Freedom Press firebombed

 THE POLICE have launched an arson investigation after the Freedom Press Anarchist bookshop in Whitechapel in London’s East End was firebombed at about 5.30am on Friday 1st February.

 Fortunately no one was on the premises at the time and there were no casualties. But around 500 books were completely burned and thousands more partially damaged by both smoke and water from the fire-hoses used to extinguish the flames.

  The electrical wiring was completely damaged but the first floor is reported to be OK. Unfortunately the shop was not insured.

 The shop suffered a previous arson attack in 1993 at the height of a campaign of bombings and violence carried out by the notorious neo-Nazi thugs of Combat 18.

 And the people of Freedom Press again suspect a far-right motive behind this.

Andy Meinke, who is one of the bookshop’s “coordinators”, said staff believe the culprits are likely to have been members of far right groups such as the English Defence League or the British National Party.

“No-one’s claiming responsibility for it yet, but we’ve obviously got radical politics and have campaigned against groups like the EDL in the past”, he said.

Hundreds of people turned out over the weekend to help with the clean-up operation. “We spent the weekend having a massive clean-up”, Meinke said.

“A lot of people came who we didn’t even recognise after word spread on the internet.”

Gerry Gable, the editor of the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight said: “The latest attack comes at a time when we are seeing a new growth of small groups of hard-line Nazi thugs on the extreme edges of the British far right, often consisting of men and women of violence who are deserting the failing English Defence League together with sleeping tigers from old established groups such as British Movement and the Racial Volunteer Force.”

 He added: “It is likely that the far right would associate Freedom Books with the growing numbers of young activists, many of them anarchists, who have confronted the EDL on the streets in various parts of the country. The attack might well reflect frustration rather than organisation, as many of the thugs from the far-right splinter groups are now being convicted of arson attacks on mosques, violence against trade union meetings and other crimes.

“The anti-fascist movement must remain alert without getting caught up in gossip mills.”

 The Freedom Bookshop stocks thousands of left-wing newspapers and pamphlets and acts as a host to campaigns like the London Coalition Against Poverty. It was founded in 1886 by Charlotte and Peter Kropotkin and opened at its present site in Whitechapel in 1969.

The shop has now re-opened.

Honouring those who stood up to the Nazis

Avram and Vera Schaufeld lay a wreath

By New Worker correspondent

BARONESS Julia Neuberger, the senior Rabbi of the West London Synagogue, last Sunday called people to remember the Holocaust and all its victims by refusing to allow any section of human society to be defined as “different”, or “other” – the precursor to discrimination, prejudice and oppression that paved the way for the Holocaust to happen.

 She was speaking to the packed Amigo Hall, part of the complex of buildings that is St George’s Roman Catholic Church in Southwark, which is just across the road from the Imperial War Museum.

            The Amigo Hall this year played host to the first part of the annual Southwark and Soviet War Memorial Trust Holocaust remembrance ceremony because the Imperial War Museum is closed for renovations until July.

 Julia Neuberger spoke of the heroism of the Albanian Muslims during the Nazi occupation of the Balkans. They sheltered Jews from the Nazis – at great risk to themselves – and saved hundreds of lives. But today they are themselves, as Muslims, facing prejudice, scapegoating and oppression.

 She also spoke of the leader of the Orthodox Church in Bulgaria who prevented a trainload Jews from that country being transported to death camps by insisting on going with them and then threatening to lie across the railway track to prevent the train moving. He won and the Jews were returned to their homes.

 And she mentioned other instances of people standing up to the Nazis, including the people of Denmark.

 Avram Schaufeld – a Holocaust survivor, told of his experiences as a teenager, separated from his family, who were murdered, in a labour camp that was one of the satellite camps of Auschwitz.

            Avram also spoke of the long death march as the Nazis forced prisoners to walk away from the lines of advancing Russians and the many instances where his survival was just a matter of incredible luck.

            This was followed by Avram and his wife Vera lighting the memorial candle.

 Then the ceremony moved across the road to Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park for a wreath-laying ceremony at the Holocaust Memorial Tree and at the Soviet War Memorial.

 The Russian ambassador, HE Alexander Yakovenko, gave a short speech and wreaths were laid by local dignitaries, ambassadors from former Soviet states, and for the first time the ambassador for Israel.

            Members of veterans organisations also laid wreaths as did members of political organisations, including the New Communist Party.

25,000 march to save Lewisham Hospital

By New Worker

Correspondent

YOU HAD to be there to get the full atmosphere of around 25,000 people, mainly from Lewisham but with many supporters from all across London and the south east, from all walks of life, all ethnic and religious communities and all political shades, coming together with one voice to demand the accident and emergency department and maternity services at Lewisham Hospital stay open.

 There were hundreds of children in buggies, many with placards proclaiming they were born at Lewisham maternity unit. There were thousands of pensioners – some had lived in Lewisham all their lives, others were from the West Indies, Ireland, Africa and all parts of Asia – united together they were a truly formidable force, as they marched through the shopping centre and past the hospital.

 There were Catholics, Anglicans, Muslims, Hindus, pagans and atheists – all united.

 And there were football fans. Millwall FC rescheduled an FA Cup fourth round game so fans could go on the march and the Millwall bus came along with their lion mascot. There were also Charlton and Crystal Palace fans, who carried placards saluting Millwall for its support for the campaign.

 The Save Lewisham Hospital campaign had made thousands of placards with a blank space at the top for supporters to fill in who they were, saying “save Lewisham Hospital”. So we knew we were marching alongside: “Sydenham Society”, “Frying Squad SE13”, “Pepys Resource Centre”, Speedicabs SE4”, “Suits-U Bespoke Dry Cleaners”, “Rise and Shine after school club”, “Lewisham and Southwark College”, “The Surgery, Belmont Hill” – and so on, thousands of them.

             There were several placards declaring their carrier owed his /her life or their child’s life to Lewisham A&E.

Speakers in Mountsfield Park at the end of the march included local Labour MPs Heidi Alexander and Joan Ruddock, Matt Wrack of the Fire Brigades Union, Dr Louise Irvine, a local GP, who chairs the Save Lewisham Hospital. Surprisingly Nick Ferrari – the right-wing radio DJ was also a speaker.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt will decide this week on whether to implement the proposals of Matthew Kershaw, the special administrator brought in to resolve the problems of the neighbouring South London Healthcare Trust (SLHT), which has been bankrupted by PFI deals, to close Lewisham A&E and maternity and transfer resources to SLHT.

            This would leave 750,000 people in south east London with just one A&E unite – at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Woolwich Common, which is already struggling to cope with an overload of patients.

Dr Louise Irvine said: "This decision is crazy and ill-thought-out. It is a big mistake and carries huge clinical risks of things going wrong for patients but also political risk.

            "If Jeremy Hunt can close a good local hospital here, he can do it anywhere in the country – nowhere is safe.

"This is very much a national issue; there are 60 hospital trusts across the country under threat of bankruptcy, many of them very good hospitals.

 "We are saying 'look at Lewisham, if we can win then you can win'. And even if we lose, we will keep on fighting, that is the most important thing."

 Aneurin Bevan said the NHS would last as long as people are ready to fight for it. It would seem the people are ready and are fighting – more people than jaded old lefties could imagine.

 And it seems that other NHS defence campaigns around the country are being encouraged by what is going on in Lewisham. Jeremy Hunt cannot pretend he has not heard this protest, or that the whole people of Lewisham reject Kershaw’s plan emphatically.

 The Con Dem Coalition ignores a growing NHS defence movement like this at its peril.

London Fire Authority rejects cuts

Matt Wrack speaking at the rally

By New Worker Correspondent

THE LONDON Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) last Monday voted to reject plans to close 12 fire stations, cut 18 fire engines and 520 jobs after a fierce debate.

 The plan was put forward by London Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson and the London Mayor, Boris Johnson, in a bid to cut the London fire service budget by £45 million.

But it was opposed by Labour on safety grounds. The authority voted by nine to eight in favour of a Labour amendment, deleting any references to station closures, appliance reductions and job losses in any future public consultation, that was backed by the Greens and Liberal Democrats.

 Outside the meeting in Union Street south London, around 1,000 firefighters, along with other trade unionists and supporters assembled to protest noisily at the proposed cuts.

The lobby was called by the London region of the Fire Brigades Union and supported by other unions, including the RMT taxi drivers’ section and the National Union of Teachers.

 FBU London regional secretary, Paul Embery, called on people to attend the rally: “The proposed cuts are reckless and wrong. You can’t slash 12 fire stations, 18 fire engines and 520 firefighter posts without jeopardising public safety.

 “The helicopter crash that occurred last week showed the importance of having a properly-funded, well-resourced fire service in the capital, and it is worthy of note that the first crew at the scene was mobilised from a station – Clapham – earmarked for closure and arrived within four minutes.

            “The safety of Londoners is playing second fiddle to crude economic considerations. We are calling on the commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, Ron Dobson, and Boris Johnson to think again. If they don’t, we will campaign as vigorously as we can, alongside the public, to defend London’s fire service.”

 Matt Wrack, the general secretary of the FBU, spoke of the need to oppose the Government’s austerity programme on all fronts and to contemplate national strikes. And he challenged the Fire Commissioner’s hypocrisy  in claiming that the fire service is meetings its targets in arrival times.

            “That’s because they keep changing the target times. Of course they meet the targets because they set them. It used to be three minutes in London, then five minutes and now eight minutes.

            “And we all know that those extra minutes make the difference in saving lives or having to drag bodies out of buildings.”

            He linked the FBU fight to other battles to save vital services, such as defending NHS hospitals from cuts.

            The list of stations that had been earmarked for closure include Belsize, Bow, Clapham, Clerkenwell, Downham, Kingsland, Knightsbridge, New Cross, Silvertown, Southwark, Westminster and Woolwich.

            LFEPA has voted against the cuts but London Mayor Boris Johnson, who has ultimate power over the fire authority, said he will "ensure" the consultation continues.

            "This consultation will continue as planned. I will be issuing a mayoral directive to ensure it does."