Inspired by the principles of Malcolm X / Malik El-Hajj Shabazz. A 'Third Worldist' perspective focusing on the increasing pace of south-south co-operation which is challenging and defeating US hegemony, and the struggles of those oppressed by neo-colonialism and white supremacy (racism) who fight for their social, political and cultural freedom 'by any means necessary'
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
THE EDL CHALLENGE TO ANTI-RACISTS AND BLACK COMMUNITIES
Saturday, 16 October 2010
BRING THE RAGE FOR JIMMY MUBENGA, JOY GARNDER NEVER FORGOTTEN
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Monday, 11 October 2010
PROPORTIONALLY MORE BLACK PEOPLE IN PRISON IN ENGLAND AND WALES THAN IN YANKEELAND
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
REPORT FROM FIRST 10yr ANNIVERSARY INTIFADA EVENT
300 Overwhelmingly Young People discuss and celebrate
Internationalism with the Intifada
By Frank Natter
The series of events commemorating the Second Intifada put on by Sons of Malcolm is groundbreaking. In a political climate where the vast majority are scared to valorise any form of peoples militant resistance, these meetings see the importance of the such struggle, what it has meant and what its repercussions are. Such a traumatic uprising cannot be understood even 10 years after. It is hard to overstate the importance of the Second Intifada in determining the current alignment of power – to address it is to engage in active revolution.
This is why the subtitle of the meeting was “we are not liberating Palestine, Palestine is liberating us”. That the Palestinians have defined the geo-political landscape we traverse in such a definitive manner is barely acknowledged. A meta-narrative of victimhood has long pervaded the West’s discourse on Palestine leading to paternalistic, detached and quite frankly patronising “solidarity”. Depicting the Palestinians as victims completely misses how much of a step forward the Intifada actually was. The fact remains that solidarity as it exists has emerged in a climate where the Palestinians have not been violent – how supportive and understanding our solidarity movement can be when and if armed struggle erupts again needs to be addressed.
Most importantly, however, recognition is sought. Modern empire stands and falls with Palestine now – due to the Palestinians – whether we acknowledge this and can offer sufficient solidarity was the question behind the first meeting that took place on Saturday 02 October.
The night started with an exhibition of the type of resistance that is required for true internationalism. The Raytheon 9 occupation in Derry is brilliantly explained in the “Not in My Name” documentary – directed by Gabrielle Terney – who took questions in an enthusiastic and respectful exchange. There couldn’t have been a more encouraging start.
The documentary was quickly followed by a discussion between representatives of organisations that advocate or support the Palestinian struggle. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign representative Bellavia Ribeiro-Addy started the discussion off. She was a very competent and engaging speaker, yet what she had to say was somewhat misplaced. It is a shame that she did not take the opportunity to convey a more incisive discourse as opposed to offering the generic account of deaths tolls, recent wars and Zionist brutality.
Next was Arzu Merali of the Islamic Human Rights Commission. She gave a wonderfully personalised account of how she developed her understanding of what solidarity with the Palestinians (and South Lebanese) entails. It was truly refreshing to hear discussion about Hezbollah and Hamas without them being criticised for being “too radical” or “religiously extreme”. There was no representation of groups who seek to pacify the Palestinians, making them conform to liberal sensibilities. The panel after Arzu continued with a revolutionary discussion.
Lizzie Cocker of the Gaza Demonstrators Support Campaign gave a brilliant account of how the state racism led to the persecution of young Muslims protestors. Given what was to follow, it was both inspiring and poignant to have a young, white woman talking about white supremacy and racism. In her own words, “our solidarity with Palestine is weakened if we cannot be there in solidarity with our pro-Palestinian brothers and sisters in this country who suffer racist and political oppression by the same enemy.”
Taher Ghulam-Hussein followed suit offering a tangential, humorous account of his extensive engagements in direct action and how to deal with the law, brilliantly prefiguring the next speaker.
Chris Osmond of the Smash EDO direct action group based in Sussex – who, during Gaza ’09, smashed property and occupied EDO an arms manufacturer for supplying the weaponry for the IOF forces. His critical analysis was extremely impressive. An engaging talk that exhibited that it is possible to partake in internationalist action, risking your political freedoms and get away with it – with the caveat that you are non-Muslim. Chris was truly revolutionary; completely dismissing the need to work with or through the state, going so far as to say the only true act of internationalism is to forego the limitations of our government. If you were unable to attend – I recommend in the highest possible terms watching the debate through.
Jody MacIntyre finished off the talks with an intimate account of his experiences in Palestine and what it has led him to conclude. From both Jody and Chris’s talks it was clear that what was being offered by the panel was a discourse that encouraged people to take actions, to traverse the boundaries of law in the name of a greater morality. Such things are never said.
The overriding message that was brought home by the panellists was that it is possible to engage in a true internationalism, which does liberate us by drawing us to confront our own state. What it requires is the will of more white activists – as the state’s racism affords space for actions organised by whites where Muslims are persecuted. When Sukant Chandan took charge of the Q&A session this was point was met with vehemence from some sections of the audience. The audience had obviously taken a grievance to the forthright racial discourse that poured scorn on the notion that we are a post-racial society. The issue was trivialised; the message of the panel debate was whittled down to being a mere chip on the shoulder of the event’s organiser.
Instead of critical self-reflection, the Q&A was defensive, tense and hostile. Arguments of relativity – comparing Britain to Europe and the States were proffered to mitigate the blatant problems that were brought to the forefront. The stark comparison between the Raytheon and EDO occupations and actions on the one hand with the Gaza Demonstrations in 2009 seemed not to penetrate the audience. Juxtapose the same basic actions and it becomes clear, if you are Muslim and engage in direct political activity – you are in your own special category and will have the full weight of the British state on top of you. The state’s distinctions are real and need to be ingratiated and taken into account for all future actions taken for the cause of Palestine – Chris Osmond communicated this brilliantly after a question from an audience member.
Despite hostility from some in the crowd the discussion was chaired very well and respectfully with the maintenance of humour. Having spent the rest of the evening discussing the matter, what one has to applaud the event for was its ability to engage in such controversial issues and not alienate the youth. Large swathes of the audience were young (below 25). The vibrancy of the event with over 300 attendees I have not experienced before. In view of this, it’s a shame that the voices and experiences of the younger members of the audience were drowned out by the more disrespectful contributions of some in the audience.
However, the large attendance of young people, and the structure of the event indicated that a new age of political organisation is emerging. There is an alternative to dogmatic, placatory meetings with no substance – and it is possible to attract the youth. The voice of the oppressed communities is emerging – it does not speak the language of the conventional left – but it doesn’t intend to. True internationalism and solidarity, by necessity, foregoes appealing to the sensibilities of the West. Keep on!
The next event will take place on the at Bolivar Hall (Warren Street), 17.30pm on the 6th November. With the title – “The Outbreak of the Second Intifada: Turning Back the Empire” – you really don’t want to miss this. I’m sure there is going to be fireworks... facebook event page HERE
[full video of the event will be online within two weeks]
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
VIDEO: 'HIP-HOP HISTORY' EVENT ORGANISED BY WEST LONDON YOUTH FEAT: AKALA, LOWKEY, PURPLE, KATE TEMPEST AND MANY MORE
Hip Hop History part 1 of 4 from crazie productions on Vimeo.
Hip Hop History part2 of 4 from crazie productions on Vimeo.
Hip Hop History part 3 of 4 from crazie productions on Vimeo.
Hip Hop History part 4 of 4 from crazie productions on Vimeo.
Monday, 27 September 2010
WEST LONDON BLACK POWER COMMUNITY LEADER PASSES - FRANK CRITCHLOW RIP
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Friday, 17 September 2010
Friday, 10 September 2010
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
REFLECTIONS ON EDL IN BRADFORD
Monday, 30 August 2010
'ADAM X' REPORTS ON BRADFORD
Yesterday (Saturday 28th of August) seems to have been a huge failure for the EDL.That being said, there still has to be some soul searching done among what is called 'the left': hard questions have to be asked about the modus operandi of setting up counter protests.
Yesterday...
Yesterday, hardly any of the local youths and those embedded with them bothered to come to the UAF's static rally. It's no wonder. Not long after I had arrived to see what they were up to, the police had set themselves up around the square and erected metal detectors by the entrances and the EGT's were harrassing everyone with their cameras staring at people who supposedly 'look radical'.
The UAF rally was half-filled people who can't fight (hippies, old people, and other fragile types) but the UAF wasn't planning to bring people to
That being said, UAF's plans for counter demonstration combined with the statist left's ranting about keeping order allowed the police to justify a massive operation, which made the EDL's protests utterly pointless. They were penned in, in a location where they couldn't even be seen by the public.
The result?
The EDL - who in absence of an 'enemy' to 'take liberties' with, started fighting with each other - have appeared in the miniscule mainstream media coverage to be a bunch of stupid drunken hooligans. And the UAF officially cleared their name and 'took the moral high ground'. Example of such coverage: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid62612474001?bctid=598209585001
The resistance
A few people from the UAF crowd (which was mostly white) did join a large mobile crowd (mostly Asian, and local)
that tried to get close to where the EDL were, without much success. But well done to them. Thankfully, a video of that crowd did come out, and serves as a heartwarming statement of unity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuVxuw5jc1c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV-tiVyzv4w
Despite the huge police operation, some EDL did break out of their police kettle. Looking for Asians to start on. Those stray but large groups of EDL were strongly repelled by an organised resistance entirely led by the Muslim youth of Bradford, with a contingent of
These
This organised 'task force' dealt the EDL a blow that sent them running back into the kettle they came from.
And then the EDL were bussed out of the city again. Most of the local Asian youths were then only to be seen in their neighbourhoods in the areas surrounding the city centre. They were obviously not looking to hang around, knowing that 600 years worth of sentences were slapped on their brothers back in 2001. Although it is also Ramadan (DON'T FORGET), a time not to go further than you have to with respect to self-defence.
The police brought in from other forces, with nothing to do were sent home early. Only five arrests were made yesterday, are they going to be raiding the homes of all those EDL caught on camera like they did with the
Conclusions and questions?
Our youth in target communities will always be the first, best organised and strongest line of defence (and they are getting better at it). Why don't all the lefties out there work with them as our
The EDL appear to be collapsing in actual (not facebook gauged) popularity, however not everthing is as it seems when state intelligence has its part to play. However, there was a video on youtube (now removed, alternative version) that shows the EDL being utterly defeated in
I'm looking forward to analysis by 'Malatesta', an anarchist who reports in fine detail on what's going on with the EDL and the far-right in general. Always good reading material!
Bradford: BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE - EXCLUSIVE TO SONS OF MALCOLM
By Frank Natter
Franknatter.wordpress.com
There is a war going on. Its effects are not just manifest in
A lack of tolerance within our society is leading many to support the forced assimilation of Muslim communities. The colonially minded within our society are disturbed by the fact that allegiance to God can supersede that the nation-state, and that brotherhood with the Umma means the average Muslim does not support the death of their brethren abroad.
In response to the “impending threat” posed by what Education Minister Michael Gove refers to as Britain’s “sleeper cells” (a euphemistic turn of phrase that denotes to Islam – as all Muslims are, in theory at least, receptive to the call of Jihad), the English Defence League (EDL) have formed. Their key aim is to “get on the streets” and affirm English “resistance” to the incursions of the Islamic world – attack being the best form of ‘defence’.
Their idea of Englishness is manifest in their actions: get up – start drinking – get on a coach (continue drinking) – reach destination – shout racist abuse – break police lines – get into a few scuffles, if not full scale violence – go home brandishing themselves as ‘heroes,’ pissed as newts…‘English liberty’ indeed. They are being met on the streets by the “commies” and the “Mussies” – an alliance hated by both the state and the far-right.
This weekend the EDL intend to travel to
The two predominant leftist groups that have mobilised to address the potential riot are Unite Against Fascism (UAF) and HOPE Not Hate (HNH). The mixed allegiances of our schizophrenic “left wing” have left their mark profoundly on the run up to
It is clear that some forces are extremely receptive to the EDL’s logic. In Bolton back in March, 74 arrests were made by Greater Manchester Police – around 50 of which were of the anti-fascist protestors and local Muslims – with the organisers being detained under anti-terror legislation. In the run up to
Presence on the streets of
Saturday will dawn very soon and we cannot HOPE for anything unless unity is maintained. If people manage to transcend their ideological divides, their geographic obstacles and an EDL friendly police force, then the EDL will be swatted away like they were in
[1] http://www.irr.org.uk/2001/october/ak000003.html
Sunday, 29 August 2010
GARY YOUNGE'S EXCELLENT HISTORY OF THE NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL
The Politics of Partying
Gary Younge
Guardian
As 1958 drew to a close, a despondent mood drew over the offices of the West Indian Gazette in Brixton, south
The Gazette's founder-editor, Claudia Jones, had had enough. "We need something to get the taste of Notting Hill out of our mouths," she said. "Someone suggested we should hold a carnival," says Donald Hinds, who was in the room at the time. "We all started laughing because it was so cold and carnival is this out-on-the-street thing. It seemed like a ridiculous suggestion." But Jones had other ideas and set about making arrangements.
A few months later, on January 30, 1959,
More than 40 years on, a bright array of oversized peacock feathers made its way down the Mall towards the royal family. Along with the household cavalry in plumes and gleaming breastplates, and the Red Arrows streaking the sky red, white and blue, Notting Hill carnival took pride of place in the Jubilee celebrations. This was a legacy of Empire with a difference, not an exhibition of how much has been preserved but a demonstration of how much has changed.
"There was more military involvement last time," said Michael Lewington, 62, standing in almost the same spot he took for the Silver Jubilee in 1977. "I certainly don't remember calypso bands." Here was an irrefutable sign of black people's permanent presence and cultural contribution in
contested in the 1950s.
Notting Hill carnival's journey from a response to race attacks in 1958 to pride of place on the Mall in 2002, passing revelry, riot and resistance en route, is both powerful and painful. It is the tale of how a marginalised community built, protected and promoted what is now the largest street party in western Europe, using the radical cultural politics of the Caribbean to confront
Either way, it starts with Claudia Jones, a Trinidadian communist who came to
Jones was a turbulent character, manic in her energy, masterful in her skills as a political organiser and chaotic in her personal life. A lifetime of illness, engendered by poverty and exacerbated by prison, was further compounded by overwork.
"She was so full of energy, she exhausted everyone, including herself," recalls Corinne Skinner-Carter, one of Jones's closest friends. "She used to chain-smoke but I never saw her actually finish a cigarette. And she talked liked she smoked."
Her journey across the
In March 1958, Jones launched the West Indian Gazette, attempting in part to cohere these disparate groups around their common experience of racism. In many ways it was a period that echoes our own, with the sparks of popular prejudice fanned by a bigoted press while a complacent and complicit political class allowed the consequent flames to rage.
On August 18, 1958, the Ku Klux Klan sent a letter to the Gazette addressed to "My Dear Mr B Ape". "We, the Aryan Knights, miss nothing," it said. "Close attention has been paid to every issue of this rag and I do sincerely assure you, the information gleaned has proven of great value to the Klan."
A fortnight later, Majbritt Morrison, a Swedish woman, was spotted by a gang of white youths. They had seen her the night before, arguing with her Jamaican husband Raymond outside
"1958 was a big moment," Hall recalls. "Before that, individuals had endured discrimination. But in that year racism became a mass, collective experience that went beyond that."
This was the taste Jones wanted to get out of her mouth. Only she, says Marika Sherwood, author of Claudia Jones: A Life In Exile, had the combination of new world confidence and political maturity to launch carnival under those circumstances. "Her experiences of campaigning against racism and McCarthyism in
Trevor Carter, Corinne's partner and stage manager of the first carnival, agrees. "Claudia, unlike the rest of us, understood the power of culture as a tool of political resistance. The spirit of the carnival came out of her political knowledge of what to touch at a particular time when we were scared, in disarray."
There had been concerns that the unruliness of carnival would not translate from the outdoors of
The evening itself went excellently. There was calypso singing, dancing and lots of souse, peas and rice and other
Thus began
"The histories of these carnivals are both independent and interlinked," says Sue McAlpine of the Kensington & Chelsea Community History Group. "They were linked by their motivation and the constituencies they were seeking to motivate."
Laslett, born in the
Steel band player Russ Henderson was among those roped in. Laslett's partner, Jim O'Brien, knew him from the Colherne pub in Earl's Court - a favoured West Indian hang-out - and Henderson had played at the first event in St Pancras organised by Jones. At the Notting Hill event, he was playing alongside a donkey cart and a clown, and he felt things were getting flat. "I said, 'We got to do something to make this thing come alive.' "
"With the music, people left everything and came to follow the procession," O'Brien says. "By the end of the evening, people were asking the way home."
In the evening, Michael X - radical, hustler and firebrand - turned to Laslett, pointed to the throng and said, "Look, Rhaune, what have you done?"
"I was in a state of shock," Laslett said later. "As I saw the huge crowds, I thought, 'What have I done?' "
During the years Laslett ran the carnival, it was identified more with Notting Hill than with the Caribbean, though as word got round, more and more Caribbean people started coming. The numbers had grown to around 10,000, and O'Brien says a mixture of police interference and the growing assertiveness of black power meant too many different groups had vested interests. "It was something we didn't want to have responsibility for," he adds. "The police didn't want it because they thought they were losing control of the streets for the day, and we'd had enough. So we decided to hand it over to the community."
Carnival, Trinidad-style, with no entry fee, is truly open to everyone. Blurring the lines between participant and spectator, it thrives on impulse as well as organisation. With its emphasis on masquerading and calypso, it takes popular subjects of concern as its raw material for lyrics and costumes. Massive in size, working-class in composition, spontaneous in form, subversive in expression and political in nature - the ingredients for carnival are explosive. Add to the mix the legacy of slavery and it soon becomes clear why so long as there has been carnival, the authorities have sought to contain, control or cancel it.
In 1881, Trinidad's former police chief, Fraser, submitted a report on the carnival riot in
"Carnival had become a symbol of freedom for the broad mass of the population and not merely a season for frivolous enjoyment," wrote Errol Hill in The Trinidad Carnival. "It had a ritualistic significance, rooted in the experience of slavery and in the celebration of freedom from slavery. The people would not be intimidated; they would observe carnival in the manner they deemed most appropriate."
Similar tensions have emerged here in the
As carnival has outgrown its grass-roots origins, it has brought with it a constant process of negotiation and occasional flash points; there have been inevitable conflicts, over both its economic orientation and its political function. Carnival, wrote Kwesi Owusu and Jacob Ross in Behind The Masquerade, is "the most expressive and culturally volatile territory on which the battle of positions between the black community and the state are ritualised".
And so it was that, less than a century after the disturbances at the carnival in
The carnival's primary constituency had changed radically. In the mid-1970s, 40% of all black people in
It was a claim that, on the one hand, was increasingly under threat, thanks to the rise of the National Front and skinhead culture. But on the other hand, it was a claim constantly being asserted by the powerful role music was playing in shaping British youth culture, through reggae, then ska. Along with Rock Against Racism, culture had become a key battleground for race and there was no bigger racially-connoted event than the Notting Hill carnival.
"Carnival was their day," says one Metropolitan police officer in an off-the-record interview. "For the rest of the year, police would be stopping them in ones and twos in the street, where they would be in a minority. But for one weekend they were in the majority and they took over the streets."
The 1976 riot took most people by surprise. "I just remember seeing these bottles flying," says Michael La Rose, head of the Association for a People's Carnival, which aims to protect and promote carnival's community roots; he describes it as like watching a relentless parade of salmon leaping upstream. The police were ill-equipped and ill-prepared. Defending themselves with dustbin lids and milk crates, they were also outmanoeuvred. "That whole experience made the police very sore," one policeman says. "They had taken a beating and were determined that it would not happen again, so when the next one came about, there was some desire for revenge."
From then on, thanks largely to the press, carnival moved from being a story about culture to one about crime and race. For years after, carnival stories would come with a picture of policemen either in hospital after being attacked or in an awkward embrace with a black, female reveller in full costume. The following year, Corinne Skinner-Carter missed carnival for the first and last time, in anticipation of more trouble. There were indeed smaller skirmishes in 1977. At one stage, late on the Monday night, riot police were briefly deployed. The next day, the Express's front page read: "War Cry! The unprecedented scenes in the darkness of
Calls for carnival's banning came from all quarters. Tory shadow home secretary Willie Whitelaw said, "The risk in holding it now seems to outweigh the enjoyment it gives." Kensington and
As recently as 1991, following a stabbing, Daily Mail columnist Lynda Lee-Potter described the carnival as "a sordid, sleazy nightmare that has become synonymous with death". By this time, however, its detractors were in the minority. Like the black British community from which it had sprung, there was a common understanding that it was here to stay. Latest police figures suggest attendance of one million; organisers say it is almost double that.
In west
This is the first of the heats running up to the carnival itself. The standard is higher than a karaoke bar, lower than the second round of Popstars. But the evening is more fun than both - accessible, unpretentious, raucous and, above all, entertaining.
Earlier that day, at the Oval House Theatre, south
The preparations started the year before. The riots in Bradford and
On the day of the Golden Jubilee celebrations, designer Clary Salandy had trouble getting to the Mall. The police wouldn't let her and the rest of her mas camp over the bridge, even though they were supposed to be leading the procession. Chipping down the Mall - that slow shuffle-cum-toyi toyi of the masquerader - filled her with pride. "I'm not a monarchist, but this was a recognition by the establishment that we have made an artistic contribution and took carnival to people who would never go to it."
In the Harlesden offices of her company, Mahogany, in north-west
Her favourite costume that day spoke the language of defiance: one person armed with several huge, multicoloured shields defending his back. "It's called Protector Of Our Heritage," she says. "It was there to defend carnival."