Solidarity with IWW member standing trial – Free the Pride 5!

The IWW calls for support and solidarity for our member who was arrested and is being taken to court unjustly for attempting to prevent the harassment and unjust arrest of a 16 year old by the police during last years Glasgow Pride march.

The 16 year old had been targeted for holding a sign with the slogan ‘This F****t Fights Fascists’. The police used extensive physical force on our member, tackled them to the ground, and subsequently held him in custody for over 30 hours. Thankfully, the police dropped all charges on the 16-year-old, though they still see the need to drag our member through the courts, for attempting to prevent what, by dropping all charges against, they basically admitted was a wrongful arrest!

The arrested comrades were participating in the ‘Red and Black Bloc’, organised by queer members of the IWW as an anti-capitalist, anti-fascist presence in an increasingly commercialised and depoliticized Pride.

In the same Pride march the police arrested 3 trans activists protesting Pride’s decision to have the police lead the march. These arrestees have not been issued court dates as the police continue to ‘search for evidence’. We know from experience that the police don’t like attempts to undermine them or their attempts at ‘community outreach’.

 

We are committed to ongoing solidarity with these arrestees, along with all those in the trans community who face harassment from the police.

At the same time, the fact that our members court date is set for International Women’s Day gives us the opportunity to highlight how seemingly different struggles are intimately connected. Patriarchy, racism and heteronormativity are crucial elements of the system of repression we are living in. As imprisonment and social control increasingly penetrate our precarious lives, we extend our solidarity to the increasing number of women prisoners in the UK and to the members of the trans community who are not only imprisoned but also suffer from being misgendered by the authorities and disproportionately experience violence and harassment.

 

We encourage everyone to participate in the various events organised around Glasgow for IWD 

When activists are targeted simply for protesting, court solidarity becomes a crucial part of the fight to defend our fundamental rights to protest. Let it be shown that the movement refuses to accept the criminalisation of protesters, whether now or in the future. Let us lay the foundations, in our budding movements, for lasting, practical political solidarity. As the IWW slogan goes, ‘an injury to one is an injury to us all’.

 

DROP ALL CHARGES – JOIN US AT THE SOLIDARITY DEMONSTRATION OUTSIDE GLASGOW SHERRIFF COURT ON THE 8TH OF MARCH AT 09.00!