Sunday, June 16, 2019
The Together against trump event in Portsmouth on D-Day.
The circumstances and the reasons for our event have been explained here.
I have also posted a video of the event which can be viewed on this post, which has most of the speeches.
There was a small amount of disruption at the event from a group of Fascists, Tommy Robinson supporters and Trumpophiles, not as some sections of the press reported from supporters of the Veterans.
Friday, June 14, 2019
Respecting the meaning of D-Day . How Portsmouth campaigned against Trump's D-Day invite from the government.
By Simon Magorian
The central objective of the campaign was to get the invitation to Trump rescinded. As part of that, we formulated a statement for people to endorse and launched a petition towards that end.
the petition that was languishing for a long time suddenly took off about 2 weeks before his visit and got an impressive 85,000 signatures: far more than we were anticipating.
I think it's worth briefly looking at how we campaigned and what we did and didn't do in terms of the campaign.
At no point were we ever critical of the event itself it was the inappropriateness of Trump being there that was central to our campaign.
As soon as Trump was invited it changed the nature of the event from being an open event to being a rather exclusive event for Statesmen and women, Veterans and invited dignitaries.
Nobody was consulted by the government when they wrested control over all aspects of the event and fundamentally changed its direction.
From the outset, we adopted the slogan "Love Americans! Hate Trump!" to make it clear that our issue was with Trump and we were not engaging in any mean-spirited Anti-Americanism.
We also made it clear we would most likely be doing something around Guildhall Square and nowhere near the official event.
We never called for either a picket or a boycott of the event.
We never at any time approached any of the invited guests, be they Veterans, Councillors, or MPs to ask them to boycott the event. We understood why it was important for them to attend the event. Our objective was for the event to proceed without Trump, we fully supported the event itself.
We made it clear to the media that we thought it inappropriate to attempt to drag the Veterans into the argument since they had no say in the matter. clearly, they wanted to attend their special day to give respect to their fallen comrades, and if any of them did feel uncomfortable about Trump's presence we imagine they wanted to keep their own counsel.
It became obvious that there were clearly some who were putting a great deal of effort into promoting the idea on social media that we were planning to do something barbarous immediately outside the event.
We feel it was primarily these rather alarmist posts that were distressing people more than anything we had planned.
We were made aware pretty early on that the objective in the Trump camp was to dismiss the protests in London as merely the liberal elite on the march and that Portsmouth represented much more "his people", patriotic, right-wing, traditional blue collar etc. There were various pronouncements from Nigel Farage and his ilk about how outrageous it would be for any protests to take place.
There was also the argument that due to the official event being about our battle for freedom out of respect any form of protest would be improper. Many felt that this was taking cognitive dissonance to a new level.
The nature of our event was to maintain our respect for the veterans and the fallen, but also it was about the meaning of D-Day. the fight for freedom and against fascism.
We made it clear in two statements that our objection was primarily about his cosy relationship with alt-right and white nationalist groups which we made clear here.
Also, it was about his frankly appalling attitude to his own military which we articulated in this post.
We felt that it was important to have some sort of event even if it was tiny, and amounted to a couple of dozen. In fact, well over 300 attended. When factors in the staff from the University and the Council staff and others probably around 500 participated in the event.
There will be a full report elsewhere on this blog.
We had an event that attempted to marry disparate strands and I think we succeeded pretty well.
We had a wreath laying and some speeches at the War Memorial, to respect those who had sacrificed their lives in the struggle against fascism.
Also in the Square, we had more traditional reactions to Trump, with speeches on the threat he poses to our environment and to our way of life.
From the comments I have had from people I get the impression that people found the event a moving and impressive occasion.
It became clear that the event in portsmouth was going to be the most difficult of all the protests that took place and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who contributed to it.
The central objective of the campaign was to get the invitation to Trump rescinded. As part of that, we formulated a statement for people to endorse and launched a petition towards that end.
the petition that was languishing for a long time suddenly took off about 2 weeks before his visit and got an impressive 85,000 signatures: far more than we were anticipating.
I think it's worth briefly looking at how we campaigned and what we did and didn't do in terms of the campaign.
At no point were we ever critical of the event itself it was the inappropriateness of Trump being there that was central to our campaign.
As soon as Trump was invited it changed the nature of the event from being an open event to being a rather exclusive event for Statesmen and women, Veterans and invited dignitaries.
Nobody was consulted by the government when they wrested control over all aspects of the event and fundamentally changed its direction.
From the outset, we adopted the slogan "Love Americans! Hate Trump!" to make it clear that our issue was with Trump and we were not engaging in any mean-spirited Anti-Americanism.
We also made it clear we would most likely be doing something around Guildhall Square and nowhere near the official event.
We never called for either a picket or a boycott of the event.
We never at any time approached any of the invited guests, be they Veterans, Councillors, or MPs to ask them to boycott the event. We understood why it was important for them to attend the event. Our objective was for the event to proceed without Trump, we fully supported the event itself.
We made it clear to the media that we thought it inappropriate to attempt to drag the Veterans into the argument since they had no say in the matter. clearly, they wanted to attend their special day to give respect to their fallen comrades, and if any of them did feel uncomfortable about Trump's presence we imagine they wanted to keep their own counsel.
It became obvious that there were clearly some who were putting a great deal of effort into promoting the idea on social media that we were planning to do something barbarous immediately outside the event.
We feel it was primarily these rather alarmist posts that were distressing people more than anything we had planned.
We were made aware pretty early on that the objective in the Trump camp was to dismiss the protests in London as merely the liberal elite on the march and that Portsmouth represented much more "his people", patriotic, right-wing, traditional blue collar etc. There were various pronouncements from Nigel Farage and his ilk about how outrageous it would be for any protests to take place.
There was also the argument that due to the official event being about our battle for freedom out of respect any form of protest would be improper. Many felt that this was taking cognitive dissonance to a new level.
The nature of our event was to maintain our respect for the veterans and the fallen, but also it was about the meaning of D-Day. the fight for freedom and against fascism.
We made it clear in two statements that our objection was primarily about his cosy relationship with alt-right and white nationalist groups which we made clear here.
Also, it was about his frankly appalling attitude to his own military which we articulated in this post.
We felt that it was important to have some sort of event even if it was tiny, and amounted to a couple of dozen. In fact, well over 300 attended. When factors in the staff from the University and the Council staff and others probably around 500 participated in the event.
There will be a full report elsewhere on this blog.
We had an event that attempted to marry disparate strands and I think we succeeded pretty well.
We had a wreath laying and some speeches at the War Memorial, to respect those who had sacrificed their lives in the struggle against fascism.
Also in the Square, we had more traditional reactions to Trump, with speeches on the threat he poses to our environment and to our way of life.
From the comments I have had from people I get the impression that people found the event a moving and impressive occasion.
It became clear that the event in portsmouth was going to be the most difficult of all the protests that took place and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who contributed to it.
Saturday, June 1, 2019
Outrage at Police over-reach at issue of letters demanding people inform on their workmates who are going to legal and peaceful anti-Trump demo.
Press Release for Together Against Trump.
Simon Magorian.
I have removed the name and phone number of the police officer from the text of the letter for obvious reasons.
I also have not been able to consult with the Unison rep or members of council staff who have been unwittingly dragged into this so I have not included their names out of courtesy.
Letters have been sent by the police demanding staff provide details of people who might be going to a lawful peaceful protest.
The text of the letter sent to council staff by the Director for children families and education, on behalf of the police, reference:
"OP VISCOUNT D-DAY Intelligence requirement":
From what we can gather the Deputy Leader of the Council has been contacted and is requesting having this letter withdrawn.
The whole situation is both ludicrous and outrageous.
There is a considerable amount of ill will building as to the ludicrous behaviour of the security teams, including demanding that people living in properties on the seafront supply names of everyone who has lived in their properties for the last two years.
People have also been told that not only do they have to move their cars out of the area, but that failure to provide details of their vehicles will result in them being impounded.
People are getting extremely angry at how Trump's presence on the 5th is allowing the security services to run riot.
On D-Day, we are supposed to be saluting our veterans for defending our liberties, but now some locals are now referring to the current situation with overzealous security staff and massive steel fences as "The Occupation."
We are being treated by the security forces as if we are a subject people.
This will not stand.
Simon Magorian.
I have removed the name and phone number of the police officer from the text of the letter for obvious reasons.
I also have not been able to consult with the Unison rep or members of council staff who have been unwittingly dragged into this so I have not included their names out of courtesy.
Letters have been sent by the police demanding staff provide details of people who might be going to a lawful peaceful protest.
The text of the letter sent to council staff by the Director for children families and education, on behalf of the police, reference:
"OP VISCOUNT D-DAY Intelligence requirement":
"• On Wednesday the 5th of June 2019 a number of international heads of states, royal family and other VIP`s will attend the 75th-anniversary celebrations of D-DAY in Southsea.
• We ask that if you have any information relating to individuals you suspect may be seeking to disrupt this event (this includes concerns around terrorist activity, crime, disorder, and protests) you report this to the police intelligence team by means of using a CPI forms (community partnership information forms). The form and the guidance in how to complete these forms can be found at ; www.safe4me.co.uk.
• We specifically request any information relating to the descriptions, associations, intent and capability, social media profiles, telephone numbers and vehicles linked to these individuals. When completing the CPI form please try and answer the following 6 questions to give us as much detail as possible: What; When; Where; Who; Why; and How"
There are several problems with the letter.
Firstly the utter impertinence of suggesting that staff wouldn't report terrorist concerns to the police over an event (or any event) such as this.
I can't imagine a member of staff sucking their teeth and saying
"that Nigel from accounts, he goes off to Al Qaeda training events in Bexhill on Sea all the time, do you think I should phone the police?"
If you have any genuine concerns over terrorism don't fill in a form try dialling 999.
If you have any genuine concerns over terrorism don't fill in a form try dialling 999.
Secondly muddling up terrorism with peaceful protests.
Protests which have been carefully coordinated with the police and with the consultation of council leaders from the outset.
Also, Together Against Trump Portsmouth have some popular support, the group's online petition has garnered over
80,000 signatures against Trump's presence.
Also, Together Against Trump Portsmouth have some popular support, the group's online petition has garnered over
80,000 signatures against Trump's presence.
Demanding that people act as informants and provide information on their workmates is enough to make your flesh creep. This is the kind of thing the Stasi did.
The community Information forms require information on names, addresses, mobile nos, car plates etc.
Portsmouth Unison City Branch has made a formal complaint about this.
Extract below:
"UNISON wishes to lodge a formal complaint regarding the email below that has been circulated by Portsmouth City council management.UNISON members may wish to protest lawfully next week against the visit by Donald Trump, and UNISON finds it unacceptable that colleagues are asked to report other colleagues working for the council to the police who may wish to participate in a lawful protest. There is a protest planned and the organisers have already discussed and spoken to the Police and the leader of the council about this.UNISON requests that this email is immediately withdrawn and that staff are not asked to report on other staff as there is a right to lawful protest and this may be misinterpreted by some staff.If our staff are aware of any criminal or terrorist activity, do you not think they would report that without needing prompting?"
From what we can gather the Deputy Leader of the Council has been contacted and is requesting having this letter withdrawn.
The whole situation is both ludicrous and outrageous.
There is a considerable amount of ill will building as to the ludicrous behaviour of the security teams, including demanding that people living in properties on the seafront supply names of everyone who has lived in their properties for the last two years.
People have also been told that not only do they have to move their cars out of the area, but that failure to provide details of their vehicles will result in them being impounded.
People are getting extremely angry at how Trump's presence on the 5th is allowing the security services to run riot.
On D-Day, we are supposed to be saluting our veterans for defending our liberties, but now some locals are now referring to the current situation with overzealous security staff and massive steel fences as "The Occupation."
We are being treated by the security forces as if we are a subject people.
This will not stand.
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