We are excited to announce that the 37th issue ‘Oppression and Resistance’ is now online! A huge thank you to everyone who has worked on this issue!
From Windrush to BLM: A (Very) Brief History of British Race Relations, by Rhiannon Ingle
In 1948, the MV Empire Windrush docked in London carrying around five-hundred passengers from the West Indies. They were called to England as the first-wave in Britain’s drive to recruit and enlist a Commonwealth workforce to help rebuild the country post-war by feeding into the labour of state-controlled services such as Transport for London (TfL) and the National Health Service (NHS). They were encouraged to return to and serve their “Mother Country” of Britain, being promised a better life and a higher standard of living upon arrival. This was far from true. Many were ostracised, excluded, and met with intense racial abuse from an unwelcoming and hostile Britain.
Childless Motherhood: Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo against the Argentinian Junta, by Lauren Kelly
After three previously unsuccessful attempts, the Argentine military overthrew the internally divided Peron government as part of the US-backed Operation Condor, and established a military junta in March 1976. Thus began the National Reorganization Process– the official term for the genocide of left wing political and ideological dissidents of the junta. General Iberico Saint Jean, governor of the Buenos Aires Province encapsulates the bloodthirsty nature of the regime:”First, we will kill all the subversives, then their collaborators; later, those who sympathize with them; afterward, those who remain indifferent, and finally, the undecided”.
The Oppression of Communists in Indonesia, by Ellie Thompson
The oppression and mass killing of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) in 1965 – 1966 occurred due to the threat they posed to both western, and Suharto’s, intentions in the region. The suppression of the PKI occurred between 1965-1966, and saw communists executed by both the military and the general public. This public purging of communism was instigated through a mass propaganda campaign by the military, following the September 30th Movement. The movement saw communist leaders kidnap and eventually execute six military officials. The removal of communists benefitted both western interests and Suharto.
Should we consider the Vietnam War a colonial, civil or cold war? By Simrun Nijjar
The Vietnam War occurred from 1955-1975, pitting North Vietnam and the Viet Cong against South Vietnam who infamously received vast amounts of aid from the USA. The war can be seen as a battle between the Communist ideology of the North and the capitalist ideology of the South. This can lead to the belief that it was a proxy war within the cold war as the North Vietnamese received aid from the USSR and China who had their own agendas, much like the USA.