Workers’ Power at Heathrow – A report

Angry Workers of the World

A friend works as a maintenance engineer at Heathrow airport. You can read about working conditions and organising efforts below – a shorter version will be distributed to Heathrow workers in WorkersWildWest no.9. If you want to get involved in our modest organising efforts in and around Heathrow, drop us a line:
angryworkersworld@gmail.com

The recent terrorism charges against activists who tried to stop a deportation flight at Stansted airport [1] demonstrated the highly politicised character most protests have once they take place around airports. The protests are politically charged either because airports are national borders like in the case of the Stansted 15 or because they are seen as of major national interest, which explains, for example, the heavy police repression against the wildcat strikes of airport construction workers in Turkey this year, who walked out after over 50 construction workers died on the site since works began. [2] Heathrow…

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What is a ‘good reason’?

scottish unemployed workers' network

If you don’t do one of the things listed in your Claimant Commitment, such as arrive at the jobcentre on time, and you don’t want to be sanctioned, then you need to give a ‘good reason’.  The omnipotent DWP has an approved list of ‘good reasons’, so yours better be on there. The list was included in a letter from the minister, Alok Sharma, to the Work and Pensions Committee, and David Webster draws attention to it in his most recent commentary on benefit sanctions. David observes that, ‘It is notable that ordinary public transport failure is not mentioned as a ‘good reason’. This is a frequent source of grievance for claimants.’

(This letter also lists the rules about different situations that could entitle you to a temporary break in your work-search and work-preparation requirements.)

David goes on to draw attention to another letter that exemplifies the complete lack of…

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The Threat to Rojava: An Anarchist in Syria Speaks on the Real Meaning of Trump’s Withdrawal

CrimethInc.

Following Donald Trump’s surprise announcement that he is withdrawing US troops from Syria, we’ve received the following message from an anarchist in Rojava, spelling out what this means for the region and what the stakes are on a global scale. For background, consult our earlier articles, “Understanding the Kurdish Resistance” and “The Struggle Is not for Martyrdom but for Life.”

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I’m writing from Rojava. For full disclosure: I didn’t grow up here and I don’t have access to all the information I would need to tell you what is going to happen next in this part of the world with any certainty. I’m writing because it is urgent that you hear from people in northern Syria about what Trump’s “troop withdrawal” really means for us—and it’s not clear how much time we have left to discuss it. I approach this task with all the humility at…

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Joint UVW and PCS strike action from 22nd – 24th January

Kropotkin on Christmas

Robert Graham's Anarchism Weblog

Every year I usually post something by Kropotkin around December 21st (his birthday) but this year I was a bit too busy. Someone else beat me to reposting this article by Ruth Kinna about Kropotkin’s views regarding Christmas and Santa Claus, which reminded me to do so as well. Is the true spirit of Christmas the Spirit of Revolt?

The Christmas Spirit of Revolt

An Anarchist Guide to Christmas

It’s no surprise to discover that anarchist theorist Pyotr Kropotkin was interested in Christmas. In Russian culture, St. Nicholas (Николай Чудотворец) was revered as a defender of the oppressed, the weak and the disadvantaged. Kropotkin shared the sentiments. But there was also a family link. As everyone knows, Kropotkin could trace his ancestry to the ancient Rurik dynasty that ruled Russia before the upstart Romanovs and which, from the first century CE, controlled the trade routes between Moscow and the Byzantine…

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“No platform” – what it means and what it doesn’t mean. By Mal Content.

Wessex Solidarity

A great deal of B.S. has emanated from the chattering classes in recent years around this term. You’d be forgiven for thinking it originated in academia, where vested interests compete for the right/privilege of influencing impressionable minds. We are told that debate is being shut down, that intellectual development will be stunted if student bodies decline to entertain purveyors of hackneyed reactionary views, which might provide a stimulating foil to contemporary orthodoxy. Trouble is, we’ve heard it all before.

Fascism never took off in Britain, in the sense that it never gained the executive and slaughtered or imprisoned a significant proportion of the population, as it did in many other countries. This despite it having a sizeable constituency, being well funded and having the sympathy of the establishment. The bitter experience of Italy, Germany, Portugal and Spain taught that appealing to the bourgeois ‘authorities’ to uphold constitutional values was futile…

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North East Fascists Exposed. A-Z Archive

Wessex Solidarity

A lot of work has gone into this. We see these mugs all over so please download the helpful spotter cards from the resources page.

Via: North East Fascists Exposed

Adam Coulthand	Adam Walker	Adrian Langton
Alan Bozwell Rain	Alan Dent	Alan Smith
Alan Spence	Alan Waterhouse	Alfie Harrison
Allen Townend	Andrew Benton	Andrew Doyle
Andrew Foster	Andrew D Johnson	Andrew Scottie
Antonio Brown	Anthony Crawford	Anthony Dodds
Ashleigh Lambert	Ashley Smith	Barrie Bell
Ben Mccabe	Billy Barlett	Billy Charlton
Billy Steele	Bill William	Brian Carr
Brian Morrow	Brian Myers	Brian Stamp
Bryan Ellison	Carl Lintern	Caroline Ashcroft
Cath Haley	Charlie Rafferty	Chris Caswell
Chris Johnson	Christopher Knight	Chris Smith
Chris Telford	Claire Reah	Colin Bell
Colin Dodds	Colin Holmes	Craig Bushby
Craig Owens	Craig Wallace	Connor McIntosh
Dane Old	Danielle Richardson	Daniel Spensley
Daniel Wright	Darrell Copeland	Darren Dolan
Darren Hurst	Darren Jardine	Darren Kelly
David Michael Davidson	David…

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Give it a rest!

The South Essex Heckler - Archive

Have a look at the Xmas opening times for Lakeside: Lakeside Shopping Centre has revealed its Christmas opening hours. https://www.essexlive.news/whats-on/shopping/lakeside-shopping-centre-revealed-christmas-2273451 Retail workers get one day off over the festive period and that’s Xmas Day itself. The centre shuts at 7pm on Xmas Eve and re-opens at 9am on Boxing Day. The workers in the shops will have to stay later and get in earlier than these times to prepare the shops for opening. That could well mean a 7am start for some workers. If workers are rostered to work on Xmas Eve and Boxing Day, Xmas Day itself is going to be little more than resting up recovering from a late finish the previous day and getting as ready as possible for the onslaught the next day.

Not everyone who works at Lakeside has access to a car. A fair number of younger workers, particularly the part time ones rely…

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Russian antifascists fundraiser (this is not historical)

Anarchists in the Gulag (and prison and exile)

** Russian anti-fascists under attack: Urgent fundraiser launched **
Russian anti-fascists are struggling against a brutal wave of repression which has featured kidnappings, savage beatings, torture and fabricated court cases. Eleven anti-fascists are facing lengthy jail sentences. We are calling for everybody opposed to racism, xenophobia, fascism and the upsurge of far-right populism sweeping the world to help raise funds.

Please donate now at the link below. Solidarity is a weapon.

https://www.firefund.net/rupression

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It’s a race to the bottom…

https://iww.org.uk/iww-couriers-network/

The South Essex Heckler - Archive

Uber drivers use apps that are supposed to geofence where they can and can’t operate. It’s come to light that for some reason, one of the apps used by drivers in Greater London includes Thurrock as well: Uber: Thurrock Council requests change to Greater London ‘geofence’.

Basically, this means any Greater London based drivers can come over the border into Thurrock looking for customers. Understandably, local taxi operators and drivers are less than happy about what they see as a direct threat to their livelihoods. There’s a suspicion that this is illegal. The issue was raised at a recent Thurrock Council meeting and they are looking into how this can be investigated.

The terms and conditions for Uber drivers are pretty dire and it’s not surprising that in order to get more custom, they end up engaging in practices such as plotting up in areas where there’s a question mark…

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