Defend Newham 8!
Class Fighter1983 1983-04-01Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 3 →
Read from the scan by machine and not corrected: expect misread words, and now and then a caption or a line from a neighbouring story. For anything you quote, read the scan.
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By Mick Liggins ment. In rebruary, tne THE Little Ilford school in Newham, which consists mainly of black and Asian pupils has recently been the victim of extreme racist violence from gangs of white youths in the area. in one instance, a ten year old schoolboy was hospitalised.
The racists have been rampaging through the East Ham and Manor Park areas of Newham looking for Asians to beat up. Not surprisingly -local Asian youth believe that the police are not going to defend them, since nobody has yet been arrested for these attacks. So the only alternative as far as Asian youth are concerned is to defend themselves. When they began to do that, firstly by defending the school against attack, the police moved into action. They arrested eight Asian youths on a charge of conspiracy.
The campaign to defend the arrested young Asians, the Newham 8 Campaign, has many similarities with the successful campaign to defend the Bradford 12. The lessons of the Bradford 12 Campaign must be learnt here. The principle that self defence is no offence can be won only by • an active national campaign building widespread support through meetings, support groups, demonstrations and so on.
Unless we support this campaign, the Newham 8 could well end up in jail:
Send messages of support, requests for speakers, and donations to: Newham 8 Defence Campaign, PO Box 273, Forest Gate, London E7 9JN.
Mick