For our fifth reading group we will be reading Anarchism and The Black Revolution by Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin. Ervin was a Vietnam war conscript who became an anti-war activist, went on to join the Black Panthers, and became an anarchist while in prison for high-jacking an aircraft to escape to Cuba after being alleged in an attempt to kill a Ku Klux Klan leader. Anarchism and The Black Revolution, written in prison and first published in 1979, is not only a classic work of late 20th century anarchism, but brings a black perspective to anarchism that has often been missing in a movement dominated by the ideas of white European thinkers.
Far Right, racist liars have been out in our working class communities throughout the country lying to people about refugees and asylum seekers being the problem for worsening conditions? The far right along with the media, are playing their usual dirty tricks of dividing working class people through their racist lies and propaganda! Migrants have always worked here especially in the NHS and in other low paid jobs.
While Refugees and asylum seekers, are forced to leave their countries because of war, conflict persecution, murder, rape and extreme poverty. They have nothing but the clothes on their backs, they are the victims of this rotten system that’s only interested in power and making profits for the rich few!
By the way, Britain is the sixth richest country in the world and yet people are on streets homeless and destitute?
Working class people suffer through the cost of living?
While those in power are living in wealth and luxury?
On Sunday, 12th of November, members of North London Solidarity Federation and Hackney Anarchists, who can be contacted at HackneyAnarchists@riseup.net, held a solidarity picket outside of the Greenwich IKEA in support of our comrades in CNT-AIT Madrid who are in dispute with an IKEA contractor; Foldeco Development S.L.
Foldeco uses racist abuse against its workforce in an effort to keep them in line and squeeze more productivity out of them. We handed out over 150 flyers to customers going in and out of IKEA detailing this abuse, and encouraged them to take their custom elsewhere, as IKEA is directly profiting from Foldco’s bullying of its workforce. The reaction to our picketing was generally positive and some people stopped for a longer chat with us.
Solidarity to everyone internationally who suffer under a system that puts profits ahead of human dignity.
We would like to offer our full support and solidarity to BLM protesters around the world fighting for racial justice, against white supremacy and police brutality. We would also add that we offer solidarity to protesters involved at the protest in bristol last weekend who are being investigated by the police for doing something which should have happened decades ago, toppling the statue of the racist slaver Edward Colston.
When protesters, who joined the Bristol’s Black Lives Matter demonstration, toppled Edward Colston statue last week they probably didn’t conceive the impact their symbolic act would have. They tore down a statue and helped push discussions around race and history in a new direction. These views voices on Britain’s colonial and economic past have become central to the dialogue.
Content warning - racism, racist violence, police brutality, state violence, anti blackness, transphobia, misgendering, misogynoir, colonialism, transmisogyny
We offer our solidarity and compassion to the people in the US and UK bravely resisting the structures of white supremacy and systemic anti-blackness which are endemic in our societies. The murder of George Floyd has furthered a global movement which is provoking tangible change in many countries. Resist the media narratives of chaos and brutality; these protests are courageous, well-organised actions by communities seeking to abolish the structure of racist state violence.
The Black Lives Matter movement across the world has certainly created a space for resistance against racism, white supremacy and the dynamics of colonialism. Colonialism in the past but also the remains of colonial ideas in the present. The idea that black people and People of Colour, should be "grateful" to the society that offers individuals work and, sometimes, offers asylum and refugee status, is a product of that old colonial mentality that we have to destroy at its roots. The uprooting of the Edward Colston statue that seems to have caused so much uproar is a sign of this on-going and all-pervading colonialist mentality.
Manchester Solidarity Federation rejects both the ‘leave’ and ‘remain’ options presented in the EU referendum and are especially appalled by the overt racism and xenophobia that accompanied the campaign to leave the EU. This was a referendum brought about by the Tories simply to appease their racist right wing and prevent defections to UKIP prior to last year’s general election.
The vote to leave the EU was, at least partly, based on the growing resentment of immigrants and refugees, who are being blamed for the failings of capitalism. Whole immigrant communities have been consistently targeted over the years by the fascist right and the nationalist tabloid press, being blamed for everything that’s wrong with this country. We are already witnessing the results of this poisonous rhetoric as racist attacks against immigrants and British-born non-white people have accelerated across the country since the referendum.
Healthcare should be available to all. The need for care outweighs any excuse to restrict access to healthcare, for example whether they have the ability to pay or where they have come from. Yet the Immigration Act of 2014 is trying to reverse this. It affects many areas of life such as housing and health. The aim of it is to punish those who are vulnerable. It is part of an ideology that is racist, and aims to divert attention away from those who benefit from capitalism, stigmatising other areas of society.
This pamphlet, written by members of Brighton SolFed’s Health and Social Care Network, with support from Brighton Migrant Solidarity and Docs Not Cops, looks at how it is affecting the NHS and how it aims to make health workers do the dirty work of the government by policing the people they treat. This is through administrative oppression creating gatekeepers to health.
The Immigration Act of 2014 has far reaching strands that pushes society further to the right. It affects many areas of life such as housing and health. In health, the government want clinical, administrative and auxiliary staff to enquire to and report on the immigration status of patients, which could lead to charging or the withholding of healthcare services.
Key rights at work
For our fifth reading group we will be reading Anarchism and The Black Revolution by Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin. Ervin was a Vietnam war conscript who became an anti-war activist, went on to join the Black Panthers, and became an anarchist while in prison for high-jacking an aircraft to escape to Cuba after being alleged in an attempt to kill a Ku Klux Klan leader. Anarchism and The Black Revolution, written in prison and first published in 1979, is not only a classic work of late 20th century anarchism, but brings a black perspective to anarchism that has often been missing in a movement dominated by the ideas of white European thinkers.
The Black Lives Matter movement across the world has certainly created a space for resistance against racism, white supremacy and the dynamics of colonialism. Colonialism in the past but also the remains of colonial ideas in the present. The idea that black people and People of Colour, should be "grateful" to the society that offers individuals work and, sometimes, offers asylum and refugee status, is a product of that old colonial mentality that we have to destroy at its roots. The uprooting of the Edward Colston statue that seems to have caused so much uproar is a sign of this on-going and all-pervading colonialist mentality.
