En Passant

Danny Katch in Socialist Worker US reports on the Staten Island grand jury decision in the Eric Garner case – and the bitter anger of opponents of police violence as they mobilize yet again. Here is a snippet.

But the video wasn’t the key. As in Ferguson, the real key was the unspoken rule of the criminal injustice system: Killer cops are above the law – and they can get away with murder.

Dear Victoria Police Complaints Unit

Here is a snippet from my latest article in New Matilda about Victoria police inaction against death threats and abusive posts from Victorian police headquarters. But don’t worry. I have no expectation you will actually do anything given I am just a socialist and your officers need protecting from people like me.

To The Victorian Trades Hall Council: We are writing to object in the strongest terms to the arbitrary cancellation of our room booking for a public meeting on the issue of “racism and police violence” on Thursday 21 June. This meeting is in the best traditions of the Trades Hall Council and the Victorian labour movement, which has long been a defender, not a suppressor, of public debate. We urge you to continue that tradition.

John Howard, Mal Brough, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbot and Jenny Macklin should be sent to the Hague to face genocide charges or put on trial here.

The police are the front-line enforcers of the current system, and as such are implacable and dangerous opponents of any movement for justice and social change. We should treat them as such.

The reality is that police forces around the world help perpetuate the greatest crime possible: maintaining the murderous system of capitalism.