Dreaming of 1945
Published in Weekly Worker, 24th November 2011
The Labour Representation Committee, rather than being a single tendency body, serves as an umbrella for a variety of groupings and individuals, primarily those in the Labour Party who consider themselves to be on the left. As such, it hosts an array of left Labourites, Marxists, Stalinites and Trotskyites, all of whom enjoy an uneasy alliance under what is essentially a ‘British socialist’ platform.
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Tags: alliance for workers liberty, communism, labour party marxists, labour representation committee, new communist party, socialism, the labour party
Of Runes And Men
Published in Red Mist and Weekly Worker
Warning! Attention, everybody! It looks like for the first time since the 80s, London’s ethnic communities must fear for their safety when certain rock bands come to town. As the Love Music, Hate Racism website warns us in bold letters, the Slimelight club in Islington, North London has booked a “set of acts with fascist ties” for October 2011. These include Peter Sotos, who “has written tributes to Joseph Mengele (also known as the Angel of Death in Auschwitz) and whose self-produced fanzine contains references to ‘Nazi triumphs’, with frequent and lurid references to the abuse of children and women.” Scary stuff… Read more at Red Mist
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Tags: anti-fascism, Death in June, fascism, industrial music, love music hate racism, martial industrial, neofolk, Sol Invictus, unite against fascism
A triumphant victory?
Co-written with Claire Fisher, published in Weekly Worker
As readers will know, home secretary Theresa May responded to the English Defence League’s intention to hold an anti-Muslim demonstration in Tower Hamlets and the proposed counter-demonstration of the left by banning all marches in five London boroughs in the month of September, including the City of London. Continue reading ‘A triumphant victory?’
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Tags: edl, English Defence League, fascism, islamophobia, lumpenproletariat, neo-fascism, popular front, unite against fascism, working class
Love Me, I’m A Liberal
Published in Red Mist, 12th August 2011
Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School Of Medicine live in London
As we were watching Jello Biafra advocating “non-violent direct action” from the stage of the O2 Academy in Islington, only a couple of miles up the road members of Tottenham’s impoverished community made their frustration felt by rioting and setting the local police station on fire. -Read more>
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Tags: Alternative Tentacles, dead kennedys, enhanced methods of questioning, hardcore, jello biafra, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, left liberalism, Punk, punk rock
Tottenham riots sparked it all
Published in Weekly Worker, 11th August 2011
On Sunday afternoon, it looked as if the police had been instructed to use a new tactic to contain the public anger: grin. The area around Tottenham police station, which had been subject to severe rioting the previous night, was cordoned off by the boys and girls in blue, each of them sporting an unpersuasive, frozen smile. Continue reading ‘Tottenham riots sparked it all’
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Tags: 2011 england riots, england riots, london riots, Mark Duggan, riots, the filth, the police, tottenham riots, uk riots
Published in Weekly Worker, 4th August 2011
“Any information relating to anarchists should be reported to the local police” – that is what the good citizens of Westminster were being urged in a notice recently issued by the Metropolitan Police. After all, they are told, “anarchism is a political philosophy which considers the state undesirable, unnecessary and harmful”. Yes, that’s right – one year into the coalition government and several months into the Con-Dem austerity programme, the cops have staged their first clumsy attempts at neo-McCarthyism.
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Tags: anarchism, anarchists, communism, donnacha delong, National union of journalists, nuj, the met, the police
Published in Red Mist, 19th June 2011
“Because sex workers shouldn’t be dead to be on film”, argued the promo blurb for London’s first Sex Worker Film Festival. And who aside from Henry of Portrait of a Serial Killer could disagree? Organised by the Sex Worker Open University, a “grassroots collective” of sex workers, academics and activists, the declared goal was to challenge the stereotypical representations of strippers and hookers as vulnerable “fallen angels” or “shallow, manipulative and without ethics”… Read more at Red Mist
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Tags: feminism, hackney, international union of sex workers, prostitution, puritanism, sex worker film festival, sex workers, socialism, strippers
Tahrir Square comes to Madrid
published in Weekly Worker, 2nd June 2011
“Rallies are boring,” said one activist characteristically at the ‘open organising assembly for June 30 strikes’ in central London. The May 23 meeting may have been attended by more than 100 activists from various tendencies, but it was certainly decentralised direct action groups such as UK Uncut that set the tone. Continue reading ‘Tahrir Square comes to Madrid’
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Tags: democracia real ya, democracy movement, direct action, real democracy, real democracy now, socialism, Spanish Revolution, spanishrevolution, uk uncut
Joyriding in the Docklands
published in Red Mist, 8th May 2011
The Bermondsey Joyriders and John Sinclair live at London’s 100 Club
“Where are they now?”, asked a 1982 song by South-East London band Cock Sparrer, lamenting the faded and lapsed heroes of the British punk revolution. The answer was simple. Some of the addressees of the lyric, such as John Lydon and Joe Strummer, had moved on to create rather more interesting music (Public Image Ltd. and Sandinista! respectively). Lesser lights, such as Sham 69′s Jimmy Pursey, had simply run out of ideas that might justify yet another album of two-chord terrace chantalongs, leaving the spotlight to a new breed of dole punks operating under the ‘Oi!’ umbrella… Read more at Red Mist
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Tags: Cock Sparrer, gentrification, John Sinclair, Marx, oi, Punk, punk rock, rock n roll, The Bermondsey Joyriders
Lady Gaga and the gay gene
Published in Weekly Worker and Red Mist, 3rd March 2011
When Lady Gaga announced in early 2011 that her next single would be called ‘Born this way’, anyone familiar with the singer’s club-conscious pop and gay-friendly sound bites knew what she had in store… Read more at Red Mist
Filed under: Music | 3 Comments
Tags: Born This Way, gay culture, gay gene, gay rights, homophobia, Lady Gaga, LGBT, LGBT rights, pop
7 reasons why I like The Clash
I like The Clash because…
… the over-privileged Joe Strummer spent his whole life impersonating what he imagined an authentic working class person would be like: bad teeth, unintelligible speech, chain smoking. -Read more>
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Tags: 77 punk, Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, morning star, Punk, punk rock, rock, rock n roll, the clash
A report from the Laurie Penny vs. AWL debate on 27th Jan 2011 in central London
“If you have come to see a bloodbath, you’re in the wrong place”, announced Alliance for Workers Liberty member Ed Maltby. No worries Ed, I didn’t expect that. After all, various far left groups have been virtually falling over themselves to appease the influential young journalist Laurie Penny, who in a notorious article likened Socialist Worker sellers to cockroaches. -Read more>
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Tags: alliance for workers liberty, anarchism, laurie penny, leninism, marxism, socialist workers party, student leaders, student protests, the left
Arty resistance
A report from the Artists Of The Resistance meeting on 26th January 2011 in central London
Apparently, SWP members are required to keep a copy of Socialist Worker on their desks whenever they attend a public meeting. This functions as an advertisement as well as territorial urination when different tendencies meet in the same room. At the Artists Of The Resistance open planning meeting – an offshoot of Counterfire’s Coalition of Resistance – overt advertising of one’s political affiliations was rather frowned upon, as were a lone SWP delegate’s efforts at linking up the group with the Right to Work front. -Read more>
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Tags: anti-cuts, art, artist against the cuts, artists, artists of the resistance, coalition of resistance, left liberalism, revolutionary art, situationism, socialist realism
A report from the Hackney Alliance To Defend Public Services meeting on 25th January 2011
“Over the past months I’ve been using every opportunity I can to urge the Coalition Government to not make these devastating cuts to Hackney’s budget”, promises a puppy-eyed Jules Pipe, Mayor of Hackney, on leaflets currently distributed by Labour Party activists. Granted, the east London council “is facing some tough decisions ahead”, but the “protection of vital frontline services” will always be Pipe’s “absolute priority”. The aspiring Mayor of London, who touts himself as being “on your side”, guarantees that any cuts to spending will be “fair” and not hit lower and middle income families “so hard”. -Read more>
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Tags: anti-cuts, hackney, hackney alliance to defend public services, jules pipe, labour party, morning star, no cuts, opportunists, the commune
A revolution of the flowers?
A report from Coalition of Resisitance meeting, ‘Tunisia – Solidarity with the Revolution’ on 21 Jan 2011 in central London
As a 50 strong audience of Coalition of Resistance supporters and guests gathered in the building of the University of London Union, the central committee of Tunisia’s ruling party, the RCD, was no more. Under massive popular pressure and with the military withdrawing its support, the governing body of the Tunisian oligarchs’ puppet party had dissolved earlier that day. General amnesty was declared. Continue reading ‘A revolution of the flowers?’
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Tags: arab revolution, coalition of resistance, counterfire, egypt, islam channel, john rees, mohamed ali harrath, socialism, tunisia
More glasnost, less perestroika
Published in Weekly Worker and Havana Times, 13 Jan 2011
An interview with Circles Robinson, editor of Havana Times
Ever imagined a post-revolutionary scenario where Socialist Worker becomes the only widely available source of information? Well – that vision is very much a reality in Cuba, where Granma, the organ of the Communist Party since 1965, relentlessly hammers home the central committee’s line with little regard for discussion, controversy or stimulating thought.
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Tags: anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, che guevara, communism, cuba, fidel castro, havana, raul castro, socialism
“Grandpa was Sturmführer of the SS – his grandson will be Sturmführer of the SS”, went a chorus typical of Berlin’s neo-Nazi rock group, Landser, whose rather nauseating songs recommended the murder of Jews, blacks, “Polaks”, “gooks” and communists. In 2005, the group was classified as a “criminal organisation” and banned by the German federal court, its front man Michael Regener earning himself 40 months in prison for Volksverhetzung[1] and “distributing extreme rightwing propaganda”. Read more
Filed under: Music, Politics | 2 Comments
Tags: anti-fascism, communism, extremism, germany, landser, neo-nazis, skinheads, white power rock
Official optimism gone mad
published in Weekly Worker, 25th November 2011
“I think today’s turnout is amazing,” announced Lindsey German to the assembled anti-war protesters in her trademark style. It was a case of official optimism gone mad: not only was the turnout at the November 20 Stop the War Coalition demo the poorest in years, but Lindsey’s blatant reversal of the truth was screamingly obvious to anyone who was there and had eyes to see. You can take the girl out of the SWP … -Read more>
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Tags: communism, communist party of great britain, counterfire, cuba, john rees, socialism, socialist workers party, stop the war, swp
Poll tax reminiscences
Published in Weekly Worker, 11th November 2011
At SPEW’s ‘Socialism 2009′ school, Robin Clapp told us how we beat the Tories last time around
“Thatcher thought that Neil Kinnock and his followers in the Labour Party were a piece of piss,” reminisced a veteran of the Militant Tendency, “but she was not prepared for the strength of Militant’s organisation and the power of ordinary people.” Continue reading ‘Poll tax reminiscences’
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Tags: anti-cuts, labour party, militant tendency, socialism, socialism 2010, socialist party, socialist party of england and wales, SPEW, the left
‘Surfing rabbi’ wheeled out
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Published in Weekly Worker, 28th October 2011
The October 24 English Defence League march to the Israeli embassy “in solidarity with Israel” was virtually ignored by Unite Against Fascism. “Palestinians stink,” I heard a female voice shout, as I made my way from the October 23 anti-cuts march in central London to Covent Garden, the day before the English Defence League’s pro-Israel demonstration. Why, it was Roberta Moore, the lovely lady of the EDL’s ‘Jewish Division’, who had decided to brighten up our Saturday afternoon with a bit of racism. Continue reading ‘‘Surfing rabbi’ wheeled out’
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Tags: anti-fascism, chauvinism, edl, English Defence League, fascism, islamophobia, rabbi nachum shifren, unite against fascism, zionism
Uncritical Stalinists?
This poster was plastered on the walls of Manchester University by a group called Communist Students last week, inviting to a “debate and discussion on Stalinism, what it is, and why we oppose it”. What does it say in huge letters? “Stalinism is anti-communism”. A clear enough statement, right? -Read more>
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Tags: communism, communist party of great britain, communist students, cpgb, socialism, socialist worker, socialist workers party, stalinism, swp
A review of ‘Freedom Rhythm & Sound – Revolutionary Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement 1963-82′, 2 CDs on Soul Jazz Records.
“No America, no jazz”, said jazz legend Art Blakey, “I’ve seen people try to connect it to other countries, for instance to Africa, but it doesn’t have a damn thing to do with Africa.” His statement would not have raised an eyebrow in 1950s America. Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie played the odd benefit gig for the emerging civil rights movement, but by and large race was not an issue in culturally liberal jazz circles. Continue reading ‘Black power jazz and the cultural shifts of the 70s’
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Tags: black culture, black nationalism, black power, civil rights movement, identity politics, jazz, marxism, multiculturalism, racism
Following an incident at the SWP’s Marxism 2010 festival (reported here) Claire Fisher and myself sent a readers’ letter to the SWP paper, Socialist Worker.
We had the faint hope that honesty and solidarity would prevail over apparatchik attitudes and our letter would get printed.
Initially, one Socialist Worker journalist expressed (feigned?) interest in our concern when speaking to an SWP member and friend of mine in private. But he never replied to any of my messages, and our letter remained unpublished. Here it is for your information and enjoyment. -Read more>
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Tags: communism, communist party of great britain, cpgb, marxism, socialism, socialist workers party, stalinism, swp, the left
The EDL did not turn up to disrupt an SWP event after all.
On Wednesday August 11, the Socialist Worker Party’s Dave Renton gave a talk on the history of fighting fascism in the UK at Houseman’s bookshop in central London. Formerly a member of the now defunct SWP front, the Anti-Nazi League, and currently active in Unite Against Fascism, comrade Renton counts among his most recently published books the poetically entitled When we touched the sky, an account of the ANL’s anti-National Front campaigns and related anti-racist struggles of the 70s and early 80s. -Read more>
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Tags: anti-fascism, edl, English Defence League, islamophobia, neo-fascism, socialist workers party, swp, UAF, unite against fascism
Report from the 1234 Festival, Sat 24th July 2010 in Shoreditch Park, also published in Weekly Worker.
From Greenpeace to Amnesty International, from the Metropolitan Police to Lucky Strike and the Socialist Workers Party, everybody was testing their credentials with those trendy young things at the July 24 1234 music festival in Shoreditch Park.
“You can take it or leave it as far as we’re concerned, what we want is buried in the present tense” sang 1970s punk poet Vic Godard from the main stage, as the SWP comrades began chatting up festival-goers to sign a petition against cuts. -Read more>
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Tags: 1234 festival, communism, communist party of great britain, cpgb, socialism, socialist workers party, subway sect, swp, weekly worker
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