Janine Wiedel Photo Library - Documentary images

Today's Occupy Movement has made me revisit my early photographs from the 1969 "People's Park" Occupation and subsequent riots in Berkeley California. Retrospectively, it can been seen as one of the first Occupy Movements and is remembered as a symbol of hope for the free-thinkers; a rare political victory for the ordinary person against the corporate State. The occupation began in June 1969 when students and local people of Berkeley, inspired by the Free Speech and Anti-Authoritarian movements and angered by the Vietnam War, took their initiative and occupied a piece of land belonging to the state owned University of California in Berkeley. The University had purchased the land in 1966. They demolished residential housing and planned to build a car park and student dorms. They ran out of money however and left the land vacant for two years while committees dithered about its future use. It became a dumping ground and an eyesore to the local community. Students and local people drew up their own plans for turning the derelict land into a much needed park and open space for the people. Their own committee approved the plans but the University stalled. Tired of waiting for yet more delays, assessments and permissions, the people took action. Hundreds turned up to occupy and work on the land. Contributions of money, food, shrubs, playground equipment etc. were donated by local shops. On the derelict site there was non-stop clearing, digging and planting and free food was available for all. The park was alive with rebellion, energy and hope. The University was taking a relatively soft line and promised the Park Committee that they would give them 3 weeks to pull together a detailed proposal for the future of the land. However, one week later, Ronald Reagan who was then the governor of California stepped in. On his election in 1966, he had promised to clamp down on student protests and anti-war demonstrators. He called the Berkeley campus "a haven for communist sympathizers, protesters and sex deviants." He considered the creation of the park a direct leftist challenge to the property rights of the university, and took it as an opportunity to fulfill his campaign promise. (This hard line taken against the protesters ended up contributing to his Presidential election a few years later.) At 4AM on what became known as "Bloody Thursday", 250 Highway patrol and Berkeley police officers took over the park. They cleared an 8 block area around the site and began constructing an 8 ft. high perimeter fence. About 6,000 protesters turned up that day. Anger grew and the police retaliated with tear gas and shotguns. James Rector (a bystander)was killed, another man was blinded and 123 people were hospitalised. By the evening Governor Reagan had called in the National Guard and banned public assembly. The town was completely taken over by soldiers with bayonets. A small selection Go to "search" and put in keywords or contact me direct.

These photographs were taken in California in 1969, when The Black Panther Party was being heavily targeted by the police and the FBI. The Panthers emerged from the Black Power Movement in 1966. Founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, they formed an organization of militant blacks committed to improving social conditions and instilling racial pride in their communities. TO VIEW: PLEASE PRESS "ALL" below Inspired by Malcolm X and influenced by Mau Zedong and Che Guevara, the Black Panther Party aimed to protect communities through self-defence and to end racism and police brutality. They denounced the Civil Rights Movement and urged blacks to engage in armed confrontation with the police in order to accelerate the revolutionary struggle. Arguing that only violent revolution could eliminate racism and oppression, they alarmed white Americans by patrolling the streets with shot-guns. In 1967 Huey Newton was wounded during a shootout with police. While in the hospital he was charged with killing a policeman and sentenced to prison. Following this incident most of the BPP leadership was on the run from law enforcement officials. Between 1967 and 1971 more than 300 Panthers were jailed, forced into hiding, or killed. The FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, described the Panthers as "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country". In November 1968 he ordered the FBI to employ "hard-hitting counter-intelligence measures to cripple the Black Panthers". Over a six years period, 24 Panthers were killed in gun fights with the police. Some of the more notable members were Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Stokely Carmichael, Eldridge Cleaver, Kathleen Cleaver, Angela Davis , David Hilliard, and Fred Hampton. TO VIEW:Please press "ALL" below This is a small selection. For more enter keywords into search or contact me direct

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These photographs are from a five year project and book "Irish Tinkers" published in 1976 TO VIEW: PLEASE PRESS "ALL" below This is a small selection The library is continually being updated as I continue to scan my earlier documentary photographs and stories. For more go to "search" and enter keywords or contact me direct

Gypsy /Traveller family camped on disused site in East London , UK 1973 PLEASE PRESS "ALL" below to see selection. For wider section go to "Search"

From a year long commission from The Cross Channel Photographic Mission. The Final exhibition at Dover Museum and Art Gallery 1991 TO VIEW: Please press "ALL" below This is a small selection The library is continually being updated as I continue to scan my earlier documentary photographs and stories. For more go to "search" and enter keywords or contact me direct

These are from a year long commission from South East Arts and Kent County Council 1991-1992 as part of The Cross Channel Photographic Mission. The final exhibition was held in Dover Museum and Art Gallery 1991 Please press "ALL" below

CLICK "VIEW ALL" below This is a small selection The library is continually being updated as I continue to scan my earlier documentary photographs and stories. For more go to "search" and enter keywords or contact me direct

Shildon, County Durham, once known as "the cradle of the railways" grew in 1925 when the Stockton & Darlington Railway established it's workshops. After the 2nd World War, it was one of the biggest sidings complexes in Europe. As privatisation loomed in the early 1980s, British Railways wanted to shed its loss-making manufacturing division – although Shildon itself was in profit. The works closed in 1984 (2 years before I took these photos) leaving a loss of 1,700 jobs PLEASE CLICK "ALL" below This is a small selection The library is continually being updated as I continue to scan my earlier documentary photographs and stories. For more go to "search" and enter keywords or contact me direct

This is a small selectionFor more go to "search" and enter keywords or contact me direct

In 1976, I spent 3 weeks in Iran on a commissioned from a Educational Publisher. This is a small selection. PLEASE CLICK "ALL" below This is a small selection. For more go to "search" and enter keywords or contact me direct

Photographs taken while living with Inuit family in the small settlement of Pangnirtung on Baffin Island in Canadian Arctic.1974

Every year Roma Gypsies from all over Europe gather in the French town in the Camargue for a weeks long religious festival in honor of their patron saint Sarah. The statue of the dark skinned Saint Sarah (who was the servant of the three Marys) is kept down in the crypt of the church. During the festival she is taken on a procession through the town and immerse her in the sea along with the other two Saints. This is a small selection. For more enter keywords into search or contact me direct

In 1981 I spend time knocking on doors in a 1960s tower block in Lambeth overlooking the then vast industrial area now redeveloped as Nine Elmes.