Wednesday, 11 February 2015
Donald Rooum: a biographical history.
DONALD Rooum (born 20 April 1928) is an English anarchist cartoonist and writer. He has a long association with Freedom Press who have published seven volumes of his Wildcat cartoons.
In 1963 he played a key role in exposing Harold Challenor, a corrupt police officer who tried to frame him.
Biography[edit]Donald Rooum was born in Bradford. He registered as a conscientious objector but was pressurised by his family into doing two years military service, starting January 1947. A resettlement grant following his discharge allowed him to study commercial design at Bradford Regional Art School from 1949 to 1953. Rooum's portrait by Frank Lisle, one of his lecturers of the time, is in Wakefield Gallery.
From 1954 to 1966 Rooum worked as a layout artist and typographer in London advertising agencies, then as a lecturer in typographic design at the London College of Printing until 1983. He studied life sciences at the Open University from 1973 to 1979, and was awarded a first class degree in 1980. He was elected Member of the Institute of Biology (incorporated into the Society of Biology in October 2009) and became a chartered biologist in 2004.
Rooum says that he first became interested in anarchism in 1944 when he visited Speaker's Corner in London while on a Ministry of Food scheme which used schoolboys to pick hops in Kent. He subscribed to War Commentary, thus beginning a connection with Freedom Press which has continued for over sixty years. During that time he has been a writer for and an editor of Freedom, the name to which War Commentary reverted after the end of the Second World War.
In 1949, Rooum began to raise his profile in activist circles, participating in the annual anarchist summer school.[1] The working title of Frank Lisle's 1952 portrait was The Anarchist. Rooum became an outdoor speaker Market Street, Bradford, then at Speaker's Corner.
In the long-running feud between Vernon Richards (long-time editor of Freedom, described as 'The anarchist weekly until the early 1960s) and Freedom on the one hand, and Albert Meltzer and Black Flag on the other, Rooum sided with Richards.
As to his theoretical position as an anarchist, Rooum stated: "The most influential source is Max Stirner. I am happy to be called a Stirnerite anarchist, provided 'Stirnerite' means one who agrees with Stirner's general drift, not one who agrees with Stirner's every word." An Anarchist FAQ reports that "From meeting anarchists in Glasgow during the Second World War, long-time anarchist activist and artist Donald Rooum likewise combined Stirner and anarcho-communism."
In 1952, Philip Sansom invited Rooum to draw a regular cartoon strip for The Syndicalist and he contributed Scissor Bill. The name derived from an IWW name for a bosses' yes-man. From 1960, his cartoons started appearing in such outlets as She, The Daily Mirror, Private Eye and The Spectator. Rooum has had a long relationship, with interruptions, with Peace News, his first work appearing for them in 1962. Originals of his cartoons for Peace News up to 1971, together with some for The Spectator, are stored at the British Cartoon Archive.
In 1974, Sansom invited Rooum to provide a cartoon for a monthly magazine he was working on,Wildcat. Rooum created a character of the same name. Wildcat ceased publication in 1975 but in 1980, when Sansom was again working on Freedom, he persuaded Rooum and the editorial collective to revive the Wildcat comic strip, which has been a feature ever since.
Tuesday, 10 February 2015
Rio Tinto, Valentine's Day & Worker's Rights
RIO Tinto, the global mining giant, is a serial violator of workers' rights. It also has a long history of abuse of human rights and destruction of the environment.
This year, IndustriALL Global Union has teamed with with two NGOs (Earthworks and the London Mining Network) to put pressure on Rio Tinto where it hurts.
It turns out that the world's largest jewellery retailer sources its diamonds and gold from Rio Tinto.
And Valentine's Day is a big sales day for that company.
We've decided that there could be no better time to tell the public about the connection and to encourage that jewellery company to tell Rio Tinto to clean up its act.
Whether you celebrate Valentine's Day or don't, whether you buy jewellery or don't, I'm sure you care about workers' rights and will join me in sending this very powerful message to Rio Tinto.
Please take a moment to send off your message here:
http://www.labourstart.org/go/valentine
To learn much more about the fight for workers' rights at Rio Tinto, go here:
http://www.industriall-union.org/dont-tarnish-your-love-with-rio-tintos-dirty-diamonds-and-gold
Do these online campaigns work?
Just ask the workers at IFF in Dandenong, Australia. We told you about their occupation of their workplace a few days ago, and asked you to send messages of protest and solidarity in support of the IUF's global online campaign. Thousands of you did so -- thanks. The workers have won a spectacular victory. Read more here:
http://www.iuf.org/w/?q=node/3981
Please share this message with your friends, family and fellow union members.
Solidarity forever!
Eric Lee
This year, IndustriALL Global Union has teamed with with two NGOs (Earthworks and the London Mining Network) to put pressure on Rio Tinto where it hurts.
It turns out that the world's largest jewellery retailer sources its diamonds and gold from Rio Tinto.
And Valentine's Day is a big sales day for that company.
We've decided that there could be no better time to tell the public about the connection and to encourage that jewellery company to tell Rio Tinto to clean up its act.
Whether you celebrate Valentine's Day or don't, whether you buy jewellery or don't, I'm sure you care about workers' rights and will join me in sending this very powerful message to Rio Tinto.
Please take a moment to send off your message here:
http://www.labourstart.org/go/valentine
To learn much more about the fight for workers' rights at Rio Tinto, go here:
http://www.industriall-union.org/dont-tarnish-your-love-with-rio-tintos-dirty-diamonds-and-gold
Do these online campaigns work?
Just ask the workers at IFF in Dandenong, Australia. We told you about their occupation of their workplace a few days ago, and asked you to send messages of protest and solidarity in support of the IUF's global online campaign. Thousands of you did so -- thanks. The workers have won a spectacular victory. Read more here:
http://www.iuf.org/w/?q=node/3981
Please share this message with your friends, family and fellow union members.
Solidarity forever!
Launch of book on Blacklist Scandal!
COME & JOIN THOSE OF US
WHO KICKED-OFF THE CAMPAIGN
AGAINST THE BLACKLIST IN 2003:
The venue is literally yards away from
where it all began in Crown Square
in 2003 with the Manchester lads:
Steve Acheson, Graham Bowker,
Colin Trousdale, Tony Jones,
and Sean Keaveney.
Book launch & then party from 9pm
Kings Arms booked for BSG event Friday 1st May from 7pm.
Everyone else - spread the word (posters & flyers will be sorted from my end)
'Blacklisted' - the book by Phil Chamberlain & Dave Smith
will be available at the above venue on the 1st, May.
Otherwise, the book on the blacklisting scandal will be available
to buy from the first week in March. Pre-orders are available
via the New Internationalist website: http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/
In order to maximise the impact in the General Election period (we are still campaigning for a full public inquiry) it would be very useful if people visited their local library & bookshops and asked them to get copies in. BSG is asking for supporters to arrange speaking dates at union meetings, universities, bookshops, festivals throughout March, April and May. Thank you to all those who have already been in contact. If you wish to arrange a meeting, contact blacklistsg@gmail.com
Blacklist Support Group
Rochdale Green Backs Blacklist Campaign!
Yet, Councillor Cleavage Supports Zero Hour Contracts!
MARK Hollinrake the Green Party candidate for Rochdale, in a letter in tomorrow's Rochdale Observer, backed the case for an 'ethical approach to employment and the rights of workers' and argued that councils should 'pay their workers a living wage; not using companies which operate a blacklist (where people are not employed due to being involved with a trade union).'Mr. Hollinrake in his letter stated:
'An ethical approach to employment and the rights of workers is being put forward by the Green Party as the way forward.'
He went on to claim that the Greens as being 'the only party against austerity and cuts' and in believing 'that fair treatment is the basis of a better politics' and called on 'all parties to agree to promoting a fair campaign both in the local and general elections taking place in May.'
His call follows a series of dirty smears and negative campaigning against his political opponents, issued by the sitting M.P. for Rochdale, Mr. Simon Danczuk and his political cronies in the Rochdale Labour Party. Nor has it helped that Mr. Danczuk's wife, at present a Labour councillor in the Kingsway ward, has just gone on record as to defend the practice of zero hours contracts. Something which at last month's full council meeting the leader of Rochdale M.B.C., Richard Farnell and the local Labour Party denounced. Perhaps Simon Danczuk will now make his own position clear with regard to 'zero hour hour contracts' and blacklisting by companies awarded building and other contracts by the Rochdale MBC.
His he in bed with his wife politically as well as literally?
Last year, Danczuk was seen playing footsie with Nigel Farage when the two politicians spent an hour chatting to each other in the Anchor Tap pub near Tower Bridge in London. Farage drank three pints of Samuel Smith's Old Brewery bitter while Danczuk was on lager during the meeting. Last year, a mate of mine had a drink in the House of Commons with Danczuk, and watched him get giddily drunk while he talked about making money out of a book on Cyril Smith.
One hopes now that Simon danczuk will make a principled stand on 'zero hours' and blacklisting.
Blacklist Support Group Infomation
1. High Court Group Litigation - hearing
The blacklisting show trial involving virtually all of the major contractors and around 300 blacklisted workers continues. The British justice system moves at a glacially slow pace - but we are getting closer.
Friday 13th February
Royal Courts of Justice
The Strand
assemble outside from 9:30am (if its pouring down - go straight in)
2. Smith v Carillion
There was a reserved judgement at Court of Appeal - which means we should get the decision as a written judgement in around 2-3 months time. The judgement is expected to have implications not just for blacklisted union members but the employment status of agency workers and the scope of human rights in UK employment law.
Many thanks to the pro-bono legal team David Renton, Declan Owens & John Hendy QC from the Free Representation Unit, without whose expert legal support this test case would have gone nowhere. Many thanks to all the blacklisted workers and supporters who have turned up to the many hearings and showed solidarity over the 6 years this case has been running.
I have had requests from a number of people to explain the legal issues of this case. It is not a short 2 sentence explanation, so it will be sent in a separate email - if you are not interested in the legal technicalities of the case, simply ignore it when it arrives.
3. Blacklist Support Group AGM
Saturday 7th March (3pm)
Jury's Inn, Jamaica Street, Glasgow
The AGM is being held in conjunction with the construction rank & file national meeting.
All blacklisted workers welcome to attend and vote. All supporters welcome to attend.
4. Blacklisting film
The Arts Council have just provided a grant to filmmaker Lucy Parker to develop research for film on Blacklisting. Lucy has visited many BSG events in the past and has interviewed a number of people. She is hoping to speak to lots of people over the next months and will be organising some events to bring people together for discussions (more info soon). Lucy will be at the BSG AGM in Glasgow in March. If you have been affected by blacklisting directly or indirectly would be great to hear from you.
h - if you're going and would be willing to speak please get in touch. lucy.c.parker@gmail.com
5. Blacklisted - the book
The book by Phil Chamberlain & Dave Smith on the blacklisting scandal will be available to buy from the first week in March. Pre-orders are available via the New Internationalist website: http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/
In order to maximise the impact in the General Election period (we are still campaigning for a full public inquiry) it would be very useful if people visited their local library & bookshops and asked them to get copies in. BSG is asking for supporters to arrange speaking dates at union meetings, universities, bookshops, festivals throughout March, April and May. Thank you to all those who have already been in contact. If you wish to arrange a meeting, contact blacklistsg@gmail.com
Some quotes about the book attached.
6.Construction Safety Campaign vigil at the inquest into Rene Tkacik's death who was killed on Crossrail
Monday 23rd February
St. Pancras Coroners court
Camley Street
Camden
NC1 4PP
7. Institute of Employment Rights website provides an excellent resource: http://www.ier.org.uk/resources/blacklisting
Blacklist Support Group
Sunday, 8 February 2015
Ashton jobseeker sanctioned for three-months for making a spelling mistake!
In his magnificent book " Religion and the rise of Capitalism", R.H. Tawney, stated: "Most tyrannies have contented themselves with tormenting the poor." You could say that this just about sums up the prevailing ideology that dominates policy within this wretched Tory led coalition government which is hell-bent on turning us into doormats for billionaires. The UK might be the sixth richest country on earth but last year, over 1 million sought help from the charity run foodbanks.
One of the things that is driving people to turn to foodbanks, is the staggering rise in the number of people on benefits who are being sanctioned. We also seeing an increase in the rate of suicides that are linked to benefit cuts and sactions which are often both unfair or possibly illegal. The emphasis is now on what the Jobcentre calls "off-flow" which measures the number of people coming off benefits and not necessarily the number who go into jobs. Campaigning groups like Tameside Against the Cuts, are now being set up across the country in opposition to the social injustice that is being meted out to unemployed people in receipt of state benefits. Last week (Thursday) one member of the group spoke to a jobseeker who was sanctioned by the Ashton Jobcentre for three-months for making a spelling mistake. It is to be hoped that this person was told to appeal and to apply for a hardship payment. The following account by Charlotte is copied from her blog, the Poor Side of Life:
"You couldn’t make it up… Well actually it’s become the norm to be sanctioned for making a spelling mistake. A gentleman who spoke to us on our Thursday demo told us that he was put on a three month sanction at Ashton Under Lyne Jobcentre for making a spelling mistake. He wasn’t given a chance to correct it, or a chance to explain it. He was told very bluntly “we are sanctioning you for spelling this word incorrectly on a form. This will prevent you from getting work so therefore is a sanctionable offence”. This man received a three month sanction for this so called offence. No one bothered to ask him if he was dyslexic or had any other issues which may have prevented him from spelling the word correct. Neither is it a crime to spell a word incorrectly. Indeed we are all human and are prone to making mistakes. This is shocking but had become the norm at this Jobcentre and jobcentres up and down the country. It reminded me of why Jobcentres were created in the first place. They were created to help you find work. They also used to help you fill in forms and make telephone calls if this was required. They were very productive places in those days, you stood a chance of finding work and not being sanctioned. I prefer to call Jobcentres sanction centres now as their main aim is to get people off benefits in any way possible. If bullying, sanctioning, coercing claimants to commit suicide and taking away a persons every means of survival is needed to do this then they will do this…. They have targets to reach, and reach them they will by whatever means possible. "
One of the things that is driving people to turn to foodbanks, is the staggering rise in the number of people on benefits who are being sanctioned. We also seeing an increase in the rate of suicides that are linked to benefit cuts and sactions which are often both unfair or possibly illegal. The emphasis is now on what the Jobcentre calls "off-flow" which measures the number of people coming off benefits and not necessarily the number who go into jobs. Campaigning groups like Tameside Against the Cuts, are now being set up across the country in opposition to the social injustice that is being meted out to unemployed people in receipt of state benefits. Last week (Thursday) one member of the group spoke to a jobseeker who was sanctioned by the Ashton Jobcentre for three-months for making a spelling mistake. It is to be hoped that this person was told to appeal and to apply for a hardship payment. The following account by Charlotte is copied from her blog, the Poor Side of Life:
"You couldn’t make it up… Well actually it’s become the norm to be sanctioned for making a spelling mistake. A gentleman who spoke to us on our Thursday demo told us that he was put on a three month sanction at Ashton Under Lyne Jobcentre for making a spelling mistake. He wasn’t given a chance to correct it, or a chance to explain it. He was told very bluntly “we are sanctioning you for spelling this word incorrectly on a form. This will prevent you from getting work so therefore is a sanctionable offence”. This man received a three month sanction for this so called offence. No one bothered to ask him if he was dyslexic or had any other issues which may have prevented him from spelling the word correct. Neither is it a crime to spell a word incorrectly. Indeed we are all human and are prone to making mistakes. This is shocking but had become the norm at this Jobcentre and jobcentres up and down the country. It reminded me of why Jobcentres were created in the first place. They were created to help you find work. They also used to help you fill in forms and make telephone calls if this was required. They were very productive places in those days, you stood a chance of finding work and not being sanctioned. I prefer to call Jobcentres sanction centres now as their main aim is to get people off benefits in any way possible. If bullying, sanctioning, coercing claimants to commit suicide and taking away a persons every means of survival is needed to do this then they will do this…. They have targets to reach, and reach them they will by whatever means possible. "
Tuesday, 3 February 2015
Danczuk's Deli Sold?
Danczuk's Delicatessen
He goes on in last Saturday's Rochdale Observer of how when he tweeted some old photos of the town of Rochdale: 'People were impressed at the sight of hordes of shoppers', and he asks: 'Can we recreate the same buzz in a different age where consumer habits have changed and technology disrupted the old high street model?'
Well, one would have thought he would cling onto the Deli if that is genuinely how he felt.
Blacklist Support Group Diary:
Blacklisting the blacklisters.pdf
1. Smith v Carillion
Wed 4th Feb 10am start (hearing is expected to last 2 days)
Court of Appeal, Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand
The UK government has joined themselves to a blacklisting legal case being heard this week. The Court of Appeal is being asked to decide whether blacklisting breaches the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in the case of engineer Dave Smith. John Hendy QC and David Renton are arguing that blacklisting is a breach of Article 8 & 11 of the ECHR and that if Smith is not protected by UK employment law, then the law itself cannot be compatible with the European Convention Rights. They are asking the Court of Appeal to agree a " Declaration of Non-compatibility". The UK government has taken the extremely rare decsion to joined the case as an "Intervener". Legal submission on behalf of the UK government concedes that Article 8 & 11 have been breached but argues that UK law does comply with the ECHR.
2. High Court continues
The next hearing in the High Court Group Litigation involving around 300 claimants is Friday 13th Feb (1 day hearing).
BSG will assemble outside the court at 9:30am for photo-opportunity.
3. Blacklist Support Group AGM
Saturday 7th March (3pm)
Jury's Inn, Jamaica Street, Glasgow
Agenda items
1 apologies for absence
2 Report - treasurer
3 Report - secretary
4 Q&A
5 Election of officers
6 AOB
The AGM is being held in conjunction with the construction rank & file national meeting.
1pm - RnF national meeting
3pm - BSG AGM
All blacklisted workers welcome to attend and vote. All supporters welcome to attend.
4. Blacklisted - the book
The book by Phil Chamberlain & Dave Smith on the blacklisting scandal will be available to buy from the first week in March. Pre-orders are available via the New Internationalist website: http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/
In order to maximise the impact in the General Election period (we are still campaigning for a full public inquiry) it would be very useful if people visited their local library & bookshops and asked them to get copies in. BSG is asking for supporters to arrange speaking dates at union meetings, universities, bookshops, festivals throughout March, April and May. Contact blacklistsg@gmail.com to arrange.
5. Frank Morris victory
Frank Morris - blacklisted from the Olympics and Crossrail - has been elected to the UNITE executive representing construction. Another victory for the rank & file. Blacklist Support Group issued an official statement: "well chuffed"
6. No Public Contracts for Blacklisters
Blacklisting is shameful - so is the cover up. So why are the guilty firms still awarded public contracts?
Richard Leonard (GMB) in Morning Star about Dundee:
BSG supporters have also been discussing the issue with councilors in Liverpool
Michael Newman solicitor for Leigh Day has compiled a legal brief for public authorities wishing to deny work to firms involved in the blacklisting scandal (attached).
7. Mexican migrant workers blacklisted for joining trade unions in Canada:
Monday, 2 February 2015
Court of Appeal Blacklist Case: Smith V Carillion
Smith v Carillion (JM) Ltd
Court of Appeal
Wed 4th Feb
(predicted to last 2 days)
In an unusual step, the UK government has joined themselves to a legal test case being heard at the Court of Appeal this week. The Court of Appeal judges are being asked to rule on whether blacklisting of engineer Dave Smith breached the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in the case of .
Carillion (JM) Ltd have admitted that their managers supplied information to the notorious Consulting Association blacklist about Smith because of his activities as a Safety Rep for construction union UCATT but he still lost his original Employment Tribunal in 2012 because he was not working directly for the company but via an employment agency. As only direct employees are covered by this section of employment law, therefore as an agency worker Smith was not protected. The original ET written judgement created media headlines at the time and concludes by stating, “We have reached our conclusions with considerable reluctance. It seems to us that he has suffered a genuine injustice and we greatly regret that the law provides him with no remedy.”
In the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, John Hendy QC and David Renton will be arguing that blacklisting is a breach of Article 8 & 11 of the ECHR and that if Smith is not protected by UK employment law, then UK law itself cannot be compatible with the European Convention Rights. They are asking the Court of Appeal to agree a " Declaration of Non-compatibility". If this is granted it would require the UK government to amend statutory legislation.
The UK government has joined the case as an "intervener". The legal submission from lawyers acting on behalf of Vince Cable presents for the first time ever, the UK government's legal position on blacklisting and human rights.
Paragraph 58 reads:
“The Secretary of State accepts that the Appellant's Article 8 rights were engaged by the conduct of the Respondent. There has been an interference with his right to respect his family life due to covert collection of data on him.”
Paragraph 61 reads:
"The Secretary of State accepts that the Appellant's Article 11 rights were engaged by the activities of the Respondent, insofar as they would have breached s.146 TULRCA (but for the issue of his employment status)”
This is the UK government admitting that blacklisting of trade unionists is a breach of Article 8 and Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the only reason that Smith did not win his case was because of his employment status. Despite this massive legal admission, the UK government has now intervened in the case in order to fight against Smith and is arguing that the Court should not issue a declaration of non-compatibility.
Following the Secretary of State’s intervention, John Hendy QC and David Renton responded:
“The European Convention is to be considered in the light of the fact that it was drawn up in the aftermath of the Second World War to prevent in future the development of totalitarian regimes such as that of Nazi Germany by forestalling the incremental abuses of human rights which lead such regimes ultimately to the grotesque atrocities for which they are responsible. Blacklisting of workers was precisely one of the early abuses by which the Nazis suppressed opposition to their rule from the labour and trade union movement”
The Labour Party manifesto pledges an inquiry into the blacklisting of union members in the construction industry.
Note to Editors:
Dave Smith is the secretary of the Blacklist Support Group, the campaign fighting on behalf of blacklisted union members in the construction industry.
Smith is also co-author (with investigative journalist Phil Chamberlain) of the book: "Blacklisted: the secret war between big business and union activists" to be published by New Internationalist in March.
Comments on "Blacklisted":
This book will be a wake up call to all who think we live in a democracy where all are equal before the law. These are big questions for the employers and the police, as well as Labour politicians and union leaders. - Ken Loach, film director.
The book on blacklisting by Phil Chamberlain and Dave Smith could turn out to be one of the most important of 2015. - Rob Evans, journalist for The Guardian, and author of Undercover.
Blacklisting destroyed the lives of many workers and their families over the years. It took courage and determination to stand up to it and expose its operation. This book makes a significant contribution to telling the truth of the blacklist. - John McDonnell, MP.
Blacklist Support Group
Worrying Words of Doctor Rupert Read!
The Man who took on Freedom, Chomsky & the Transgender Politics
IN January, Rupert Read who is a Philosopher and Green councillor, had to apologise for some tweets in which he questioned the validity of trans people's gender, describing trans women as 'a sort of "opt-in" version of what it is to be a woman'. His comments were condemned by the Green LGBTIQ group, and Sahar Brown, a former Cambridge councillor and trans activist, attacked him for 'endorsing a fringe form of feminism that portrays transgender women as dangerous sex pests and predators'.
Mr. Read has said: 'It is completely, 100% untrue, for instance to claim that I "portray transgender women as dangerous sex pests and predator". On the contrary I reject transphobia completely. But I also remain a very strong backer of feminism. All that I have done is join many feminists in saying that it is up to women, not anyone else - and certainly not me - to decide who gets let into women-only spaces, such as women's toilets. All women have a right to be involved in making those decisions. I think that most Cambridge residents will see that as a not-unreasonable point of view, and will find it surprising that I have been told repeatedly on Twitter to "Go f*** myself (and much worse) for saying so, including by a handful of activists from certain other parties, who perhaps have been looking at this as an easy way to stick the boot into the Greens as we threaten them in the polls both nationally and here in Cambridge.'
Elsewhere Rupert has claimed that Media Lens tends to talk up the numbers of victims from western actions but to minimise those of regimes in conflict with the west, such as those of Milošević and Bashar al-Assad in Syria.[26] He has accused them of using dubious source material on fatalities in the 2012 Syrian crisis from Aisling Byrne and Robert Dreyfuss.
Back in 2001, Rupert Read while then at the Manchester Met. University (MMU), wrote an essay in a publication titled 'Chomsky & his Critics' and what was to become the Alternative Raven: Language, Mind & Society, when the then managers of Freedom Press refused to publish Mr. Read's essay entitled 'What is "Chomskyism" or Chomsky Against Chomsky'. The reason given by Donald Rooum, now one of the Friends of Freedom Press, was that the essay by Rupert Read was 'too academic' for anarchists in England to understand. Others took the view that the real reason was because Professor Noam Chomsky himself had taken strong exception in a letter to me as editor to Mr. Read's essay; which while it praised Pro. Chomsky's politics it strongly criticised his linguistic theories.
At the time I, as editor of The Alternative Raven, wrote:
'The majority of articles in this Alternative Raven are concerned with the work of the leading linguist and political thinker, Noam Chomsky, the essays of Rupert Read ('What is "Chomskyism"?') and Wil Coleman ('Noam Chomsky & the Myth of the Generative Grammar') are both controversial critiques of the writings of Chomsky. But Doctor Read's less technical cheeky polemic, perhaps because it is more lightweight has drawn blood.'
I claimed that both Read and Chomsky 'recognise they are trying to tackle the job set by Orwell in his essay "Politics & the English Language".' In that essay written for Horizon in 1946, Orwell claimed, 'In our time political speech is largely the defence of the indefensible'.
I continued:
'Naturally Rupert Read's attempt to extend this criticism of the misuse of words from the realm of politics to linguistics, cognitive science and philosophy as well as sociology and ethnomethodology is upsetting some people.'
Hence, Mr. Read not only trod on the big toes of Professor Chomsky in 2001, but he caused some consternation among the Freedom Press anarchists such as Donald Rooum, who was desperate to insist that Freedom was not engaged in censorship in order to protect Noam Chomsky's feelings. Professor Chomsky seemed to have a special relationship with Freedom through the good offices of Milan Rai (now the editor of Peace News). Mr. Rai was formerly Professor Chomsky's political secretary, and had seemingly been putting pressure on Freedom not to publish Rupert Read's essay.
It was one of those moments when Freedom showed itself to be lacking the guts to take on Professor Chomsky and Milan Rai, who I believe is now editor of Peace News.
At that time supporters of the Northern Anarchist Network like Harold Sculthorpe, at that time in 2000 the Secretary of the Friends of Freedom Press, fully supported Rupert Read's article and believed Freedom ought to publish it in the Raven. Indeed, at that time, Harold Sculthorpe who went to many lectures on the Manchester Ethnography Group at both Manchester University and the MMU, thought the sun shone out of Rupert Read's arse. On that occasion as on several occasions since Freedom lacked the nerve to challenge those like Professor Chomsky in powerful positions.
Since then the reputation of Freedom has declined considerably with each year of its fragile life in the 21st Century. In 2010, Chris Knight and Milan Rai debated Noam Chomsky's science and politics at the London Anarchist Bookfair, and Chris Knight drew attention to the episode of Freedom's failure to publish the Rupert Read article and the other essays challenging Chomsky's linguistics.
The link to the Alternative Raven posted by Chris Knight on his site Radical Anthropology and containing Rupert Read's article is to be found on:
Three-weekly Bin Collections & the Mess!
The letter below was published in
last Thursday's Bury Times & a report on
page 6. of the same paper
alleges that the Labour Council in Bury
may have considered juggling the waste
collection figures to improve on targets:
page 6. of the same paper
alleges that the Labour Council in Bury
may have considered juggling the waste
collection figures to improve on targets:
Dear Editor,
In regard to the leading article in the Bury Times (Thurs. 22nd, Jan) on the perils of Fly Tipping, I should like to say that some union members in Street Cleansing have been concerned about the increased amount of overflowing waste locally, owing to the change to 3-weekly collections for non-recyclable waste since the new system was introduced last October. I see Bury MBC claim:
'Fly-tipping is not a new problem and has not increased due to the recent changes to the household-waste collection service.'
Yet, the lads on the streets cleaning up the mess are telling us that they are doing extra work, owing to the scattering of the waste from overflowing bins.
Fortunately, I understand, the cost of this extra labour by the street cleaners is being booked on the refuse coding rather than on the street cleansing bill. Hence, it ought not to be possible for the Refuse Dept. at Bradley Fold to shunt the extra cost for this work onto the Street Cleansing Dept., and thereby distort the figures to show a false improvement in the cost of waste removal.
Yours,
Brian Bamford: Secretary of Bury Unite Commercial Branch
Letter to Freedom on Blacklisting
The letter below was sent to Freedom, the London 'anarchist paper', a few years ago following a rather wrong-headed and ill-considered report, which showed that the 'anarchist' paper existed even then in a London-centric bubble. I don't recall if this letter was ever published by Freedom at that time.
It is interesting that the correpondent writes 'It is a surprise...to see little organised action by anarchists in relation to the spark's dispute', when it has been Tameside TUC with an anarcho-syndicalist President and Secretary, that from 2003 has been at the forefront of actions on behalf of the electricians. And, it is Tameside TUC that has now published a book 'Boys on the Blacklist' funded by the TUC, that is circulating all over England and Scotland.
The tragedy is that because of his proximity to the Manchester Social Forum around 2003/4 that Steve Acheson came to be registered in the files of the Consulting Association as 'becoming an anarchist'.
The tragedy is that because of his proximity to the Manchester Social Forum around 2003/4 that Steve Acheson came to be registered in the files of the Consulting Association as 'becoming an anarchist'.
Now in the this country, unlike Spain, France and some other countries, it is looked down upon to be identified as 'an anarchist'. We should ask why is this the case? Why is it that Steve Acheson, in sueing the contstruction company affiliates of the Consulting Association, considers it a 'detriment' or 'defamitory' to be regarded as an anarchist in England today? The reasons are not difficult to find, because many English anarchists are half-baked and ignorant as this article and many other articles
in Freedom in the last 10-years amply demonstrated:
Dear Freedom,
Your correspondent in
the January issue of FREEDOM who writes of the electrician's dispute and 'The
return of rank & fileism' is seriously misinformed when writing that '(i)t
is a surprise ... to see little organised action by anarchists in relation to
the sparks dispute' and simply refers to AF and Sol. Fed's involvement in the
recent demos and occupations in London.
It suggests a London centric and southern bias on the part of your paper
these days which may be partly our fault.
The fact is the present electricians campaigns throughout the country
have their origins in the Manchester electrician's fight against the blacklist
in the building trade and particularly the involvement of the Manchester EPIU/
Unite Contracting Branch, at which I as the Secretary of Bury Unite Branch and
Tameside TUC regularly attend.
Indeed, it was as
Secretary of Tameside TUC that in 2005 at the Liverpool National Conference of
Trade Union Councils that I seconded a motion condemning the blacklist in the
British building trade. Again in 2009 at
the regional Conference of the North West TUC following the raid of the
Information Commissioner which discovered evidence of a national blacklist in
the construction industry, I, again as Secretary of Tameside TUC, seconded a
motion from UCATT denouncing the blacklist.
These a few of the things we have done at a formal trade union level in
support of the electricians since the DAF dispute in Manchester Piccadilly in
2003, and I myself have worked as a maintenance electrician for many years both
in this country, in Spain with the FIJL (young Spanish libertarians) and Gibraltar (with Jose Netto,
Secretary of the TGWU and former member of the Syndicalist Workers Federation).
At a political level
the Northern Anarchist Network (NAN) has had speakers from the electricians
EPIU anti-blacklist campaigns since 2004.
Indeed, Steve Acherson, Secretary of Manchester Unite/ EPIU Branch, who
spoke at public meetings organised by the Greater Manchester Social Forum
became so close to us that he was described in his blacklist file as 'becoming
an anarchist'. Like much in those files
it is not true of course, and he may even see it as 'defamatory'. The fact remains that Tameside TUC. to which
the Manchester EPIU Branch is affiliated, has an anarcho-syndicalist Secretary
and President both who regularly attend NAN Conferences and decades of
experience in the anarchist movement.
As recent as December,
Tameside TUC and the electricians organised a joint demo outside Ashton Town
Hall to protest at the local council's links to Carillion a company accused of
blacklisting electricians. There were
several local anarchists on this protest.
On the Northern Voices Blog
there are dozens of reports on the campaign against the blacklist, Northern Voices has covered this
campaign for donkey's years and as long ago as Autumn 2003 there is a report in
NV2 about it. We have also helped produce a rank & file
publication the 'North West Cowboy' on behalf of the electricians and until the
break-up last year of the National Shop Stewards Network Tameside Trades
Council had an input on behalf of the electricians. The difference now is that following
groundwork in Greater Manchester and the North West including pickets at DAF in
Manchester Piccadilly 2003; Manchester Law Courts 2004; Manchester Royal
Infirmary 2006/ 7; Media City Salford 2010/ 11; the Rock in Bury 2008; Fiddlers
Ferry 2009 to current, and the raid on the Consulting Association by the
Information Commissioner in 2009, there has developed a more national campaign
around the London based Blacklist Support Group and Unite branches in other
regions like the North East. Hope this
clarifies things a bit.
Regards,
Brian
Sunday, 1 February 2015
Bedroom tax campaigner lambasts Tameside local press for bias!
The above photo shows an action in the campaign against the Jobseeker's Allowance outside Burnley Jobcentre in the 1990s: in the foreground on the left is Steve (Starlord) Fisher.
WE are publishing below a letter that was sent last week to both the Tameside Advertiser and the Tameside Reporter and Chronicle newspapers, from local environmental activist, Steve (Starlord) Fisher (pictured above). The issue of a free press in Tameside is something that we have previously reported on in Northern Voices. In September 2012, in an exclusive, we revealed that the Tameside Reporter had been bought by New Charter Housing Ltd, a housing company that also owns Tameside Radio and has close links to the Labour council in Tameside. In 2008, we also reported in Northern Voices magazine, claims made by Private Eye magazine (1220) that Tameside Council was meeting with local newspaper editors to 'suppress sensationalist reporting'. We have no misgivings about publishing Mr Fisher's epistle in full because we share many of his concerns about press censorship. This concern was also noted by one of our readers who predicted at the time of the takeover that we would see, the 'banning of dissenting voices' and lashings of corporate agenda. Should anyone therefore be surprised that local newspaper sales are plummeting.
'Many readers of your "redoubtable" newspaper are no doubt reading under the illusion that it reports fairly and faithfully on current affairs in Tameside. Well I can assure you that's not the case at all. They can't honestly say they didn't know, that they can't report on everything, that it's neutral in its reportage. Far from it, and any suggestion to the contrary is simply untrue. How do I know this you might ask? Well I'll tell you.
'I and many of my friends in 'Tameside Against the Cuts' have been protesting unstintingly every Thursday afternoon for the last 6 months outside Ashton Jobcentre against 'work-for-dole' and illegal & unlawful Benefit Sanctions and many other social injustices.
'The local press have been told many times by phone and email. We've invited them but they're just not interested & to date no article has been published about our important voluntary "Community Contribution". That is the level of biased reportage in Tameside.
'Our "Community Contribution" counts for nothing, jarring no doubt with New Charter's social engineering agenda. They do not approve of our activities. We do not even meet with their new conditionality criteria for getting a New Charter tenancy. They simply don't recognise our way of "giving something back", failing to recognise the positive work that we do in the community. But who put them in charge? No one! They just own and control the bulk of Tameside Social Housing, the Tameside Reporter, and Tameside Radio in their empire building 'Quest' for power and influence.
'Astonishingly, I recently read 3 articles about a new related campaign launched outside Hyde Town Hall by Emma Mohareb-Leyla in January: I've been told she was also published in the Manchester Evening News. It's great that she's been able to highlight some of the issues we've been campaigning about for the last 2 years! So why have we been ignored? We are treated like lepers! Why has it taken somebody else to get this published? How does one get an audience with the press-barons of Tameside?
'On the 25th September 2013 one of my 3 letters about the Bedroom Tax was published in the Reporter. Every reference to New Charter was excised! New Charter then had the gall to publish their riposte the following week! Where's the editorial independence when a social landlord like New Charter have a vested interest in the Bedroom Tax?
'My last published letter was about KFC in Hyde, but that too was severely edited culling most of the really interesting stuff. My next 4 letters in a row went unpublished. It's really hard to get a letter published in the local press let alone articles reporting what's actually happening in Tameside.
'For the last 2 years Tameside Against the Cuts have protested all over Ashton: on Ashton Town Hall steps and Market ground & outside Ashton Magistrates court against TMBC's unfair Council Tax and their use of Marstons bailiffs; outside New Charter Housing & Ashton Pioneer Homes against the Bedroom Tax (tenants have been evicted); & outside parasitic Work Programme Provider organisations paid thousands of pounds by the Government to force the unemployed to work for their dole and undermine wages! They are treated worse than many convicted criminals. To date we've targeted only StandGuide, but i2i, Work Solutions, and Avanta, are also in our sights lest they think they've been forgotten! We are well aware of a number of slave-labour stores in Tameside and would like to target them too!
'We've very effectively concentrated our efforts on Ashton Jobcentre where many of the poor and the vulnerable can be found. These innocents have been unfairly targeted by the Tories ideological agenda and made to pay for the gambling excesses & extravagances of the greedy and materialistic rich and powerful.
'Ashton Jobcentre was chosen by this poxy proxy Government to pilot their draconian Universal Credit which gambles with the lives of the poor, making them destitute & homeless, driven to foodbanks and even to suicide. Worse still this avowedly Tameside Labour Council are collaborators. These turncoats capitulated and rolled-over to have their belly's tickled. They feebly argue that they had to be in it in order to 'shape it'! Yet after 2 years they refuse to say how they've 'shaped-it' with apparently nothing to show for their treacherous behaviour.
'The name Universal Credit tells you all you need to know. For one it ain't universal! Secondly 'credit' is a proxy for debt. We live in a consumer 'credit' society, for which read "debt" society, in which we subsist, bound in servitude to the rich. The vast majority are indebted to and enslaved by the rich.
'What is needed is far more revolutionary, the introduction of a Universal Unconditional Guaranteed Basic Income Scheme for ALL to ensure a basic or minimum level of existence for all as a right whether in work or not which is in harmony with the principle of Maslow's 'Hierarchy of Needs'. That would indeed be truly universal unlike Universal Credit which is not! This Government have the vision of a bat out of hell knowing only the price of everything but the value of nothing.
'A Basic Income would really empower the poor who could then truly choose when and where to work, and to do 'Good Work'. Those who want to have more than the bare necessities of life can work for them to satisfy their desires, but no longer can they force people to labour for them.
'This is the politics of fairness, not the politics of envy. I have no desire to be rich, nor do I desire to be poor. I desire the freedom to serve as I see fit to fulfill my soul purpose on earth. Those infected with the disease of greed can still work and be rich if they so wish. They could also seek psychotherapeutic help. They could perhaps even take-up Buddhism.'
Friday, 30 January 2015
END WORKERS' BLACKLISTING!
The letter below published in tomorrow's
ROCHDALE OBSERVER was written
in response to the decision of Rochdale Council
to oppose 'Zero Hours Contracts':
Dear Editor,
While it is welcome that Rochdale Council has now taken a stand against 'zero-hours contracts', local trade unionists ought to be concerned that Rochdale Council, a Labour Council, apparently still hasn't adopted an Ethical Procurement Policy with regard to awarding public contracts to firms which are known to have blacklisted workers on British building sites. Colin Lambert, when he was Council leader did condemn such practises, and Jim Dobbin, when MP for Heywood and Middleton, besides signing Early Day Motions against the blacklist did assure me that he was participating in the campaign against the blacklisting of workers in the British building trade.
Despite this, Rochdale MBC has in the recent past awarded contracts to Carillion and Kier: since 2009, when the Information Commissioner raided an office in Droitwich, we have been aware that both of these companies were affiliated to the Consulting Association. Later the manager of the Consulting Association, Ian Kerr, was to plead guilty at Knutsford Crown Court to possessing an illegal data-base or blacklist with 3,213 workers' names on it.
Apart from the robust efforts of the late Jim Dobbin, I am not aware of any other local MPs who have taken a stand against the British blacklist. Dave Smith of the Blacklist Support Group and one of the blacklisted workers on the illegal data-base of the Consulting Association, told me that the Green Party has a positive policy on blacklisting, and that the leader of the Green Party, Natalie Bennett, has participated on several of their demonstrations down South.
In these circumstances, it would be good if the current local MPs, Simon Danczuk and Liz McInnes, took a cue from the late Jim Dobbin and strove to make blacklisting a criminal offence. In the meantime the councillors on Rochdale MBC might adopt an Ethical Procurement Policy, which if enforced rigorously would amount to something more than resolutionary socialism
Yours,
Brian Bamford: Secretary of Bury Unite Commercial Branch.
Thursday, 29 January 2015
London Hazards Magazine
LONDON Hazards Magazine latest NOW OUT !
Featuring High Court Win for Mesothelioma suffers, Blacklisting the most cowardly practice by Employers that has gone on for decades. Fight for Non Carcinogenic Workplaces with London Hazards support !
Stop deregulation of Health & Safety laws like the Crane reg's. Women's right to Cancer free work, Care Workers health at risk billions cut to social care. Stress at work big problem today more and more pressure at work.
Health & Safety training courses for Londoners by London Hazards. Transatlantic trade stitch up huge threat to everything NHS / Schools / you name it !
Please feel free to contact us and order your copy / copies of London Hazards Magazine: Office 0207 5275107
Or email mail@lhc.org.uk
We are holding regular Safety Activists meetings. Get involved Unite with others fight back.
International Workers Memorial Day organising meeting Tuesday 10th February 5.45pm.
Leigh Day Solicitors Priory House. 25 St John's Lane EC1M 4LB
Blacklisted Workers book Launch Thursday 26th March 6.30pm Hosted by Leigh Day / London Hazards / CSC / WEA.
Get your TU branch, Trades Council, Tenants Association, Campaign group to Affiliate to London Hazards Centre has large archive materials on all issues, we offer free advice and help to all Londoners. On issues at Work and Home.
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Totalitarian Word Play, Freedom & New Words
Simon Saunders: Dare to be Daniel!
by Brian Bamford
LAST week, one-time editor (unpaid?) of the now defunct Freedom, Simon Saunders, accused Northern Voices of 'Doxxing' him.* By that, I think he means that the Northern Voices Blog has 'outed' him by allowing the publication of his 'real name' in the public domain. I ought to say at this stage that Mr. Saunders' name is already in the public domain in the sense that he has been for several years a paid journalist on the former Communist Morning Star using his 'real name'. For some strange reason Mr. Saunders is shy about being identified with the anarchist publication Freedom or anarchism but happy to be a paid journalist on the Morning Star which is generally associated with a political philosophy 'Communism' or 'Marxism' which has been described as 'morally and politically bankrupt' (see Lord Kenneth Clarke's 1970's essay on 'Civilisation'.
Mr. Saunders, who is now over 30, went from
playing children's computer games like 'Dracula in London' when he was
8-years-old to University; to editing Freedom (the Anarchist journal) in
his twenties; to writing as a reporter on the Communist Morning Star; he has
never had what some people would call a proper job. Yet, in accusing me and other editors of the NV
Blog of 'Doxxing' he raises for me an interesting point about the
introduction and use of new words into the vocabulary.
In an essay written around 1940 entitled 'New
Words', George Orwell wrote:
'At present the formation of new words is a slow process (I have read
somewhere that English gains about six and looses about four words a year) and
no new words are deliberately coined except as names for material objects.
Abstract words are never coined at all, though old words (e.g. 'condition',
'reflex', etc.) are sometimes twisted into new meanings for scientific
purposes.'
Orwell goes on to recommend that 'it would be quite feasible to invent a
vocabulary of, perhaps amounting to several thousand of words, which would deal
with parts of our experience now practicably unamenable to language.
I discussed this Orwell essay 'New
Words' with the Manchester academic and ethnomethodologist, Wil Coleman,
at that time my friend Harold Scunthorpe, a Friend of Freedom Press, and I were intending to publish
what was to be a Raven on Noam Chomsky's linguistics and politics in 1999. Both Wil Coleman, and the Wittgensteinian
academic and 'green anarchist',
Rupert Read, had written critiques of Professor Chomsky's linguistics for
publication.
In a way
Orwell is dealing in this essay with some of the problems of language and
communication addressed by Ludwig Wittgenstein in his book 'Philosophical Investigations'
published later. Orwell for example is
really dealing with Wittgenstein's notion of the issues of solipsism and the
problems of a private language when he writes:
'For one man, or a clique, to try and make up
language, as I believe James Joyce is now doing, is as absurd as one man trying
to play football alone.'
The editor of the now defunct paper Freedom,
Simon Saunders, when he admonishes me and Mr. Albert Hall, the writer of the
comment revealing Mr. Saunders' real name, refers to the relatively new word 'doxxing'
and has even been kind enough to give this word a meaning or dictionary
definition: 'doxxing' equals '
Wittgenstein, in his later work, challenges
dictionary definitions by showing that a word like 'game' has an infinite
number of meanings, and Orwell writes of the meaning of a poem:
'The dictionary-meaning has, as nearly always, something to do with the
real meaning, but not more than the “anecdote” of a picture has to do with its
design..'
When one considers the preoccupations of
Orwell's later book '1984', one can well understand why he wants to extend the
volume of words to embrace meanings which better cover the contents of our
minds and inner selves. The strategy of
the Party in that book is to reduce the vocabulary through 'Newspeak' in order that it would be impossible to
articulate or think subversive thoughts
In the appendix to '1984' entitled 'The Principles of Newspeak' Orwell
wrote:
'It was expected that Newspeak would have finally superseded Oldspeak
(or Standard English, as we should call it) by the year 2050... The purpose of Newspeak was not only to
provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to
the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible.'
At the beginning of Wittgenstein's 'Philosophical
Investigations' he quotes from Augustine's 'Confessions' and he
writes that: 'Every word has a meaning. This
meaning is correlated with a word. It is
the object for which the word stands.'
I don't suggest for a moment that Simon
Saunders, one-time Editor of Freedom and now a paid-pundit on the
Communist Morning Star, has thought his through his position with
reference to these considerations when he he tries to explain to me the meaning
of the word 'doxxing'.and urges me to 'take down' his name from the Northern
Voices Blog on the dubious grounds that he may be subjected to some
form of blacklisting by some Human Resources Department in his 'industry' – the
newspaper trade.
Mr. Saunders ought to understand that to qualify
for inclusion on a blacklist one has to do something as such inclusion is a
kind of accomplishment. In his Obituary
entitled 'Freedom, 1886-2014: An
Appreciation' David Goodway describes the blacklisting of an earlier
editor of Freedom:
'Vernon Richards had qualified as a civil engineer – during the war he
worked on the last significant stretch of rail track to be constructed in the
British Isles at March in Cambrideshire – but another consequence of the trial
(for “conspiracy to seduce from duty
persons in the Forces to cause disaffection”) was the realisation that his imprisonment
would serve to blacklist him in his profession.'
The fact here is that Vernon Richards was placed
on the blacklist of the civil engineering industry because of the stand he took
in urging the returning troops from the Second World War to 'disaffection'. Unlike
Vernon Richards, the journalist Simon Saunders wants to edit Freedom
shyly in the shadows. Now I believe that
that approach represents a kind of cowardly corruption that runs through some
sections of the British left today like a stick of Blackpool Rock. Unfortunately, Mr. Saunders is not alone in
what I see as this shallow, shy skedaddler politics. It represent a sad degeneration of the
radical body politic in this country.
* I note that despite my request you have still not taken my real name down from comments on your blog connecting me to radical politics (comments under your "Anarchist Fed.: Under the Pavement Politics" article). As I have noted to you before, I keep my real name off such things for a reason, as once it's up online in this manner it becomes immensely easy for a prospective employer to keep me out of a job simply by Googling my name. In modern times outing people in the public domain in this way is known as "Doxxing" and is generally regarded as extremely reprehensible behaviour.
If you have any pretensions to fighting blacklists, rather than enabling them, then take my name down immediately.
Simon
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