It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Sunday, September 01, 2024
Irish people stage pro-Palestine rally in Dublin to protest Israel's ongoing brutal attacks on Gaza
Today's march is for Palestinian children as over 17,000 children murdered during this genocide, and they suffered more than in any other war on record, participant tell Anadolu
Huzeyfe Tastan |01.09.2024 - TRT/AA
DUBLIN, Ireland
A pro-Palestine rally was held in Ireland’s capital of Dublin on Saturday to protest Israeli forces' ongoing brutal attacks on the Gaza Strip, which have killed nearly 40,700 people in less than 11 months, as well as recently intensified attacks on West Bank cities.
The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign organized the march, which began at Dublin's Garden of Remembrance Park and ended at the Irish Parliament.
Participants called for an end to attacks on Palestine and expressed solidarity with Gazans.
The march was attended by members of Irish civil society organizations as well as a good number of people.
Helen Mahony, an activist who participated in the demonstration, told Anadolu that "today's march is for the children of Palestine. We know that over 17,000 children were murdered during this genocide and that children suffered more than in any other war on record."
"Children have lost their homes, their families. They have suffered the most severe injuries and then had to be treated without medicine, anesthesia, or hospitals," she added.
Mahony noted that 80% of schools and 12 universities in Palestine have been destroyed, effectively wiping out the education system. She emphasized that statistics show that an average of 70 children are killed daily in these brutal attacks.
"We want to focus on (Israeli products) boycotts," Mahony said, with a particular emphasis on a well-known IT company that manufactures computers, laptops, and other accessories, blaming the firm for being deeply complicit in Israel's genocide and apartheid.
This company also creates biometric identification systems to control the Palestinian people, she added.
Demonstrators carried Palestinian and Irish flags and held signs that read “Expel the Israeli Ambassador” and “Stop the Genocide.”
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last Oct. 7, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
The onslaught has resulted in over 40,600 Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, and over 93,800 injuries, according to local health authorities.
An ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.
Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.
*Writing by Alperen Aktas
UK
Thousands march for Palestine as Israel intensifies war on Gaza and West Bank
People march through Manchester demanding Britain impose an arms embargo on Israel, August 31, 2024 Photo: John Nicholson
THOUSANDS of protesters across Britain again marched for Palestine on Saturday as Israel intensified its war on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
In major towns and cities calls were made to step up the worldwide Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel following news that international coffee shop chain Starbucks saw its market share fall by billions of dollars as customers rebel against the company’s involvement with Israel.
Protests also took place in Israel demanding a ceasefire after Hamas said that six Israeli hostages found dead in Gaza had been killed in Israeli bombing and shelling. Israel said the hostages had been murdered by Hamas as its troops approached.
Calling for more action against organisations investing in firms involved in Israel, Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) said its research has revealed that local government pension scheme funds in Britain collectively invest over £4.4 billion in companies complicit in Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.
The PSC said: “Councils must take immediate action to end ties with companies that are complicit in abuses of Palestinian rights, including by divesting pension funds they administer from companies enabling Israel’s genocide. The deferred wages of local government workers must not be used to fund injustice.”
In the north of England, hundreds marched in Manchester and Leeds.
Norma Turner, chairwoman of Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine which unites a dozen Palestine support and campaign groups, told a rally: “What’s happening in the West Bank is a continuation of Israeli genocide. They won’t stop. So we must do more in solidarity.”
Marchers paused outside the offices of insurance firm AXA in acknowledgement of the firm’s withdrawal of investments from companies involved in Israel.
A young Palestinian woman who addressed the rally, but who was not named, said: “We have protested against AXA’s links with the Israeli military machine — and we have won.
“As a Palestinian, I am still in a privileged position compared with people in Gaza and now the West Bank. It is my duty — and yours — to resist, to challenge Israel’s genocide in whatever ways we can.”
An estimated 400 marched in Leeds where one young woman protester told the Morning Star: “My favourite chants are ‘rise, resist, for Gaza raise your fist’ which is always extra powerful with the hand actions.
“Or: ‘We are the people. We won’t be silenced. Stop bombing Gaza, Now Now.’
“We won’t stop shouting about the atrocities Israel are committing, until the genocide and occupation ends, because silence in the face of evil is how evil persists.
“We’ve seen that from history and now unfortunately before our eyes in present time.”
Demands for divestment were made at a rally in front of Lewisham Town Hall organised by Lewisham and Greenwich Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and Lewisham Stop the War Coalition with support from Lewisham Trades Union Council and Lewisham Muslim Voice.
John McGrath, secretary of Lewisham and Greenwich CND, said: “We’re asking Lewisham council to adopt an ethical position, which they are actually required to do under international law, in that governments, institutions and corporations cannot be complicit with genocide.”
Among the speakers at a rally outside St Thomas’s Hospital in London on Friday was actor Juliet Stevenson.
During the protest, which was called by Amnesty International UK and Healthworkers 4 Palestine, 179 people in medical scrubs knelt in a vigil highlighting the plight of Palestinian healthcare workers detained by Israel.
Amnesty International UK’s crisis response campaigner Tom Guha said: “These dedicated health professionals, whose work is needed now more than ever, have been ‘disappeared’ by Israel.
“The UK government must demand that Israel reveals their whereabouts and releases them immediately.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer today condemned the “horrific and senseless” killing of six hostages in Gaza.
Step up support for Palestine as Netanyahu faces mass protests
Jon the national demonstration next Saturday in London
By Charlie Kimber Sunday 01 September 2024
S0CIALIST WORKER
Protesting against Netanyahu and for a prisoner swap on Sunday in Tel Aviv (Picture: @bringhomenow)
The deaths of six Israelis held by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas since 7 October have caused another crisis for Binyamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli leader is facing mass protests and a general strike after Israeli hostage family organisations denounced him for not securing a ceasefire and prisoner-swap deal.
“Netanyahu abandoned the hostages! This is now a fact,” a statement issued by the families’ forum read.
“Starting tomorrow the country will tremble. We call on the public to prepare. We will stop the country,” the statement continued.
Hamas denied killing the hostages and said at least three had been due to be exchanged in a ceasefire deal that recently collapsed due to Israeli intransigence.
A senior Israeli official confirmed this to The Telegraph newspaper. “Hersh, Carmel and Eden were all on the list of hostages set to be released in the 2 July ceasefire proposal presented by Biden. We could have saved them,” the official said.
On Sunday evening a huge demonstration gathered in the Israeli capital Tel Aviv calling for a deal with Hamas. The Histadrut, a trade union federation that has always backed the Israeli state and played a crucial role in settler-colonialism, has called a national strike from Monday.
Netanyahu was also rocked by revelations from Gershon Baskin, an Israel negotiator with Hams on several occasions in the last 20 years.
He posted on Twitter on Saturday, “About two weeks ago, the hostage families’ forum asked me to try to conduct a direct negotiation with Hamas on their behalf. That’s what I did, and within two weeks I obtained agreement to a three-week deal—the release of all 107 Israeli hostages, the end of the war, an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and an agreed release of the names and number of Palestinian prisoners.
“The entire Hamas leadership agrees to this outline, but our Netanyahu does not want to end the war. This is the situation today.”
Netanyahu responded to the pressure by vowing more murders. He told Hamas leaders on Sunday, “We will hunt you down, we will catch you and we will settle the score”.
It is good to see Netanyahu in trouble from internal conflict. But the demonstrations in Israel do not challenge the Zionist state that oppresses and exploits the Palestinians. Opposition parties back a move against Netanyahu because they can see a route to their own leadership of the state.
The turmoil is taking place because Israel has not been able to crush Palestinian resistance—almost 11 months since it started its murderous assault. Defence minister Yoav Gallant is now bitterly criticising Netanyahu for delaying a deal.
The protests come as Israel launches its biggest assault in the Occupied West Bank for more than 20 years and ruthlessly continues the murders in Gaza.
On Sunday Israel killed at least 11 Palestinians when its forces bombed the former “Safad” school that houses forcibly displaced people in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City.
The mainstream Bloomberg news agency said recently, “Israeli air strikes have left more than 42 million tonnes of debris in Gaza. It’s enough rubble to fill a line of dump trucks stretching from New York to Singapore.
“The task will be complicated by unexploded bombs, dangerous contaminants and human remains under the rubble.
The Palestinian revolt, revolutions in the Arab regimes, and movements and workers’ actions in the West are the pillars of freedom. Liberation will not come from inside Israel.
Richard Bernard and Sarah Wilkinson, two prominent pro-Palestine activists
The arrest of prominent pro-Palestine activists and journalists under UK anti-terrorism laws has sparked an online outpouring of concern over alleged state censorship and thought-policing.
On August 29, police raided the home of a well-known pro-Palestine activist, Sarah Wilkinson, reportedly over allegations relating to her online posts discussing the October 7 attack on Israel.
A family member, Jack Wilkinson, explained on X what happened the day she was arrested.
“The police came to her house just before 7.30am. 12 of them in total, some of them in plain clothes from the counter terrorism police. They said she was under arrest for ‘content that she has posted online.’ Her house is being raided & they have seized all her electronic devices.”
Wilkinson, 61, has been highly active in the UK’s pro-Palestine activism scene for many years.
After visiting Palestine some years ago, she dedicated her life to activism and highlighting Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians.
She has reported from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an international initiative that collected and is attempting to deliver hundreds of tons humanitarian aid directly to Palestinians.
Wilkinson’s arrest caused an outcry across social media, and the hashtag #FreeSarahWilkinsonNOW was picked up across the platform.
Journalist Jonathan Cook said on X: “We now face the terrifying, Orwellian reality that a genocide-complicit PM can repurpose Britain’s ‘counter-terrorism’ laws to jail anyone who opposes Starmer’s complicity in Israel’s genocide, charging them with ‘support’ for terror.”
Also, world-famous musician and Pink Floyd co-founder, Roger Waters, slammed her arrest, saying: “So 12 cops come around to the house and arrest you… for standing up for human rights, campaigning against genocide.”
In a video posted on X, Waters added: “If you allow this to stand, the arrest of Sarah Wilkinson, then you have accepted that Britain is now a fascist state. 1984 has arrived and it is alive and well in the United Kingdom.. Over my dead body.”
Media platform MENA Uncensored, which Wilkinson has worked for as a contributor, has since reported that Wilkinson had been released on bail and “is back to the comfort of her home.”
The UK police have not released any official statements on her arrest and detention.
Palestine Action targeted
On the same day, a co-founder of direct action group Palestine Action, Richard Barnard, was charged with three offences for comments made in two speeches.
He is accused of supporting a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act (2000), and encouraging “criminal activity.”
Credit: Palestine Action
Barnard is to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on September 18 for a plea hearing.
The announcement was made via Palestine Action’s X account.
“BREAKING: After a targeted campaign by the Zionist lobby, Palestine Action’s co-founder Richard Barnard is facing three charges for two speeches. He is accused of supporting a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act and encouraging ‘criminal activity’.”
Palestine Action is a direct action protest group which has been behind countless “occupations” of companies which are allegedly linked to the Israeli arms trade.
Elbit Systems, a drone manufacturer, has been a regular target for the group.
Palestine Action activists film themselves climbing on company buildings and causing damage to the property and equipment it produces. The damage caused in these protests can sometimes reach millions of pounds.
On August 21, five Palestine Action activists were jailed for at least a year each for taking part in a direct action protest.
The activists had occupied a weapons factory in Glasgow belonging to French arms firm Thales.
The company has a contract with Elbit Systems, which produces 85 per cent of drones used by the Israel Defence Forces.
In June 2022, the activists occupied the roof and unfurled banners to disrupt production. Two of them also damaged weaponry inside the building.
Journalist also arrested
The arrests of Wilkinson and Barnard are not the only arrests of their kind related to comments about Gaza and October 7.
Richard Medhurst. Credit X | @richimedhurst
On August 15, a Syrian-British journalist Richard Medhurst was arrested by UK police under the provisions of Section 12 of the Terrorism Act of 2000.
Police seized Medhurst at London’s Heathrow Airport as he exited from his airplane.
He was detained and questioned over a 24 hour period. All his electronic devices and journalistic equipment were confiscated.
Medhurst, who became renowned for his staunch support of Julian Assange as well as Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, is also a well known anti-Israel commentator on social media.
The UK’s Terrorism Act 2000 defines terrorism, both in and outside of the UK. Groups which fall within these definitions become proscribed on the UK’s terrorism list.
Expressing public support or being a member of any proscribed group is also a crime. Both Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group are on the UK’s terrorism list.
It is important to note that in order to be convicted of a terrorism offence a person doesn’t actually have to commit what could be considered a terrorist attack.
Planning, assisting and even collecting information on how to commit terrorist acts are all crimes under British terrorism legislation.
UK Labour Party Purges Have Mutated Into the Arrest of Palestine Supporters
The arrest yesterday of Palestine solidarity activist Sarah Wilkinson, following the arrest of journalist Richard Medhurst last week – both based on an improbable claim they have violated Section 12 of the Terrorism Act – is definitive proof that Keir Starmer’s authoritarian purges of the Labour left are being rolled out against critics on a nationwide basis.
Now safely ensconced in No 10, Starmer can crush the basic rights of British citizens with as much relish as he earlier pummeled the remnants of democracy inside the Labour party – and for much the same reason.
The British prime minister is determined to terrorize into silence critics highlighting his, and now his government’s, complicity with Israel and its genocide in Gaza.
Starmer would rather dramatically expand the scope of already draconian “counter-terrorism” laws than act against the wishes of the United States, either by stopping arms sales to a fascist Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu or by joining South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
There, judges have already ruled that the slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinians over the past 11 months is a “plausible genocide”. The next step is for South Africa and the many states backing it to persuade the World Court that the genocide is proven beyond doubt.
The usual Israel lobby ghouls, such as David Collier, have been salivating over Wilkinson’s arrest. She faces up to 14 years in jail for supposedly “supporting” a proscribed organization – namely, Hamas.
According to reports, she was told she was being arrested over “content that she has posted online”. Police seized all her electronic devices. According to her daughter, she has been released on bail on condition she “never” uses those devices.
Let’s be clear: the police are using the Terrorism Act in this way only because they have received political direction to do so. Wilkinson’s arrest is only possible because the police and Starmer, supposedly a human rights lawyer, are rewriting the meaning of the term “support for terrorism”.
This is political repression in its clearest form.
Traditionally, making it a crime to “support” a terror group was about giving the authorities the power to punish anyone who offered material assistance, such as sending money or weapons, hiding armed fighters, providing information useful in an attack, and so on.
Even standard criminal laws against speech usually require evidence that someone has credibly incited direct violence or put other people’s lives in danger, such as the charges against those involved in recent far-right riots that included attempted pogroms against Muslims and immigrants.
That is entirely different from criminalizing as “support for terror” any positive assertion about something done by a proscribed organization – all the more so if we remember that Hamas has not just a military wing, but also a political section and a welfare arm.
The need for careful distinctions should be obvious. Would praising Hamas leaders, even its military leaders, for agreeing to sit down in peace talks amount to “support” for a terror organization? Should it lead to arrest and jail time?
It was never a crime to “support” Sinn Fein – the political wing of the IRA – in the sense of having complimentary things to say about its long-time leader, Gerry Adams, or backing its political positions.
It wasn’t even illegal to “support” actual IRA “terrorists”. Back in the early 1980s, many people criticized the Ulster authorities and the British government of Margaret Thatcher for their barbaric treatment of IRA prisoners. It was not an arrestable offense, for example, to “support” the hunger strike of the IRA’s Bobby Sands that led to his death in the Maze prison.
The Jewish Newssets out the apparent grounds for the raid on Wilkinson’s home by a dozen or so police officers, and the decision to arrest and investigate her on terrorism charges. Those reasons, if they are right, should send a terrifying chill down all our spines. That doubtless was Starmer’s intent.
1. According to the Jewish News, Wilkinson violated Section 12 by describing Hamas’ airborne assault into Israel on October 7 as an “incredible infiltration”. Which it clearly was. By any measure, it was an infiltration. And my dictionary gives as one of the main definitions of “incredible”: “difficult to believe”, or “extraordinary” in the sense of “very far from ordinary”.
Seeing Hamas use hang-gliders to get past one of the most sophisticated military structures ever built to imprison millions of people is the very definition of “incredible”. It was indeed hard to believe Hamas managed technically to do what it did that day.
Even were the police to ignore this established meaning of the word and instead assume that “great” or “wonderful” was intended – as a description of Hamas breaking out from the cage in which the people of Gaza had been imprisoned for decades and deprived of the essentials of life for 17 years – that would hardly constitute a crime, let alone “support” for terrorism.
As is well-established in international law, occupied people such as the Palestinians have a right to resist an army that occupies their territory, including through the use of violence. Just ask Starmer about that right in relation to the people of Ukraine.
Further, as even the Jewish News has to quietly concede, Wilkinson wrote her tweet on October 7 – that is, the very day Hamas’ attack happened. She could have had no idea at the time of writing that civilians were being killed in large numbers.
(The extent of Hamas’ atrocities against civilians on October 7 is far more disputed than the western media cares to admit. It quickly became clear Hamas did not, as claimed, kill babies, let alone behead them. No substantive evidence has been produced so far to show there were rapes that day, let alone the use of rape as a systematic policy, as Israel and its supporters allege. Some Israeli civilians, we now know, were killed by Israel’s own security forces when the so-called Hannibal protocol was invoked. And other Israeli civilians may have been targeted by some of the armed groups and individuals not allied to Hamas that poured out of Gaza through breaches created in the electronic fence around the enclave.)
But even if we assume both that Wilkinson knew civilians had been killed that day, and in large numbers, and that her use of “incredible” was meant to signal her approval of the killings, it should still not constitute a crime to note the extraordinary military feat of breaking out of Gaza.
No one should be locked up for being impressed by violence. If we wanted to make that some sort of principle, we would have to go around arresting large numbers of Zionist Jews and non-Jews in Britain who have been keen to voice their enthusiasm for Israel’s months of slaughter in Gaza.
2. The Jewish News also cites Wilkinson’s praise for Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau, shortly after he was assassinated by Israel in Tehran. She referred to him as a “hero”.
As context, let us note that, before his murder, Haniyeh was widely viewed as a moderate, even in Hamas’ political wing. Living in exile from Gaza, he appears to have had no foreknowledge of the October 7 attack. He was also one of the main players in efforts to end the bloodletting in Gaza and bring about a ceasefire through negotiations with Israel.
Killing Haniyeh was intended by Netanyahu to bolster the hardliners in Hamas’ military and political wings. By sabotaging hopes of a ceasefire, Israel’s government has been able to continue its genocide.
It is no more unreasonable to view Haniyeh as a “hero” for conducting a political struggle to free the people of Gaza from what the World Court has decried as an illegal occupation and a system of brutal Israeli apartheid than it was to view Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams as a hero for his political struggle to free Northern Ireland’s Catholic community from the oppressive rule of Britain and Ulster loyalists.
You may disagree with Haniyeh or Adams’ politics. You may denounce anyone who supports their positions. But you should most certainly not be in a position to lock such supporters away – not if we want to continue believing we live in a free society.
Adams spent many years as an elected member of the British parliament, though he refused to take up his seat in Westminster in protest. No one ever seriously suggested that those who supported him – either by calling him a hero or by voting for him in elections – should be arrested and jailed. Anyone who had done so would rightly have been called out as monstrously authoritarian and deeply anti-democratic.
3. Finally, the Jewish News suggests that Wilkinson made historic online posts – some eight years ago – amounting to Holocaust denial. Wilkinson apparently disputes this and has argued that the allegations were a smear campaign.
Even if we assume the worst – that Wilkinson did actually cast doubt on the Holocaust, rather than being smeared as having done so – that should not be a matter for the “terrorism” police. Having irrational, unfounded, or immoral views are not the equivalent of “support” for terrorism. Not even close.
Let us remember too that, if Britain’s terrorism laws are going to be enforced so expansively, the first person who should be arrested for “supporting” terrorism is Starmer himself. Months ago he insisted numerous times that Israel had a right to block food, water and power to 2.3 million people in Gaza, a policy Israel has indeed pursued and has resulted in a man-made famine that is starving Palestinians to death. The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor is seeking Netanyahu’s arrest for that starvation policy because it is a crime against humanity.
Starmer, the human rights lawyer, knew that the starvation of Gaza was terrorism – or collective punishment, as it is known in international law. And yet he gave that very act of terror his full-throated backing. And his words had much more power to influence events than Wilkinson’s could ever have.
As opposition leader, he was in a position to add tangible pressure on Israel to stop its starvation policy by pointing out it amounted to state terror. As prime minister, he is in a position to advance the arrest of Israeli leaders for their terrorist acts under the principle of universal jurisdiction. He can stop arming the genocide too.
If we had a functioning system of international law, Starmer would undoubtedly be at serious risk of ending up in the dock of The Hague, accused of complicity in war crimes.
We now face the terrifying, Orwellian reality that a genocide-complicit prime minister can repurpose Britain’s “counter-terrorism” laws to jail anyone who opposes Israel’s genocide and Starmer’s complicity in it, charging them with “support” for terror.
Starmer wants to be judge, jury and executioner. We must not let him get away with it.
Jonathan Cook is the author of three books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and a winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His website and blog can be found at www.jonathan-cook.net. This originally appeared in the Jonathan Cook’s Substack.
UK Disabled activists to deliver a book for every MP on austerity's impact on their community
DAMNING evidence of deaths and suffering, linked to austerity, among disabled people will be delivered to every MP in the House of Commons today.
Relatives of disabled people who died will join activists delivering 650 copies of a new book, How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds and Hid the Evidence. The title holds the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) responsible for implementing Tory government measures against people with disabilities.
Highlighted measures include Work Capability Assessments, which reclassified sick and disabled people as “fit for work,” depriving them of benefits if they were unable to comply.
The book has been written by John Pring, editor of the Disability News Service, and is published by Pluto Press.
It alleges that the DWP’s actions have led to the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of disabled people since 2010. It includes the personal stories of many victims, including people who took their own lives.
Activists will gather outside the DWP’s headquarters, Caxton House in Westminster, at 11.15 am. Dressed in black, they will then deliver the book to MPs. Attendees will include Coronation Street actor-activist Cherylee Houston and former Eastenders actor Lisa Hammond.
Pluto Press managing director Versuchka Selbach said: “It is an exceptional work of investigative journalism that is both heart-breaking and shocking. These stories can’t be ignored any longer.”
The book is based on evidence gathered by the author including documents from the National Archives, coroners’ reports, government documents and testimonies from disabled people and relatives of those who died.
John McArdle, co-founder of the disability rights Black Triangle Campaign, said: “The department provides a casebook of how not to run a social security system. The current disability benefit assessment system is making people even sicker.”
He called on the Labour government “to sit down with us to co-produce a safe and efficient disability benefit system that provides a genuine safety net to those who need it.”
Ellen Clifford of the UK Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations’ Coalition said: “Across the UK, there is growing concern about the impact of yet more cuts. It is apparent that lessons from the past are being deliberately ignored.”
Jail profiteers responsible for Grenfell, bereaved say ahead of final report
A member of the public at the memorial at the base of Grenfell Tower in London, June 14, 2024, in remembrance of those who died in the Grenfell Tower fire on June 14 2017
JAIL the profiteers responsible for Grenfell Tower, bereaved survivors said ahead of the final report into deadly blaze seven years ago.
The long-running inquiry will publish its findings on how the west London tower block came to be in a condition which allowed the flames to quickly claim the lives of 72 people on Wednesday.
Inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick is set to expose any failings by corporate firms in the construction industry, the local authority, London Fire Brigade and the government.
But the bereaved and survivors face an “unbearable” wait which could stretch to a decade before any criminal charges are brought.
The Met Police says it needs until the end of 2025 to finalise its mammoth investigation into the fire, with a further year for prosecutors to haul culprits into court.
Sandra Ruiz, whose 12-year-old niece Jessica Urbano Ramirez died in the fire, said: “For me, there’s no justice without people going behind bars.
“People who have made decisions putting profit above people’s safety need to be behind bars.
“Our lives were shattered on that night, people need to be held accountable.
“They know what part they played. The inquiry knows what part they played. And the police know what part they played. Now they just need to take some action about it.
“Let’s not drag this out another seven years.”
Ms Ruiz added the final report must be a “landmark report” which prompts “cultural, institutional and legislative change,” as “we’ve seen all too often” how people have “completely sidestepped their areas of responsibility.
“Those ethics have gone by the wayside in favour of profits, and this is what we see as a result.”
Former tower resident and Grenfell United member Edward Daffarn said he hopes it will “highlight the institutionalised indifference that saw private companies put profit before people.”
The safety campaigner, who famously predicted the fire in a blog post just months before it happened, hoped those like him who were painted as “rebel residents” for challenging the relevant local authorities will be vindicated in the report.
He also hoped it will “fully expose” the actions of the government and private companies and that “the buck-passing that took place during the public inquiry, where none of the corporate core participants took any responsibility for their actions, is going to come to an end.”
An industry roundtable convened following the major fire at flats in Dagenham has been told regulators and partners must speed up the remediation of unsafe buildings.
Deputy Prime Minster Angela Rayner and Building Safety Minister Rushanara Ali attended the roundtable, which also hosted West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker, Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester Paul Dennett and Deputy Mayor of London Jules Pipe, along with key representatives from the London Fire Brigade, the National Fire Chiefs Council, the Local Government Association, the Building Safety Regulator, and other key partners.
Ms Rayner praised the bravery of the firefighters but took others to task on the lack of progress on unsafe properties, brought to light in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster and demonstrated at the Spectrum Building in Dagenham last week.
“Speeding up the remediation of buildings is absolutely critical. Seven years on from Grenfell, action has been far too slow and the fire in Dagenham is a horrific reminder of the risk unsafe cladding still poses to far too many people.”
“This government will expect more from regulators and partners to make sure action is being taken now to make homes safe, speed up remediation and ensure that buildings in the process of being remediated are managed safely for residents.”
Said Ms Rayner. Building Safety Minister Rushanara Ali added
“I would like to thank the emergency services, council and wider community for all they have done following the fire in Dagenham. It is absolutely essential that central and local government, regulators, and partners come together, as we have today, to drive fast and effective change to get buildings fixed, made safe and make sure residents are protected.”
UK
Minister responds to 'nationalise Ticketmaster' calls after Oasis ticket chaos
The Manchester Central MP revealed that she managed to get hold of tickets for the long-awaited Oasis reunion tour
Tickets for the Manchester band's first gigs in the UK and Ireland in 16 years went on sale on Saturday morning (August 31). The reunion tour will see Noel and Liam Gallagher back together at Heaton Park next summer as well as in Cardiff, London, Edinburgh and Dublin.
But many desperate fans have complained after waiting in long queues for hours only to find ticket websites 'crashing' and prices for 'in demand' tickets rising by hundreds of pounds. Yesterday, a spokesperson for Ticketmaster denied claims that its website crashed.
Coventry South MP Zara Sultana, who was among those trying to buy Oasis tickets, posted about her experience on X. In a post on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, she wrote: "Three hour wait for Oasis tickets and @TicketmasterUK crashes."
The Labour MP, who is currently facing a six-month suspension from the party, then posted: "Nationalise Ticketmaster."
Manchester Central MP, who is the House of Commons Leader, was asked about her colleague's suggestion on Sky News this morning (September 1). Presenter Trevor Phillips asked the Labour MP if she agrees that the major ticket platform should be nationalised.
She said: "I don't think we need to nationalise Ticketmaster. Thankfully, after hours of waiting like many, many other people in the queue, I was able to get a couple of Oasis tickets but it's a bit more than I was hoping to pay for them."
'Incredibly depressing': Culture Secretary slams Oasis tickets fiasco as she vows Government resales review
1 September 2024, 22:44
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has slammed the handling of Oasis reunion ticket sales - as she promised a Government review of resale markets. Picture: Alamy/Oasis
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has slammed the handling of Oasis reunion ticket sales - as she promised a Government review of resale markets.
Before the furore from Oasis fans over standard tickets more than doubling from £148 to £355 on Ticketmaster, the Government had pledged to "bring in protections to stop people being ripped off by touts".
On Sunday, Ms Nandy released a statement saying: "After the incredible news of Oasis' return, it's depressing to see vastly inflated prices excluding ordinary fans from having a chance of enjoying their favourite band live.
"This Government is committed to putting fans back at the heart of music. So we will include issues around the transparency and use of dynamic pricing, including the technology around queuing systems which incentivise it, in our forthcoming consultation on consumer protections for ticket resales.
"Working with artists, industry and fans we can create a fairer system that ends the scourge of touts, rip-off resales and ensures tickets at fair prices."
Before the furore from Oasis fans over standard tickets more than doubling from £148 to £355 on Ticketmaster, the Government had pledged to "bring in protections to stop people being ripped off by touts". Picture: Alamy
Government minister Lucy Powell was among those hit by dynamic pricing on Saturday, and eventually forked out more than double the original quoted cost of a ticket for an Oasis show.
Fans called the "in-demand" pricing both "sickening" and "scandalous".
Ticketmaster said it does not set prices, and its website says this is down to the "event organiser" who "has priced these tickets according to their market value".
On Sunday, Ms Nandy released a statement saying: "After the incredible news of Oasis' return, it's depressing to see vastly inflated prices excluding ordinary fans from having a chance of enjoying their favourite band live. Picture: Alamy
Lots of fans also missed out on the reunion tour tickets as they battled with website issues, and being mislabelled as bots, before Oasis announced all 17 shows had sold out.
However, Ticketmaster maintained its website had not crashed, and directed customers to clear cookies and to only use one tab.
House of Commons leader and Lord President of the Council Ms Powell said she ended up buying two tickets for £350 each for Heaton Park in July, which were originally quoted at £148.50, not including a booking fee of £2.75.
The Manchester Central MP told BBC Radio 5 Live: "Eventually (I) got through and bought a couple of tickets for more than I was expecting to pay."
Government minister Lucy Powell was among those hit by dynamic pricing on Saturday, and eventually forked out more than double the original quoted cost of a ticket for an Oasis show. Picture: Alamy
Ms Powell said she does not "particularly like" surge pricing, before adding: "It is the market and how it operates."
"You've absolutely got to be transparent about that so that when people arrive after hours of waiting, they understand that the ticket is going to cost more," she said.
It is believed the ticket prices for Oasis gigs were set by promoters.
The band's promoters, Manchester-based SJM Concerts, Irish MCD and Scottish DF Concerts & Events have all been approached for comment.
Brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher confirmed their reunion on Tuesday following the end of their more than a decade long acrimonious split.
Brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher confirmed their reunion on Tuesday following the end of their more than a decade long acrimonious split. Picture: Alamy
There has also been concern about the non-official sellers Viagogo, which on Sunday had a seat at Wembley on July 25 listed at £5,289.
The secondary seller has defended the practice saying fans sell the tickets, and its global managing director added: "Resale is legal in the UK and fans are always protected by our guarantee that they will receive their tickets in time for the event or their money back."
Oasis has told followers that Ticketmaster and Twickets should only be used for resales, and put up for prices at "face value", otherwise they will be "cancelled by the promoters".
Oasis have also been contacted for comment.
BBC
Meanwhile, the Daily Star takes aim at Oasis, labelling tickets for the band's reunion tour "a rip off at £488". "From working-class heroes to zeroes," the paper says of frontmen and brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, after prices surged while fans queued for tickets online.
UK Support for an elected head of state up by a quarter since Charles became king
