power, and glorified murderers and plunderers, such as Clive and Gordon. (There is still little change in the presentation of the history of British atrocities committed in the name of the Empire). The views disseminated in these ways are reflected in literature, boys adventure stories and so on, and are still prevalent in present-day reading matter for children, and in comics in particular. Racist ideology is thus firmly rooted in the white society, with the result that the black populations from former colonies now established in what is known as the "mother country"-this term is again a reinforcement of the black-white relationship-have a colonial relationship to the larger white society.
Black people in Britain today therefore have METRO YOUTH CLUB The Metro Club is situated in the heart of Notting Hill, a ghetto harbouring the oppressed-hippies, the unemployed, unmarried mothers, Irish, those who have fallen foul of bourgeois "law and order", and of course, black people. It is a self-aware community; its members know they are under the
The club became too successful. It was built to accommodate about 200 people but numbers for the first three weeks after the inauguration of the club were far in excess. Tensions began to rise. "Respectable" members of the community, such as social workers, and more "eminent" members such as those from the local council, started to become apprehensive about the club. The older black leaders considered the activities of the club as wasting the energies and money of the youth. Parochial attitudes worked their way into the club and resentment was felt against the teenagers from outside the neighbourhood. The atmosphere was becoming uncomfortably hot. As a result the club was closed for a time, ostensibly for air-conditioning, three weeks after it opened.
A further source of tension was a difference in attitude between Laurie Little and lan King, a white member of the community who infiltrated the club right at the beginning. He was recruited to the staff and held the post of membership secretary/ caretaker/disc-jockey. He soon found himself in opposition to Little, for sound reasons. King envisaged the youth club as having a much wider scope than just a discotheque. He wanted to transform the premises into a multi-purpose community centre with space provided for pre-school playgroups, old people's interests, latchkey kids and black cultural studies. Laurie Little was totally opposed to the whole idea, because he stood in danger of losing not only the charisma of his position but also the personal control he enjoyed over the whole situation. King however moved further towards Black Power. He generally left Black Power leaflets and other literature lying about the turntable. Not surprisingly, at this stage things started to fall apart. King's ideas were found to be too militant; a conflict of interests developed and King was summarily removed from his job in January 1969. He was not allowed access to the club for some time after his dismissal.
By this time the "respectable" members of the community had become totally dissatisfied with the activities of the club. It was alleged that nothing constructive was happening. There was talk among the older black leaders of burning down the whole place.
Harrow Road admits that cops patrol the area too hot for them to handle.
POLICE BRUTALITY of the police and their brutality towards black people. The sequence of events is widely known, but it should be emphasised that the first arrest was made completely arbitrarily; the police were out to get someone, it didn't matter who. (Their get the wrong guy it doesn't matter, he probably broke the law on some previous occasion or will do so in the future anyway). It was this that inflamed the other youths and gave rise to the all over London arrived. The numbers give some indication of the desire of the police to provoke a major confrontation, and also of their respect for the collective force of the local population.
all roughly handled, abused and humiliated in and on arrival there. One pig taking part was heard to shout, "Let's get those black bastards"
The police were soon keeping continual watch around the club; Chief Superintendant Paterson of daily. He has now claimed that the club is a "haven of retreat" for black youths involved in robberies and has taken it upon himself to criticise the holding of two recent political meetings in the club. It seems probable that the cops will attempt to have it closed down, as they plainly fear that the concentration of radicalising black youth will become £1/E2.
Name The incidents of May 24th again highlight the racism Address .
attitude to the population of the area is that if they battle during which 70 police reinforcements from (ordinary).
Those arrested, including the white people, were various ways, both on the way to the police station arrested. There is no such thing as impartial reporting; yet the mass of the population is ready to accept information put out by the mass media as the "truth". A great number of those in power would soon be exposed if anything like the real truth were to be publicised, so the ruling class adopts repressive measures against those who wish to make the real facts known. Several instances of this can be given: one glaring example is the severity meted out to all those who protested recently over the killing of Stephen McCarthy and the orders given to all his family not to participate in any demonstrations for some time in the future. Censorship is used to keep the public ignorant of what is going on; how many people are aware of the Sunderland Road bombings, during which a large number of black people received extensive, disfiguring injuries as the result of an attack by a group of fascist thugs?
To fight the growing repression, and especially the repression of black people, is an essential and urgent task at the present time. Police harassment and acts of violence by individuals must be publicised; acts of brutality must be countered by organised resistance. The nature of racism and its use by the ruling class must be understood, so that a determined fight can be waged by all militants to overthrow the forces of capitalist oppression.
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