Counter Information No. 40 - Part 1 =================================== Fighting Fascism begins with resisting racism In the wake of fascists (National Alliance) becoming coalition partners in Italy with Berlusconi's media creation Forza Italia & the Northern Leagues led by Bossi, the prospect of the far right in Government is no longer a fantasy. Continued 'shake out' of workers from industry, State policies to hound immigrants and a succession of corruption scandals affecting centrist and parliamentary socialist Parties, have boosted support for fascists, both in terms of electoral support and heightened racist attacks throughout Europe. In Britain, the fascists failed to win seats on May 5th in the local elections. However, the B.N. P. attracted considerable support in pockets of east London. By-election victor Beackon & his 2 running mates were defeated by Labour in the Isle of Dogs but polled 28% in an unprecedented 65% turnout. With similar votes in docklands wards in Tower Hamlets and Newham, the B.N.P. are well placed to challenge for the new Docklands parliamentary constituency. The Newham * Monitoring Group was active countering racist support for fascists and overtly racist Tory candidates. Elsewhere in Britain, fascist support was patchy, with National Front candidates getting up to 10% in isolated wards in the west Midlands. Outside courting respectability, the fascists are still launching cowardly attacks on targets. 32 fascists from ex-coalfields in Notts/Derby were arrested after causing damage and assault (including to a disabled woman) in Nottingham's 'Mushroom Books' on 15th January . A large local anti-fascist march was mobilised in solidarity. In retailiation, a North London BNP leader was visited by "council workmen" and given a severe beating. The fascist menace posed by Column 88 etc is still much less significant than State harassment . In January, the Tahir family in Blyth, Nortumberland received local working class support to resist deportation. An attack by police on 21st January with dogs and truncheons against blacks leaving the 'Checkpoint Charlie' nightclub in Manchester led to serious injuries. On 5th February, a lively demo was held outside Hackney Town Hall to protest against Stoke Newington police's campaign of terror against Turkish and Kurdish families. On 8th february, Bangladeshi Maktar Ahmed was attacked by 20 white youths in Bethnal Green, 5 of whom were arressted and bailed. 400 demonstrated their anger 3 days later. 130,000 racist attacks were recorded by the Government's own records for 1993. Pickets continue surrounding deportations. In Birmingham, on 21st March, a picket was held of 'Immigration Adjudicators' in support of Prakash and Prem Chavrianookoo. 5 days later, a vigil outside Campfield Detention Centre in Oxford highlighted the plight of 200 detained in squalid conditions. In Pentonville Prison, London, 13 detaineees went on hunger strike in February. Throughout Europe State racism is being resisted. In France on 31st January a black tenager was shot while joyriding. 1000 police attacked a 2000 strong anti-fascist picket of an election rally in Hanover, Germany by the Republican Party fuhrer, Schonhuber. In Italy, half a million people in Milan joined the 50th anniversary march commemorating the resistance's role in defeating Mussolini's fascism. A huge 'black bloc' of 50,000 squatters, autonomists and anarchists tried to storm the National Alliance HQ, while police also stepped in to defend 200 Lombardy League members trying to join the march. We appeal for reports of resistance, worldwide against fascism and racism. *N.M.P. 382 Katherine Rd.,London E7 8BW. Kill the Bill 20,000 people demonstrated through London on 1st May in protest at the Government's flagship Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill which seeks to seriously limit, amongst other things, the rights of squatters, travellers and hunt sabs. Some sections of the Bill will criminalise unauthorised camping, squatting, assemblies of more than 20 people and amplified music at night while repealing the Caravan Sites Act which provides Britain's gypsy population with its only secure sites. Other aspects of the Bill are also very worrying : increased detention for young "offenders"; electronic tagging to enforce curfew orders; weakening of right to silence; denial of bail for people rearrested on bail (allowing police to act as judge and jury); new stop and search powers for police; a new offence of disrupting a legal activity (aimed at hunt sabs). Prison officers will also be banned from taking industrial action and, while screws are hardly deserving of sympathy, the ban may have implications for other public sector workers such as fire fighters and health workers. (Organise!, ContraFlow): Advance Party Network, POB 3290, London, NW2 3UJ; Campaign Against CJB, POB DIY, 15 Goosegate, Nottingham. The Cape of False Hope "We will vote for Mandela, but if he doesn't give us what we want we will fight against him" (Black school student activist) The South African Election witnessed huge popular enthusiasm for change. The queues of patient voters have already been used by political rulers everywhere to remind us 'voters' how grateful we should be. Yet new policies in housing and education are unlikely to meet expectations. Workers with demands for wage rises and improved conditions at work will pose a challenge. Unrest will threaten in townships, and opposition groups within and outside the ANC will attempt to manipulate the frustration for their own ends. Even the 'majesty' of Mandela, and the ANC compromise with the National Party and the economic rulers , will not protect South African capitalism from this explosion of expectation. Magnificent Seven Seven workers from Harvest Printers in Macclesfield, sacked in July 1993 for refusing to sign contracts which would have forced them to disown their union and work overtime whenever the company demanded, have set up a picket in the town's Park Street. Enquiries / donations to: Sacked Seven, 39 Bond St., Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10 2D7. Homes for All On the 28th February, over 50 members of the Freedom Network of squatters and travellers occupied 411 flats in Central London with the aim of repairing them (including reconnecting water and electricity supplies) to provide accomodation for London's homeless. Local residents have donated food and clothing. The occupation also helps to highlight opposition to the Criminal Justice Bill. Squall, 2 St. Paul's Rd, London N1 2QN. Weans' World The occupation of the Springdale nursery in Islington, north London, had entered its ten month in February, as the council had made no preparations for its the reopening despite a vote to keep it open being won at the joint Local Government Committee and Labour group meeting. Whitehall Blockaded On May 18th, disabled people demonstrated their disgust at the Government's treatment of the Bill which is supposed to guarantee their civil rights. Protestors threw themselves onto the road and handcuffed themselves to buses, blocking Whitehall in central London for over an hour. Poll Tax occupation Two Sheriff Officers' premises in Glasgow were occupied on 14th February by protestors demanding an amnesty for all Poll Tax non-payers in Strathclyde, causing severe disruption. Several people were arrested, so far without charge. And on the 1st March, 27 arrests were made at a demo outside Strathclyde Regional Council's Glasgow offices. Vigil Ends A 486 day vigil at ex-Parkside Colliery in Lancashire ended when 18 Bailiffs evicted the Women Against Pit Closures pit camp on 18th May. A 7ft wire-mesh fence mounted on concrete blocks was placed across the entrence with a permanent steel fence behind it. Sylvia Pye, on behalf of the women, vowed to prevent the shaft being filled. Outrage ! Furious lesbian and gay protestors attempted to storm Parliament on March 14th following MPs' failure to lower the gay age of consent to 16, the same as for heterosexuals. Around 5,000 gay men, lesbians and their supporters had held a vigil outside the House of Commons. When news of the vote was received, some protestors broke through the barricades and led a charge on the main entrance. After police blocked the doors, the demonstrators held a sit-in in Downing St. and brought traffic to a standstill around Trafalgar Square. Convoy Delayed On 21st March, 17 people were arrested after 50 protestors stopped nuclear convoy for an hour and a half outside Faslane Peace Camp. Carrying the torch When an anti racist demo at the University of Minnesota last October was attacked by Nazi skins the demonstrators defended themselves. Kieron Frazier Knutson, a 22 year old member of the Love and Rage Federation, was charged at by a bonehead wearing brass knuckles. Kieron decked him with a flashlight. The police set the bonehead free. Months later, Kieron was charged with 2 counts of felony assault and faces 3 -10 years in prison. His trial is set for 20 June, and his Defence Committee is asking anti fascists everywhere to phone-blitz his prosecutor, County Attorney Mike Freeman, on (USA) 612-348-5505. Anti Fascist Defence Committee, c/o Minneapolis ABC, PO Box 7075, Minneapolis, MN 55407, USA Nightcrawlers KOMBOA ERVIN spent 15 years in the US gulags, including Marion, as a class struggle prisoner. He has written a pamphlet, A Draft Proposal for an Anarchist Black Cross Network, which advocates the creation of a mass movement dedicated to tearing down the prisons and freeing all class war prisoners. In the face of increasing repression and mass imprisonment of the poor and disenfranchised, the Anarchist Black Cross is growing in the USA, and will be holding a national conference in New York, August 19 - 21. The conference wil focus on creating a highly organised and structured ABC network throughout North America. Komboa's pamphlet and conference details : Nightcrawlers ABC, PO Box 20181, Tompkins Square Station, New York, NY 10009, USA (send donation) ***************************************************************************** These articles are taken from Counter Information. Issue No.40 Summer 1994. Counter Information is produced by anarchists/libertarian socialists in Scotland. It collates news reports of resistance by people to the system we all live under and tries to make them better known. A Hardcopy using Pagemaker layout (Mac) is available by sending a SAE or Disc to:- Counter Info c/o 11 Forth St., Edinburgh. Bundles of the broadsheets available. Donations, unshamelessly sought. Each issue costs 500+ pounds for postage and print costs (no labour costs !) If reprinting an article, please credit Counter Information, otherwise non-copyright. *******************************************************************************