NUBIART EDITORIAL
Nubiart Editorials from 2005-8 are available as annual reviews in MS Word. To receive them free e-mail us stating which year you would like to receive. The next Nubiart Diary will be on Jan 11 2009. We will leave you with a couple of quotes and the memories of all the fallen comrades, friends and inspirations. Big Deng Ajak, Miriam Makeba, Mikey Dread, Alton Ellis, Soldier Larry Lawrence, King Roy Shirley, Johnny ‘Dizzy’ Moore, Byron Lee, E A Markham, Cedella Booker, Aime Cesaire, Roi Kwabena, Israel ‘Cachao’ Lopez, Ivan Dixon, Bo Diddley, Rev Sonny Okosuns, Isaac Hayes, Levi Stubbs, Lee Young, Chief Adelekan, Sis Ngozi, Bundu Dia Kongo and all the victims of senseless criminal and political violence, police, army and state brutality.
- “I am in no competition with no-one. I am only doing what I say works with melodies that satisfy my soul.” – Mikey Dread (Campbell), DATC.
- “We are not fighting an enemy we are only fighting a cause.” - Godfrey Arumoh, Co-ordinator, Niger Delta Republic Movement.
- “Playing games with the money, trying to give us the change.” Quote from ‘When the Levees Broke’.
- “An economy that is not well-managed is a crime against humanity.” – Abderrahmane Sissako, London, 6 Dec 08.
- “There was no hell in our religion. We believed in the inherent goodness of man – hence we took it for granted that all people at death joined the community of saints and therefore inherited our respect…With the ultimate acceptance of the western religion down went our cultural values!” - Steve Biko, ‘I Write What I Like’, p93.
Editorial Pt 1
The Jean Charles de Menezes inquest jury has returned an open verdict into his cold-blooded killing in Stockwell Tube Station after the coroner, Michael Wright, collaborated with the police and the British government to rule out any possibility of an unlawful killing verdict. Despite this the jury clearly rejected the fictionalised police account of events. Below is the Nubiart Diary editorial from 25 July 2005 which was our first response to the killing of Jean Charles and which we have reprinted unedited and in full. The name Operation Kratos has subsequently been changed but the policy is still in place.
~ Welcome to London 2 – Operation Radication
‘Operation Kratos: Named after Greek god of strength, operation Kratos was devised by the anti-terrorist branch to deal with suicide bombers. Once authorised, officers are instructed to shoot to kill aiming at the head.’
PM Tony Blair has consummated his love affair with George W Bush by turning London into a Cowboy Town. Between the Blairs (Ian and Tony), Bush and Osama bin Laden London, which was starting to feel the benefits of a ‘peace dividend as a fallout of the Irish peace process, is now in the centre of a panic not just from bombers but also from the psychopaths who murdered Brazilian national Jean Charles De Menezes in cold blood at Stockwell Tube on Fri 22 July. The 27-year-old electrician was terminated with extreme prejudice because his murderer did not like his jacket.
~ Don’t tell me about accidental. It is policy. Ian Blair, the Met Police Chief has, admitted there is a national ‘Shoot to Kill’ policy.
~ Don’t tell me about mistaken identity. Jean Charles has very little identity left after an unnamed SAS psychopath decided to shoot off his head with eight bullets at point blank range while he was already restrained by three other officers.
~ Don’t tell me about acting suspicious. When did the Met police and the SAS become fashion consultants telling you what you can and cannot wear? What next the SAS Trinny and Susannah makeover show where you have to consult the style police gurus before you feel safe to step out.
~ Don’t tell me that Jean Charles shouldn’t have run. If you have four racist thugs from 2nd Para toting weapons telling you about ‘look like’ and ‘search’ in south London then you don’t want to spend too much time in their company. This is not Dixon of Dock Green.
~ Don’t tell me about the police have a hard job. They make their own job harder with their incompetence, racism, arrogance and total disregard for the welfare of the citizens of London.
~ Don’t tell me these psychopaths were in fear for their life. They were armed he was not. Why did they trail him for three miles letting him get on a bus before they shot him not at the front of the tube station but when he had already gone down the escalator and onto a train? Because he lived in the same block (not even the same flat) as the suspect they had been watching. What, didn’t they know what their ‘mark’ looked like?
~ Don’t tell me about a few bad apples. It’s more like an orchard. This is a regular experience for the non-white communities in London.
Rumours are that there are up to 400 armed and dangerous SAS and ex-SAS ‘contractors’ – mercenaries / psychopaths – travelling on the Underground. They are part of Operation Kratos, an operation where police officers are joined by serving and former SAS units. There have been claims of the army on London’s streets for over a year now but these claims had previously been denied. Now we know the truth. Operation Kratos is based on advice from the Israeli Defence Force, Mossad and Shin Bet. They shared their anti-Arab, anti-Muslim prejudices with the British police then left them to get on with the job of wreaking havoc back in the UK. Up until Friday’s shooting the Met were boasting about how they got quality training and advice from Ariel Sharon’s Israel. Now all of a sudden they’ve stopped all mention of Israel and have started highlighting how they were advised by the Sri Lankans.
Original police shooting policy is to issue a warning and ID along the lines of ‘Stop, armed police!’. They can then fire two shots, then two more then the final two if they assess it is necessary all aimed at the torso or lower body with the aim of disabling the suspect. They are not allowed to unload six shots without a pause in between for an assessment of the threat level. Every shot must be justified.
Under Operation Kratos the policy appears to be to fire as many shots as deemed necessary to the head. They aim for the head in case the suspect is a suicide bomber who may have explosives strapped around their torso which may explode and also to give the suspect less chance to pull any cord or activate any timer, etc. Given that the supposed UK suicide bombers from July 7 and 21 used rucksacks basic intelligence tells you that this is a recipe for disaster. I don’t know what happened to this much-praised ‘intelligence led policing’ but I haven’t heard the phrase much in the last couple of days. It’s the same quality of intelligence that sent Britain into war and occupation of Iraq and nobody feels any safer after more than 14 years of bombing the country and sanctions.
The ‘Israelisation’ of the situation is the biggest flaw in the UK anti-terrorist and foreign policy strategy. Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister [Crime Monster] is the architect of the settlement policy after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and is a war criminal indicted for his role in the slaughter at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in 1982 where he was the military officer in charge who let the Phalangists into the camps to commit wholesale massacre against the residents. These are the people that Tony and Ian Blair think have good advice on policing! The policy has failed in Israel but they decided to bring it here. Then Blair tells us that there is no Middle East link to the chaos in London.
Jean Charles De Menezes’s family are unlikely to get a full answer to why their loved one was executed in such a cold-hearted and public manner. In all probability this was an SAS and not a Met Police operation, the ‘shooter’ was almost definitely SAS and that is why the apology was made so quickly – not much more information will be forthcoming. Officially the SAS are never present anywhere and no comment is made to confirm or deny their identities or activities.
- BOTH BLAIRS (PM TONY AND MET POLICE COMMISSIONER IAN) MUST GO
- THE MEN RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TRAILING AND SHOOTING OF JEAN CHARLES DE MENEZES MUST BE IDENTIFIED AND BROUGHT TO JUSTICE WITH JAIL TERMS WHERE APPROPRIATE.
- THE ‘SHOOT TO KILL’ POLICY MUST BE LEFT IN THE HANDS OF COMPETENT OFFICERS AND IF THERE ARE NONE THEN WE’LL PROBABLY ALL BE A LOT SAFER.
- A WITHDRAWAL STRATEGY TO GET BRITAIN OUT OF IRAQ AND RETURN THE COUNTRY TO SOME FORM OF STABILITY MUST BE IMMEDIATELY DRAWN UP
ENDS
- The ‘great’ British Establishment still believe that it is acceptable and lawful to shoot an innocent hard-working, unarmed man seven times in the head and once in the shoulder in full view of the general public without warning on the basis that the British army or police in their paranoia, confusion, delusion, ignorance and prejudice think the ‘suspect looks like’ or might look like somebody.
Just before the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes Ian and Tony Blair agreed there would be immunity for any officer who killed people while on anti-terrorism related duties. This indicates an element of pre-meditation in the death of Jean Charles. We at Nubiart Dairy would like to see the coroner Michael Wright, Tony Blair, Ian Blair, British PM Gordon Brown, Home Secretary Jacqui ‘Punishment Park’ Smith, former Home Secretaries David Blunkett, John Reid and Charles Clarke, Justice Minister Jack Straw, Lord Goldsmith, DAC Cressida Dick, Commander John McDowell, Andy Hayman, Acting Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson, Chief Constable Ken Jones, Detective Chief Inspector Greg Purser, Steve Swain, former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, the IPCC, the CPS and the almost 50 British and Israeli police and soldiers who testified anonymously at the de Menezes inquest all investigated for their roles in the killing, bringing their war on civilians to the streets of Britain and covering up their intentions.
Possible charges that could be investigated against any or all of the above include: conspiracy to pervert the course of justice; perjury; gross negligence manslaughter; corporate manslaughter; conspiracy to murder; willful disregard for the life, health and safety of the public; maladministration; malfeasance in public office; possessing documents and materials likely to be used or of use to terrorists or the commission of terrorist attacks against the British population; and going equipped to commit a crime.
Editorial Pt 2
While we are on the subject of the ‘great’ British establishment we will round-up a few of the stories that have come out in the last month which give a good insight into life in Punishment Park, UK.
= Downing Street has been criticised for manipulating knife crime statistics for political ends. Sir Michael Scholar, head of the UK Statistics Authority, said officials pleaded with No 10 not to release unchecked and selective numbers. But they were over-ruled by ministers eager to show a crackdown on knife crime in England was working. The Home Office was repeatedly asked by news organisations for the raw data behind the claimed falls in knife carrying but officials declined to provide the figures.
The figures covered the period since the Home Office launched a £2m campaign in June to crack down on knife carrying in 10 hotspots including London, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. The \'Tackling Knives Action Programme\' (TKAP) saw increased use of stop-and-search powers and advertising campaigns warning about the dangers of carrying knives and the penalties for doing so. The figures suggested the number of people stopped and searched each month had risen by 10,000 since June and those found carrying knives were three times more likely to be sent to prison. At the time, Home Secretary Jacqui ‘Punishment Park’ Smith welcomed the fact the crackdown was making a real difference on the ground. The figures were released on the same day that Gordon Brown joined campaigners, including relatives of victims of knife crime, to launch a new drive against knife violence.
The Home Office rung up police forces and asked for statistics to illustrate the effectiveness of TKAP. \"Serious knife crimes against young people (homicide, attempted murder, GBH with intent) fell by 17% between June and October 2008 in the ten TKAP areas,\" according to the Home Office press release. But 17% equals 17 incidents. In June, there were 98 serious offences. In October there were 81. In fact, the Home Office confirmed that in September, there were only 68. People could claim that knife crime has ‘soared 19%’ on the basis of the figures from the latest two months. But this would be equally misleading. When you get down to such small numbers, percentage change doesn\'t mean much. And comparing figures month on month is also questionable, because crime is seasonal. Gangsters don\'t go out so much when it gets cold.
Another Home Office claim was that: \"In London, there were 18% fewer young victims (under 20) of knife crime between April and September 2008 than in the same period in 2007.\" Why choose April to September when their scheme only really started in July? Recorded knife crime was already falling before their scheme started. Figures from the Metropolitan Police show that in the year to June 2007 there were 11,642 knife crimes recorded in London. In the year to June 2008 there were 9,997 - a fall of 14%. Serious violence and assault with less serious injury was down 5.2% and youth violence was down 7.7%. We also don\'t know what figures the Home Office may have been given but didn’t publish.
= Two British men should not have had their DNA and fingerprints retained by police, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. The men\'s information was held by South Yorkshire Police, although neither was convicted of any offence. The court found that the police\'s actions were in violation of Article 8 - the right to respect for private and family life - of the European Convention on Human Rights. The court also ruled ‘the retention in question constituted a disproportionate interference with the applicants\' right to respect for private life and could not be regarded as necessary in a democratic society’. Under present laws, the DNA profiles of everyone arrested for a recordable offence in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are kept on the database, regardless of whether they are charged or convicted. The details of about 4.5m people are held and one in five of them does not have a current criminal record. Scotland already destroys DNA samples taken during criminal investigations from people who are not charged or who are later acquitted of alleged offences.
= Inspectors have delivered a damning report on an immigration detention centre, saying it has ‘lost direction and purpose’ and inmates feel unsafe. Chief prison inspector Anne Owers said the UK Border Agency - which runs Oakington Immigration Reception Centre, near Cambridge, on behalf of the Home Office - should publicly clarify the centre\'s future ‘as soon as possible.’ She also called on Oakington\'s managers and staff to focus on running a ‘safe, supportive and purposeful environment’ for the 328 detainees - all men facing removal from the UK. According to the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (HMCIP) report, half of the detainees felt unsafe. The use of force had increased and was inadequately monitored. Incidents of self-harm amongst detainees ‘had increased significantly during the previous 12 months.’ Relationships between staff and detainees ‘had deteriorated significantly’, with only 60% of detainees, compared to 89% at the last full inspection, saying most staff treated them with respect. Earlier this year an official report branded it the second-worst detention centre in the country for its lack of facilities.
= Three Asian men who were jailed for life for murdering a 23-year-old Afrikan man during riots in Birmingham in 2005 have had their convictions overturned. Waqar Ahmed, 28, Azhil Khan, 25 and Afzal Khan, 25, denied murdering Isiah Young-Sam during the rioting in Lozells. They were convicted in 2006. The Appeal Court judge said their convictions should be quashed because evidence was wrongly used. The Court of Appeal quashed their convictions saying a secret recording of one of the men encouraging another man to confess was not disclosed to the defence. The judges said this meant the conviction of this man was unsafe and consequently those of the other two men.
= The new questions for the UK 2011 Census have been released. For the first time, people will be asked to state their citizenship, national identity and the date when they first entered the UK. Respondents will also be asked what their ‘main’ language is and whether they speak English very well, well, not well or not at all. Other changes will require people to say whether they are in a civil partnership and to give details of second residences if they have any.
= The Ministry of Defence has said nine British soldiers are to appear before a court martial next April accused of indecently assaulting another British soldier in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in 2006. Eight men have been charged with ‘disgraceful conduct of an indecent kind’. A ninth is also charged with neglecting his duty by failing to intervene.
= Six Metropolitan Police officers from the Territorial Support Group, have appeared in court after three men complained that racist language was used during an incident in Paddington, west London, in June 2007. Two officers are charged with racially abusing the men. Four are accused of misconduct in a public office and one officer is accused of a racially-aggravated assault. An Independent Police Complaints Commission spokesman said the police had not been identified because of ‘concerns’ surrounding their names.
= A police officer tried to blackmail sex offenders and a suspected criminal after getting their details from a computer, the Old Bailey has heard. PC Amerdeep Johal is accused of sending menacing letters to 12 people in east London, for which he hoped to make £419,000 in July last year. Mr Johal worked at West End Central police station on the Met Police\'s criminal intelligence system, Crimint. The court was told some victims went to police and an audit showed Johal had made 1,258 computer searches in the area during three months. He was also traced from a mobile number he had given to his victims to get in touch with him.
= Corrupt Northumbria Police Detective Constable John Jones has been jailed for five years for shielding drugs baron Allan Foster. Jones and Foster would take cocaine and go looking for prostitutes together in return for Jones tipping off Foster about raids and undercover surveillance. Foster is believed to now be living in Spain and is wanted in connection with the murder of David ‘Noddy’ Rice in 2006.
= PC Victoria Thorne from Washington, Tyne and Wear, has been charged with misconduct in public office, after allegedly offering her services online. She appeared before magistrates in Newcastle alongside four people charged with prostitution offences. PC Thorne is currently suspended from the Northumbria force.
= Metropolitan Police officer Det Sgt David Stevens has been charged with sexually assaulting a male officer who had passed out at their Christmas party.
= PC Stephen Bettley of Merseyside Police was exposed as a member of the British National Party.
= A police officer with the Northern Ireland Police Service has been arrested for the illegal possession of firearms found at premises in Aghadowey, near Coleraine, and at a gun shop in Portglenone in County Antrim.
= Two solicitors have been struck off the register by the Law Society for earning £23m by double charging the government and sick and dying miners over a twenty-year period.
= Neath MP Peter Hain has been cleared of any charges relating to the £100,000 he claimed he ‘forgot’ to declare during his campaign for deputy leadership of the Labour Party. How much money do you have to have to forget the odd hundred grand?
FORTHCOMING NUBIART PROFILES
NUBIART: Focus on arts, business, education, health, political developments and the media.
~ Review of Ayi Kwei Armah’s books ‘Osiris Rising’ and ‘KMT: In the House of Life’.
DEC PROMOS
~ ‘Kora Jazz Trio’ – Kora Jazz Trio [Celluloid / Melodie – Out Now] Debut album from Senegalese-Guinean trio on piano, kora and percussion reconnecting jazz with its west Afrikan roots.
~ ‘Okule Mo’ – Inemo [Olotu Productions – Out Now] EP dedicated to the Ijaw People’s Association with the strong message of ‘Service Before Reward’.
~ ‘Bushman’ – Bushman [Sankara – Out Now] Full-length French-released album from Inemo covering reggae, Afrobeat, techno, highlife and rock music.
NUBIART LIBRARY – DEC MEDIA:
We will try to recommend books we have read and DVD / videos we have seen and that are available in shops or libraries. However, given the nature and current state of Afrikan publishing and production there may be books, games and films on this list that are worth the extra effort to track down.
~ ‘An Afrocentric Guide to a Spiritual Union’ – Ra Un Nefer Amen [Khamit Corporation ISBN: 1-877662-07-0] Excellent, life-affirming exploration of relationships. The book traces, over a period of 4,000 years, the historical development of the ideas and customs that shaped the nature of our relationships today. It looks at how the practices of governments and religious institutions have stopped people from developing wholesome family institutions. One of Nubiart’s all-time favourite books.
~ ‘Black Woman’s Black Man’s Guide to A Spiritual Union’ – Ra Un Nefer Amen [Khamit Corporation] Hard-to-find precursor to the above book that grounds Afrikan cosmologics into our relationships.
~ ‘The Rise and Fall of Idi Amin’ – Dir: Sharad Patel [Parc Video ISBN: 5-060010-590354] Another version of the story of Idi Amin’s rise to power in Uganda and the complicity of western powers.
NUBIART DIARY:
~ CAMBERWELL COMMUNITY COUNCIL: Cllr Dora Dixon-Fyle, the Chair of the Camberwell Community Council, will be hosting a meeting at the Town Hall to provide information about the disposal of buildings that will be made available to the creative community. The Council’s property interests and strategy will be set out by Jeremy Pilgrim, the Council’s senior property surveyor. At 6.30pm on Mon 15 Dec 2008 at Southwark Town Hall, Peckham Road, London. For more info contact: Stan Dubeck, Area Manager (Camberwell and Dulwich), 73 Camberwell Church Street, London, SE5 8TR. Tel: 020 7525 6432. Mob: 07971 683 530. E-mail: stan.dubeck@southwark.gov.uk
~ Forum on ‘Violence and Political Malpractice in Nigeria’. Speakers include: Dr. Abdul Raufu Mustapha, Lecturer in African Politics (Oxford University); Ms. Alice Ukoko, Founder and CEO, Women of Africa; and Mr. Adam Higazi, PhD candidate, (Oxford University). Chair: Richard Dowden, Director, Royal African Society. The recent violence in Jos, in which up to 400 people died has been a disturbing wake-up call. The incidents which led to these deaths defy simple characterisation as \'ethnic\' or \'religious\' violence, and point towards pressing issues of electoral conduct, political violence, social conditions, governance and constitutionalism which the government of President Yar\'Adua needs to address with credible long-term policy initiatives. On Fri 19 Dec at 12.30-2pm at School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Khalili Lecture Theatre, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London, WC1. Tel: 020 7359 7775. RSVP: cdd@cdd.org.uk
~ BRISTOL KWANZAA. On Sat 27 Dec. Coaches leaving from London. For more info contact: Alkebulan Revivalist Movement, 282 High Road Leyton, London E10. Tel: 020 8539 2154.
~ ‘RANKIN: CHEKA KIDOGO’. Pictures and films from Rutshuru refugee camp in eastern DR Congo still at the centre of war and human rights abuses over a decade on. ‘Cheka Kidogo’ means ‘laugh a little’ in Swahili. Until Dec 21 at Theatre Square, National Theatre, Upper Ground, London, SE1. Adm: Free. DISCLAIMER: We have included this item in Nubiart Diary due to its direct relevance to Afrikans. We do not endorse Oxfam’s policy of importing European celebrity photographers to document and benefit from Afrikan exploitation and trauma. We are concerned that given the tens of thousands of people Oxfam claim to help in refugee camps such as Rutshuru they were unable or unwilling to find one competent Afrikan photographer or even to give the job to an Afrikan from the diaspora. How is it empowering Afrikans for aid agencies to continually perpetuate the myth that only Europeans are capable or interested in highlighting and resolving issues in Afrika? Oxfam has also remained silent on the fact that the ‘free-marketeers’ credit crunch has seen Western governments, transnational corporations and the IMF make trillions of dollars, euro, pounds and yen available to bail out European and Japanese firms yet not even 1% of that money was available for Afrikan development. A double crime considering the amount of wealth foreign companies and countries have made exploiting the Congo’s mineral wealth, timber, land and water at the expense of the people who live there. As for the hypocrisy of British Foreign Minister David Miliband and his French co-conspirator Bernard Kouchner, going to DR Congo pretending they care we really don’t want to get started on that… |
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