Justice for the 96, 25 years on we remember

25 years ago today the 15th of April 1989 FA cup semi-final between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool Fc at hillsborough. One of if not the worst disasters in footballing stadium history took place just after 3:06 the game was a abandoned and only then did the world start to realize what had happened in the liverpool end behind one of the goals. 96 innocent football fans lost their lives on that day tragically and we will never forget them. The idea that this was anything to do with hooliganism or drunken fans is just nonsense and the disgraceful reports by Kelvin Mckenzie and his newspaper at the time the Sun were nothing short of disgusting. To this day, in spite of the massive weight of evidence pointing to a cover-up designed to shift the blame for the 96 deaths from the agencies of the state onto the victims themselves, not a single person culpable in the tragedy has been brought to book. The inquest has been told that police accounts of the Hillsborough disaster were changed by senior officers and lawyers to remove criticism of the police leadership. Margaret Thatcher's statement at the time that the police should emerge blameless revealed the intentions of the establishment. That this stage has been reached is due to the courage and fortitude of the families seeking justice for the 96 who, in spite of being fobbed off, crossing chasms of obstruction, showered with empty promises, refusal by ministers to re-open the case pursued their quest with unremitting courage and determination. A key factor highlighted by coroner Lord Justice Goldring was Chief Superintendent Duckenfield's decision to open the football ground's gates at Leppings Lane which triggered off the catastrophe. Duckenfield's lie that the fans had forced open the gate was repeated by FA chief executive Graham Kelly, and media outlets ran with it before the lie was retracted. Kelly visited the police control room where he was told by Duckenfield that there had been an inrush of fans after they had forced open Gate C. He later admits this to be untrue but by 3.40pm, BBC Radio Two broadcast: "Unconfirmed reports are that a door was broken at the end that was holding Liverpool supporters". Thatcher's chief press secretary Bernard Ingham is later quoted as saying: "I know what I learned on the spot; there would have been no Hillsborough if a mob, clearly tanked up, had not tried to force their way into the ground." These remarks, along with the Sun editor Kelvin Mackenzie's vile onslaught, unleashed a Niagara of slander onto the victims and their families. (A 50,000-signature petition protesting the Sun's coverage was delivered to Downing Street by the late Militant [forerunner of the Socialist Party] supporting MP Terry Fields and others from Liverpool). The coroner has now posed questions which if investigated forensically should uncover the facts which have been shrouded in murk for 27 years. For instance what was done to manage the approach of fans to the turnstiles at Leppings Lane? Did a crush outside the entrance develop? If so, could anything, or anything more, have been done to avoid or minimise that risk? If so, by whom? The answer to that last question is the key to shining the light on and proving who bears the responsibility. Such an outcome will be a testimony to the courage of those who suffered and the mass movement of ordinary working people in Liverpool who have never wavered in their determination to achieve justice for the 96. The families are to be applauded for their courage and tenacity in the pursuit of justice. A debt of honour is owed to them for showing that working class people, fired with courage and determination, can render the forces of the state accountable. I am no fan of Liverpool football club being a supporter of Everton but on days like today both clubs in the city of Liverpool will come together and put rivalries to one side and stand shoulder to shoulder with the families of the 96 who will never be forgotten. Justice is still being fought for with a new inquest under way at the moment forcing the families to recount all the old wounds once again. Allot of the blame will have to go on to the police on the day who covered up a disaster for years only recently we have discovered the truth that many police statements on the day were doctored and changed to put the police in a better light. As the old saying goes no justice no peace, those responsible need bringing to account. Until that day which is hopefully sooner rather than later we stand in solidarity with the people of Liverpool in fighting for justice. Justice for The 96

Hillsborough the truth finally is outed and highlights shameful role of the state

The report of the Hillsborough Independent Panel has ripped aside the tangled web of lies and cover-up woven by the South Yorkshire police, the government and the army of lickspittles in the press who denigrated Liverpool and the victims of the man-made catastrophe in 1989 that was Hillsborough. Kelvin McKenzie, then the editor of the Sun and Murdoch's bag carrier who peddles his poison to the highest bidder, was the most vocal with his tissue of lies about that tragedy. 96 football fans lost their lives, those deaths affected thousands of people. Many continue to suffer extreme trauma as a result of their experience. Some suffered personality changes and went to an early grave. The families of the 96 greeted the report with relief and euphoria. Having campaigned in the face of impossible odds for 23 years, this was to be anticipated, but the relief and sense of victory and exoneration throughout Liverpool was palpable. This fight for the truth has united Liverpool and Everton fans alike. Fans who oppose each other in a football sense came together as football fans feeling a huge injustice over Hillsborough. Yesterday was a shocking day and a groundbreaking day in many ways. The independent report uncovered some very startling home truths on South Yorkshire police and the wider role of the state. Trevor Hicks of the family support group, who lost two daughters, reported that three family members fainted when evidence was revealed by the panel that with the correct support from the emergency services 46 of the victims may have been saved. This information added to the sense of anger and outrage which permeated the city. A question uppermost was that, of the 48 ambulances which rushed to the stadium, only two actually made it onto the pitch. Even the tops of the ambulance service were implicated in the subsequent cover-up. The police, the Sun, with Thatcher and her government implicated in the cover-up, were subject to excoriating condemnation. McKenzie's apology and the Sun's later apology was contemptuously dismissed for the hollow gesture that it was. There can be no doubt that the instructions for the cover up came from the very tops of the state machine. The brutal anti-working class culture of the South Yorkshire police force which played a leading and pernicious role in crushing the miners in their struggle to defend their jobs and communities was laid bare by this report. Michael Mansfield QC, who assisted the families, clearly identified the link. The police authorities revelled in an atmosphere of impunity which flowed from the anti-working class outlook of the then Thatcher government. Liverpool was also the city where the Militant-led socialist council in the mid-1980s had resisted the attacks of the Thatcher government by mobilising the support thousands of working class people. By falsely accusing Liverpool football fans as being drunken hooligans, the ruling classes also intended to denigrate the city's tradition of militant struggle. The next stage of this campaign will be to call for those implicated in this cover-up to be subject to the criminal law. Even the chief constable of the South Yorkshire police has been compelled to accept that those engaged in unlawful activity will be subject to prosecution. Cameron's frank admission of the cover-up and his apology surprised many. But if he had attempted to continue the cover-up his government could have fallen, he had no choice in the face of the evidence but to admit the truth. Parallels can be drawn with French author Émile Zola's article J'accuse (1898) in which he exposed the role of the French state in the anti-semitic frame up of Alfred Dreyfus. The furore which followed brought down the government. Not only are the families to be applauded for their courage and tenacity in the pursuit of justice, but a debt of honour is owed to them for showing that working class people fired with courage and determination can render the forces of the state accountable. The police officers involved in this awful cover up who colluded with the state and politicians at the time should not be allowed to get away with this. The Hillsborough victim’s families have the truth now, now they want justice and I and the socialist party fully support their fight.

Justice for the 96. remembering a tragic weekend.

This weekend see’s a big FA cup game between two famous rivals in Everton and Liverpool but one thing fans will be united on this weekend will be respecting the poor 96 families who lost loved ones on that April weekend back in the late 80’s. No fan should ever go to a football match and not return home.

The chant and slogan of justice for the 96. But the fact that in 2012 there is still not justice is a disgrace.
So recent revelations in the last few months will do nothing to help the families who still have no answers all these years on.
In A leaked document says that the then chief constable Sir Kenneth Oxford told Margaret Thatcher's aide, within days of Hillsborough, that the main cause of the tragedy that cost 96 lives was that Liverpool fans were "drunk" and "ticketless." He hadn't attended the game nor did he carry out any investigation in the days that followed.
These were lies and factually incorrect comments. The inquiry found the disaster's major cause was South Yorkshire Police's failings in crowd control. The media in the past tried to shift the blame from poor policing to the fans. As the inquiry found that Liverpool fans were not to blame for what happened, who was?
No individual has ever been named as having a responsibility or duty of care.
The panel from the inquiry sifted through over 400,000 government documents on Hillsborough and many are still to be examined. So Merseyside people wonder why our chief of police's feeling that it was Liverpool fans' faults has been leaked? An attempted smear campaign?
Prominent public figures will surely be named in the documents. So the one leak from 400,000 that blames the fans is publicised.
In 1989 we called for a labour movement inquiry to determine who really was to blame, and we are still determined to win justice for the 96.




So this weekend regardless of the result between Everton and Liverpool football clubs we all know deep down that there is still justice to be done and many questions left unanswered. Many fans are hoping this is uncovered before Margret Thatcher dies as she may hold a lot of information from back then. It is right and proper that justice is done and I for one as a Everton fan hope it is.