textfiles/politics/SPUNK/sp000396.txt

Counter Information No. 40 - Part 1
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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)

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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.

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