“When will we get justice?”

Watching the news on the BBC regarding the uprising in Tottenham. And the media is resorting to type. There’s emphasis on the 8 cops being hurt yet the shooting of Mark Duggan is being sidelined and pushed into the background. Interviews with the likes of London Deputy Mayor, Kit Malthouse keep on being re-cycled (Oh, and the “grass up your neighbour” line) along with him dismissing the comments made by Clasford Stirling who knows a hell’va lot more to say about Tottenham than pompous right-winger, Malthouse. His boss, Boris Johnson, didn’t mention the death of Mark Duggan but the unjustified attacks on property!!

Also, there have been references to and comparisons to 1985 “riots”, along with the death of PC Keith Blakelock. But no mention of the death that sparked off the Tottenham uprising, Cynthia Jarrett nor the miscarriage of justice with the imprisonment of Winston Silcott, Mark Braithwaite and Engin Raghip. David Lammy MP mentioned the “destructive conflicts of the past” but does not mention reasons for events of ’85 to kick off, nothing about stop and searches or racist policing. His predecessor Bernie Grant only knew too well the reasons completely (Lammy was being interviewed when he was shouted down by people shouting, “When will we get justice”!!)

A youth worker on the news made the point that many people on the streets wouldn’t have been born around the time of 1985 but there’s a collective history and would have been told about the events back then. And that many young Black people have grievances with the cops who feel they are “against them” then a white top brass cop says there’s better policing in the Black communities. Really?? I don’t think so…..

What is also lacking from the BBC’s bourgeois analysis is how deprivation, savage cuts and child poverty allows pent-up anger and frustration which explodes and expressed on the streets. Whatever you think of this response it exposes the collective anger about the death of Mark Duggan combined with the cuts especially the cuts on youth centres.

The lethal combination of deprivation, poverty, victimatisation, criminalisation, unemployment, racism, racist policing with the trigger being the shooting of Mark Duggan which all exploded on the streets. Yet the mealy-mouthed offensive guff spouted by the likes of Malthouse only highlights the right-wing political consensus and the class war being waged on working class communities. Working class people in Tottenham being ruled by a white elite known as the Chipping Norton set.

Interesting as well BBC News picked up on the fact that the uprising kicked off after a teenage woman was batoned by the cops BUT what was laughable was that the cops quickly maintained that this had not been “verified”…. (and also hilariously BBC reporter making excuses if she was batoned such as “was it an accident”? Yes, PC Plod accidentally on purpose whacked someone on the head, slip of the hand) Yet when cops report information to the media that hasn’t been verified they are only to happy to report it as the truth.

What worries me is what will will happen now? Another miscarriage of justice. As they say history has a tendency to repeat itself.

This is class war.

Art show – heron in flight

The below photograph is what I will be exhibiting next weekend at an Art Show in SE20, it has been framed and ready to be delivered to the place in question. Wish me luck as never done this before.

Let him dangle!

From a welfare state to society murder
Bring “Back the noose” is always heard
Whenever those swine are under attack
But it won’t make you even
It won’t bring him back.

(Elvis Costello – Let Him Dangle)

Tory MPs like George Young and Priti Patel (pro-capital punishment) want capital punishment to be debated in Parliament because, apparently, nobody can “shy away” from topic. It’s also connected to this new  e-petitions scheme where if 100,000 supporters or more back something or other then there’s a possibility for it to be debated.

Among the most prominent is one calling for legislation allowing child killers and those who murder police officers to face execution. It has been presented by Paul Staines, who writes the libertarian Guido Fawkes blog, and has already been backed by several MPs.

When a Tory preaches democracy (in the case of George Young) then it kinda unnerves me because this isn’t based on any real honest interpretation of the word instead on what the Tories consider “democratic”. I wonder if a petition arguing, for example, against intervention in Libya would get this massive support? Yet when it comes to flog ‘em and kill ‘em brigade they always itchy to create a populist bandwagon calling for state murder. And 100,000 supporters which is just over 1% of the population in the UK.

It reminds me of Michael Howard when Home Secretary who agreed to increase the tariff of the killers of James Bulger based on cut-off coupons in The Sun. Murdoch empire increased the sentencing of two boys bypassing the judiciary just based purely on right-wing populism (280,000 signatures). Scary!

And they pro-restoration of state murder fanatics want it specifically for child killers and cop killers. That argument has never been different and it creates a hierarchy of murder, some murders more abhorrent than others. Murder is murder isn’t it?

The debate regarding the  death penalty never goes away, it comes back and forth whenever there is an appalling crime committed usually in conjunction with the howls from the right-wing populist media whipping up a frenzy, demanding vengeance. An Ipsos MORI poll found in 2009 commissioned by C4 to coincide with their appalling drama, “The Execution of Gary Glitter” found:

• 70 per cent think the UK should still have the death penalty as the maximum possible penalty for at least one of the twelve different types of crime surveyed.
• 73 per cent agree (50 per cent ‘strongly agree’) that ‘the views of the public are being ignored by politicians and the Government when setting maximum sentences and penalties for serious crimes’.
• 76 per cent agree (51 per cent ‘strongly agree’) that ‘there should be more open debate in the UK about the penalties for serious crimes, including the death penalty’.
• 77 per cent agree (56 per cent ‘strongly agree’) that they ‘are concerned that the maximum penalties (or sentences) that are set in the UK for child abuse are not severe enough’.

In the States there is a disproportionate number of Black people on death row which highlights the racism that exists within that society. And one of the many reasons I loathe Bill Clinton was of this vile political opportunistic act where he made a point of supporting the execution of Ricky Ray Rector in 1992. Playing to the ‘tough on crime’ mentality.

How many of these people on death row are innocent and have been subject to a miscarriage of justice? But then some members of the ruling class have no problem with hanging innocent people (Lord Denning on the Birmingham Six, “We shouldn’t have all these campaigns to get the Birmingham Six released if they’d been hanged. They’d have been forgotten and the whole community would have been satisfied.”)

I remember reading the powerful Reflections on the Guillotine by Camus as part of a series of essays written by campaigners for the abolition of the death penalty in Britain (the book had been published in the early 1950s). Camus writes about his father desperately wanting to attend a public execution, he does and he gets more than he bargained for. His father is in shock for days after witnessing the brutality and violence of state sanctioned murder.

Albert Pierrepoint, Britain’s most prolific hangman, made the point in an autobiography that people who were otherwise popular got their sentence commuted. Others who could be seen as ‘outsiders’ people with few friends, inarticulate etc ended up being hanged. And the death penalty reflects class dynamics, racism and sexism engendered in this unequal judgemental and moralistic society.

The death penalty is abhorrent and indeed is an aberration on a democratic society.

Another big stupid idea from Mister Ed

Further evidence that Mister Ed is ditching his connections to the unions indeed those very unions who backed him for the leadership prize and now wants to cut the union block vote. I mean, he doesn’t want to be seen too close now, does he? A signal to the establishment that he is ridding that pesky union influence. Laughably, he is proposing less union influence in leadership contests (erm, Mister Ed is that was the case back in 2010 then you would be following Miliband the elder) and reduced votes then he will give conference a bigger say over policies and the manifesto

Aww. Just aint that sweet and quaint. Us members get more say over policies and the manifesto which we should be getting at the moment. Oh, there is one that Mister Ed should be prioritising and that’s democraticising the Labour Party as opposed to this remoteness and lack of say.

So is anyone still out there thinking Mister Ed will be transforming the Labour Party into something vibrant, democratic and dynamic with social democratic policies instead of bland, boring recycled tired old reactionary NL? Mister Ed still wants to be the establishment’s friend rather than showing solidarity with the working class and reinforcing the links between the trade union movement and the Labour Party, ‘cos let’s not forget who laid the foundations for it.

As Richard Simcox from PCS rightly states: “Maybe instead of navel gazing and infighting with unions, Labour might like to defend public servants,”

Precisely….

Monday randoms

Are you now or have you ever been an Anarchist…?!

If you see lurking on a book-case anything by Peter Kropotkin, or someone you meet has a soft spot for Emma Goldman especially her views around revolution and dancing and they also have a penchant for the anarchist symbol then you should report them to the cops!! Toot sweet ‘an all!

This was the surprising injunction from the Metropolitan Police issued to businesses and members of the public in Westminster last week. There was no warning about other political groups, but next to an image of the anarchist emblem, the City of Westminster police’s “counter terrorist focus desk” called for anti-anarchist whistleblowers stating: “Anarchism is a political philosophy which considers the state undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, and instead promotes a stateless society, or anarchy. Any information relating to anarchists should be reported to your local police.”

The move angered some anarchists who complained that being an anarchist should not imply criminal behaviour. They said they feel unfairly criminalised for holding a set of political beliefs.

It was issued from Belgravia Police Station as part of Project Griffin which aims to “advise and familiarise managers, security officers and employees of large public and private sector organisations across the capital on security, counter-terrorism and crime prevention issues”.

On a separate but linked issue Belgravia Police station may be quick off the mark releasing this load of McCarthyite hokum but when it comes to taking crimes against women seriously they are very slow, appalling and useless.

But I digress….

This is further evidence that the state is criminalising dissent, differing political thought and ideas with the emphasis on anarchism. Also it creates a climate of fear regarding people being grassed up for having so-called anti-establishment and unsavory political views. With the advent of politicised sentencing, political views are being criminalised. Isn’t it being able to speak out, have different political views, a healthy part of democracy? Is someone who describes themselves an anarchist now a ‘terrorist’ and/or an ‘extremist’? This really is scarily authoritarian.

Just finally, with a fascist causing atrocities and carnage in Oslo and with the far-right growing, seems very odd no mention of fascism. Am I scared by anarchists? Not in the least. But I am damn well scared of the rise of the far-right! The state, as ever, underestimates fascism.

Apparently…The Metropolitan police have initiated an embarrassing climbdown