FRFI 168 August / September 2002
Recent strikes, the move to cut union funds to the Labour Party and the defeat of right-wing Labour union leaders indicate a new mood of hostility against the Labour establishment among low-paid workers. This would be welcome after years in which low-paid workers like the Liverpool dockers and Tameside careworkers and the workers at Hillingdon Hospital and SkyChefs were betrayed by unions preferring to accumulate huge funds to pay union leaders fat-cat salaries rather than fighting for their members.
Young Asians who defended their communities from racist and police attacks last summer are again under attack (see FRFI 162). Vicious sentences are being imposed in Bradford courts against those who took part in the uprisings. Over 200 men have been charged. At the time of writing, around 160 have been sentenced, with another 50 or so cases pending or adjourned until September. Sentences of up to six and a half years in prison have been handed down. No sentence has been less than four years. The average sentence given last March to 26 white fascists responsible for starting the racist attacks in Burnley was just over two years.
Labour’s state apparatus set on crushing resistance
Judge Stephen Gullick made it clear that he was not just punishing people for individual acts, but also because they were part of a collective act of defiance. All the local ruling class lackeys have rallied around Gullick. Leader of Bradford’s Labour council, Margaret Eaton, said, ‘(The sentences) were passed by the judiciary because the Prime Minister and Home Secretary David Blunkett, had set a clear framework for sentencing’. The Bradford Telegraph and Argus wrote, ‘After murder, rape and terrorism (of which this is a kind), causing riot is one of the most serious crimes’. The disgusting ‘left wing’ Labour MP for nearby Keighley, Ann Cryer, made another of her racist outbursts to try and obscure the issues by accusing ‘Asian drug gangs’ of terrorising Bradford and other northern towns. All the police involved in the attacks have been given awards. Judge Gullick has been made Bradford’s first Honorary Recorder by the Labour council.
Build defence campaigns
A defence campaign has been set-up in Bradford. The sentence of Irfan Ghafoor, who was 17 at the time of the uprising, has been reduced on appeal from four and a half years to 18 months because the court decided Judge Gullick had not taken account of his young age. However, this will not help the bulk of those convicted, most
of whom were over 18 years of age.
Sal, a co-founder of the campaign, told FRFI, ‘We have received no support from local Labour, not even Asian councillors. They tell us our men deserve what they got. The National Front attacked us with sticks. My brother threw one stone and got five and a half years in prison. It isn’t just the men who are being punished. All our families are being punished as well’.
Resist state attacks
In Burnley too, swinging sentences are being meted out to those who took part in the uprisings. The bulk of the trials there begin in September. The trials of 150 people charged in Oldham began as we went to press. Action must begin now.
The Bradford campaign holds demonstrations outside Bradford Co-op, opposite the Victoria Hotel, every Friday at 10am.
Jim Craven
