Solidarity with Greek anti-fascists

Tony Benn speaking

  by New Worker correspondent

AROUND 1,000 antifascists gathered outside the Greek embassy in London’s Holland Park last Saturday in freezing weather to show their support for anti-fascists in Greece facing terror attacks from the Nazi Golden Dawn movement.

They were part of a worldwide demonstration involving tens of thousands of antifascists around the world expressing solidarity with Greek antifascists.

 The Golden Dawn party is spreading its activity beyond Greece, across Europe and North America and there are reports of it being active in the North of England.

 Speakers at the rally in Holland Park included Searchlight editor Gerry Gable, the veteran Labour politician Tony Benn, Labour MP's David Lammy and Jeremy Corbyn, as well as Steve Hart, a senior officer from the giant Union Unite and joint chair of the UAF. Other speakers included  Elizabeth Mantzari, one of the leaders of the Greek solidarity movement, and a Turkish antifascist.

 Also on the platform were two representatives of the new generation of British anti-fascist writers, Dan Trilling and Owen Jones, NUS Black Students’ Officer Aaron Kiely and an activist from Sikhs against the EDL.

 All the speakers stressed the need to build and strengthen international solidarity against fascism and to build upon the long-established No Platform policy in dealing with the fascists.

 A small counter demonstration of British fascists, including members of the National Front, was kettled by police.

A great KKE New Year

by New Worker  correspondent

 

COMRADES and friends gathered for a New Year party organised by the British branch of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) in London’s historic Marx Memorial Library last Sunday.

 Theo Russell from the NCP joined other friends of the Greek communist movement to hear live bouzouki guitar and revolutionary songs as well as taste superb home cooked traditional Greek food in a warm and relaxed atmosphere. He had friendly chats with many KKE comrades as well as comrades from the Communist Party of Britain.

Let’s hope this excellent social becomes an annual event!

Police fight compensation to autistic boy

THE FATHER of an autistic boy last week expressed anger at the Metropolitan Police when the force decided to appeal against a Court ruling awarding the boy compensation for an assault by police officers at a swimming pool.

 The child, known only as ZH, has severe epilepsy and autism. He was on a school trip to Acton baths in west London and became fixated by the water and stood at the poolside staring into it for around half an hour.

 His carers told swimming pool staff that his behaviour was consistent with his condition and that he had to be given time to move away of his own accord. But the manager called the police.

When they tried to take hold him, ZH jumped into the pool. The water was chest high; he was not in danger but he was terrified of any stranger trying to get hold of him.

 As police tried to drag him out forcibly the boy struggled and was restrained with handcuffs and leg irons, then put in a cage

Central London County Court heard that the experience exacerbated ZH's epilepsy and he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

In a significant ruling against the Met, the judge Sir Robert Nelson found the force had subjected ZH to inhuman or degrading treatment and to unlawful discrimination because of his disability. He awarded the boy almost £30,000 in damages.

 Now the Met is to appeal against this ruling, saying it will affect their operational effectiveness.

 ZH's father said: "The thousands of pounds of public money spent by [Metropolitan Police] Commissioner Hogan-Howe defending the indefensible would be much better spent requiring his officers to treat people with disabilities humanely."

London campaign for peace

By New Worker correspondent

JEREMY Corbyn MP addressed the annual general meeting and conference of London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament held at  the Conway Hall last Saturday. The AGM also heard around up of reports from local CND and peace groups in the city. London CND Chair Jim Brann gave a presentation on United States foreign policy after the last election where it was noted that arms expenditure continues to be high and the policy remains the same, with the current interference in Syria which has been on-going under previous administrations.

Comrades and friends

Michael Chant chatting to NCP comrade Theo Russell at the do

by New Worker correspondent

 

NCP comrades joined friends from the RCPB (ML) at the social held at the John Buckle Centre in south London last month to welcome the New Year in style.

In his welcoming toast RCPB (ML) leader Michael Chant said: “I want to raise a glass to all our friends who are here: friends from the New Communist Party; friends from the anti-fascist movement; friends from the movement for rights, and so on. It is very important to get together on such occasions, not only to be convivial and to develop fraternal unity and the unity of the people’s movement, but also to assess what the tasks are as we go into the New Year, the tasks that the communist and the workers’ movements and people’s movements are faced with. For us 2012 was a year of consolidation for RCPB (ML): we consolidated ourselves on various fronts (particularly on the journalism front); on the front of a technical base of our new paper and also on the front of mobilising the youth for modern communism, which we think is very important...

             "This is my toast on this occasion: we live in one world in which there's a struggle going on between two outlooks: the outlook of the capitalists and the outlook of the working class – which is the human-centred outlook. In this coming year, this fight to affirm the rights of the people we are sure will take centre stage. One of the most important rights in this respect is the right of the people to be involved in making all of the decisions which control their lives and as everyone involved in the struggle knows, this is one of the major things that is denied the people: to have any say in the decisions which affect their lives. This goes on in every level of society: from the workplace to public services and crucially people are denied the right to take decisions on what direction the country is taking, what direction the economy is taking and what direction society is taking. So it is to this new direction that I would like to raise a toast as we begin to think about our tasks for 2013. For a new direction for society!

London news round-up

Bradley Manning’s motive

by New Worker correspondent

THE SIGHT of film footage of United States armed forces firing from a helicopter and deliberately gunning down children in Iraq was the motivation that inspired US serviceman Bradley Manning to leak hundreds of secret electronic communications to the Wikileaks website.

 Manning has been held under arrest since 2010 and in London last Tuesday around 25 protesters braved the weather to demonstrate outside the US embassy in Grosvenor Square calling for his release.

 Manning was an intelligence analyst giving him access to thousands of emails and other electronic communications between the US government and its embassies around the world – some of which have proved very embarrassing to the US government and its allies after Wikileaks published them for all the world to see.

 The protest coincided with a preliminary hearing in the run-up to Manning’s court martial, due to begin in March.

 His defence had presented a motion that all charges against him should be dismissed on the grounds that he was motivated by his humanitarian conscience.

 He was held in extremely harsh conditions for the first nine months of his detention. The American Department has said Manning was a suicide risk and that it was only trying to keep him from hurting himself and others when it confined him to a tiny, windowless cell for 23 hours a day.

 He faces 22 charges, including aiding the enemy, which carries a maximum of life behind bars. The current pre-trial hearing focuses on whether Manning's motivation matters in the case.

 Prosecutors want the judge to bar the defence from producing evidence of his motivation in leaking a mountain of classified information. They claim it is irrelevant.

 The anti-war protesters in London plan to renew their demonstrations in Grosvenor Square on 6th March when Manning’s full trial begins – along with other peace protesters throughout the world who will protest outside their respective US embassies.

EDL leader sentenced

THE LEADER of the notoriously violent Islamophobic English Defence League last Tuesday was sentenced to 10 months in prison for passport fraud.

 Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who is better known to his followers as Tommy Robinson but also uses a number of other aliases, had tried to enter the United States using the passport of a friend, Andrew McMaster, who has a similar appearance – after he had been banned from that country because of his criminal record.

 Stephen Lennon, 30, pleaded guilty to possession of a false identity document with improper intention, contrary to the Identity Documents Act 2010, at Southwark Crown Court.

  He was detected by US customs officials who found his fingerprints did not match the passport.

The court heard that he was previously jailed for assault in 2005 and also has previous convictions for drugs offences and public order offences.

 Lennon has been held in custody since October and this will count as part of his sentence.

  The EDL has declined sharply over the last year after planned rallies were thwarted in Brighton, Bristol, Colchester, Walthamstow and other places mainly by local residents coming out of their homes to protest at the EDL presence and block its planned routes.