race

Britz, dir. Peter Kosminsky, Channel 4, 2007. Television review – Tom Jennings

Juggling simplistic stereotypes, Channel 4’s Britz illuminates neither the attitudes of UK Muslims nor the motivations of homegrown jihadists, concludes Tom Jennings.

A Bipolar Exposition by Tom Jennings

Labour Rebellions of the 1930s in the British Caribbean Region Colonies - Richard Hart

A brief overview of the numerous struggles which occurred in the British Caribbean during the 1930s, which led to the introduction of many trade union rights across the region, written by Jamaican trade unionist Richard Hart.

Published in 2002 jointly by Caribbean Labour Solidarity and the Socialist History Society.

About the author

Building Worker newsletter - Autumn 2007

Newsletter containing articles on organising site workers ahead of the Olympics, fighting the blacklist in Manchester, pay and holiday pay, a recent strike against racism and the dangers of trusting union officials.

If you want or need help organizing and would like to meet rank and file union members with enough experience of how to help and advise you. Phone UK R&F BWC on 07942 252280. We’ll gladly meet you in a pub or anywhere else you choose after work near your site for a chat.

300-strong wildcat in Milford Haven ends

300 workers walked out in support of Omar Mohamed (pictured)

Workers at South Hook LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) have gone back to work following a 26-hour stoppage in support of a colleague who claims to have suffered from racial abuse on site.

The Western Telegraph reports:

Three hundred men working for Shaw stopped working at 10 am on Thursday, and marched on the offices of main contractors Chicago Bridge and Iron. The men came out in support of fellow worker, Omar Mohamed, who alleges that he has suffered racial harassment from workers from another company sub contracting to CB&I.

Danny Glover - lifelong activist

Not too old for this shit yet: Danny Glover

Lethal Weapon actor Danny Glover has a long history of radicalism, from the opposition to the Vietnam war, through to the Panthers, the Iraq war and anti-racism today.

Born in San Francisco to two postal workers and NAACP activists, Danny Glover went on to study at San Francisco State University where he participated in the longest student strike in US history.

The role of the Catholic Church in Yugoslavia's holocaust - Seán Mac Mathúna, 1941-1945

Historical information about Catholic priests and Muslim clerics being willing accomplices in the genocide of the Yugoslavia's Serbian, Jewish and Roma population during the Second World War.

During the Second World War in Yugoslavia, Catholic priests and Muslim clerics were willing accomplices in the genocide of the nations Serbian, Jewish and Roma population.

The MOVE bombing, 1985

Historical information about the police bombing of the predominantly black radical lifestlye grouping MOVE, which killed eleven people and left hundreds homeless.

Introduction
MOVE is an organisation formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1972 by John Africa and Donald Glassey - a loose-knit, mostly black group whose members all adopted the surname Africa, advocated a back-to-nature lifestyle and preached against technology.

The racist roots of gun control - Clayton E. Cramer

Clayton E. Cramer argues that the historical record provides compelling evidence that racism underlies gun control laws and that throughout much of American history, gun control was openly stated as a method for keeping blacks and Hispanics "in their place."

The historical record provides compelling evidence that racism underlies gun control laws -- and not in any subtle way. Throughout much of American history, gun control was openly stated as a method for keeping blacks and Hispanics "in their place," and to quiet the racial fears of whites.

A disgrace before God: Striking black sanitation workers vs. black officialdom in 1977 Atlanta

Atlanta 1963: A high school student is arrested at a civil rights demonstration

This article is a case study of the betrayal of the African American working class by the Black political class brought to power by the Civil Rights and Black Power movements of the 1960's.

"A disgrace before God"

Seperatism: Accident or design? - Red Action

Ghettoisation is widely blamed for the simmering racial unrest in Oldham and Bradford. Yet, astonishingly some 'anti-racists' argue racial separatism is the solution. A. Shaw investigates.

To anyone who has grown up in Britain in the last 30 years the word 'discrimination' is a familiar one. In the '70's it was commonly associated with the Special Patrol Group, the rise of the NF, and eccentrics like Robert Relf who went to jail, and then on hunger strike, rather than be faced with having to sell his house to a black family.

From redistribution to recognition: a left critique of multiculturalism - Aris Shivani

Aris Shivani argues that multiculturalism is censorious of speech and anti-intellectual; it covers up for the economic failings of liberalism and offers a false promise of security exploitable for fascist purposes; it diverts attention from class to culture and fits comfortably into the bourgeois framework; and it values mediocrity over achievement and makes class struggle more difficult by setting up essentialist identity categories.

[i]Identity is a dream that is pathetically absurd. You dream of being yourself when you have nothing better to do. You dream of yourself and gaining recognition when you have lost all singularity. Today we no longer fight for sovereignty or for glory, but for identity. Sovereignty was a mastery; identity is merely a reference.

Critique of Autonomous Anti-Fascism - Wildcat (Germany)

The anti-fascist demonstration in Hoyerswerda, 1991

Article about the background to the violent attacks on foreign workers in Hoyerswerda in ex-DDR at the end of 1991 and the anti-fascist demonstration which followed.

Set in the context of the then-recent reunification of the German state;

The Many Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, and the Atlantic Working Class in the Eighteenth Century

Article on class struggle and compositon in the period leading up to and during the American revolution, showing how the struggles of sailors and slaves drove the movement to national liberation.

Introduction

Time 'to dump' multiculturalism - Joe Reilly

Currently there is much discussion on how the rise of the far right can be halted. The truthful answer, says Joe Reilly, is that an anti-fascism joined at the hip with multiculturalism cannot do so.

Britain 'has the highest number of interracial relationships in the world' according to the Institute for Social and Economic Research. This supremely natural and healthy state of affairs, is however, not due to multiculturalism but in spite of it.

Race attack - Red Action on multiculturalism

G. O'Halloran argues that by its betrayal of principle, multiculturalism is a major propaganda gift to the far right, as well as laying the foundations for the political extermination of the working class itself.

Born of the desire to combat communism, multiculturalism was conceived out of cynicism and embraced by the left out of defeatism.

While we do not agree with the article in its entirety, we feel that it contains a number of useful points and arguments, and reproduce it here for reference.

Race, class and organisation - Workers Solidarity Federation

An interesting analysis of race, anarchism and class from South African organisation the Workers Solidarity Federation from 1998.

INTRODUCTION BY BLACK FLAG:

We recently observed a very fruitful discussion on race and class on the internet, particularly around "black" anarchism, special oppressions and the desirability of separate organisation.

Spatial Deconcentration in D.C. - Midnight Notes

The story of a covert US Government housing policy - conceived in the aftermath of the 1960s ghetto riots - to remove concentrations of potentially rebellious Blacks and other poor people from the inner city and disperse them in small groups to the suburbs.

Published in 'Midnight Notes', Vol. II, #2, July 1981, MA, USA
Original article first published by the Yulanda Ward Memorial Fund, Washington, 1981(?).

France: Seven anti-fascists arrested

Seven anti-fascists are currently under arrest in Toulouse, charged with the use of weapons to commit violent acts after clashes with the police.

They were arrested on Sunday at a demonstration against the Front National meeting being held in the city. Protesters set dustbins alight and tried to build barricades while police fired tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd. A total on 12 people were arrested on Sunday, with five being released on Monday, the others were held until their court date on Wednesday.

Muehsam, Erich, 1878-1934

A short biography of Erich Muehsam, German poet, playwright, bohemian and anarchist revolutionary.

Erich Muehsam was born in Berlin in 1878 into a fairly well-to-do Jewish family. Soon after his family moved to Luebeck in north Germany where his father worked as a pharmacist (in fact the pharmacy is still there).

The decline of African-Americans in unions and manufacturing, 1979-2006

Article about the diminishing numbers of African-American workers in trade unions, which is dropping faster than the general decline in unionisation in the US.

For much of the postwar period, a higher share of African-American workers have been in unions than workers from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. As union representation and union coverage have declined for the country as a whole, unionization rates for African-Americans have fallen more quickly than for the rest of the workforce.