Complaining that it will be 'now clearly impossible' to negotiate 'fair pay' in the future with people like Jacqui Smith and Gordon Brown in charge, either the chair of the Metropolitan Police Federation, Peter Smyth, has gone all left-wing on us or he has forgotten what it was like for striking miners under a Tory government.
Amidst their fight for the right to strike they have been told to 'work to rule' at the Labour Party Conference this weekend. They are advised not to feel obliged to do photoshoots or show goodwill; 'would you want to smile or pose with pickpockets who had a hand in your pocket?' said Chris Burrows, chair of the Police Federation.
However, i'm not quite sure how to react to the police going all union-friendly. At the Stop the War demo this Saturday do we salute them or give them extra agro to see if we can get them to go over and above the call of duty? I prefer the later...
Either way, I hope their next demonstration is not headed, once again, by the real fascists. On January 29th, the BNP candidate for Mayor of London lead a 22,500 strong police demo. Unfortunately I was in Berlin otherwise I would have gone to harass them with our very own un-FIT team. I wonder how many copies of the Socialist Worker we sold on this demo?
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1 comment:
I was fortunate enough to witness the police demo in January. It was unlike any demonstration I had ever seen. Mostly male. Almost exclusively white: a clear and transparent demonstration that the police had not met their diversity targets. And there at their head was the fascist Barmbrook. It must have been a wet dream come true to march at the head of such a white macho mob. Perhaps that's why he wears light coloured suits.
Strangely there were no placards. How can you have a demo with no placards?
Next time the SWP should provide the police with placards to show our support: Socialist Worker - Pay the Pigs - Bigger troughs now!
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