Sussex LRC

Sussex LRC member Jon Rogers responds to Ed Miliband’s plan to change Labour’s trade union link:

Regular readers of my blog will realise that the title of this post isn’t really what is to be expected here.  However, I’ve had occasion to look at the responses from our three largest trade unions to Ed Miliband’s silly little speech earlier today, in which he provided an object lesson in why we need far fewer career politicians with no genuine labour movement experience.

I can’t really see the need to add to what I said yesterday in anticipation of this unfortunate episode except to say that, after listening to the speech, I still went canvassing, or “door knocking” as we now say.

At first glance the response from UNITE looks skilful.  It’s the sort of spin we would normally expect from Progress (the Tory fifth column within Labour) but in an opposite direction.  Essentially, UNITE are trying to interpret what Ed Miliband said in the direction of what Len McCluskey wishes he had said, hoping to frame the debate in order to influence the outcome of forthcoming discussions about the detail.

Unfortunately, it’s not persuasive to anyone who heard what Ed Miliband actually said. It’s quite clear that, like the worst sort of employer, he wants to deal with trade unionists “as individuals” and not collectively, represented by the one with the biggest mouth (perhaps particularly if that mouth belongs to a Scouser).

A softly-softly approach to the talks which McCluskey welcomed so gushingly almost as soon as Miliband had sat down is unlikely to cut much ice.  We can’t out-spin Progress, we need to outnumber them and out-organise them if we are going to defeat their agenda, which is to neutralise what little is left of trade union power in the Labour Party.

Turning to the response from Paul Kenny and the GMB, this is also superficially welcome, being, as it is, characteristically “old school”.  The GMB position amounts to threatening a ballot on affiliation.

Such a ballot could, of course, only be won through a campaign backed enthusiastically from the top of the union.  Therefore, you could take the view that this is shrewd negotiating by a skilled tactician, showing what he is prepared to do if a compromise cannot be achieved.  Or not.

This might be effective if we were dealing with people who cared about the labour movement or the Labour Party – but the Party Leader aims now to become the willing prisoner of people who believe, as Tony Blair did (and does), that the Labour Party was a historic mistake.  Given this, the GMB position will appear to our adversaries as Paul Kenny threatening to saw off the branch on which he is sitting. (The perception of our adversaries may be flawed, but it will influence their response to our actions).

I wondered briefly if these two General Secretaries were playing “good cop, bad cop” but decided that was the script for a low budget “straight to DVD” movie.

So it was something of a relief to come to the UNISON response.  Dave Prentis says, rightly, that this whole issue is a diversion from the real issues which our members expect us (and the Labour Party) to deal with.  It is.

Progress have eagerly led a (perhaps not unwilling) Labour Leader into a well signposted Tory bear trap which has the dual benefit, for a cruel and failing Government of dividing what we have at the moment instead of an Opposition whilst simultaneously diverting attention from their own failings.

If Miliband had felt he needed to comment further he could have responded with references to the many disgraces of Tory funding, as some of us tried to point out in today’s Evening Standard.

He did not need to make today’s speech. He chose to do it.  In doing so he ignored the pressing priorities of working people, to dance to a tune played by the media, in harmony with “Progress” and the Coalition.

The UNISON response is the best of the three both because it is right in its own terms and also because an inscrutable failure even to engage with or acknowledge proposals which you wish had not been made is very often the best opening gambit.

So there you are.  Dave Prentis is right.

Jon Rogers, 9 July 2013

Jon Rogers is a member of Sussex LRC, a member of UNISON’s NEC and the Chair of Hanover & Elm Grove Branch Labour Party in Brighton. He writes here in a personal capacity while taking a break from Labour’s by-election campaign in Hanover & Elm Grove.  Emma Daniel is the Labour candidate going to the polls on Thursday 11 July 2013, seeking to win a seat on Brighton & Hove City Council following the resignation of the sitting Green Party councillor.  As in all public elections, the LRC advocates a vote for Labour.

The NHS turns 65 on Friday 5 July 2013

12.30pm to 1.30pm – Hands Around the Hospital

Royal Sussex County Hospital, Eastern Road, Brighton BN2 5BE

Show your love for the NHS by giving our hospital a birthday hug!

3pm to 7pm – NHS 65th Birthday Party

North Lawns, St Peter’s Church, York Place, Brighton

Followed by screening of Michael Moore’s “Sicko”

Caroline of Brunswick pub, 39 Ditchling Road, Brighton BN1 4SB

Thursday 4 July

Hollingbury Park & Waterhall golf courses

Following their well-supported first strike on 11 June, Greenkeepers are to take a second day of strike action on Thursday 4 July (changed from Weds 3 July) at Brighton & Hove’s Council-owned golf courses – Hollingbury Park and Waterhall.  This is in opposition to 28% staff redundancies plus £4,000 or 20% pay cuts for the remaining workers, being forced through by the Council’s private operator, Mytime Active.  Come along to support the greenkeepers’ pickets at each course from 6am onwards on Thursday 4 July.  Appearances from local Labour Councillors will be especially appreciated, so please ask Brighton & Hove councillors to show their solidarity with the greenkeepers.

Mytime Active describes itself as “the leading social enterprise that changes people’s lives”.  Lives will certainly be changed if these cuts are allowed to go ahead – but not in a good way.  Why are such drastic cuts even being considered when the company’s Chairman began his last end of year statement emphasising that “it was a record year for Mytime Active”?  And why is Brighton & Hove’s Green-led Council allowing a “social enterprise” to spread chemicals to stop natural growth in well-used greenfields, rather than employ a couple of extra greenkeepers to cut the grass?  It’s not like greenkeepers are highly paid like some Brighton & Hove councillors we could mention.

Mytime Active claims to be losing half a million a year on its golf operations in Brighton & Hove.  Locals wonder if the company bid over the odds for the contract on the basis that it would lead to further business with the local authority of a leading south coast sport and leisure resort.  If true, that may imply previous improper conduct at Brighton & Hove City Council.  One alternative explanation is incompetent management by Mytime Active.  Certainly there are no cheaper fees or improved services, as local golfers report big increases in fees, course overcrowding and services, like catering, disappearing from the courses.  Either way, the greenkeepers are not to blame, yet they are being told to pay the price in jobs and pay cuts, while the company enjoys its “record year”.

(c) Bob Embleton

Locals have noticed large areas of land are increasingly being left to become more and more overgrown.  Worryingly this includes the Iron Age Fort on Hollingbury Hill, which is a listed ancient monument.  Reduced manpower means greenkeepers at Hollingbury Park will struggle to carry out the necessary maintenance on this most historic of all Brighton’s sites.  Councillors have so far not chosen to exercise their powers to re-examine the Council’s contract with Mytime Active.  Can the company possibly be fulfilling its obligations when so many staff, golfers and local voters are dis-satisfied?

(c) Nigel Cox

Fencing going-up around certain parts of public land suggests to some that Mytime Active is trying to deter walkers and others from using these valuable, public greenspaces.  An overall impression of a private facility is being created and with recent revelations that the Green-led Council maybe stealthily privatising tennis courts and, possibly, Shoreham Airport, concerns have increased over the future of public access to golf in Brighton & Hove.  Mytime Active has failed to re-institute a young members’ section at Hollingbury Park and has stopped canvassing for members in surrounding local areas, such as the Hollingdean, Hollingbury and Carden Council estates, where many members used to be drawn from.

Brighton & Hove has a long, proud tradition of encouraging access for all to golf which, elsewhere, remains a sport restricted to the wealthy elite.  If Mytime Active cannot sustain either the local greenspaces, or the heritage, or the traditions of golf in Brighton & Hove, it is time for the Council to take management of its golf courses back inhouse.

TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO DEFEND OUR GOLF COURSES & STAFF

If you agree, email Penelope Thompson, Chief Executive of Brighton & Hove City Council via Penelope.Thompson@brighton-hove.gov.uk.  While Jason Kitcat remains Council leader, you can also email him via Jason.kitcat@brighton-hove.gov.uk with your views.  Jason and Penny should be familiar with the passions that a 20% pay cut can stir but you may also want to mention the inevitable effect on course standards of cutting staff.

Mytime Active has said it has received no negative comments from the public on its handling of this dispute.  You can email Steve Price, the Chief Executive of Mytime Active via steve.price@mytimeactive.co.uk and his colleague Bernadette Voller via Bernadette.Voller@mytimeactive.co.uk  Tell them what you think of a “social enterprise” spraying chemicals while cutting jobs and pay as it has a record year.

The strike is now on Thursday – not Wednesday as originally announced; although the greenkeepers appreciate your support everyday.

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Refuse workers and street sweepers at Brighton & Hove Cityclean simply can’t afford the pay cuts that Brighton & Hove’s Green-led City Council is trying to force upon them. Take a pay cut or leave your job is no option.  Despite being some of the lowest paid staff the Council employs, staff were told in May that they would lose up to £95 per week. That led to an unofficial two day strike, followed by a work-to-rule which has had widespread local support.

As Council Chief Executive Penny Thompson and Green Council leader Jason Kitcat continue to insist that these forced pay cuts are essential in order to bring the Council into line with gender equality rules, Cityclean workers have voted by an overwhelming 96% in favour of official strike action, on an 86% turnout.  Consequently, the GMB trades union announced that Cityclean workers will be going on a 7 day strike from 14-20 June 2013, with a march through Brighton & Hove led by GMB General Secretary Paul Kenny on Saturday 15 June and an indefinite work to rule following the strike.

“A 96% vote in favour of industrial action clearly shows that the workforce are determined to fight these unfair cuts…Whilst our members do not take strike action lightly, they have no option but to defend themselves from these savage cuts. At a meeting of the workforce this morning, they have personally asked me to thank the public for the overwhelming support they have received, with over 1,500 residents signing petition on our website and posters in support appearing in windows throughout the City” said Mark Turner, GMB Sussex Branch, speaking on Friday 6 June.

“Employees have delivered over £7.5m of efficiency savings for the council, while maintaining a record satisfaction rating of over 89% in the most recent survey of the public. In return they have been rewarded with three years of pay freezes and now the Council is seeking to implement cuts to their take home pay of up to £4,000 a head.”

“We are not surprised at the result. We urge the council to come back not with words and fluffy lines but with proposals. There are other staff that want to join the action voted on today by CityClean staff and the Council has to realise that workers are angry. We always regret this type of action but it is the result of dogmatic leadership at the Council.”

Shockingly, even before the ballot result was known, evidence emerged that the Council is planning to use contracted agency workers as strike-breakers.  Brighton & Hove City Council Chief Executive Penny Thompson repeatedly said: “The Council has a duty to maintain service provision, to minimise disruption caused by any industrial dispute”.  The easiest way to do this would be to withdraw the forced pay cuts of up to £95 per week and sit down around a table with Cityclean staff, rather than waste taxpayers’ money on offensive scab rubbish depots and ruin the reputation of one of Sussex’s top tourist resorts.

GMB Southern has published its correspondence with Brighton & Hove City Council in relation to the Council’s strike-busting tactics.  It appears that Jason Kitcat has been happy to digitally twiddle his thumbs on twitter, but not to officially reply to a major Council union.  So what is Jason Kitcat being paid for as Green Council leader?  Jason Kitcat is always arguing that councillors should get higher allowances and be paid equivalent to MPs. Well we’d like the right of recall for him now!  Unfortunately, Brighton & Hove only has local elections every 4 years, so this Kitcat can’t be forced to take a break before 2015.  (A major failing in local democracy which is another discussion.)

No strike-breaking commitment

Subsequently, on Tuesday 11 June, Jason Kitcat made a commitment to the GMB trades union that Brighton & Hove City Council would not engage in strike-breaking activities.  His email stated: “This administration will not sanction the use of agency or contract workers to do the regular work of legitimately striking Council staff whilst those staff are out on strike. Accordingly, I am able to announce that all agency workers currently engaged in refuse collection and street cleaning will be withdrawn from service by 10pm on Thursday night, the day before the strike is due to begin, and agency workers will not be deployed in these areas during the strike week.”  This has been welcomed by the GMB as “a small first step for the Council”.  The GMB will now attend talks with the Council.

Support Brighton & Hove Green Keepers

Local greenkeepers took strike action at Hollingbury Park and Waterhall public golf courses on Tuesday 11 June .  Consistent, positive support for the picket line came from golfers, dog-walkers, allotment-holders, motorists and passersby, many of whom also wanted to support the Cityclean refuse workers and street sweepers in their dispute.  Almost all golfers arriving at the Hollingbury picket turned back, a formal “ladies” match was abandoned in solidarity with the greenkeepers, and one golfer who had started play before the picket began made a point of coming to apologise to the greenkeepers as he left.

Golfers have consistently complained about plummeting conditions since “social enterprise” MytimeActive took over the operation and management of these courses in a three year let from Brighton & Hove City Council.  The company has made minimal if any investment into these important greenspaces for Brighton & Hove and is now seeking to cut greenkeepers wages by 20% (average £4,000) and the workforce by 27%.    Steve Price is the Chief Executive of MytimeActive.  You can email steve.price@mytimeactive.co.uk to tell him what you think of these cuts.

Defend our Greenspaces!  Access to All!

Hollingbury was on the map long before Brighton due to its important Roman fort.  Once every local schoolchild would have an annual trip to this ancient monument, now many local children have never visited or heard of it, as so few greenkeepers mean the site cannot be fully maintained, so it’s difficult to work out the geography of the site.   More greenkeeper cuts by MytimeActive further risk our valuable heritage.

And how can Green-led Brighton & Hove City Council sit back and allow its tenant MytimeActive to spread chemicals on the course?  That’s only necessary because 84 less paid staff hours per week mean there’s not enough time to cut the grass.  Non-golfing areas now have fences and high wild grasses, both of which deter the public from using this Council-owned greenspace, meant for public enjoyment.  Email Green Council leader Jason Kitcat, via jason.kitcat@brighton-hove.gov.uk and Council Chief Executive Penny Thompson, via Penelope.Thompson@brighton-hove.gov.uk – to remind them that cuts to greenkeepers damage our golf courses & greenspaces and stop our access to them.

Mytime seem to be trying to turn Hollingbury Park into an elite private course, most likely so they can further increase fees to local members, with charges having already increased dramatically during their let, despite worsening services, course overcrowding and fewer amenities.  The junior members section at Hollingbury no longer exists and the Club has stopped actively seeking new members from the neighbouring Council estates.   The Council-owned courses at Hollingbury Park and Waterhall have ensured that all people can play golf in Brighton & Hove.  Golf has always been an ordinary sport in Brighton & Hove.  We must not let it become ever more elite, as it is elsewhere in the UK.  Keep golf as a sport with access for all.  Support the greenkeepers. Their fight is our fight too!

In addition, the Council’s home maintenance staff held a ballot on industrial action on Friday 7 June.

So many unhappy staff suggests that there’s a major problem with leadership at Brighton & Hove City Council.  Charles Harrity, Senior Organiser with GMB Southern said at Brighton Fringe on Saturday 11 May: “Give us your support and we’ll give you as much leadership and as much determination as we can possibly muster.”  It looks like this is going to be tested in the coming weeks and months in Brighton and Hove.

Support the Cityclean workers!  Sign the petition against these draconian cuts,  donate to the strike fund (immediately below main story) or to the GMB’s Regional Dispute Fund, and listen to the Cityclean workers themselves, as well as to a thumping speech from GMB Regional Secretary Paul Maloney.  Pay should be equalised up, not trampled down.  Council Chief Executive Thompson has suggested that the funding gap may be as low as £440,000, which could easily be funded by a cap on the salaries of the highest paid staff.  As Christine Robinson, vice-Chair of Brighton, Hove and District Labour Party, has said: “For anybody here in this Labour Party who can actually condone an up to £4,000 a year cut to Council workers, I suggest you get up and leave now”.  We agree!

Watch GMB Cityclean at Brighton Fringe – 11 May 2013

Speeches by Cityclean worker Rab McKenna and Christine Robinson of the GMB and Brighton, Hove and District Labour Party, filmed just after the two days of unofficial action by Cityclean workers.

Background to the Cityclean dispute provided by Charles Harrity, Senior Organiser at GMB Southern and his colleague Rob Macey – Senior Organiser covering Political, Legal & Campaigns. This clip has them both speaking off camera, but is informative and worth a listen for some great quotes.

The Q&A session gave some more background on the dispute, a short discussion of the divide and rule tactics tried by Green-led Brighton & Hove Council, ways to provide practical support for the Cityclean workers (the meeting collection was given over to the strike fund), and a message to Jason Kitcat direct from Captain Swing.

Solidarity greetings, support & admiration from Unite Community Organiser and journalist Ellie Mae O’Hagan to Brighton & Hove’s courageous Cityclean workers.

Gove Must Go!

7pm, Wednesday 29 March

Friends’ Meeting House, Ship Street, Brighton BN1 1AF

£4 waged, £2 concessions, UCU free

Sky high tuition fees, university services contracted out for private profit, “under-performing” students turned away by academies, GCSEs rubbished, curriculum chaos… Gove has brought pandemonium to education. We say: Save Our Schools!

Gove seeks to privatise the entire state education sector, with free schools grabbing treasured local fields, schools forced to become academies with no local democratic control, and post-16 education increasingly commercialised. Teachers, students & parents must unite to defend state education.  Hear speakers leading the defence of state education:

 Veronica Killen  – UCU National Executive (Higher Education) and Councillor Warren Davies – NUT representative at William Parker Sports College in Hastings, are joined by anti-privatisation campaigners from Sussex University: Maia Pal – Sussex UCU and Michael Segalov – Sussex Against Privatisation.

The Coalition is pressing ahead with the privatisation of post-16 education

Access to post-16 education is being restricted as the Coalition pushes up university fees to some of the highest globally, and charges full fees for over-24 year olds studying level 3 and above in colleges. Students expect more but fees only partially fill a gap left by reduced public spending. The world’s 7^th richest nation, the UK is one of the lowest spenders on post-16 education through general taxation. Pressure is mounting on college and university staff suffering pay cuts, rises in pension contributions, work overload, increased casualisation and redundancies. The Coalition deliberately seeks to turn the clock back on education as Veronica Killen will discuss.

United together we can halt this assault on state education

The brilliant anti-privatisation campaign at Sussex University has shown we are strong when we stand together.  Outsourcing of many university services threatens 235 jobs without any meaningful consultation.  Campus workers, academic staff and students united in a campaign which has gathered huge local, national and international support, captured media attention and galvanised the anti-privatisation movement with its imagination and persistence.  Maia Pal and Michael Segalov will discuss the anti-privatisation campaign and the student occupation of the University’s conference centre, which united town and gown as never before.

Stand with teachers to fight academies

William Parker Sports College in Hastings illustrates the national threat posed by academies.  OFSTED “special measures” moved the school to a forced academisation.  Privateer ARK expects teachers to work additional hours for less than the minimum wage, offering contracts outside national pay and conditions standards for teachers. The academisation process is so secretive that teachers were forced to strike simply to win a seat at the negotiating table. 

Warren Davies will speak as NUT representative about the continuing dispute at William Parker, the lack of local democratic oversight to prevent things going wrong in academies, the loss of local assets and future restrictions on community use of school buildings, the right of students to be taught by qualified teachers, and why private owners shouldn’t control any academy’s curriculum. 

Simultaneously, primary schools in Bexhill find themselves downgraded by OFSTED and “advised” to become academies.  In Portslade an academy has been turning students away who are deemed to be underperforming and, in Hove, Gove wants to allow the religious Kings School to build a new free school on BHASVIC Field – the only available greenspace 4 local schools can use for their sports.  It’s Hove vs Gove – and it’s Gove who must go!

Make sure you arrive early this Wednesday, 22 May for our upcoming Brighton Fringe event: Are Tax Dodgers the Real Scroungers?  We’re delighted to announce that tax expert Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK joins Katy Clark MP and Mark Serwotka of PCS trades union, to complete our panel at this meeting.  Richard replaces Owen Jones who, sadly, has had to withdraw.  The meeting will be starting promptly at 7pm at Community Base, Queens Road, Brighton, with doors opening by 6.30pm so ticketholders don’t have to miss any of this exciting event.  All tickets have sold out for this meeting.

Next, we’re delighted to announce that Chris Ford of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain will be joining the panel for our 2pm screening of Secret City at The Brighthelm Centre, North Road, Brighton on Saturday 25 May.  Chris will talk about the struggle of cleaners fighting to be paid the Living Wage by bankers in the City of London and elsewhere.  Already announced, Secret City’s writer/producer Dr Lee Salter completes the panel to talk about the making of the film and the need to reform London’s secretive and allegedly corrupt financial services sector.

With Secret City named Best Documentary at the London Independent Film Festival, we’re really excited to be screening this top film as part of our Brighton Fringe events – doors open at 1.30pm with the film starting at 2pm.  Watch the trailer then buy your tickets because this is one film you really don’t want to miss.  Secret City has left audiences raving wherever it’s been shown. Find out more about Secret City on facebook then come along to find out more about the City of London, the Corporation that runs it, and the economic crisis.  Tickets still available.

Finally, at 7pm on Wednesday 29 May we are at the Friends’ Meeting House pressing the need to Defend Free State Education For All! with Christine Blower of the NUT, Veronica Killen of UCU and Maia Pal from Sussex University’s anti-privatisation campaign.  We hope to announce soon that another speaker will be joining this panel.

Tickets for all our Brighton Fringe events are available via the Brighton Fringe Box Office online or on 01273 917272 or via the National LRC or direct from us.  For Secret City, if you buy tickets in advance from Sussex LRC, we’re offering groups of trades union members, including NUS, a price reduction to £6/£3 where 5 or more members buy tickets in advance together.

You can now take a look at our photos  from our 11 May meeting 2013 Conversations with Tony Benn featuring Ellie Mae O’Hagan and representatives from Brighton & Hove’s Cityclean workers: Rab McKenna and Christine Robinson. We shall upload the video footage from this meeting soon.  Meanwhile, John McDonnell MP continues to recuperate following his surgery that day and has publicly praised the care he received as NHS treatment “at its finest”.

We hope to see you at our remaining LRC events during Brighton Fringe 2013.  Full information on all these events is available from Brighton Fringe or from us.

Secret City has been named Best Documentary at the London Independent Film Festival.  We’re really excited to be screening Secret City at the Brighthelm Centre on Saturday 25 May as part of our Brighton Fringe events – doors open at 1.30pm with the film starting at 2pm.  Watch the trailer then buy your tickets because this is one film you really don’t want to miss.  Secret City has left audiences raving wherever it’s been shown. Find out more about Secret City on facebook then come along to find out more about the City of London, the Corporation that runs it, and the economic crisis.

After the screening we host a Q&A, so you’ll also have the chance to question director Michael Chanan, writer/producer Lee Salter and key contributor John McDonnell MP, about Secret City, the making of the film, and the need to reform London’s secretive and allegedly corrupt financial services sector.  This should be a top event for everyone, but especially media studies students, film buffs and political campaigners.

Tickets for all our Brighton Fringe events are available via the Brighton Fringe Box Office online or on 01273 917272 or via the National LRC or direct from us.  For Secret City, if you buy tickets in advance from Sussex LRC, we’re offering groups of trades union members, including NUS, a price reduction to £6/£3 where 5 or more members buy tickets in advance together.

Of course, we are also delighted that Tony Benn is returning to join us at Brighton Fringe.  The big event is at the Brighthelm Centre on Saturday 11 May; doors open at 1.30pm and the conversation starts at 2pm.  As a taster, watch Tony on great form when he came down to Brighton with us last year.  Tax Justice campaigner, journalist and Unite Community activist Ellie Mae O’Hagan will be sharing the platform with Tony.  See Ellie in action in this 2011 video of some tax protesters taking an alternative approach to direct non-violent action.

Tony & Ellie will be joined by National LRC Chair John McDonnell MP.  We have asked them all to reflect on what we can do to ensure that the Labour Party makes a real difference to people’s lives.  This meeting will happen almost exactly 24 months before the next election.  As one Labour voter said to us – we have 24 months to save Labour.  We look forward to hearing what they and you will suggest.

The action all kicks-off at Community Base at 12 noon on Saturday 4 May, when we ask you to drop-in to our May Day Memories free event. Come along before 5pm to share your memories of protests and struggles, past or present, and add your voice to the record.  Later, on 22 May we are back at Community Base asking Are Tax Dodgers the Real Scroungers? with Katy Clark MP, Mark Serwotka of PCS and the journalist Owen Jones.  Finally, on 29 May we are at the Friends’ Meeting House pressing the need to Defend Free State Education For All! with Christine Blower of the NUT, Veronica Killen of UCU and Maia Pal from Sussex University’s anti-privatisation campaign.

We hope to see you at our LRC events during Brighton Fringe 2013.  Full information on all these events is available from Brighton Fringe or from us.  If you like what you see, you can still buy a bargain all-in-one pass covering all events for £20 waged or £10 concessions but only direct from us.

This was just one of the chants that rang out along Brighton seafront and around the Old Steine on Sunday 21 April 2013 as a miserable group of no more than 200 racists and fascists were comprehensively rejected by thousands of locals standing together, united in agreement that “from the Downs to the sea, Brighton will be fascist free”.

(c) Phil Kaller

In addition to the huge seafront crowd – who were more loosely held between lines of police, pens and steel fencing on the Upper Promenade – hundreds more protesters were trapped on the other side of a police kettle in Old Steine, with yet more caught behind street barricades erected at the south end of every road from there through to Middle Street.  It was heartening to see anti-racist protesters in every direction as far as the horizon, but there were also totally over-the-top lines of police: with horses, dogs, countless vans and those very offensive barricades.

Access to the Palace Pier and seafront attractions was allowed only to racists, fascists and their police escorts.  Local protesters and traders were equally livid on the first warm, sunny Sunday of the year.

A wall of police greeted local anti-racist protesters on arrival at Brighton seafront.  Protesters numbered thousands.  The racists and fascists were a couple of hundred if that, bussed in from outside, but protected with a police guard reported to number 700.  It’s not yet clear who authorised this massive police operation, which was more dramatic than anything locals can remember, even from the 1984 IRA bombing of Tory party conference.  Many are wondering about the new Tory Police & Crime Commissioner, whose previous experience was as a school governor at the elite Roedean public school.

On Sunday protesters were left asking: how many police officers does it take to protect a racist?  Central Brighton seafront, covering Brighton’s leading tourist attractions, was turned into a police state so that racists could walk a few hundred metres from the Palace Pier to Middle Street and back again. Someone has to explain why local residents, united in opposition to all aspects of this operation, must now pay for this abhorrence.

Street barricades, erected and staffed by police, blocked access to Brighton seafront.  Shops and businesses in the wrong areas had been forcibly closed. Hotels had locked their doors to non-residents, while residents had to prove their identity to security guards.  All this on the false premise of violence last year – when the very few confirmed incidents were police hitting a local union official and pepper-spraying protesters standing their ground against racists, plus a litterbin set on fire by youths late in the day.  Thus infringements of civil liberties in 2012 have been manipulated to excuse the curtailment of local protest on a massive scale in 2013.  This is a serious and chilling development.

(c) Phil Kaller

One small group of racists was given a police horseguard during an afternoon tour of the streets of Brighton. Funny how they got to walk where they wanted, while most protesters were kept in a kettle at the Old Steine or had their paths blocked at every turn.

Police allowing racists to roam led to flashpoints.  In East Street, locals and street-traders simply asked why racists didn’t self-apply their policy to “go home”.  Local rag, The Argus, typically exaggerated such incidents and hyped-up arrests, while initially downplaying the military-style police presence on Brighton’s streets.  A more balanced report was given by ITV News yet there has been no mainstream coverage of the 9 photojournalists who were stopped and searched under anti-terror laws before even reaching Brighton centre.  Although seen by many, the video of this damaging incident was taken down from You-tube on Monday 22 April.

(c) Sanj

Police appeared keen to detain anti-racist protesters, such as this group kettled in West Street, who were seemingly held so that racists and fascists could enjoy a drink in Molly Malones – a pub everyone should boycott in future.  Questions must also be asked of the companies that transported the racists into Brighton. We hear that one was Sussex Coaches. Use info@sussex-coaches.co.uk to let them know what you think of their business plan.

(c) Alice Bell

“I am just like you – I am human” Brighton’s street art sums up the town’s reputation for celebrating diversity, demonstrating the benefits of a multi-cultural society and giving a warm welcome to everyone except racists and fascists.  Whether collectively or individually, “Whose streets? Our Streets!” was roared by thousands of protesters at racists throughout the day, stressing the unity of locals in repelling racists from our towns.

Once again it is clear that racists and fascists are not welcome in Brighton & Hove.  Local people want to know why their towns are allowed to be the target for this annual march by a small group with no known links to the area.  The racists marched for nothing, now local people are being told that we must pay a price: either in terms of restrictions on future protest or an increase to our Council Tax.  We don’t trust two Tory MPs with dubious records to resolve these issues. Do you?

For a generation or more the Left has been reluctant to apply the label “fascist” to the far right and racists, for fear of de-basing the seriousness of the fascist threat.  This reluctance has been swept away on the tide of Coalition divide and rule tactics, as this government exploits hate, prejudice and fear arising from the world economic crisis, to force through its ideological crusade to reverse the welfare state.  Combined with the rise of neo-fascist groups, such as Golden Dawn in Greece, this has engendered both a sense of foreboding but also of determination.

Last Sunday Brighton & Hove demonstrated that people standing united together have tremendous power.  Late in the afternoon around 1,000 anti-racists needed no police protection on an impromptu march from the Old Steine to the railway station.  Leave the racists to the people: we can deal with them just through weight of numbers – we don’t need any armed police guard.

Unity is strength!  For we are the many – they are the few.

Stop the “March for England”

Sunday 21 April 2013

Meet: 11am Palace Pier, Brighton seafront

As Lewes resident Tom Paine famously said, “My country is the world… my religion is to do good” Today residents of Brighton & Hove and anti-racists from across Sussex will put this into practice as we come together to oppose the far right’s so-called “March for England”.  It is at least ironic that this occurs as one of the most popular Britons ever, Mo Farah – a symbol of the benefits to our society of tolerance and multi-culturalism – runs in the London Marathon.  It will be to our shame if Brighton & Hove does not put on as great a display of unity in rejecting the racists this year, as we did peacefully and overwhelmingly in our thousands in 2012.

Please join the protest against the racists marching through our towns.  Meet from 11am on by the Palace Pier on Brighton seafront.  Ignore the alarmist slant put on the statement by Sussex Police in our local rag The Argus.  Last year many thousands of protesters witnessed nothing but joyous and peaceful rejection of racism.  Indeed the day was by far the most uplifting and empowering occasion that most of us had ever participated in, as the racists were rejected by the people of Brighton & Hove standing united together.

If you can’t make it to Brighton to join in telling the far right they’re not welcome here, then please sign the petition against racism.  We reproduce the Brighton Unity Against Racism Statement below, which Sussex LRC was proud to help write and co-sign.

“Brighton is a brilliant and vibrant city where many people of different cultures, backgrounds, abilities and faiths come together. It has a positive and unique character which its residents enjoy and embrace. Brighton people live here in the knowledge that they will be valued and that the things which make each individual different are celebrated here – not despised. We take great pleasure and pride in being surrounded by humanity in all its exciting diversity.

Because of this it is very saddening to discover that the far right group March for England, which is a division of the violent and racist organisation the English Defence League, is to march in Brighton (in April 2013).

When groups like this come to Brighton it is because our multicultural city in all its diversity proves that their own doctrine of hate is wrong, and they want to damage our unity. That is why we stand together: black, white and Asian; people of all faiths and of no faith; trade unionists; people of different political persuasions; University, school and college students; people of all abilities; whatever our sexuality.

In Brighton we all stand together. And when someone tries to threaten our community we must stand together even more firmly.”

A full list of the initial signatories can be found below the statement here.

Lastly, here’s something to keep you moving from 80s favourites Heaven17.  See you at 11am by the pier.

The Waiting Miner – the memorial to Kent miners placed at the site of the former Betteshanger colliery, the last mine to return to work in 1985.  Sussex folk won’t forget supporting Kent miners during the Miners’ Strike of 1984-5. We collected food and money around our communities and joined the pickets when attempts were made to bring scab coal in through Shoreham Harbour. We learned lessons about Tory lies then which we haven’t forgotten, nor will we.

All miners deserve to be remembered, but the miners of Kent are often overlooked.  Find out more about the Kent ex-miners community.

There have been many suggestions of things to do on Wednesday 17 April 2013.  We’ve picked out a few:

If you’re not already a member of one, join a TUC-affiliated trades union, but don’t just join, get active.

Support the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom – trades unions must be freed from the shackles of the UK’s anti-union laws

Support the Durham Miners Gala, one of the great annual celebrations of the labour movement, which is appealing for friends to help it continue.

Listen to Gresford The Miners Hymn and try to get it trending on twitter

When the TV gets too much for you, watch Glenda Jackson MP giving the People’s Tribute

Wear red

Listen to David Douglas, former miner

Watch The Battle for Orgreave

See the last screenings of The Spirit of ’45 at Dukes at Komedia in Brighton at 3.45pm today.

Protest Thatcher’s Legacy with Brighton, Hove & District Trades Council 6pm at Brighton Clock Tower

At 8pm, celebrate a life by having a Memorial Drink for Clement Attlee at the Setting Sun pub, 1 Windmill Street, Brighton BN2 0GN

Join the LRC!  And buy your tickets for Sussex LRC events at Brighton Fringe via tab above or now through Paypal.