OUR THOUGHTS ARE WITH SATAN AND THE DENIZENS OF HELL AT THIS DIFFICULT TIME…

IT’S FINALLY HAPPENED: It’s finally happened: the woman who destroyed the unions, created mass unemployment and fucked up generations of British people through war and discrimination, has popped her clogs. Tonight, thousands of people will be taking to the streets in celebration of the death of the ‘Iron Lady’, and don’t forget to get to Trafalgar Square this Saturday for the biggest free party so far this decade!

Thatcher is dead poster imageHowever, with things being shitter than ever before (mass unemployment, the end of the N.H.S. and the benefits system, workers’ rights getting destroyed despite all the lives lost to win them, and people losing their homes), I am sure most of us wish that the whole of government had been blown up instead.

But nothing’s better than a party to cheer you up! And the destruction of a half-dead, evil, mean-spirited old Tory monster is a much better celebration than a couple of posh kids getting married… and it’s not like you were invited to the wedding anyway!

Another thing to look out for is Thatcher’s state funeral, with full military honours: a blatant incitement to riot on behalf of the Tories, if ever there was one. At a cost of £3 million, I am pretty sure the only reason she is getting one is so that we will all be allowed to form an orderly queue to get the opportunity to piss on her. I personally think her grave should be under a public toilet so millions of people for decades will be able to relieve themselves on her… if you get charged £1 a shit then I am sure it would get the country out of debt. Or perhaps if the rest of the Tories (yeah, and Lib Dems too, why not?) start to follow suit, the sales of alcohol and party food alone should be enough to pull us out of whatever economic crash we’re told isn’t happening that we find ourselves in.

Anyhow; have a drink to the old bitch’s death tonight, and think of her roasting in the deepest circles of hell.

In other news, Atos Origin allegedly announced this afternoon that they found Margaret Thatcher for for work.

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FOOTBALL IN SHOCK AS FASCIST WANKER DI CANIO IS MADE MANAGER OF SUNDERLAND….

EXCEPT WE’RE NOT here at the Mutineer, seeing as we knew about DiCanio’s dream career of managing English football teams since he was appointed as manager of Swindon Town. We even did a little report on how happy we were when the fash fucker left his position there earlier this year. There were other media sources that reported this but obviously it was not seen by many as the most important of news.

Of course that all changed when DiCanio was appointed manager at AFC Sunderland; it seems that everybody now is asking questions as to why this is happening, and the B.B.C., along with other media outlets and left wing groups, are starting to complain about this turn of events. Personally this writer is more pissed off with the left-wing and the media, than with the recent signing in of a self-proclaimed fash.

DiCanio pictured along with some other boneheads
DiCanio pictured along with some other boneheads

It’s no surprise that the press only started to chase after DiCanio’s far-right activities once he was signed at Sunderland – which also happened to be chaired by Ed Milliband’s loser brother David. That’s what mainstream news does, and while it does piss me off we shouldn’t be surprised, because this does happen all the time. At least Paul Merton made note of this on the newest episode of Have I Got News For You “It’s a bit like invading Czechoslovakia, you got to invade Poland before people take notice”.

However, the people who have really pissed me off are the left-wing reformist idiots who run Hope Not Hate. Looking through all their articles on DiCanio, the first article they wrote on the bastard was dated April 1st 2013. Wait a fucking minute, 2013? DiCanio has been involved in English football since the 90’s – he was managing Swindon Town from May 2011, and you didn’t mention anything then? What the fuck? I would’ve have thought that a group that concerns itself with the monitoring of fascism in the UK would have considered his appointment at Swindon to be of some significant importance. The local G.M.B. union certainly took action when they pulled out from financially backing the team due to the controversial decision, but obviously it was only important for H.N.H to take action when fascists get appointed to the managerial positions of fancy premier league clubs. This is what irritates me the most about H.N.H., S.W.P., S.P., and the broad left in general: they take action on issues which have become mainstream media material. If it is not that widely reported by the B.B.C. and other media mogul elites then they tend to not bother themselves with it at all.

My respect to the individuals and groups who did highlight and take action when DiCanio was appointed manager at Swindon Town; as for the rest of you just remember that fascists must be opposed everywhere. Just because Swindon Town is not a high-profile club doesn’t mean you can relax and let the fuckers carry on...

…Not Swindon – the fascists.

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A RETROSPECTIVE JOURNEY THROUGH TIME, WORKFARE-STYLE

LAST WEEK’S WEEK of Action against Workfare saw 11 demos around the country, and got off to a positively super start, as Superdrug announced their withdrawal from the scheme (get it? “Super”? As in “Super”drug? No? Ahh, forget it). Okay, it was on the Friday, not the beginning of the week, you pedant, but they pulled out all the same.

graphic criticising Poundland's breach of minimum wage

But as a reminder, what is Workfare? From the B.A.R.F. leaflet: “Unemployed people being forced to work for free for up to six months with no guarantee of a job afterwards, many of them for major high street companies, such as British Heart Foundation, Debenhams, Poundland, Superdrug, Tesco, W.H.S. Smiths, and more.” So, yeah, modern slavery, but without the obligation to keep the slaves healthy, because this time there’s more than enough of us.

At the beginning of the week, the Employment Related Services Association (E.R.S.A.) put out a ‘myth buster’ in defence of Workfare – conveniently made up of mythology itself. The E.R.S.A. is the trade body for welfare-to-work companies like A.4e and J.H.P. Employability. Though they claim that the scheme is only used in limited ways, 163,000 people were on “Government training and employment support programs” in February 2013 – over 10% of J.S.A claimants – most of which were Work Experience Placements. They think that Work Programme providers wouldn’t force people to do something that won’t help them get work, because they won’t get paid if they don’t help find someone a job; which is a logical perspective if you have no basis in reality. They also allege that mandation is used only in a minority of circumstances and must benefit to the local community, ignoring how claimants are pressured into placements, or not properly informed about their mandatory nature, and how the so-called “benefit to the local community” often includes cleaning private homes. And one of their most naïve claims: placements organised via the Work Programme and Mandatory Work Activity programme are unpaid precisely so they do not displace paid workers. But it is patently obvious that access to a ready supply of unpaid workers does replace paid jobs and undermine wages, and the companies know it too: Asda reduces overtime hours for staff; Argos replaced its Christmas temps with Workfare staff; J.H.P. Employability cuntishly even advertised workfare as “free temporary staff for up to four weeks” on their site. It’s uncertain to what extent this impact is, as the govermint refuses to actually carry out any trials. The E.R.S.A. also claim the public don’t object to workfare, in the face of growing opposition, and to prove it they hark back to a March 2011 poll done for thinktank Policy Exchange – long before workfare hit the headlines.

Another factoid to consider in all this: incidence and severity of assaults on JCP staff are apparently on the up, with frustration and confusion about sanctions are cited as the cause.

On Tuesday, attention was turned to the Salvation Army, whose U.K. H.Q. was paid a surprise visit. Nevertheless, the media-savvy Sally’s showed how they’re happy to act as Iain Duncan Smith’s Workfare foot soldiers, as their heavy-handed response to a peaceful protest left one person temporarily arrested after being falsely accused of assault, until police realised they’d been lied to. Never content to just stop there, when questioned about how they “can morally take sick and disabled people and force them to work?”, the charity replied that they believe in “emancipation through employment” – just like at Auschwitz. Should you wish to let them know exactly you think about their use of forced labour, ring them on 02073 674500 (or e-mail them at: info@salvationarmy.org.uk) – and please spare a thought for their witless P.R. officer who is probably even now just entering the dole queue. ‘Arbeit macht frei’, indeed.

But the real shit in ya slippers was Duncan Sith’s Workfare bill getting itself enacted in Parliament. Aside from a few votes against, Miliband’s goons put the ‘Slave’ back into Labour as their abstention slipped the law through with ease. Not only did politicians enable a retroactive law to be enacted, they also deprived 225,000 people of justice, effectively robbing £130 million in welfare payments people were lawfully due. Neo-nazi I.D.S. (who has grown fat off benefits via his unemployed albeit rich, wife, four child benefit-enriched children and his own periods of dole claims) had this particular wet dream extraordinarily rushed through, with the Second Reading, Committee Stage and Third Reading all being scheduled for the same day. Which is nice. This spate of legal time travel now means that the govermint has ‘always complied’ with the court ruling, even though for two years it did not. Slavery is Peace, Ignorance is Strength, and Orwellian fiction becomes fact.

But then again, if Babyface Smith didn’t get his way, “If the Department cannot make these retrospective changes, then further reductions in benefits might be required in order to find the money to repay the sanctions.” Otherwise known as: “Fuck you, plebs!”

Wednesday seemed a bit of a quiet one, but saw Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group leafleting outside the local Job Centre, in solidarity with the day’s strike by the P.C.S. union.

One highlight of the week, for what it’s worth, is on the Thursday when the govermint was forced to admit that jobcentres have been setting targets to sanction claimants, despite assurances by employment minister Mark Hoban in Parliament that this sort of thing doesn’t happen. According to a leaked e-mail, staff in Walthamstow were threatened with disciplinary action for being 95th out of 109 on the league tables, only punishing six of their 300 claimants a week, when they should be setting up 25 innocents for sanctions (the keywords staff were on the lookout for were: “Do not accept the same job search every week, do not accept ‘I dropped off C.V. to shops like Asda or Sainsbury’s’, listen for telltale phrases ‘I pick up the kids’, ‘I look after my neighbours children/my grandchildren’ or just ‘I am busy’”). Bearing in mind that such a league table could only have been compiled based on data supplied by senior management; makes you wonder what the top prize is? The D.W.P. is of course trying to blame this faux pas on a couple of middle management bad eggs, rather than admit a general culture of top-down institutional hatred for ordinary people; surprise surprise, but why be so naïve as to expect that honesty is the name of the game? So all we’ll get out of it is a bullshit inquiry distraction before they start screwing us harder, but at least they were caught lying.

On the Friday, seven activists from the Black And Red Federation held a modest afternoon demo to greet the new Poundland on Westgate Street. Despite the focus of the High Court judgement (where Cait Reilly – the Geology Graduate forced to give up voluntary work in a museum to work for nothing at Poundland – whose successful challenge led to the ruling declaring Workfare regulations unlawful), Poundland are still at it. Poundland have 30-hour ‘Work Experience’ placements across 71 of their stores, though allegedly not in Bath. 80% of placements do not even get offered any kind of job there; considering how Poundland’s profits rose by 27% to £40 million in the last financial year, they can probably afford to hand out a bit of wage. Though they claim that their scheme is completely voluntary, it does involve Job Centre Plus, so the threat of benefit cuts are still on the cards for those who refuse. The degree to which the scheme is genuinely voluntary is disputed though, as there are countless reports of lies and intimidation to force Jobseekers’ participation, and after one week the scheme becomes mandatory. Not only are placementees getting an effective £2 or so an hour (do we not have a minimum wage in this country anymore?), the scheme is also a direct attack on Poundland’s other workers – replacing paid jobs, holiday pay & ending temporary posts for students and others who rely on this type of work. Boycott Workfare have received various complaints from Poundland staff who have had their hours cut, because of the Workfare job destruction scheme.

The demo was met by overwhelming support from the passersby (at least those who have heard of Workfare, which is surprisingly few), with such classics as the posh elderly former Tory (“Well, the government are just a bunch of cunts aren’t they? Pardon my language”), the Tory-hating U.K.I.P.-enthusiast, and Red Army Faction tattoo guy coyly suggesting a much-needed bombing campaign – perhaps we’ve been aiming a bit low with our action? Well, maybe they will, once they work our way through the bag of donuts they got donated. Protests like these do add up; until Poundland gives in, help us in fighting this attack on all workers’ terms and conditions – Donut Shop At Poundland.

Feedback form: http://www.poundland.co.uk/enquiry/customer-enquiry/
Press centre: poundland@bottlepr.co.uk
Chief Executive (Warburg Pincus – their U.S.-based private equity fund owners): egustafson@warburgpincus.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Poundland
Twitter: https://twitter.com/poundland

Then on the Saturday, B.A.R.F.ers joined 50 or so Bristol Afed, Solfeders, Wobs and Socialist Partygoers and fiends for a rolling picket throughout Bristol centre, meeting at Castle Park at 2p.m., and chaosing its way through Cabot Circus for Dorothy Perkins, then Poundland (where a worker bizarrely knifed the banner and stole a demonstrator’s camera), then Debenhams, then McDonalds and then into the Galleries for Greggs, where protesters were handed another donation of donuts, from an amused competitor (notice a pattern?). The day finished up inside the Marriot Hotel, just before everyone froze to death. Saturday also saw action in Kirkgate, Scotland;

So, who has pulled out of the sinking ship we call ‘Workfare’? Well, we have Holland and Barrett, the Red Cross, Capability Scotland, Sue Ryder, Scope, Superdrug, P.D.S.A. and Cancer Research, just off the top of my head. The Children’s Society has also pledged not to use Workfare. Already before the latest withdrawals, the govermint complained how “The high profile withdrawal of placements from a number of larger charities meant a sharp reduction in placements.” British Heart Foundation, for its part, are also now “moving away”, whatever that means; recently they declared they had withdrawn from the Mandatory Work Activity scheme, but are still openly declaring on their website that they are participating in the Work Programme – despite the fact that, in December, the scheme was extended to give providers the power to force many sick and disabled claimants on Employment and Support Allowance to work for nothing, or face sanctions. Nah, bollocks, B.H.F.’re still fair game! Contact them via phone (retail H.Q. tel: 01372 477300; head office tel: 02075 540000; customer service centre – 03003 303322) or e-mail (customerservice@bhf.org.uk).

Also fair game is the Y.M.C.A., who recently made a statement defending their use of forced unpaid workers, ignoring the fact they are responsible for pushing people into destitution and possible homelessness, through sanctions which can last up to three years. Uselessly, their president Bishop John Sentamu has spoken out against workfare in the past. They can be rung on 02071 869500 or their shops’ hotline: 08456 010728, and e-mailed on shop@ymca.org.uk and enquiries@ymca.org.uk, tweeted at @ymcaint and then Facebooked at www.facebook.com/ymcas. But remember whilst it’s well worth trying to speak to a manager if possible, bear in mind most people taking calls/e-mails will be low paid retail or admin and could even be on Workfare themselves.

For the number-crunchers out there, one in five people sent on Mandatory Work Activity in charity shops face benefit stoppages of three or six months. Alongside B.H.F. and Y.M.C.A., charities like the R.S.P.C.A. (head office tel: 03001 230100), the Papworth Trust (e-mail: info@papworth.org.uk; utilising disabled labour) and T.C.V. (The Conservation ‘Volunteers’, formerly B.C.T.V.; head office tel: 01302 388883, e-mail: information@tcv.org.uk, www.btcv.org.uk/volunteer/index.html) are still involved – with the latter previously boasted of using 20,000 unpaid workers on various govermint schemes since the ’80s, and their current lucrative D.W.P. contracts have forced at least 589 people into unpaid work.

Miscellaneous Rogues Gallery

 

From Boycott Workfare:

  • Asda has been at the heart of workfare in the UK, helping the government relaunch its “Work Experience” scheme last year. We have had reports that one of their stores in Manchester uses disabled people on workfare on the night shift.
  • A.4e is one of the biggest beneficiaries of govermint welfare policy – in 2011 the company turnover was £180 million, 100% of which came from public coffers. Out of this the bosses shared out £11 million between them. A4e utterly fail to meet even the paltry minimum targets set by the D.W.P. for finding people jobs on the Work Programme. Not content with just this scam, aided and abetted by their friends in government, there are numerous accusations of fraud against them, where records are apparently falsified, so that they can claim even more public money for not doing their job. They are further subsidised by the public by their use of mandatory unpaid labour within the company as well.
    customer services: customerservices@a4e.co.uk; freephone tel: 0800 345666
    head of communications: kmccrory@a4e.co.uk
    media relations manager: jkerr@a4e.co.uk
    head office fax number: 0114 275 4632; send free faxes via: www.freepopfax.com; many classic books are available as free P.D.F.s online – perhaps A4e would like to read them?
    website complaints form: mya4e.com/contact-us/complaints-form
    Also, why not send a secure e-mail via: www.hushmail.com
  • Argos appears to be using six week placements from the Job Centre on a massive scale. Multiple reports of Argos using workfare placements so that paid staff hours are being reduced, and fewer Christmas temps employed have emerged.

    business e-mail: info@argos.co.uk
    corporate irresponsibility (H.R.G.): gordon.bentley@homeretailgroup.com, corporate.responsibility@homeretailgroup.com
    media relations (H.R.G.): media.relations@homeretailgroup.com
    managing director: john.walden@argos.co.uk
    head office tel: 01908 690333
    customer Services tel: 01785 710253

  • Debenhams has 165 stores across the U.K. and Ireland, and a turnover of £2.2 billion. They too have been taking advantage of wageless, rightless workers supplied by the D.W.P. at the taxpayers’ expense. They’re very keen to insist that the scheme they’re involved in is voluntary, but D.W.P. rules say if you don’t get take part you’re referred to a scheme which carries 3 year sanctions. So it’s only voluntary if you say ‘yes’.
    press office: press.office@debenhams.com
    customer services: customerrelations@debenhams.com
    company secretary (Paul Eardley): company.secretariat@debenhams.com
  • Tesco has committed to 3000 workfare placements, and so far 80% of the 1,500 people who have gone through their stores have not been given a job. Tesco’s profits last year were £1.7 billion. 1,500 eight- week, thirty hour placements would mean the company has so far profited from 360,000 hours of free labour on the schemes.
    head office e-mail: online@tesco.co.uk; tel: 08457 225533; Tesco Direct: 08456 004411
    customer service e-mail: customer.service@tesco.co.uk
    Phil Clarke, current C.E.O.: philip.clarke@uk.tesco.com

http://www.leftfootforward.org/2013/03/five-things-the-government-wont-tell-you-about-workfare/

http://www.channel4.com/news/now-asda-is-accused-of-employing-youths-for-no-wage

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SOUTH WEST FASH ON THE MOVE

ANOTHER ANTI-FASCIST STORY for this week: turns out that the South Wales National Front (yes, they apparently still exist!) and the Plymouth division of the English Defence League have both announced plans to demonstrate their hatred against everything that isn’t white and British. In Swansea, on the 9th of March, the South Wales N.F. are hosting an imaginatively-titled ‘White Pride’ day to celebrate how fucked up and out-of-touch with the people they claim to support they really are. Meanwhile, on the 13th of April, the already-dwindling E.D.L. will be dragging out their fake Stone Island fashionwear and sloping brows to potential mosque which will replace the Dance Academy, which has been closed now for six years.

The E.D.L., for their part, are enjoying a painful, humiliating nosedive in support, with new splinter factions and minor civil wars dogging them at every turn; theiir Cambridge outing a few weeks was a wash-out, trudging out a shower* of 30 E.D.iots and the festivities involved muchas entertaining infighting; since July, the disorganisation has multiplied into the English Volunteer Force, and previously the Northwest Infidels and also the Combined Ex-Forces. And lets not forget the Judean People’s Front.

The National Front are themselves a living fossil, forgoing the decency if disappearing into the annals of history, desperately clamping onto any modern-day rightwing hate expression, in a lame attempt to recruit new blood, and not die the inevitable death they so richly deserve; but we can say the same for Blood And Honour, a Nazi fetishist music promoter. Nowadays, they manage to squeeze out showers even smallest than their E.D.L. contemporaries, with turnouts of five blokes and a reluctant dog not uncommon (A.L.F. take note).  It’s fair to assume that their ambitions for Swansea this month is a clumsy bid to siphon off members of disillusioned Welsh Defence Force.

All that being said, it’s important to not just ignore these poor excuses for humanity, or relegate them to being a pure laughing matter; though they are pretty funny. They are violent nutters and can still pose a physical threat to communities, which why it is important to make sure that when we do oppose the, and oppose them we shall, that we don’t resort to the same old liberal/U.A.F. tactics of hosting demonstrations as far away from them in the towns and cities as possible, or ignore them and hope against hope that they’ll go away. It’s through direct action and physical confronting the bastards, as well as systematically dismantling their bullshit arguments, that they’ll be kept off the streets – after all, no one likes a repeated kicking.

MUTINEER DICTIONARY CORNER

Shower* (v): to wash oneself by partial or full immersion in a continuous spray of water; (n) a device for personal hygiene, moving water through a nozzle with minuscule holes; a short period of rain; a collective of fascists or racists [ i.e. “a shower of fash”]

Facebook event for the counter-mobilisation

E.D.L.’s own event page

N.F.’s blog detailing their event

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INVOLUNTARY/VOLUNTARY WORK LOOKING VOLATILE

THE CON-DEMS’ FAVOURITE neo-slavery plans – Workfare – were dealt a nasty blow on Tuesday 12th, with the Court of Appeal’s decision with Cait Reilly that unpaid schemes were legally flawed. Definitions are blurry on exactly what this all means, and the government are eager to deny that Workfare will be overturned, and are themselves talking about overturning the Court of Appeal decision, blah blah blah.

So in real terms: it looks like there is an opportunity for people now who have been sanctioned in various ways by the Department for Work and Pensions to look for reparations – financially speaking – if they have been told schemes are ‘compulsory’ when they’re not, or if they have been sanctioned for unnecessarily long times, or they might be able to reclaim benefits that were wrongfully withheld. It’s a lot of maybes. But this may be the time to have a word with a friendly lawyer or Citizens Advice Bureau to check out your rights. At the very least, when you’re at your next sign on, your adviser will probably be more reluctant to bring up the idea.

What does this mean to activists opposing the scheme? It now seems that the Workfare (and similar copy-cat) scheme(s) is also facing challenge from the legal side of things, offering us another potential angle of attack. But we can also use this as a fresh chance to hit out with propaganda, to take advantage of this latest media spotlight on what is essentially a rich man’s wet dream. Remember, some companies have rapidly backed out of the scheme and the associated slur on their names, with Holland and Barrett being a good example. We need to drive home the point that Workfare is a modern dressing-up of slavery, and is helps neither the claimant or the taxpayer; it is more than anything a good old Tory social policy to attempt to put the poor in ‘their place’, and Duncan Smith’s friends in Big Business are merely sniffing around it as a convenient tool to cut their staffing costs.

Whilst there is no surprise that a lot of people see benefits claimants as good-for-nothing scroungers, and might see these schemes as a way of dealing with this problem, the reality is that it does not. What merely happens is that the beneficiary of the taxpayers’ wages that would normally end up in the claimant’s hands, is now finding its way into the pockets of the shareholders and companies who use the opportunity to save on wages – with politicians’ tacit complicity. The ‘free ride for scroungers’ is anything but over; the faces of the scroungers only change.

Perhaps a new tactic for campaigners would be to not only call for the D.W.P. to pay back wrongfully-withheld benefits for Jobseekers, but also demands to be made to the companies who have benefited from these schemes to pay out, as well, the sum of any differences between their newfound slaves’ benefits and the standard wages they should have been paid. A pipe dream, maybe, but we need to do everything we can to dissuade these parasites from lobbying for similar schemes in the future.

According to the Socialist Party website: “The fight for decent jobs continues. 2.5 million people are unemployed, including one million young workers… There are less than 500,000 job vacancies – many are not even real jobs. Millions more are under-employed or in the growing ‘precariat’ – low-paid workers in insecure jobs with bosses that don’t allow even basic rights such as guaranteed hours.

If we really want people to work, and the work exists for these people, then it’s time to pay your workers. Simple as that.

BBC article

Socialist Party article

Boycott Workfare article

STOP THE PRESS:

According to Boycott Workfare: “(i)t didn’t take long for the humiliated government to get forced unpaid work back on the road again. Last night, promising a “short sharp shock”, it rushed through regulations which mean that from today these schemes may be mandatory. We say may because the DWP doesn’t exactly have a good track record of following the law; the new regulations were rushed out in 24 hours and may not respect the judges’ ruling.

The new regulations haven’t yet been put in the public domain, so once again people are in a limbo where we have no way of knowing our rights.

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THEORY CORNER: JACKAL RUN RUNS WILD

AS EVERYONE ALREADY knows, it has been revealed over the last week that the rozzers have been found using the identities of dead infants for their nefarious plans to infiltrate known extreme fringes of hippydom that threatens the sovereignty of Our Proud Empire. This has no doubt caused outrage amongst the general public (including muesli-eating Guardian readers and Middle England Daily Heil readers), and the paying public are demanding executions – or just short.

While we find this latest tactic disturbing, we have to ask why are people acting so fucking surprised? This has been treated as if the police would not reach these depraved depths, despite all evidence to the contrary: all the Ian Tomlinson manslaughter cases, all the institutional racism and Stephen Lawrence, the Hillsborough cover-up, undercovers getting under the bed covers of activists, Mark Duggan’s killing, Wapping and the attacks on striking workers, attacks and incitement of demonstrators, and all the fit-ups and corruption and lying to protect their own dodgy colleagues all throughout their history.

While we don’t mean to downplay the severity of this latest scandal, we question why such scandals filter out of the public’s mind so quickly, only to resurface with a dollop of fresh outrage at the police’s next offence. If in a couple weeks’ time the media has forgotten all about these children and their parents’ plight, it won’t mean that the police are suddenly our best friends again. We feel that people need to remember that this will not be the last time the filth will pull off such an abuse of power, even if they sacrifice one ‘bad apple’ or two to take the fall.

It bears repeating that the police are not servants of the public trust, but actually they are the snarling hounds of the ruling class, snapping and stretching at the leash – they are a private army, a mercenary corporation, who sell their brutality to the highest bidder: and they see the general public as their enemy – whether they state it in those terms or not.

They will continue to find ways to find ways to fuck us over as and when they can get away with it, and we need to keep this truth clear in our minds, or things will continue to get worse, unchecked and unending.

A.C.A.B.

Bereaved parents: coppers have set their sights on you
The Jackal in a less convincing role [above]

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CALLING ALL SWAMPYS

READERS OF THE Mutineer old enough to remember the headline-grabbing road protests at the Newbury Bypass, and (closer to home) at Solsbury Hill in Bath, and the A30 at Fairmile in Devon, could be forgiven for thinking that the era of protesters inhabiting treehouses and tunnels and chaining themselves to trees and bulldozers was one of those things we left behind in the 90s, along with Britpop, Gameboys and shellsuits. Even though those protests didn’t stop those particular roads being built, they resulted in over 300 other such road schemes being scrapped. Of course, even those behind such roads admitted that they were effectively pointless and only served to put more cars on the road.  Now that the Tories have regained power, however, they intend to finish the job that Thatcher and Major couldn’t finish. Indeed, the fight back has already begun, with camps set up along the route of the proposed Bexhill to Hastings road and with many more road schemes to begin soon, including some of those abandoned at the end of the 90s (along with that old Shed Seven album you only ever listened to the once). What’s more, they have the support of both local residents and some pretty high-profile environmental groups. Many of these roads go through nature reserves, woodlands and other places no-one wants to see concreted over and destroyed forever. So be prepared – environmental devastation could be driving past your house soon – so dig out that Levellers t-shirt, grab your spade, a tarp, some pallets and as much rope as you can get, and put them within easy reach. You might be needing them very soon.

Mr Swampy, pictured here in the height of 90s crust [above]
Mr Swampy, pictured here in the height of 90s crust [above]
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STRIKEWATCH

AS WELL AS our local posties’ pickets, this month on StrikeWatch, we look back on a couple of firsts in industrial action, last month:

For the first time in 50 years, 500 Walmart workers in the U.S. carried out a 24-hour strike on 23rd November – the so-called ‘Black Friday’ shopping frenzy. Over 1,000 protests in 100 cities across 46 states, 1,000’s of supporters, with some of the strongest demos seen in Paramount, California, and Hannover in Maryland. The employee group leading the strike – ‘OUR Walmart’ – was formed 18 months before, to fight the low wages, decaying work benefits and Walmart’s infamous anti-union retaliation practices, which borders on the illegal (for what that’s worth). Strikers leafleted, Christmas carolled, put on lightshows and mic-check flashmobs, and – in Paramount – blocked the odd road. Walmart C.E.O. ‘Dollar’ Bill Simon laughingly claimed that less than 50 ‘associates’ took part nationally, but fooled no one. The workers, for their part, chanted in a Arnie-esque fashion: “We’ll be back.”

Back in the U.K., workers were out three days earlier, but this time at Amnesty International. Hundreds of picketers were out for the second time in two months, supported by the union Unite, up in arms about the human rights charity’s shift away from research and meaningful casework, and towards marketing-themed branding and flashy stunts. Of course, the management’s intended changes will also involve £2.5m in cuts, and losses of up to 40 jobs. A.I.U.K.’s internal divide has been bitterly widening over the last 20 years, with one senior director quitting in disgust over the treatment of their own staff (who agreed to a voluntary pay freeze, despite a steady 2% annual growth in income), with the workforce calling for director Kate Allen’s resignation, and issuing a vote of no-confidence in the rest of the leaders. A senior leadership that isn’t opposed to a bit of corruption, by the way – compared to the seven people earning more than £60,000 in 2007, this has swollen to 36 people netting big cash last year, and two former execs got a £800,000 golden handshake to see them off, back in 2009. Meanwhile, Amnesty local groups and members are calling for an extraordinary general meeting to set it all straight.

http://news.yahoo.com/amnesty-international-workers-start-strike-105900938.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/animosity-international-staff-on-strike-in-amnesty-offices-across-the-globe-8317303.html

http://www.unitetheunion.org/news/acpr/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/22/us-economy-walmart-workers-black-friday-strike

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/23/walmart-strike-black-friday_n_2177784.html

http://www.thenation.com/blog/171435/biggest-strike-against-biggest-employer-walmart-workers-make-history-again

 

FRACK YOU, HIPPY!

WITH THE NEWS that hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’ – pumping a chemical/water cocktail into shale rock at huge pressure, to release gas) is to take place in Keynsham, Frack Free Somerset – a coalition of groups opposed to fracking in the region – have been touring town and city centres to show off their street theatre am dram, and on both the 10th November and 1st December (the national day of action, alongside other groups in Wales, Sussex and Lancashire), they took centre stage in central Bath: The Big Rig Revolt!

Mother(Earth)fuckers UK Methane have submitted their planning application to undertake fracking in Keynsham, in order to extract trapped methane gas. There is much hot air surrounding the process, with evidence pointing again and again at contamination of groundwater in fracked-up areas, but there are also links to air pollution, food source poisoning and even the odd earthquake in Lancashire.

Frack Free Somerset’s daring play involved a mock fracking rig and the 20-strong cast delivering a 5-star performance in their portrayal of ‘Frack the World Inc.’ employees, a fictitious company, proclaiming the safety of their drinking water, while pumping ‘toxic chemicals’ into drinking cups via a tube. Members of the public unsurprisingly refused a sip.

But back to real life: with news that recommencement of fracking in Lancashire has just received approval on the 13th of this month, campaigners are calling on the public to object to the planning application, details of which can be found at: http://www.frackfreesomerset.org/what-you-can-do/keynsham-action-alert/planningobjections/

www.frackfreesomerset.org

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20707574

YO! BUM RUSH THE SHOW

SO IT WAS a Wednesday and the National Union of Students were marching again to protest about the fee hikes and the scrapping of E.M.A.; just another N.U.S. demo in London, not much to it, right? Wrong. It was actually one of the worst demonstrations that has ever been organised. Liam Burns and his group of geniuses decided that the march itself should take the route that the Chartist movement used before, but with one tiny exception: they should march in the opposite direction and have a rally in Kennington Park – because that would really show the Tories the brilliance of student movement. And of course we cannot forget to mention their excellent negotiation skills with the Met which resulted in a Section 12 being implemented by the police throughout the day.

Despite attempts by students to encourage fellow demonstrators to stay at Parliament to vent their anger at a more convenient location, the N.U.S. bureaucrats had their say and all attempts to have a more geographically-effective march were called off. To make things even more cheerful, the weather was incredibly shite. So after a wet, windy and miserable march, the remaining student demonstrators finally made their way to Kennington Park, where they faced the option of either listening to the delightful rants of reformist academics talk about how brilliantly effective marching away from central London in shit weather is, or to head to the nearest pub: most demonstrators at this point took the latter.

The bureaucrats leading the march to an out of the way corner is the perfect example of how it has carried out its mission to kill the enthusiasm and effectiveness of rank and file students. Two years ago, the student movement occupied dozens of universities and colleges, smashed the Tory H.Q. at Millbank and took part in dozens of effective, loud and confrontational demos, involving hundreds of thousands across the country, and giving the anti-cuts movement a much needed kick up the arse, without the N.U.S. leadership. Since then, the leadership, terrified of losing control, and even more terrified of losing the overpaid jobs as Labour lackeys and T.U.C. bureaucrats that await ex-N.U.S. scab presidents, has done its best to destroy any energy: distancing itself from direct action and occupations, putting no money or time into organising demos and funnelling dissent into useless gestures. In order for union bigwigs to be able to sit at the bosses table, they need to show that they can reign in their members when they go ‘too far’ and to collaborate with the filth to stop any other alternative or more effective movements from gaining the upper ground. It is this, not the scrapping of fees that has been the task of the N.U.S. leadership.

But not everyone at the rally was happy with how the day went, and approximately half the crowd decided to remind Liam Burns of their feelings, by yelling “N.U.S. shame on you, where the fuck have you brought us to?” and demanding a general strike. Some demonstrators thoughtfully noted how Mr Burns looked a little hungry, and decided to launch whatever food goods they could find, including a satsuma, although there has been much debate around whether or not it as a tangerine. The final account included tomatoes, eggs, two broccolis and one half-eaten squash. None of the items managed to reach Liam, as he later tweeted: “I can confirm no hits. Like Neo I am…” Well, being able to enter bullet time, and dodge incoming culinary bombardment is admittedly important in an N.U.S. president, but he foolishly goaded the upset demonstrators to come closer, to which they willingly obliged; protesters broke past the barricade and security to take the stage. At this moment Liam had already (like a true Bond villain) made a dramatic exit to his secret lair, leaving the rally in a similar state to the leadership itself: an absolute shambles. This shows the feeling among students is they recognise the flaws of the N.U.S. and are ready to throw it off, with the potential for a more sustainable version of the grassroots movement of late 2010.