UK
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UK: An Anatomy of a police shooting By Tony Mckenna
Consider the following hypothetical situation: a group of policeman unlawfully kill a suspected criminal. We do not know what has lead to the unlawful killing – only that it takes place and – having taken place, must now, somehow, be presented to the public as a ‘lawful kill’. Continue reading
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Black Britain Revolts: What If It Had Been New York? By Glen Ford
Britain’s Black rebellion shocked the nation, but has not produced the kind of carnage that routinely accompanies urban unrest in the United States. ‘Had London’s current disturbances occurred on a similar scale in New York City, with outbreaks across the various boroughs, the police would have unleashed a bloodbath.’ Which is not to say that… Continue reading
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Left groups respond to the UK riots
Statements by various left groups on the riots that have swept the UK over the past week. Continue reading
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Clegg Predicting Riots
In the run up to the 2010 General Election Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg warned of riots if the Tories were elected, stating that, ‘There is danger that having any government of any composition led by a party which doesn’t have a popular mandate across the country trying to push through really difficult decisions. I… Continue reading
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July Days Again in Britain — This Time in August By S. Artesian
The sun never sets on the poverty of British capitalism. In its wretchedness Britain represents the pinnacle of bourgeois society. In its decline Britain is a monument to the market, to private property, to progress. Continue reading
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Monday night in Peckham By Kate Belgrave
I thought if there was going to be trouble, it would start outside the bus, not in it – so I was watching the streets and footpaths as the 436 bus went along Camberwell New Road, across Camberwell junction and into Peckham Road last night. Continue reading
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Hackney Burned and Smashed Sean Gittins*
Thuggery this may be, but watching people hurtle rocks at windows and cops with scant regard for their future and the consequences lays bare a complete hatred of the system these rioters have come to know. Cameron’s warning to ‘these people’ that they are ‘potentially wrecking their own life too’ will have been as comical… Continue reading
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Major police clampdown as riots spread across London and other UK cities By Julie Hyland
As evidence mounts of a police provocation, a concerted campaign is underway by the media and the major political parties to blame the disturbances on ‘copy-cat criminals’ and ‘looters’ with the aim of justifying further state repression. Continue reading
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The battle of north London By John Millington
Getting to the truth of events like Saturday are a minefield. There is so much raw emotion, often exploited by corporate media outlets seeking to paint a certain picture either to undermine working-class communities or misdirect focus away from the root causes of events. Continue reading
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Britain’s Riots: A Society In Denial Of The Burning Issues By Finian Cunningham
Although the arson attacks on commercial and residential premises do have an element of criminal spontaneity by disparate groups of youths, it is simply delusional for Britain’s political leaders, police forces and the media to claim that it is all a matter of law and order. Continue reading
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Tariq Ali on British riots: Why here and now?
Why is it that the same areas always erupt first, whatever the cause? Pure accident? Might it have something to do with race and class and institutionalised poverty and the sheer grimness of everyday life? Continue reading
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When the only option is to switch sides
This excellent book is about a young man growing up on a council estate in south London in the 1980s. Disruptive at school, bored with life and alienated with a changing society around him, Collins was an angry young man drawn towards the race hate politics of the British far-right. They spoke his language, described… Continue reading
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Report your local anarchist: Network for Police Monitoring
For the time being, holding anarchist sympathies is not a crime – although presumably any gossip, however dubious and ill-informed, will be passed on by borough-level SO15 Counter Terrorism Liaison Officers to the feverish data collectors at the National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit. Are the Metropolitan Police simply starting to run low on ‘Islamists’ to… Continue reading
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Anti-war activists rubbish Hague’s success claims By Rory MacKinnon
Tory ministers appeared delusional as the war entered its fifth month by claiming that the war effort had been a success. Continue reading
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New moves by British parliament to shield the Murdochs By Robert Stephens
The Murdochs rely on the fact that the British political elite and the police are seeking at all costs to prevent a serious investigation of the hacking of thousands of phones and the bribing of police officers, and block the bringing of criminal charges against the guilty. Continue reading
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Media Lens: Murdoch’s Other Moral Crimes
When Rupert and James Murdoch appeared before the House of Commons media select committee on July 19, not one of the MP inquisitors demanded accountability for News International’s biggest moral crime – its shameful role as a facilitator of war. Continue reading
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Unauthorised tapping into or hacking of mobile communications
Thirteenth Report of Session 2010–12 House of Commons Home Affairs Committee Continue reading
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News International: A scandal rooted in union-busting
Socialist journalist Eamonn McCann explains how the assault on newspaper unions helped pave the way for the scandal engulfing Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. Continue reading
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I’m starting to think that the Left might actually be right By Charles Moore
Throwing off the chains: in the late 1970s, the circulation of Murdoch’s Thatcher-supporting Sun overtook that of the ever-Labour Daily Mirror – I’m starting to think that the Left might actually be right Continue reading
The New Dark Age 