All Organisations subcategories:
Committee for a Workers International
Nationalist and National Liberation
Pro capitalist and Imperialist
Left and radical keywords:
International Socialist Resistance (54)
Revolutionary Communist League (1)
Socialist Peoples Party (Denmark) (1)
Socialist Students
3 November 2017
Search site for keywords: Orgreave - Police - Miners - Sheffield - Government - Yorkshire - Theresa May - South Yorkshire - Demonstration - Socialist Students
Orgreave campaigners' Halloween 'Death of Justice' march
'Death of Justice' march by Orgreave campaigners 31 October in Sheffield, photo Alistair Tice (Click to enlarge)
Alistair Tice, Yorkshire Socialist Party secretary
Chants of "by Amber Rudd and Theresa May, justice was killed a year to the day!" reverberated around the streets of Sheffield on Halloween night, 31 October.
The vibrant, colourful, noisy march of 300-400 was organised by the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) on the anniversary of Tory Home Secretary Amber Rudd's refusal to hold an independent public inquiry into the events of the "Battle of Orgreave" on 18 June 1984 during the year long miners' strike.
It was at the Orgreave coking plant on the outskirts of Sheffield that mounted police, batons drawn, charged into the crowd of striking miners who were holding a mass picket.
Armoured, shield-wielding police officers beat people, causing serious injuries and broken bones.
After miners were beaten up, they were fitted up and locked up on false police statements by some of the same South Yorkshire police that lied about the Hillsborough disaster just five years later.
Despite the collapse of the subsequent trial of 95 miners who were charged with 'riot' and 'serious assault', and the evidence of police brutality and of perjury, no officer has ever faced disciplinary action for their role or faced charges.
OTJC was set up to fight for an independent public inquiry that will reveal the truth about the role of the police and of the Thatcher government, and get justice for the ex-miners who were beaten up and falsely accused.
Amber Rudd refused an inquiry because she said nobody died, but truth and justice died. The Halloween demonstration was a real life nightmare for the Tories - led by a 'death of justice' coffin and the fantastic PCS civil service union samba band, with many dressed in scary monster and zombie costumes wearing Thatcher, May and Rudd masks.
The Sheffield Socialist Students contingent made a big impact on the night, marching down from the university to join the demo, and leading the chanting on the march.
All the speakers welcomed the Labour Party's commitment to hold a public inquiry once in government, but the biggest cheer of the night came when ex-miner John Dunn called for revenge against the system by not just fighting for a Corbyn-led government but for a socialist society.
This version of this article was first posted on the Socialist Party website on 3 November 2017 and may vary slightly from the version subsequently printed in The Socialist.
Donate to the Socialist Party
Finance appeal
The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
LATEST POSTS
12 May Stop Israeli state brutality
 |
9 May Post-election meetings
15 May Birmingham Socialist Party: How can we fight for socialist change and a new workers' party?
17 May Oxfordshire & Aylesbury Socialist Party: The role of the state
18 May Bristol North Socialist Party: Liverpool - history of socialist struggle
CONTACT US
Phone our national office on 020 8988 8777
Email: [email protected]
Locate your nearest Socialist Party branch Text your name and postcode to 07761 818 206
Regional Socialist Party organisers:
Eastern: 079 8202 1969
East Mids: 077 3797 8057
London: 075 4018 9052
North East: 078 4114 4890
North West 079 5437 6096
South West: 077 5979 6478
Southern: 078 3368 1910
Wales: 079 3539 1947
West Mids: 024 7655 5620
Yorkshire: 078 0983 9793
ABOUT US
ARCHIVE
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999