On 13 August FRFI comrades in London were among 3,000 people who marched from Dalston to Tottenham, calling for community unity and ‘a future for our children’. The event was organised following the police killing of Mark Duggan in Tottenham and the subsequent revolt across the city, by the North London Assembly, an ad hoc umbrella organisation of local groups. The leaflet for the event stated:
‘By coming together and calling for unity we want to encourage all sections of our local communities, young and old, black and white, residents and workers, to work together to find solutions to some of our long-standing problems…
‘Simply labelling rioters as opportunistic criminals does little to relieve tensions and provides a poor explanation for the worst riots in decades. While the shooting of Mark Duggan provided the trigger, against a background of oppressive policing, especially towards ethnic minorities, the root causes are deeper.
‘Our communities have been blighted by high levels of deprivation, poverty and lack of opportunity for decades. Inequality is growing and recent funding cuts to local services, particularly youth facilities, along with rising unemployment, and cuts to EMA and benefits have exacerbated the conditions in which sections of frustrated young people turned to rioting, which unfortunately has resulted in people losing their homes and small/family businesses losing their livelihoods.
Britain is a wealthy country, but with deep inequality. The economic crisis created by greedy bankers and financial speculators is further impoverishing already poor areas like Tottenham and Hackney. The £390 billion of combined wealth of the richest 1,000 people in Britain should be redirected to fund the services we all need…’
The demonstration was supported by Kurdish and Turkish organisations, who totally oppose police and media attempts to exploit their defence of local shops against attempted looting, and whose own statement said:
‘Such events should not be use to pit the Turkish and Kurdish community against the Black community. Such events should not be used to strengthen the prejudices that the oppressed and migrant communities have against each other. We, the people of Turkey and Kurdistan, should act in a prudent way and not fall for the trap of pitting migrant communities against each other. Moreover, we should demand that those who have killed Mark Duggan are found and held to account via the completion of the Inquiry into his death.’
