I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back

Why Trades Unionists Should Not Vote For Ken Livingstone

The quote below is taken from the Rail Maritime  and Transport Union's official history "Never on Our Knees: A History of the RMT, 1979-2006" (London: Pluto, 2006) by Mike Berlin:

"The issue of PPP became bound up with an increasingly acrimonious Labour party wrangle over the choice of candidate for the newly created office of London's mayor. The front-runner, former Greater London Council leader Ken Livingstone, was excluded from the post of Labour's candidate for the mayoralty by a mixture of chicanery and backroom manoeuvring and ran for the post and won as an independent on a ticket which explicitly rejected part privatisation of the London tubes. Livingstone's victory usehered in a year long battle with the government to stop the implementation of PPP in which the RMT gave him vocal support. It was even willing to work with Livingstone's transport czar, Bob Kiley, who had reputedly 'saved' the New York subway system but who also had a reputation for union busting and once worked for the CIA. The RMT gave fulsome support to Livingstone's camapign for the mayoralty and against PPP. Livingstone was to prove a false friend to the union, and on being readmitted to the Labour Party in April 2002 he moved rapidly to the right, calling on members to cross picket lines during the strikes on the Underground of July 2004." (p.139)

 

Anarchist Terrorists?

I have just spotted this little gem in the January 2012 issue of Searchlight magazine.

In a two page piece by Dr Matthew Feldman of the University of Northampton's Radicalism and New Media Group, "A 2011 Report card on the faces of the British far right" comes this claim:

"Whatever his insantity ruling by Norwegian courts, that Brevik could succesfully navigate the 'terrorist cycle' alone and undetected - while simultaneously writing a far-right manifesto in excess of 1,500 pages - demonstrates an ideological commitment and willing recourse to violence which is the hallmark of self-activating terrorism, whether undertaken by anarchists, jihadi Islamists or far-right extremists."

With the exception of state terrorism, surely all terrorism is 'self-activating'? Secondly where are all these Anarchist terrorists Feldman appears to see?

The Asian Youth Movements

Britain's Asian communities have a long and progressive political tradition - one often overlooked by contemporary controversies surrounding Islam, Islamism and Islamophobia.

The Asian Youth Movements of the 1970s and 80s have been discussed by academics like Anandi Ramamurthy and contemporary writers like Kenan Malik - now it is the BBC's turn, with a Radio 4 documentary by Zaiba Malik at 1100 on Monday 26 March. 

Ramamurthy's archive of the Asian Youth Movements literature, Tandana, is here.

For further reading on the AYM's I would also recommend her 2006 article ‘The Politics of Britain’s Asian Youth Movements’, Race and Class 48: 38-60 ISSN 03063965. It is remarkable (and a little depressing) how much has changed in such a short space of time..............

 

UDM Leaders In Court For Theft

Readers with long memories will recall Neil Greatrex, leader of the so-called Union of Democratic Mineworkers, which emerged in the attempts to crush the miners strike of 1984-5.

Greatrex, who was given the code name Silver Birch by the industrialists working for Mrs Thatcher, is currently on trial at Nottingham Crown Court, along with the Union's former General Secretary Mick Stevens.

They face 14 counts of stealing from the union between 2000 and 2006.

Anarchist Books From AK Press

Earlier this week I received the new AK Press 2012 catalogue in the post. 

I have been buying books from AK for over twenty years, and the AK catalogue seems to be getting bigger - it is now an A3 newspaper with some 76 pages. Anarchists do history well, and there were certainly new titles here on and by Nestor Makhno - to take one example - that I will buy. The million and one small pamphlets available - on subjects as diverse as anti-fascism to health and safety at work - are another reminder of the Anarchist movements strength (and its weakness?) -  its incredible diversity of ideas and approaches.

In the time AK has been going, it is noticeable that the Anarchist movements modest progress has been matched by the decline - arguably far greater decline - of the orthodox left in the shape of Marxist, Marxist-Leninist and Trotskyist parties. In part I would argue this is because Anarchists take self-education so seriously, and are thus better equipped to cope with a fast changing world than those still working through the required titles on their party's reading list and preparing for the weekly paper sale outside Tesco.

That is not to say AK Press are without faults. In Class War we used to have a bugger of a job getting money out of them, and there are some niggling clerical errors in this catalogue which could have been tackled by looking for what is now out of date, rather than simply adding the new titles in.
AK is US based, and it is probably from the American left and/or Anarchist movement that certain silly traits slip in. On the front page, amongst the list of subjects is 'indigenous' as in indigenous peoples struggles. This may have some relevance in 'settler' societies like the US or Canada, here in the UK it simply looks odd. I did look through in vain for a title on indigenous culture in London (perhaps a book on the Pearly Kings and Queens?)
More seriously in Europe it is now the far-right which talks of 'protecting indigenous communities' in the multi-cultural metropolises such as London, Paris or Brussels.  Those who would racialise politics from the left need to note how readily such an  approach can be turned around from the right.
AK has also adopted the left's obsession with the Palestinian question, fielding scores of such titles, whilst other Nationalist struggles - from Irish Republicanism to the Basques - are given the type of scant coverage you may expect from an Anarchist publishers and distributors.

Overall though, AK Press have been doing good work for a long time. Why not buy your books from them instead of Amazon?

 

 

A Thank You To The Hackney Gazette

It is not often I am surprised by anything that happens in Hackney.

I was delighted though to see the editorial in the 15 March issue of the Hackney Gazette not only mention this blog, but to use the article I wrote on gentrification in Hackney on 2 March, as the basis of their own  editorial.

Gentrification (or if you prefer development) is a process over which Hackney residents appear to have little or no control, and which almost seems to slide along without any real political debate. In many parts of the borough, it is community development without the community. It happens to us, not with or for us. And seeing a newspaper with the circulation of the Gazette talking about these issues is a small, but important step.

More please.

Class War Front Pages

One of the great things about Class War the newspaper was its front covers.

They made you think, made you laugh and even managed to sometimes capture the spirit of the time. Phil Gard, who designed and printed several of the best CW covers, is giving a talk about them on Sunday 18 March at 2pm at the Calthorpe Arms, Grays Inn Road, Kings Cross.

It beats reading the Sunday Sun!

Islamic Awareness Week Bingo

This is Islamic Awareness Week at Universities across the country.

I like to play ISOC Bingo at these events, trying to spot the most dubious and unpleasant leaflet in amongst the slick salesmanship and cups of tea. Congratulations should go to the University of East Anglia's Islamic Society for managing to slip some Saudi titles in amongst the usual Islamic Dawah Centre International material. I look forward to reading "Human Rights in Islam and Common Misconceptions" by Abdul-Rahman AlSheha writing from that shining beacon of human rights - Riyadh.

But what's this - bingo! Unpurged from the dawah leaflets is Dr Zakir Naik's contribution on "Islam and Terrorism." Memo to all University ISOCs - when trying to distance non-Muslims from any association they may have in their minds of Islam with terrorism and extremism, perhaps it is not a good idea to distribute leaflets written by a man banned from the UK by the Home Secretary for being............well a little bit extreme.

The theme of this Islamic Awareness Week is love. Go on You Tube and listen to Dr Zakir Naik - there's not a lot of love to be found, but there is certainly some hate! Just to finish, here is Islamic Awareness Week's expert on terrorism on why "9/11 was an Inside Job".

 

Customer Service Hackney Homes Style

Unknown to me, at the end of this week I was in rent arrears, to the tune of £41 - less than half a weeks rent.

A phone call or a letter from Hackney Homes would have nudged me into settling the arrears. Instead it has apparently provoked a "Saturday Visit: Rent Arrears Audit" from Hackney Homes. I write apparently because no one knocked at my door - a letter was simply slipped through my letterbox by an anonymous person who signs themselves Credit Control team. Better still an "urgent appointment" has been made for Monday to discuss my arrears - a meeting so urgent again there is no name given as to who I am supposed to see. Let no one be in doubt though that Hackney Homes is in charge of such meetings "You will need to bring proof of identity and proof of address".

I do hope Hackney Homes are not paying Mr or Ms Credit Control Team double time for this Saturday 'service'.  I have lived in Hackney for nearly twenty years now, and there has always been consistency from Hackney Council, and its agents like Hackney Homes - they expect far higher standards from their tenants and service users than they ever deliver themselves.

 

The Olympics Then And Now

From the interview in today's Sunday Times with Jimmy McColl, who played for the Great Britain football team at the 1948 London Olympics:

"For the 3rd/4th placed playoff with Denmark, the manager, Sir Matt Busby, asked the entire squad if those players who hadn't yet been picked could be in the starting XI, even if it was to the detriment of the result. Everybody, respectful of Busby's intentions, agreed with this, meaning we all had the chance to play at the Games".

For the record, Denmark won 5-3 at Wembley, to take the Bronze medal.

Wot No Anarchists?

The quote below is from today's Telegraph Review, where amongst the book reviews Dan Jones considers Paul Preston's work on the Spanish Civil War and its fascist butchery, The Spanish Holocaust.

Jones writes:

"Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell and the rest sent back graphic dispatches from the front line, and their work has left the historical impression that Europe's first open war between fascists and the combined forces of communism, socialism and social democracy was well covered and understood. Yet away from the eyes of the war reporters, argues Paul Preston, there was another Spanish Civil War, in which thousands of civilans were systematically murdered, and their deaths subsequently obscured".

Whilst accepting his latter point, the former is a re-writing of history. In this analysis, all those Anarchists in Barcelona and much of southern Spain must have been a figment of the imagination. I do hope that Preston's book is considerably better than Jones' summary above!

Kingsland Basin: Surrounded On Three Sides

I took the picture below at Kingsland Basin, just off the A10 Kingsland Road, recently.

It shows the area for canal boats run by the Canals In Hackney Users Group (CHUG) What is also noticeable when you are there is that the boats are now boxed in on three sides by new build developments, such as Kingsland Wharves.  I could work for two whole lifetimes and not be able to afford a family property in one of these developments, but then again they are not aimed at the likes of me.

The effect of these changes is already noticeable on nearby Downham Road, where the Duke of York is gone. The local (mostly) black faces in that pub have been replaced in the new bar and 'kitchen' by white twenty somethings.

In the long term I fear for Hackney, and what this area will be like in twenty or thirty years time. My guess is that it will be mostly populated by the wealthy, city workers plus young artists and musicians, broken up by pockets of those so helpless (or hopeless) even Hackney Council will not be able to wriggle out of supporting them. And in between that - there will be no one.

Today's Look-Alike: Moazzam Begg and Welf Herfurth?

My picture below shows the cover of British Islamist Moazzam Begg's memoir "Enemy Combatant: A British Muslim's Journey To Guantanamo and Back".

It is followed by the cover of German-Australian fascist Welf Herfurth's memoir "A Life In The Political Wilderness".

Could they by any chance be related?