Fighting Times 4 (95) (UK publication) EDITORIAL =09Welcome to our latest edition of Fighting Times, the=20 newsletter of Cambridge Anarchist Group. You=D5ll find news items,=20 our own actions and lots of opinions inside - and as usual, don=D5t=20 think that all the views expressed here represent the views of the=20 group as a whole (although most of them probably are.) We would=20 like to hear from other groups and individuals - the only way=20 forward out of capitalism towards anarchy is if we can work=20 together. The next issue will be out in autumn, so write to us at: Cambridge Anarchist Group Box A 12 Mill Road Cambridge CB1 2AD (1st July 1995) LAND RIGHTS =09=D2The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground,=20 bethought himself of saying, This is mine, and found people=20 simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil=20 society. From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how=20 many horrors and misfortunes might not anyone have saved=20 mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and=20 crying to his fellows, Beware of listening to this impostor, you are=20 undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us=20 all, and the earth itself to nobody.=D3 =09(Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality, part II) =09=D2Our aim is to restore people=D5s control over their=20 surroundings. Between 50 and 75 per cent of land in England and=20 Wales is now owned by 1 per cent of the people. Yet the last=20 sustained campaign in British history aimed specifically at land=20 ownership was the Levellers and the Diggers.=D3 Calling themselves=20 the New Levellers, the Land is Ours campaign in April this year=20 invaded St Georges Hill in Surrey, the site of Gerrard Winstanley=D5s=20 Diggers=D5 commune in 1649. A coalition of travellers, hunt sabs,=20 mainstream greens and eco-activists, their demands include=20 halting the loss of green areas to developers, converting disused=20 industrial sites to housing, protection of wildlife havens and=20 support for organic farming. =09Why are land rights important in this country? Since all=20 wealth ultimately comes from the land (despite all the speculation=20 of the money markets), those who control it have a stranglehold=20 on our futures. This situation can only get worse - as the world=20 population continues to grow, land will become scarcer and those=20 who control it will necessarily grow wealthier: =D2Buy land, they=D5re=20 not making any more=D3, as the saying goes.=20 =09Yet despite growing levels of environmental concern, most=20 people would still show no interest in looking after the land=20 themselves, preferring to entrust the fate of the land to the few=20 individuals who control it while life continues as normal in the=20 cities. Even in the cities land rights are important: developers fight=20 to own expensive sites but the locals have to live with the=20 consequences of the profit motive, for example an unwanted=20 McDonalds restaurant appearing in their neighbourhood. In this=20 and other articles I want to look at how control of the land affects=20 our freedom, both in developing countries and in this country, and=20 what we can and ought to do about it. Controlling the land =09Critical to the possibility of control of the land is the notion=20 of =D2possession=D3 - capitalists strive to establish =D2possession=D3 so t= hat=20 no other is entitled to the benefits of the resources. For instance,=20 the EC set aside policy offers yet another perk for farmers based=20 solely on the idea of possession - farmers are paid to leave land=20 uncultivated so that excessive production is reduced. I could just=20 as easily leave land alone - why not pay me? Even when=20 possession is in dispute the vultures can descend: in Brazil the=20 government is allowing loggers and miners to object to native land=20 claims, slowing things down while the land is still being stripped.=20 (For more on logging for mahogany, see the article on ethical=20 shoplifting.) Some of those protesting against this have been=20 murdered.1 So to protect ourselves we must illegitimize the claims=20 of capitalists to possession of resources - after all, why are they=20 any more entitled to them?=20 =09What does possession mean? We try in all walks of life to=20 possess other things and indeed others - but attempting to possess=20 bits of the world is just as unhealthy as trying to possess others in=20 relationships. Surely the fruits of the earth should be held in=20 common - after all, the one who grabs them did nothing to=20 produce them, so even by the current Western meritocratic=20 culture that person deserves no special entitlement to the benefits=20 of productive land. =D2Our land is more valuable than your=20 money...As long as the sun shines and the waters flow, this land=20 will be there to give life to men and animals, therefore we cannot=20 sell this land. It was put here for us by the Great Spirit and we=20 cannot sell it because it does not belong to us.=D31 So spoke a=20 Blackfoot Indian chief, in line with many other cultures who do=20 not accept this relatively new idea of ownership of land. In=20 precolonial Africa land tenure was tribal, allotted according to=20 need rather than to greedy individuals. Similar notions of the land=20 are to be found amongst Aboriginal and Hindu beliefs, and was=20 prevalent in medieval Europe.=20 =09We cannot be free as long as our land is not common land -=20 cheap labour is not available to capitalists as long as land is freely=20 available, since anyone could refuse factory work and eke their=20 own living. This was the reason for black slavery and Chinese=20 labour in the USA - not being entitled to land (by racism), they=20 were forced to sell their labour (if they had the choice). If work is=20 to be a right and not a privilege, then how else can that right be=20 fulfilled except by access to the sources of wealth, ultimately the=20 land? Without land we are forced to sell our labour, subject to the=20 prevailing capitalist economy. =09Land is almost universally unequally distributed: 10% of=20 Peru owns 93% of the land; in Bangladesh 10% own 50% of the=20 land and 50% are landless; in Brazil 2% own 60% of the land, half=20 of which is unfarmed.1 The distribution of land is critical in=20 dealing with inequality: when a wealthy capitalist lays claim to=20 large estates, small producers are pushed out of business, have to=20 sell their land and move to the cities where their only resource is=20 the sale of their labour, if it is wanted. (See for example the article=20 on the Zapatistas in this issue.) The severe poverty and=20 exploitation of peasants in these countries creates a pool of=20 unemployed which feeds capitalist vultures, both national and=20 international. =09Foreign debt payments demanded by banks lead to a change=20 in production towards cash crops grown purely for export, while=20 again the poor suffer as the price of scarce staples such as beans=20 begins to rise. In the case of multinationals, their ability to move=20 wealth and factories around the globe to the most profitable areas=20 (ie the most exploitable) results in massive social and=20 environmental degradation for which they take no responsibility,=20 upping and leaving when they wish. (The effect of Shell on the=20 peoples of the Niger Delta is a case in point - see the article on=20 Shell.) In Our Own Country =09In developing countries the conflict between peasant worker=20 and capitalist landowner is more explicit than in this country,=20 where much of the expropriation of land has already taken place=20 and the economy is more a service economy for the exploitation of=20 people and resources abroad. But economies can=D5t always develop=20 into something like Britain=D5s economy - capitalism=20 needs resources (finite) and people to exploit. Multinationals can=20 exploit cheap labour by moving operations to poor countries. If=20 the poorest workers in the world could take a share of the wealth=20 that has been taken from them, we would begin to realise the true=20 effects of capitalism on working people in all parts of the globe=20 when our own prosperity declined.=20 =09We can find examples in this country; our farms, for=20 instance. These are currently a capitalist ideal of few workers and=20 much machinery - so that =D2possession=D3 of the land entitles the=20 capitalist to profit from resources, obtained with the least sharing=20 of profit with others. As usual, the capitalist expropriates the=20 function of technology, creating more unemployment and more=20 profit rather than the creation of cheaper goods and lower work=20 hours.=20 A bit of history =09Are the lessons to be learnt in developing countries relevant=20 to Britain? The processes now being experienced by peasants in=20 the third world have their parallel in British history. Since William=20 the Conqueror divided up the land in the Domesday Book, much=20 land that had no official owner before was =D2given=D3 to various=20 barons, though much stayed as common land. But by the 15th=20 century landowners began to seize this land for themselves and=20 the landless found themselves without means to=20 survive, and little work available: the sheep farming preferred by=20 the landlords was less labour intensive than arable farming. After=20 the middle of the 17th century, land was enclosed by those=20 already holding large amounts, provoking the Diggers=D5 protest. The=20 leader of the movement, Gerrard Winstanley, declared, =D2None=20 ought to be Lord over another, but the Earth be free for every one=20 to live upon.=D3 The landless poor drifted to the towns in the 18th=20 century. Factory owners then exploited this cheap labour force,=20 employing children, demanding excessive working hours and=20 providing poor safety. All these things are happening to poor=20 peasants in countries like Mexico now. Land rights in Britain today =09Make no mistake, the land has been taken from us: in=20 Britain 1700 individuals own 1/3 of land. The richest 6% of the=20 population own 74% of the land.2 It might be felt that we still=20 have access to our countryside through our National Parks, but the=20 creation of parks legitimises our exclusion from other areas (and=20 even within parks much of the land is out of bounds to the=20 public). Sweden has a right of access to the countryside, so such a=20 position is certainly possible; but it=D5s not just the freedom to roam=20 we must demand, but the freedom to support ourselves with the=20 fruits of the earth. =09Land rights issues in this country are gaining significance as=20 a result of several factors. These include environmental/road=20 action, the creation of the Criminal Justice Act, and the broadening=20 of the dispossessed underclasses as social divisions widen. Road=20 protests arose in the wake of the expansion of the roads=20 programme under the Thatcher dogma of cars and roads as good=20 for the economy. Similarly to the exploitation found in developing=20 countries, the health of the economy (in the hands of the few who=20 reap the profits) is deemed more significant than the wishes of=20 the local community, which is expected to sacrifice itself to the=20 higher good. Unfortunately for the capitalists, locals and activists=20 have fought bitterly on the M11 and other road projects to=20 prevent their homes and locality being destroyed. In doing so,=20 people have rediscovered a sense of community which continues=20 to empower them. =09Another factor accounting for the appearance of the land=20 rights movement is the Criminal Justice Act. The Act effectively=20 criminalises land-based lifestyles such as the traveller culture,=20 squatting and festivals and raves. By the creation of several=20 criminal forms of trespass (formerly only a civil matter), our=20 access to the land is diminished. We can see events such as=20 Castlemorton and the planned =D2Mother=D3 festival this year as=20 expressions of our right of access to the land. Even our right to=20 protest against such changes has been eroded by the act, giving as=20 it does wide discretionary powers to the police which the police=20 are now beginning to use. Action: =09We need to take the land back, not by fighting for our own=20 little corner - possession as a notion must be radically altered -=20 but by actively determining as communities what happens to the=20 land, overriding the illusion of possession that a few greedy=20 people would like us to continue to hold. =09A first step would be to recover contact with the earth, for=20 example by maintaining an allotment. Cambridge Anarchists are=20 currently tending an allotment collectively - it brings with it an=20 awareness of how the land depends on our responsible=20 stewardship if it is not to be stripped of its fertility and beauty. =09Another step is to roam at will, without damage, in the=20 countryside. Feel entitled to experience the earth, which =D2belongs=D3=20 to no one. Don=D5t forget that we want more than just the freedom to=20 roam - rambling is not anarchism - we need to be able to use the=20 land also. If you travel, try land squatting - you may find that no=20 owner is known (for example when the council try to evict you),=20 and you can then lay claim to the land through the local Land=20 Registry Office.3 Such recovered land should be held open to all=20 when it is large enough: create communities and hold festivals on=20 it. =20 =09Take part in environmental protest - saying that the=20 environment is important implies important for us all not those=20 who think they own it. Keep pulling up the stakes and filling the=20 trenches! =09=09=09Glenn Sources: 1=09New Internationalist, Nov 1987. 3=09Past Plots, Future Fields, Shim Solomon in Squall No. 9, 1995 3=09=D2How to Claim Free Land,=D3 Frontline no. 1, summer 1995. 4=09Observer 23/4/95 - New Levellers. FREEDOM AND PORNOGRAPHY =09"Freedom" is a word that like "anarchism" and "feminism"=20 has been so contorted, so misused that it is impossible to say it=20 and presume that others understand your meaning. It has become=20 a word used to deliberately mislead and misrepresent genuine=20 argument, becoming the opposite of what it is. Consequently, the=20 bandying of "freedom of speech" has become a tool of censorship=20 itself. We've always expected this kind of tactic from politicians,=20 the "free" press and media, but now more and more we can expect=20 to hear it coming from so-called "radical" and "free-thinking"=20 people who call themselves "anarchists" and "feminists" and=20 "socialists". =09As a group committed to working against pornography, the=20 Cambridge Anarchists have been the target of much attack,=20 particularly from Freedom newspaper and supporters of =20 Feminists Against Censorship. Instead of responding to the points=20 we have made with a reasoned argument, these groups merely=20 attempt to silence us by publicising a completely false=20 representation of us, ie. that we are right-wing, authoritarian,=20 anti-sex etc. A strangely confusing question that is asked of us is=20 "why do you single out pornography when there are so many=20 other real issues that need working on?" The answer is simple. We=20 don't single out pornography (which by the way is a real issue).=20 We view the fight against pornography as a consistent part of our=20 politics involving an unlimited number of issues that as anarchists=20 we are fighting. On the contrary, it appears that those anarchists=20 defending pornography have singled it out as the one capitalist,=20 oppressive pillar of the establishment that mustn't be challenged.=20 As Monica Sjoo wrote in an unpublished letter to Freedom, "if any=20 of you male anarchists out there think it is somehow radical or=20 anti-establishment to be for pornography think again. In spite of=20 all the lipservice paid to the contrary there is nothing more=20 acceptable than porn in every patriarchal society, societies that=20 depend on warfare as well as sexual violence for their existence". =09In an article printed in "Green Anarchist" the "Lesbian and=20 Gay Freedom Movement" write that "no pornography is sexist"=20 and yet admit that "sexism is mirrored in images" and later speak=20 of the "sexist images on advertising" - so images can be sexist?!=20 This is a clear contradiction because by this logic no words or=20 pictures can be termed racist, sexist, homophobic etc, since they=20 are merely mirroring an outside "real" world that has created=20 them. How can the mirror, the material representation of sexist=20 acts and attitudes in a way that promotes these acts and attitudes=20 not be called sexist itself? We know, advertisers know, fascists=20 know, and pornographers know, that words and images have=20 power. That they can not only reproduce a condition, but can help=20 to create a condition, whether that means inspiring someone to=20 take action against road-building; getting someone to buy their=20 product; inciting a racist attack, or teaching and confirming to men=20 that women's bodies are their property. Of course the inequality,=20 the sexism, the brutality is real in the world already which is why=20 the pornographers don't have such a hard job to do in=20 propagandising the abuse of women. The point is though, the=20 pornography industry is not a fantasy, it is real in the world, and=20 secondly what are anarchists doing supporting a multi-billion=20 pound capitalist industry which is reinforcing inequality? =09I agree with LGFM that "we need to challenge the nuclear=20 family which is where most sexual violence against women and=20 children occurs" but it just so happens that this is where the vast=20 majority of pornography is consumed, and it doesn't make much=20 sense to tell a man it's wrong to be raping his=20 daughter or his wife when it's fine to be reading about how good=20 it feels and how she wants it really. =09Any top-shelf porn mag will tell you over and over again=20 how females (of whatever age, class, job, status, race) are just=20 longing for that big sexual abuse, punishment, humiliation, how=20 she is forever willing, available and insatiable to whatever desire=20 he foists upon her. And to some this is freedom. And to some this=20 is a libertarian education. =09Another word that seems to be bandied about a lot=20 whenever the issue of pornography arises is "consent". The=20 argument runs that anything goes as long as everyone involved is=20 consenting. On the surface this could appear as a fair enough line=20 to adopt, but unfortunately the lines cannot be drawn so simply.=20 In a free anarchist society maybe "consent" could be easily=20 understood but as it is right now "consent" is conditioned by=20 capitalism and patriarchy just like everything else. Chomsky's=20 phrase "the manufacture of consent"refers to the saturating lies=20 and censorship of the media for the purpose of limiting people's=20 opportunity for making informed independent decisions about=20 events going on around them or in their name. Instead, their=20 consent, that is their permission, collusion, non-opposition, has=20 been constructed by their lack of power, lack of access to=20 information, and the heavily controlled context of the "democracy"=20 in which they live. =09Most of us consent to many things in our lives which in a=20 free world we would never choose to do. Most anarchists don't=20 live in a happy little libertarian culture, where we don't have to at=20 some time go to work, pay the rent, sign-on etc. It's obvious that=20 while we're doing this shitty, exploitative and humiliating thing,=20 the necessity of it for our survival has ensured that we consent=20 (even if we are actively opposing this system at the same time as=20 our coerced involvement with it). =09To bring this back to the issue of pornography, I don't accept=20 that a person's consent is necessarily free from an element of=20 coercion. The consent of a prostitute to sell sex for money is the=20 same kind of consent as that of the worker on the factory floor=20 selling a large part of herself for money needed to survive, or the=20 consent of a woman who trades sex with her partner because she=20 has been educated into dependency on him for housing, pocket=20 money, and a sense of self (paradoxically resulting in the loss of=20 self). So it is hopelessly naive to suggest that women in the sex=20 industry, who are possibly the most extremely exploited workers=20 worldwide give their consent and therefore it is all free and=20 liberating. Consent without freedom always requires a closer=20 analysis. Monica Sjoo illustrates this point clearly: "Pornography=20 does not exist without prostitution and prostitution is about=20 women - such as women from the former Soviet block now=20 unemployed & impoverished or peasant girls in Thailand or the=20 Philippines sold into sexual slavery to gratify =D4sex tourists=D5 from=20 the Western World by families who have no other way to survive=20 - disempowered and poor, women sexually abused as children,=20 women needing money for drugs to dull their pain in a world=20 where there is neither freedom nor choice for the majority of=20 women". (It needs to be noted that a large number of women and=20 children used by the sex industry do not give any kind of consent=20 whatsoever). =09It also needs to be said that many women and children=20 whose lives are seriously, sometimes irreparably damaged by=20 pornography used by their partner, or member of their family, or=20 stranger in violence against them, do not consent. Which is why I=20 get angry when some porn apologist says "well if you don't like it=20 you don't have to look at it". Two points to this one - Firstly, few=20 girls and women can get through life not having to look at=20 pornography at some time. A few of the times when I was made=20 to look at pornography were at school by boys in my class (all the=20 girls were subjected to this along with intimidating and=20 humiliating comments); by soldiers at Greenham Common who=20 covered their army truck windows with porn in an attempt to=20 undermine us as women and disempower our political resistance;=20 by an older boy who abused me when I was a child who told me=20 to "do it like they do it in the pictures". Secondly, even if we never=20 have to see pornography, men who we share the streets, transport=20 and homes with are looking at it. Women and children are raped=20 and violently assaulted by men, some (an extremely moderate=20 word) of whom have been encouraged, motivated or had their=20 abusive desires validated, by their consumption of pornography=20 and its lessons in "what women want". Choice about no contact=20 with pornography was never on the agenda. =09Perhaps one of the things which grieves me most about=20 pornography is that it's not only men who learn from it but=20 women too who internalise its messages. That it is also one of the=20 most common places that girls learn about sex and what it means=20 to be a sexual woman. A blatant lesson in our inequality, in male=20 supremacy and in what is expected of us. A lesson in what we=20 must "consent" to if we are to win the all-important male approval=20 which we can see in the "real" world all around us is vital to our=20 success and survival. Male approval which if lost, our conditioned=20 fear warns us, will leave us cast out alone, humiliated, in danger.=20 Better the devil we know etc. It's an education which supports a=20 hell of a lot of other industries apart from pornography, such as=20 cosmetics, dieting, plastic surgery, fashion, all of which cause harm=20 to the physical and emotional health of women, children, and=20 increasingly now since they are becoming commercially targetted,=20 men. =09There is no doubt whatsoever in the evidence of violence=20 caused by pornography (see, eg, =D2Pornography: Women, Violence=20 and Civil Liberties=D3, by Catherine Itzin.) It is this evidence which=20 is being censored by people who continually say that it does not=20 exist, who refuse to listen to or ridicule into silence those brave=20 people who speak out about the harm it has done to them, and the=20 harm they know it is doing to many many more. Evidence which=20 is being censored by those who, after you have spoken, fling the=20 same tired old lines at you as if you had not said a word. Evidence=20 which is repeatedly blockaded by cries of "censorship" and=20 "freedom of speech". =09So we come back to that word again - FREEDOM - and though=20 I'm not original in asking, it has to be asked, whose freedom is it=20 that we're talking about here? And if this freedom depends on=20 another's lack of freedom then it is a power we must vigorously=20 oppose.=20 =09=09=09Frances TANK GIRL: FEMINIST OR POST-FEMINIST FAKE? =09Tank Girl the comic strip character, Tank Girl the poster,=20 Tank Girl the T-shirt and now Tank Girl the movie. If it wasn=D5t for=20 the fact she was female, she=D5d probably bomb as another Mad Max=20 look-a-like. Tank Girl has become one of the latest icons, a punky,=20 pugnacious nihilist who perpetuates the notion of the arrival of=20 post-feminism with =D2strong=D3 women. Angry, violent and free -=20 does she empower women, as the media hype would claim? =09First appearing in Deadline in 1988, Tank Girl was created=20 by Jamie Hewlett as a challenge to the usual comic hero(ine)=20 conventions. Hewlett himself says, =D2Some people thought she was=20 a feminist but she=D5s not. She=D5s a total hedonist.=D3 She portrays the= =20 vacuous media concept of attitude, =D2self-love in a void, denoting=20 the projection of a non-specific, undirected anger as effect=D3, as=20 Charlotte Raven of the Guardian describes it. =09Once again, it seems that our culture prefers women to wear=20 the trappings of patriarchal power before they are accepted as=20 powerful: Tank Girl is brutal, tasteless and irresponsible and=20 portrayed as =D2free=D3 as a result. It is the same trap that =D2anarchist= =D3=20 trendies fall into - freedom is all that anarchism means to them,=20 freedom from being told what to do, freedom to ignore the=20 freedom and fulfilment of others. It=D5s no surprise to find anarchist=20 and fascist symbols on the same person - nihilism is the real=20 philosophy, and it cannot construct a positive society.=20 =09Freedom of sexual expression has also got confused in the=20 anarchist movement in Britain. Groups such as Freedom seem=20 almost frantic in their obsession with defending the capitalist=20 industry of pornography. Of course women can adopt the values of=20 this male discourse, but that does not attack patriarchy or make it=20 valid. The collusion of the victim with his or her exploitation is=20 part of the equation - how many of the smiles on porn models=20 seem real? A better world will still have free sexual expression,=20 but it will not have sexist or heterosexist views of freedom forced=20 upon us. =09Tank Girl adopts the same patriarchal agenda. Remember=20 she isn=D5t real - she is a packaged fantasy, like those of the porn=20 industry. The packaging has patriarchy stamped all over it. She=20 may be free to do and say anything she likes, but is she=20 subversive, does she really challenge our society with her=20 nihilism? She is as subversive as any =D2post-feminist=D3: mixing up a=20 few conventions, but conventional nonetheless. She is as =D2free=D3 as=20 our society currently accepts freedom to mean for women.=20 Freedom should not just mean the ability for women to take part=20 in a society determined by the boardrooms of capitalists, even=20 female capitalists. As long as exploitation exists as a model in our=20 society, we are all exploited.=20 =09=09=09=09Based on Charlotte Raven=D5s article in the=20 Guardian, 25 May 1995. =09=09=09Glenn PARLIAMENT: LYING, CHEATING AND SLEAZY =09If you ever needed a finer example of one law for them and=20 another law for us, or just how crap Western democracy really is=20 then look no further than the MP who in a blaze of media=20 attention in May was caught using another MP=D5s name to table a=20 motion to Parliament so that he could change the law in something=20 he had a personal interest in (British Gas). Now if you or I were=20 caught making a false representation for personal gain it would be=20 called fraud and you would be locked up for it. For this lying Tory=20 all he has to do is to say sorry to the rest of the scum in=20 Parliament. That=D5s it, he isn=D5t thrown out of office nor even=20 disciplined, nothing! So if you=D5re caught, say, fiddling the social=20 just remember to say sorry to the rest of the claimants and it will=20 all be OK, not! =09The Nolan report will recommend surface changes to clean=20 up the image of our glorious democratic system, but this is all just=20 an exercise in making sure the governed masses don=D5t realise that=20 all MP=D5s are lying self-servicing bastards. The report will change=20 nothing, after a few months of the usual bullshit it will be straight=20 back to work as normal, ripping the voters off. MP=D5s have always=20 been power-hungry liars, willing to do capitalism=D5s dirty work in=20 keeping the working class down and keeping up the illusion that=20 we are all free. The only good MP is a dead MP. It is time we all=20 stopped giving up our own power to these bastards to misuse in=20 their own and capitalism=D5s interests, and started to take back what=20 is ours anyway, the freedom to make decisions which affect us,=20 ourselves. Dont vote, be free. Anarchy and Peace, =09=09=09=09Elric SHELL =09Thanks to pressure from Greenpeace activists and from=20 european governments, Shell have at last backed down on their=20 decision to dump the Brent Spar oilrig in the North Atlantic. On=20 the face of it, it looks like a victory for high-profile campaigning=20 by a pressure group and the threat of a consumer boycott of Shell=20 petrol stations (in Germany, where the campaign was launched,=20 the boycott had reached the 80% mark before Shell caved in.)=20 Shell have even turned down the promised government tax relief=20 for disposal of the rig, probably as a PR exercise. =09However, as anarchists we should have doubts about=20 hierarchical groups such as Greenpaece dictating the terms of our=20 environmental concern. We are certainly stronger as a united=20 front rather than divided individuals. Certainly small autonomous=20 groups such as ALF cells can wreak havoc on animal abusers (in=20 June this year =A32 million of damage was done to Milk Marque=20 property in Cheshire), but isolated actions generally cannot of=20 themselves change the fundamental injustices in society. However,=20 centralised organisations such as Greenpeace rarely consult their=20 membership for direction, and they continue to operate from=20 within the perspective of a capitalist economy. Consumer boycotts=20 indeed work in single issue areas, but we still only have a choice=20 within the system. We cannot boycott capitalism - we'd soon be=20 forced to consume if we tried. =09Even within capitalism, the campaign has a very narrow=20 field of view: for example, Germany itself pollutes the North Sea in=20 other ways via the pollution of the Rhine. In addition, Shell's other=20 abuses have been pushed aside at least for the present - Shell no=20 longer recognises the GMB union; Shell has entered oil deals with=20 Australia and Indonesia over access to the Timor Gap region in=20 East Timor - a country over which Indonesia has no authority=20 except illegitimate annexation; Shell's operations in Nigeria have=20 motivated the military dictatorship to crush the Movement for the=20 Survival of the Ogoni People (MoSOP), which defended the rights=20 of those whose livelihoods have been destroyed by thirty years of=20 Shell's activities in the Niger Delta. =09In Nigeria, Shell have extracted over =A3200 billion over the=20 last thirty years from the lands of the Ogoni and other ethnic=20 groups in the Niger Delta. In return the Ogoni have been showered=20 with soot from gas flaring, had their land spoiled by oilspills and=20 had pipelines driven through their villages. No compensation has=20 been forthcoming.=20 =09Shell pulled out in 1993 when MoSOP became active,=20 whereupon the Nigerian military dictatorship began to crush the=20 peaceful protest movement. Since more than half of the regime=D5s=20 income came from Shell=D5s operations, the military have been=20 conducting a wasting operation against the Ogoni (including=20 murder, torture, destruction of whole villages and more) so that=20 Shell can resume oil drilling. Shell, of course, say it is nothing to do=20 with them. =09So let=D5s remind Shell that we care - picket your local garage=20 and make life difficult for them in all sorts of ways... In Germany,=20 there were four firebomb attacks on Shell petrol stations, a tactic=20 revived from the time of Shell=D5s involvement in apartheid. In=20 Cambridge, the anarchist group and local Earth First! group have=20 been picketing the garages, and has received strong support,=20 many drivers pulling out of the garage rather than fill up there.=20 Greenpeace have campaigned in the past about Shell=D5s=20 invovlement in Nigeria - urge them to continue with this. There is=20 also an Anti-Corporations Fayre on 28th October, at Conway Hall,=20 Red Lion Square, London WC1. For more information on Shell,=20 contact Cambridge Earth First!, Box E, 12 Mill Road, Cambridge CB1 =09=09=09Glenn WILD THYME CAFE =09The Wild Thyme Cafe is a community evening of three- course vegan meals, radical book stall, friendly meeting space and=20 folk music from Joe Bogggs and the Invisible Navvies of Utopia. It=20 is currently being held in the Ross Street Community Centre in=20 Cambridge and is organised by Cambridge Anarchist Group, which=20 carries on the work of the original cafe collective. =09Depending on time and people, these events can be a few=20 months apart, but hopefully will fall into a more regular and more=20 frequent pattern soon. New people who enjoy vegan cooking are=20 always welcome to get involved. The next Wild Thyme event will=20 be on Sunday 27th August. For more information write to us at=20 Box A, Arjuna, 12 Mill Road, Cambridge CB1 2AD ETHICAL SHOPLIFTING =09CRISP-O, or Citizen's Recovery of Indigenous Peoples' Stolen=20 Property Organisation, is a fair trade organisation that has been=20 seizing Mahogany all over the country since 1993. The stolen=20 property in question is Brazilian Mahogany, Swietenia=20 marcrophylla, which occurs almost exclusively in the southern=20 margins of the Brazilian Amazon, where logging for this wood is=20 rapidly becoming the most significant cause of deforestation of the=20 rainforest. As a direct consequence of over-exploitation and=20 increasing scarcity of the species, the majority of exported=20 Mahogany is now illegally logged from Indian and Biological=20 Reserves. The impact of the logging in the Indian Reserves is=20 devastating to the indigenous people, their cultures and=20 livelihoods, bringing alcoholism, epidemics of introduced diseases=20 and widespread social dislocation. There are well documented=20 cases of Indians being murdered for resisting the incursions of=20 logging companies onto their lands. Britain consumes 56% of all=20 the Mahogany that Brazil exports, therefore stopping the sale of=20 Mahogany goods in this country could measurably reduce=20 rainforest destruction and help bring an end to the suffering of=20 the indigenous peoples of the Amazon. The actions =09Now it so happens that the Robert Sayle store in Cambridge=20 sells a great deal of Mahogany (most=20 of their posh clocks are made from it for instance), so a number of=20 law-abiding citizens concerned at the store's possible illegal=20 activities formed a CRISP-O group and set about recovering this=20 stolen property. There have now been five actions to date, each=20 involving CRISP-O Officers seizing objects from the store made=20 from Mahogany and taking them to Parkside police station to=20 request that the police investigate who the rightful owner of the=20 wood is, and whether Robert Sayle are knowingly trading in stolen=20 goods. On the most recent action a couple of activists also climbed=20 up the front of the store to unfurl a couple of banners. Robert=20 Sayle's well thought out and reasoned response to this was to=20 smear the Post Office next door in grease to stop anyone climbing=20 up it again to get onto their balcony!There will be more=20 Mahogany-related actions over the summer - contact Cambridge=20 Earth First! if you want to get involved. Earth First - Cars Last =09Marshalls' huge car showroom on the outskirts of Cambridge=20 was the venue for a spot of banner-drop training, to mark Climate=20 Action Day. A 12ft banner with the 'usual' slogan (yawn!) was=20 displayed precariously 30ft above a number of nice shinny cars,=20 causing not an insignificant numbers of heart attacks among the=20 showroom staff. The police kindly took the trouble put in an=20 appearance, warning us not to hurt the pretty cars, before=20 buggering off again. One officer suggested "Why don't you go off=20 and do something else, like defacing car posters?" - tut tut, what a=20 suggestion. Cambridge EF! is willing to offer a small prize for=20 "Most Bizarre Police Incitement". =09=09=09CEF EMMA HUMPHREYS: SELF-DEFENCE IS NO OFFENCE! =09In 1985 Emma Humphreys, then 17, was sentenced to be=20 detained at her majesty=D5s (sick) pleasure for killing Trevor=20 Armitage. He had kept her a virtual prisoner for six months,=20 regularly subjecting her to rape and physical violence, including=20 gang-rape. She stabbed him once, when he was about to rape her,=20 and he died later. =09In June this year the parole board rejected granting Emma a=20 release date or moving her to an open prison. She=D5s now spent=20 over 9 years=20 in custody, a lot longer than most convicted rapists and many men=20 who have killed women known to them. Obviously she should=20 never have been imprisoned for her crime in the first place,=20 although this was considered by Justice Jones as room for her to=20 receive the help which she badly needs. In prison? =09Emma=D5s lawyers have won grounds for appeal and are also=20 seeking to challenge the parole board=D5s recent decision by a=20 judicial review. Justice for Women are campaigning for Emma=D5s=20 release and also for a change in the law to enable women who kill=20 in self-defence to use the defence of provocation. =09Cambridge Anarchists were at the demonstration on the first=20 day of the appeal, on the 29th June at the Royal Courts of Justice.=20 Hopefully the fact that the case was adjourned means that the=20 case is being examined as a possible precedent for changing the=20 law on provocation as a defence. Currently the law sets male=20 killers free (provoked by their wife=D5s =D2nagging=D3) on suspended=20 sentences, whereas women usually kill when the man is=20 vulnerable, and unlikely to be =D2provocative=D3 at that precise=20 moment. =09Over 200 women and a handful of men attended the protest,=20 which was energetic and noisy. Kiranjit Ahluwalia, who killed her=20 abusive husband but was released from prison last year, arrived=20 to enthusiastic cheering and applause. Emma must have felt=20 comforted by the strength of support. Earlier she was so terrified=20 and anxious that she had refused to come from Holloway Prison to=20 court in a police van, coming instead in a car. Once the case was=20 adjourned, protestors from the Royal Courts of Justice greeted her=20 again as she was taken back inside Holloway. Info:Justice for Women, 55 Rathcoole Gardens, London N8 9NE=20 (0181-340-3699) Free Satpal Ram! =09Also present at the demonstration were a small group=20 demanding justice for Satpal Ram, again declaring that self- defence is no offence. Satpal Ram was attacked by racists in the=20 restaurant where he worked in Birmingham in 1986. Pelted by=20 glasses and plates, he was =D2glassed=D3 twice in the face by one of=20 them. He took a knife from the restaurant to defend himself and=20 when he was attacked again he stabbed a racist, who later died=20 refusing medical treatment. He has been in prison ever since.=20 Women at the Emma Humphreys demonstration called for his=20 release also. For more information, contact: Free Satpal Campaign,=20 101 Villa Road, Handsworth, Birmingham B19 1NH, 0121-551- 4518. PRIDE =09We had a brilliant day on Saturday 24th June at lesbian,=20 bisexual and gay Pride. Hundreds of thousands of people turned=20 out with almost as many whistles and we marched the two hour=20 journey from Hyde Park to Tower Hamlets in full festive spirit.=20 There was music, dancing, exravagant costumes, singing along the=20 way and, most of all, waving hello to every single person in house,=20 car and coach. We were met by welcoming banners and waving=20 people in every street and it strongly reminded me that the world=20 isn=D5t quite so full of narrow-minded bigots as some would like us=20 to think.=20 =09Once we reached Victoria Park we settled ourselves at the=20 main stage for some drink, dancing and soaking up of the general=20 atmosphere, ending in a spectacular highly emotional firework=20 display, after which we had to leave to get our train back to=20 Cambridge. A great day - let=D5s have Pride every day of the year! =09=09=09Frances GREENHAM =09On the 11th May 1995 a group of Women, with a range of=20 backgrounds and ages, set out on a walk with one objective in=20 mind, PEACE. We walked a route along the Ridgeway Path=20 starting from the White Horse (Dragon) Hill at Uffington, over=20 three days culminating in a ceremony for Peace at the Avebury=20 Stone Circle site. Various symbolic affirmations took place to=20 celebrate Beltaine and the purpose of our peace walk. There were=20 songs, poems, recitations, minutes of silence and holding of hands,=20 all focusing on the need for this world to rid itself of the evil of=20 bombs and guns and war. It was a very special time for us all,=20 and hope that the energy we left there filters out to the hearts=20 and minds of all people, and helps protect our Earth. =20 =09We did not stop there though, since it seems that only=20 through positive direct action will the Government take some=20 notice. So, at 6.30pm on the Sunday evening, five women=20 proceeded to cut down three panels of wire fencing at=20 Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment and damaged three=20 others, good work considering we were promptly arrested at=20 6.35pm! We were charged under the Criminal Damage Act and=20 are now awaiting a date for Court. We will keep you informed=20 since it will be interesting to see the outcome of this case as we=20 now have good lines of defence coming up from the prosecution of=20 previous cuttings, which will be heard on the 3-7th July 1995 (see=20 the article on lawful excuse for criminal damage.)=20 =09Other action was also taken Sunday night when six women=20 walked straight through the Security Checkpoint on the gate at=20 Aldermaston, singing songs of peace and freedom as they were=20 hastily retrieved and escorted out again. There was a defiant=20 stand-off at the gate when they refused to move aside for vehicles=20 entering and leaving the site, effectively blocking the route for=20 several hours in support of the women arrested earlier, and the=20 fight against Trident. It was brilliant stuff and after we were all=20 released we went back to the Greenham Peace Camp very happy=20 and very tired, but truly fulfilled with our Actions. =20 =09 =09Of course, as with other Greenham Women=D5s demonstrations=20 against these Government terrorists, it never made the media, but=20 believe it they are still there and still happening and I felt=20 privileged to be among them as one of them, and will continue to=20 fight the battle we should ALL be responsible for fighting. =20 Indeed, there is no pressure to take actions since they are seen as=20 =D2criminal=D3 in the eyes of The Law. But in the light of real truth, it= =20 is those who invent and manufacture bombs, who are the true=20 criminals. Trident has the capability of killing approximately 200=20 million people with one warhead, and there are four warheads per=20 trident missile. These are carried by three submarines based at=20 Faslane, Scotland and were recently armed and ready for war. =20 What war! Can you imagine the devastation just one of these=20 missiles would reap?!, aside from the cost, around 33 million=20 pounds a year, it is insane and an unbelievable waste!! You can=20 imagine I am sure, the benefits of unlocking the enormous=20 defence budget to benefit ALL. So, should you wish to take part=20 and make a positive stand against Trident, as well as Fascism,=20 =D2FEEL FREE=D3 to contact myself, via this article, or Greenham=20 Common Women=D5s Peace Camp directly at Yellow Gate, Greenham=20 Common, Newbury, Berks; RG19 6HN. =09=09=09Fiona Remember Helen Thomas =09This August 5th, women will mark the 6th anniversary of=20 the killing of Helen Thomas at Greenham Common Women=D5s Peace=20 Camp, by a West Midlands Police horsebox. Helen was a 22 year=20 old Welsh woman who was living and working at the peace camp=20 and was committed to revolutionary struggle against injustice. The=20 police attempted to cover up her death with lies, but although=20 officially her death is recorded as =D2accidental=D3, women are still=20 working to bring out the truth. That is, that Helen was standing=20 still behind the pedestrian safety lines when the vehicle hit her.=20 That several people including an MoD policeman (who afterwards=20 resigned) saw her killed and had their testimonies undermined=20 and rejected. That witnesses were invented to back up police lies=20 about the incident. That vital pathological and photographic=20 evidence was not presented to the Inquest jury. That the Inquest=20 was biased and farcical from start to finish. That we do not accept=20 the verdict =D2accidental death.=D3 Hiroshima and Nagasaki The camp will be commemorating the 50th anniversary of the=20 bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with days of non-violent=20 direct action, workshops, discussion, etc. on 6th-9th August. All=20 women welcome, please bring a tent, food, etc. if possible. For=20 more information, phone Frances on 01223 514901. CRIMINAL DAMAGE AND LAWFUL EXCUSE =09Causing damage to property can be an extremely successful=20 tactic in a whole range of non-violent direct action struggles. In=20 recent years it has become widely used with much success by=20 activists involved in animal rights, Earth First!, anti-military and=20 anti-pornography, to name a few. To follow the charge of =D2criminal=20 damage=D3 to court, pleading not guilty, can be an important=20 continuation of the original action, and provides a useful=20 opportunity to really clarify our politics and strengthen our=20 convictions, so that on leaving the court we feel even more=20 determined to get our hands back onto the tools of resistance. =09To give strength to a political defence there are strong legal=20 defences that can be presented to provide a validity in language=20 the court is obliged to recognise (despite them failing to do so=20 most of the time.) =09When we take direct action we are doing so for a clear and=20 direct reason. This reason may possibly be argued under the=20 defence of having =D2lawful=D3 excuse within Section 5 of the Criminal=20 Damage Act 1971. The vital part of this section is subsection 2(b):=20 a person charged with =D2criminal damage=D3 shall have a lawful=20 excuse if =D2s/he...damaged...the property in question...in order to=20 protect property belonging to himself or another...and at the time=20 of the act...alleged to constitute the offence s/he believed (i) that=20 the property...was in immediate need of protection; and (ii) that=20 the means of protection adopted...were...reasonable having regard=20 to all the circumstances. I=D5ve italicized the words that will be=20 particularly tested in court. =09An example of this defence is the case of several Greenham=20 Common=20 women presently appealing their conviction of guilty to criminal=20 damage (Reading Crown Court: 3rd-7th July this year), using this=20 defence. Women cut the fence at Atomic Weapons Establishment=20 Aldermaston with the intention of preventing the AWE from=20 operating. They testified in the original trial that had they not=20 been stopped cutting the fence they would have continued inside=20 to decommission the establishment. They had =D2lawful excuse=D3 to=20 cause this damage to prevent a far greater crime being committed=20 - criminal damage on the scale of genocide and ecological=20 destruction. They argued using Section 5.2(b) that they genuinely=20 believed that the land around Aldermaston is in immediate need=20 of protection, providing documented evidence of the land in this=20 area being contaminated with plutonium from the AWE, and that=20 an accident could happen at any time. Also provided was evidence=20 of people whose lives have been taken or damaged by=20 contamination directly caused by the AWE (over 100 workers).=20 Women believed that their action was =D2reasonable having regard=20 to all the circumstances=D3 because there is no other legal means of=20 closing down the AWE that would respond to the immediacy of=20 the danger. No party that might get into power has a policy=20 against nuclear weapons, and despite the magistrate=D5s eager=20 questioning of =D2have you written to your MP?=D3 the women=20 remained a tad cynical about the potential effectiveness of this=20 suggestion. =09Finally the magistrate, unable to default the defence on its=20 own merits, found the women guilty by digging out a precedent=20 (Hill and Hall) where political activists were convicted after using=20 this defence. However, the precedent does not stand up to an=20 examined comparison to this case, the intention of the precedent=20 action being far more symbolic and remote from its eventual aim,=20 therefore failing on the point of immediacy. The women will be=20 taking this defence to the full length of the appeal system so=20 watch this space! =09Another group of people who used Section 5.2(b) as their=20 legal defence, to give structure to their political one, are Bristol=20 Women Against Pornography. They were charged with criminal=20 damage to the entire shelf of porn magazines in John Menzies, and=20 presented a powerful defence based on having =D2lawful excuse=D3, to=20 prevent the immediate damage to women=D5s and children=D5s lives.=20 Immediate because this damage is happening now, and to attack it=20 where it is distributed because it is the most accessible and visible=20 place. =09A vital phrase to remember in this defence is, =D25.3: For the=20 purposes of this section it is immaterial whether a belief is=20 justified or not if it is honestly held.=D3 Both of these cases were=20 found guilty, but these convictions only prove that the law is=20 being deliberately misinterpreted, because to accept the law as it=20 stands would be far too threatening to the establishment, and=20 would force the court to recognise the political action as opposed=20 to the =D2criminal=D3 action. For further information on this defence, or for updates about the=20 Greenham Common womens appeal, write to Box A, 12 Mill Rd,=20 Cambridge. For further information on either of the groups=20 mentioned here, contact: Yellow Gate Women=D5s Peace Camp,=20 Greenham Common, Nr Newbury, Berks RG19 6HN; or, Bristol=20 Women Against Pornography, Box 13, Greenleaf Bookshop, 82=20 Colston St, Bristol BS1 5BB. =09=09=09Frances =09CITIZENS AGAINST BIG BROTHER =09The locally formed group, Citizens Against Big Brother, was=20 set up to oppose the installation of CCTV cameras in Cambridge=20 city centre on the grounds that this was an unacceptable infringement=20 of our civil liberties. At present, CABB is taking a short break since=20 the Home Office turned down the City Council=D5s application for a=20 grant of half a million pounds for the camera scheme.=20 =09Apparently the crime rate in Cambridge isn=D5t high enough=20 yet, so no doubt the council and police are working on pushing up=20 the crime statistics ready for the next application attempt. It is=20 obvious that the local press is now involved in the camera=20 crusade, since from the moment the application was rejected we=20 have had no end of crime stories, with just about each one=20 including quotes from victims about how this might have been=20 prevented if we had surveillance cameras and oh how much safer=20 the streets would be! =09Boring and predictable, but unfortunately the fact is that we=20 do already have many surveillance cameras installed in the city=20 centre, and they seem to be quietly popping up unannounced all=20 over the place. We expect people will be creative and imaginative=20 in exercising their citizens=D5 rights to remove Big Brother from their=20 streets. =09=09=09Frances THE FIRST OF MAY =09The government has been attempting to abolish May 1st as=20 a bank holiday for a long time and this year succeeded by quietly=20 (most people weren=D5t aware till it happened) moving the holiday=20 to May 8th, for the given reason of celebrating VE day! Despite=20 this, people weren=D5t so willing to let the history and meaning of=20 May 1st, a day of International Workers=D5=20 Solidarity, be eradicated, and events happened to mark it in towns=20 all over the country. =09Thousands turned out on Sunday 30th April for the May Day=20 March in London, against the Criminal (In)justice Act, followed by=20 a festival on Clapham Common. In Cambridge the Anarchist Group=20 had a display on show for a week in the Arjuna wholefoods shop,=20 detailing the history of May Day, the Haymarket martyrs, May =D468=20 and workers=D5 struggles today. There were events held for the=20 whole week in Saffron Walden, beginning with a May 1st=20 procession and ending with a peace picnic where conscientious=20 objectors from the war spoke and local people staged a William=20 Morris play. =09Cambridge Anarchist Group and the Cambridge Coalition=20 Against the CJA had a picnic and rounders match with an=20 anarchist book stall, and 30-40 people turned up. It was noted=20 that posters had been flyposted around town pointing out the=20 hypocrisy of VE Day celebrations when the government is=20 spending =A330 billion a year on Trident nuclear weapons and is=20 blatantly excluding from remembrance the 200 000 killed in=20 Hiroshima and Nagasaki, three months after VE Day. =09=09=09Frances VE DAY - WHOSE VICTORY? =09On Monday May 8th 1995 was the 50th anniversary of VE -=20 =D2Victory in Europe=D3 - Day; a =D2victory=D3 we are told by those who=20 supported and participated in World War 2: politicians, royal=20 heads of state, religious leaders,=20 =D2community=D3 leaders; local, national and international media; by=20 our parents, grandparents and family; and, if we are at school, by=20 teachers and even on children=D5s TV. We are told that the end of=20 World War 2 represents the =D2liberation=D3 of Europe and the world=20 from the tyranny of Nazism and the evils of fascism, racism,=20 genocide, atrocities, concentration camps and death camps, which=20 is, we are told, an unparallelled and overwhelming spectacle=20 without comparison. This spectacle is supposed to be viewed in=20 isolation as a terrible and horrific but uniquely German=20 phenomenon, and that the victory was one of triumph of =D2good=20 over evil=D3, =D2right over wrong=D3, the divine re-establishment and=20 preservation of =D2freedom=D3, =D2democracy=D3 and =D2fundamental=20 humanitarian principles and values,=D3 paving the way for 50 years=20 of =D2peace=D3, and after the demise of so-called communist regimes in=20 Eastern Europe, Russia and elsewhere (which in reality were=20 nothing but totalitarian, State capitalist dictatorships which=20 maintained brutally divided class societies based upon wage=20 slavery, forced labour, exploitation, hierarchy, bureaucracy,=20 taxation, commodity exchange and money, and on coming to=20 power all but crushed the brief flowering of free and autonomous=20 communist and anarchist communities in the wake of revolution),=20 we are told by John Major that this has heralded in a =D2new age of=20 reason and sanity.=D3 =09Millions of people in towns, cities, villages, households and=20 communities all over Britain,=20 Europe and the world seem to have taken this message to their=20 hearts without any doubt or question whatsoever. The fetes,=20 street parties, church services, mass rallies in Hyde Park, outside=20 the gates of Buckingham Palace, the airshows and military=20 displays all serve, it appears, to affirm a total, united, unshakeable=20 belief among the people within the nation, across Europe and the=20 world in these =D2glorious and essential truths of our living history.=D3 =09But this is only one =D2truth=D3, one version of history, created,=20 manufactured, manipulated and engineered by our =D2rulers=D3,=20 =D2leaders=D3, and heads of state, their agents and supporters, before,=20 during and after the war right to the present day, to ensure as far=20 as possible the complete establishment and domination in our=20 individual and collective consciousness of the capitalist and ruling=20 class version of history, so their history becomes =D2ours=D3, which we=20 live and participate within, recreate and reproduce, in one of the=20 most vast, total, dominating and all-pervasive propaganda=20 spectacles in living history. =09The purpose of this is to reinforce the blind, suicidal and=20 mindless conformity, submission and obedience to the leaders and=20 ruling classes of capitalist nation states, through belief in such=20 insane, reactionary ideals as nationalism, patriotism and=20 militarism, and the worship of such false, irrational myths and=20 superstitions as =D2God and country=D3, in order to enforce, consolidate=20 and uphold their continued rule, profits, power, domination and=20 control over territory, resources and masses of poor, exploited and=20 enslaved proletarians, who are viciously and ruthlessly robbed=20 and exploited by their capitalist bosses and masters, in the=20 escalating economic crisis and competition between rival capitalist=20 ruling classes and nation states. Ultimately, when this conflict=20 degenerates into war, the proletarians are sent to defend their=20 rulers=D5 wealth and power and continued rule and existence, to kill=20 and die to defend their own poverty, slavery and exploitation, and=20 to annihilate millions of other poor, enslaved, exploited=20 proletarians to this end. =09So what of the darker and more sinister features of our past=20 =D2leaders=D3=D5 and government=D5s involvement in World War 2, its=20 preconditions and the events leading up to it? The horrific truth=20 behind their sickening, obscene, sanctimonious hypocrisy and lies;=20 presenting themselves as saviours, humanitarians committed to=20 =D2peace, freedom, democracy, and a New World Order=D3? The=20 connection between the governments and ruling classes of=20 =D2democratic=D3 capitalist states and the rise to power of fascism,=20 which they cannot obscure and obliterate from history, no matter=20 how many detailed, graphic and explicit films, photographs, books,=20 television programmes, newspaper and magazine features=20 documenting the horrors, inhumanity and atrocities of=20 concentration camps. =09=D2Only one thing could have prevented the rise of our=20 movement to power, if our opponents had understood its aims and=20 purpose from the very start and smashed it with the utmost=20 brutality=D3...Adolf Hitler, 1933. The politicians, bosses, capitalists=20 and ruling classes of =D2democratic=D3 capitalist states in Europe=20 understood the aims and purposes of fascism only too well, and=20 used it as a tool in order to defend and maintain their own rule,=20 wealth and power, before becoming the =D2Allies=D3 and the =D2saviours=20 of peace, freedom, democracy and humanity=D3, when fascism=20 threatened to destabilise and ultimately destroy the stability of=20 rival capitalist economies and nation states in Europe, the control=20 of trade routes, resources and capital, and of course the continued=20 rule and existence of various ruling elites, which millions of poor,=20 impoverished, exploited masses of working class people were=20 deceived, manipulated, indoctrinated and coerced into=20 slaughtering each other for. =09The =D2Allied=D3 nations, governments and ruling classes=20 supported and financed the establishment, growth and rise to=20 power of fascism in Europe, a deliberate policy of capitalism in a=20 situation of economic crisis, social unrest, organised militancy and=20 insurgence of an increasingly destitute and impoverished working=20 class. One of the =D2aims and purposes=D3 of the fascist organisations=20 was to smash working class organisations, their opposition and=20 resistance to capitalism and the state by physical force,=20 repression, murder and terror as well as division and=20 fragmentation of the working classes by racist, anti-semitic and=20 nationalist propaganda, hatred, bigotry, fear and paranoia. British=20 capitalism financed the fascist regimes of Franco, Mussolini and=20 Hitler; in 1936 the Bank of England loaned =A3100 000 to the Nazi=20 regime in Germany; Unilever, one of Britain=D5s biggest and oldest=20 companies, behind many everyday household brands (including=20 Wall=D5s ice cream, PG Tips tea, Persil, Radion, Comfort and Sunlight=20 washing powders and liquids, Mattesons meats, Batchelors snacks,=20 Flora margarine and Bird=D5s Eye frozen foods), sold millions of=20 pounds worth of whale oil to Hitler=D5s Nazi government in the=20 1930=D5s, from which glycerine could be obtained to manufacture=20 explosives. As well as being one of the world=D5s biggest=20 multinationals involved in vivisection, factory farming,=20 deforestation, ecological rape, plunder and devastation in the=20 =D2Third World=D3 and the death, disease and starvation, mass murder=20 and genocide which accompanies it, a brutal legacy of decades and=20 centuries of British and European colonialism, Unilever to this day=20 manufactures nitroglycerine for explosives, thus supporting the=20 arms trade and state sponsored death, terror, torture, murder and=20 mass destruction around the world. =09In Britain, Oswald Mosley=D5s British Union of Fascists was=20 given massive political support and financial aid by the British=20 establishment, big business and the capitalist media, including=20 papers such as the Mail, who today lecture on the evil and=20 inhumanity of fascism, and the threat to democracy it=20 represented, in the 1930=D5s glowingly described Mosley in terms of=20 a =D2new spirit of national unity, loyalty and discipline, a glorious=20 renewal of the British Empire.=D3 Mosley and the British Union of=20 Fascists openly held public rallies of hundreds in many great=20 public venues such as Olympia. =09In what became known as the Battle of Cable Street, Mosley=20 and his supporters attempted to march through Cable Street, a=20 working class residential area in the East End=20 of London with a large Jewish and immigrant community, many of=20 whom had already fled fascist terror and persecution in Europe.=20 The fascists had the help, protection and collaboration of large=20 numbers of police in order to achieve this. All through the day=20 pitched and running battles were fought between the community=20 of Cable Street and =D2their=D3 police as well as the fascists. =D2Their=D3= =20 police, the =D2good old British bobbies=D3, who proved their true=20 function and role as agents of the ruling class, enforcers and shock=20 troops of state power and capitalist domination by attempting to=20 force their way into Cable Street and supporting a fascist invasion=20 of a working class community. The people who came to stop them=20 showed their courage, bravery and solidarity in the face of this=20 vicious attack by fighting the police and the fascists on the streets=20 and outside their homes, using anything they could lay their=20 hands on. =09Across Europe, countless other working class communities=20 struggled to defend themselves against the murderous onslaught=20 of fascism, in Germany, Italy and later in the Spanish revolution,=20 or Spanish Civil War, where as well as organising armed resistance=20 against=20 fascism, forming their own militias, expropriating money and=20 arms as well as manufacturing their own weapons, they took over=20 many essential industries, running them on a basis of direct=20 democracy, free federation, recallable delegates, collective=20 management, ownership and control of workplaces. Many services=20 such as public transport were free. Workers and peasants in rural=20 areas seized back land from the wealthy and powerful owners,=20 setting up agricultural collectives and communes with production=20 for the needs of all who lived and worked on them. =09These struggles and achievements were ultimately=20 sabotaged by the joint efforts of various political parties,=20 governments, aspiring ruling classes and international capitalism,=20 including the authoritarian statist left =D2socialist=D3 parties as well as= =20 Franco and his fascist regime and the capitalist =D2democracies=D3, who=20 all conspired to destroy the people=D5s revolution and the real fight=20 against fascism for freedom and democracy, which you will never=20 hear about from the politicians, the capitalist media, news reports,=20 street parties, official events, commemorations and spectacles=20 such as =D2Blue Peter=D3. =09One of the main justifications and arguments in support of=20 World War 2 and the actions of the Allies=20 in Europe was the Nazi Holocaust. Everyone is familiar with the=20 figure of =D2six million jews=D3, although the total estimated number of=20 people systematically murdered by the Nazi regime, including=20 Jews, gypsies, Slavs, disabled and handicapped, homosexuals,=20 trade unionists, socialists, communists and anarchists is something=20 over 20 million. However, in the Soviet Union during the terror=20 and purges of the 1930=D5s Stalin, who was later to sit side by side=20 with Roosevelt and Churchill as part of the =D2Allies=D3, was=20 responsible for over 30 million murders in =D2gulags=D3 (prison camps)=20 and elsewhere. Many of his victims were Jews and he widely used=20 anti-semitic propaganda to make this possible.=20 =09It is also to be remembered that concentration camps are=20 not an invention of Nazi Germany in the 1930=D5s, but part of the=20 =D2glorious=D3 legacy of British colonialism and imperialism, from the=20 Boer War in South Africa in 1899. As a means of managing=20 economic depression, capitalist crisis, mass unemployment,=20 increased social unrest and class conflict, both Britain and America=20 decided to set up compulsory labour camps for the unemployed. When Poland was =D2liberated=D3 from Nazi occupation, it was decided=20 by the Allied leaders, eager to divide the spoils of war and align=20 the new spheres of influence, control and power, to hand it over to=20 Stalin and the Soviet state capitalist dictatorship. World War 2 and=20 the Allied actions and campaigns were not organised by =D2our=20 benevolent, democratic, peace-loving and humanitarian leaders=D3=20 for the sake of liberating humanity from the tyranny, terror,=20 torture, murder, genocide, oppression and destruction committed=20 by fascism and Nazism in Europe; but for the continued existence=20 of themselves and their class, their power, profits and control and=20 exploitation of people territory amd resources - capitalist=20 governments and nation states in vicious, murderous and=20 destructive competition and conflict with each other, slaughtering,=20 destroying and murdering countless innocent civilians and=20 deceived, indoctrinated, manipulated, brainwashed and coerced=20 masses of poor and exploited people on all sides to be used as=20 disposable cannon fodder for mass slaughter. Millions of lives,=20 families, communities, towns, cities and even whole nations and=20 territories becoming nothing more to these evil, vicious,=20 calculating, murdering parasites than tactical and strategic pawns=20 in their bloody, insane and inhuman power struggles. =09Fascism did not end in Europe in 1945, it continued in Spain=20 under Franco for another 30 years, and established itself in=20 Greece. Successive British governments and heads of state=20 supported these murderous, oppressive, authoritarian regimes=20 diplomatically and financially. For decades British capitalism has=20 financed and supported fascist governments in South America to=20 the present day, including Bolivia, Colombia, Chile... and Argentina.=20 From=20the Stock Exchange, Treasury, multinationals and high street=20 banks, through the terror, torture, =D2disappearances=D3 and murder=20 of these bloody regimes, until in 1982 Thatcher and her=20 government revealed to the British people what an evil,=20 oppressive, fascist dictatorship Argentina was, especially since=20 they had decided to invade and lay claim to one of the last=20 remaining outposts of British colonialism, the Falkland Islands,=20 threatening to control surrounding fishing waters and potential=20 oil, coal and mineral deposits in Antartica. The people were=20 whipped up into rabid, nationalistic, patriotic war fervour, British=20 troops sent halfway around the world to be shot, burned, blown=20 up, maimed and killed by British weapons which had been sold to=20 Argentina, and to slaughter Argentinian youths, who for the most=20 part were forced into the war by the terror of a fascist=20 dictatorship, supported and financed by British capitalism, which=20 a mere few years after the Falklands War resumed its trade in=20 death and destruction top the =D2evil, oppressive, fascist=20 dictatorship=D3 in Argentina. =09In August 1990 came Iraq=D5s invasion of Kuwait, and in early=20 1991 the Gulf War. Iraqi troops went into battle wearing uniforms=20 made in and sold to them by Britain, fighting against Allied troops=20 with British-made weapons, vehicles and hardware. Many of the=20 military elite of Saddam Hussein=D5s army had been trained and=20 educated in British military academies and establishments such as=20 Sandhurst. The war on Iraq was further justified by media=20 reporting and statements by diplomats and politicians in Britain=20 and other =D2democratic=D3 governments of atrocities committed by=20 Saddam Hussein such as chemical warfare and gas attacks on=20 Kurdish villages in Iraq, chemical weapons which had been=20 designed and produced in Porton Down =D2defence=D3 research=20 establisment, sold to Iraq by Britain to profit from the murder,=20 death and carnage of the eight year Iran-Iraq war. Britain has=20 also armed and given financial, diplomatic and political support to=20 the military dictatorship in Turkey, which has also committed=20 bloody atrocities against Kurdish communities. In Britain, there is=20 widespread harrassment, criminalisation, imprisonment and=20 deportation of Kurdish refugees fleeing from British-sponsored=20 persecution and state terrorism, as well as political refugees from=20 Africa and other =D2Third World=D3 regions, escaping either war, terror=20 or repression from murderous, dictatorial ruling elites financed,=20 supported and armed by British capitalism, or economic refugees=20 fleeing poverty, disease, starvation, ecological collapse and=20 devastation caused by neo-colonialist exploitation. =09Just as fascism and Nazism was supported, created and=20 financed by =D2democratic capitalism=D3, so the Ba=D5ath regime of=20 Saddam Hussein was brought in by a right-wing coup backed by=20 the American government and CIA, in order to crush the Iraqi=20 Communist party and all other manifestations of proletarian=20 insurgency and class conflict which threatened stability and=20 control there. =09History repeats itself and those who fail to learn from it and=20 swallow the sick, bloody, evil, deadly and murderous lies and=20 propaganda of the government, bosses, =D2leaders=D3, royalty, media=20 and capitalist ruling class of =D2their=D3 country are condemned to be=20 enslaved and sacrificed to them and their lies to recreate that=20 history again...again...again...and again. =09NO NATIONALISM...NO PATRIOTISM...NO GOVERMENT...NO=20 STATE...NO BOSSES...NO RELIGION...NO MILITARISM...NO=20 CAPITALISM...NO RULERS...NO GODS...NO MASTERS...NO=20 WAR...DESTROY THAT WHICH DESTROYS YOU! =09ANARCHY, PEACE AND FREEDOM... =09=09=09 =09=09=09Rich PARENTS - THE PRIVATE POLICE =09There is nothing new about parents policing children, but=20 more and more adults are being given the power to deny the=20 liberty and personal autonomy of their children. The latest=20 product that is due to hit our market from America is a DIY drug=20 testing kit for parents. This involves snooping around in a person=D5s=20 room, wiping a pad over the person=D5s personal possessions to=20 obtain a sample, and then sending this off to an expert to study,=20 who will send back results of any miniscule amount of a substance=20 that will unexpectedly plunge the kid into big trouble. =09Children who have been asked about their feelings on this=20 procedure have been overwhelmingly against this product, which=20 they see as a serious abuse of their civil liberties, could lead to=20 wrongful accusations and would leave them feeling violated,=20 without trust and security in their own homes. =09=09=09Frances JOY GARDNER: BRITISH JUSTICE =3D NO JUSTICE! =09Despite the police officers being acquitted for the death of=20 Joy Gardner, we know and will not forget that they are murderers=20 and that only a blatantly racist state could find them =D2not guilty.=D3=20 Joy was killed after having her mouth taped up (thirteen feet of=20 tape) whilst strapped in a body belt by officers enforcing laws=20 that say that Joy was the wrong colour in the wrong country. Body=20 belt and tape are still being used, despite Home Office statements=20 that this would stop. We remember Joy in supporting all those=20 fighting immigration laws. THE ELECTRONIC ANARCHIST ARCHIVE =09Spunk Press is an archive of anarchist, alternative and=20 underground material located on the Internet. We aim to help=20 writers produce or convert their work, so that it can be=20 distributed over this global network. But we also want to reach=20 out into the world of Bulletin Boards and those without Internet=20 access or even computers, so we are also trying to distribute=20 material on diskette and paper. We seek contributions (via email=20 or diskette) of zines, pamphlets, manifestos, books, articles,=20 interviews, posters, reviews, etc; in or out of print and in any=20 language. =09Spunk Press is run by an editorial collective, with members=20 world-wide, who make decisions on an open mailing list forum.=20 The collective can be reached at: spunk@lysator.liu.se. If you want=20 to receive regular information about Spunk Press, send a message=20 to: spunk-info-request@lysator.liu.se. Or you can write to: EAA,=20 c/o Box A, 12 Mill Road, Cambridge CB1 2AD, UK, or Spunk Press,=20 c/o Practical Anarchy, PO Box 179, College Park, MD 20741-1079,=20 USA. The archive can be found at: WWW:=20 http://www.cwi.nl/cwi/people/Jack.Jansen/spunk/Spunk_Home.h tml ftp/gopher: etext.archive.umich.edu/pub/Politics/Spunk THE ZAPATISTA UPRISING IN MEXICO =09=D2We will fight on foot, on foot we will die, but we will not=20 return to living, not ever, on our knees.=D3 So spoke the=20 communique issued by Subcomandante Marcos of the rebel=20 movement in Mexico, in February this year. Since midnight on=20 January 1st 1994, resistance to the exploitative =D2development=D3 by=20 the Mexican government has been galvanised by the emergence of=20 the Zapatista rebels. Calling themselves the Ejercito Zapatista de=20 Liberacion Nacional (EZLN), the rebels, mainly ethnic Mayans, take=20 their name from Emiliano Zapata, who defended the rights of poor=20 peasants to seize land from wealthy landowners in the Mexican=20 revolution.=20 =09Amongst other towns, thousands of EZLN rebels held San=20 Cristobal (80 000) and Ococingo (70 000), and didn=D5t lose control=20 of the last town until four days later. In other areas the rebels had=20 retreated to the hills, but air force attempts to bomb them found=20 that they had already gone. Hundreds died as 15 000 troops were=20 sent into Chiapas. The bodies of rebels in Ococingo had rope marks=20 on their wrists, indicating that they had been captured then=20 executed.1 Rebels struck again with explosions in Mexico City and=20 the tourist resort of Acapulco at the weekend. The seemingly=20 secure electoral position of President Salinas, won on the basis of=20 economic reforms, now appeared vulnerable and was worsened as=20 troops sent to Chiapas bombed civilians and journalists.1 The Mexican economy and NAFTA =09The EZLN chose to emerge from the hills then to coincide=20 with the coming into effect of the North American Free Trade=20 Agreement (NAFTA). This agreement, between Mexico, Canada=20 and the US, is widely expected to transform the Mexican economy=20 - the Mexican people fear for the worst.2 =09Mexico, the 13th largest economy in the world, has long had=20 a weak economy, formerly protectionist and state-supported. It=20 has been a one-party state since 1929, under the absurdly titled=20 Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) which has been criticised=20 for corruption and electoral fraud. It is still not clear whether=20 President Salinas de Gortari had a majority when he was elected=20 1988.=20 =09Following the discovery of new oil reserves in 1977, the=20 country went on a spending spree which resulted in soaring=20 inflation and the flight of investment from the country. By 1982=20 the economy was kept from collapse by the intervention of the=20 World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the US, but at=20 the price of radical reform of the economy to a free market model.=20 However, the Mexican poor are not benefiting from these reforms-=20 half of all Mexicans live in poverty, one fifth in extreme poverty=20 (especially indigenous Mayans). Child labour is still common but is=20 not recognised since it is not in the formal sector. =09When Salinas was elected he accelerated this process, but by=20 1990 the economy was still weak and Mexico began moves to=20 enter the NAFTA which, when it came into effect in 1994, created=20 the largest free trade zone in the world, bigger even than the=20 European Union. Unlike the EU, NAFTA has no equivalent of the=20 Social Fund, only a weak side accord on labour provisions (not=20 =D2rights=D3), and a similarly weak side accord on environmental=20 protection. It is a model which has already had disastrous=20 consequences for the people of the signatory countries. In Canada,=20 the 1989 FTA has led to closure of small Canadian manufacturers,=20 unable to compete with larger US companies, rising=20 unemployment and environmental destruction as US companies=20 move in on Canada=D5s natural resources. =09Corn grown by Mexican peasants can=D5t compete with cheaper=20 US grain and yet 42% of Mexico=D5s arable land is used to grow corn.=20 The resulting loss of livelihood will lead to destruction of rural=20 communities and decreasing rural populations. This process is=20 anticipated by the Mexican government, which aims to reduce the=20 economically active rural population from 27% to 10%. The free=20 market model is that the displaced rural population will be=20 absorbed by growing industrial and service sectors, ie Mexico=20 would become a First World economy rather than a Third World=20 one.2 =09Of course, it never quite works out like this under=20 capitalism. Capitalists scorn socialists as idealists, but the belief in=20 benign capitalism is shown to be naive in Mexico. The Mexican=20 wage is a tenth of the equivalent in the US, and labour activists=20 are murdered and tortured if not simply dismissed from their=20 work. They can easily be replaced from the growing pool of=20 unemployed. There is already a free trade zone at the Mexican=20 border with the US. Here, US companies have set up factories=20 (maquiladoras) to exploit cheap Mexican labour, without the=20 restriction of US health and safety regulations, or pollution=20 standards.=20 =09It=D5s not just Mexicans who will lose out - US companies will=20 move to Mexico under the new freedoms of NAFTA, leaving US=20 workers jobless. It was for this reason that social and=20 environmental accords were tacked onto the agreement, but US=20 unions are not happy and are supporting Mexican unions. The rebels vs US & Mexico =09At the end of 1994, the fall in value of the peso led to huge=20 price rises and wage restrictions, under US and IMF guidance. The=20 price for the US government's loan package was yet more free=20 market reforms and implicitly the elimination of the Zapatistas.=20 The US Chase Bank in an internal memo said, "the government [in=20 Mexico] will need to eliminate the Zapatistas to demonstrate their=20 effective control of the national territory and security policy."3=20 How else would the capitalists be able to secure a return on their=20 loan, and continue the exploitation of Mexico's natural resources?=20 Already, the forests of Chiapas have been torn down by loggers=20 and the land sold to wealthy settlers from northern Mexico.1 =09With such abysmal conditions for ordinary Mexicans, the=20 EZLN uprising was inevitable. The government's response to=20 protest has been brutal: in December 1991 native Mexicans staged=20 a peaceful protest outside the public offices in Palenque. Three=20 hundred were taken to jail in cattle trucks and badly beaten. This=20 resulted in Indian groups marching seven hundred miles to=20 Mexico City demanding justice.1 In May 1993 two soldiers were=20 killed near San Cristobal, having come across a guerrilla training=20 camp. Local residents were rounded up and tortured.1 A few=20 months later 400 Tzeltal Indians demonstrated against the mayor=20 in Tenejapa, for his involvement in violent intimidation and=20 extortion. The police responded with tear gas and clubs.1 =09Following the wishes of the US, the new President Ernesto=20 Zedillo launched a new offensive against the guerillas in February=20 this year. The rebels had begun another offensive at the beginning=20 of the year, following the breakdown of talks with the=20 government. They then retreated to the inaccessible Blue=20 Mountains, where they have learned how to survive. The army=20 bombed civilian areas in a fruitless attempt to flush out the rebels=20 (who had already gone), and to demoralise civilian support for the=20 rebels, just as the Americans did in Vietnam. But by the middle of=20 March Zedillo had ordered the withdrawal of troops from the area. =09The EZLN, under the command of the charismatic=20 Subcomandante Marcos, have clearly won the battle for the hearts=20 of the Mexican people. A hundred thousand Mexicans=20 demonstrated against torture and censorship in Chiapas on 11th=20 Feb in Mexico City this year, wearing balaclavas and chanting =D2we=20 are all Marcos=D34 The EZLN commanded the support of 50 000=20 demonstrators four days later from unions and lesbian/gay=20 groups, whose rights the EZLN has always supported. Indeed, the=20 Zapatistas have organised themselves on admirably egalitarian=20 lines, respecting the rights of women and homosexuals within the=20 army, and strategic decisions are made by the participation of the=20 entire movement, rather than an elite. Decisions can take days to=20 be reached, but because they are made in such a way that=20 everyone agrees what is best, the commitment of the movement is=20 all the stronger.5 =09It doesn't seem to matter that Marcos (Rafael Sebastian=20 Guillen Vicente, a 37 year old philosophy professor) is neither=20 Chiapan nor indigenous. His almost poetic communiques are=20 inspirational, =D2We are the Zapatistas, the little people, the always- forgotten ones, the millionaires in unfulfilled promises.=D34 The=20 EZLN tactics have been to engage in low-intensity battles which=20 focus the world's attention on the plight of the Mexican poor. For=20 example, San Cristobal and Acapulco are tourist centres; and=20 Marcos has used the Internet system to effectively get=20 information out of the besieged area, not just to be manipulated=20 by journalists, but to anyone with computer access. Human rights=20 workers in the area take computer disks from Marcos to put his=20 communiques onto the Internet; he writes them on a laptop=20 computer powered by a jeep battery. Marcos has been keen to=20 keep the sympathy of the media - when El Tiempo journalists=20 were robbed in the initial uprising, he made an apology and the=20 money was returned.1 =09For more information, contact the Mexico Solidarity Group,=20 Latin America House, Kingsgate Place,NW6 (***0171 328 2865). At=20 the next Wild Thyme Cafe event (see article in this issue), we hope=20 to raise money for this group. =09=09=09Glenn Sources: 1=09Times, 3-12 January 1994. 2=09NAFTA - Poverty and Free Trade in Mexico, Belinda Coote,=20 Oxfam 1995. 3=09Counter Information March/April/May 1995. 4 Independent, 13-14 Feb 1995. 5=09Zapatistas - In Their Own Words, published by DS4A. MORE BLOOD ON THE HANDS OF THE METROPOLITAN POLICE=20 FORCE =09Judith Hood, a 27 year old nurse, was killed on June 19th at=20 Harston in Cambridgeshire as she was sitting in her stationary car.=20 The Metroplods drove straight into her during a high-speed mock=20 car-chase exercise. Her death is being termed an =D2accident=D3, but=20 her family feel strongly that =D2manslaughter=D3 or =D2murder=D3 would be= =20 more appropriate. That the police can get away with killing an=20 entirely innocent person in merely an exercise on public roads is=20 shocking if not surprising. Instead of abandoning such dangerous=20 exercises the Met are waiting to see if they are forced to do so by=20 a review of such exercises. This tragedy is another example of=20 how the police bring more destruction to our lives than protection. SUPPORTING PRISONERS =09Prisoner support is often an undervalued activity to be=20 involved in within groups working on the left, but it is vital to any=20 revolutionary movement. Increasingly now, since the Criminal=20 (In)Justice Act, people who take any kind of direct action against=20 the violence of the State and its various oppressive offshoots, will=20 find themselves sooner or later in prison. To know that support=20 will be there for someone whilst in prison, takes away some of the=20 fear and power instilled in it which is necessary for the State to=20 try and put us off from taking direct action. It also gives a small=20 amount of protection for the prisoner, to know that if anything=20 particular happens inside, there will be people on the outside=20 aware of it and preferably in regular contact with her/him. =20 =09A strong prisoner support movement should also aim to=20 reach the thousands of men and women forced into prison=20 because of poverty, being framed and other forms of State=20 violence, and the crimes caused by a racist and patriarchal society. =20 These people need to know they are not the criminals, and that=20 there are possibly ways of fighting the injustice they have=20 suffered. That regardless of the State giving them a number they=20 do not lose their names as soon as the prison gates close behind=20 them. So far, this reasoning is easy. Few of us would have any=20 problems with agreeing that these prisoners deserve support. =09However, the questions I want to ask through this article are=20 about when we cannot sympathise at all with the prisoner=D5s crime. =20 When the prisoner who wants support has murdered an innocent=20 person, or has raped a person? Do we still feel they should not be=20 behind bars, or killed, do we still care what happens to them? =09As anarchists opposed to the prison system and opposed to=20 the death penalty we have to think about these questions and=20 start to come up with some answers. I want to offer to this=20 debate an experience I had of prisoner support which forced me=20 into confronting this issue.=20 =09You may have read in our last newsletter of a prisoner at=20 Littlehey who members of our group have had contact with for=20 about a year. Mick Thynne initially wrote to our anarchist group=20 asking for support, and I began writing to him. He explained a bit=20 about his life and that he was under an indefinite life sentence. I=20 felt touched by what he wrote, and what seemed the unbelievable=20 injustice of his case. Unbelievable because it did confuse me at=20 the time, but aware of how the State does operate in unbelievably=20 unjust ways, I chose to think that what he was telling me could=20 be possible. What he told me was a mixture of fact and fiction. =20 Briefly, that in his early twenties he got involved in a fight whilst=20 he was tripping and no-one was seriously injured, but at his trial,=20 medical evidence was presented which defined him as=20 psychopathic and for this he received an indefinite life sentance=20 and had already served 20 years. After release, he received no=20 support and was soon back in prison with another 3 years for=20 burglary. =09From visiting him, I experienced him as a thoughtful, angry=20 man who had a powerful longing for freedom, both for himself=20 and for others, and I liked him. =09A couple of months ago I was utterly shocked and sick when=20 I returned home to the news that he had escaped from prison,=20 that he was a =D2dangerous, psychopathic rapist, who had tried to=20 strangle the woman after raping her.=D3 I felt angry, stupid, scared,=20 and my thoughts were dominated by it. =09After a few days my anger was also focused on the media=20 and their lust for sensationalism. I began to think about the fact=20 that a couple of years ago he was quietly released after having=20 served 20 years for the rape, and the State felt he was safe to be=20 on the streets. Now he escapes from a sentence for burglary and=20 suddenly the headlines have turned him into the =D2psychopathic=20 rapist on the loose=D3. I felt angry about the way women were=20 being made to feel more vulnerable and threatened in going=20 outside their houses through the publicity about one man, when in=20 most cases rape happens unpublicised in our own homes by men=20 we know. =09I received a couple of letters from a woman who has become=20 friends with Mick since he has been in prison, and she prompted=20 me to face the more complex issues involved. I know that had I=20 been aware from the start about his crime being rape I would not=20 have offered him any support and I would have found it hard to=20 accept others supporting him either. But, thinking more about the=20 person I had met and what was true about his life, I began to see=20 through the intimidating labels of the headlines, to the boy=20 confined to institutions from the age of ten, in approved schools,=20 Juvenile Court and to remand centre, to solitary conditions at=20 Redhill Special Unit where in frustration he smashed up his cell,=20 for which he was beaten up by several screws and spent two=20 months recovering from a fractured skull in Redhill General=20 Hospital. From here, moved to Moss Side Hospital for the=20 Criminally Insane for three years where he was refused=20 permission to attend his brother=D5s funeral. After release, at 17,=20 finding it difficult to re-adjust, for the next few years he drifted in=20 and out of short prison sentences for theft, with excessive=20 celebrations on release. It was on one of these nights that he=20 raped a woman. At the Old Bailey he received an indefinite life=20 sentence influenced by medical reports. =09None of these facts provide any form of excuse or=20 relinquishing of responsibility for what Mick did, for the=20 destruction he caused to someone else=D5s life. They help me to=20 understand a little about how he came to do it, and about the=20 responsibility that the =D4authorities=D5 have in brutalising a person to= =20 the extent where he feels only hate and complete hopelessness. I=20 believe that complete hopelessness provides fertile ground for=20 violence whether to the self or another, and that a patriarchal,=20 racist society will influence the form of this violence, and upon=20 whom it is inflicted. =09After much argument in my own mind, I have decided I=20 would not feel right about pretending that he does not exist, to=20 say =D2this is too hard, I do not want to deal with it.=D3 It will never= =20 be acceptable to me what Mick did, but it is also not acceptable to=20 me what has been done to him. I do not think Mick should be=20 locked up for ever, nor that he should receive the death penalty.=20 Therefore, there have to be other ways of dealing with this=20 problem and these involve working closely with our anger and=20 fear, to confront and change the violence and hatred inside people=20 within a world where violence and hatred of women are a=20 =D4normal=D5 part of life, where children grow up damaged and=20 alienated, where racism is an integral part of the structure, and=20 where all forms of violence become legitimate when perpetrated=20 by the State. =20 =09I have respect for the fact that Mick has survived the=20 brutality of the imprisonment system in which he has lived for=20 the past 30 years, with what I believe is a genuine commitment to=20 change and non-violence. The hope in my anarchism comes from=20 believing that people, given half a chance, CAN change and I care=20 about that. =20 =09Mick wrote to me after his recapture, and after these=20 thoughts I wrote back, explaining all my feelings at the time, and=20 also offering to continue with the contact. Cutting him off from me=20 would do nothing to challenge the cause of rape, or make the=20 streets safer for women. Supporting the real effort he is making=20 within himself to resist the violence of his past does not=20 compromise radical feminist politics, nor remove any energy from=20 the support of women survivors of rape and abuse, both of which=20 are of central importance to my life. =09I am throwing these thoughts out in the hope for debate=20 about this issue within prisoner support work and would welcome=20 comments to us at Fighting Times. (Mick is currently imprisoned=20 in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin attempting to fight extradition. He is=20 using a European Court of Human Rights ruling which he won=20 against his indefinite life sentence several years ago.) =09=09=09Frances DATES AND CONTACTS Soon =09Get down to the A30 road protest in Exeter. Contact 01385=20 278156 / 7 July ?=09Reclaim the streets demo in London (remember the=20 occupation of Camden high =09street?). Contact Rainbow Centre,=20 Kentish Town, 0171 254 2290. 25 Animal Rights Cambridge monthly meeting, Bath House,=20 Gwydir Street, Cambridge. John Curtin, current press officer for=20 the ALF, will be speaking. Contact below. August 6-9 Hiroshima and Nagasaki Day actions - see article on=20 Greenham. In Cambridge, lantern-floating remembrance near=20 Victoria Avenue Bridge, 7pm. 11 Solsbury Hill Action Weekend: contact Road Alert. Cambridge Anarchist Group: meets regularly at the Man on the=20 Moon pub, Norfolk Street, Cambridge. Contact: Box A, 12 Mill Road,=20 Cambridge. Cambridge Coalition vs the Criminal Justice Act: meets every=20 Monday at the Man on the Moon pub at 7pm. Animal Rights Cambridge: Meets every fourth Tuesday of the=20 month at 8pm in the Bath House, Gwydir Street. Stall every=20 Saturday in city centre. Contact 311828. Freedom Network: The Green Office, The Old Dolehouse, 372=20 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, London SW9. 0171 738 6721, action=20 line 0171 501 9253. Advance Party Network: PO Box 3290, London NW2 3UJ. 0181 450=20 6929. email fimone@sypte.co.uk Road Alert: 01635 521770. Find out what=D5s going on in Cambridge by looking at the adverts in=20 the windows of Arjuna Wholefoods, 12 Mill Road, Cambridge.