military and law enforcement

military and law enforcement

This section contains content related to the police and law enforcement sectors and the military.

Links: military and law enforcement news
Related tags: air force, anti-war, army, mutinies, navy, police, war, repression

More information

  • Mutinies by Dave Lamb - histories of mutinies in World War I
  • 1961-1973: GI resistance in the Vietnam War
  • The tragedy of Karaganda

    Members of the CNT and other Spanish anti-fascists in the Soviet Union, 1938-1956.

    Abstract: In March 1939, Republican soldiers who had been training as aviation pilots were stranded in the USSR along with the sailors of several vessels from the Spanish merchant navy. They were prevented from leaving and in 1941 were arrested and sent to Novosibirsk Transit Prison. Also detained were several civilians who had been working with children evacuated from the Civil War.

    Those poor soldiers

    Apparently, if you compare the wages of soldiers with traffic wardens the poor old grunts come off worse, according to the head of the armed forces General Sir Richard Dannatt.

    Except that’s actually a load of old bollocks. The good General and knight of the realm is being just a little misleading – I’m sure it’s unintentional, him being such a respected state figure and all - when he fails to point out that, unlike the average traffic warden, our boys in khaki also get a number of little perks.

    Babylon Burning: West Kingston lock-down and police killings in Jamaica (2001)

    Lock-down in Tivoli Gardens, West Kingston, Jamaica, 2001

    In the summer of 2001, police locked down parts of the downtown area of Kingston, Jamaica. This contemporary leaflet reports on the event, and examines the background to the violence that makes Jamaica the state with the largest police 'kill-rate' (per head of population) in the world.

    On Saturday 7th July 2001 July police entered Tivoli Gardens in Downtown Kingston, the Jamaican capital, looking for guns that had killed Willy Haggart, the gang leader, or don, of nearby Arnett Gardens, an event that had resulted in weeks of intermitant gang violence between supporters of both parties in the West Kingston areas Hannah Town and Denham Town.

    South African workers refuse to move arms bound for Zimbabwe

    Repression: Zimbabwe

    South African Transport Union members have announced they will not offload Chinese arms that are being shipped to crisis-torn Zimbabwe.

    A boat carrying an arms shipment destined for Zimbabwe is anchored at the South African port of Durban. However the South African Transport Workers' Union has already announced that their members will not offload any of the cargo, nor will any of their truckers transport it.

    The police and Abahlali baseMjondolo

    Police attack demonstrators at the Foreman Road settlement in Clare Estate, Durban.

    This list of police abuses suffered by Abahlali baseMjondolo between 19 March 2005 and 13 November 2007 is an important document of record.

    The Police & Abahlali baseMjondolo

    A List of Key Incidents of Police Harassment Suffered by Abahlali baseMjondolo
    - compiled by Stephanie Lynch and Zodwa Nsibande

    War on the streets in Armenia

    Tank on the streets - Armenia state of emergency Feb/Mar 2008

    February and March in Armenia saw a disputed presidential election (19/2/2008) followed by eleven days of demonstrations in the capital Yerevan, broken up by tanks, police attacks and the imposition of a State of Emergency (1/3/2008).

    Eight people, including a child, were killed by police and around 100 were injured including 33 police. An apparently unrelated border fire-fight on 4/3/08 in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, disputed with neighbouring state of Azerbaijan with whom Armenia is still technically at war, broke a ceasefire agreed in 1994, killing 12 Armenian conscripts.

    France: Carrefour strikers issued with summonses

    Seven of the striking workers at the Grand Littoral hypermarket have been issued with summonses for "restriction of the right to work"

    Workers at the hypermarket have been on strike since February the first.

    Prisoner riot reverses smoking ban

    A smoking ban at 18 prisons in Quebec was reversed this week after a riot by prisoners.

    On Tuesday, smoking was banned both inside and outside of Quebec's 18 prisons. Just before midnight on Thursday, 30-50 prisoners rioted and set fire to a wing at the Orsainville detention centre near Quebec City. This was met by a statement from Public Security Minister Jacques Dupuis the morning after, stating that prisoners would be allowed to smoke outside.

    France: first suicide in new youth prison

    A sixteen year old boy hung himself in his cell on Saturday.

    The youth was being held in an établissement pénitentiaire pour mineurs (EPM penitentiary establishment for minors.) in Meyzieu. This EPM was the first in the country and since its opening it has been plagued with problems. The prison authorities kept the news from other inmates until Monday "to avoid an explosion". So far five of the planned seven EPMs have been opened.

    Bangladeshi garment workers out again and escalating

    There have been more clashes in the Mirpur industrial area of Dhaka (see previous report); on Saturday 12th thousands of garment workers again demonstrated for improvements in conditions.

    International Volunteers in the POUM Militias

    Poum international volunteers

    Written by Andy Durgan, historical consultant for the Ken Loach film Land and Freedom, the article also contains a list of international volunteers in the POUM militia.

    FUNDACIÓN ANDREU NIN

    International Volunteers in the POUM Militias
    Andy Durgan

    Up to 700 foreigners fought with the 10.000 or so militia organised by the Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista (POUM) between July 1936 and June 1937 (1). They were from at least 28 different countries; French, Italian and, above all German fighters being the most numerous (2).

    The Ninety-third Division - Black US soldiers' struggles in World War II - Nelson Peery

    93rd Division Infantryman Nelson Peery, Mojave Desert, California 1942

    Extracts from Nelson Peery's Black Fire - The Making Of A Black Revolutionary. Peery describes here the racism and segregation encountered by black soldiers and their militancy in opposing it during WWII.

    Matiushenko, Afanasy Nikolaevich 1879-1907

    Afanasy Matiushenko

    A biography of Afanasy Matiushenko, who was one of the key mutineers on the Battleship Potemkin, immortalised by Eisenstein's film, which helped kick-start the 1905 Revolution.

    Afanasy Nikolaevich Matiushenko
    Also spelled Afanasiy Matyushenko, born 1879 - Kharkov, Russia, died 20 October 1907 - Sevastopol, Russia

    The Potemkin mutineer
    Afanasy Matiushenko was the son of peasants from Kharkov province in the Ukraine. He was born in 1879, in the village of Dergachi. His father had to give up the unrewarding work of farming to become a shoemaker.

    France: repression of the student movement intensifies

    Student demonstrations and occupations are finding themselves the targets of violence organised or incited by the authorities.

    In Grenoble today students of the IEPG (Institute of political studies) were setting up the blockade they had voted for. The director of the IEPG, Olivier Ihl, threatened to set dogs on them, although the dogs were reluctant.

    France: immigrants demonstrate against repression

    Demonstrations and protests against police tactics and government policies are becoming more frequent.

    With the openly anti-immigration policies of the government immigrants have found themselves targetted by police. This is part of a worrying racist trend in contemporary French politics.

    The working class in Iran: some background - class struggles from 1979-1989 - Mostafa Saber

    Some excerpts from A Brief Look at the Situation of the Working Class in Iran, a short description of workers' history and conditions - and their struggles during and following the 1979 Revolution.

    Of particular interest is the observation that "in practice the [workers'] councils, due to their complete accordance with workers' direct and immediate exercise of power, won an indisputable victory vis-a-vis the unions. The few attempts at creating unions remained irrelevant to the real workers' movement."

    Anti-war statement from Antithesis (NYC-NEFAC)

    Leaflet against the Iraq war written by the Antithesis collective (NYC-NEFAC) and distributed at an anti-war rally in New York City on October 27th.

    Workers, not politicians, will end this war
    Build Our Solidarity, Not Their Elections

    Argentina: Teachers strike in memory of colleague

    On October 5th there were mass walkouts nationwide by teachers in state and private schools in memory of a colleague who had been killed by police.

    Carlos Fuentealba died in April after being struck by a tear gas grenade fired from almost point blank range. The attack took place after Jorge Sobisch, the then Governor of Neuquen and current presidential candidate, ordered police to crack down on a protest march by striking teachers.

    State terror and dirty war: a year of state recuperation in Mexico

    State violence and police terror, this picture from Cuidad de Oaxaca

    An in-depth look at the contemporary situation in Mexico in the aftermath of recent state offensives against movements in Chiapas, Oaxaca and San Salvador Atenco.

    Following a heady 18 months of diverse and popular struggles up down the country, the Mexican state is using familiar tactics to reassert itself as the country’s main authority.

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