FRFI supporters were out on the streets of owcise in democracy. In London, supporters worked closely with other organisations, mainly from the Kurdish and Turkish communities, in the ry as well as on class questions in Kurdistan and Turkey.
The AIB also participated in a march for migrants’ rights in April, and then organised a large contingent on the annual May Day demonstration. The police paid special interest to our contingent, and tried to harass us. At the end of the march in Trafalgar Square the AIB held its own rally with an ‘open mic’ for all anti-imperialists. This democratic approach to politics was in sharp contrast to the official platform, made up as it was of social democrats urging support for the Labour Party. The following week, several Kurdish/Turkish community centres in Dalston, east London, received visits from the Metropolitan Police under the guise of discussing community relations. There was clear anxiety at the sight of joint organisation between Kurdish, Turkish and British communists and anti-imperialists.
The AIB will continue to organise monthly events over the summer. It will support the 21 May demonstration organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign against the apartheid wall. Continuing with work on questions of immediate interest to the British working class, it will hold a street stall in June exposing the government’s repressive legislation such as ASBOs and immigration and asylum laws. It will also participate in the mobilisation for the protests surrounding the G8 summit in Scotland in early July.
Victory to the Intifada well-attended and lively weekly pickets of Marks & Spencer in y, picketers set up a polling booth to allow people to ‘Vote for Palestine’ in opposition to the Zionist policies of all the major parties standing in the general election. A week later, whilst Zionist counter-demonstrators celebrated the 57th anniversary of the founding of their racist state, picketers exposed the human cost involved: 750,000 Palestinian people ethnically cleansed, and a terror campaign against them which has continued to this day.
Manchester FRFI supporters also held street stalls in working class areas in the run-up to the general election: in if the election was happening on another planet. At Longsight Market some Labour canvassers, including Gorton MP Sir Gerald Kaufman, arrived and set up near us, unprepared for the opposition they were about to face. Our comrades used the opportunity to engage in a protest against Labour’s war policy and opportunism; one of Kaufman’s minders responded by lunging at one of our younger comrades.
We have also been holding regular pickets of Marks & Spencer in ial picket outside M&S on Market Street,
In Durhamlped to organise an hour-long blockade of Caterpillar’s Peterlee site in the run up to a shareholders’ meeting in Chicago which would discuss a resolution challenging the sale of armoured bulldozers to Israel. Over 20 people took part in the blockade, chaining the gates shut and forcing vehicles to queue up on both sides of the gates until the protest ended.
In drs have continued to work alongside other anti-war activists on the streets of Glasgow. On the Saturday before the general election we organised a street meeting in Sauchiehall Street. calling for ‘No Vote For Labour Warmongers!’ Some of those who stopped expressed hostility because they thought we were politicians touting for votes! Once we made its absolutely clear that we were specifically calling for people not to vote for the Labour war party, they were satisfied and went on their way. What was clear was that there were people who wanted to hear a clear and unequivocal anti-Labour message, and it was evident to us that they were not getting it from the Scottish Socialist Party. We will be continuing with our street meetings against the war in the run up to the G8 Summit.
Events
LONDON
Call: 020 7837 1688,
email [email protected],
or [email protected]
Write to BCM Box 5909,
London WC1N 3XX.
Every Thursday:
Picket of M&S, Oxford Street
(Marble Arch End), 6-8pm
Street stalls every Saturday/Sunday,
12-3pm. Contact us for details.
Wednesday 15 June, 7pm
LSE FRFI society meeting
Film about Palestine
Room S75, St Clement’s House, Houghton Street, WC2.
Nearest tube Holborn.
Rock around the Blockade
Sunday 12 June:
Stoke Newington Festival
Come to the RATB marquee!
Sunday 19 June
Bike ride in Hertfordshire
Contact us for sponsorship forms
or pay £20 to come
Anti-Imperialist Bloc events
Saturday 18 June 1-3pm:
Stand up for your rights!
Street event in Dalston
Meet at Dalston, Kingsland station
Saturday 2 July
Contingent from London to the march/events in Edinburgh
against the G8
MANCHESTER
Thursday 2 June:
Rebel Music Night
at Jabez Clegg (opposite Manchester University Union)
7pm till late.
Fundraiser for Cuban youth.
Picket of M&S, Market Street
Manchester City Centre
Saturday 4 June:
12-3pm
Remember al Naksa!
For more information on our work
on Palestine and Iraq email [email protected]
Salford University FRFI society
To contact the society, email:
[email protected]
Get active with Manchester RCG!
email
manchesterfrfi@
revolutionarycommunist.com
call: 07816 547 066, or visit
www.manchesterfrfi.5u.com
ROCHDALE
Regular Saturday pickets of
M&S: Rochdale town centre 12-3pm
For more information email:
[email protected]
MIDLANDS
For information on activities email:
[email protected]
NORTH EAST
For information about pickets of
M&S in Silver Street, Durham and
other events in Newcastle
call: 07813 073 846
SCOTLAND
For information about Regular
Anti War Activities, meetings and events in Glasgow and Dundee
email active_against_war@ yahoo.co.uk or call
07779 785 529
Palestinian Solidarity stall
every Saturday from 2-4pm at
the top of Buchannan Street, Glasgow
Anti G8 protests, July 2-6 in Edinburgh and Gleneagles
For further details of other activities in Scotland
phone: 07779 785 529 or email:
[email protected].
FRFI 185 June / July 2005
