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COUNTER INFORMATION No. 38

October, November, December 93


JOY WAS MURDERED

When the police murdered Joy Gardner on 28th July 1993 the racism of the British
State, immigration laws, police force and popular press was obvious to all who 
could see.

   Joy was a 40 year old Jamaican woman who had been in Britain since 1987 and 
was appealing against a Deportation Order, on compassionate grounds. She died 
of hypoxic brain damage after 8 police officers raided her home at 6.30am and 
restrained her using a body belt resembling slave manacles, and adhesive tape to
gag her. She had no advance warning of the raid and offered no opposition to the 
police. Her solicitor only learned of her appeal being refused 2 hours after she
died.

   Nearly 7,000 people were deported from Britain in 1992, an increase of nearly
400%. Since the changes in Immigration laws since 1988. Also in July a Nigerian 
woman, Dorothy Nwodcki was deported after having had her thumbs broken, mouth 
taped and legs tied together by a private security firm.

   On September 8th Quaddus Ali, a 17 year old Asian man was attacked in Stepney
by a gang of racists and almost  beaten  to death. A peaceful vigil outside the 
hospital two days later by over 300 people led to a night of rioting after large
numbers of police waded in. 9 young Asians have been charged with riot. 2 weeks 
later another Asian youth was savagely attacked in Stepney. On the 19th  &26th 
September hundred of anti-fascists attacked and disrupted BNP paper-sales in 
Brick Lane and the police had to intervene to save  Richard Edmonds and his 
fellow fascists.

   Anti-racist resistance to these State attacks continues with over 1,200 
demonstrating on 7th August at Joy Gardners death. On 10th July, 75 people 
protested outside a London police station after Rita Porter, a black mother of 
two was attacked then charged with assault by police after she refused to leave 
her local electricity showroom until her supply was reconnected. The charges 
have since been dropped. On 30th August,300 anti-fascists prevented a planned 
march in the town centre of Burnley, Lancashire.

   In Paris, a neighbourhood collective has been set up to take daily action 
against police excesses after a number of  murders & arrests of those protesting
against State murder. French National; Front leader, Jean Marie Le Pen was 
unable to hold fascist seminars in Edinburgh and then Dublin after intense local
opposition. In Tokyo in late July a rally and march was held to protest at the 
deportation of foreigners, mostly Iranians, illegally staying.

   In Germany 1,000 activists from Anti Fascist Action descended on Fulda in 
Hesse on 16 August to stop a secretly planned Nazi Rudolf Hess commemoration.  
Though a massive police operation stopped most anti fascists entering the town,
anti fascists were encouraged by the fascists turn-out being much lower than 
previous years.  


OPERATION OPPRESS-U

WITH the threatened arrival of Operation Rescue (O.R.) in the U.K. we thought 
we'd look into this anti-abortionist organisation.

   O.R. appears to be made up of respectable soldiers of God but behind their 
respectability are a mish-mash of nazis, ex- Klu Klux Klan grand-dragons (!) 
and holier than thou Christians/Catholics.

   O.R. picket, hassle and intimidate doctors, nurses, clinic workers, and women
who have chosen to have an abortion.  They picket their homes, fire-bomb 
clinics, and have also stayed quiet on the killing of a doctor killed by a 
frenzied picketer.

   They have their own training camps where they train IMPACT teams.  They learn
how to terrorize and intimidate those of us who would control our own bodies and
lives.

   But this harrassment has been met with resistance.  In USA, Britain and 
elsewhere, counter demonstrations have chased off the no-choice bigots in 
defence of abortion clinics, staff and women who need to use them.

   Be on the look out.


Rights are Wrongs

The 7 vote victory on a 44% turnout, representing 15% of those on the Electoral 
Register in Millwall Ward, east London has boosted the media profile of the nazi
British National Party. We have to wage a class war to fight back against 
despair & bigotry.

   The BNP campaigned under their racist slogan: Rights for Whites. With local 
people denied jobs in expanded Finance and Newspaper employment in the area,  
overcrowding due to a lack of public housing, and  unpopular Tower Hamlets 
Council  expenditure such as a new Town Hall. The Island  has given rise to 
dockers supporting Powell 's race policies in 1968, an eccentric Declaration of
UDI for the Isle of Dogs, and now a siege mentality scapegoating the Bangladeshi
community over spilling into the north of the ward after a Ring Road scheme led
to the relocation of residents.

   Faced with the Race Relations lobby demanding positive treatment for Asians,
& the Left tail-ending the State, the BNP have manipulated local working class 
anger into the cesspit of racism and diverted attention away from Big Business 
and the empty private houses unavailable to bangladeshi & white residents alike.

   The vote was a silent protest with no BNP posters in windows & few hard-core 
Nazi supporters.  As a protest-vote it has given publicity to grievances that 
can be bought-off by reversing the run-down of public housing and jobs.


RESIST  PENSIONER GENOCIDE 

DON'T pay VAT on your fuel bills or on standing charges. Help keep older people 
alive, contact your local Pensioners Rights Group for practical ways to show 
SOLIDARITY. Loughborough Pensioners Rights Group. 

The addition of 8% VAT from April 1994 and 17.5% a year later will cause  
pensioner genocide say the group, as older people have to choose between eating 
and heating. 

Contact:  Loughborough Pensioners Rights Group, c/o Gorse Covert Community 
Centre, Maxwell Drive, Loughborough LE11 ORZ Tel. 843752


UNITED NATIONS CAN'T END WAR!

The endgame is being played out in Bosnia-Hercegovina. With partition being 
negotiated, rebellion is growing amongst the population, including troops, 
against the war economy. In Somalia, UN "peace-keeping" has been hijacked by 
U.S. gun-toting farce. Elsewhere, the 'new world order' has  become a tired 
cliche for "new, improved" death and destruction on a world scale. 

  In CI 32,  2 years ago, we denounced the "Plague of Nationalism"  and 
anticipated a Bosnian conflict "reminiscent of Lebanon": 100,000 dead , 2 
million displaced and embittered refugees, 50,000 women raped, thousands maimed 
& scarred by a so-called "civil" war. What was a multi-ethnic society, with low 
religious observance by those termed muslim, has become ethnically cleansed 
areas  based on nationalist myth and intolerance. The agenda of the Serbian and 
Croatian states has been realised with the collusion of western diplomats such 
as Carrington who gave the green light to partition, and the illusion of US led 
intervention which led the Bosnian elite to cling to increasingly hollow 
threats of airstrikes*.

Smart bombs can't liberate

   In Somalia there is no delay. Even the humanitarian aid effort has been 
jeopardised by the  use of force often against protesters and townships. General
Aideed may have used women and children as a a human shield, but the U.S. is 
callously using southern Somalia as a training ground for 3rd World insurgency 
based on the Cortina training at the Fort Chafee base in President Clintons 
Arkansas. The U.N. has behaved like another warlord and is no longer trusted by 
a population subject to of warlord & superpower barbarity.

   Confusion on the left has accompanied the fascist glee at Balkan barbarism. 
The leftist  theory is that each conflict demands "taking sides" with one State 
because it is "objectively" resisting imperialism. Hence you have the RCP 
siding with Serbia in the mistaken belief that western crocodile tears for 
Bosnia=a threat to starve and bomb the anti-Nazi Serbs. On the other hand, 
German encouragement of Slovene, Croatian independence was not matched by 
France, USA and especially Britain.  The WRP and assorted liberals argue that 
as anti-imperialists you must support the Bosnian State and its multi-ethnic 
legitimacy. 

No solidarity with States  

 Following similar  humanitarian missions, a Workers Aid convoy has taken off 
from the Timex  to deliver supplies to the workers of Tuzla. The motives of many
taking part are to be applauded. However, the interests of the ruling elite, 
Bosnian included, must always be viewed as distinct from the aspirations of 
working people, especially those in Sarajevo preserving a multi-ethnic society. 
In central Bosnia, revenge ethnic cleansing and  atrocity, a mutual process with
Croat forces, is driving a wedge between working people and promoting 
fundamentalism. 

  The selective response of the United Nations to preventing war is demonstrated
elsewhere by the unrestrained Armenian advance in Azerbaijan;  Unita  restarting
the civil war in Angola after they lost the Election and U.S. support; the Khmer
Rouge in Cambodia; the continued  State terrorism in East Timor, Kashmir, 
Burma, Kurdish areas etc. The move to democracy in South Africa and the 
PLO/Israel deal for limited autonomy cannot bring peace. War, death and 
destruction  is central to capitalism on a world scale. Only social revolution 
can end the barbarism of nationalist conflict.

*  see  articles in Here & Now 13, c/o 28 King St., Glasgow G1 5QP & Subversion 13,
Dept 10, 1 Newton St., Manchester M1 1HW  -   samples free, send large stamped 
addressed envelopes.

Cracks in the Armour?

Disaffection is beginning to show among some soldiers but at present their aims 
are confused. Serbian soldiers have taken control in Banja Luka, northern 
Bosnia. They are holding local officials and demanding an end to war 
profiteering and corruption in local government, supported by people suffering 
from hyper inflation. Other army units are reported to be taking similar 
actions, notably at Brcko.

   In Serbia, Trade Union officials, pressurised by angry members called for a 
General Strike for August 2-6 to protest at  50% daily inflation, 50% 
unemployment, production down 60% since Sanctions were imposed. Recent strikes 
have included 18,000 miners, 10,000 chemical workers and actions by enginering 
and transport workers. Farmers in annexed Vojvodina have been blocking roads 
in protest at low grain prices offered by the Belgrade Government.

   At the end of 1992, Serbian reservists refused mobilisation against Croatia. 
6,700  in Kragujevac reported for duty without weapons and refused to go to the 
front; in Valijevo, 200  returning from the front forced the Commander to 
discharge them; at Markutsika on December 18th,700 refused further duty after 
their 45 day service ended. 150 Belgrade reservists were sent back from the 
front after a 3 day hunger strike.

   Citizen groups exist to help the victims of war and pressurise Governments to
stop promoting the conflict. They document human rights abuses, give 
pyscho-social counselling for rape and other war victims, and support 
conscientious objectors. In Serbia, Radio 852 broadcasts alternative new & 
information. With international support and networking these civil society 
groups can continue their work.

Source: ContraFlow, Kick It Over, Bad Attitude.


UNEMPLOYED REVOLT!

UNEMPLOYED people are rebelling against compulsory Jobplan Workshop.  Claimants 
unemployed for over a year are being forced on to this one week course under 
threat of 40% benefit cuts.
   But many courses are ending in disarray as the conscripts argue with the 
trainers and generally refuse to co-operate.  Claimants groups are leafleting 
the courses encouraging maximum insubordination.  On 8 June 16 claimants walked 
out of their workshop in Lambeth.
   50 Jobplan resisters stormed Brixton Job Centre on 12 July.  The hour-long 
occupation was organised by Lambeth Unemployed Action Group.
   In Edinburgh a dozen claimants halted work at High Riggs Unemployment Benefit
Office on 10 August, playing drums, displaying placards and distributing 
leaflets against Jobplan Workshop.
Contact:  
Lambeth Unwaged Action Group, 12-14 Thornton St, London SW9 Tel 071 733 5135; 
Edinburgh Unemployed Workers Centre, 103 Broughton St. Tel 031 557 0718


McLibel

TWO unwaged London Greenpeace supporters are defending themselves against McDonalds in a major libel case.  Defiance 
is growing.  
* In some towns weekly pickets now besiege McDonalds
* There have been protests in a dozen countries
* 15 - 17 Oct. is World Anti-McDonalds Weekend, Demonstrate 15th at 4.30 pm 
McDonalds HQ, High Road, (East Finchley tube) - and in your area!
Contact:  McLibel Support Campaign, 5 Caledonian Rd, London N!

BEATING THE BULLDOZERS

Public opinion seems to be U-turning against most of the Governments gigantic 
insane road expansion programme. This follows a Spring and Summer of 
widespread, often intense, struggle - given occasional media coverage - by a 
broadbased diversity of environmental eco activists ranging from liberal middle 
class groups (Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth) to the more  encouraging direct 
actionists aligned to Earth First and Green Anarchist.

   Overcoming setbacks,  the initiative has switched to the protesters, 
following a series of reverses for the roads lobby. This is especially 
symbolised by the cancellation of the 300 million road through Oxleas Wood 
after a vigorous campaign, and continued delays & resistance at Pollok Estate
(Glasgow) and Twyford Down to Tarmac and fellow scumbags Group 4.

   An appeal for more help from activists prepared for direct action has been 
circulated.  Action is underway at Wanstead, Jesmond Deane in Newcastle upon 
Tyne, the Wensum and Wyndum valley road links near Norwich, the A30/303 
Improvement  in the West country, he Tin Hat Oxford by-pass, the Birmingham 
northern relief road, the M25 widenings and the Skye Bridge in Highland Region.

   Usually well away from rich suburbs, road developments pose threats to health
and safety of nearby residents, destroys areas of rare natural beauty and drives
away wildlife. Working class residents in North Pollok (Glasgow), Tottenham/ 
Haringey & Hornsey/ Wood Green in London, and Kirkby(Liverpool) have taken 
action against speeding cars & business commuters after recent child deaths.

   Parallel environmental actions centre around the imports of tropical 
rainforest hardwood by British/ Multinational companies, and the Store Wars, 
with green field sites for  shopping malls and  superstores(eg Yeovil). 38 
arrests on 20th September at Faslane/Coulport highlighted the continued nuclear 
convoys which speed through Glasgow and other cities. Despite slick advertising 
campaigns, the Thorpe Reprocessing plant at Sellafield is still being resisted. 
A week of action - October 31st - November 5th - has been arranged around the 
old  Nuisance period of Halloween/Guy Fawkes.

For international news of environmental actions contact Green Anarchist(Box  M) 
and Earth First(Box E) both at 111 Magadalen Rd., Oxford OX4 1RQ.

Joint Enterprise

CHRISTINE Sawbridge was only 15 when she visited her friend Ethel to escape the 
ravings of a violent, possessive boyfriend, T.  Shortly after, T arrived at the 
flat and forced his way in.  When Ethel protested, T struck her with a bottle.  
When she screamed, he knifed her.
   Christine escaped, but didn't report the murder, mostly because of violent 
threats  from T.  She was eventually arrested and charged, along with T with 
joint enterprise to rob!  Joint enterprise is an old police dodge usually used 
to convict innocent bystanders.
   In court, Christine was fitted-up by - thats right, the  West Midlands 
Serious Crime Squad.  She was found guilty.  She writes.  "I am now 24 years 
old and have been in prison for nearly 4 years.  Last year I finally realised 
the futility of writing to the Home Office. I refuse to be shut away like I 
don't exist.  But I'm here until they admit they make mistakes.  Christine would
welcome the formation of a support group.

Contact:  Christine Sawbridge, D30409, Drake Hall, Dylan House, Eccleshall, 
Stafford

Prisoners rioted at Wymott Prison, Lancashire, on 6 September.

MOST of the inmates participated in the 9 hour riot.  At its height, fires 
burned throughout the jail, a fuel tank exploded and a group of prisoners 
almost reached the front door by using sledgehammers to smash the walls of the 
control centre.  Damage is estimated at 20 million.


Repression in Peru

PERUVIAN anarchist Andre Villaverde was falsely imprisoned - untried - in 
October l991 on nonsensical charges of  belonging to the authoritarian Marxist 
Shining Path.  
   Recently, while visiting Andre inside, 2 Peruvian comrades were arrested by 
DINCOTE, the national  security police.  A third visitor from the US Love and 
Rage Collective, evaded prison security and left the country.
   If tried, Andre will face a Faceless Tribunal of sinister masked judges who 
disdain legal rights and rules of evidence.  
   These arrests, along with DINCOTE raids on anarchist homes, are part of a 
co-ordinated policy to discredit and destroy the Peruvian anarchist movement.
   Prisoners food must be brought in by outside friends, or they starve.  Money 
is desperately needed.  Protests at Peruvian  interests are essential.
   Contact  Peruvian Solidarity Project, c/o WSM, PO Box 1528, Dublin 8, Eire
All donations acknowledged.


Danish demo

2,000 people marched in protest at the shooting of anti-EEC demonstrators on the 
night of Denmarks Yes vote to join the EEC and called for the release of 35 
prisoners.  The Danish consulate in Gronigen, Netherlands was attacked in 
response to the shootings and demonstrations and actions have taken place in 
Oslo, Stockholm and Berlin.

Poles Apart

Poland.  500-600 people meet in Gdansk to celebrate May Day with shouts of 
"Factories to the Workers".  The meeting was broken up by police.  In Wroclaw, 
300 turned up for May Day organised by Anarchist Federation and Anti-Nazi Front.
In June, the Solidarity (Trade Union) threatened a general strike in support of 
health workers and teachers.  The government was dismissed and MPs passed a vote
of no confidence.

Burnsalls Battle On

The strikers at Burnsalls in Smethwick, West Midlands have been attacked by 
scabs, the police and now they've been told by the GMB union that the strike 
is over.  The strikers, mainly Asian women, and supporters are determined to 
continue the struggle and have demonstrated outside the GMB HQ.  
Burnsalls Strikers Support Committee (LONDON) c/0 LONDEC, 205-217 INSTRUMENT 
HOUSE, LONDON WC1.  Tel: (071) 713 7907.

Mushrooming Pickets

Supporters rallied in Selby, Yorkshire on 24th July to show solidarity with 89 
strikers from Middlebrook Mushrooms.  The workers, mainly women, were sacked by 
Middlebrook (a subsidiary of Booker PLC) when they refused to accept a pay cut.  
Information, tel: 0977 662923.

Miners Strike

The miners strike in the USA had spread to involve 17,000 workers across 7 
states by late August.  London-based Hanson PLC is one of the companies 
involved in attacking workers conditions.  Mass pickets of up to 1,000 have 
clashed with police and scabs.  The miners are seeking national and 
international solidarity.  Info: UMWA, tel. (618) 942 6112

Striking Against Racism

Council housing workers in Southwark, London took unofficial strike action in 
late July against racial discrimination and authoritarian management.  Although 
only 36% of the workforce are black, 84% of those disciplined are black.



A FIGHT FOR EVERYONE ! 

A country-wide crisis is sweeping the Health Service. Many NHS Trust hospitals are 
running out of money and stopping all non-emergency NHS operations.  Britain -wide 
some hospitals face complete closure. 
   But at University  College Hospital (UCH),  North London, workers have fought 
back.  Nurses and porters were on indefinite strike, with emergency cover, from 17 
August till mid- September to resist the hospital's  closure.
   As we went to press the UCH workers had reluctantly voted to return to work, 
following their Union Unison withdrawing support from the strike.
   Earlier, other UCH staff and workers at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and 
Middlesex hospitals had struck for short periods, and a general campaign to "Defend 
the NHS" developed. 
   The resistance to the UCH closure has involved: ambulance workers refusing to
move UCH patients out of the hospital; patients refusing to be moved!; workers and 
community activists occupying a UCH ward for 10 days in September; BT and other 
workers not crossing the picket line to dismantle the wards; Camden Council workers 
walking out to join the picket ; posties leafleting their rounds and Goodge St. 
tube workers broadcasting strike reports over the station tannoy! 
   There have been mass pickets, three unofficial marches and occupations of the
chief executives office and UCH foyer. 
   Management used agency nurses to strike-break and refused strikers access to 
the building - five nurses were threatened with the sack for trying to provide 
emergency cover.
   The Union, UNISON, before their final act of sabotage,  sent circulars to other 
hospitals ordering workers not to support any unofficial action by the UCH workers. 
   But the strikers said "This is a fight for everyone. We are appealing for your support".
   Now  the UCH workers are discussing how to continue the battle against the 
hospital's closure.  Spreading the struggle to involve as many in the community and 
in other workplaces as possible will be vital.

Islington Nursery Occupation

TWO nurseries on the Harvest and Springdale Estates in Islington have been occupied 
by a Parents Action Group since the 5th of May.  On Mayday staff were given 3 months
notice of closure despite protests from the local community.  The 24 hour a day 
occupation aims to overturn the council decision.
Contact : Islington Under Fives Action Group, c/o Springdale UFEC, 15a Springdale 
Rd., London N16.  Tel. 071 923 0263

Anti Water Privatisation

AQUATIC activists made a splash with a Wash-In against Water Privatisation in 
Edinburghs Water of Leith on 10 July.
   This followed the Government announcement that 3 new Scottish Water Boards will 
replace today's Council-run set-up.  Under orders to maximise private sector 
involvement, the Boards are a stepping stone to privatisation.
   Activists are urging community-based direct action to defeat any sell-off.
Contact:  Stockbridge New Town Solidarity Network Tel 031-667 4299

Easey Street

Unemployed people in Collingwood, Australia have occupied the Easey St. drop-in 
centre, with help from local supporters.  Despite sabotage, threats of eviction 
and police hassle the venue is to be opened up again and used for what it should be - a local drop-in centre self-managed by local users.  
Angry People PO BOX 4434 Melbourne University, Parkville, Victoria 3052

Sporting Behaviour

For the second year running and despite advanced planning by the authorities, the 
celebrations which followed another championship win for the Chicago Bulls turned 
into rioting, especially in the West and South side housing projects.  Wealthy 
shops were attacked and over 100 police were injured.  Unfortunately 1000s were 
injured by the police and 682 were arrested.  Wind Chill Factor

General Strike

Despite threats from General Babangidas military government, a 3 day general strike 
demanding an end to military rule was solidly supported, especially in the 
commercial capital Lagos.  Government offices, banks and shops were closed and 
public transport was brought to a standstill...meanwhile in the oil-rich south-east
of the country, the Ogoni people continue to fight the state and the Shell Oil 
company, demanding political autonomy and more compensation for the environmental 
damage caused by the oil industry.  Several traditional chiefs have been forced out 
of the community for opposing the tough stance taken by the people.  


Water Fight

In June, united action by 4,000 families in an exclusively working class barrio 
(district) of Mexico City succeeded in getting a 40% cut in water rates.  In some 
areas people are only having to pay 20% of the rates.  Working class people are 
bypassing the corrupt unions and setting up peoples assemblies to organise their
struggles.  Unite 10/7/93

Boycotting Timex

"We have lost everything.  All we have left is the fight".  
Roger Letty, Timex striker.

THE Timex workers are continuing their battle against the multinational following 
the closure of the Dundee factory on 29 August.
   Despite innovative grass-roots initiatives, the struggle has so far been unable 
to definitively break free from the dead weight of trade union/STUC bureaucracy;
the aim of the most militant workers - occupying the factory before it closed - 
was not realised.
   Nevertheless the international workers and consumers boycott of Timex is 
developing.  14 sacked workers picketed the Timex plant at Besancan, France, for 2 
weeks in September, and further visits are planned.  An international Timex workers 
conference is on the agenda.
   The new Timex office in Forfar is picketed daily.  And Support Groups, such as 
in Edinburgh, are picketing H Samuels and other shops selling Timex watches.

Contact:  Timex Strike Committee, c/o AEEU, 2 Union St, Dundee  Tel 0382 22406
Edinburgh Support Group Tel 031 556 0903


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This issue went to press 29-9-93				Stay in touch!