From: "Andy" <as-AT-spelthorne.ac.uk>
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 09:59:11 +0000
Subject: Your home turf


> From:          "Dave Coull" <d.y.coull-AT-dundee.ac.uk>

> When racism and fascism were on the rise in the UK
> in the Seventies, and when in 1977 the National Front 
> attempted to march down some racially mixed streets 
> in south London, I played a part in stopping them,
> in what the press called "The Battle of Lewisham".

> But at that time I lived in London. I was fighting
> on my own home turf. Nowadays, if anybody wants
> me to go all the way to distant London, they have
> to give me a bloody good reason. 

It seems they're coming to you. According to the papers, the Lawrence 
5 were holed up in Scotland  for the Bashir debacle.

Meanwhile, the Brixton nail bomb is allegedly racially motivated.

I remember the '79  Southall 'riot' where the SPG disposed of Blair 
Peach. I was teaching in a school just over the M4, with a mainly 
Asian population. 2 weeks before, with a mainly male group of 18 
year olds, at that time recent immigrants [ie 4/5 years],  we had 
been discussing the police and Southall, and the group were entirely 
supportive of them. One protected NF March later, and they were 
spitting blood - a classic example of how to lose the respect of a 
community in one weekend.

[[However, they're now taking it very seriously - an Asian student 
had his car vandalised at our college, and claimed it was racially 
motivated, though [call me a woolly liberal] I genuinely can't tell 
Asian cars from white man cars. Anyway, this warranted a visit from 
an inspector who took it very seriously because of the racially 
motivated claim - at least until he realised the vandalism consisted 
of the removal of some expensive parts....]]

A couple of weeks later was the Rock against Racism march from Traf 
Square to Hackney which took so bloody long I only arrived for the 
last few numbers by the Clash. I seem to remember some Spanish Civil 
War veterans marching under a Black Flag? A few weeks later and 
Thazza was safely ensconced in No 10 reading that ridiculous 
Kipling thing to the TV. Any memories? 

[Away for 2 weeks - 749 messages - must unsub and re-sub next time]

Andy
_as