Louisville: The resurgent militia movements: I saw these emboldened and empowered militias take over the very centre of Louisville … Why on earth were the police retreating and ceding territory to a private army? What signal was that sending? ibid.
‘Kennington was a very racist area, yeah: Niggers Go Home, NF on the Wall’ … ‘Blacks Stink’ [graffiti] … Uprising III: The Front Line, BBC 2021
‘Round and round and round antagonising people endlessly.’ ibid. ex-rozzer whistleblower
Operation Swamp: ‘One day I was stopped three times.’ ibid. old suss law victim
‘We saw the police surround a guy who had been stabbed.’ ibid.
When we got to the high street [after victim dragged to police van] it was one of the proudest moments of our lives. Hundreds of us. ibid.
There was like a cinema playing in my mind of all the indignities I had suffered with the police. ibid.
A lot of chaos. A lot of coppers getting hurt. ibid. ex-whistleblower
You know what? They were good fires. They were fires of freedom. People were breaking the chains. ibid. dude
‘The unprecedented outbreak of violence on the streets of mainland Britain.’ ibid. BBC news
Black power: the words that can send shivers down the spine of the nervous white man. While the white man struggles with his nightmare, the black man struggles with his dream. Black Power: A British Story of Resistance, original commentary of march, BBC 2021
West London, 1970: a group of protesters march against harassment by the police of a black-owned restaurant called The Mangrove. Black power had arrived in Britain. Young black people were fighting back against a hostile environment. They stood up to the state and they defied the brutality of the police. It was a conflict that reached the highest courts in the land. ibid.
The migrants played a key role in rebuilding Britain. ibid.
Kelso Cochrane, a carpenter from Antigua, was stabbed to death by a white gang one night near Notting Hill. The police denied that the killing was racially motivated and nobody was prosecuted. ibid.
Even at school children were not safe from institutional racism. ibid.
Stokely Carmichael’s visit had the Labour government so concerned that Special Branch ordered him to leave the country and he was banned from re-entering. Soon afterwards the Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins, set up a secret police department specifically to monitor radical black groups in Britain. ibid.
On Sunday 9th August 1970 a crowd of over 100 people gathered outside the Mangrove restaurant to show their support … ‘They [Conservatives] wanted to justify the Immigration Bill’ … For the 9 people arrested following the Mangrove Demonstration, it seemed that the whole machinery of the state was now set against them, and the idea of Black Power in Britain was being unfairly demonised. ibid. activist
Oval 4: When a BBC journalist started investigating Winston’s case, it was revealed that Detective Sergeant Derek Ridgewell’s testimony was directly contradicted by eye-witnesses … ‘The only [mugging] witnesses were the anti-mugging squad themselves’ … The media’s account of Winston’s case helped him appeal and his sentence was reduced, but the judge did not overturn the criminal conviction. ibid.
The confusion over the Spaghetti House siege proved to be a turning point exposing the messy realities of revolutionary politics. ibid.
‘We will never give up; we will never concede; it doesn’t happen.’ Four Hours at the Capital, BBC 2021, Trump to protesters
‘You’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength, you have to be strong … If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country any more.’ ibid.
We go over one fencing then we go over the next fencing all the way, bedlam, sheer bedlam. ibid.
This place and these women have one heck of a history. 40 years ago these three Welsh sisters [Brinkworths] were making a real ruckus here. Hitting headlines around the globe. Taking on Reagan, Thatcher and anyone else who got in their way. This is the story of the housewives from the Rhonda who risked it all to change the world. Mothers, Missiles and the American President, BBC 2022
‘I don’t think any Hongkonger would’ve imagined having to throw a Molotov cocktail in their lifetime but we really didn’t have a choice. This World: Hong Kong’s Fight for Freedom, BBC 2022
‘One day we will see our Hong Kong gain democracy and freedom.’ ibid.
‘Organisers claims that one million people plus took part in today’s march.’ ibid. news
‘They have stormed the government building.’ This World: Hong Kong’s Fight for Freedom II, news
The protesters in this film could be imprisoned for what they tell us. ibid.
Fight for Freedom! Stand with Hong Kong! ibid. protest
Chanting slogans cannot liberate Hong Kong. ibid. protester
‘This is urban warfare’ … ‘The police in return were firing rubber bullets’ … ‘The protests were spreading across the city and no-one knew what the rules were any more.’ ibid. reporters
Later that day they started using the water cannon trucks. ibid. protester
He sentenced me to one year in prison. ibid. protester
All these young people are now dead. Killed in the street protests against their government’, the Islamic Republic. Their videos remain online almost as memorials. This World: Inside the Iranian Uprising, BBC 2023
In September 22 the death of a young woman in police custody, Mahsa Amini, triggered anti-government protests across Iran. In the crackdown that followed, human rights groups estimate that more than 500 Iranians were killed including 72 children. ibid.
Courtaulds Ltd: 900 workers went on strike after a row with the management … ‘The strike as such here involved coloured people.’ Michael X: Hustler, Revolutionary, Outlaw, Malcolm’s BBC interview, Sky Showcase 2021
There were protests against nuclear power throughout the world. In the public’s imagination it was transformed from something good to something bad. Much of the anger was turned on the nuclear scientists. It emerged they had deliberately concealed many of the risks and uncertainties they had discovered. Adam Curtis, Pandora’s Box VI: A is for Atom, BBC 1992
Because she’s a Swedish schoolgirl that middle-aged men seem to hate, it’ll [her life film] basically be the opposite of the last forty or so Woody Allen films. Cunk & Other Humans on 2019 I: Our Planet Matters, BBC 2019
It was a strange feeling seeing all these tiny children marching to demand a future. It filled me with despair. ibid.
But sometimes in a protest it’s important to do things that make absolutely no fucking sense and alienate everyone. ibid.
Petitions & Protests: No, they are not the answer. But they can serve a practical purpose on the way to a real answer. The Corbett Report: Are Petitions & Protests the Answer? James Corbett online 2022
And we say to Mr Cutler and his band of brigands in County Hall that we are not paying a penny more now, tomorrow or never. Not a Penny on the Rents, tenant, 1968
Tenants’ action: September 22 to November 19 1968. ibid. caption
For two decades Turkey has been ruled by one man: Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He has transformed Turkey and won widespread local support. This World: Turkey: Empire of Erdogan I, BBC 2023
But in recent years he is seen more and more as a dictator ordering brutal crackdowns on dissent. ibid.
The story of Erdogan’s rise to power is even more extraordinary when you understand where he came from, one of Istanbul’s poorest neighbourhoods. ibid.
He has a problem: his conviction disqualifies him from becoming an MP. So Erdogan comes up with an audacious plan: he will form a new party. ibid.
Under Erdogan, Turkey boomed. ibid.
Erdogan decides to confront the military. ibid.
By 2013 the economy had started to falter, and Turkey’s role in the conflict in neighbouring Syria was straining international relations. ibid.
‘It was a protest against Erdogan and the mentality that he represents, the totalitarianism, authoritarianism.’ ibid.
‘Erdogan’s handling of Gezi [protest] revealed that he had no limits.’ ibid.
He’s cast himself as a peacemaker in the war between Russia and Ukraine. This World: Turkey: Empire of Erdogan II
Since the mid-90s Erdogan has built a base of fiercely loyal supporters. ibid.
He is the first leader of modern Turkey to stand up to the military. ibid.
After ten years of Erdogan’s rule protests in Istanbul’s Gezi park result in a huge outpouring of anger against his government. ibid.
Against some poor competition and with the help of favourable media coverage Erdogan becomes the president. Until now it’s largely been a ceremonial role. But Erdogan has plans to change the office of the presidency. ibid.
‘The Kurdish problem is not a problem for only a part of the nation, but for all of it. It is also my problem. We won’t let the democratic process run backwards.’ ibid. Erdogan
Erdogan calls a snap election. This time Erdogan’s party wins an outright majority. ibid.