SWP deliver savage blow to News International

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lurdan
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Jul 11 2011 19:36
SWP deliver savage blow to News International

In the entertaining blanket coverage of Rupert Murdochs problems over the weekend were some brief shots of small numbers of SWP demonstrators in Wapping on Friday - only there was something a little odd about them.

Socialist Worker Online advertised the demonstration on this page here (and here's a picture of the page for when the original expires). Page Image

As you can see it's called at 1pm in Virginia Street - location of the old main entrance to Murdochs original Wapping plant. The advert for the demo also claims it has been organised by the NUJ.

Only one problem - News International moved the offices for its newspapers across the road to Thomas More Square last year. One suspects if the demonstration really had been called by the NUJ they might just have been aware of that. . .

Hence the brief TV coverage of a demo outside the wrong building. You'd think the contingent of press stationed in Vaughan Way at the back of NI's current newspaper offices - visible across the car park from the approach to Virginia Street - might have been a bit of a fucking clue.

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Khil
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Jul 12 2011 10:40

Ah, the SWP jumping on the bandwagon as per usual.

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Battlescarred
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Jul 12 2011 11:26

You mean like some anarchists?

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Arbeiten
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Jul 12 2011 11:50

touche!

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xslavearcx
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Jul 12 2011 11:55

you gotta love the swp smile

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xslavearcx
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Jul 12 2011 11:57

I like how they have urged us boycott the News of the World when its just been shut down.

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Arbeiten
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Jul 12 2011 12:01

I have been boycotting NoTW for years, those bandwagon jumping bastards!

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Battlescarred
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Jul 13 2011 08:50

And didn't Ian Bone and members of WAG turn up outside NI as well, Bone getting himself on the goggle box?
Criticise the SWP for their politics. On this occasion I tend to doubt that to laugh at them for attending an NUJ picket which as Xander points out was in the know about the media broadcasting from the old entrance is particularly relevant.

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RedEd
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Jul 14 2011 01:14

The aims of the two advertised protests were to "to demand public inquiry into conduct of Murdoch press" and to encourage people to "boycott Murdoch". Are the SWP engaging in practical self criticism via self parody or something?

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lurdan
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Jul 14 2011 02:53

The main press and TV crews were stationed outside the current front entrance to News International's offices off Thomas More Street, with small supplementary groups in Vaughan Way to catch anyone leaving or arriving that side.

I'm surprised anyone would believe the NUJ called this demo. Quite apart from anything else they are not recognised by NI and have few members inside. (An NUJ Chapel was formed in the Sun a few years ago when NI were imposing new working practises - how active it still is I don't know). I'd guess the only NUJ involvement in calling the demo came from whatever NUJ members the SWP still have.

What the NUJ organised was a meeting at Conway Hall this Thursday night (14th). If they had organised something in Wapping it would have been where they could be seen by the News International staff going in and out - alongside their fellow NUJ members covering the story in Thomas More Street.

And since you bring it up, yes Tower Hamlets Alarm, as WAG are now known, did indeed call their "RAGE AGAINST MURDOCH ON JULY 8th – DRIVE NEWS INTERNATIONAL FROM TOWER HAMLETS" for exactly the same time and (wrong) place as the SWP demo. . .