Liverpool Social Struggles Feature Archive

08-11-2013 18:32 | 35 comments

Attack on The Casa

On Saturday 2nd November 2013 a fundraising benefit gig for the family of imprisoned whistleblower Chelsea Manning, organised by WISE Up Action, at The Casa in Liverpool, a pub set up by sacked Liverpool Dockers, suffered multiple violent attacks.

The day before the physical and verbal attacks on the anti-war activist organisers and The Casa staff, a statement on Adam Ford's blog, "from a group of activists who will be supporting Chelsea Manning but opposing Ciaron O'Reilly at an event in Liverpool tomorrow" claimed that "Ciaron O'Reilly - a main organiser of tonight's event - does not support Chelsea Manning in the same way that we do" and said that they "intend to protest against that". Ten days before the attack an article opposing the event, published on the blog of a member of the Liverpool Solidarity Federation and reproduced the next day on Libcom, claimed that Ciaron O’Reilly was a "vile misogynist and transphobic shitbag" and that "O’Reilly’s fundraiser in Liverpool will be challenged on the basis of his behaviour towards women and on the basis of his support for Julian Assange." Ciaron O’Reilly refutes the allegations against him, in response to the accusation that he made some sexist remarks he has said "I am not sure I have" and in response to the charge that that he refers to Chelsea Manning using her previous name of Bradley, he has made it clear that he does "not refuse to use the name Chelsea".

On 19th October 2013, outside the Anarchist bookfair in London Ciaron O’Reilly was physically and verbally assaulted because of his ongoing support and solidarity work for Julian Assange of WikiLeaks who has been sheltering from persecution in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for over a year.

Links: Catholic among the Pigeons | Solidarity gigs/events for US prisoner of conscience Private Manning | Drunk Attack on Chelsea Manning's Family Fundraiser in Liverpool | Weekend of Solidarity with Chelsea Manning's Family - the good news! | Photos and audio from Chelsea Manning's Family Fundraiser in Liverpool

03-12-2009 15:31

Nerve 15 - 2010 Resistance Calendar

“Until the lions have their own story-tellers, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter.” - Nigerian proverb Read more >>

25-11-2009 00:23 | 1 comment

When bigots attack, we fight back!

After Liverpool City Council forced an anti-homophobia march to stick to the back streets, an angry group set off on an alternative, unapproved, route through the heart of Liverpool's shopping centre Read more >>

05-09-2009 14:11

Leaflets, placards, and a fascist with a camera: yet another court hearing for Peter Tierney

The proceedings against Peter Tierney, for assaulting an anti-fascist in Liverpool on St George's Day, continue. As this particular case demonstrates the violent tendencies of even the more high-profile BNP members, anti-fascists on Merseyside have been following it very closely, and will continue to do so until a verdict is reached. Read more >>

18-08-2009 15:19

Vestas Profits Announcement - Solidarity Protest at Vestas HQ

The Community Action Party, Respect and the Socialist Party were all represented at today's Protest at Vestas' UK HQ in Warrington which coincided with the company's quarterly profits announcement.

€43million profit for the 2nd Quarter, €90 for the half year made on the back of 1567 job cuts. Read more >>

07-08-2009 11:34 | 7 comments

The sorry saga of Peter Tierney: an update

After Peter Tierney's arraignment on August 5th for assaulting an anti-fascist in April, the BNP spin machine has been doing overtime to distort the event both in the courtroom and on the streets. This article counters the lies and talks about what's next for the anti-fascist movement in Liverpool. Read more >>

23-06-2009 19:56

Nerve 14 - The System Is Unsustainable

How do we live sustainably in a city that is designed for an unsustainable way of life? The latest Nerve magazine tries to answer that question, and is available for free from News From Nowhere on Bold Street, as well as cafes, libraries, and cultural venues. Read more >>

06-05-2009 01:42

Mersey May Day Solidarity Raises £300 For Sacked Visteon Workers

£300 was raised on Merseyside this May Day weekend, in solidarity with sacked Visteon car parts makers who have now been blockading three UK sites for more than a month. Read more >>

24-04-2009 12:55

BNP activists assault anti-fascists in Liverpool city centre

Yesterday, April 23rd, saw fifteen members of Liverpool BNP members take to the streets of our city again. As word got around that they were leafleting on Church Street, around 12.30pm, local anti-fascists did what they could to mobilise people (not the easiest thing to do mid-week, mid afternoon!). By 1pm there was around twenty anti-fascists leafleting in and around the BNP, making it loud and clear what the BNP stood for, and why people shouldn’t tolerate their presence. This was met by the standard bellowing of ‘get a wash’ and ‘get a job’ from the BNP only serving to further alienate members of the public, from whom they were already getting short shrift. Read more >>

26-03-2009 17:48

John Moores Students Protest Against Cuts

John Moores Vice Chancellor Michael Brown fled a group of 150 angry students and their supporters in his BMW (complete with JMU 1 numberplate) this afternoon. In doing so, he postponed a showdown over his plans to cut thirty-four courses from September. Read more >>

20-03-2009 22:48

Merseyside Job Cull Begins

Merseyside Job Centre queues grew by the largest amount in eighteen years last month, bringing back memories of traumatic times before the 'regeneration' gold rush and the credit boom. Read more >>

11-03-2009 18:49

Justice for the Shrewsbury 24 building workers!

1972 was a year of successful industrial action in Britain. The miners had won over pay, the Tory Government had been forced to release five imprisoned dockers. 1972 also saw Britain's first National Building Workers' strike. The strike committees of North Wales building workers would go on to be the victims of one of the worst miscarriages of justice since the days of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. They would be vilified and hounded by parts of the press, convicted by a court as a deterrent to strikers, and abandoned by their own union leaders and the TUC. Six of them would go to prison and one of these would die later as a result of the treatment he received while there. See

http://www.catalystmedia.org.uk/issues/nerve10/shrewsbury_pickets.php

37 years later, an Early Day Motion (EDM) has been tabled demanding a public inquiry into the gross miscarriages of justice and disclosure of all Government and security papers relating to the case. Read more >>

11-02-2009 02:08 | 1 comment

Wirral Council Votes To Slash Services: What Now?

When Wirral Council finally voted to go ahead with the Cabinet's proposed slashing of local services on 9th February, it caused anguish to the hundreds of people who have been campaigning for the last few months. Council employees are now set to lose their jobs at the worst possible time, as a global recession bites. Service users have lost access to libraries, leisure centres, and cultural venues. This terrible attack on ordinary people has shown the limitations of protests, letter-writing campaigns, and pinning hopes on politicians. The need for a new strategy has been highlighted. Read more >>

12-01-2009 21:31 | 1 comment

Two Hundred March Against Wirral Cuts

As hundreds of thousands in London, Edinburgh and around the world demonstrated against Israel's genocidal attacks on Gaza, a much smaller protest took place in Wallasey, Merseyside. While it would be inappropriate to draw many parallels between the two, it can be said the struggle for life and freedom in Palestine and for decent public services in this country have one thing in common: they represent squares in the global chess match between the profit system and the rest of humanity. Read more >>

06-01-2009 21:55

Liverpool 2009: Capital of Crisis?

As Liverpool hands the Capital of Culture baton over to Vilnius and Linz, the city’s economy is in for an extremely tough year. Top council leaders claim Liverpool is in particularly good shape to ride out the global economic collapse, but statistics and analysis show they could not be further from the truth. Read more >>