Justice for Scottish miners - now we need justice for all miners. In our lifetimes!
OTJC welcomes news that the Scottish Government has proposed pardons after a review found striking miners in Scotland were treated in a 'grossly excessive manner' in the 1984/5 strike
Now we need justice for all miners in the UK.
As ex-miner @johndunn322 explains "Miners are angry about the abusive treatment meted out to us by the police and courts during the strike. We were targeted by police under the directions of the Thatcher government".
This treatment wasn't limited to Scotland. It happened on picket lines around the UK, during paramilitary-style occupations of pit villages and of course at Orgreave on June 18 1984.
It is well-documented, filmed, photographed and witnessed
The results of this injustice are deeply felt.
As John Dunn says
"Many of us were consequently dismissed and blacklisted from getting future work. The impact of this went beyond us miners, it affected our families, communities and had severe financial consequences for us all".
Kevin Horne, OTJC activist and ex miner arrested at Orgreave said:
“We now need the Home Secretary to declare a full public inquiry into the police riot at Orgreave on 18 June 1984. We need to know the truth and get justice for all British miners. The Government must not delay"
The breakthrough in getting justice for Scottish miners came through the unrelenting efforts of ex-miners in Scotland, the NUM and supporters such as @NeilFindlay_MSP after an independent review into policing of the miners strike in Scotland was set up in 2018
We know, like other campaigns for justice, the time and effort needed to get justice for abuses by police, courts and state.
We will continue to demand justice for all miners including those at Orgreave on June 18 1984.
Ian MacGregor, Chair of the National Coal Board writes to all miners
"Your leaders have told you that the Coal Board is out to butcher the industry. That we plan to do away with 70,000 jobs, to close 86 pits"
"If these things were true I would not blame miners for getting angry or for being deeply worried. BUT THESE THINGS ARE ABSOLUTELY UNTRUE. I STATE THAT CATEGORICALLY AND SOLEMNLY. YOU HAVE BEEN MISLED"
"I would like you to consider carefully, so we can get away from the tragic violence and pressures of mass pickets, whether this strike is really in your interest".
"They charged into us, grabbing and snatching pickets, the police then hitting them with truncheons and taking them back behind their lines. The cavalry hitting anything that moved".
Orgreave 29 & 30 May 1984 otjc.org.uk/part-four-may-…
36 years on. Still no #orgreavejustice
Join us on Saturday 20th June 1pm for our annual rally for truth and justice for Orgreave.
The theme is tackling working class injustices facebook.com/events/2561993…
Speakers
Chris Kitchen: General Sec NUM
Eileen Turnbull: Shrewsbury 24
Sheila Coleman: Hillsborough Justice Campaign
Jan Cunliffe: JENGbA
Lee Fowler: Blacklist Support Group
Judy Bolton & Yvette Williams: Justice4Grenfell
Kevin Horne: OTJC
Sal Young: NHS Worker& GMB Branch Sec
THREAD
Orgreave & the BBC 1/ 35 years ago today June 19 1984 a BBC News and Current Affairs meeting described its own coverage of Orgreave the day before as "not wholly impartial" with a "marginal imbalance" though "not enough to ‘justify the NUM’s view that the BBC was biased"
2/ The BBC's film coverage of events at Orgreave on June 18 1984 had reversed the sequence of events to show police cavalry charge in response to pickets throwing stones. In fact, the opposite was true, as other TV channels' coverage showed.
Credit: Peter Arkell
3/ It was during one of these police cavalry charges that Lesley Boulton was targetted while appealing for help for a badly injured miner. She later recalled hearing the police baton make a whooshing sound as it missed her head by inches.
Credits: John Harris
Thread - #Orgreave and BBC
34 years ago today, June 19 1984, a BBC News and Current Affairs meeting described its own coverage of Orgreave the day before as "not wholly impartial" with a "marginal imbalance" though "not enough to ‘justify the NUM’s view that the BBC was biased"
BBC's film coverage of Orgreave had altered sequence of events to show, pickets provoking police before they charged. Miners returning bloodied from Orgreave were amazed + angry to see the film. One them complained to BBC which made no response when it was discussed months later
In 1991 the BBC finally accepted that the sequence of events had indeed been reversed but issued no apology, explaining that this had been done ‘inadvertently’ in ‘the haste of putting the news together’