April 15th marks the 17th Anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy and while it is easy for many to forget it with time, it is hard for the families who, despite years of campaigning, still have not seen any justice for those they lost.
It must be impossible for the families to move on when they still feel aggrieved. When they still feel like all of the answers have not been given and that someone has not admitted responsibly for the death of so many adults and children.
Maybe what Hillsborough highlights is the lack of accountability when it comes to dealing with the police and the state? It could also be seen to highlight the lack of respect to football fans, often automatically treated as criminals. Was it because they were working class? Northern? Scousers?
They were, in the eyes of the state, faceless; police tell people where to go, they do not listen. They were in the eyes of The Sun faceless stories, perfect for selling papers. They were, and still are, results of an oppressive system which views people as not as the individuals they are, bringing happiness, creativity and love into peoples lives, but as a mass faceless problem, to be herded, pushed and squeezed into where they are told.
Liverpool is a city which pulls together; Michael Shields, The Dockers, Ken Bigely, Anthony Walker. It has community. Maybe this is why the right hates it so much. From The Spectator to Thatcher, people seem eager to crush the solidarity which exists here. However Liverpool is not dead, it still, despite all of its imperfections, stands up, speaks out and shows its heart.
Those who fight to make the world a better place, a place where people are valued as the great and wonderful people that they are will never walk alone.
Other links.
www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/NG152032060412-1308.htm
www.contrast.org/hillsborough/home.shtm
Maybe what Hillsborough highlights is the lack of accountability when it comes to dealing with the police and the state? It could also be seen to highlight the lack of respect to football fans, often automatically treated as criminals. Was it because they were working class? Northern? Scousers?
They were, in the eyes of the state, faceless; police tell people where to go, they do not listen. They were in the eyes of The Sun faceless stories, perfect for selling papers. They were, and still are, results of an oppressive system which views people as not as the individuals they are, bringing happiness, creativity and love into peoples lives, but as a mass faceless problem, to be herded, pushed and squeezed into where they are told.
Liverpool is a city which pulls together; Michael Shields, The Dockers, Ken Bigely, Anthony Walker. It has community. Maybe this is why the right hates it so much. From The Spectator to Thatcher, people seem eager to crush the solidarity which exists here. However Liverpool is not dead, it still, despite all of its imperfections, stands up, speaks out and shows its heart.
Those who fight to make the world a better place, a place where people are valued as the great and wonderful people that they are will never walk alone.
Other links.
www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/NG152032060412-1308.htm
www.contrast.org/hillsborough/home.shtm