EVERYBODY OUT!...services, including the closure of three residential homes and four day centres for older people, a 75% cut in the Youth Services budget, and a 50% cut to the Parks

Building on the success of their Office Angelscampaign Solidarity Federation have beganworking with the ‘Ryanair Don’t Care’campaign to highlight the ruthless employmentpractices of the profitable budget airline.

Liverpool Solfed has put their full backingbehind the campaign headed by John Foley,who has been arrested six times for his directaction activism against the airline. His latestcourt appearance, for protesting on top ofJohn Lennon airport, saw Liverpool Solfedmembers organise a solidarity demo outsidethe court.

Ryanair’s current policy of recruitment-for-termination is part of the massive exploitationof people who apply to work for the company.As it stands potential cabin crew have to paya fee of €3,000 through an agency to undergotraining for Ryanair. As many as 60 people

are sacked at any one time after this initialtraining period, up to 200 people a month.Those who survive are put on a 12-monthprobationary period on a lower rate of paythan normal cabin crew and Ryanair pocketthe difference, as much as £20m a year.

There is also the example of Ryanair side -stepping employment legislation in its Frenchoperations, paying employees only accordingto their own national laws – avoiding theadditional social benefit payments that Frenchworkers should legally receive.

John Foley has mounted a three yearcampaign against Ryanair ever since hisdaughter was scammed by the company as acabin crew member and he uncovered thesystematic exploitation of all potentialemployees. His trial for the rooftop protestbegins on 3rd November.

Public sector strike for 30thNovemberThe announcement last month that publicsector workers will be balloted for strikeaction on 30th November could see morethan three million people, ranging fromteachers, firefighters and refuse collectors tolocal government workers, hospital staff andenvironmental workers, walk out on whatsome are predicting will be the UK’s biggestindustrial action since the 1926 GeneralStrike.

Perhaps guided by the recent wave ofpolitical and social protests the TUCannounced at its annual conference thatNovember 30th would be a “day of action”against public sector pension cuts. This couldbe taken in two ways; either the TUC isopening the door for more militant andgeneralised action, or it is unsure they willget the necessary strike support from unionmembers and are giving them an option toparticipate without striking. Given that otherunion leaders have been calling for “civildisobedience” and “community direct action”,it may well be that the TUC have been forcedto adopt a more imaginative line in opposingthe government’s pension reforms. Beyondthe proposed strikes “meetings, rallies and

Sparks are flying page 3

Staying in Afghanistan page 6

International news pages 8 and 9

The August riots page 12

Svartfrosk page 16

Reviews pages 20 and 21

RYANAIR RIP OFF

EVERYBODY OUT!

page 38

INSIDE8

ISSN 0016-0504

9 770016 050009

www.freedompress.org.uk Vol 72� •� OCTOBER 2011

Photograph © Max Reeves

£2

A scene from the August riots taken by photographer Max Reeves, who features in our new section

on The Arts on pages 22 and 23. There will also be an exhibition of his work entitled ‘London is a

World Class City: from Mythical Jerusalem to Olympic Capital’ in the Autonomy Club during October

and November, for details and opening times see http://www.freedompress.org.uk/news/events/

LENS CAP VIVA KING MOB

Freedom Oct 2011_Freedom 20/09/2011 13:56 Page 1

2 Freedom • October 2011

Students across Scotland came together tooccupy George Square Lecture Theatre atthe University of Edinburgh campus as aprotest against the rise in tuition fees andhave vowed to remain until their demandsare met.

Some 100 students from Glasgow, Edinburghand St Andrews universities took the lecturetheatre on Friday 16th September angered atthe decision by management to charge themost expensive rate for students studyingfrom the ‘rest of UK’ (RUK). EdinburghUniversity, along with St Andrews, recently

announced the increase in fees from £1,820to £9,000 per year for RUK students as ofnext year. This means a four-year honoursdegree will now cost £36,000. According toPatrick O’Hare, President of St AndrewsUniversity Students’ Association who wastaking part in the occupation “Theoccupation is a courageous move insolidarity with future generations of RUKstudents who will be priced out the marketor saddled with tremendous debts”.

The demands of the occupiers arehowever are politically far reaching. Theyinclude: no privatisation of education andno privately funded courses, no cuts tocourses or compulsory redundancies inScottish universities, and a living wage forall workers at Scottish universities includingthose subcontracted.

Students in Scotland seem to be leadingthe way in militant action against educationcuts. The Free Hetherington in Glasgow,another occupied university space, lastedseven months and was the longest longest-running student occupation in UK history,with students sleeping, studying andcampaigning in the building along withputting on numerous social and politicalevents. It continues to remain an inspirationfor student action in Scotland.

NEWS

NEWS IN BRIEFActivists cleared of hitting coppersTwo anti-cuts protestors, Nicolas Christianand Jane Laporte, are celebrating as thecase against them was dismissed. They hadbeen accused of assaulting a police officerat a Haringey Civic Centre protest inFebruary.

The protest had been called by HaringeyAlliance for Public Services in oppositionto the council’s proposed £41m cuts to localservices, including the closure of threeresidential homes and four day centres forolder people, a 75% cut in the YouthServices budget, and a 50% cut to the Parksmaintenance budget.

Judge Tempia, sitting at EnfieldMagistrates’ Court (in Tottenham), ruledthat police officers from the TerritorialSupport Group were not acting within theirduty and used unlawful force in removingthe defendants, along with other anti-cutsprotestors, out of the building.

The decision came after four days ofprosecution evidence, including theappearance of 15 police officers, none ofwhom could point to any violencethreatened or used by either protestor thatwould justify the riot police’s use of forceunder their powers to prevent a breach ofthe peace. The heavy-handed and violentresponse by the riot police that night wastotally disproportionate to any of theactions by the protestors. They also failedto appreciate the right of local residents tohold their local councillors to account asthey voted through cuts that would tearapart services for young people and theelderly.

The judgment is an important decisionnot only for the two defendants, but alsofor the freedom to protest in the face ofpolice intimidation tactics.

Another important aspect, given theharsh sentences being handed out topeople involved in the student protests,26th March and the August riots, is thatboth defendants refused to plead guiltyand forced the police to justify theirbehaviour in court. Regardless of theiractions and the accusations against them,the defendants had not acted unlawfully.They both gave no comment interviewsand refused to plead guilty at their firstcourt appearance despite the initial viewfrom the solicitor that they would be foundguilty and that they shouldn’t expect tolegally challenge the police’s version ofevents. It was only their political experience,doggedness and support from friends thatensured they could walk away from courtfree.

For more information about the local campaignagainst public sector cuts, see www.hapsnews.net,the website of Haringey Alliance for PublicServices.If you need legal information and support for otherprotests, see Legal Defence and Monitoring Group(ldmg.org.uk) or Green and Black Cross(greenandblackcross.org).

Edinburgh University occupied

Travellers at Dale Farm won a last minute reprieve on the day of the proposed eviction from their ownland in Essex as a court injunction prevented Basildon Council from clearing the site pending a furtherHigh Court hearing. Speaking at the High Court, Mr Justice Edwards-Stuart granted the order becausethere were concerns that measures carried out by Basildon borough council “may go further” than theterms of the enforcement notices. Some fifty anarchists along with hundred or so family members havebarricaded the site against the eviction at Europe’s largest traveller site.

LENS CAP STAYING PUT


3Freedom • October 2011

joint events with community groups andservice users” have been called for.

What is clear is that as many as twentypublic sector unions will be balloting theirmembers for action on 30th November, andthe ‘big three’, Unison, GMB and Unite, aswell as the Firefighters Union are alreadyproceeding with balloted strike action. Evenwithin the context of a reformist trade unionapproach this is an impressive feat.

But what of the anarchists? It’s certainlyno secret that a disproportionate amount ofanarchists work in the public sector, and wewill be looking to them for inspiration,guidance and effective organisation inmobilising support for the day.

Perhaps the most significant contribution sofar is the N30 Strike initiative. Inspired byanarchists it is looking to engage all thosepeople who fall beyond the shadow of thepublic sector unions and attempt to coordinatecountrywide actions in solidarity with thestriking workers. Already they have beenadvocating “early morning pickets, directactions, occupations and demonstrations…to amplify the resistance to austerity”.

N30 Strike has come about from thoseinvolved in organising the J30 Assembly,which was designed to solidify support andgeneralise momentum for the 30th Junepublic sector strike. The J30 website provedso successful in the run up to strike day,

providing an invaluable online resource forworkers and activists alike, that they aredeveloping the process. As they say: “it isvitally important that we, rank and file unionmembers, students, precarious workers andunemployed call for a mass show of solidarityfor those taking strike action and to generalisethe strike on Nov 30th”.

Added to that there will be mobilisingmeetings across the country throughoutOctober giving anarchists the opportunity tomeet up locally, network and plan strategieson how best to utilise out time and energy.

To get involved, advertise your event or join up witha group in your area check out www.N30strike.org

Electricians battleconstruction industry giantsRank and file electricians are at the forefrontof a massive campaign of wildcat strikes,protests and direct action to prevent the majorbuilding services contractors colluding todrive down wages and deskill the industrywith the imposition of new, non-negotiatedcontracts.

The catalyst for the dispute came inAugust when the eight biggest constructioncompanies withdrew altogether from thelong-standing national work agreements anddecided to impose new terms and conditionson electricians working in the constructionindustry. Crucially this new arrangement willintroduce three new grades for electriciansall set below the current rate of pay, effectivelycutting their wages by 35%. It will also getrid of hard won pension and legal rights andthe improvements to health and safety onconstruction sites.

The Joint Industry Board’s (JIB) agreementbetween electricians and contractors havebeen in place since 1969 and part of thestandard employment procedure for buildingwork. JIB has been the recognised negotiatingbody for electricians and employers through -out the industry. It is these JIB agreementswhich protect workers’ wages and rights thatare now being swept away in a cynical moveto undermine the collective negotiating powerof workers in an increasingly fragmentedworkplace.

In response there has been two successivemonths of action with electricians protestingoutside high profile construction sitesthroughout the UK. This has been a grass -roots campaign with little support from Uniteunion, who have been slow to react despiterepresenting 90% of electricians.

At the beginning of September five of theeight companies gave notice to dismiss theirentire workforce followed by a 90-day‘consultation period’, as required by law,before re-employing them in December on thenew inferior contracts. If workers refuse tosign up to the new contracts they will besacked on the spot.

Electricians immediately responded bycalling a day of ‘civil disobedience’ with co-ordinated unofficial industrial actionacross the country. Electricians and pipe-fitters working for Balfour BeattyEngineering Services (BBES) in Scotlandwalked off the job. In London, police wereforced to intervene after 150 electriciansblocked the main entrance to the Olympicssite causing rush hour travel chaos, withfurther actions taking place at BalfourBeatty’s Papermill site in Manchester, andongoing protests in Newcastle. Future actionis being planned for Hull, Cardiff andLiverpool.

Anarchists have been out in support of theelectricians turning up at protests, and it’sunderstood some anarchists are coordinatingwith workers in an attempt to have a morepro-active role in their support for theelectricians. There is a growing awareness of the need to increase pressure as the 7thDecember deadline looms for the introductionof the new contracts.

BBES is the biggest mechanical and electricalfirm in the UK with a massive turnover of£690 million a year.

Sparks are flying

NEWS

Everybody out!7page 1

The Westfield construction site in Stratford, east London; Balfour Beatty’s Blackfriars Station construction site in London; electriciansoutside a Carillion site in Denton, Manchester – protests around the country against the assault on pay and conditions.



THE BIG PICTURE

From the Bookfair organisers: Anarchists all over the UK are putting on successful events – bookfairs in Bristol, Manchester, Bradford,Norwich, Oxford, Sheffield and Durham, as well as Newcastle’s Projectile festival. No-one can say that anarchists can’t organise. Theseare great social events and a real opportunity to spread anarchist ideas as well as debating them. We know anarchist politics aren’tonly about organising a bookfair. All of us in the Bookfair collective would choose a big, effective, militant anarchist movement overa successful bookfair. Let’s use these events to take things forward.


The anarchist movement underone roofSince the last London bookfair, the UK’sbiggest and one of the world’s best knownanarchist gatherings, no one could havereally predicted events unfolding the waythey have. From the belligerent studentprotests and occupations to the anti-cutsmovement and European-style black blocerupting across the streets on 26th Marchfollowed by the most intense period of innercity unrest the country has seen for 30 years.

It’s within that context that this year’sbookfair defines itself, and unsurprisinglythere will be a lot of talk and discussion onanarchism’s relationship to the current events.Certainly the expectation is that there willbe many more people attending this yeareager to discover more about anarchism.Always priding ourselves on being at theforefront of social struggles the atmosphereat this year’s event is set to be electric.

Here are some of the highlights at thisyear’s event.

Current eventsFour days that shook the worldThe riots in August started after the murderof yet another black man killed by the police.Mark Duggan’s death may have been thestraw that broke the camel’s back, but itwasn’t the main cause for the riots andlooting throughout the country for nearly aweek. A discussion about why the riots tookplace, the aftermath and where we go fromhere.

UK Youth RebellionAnarchists have been commenting on theincrease in the marginalisation of youngpeople – being young is a crime in itself.Since then youth have been fighting back,demanding respect and to have a voice. Butdo Millbank, Black Bloc and the recent riotspresent different faces of youth rebellion?Anarchist Federation explores why and howyoung people are fighting back, and howanarchists figure within this

ClassWhy do we call ourselves Class StruggleAnarchists?In some anarchist circles the term ‘classstruggle’ is seen as outdated and boring. Arethey scared of the term, or do they just notunderstand what is meant by it? Is thereaction a class or cultural thing? Membersof Anarchist Federation, IWW and ALARMwill explain what we mean by ‘class struggle’,why it is still important in today’s society.

HistoryMistakes of the Spanish RevolutionStuart Christie explains why the FAI-CNTcommittees of the CNT-FAI abandoned allpretence of being popular revolutionaryorgans, instead constituted a structure thatserved to apply the brakes to – and reverse –the spontaneous revolutionary activity of thebarrio (ward/district) committees and repressthe rank-and-file activists who were pressingfor social revolution.

The Battle of Cable StreetThe 75th anniversary of The Battle of CableStreet took place earlier this year, when atleast 100,000 East Enders turned out tophysically prevent the British Union of Fascistsmarching through Stepney. They builtbarricades, fought the police who had beensent to clear the way and the day becamepart of left-wing history and mythology.

PracticalAll London Anarchist RevolutionaryMovement (ALARM)The purpose is to build an organisationalstructure to give London Anarchism a chanceto grow and meet the opportunities comingup. ALARM provides local contacts to actas hubs for anarchist activity in each borough.In addition to area based groups, college,workplaces and campaigning groups arewelcomed into the structure as are nationalanarchist organisations.

Organising in the WorkplaceWhat does radical workplace organisationlook like? This talk includes a condensedversion of the SolFed’s Organiser Training,focusing on the ‘nuts and bolts’ of workplaceorganising. SF members will then recap theOffice Angels campaign in which nationwidepickets forced the world’s largest employmentagency redress a case of wage theft.

Debt and ResistanceAs the economy nosedives, more people areturning to high street loan sharks and creditcompanies to survive, amassing unpayabledeficits. Toxic debts still fester on nationalisedbanks books and could lead to mass homeless -ness, while in 2012 the new university feeregime kicks in. Debt is becoming an evermore important part of the way capitalcontrols our lives. This session offers someideas about how to fight back.

Resisting the criminalisation of squattingOnce more the government is threatening todestroy squatting, though all they could dowould be to make it harder – there will stillbe thousands of empties and the need to squat.

Come and hear what campaigning is alreadyrunning. Is campaigning enough or shouldwe be preparing to ignore the law, and squatbigger and better (and what would thatmean?)

Anti-fascismFrom Casa Pound to Anders Behring BreivikFrom black-bloc autonomist nationalists inGermany to ‘third millennium fascist’ squattersin Italy to suit-wearing Nazis in Sweden, thelast twenty years has seen huge developmentsin the Neo-fascist scene. Paul Hull, veterananti-fascist and trade unionist in Sweden,will discuss the evolution of Neo-Nazi theoriesand tactics in Northern Europe and how themodern militant anti-fascist movement canadapt to these changes.

InternationalAgainst Austerity: Anarcho-Syndicalismacross EuropeThis talk will see radicals from across Europecome to London to discuss how anarchistscan effectively fight austerity. A greatopportunity to learn from each other andbuild the bridges of solidarity we’ll need tobeat back the global wave of austerity!(Organised by: Solidarity Federation.)

Tenants’ movement in PolandSince 1990 the housing situation in Polandhas deteriorated mainly due to the neo-liberal policies of the state and localauthorities. As a response, grassroots tenants’organisations have emerged in a number ofpolish cities. They aim to stop these attacksand promote social alternatives. The anarchistmovement is involved in many of thesegroups. (Organised by: Syndicalist Courier,Polish syndicalist paper in UK.)

Freedom Press will be having its usual stall, socome on over and say hello.


THE BIG PICTURE

London Anarchist Bookfair 2011



ANALYSIS

Staying in AfghanistanRoss Eventon makes theargument against thecontinued US presence in theregionReports that the US is determined to maintaina presence in Afghanistan will surprise noone except 99% of foreign policy analysts.Responding to the announcement that theUS is in negotiations to maintain a presenceuntil 2024, Mahdi Hassan, senior editor atthe New Statesman, writes “the US-ledinvasions and occupations of both countrieshave been a dismal failure” because “thepresence of western troops in Muslim landshas provoked more terrorism than it hasprevented.”

Regardless, Obama escalated the conflicton coming to office. Citing research thatout lines the primary goal of suicide terrorismis to end foreign military occupations,Hassan asks, “Why does an intelligentpolitician such as Barack Obama have suchdifficulty understanding this?”

The Afghan and Iraq invasions werelaunched on the expectation they wouldincrease the terrorist threat to domesticpopulations, as they duly did. It is aremarkable example of extreme naivety orintellectual subservience that claims the USis concerned with reducing terror not be metwith widespread ridicule.

As Julien Mercille, a lecturer at UniversityCollege Dublin, points out in the journalCritical Asian Studies, the War on Drugs isequally vacuous.

The claim to be concerned with reducingthe level of drug production is undermined,he writes, by “the Taliban’s relatively smallrole in drug trafficking; US/NATO supportfor proxy forces involved in the drug trade;the focus on poppy cultivation over drugmoney; the chemical precursor trade; moneylaundering; Western support for tobacco andalcohol industries; and the emphasis on over -seas operations and enforcement and neglectof drug treatment and prevention.”

In Afghanistan, the War on Drugs servesas “a rhetorical device used by the US tofacilitate overseas military intervention andthe fight against insurgents opposed to USpolicies in Afghanistan.”

In Colombia, a victim of both the Warson Drugs and Terror, whilst US support hasfailed in its publicly stated goal of eradicatingdrug production it has “succeeded inmodernizing the Colombian Armed Forces.”Furthermore, “by targeting FARC areas almostexclusively” it has “helped paramilitariesvertically integrate their criminal enterpriseand turn it into a political instrument,” writesscholar Forrest Hylton.

This should lead to some caution before wecan claim the War on Drugs has “failed.”

Slightly more honestly than Hassan, theeditor of the Financial Times acknowledgedthat the aim of the war in Afghanistan is “toestablish a client state with a semblance ofdemocracy in a hostile region with notradition of strong independent institutionsor basic human rights.”

In order to achieve this goal, the militarisa -tion of the state is crucial. Afghanistan is setto receive $2.7 billion dollars worth ofmilitary equipment over the course of thisyear. The Washington Post reports, “the US-led coalition will deliver 22,000 vehicles,including 514 new four-wheeled “mobilestrike force” armored vehicles yet to be usedin Afghanistan, 44 airplanes and helicopters,40,000 weapons, and tens of thousands ofradios and other pieces of communicationsgear.”

An adviser to Karzai was quoted as saying“in the next eight months, we are gettingmore equipment than we’ve gotten in the lasteight years… and this time it’s not all discardedequipment, it’s brand new.”

This delivery is the culmination of whathas been termed the “Golden Decade” fordefence companies. The Associated Pressreports, “Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the annualdefense budget has more than doubled to$700 billion and annual defense industryprofits have nearly quadrupled, approaching$25 billion last year.”

As an ancillary benefit, the ongoingconstruc tion of US-run prisons in the countrywill mean detainees can be held long into thefuture, possibly allowing for the eventualclosure of Guantanamo as inmates are movedto less conspicuous sites in Central Asia.

The decision to maintain military bases andtroops on the ground may have ended anyprospect for peace and negotiations, but itwill allow a US presence in one of the world’smost geo-strategically important regions and

help to keep Iran and China in check; the latterbeing bent on “foreign military adventurism”according to a 2001 Pentagon report.

For Afghans the situation is increasinglydesperate.

The first half of this year was the deadliestperiod for civilians since the war began. TheUNHCR noted in its Global Trends 2010report that “three out of ten refugees in theworld were from Afghanistan, with 96 percent of them located in Pakistan and theIslamic Republic of Iran.” If Iraq is included,almost half of the world’s refugees arenatives of US war zones.

Due to funding shortfalls, the World FoodProgramme recently announced they wouldbe cutting programmes in nearly half ofAfghanistan’s provinces. Refugees Internationalreports that 250,000 people have beendisplaced in the last ywo years, with 70% ofthose driven to the cities living in “unplannedareas or in illegal settlements.” In Kabul “80percent of the population live in unplannedsettlements where poor sanitation and lack ofaccess to safe drinking water are common.”

Last year, one analyst exemplified theapproach of commentary in general: “I usedto assume the Americans did certain thingsin Afghanistan (support corrupt governors,ally themselves with abusive commanders),because they didn’t know any better. If theyonly had the proper information, I thought,they would change such malign behaviour.The revelations in WikiLeaks indicate thatthey often have such information or at leastserious allegations and indications, but then,apparently, carry on as normal.”

The inability to abandon commonly heldpieties prevents discussion of the logical nextstep. Meanwhile, the US is cementing itsclient in Central Asia and securing apermanent presence in the region, a “victory”built on the corpses of Afghan civilians.


7

COMMENT

Freedom • October 2011

Welcome to the new bigger, bolder, brighterFreedom newspaper. We ourselves are stillcoming to terms with the changed format,different layout and new content (and thenovelty of having staples and internal colourpages) so we ask you to bear with us untilwe settle into a workable routine. We willcontinue to ask for your feedback, ideas,suggestions and article submissions. Wewant to make this a paper for the wholeanarchist movement, and your contributionswill be a central part of that.

The UK anarchist movement, or ratherthose active in anarchist politics, is growingand developing at an astonishing rate, andwith it we are being swept along on tidalwave of radical social change. The ruptureswe have witnessed recently, from the bankingcollapse to the August riots, offer increasinglyassured glimpses of the fragile nature ofcapitalism and the state. The political andsocial uncertainties we are facing are bothdaunting and a gifted opportunity.

It was a few months ago that we said inthese very pages that there was no bettertime to be an anarchist, and it seemseverybody else is coming to that sameconclusion.

David Goodway, the respected politicalhistorian, writing recently in the Guardiannewspaper said: “Britain almost certainlyhas a greater number of conscious anarchistsnowadays than at any previous point in itshistory and, in addition, there are manymore natural anarchists: that is people who,while not identifying themselves asanarchists, think and behave in significantlyanarchist way.”

And Chomsky who was asked during aninterview should all students becomeanarchists replied emphatically “Yes,” adding“students should challenge authorities andjoin a long anarchist tradition. As soon asone identifies, challenges and overcomesillegitimate power, he or she is an anarchist.Most people are anarchists. What they callthemselves doesn’t matter to me.”

Even the Socialist Workers Party, thevanguard of leftist power-politics hasacknowledged, albeit through gritted teeth,“the growing popularity of anarchism, asboth movement and ideology” – so much sothey have been forced to republish theircritique of anarchism for a new audience.

The fact that different strands of politicalthought are all recognising the role anarchistmethodology is playing in the current waveof social struggles should inspire in all of usthe confidence to organise and act as avisible anarchist movement. This is our time.

Anarchism is now being represented notas a constructed ideology but as a body ofpeople engaged in activities that openlyquestion the dominance of capitalism andthe role of the state as valid forms of socialorganisation. As a movement we stand at aimportant moment – we either take up thechallenge or get left behind.

As a tool of propaganda, as a source ofinformation and as part of the anarchistinfrastructure Freedom remains committedto help building a movement worthdefending, in a society worth fighting for.This is your paper.

Deaneditor

WHAT YOU CAN DOFreedom is the longest running anarchistpublication in the UK. It remains the onlynationwide regular anarchist newspaper inproduction in the UK. We continue toprovide an essential voice for the anarchistmovement, promoting anarchist ideas andactivities as well as reporting on theimportant issues of the day from a radicalperspective. To go with the new format weare looking for new writers, fresh ideas,people to get involved in the production ofthe paper and to help increase distributionand sales.

Writing for the paperFreedom is always looking for people towrite for the paper. Not only is it anexcellent opportunity to get your ideas,thoughts and opinions into print and outinto the real world, it also offers a chanceto develop and refine your writing skills,report on the activities you are involved in,or promote the group you are a memberof. We accept any original articles as longas they are informative, interesting orentertaining and politically relevant. Wordcount is: news articles 250 or 450 words;reviews 250 or 500 words; analysis/history/theory/ articles 800 words; Features: 1,500and 2,500 words. To find out more [email protected]

DistributionThe best way to disseminate anarchist ideasis face-to-face distribution on the street,and street sales are always a positive wayto engage people about radical politics. Weneed people/groups in different areas topromote, sell and distribute Freedom. Thiscould be done in a variety of ways fromsuggesting places that would stock thepaper, to actively selling the paper in yourarea, on demonstrations, at events or inyour workplace.

If you or your group takes on selling abundle we do an offer of 50% discount, soyou can make a pound on every issue ofthe paper you sell.

If you know of any shop/communitycentre/art or social centre/venue/politicalspace or university campus in your areathat would stock the paper please get intouch. Contact: [email protected]

DonationsFreedom never makes money from thepaper and as such has to be financiallysupported by the book shop or generousdonations from comrades and supporters.We are setting up a Freedom FightingFund to ensure the paper continues toprovide the anarchist movement with amuch needed voice and visible presence inthe real world. To find out how you canmake donations to keep the paper afloatcontact [email protected]

Cheques or postal orders made payableto ‘Freedom Press’ can be sent to us atFreedom, 84b Whitechapel High Street,London E1 7QX.

Fighting talk for the future



SYRIA IN TURMOILMainstream media here in the west,especially television news, has beenremarkably terse on the political uprisingin Syria, given the fact that it has been farmore violent and long-term than in Egypt.For instance, clashes between agitatingmasses and military forces have been goingon for six months now, with around 3,000dead – and counting (UN figures put thedeath toll at 2,200). Thousands have beenimprisoned and thousands more aremissing. There are also reports of activistsbeing tortured in prison. However, activistscontinue to take to the streets, loudly andstubbornly.

Although five hundred of the army andthe police have been killed, the mostserious blow yet could be the defections ofrank and file soldiers, most of whom areconscripted, some of them joining theprotesters and others just disappearing.The government of Bashar al Assad istrying to downplay the significance of thiseven as it cracks down brutally on thedefectors, actively hunting and killingthem. The army is said to be targetingeverything, from mosques to hospitals.

In a re-run of Libya, the same activistswho were against foreign intervention arecalling for it now, with human rightsobservers as a first step. However, therehas been no UN resolution on the matterdue to opposition from Russia and China.The meagre US sanctions, it is clear, hasnot done its job. Interestingly, though, it isthe Arab League putting (dubious)pressure on Assad to give way todemocratic elections in three years time.Former allies Iran (!) and Turkey areprompting Assad to stop the killings. SaudiArabia, Kuwait and Bahrain have alsodistanced themselves from Assad.

While on the ground there seems to bechaos. Broadly speaking, there are fouropposition groupings: mostly youth-ledactivist groups like Local Co-ordinationCommittees and the Syrian RevolutionGeneral Commission; exiles abroad whohave tried to form national councils;“older, established opposition” (AlJazeera); and the rest – people on thestreets. These elements are not necessarilyworking together, and most protesters aredissatisfied with official channels ofopposition.

Whereas according to activists presentthere are more serious problems amongstthe crowd, such as religious bigotry andsectarian ism with chants of ‘Allah hoAkbar’ and ‘Christians to Beirut andAlawis [a minority Arab sect] to the grave’being recorded. Meanwhile the Al Jazeerareport cites a complete lack of politicalculture among the people and individualegotism as the culprits, given that theAssad regime has been in power for 41years.

INTERNATIONAL

Notes from the USThe silly season is over – in as much as it everis in the United States. It emerged in lateAugust, for instance, that Senator JohnMcCain, former 2008 presidential candidate,promised to provide arms and military aid toColonel Muammar Gaddafi during a meetingin August 2009. And there are a few smallvictories for common sense.

A federal court, for instance, has refusedto dismiss a lawsuit against former USSecretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, forhis role in devising policies of torture in Iraq.The Court of Appeals ruled that twoAmerican citizens (Donald Vance andNathan Ertel) who were tortured at a USmilitary base in Iraq have adequate evidenceto suggest that Rumsfeld was personallyresponsible for their treatment and notentitled to qualify for immunity.

Then a federal jury has also found fourNew Orleans police guilty of civil rightsviolations over the shooting deaths of twocivilians and the subsequent cover-up afterHurricane Katrina in 2005. The charges werelinked to shootings on the Danziger Bridgethat also seriously wounded four others.

UnionsSome 45,000 unionised workers at telecomgiant, Verizon, struck for several days afternegotiations broke down between Verizonand two unions representing the workers (theCommunications Workers of America and

the International Brotherhood of ElectricalWorkers). Verizon tried to cut health andpension benefits for workers and make itsimpler for the company to sack workers. Thestrike was the largest and most significant thisyear. Verizon, which is the nation’s secondlargest phone company, earned US$6.9 (£4.2)billion in net income for the first six monthsof the year – or about a £1,000 an hour.

EnvironmentProtests continue against the Alberta tarsands project which would build a pipeline1,500 miles from north to south (theKeystone XL pipeline) to deliver tar sandsoil from Canada to refineries in Texas. Insummer more than 500 people protestingoutside the White House were arrested onseveral separate occasions. Indeed, the protestis being widely described as one of theenvironmental movement’s biggest andimportant campaigns for many years. DrSydney Parker of Maryland: “We are herebecause it’s not just an environmental issue,it’s also a very big health issue and that’swhy we’ve come out today and that’s whywe’re so committed. So personally I’ve neverbeen arrested before. I don’t do this for fun.I’m here because I think it’s such animportant issue that it really demands thatkind of action and it demands that level ofcommitment from myself.”

Louis Further

US longshoremen have been in a protracted and increasingly volatile dispute with EGT port owners overthe use of non-unionised labour at the Port Longview, Washington. The escalation in hostilities has seenworkers damaging property and fighting with police to prevent train loads of grain entering the portterminal. Workers smashed windows, pushed a security vehicle into a ditch, cut brake lines and dumpedgrain onto the ground .

LENS CAP FIRST PORT OF CALL



Young lead the way as unrestintensifies in South AmericaSince May this year Chile has been witnessingmass social unrest not seen since the inceptionof liberal democracy in 1990. Right-wingPresident Sebastián Piñera’s proposals tomake neoliberal ‘reforms’ to the educationsystem has been met with furious studentprotests ranging from kissing demonstrationsand occupations to hunger strikes and rioting.Amid clashes with cops 16 year-old ManuelGutierrez Reinoso and 18 year-old MarioParraguez Pinto were shot and killed.Observers predict Chile is reaching the cuspof a major systemic upheaval.

The protestsUnlike in the UK, where action was centredaround one-off marches and demonstrations,followed by periods of inaction, in Chilestudents have been on the streets more or lessdaily – in the capital Santiago and elsewhere.On 24th and 25th August 2011, Chile’s mainunion , Workers United Centre, declared atwo-day strike in solidarity with the students,and around 600,000 students and workerstook to the streets across Chile, 200,000 ofthem in Santiago alone. Over 700 schoolswere occupied.

Police resorted to repression through watercannons and tear gas on peaceful marcheswhich then turned confrontational withmasked youths pelting police with stones,paint bombs, and molotovs, building barricadesby setting tyres and luxury cars on fire, andblocking traffic. Other salient features of theunrest included looting of shops, supermarketsand gas stations, and general damaging ofproperty.

Well over a thousand protesters have beenarrested and 156 cops injured, although thecop who shot Reinoso is awaiting sentencefor homicide, and some sort of disciplinaryaction has been taken against other copsinvolved in the killing, in order to placatethe protesters.

What students wantAgain, unlike in the UK, students have madevery specific demands, the first and foremostbeing Piñera withdraw his proposal for educa -tion reforms that will open up the educationsystem to further privatisation. Other demandsinclude waiver of exam fees, free, round-the-year public transport passes to all studentsin all areas, paid work placements, shorterschool hours, more state investment in healthand education, and making education a freepublic service guaranteed by the state.

To illustrate the seriousness of the situation,one only need look at the six high schoolstudents who have been on a hunger strikefor over 21 days with two of them havinggone without food for over 54 days. Their

slogan is: “No more profit in education, andfor public, free, high quality education.”

Another salutary feature of studentprotests is that they are supported by 80%of the population, despite the ‘violence’.People have come out on the streets withtheir traditional ‘saucepan protest’, bangingpots and pans to show their support. Thismass movement, spearheaded by the students,appears to be a socially inclusive one demand -ing sweeping changes like restructuring ofthe Constitution, higher wages, tax reforms,establishment of a social welfare system, andnew labour laws.

Students have also declared solidarity withthe indigenous Mapuche people, as well asarticulating ecological concerns spurred byrapid industrialization. They also formed asignificant part of the 9/11 (overthrow ofthe socialist Allende government andinstallation of Pinochet, not the US event!)memorial march.

Thus there is no doubt that this rebellionis targeted against the entire system, inclusiveand representative of working class Chileans,and aimed at recreating the country’s socialand political framework.

BackgroundThese past months are not the only timestudents have rebelled in Chile. They havebeen exploding from time to time since asfar back as 2006, if not earlier. In May 2006about 500,000 high school students went onstrike, refusing to attend classes, and doingmass occupations of schools. In June 2006there were more high school students strikingand clashing with the police, leading to mass

arrests. This was dubbed the ‘Penguins’Revolution’ because of their uniforms. Protestserupted again in 2008. Burning material,looting of shops and businesses, occupationsof schools and mass arrests have been regularfeatures of these protests.The youth of Chile have good reasons forbeing so angry. Chile has become the West’sdarling for being the most ‘developed’ regionin the continent as it has continued to amassGDP growth figures through the years. Thishas a lot to do with the booming copperindustry (Chile is the world’s largest producerof copper), and the continuation by successivegovernments of vicious neoliberal reforms,introduced initially by Pinochet in the 1970sand 1980s with US prompting. This includesthe previous Centre-Left government led byMichelle Bachelet; billionaire businessmanPresident Piñera is just the icing on the cake.

As a result, Chile is a highly unequalcountry, with the most expensive education inthe region. The education system reproducesthis inequality, creating and maintainingdeep class divisions. One professor calls it“educational apartheid”. High student debtand interest rates have made higher educationimpossible for many. A Chile economist wasquoted as saying that the income of therichest 5% is 220 times greater than thepoorest 5%.

All of this is highly instructive to studentshere in UK because looking at Chile now islike looking at our own future in this countrytwenty years down the line. Chronic studentindebtedness, school dropouts, worsening classantagonism, riots and street battles – soundominous? Governments be warned.

INTERNATIONAL

Chile’s student fury in full force



ECONOMICS

Global economic overview: 2011

A round up of the effects ofthe financial crisisNumbers are annoying. When one tells astory through statistics, one seems todehumanise the picture. But when it comesto the economy, scale is everything, andnumbers are the only way to paint a pictureof the scale of what is happening at themoment. That picture is depressing indeed.

Generally, economies around the worldhave been slowing down – industrialproduction, trade, job creation, andconsumers’ ability to buy goods: all factorsthat indicate how much wealth a country isproducing – are at undesirably low levels.This is true especially of Europe and the US,but also of India, China, eastern Europe,South Africa and Latin America. Ominouslyfor productivity and job creation,manufacturing sector has declined in UK,Asia, Australia, Europe and the US. Moreeconomists now believe that a double-diprecession is likely. However, some considerthe labour market is already in a double-dip.Latest figures support this viewpoint.

United Kingdom Unemployment is at an all-time high, ofaround 2.5 million, or 8%. Youthunemployment (those aged between 16 and24) is more than double that number at20%, nearly a million youngsters. That is,one in five is unemployed. In just threemonths ending July, around 80,000 peoplehave joined the dole queue. Nearly 500,000public sector workers are scheduled to besacked in the next five years.

According to figure from the Office for

National Statistics, the number of long-termunemployed – those without work for morethan two years – is up 30%. For those over50, the rise is 38% – suggesting that, as inprevious downturns, many may simply neverfind work again. Thus, structuralunemployment (permanently unemployed),not only in the UK but also in the US isexpected to remain high for years to come.

House prices have fallen leading to acontraction in the construction industry,which has usually been the driving factor inprevious booms. Service industry has alsoregistered slow growth, not just here in theUK, but in other large nations like the USand China.

Inflation has been the fastest in twentyyears, even as the Bank of England hasartificially kept interest rates at a historiclow. In the absence of consumer spendingdue to the austerity measures, this is one ofthe few ways of increasing cash flow in theeconomy. This helps the banks and reassuresinvestors, but does little to help ordinarycitizens.

United StatesEconomic doom-saying is incomplete withouta look at the world’s most ‘developed’nation. The crash occurred in the US; therecession started here; and unsurprisingly,the shambles is worsening.

According to official statistics, around sixmillion are currently unemployed – ataround 9.1%. This rate is likely to endurefor a while. Even if the economy picks up,structural unemployment is likely to be ataround 7% or more, while previously it was4–5%. As in the rest of Europe, youthunemployment is worse than the generalfigures – over 19%.

The EurozoneAll eyes are now on the unhappy trio ofFrance, Germany and Greece. Amid fearsthat Greece may default by leaving the EU,and thus triggering an all-round economiccollapse, Germany and France – Eurozone’sbiggest economies – have rushed in toreassure investors by increasing Greece’sbailout fund. This probably means Greecewill have to ramp up its austerity, thusleading to heightened public anger. It alsomeans that the people of Germany andFrance have to bear more of the burdens ofbailing out Greece.

The strains are already showing. Eurozoneeconomy is facing very slow growth,including a standstill in the coming months.Germany, which appeared pretty strong onlya few months ago is registering poor growthas well. Two of France’s largest banks weredowngraded recently, triggering some panic.BNP Paribas, France’s biggest bank, is justabout avoiding a downgrade. France is in aprecarious position because many of itsbanks are exposed to Greek investments.

What about Spain? The country is stillmanaging to sell bonds, although that onlygenerates cash in the short-term. In the longterm, it leads to higher government debtwhich the already suffering people will haveto pay off. However, the most clearindication of the country’s state is here: overfour million are unemployed – around 20%of the workforce – the worst performance inlabour terms in the whole of EU.

To wrap up Rosy pictures of the private sector swoopingin to rescue the economy by somehowcreating hundreds of thousands of jobs, havefallen flat on the ground. The truth is thatthe system is so far broken, it’s a completeCatch-22. Austerity has only managed todepress economies in which there wasalready an unprecedented transfer of wealthto finance industry, while increased spendingto stimulate growth could only postponeproblems until another, bigger crash occursin the future. Perhaps it is time toacknowledge the failure of Keynesianeconomics, while realizing that ChicagoSchool neoliberal economics is hell-bent onexpanding an already fledgling plutocracy.



HISTORY

Celebrating the 75thanniversary of Cable StreetFor the left, The Battle of Cable Street is aunifying feature. This was a battle that wewon. We saw off the fascists. Among theJewish community or those whose familiesincluded London dockers, you can still hearpeople claiming their father or mother, or agrandparent was at Cable Street. This ishardly surprising as on 4th October 1936hundreds of thousands of people – Jewishtailors and Irish dockers to the fore – turnedout to block Sir Oswald Mosley's BritishUnion of Fascists (BUF) marching throughthe Jewish East End.

At the time, the London anarchistmovement was at a low ebb. It would reviveas the Spanish Civil War developed butthough individual anarchists were at CableStreet1 the only group of significance, itappears, was the remnant of the pre-WorldWar I Yiddish-speaking anarchist sceneinvolved with the Workers' Circle/ArbeiterRing.

The history of the Battle can be simplydescribed. Initially the BUF had significantsupport from leading industrialists, and theDaily Mail, though that dwindled in the faceof increasing anti-Semitism and BUF-initiatedviolence. There was increasing conflict withthe Jewish community and Mosley plannedto march his uniformed men and womenthrough Stepney – then largely Jewish, thenlargely poor, then largely overcrowded.

The Jewish People's Council (JPC), whichcomprised the Jewish left and Jewish tradeunions, collected 100,000 signatures callingfor the march to be banned but the HomeSecretary refused. When it was obvious themarch would go ahead there was intensedebate on how to respond. The formalleadership of the Jewish community, the Boardof Deputies, called on people to stay athome. The then-powerful Communist Partywas mobilising for a demonstration in supportof the Spanish Republic in Trafalgar Squareand ignored the call to oppose Mosley. It wasonly at the last minute, and after manyappeals from local party organiser JoeJacobs2 did they print over their Trafalgar

Square leaflets with encouragement to go tothe East End instead, falling in behind theJPC and what was the obvious communityresponse, and which was supported from thebeginning by the Independent Labour Partyand the Labour League of Youth.

Such was the throng of people in the EastEnd that the police saw only one waythrough, which led to barricades in CableStreet and street battles around GardinersCorner. Over 7,000 police, many mounted,tried to force a passage for the BUF to march,and failed. There is no doubt that CommunistParty organisation was crucial in resistingthe invasion, with, for example, first aidposts being set up. Later Communist PartyCable Street veterans would travel to Spain,form the backbone of the Stepney tenants’movement and, though the Jewish populationof Stepney was in steep decline, elect PhilPiratin to Parliament in 1945.

The Battle was vicious, with many injuredand arrested. It might seem surprising to seepeople having so few qualms about fightingwith the police but Bernard Kops, a childparticipant in the Battle, said “We in theEast End had no doubt that the police wereloaded against us… I grew up with a healthyhatred of the law.” His experience was notshared by community leaders who wereprimarily well-heeled and living in betterparts of town. Though there were tensionsbetween the Irish and Jews, much of thishad been mitigated by Jewish support forthe dock strike of a generation before, andthe pre-World War I, anarchist led, Jewishstrike against sweatshops and undercuttingwages.

The BUF did not get to march. This was notthe end of the story, but the BUF was seriouslydamaged, as it was when the Governmentbanned political uniforms.

The day is something we can look back towith pride, though it would be hard to

replicate – social conditions, not least inpopulation density, have changed.

The number of veterans of Cable Streetare now few, but enough to celebrate theBattle as living history. To that end the smallindependent Nottingham publishers, FiveLeaves, has brought out five books tocommemorate the 75th anniversary of thebattle of Cable Street and the people whoselives were affected by it. • Battle for the East End: Jewish responses

to fascism in the 1930s by DavidRosenberg who does walking tours of theEast End and is speaking about CableStreet at this year’s London bookfair

• The Battle of Cable Street 1936 by TheCable Street Group. A people’s history toldthrough the voices of those who took part,and examines the political, economic andsocial conditions of the time.

• October Day by Frank Griffin, a forgottenworking-class novel written about theeventful day

• Street of Tall People by Alan Gibbons, achildren's book about a friendshipbetween a Jewish and Gentile child in therun-up to the Battle.

• Everything Happens in Cable Street byRoger Mills, which reveals the day to daylives of people living in the area at thetime

All are available at Freedom bookshop.

Notes1 Albert Meltzer describes attending Cable Street,

at a period when the anarchist movementcomprised elderly veterans

2 Joe Jacobs, East End anti-fascist, later a memberof the libertarian group Solidarity, describes thedebates he had with the Communist Party inOut of the Ghetto (Phoenix Press).

Details of this year’s Cable Street celebrations areon www.battleofcablestreet.org.uk.

“Listen to the sound of marching feet”



Workers Solidarity Movement,the Irish anarchist organisation,have written an in-depthexamination of the recentunrest in English cities The police killing of Mark Duggan resultedin four nights of rioting across England. Theimmediate trigger was the killing itself, andthe disrespect shown by the police to Mark’sfamily and friends. But the riots rapidlybroadened to expressions of a more generalanger and alienation, an anger that was alltoo often unfocused and striking out at thenearest target of opportunity. This resultedin widespread destruction of resources inalready deprived neighbourhoods and someanti-social attacks on bystanders. Despitethis, the roots of the riots lie in the economicand political conditions of these districts,and not in ‘poor parenting’ or ‘mindlesscriminality’. These conditions were createdby the very politicians and business elitewho now call for a return to normality andrepression.

The riots happened at a particular moment,a moment when capitalism is in deep crisis.Indeed the riots occurred at the same time asyet another crash in global markets. Thetwo competed with each other to be the leadstory on the news. This is not a coincidence;the crash, and the cuts unleashed to imposeits costs on ordinary people, mean not onlyrocketing unemployment but also theslashing of public services. And while thefocus is on the estimated £200 million ofdestruction caused by the rioting, this palesinto insignificance in comparison with thehuge destruction of wealth taking place onthe stock exchanges. Likewise, while themedia focus has been on the hundreds of

workers and small business owners who willface unemployment because of the destructionof their workplaces, the system that bred theriot has refused work to millions – aroundone million people between the ages of 16and 24 are unemployed in the UK today.

The killing of Mark Duggan The immediate cause of the riots was thekilling of Mark Duggan by armed police onThursday 4th August, as he was travellinghome in a minicab. The police initially triedto spin the story that they had killed Markduring a shoot-out but it has since emergedthat the bullet that hit a police officer’s radiowas in fact fired by the officer who shotDuggan dead, and that there is no evidencethat Mark Duggan opened fire at policeofficers. Over a week after the shooting theIndependent Police Complaints Commission(IPCC) finally admitted that “It seemspossible that we may have verbally ledjournalists to believe that shots wereexchanged.”

Demanding answers and the start of theriotSemone Wilson and other family memberswent to Tottenham police station at 17.00on Saturday 8th August, along with localcommunity leaders, to seeks answers toquestions about the killing. The police failedto provide a senior officer to answer theirquestions and, some three and a half hourslater, rioting started as the protest dispersed,apparently after riot police had beaten a 16-year-old woman in front of the crowd.

In the riots that followed that night, twopolice cars and a bus were set on fire andseveral shops were attacked. The rioting spreadfrom Tottenham to Enfield and Brixton.Police reported they had arrested 55 peopleand claimed 26 officers were injured. At thispoint the Duggan family distanced themselvesfrom the rioting.

The spread of the riotingRioting spread all across England over thefollowing three nights, with significantdisturbances being reported in Birmingham,Salford, Liverpool, Nottingham, Leicester,Manchester, Wolverhampton, WestBromwich, Gloucester, Chatham, Oxford,and Bristol. The police were quicklyoverwhelmed, and were lucky that for themost part the riots focused on looting andavoiding the police rather than directconfrontation and attacks on the police.This was not true everywhere. InNottingham no less than five police stationswere attacked at various points, but in mostplaces the rioters dispersed when sizeablenumbers of police appeared, to melt awayand resume looting elsewhere.

The form of most of the riots made itvery hard for the police to contain them. Ina traditional riot that is directed at the police,

the riot typically sees large massed lines ofstatic, heavily protected riot police in solidranks facing off against the rioters who raindown projectiles from a distance. Both sidesmay advance, retreat and attempt to outflankeach other, but this pattern means that thedestruction and looting is relatively contained.But most of the riots that broke out after thefirst night were focused on looting andavoiding the police, rather than directlyconfronting them.

Choosing sides?In Homage to Catalonia, George Orwellprovided a useful general starting point forhow anarchists view riots, writing “I haveno particular love for the idealised ‘worker’as he appears in the bourgeois Communist’smind, but when I see an actual flesh-and-blood worker in conflict with his naturalenemy, the policeman, I do not have to askmyself which side I am on.” What happenedin London and spread elsewhere was notsome idealised glorious proletarian uprising,but the very real explosion of anger thatoccurs when years of poverty, policerepression, and racism finally reach burstingpoint.

Some terrible things have happened duringthe riots, but the politicians who weepcrocodile tears for the burning of shops andthe anti-social muggings and beatings are the

FEATURE

THE AUGUST RIOTS: CAUSES AND



very same people who bombed Iraq backinto the stone age, and organised the warand occupation that killed hundreds ofthousands. It is not necessary to see therioters as some example of idealised workersrevolting in order to see the hypocrisy andlies of the politicians and media organisationswho rushed to portray the events as unusuallyhorrific, rather than a consequence of adeeply divided society. This is not to suggestthat the ‘answer’ to the riots is more pooltables in community halls to keep the youthoff the street. That sort of sticking-plastersolution may well be applied in the aftermathto address the symptoms, but the cause isthe deep inequality that is part and parcel ofcapitalism. This divide has terrible effects onthe individuals who are trapped at the bottomof the wealth pyramid, often in conditionsof inter-generational poverty, unemploymentand exclusion.

The politics of riotsThe politicians are keen to deny any politicalaspect of the riot, and indeed are trying tointimidate anyone who points out theobvious by accusing them of supportingarson and muggings. In this respect, this riotis quite different to the student riots of lastwinter and the anti-cuts riot in March.Then, the politicians were keen to suggest allthe trouble was down to anarchists and

other ‘outside agitators’. This time they arekeen to prevent any discussion of thereasons why there were four nights of severerioting.

That said in many districts, the oftenrandom nature of what was attackeddemonstrated a lack of collective politicsbeyond the desire to lash. It was not thatpeople were disorganised. The riots did seeconsiderable organising to loot those goodsthe rioters had been told to desire but oftencan’t afford, but otherwise there was atendency to lash out at the very limitedauthority figures that are within easy reach.There are obvious parallels with the Frenchbanlieue riots of late 2005, when local schoolsand community centres were destroyed forsimilar reasons.

But, as we have seen, at least some had aclear political understanding of what theywere up against, and there were also attackson police vehicles and even police stations,the latter requiring collective organisationand co-ordination. Five police stations wereattacked in Nottingham, with police vehiclesbeing destroyed in Nottingham, Bristol, andTottenham itself.

The politics of fearThe reports we have had of anarchistinvolvement in the rioting have tended to beof anarchists trying to stop the destruction

of local shops, but this seems to have beenquite localised. But reports we have receivedare also at odds with the picture painted bythe mainstream media, of a feral mobattacking everyone and everything in sight.Instead we have been told that bystandersand spectators are generally being ignored.There are clearly exceptions to this (there isYouTube footage of people being mugged),but given that tens of thousands have beeninvolved in rioting and looting it seems theseincidents are the exception rather than therule, but an exception that is being used tospread fear and panic.

Alex, who we interviewed, had gone towitness the riot in his work clothes. Much ofthe sensationalist media coverage would haveled you to believe he would inevitably be setupon and mugged but while acknowledgingthat things were not the same everywhere,Alex reported “The kids robbed the shopsbecause that’s where the stuff is. Theyattacked the cops because they’d stop them.It was simultaneous, it was not two groupsof people, one with a beef against the copsand another with light fingers – it was onegroup of mainly young people. They didn’tattack each other, rape people, mug people –I was able to walk freely amongst them inmy shirt and slacks straight from work; lotsof people who were obviously not riotingwalked with the crowd in daylight – manyhave said the mood turned later on butactually I stayed with it with a friend, whowas also not dressed to fit in, until aftermidnight.”

Consequences of ‘scum’The ‘feral mob’ is a standard media storyproduced whenever there is large-scalebreakdown of law and order. There is a needfor responsibility in choosing to accept andrepeat such stories, because the fear theyprovoke creates the atmosphere where thepolice can use extreme repression. Themedia, the spin doctors, and the talkingheads have been busy advancing the ideathat the people who rioted are merely thugsand criminals, in an attempt to dehumanisethem. This is a dangerous phenomenon:once the rioters have been successfully madeinto sub-humans in the public consciousness,the opportunity for new levels of repressionopens up.

The impact this process is having can beseen in the results of the YouGov pollcarried out for the Sun. It found that 33%thought “police should be able to usefirearms/live ammunition” and support for‘less lethal’ options was far higher: “9 out of10 respondents (90%) thought that thepolice should be able to use water cannon inthe course of dealing with rioters. Thepotential use of other tactics also provedvery popular with mounted police (84%),curfews (82%), tear gas (78%), tasers (72%)

FEATURE

ND CONSEQUENCES

page 148



FEATURE

and plastic bullets (65%) all attractingsupport from a large majority.”

This idiocy is all the more remarkablewhen we remember that the trigger for theseriots was the police killing of Mark Duggan.Apparently the solution to murderous policeviolence is to be more murderous policeviolence. A ‘solution’ that, of course, will justresult in further rounds of rioting, just as itdid under Thatcher in the 1980s.

This dehumanisation has other consequences.With 1,500 arrested, it is now clear thathuge numbers are going to be criminalisedand jailed by a state desperate to reassert itsauthority. The first court cases that are beingheard have made it clear that the judges aretaking their central role of protectingcapitalism and the state very seriously.Insanely harsh sentences are being imposed,like the 22 year old woman jailed for sixmonths after she was caught with 10 packsof chewing gum.

Alongside this, the police are to getadditional powers and, it can be expected,will step up attempts to control public space.There is talk of evicting anyone convicted(along with their family) from councilaccommodation and stopping any benefitsthey claim. The first eviction papers havealready been served in Clapham, on a tenantwhose son has been charged withparticipating in the riots. Even in right-wingterms this is sheer lunacy – how exactlywould a homeless ex-prisoner with noincome be expected to live? Just howalienated might such a person feel from therest of society? What happens when, in afew months, hundreds of them are releasedwith no home to return to, no benefits, andit being next to impossible to find work?The state expects to get away with thisbecause so much of the population hasjoined in the dehumanisation of the rioters.The end result will inevitably be even deeperexclusion and resentment and, with thisresponse, next time there will be an evenmore unfocused lashing out.

Riots are often contradictoryThe reality is riots are often unfocusedexpressions of anger. People are smart enoughto know that they have no stake in societyas it currently is set up. What they have

witnessed is inter-generational poverty andlack of opportunities. As it happened totheir forefathers, it is happening to them.Social mobility is a myth which no-one isbuying, because it is the capitalist equivalentof a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.The game is rigged and they always end uplosing. The political system does not cater,care, or listen to the people who riot. No-one is listening to them, no-one is speakingfor them, and certainly no-one is planning toinvest in their future. When you can’t see afuture for yourself, and when you have notseen a future for your parents or yourgrandparents materialise, torching a buildingor looting a shop is a cry to be heard, a cryfor survival.

In March 1968 Martin Luther Kingdelivered that speech to a hostile audience atan American High School during which hetalked of the violent riots that had shakenUS cities during the preceding summers,riots that were to culminate in an orgy ofdestruction following his own assassinationa short time later. He was a pacifist but hestill proclaimed that “… it is not enough forme to stand before you tonight and condemnriots. It would be morally irresponsible forme to do that without, at the same time,condemning the contingent, intolerableconditions that exist in our society. Theseconditions are the things that cause

individuals to feel that they have no otheralternative than to engage in violentrebellions to get attention. And I must saytonight that a riot is the language of theunheard.”

What will change?The political masters are playing a dangerousgame. They want to spin these riots asnothing but ‘mindless’ thuggery. But peoplehave been watching the streets of variouscities become the platform for change overthe last six months, from Tunis to Cairo,from Damascus to Madrid. Our rulerscertainly do not want to see these riots turninto that – a massive display of publicdefiance and civil unrest against the existingsystem, a system where inequality andinjustice are rampant, and the desperateneed for something else. Yet it is our duty ascitizens of the world to turn these displaysof anger into a directed political fight forchange.

The riots have lain down a marker aroundwhich everyone is choosing a side. Do youwant the ‘security’ of the all powerful BigBrother state that can keep the rich safe intheir beds while the poor are literallythrown on the street or, if they resist, intoprison? A state that can make sure thatthose who cannot afford the pretty baubleswill be kept at a distance, restricted tostaring through plate glass or serving thosewho have the readies to pay? Perhaps withenough water cannon, baton rounds, andCCTV the status quo can be preserved.

To return to MLK, if a riot is not theanswer, then what is? With confidence, wesay it is certainly not more of the same. Ifwe want freedom then we must organise tofight for freedom and convince others tofight alongside us. Together we have thepower. The question is, will we organise touse it?

A pamphlet including the full unedited WSM article,plus interviews with anarchists and radicals involvedin the riots, will be available at this year’s anarchistbookfair. Get your copy at the Freedom stall.

The August Riots: causes and consequences 7page 6



PRISON NEWS

PRISON NEWSFilling TimeTime all alone in a little white room, window

barredAnd a one way locked doorTwo hours a day to make calls, have a shower,Clean your cell, throw a mop over the floor

Reading a book, or answering mail, fuzzy TVWith nothing much onLooking at photos of family and friends thenAn hour of association

Visits from loved ones, three times a month bringEmotions you try and hold downWaking from dreaming, it dawns where you areAnd that dozy smile turns to a frown

Spending an hour in the queue for the phoneJust to get someone’s answer machineReturn to your cell with a feast fit for pigsSmoke some roll ups and stare at the screen

Gangster crap blares from the fella next doorThere’s no peace in this place night or dayTry to make friends but it’s hard here inside’Cos these people give nothing away

Good and bad screws, some that help, somethat don’t,

All that moan that they haven’t the staffWhat the fuck are they doing twenty-two

hours a dayWhile we’re locked in the cell, what a laugh!

Dream of the day when the prison gate slamsI can leave these bad memories behindUntil then it's just simply a matter of timeAnd a captive but free state of mind

Sean Cregan

Sean is one of the six anti-fascists who areserving prison sentences for confrontingneo-Nazis at Welling station, South London,before a Blood & Honour gig in 2009.Please send them letters of support at theaddresses given below. They may eachreceive postage stamps and Postal Orders.Thomas has written a public statementfrom inside prison which can be read onthe Freedom website (freedompress.org.uk)and Sean has written for Leeds ABC(leedsabc.org.uk) on the pitfalls of putting onsolidarity benefits. We encourage everyoneto support those who are currently insidebecause of their political actions and beliefs.• Andy Baker A5768CE, HMP Highpoint,

Stradishall, Newmarket, Suffolk CB8 9YG• Thomas Blak A5728CE, HMP Wormwood

Scrubs, PO Box 757, Du Cane Road,London W12 OAE

• Sean Cregan A5769CE, HMP Coldingley,Shaftesbury Road, Bisley, Woking, SurreyGU24 9EX

• Phil De Souza A5766CE, HMP Elmley,Church Road, Eastchurch, Sheerness,Kent ME12 4DZ

• Ravinder Gill A5770CE, HMP Wayland,Griston, Thetford, Norfolk IP25 6RL

• Austen Jackson A5729CE, HMPWormwood Scrubs, PO Box 757, DuCane Road, London W12 OAE

It was inevitable that the 10th anniversaryof 9-11 would be ubiquitous in September’smedia, just as inevitably there would bescant coverage of a different, though stillsignificant, anniversary of a rather differentatrocity perpetrated on American soil onalmost the same day 30 years earlier – thebrutal ending of the Attica Rebellion.

For four days in September 1971 morethan 1,000 prisoners took control of theAttica Correctional Facility, a supermaxpenitentiary in New York State. They set upcommittees to negotiate their demands withthe authorities, to organise food, bedding,sanitation, security and health care for theprisoners and for the 42 prison officers andcivilian staff that they had taken hostage. Massdebates took place on aims and possibleoutcomes of the rebellion and on the wave ofrebellion and resistance sweeping America,both inside and outside of its prison walls.

At the time, Attica was grossly overcrowded– designed to hold 1,200 prisoners, it held2,225. Banged-up 14 to 16 hours a day,prisoners were allowed only one shower aweek and one roll of toilet paper per personper month. Family visits were conductedthrough a mesh screen; medical care wasminimal; parole inequitable; and racism allpervasive – the governor ran an overtlyracist regime, where two-thirds of Attica’sprisoners were Black and Puerto Rican andall 383 guards were white, and the best jobswent to the white prisoners.

Despite this, there was a growing sense ofsolidarity across racial lines following theissuing of an inmate manifesto in early 1971setting forth a series of moderate demands thathad been presented to the prison authorities,backed up by a peaceful 10-day prison workstrike, together with a day-long hunger strikeand protests involving 800 prisoners followingthe assassination of George Jackson twoweeks before the uprising.

The spark that started the uprising itselfwas quite a small incident: the rescuing ofan inmate from a prospective beating to bemeted out by guards in retaliation for thethrowing of a soup can at one of their number.Guards attempted a lockdown in retaliation

and half the prison population rebelled andseized control of the prison and hostages.Negotiations started based around five coredemands, including amnesty from reprisalsand the presence of a team of named observersto mediate negotiations, plus a series of‘practical proposals’ based on the earliermanifesto (an immediate end to all racialdiscrimination, the right to a prison labourunion, the removal of the warden, etc.),many of which the authorities were planningon introducing anyway.

Negotiations stalled and on the 13th,whilst National Guard helicopters sprayedtear gas into the prison yard, 450 NationalGuardsmen, prison guards and police assaultedthe prison, indiscriminately firing up to4,5000 rounds of ammunition in the process.They killed 29 inmates and 10 hostages inthe process (though they initially claimedthat nine guards had had their throats cut bythe prisoners). The surviving prisoners, many

with untreated gunshot wounds, were forcedto strip naked and lie face down in the mudof A Yard before being beaten. Thoseidentified as ringleaders, marked with awhite chalked cross on their backs, weresingled-out for special treatment, i.e. torture.The remainder were beaten and forced tocrawl across broken glass.

Thus ended the bloodiest prison riot inAmerican history. Despite the massacre, onlyone state trooper was ever convicted (forreckless endangerment), whilst 64 inmatesfaced 1,300 separate charges. The state neveraccepted any blame for the deaths and thepublic remain barred from the riot files,which are exempt from state public accesslaws or sealed by court order.

Attica Prison riot

“”We are men. We are not beasts, and we donot intend to be beaten or driven as such.(L.D. Barkely, a 21 year old prisoner servingtime for breaching parole by driving withouta licence. He died in the assault, shot 15times at point-blank range.)


16

COMMENT


The ongoing attempt to privatise the NationalHealth Service, or whatever euphemism isbeing used for the wasteful ‘internal market’this week, is merely the latest installment inan ongoing programme that began in the1970s. Capitalism was suffering one of itsperiodic crises and responded to it by doingthe only thing it can do, expand. It expandedin two ways – by privatising and byincreasing the area directly under the rule ofprivate profit. I’m not suggesting that theenterprises previously run by the state weren’tcapitalist at all, as capitalism is about morethan profit, it is a set of social relationships.But privatisation introduced the profitmotive into areas of the economy previouslythought to be exempt from them. Neoliberaltheory believes that the state should do verylittle, with some radical exponents of itapproaching an anarchist view of the state.The US has probably gone furthest of themajor economies towards this model – itsprisons have long been run by for-profitcorporations, who lobby for harsher lawsand longer sentences, and now even themilitary is opened up to competition fromfirms like Blackwater and Raytheon.

As the last few years have shown, there isno steady-state form of capitalism – it willgrow or it will die. And once demand hasdampened down because of recession, alongcome the ideological reasons to removefunctions from the state. As an anarchist I know the state is not the best provider ofservices, but it does even out the awfuloutcomes we’d suffer under pure capitalism.If you disagree, just look at Americanhealthcare, or British railways.

The privatisation recommended by theWest once the Soviet Union collapsed pavedthe way for a small number of oligarchs tomassively enrich themselves, while the generalpopulation watched their living standardsplummet. It’s not a far-fetched predictionthat the same will happen in Libya now thata western-friendly regime is in power. Gaddafi

might have been a murderous dictator, buthe was his own man. Libya could soon beheading the way of Nigeria, Angola orEquatorial Guinea.

Governments of all stripes have given NHSwork to private companies, often signingridiculous contracts meaning the companiesgot paid even if there was no work. There’splenty of evidence that some of them cherry-pick the easy work, leaving the expensiveoperations to the NHS.

Aside from losing the goodwill of healthworkers by selling them out to the lowestbidder, the subsidies required in most privateservices once they are the only provision areenormous. Look how much care home costshave rocketed (and standards fallen) sincethe whole sector was taken over by privateequity vultures.

The NHS is far from being a decentemployer – there are regular employmenttribunals that tell of bullying and a longhours culture. Whistle-blowers have beendisgracefully hounded, something that getslittle coverage outside of Private Eye –presumably the rest of the media rely onprivate health insurance, which is nowstandard in a surprising number of professions.The government’s reforms are aimed atfragmenting the service and making it lessattractive to the middle classes, with theultimate aim being to abolish it for all butthose on benefits. Then it really will behopeless, as the economies of scale inherentin it become lost in a maze of ever-increasinginsurance premiums.

What can be done? A defence of the NHSwithout recognising its flaws is daft. But allthe same, the principle of free healthcareneeds to be defended. An alliance of healthworkers with, well, almost everybody, oughtto do the trick. A vote for Labour isn’t goingto help – they started it all. Instead, we willneed to take direct action, such as occupyingprivate health care companies and backingstrikes against service closures.

A sideways look by SVARTFROSKABOUT FREEDOMANGEL ALLEYFreedom bookshop is proud to be a part of the new initiative Alliance of RadicalBooksellers (ARB) instigated byHousmans.

Up until the mid 1980s there were scoresof radical bookshops in Britain – everymajor town had one. Many of thesebooksellers worked together under themutual banner of the ‘Federation ofRadical Booksellers’. The Federation actedas a support network for its members,helping with a variety of practical aspectsof bookselling, as well as providing a sense of community. Sadly, as the booktrade hit hard times, the Federationcollapsed.

The book trade has been in a slowdecline for a long time now, particularlyafter the gradual collapse up of the NetBook Agree ment throughout the early1990s. The NBA regulated book prices,meaning that booksellers large or smallcould sell at the same price, and on thesame margins.

Today we are left with a fraction of thebookshops that once flourished, with bothsmall independents and corporate chainsstruggling to stay afloat. Radicalbooksellers have suffered the same fate as the main stream shops, and many fineand wonderful shops have now closedtheir doors.

However all is not lost, and there arestill some wonderful bookshops out thereworking hard to keep progressive bookson our high streets. The Alliance of RadicalBooksellers hopes to pick up where theFederation left off: as an organisationwhich allows its member booksellers tosupport each other, promote one anotherswork, and sell books together. Plans arealready in motion for the Alliance membersto take part in bookfairs together, and tolaunch an ARB literary prize.

If you would like to find out more, getin touch with Nik ([email protected]).

CONTACT DETAILSFreedom Press, 84b Whitechapel HighStreet, London E1 7QXTel/fax: 020 7247 9249www.freedompress.org.ukEnquiries: [email protected]/Letters: [email protected]: [email protected]: [email protected] Press Distribution (for trade bookorders): [email protected]

NEXT ISSUEThe next issue will be dated November2011 and the last day to get copy to us forthat issue will be Thursday 13th October.You can send your articles to us by emailto copy@ freedompress.org.uk or by postaddressed to ‘The Editors’, Freedom, 84bWhitechapel High Street, London E1 7QX.


Northern AnarchistNetworkThe Northern Anarchist Network plans tofacilitate a booklet to mark the 200thanniversary of the Luddite uprisings in April2012. We are looking for contributions,chiefly original articles and artwork, but anykind of work that fits into the printedformat will be considered (i.e. poetry,creative writing). Articles of any reasonablelength will be considered. We plan to havethe booklet published by April 2012, andwill be seeking expressions of interest untilthe end of October 2011. We request that afirst draft is submitted by the end ofNovember 2011 at the very latest.

2011 and 2012 sees the 200th anniversaryof the Luddite uprisings in the midlands andnorth of England. After an initial sudden out -burst in Spring 1811 amongst framework-knitters in Nottinghamshire, discontentgestated until November 1811, when the selfproclaimed ‘Army of Redressers’ emergedonce again, this time proclaiming allegiance tothe mythical avatar ‘General Ludd’. Thoughthe outbreaks were initially located in andaround Nottinghamshire and were concernedchiefly with industrial disputes, they soonentered into parts of South Derbyshire andLeicestershire, before extended further northto Lancashire and Cheshire amongst weaversand most notably amongst the cloth-dressersof West Yorkshire in 1812, by which timethe uprisings had taken on a wholly differentcharacter: opposed to the Napoleonic War,tyranny and the direction that a particularlymilitant version of laissez-faire capitalismhad begun to take, using new technology todrive down wages and break the power ofhighly organised workers. Though theuprisings continued in a muted form all theway into 1816 in the Midlands, the backwas broken in the north by early 1813, withshow-trials, mass executions, deportationsand the virtual occupation of the region by12,000 troops, more than were currentlyengaged in conflict on the continent in theNapoleonic Wars.

The Northern Anarchist Network (NAN) is a regionalbody of both unaffiliated and organised anarchists.They publish the journal Northern Voices twice yearly.Contact NAN via email: [email protected]://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.com/

Kate Sharpley LibraryThe Story of the Iron Column: MilitantAnarchism in the Spanish Civil War by AbelPaz has now been printed as a Kate SharpleyLibrary-AK Press co-publication. The IronColumn are either celebrated (or notorious) asamong the most stubborn fighters not onlyagainst the fascist revolt but also in defenceof the Spanish Revolution’s gains. Those gains,the (partial) destruction of state power andthe creation of free collectives, were underattack not just by the Nationalists, but alsoby forces on the Republican side. Usinghistorical documents and the testimony ofcolumn members, Paz tells the story of onemilitia column, but puts it in context of thefight against both the fascist revolt and theStalinist attack on the Spanish workingclass. The book contains the original text ofthe series of articles by an “uncontrollable”from the Iron Column later translated (withsome poetic licence) as “A Day Mournfuland Overcast”. It also contains appendiceson the Iron Column’s newspaper, members,provisioning, and an index. Copies will beavailable in the UK from AK Press.

The Kate Sharpley Library exists to preserveand promote anarchist history. We preserve theoutput of the anarchist movement, mainly inthe form of books, pamphlets, newspaper,leaflets and manuscripts, but also badges,recordings, photographs, etc. These appearin our quarterly bulletin or regularlypublished pamphlet.

http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/

Helen HarrisOn Saturday 24th September family, friendsand comrades of Helen Harris gathered, onwhat would have been Helen’s 40th birthday,

for an evening of chat, music and food incelebration of her life. On 13th May of thisyear, Derry had lost one of its finest daughters,following a lengthy battle with cystic fibrosis.Helen Harris was without a doubt aninspiration to many who knew her, a friendand comrade who had the privilege andopportunity to travel alongside of her duringthe 39 short but eventful years of her life.Helen was a radical, a feminist and anarchist.

Helen believed that fundamental changewas necessary to build a more just and equalworld and this commitment was evident inher work with the Pat Finucane Centre, FoyleEthical Investment Committee and her activismon the issues of women political prisonersand the arms trade. Through her research,her publications and her interviews on therole of women in the prisoners’ struggle,Helen made an important contribu tion andher research material remains invaluable, asmany of the women whose stories wereincluded are now dead. Most recently she wasinstrumental in the formation of WomenActivists for Social Justice, a network ofwomen in Derry and Donegal concerned aboutsocial justice and the future of feminism inIreland.

http://derryanarchists.blogspot.com/

Belfast AnarchistHistoryHistorian Mairtin O’Cathain’s Wee BlackBooke has now been added to WorkersSolidarity Movement online archive for youto read or download. In it he pulls togetherreports of anarchism in and around Belfastin the years from 1867 to 1973. With nolocal movement for much of this period, thepamphlet looks at some individuals whosepolitical activity merited mention in themedia of the time. O’Cathain’s work stopsbefore the emergence in the late 1970s of thegroups from which contemporary anarchistorganisations Workers Solidarity Movementand Organise! can trace their roots.

http://www.wsm.ie


FEEDBACK


18

It’s perhaps indicative of the general healthof the anarchist movement when newautonomous groups begin emerging andbecome active in their area. We are alwayshappy to see new initiatives develop andeven happier to promote them in the paper.If you are involved in an anarchistorganisation, initiative or event get in touchand let us know what you’re up to.

● North East Anarchists are a group of classstruggle anarchists organising with themodest intention of turning the world upsidedown. As they say: Everything is wrong andwe want to put it right! They came togetherearlier this year in an attempt to create ananarchist presence in the north east ofEngland and since then the group has beenmeeting regularly and taking part in politicalactivity across the region, includingSunderland’s carnival against the cuts, theDurham Miners Gala and holding amemorial service for those who lost theirlives fighting fascism in Spain. They encourage all anarchists in the north east toget in touch, see http://neanarchists.com

● Bedford bypass is a new online agitationaltour-de-force. Started as an attempt to holdtheir locally elected representatives toaccount it is now striking out as a blog thatstems very much from an anarchisttradition, a belief in mutual support andthat by sharing information and supportingeach other we can make an impact . Thegroup have so far got issues raised in thelocal paper and aim to increase theirpresence and influence in the area. Anyonein the Bedford/Cambridge area who wantsto get active and get angry give them ashout.See http://bedfordbypass.wordpress.com

● Three Counties Anti-Fascist Alliance is anew initiative in the Gloucestershire,Herefordshire and Worcestershire area. Theyexist to confront fascist activity and

organisation wherever it may occur withinthe region, utilising a wide range of tacticsincluding information gathering andleafleting through to pickets and directaction, whatever’s best suited to opposefascism at any given time. Unlike other ‘anti-fascist’ groups they are non-hierarchical andbelieve in grassroots organisation and willnot work with any state-affiliated groups.They are not associated withSearchlight/Hope not Hate or Unite AgainstFascism in any way.If you have anything to say, contact them via emailat [email protected] or visit their website athttp://3cafa.wordpress.com/about/

● With rioters getting massivelydisproportionate custodial sentences, thestate targeting of anti-fascist street activitiesand mass arrests of anti-cuts andenvironmental activists, prisoner support isonce more becoming an essential activityand political necessity. Which makes thenew London Anarchist Black Cross all themore vital. There’s already been a benefitwith folk legend David Rovics to raisemoney for the group to begin supportingprisoners in earnest. To get involved email [email protected]

● From the ashes of the much loved andmuch missed Common Place radical socialcentre in Leeds comes Wharf Chambers toreinvigorate the radical social scene of thecity. Occupying the same building space asthe Common Place, the new project operatesas a not-for-profit workers co-op. Alllicensable events will be managed by themembers club (membership costs just £1)and members will have democratic controlof the club, making a range of decisionsfrom what kinds of events they want to seehappen, through to which beers are stockedin the bar. To get involved contact [email protected] Chambers, 23 Wharf Street, Leeds, LS2 7EQhttp://www.wharfchambers.org/

GETTING ACTIVE


Much loved and much missed, The Common Place radical social centre in Leeds. Newproject Wharf Chambers (see below) is now operating from the building to reinvigoratethe radical social scene of the city.

A YOUNG ANARCHISTWRITES…I don’t know when I first came acrossanarchism to be honest. Many sourcesspring to mind; the lyrics of ImmortalTechnique, the Zeitgeist films and myresults on the political compass test whichmade me Google ‘anarcho syndicalism’. I also remember writing ‘fuck the system’on my hand and wearing a Che Guevara(Stalinist turned pop art icon) tee shirt thatI still guiltily have to this day. But I, likeeveryone, had to start somewhere.

I will not pretend I have progressed farin my journey since, well, I don’t knowwhen. However, I am content with mycurrent location in this long tunnel, whichseems to have a light at the end. This light,emanating from red and black stars, thatflickers at times, but shines very brightly atothers.

My political life currently revolvesaround the forums at libcom.org and my A level politics class at school. As of yet, Ihave only been to one demonstration, theJune 30th marches and protests. I have yetto read all the classics; Bakunin, Rocker,Kropotkin, the founder of this publication,and know all of the Marxist jargon. I liketo think I have some understanding so farof the nature of capitalism and the nature ofthe alternative we propose to it, which isapparently enough to make me nowconsider calling someone a Trotskyite or aLeninist, a feared insult. The journey hashad its ups and downs, both emotionallyand intellectually.

Intellectually, anarchism can liberate youand change your whole world view.Anarchism has been a fascinating epiphany,a revelation. I hope others have experiencedthe same thing, because it feels really good.

Emotionally, it’s a double-edged sword.Casual passing comments made by friendscan become a depressing reminder of theeffectiveness of the brainwashing comingfrom the state. The media, perhaps thestate’s favourite puppet, is everywhere, soit can be a constant and relentless sourceof torment. It becomes difficult to separatepeople from their politics, beliefs that theyoften don’t know they even have. Havingsuch a fundamental disagreement inprincipal with what is now the norm of thewhole world can give the impression that Iam always depressed and hate everything.But at the best of times, I can be sopassionate about how good things couldbe I can’t begin to explain it. So overall,my experiences coming from the outside inhaven’t been perfect, but what is?

Freedom welcomes articles from anarchists onhow they got involved in the movement.


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SPORT

‘prawn sandwich’ brigade gaining grassrootsrecognition for their stance against thecorporate takeover of the beautiful game.Most vocal, literally, being FC United ofManchester who have christened theiroutlook ‘punk football’. The other is fanownership of clubs within the footballleague with supporters unions like Spirit of Shankly expressing overtly politicalagendas of how the game should be

organised for the benefit of the fans and notfor profit.

Beyond the professional game, anarchistshave always been involved in football.Bradford’s 1-in-12 Club used to organiseregular Mayday football tournaments, andtoday they still field the 1-in-12 AFC. Thereis also the Easton Cowboys and Cowgirls, acommunity based sports club based inBristol who organised an alternative world

cup in 1998 and were the first Europeanteam to travel to Chiapas in SouthernMexico to play a series of tournamentsagainst the Zapatistas.

As for the sports page, anyone can writearticles and get involved. Whether you play, support or just watch, we know that sports fans are the most passionate and opinionated of people… so getopinionating.

Anarchist groups in this country havetraditionally had a strange attitude towardsthe martial arts. This is in part been due tothe inherent hierarchies and replications ofmacho/homophobic behaviour that areassumed to exist in gyms.

In terms of anarchism there is a clash whenrejecting hierarchy in political life andaccepting the sometimes oppressive relationship

between coach and student. A relationshipsome are happy to accept when wrapped upas an ‘exotic’ non-western and non-genderedpartnership such as in the traditional martialarts of bujikan and capoeira. Both are notonly physically highly unrealistic for theaverage person to successfully practice butalso operate under a strict genderedhierarchy.

The revolution against the more traditionalist(or impractical) martial arts kicked its wayinto the mainstream in the early 70s throughthe writings and practice of Bruce Lee, whoadvocated a free style of fighting based onwhat worked best rather than what washistorically practiced. This new philosophy,free of the social constructed limitations onpractice allowed more people to beginpracticing martial arts. This trend was alsobeginning in Brazil where jujitsu was beingdeveloped outside of Japan by the Graciefamily.

We see the current practice of MMA (MixedMartial Arts) as part of this development inmartial arts, a move away from the rigidhierarchies developed under feudalism to amore practical understanding of how thehuman body works. We see MMA asachieving this through different styles co-

operating (judo with boxing or wrestlingwith kick boxing).

In that last year we as a collective of like-minded people, not only from an anarchistbackground, decided to start a martial artsgroup. We have no head coach, but rather acollective of people with experience helpingtrain others for free; mutual aid was themain idea. The collective has grown in manydifferent ways, with people young and old,male and female, LGBT training together.The training is split into three. The firsthour for people with who had never trainedwith us, the second hour people who havetrained together for a period of time and feelcomfortable with hitting each other a bitharder, and the last hour is a sparring class.This does not appeal all, but we foundpeople with and without previous experienceof martial arts are happy to try as our onlymotto is ‘no winners, no egos, no fascists’.

Lucky for us we have a place like theLondon Action Resource Centre to train…feel free to come down and train. Allwelcome

For people interested in getting involved in the martialarts group contact Freedom at [email protected] and we will pass on your details.

Defending a fine art

It’s kicking off!7page 24



REVIEWS

WHAT’S ONSEPTEMBERn 30th National Day of Action againstAtos Origin. Atos Origin are responsiblefor the harrassment of sick and disabledclaimants and they will have a stall at theBMJ Recruitment Fair to recruit medicalstaff to carry out their assessments ofeveryone receiving incapacity benefit. Meetat 12 noon at the Business Design Centre,52 Upper Street, Islington N1 0QH, seehttp://benefitclaimantsfightback.wordpress.com for more information on this andother events across the UK.

OCTOBERn 2nd Westminster Peace procession, meet1.30pm outside Westminster Cathedral,Victoria Street, London SW1P 1QW, fordetails see http://www.peacestrike.org.uk/or call 07886662091.n 3rd Stop the next generation of nuclearpower stations with an all-day non-violentblockade at Hinkley Point nuclear powerstation in Somerset from 7am. In the daysbefore the blockade, there will be localactions in Bridgwater, a camp and localaccommodation for people over theweekend and non-violence training will beprovided, for further details seehttp://stopnewnuclear.org.uk/n 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th London groupof The Anarchist Federation meets weeklyon Thursday evenings at Freedom Bookshop84b Whitechapel High Street, London E17QX. We always have a discussion as wellas plan activities and the spreading of ouractivities. If you would like to attendplease email [email protected] 8th and 9th The Land Is Ours autumngathering 2011 at Monkton Wyld Court,near Axminster, Dorset – enjoy a feast ofinspirational talks, open discussions,workshops and evening entertainment inthe pleasantly eccentric setting of MonktonWyld, you’ll need to book in advance atbook in advance, contact [email protected] 01297 561359, or for further details seehttp://www.tlio.org.uk/n 8th and 9th Rebellious MediaConference in central London, speakersinclude Noam Chomsky, John Pilger,Laurie Penny, Michael Albert, JessicaAzulay and many more. The venue onSaturday 8th October will be The Instituteof Education, 20 Bedford Way, LondonWC1H 0AL and on Sunday 9th Octoberwill be Friends House, 173 Euston Road,London NW1 2BJ, for more informationand tickets call 020 7278 3344 or seehttp://rebelliousmediaconference.org/ n 22nd London Anarchist Bookfair withstalls, books, pamphlets, magazines,meetings, films, discussions, cabaret, foodand much more at Bancroft Building,Queen Mary, University Of London, MileEnd Road, London, E1 4NS (MileEnd/Stepney Green tube) from 10am until7pm, email [email protected] see www.anarchistbookfair.org.uk fordetails.

TELEVISION

1. Pierre-Joseph Proudhon who, in 1846’sSystem of Economic Contradictions,stated that the utopian socialists wishedfraternity only as long as they were “thebig brother and you the little.”

2. Prevent, a government booklet designedto “stop people becoming terrorists orsupporting terrorism” wants to tacklethose “groups and speakers who

deliberately and carefully stay within thelaw”.

3. Suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst, she alsosaid: “What is the use of demonstratingfor freedom and going unarmed?” Shewas arrested shortly afterwards.

4. He got four weeks for “misuse of petrolcoupons” that had been passed to him bya fan.

QUIZ ANSWERS

Street SummerChannel 4, August 12th–14th

A predictably lazy mashup of commercial popand tabloid pap seasoned with occasionalghostly echoes of grit, Street Summerpurported to faithfully depict the centralityof ‘urban’ culture to mainstream societytoday – its trailer featuring actor Idris Elbamugging the vernacular to hype ‘how hip-hop changed the world’, thus being ‘therevolution that succeeded’. The dishearteninglysuperficial tone was cemented by wince-inducing Street Dance Pop Idol contests –their intergalactic distance from the communalworking-class origins of street stylesencapsulated by legendary New York B-boyCrazy Legs having to explain that routinesmight draw on passions borne of theaspirants’ life experiences. The short film OneMan Walking did borrow choreography frompatterns of physical expression responding tourban alienation, even if now reconfiguredfor passively cerebral audiences as seriousart, whereas the Concrete Circus portraits ofprofessional parkour, skateboarding andBMX cycling never linked their performativityto any grass-roots milieux bar consumersand fans.

The visual arts strand also prioritised thevicissitudes of celebrity careers, followingBanksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop(reviewed in Freedom, 8th May 2010) withhis Antics Roadshow’s random amusingstunt interventions in public spaces. GraffitiWars finally introduced negativity intootherwise self-congratulatory equations,chronicling the feud betweenrenowned London tagger KingRobbo and Banksy – thelatter shown to consistentlysteal from and shit onrivals in cornering streetart markets.Embarrassment thenpeaked with How Hip-HopChanged the World, whoseTop 50 ‘moments’ merelyjumbled events piquing themedia shock-horror andnovelty machine into acretinous narrative ofcorporate absorptions ofmusic, fashion and languageproducing a few Black mogulsand politicians pretending to

be down with the yoof. If not for Akala’sthoughtful Life of Rhyme, charting UK raplyricism from reggae through grime, you’dhardly guess from Street Summer that hip-hop’s global resonance as an artform of thepowerless and dispossessed best explains itsubiquity.

Spectacular CoincidencesThe series screened on the weekend afterAugust’s riots, giving a convenient opportunityto compare its caricatures with reality on themean streets – since those who taunted thepolice with their burnin’ and lootin’ surelyare the UK’s ‘hip-hop generation’ in thesame sense that their counterparts in 1992’sLA Uprising were. This had already beenhinted loud and proud in December’sEducation demonstrations, notably by theEMA contingents whose soundtracks helpedinspire the most rebellious tendencies, and isevident in a host of YouTube efforts in ourpresent riotous backlash as the feral rich’sgovernment and media lackeys resume racistnorms. And if pre-insurrectionary apprentice -ships should birth more consciously organised,less suicidally nihilistic carnivalesques, youcan bet the neighbourhood MCs and DJswill promptly furnish necessary streetreportage, solidarity and embedded reflection– continuing proof, if needed, of the vitalityand urgency of the vibrant living culture*Street Summer* was all but blind to, in itshaste to privilege the individual pursuit of15 minutes of fame and 30 pieces of silver.

www.tomjennings.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk http://libcom.org/blog/4271



REVIEWS

This is the seventh collection of Wildcatcartoons from Freedom Press. The firstcollection was published in 1985 (stillavailable after three reprints), and of coursethere was a blurb in Freedom (blurb: wordcoined by Gelett Burgess, meaning laudatorymatter on the dust jacket of a book). Theanarchist writer Tony Gibson (aka the eminentpsychologist H.B. Gibson) responded with thefollowing review

Freedom has already announced and reviewedDonald Rooum’s Wildcat Anarchist Comics,and it is stated that ‘serious argument ismore or less absent since our artist believesthat “a cartoon is no place for intellectualrespectability”’. But can we not have seriousargument, devastatingly presented, without‘intellectual respectability’? The mediumthrough which the message is conveyed isnot intellectual, but the message is all themore powerful by being delivered as a blowin the belly. The serious argument is deliveredin the guise of knockabout farce.

The generation of successful cartoons is amost difficult art, and Donald Rooumdisplays a rare talent. How his work willstand in the history of satirical cartoonsalongside that of Rowlandson, Gillray, Lowand others, cannot be assessed in the presentage, but I suggest that it is outstanding andthat Freedom Press enjoy a rare privilege inbeing allowed to publish it. His cartoons aredeceptively simple and, to say the least,disturbing. True satire makes us both laughand weep, and carry away a lingering senseof unease at the purity of our own motives

and that of the causes we espouse. Superficiallythese cartoons poke fun at the usual banaltargets, but here is a deeper satire ofanarchists and the anarchist movement. TheWildcat is anti-authoritarian, yet put incertain situations it becomes a nasty littletyrant – just like you and me. These cartoonscould only have been devised by someonewho has been through the mill of theanarchist movement; known all its splendoursand miseries, its petty squabbles, its mis -directed enthusiasms, its ennobling moments.None of the ‘political’ movements – Trots,Commies, etc. – could have produced suchcartoons, for such movements are designedto preserve the illusions they foster, and theyattack only targets outside themselves.

Anarchism is quite different. Wildcat says,having thrown a bomb, ‘Who said anythingabout anybody listening? All I said was Iwould attract attention’.

The Free Range Egghead is a marvellouscharacter; he and the Wildcat have maintainedthe anarchist movement ever since it hasbeen in existence, and I am sure that theywere prominent in the Diggers movementand among the Levellers. The Pig who ridesupon a Sheep will always be with us, andsometimes we wish the sheep would runfaster when our own flats are being burgledand vandalised, don’t we? These two animalsare common to all lands in that relationship,yet with Rooum’s animals there is evidentlyquite a cosy, British relationship.

I urge you to buy this book, but do notimagine that it will give you a nice, smugglow to see all your favourite Aunt Salliesmocked at. A hearty laugh at the firstreading, but at the second or perhaps thethird, you will appreciate that there is morebeing mocked than perhaps you bargainedfor. It will certainly be read in Britain andabroad far more widely than in the tinyanarchist movement, and will attain aninternational reputation.

Tony Gibson Some Wildcat characters• The Pussycat: Angry, impulsive, rowdy

anarchist (appears in most episodes,sometimes uncharacteristically peaceable).

• The Free Range Egghead. Thoughtful,analytical anarchist.

• The Mystery. Easy to draw. Appears whenstory calls for a third anarchist.

• The Butterfly. Hippo-shaped anarchist.Enthusiastic but not reliable.

• The Pinhead. Highly intellectual, verboseanarchist.

page 228

In praise of Wildcat



THE ARTS

• The Immacculate Rodent. Conceitedanarchist who belittles other anarchists.

• The Kewpie Doll. Little girl whose naïveremarks are sometimes insightful.

• Mr Block. Humble man who believes whathe is told by the powerful. Invented byErnest Riebe for Industrial Worker,Chicago 1912.

• The Rebus. Hog-faced policeman. A rebusis a visual pun, in this case on the name ofQuintin Hogg, who was British lawminister in 1980.

• The General. Soldier who wants wealth spenton weaponry and destroyed in warfare.

• Bomb. Spherical fuse bomb with legs,symbol of weaponry and war.

• The Reverend. Talks banal rubbish withair of authority.

• Sheep. Nods in wise agreement at banalrubbish.

• Man with hat. Argues with anarchists, butpays no attention to what they say.

• The Boss. Rich, ruthless, cunning employeror ruler.

Any ideas? Donald Rooum welcomessuggestions for Wildcat strips, and publiclyacknowledges the authors of ideas which areused, on the drawings themselves. Send themto [email protected].

Wildcat Keeps Going, cartoons by Donald Rooum,coloured by Jayne Clementson, published by FreedomPress, £6 (available for the introductory price of £5from Freedom Bookshop, by mail order from FreedomPress, 84b Whitechapel High Street, London E1 7QXor from our website at www.freedompress.org.uk).

Review7page 21

LONDON IS A WOR



THE ARTS

Max Reeves’ photographs use London as asetting to investigate the intersections andinterstitials between life and myth, revealingthe complexity of London’s psycho -geographical terrain. A place of isolationwhere the individual is under constantinvigilation, where the state tools are everdeployed against them. But whereindividuality is constantly in defiance andfreedom ever resilient. The actuality of thecity morphs into a documentation ofpersonal and universal mythology populatedwith curious characters, palimpsests, crows,protestors, children apophenia andreportage. Control and authority versus thefreedom of the individual and transcendenceemerge as themes through layered andoften ambiguous images. ‘London is a WorldClass City’ embraces a poetic critique ofLondon superseding its geographic localityand political straightjacket.

RLD CLASS CITY

Photographs © Max Reeves


Anarchism and footballtackling from behindWelcome to one of the new Freedom featurepages. We will be reporting on non-commercialgrassroots activities, the stuff anarchists areinvolved in and those sports with radical orpolitically motivated fans.

The marriage of anarchism and sport maysit uneasy with some people. Certainly theidea of professional competitive sports is ananathema to some anarchists – tightlyregulated and controlled by a self-selected

elite, mass spectacles acting as a distractionfor the masses and driven by corporategreed, the reinforcement of nationalistictendencies, are all seemingly antagonistic tothe ideas of free association, non-hierarchyand the spirit of internationalism.

Yet anarchism and sport somehow alwaysfind ways to connect. The most popular teamsport worldwide, football, holds a specialplace historically amongst anarchists. Thereare a surprising number of professional leagueclubs founded by anarchists or with closeanarchist associations. RNK Split of Croatiawas originally called Anarch when it formedin 1912 in an attempt to spread anarchistideas amongst the poor working class of thearea. In Argentina Club Atlético Colegialeswas formed in 1908 by a group of anarchistsin Buenos Aires. Originally called ClubAtlético Libertarios Unidos (LibertariansUnited) they were forced to change theirname after the government banned themidentifying with anarchist ideas, ArgentinosJuniors was founded under the name‘Mártires de Chicago’ (Martyrs of Chicago)as a homage to the Haymarket anarchistsand Chacarita Juniors was actually set up byan anarchist library in 1906 which declared“In soccer you learn how to act in solidarity”.The team continues to wear red and blacktoday as a reminder of it radical roots.

Progreso of Uruguay, another club with closelinks with the anarchist movement, also worered and black in the beginning to promotethe players political identity.

Closer to home political support forfootball comes it two forms – break awayclubs who have turned their backs on the

24

SPORT

Published by Freedom Press, 84b Whitechapel High Street, London E1 7QX. Printed in Great Britain by Aldgate Press, London E1 7RQ. Printed on recycled paper.


It’s kicking off!

THE QUIZ1. Who proclaimed 100 years before George

Orwell that state socialists aimed to be“big brother”?

2. Which recent government publication hasa problem with people not breaking thelaw?

3. Who advised “Don’t come to meetingswithout sticks in future, men and womenalike … We have got to fight”?

4. Why did composer Ivor Novello go toprison during the Second World War?

Answers on page 14

The Anarchist Quiz Book compiled by Martin Howard,with illustrations by Paul Petard, is available for £5(post free) from our bookshop at 84b WhitechapelHigh Street, London E1 7QX or by mail order fromour website at freedompress.org.uk

page 198


Documents

EVERYBODY OUT!...services, including the closure of three residential homes and four day centres for older people, a 75% cut in the Youth Services budget, and a 50% cut to the Parks