XR returns to London!

by New Worker corrrespondent

Ecology campaigners were on the streets of London again for a “Weekend of Resistance” led by the Extinction Rebellion (XR) campaign as part of a month of protests called by a number of movements to draw attention to the environmental crisis which they say could trigger mass extinction across the planet.
    On Friday two young Just Stop Oil protestors poured tomato soup over Van Gogh's Sunflowers painting in National Gallery and then glued themselves to the wall beneath the frame while another sprayed yellow paint on the walls of New Scotland Yard, the Metropolitan Police’s headquarters, to protest against police and state repression of activists.
    The Van Gogh masterpiece was fortunately shielded in glass and suffered no damage. Enraged art lovers called it vandalism but this suffragette-style protest was defended by one of the protesters who said "Is art worth more than life? More than food? More than justice? The cost-of-living crisis is driven by fossil fuels—everyday life has become unaffordable for millions of cold, hungry families—they can't even afford to heat a tin of soup.
    "Meanwhile, crops are failing and people are dying in supercharged monsoons, massive wildfires, and endless droughts caused by climate breakdown," the activist added. "We can't afford new oil and gas, it's going to take everything. We will look back and mourn all we have lost unless we act immediately".
    The next day the climate change warriors gathered in Trafalgar Square on Saturday for a march on Downing Street to show “this corrupt, unelected government that we refuse to be pushed around”. Some burned their energy bills outside the Prime Minister’s residence while others held sit-down protests in other parts of central London to draw attention to their demands and disrupt traffic throughout central London.

Chinese language learning broadens children's horizon

China Bridge prize-winners

by Shi Xi & Liang Jun

As China is a major country on the global stage, to study China and its language can broaden children's minds and improve their career prospects..
    "China is at the centre of many developments. It's going to be important for our next generation of young people to understand China's culture and to also be able to work in the Mandarin language," said Joan Deslandes, head teacher at Kingsford Community School in Canning Town in east London
    She made the remarks at the prize-giving ceremony at London's Chinatown for the winners of the Chinese proficiency competition -- "Chinese Bridge" -- for primary- and secondary-level students. Altogether, nearly 500 British students participated in the two competitions held earlier this year online.
    "But more important is that I recognise that China has a wonderful history and culture that is unknown to many of the young people in the UK and I felt it would be broadening their minds and broadening their understanding and supporting their development as global citizens if they were to learn the language," she said.
    In 2000, Kingsford became the first school in Britain to introduce compulsory lessons of Mandarin Chinese into the curriculum.
    Around 140 students and teachers from 17 schools were present at Friday's event. They interspersed the prize-giving ceremony with performances including Chinese songs, Chinese traditional dances and Chinese musical instruments.
    "And those were just only a small number of them who won the competition, but behind that there are very many schools teaching Chinese, and a lot of enthusiasm about having Chinese as a language option in this country," said Katharine Carruthers, director of the UCL Institute of Education Confucius Institute for Schools.
    "China is playing an important part in the whole world global vision. We need to equip the children with all the skills and that involves language and cultural understanding, to be able to stay connected as they grow up," said Suzanne Haigh, head teacher at Kensington Wade. The London-based school is the first prep school in Britain to offer a bilingual immersive English-Chinese education for boys and girls from ages 3 to 11.
    "In terms of prospect for employability, knowing the Chinese language, being able to communicate effectively with people from China can only benefit the young people of this country," said Deslandes.
    "In our diverse world where there are so many challenges that have to be faced, it's only through bringing our young people together, through learning each of those languages, learning about each other's culture that the important cooperation that we need between all our nations for the future success of every country on this globe can continue," she added.
Xinhua

Fighting for Assange!

Corbyn joins the human chain

by New Worker correspondent

Jeremy Corbyn joined protesters in Westminster last weekend to demonstrate against the extradition of Julian Assange. The former Labour leader joined left-wing comedian Russell Brand, retired union leader Len McCluskey and thousands of other Assange supporters to form a human chain outside Parliament that stretched from its perimeter railings and across Westminster Bridge to the other side of the River Thames.
    Claudia Webbe, the independent MP for Leicester East who was expelled from the Labour Party following a conviction for harassment last year, also took part in the London protest that was part of a day of international demonstrations in solidarity with the WiKiLeaks campaigner.
    “I would say to MPs – actually of any party – you’re there to represent democracy and rights,” she said, “That’s what you sign up for… if Julian Assange is extradited, it will set forth fear among other journalists of doing anything to expose truth”.
    Assange, who is currently being held at London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison, will face espionage charges if he is sent to face trial in America. High Court has ruled that Assange can be extradited to the United States to face a life-time in jail for exposing American war-crimes in Iraq and other parts of the world The WikiLeaks founder is accused of publishing information detailing crimes committed by the US government in the Guantánamo Bay concentration camp, Iraq and Afghanistan.
    Assange’s wife Stella said the British government should speak to the US authorities to stop the extradition attempts. “It’s already gone on for three and a half years. It is a stain on the United Kingdom and is a stain on the Biden administration,” she said.
    She also voiced her fears for the jailed WikiLeaks founder’s health after he tested positive for Covid-19.
    "He tested positive for Covid on Saturday, the same day thousands of people came out onto the streets to support him," Stella said concerned that the prison authorities had only given her husband some paracetamol for his symptoms.
    "I am obviously worried about him and the next few days will be crucial for his general health. He is now locked in his cell for 24 hours a day," Stella stressed.
    In the US, supporters of the Australian-born activist gathered outside the Justice Department to call on the federal government to drop its extradition bid. The protesters said they hope Assange never steps foot on US soil as he would not be treated fairly by the judicial system.
    “Julian wasn’t trying to help dictatorships, he was trying to stop the United States from becoming one! And that’s why they want him in jail, and that’s why it’s crucial that we fight to set Julian free,” 2020 Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate Spike Cohen said at the rally.
    Human trafficking survivor Eliza Bleu urged the “global elites, the ruling class” and employees of the CIA and FBI to “be a hero, quit your job and become a whistleblower.”
    “If it’s a choice between free speech and the United States government, trust and know, one’s gotta go! If one has to go, it ain’t gonna be free speech!” she said, adding that she is so passionate about freedom because she knows what it is like to lose it.

Enough is Enough!

Corbyn at the Kings Cross rally

by Ed Newman

Thousands of people took to the streets across the country last weekend to protest against the rising cost of living and inflation. The "Enough is Enough" rallies, organised by trade unions and climate change activists, were held over the weekend in all the major cities, including Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and London.
    "People can't continue to live like this," said Tim, one of the protesters outside London's Kings Cross station, demanding a pay rise to match rising inflation, unprecedented in 40 years. "I have colleagues at work who have worked out their weekly money and they can't afford to actually live once they pay their fuel bills and once they pay all the other rising costs," he said.
    "One of my colleagues, his rent's gone up 17 per cent just last week, 17 per cent! We're not getting any kind of pay raise like that. Our pay raise at the moment was something about 8 per cent. That's a massive pay cut for us," he noted. "That's why we're here today. Supporting the RMT (Maritime and Transport Union) and the CWU (Communication Workers Union), the post office (who) are on strike today, as well, because it's time for working people to get together and to take action."
    Helen, another protester at King’s Cross, said she was there because she was against the current right-wing government. She said the country's latest prime minister is "on the far, far right ... people are going to really suffer in all sorts of ways." "And we don't know where it's going to end. We need to get rid of them. We need to get rid of this Tory government."
    Helen also said the mini-budget, which gave massive tax cuts for those earning more than £150,000, would be "disastrous for this country." "I mean, we need to sort of seize the initiative on the left and get rid of these people. I mean, it means real hardship for people. It means it affects pensions. It affects people's rents, people's mortgages, people's gas bills, everything. People don't afford it."
    More than half the public do not have confidence in Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss to perform at the highest levels as a world leader, according to a recent poll. Describing the mini-budget as a measure "for the rich" some protesters said: "We are determined to survive and we're demanding caring for all those who care for people and the planet, the land, the environment, their home, and the community."
    “ We think that's the only way we can survive and save the planet ... We're demanding back all the money that's been stolen, that belongs to us. We intend to get it back".
    The pound has plunged to an all-time low against the dollar with investors looking for exits after the new Tory government’s fiscal plan threatened to stretch the crisis-battered country's finances to breaking point.
    Many Brits blame the Tories for the financial crisis. Labour leader Keir Starmer has promised to revive the economy, improve public services and take the government out of an “endless cycle of crisis” if he is chosen to lead the country at its next general elections.
    At his party’s annual conference in Liverpool last week, Starmer attacked the Conservatives' decision to cut taxes for the wealthiest amid a major cost of living crisis, urging voters not to “forget” or “forgive” the moves ahead of an anticipated national vote in 2024.
    Starmer insisted Labour was once again “the party of the centre ground” and promised to fix the UK’s ailing economy, revitalise the country’s National Health Service and confront the climate crisis.
    “This is a Labour moment,” Starmer told the packed venue. “Britain will deal with the cost of living crisis. Britain will get its future back… That’s my commitment to you… the national mission of the next Labour government. And together with the British people we will do it,” Starmer concluded.
Radio Havana Cuba

They did not pass!

by New Worker correspondent

London communists returned to Cable Street last weekend, to remember the epic day in 1936 when the Sir Oswald Mosley’s fascist legions were stopped in their tracks in London on 4th October 1936.
    NCP members and Greek KKE comrades paid tribute to the heroic stand of the Londoners who stopped the Blackshirts, at a ceremony by the Cable Street mural in London’s East End.
    On that day, thousands of working people, led by the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the Independent Labour Party (ILP) rose early from their beds to occupy four key places along the route of a planned march by Mosley and his British Union of Fascists, in order to block its path.
    Throughout the day they stood firm, despite mounted police baton charges and numerous arrests.
    By noon, Gardiner’s Corner was impassable due to the number of anti-fascist demonstrators. Police tried to clear a route through Leman Street – but this was blocked by a tram, deliberately abandoned by its driver.
    Police tried to reroute the march through Cable Street. Anti-fascist demonstrators, the vast majority local residents, blocked Cable Street with barricades in three different places. Police fought their way through one barricade, only to be confronted by the second.
    Eventually the police gave up and ordered Mosley to abandon his march. They escorted him to the Embankment where his followers dispersed.
    This was a humiliating defeat for Mosley and it eventually led to a cutting off of vital funds from his main financial sponsor, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. The Battle of Cable Street marked a significant turning point and the end of any prospects of fascism becoming a truly mass movement in Britain, as it had done in some other European countries.
    The massive mural in Cable Street, painted by a number of local artists, was started in 1979 and finally completed in 1983. The work has been vandalised by fascists several times, but it was substantially restored in 2011.
    The design was based on original photographs of the battle and the buildings of the day. Some of the people who took part in the battle are depicted in the mural, along with others who symbolise the people of the East End today.