Black Flag 215 (1998)

Some contents linked below, complete contents in PDF.

Editorial

On 1st October 1998 the International Monetary Fund announced that the world economy was on the brink of recession. Growth forecasts for the UK were around 2%-with the UK's performance the worst of all G7 economies bar Japan. As ever, it will be working class people who will be expected to pay for any loss in profits to our bosses - through job cuts, price rises and cuts in services.

A number of features in this issue look at the world economy - at the causes of the crisis, at strategies available to the ruling class to resolve the crisis in their interests, and at what we can do to assert our interests against theirs. We continue the debate on anarchist organisation with a look at the lessons of the Black Panther Party, and critically examine some ideas put forward by Green Anarchist and by Andy Anderson about the theory and practice of resistance today. We follow up issue 212's article on police involvement with Yardie drug dealing with a further examination of the connections between "law and order" and the drug trade.

New Labour has time and again sought to play the "race card" as a means of dividing our communities and a number of articles focus on anti racist solidarity and anti deportation fights. The commitment and resourcefulness demonstrated in these reports are precisely the weapons we need to employ in the struggles ahead...