Colleagues,
Very well done to Sinead Kirwan and Mike Simons for getting together (using the Kickstarter platform (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theenemywithin/still-the-enemy-within-a-film-about-the-miners-str) the money needed to film and record material which will be used to create a film to mark the 30th anniversary of the 84-85 miners' strike. The link to a film clip is below, it may take some time to load/play.
A central theme of this project is that the miners remain, in Thatcher's vindictive terms' the enemies within'. It's not surprising that ex-miners and their families still feel this legacy as the current battle against blacklisting and fight for an inquiry around police corruption during the Orgreave dispute (generated as a result of the expose of official police corruption during Hillsborough) reminds us as trade unionists that the state (not least in the guise of the police and secret service) have consistently been complicit in working with governments and business to attack basic freedoms and ultimately to attack trade unionists (and their families) if/when they appear to be gaining strength.
The film will be made this year and I do hope that Ruskin College (and more importantly Northern College - given its central role in the dispute and its strong historical relationship with the NUM) will be a venue for a screening of this during 2014.
In Solidarity
Ian
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