When Obi Egbuna appears in court on November 25th for the beginning of his trial, he and Peter Martin and Gideon Dolo will already have spent four months in Brixton Prison. Obi Egbuna has applied for bail four times. Each application has been refused. These three black supporters of Black Power were arrested on July 25 charged with uttering a writing threatening to kill police officers at Hyde Park. Two further charges involving conspiracy and incitement have since been added.
The trial is expected to take a week to ten days and will be an important one for socialists to follow, and particularly for the black immigrant communities.
Socialists must not see the arrests and trial of Obi and his two co-defendents in isolation, but see them in the context of the ever-increasing victimisation of black immigrants. (The National Council of Civil Liberties is creating a register of complaints against the police and other officials with the help of 300 immigrant organisations).
A furore has been unleashed by all sections of the ruling class against Enoch Powell's most recent racialist speech. Can it be that the gentleman sitting with the all-white representation in the House of Commons or the editorial boards of the capitalist press really believe that Powell's speech was wrong, both from a factual and ideological point of view? Do they believe that the ideas of white supremacy and other racialist views expressed by Powell are wrong and that he is in a minority of one in this country? Not at all. Most papers saw fit to print this speech in full. Contrast this with the treatment given to militant left-wing speeches - a couple of sentences taken out of context and usually sandwiched between verbose, irrelevant remarks of journalists.) What Enoch Powell has put into words, is thought by many sections of the ruling class. But right now they do not believe it is in their interests to say so. Powell can be disowned for the time being but meanwhile he is being used as a vehicle for the most reactionary and racialist views and serves the interests of the ruling class by appealing to the most backward and bigoted layers of society.
No matter what government is in power in a capitalist society, it seeks to keep the system intact by hitting out at the working class through anti-labour legislation, prices and incomes boards, it is useful to have a scapegoat to channel the discontent of the workers away from the class struggle.
"Divide and Rule" has always been the policy of the British ruling class. The ideology of the British Empire has left its scar on British working class movements; backwardness on race questions amongst some sections of the class has been strengthened by Wilson's government passing the Immigration Act, prosecuting Michael X and using the Race Act against the left.
The failure of the Labour Government to provide decent housing for the mass of the people, to prevent unemployment and cut backs in social services, to end the wage freeze while prices and profits soar, has aided big business in using racialism to damp down working class struggle.
Exploited twice over -- as workers in a capitalist society and as a minority in that society, the black immigrants have begun to understand the necessity to organise themselves in order to struggle against their exploitation. It is precisely because they understand this and are trying to organise themselves that their activities will not go unnoticed by the ruling class in society.
Michael X was one of the first leaders of black militants he has spent a year in gaol. Obi Egbuna who took on the leadership when Michael X was gaoled, is now up for trial on three serious criminal charges. To my mind, there is no doubt that much of the 'evidence' that will be presented by the prosecution will have little bearing on the actual charges. The intention will be to create an image that Obi and his two codefendents are extremists both in ideology and action. The point is well understood by all three of them - that is why they have disciplined themselves not to react to the many provocations during their detention in Brixton Prison.
How can socialists help to see that these three black militants get the fullest justice and that political and racial prejudices are not permitted to determine the outcome of this trial? A campaign for their defence must be organised - it is the responsibility of everyone who talks about the rights of minorities to give more than lip service to this ideal. Facts about the case must be publicised. Court proceedings must be closely watched. Actions in support of Obi, Gideon and Peter must be undertaken by all groups of the Labour movement and individuals who are opposed to racialism.