LONDON
CALLING

2002

Resistance Is Sprouting

Demonstration against the European Summit in Brussels December 13th-15th

From South Wales CW: Managed to get a cheap crossing on Wednesday night to get to Brussels on the Thursday morning. Just in time for a big trade union demo, which was cack, they kept throwing firecrackers on the floor for no apparent reason which was a bit odd. Still beer was cheap, strong and plentyful, but it was a totally useless demo where zero of interest happened. On the Friday morning went for a bit of a look around the city's historical sites and managed to be stood in the road when all the delegates were being shipped in by police escort in limos. As there was only four of us somewhat hungover and tired flicking V signs and abuse was all we could muster, shameful really.

The main demo was also disappointing, very few of the demonstrators even considered ignoring the police approved route (despite no police in sight) meant we went nowhere near the red zone. Some banks and a police station (sadly no gun store, people did check) got done, as did a bunch of posh cars, all seemed a bit easy. Then we went back to the convergence centre - the police laid seige to the place, the use of watercannon was horrible as it was fucking freezing the whole time (-4C), a bit of to and fro and they backed off, people left. We stayed until 10 then left, apparently at 10 past 10 the cops came back, beat up and nicked everyone who was left which was about 150. Bastards.

The Saturday was the anarchist demo which was good and it started with only a few thousand people. The march went through a poor immigrant area of Brussels quite peacefully, then went into a posh area and people took out banks, posh shops and cars. When some posh twat started to complain that his Merc was being smashed up he got a volley of bricks - nice! Police seemed to be fucking pussys but it in other parts of the demo there ware some nickings and the use of water cannon was fucking vile. However considering the amount of Molotovs and other stuff they got thrown at them, the police barely seemed able to respond.

Hackney Not 4 Sale

Hackney Not 4 Sale campaign against the selling off of council properties in the borough to various fat cats and developers. As we know flies hover around shit, and as Hackney has slowly collapsed through the incompetence of party politicians these freeloaders are looking to make a fast buck at our expense. The group now has a postal address and a website is being set up. People are invited to send ideas as to what it should contain and to get involved.

Hackney NOT 4 Sale
Box No 7
136-138 Kingsland High Street
London
E8 2NS
Tel 07950 539 254

As they point out "If all Hackney residents, community groups, and workers who are under threat got together; we wouldn't be under threat!"

Booing Blunkett

A small, freezing but positive picket of the Home Office was held on 21 December in support of Mark Barnsley. The cockles of our hearts were warmed however by the arrival of Home Secretary David Blunkett who stumbled straight through our picket! He may be blind but he is certainly not deaf! This is now the third time Blunkett has faced campaigners for Mark, perhaps by now the message is getting through!

Who Are The Real Terrorists?

If there's one thing the Metropolitan Police can be relied upon for, it's brassneck. Whilst on the one hand telling us they cannot cope with an explosion in street crime (all papers/TV channels 4th Jan and more) because of the force's increased anti-terrorist activities, the Metropolitan Police Special Branch still found time to spin yarns about anarchists in the Sunday Telegraph on 30th December.

The Movement Against the Monarchy's (MA'M) quip on their website about pumping laughing gas into St Paul's Cathedral on June 4th during the service to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee managed to provoke a front page article by the seriously under employed Jenny Booth and David Bamber. Special Branch, supposedly working night and day to thwart the plans of Bin Laden's henchmen, managed to take time off to warn of the threat that could be posed by evil anarchists in a confined space (?) such as St Paul's.

Last month it is alleged that a British Muslim, Richard Reid attempted to blow a plane from France to America out of the sky. If he had been successful hundreds of passengers and crew would have lost their lives. The police and media's attempts to portray the anarchist and direct action movements as terrorist looked pretty ropey before September 11th. Now it actually begins to look sick.

Even if you think campaigning against the royals is a "distraction from the real work" you would be seriously blinkered in your judgement if you ignore what some anti royal people/groups are doing and the attempts of the secret state and journalists to smear us... Of course the 'real work' is motivating the millions of closet republicans to do something. Campaigning against the jubilee is the best time to do it cos they will all be pig sick of the idle parasites in papers, on the TV and the forelock tugging nonsense that the journalists spout!!

MA'M are encouraging events (gigs, demos, actions) around the Queen's Jubilee tour of the country, details of which can be found on www.fuckthejubilee.com and from MA'M, P.O. Box 14672, London, E9 5QU. If you want to set one up JUST DO IT and let us know...

It's Good To Talk

There is now a cheeky Class War discussion site for everything concerning Class War the newspaper and Class War the Federation. To find it just go to http://flag.blackened.net/wwwthreads/wwwthreads.php. Alternatively you can access it via our website: www.tao.ca/~lemming/classwar.

Yuppie Eradication Project

The Mission Yuppie Eradication Project is a class struggle group based in San Francisco fighting the good fight against gentrification and the attack on our communities. London CW has copies of their anti-yuppie posters available free of charge (please send an A4 SAE with 33 pence in stamps) to the London CW address and we will send you the posters. Alternatively they can be downloaded from the internet at www.infoshop.org/myep/cw_posters.html.

Gerry Where's Me Troosers?

We were greatly amused to see the latest splutterings from the Searchlight camp, the book "White Riot" a supposed investigation into the Nazi group Combat 18. A close inspection of the cover picture reveals that one of the two gun toting Nazis appears to have extreme difficulty doing up his trousers! That, and the fact that he is pointing his gun at a fellow nazi sums up C18 as an organisation better than any book!

Hard To Conceive

Amongst all the sympathetic media coverage following the news that Sophie Rhys-Jones, wife of the great Prince Edward, had lost her baby, we were stunned that nobody asked the question that occupied the minds of the nation. Who the bloody hell could the father have been?

Tough Titty

"Basically I'm a spiv" he says with a broad grin. "I like to gamble and take chances". Former England Rugby Union star Andy Ripley, quoted in Sunday Business 4/11/01.

Ripley is now heading the campaign by Railtrack shareholders to receive compensation following the governments decision to stop propping up Railtrack. Two days before they did this Ripley had invested £70,000 in Railtrack shares, which 48 hours later were worthless. He now expects the taxpayer to compensate him, and the thousands of other Railtrack investors for their loss. Tough titty.

The whining of the Railtrack shareholders, who previously had been laughing all the way to the bank, is taking the piss. Shares can go up as well as down, and when they were making out a mint out of a company heavily subsidised by the taxpayer we did not notice to many shareholders complaining then. They are spivs, they gambled and they lost. Tough titty. The poverty stricken Railtrack investors are being represented by two leading law firms - Edwin Coe and the amusingly named Class Law. Why not phone them up and do your impersonation of the laughing policeman? Edwin Coe - 0207 691 4000. Class Law - 0207 724 2526.

Xmas Social

London Class War would like to thank everybody who made the Xmas do probably our best yet. Those who sat there captivated by the Incitement To Riot video can buy it from us for £6!

The Enemy Is...

Surfing on the net recently we came across the website of the Openly Classist group (www.openlyclassist.org.uk). Openly Classist are perhaps best known for publishing "The Enemy Is Middle Class" by Andy and Mark Anderson. The late Andy Anderson was a self-confessed former US and British intelligence officer.

In the late 1990s, when we were getting ourselves sorted following the 1997 split, Openly Classist could be found stirring up apathy around the fringes of Class War, and in particular the London and South Yorkshire groups. We did not, it seems, come close to meeting their lofty standards or impeccable working class credentials. Not enough intelligence officers in our ranks clearly.

So what does cut the mustard as far as Openly Classist are concerned? At one point we were told it was the campaign to free Mark Barnsley. Class War members attending events for Mark in 2001 did not spot anyone from Openly Classist, and funds allegedly raised from earlier punk gigs organised by one Openly Classist supporter in London certainly never reached Mark. So who then? Whilst there is no link from Openly Classist's website to www.freemarkbarnsley.com one group they do advertise is the Scottish Separatist Group. The SSG, run by Adam Busby has one of its core aims "The halt and reversal of mass English immigration into Scotland". Quite how this is going to be enforced is not made clear, or whether a Separatist Scotland is willing to take back in return high profile Scots like Gordon Brown, Tony Blair or Robin Cook, who in case the SSG have not noticed, have pretty senior positions in the British ruling class!

The SSG acts as the political wing of the Scottish National Liberation Army. The SSG website is on a Russian Maoist server (the views of Chairman Mao on Scottish Nationalism are not recorded) and the website seeks to make a distinction between the SSG and SNLA rather similar to the division between Sinn Fein and the IRA.

In recent years the SNLA have been linked, in the media, to attempts to poison the water supply and attempts to post anthrax to Prince William. Red Action allege Busby posted them a letter bomb. Despite all this Busby lives a remarkably charmed life as far as the authorities are concerned.

The SSG/SNLA look suspiciously like some intelligence officer's bad joke. That they seem to be one of the few organisations Openly Classist support is certainly raising eyebrows.

Membership News

Class War membership costs £12 for the calendar year (£6 unwaged). To get more involved please contact your local group. Any members who have not renewed for 2002, please get your skates on! Finally we now have a members only email discussion group up and running. Details of this were sent out with the conference minutes - again get signed up to get involved. Just Do it.

Diary Dates

Genoa Justice Campaign - Public Meeting: speakers Jeremy Corbyn MP (tbc) Nerys Lee (Amnesty International) Jonathan Neale (Genoa Social Forum) Norman Blair (Genoa protester) and report back from recent protest at the EU Summit in Brussels. Plus a screening of the film of the Genoa protest Un mondo diverso e possible made by directors including Pontecorvo (Battle of Algiers).
Venue/time: Tuesday 22nd January 6.30pm-9pm Room G2, SOAS Main Building, Thornhaugh Street WC1, nr Russell Square Tube.
www.genoajustice.org

Saturday 26 January 10.30-5pm - Prison Abolition or More Prisons? A conference on the abolition of prisons and what we can do to bring it about. Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1R (tube Holborn)

Sunday 3 February 7pm - London Class War meeting at a top central London location.

At some stage in 2002 - A Hackney Community Conference, organised by Unison is planned. (Tel: 020 8985 7134) This could be a positive development, especially if Unison restrict political pontificating and sales of leftie rags inside and outside the event! Date to be announced.

Odds and Sods

The large and glossy Class War Anti Royal 2002 Calender is now only £4 from the usual address, cheques/POs payable to "London Class War".

The Class War On Mayday

At this time of the year we remember our movement's dead and fight for the living. 4 innocent anarchists were hung in Chicago fighting for the 8 hour day in 1887, and May the first became International Workers Day the whole world over. The Mayday struggle has become an almost ritualistic time for the police and media to gather names and faces and generally spread lies about the movement. This year we've got a political show trial not unlike the one in Chicago in the 19th century. Victory to the Wombles! With the Post Office workers under threat this is also the time to show active solidarity and build an effective fightback on the industrial front. Victory to the wreckers - no casualisation!!

Class War 83

The new issue of the paper will be out (just!) in time for Mayday. Packed with all the usual bite and bile, as well as a round up of class struggle in your area over the past few months. To order your copy please send four 1st class stamps to the London CW address. For 10 copies please send a cheque for £5, made payable to "London Class War" only. Finally we have posters of the front cover - for 30 posters please send £1 in stamps to cover postage.

It's Good To Talk

Class War's web site now has a fully functioning discussion board, so where better to argue the toss about the issues of the day? Just go to www.classwaruk.org, click on discussion board and scroll to the bottom of the page.

Queen Mum - Good Riddance!

Hopefully your hangover has now subsided and the champagne stains have washed out of your trousers! Saturday March 30th finally saw the Queen Mum do the decent thing after a record 101 years of sponging off the British taxpayer, and what a party she started! Within hours of her death large numbers of Queen Mum: Good Riddance stickers were being displayed in pubs and clubs across the country. Despite a well concerted media blackout they continued to go up in towns and cities across the UK. Well done to all concerned!

A special mention must go out to residents of Wareham in not so sleepy Dorset. After sycophantic Mayor Doreen Cleaton opened a book of condolence to the old bag, within two hours it had been filled with appropriate responses! "Fuck you shitface" and various other swear words that we agree with entirely!

Police And Thieves?

According to recent press reports, Hackney now has more shootings than Soweto, once considered the most violent city on Earth. Odd then that the Metropolitan Police can spare large numbers of officers in the borough to take pictures of people going in and out of a social centre. Most evenins the Radical Dairy at 47 Kynaston Road, Stoke Newington is monitored by a team of uniformed officers, complete with cameraman. It has been raided twice. In a clear attempt to disrupt the centre's political activity its computer has been confiscated.

Local residents, who would be lucky to receive anything more than a crime number if mugged or burgled, have been appalled at both the scale and frequency of the police operation. All in all the Met have achieved only one thing in Kynaston Road - bringing local residents into the Dairy and into greater contact with those using it. It is probably as close to community policing as the Met are ever likely to get!

London Calling

Apologies for the non-appearance recently, this is due entirely to the editors' cocaine habits. We are pleased to say following an intensive course of therapy at the Priory - Naomi Campbell is really quite nice when you get to know her - London Calling will appear monthly for the rest of 2002. You can view it on our web site or secure your copy by sending 12 first class stamps for the year's supply to the usual address. Please send in suitable newspaper clippings, diary dates, gossip and slander preferably with a London focus.

Class War Small Ads

For sale - A wheelchair, a pair of walking sticks and an unopened Easter egg. For more information contact Buckingham Palace on 020 7930 4832.

Wanted - Builders to remove old boiler from Windsor Castle. Must be CORGI registered. Please phone Windsor Castle on 01753 869898.

Never Mind The Jubilee - Bollocks To The Monarchy!

Jubilee? What does it mean?

The origin of the word jubilee dates back to the old testament but in modern times was used extensively as a slogan of liberation. In the 19th century it meant the abolition of slavery, the cancellation of all debt and a return of the lands to the common. Given that the Monarchy stole the land it's a bit rich (sic) that they then try to make us celebrate our subjugation with a 'golden jubilee'.

The Movement Against the Monarchy will be attending an anti-capitalist street festival in Stoke Newington on June 3rd and are hosting an "Execute the Queen" street party in Tower Hill on June 4th as our contribution to the celebrations. Republicans all over the country and in Ireland are holding anti-royal events, and there are millions more closet republicans who are cursing the Queen in the pubs from Land's End to John O' Groats.

MA'M organiser Richard Brandon said: "Many are taking the time off and are doing their own thing, only the forelock tuggers who turn out at these poncy planned visits are smiling at the Queen. But then, rather like the muppet Churchill Insurance uses as its mascot, they would nod at anything. Anybody with a mind of their own is celebrating republican principles of liberty, egalite and fraternity in opposition to the celebration of elitism, foxhunting, landownership, palaces, money without responsibility, and anti-democracy that is the Monarchy."

For further information contact Richard on 07931301901.

Notes for readers: Anti-capitalist street festival in Stoke Newington, Kynaston Road, just off Church Street from 1pm on Monday June 3rd. MA'M street party starts at Tower Hill at 10:30am on June 4th.

It Hurts Us More Than It Hurts You

Tony Blair is in political terms the bastard son of Margaret Thatcher. There is barely a cigarette paper between them on any of the issues of the day, from foreign policy to the public services. On the issue of thre NHS, Blair and Brown attempt to show that they are different from the Tories by promising its renewal, even hinting at expansion. In reality this is the same old jam tomorrow we have heard a thousand times before.

Brown added a new twist in the budget by triumphantly increasing national insurance contributions to pay for this promised renewal. This is accompanied by a load of Thatcher style masochism about it all being so necessary and a pain worth going through. Bollocks. By hitting everybody who earns more than £4000 per annum (virtually everyone in the UK) Brown is hitting hardest those low earners who rely most on the NHS.

The same money as ever is wasted on the royal family, armed forces and layer upon layer of bureaucracy. There is no mention of tackling the private companies, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, who leech off the health service. Nobody in Westminster dares to suggest the inheritance tax avoided by the Queen following her mother's recent will, should be paid and paid straight into the health service. Change might hurt Gordon, but with you and Tony in charge it's always the working class who get hurt most.

What Was That All About?

So the cops and the media did not get the May Day riot they both so desperately wanted. A big hand to everyone who turned out, defying some very childish attempts at intimidation from both the police and the media. The turnout of some 6000 riot police on Mayday looked even more amusing when Millwall fans rioted the next day after their playoff defeat to Birmingham. The police started that game with only 200 officers on duty. Better luck next year guys!

New This Month

Check out The Rich At Play, the latest publication by RPM. The book takes a serious look at foxhunting, land ownership and the Countryside Alliance. There are articles by (amongst others) members of Class War and Corporate Watch. Copies cost just £4 (cheques/POs to "London Class War" only). RPM's website, www.red-star-research.org.uk is also strongly recommended.

Great Danes

One football match, dominated by issues of violence and intimidation, took place in April surrounded by scores of riot police. Thousands of spectators who had bought tickets returned them rather than go to the game. Yet all this received very little coverage in the British press, and there are no investigations planned by the BBC.

The match was the April 17 friendly between Denmark and Israel, where a concerted campaign by Danes failed to force the cancellation of the match, but did everything but. The issue of Israeli treatment of Palestinians dominated the Danish press, and after a concerted boycott campaign began, one third of the tickets that had been sold were returned. The game kicked off 20 minutes late due to rioting outside the ground. Great Danes indeed!

Return Of The Mutant Bumpkins

The Countryside Alliance will hold a national march through London on Sunday September 22nd, in an attempt to save fox hunting. With the Labour Party behaving like rabbits in front of car headlights whenever the CA go on the march, and the various anti-hunt organisations frequently refusing to challenge the CA politically, it is essential people get out and about in the run up to September to hit these bastards hard. Contact Class War in the coming months for details.

Jubilee Mugs

One bunch of sad arses that will definitely be celebrating the Jubilee is the Loyal Orange Institution of England. Along with their mates from the British Ulster Alliance, the LOI plan an Orange Parade through London on Saturday, June 15th.

This shower, comprising the National Front, loyalist lickspittles living on the mainland and the few members of C18 who have not already come out as state agents, assemble at the Temple at 2:30pm before stumbling off at 3pm in the direction of Whitehall Place. The BUA have then arranged a night of sieg heiling at the evening benefit gig.

If you think the BUA are a load of cap doffing inadequates with a uniform fetish why not ring organiser Jon on 0775 443 8072?

Victory To The Wreckers!
If there is a long hot summer to be found anywhere in Britain - it is on the industrial front! The first nation wide strike by local government workers for 23 years, has been joined by strikers on the tube, and action appears imminent in the post office (no change there then!) and amongst our fire fighters.
Perhaps most pleasing of all however has been the willingness of some workers in traditionally unorganised or weak workforces to take action. Homerton Hospital in Hackney has seen cleaners walk out in protest at the under mining of their pay and conditions by agency staff.
Also, take for example the cleaners, concierges and caretakers at posh Dolphin Square, close to the Palace of Westminster. Described by The Independent as Britain's poshest housing estate, the 1250 flats at Dolphin Square are home to no less than 20 Labour MPs, the ex-Tory leader William Hague, and Labour peer Lord Desai.
Perhaps most hypocritical of all is Home Office Minister and resident Beverley Hughes MP. A frequent public critic of racism, Ms Hughes privately accepts the services of Dolphin's Square mostly African cleaners, some of whom are paid as little as £9850 a year. These workers deserve more than her warm words.
On Friday 12 July Dolphin Square workers held a 24 hour strike in protest at a 3% pay offer by the Dolphin Square Trust and a refusal to pay workers a £1000 London weighting.
The workers listed above are the sort of people Tony Blair describes as wreckers. Victory to the Wreckers!

The Doughty Doherty's!
Congratulations to Communications Workers Union activist, postal worker Mick Doherty, who has been offered £125,000 by Consignia (ex Royal Mail) after the failure of Consignia to reinstate him. As covered before in London Calling, both Mick and brother Tom won unfair dismissal claims against Consignia. They were sacked after Tony Blair urged employers to dismiss football hooligans, and the Doherty brothers were pictured in the media allegedly fighting with Turkish fans at Arsenal's 2000 UEFA Cup Final against Galatasaray.
Consignia were only too keen to rid themselves of two well known union activists despite the fact that neither were arrested or even charged with any offence. They have agreed to reinstate Tom, but refuse to re-employ CWU official Mick "under any circumstances"
Both brothers can thank the magnificent support of postal workers in north London, who launched several walkouts in their support. Clearly postal workers know considerably more about solidarity, the law and human rights than Consignia or the ex-barrister Tony Blair.

Mark Barnsley - Freedom But No Justice
Mark Barnsley was released from HMP Whitemoor on 24 June, after serving just over 8 years in jail. Mark was met by friends and supporters from Yorkshire, London and Brighton and an official NUM banner. Supporters then took Mark for a celebratory breakfast in nearby March, Cambs, with the usual police tail. Indeed whilst we enjoyed a slap up breakfast in a café the overworked Cambridgeshire police found time to patrol March's main car park, noting down the number plates of all the vehicles that had travelled for the event. Whatever these bastards are short of, it is certainly not officers or resources.
It is important to note that whilst Mark has been released his conviction has not been quashed. Mark intends to rebuild his life in the coming months and years, but he has made it plain to Class War that his struggle for justice is far from over. We look forward to seeing him in London soon.

Jubilee Arrests
The Movement Against the Monarchy demonstration at Tower Hill on June 4th saw 41 arrests, mostly of those drinking in a pub after the event. The Legal Defence Monitoring Group is advising those arrested and can be contacted at LDMG, BM Haven, London, WC1N 3XX.

One Law For Them
The inquest into the shooting of Harry Stanley, by police in Hackney in 1999, has finally been held. Although the names of the officers responsible for shooting an unarmed man walking home from the pub are now known, there was little other comfort for the Stanley family. Inspector Neil Sharman shot Harry through the head, whilst PC Kevin Fagan shot him in the arm. Both remain on duty with the Metropolitan Police.
The coroner at St Pancras Coroners Court, Stephen Chan, refused to allow the jury to record a verdict of unlawful killing. Worse he brought up details of Harry's long spent criminal convictions, something even the cops had steered clear of doing following the shooting. The jury responded by recording an open verdict, despite Chan's far from subtle encouragement to record a verdict of lawful killing.
The Harry Stanley case is proof once again that the system works - for them.

Big Brother Blunkett
Whilst it may be a little inaccurate to say that David Blunkett is watching us, there is little doubt that he is determined to behave like Big Brother. His 6 month consultation on the introduction of an entitlement card - an ID card to you an me - has been slated across the board. Blunkett is trying to avoid introducing a compulsory card by sleight of hand. It seems likely it will be compulsory to register for the card, but not compulsory to carry it.
However the likelihood is that you will need the card to claim benefits, cash a cheque, hire a car, rent a house, travel on an internal flight, get a ticket for a category A football match - we could go on, but we are sure you get the picture. Put simply daily life for working class people will be impossible unless you carry your card. For the well to do, and for people like Mr Blunkett himself, the card can be safely left in a drawer and forgotten about.
The hype from new Labour is that ID cards will defeat the evils of fraud and terrorism. Odd then that the USA has not introduced ID cards after September 11th, or that they were never needed here at the height of the IRA campaign. We wonder how much corporate fraud will be prevented by ID cards?
Interestingly former Tory minister Peter Lilley criticised Blunkett, pointing out that any ID card that could stop fraud or terrorism would require penalties against citizens who failed to carry the card. Harassment by the police of such people, accordingly to Lilley, would be unacceptable. Not for the first time since 1997, Labour find themselves well to the right of the Conservative party.
It may be some time before the specific details of the ID card scheme become
apparent. Clearly the need to register would suggest a campaign of non-registration is a definite possibility. Watch this space!

Class War Spoken Word
New this month are three Class War compact discs!

"Class War On The Streets" is a drum and bass CD with a driving political commentary. £8

"Bash The Rich" Gives more Class War analysis of the world today, accompanied again by a drum and bass soundtrack. £8

"Street Corner Rants - Class War Poets From The Housing Estates" 13 poems from the home to the picket line. £4.

All three are available from London Class War at the above address. As usual cheques/POs to "London Class War" only - please add 10% to cover postage.

Tyne & Wear Class War
To get involved with Class War in the North East of England, please phone Tyne & Wear Class War on 0774 839 4217.

Probably The Best T Shirt In The World
Class War T shirts are now available bearing the slogan "Class War - Probably The Best War In The World". Any similarity between the shirt and the Carlsberg lager logo is of course purely coincidental. Shirts are available in medium, large and fat bastard sizes at £8.

Definitely Not Barking
The Walthamstow Anarchist Group has launched a newsletter, The Underdog. Highlight for us was the excellent critique of speed camera's, and a warning about the location of several sneaky camera's located around north east London. The fact that many of these camera's are effectively hidden demolishes the lie that they exist to make roads safer by deterring speeding motorists - they are clearly being used to raise even more funds for the police. Also given the way the Met drive in London, who the fuck are they to lecture us about our speed?
The Underdog is free from WAG, PO Box 35832, London E11 3WT, although 6 stamps will get you a nice subscription!

Mindless Violence?
"It is tragic that something I devoted so much time and energy to should have been damaged by a few seconds of mindless violence"
Sculptor Neil Simmons, after his statue of Margaret Thatcher was decapitated by a man armed with a scaffolding pole in Guildhall Art Gallery.

Anarchist Youth Network
The AYN held a national gathering in London in mid-July. Any young thrusters wanting to get involved with the AYN should contact them on 07814 629780. They plan a busy next 12 months.

Internal Bulletin
All members should have had Issue 64 of the IB. If not please let London Class War know.

Diary Dates

For details of London Class War meetings please contact London Class War.

Sat 20 July Marks the first anniversary of the death of Italian activist Carlo Guilani, shot by the police in Genoa. We avenge his death daily, by building a better world.

Weds 24 July 7pm The Ritzy Cinema, Brixton. Indymedia show a new documentary about last years events in Genoa, which saw the tragic death of Carlo Guilani and the repression of the Italian state come down against the anti-capitalist movement. Tickets £5.

Sat 27 July 2pm Community Activism workshop, Radical Diary, 47 Kynaston Road, Stoke Newington. Speakers include Hackney IWCA, Day Mer, People Not Profit, Schnews and Social centres Network. The days aim is to share practical skills gained in community struggles.

Sun 28 July 2-5pm Stop The Countryside Alliance Forum, Upstairs Room, Union Tavern, Lloyd Baker Street, Kings Cross. Meeting to discuss opposition to the inbreds leading up to and at their march in September.

Sun 11 August 2pm The Smokey Bears Picnic, Southsea Common, Southsea, Hempshire. Following the recent decriminalisation of dope, will Hampshire Constabulary waste as much tax payers money policing this event as they have in recent years?

Sat 21 September Class War National Conference, London.

Sun 22 September Noon They Shall Not Pass! Picket the Countryside Alliance march, Parliament Square, Westminster.

Sat 19 October 10-7pm The 21st Annual Bookfair, Camden Centre, Euston Road, London WC1. A range of excellent promotional stickers and leaflets are available

Subscriptions

Class War subs are now handled by Yorkshire Class War. They can be contacted at P.O. Box 6, Crigglestone, Wakefield, WF4 3WX.

Class War 85

The deadline for articles for the next paper is January 15Please send articles, letters, graphics, etc. to the London Class War address. Hard drugs are also welcome.

Christmas Social

Class Wars annual Christmas bash will be on Satuday December 21 upstairs at the Wenlock Arms, 26 Wenlock road (off City road), Hoxton – Old Street tube from 7.30 pm onwards. All welcome. As well as the usual food and drink we will show a new Class War video that is a follow to for the successful “Incitement to Riot” film.

The Law Must be Dotty

November saw Princess Anne become the first Royal since King Charles 1^st to appear in court. Anne was prosecuted under the dangerous dogs act after her English Bull Terrier Dotty attacked 2 children in Windsor Park. She was fined 500 pounds. Class War has only one point to make – is their any reason why the bitch was not destroyed?

New This Month

No border jam 6. Is a 30 track compilation CD from the No Border Jam festival at Maribor, Slovenia in 1998. It costs just 6 pounds from the London Class War address.

England Away

England’s away game in Bratislava, Slovakia in October produced a fortunate win, a double- shooting, police baton charges of English fans, and widespread condemnation of the booing of England’s black players by Slovak supporters.

At our request, Bratislava Anti-Fascist Action were good enough to write the following.

The match between the English national team and Slovakia on 12th October has started the discussion on the theme of racism at football stadiums in our society. Such a debate has never been never been held before, despite the fact that racism is a long-term problem on our football terraces. I think it is important to add, that in an opinion poll 36% Slovaks said they don´t want to live in a neighbourhood with people from Arabia, 30% with black people and 65% with gypsies!

There would not be a discussion like this, if the English Football Association did not blame Slovak supporters for racist abuse at two English players. It is always the same. There must be a scandal on an international level before we start to deal with any problems.

What of the coverage of the Slovak press and the views of the Slovak Football Association? (SFA) The SFA has apologised to both black players and their English FA counterparts. In a press report the SFA condemned all racist chants and racist behaviour of Slovak fans and declared its intention to start an anti-racist campaign in co-operation with football clubs and schools. "We have already begun a complex campaign against racism at our grounds, but we want it to involve schools as well as the media. It's definitely a problem for society as a whole," said František Laurinec, president of the SFA.

The SFA has admitted there were racist chants during the Euro 2004 qualifier in Bratislava, but they defend themselves stating that the racism was only a problem among a small group of local hooligans, rather than among all Slovak football fans. “This was proved when Emile Heskey was leaving the field, the Slovak audience spontaneously applauded him for his performance during the game” said Laurinec.

The general secretary of SFA, Dusan Titel, added, that he was surprised by all post-match talk of racism. “Normally we don´t have problems with racism. We accept all English footballers.” said Titel. The response of the coach of the Slovak national team Ladislav Jurkemik was “I couldn´t hear the racial chants, because I was fully concentrated at the game“.

Most journalists and delegates of SFA were sure that their English counterparts made this into a problem bigger than it was. The reason could be the really bad play from the English team and to cover the behaviour of rowdies, who had left broken pubs in Prague, Vienna and also in Bratislava.

At the press conference Emile Heskey talked about racism at the stadium during the match, but surely it was not so bad that he had been subjected to the worst racist taunts of his career in Bratislava.

As Dusan Titel said in an interview for antiracist paper Tolerance “I think, the media has made this problem bigger than it was. I don´t want to say there was no racism at stadium’s, but when we said good bye with to the president of the English Football Association, the English side was satisfied with our service“. Any talk of problems only began at the press conference, he added.

The racism at our stadiums has been a problem for years. There are some racist hooligan mobs in Slovakia. Mostly in Bratislava (the capital city), where two neo-nazi hooligans mobs exist. Ultra Slovan Pressburg and Tiezfanusikovia (it means something like we are fans too). Both of them are aggressive and collaborate with hooligans from other clubs. I can say the rise of the nazi movement in Bratislava has its roots at the football terrace. However it is not just hooligans who are racists. There is racism in the rest of audience at the matches in Bratislava too. Equally there are fans who are not racists.

Souleyman Fall, a Spartak Trnava player from Senegal, in an interview about racism at football has admitted, that he has been racist abused, when there were fans, who came with bunches of bananas and the audience made loud monkey noises at the player throughout the game. The quality of our football is nowadays low and therefore there are not high attendance’s at matches – usually it is something between 5,000 and 8,000 supporters. The Euro 2004 qualifier was an exception.

Bratislava AFA can be contacted at: bacityafa@yahoo.com

London Blackspot

One thing London does not lack is memorials. This fact means there is even less need for a 5 metre high stone panel depicting a police badge, with a glass tower surrounded by dyed blue water. This is the lunatic plan of Police lickspittle Michael Winner who has invested £1.5 Million of his own money in this project. He expects the public to donate the rest. In addition to this the Police Federation is considering establishing a national Police memorial day. This memorial will be an important addition to the expanding list of Mayday targets and we look forward to this receiving the attentions of as many dogs cocked legs as possible

Diary Dates

Every Saturday – Hunt sabbing throughout the South East. Contact the N. London Hunt Saboteurs Association on 07747 165 196. They came to us, now its our turn to go to them!

A date to be confirmed – picket of Hackney Libraries, with scabs likely to be brought in to operate library services on Saturdays. Mass pickets will be held at Hackney central Library, Stoke Newington library and Shoreditch library. Contact Hackney Unison on 020 8356 4071 or the Solidarity Federation on 07799 251 053.

Sunday 1^st December - London Class War meeting - Central London venue.

4^th December to 12^th December – Latest 8 day strike by the Fire Brigades Union commences at 9am. Walk out with them at your local fire station.

Sunday 5^th December – Emmaz benefit night. The Lord Cecil, Lower Clapton Road, Hackney, E5. Gertrude and Grunt help to raise money for an autonomous social centre to be set up in London. £4/£3 in.

Saturday 7^th December – 1pm to 5pm. Manchester Radical Bookfair at Bridge 5 Mill, 22a Beswick Street, Ancoates, Manchester. Bookshops plus meetings, look out for the Class War stall which caused a storm last time.

Thursday 12^th December – Anti racist demonstration at the European Union Summit in Copenhagen.

13^th December – Danish disobedience day.

14^th December – 2 large demonstrations planned for Copenhagen. For all these events visit www.lott.dk and www.ulydighed.dk

16^th December to 24^th December - Fire fighters walk out at 9am.

15th to 21^st December – week of action against the war. Various actions planned in London and the south east. If you can’t find out where they are invent your own!

Thursday 2^nd January 2003 – 7pm The Bridge Hotel, Castle Garth, Newcastle Upon Tyne. Dave Douglass’ birthday party. Bands, music and dancing with a Class War flavour.

Sunday 5^th January – London Class War meeting. Prestigious central London venue.

15^th January – Deadline for articles for issue 85 of Class War.

Tuesday 21^st January – TACT social night. 9pm onwards upstairs at the Princess Louise, 208-209 High Holborn, London. Nearet tube Holborn. Social gathering for anti-capitalists.

February 17^th – not so Red Ken introduces his congestion charging scheme. At £5 a day to drive in inner London this will serve to price many working class drivers off the road creating space for the wealthy to drive in from the suburbs to work. If not, why don’t they charge £50 a day to drive in central London? Livingston claims profits will be invested in public transport, instead look out for an army of bureaucrats and inspectors coming soon to a street near you. Class War says stop this scheme, destroy the machines and disrupt the wardens.

June– 1^st to 3^rd G8 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France. Also in the same month look out for the EU summit in Thessaloniki, Greece.

‘ON FIRE’

by a London Firefighter with some imput by Class War

Mechanisms by which firefighters pay is worked out were determined by the strike of 25 years ago. The current pay formula means that Firefighters are aligned with the top % of skilled manual workers, like the assemblers at Dagenham’s Ford plant. Obviously out of date. Workers embodied in the Union want to get Firefighters recocgnised as skilled technical professionals, because with increasing technology the job already has changed beyond recognition in this time. The National Joint Council (NJC) established by the Fire Services Act 1946 write the common standards as a bottom denominator for all fire services in the UK. They recocgnised that significant technical change and advances had occurred earlier this year.

As a result the NJC recommended vast increases in pay because of the increasing professionalism, and to make up for falling general pay levels. Andy Gilchrist (Fire Brigades Union Chair) said there was 16% on the table at this time. A rumour confirmed by Ken Livingston in the media subsequently. The current breakdown in negotiations between the employers and the union arose when the government intervened to deny any extra funding for this increase. The Government and Employers have subsequently denied that 16% was ever on the table. Suggesting that there is more political goings on than is first apparent i.e. the government wish to use this to discipline workers generally and the firefighters in particular.

Those recommendations around May 2002 and the Fire Brigade Unions (FBU) conference led to the ballot earlier this year. Negotiations broke down and the Union commissioned the Labour Research Department to examine the pay formula. Their conclusions, taking into account the changing role in order to bring us back to a comparative level of pay as it was at the end of the last strike, would mean that salary would need to increase to £30,000. Which shows an £8,500 shortfall in real terms, a massive falling behind. This needed 40% increase has been hailed by John Prescott as fantasy and by Blair as unreasonable, however it was exactly the same department that recommended that MPs get a raise of 40% as well.

The MPs rise went through without a public mandate but with little media disapproval. It’s clear that giving lots of money to our already privileged political masters is ‘affordable’. However, it’s a case of ‘do as I say but not as I do’. 40% is realistic when applied to a useless politician in the Commons, but it unrealistic and inflationary when demanded by a firefighter.

Enemy propaganda is saying firefighters want parity with the Police, and this has been called unrealistic. Firefighters know though that Commissioner of the London Fire Bridgade, Brian Robinson, changed his title to that used by the boss of the Metropolitan Police, but not his working practices, so that his salary could increase by 20K to 130K. Ordinary firefighters are pissed off with this.

Prior to the strike the Union cancelled 2 sets of 48 hour strike actions as a measure of goodwill, to demonstrate good faith and a desire to negotiate. Emergency discussions over pay with Prescott and the employers produced no further offers only insults, in addition to the 4% they had been offered as an interim ahead of the ballot.

All this in the context of UK firefighters having far better working practices, and is far safer than most worldwide fire services. The UK Fire service leads the world in some key areas and is seen as amongst the top three services in the world.

The Strike

Frustration that no headway was being made and anger at government intervention led the union to ballot its members over strike action. The results of this were known on Friday 18^th October, and displayed an overwhelming 87.6% in favour of action. Northern Irelands were counted separately and displayed 96.6% in favour.

So reluctantly on Wednesday 13^th November at 1800 hours the first 48 hour strike action was taken, with as good as the entire branch of Lambeth FBU headquarters along with all other branches walking out including some management. Testimony from both nights of picket line action says there was overwhelming public support for them. Cars including Mercs, vans, Lorries, buses, boats on the Thames, were all tooting their horns in a show of solidarity. As well as significant numbers of the public showing support and recalling services rendered in the past, as well as providing food, drink and best wishes. And this at a time when the press were declaring that we had lost public support.

Bain the Pain – Professor Bain

The emergency talks arising from the proposed 48 hour strike actions produced no change in employers attitudes towards pay. In fact it emerged that pay was the last item on the agenda with the employers pushing their managerialist agenda of modernisation (a disguise for redundancy). This exposed these talks as no more than delaying tactics, as was the Bain Report whose findings were speeded up so Bain could come onto TV, and parrot the employers line he was paid to discover. This should have been no surprise as he who pays the monkey calls the tune, but it was another weapon the government used against the firefighters. The whisper that Gilchrist got months ago said that Bains dice were loaded like this.

The Future

Since the first 48 hour action the government has responded with only insults, spin and nothing that could seriously resolve firefighters grievances. This is likely to lead to a hardening attitude and an unfolding series of strikes beyond the 8 day action that started on the 22^nd Nov at 0900. The government has been feeding the media distortions about falling levels of public support, when firefighters simply want more pay. Firefighters already know we have public support even if our conservative supporters may be faltering due to the slurs in the media. The journalists seem to be encouraging the firefighters to be slower to respond to the next fire at the Canary Wharf media center or at Wapping?

Firefighters have not mandated Gilchrist to negotiate over conditions and won’t accept any imposed. Gilchrist has Firefighters popular support and should respect this. He has said informally that he will put any proposal to the members before it is accepted. Let’s make sure he knows this. One fireman in front of hundreds of others shouted “Don’t sell us out you cunt” to Gilchrist at a mass meeting recently – a free year’s subscription to Class War to the first firefighter to claim it was him!

The bosses modernisation means cutting fire cover at night in terms of personnel and appliances, and cutting overall staff levels. Effectively asking us to do more for less, which will affect morale. Is this what the public want with a perceived increased threat from terrorism? They claim that there is a reduced number of call outs at night but fail to mention that all the serious call outs happen at night, including life threatening incidents. During the day you have routine calls like people stuck in lifts that aren’t as problematic but are more numerous.

The union’s idea of modernisation is better equipment, more effective training and so on. Unfortunately in the London Fire Brigade there is a lot of people waiting for first aid course renewals. When Stations appliances are being serviced they are finding 15 year old appliances that should no longer be in service. All of which is a result of employers so called modernisation already, including an engine that takes 2 minutes to warm up before it will leave the station. It would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic.

The reluctance by firefighters to strike should not be misinterpreted as weakness, the resolve is there to get a serious increase and to continue for as long as it takes. Solidarity like tube drivers striking on the same day as firefighters, and visiting fire stations is to be encouraged. Lets try to spread this strike as much as possible. The firefighters strike is due to government intervention in normal negotiating machinery. It will not be resolved by their posturing or attempts at strike breaking.

www.fbu.org.uk
www.supportyourfirefighters.com
www.30kfairpay.co.uk
www.classwaruk.org