Juan Haro, a speaker from the Movement for Justice in El Barrio will talk in Dalston, about their struggle against displacement by gentrification in Harlem, New York city.

On Saturday the 24th of May @ Passing Clouds, on Richmond Rd, just off Kingsland road in Dalston, 10 mins from Dalston Kingsland Station. Buses: 149, 242, 243, 67.Free or donation entry to talk from 7.00pm.

Followed by Latin bands and DJs hosted by Movimientos at around 9pm “From folkloric to electronic Movimientos is the sound of London’s Latin alternative”. (£5 entry)

Dalston, like many other parts of London is undergoing development that will mean rent rises for tenants already struggling to pay extortionate London rents. When an area becomes appealing for investors and “regeneration” it’s those people with money who end up enjoying the new housing, expensive cafes and shops, and the people with less money who end up having to move further away from the centre of the city or who, if they stay, lose the shops, cafes and resources they rely on. Movement for Justice, the organization of tenants in Harlem, New York that have been struggling against the landlords that want to price them out of their area say;

“This displacement is created by the greed, ambition and violence of a global empire of money that seeks to take total control of all the land, labor and life on earth. Here in El Barrio (East Harlem, New York City), landlords, multi-national corporations and local, state and federal politicians and institutions want to force upon us their culture of money, they want to displace poor families and rent their apartments to rich people, white people with money. They want to change the look of our neighborhood, with the excuse of “developing the community.”

The talk will explore issues around resisting gentrification and the model of organization that Movement for Justice have used to work with each other – an inspiring and educational example from across the Atlantic that we could learn from in London.

“Together, we make our dignity resistance and we fight back against the actions of capitalist landlords and multinational corporations who are displacing poor families from our neighborhood. We fight back locally and across borders. We fight back against local politicians that refuse to govern by obeying the will of the people. We fight back against the government institutions that enforce a global economic, social and political system that seeks to destroy humanity.”

Talk organized by Hackney Solidarity Network, Hackney Independent, Haringey Solidarity Group and London Coalition Against Poverty.

It has been pointed out by one of my correspondents that me calling the neo-nazi November 9th Society “retards” is unfair.

Whilst I’m not someone who is insistent on using the correct terminology in every instance, I have reflected on this and agree that it was an unfortunate term to use - not least because of nazis’ fetishism of “purity” and elimination of those considered to be “impure”, including disabled people.

Calling nazis “retards” is unfair on retards.

I discovered two neo-nazi stickers on lamp-posts the other day whilst walking to work. I found them shocking more for the surprise value than their content. In the 80s (oh no, here he goes again) there used to be quite a lot of this stuff floating about in some areas - you’d even see the odd NF sticker on the tube.

These days it comes across as real fringe nutjob stuff, I think. You know it’s some lonely geezer in a dirty mac furtively going about in the early hours with a pocket full of fading nazi propaganda. Like a dog trying to mark its territory, or a flasher.

These two items were even more pathetic because they publicised two different organisations. “Oh blimey someone from the National Front has been stickering on the same morning as someone from the neo-nazi N*vember 9th S*ciety! What are the chances of that? Wow this area must be a real hotbed of far right activity!”

The pic, by the way, is Rudolf Hess. Apparently he was killed by those horrid rotters ZOG. It’s as good an insight as any into the intellect of the master race that they think:

a) Many people will recognise Hess from his picture

b) Many people will know what ZOG is.

c) Anyone will get worked up by the circumstances of Hess’ death.

My theory is it’s just a wind up, rather than a recruitment aid. “Let them hate us, as long as they fear” and all that. I suppose I do hate them, but mainly it just all seems a bit sad.

I ripped both stickers down easily and had a wander in my lunchtime to see if there were more, but fortunately other people had already removed the bulk of the two other offending items I found.

There used to be all sorts of rumours of fascists putting razor blades under their retarded propaganda but I’ve never met anyone who has actually seen this. Or in fact, many stickers these days - it’s a bit like “I Spy” for cynical lefties.

After reflecting on my teenage fandom of Death In June here, it felt quite good to finally purge this flat of their last remaining records.

Unfortunately it looks like it isn’t as straightforward as that:

	MC036 eBay Listing Removed: Hateful or Discriminatory ( 182548222)

Dear john-eden We appreciate that you chose eBay to list the following auction-style listing(s):230223972319 - DEATH IN JUNE: Brown Book LP ORIG with insert current93 However, your (s) breaches eBay’s Hateful or Discriminatory policy and has been removed. In accordance with our User Agreement, items prohibited by law or by eBay policy are not allowed on eBay. We notified members who placed bids on the item that the listing has been canceled. You’re not allowed to list items that promote or glorify hatred, violence or racial intolerance, or items that promote organisations with such views on eBay.

I had to laugh. It was nearly as funny as when William Bennett personally got ebay to remove my auction of a Whitehouse tribute record.

My Fellow Americans

Woofah contributor Dan Hancox and his mate Tom Humberstone on a serious road trip around the US primaries.

Electoral politics isn’t really my thing, but the blog is great because they focus on the concerns of everyday people they happen to bump into rather than the minutiae of the campaigns. This means they engage with everyone from campaigners, to the cynical to the oblivious.

So the whole thing becomes an ‘on the road’ from a UK/London perspective more than an on the spot reportage thing. It’s great!

Tom’s illustrations are bloody good as well.

If you are one of my US readers then definitely check the blog and try to hook up with them for coffee!

“…the bitterness and betrayal felt by thousands of radicals after Labour’s ’sell out’ was one of the most important influences in the exodus from conventional politics to community activism. In a similar way, radicals were frustrated by the conservatism of the trade unions, evidenced in their frequent hostility towards community struggles and their pursuit of a narrow wages strategy rather than one which included political and moral campaigning.

Although disillusionment with political parties is not new, the novelty of this period was the extension of that disillusionment to a rejection, not merely of the parties, but of the system of politics they operated. That system was exposed as elitist and unwilling to involve the mass of people in shaping the decisions which affected their lives. Moreover, Parliament was seen to have become a mere puppet of capitalism, bureaucracy and technocracy. Representative democracy has been replaced by a system operating outside of the reach of democratic accountability, and based on bargains struck between various cabals and interest groups. One only has to look at the relative impotence of modern governments, and their basic similarity whichever party is in office, to appreciate that real power is not vested in parliamentary government. At local levels, councils operate in the same rigid and reactionary way, regardless of which party has control.

To bring about the changes so desperately needed, it became obvious that radicals would have to turn away from the political machines and towards the people. Hence community action, with its reliance on popular participation, action rather than words and its aim of ‘power to the people’.”

Peter Hain, “The Future of Community Politics” in Community Politics (John Calder, 1976)

Shame he signed to a major a year later.

My overseas readers are probably aware that English people have a reputation for being a bit repressed. What may not be known is that we have several cathartic rituals in our culture which allow us an emotional release. They include getting completely shitfaced on continental lager, making some of the best music in the world, and moaning.

One extremely popular ritual for couples is a pilgrimage to IKEA to buy various bits and bobs for the house. On the surface an entirely mundane activity, but in reality a shitstorm of repressed aggression rising to the surface. For example, my nearest IKEA is the Edmonton branch - a store whose opening was heralded by a near riot and stabbing.

I found myself anticipating our latest visit with some excitement. The day began well with my better half telling me to fuck off before we’d even had breakfast, but this was merely a glimmer of what was to come. We headed up on the train to meet my Dad and borrow his car. (It’s always good to involve as many family members as possible in these operations as it maximises the potential for disagreement and conflict).

Our train was a bit late, so we pegged it off the station only to be greeted by a wall of cops. They had kindly erected a portable metal detector so they could search everyone leaving for evidence of “weapons, or terrorism”. Which I guess is fine - no point in going to IKEA for an argument if some nutjob is about to blow the place up as a symbolic gesture against western decadence, right?

Only, they weren’t searching bags.

“We’re not doing that today, sir.”

“Are terrorists not using bags today or something?”

“I can’t really comment on that, sir, but we’ll be searching bags on another day”.

“?”

“Can I just take your names? We need it for our records”

We give our names.

“Can I also have your full addresses and dates of birth?”

Better half asks why, and tries to find out what the data is for/who will see it. This is pretty much stonewalled and we don’t want to make an issue of it for two reasons. Firstly, my Dad is waiting in his car somewhere. Best not confirm his worst fears and turn up late after an argument with the police.

Secondly, someone else who was on our train is making an issue of it and things aren’t going well for her - in fact some copper has started asking her all sorts of questions about whether she has a valid ticket for her journey, eventually removing her oyster card from her and going into the station to check. Because not having a valid ticket is a clear sign of being a terrorist, or course, bag or not. Just to help you visualise the scene, I will point out that she was black and virtually all the cops were white.

“Can you just put any metal objects in your bag, sir, and walk through?”

Both of us walked through the detector and set the alarm off.

My better half pipes up “Oh, that’s probably my belt buckle”. We show our belt buckles. They wave us on without any further searches, meaning we could have any kind of metal on us, or in our bags.

I have mixed feelings about the incident. On the one hand, I should have been much more arsey about it all - but I caved in as my role of designated driver over-rode my role as heroic defender of civil liberties. On the other hand, the whole thing was so comically pointless, that adding to it seemed a bit surplus to requirements.

After that, IKEA was quite dull.

But we did get some nice shelves.

“On 13 August 1977, the far-right National Front attempted to march from New Cross to Lewisham in South East London. Local people and anti-racists from all over London and beyond mobilised to oppose them, and the NF were humiliated as their march was disrupted and banners seized.

To mark the 30th anniversary of the ‘Battle of Lewisham’ we are holding a half day event in New Cross on Saturday 10th November with speakers and films (1 pm start at Goldsmiths College, New Cross).”

Some time has passed since the event at Goldsmiths, so my memory may play tricks on me. That would be in keeping with the write up on the Lewisham 77 blog makes the point that history is itself a battlefield, with various agendas and versions struggling to be heard. For me that was one of the most interesting aspects of the day – better than amassing a tick list of “facts” about what happened.

I arrived in time to see my friend Neil giving an overview of the events which lead up to the big day, and then we were straight into the first panel discussion.

This section could loosely be described as “leftie hacks vs the people”. On the one hand speakers on the platform and contributors from the audience tried to outline the orthodox left’s history of the event. Parts of this were very interesting – for example the tactics which succeeded in Lewisham had been attempted during a similar march in Wood Green some months beforehand, but hadn’t quite worked. The catastrophic humiliation of the Front in Lewisham severely limited their ability to operate a “march and grow” strategy.

And of course it is very heart warming to see that peoples’ sincerely held beliefs have endured over the 30 years since the day. However these contributions were marred for me by an emphasis on the bureaucracy of organising – the committee structure, lots of meetings, etc. And grandstanding, which was gloriously personified by an audience member from one sect beginning his “question” by trying to undermine the credibility of one of the speakers: “when I saw the poster I had no idea who you are, but now I see you I think I can remember you from back then”.

It’s undeniable that, like ‘em or loathe ‘em, groups like the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) et al played a huge role in the day’s events (as did local church groups). But they are often completely fucking boring to listen to.

In stark contrast, the other speakers in this first section were much more lively. Martin Lux gave an account of rucking with the NF and the cops from a working class anarchist perspective which was as uncompromising as it was entertaining.

Dr William Lez Henry (aka Lez Lyrix) told us of his experiences growing up in the area and the racism he encountered on a daily basis. His talk was very instructive and went some way to break down the mythologising of the other contributors. For example he and his friends had been told by more senior members of the local black community to let the white anti-racists converging on the area from outside fight the white fascists doing the same. The role of black youth on the day was initially to defend the few black owned businesses in the area, but then of course events overtook them and many opportunities to confront the overt racism of the NF and the not-so covert racism of the cops were exploited to the full.

Lez’s comments are fleshed out in his new book Whiteness Made Simple: Stepping Into The Grey Zone (NuBeyond, 2007) , with a particular emphasis on the need for black autonomy and self-education as ways of combating institutional racism.

I can’t remember much about the q&a section. It was probably better than the questions later on, but that isn’t saying very much. At all.

The first panel session was followed by a series of films which varied in quality. One was positively avant-garde, combining a soundtrack of harsh traffic noise alongside some indistinct commentary by people being interviewed about their involvement in the great day.

The second panel discussion was chaired by Dr Henry (which I thought was a good sign, because he doesn’t put up with any nonsense!). It was more questioning in nature – which was very welcome.

There were a number of contributions throughout the day from people involved with current struggles, for example against the BNP in Barking, the No-Borders campaign, etc. I didn’t get the impression that there was anywhere near as much energy or creativity involved with these projects as in 1977, but then we live in different times.

It was, however, quite depressing to hear from a representative from Unite Against Fascism that their main tactic is to campaign for people to vote for anyone other than the British National Party. This seems to be singularly unsuccessful and perhaps the reason for this is that the BNP are positioning themselves as a radical alternative to all of the other parties - parties who many people feel have nothing to offer them. UAF’s position only serves to reinforce this divide. If people are pissed off with their New Labour council, there is little point in trying to get people to vote Labour just to keep the BNP out. If this tactic is the best the orthodox left have to offer then it is no wonder that the BNP are currently competing with the Greens to become the 4th major political party in the UK - or indeed the 2nd or 3rd in some areas.

On a more positive note, Paul Gilroy (yes, him!) gave a great talk on his experiences of the riot, which essentially were of abject fear. He used this as a tool to open up a discussion about mythologising the past and how attempts to produce one coherent story should be resisted.

One profound example of this is that the orthodox left remembers an old woman leaning out of a window on Clifton Rise and questioning some of those present on the counter demo. According to that story she then put her speakers out of her window and played Bob Marley’s “Get Up Stand Up” which electrified the crowd. Non-aligned people remember it as Junior Murvin’s “Police and Thieves” however.

I find that very interesting for a whole number of reasons – not least that it reinforces Dr Henry’s comments that local black youth experienced far more oppression from the police than they did from swastika wielding NF members.

Gilroy was followed by Les Back whose contribution was similarly questioning and lacking in dogmatic certainties. He raised a number of issues around the changing face of British fascism. His questioning of the validity of the usefulness of referring to the BNP in the 21st Century as “Nazis” caused quite a stir amongst those involved in doing just that as part of the SWP-backed Anti-Nazi League, but to my mind he is bang on. His analysis extended into an interrogation of the idea of an English/British identity and how this is used by the right wing press as well as organised fascist groups, and of course by mainstream politicians.

I wanted this part of the day to be much more developed – how do you counteract the promotion of a “white identity” or a “national identity”? Do you:

a) take the piss out of it (by having a pop at middle-Englanders and morris dancing?).

But does this alienate people who have already bought into it to a greater or lesser degree? And do you replace it with anything else? – which brings us to:

b) Try to develop a more inclusive “English” identity – a la “curry and chips”, “reclaiming the Union Jack/Cross of St George”

– beaming faces looking up at you from the clip art produced by your press dept after having gone on their diversity training? Can you do this without appearing tokenistic (all these companies with black people splashed across their brochures, when their board of directors is all white guys in their fifties?). But isn’t an “inclusive” Englishness still basically an excuse for excluding people who are not “English” – i.e. the most recent waves of immigrants, but not those who have been here a while now?

c) Try to replace it with an identity based on class rather than race/nation…

Unfortunately that didn’t happen. What did happen was a series of mind-numbingly awful contributions from the floor, which consisted of the most heinous grandstanding I have ever had the misfortune to witness. Anyone who starts their “question” with “Right, I’ve just come from a meeting where we’ve been …” should be made to leave. The meeting degenerated into a thinly veiled competition to see who could justify their current political activity the best. Presumably this was meant to inspire people to join in or something. But as the “questions” got longer and longer my thoughts and energy began to evaporate. The British Left at play, fucking it all up as usual.

I fled the building with Martin after congratulating the organisers (because overall, I’d had a great time and it was very well organised), introducing myself to Dave Katz and saying hello to Lez.

The day raised so many questions it’s difficult to know where to begin. I learnt a lot about Lewisham 77 and realised how far we are away from anything like a successful mass movement against fascism 30 years later.

Further information is available at the great Lewisham 77 blog.

History is made at night: The great disco debate

On elitism vs utopianism in disco. Great stuff, though I can’t help siding with H.I.M.A.N. on this one. Quite clearly capitalism is glued together by stuff like elitism, hierarchies, celebrity status, etc so it’s hardly surprising that these appear in social movements as well. More interesting to trace the liberatory currents which exist in spite of all the pressure to turn everything into one big shopping mall stuffed with copies of “Hello” magazine. That said, I had to wait until acid house before I felt comfortable setting foot in a nightclub.

Intellectuals with Street Cred?

Over at Mute, the Melancholic Troglodytes review a new book on the lash up between academics and activists in the anti-capitalist movement. I glazed over during the discussions of Negri et al, but there are some great graphics and discussions around DIY cultures like punk, and scathing critiques of certain lifestylist dumpster diving anarchists.

Check out http://lewisham77.blogspot.com/ for some great first person accounts of the events of 77 as well as photos, journalistic reports, video, etc.