UK 

 Pro Palestinian protester ‘punched by police officer’ in London

Danny RiggPublished Jul 14, 2024,

The Met Police referred itself to the police watchdog over the violence caught on camera (Picture: X/@revoltinghippie)

The Metropolitan Police has come under fire after a video emerged of an officer punching a pro-Palestine protester in the head during an arrest.

Footage shows a man wearing a ‘Free Palestine’ vest and carrying a Palestine flag beside a parked car equipped with Palestine flags and a ‘Stop Gaza Genocide’ placard when he was approached by police.

The officer then appears to punch the man in the head during the incident on Whitehchapel Road, Tower Hamlets, on Friday afternoon.

Other officers approached, one of whom placed the man in a headlock, tackling him to the ground where the first officer appears to punch him repeatedly.

The Met Police has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

A spokesperson for the force said the arrest ‘did not relate to protest activity and was not connected with the display of the Palestinian flag or any political statements made’.

They claimed the arrest was over a member of the public allegedly assaulting a Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) after an earlier unspecified ‘traffic issue’.

In a statement, Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway said: ‘During an interaction with a member of the public on a traffic issue, the PCSO called on their radio for assistance.

‘Nearby police officers went to assist their colleague and an allegation was made that a member of the public had assaulted the PCSO.

‘The police officers then arrested the member of the public in relation to the allegation of assault.’

Despite the claim the arrest was ‘not protest related’, it sparked outrage among local politicians and pro-Palestine activists.

The man has been released on bail pending investigation following the arrest on Friday (Picture: X/@revoltinghippie)

On Friday night, protesters gathered outside Bethnal Green police station where the man was held before being released on bail pending investigation the following morning.

Some carried Palestine flags or wore keffiyehs, a Palestinian scarf.

Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, said he was ‘deeply concerned’ by footage of the ‘violent incident’.

He called on officers involved in the violence to ‘be suspended while the investigation is carried out’, saying: ‘This situation requires de-escalation.

‘I call for calm in the community and a thorough investigation to be carried out urgently.’

US raises concerns over blood minerals in DR Congo

NO LONGER JUST DIAMONDS



Artisanal miners work at the Tilwizembe, a former industrial copper-cobalt mine, outside of Kolwezi, the capital city of Lualaba Province in the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on June 11, 2016. PHOTO | REUTERSADVERTISEMENT

SATURDAY JULY 13 2024

By PATRICK ILUNGA
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In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the matter of smuggling has been subject of grapevine for years. Then reports after reports began confirming it: Hundreds of rebel groups fighting in the east of the country have remained potent, fuelled by money from smuggled minerals and timber.

This week, the United States of America weighed in, raising concerns that that trade is making it difficult to tame the arms flow into the battlefield.

But Washington’s linking illegal minerals trade to continual war isn’t the first. A United Nation’s panel of experts on the Congo, and various rights watchdogs, have said that before.

“The US remains concerned about the role that the illicit trade and exploitation of certain minerals, including gold and tantalum mined artisanally and semi-industrially in the African Great Lakes region, continues to play in financing the conflict.

Read: New proof shows Apple sourcing minerals from east Congo

“It is clear that some traders, sometimes with the support of various armed groups and security services, are transporting and exporting significant quantities of Congolese minerals out of the country”, said the US government statement.

“ In many cases, these minerals directly or indirectly benefit armed groups and leave the country via Rwanda and Uganda before being transported to the main refining and processing countries. These supply chains facilitate the illicit exploitation and taxation of these minerals, often involving acts of corruption.”

In the past, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame admitted his country was on the smuggling route, but laid the blame on the Western merchants, who provide unfettered market to the looters.

In eastern DRC, smuggling, war and illicit weapons trade are crimes that have been going on for nearly 25 years, making hope for an end to these practices slim.

The DRC seems to be finding it difficult to overcome the local and foreign armed groups operating in vast areas where the public and security services are absent.

The problem is particularly complex where artisanal mineral extraction and mining are legal and provide subsistence for thousands of families.

Congo’s mining law simply requires operators to join cooperatives to have the right to mine. This, coupled with insecurity, has created a situation in the east that is difficult to manage.

Washington’s concerns also relate to the extraction, transport and export of minerals, which it says have given rise to a wide range of human and labour rights violations, such as forced labour, the worst forms of child labour, and sexual and gender-based violence, particularly in artisanal mining areas.

Read: DRC, US to go slow on Israeli mining mogul

When, in June 2021, the DRC and Rwanda signed an agreement for the joint exploitation of gold, one of the reasons given for this cooperation was to “deprive armed groups of income from the gold industry,” according to a press release from the DRC presidency.

In Kinshasa, officials called this “the economic response” to the conflict in the east. That deal, like several others, has since been suspended, as the two countries bicker over sponsorship of M23 rebels now considered terrorist group in Kinshasa.

Meanwhile, war has flared up again, and illicit exploitation and trade have flourished, in a region where the sound of gunfire and all the misfortunes that go with it are staggering.

The US government asserts that the situation is worsening due to “control first by the Pareco armed group and then by the alleged Rwanda-backed M23 armed group in April 2024, of a key tantalum mining area near the Congolese town of Rubaya (eastern Congo) and control by non-State armed groups of gold mining areas in the provinces of Fizi, South Kivu and Ituri, among others.”

The armed groups are particularly targeting tantalum, of which the DRC is the world’s leading producer. The mineral is considered a “critical ore” by the US Geological Survey and the US Department of Energy.

DRC itself has tried legal means to tame the appetite by Western corporates it accuses of fuelling illegal mining. Recently, Kinshasa tapped some lawyers to sue Apple, the American tech giant that makes iPhones.

Government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said Robert Amsterdam and William Bourdon, the lawyers representing DRC, are “working closely with us in the action we have taken against Apple, because today we want to be able to trace all those who benefit from (mining) products that are being smuggled out of the country.”

Read: Congo moves to curb trade in ‘blood minerals’

“We are putting pressure on all those who benefit directly or indirectly from products of murders and other crimes,we are sure this will eventually succeed, but it will take time. This will be the best form of economic sanctions for those who, for 25 years, have built their economic model on the pillaging of the DRC’s resources,” he said.

DRC officials say they regret that the cooperation with Rwanda on this issue didn’t last. “We thought that, as neighbours, we could cooperate economically with the necessary transparency. But this time, it’s the beginning of the end,” Mr Muyaya said.

The DRC has activated the “judicial front” among four others in the search for peace. Through its lawyers, Kinshasa has issued a notice against Apple, for allegedly using illegally mined minerals in its high-tech products.

“It is crucial to demonstrate the bloody impact of this exploitation on the end products. Apple, like other multinationals, must be held accountable,” said Robert Amsterdam and William Bourdon.

They hope that this legal action will force the company to reconsider its sources of supply.

Virtually all the experts agree that the best way to tackle the war in the east of the DRC is to take a holistic approach: Economic efforts must be accompanied by a solid political or diplomatic approach.

By way of diplomatic effort, the US proposed and obtained from the parties involved in the Congolese conflict a “humanitarian” truce between Rwanda and the DRC.

This truce, running from July 5 to 19, constitutes “a path marked out for the return of peace” in the east of the DRC, which has been plagued by violence for decades, said Foreign Affairs Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner. The minister warned, however, that “a truce does not mean that we are not vigilant.”

UK Migrant deal: Rwanda enjoys windfall, PR


President of Rwanda Paul Kagame (L) and Britain's former prime minister Rishi Sunak pose for the media, ahead of their meeting inside 10 Downing Street in London, Britain on April 9, 2024. 

SUNDAY JULY 14 2024
The East African

By MOSES K. GAHIGI
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Rwanda is going to enjoy the windfall from Britain after the ill-fated asylum deal with London fell through, as the new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, killed the scheme on his first day in office.

Rwanda will not pay back the money it was advanced by Britain, with the new government only settling for saving the two instalments that were yet to be disbursed.

Following the developments, the Rwandan government says it is under no obligation to refund the £270 million ($350 million), after it upheld its end of the deal until the British government scrapped the asylum scheme, according to Doris Uwicyeza Picard, Coordinator of Migration and Economic Development Partnership Coordination Unit (MEDP - CU) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“We took note of the UK’s decision to terminate the agreement, we want to reiterate that this was a partnership initiated by the UK to solve a UK problem, and Rwanda stepped up as we have always stepped up in the past to provide safety, refuge and opportunity to migrants and asylum seekers. We have upheld our end of the deal, and we believe if there is any overpayment that can be discussed, however we are under no obligation to provide any sort of refund” Ms Uwicyeza said.

In making a case for how the money has so far been used, she said government of Rwanda has “ramped up capacity and increased our capacity to accommodate thousands of migrants and asylum seekers.” Up to 1,500 houses had been constructed in Gahanga, Kicukiro district, to accommodate the asylum seekers, as the two countries worked to expedite the deportations.

“This is part of our ethos as a country and we have done so countless times when we evacuated migrants from Libya, the Sola Girls School, welcoming Sudanese medical students. This is what we do as a country,” she said.

Rwanda has already received two instalments of the asylum deal money, and more was scheduled to also be disbursed in the next two years. President Paul Kagame had earlier indicated that Rwanda would return the money if the deal falls through and UK asylum seekers are not sent to Rwanda, but this is now highly unlikely.

The new Premier Starmer came good on his campaign promise of killing the asylum deal, even before finding any alternative solution to the UK asylum seekers problem.

“The Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started. It’s never been a deterrent,” Starmer said after his Labour Party won a landslide in the general election. He described the asylum plan as a “problem that we are inheriting”.

Only four failed asylum seekers have so far been voluntarily flown to Rwanda after being offered £3,000 ($29,812). Under a break clause in the agreement, Britain can withdraw from the two further payments of £50 million ($65 million) in 2025 and 2026 without any penalty, but it is likely the UK government will have to continue to fund the four asylum seekers flown to Kigali.

Read: UK Rwanda migrants plan to cost $760m

“We understand that changes in governments happen, and incoming governments can have different priorities and policies. However, this was a state-to-state agreement and we believe that this good faith would remain,” Uwicyeza said.

Deputy Rwandan government spokesperson Alain Mukurarinda told local media on Tuesday that the migrant deal did not include any “clause regarding reimbursement.”

“The British government has no basis of asking for reimbursement. this was not a loan. is there any clause that Rwanda did not fulfil in the agreement so it can maybe be the basis for asking a refund? nothing like that? They approached us for a partnership and we agreed.

Both parties signed an agreement, we went through the back-and-forth, and it later even became an international agreement. We started implementing it and now they are cancelling it. We are not to blame,” Mr Mukurarinda said.

The plan was to expedite the deal, so the asylum seekers would be sent to Rwanda even before the UK elections, but the scheme stalled due to legal hurdles and moral questions it faced.

Save for the intense scrutiny, the deal attracted to Rwanda’s human rights record and its past dealings with asylum seekers from other countries.

There was no loss for Rwanda, a country which seems to not miss any opportunity to enhance its status in continental and international politics, as one that shows up with solutions even relevant for bigger powers.

Analysts also say the publicity Rwanda has got as a country and destination from the global news coverage it enjoyed since the deal was announced will go a long way to give it mileage.

Building onto the attention brought by its Visit Rwanda campaigns, where it signed multimillion-dollar sleeve-shirt deals with big football clubs Arsenal, Paris Saint Germaine (PSG) and Bayern Munich.

For years Rwanda has hosted Libyan migrants who were trapped in deplorable conditions in detention centres, and are currently hosted in the Bugesera district camp, where they are processed and sent to third countries that accept them.

Read: UK sends first voluntary asylum seeker to Rwanda

It also received schoolgirls from the School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA), after the political turmoil in Kabul made it dangerous for them, and they have continued school in Rwanda.

The country also recently welcomed Sudanese medical students to come and complete their studies from Rwanda, after fights between two generals erupted in their country, causing instabilities.

The government of Rwanda has indicated that it will continue engagements with the UK government, as it keeps options open for any likely continuation of the partnership about asylum seekers.

 

Election sees Sinn Féin extend its dominance in Northern Ireland

13th July 2024

Leave a Commenton Election sees Sinn Féin extend its dominance in Northern Ireland

“Many in Ireland are highly sceptical that Keir Starmer’s Irish policy will, in substance, be a break from the British colonialism that has directed both Tory and Labour governments for so long.”

By Geoff Bell, Labour for Irish Unity

For the first time Sinn Féin is sending more MPs to Westminster than any other party. For the first time Irish republicanism has a hat-trick – more MPs, more members of the local Assembly and more councillors than anyone else. And this in a political statelet specifically designed a hundred years ago to ensure a permanent unionist majority.

Sinn Féin has now seven MPs, came close to getting two more and increased its vote share by 4.5 per cent. While the total nationalist Westminster vote trailed the total unionist vote by approximately two per cent, that can be explained by Sinn Féin not contesting a couple of seats.

The retreat of unionism continues. The once almighty Democratic Unionist Party was reduced to five out of 18 seats. The big shock was the defeat of Ian Paisley, whose father, the Rev. Dr Ian Paisley, dominated Northern Ireland politics for decades. But his son’s defeat was hardly a cause for satisfaction: he was replaced by the candidate of the more sectarian Traditional Unionist Voice. Elsewhere, some more centrist unionists did slightly better, but the Alliance Party, who take no position on the border issue, saw a slight decline in their total vote, when losing one seat, but gaining another. They did badly in East Belfast, where many had expected them to defeat the DUP. Despite commentators and British politicians promoting Alliance beyond its achievements and support, it seems it has now reached its peak.

This is just one more indication that in Northern Ireland you cannot keep dodging the Irish unity question and expect to prosper.

The cause of unionism has become self-defeating. The case can be made that those in Northern Ireland who today detest British politicians most are, ironically, the unionists. It is they who feel that the British Tories in particular have betrayed them over the last few years. They were betrayed despite their slavish enthusiasm for Brexit and despite Boris Johnson visiting the DUP party conference and sitting beside their then party leader. And, despite Michael Gove, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Priti Patel all appearing as guest speakers at DUP fund-raising dinners for none other than today’s biggest DUP loser, Ian Paisley. They were betrayed because, over Brexit and its consequences, the British put their own interests first.

As any Irish republican will remark, such is the way it has always been. And that is unlikely to change with the arrival of Keir Starmer in Downing Street. It can be acknowledged and welcomed that his post-election flying visit to Belfast saw forward steps. He confirmed his intention to repeal the “Heritage” legislation of the Tories that banned legal inquiries into killings during the Troubles and declared an amnesty in respect of these for all British security personnel.

Moreover, for the first time, Starmer retreated from his previous position of saying he would campaign for the British union in the event of a referendum on Irish reunification. He now acknowledges that for the British government to adopt such a partisan policy is a breach of the neutrality required of it under the Good Friday Agreement.

This is something those of us in Labour for Irish Unity have been pointing out for the last few years. We obviously welcome Starmer’s conversion. Now he needs to complement this and set out the criteria for calling a referendum. He also needs to ensure that his promise to give voting rights to 16- and 17-year-olds applies to any referendum. This will be resisted by unionists who know that according to opinion polls support for reunification is strongest in this age group.

Many in Ireland are highly sceptical that Keir Starmer’s Irish policy will, in substance, be a break from the British colonialism that has directed both Tory and Labour governments for so long. The pro-nationalist Irish News columnist and historian Brian Feeney headlined his article on Starmer’s visit to Belfast as, “Starmer’s Labour is Just the New Conservative Party”. Another Irish News columnist noted that, with the exception of Blair, Labour in government “has not been cognisant of [Irish] nationalism”. That is putting it mildly given, for example, the policy of a “military solution” to the Troubles of the Callaghan government in the late 1970s.

So, unless pressure is put on Starmer, do not expect too much. The election results in Northern Ireland are a further step towards Irish unity. The least the new British government can now do is to not get in the way of this journey continuing.

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• Geoff Bell is an executive member of Labour for Irish Unity and the author The Twilight of Unionism – you can order a copy from Verso book here. 
• You can follow Labour for Irish Unity on Facebook and Twitter/X. 
• If you support Labour Outlook’s work amplifying the voices of left movements and struggles here and internationally, please consider becoming a supporter on Patreon.

 UK

Amnesty International calls on the new Government to scrap anti-protest laws

12th July 2024Leave a Commenton Amnesty International calls on the new Government to scrap anti-protest laws

“The right to peacefully protest is a fundamental human right for a free and fair functioning society, not an optional extra.”

Kerry Moscogiuri, Amnesty International UK’s Campaigns and Communications Director

By Amnesty International UK

Amnesty International is calling on the new UK Government to urgently rethink how protest and freedom of expression could be championed and protected across the country.

The call coincides with Amnesty’s new report, “Under-protected and over-restricted: The state of the right to protest in 21 countries in Europe”, published today (9 July). The 208-page report reveals how governments across the region – including the UK – are using an increasingly wide range of means to quash peaceful demonstrations and silence dissent.

The research lays bare a continent-wide pattern of repressive laws, use of unnecessary or excessive force, arbitrary arrests and prosecutions, unwarranted or discriminatory restrictions as well as the increasing use of invasive surveillance technology, resulting in a systematic roll back of the right to protest.   

Amnesty is calling on the new Home Secretary to scrap the public order elements of the recently passed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act as well as the entirety of the Public Order Act and the Serious Disruption Regulations at the earliest opportunity. In their place the Government should replace them with a framework that safeguards the rights of all sections of the population – this in turn would cement the new Government’s commitment to freedom of expression and the right to protest.

Kerry Moscogiuri, Amnesty International UK’s Campaigns and Communications Director, said:

“The new Government must seize this moment to halt the alarming march towards repression in the UK by repealing the anti-protest laws pushed through by the previous Government and ending the harmful rhetoric being used to stigmatise those who peacefully protest.

“The police should be facilitating peaceful demonstrations, not stopping them before they’ve even begun.

“The UK has a long and proud history of protest: from anti-apartheid protests, to marches for climate action and protests calling out the devastating atrocities in Gaza. Many mass demonstrations have exposed previous governments to be on the wrong side of history.

“In a world where we are grappling with increasing inequality, discrimination, racism, armed conflict and climate change, protest is more essential than ever for people to call out and challenge those in power and seek justice. The right to peacefully protest is a fundamental human right for a free and fair society, not an optional extra.”

Policing protest in the UK

The right to protest in the UK has been eroded in recent years – particularly in England and Wales – despite being protected under international law. In 2022, the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act handed police in England and Wales broad powers to shut down protests and expanded criminal offences and punishments for peaceful protest activities.

This was followed by the even more draconian Public Order Act 2023 and the particularly controversial Serious Disruption Regulations 2023, regulations that were recently found by the High Court to be unlawful, but which remain in place while the government pursues an appeal.

Thanks to this authoritarian legislation, police can define almost any demonstration as “seriously disruptive” and impose restrictions on it. Peaceful tactics like locking on, tunnelling and even causing “serious annoyance” have been criminalised. New powers have been created to issue orders banning people from even attending protests.  

There has also been a steep rise in the use of facial recognition technology in the policing of protest. This is despite the UK Court of Appeal concluding in 2020 that the legal framework in place at the time for this technology violated human rights.

Hundreds of protesters have been arrested. Some have received long custodial sentences and many prosecutions remain pending. Following his visit to the UK in January this year, the UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders warned that environmental activists face a “severe crackdown” due to the repressive legislative framework and introduction of new criminal charges.

New stop and search powers, including suspicionless stop and search, can be used against people at or on the way to protests. Existing evidence highlights that stop-and-search powers are disproportionately used against Black and other minoritised people, itself a feature of an institutionally racist policing and criminal justice system. The expansion of these powers serves as a gateway for further racialised police encounters.

Anti-protest rhetoric and stigmatisation

Climate change and pro-Palestine protesters in the UK have been heavily stigmatised and their actions used in part as justification for further anti-protest legislation.

High-ranking officials labelled disruption created by environmental protests as “a threat to our way of life” and described activists as “using guerilla tactics”.

Meanwhile pro-Palestine protests have been repeatedly denounced as “hate marches” and “mobs” by leading members of the last Government. In doing this an overwhelmingly peaceful movement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza has been demonised, creating division and exacerbating existing fears amongst minoritised communities in the UK.

In March this year, against a backdrop of large-scale demonstrations protesting against the atrocities being committed in Gaza, the then Prime Minister called for more restrictions on people’s rights to protest peacefully and redoubled his support for the ‘Prevent’ Duty. Amnesty’s research has clearly shown that Prevent violates some of our most fundamental rights – including the right to freedom of expression and assembly -disproportionately targeting Muslims, young people and neurodiverse people.

Existing international human rights standards require governments not to introduce any measures that place disproportionate restrictions on people’s freedom of expression and assembly – it is accepted that protest by its very nature can be disruptive. 

As well as calling for the scrapping of recently passed laws, Amnesty hopes this Government will move away from previously used stigmatising discourse and rhetoric, fuelling harmful stereotypes and portraying peaceful protesters in a way that fuels hostility. This includes characterising protesters as criminals, terrorists, threats to public order and security, or a nuisance to be crushed.  Amnesty also recommends that regular and systematised data collection and reporting on restrictions imposed by authorities, including the police, is undertaken.

Part of a Europe-wide march towards repression

In Amnesty’s Europe-wide report, the legal regulations and related policies currently governing the right to peaceful assembly in 21 European countries – including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the UK – were assessed. Amnesty’s report underlines how many authorities across Europe, instead of addressing concerns, removing obstacles and promoting dialogue to find solutions to remedy injustice, abuses and discrimination, often respond to peaceful protest by cracking down on those organising and participating in them.

The report finds widespread use of excessive and/or unnecessary use of force by the police against peaceful protesters, including use of less-lethal weapons. Reported incidents resulted in serious and sometimes permanent injuries including broken bones or teeth (France, Germany, Greece, Italy), the loss of a hand (France), the loss of a testicle (Spain), and dislocated bones, damage to eyes and severe head trauma (Spain). In some countries, the use of force amounted to torture or other ill-treatment and in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Serbia, and Switzerland, excessive use of force was used by law enforcement against children. 

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• The project forms part of Amnesty International’s global campaign Protect the Protest, which aims to defend the right to protest across the world.
• You can follow Amnesty International UK on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X.

UK

’40 years on from the miners’ strike, this Durham Miners’ Gala was a special one’

Morgan Jones 14th July, 2024, 

The Durham Miners’ Gala, held on the 2nd Saturday of July and in its 138th year, is a staple of many trade unionists’ diaries – when I ran into Ian Byrne MP early in the day, he described it as one of his favourite places in the world – but this year, marking the 40th anniversary of the 1984-85 miners’ strike, was a particularly special one.

For those not familiar with the proceedings, things kick off early in the morning, as colliery brass bands and union groups parade through the centre of Durham. Among the musicians was Chris McDonald, who is the newly-elected Labour MP for Stockton North, but a long-time brass band member; he plays the cornet.

The procession makes its way up onto Durham racecourse, where stalls and rides – a compelling mix of fairground and political, where you’re able to buy yards of candyfloss and books on communism with equal ease – take up one end of the field, while at the other, a large stage was set up for a rally.

READ MORE: Sign up to our must-read daily briefing email on all things Labour

Before the speakers, the assembled stood while a brass band played Gresford, usually known just as “the miners’ hymn”, in commemoration of all those lost in mining disasters. I thought about my great-great-uncle, who was killed by falling stone at Silksworth colliery in 1934, and likely stood where I had stood and heard the brass bands at the big meeting a century ago. He wouldn’t have heard Gresford; it was written to commemorate a disaster in that same year, 1934.

All of the speakers welcomed the Labour government, and celebrated the defeat of the Tories (perhaps unsurprisingly at an event that is all about celebrating working class identity, the recent defeat of Jacob Rees-Mogg, whose political persona is self-consciously, parodically aristocratic, came in for much gleeful commentary).

The timing – eight days into the new Labour government, and still in as much of a honeymoon period as contemporary politics allows – meant that there was limited room for hits and critiques on the party.

Limited, but not none. UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea, generally seen as an ally to the Starmer leadership, who was speaking at the gala for the first time, took the opportunity to praise Labour’s school breakfast clubs plan, but also called on the party to go further and adopt universal school meals.

This is likely to be a continued pressure point from trade unions (the NEU, headed up by another of the day’s gala speakers, the more left-aligned Daniel Kebede, has also been campaigning for a universal commitment) and other groups. However, despite this (and the policy’s adoption by the Welsh Labour government and Sadiq Khan’s London Labour administration), I think it’s unlikely that the leadership will change position on the matter any time soon.

READ MORE: Durham Miners’ Gala 2024: Live updates as event marks 40 years since strike

Another speaker, freshly re-elected Ian Lavery MP, highlighted one issue where I think the government is more likely to be moved: the two-child benefit cap. “Kids are simply starving,” he told the rain-soaked audience: “And what we must demand is an end to the two-child benefit cap.”

Also on stage, although not speaking, was Jeremy Corbyn; several ripples of “ohhh Jeremy Corbyn” went through the crowd when he was referenced, and Lavery pointed at the Islington North MP, saying: “I’m one of the proudest people in the world to stand shoulder to shoulder with that fella there.”

A theme common to all the speakers was the call for a ceasefire in Gaza; the crowd was peppered with Palestinian flags and pro-Palestine banners.

The speakers left the stage to head up to Durham cathedral, for a banner-blessing service with readings from, among others, Durham City MP Mary Kelly Foy.

Down in the town, the happy festival atmosphere only intensified as attendees (many of whom had been drinking from the get go) reached stages of advanced refreshment, cheering and dancing along to the bands. Come rain or shine (and there was plenty of the former on Saturday), they’ll be back next year to do it all again, for the 139th time.

Launching today, The Miners’ Next Step by Strike Map and Manifesto Press

12th July 2024Leave a Commenton Launching today, The Miners’ Next Step by Strike Map and Manifesto Press

“With a new Labour Government promising a new deal for working people, this pamphlet is an important reminder of where power lies in our society.”

By Henry Fowler and Rob Poole

Last December, on a very wet December Manchester evening, we launched the first of our ‘Industrial Unionism’ pamphlet series, the famous Workers’ Committee by JT Murphy with our partners Manifesto Press. 

This meeting featured an incredible lineup of speakers including Dr. Emma Runswick (BMA), Prof. Ralph Darlington and Strike Map co-founder Rob Poole, as we discussed what the strike wave meant for longer term worker organisation, and what the future looks like into this year, including the impact of the general election. 

Our ‘Industrial Unionism’ series is part of our commitment through our reps, stewards and strike leaders network to provide resources and a space amongst peers to discuss the future of our movement. That is why we are republishing pamphlets and writings that are currently out of print, exploring the ideas behind ‘Industrial Unionism’, and what that looks like in a modern context of multiple unions per sector, and questions of how we organise in a post 2016 legislation landscape.

Despite the growth in industrial action and record levels of public support for unions over the last few years, in 2022 our movement lost 200,000 members, two thirds of them women in the private sector. In figures released recently reporting the year 2023,  we only recruited 89,000 new members, meaning our movement is still in decline. 

Discussing the renewal of our movement is vital and after selling over 1,000 copies of our first pamphlet, we are launching the second pamphlet of the series at the eve of Durham Miners’ Gala rally organised by the Institute of Employment Rights (IER) & Campaign For Trade Union Freedom, The Miners’ Next Step (MNS) by Noah Ablett (The Unofficial Reform Committee).

Historian Rob Turnbull describes the significance of the Miners’ Next Step in his foreword to our re-print “it is a seminal pamphlet in labour and trade union history, ranks alongside the Communist Manifesto in its revolutionary implications can not be underestimated, for its proposals represent a complete rupture with the cosy, consensual Lib- Lab politics, but also the Parliamentary Labour Party whose deference to the state and its institutions was already self-evident”. 

With a new Labour Government promising a new deal for working people, this pamphlet is an important reminder of where power lies in our society, “the power to vote whether there shall or shall not be a strike, or upon an industrial strikes policy to be pursued by their union, will affect far more important issues to the workers life, than the political vote can touch.”

Alongside Rob’s foreword, our pamphlet will aim to bring these ideas to life in a modern context, including forwards from Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign, Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM), exploring the historical importance of this text and its application today.

We want to thank all the amazing union branches, regions and individuals that have pre-ordered this pamphlet and made it possible to produce this pamphlet. We look forward to discussing the ideas contained in this document and hope you can join the exciting IER X CTUF rally at Elvet Methodist Church, Durham, starting 6pm.

“A Good Deal for Working People? Workers’ Rights After The Election” – Durham Miners Gala, Eve of Gala Rally. July 12th, 6.30PM.

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• “A Good Deal for Working People? Workers’ Rights After The Election” – The Durham Miners Gala, Eve of Gala Rally takes place on July 12th, 6.30PM at the Elvet Methodist Church, Durham, DH1 3HL.
• You can find out more about Strike Map here, and follow Strike Map UK on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
• If you support Labour Outlook’s work amplifying the voices of left movements and struggles here and internationally, please consider becoming a supporter on Patreon.