|
Socialist Standard
August 2005
Page 3  |
|
|
|
Bombings,
Bombers and a Bomb
|
|
The recent traumatic
events in London provide a poignant reminder of the depths
of anger, frustration and outrage simmering beneath the outward
demeanour of many people who are leading apparently normal lives.
When such extreme acts of violence,with their tragic
repercussions, happen so close to home, they understandably
impinge more acutely on our consciousness and touch us in a far
more personal way. Straightaway our thoughts become crowded with the
names and faces of any
family or friends who might possibly have been travelling near the
affected area and we anxiously seek assurance of their wellbeing.
Fortunately such barbarous occurrences remain
comparatively rare in
London or the other major cities of Western Europe but in some parts of
the world, alas, they are an almost daily experience.
Any half-decent, sensible human being quite properly deplores
the
invidious, misguided zeal - be it personal, political or religious -
that spawns such a terrible, unreasoning thirst for bloody retribution
in the name of whatever injustice or absolute truth. Political leaders,
of course, waste no time in making a sanctimonious response by roundly
condemning the "evil terrorists" and "brain-washed fanatics". Doubtless
their perception of the public mood is accurate but the weasel words of
politicians assuming the high moral ground are an unwelcome
encroachment. They intrude upon the very real sympathy and feeling of
support we reserve for the victims of such atrocities by inducing
another kind of feeling altogether: one of profound nausea.
The breathtaking hypocrisy with which these serial
perpetrators of ultimate, officially sanctioned, state violence,
denounce those who, unofficially, pursue similar tactics - which,
though horrendous, are on a far small scale - is truly stomachchurning.
They uniformly assert that only warped minds, with a callous
disregard
for human life, would deliberately choose to detonate bombs in an
environment (such as a tube train) specifically selected to cause the
most damaging effects and indiscriminately kill or injure the greatest
possible number. And without giving any prior warning. And in the rush
hour when the maximum number of people would be exposed.
State-approved violence has been responsible for tens of millions of
deaths. The ethics of "legitimate" or "just" war have no bottom line.
If there ever was such a bottom line, the saturation bombing of
Hamburg, Dresden and Tokyo, generating the new military tactic of
fire-storms,
certainly plummeted below it. These raids resulted in vast numbers of
victims exceeding by far any previous tally. Sixty years ago, this
month, on the 6th August 1945, the Japanese city of Hiroshima was
virtually flattened - unnecessarily - by a single atomic bomb carried
by a single plane. Three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped on
Nagasaki. The city of Hiroshima was specifically selected (though
obviously not by warped minds with a callous disregard for human life)
as a target with an environment likely to cause the most damaging
effects and indiscriminately kill or injure the greatest possible
number. Many of its buildings were composed of paper, wood and straw.
Mock-up structures built from similar materials had earlier been
erected in the Utah desert for testing incendiary potential. Also,
Hiroshima had been spared any previous aerial bombardment so that the
precise effects of the explosion could be determined. The bomb was
dropped at 8.15 am, without prior warning. In the rush hour when the
maximum number of people were exposed.
The official recorded number of
deaths from the bomb is 186, 940.
|
|
Contact
Details |
UK
BRANCHES
& CONTACT
|
|
|
|
|
|
INTERNATIONAL
CONTACTS
|
LONDON
Central
London branch.
Corres:Richard Botterill, 21 Ashwell
Park,
Harpenden, Herts AL5 5SG.
Tel:
01582 764929.
Email:
2nd and 4th Mondays at 7.30 The Carpenters Arms, Seymour Place, Nr
Marble Arch W1
Enfield
and
Haringey branch.
Tues 8pm.
Angel Community Centre,
Raynham Rd, NI8.
Corres: 17 Dorset Road, N22 7SL
Email:
South
London
branch.
1st Mon.
7.45pm. Head Office. 52 Clapham High
St, SW4 7UN. Tel: 020 7622 3811.
West
London
branch.
1st & 3rd
Tues.8pm, Chiswick Town Hall,
Heathfield Terrace (Corner Sutton Court
Rd), W4. Corres: 51 Gayford Road,
London W12 9BY
Pimlico.
C. Trinder, 24 Greenwood Ct,
155 Cambridge Street, SW1 4VQ.
Tel:020 7834 8186
MIDLANDS
Birmingham
branch.
Thur. 8pm,
The
Square Peg, Corporation Street.
Tel:
Ron Cook, 0121 533 1712
NORTHEAST
Northeast
branch.
Corres: John
Bissett, 10 Scarborough Parade,
Hebburn, Tyne & Wear, NE31 2AL. Tel:
0191 422 6915
Email:
NORTHWEST
Lancaster
branch.
P. Shannon, 71 Coniston Road, Lancaster LA1 3NW.
Email:.
|
|
Manchester branch.
Paul Bennett, 6 Burleigh Mews, Hardy Lane, M21 7LB.
Tel:0161 860 7189
Bolton.
Tel: H. McLaughlin, 01204 844589
Cumbria.
Brendan Cummings, 19 Queen St, Millom, Cumbria LA18 4BG
Rochdale.
R. Chadwick, 01706 522365
Southeast
Manchester.
Enquiries
Blanche Preston, 68 Fountains Road,
M32 9PH
YORKSHIRE
Huddersfield.
Richard Rainferd, 28
Armitage Rd, Armitage Bridge,
Huddersfield, West Yorks, HD4 7DP
Hull.
Keith Scholey. Tel: 01482 44651
Skipton.
R Cooper, 1 Caxton Garth,
Threshfield, Skipton
BD23 5EZ. Tel:
01756 752621
SOUTH/SOUTHEAST/SOUTHWEST
Bournemouth
and
East Dorset.
Paul
Hannam, 12 Kestrel Close, Upton,
Poole
BH16 5RP. Tel: 01202 632769
Brighton.
Corres: c/o 52 Clapham High
Street, London
SW4 7UN
Bristol.
Shane Roberts, 86 High Street,
Bristol
BS5 6DN. Tel: 0117 951119
Cambridge.
Andrew Westley, 10 Marksby Close, Duxford,
Cambridge
CB2 4RS. Tel: 01223 570292
Canterbury.
Rob Cox, 4 Stanhope
Road, Deal, Kent, CT14 6AB
Luton.
Nick White, 59 Heywood Drive,
LU2 7LP
Redruth.
Harry Sowden, 5 Clarence
Villas, Redruth, Cornwall,
TR15 1PB.
Tel: 01209 219293
|
|
NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast.
R. Montague, 151 Cavehill
Road, BT15 1BL. Tel: 02890 586799
SCOTLAND
Edinburgh
branch.
1st Thur. 8-9pm.
The Quaker Hall, Victoria Terrace
above Victoria Street), Edinburgh.
J. Moir. Tel: 0131 440 0995
Email Website
Glasgow
branch.
1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month at 8pm in
Community Central Halls, 304 Maryhill
Road, Glasgow. Richard Donnelly, 112
Napiershall Street, Glasgow G20 6HT.
Tel: 0141 5794109 Email:
Website
Ayrshire:
D. Trainer, 21 Manse Street,
Salcoats, KA21 5AA.
Tel: 01294
469994. Email
Dundee.
Ian Ratcliffe, 16v Birkhall Ave, Wormit, Newport-on-Tay,
DD6
8PX.
Tel: 01328 541643
West
Lothian.
2nd and 4th Weds in
month, 7.30-9.30.
Lanthorn Community
Centre, Kennilworth Rise, Dedridge,
Livingston.
Corres: Matt Culbert,
53
Falcon Brae, Ladywell, Livingston,
West Lothian, EH5 6UW. Tel: 01506
462359. Email
WALES
Swansea
branch.
2nd Mon, 7.30pm,
Unitarian Church, High Street. Corres:Geoffrey Williams,
19 Baptist Well Street, Waun Wen, Swansea SA1 6FB.
Tel: 01792 643624
Cardiff and District.
John James,
67 Romilly Park Road,
Barry CF62 6RR
Tel:01446 405636
|
|
AFRICA
Gambia.
World of
Free Access.
c/o 21 Dobson St, Benjul.
Kenya.
Patrick Ndege, PO Box 56428,
Nairobi
Namibia.
Anthony Amugongo, PO Box 1502,
Oshataki.
Uganda.
Socialist Club, PO Box 217,
Kabale. Email:
Swaziland.
Mandia Ntshakala, PO Box
981, Manzini
EUROPE
Denmark.
Graham Taylor, Spobjervej
173, DK-8220, Brabrand.
Germany.
Norbert
Email:
Norway.
Robert Stafford. Email:
COMPANION
PARTIES
OVERSEAS
World
Socialist
Party of Australia.
c/o
Rod Miller, 8 Graelee Court,
Kingston,
Tasmania 7050,
Australia. Email:
Socialist
Party of
Canada/Parti Socialiste du Canada.
Box 4280,
Victoria B.C.
V8X 3X8
Canada. Email : Website
World
Socialist
Party (New Zealand)
P.O. Box 1929,
Auckland, NI,
New Zealand. Email: Website
World
Socialist
Party of the United States
P.O. Box 440247,
Boston, MA
02144 USA. Email: Website
|
To contents
Page 4
To
Socialist
Party
|
|