Lets talk about some historical moments that coloured my judgement. This is for those of you outside the UK, or those within it who are too young to remember (not everyone is as old as me). If you don’t learn the lessons from your past, you are doomed to repeat them
The Miners Strike. 1984-85. A war raged on the Unions. The destruction of whole communities. Police snatch squads. Removal of freedom of movement (don’t you be crossing county lines). A deliberate attack by a UK Government on its own citizens. The miners were ‘the enemy within’
The culmination of course was the Battle of Orgreave
“Most media reports at the time depicted it as "an act of self-defence by police who had come under attack". In 2015, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) reported that there was "evidence of excessive violence by police officers, a false narrative from police exaggerating violence by miners, perjury by officers giving evidence to prosecute the arrested men, and an apparent cover-up of that perjury by senior officers"… "
For reference: The Enemy Within: The Secret War Against the Miners - Seumas Milne
GB84 - David Peace
Keith Pattision - Images of Easington (I lived in Easington during the strike itself…please do seatch out Keith’s work…truly astonishing work)
The Battle of the Beanfield took place over several hours on 1 June 1985, when Police prevented the Peace Convoy, several hundred New Age Travellers, from setting up the 1985 Stonehenge Free Festival. The police were enforcing an injunction obtained by the authorities prohibiting the 1985 festival from taking place. Around 1,300 police officers took part in the operation against approximately 600 travellers
The image is of Rose Brash, 20. “I was pulled out of the bus, even though I had my daughter Kaya in my arms. The copper with me in the photograph looks as if he’s helping, leading me to safety, but he was only doing it for the sake of the cameras. Once we got to the field, he pushed me away to join others who were being arrested for obstructing the police and the highway”
The Levellers: The Battle of The Beanfield
There are a lot of images I could use to reflect on Hillsborough, 1989. But, you see, this was is raw. Although I lived in a pit community during the strike, my family weren’t miners. In 1985, or indeed now, I wasn’t a New Age Traveller. But in 1989 I was most certainly a football fan. Travelling up & down the country to watch my team. I knew what it was like to be caged in. I knew what it was like to be treat like shit by the police, week in, week out…I can’t bear to look at the images of that day. Search for them if you like
96 people died that day. Having gone to watch a football game
“It happened in 1989. In 2016 (27 f*cking years later) Hillsborough Inquests conclude the 96 who died in the 1989 disaster were unlawfully killed. Jurors agree fans played no part in the deaths and instead blame police failures, stadium design faults, and a delayed response by the ambulance service”
A police, government & media cover up - which went beyond that, actually placing the blame at the door of those who died. A stain on this country. One of many
Aah, so we get to the Castlemorten Rave. On a hot bank holiday weekend 25 years ago, 20,000 people descended on land in the shadow of the Malvern Hills
“Determined not to have history repeat itself, the following year they set up roadblocks across the area, with 300 officers being fed from a special kitchen set up in the village hall.
The Malvern Hills Conservators - the charity set up to look after the hills and commons - obtained an injunction which enforced a five-mile "exclusion zone" for convoys of vehicles around Castlemorton during the bank holiday weekend.
Others called for long-term powers to stop raves and free festivals, including Castlemorton's then-Conservative MP Sir Michael Spicer, who even raised the matter in Parliament.
Then in 1994, the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act was passed, giving police the powers to stop vehicles anywhere within five miles (8km) of a rave and turn them away”
Repetitive beats were specifically mentioned in the Bill. Damn those repititive beats
So, its now 2021. Boris Johnson. Pritti Patel. We still don’t like hippies, or Unions. Don’t get me started on f*cking Marxists (do you think anyone who thinks Marxists are the devil incarnate would actually recognise Karl Marx if he sat next to them in Costa Coffee?). We also really dislike foreigners. Apart from those we have realised we need to pluck out turkeys, pick our fruit, drive our trucks. We like them. But only until Christmas. They can then f*ck off again. Until next year
This country is f*cked. And the population is accepting its fate in some sort of zombiefied state. You know, in my adult life, on huge protest changed things. It wasn’t millions marching against the war on Iraq. It was this:
The Poll Tax Riot in effect brought down the demise of the untouchable Margaret Thatcher. Now, I’m not advocating violence…I’m just pointing out what was the most succesful protest of my adult life. Something to ponder
Industrial Coast Kill The Bill Free Sound System is a cassette, designed for the great 2021 winter of discontent. It will include Beau Wanzer, The Idealist, Stonecirclesampler, Nick Klein, DJ Valentimes, Glyn Maier, Autumns, Bonehead, DJ Warzone, DJ October
Of course, every penny I make from this release, however big or small, will be donated. Recipient TBC nearer the date of release
Enjoy your weekends. And rage, rage against the self centred f*cks who don’t give a shit about you, your family or your friends. Rage
Steve
Thanks for the history lesson Steve! As the child of poor working class English folks who jumped ship from Britain to Canada in the 70s, but yet who had also, regrettably, fully internalized the cult of so-called "hardwork", Thatcherism, and the "pulling-oneself-up-by-ones-bootstraps-without-assistance" mentality ("they fuck you up your mum and dad, they dont mean to but they do...") this history is my history, too, my birthright, and all of it is depressing and makes me seeth with rage, too.