Welcome to
GlobalEyes

Your Weekly Window
in the Mirror of the World.
Spartacus R.
The editor of Global Africa Pocket News and author of "Violation" and "The Maãt Mystery" takes another look at the world.

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BOMBING BRIXTON

I am sitting in front of my computer reading e-mails, having just returned from shopping in Brixton market with my ten year old son, Akiiki, who is outside playing. Suddenly I hear a bang which I immediately identify as a bomb but just as quickly dismiss it, saying to myself: "This is Brixton, you hear gunshots, not bombs." I would have expected to hear bombs in Tripoli, Libya, where I had just returned from the night before but not Brixton.

A couple of hours later, a friend calls to ask what I know about the Brixton bomb in the news. Questions flood my head: Who would want to plant a bomb in Brixton? Why? Any fatalities? Anyone I know injured or killed? Suppose we had dallied a little longer in the market ... ?

I hurriedly make a few calls while listening to the news, then leave Akiiki with neighbours and dash down to Brixton centre. Fortunately there are no reported fatalities.

On the streets and in the media, rumours abound of IRA bombers, Kosova terrorists, Black gangsters, drugs war, copycat lunatics, disgruntled shopper, right wing backlash against Stephen Lawrence publicity, all of which I dismiss as equally unlikely - except perhaps, the use of a right wing group by government agents. The government being the organisation most likely to benefit from this bombing. Being a Labour government with unflinching mass support within the African community, they can't afford to be as overtly racist as the Conservatives but, in order to properly serve the interests of the controllers, they have to be even more repressive than their predecessors while at the same time appearing to be more benign.

Brixton is one of the most extensively monitored areas in the whole country. There isn't a single corner hidden from the large number of surveillance cameras and patrolling officers deployed in the area. Yet people are being killed in broad daylight in full view of cameras and witnesses and the shootists stroll casually to their cars and drive off with no fear of being identified and arrested. This bombing is just another part of the community traumatisation programme that includes shootings, robberies and intimidation by imported police-sponsored thugs. The government can now increase their surveillance of not just Brixton but every African community in the country under the guise of protecting us from right wing racists. There is now a fully equipped mobile pig pen at the bomb site, waiting for the bomber to strike again (?) and ostensibly gathering information on the incident. But is it in Brixton they should be looking for the bomber? I think not.

The authorities say Combat 18, a group of brain dead fascists with military links, has claimed responsibility for the bombing. It is very unlikely they would bomb the racist stall holders who are among their staunchest supporters in the country. They are also one of the most infiltrated organisations in the UK, akin to the FBI infiltration and operation of the Ku Klux Klan in their heyday. So it is very unlikely that they could launch such an attack without the involvement or at least the knowledge of those agents.

So what do we as a community do about the dual threats of more bombings (inevitable) and government "protection"? This is an ideal opportunity for us to start a community protection group using some of the people who are already on the streets (not all of them are police informers) and others who would collect, analyse and disseminate information among the community and take what ever appropriate action is necessary to safeguard ourselves from future attacks. We cannot depend on the government to protect us against their own. We have to take charge of our own future, that is what freedom is about, the right to determine our own destiny. We have the need. We have the power - we are the power - let's seize the initiative and do for self.