Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Strike! The miners strike remembered 22 years on

commoner | 06.03.2006 20:53 | Repression | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | Sheffield

This Sunday at the Commonplace social centre in Leeds, we will remember the miners strike with films, talks, photo exhibitions and cheap grub. Come along to 23-25 Wharf Street in the City Centre
www.thecommonplace.org.uk

On 12 March, 1984, some 100,000 miners laid down their tools in what became one of the longest and bloodiest industrial disputes in British history. Thatcher's government had ripped up a longstanding agreement and announced 20 pit closures with the loss of 20,000 jobs. Supported by an incredible solidarity movement led by the women of the community, the strike lasted a year but was ultimately doomed to failure. The government had stockpiled coal reserves and as growing poverty, personal hardship and a tough Christmas hit home, the strike collapsed by 3 March 1985. We will mark this heroic working class struggle by hearing from ex-miners and showing a number of films, including The Battle of Orgreave, the bloody June '84 assault on picketing miners by police and army.

2pm The miners campaign tapes

3.30pm Talk by Dave Douglas ex miner and author of ‘Geordies Wa Mental’

4pm Photo exhibition of the miners strike by Martin Shakeshaft

5pm The Battle of Orgreave
The climactic clash of the 1984 miners' strike at Orgreave, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire was recreated on 17th June 2001.

6pm Food and social

Entry by donation. Membership is £2

commoner
- Homepage: http://www.thecommonplace.org.uk

Additions

Army involvement - Benns diaries

30.03.2006 13:02

Tony Benn states in his diaries that while on the train to Chesterfied a man introducing himself as an ex soldier told him that the Royal Green Jackets and the SAS were involved in the strike.

Look at the footage, see the shaven headed police marching in perfect formation, many police uniforms had no numbers.

I read an account of a miner stating he recognised a cop as being a friends son who was serving in the Rhine army.

David Hart the millionaire unofficial Thatcher adviser stated in the True Spies series on BBC2 in 2002 that he paid ex SAS men to protect scabs.

Daniel Neville
mail e-mail: dneville2001@yahoo.co.uk


Comments

Display the following 13 comments

  1. Clean coal, dirty politicians — Danny
  2. A Small point — Paul
  3. army lads wore old police uniforms — 80's kid
  4. fao Paul — bobby
  5. assumption? — paul
  6. coal — freddie
  7. Runners — Fitzwilliam Hit Squad
  8. The Met — FHS
  9. Hands full — Bob
  10. We must agree to disagree — Paul
  11. Truth will out — Obelisk
  12. Soldiers as cops — Tom
  13. May Day — Peter Lazenby
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech