Sheffield Repression Newswire Archive

Audio from Nick Heath's talk, "The Third Revolution? Worker and peasant resistance to the Bolshevik government", recorded on 27th October 2010.

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Massoud Shadjareh, the Chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said today that the Home Office’s latest figures on numbers of people stopped and searched under anti-terrorism legislation fail to give the full picture when it comes to Muslim concerns about the discriminatory use of the powers to target Muslims in particular.

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In any global battle of the racists, the U.S. and Britain are always top contenders. A new study has some putting odds on merrily racist Old England (and Wales) for the honor of white supremacist society in-chief. “The figures would seem to indicate that Blacks in England and Wales are targeted by police with even more ferocity than their counterparts in New York City.” But the Big Apple takes a back seat to no one, when it comes to bigoted police behavior on the streets.

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This week, we continue our series on separation, we look at wall building by governments to keep people separate. Is this, as we are told, to keep ordinary citizens safe from terrorism or drug smugglers? In light of the mound of evidence about false flag terror and CIA-sponsored drug smuggling, it seems rational to look for another explanation. In our second hour, Wendy Brown asks whether it could it be to keep us separate and, symbolically, divided, to symbolically perpetuate the illusion of state power? Our first hour starts with a short clip from George Draffan speaking on the introduction of passports and state use of technology to control people. It finishes with a condensed speech by Jaggi Singh on migration and the growing No One Is Illegal resistance movement.

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As you might expect, J7: The July 7th Truth Campaign is keeping a close
eye on 7/7 Inquests that are taking place at the Royal Courts of Justice
under the auspices of Lady Justice Hallett. The Inquests are expected to
last at least five months and will see the release of evidence that has
previously been kept from public scrutiny.

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In its main editorial Sunday, the New York Times, the major voice of what passes for liberalism in America, openly defends the right of the US government to assassinate anyone it pleases.

The open reactionaries like the Wall Street Journal and Fox News display their bloodlust unashamedly. The “liberals” like the Times prefer a dose of hypocritical moralizing and legalistic quibbling. The consequences for humanity are the same.

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One thing the Obama regime has shown me is that the Democrats are also the Party of No: NO peace, NO justice, NO relevant healthcare reform, NO improvement in education, NO civil liberties, NO economic justice, NO environmental sustainability, NO jobs, NO anything that is positive for those who were made weaker after 9/11.

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This week, we look at what Peter Phillips of Project Censored terms a "truth emergency", the routine way in which deceitful messages are fabricated and distributed en masse by the corporate media. We start with his presentation to the May 2010 Understanding Deep Politics conference in Santa Cruz. We conclude with an audio adaptation of Scott Noble's effort to combat this tide of misinformation, the video Psywar, about the history of propaganda and psychological war. Focusing on psyops as tools of the class war, Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti, Howard Zinn and other speakers tell the story of the origins of truth misrepresentation as an industry, and we look at its role in the US military and political establishments.

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A conspiracy to create doubt about climate change, documented by Dr. Naomi Oreskes in "Merchants of Doubt".

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Proponents of the DREAM Act claim it will enable countless deserving immigrant youth to pursue higher education. In reality, the movement for immigrant rights is being pimped by the Pentagon, which desperately needs access to young immigrants to replenish its ranks.

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In the light of British Petroleum’s grotesque crime, as yet unfinished, against humanity in the Gulf of Mexico, it is well to recall briefly BP’s no less hideous crime perpetrated in its earlier incarnation as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) and, later, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC).

Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq’s discourse at the UN Security Council session in October 1951 was one of the most tragic utterances of a country that was being raped and pillaged and striving to retain its dignity:

"It went without saying that as long as the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company had a monopoly over this source of national wealth, the government and people of Iran could not enjoy political independence. Despite its business façade, this company is to be considered as the modern counterpart of the old British East India Company, which in a short span of time extended its control over India. The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company had an annual income exceeding that of the Iranian government; its foreign trade was larger than ours; it intervened actively in the internal affairs of the country, and grossly interfered in our elections to the Majlis and the formation of cabinets, and thus conducting themselves in a manner calculated to wring the greatest profits from resources which it owned and controlled. By a complex conspiratorial network within the country, by widespread corruption of government ministries, and the illegal support to native journalists and politicians, it had in fact created a State within a State. Little by little it sapped the independence of the Iranian nation."

Even as the Iran of today and its democratically elected government face the threat of physical liquidation by the combined forces of Zionism and imperialism, the struggles and aspirations of this great humanist and architect of freedom will remain, to all who strive for justice and decency, forever green.

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The sad story of those who turn a blind eye to BNP members in their midst

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The English Defence League leadership have been accused of stealing money by the rank and file members of the English Defence League [EDL]. At a meeting held by EDL members the leadership were accused of stealing money. The leadershipe are now saying that they will stop selling the EDL merchandise, clothing and so on following the accusations of theft and misusing EDL monies.

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The notorious racist and Islamophobic English Defence League were shouting "Aint no Black in the Union Jack" at an EDL protest. The EDL have rioted across the country. Their protests have been attended by the National Front, Combat 18, the BNP, Blood and Honour, Nationalist anarchists and lone racists. They have attacked Muslim women, attacked Mosques & Temples.

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On August 31, Dr Freddy Patel, the pathologist who carried out the first post-mortem examination of Ian Tomlinson, was found guilty of misconduct by the General Medical Council (GMC). Tomlinson died after being assaulted by riot police at the London G20 summit in April 2009.

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“Recognizing the high correlation between those who know about the collapse of WTC 7 and those who believe that a new – or rather real – 9/11 investigation is needed, I propose that the international 9/11 Truth Movement initiate, starting this September, a world-wide, year-long ‘BuildingWhat?’ campaign. Through this campaign, we would seek to make the fact of its collapse so widely known that the mention of Building 7 would never again evoke the question: ‘Building What?’ ” –David Ray Griffin

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The CIA Red Cell memorandum released by WikiLeaks speaks volumes about the doublethink, paranoia, deception, and delusion of the CIA itself.

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A new report released by a think tank called Demos warns of the hazardous effects of conspiracy theories on society and recommends strategies for governments to mitigate these effects, including the infiltration of websites.

The report, called The Power of Unreason: Conspiracy Theories, Extremism and Counterterrorism, says "most notoriously and influentially, the ‘9/11 truth movement’ has questioned the official accounts of 9/11 and has become a large and growing political force."

The report notes that the 9/11 truth movement is "peaceful", but makes no distinction between the legitimate questioning of the official account of 9/11 and any number of unrelated, and often racist, conspiracy theories.

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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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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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