‘We are peaceful, what are you?’: Bristol against police powers
Bristol has been one of the major flashpoints in the protest movement against the bill, with demonstrations being violently suppressed by local police.
Kill the Bill!
Tens of thousands took to the streets around the country over the Easter weekend to protest against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. rs21 members who attended the protests report in pictures.
We Will Not Be Divided – Statement from Sisters Uncut
Sisters Uncut’s statement against police and state violence and the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill 2021, originally published on 23 March 2021. rs21 signed the statement alongside groups including Black Lives Matter UK, Jewish Solidarity Action and Docs Not Cops.
A criminal record: 10 times Bristol police abused local people
Bristol’s police force – presented by the media as the victims of a ‘mob’ – are among the most violent, racist and abusive parts of Britain’s police state.
In defence of the mob
After protesters in Bristol dared to fight back police violence, respectable opinion is rushing to condemn ‘rioters’. But is it really true that riots ‘don’t achieve anything’?
What happened at Clapham Common
An eyewitness account of a powerful event marred by shocking and gratuitous acts of violence by the Metropolitan Police.
We can’t rely on the police to protect women
In the aftermath of Sarah Everard’s murder, politicians immediately called for heavier policing. But more police will not end violence against women.
2020 in photos: reviewing a year of turbulence
Photo gallery: 2020 was a year of political tumult, despite the constraints placed by the pandemic on popular protest.
France’s authoritarian turn: Islamophobia and the security state
Macron has backtracked after hundreds of thousands of people protested against the Comprehensive Security Law that would ban filming police officers.
‘When you have a hammer’: state repression and the pandemic
Facing a fraying of its ideological hegemony, the government increasingly relies on state repression. But this intensified violence could yet backfire.
Revolutionary reflections | The Anti-Poll Tax Federation: ‘Mob rules’
Debates about the use of confrontational collective action in the Anti-Poll Tax Movement remain relevant for struggles today.
Understanding Nigeria’s #EndSARS movement
Nigeria has been rocked by massive protests against state repression. The movement has brought a whole new generation into political struggle.
What does abolition mean in modern Britain?
The Black Lives Matter movement has sown seeds of hope worldwide for the abolition of police. But policing in the UK goes far beyond the bodies of armed men in uniform.
Revolutionary reflections | The moral economy of the anti-poll tax movement
The anti-poll tax movement took on and defeated a Tory government at the height of its powers. Andrew Stone explores the ways that protestors developed political justifications for resistance.
Unfixing South Asian identity: beyond the politics of allyship
The most effective anti-racist strategy will draw together all those affected or repulsed by racism in a common struggle to overcome it.
Colombia: mass movement takes up fight against police violence
Mass protests against state and paramilitary violence have shaken Colombia. The brutal right-wing government in Bogotá are responding with fierce repression and indiscriminate killings of political activists.
Resist the crackdown on demonstrations
The lockdown has ended but the crackdown on protests goes on and on. We need to share skills and solidarity to resist police repression.
How to defund the police – strategies for abolition
Jiaqi Kang reports on East London rs21’s meeting on police abolition.
Defund the police. Disarm the state.
The demand to defund the police should extend beyond reallocating existing government spending. We also need to address the racist ways that the state polices all aspects of working-class life.
The Black Lives Matter movement in 2020: results and prospects
Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal considers the situation of the BLM movement in Britain and argues for centring the politics of abolition and anti-imperialist solidarity.
Black Lives Matter: ‘If you are not angry, you are not paying attention’
Five years after the murder of Sheku Bayoh, Ikenna Azụbụike Ọnwụnabọnze explains the relevance of Black Lives Matter in Scotland.
Fighting back better: abolitionist trans struggle and the GRA
To defeat transphobia, we must build radical anti-racist solidarity against state violence
Whose side are you on?
The Black Lives Matter protests have come up against police and the far right in the streets. Starmer’s Labour Party has taken the side of the cops.
A tale of two towns
Colin Revolting looks at events in Deptford and Eltham after the 2011 shooting of Mark Duggan
Over 150 UK towns join BLM protests
From the toppling of a statue to the slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol, to the protest demanding justice for Sheku Bayoh in Kirkcaldy, people took to the streets to say: ‘The UK is not innocent.’
Video: Black Lives Matter
Black activists in Britain talk about the response to the murder of George Floyd, underlying racism and economic factors, links with the pandemic and how we build anti-racist solidarity.
Paris: A historic day against police violence and state racism
50,000 people took to the streets in Paris on Tuesday 2 June, only two days after 10,000 undocumented migrants had protested against the immigration system.
‘Justice for Belly! Justice for George!’
Mass protests have returned to British streets, calling for justice for George Floyd and Belly Mujinga, and an end to systemic racism and police violence.
The police won’t keep us safe – our neighbours will
In a scramble to appear to have a strong handle on the coronavirus crisis, the government introduced sweeping new police powers to enforce the lockdown. Hanna Gál writes on why these measures will not keep us safe.
Whose land? Resisting the Tories’ anti-traveller policy plans
Hanna Gál writes on why the Tories’ plan to increase police powers against illegal encampments must be resisted.