some thoughts on violence

1.for anyone wanting to begin a cool headed understanding of violence i would recommend the 2009 collection of essays that forms socialist register.this is produced to a very ight standard in every way and explores most forms of violence around the world.inevitably it focuses on the many forms of violence against the working class in war,criminality and disorder,at work and in industry,in the environment,as racism and in the variety fo forms against women.of course not much is good news but it dowes enable and assist the reader to sharpen and develop a focus on the issues.

2.i admit that amongst my favourites are an article about prisons in america which show the astonishing level of criminalistion among the black population and the poor,which is not the same as holding the prison population as responsible for the bulk of crime.that notion sgain shows how class and ideas of crime function in advanced capitalism,although of course those issues are followed in more detail in some of the inevitably nmore specialised literature on critical criminology.

3.qanother paper addresses the contrast between harm done to police officers,set against harm done to civilians in police custody or otherwise at the hands of police officers in the uk.it goedds on to compare health and safety at work and industrial accidents which harm many more people than crime and yet have a low if not an entirekly neative priority.i have made points in other posts and will do so now that relates to these papers.

4.i cannot ignor other documents that refer to the declining successs in prosecution of offences against women,despite structured and significant effort among institutions whichg should have taken society in a more constructive direction.

5.to move on to current events-in a week which the media and some sections of the community seem over-excercised about the symbolic theatre of ukuncut and the largely symbolic violence of the "black block",the hearings about the death of a newspaper seller at but not involved in a G20 demonstration continue.it strikes me as odd that there seems to be almost continual footage of the officer who pushed the victim who seems to have been identified as engaging in several incidents of dodgy behaviour against innocent members of the public.there isw also a story that after being disciplined for not disimilar actions when previously in the metropolitan police force wsome years ago,he "dropped down"into a civilian job with qanother force annd then re-entered the llondon police via transfer.if this is true then it begs some questioins or hints at worse.

6.whatever position the reader takes about intervention in libya the numbers may not constitute massacre but people still die,in amanner directly relate to that intervention.

7.rabid ignorance and bigotry seem to inform the burning of asingle coppy of the quaran/koran in the usa.rumours sooin accrued to this so that in afurther outburst of ignorance and rage a crowd decended on the un building somehwre in afghanistan resulting in the brutal murder of un staff,none of whom seem to have been americans.ignorance and bigotry fuel but are no excuse for such ill directed and murderous rage.i do not want to see a spiral of revenge though i do think the pastor in the usa and the afgahn crowd deserve each other.

8.this is a poisonous combination of the worst aspects of prejudice,religion,nationalism and ignorance.whilst i might defend"spirituality"i cannot defend the authority of rules established by authoritarian nationalism and religions that have us on our knees,looking up at all too human powers who rule over us and then point or watch us behave like frenzied robots in the meaninglesss destruction of others.none of this does anything to free any of us from anything.

9.we have nothing except our labour and in becoming fully conscious of ourselves as a class and as individuals(in approximately that order) can we reclaim our full humanity and comparison.what we can create may not be perfect but it has to be better than this.

10.and for those who think that we are always doomed to repeat our brutality and our evil selves,which i would reject then it is worth keeping in mind the workers and people in australia(floods),new zealand(earthquake)and most significantly perhapos japan(earthquake,tsunami and the vfery unnatural nuclear disaster)where in each case what has come to the fore is the resilience,compassion and humanity of other workers around us and abroad.

11.i accannot help but note that whilst human compassion and solidarity meet these horrendous events,the deaths contiinue whilst the imperialists continue to prevaricate and machinate,and the japanese state,and capitalists along with the world nuclear community make excuses and lies about the latest nuclear disaster.

12.whilst thsi might put renewable energy sources centre stage,i thought it might have killed the remaining illusions in the nuclear option.it is undoubtedly a backwards step to return to carbon energy sources but i aqm horrified that even george mombiot amongst others are back to playing statistical games and makking reassuring noises that pay little heed to the fear and devastation that huge numbers of ordinary but no less valued people are experiencing in their lives.if we cant do anything helpful,constructive and immediate to help perhaps we ought to excercise some care and caution with what we speak and write,that acknowlledges that our personall reality is nott the only perspective.

lost
01/04/2011


violence of ukuncut,and

today a certain police officer is giving evidence about his own actions recorded on video in relation to the injury and subsequent death of a certain newspaper seller,not connected with a demonstration.

it seems there is video evidence that follows said police officer actions throughout the days evenbts and certainly during a very short period of i belive 8 minutes in which despite being attached as a driver to control police transport he is shown in at least 4 incidents,and he has admitted that a string of key details of his previous accounts/statements hav been shown to be wrong.

he was not soned or attacked.whilst attempting to arrest one demonstrator he pushed the man against the side of a police vehicle and the crowd responded when the demonstrators head was struck by the door of the evhicle being opened.the accused officer denies any responsibilty.headmits pushing over a journalist some minutes latter.then he admits striking in the leg the primary victim and becausethe victim did not move away fast enough then pushed him in the shoulder.the victim fell to the floor.no officer went to help.the victoim got up,walked away from the incident and collapsed round the corner where despite aid from a medical student,the victim subsequently died.

the officer was surprised that the victim did not walk away faster and then that he fell over.if i had been hit as described and from behind ,how could i not have fallen?the officer has apologised to the family today.

in the work i have done for some years,which involved interviewing offenders,some but not all apologise to me for what they have done,but in my opiniion few of those apologies are unreserved or unequivocal.some make excusesor say its out of character.i alwaysd ask whther they are sorry they got caught,or what and to whom they are sorry for.some are concerned about the shame they bring on their families.

i think that whatever the structural explanation or view,and in class society/capitalism that would include that the police are the armed body of "men"of the state,at the individual levelk this is an inadequate explanation.in the public justice context which at best sees individual behaviuour in a limited social context,that same system holds the offender particularly responsible in certainn situations so that an assault on a paramedic would be seen qas more serius than on "ordinary jo/e".The obverse is also(sometimes)true-if guiltyy this officer will have abused his power.

justice under socialism might be very diffrent but might also share some features in common with now.but in the here and now,i would apply the criticism of marxism along with application of the sytemic sstandrads to itself.i admit aalso that i am also influenced by what i understand to be the absolutist ethics developed primarilly by a group of us lawayers during and in response to the "exytreme relativism"of the us state at the time conducting an immoral war(amongst other things)in vietnam,and imprisoning protesters like students,returning soldiers("vets")and indeed the"catonsville 8"(or 9),which included cathollic priests burning draft cards in protest against the war.

its interesting then that after 2 years this officer is not on trial for his behaviour.the victims family still dont have closure but do have to hear the insensitive insult that is the officers apologies(perhaps a letter to the family,some time ago,and done privately might have been more meaningful,but i doubt it.the choice of response needs to be in the hqands of the family not the officer).On the other hand it seems that in hunting down the combative,youthful resistance to cuts on the recnt demionstration the police appear to be lying again,and going for prosecutions like the end of civilisation is nigh.

i have written about socialist register 2009 on violence before so would refer readers of this to that volume again.

i could but wont recall a string of incidents in which i and many others have been subject to abuse and violence from these mostly men in blue.

the officer currently before the court has all the appearance of lacking intelligence or remorse and all the features of a thug on the rampage for whiuch he has no excuse whatsover.

and it reminds me that maybe that hippie/yippie expression-todays pig,tommorrows bacon should now have new currency.the facts show that this behaviuour is endemic among the forces of so called law and order,as socialist register 2009 illustrates.

we have to do things very differently and in the meantime put up the best political and legal defences we can particularly in establishing a strong and just working cllass politics.we should be equally ruthless in bringing to book every infringement of their rules by them and in defence of our rights,in the widest respects as a class and as individual members of that class.putting the two together might assist us in the creation of that new social order.

lost
05/04/2011