Sheffield Newswire Archive

n the modern era, humor has worked again and again to dehumanize target countries as a standard part of war propaganda. In a democracy, where support of the population at large is supposedly a prerequisite for attacking another country, jokes are a common means of dehumanizing, demonizing and generally placing the population of the targets of the attack into the category of Other. Empathy plummets; and civilians in the aggressor state find it increasingly difficult to put themselves in the (Islam-approved) shoes of those on the receiving ends of the bombs. Most troubling is that liberals and progressives – those you might expect, ostensibly, to oppose a U.S. attack on Iran – are just as likely to laugh the country to war as hawks.

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A new site has been launched for the campaign against the Jungle Zoo in Cleethorpes, near Grimsby, to provide information on the awful conditions inside and news on past and upcoming actions.

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Countdown to Zero is now playing in a theater near you, at least if you live in a very “blue state” or a “blue neighborhood,” for example, Cambridge, MA, my hometown, or San Francisco. The movie is aimed squarely at the antiwar, anti-nuclear pro-Obama audience, which dwells therein and is all too susceptible to the “humanitarian” streak of imperialism. It is a very shrewd propaganda flick, as Darwin Bond-Graham demonstrated in his superb review, a film which in fact helps to pry open a little bit further the door to a war on Iran.

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The summer Radical Routes Gathering was an exciting time for co-ops in The North. Held at Berrington Hall Housing Co-op near Shrewsbury, the event saw representatives from housing, workers' and trading co-ops come together in a weekend of sharing ideas, working together and having fun.

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As one who watched both Professor Robert Bartlett's 'Normans' and
Dan Snow's 'Norman Walks', let me say how much I enjoy the
BBC's sense of history and these two items in particular. But can we see the wood for the trees!

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How does the Vatican keep getting away with it?
The next Sheffield Humanist Society meeting will mark the very costly visit by the Pope this September.

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Tasers are becoming an increasingly prominent tool in the arsenal of police in Nottinghamshire and elsewhere. This should raise important questions, regardless of whether you accept the anarchist critique of the police as a tool of state control, view them as a necessary evil or actually regard the boys in blue as good for society. However, these questions do not seem to be asked. Despite a number of high profile incidents when tasers have been deployed, we continue to creep towards a situation where police are routinely armed without any public debate on whether this is actually what we want or not.

The most high-profile incident locally was the tasering of a man outside Flares on Upper Parliament Street. The incident, in June last year, was captured on video which for some reason was handed over to radio station Trent FM, but quickly found its way onto YouTube and from there became a major national story.

The incident was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), a notoriously toothless organisation. They concluded their investigation in February of this year, announcing, "The investigation examined force and national policies on the use of tasers by police officers and police guidelines on managing conflict. It found that the actions of the police officers in these circumstances were within relevant policies. The investigation sought the opinion of a private sector expert in the use of tasers and force. His view was that the actions of the officers and the decision to deploy a taser several times, and not to use any alternative such as a baton or incapacitant spray, was compliant with their training and relevant guidelines."

Whether these guidelines were correct was not considered, a point raised by Amnesty International who noted, in response to the IPCC's report, that "current policing guidelines do not specify clearly that these weapons should be used only when there is a genuine threat to life or very serious injury. This, in our view, leaves the risk that the Taser may be used when officers are presented with far less threatening situations." In Amnesty's views, tasers, "which inflict excruciating pain" should only be used by highly trained officers in situations where there is a genuine risk to life. They urged "the Home Office to review the policing guidelines on the use of Tasers so as to ensure that officers only use the weapon when absolutely necessary."

growing list of fatalities, following the deployment of tasers has forced the abandonment of this as a selling point and the weapons are now billed as "less lethal". Experience in Nottingham and elsewhere, demonstrates that in any case tasers are usually not used in situations where a firearm would be deployed, but instead serve to lower the threshold of violence, possibly encouraging police brutality.

This is quite apart of course, from any questions about the competence of the officers using the weapons. On Wednesday August 4th, police were called to Alexander Street in Stapleford following reports of "anti-social behaviour." Reportedly, one man "became aggressive" towards the officers (a turn of phrase used by both Nottinghamshire Police and the BBC). At this point the police used a taser against him, but missed (or to use the police's own wording, the taser "did not connect with the man") and hit Jodie Gallagher who was standing behind him.

This case was referred to the IPCC, but they decided to hand the case back to Notts Police without even bothering to organise a sham investigation. The IPCC said: "In making this decision the IPCC considered a number of factors including that the girl was stood near the intended target , who moved as the officer discharged the Taser." Note that they state this as fact even before an investigation has happened. They were also content "that the police officer concerned took prompt actions to rectify the incident by stopping the discharge as soon as he realised the mistake and ensuring she was not injured. We are also aware that Nottinghamshire Police have apologised to the girl and her family." That makes it alright then? What's 50,000 volts between friends?

On the same day this story was published in the Nottingham Post, that paper was carrying another taser related story on the front cover, reporting that "POLICE dog handlers had to use a Taser gun on a crazed dog which savaged its owner in her flat." The Post states, "Police said the use of the Taser on the dog was 'extremely unusual' but they had no other option to ensure everyone's safety." Unfortunately, the paper doesn't make it clear if this is actually recommended policy or whether the officers involved were improvising, hoping that the weapon wouldn't simply enrage the animal further.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the article is the final line which reveals that "Notts police officers trained to use Tasers now include road police and dog section officers." When the weapon was first introduced to the force it was only trained firearms officers who were issued with them. This is now changing. As the weapons become routine, we can expect to see them deployed in a increasingly diverse situation. In all likelihood this will include them being used against protesters. In August 2005, police in Pittsburgh attacked a counter recruitment demonstration using both Tasers and pepper spray against protesters. Nobody should kid themselves that this couldn't happen here. During last year's G20, in an incident which has received remarkably little coverage, the Met Police threatened peaceful protesters with a taser while evicting a squat in London.

Another worrying taser-related development recently was the death of Raul Moat, who shot himself after police used a "Taser Xrep" in an attempt to subdue him. The Xrep is a new weapon developed by Taser International. Unlike earlier tasers it is a wireless weapon which can be fired from any 12-gauge pump-action shotgun. The deployment of this weapon was a surprise because it is still undergoing testing by the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) did not know Northumbria Police had these weapons. While there are questions about the impartiality of some of the research used in previous Home Office trials, you might hope that the police would at least conduct some testing of weapons before using them against members of the public. Cynics might also note that this was a particularly high profile case and if the police were prepared to use an untested weapon in the full glare of the international media spotlight what are they up to on a day-to-day basis?

Tasers have been introduced with minimal mainstream debate. We are slipping towards a situation where police are routinely armed and nobody has been asked if this is what they actually want. This may be par for the course, but the silence of activists on this point is surprising and unfortunate. We may believe the police today are violent and oppressive, they didn't need a taser to do for Ian Tomlinson, but we shouldn't dismiss this as irrelevant. Tasers lower the threshold of violence and in doing so make it more likely.

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This week's show looks at the manipulation necessary to create wars from 3 different angles, the brainwashing of recruits, the political manipulation of public opinion, and tailoring of Hollywood's depiction of war.

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Despite the ban on any EDL march in Bradford, those little rascals are still going to turn up.

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The English Defence League are the racist football thugs that by now everyone has heard of. They have attacked mosques, put pigs heads on mosques, attacked Muslims women & pulled off their hijabs. They have smashed up shops, cars, homes & rampaged through Luton, Bolton, Stoke, Dudley, Aylesbury, causing trouble. They now plan to riot in Bradford in Yorkshire on the 28th August.

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Over the past five years, Iran has been recurrently under the threat of an imminent war which the mainstream media have overwhelmingly talked of; a war against Tehran to overthrow the Islamic Republic and bring to power a "democratic" regime which the "international community" favors. The psychological warfare machinery is being activated again as each newspaper and website represents one arsenal. Jeffrey Goldberg is taking steps to become the Judith Miller of war against Iran and the world once again watches the funny advertisement of human rights by those who are terrifically massacring "humans" in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, getting prepared for a new bloodshed in Iran.

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Newcastle, Tyne and Wear. On 17th August the BBC programme ‘Panorama’ aired 'Death on the Med' a documentary about the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in May 2010.Since shooting nine peace activists dead on the Freedom Flotilla, the Israeli state has led a concerted attempt to rewrite history - making their commandos the victims of an assault by “terrorists”. BBC news coverage of the attack and Panarama’s recent programme clearly show that the BBC is following suit and aligning itself with the Zionist state of Israel.

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News about a new social group in Yorkshire for lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer women, and women who are questioning their sexuality. Partners, friends and children are welcome too!

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Interesting article that seems to make a better stab than most at what the EDL are all about. Originally posted in Ceasefire:  http://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/2010/08/diary-of-a-domestic-extremist-the-edl-street-fighting-for-the-establishment/

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Originally published in December 2009, the significance of this article is all the more relevant on the 57th anniversary of the Anglo-American military coup in Iran.

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Five evenings of queer cinema… come for gender-bending cinema that makes you think… queer trash and horror in the campest of settings… features and shorts that take us beyond the queer ‘scene’… take in some history and current struggles in the queer world

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1. Benefit fraud costs the UK £900million a year.
2. Corporate fraud costs the UK £80billion a year, and that's just the fraud that's reported.
3. And they don't even need the money.

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Slowly but surely over the last few years, I've watched tolerance and understanding of mental health issues evaporate in the benefits system - not that there was much there to start with. The latest portfolio of idiots in power appear to view mental health as something that's guaranteed by the ability to earn money, and those whose mental health is poor need only to take the tablets, stop thinking about those damned problems, and just get on with earning already.

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An Interview with Ian Bone and Ray Roughler Jones from anarchistmedia.wordpress.com has kindly stuck the interview myself and Ray Roughler Jones did for the current issue of ’The Idler’ We nicked it from here  http://anarchistmedia.wordpress.com/2010/08/15/bone-idle-or-work-doesnt-work-an-interview-with-ian-bone-and-ray-roughler-jones/

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In a very real sense, the war plans against Iran, which has been on the Pentagon's drawing board for more than five years, threatens the future of humanity.

This war can be prevented if people forcefully confront their governments, pressure their elected representatives, organize at the local level in towns, villages and municipalities, spread the word, inform their fellow citizens as to the implications of a nuclear war, initiate debate and discussion within the armed forces.

The holding of mass demonstrations and antiwar protests is not enough. What is required is the development of a broad and well organized grassroots antiwar network which forcefully challenges the legitimacy of war, a global people's movement which criminalizes war.

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