Under the radar

The stories below are concerned with justice, justice denied for so many. These stories appall those of us who fight for and hope for a fairer society. This week saw another travesty of justice when the Filton 4, who had been convicted of criminal damage, were given harsh prison sentences because, according to the judge, there was a “terrorist connection”, effectively sentencing young people for a crime for which they had not been convicted. At Creating Socialism we are outraged by this case and stand in solidarity with all who are denied justice. 

No charges, no convictions, no justice, but forever in our hearts

In a recent post justice4grenfell.org commented:  “There is no excuse for silence. There is no excuse for further delay.” The Metropolitan Police have  stated that there were 57 individuals and 20 companies that it believed had a realistic case to answer “as greed, misconduct, negligence, and recklessness” were clearly demonstrated. But nine years after the shocking catastrophe at Grenfell Tower, no one has been sentenced, no one has even been in court and tried for their responsibility for the 72 people who died in that fire and the resultant trauma and ruined lives that affected the whole community. “It has already been established that clear evidence of premeditated crimes, criminal negligence, and misconduct in public office had been publicly exposed years before the fire”. On the Grenfell Action Group blog, towards the end of 2016, Francis O’Connor, aware of the hazards of Grenfell, predicted that only a catastrophic fire would force the authorities to listen. Seven months later Grenfell Tower was in flames, a death trap for the residents. Local people in North Kensington are still denied justice and are suffering terrible traumatic consequences. 

Where is the outrage at Israeli torture of flotilla activists and Palestinian prisoners?

Many activists from the most recent journey of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) have revealed that they were systematically abused, both physically and psychologically, by the Israeli authorities. On 18 May Israel began to intercept numerous vessels and abducted about 430 members of the group. This took place in international waters, dozens of miles from the coast.

The Israelis inflicted serious injuries on them.The torture included  beatings, which led to fractures, shooting with rubber bullets, confinement in cold dark containers, sleep deprivation, humiliation and sexual violence.  An Australian activist has described how she was raped by the Israelis. One of the group, Cássio Pelegrini, reported: “The harder people screamed, the more [the Israeli authorities] enjoyed it, and the harder and longer they beat you. If you didn’t react, they would eventually get bored.” Amrou Ibrahim revealed some of his experiences: “You could hear screams of torture all around you, and everything was meant to break you and degrade you.” The abductions and torture led to some cries of outrage but almost no support for the group from western governments.

Behaviour of this kind is not a departure from Israeli behaviour. Al Jazeera has documented some of the indescribable torture perpetrated against Palestinian prisoners in Bodies of Evidence: Israel’s Darkest Weapon. Former detainees described “dogs used not only as instruments of fear, but as part of a ritual of sexualised humiliation: prisoners stripped, blindfolded, handcuffed, forced to lie on their stomachs, beaten, threatened, filmed and attacked”. This sickening behaviour remains unreported in our media and uncondemned by our politicians.

Hidden homeless women

A new survey suggests there are more homeless women in England than ever before. A women’s rough sleeping census carried out by two charities, Solace Women’s Aid and the Single Homeless Project, found that 1,406 women had slept rough in the previous three months. The census discovered 10 times as many women sleeping on the streets as published on the official government data because government counting methods ignore how women survive homelessness. 65% of the women in the survey explained that they sleep in places that were not included in the official homelessness counts, such as buses, A&E waiting areas, transport. They often stay awake all night because of the dangers of violence, exploitation and sexual attack. The census discovered that 162 women were sleeping rough in six local authorities where the government did not identify any.

Women who are homeless are invariably disadvantaged. They have often experienced a number of problems, such as violence, domestic abuse, poor mental health and poverty.  

Jasmine Basran, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Crisis, said: “Once again, this census lays bare that the homelessness system simply doesn’t work for women. Far too many women are being missed from official data and, as a result, are excluded from support and exposed to further abuse and violence – trapping them in a cycle with no easy way out.”

Homeless women are among the most vulnerable in our society. Many of these people depend on the invaluable work done by charities and voluntary groups, but there are so many indications that our government does not prioritise care for our vulnerable. This must change as it is so far from the country that so many of us long for, one that prioritises equality and justice.

Revolt against a Trump plan for one of the world’s rare wild places

In 2021 Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump, the US president’s daughter, went on a yachting holiday and decided that they coveted the island of Sazan, and the wetlands of Vjosa-Narta in Albania. “We swam to the island, we went on a hike barefoot to the top and we were just captivated,” said Ivanka a few years later. They went ahead with plans to create a multi-billion-dollar luxury resort with 10,000 hotel rooms and luxury villas with a yacht marina, spa, and expensive restaurants. 

This part of the world is “one of Europe’s most untouched and environmentally sensitive areas”. Sazan, just 4km long, has a unique sub-tropical climate and Vjosa-Narta is a protected coastal wetland and lagoon, part of a crucial migratory corridor for millions of birds, a haven for endangered seals, turtles, and flamingos. It is one of Europe’s last wild rivers.

Thousands of Albanians have filled the streets of Tirana, the capital, in protest against the construction, which had already begun. There were chants of “cancel the project” and placards reading “Albania is not for sale”. Lea Ypi, Albanian professor of political history, described the protests as “an inspiring example of civic activism that I had not seen since the fall of communism”. The outcome is still to be decided. Some argue that the development would be a huge bonus as Albania is one of the poorest countries in Europe. But the protests will continue and many demonstrators are also calling for the end of the government of Edi Rama who has been prime minister since 2013.

MPs v Islamophobia

 “The prevalence of racism within Reform UK does not exist in a vacuum and has real-world consequences for the millions of British Muslims in our country.” These words come from a letter to the chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) written by 27 MPs calling for an investigation into Reform UK over allegations of Islamophobia. The MPs include Afzal Khan, Ian Byrne, Clive Lewis, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, and Diane Abbott. They claim the party has breached its obligations under the 2010 Equality Act. The MPs fear for the consequences for the millions of Muslims in the UK, the spread of intolerance, discrimination and hatred. In March, Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, told MPs that ministers had a duty to act against record levels of hate crime against Muslims when the government announced a new definition of anti-Muslim hate. “We will not do what [the Conservatives] did and stand by and simply watch while Muslim communities face targeted abuse in ways that any decent country would consider to be absolutely intolerable,” he replied. Let us see these words put into action, action which ensures that anti-Muslim hostility is treated with the same level of seriousness as antisemitism.