‘Last Friday's behaviour by Police [in Bristol] was the most violent I have ever seen'

by KILL THE BILL PROTESTER, Wednesday Mar 31, 2021

I’ve been working in various roles in the community, youth and social sectors for around a decade, including the last four years in Bristol.

I have worked with some of the most disproportionately criminalised and marginalised communities including addicts, the homeless and vulnerably homed, refugees, travellers, juvenile detainees, mental health patients, young people in care, deprived/low-income neighbourhoods and BAME young people.

Although on occasion the police, as the only system we have, have supported me in these roles, they are often at best incompetent or ineffective and at worst actively harmful and violent.

I have seen how the defunding of youth and social sectors (who work at the roots of these issues) leads to an increase in crime and social issues, and believe that reallocating these funds away from the police would begin to effect long term positive change in our communities, rather than perpetuating crime and incarcerating people away from society.

As a queer person, and as a Jewish person, my identity intersects across two communities with a history of persecution at the hands of the state. I, like many other queer people, know the violence that the LGBT+ community has faced at the hands of the state and how riots such as Stonewall have been integral to our freedom and human rights. As a Jewish person, I can understand, from a specific perspective, the very real fear that people feel when the state begins to use police power to persecute minorities and ethnic groups.

So these, among other reasons, are my personal and professional reasons for opposing the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill and criticising the police.

You can read sources from much more knowledgeable people about the rights this bill would infringe, not just in terms of protesting but to the cultural rights and rituals of some of the UK’s most marginalised communities.

I attended the initial march on Sunday. Contrary to statements from the mayor and the “Bristol city leaders group” (many of whom are ironically not based in Bristol themselves) that the protest was made up of violent hooligans from outside the city, I’ve seen a much larger demographic.

I’ve met doctors, nurses, paramedics, youth workers, community leaders and teachers at the protests, all who are important parts of Bristol’s infrastructure and all of whom oppose the bill and remain critical of the actions of the police. People have been administering first aid and acting as legal observers – both essential for monitoring people’s safety, documenting injuries and unlawful behaviour and noting the actions of the police.

Despite being law abiding members of the public and essentially neutral bystanders at the protests, many of these people have been assaulted by police and remain in fear that they will be targeted or criminalised simply for monitoring legalities or tending to injuries (some very serious) inflicted by the police.

I had to work through part of the initial Sunday riots, but caught the end of the violence outside Bridewell. Contrary to the (now retracted) reports of police injuries, medics have confirmed multiple serious injuries inflicted by police on protestors that night, many of which are soon to be reported in an official capacity.

I had to leave again on Tuesday’s College Green occupation, but was surprised and disgusted to hear that the conscientious and peaceful, mainly sitting, protesters I had left had been assaulted once again.

Last Friday’s behaviour from the police was the most violent I have ever seen. I followed the back of the police line from a distance, checking behind them for fallen and injured protesters.

Countless people lay on the floor injured, ranging from concussions and bruises to serious head wounds, dog bites and pepper spray-induced temporary blindness. There were many more injuries I didn’t witness directly but most of us will have seen the many videos documenting these.

On one occasion I sat with an autistic man who had been trying to reason with the police and calm the crowd behind him. He had been hit in the chest with a shield, then hit again as he tried to stand up and get out of the way. He’d then fallen back and hit his head and arm on the ground. He was in a state of shock, with a possible serious head injury.

As I was administering first aid we were shouted at and threatened by police (who at this point were waiting idly by as the main group of protesters were in the distance). One police officer smirked when I asked him what he thought of the injured protestor on the floor as he walked past. I’m only speaking from my own experience and what I saw, but there is evidence mounting that suggests this was not an isolated incident.

As we move forward, we have now seen the police change tactics. They have realised (and proved) that without heavy police presence, and weaponised riot officers, protests remain largely peaceful.

This should not be misconstrued as an apology though – they haven’t apologised or acknowledged the violence caused on Friday, and will now be using their lack of action at Tuesday’s protest to uphold their claims that they are enforcers of peace and justice, not perpetrators of violence and institutional injustice.

Remain cynical, and stay wary on Saturday’s march.

This account comes from a Kill the Bill protester and first aider who wishes to stay anonymous.

Protests & funeral follow shootings in Myanmar

“Stop the genocide. Stop using lethal weapons," said protester Min Htet Naing.

Feb. 21, 2021, 10:46 AM GMT

By The Associated Press

YANGON, Myanmar — Protesters gathered again Sunday all over Myanmar, a day after security forces shot dead two people at a demonstration in the country’s second biggest city. A funeral was also held for a young woman killed earlier by police.

Mya Thwet Thwet Khine was the first confirmed death among the many thousands who have taken to the streets to protest the Feb. 1 coup that toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The woman was shot on Feb. 9, two days before her 20th birthday, at a protest in the capital Nayptitaw, and died Friday

.

About 1,000 people in cars and bikes gathered Sunday morning at the hospital where her body was held amid tight security, with even the victim’s grandparents who had traveled from Yangon, five hours away, denied entry. When her body was released, a long motorized procession began a drive to the cemetery.

In Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, about 1,000 demonstrators honored the woman under an elevated roadway.

“I want to say through the media to the dictator and his associates, we are peaceful demonstrators,” said protester Min Htet Naing. “Stop the genocide. Stop using lethal weapons.”

Another large protest took place in Mandalay, where police shot dead two people on Saturday near a dockyard as security forces were trying to force workers to load a boat. The workers, like railway workers and truckers and many civil servants, have been taking part in a civil disobedience campaign against the junta.

Shooting broke out after neighborhood residents rushed to the Yadanabon dock to try to assist the workers in their resistance. One of the victims, described as a teenage boy, was shot in the head and died immediately, while another was shot in the chest and died en route to a hospital.

Several other serious injuries were also reported. Witness accounts and photos of bullet casings indicated that the security forces used live ammunition, in addition to rubber bullets, water cannons and slingshots.

The new deaths drew quick and strong reaction from the international community.

“The shooting of peaceful protesters in is beyond the pale,” said British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Twitter. “We will consider further action, with our international partners, against those crushing democracy & choking dissent.”

Britain last week froze assets of and imposed travel bans on three top Myanmar generals, adding to already existing targeted sanctions.

Singapore, which together with Myanmar is part of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, issued a statement condemning the use of lethal force as “inexcusable.”

Urging “utmost restraint” on the part of security forces, it warned that “if the situation continues to escalate, there will be serious adverse consequences for Myanmar and the region.”

Another shooting death took place Saturday night in Yangon in unclear circumstances. According to several accounts on social media, including a live broadcast that showed the body, the victim was a man who was acting as a volunteer guard for a neighborhood watch group. Such groups were established because of fears that authorities were using criminals released from prison to spread panic and fear by setting fires and committing violent acts.

The junta took power after detaining Suu Kyi and preventing Parliament from convening, saying elections last November were tainted by voting irregularities. The election outcome, in which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won by a landslide, was affirmed by an election commission that has since been replaced by the military. The junta says it will hold new elections in a year’s time.

The coup was a major setback to Myanmar’s transition to democracy after 50 years of army rule that began with a 1962 coup. Suu Kyi came to power after her party won a 2015 election, but the generals retained substantial power under the constitution, which was adopted under a military regime.

*************************************************************

A HISTORY of PUSHKIN SQUARE: 1967 to 2021

In Moscow, last Saturday, an estimated 15,000 demonstrators gathered in and around Pushkin Square in the city centre, where clashes with police broke out and demonstrators were roughly dragged off by helmeted riot officers to police buses and detention trucks. Some were beaten with batons.

Navalny’s wife Yulia was among those arrested. Police eventually pushed demonstrators out of the square. Thousands then regrouped along a wide boulevard about a kilometer (half-mile) away, many of them throwing snowballs at the police before dispersing.

Some later went to protest near the jail where Navalny is held. Police made an undetermined number of arrests there.

Perhaps it would bee helpful if we compare what is happening now under Vladimir Putin today with what took place in Pushkin Square in 1967 in the Soviet Communist Era when a demo took place in protesting the arrests of some then political dissidents and the use of Article 70 of the then Criminal Code with regard to its use conflicting with the constitution.

**********************************

OVER 50 years ago on the 22nd, January, 1967 at 6p.m., a group of twenty to thirty young people gathhered in Pushkin Square carrying banners calling for the release of four prisoners and calling for the revision of Article 70 of the Criminal Code. As they unfolded their banners men in plain clothes rushed up from all sides of the square, seized the banners and arrested several people. Most of the others scattered, and among the small group remaining one shouted 'Down with the dictatorship! Release Dobrovolsky!' All the prisoners were taken to the HQ of the Komsomol. After some hours' questioning, two were released (Gabay and Delaunay) and two others (Kushev and Khaustov) taken to the KGB investigation centre* at Lefortovo prison.

Later on the 25th and 26th of January 1967, Gabay and Delaunay were re-arrested and another demonstrator was taken into custody. The houses of all the prisoners were carefully searched; the police were particularly interested in samizdat manuscipts** and confistcated most of them. Some hundred witnesses were questioned by the Prosecutor's Office and the KGB.

SPEECH FOR THE PROSECUTION ***

'Comrade Judges! This year is a great date for us - it is the 50th year of the Soviet Regime. The struggle for the maintenance of public order continues throughout the country. In Moscow, the maintenance of public order is particularly important. We have largely been sussessful in this respect. Imagine, in the circumstances, the astonishment and indignation of the citizens who witnessed what occurred in Pushkin Square on the 22nd, of January 1967. The place which these self-syled demonstrators chose for their activities - the vicinity of a great poet's monument - is a placewhich everyon holds sacred. Their gathering might have attracted large crowds - not, of course, of like-minded citizen but of curious onlookers. Had the Druzhinniki not put a stop to it straight away, it might have led to a large disturbance.'

* * KGB: translated in English as the Committee for State Security, was the secret police force that was the main security agency for the Soviet Union from 1954 until 6 November 1991, when it split into the Federal Security Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation.

** samizdat manuscipts: The remarkably viable underground press in the Soviet Union is called samizdat: The word is a play on Gosizdat, which is a telescoping of Gosudarstvennoye Izdatelstvo, the name of the monopoly‐wielding State Publish ing House. The sam part of the new word means “self.” The whole samizdat—translates as: “We publish ourselves”—that is, not the state, but we, the people.

*** The Demonstration in Pushkin Square by Pavel Litvinov (1968).

Transnational Day of Solidarity

 Saturday 7th May 2016

  We Do Not Call for A Time Limit on Detention, We Demand an End to Detention!

  The last few years have seen an immense rise in protests inside and outside of detention centres. On Saturday May 7th, simultaneous demonstrations will be held around the UK and beyond, to protest against the existence of immigration detention centres and show solidarity with the 30,000 adults and children who are being detained against their will under the Immigration Act every year in the UK – without judicial oversight, a time limit, or adequate access to legal support, translation, and healthcare. We will come together with people inside detention to demand the closure of all detention centres and an end to border and migration controls! 

 May 7th is part of a wider transnational campaign to shut down detention centres and end the inherently abusive and violent system of immigration detention that criminalises, detains, and imprisons people simply because they have chosen or been forced to migrate. Actions also take place in solidarity with wider struggles against borders and migration controls and with people who are living in detention without walls, from Calais to Idomeni. So far actions have been planned across the UK and in The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Iceland. 

 The detention estate in the UK has been expanding for many years, often run by private companies such as G4S, Serco, and GEO, who profit from the imprisonment of people considered to be “illegal” by governments. Detention centres are rarely discussed in the media or on the street, with the Home Office banning the UN from entry into Yarl’s Wood, but May 7th plans to bring to attention their existence and the dehumanising conditions for people imprisoned within them. Along with constant physical and sexual abuses of detainees by detention staff, there have been 2,230 attempted suicides since 2007 (an all-time high), and 26 deaths across the UK detention estate since 1989 – showing the devastating effects of detention on physical and mental health. Despite claiming not to, the Home Office consistently ignores its own guidelines and detains pregnant women, children, or survivors of torture, all continue to be detained at one point or other. We want to challenge the inaction taken by many organisations and charities, who so often rely on having good working relationships with the government.

These demonstrations take place directly in organisation and solidarity with the very people who are currently detained, or who have lived experiences of detention and the actions they take daily to protest their imprisonment and deportation, such as yard occupations, hunger strikes, riots, and resistance to forced removals. We want to let people held inside detention centres who face state violence on a daily basis know that their struggles are not unheard, that people on the outside are listening and want to come together in fighting against detention and deportation.

 Demonstrations will be held at:

Dungavel detention centre (Scotland, UK)

Morton Hall detention centre (Lincoln, UK)

Yarl’s Wood detention centre (Bedfordshire, UK)

Cedars detention centre (West Sussex, UK)

Campsfield detention centre (Oxfordshire, UK)

Brook House detention centre (Gatwick, UK)

Tinsley House detention centre (Gatwick, UK)

Harmondsworth detention centre (Middlesex, UK)

Colnbrook detention centre (Middlesex, UK)

The Verne detention centre (Dorset, UK)

Detention centre near Schiphol Airport (The Netherlands)

Reykjavik (Iceland)

127 bis detention centre (Steenokkerzeel, Belgium)

Coquelles detention centre (near Calais, France)

Märsta detention centre (Sweden)

 Exhibition at ex-detention centre, focusing on deportations and conditions inside detention centres (Frankfurt, Germany)

This day of protest has been called for and supported by groups across borders: Movement for Justice, Leeds No Borders, We Will Rise, The Unity Centre, No Borders Iceland, SOAS Detainee Support, Black Women’s Rape Action Project, Brighton Migrant Solidarity, Campaign to Close Campsfield, Manchester Migrant Solidarity, Anarchist Group of Amsterdam, No Borders Sussex, Migrant Solidarity Group of Hungary, Getting The Voice Out, Faites Votre Jeu!, No Borders Frankfurt, No One Is Illegal Stockholm, Borderline-Europe, Calais Migrant Solidarity, Anti Raids Network, No Borders Women and Non-binary folk, Shake! – Young Voices in Arts, Media, Race & Power, Detained Voices, Close the Verne, Shut Down Morton Hall, South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group, Barbed Wire Britain, Migrant Rights Network, Right to Remain, Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants, No Deportations-Residence Papers for All, Welcome to Hungary, SOS Racismo Madrid, Aktion Mot Deportation, All African Women’s Group, Payday, Women Against Rape, Women of Colour in Global Women’s Strike.

  For stories, experiences, and demands by people held in UK detention centres visit ‘Detained Voices’

  What You Can Do - Join us in organising a demonstration, action, or activity for May 7th

-           Circulate and translate this message across borders

-           Send a message of solidarity and support

-           Cover this story to help awareness of the detention estate and actions spread

-           Connect with people inside detention and let them know about May 7^th

 Detention Centres - 2016 Is The Year We Shut Them Down!

  Contact shutdowndetentioncentres@riseup.net or 07440435814

for more information.

https://shutdowndetentioncentres.wordpress.com/

China's Communists Confront Conflict

Mass Industrial Disruption Threatens in China

LAST September the owner of the company Longmay, the biggest coal company in north east China, declared its plans to lay off 100,000 workers.  The disposal of 40% of the work force at 42 mines in four cities is the biggest cut anyone can remember in this distressed rust belt close to the Russian frontier.

 

In the past China has got away with mass layoffs in state-owned businesses such as Longmay before, usually by suppressing protests and giving payouts and offering job training. 

 

It was OK doing that when the Chinese economy was doing well, and could easily absorb displaced workers.  It's tougher now for the government to avoid labour troubles in depressed coal towns in the north east and other areas as the economy slows.

 

In November, the government of Heilongjiang Province, which owns the Longmay company announced a $600 million bailout that would help the company pay its bonds.  But analysts see the cash infusion as short-term relief that will only postpone the inevitable reckoning.

 

Last April, even before the layoffs were announced, thousands of workers marched in the streets of Hegang, a city of about one million, to protest delayed salaries.  The organisers were arrested and jailed.

 

In October, the company management stifled a protest by locking workers in the mines.  The police patrolled the streets outside the company headquarters on the day of the rally.  A few weeks later, Internet regulators exposed a group of workers discussing a demonstration on an online bulletin board.  They were all taken to the police station, fingerprinted and threatened with jail sentences if they were caught at it again.

 

It seems that Hegang is not the only place where industrial trouble threaten:  the number of strikes and labour protests nationwide in China almost doubled in the first 11months of last year.  Up to 2,354 compared with 1,207 in the same period of 2014 according to China Labour Bulletin, a monitoring group based in Hong Kong.  In November 2014 there was a record of 301 labour incidents.

 

This is of great concern to the Chinese Communist Party because it is suggested that the unwritten social compact in China is that the Communist Party delivers growth, jobs and higher living standards, and in exchange the workers acquiesce to the party's monopoly on power, surrendering the right to organise unions or protest.  It isthought that that deal could fall apart if workers no longer believe the government  is measuring up to its part of the bargain.

 

Javier C..Hernández in the International New York Times writes:

'As China's economy slows after more than two decades of breakneck growth, strikes and labour protests have erupted across the country.  Factories, mines and other businesses are withholding wages and benefits, laying off employees or shutting down altogether.  Worried about their prospects in a gloomy job market, workers are fighting back with unusual ferocity.'

 

Last week, hundreds if not thousands of employees of the Longmay Mining Group, the state owned enterprise, staged what has been described as 'one of the most politically daring over unpaid wages, denouncing the provincial governor as he and other senior leaders gathered for an annual meeting in Beijing.

 

In January, there were more than 500 protests.  More demonstrators have avoided political attacks and have focused on grievances like wage arrears, unpaid pension contributions and unsafe working contributions. 

 

President Xi Jinping, anxious about challenges to the Communist Party, has hit back with a big crackdown on protests, dismantling labour rights organisations and imprisoning activists. Yet at the same time his government is trying to placate the workers, putting pressure on businesses to settle disputes and making billions of dollars available for welfare payments and retraining programs. 

 

This is part of the paradox of the Chinese Communist Party which seems to be full of contradictions of this kind:  it still portrays itself as a socialist guardian of worker's rights as at the same time it embraces capitalism and welcomes tycoons into its ranks.

 

Now according to recent reports more than 30 million workers could lose their jobs in the next two years if the proposed cuts go through.  The government has already declared its plan to lay off 1.8 million steel and coal workers. 

 

Javier C..Hernández writes:  'Mr Xi is grappling with a labor force that is better informed and more easily organized because of social media, and also more assertive, in part because of grass-roots rights groups that have emerged..'

 

IN February, in the capital of Guangdong Province in southern China several hundred workers at the Angang Lianzhong steel plant went of strike last month in reply to a plan to cut wages by about half and to increase the working day to 12 hours for some workers.  The workers responded with the chant of 'Towards the sun, towards freedom!':  then chanting this World War II-era army song.

 

Guangdong, which manufactures much of the world's toys, shoes, clothes and furniture, has been a hotbed of worker discontent.  In recent months many foreign-invested companies have relocated to central China and South East Asia, where wages are mostly lower.  Some of these have moved without paying severance pay or pension payments, in violation of Chinese law. 

 

Protests are reported in every part of China, with labour trouble most heavy in manufacturing and construction industries, which account for two-thirds of the demonstrations.

 

Last year, most of the protests were against private employers.  Yet, the actions last week in Shuangyashan, a mining town near the Russian border in Heilongjiang Province, this according to Mr. Hernández, suggests that the 'unrest could spread to businesses owned by the government if Mr. Xi pushes ahead with efforts to overhaul the economy by reining in state industries'.

 

After the provincial governor of Shuangyashan in North East China held up the company of Longmay as an example of how the state could successfully restructure the nationalised enterprises without hurting the workers. He made this claim during the annual session of China's legistlature, the National People's Congress.

 

In spite of all the unrest there is as yet no sign of the rise of a national labour movement.  The authorities have worked hard to prevent workers from joining forces.  The Chinese government prohibits workers from setting up independent trade unions, and insists that they join the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, which is controlled by the Communist Party.

 

At the same time the authorities block social media, shutting down the accounts of labour activists, deleting news reports of strikes, and monitoring chat forums for signs of collective action.  In December, the authorities arrested Zeng Feiyang, one of China's most prominent labour organisers, accusing him of 'gathering a crowd to disturb social order .'  Three other activists were detained as well.

 

Mr. Zeng, 41, had organised successful campaigns against influential factories and stae-owned companies in Guagdong and tutored a generation of labour activists.  After his arrest, state media began a smear campaign accusing him of hiring prostitutes, stealing from workers and conspiring with hostile foreign forces.

 

Recently another labour activist, Wu Guijun, in nearby Shenzhen, said he had started warning workers against holding demonstrations, as he fears that they might be arrested as well. 

People's Assembly: We've Been Here Before!

ACCORDING to the organisers well over 4,000 people attended the People's Assembly last Saturday throughout the day.  The organisers also claimed they brought together every organisation fighting and resisting austerity for the first time since the financial crash over five years ago.  They maintain that they have captured the energy, potential and hope of millions of people affected by austerity, it called for concrete action to be undertaken across the country. 
This, they say, includes:
A mass national protest at the Tory Party conference on 29 September in Manchester;
A day of civil disobedience on 5 November in every town and city across the country;
Local People's Assemblies to be established in every area possible;
A national demonstration in London in the new year.

In short yet more marching together, and inconclusive demos.  More opportunities for left-wing organisations to sell their newspapers. 
The organisers insist we now need to create an infrastructure that can support the local organisations and take forward the national initiatives that were launched at the assembly. To do this, we need your support. The People's Assembly are launching an urgent financial appeal to raise the funds to do this.
Please consider making a monthly donation, or a one off donation if you prefer. You can do this on the website here: http://thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/donate/

Many of the big names on the British left were there such as comedian Mark Steel, Caroline Lucas MP., Owen Jones, writer, and Ken Loach film maker.  It was also a 'dear Do'! with tickets at £8 and £4 unwaged.  Some asked how a movement of the grassroots could be built by the trade union bosses, and celebrities in the media and politics.  Other worries was the influence of the Labour Party in all this.
One lad called Ray, a veteran campaigner, got it right when he said:  'It's all talk and hot air'.  He continued: 
'What for?  To agree to go on another march?  It's what's been going on for 40 years.  I'm 71 in September...  Only radical action on the streets will change anything.'

But even there he's probably optimistic, for the riots of 2011 change nothing.  The thing is that inconclusive marches and demos like those already put on by the TUC disillusion people.  While street riots can often provoke a public reaction and that calls for more authoritarian measures.  Previous people's forums and assembles a decade ago eventually faded away.

ROCHDALE CARE WORKERS DEMO

ON Saturday 29th June there will be a march and rally in support of 114 UNISON members who have already taken 5 days action and are about to embark on 4 more, in an attempt to bring their employer, Future Directions CIC, back to the table to re-look at the drastic cuts that have been imposed. The company, established by Calderstones NHS to deliver services at a reduced cost, took on the contract from Rochdale Council to provide supported living services in the Borough, knowing that they would be unable to maintain terms and conditions of staff. Cuts include losses to pay, removal of enhancements, reduced sick pay scheme and holiday entitlement. Nearly 100 unfair dismissal cases will be lodged for members this week.

The march and rally in Rochdale Town Centre on Saturday 29th June, will start at 11:00 am from the Butts. The route through the centre of the town is short and will be followed by a rally on the Butts, ending at approximately 12 noon. Further detailed information and a map will be available later this week. We urgently need volunteers who can steward the march and rally, who will be available from 10:00 am till 12:30 pm on Saturday. For more details, please contact myself or Karen Longmire at k.longmire@unison.co.uk, or 07957 504 885.
The fight that this group of workers face today could be that of any union member tomorrow, and I hope that you will issue this appeal for support to our sister Unions in the region. The Branch will also need support in order to sustain action, and messages of support and donations to the strike fund can be sent to Helen Harrison, Branch Secretary, Rochdale UNISON, 45 Richard Street, Rochdale, OL11 1DU. Cheques can be made payable to Rochdale UNISON. 

U.S. Syndicalists Against Drones

MEMBERS of the Syndicalist Action Network (SAN) will join with others in actions of protest and
civil resistance against the killer drones of the United States
Central Intelligence Agency [the CIA].

Join us at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, 29 June 2013 outside the main gates
of the central headquarters of the CIA — at the 900 block of Dolly
Madison Boulevard in McLean, Virginia.

We will protest and oppose this federal agency's criminal involvement
with the use of the killer drones against people in Pakistan, Yemen,
and a number of other countries.

We will seek accountability for the war crimes committed by the U.S.
killer drone strikes.

Civil disobedience and resistance are being planned.

Hot Money & Turkey's Brave New World

AS the glass towers and shopping malls begin to dominate the historical centre of Istanbul, it is now becoming questionable as to whether the projects that gave rise to the uprising in Taksim Square are financially sustainable.  Two weeks ago (6th, June 2013), Landon Thomas Jr., in the International Herald Tribune wrote:  'It is not often that the rock-throwing street protester and the seasoned bond investor reach a powerful economic insight at more or less the same instant.'

The worry is that the so-called 'hot money' that has been flowing into Turkey from investors after high-yielding assets, and financing all these malls and skyscrapers, are almost all short-term loans and that they could just as easily ditch the country.  In 2013, Turkey will need $221 billion of financing from outside investors, and most of this will be in short-term loans. 

Preparations are now underway for commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish republic in 1923.  In response to this Mr. Erdogan's government has announced a $400 billion public works program that equals over half the size of the $770 billion Turkish economy.  Most of these are big projects that will have a highly visible impact on Istanbul, which is precisely what is pissing-off the protesters:  planners are after a third bridge spanning the Bosporus at a price of $3 billion; a third airport, designed to be the world's largest, at a cost of $10 billion; and an Istanbul financial centre to compete with Dubai and London. 

Some commentators are now comparing Turkey to the situations that prevailed in Ireland and Spain as the euro crisis hit the European Union.  Richard Segal, a credit analyst at Jefferies investment bank in London, has said:  'This looks like a huge debt bubble'.  He also said that Turkey was more vulnerable than other emerging markets pumped up by hot money in so far as domestic factors, like the possibility of riots might lead to political unrest, which would encourage investors to look for an exit, and the possibility of an increase in interest rates in the United States could reduce the flow of funds to emerging markets like Turkey. 

Today, Tim Arango, in the International Herald Tribune reports that some of the liberals who have supported Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the past are now deserting him and his Justice & Development Party, owing to the violent government crack-downs on the demonstrations in the streets. 

Blackstone Edge & Bury Black Pudding

LAST Sunday, a gathering took place on Blackstone Edge in Littleborough to commemorate the Chartist revival of 1846, when 30,000 Chartists gathered under this rocky outcrop on August Bank Holiday Sunday.  This time there were about 50 present and a choir.

Paul Salverson, a Labour Councillor and Northern historian spoke about the need for more regional government in the North.  A lecturer from Manchester University outlined the significance of the occassion to current events and present-day politics; the decline in turnout in the voting in the recent local elections were noted.  Paul Salverson pondered the timidity of all the main stream politicians which had allowed the outsider Ukip Party to triumph.

Ultimately flags were raised and songs were sung, and some of us adjourned to the White House to drink Joseph Holt's bitter and in my case to eat some Bury Black Pudding on a spread of mashed potatoes and onion.  Ominously as we decended Blackstone Edge we caught sight of the stripped carcase of a fully grown sheep with its rib-cage gleeming white in the sunlight.

The next gathering is likely to be on Sunday 4th May 2014.

If you would like to contribute a song or reading, or if you are willing to lead a walk up to Blackstone Edge from one of the valley towns or railway stations, please contact 
Gwyneth Morgan at: gwyneth@blackstoneedgegathering.org.uk 

PCS Walkouts in Defence of Jobs

PCS national programme of action in defence of jobs, pay and conditions. Come and support the one hour walkouts this week in Manchester:

1. Equality & Human Rights Commission, Arndale Centre , 11.00-12.00, Wednesday 8 May. Picket on Corporation St, opposite Selfridges.

2. British Council, 11.00 -12.00, Friday 10 May. Picket on Whitworth St between Oxford St and Princess St.

Fore more information go to:

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/pcs_comment/index.cfm/id/EF876480-F8B2-450D-83294E07286780FE

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/news_centre/index.cfm/id/5ED34771-99A1-4C1D-8ED919ED7CBB88DD

In Solidarity,

Richard Lighten

Secretary, Manchester Trades Union Council

secmtuc@gmail.com

07841411013

manchestertuc.org

Worker' Memorial Day

Workers' Memorial Day and TUC Day of Action to defend health and safety –
28 April 2012
North West
Blackburn
Assemble 13.00 at the Town Hall step for speeches. At 13.45 march to the Worker's Memorial Tree at Northgate led by lone piper. At 14.00 - Two minutes silence and laying of wreaths. For more information contact ig@eyegal.demon.co.uk
Chorley
To attend the rally in Chorley, meet at the Park Gates, Astley Park, at 5.45pm on 27 April 2012
Liverpool
There will be a rally at 12 noon on the South Piazza of Georges Dock Building
(Corner of Mann Island and the Strand) Pier Head, Liverpool L3 1DD. Speakers include Len McCluskey- General Secretary Unite and Simon Weller- National Organiser ASLEF. For more information contact John Sheridan on 07814 197734
Liverpool
Assemble at the UCATT Memorial, Hunter Street at 11.45 a.m. Speakers: Luciana Berger, MP; Councillor Frank Prendergast, Lord Mayor of Liverpool and Bill Parry, UCATT Regional Council Chairman. Contact UCATT Tel: 0151 228 8455
Manchester
March and rally. Gather near CIS Building, Corporation Street /Miller Street at noon. The March will move off at 12.30 led by a band and march up Corporation Street, and Cross Street into Albert Square for a rally. At 13:00 there will be a minutes silence to 'Remember the Dead'
Speakers will include trade union safety reps, members of FACK and MPs who will speak on 'Fighting like hell for the Living' against the current government attacks on workers' health and safety. For more information contact the Greater Manchester Hazards Centre For more details contact mail@gmhazards.org.uk
Preston
Gather at 11.30am in Flag Market, minutes silence at 12 noon, service and speakers, more information from
psrtradecouncil@googlemail.com
The link to the website is: http://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/tuc-20489-f0.cfm#NW

May Day!

Celebrate
May Day 2012
International Workers Day
Monday 7th May 2012
11am Assemble Bexley Square, Salford
near Salford Crescent Station
Buses 10, 27, 93, 98, 110, 137, 138
Breakfast butties and speakers
12 noon March Departs
12.15 pm March joins people with disabilities
assemble outside Moon Under Water
Pub, Deansgate
1 pm Rally Cathedral Gardens
BURY
TUC
Speakers from local, national and
international campaigns
2.30pm Social Event
Friends Meeting House, Mount Street
Entertainment, Food and Activities for
Children
Fight The Cuts
Build Trades Councils
www.manchestertuc.org
07984870602

Report on last Sunday's Spanish demo

On May 15th more than 50,000 people demonstrated in the streets of 50 cities around Spain under one single slogan: “Real democracy now: we aren't merchandise in the hands of politicians and bankers.” For the first time since the Spanish Transition, the demonstrations are not organized by either political parties or trade unions, but by a platform made of citizens, “Democracia real ya”, (Real Democracy Now).

They have both very well founded complaints—more than 21% of the population is unemployed (40% among the youth), the work situation is unstable, social benefits have been dramatically cut in the last year, and political corruption scandals increase every day— and very specific proposals for change. Not one television channel reported on this mass demonstration, just some newspapers told about what was happening. At the end of the day, the police charged and arrested 25 people, some of them minors. A small spontaneous group decided to spend the night in Puerta del Sol (in the center of the city of Madrid), as a way of protest. Meanwhile, a revolution has taken place on the Internet. #15mani has become the third highest ranking twitter hashtag in the world. A never-ending flux of information has crossed the World Wide Web by means of twitter, YouTube, menéame o periodismo humano, partly because the traditional mass media have, simply, ignored the protest. The next morning, all the political parties attempted to discredit the protest, while the number of demonstrators continued to increase. The Spanish public radio labelled the protesters as young bourgeoisie, thus provoking the anger of a listener, Cristina, calling from Burgos, who dedicated to them a series of eloquent words on live radiocast. Then the morning, at 5 a.m., the national police violently cleared the sit-in, formed by pacific people who answered to the police violence screaming “no to violence, no to violence”. The demonstrators, spread out in the adjacent streets, were beaten by the police, charged with €1,500 fines, and dispersed by the national and regional police.

PSOE, the party that is currently in power, appropriates the same discourse it had previously attempted to repress and uploads on its website the manifesto that had originated the protests. On 17th May at 8 p.m, Puerta del Sol in Madrid was the stage of a really mass audience that it is still alive in this moment. The number of Spanish cities joining to this protest is increasing; moreover, the Spanish embassy in London as well as in other European cities, such as Vic in France or Bologna in Italy, are beginning their protests, too. On 17th May, the authorities dismantled another sit-in in Granada violently. Madrid city council installed signal-jammers in order to hold up streaming; in addition, public cameras changed their trip to avoid taking any demonstration images. Only the TV channel Al-Jazeera aired this movement from the beginning, while the Spanish public television showed Pedro Almodovar’s new movie in Cannes Film Festival today. Democracia Real Ya! is a website where you can find the manifesto, proposals, information about the sit-ins and other relevant news, but for unknown reasons people have not been able to access to it for a long time, until 3 am on May 18th. This evening, Esperanza Aguirre’s electoral committee declared the pacific sit-in in Puerta del Sol illegal, although more than 5,000 people are still there fighting for a Real Democracy Now and surrounded by the police. Aguirre argues the sit-in could be damaging for the municipal elections, which are being held this coming Sunday.

A funeral on wedding day - 'Mourning the Death of Our Services'

UK Uncut have a called a demonstration in Manchester on the day of THAT wedding, this Friday 29th April. Here's the press release:

In October 2010, the country learnt of the infliction of a terminal illness on its public sector. 

We will be gathering on the 29th of April to hold a living wake commiserating the demise of our vital services, and celebrating all that they have achieved. 

We would like to take this opportunity to invite you to pay your respects. 

The funeral will start at 12.30 p.m. at Manchester Town hall where you are invited to share your experiences and memories of those we have loved and will lose. We will then embark on a funeral procession bearing coffins in respect for The NHS, Education, Welfare, Immigration and The Arts. 

Please come dressed in black, flowers are welcome. 

We hope that you can join us in our grief and make this day memorable.

A facebook page for the event can be found here.

More on the TUC March: From Manchester to Hyde Park

Up before dawn to pick up some comrades to get to Manchester Piccadilly for the 8.00 am Unite charter train. Arrived London Euston 10.50 am. Make our way to the Embankment for 11.00 start of march (30 minute walk). Just crossed Euston Road and walked into the ranks of the Camden against the cuts feeder column as we walked along in the spring sunshine to the strains of Bob Marley, more people joined the ranks at every corner. Marley now drowned out by a pipe band. Just before we got to the Embankment we came across our first GOON SQUAD about 20 strong all dressed in black and masked up, I commented to my comrades that it was obvious what their intention was. Upon arrival at the embankment it became apparent that we would not be able to make our way through to the massed ranks of the Unite contingent. As we picked our way through the crowds we passed the main Unison column headed up by a New Orleans jazz band, on past the R.M.T. headed up by their Easington branch brass band, pausing to say hello to Bob (Crow) and Alex (Gordon ) we found our way to the U.C.A.T.T. column which incorporated the justice for Shrewsbury pickets detachment . During our passage through the ranks we had encountered several similarly sized and clad GOON SQUADS It was clear they had been briefed to stay separate to avoid the chance of them all being KETTLED. We started towards Hyde park at about midday about 100 yards down the embankment I was charged with carrying the Shrewsbury banner which I did with pride until our arrival at Hyde park at 3.45 pm, along the route we saw graffiti on walls and The Ritz had been re-painted but we didn't see any violence or confrontation: on the contrary the police seemed unusually laid back. We couldn't get near enough to the stage to heckle Millibore, even had we been in time to hear his drivel. We left the park about 4.15 pm to head back to Euston, passing droves of people still heading into the park (by this time the police were filtering the columns, 100 in 100 out ).

I would estimate the marchers to be in excess of 500,000 all angry, all loud . On the way back we saw a GOON SQUAD starting a fire at the crossroads on Regent Street, goading the police to provoke a reaction. Half a million people marched against the cuts 200 got arrested, WHICH MADE THE NEWS? A good start which needs to be carried on with political resistance in the May council elections, not as reported on Radio Lancashire by the chairman of Lancashire T.U.C. with more protests during the summer and autumn commendable as that is. We must have an alternative politically to the three major parties who all want to cut. Lancashire County Council head-hunted a guy from Knowsley Borough Council on a six figure salary to orchestrate the cuts - I've got a suggestion how to save a six figure sum!

HASTA la VICTORIA SIEMPRE! by BLACKLISTED

Reflections of a TUC Marcher from Leeds

There is something a bit dismal about marches like one the TUC organised on Saturday. Hundreds of thousands turn out expecting not to be taken notice of. Their particular calls to save whatever service they most dread losing are but complaints to the wind. The TUC have hitched their wagon to the Labour party and it is headed along on the capitalist free-way. There must be some cuts, so who knows who will keep more of their share, and who will be ditched? How can solidarity survive? So the TUC demand is for 'jobs and growth'? The only way to create jobs in this way of thinking is to secure investment from capitalists and provide them with nice dividends. As if to make this more respectable the TUC are calling for 'a million green jobs'. Those who are excluded from this arrangement might wonder why they don’t call for full employment. Unions have always struck me as self-centred special interest societies, with career bureaucrats who cannot be entirely trusted. They do a lot of good in their way, but do not seem to aspire to provide any fresh thinking, or speak for the whole of society as any self-respecting organisation of 7 million should have the cojones to do. After the bank bail out and the credit boom, they should be trying to articulate some conclusions about the monopoly over money creation and the very selective availability of it for those who control it. There does seem to be unlimited availability of money for specific abstract functions but a scarcity for vital functions. The function of money as a means of exchange can therefore be challenged. By calling for full employment such a challenge is made. To borrow from Ann Pettifor, we can afford whatever we can do. Work is central to this argument, because it is the work that creates the wealth, not the wealth that creates the jobs. We simply have to identify the work that needs doing, and manage the demand in the economy to make sure the jobs are created. That might mean reducing taxes, or increasing central government spending, or allow local government to borrow or even create currency. Who can deny that the benefits of full employment would be enormous? If the TUC wanted they could plan this, get the Labour Party to endorse it and then get it on the international agenda. It would be a start.

TUC Demo

Impressions of the March 26th Demo:

This demonstration can best be described as the contrast between the TUC cart horse and the Anarchist Trojan Horse. A TUC march of 500,000 anti-cuts protestors through the streets of London achieved absolutely nothing except providing a platform for trade union and Labour worthies. The real action took place away from the official march, where the symbols of finance capital were attacked. As the Wobblies put it "direct action gets the goods". The subsequent press hysteria relating to the actions outside of the main march proves the point that the real challenge to capital and the state is to be found amongst UK Uncut activists and various anarchist formations. The compliance of the authoritarian left with the official demonstration was clear for all to see. This was compounded by the pathetic calls of the SWP and the Socialist Party for the TUC to call a one day General Strike which recognises the legitimacy of these organs of quasi-state control. The political impotence of the authoritarian left compares unfavourably with the dynamism and creativity of anarchists and other libertarians who embrace direct action and offer the only way forward to defeat the ConDem Government policies.

'I can't get over how organised these anarchists are!'

photo by Dominic Alves

A PUNDIT on Radio 4 yesterday said: 'I can't get over how organised these anarchists are!' He and Brian Paddick, a former senior Metropolitan police officer, marveled at how the anarchist last Saturday had managed to stay ahead of the police in London. Actually it seems that the chaos on Oxford Street and elsewhere was the result of fast moving activists from the young anarchist 'Black Bloc' and UK Uncut.

It had been an early kick off for us up North on Saturday morning when we, along with thousands of other trade unionists, caught the trains from Manchester Piccadilly station. It was a good humoured crowd that landed at Euston armed with whistles, tabards and banners from the Unite union. Oh yes, and the regional officers were handing out arrest cards from Thompsons Solicitors - just in case. Then it was off down to the Embankment for most of them while others made for the feeder marches from the University of London.

After sipping tea at Albertinis near the RMT officers near Euston we made for Holborn only to catch a bus to Oxford Street and the store of John Lewis where my companion wanted to buy some moisturiser before joining the TUC march on Piccadilly en route for Hyde Park. The stores round Oxford Street like Boots and Top Shop already had police outside and by that time it was 2 p.m. and the Black Block and UK Uncut were surrounding our bus as it skirted round Oxford Circus. Time for another cup of tea - this time English Breakfast in John Lewis - which provided us with a safe haven to watch the riot police vans at the back. Text messages told us of breakaways from the main march and riot police on Oxford Street with a possible kettle forming at Oxford Circus. Suddenly, sirens wailing, nine riot wagons with lights flashing tore off towards the trouble. 'Isn't it a shame', said one woman in the Coffee Bar. Then, on advice from the local Cockneys, we sneaked out by the backdoor of John Lewis anxious to dodge most of the trouble and head for the main protest at Hyde Park. 'I wouldn't go there; if you don't have to!' said a security guard on the street outside as it seemed by that time that things were kicking off all over the show around Oxford Street.

Yet, determined to show our faces, we headed off down Oxford Street past Bond Street tube station and Vodafone. Others carrying Unison banners were walking back in the opposite direction saying that they'd been on their feet since 9 a.m. and had had enough. By then messages were coming in to say that the Ritz had been trashed and Fortnum & Mason occupied and it was then 'la hora de comer' in Spain (3-4 p.m.), so we retreated, or skedaddled, back to John Lewis on Oxford Street for a plate of grilled Mackerel and salad, and a glass of tap water. After that it was time to think about getting the Unite train from Euston station even though it was 4.30 and John from the Leeds contingent still hadn't got into Hyde Park.

Later, near Euston in the Exmouth Arms, people there with the NUT from Liverpool were complaining that the anarchists would get all the news coverage. That hasn't altogether been the case and a professor on the Radio 4 Today program this morning said that the 'Black Bloc' was only a small faction among the anarchists, pointing out that anarchists were in favour of organisation but objected to top-down bosses and bureaucrats. Today's web page of the BBC says: 'The label "anarchist" has been widely used to describe violent protesters' and asks, 'what does it mean to be an anarchist nowadays?' This morning, interviewed by John Humphries, Dr Alan Finlayson, a reader in politics at Swansea University, whose research interests include protest movements in the UK, analysed last Saturday's protest including the anarchists.