CRASH THEIR PARTY!
THE LABOUR GOVERNMENT has shown how much it holds the opinions of ordinary
people in contempt. Despite massive demonstrations, the largest Britain has known,
it pursued the war effort with its American ally. It fabricated information about weapons of
mass destruction. It used cluster bombs on the Iraqi population, after promising it
would not do so. These bombs are even more indiscriminating than other bombs against
civilians. Already evidence has come to light that British troops have tortured and
abused Iraqis, whilst its American allies have fired on unarmed civilians and troops
have admitted leaving the wounded to die.
Party of Lies
It lied about genetically modified crops, and is now conducting a pathetic exercise
in pretending to consult people over GM crops, whilst it intends pursuing its own
agenda. It continues with its attacks on the NHS and trial by jury as well as a
whole raft of repressive legislation. It intends raising university fees which would
exclude many working class students.
It used “moral” pressure to support “our boys” and threats by John Prescott of
emergency legislation to ban strikes to stop the firefighters action. It will now be
on course to introduce “modernisation” into the fire service, which will mean
reduction in numbers of firefighters and the closure of fire stations. This will
have the knock-on effect of there being more fires and other incidents not as
effectively dealt with, and a resultant loss of life.
At the same time as this is going on, and as more and more people are seeing clearly
what Labour really is, its allies in the unions are doing all they can to make sure
that the Labour link is maintained and that the flow of people leaving the Party is
stopped. This has been the case with Andy Gilchrist, leader of the Fire Brigades
Union. He is one of those who is loyal to the Labour Party, and wants to put a stop
to a widespread feeling among firefighters that any funding of Labour has to end .He
called off the firefighters strike actions for weeks to allow negotiations to take
place. One of the reasons he gave was the impact the war in Iraq would have on the
dispute. He finally accepted the employers’ offer, despite a large number of
firefighters wanting to continue the actions and to resist the “modernisation”
moves.
Elsewhere in the GMB and UNISON unions, the union leaders have made noises about
unhappiness with Labour. These are empty words. The union leaders are loyal to
Labour and will do all they can to maintain links and to continue funding. They
disguise this by talking about “reclaiming Labour”.
But whether Old Labour or New Labour, that Party is an enemy of the working class.
The events of the last few years have shown more clearly than ever that the Labour
Party has to be broken with on every level. Labour is a party that acts in the
interests of the boss class.
Act for yourselves!
The experience of both the last term of office of Labour and the war have shown that
the only meaningful action is direct action, not mediated by political parties or by
the unions. More and more people are realising this. At the same time we must
develop our own forms of organisation, where we decide directly through mass
assemblies and a system of mandated and recallable delegates.
Tube workers in West London (see separate article in this resistance) are already
organising along these lines, and they should be an example to us all, both for
organising in the workplace and the neighbourhood and community.
---
ANARCHIST NEWS
Surrey Anarchist Group (SAG) recently held their first public meeting, packing out
the upstairs room of a pub with people seeing the inspiring “Argentinean Autonomist
Project” tour. A report on the tour will be in next month’s resistance, see the back
page for further dates where you can still catch it.
SAG have also launched their own bulletin “the Surrey Agitator”, available online at
www.surreyanarchy.org.uk or send an SAE to SAG, PO Box 375, Knaphill, Woking,
Surrey, GU21 2XL.
Wilkinson Picket
Anarchist Federation members attended the picket of the Wilkinsons store in
Stratford, East London called by London Class War and the Campaign Against Prison
Slavery to highlight goods sold cheaply by them are produced by prison labour (see
back page for contact details). Hundreds of leaflets were handed out.
Anarchists Organising
The North East London Anarchist Alliance if forming, for class struggle anarchists
in Havering, Barking and Dagenham and Redbridge. Anyone interested in building
revolutionary anarchism in the far east of London get in touch via AF, c/o 84b,
Whitechapel High St, London, E1 7QX.
Brighton Anarchist Federation
People are trying to set up a group of the Anarchist Federation in Brighton.
Anyone interested should contact Brighton AF, c/o 84 b, Whitechapel High Street,
London E1 7QX
---
ON THE FRONTLINE
We’ll start this month with some news on the longest running dispute in the country
- the Friction Dynamex plant in Caernarfon - where workers have maintained a 24-hour
picket since losing their jobs more than two years ago.
Despite the workers winning an employment tribunal, the owners have refused to
recognise their claims and have drawn out the dispute by a series of petty appeals,
the latest of which means the case will only be heard in November at the very
earliest. If you’re in the area drop down and show some solidarity with these
amazing people who refused to let the bosses walk all over them and have acted as
great example to other workers in their struggles.
There’s trouble for the government in their own backyard at Holyrood where a new
building project has been substantially delayed (and it was already two and half
years late and an cost an extra £300 million) by a construction workers strike over
lower than agreed wages, including making a gang of Romanian workers work for below
the minimum wage and inadequate safety gear - as well being forced to put up with
buildings plans that change on average three times each hour of the working day!
150 porters and domestic staff walked out at Bolton Royal Hospital, effectively
shutting it down for the day. The dispute concerns workers who are employed by the
private contractors ISS Mediclean who are paid less than their fellow workers who
are employed directly by the hospital Trust - the age-old tactic bosses use to split
the workforce and force them to compete with each other. Glad to see people are
seeing right through this and aren’t having any of it - and there have been strikes
on the same issue elsewhere.
Staff at Macmillan publishers are to strike over attempts to impose an unacceptable
below inflation pay-rise (read pay-cut).
There has been chaos for the bosses in the Italian Airports as workers from Alitalia
staged a number of strikes. In the days preceding official 24 hour strike action,
hundreds of air crew at Alitalia pulled a mass sickie, grounding most of the
airline's flights for an additional 2 days. The added mayhem caught company bosses
by surprise and cost them dearly.
Yet again Italian workers show that there is no need what-so-ever to be constrained
by official union actions and that their own activity and solidarity is what counts.
---
TUBE WORKERS ORGANISE!
Tube workers at a West London depot have started creating their own organisations.
Last February a meeting of the Workmates Collective was attended by 150 workers. It
unanimously carried a proposal to set up a council composed of mandated and
recallable delegates. The Collective has transformed itself into Workmates Council.
Workers from various London Underground Ltd (LUL), engineering departments,
including Track Installers, Track Welders, Crossing Makers, Carpenters, Ultrasonic
Rail Testers, Track Vent Cleaning Gangs, along with lorry drivers. Some of these
departments work alongside large numbers of subcontracted labourers, many of them
not in unions, comprising 120 agency workers in all.
More than 250 workers formed the Collective originally to fight against the
privatisation of London Underground through the Public-Private Partnership. Over the
last 5 years of this struggle agency workers have shown utmost loyalty to their LUL
workmates during a number of strikes. This was established early on by agency Track
Installers and Track Welders, some of whom had been Yorkshire and Kent miners, and
has been maintained ever since.
This solidarity has also been maintained in dealing with health and safety issues
affecting both agency and LUL workers. This has led to some work stoppages on health
and safety issues.
The various gangs have now nominated and mandated their delegates, and some meetings
have been called to form the Council. This way of organising puts full power into
the hands of the workers. resistance sends the warmest best wishes and solidarity
to the Workmates Council.
---
FRANCE GOES OFF THE RAILS!
Nationwide strikes have taken place in France in opposition to proposed pension
“reforms” (read: plans to force people to retire later).
June has seen eight co-ordinated national stoppages so far. 5,000 people in Calais
blockaded the A26 highway, the regional office of the employers' federation MEDEF
in the port of La Rochelle was torched and other MEDEF offices across the country
were attacked, workers disrupted train and bus services in Marseille and Paris
cutting power lines at the Gare de Lyon station in Paris. Bus workers blockaded a
depot, armed themselves with baseball bats and fought with riot police. Sanitation
workers in Lyon dumped garbage in front of City Hall. Striking teachers also
occupied bus depots and train tracks. In Lille workers set fire to the Coventry
factory - police then fired tear gas, charged the demonstrators and beat some of
them with batons.
Hundreds of dock workers, railway workers and fish merchants set up blockades at the
port in Boulogne sur Mer, set them on fire and defended them against riot police
tear gas attacks until 4am the next day. In Nice workers occupied the National
Theatre, produced leaflets explaining their action and used the space for meetings
about the social struggle.
200 people occupied Toulouse Town Hall and closed the doors to the police. The
National Opera of Lyon was occupied by 200 people and the space was used to hold
assemblies and plan future actions. Another action targeted the Path Cinema in Lyon,
forcing it to shut. In Lille three major highways were blocked by 300 students,
workers and unemployed people.
A spontaneous demonstration of more than 1,000 people marched through the streets of
the city, as people surrounded businesses and government offices with trash bins and
attempted to break through riot police lines. The office of the Union of the
Presidential Majority (UMP) was trashed as workers dumped garbage, water and
detergent inside the buildings. Major road blockades were also set up in many other
cities.
The scale and ferocity of the resistance has taken the French State by surprise and
there have been attempts to buy-off certain sectors by offering concessions – all of
which have been flung back in their faces. The authorities hope the traditional
summer break will cool off the workers but there are few signs of this happening –
in fact the level of militancy is on the up.
This is a crucial battle for the European working class as a whole, if this one is
lost then further “reforms” will be attempted across the continent – the French and
German governments are keeping a close eye on this. We need to learn the lessons of
this dispute and make autonomous links ups and plans of action now as the French
workers have shown solidarity and co-ordination are our most effective weapons not
union bosses dealing with state bosses.
---
BEAT THE CHEATS - GET RID OF CAPITALISM!
Torfaen Council and Job Centre Plus (JCP)
have teamed up and launched a campaign against “fraud”. By grassing-up fellow
members of our class we can help them “beat the cheats”. An emergency hotline is
provided on glossy posters together with idiotic fluffy toys with a phone number tag
attached! Presumably this is aimed at children who no doubt will be honoured to
serve the state by telling on their “criminal” parents? That such a spying campaign
was used by the Hitler Youth under the Nazi regime shows how low Torfaen Council and
JCP have stooped.
By sneakily making a phone call we can sink to the level of a quisling against our
class! If Torfaen Council and JCP actually used their rather warped brain cells they
would realise that for many people in Torfaen existing on or below the poverty line
is a way of life! The “choice” is to try and exist on the pittance of unemployment
benefit or a crap state pension or you can “work for your dole” in a low paid job!
Therefore it comes as no surprise that some people choose to “cheat” the system to
make ends meet by for example doing the odd job on the side.
By supplementing their meagre benefits they can actually try to enjoy life without
relying on the misery of debt through plastic or loan sharks! So why doesn’t Torfaen
Council and JCP actually target the real cheats and fraudsters who create
unemployment and mass poverty? They conveniently ignore the fact that the capitalist
system is based on the daily exploitation of working class people by the ruling
boss-class elite who own the means of production, distribution and wealth!
In their work, workers make the goods which are part of everyday life and provide
services. However the rewards the workers receive in the form of wages are less than
the value of the products and services they create. The difference in value between
what the workers produce and what they earn is the basis for profit which goes to
the capitalist boss-class!
In this way workers are robbed on a daily basis. When profits fall workers are
sacked. Capitalists survive at the expense of laid off workers. Unemployment also
helps to keep wages low and profits high! It is unemployed people who are the
victims of a system based on greed for a few over the needs of all.
If we as a class are to “beat the cheats” that are ripping us off on a daily basis
through the capitalist system of wage slavery we should take collective action to
get rid of this parasitical class once and for all! That a Labour controlled Torfaen
Council and JCP fall over themselves to do the bosses’ bidding comes as no surprise
as they are part of the same rotten state edifice.
Lletters of protest to Cllr. Brian Smith, Leaders Challenge, Freepost, SWC3348,
Pontypool, NP4 6ZZ. For more info: AF, PO Box 7, Pont-y-pwl, Gwent, NP4 8YB
www.geocities.com/afedcymru .
---
REPORT FROM ANTI G8 PROTEST
“Just got back from the anti-G8
protests in Evian. Overall it was good, the anarchist village was very interesting,
several thousand people stayed there and it was well organised. We were organised as
a federation of groups which held assemblies in the mornings to decide tasks
(cooking, cleaning, building, etc.) and actions.
For the first few days we went to some debates (on Latin American anarchism, the
general strike in France) and concerts, small demonstrations in Annemasse and
Geneva. We met other anarchists from around the world.
On Sunday the big demonstrations started. We chose to go on the blockade of the road
between Annemasse and Evian (other blockades occurred in Geneva and Lausanne) rather
than the large but fairly pointless big march to Geneva (which had a sizeable
anarchist bloc). After a few kilometres we were confronted by the police, built
barricades and fought against eight hours of tear gas. The villagers in this area
were friendly, offering us tea and bits of timber to build barricades with. The
various blockades delayed the arrival of G8 staff and several meetings had to be
cancelled.
The next day we took a train to Geneva for a demonstration against water
privatisation, but the train was delayed by the riot police coming on board and
searching everyone. In Geneva we took a tram en masse and then tried to rejoin the
other demonstrators, but were blocked by lines of German police with water cannons .
. .”
June also saw days of action, occupations and streetfighting in Thessalonica against
the EU summit ending in heavy repression – see the back page and visit
http://thessaloniki.indymedia.org/?lang=en
---
LOCAL RESISTANCE
Bristol Housing action movement (BHAM) collective successfully defended number 58/60
Ashley Rd, St. Paul's, Bristol against the bailiffs on 6th of June. Bristol Churches
Housing Association sought an eviction after refusing to enter into dialogue. The
squatters made several improvements to the property, cleaning out massive amounts of
rubbish, painting and securing the property against junkies and the areas criminal
gangs who made several attempts to take back the turf they previously used as a
crack den/members club and base for prostitution.
The barricade was the first successful resistance in the twenty years of BHAM’s
history. Activists came from all over the city to block the basements and front
hallway with anything to hand. Some affixing grills to windows as the last
possessions left the building. The scene was set with die hard resisters holed up in
top flats with the stairway blocked and access only by crawling through a precarious
collection of furniture and surprises for those nice bailiffs!
Kebele Social centre has also been under pressure from both the council health
inspectors following malicious and untrue anonymous calls to the council. The centre
will be closed until the end of June whilst this is dealt with. A questionnaire has
also been produced for the local community to see how they think the centre could
better meet their needs.
A successful Community Media Day, was held on the 14th June at the Cube Cinema, and
brought together a range of local and national media groups such as The Spark,
i-Contact Video, Talkaoke, Undercurrents, Bristle, plugincinema.com.
Romford/Harold Wood: Tory “heavies” are trying to intimidate opposition in London
borough of Havering because of the corruption surrounding property development in
the Romford/Harold Wood area.
They have targeted environmentalists in order to quieten them over planning
permission backhanders and scandals. The Tory MP for Romford is Andrew Rosindell and
his heavies come from Copsey Ltd. 178 Crow Lane Romford – a big company owned by
Alby and Barry Tebburt.
Both are councillors – they use mates from building companies or bailiffs to
intimidate people. They also think they run Havering because they scare people.
Rosindell has links to far-right groups in the UK and abroad.
---
INSIDE INFORMATION
British activist arrested
As we go to press news has come in of Simon, a London based activist, being arrested
at a demonstration in Greece. He has very bad charges against him which are: riot,
resisting authority and possession of explosives. If found guilty he’s looking to
between 7 – 25 yrs in prison. Other people have been charged with use and/or
possession of explosives [molotovs].
He can appeal the decision to refuse bail but it means he’ll have to spend a further
three months in a prison awaiting the appeal hearing. Beyond that he’s looking at
least 12 months inside before his case comes to trial.
Not only has this been one big stitch-up (there was footage on Greek national TV
showing undercover coppers planting bags of molotov cocktails on arrested people)
but it seems the people arrested are looking at a pretty rough ride in prison. The
British guy has already been beaten up in custody, plus he was denied medical
treatment for over 24hrs despite having a serious head injury.
Send complaints about this repression to the Greek Embassy in London at:
1a Holland Park, London W11 3TP Tel: 020 7221 6467 Fax: 020 7243 3202
Email:
consulategeneral@greekembassy.org.uk
The UK support group can be Emailed at: thessalonikiprisoners@yahoo.co.uk
Gary Mills and Tony Poole Freed!
Gary Mills and Tony Poole, two Bristol men who were jailed for life for murder, have
been released pending a legal judgment of their case. As the two have maintained
their innocence. They would have already been released had they complied with the
prison regime and admitted their guilt, but Tony and Gary are innocent and have so
suffered further for their stance. Their lawyers claimed there was a “permeating
corruption” in the conduct of police officers involved in the investigation. More
information on the case can be found on the Miscarriages of Justice Website.
http://www.mojuk.org.uk/eddie/tonygary.html
Campaign Against Prison Slavery
Contact Wilkinsons to register your disgust at them for their use of prison slave
labour to their profits. Prisoners get £10 for 30 hours work, which as well as being
shit for them, helps keep wages low for people not in prison.
You can Email the company at: communications@wilko.co.uk and
sarah.taylor@wilko.co.uk or if you prefer you can ring them on 01909 505505.
Prison Protest
A rooftop protest at a jail came to a peaceful end after the remaining inmates ended
their demonstration. Twenty prisoners occupied the roof at Wealstun prison, near
Wetherby, on the first of June, breaking windows and climbing up drainpipes and
ledges to the roof.
The final inmates came down in small groups through the night until the final six
surrendered peacefully at in the morning – more than 30 hours after their protest
started.
The prisoners were protesting about overcrowing and changes to the jail’s exercise
regime.
---
Subvert and resist
Take precautions when going on demonstrations and don’t take cameras, booze or
drugs. If you’re nicked give your name and address then say ‘no comment’ to any
other questions.
JULY: Argentinean Autonomist Project tour: Glasgow 1st July: 7.30pm, A. Thompson
Hotel, 320 Argyle St., Edinburgh 2nd July: 2pm, Slide Show at Forest Café, Westport,
7.30pm, Millennium Centre, 7 Muirhouse, Medway EH4, 3rd July: 7.30pm, CWU, 15
Brunswick St, Lancaster 5th July : 8.30pm, Gregson Centre, Moor Lane, Bradford 7th
July: 7pm, 1in12 Club, 21-23 Albion St., Leeds 8th July: 7pm, Woodhouse Community
Centre, Manchester 9th July: Venue TBC, Liverpool 10th July: 7.30pm, Trade Union
Centre, Hardman St, Cardiff 11th July: Venue TBC, Bristol 12th July: time TBC,
Kebele, 14 Robertson Rd, Easton, Belfast & Dublin: TBC. For more info contact the
Anarchist Federation – details on the right.
3rd: Planning meeting against a weapons fair in London. More info: www.dsei.org
4th: Independence from America day - demo at Menwith Hill spy base 12-4pm Tel: 01943
466 405 Visit: www.caab.org.uk and at Fairford USAF base, Gloucester.
20th: Ambient Green picnic (free festival), Shalford Park, Guildford. Watch out for
the AF and Surrey Anarchist Group stall.
AUGUST: 2nd: Radical Bookfair, 1 in 12 Club, Bradford.
SEPTEMBER: 10th – Destroy DSEi! - Shut down Europe’s largest Weapons Fair! Day of
direct action blocades. To get involved Email: dsei_da@london.com, Tel: 07887 620
379 or write to: PO Box 8, 84b Whitechapel High St., London E1 7QX
---
Join the resistance
The Anarchist Federation is an organisation of class struggle anarchists aiming to
abolish capitalism and all oppression to
create a free and equal society. This is
Anarchist Communism.
We see today’s society as being divided into two main opposing classes: the ruling
class which controls all the power and wealth, and the working class which the
rulers exploit to maintain this. By racism, sexism and other forms of oppression, as
well as war and environmental destruction the rulers weaken and divide us. Only the
direct action of working class people can defeat these attacks and ultimately
overthrow capitalism.
As the capitalist system rules the whole world, its destruction must be complete and
world wide. We reject attempts to reform it, such as working through parliament and
national liberation movements, as they fail to challenge capitalism itself. Unions
also work as a part of the capitalist system, so although workers struggle within
them they will be unable to bring about capitalism’s destruction unless they go
beyond these limits.
Organisation is vital if we’re to beat
the bosses, so we work for a united
anarchist movement and are affiliated to the International of Anarchist Federations.
The Anarchist Federation has members across Britain and Ireland fighting for the
kind of world outlined above. Contact us at:
Anarchist Federation,
84B, Whitechapel High Street,
London, E1 7QX. Tel: 07946 214 590
Visit: www.afed.org.uk
Email: anarchistfederation@bigfoot.com
