Patriotism
a guest poem by Vicky Thomas St George is cross. The soldier saint says He’s at a loss To understand these days. You who take his flag And use his name As some kind of brag – He is ashamed. … Read more
Issues and campaigns: Anti-Racism
Fighting against racism and the structures and institutions that perpetuate it
Love Music Hate Racism, Worthing
Janine contributes half an hour of poetry to this evening of anti-racist entertainment. Love Music Hate Racism
If You Should Win
If you get your wayIf the foreigners are kept at bayIf we wind the drawbridge and mine the beachesReach a state of monocultureCreate an all-white social structure Would your wages rise? Or would you find to your surprise your payslip doesn’t grow … Read more
But Where is it Really From?
Where is your title from? My father. No, but where is it really from? It’s been in the family for years. But where did your people get it from? I believe it was conferred on my noble ancestors by the … Read more
Fallen Idol
after Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley I met a bruised and smiling activist, elated, vindicated in their deed, who’d tossed into the harbour’s swell at Bristol the form of Portland stone to fishes feed Of one whose eight-foot statue’d … Read more
RMT Members Help Win Justice for Osime
Published in RMT News, July/August 2021 RMT members have helped to win justice for Osime Brown, a young, black, autistic, learning-disabled man. The union saw this as an issue that deserved our support and solidarity. Janine Booth, Secretary of RMT’s Disabled Members’ … Read more
Video: Janine Booth verses Cops and Covid
On 27 September 2020, Janine Booth broadcasted an hour-long show on Facebook Live, tackling the two biggest issues of the year: the coronavirus pandemic and police brutality.
What do we want? Specific demands!
Legendary anti-slavery campaigner Frederick Douglass (pictured) once wrote that ‘Power concedes nothing without a demand’. He was spot on. If you approach the government, or the council, or your employer, and tell them that you are unhappy but do not … Read more
Villanelle: Joint Enterprise
The courts prejudge and penalise, applying law, not playing fair, convicting of ‘joint enterprise’ Two words that catch and criminalise the skin you’re in, the clothes you wear, they prejudge and they penalise You’re guilty in the system’s eyes and … Read more
Black culture and resistance: the Harlem Renaissance
Published in Solidarity 569: One hundred years ago, an arts movement was forming in a mainly-black district of New York City. Later known as the Harlem Renaissance, it was primarily cultural but also inescapably political. Literature, poetry, jazz, … Read more
Bristol’s Brilliant Bus Boycott (1963)
Back before barring blacks became banned Bristol buses blocked brown-skinned blokes becoming buscrew But better Bristolians batted back bit the bullet and boycotted the buses Bent-backed, booted bipeds bicycled, as bitter brushes blazed between bile and benevolence Bands of brave, … Read more
How Transport Workers Beat the Colour Bar
A version of this was published in Solidarity 568: This story of colour bars in the UK railway and bus industries begins after the Second World War, when Britain had a labour shortage and people moved to Britain in increasing numbers … Read more
Clerihew: Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes Wrote poems in the rhythm of the blues He gave folk the shivers With ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’
Video: the story of ‘colour bars’ on UK railways
Speaking at an online meeting of rail workers in September, Janine Booth tells the story of the period after the end of the Second World War when black people came to Britain but met opposition from some white workers, until … Read more
Clerihew: Simon de Montfort
Simon de Montfort got off on the wrong foot He persecuted the Jewish but won the Battle of Lewes
Poems of the Harlem Renaissance
I have contributed this short article to Black History Month activities where I work. Poems of the Harlem Renaissance – recommended by Janine Booth Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes and Claude McKay were all black American poets who were part of … Read more
Joint Enterprise: unjust and racist
published in Solidarity 564 British courts’ application of ‘joint enterprise’ is unjust, and criminalises black and working-class youth. ‘Joint enterprise’ is a common-law doctrine that allows courts to convict not only the person who carried out a crime, but others … Read more
Video: Speaking Up for Osime Brown
Janine addresses the protest in support of Osime Brown outside the Home Office on Friday 4 September – includes the poems Free Osime Brown and Bearing Down. Please sign Osime’s petition here.
TUC report reveals racism but offers no answer
Published in Solidarity 562: A TUC report, Dying on the job: racism and risk at work, has revealed the deep-seated racism that underlies the higher impact of Covid-19 on black and minority ethnic (BME) people, but its proposals fall well … Read more
Stop this deportation!
Published in Solidarity 562: Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Home Office on Friday 4 September to demand that Osime Brown not be deported to Jamaica. Led by Osime’s family, the protest was supported by Autistic Inclusive Meets (AIM), … Read more