What freedom of speech really means

When the chips are down not much if the latest saga involving George Galloway is anything to go by. The maverick Scottish politician who has been elected to Parliament six times – starting with Labour and then on independent platforms – is known throughout the labour movement for his support of the Cuban and Palestinian people and his defence of Iraq when it was invaded by US-led imperialism.
    A master of the media Galloway was sacked by talkRADIO after sending an allegedly anti-Semitic tweet about Liverpool’s victory over Tottenham in the Champions League final in 2019. But he stayed in the limelight broadcasting on the international services of the Russian and Iranian media, and championing a variety of causes including the party he now leads – the Workers Party of Britain.
    Galloway has learned to live with the wrath of the Zionists and Blairites. His politics have fired the anger of cranks and fanatics – he was even attacked in the street during the Gaza war in 2014. But he’s never faced a concerted effort to prevent him from arguing his corner for good or bad on the streets and at public meetings up and down the country. Until now…
    Galloway clearly crossed a Rubicon when he embraced the cause of the people of the Donbas. And when he launched his NO2NATO NO2WARS movement the hidden hand went into action to stop it getting off the ground.
    Speakers included Galloway and former Labour MP Chris Williamson, along with two Irish Members of the European Parliament and a number of other campaigners and journalists. Attempts to hold mass meetings in London have been sabotaged after St Pancras New Church and the Conway Hall cancelled bookings for his new campaign. Conway Hall says it had been subjected to unprecedented harassment – including a barrage of “intimidating emails and social media posts” which meant that “Conway Hall can no longer host your event as we are now unable to ensure the safety of our building and our staff on and offline”.
    Williamson has joined Galloway in denouncing the “anti-democratic cancel culture” that’s being used to silence opposition to Nato. He accused “erstwhile liberals” of being complicit in a state crackdown on anti-Establishment views.
    This is something new. We never saw this when British forces were actually fighting during the Falklands conflict and the Yugoslav, Iraqi and Afghan wars. So why now?
It’s clearly because the ruling class are afraid of anything that challenges the American narrative on Ukraine.
    Galloway’s party puts it another way. Conjuring up the spirit of Chairman Mao they say “it is good if we are attacked by the warmongers and their online trolls, since it proves that we have drawn a clear line of demarcation between the enemy and ourselves. The trolls attack us wildly, threaten the venues and harass staff, they paint us as utterly black and without a single virtue; it demonstrates that we have not only drawn a clear line of demarcation between them and ourselves but achieved a great deal in our work.
    “Our slogan, “No to Nato, No to War” is more widely known and understood than before, more people buy tickets and await the announcement of the next venue. Other events purporting to speak against the war are allowed to go ahead in peace, precisely because they do not challenge the imperialist narrative that the Ukraine conflict began just 1 year ago. This is a lie, and one we are exposing”.
    This we would wholeheartedly agree.

Donbas solidarity at Stop the War

Salma Yaqoob addresses conference

by New Worker correspondent

Donbas solidarity activists were at the Stop the War trade union conference last Saturday to leaflet the meeting and intervene during the debate in the hall. The latest leaflet of the International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity movement was handed out at the doors in support of the just struggle of the people of the Donbas for freedom and self-determination.
    But the main focus of this conference was on building a bigger peace movement and working to reverse the TUC’s decision last year to support increased arms spending.
    Many speakers, like the Italian worker talking about the Genoese dockers’ efforts to stop arms going to Israel and Saudi Arabia never even mentioned Ukraine. Those that did stuck to the mealy-mouthed position of the leadership whose calls for an end to the war are linked with the demand for a complete withdrawal of all Russian troops from Crimea and the Donbas – which is exactly what NATO wants.
    In the past left Labour MPs were happy to openly support the efforts of the Stop the War campaign. But none of them showed up for Saturday’s conference at Hamilton House in central London.
    Stop the War vice-chair Andrew Murray said: “If you remember the vast demonstration 20 years ago against the Iraq war, which Stop the War led, that demonstration had the support of nearly every major union in the country — and in many cases the union leaderships had been driven there by their members, rather than necessarily by their own willingness to confront the Labour government”.
    Then nearly 140 Labour MPs defied Tony Blair to vote against the invasion of Iraq. Now none of them are prepared to face the wrath of Starmer and the inevitable suspension à la Corbyn that would inevitably follow for refusing to toe the imperialist line.
    Murray said “the leader of the Labour Party, revealing himself every day as more of an authoritarian imperialist has made it clear that any Labour MP would sacrifice the whip and their seat in Parliament if they associate with the anti-war movement — something even Tony Blair did not do. That is a democratic outrage which our movement should be standing against loud and clear”.
    Jeremy Corbyn was also absent having just returned from campaigning in America on behalf of Julian Assange. But he did at least make a video call to conference in support of peace negotiations. Though the former Labour leader avoided the ‘Russian troops out’ mantra he did say that the Russian invasion was “wrong” – before calling for peace talks, possibly brokered by Brazil, to end the fighting.
    The anti-war movement’s calls to ‘stop the war’ and ‘no to NATO expansion’ are routinely prefaced with the ‘Russian troops out’ demand which is what the imperialists and the Ukrainian fascists are fighting for in the first place.
    The two leaders of the self-styled “anti-war” movement – CND Chair Kate Hudson and Stop the War convener Lindsey German – both rejected the argument of one participant who intervened from the floor to say that blaming both Nato and Russia for the Ukraine war confused the question and that Russia should be seen as a victim of US imperialism.
    Lindsey German said it was important to acknowledge the “humanitarian catastrophe” unleashed by Putin’s invasion and what she called the aggressive expansionism of Russia, while also recognising the role of NATO expansion in provoking the war.
    Though the Stop the War leadership and their supporters amongst the left social-democratic and pacifist trends within the Labour Party have distanced themselves from the fake left’s “arm Ukraine” brigade they have not broken with the bourgeois consensus on both sides of the Atlantic that ignores the fascist nature of the Kiev regime, brands Russia the aggressor and ignores the legitimate rights of the people of Crimea and the Donbas who have joined the Russian Federation.
    The anti-imperialist struggle in Ukraine is part of the global front of the poor and the oppressed who are fighting for freedom all around the world. We must counter the bogus ‘evenhandedness’ within the peace movement with the call for victory for the Russian and Donbas forces fighting fascism and NATO-inspired aggression.

The Year of the Rabbit!

Dragons in London

By New Worker correspondent

Londoners gathered to watch the dancers and dragons in the Grand Parade celebrating the beginning of the Chinese New Year in the West End last weekend. The dragons wheeled around Chinatown and then went down to a stage in Trafalgar Square where thousands of visitors watched traditional and modern music and dance to usher in the Year of the Rabbit and thousands more took part in the hundred or so other events organised by the China National Tourist Office and the Chinese embassy up and down the country.
    The 2023 UK "Happy Chinese New Year" (HCNY) programme was launched at the Cultural Section of the Chinese Embassy in London last week. Yang Xiaoguang, the chargé d'affaires, said the celebration is based on the "4H" concept, namely Hope, Home, Harmony, and Health. "I believe the HCNY events will present opportunities for China and the UK to enhance exchanges, expand cooperation, and promote new progress in bilateral relations,".
    Karen Garvey, engagement officer of events at Bristol City Council said the Chinese Lunar New Year has become the biggest event in Bristol's cultural calendar. "It brings thousands of people from different backgrounds together to have a joyful time amid the cold weather. This is something people really look forward to," Ms Garvey said, adding that Bristol’s Chinese New Year celebration was the biggest in the West Country.
    For nearly 20 years, it has attracted performers and visitors from Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Bath and Wales. This year, the mayor of Bristol and the high sheriff will also attend the celebration. "It's such a colourful, vibrant, positive event, and we couldn't imagine not having it," she said.

    Ruth Haines, the press relations manager at the London Philharmonic Orchestra, said that on the first day of the Chinese New Year, the UK premier of Tan Dun's Buddha Passion will debut at the Royal Festival Hall. The award-winning composer of the soundtrack for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has also drawn acclaim for Buddha Passion, which combines the ancient music of Dunhuang, Chinese folk songs and Western symphonic music, bringing to life the theme of the Silk Road and the spirit of cultural exchange and mutual learning.

    "We are very happy to collaborate with Chinese singers, musicians and artists," Ruth said, adding that it's very important to the Chinese community in London.
    Events in the capital included the exciting Festival of Spring parade, colourful performances and food tasting organised by the London Chinatown Chinese Association, along with activities and special programmes organised by the National Maritime Museum and the Royal Observatory of Greenwich.
    Chinese New Year celebrations began on 22nd January and the first seven days are public holidays in People’s China. The celebrations end with the Lantern Festival on 5th February.

Greek communists call for return of Elgin Marbles

By New Worker correspondent

Campaigners at the British Museum

Greek communists have long supported the call for the return of the Parthenon friezes known as the ‘Elgin Marbles’ to Greece so that they can be put on permanent display at the Acropolis Museum in Athens. The marbles, dating back to the 5th Century BC, were removed by Lord Elgin between 1801 and 1812. In those days Greece was part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire and Elgin said their authorities had given him permission to take the marbles from the ruins of the Parthenon in Athens. This was challenged at the time by Lord Byron and other champions of Greek independence and later by Greeks academics following independence who said these priceless relics had been looted and that in any case they weren’t the Turks to give in the first place.
    Over the years these calls for their return were routinely rebuffed by the British Museum which has held the sculptures in its galleries since the early 1800s. But hopes of an amicable compromise were raised following talks between the British Museum's chairman George Osborne and Greek premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis in London last November.
    According to reports in the Greek press the former Tory Chancellor set the ball rolling with a discreet meeting with Mitsotakis in London the year before in November 2021. Further talks with other Greek ministers followed culminating in the meeting with Mitsotakis when the Greek leader was in London for talks last year.
    Neither side revealed what was actually on the table during these talks but the Parthenon Project, a campaign group set up by the Greek magnate John Lefas that includes former Tory and Labour culture ministers as well as the actor Stephen Fry, hinted that the return of the marbles would be linked to a cultural exchange that would bring other outstanding classical Greek works of art such as “Agamemnon’s mask”, Nestor's Cup and the bronze Jockey of Artermision to London.
    A spokesperson for the Parthenon Project said: “With widespread support for reunification amongst both the Greek and British public, and constructive dialogue going on based on mutual trust, a solution to this long-standing issue is finally within reach.
    “We have argued for a deal that is beneficial to both Greece and Britain, centred on a cultural partnership between the two countries.
    “This would see the British Museum continue in its role as a 'museum of the world' displaying magnificent Greek artefacts as part of rotating exhibits, with the Parthenon Sculptures reunited in their rightful home in Athens.'
    But sadly these hopes were dashed last week when Culture Minister Michelle Donelan told BBC Radio that the Parthenon marbles belong in the UK and that returning them would "open the gateway to the question of the entire contents of our museums".
    Her remarks were dismissed as “unacceptable” by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). The Greek communists said that “based on the ‘law of the strongest’ the Minister of Culture of Great Britain has categorically rejected the obvious demand of the Greek people for the restoration of the stolen Parthenon sculptures to their natural place”.
    The KKE also criticised Mitsotakis’ conservative New Democracy (ND) government for cynically exploiting the campaign for the return of the Elgin Marbles for political purposes.
    “The ND government didn't hesitate to exploit the desire for the return of the looted sculptures by using it in its electoral propaganda, cultivating impressions of a successful outcome of the issue through its own actions, while it knew that the problem was impossible to solve through ‘under the table’ discussions with the British Museum's management instead of the British government.
    “The [Greek] government must be also held accountable because its adventurist tactics undermine the timeless demand, allowing the circulation of dangerous views about the borrowing and exchanging of the Parthenon sculptures with other priceless antiquities, something that means the legalisation of the theft.
    “All the previous governments bear responsibility for perpetuating the problem, because they never exerted substantial pressure to end the illegal possession of the country's cultural treasures by the British Museum and other major museums of EU countries.
    “The urgent demand of our people is the permanent restoration of the Parthenon sculptures as an inalienable part of the monumental ensemble of the Acropolis, as well as of all the other treasures of the ancient cultural heritage which have, at times, been objects of looting or antiquities theft”.

False narratives more infectious than the virus

by Meifang Zhang

China is in the midst of adjusting its response measures around the COVID-19 virus and its
variants after a comprehensive assessment of the pandemic situation. This in itself should not be alarming, but encouraging, uplifting even, as anybody of government led by responsible leaders will amend its approaches with new information, new conditions. It is the sign of good leadership, especially when applied with good science.
    What does this updated version of measures look like? And why is it receiving so much attention from the West and its media apparatus?

     Let us address these questions separately. The adjustment of response measures in China includes:

• The reclassification of the virus to a Class B instead of the more serious Class A infectious diseases, and the management thereof in accordance with the law

• The dropping of testing requirements for travellers upon arrival to China as well as previous quarantine requirements for those that test positive while in the country

• In general, a shifting of focus from stemming infections to preventing severe cases and further minimising the impact of COVID-19 on economic and social activities.

These adjustments are consistent with China’s science-based approach toward governance
throughout the pandemic, one aligned with its national conditions. As with all nations, China
knows best its capabilities and capacities in service to its people. Measured approaches have been taken throughout the pandemic accordingly. New measures are now being put into effect because of new national conditions, such as the improvements in understanding of the virus and increased capacity to ensure healthy and safe travelling. Moreover, vaccine production levels have reached seven billion doses annually, and the supply of relevant medicines and antigen testing reagents are ensured across the country.
    This is what responsible leadership does; this is what China’s leadership continues to do, with the safety and well-being of its people at the forefront of all decisions at all times.
    Yet, the demand for “truth” remains, and that raises the second question to be addressed: Why exactly is this updating of China’s policies and practices around COVID-19 receiving so much attention by Western media and governments – and unflatteringly so?
    The truth? Life and work are returning to normal not only in the capital Beijing but across all of China. This is good news in terms of honouring the will of the people as well as their health, wealth and happiness.
    The anti-China sentiment and false narratives driven by the Western media and government apparatus serve no useful purpose. They are stoking fear as a means of justifying the actions of certain nations and its leaders at the expense of truth.
    The world is ushering in a new paradigm, one that places the needs of the many over those of the few. And in doing so promises a new era of prosperity and vitality for all nations under the spirit of acceptance and cooperation. This is a narrative that will ultimately hold as truth for all. All the challenges we face can only be addressed together for a more promising and better tomorrow for all.
    We may only make provision for and overcome global challenges by forging a new and better way through building “bridges”; There will be no place for “walls” in the future.
    Let us get on with more constructive means of construction, and tell a better story for future
humanity, by simply telling the truth while on this adjoined journey.

Meifang Zhang is China’s consul general in Belfast

Travel testing irritation

Is the pre-departure polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test the best way to collect COVID-19 data or is it an unnecessary irritation on global travel? Or just another political tool in an anti-China narrative?
    Many countries have imposed COVID-19 checks on Chinese travellers. The difference is between those who acted with undue haste, making a political decision, and those who delayed the decision, acting on the basis of health advice. Some countries appear to have used this decision as a political tool in part of a broader strategy that paints China unfavourably.
    The UK in particular acted against the advice from its own health authorities. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to impose COVID-19 checks on travellers from China is described by some health experts as a purely political manoeuvre that would make no difference to the rise or fall of cases in the UK.
    Chief Medical Adviser Chris Whitty told Health Secretary Steve Barclay there was no clear evidence of significant benefits from testing travellers from China.
    The Observer newspaper reported that Barclay discussed the issues with Sunak, who still decided it was more important for Britain to align itself with those nations – the US, Japan, Italy and Spain – that had already imposed such testing requirements. This became a political decision driven by Sunak’s anti-China sentiment.
    “I don’t think it’s likely the UK will get any public health benefit from this measure” said Professor Mark Woolhouse of Edinburgh University. “This can only have been done for political reasons”.
    Australian infectious diseases expert Paul Griffin said he did not agree with the move from some countries to place entry restrictions on people travelling from China. “I think that the practicality and the feasibility … outweighs any potential benefit of implementing those sort of measures”.
    “And I would have liked to think we’ve learned from that by now and we just focus, once again, on those basics to minimise the impact of this virus, wherever it is”.
    The health advice suggests that pre-departure tests for travel out of or into China are a waste of time when it comes to preventing the spread of COVID-19.
    Paul Tambyah, president of the Asia-Pacific Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infection in Singapore said despite China’s reopening, there is no need for Singapore to toughen its entry requirements for travellers from China. The incidence of new cases in China appears to be no higher than in other countries such as Germany, France and the United States, and there is no evidence that travel restrictions are effective.
    A number of countries, including Australia, imposed the COVID-19 testing as a way of tracking the emergence of new COVID-19 variants. Australian Health Minister Mark Butler, acting on heath advice, said “the decision to implement these temporary measures has been made out of an abundance of caution, taking into account the dynamic and evolving situation in China and the potential for new variants to emerge in an environment of high transmission”.
    This conclusion is backed by UK Professor Woolhouse: “another reason for imposing the tests has focused on the need to track potentially dangerous new COVID-19 variants”.
    Nonetheless, this data collection justification also reveals a political component because it gets applied inconsistently.
    Woolhouse said “but we already know of one variant that is spreading rapidly in the US. Variant XBB.1.5 now accounts for about 40 per cent of cases in the US, but no one in the UK seems worried about it. Instead, a lot of noise is being made about hypothetical variants emerging in China”.
    It is crucial to track the potential emergence of new variants so that action can be taken to manage their impact. This is an essential part of any living with COVID-19 strategy. Data collection sits at the core of this management strategy. This is good science when it’s applied to all travellers, particularly from countries with high infection rates including the UK, or low vaccination rates, like the US.
    It is reasonable in some cases to apply pre-flight PCR testing as a way of tracking the
development of new variants. This is a data collection exercise and it’s essential that all the
    genomic information to be fed quickly and seamlessly into the internationally available data base. Except in cases of significant infection, it is not reasonable to apply this testing as a means of excluding or hindering travel.
    Reliable, consistent and shared data collection through shared testing results is an essential COVID-19 management tool. The processes are a travel irritation, but there’s no reason they should be used to hinder or prevent travel by Chinese or any other tourists. Chinese tourists, like those from any other country, can be welcomed as a vital component of a re-emerging global tourism industry and that helps to drive the global economy.
CGTN

The same old tune...

In his inaugural address to the nation Paul Nowak, the new TUC General Secretary’s made much of the fact that he started stacking shelves in Asda at the age of 17, and had been a hotel porter and worked in a call centre, but failed to mention he has been a Congress House bureaucrat, since 2000, or for the great bulk of his working life.
    Apart from his less than inspiring comments on the proposed anti-union laws he made the standard complaints about workers being: “on course for two decades of lost pay – the longest squeeze on earnings in modern history”, deploring low pay and saying that “ministers, unions and employers should work together on a proper industrial strategy, delivering good green jobs, training and skills across the country”. So, as might be expected the TUC is on course for more class collaboration instead of actually rousing the working class to action.
    He repeated the tired old slogan that the TUC should be concerned with securing: “A fair day’s work for a fair day’s wage” but we should heed Engels’s 1881 demand that it should be replaced by a very different motto: “Possession of the Means of Work, Raw Material, Factories, Machinery, By the Working People Themselves”.
    On another recent occasion Nowak said that that unions including the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) were unlikely secure the 19 per cent they are demanding but meekly said that: “I would hope that there would be a compromise reachable — in order to get to a compromise you need to sit down and negotiate and that’s what the government is point blank refusing to do.” Such inspiring leadership is what we have come to expect from the TUC.

Putting people first

People’s China always puts people first and that’s what the Zheng Zeguang, the Chinese ambassador in London told the readers of the Guardian last week in an article outlining his country’s response to the continuing Covid crisis.Zheng stressed that over the past three years, China has always put people and their lives left, right and centre while it tries to keep Covid under control, and promote economic and social development. China’s response policies have been effective, science-based and in line with China’s national conditions.
    The Chinese ambassador underlined that as the Covid-19 situation in China continues to improve, the effects of policies to stabilise economic growth continue to emerge, and the exchange of Chinese and foreign personnel becomes easier, China’s long-subdued consumer demand will be released, investor confidence will be boosted and the economy will rebound strongly. This is good news for not just China but the entire global economy.
People’s Daily