For starters, news of WSM activity
LORENZO KOM'BOA ERVIN, an anarchist and former Black Panther who
is an organiser in the US anti-racist movement spoke at public
meetings around Ireland during the summer. These were part of a 20
country speaking tour to win support for the campaign against the
death penalty in the US, and were some of the largest anarchist
meetings seen here in recent years. Speaking as someone who has been
been a frontline fighter against racial discrimination since the
1960s, he painted a graphic picture of the discrimination,
indignities and systematic intimidation suffered by American
blacks.
He also told of how the American civil rights movement had been
born out of the resistance of tens of thousands, mainly poor and
working class. Their strikes, sit-ins, marches and growing
radicalisation forced concessions from the government. Nothing was
granted voluntarily, all the reforms had to be wrested from them.
Today the death penalty is increasing being used. More and more
prisoners are going to the gallows, the electric chair, the gas
chamber, the firing squad or the poison injection. A hugely
disproportionate number are black. Perhaps the best known death row
prisoner is the former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose case has
been taken up by anarchists all over the world.
An international day of protest had been called for July 4th by
death row inmates in Texas. The
Workers
Solidarity Movement undertook to organise a demonstration outside
the US embassy. While the denizens of Dublin's embassy belt
celebrated America's Independence Day, over 60 people arrived outside
the door with placards condemning state murder.
After leaving Ireland, Ervin had spoken in Britain and Belgium and
then on to Australia. His arrival was marked with a media campaign,
started by an extreme right wing MP called Pauline Hanson, labelling
him as some sort of dangerous terrorist. His visa was revoked and he
was assaulted, had his glasses broken and was hauled off to Brisbane
prison.
There was to be no free speech for this man. However, Australian
anarchists' got the news out to anarchists elsewhere. Within hours
pickets at embassies and consulates took place in 17 countries,
protests were arriving from anarchist, socialist, black, human rights
and trade union groups. The story started appearing in newspapers
and TV in over a dozen countries.
In Ireland the Australian embassy received so many complaints they
had to dedicate one phone line exclusively for logging protests. The
WSM picketted outside and handed out leaflets about Racism,
Australian style.
In Australia it was front page news. Such was the reaction to the
state's crude attempt to silence Ervin that the dockers' union
threatened to strike if any attempt was made to deport him by sea.
Three days later he won a court order for his release, an order for
the government to pay his costs, and in place of the seized 30 day
visa he was issued with a new 90 day one.
His speaking tour now drew far greater crowds, he met with
Aboriginal organisations, and was a guest speaker at the national
Aboriginal celebration (NAIDOC). What the government had unwittingly
done was draw attention to the reality behind their polished facade.
Ervin put it this way at his final press conference:
"...explaining what I think about what's happened,
including being exposed to police brutality, illegal arrest and
having my rights stripped in a fashion that I haven't had done since
the days of the old racist south.
What happened to me is what happens routinely to blacks and other
peoples of colour in this country. I've spoken to black Americans
who have been arrested, thrown in jail, tried in courts. I've talked
to the families of Aboriginal people who have had family members die
while in police custody. I've talked to Aboriginal leaders in all
the cities I've been to and a lot of people have expressed that this
is a racist country, a violent country, and they have no rights".
A few brief facts show Aborigines are systematically discriminated
against. Compared to other Australians they suffer
- An infant mortality rate two to three times higher;
- An average life expectancy 18 to 20 years lower;
- An unemployment rate five times higher;
- They are 14 times more likely to be jailed;
- They are 16 times more likely to die in custody.
The biggest achievement of the state in this affair was to
publicise its own racism and the desirability of the anarchist
alternative.
*****
Red
& Black Revolution is the magazine published by the WSM which
covers issues in more depth than is possible in this paper. Articles
in no.3 include a look at how the anti-water charges campaign beat
the government; ideas for building a new anti-capitalist movement
based on the realities of the late 1990s instead of nostalgia for the
past; a previously unknown slice of Irish socialist history which
details the first anarchists all the way back in the 1880s;
interviews with South African and Italian anarchists; reviews of
books discussing how trade unionists can use the internet, and the
debate among anarchists on the best way to organise. Copies can be
obtained from the shop where you bought this paper, or for £2.00
(inc. postage) from P.O. Box 1528, Dublin 8.
