The Next Step: No. 2, 15 January 1988

VICTORY TO THE PALESTINIANS!

~ NOT A PENNY OFF

ANY NURSE'S PAY

ins the next step-2 Revolutionary Communist Party Weekly *MANY of us are one-parent families.

How are we supposed to manage?

They don't care about that. But we've had enough. Standing on a picket line outside North Manchester General Hospital, one of 39 striking night nurses voiced the common anger at the Tory government's plans to cut nurses' pay. The 24-hour nurses strike at the hospital gave just a glimpse of the growing mood of bitterness about the Tory assault on nurses and the health service. The Tories plan to cut the special duty payments for nurses working unsociable hours, slashing their already miserable wages by up to £40 a week. The government wants to use the savings to pay for new wage structures, which would Inside: 8-page pull-out on the fight for women's rights discriminate in favour of nurses in specialised areas of the healthcare service such as intensive care. The majority of low-paid nurses and ancillary health workers would be left to bear the brunt of the cuts. To defeat this callous and divisive Tory strategy we need a united and militant campaign of resistance to all cuts. The problem is that, at present, the criticism of the government's health policy is largely being led by the top men in the medical profession. These consultants are only concerned with Support our fighting fund page 3 pay for your tns 15 January 1988 Eye-witness report pages 4-5

MINERS: HOW TO

STOP SCAB

UNIONISM - see 40p preserving their own niche in the NHS. They are willing to see ordinary health workers and patients suffer, so long as their status and specialist departments are not affected. For example, many leading doctors share the Tories desire to discriminate in favour of some nurses and against others. They are also involved in the ever-growing number of charity appeals, which enlist public support for high-profile sectors of the health service such as children's surgery, while allowing the rest to rot.

The medical establishment and their friends in the media depicted last week's nurses strike as another Continued on page 2

Continued from page 1 Nurses appeal for sympathy and charity, rather than a display of anger by a section of the health service workforce. By manipulating such episodes, alongside tear-jerking stories of young hole-in-theheart patients waiting for operations, the top doctors hope to embarrass the government into giving more resources to their particular departments. But they have no wish or ability to take on the Tories in an all-out struggle against the cuts.

Neither health workers nor those who rely on their services can afford to entrust the fight against health cuts to the medical establishment. We need a campaign which is independent of the narrow concerns of consultants, and aimed instead against all Tory cuts in wages, working conditions or facilities in the NHS. The demand for nurses must be a decent basic wage across the board. To win, such a campaign must begin by involving workers from every part of the health service, and reach out for active solidarity - not just passive sympathy - from the millions who need health facilities. A 24-hour strike by one group of nurses may be enough to satisfy the publicity requirements of the top medical brass. But we will need effective action on a far wider scale to save health jobs, pay and services from the Tory knife.

ou have brought supreme ability and selfless dedication to every office you have held. We shall miss not only your wise counsel but also your warmth, humour and good This is how Margaret fellowship. Thatcher said goodbye to dearest Willie Whitelaw. who resigned as deputy prime minister and Tory leader in the house of lords after a mild stroke •I've had a marvellous month. time, said Whitelaw, looking back on his career in government.

Irish nationalists, black people. Libyans and trade unionists who felt the full blast of Whitelaw's good fellowship' warmth and didn't have so much fun. 1972: When the Heath government Whitelaw imposed direct rule. became the first secretary of state for Northern Ireland. He was in charge of Operation Motorman, 2 • 15 January 1988 the British military offensive in tanks smashed through

WICE

nationalist areas in Derry and Operation beast involved the largest ever deployof British Northern Ireland. 1973: Whitelaw moved to the of has enforce the Tories' anti-union law, the Industrial Relations Act. He failed, as the miners brought down last But top ine government like him were learning important lessons about how to attack the and the In 0S. particular, in years to come 1979: When the Tories got back into government, Whitelaw became Thatcher's home Nationality oversaw branded (1981), which people as second and third class citizens. Whitelaw was officer in charge of the 1981 police riots black against Brixton, Toxteth and Moss Side.

1983: After the 1983 election, Whitelaw was kicked upstairs to lead the Tory peers. But he kept his place in Thatcher's inner circle. In 1986, he was one of the group of who TOur US/British air-strike Libyan civilians. Whitelaw collapsed after When reading the lesson at a Christmas carol service, Westminster Hospital, which is under threat of closure. Admitted as a NHS patient, he was treated in a private ward. After a lifetime of Pandora Andercon attacking the working class, even the manner of his exit from office monument to privilege and hypocrisy. Whitelaw's illustrates how the Tories have

CHALI ENGING THE BIGOTS'

Revolutionary Communist Pa Stop the Tory bigots

FIGHT FOR

LESBIAN

AND GAY

RIGHTS

Whitelaw: good riddance toughened up their act since the early seventies. In talks in London delegation which included Gerry Motorman Adams and Martin McGuinness.

As home secretary 10 years later, in troops he banned the same two Sinn Fein leaders from setting foot in Britain.

employment Tories miners in secretary. Act black communities in over three years, productivity More workers. authorised the joint against Ford plants Halewood, vote looks certain. Speaking to journalists talks broke are inseparable, ministerial career

FOR

SBIAN

1972, he held with an IRA "Loyal anchorman servative Party see him go. that the The Ford pay talks broke down last week when manparamount. agement refused to improve their offer of per percent tied to measures, flexible requirements'. working and the use of temporary than 32500 manual workers will be balloted on strike action after mass meetings at Dagenham, Southampton and Bridgend on 20 January. A 'yes" after Ford's indown, dustrial relations director, John Hougham, ruled out dropping any of the strings attached to the pay offer. "The two parts of the offer 'Manhe said. agement's needs are paramount."

bureaucrats, No wonder Hougham was cocky:* the union negotiators had just start of the spent two hours agreeing with him

CHARTER

During the intervening years, the British authorities tooled up for left the more direct conflicts of today.

Willie acted an

CLO

Conwithin the throughout. No wonder the establishment hates to

• FORD PAY BALLOT

OUR NEEDS ARE

"PARAMOUNT

bosses" needs were Mick Murphy, the transport union's national officer for the motor industry, suggested 'a one-year agreement allowing time to discuss all the company's Engineers" official Jimmy Airlie welcomed Murphy's *eminently sensible suggestion.

Their desperate efforts to meet the company's requirements left management in the driving seat.

Airlie said that he would not rule out further talks, even after a 'yes' vote for action. Murphy agreed: It does not follow that we would engage in all-out action.' It will be amazing if Murphy and Airlie engage in any action. Their aim is to use a 'yes' vote as a bargaining counter. But, if it's left to these Ford management will get the bargain. In the three months since the pay-talks. Ford ON Saturday more than 10 000 people marched through London to protest against Clause 27 (now officially Clause 28) of the Tory Local Government Bill, which proposes to ban 'the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities. Once it becomes law, the clause could lead to everything from a ban on any honest discussion of homosexuality in schools to councils refusing to issue licences to gay pubs and clubs. The demonstration was a loud and lively display of defiance by mainly young, working class lesbians and gays. The police also turned out in force to give a display of the 'queer-bashing" which has now become official government policy. More than 40 marchers were arrested.

Some were charged with obstruction or assaulting a police officer; others were charged under the obscenity and indecency laws including two lesbians arrested for kissing. The assault on homosexual people represented by Clause 27 and the police clampdown shows the need for a popular campaign of resistance. Saturday's march provided a chance to launch the counter-offensive. But the political direction proposed by the organisers and rally speakers pointed away from militant action, towards lobbying the house of lords or the European parliament. Such a passive approach can provide no protection for lesbians and gays who face the prospect of being driven underground by official and freelance bigots Instead, we should be trying to organise the maximum active resistance to Clause 27. It is important that we involve straight working class people. Trade unionists in local government and education will have a big say in deciding the fate of Clause 27, no matter what happens in the house of lords. These workers are wellplaced to refuse to implement the bans, and to defend anybody victimised under the new rules. The task of winning them over to the cause of lesbian and gay rights ought to be a pressing priority for the - whose absence from the streets on Saturday was the most striking shortcoming of the demonstration. Don Milligan unofficial workers have taken action which has cost the company But production tloom in lose Murphy and Airlie want to clamp •We their initiative expect our disciplined membership to concentrate on the vote,' said Murphy. *There will be no more organised "spontaneous" action, said Airlie. The pre-Christmas surge spontaneous stoppages showed the widespread bitterness among Ford But the company can workers. absorb the effects of this kind of long as it remains action, fragmented. The way to seize the itiative from management is for militants to campaign for coacross ordinated action Une They must start now.

CULOLY.

before their union officials sign away their conditions of living and working for the next three years.

Andrew Calcul the nex step

Revolutionary Communist Party weekly

UNIONISM

NEXT week members of the National Union of Mineworkers elect their president. Our advice to them is to vote for Arthur Scargill. Re-electing Scargill will do nothing to solve the serious problems confronting miners. But the moderate candidate, John Walsh, represents an attempt to convert the NUM into a company union, which would lie down and allow British Coal to trample all over its members.

Miners should vote for Scargill eme see caser mate alternative is scab unionism.

predictably reduced the personality clash. But the big the personal qualities (or deficiencies) of Scargill and Walsh. The Important thing is the context in which the election is taking place against a background of the most systemate managemen offensive for 60 years. since the defeat or the historic 1984-85 strike, the miners have been under the lash. British Coal has closed around 70 pits and shaken out more than 80 000 jobs. The employers have also tried to break the NUM. The coal bosses encouraged Nottinghamshire miners to form the breakaway Union of Democratic Mineworkers. They have introduced a draconian code of conduct, specifically designed to victimise NUM activists. They have by-passed the old negotiating procedures involving union representatives and they are planning a return to six-day working in proposed new pits. Even in the NUM heartland of Yorkshire, British Coal can now get awkward jobs done by making private arrangements with some men in return for secret payments.

Many miners have proved willing to stand up to the employers provocations. Only last week, when management at Bentley colliery in South Yorkshire tried to move three men who they said weren't working hard enough, the workforce walked out in protest. The Bentley men sent out pickets to win support elsewhere, and 16 000 miners trom 20 pits joined the strike.

Every time the miners match management's aggression, however, British Coal raises the stakes. Thus it responded to the Bentley action by announcing the closure of another Yorkshire pit, Manvers, and cancelling plans to re-open Thorne colliery. the next step the next step

VOTE SCARGILL

AGAINST SCAB

The Walsh approach is to seek reconciliation with the coal bosses. Given the balance of forces in the coalfields since the end of the strike, this is a serious danger to miners' interests. Walsh says he wants to end controntation and to return to the days of give and take between management and union: We have to understand their problems, just as they have to understand ours.' But the employers have long since lost interest in pursuing any such understanding. They understand that in the harsh economic and political climate of the late eighties they have to go for the kill. Any agreement Walsh might sign with British Coal in these circumstances could only be a suicide note for the miners. Management knows this full well, as one top coal manager explained to the Financial Times last month: "Mr Scargill's opponents are decent men whom we could talk to, even if they have a naive belief that if they offer concessions we will be able to do the same. We can't. In other words, there can be no return to the old davs of give and take which Walsh remembers so fondly. Now any negotiations will be about the miners giving and the bosses taking. When management has announced in advance that there are no concessions avallable, it should be clear that a union official whose entire strategy centres on conciliation is proposing a form of company unionism. Walsh has already suggested that the NUM will have to bite the bullet and make overtures to the scab UDM. We have always had important criticisms of Arthur ocarsil. but we nave also made a distinction between his brand of bureaucratic union leadership, and outright scab unionism. In 1985-86 we organised a Stop the UDM campaign, against the spread of the bosses union into Yorkshire. In the same spirit, we sav that miners should vote to stop John Walsh next Friday.

Voting for Scargill does not Imply any support for his record or his policies. Scargill's approach to trade unionism has proved incapable of defending miners. During the strike, for example, he substituted head office diktat for political leadership. The way in which he sought to deal with the Notts miners through disciplinary measures, rather than through a rank and file campaign to win Publisher Revolutionary Communist Party, BM RCP, London WCIN 3XX ® copyright Printer Morning Lithe Printers Ltd (TU), 439 North Woolwich Road, London E16 Annual subscription rates• Britain and Northern Ireland £26 • Europe and Irish Republic £34 • North Africa and Middle East (airmail) £34 • Americas, Asia Central and Southern Africa (airmail) E37 • Australasia, Japan (airmail) £40 • Outside Europe - All destinations (surface mail) £33.

All cheques payable to Junius Publications Ltd.

Circulation 01-729 3771. Newsdesk 01-729 3771. Correspondence to The Editor, the next step, BCM JPLTD, London WC1N 3XX.

ISSN 0144 350 X 15 January 1988. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office.

No 2 Editor: Mick Hume their support, helped to harden divisions within the NUM and to pave the way to defeat.

British Coal about the need to make the industry profitable.

This crucial concession to the bosses' view of the world has ability to resist closures and redundancies. Scargili's own commitment to the outdated traditions of British trade unionism has rendered him incapable of organising effective action against the aggressive new methods adopted by the British Coal bosses since he was elected NUM president. Rejecting the defeatist approach represented Dy waist let the presidental ele mine does not even address the most pressing Issue of all the need to turn the union into an effective fighting organisation. the rank and file. Activists need to bulld on the remarkable militancy which still exists among miners, as shown In last week's Yorkshire strike.

They need to go beyond such sporadic action and organise a coordinated response to the management offensive. To do that, they will have to break from the tired triumphalist rhetoric of Scargillism and face the real problem of rebullding the union from the bottom up.

Scargill's bureaucratic methods have falled to deliver the goods since he was elected NUM president in 1981. If miners have to wait another seven years for some effective leadership, there will be few left to lead. Re-electing Scargill next week can provide nothing more than a short breathing space. If active miners don't take advantage of a Scargill victory to seize the initiative from their officials and launch their own political campaign against British Coal, Walsh and his friends in management may well have the last laugh. Out this week

IS THERE A

SCOTTISH

E3.95 plus 80p p&p from BCM JPLtd, London WC1N 3XX.

Cheques payable to Junius Publications Ltd. Scargill has always agreed with an important step for miners.

task falls to he Danie way. currency around an capitalist world. i past week. relatively The West decision founded.

SOLUTION?

DECLINE

The capitalism The working class they always do. and the assembly debate Mick Hume and Derek Owen Reagan une

TOUCHING WOOD FOR LUCK WONT SAVE REAGAN'S ECONOMY

DOLLAR AND SHARE

CRISES HERALD...

WORLD

RECESSION 88

continuing international shifting share Cover prices and the fall of the US dollar confirm that a world economic recession -1s on The volatility in the and stock markets relects the unstable state of an international economic order built American economy has watch is no longer fit to lead the After initial signs of panic, most This economic pundits have adopted a cavalier attitude to the great City crash last October and the slide of They claim that 1987 suom swings in saare prices nave a minor impact on the 'real economy, and instead blame $8.5 computer programme trading and irresponsible speculators.

These excuses turn reality on its head.

Neither speculators nor computers were suddenly invented in October.

The issue is not how share price movements affect the real economy, but how the developing crisis in the real economy is reflected in sharp swings in share prices. collapse October was precipitated by doubts about the strength of the US economy. The week German Bundesbank's to raise interest rates reflected growing international fears about continuing to lend biilions of dollars to keep the declining US economy afloat. The fact that a small hike in German interest rates was sufficient to wipe 3i trilhon off shares on Wall Street only shows that such fears are wellworld status of American remains the key 1988. Stock markets will move up and down as But the added to volatility of these movements is assured by the economic tensions rooted in America's decline.

The fall in the exchange rate of the dollar provides a focus for the still debate about the future of the US end world economies. The US establishment has been saying for over two years that the dollar is 'overvalued' against other currencies. The sustained inflow of foreign capital needed to finance administration's budget deficit forced up the value world of the dollar. As a result, US exports became more expensive and producers lost out to their foreign rivals. By 1985 US leaders wanted to reduce the burgeoning trade deficit by bringing down the 'overvalued' dollar. But even when the dollar's exchange rate started to come down, the trade deficit continued to grow, This confirms the weak and uncompetitive state of US industry The dollar's latest slide has little to do with solving trade imbalances Instead, the Us administration been billions dollars to prote of protect its econom against losses in financial markets.

provided short-term reprieve, but further undermined the credibility of the dollar in currency markets. At the end of the *Group ot seven capitalist powers announced they would defend the dollar. Yet an billion support

DOCIALS

failed to stop the dollar's slide; its exchange rate is now less than half that of three years ago Market commentators were quick to point out that, despite a rally in the New Year, the dollar would resume its decline.

LIMITS

There are limits to how long Western governments can go on supporting the US economy. Last German West financ minister Gerhard Stoltenberg revealed that his government had exceeded its planned spending by DM20 billion,

CONCE

Over partly through propping up the dollar. West Germany will now enforce tighter control over the domestic money supply and cut its budget deficit. These deflationary measures restrict West WIl Germany's ability to protect the dollar. And what the Rundesbank does in the currenoy markets dictates the actions of the rest of Europe. Western governments are gaing out of their way to avoid facing up approach of the crisis British chancellor Nige! Lawson even imagines that Britain can ride through a world recession His more sycophantic supporters are referring British 'economic miracle' If the weak British economy is zo shattered in the coming recession it would indeed be a miracie.

The volatility in the financial markets symbolises the failure of the measures the West has taken to mitigate growing tensions in the capitalist order. The continued decline of the US despite all the interrescue operations and bailing-out exercises, means that world recession is certain.

Tony Kennedy 15 January 1988 • 3

'PEOPLE ARE

TO DIE FORM RE

EYE-WITNESS

REPORT FROM

THE OCCUPIED

WEST BANK

feel very proud. I've been waiting all my life for us to do something about this occupation. Now we have." not fit the Saida does Western media image Palestinian militant. The curlyhaired 17-year old in a thick blue cotton dress could pass unnoticed in a crowd of British schoolgirls.

But she lives in Jubalya, home for more than 60 000 refugees, the camp in the Strip. occupied Gaza experience of life under the Israeli heel is enough to turn anybody into a freedom fighter.

SWORN

Saida is not surprised by the last few weeks of fierce resistance to Israeli rule. She nothing but the brutality military occupation unrougaout her life. She was born three years after the Israell army rolled into the densely populated Gaza Strip in 1967, during the Six Day War.

Together with her five younger sisters and three brothers, Saida feels she has nothing more to lose by hehting for Palestinian treedom "We don't like dying,' she explains.

"but this isn't living. According to the British media, Tory foreign minister Mellor became the most important defender of Palestinian rights alter his televised confrontation with an Israeli colonel in Jubalya. But Mellor describes himsell as "candid friend' of the oppressor state of Israel. By contrast Saida and ordinary Palestinians like her are Israel's sworn enemies. They do not stage Mellor-style public re anons exerases to esasce mem They take on the reputations. might of the Israeli armed forces with sticks and stones And when the Palestinians fight for their freedom, Tories like Mellor the first are as "terrorists. Jubalya has been at the centre of ine recem upsurge or resistance le the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip. The first demonstrator to be killed by the Israelis, 17-year old

ISRAELI HANDIWORK IN JUBALYA CAMP

4 • 15 January 1988

AND GAZA

Hatan Alsis, died in a protest at the death of three Jubalva residents and one other Palestinian in a road accident. Even according to the toned-down official figures, Israeli troops have killed more than 30 ola Palestinians in since Hatan's death five weeks ago.

Like all Hatan's family are desperate to let outsidels know what has happened to them. When we spoke to them Israelithey were not seeking pity, but the opportunity to explain their plight.

After speaking to journalists before the curfew was imposed, the family were savagely beaten by Israeli soldiers who keep a permanent watch on their house.

LUCI

welcomed us into their home.

known We had entered the camp one of hour after the Israelis ited a sixday curfew. The squad of 10 Givati Brigade soldiers checkpoint recognisable by their bright purple berets, were too busy Hal assill of food during the curfew there were streams of cars travelling ir ane our or tne camp.

DEFIANCE

In Jubalva we were confronted David by the occupation at every turn.

Foot patrols of 20 men, armed and gas patrolled the streets. heavy wooden clubs anyone in their path. Jeeps and half-tracks complemented the men on foot. A picture of the previous six davs soon emerged. Even by the standards of Jubalya, which holds the dubious distinction of having an Israeli army base in the centre of the camp, the last week had been . family been beaten, tear-gassed or shot at.

Yet the dominant mood among the them Palestinians defiance. During the curfew nobody was permitted to leave the camp.

Israelis only allowed people out of their homes for an hour a day.

There were countless stories of pitched battles the camp residents, two Dutch children standing still helpless portrayed sympathisers. manning the stiff resistanceLo Palestinians to bother cocktails. hated Israeli army.

INJURIES

grenades, They used man: army Deal hospital had either of fighting off the soldiers.

remained one The teacher's family week. starved.

BULLDOZED

Journey skilfully avoided The Our car carol Meghj open sewage down them. Daniel Nassim and Carol Meghji report from the frontline of occupied Palestine, where the people of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have in doorways being attacked by Israeli soldiers.

who then burst into their homes and beat the whole family.

But the Palestinians are not the victims they are often Western as by The people of Jubalya offered dodge the armys brutality. Everybody stressed that the whole of the population was involved in the uprising - a them we were to hear repeated throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The soldiers had faced a barrage of stones, steel bars and Molotov Demonstrators defied the curfew to do battle with the One Palestinian explained from his sick bed how he took on four soldiers who were hitting an old •People are ready to die rather than stand by and watch the people. ATTe curfew was lifted the military had twice stopped him from going to camp. middle-aged woman was beaten by a squad of soldiers who came to arrest her son. She had chest pains and had probably suffered internal injuries. But she had succeeded in We sat down for a meal with a family who hadn't eaten in two Jubalya residents normally store food reserves. But they are poor and have large families. A they

SOOKE

LO T

relatively affluent by the camp's standards, had lived on lentils for a The poorer families had After eating we continued Our round the camp. driver and guide, a camp resident.

army patrols. Outsiders caught in the camp were likely to face awkward questions TaCK and have their film confiscated.

consequences for camp residents found fraternising with journalists would be far worse.

zig-zagged its way through the dual system of roads that criss-crosses the camp.

side roads used by the residents are little more than mud-tracks with channels running The wide concrete roads. bul dozed throuch Pales.

OCCI

tinian houses in the early seventies, risen up against Israeli terror were only built to give the mobile military quick patrols access to trouble-spots. As well as we had to avoiding the army, concrete pipes which the Irani way around forces use to block the road, and pools of stagnant water caused by inadequate drainage. Wherever we wentwe wert quickly greeted by a crowd of children. Then the adults would come out and start explaining what had happened to them. But the Shabab, young men between about 15 and 25, were nowhere to be seen. They had either been arrested One local gone into hiding. leader explained what happened to some of the Shabab. At lam the the Israeli military drove around his block, one of 12 the camp is divided into, and used loudspeakers to order men to the military centre After two hours of standing around on a cold and rain-soaked night, the Palestinian we were addressed by the military governor of the camp. You'll gain nothing by demonstrating, he said. "There will only and be more killing You'll see bloodshed. what we'll do."

TEAR GAS

The younger men were separated off and the older ones were told could go. The Palestinians had other ideas. You've called us together, their was response, 'and we'll leave together.

But the Israelis forced the younger men inside the military outpost.

Some have not been seen since.

As we drove round the camp an old man in traditional Arab dress appeared. He had heard Journalists were in the camp and wanted us to photograph his car, which had been battered by an army half- When

WORL

military to Israeli complain, soldiers came back and smashed Next we were taken to see a spent tear gas grenade. A crowd quickly gathered. A man turned the bulb-shaped canister upside down and poured a fine powder into the palm of his hand. "This is only the ash. Can you imagine what this does to our lungs? The of tear gas generanon grenades could be neutralised by

READY

EDOM'

lemon juice or onions. More modern types — fired from rifles or dropped by Israeli helicopters into the courtvards of the houses - burn the skin, induce hysteria and can knock people out.

We heard of a baby who had choked to death after her home was tear- Her death was not gassed. recorded in the army's official casualty figures.

ABLAZE

As the sun set we left Jubalya camp. Our driver weaved his way through mud-lacks country to avoid military check- We had been in the most points. militant camp in the territories occupied in 1967. But we had not left the trouble behind when we departed. This time, the whole of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank was ablaze. Late at night we watched the Israeli television.

BOWS

Zionist settler described how he had been attacked by a Palestinian in Jerusalem who had grazed his scalp with a knife. The settler had drawn his pistol and fired.

There was no coverage on the plight of the people of Jubalya.

When we arrived in Gaza city, the centre was swamped ov groups of 20 young, heavily armed Israeli Ten troops patrolled conscripts. each side of the road. In quieter times the town is policed by groups of six or seven older reservists.

'SHIT

We went to see a Palestinian woman activist. Amal was lying in bed, pregnant and in danger of repeating a previous miscarriage.

But once she began to talk about politics, she became impassioned and animated. *There IS similarity between what's happened recently what's happened and before,' said Amal, expressing a Danlei Nassim *In the past the demonstrations were confined schools and TO This time all of the universities. people were involved. No

OEC

was excluded. *The revolt is an expression of what life has become. There's just nothing for us here. Everyone's life is shit. Amal described how a handicapped Palestinian youth had gone on a demonstrauon our mis knees.

His disability meant he could not walk but he was determined to against the occupation. protest When he went to help a friend who was wounded he was shot dead.

PUNISHED

She explained that the demonstrations were not generaly organised by political groups.

was total virom within. There was no organisation who said get out the streets and revolt. Organisations only put out leaflets after the demonstrations.

Amal was well-informed about the struggle for the occupied Strip.

Throughout Gaza, she told us, are being people arrested and heavily punished. Ansar II, the main prison camp and notorious torture centre in Gaza, is full. The Israelis makeshift another camp in the Strip. Penalties for demonstrating are First-time narsh onenders can expect eight months to a year in prison and a line equivalent to about £2000 — an astronomic sum for people living in Subsequent offences

DOVCELY.

carry a penalty of 18 months to two years. In contrast an Israeli settler who shot a Gaza schoolgirl was out on bail after six weeks.

DISCREDIT

The Israeli authorities have also

BOUNCI

OLICI

Ways protesters and their Palestinian families. Two demonstrators pitched battles, wounded 111 Shifa Hospital, Gaza's declared a closed military area, were flown by helicopter to a hospital inside the Green (pre-1967 Israel). Now the military governor of Gaza was demanding money to cover me the flight. Amal described how the military had tried to discredit her. Israeli officers had ordered her over in the street then started smiling and talking to her like old friends. In Gaza traditional values that women should not talk to men addition the street. Israelis were trying to imply that Ama was a collaborator. In the afternoon we went to see two Gaza high school students, Ahmed and Niama. collected a trail of Palestinian children, none older than 12, as we no walkce inrougn une backsurcels. Al the sight of outsiders some picked up stones and one had a steel bar.

But once they realised we were friendly their reaction to curiosity. Ahmed and Niama were acutely conscious image Palestinians as crazed gunmen. Palestinian people are not erne We don't like blood or terrorists. killing. We just want independence and an end to occupation, said 18year old Ahmed. His sister explained that Israel cannot crush the bullets. Military repression only breeds more resistance. leads to more violence. If they kill people it only makes them more determined to fight the occupation.

The students' father came into the room to join us. We asked how he felt about He replied indignantly that he had 'It also been demonstrating. As we left the house we noticed a group of young men being locked garage for the night. youths were hiding from the Israeli military. Someone whispered to us that they were the Shabab.

STUDENTS

Gaza has recently been thrust to prominence. But the resistance to the occupation has been just as fierce in the as Bank. There have been demonstrations in all the main population centres, refugee camps and many villages. We arrived at Bir Zeit University, near the West Bank town of Ramallah, on the first day of term. The New Year discussion there desperate was very different from in any British college. In the cafeteria students were discussing who had been killed, who was wounded and who was in prison. They resistance and made plans for future demonstrations. We were introduced to a student from nearby Jelazoun camp. In his harass camp 6000 people, 70 per cent of them under 20, are crammed into an area of one square kilometre.

dE later He proudly described their battles with Israeli troops. In one demonstration the army Line had to use helicopters to leapfrog a march by all of the camp residents But the people threw steel bars and stones to force the

COSE

retreat. Soon the warning came withdraw or we'll shoot. retreated people narrow alleys of the camp, Israeli soldiers opened up automatic weapons. dictate

SACKED

the Before the recent unrest many Palestinians travelled to Jelazoun cheap labour inside the Green Line. Now these Jelazoun migrant workers have all been We quickly sacked from their jobs in Israeli factories and Unemployment and poverty in the camp will rise steeply. But people do not regret demonstrating We left Bir Zeit to meet Iyad, a man who was released from prison changed two days earlier. The Israelis had arrested all the youth of his village after a bus was burnt. Since Iyad had been arrested before, the first time when he was 15, he was picked up automatically. soldiers came to arrest him at 3am They blindfolded him, handcuffed him and, knowing

PALESTINIAN WOMEN DEMONSTRATE IN GAZA CITY

asthmatic, they put a sack over his uprising with head to make it more difficult for him to breath. Then they beat him with rifle butts and clubs in front of Violence only his family. of Israel's boast to be the only democracy in the Middle East.

soldiers said there was one but they his children's wouldn't produce it. He spent 16 in demonstrations. days ın prison, and had contact with nobody but his brutal jailers.

As is usual prisoners, the Israeli authorities used torture to try to extract a false confession. First they tied Iyad's hands to a window ledge and left him to hang for 12 hours. Then they beat and interrogated him.

Then they gave him a cold shower, still wearing his clothes, and left him to stand in the open for hours.

renewed up before a military judge. The West prosecutor asked for him to be given another released. Iyad has come to regard prison as part of his education in resisting the occupation. Whenever anyone is sent to prison they leave

WOMEN

We had arranged been released from Neve swapped tales of She, like Hally still inside. soldiers to As the through the the Israel was created on with Day War. camps like work as Israeli building SILeS

EGYPT

Cairo Suez A platoon of 30 Iyad Was

* PALESTINIANS

Jerusalem The border guards, their brutality, Iyad's treatment exposes the lie When he asked for a warrant the tracks patrolling of town.

FREEDOM

with Palestinian area

OCCHI

protests are After 16 days Iyad's case came 16 days in prison The judge replied that there was no more space so he would have to be stands even more determined to fight. In Palestinian Palestine prisons are like schools.* tactics the Israelis

S CC

somebody who, we heard, had just join srael in Tirza "terrorism' women's prison. Around 20 per cent of Palestinian prisoners are women and Neve Tirza is now full.

But the woman could not see us.

others, was The recent uprising in Palestine has gone beyond the traditional areas of high tension such as the West Bank and Gaza. In Arab East

LEBANON

Palestinian soil in 1948.

The rest of Palestine was occupied in the 1967 Six Tel Avi

ISRAEL

Sinai and border guards lost control of the streets for several hours to Palestinians.

notorious for are heavily concentrated in strategic positions both in East Jerusalem and the Old City. Tourists have been startled by the appearance of police halfthe Even inside the Green Line, the robbed from Palestinians when the Israeli state was created, in 1948, there have major disturbances. Before Christmas there was an unprecedented one-day general strike in solidarity with the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza. The not confined to traditionally more militant towns such as Nazareth and Umm-al- Fahm. Villages which have been quiet for 40 years have been rocked by demonstrations for the first time.

Israel's oppression of Palestine nas been te burning issue in unc Middle East for the last 40 years.

As long as the Zionist state of of any part soil, the conflict will continue. British and American politicians may bicker about the use in the occupied territories. But they all the of Palestinians who fight back against their oppressors.

The true starting point for any solution to the conflict, however, is well-understood by the mass of Palestinians. It was clear to a small boy in Jubalya camp who put an arm round his brother and pointed to him with his free hand. "This is a Palestinian. He needs his freedom.'

WEST BANK

850 000 * Golan Amman

JERUSALEM

130 000 *

JORDAN

GAZA STRIP

550 000 *

PRE-1967

ISRAEL

730 000* 15 January 1988 • 5

BACK TO AFRICA

Inkatha-apartheid's stooges hatcher was not the only British dignitary

WELCE

While she was in Kenya and Nigeria, home secretary Douglas Hurd visiting was Morocco and Tunisia and overseas development minister Chris Patten Geldof's trail to followed Bob The Tories are using Ethiopia. public concern over the African famine to justify reviving Britain's traditional ties with the continent.

But their real aim is to solve Britain's economic problems at the

CAPELSE

SEnC Haru pressed African people. Thatcher was warmly welcomed by the authorities in both Kenya and Nigeria. The fact that one of her aides got pushed over during a scuffle between rival Nigerian security men can hardly be seen as revenge for Britain's bloody record African colonies. Britain carved out its African empire at the turn of the century will axi meane gun and heavy artillery. Only 30 years ago Britain was torturing and slaughtering thousands of Kenyans in its Mau eltons to ena tne insurgency. Against this Thatcher's visit remarkably trouble free, reflecting the fact that both the British establishment and the African elite think they have something to gain from closer relations.

CAPITAL

Britain is keen to invest in its former colonies to compensate for

•BOU CBS

collapse of the home manufacturing base means that Britain relies heavily

CADULLIE

-cabilal overseas to make a profit. But the stock market стаса. and ine instability of the world economy has hampered the ability of British capitalists to speculate in the West.

They are now seeking other outlets Britain's old for investment. African colonies like Kenya and Nigera are one obvious larger.

Britain is also extending its intervention into former French colonies like Morocco and the ex- Portuguese colony of Mozambique.

These investments represent an anemol by bausa capitalsis le expropriate the wealth produced by African labour. British capital which would be lying idle at home can be put to productive use in Africa, employing local workers on starvation wages to sweat out a profit for the London money-men.

Thatcher's trip was designed to pave the way for an increase in this most parasıtıc form of capitalist exploitation.

SUFFERING

Kenya and Nigeria - relatively prosperous black African states compared to the ruins of Ethiopia and Uganda - both hope their former British overlord can help solve their own economic and political crises. The black African elites are proposing to Britain that they help each other out.

Any such resurgence of British imperialism can only mean more suffering for the African people.

Kenya has often been vaunted as the "showcase economy of black Alrica. However. it has not been able to escape the decline in world prices of its main exports - coffee from and tea Income halved last year and tourism is set to become Kenya's biggest foreign exchange earner. Kenya's transport and port facilities have slumped as users like Uganda seek alternative outlets in anzana: this nearly caused a war between Kenya and Uganda over Christmas.

Kenyan government Moi president has tried minimise unrest by blaming the minority Asian business community for the country's sluggish economic performance. Several Asians have been arrested for smuggnng foreign currency out of the country.

But anti-foreigner campaigns are only of limited use to the Kenyan authorities. They know that, capitalism protect 6 • 15 January 1988 week. Mau backwas The Kenya from the anger of the masses, they require the assistance of foreigngrs from the Western powers. This explains the favourable response to Thatcher's visit.

Under Moi, British and American armed forces have been encouraged to use Kenya's port and training facilities, which dominate East Africa and the important Indian Thatcher line on south Atrica scarcely caused a ripple of dissent.

Britain's financial aid to Kenya is its largest in Africa and its fourth largest in the world. In addition, Thatcher obligingly €70m of Kenva's debts and granted an extra £20m in THE focus of attention in South Africa has switched from the Sovernments state of emergency to the use of vigilante terror. Many of the 30 000 detained in the state of emergency remain in jail. But the state's attempt to suppress resistance now emphasises the use of stooges promoted from wiwin une lack population.

The conflict is centred on Natal, where battles rage also between thugs from Zulu warlord Gatsha Buthelezi's inkatha movement. and supporters of the anti-apartheid United Democratic Front. The current phase of the war O1 LO has cost nearly 300 lives, many of them little more than children. The immediate cause appears to be a struggle for dominance in the black townships around the town of Pietermaritzburg where Inkatha recently started a recruiting campaign. But the feud goes back to an incident in 1983 at the University of Zululand. After BRITISH TROOPS TERRORISED KENYA DURING THE MAU MAU INSURGENCY OF THE FIFTIES gesture. Britain every indication expand. for strategically Ocean. The Irrigation project. But these handproducts an any oner Alrican country. off vulnerability - it is responsible for wrote outstanding pro-UDF students made speeches criticising Buthelezi for his collaboration with the apartheid regime Inkatha Impis invaded the campus. Buthelezi's thugs beat and speared their opponents, killing several. One activist was hung upside down from a tree and flogged to death in front of chanting warriors.

POPULAR

Buthelezi now fears losing his younger supporters to the popular nationalist UDF. Inkatha uses a network of patronage and coercion to maintain a firm hold over older Zulus in the rural areas of Natal. People without the right connections are often refused access to medical treatment, social services, pensions or education. But since the UDF's reputation reached a highpoint in 1986, Inkatha has proved unable to control the flood of vounger neople away from its own youth organisation. The Zulu movement often Behind all the bluster about Margaret Thatcher's support for apartheid, the black African leaders she visited last week were genuinely glad to see her. Andy Clarkson explains loans during her visit, as a goodwill has the largest twisting. foreign investment stake in Kenya, at over fl billion, and there is that this will Thatcher also had some largesse Nigeria. Nigeria's military training programme is to receive British assistance and f22m lost oil worth of export credits to build an Twelve outs are far from charitable. Britain relies on Nigeria to buy more of its And Nigeria's economic The a tenth of black Africa's entire foreign debt - leaves the West

SOUTH AFRICA

decapitated.

THE THATCHER TOUR

the

LIC

the The African state open to British arm- After the collapse in the world price of oil in the early eighties, Nigeria's oil revenue fell from $23 billion in 1980 to an estimated $6 billion last year. The government's attempt to stimulate agrarian production to replace its flopped revenues has per of Nigeria's budget has been poured into cash crops over the last few years, but to little effect; production of crops like cocoa has rocketed at the same time as world prices stagnate.

has imposed government austerity measures on the Nigerian people which are even worse than resorts to violence and collaborates with the police to control its opponents. In 1986 Inkatha launched a scab union, Uwusa, as an attempt to break the crowine intluence of independent unions in Natal.

Uwusa claims 100 000 members but has not participated in a single strike or union recognition acreement. its thugs are however at the forefront of organisation, including the murder of two shop stewards involved in the long-running strike against the Britishowned BTR-Sarmcol company in Howick, Natal. UDF and union activists resort that the nolice openly side with Inkatha and wusa tuss, baten disaruine UDF supporters to give the armed Vellantes easier targets Inkatha attacks on UDF areas wave invoweu young people being burned to death and The picture in Natal Is a more extreme version of what those forced on other impoverished African states by the International Monetary Fund. Nigeria's new year decision te introduce debt-equity swaps is an indication of its plight. These deals allow Western companies to take a slice of Nigeria's economy return for writing off up to a fifth of Nigeria's foreign debt. They are West's latest method of thieving the resources of the third world, which represent a step back towards direct colonialism. The more British capital is taken out of West and invested in Africa, Thatcher more interested becomes Britain's political influence there

COLONIAL

African elite has become convinced of the benefits of more British intervention. Whether the of Kenya and Nigeria 3 asse acquiesce so readily remains to be seen. Increased British interference in Africa points towards a return to the oppressive conditions of the colonial era. It will mean more intense exploitation, more repres sion, and a heightening of the and divisions sectarian which Britain cultivated its African empire. The exacerbation of these backward prejudices to weaken popular resistance paves the way for Britain's successful And, under Alrica their pressure from British sponsors. the black governments will be forced to put down their people in a way which exposes the jostling of Thatcher's aides as the "soft face of African policing.

When their profits are at stake, British imperialists will deal with the African masses through similar tactics used the

ELIOSC

oy apartheid regime. is going on elsewhere in the country. Almost everywhere detentions and repression have

COCCUPCS 210

allowed the state to replace the police and the army with municipal police and vigilante squads. While tew or the snam town councils were able to function at the StalL Or Look after stooge black councillors quit their posts in tear or being attacked by anti-apartheid activists, most of these collaborators are now back at their posts and the councils are functioning again. The UDF and the mass resistance to apartheid have suffered some important setacks. Last week Me UDr leadership signed a peace pact with inkatha. But resistance has not been extinguished. The fact that poorly armed black youth, many barely out of their teens, have proved able to resist Buthelezi's hardened state-backed Impis in Natal, is a hopeful sign for the future.

Russell Osborne the next step

BLOOMSBURY

HEALTH

WORKERS

REJECT

ALTONS BIL

BLOOMSBURY health authority managers have noticed that family planning clinics in the area are being used by 'the daytime working population, besides patients from among the 37 000 local women residents of fertile age. They have worked out a policy to 'reduce overall funding by making it difficult for working women to get to clinics in Bloomsbury. 'Relocation of service and re-timing, ie, moving clinics to somewhere nobody's ever heard of, and starting them in the evening when working women have already gone home, is being posed

FIGHTING

EDUCATION

CUTS

THE Inner London Education Authority's new year resolution is to shed 9000 jobs by April 1989. On our return trom the holidays, members of my 'non-essentia department received a memo informing us that we may face 100 percent cuts! Atter telling us the news.

management advised us not to panic because tev would do their best, and we would be redeployed if necessary. In the meantime, they advised us to write letters against the cuts. If our jobs are not cut, others will be. Our union, the Greater London Staff Assoclaluh. lds corre uo with a novel response to this dilemma. Our rep says trial, since the cuts are inevitable, the union cannot defend all lobs and it would be wrong to detend some loos against others; so it cannot detena any Jous. 1 have suggested that we try to organise a campaign against all cuts.

There is some sympathy for the idea. But most of my colleagues think that the party's over, and that we have to come down to Earth. There s no mechanism for fighting: The union is not up to it, and llea councillors most of them Labour have already voted for cuts Most of my colleagues have depended the next step

ONTS

WORKING WOMEN

NEED FAMILY PLANNING

Advisory Centre. Nurse on a 'caring' Labour authority to be the dam between us and the rising Tory flood. Now the dam has burst, and we will crown unless we can organise an Ilea-wide campaign against all cuts.

lea worker South London

SMASH THE

POLL TAX

THE Labour Party in Scotland is considering the legal implications of a campaign of non-payment against the poll tax. ne will meet on 24 January to discuss the poll tax. One in for the Scottish Labour conference in March are on the poll tax, and a number of them, mostly from Edinburgh, are calling for strikes and declarations of intent not to pay. let Labour's Scottish general secretary Helen Liddle says 'if we say to people "don't pay, the consequences will be warrant sales. They will chase us. Ordinarv people don't want to go down that road. At the end of the day, our job is to stop legislation, and for that, we depend on our English colleagues. If Labour is so concerned about ordinary people' and the poll tax, why are Scottish Labour councils creating the machinery to implement the Tory tax? Liddle's argument is just a cynical letters

FACE ASORTION

ON DEMAND

As Early Ar Possible AN Lete As Pandora Anderson as a means of putting local residents first. It is due to be applied to community clinics this year. Catchment provisions may also be applied to the Brook The health authority is using its 'commitment to the local community as a cover for cuts in essential family planning facilities It just goes to show that women are the second class citizens of any community you care to mention.

Bloomsbury FAB group excuse for Labour to refuse to support a real campaien arainst the poll tax, and to rely on its colleagues among English Tory wets to vote parliament. But if people ally themselves with a campaign based on working class action to stop the poll tax being implemented, we can 'chase the poll tax out oT Scotland. Gordon O'Brien Smash the Poll Tax campaign Glasgow

ASLEF FAT

CATS

I AM one of 23 000 Aslef (train drivers union) members who did not receive an invitation to the recent farewell party held in honour of retiring general secretary Ray Buckton. I did not sit down with 150 other guests to a six-course dinner in the banqueting suite of the London Hilton Hotel, and I did not get a chance to make free with Aslet's oven tao at the bar. But, together with rest of the membership, did pay for the whole shebang out of my union dues. We keep hearing that trade unions are in decline. Judging by Buckton's blow-out, there has been no decline in our officials' appetite for living it up at the expense of rank and file members Asief member reviews

GAYS AND AIDS

Simon Watney, Policing Desire: Pornography, Aids and the Media, Comedia, Methuen, £6.95 Policing Desire is a book 'about representation, represented and discussed throughout society. More a collection of essays than a unified work, the eight chapters include a consideration of gay identity, an attack on the ignorant and vicious outpourings of the press and television and an assessment of the government's safe sex campaign. Simon Watney writes at times in a thoughtful and challenging way, particularly on pornography and homophobia, and for these sections, if for notning eise, ue book deserves to be read. For the most part, however, Policing Desire is marred by pedantic tirades about the popular use of phrases such as 'Aids victim', 'the Aids virus, 'Aids expert', etc, by a mawkish attitude to the suffering caused by Aids which reinforces the victim mentality) and by a naive indignation at both the 'wicked' media for its 'total and absolute irresponsibility and 'a supposedly democratic

SUCCIC

governments are supposed to protect the rights of all subjects' Much of this undoubtedly derives from the usual overestimation of the power of the demon mass media; or as he puts it, 'How a particular group is represented determines in a very real sense what it can do in society Of course no one objects to the press and TV getting a good drubbing, and subjecting their prejudices to close and angry examination does no harm. There are. however, more serious shortcomings in the book. Watney repeats some common and dangerous myths about Aids. In particular he argues that *everyone is at risk' and advocates a rejection of the concept of high-risk categories. It is interesting that he provides only the scantiest reference to the facts and figures on this issue. The truth is that by the end of October 1987 in Britain 8 000 were HIV positive and 1123 people had developed Aids. Only nine of these were heterosexuals without high-risk contact. Six of these heterosexuals nave died. Between 1986 and

THE GOVERNMENT'S

EROTIC MISSION

1987 the proportion of entirely heterosexual cases of the disease being contracted in America fell from 6.8 per cent to 4.3 per cent. In other words, 95.7 per cent of Aids victims in America belong to highrisk groups. The point is that HIV (the human immunodeficiency virus remains extremely rare and continues to be extremely difficult to catch in this country. Homosexuals who engage in unprotected anal intercourse and drug users who share needles (or have done so over the past five or six years) are the people at high risk of contracting the disease.

A POLICEMAN EXPLAINS GOVERNMENT POLICY ON

For some reason Watney wants to deny the significance of the figures. He appears to be groping towards an understanding of the importance of fighting against the criminal status of gay sexuality as a key element in the fight against Aids itself. Yet he fails to see how the government's safe sex campaign has made that criminalisation more likely and more secure. The campaign has spread fear and alarm throughout the entire the vast population, maiority of whom are at no risk whatsoever. The effect of course has been that gays have been scapegoated and made increasingly vulnerable to from queer-bashing to Clause 27. Watney instinctively recognises this but his understanding cannot penetrate beyond the 'discourse' and the *rhetoric' with which he is obsessed. The problem, for him, is not the safe sex campaign itself, nor anything so obvious as its political motivation and function. His main criticism appears to be that the government failed to eroticise the campaign; it simply associated nomosexualls with disease. Never once does it appear to strike him how barmy it is to call on the government to eroticise anything - let alone anal intercourse between men! The very idea that Margaret Thatcher (or for that matter Neil Kinnock)

HOMOSEXUALITY TO A GAY MAN ON SATURDAY'S MARCH

would sponsor a campaign promoting positive images of homosexuality betrays the depth of Watney's confusion. It is a confusion which runs through the book. For example, on the basis of an extremely superficial and fanciful comparison with "libertarian' America, he complains, 'In the absence of a written British constitution, it remains impossible to defend lesbian and gay culture in any of its forms against arbitrary prosecution. Like many radical gay commentators Watney's hatred of the establishment never prevents him begging them to protect us...from them Don Milligan 15 January 1988 • 7

the next step

• REMEMBER

he nationalist people in Derry and throughout the Six Counties of Northern Ireland had long been angry about discrimination and repression; in the winter of 1971-72 we had a new and bitter grievance internment. In August 1971 the Stormont regime, which then administered British rule in the Six Counties, exercised its powers to intern in prison camps, without charge or tai, anybouy lE suspected of active opposition to the state. Stormont prime minister Brian Faulkner also immediately imposed a 12-month ban on all demoistaeons. Internment only intensified resistance. Protests began with rent and rate strikes. They carried on with non-payment of television, car and even dog licences; then people stopped paying gas and electricity bills and even hire purchase payments. Local government in many areas came to a standstill. By December reports of torture inside the internment camps sparked off further protests.

Groups of trade unionists, civil rights activists and republicans gathered to plan defiance of the ban on public demonstrations. On Christmas Day 1971 4000 people marched through the snow from Belfast to Long Kesh concentration camp 10 miles away. There was jubilation in the nationalist ghettos throughout the Six Counties. The British Army

BLOODY

SUNDAY

On Sunday 30 January 1972, 30 000 Irish people took to the streets of Derry to protest at the denial of civil rights under British military occupation.

From Derry, Finn O'Foyle remembers a day few Irish people will ever forget had been outmanoeuvred, Stormont's law had been flouted...and the marching season had begun. The Civil Rights Association called the next demonstration in Derry for the end of January. As usual, Loyalist reactionaries did Britain's dirty work, stomping around the Six Counties stirring up sectarian animosity and military coercion. Democratic Unionist Party demanded firm action against "Catholic lawlessness'. Faulkner had to do something drastic about the anti-internment marches. He had solid support from the British state. The authorities at Westminster considered that a short, sharp shock for those who would not accept the terms of British rule in Ireland was long overdue. On 26 January 1972 Faulkner held talks with the officer commanding the occupying forces, General Tuzo. On 27 January Faulkner flew to London for private discussions with Tory prime minister Edward Heath. On 28 January a high-level defence policy meeting was convened immediately after a session of the inner cabinet. Something out of the ordinary was in the offing. By now Faulkner had a public commitment from the Armv that they would take some, as yet unspecified, action against illegal marchers. On 29 January an Paisley called off the DUP's planned counter-demo after receiving assurances that the civil force if necessary. These deliberations were concealed fros off in high spirits from Derry's Catholic Creggan estate on the afternoon of Sunday 30 January, heading for the city centre. One — Colonel Derek Wilford, who the Parachute Regiment. He was later to receive the OBE for his work that day. The British Army allowed the march to leave the Creggan, but prevented it from marching to the Guildhall Square by using barbwire barriers and armoured Paisley's vehicles. The organisers diverted the demonstration to a mass meeting at Free Derry Corner, some 500 yards from the Army position at William Street. While Bernadette Devlin and Fenner Brockway addressed the mass gathering, a small section of the marchers stayed at the Army barriers protesting at not being permitted to march on. Youths threw stones in reply to dyespraying and CS gas, and the disperse the small crowd. By Derry standards the protest was the troops negligible. By 4.15pm, péople from this small crowd, fleeing from intense Street, making their way to the mass meeting. companies of the Parachute Regiment swept along this main thoroughfare in armoured cars.

they began shooting at the unarmed crowd. told a horrifying story: rights march would be stopped by the throng that set man, however, had his instructions commanded the First Battalion of shoulder. dying Pat Doherty. range. wounded. Army brought up water-cannon to slight, and the chances of injury to gas and baton attacks, were either walking or running down Rossville suddenly, Wree bomb fragments. Troops were hastily deployed into firing positions. Without warning The hundreds of eye-witnesses Irish Freedom Movement 01-729 0414

TROOPS

OUT OF

IRELAND

DAMN RE NOWS

Saturday 30 January Assemble 12.30 Whittington Park, Holloway Road London N19 • Kevin McElhinney was on his hands and knees crawling away from the gunfire when a soldier shot him. The bullet entered his left buttock and travelled through his body to exit at the left • Bernard Mae Guigan was shot in the back of his head as he crawled on his stomach toward the • As everybody fled for their lives, Gerald McKinney stood still, holding his hands above his head. A soldier came up and shot him in the chest at point-blank Within minutes, 13 people were dead, another died later.

Seventeen more were seriously The Army version of events, in official statements in the house of commons by the defence minister, was a tangle of lies. They claimed they opened fire after coming under attack from nail-bombers and a fusillade of 50-80 shots from the area of Rossville and Glenfada flats'. No independent witness from among the scores of journalists and other observers present — many of whom were hostille to the republican cause believed that IRA volunteers were active that day. The British Army could produce neither bullets nor The British Army claimed that *in all cases, soldiers fired aimed shots at men identified as gunmen and bombers. Forensic tests showed that those killed could have had no contact whatever with any weapons; no weapons were

RALL

Sixteen years after Bloody Sunday, march against the British occupation of Ireland Supported by the Irish in Britain Representation Group the Troops Out Movement, the Labour Committee on Ireland, the Irish Freedom Movement found on them; no charges were brought against those wounded The Army also claimed that some of those shot were on their wanted list; this was later disproved. They said they shot at snipers in the flats, but all the casualties were at ground level. After Bloody Sunday the government set up a tribunal of inquiry under former British Army officer Lord Widgery.

Simon Winchester was a Guardian journalist present on Bloody Sunday who himself narrowly escaped the Paras' bullets. He writes in his book, On Holy Terror, that Widgery's conclusions were at astonishing variance with his own report: and the matter of "leaking" the document itself was an appalling travesty of honesty, for which both the British government and the British press should feel ashamed. Widgery's whitewash was gratefully accepted; the press helped to ensure that his minor criticisms of the paratroopers were ignored. Widgery's report astonished - especially most who saw for themselves the reality of what happened on Bloody sunday. but it caused metle surprise in Derry. The massacre was consistent with the role of the brush Army since its return Ee Irish streets in 1969 — to terrorise and break the resistance of te nanomanst community Sixteen years later, they are still trying - and they are as far away from success as ever.