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Home
| 1st November
1996 | Issue
97 STOP
THE CITY!
"The
day itself was amazing. There were pickets at over 300 locations
throughout the city. On the Friday a million people stayed away from
work, shutting down the city. There
were scores of
planned and spontaneous demonstrations and rallies." Wot?!
A million people skipping work, attending demos and rallies?
Surely you heard about this, dear reader, a little story covered in
our glorious press so
exhaustively...
No? P'haps we should
fill
you in: Last
week two "Days of Action" by labour unions and community
activists, supported by hundreds of thousands of people temporally
retook Toronto. Since
the election of the Conservative's in June 1995 the government has
proceeded with the same ideological right-wing economic
restructuring as Margaret Thatcher imposed on Britain: huge cuts in
welfare, education, the health system... But
people have had enough and last week decided to take action. "There
was a festive atmosphere
to much of the two
days. We reclaimed the City as our own, asserting a collective power
and joy. Hundreds of of
people are not willing
to just let the
right-wing define the future of Ontario."
Beginning
at midnight last Thursday night (24th) a large turnout shut down the
Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) yards. Except for emergency
service, the public sector was almost totally shut down - including
public transit, the post office, and the garbage collection service.
Many of the workers
that
did cross
the picket line still supported the protest. Some TTC workers took
coffee out to those on the picket line, and refused to take their
street cars or buses across the lines - leaving management little
choice but to accept the inevitable - that there would be no service
despite a court injunction prohibiting the protestors. One protester
said "Shutting down the heavily used transit system was a major
victory, but rather than the traffic chaos predicted by the media,
large parts of the city had a "Sunday morning" feel to it." All
levels of education, from pre-school
day care to universities were also all but closed. State-supported
day care, one of the most threatened sectors, was virtually
non-existent. Much
of the private sector was also affected.
All construction sites, both union and non-union, were shut down and
many factories and other work places gave their workers a day off -
either as a holiday or in exchange for work done at a later date.
Confrontational picketing at the Food Terminal, the main wholesale
market for fruit and vegetables, closed it for much of the day. "Political
passions of activists
have been regenerated and renewed; community groups and the social
movements were given equal billing with the unions." Many
non-union, private sector employees also stayed at home. There were
virtually no arrests, although four people were nicked
after
they attacked picket lines with ball bearings and a sling shot.
In spite of the rantings of the press, it was obvious that many
people decided they could live with the inconvenience. The
international airport took out an injunction to
limit picketing, but
so many people had changed their plans that the two major airlines
ended up cancelling many flights, and flying many empty seats - at
great financial loss. Meanwhile,
at the Stock Exchange, protestors spent nearly an hour shouting
slogans, hammering on the glass barricade above the trading floor
with sticks, leaving a trail of torn paper on the floor. The
protestors eventually left just as the riot squad arrived. The
police presence was minimal, in line with the policy of the Toronto
Police Department, who only interfere if there is violence on a
picket line. The police at the TTC yards merely shrugged when
management brought out the injunction to make the picketing illegal. Reinforcements
had been brought in from outside the city, but it was obvious
that the police were going to keep a low profile. The riot squad
only showed up when a spontaneous march of health workers tried to
enter a Conservative Party Conference! On the
Saturday, a march and rally of 300,000 people left from various
points to gather at Queen's Park. One activist said, "It was a
powerful experience even for those of us disenchanted with rallies.
The numbers
were impressive, but so was the range of people there. Skilled and
unskilled workers,
young and old, marginal and mainstream, people, students, activists,
artists, teachers, poor, women, environmentalists, and the First
Nations (Natives) who, fittingly,
led the march." So
where next?
Action
in Toronto coincided with similar days in four other Ontario cities:
London, Hamilton. Peterborough, and Kitchener-Waterloo & the
success of the
weekend has led to discussion about a province-wide general strike. "The
experience of having seen first
hand the power of
workers to withdraw their labour -
without us the City doesn't run, and then to see tens of
thousands of people marching in common cause,
will, hopefully open many of us up to new political
possibilities."
KINGS
HILL COLLECTIVE
The
Kings Hill Collective - a low-impact sustainable
development site - have been given another reprieve - thanks to the
High Court. The
case is far too complicated for SchNEWS scribes to get their
heads round, but we do know they challenged planning refusal on the
grounds that it went against Article 8 of the Convention of Human
Rights (a right for respect for home and family life) and
won the argument on a
technicality. The Secretary of State (SoS) is likely to appeal, but
in the meantime this will give the collective probably another
year's leave of grace. The
Kingshill
story shows in black and white the government's commitment to
sustainability (like we didn't already know). While 20 benders in a
field were thought by the Secretary of State to be of such national
importance that he called the application in, further down the road
the Hanson owned Whately
Quarry mine was given permission to double in size - becoming the
biggest hole in Europe and swallowing two thirds of the Mendip
Hills. However the SoS did not called in this application as it was
apparently "a local matter". *
'Creating A Sustainable London' is a new report out from the
Sustainable London Trust, co-written by the director of the film
'Metropolis'. Not just critical of the state London is currently in,
but also setting goals which can be achieved. Copies available for
£5 (cheques to Sustainable Trust) 7 Chamberlain St., London, NW1
8XB 0171 722
3710 *
Disputes over land affects us all in different ways. A Bangladeshi
villager shot dead three of his neighbours in a feud over land
rights and ownership of a hen. Police declined to comment, although
they did say that the hen was well! *
Plants for a Future - the people that bring you more edible and
useful plants than you thought possible - have a new catalogue out.
They've also just produced a document outlining their plans for the
creation of a eco-village in the South West of England. The village
will grow its own organic food, fuel
and fabric for clothing, medicines and wood for furniture which will
be made by hand using 'appropriate human scale technology'. There
will be about 100 dwellings with shops, workshops and a school, and
it is hoped it will become a model village for the 21st century.
Send an SAE + 2 stamps for the above to The
Field, Penpol,
Lostwithiel, Cornwall PL22 0NG. * 'Low
Impact Development- planning and people in a sustainable
countryside' - available for £10 Low Impact, 20 St Michael's Rd,
Yeovil,
Somerset, BA21 or
order if from your library. *Want
to visit the New Shoots Vegan Community in Leicester? Contact Chris on
0116 299
3780 INSIDE
SCHNEWS
*** At
the beginning of October, Veronica Jones was jailed in
Philadelphia... after giving a powerful
testimony pointing to the innocence of Black political prisoner Mumia
Abu-Jamal. Jones was sent down after testifying that she had been
coerced by police to retract a statement that she had seen two men
run from the scene of a murder that Abu-Jamal was accused of
committing -alone. While still under oath, she was arrested for an
outstanding warrant - issued more than two years ago in New Jersey -
on alleged fraudulent cheque charges. The Partisan Defence Fund are
raising money for her. Donations to: PDC BCM Box 4986,
London WC1N 3XX ***
SchNEWS received a letter this week from death row prisoner Luis
Rodriguez. He was
sentenced to death in 1978 for the alleged murder of two Californian
cops, despite dodgy evidence and jury misconduct leading to the
judge chucking the case out of court. Write to him: Luis V.
Rodriguez A-4105 #c-33000 PO Box 7500 Crescent City, CA 95532-7500 or donations
to: LV Defence Committee, 417b W, Foothill Blvd., Ste 168, Glendora,
CA 91741, USA *** Alexander Nikitin is currently facing the death penalty in Russia... for blowing the whistle on the appalling state of rusting nuclear submarines and rotting fuel rods in his home state of Murmansk. Nikitin was working for the Bellona Foundation when he exposed the extensive radiological contamination at the Murmansk shipyard and was subsequently arrested and charged with high treason, by Russian secret police. Representatives of the Bellona Foundation in Norway were refused visas to enter Russia, in an aborted bid to defend Nikitin. He now faces an unfair trial and will be either sentenced to life imprisonment or the death penalty if found guilty *** JSA
JOKES
OF THE WEEK
* A
Brighton bloke who has sent to prison for non-payment of fines - has
had his dole cut off. The ever-helpful Employment Service decreed
that he had left his previous job voluntarily! * Another Brighton geezer was refused work sweeping litter on Brighton Marina this week... because he had tattoos. An ex-service man, he was told that visible tattoos weren't de rigeur for Brighton's fair fronts. Personally we can't see anyone wanting to get down to their shirt sleeves on the sea front over the next few months. SchNEWS
In Brief
We can
report that a man robbed a Chicago bank last week... wearing
a Bob Dole mask - shouting "Don't forget to vote" before
making off with
his swag bag. For
unaware readers Bob Dole is the charisma-bypass presidential
candidate trailing way behind Bill Clinton in the American
presidential elections ***
Meanwhile in the Mozambican capital in Maputo, an inept
gunmen shot himself in the testicles after a failed attempt to rob a
shop. As cops moved in, the man reached for a pistol hidden in his
trousers and... *** Two
thirds of the population think that the subsidy currently given to
nuclear power should be switched to fund green energy rather than be
used to cut electricity bills ***
Indian police arrested 16 women, after they stormed a showroom in
Bangalore and smeared goods made by a Miss World sponsor with cow
shit and coal tar, in protest against next month's Miss World
contest! ***
Read, rated and recommended: Danny Penman's new book 'The
Politics of Meat', published by Gollancz @ £9.99. Scary stuff *** Did
you get out of bed an hour early when the clocks went back last
weekend? Pity the Sarajevans, where Moslem controlled parts set back
their clocks an hour while the Croats and Serbs stuck with the old
time. In Mostar, Croats on the west side of Neretva river were an
hour ahead of Muslims on the east bank *** The
anti-far group PETA placed an ad in this month's New Yorker
magazine, making an offer to 'save thousands on furs'.
When people responded, they were sent videos showing animals being
executed, and told that the thousands that could be saved was, in
fact, animals lives. Talk about out-foxed (groan!) ***
Nice one to 300 workers - who held an unofficial strike last Monday
in support of
nine of their mates -
disciplined for leaving work early in order to catch the Newcastle
vs. Manchester United game. And didn't the boys do well? *** As
political election fever hits England (yeah, right) some people have
come up with a poster design we feel many people will agree with.
Featuring Major, Blair and Ashdown with the word 'wankers' printed
underneath, an anonymous group from Bristol aim to send out around
two million of the posters in protest at the oncoming
'breath-takingly boring' election *** The
SchNEWS advises that under no uncertain terms should you ring 0990
501050 - the phone number for the Conservative Party. It apparently
costs the party 10p
every time you make a call... ***
Check out one of the toppest and angriest web sites around, brought
to you from Footie Fans Against the CJA: http://www.urban75.demon.co.uk
*** On
8th November a unique newspaper will be handed out to commuters.
Called the 'Evading Standards' it will look like the 'Evening
Standard', but will tell the story of oil as it relates to the
capital. Want a copy? Call 0171 403 3738 for details. HESELTINE
GETS IT
IN
THE BACK GARDEN II
Remember
this quote? "This is a pockmark compared to what is happening
elsewhere. He's closed all
out mines saying there was no market for coal, yet there's
open cast starting everywhere. It's an insult." Yes, they're
back - the dig-up-Michael Heseltine's
garden anti-open cast
mining crew...
SchNEWS forgot last
week to tell our dear readers of an event that will hopefully warm
the cockles of your heart. In a
deja-vu repeat performance of last year a collection of
environmentalists, union activists, former miners and road
protestors staked out one of the finest lakeside views in the
country and began prospecting for coal. Not
content with digging a 20 by 10 foot borehole, the protestors have also
submitted a planning application to mine 1 million tonnes of coal
from 68 hectares of Heseltine's mineral rich garden. Heseltine has
vowed he would "fiercely oppose" the application, while
Northamptonshire County Council have said they will take the scheme
"very seriously indeed". and
finally...
Remember,
remember the 5th of November... While you are toasting your tootsies
around the bonfire, spare a thought for 19th century activists. In
1858 a formidable party made it's way through Brighton, to the
dismay of local police. "In the ensuing battle several officers
were seriously injured...
[but] managed to
seize one of the ringleaders, but were forced
to shelter with their prisoner in a pub in Trafalgar Street while a
mob of 1,000 pelted them with stones and
broke every window in the house." Hardcore! disclaimer
Subscribe! Keep SchNEWS FREE! Just send 1st Class stamps (eg 20 for next 20 issues) or donations (payable to Justice?) Or if you can afford it ... SchNEWS SUPPORTERS RATE £1 A WEEK. Mark Original if you plan to copy: SchNEWS is post free to prisoners. SchNEWS c/o on-the-fiddle PO Box 2600 Brighton East Sussex BN2 2DX tel/fax: (01273) 685913 e-mail: schnews@brighton.co.uk Next Justice? meeting about direct action conference Monday 4th November. New Kensington, Kensington Gardens 7.30pm Cheers BigEars - Flying Fish
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