ISRAEI TERROR ON THE HIGH SEAS!!!

The death toll after the Israeli assault on the Gaz aid flotilla is now reported to be over 20. The attack took place in international waters, making it a major violation of international law. Imagine the response if such an attack had been carried out by Iran. We would now be at war.
     Below is athe press release issued by Stop the War earlier, calling for the British government to condemn the attack and to break links with Israel.

See the Stop the War website for links to videos of the Israeli attack: http://bit.ly/aEMHws

Please use all means you can -- by email, text, Facebook, Twitter, phone -- to publicise today's emergency demonstration.

EMERGENCY DEMONSTRATION TODAY
MONDAY 31 MAY 2.00PM DOWNING STREET LONDON

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MORE ISRAELI VIOLENCE.

ISRAELIS KILL TEN STORMING GAZA FLOTILLA
EMERGENCY DEMONSTRATION TODAY
MONDAY 31 MAY 2.00PM DOWNING STREET LONDON
SPREAD THE WORD

       Yet another act of Israeli barbarism as its forces storm one of the seven ships on the international flotilla taking aid to Gaza, where Israel’s illegal siege is starving Palestinians of essential resources. At least ten activists on board have been killed by Israeli forces.

        Please join the emergency demonstration today if you can. Publicise it as widely as possible.

See video of Israeli assault from Turkish television: http://bit.ly/aKExFf
For updates see: http://http//bit.ly/bg5gIu

CONTACT FOREIGN SECRETARY WILLIAM HAGUE & YOUR MP

PROTEST TO FOREIGN SECRETARY WILLIAM HAGUE:

EMAIL:http://mailto:correspondence@fco.gov.uk
AND/ORmailto:private.office@fco.gov.uk
AND MSU.mailto:PublicIn@fco.gov.uk

LETTER TO:

William Hague MP,
Foreign Secretary,
King Charles Street,
London, SW1A 2AH

CONTACT YOUR MP:
http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/ Ask him/her to contact Hague on your behalf

CONTACT DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER NICK CLEGG
EMAIL: cleggn@parliament.uk

LETTER TO: Nick Clegg MP, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA


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THE CLASS WAR, IT'S STILL HERE TO BE WON.

       

        As we keep hearing about “the cuts” we tend to look at the small picture and think how it might affect ourselves, our family or our friends. This of course suits the powers that be, see it as an isolated thing, a blip in the running of a good system. However if we want to do something about it we have to see the bigger picture and realise that this is a European wide crisis, one of a continuing string of crisis in a rotten corrupt unjust system, not a blip.

        Greece gets a lot of publicity and the rest of Europe thinks aren't we lucky, we're not as bad as Greece. They were shady and corrupt, while we are open and honest, bullshit. All of European governments are shady, and corrupt. What is hitting Greece is going to be the pattern throughout Europe. A little nearer home, Ireland has already been devastated. The people of Ireland are facing a return to an age of poverty and deprivation. Tens of thousand of people in that country have been ruined. The cuts that the Irish people have had inflicted on them is equivalent to the UK slashing its budget by £150billion, approximately 25 times more than our suggested £6billion+.

            In Ireland, apart from the thousands who have lost their homes and their jobs, there are those who are now working 7 days a week just to keep a roof over their heads. Spain is circling the drain, with Italy, Latvia and other European countries putting a brave face on things as the sweat starts to appear on our masters' foreheads. This is a European wide affair and it is only if we the ordinary people link up in solidarity with all the other working class people on the continent can we hope to gain anything from this struggle. It is a struggle, a struggle that has been going on since the start of capitalism. The corporate world are united in their defence of their wealth and privileges, they realise it is a class war, they will defend viciously everything they have, while savagely slashing at the standard of living of the ordinary people. We have to make the same decision and accept this as the continuation of the class war, it is the working class that is going to be decimated if that upper class has it way. You can rest assured no matter how severe the cuts, the millionaires and billionaires will still be sitting on top with their private jets. It is a case now of accepting the class war, organising and standing up in solidarity across the continent. Don't ignore what is happening on the streets of Greece, speak to them, support them, learn from them, the deprivation is coming your way, don't wait until the shit hits the fan.

 

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BANKERS ROULETTE!!

     

       The monotonous call from the two well manicured public school boys and their cabal of millionaires in the cabinet, is “we must cut the national debt”. All their heated waffle is about where and by how much, nobody asks the WHY. The banks and the big financial institutions bet their lot on the roulette wheel of sub-prime mortgages and lost a packet. They turned to their bed partners, the governments and demanded that they make up the losses, with taxpayers money of course. The very obliging governments duly made good the bankers losses and lumbered us with this massive debt. Now those self same financial institutions, banks and bond holders, are concerned that the governments have too much debt and could default and if they default it is the banks and the bond holders that now stand to lose billions. As the can't ask the already bust nations to bail them out again, the only alternative is to get the mountain of debt down by hacking at the government expenditure. That means slashing public services, public sector salaries, destroying the health service, mutilating the education system and heaping thousands more onto the unemployment queue. So basically by sending the ordinary people back to the Victorian era of poverty and deprivation the banks and bond holders will be protected from making huge financial losses.

         So there you have it, strip the public naked and save the billionaires from losing some of their loot. It's a good game if you can get away with it, and it is up to us to see if the do or don't. What do you think? Are we daft enough to let them get away with it, or do we still have some self respect left?

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Sat 29 May - Demo against the EDL (Newcastle)

Urgent Message from UAF Edinburgh.

            The poor General Election results for the BNP in their target areas have led to a number of internal debates in the BNP. Many are blaming Nick Griffin for a failed electoral strategy and the hardcore want to move towards a more traditional fascist approach of street fighting thugs. 

          It is against this backdrop that the English Defence League (EDL) has called for a demonstration in Newcastle on Saturday 29 May. The recent BBC documentary on the EDL (still available in BBC iplayer) showed the racism and violence that runs through it. That is why we need a show of strength with as many people as possible joining the "Unity" demonstration called by Unite Against Fascism.

           UAF Edinburgh is organising transport to this key protest. It will leave Edinburgh at 9am from Waterloo Place (east end of Princes St) and will cost: £20 waged & £10 unwaged. However if you are really skint then we can take you for less.  If you can't make it, could you make a donation to help pay for someone else?

      For tickets, information or to make a donation please email: uafedinburgh@riseup.net
 
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THE HATCHET STARTS TO SWING!!

       

       Culture and Sport Glasgow workers from unions Unison, Unite, BECTU and GMB will be striking on Friday 28 May and Monday 31 May.  This is a continuation of the fight from the strikes on the April 30 and May 6.

       Strikers will again be picketing major Culture and Sport Glasgow holdings across the city, including Kelvingrove Museum, the People's Palace and the Burrell Collection.  Strikers are protesting because CS Glasgow is:

       Cutting all overtime payments to single time; downgrading some jobs to impose pay cuts of £500 - £2,000 per year; and ending premium rates for work on six public holidays.

       Strikers would appreciate solidarity at the pickets. Anarchist Federation members will be at at least one picket site - if you'd like to meet up, email glasgow@afed.org.uk.

        These are your libraries and sports centres, apart from undermining the conditions of the staff, these cuts will put in jeopardy the proper functioning of these facilities. Try to imagine your city without the array of libraries and sports facilities we have. They are far from perfect but to cut and hack at what we already have will deprive many young and old from what meagre facilities we now posses. It will be a poorer city for all of our people if they go ahead with these cuts. We have to defend what we have from the onslaught of cuts that our new millionaire cabinet are going to do their damnedest to inflict on the ordinary people of this country. It is not just a city wide appeal for solidarity, it is a country wide fight.

 
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SOME THOUGHTS FROM THE BNP.

      These are just some of the thoughts that the BNP scumbags haven't got round to writing into their manifesto. Though given the support and time, these and other abhorrent ideas will be come their open aims.

    

  In February 2009 following the death of the six-year-old son of David Cameron, the Conservative Party leader, Jeffray Marshall, the central London BNP organiser, said: “We live in a country today which is unhealthily dominated by an excess of sentimentality towards the weak and unproductive. No good will come of it.”

      Marshall continued his sick tirade, stating that although it would be “a kindness” to kill children with disabilities”, this was not the same as advocating such a measure as compulsory state policy. “But so what if it is,” he declared. “At least we would all know where we stand. There is actually not a great deal of point in keeping these sort of people alive, after all.”

Mark Collett BNP Director of Publicity said about AIDS: “It is a friendly disease because blacks, drug users and gays have it.”

     Tony “The bomber” Lecomber has advocated a “racially purer” Britain through the sterilisation of the poor, the sick and the disabled. Lecomber even thinks that the rich are “genetically superior” to ordinary people and that poor people shouldn’t be allowed to have children.

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DEMOCRACY VILLAGE UNDER ATTACK

  
      Activists in Parliament Square, who have been camping out in protest against the war in Afghanistan, are being threatened with eviction in the run up to the Queens Speech next week. They are asking for people to visit them to show support. Send messages to: supportdemoracyvillage@gmail.com
They can also be followed on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/Democracyville

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Citrus worker after citrus worker say...

"I have not complained because I have my family to support and I'm afraid to lose my job." - Marcelino Tepec


"I do not file a claim against my boss for fear of retaliation. I'm afraid he will no longer give me work." - Pule Vargas

"I know my legal rights are being violated by this contractor, but I do not complain because my other co-workers do not complain and I am afraid to speak up for myself." - Javier Cantor

That's why we want to tell you what's been happening in California's citrus groves and ask for your financial assistance.

Narcizo Peralta has worked for a labor contractor in the citrus orchards for nine years. When asked about his employer, he begins a litany of abuses that bother him deeply. "... I work in the citrus and they do not provide water for us. We have to take our own water. They do not provide us with equipment nor do they pay us the minimum wage. When someone gets hurt on the job, the crew boss cusses us out."

The first three items on Narcizo's list are blatantly illegal. If an employer pays less than twice the minimum wage - and citrus growers pretty much all do - they must provide tools and can't expect workers to purchase their own. Yet Narcizo's co-workers report they are required to buy shears, sacks, and gloves out of their own pockets. Employers must also pay the state's minimum wage.

Agricultural employers must provide clean drinking water for workers. Can you imagine working under the hot California sun without it? They are also supposed to provide sanitary bathrooms. But workers report that the bathrooms, when they are available, are filthy.

Rafael Vega has worked for various labor contractors for about 20 years, so he knows what he's talking about when he notes the ways that contractors cheat workers. "This contractor paid us in cash and one day me and my co-worker asked her to pay us with a check so that we could report to social security, and she became upset and fired us all, the entire crew!"

Your donation helps us do the legal work to take the workers' claims to the California Agricultural Labor Board and the courts -- as well as organizing in the fields and meeting with workers in their homes. Please be as generous as you can. Thank you.
https://secure.ufw.org/page/contribute/citrus10
 
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RIGHT HONOURABLE GENTLEMEN!!!

         Every time I look at British politics all I see are power hungry greedy careerists, then I think perhaps I'm a little cynical. Now and again along comes a politician that seems to talk a little sense and be held with some respect. Somehow Vince Cable appeared as such a person. When he spoke on the economy people listened. So when he commented on George Osborne's billions of pounds of cuts this year and described them as dangerous and “crazy”, most people nodded approvingly. However, the honourable Vince made those comments shortly before he joined with rich boy George, in the cozy-up richboy's coalition, to help him implement those self same cuts and more for next year. What worth his words now? I should have known that it was not cynicism on my part but knowledge born of a long life of political observations and experiences. Right Honourable Gentlemen, is surely the greatest misnomer in the English language, this has to be a case where the trade description act must be enforced.

       It's the same old story, what is said in opposition has no connection with what is done when in power. What appears in a manifesto is just the car salesman's speel, none of it has any connection with the truth.  

THE PROPAGANDISTS.

When the hordes run with their flaming torches,

When they light the torch of freedom

Burning all injustices

Scorching all hypocrisies

Making a bonfire of poverty

Throwing dogma, patriotism and religion on the flames,

I’ll be there, among them with my box of matches.

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AREN'T ELECTIONS WONDERFUL!!

        

        Comment on that “coalition” government from the pillar of the Tory party the Telegraph which states in its leading article;

         “They [Cameron/Clegg] may be making a virtue out of a necessity, but they are doing it with brio... Such starry-eyed optimism is engaging, but should be treated with caution, particularly given the inexperience of the new administration...”

           While Benedict Brogan in the same paper states;

           "The danger is that an exhausted nation will believe its new leaders, and be sorely disappointed when their brave new world turns out to be a mirage."

           Of course you and I know that these two public school boys will indulge in the same old cuddly up to the rich and powerful, their group, and make the ordinary people pay the price.

           The smiling made up faces of the new kids in town will not make the cuts any easier on us, nor will it do anything for those joining the rising dole queue. We have been to the theatre, we've seen the show, it is now over. Time to go home and face reality and think how to survive the coming onslaught to be delivered by the smiling faces and well manicured hands of those who are immune to such ravages.

 
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ONE BIG FAMILY!!!

One of David Cameron's ancestors: King William IV (1765–1837), uncle of Queen Victoria

   

     So we are all in this together!! Well from the back ground of our new Prime Minister it would seem that they are all one big family, but in no way related to you or I, or our world. He hails from that little bunch of privileged parasites that have held the reins of power for far too long, and no doubt will do all in his power to see that things stay that way. We can rest assured that he wont be upsetting any of his cousins etc.

    "David Cameron is a direct descendant of George I, George II, George III, and King William IV (great × 5 grandfather) and his mistress Dorothea Jordan (and thus fifth cousin, twice removed of Queen Elizabeth II As an illegitimate descendant of William IV, Cameron is not in the line of succession to the British throne. He is the nephew of Sir William Dugdale, once the chairman of Aston Villa Football Club, and Birmingham-born documentary film-maker Joshua Dugdale is his cousin.[16] In May 2009, tabloid newspaper The Sun published a discovery by amateur genealogist Tony Andrews that Labour politician Harriet Harman is related to David Cameron through her aunt's marriage to his great uncle.
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cameron#Background

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NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION FOR PALESTINE

Saturday 15 May is a day of action for Palestine, including a demonstration in London, calling for:


* An end to Israel's violations of international law
* An end to Israel's illegal occupation and settlements
* Israeli war criminals to be brought to justice
* An end to the siege on Gaza
* A ban on all settlement goods
* Suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement
* An end to the arms trade with Israel

LONDON FREE PALESTINE DEMONSTRATION SATURDAY 15 MAY, 12-2PM
OPPOSITE 10 DOWNING STREET, LONDON SW1 (nearest tube Westminster)

Organised by: Palestine Solidarity Campaign, British Muslim Initiative, Stop the War Coalition, CND, Palestinian Forum in Britain.

Supported by: Association of the Palestinian Community UK,
Friends of Al Aqsa, Friends of Lebanon, the Green Party, ICAHD
UK, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Liberal Democrats
Friends of Palestine, Pax Christi, Public and Commercial
Services Union, UNISON, UNITE the Union, Zaytoun

DOWNLOAD LEAFLET:   http://bit.ly/bNg9J4
 
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JUSTICE FOR PALASTINIANS.

       Jews for Justice for Palestinians (JfJP) have organised a short UK tour by one of the Shministim - Or Ben-David - a 19 year old Jewish Israeli woman who has refused to enter military service and has been imprisoned three times as a result. The Shministim - all 12th grade high school graduates - in the tradition of conscientious objectors worldwide, have taken an incredibly brave and inspirational stand in refusing to serve in the IDF in opposition to Israeli policies of occupation and oppression of Palestinians.

      Or will be spending a couple of nights in Scotland - a great opportunity to meet Or and hear first hand about the Shministim campaign. More on the Shministim here   http://www.shministim.com/

     On Wednesday 12th May, 5.30 pm, Or will be speaking at the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Palestine in Edinburgh.

     On Thursday 13th May - 7.30 pm - Public Meeting at STUC, 333 Woodlands Road, Glasgow G3 6NG.

     The meeting is being jointly sponsored by Scottish Jews for a Just Peace and Scottish Friends of Palestine 

All Welcome.

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THE NEW WESTERN FASCISM.

       

       Warrantless searches, phone tapping, torture, kidnapping, indefinite imprisonment without charges, denial of legal representation, a continuous assault on our civil liberties, you name it, all part of the free democratic West. We slumbered, we are now in the grip of neo-fascists with an agenda aimed at protecting a privileged elite and using the unbridled power of an authoritarian government to enhance and protect their wealth.

      They are not wearing black shirts, nor stomping down our main streets in their shiny black boots and they are not burning books. To most people Fascist means swastika waving rallies and chants against the Jews. They are wrong. Today’s fascists are radical, conservative, corporate, authoritarian nationalists. They always play the fear card, terrorists from abroad, al-Qaeda, the continuous war against the enemy over there, then claim they need the power to protect us.

       The longer we slumber the tighter their grip until all freedom and civil liberties are a thing of the past. They will not reverse the trend of their own accord, they will never willingly relinquish their power. This is no time for slumber, this is a time to challenge that power, the gangrenous marriage of state and corporate power must be broken, dismantled, atomised and buried in the dustbin of history. Power must belong to the people who make up our society or it belongs to the putrid, pampered, privileged parasites of the new era of the fascist/corporate/state. If we continue to slumber our children will inherit a world of violence, deprivation, control and punishment, while the elite gorge on the fruits of our children’s labour.

 

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A STATEMENT FROM GREECE.

        An employee of the burnt bank speaks out on tonight’s tragic deaths in Athens – On wednesday may 5th during the general strike in Athens 3 people died when molotovs were thrown at a bank which was all closed up and appeared empty but in fact the bosses of the bank had forced the employees to hide there despite their repeated requests to leave. They were told that if they left they would be fired. This is off the occupied London website (http://http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/) and is very necessary counter information by the employees of the bank. The Greek state is using the situation to try and vilify the anarchist movement in Greece so counter information is very important at the moment.

love & rage.

          Please spread Tonight’s tragic deaths in Athens leave little space for comments – we are all very shocked and deeply saddened by the events. To those (on the “Occupied London” blog even) who speculate that the deaths might have been caused purposefully by anarchists, we can only reply the following: we do not take to the streets, we do not risk our freedom and our lives confronting the greek police in order to kill other people. Anarchists are not murderers, and no brainwashing attempted by Greek PM Papandreou, the national or the international media should convince anyone otherwise. That being said, and with developments still running frantically, we want to publish a rough translation of a statement by an employee of Marfin Bank – the bank whose branch was set alight in Athens today, where the three employees found a tragic death. Read the letter, translate it, spread it around to your networks; grassroots counter-information has a crucial role to play at a moment when the greek state and corporate media are leashing out on the anarchist movement over here in Greece.

           I feel an obligation toward my co-workers who have so unjustly died today to speak out and to say some     objective truths. I am sending this message to all media outlets. Anyone who still bares some consciousness should publish it. The rest can continue to play the government’s game. The fire brigade had never issued an operating license to the building in question. The agreement for it to operate was under the table, as it practically happens with all businesses and companies in Greece. The building in question has no fire safety mechanisms in place, neither planned nor installed ones – that is, it has no ceiling sprinklers, fire exits or fire hoses. There are only some portable fire extinguishers which, of course, cannot help in dealing with extensive fire in a building that is built with long-outdated security standards. No branch of Marfin bank has had any member of staff trained in dealing with fire, not even in the use of the few fire extinguishers. The management also uses the high costs of such training as a pretext and will not take even the most basic measures to protect its staff. There has never been a single evacuation exercise in any building by staff members, nor have there been any training sessions by the fire-brigade, to give instructions for situations like this. The only training sessions that have taken place at Marfin Bank concern terrorist action scenarios and specifically planning the escape of the banks’ “big heads” from their offices in such a situation. The building in question had no special accommodation for the case of fire, even though its construction is very sensitive under such circumstances and even though it was filled with materials from floor to ceiling. Materials which are very inflammable, such as paper, plastics, wires, furniture. The building is objectively unsuitable for use as a bank due to its construction. No member of security has any knowledge of first aid or fire extinguishing, even though they are every time practically charged with securing the building. The bank employees have to turn into firemen or security staff according to the appetite of Mr Vgenopoulos [owner of Marfin Bank]. The management of the bank strictly bared the employees from leaving today, even though they had persistently asked so themselves from very early this morning – while they also forced the employees to lock up the doors and repeatedly confirmed that the building remained locked up throughout the day, over the phone. They even blocked off their internet access so as to prevent the employees from communicating with the outside world. For many days now there has been some complete terrorisation of the bank’s employees in regard to the mobilisations of these days, with the verbal “offer”: you either work, or you get fired. The two undercover police who are dispatched at the branch in question for robbery prevention did not show up today, even though the bank’s management had verbally promised to the employees that they would be there. At last, gentlemen, make your self-criticism and stop wandering around pretending to be shocked. You are responsible for what happened today and in any rightful state (like the ones you like to use from time to time as leading examples on your TV shows) you would have already been arrested for the above actions. My co-workers lost their lives today by malice: the malice of Marfin Bank and Mr. Vgenopoulos personally who explicitly stated that whoever didin’t come to work today [May 5th, a day of a general strike!] should not bother showing up for work tomorrow [as they would get fired]. – An employee of Marfin Bank [greek original available]

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JUSTICE AT LAST!!!

So the election is over and the British people have spoken,--and there verdict,- a hung parliament. All that remains now to be done is to set a date when we can actually march them all to the scaffold and carry out that verdict.

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RISE UP OR SUFFER!!!

          

          As the hatchet is taken to the living conditions of the Greek people the rest of the European working class can either look on as bystanders living the illusion that it wont happen to them, or they can be realists and join in solidarity with the Greek working class in the knowledge that they are next in line. It is much better to pre-empt the onslaught on your living conditions rather than trying to win back what has been slashed from you.

           We should have no illusions, we in Britain are heading back to the Victorian era of working class poverty once the elections are out of the way. Once the new millionaires are in the seats of power the real carnage will begin. There will be massive cuts to all social services, raging unemployment, wage cuts and wage freezes, higher taxes, lower pensions and working longer to get that meagre pension. There will be no care home places for the elderly and infirm, no nursery places unless you are prepared to pay through the nose. There has been estimates of council budgets being cut from 20% to 25%. So if you think the council isn't doing enough at the moment, well imagine what they will be able to do with a quarter less money in their purse.

           It is only common sense to fight back in self defence, we can't just sit back and let the financial pundits grab billions of taxpayers money while we bleed and crawl. Our very generous government handed the financial world billions of our tax payers money, which was gleefully accepted and in return the same financial world now tells us our debt is too high and the working class will have to pay to reduce this mountain of debt. Does that sound like your government is taking care of you?? 

           We don't owe anybody anything, we the working class make everything in this world, we grow all the food, we transport and distribute everything in this world. At no time has the working class of the world been living beyond its means. However the parasites of the political and financial class have been since the birth of capitalism.

           The capitalist system has lurched from one crisis to another and it is always the poor, the working class, that have to take the pain, yet they are never the ones that have gained the most. This "crisis" could be the greatest opportunity the world's working class has ever had. A chance to change the system once and for all to a system of justice. A system based on mutual aid that sees to the needs of all our people, a system freed from the grip of the parasites and their insatiable desire for ever increasing profits. A system of free association, voluntary co-operation and sustainability.

           We have the opportunity to realise the people's dream, we could be nurturing a new spring, ushering in a summer of justice, equality and a society free from the fear of deprivation

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COMMUNITY POLICING.

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POLICE SPYING.

Press Release from Scotland Against Criminalising Communities

10.30am Friday 30 April 2010

         Civil liberties group Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC) is calling on Scotland's SNP Government to take urgent action to stop police using  "stop and question" powers at Scotland's ports and airports as opportunities to try to recruit informers to spy on our Muslim community.

          The move follows allegations that a Muslim man, Asif Ahmed, was recently asked to to work for Special Branch to spy on the Muslim community after being stopped and questioned at Edinburgh airport under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Asif Ahmed will be speaking at a press conference being hosted in London this morning by the human rights group Cageprisoners. The press conference is being held at the Frontline Club (2nd Floor, 13 Norfolk Place, Paddington, London W2 1QJ) at 10.30am  

          Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 allows police to stop and question travellers at ports and airport "for the purpose of determining whether they are a person who is or has been concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism." Failure to answer questions is a criminal offence. Police do not need to have any grounds for suspicion before questioning someone under Schedule 7.  

          It is completely unacceptable for police to exploit people who find themselves in this frightening and vulnerable situation by trying to recruit them as informers. It is particularly despicable that they targeted Asif Ahmed in his way. He and his wife recently endured the trauma of a racist attack while travelling by train from Nottingham. 

         Schedule 7 is a draconian piece of legislation that denies travellers - including British citizens - the limited right of silence that they enjoy in all other circumstances. SACC has long campaigned for its repeal. In the meantime, we urge police to refrain from abusing these powers to pressure people into spying for them. 

         Terrorism legislation is the responsibility of the Westminster Government but policing in Scotland is controlled by the Scottish Government.  The Scottish Government must insist that police stop using Schedule 7 as a recruitment tool. 

          In June 2008 the Scottish Government announced that it was to provide Scotland’s police forces with an additional £3.8 million to combat terrorism.  Some of this money was spent on policing airports and ports. It is unacceptable that funding provided by the SNP is being used to intimidate and antagonise our Muslim community. 

          Schedule 7 questioning has been a frequent source of friction between police and Scotland's ethnic minorities. In October 2008 the Scottish Afghan Society held a well supported demonstration outside Strathclyde Police HQ demanding an end to harassment at Glasgow airport. 

           Police attempts to recruit ordinary people as spies don't just target the Muslim community. Underhand tactics by Scottish police made headlines last year when environment campaigner Matlda Gifford taped police trying to recruit her.  

More information:   Richard Haley contact@saccnet.org.uk  07936432519

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