(1973)
UK / English
The Angry Brigade was a left-wing revolutionary group responsible for a series of bomb attacks in England between 1970 and 1972.
History
Origins
In mid-1968 demonstrations took place in London, centred on the US embassy in Grosvenor Square, against US involvement in the Vietnam War. One of the organisers of these demonstrations, the well-known radical Tariq Ali, has said he recalls an approach by someone representing the Angry Brigade who wished to bomb the embassy; he told them it was a terrible idea and no bombing took place.1970s
The Angry Brigade decided to launch a bombing campaign with small bombs – in order to maximise media exposure to their demands while keeping collateral damage to a minimum. The campaign started in August 1970 and continued for a year until arrests took place the following summer.Targets included banks, embassies, the Miss World event in 1970 (or rather a BBC Outside Broadcast vehicle earmarked for use in the BBC's coverage) and the homes of Conservative MPs. In total, police attributed 25 bombings to the Angry Brigade. The bombings mostly caused property damage; one person was slightly injured.
Resurfaced Angry Brigade of the 1980s
In the 1980s the Angry Brigade resurfaced as the Angry Brigade Resistance Movement – part of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement (IRSM).
Aftermath
Jake Prescott, whose origins were in the mining community of Dunfermline, was arrested and tried in 1971. Melford Stevenson sentenced him to 15 years imprisonment (later reduced to 10), mostly spent in Category A high security prisons. Later he said he realised then that he "was the one who was angry and the people [he] met were more like the Slightly Cross Brigade". The other members of the group from North-East London, the "Stoke Newington Eight", were prosecuted for carrying out bombings as the Angry Brigade in one of the longest criminal trials of English history (it lasted from 30 May to 6 December 1972). As a result of the trial, John Barker, Jim Greenfield, Hilary Creek and Anna Mendleson received prison sentences of 10 years. A number of other defendants were found not guilty, including Stuart Christie, who had previously been imprisoned in Spain for carrying explosives with the intent to assassinate the dictator Francisco Franco, and Angela Mason who became a director of the LGBT rights group Stonewall and was awarded an OBE for services to homosexual rights.In February 2002, Prescott apologised for his role in bombing Robert Carr's house and called on other members of the Angry Brigade to also come forward.
On 3 February 2002, The Guardian reported a history of the Angry Brigade and an update on what its former members were doing then.
On 9 August 2002, BBC R4 aired Graham White’s historical drama, The Trial of the Angry Brigade. Produced by Peter Kavanagh, this was a reconstruction of the trial combined with other background information. The cast included Kenneth Cranham, Juliet Stevenson and Mark Strong.
In March 2009, British family care activist and novelist Erin Pizzey reportedly declined to comment on the temporary withdrawal by its publishers of the book Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain following her complaint it had falsely linked her to the Angry Brigade.
International Times, The Angry Brigade had bombed the Biba boutique in Kensington High Street, west London, on May Day, 1971.
Cultural influence
Literature
- Howard Brenton's 1973 play Magnificence, about a group of far-left revolutionaries in a London squat, is partly inspired by the Angry Brigade.
- Alan Burns, The Angry Brigade: A Documentary Novel (Allison & Busby, 1973).
- Gordon Carr, John Barker, Stuart Christie, The Angry Brigade: A History of Britain's First Urban Guerilla Group, 1975 (reissued 2005). ISBN 0-9549507-3-9.
- The Angry Brigade 1967–1984: Documents and Chronology, Bratach Dubh Anarchist Pamphlets, 1978.
- David Edgar's 1983 play Maydays features a scene referencing the Angry Brigade.
- The group are parodied in Doris Lessing's The Good Terrorist (1985), in which a group of naive, young, communist squatters split over whether or not to join the IRA.
- Tom Vague, Anarchy in the UK: The Angry Brigade, AK Press, 1997, ISBN 1-873176-98-8.
- John Barker, Bending the Bars, Hastings, England: Christie Books, 2002 (reissued 2006: ISBN 1-873976-31-3).
- Stuart Christie, Granny Made me an Anarchist: General Franco, The Angry Brigade and Me, Scribner, 2004.
- The group and trial feature in Jake Arnott's 2006 novel Johnny Come Home.
- The Angry Brigade, a 2014 play by James Graham.
Bullet Holes In The Door Of The American Embassy In Upper Grosvenor Street. 21 Aug 1967
Radio
- Graham White, The Trial of the Angry Brigade, BBC Radio 4. Produced by Peter Kavanagh and broadcast 9 August 2002.
Film
- Gordon Carr, The Angry Brigade: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Britain's First Urban Guerilla Group (DVD), BBC, January 1973. Released on DVD in 2008 by PM Press.
- Gordon Carr, The Persons Unknown (DVD) 1980. Features as a DVD extra on the January 1973 BBC documentary The Angry Brigade: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Britain's First Urban Guerilla Group.
- Our Friends in the North (BBC TV drama series, 1995), features a storyline in which a main character joins a fictional left-wing terrorist group based on the Angry Brigade.
- On 16 September 2013 the BBC’s The One Show aired a short documentary on the Angry Brigade, stating: "Joe Crowley discovers how the violent tactics of the Angry Brigade lead to the formation of the bomb squad."
Music
- Void, "The Angry Brigade",
- Wax Dolls (John Watts), Fischer Z, "The Angry Brigade", 1978
- The Bear Quartet, "Angry Brigade"
- Architect & Heiress, "The Angry Brigade"
- War Criminal George Pt. 1, "The Angry Brigade"
- Rome, "The Angry Brigade"
2 July 1971
359 Amhurst Road, Hackney, London: Mr and Mrs. George Buchanan walked into the first floor flat they had rented from Mr. Lewis the estate agent. They were school teachers, so they said, and were looking for a place to share with their friend, Miss Nancy Pye. Little over a month later, the property was raided by police. They found 33 sticks of explosive Gelignite, guns and ammunition, and four young, well-educated individuals. They were members of “the first urban guerrilla group”, otherwise known as the Angry Brigade. Their names were John Barker, Jim Greenfield, Anna Mendelssohn and Hilary Creek, and they were charged with Conspiracy to Cause Explosion. Via
The Angry Brigade
On
30 May 1972, they pleaded “not guilty” as they stood in the dock of the
Old Bailey’s number one court. What followed was the 20th century’s
longest political trial (however fervently the authorities attempted to
deny the adjective). A blanket “conspiracy” charge – active
participation was irrelevant, explained the judge; mere knowledge, even
“by a wink or a nod”, was sufficient proof of guilt – in effect made any
direct defence unsustainable.
On 6 December that year, the trial
ended with convictions for Barker (who defended himself with great
sophistication), Creek, Greenfield and Mendelson, and acquittals for the
rest. The jury’s appeal for clemency ensured that the four got ten-year
sentences, rather than the possible 15 years. The women served less
than five; the men were out in seven. Via: The New Statesman
2 July 1971359 Amhurst Road, Hackney, London: Mr and Mrs. George Buchanan walked into the first floor flat they had rented from Mr. Lewis the estate agent. They were school teachers, so they said, and were looking for a place to share with their friend, Miss Nancy Pye. Little over a month later, the property was raided by police. They found 33 sticks of explosive Gelignite, guns and ammunition, and four young, well-educated individuals. They were members of “the first urban guerrilla group”, otherwise known as the Angry Brigade. Their names were John Barker, Jim Greenfield, Anna Mendelssohn and Hilary Creek, and they were charged with Conspiracy to Cause Explosion. Via
The Angry Brigade
On 6 December that year, the trial ended with convictions for Barker (who defended himself with great sophistication), Creek, Greenfield and Mendelson, and acquittals for the rest. The jury’s appeal for clemency ensured that the four got ten-year sentences, rather than the possible 15 years. The women served less than five; the men were out in seven. Via: The New Statesman
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento