We need to fight to abolish capitalism and the state, and have a fundamental systematic change to be in collective control of our own lives
After many nights of demonstrations and revolts in the America due to the killing of George Floyd, president Trump, from a bunker in the White House, announced that he would designate “Antifa” as a terrorist organization. Trump seeks to frame a spontaneous and manifold movement as an organization, not only assigning it an ideology but also a functionality that is hierarchical and in consonance with state logic.
Once again, terrorism is used as an alibi for the criminalization of wide sectors of our collective struggle, which at the same time completely exceed “anti-fascism”. But beyond denouncing and fighting against the repressive advance that this signifies, it’s necessary to reject the polarization that is sought to be introduced at the heart of the struggle.
Also here in the UK people have been standing and kneeling in solidarity with demonstrators in America.
- Details
- Published: 18 June 2020
We need to fight to abolish capitalism and the state, and have a fundamental systematic change to be in collective control of our own lives
After many nights of demonstrations and revolts in the America due to the killing of George Floyd, president Trump, from a bunker in the White House, announced that he would designate “Antifa” as a terrorist organization. Trump seeks to frame a spontaneous and manifold movement as an organization, not only assigning it an ideology but also a functionality that is hierarchical and in consonance with state logic.
Once again, terrorism is used as an alibi for the criminalization of wide sectors of our collective struggle, which at the same time completely exceed “anti-fascism”. But beyond denouncing and fighting against the repressive advance that this signifies, it’s necessary to reject the polarization that is sought to be introduced at the heart of the struggle.
Also here in the UK people have been standing and kneeling in solidarity with demonstrators in America.
- Details
- Published: 18 June 2020
Radical anti-authoritarian anti-capitalist community-based action
Wednesday June 24th: 7.30pm
Online info-share and networking for anti-authoritarian / anti-capitalist activists involved in groups active in their local communities. REGISTER HERE TODAY! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/radical-community-action-info-share-and-networking-tickets-109688894436
We are calling a third meeting following a couple of successful and constructive online meetings on May 19th and June 2nd of anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, pro-working class and pro-community activists based in groups active in their local communities around the UK. Any groups or individuals involved in an active non-hierarchical group who agree with the above politics is welcome to join in the planned discussion to share information, experiences and thoughts about what are we doing in our local communities re Covid-19 issues and Black Lives Matter protests etc. Feel free to pass this on to others who might be interested. See the proposed agenda below.
Nearer the date we will send out an online zoom link to all those who've registered. [We suggest one or two per group only].
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- Published: 16 June 2020
Of Course There Are Protests. The State Is Failing Black People.
By Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
HSG note: We have “lifted” the article below from the New York Times. It says things far better than we could.
Ready or not, life is returning to some sort of normal in the United States, and normal inevitably includes police officers killing an unarmed black man in their custody, followed by street protests. The country is working its way back into its familiar groove.
This time it’s Minneapolis. Thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest the killing of George Floyd by a police officer who pressed his knee into Mr. Floyd’s neck for a breathtaking eight minutes as he lay pinned on the ground in handcuffs. Mr. Floyd’s pleas for help — repeating that he couldn’t breathe, calling out for his dead mother — were ignored. The three other police officers who watched seemed uninterested in the life they were violently snuffing out in front of a crowd gathered in disgust.
Elected officials from Minnesota denounced the brutality. Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, said, “Being black in America should not be a death sentence.” Others, including Senator Amy Klobuchar, who hopes to emerge as Joe Biden’s running mate, expressed a range of public emotions that have become commonplace: shock, horror, promises of investigation and pleas for calm. In a rare rebuke, the four officers involved have been fired.
But the fact that Mr. Floyd was even arrested, let alone killed, for the inconsequential “crime” of forgery amid a pandemic that has taken the life of one out of every 2,000 African-Americans is a chilling affirmation that black lives still do not matter in the United States.
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- Published: 03 June 2020
Radical anti-authoritarian anti-capitalist community-based action
Online info-share and networking for anti-authoritarian / anti-capitalist activists involved in groups active in their local communities
We are calling a second meeting following a successful and constructive online meeting on May 19th of around 20 anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, pro-working class and pro-community activists based in groups active in their local communities around the UK. [See report when you register on the eventbrite link]. Any groups or individuals involved in an active non-hierarchical group who agree with the above politics is welcome to join in the planned discussion next Tuesday to share information, experiences and thoughts about what are we doing in our local communities during the covid-19 crisis, and what should we aim to be doing in our local communities after this crisis. See the proposed agenda below, based on the issues discussed at the first meeting and feedback from the circulation of that meeting's notes.
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- Published: 31 May 2020
COVID-19: NO GOING BACK TO ‘BUSINESS AS USUAL’
For years we had to accept “austerity” as Britain didn’t have any money. Ordinary people had to “tighten their belts” while the rich became super rich. But Britain was “skint”. We ‘couldn’t afford’ pay rises or increases in benefits. Hospital beds were lost, NHS staff were treated like scum. Jobs we knew were important were seen as “low skilled” so bosses paid minimum wage and use zero hours’ contracts. Prisoners and asylum seekers were “evil” so the only option was to lock them away.
Well ain’t it funny (no) what a virus can bring about!
Look how politicians change their tune when it suits them. Millions are having to claim Universal Credit (UC). Because these new claimants ain’t the “great unwashed” or “scroungers”, suddenly even the government realise living on £75 a week isn’t possible. So up goes Universal Credit a week by £20. After no increase for 5 years, suddenly we can increase it by nearly 30%. Funny that! Working Tax Credits is also increasing by the same amount, as apparently Boris & Co were forced to realise that was too low as well.
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- Published: 11 May 2020
Why I am angry! NHS worker speaks out
The following is a heartfelt response from a frontline worker in the NHS. We would like to add that some of the comments in the article wouldn’t be shared by all of us in HSG. Nevertheless it is a compelling read which highlights the incompetence and pure disregard of those in power.
I am a deputy sister (nurse) in intensive care (ICU) in a major London hospital, and I am angry.
(Please read until the end, the second part is an insider’s view of ICU right now. My use of I/me/us/we/our can apply to all healthcare workers and ICUs worldwide. And these views are my own and not that of my employer.)
22nd April 2020
I am a deputy sister in intensive care in a major London hospital, and I am angry.
I am angry at the UK government for their COVID 19 response, or lack-of.
I am angry at the Chinese government for their cover up of COVID 19, amongst many other things they have done.
I am angry at the members of the public in the UK that are flouting lockdown rules and continuing to spread the virus.
I am angry for my patients and their families.
I am angry for myself and my colleagues in healthcare all over the world.
I am angry for everyone affected by COVID 19, so everyone.
There are also lots of things I am grateful for and amazed by too, but sometimes it’s hard to remember or appreciate them. Last night on my way home from 13 hours in ICU was one of them.
I am aware of how lucky I am to have a job at the moment, I do not take this for granted. And I am also aware of how lucky I am to live and work in the UK, before and during this pandemic. I can’t even imagine what it’s like in Italy and Spain, and ‘less-fortunate’ (I hate that phrase) countries than them and the UK at the moment and always.
And I am relieved I’m not in the USA, what we’re seeing on the news from their ‘leader’, the lockdown protestors and the way hospital staff are being forced to reuse PPE is truly scary and bewildering.
Why am I angry at the UK government’s response?
Where to start…
• The non-evidence based ‘herd immunity’ approach at the start of the UK response that was a complete farce
• The delay in starting the UK lockdown and not actually enforcing the lockdown (I live in south London and I can promise you many are not in lockdown mode)
• They ‘missed out’ on the EU scheme to provide ventilators and other equipment (which now sounds like it could’ve been a political move rather than just a ridiculous show of ineptitude)
• The PPE shortages across the NHS and care sector (not the NHS’ fault, it’s nationally at government planning level).
• The changing of PPE guidelines based on what is or is not available, not WHO guidance, thereby covering their incompetent backs
• The fact that healthcare staff are dying due to these PPE shortages and it’s not being spoken about enough, or being addressed anywhere near quickly enough
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- Published: 01 May 2020
Scrubs: The Story from the Bottom Up
Much like the elderly forced to walk laps and climb stairs to raise money for the NHS, the scrubs movement has been popularised by mainstream media as part of a ‘national effort’ at a time of ‘war’ fighting an ‘enemy’ we allegedly cannot see. We are being encouraged to paint rainbows and clap for the bravery of the health workers, when in reality we are sending them to their deaths. As of today (19/4/2020), at least 86 health and social care workers have died of COVID-19. The enemy is not invisible, it has been sitting in the leathered seats of parliament, imposing years of austerity which have left the health system bare to the bone; it has criminalised and worn down benefit claimants with strategies of surveillance, sanctions and deterrence; it has exploited the labour of key workers living hand to mouth, whilst endowing inessential services with bonuses, tax rebates and bailouts.
The current PPE scandal is no different
At the end of January 2020 it was already clear that a country like the UK, which had been de-industrialised through decades of neoliberal economics, was not going to be able to cope with the demands for PPE. The Tories had a simple answer: “people are going to die” and their fellow eugenicists chimed about “herd immunity” and supposed facts based on “science”. And once again, the working class was put to slaughter. After years of vilification and abuse, they were placed at the knife edge of this crisis. COVID-19 is not the touted ‘great leveller’, it is disproportionately culling the elderly, the disabled, the poor, and BAME communities. 70% of NHS workers killed by COVID-19 are BAME. Workers who have been brought to the point of desperation and are starting to fight under the slogan “no kit, no care”, facing suspensions and potentially prosecutions for negligence if they fail to continue to work, in spite of a lack of protection.
We are now entering our fourth week of running one of the many autonomous scrub production units that have sprung up as forms of mutual aid across the country. We provide scrubs to all sorts of health workers who are lacking access to them in their workplaces. Staff who have had to perform C-sections on women wearing soiled clothes, scrub-less doctors bringing infections back to their family homes, workers on respiratory wards without protection, homeless nurses, social care providers looking after the elderly and disabled, trainee nurses sent to COVID wards wearing flimsy plastic aprons and bin bags. These are just to name a few.
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- Published: 28 April 2020
Clap For carers 2
“Clap for Carers” but now they want our money as well
For the last three Thursdays we have been asked to “clap for carers”. As we have said before, we fully support all NHS staff (and in fact all workers) and the appreciation they are getting. But, we also need to remember why we are in the position we are in, where the NHS is under staffed; doesn’t have enough beds; and many staff have to claim benefits to top up their disgustingly low wages. Presently staff don’t have enough Personal Protective Equipment (PPE); we are scrambling around to find more beds; we don’t have enough ventilators; and testing is woefully short. All of this didn’t happen overnight – it’s because of years of successive governments not giving a damn about NHS staff and ordinary people’s health. This was never a “mistake” or “over-sight”. It was a cynical, calculated policy by our so called leaders.
Now, on Thursday 9th April we are being asked to not only clap for the state underfunding our health service and putting our health workers lives at risk (and maybe up to a dozen have already died due to this), but we are also being asked to donate.
These donations go to an organisation called “NHS Charities Together” and they are asking for a fiver from all of us. It seems, this money then goes to the charitable trusts most hospitals have to set up to beg for money from local people, because the state under funds them.
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- Published: 26 April 2020
Clap For Carers
A statement from some of us in Haringey Solidarity Group
We TOTALLY respect, appreciate and support all that those in the NHS are doing and putting themselves through, along with millions of other essential workers. But, we have concerns that the Clap For Carers gesture will be seen as a smoke screen for the government’s handling of the current situation.
Whilst it was a way for ordinary people to show their genuine support for care workers, it also takes the spotlight off the state for their pathetic attempts at protecting and supporting essential workers, whilst at the same time shoring up the business sector and donors to their parties. The governments lack of foresight and mismanagement is nothing short of astounding.
Our care workers need more than a two-minute round of applause – as heart felt as it was from all of us. They need us to support their demands for the tools they need to do the job effectively. They don’t have enough personal protective equipment, resulting in staff are being asked to work in dangerous environments. They don’t have enough staff and its bloody criminal that we ask retired NHS staff to cover when we have known for years we have between 30,000 and 100,000 vacancies in the NHS. NHS staff have been undervalued and under paid for years by successive governments of all colours. The financial crisis was brought about by the financial sector yet public sector workers and the poorest in society were made to pay for it.
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- Published: 26 April 2020
7 Million living in poverty
According to a new study millions of people including 4 Million of children in deep poverty.
The main points in this studding are:
- More than 4 million people in the UK are trapped in deep poverty, meaning their income is at least 50% below the official breadline.
- The Social Metrics Commission also said 7 million people, including 2.3 million children, were affected by what it termed persistent poverty.
- “By cutting £40bn a year from our work and pensions budget through cuts and freezes to tax credits and benefits, the government has put progress into reverse,” said Alison Garnham, the chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group.
- It found that of 14.3 million in the UK in poverty, 4.5 million were in deep poverty – a third of all those on the breadline, and 7% of the population.
- A single parent with one child would be on less than £101.50 a week.
- There has been a dramatic rise in child poverty in families with three or more children, up 9% points since 2013-14.
- It also confirms that work is no longer a guarantee of protection against poverty. At the millennium 54% of children in poverty lived in a family where an adult worked. That rose to 73% in 2o17-18. Even in families where all adults work full time, one in six children are in poverty.
- Children of lone parents, and pensioners – have had hardship levels rise since 2013 as a result of austerity measures such as the benefit freeze, reversing earlier downward trends, the commission said.
- Details
- Published: 29 July 2019
