Stop,Look,Listen…my weekly selection of favourite films, books and events to get you out of the house

Watch…Good Vibrations…and discover an aspect of 70s Belfast that is not well known…the punk scene and one man’s struggle to bring some life into a bombed out city. His name was Terri Hooley and he ran a record shop and record label called Good Vibrations. Together with the kids he created a punk community determined to breathe life into their society and to try and negate some of the hardships of living in an occupied and war torn city. On his record label he signed one of my favourite bands, the Undertones. The shop still continues, so if you are in Belfast……

Look at…the new video piece by Yoshua Okon called OCTOPUS. Staged at the Los Angeles version of B&Q, the Home Depot, the artist got former Guatemalan soldiers to act out their military past. Guatemala has a bloody and violent past with over 30 years of a civil war,  including genocide against the Mayan community, and widespread human rights violations. Many Guatemalans now work in LA as day labourers and it was in the Home Depot where they search for work that the artist found the participants for his project.  There is something really eerie about this video, partly due to it being projected against four walls, but also that it was shot alongside your everyday shoppers in a parking lot. See what you think…….

Support the train  cleaners…invisible to passengers and paid peanuts by the companies who employ them. The RMT are raising the case of the cleaners on Arriva Wales who have outsourced the work to  a private company called Churchill’s. Like most of these companies,  they are a profitable firm,   but are refusing to give the workers a pay rise in line with inflation, who, like most low wage workers,  are seeing their real wages fall. RMT believe that it is  only if this work is brought in-house by Arriva Wales that this exploitation will cease. It is also calling on the Welsh government to get involved and to support the workers’ demands. You can support the cleaners by signing this petition at

Seek justice for Orgreave miners…The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign is seeking truth and justice for all miners victimised by the police at the Orgreave Coking Plant, South Yorkshire, on June 18th, 1984.Orgreave is part of the pattern of cover ups and lies by the police from many different forces, which are now being exposed. The campaign  calls for a full public inquiry, to take place as soon as possible, into the policing and subsequent statements recorded by the police at the time .It asks that everyone who seeks the truth and wants justice to support the campaign see

Oppose victimisation…many trade unionists face victimisation for  standing up for the rights of their members,  but UNITE activist Steve Acheson has done more than most to expose the illegal blacklisting of workers by employers, particularly in the construction industry.  He and others have been blacklisting for trying to ensure a safe working environment for workers in one of the most hazardous industries, or for trade union activity. Steve has been protesting outside Fiddlers Ferry power station since he was sacked from his job there in December 2008 as a result of being on the blacklist as a “troublemaker”.  He’s faced every sort of harassment – even having to fight off charges under anti-terrorism legislation to defend his right to protest.

Steve’s stand led to the blacklisting Consulting Association being raided by the Information Commissioner over offences against the Data Protection Act.  Its manager, Ian Kerr, gave evidence before a House of Commons inquiry a few months ago.  Kerr promised to give further evidence in private about matters involving the security services, but his sudden and unexpected death prevented him doing so.

There is an appeal to raise £25,000 to avoid Steve losing his home as a result of the illegal conspiracy to deny him work. Please make a donation to “Fiddlers Ferry Hardship Fund”  which can be sent c/o Warrington Trades Union Council, 6 Red Gables, Pepper Street, Warrington, WA4 4SB.

For more information see the Blacklist Blog.

Show your support… for the Morning Star, the only left wing daily in Britain, at the Ordinary Rebels Morning Star Social on March 28th from 7pm at 3 Minute Theatre. Join comedian Dave Puller, poet Alex keelan and singer Claire Mooney for an evening of folk music, stand up poetry and satirical sketches. Only £3! See for further information

Keep Our NHS Public protest …..on the Ist of April the NHS is going through a massive change and one that many of us are not happy with, so to mark our determination to challenge the new regime join us on 2nd April, 7.30am Cornbrook Metrolink, 7.45am Media:City Metrolink, 8am outside BBC building Media:City.. Join us at those times en route if you can’t make it to Cornbrook for 7.30am.
We’ll be leafleting commuters on the way.
A community choir will join us at Media City and everyone is urged to bring
NHS-related fancy dress for a bit of street theatre outside BBC building.
Let’s make this as lively and photogenic as possible!
We appreciate it’s early, but please do try to get along.
Organised by KONP Greater Manchester – supported by GMATUC/Greater Manchester Against Cuts.

International Women’s Day: Inspiring Women for the 21st Century

For the sisters, mothers, friends and lovers

Who would not accept defeat

Who’ve been cut by broken promises

Been pounded by deceit

And still hold out for justice

Against brutality…….

Hitting Home by Claire Mooney  from her CD Slow Riot 1997

On International Women’s Day 2013 I would like to dedicate this post to three women whom I think live up to the spirit of this day. International Women’s Day was proposed by two German socialist women, Luise Zietz and Clara Zetkin, at the Socialist Womens conference in 1910 and was first celebrated on 19 March 1911.

It was organised by word of mouth and debates took place about the role of women and their right to vote. It was a very successful day. Across the country meetings were organised in small towns as well as big cities. So many women attended that the men had to give way to the women and looked after the children, whilst the women went to the meetings. Over 30,000 women attended a street demonstration and, when the police tried to take the women’s banners, the women fought back.

Clara Zetkin believed that it was only working class women and men campaigning together who could change society and bring freedom and equality to all people.

In 2013 life can be really depressing and, even for those of us who have always been active in some kind of political struggle, we need inspiration to continue to oppose the attacks being made on our public services and our way of life. Here are three women who have led lives devoted to opposing injustice and inequality. They are ordinary women who led (or are still leading) extraordinary lives. They show that we can all make a difference to society – but we can only do it if we get together with other women and men. Happy International Women’s Day!

Hannah Mitchell

Hannah Mitchell

She was born on 11 February 1871, one of six children, on a remote farm in Derbyshire. Clashing with her mother, who stopped Hannah from going to school, she left home at 14 years to start a life of domestic service. Fortunately her employer had a good library which she devoured. Domestic work was not for her and, because she had good sewing skills, she left and went to work as a seamstress.

Hannah’s working life taught her many lessons about the limited opportunities for young working class women, the slavery of service – both domestic and factory – and the low wages which meant she often went without meals. But her new freedom did allow her to choose her own friends, develop her education through reading and begin a career in radical politics.

Hannah’s move to Bolton changed her life. She met Gibbon Mitchell, a tailor, member of the Fabian Society and founder member of the ILP. Together they pursued their politics, and Gibbon supported her in her fight for women’s right to vote in the years from the end of the 19th Century to the First World War.

Hannah, Gibbon and their son moved to Elizabeth Street in Ashton-under-Lyne where she began her life’s work;
It seems to me now, looking back, that all my previous life had been a preparation for this great experience. While indirectly it caused me much sorrow, it brought me many contacts which have immeasurably enriched my life.

Hannah became involved with the Pankhursts, the Women’s Social and Political Union and the Suffragettes. She was a good speaker, who wasn’t put off by hecklers or the violent behaviour of a minority of people who attended her meetings. She was employed as an activist and organiser for the WSPU, which involved everything from speaking at parliamentary by-elections to organising campaigns and going to prison.

The intensity of the work led to Hannah having a nervous breakdown and having to withdraw from the campaign whilst she recovered.

Hannah’s belief in pacifism meant that she broke from the Pankhursts over their support for the First World War. The years following the war saw the victory of the campaign for the vote. Hannah and Gibbon continued their political life in the ILP and in 1924 she was elected to Manchester City Council.

As a councillor she worked hard to improve the lives of working class women including building a local wash house where women who did not have bathrooms or wash-house facilities could use.

After retiring from the council in 1935 she continued to speak at womens’ meetings and the Co-operative Womens Guild. Hannah had always wanted to write and now she had the time and wrote stories about everyday life which were published in Labour’s Northern Voice.

Before she died in 1956 she wrote her lifestory: The Hard Way Up; the autobiography of Hannah Mitchell, Suffragette and Rebel which was not published until 1968.To buy it see

Bernadette Devlin McAliskey

Bernadette Devlin, 1969

She was born 23 April 1947 in Cookstown, County Tyrone, in the Six Counties of Northern Ireland, one of six children. Her father was a carpenter who couldn’t find work in Northern Ireland, so he lived, worked and sadly died in England, aged just 46. Her mother died at the same age and Bernadette became the legal guardian for her 15 year old brother, whilst she was a student at Queen’s University in Belfast.

She said about her life:
If it hadn’t been for the fact that I had an essentially Christian background from my mother,poverty would have made me bitter rather than socialist, and what I know of politics would have made me mad Republican.

From The Price of My Soul by  Bernadette Devlin,  1969

In 1968 Bernadette became involved with the growing Civil Rights Movement in the Six Counties, a movement that called for the right to vote, fair electoral boundaries, freedom of speech and assembly, repeal of the Special Powers Act and a fair allocation of jobs and houses. It was part of a world-wide protest movement of massive anti-war Vietnam marches , workers and students striking and rioting in France and sit-ins in Universities across Britain.

The reaction of the Royal Ulster Constabularly to the marches organised by the CRM was to violently attack the demonstrators. This galvanised the movement and within twelve months sent tremors through the Northern Ireland government and the Labour Government in Westminster.

Bernadette and her student comrades set up their own organisation, Peoples Democracy, which went on to organise more marches and leafleting. She became one of the leading figures.

In April 1969 Bernadette was elected to the House of Commons at the age of 21 years and was the youngest woman MP. She stayed as an MP until 1974.

Being an MP did not stop her political activity, she took part in the Battle of the Bogside when the residents, faced with loyalist marchers and a sectarian RUC, defended their area for three days until the British government intervened and replaced the RUC with the British Army.

Bernadette was convicted of incitement to riot and served a prison sentence. In 1971 she had her daughter Roisin and two years later she married Michael McAliskey.

Over the years she has been involved in various left organisations, including Irish Republican Socialist Party. During the Hunger Strikes in 1981 she stood as an independent candidate and she was a leading spokesperson for the Smash the H-Block Campaign. In January 1981 Ulster Freedom Fighters shot her and her husband in front of their children, despite a secret British Army surveillance on their house. Three people were arrested and jailed for the attempted murder.

Bernadette was, and remains critical, of the Good Friday Agreement and the creation of the power sharing executive in Northern Ireland. Her views have not changed, and history has shown that the power still lies with Britain. She believes that only a socialist republic can deliver justice and equality to all the peoples in Ireland.

In January this year she spoke at the 41st anniversary of Bloody Sunday. On that day in 1972 13 innocent people were killed by British soldiers in Derry. The Saville Inquiry confirmed this, but the report failed to expose or even attempt to explain, the role of Edward Heath’s Tory government and British army chiefs in the events of Bloody Sunday and the subsequent cover-up. In her speech Bernadette linked Bloody Sunday with the Miners’ Strike in 84-5, and the Hillsborough campaign, other tragedies where the Government have consistently covered up the truth, and the families and supporters have had to campaign for years to prove the innocence of their children or friends. She also confirmed her lifelong view of politics: that it is only when people get together to oppose injustice that they will produce a better society.

Let’s look at the endurance of the families who have held this fight. Let’s look at the endurance of Marian Price and Martin Corey and the others and let’s say to ourselves: we have got to get a political programme together here and get the struggle for civil rights, political rights, social rights and economic rights together or we are in, comrades and colleagues, for one hell of a hiding.
To read the full speech go to

Bernadette McAliskey Photo by Stephen Latimer

 

Selma James

Selma at the recent disabled peoples protest

She was born 15 August 1930 in Brooklyn, New York. She worked in factories and then became a housewife and mother. At 22 years she wrote A Woman’s Place and became a regular columnist in Correspondence, a newspaper written by its readers with pages dedicated to women, black people and young people. She said about A Woman’s Place:

When the pamphlet was published I took it into work with me and sold a few copies to the women I knew in the factory. ……It was entirely new then for the opinions of a working class woman, especially a housewife to be published, even by a socialist organisation.

In 1955 she married CLR James who had been deported from England during the McCarthy period. Not just a married couple, they were close political allies for over 25 years.

From 1958 to 1962 she lived in Trinidad with CLR James and they were active in the West Indian movement for independence, after which they returned to England. Selma became the first organising secretary of the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination in 1965 and also founded the Black Regional Action Movement and was editor of its journal in 1969.

In 1972 she founded the International Wages for Housework Campaign and in 2000 Selma launched the Global Women’s Strike, which called for investment in caring not killing.

She coined the word “unwaged” to describe the caring work women do, and it has since entered the English language to describe all who work without wages on the land, in the home, and in the community. Selma has made visible the struggles of some of the most vulnerable groups, including sex workers and drawn the connections between them and all other workers. She recounts this campaign in her book Hookers in the House of the Lord (1983).

Selma has been active in politics for over forty years. Her writings are grounded in her own activism and she understands that for many people not winning has been their experience, but she draws courage from her understanding of history;
Information and understanding of how and where we resist and rebel are the basis on which we build our determination to win and our confidence that we will win.

Today her articles and books are being read by a new audience of activists.Her most recent book is Sex, Race and Class.

Selma spoke at the Occupy London Stock Exchange in November 2011:

All power to the 99% is a most anti-racist twenty first century statement. To highlight the 99% versus the 1% is to expose the basic hierarchy in society. It stakes a claim that almost all of us, waged and unwaged, belong together.

Book review: Special Category; The IRA in English Prisons vol.1; 1968-78

Special Category: The IRA in English Prisons vol.1; 1968-1978 by Ruan O’Donnell
Irish Academic Press ISBN 978 0 7165 3141 8

It will come as a surprise to many people in this country that there have been political prisoners in English jails. In this book Ruan O’Donnell provides a comprehensive account of who they were, why they were there and what both the British government and the prisoners themselves felt about the situation.

We are, of course, talking about Irish prisoners who were in English jails from the late 1960s onwards because of Britain’s occupation of the Six Counties of Ireland (otherwise known as Northern Ireland) and the unresolved political situation which affected both sides of the Irish border and Britain, and also had an international dimension.

What is amazing about this book is the way in which Ruan has used an array of sources. He has interviewed many participants – including prisoners and their families – as well as using private collections of correspondence and papers, state archives, declassified documents and official records of parliamentary business. His attention to detail is incredible; in one chapter there are over 300 footnotes!

There have been Irish prisoners in British jails going back to the United Irishmen in the 1790s. In this book Ruan looks at a ten year period, beginning with the new phase of the Troubles in 1968. After this date the numbers of Irish Republicans jailed increased and the tactics of the British Government towards these prisoners changed. And, as the numbers of Republican prisoners in English jails grew, they organised against an increasingly harsh prison regime;
It was no coincidence that the first two fatal hunger strikes of the modern Troubles occurred in England and that events within the Dispersal System resonated, often powerfully,on Irish soil over three decades.

In the 1970s I went to a predominantly Irish secondary school in the heart of the Irish community in Manchester and, whilst the main agenda for the hierarchy of this Catholic school was to deliver law- abiding British children, there were Irish teachers who were Republican minded. I remember vividly one Irish nun telling us about the interned Irish prisoners in the Six Counties and their harsh conditions. And in that Irish area (like many parts of Britain in the 70s) houses were being raided by the police and Irish people were being dragged off to police stations. Many years later I would be involved in the various miscarriage of justice campaigns that had sprung up (driven by the relatives of the prisoners) to get justice for the well-known (such as the Birmingham 6) and the less well-known (such as Frank Johnson and Kate Magee).

One civil rights activist, a nun named Sister Sarah Clarke, played a significant role over twenty-five years in providing support to Irish prisoners and their families. She worked in London and, in her autobiography, explained how the effects of the war in Ireland affected the Irish in Britain:

The Irish population in British cities found themselves under attack by formerly friendly neighbours and an increasingly repressive and sophisticated police force.

The Irish community in Britain has always played a significant role in opposing Britain’s occupation of Ireland but, as the war intensified and the IRA brought its actions to England, it was the community which took the backlash. The British Government rushed through the Prevention of Terrorism Act in 1974 after the Birmingham pub bombings which, whilst not stopping IRA activity, did severely curtail democratic debate in this country about the war going on in Northern Ireland. From 1974 to the early 1980s very few Irish people, and even less English people, wanted to be seen to be taking part in any public opposition to the eroding of civil and human rights of Irish people on both sides of the Irish Sea.

Ruan puts this into context and weaves together some of the campaigning work done by outstanding people such as Sister Sarah on behalf of prisoners and their families. She had been active from the 1960s but, after 1973, was barred from visiting prisoners. She only found out in 1985 that she had been stopped from being an approved visitor on the grounds of “security”. In her biography, No Faith In The System (1995), she outlines her reasons for her tireless work for Irish prisoners.

Whilst IRA prisoners in English jails asserted their Republican political views, for those individuals such as the Birmingham 6, Guildford 4, Maguire 7 and others who were victims of miscarriages of justice, in effect convicted of being Irish in the wrong place at the wrong time, it is heartbreaking to read the accounts of their unjust treatment by all levels of the police, courts and prison system. As Ruan says about the Maguire family;

Their case was arguably the single worst incidence of judicial abuse perpetrated under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and indicated that any Irish person, regardless of age, gender or political orientation, was liable to face imprisonment if elements of the British Establishment so desired.

Patrick, the youngest of the Maguire family, was only 13 when he was arrested with his family. Using later discredited forensic tests the police said the family had handled the explosive nitroglycerine. Patrick served four years, mainly in adult prisons. He was refused parole because he continued to assert his innocence. In 1991 all the convictions of the Maguire 7 were quashed as the evidence was ruled as unsafe.

Patrick is now a talented artist, while his biography My Father’s Watch has been turned into a play. Probably most importantly he, like Paddy Hill of the Birmingham 6, has gone on to help other prisoners who have been unjustly jailed in the organisation The Miscarriages of Justice Organisation

As the number of Irish Republican prisoners in English jails increased, they took part in a variety of strategies to seek their freedom. This included escapes, riots and legal challenges. They became very important in the Republican strategy for resolving the political situation in the Six Counties and, as we saw in the negotiations in the 1990s leading to the Good Friday Agreement, the prisoners had a major influence in the settlement. Ruan’s book covers the first part of this story up to 1978. It is a fascinating and important history of the Irish struggle, and makes one look forward to the next volume.

Stop,Look,Listen…my weekly selection of favourite films, books and events to get you out of the house

Watch Ginger and Rosa (2012) a film directed by Sally Potter. Ginger and Rosa are two young women growing up in London in the 60s. The script catches the intensity of relationships between young women; sharing clothes, emotions and that separateness that you feel at that age. Unlike many similar films, the politics of the nuclear bomb of that era are intertwined with story of the young women. We watch them attending Ban the Bomb meetings and demos and get an insight into the heightened fear at that time of nuclear war. Less interesting is the interplay between the adults and their disengagement with their children. It’s good to see a film showing young people caring about the big issues and documenting what was an important part of the history of this country ie the beginnings of the Campaign against Nuclear Disarmament.

Read….Extreme Rambling by Mark Thomas. There was the Berlin War, there still are so-called Peace Walls in Northern Ireland and in this book Mark decides to walk the wall erected by the Israeli Government in their determination to push Palestinians off their land and out of their country. Its an entertaining read as Mark adopts the Englishman abroad persona with his cagoule,walking stick and Kendal mint cake. He is very funny in pointing out the absurdities of the political situation in the West Bank, as well as being outraged by the human rights abuses against the Palestinians. Buy it from

Join a picket line……at the Cross Rail site at Westbourne Grove in West London….more details at Women’s Fightback and at Electricians United Against the World see

Go to a meeting about ….Who Polices the Police Tuesday 6 November 630pm at Phil Martin Centre, 141-143 Princess Road Manchester. Watch a documentary about Sean Rigg who was found dead in police custody. Listen to Sheila Coleman of Hillsborough Justice Campaign and speakers from various communities. The aim is to organise a campaign to unite groups against police violence.see

Find out more…about Alice Wheeldon, watch the film The Plot to Kill Lloyd George Thursday 8th November Friends Meeting House (next to Radio Derby) for further information see

Protest…..against the threatened deportation of Unite member Mohammed Al-Halengy originally from Eastern Sudan. His Court hearing is on 7th of November 2012, at 9.30am. Please attend Piccadilly Exchange, 1St Floor Piccadilly Exchange,2 Piccadilly Plaza,Mosley Street,Manchester
M1 4AH

Political Women (4) Pia Feig

Retired active socialist feminist

Pia has been a political activist for over 40 years. She did not come from a political family but;

They were avowedly non-political, we did discuss politics at home but there was a real fear of getting involved because of being Jewish, of being immigrants, yet there was lots of discussion about it. Me and my sister would answer back to my father and that was the start of a protest position, right from the family dynamics.”

Her parents were both Jewish. Her mother was British and from an orthodox Jewish working class family. Pia’s father had fled Poland after his life there destroyed. He was grateful to Britain for asylum and for the right to be openly Jewish.

In 1970 Pia went to Oxford University and became active in university politics. It was three years later, when she took part on a demonstration about Britain’s role in Ireland, that she saw the big diference between student and street politics;

My very first demo which was about Ireland really frightened me. It was the large police prescence and the atmosphere was the opposite to all the student activity I had been involved in.

She identified as a feminist and became involved in the women’s movement:

The women’s group gave me fantastic support. It was very important in developing my thinking about being a woman, it was a source of emotional support, it encouraged me to have independent relationships. By this time I had moved to Glasgow and the women in the group were from a variety of ages and backgrounds.

Pia was now training to be a teacher and she joined NATFHE and the International Marxist Group, a small, hyper-active, Trotskyist group linked to the Fourth International:

Glasgow in the 70s was a highly political place. People understood their history and the May Day was a big event with people from all different parties taking part. I used to sell papers at factory gates and was treated with respect by the workers.

By the mid-70s race politics was a big issue for the left in Britain. The rise of the National Front and the increasing attacks on black people led to the rise of anti-racist activity. Pia moved to Wolverhampton, which at that time had had Enoch Powell as MP, and like many places in Britain at the time there was a lack of opposition to racism at all levels of society;

I lived in a mainly Sikh and Caribbean area of the city. I got involved with an anti-racist committee which included the Indian Workers Association. We campaigned against the (West Midlands) police harassment of black people and one thing we did was to convince the local Labour Party that the NF were fascists.

It was a time when to be involved in political activity was all encompassing;
I attended 5 meetings a week, plus paper selling and meetings at weekend. I felt connected with the world and part of a community, part of a struggle, part of a movement for change.

Although, like many people on the left at that time, she identified race as a key issue for herself to be involved in, she did not see her own ethnicity in the same way;

In my political development I lived in the here and now and looked at all the new possibilities for me. I didn’t integrate where I came from, as a person from a Jewish orthodox immigrant background, with my politics, at that time it didn’t seem as important. It does seem strange now, but it was partly because I was young but also because of the nature of the race politics at that time.

She did see the link between the harassment of black people and cases such as the Birmingham 6 and throughout her political life has been involved in many similar campaigns.

By the 80s Pia was no longer involved in a women’s group, but was still active as a union representative in her college:
I left the IMG because of political differences. I felt it was ineffective and was not relating to the political reality of the time.

She is still looking for a political organisation to become involved in but it would have to be one that reflected her political analysis;

It would have to reflect a class analysis of society, have an internationalist viewpoint and be anti-imperialist.”

In the mid-80s she joined the Labour Party, as a tactic, and became involved in Irish politics.

I have always seen the issue of Britain’s role in Ireland as crucial to politics generally. I was involved with the Labour Committee on Ireland which sought to influence the Labour policy on Ireland. During the Miners’ Strike I was involved with two delegations to the North of Ireland which included Miners’ Wives.

More recently Pia has been involved with the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and out of that came her involvement with the Jews for Justice campaign:

It (JfJ) was a conscious raising group. I lived in Spain in the 90s and became more aware of my own identity. Being brought up Jewish had had an influence on me. It wasn’t about the religious aspect, but about the social and political context.

Pia was quite happy to use her Jewish identity to counter the way in which Zionists wanted to smear activists on the Palestinian issue as anti-semites.

She has been involved in her Unison health service branch for the last 8 years. She has seen the growth of the involvement of women in her union and she has been part of a radical union branch. But she feels that Unison has not reflected this level of female activity;
Unison is male dominated at an officer level. Nearly all the full timers are white and men.

This year Pia retired from work and is now starting to look at where she will put her energies:
Work has never been a substitute for my political activity. I will still be involved with the PSC. The issue of the Palestinians is very important to world politics. I am also still going to be involved with Unison, in organising a local retired members group.

And her message for young women?

I am not sure I have one! I have been impressed with the young women I have worked with in Unison. Some of them have told me that they have learnt from me and they admired my determination. I hope more women will come forward to take the leadership roles, not to end up as facilitators. That they will not be held back by gender or expectations of gender and will be involved in determining the direction of politics.

Political Women (2): Mandy Vere

Feminist, campaigner for social justice, mother of 2 grown up children, radical bookseller………..

Mandy Vere was born and grew up in Stockport. Her parents were Quakers and socialists, activists of the Labour Party:

I grew up in a Quaker household and it had a big influence on me and my sister. The community was all around me and their ideas of pacifism and social justice have stayed with me all my life.

Aged just 17, she went to Belfast to take part in a Quaker work camp. This was at the height of the conflict between Republicans and the British state:

I didn’t know anything about the politics of Northern Ireland. I learnt so much and my experiences there were very influential on my politics throughout my life.

On her return Mandy went to Liverpool University but dropped out in the first year, preferring to get involved in radical politics. Previously she had been involved with the Non Violent Direct Action Movement and she now joined the British Withdrawal from Northern Ireland Campaign

Supporters of the BWNIC leafleted soldiers giving them information on their rights to conscientious objection. At this time there were soldiers who were deserting the army rather than serve in Northern Ireland. The government charged14 BWNIC members with conspiracy to disaffection over their actions. A number of these were from Liverpool and Mandy became involved in their defence campaign. All 14 were eventually found not guilty:

It combined my interests in pacifism, non- violence and the Irish struggle. The defence campaign allowed us to raise lots of issues about the occupation of N. Ireland and militarism.

The 1970s was also the beginning of a new wave of the women’s movement and Mandy became very involved;

It hit me like a joyful barrage. It was so exciting and exhilarating to be involved at that time. There were lots of small groups discussing our experiences as women and out of that a movement grew. It showed us that as women we were repressed and that we could provide a body of evidence to prove this.

This level of discusions and conscious raising is something that Mandy feels is missing from the latest wave of feminism;

In those days we did discuss class and race and learn about other people’s experiences. I think that the latest feminist groups have grown out of universities and therefore tend to be quite middle class.

Mandy combined her interests in feminism and Ireland by taking part in some of the big campaigns of the early 80s:

I got involved with the Women and Ireland group and campaigned against stripsearching, the Prevention of Terrorism Act and organised delegations to Northern Ireland. It was a hard time because there was so much anti-Irish racism in England.

Underpinning Mandy’s politics has been her involvement in the radical bookshop News from Nowhere:

“ I started working in NFN in 76 and my politics have run parallel to my work in the shop. I had my kids in the 80s and that, with the bookshop, has meant that I haven’t had the time to put my energy into having a direct role in campaigns.”

Like many activists who have children Mandy had to make decisions about how and where she put her energies:

It was a big change for me becoming a Mum and I became more focussed on my child and my home life. But it also made me aware of how little power young people have. It is the last big liberation movement. Young people do not have a voice or any way of expressing themselves. Parenting is the most important job in the world in bringing up the next generation .

Mandy feels that the Occupy movement has given young people the opportunity to express their feelings and get together with other individuals and groups to campaign for change:

Occupy in Liverpool had lots of young people involved who were willing to be out in all weathers and be passionate about their politics. I went down to their base and brought them blankets and had this young lad teaching me about capitalism. It was great! I loved it and they were so brave

In 2012 Mandy is still involved with NFN and the bookshop gives her the opportunity to be involved in making connections with a diverse range of campaigns and community groups;

It allows me to combine cultural and political issues. As an independent bookshop we can react to local, national and global campaigns. Recently in response to the Pussy Riot trial in Russia we organised a dramatic rendition of their testimony at the shop. It was picked up by local radio and we were able to raise consciousness about feminism, freedom of speech and Putin’s Russia.

NFN is facing a major challenge from online retailers such as Amazon who dominate the bookselling world and can aggressively discount not just books but many other items. Mandy is calling on lefties to appreciate traditional bookshops such as theirs, who can offer an online service including accessing every book in print, browse recommended booklists and order online.

“If people on the left do not spend their money in our bookshop, then we will disappear. In other words shop with the real Amazons!”

And Mandy’s advice for young women today?

Be yourself. You can learn from older women and feminists but you will always do it differently. Don’t ever believe you are not having an effect. I really admire young women activists because there is lots of repression now. It is different, in the 70s the movement for change was much more mainstream and campaigns such as Greenham Common did get publicity and produced a debate. Nowadays the media has such a stranglehold . I think UKUncut are one of the best things that have happened recently, particularly in the way they have used the new media to organise themselves.”

“I am hopeful about the future. I look at my daughter, who doesn’t see herself as political, but she takes for granted all the things we fought for. She spoke out at work and organised against a bullying boss. There are lots of young people who are willing to speak out and there is much to be optimistic about in the new wave of feminism.

Classic LPs; The Spirit of Freedom by Christy Moore

In the 1980s concerts by Christy Moore and the Wolfe Tones gave the Irish community somewhere to express their solidarity with the Republican movement. The venue was often the International club in Longsight (a largely Irish part of the city) which had seen better days but on those nights it was bursting with the Irish of all ages: my dad was in his 70s when he joined us one night to see the Wolfe Tones. People would decorate the balconies with Irish flags and there would always be the Irish anthem played at the end of the evening.

The Republican Hunger Strikes of 1980 and 1981 had enraged the Irish community across the world. In 1976 the Labour government tried to treat the situation in the North of Ireland as a security situation, rather than a political one and withdrew political status from republican prisoners. Previously they had been able to wear their own clothes, have free association, did not have to do prison work, could undertake educational activities and the prison authorities recognised their command structure. The men at Long Kesh (later the H-Blocks) and the women in Armagh Prison refused to wear prisoner’s clothes and sat in their cells in a blanket. Their visits from relatives were stopped and they lost remission. The action escalated as prison warders beat the prisoners who reacted by refusing to leave their cells and smeared their excrement on the walls. Tensions rose as publicity about brutality and torture by British forces was circulated, whilst the IRA started killing prison warders.

Outside the prison a national and international campaign began in 1979. It was led by the National H Block/Armagh Committee on which Bernadette Devlin was a leading member. On 27 October 1980 the men in the H-Blocks decided that a hunger strike was the only way to achieve their aims with Sinn Fein and the IRA reluctantly supporting them. Following negotiations with the Tory government the first hungerstrike was stopped, but there was no resolution. On 1 March 1981 Bobby Sands started a new hungerstrike followed by other men at regular intervals to pressurise the British government.

On 9 April, amongst enormous political tensions, Bobby Sands was elected as MP to the House of Commons for the constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone. The death of Bobby Sands on 5 May led to widespread rioting across Northern Ireland in which British soldiers killed people. Over 100,000 people attended his funeral in Belfast. Nine other men died by the end of September and, with no signs of political concessions from the Tories, parents and families intervened to stop other hunger strikers dying. The hunger strike was halted on 3 October after 217 days, the British government seemed to have won. Yet over the next years all the prisoners demands were quietly met and they gained a great deal of autonomy in the running of the prison. Ironically Loyalist prisoners gained the same rights. At the same time Sinn Fein began winning seats on local council and in 1983 Gerry Adams begame the MP for West Belfast.

In Britain the hungerstrikes politicised a new generation of Irish people, including myself. Whilst Thatcher and the Tory Government were supported by the Labour Party leadership an angry national and local campaign to support the hunger strikers was started. As well as rallies in Manchester,London and Birmingham every time a hungerstriker died we would meet outside Chelsea Girl in Piccadilly carrying black flags and give out leaflets. We often met with abuse.

In 1981 the Irish in Britain Representation Group was set up. It reflected the growing numbers of Irish people who were no longer prepared to remain silent about human rights abuses in Ireland and against the Irish community in Britain.

Christy Moore was born in Kildare in Ireland on 7 May 1945.He is hugely popular in the Irish community in Britain because his songs reflect our lives. He supported the republican H-Block protestors in the 1970s and 1980s with the album H-Block in 1978 and the launch was promptly raided by the Irish Special Branch.

In 1986 he brought out Spirit of Freedom. “This album came about as the result of a trip I made to H Blocks. I left the Falls Road in a van that was clapped out. It was used daily to ferry prisoners’ families to and from the camp. I got the idea to try and raise money for a new van and that was the purpose of this album” says Christy.

The album is the stories of the hungerstrikers and most poignant is Christy’s homage to Bobby Sands in “The People’s Own MP”. Also included is a song written by Bobby Sands called “Back Home in Derry”. It also links up Irish struggles with the experience of Mexican workers in the USA in Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee”.

Listening to the album in 2012 it is of its era, but shows how important music and songs are in documenting the history of a people’s struggle. In May this year people in Ireland commemorated Bobby Sands life and death. And today Christy is still out there singing and championing the rights of people whether it is in austerity Ireland or the Palestinian cause.

Check out what Christy is up to by visiting his website

Read Michael Herberts’ The Wearing of the Green for the history of the Irish in Manchester for more information visit his website

For information about Bobby Sands visit this website

Bill Brand; It is the People who Create………

Bill Brand (played by Jack Shepherd) speaking at a workers occupation

Bill Brand, a TV series broadcast on ITV in the summer of 1976, was written by one of Britain’s (and Manchester’s) greatest playwrights, Trevor Griffiths. The drama is the story of how Bill Brand (played excellently by Jack Shepherd), who is from a working-class background and a college lecturer, after a flirtation with revolutionary politics, becomes a Labour MP. It mirrors Trevor’s life and, to an extent, mine. Trevor grew up East Manchester and, unlike his brother who left school at 15 to work in a factory, he was one of the lucky working-class children who benefited from the Butler Act of 1944 and gained access to the grammar school system. In 1952 he went to Manchester University on a state scholarship to study English.

After university Trevor became a teacher, first in a school and then in a local college. By the late 50s he was politically involved in CND and the New Left. He joined a discussion group through the Left Club which included historians such as Edward Thompson and John Saville. By 1962 he was a member of the Labour Party and wrote for their local paper, Labour’s Northern Voice. But his disillusionment with the Labour Government of Harold Wilson led to him leaving the party in 1965.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s television producers of programmes such as Armchair Theatre and the Wednesday Play brought in new writers to reflect on the radical social changes going on in Britain, and particularly the experiences of the working-classes. By 1961 Trevor had written three scripts for the BBC and was now working for them fulltime in Leeds as a Further Education Officer. He said that he wanted to write plays because of “the tremendous stimulation I got from seeing rough reflections of lived experience on television.”

Many of his plays drew on his own lived experience. Trevor’s father was a chemical process worker and a Welsh Nonconformist background, whilst his mother was an Irish Catholic. When he was two years old his father lost his job and they had to leave the family home and live with relatives. Trevor was brought up by his Irish grandmother in nearby Bradford, who taught him to read before he went to school.

In the 70s our family were Irish Catholics, the emphasis being on the Irish, and we went through the Catholic selective system. That meant the 11 plus, and three different schools for myself and my three siblings; Secondary Modern, Technical High (which I attended} and Grammar. Highly divisive and highly unfair. Children who went to Secondary Modern schools usually left at 15 years, and were excluded from sitting O’Levels and were only allowed to do CSEs. This obviously affected their entry into higer level jobs, and many were destined for manual work. Not just a poverty of attainment, but the experience of not passing the 11 plus undermined people’s confidence throughout their life in many different ways.

Throughout the 11 episodes of the series we see how Bill and his brother’s life chances have shaped their futures. His brother works as a shirt cutter, but as the textile industry goes into decline he becomes unemployed. What is different about Bill Brand compared to present-day drama is that it shows the workers, including his brother, through their union, opposing the closure of their factory and taking industrial action. This collective action is a theme throughout the series. It is also great to see positive images of working class men and their families, which is something really lacking in the media today.

The 1970s in Britain were dominated by the death throes of the Labour Government, and its intertwined and incestuous relationship with the rest of the labour movement, particularly the trade unions. We see Bill Brand wrestling with this as a Labour MP: not just in his relationship with the Parliamentary Labour Party, but in his struggle to represent his constituents: whether they are workers on strike, women seeking abortions or the Irish community subject to state harassment.

In 1974 the war in Norhern Ireland came to Britain as the IRA set off bombs as part of their strategy to get the British forces out of Ireland. Many Irish people took the backlash, in terms of anti-Irish racism on the streets and in workplaces, as well as restrictions on their civil rights through so called anti-terror legislation.

In a powerful speech in Parliament, Bill explains how this legislation is affecting his Irish constituents and wrongly being used to target the irish community. It then shows how Bill’s family is targeted by fascists and when their house is attacked it is Bill’s comrades in the union who come down to defend his family. In the 70s this was not unusual for anyone who spoke out in support of a debate on the war in Ireland and it happened to many Irish people, who were activists. Bill Brand is one of the few dramas that have put the argument for a debate on the role of Britain in Ireland and shown the consequences for the supporters of the rights of Irish people.

But it is an important drama on many other levels. Trevor Griffiths shows working class culture in the home, the factory and the Labour Party. We are reminded of how rich left politics were in the 70s: a time of struggles and campaigns around unemployment, Ireland, sexual politics, Chile and anti-fascism. Trevor says about the series; “What I was trying to say throughout the series was that the traditions of the labour movement were inadequate to take the struggle further, and that we had to discover new traditions or revive even older ones. And that we had to seek connective tissue between electoral party politics, which still has a mystifying mass appeal, and extra-parliamentary socialist activity.”

In 2012 those of us who grew up in the 70s and were part of that rich political culture know how far the labour movement has diverted from that past. The Labour Party is no longer seen as the party for the working-classes and apathy dominates in any election whether at a local or national level. Trade unions have been slow to challenge the Government and local Labour councils over the cuts. In the 70s it was easy to see where and how people could challenge unfairness and injustice, these days it is not so simple and for many people there are no easy answers in how or where to begin that fightback.

Bill Brand the complete series is available fron Network DVD

Trevor Griffiths work in the 1970s and 1980s is discussed by Mike Poole and John Wyver in their book Powerplays

Stop! Look! Listen! my weekly selection of favourite films, books and events to get you out of the house…

Watch…The King of Comedy (1983) One Of Martin Scorsese’s finest films, although it was not one of his most successful when it came out in 1983. A mixture of fantasy and real life it features Robert DeNiro as Rupert Pupkin, a man with dreams of being a famous comedian. He stalks Jerry Langford (played by Jerry Lewis) whose character is based on Johnny Carson, the acclaimed comedian and talkshow host. Nowadays we are too aware of the celebrity culture and its domination of the psyche (and tv screens) so this film was prescient of its times. Painful to watch, but incredibly clever, it is Scorsese at his best.

Read…An Act of Love (2011) by Alan Gibbons. Alan is not just a writer, but an activist and founder of the Campaign to Save the Book. This is the story of two boys who grow up together through the 90s and 2000s. One of the young boys is white and the other Pakistani. The story is set against the rise of fascism in small towns in the north and also the growing tension in the Asian community as Britain and the USA invade and occupy Afghanistan and Iraq. There is lots more in the book, but for me I love the story of the young men’s friendship and the way in which Alan creates working-class male characters that are humane, complex and compelling.

Listen…Searching for the Young Soul Rebels (1980) A fabulous album by Dexys Midnight Runners. Led by Kevin Rowlands – not just the front man but the main man! Part of his search for his Irish identity the front cover shows a riot in Belfast as a young Catholic boy is caught by the camera as he makes his escape. Part of a whole Irish renaissance in the 80s, Rowlands mixes songs about being proud of your Irish heritage as in “Burn it Down” to “Geno” a celebration of soul singer Geno Washington. After 25 years the band is about to bring out a new album called One Day I’m Going to Soar which includes more musing on his Irishness identity “Take your Irish stereotype and shove it up your arse”. So nothing changes. Cannot wait to see the stage show!!!!!

Join the debate……. Was the election of George Galloway and 5 Respect councillors in Bradford a one-off, or part of a larger process, and what are the implications for trade unionists? Give your views on Wed 16 May at 8pm at the Mechanics Institute Princess St. Manchester. Speakers from Labour and Respect will star. more information here

Attend a book launch of Sarah Irving’s biography: Leila Khaled; Icon of Palestinian Liberation. Leila is known for her involvement in the hijack of a passenger jet in 1969. Find out about her activism today, the role of women in the Palestinian movement and the rise of Hamas. Blackwells Bookshop Manchester, 24 May 7-8.30 admission free.

Go to a play…about the lives of working class women.. noticed this on the 24/7 site.
Player’s Angels by Amanda Whittington, directed by Joyce Branagh. Presented by Manchester School of Theatre at the Capitol Theatre, Manchester Metropolitan University, Mabel Tylecote Building, Cavendish Street, Manchester M15 6BG. It’s 1953 and all the girls in Nottingham want to work at John Player’s, the best employer in town. Whilst Cyn dreams of being a beauty queen and Vee adjusts to married life, widowed Glad shares a secret with her young supervisor Bill. When the youthful Mae comes to work at Player’s, however, the lives and secrets of all the women change forever.

Wed 16 – Sat 19 May Further details More information here.

Go for a walk….The Irish in Manchester:Walk 1. Learn about the history of the Irish in Manchester including trade unionists John Doherty and Mary Quaile, the Irish at Peterloo, the Manchester Martyrs and Eva Gore Booth. Meeting point: Oxford Road Station at noon, Saturday 26 May, Fee £6/5. More information here

Stop! Look! Listen! a weekly selection of some of my favourite films/books/people…

Watch… Le Havre a film by Aki Kaurismaki. Set in Le Havre in 2012, the film is about a man who shines shoes for a living and helps save a refugee African boy from the French police. It’s more than that, because it’s also a reflection on France’s past history of resistance to the Nazis. France did more to save Jewish children from the concentration camps than any other European country. Aki makes us think about the present and how in France (and across Europe, including Britain) refugees are routinely rounded up and deported, even though many of them are fleeing torture and possible death in their home countries.

Read…The Price of My Soul by Bernadette Devlin. My dad adored Bernadette and cheered her on as she took part in the Battle of the Bogside in Derry in  1969. Her book explains why a civil rights movement started in Northen Ireland in the 1960s,  and how she became an activist,  and later a Member of Parliament. As she says, the title is not what she would pay to sell out,  but “rather to the price we all must pay in life to preserve our own integrity”. Over the years she has been subject to censorship on the broadcast media, excluded from travelling and speaking abroad and nearly killed by loyalist death squads, but remains one of the most interesting commentators in terms of her analysis of the politics of Ireland.

Listen  to …33 Revolutions Per Minute by Marxman.(1993) On this album they cite some of their influences as Marx, Engels, and Bobby Sands. A four piece band, they formed in 1989, and their music mixed hip hop with traditional Irish songs. “Sad Affair” and “Ship Ahoy” directly address issues about the colonisation of Ireland and the slave trade. Other songs such as “All About Eve” spoke about domestic violence but the overall theme was uniquely political, calling for economic and social justice. Sadly they broke up in 1995.

Attend…events to mark the bicentenary of the Luddites. They were workers who refused to accept that their craft could be replaced by machinery. They formed secret societies and took direct action against the factory owners. In Westhougton (Bolton) the Luddites burnt down a mill in protest against mechanisation and factory slavery. On Friday 13 April at 8pm at the Bolton Socialist Club there will be a reading of local playwright, Neil Duffield’s play Bolton Rising. You can just listen or take part in the reading. All welcome.