Marking the anniversary of the horror that was Guernica

                                  Pablo Picasso's Guernica

During the afternoon and early evening of Monday, April 26th, 1937,  the German and Italian fascist air forces destroyed the Basque town of Guernica . The war crime was ordered by the Spanish nationalist military leadership and carried out by the Congor Legion of the German luftwaffe and the Italian Aviazone Legionairre. Designed to kill  or main as many civilians as possible, Operation Rugen was deliberately chosen for a Monday afternoon when the weekly town market would be at its most crowded.

 Spain at the time was embroiled in a convulsive civil war that had begun in July 1936 when the right-wing Nationalists led by General Francisco Franco sought to overthrow Spain's democratically elected Popular Front Government It did not take long before this bloody internal Spanish quarrel attracted the participation of forces beyond its borders - creating a lineup of opponents that foreshadowed the partnerships that would battle each other in World War II. Fascist Germany and Italy supported Franco while the Soviet Union backed the Republicans. Millions of people around the world felt passionately that rapidly advancing fascism must be halted in Spain; and more than 35,000 heroic volunteers from dozens of other countries made their way to Spain to fight and die under the Republican banner including the Abraham Lincoln Brigade from the United States.

 Guernica, in the Basque  country where revolutionary sentiment among workers was deep, was defenceless from the bombers, which could fly as low as 600 feet.The raid’s purpose was to test a new bombing tactic to intimidate and terrorize the resistance. For more than three hours, waves of explosive, fragmentary, and incendiary devices were dumped in the town. In total, 31 tons of munitions were dropped between 4.30 in the afternoon and 7.30 in the evening. In the aftermath of the raid, survivoHistory rs spoke of the air filled with the screams of those in their death throes and the hundreds injured. Civilians fleeing the carnage in the fields surrounding the town were strafed by fighter planes. Human and animal  body parts littered the market place and town center, such , such horror.Guernica was effectively wiped of the map. From a population of 5,000 some 1,700 residents were killed and a further 800 injured. Three quarters of the buildings were raised to the ground. Farms four miles away were flattened.

The destruction of Guernica was part of General Franco's wider, brutal campaign against the existence of the Spanish Republic. This campaign led not just to widespread destruction of property, but thousands of civilian casualties too, as well as widespread displacement. Many sought refuge abroad, as many as 3,800 Basque children were evacuated to England and Wales for the duration of the war. The British Government at the time callously refused to be responsible for the children, but  throughout the summer children were dispersed to camps throughout Britain. Eight of these colonies were here in Wales. They were received with a mixture of hostility and kindness, but they had all managed to escape the grips of Franco's fascist Spain.

 The significance of Guernica is that it was the first time that civilians were deliberately targeted in an air attack; it was the first time that a population centre was carpet bombed from the air; and it was one of the first times that a population was used as a target from the air by a foreign power  to test the effectiveness of its aircraft and the effectiveness of terror on the civilian population.Guernica changed the mode of war. Before then, civilians in cities and towns away from the front were by and large were relatively safe. In wars before then air power was not capable of such bombing attacks. In World War I, by and large, troops slugged it out in trenches on the front and there was no air war.

News of the atrocity reached Paris several days later. Eyewitness reports filled local and international newspapers.
Picasso, sympathetic to the Republican cause, was horrified by the reports. Guernica is his memorial to the massacre, and after hundreds of sketches, the painting was done in less than a month before being delivered to the Fair’s Spanish Pavilion, where it became the central attraction. Rather than the typical celebration of technology people expected to see at a world’s fair, in his mural, they saw  a raw and anguished anti-war statement, a haunting piece of work that   became a universal howl against the ravages of war. On a large canvas  he painted deformed figures of women and children writhing in a burning city.A broken sword in hand, a dismembered fighter lies with wide open eyes, an impassive bull, a wounded dove and an agonising horse nearby. Picasso did not agree with Franco´s regime and he was living in France for a long period of time until his death in 1973 when he was 91 years old. One of the most famous passages about his life is when he was interrogated by the Gestapo while the Nazi occupation  in Paris. When the officers saw the Guernica  they asked him “Did you paint that?” and he replied “No, you did” Picasso's picture still resonates with tragedy, capturing the full terror and horror of this terrible moment in history. It is still regarded as the 20^thcentury’s most powerful artistic indictment against war, and remains just as relevant to civilians around the world who continue to be caught in today’s conflagrations. The work’s emotional power comes from its immense size of 349 cm times 776 cm (about 11ft tall and 25ft wide). It is a painting challenges rather than accepts the notion of war as heroic.

.For many Basque people, the memory of the bombing and Picasso's visceral artistic response form part of their cultural identity. Franco, who ruled Spain as a fascist dictator for nearly forty years, from 1936 until his death in 1975, claimed the attack on Guernica never took place. They tried to blame the Basques, but the truth is Germany deliberately bombed the town to destroy it and observe in a clinical way the effects of such a devastating attack, practicing a new form of warfare, where only civilians were the targets.In October 1937, a Nationalist officer told' a Sunday Times correspondent: 'We bombed it, and bombed it, and bombed it and Beuno why not.'

 The Republican forces sent Guernica on a global tour to create awareness of the war and raise funds for Spanish refugees. It travelled the world for 19 years before it was loaned to The Museum of Modern Art in New York for safekeeping. Picasso refused to allow it to return to Spain until the country “enjoyed public liberties and democratic institutions,” which did not occur until 1981 following Franco’s death. Today it is on permanent display in the Reina Sofia, Spain’s national museum of modern art in Madrid.

This atrocity horrified the world and helped shift public opinion towards the Spanish Republican Cause, but shamefully the British Government stuck steadfastardly to its non intervevention line. The fascists hated liberalism and humanity, their ideology was one of evil destruction, 'Long Live Death' they cried.  Guernica represented their creed, with one of the Fascist Generals declaring " Like a resolute surgeon, free from false sentimentality, it will cut the diseased flesh from the healthy body and fling it to the dogs. And since the healthy flesh is the soil, the diseased flesh, the people who dwell on it, fascism and the army will eradicate the people and restore the soil to the sacred national realm... Every socialist, Republican, every one of them, without exception, and needless to say, every Communist, will be eradicated, without exception.' An ideology of unfettered hate, and evil..... it's ideology still trying to tear the world apart,  it's forces  still seek to gather, fostering  hatred and division.

After Guernica , George Steers eyewitness account in The Times described what he saw as 'without mercy, with system', words that remain tragically pertinent to the bloody legacy of carpet bombing in conflicts ever since. Conflicts that continue across the world.... humanity still descends into darkness.... the Rape of Nanking, the Second World War, the Holocaust, Syria, Bahrain, Cheknya, Rwanda, the continuing confontation between Israel and Palestine......

 At the United Nations in 2016, French Ambassador Francois Delattre compared the destruction in the Syrian city of Aleppo to Guernica.“Aleppo is to Syria what Guernica was to the Spanish war, a human tragedy, a black hole destroying all we believe in,” he said.

So we must remember Guernica , and  its legacy, we must make sure the fascists are stopped in their tracks, we must not let them pass.... we must carry on singing no pasaron to whatever disguise they dress themselves up in.It is important and timely to reflect on this tragic occasion .Guernica must be remembered , for our time, and for future generations, a terrifying rendition of the slaughter of  innocents.

 By April 1939, all of Spain was under fascist control and Franco declared a victory .Solidifying his power with a brutal dictatorship by oppressing and systematically killing any political opposition.Over half a million people were killed in the war, and in the next few years many tens of thousands more were executed, not forgetting all those who died from malnutrition, starvation, and war-engendered disease. General Franco's military regime remained in power until his death in 1975 depriving  Spain of freedom for several decades afterwards, the wound inflicted still resonates.

Guernica - A.S Knowland

Irun- Badajoz - Malaga - and then Guernica

So that the swastika and the eagle
might spring from the blood-red soil,
bombs were sown into the earth at Guernica,
whose only harvest was a calculated slaughter.
Lest freedon should wave between the grasses
and the corn its proud emblem, or love
be allowed to tread its native fields,
Fascism was sent to destroy the innocent,
and, goose-stepping to the exaggerated waving
of the two-faced flag, to save Spain.

But though the soil be saturated with blood
as a very efficient fertiliser, the furrow
of the ghastly Fasces shall remain barren.
The  planted swastika, the eagle grafted
on natural stock shall wither and remain sere;
for no uniformed force shall marshall the sap
thrilling to thrust buds into blossoms, or quicken
the dead ends of the blighted branches;
but the soil shall be set against an alien crop
and the seed be blasted in the planting.

But strength lies in the strength of the roots.
They shall not pass to ruin Spain!

Reprinted from
The Penguin Book of
Spanish Civil War Verse (1980) 

Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day

April 24th is the day that the many commemorate the Armenian Genocide  committed by Turks in 1915. Amid the upheaval of World War 1, when countless villages across the Ottoman Empire became killing fields as the desperate leadership of this region, having lost the Balkans and facing the prospect of losing its territories as well, saw an imagined threat at home.

Worried that the Christian Armenian population was planning to align with Russia, the then primary enemy of the Ottoman Turks, officials embarked on what historians have called the first genocide of the 20th Century.

Nearly 1.5 million Armenians were systematically killed,  becoming tragically part of one of the biggest atrocities of the Great War. Initially intellectuals and community leader were rounded up, one by one, then thousands were  instantly slaughtered, there were reports  of mass burnings, others  put in concentration camps,  to be tortured and gassed,  others left  to die of starvation, exhaustion and disease. Rape was frequently reported too. All this occurred between 1915-1923, to   further add to this misery, the great bulk of the Armenian population were forced from Armenia to Syria, where the vast majority were sent into the desert to die of thirst and hunger.Armenians  have since called these events Medz Yeghern (the great crime) or Aghet (catastrophe)

In 1919, following the defeat of the Ottoman  Empire, Grand Damat Ferid Pasha officially declared that  a crime had been perpetrated against the Armenians and the foreign mininster admitt that some 800,000 Armenians had been deported..When Mustafa Kemal Ataruk, the father of modern Turkey  opened his new country's parliament in Ankara on April, 24,1920, he called the genocide of Armenians a "shameful act of the past."

On the same day, the Armenian community that had survived held a commemoration ceremony at the St. Trinity Armenian church in Constantinople. Following its initial commemoration in 1919, this date became the annual day of remembrance for the Armenian Genocide. 

This  horrific moment in time has since though with great shame been bitterly contested by Turkey, under President Erdogan the successor of the Ottoman Empire, who has consistently denied the word genocide, as an accurate term for what happened. Despite pressure from Armenians and social justice advocates throughout the world, it is still illegal in Turkey to talk about what happened to Armenians during this era. After the Ottomans surrendered in 1918, the leaders of the Young Turks fled to Germany, which promised not to prosecute them for the genocide. Ever since then, the Turkish government has denied that a genocide took place.

Years later the issue of whether to these killings a genocide remain raw and emotional, both for the Armenians, who are descended from those killed, and the Turks, the heirs to the Ottomans. For both,  the question touches as much on national identity, as it does on historical facts.

Whilst at the same time for geopolitical reasons the U.S.A too, has never  labelled the atrocities committed by Turkey as genocide, being close  friends with Turkey, their allies in  the NATO alliance, .U.S. presidents  have at least for decades  acknowledged Remembrance Day, though it should be noted that Robert Dole in the Senate once introduced a mild resolution commemorating 1990 as the 75th anniversary of the Armenian  genocide, at the time when the Israeli government worked with the Turkish government to lobby against it. ( The resolution was subsequently defeated in the Senate) 

President Obama himself, pledged in his  Presidential campaign to call it genocide, but two terms into to his Presidency,but  he remained silent. 

However in positive news  President Joe Biden today recognized the Armenian genocide, fulfilling a campaign promise and taking a step that his recent predecessors have avoided while in office and. , signals the president’s desire to prioritize human rights despite potential fallout in the U.S. relationship with Turkey.

President Joe Biden  on Saturday recognized the Armenian genocide, fulfilling a campaign promise and taking a step that his recent predecessors have avoided while in office. Biden’s designation,  signals the president’s desire to prioritize human rights despite potential fallout in the U.S. relationship with Turkey.

“The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide,” Biden said. 

"!Over the decades Armenian immigrants have enriched the United States in countless ways, but they have never forgotten the tragic history that brought so many of their ancestors to our shores. We honor their story. We see that pain. We affirm the history. We do this not to cast blame but to ensure that what happened is never repeated.”

The full statement can be read here ;- https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/24/statement-by-president-joe-biden-on-armenian-remembrance-day/

Biden’s designation, which coincided with Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, signals the president’s desire to prioritize human rights despite potential fallout in the U.S. relationship with Turkey. it has been said  that he plans to follow through on a campaign pledge to formally recognize that atrocities committed against the Armenian people by the Ottoman Empire more than a century ago in modern-day Turkey were genocide, according to U.S. officials.

During a telephone call Friday, Biden informed Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of his plan to issue the statement, said a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to publicly discuss the private conversation and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Separate statements afterward by the two governments made no mention of Biden’s plan. The White House said Biden told Erdogan he wants to improve ties and find “effective management of disagreements.” The two also agreed to a bilateral meeting at the NATO summit in Brussels in June.

Biden, who pledged as a candidate to recognize the massacre as genocide, arguing that “silence is complicity,” wanted to speak with Erdogan before making the formal recognition, according to officials familiar with Biden’s deliberations and plans. The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter before Biden issued the proclamation and they spoke on condition of anonymity.

Friday’s call was the first between the presidents since Biden took office more than three months ago. The delay had become a worrying sign in Turkey. Erdogan had good rapport with President Donald Trump and had been hoping for a reset despite past friction with Biden.

The fact that Israel has continued  to this day to be very strongly opposed to efforts being made to recognise the Armenian genocide, for me is really quite astonishing. Especially from a country founded  in the aftermath of its own genocide, holocaust. There are growing calls from within Israel for them to finally recognise this historical fact , and  not to be  in denial, which would be good, since  both peoples, the Armenians and the  Jewish people having suffered the same fate, the same terrible tragedies.  But at the end of the day the Turks are their allies, and you don't want to alienate allies, do you, because that's much too important. Israel thinks it's not their business, lets simply not talk about the Armenian holocaust, but any  conciliatory offerings, I am sure will be welcomed. 

Sadly the British government will not recognise it, despite  ironically Winston Churchill  hilst making war on Turkey, ton Turkey, who used the Greek word Holocaust - originally meaning a sacrifice by fire - to refer to reported burning of Armenians in a pit, and thus gave the word its modern meaning of genocide and also wrote "There  is no reasonable  doubt that this crime was planned and executed for  political purposes." He also used the phrases "Administrative  Holocaust" and  "clearance of race".

Yet countries  like Canada, Argentina, France, Greece and Russia, Poland and Switzerland where the survivors  of  the Armenian genocide and their descendents live have officially recognised the Armenian genocide, thus helping the process of healing.

I believe the voices of the people killed and those haunted should not be forgotten, we should mark their identity, and  the psychic wounds that have passed through generations.

Years later Hitler would use this model of genocide for his own tools for a Holocaust. Hitler and Himmler, guided by the same evil,  were inspired  by the Ottoman Empires own methods of quiet extermination. Mass genocidal maniacs since  like Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot followed suit with their own reigns of terror and slaughter of millions.

We should recognise the sad fact that Turkeys lack of contrition leaves descendents struggling to reconcile loss and renewal. It is simply implausible that we should still question the reality of this appalling terrible injustice.

It is a moral necessity that we continue to condemn these massacres and ethnic cleansing of Armenians, that began on this day. To continue to deny this truth amounts to a criminal lie. We need to enshrine in our collective memory this crime against humanity, so as to ensure that it is understood, learnt and transmitted to future generations. We need to recognise the wounds  that have never been able to be healed.

Armenian refugee children 1915

The Death of Blair Peach

 Blair Peach  died from a broken skull , as a result of  being struck on the head  by a truncheon wielding policeman from the Special Patrol Group during a demonstration  on the 23rd of April 1979. 

 Clement Blair Peach was born in New Zealand on the 25th of March 1946.  He studied at Victoria University of Wellington and was for a time co-editor of the Argot literary magazine with his flatmates Dennis List and David Rutherford. He worked as a fireman and as a hospital orderly in New Zealand before moving to London in 1969 and started working as a teacher at  the Phoenix School in Bow, Tower Hamlets, East London, a special needs school.

Peach was no stranger to radicalism and protest; he was a member of the Socialist Worker’s Party, as well as the Socialist Teacher’s Association and the East London Teacher’s Association, both within the National Union of Teachers. A committed anti-fascist.In 1974 he was acquitted of a charge of threatening behaviour after he challenged a publican who was refusing to serve black customers. He was also involved in campaigns against far-right and neo-Nazi groups; he was well known for leading a successful campaign to close a National Front building in the middle of the Bangladeshi community around Brick Lane. He was also arrested in April 1978, outside a public meeting held by the NF in an East London school. The police had arrested a fellow demonstrator, who was black and female. Peach instinctively placed himself between the woman and the arresting officer and said, “Leave her alone, she has not done anything.” He was arrested, and pleaded not guilty but was convicted, receiving a fine of £50.

Peach was elected President of the East London Teachers Association in 1978. Twice that year he was attacked by supporters of the National Front as he cycled home from teaching at the Phoenix School, and he suffered black eyes, bruising and cuts. According to the East Ender newspaper, “Doctors fear permanent damage may have been done to one of his eyes. His finger has been bitten through to the bone shredding the nerves.” Even before 23 April 1979, Peach was putting his body on the line in the cause of the struggle against fascism.

On St. George’s Day 1979, the fascist National Front held a meeting in Southall Town Hall. The Front had almost no supporters in the area, but was hoping to gain publicity by bulldozing its way through the heavily Asian district of outer London.  a neighbourhood which, especially since the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Gurdip Singh Chaddar in Jun 1976, had been the target of increasingly violent attacks not only by National Front supporters but also by the local police. Nearly 3000 of the latter were deployed that day to ensure the fascists could hold a rally, 94 of the on horseback.The Anti-Nazi League held a counter demonstration outside the Town Hall. Peach was one of 3000 people to attend,

When the National Front meeting began, members of the Special Patrol Group were among police who tried to clear the area of demonstrators. The SPG was a specialist group that had gained notoriety following the Red Lion square disorders in 1974 at which student Kevin Gately was killed by a blow to the head by an unidentified assailant.

The demonstration turned violent;700 protestors were arrested, paramedics were denied proper access to tend to police-battered bystanders, the People Unite community centre run by the reggae band  Misty In Roots which was being used as a medical centre to treat wounded anti racists  was raided. Dozens of eye-witnesses complained that police officers aimed their batons at the heads of doctors, nurses and solicitors who had sheltered there. The band's manager Clarence Baker beaten into a coma from which he only emerged months later. 

According to 14 eye-witnesses who gave evidence to the subsequent inquest, Peach sustained a blow to the head from a weapon by a police officer at the junction of Beachcroft Avenue and Orchard Avenue, as he tried to get away from the demonstration. that left him staggering in to a nearby house. The impression is sometimes given that Blair Peach died instantly in the street but in fact he was still conscious though very dazed and finding it hard to speak when the ambulance arrived a quarter of an hour after the injury.  There was no blood or external trauma but it’s clear that he was suffering from a swelling in the brain, what’s termed an extra-dural haematoma. Blair Peach died in an operating theatre at the New Ealing District Hospital at 12.10am. He was only 33 years old. At least three other anti fascist protesters were hit so hard to the head that their skulls were fractured.

Peach’s death struck a chord amongst the communities he had stood up for, and across the city as a whole. A few days after his death, 10000 people marched past the spot where he was fatally injured. His funeral was delayed by several months, until the 13th of June, but that was also attended by 10,000 people. The night before his funeral, 8000 Sikhs went to see his body at the Dominion Theatre in Southall.

In the aftermath of Peach's murder, protesters were everywhere, flyposting, speaking, organising, discussing the lessons. The police were around, in very large numbers, but they did not dare to stop people from organising. It was almost as if the police were shamed by the enormity of what they had done. June 1979 also saw a 2,000-strong first Black people’s march against state harassment through central London.

Police investigated themselves in the aftermath of Blair Peach's death and identified  6 cops, 1 of whom administered  the fatal blow. No one has ever been charged.. 

The death of Blair Peach was the dire outcome of a double-edged state racism. The police that day staunchly protected a racist gathering in a predominantly Asian community, while unleashing militarised measures of control and punishment on demonstrators looking to oppose the fascists (Institute of Race Relations, 1979).http://www.irr.org.uk/
Blair Peach’s death became a focal point for those who questioned the nature of the Special Patrol Group and the general lack of police accountability which that force epitomised. And, from the agitation of Blair’s family, especially his long term partner Celia Stubbs, about the inadequacy of the inquest system and the secrecy surrounding the coroner’s court and the evidence withheld from the family, was created the organisation INQUEST.
The Metropolitan Police commissioned an internal inquiry into what happened, which was led by Commander John Cass. 11 witnesses saw Peach struck by a member of the Special Patrol Group (SPG). The SPG was a centrally-based mobile group of officers focused on combating serious public disorder and crime that local divisions were unable to cope with. It started in 1961, and was replaces in 1987 by the Territorial Support Group, which also has a less-than stellar reputation amongst activists.
The pathologist’s report concluded that Peach was not hit with a standard issue baton, but an unauthorised weapon like a weighted rubber cosh,or a hosepipe filled with lead shot. When Cass’ team investigated the headquarters of the SPG, they found multiple illegal weapons including truncheons, knives, a crowbar, and a whip. 2 SPG officers had altered their appearance by growing or cutting facial hair since the protest, 1 refused to take part in an identity parade, and another was discovered to be a Nazi sympathiser. All of the officers’ uniforms were dry-cleaned before they were presented for examination.
Cass concluded that one of 6 officers had killed Peach, but he couldn’t be sure who exactly, because the officers had colluded to cover up the truth. He recommended that 3 officers be charged with perverting the course of justice, but no action was ever taken. The results of the inquiry were not published, and the coroner at the inquest into Peach’s death refused to allow it to be used as evidence, despite making use of it himself. Two newspapers, the Sunday Times and the Leveller, published leaks naming the officers that had travelled in the van that held Peach’s killer. They were Police Constables Murray, White, Lake, Freestone, Scottow and Richardson. When the lockers of their unit were searched in June 1979, one officer Greville Bint was discovered to have in his lockers Nazi regalia, bayonets and leather covered sticks. Another constable Raymond White attempted to hide a cosh. 

Celia Stubbs, said: "This report totally vindicates what we have always believed - that Blair was killed by one of six officers from Unit 1 of the Special Patrol Group whose names have been in the public domain over all these years."

The death of Blair Peach was a public relations disaster for the Metropolitram Police,  a well respected and well liked activist who fought hard for local communities. Peach was a man for whom many people cared about. The Met should have been transparent, finding out what happened and punishing those responsible quickly and openly. Instead, they covered up the cause of Peacg's death for 3 decades, allowing what happened to fester,contributing to a sense of resentment and distrust that continues to this day.

Campaigners have since  demanded a fresh inquiry into Blair Peach's death Gareth Peirce, the lawyer who defended many of those arrested in 1979, said: “Unquestionably a public investigation is required as to what happened and why it was covered up for so long. A man was killed, wholly innocent people were convicted and evidence against them fabricated.

“The police went out to deliberately inflict injuries on innocent people and were being provocative and racist. An onslaught of violence was unleashed on the Southall community and other protesters. The Hillsborough inquiry shows that reopening investigations into incidents that happened in the past is not only important but achievable.”
The late Darcus Howe  writer and anti racist activist once remarked: “The death of Blair Peach is a lasting injustice. But it is also a pressing issue because there is no evidence that the policing mistakes that led to the death of Blair Peach have been consigned to the past.”

The campaign for justice for Blair Peach was the model for all the others that have come since. We now know, that from the very start, it was infiltrated by undercover police, who targeted his grieving partner, family and friends before he was even buried.

Following his death, his partner Celia Stubbs launched a justice campaign, which was infiltrated by officers serving in the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), a secret police unit accused of serial abuses over decades.

Following his death, his partner Celia Stubbs launched a justice campaign, which was infiltrated by officers serving in the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), a secret police unit accused of serial abuses over decades.

Speaking on behalf of Ms Stubbs, Matthew Ryder QC told the Undercover Policing Inquiry that the killing of Blair Peach and the subsequent “cover-up” was one of the “most notorious events in the history of British policing.”

Mr Ryder said that the campaign for police accountability became a “focus” for the spycops, adding that this was a “vivid illustration” of “inappropriate undercover policing” of those seeking justice.

The lawyer said that a “source of significant distress” for Ms Stubbs was the presence of undercover officers at Mr Peach’s funeral. Documents disclosed to the inquiry reveal that officers compiled a list of people who attended and even took photographs of individuals.

“The attendance at the funeral was obviously an intelligence-gathering exercise” said Mr Ryder, disputing statements by one officer that he was only present to protect his cover.

SDS reporting on the campaign continued for another 20 years, the inquiry heard, with a document dated to 1998 recording a protest on the anniversary of Mr Peach’s death.

Celia Stubbs says she was horrified to discover she was spied on for years while campaigning for justice. She will give evidence next month to the inquiry into undercover policing as it examines the extent of covert surveillance in the 1980s.

First the fatal beating from the Special Patrol Group, quickly followed by the long deception from the Special Demonstration Squad; the violence from the Metropolitan Police towards people who stood up against injustice was unrelenting.

Peach dedicated his life to standing up to racism, something that the NUT [National Union of Teachers] celebrates through its annual Blair Peach award. The award is given to individu­al NUT members or groups of members who have made signifi­cant and exemplary contribu­tions to LGBT+, race, gender, and/or disability equality in their school or division.Peach was the very definition of an anti-racist activist and ally. and after his death a number of writers have dedicated poems to his memory, including Chris Searle, Michael Rosen and Susannah Steele, Louis Johnson, Edward Bond, Sigi Moos, Sean Hutton and Tony Dickens, and songs including  the following  by dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson  in Jamaican patois.

Linton Kweisi Johnson - Reggae fi Peach

 :

Everywhere you go its the talk of the day,
Everywhere you go you hear people say,
That the Special Patrol them are murderers (murderers),
We cant make them get no furtherer,
The SPG them are murderers (murderers),
We cant make them get no furtherer,
Cos they killed Blair Peach the teacher,
Them killed Blair Peach, the dirty bleeders.

Blair Peach was an ordinary man,
Blair Peach he took a simple stand,
Against the fascists and their wicked plans,
So them beat him till him life was done.

Everywhere you go its the talk of the day,
Everywhere you go you hear people say,
That the Special Patrol them are murderers (murderers),
We cant make them get no furtherer,
The SPG them are murderers (murderers),
We cant make them get no furtherer,
Cos they killed Blair Peach the teacher,
Them killed Blair Peach, the dirty bleeders.

Blair Peach was not an English man,
Him come from New Zealand,
Now they kill him and him dead and gone,
But his memory lingers on.

Oh ye people of England,
Great injustices are committed upon this land,
How long will you permit them, to carry on?
Is England becoming a fascist state?
The answer lies at your own gate,
And in the answer lies your fate.

Peach was a deeply private person, more comfortable in political rather than literary circles, No more than one or two of the writer mentioned above can have known that in his youth Blair Peach had been a poet himself. At the University of Wellington he had helped edit a literary magazine Argot, Against the untimely horror of his untimely death perhaps a tint satisfaction can be found in the way h has ben remembered since by the people of Southall as a man who fought alongside them, and by his fellow writers.

It is sad though  that  battles which were fought against state-sanctioned violence and far-right racism are still the battles being fought today, and we should not forget that Blair Peach wasn’t the first person nor the last to be killed by the  police, since his murder Cynthia Jarrett,( whose death during a police raid prompted the notorious Broadwater Farm disturbances in 1985)  Mark Duggan, Ian Tomlinson, Jean Charles de Menezes; are some other people who have  had the misfortune of being famous because they were killed by the Metropolitan Police. The fight for justice goes on, as does Blair Peach's legacy who  believed in the inclusion of everyone no matter what race, religion or educational ability. As was the case over 40 years ago, a principled democratic debate about police powers and methods is vital. We must also continue to  confront and resist the forces of fascism and racism everywhere and continue to defend the right to protest.without any reservation..

Stephen Lawrence Day : A Legacy of Change

 

Today is the third annual Stephen Lawrence Day, named for the black teenager  and loving son who was murdered in a racist attack on the same day in 1993.

The story of Stephen Lawrence is deeply tragic one and, sadly, one of far too many.Stephen  was born and grew up in Greenwich  south-east London, where he lived with his parents Neville and Doreen, his brother Stuart and sister Georgina.

Like most young people, he juggled an active social life, school work, family commitments, and part-time employment. But he also had ambitions to use his talent for maths, art, and design to become an architect, and wanted to have a positive impact on his community.

Tragically, his dream of becoming an architect was never realised. On 22 April 1993, at the age of just 18, Stephen was murdered in an unprovoked racist attack. He didn’t know his killers and his killers didn’t know him.

The killing of Stephen Lawrence by a group of young men simply because he was Black was a horrific crime, but the failure to correctly pursue the killers because of the Metropolitan Police’s own racism was an appalling crime in its own right

Undercover officers spied on his family’s campaign for justice. Stephen’s parents and his friend, Duwayne Brooks, who was with him on the night he died, were all reported on by undercover police and are all classed as core participants in the public inquiry.

Incompetence, alleged corruption and racism in the police meant that it took nearly 20 years to convict two of his killers,Gary Dobson and David Norris, while the remaining three Neil Acourt, Jamie Acourt and Luke Knight have never been brought to justice.

They should not be allowed to rest easy.Their sentences should be long, despite the fact that they were juvenille at the time, they have shown no remorse, consistently lied and flaunted and paraded their arrogance. Shown themselves as the cowardly racists they are.
Sadly the ugly reality of racist hatred still lingers. It needs to be crushed and condemned at all times. Only then can we really move on.A public inquiry into the handling of Stephen’s case was held in 1998, leading to the publication of the Macpherson Report, a major breakthrough in recognising institutional racism and taking steps to tackle it.

The findings of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry led to changes in the British Race Relations Act and an opening up of discussion and attitudes around race and colour. Of course, what we know from discussions in 2020 and 2021 is that the inequalities that are created by racism have not been removed since the recommendations were given in the 1999 report.

Ever since, a major struggle has taken place to defend the findings of the Macpherson report and a host of other reports which have found overwhelming evidence of institutional racism and made recommendations to record and combat it.

The Undercover Policing Inquiry was set up in 2015 to look at the activities of two shadowy police units after condemnation of undercover tactics.

A public outcry was sparked when it was revealed that women had been tricked into sexual relationships with undercover officers and that police spies had used the identities of dead children without their families’ permission.

Family justice campaigns were spied upon, and there are claims that some officers were arrested or prosecuted for crimes under fake identities, leading to alleged miscarriages of justice for their co-defendants.

The Government's CRED report was the latest attempt by those wishing to deny institutional racism, and therefore deepen it. It is vital to the legacy of those who have fought racism for decades that we defeat it.
The report has been overwhelmingly rejected, including by a UN panel who concluded that it "repackages racist tropes and stereotypes into fact, twisting data and misapplying statistics and studies into conclusory findings and ad hominem attacks on people of African descent. " 

 Stephen Lawrence's death left a wake of shock and grief, but also a strong appetite for profound change - something activists have worked towards for decades.

Stephen Lawrence Day was created by the Stephen Lawrence Foundation as a celebration of his life and legacy. It exists “to inspire a more equal, inclusive society, and to foster opportunities for marginalised young people in the UK”.

The Stephen Lawrence Foundation has launched a drive to commemorate the teen and push for meaningful action every year on April 22.

And there are several ways for willing participants to get involved.

The Stephen Lawrence Foundation hopes to inspire people to actively influence their community and make positive changes.

Whether this is by making the right choices or getting involved in local projects, action can help young people create their ideal community.

Organisers also hope to provide voices to those who might not always feel they can speak up.

While Stephen Lawrences's death ignited discussions about institutional racism and hate crime, there is still work to do. For  truly transformational change, racism must be rooted out in every aspect of our society.We must  continue to promote anti racism and our call for a better life for all through the ending of inequality, inequity, systemic racism and injustice. 

Stephen Lawrence Day is about the part we can all play in creating a better society; a society that treats everyone with fairness and respect, a society in which everyone can flourish.

One way to get involved is by understanding anti-racism and the circumstances surrounding Stephen's murder with resources.

Several organisations have compiled guides on combating racism and hatred, including the Stephen Lawrence Foundation.

Educational resources include:

The Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation educational resources

Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) resources on racial discrimination

Show Racism the Red Card

The Equality and Human Rights Commission resources for race hate incidents

Those who want to learn a little more from the foundation's leaders can watch educational webinars.The foundation has scheduled three so far to take place over April 22 and 23 on their YouTube channel.

 

'Justice for Stephen is about all of us, every one of us, in society having justice ,' Baroness Doreen Lawrence

Cardigan and North Pembs Amnesty International : Making The Best Of It

 

                                         Local Singer Lowri Evans, Photo:Sian Bowls

 

My Local Cardigan and North Pembs Amnesty International  Group which I am a member are staging ‘Making The Best Of It’, a virtual online concert which will be screened on Saturday, May 1 at 7.30pm.

It follows last year’s cancellation of our 15th annual ‘Making a Song and Dance of It’ event at Rhos-y-Gilwen due to Covid.

The online concert will be the usual eclectic mix of music, song and a little poetry.

Headlining will be local singer Lowri Evans, accompanied by guitarist Lee Mason.

Described by ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris as one of his ‘absolute favourite artists’, Lowri is blessed with a voice capable of wide emotional power.

Her songs take their musical colours from a broad palette that includes Americana, Folk, Country and Blues, all beautifully knitted together through her innate musicality and heartfelt delivery.

Lee Mason’s beautifully judged playing and subtle harmonies have been integral to Lowri’s music from the outset.

Together they have toured the USA, performed sessions for Bob Harris on BBC Radio 2, been playlisted on BBC Radio and regularly perform in venues across the UK and in festivals such as Cambridge Folk, Underneath the Stars, Celtic Connections, Wychwood Festival, Greenman Festival and Hay Festival.

Glen Peters and Trio Looney (Helen Jefferson, Gwen Williams and Nick Heath), Marion Carlisle, Kate and Megan, Charlie and Caz, and  local poet Dave Rendle, a.k.a me teifidancer will also be appearing.

All performers are appearing for free and it's free to view  but there will be a donation link if you want to make a donation and hopefully a fair sum can be raised for Amnesty International's work for human rights. Please attend and tell all your friends.  Video performances (available on 1 May): 

This is the link https://amnestyevent.co.uk/

It will also be available online after  the performance if you can't make it on the night, hope you can tune in, cheers ,heddwch /.peace.

Soon after Word War 2 was weathered

Appalled by all the lives lost

and sickened by the Holocaust

The UN set about decreeing

A set of rights for human beings

Every person has these rights they declared

In  any location across the globe

Every human from their inception

Every human without exception

Every human is endowed they said

With reason, and a conscience

It's up to us defend these rights

To continue to act in spirit of brotherhood

With resilience  in words and deeds

The circles of injustice must be ended

Remembering the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

April 19th  marks the first day of the month long 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. It is one of the most symbolic and well-known acts of anti-fascist resistance ever to take place, an armed uprising against Nazi attempts to transport the Jews in the ghetto to death and labor camps. Many of  those that  took  part were proud socialists and internationalists.

The Nazi persecution of the Jews in Poland began with the invasion of the country in 1939. Jews very quickly lost their rights; by October 1939 they were forced to register and have the word ‘Jude’ stamped on their identity papers. They were soon forbidden from many ordinary activities, such as walking on the pavement, or going to schools, libraries or museums. Synagogues were blown up, or turned into prisons or factories, and many Jews were abused and humiliated on the streets.

Within a few weeks of the Nazi consolidation of Poland, Governor Hans Frank ordered four hundred thousand Warsaw Jews to enter a ghetto. By November 1940, around five hundred thousand Jews from across Poland had been sealed behind its walls, severed from the outside world and plunged into social isolation. Surrounded by a ten-foot-high barrier, the creation of the ghetto meant the relocation of approximately 30 percent of Warsaw’s population into 2.6 percent of the city, the designated area being no more than two and a half miles long and having previously housed fewer than 160,000 people. Conditions inside the Ghetto were horrendous. Many families inhabited single rooms, and the dire lack of food meant that roughly one hundred thousand people survived on no more than a single bowl of soup per day. The sanitation system collapsed, and disease became rampant. After 18 months of incarceration some 63,000 Jews had died due to the hunger, disease, overcrowding and cold.

The Ghetto was internally controlled by the Judenrat – Jewish Council, which was set up by the Nazis to carry out their instructions. The Judenrat included people who tried to help Jews who were suffering from the harsh Ghetto conditions, but also had members who would attempt to save their own skin by any means, with little regard for their community. A Jewish police force, which was notoriously brutal, was used by the Judenrat to enforce Ghetto “law” internally. Antisemitic Polish “Blue” police guarded the Ghetto. There was also an independent police force that served to gather intelligence for the Gestapo, though this was later absorbed into the main force. The Judenrat came to be regarded with contempt by the populace, as the conditions in the Ghetto worsened, and was nicknamed the Judenverat (Jewish betrayal).

During November 1941 news reached the underground in Warsaw of mass killings of Jews following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in summer that year. Communal leaders also heard reports of an extermination camp at Chelmno, where Jews were being gassed to death. However, finding the information almost unbelievable and not wanting to destroy morale, they left the Ghetto inhabitants uninformed.

An Anti-Fascist Bloc was created in the spring of 1942 as the existence of death camps and the slaughter of thousands of Jews at isolated locations was confirmed. Consisting of left-wing Zionists and communists, the organisation had no arms, but set up combat units and distributed propaganda. The Anti-Fascist Bloc issued appeals calling on the population to reject the collaboration and compromises of the Judenrat. However, most Jews continued to listen to the passive advice of the Judenrat. The efforts of the Anti-Fascist Bloc were initially either ignored or rejected

Attitudes towards resistance changed dramatically in the summer of 1942, when, through the Judenrat, the Nazis decreed: “All Jewish persons living in Warsaw, regardless of age and sex, will be resettled in the East …”. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were deported to the Treblinka extermination camp that summer. In July 1942, at the initiative of the Zionist youth groups, a meeting was held which formed the Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa (ZOB – Jewish Combat Organisation). The ZOB’s political wing consisted of the various Zionist organisations and the communists. It was led by Jewish communists such as Mordechai Anielewicz and Zivia Lubetkin. In October the Bund (Jewish Socialist Party), Poland’s largest Jewish organisation, joined as well. Only the extreme Jewish nationalists did not participate; instead they decided to fight separately as the Irgun Zvai Leumi (Jewish Military Union).

Within a few weeks the ZOB had drawn up by-laws, describing the purpose of the organisation as being the defence of the Ghetto against further deportations and collaborators.

For ZOB militants, collaborators represented an auxiliary wing of fascism that was instrumental in facilitating the deportation of Polish Jewry. To demonstrate that this stance would not be accepted in the ghetto, ZOB militants chose to execute Jewish policeman Jacob Lejkin. For his “dedication” in deporting Jews to Auschwitz, Lejkin was shot, and his example triggered widespread panic in the collaborating establishment. This was followed by the execution of Alfred Nossig in February 1943. Józef Szeryński, the former head of the ghetto police, committed suicide to avoid his own fate.

These acts ensured ZOB’s centrality in the resistance movement, and also encouraged resistance from beyond their ranks. They aimed to prove that challenging collaboration was both possible and a moral duty, and within a short period of time had won many ghetto inhabitants to this position.

 As the months progressed, the spectre of death became ever-present. Between June and September 1942, three hundred thousand Jews had been deported or murdered, a destruction of the Polish Jewish community. In these desperate circumstances, people lost everyone and many young people began to dispense with anxieties about protecting their families and commit instead to militant political activity. Simply put, the more Jews were murdered in the ghettos, the less personal obligations were felt by survivors, and the more the feeling of responsibility for causing further anguish from Nazi reprisals receded.

During the winter of 1942/3 underground bunkers and secret hiding holes were constructed throughout the Ghetto, while ZOB attempted the difficult task of securing weapons. Some were obtained from the black market and from German and Italian deserters, but at a high price. A small quantity of arms was acquired from the Polish resistance (Home Army), which operated under the instructions of the Polish government in exile, based in London. Supply from the Home Army was limited because of a combination of antisemitism and fear that the weapons might be used in the future on the Soviet side in the event of a war between Poland and the Soviet Union. More arms were delivered once ZOB had proven itself as effective, but in total they only ever made up 10% of the ZOB arsenal.

German troops surrounded the Ghetto on 18 January 1943 in an attempt to deport the last of Warsaw’s Jews. Even though they were taken by surprise, five ZOB units engaged the troops and killed or wounded some 50 Germans, seizing weapons in the mêlée. ZOB casualties were high, but after three days the deportations were halted.

Deportations were suspended until April, 1943, the eve of Passover, the Jewish festival of liberation when Heinnich Himmler,ordered the fascist forces were to carry out the final liquidation of the Ghetto. On 19 April 1943  2,000 men, including Waffen SS, Wehrmacht, Latvian, Lithuanian and Ukrainian fascists, supported by units of the Polish “Blue” police, advanced on the Ghetto, the area of which was now less than 1,000 by 3,000 metres. 

With the civilian population underground in prepared bunkers, the 22 ZOB combat units took their positions. Some were in the central Ghetto area and others in the factories. As the fighting proceeded they were joined by the Irgun and other unaffiliated units.

 ZOB units attacked the fascists – who were led by SS Lt General Jurgen Stroop – with guns and homemade petrol bombs. Stroop had expected little resistance from those he had described previously as “this Jewish trash and subhumanity” who are “cowards by nature”. 

The Jewish residents refused to come out. Instead, and to their surprise, the Germans found themselves being shot at from all sides with rifles, pistols and automatic weapons. Grenades and Molotov cocktails were thrown from windows, and a handful of Germans were killed.

The next day, 20 April, Waffen SS reinforcements entered the Ghetto and were bombarded with grenades and explosives. In one incident alone an electric mine killed some 100 Germans. They responded with tanks and field artillery and began setting fire to Ghetto buildings. ZOB replied by burning down the warehouses of the agency in charge of expropriated Jewish property. Despite the fire and smoke, which began to envelop the Ghetto, morale was high. On one roof the Jewish blue and white banner flew alongside the red and white Polish flag. On another roof a banner stated, “We shall fight to the last”.

Flamethrowers were brought in on 22 April, to force out the tens of thousands of Jews still hidden underground. The Ghetto became engulfed in flames and thousands of Jews were burned alive. Stroop reported:

“They jumped from burning windows and balconies, abusing Germany and the Führer … over and over again, we observed that the Jews and bandits preferred to return to the flames rather than be caught by us.”

Marek Edelman succeeded Amielwicz when the Zionist leader and ZOB commander died in battle.The Ghetto held out into May. Zivia Lubetkin, one of the few ZOB survivors of the epic battle, recalled. “We sat in the dark, scores of Jewish fighters, still carrying our weapons, surrounded by thousands of eager and expectant Jews. Was it not May Day? … How grave the responsibility we felt as the last desperate Hebrew warriors! We could not hold out against the Germans’ consuming fire for long without water or food or weapons.”

It was a battle that the Jews could never have won, no matter how heroic the resistance. The ZOB headquarters was surrounded on 8 May, after three weeks of combat. Over 100 fighters were inside. The Germans blocked the entrances and sent gas into the bunker. The fighters decided to kill themselves rather than be taken alive. ZOB Commander Anielewicz was among them. During the revolt he wrote:

“It is now clear to me that what took place exceeded all expectations … The last wish of my life has been fulfilled. Jewish self-defence has become a fact. Jewish resistance and revenge have become actualities. I am happy to have been one of the first Jewish fighters in the Ghetto.”

Two days after the end of the battle, 75 ZOB survivors crawled through Warsaw’s sewers. They escaped with the help of comrades in the resistance on the outside of the Ghetto.By mid-May, the ghetto had been razed, and the Great Synagogue of Warsaw personally blown up by General Stroop on May 16 to celebrate the end of Jewish resistance. Of Warsaw’s 350,000 Jews, few were to survive the war. Of Poland’s 3.3 million Jews, only 50-70,000 were to remain alive.

On the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, it is important to remember this heroic act of   resistance, when Jews decided to fight against their oppressors rather than be forced to die in a concentration camp. All too often, mainstream media and historians peddle the myth that “the Jews just walked into the camps.” Those brave souls who gave their lives in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising might beg to differ. On this day, we remember their sacrifices in the struggle against  fascism.

Despite its tragic end, the Warsaw Uprising left a lasting legacy.It inspired Jewish youth, in ghettos from Lvov to Będzin to Białystok, and in camps including Treblinka and Sobibor ,to resist, and the bravery of the men, women and children involved has inspired a number of books, poetry, songs and films. 

The ghetto fighters left us a universal message of humanism and hope in the face of barbarism. It was an inspiration understood by some of the leaders of the Polish resistance, one of whom commented that “the blood of the ghetto fighters was not shed in vain…it gave birth to an intensified struggle against the fascist invader”. 

It is a message that we need to remember as we confront racism and fascism wherever and whenever it raises its head.

Mendacious Audacity

As Prince Phillip gets laid to rest

Hogging the limelight, for one last time,

Political corruption, the web of cronyism

Still very much alive and kicking,

From ex  PM dodgy Dave Cameron

To current crooked Conservative M.P's,

The clearest picture is being painted

Of how deep the chumocracy goes,

Take Mr Matt Hancock for instance

With shares in family firm used by NHS,

Are people really not that surprised by all of this

Sleaze is the beating heart of Tory Government,

Nepotism rules, as they steal from our pockets

In the name of capitalism, greed and avarice,

A motley bunch of miscreants with fingers in every pie

While the rest of  us daily keep feeling the squeeze,

Lobbyists and private contractors dining out care free

Steelworkers lives lie in balance, after collapse of Greensill

Tories carry on regardless, simply not giving a bloody toss

Time to spring clean the lot of them, cast out the obliquity.

Valeriano Orobon Fernandez- A Las Barricades /Towards the Barricades

 

Valeriano Orobón Fernánez  Spanish anarcho-syndicalist theoretician, trade-union activist, translator and poet, who wrote the Spanish lyrics of the CNT anthem 'A Las Barricadas'was born in Cistérniga, Valladolid Province, on April 14th, 1901. The son of a railway worker and Partido Socialista Obrero Español militant, he attended the Centro de Estudios Sociales de Valladolid secular school and frequented the city's libertarian bookstores. 

Orobón Fernandez was active in the Spanish labour movement from an early age and fell under the influence of one of Valladolid's most prominent anarcho-syndicalist activists, Evelio Boal. In 1919 he represented the section of Valladolid in the congress of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo at the Teatre de la Comedia in Madrid.

In 1922 he moved to Oviedo to avoid military service and once the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera was established, he went into exile in France, living in Lyon at first and then, from the autumn of 1924, in Paris. An intellectual with a flair for languages, he quickly picked up French and took on the responsibility of running the Librairie internationale de Paris, which at the time was being financed by the Los Solidarios group. He also became director of the magazine 'Iberión', which he later transformed into the journal 'Tiempos Nuevos' in 1925, and established links with Max Nettlau and Sébastien Faure. In this period one of his greatest concerns, to which he dedicated a significant amount of time and thought, was the theoretical renewal of anarchism, but it was his opposition to the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and the Spanish monarchy, who he had castigated during a meeting opposing the war in Morocco, that in July 1926 eventually saw his expulsion from France.

He then took refuge in Berlin with Rudolf Rocker and began studying German, which would later become his main language of choice, used especially at his frequent attendance at conferences on Spanish literature. There he found not only his life partner, Hilda Teage (1895-1977), but also the friendship of prominent German anarchists such as Max Nettlau and Agustín Souchy. He also began a career as a language teacher at the Berlitz Academy, first in Leipzig and later in Hamburg, Vienna and London. He also worked as a translator for various Spanish publishers including La Revista Blanca, for whom he translated Max Nettlau's 'Elisée Reclus : Anarchist und Gelehrter' (Elisée Reclus : Anarchist and Scholar; 1928) as 'Eliseo Reclus, la vida de un sabio justo y rebelde' (Elisée Reclus, the life of a just and rebellious sage; 1928) and Theodor Plivier's 'Des Kaisers Kulis' (The Kaiser's Coolies; 1930) as 'Los coolies del Kaiser : novela de la Marina de Guerra alemana' (Novel of a German Sailor; 1930. In addition, he belonged to the secretariat of the IWA / AIT, rebuilt in Berlin in 1922, and translated numerous articles and writings that, published in the 'La Revista Blanca' journal in Barcelona, providing Spanish anarchists with first-hand information on what was happening in the rest of Europe. 

In 1931 he published 'Sturm Über Spanien' (Storm over Spain) and, with the proclamation of the Second Republic in April 1931, he returned to Spain. There he came to the conclusion that, based on his travels in the rest of Europe, that the CNT,at the time the largest labour union and anarchst orgnisation in Spain, due to its organic strength and militancy, was the only European working force capable of making revolution. He settled in Madrid and began an active union militancy in the CNT's sindicato de la construcción, helping to overturn the dominance of the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) in the sector.

In 1932 he began to collaborate with the film production, distribution and exhibition company Filmófono, translating and writing posters for foreign films. That same year he published 'La C.N.T. y la revolución' (1932) in which he reiterated that anarcho-syndicalism had to strive to organise society in a decentralised form as much politically as economically, whilst affirm that anarcho-syndicalism was the most important revolutionary force in Spain and rejecting any and all influence that the communist government of the Second republic may have on the operation of the CNT. 

In 1933 he published in 'Tierra y Libertad' his translation of Vaclaw Swiecicki's Polish socialist revolutionary song 'Warszawianka' (Whirlwinds of Danger) in Spanish as 'A las Barricadas', which became the anthem of the CNT and one of the most popular songs of the Spanish anarchists during the Spanish Civil War. It is such a rousing moving anthem, inspiring the working class to answer the call to arms and fight the fascisit threat to our essential freedoms.

Fernandez also took part in the great meeting in Barcelona alongside Buenaventura Durruti that called for a boycott of the electoral. Additionally, as a member of the secretariat of the AIT he tried to mediate between the supporters of the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (Iberian Anarchist Federation) and the CNT's moderate 'possibilist' Trentistas faction supporters.

Following the CNT insurrectionary failures of 1933, he deduced the need for a tactical rectification of his position: the CNT alone could not carry out the revolution, it needed the support of the socialist UGT. On January 29, 1934, his article 'Consideraciones sobre la unidad ¡Alianza revolucionaria, sí! ¡Oportunismo de bandería, no!' (Considerations on unity. Revolutionary Alliance, Yes! Opportunist Banditry, No!) appeared in the Madrid newspaper 'La Tierra'.

It provoked something of a storm. In the article he put forward his reasoning on the need for libertarians to collaborate with socialism and aroused the concern of the authorities who ordered his imprisonment in March 1934, just at the time when an agreement between the Asturian CNT and UGT was being negotiated and a general strike of the construction called for by both unions that would paralyse Madrid. Thus, the Republican authorities tried to stop a process that could have ended in some form of revolutionary action.

Having suffered from tuberculosis since the early 1920s, in prison the deterioration of his health accelerated, and a second prison term in March 1936 was to provide the final nail in his coffin. Valeriano Orobón barely survived a few months after his release and died in Madrid on June 28, 1936, a few weeks short of being able to witness the fact that his proposals for the unity of the workers' organisations had played an essential role in the defeat of the coup in July 1936 and resulted in the loosing of a torrent of revolutionary action across Spain. 

 A las Barricadas

Negras tormentas agitan los aires
nubes oscuras nos impiden ver.
Aunque nos espere el dolor y la muerte
contra el enemigo nos llama el deber.

El bien más preciado es la libertad
hay que defenderla con fe y valor.

Alza la bandera revolucionaria
que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos.
Alza la bandera revolucionaria
que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos.

Negras tormentas agitan los aires
nubes oscuras nos impiden ver.
Aunque nos espere el dolor y la muerte
contra el enemigo nos llama el deber.

El bien más preciado es la libertad
hay que defenderla con fe y valor.

Alza la bandera revolucionaria
que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos.
Alza la bandera revolucionaria
que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos.

En pie el pueblo obrero, a la batalla
hay que derrocar a la reacción.

¡A las barricadas! ¡A las barricadas!
por el triunfo de la Confederación.
¡A las barricadas! ¡A las barricadas!
por el triunfo de la Confederación.

nubes oscuras nos impiden ver.

Aunque nos espere el dolor y la muerte

contra el enemigo nos llama el deber.

El bien más preciado es la libertad

hay que defenderla con fe y valor.

Alza la bandera revolucionaria

que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos.

Alza la bandera revolucionaria

que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos.

Negras tormentas agitan los aires

nubes oscuras nos impiden ver.

Aunque nos espere el dolor y la muerte

contra el enemigo nos llama el deber.

El bien más preciado es la libertad

hay que defenderla con fe y valor.

Alza la bandera revolucionaria

que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos.

Alza la bandera revolucionaria

que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos.

En pie el pueblo obrero, a la batalla

hay que derrocar a la reacción.

¡A las barricadas! ¡A las barricadas!

por el triunfo de la Confederación.

¡A las barricadas! ¡A las barricadas!

por el triunfo de la Confederación.

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/las-barricadas-barricades.html

Negras tormentas agitan los aires

nubes oscuras nos impiden ver.

Aunque nos espere el dolor y la muerte

contra el enemigo nos llama el deber.

El bien más preciado es la libertad

hay que defenderla con fe y valor.

Alza la bandera revolucionaria

que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos.

Alza la bandera revolucionaria

que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos.

Negras tormentas agitan los aires

nubes oscuras nos impiden ver.

Aunque nos espere el dolor y la muerte

contra el enemigo nos llama el deber.

El bien más preciado es la libertad

hay que defenderla con fe y valor.

Alza la bandera revolucionaria

que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos.

Alza la bandera revolucionaria

que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos.

En pie el pueblo obrero, a la batalla

hay que derrocar a la reacción.

¡A las barricadas! ¡A las barricadas!

por el triunfo de la Confederación.

¡A las barricadas! ¡A las barricadas!

por el triunfo de la Confederación.

Towards the Barricades
  
Black storms shake the air
Dark clouds blind us
Although pain and death [may] await us
Duty calls us against the enemy

The most precious good is freedom
It must be defended with faith and courage

Raise the revolutionary flag
Which carries us ceaselessly towards triumph
Raise the revolutionary flag
Which carries us ceaselessly towards triumph

Black storms shake the air
Dark clouds blind us
Although pain and death [may] await us
Duty calls us against the enemy

The most precious good is freedom
It must be defended with faith and courage

Raise the revolutionary flag
Which carries us ceaselessly towards triumph
Raise the revolutionary flag
Which carries us ceaselessly towards triumph

Get up, working people, to the battle
[We] have to topple the reaction
To the Barricades! To the Barricades!

For the triumph of the Confederation
To the Barricades! To the Barricades!
For the triumph of the Confederation 

 

The Legacy of the 1981 Brixton Riots

On Saturday 11th April 1981, Brixton was set ablaze as hundreds of local youth fought with the Metropolitan Police. The country was in recession, unemployment amongst African Caribbean  members of the community was high, and the quality of housing was poor. In the week preceding the Brixton Riots, Operation Swamp 81, saw over 1,000 people ( mainly  from the  young black community) being stopped and searched adding to the increased  frustration of the local people. Tensions were high.
A house fire in January 1981, in nearby New Cross, saw 13 black youths killed.https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2017/01/linton-kwesi-johnson-new-crass-massahkah.html Some believed that the fire, far from an accident, had been the result of a racially motivated arson attack and anger quickly spread at the unwillingness of the police to investigate the possibility.

Then on April 10 , rumours of police brutality against a black man resulted in an  angry crowd confronting police for a few hours before the disturbances  were contained. 

But what happened next in a battle between  police and residents was to become one of the most significant outbreaks of civil disorder in 20th Century London. Police continued operating their hated 'sus' laws,  where in order to stop someone, police only needed suspicion.  At the time the police were exempt  from the Race Relations Act, and many people targeted  were from  the ethnic community, which  led to accusations of racial prejudice. It left many people feeling humiliated, with a sense of indignity and rage, many young men, had also been savagely beaten by the police. Police were said to have mounted a campaign of harassment against the black community in south London that one former officer claims amounted to "torture".There was a general feeling of bitterness and resentment, with many believing that the Conservative Thatcher Government were using the police as its military wing , and that they were under siege.
After arrests were made the following night tensions rose again, igniting violence which spread across  the streets. The streets  of Brixton became a battle zone. After police arrived in  full riot gear, people started gathering to throw makeshift petrol bombs and set light to police cars. For three days, rioters - predominately young, black men - fought police, attacked buildings and set fire to vehicles.

By the  time hostilities  had ended,  over 360  people had been injured, 80 of whom were bystanders,,  28 premises burned and another 177 damaged and looted. The police arrested 82 people. To the largely Afro-Caribbean demonstrators it was a “show of strength” against police brutality, deep rooted social and economic problems ,high unemployment and institutionalised racism, and perilous  tensions exacerbated by discriminatory tactics by the police.

Brixton would act like a catalyst for copycat riots in Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Leicester, Leeds and other parts of inner-city London, and after the riots a police enquiry was held under Lord Scarman , his report issued on November 25 1981 placed the Brixton Riots into the context of racial disadvantage faced by young blacks. It also blamed the police for escalating the tensions and called on law enforcement agencies to in the future consult and co-operate with the Brixton community. But 4 years on 25 September 1985, police shot Mrs Cherry Groce in error while looking for a man in connection with a robbery. The incident fuelled a new wave of anger in the community, many of whom felt that the police had not learnt the lessons of 1981.
Rioters barricaded Brixton Road, setting fire to the cars. Shops in Brixton were firebombed and looted. One person was killed and 50 people injured. Over 200 people were arrested. Mrs Groce spent two years in hospital and was permanently disabled as a result of the shooting.
There have been many many miscarriages of justice since. the death of reggae singer Smiley Culture for instance and Roger Sylvester, a mentally ill thirty-year-old beaten to death by the police in 1999 while under hospital restraint (he had been detained for apparently wanting to kick down his own front door), lest we forget Mikey Powell who die in police custody in 2003 and the flawed investigation into the racist killing of Stephen Lawrence. Many Black lives too are still in danger in police custody. 
40 years later Brixton, seems a transformed place, marked by gentrification,now teeming with boutique food stalls, starbucks, and restaurants and new bespoke housing developments. 

But there are many lessons to be learned. Many of these new developments are simply out reach financially for most locals. Police racism continues, as does unemployment and poverty. And in spite of a government drive to bring more people into work, unemployment among ethnic minority communities is still twice the general rate.

Capitalist society still suffers from a sickness that breeds ,the big criminals of the land get rich and fat, get rewarded for their crimes (ie the bankers) whilst the poorer members of our communities are stigmatised, getting poorer, punished because of the greedy. And though Margaret Thatcher is long dead, her polices and ideas that helped ignite these past troubles still lingers on through our current incumbents.

Young Black men in London are 19 times more likely to be stopped and searched than the general population, a study of official data by University College London shows, with claims that trut and confidence in police ae under serious strain.The pandemic has also really highlighted the divide between rich and poor in Brixton in terms of digital access, housing space, and access to space study and work. Also the recent publication of the government;s controversial and divisive race report, also denied the existence of institutional racism in the UK, which whatever it says is still very real.You only have to look at how the Windrush generation were treated to see evidence of this, and the hostile environment for immigrants that the Government has created while stoking the flames of Britains  culture war  .https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/02/culture-war-government-race-report 

It is significant that all  these years later, we have another right wing Tory  government that doesn't care about poor or marginalised communities or that Black lives matter. With the rise of the far right being racist is seen as acceptable.  Unrest can easily be fermented, when conditions on the streets are ignored.The new Police Bill also fermenting much anger.  Riots that have happened since, like those seen in Brixton do not happen without a reason. We have to renew our commitment to dismantling all the structures of racism more than ever. 

Hiatus - Insurrection (feat. Linton Kwesi Johnson)          

Guns of Brixton - The Clash