Why
March? Seriously, what is the
point? Do the public listen to what
people are shouting/banner waving about?
Does the Press care? It seems not
last Saturday when up to 50,000 people marched through London protesting about
the austerity cuts. JENGbA families
wanted to march that day so I called and was told we could, of course, join
in.
We were at
the back of the march, as a campaign against austerity I suppose we did not
naturally seem to fit in with our anger at people being wrongfully imprisoned
for crimes they did not commit and serving mandatory Life sentences. That was ok - JENGbA families are used to our
concerns being ignored (though not for much longer!).
So back to
my question: Why March? The JENGbA
families seem to have got the bug! We
did one last month which was filmed for a BBC documentary that will be shown
the night after Jimmy McGovern's film 'Common' and also by a group of students
using the subject of Joint Enterprise for their final film for their MA in TV
from City University. To be fair having
media attention did give our march an added buzz but that is not the reason I
believe JENGbA families want to walk in the streets shouting "Joint
Enterprise is a court full of lies!" and "No Justice, No Peace".
The JENGbA families in the North of
England also held a rally in Manchester Piccadilly Gardens and via twitter and
calls we realised they too felt empowered by educating people on the streets
who had not heard of JE before and how it is being abused.
Families
want to march because they feel helpless, angry, frustrated and depressed about
what can be done when you have an innocent loved one in prison and are being
totally ignored by the British justice system.
They proudly hold aloft their banners displaying pictures of their
family members before they became prisoners of the State. Kelly and Maureen's Smith dad Kevin and
grandson travelled down from Liverpool for it and a mum had travelled back from
Saudi Arabia to be there. Solidarity is
a very powerful emotion and since most of our families have a loved one in
prison who is deemed a 'murderer' just to meet other families in a similar
situation is an invaluable support network.
On the
morning of the People's Assembly March, Jan Cunliffe called me to say that our
friend and supporter Gerry Conlon had died and that she had spoken to Paddy
Hill. Another reason to march and
empower families as that is exactly what Gerry and Paddy have been doing since
they were released from prison. Gerry
showed through his own activism, even through the most difficult of personal
times, that we must never forget how devastating an injustice is a wrongful
conviction and never stop fighting for the oppressed and vulnerable people in
prison.
 |
| JENGbA at People's Assembly March |
We have
always described JENGbA as a family and as we grow bigger and stronger so does
our family. We are seeing friendships
being made of people who would have never met except for this campaign. More families and supporters came to the
People's Assembly march and they want to do another JENGbA march after Jimmy
McGovern's film is screened on July 6th.
They have certainly got the marching bug! We know that to be able to DO something is one
of the ways families do not sink into depression and despair. And to be able to
feel like you are DOING something for a whole lot of people and not just your
own, is a whole different feeling of empowerment. That will only grow as our numbers do and
then we will no longer be ignored.
Finally the
reason we marched with / bandwagoned the People's Assembly against Austerity is
because it costs on average £50,000 a year to keep each innocent man, woman and
child locked up. JENGbA is currently
supporting 450 serving prisoners convicted using joint enterprise who have
contacted us. That is at least £22.5 million
annually spent on denying justice to the Joint Enterprise prisoners we know
about and there could be many more whose lives are blighted by unfair
convictions.
An
increasingly sinister aspect to this growing burden on the taxpayers is how
much of this money goes to fatten the directors’ salaries and profits of the
UK’s private prison industry. There is
something seriously wrong when the UK has more Lifers than the rest of Europe
combined and has the highest percentage of prisoners in private jails in the
world (yes, even higher than the USA!).
If Slavery
is about the commercial exploitation of men, women and children by unjustly
denying them freedom and human rights, what does that make G4S, Serco and
Sodexo? And what does that make the directors
and shareholders of these companies…or the Ministry of Justice for buying their
services?
Gloria
Morrison
Campaign
Co-ordinator JENGbA
