IN MEMORIAM
Trevor Rayne
7 December 1949 – 2 March 2022
One year on from his death, Trevor remains deeply missed by his comrades in the RCG and the wider anti-imperialist struggle. We are grateful to be able to build on the legacy he has left: to learn from his exhilarating speeches in which he referenced literature and statistics in equal measure; to trace the intensification of inter-imperialist rivalries in the context of capitalist crisis; to stand in solidarity with the Kurdish struggle for self-determination; organise in solidarity with socialist Cuba and defend the example it sets for what is possible for humanity to achieve. Trevor contributed to Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! for many decades, helping to shape it into the tool it is today – providing the analysis necessary to build an anti-imperialist, socialist movement in Britain. Thank you, Trevor.
Sexist Met Police
A review is currently underway investigating allegations of violence towards women and girls made against over 1,000 police officers in the ranks of London’s Metropolitan Police force, with three officers appearing in court every week.
On 16 January, PC David Carrick was exposed in court as being one of the most prolific serial rapists in British history after committing 49 assaults on 12 women over two decades, while serving as a police officer. In 2021, days after Sarah Everard’s murder at the hands of serving police officer Wayne Couzens, two women reported Carrick for rape. The Met did not suspend Carrick while he was under investigation. In fact, the Met ignored eight warnings and reports about Carrick, who was able to continue carrying a gun that he used to threaten his victims. Former Police Commissioner Cressida Dick was forced to resign in February 2022 when the force eventually started to take Carrick’s crimes seriously, but it is only a year later we are finding out about this case and the Met’s cover-up.
In the same week as Carrick’s offences came to light, PC Hussain Chehab pled guilty to a number of child sexual offences relating to young girls, some of which were committed while Chehab was a ‘Safer Schools’ officer attached to a secondary school in Enfield, north London.
Since 2009, at least 16 serving or former police officers have killed women. There is no reform on earth that could eradicate the misogyny inherent to Britain’s police force, as it exists to protect a capitalist state dependent on women’s oppression and exploitation.
ANNIE O’CONNOR
Newcastle
Children trafficked on Home Office watch
Hundreds of migrant children have fallen victim to human trafficking due to the negligence of the Home Office and local authorities such as Brighton and Hove City Council. 136 asylum seeking children have been reported missing from a hotel in Hove, near Brighton, and 79 are still unaccounted for. The Home Office began housing the children there 18 months ago. Witnesses have seen children being abducted and bundled into cars by trafficking gangs.
The Home Office has repeatedly ignored warnings that the children in the hotels it operates are being targeted by criminal gangs, failed to provide any safeguards and has even denied the kidnappings. Brighton and Hove City Council, which is traditionally responsible for the care of child asylum seekers without parents or guardians, said they report cases of missing children at the Hove hotel to the police, who in turn say that cases of criminals targeting children should be directed to the Home Office. The Home Office has directed the blame at local authorities.
This all demonstrates what little value the British state places on the lives of refugees and migrants, including those of children.
SEAMUS O’TUAIRISC
Sussex
Environmental protester murdered in US
On 18 January Manuel Esteben Paez Terán was killed by police officers in Atlanta, the first environmental protester in history to be murdered on US land. Terán was defending a forest in Atlanta against the construction of Cop City, a $90m training ground for police to practise urban warfare tactics. More than 70% of Atlantans disapprove of Cop City and many have expressed this through every non-violent method available to them: canvassing, testifying at public meetings, liaising with elected officials, and demonstrating on the street in Black Lives Matter and defund the police movements. Despite this, the city has increased the police budget and forged ahead with the construction of Cop City.
Cop City is set to destroy part of the South River Forest which protects Atlanta against flooding and extreme heat, all to construct a facility that would train police officers to better prevent uprisings in a city where 20% of the population is living in poverty and 50% of the population is black.
SOMA KISAN
US citizen in London
BLM activists imprisoned
On 12 January another Black Lives Matter protester was sentenced to prison at Newcastle’s crown court. Abdoulaye Sanogo has received the harshest sentence yet at two years and ten months.
On 13 June 2020 a BLM protest in Newcastle was attacked by far-right thugs, enabled by Northumbria police. The thugs showered the BLM protest with racist abuse, glass bottles, half-full cans of lager and smoke flares for hours whilst the police pushed the BLM protest back. Judge Bindloss, who has presided over all the cases so far, relied on ‘joint enterprise’, equating the alleged actions of the BLM activists with those of the far right who later clashed with riot police, attacking police dogs and horses. The sentences are an attempt to silence young black and Asian people from speaking out against institutional racism.
FRFI supporters have been working with the Anti Racism Protest Defence campaign to attend court and raise money for the prisoners. Donate here: https://tinyurl.com/BLM-protests-Newc
Send letters of solidarity to
Abdoulaye Sanogo
A4663EX
HMP Deerbolt
DL12 9BG
Christmas in prison
Merry Christmas to you all! All Christmas cards have been banned this year here in The Mount prison, owing to security. The prison says the cards could be coated with spice or other drugs. ‘The Mount will only allow the entrance of photos and cards from trusted sources [ie Funky Pigeon, Moonpig, FreePrints]. Any cards or photos that arrive from families will be put into stored property.’ I did a property check the other day and what a surprise – there were four boxes of legal paperwork and three years of political newspapers which hadn’t been allowed in possession. I wasn’t even told they were there.
TERRY ALLEN A6119AD
The Mount
Write to Terry at: HMP The Mount
Bovingdon, Herts, HP3 0NZ
Children taken by a racist state
Immigrant families in Britain are widely targeted by racist social services, especially those who are unable to find work and have no recourse to public funds. My wife and I came to Britain from India in 2004 and I worked in Birmingham for nearly a decade. After losing my job and reaching out to Birmingham City Council (BCC) for help, they instead deemed me and my wife unfit to parent and seized our two children. Our children were terrified, screaming as they were dragged away. Their mother was six months pregnant and very distressed.
In family court in 2016, BCC was deemed overzealous for taking our children, but BCC has still not let them come home. We have been trapped in a maze of racist bureaucracy, funded by hundreds of millions of pounds of public money. BCC threatened to take our new baby away if my wife stayed in the country. Forced to leave, BCC now says this is proof that she’s abandoned our two deeply missed boys. Our life has been ripped apart. We love our children more than life. You can learn more about our case here: youtu.be/mz-ssHm6EJ4
MR YUSUFF
Birmingham
IPP in Germany
In FRFI 291 John Bowden drew attention to the IPP sentencing law in Britain and I want to widen the sight to Germany. We have had a similar law since 1933! ‘Sicherungsverwahrung’ (SV) was introduced by the Nazis at the beginning of their dictatorship. Regrettably, the German constitutional court ruled it is compatible with the constitution to lock up someone for years or decades, maybe until death, if an inmate is suspected of being a ‘threat to public safety’. In my own case, I have been in jail since 1996 and in SV since 2013. This year, the local court will decide if I get the chance for release after ten years. Hundreds of other inmates do not even have the slightest chance of getting released.
THOMAS MEYER-FALK
Thomas was imprisoned for his role in a bank robbery to fund political struggle. You can write to him at:
z.Zt. JVA (SV)
Hermann-Herder-Str. 8
D-79104 Freiburg
Germany
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! No 292, February/March 2023
