be the last, as there will be further aggression and crimes against the Palestinian people will continue. Gaza has become an open prison and there is an almost complete media silence when Israel continues to drop bombs on Gaza. The international community desperately needs to act to ensure the Palestinians do not continue suffering.
Baroness Tonge called on the public to make Gaza an election issue in Britain. Politicians should be convinced that they would not be elected unless they pledged to take a stand an Gaza and the Palestinian issue.
She described Gaza as an obscenity because not far away in Jerusalem the Israelis have the best hospitals and plenty of food and water while the Palestinians are dying due to lack of medical care, the children are malnourished and there is a shortage of drinking water. Even if they received medical treatment many Palestinians had no homes to return to as they had been reduced to rubble.
Baroness Tonge also spoke about her visit to Gaza last year and paid tribute to the schoolchildren who were laughing, singing songs and showing how much drive they had despite the appalling conditions in which they were living.
Afif Safieh recalled a time when it was electorally rewarding for politicians to be seen as anti-Palestinian. But he emphasised that the Palestinians have now won the battle for European and Western public opinion. Gaza was a moral defeat of Israeli barbarity.
The world knows that territory and not terrorism is the obstacle to the peace process. The policy of Israeli politicians on both the right and left has been to appropriate as much Palestinian land as possible.
Afif Safieh said the Palestinians opposed holocaust denials but they themselves have been subjected to four denials: denial of their physical existence, denial of their national rights, denial of their suffering and denial of those who are responsible for their suffering. The Palestinians are unbowed, untamed and undomesticated and their cry for freedom will be heard by the whole world.
Ken Loach called for a boycott of Israeli cultural events and goods. “The more we do that, the stronger will be the message that their behaviour is unacceptable,” he said.
Obada Swalha said the Palestinian problem started with the lie of “a land without a people for a people without a land”. He emphasised that the war may have ended but the siege continues and the people of Gaza are still living in tents, children are dying of malnutrition and hospitals have a minimum of medicines.
Peter Eyre gave a power point presentation which focused on Gaza’s decimated fishing industry and the horrific injuries caused by the use of white phosphorous by the Israelis.
The Palestine Return Centre now intends to hold a memorial week every year for the people of the Gaza Strip, most of whom have been the victims of Israeli aggression since they were driven off their land by the Zionists in 1948.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Hate crime follows BNP poll wins
THE LEVELS of reported hate crime – motivated by racial or religious hate – has risen significantly in areas throughout Britain where the neo-Nazi British National Party has won council seats, according to research on police statistics conducted under the Freedom of Information Act by the Guardian newspaper.
Incidents of hate crime have increased in wards in the West Midlands, London and Essex after the election of a BNP member in local council elections while generally throughout the country the rate of reported hate crime has decreased.
The BNP last weekend increased its canvassing activity in these areas and especially Barking and Dagenham where it hopes to win a parliamentary seat at the coming general election by defeating Labour Minister of Culture Margaret Hodge.
BNP member Terence Gavin was jailed last week for 11 years after police found nail bombs and 12 firearms at his home in Kirklees, west Yorkshire – where the BNP has councillors.
In east London in Barking’s Eastbury ward racially motivated violence, theft and criminal damage more than doubled in the year after BNP member Jeffrey Steed won the seat in May 2006. Hate crime rose again in that ward the following year with 45 racial incidents reported in 12 months.
The BNP is reported to be planning to stand more than 1,000 candidates in the general election.
They are also planning to put their own seals on ballot boxes – in addition to those placed by election officials. They have invoked the Ballot Act of 1872, which allows candidates to put their own seals because they say they fear that Labour-supporting town hall officials are likely to tamper with ballot boxes to prevent a BNP candidate being elected to Parliament.
Meanwhile in all the areas where the BNP plan to stand, the Hope not Hate campaign will be fielding thousands of anti-fascist campaigners from trade unions and other progressive bodies to counter the BNP lies and hate on the doorsteps.
The campaign says: “We have proved in recent council by-elections that we can beat the BNP in its strongest areas. However given the scale of the threat we cannot hope to do this alone. The 2010 Hope not Hate campaign will be our biggest yet. For it to be successful we need everyone to get involved.”
The campaign can be contacted via its website www.hopenothate.org.uk or phone 020 7681 8660.
Incidents of hate crime have increased in wards in the West Midlands, London and Essex after the election of a BNP member in local council elections while generally throughout the country the rate of reported hate crime has decreased.
The BNP last weekend increased its canvassing activity in these areas and especially Barking and Dagenham where it hopes to win a parliamentary seat at the coming general election by defeating Labour Minister of Culture Margaret Hodge.
BNP member Terence Gavin was jailed last week for 11 years after police found nail bombs and 12 firearms at his home in Kirklees, west Yorkshire – where the BNP has councillors.
In east London in Barking’s Eastbury ward racially motivated violence, theft and criminal damage more than doubled in the year after BNP member Jeffrey Steed won the seat in May 2006. Hate crime rose again in that ward the following year with 45 racial incidents reported in 12 months.
The BNP is reported to be planning to stand more than 1,000 candidates in the general election.
They are also planning to put their own seals on ballot boxes – in addition to those placed by election officials. They have invoked the Ballot Act of 1872, which allows candidates to put their own seals because they say they fear that Labour-supporting town hall officials are likely to tamper with ballot boxes to prevent a BNP candidate being elected to Parliament.
Meanwhile in all the areas where the BNP plan to stand, the Hope not Hate campaign will be fielding thousands of anti-fascist campaigners from trade unions and other progressive bodies to counter the BNP lies and hate on the doorsteps.
The campaign says: “We have proved in recent council by-elections that we can beat the BNP in its strongest areas. However given the scale of the threat we cannot hope to do this alone. The 2010 Hope not Hate campaign will be our biggest yet. For it to be successful we need everyone to get involved.”
The campaign can be contacted via its website www.hopenothate.org.uk or phone 020 7681 8660.
Friday, January 15, 2010
RMT to lobby Parliament
RAIL UNION RMT last week announced arrangements for a rally and lobby of Parliament on Wednesday 27th January 2010 in the fight to stop the axing of nearly 1500 safety-critical maintenance jobs by Network Rail.
A timetable for a national ballot for industrial action by rail maintenance staff will be confirmed shortly.
The severe weather conditions this week have underlined the importance of having proper staffing levels on the rail network with reports that some of the transport problems have been worsened by a shortage of crew to de-freeze tracks and points – and that’s before Network Rail push through a further 1500 job cuts.
The RMT lobby of parliament – under the banner Cuts Cost Lives – will assemble at 12.30pm on Wednesday 27th January on Old Palace Yard opposite the House of Commons.
It will be followed by a rally at 2.15pm in Committee Room 14 before RMT members and supporters lobby individual MP’s.
A timetable for a national ballot for industrial action by rail maintenance staff will be confirmed shortly.
The severe weather conditions this week have underlined the importance of having proper staffing levels on the rail network with reports that some of the transport problems have been worsened by a shortage of crew to de-freeze tracks and points – and that’s before Network Rail push through a further 1500 job cuts.
The RMT lobby of parliament – under the banner Cuts Cost Lives – will assemble at 12.30pm on Wednesday 27th January on Old Palace Yard opposite the House of Commons.
It will be followed by a rally at 2.15pm in Committee Room 14 before RMT members and supporters lobby individual MP’s.
Death in custody man "could not breathe"
“I CAN’T breathe. You’re killing me,” were the last words of Paul Coker, a mixed race youth, as he was being arrested for causing a disturbance at his girlfriend’s home in south London in August 2005.
Police took Paul Coker away and the next days his family were informed he had died in custody two hours after being put in a cell, an inquest at Southwark Coroner’s Court was told last week.
A jury will decide if police followed correct detention procedures. The court heard Coker became unwell and collapsed after being transported to cells.
Coroner Selina Lynch told jurors that a pathologist's report gave the cause of death as cocaine intoxication.
Members of Coker's family, including his mother Patricia Coker, were present in court.
This death in custody was the subject of a campaign for justice for the family in 2005 – an inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Commission was launched immediately. Once the inquiry started the police refused to tell the family anything about the circumstances of Paul’s death.
It has taken four-and-a-half years for the case to reach the coroner’s court and still there are many unanswered questions.
Paul Coker was a very fit young man who trained regularly. He had been a user of cocaine and cannabis but was reported to have been improving.
His mother Patricia Coker told the coroner’s court: “He tried very hard to overcome these problems in his later life. He found it difficult, but he was really trying to move forward.
"He was basically a very good and decent person," she said.
Coker had been battling depression, substance abuse and had been sentenced for burglary. But days before his death he had secured a new job and was about to move into a flat.
Lucy Chadwick, the girlfriend, told the court Coker had been taking cocaine and cannabis and had become "a bit paranoid".
Her landlord and his sons called the police when he refused to leave. She was with them downstairs when officers entered the room to take him away. "He was saying, 'You are hurting me, I can't breathe, you are killing me'.”
Police took Paul Coker away and the next days his family were informed he had died in custody two hours after being put in a cell, an inquest at Southwark Coroner’s Court was told last week.
A jury will decide if police followed correct detention procedures. The court heard Coker became unwell and collapsed after being transported to cells.
Coroner Selina Lynch told jurors that a pathologist's report gave the cause of death as cocaine intoxication.
Members of Coker's family, including his mother Patricia Coker, were present in court.
This death in custody was the subject of a campaign for justice for the family in 2005 – an inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Commission was launched immediately. Once the inquiry started the police refused to tell the family anything about the circumstances of Paul’s death.
It has taken four-and-a-half years for the case to reach the coroner’s court and still there are many unanswered questions.
Paul Coker was a very fit young man who trained regularly. He had been a user of cocaine and cannabis but was reported to have been improving.
His mother Patricia Coker told the coroner’s court: “He tried very hard to overcome these problems in his later life. He found it difficult, but he was really trying to move forward.
"He was basically a very good and decent person," she said.
Coker had been battling depression, substance abuse and had been sentenced for burglary. But days before his death he had secured a new job and was about to move into a flat.
Lucy Chadwick, the girlfriend, told the court Coker had been taking cocaine and cannabis and had become "a bit paranoid".
Her landlord and his sons called the police when he refused to leave. She was with them downstairs when officers entered the room to take him away. "He was saying, 'You are hurting me, I can't breathe, you are killing me'.”
Monday, December 21, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
By New Worker correspondent
PRINT workers and anti-fascists gathered last Monday evening at Marx House in Clerkenwell to witness the unveiling of a memorial to printers who gave their lives fighting in the wars against fascism: the war in Spain and the Second World War.
The Marx Memorial Library houses a specialist collection of books and memorabilia from the war against fascism in Spain – many volumes being donated by people who went to fight there.
It also houses a comprehensive collection of books and memorabilia of the printing industry in Britain and the various print trade unions.
The memorial is situated in a tiny garden at the side of Marx House, close to the rooms where the archives of the print unions are kept.
Among those present was Mike Hicks, the printers’ union leader during the Battle of Wapping in the mid 1980s between right-wing Australian newspaper magnate Rupert Murdoch and the print unions. Mike was arrested and imprisoned for a short while during that struggle to defend the principles of trade unionism in the printing industry.
Les Bayliss, assistant general secretary of the giant union Unite (print section) and a trustee of the Marx Memorial Library, addressed a short meeting before the unveiling, giving a brief history of the print unions and their links with the struggle against fascism.
He said the memorial expressed solidarity with the comrades who had fought; they were lost but not forgotten and they had fought for a society built on cooperation, not exploitation.
photo: NCP leader Andy Brooks (left) and Daphne Liddle from the Central Committee (right) at the unveiling ceremony.
Forward with the Communists!
By New Worker correspondent
LONDON’S historic Marx House in Clerkenwell was once again the venue for the NCP’s triennial congress on the first weekend in December. After welcoming delegates and fraternal observers to the 16th Congress chairperson Alex Kempshall handed over to NCP President Eric Trevett to open proceedings with a summary of the current political situation and the dangers arising from the current recession of cuts in jobs and services.
On the international arena Eric warned that we do not know the intentions of the United State towards Iran and this poses great dangers on the Middle East. “Oil is the key to our understanding of what is happening,” he said.
Eric spoke of the statistics on the pay of the top bankers compared to average workers and the way the banks had been nationalised – separating the loss making bits to be owned by the state while “privatising the profit-makers”.
He also spoke of the need to communicate with young people, who are facing unemployment as the de-industrialisation of the British economy proceeds, saying we had a unique chance to make progress in this situation if we can get through to the youth.
Congress paused to remember comrades Arthur Attwood, Herbert Jones, Richard King and Stella Moutafis who had all sadly passed away since the last congress. And after the formalities of electing tellers and the Congress panels and standing orders committees, general secretary Andy Brooks moved the main resolution in a speech covering imperialism, revisionism and the slump of 2009, which was published in full in this paper last week.
Andy spoke of the problems now facing imperialism and the successful rebuttals of attempted interventions in Iran, Venezuela, Nepal, Zimbabwe and other places. He pointed out that the document was the product of collective discussion on the Central Committee, the cells and districts over the past 11 months and that the weekend would refine it to make it a fighting programme for the next three years.
Professor John Callow of the Marx Memorial Library was a welcome guest at the Congress. He spoke on the history of the building, which dates from 1738 when it was built as a Welsh charity school. By the end of the 19th century it became the premises of the first socialist press in Britain. Lenin worked in the building when he was in London and edited 17 issues of Iskra there. In 1933, 50 years after the death of Karl Marx and at a time when Nazis in Europe were burning Marxist books, the Marx Memorial Library (MML) was founded to conserve the writings of Marx, Lenin and many other communist leaders.
“The New Communist Party stood by the Marx Memorial Library when elements were trying to undermine it,” John told the Congress. Now its future is secure and houses a unique and historic collection.
A number of fraternal delegates from other communist and workers’ parties brought messages of support from around the world and joined comrades and friends for a reception Saturday evening.
These included Nephytos Nicolaou from AKEL (Progressive Party of the Working People of Cyprus) and Luis Marron from the Cuban Embassy.
Luis passed on the fraternal message from the Communist Party of Cuba and spoke of the progress that is now being made in Cuba. “The Cuban revolution is alive, healthy and moving forward,” he said. But he added that progress in Latin America is in danger. The United States is building bases in Colombia and Honduras and plans to restore Latin America to “the old order”.
He quoted Ian Fleming of James Bond fame who said “When something bad happens once, that is chance; if it happens again that could be coincidence. But if it happens a third time, they are definitely out get you.” Luis also informed the Congress that since Democrat President Obama has come to power “in spite of anything you may have heard to the contrary there has been no change of attitude of the US towards Cuba. When the blockade is lifted; when the Guantánamo concentration camp is closed and when the Miami Five are free, then we will recognise a real change.”
Comrade Jiang Song Chol brought the good wishes of the Workers’ Party of Korea as did Isabella Margola of the Greek Communist Party (KKE) who spoke of the KKE’s work in exposing the European Union and the growth in attacks on immigrants throughout Europe, the rise in right-wing nationalism and ideological terrorism. Lorena Jaime Bueno brought the greetings of the World Federation of Trade Unions. She spoke of the particular difficulties facing the NCP and other communist parties in the imperialist heartlands and presented the Party with a WFTU trophy which will be displayed at the Party Centre.
And Michael Chant, an old friend from the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist), brought the greetings of his party and spoke of the struggles ahead in the current economic crisis.
Old friends, like the comrades from the Danish Communist Party, Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain and the Workers League for the Restoration of the Communist Party of Germany could not be with us this time but they sent their messages of support. Other fraternal greetings included those from the Syrian Communist Party, Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), SUCI (India), Communist Party of Pakistan and a number of others from the international communist movement.
NCP delegates made dozens of contributions to discussion throughout the two-day Congress on ideological questions and day-to-day struggle and activity: campaigning or peace, trade union struggles, the NHS, welfare benefits and many other topics.
Alan Rogers spoke about the cuts that have happened in the NHS and the further £5 billion cuts that are on the agenda. And he attributed high levels of infection to the rapid turnover of bed occupation.
Pete Hendy spoke on the reasons why the NCP calls on people to vote Labour, followed by Ann Rogers who spoke on the same topic. She emphasised that when deciding policy the important thing is to think through what is in the interests of the working class – and that certainly is not a Tory government.
Some delegates supported the main line on Labour but pointed out that the New Labour leadership made it very difficult to rally support for that party except as the lesser of two evils. And Alex Kempshall and Andy Brooks who both pointed out that the Party is campaigning for a democratic Labour Party answerable to the union movement that funds it and did not support “New Labour” policies.
Mike Fletcher spoke of his trade union work and working with the Labour Representation Committee and the struggles against the BNP and its summer festival in Ripley, Derbyshire. He also spoke of his work in mental health care and the epidemic of stress and depression that is afflicting working people in this country.
Pat Abrahams made a strong contribution on the troubles faced by medical secretaries in hospitals: chronic understaffing and growing backlogs of work. She spoke of how this leads to delays in clinic appointments. Appointment times are routinely booked threefold – leaving patients with very long waiting times and clinics overrunning.
Added to that are problems of poor building maintenance that leads to flooding of floors – even with sewage. The admin staff have to rescue written records; patients notes get lost, operations are postponed. Many secretarial staff put in long hours of unpaid overtime because they cannot face coming into work next day seeing the backlog mounting and mounting. And, being human, they do not like to see patients being delayed in getting the treatment they need.
Neil Harris spoke about the continuing attacks on the principles of health and safety from the Tory leadership. “This is a full-scale onslaught on workers’ rights and conditions,” he said and added that Cameron and Brown are not bothering about the workers but vying for ruling class support.
During the closed session delegates discussed the growing work of the New Worker Supporters’ Groups and expanding the sales of our communist weekly. And they showed their support by raising £1,692 for the fighting fund.
Delegates voted to endorse the reports of the standing orders and panels committees – thus the new central committee was elected and the main resolution, setting out the NCP’s policy for the next three years was agreed – as amended by the discussion in committee.
Winding up NCP leader Andy Brooks stressed the need to raise the profile of the communist alternative across the country. It had been a busy and worthwhile weekend that ended, as always, with a rousing rendition of the Internationale.
LONDON’S historic Marx House in Clerkenwell was once again the venue for the NCP’s triennial congress on the first weekend in December. After welcoming delegates and fraternal observers to the 16th Congress chairperson Alex Kempshall handed over to NCP President Eric Trevett to open proceedings with a summary of the current political situation and the dangers arising from the current recession of cuts in jobs and services.
On the international arena Eric warned that we do not know the intentions of the United State towards Iran and this poses great dangers on the Middle East. “Oil is the key to our understanding of what is happening,” he said.
Eric spoke of the statistics on the pay of the top bankers compared to average workers and the way the banks had been nationalised – separating the loss making bits to be owned by the state while “privatising the profit-makers”.
He also spoke of the need to communicate with young people, who are facing unemployment as the de-industrialisation of the British economy proceeds, saying we had a unique chance to make progress in this situation if we can get through to the youth.
Congress paused to remember comrades Arthur Attwood, Herbert Jones, Richard King and Stella Moutafis who had all sadly passed away since the last congress. And after the formalities of electing tellers and the Congress panels and standing orders committees, general secretary Andy Brooks moved the main resolution in a speech covering imperialism, revisionism and the slump of 2009, which was published in full in this paper last week.
Andy spoke of the problems now facing imperialism and the successful rebuttals of attempted interventions in Iran, Venezuela, Nepal, Zimbabwe and other places. He pointed out that the document was the product of collective discussion on the Central Committee, the cells and districts over the past 11 months and that the weekend would refine it to make it a fighting programme for the next three years.
Professor John Callow of the Marx Memorial Library was a welcome guest at the Congress. He spoke on the history of the building, which dates from 1738 when it was built as a Welsh charity school. By the end of the 19th century it became the premises of the first socialist press in Britain. Lenin worked in the building when he was in London and edited 17 issues of Iskra there. In 1933, 50 years after the death of Karl Marx and at a time when Nazis in Europe were burning Marxist books, the Marx Memorial Library (MML) was founded to conserve the writings of Marx, Lenin and many other communist leaders.
“The New Communist Party stood by the Marx Memorial Library when elements were trying to undermine it,” John told the Congress. Now its future is secure and houses a unique and historic collection.
A number of fraternal delegates from other communist and workers’ parties brought messages of support from around the world and joined comrades and friends for a reception Saturday evening.
These included Nephytos Nicolaou from AKEL (Progressive Party of the Working People of Cyprus) and Luis Marron from the Cuban Embassy.
Luis passed on the fraternal message from the Communist Party of Cuba and spoke of the progress that is now being made in Cuba. “The Cuban revolution is alive, healthy and moving forward,” he said. But he added that progress in Latin America is in danger. The United States is building bases in Colombia and Honduras and plans to restore Latin America to “the old order”.
He quoted Ian Fleming of James Bond fame who said “When something bad happens once, that is chance; if it happens again that could be coincidence. But if it happens a third time, they are definitely out get you.” Luis also informed the Congress that since Democrat President Obama has come to power “in spite of anything you may have heard to the contrary there has been no change of attitude of the US towards Cuba. When the blockade is lifted; when the Guantánamo concentration camp is closed and when the Miami Five are free, then we will recognise a real change.”
Comrade Jiang Song Chol brought the good wishes of the Workers’ Party of Korea as did Isabella Margola of the Greek Communist Party (KKE) who spoke of the KKE’s work in exposing the European Union and the growth in attacks on immigrants throughout Europe, the rise in right-wing nationalism and ideological terrorism. Lorena Jaime Bueno brought the greetings of the World Federation of Trade Unions. She spoke of the particular difficulties facing the NCP and other communist parties in the imperialist heartlands and presented the Party with a WFTU trophy which will be displayed at the Party Centre.
And Michael Chant, an old friend from the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist), brought the greetings of his party and spoke of the struggles ahead in the current economic crisis.
Old friends, like the comrades from the Danish Communist Party, Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain and the Workers League for the Restoration of the Communist Party of Germany could not be with us this time but they sent their messages of support. Other fraternal greetings included those from the Syrian Communist Party, Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), SUCI (India), Communist Party of Pakistan and a number of others from the international communist movement.
NCP delegates made dozens of contributions to discussion throughout the two-day Congress on ideological questions and day-to-day struggle and activity: campaigning or peace, trade union struggles, the NHS, welfare benefits and many other topics.
Alan Rogers spoke about the cuts that have happened in the NHS and the further £5 billion cuts that are on the agenda. And he attributed high levels of infection to the rapid turnover of bed occupation.
Pete Hendy spoke on the reasons why the NCP calls on people to vote Labour, followed by Ann Rogers who spoke on the same topic. She emphasised that when deciding policy the important thing is to think through what is in the interests of the working class – and that certainly is not a Tory government.
Some delegates supported the main line on Labour but pointed out that the New Labour leadership made it very difficult to rally support for that party except as the lesser of two evils. And Alex Kempshall and Andy Brooks who both pointed out that the Party is campaigning for a democratic Labour Party answerable to the union movement that funds it and did not support “New Labour” policies.
Mike Fletcher spoke of his trade union work and working with the Labour Representation Committee and the struggles against the BNP and its summer festival in Ripley, Derbyshire. He also spoke of his work in mental health care and the epidemic of stress and depression that is afflicting working people in this country.
Pat Abrahams made a strong contribution on the troubles faced by medical secretaries in hospitals: chronic understaffing and growing backlogs of work. She spoke of how this leads to delays in clinic appointments. Appointment times are routinely booked threefold – leaving patients with very long waiting times and clinics overrunning.
Added to that are problems of poor building maintenance that leads to flooding of floors – even with sewage. The admin staff have to rescue written records; patients notes get lost, operations are postponed. Many secretarial staff put in long hours of unpaid overtime because they cannot face coming into work next day seeing the backlog mounting and mounting. And, being human, they do not like to see patients being delayed in getting the treatment they need.
Neil Harris spoke about the continuing attacks on the principles of health and safety from the Tory leadership. “This is a full-scale onslaught on workers’ rights and conditions,” he said and added that Cameron and Brown are not bothering about the workers but vying for ruling class support.
During the closed session delegates discussed the growing work of the New Worker Supporters’ Groups and expanding the sales of our communist weekly. And they showed their support by raising £1,692 for the fighting fund.
Delegates voted to endorse the reports of the standing orders and panels committees – thus the new central committee was elected and the main resolution, setting out the NCP’s policy for the next three years was agreed – as amended by the discussion in committee.
Winding up NCP leader Andy Brooks stressed the need to raise the profile of the communist alternative across the country. It had been a busy and worthwhile weekend that ended, as always, with a rousing rendition of the Internationale.
photo: Andy Brooks and Alex Kempshall listening to the debate
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Keeping socialism alive in the House
The annual conference of the Labour Representation Committee in London last Saturday focused on next year’s general election and the need not only to keep the Tories out but to maximise the number of socialist Labour MPs in the House of Commons – as opposed to New Labour who are barely distinguishable from the Tories.
The meeting began with Tony Benn, former MP and still a very active campaigner, giving a brief history of the Labour Party from its creation by the original Labour Representation Committee to be a voice for the organised working class – the trade unions – in a Parliament dominated by capitalists and landowners.
LRC secretary Simeon Andrews pointed out that the LRC is a meeting point for different trends within the labour movement – those who want to reclaim the Labour Party for the working class and those who see the party now as a part of the capitalist state and the enemy of the workers.
And he said the interaction of the two trends is what gives the LRC its dialectical vigour, quoting William Blake’s The marriage of Heaven and Hell:
The meeting began with Tony Benn, former MP and still a very active campaigner, giving a brief history of the Labour Party from its creation by the original Labour Representation Committee to be a voice for the organised working class – the trade unions – in a Parliament dominated by capitalists and landowners.
LRC secretary Simeon Andrews pointed out that the LRC is a meeting point for different trends within the labour movement – those who want to reclaim the Labour Party for the working class and those who see the party now as a part of the capitalist state and the enemy of the workers.
And he said the interaction of the two trends is what gives the LRC its dialectical vigour, quoting William Blake’s The marriage of Heaven and Hell:
Without contraries there is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence.
Mick Shaw of the Fire Brigades Union gave an account of his union’s struggles against cuts in local fire services and against Yorkshire Fire Service’s attempt to sack all its firefighters and offer them their jobs back on reduced pay and conditions.
Though firefighters, and the rest of the public sector, are having a tough time under New Labour, the Liberal Democrats want a public sector pay freeze and the Tories want to ban public sector strikes. John McDonnell MP read the LRC national committee statement. “People want real Labour,” he said, “that’s plain. They don’t want the Tories or the Lib Dems or New Labour. We are a beacon of light in the darkness.
“Our job is to put forward that platform; a platform for change that meets the needs of the people.”
He called for strategic support for socialist MPs to ensure that after the next general election, no matter who won, there would be strong voices for socialism and working class interests in the House. He warned that the Campaign Group of MPs now has just 25 members and half of them are planning to retire at the next election and they need to be replaced.
“After the next election, whether it’s New Labour or whether it’s the Tories, we will have to fight anti-working class policies.
“We have no alternative but to build the resistance,” he said. And he called on LRC members and supporters to campaign on the ground, on the doorsteps and on picket lines. “It’s about action in solidarity with those in struggle.”
There followed debate on a number of resolutions, most of which were passed unopposed. These included a motion from the New Communist Party on the threat to welfare benefits.
One motion that did spark contention was the support for the “People’s Charter”. Though it was carried some delegates found it bland and ineffectual. But supporters argued that its formulation would draw the widest possible support and pointed out that it did call for the nationalisation of the banks and had won the support of the TUC.
In the afternoon Cristian Dominguez of the United Confederation of Bolivian Campesino workers gave a rousing speech of the history of his movement “the poorest of the poor” and “the most humble Bolivian people”. They rose up and struggled and marched for a better future and they succeeded in sweeping away the colonial puppets who had ruled Bolivia for the benefit of the imperialists who plundered its natural wealth.
“Some people died on that march; babies were born on that march,” he said.
The struggle ended with the election of Evo Morales, a native from the oppressed working classes, with 53 per cent of the vote.
“They went on to defeat a recall referendum, which ended up endorsing Morales further and on 10th January this year 67 per cent voted in favour of the new constitution, despite strong opposition from the right-wing and fascists.
Dominguez stressed that the struggle of the Bolivian workers is the struggles of all oppressed people all around the world. “It is the struggle of the citizens of the whole world; we have a responsibility to take care of our world for our children and grandchildren.”
It was a day of debate,and a blend of old and new traditions that will hopefully revive Labour’s fortunes next year. It ended, naturally, with a rousing rendition of the Red Flag.
photo: Cristian Dominguez of the United Confederation of Bolivian Campesino workers.
Cuba: Treasured Island
ALEJANDRO Gortazar is a Cuban photographer who has worked for the past 10 years in the fashion industry and the commercial sector on the island. But he’s best known as a nature photographer who visited protected nature reserves and explored the most inaccessible parts of the island to capture a wild and beautiful environment through the lens of his camera. For him Cuba is a "bastion of struggle, sacrifice, culture, nature and love" and we can now, for the first time, see a selection of some of his finest shots at exhibitions in London and Northampton. Last week Andy Brooks talked to him about his work.
Andy Brooks: Why did you choose to come to London?
Alejandro Gortazar: Well, I met my wife, who is Spanish, in Cuba. But my wife works in London so I felt it was time to spread my wings. I came to London in June and now we plan to spend our time partly in London and partly in Havana.
AB: Why do you focus on the natural world?
AG: My grandfather was a cartoonist and a landscape painter at the time of the revolution. He painted the people and the fields in which they worked. I wanted to follow in his footsteps but I was no good at painting. I soon realised that I didn’t have a natural talent for painting so I took up the camera to do the same thing with the lens and my eye. I don’t really have any limits when it comes to photography but what dominates my eye is light especially at sunrise and sunset. When I see something I want to shoot I’m very particular about technique and timing. I’m trying to show something that is not really there by enhancing the beauty of the image.
AB: What do you want people to see?
I want people to understand light, to really capture light. You can capture that with a lens and through the use of technique you can transform knowledge into an art. In my work I am representing Cuba and in this exhibition I want to show British people that there is more to Cuba than they might imagine.
Cuba is a land of absolute beauty and unforgettable landscapes – an island you would never want to leave in your life. I want to show people the wonderful wildlife of the island. This display includes a photo of the bee hummingbird which only lives in Cuba. It is only 5cm long and it’s the smallest bird in the world. I spent over two hours waiting to capture the moment of that bird in flight. I want to show how all life, like that bird, can be so attractive when humankind is good to nature.
AB: Just nature…
AG: Oh no. I don’t ignore people. In fact I’ve got a forthcoming exhibition of shots of Cuban people – 50 images for the 50th anniversary of the Cuba Revolution – as part of a project with Cuba Solidarity which will tour the UK and then go on to France and Spain.
AB: How far does the landscape mould the Cuban character?
AG: People who live in towns focus their lives on everything that urban life represents, like consumerism and technology. But when people are outside, living with nature, they realise they don’t need that many things to live a happy life. They see that nature gives them a lot. They get up early with the sun, work the land and receive its fruit, smell the air and see the sun set. You can see examples here of really proud people whose lives may be simple but who are, nevertheless, really happy…
AB: So you’re aiming at the Cuban audience as well as the world…
AG: Yes, many Cubans who live in Havana and the other towns take the countryside and the nature reserves for granted while many people in the rest of the world just have a tourist image of the island – you know the clichés – beaches, cigars, the crumbling buildings of Old Havana, shoeless children and vintage cars on the streets of Havana… I want to show a hidden Cuba to the Cubans and my first photo exhibition of Cuban landscapes in 1999 proved really popular at home. It was packed out and it continued in that gallery in Havana for two years. I wanted to show the most remote areas of the island to the Cuban people. Now I want to take this hidden Cuba to the world and this is what I’m trying to do with this selection of my work here today.
I had a chance to talk about this at the opening of this exhibition in London last week. There were about 50 people there and many of them came up to me afterwards to tell me they wanted to go to Cuba to see what I had seen with their own eyes.
AB: Will your photos be published for a wider audience…
AG: I hope so and the Opus Gallery is considering producing a coffee-table book of this collection here in the near future. This exhibition is going to Northampton and Dublin and some of my works are going to Paris and Chicago. I want everyone to see this other Cuba.
AB: I guess you’re also exploring Britain…
AG: Yes indeed. I can’t spend even one day without taking photos.
Cuba, Treasured Island an exhibition by Cuban photographer Alejandro Gortazar is on at the Opus Gallery until 23rd November. Admission is free and the gallery is at 10-13 King Street, London WC2E 8HN. It then moves to the Lavata Galleria, 228 Wellingborough Road, Northampton NN! 4EJ for a Christmas season from 3rd to 31st December.
Andy Brooks: Why did you choose to come to London?
Alejandro Gortazar: Well, I met my wife, who is Spanish, in Cuba. But my wife works in London so I felt it was time to spread my wings. I came to London in June and now we plan to spend our time partly in London and partly in Havana.
AB: Why do you focus on the natural world?
AG: My grandfather was a cartoonist and a landscape painter at the time of the revolution. He painted the people and the fields in which they worked. I wanted to follow in his footsteps but I was no good at painting. I soon realised that I didn’t have a natural talent for painting so I took up the camera to do the same thing with the lens and my eye. I don’t really have any limits when it comes to photography but what dominates my eye is light especially at sunrise and sunset. When I see something I want to shoot I’m very particular about technique and timing. I’m trying to show something that is not really there by enhancing the beauty of the image.
AB: What do you want people to see?
I want people to understand light, to really capture light. You can capture that with a lens and through the use of technique you can transform knowledge into an art. In my work I am representing Cuba and in this exhibition I want to show British people that there is more to Cuba than they might imagine.
Cuba is a land of absolute beauty and unforgettable landscapes – an island you would never want to leave in your life. I want to show people the wonderful wildlife of the island. This display includes a photo of the bee hummingbird which only lives in Cuba. It is only 5cm long and it’s the smallest bird in the world. I spent over two hours waiting to capture the moment of that bird in flight. I want to show how all life, like that bird, can be so attractive when humankind is good to nature.
AB: Just nature…
AG: Oh no. I don’t ignore people. In fact I’ve got a forthcoming exhibition of shots of Cuban people – 50 images for the 50th anniversary of the Cuba Revolution – as part of a project with Cuba Solidarity which will tour the UK and then go on to France and Spain.
AB: How far does the landscape mould the Cuban character?
AG: People who live in towns focus their lives on everything that urban life represents, like consumerism and technology. But when people are outside, living with nature, they realise they don’t need that many things to live a happy life. They see that nature gives them a lot. They get up early with the sun, work the land and receive its fruit, smell the air and see the sun set. You can see examples here of really proud people whose lives may be simple but who are, nevertheless, really happy…
AB: So you’re aiming at the Cuban audience as well as the world…
AG: Yes, many Cubans who live in Havana and the other towns take the countryside and the nature reserves for granted while many people in the rest of the world just have a tourist image of the island – you know the clichés – beaches, cigars, the crumbling buildings of Old Havana, shoeless children and vintage cars on the streets of Havana… I want to show a hidden Cuba to the Cubans and my first photo exhibition of Cuban landscapes in 1999 proved really popular at home. It was packed out and it continued in that gallery in Havana for two years. I wanted to show the most remote areas of the island to the Cuban people. Now I want to take this hidden Cuba to the world and this is what I’m trying to do with this selection of my work here today.
I had a chance to talk about this at the opening of this exhibition in London last week. There were about 50 people there and many of them came up to me afterwards to tell me they wanted to go to Cuba to see what I had seen with their own eyes.
AB: Will your photos be published for a wider audience…
AG: I hope so and the Opus Gallery is considering producing a coffee-table book of this collection here in the near future. This exhibition is going to Northampton and Dublin and some of my works are going to Paris and Chicago. I want everyone to see this other Cuba.
AB: I guess you’re also exploring Britain…
AG: Yes indeed. I can’t spend even one day without taking photos.
Cuba, Treasured Island an exhibition by Cuban photographer Alejandro Gortazar is on at the Opus Gallery until 23rd November. Admission is free and the gallery is at 10-13 King Street, London WC2E 8HN. It then moves to the Lavata Galleria, 228 Wellingborough Road, Northampton NN! 4EJ for a Christmas season from 3rd to 31st December.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Red Salute for Red October
THE GREAT October Russian Revolution is commemorated by communists all over the world and comrades and friends gathered at the NCP Centre on 7th November for the Party’s traditional celebrations of the greatest event of the 20th century. Our old print shop doubled up as the bar and buffet largely prepared by our own comrades. In the main meeting room the lessons of Red October and its meaning for communists in the 21st century was highlighted by our friends during the formal part of the celebrations opened as usual by Party Chairman Alex Kempshall. Comrade Cabinda from the RCPB (ML), John Callow, the Secretary of the Marx Memorial Library and NCP leader Andy Brooks all spoke about the immense achievements of the Soviet Union in war and peace and all were confident that we will see sweeping changes in the 21st century across the world and millions upon millions join in the struggle for national liberation, peace and socialism.
That was also stressed in a message from young communists from Siberia to the NCP. The youth movement of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in Novosibirsk said the first victorious socialist revolution had “accelerated the progress of revolutionary and liberation struggle” and “shown the world a way to the socialist future of other countries and nations…on the anniversary of that glorious day, we wish you every success in achieving a splendid triumph of communist ideas in the whole world!”Perhaps the most traditional part of an NCP social is the collection and Dolly Shaer made a rousing call to keep our new colour presses going and comrades responded by raising £600 for the New Worker fighting fund. Friends slowly departed for the last trains but thanks to the night buses the bar chalked up a new record by staying open till 2.00 am!
That was also stressed in a message from young communists from Siberia to the NCP. The youth movement of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in Novosibirsk said the first victorious socialist revolution had “accelerated the progress of revolutionary and liberation struggle” and “shown the world a way to the socialist future of other countries and nations…on the anniversary of that glorious day, we wish you every success in achieving a splendid triumph of communist ideas in the whole world!”Perhaps the most traditional part of an NCP social is the collection and Dolly Shaer made a rousing call to keep our new colour presses going and comrades responded by raising £600 for the New Worker fighting fund. Friends slowly departed for the last trains but thanks to the night buses the bar chalked up a new record by staying open till 2.00 am!
photo: at the bar
Pride and Remembrance
THE SOVIET Memorial Trust marked Remembrance Sunday with a moving ceremony at the Soviet War Memorial in the grounds of the Imperial War Museum in south London last Sunday.
As usual the event was attended by the Mayor of Southwark, local MP Simon Hughes and the ambassadors of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and many other former Soviet states, along with the representatives of many different organisations.
Pride of place among these, as always, went to the veterans of the Second World War, and especially to the veterans of the Arctic Convoy Club, whose numbers are now sadly dwindling.
There were speeches and the Russian ambassador emphasised the importance of resisting attempts from some quarters to rewrite the history of the the Great Patriotic War against Nazism.
After that wreathes were laid by the veterans, local dignitaries, the ambassadors and representatives of other organisations, including the New Communist Party, the Marx Memorial Library and the Communist Party of Britain.
As usual the event was attended by the Mayor of Southwark, local MP Simon Hughes and the ambassadors of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and many other former Soviet states, along with the representatives of many different organisations.
Pride of place among these, as always, went to the veterans of the Second World War, and especially to the veterans of the Arctic Convoy Club, whose numbers are now sadly dwindling.
There were speeches and the Russian ambassador emphasised the importance of resisting attempts from some quarters to rewrite the history of the the Great Patriotic War against Nazism.
After that wreathes were laid by the veterans, local dignitaries, the ambassadors and representatives of other organisations, including the New Communist Party, the Marx Memorial Library and the Communist Party of Britain.
photo: Daphne Liddle from the Central Committee lays flowers on behalf of the NCPB
Don't Burn It -- a major new contribution to war cinema
by Theo Russell
DON’T BURN IT, a remarkable new film about the Vietnam War, was shown recently during the Vietnam Festival Of Culture 2009 in London. It is based on the diary of a young woman doctor, Dang Thuy Tram, at a field hospital in Quang Ngai province, a National Liberation Front stronghold during the war.
The diary’s discovery by a South Vietnamese Army soldier and his American officer begins a process which changes their lives and reverberates to the present day.
In the tradition of socialist war films, the focus of Don’t Burn It is on the effects of war on those caught up in it, rather than the actual fighting. It shows not only the horror and suffering, but the heroism of those defending their homeland and the mental anguish of the occupiers.
Many viewers will be surprised at its portrayal of the Americans and their South Vietnamese allies, who from the outset are shown as thinking human beings rather than evil barbarians.
Quang, the officer who finds the diary, is transfixed when he starts reading it, and hands it to the US captain, Fred, saying “don’t burn it, it already has fire inside it”. As they start translating the diary, Fred begins to understand his Vietnamese enemies for the first time, changing his life forever.
Written in a traditional Vietnamese style, the diary combines daily events with stirring poetry, which greatly increases its impact. Ho Chi Minh famously kept a similar “diary” while imprisoned by the Chinese nationalists as a spy in 1943.
Many years after the war, at the urging of his mother back in North Carolina, Fred (in real life lawyer Fred Whitehurst) hands the diary to scholars at the University of Texas. Eventually it is published, causing a sensation in Vietnam, and a search begins to find Dr Tram’s family in Hanoi.
During the film scenes of Dr Tram living and working in the midst of war alternate with moving memories of her family life in Hanoi. One of the most interesting sequences shows a researcher travelling around present-day Hanoi by moped in search of her family.
Don’t Burn It is without doubt a major contribution to war cinema. It combines a hatred of war with admiration for the Vietnamese people’s heroic struggle and culture, and the humanity of which ordinary Americans are capable – a powerful message of peace and friendship.
(Don’t Burn It, directed by Dang Nhat Minh, was released in April 2009. The original book, Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: An Extraordinary Diary of Courage from the Vietnam War, is available in paperback.)
DON’T BURN IT, a remarkable new film about the Vietnam War, was shown recently during the Vietnam Festival Of Culture 2009 in London. It is based on the diary of a young woman doctor, Dang Thuy Tram, at a field hospital in Quang Ngai province, a National Liberation Front stronghold during the war.
The diary’s discovery by a South Vietnamese Army soldier and his American officer begins a process which changes their lives and reverberates to the present day.
In the tradition of socialist war films, the focus of Don’t Burn It is on the effects of war on those caught up in it, rather than the actual fighting. It shows not only the horror and suffering, but the heroism of those defending their homeland and the mental anguish of the occupiers.
Many viewers will be surprised at its portrayal of the Americans and their South Vietnamese allies, who from the outset are shown as thinking human beings rather than evil barbarians.
Quang, the officer who finds the diary, is transfixed when he starts reading it, and hands it to the US captain, Fred, saying “don’t burn it, it already has fire inside it”. As they start translating the diary, Fred begins to understand his Vietnamese enemies for the first time, changing his life forever.
Written in a traditional Vietnamese style, the diary combines daily events with stirring poetry, which greatly increases its impact. Ho Chi Minh famously kept a similar “diary” while imprisoned by the Chinese nationalists as a spy in 1943.
Many years after the war, at the urging of his mother back in North Carolina, Fred (in real life lawyer Fred Whitehurst) hands the diary to scholars at the University of Texas. Eventually it is published, causing a sensation in Vietnam, and a search begins to find Dr Tram’s family in Hanoi.
During the film scenes of Dr Tram living and working in the midst of war alternate with moving memories of her family life in Hanoi. One of the most interesting sequences shows a researcher travelling around present-day Hanoi by moped in search of her family.
Don’t Burn It is without doubt a major contribution to war cinema. It combines a hatred of war with admiration for the Vietnamese people’s heroic struggle and culture, and the humanity of which ordinary Americans are capable – a powerful message of peace and friendship.
(Don’t Burn It, directed by Dang Nhat Minh, was released in April 2009. The original book, Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: An Extraordinary Diary of Courage from the Vietnam War, is available in paperback.)
Monday, November 02, 2009
No choice but to march!
by Caroline Colebrook
LANCE Corporal Joe Glenton of the Royal Logistic Corps last Saturday led a march of thousands of anti-war protesters through London, even though he faces a court martial for doing so.
Glenton is refusing to return to Afghanistan and is calling on Britain to withdraw all troops from the country.
He told a rally, at the end of the march in Trafalgar Square: “It is distressing to disobey orders but when Britain follows America in continuing to wage war against one of the world’s poorest countries, I feel I have no choice.
“Politicians have abused the trust of the army and the soldiers who serve. That’s why I am compelled and proud to march with the Stop the War Coalition.”
He added: “I am marching to send a message to Gordon Brown. Instead of sending more troops, he must bring them all home. He cannot sit on his hands and wait while more and more of my comrades are killed.”
So far 223 British troops have been killed in Afghanistan since Nato forces invaded the country in 2001 on the premise that Afghanistan was somehow responsible for the 11th September attacks in the United States in 2001.
A recent poll commissioned by Channel Four News found that 84 per cent of people in Britain believe that British and American troops are currently losing the war in Afghanistan.
Almost half of the public in this country believe that military victory in Afghanistan is impossible and significant majorities think British troops are not winning the war and should be withdrawn either immediately or within the next year, according to a poll published today.
The poll suggests that the public mood is at odds with government policy that Britain and its Nato allies should see through their mission in Afghanistan and keep troops in the country until responsibility for its security can be handed over to home-grown forces in a process known as Afghanisation.
Last week, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was ready to send a further 500 troops, so long as they could be properly equipped and form part of a Nato-wide reinforcement with each ally bearing its “fair share”.
Joe Glenton was joined on the march by former colleagues and bereaved military families. They included Peter Brierly, whose son Lance Corporal Shaun Brierly was killed in Iraq in 2003. At a recent memorial service in St Paul’s’ cathedral in London Brierly refused to shake the hand of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, telling Blair that he had blood on his hands and would one day have to answer for what he had done.
“They are not doing any good while they are over there. They need to leave the country to sort itself out,” he said. “While British troops are there they are actually attracting more insurgents who are coming in to fight.”
Also on the march was 104-year-old Hetty Bowyer. She told the crowd in Trafalgar Square: “I march because I can see no reason for further killing. I have walked on every march against us going to war. At my age there is not very much I can do but while my legs can carry me I am going to march.”
Jeremy Corbyn MP, vice-chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said: “The war in Afghanistan has no clear war aims, is clearly escalating and spinning out of control and can only impact on Pakistan and the whole of South Asia.
“Nato forces have been in Afghanistan for eight years and the result appears to be increased drug production, high levels of corruption and terrible losses of life on all sides, civilian and military.
“Now is the time to change policy and bring the troops home to prevent Nato involving itself in a Vietnam-style quagmire.”
Friday, October 23, 2009
Vietnam comes to London
By Andy Brooks
LONDONERS will get a taste of Vietnamese culture this month with the screening of three major Vietnamese films, including the internationally acclaimed Don’t Burn It [Dung Dot], which has been officially chosen to represent Vietnamese cinema in the best foreign language film category at the 2010 Oscars in Los Angeles next March.
Over 40 years ago Vietnam was on everyone’s lips as the heroic Vietnamese people battled against the might of US imperialism to drive the invaders out and reunify their country under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh and the communists. Final victory was achieved in 1975 and the establishment of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Though the country still bears the scars of that monstrous imperialist war, Vietnam has advanced to develop a modern socialist economy and a haven for peace and progress in south-east Asia. But while we remember those epic days of sacrifice and struggle we often forget that Vietnam is an ancient land with rich traditions and a thriving movie industry that is now going beyond the confines of Asia to span the entire globe.
Some of the best Vietnamese films will be shown in London as part of the
Vietnam Festival of Culture this month. And the festival kicked off with a gala performance by the country’s top artistes on Monday at Chelsea’s Cadogan Hall, attended by Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and opened by visiting Vietnamese deputy premier Hoang Trung Hai.
Then the hall was transported into the heart of modern and traditional Vietnamese culture as singers, dancers and musicians held the audience spellbound with a selection of traditional and modern Vietnamese music as well as an interpretation of the English folk-song Scarborough Fair and a Hungarian classic Czadas gypsy dance.
The Vietnam film festival that follows will be held at the nearby Cine Lumiere, French Institute, in South Kensington from 29th to 31st October. Londoners will have the exclusive opportunity to see some of the most exciting and celebrated films to come out of Vietnam including The Black Forest, Don’t Burn It and The Story of Pao.
Two of the films are dramas: The Black Forest tells the tale of a love triangle between an illegal lodger in a northern forest, his fiancé and his second son; The Story of Pao is set amongst the Hmong ethnic minority while Don’t Burn It is based on the true story of Dang Thuy Tram, a young female doctor from Hanoi who volunteered to help the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam working as a surgeon in a battlefield hospital during the Vietnam War and was killed by American troops.
The film reflects the profound humanity of the film’s modest and courageous heroine Tram, played by young actress Minh Huong. The film triumphed over 23 other movies to win the Audience Award at the Fukuoka International Film Festival in Japan earlier this month.
Then the hall was transported into the heart of modern and traditional Vietnamese culture as singers, dancers and musicians held the audience spellbound with a selection of traditional and modern Vietnamese music as well as an interpretation of the English folk-song Scarborough Fair and a Hungarian classic Czadas gypsy dance.
The Vietnam film festival that follows will be held at the nearby Cine Lumiere, French Institute, in South Kensington from 29th to 31st October. Londoners will have the exclusive opportunity to see some of the most exciting and celebrated films to come out of Vietnam including The Black Forest, Don’t Burn It and The Story of Pao.
Two of the films are dramas: The Black Forest tells the tale of a love triangle between an illegal lodger in a northern forest, his fiancé and his second son; The Story of Pao is set amongst the Hmong ethnic minority while Don’t Burn It is based on the true story of Dang Thuy Tram, a young female doctor from Hanoi who volunteered to help the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam working as a surgeon in a battlefield hospital during the Vietnam War and was killed by American troops.
The film reflects the profound humanity of the film’s modest and courageous heroine Tram, played by young actress Minh Huong. The film triumphed over 23 other movies to win the Audience Award at the Fukuoka International Film Festival in Japan earlier this month.
Tickets are just £5.00 and further details can be obtained by contacting the Cine Lumiere box office on 0207 073 1350 or checking out their website at http://www.institut-francais.org.uk/
Friday, October 16, 2009
Milestone in Korean history
Communists and progressives gathered in London last week for a seminar on the meaning and impact of the Korean revolution to mark the anniversary of the foundation of the Workers’ Party of Korea on 10th October 1945.
Organised by Friends of Korea and chaired by Harpal Brar, the guest of honour was a diplomat from the DPR Korea embassy in London and contributors included NCP leader Andy Brooks, Michael Chant of the RCPB (ML), John McLeod of the Socialist Labour Party and Ella Rule of the CPGB (ML) along with Korean solidarity activists Keith Bennett and Dermot Hudson of the British Juche Society.
The discussion, held at the RCPB (ML) headquarters in south London, covered all aspects of life in Democratic Korea including the Juche philosophy, leadership and the role of the communist party in socialist construction. At the end of the seminar a congratulatory letter to Korean leader Kim Jong Il was adopted unanimously.
Organised by Friends of Korea and chaired by Harpal Brar, the guest of honour was a diplomat from the DPR Korea embassy in London and contributors included NCP leader Andy Brooks, Michael Chant of the RCPB (ML), John McLeod of the Socialist Labour Party and Ella Rule of the CPGB (ML) along with Korean solidarity activists Keith Bennett and Dermot Hudson of the British Juche Society.
The discussion, held at the RCPB (ML) headquarters in south London, covered all aspects of life in Democratic Korea including the Juche philosophy, leadership and the role of the communist party in socialist construction. At the end of the seminar a congratulatory letter to Korean leader Kim Jong Il was adopted unanimously.
photo: Andy Brooks making a point
Words to change the world
by Daphne Liddle
THREE themes came together is Kensington Town Hall last Saturday night – they were Third World Solidarity, the Poetry Olympics and the Muslim celebration of Eid in an event of performance poetry and music.
Too often English audiences are deterred from poetry performances by bad poetry badly presented. Poetry is for everyone but like any other art form is requires some thought and effort from the creator and the presenter.
I remember a peace rally in 1991 in Woolwich Town Hall that was almost entirely cleared by a recital from veteran peace campaigner Pat Arrowsmith. No one doubted her courage or credentials as a fighter for peace but she was not a wordsmith.
She was about to go out to the Gulf and interpose herself between two front lines to try to prevent the impending war. We wondered if her “poetry” was the magic weapon to send both frontlines into rapid retreat.
A poet, like a painter or a composer, has inspiration and a message, a thought or a feeling to communicate. But to do justice to their inspiration the artist chooses carefully the right colours and textures of paint and surface; the musician chooses carefully the right notes, rhythms and instruments to give the right tone and texture of sound.
Communicating an inspiration into a form that other minds can receive takes some care and effort. For a poet, that means choosing carefully the right words, the rights sounds, rhythms and textures to generate a complete picture in the mind of the listener.
Chosen carefully, words are the most powerful tools we have. Words can convey information; they can soothe and comfort; they can encourage; they can humiliate; they can break hearts; they can anger; they can confuse and deceive; they can sell; they can create a god; they can bore; they can make people fall in and out of love; they can satisfy or they can start a revolution that will change the world.
There is nothing boring about the study of language. The power of magic spells in superstitious times was entirely in the right choice and use of words.
And the performers we saw on stage in Kensington Town Hall last Saturday were absolute masters of language and demonstrated poetry at its very best. And both in content and presentation it was poetry at the service of justice, peace and democracy – the aims of Third World Solidarity.
The event was organised by local Labour councillor Mushtaq Lasharie and presented by Michael Horovitz.
The first performer was Mahmood Jamal who performed poetry he had translated from the original Pakistani and some of his own.
This was followed by Guyanan Keith Waite, who, with the aid of a flute, conjured up the sounds and the atmosphere of the jungle.
Patience Agbabi gave us first a fast and vivid hymn of praise to the importance of words, Give me a word, then a well crafted story in rap poem of her life: born in Africa, raised in London and then returning to Lagos to find herself an outsider in both places – a Ufo woman.
Oliver Bernard gave us his experiences of life since the 1930s; Steven Berkoff presented a tennis championship final match as a fast and furious battle saga; Eleanor Bron read from an anthology produced by Poetry Olympics and some pieces of her own and Elvis McGonnigal had us laughing out loud with his quick-fire satires on the world of power politics, along with sporadic digs at the pop singer James Blunt, whom he compared to the Orville, the ventriloquist dummy duck.
We heard from Moazzam Begg, for four years a prisoner in Guantanamo Bay, who wrote poetry to preserve his sanity during those terrible years. He explained how many prisoners, denied access to pens and paper, found a way of writing by using the little finger nails to cut into the surface of Styrofoam cups.
The size of the cups limited the poems to just a couple of lines but nevertheless these poems made it to the outside world, smuggled out, often by sympathetic guards and are now published.
The works of all these poets and many more are available in print with details from New Departures/Poetry Olympics, PO Box 9819, London W11 2GQ or http://www.poetryolympics.com/
photo:Eleanor Bron
Friday, October 09, 2009
Free the Miami Five!
NCP comrades and supporters joined protesters outside the US embassy in London last week to demand the release of five Cubans arrested in 1998 on trumped-up charges of espionage. Some 400 demonstrators took part in an evening candle-light picket of the American embassy in Grosvenor Square on 1st October called by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign in support of Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González who are currently serving sentences of between 15 years and life. The vigil was supported by their families, Jeremy Corbyn, the London Labour MP who is also a prominent member of the Labour Representation Committee along with a number of union leaders.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
London roundup
BNP councillor exposed
The British National Party’s third highest elected official has been exposed fabricating two murders in a high profile BNP campaign.
He has been found guilty of bringing both the Greater London Authority and the Barking and Dagenham Council into disrepute – his lies show the depths the BNP are willing to stoop to in their vile propaganda war.
This follows a BNP posting on You Tube which showed Barnbrook claiming there had been three recent murders in Dagenham – a total fabrication.
Hope not Hate campaigners are now aiming to raise £5000 to deliver 150,000 targeted leaflets across London.
Because of the severity of his lies, Barnbrook has been suspended by the Council for a month, forced to submit a written apology to the Greater London Authority and made to undertake “training” in ethics in public life.
But the Hope not Hate campaigners say this is just the tip of the iceberg – the BNP has been capitalising on fear for years in an attempt to pull our communities apart.
But this time is different – this time we have proof in black and white that their campaign is entirely based on fear, falsehood and hatred.
Eurostar cleaners take action
Rail Union RMT last Monday confirmed a further six days of strike action by Eurostar cleaners working at St Pancras International for contractors the Carlisle Group in an increasingly bitter dispute over pay, the introduction of routine staff fingerprinting, redundancies and the victimisation and harassment of RMT union reps.
RMT Eurostar cleaners will strike on the following dates:
• 05:30 hours on Friday 2nd October 2009 and 05:29 hours on Saturday 3rd October 2009.
• 05:30 hours on Sunday 4th October 2009 and 05:29 hours on Monday 5th October 2009.
• 05:30 hours on Friday 16th October 2009 and 05:29 hours on Saturday 17th October 2009.
• 05:30 hours on Sunday 18th October 2009 and 05:29 hours on Monday 19th October 2009.
• 05:30 hours on Friday 30th October 2009 and 05:29 hours on Saturday 31st October 2009.
• 05:30 hours on Sunday 1st November 2009 and 05:29 hours on Monday 2nd November 2009.
RMT have launched a global campaign in support of the London Eurostar cleaners and their fight for the London Living Wage and against bullying and harassment. So far over 3,000 people from over 70 countries around the world have joined the cyber-picket.
Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, said on Monday:
“The treatment of cleaners on the Eurostar, our flagship European rail service, is nothing short of a national disgrace. We have demanded that the Government, as the effective owners of Eurostar, step in to stop this scandalous exploitation of cleaners at St Pancras International who are fighting for nothing more than the London Living Wage, dignity and respect at work and the right to organise an effective trade union.”
The British National Party’s third highest elected official has been exposed fabricating two murders in a high profile BNP campaign.
He has been found guilty of bringing both the Greater London Authority and the Barking and Dagenham Council into disrepute – his lies show the depths the BNP are willing to stoop to in their vile propaganda war.
This follows a BNP posting on You Tube which showed Barnbrook claiming there had been three recent murders in Dagenham – a total fabrication.
Hope not Hate campaigners are now aiming to raise £5000 to deliver 150,000 targeted leaflets across London.
Because of the severity of his lies, Barnbrook has been suspended by the Council for a month, forced to submit a written apology to the Greater London Authority and made to undertake “training” in ethics in public life.
But the Hope not Hate campaigners say this is just the tip of the iceberg – the BNP has been capitalising on fear for years in an attempt to pull our communities apart.
But this time is different – this time we have proof in black and white that their campaign is entirely based on fear, falsehood and hatred.
Eurostar cleaners take action
Rail Union RMT last Monday confirmed a further six days of strike action by Eurostar cleaners working at St Pancras International for contractors the Carlisle Group in an increasingly bitter dispute over pay, the introduction of routine staff fingerprinting, redundancies and the victimisation and harassment of RMT union reps.
RMT Eurostar cleaners will strike on the following dates:
• 05:30 hours on Friday 2nd October 2009 and 05:29 hours on Saturday 3rd October 2009.
• 05:30 hours on Sunday 4th October 2009 and 05:29 hours on Monday 5th October 2009.
• 05:30 hours on Friday 16th October 2009 and 05:29 hours on Saturday 17th October 2009.
• 05:30 hours on Sunday 18th October 2009 and 05:29 hours on Monday 19th October 2009.
• 05:30 hours on Friday 30th October 2009 and 05:29 hours on Saturday 31st October 2009.
• 05:30 hours on Sunday 1st November 2009 and 05:29 hours on Monday 2nd November 2009.
RMT have launched a global campaign in support of the London Eurostar cleaners and their fight for the London Living Wage and against bullying and harassment. So far over 3,000 people from over 70 countries around the world have joined the cyber-picket.
Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, said on Monday:
“The treatment of cleaners on the Eurostar, our flagship European rail service, is nothing short of a national disgrace. We have demanded that the Government, as the effective owners of Eurostar, step in to stop this scandalous exploitation of cleaners at St Pancras International who are fighting for nothing more than the London Living Wage, dignity and respect at work and the right to organise an effective trade union.”
Saturday, September 26, 2009
London news round-up
Fascists target pro-Palestinian marchers
MEMBERS of the English Defence League – a loose structured group of former squaddies, football hooligans with neo-Nazi views – last weekend tried to attack a London protest march in support of Gaza.
Police made no arrests and succeeded in keeping the fascists and the marchers apart. But there were several brief confrontations as EDL activists chanted "We hate Muslims" and "Muslim bombers off our streets".
The pro-Palestinian protesters held up banners with slogans including “Justice for the murdered children of Gaza”, “We are all Palestinians”, “Boycott Israel” and “Judaism rejects the Zionist state”.
People from a number of organisations and groups throughout the country, both Muslim and non-Muslim, joined the demonstration, held during Ramadan every year.
The demonstration's organiser, Raza Kazim, from the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said: "It's in aid of the oppressed people of Palestine in particular, but the idea of al-Quds is more general than that. It's for people who have been oppressed.”
Commenting on the EDL, he said that supporters of Israel usually protested but with them, he said, were "the BNP, the EDL, the racists, the extremists – all of this unholy alliance have got together" to say oppression should continue.
“We are going to say: 'No, that this is not going to happen'. That is why we are here – to raise our voices against that," he added.
Debt stress costs NHS millions
THE LONDON Health Forum last week reported that treating stress-related ill health in the capital costs the NHS £450 million a year.
Around 250,000 Londoners suffer from mental health problems as a result of debt, job cuts and money worries, resulting in 350,000 London GP appointments a year.
Stress-related illnesses which could cause high blood pressure and heart attacks are also on the rise, it said.
The forum urged councils and primary care trusts to "prescribe early debt advice" to Londoners.
The forum's report, London Capital of Debt, said primary care trusts in London are currently spending £1.8bn a year treating patients with mental health issues, which is 26 per cent more than the national average.
About one million Londoners suffer from mental health problems, a quarter of whom are worried about debt, the report said.
The forum said on average these people make 3.5 visits to GPs, which works out as 350,000 GP appointments sought in London a year.
John Murray, director of the forum, said: "The latest figures from the Consumer Credit Counselling Service show a 40 per cent increase in calls from Londoners to its helpline compared to a year ago.
"The NHS therefore needs to go onto a preventive footing by getting people to debt advice sooner, using the extensive channels of communication at its disposal."
MEMBERS of the English Defence League – a loose structured group of former squaddies, football hooligans with neo-Nazi views – last weekend tried to attack a London protest march in support of Gaza.
Police made no arrests and succeeded in keeping the fascists and the marchers apart. But there were several brief confrontations as EDL activists chanted "We hate Muslims" and "Muslim bombers off our streets".
The pro-Palestinian protesters held up banners with slogans including “Justice for the murdered children of Gaza”, “We are all Palestinians”, “Boycott Israel” and “Judaism rejects the Zionist state”.
People from a number of organisations and groups throughout the country, both Muslim and non-Muslim, joined the demonstration, held during Ramadan every year.
The demonstration's organiser, Raza Kazim, from the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said: "It's in aid of the oppressed people of Palestine in particular, but the idea of al-Quds is more general than that. It's for people who have been oppressed.”
Commenting on the EDL, he said that supporters of Israel usually protested but with them, he said, were "the BNP, the EDL, the racists, the extremists – all of this unholy alliance have got together" to say oppression should continue.
“We are going to say: 'No, that this is not going to happen'. That is why we are here – to raise our voices against that," he added.
Debt stress costs NHS millions
THE LONDON Health Forum last week reported that treating stress-related ill health in the capital costs the NHS £450 million a year.
Around 250,000 Londoners suffer from mental health problems as a result of debt, job cuts and money worries, resulting in 350,000 London GP appointments a year.
Stress-related illnesses which could cause high blood pressure and heart attacks are also on the rise, it said.
The forum urged councils and primary care trusts to "prescribe early debt advice" to Londoners.
The forum's report, London Capital of Debt, said primary care trusts in London are currently spending £1.8bn a year treating patients with mental health issues, which is 26 per cent more than the national average.
About one million Londoners suffer from mental health problems, a quarter of whom are worried about debt, the report said.
The forum said on average these people make 3.5 visits to GPs, which works out as 350,000 GP appointments sought in London a year.
John Murray, director of the forum, said: "The latest figures from the Consumer Credit Counselling Service show a 40 per cent increase in calls from Londoners to its helpline compared to a year ago.
"The NHS therefore needs to go onto a preventive footing by getting people to debt advice sooner, using the extensive channels of communication at its disposal."
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