Events are moving quickly at the Eastham refinery as the dispute between Suttons bosses and their tanker drives escalates. Gilly Singh of the Liverpool Marxists reports from the picket lines.
It emerged last week that the Tories are once again, for the second general election in a row, set to face a police inquiry into illegal behaviour surrounding their election campaigning. These continuous scandals and flouting of the law illustrate the deep underlying fragilities of a Conservative Party facing crisis and decline.
Rashan Charles, a 20-year old black man, died on Saturday after being thrown to the ground and left unable to breathe by police on Kingsland Road in Dalston, London. This is yet another example of police violence resulting in a tragic and unnecessary death. We demand justice for Rash.
A recent report shows that public trust in the police has been severely shaken by the long list of scandals that have been revealed in recent months. Ben Gliniecki comments on the remarkable frankness with which the establishment has admitted the loss of public confidence in the police. This reflects the weakness of the ruling class at a time when, more than ever, they require a strong state to attack workers taking action against austerity.
On Friday 21st March, around 60 students attended a ‘Justice for Mark Duggan’ meeting at Kings College London, in which his aunt – Carol Duggan – spoke about the blatant lies of the corrupt police and the capitalist press. KCL Marxists report on the meeting and the Mark Duggan case, which has exposed the injustices of the bourgeois state.
The recently announced report on Metropolitan police corruption is nothing more than a confirmation of what the family of Stephen Lawrence – the black teen stabbed to death in a 1993 racist attack in South East London – had suspected since the days following his murder. Such reports will only serve to further undermine the authority of the police and the Establishment at a time of deep capitalist crisis.
The question of police brutality against students and the presence of police on university campuses has been raised due to recent events surrounding the University of London. It is the task of revolutionaries and activists to put forward a socialist programme in order to build a mass movement of students and workers against police repression and the Coalition’s austerity programme.
This week, The Guardian newspaper published evidence of police collusion in the blacklisting of building workers. We present here the latest statement from the Blacklist Support Group, which accuses the Met Police and Information Commissioners Office of deliberately withholding information that proves the link between the police and the blacklist.
The crisis of capitalism has led to cuts across the board. The Tory-led Coalition have, despite their desires, been forces to attack the conditions of the police – a vital pillar of the capitalist state – leading to tensions between the police and government. The consciousness of rank and file police officers has begun to change, leading to demonstrations of the Police Federation and demands for the right to unionise and strike. Richard Baywood asks what attitude should Marxists take towards such developments?
As part of its austerity programme the
Tory-LibDem coalition is planning to cut police officers’ wages and
making it easier to sack them. There are to be wage cuts, job losses and
more stringent requirements to enter the police force.
We have received news from students at Glasgow University of an
attempt by police to put an end to the 7-week long occupation of the
Hetherington Club by the forcible removal of the students.
Following on from last Thursday’s mass demonstration in London of youth
against the increases in college fees, the media has been full of
reports of how the police are now going to hunt down the troublemakers.
It seems this manhunt is being given top priority – murderers, rapists
and robbers can relax, the police are now otherwise engaged!