Sheffield History Newswire Archive

The human species during its brief time on Earth has exhibited a remarkable capacity to kill itself off. The Cro-Magnons dispatched the gentler Neanderthals. The conquistadors, with the help of smallpox, decimated the native populations in the Americas. Modern industrial warfare in the 20th century took at least 100 million lives, most of them civilians. And now we sit passive and dumb as corporations and the leaders of industrialized nations ensure that climate change will accelerate to levels that could mean the extinction of our species. Homo sapiens, as the biologist Tim Flannery points out, are the "future-eaters."

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With what the Guardian described yesterday as the "almost unprecedented" release of "security service reports of interviews with detainees in Guantánamo Bay and other overseas detention centres," the coalition government failed in its attempt to persuade the High Court to bring a temporary halt to a civil claim for damages filed by six former Guantánamo prisoners, unleashing, instead, a torrent of previously classified and deeply disturbing documents.

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Five years on from the London tube bombings, we remain no closer to a full, complete and impartial understanding of the terrible events of that day. Today, the coalition government has demonstrated that it has largely fallen in line with the steps of its predecessor.

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Having had the privilege of speaking with Tom Sullivan, an actual explosive-charge placement technician, we have some new insights to pass along as to how controlled demolition works, where it started, and the effect that 9/11 had on the demolition industry. Sullivan gained his experience as an employee of the leading firm in this field, Controlled Demolition, Inc. (CDI)  http://www.controlled-demolition.com/ . Sullivan stresses though “I do not in anyway represent CDI and what I have to say is based on my own experience and training,”

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The Saville Report into Bloody Sunday in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on January 30, 1972, maintains the cover-up of one of the most infamous massacres ever perpetrated by British imperialism.

Even after the passage of 38 years, the truth—that the murder of 14 unarmed civil rights protesters was carried out under orders from the Conservative government of Edward Heath and the army top brass—is denied.

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On a miserable wet day around 400 workers marched through Dublin in the annual Mayday march organised by the Dublin Council of Trade Unions. Speakers at the end included Arthur Scargill, president of the British National Union of Mine Workers during the bitter year long 1984 strike in which 10 people were killed.

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Audio and slides from a presentation which traces the historical origins of hierarchy, highlighting the role of the international financier clique in financing European wars. Continues by explaining the importance of hierarchy in education and other social structures such as politics, law and business. It highlights its weaknesses such as wastefulness, proneness to subversion by secret societies & general lack of resilience to disruptions. It examines the role of psychopathic ideologies in furthering sociopathic behaviour, and looks at the hold they have over normal people.

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The next Communist Discussion Group meeting will be held at 6:30pm, Wednesday 14th April in The Rutland Arms (Sheffield). The topic of the discussion is “Alienation”. Below is a reading list to give you a general introduction to the topic, but by all means also look elsewhere for further information to enrich the discussion.

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Focuses on prisoners whose torture has been exposed by UK courts and is being investigated by police

Former prisoner Omar Deghayes and journalist Andy Worthington will be speaking at screenings across the country

"Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo" is a new documentary film, directed by filmmaker Polly Nash and journalist Andy Worthington (author of The Guantánamo Files). The film focuses on the stories of three particular prisoners - Shaker Aamer (who is still held), Binyam Mohamed (released in 2009) and Omar Deghayes (released in 2007) - and the tour coincides with a mounting scandal involving British complicity in torture, which focuses on Shaker Aamer and Binyam Mohamed.

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Attached is a recording of a communist discussion group meeting held in Sheffield on 16th February 2010 titled, the rise of the far right and anti-fascism.

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When I wrote my book Against Empire in 1995, as might be expected, some of my U.S. compatriots thought it was wrong of me to call the United States an empire. It was widely believed that U.S. rulers did not pursue empire; they intervened abroad only out of self-defense or for humanitarian rescue operations or to overthrow tyranny, fight terrorism, and propagate democracy.

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Sir Michael Wood confirmed today that the consistent advice from the FCO's Legal Advisers was that it was illegal in international law to invade Iraq without a second Security Council Resolution following UNSCR 1441. He also made plain that he consistently over two years advised both Blair and Straw direct that the war would be illegal.

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Tomorrow morning, Sir Michael Wood, former Foreign and Commonwealth Office Legal Adviser, gives evidence to the Chilcott Inquiry. To my mind, this is the most important evidence to be given so far. Michael's then deputy, Elizabeth Wilmshurst, who resigned over the war of aggression, will give evidence in the afternoon, I believe speaking in public for the first time since her resignation.

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Attached is a recording of Hajo Meyer, an Auschwitz survivor, speaking in Sheffield on 25th January 2010 at a meeting organised by the Sheffield Palestine Solidarity Campaign as part of a tour organised by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign,  http://www.scottishpsc.org.uk/ and the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network,  http://www.ijsn.net/.

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I tried to contact Mark Higson the other day only to learn he had died nine years ago. He was just 40, an honourable man. We met soon after he had resigned from the Foreign Office in 1991 and I asked him if the government knew that Hawk fighter-bombers sold to Indonesia were being used against civilians in East Timor.

“Everyone knows,” he said, “except parliament and the public.”

“And the media?”

“The media – the big names – have been invited to King Charles Street (the Foreign Office) and flattered and briefed with lies. They are no trouble.”

As Iraq desk officer at the Foreign Office, he had drafted letters for ministers reassuring MPs and the public that the British Government was not arming Saddam Hussein. “This was a downright lie”, he said. “I couldn’t bear it”.

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In This Issue: Sheffield stands against deportations, surviving a Credit Crunch Christmas, Fargate Calling - a look at Sheffield’s radical past, Sports, News and other views.

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Following is an extended and footnoted version of an article previously published at  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/11/441115.html the updated version has been described by Nafeez as "a bit meatier, and murkier".

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Attached is a recording of a meeting held on 2nd September 2009, organised by the Sheffield Humanist Society, which was addressed by David Price, author of Sheffield Troublemakers - Rebels and Radicals in Sheffield History.

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Sheffield Palestine Solidarity Campaign Public Meeting

With Professor Jeff Halper, Director (Israeli Committee Against House Demolition)

Friday 4th September 6.30 pm

Library Lecture Theatre, Tudor Square, (Behind the city Library Sheffield S1 1XZ) Sheffield

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Sheffield has a long and colourful history of independent thought, agitation and rebellion which we can be proud of. David Price will speak about his new book covering the history of Sheffield as a centre for radical thinkers and activists.

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