Event: North Africa at the Crossroads – 7pm Tues 11 July, SOAS – book online now

Around 100,000 demonstrators took to the streets of the Moroccan capital Rabat on 11 June in solidarity with the mass movement in the Rif region, following a crackdown by the authorities and the arrest of movement leaders.

The revival of mass protests in the capital follows months of demonstrations in the Rif raising a range of demands for political reform and social change.

The Rif movement exploded in October 2016 following the murder of Al Hoceima fish-seller Mohsin Fikri, who was crushed to death in the back of a bin lorry while municipal officials tried to confiscate his wares.

In the wake of Mohsin’s death, protests erupted across Morocco, linking issues of corruption, unemployment and social justice with the demands of the Rif’s Amazigh-speaking population for cultural, economic and social rights.

However over the winter, the movement outside the Rif retreated, while repression within the Rif intensified, perhaps reflecting the regime’s calculation that the protest movement had been contained and isolated.

Between 26 May and 31 May, Moroccan security forces rounded up 71 people following protests in the Rif’s regional capital, Al Hoceima and the neighbouring towns of Imzouren and Beni Bouayach.

Among those arrested was Nasser Zefzafi, an important protest leader from Al Hoceima. Lawyers for the detainees told Amnesty International they saw signs of beatings on their bodies, and that the prisoners had been insulted and in some cases threatened with rape.

A few days after their arrest, 31 of the detainees were transferred to Casablanca for interrogation, raising fears that they would be charged with state security or terrorism offences.

Despite the crackdown, protests in Al Hoceima continued to grow, however, with thousands turning out nightly. The Moroccan regime’s other tactics, including urging criticism of the protests from the pulpit in the city’s mosques, and a barrage of media attacks on the protesters as ‘separatists’ and ‘traitors’, failed to halt the rising tide of mobilisation.

Outside the Rif, the solidarity movement also surged ahead, with huge numbers joining the demonstration in the capital on 11 June.

Demonstrators also called for the release of political prisoners at a protest in London on 12 June in solidarity with the movement in Morocco. Search on Facebook for Hirak – Morocco Solidarity Initiative UK for more information. 

Delegates and members from around the country discussed the growing push to war being led by the Trump administration and backed enthusiastically by Theresa May’s government.

The conference provided some in-depth analysis of the situation in the Middle East, the Asia Pacific, and Britain’s growing involvement in a series of wars. It also agreed that given the desperately dangerous situation, we need to strengthen and grow our organisation as a matter of urgency.

A series of action points for groups were discussed. Here are some of them.

• Make sure every group is out campaigning. Obvious things to do at the moment are to use the petition against Trump’s push to war or to end the special relationship. But be imaginative and ambitious – try organising a street meeting around breaking with Trump’s foreign policy for example.
• Put on an election hustings with your local candidates taking questions about issues related to war.
• Organise regular public meetings and briefings. Obvious subjects include No to Trump’s drive to war. A short history of the special relationship and why we should end it. Britain’s seven secret wars: Why we need a new foreign policy.
• Put on cultural/music events. Anti-war film showings are very popular at the moment. Our Stop the War film screenings at Sands Film Studios in London are a big hit. We Are Many screenings always draw a crowd. Last Friday more than 400 people packed a Drop Bass Not Bombs rave in Peckham. Upcoming in London is a night of readings of Howard Zinn and others at the Park Theatre. Put on similar events where you are.
• Recruit people to Stop the War. We need to grow our networks fast. Getting new members helps to involve new activists in organising and provides much needed resources for the office.

This event is hosted by the SERTUC (South East Regional Trades Union Congress) Race Relations Committee on Saturday 13^th May 2017. In tribute to all the Migrant Workers, we enclose a photograph of Irish Women working in a British factory in the nineteenth century.

Time: Registering at 12 midday and starting the session at 1 pm

Date: Saturday 13^th May 2017

Venue: Invision suite, TUC Congress House, Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3L. It is near the British Museum and the nearest tube station is Tottenham Court Road.

Migration of labour – History of Irish immigrants to Britain

We will be roughly starting at 1 pm and lasting for at least three hours, followed by a drinks reception in TUC Congress House. We may have a social in a pub with a band afterwards.

The theme of the meeting is to start the concept of a history month of the Irish immigrants to Britain of the last few centuries. Through their mass concentration of migrant labour, they managed to make Britain the most industrialised nation in the world. This date will be the day before the anniversary of “An Gorta mor” (Great Hunger) between 1845 and 1852 that killed over one million Irish people and forced at least another million and a half to emigrate. In reference to those who immigrated to London, a number died in the poverty stricken Parish of St. Giles known as the first recorded “Little Ireland!” Many Irish people lived in this part of London for nearly two centuries through squalor and a number died of typhus. Today, this parish is prosperous and includes the great buildings of TUC Congress House and the British Museum. Such prosperity is owed to the Irish Migrant workers who built much of London. This event is a lesson from history in the way we should welcome all migrant workers, today, at a time of the re – emerging racism fuelled by the “Brexit” referendum.

Guest speakers include the following:

1. Austin Harney, Joint SERTUC Race Relations Secretary, to speak, generally, on the history of Irish migrant labour in Britain as well as its impact on the British Trade Union movement and the political transformation.
2. Dr. Sonja Tiernan from Liverpool University who will speak on Eva Gore Booth, sister of Countess Markievicsz. Eva was involved with Esther Roper, Manchester trade unionists between the late nineteenth century and the earlier twentieth century, that set up trade unions for women workers as well as campaigning, successfully, against the legal ban on women working in bars. Both were, also, suffragettes.
3. Phien O’Reachtigan, to speak on the history of the Parvee Community (Irish Travellers) in Britain.

One or two more speakers to follow.

Also, it must not be forgotten that 2017 will be 150 years since the Manchester Martyrs were executed and explosion of Clerkenwell Prison in London. The latter incident had a devastating impact on the Irish community in Britain. It delayed Ireland’s movement for Home Rule and, eventually, independence. Anti – Irish racism became rampant in Britain and the derogatory term “Mick” was, constantly, used along with the anti – Irish racist phrase, “Taking the Mick!” 2017 is a golden opportunity to build bridges between the Irish community groups in London and Manchester!

We encourage as many to attend this meeting in order to promote more forthcoming events of “Irish History Month” in the following years!

For further information, please contact:

Austin Harney, Joint Secretary of the SERTUC Race Relations Committee.

Email: au5tin67@yahoo.co.uk

There will be a Trade Union presence on the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in London. The occasion is to remember all the Irish workers who made Britain the most industrialised nation in the world. The march begins at 12 midday and we ask everybody to arrive early with their Trade Union banners if necessary.

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