I meant to write before about the 25th anniversary of the Wapping strike.
Over 5,500 production and clerical workers were sacked overnight on 24 January 1986, when Rupert Murdoch’s News International group moved production of its four national newspapers to a new non-union printing plant at Wapping in London Docklands. The journalists were not sacked, but many took a stand on principle and walked out of their jobs.
The Wapping dispute occurred during a period of unrelenting attacks on UK workers, unions and communities throughout the 1980s. Jobs, conditions and union organising were being undermined in newspapers, along with intensifying concentration of press and media ownership.
The dispute between printers and the might of the Murdoch press lasted for 1 year. When I went to the student demo in December last year I was reminded by Wapping (also when watching the previous student demos). That was probably due to being surrounded by young people who possibly were experiencing the full force of police violence and brutality for the first time. My own first experience of witnessing unrelenting violence and intimidation was during the 1st anniversary of Wapping in Jan 1987. I was just 17 at that time. And what a night it was.
Riot cops smashing anyone and anything up (they destroyed the temporary ambulance where people were being treated further traumatised by this level of police brutality). Listening to the speakers on the platform while people were running from the mounted police and riot cops, it was surreal as many were taking refuge on the stage from the violence. I witnessed friends, comrades and strangers being beaten up. I was lucky… I was saved from some comradel who pushed my head forward and saved me from being whacked by the police. The lies as well peddled by the media, protesters were demonised while the saintly police were just doing their job against these rowdy bunch of troublemakers (and that’s how the right-wing press liked to portray principled activists and trade unionists fighting for their rights).
But back then we didn’t have accessible digital cameras, video cameras or mobiles… or the internet to spread the word and images of police violence like we do now. Thank goodness! And only yesterday police resorted to brutality and violence by arresting a protester for “criminal damage” at the UK Uncut protest along with CS gas being sprayed into protesters faces!!
Expect to see more repressive and violent measures carried out by the cops….
