Fighting oppression

Black football fans like me know the struggle against racism must be built from the ground up

July 14, 2021

Daniel Rollins, West Yorkshire Socialist Alternative
Defend a democratic campaigning Unite union against the right – vote Sharon Graham

June 22, 2021

International Socialist Alternative members in Unite the Union
Justice for Daniel morgan and all victims of police corruption and violence

June 20, 2021

A Coventry Socialist Alternative member
Sexism: where does it come from and how do we end it?

June 18, 2021

Sarah Wrack
Priti Patel targets victims of capitalism’s ‘refugee crisis’

June 3, 2021

Rob Tetley Socialist Alternative member and support worker for child refugees
Socialist Alternative campaign day a success!

April 12, 2021

Socialist Alternative

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Black football fans like me know the struggle against racism must be built from the ground up

We have received this piece from a member of Socialist Alternative, speaking on their experiences of racism in football and stressing the need for a fighting, working-class approach to fighting racist oppression. If you would like to join Socialist Alternative, leave your details with us today!

31 million people were reportedly watching the Euro finals across the UK on television last Sunday. This doesn’t include the millions more watching on streaming services and further numbers watching in pubs and clubs across the UK. It would be an understatement to say the excitement was tangible for many football fans across the country.

For those of us who weren’t around for the World Cup win of 1966 this was as close as any of us had been to seeing England win a major international trophy. Yet, I had felt increasingly disappointed and disconnected from the England squad year after year. As this tournament rolled on it became a whisper in the ear of many fans that it may be “coming home”. When we got to tread the promised land of the Euro Final, that whisper turned into a galvanising cry of pride.

I enjoyed watching the match in the company of friends and loved ones and while we were all thoroughly engrossed in the game of football where, despite some questionable tactics, Italy were overall the better team and got to enjoy a well-earned victory. The England squad should have nothing but pride in themselves for achieving so much more than those of the “golden era” of their footballing forefathers.

Watching the match, I received a text from a friend telling me that there were some England fans trying to break into Wembley arena and were behaving violently towards stewards and Italian fans. Too distracted with my own emotional investment in the game I naively ignored this possible warning of the toxicity and misdirected anger amongst these fans. When it came to penalties, like the rest of the 31 million plus we were on tenterhooks, and like the 31 million we were disheartened at the result. With football being ultimately just a game we counted our losses and didn’t think any further of it.

With all the pubs and clubs being so full the wait for a taxi was long and during the wait, surrounded by England fans spilling out from these pubs we overheard some disgusting racist comments spewed up by several embittered England fans. Replacing the feelings of goodwill I had from an evening with friends, these bigoted remarks angered and sickened me. It dawned on me that this was going to be a huge issue and there would be more to come.

As a person of colour, I had begun to feel reconnected to the England squad this year and Marcus Rashford played no small role in this. His charity campaign In the Box helped the homeless with essential items over the Christmas period and personally visited homeless shelters with his mother to hand out boxes to those in need. More recently, he campaigned for free school meals for children who needed it after the government claimed they wouldn’t be giving these free school meal vouchers. It took a 23 year-old footballer to feed the needy where a cruel Tory government would let them go hungry. Rashford has shown that with enough grassroots effort and campaigning, change is possible and we can make this world a better place.

The memory of the worldwide Black Lives Matter protests is still strong in the minds of many in and out of the sporting world as the cry for social justice and liberation is still heard from many oppressed people in our community and those overseas. England decided to take the knee in solidarity with Black Lives Matter before each match. The sports men and women fighting for racial equality is a tale many are familiar with. Mohammed Ali refusing to fight in Vietnam, seeing the Vietnamese as brothers with the American black man in a fight against tyranny, black sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising black fisted gloves at the 1968 Summer Olympics and American football player Colin Kaepernick taking the knee during the national anthem to protest racial injustice and police brutality. The Tory government encouraged the England fans to boo the team taking the knee, referring to it as gesture politics. What message does that send to the players and supporters, when those in charge of the country encourage the besmirchment of anti-racism?

These comments from the government are not the direct cause of the racist football fans but put side by side along with the torrent of abuse our black players have faced are a grim indictment of a deep societal problem that has been with us all since before we were born and before our parents were born. It’s a sickness that has trickled down from the top of capitalist society and infected our neighbours and co-workers. The comments against our black players who have served our country proud both on and off the pitch have left me cold yet ultimately unsurprised as our culture is one with a rich history of racial injustice.

You can be black and play so well at your country’s national sport that you make the national team; you play so well that you are as close as any team in decades to winning an international tournament, only to lose by a fraction in the final. Yet, when the opportunity strikes, you are reminded by this racist culture that you’re just an “other” and despite all you’ve achieved and fought for, you’ll never be anything more than that.

The young black child living in a high rise may dream of becoming a footballer on the level of a Rashford, a Sancho or a Saka but seeing this display from the minority of fans can either subconsciously or consciously enforce the idea that he can move heaven and earth but he’s cursed to be black in a white world and cursed to be second class in the eyes of his white neighbours and classmates. To those of us already grown up, it just reminds us that we’re forever destined to be the “other” in a racist capitalist world.

Despite all this, the huge support given to the abused black English players from ordinary people all over the country and from all sections of the community is reminiscent of the Black Lives Matter protests. Then and now black and white have stood together to show the racists they are in a small minority. England and Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings has correctly called out Priti Patel and Boris Johnson who have condemned the racists, whilst refusing to support England players taking the knee. Even some Tory MP’s are openly questioning Johnson’s obvious hypocrisy.

The reaction to the racist abuse suffered by England’s players shows there is a latent movement which can be mobilised to push back racism and begin to tackle the huge and glaring racial inequalities in society. This will not come from Keir Starmer, who described the BLM protests last year as a ‘moment’. Far from being temporary, there is a long lasting legacy in society and especially amongst young people, to tackle racism head on when it rears its ugly head. Socialist Alternative will continue its work to assist in bringing together this disparate majority into a mighty movement which can not only sweep away racism but the capitalist system which feeds off it.

Socialist Alternative says:
- Black Lives Matter! Organise a mass united struggle against racism in all its forms. Rashford stood up for disadvantaged children. Now we must stand in solidarity with him and all football players facing abuse
- Kick racism out of football! Supporters’ groups need to get organised and discuss how racists can be tackled and kicked off the stands
- Racist Tories out! End the scapegoating of migrants and BAME people. Fight for decent jobs, homes and services for all
- Trade unions must take a lead in the struggle against racism, actively building it in our workplaces, communities and on the streets!
- End capitalism – a system founded on racism and oppression. Only the bosses win when workers are divided
- Fight for socialism – Public ownership and democratic planning to build a society for the millions not the millionaires
Defend a democratic campaigning Unite union against the right – vote Sharon Graham

Unite the Union is now at a crossroads. As Socialist Alternative said in its open letter to the Unite general secretary election candidates:

“We have already seen the bosses using the pandemic as a cover for further attacks on workers’ pay and conditions. Unite members have been engaged in battles against scandalous fire and rehire tactics, in the case of Go Ahead in Manchester successfully. In retail and other sectors, a jobs cull is taking place as big business attempts to claw back some of the profits lost as a result of repeated lockdowns. Public sector workers have found themselves on the receiving end of yet another pay cut.

To compound matters, since his election as Labour Party leader, Keir Starmer has rapidly dragged the party to the right, meaning that Unite is funding an organisation which is not a vehicle for struggle. Throughout the pandemic he has more often than not simply acted as a faint echo of Johnson, turning to patriotic flag waving rather than campaigning for policies which would improve the lives of the working class. This has gone in tandem with a remorseless assault on the left, including the removal of the whip from Jeremy Corbyn. The fruits of his approach were seen with the recent local and devolved government elections.

When members cast their vote in this election we need to ensure we do so for the candidate that gives us the best chance of organising industrial and political opposition to the Covid onslaught.”

Threat from the right

We are at a crossroads because the outcome of this election will have a profound effect on the union and its ability to organise. A victory for right-wing candidate Gerard Coyne, which is possible given how close he came in the last election and the huge support he is getting from the right-wing of the Labour Party and the establishment, would represent a massive defeat for the union. Coyne is determined to smash the left within the union, taking to The Sun during the last general secretary election to attack Len McCluskey over his support for Jeremy Corbyn.

This is why Socialist Alternative, along with many other activists, have called for one left candidate as being the best way to stop a Coyne victory. Lessons need to be learned from recent elections in the RMT and Unison, where multiple left candidates have split the left vote and resulted in a right wing victory.

It was known that Coyne would be seeking nomination and therefore it is disappointing that the three left candidates who originally announced they were standing allowed their campaigns to be built to such an extent that it was difficult for any of them to back down. Howard Beckett did eventually announce he was standing down and threw his weight behind Steve Turner.

The fracturing of the United Left – the broad left within Unite – and the multiple left candidates in this election, highlight the urgent need to rebuild a broad left grouping based on the left wing activists, shop stewards and rank-and-file members of the union. Whichever candidate wins, the left will need to be well organised inside the union to either hold them to account or fight-back against any rightward drift.

Support Sharon Graham

Socialist Alternative is calling for a vote for Sharon Graham. Her programme correctly focuses on giving more power to the reps. To be able to effectively hold the union’s leadership to account it is clear that the union’s structures must change to empower the branches. Organising in the workplaces and strong workplace rep structures will be key, as well as holding elections of regional and national officials and negotiating officers. All elected officials and full time officers must receive the average industrial wage and branches should elect delegates to conferences.

Some of the most active forces in Unite, including groups of workers involved in recent strike action, are supporting Sharon Graham. Defeating Coyne is the most important task, and we believe that more of the activists necessary to mounting the kind of campaign are involved in Graham’s campaign. Therefore we believe that the Turner campaign should step down to ensure that the strongest anti-Coyne candidate has a clear run.

Graham’s proposals for industrial strategy are also important. There needs to be a focus on strike action, protest and and lastly the leverage strategy. The scale of attacks on jobs and hard won conditions means that ‘pragmatism’ and a strategy with an emphasis on having the ear of Ministers or CEO’s just won’t cut it. Fire and rehire tactics are a big issue facing Unite members and the victory won by the Manchester bus drivers points to the type of movement needed. As well, there could be coordinated strike action across different employers using the same tactics, as well as coordinated action in the NHS over the 1% pay offer. Retail and hospitality can be decisive sectors in the class struggle in the next period and Unite should allocate resources for organising in these sectors in a serious way, as detailed in Graham’s manifesto.

Unite removed ‘within the law’ from its rulebook to deal with the restrictions of the anti-trade union laws, meaning that it would potentially be willing to break these laws where necessary to organise effective action. However, this hasn’t been utilised. A starting point is for the union to challenge these laws by organising mass resistance to them, including organising mass picket lines. The biggest strength the union has is its members, and their potential power as workers should be used, including in the leverage strategy, which is sometimes separated from the workers in dispute themselves.

The issues facing Unite members also includes the question of political representation for the working class. There should be no more blank cheques given to the Labour politicians who are not standing on the side of the working class. Unite should only back candidates who back our members. Turner attacked the Manchester bus drivers for being critical of Andy Burnham, Labour mayor for Greater Manchester, but they were absolutely correct to raise demands on him.

However, it would also be a huge mistake to conclude that we should adopt an apolitical approach to trade unionism. Unite should not limit itself to the workplace, it must go beyond. We can also play a role in developing a political voice for emerging social movements such as Black Lives Matter, combating gendered violence and climate catastrophe. Those campaigning for Sharon Graham must call for a clear political strategy aligned with a fighting industrial approach, workers need both and we shouldn’t shy away from supporting accountable working class politics both in and outside the Labour Party. It is in this way Unite can play a role in developing a new left political voice for working class people, based on struggle.

Build a mass campaign to get the vote out

The task now is to win the biggest possible vote for Sharon Graham. It will require a mass campaign to win the votes to defeat Coyne and will also serve as a useful springboard for rebuilding an organised left within Unite.

However, at the same time, the left must also discuss how it will respond in the event of a Coyne victory and take necessary steps to prepare for the type of battle which will be needed within the union – on the national and regional structures and in the branches.

After the recent victory of the left in the Unison NEC elections, if there is a victory for the left in Unite too, there will be the potential for turning the tide in the trade union movement and opportunities for building a fighting, democratic worker’s movement.

Pic: “TRANSPORT HOUSE [UNITE THE UNION]-104894” by infomatique is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Justice for Daniel morgan and all victims of police corruption and violence

An independent Panel report on the murder of Daniel Morgan has accused the Metropolitan Police of “institutionalised corruption” spanning over three decades.

Daniel Morgan was a private investigator who ran a firm called Southern Investigations, and in 1987 he was found dead in a pub car park with an axe embedded in his head. The killer attempted to make it look like a robbery by taking his Rolex watch, but didn’t take £1,000 in cash from an envelope in his pocket. He had been writing notes in the pub, but these were not found on his person.

In the weeks before he died, Daniel was working on an investigation into corruption in the Metropolitan Police. He planned to sell the story to a journalist at Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World. He was well-connected – one of his contacts was Alistair Campbell, Tony Blair’s future spin doctor. But the story was never published – Morgan was murdered before it could be.

Daniel’s business partner, Jonathan Rees, quickly became the prime suspect. He was closely linked with corrupt police officers in Catford, and witnesses say he told them Morgan would be murdered within the jurisdiction of Catford Police Station – which he was – and that it would be arranged or carried out by police officers. One of the allegedly corrupt officers, Sid Fillery, was put in charge of the investigation into the murder, and reportedly failed to properly interview his friend Rees in connection with the crime. Witnesses further stated that Rees planned to replace Morgan after his death with Fillery as his new business partner – which he did.

Weeks later Fillery was arrested in connection with the murder, along with Rees and two other police officers. None were charged at the time, and the inquiry stated that the investigation into them was badly mishandled: “Alibis were not sought for all the suspects. The search warrants associated with the arrests were seriously inadequate … Lines of enquiry were not followed through properly. Many of the opportunities which were lost were not retrievable.”

Despite five criminal investigations, an inquest and now an inquiry, no-one has been successfully prosecuted in connection with the murder. The police failed to investigate adequately, leaving the Morgan family to do so alone. The “Untold” podcast tells the story of the murder and subsequent investigation in great detail, and their work with the trade union movement was important in amplifying the story.

The Panel’s verdict was damning on every level of the Metropolitan Police, and vindicates Daniel Morgan and his family’s claims of corruption both at the time and since. In the 1970s and 80s the Met was half-jokingly said to employ more criminals than they caught – the inquiry describes a practice in one department where corrupt officers would leave a brown envelope full of cash on the desk of a newly promoted officer, and if they reported it then their promotion would be cancelled immediately. It also highlights claims that the CID department with which Rees and Fillery were closely associated was “the most routinely corrupt organisation in London”.

The use of informants was also scrutinised as part of the inquiry, as they were often used in a corrupt manner. Unfortunately the panel’s verdict on informants comes too late to impact the recent Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS) bill, which gives informants and undercover police blanket immunity from prosecution for any criminal activity undertaken “in the line of duty” – including rape, murder and torture.

The Panel also raised concerns about the role of the press, particularly the Murdoch-owned News of the World, and its connections with corrupt police officers and organised crime. A warning letter sent by the Panel said that the News of the World was “linked to the criminality associated with the murder”. An early leak in the first investigation has been linked to an allegedly corrupt former officer turned journalist, John Ross, who is suspected of “inadvertently” informing the arrested suspects thus enabling them to destroy evidence. News of the World journalists have been directly accused of intrusive surveillance of DCS David Cook, who was involved in the second investigation into Morgan’s murder. The inquiry states that the “evidence suggests very strongly” that this was arranged by “former DS Fillery and [News of the World journalist] Alex Marunchak with a view to discrediting DCS Cook and/or to intimidate him”. There is also some speculation that the journalist to whom Daniel planned to sell the story about police corruption informed Rees and Fillery about his intentions. The Morgan family have accused Murdoch’s News International of failing to co-operate with the inquiry.

It should come as no surprise that a union-bashing, phone-hacking Murdoch rag would potentially be so closely linked to the murder of someone planning to expose police corruption – this would have threatened their cosy relationship with the bent cops. As disgusting as the phone-hacking scandal was, even hacking the voicemails of a murdered child was just the tip of the iceberg – their “dark arts” included computer hacking, covert surveillance, police bribery, bugging and more. The Government’s refusal to investigate this further despite the evidence uncovered by the Panel demonstrates their own rottenness, and that they are still in Murdoch’s pocket.

The Met’s decades-long failures in this murder, and its failure to co-operate with the inquiry itself were strongly criticised by the Panel. There was a lengthy delay caused by the Met failing to hand over crucial documents – the report was commissioned in 2013, and some documents were not handed over until March 2021. Cressida Dick, the current Commissioner of the Met, was directly responsible for that delay but despite this obvious failure – in a career full of similar disasters – she has already been backed by Home Secretary Priti Patel, and, shamefully, Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

The Morgan family have called for Dick to “consider her position” following these revelations. Given her track record of direct responsibility for the operation that caused the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, and presiding over the Met when a serving officer allegedly murdered Sarah Everard, and the met police then attacked women mourning her death, such calls are very understandable. This is not an organisation that can be changed by one resignation or sacking, however. Dick would be replaced by another senior officer who would continue to run things in the same way – rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic is not the answer.

The corruption addressed in the report spans decades, and the Panel specifically stated that the Met’s denial and concealment of its failings in respect of Daniel’s murder was “institutionally corrupt”. It will take more than the verdict of the Panel to change the Met, however – the Macpherson Report into the murder of Stephen Lawrence found that the Met was “institutionally racist”, and over two decades later it still is.

The “institutionally corrupt” Met, along with all other police forces, must be brought under democratic community control. Corruption and brutality should be dealt with properly by genuinely independent worker-led bodies, with Black, LGBTQ+ and womens’ organisations specifically represented alongside the trade unions. Riot police, Special Branch and undercover units should be disbanded.

To achieve genuine justice for Daniel Morgan and others like him, as well as for all victims of police brutality, we need to build a united working class movement to fight for the end of the capitalist system that the police enforce.

Further reading/listening:

The report of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel

Untouchables: Dirty cops, bent justice and racism in Scotland Yard by Laurie Flynn and Michael Gillard

Untold: the murder of Daniel Morgan – a podcast looking at Daniel’s murder and the investigation into it

“No Justice No Peace” by Johnny Silvercloud is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 – picture credit

Find more events local to you on our branches' Facebook pages

Fighting oppression

Black football fans like me know the struggle against racism must be built from the ground up

Defend a democratic campaigning Unite union against the right – vote Sharon Graham

Justice for Daniel morgan and all victims of police corruption and violence

Sexism: where does it come from and how do we end it?

Priti Patel targets victims of capitalism’s ‘refugee crisis’

Socialist Alternative campaign day a success!

GET INVOLVED!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Black football fans like me know the struggle against racism must be built from the ground up

Defend a democratic campaigning Unite union against the right – vote Sharon Graham

Justice for Daniel morgan and all victims of police corruption and violence