A-Infos (en) UK, London Calling - July 2003 - Fuck the Arms Trade - Properly!

[Harry Roberts <classwaruk@hotmail.com>]

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Here at London Class War, we're looking forward to the
actions against the DSEi "arms fair in September. It's perhaps
the vilest trade show this country has the misfortune to host.
Given the recent conflict in Iraq - a great advert for the
industry of death - it's almost certain that Our Glorious
Leaders will be falling over themselves to make it a massive
success.
This disgusting jamboree of murder deserves to be turned
over. Many of our members and supporters will be down East
London to take part in the demonstrations, and we urge all our
readers to participate in the demonstrations called by the
Campaign Against the Arms Trade and other organisations.
Yet we feel that the war against the peddlers of death can't be
reduced to a few set-piece battles. We believe that the
anarchist movement can't just turn out on a few
demonstrations and go home feeling satisfied that we've done
our bit.
In September there will be a demonstration hoping to prevent a
successful festival of bloodlust for the arms manufacturers.
Ideas mooted include blockading the ExCel Centre, the venue
for companies like Lockheed-Martin to exhibit their wares. It's
our opinion that this tactic may, in the current conditions, be
mistaken. Don't get us wrong: we've not gone fluffy! We feel,
rather, that there are more effective ways to prevent the
bastards having a trouble-free time of it. We want them to go
away from London wishing they'd never arrived. Stopping them
when they've got to their destination is too late.
Over the last few years - in fact since June 18 - none of the
large scale anarchist events in London have been quite the
successes we would have hoped. As we noted in the last
London Calling, Mayday now is probably the best training day
for the Met and City filth. This must stop, and we do not want
to see DESi being another day when the cops have it all their
own way. To this end, we'd like to take this opportunity to
make some suggestions.
The last time there was a DSEi do in London, September 11,
2001, the police didn't have too much trouble preventing
access to the Centre. This time we feel that a different tack
should be considered. Cars and taxis and trains all have to
come from somewhere to deposit the scum at the ExCel
Centre. The only question is where. Claridge's, the Savoy, the
Ritz - and other prominent London hotels - are a good bet for
people looking for arms dealers, especially if you wanted a full
and frank discussion with them. Equally, the offices of these
murderers are a possibility. We consider both of these off
limits in any case, and rather expect our supporters and
readers to agree!
Then there are the homes of the directors. We would never
encourage anyone to turn up at the homes of company
directors. Nor would we ever suggest to people to glue locks,
brick windows, send malicious letters or telephone people late
at night. It would be irresponsible and nasty of us to point out
that many company directors have their personal details in a
variety of reference works - so we won't - and we urge our
members and supporters to avoid reference libraries like the
plague. It's probably also a good idea to ignore the lessons you
may draw from the campaign of harassment against the
Huntingdon Life Sciences' directors!
Have fun!

Storm The Palace!

One of the most amusing stories of recent times must be that
of Aaron Barschak and his unexpected 15 minutes of fame! It's
astounding that this seemingly middle-class comedian, a
self-confessed monarchist, could put even Michael Fagin to
shame. Not even the most ardent anti-monarchist would have
dreamt it would be such a piece of piss to gatecrash Prince
William's 21st.
It's also one of the most humiliating episodes in the history of
the Metropolitan Police, and probably the most embarrassing
experience of any police force in the country since the City
Police announced that anything the they could deal with
anything… the day before June 18! We're only sorry that
Barschak wasn't on a mission; had the Windsor parasites been
almost wiped out by a cross dressing 'comedian' it would have
been the story of the century - and only three years into it. The
monarchy would have devolved to the inept Edward - the only
one of Liz's children absent - and we'd have given the
monarchy six months before the guillotine would have been set
up in Whitehall.
It's a pity no one had ever noticed what a fucking farce the
Windsor clan's security was. Everyone thought that their
security was tightened up after Michael Fagin joined the
Queen for a cigarette 21 years ago; but we were obviously
wrong. The revelations that have come out in the past few
days show just how wrong we were! It seems that the alarms
at Windsor Castle, Liz's preferred home, go off about 100
times an hour. For obvious reasons the cops allegedly guarding
the royal family had long ago stopped checking to see if there
was anything to investigate: it's very galling to discover that
any of us could have climbed a couple of gates and a tree and
been within striking distance of completing the job Richard
Brandon thought he'd finished in 1649.
And will heads roll? We hope so! Even Blunkett's made a
promise to quit if it can be shown that he was somehow at
fault. (Though that's typical of the man. He does lots of things
wrong, and then offers to quit when no one's actually on his
case.) The institutional incompetence of the Royal Protection
unit means most of them are unlikely to be put back on the
beat; they'd get lost on the way out of the station!
And perhaps most surprisingly of all we now discover that the
SAS have been called in to test the new security. More often
called in to try to break out of prisons to see how difficult they
are to get out of, the elite special force will now be 'tasked' to
smash their way into Balmoral and Buckingham Palace!
We fear for the future of the corgis…

Class War News

Class War 85…
Is long overdue, especially as we wrote the bulk of it in April!
We have fucked up with this issue, which is a shame but the
paper will be with you as soon as possible. Thanks for your
patience!

London Class War in the Community
Amongst recent activities we organised the picket of the
Wilko's store in Stratford on 21 June, ran a successful stall at
the Camden Green Fair on June 15th, and got our arses along
to the march for Irish Freedom through central London.
About a dozen comrades, from different organisations
including the Anarchist Federation, joined a very positive
picket of Wilko's, with an hours leafleting being followed by a
debriefing session in a local hostelry. The message is now
getting across that Wilkinson's use of prison labour is not
acceptable, and the company themselves appear to be trying
to play down the extent to which they use prisoners, claiming
"only about 50" of the goods in their stores are made or
packaged by prisoners. If they can just reduce that total by 50,
we will go and picket someone else!
Numbers at the Camden Green Fair were somewhat hit by the
unfortunate fact it was on the same day as the Stoke
Newington Festival, but the day was helped by seriously good
weather. We are pleased to report that when the Mayor of
Camden toured the stalls pressing the flesh, he took a good
look at our stall and turned away - its nice to know Class War
is still capable of sending parasites scuttling in the opposite
direction!

Howdy Partner?
Those with long memories may recall agent provocateur Tim
Hepple, who rampaged his way around the left, right and
Anarchist movements in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Having eventually been sussed as extremely bad news by all
who came into contact with him (Class War thankfully turned
down his application for membership) Hepple made a few quid
courtesy of World in Action and Searchlight, then attempted to
settle down to a life in obscurity under a new name - Tim
Matthews.
Old spooks never die however, and Tim is now making a name
for himself in the world of country music and line dancing -
surely not the first time he has draped himself in the
confederate flag! You can check Tim's present out at
www.linedancermagazine.com whilst for an insight into his
murky past, and that of his sponsors in Searchlight magazine,
you can still check out "At War With The Truth" by Larry
O'Hara.

Here Comes The Summer
What better fashion accessory this summer than a Class War
t-shirt? We have the very popular Carlsberg style shirt "Class
War - Probably the Best War in the World" available in small,
medium, large and fat bastard sizes for just 8 quid -
cheques/POs payable to "London Class War" only

Reviews
"The Battle for Iraq: BBC News Correspondents on the War
against Saddam and a New World Agenda" (Sara Beck,
Malcolm Downing, editors) £7.99; "The War We Could Not
Stop: The real story of the battle for Iraq" (Randeep Ramesh,
editor) £7.99; "War on Saddam" (The Daily Telegraph)
£12.99; "The Iraq War Reader: History, Documents,
Opinions" (Micah L Sifry, Christopher Cerf, editors)

No sooner than the blood begun to congeal than the journalists
began to circle publishing houses like vultures. At least two
national newspapers and the BBC already have their versions
of the Iraq conflict published; I imagine that there'll be dozens
of books out in time for Christmas. These four books vary
greatly in quality - and quantity. Firstly, let me look at the
Daily Telegraph's contribution. "War on Saddam" is crap. Page
after page of glorious full-colour pictures of military hardware
with a bit of text thrown in so people'll chuck away thirteen
quid on it. Don't bother; I didn't. It's a pity, cos in defence
editor John Keegan they've got one of the more literate and
knowledgeable people writing about warfare of any
newspaper. His introduction, however, isn't worth the price of
the book. Nul Points.

"The War We Could Not Stop", the Guardian's effort, is an
obvious 'instant book'. The poor paper alone gives that away!
But - in true Guardian style - it's limp-wristed and liberal. The
anti-war movement is described in strangely patronising tones.
The absence of the "well-dressed middle-classes" on the 22
March demo is noted, but not the extreme anger of people on
the march. They're said to have been subdued! I don't quite
remember it like that… The descriptions of the war (I use the
term in its loosest sense) suggest that the Guardian journos
were overcome with awe at the flashing lights and amazing
missiles of the US forces. They do, of course, deplore the loss
of human life - and do so again and again and again - but only
criticise the scale and timing and lack of international backing
(as if the 'war' would have been in any way better if it had
been tweaked to make it more acceptable). It's as if they
wanted it all done to please the Guardian readers in NW3 and
N8. The title implies that some reasonable degree of analysis
would be given to the efforts people made to prevent the war;
but there is little discussion of some of the surprising aspects
of the anti-war protests. For example, the spontaneous
schoolchildren's demonstrations become those of the children
of the suburban middle classes. The combat descriptions seem
taken from a second-rate movie script, the analysis seemed
facile, and, to be honest, this book brought back to me exactly
why I gave up reading the Guardian. And it doesn't have an
index.
2/5

Many of the same criticisms could be levelled at the BBC's
effort, "The Battle for Iraq". At first I feared it would be
another poor addition to the literature. However, although
pretty much what you'd expect from the BBC, it's quite a solid
account. The anti-war movement (again!) receives less
coverage than it should. An interesting read nonetheless.
3/5
I didn't know what to make of "The Iraq War Reader" at first.
A large book (670pp, including appendices), it claims to be
"everything you need to know about the war with Iraq - in one
indispensable volume". A bold boast, especially for a book
which went to press around the beginning of April!! The
assertion's not too far off the mark though: although this book
doesn't cover the war itself, it does provide all the information
one might want about the history of Iraq since 1915, an
examination of the last Gulf War, and all the intervening bits
no one paid much attention to at the time. This is the book you
wish you'd had five months ago, when everything was hotting
up! As a reader, everything is provided in sections which are
easy to cope with. It has an extensive index, and more than 30
contributors including Chomsky, Saddam Hussein and George
W Bush. There aren't many books which can boast all three
between the covers!
Although this book is a bit late, it's still a very useful one to
have about. This is definitely the best background to the war
I've seen. Its section about the future of Iraq is obviously
being overtaken by events (6 military police dead today,
increasing attacks on US forces; not an immaculate
occupation!) but I would strongly recommend it to anyone
wanting to understand how we got from not being at war to the
current fucked up situation there.
4/5

DIARY DATES

JULY
03 Celebrity screening of Injustice, the film about deaths in
police custody. 8pm Prince Charles Cinema, 7 Leicester Place,
London WC2. Booking line 020 7494 3654. Blinding
semi-banned film with Q&A session with the film makers.
04 'Independence FROM America' Day- demo at Menwith Hill
Spy Base 12-4 pm. 01943 466405 caab@btclick.com
www.caab.org.uk
12 From about 9 am - Look out for the Class War stall. Twenty
years on from the Miners Strike, this event continues to be
well supported by working class people from across the north
of England. See you there!
26 Pride Parade- Noon, Victoria Embankment then onto Pride
in the Park, Hyde Park (which costs £20)
28 Rally against the Nazi BNP in Burnley, Lancashire, and
Tipton, West Midlands. www.anl.org.uk/campaigns.htm

AUGUST
01 Gig- Blythe Power, Fish Brothers @ Chat's Palace
13-17 Earth First! summer gathering- For people involved- or
those that want to get involved- in radical eco direct action..
somewhere in a field in North Yorkshire. £10. No dogs. EF!
Summer Gathering c/o Cornerstone Resource Centre, 16
Sholebroke Avenue, Leeds LS7
3HB. summergathering@yahoo.co.uk or
www.eco-action.org/gathering

SEPTEMBER
06-12 Disarm DSEi- Defence Systems Equipment Intl is
Europe's largest arms fair. Stop the bastards!
disarm@dsei.org, www.dsei.org or c/o 11 Goodwin Street, N4
3HQ. 0781 7652 029 07887620379

OCTOBER
25 Anarchist Bookfair- @ ULU Malet Street, WC1.
mail@anarchistbookfair.org, www.anarchistbookfair.org
25 National Demo- against deaths in police custody. @
Trafalgar Square 1pm for march to Downing St. All Welcome.
Please wear black. United Families & Friends 0845 330 7927,
07770 432 439, www.uffc.org

REGULAR EVENTS
TACT- anti-capitalist social night the 3rd Tues of every month.
7.30pm at The Foundry. info 07944 586416 or
www.temporary.org.uk or TACT c/o BCM Box 3328, London
WC1N 3XX
STOP HUNTINGTON ANIMAL CRUELTY- meets third Fri
of month. 7.30pm, Conway Hall).
News
The Class War on the Internet

Between July '02 and March '03 more than 160,000 cyber
attacks were launched against the Japanese police's
computers! Although only about 11.3% of them were launched
from within Japan, a fuck of a lot of people must hate the
Japanese filth. Strangely, just over a quarter of the attacks
originated in the USA and 16.4% from Israel.
MReuters reported (17/6) that the Labour Party website had
been hacked into. Evil hackers attacked the site, putting up a
picture of "President" Bush carrying his dog, with Tony Blair's
head superimposed on it. Sadly the image was rapidly removed
- however, Singapore's opposition Democratic Party wasn't so
lucky! The Malta Star (19/6) reports that their website was
transformed into a porn site advertising "Mature Sex:
Experience is Everything". Staff were able to track the
troublemakers to Poland, but couldn't do anything about it!!
They have been forced to set up a whole new site, at a very
slightly different address.
MWith companies increasingly reliant on technology and the
internet, more and more disgruntled or sacked workers are
turning to computers to wreak their revenge. For example,
James O'Brien, who was sacked from his job at a travel
agency in Massachusetts, hacked into his former employer's
computers just before Xmas '00, cancelling 60 customers'
airline tickets, costing the agency $96,000 and leaving scores
of holiday-makers stranded. Hundreds - if not thousands - of
pissed off workers are now following his example. The old rule
- don't get caught - still holds very true. If convicted, O'Brien
faces up to 10 years' prison and a $250,000 fine.

Geneva Summary
Businesses in downtown Geneva and Lausanne suffered
significant damage caused by anti-globalisation actions
targeting the G8 Summit in Evian. Damage has been estimated
at between 1.25-2.50 million euros. Although many downtown
shops were boarded up, at least one in three businesses in
Geneva's luxury shopping district suffered a broken window.
Local police chief Urs Rechsteiner "insisted that authorities
had been fighting a new type of 'urban guerrilla' with organized
groups breaking away from peaceful main anti-globalisation
marches to disrupt the plush Swiss city."
Source: OSAC
Uranium in Afghanistan
Dr Asaf Durakovic, of the Uranium Medical Research Center
in Canada, tested 17 Afghans in May 2002. In all of their urine
he found extraordinary levels of uranium, consistent with a
high degree of exposure to depleted uranium, higher than
soldiers who served in Gulf War I.
Source: BBC
Animal Rights, Anti-Capitalists Terrorism Threats
The Canadian Security and Intelligence Service, their spy
agency, recently identified animal rights and anti-capitalist
protestors as a terrorist threat. Apart from the run of the mill
Sikh extremism and state-sponsored terrorism you would
expect, a CSIS report also claimed that "Canada is confronted
by domestic terrorism issues related to aboriginal rights, white
supremacists, sovereignty, animal rights, the environment and
anti-globalisation." Rob Sinclair, of IFAW, the animal welfare
group, said that equating animal rights groups with white
supremacists was a smear. Bill Moore-Kilgannon, of the
Council of Canadians (which has organized rallies questioning
everything from international trade to environmental policies)
said the anti-globalisation catch-all phrase gave the CSIS
carte blanche to investigate all sorts of people.
Source: Toronto Star
Americans Dogged By Fleas
Word reaches us that US Army personnel serving in Iraq have
been warned not to wear flea and tick collars. Major Dwight
Rickard, spokesman for the Armed Forces Pest Management
Board said an AFPMB memo warned of the dangers involved.
"Flea and tick collars are not approved for humans and in fact
are quote detrimental to the skin. Our skin is different from
that of dogs, and the pesticides tend to burn the skin," Rickard
explained.
This is not the first time US service personnel have had to be
warned about this sort of thing. In September 1990, the US
Army's Health Services Command issued a similar warning.
About 10,000 service personnel used them then.
Investigations have been carried out to see if the flea collars
could cause 'Gulf War Syndrome', but the results were
inconclusive.
Source: US Department of Defense
Jose Bove Arrested
French anti-globalisation hero Jose Bove, most famous for
attacking a McD's in the French town of Millau, has been
arrested to serve 10 months for destroying genetically
modified crops. In the late '90s he trashed some crops of
maize and rice, but is only now going to prison for it. To many
French people, Bove is no criminal, but a hero, and he's been
nicknamed Asterix - partly because he resembles the cartoon
character and because of his determination to repel invaders,
both gm and McD's.
Source: BBC

Violence Mars Water Polo Final
An unusual bout of hooliganism took place on June 15 as
Croats and Serbs clashed in Kranj, Slovenia. A diplomatic
incident, the tearing down of flags, an embassy attack and
presidential statements all followed the final of the hotly
contested European water polo championships.
The trouble started when Serb fans blagged their way into the
press box and began giving the Croat supporters 3-fingered
salutes. The Croats took umbrage and stormed the press and
VIP boxes. Though the Serbs won 9-8, they weren't allowed
their medals because of the violence.
When word reached Belgrade, angry water polo fans attacked
the Croat embassy, ripping down a flag. After a McDonald's
was attacked in Novi Sad riot police had to fire shots to
restore order. On June 16, the Croats summoned the Serb
ambassador for a dressing down, and the Croat foreign
minister cancelled a trip to Belgrade!! Source: The Grauniad
Police Claim Private Security Firms 'Have Anti-Terror Role'
Private security firms may play a role in the police response to
a catastrophic terrorist attack, David Veness - head of the
Anti-Terrorist Squad - said (12/6). He continued, saying that
private firms could provide essential back-up to the filth if an
attack affected a large area of a city. Police are considering
providing training to private firms "to raise the level of
capability when an event takes place."
Specifically, the police would see the private firms cordoning
off affected areas, guarding buildings, and - nebulously -
"compensating for insufficient police manpower."
Source: Financial Times


…Remembering the Past…
ANNIVERSARIES FOR JULY

1 July: 1921: Chinese Communist Party founded in Shanghai.
2 July: 1979: The British government proscribed INLA.
3 July: 1883: Franz Kafka, Czech writer, born.
4 July: 1848: Karl Heinrich Marx and Friedrich Engels
published The Communist Manifesto.
5 July: 1991: In Bolivia, the Tupac Katari Guerrilla Army
(EGTK) carried out its first attack - blowing up an electric
power pylon in the La Paz suburb of El Alto.
6 July: 1892: Riot at Tashkent owing to precautions against
cholera; 160 killed and wounded
7 July: 1972: William Whitelaw met Provisional IRA delegation
in London for talks; nothing resolved.
8 July: 1822: Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet and author of The
Mask of Anarchy, died at sea off Italy
9 July: 1986: The Red Army Faction assassinated Dr
Karl-Heinz Beckurts of the Siemens Corporation.
10 July: 1985: French intelligence sank the Rainbow Warrior in
Auckland harbour.
11 July: 1931: Kim Jong-Jin, Korean anarchist partisan leader,
murdered by communist agent in Manchuria.
12 July: 1966: After Chicago police officers stop black children
playing with fire hydrant, and arrest a black youth, riots break
out; lasts several days; 533 arrested, police shot at, and 4,200
National Guards sent in before order restored; 3 killed
including 13-year old boy and 14-year old pregnant girl
13 July: 1793: Charlotte Corday murdered French revolutionary
leader Jean-Paul Marat in his bath.
14 July: 1867: Dynamite was first demonstrated by Alfred
Nobel.
15 July: 1948: The Burmese Communist Party was founded.
16 July: 1918: Tsar Nicholas II and all his family executed by
the Bolsheviks at Ekaterinburg (now Sverdlovsk).
17 July: 1793: Charlotte Corday, assassin of Marat, executed
(see 13 July).
18 July: 1936: The Spanish Civil War began after a revolt under
Emilio Mola and Francisco Franco.
19 July: 1979: The Sandinista forces of Nicaragua entered
Managua.
20 July: 1877: Riots by railwaymen on strike in United States;
some hundreds killed
21 July: 1873: World's first train robbery, carried out by Jesse
James and his gang.
22 July: 1932: Death of Italian anarchist Errico Malatesta.
23 July: 1866: Riot in Hyde Park caused by notice prohibiting
its use by Reform League; several injured
24 July: 1975: Northern Ireland Secretary Merlyn Rees
promises to release all internees by end of year.
25 July: 1986: Appeal Court banned publications by former MI5
officer Peter Wright.
26 July: 1890: Revolution in Buenos Aires, Argentina; 1,000
killed in fighting; President Celman compelled to resign
27 July: 1839: Chartist riots broke out in Birmingham and other
towns.
28 July: 1794: Maximilien-François-Marie-Isidore de
Robespierre, French revolutionary leader, executed.
29 July: 1900: Italian King Umberto I assassinated at Monza
by anarchist Angelo Bressi.
30 July: 1990: Provisional IRA kill Ian Gow MP, friend and
former Parliamentary Private Secretary of Margaret Thatcher.
31 July: 1969: ETA (Basque Fatherland and Liberty) founded.

Compiled by the Class War historianJ

* [Ed. Note: London Class War are members of the UK
anti authoritarian Clas War Federation]


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