Class War Issue 83

Issue 83 £1Summer 2002NO TO CASUALIZATION!

VICTORY TO THE WRECKERS!

News, views, war, sex, dead Royals, International Noise Conspiracyand much, much more!

2 Class War Issue 83

EDITORIALUnions Up Their Game

According to the media, the move to the left in certain unions - in particular the RMT,Aslef, CWU, Unison and the civil service PCS has caused palpitations in the Labourparty. The media has even dusted off 1970s style red scare stories, particularly aboutBob Crow of the RMT. However, in most instances the union leadership has donelittle more than recognise what most of their members realised years ago, that newLabour does not even pretend to fight for the interests of the working class. As theunion leadership are guaranteed nothing by Labour, eventually even they have tired ofgiving Tony Blair a blank cheque in return.

Blair, by talking of the "wreckers" who oppose his transformation of the publicservices, was in reality repeating the 1980s language of Thatcher. Then those whostood in the way of Thatcherism were the "enemy within". Now if you oppose Blair'scompletition of Thatcher’s privatisation project, you are a 'wrecker'. Quite how theRMT can wreck the rail industry as effectivelyas the privatisation started by John Major andpresided over today by Tony Blair is beyondus, but the media has happily aped whateverbriefings new Labour's spin-doctors have giventhem. Even though the proposed changes topostal services sound far worse than the serv-ices we currently receive, criticism has attimes been muted. How can the nastyinefficient Royal Mail give us two deliveries aday and the nice, cheap privatised service giveus only one?

Unfortunately the union defeats of the 1980stipped the balance, substantially against theunions. With the anti-strike laws, smallerworkplaces and generally lower unionmembership, the strikes of the 1970s and1980s are not going to be re-createdhowever much the likes of the SocialistAlliance wish they could be.

It is time to fight the next battle in the class war, not try to recreate the last. Unionstoday have to box clever. One sign that this is being recognised is the suggestionfrom RMT members of No Fare Days as part of their dispute with the truly awful ArrivaTrains Northern. ATN are regarded with absolute contempt by most of their regularusers. What better solution then than for RMT members to work as normal, but not tocollect any fares? No commuters will be antagonised, workers should not lose anypay, but ATN will be hit where it hurts - in the pocket. Such tactics are notnecessarily suitable throughout the rail industry. ASLEF, as a drivers union, are notinvolved in fare collection. There is no reason why they cannot come up with similarinnovative thinking along the lines of the RMT, perhaps a phone in sick day, combinedwith traditional strike action.

The aims of Mr Blair are clear. To complete the privatisations begun by the Tories,only expanding the private sector into areas the Tories sometimes shyed away from- the Royal Mail, the National Health Service, and parts of the Civil Service. As thepolice may yet be needed to enforce these changes - as they were in 1984-5 - it couldbe they will be spared some of David Blunkett's proposed reforms. The outcome ofincreased privatisation is lower pay, worse conditions, greater job insecurity. Theweaker the material conditions of the working class, the greater the profits for MrBlair's all-important friends in the city.

When Tony Blair argued he was involved in a battle of the 'reformers versus thewreckers' he was drawing the battle lines for the most important domestic fight of histerm in office. Victory to the wreckers!

It's time to call time on Tony

Raise The Fist!activist/anarchist community."

On February 2, Barely a weekafter the raid, Austin was singled out for arrestat the anti-World Economic Forum protests inNew York City. Bizarrely, after intensequestioning he was released the next day andimmediately re-arrested by the FBI under thePatriot Act. 12 days later when the still unclearcharges were finally dropped, Austin becamethe last protester out of over 200 who werearrested at the WEF summit to be released.

As Austin's lawyer Susan Tipographsaid: "The government arrested him out of theblue and then reversed themselves out of theblue. Who knows what they're going to donext?" In other words they just kidnapped him- like the Canadian police kidnapped keyAnti-Capitalist Convergence organiserJaggi Singh at last year's protests at theFTAA summit.

This campaign of harassment andintimidation against Austin and Raise The Fistcan only be the result of a co-ordinatedoperation. A decision was taken to neutralisehis activities, something the FBI did in a muchmore widespread fashion in the 60s againstindividuals in (among other organisations) theBlack Panther Party and the American IndianMovement. In the aftermath of the September11 attacks and the security clampdown inAmerica, it seems likely that we will see moreof this in the near future.

All the more reason then tocongratulate Austin for the way he has bouncedback in defiance of all attempts to silence him.After a few problems obtaining backups of theirsite, and a search for a suitable host whichthankfully didn't turn out to be Bill White (anextremely dodgy "anarchist" who associateswith neo-Nazis and is thought by many to infact be working for the secret state!), RaiseThe Fist is now back online. Hopefully the site'sbest fist raising days are still to come!

To keep up to date with the latestdevelopments in the Raise The Fist saga (andto join a community of rebels with attitude), goto www.raisethefist.com.

On January 24 2001, in a joint operation, theLAPD, the LASD, the FBI and the SecretService raided the home of Sherman Austin,the 18 year old webmaster of Raise The Fist,an LA-based anarchist web site. All theequipment used to host the site wasconfiscated and Raise The Fist was effectivelyshut down for over a month.

Raise The Fist had attracted attentionfrom the authorities from day one because ofits uncompromising political attitude. Unlikemany anarchist web sites this was not a sitelimited to the academic world or ghettoised inthe subculture of the already existinganarchist movement - it was a popular forumfor young people, many of whom had littleprevious exposure to revolutionary politics otherthan Rage Against The Machine lyrics.

Raise The Fist's success was ingetting those people, who otherwise wouldhave spent all their time sitting around on theirbacksides with their friends just talking abouthow much mainstream society sucked, toactually think about practical strategies toresist the system and get involved in theanti-capitalist movement.

In the last few months before the raid,Raise The Fist and its numerous spin-offs (theLA Anarchist Collective, Revolutionary GraffitiFront and International Collective for Class War)were attracting more and more attention fromthe authorities and the public alike. It is fairlysafe to say this is what provoked the attemptto shut it down.

Austin's first statement following theraid explains the fascination law enforcementagencies had with Raise The Fist right fromthe start: "Since 1999, raisethefist.com hasbeen under extensive government monitoring.At times, raisethefist.com has received over100 hits from the US Department of Defensein a single day."

And he is in no doubt as to why thesite was targeted in the first place: "Kidsstarted creating clubs in their schools called'RaisetheFist'. People started utilising thecollective as a powerful resource for the

Leave It All To Meactually believes that by meeting politicians andbeing granted an audience with them he isin some waymaking a differ-ence. Nothingcould be furtherfrom the truth.After leaving theWhite HouseBono said "Itwould be easierand hipper for meto be on thebarricades with ahandkerchiefover my nose - it looks better on the resumeof a rock star"

The message from Bono is in fact rathersimilar to that from Bush, Blair, Clare Shortand other politicians in thisfield- leave it all to me, I can make adifference. Bono seems unaware thatit is politicians - and in particular theirbeloved global capitalism - that hasgot the world into the mess it iscurrently in. Equally Bono and Geldof seemincapable of any self-analysis of their ownactions- is Africa in a better state todaythan it was before Live Aid? Not fromwhere we are sitting its not.

Perhaps the next time anti-globalisationprotestors gather a few bricks couldbe saved up for Bono and Bob Geldof's limousines?

If there is one thing sadder than an ageingrock star who does not know when to giveup, it’s an ageing rock star who wants to savethe poor and starving of the world. Whilst BobGeldof's criticism of the anti-globalisationprotestors in Genoa was what we have cometo expect from the pious windbag, Bono ofU2 seems determined to outbid even Geldofin the sucking up to the rich andfamous stakes.

March saw Bono granted anaudience with George W Bush at the WhiteHouse. Bono, famous for his criticism of Irishparamilitary organisations (even though theIRA probably killed fewer people in 30 yearsthan George W has in one) seemedunconcerned about the 'war on terrorism'concentrating instead on discussing Aids andUS aid to the third world. Like Geldof, Bono

Peas in a pod

Three StrokesAnd You're OutFebruary saw Princess Margaret finallygetting round to doing what her sister hasfound so difficult to do ..... dying. Whilst theloss of this parasite, who could not even runa bath without scolding herself will save us afew quid in taxes, the most satisfying out-come was the public response. Nobody gavea fuck, and the media had to reign itself inafter a couple of days because they realisedmass hysteria was not on the cards.

Not TonightI'm WashingMy HairOne of the sadder individuals in every pub isthe local TA man. We all know the army willtake pretty much anyone these days, butstandards in the Territorial Army are evenlower! Hilariously George Bush's "War onTerrorism" has led to the first compulsory callup for TA soldiers for some 46 years, and afair few weekend warriors have been lookingto wriggle out of their commitments ever since!To quote Lt Col Paul Fox ''A few people havesaid they do not want to go. We have a lot ofpeople who are having to make contingencyplans for domestic reasons and work"

Even better was the Ministry ofDefence's press release in January whichspinned a load of nonsense to gullible local

newspapers about TA units heading forAfghanistan - they were nearly all headinginstead for refresher courses - but allowedlocal papers to insert the details of when andwhere their local TA units met. Just in caseAl Queda wanted to meet the challenge posedby the TA head on, the Hackney Gazettekindly informed readers when and where theShoreditch TA meets! Who said militaryintelligence was a contradiction in terms?

On 14 March Jack Dunn died. He hadled the Kent miners through the greatbattles of 1969, 72, 74 and inretirement in 84 and 92. Anaccomplished speaker and greatcharacter he was one of the legendsof the NUM, too many of whom havedied just recently. The union, and theworking class movement at large arethe poorer for their loss.

Obituary-Jack Dunn

Class War Issue 83 3

WindsorsGive thePublic Whatthey Want -More RoyalFunerals!

to celebrate the Jubilee. Instead the nearconstant royalist propaganda has turnedapathy into antipathy. Hatred for theprivileges, the brutality, bigotry andmilitarism of the royals is being translatedinto street protests against the House ofWindsor. We loyal subjects ofMOVEMENT AGAINST THEMONARCHY - are organising our ownfitting tributes for Golden Jubilee.

Several protests are alreadyplanned in amongst other places Bury StEdmonds, Brigend and Sheffield. InLondon there will be an Execute theQueen Street Party starting in Tower Hill,by the Tube, on June the 4th, at 10.30am.June 4th is the highpoint of Pro and AntiJubilee celebrations with otheranti-monarchist organisations such asREPUBLIC encouraging its supporters toprotest on this day. By the time you readthis there will already have been the April29th 'Choke On It' protest against theQueen, other living ex-Prime Ministers ata dinner given by Tony Blair at 6pm bythe gates of Downing Street. As alwayswith MA'M events bring your means ofprotest with you, including banners andwhistles.

We cannot have a fair, decent andjust society and still have some peoplewho think they are kings and queens andthe rest of us are their servants. So join inthe anti-jubilee celebration and we mayyet abolish the monarchy sooner ratherthan later.

To find out more contact MAM [email protected] or visit thewebsite at http://www.fuckthejubilee orwrite to us at the MAM PO Box 14672,London E9 5UQ (please enclose acouple of stamps). If you don't like any ofour events, then organise your own and ifyou want help promoting it, just let usknow.

We are all used to Prince Edward andthe other stupid royals wasting our money- how on earth he can retire at his agewhen the rest of us are being worked tillwe drop? But although we are paying fortheir parties, there are at least some wecan gatecrash - their funerals.

Despite Class War negotiating longand hard with Satan to take the Queenmother away from us all sooner wecouldn't convince him. But the jubilee hasgot off to a cracking start - with two lessof the scroungers to pay for.

When Old Yellow Tooth, finallydecided to join her daughter and husband,the Royal PR Department went intooverdrive. They claimed that themulti-millionaire bigot with an income ofjust 5 million pounds a year and just 50live-in home helps, who got privateoperations that were denied to millions ofworking class people on the NHS, was'everyone's grand mother'. That shesingle-handedly won world war two despiteappeasing Hitler and encouragingsurrender negotiations in 1940.

Employing the kind of doublethinkthat would have Stalin or Tony Blair greenwith envy, the Windsors promoted her asa kindly old lady. Yet her compassion forher family lead her to hounding the motherof her great grand children to repeatedsuicide attempts. Her love of animalsmeant introducing her daughter to the joysof bloodsports. Her life was not just ofunbridled privilege and casual sadism, shehelped support a number of traditions thatwill continue after her - her heroic standfor Rhodesian and South AfricanApartheid continues to this day withPrince Philip, and we hope he willcontinue to follow his mother-in-law's lead- as quickly as possible.

Her death was supposed to makeus all the more compassionate for theWindsors and to make us dimwits want

The governments desire to chip away evenfurther at our pay and conditions makesit even more essential that tradesunionists are not paying the political levyto Labour. If you are a member of a unionaffiliated to the TUC, it is quite likely youare. You have the right to opt out of the

political levy whilst still remaining aunion member in good standing. Exerciseit. You should be able to make all thearrangements you need by talking to yourpersonnel department. There is also aform that can be printed off the Class Warwebsite at www.classwaruk.org

Don't BankrollThe Bastards

InternationalHospitalisedCopper!

These two Buena’s Aries beauties got bashed in last years rioting that brought thecollapse of the Argentinean government. It seems that some of the things theanti-capitalists have been saying have been proved right, or at least as far as largesections of the Argentinean population are concerned. Either way we are glad to seeso many people laying the blame where it deserves – at the hated political class inthat country, and when they cannot be found at their lackeys – the police.

I Was Third In LineTo The Thrown ........But Then I Got High

year Tom Parker-Bowles, son of the royalbit on the side and future Queen CamillaParker Bowles, was exposed as aregular coke user. One law for them?

Under age drinking, drug taking, wildparties at all hours. We blame theparents! The news of Prince Harry'santics were a reminder, once again, thatthe main centres of drug use in Britainare not areas like Easterhouse orTottenham but in reality are areas like Etonand Tetbury. The only difference of courseis that you are unlikely to get nicked tak-ing drugs behind the walls of PrinceCharles Tetbury mansion or in the groundsof Eton. Nobody in Harry's circle has beencharged with any offences either, despitethe fact that somebody will have beenmaking some pretty serious dosh sellingdrugs to these wealthy parasites. Last

Harry and William with pal Guy Polly atTwickenham. Do you think they paid for theirtickets?

Royal TravelcardIf you went into yourlocal train station andoffered to pay a tenth of thetotal cost of your ticket, youwould be thrown out onyour ear. If you are a mem-ber of the royal family how-ever, things are somewhatdifferent. Should you wishto travel any distance theRAF's 32 (Royal) Squadron

will fly royal parasites for a tenthof the actual cost. This perkwas actually taken away fromthe royals in 1998, but hasbeen restored, according toevidence given to theCommons public accountscommittee. How many otherof the 'concessions' the Queenhas made to her critics inrecent years have beenrestored in a similar way?


If They HadBrains TheyWould BeDangerous!Welcome to Class War's regular look at the greatest minds in Britishpolicing - the easiest column to write in the paper by some distance!Thanks to the readers who sent us clippings from their local papers -keep them coming to the London Class War address!

Lets start in the sunny climes of theCaribbean, where officers John Sutton andCromwell Warrican joined former ChiefSuperintendent Phil Harding and KingsleyLabourde on a fishing trip with a difference.They were fishing off West Caicos whentheir ship sank following a burst waterpump. Minus their boat, the sharks weresoon circling and whilst Harding andLabourde were rescued by a Cuban tug,in some of the best entertainment sinceJaws 1, 2 and 3 Sutton and Warricanprovided a delicious main course ofbacon for the Caribbean's undernourishedclass conscious sharks. Delicious!

GloucestershireOne man who gets a little jittery and jumpywhen a full moon is approaching is SgtJason Keates of Stroud police. Ratherthan recognise that many people enjoynothing more than a few beers and apunch up with his officers because theyare bunch of dickheads, Sgt Keatesexplains rowdy behaviour in the town asbeing due to a much higher force. A fullmoon. "When there's a full moon peoplego mad, I've noticed it before" What couldpossibly be mad about having a few drinksand wanting to smash Sgt Keates in theface? More seriously how long can it beuntil David Blunkett introduces a curfewon nights of the full moon?

Metropolitan PoliceUnder Sir John Stephens, the Met'smedia machine has never been as busy.Barely a day goes by without a Metsourced story appearing in the mediademanding more resources, moreofficers, newer, bigger better and nastierweapons, new laws to arrest Londonerswith. In fact one of the few things theynever seem to have the time to get roundto is actually policing. Take for examplePC Andrew Quinn who joined the Met in1991. He got the staple excuse of allskivers, the bad back, whilst doing hisinitial training. He was then sent to workat Belgravia police station on 'minimalduties' (minimal duties in the Met - acontradiction in terms!) but went off sickwith stress. Ten years later he was stilloff sick, forcing The News of the World todescribe him without a hint of irony as"the sickest copper in Britain". During histime off sick PC Quinn 'earned' £300,000in wages. Nice work if you can get it!

British Transport PoliceStaying with skiving, PC ChristopherParkin from Harpenden, Hertfordshiremanaged to have his cake and eat it.Spending his days with his wife, he would

spend his evenings with his mistress,telling his wife he was on duty as aScotland Yard firearms expert. In realityhe was off sick with ME. Unfortunately aswith so many cops a real mixed upbastard lurks inside a real mixed upbastards exterior - Parkin's double life wasexposed after he was arrested forpestering his mistress with phone calls,and he has been suspended from the BTP.It would be nice to report he had lost bothhis women due to his philandering – sadlyhe has not - his wife is standing by him.Behind every stupid man it seems, thereis an even stupider woman!

NottinghamshireCongratulations to the Mansfield officerswho had been issued with a £65,000CCTV video camera, mounted on a tallmast on their van. A shame then that itwas destroyed the first time officers hadto drive under a low bridge. Lets hope thedamages are taken out of their wages!

New YorkGiven the emotional outpourings ofsupport they have received sinceSeptember 11th, it would surely beimpossible for the New York PoliceDepartment to be regarded as anoppressive force doing the bosses biddingagainst other groups of workers. Not so.In the eyes of many New Yorkfirefighters, the NYPD's new image lasteduntil 2nd November last year. Then theNYPD threatened to mace and batoncharge firemen demonstrating againstMayor Guilani's decision to cut thenumbers working at the World TradeCentre site looking for bodies. Five copswere hurt and ten firemen arrested in theclashes. 265 firemen died at the WorldTrade Centre.

Metropolitan PoliceAs usual its a strong showing in thiscompetition from the Met! Ourcommiserations must go to PC DanLichters from Albany Street police stationin Camden. Having once gained fame asthe youngest policeman in Britain hiscareer has taken a bit of a knock.Following the media's revelations of PCLichters relationship with comic MichaelBarrymore, Lichters has had hisundercover career curtailed, and is nowback in uniform. Lichters moaned to theDaily Mirror - "I was working on therobbery squad in plain clothes. It meantbeing out in an unmarked car, stoppingrobbery suspects. But being linked withMichael means the crooks aroundCamden and Kings Cross know who I

Anarchy may beattractive Brian, but youstill look a twat in thatuniform

Seeing policeofficers briefingagainst each otheris a sight for soreeyes - thank youBrian!

police officer as hehas been required toresign and theUniversity of Teeside,Cleveland Police'spartner in anti-corruption strategiesdropped the force soas to keep up its owncontracts in theBaltic state. Thegovernment ofLithuania has endedall contacts withCleveland police.Britons holidaying in

am. People recognise me all the time"Class War strongly condemns theresidents of north London who have takento shouting "Awight" at PC Lichters as hegoes about his beat, and we regard thosewho have been encouraging him to useMichael Barrymore's swimming pool ashaving a very sick sense of humour indeed.

Our commiserations also go toInspector Kerry Anderson and (ex) ChiefSuperintendent Kevin Pitt, whoseattempts to cement Anglo-Lithuanianrelations got somewhat misconstrued byboth the media and Lithuanian police.Pitt, the district commander forStockton-on-Tees, was part of a delegationfrom Cleveland police advising theLithuanian authorities on anti-corruptioninvestigations. Work hard play hard isclearly the motto in Stockton-on-Tees, asLithuanian police found Pitt and Anderson,somewhat boisterously standing next to thePresidential Palace in Vilnius, with a largeyellow puddle stretching from the palacewall to their wet shoes. Things took an evenworse turn on the way to the nearestpolice station when according to theLithuanian Police Commissioner "one of theBritons became ill and vomited in thepolice car." CCTV footage revealed whatthe Vilnius police commissioner describedas "an outrageous deed, a humiliation ofthe office of the president" Pitt pleaded guiltyand was fined £35. It proved to be the mostexpensive penny ever spent by a British

Ex-chiefsuperindentant KevinPitt-the man who pissedoff the Lithuanians

Vilnius this year would be well advised tomake it very clear that they do not comefrom Cleveland!

Normally the performance of Clevelandpolice would guarantee them a clearvictory in Britain's stupidest police stakes, butthe entertainment provided to Londoners, andusers of the website urban75.com, ensure thatthere can only be one winner this issue -Commander Brian Paddick of theMetropolitan Police. There is perhaps adecent human being struggling to get out of'Brian The Commander's' police uniform. Byinstigating the decriminalisation of soft drugsin Brixton, Paddick has at leastattempted to adopt a sane approach to oneof London's most pressing issues.Unfortunately you cannot reform a dinosaurlike the Met, and Paddick has to have beennaive beyond belief to think he could get awaywith posting on a radical websitecriticising his employer and debating the ef-fects-good and bad-of his decisions with thepeople who pay his wages. Theensuing media frenzy at least

delayed them e d i a / p o l i c ecampaign againstMay Day, and hasput the ScotlandYard press office attimes firmly onthe defensive.

Big BrotherIs On HisWayThe little known Technical Committee ofthe Association of Chief Police Officers(ACPO) hope to get a new toy in a fewyears time. Richard Brunstrom, ChiefConstable of North Wales and head of theACPO Technical Committee reckons itwill be only 5 years until face recognitiontechnology will allow his force to catchspeeding motorists. Currently thistechnology is supposedly being used toidentify airline terrorists. As per usual whatis supposedly protecting us from deathand destruction today, will be usedagainst us all tomorrow. Drive without outa seat belt, drop a cigarette butt, ride yourbike with a faulty front light - big brotherwill arrest you.

At the moment the comprehensivedatabase required - of every face in theUK - does not exist. But the gradualintroduction of photographic drivinglicenses and Mr Blunkett's eventualintroduction of identity cards, make it onlya matter of time. Unless we do somethingabout it.

A campaign against ID cards is amust. Another impressive act was in KingsLangley, Herts where vandals have deviseda novel way of dealing with speedcamera's. An old carpet placed over thecamera, then set alight has been provedto incapacitate the camera. The questionis do we stand up to Big Brother, or dowe wait until they put security camera'sin our living rooms to monitor ourbehaviour?

Elton JohnLaunchesCommemorativeQueen MumSingleElton John is to rework Candle in theWind for the Queen Mother. The newversion will be as follows:

'Goodbye rancid hag,Though you never worked at allYou had the cheek to drink for hoursUntil you couldn't talk.You'd crawl under the tableAnd you'd shout out to your crewTo spend our hard earned moneyOn a horse at 5 to 2.

And it seems to me you lived your lifeLike a candle in the windWaxy, stiff and pointlessAnd you reeked of gin.And I would have liked to meet youTo tell you thisYour sponging, parasitic lifeIt really took the piss.

World War 2 was toughThough rationing, it passed you byYou had to manage with pheasantAnd duck, and veal and pie.

And weren't you all at WindsorWhen the Germans hit your place?Still, at least you're ableTo look the East-End in the face.

Goodbye rancid hagFrom the man who's pleased to

see you goIf Maggie's due there with you soonPerhaps you'll let us know


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We also strongly recommend checking the following website - www.minersadvice.co.uk

The Aftermath ofGenoa and Anti-capitalist protest:The futureSome of the British people arrested atGenoa at the violent raid at the school onthe Saturday after Carlo Guiliani wasmurdered by the Italian filth on the Fridayhave started their own campaign. Inconsultation with Amnesty and severallawyers, and after large amounts ofpress publicity here they are spreadinginformation about what really happenedand screened a very good video about theevents in a large hall at a central Londonuniversity. See www.genoajustice.org formore details.

Prior to the events in Genoa policeattacked a large demonstration againstthe World Bank on 24th June 2001 inBarcelona. Witnesses claim that thepolice attacked the peaceful march withrubber bullets and batons for no reason,and proceeded to rout a huge crowd fromthe park with repeated charges.

Then of course it was last year’sshowpiece event at Genoa in July, withhundreds hospitalised and one deadprotester, Carlo Guiliani who was shot bypolice. POLICE MURDERERS.

Later in the year Police attacked apeaceful march of 2000 in Canada on 19thNovember 2001. They stormed into thecrowd trying to get their hands on a dozenpeaceful youth in masks, and batteredanybody who dared to speak out againstthe practice of throwing the youths ontothe ground.

Of course these events have led toprolonged arguments over the nature ofthe Black Bloc, and the future ofanti-capitalist globalisation practice.Purist anarchists like the WorkersSolidarity Movement published a mostlyboring and wrong in places critique of theBlack Bloc. They said that the Black Blocdoesn't build anarchism on the ground(and they as 'meeting' bores candominate us all) this is facile we thinkbecause many of us involved in BlackBloc type actions ARE also engaged inother and more long term work. As usualthe bores can't see the popular dynamicthat confrontation creates and sustains.If we were left to their boring tactics andpresentation skills we would still bewandering the streets of some hamlet onthe west coast of Ireland trying to buildan anti capitalist movement of 'localpeople in our area'. Fair enough if that'swhat the WSM do, but we somehowsuspect in 10 years time they will still betalking about it.

Black Bloc actions representnobody but ourselves on these largeinternational actions; it is not our job toprotect people on the marches though weshould have some responsibility towardsour comrades on the march. However, wecannot be responsible for what the policewill do, especially if you wander round theinside of a trashed bank after it's beensmashed up by the Black Bloc...Common sense isn't it? People on the anticapitalist protests must realise thatprotest is not solely walking like sheepbehind an SWP banner, it means beingable to tactically asses what is going onat any demonstration. Where are thepolice moving to or concentrating theirforces? The peaceful must also realise

that the police are amoral, they do whatis effective for them, and if that meansbeating the helpless then that is what theywill do.

The SWP, trying to claim theleadership of the anti-capitalist movement,naturally has to have a go at their'competitors', the anarchists in the formof the Black Bloc. In the first SocialistWorker after Genoa they published a lotof shit, and this was followed up late lastyear by Alex Callinicos in InternationalSocialism. In echoing a lot of supposedlyanarchist critique, Alex finds another wayof saying that the Black Bloc doesn't buildsocialism but this is simplisticallyassuming things about Black Blocparticipants that is not true, for we areoften engaged in other movements andsome of us are trade unionists as well.

One of the more interesting articlesto come out is "Genova and theAntiglobalization Movement" by GeorgeCaffentzis and anonymous Italiancomrades. www.midnightnotes.org/pamphlet_genova.html

As the listing of police violenceabove starts to indicate, and as Georgeshows, the international state violenceshown there was agreed by the heads ofstate of the capitalist global commandsystem, as the G8 can be accuratelycalled. At least the Italian army, navy, airforce, and police were moved into a stateof war against demonstrators, and themassacres continued into the school andtorture of the arrested in the prisons.Subsequent raids last year, new policebrutality against peaceful people of theWhite Overalls in Jan 2002, and raids onIndymedia Italy in February 2002,throughout the length of Italy, areexamples of the blatant repression on ourmovement (see www.indymedia.org) Itsclear that the suspension of human rightswas agreed in advance by heads of state,as Italy is a signatory of the Human Rightsconvention which is a prerequisite of EUmembership. Not forgetting the 100police raids with over 60 arrests inSeptember 2001, where the police trashedcomputers as well. (Schnews Fri 21stSept 2001) And they ask us to respectprivate property!

Clearly there is activity to be donewhere you live and work, but the worldcapitalist command and controlorganisations need to be protested againstas well. The next big one is in Kananaskis,Alberta, Canada. Chosen becausesupposedly they can protect it fromprotesters in a remote mountain region.Well here's news to the worldleaders and their lackeys the police,experienced protesters and riskassessors have already cased the placeand have spread around the newsthat the terrain is ideal for protesters andcrappy for cops in large riot equipment,the road and forest are huge and it'svulnerable all along the way. Protesterswill be setting up camp early so nobodywill be able to sneak in, and their alreadyis a rolling programme of events andtraining to prepare, starting 3 weeksbefore the summit itself officiallycommences on June 26th.

Tightening The NooseOne of the characteristics of new Labour'sdomestic policies has been its ability toget away with far more direct attacks onworking class people than the Tories everdid. In particular organisations like Liberty(formerly the National Council for CivilLiberties) have acted like rabbits trappedin car headlights, unable to comprehendthat the powers of the state and its agentsare increasing all around us.

One sinister aspect of this is theincreasing number of joint operations-sometimes by as many as fourgovernment departments, usually aimedat people heading to or from work.Typically a roadblock is set up by thepolice, although the road signs areusually from a section of the Departmentof Transport, such as Vehicle TaxLicensing Inspectors. Making up thenumbers -in the cases we are awareof- have been Benefits Agency FraudInspectors and immigration officials. Thetransport officials sometimes filmproceedings, or take picturesof car tax discs or license plates.Targets tend to be people driving worksvans (the fabled white van man) andcycle couriers.

Even 10 years ago such randomharassing of people going about theirbusiness would have brought a storm ofprotest. In the whole of the debate aboutstop and search, the use of policeofficers to stop people going to and fromwork has not even been mentioned.

It is worth remembering that theinspectors present -rather like ticketinspectors on the bus or tube- have nopowers of arrest. Often the only powersthey have is the ability to blag andthreaten you with an arrest they cannotlegally make and the police are reluctantto make on their behalf.

We are aware of cycle couriersbeing asked repeatedly for their nationalinsurance numbers. You do not have togive them this information, but you will riskarrest if you fail to give your name andaddress to a police officer. Tell all the otherofficials present "no comment" or "noneof your business". They have no powersto arrest you. Cycle couriers can alsoassist each other by circulatinginformation about these roadblocks via their radios and mobile phones.Lets make the bastards work for everyscrap of information.

On a similar topic, BritishTransport Police have taken to wonderingaround train stations in London andManchester with sniffer dogs andapproaching people traveling from A to B.If the dog smells drugs on you, or theofficer claims the dog does (which is a lotmore common) an arrest is made. Whilstthe media focuses on the debate aboutthe de-criminalisation of soft drugs andexperiments in areas such as Lambeth,the reality of the BTP approach is morerandom policing, more harassment, morestop and search. Bastards.

Wankers -Literally!The recent rise of lap dancing clubs acrossthe UK have given local councilors anotheropportunity to live it up at other people'sexpense. Councilors in Stockport, GreaterManchester and Wilmslow, Cheshire haveused the licensing issues these clubs raiseas an excuse for beanos at our expense.Cllr David Owen, a Labour member of

Stockport council commented "We needto see a demonstration to make surepunters get value for money"

As Cllr Owen seems to be giving usa pretty clear demonstration that we arenot getting value of money out of him, letshope his constituents stay at home the nexttime he comes up for re-election.


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personality, stammer...and a profoundfear of being physically assaultedemanating from early childhoodexperiences.” In his statement, Ray alsoimplicated John Kamara. John servedtwenty years in prison until the Court ofAppeal overturned his conviction. Insetting the conviction aside, the Court ofAppeal implied that at least part of Ray’sconfession must be untrue. Yet RayGilbert remains inside.There is other evidence, ignored at thetime, which points to Ray’s innocence.John Suffield had bought a pint of milkand a newspaper and placed it on a shelfwithin the shop. This suggests that theprosecution claim that Ray and anaccomplice waited outside for Suffield andthen bundled him into the shop is wide ofthe mark, and that the killer or killers mighthave been in the shop when Suffieldarrived to open up. Evidence that acustomer had threatened to return to sortSuffield out the day before themurder was also not properly pursued. Itdid not help that Ray pleaded guilty, orthat he made a similar admission in 1982,after his conviction, admitting guilt butexonerating John Kamara. Ray explainsthat he was under pressure while onremand and then while held in local jailsafter conviction, by the associates of thereal murderer, to stick with hisconfession or put himself and his familyat risk. From the moment he was able toescape the influence of these associates,Ray denied his guilt, and has done eversince, even though his refusal to admitguilt has meant that he’s remained in jailfor five years over his tariff.Ray Gilbert has refused the easy option -he’s fought for his innocence andrefused to concede and inch to the prisonsystem. He deserves our support.

Write to Ray Gilbert (H10111) at HMPWoodhill,Tattenhae Street, MiltonKeynes MK4 4DA.

Write to Home Secretary David Blunkettraising your concern that the Parole Boardrefuses to release Ray Gilbertbecause he refuses to admit his guilt atHome Office,50 Queen Annes GateLondon SW1H 9AT

Write to Criminal Cases ReviewCommission, Alpha Tower, Suffolk Street,Queensway, Birmingham B1 1TT,raising your concerns re the convictionand asking them to look at the newevidence, including Olive Tunstall’s report,in Ray Gilbert’s case.

Fact Not Fiction“You asked what books I’m currentlyreading? Just some fiction stuff from thelibrary here because that’s all they have.They don’t want you to get too smartbecause you might not come back toprison in the future.”This quote, from US prisoner Randy Cappsin a letter to Class War in February,illustrates the importance of providingmaterial support to prisoners, both at homeand abroad. Class War will providewhatever support we can to our prisoncontacts. We also recommend prisonersget in touch with London based HavenBooks, who operate a free books toprisoners service. They can becontacted at Haven Books, 27 OldGloucester Street, London, WC1N3XX.

Ray GilbertIn December 1981 Ray Gilbert was foundguilty of murder and sentenced to 15 yearsin prison. Twenty one years on, he’s stillinside - currently in the Close SupervisionCentre at Woodhill. Ray refuses to admithis guilt and has fought his conviction andoften enough the prison system itself -since the day he was sent down.Alongside John Kamara, Ray Gilbert wasconvicted of the murder of Liverpool bookieJohn Suffield. Ray was a mixed race kidfrom Toxteth, 22 years old, with a speechimpediment, and a history of involvementin petty crime. There was no evidenceagainst him at the time of his arrest. Hewas not picked out on an ID parade, therewas no fingerprint evidence, no bloodsamples connected him to the crime. Untilshe was threatened with prosecution,Ray’s girlfriend gave him an alibi. Ray washeld for two days and two nights incustody without representation. Underpressure, he signed a confession. Arenowned psychologist, Olive Tunstall,reviewing the confession, has said thatthe confession should be treated asunreliable on the basis of “Mr Gilbert’spersonal vulnerability at the time, and hisyouth, limited education, abnormal

Super ShelleyStops SuttonCensorshipCongratulations to prisoner John Shelley,who has scored a goal against HMP FullSutton in York. John had been stoppedfrom receiving material from Class Warand Haven Distribution. Howeverfollowing a legal challenge Full Suttonconceded that such a ban would infringeprisoners rights to freedom of expression,which are protected by Article 10 of theEuropean Convention of Human Rights.Class War urges any other prisonerbeing buggered around by theauthorities to take a similar stance. Welldone John and three cheers also to thePrisoners Advice Service for their work onthe case!

Swedish ComradeRequires SupportJonas Enander has just been given twoyears and 6 months for his part in the antiEU protests in Sweden last year.Letters to Jonas Enander, KVA,Aby-Funbo 755 97 Uppsala, Sweden.To contact the Gothernburg prisonersolidarity group e-mail:[email protected]

A PenalThird Way?Its amazing how easily some people arefooled. David Blunkett’s recent speech tothe annual prison service conference hadThe Guardian pissing its pants withexcitement over “a historic switch inpenal policy”, a “politically bold andadmirable move” and a break with the“prison works” approach of MichaelHoward and Jack Straw.The cause of all this hysteria wasBlunkett’s announcement of a plan (thedetails of which remain unclear) toremove short-term prisoners from theprison system- a “third way” betweencommunity programmes and prison.Various ideas are apparently underconsideration-intermittent custody (partcommunity, part prison) a newintermediate sentence (special openprisons or hostels) or custody minus (asuspended sentence under whichoffenders complete a community

programme) The liberal over reaction wassuch that it was possible to wonderwhether they’d listened to what Blunkettactually said.In the run up to the 2001 general electionthe Home Office released a statementsetting out New Labour’s crime policy forthe next term-Criminal Justice: The WayAhead. Contained in it - alongside plansto scrap the double jeopardy rule, ban“aggressive” defence cross examinationetc was a proposal for a scheme called“Custody to Work” whereby short termsentence prisoners would be expected towork in privately run prison workshops forprison wages as part of a “job trainingscheme” for employment on release. TheWay Ahead moved from suggesting thatpoverty was a cause of crime tosuggesting that the solution to crime wasthe imposition of the discipline of low paidlabour on the working class. Blunkett’snew proposals take the idea one stepfurther. In his speech he states “I aminterested in creating special openprisons and hostels which would denyliberty but allow offenders to work, to learnnew skills.”In other words, far from being a “liberal”alternative to custody, the hostels andopen prisons, the tagging schemes andweekend options transfer the site ofimprisonment to within the community.The open prisons and hostels becomemodern day workhouses for the NewLabour poor. The logic of “Custody to Work”has not been abandoned. Blunkett has rec-ognised, with a prison population of 70,000and rising - the majority women, boys, pettyoffenders and the mentally ill, that “prisonis an expensive way of denying peopleliberty.” The liberal left’s excitement onlygoes to prove how far removed they are fromthe everyday life of those of us most likelyto run the risk of jail. Part of the task ofbuilding a working class movement thatdoes not just exist in the shadow of liberalreformism but represents the interests ofthe working class itself, has to beorganising resistance to the expansion ofprison labour Blunkett and co intend -whether in jails or in the new workhousesof the penal Third Way.

Martin WardMartin Ward died on remand at Woodhillprison on 19th February 2001. Theinquest into his death ended on 15thFebruary 2002 with a verdict of death bynatural causes contributed to by neglect.The inquest revealed that an agency nursevisiting Martin found him hyperventilating,coughing up blood, and suffering from acutestomach pain. Despite this he was refusedpermission to see a doctor, and as a resultdid not receive the medical treatment thatwould have saved his life. There have beenseven suspicious deaths at Woodhill in thelast year. Our prisons are not just dumpinggrounds and cages for working classpeople, more and more frequently, they’rebecoming our graveyards as well.The Irish Deaths in Custody Campaign iscalling for an independent publicinquiry into Martin Ward’s death. Contactthem at PO Box 29644 London E2 8TSTel: 07931 844969


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Diary DatesManchester M4 7HR. Class War will have astall – come over and get involved!

Sunday 5 MayMidday onwardsLoony Left Football tournament and Hackneynot for sale picnic. Both kick off in ClissoldPark from 12 noon onwards.

Monday May 6th10am-5pmAnarchist bookfayre The Exchangecommunity centre, Sebbon Street,Islington, N1. Visit the Class War stall andmany others.

Monday May 6th6pm Class War show the Australian ClassWar video “Incitement to riot” followed by adiscussion on how police tactics duringpublic order situations have changed over thepast few decades and news from Mayday. Atthe London Action resource Centre, 62Fieldgate street, London, E1. Nearest tubeAldgate East or Whitechapel.

Sunday May 12th7pmClass War meeting at a prestigiouscentral London location.

June 1stAnti Royal Street party and parade inKennington. MA’M parade the Guillotine tothe venue and meet at the Brixton Ritzy atmidday.

June 4th10.30amAnti Royal Street parade. Tower Hill 10.30amfor the Execute the Queen festivities. Comedressed appropriately with drinks. Axes andguillotines welcome. Old crones should comewith large amounts of knitting.

AugustGreat British Beer Festival. Contact theCampaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for details.

November 21st-22ndNATO Summit, Prague.The first NATOsummit to be held in the former Eastern Bloc.With George Bush topping the guest list alively couple of days is expected! For moreinformation contact: [email protected]

Monday April 29th6pm onwardsMovement Against the Monarchy call ademonstration against the 5 living current andex-prime ministers who are having dinner withthe Queen and Prince Philip at Downing Street.Lets be there to make a noise against them...Followed by a MA’M video at anotherlocation from 9pm onwards... call MA’M on07931 301 901

Tuesday 30th April7pmWhy is Hackney up for sale? Come to anopen meeting of the Hackney not for salegroup. How the borough got into the mess itsin and what are the alternatives for the future.@ the Old Fire Station, Brooke road, StokeNewington, N16.

Tuesday 30th April7pmRobert King Wilkerson ex-Black Pantherreleased in 2001 after 27 years in prison talksabout the injustice of the Louisiana criminaljustice system. Venue tbc. Call 07786716335for details.

Wednesday 1st MayInternational Workers day. Actions include9am Solidarity demonstration with theWombles at Horseferry Road magistratescourt.Midday Trade Union march from ClerkenwellGreen. This year the unions have to put upwith Globalise Resistance not us.1pm Mayday in Mayfair - Be there or besquare.5pm Soho Carnival Parade. Assemble OldCompton Street, London, W1.

Friday 3rd May11amPrisoner resistance! Introduction to the UKPrison system, reform and revolt.Call 07786716335

Sat 4th MayBrockwell Park. Legalise Cannabis day in thePark. Look out for Commander Brian Paddick!

Sunday 5 May1pm-5pmManchester Radical Bookfair. At Merci, Bridge5 Mill, 22A Beswick Street, Ancoats,

Mind Your Language

A translation of the “This Is Class War”column in this paper, and a translation ofthe subscription details are now availablein Swedish. We hope to make Class Warliterature available in further languages overthe next few years, with German, Greek,French and Vietnamese translations ofthe “This Is Class War” column in thepipeline.We are also looking into the possibility ofmaking Class War available on cassettetape at some stage in the future.

Advertisement

Class War Small Ads

For Sale – A wheelchair, a pair ofwalking sticks and an unopenedEaster egg. For more informationcontact Buckingham Palace on020 7930 4832.Wanted – Builders to remove oldboiler from Windsor Castle. Mustbe CORGI registered. Pleasephone Windsor Castle on 01753869898.

Queen Mum-Good Riddance!Hopefully your hangover has now subsidedand the champagne stains have washedout of your trousers! Saturday March 30thfinally saw the Queen Mum do thedecent thing after a record 101 years ofsponging off the British taxpayer, andwhat a party she started! Within hours ofher death large numbers of Queen MumGood Riddance stickers were beingdisplayed in pubs and clubs across thecountry. Despite a well concerted mediablackout they continued to go up in townsand cities across the UK. Well done toall concerned!

A special mention must go out toresidents of Wareham in not so sleepyDorset. After sycophantic Mayor DoreenCleaton opened a book of condolence tothe old bag, within two hours it had beenfilled with appropriate responses! “Fuckyou shitface” and various other swearwords that we agree with entirely!

The Class Waron MaydayAt this time of the year we remember ourmovements dead and fight for the living.Four innocent anarchists were hung inChicago fighting for the 8 hour day in 1887,and May the first became InternationalWorkers Day the whole world over. TheMayday struggle has become almost aritualistic time for the police and media togather names and faces and generallyspread lies about the movement. This yearwe’ve got a political show trial not unlikethe one in Chicago in the 19th century.Victory to the Wombles! With the Postoffice workers under threat this is also thetime to show active solidarity and buildan effective fightback on the industrialfront. No Casualisation!!

Police andThieves?According to recent press reports,Hackney now has more shootings andstabbings than Soweto, once consideredthe most violent city on earth. Odd thenthat the Metropolitan Police can sparelarge numbers of officers in the boroughto take pictures of people going in andout of a social centre. Most eveningsThe Radical Diary at 47 Kynaston Road,Stoke Newington is monitored by a teamof uniformed officers, complete withcameraman. It has been raided twice.In a clear attempt to disrupt the centre’spolitical activity its computer hasbeen confiscated.

Local residents, who would belucky to receive anything more than acrime number if mugged or burgled, havebeen appalled at both the scale andfrequency of the police operation. All inall the Met have achieved only one thingin Kynaston Road – bringing localresidents into the Dairy and into greatercontact with those using it. It is probablyas close to community policing as the Metare ever likely to get!

Class War?All in all this years African Nations Cupwas a bit of a disappointment. Defensivefootball and tired players ensured the BBCcoverage was often not worth staying upfor. Spare a thought then for the pupils ofNyabonhanse school in Kenya who riotedfor two days after authorities refused toput a TV in their dining room. Allegedlyled by a 9 year old they attacked the head-master, poured petrol over him and wereonly prevented from setting him on fire bythe intervention of armed police. Whatwill they do if they miss any of the WorldCup coverage in June?

in Stoke Newington,London, in January.Unknown to Falconer one Hackneyresident had indeed made a realdifference earlier that day, hittingHackney council leader Jules Pipe inthe face with a pie she had baked forFalconer! Well done Agent Just Deserts!

real difference to theplace where they live."

The Minister forHousing, Planning andRe-generation, LordFalconer, whilst visitinga tree planting ceremony

"Its great to see how thecommunity can make a

Councillor JulesPipe- Gotcha!


Noise ConspiricyThe (International)

Class War recently hooked up with theSwedish hardcore band The (International)Noise Conspiracy. They took a break fromtouring and recording classics such as“Capitalism stole my virginity”, to answer ourstupid questions.

Class War: tell us a little about thegroups history etc.(International) Noise Conspiracy: we haveall been active in bands in Sweden forseveral years, some better known thanothers. The idea to start this band camefrom Lars (guitar) and Dennis (vocals) whenthey realized that what they werelistening to was very different from the typeof music they were playing. Everyone moreor less knew each other, commonpolitical and musical directions brought ustogether.

CW: Influences?INC: Lots of different ones, eg the Clash,KRS 1, Emma Goldman, MC5, DeadKennedys, EZLN, James Brown, theIntifada, Guy Debord, Billy Bragg, KarlMarx, the Stooges, The Who, DeepPurple, Slayer, The Last Poets, Durruti,Manic Street Preachers, K Foundation,Discharge, Public Enemy, Majakovsky,NWA, Napalm Death, Harry Cleaver, TLC,Gang of Four, Ebba Gron, Miss Elliot, TheJam, Noam Chomsky, Michel Foucault,Crass.

CW: Did you have any particularambitions or goals when you startedthe band?INC: We wanted to be the most physicaland intellectual radical band in our time.

CW: Where do you stand on thepolitical scale?INC: We think the lyrics speak forthemselves. As a rock band we havefreedom to move between different waysof looking at and analyzing society. Weobviously want to be associated as a bandwith radical left politics.

CW: Are any of the band active inparticular organizations and how bigis the Swedish anarchist/syndicalistmovement?INC: No-one in the band is a member ofan organization but everyone is politicallyactive. It is very hard to be active at homewhen we are touring for a large part of theyear (as Class War went to press the INCwere due to tour the UK) The Swedishanarchist movement is alive and well whichis good. But it is small and powerless inthe bigger political arena. The syndicalistunion SAC is tiny with only 8,000compared to the social democratic labourmovement.

CW: What is the movement goingthrough since the anti EUdemonstration in Gothenburg,organized by several continentalAnti-Fascist Action groups last yearand what has been the reaction?INC: Gothenburg brought a politicalawareness to a lot of people. Whathappened provoked a lot of people to takesides in the political arena. 25,000people demonstrated against theEuropean Union meeting, the visit ofGeorge Bush and the expansion ofneo-liberalism. This resulted in rioting andthe famous picture of a Swede being shotin the back by riot police. The mainstreammedia in Sweden for a long time onlyshowed what happened through the eyesof the police and politicians but latelyintelligent and critical views have beengiven some space (!) and criticism hasemerged of those in charge.

CW: A Class War member in Germanysaw you play there and thought youwere superb, what did you think tothe German gigs?INC: Germany is one of those countrieswe always return to and play in. We aredoing really well there at the moment, alot of that is because the choice of localmusic is not that great. Everyone theresays the best bands are coming out ofScandinavia and England at the moment.Germany appears to be turning intoEurope’s Japan. All the bands we knowplay to really enthusiastic audiences.Germany is the only country where youget criticised for not playing long enoughwhen you have been rocking your arseoff for more than an hour.

CW: What are your views on theAfghanistan/USA conflict and theso-called war on terrorism?INC: The attack on the World TradeCentre was tragic, because the peoplethat were there were workers, surely wellpaid workers but still workers. What theUSA are trying to do, and manage quitewell with in this war is to exterminate alltraces of opposition and obliterate the factthat the WTC bombing happened for areason. There are obvious reasons whypeople in the Arab world, Asia, LatinAmerica (all over the world) hate anddespise America and their foreign policy.America is ignoring these facts and arebuilding yet another aircastle through

bombing Afghanistan’s infrastructure andthat is leading nowhere, just thousandsof innocent people slaughtered.

And it works… We were touringAmerica a few weeks after the attack atthe WTC and the start of the ‘war’ andcould see how it affected people there. Ifthe yanks were nationalists before thenthat is nothing in comparison with whatthey are now. Everywhere there were signssaying things like ‘In God we trust – unitedwe stand”. And half the cars we passedhad the American flag and stickerssaying “Don’t mess with the US” etc.Slogans that you would never get awaywith in England or Sweden. It was allhorrifying and scary to see, but in thesame time we also got the privilege tomeet Americans that think in a differentway and they have a rough time I canpromise you. Its not easy when the twomajor news channels call the war againstAfghanistan “the war between good andevil”.

CW: If you could choose to tour withany band from any time and placewho would that be?INC: I was just reading the book aboutMotley Crue, “The Dirt”. It seems like alot of fun stuff happened on their 80’s tours.It would have been fun to have been aroundback then. So I guess we go for them.

CW: Is fascism/nazism a big problemin Sweden these days?INC: Organised fascism is going down-the biggest Swedish racist party has split

into two parts and will do very poorly inthe coming autumn election. But theprejudice it feeds on is still there, theyare represented on a few council’s in thesouth of the country.

The anti-fascist movement hasbeen quietening down a fair bit, bit it stilldoes a lot of preventative work and keepsitself well informed and updated on thenazi organizations.

CW: Anything else to add?INC: Keep up the fight!

The (International) Noise Conspiracy havean English language website which canbe viewed athttp://alt.digitalfarmers.com/tinc/englishThose with posh computers will be ableto download Mp3’s of several tracks andview “The Reproduction of Death” video.

DISCOGRAPHY7” The International Noise Conspiracy/Seperation Split7” Plays Abolish Work7” The Conspiracy7” T.I.M.E.B.O.M.B7” The Subversive SoundCD The First ConspiracyCD/LP Survival SicknessCD/7” Smash It UpCD/7” The Reproduction Of DeathCD/7” Capitalism Stole My VirginityCD/LP A New Morning Changing WeatherCD/7” Up For Sale

The Class War Interview

Vibration White FingerThe DTI are still pratting about. ByChristmas 2001 132,000 claims hadbeen received. Only 17,000 have hadfinal settlements. The DTI still refuse toconclude settlement figures and scaleson the impact of the disease, and worse,are going nowhere with the problem.Most likely they are waiting to see theextent of the problem before they comeforward with figures. In other words theyhave a pot of money or figure in mindand are waiting to see how many will beinvolved in the share out before they canwork out any specifics.

Meanwhile specialist medicals arestill log jammed with queues – it is

taking 12 months just to be seen. Againstthis background the government is to bringthe shutters down on new claimants –September 2002 is the closing date forminers claims. At the time of writing theredoes not appear to be any deadline forworkers in non-mining capacities.

Potential claimants – not justminers but any industrial workers areurged to contact:

The Miners Advice Centre, EmersonAvenue, Stainforth, Doncaster.Tel: 01302 841 365.The advice is free, without obligation andgiven by an expert in the field.


Doing The Business

November 18th 2001Stop The Bombing Anti-WarMarch, Hyde Park to TrafalgarSquare

The biggest march in London since thecountry bumpkins shuffled into town in1998, crowd estimates varied from 100,000(CND) anything from 20-50,000 (themedia) and at the lower end of the scaleto 36 people and a border collie (theMetropolitan Police). Size of course is noguarantee of quality and as well as theexpected peaceniks and universitylecturers there were some very, very madmullahs indeed, one person even spottedAbu 'Wanker' Hamza of the Finsbury Parkmosque, who famously lost both hishands whilst fighting for the Mujhahadeenin Afghanistan. It is one thing to opposeGeorge Bush bombing the towns andvillages of the poorest nation on earth,another to be seen on the same side aspeople who make Ian Paisley lookprogressive. Pleasingly the collectingbuckets waved by some of the mostearnest looking Islamic organisationspresent were largely ignored, and theAnarchists present were able to give outa message of No War But The Class Warthat contrasted with the purelyanti-American statements of the lastcentury left.

This march was the first outing forour Carlsberg style banner 'ClassWar - Probably The Best War In TheWorld'. Unfortunately somebody was sotaken with the design they robbed it whilstwe were holding a post march de-briefingsession in a West End hostelry. A disappointing end to a somewhat mixedday.

December 13th-15th 2001Resistance Is Sprouting –Demonstration against TheEuropean Summit in Brussels

Managed to get a cheap crossing onWednesday night to get to Brussels onthe Thursday morning. Just in time for abig trade Union demo, which was cack,they kept throwing firecrackers on the floorfor no apparent reason which was a bitodd. Still beer was cheap, strong andplentiful, but it was a totally useless demowhere zero of interest happened.

On the Friday morning went for abit of a look around the city's historicalsites and managed to be stood in the roadwhen all the delegates were being shippedin by police escort in limo’s, as there wasonly four of us somewhat hung over andtired flicking V signs and abuse was allwe could muster, shameful really.……

The main demo was alsodisappointing very few of thedemonstrators even considered ignoringthe police approved route (despite nopolice in sight) meant we went no-wherenear the red zone. Some banks and apolice station (sadly no gun store, peopledid check) got done as did a bunch ofposh cars, all seemed a bit easy. Thenwe went back to the convergencecentre - the police laid siege to the place,the use of water cannon was horrible as itwas fucking freezing the whole time (-4C),

Welcome to Class War's regular round upfrom the front line of direct action.

a bit of too and fro and they backed off,people left. We stayed until 10 then left,apparently at 10 past 10 the cops cameback, beat up and nicked everyone whowas left which was about 150. Bastards.

The Saturday was the Anarchistdemo which was good, started as only afew thousand, the march went through apoor immigrant area of Brussels quitepeacefully, then went into a posh area andpeople took out banks, posh shops andcars when some posh twat started tocomplain that his Merc was beingsmashed up he got a volley ofbricks - nice! Police seemed to be fuckingpussys but it in other parts of the demothere were some nickings and the use ofwater cannon was fucking vile. Howeverconsidering the amount of Molotovs andother stuff they got thrown at them, thepolice barely seemed able to respond.

December 20th 2001Picket Of The Home Office forMark Barnsley

A freezing cold day and a disappointingturnout - we were only seven or eightstrong. Still the presence of ourselves plustwo shivering coppers was enlivened bythe arrival of none other than the HomeSecretary himself, David Blunkett. Withthe plain clothes cops in his Jag showingno inclination to get out, Blunkett was ledthrough our picket on the arm of DCIBryan Drew Head of Strategy at theNational Criminal Intelligence Service, withthe two uniformed cops having kittens attheir lack of back up. We were able togive Blunkett a nice bit of stick, the thirdtime he has been personally confrontedby campaigners for Mark in less than ayear. Having escorted Blunkett into thebuilding, Drew, last seen briefing DonalMacintyre before his MacintyreUndercover ‘investigation’ into footballhooliganism, came out again, presumablyto get Blunkett's dog, which had been leftin the Jag!

February 2nd 2002Anti-Fascist Mobilisation,Bielefeld, Germany

This was to oppose a march by thefascist NPD, who were protesting againstan art exhibition "The Crimes Of TheWehrmacht". Their route was set tofollow one used by nazis in 1936, whenHitler aimed to build a mini-Nuremburg inBielefeld with a 36,000 capacity stadium.We used mountain bikes to great effectearly in the day to get some people awayfrom the massive police operation. AlongAm Langen Kampe residents displayed'Nazis Raus' in their windows - Nazis Out.By mid morning pigs from Bonn, Bochumand Dusseldorf had arrived to help thestrained resources of Bielfeld'sconstabulary, although they were stillmanaging to keep on top of things. Wehad joined up with AJZ community groupand people from a local cultural centre butfound attempts to get through their lineswere refused if 'you look like you are fromthe left spectrum'. Attempts by the AJZgroup to steam the lines were repelled by

pepper spray, nasty, nasty stuff, a lotworse than CS.

The only option was to go roundthe city in small groups to find anopening in the police barricades. Successat last as a group of 8 NPD strolled pastus. The last turned and we were able tohave a toe to toe with them, but plod weresoon on to us again. The cops had to bedistracted if we were to get through andthis was eventually done in spectacularfashion by basically 70 of the crowdrunning into the opposite direction and thenumskulls followed. This too-ing andfro-ing went on for the best part of an hour,by which time the NPD had marched offhome.

March 2nd 2002Anti-Fascist Mobilisation,Bielefeld (again!)

Numbers were much smaller this time,with only about 450 NPD and 3000anti-fascists on the streets. Leading Fash,Christian Worch, got a stone through hiscar window en-route. As before there wasno chance at getting at the main group,although six strays were spotted. As wechased them one, who obviously had apair of bollocks, turned to protest. Sorrymate, my fist slipped!

The police were particularly brutal,and fully earned the chants of 'Ich binnichts, Ich kahn nichts, gibt min eineuniform - I am nothing, I can't do anything,give me a uniform'. They also used thekessei (kettle) tactic which manyEnglish Class War members are fullyfamiliar with! As the Nazis passed ourlocation everything to hand was thrownat them, including (I don't know how)human faeces! One cop, who attemptedto take a beer bottle off a protestor was

hit with it, squealing in anguish. As thefash reached the station we were kept inthe kettle, the police eventually chargingthe crowd that had been taking the pissout of them for a good 30 minutes. Welinked arms, eventually forming a humanbarrier that was 5 deep.

In all 19 arrests -all anti-fascists-were made. Later that night a concert washeld locally by the excellent Swedish bandThe (International) Noise Conspiracy andwe were able to gather to discuss futuretactics. Watch this space!

13th March 2002Police Federation Demonstration,Westminster

When the filth came to London on 13March, we were there to welcome them!About thirty anarchists (and the sambaband!) made our presence felt outside theQueen Elizabeth Conference Centre,drowning out the poxy bagpipe band thecops had brought. Some inventive peoplehad made artistic anti-police placards, andwe showed the cops how to demonstrate,properly. Though they had the advantagein numbers (most of us have got properjobs to go to!) our intelligence and heartychants told. Unfortunately, Paddick didn’tturn up to see the ‘Anarchy is Attractive’banner, though ‘May Day’ Todd did. Allround, an away win.

When it comes to doing the businesshowever, we all have to doff our caps toJoAnn Jones from New York, who hasbeen charged with the murder of a NewYork City marshall. Erskine Bryceapparently went to Ms Jones' Brooklynapartment to serve her with an evictionnotice. Her response was to shove himover a banister, batter him with a stickbefore dousing Bryce with a flammableliquid. In a stylish finale she then (alleg-edly) used his own cigarette lighter to sethim on fire! Way to go Jo!

German anti-fascists doing the business

Out On The Streetsof privatisation have added to theproblem. 109 families were evictedduring the disastrous ITNet fiasco,where the payment of housing benefitwas privatised. Whilst ITNets shareprice rose, families were evicted. TheHackney Independent Working ClassAssociation is campaigning for all thoseevicted to be re-housed, and make thepoint that had middle class families losttheir homes because of problems witha mortgage company, new Labourwould not stand idly by. The HackneyIWCA can be contacted at Box 48, 136Kingsland High Street, London E8 2NS.

New Labour has a Stalinist obsession withfigures and statistics. One area where thegovernment has been persistentlyaccused of fiddling its performance figuresis that of measuring homelessness. Soas to show that street homelessness isfalling, many rough sleepers are simplynot counted as being homeless. Anothertactic is to encourage the homeless into(very) temporary accommodationwhenever an audit of rough sleepers is due.When the audit is completed, and thefigures are down, the rough sleepersreturn to the streets.

In Hackney, New Labour’s policies


Royal FailAnnouncesJob CutsIn 1996, the plot to privatise RoyalMail, masterminded by MichaelHesletine, the man who destroyedthe mining industry, failed. It wasreferred to as 'a privatisation toofar', by those Tory M.P.'s whosein-trays were overloaded by theblue rinsed country set who couldsee the village sub-post officeclosing down.

Tony Blair, of course walkswhere Thatcher feared totread, Helped on by a £1million donation from theCommunication Workers Union,the Labour Party is pressing aheadwith privatising all sections of thePost Office. Already gone are theEngineering Department andQuadrant, the catering arm. NowLabour sights are firmly set onletter and parcel deliveries. Toachieve this, massive job cutswhich will lead to a deteriorationin services have been announced.

First to be singled out isParcelforce. Separated from therest of Royal Mail by the Toriesas part of their privatisation plans,Parcelforce soon began to losemoney and was left to wither onthe vine. Rather than reintegrateparcel deliveries back with letterdeliveries which would have madesense, Labour simply chose tocarry on as if Parcelforce didn'texist and left it to run with a topheavy management who were outof touch with bothemployees and customers. Thisis shown in their aborted plan toattempt the delivery of parcels ininner city estates at evenings.Staff did not wish to deliver inpoorly lit areas alone andcustomers did not wish toanswer doors after dark to totalstrangers.

Now, 15,000 Parcelforceemployees are to lose their jobsin what has been described as'just the start, not the end' ofredundancies within the Post Of-fice Group.

All together, some 40,000out of a workforce of 200,000 willlose their jobs.

Rank and file workers werenot taken by surprise at theannouncement. For many monthsnow, Royal Mail's juniormanagers have been issuingwarnings against those workerswho have taken time off due tosickness or accidents on duty.There is the strong belief that theissuing of such warnings is nowautomatic and part of an overallplan to reduce staff levels withoutpaying redundancy money.

Warnings have beenissued to a postman in the NorthWest after he was hospitalisedwith a case of meningitis and apost woman who had to havesurgery for the removal of a breastlump.

Staff on long term sick(long term being defined as aperiod of three weeks for thepurposes of Royal Mail) have beencalled in for interview anddismissed by sector managers.These have included staff whoare off sick due to road trafficand other accidents sustainedwhile in Royal Mail employment.Royal Mail employs it's owndoctors and nurses whoexamine staff to determine theirfitness for work. This is very mucha case of 'who pays the pipercalls the tune' as the Royal Maildoctor or nurse are often atodds with their N.H.S.counterparts in their findings. Itgoes without saying whoseadvice management listen to.

The only people who seemto be taken unawares by theannouncement are the leadershipof the C.W.U. On the verymorning the job cuts becamepublic news, the C.W.U.General Secretary, Billy Hayesstated to the news media thatthis should not be allowed tohappen under a LabourGovernment. Hayes must havespent the last five years on adesert island to have missedBlair's agenda. Hayes issomething of a Labour-left LordLucan. Since his election in apiss poor turn out of voters, heseems to have gone missing,leaving all public duties to hisB l a i r i t eside-kick andd e f e a t e dopponent, JohnKeggie. BillyHayes, formermilitant fromM e r s e y s i d eand JohnKeggie fromRed Clydeside,know whichside theirbread is but-tered on. Theysigned a 'nostrike' deal with Royal Mail to-wards the end of 2001. Publiclythe deal is hailed as as success.Privately, both sides know thaton any given day,unofficial industrial action will hitany part of the postal service. Itis nothing unusual for two or threedelivery offices to be on strike inLondon at a time.

These strikes are usuallydue to heavy handed juniormanagers who bully newer staffor as in one tragic case in theMidlands, harass black workers.This is well known to the C.W.U.who issue warnings againstharassment in their journal, butseem reluctant to take any stepsagainst the perpetrators.

The strikes have been

seized on by the tabloid press as evidence ofmilitancy within Royal Mail and of uncontrollableelements within the C.W.U. The latter is undoubt-edly true. Left with no guidance from the C.W.U.workers have in many cases decided to take thefight to management themselves. There is little orno trust between local reps and those at branchlevel or above. Full time union representatives areseen as being aboard a gravy train and often seemmore concerned with claiming expenses andgrabbing overtime. The result is that rank and filestaff act, and in many cases act with success,against the will of officials from the union.

Talk is of withholding payment of the politicallevy from Labour. The Socialist Alliance would liketo get their hands on this cash so they canbecome 'New Old Labour' and continue to rule overus. The fact is than many members of the C.W.U.have taken the initiative themselves and contactedthe union to cease making the contribution to thepolitical levy. Once again, the rank and file areahead of the game while the union bosses flounder.

The new Chairman of the Post Office is AllanLeighton. Recently brought in after a spell withAsda, he stated staff might like to consider takingno pay rise to help Royal Mail out of the hole ithas dug itself. This from a man on twenty times thebasic salary of a postman/woman and on far lesshours a week. Leighton also sits on the board ofLeeds United F.C. The same club which will have tosell off many of it's players in the close season toclear it's debts. Hardly an endorsement of businessacumen there then. Leighton is in the mould ofobnoxious 'here today, gone tomorrow' opportunistsso favoured by Blair and who have brought the PostOffice from 608.m a year profit, to 1.5m a daylosses. The multi-million pound cock-up with thename change to the ridiculous 'Consignia' and backagain has made management a laughing stock.

No one is held accountable for this state ofaffairs and the whereabouts of the missing millionsremain a mystery. Balance this with the two yearsuspended dismissal a worker can expect for failingto get a special delivery letter signed for and it'seasy to see why discontent is rife.

The Government solution has been toappoint Gregor McGregor as postal regulator.His recommendation is to turn over those partsof the postal service which still make cash toprivate firms who will pay only the minimum wageto a casual staff.

This will mean an end to second deliveriesand the extension of first deliveries to four hourseach, with mail being delivered later in the day.

Trolleys whichcan carrymultiple bags ofmail are beingtrialled. The hopeof staff will nodoubt be theprovision of toiletfacilities on thetrolleys as theidea that workersmight just not beable to cope withfour hours ofwalking withoutneeding a piss

seems to have eluded the brains of the outfit.All is not lost however. Billy Hayes has

promised strike action if there are any compulsoryredundancies. We wonder if this will resemble the15 minute strike the C.W.U. ordered selected staffto take in support of the wage claim and carefullydesigned to cause least disruption to Royal Mail atthe end of March.

Or possibly the anti-privatisationdemonstration called at a time very few C.W.U.members could have made it and which became anexcuse for a spot of Trot placard waving.

It will make no difference as workers willarrange their own opposition independently of themob based in C.W.U. House, Wimbledon or indeedany other party political opportunists with theirown agenda to impose their form of dictatorshipon our class.

The message to Royal Mail bosses, unionbosses, and the left-wing vampires should be "FuckOff, Do one!" Loud and clear.

Tory boy didn't privatize the Royal Mail

Where'sTheMoneyGone?Officially the purpose of government is toensure the security and prosperity of thepeople. In the United States, eachPresident is felt to be obliged to ensurethat the current generation of Americansis more prosperous than the last. TonyBlair and Gordon Brown have made itclear that a core aim of their governmentis the elimination of child poverty, albeitwithin the extremely distant target oftwenty years.

British workers already work longerhours than our counterparts elsewhere inEurope. Now it seems that not only arewe going to have to work longer hours,but that we are going to be expected tohave far longer working lives. Both thePensions Policy Institute and the TUChave warned that economic conditions,and the weak nature of state provision,will mean a longer working life for all ofus. Many workers in there 20s and 30swill have to retire, not at 65 but at 72.

Given that New Labour insist thatsociety is now more prosperous than everbefore, we feel justified in asking exactlywhere the national insurance contributionsand taxes paid, in the billions, have gone?Given the massive technologicaldevelopment in most workplaces in thepast decade, how can we have to workfor longer than we did in the era beforeinternet, e mail, desk top publishing etc?The answer is of course that we arebeing screwed. We may be workingharder, we may be working longer. Butthe profits created are going to a verysmall, very greedy group of men andwomen who want us to carry on toilingfor them for as long as possible. Pensionsmight not be the sexiest of subjects, butto many young people the fate of yourpension is the clearest example of justhow capitalism, and capitalists arescrewing us all.

The news that Prince Edward has burnt hishand whilst cooking a steak comes as nosurprise, following his aunt's famous inabilityto run a bath. What next for Britain's mostuseless family? Prince Charles drownswhilst trying to flush the toilet? PrincessAnne chokes whilst putting on a blouse?We all know that upper class idiots cannotcope without the workers to run society,but the royals appear to be the only familywho would actually starve to death withouttheir servants!

If YouCan'tStandTheHeat

1111

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Class War Issue 83Class War Issue 8312

warning given, and why was the car parkedon the zigzag lines of a pedestriancrossing with the hazard warning lights on? When you look at the true eventssurrounding the Ealing bomb (includingpolice attempts to cause civilian fatalities)it is little wonder that the mainstreammedia coverage quickly dissipated. Let’salso not forget that not only hasresponsibility for the bombing never beenclaimed, but nobody has been arrested inconnection with it. So any attempt to linkit to the so-called “Real IRA” iscurrently nothing more than speculation.

The right of Irish men and women toresist the imperialist occupation of theircountry is surely (for revolutionaries)unassailable. To suggest without basis,that those who reserve the right to resistoccupation are somehow, intrinsically“right-wing” is not only disgraceful, it isplainly ridiculous, and shows afundamental ignorance of the politics ofthe situation (if not of politics in general.)It is also a slur on Irish revolutionaries whoare at the sharp end of repression by theBritish and Irish states (where a growingnumber are “interned” merely for allegedmembership of a proscribedorganisation.) It is not long since you weresending CW to at least one servingOglaigh na hEirean POW.

Possibly even worse than the “fascist” slur(which CW has all to often fallen victim toitself, along with regular accusations of thefetishization of violence) is thecharacterisation of those still committedto armed resistance (or at least reservingthe right to engage in it) as mere“psychopaths” and “escapees from somemental institution.” This is little differentto the racist smears used to falselycharacterise the Irish people and the Irishfreedom struggle for centuries, and it is ashameful argument to use. MargaretThatcher may have attempted to publicallydeny the political motivation ofRepublican volunteers, but even she didnot try to claim that the struggle againstBritish imperialism in Ireland was nothingmore than some form of mental illness.

There is much that could be said in CWabout the Irish struggle, and about thepolitics of armed struggle in general, butyou really need to be able to do betterthan this. The vacuous analysis of theStormont sell-out and the decision of Sinn-Fein to administer British rule in 6 of the32 counties of Ireland (whichincludes assisting in the criminalisationof Republican prisoners) was nothing shortof pathetic. As for the suggestion thatProvisional IRA volunteers (who have in thepast planted infinitely more bombs onBritish soil than the so -called “Real IRA”) should assist British interests bywaging war against anti-StormontRepublicans, that really is beneathcontempt. It also shows an alarming levelof ignorance about what has been goingon in Ireland for the past few years, withindividuals who speak out against theStormont sell-out being terrorised,beaten-up and even killed. “Policingactivities” which the British and Irish stateshave been glad to ignore, if not activelyencourage, and which yourcorrespondent presumably applauds.

There have also been hundreds ofpipe-bombings, shootings, beatings, arsonattacks, and murders by Orange fascistssince the signing of the Stormontagreement. They were still widespreadduring the period when the 3 alleged“RIRA” attacks mentioned above tookplace, and they continue to this day. Formany nationalists, the war in Ireland is still

Playing The Numbers Game

Comrades!

Cracking paper! A jolly good read! Quickpoint on the race article (EstablishmentAnti-Racism, Making Things Better orWorse, Class War 82) What’s an ethnicminority? If ethnicity is culture and cul-ture is day to day living, why the fuck amI in a different group to my black mates?We eat, work, dress, play, ruck, fuck andrave the same yet culturally I’m with theethnic majority? Do what?

Culturally I have nothing in common withmiddle class farmers or the Oxbridgemob. If we are placing class over race letsnot get sucked into the dividers and rul-ers warped way of thinking. Lets thinkabout what we are saying.

How can 5 billion people of colour in aworld of 6 billion be a minority? When itcomes to class, our class we are almost6 billion. The working class is the onlyculture I want to be associated with.

In for the long haul,

Paul.

CW Reply: The same here! The point toremember is that we unite on the basis ofwhat we have in common - our sharedclass interest and background. Views thatput race ahead of class have beendominant on the left - and across thepolitical spectrum - for a generation. Theevents of 2001, with riots in severalEnglish cities and clear distrust betweenwhite and Asian communities in othersshow those politics have failed. Theworking class either unites and fights itscorner, or it divides on racial grounds andfights amongst itself. Its that simple.

Our article on the Real IRA in Class War82 provoked two critical letters.

Dear Class War

Your issue 82 contained an article “BagFull of Bombs, Heart Full of Hate, HeadFull of Shite” which purported to offer acritique of the Real IRA. The articleaccuses the Real IRA of “operatingoutside the struggle of the working class”and targeting “ordinary working class folk”in its bombing campaign inEngland. The article concludes that theReal IRA are “anti working class andreactionary.”

It is legitimate to criticize theeffectiveness of any tactic employed inpursuit of a progressive goal. It appearsto us that it ought not to be legitimate tobase such critique on accusationsunsupported by facts. It is suggested thatthe Real IRA have no mandate. It iscertainly the case that they have a baseof support which sustains them and whichagrees with their political analysis, buysthe paper the Sovereign Nation whichsupports their aims, and provides recruitsfor the Real IRA itself. It is a fair bet thatthe base of that support is bigger than

Class War’s. Since when didrevolutionaries need the consent of themajority of any constituency howeverdefined in order to pursue a political goal?The idea of political action is to:

1) target a defined enemy and2) to act as a “propaganda of the deed”in pursuit of the goals of the organisationconcerned.

The Real IRA do not claim to have thesupport of a majority of nationalists. Theydo have a critique of the peace process -it is set down in the pages of SovereignNation - it is odd that that critique isneither mentioned nor analysed in yourarticle. Given the Six Counties remainunder British rule, given that bothLoyalist and RUC attacks on thenationalist community continue nightafter night, given the issues raised by theprocess of demilitarisation - it ought atleast to be accepted that a critique of thepeace process is possible, and anyresponse to the 32 County SovereigntyCommittee and the Real IRA be basedon that ground.

As far as deliberately targeting theworking class is concerned, it’s bullshit.The Omagh bomb - wherein a clearwarning was given- has the fingerprints ofthe state all over it. The RIRA ‘sactivities in England have included therocket attack on MI6 HQ, 2 small bombsin Hendon - no injuries, the BBC bomb inShepherds Bush, clearly intended as“spectaculars” - no risk to the public sofar as we can see: a bomb atHammersmith Bridge intended to causemaximum disruption, but again, noobvious risk to the public, and the Ealingbomb-wherein:

1) a warning was given and2) the explosive content of the device wassuch that CCTV pictures showed passersby yards from the blast who remained ontheir feet.

In July 2000 the RIRA tried to blow uprailway track near Acton - again a tacticdesigned to cause disruption, and oneemployed previously by the Provisionals.The November 2001 Birmingham bombwas again accompanied by a clearwarning-there were no injuries. The factshere speak for themselves.

Finally your article asks the PIRA tocome off cease fire to wipe out the RIRAand its supporters. If this weren’t sopathetic it would be a disgrace. Machoposturing from an organisation unable topursue such an agenda itself . The fact isthe Real IRA have a number of prisonersnow in British and Irish jails, deniedpolitical status and subject to harassmentand oppression. Even if you disagree withtheir strategy, it seems to us you have anobligation to support their prisoners. Thecalumnies of your article seem to be anattempt to get off the hook in relation tothat fact.

Nick S, London.

Dear Comrades

Was issue 82 the “Anti-Terrorism” issueor something ( “The Real IRA- Bag Full ofBombs, Heart Full of Hate, Head Full ofShite”) ? Very topical.

Class War has rarely had anythingcoherent to say about Britishimperialism in Ireland and the armedresponse to this and Orange fascism inthe Six Counties, least of all in the dayswhen “uncritical and unconditionalsupport” for the Provisional IRA was theprevailing (if unofficial) CW party-line.Therefore it is doubly regrettable that anopportunity to mount a critical analysis ofthe prevailing situation (including thepolitics and tactics of Oglaigh na hEirean-the so-called “Real IRA”) should beso carelessly squandered. The piecepublished last issue was disgraceful, notleast because of its abandonment ofaccuracy in favour of smear and insult.Let’s at least try to stick to the facts.Despite a combination of fleetingly half-sound analysis and a lot of distortedrubbish used to shore up the evident lackof research and understanding that hadgone into the piece, its central premisewas fundamentally flawed. Whatevercriticisms we as anarchists may have ofthe so-called “Real IRA”, to say that theyare deliberately targeting and seeking tokill British civilians is palpable nonsense.Omagh was an atrocity, and despite theevident state collusion that allowed it tohappen there can be no excuses givenby those involved in carrying it out (norhave I heard any given.) But despite thecross-referencing, the piece was notessentially about Omagh, specificallyreferring to an “intention to massacrescores of innocent people” -working classpeople in England, Scotland, and Wales”.The impression given by the piece is of awidespread bombing campaignsystematically targeting British civilians -“it is the ordinary persons in the streetwho are the intended targets.”

Now forgive me, because I’ve been in prisonblocks for much of this year, and thereare so many civilians getting blown upeveryday in Afghanistan that perhaps I’vemissed a few over here. But off-hand I canthink of only 3 operations inEngland (and none in Scotland andWales) which have been linked (by thecops) to the group known to the media asthe “Real IRA”. Presumably the piece isnot referring to the (convenientlyignored) rocket attack on theheadquarters of MI6, nor to the taxi-bomboutside the BBC. So that only leaves theEaling Broadway car bomb.

Certainly, if this was the intended target(and we can only speculate on that) it wasa very poor one by anybody’sstandards ,and it was also arguably highlyirresponsible. But if there had been adeliberate attempt “to massacre scoresof innocent people” ( a view also put for-ward by the cops and the right-wing press)why wasn’t a larger amount ofexplosive used, why was no extrashrapnel added, why was an accurate

Class War Issue 83 13Class War Issue 83 13

a daily reality. Yet your piece mentionednone of this, presenting a false image, andthus removing the context of armedresistance.

The first casualty of war may indeed bethe truth (closely followed by some poorsouls in the Third World usually) But truthshouldn’t be a casualty of “Class War.”

By all means necessaryAlways in struggleMark Barnsley31 October 2001Whitemoor Prison, England.

CW Reply: The piece you criticize wasobviously not intended as a heavytheoretical and historical analysis. It wasa short response to what we see asunprincipled and undisciplined attacks onworking class areas. We currently sell,and published, Dave Douglass’ book “AllPower To The Imagination” which to someextent represents the theoreticalbackground to our critique of the Real IRAand its devil may care attitude.

That is not to say we have not madethorugh analyses in the past - in our formertheoretical magazine (The Heavy StuffIssue 5) our position in solidarity with thethen Provisional IRA campaign was quiteunequivocal. That support came at a timeand in a context of thenationalist communities of the sixcounties fighting an all out war. As a classand as an oppressed nationality, againstthe British state, its soldiers and theloyalist death squads. In the face ofbitter repression by the state, throughmurder and internment without trial, thebombing campaign against the Britishmainland was initiated. That bombing waspart of the context of the overall strugglewhich people of both islands could see.Although we had reservations about thedangers of innocent civilians lives beinglost, and harsh criticism of the morethoughtless and irresponsible bombings,overall we recognize it was part of a massarmed uprising.

None of this is in any way comparable tothe Real IRA, who do not as you appearto suggest represent the continuingstruggle of Irish freedom fighters. As youcorrectly state violence against thenationalist community continues. Pipebombs, murder, even pickets of childrengoing to school. Has the Real IRAdefended this community? Has it beenengaging in attacking the loyalistparamiltaries behind these attacks? Notit has not. The loyalist proto fascists werenot on Hammersmith Bridge, they werenot in the BBC car park at Shepherd’sBush but that’s where the Real IRAdecided to carry out its attacks. Omagh,targeted by the Real IRA in its mostinfamous attack, actually had a Sinn Feinmajority on its council at the time.

We believe in mass class action, notsome armed adventure by a fewindividuals without any mandate from thecommunity they claim to represent. If youcannot see that planting a car bomb inBirmingham or Ealing is more than likelyto blow up and kill passers by (yes, evenif it has got its lights flashing) and theoutcome be used to whip up anti-Irishfeeling and political reaction you really doneed your political eyes testing. The statemay well have its fingerprints “all over” theOmagh bombing, but ouroutrage was based on the fact that theharsh lessons of Omagh have not beenlearned. A pile of bodies on a pavementin England is not going to deter looniesthrowing pipe bombs at Catholics across

the water, unless you somehow reasonits getting your own back, as if workingclass people in Ealing or Birmingham areresponsible for what the British state doesin Ireland.

A fuller version of this reply is available onour website. Those who wish tocontinue the discussion can do so on thediscussion board at www.classwaruk.org

Crippled?

Dear Comrades,

Whether you are for or against what theAmericans are doing in Afghanistan, onething that is certainly controversial is thedamage caused by weapons of massdestruction. In Serbia the Alliesdeliberately destroyed bridges and vitalservices. This was a deliberate act todeprive Serbia of a viable infrastructureand industrial base. The same is nowbeing perpetrated (or was) againstAfghanistan. Whoever gains politicalascendancy over the ruins will have to dealwith US destruction of theinfrastructure.

This destruction is a deliberate ploy torender Afghanistan crippled for theforeseeable future, such is US hatred forany nation which dares to oppose itsprogramme of world domination. This istrue of its campaigns against Iraq, NorthKorea and in south east Asia.

Yours,

A Scottish Comrade.

CW Reply: You could actually take youranalysis further back to the 1940s, andhow after destroying much of Germanyand Japan, the Americans financed there-development of those countries, on theirterms. Their aim is always to win thepeace, even if they do not always win thewar. As a final point though, the Afghanshave at times done a pretty good job ofdestroying their own infrastructure in thepast 20 years!

Stool Pigeon?

Dear Comrades,

I have just learned some information Iwould like to share with you. WatchingCrimewatch there has been an inside viewof a police cell. One surprising trick is thatthe inmate gets his/her shitanalysed if the police think they haveswallowed any important evidence. Howdo they do this?

The inmate does not know that everythingflushed down the toilet goes to a specialtransparent container located in thebasement. Once there, with a pair of glovesthe pigs can examine the evidence.

Yours,

Anon, postmark obscure.

CW Reply: Just goes to show thatpolicing really is a shit job!

Join Class War!Class War membership costs £12 per calendar year (£6 unwaged)and is open to anybody who agrees with our politics and has beenin touch with their local Class War group for 3 months. Drop us aline to get involved!

The Class War Federation is anorganisation of groups andindividuals who have cometogether to change the Societywe live in, to improve the lot ofworking class people.

This Society is divided intoclasses based on control of itsinstitutions and wealth. TheRuling Class - those who “own”the factories or natural resources- whether it’s through shares orbeing chairman of the boardetc., who are under normalcircumstances supported by theMiddle Class - those who gaintheir position in society bypatronage of the Ruling Class -who carry out their dirty workof controlling and (dis)organising the working class whodo all the necessary work. Sucha society is the root cause ofmost of the problemsexperienced by Working Classpeople the World over. as theRuling Class has every intentionof keeping its privilegedposition it must be destroyed-this is Class War.

Real change can only comeabout by working class peopleorganising themselves to dealwith the problems that theyexperience and to provide forourselves.It is not about becoming bettertreated slaves but masters of ourdestiny. Direct action isnecessary against theindividuals and institutions whostand in the way of this. Thereis no alternative. Violence is anecessary part of the Class War

- not as elitist terrorists but asan integrated part of the Class -they started it, we’ll have tofinish it!

Class society creates otherabuses based upon theprejudices of Ruling or MiddleClass such as gender, ethnicorigin, sexuality, disability. TheRuling Class often use these todivide our class. We must uniteon the basis of we have incommon our Working Classbackgrounds and needs.

The Class must fight thesedivisions, on all fronts. Aboveall the CWF believes thatpolitics cannot be separatedfrom life - and life from politics.We reject the missionary/ right-eous so called “revolutionary”Left. Our politics must be ful-filling and relevant to our everyday lives.

Working Class people must takeresponsibility for theirprogressive revolutionarypolitics - fly by night middleclass radicals have been the baneof our movement for as long asthe Working Class has existed.

OUR AIM

Therefore the aim of the CWFis to increase the militancy andself awareness of the WorkingClass in defending their interestsand solving their problems. Wedo this through propaganda,active participation and debateas equals.

Discussion Page

The Class War website now hasa lively discussion page, whereyou can find handbags at sixpaces on a whole range of issues.Just click on the heading“discussion board” and scroll downto the bottom of the page.

13

THIS ISCLASSWAR

14 Class War Issue 8314 Class War Issue 83

organised gigs, T shirt sales andprofessional CD production appear to havebrought in vast sums of money to theirmovement. There are lessons to belearned here for progressiveorganisations, although hopefully they willnot stick as much of it up their noses asC18 did!

For Class War however, the significanceof the book also comes in what it doesNOT say. In the early days of C18 Search-light accused former Class War memberTim Scargill of passinginformation to C18. They also madesimilar allegations against two peopleknown to many Class War members -Larry O’Hara and Malcolm Astells.Searchlight even told the New Statesmanthat the C18 attack on the anarchistFreedom Bookshop in Whitechapel couldhave been committed by Class War. Noneof these allegations are repeated or evenalluded to. This obviously begs thequestions did Searchlight ever believe theirown claims in the first place? If not whymake them?

Another interesting oversight is thefailure to mention Leeds Nazi Tony White,who stole an address book from the North-ern Star offices in Leeds. This gave C18access to a long list of names,addresses and phone numbers of tradesunionists, socialists and anti-fascists.Whilst his actions are referred to on acouple of occasions White himself is notnamed, even though he is again active inthe far-right, this time with the NationalFront. The difficulty for Lowles of courseis that many on the far-right - and manyin the anti-fascist movement - believeWhite is, or was working for Searchlight.Now that would be a story worthy of aPanorama documentary, somehow wedon’t think Lowles will be making it!

Minus 1 skull out of five!

Direct Action - MemoirsOf An Urban Guerilla

Ann HansenAK Press/Between The Lines £10

Ann Hansen was one of the fivemembers of a group, Direct Action, whoemerged from the Canadian Anarchistmovement in the early 1980s. Theycarried out two major bomb attacks -against the Cheekeye-Dunsmuir powerstation on Vancouver Island and the LittonSystems factory in Toronto, whereguidance systems for cruise missileswere made.

Hansen’s book is written in part in thestyle of a novel giving dialogue andactions to characters based on her ownreminiscences and insight into thepolice and security services investigationagainst her and Direct Action. The bookcertainly manages to be a much betterread than DAs communiqués whichmanaged to be both moralistic and as dullas ditchwater. Its strengths includeHansen’s brutal honesty and the detailedre-creation of the groups actions fromshoplifting to car thefts, graduating toarmed robbery and bombings. Thecharacter of the other members of thegroup emerge as Hansen illustrates theinternal dynamics of an organisation of justfive people fighting, in splendidisolation, the Canadian state.

The book illustrates, again, theweaknesses of both the North Americanleft and the limitations of “terrorist”campaigns. The name and actions of anassociate group - the Wimmin’s FireBrigade, who attacked sex shops, readslike some bad piss take of feminists inPrivate Eye, whilst it is clear that a smallgroup of people cannot blow up thesocial relationships of society, especiallyif they distance themselves from the restof that society. Worse still class rarelywarrants a detailed mention.

In bombing Litton Systems, DA injured 8people, 4 seriously. Their bomb explodedprematurely after security guards failed tofully understand a telephone warning and

police officers dithered overevacuating the factory. In theircommuniqué after the bombing DAlaughingly commented

“We did not expect this kind of slow andindecisive response from theauthorities.”

If you place your political credibility - andmore importantly people’s lives - in thehands of security guards and policeofficers (neither the sharpest set of toolsin the box) you run the risk of the sort ofpublic criticism and personal guilt DAto the court upon conviction was bigenough to recognise this, and it isimportant that others do.

In her final paragraphs, Hansen reachesmany conclusions on tactics that ClassWar would sympathise with and her (brief)comments on this also haverelevance to the debate on the Black Blocthat raged after last years demonstrationin Genoa. If Hansen has a message it isthat being passive is to be fought againstat all costs. On that we agree with her.

folk song revival of the 1960s and 70s andsaved countless songs fromextinction.

Virtually every activist, radical trespasser,union militant and class warrior will havecome across Ewan’s work. This bookreflects these decades of bitter andoptimistic struggle. It is compiled andannotated by Peggy Seeger, with aforeword by her brother Pete. These booksare extraordinarily comprehensive andfilled with illustrations and the music toaccompany the songs.

Peggy Seeger was a comrade, lover andco-singer of 30 years, as well as makinga contribution in her own right. An experton stringed instruments, her banjo was aweapon aimed at the system in all itsguises. The emerging third worldrevolutions took her into conflict with hernative USA - or at least its state - for shehonoured the American working class andwas one of its finest spokesmen. Duringthe height of the cold war their visits toChina and Chile, solidarity with Vietnamand concerts for LatinAmerican guerillas ensured an exile fromthe States that only ended with Ewan’ssad death.

Critics obviously will point to Ewan’s“Stalinism” although this had been rootedin the anti-fascism of the second worldwar. In both China and Cuba he saw whathe thought to be refreshing signs ofworking class democracy and anti-bureaucratic struggle. Many of theCommunists of the war period hadsimilar visions. In retrospect Ewan mightbe the first to concede they had placedtoo much trust in characteristic leadersand images. Their optimism was a littletoo premature and more than a littlenaive. However it is not to such leadersthat their songs were devoted, but to thepeople of no property, the people of noposition, the industrial workers, thefighters, the protestors.

These two books are monuments toworking class culture of the past andvisions of hope and change for thefuture. Their ingenuity and poetry will livelong beyond their lifetimes and willcontinue to inspire the struggles at thesharp end of the class conflict.Both books can be ordered in the UK byphoning 01284 707050 or by e [email protected]

White Riot

Nick LowlesMilo Books £7.99

The cover of this book tells us all we needto know about the would be paramilitariesof Combat 18. Of the two nazis posing onthe cover, one is pointing a gun at hiscomrade. The other seems to havesevere difficulty in doing up his trousers.If these are the people that are going to“save” the white race, it really is time togo down the pub and give up.

Given that Lowles’ Searchlightorganisation promoted C18 soassiduously in documentaries on threeseparate television channels in the 1990s,a sober assessment of C18 was alwaysunlikely. For some reason Lowles seemsdetermined to give the impression that C18fuehrer Wilf Browning is a really nice bloke(we hope they are paying you well Wilf)and the role of militant anti-fascists in un-dermining and hurting C18 is, as usualwith Searchlight, completelyunder-reported and devalued. C18 werehumiliated in London in January 1994 whennazis traveling for their memorial gig forIan Stewart Donaldson were routed byAnti-Fascist Action. Both before, and es-pecially after this incident C18sviolence, although unpleasant, wasusually confined to soft targets like theAnti-Nazi League or SWP.

One area the fash appear to have beenleagues ahead of their opponents is in themoney making stakes. Well

The Essential EwanMacColl Songbook:

Sixty Years OfSongmaking

The Peggy SeegerSongbook: Forty Years

Of Songmaking

Pub Oak Publications, £22.95 each

Between the two of them these singer-revolutionaries notched up 100 years ofstruggle and celebration of life, labour andlove in song. Ewan was a voice for threegenerations of working class socialists,perhaps best illustrated by three songsfrom different periods all of them hits inevery sense of popularity and popular con-sumption. The Manchester Rambler(1932) Dirty Old Town (1949) and The FirstTime Ever (1957) Over the years manybands and singers dipped into Ewan’swork - The Dubliners, The Pogues andeven Elvis, although whether he knew hewas singing from the work of aScottish Communist is not known.

Together with progressive producers, sing-ers and working class activists Ewan andPeggy developed a new art form in theshape of the radio ballad. It reached mil-lions, was inspired by work andstruggle and glorified the lives of workingpeople and those outside the mainstreamof society. It was the cornerstone of the

Monarchy In The UK

by Homebrew

One of the perks of doing the Class Warmail is now and again you get a free CD!Homebrew have just released this verytopical anti royal rant with some excel-lent lyrics to get the blood flowing if youknow what I mean! My personal favouriteline is

"Burn down a castle, kill a Princess, itwon’t be any hassle to finish off the rest,cuz the guns are loaded and pointed rightat you!"

Top fucking marks boys!

You can contact Homebrew at:[email protected] orc/o 6 Mowbray Place, Thirsk,North Yorkshire, YO7 1RF.

each

15Class War Issue 83Class War Issue 83 15

9-11

Noam ChomskySeven Stories Press

This is one of the many books rushed outin the publishing frenzy followingSeptember 11, and it shows. It’s full ofrepititions and inconsistencies, whicheven the book’s editor is forced toacknowledge. For students of Chomsky‘9-11’ contains little new, and there arebetter introductions for those new toChomsky. Some books are better left onthe shelf; this book should never have seenthe shelf in the first place.

The Stars Tennis BallsSteven Fry(£7, Arrow)

Moab is My WashpotSteven Fry(All good bookshops)

We’re taking the opportunity to reviewSteven Frys’ latest book to commentmore widely upon his work and society.Firstly The Stars Tennis Balls is an ab-sorbing read (or listen if you have it ontape) The plot is quite complicated andwhen you think an escape heralds the endof the book it is really just entering itssecond half. Clearly the depth of knowl-edge Fry has about culture, economicsand globalisation means he has written abook for it’s time, including topics suchas drugs, the informal economy, the se-cret services, political corruption, themedia and new technology to frame aconvincing and clever story. Including thetraditional elements of a novel; that ofadventure, betrayal, loss, and love. Frombeing a bit familiar with his work and theman himself; Public school, Oxbridge, Fryand Laurie, Blackadder etc we cancomment a bit about his political viewsthat seem to come over, and do in places,in his work.

Firstly we must say as a gay man, awriter, and ex-con he is not unlike OscarWilde who he played in the film of thesame name, but we know there are vastdifferences as well. Respect is due to Fryfor some of his work and politics, forexample with young offenders, as he washimself (credit card fraud) However thereare some areas where we have seriousdisagreement that perhaps eminate fromour respective class backgrounds.Whereas Fry comes from the rural south-ern middle class who went to all theeducational institutions of privilege andnatural order perhaps we shouldn’t be sosurprised... That is he appears to be atbest neutral towards Foxhunting and theMonarchy, and he does talk about themin a fairly positive light in hisautobiography. This is a shame really forgenerations of working class tradeunionists, socialists, anarchists andMarxists have despised both of these‘institutions’ as having no conceivableplace in a future ‘socialist’ society.

Secret Soldiers: SpecialForces in the Waragainst Terrorism

Peter Harclerode

This is a fascinating and frustrating book.The subject is a very interesting one, butthis book, which promises a lot, left mefeeling a bit let down. After Harclerodedescribed the Red ArmyFaction’s Astrid and Thorwald Proll as ‘acouple’, when they were brother andsister, I started noticing a lot of thingswhich didn’t add up. Mostly these weresmall things, but it’s very annoyingreading a book and having to check allits assertions! For students of counter-terrorism the best thing about ‘SecretSoldiers’ will be its bibliography; itscontent can be better gatheredelsewhere. Though there is a valuablebook about special forces in counter-terrorism to be written, this is not it.

Deck The Redneck

Punk/Hardcore Fanzine,40 pence from Box Sabs,4 Onslow Road,Southampton,SO14 0JB

This is a lively fanzine that manages tocover several different topics in a light-hearted humorous style. There is a brieflook at prisoner support, a 7 page Bristolspecial that covers community activityand ace local football team The EastonCowboys, plus some gig and record re-views. On the downside the fanzine is laidout in the style of far too many fanzinesand sadly all punk fanzines. It probablylooked original in 1977, now it looksclichéd and idle. Still its got spirit andthat’s what matters.

Kuwasi Balagoon: ASoldier’s Story

Solidarity Publishing

Kathleen Cleaver andGeorge Katsiaficas eds:Liberation Imaginationand the Black Panther

Party

Routledge

Kuwasi Balagoon was a member of theBlack Panther Party and the BlackLiberation Army. He was one of the NewYork Panther 21 subjected in 1969 to anattempted frame-up by the FBI’sCOINTELPRO programme and, as anunderground member of the clandestine

political-military BLA, was jailed for 75years to life for the attempted $16 millionrobbery of a Brinks truck making a bankpick-up. At the time of this trial Kuwasiwas a fugitive, having escaped from a NewJersey State prison in 1978,where he hadbeen sent after convictions for bank rob-bery and a sniper attack on the police.

If you wanted a model of what acommitted revolutionary should be,Kuwasi was probably it. As he put it inhis Brinks trial opening statement

“Before becoming a clandestinerevolutionary I was a tenant organiser andwas arrested for menacing a 270 poundcolonial building superintendent with amachete... Being an organiser for theCommunity Council on Housing I took partin not only organising rent strikes, butpressing slumlords to make repairs andmaintain heat and hotwater, killed rats, represented tenants incourt, stopped illegal evictions ,faced offCity Marshals, helped turn rents into re-pair resources and collectiveownership by tenants and demonstratedwhenever the needs of tenants were atstake.”

The Cleaver and Katsiaficas work has amore academic orientation, but itnevertheless contains a lot of usefulmaterial, including a detailed history of theBLA, the FBI campaign against the Pan-thers, the influence of the BPP within thewhite left, and a detailed examination ofblack fighting formations by Russell Shoat-jailed in 1972 for an assault on a Penn-sylvania police station following the mur-der of a black youth by the police. Muchof the practice of the BPP stands as themost useful model of working class selforganisation to merge from thesixties’ left, and this book gives us someinsight into why.

Kuwasi died of AIDS in jail in 1986. By

his death, he’d developed an anarchistcritique of the BPP and BLA and writtenwidely of the need for a working class-orientated anti-imperialism. Kuwasi saidof the left

“They are too elitist to even want toorganise the working class and they fearthem like the plague because (the left)are largely petty bourgeois, collegestudents, white collar workers etc.”

He wrote also that

“By not engaging in mass organising anddelivering war to the oppressors webecome anarchists in name only.”

Kuwasi tried to show by example - andhis example is one we can learn muchfrom.

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Sit Down If You Hate TheRoyals

The death of one of the more useless roy-als, Princess Margaret, was hardly newsto shake the world of football to its foun-dations. The foppish Margaret spent mostof her time in either the West End or herMartinique holiday home. We are awareof no instances of Margaret even attend-ing a football march.

All the more curious therefore that the Pre-miership and the Football Leagueordered a minutes silence be held at allgames on Saturday February 9th. Thelack of interest in this elderly rich winowas perhaps best illustrated by theSunderland fans who stood up until theyrealised who the mark of respect was for,and promptly sat back down again.

Glory Hunter

If there is one thing any true football fanhates, its the glory hunter. The horriblesnidey little boy who was supportingBlackburn Rovers when they won theleague, switched to Manchester Unitedwhen they won it, switched to Newcastlewhen they looked like winning, thenswitched back to Manchester United whenthey actually did. If these characters domanage to stick with one team, theyinvariably get tickets for the big games,and never bother with the League Cup tieson cold Tuesday evenings. During the vari-ous gushing articles about theJubilee it has emerged that chief

parasite Elizabeth II is perhaps thedefinitive football glory hunter. Her firstmatch? The 1953 FA Cup Final. Otherthan the 1966 World Cup Final and the1996 European Championships Finalevery game she has attended has been aFA Cup final. Still, at least she was happyat Euro 96 - the Germans won.

Angry White Pyjamas

Robert TwiggerPhoenix Books, £7.99

This is currently the most hyped book onmartial arts, and tells the story of a yearor so in Twigger’s life, learning Aikido inJapan. Twigger’s book serves as aninteresting insight into Japan and thenature of Japanese society, especiallywhen he enrolls for the year long Tokyoriot police course in Aikido. Oddlycivilians and non-Japanese nationals cantake this course, and Twigger is at painsto point out that Japanese cops arebetter integrated into society than thosein the west. We are sure they are stillbastards though!

Twigger gives us some insight into the his-toric nationalist and right wing nature ofAikido (as well as the racism ofJapanese society) and the sheer hardfucking work of the training. Worthreading if you are currently thinking of vis-iting Japan - if you can afford it - and prob-ably worth reading if you areinterested in martial arts. If not give it amiss.

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Class War Issue 83

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