General secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions GAWAIN LITTLE calls for support and participation in the national partnership organised to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1926 general strike
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June 18 1984. Never forget, never forgive.
We must never forget or forgive what the Tories orchestrated and the police did throughout mining communities all over Britain and to striking miners at Orgreave – so join us for an anniversary rally this weekend, writes KATE FLANNERY
violence outside the Orgreave Coking Plant near Rotherham, where police, with mounted police support, clashed with miner's pickets.
After brutal police crackdowns on pensioners and the forced approval of secret IMF deals, trade unions are finally responding to grassroots pressure and fighting back against savage neoliberal reforms, reports BERT SCHOUWENBURG
Bizarrely, Trump’s latest attacks now include the National Zoo, but his real and racist agenda is to strip everything black from the country’s cultural institutions, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
The transformation of a stable secular state into a fractured ruin largely ruled by Western-backed fundamentalists exposes the hollow nature of ‘multipolarity’ and the absence of principled anti-imperialism today, writes ZOLTAN ZIGEDY
Facing economic turmoil, Jim Callaghan’s government rejected Tony Benn’s alternative economic strategy in favour of cuts that paved the way for Thatcherism — and the cuts-loving Labour of the present era, writes KEITH FLETT
The economic value of disability benefits far outweighs their cost, argues Dr DYLAN MURPHY
As tensions rise in the Middle East, the role of Iran in the region’s political balance becomes ever more significant. STEVE BISHOP assesses the current situation
IN JUNE 1984 the miners’ strike against Tory plans for pit closures had been going on for three months. The cold war was raging. Prime minister Margaret Thatcher and US president Ronald Reagan were colluding to boost their nuclear capability while waging class war on their own population.
Their devotion to monetarism and increasing the role of the private market required shifting politics sharply to the right, just as had happened after the fascist junta in Chile and other oppressive regimes.
Tory warmongers had tasted a quick victory in their war to maintain control of the Falklands Islands, giving them a renewed confidence and an opportunity to whip up jingoism.
More from this author
Four decades on from the miners’ strike, the OTJC demands an inquiry into police brutality and government lies. Labour's pledge offers us hope, but the fight continues, writes KATE FLANNERY
As we approach the 40th anniversary of the strike that changed Britain forever, we have to remember its biggest miscarriage of justice remains unaddressed, writes KATE FLANNERY
Halloween for the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign marks a grim anniversary – five years since Amber Rudd ruled out an inquiry into the brutal events of June 18 1984. But campaigners have no intention of giving up the fight, says KATE FLANNERY
Ahead of the 2021 Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign online rally tomorrow, KATE FLANNERY puts into context the repressive nature of the British state
