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    Vol.63/No.19           May 17, 1999 
 
 
Mobilize To Stop Racist Bombings  
The following statement was issued by Paul Galloway, Communist League candidate for Levenshulme ward, Manchester, England, council elections, following two rightist nail- bombings in London.

The Brixton and Brick Lane bombings are an attack on all working people. These cowardly acts are aimed to push back and intimidate all those who stand up against racism. It is no accident Brick Lane was targeted. This is an area where over the years working people have fought and struck a powerful blow against the racists through mass protests.

This terrorist action is a product of weakness, not strength. The mass sentiment for justice for Stephen Lawrence, killed in 1993, is a sign of the racists' isolation. At the same time these thugs gain encouragement from the policies and actions of the Labour government. They gain oxygen from the daily news of NATO bombs raining down on working people in Yugoslavia and from the government's stepped up scapegoating of immigrant workers with the new restrictive asylum laws.

The fact these attacks take place is no accident. They are an inevitable result of the crisis of capitalism. That is what happened in the 1920s and 1930s, and that is what we see the seeds of today.

The failure of the police to arrest and charge Stephen Lawrence's murderers was also no accident. The racist gangs who carried out these attacks are spawned by the very system the police seek to defend. Right now the government and police are trying to use the bombings as cover to take away democratic rights. The police will have to be forced, by the mobilizations of working people, to find and prosecute those who carried out these bombings.

When the youth of Brick Lane mobilized in 1994 against racist attacks they won trades union backing for their march of 50,000. Today the unions can and should be won to this course. Joining with the Skychef TGWU strike at Heathrow for union rights which is led mainly by Asian workers is another important way to both strike a blow against the racists and strengthen the unions in fighting for the interests of all working people.

 
 
 
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