london communists

Wheelchair protesters block Oxford Circus

2012-02-03T21:00:00.000Z

DISABLED campaigners in wheelchairs last Saturday blockedOxford Circus – one of central London’sbusiest junctions – for two hours to protest at Con-Dem Coalition cuts towelfare and disability benefits.

The group DisabledPeople Against Cuts (DPAC) was backed by theactivist group UK Uncut, which aims to pressure wealthy businesses into payingtheir fair share of taxes. The UK Uncut activists met at Holborn Tube – closelymonitored by police, and set off for a roundabout trip on the underground,followed by the police.

This gave thewheelchair users the opportunity to get to Oxford Circus and block it acrossthe northern end of Regent Streetwith a line of wheelchairs chained together and chained to railings at eitherend before the police could stop them.

Within about 20minutes, with traffic stationary and congestion spilling over into otherstreets, around 300 people were standing at the junction, chanting, playingdrums and waving placards against the welfare reform bill, which was last weekgiven a mauling in the House of Lords where even Tory peers could not stomachsome of the savage cuts to the most vulnerable people in the country.

This week the Billgoes back to the House of Commons where Prime Minister David Cameron said hewould undo all the amendments the Lords had made.

After the road hadbeen blocked for just over an hour, police asked over a loudhailer that theprotesters move, which they refused to do. Eventually, at around 2pm, they unchained themselves and leftvoluntarily.

Planned cuts to theDisability Living Allowance under the bill could see 500,000 disabled peoplelosing money, according to the charity Mencap.

Many of the disabledpeople taking part said they had never before joined a demonstration but feltangry at both the proposed cuts and the associated rhetoric from both ministersand the media.

"The tabloidshave created this idea that we're scroungers or fakers," said StevenSumpter, a 33-year-old who travelled from Evesham, Worcestershire, starting at 6.30am to join the line of chained-upwheelchair users. "This has allowed the Government to do this – I thinkdisabled people are seen as a good scapegoat."

Merry Cross, from Reading,Berkshire, said disabled people needed to work togetherto get their voices heard. She said: "We're seen as quite an easy target.We're not a natural community – we don't necessarily live in the same places,and we can find it hard to get together. That makes it easy for the Governmentto think they can target us."

Changes to thedisability living allowance were likely mean her losing care assistance athome, Cross said, adding: "I've had it continuously for 20 years and now,when I'm 61, apparently I can cope fine without it. It doesn't make any sense."

Speaking out about the Holocaust

2012-02-03T20:53:00.000Z

Daphne Liddle lays flowers for the NCP

By New Worker correspondent

THE SMALL cinema at the Imperial War Museumwas packed – standing room only – with a strange mixture of Second World Warveterans, schoolchildren, representatives of the embassies of the former Sovietrepublics and local campaigners – along with an MP and various local Town Halldignitaries.

They had all cometogether to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, themed around the message: “Speak up,Speak Out” about racism, fascism, discrimination and injustice to prevent suchhorrors happening again.

After a short filmand a dramatic presentation of the famous poem by Pastor Neimoller “First theycame…” by pupils from Notre Dame RC Girls’ Secondary School, situated oppositethe museum, Vera Schaufeld gave a vivid account of her experiences as a childof the “kinder transport” that brought threatened Jewish children to Britain.

She spoke of hersadness and confusion at being put on a train by her parents with hundreds ofother children and of the hundreds of parents waving goodbye to their children.None of them realized at the time it would be the last time they saw eachother.

Vera said she waslucky in Britainto be taken in by a good, kind, Christian family who, after hearing the news ofKristalnacht, had taken part in forming committees to pressure the Britishgovernment to move to rescue Jews from Europe who werethreatened by the Nazis.

They saved some ofthe children but they could not save their parents. And when war between Britainand Germany broke out the kinder transports stopped. The last train was stoppedin the station and the hundreds of children on board had to disembark. Not oneof them survived the war.

On the theme of Speakup, Speak Out, Vera stressed the importance of those ordinary people who hadbeen moved, formed committees and campaigned.

In her later life asa teacher of English as a second language, Vera sought out work among therefugee children of the Ugandan Asians who came to Britainin the 1960s and subsequently many other refugee children.

After she had spokenRabbi Dr Moshe Freedman gave the memorial address and lead prayers.

Then the companymoved to the grounds of the Museum, where wreaths were laid at the HolocaustMemorial Tree and at the Soviet War Memorial.

Among those layingwreaths were veteran organisations including the Arctic Convoy Club,representatives of the embassies of the former Soviet Republics, the localMayor Lorraine Lauder MBE, Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes, former Labour MPBob Wareing, members of the Moscow Second Guards Rifle Red Army re-enactmentgroup, the Marx Memorial Library and the New Communist Party.

No to Nato intervention in Syria and Iran

2012-02-03T20:41:00.000Z

John McDonnell MP and LRC chair speaking

By New Worker Correspondent

SEVERAL hundred peace campaigners, including many Syriansand Iranians, gathered outside the American embassy in Grosvenor Square last Saturday to protest at thepreparations for new Nato aggression against Syriaand Iran.

The rally wasorganised by the Stop the War Coalition (StWC) and supported by manyorganisations, including a large delegation from the Occupy London protest.

Speakers includedTony Benn, John Rees, national officer of StWC, Labour MP John McDonnell, CNDchair Kate Hudson, Iranian activist Shirin Shafaie, actor Roger Lloyd Pack,Lyndsey German of StWC and many others. The event was chaired by Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn.

Protesters carriedbanners saying: "Don't attack Iran"and "Hands off Iranand Syria",while the crowd joined together in chanting: "One, two, three, four, wedon't want another war. Five, six, seven, eight, stop the killing, stop thehate."

All condemned the doublestandards of Nato and the western imperialists, whose motive was to control theoil resources of the Middle East and warned that thehorrors that have been unleashed on Afghanistan,Iraq and Libyamust not be allowed to happen in Syriaand Iran.

Health unions rally to save NHS

2012-02-03T20:23:00.000Z

HEALTH service unions are organising a mass rally in centralLondon involving patients andworkers from all fields within the NHS to lobby the House of Lords as theHealth and Social care Bill reaches its final crucial parliamentary stages.

On Wednesday 7thMarch the giant union Unite, with 100,000 members in the health service, is holdingthe lobby of MPs and peers in the Houses of Parliament on the afternoon of 7thMarch, with the message that the Bill’s proposals are ‘untried and untested’and will have a negative impact on patients’ welfare.

Then in the eveningof the same day – under the banner of the joint-union campaign All Together forthe NHS campaign – nurses, midwives, doctors, physiotherapists, managers,paramedics, radiographers, cleaners, porters and other employees from acrossthe health service will join with patients to fill Central Hall Westminster fora 6pm “Save our NHS” rally.

The Bill is hugelyunpopular with NHS employees and patients, who have major concerns over theeffect the draft legislation will have on healthcare by pushing throughcompetition and markets on to the NHS, and allowing the private sector to takeover delivering NHS services.

The All Together forthe NHS campaign has called the rally over concerns that an NHS with a futurebased on competition will fragment the health service, worsen the careavailable to patients, and mean continued uncertainty for NHS employees, withthe quality of training and their terms and conditions likely to suffer.

The pressure on theSecretary of State, Andrew Lansley, has been growing in recent weeks with moreprofessional bodies joining the calls to amend significantly or withdraw theBill completely.

The March rally isintended to add to that pressure by demonstrating the broad coalition ofopposition to Bill.

TUCdeputy general secretary Frances O'Grady said: “Some changes have been made tothe Bill but not nearly enough. Only this week we have seen a private companytaking over an NHS hospital for the first time, as Circle moves in to the Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Cambridgeshire. Thiswill be the future the NHS has to look forward to if the Bill stays in itscurrent form.

“Peers must listen tothe concerns of the people that know the NHS best – the staff who work in it.Health workers fear the increased competition and the extension of markets willhave a devastating impact on patient care, especially poorer people who willfind themselves pushed to the back of ever-growing waiting lists.

“But it's not toolate for peers to make a difference and we hope our rally in early March willprovide the opportunity for NHS workers and patients to send a loud messageacross Parliament Square toconvince the House of Lords that this Bill would be a disaster for the NHS.”

The lobby comes inthe same week that the High Court will be hearing the Labour Party’s case thatthe risk register – what the NHS “reforms” will actually mean on the frontlinein England –should be made public by health secretary Andrew Lansley.

Unite has accusedLansley “hiding” the risk register from public scrutiny because he fears thatit will reveal how the Bill’s proposals will adversely affect patient care andis frightened of the public’s reaction.

Unite generalsecretary Len McCluskey said: “The Coalition’s Bill will destroy the NHS. It will place it in the hands of business andput profit before patient care. Thosewho can pay will go to the top of the queue. The poor will get what is left. And at a time of severe austerity, it saddlesthe NHS with a reorganisation bill of £4 billion.”

He added: “Healthsecretary Andrew Lansley is an isolated figure who has, uniquely, managed tounite the health professionals and experts in opposition to the demolition ofthe NHS in favour of private companies. The Bill should be scrappedimmediately.

“Our NHS is ourgreatest national achievement. Only it ensures that access to health care isbased on need, not wealth. It has caredfor generations of working people, improving their health and their lifechances. And it places fairness at the heart of our society. But this is all indesperate danger.”

The Bill is currentlymaking its way through the House of Lords, expected to return to the House ofCommons during the Easter period for final consideration. That means in amatter of weeks this will be law.

For more informationabout the lobby and attending on the day, go to www.unitetheunion.org/unite4ournhs

Which way forward for the labour movement?

2012-01-23T12:53:00.000Z

By NewWorker

Correspondent

NEW COMMUNIST Party comradesjoined a debate on the way forward for the labour movement at a conference insouth London last Saturdayorganised by the RCPB (ML). NCP leaderAndy Brooks together with National Chair Alex Kempshall, Robert Laurie and Theo Russell from the Central Committee took part in thediscussion that was kicked off by Michael Chant at the John Buckle Centre lastSaturday.

Comrades focused on what next after the successof the huge public sector strike in November, the struggle for peace and thebuilding of the working class agenda throughout the country.

The initiative of the RCPB (ML) follows theconclusions of their national consultative conference last November to developthe necessary organisation to resist the current bourgeois offensive againstthe working class.

EDL attack East London Mosque

2012-01-20T11:45:00.003Z

confronting the EDL in Barking

by New Worker correspondent

MEMBERS of the violent Islamophobic English Defence Leaguelast Saturday evening attempted to attack the East London Mosque in Whitechapelafter leaving an EDL rally in Barking earlier that afternoon.

Police escorted themon to a train at Barking headed for central London,but a large number got off at Aldgate East and went into a local pub. Accordingthe reports, after drinking for some time EDL thugs barged into the pub kitchenand seized knives.

They then went out onthe street and made for the East London Mosque. But local residents turned outquickly and in large numbers to stop them.

This led to a fightinvolving several hundred people, according to police reports. One man wasseriously injured and taken to hospital and 15 people were arrested. All werelater released on police bail.

Rushanara Ali, MP forBethnal Green and Bow, said she visited the area after she became aware ofpolice being called.

She said: "I wasout visiting constituents when I saw the police cars. As far as I could see,the police were doing their job. There were a lot of young people around butthe police are very adept at handling these situations.”

Earlier that day over150 EDL supporters had assembled from all over Englandnear Barking Station in east Londonat the Barking Dog public house.

As they became drunkand noisy, local people passing looked very concerned and hurried on their way.The EDL thugs chanted slogans, sang and claimed “We own these streets” and“You’re not English”.

They then engaged ina short march past local shops. The marchers continually abused local shoppersand shopkeepers, especially those who looked as though they might be Asian.

A group of around 50members of United Against Fascism (UAF) mounted a spirited counterdemonstration at very short notice.

The march ended in asquare beside the Town Hall with the very noisy EDL corralled by police at oneend and the UAF at the other.

Some local youths ofmixed ethnicity wandered into the middle at one stage and observed the twogroups for some time before turning and about a dozen of them joined the UAFgroup, joining in with the anti-fascist slogans and holding up UAF placards.

Towards the end ofthe rally the EDL members suddenly decided to harass and intimidate pressphotographers present. Police then escorted them to Barking station.

Gerry Gable, editorof the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, told the New Worker, he was veryconcerned that the police had allowed a large number of them to leave the traintogether at Aldgate East, where they later tried to attack the East LondonMosque.

Charity to take over Bexley library...

2012-01-19T22:52:00.002Z

...at a price

THE SMALL LIBRARY in Bexley Village in south-east Londonis to be taken over and run by a charity, Greener Bexley, which will introducecharges for many services that are now free.

Regular users arecritical of this move, saying they already pay for it through their council taxand it will create a two-tier service and discourage young people from usingthe library. And many are wondering if this is the shape of things to come forother council services.

Bexley Council hasagreed the library will be managed by charity, Greener Bexley, through acommunity group called Bexley Village Community Library (BVCL), which will takeover the library in spring, saving the council around £40,000 a year.

It will continue tooffer free membership of the library but people will also be able to pay formemberships that provide extra benefits, at annual rates of £24 or £75.

All customers willpay to use the desktop IT facilities but wi-fi access will be free. BVCL willnot loan CDs or DVDs, but instead it will sell them while encouraging theirreturn after use so they can be re-sold.

David Hinds, of Hill Crescent, Bexley, is a regular user of thelibrary. The retired grandfather-of-three said: "The bare bones of theagreement seem to be not quite what I was anticipating at all. I think it's allfairly appalling. I feel it's introducing a two-tier system."

BVCL will run thelibrary independently of the council’s library network, though the council willsupply some book stock on an annual basis and a part-time member of staff withexperience of running a library.

BVCL is planning tointroduce three levels of membership to the library:

* Reader’s ticket – free membership and free loans of stock,with some limits to the numbers of items which can be borrowed. Due dates andfines will apply.

* Library member – a £24 annual fee will see people join asfull members of the wider charity. Benefits will include being able to borrow ahigher number of books, keeping books for an unlimited time, a free period ofuse on the public computers, discounts in the cafe and priority booking forevents.

* Gold membership –customers can join as a “patron” for a £75 annual subscription. Members wouldbe making a donation to the running costs of the library and attractingadditional funds to the charity through Gift Aid. BVCL will reinvest incomeearned through membership in new library stock.

Meanwhile the publicsector union Unison is campaigning to defend library services from closure orbeing hived off like Bexley Village Library.

Unison, the NationalFederation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI), Voices for the Library, The LibraryCampaign, Campaign for the Book and the Chartered Institute of Library andInformation Professionals (CILIP) last week announced they will hold a jointlobby of Parliament calling on politicians to protect vital library services.

During the lobby, on13th March, the campaigning group will highlight the importance of libraries inproviding access to learning and as a vital lifeline for many communities. Thelobby will take place at midday, on13th March, at central Hall, Westminster.

Heather Wakefield,Unison head of local government, said: “Cutting libraries is not an easysolution for councils to save cash – it is a literacy time bomb for deprivedcommunities.

“Community groups arebeing held to ransom by Government plans to force them to take over the runningof services, or lose them. These groups don’t have the time, skills and resourcesto take over the jobs of experienced library staff.”

Stephen Lawrence: Some Sense of Justice

2012-01-07T21:29:00.001Z

by Daphne Liddle

GARY DOBSON and David Norris, two of the men involved of the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence on 22nd April 1993 in Eltham, were last Tuesday found guilty of the murder.

This follows a titanic struggle for justice by the Lawrence family, in particular Stephen’s mother Doreen Lawrence, in the face of police racism and hostility, presuming that Lawrence, being black and young, must also be a criminal.

The family were supported by a huge, spontaneous anti-fascist movement that mushroomed in south London after that murder and a spate of other racist killings, including Rolan Adams and Rohit Duggal, in the area at a time when the neo-Nazi British National Party had set up its headquarters in nearby Welling.

When the police and Crown Prosecution Service failed the Lawrences, the trade union movement funded a private prosecution against three of the five chief suspects.

But this collapsed because the evidence given by Stephen Lawrence’s best friend, Duwayne Brookes, the only eye-witness, was ruled inadmissible because a police officer had put Brookes in a position where he saw the suspects at the police station so that his identification evidence was deemed unreliable.

The suspects were released, believing that under the double jeopardy rules, they could never be charged again. They thought they had got off.

But the family did not give up. In 1997 the new Labour Home Secretary Jack Straw initiated the McPherson Inquiry into the police handling of the case.

shocked

What came out shocked the nation: the police contempt towards the bereaved family and suggestions of police corruption. The police force was found to be institutionally racist — meaning that black and ethnic minority people seeking justice usually had a worse outcome than white people in the same situation.

This state of affairs applied to many other institutions of the state and wide ranging changes were introduced to require these institutions to monitor themselves to make sure that black and ethnic minority people received equal treatment.

It did lead to some real changes in policing, particularly in London and especially when Ken Livingstone was mayor of London.

It also led to non-stop whingeing from sections of the bourgeois, covertly racist sections of the press about “political correctness gone mad”. The covert racists have not gone away and the struggles against institutional racism, especially in the police, are fought on shifting sands.

Dev Barrah who led the Race Attack Monitoring Unit of the Greenwich Council for Racial Equality for a couple of decades found that the new senior police officers at Plumstead were good and willing to get to grips with race awareness. And then they moved on.

Others came and the process had to begin all over again. Some senior officers were clearly doing the race awareness work as a box they had to tick on their way to a good career.

decline

Then came the “war on terror”, Islamophobia, the revival of the racist Stop-and-Search policy and Boris Johnson for mayor of London. Relations between the police and black and ethnic minority communities started to decline again — leading to last summer’s riots.

Cressida Dick, Acting Assistant Commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, in 2006 had set up a dedicated cold case forensic team to look again at all the evidence in the Lawrence case.

This resulted in last week’s convictions of Dobson, who will serve a minimum of 15 years and two months, and Norris, who will serve a minimum of 14 years and three months.

This has brought some relief for the family — partial justice. Doreen Lawrence made it quite clear she cannot celebrate while her son lies buried and there are still more perpetrators to bring to justice.

There is no new evidence at the moment. But Dobson and Norris will soon realise they could never get parole unless they express genuine remorse and regret — and that must include a full account of what went on that night implicating the other attackers.

Dev Barrah also commented|: “No justice, no peace, what about the other three?”

Gerry Gable, editor of Searchlight anti-fascist magazine, told the New Worker: “It was a great result,” and praised the efforts of Cressida Dick. But he also said it was only a partial victory so far — and that there are “bent coppers” still to be brought to justice.

But the most credit for the success so far has to go to Doreen Lawrence, whose single-minded determination has caused a sea change in policing in Britain. But, as she acknowledged the power of the “Stephen Lawrence legacy” she said: “I would rather have my son back and living his life than any legacy”.

Please feel free to use this material provided the New Worker is informed and credited.

Cornelius Cardew: composer, musician and fighter for the people's cause

2012-01-06T17:16:00.000Z

Kerry Yong

by Theo Russell

MUSICIANS andpolitical activists gathered on 17^th December at London’s Conway Hall to honour a great cultural figure, pioneering musician and fighter:Cornelius Cardew.

Seven musicians – pianists and violinists– performed works celebrating working class, anti-fascist and anti-imperialist struggles,and the public premiere of Cornelius Cardew – TheContent of Our Song, a superb film by Stuart Monro (availableon Youtube).

By his early 20s Cardew’s talent was sufficiently recognised for the Germanmodernist composer Karlheinz Stockhausen to employ him as an assistant. He saidof Cardew:

“As a musician he was outstanding because he was not only a good pianistbut also a good improviser... I gave him work to do which I have never given toany other musician, which means to work with me on the score I was composing.He was one of the best examples that you can find among musicians because hewas well informed about the latest theories of composition as well as being aperformer.”

Monro’s film provides further testimony to Cardew’s talent, in an interview with SirThomas Armstrong, then principal of the Royal Academy of Music (and hardlyleft-wing!). Armstrong explains his decision to give Cardew a post in spite ofhis left-wing views and activities, in the belief that would inspire a newgeneration of young musicians.

Monro’s film shows Cardew’s complete integration of music with the political struggles of his time, with Cardewand fellow musicians performing from the back of alorry on demonstrations.

While teaching experimental music at Morley College in London 1968, Cardew helped launch the ScratchOrchestra, a large ensemble which anyone could join and for which he isprobably best known. (A film by Monro of the orchestra,when he forgot to remove the lens cap, was described by one student as the“best avant-garde film ever”).

The Scratch Orchestra pioneered a new style of participatory musicinvolving music, ordinary sounds and day-to-dayactivities. It took music to the people, performingnot just at concert venues but in village halls.

In the early 1970s Cardew abandoned avant garde music and wrote the book entitled Stockhausen Serves Imperialism, which was critical of his owninvolvement with Stockhausen and avant garde music.

He joined the People’s Liberation Music collective, which used cultureto support the liberation struggle in Ireland, striking miners, and the fight against therevival of neo-Nazism

Cardew became an admirer ofHardial Bains, the Canadian communist leader and leading anti-revisionist, whocontributed the lyrics to the signature song of his later career We Sing for the Future. Cardew went onto be a member of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party ofBritain (Marxist-Leninist).

He died in a hit-and-run car accident near his London home in East London on 13^th December 1981. The driver was never found, and some have suggested he was killed because ofhis politicalactivities.

The concert included revolutionary songs from Cardew’s Piano Albums, including the ThaelmannVariations, performed by Chisato Kusunoki, based on the theme of The ThaelmannSong (1934). It celebrates the German communistleader Ernst Thaelmann, who spent over 11 years in solitary confinement before being executed bythe Nazis at Buchenwald in 1944.

Two pieces were based on famous Irish patriotic songs from the 1798 United IrishRising, Boolavogue, about Father Murphy who emerged as a leader of the rising and was tortured and executed by the British (performed by The Ivory Duo– Panayotis Archontides and Natalie Tsaldarakis), and The Croppy Boy describing the capture and execution of a young “croppy” (rebel), playedby Haydn Dickenson.

The Vietnam Sonata,celebrating the victories of the Vietnamese people, was played byDavid Griffiths. The Worker’s Song, anindustrial folk tune which with new lyrics by the Progressive CulturalAssociation beginning with the words “I am a worker and I say it with pride”, was performed by LesleyLarkum on violin.

The concertended withWe Sing for theFuture a piano solo performed by Kerry Yong, whichCardew described as “for youth, who face bleak prospects in the world dominatedby imperialism, and whose aspirations can only be realised through the victoryof revolution and socialism”.

Cardew may not be widely known today, but this event will contributetowards making Cardew’s unique contribution and idealsrelevant to the struggles we face today.

In the words of the concert programme: “Cardew was a leading figure inthe struggle against racism and fascism, organising the youth to take controlof their future, and rousing the workers in defence of their rights.”

The Content of Our Song

Stockhausen serves imperialism

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2011-12-30T11:40:00.000Z

NEPAL: The objective conditions still exist for the revolution

2011-12-30T11:35:00.004Z

by Theo Russell

A member of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)politburo, Indra Mohan Sigdel or ‘Basanta’, addressed a meeting in Londonlast week, organised by Second WavePublications, about the “line struggle” taking place in the party, following aseries of setbacks to the cause of advancing to a national democraticrevolution. Since the end of the war led by the UCPN (M) – formerly theCommunist Party of Nepal (Maoist) - and the abolition of the monarchy in 2008,splits have appeared in the party over the implementation of peace agreementsand Comrade Prachanda’s leadership of the UCPN (M).

In his talk Indra Mohan Sigdel made these points:

“Mao said that with a correct political line, you will haveeverything: you will have an army, and you will have state power, you will haveall of these. But without the correct political line, you will lose all ofthem.

“Today we see that whatever we had, we have lost. In thiscase Mao has been proved correct.

“When we started our struggle we didn’t have a single riflewhich worked. We had four rifles which didn’t work. But we were able to seizepower in the countryside, organise mass support in the towns and cities, andget rid of the monarchy.

“Our army has been dissolved in the name of integration, butthis is in fact a surrender. Our fighters were about to defeat the NepaleseArmy. But the revolutionary cause ten years of struggle has not been given up.The whole party has not surrendered. The whole party has not becomerevisionist.

“Now the situation is very difficult, but there is still thepossibility that the political struggle will continue until victory. It maytake a few years, but the struggle will continue uninterrupted.

“In 2008 our tactics were successful when the first meetingof the Constituent Assembly abolished the monarchy, and we got a democraticrepublic. But after this advance the leadership never thought of developing thenational democratic revolution. What we have achieved is still a reactionarysystem.

“At the Kharipati Convention held on November 2008 therewere very sharp divisions in the party.Prachanda proposed a ‘people’s federal democratic republic’, but the leadershipnever tried to implement this in practice, and the struggle started again. We developedour plan and had to develop new tactics to achieve the people’s democraticrevolution.

“At a three month-long CC meeting in mid-2009 Prachandafinally agreed that a people’s insurrection is a must to establish the people’sfederal republic. Will this be peaceful? No, it can never be peaceful, it hasto be armed insurrection. The theory that armed struggle is necessary is stillvalid.

“At the Sukute standing committee last April 3 Bhattarai(now the UCPN(M) prime minister of Nepal)said we can’t make a revolution now, we need to stop and prepare the ground, tointegrate the army and write the best possible constitution and then move ahead.

“Prachanda accused him of ‘right deviation’ and being a‘national capitalist’, and pretended to be revolutionary. But history shows usthat no party which has entered into bourgeois government has gone on to createa revolution.

“Later Prachanda, Bhattarai and the other leaders agreed afour point programme: a constitution based on a ‘democratic republic’; anextradition treaty with India; an Indian military and air force presence inNepal, to protect Indian projects; and ‘relief’ measures, which meant that landseized by the peasants was to be returned to the former landowners, withcompensation.

“The call was issued to resist and take the land back. Sofar land is being seized and seized back again with no violence, but when theycommit to implementing the line, the police and army will be deployed.

“We had built up a strong military force which was an inspirationto the people does not exist, actually it has been eliminated.

“Under the agreement our fighters going into the army willhave to undergo a ‘bridge’ course run by the army, and those who areunsuccessful will be sent home without a penny.

“This shows that with a correct political line we gained somuch, when we took the wrong political line, we lost everything.

“From this point two lines of struggle and two opposedpositions have emerged in the party. Now we are in a situation where the people can see the contradictions, andthose comrades taking a revolutionary line are gaining support, which is a goodthing.

“This will take a long time, but the objective conditionsstill exist for the revolution. We are now taking our political programme andpolitical education to cadres across the entire country.

“To ensure power, we have to create another PLA,and that PLA has to seize power. Thequestion is how we can sustain our revolution. We are being encircled byimperialist powers, and there are no revolutionary countries nearby.

“We agree with Lenin that it is possible to make arevolution in one country, but the question is can we sustain the revolution.

“Armed insurrection is definitely the most important factor,but the question is how to bring this about. Overall conditions areincreasingly favourable because the contradictions and class struggle aresharpening in the capitalist countries, but the question is how to deal withthis situation.

“If we eventually achieve the revolution, then definitelythe state will be led by the proletariat, but until that time power will beheld by all the people, as Mao said.

“But the situation is very very difficult and verysensitive. This line struggle is going deep into class struggle, it willproduce a result and show the way forward.

In an article last September, Basanta provided furtherdetail on the ideological struggle taking place in the UCPN(M).

“The ideological struggle in our party has now beenmanifested in two lines, Marxism or reformism, and it has centred onideological, political and organisational lines.

“The Party did not have any tactics through a period ofalmost a year after the democratic republic of Nepal was declared. In thesituation when the old tactics were over and the new ones was not taken up itwas obvious the party had no plan to goforward, except cycling around the parliamentary exercise.

“Finally, elucidating that Nepalwas still a semi-feudal and semi-colonial country and the federal democraticrepublic was a reactionary political system, the party adopted a new tactic, apeople’s federal republic, to accomplish the new democratic revolution. Thistactic is still valid and is awaiting its execution.

“On May 1st 2010,the party declared from the stadium at Tundikhel, Kathmanduthat an indefinite strike would be continued until it culminated in a people’sinsurrection, through which Nepalese people become the masters of state power.

“This brought about unprecedented enthusiasm among the broadmasses. But strangely, after less than two weeks; the strike was suddenlybrought to a stop, which did nothing other than bring about complete demoralisationamong the people.

“The ideological struggle that had started from Kharipatireached its climax after the indefinite strike was stopped. Everyone from ourleaders to cadres, as well the Nepalese masses, is aware of the height of thePalungtar debate held in November 2010.

“The two-line struggle being waged after Kharipati took adifferent turn after the standing committee meeting held at Sukute.Essentially, the contradiction between reform in essence and revolution in formthat existed in our party leadership was resolved at Sukute.

“It is clear that the new democratic revolution in Nepalis now on the threshold of counter-revolution. It is being manifested in thedanger of surrendering the PLA in the nameof army integration, and in writing document of compromise with the comprador,bureaucratic capitalists and feudalists, in the name of building consensus.

“If army integration is carried out in a capitulationist wayand if a document of compromise is adopted in the name of writing a constitution,it will be an outright counter-revolution.”

Justice for Joe Paraskeva

2011-12-17T12:31:00.000Z

by New Worker correspondent

Joe's mother with Diane Abbott

LINDA MORGAN last Saturday, along with her MP Diane Abbott,led a demonstration to present a petition at Downing Streetcalling for justice for her mentally ill son, Joe Paraskeva, who has been givenan indeterminate prison sentence.

Joe was jailed afterusing an aerosol can and cigarette lighter to try to escape from a mentalhealth unit in which he had been sectioned in October 2010.

Even though Joe hadno previous convictions and a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, he was sent toprison, and his family have no idea when he might be released.

Joe was recentlytransferred to the John Howard Centre forensic unit in Hackney, but his motherfears he may be moved back to prison at any time.

The 6,000-signaturepetition calls for Joe's case to be reviewed, for his conviction to beoverturned and for him to receive proper care, as a mental health patient,within the NHS.

Just before the eventMs Morgan said: "We are going to Downing Streettoday not only to campaign for Joe, but to address a huge injustice in both theNHS and the criminal justice system.

These failings allowthe most vulnerable in society to be punished rather than helped. Prison is nota safe or therapeutic environment for people suffering with mental health problemsand should not be used as a dumping ground.

Joe's case is onlyone example; there are many other families out there who have been throughsimilar experiences. Anyone who has a mental illness deserves to be safelycared for, not thrown into prison."

The Justice for Joecampaign is being supported by a number of major mental health and criminaljustice organisations including, Sane, Mind, Rethink Mental Illness, The ManicDepressive Fellowship, YoungMinds, The Howard League for Penal Reform and ThePrison Reform Trust.

Free Shaker Aamer!

2011-12-17T12:21:00.000Z

by New Worker correspondent

DOZENS of people gathered in Whitehall,opposite Downing Street, last Saturday to demand actionfrom the Government to take action to secure the release of Shaker Aamer, whois still held in the Guantánamo prison by the United States government.

Shaker Aamer has beenheld in the Guantánamo Bayconcentration camp since 2002. He is a legal permanent resident of Britain,married to a British national, with four British children living in London.

Shaker has long beencleared for release by the United States,never been charged by the United Stateswith a crime and has never received a trial.

Reprieve DirectorClive Stafford Smith visited Shaker in November 2011 and on departure,immediately penned a letter to Foreign Secretary William Hague listing numerousphysical ailments that Shaker suffers – a list that had just been clearedthrough the UScensorship process.

The letter calls forShaker's release and meanwhile Shaker waits alone in his cell, officially clearedof wrongdoing, but still paying the cruellest of costs for his kindness toothers.

Protesters atSaturday’s event read out the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of HumanRights, on the 63^rd anniversary of its adoption by the UnitedNations.

Time to boot out Boris!

2011-12-17T12:10:00.003Z

By a New Worker correspondent

London studentsdemonstrated outside King’s College last week in protest at a “Back BorisStudent Bootcamp” meeting called to support the Tory London Mayor’s campaignfor another term next year. About twenty students, some wearing spoof BorisJohnson masks assembled outside the main university entrance in the Strand toshow their opposition to the meeting organised by Conservative Future, theyouth wing of the Tory party in a protest called by Occupy London protestmovement that has led the tent protests in Finsbury Square and St Paul’scathedral.

Emma Stanton, student andsupporter of Occupy London said: “Boris Johnson is the Mayor of the one percent, the privileged few. This bootcamp is an attempt to prettify andlegitimise the brutal Tory agenda, which has having a devastating impact uponstudents and young Londoners. By pricing Londoners out of education, the Toriesare taking away not only the opportunities and ability of an entire generation,but they are dealing a severe blow to the economy which grows with an educatedworkforce.”

Build on strike success

2011-12-14T15:02:00.000Z

TUCGENERAL Secretary Brendan Barber called it “a terrific success”. Prime MinisterDavid Cameron says it was a "damp squib". But the public sectorstrike that shut down over two-thirds of all schools and paralysed localgovernment throughout Britainwas anything but the futile exercise Cameron would have his followers believe.

Last November'snational strike certainly shook the Cameron government. Millions of workerswent on strike on 30^th November despite the best efforts of theTories and their Liberal Democrat collaborators to split and divide the unionsin the run-up to Pension Justice Day.

The protest strike and the demonstrationsacross the country in support of the TUC’sday of action were supported by 30 unions, representing over two millionteachers, health workers, civil servants and local authority workers. Theindustrial action, the biggest in British labour history, was a powerfuldisplay of the strength of organised labour that reflected the growing mass supportfor the campaign against the Coalition Government’s attempts to cut pensionsand pension rights to pay for the deficit caused by the slump across the entirecapitalist world.

Theruling class claims that we are all in this together. But their parasiticallives of luxury and ease continue unscathed while working people face a futureof unemployment, poverty and homelessness.

Theseworthless people, even now, are not even prepared to see a serious tax on theirprofits or income to cushion the blow to the working class, who create all thewealth in the first place.

Their media pundits claim that austerity isthe only way out of the crisis but they say nothing about the billions spent onthe wars in Afghanistanand Libya orthe billions that the ruling class will just as easily find for their plannedattacks on Syriaand Iran. Infact there is only one way out of the capitalist crisis and that is socialismand the planned economy that does away with exploitation and oppressionaltogether.

Cameroncan bleat all he likes about improved offers, continuing negotiations and thatstrikes achieve nothing. But everybody on the front-line of the cuts offensiveknows that any crumbs the Cameron Coalition puts on the table for some workerswill be paid for by robbing others and that the Government is determined toforce public sector workers to work longer and pay more into pensions that willbe worth much less than what they were promised when they were first employed.

The intensificationof the Government’s draconian austerity programme and its decision to cappublic sector pay rises to one per cent for the next two years shows thatCameron & Co have no intention of backing down in their determination tomake working people foot the entire bill for the capitalist crisis. And we willpay for the slump in lost jobs, fewer benefits and poorer services if we don’tfight back.

Last week mustonly be the beginning of a mass campaign to resist the cuts every inch of theway and to mobilise the labour movement for greater national actions to bringdown the Government to force new elections and the return of a Labourleadership committed to supporting the just demands of organised labour.

New peace camp ban

2011-12-14T14:58:00.000Z

by New Worker correspondent

THE LONDON Borough of Westminster last week passed anew by-law in order to demolish the Parliament Squarepeace camp and to ban protesters from a large part of central London.

The council aims toclear the area in time for the Olympics.

The by-law gives Westminstercouncil the power to clear 15 streets around the square as well as other nearbyfootways, pavements and gardens.

The law marks thefinal act in a 10-year occupation that began when anti-war campaigner Brian Hawset up camp. The council regarded it as an eyesore and national disgrace.

The law, which makesit an offence not to comply with the order to remove a tent, should be in placeby March, meaning the square would be cleared in time for London 2012.

Maria Gallastegui,53, who has been camped outside Parliament Squareprotesting for five and a half years, said: "We have a nation built on aproud heritage of peaceful protest. It is crucial now more than ever to keepour stand at Parliament Squareas we are heading to another war, this time with Iran,and people need to know that. We represent victims of war.

"Parliament Square is the most symbolic position for grassroots campaigners to highlight their causes. It is a world stage that isphotographed every day by tourists and locals alike. We have a powerful messageand we should be allowed to send it out."

Surgeons resign over cuts

2011-12-14T14:56:00.003Z

THE ROYAL Collegeof Surgeons is investigating the resignation of five surgeons at the Royal London Hospitalin Tower Hamlets and one surgeon from Bart’s Hospital over cuts in resourceswhich, they say, endanger patients’ safety.

A lack of plasticsurgeons, anaesthetists, beds and equipment meant patients with non-lifethreatening injuries routinely had operations cancelled.

One whistleblowersaid that patients were left with open wounds for six days while waiting for aslot. When they were finally operated on, bones often healed badly or infectionset in leading to long-term complications, the source added.

The resignations,which all happened in recent months, mean almost half the hospital's 12orthopaedic surgeons have now handed in their notice.

In his resignationemail to colleagues orthopaedic surgeon Dr David Goodier, said: “I can nolonger stand idly by when patients are physically harmed by the care theyreceive.

"The suppliessituation is dangerous. We are regularly out of kit, out of nurses, and alwaysout of beds.

"We have become so used to this situation it is nolonger seen as a crisis, it is the norm.

"I did anoperation last week on a fracture that kept getting bumped by more urgentcases.

"It was threeweeks down the line and healed in a bad position. There was nothing I could dofor him.

"I look patientsin the eye and tell them they might sit around for five or even six days ofstarving for an operation that might get cancelled at the last minute."

He concluded: "Ihave been complicit in a poor standard of trauma care and am guilty ofnegligence by association.

"I can no longerstand idly by when patients are at best having their human rights breached, andat worst physically harmed by the care they receive."

Oppressive policing provoked riots

2011-12-14T14:54:00.002Z

HEAVY handed policing and the use of the stop-and-searchlaws – reintroduced under the Blair government as an anti-terrorism measure –against young black people fuelled much of the anger and rioting that flaredsuddenly last August.

This was the conclusionof a lengthy study by the London School of Economics and the Guardian newspaperthat interviewed 270 rioters.

Of those interviewed,85 per cent cited anger at policing practices as a key factor in why theviolence happened.

Many cited repeatedlybeing stopped and searched whenever they went outside their homes, seeing closefriends and relatives treated with brutality and groups being rounded up whojust happened to be in the same place but did not know each other and beingtreated as a gang.

The complaints wereremarkably similar from rioters all around Britain– and very similar to those made 30 years ago to the Scarman inquiry into theBrixton riots of the early 1980s: police taking advantage of their powers tomake life hell for people they just did not like – mainly because they wereblack.

The Association ofChief Police Officers said it was not surprised such a study saw police citedas a factor. “But August also showed the ability of our police to restore orderusing robust, common sense policing in the British way," it said.

The formerMetropolitan Police Chief Sir Ian Blair and a Tory spokesperson made similarcomments on the BBC’s Newsnight programmeduring a discussion of the report.

They were saying thereason why these rioters hated the police is because criminals always hate thepolice – completely missing the point that it is their approach that iscriminalising a whole community.

One measureparticularly irked many of the rioters. Previously police who stopped andsearched youths were obliged to give them a written note with an account ofwhat had happened and details of how and where to complain about inappropriatetreatment.

The Con-Dem Coalitionhas done away with this as part of its “war on red tape”. But it leaves policeunaccountable for the way they pick on people to stop and search and theirvictims with no redress.

The riots began onTottenham two days after the police shot and killed Mark Duggan, a young blackman, who turned out to be unarmed, contrary to police claims.

His family andfriends staged a small demonstration to the police station, demanding to speakwith senior officers for an explanation. The police ignored them for threehours until anger boiled over and the rioting began with the burning of apolice car.

One rioter was onholiday when he heard about the riots but returned to take part. He said: “Assoon as I saw that, I was happy, like. For some reason I just wanted to bethere. I actually wanted to burn the cars," he said.

"What I've beenthrough my whole life, police have caused hell for me... now was my opportunityto get revenge."

Interviewed on the BBC'sNewsnight, he said the Government had made it hard to get jobs, cut people'sbenefits, and made university unaffordable.

"We thought,'Okay, you want to financially hurt us?' We'll financially hurt you by burningdown buildings. "That was the best three days of my life."

Meanwhile former MetPolice Chief Lord Stevens has said he believes public disorder will be one ofthe major problems facing police over the next 18 months.

Launching acommission into policing in Englandand Wales setup by Labour, he said his feeling was that the coming months would be"very difficult".

He said he wasworried about unemployment and rising crime – police would have to be"match fit" to cope.

Crossbencher LordStevens also stressed the commission would be non-political.

STRIKING SUCCESS!

2011-12-02T22:12:00.001Z

Marching through London on Wednesday

by Daphne Liddle

MILLIONS of workers last Wednesday took part in a historic national strike that closed 21,000 schools as well as thousands of libraries, council offices, parks, courts, job centres, benefit offices and other government offices. And many thousands more workplaces were closed or seriously affected by industrial action throughout the UK.

Hospitals remained open for emergencies and essential care of in-patients but all other work was off for the day.

Unions estimate that around two-and-a-half million public sector workers took strike action, making it the largest strike in terms of numbers in Britain ever.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “I have been to pickets around central London and spirits are sky high with many other unions besides PCS out on strike.

“People should be very proud of the stand they are making today in contrast to the shame of the Government.

“Public sector workers have come together today to show their united opposition to the government’s prolonged and concerted attacks on their pensions, jobs and communities.”

Many workers sent their message to the Government by simply staying at home but throughout the country hundreds of thousands took part in over 1,000 local marches and rallies, with bigger marches in all major towns and cities. For many it was the first industrial or political action they had ever been involved in.

The Con-Dem Coalition cannot now possibly say that the opposition to their cuts and their robbery of public sector pensions is down just to a few “militant union leaders itching for a fight”.

When he launched that remark last week, Education Secretary Michael Gove had it the wrong way round. Some of the union leaders would have preferred a quiet life; the pressure for this action has come from the rank and file. But the leaders are now shaping up to the battle that has landed on them.

It is important now that the unions carry on the momentum and start preparing for the next strike. It should not be hard; the morale on today’s well attended picket lines was very high and the Chancellor George Osborne has added to the workers’ anger by promising a one-per cent cap on their pay rises — after a two year freeze, while inflation is around five per cent — and hundreds of thousands more job cuts in his vain efforts to balance his books.

This strike has hit the Government and a lot harder that it expected but it will not fall or back off yet. More strikes, more rallies, meetings and pickets are needed. But now the workers know their fight is effective and they can win.

This confidence is what will win the war against capitalism.

This strike could also go down in history as the first really big national strike where most of the strikers, pickets and marchers were women. The working women of Britain are no longer submissive and lacking in confidence.

One Unison picket in south London said she had told two children on the picket line with their mother: “You may not believe it now but in years to come when you are grown up and people still talk about the great public sector pension strike, you will be able to say, ‘I was there, at the strike rally at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’.”

Livingstone Fare Deal campaign launch

2011-12-02T13:43:00.001Z

By Theo Russell

KEN LIVINGSTONE, Labour’s Londonmayoral candidate, last week told his first major campaign rally, in Camden,that transport fares must be cut “on transport grounds to make the system moreattractive, but also on economic grounds to put ordinary Londoners first byputting money back in the pockets that will boost the Londoneconomy.”

In the last two yearsfares have risen by 21 per cent – 13 per cent above inflation – and Tory mayorBoris Johnson plans another 20 years of above-inflation rises.

A single bus farewith an Oyster card has risen 56 per cent since 2008, and zone 1-6 travel cards22 per cent, hitting Londoners already suffering the effects of recession.

Livingstone told 500people at the Camden Centre in King’s Cross that if re-elected he would cutoverall fares by five per cent in autumn 2012, with no increase in 2013. Afterthat fares would rise by no more than RPI(Retail Price Index) inflation.

Livingstone hasidentified Johnson’s weak spot on transport – a £728 million Transport for Londonoperating surplus in the last financial year, which is growing every year.

Johnson has scrappedplans for disabled access at 18 tube stations, indefinitely postponed upgradework on the Piccadilly, Bakerloo and Central lines, and cancelled the CroydonTramlink extension and Docklands Light Railway extension to Croydon andDagenham.

London’spublic transport is the most expensive in the world, but Johnson’s hatred oftrade unions and mismanagement by his big business appointees have resulted inmajor delays on the underground almost daily, with only seven months to gobefore the Olympics.

The rally heard fromyoung Labour supporters that Londoners are being forced to turn down job andeducation offers due to high fares. Yet Boris Johnson, who earns £430,000 asmayor, told a BBC interviewer that the£250,000 a year he gets for a weekly column in the Daily Telegraph was“chicken-feed” – a statement which surely ranks alongside Marie Antoinette’s“let them eat cake”.

Labour MP Tom Watsontold the meeting: “No wonder he can’t understand what a seven per cent increasein transport costs (planned for January) means to ordinary Londoners”.

Livingstone said thatin 2000-08 while he was mayor, n umbers of bus passengers rose by half whilebus fares fell nine per cent, and tube fares rose by only 1.4 per cent. His busstrategy was so successful it was copied by cities across Britain.

London’sdilapidated, unreliable and poorly staffed overground rail network was alsotransformed under Livingstone with new stations, trains and tracks, servicefrequency doubled, and lines re-opened, and has just been voted Britain’sbest railway.

As mayor Livingstoneobtained £5 billion to build affordable homes in London,but although these were planned to be available by April 2012 Johnson isrefusing to publish figures for new housing.

While house buildinghas collapsed, Johnson and Tory and Lib-Dem run councils have drastically cutquotas for affordable homes in new developments.

Livingstone alsoplans to restore all Johnson’s policing cuts, including plans to axe 1,800officers after the Olympics, and 900 lost through a recruitment freeze.

Don’t put the clock back say women marchers

2011-11-25T17:08:00.001Z

By New Workercorrespondent

AROUND a thousand angry women, along with friends andsupporters, last Saturday marched from Templeto Whitehall to demand that theCon-Dem Coalition stop making cuts that take away women’s chances of an equallife.

The march, organisedby the Fawcett Society, was a protest at the way the cuts are turning back theclock on women’s rights and freedoms.

Many marchers wore1950s style clothing – from French Haute Couture to overalls, pinnies, hairnetsand head scarves with rubber gloves, to make the point that this was an agethey did not want to go back to.

In what it describesas its first nationwide "call to arms" in nearly a century-and-a-halfof activism for women’s equality, the Fawcett Society urged people to turn outto deliver a message to David Cameron that his austerity measures threaten to"turn back time" on women's rights.

Similar rallies wereheld in other cities, including Coventry,Bristol and Manchester,and finished with tea parties.

In Oxford,a 1950s-themed "flash mob" took place with some marchers coming inhandcuffs the most to chain themselves symbolically "to the kitchensink".

The Fawcett Societyhas previously shied away from militant feminism in favour of measured,persistent campaigning.

But last week thenumber of women out of work reached 1.09 million, the highest in 23 years andFawcett's acting chief executive, Anna Bird, said there was no time to lose.

"We think we arevery much at a watershed moment for women's rights in the UK,"she said. "We think that the impact of austerity has brought us to atipping point where, while we have got used to steady progress towards greaterequality, we're now seeing a risk of slipping backwards. We cannot afford tolet that happen."

Women will generallybe harder hit by cuts to benefits and public services such as SureStartchildren's centres, and will be more likely to take on roles, like caring forthe long-term sick and elderly, which will plug the gaps once such stateservices have been withdrawn.

But the FawcettSociety believes the most serious damage is being done in the jib market, as 65per cent of the public sector workforce, female employees will bedisproportionately affected by job cuts.

The TUClast week released a "tool kit" guide to raising awareness about theimpact of the cuts on women; it estimated that 325,000 of the 500,000 peoplewho will lose their jobs as a result of public sector cuts will be women.

Dave Prentis,general secretary of Unison, said: "Is it any wonder that the coalitionare losing the support of women voters? It is a triple whammy for women who arebeing hit hard by unemployment, the rising cost of living as well as cuts tobenefits and services to young people."

Many of the marchershad experienced first hand the impact of the cuts. Maggie Cowan, 59, fromWalthamstow in north-east London,is one of those: after working in the careers service for 22 years, she wasmade redundant in July as an indirect result of local authority cuts toConnexions advice centres. Because of the closures, the organisation thatemployed her decided to close its head office. Of about a dozen of hercolleagues, only one was male.

Since September, shehas had a part-time job on a temporary contract working with young people totry to keep them in education. But the summer was hard.

"I was anxious,”she said. “Looking for work is difficult – because of my age and I accept I maynot look like the best prospect," she joked. "I applied for lots andlots of jobs … I just seemed to be filling in application forms and sending offCVs left, right and centre."

As her contract isdue to end in the spring, Cowan, the breadwinner in her family, admits she isinsecure. "I have to be really careful about how much money I spendbecause come next March I don't know what I'll be doing," she said."There is pressure. The only other time in my life I haven't worked iswhen I stopped to have my children."

Fawcett has outlinedpolicies it wants the Government to take, including the ring-fencing of fundingfor SureStart children's centres and pressure on local authorities not to cutservices concerned with combating violence against women.

LRC: Resistance is our role

2011-11-25T11:30:00.001Z

Daphne Liddle winning the argument

By New Worker correspondent

BANKERS are taking over the political protest and our roleis to resist this Labour MP John McDonald told the annual conference of theLabour Representation Committee, which packed out the main hall at theUniversity of London Union last Saturday.

He spoke on theunprecedented austerity attack on our class, the need to defend ourselves andthe need to present a concrete alternative model to oppose that of the bankers.

He praised thoseoccupying the churchyard of St Paul’sCathedral, next to the London Stock Exchange and the threat from the City of LondonCorporation to evict them.

“We should becampaigning for the abolition of the City of LondonCorporation,” McDonnell said.

Symeon Brown, a communityworker from Tottenham gave a moving speech on the effects of the cuts toservices on the low income people of Tottenham.

He said: “Prior tothe riots there were protests against the cuts but they were ignored.

“After the riotspeople were asking ‘Why?’ – as if they lived in a vacuum and had not seen whathas been going on.”

He described thelocal people, especially the black community, who had lost so much just beforethe riots as “victims of the most drastic cuts”.

“You will never knowunless you live there, so many people suffering so much. How do you feel whenthe very services on which you are reliant are being cut? Has a singlegeneration ever lost more gains?”

Phien O’Reachtiganalso made a moving speech on behalf of the travelling community. He pointed outthat their community is referred to as the Irish travelling community eventhough they have been in this country for 900 years.

He told theconference that the people evicted from Dale Farm are still there in the areabecause they have no other place to go and that racist hate against them is notonly tolerated but encouraged.

“They keep telling usto go back where we came from. We are part of Britain.If all people were to go back to their original countries we would all go backto Africa. Our ancestors left there and they were alltravellers once.”

Steve Acheson, anelectrician who has been blacklisted for many years for his trade unionactivities, spoke about the current long-running dispute between constructionsite electricians and the giant companies that are planning to cut their pay by36 per cent and their terms and conditions.

They have protestedevery Wednesday for several months now; focussing on a different bigconstruction site every time and already one of the employers has back awayfrom the plan to cut.

Most of theresolutions to conference concerned the fight against the cuts and puttingpressure on Labour leaders to present a real, socialist alternative.

And most resolutionswere uncontroversial, receiving near unanimous support.

But the resolutionfrom the New Communist Party concerning the Nato violent overthrow of thegovernment of Libya– and the need to defend Syriafrom a similar attack, sparked a real debate that divided the conferencechamber.

Many delegates to theconference, although against Nato and imperialism in general, were unaware ofthe history of Libyaand had swallowed western propaganda that it was an old fashioned brutal feudalArab dictatorship.

Moving the resolution,Daphne Liddle explained that Gaddafi had beengiven the demonisation treatment that so many leaders of small countriesopposed to western imperialism have been given and that Libya had pursued manyprogressive policies, including setting up Opec to ensure that oil revenueswent, at least to some extent, to benefit the people of the countries where theoil was extracted.

This was fiercelyopposed by some delegates but was also supported by peace activists who agreedthat bombing civilian populations was no way to liberate them.

One young woman Arabdelegate also stunned the less-well informed delegates by explaining that theGaddafi government has given full equal rights to women, protected them frommale violence and angered some of the more reactionary and powerful forces inthe country by granting women equal rights to inherit land.

“But now they haveSharia law imposed and the forced marriages and child marriages, the stoningsand beatings, the genital mutilation and the enslavement of women will all comeback.”

The motion was passedwith 79 for, 48 against and 39 abstentions.

LRC report of conference
text of the NCP motion on Libya agreed at conference

This conference opposes all interference by Nato and other imperialist forces in the internal affairs of Syria and/or Iran, following the outcome of the Nato intervention in Libya that has enforced a regime change, without any democratic mandate, for the sole benefit of western oil companies.
The Nato forces obtained a United Nations mandate to impose a no-fly-zone on Libya, ostensibly to protect human lives. They used this mandate to unleash a campaign of terror bombing that cost thousands of civilian lives and to support reactionary stooges, including elements of Al Qaeda, as a front for the violent overthrow of a government that used its oil revenue to provide a high social wage for the Libyan population and to provide generous and frequent humanitarian famine relief for other African countries.
The Libyan government has now been replaced by a divided group of puppets which include violent racists responsible for the massacre of many black African workers in Libya.
Nato is now seeking a UN mandate to impose similar carnage in Syria – a country of mixed ethnicities, cultures and religions, which is currently a secular state.
A Nato intervention in Syria can only destabilise the whole region, leading to inter-racial, inter-religious and inter-ethnic carnage and bloodshed.
We deplore the pretence of the defence of human rights to mask attempts to impose a new age of imperialist colonialism in the Middle East and call on the United Nations to defend the sovereignty of small nations against imperialist aggression.

International solidarity with Democratic Korea

2011-11-25T11:20:00.001Z

Alejandro Cao de Benos and Dermot Hudson

By New Worker correspondent

FRIENDS of the Korean people fromhome and abroad gathered last Saturday for an international meeting of theKorean Friendship Association (KFA) in central London.Leading activists in the Korean solidarity movement including KFA PresidentAlejandro Cao de Benos, Dermot Hudson from theUK KFA and others from Europe and Africatook part in the conference. But others from Pakistan,Bangladesh, Thailandand Russia wereprevented by the Foreign Office from entering the country.

November marksthe 12^th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean FriendshipAssociation. Over the decade the KFA has become the authoritative and authenticfriendship body promoting solidarity with the DPRK. Perhaps the greatestachievement of the KFA has been to spread an understanding of the DPRK among anaudience of millions, particularly young people through the medium of theInternet and other resources.

While the morning session wasdevoted to internal organisational matters the afternoon was spent in opendiscussion on building solidarity with the DPR Korea.

In his keynote speech KFA president AlejandroCao de Benos said: "Frequently people around the world talk about'personality cult' or 'state religion', but out of their ignorance they cannot understand that the admirationand the lapel pin on the heart of every Korean comes from genuine respecttowards a great man who did so much for others but never thought of himself.This is why is our duty and honour to safeguard the works and life ofGeneralissimo Kim Il Sung, to spread this knowledge worldwide and shield Korea,the country of Juche against any enemy attack”.

Solidaritymessages were received from the DPRK embassy in Londonand the Pyongyang mission of theAnti-Imperialist National Democratic Front of south Korea and the conference unanimouslyendorsed a solidarity message to the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il .

Arab spring or imperialist Trojan horse?

2011-11-19T23:05:00.001Z

By New Worker correspondent

FRIENDS and comrades met in centralLondon last Friday to take part ina debate on the Arab Spring and its relevance to the struggle against worldimperialism. Prof Kamal Majid, a vice-president of the Stop the War Coalition,and New Communist Party leader Andy Brooks kicked off the discussion withopenings on the recent upheavals in Tunisiaand Egypt,Nato’s invasion of Libyaand imperialism’s growing threat to Syria.

The speakersreported the stance of the communist movements in Syriaand Tunisia andthe issue was taken up by other participants, who also raised the concept ofthe “national bourgeoisie” and questioned whether such a class now exists inthe Arab world.

The meeting,organised by the NCP’s London District, was the fourth and last of this year’sseries of talks on contemporary issues. A new series of talks is planned forthe New Year.

Raising the flag for the Russian revolution!

2011-11-19T22:59:00.001Z

Tony Nicolaides bringing greetings from his father

By New Worker correspondent

THE GREAT OCTOBER Russian Revolution is commemorated all around the world andevery year the 1917 Bolshevik revolution that established the first workers’and peasants’ state is celebrated by communists and progressive working peopleall around the world.

Andfor many years friends and comrades have gathered at the New Communist PartyCentre to take part in the Party’s traditional celebration of the greatestevent of the 20^th century. Guests included comrades from theSocialist Labour Party, Second Wave Publications and, as usual, the old printshop was transformed into a bar and buffet for the event.

NCPchairperson Alex Kempshall kicked off the formal part of the evening oftributes to the achievements and sacrifice of the Soviet people throughout the20^th century by reading a message from the RCPB (ML).

This was followed by Tony Nicolaides, who readout a message that came, along with a very generous donation to the collection,from his father – a retired founder member of the party who now lives in aformer Soviet Baltic republic. Tony briefly worked at the Centre in 1979 whenhis father, Nick, was the leading SovietWeekly organiser in London.

Then John McCloudof the Socialist Labour Party spoke about the relevance of socialism in the 21^stcentury and Kumar Sarkar of Second WavePublications recalled the heady eventsof the past year at home and internationally.

Finally NCPleader Andy Brooks paid tribute to the sacrifices of the past, the need forstruggle today and the certainty of victory tomorrow. Naturally, no NCP eventcan ever take place without a collection for the fighting fund. This year wemarked the occasion by also producing a special NCP 2012 calendar for sale onthe night as an added fund-raiser for the monthly appeal. That, together withthe rousing appeal from NCP Treasurer Dolly Shaer and the commitment of all ourfriends and comrades, raised over £732 for the fighting fund!

We still have some 2012 calendars in stockat £3.50 post free from NCP Lit, PO Box 73, London SW11 2PQ. Every month is illustrated with labourmovement shots taken by our own photographers over the past year.

Remembering the Soviet sacrifice in WW2

2011-11-19T22:57:00.001Z

By NewWorker

correspondent

VETERANS, local dignitaries,ambassadors and members of political and community organisations gathered inSouthwark last Sunday for a ceremony of remembrance at the Soviet War Memorialin Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Parkin the grounds of the Imperial War Museum.

They included the veterans of the ArcticConvoy Club with their distinctive white berets, who grow fewer in number veryyear.

Local Southwark Liberal Democrat MP SimonHughes was there, who is continuing to support their long struggle forrecognition in a specific campaign medal, which they have never been granted.

The previous Labour government extended theAtlantic medal to include them and granted them a lapel badge. But there isstill no real recognition for the extreme difficulty and hazards of theirjourneys, in sub-zero temperatures and preyed upon by U-boats.

Many suspect this is because the Soviet Union did recognise their heroism and granted them medals and theBritish state resents those who accept medals from socialist states.

Now Prime Minister Cameron, after promising toaward them proper medals before the 2010 election, has changed his mindapparently on account of the costs involved.

Also present wearing authentic Soviet uniformsfrom the 1940s, were members of the British Second Guards Rifle Division RedArmy re-enactment group, the largest of its kind in Europe.These enthusiasts, with their replica red hammer and sickle banner bearing aportrait of Lenin, triggered a positive emotional response from members of theLondon Russian community in attendance and other older people.

New trial for Stephen Lawrence murder suspects

2011-11-19T22:47:00.001Z

by New Worker correspondent

THE MURDER of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in Eltham,south-east London, over 18 years ago, was just one of a series of racistmurders in the area but made history because of police failures to pursue thecase properly and because of his family’s determination to hold the police toaccount and to seek justice for Stephen.

Stephen Lawrence, 18,and his friend Duwayne Brooks, were attacked in 1993 by five youths shoutingracist abuse in 1993 as they waited for a bus.

Brooks succeeded infleeing them but Stephen Lawrence was overtaken and fatally stabbed.

Police mishandling ofthe case compromised the evidence – by allowing the chief witness, DuwayneBrooks, sight of the suspects at the police station and so leaving hisidentification evidence open to being challenged in court.

They also reactedslowly to collecting forensic evidence, leaving the suspects time to dispose ofthe weapon and contaminated clothing.

The Crown ProsecutionService refused to bring a case and a private prosecution brought by the familyfailed because Brooks' evidence was ruled inadmissible.

But now a new case isbeing brought by the Crown Prosecution Service based on forensic evidence onthe clothing to two of the suspects using micro analysis techniques that wereunavailable 18 years ago.

Opening the trialagainst Gary Dobson, 36, and David Norris, 35, the prosecutor Mark Ellison QCon Tuesday picked out racism as the main motive for the murder.

"The onlydiscernible reason for the attack was the colour of his skin," Ellison toldthe jury. The way in which the attack was executed indicates that this groupwere a group of like-minded young, white men who acted together and reactedtogether. They shared the same racial animosity and motivation."

The jury was toldthat the key to the case against Dobson and Norris was new scientific evidencewhich had not been available at the time of Lawrence'sdeath. No one had ever been able to identify the youths involved in the attack– that remained true today, Ellison said.

The new tests, carriedout by a different firm of forensic scientists who specialise in reviewing oldcases, had retrieved textile fibres, blood and hair linked to Lawrence on theclothing seized from the defendants when they were first arrested in connectionwith the murder in May 1993, the court heard.

Jarrow youth demand action for jobs

2011-11-13T14:37:00.001Z

by New Worker correspondent

A GROUP of young, unemployed activists last Saturday strodeproudly into Trafalgar Squareat the end of a 330-mile march from Jarrow in the north-east of Englandto London in protest at the lack ofjobs and Con-Dem Coalition cuts that are “affecting everyone apart from therich”.

The march began on1st October and gathered support all the way along to be a couple of thousandstrong by the time it reached Trafalgar Square.It was re-creating the famous Jarrow march of the unemployed from 1936 and themarchers delivered a petition to Downing Street as theypassed on their way to the Square.

All the way alonglogistics support from trade unions, especially PCS,GMB, FBU and RMT, provided food, accommodation and transport of baggage for theyoung marchers.

The rally in Trafalgar Square was addressed by Chris Baugh on behalf ofthe PCS union, Jarrow MP Stephen Hepburn,former AEI worker Ian Harris, FBU general secretary Matt Wrack and RMTsecretary Bob Crow.

And one of themarchers, Lizi Grey, whose great grandfather, Michael McLoughlin, had been onthe original Jarrow march, also addressed the crowd.

The 17-year-oldcollege student from Gateshead said: "The storiesI've heard from his son – my grandfather – were that they were very wellreceived in all of the towns that they went to, and we have had the sameexperience.

"I think a lotof that has to do with communities feeling that the cuts are starting to biteand it's affecting everyone apart from the rich and the people making thedecisions."

She added: "It's taken us five weeks to march the whole330 miles but it feels amazing."

Chris Baugh spoke on the effects of the current “biggestattack on the working class since the 1920s”.

He also spoke of thebuild up to the national strike of public sector workers on 30th of the monthand the Government’s attempt to undermine support for it with a bogus offer ofa “better” deal. “It’s like have £10 stolen from you and being offered £1back”.

Then he warned thatthe battle is not just about the pensions robbery and not just about the fightfor a decent wage.

“We must reach out tothe millions of unorganised workers in the public and private sectors,” hesaid.

Ian Harris spokeabout the AEI factory where he had worked for many years that was closedsuddenly “with no procedure at all”, no notice and no redundancy money. “Thetax payers had to pick up the bill for that,” he said.

MP Stephen Hepburnpaid tribute to the dedication and enthusiasm of the marchers and to thoseoccupying the churchyard of St Paul’sCathedral.

“That’s where thecancer is,” he said, “In the City of London.” And he pointed out the similarityof the attitudes of rich bankers in the City in the 1930s and now – only now“with a computer switch they can put hundreds out of work and put hundreds offamilies into misery”.

Bob Crow and MattWrack both spoke about the socialist alternative to the capitalist system andof unity with workers all over the world where similar cuts are being made andworking class resistance is growing.

Claire Laker, a PCSofficer from Mansfield, alsoaddressed the rally.

“Young people haveshown that far from being lazy or scroungers, they want a future with decentjobs and education,” she said.

"The marchershave received huge support up and down the country. People have fed them, putthem up and made it clear they back our demands."

She continued:"We think it is unfair that in the 21st century, young people are facinglong-term unemployment.”There are almost a million young people out of work,and the jobs market is not getting any better."

Tax the rich for education!

2011-11-12T09:52:00.001Z

by Daphne Liddle

THOUSANDS of students took to the streets of London on Wednesday to repeat the message of last year’s march against the tripling of tuition fees and the abolition of the Education Maintenance Allowance and the privatisation of universities.

But this year the numbers were down to between 4,000 and 5,000 while police number were much higher, after last year’s dramatic student attack on the Tory party headquarters at Milbank.

Many students may have been deterred by a Home Office threat that the police had permission to deploy baton rounds — plastic bullets — if things got out of hand again.

This year’s demonstration was just as noisy and colourful but those not part of it would have had difficulty seeing much of it for the numbers of police. One photographer described it as a “walking kettle”.

The march, organised by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, went from the University of London to Trafalgar Square — where a breakaway group had set up a small encampment — then via the Strand and Fleet Street to the City of London.

Very heavy cordons prevented the student march from any contact with the anti-capitalist occupation of St Paul’s Churchyard. The lead organiser of the demonstration, Michael Chessum, said: “Police intimidation is unacceptable and irresponsible” and accused police chiefs of acting in a “political and cynical manner to put people off attending”.

message

He added: “Our message to the Government is very simply: tax the rich to fund education. Students are not going to accept these drastic cuts to their futures. Young people won’t accept this.

“We are here back again and we will keep coming back until we win our demands that education is free and accessible to all.”

The students are a part of a huge and growing protest movement against Con-Dem Coalition cuts and their march was not the only protest in London on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day 300 electricians had brought traffic in the City to a halt in part of a very long-running protest against employers’ plans to change contracts without negotiation, cutting pay and conditions drastically.

And taxi drivers organised by the transport union RMT also held a protest rally in Trafalgar Square over attacks on the licensed taxi trade.

And all the major unions are now gearing up for the national one-day strike of public sector workers on 30th November — and many private sector unions are planning complementary support activities.

first

Unison was the first of the big unions to complete its ballot — a resounding yes for the strike with 245,358 and 70,253 against.

The Government tried to make much of a low turnout of 30 per cent. Unison general secretary Dave Prentis responded: “Unison is a democratic organisation whose members have the right to vote in strike ballots. There was a 76 per cent vote in favour of action and that democratic decision made by our membership is valid and legitimate and must be respected.

“Democracy in the UK is not perfect, and we all need to look at why turnouts have fallen. But for government ministers and business leaders to question the legitimacy of our result is a bit rich?.

“If you follow our critics’ own logic, they would all have a rather shaky claim to power.

“For example in 2010 the Conservatives received only 23 per cent of all votes that could have been cast.”

The unions last week rejected a Government ploy of an “improved offer” as merely a tactic to undermine growing public support for the big strike.

And the giant union Unite has exposed the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, for using misleading data to attempt to manipulate public opinion over public sector pensions.

The Government’s dirty tricks show it is really anxious about the planned strike — and others that are likely to follow it if the Government does not abandon its policy of cuts.

But this government has got to go; no one except the richest is safe from life-changing cuts to their standard of living and the poorest, the disabled, children and the elderly stand to lose the most.

And of course the very future of our NHS depends on this government falling.

We must keep marching, striking, occupying and protesting until they do go.

Two cheers for Ed

2011-11-11T22:51:00.001Z

TWO CHEERS for Ed Miliband whocame out in support of the St Paul’sprotesters last weekend. The Labour leader said that the protesters campedoutside St Paul’s Cathedral in Londonpresented a stark warning to the political classes and reflect a wider nationalcrisis in confidence about the values of those in business and politics.

But, whileclearly keen to align Labour with today’s mounting anger against the capitalistclass that is sweeping Britainand the rest of Europe, Miliband was careful not toendorse what he called the "long list of diverse and often impracticalproposals" of the protesters

Writing in theObserver, Miliband described the OccupyLondon protest and others around the world as "danger signals" thatonly the "most reckless will ignore".

"Thechallenge is that they reflect a crisis of concern for millions of people aboutthe biggest issue of our time: the gap between their values and the way ourcountry is run,” Miliband declared. “I am determined that mainstream politics, andthe Labour party in particular, speaks to that crisis and rises to thechallenge”.

TheLabour leader hasn’t stuck his neck out that much. He’s got at least half theEstablished Church behind him and he knows that most of the ruling classthemselves fear a Greek-style backlash and want to distance themselves from the“let them eat cake” neo-con attitude that was the norm in Bush and Blair’sdays. And while he’s happy to lend halfa hand to a few hundred tent people parked in St Paul’schurchyard he says nothing in support of the millions preparing for the biggeststrike in British labour history on 30^th November.

Last week the Camerongovernment made a revised pension offer to avert the public sector strike atthe end of the month. The offer, which would exempt those who standto retire within the next 10 years from the changes and gave slightly moregenerous upper limits, did nothing to allay the major areas of union concernsuch as increased pension contributions and later retirement. It was too little too lateand it’s been justly rejected.

Milibandtalks about the gross inequalities in society. Like some of the media punditsor Anglican bishops we see more frequently on TV these days, he talks about theimmense annual bonuses the City bankers pay themselves while their own staffare paid peanuts and the unemployed and the elderly are forced to eke out amiserable existence on a benefits system that is facing further cut-backs.

This certainlymore than what his predecessor, the wretched Tony Blair, would have ever said,But Miliband is not making a case for social justice and he is essentially appealing to thebourgeoisie to accept reform and help those at the bottom of the ladder climbup a peg or two.

Former Labour premier Harold Wilsononce said that the Labour Party owed more to Methodism than Marx. Wilson may have been biasedtowards his own Wesleyan church but he was certainly right about the Labour Party.

Wilson, like a number of otherLabour leaders in the 20^th century, was a lay preacher. Though theywere all dab hands at extolling the virtues of Jesus none of them seriouslyclaimed that prayers not politics were the answer. But the politics theyespoused were those of reform, social-democracy and bourgeois argument toderide and dismiss Marxist ideas and scientific socialism.

Working people have nevergot anywhere with pious motions or cringing appeals to the supposed goodconscience of the bourgeoisie. Past victories were won only throughconfrontation with the employers and their state machine. Today the workingclass can only rely on the organised strength of the unions to defend theirrights, now under massive attack from the ruling class and the Tory-ledCoalition government. Resistance to the bourgeois onslaught on our livingstandards will get a huge boost with a massive turn-out for the pensions strikein three weeks time. Support the protest in St Paul’s but let’s make sureit’s solid on 30^th November!

St Paul's occupiers help homeless

2011-11-11T22:45:00.001Z

by New Worker correspondent

THE ANTI-CAPITA|LIST protesters currently occupying thechurchyard of St Paul’s Cathedralhave found an increasing number of London’shomeless joining them for the sake of food, warmth, security and companionship.

So the protesters areopening a “welfare centre” tent. They are appealing to charities andindividuals with expertise in social work, counselling, drug and alcoholservices, welfare housing and mental health issues to work voluntarily at thecentre.

The encampmentalready has its own “university”, a bookshop, a kitchen and a visitorinformation centre.

Malcolm Blackman, whohas been at the camp since its start on 15th October, said: “We have a lot ofpeople coming by, stumbling round the tents at night.

“There’s a lot offriendly people here and food. There was a concern that it would undermine theimage of the camp. But so far we’ve met every obstacle we’ve come up against,and the welfare centre will be a good way to address this one.”

James McMahon, one ofthe homeless who has been helped, said he had lived around the cathedral for 10years. He gets free food cooked by the camp’s chefs, and a canvas roof over hishead.

“I asked for a tentand was given one,” he said. “There’s a community here. I have welcomed thesepeople to my home and they have welcomed me. There’s people I can sit with, eatwith and have a conversation with. It’s the most human contact I’ve had in 10years.”

The Corporation ofLondon and the St Paul’sauthorities have now granted the encampment permission to stay until afterChristmas.

Mary Rosser: a formidable Marxist fighter and organiser

2011-11-11T22:34:00.001Z

Mike Hicks pays tribute to Mary Rosser's work

by New Worker correspondent

COMRADES and friends of Mary Rosser assembled last Thursdayevening at the Marx Memorial Library (MML) to pay tribute to a lifetime of workand struggle given by the late Mary Rosser to communism and the cause of theworking class.

The event was chairedby John Aitkin, chair of the MML and platform speakers included the library’spresident, David McLellan, who is a Marxist scholar and writer, veterancommunist and MML supporter Joan Bellamy, former MML librarian Tish Collins andcurrent librarian John Callow.

But the keynotespeaker was Mike Hicks, Mary’s partner and veteran trade unionist, who led thefight against the Murdoch empire in the battle of Wapping.

All paid tribute tothe work Mary had done, both for the library and for the Morning Star, throughthe dark days of the late 1980s and 90s, when world communism was in retreatand Marxism-Leninism was under heavy attack, beset by revisionists,liquidationists, debts and bailiffs.

Mary, educated in aCatholic girls school, had an inner core of steel and a capacity for relentlesswork and organisation that saw off many threats.

From the floor IvanBeavis, who had on occasions crossed swords with Mary, acknowledged the workshe had done in securing the continued existence of both the MML and the MorningStar in very difficult times.

Mary and Mike retireda few years ago to live in Bournemouth, her home town.But they did not stop fighting; they revitalised and reorganised their localLabour Party – and a large delegation from that party, led by Pete Willsman,was there to add their tribute last Thursday.

David McLellanparaphrased Christopher Wren: “If you want to see Mary’s memorial, look aroundyou.” The library is now thriving, thanks to charity status funding organisedby Mary and now by trade union funds as well. But it would probably have beenbankrupted, sold off and lost to the movement without Mary’s efforts.

The event finishedwith Mike Hicks unveiling a plaque to Mary in the entrance to the library.

Vigil for victims of hate crime

2011-11-05T19:37:00.001Z

Ken Livingstone

by New Worker

correspondent

SEVERAL hundred peoplegathered in Trafalgar Square at dusk last Friday for the third annual Vigil forVictims of Hate Crime to the strains of Offenbach’s Barcarolle, playedby members of London’s three LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender)choirs (London Gay Men’s Chorus, Pink Singers and Diversity Choir) and theLondon Gay Wind Orchestra.

The event, organisedby 17-24-30 in partnership with the Harvey Milk Foundation, was a commemorationof all the victims of hate crime, whether to do with race, gender or religionbut in particular those who have been persecuted for their sexual identity.

And the event markedthe second anniversary of the murder of Ian Baynham, an openly gay elderly manwho was knocked to the ground and kicked to death by thugs shouting homophobicabuse.

Speakers includedLiberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone, Beverley Smith on behalf of theDisability Hate Crime Network, former Labour London Mayor Ken Livingstone andLiberal Democrat mayoral candidate Brian Paddick.

Elly Barnes, a musicteacher, spoke of her work to introduce LGBT awareness into Stoke Newington School and later otherschools in the London Borough of Hackney.

LGBT pupils in manyschools suffer a miserable time as the butt of homophobic gibes. Barnes beganby getting the word “gay” banned as a pejorative and at the same time teachingpositive images of gay people and encouraging the celebration of diversity.

Now the school isLGBT friendly and she is spreading the word to other schools, where sheencounters teachers who were unaware that the notorious Section 28 (a lawbanning the teaching of anything to do with homosexuality in schools) has beenrepealed for many years.

“All schools have aduty to protect young people – so for goodness sake head-teachers, you have noexcuses, you have all the legal back-up you need to bring equalities to theforefront of your agenda, in fact you don’t need that as it is just the rightthing to do! – do it tomorrow, you will be saving lives,” she concluded.

Another strongspeaker was Stuart Milk, nephew of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politicianin America to seekelection and succeed, in California, when he won aseat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Milk served almost 11months in office and was responsible for passing a stringent gay rightsordinance for the city. On 27th November 1978 Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, anothercity supervisor who had recently resigned but wanted his job back.

Despite his shortcareer in politics, Milk became an icon in San Francisco and “a martyrfor gay rights”, according to University of San Francisco professor PeterNovak.

Stuart Milk told thepeople gathered in Trafalgar Square that LGBTpeople did not want to be “tolerated” – “a negative word suggesting somethingunpleasant” – they wanted their diversity and of all kinds of human diversityto be celebrated.

At 8pm there was a two minutes’ silence followed by thereading of a list of names of victims of homophobia.

The event concludedan hour later to the strains of Over the Rainbow.

Similar events wereheld all around Britain and the world,including a small event at the Occupy the London Stock Exchange encampment at St Paul’s Cathedral.

MarkHealey, organiser of the London event said: “Wehad a good turnout again this year, although I did expect more people followingthree high profile attacks in central London. The attack onPhilip Salon that left him hospitalised for several weeks, the attack on thebarman from Half-way 2 Heaven, and the brutal gang attack on the gay coupleholding hands on Charing Cross Road.”

A Schism in the Church of England

2011-11-05T18:56:00.000Z

THE CHURCH of England is part of the British state machinery — its bishops have an automatic place in the House of Lords and it is headed by the monarch. It is a vital part of the coalition of bourgeois business interests and aristocratic landowners that has ruled this country since 1688. The church owns land and businesses and collects rents and dividends and it plays a role for the ruling class in mind control of the masses.

But in order to exercise that control it must sustain belief in the myths of Christianity and its Bible. One of the most constant themes in that Bible is the teaching that greed is bad; that the love of money is the root of all evil.

Bourgeois capitalism on the other hand is based on the opposite idea that greed is good and that avarice is the motor that makes the world go round.

How does the C of E pull off the trick of preaching one set of values while living by the other?

Until now the Church has more or less managed it, using some of the best spin doctors in the world and keeping a low profile about their business interests. They did not fool all of the people all of the time but they fooled enough of the people enough of the time.

But the Occupy the London Stock Exchange encampment that landed in the churchyard of St Paul’s Cathedral has shattered the mask and exposed the hypocrisy. And it has also revealed that some on the lower ranking clergy are not so hypocritical.

For example, Giles Fraser, the Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s immediate response to the occupation when it began on 15th October was to welcome it and to tell the police to go.

Behind closed doors this did not go down too well with some of his superiors and it certainly upset the Corporation of the City of London to think the occupation might be safe to stay as long as it liked, protected by the church.

That put the church authorities in a spot; having extended the hand of friendship at first it would take an embarrassing about-face to withdraw it and order the campers off straight away. So they tried other ways to put pressure and closed the cathedral on very spurious health and safety grounds. Their message to the protesters was: “We welcomed you but your presence is doing us untold damage; now go.”

It didn’t work. The encampment is one of the best organised and most considerate and safety-conscious there has ever been. They knew the C of E was closing the cathedral doors to spite its own face and they ignored it and camped on.

Meanwhile behind the scenes the City of London Corporation, the Home Office and the highest Anglican authorities prepared for a forced eviction of the encampment — provoking the resignation of Giles Fraser and part-time chaplain Fraser Dyer.

And, as the news that Britain’s top bosses (the one per cent) had raised their own pay and perks by 50 per cent last year while the remaining 99 per cent of the population suffered serious cuts in living standards — Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, remained strangely silent about the situation at St Paul’s and the neighbouring temples of Mammon.

Then the Right Reverend Graham Knowles, the Dean of the cathedral, who had closed the doors and then opened them, resigned, saying his position was untenable — meaning he had made a fool of himself.

Home Secretary Theresa May is now putting pressure on the Corporation of London and the police to serve an injunction on the protesters giving them 48 hours to pack up and go. The protesters have said as soon as they get an injunction they will challenge it through the courts.

But the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, does not want an injunction. He wants the protesters to agree to go peacefully. That is unlikely to happen. But the Lord Mayor’s Show is looming and the ruling class want the embarrassing encampment gone before it.

The Occupy London Stock Exchange camp may well soon be forced out but it will nevertheless already have shattered a part of the gilded edifice of Britain’s state machinery and the C of E will never again be able to pretend it is not a part of the rule of Mammon.

St Paul's eviction halted

2011-11-05T18:54:00.000Z

taking Jesus at his word on the steps of St Paul's

THE CORPORATION of London,the Bishop of London and St Paul’scathedral staff last Tuesday dropped plans to take legal action to forceanti-capitalist protesters from their encampment in the cathedral’s churchyard.

And on WednesdayArchbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams issued a statement calling for a“Robin Hood” tax on financial market dealings as a way of redressing theextreme greed displayed by City bankers while the rest of the country enduresserious hardship resulting from the bankers’ actions.

Dr Williams said hehoped this would meet the demands of the protesters and that it was notnecessary to end the whole capitalist system.

The statement wasfairly obviously designed to persuade the protesters to go voluntarily wholeavoiding the embarrassment of a forced eviction of people who are upholding theteachings the Church of England on Mammon worship and the lover of money as theroot of all evil.

Meanwhile the City ofLondon Corporation said it had merely "pressed the pause button" onits legal bid to evict the protesters.

Clearly, if theydon’t go willingly the iron fist is still there inside the velvet glove.

News round-up

2011-11-05T18:51:00.000Z

Climate change and Africa

By New Worker correspondent

THE ANNUAL general meeting of Action for South Africa took place in East Londonon 29th October with speaker from Swaziland,South Africaand the British trade unions, one month before the UN conference on climatechange in Durban.

The debate raisedissues, like decent work, poverty alleviation, human rights which are the heartof the climate change debate.

Africais being hit harder by climate change than much of the world. Severe weatherpatterns are already disrupting agriculture systems, resulting in droughts,food shortages and migration.

These effects willonly worsen unless drastic steps are taken to reverse global warming. According to the intergovernmental Panel onClimate change the continent of Africa will warm one anda half times than the global average.

Michael Fletcher,delegate from Colchester Unite central branch, raised the issues of peace andwar and how it affected climate change, with the burning of oil terminals inIraq are Libya, producing more carbon dioxide and called for Trident missilesto be abolished and the money spent on war to be channelled into climatechange.

One of the motionspassed at conference was to fight for the human rights of gay and transsexualpeople in Africa.

Michael spoke aboutthe victory of the people in Britainin stopping the privatisation of forests here and this was a contribution tothe international struggle. Theconference ended in a friendly atmosphere of unity in the struggle foe climatechange.

Farm workers protest

AGRICULTURAL Workers from across Britaindemonstrated at the Houses of Parliament on 25th October to urge MPs to opposethe Public Bodies Bill.

The Bill, if passed,would allow a process to start to abolish the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB),the mechanism for fixing legally enforceable minimum wages and conditions foragricultural workers in Englandand Wales.

The agriculturalworkers' union, Unite, called the demonstration to try to persuade MPs tooppose both the inclusion of the AWB in the Bill and the entire Public BodiesBill. The opposition Labour Party is already committed to maintaining the AWBso the targets were Liberals and other non-Conservative MPs.

Unite nationalofficer Cath Speight commented, “The abolition of the AWB will force thousandsinto poverty in rural areas. Wages will be slashed if the statutory floor ofprotection is removed. The AWB provides a framework for a more sustainable formof farming, not least in respect of attracting the future workforce andsupporting skills and training”.

All out on 30th!

2011-11-03T16:14:00.000Z

Jobs and safety carnage on the London Underground

2011-10-28T11:39:00.000+01:00

London Underground(LU) is planning cuts which union leaders say are “a blueprint for jobs andsafety carnage”. Some 1,500 jobs would go in plans detailed in LU’s OperationalStrategy report made public by the RMT transport union on Monday.

Amongst a raft ofcuts-led proposals supposed to address the financial chaos left behind by thePrivate Public Partnership and the Mayor’s £5 billion assault on budgets, thereport suggests:

• The axingof more than 1,500 jobs;

• Driverlesstrains with drivers replaced by “train attendants”;

• Closure ofall ticket offices with just 30 stations having all-purpose “travel centres”;

• Across theboard financial cuts of 20 per cent:

• Freezingrecruitment, ripping up existing staffing agreements and imposing a system of overtime and part-time working;

• De-staffingstations through an escalation of the existing job cuts programme which would turn the stations into a vandalsand muggers paradise.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “This document tells useverything we need to know about the operational strategy of London Underground– massive increase in fares alongside an unprecedented attack on jobs andsafety.

“Every single ticketoffice would be closed, stations left unstaffed and drivers would be thrown outof their cabs without a single thought for passenger safety.

“In recent months wehave seen from an escalation in cuts-led breakdowns just why the train andplatform staff are so critical to safety on the system.

“This ill-conceivedand finance-led document ignores reality in favour of austerity and wouldimpact on every single staff member on London Underground.

“It would leavepassengers stranded in tunnels with no means of evacuation and would turn theplatforms and stations into a muggers and vandals paradise.

“RMT will work withour sister tube unions and passenger groups on a campaign to ensure that thisdocument and its prop

London Mayor BorisJohnson has often hinted at the introduction of driverless trains and the TFLstrategy paper speaks of, over the next decade: “the introduction of automatictrain control across the network” – “increasingly drivers will not be needed”and “the new generation of trains will prepare themselves for service – even tothe extent of arriving from depots unaided”.

As booking officesclose tickets will eventually only be available from machines that will onlyaccept bank cards.

The Oyster card willdisappear and passengers will be encouraged to use the “wave and pay” scheme currentlybeing tested where a bank card is used instead of an Oyster card. But it failsto take into account the increasing numbers of people who cannot get bankaccounts or bank cards in the current economic climate.

And passengersexperiencing increasing hold-ups and delays from faulty trains, tracks andsignals will wonder who is going to let them know what is happening or leadthem to safety if the train has no driver.

News round-up

2011-10-26T23:31:00.002+01:00

Church divided over St Paul’sprotesters

ANGLICANS are divided over their attitude to theanti-capitalist protesters now occupying St Paul’sCathedral Churchyard – the closest the demonstrators could get to the LondonStock Exchange.

On the first day ofthe protest, Saturday 15^th October, the Dean of St Paul’s, Giles Fraser,welcomed the protesters and told the police not to move them on from thechurch’s grounds.

Since then a friendlyrelationship developed and the protesters have been well organised and wellbehaved.

But many in theChurch of England are critical of Fraser’s position. They complained the Cathedral waslosing revenue from tourists due to the encampment – when local shops say thecamp has drawn tourists and revenues have increased.

Then the Cathedralwas forced to close, supposedly on health and safety grounds.

The tents arearranged at a distance from the cathedral doors, leaving plenty of free accessfor tourists and worshippers. And the camp is well organised, taking care oflitter, sanitation and other possible hazards.

There is continuousfriendly liaison between the campers and the cathedral staff.

Independent safetyofficers have said it presents no significant threat to the cathedral.

The campers voted tostay put when senior church officials asked them to leave. Rumours spread thatthe Church was being pressured by City financiers to evict the encampment.

A strong faction inthe Church of England criticised Giles Fraser for his original act of welcome butothers are supporting the protestors for their pro-justice stance, typicallymaking frequent references to Jesus in the Temple.

The Bishop of London, the Right Reverend Richard Chartres iscalling on the campers to leave but other clerics are threatening to resign ifthe protesters are forced from church land.

Teachers lobby MPs

THOUSANDS of teachers from all over Britaincame to Westminster on Wednesday tohold a rally and lobby their MPs over the changes to their pensions, that willsee them paying far more and getting far less.

The rally and lobbyare also a significant stage in the build up to the national strike of publicsector workers on 30^th November.

It is alsosignificant for the first action to involve all the teaching unions together.

The Governmentchanges will raise the retirement age to 68 and increase pension contributionsby 50 per cent in 2014. And the pensions paid will be linked to the consumerprices index instead of the retail prices index – meaning lower pensions.

The changes affectteachers and lecturers in Englandand Wales, butworkers in Scotlandand Northern Irelandfear the same reforms could eventually be made to their pensions.

Seven unions tookpart in the lobby, including the National Union of Teachers, the NationalAssociation of Head Teachers and the University and College Union.

More than 20 unionsare set to take part in the 30th November strike, which will be accompanied bymeetings and rallies throughout the country. Many unions began balloting forthe action this week.

It is hoped that manyhitherto un-unionised workers will become involved and that the mass strikeaction will spread spontaneously into the private sector as a general protestin defence of pensions and against Government cuts.

Kevin Courtney,deputy general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said the lobby wasan opportunity for the government to “see sense”.

“I see some real fearin the eyes of officials when we have our meetings about pensions,” he said.“They know that the unions are voicing the views of teachers.

“Teachers don’tbelieve that they can take a full class of 30 14-year-olds or seven-year-oldsat the age of 68. They are really angry.”

Organising curry workers

THE BANGLADESHI Workers’ Union wasquietly launched a week ago with the aims of bringing trade unionrepresentation to workers in Indian restaurants and curry houses throughout Britain.

It already has 500members and is in discussions with Unite and the GMB to become affiliatemembers.

An estimated100,000 Bangladeshi Britons working in the curry trade often find themselvesexploited by unscrupulous owners who happily take advantage of their ignoranceof the minimums to which they are entitled.

One of theorganisers, Muhammad Salim Uddin, of Brick Lanein London’s East End,has a decent job contract, with a decent wage and holiday entitlement.

But many of hiscolleagues are not so fortunate. “I had a friend who worked for six yearsstraight and never took a holiday," he says. "He was always working,never had time off. He didn't realise he was entitled to it. He knew nothingabout sick leave. He just came into work all the time."

But the small butgrowing band of restaurant workers and community leaders are hoping to changethat, with the creation of the new union aimed at the curry trade and otherindustries where Bangladeshi Britons are prominent.

Occupy London digs in!

2011-10-20T15:04:00.000+01:00

By Caroline Colebrook

PROTESTERS from all over Britainand from many different backgrounds assembled around St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of Londonlast Saturday, intending to begin an indefinite occupation of Paternoster Square, immediately outside the London StockExchange.

But their way wasbarred by a heavy police cordon. Paternoster Square, it seems, is privateproperty, so they stayed put and began their occupation in St Paul’s churchyard.

There were someverbal objections to the police cordon but no serious attempt to breach it. Thedemonstrators were peaceful, good humoured and totally non-violent.

Yet withinhalf-an-hour the City of Londonpolice reacted in a very heavy handed way and kettled the protesters,preventing them leaving or anyone else joining them until late in the evening.

Police also tried toprevent the demonstrators sitting or standing on the steps of the cathedral inorder to “protect” it.

But the Reverend DrGiles Fraser, canon chancellor of St Paul’s,asked the police to move on, because he “didn’t feel that it needed that sortof protection”.

He declared himself asupporter of the democratic right to peaceful protest and said the aims of theprotest were in keeping with Christian values.

“This morning I reada bit from Matthew Chapter Six, about how you can’t serve God and money.”

A wedding partybooked for the cathedral that day had to make their way through the crowd.

It was a noisy andcolourful assembly with many inventive hand-written placards and fancy dress,including one who came as Jesus Christ with a placard declaring: “I drove themoney changers out of the temple for a reason.”

Many were wearing GuyFawkes masks as part of the “Anonymous Group”.

Other banners andplacards declared the protesters to be the “99 per cent” or ordinary people,who are fed up with the remaining one per cent holding all the wealth andpower.

The occupation waspart of a huge global event. On than day similar occupations took place inaround 1,000 cities around the world, inspired by the “Occupy Wall Street”demonstration in New York, whichis now in its third week.

Speakers on the firstday included Wikileaks found Julian Assange, after police had insisted heremove his “V” Guy Fawkes mask.

By the end of the dayaround 300 protesters remained in occupation. They had brought tents, organisedfood, portable toilets and a series of activities. Megaphone announcementsurged campers to pick up their litter.

By Sunday the tone ofthe police had eased and a good relationship with the campers had beenestablished. How long that will last when the City authorities demand the campis cleared is another matter. But since it is on church land and has churchsupport at the moment there is little police can do.

By Monday the camperswere still there in force and as the City bankers and as traders made their wayto work after the weekend they were confronted by peaceful but persistentchallenges to their ethics and their greed.

By Tuesday thecampers were inviting the City workers to have dinner with them and engage indiscussions.

A handful of theprotesters have worked in the City and know its ways from the inside but haveturned their back on it because of the damage that capitalism in its mostextreme form is doing to the rest of the population of the world.

John McDonnell MP,leader of the Labour Representation Committee called for support for theoccupation and tabled an Early Day Motion calling on MPs to support theoccupation – the real “big society”.

He had intended tospeak at the rally in St Paul’schurchyard but was prevented from reaching it by the police kettle.

McDonnell describedthe protesters as “inchoate and incoherent” and from a wide spectrum but saidthey deserved the full support of the labour and trade union movement.

Awkward Question Time for Lansley

2011-10-20T14:56:00.001+01:00

by New Worker correspondent

PROTESTERS angry about cuts to theNHS marched on an East Londonuniversity theatre last week to demonstrate against the Health Secretary,Andrew Lansley's appearance on QuestionTime, the BBC flagship politicsprogramme, which was being filmed there. The protest, outside London University’s Queen Mary College,was organised by the Lewisham Keep Our NHS Public (Lewisham KONP) that wasformed in February as a local branch of the national campaign to save thehealth service from privatisation.

Keep Our NHSPublic (KONP) is a broad based, non-party aligned campaigning organisation thatseeks to defend the NHS as a publicly owned and publicly provided service thatstays true to the founding principles of the NHS as a service that isequitable, comprehensive and free.

The NHS isunder threat, as never before, from the Tory-led Coalition government’s Healthand Social Care Bill, which aims to transform the NHS into a competitive marketwhere "any willing provider" can bid against NHS organisations toprovide health services, allowing the for-profit private sector to take overlarge swathes of our health service.

One of thedemonstrators had a ticket to attend the discussion programme inside, where hewas called on to present a question the Health Secretary. Strong feelingsagainst the Bill were evident among the audience and most members of the panel,who included Ken Livingstone and doctor/journalist Phil Hammond, who writes onhealth issues for Private Eye.

London news round up

2011-10-15T19:56:00.000+01:00

Sparks disputestakes out Tate Modern

CONSTRUCTION workers campaigning against plans by a group ofemployers to cut wages by up to 30 per cent and tear up agreements on terms andconditions last Wednesday very early in the morning staged the latest in a longseries of demonstrations outside London’sTate Modern art gallery.

The giant union Unitestaged a demonstration of around 100 workers at the extension being built atthe iconic former Bankside Power Station opposite the Millennium Bridge, just before the galleryopened to thousands of visitors.

The key to thedispute is that seven rogue employers want to impose 30 per cent pay cuts and aworsening of employment conditions for thousands of construction workers by anarbitrary 7th December deadline – if they don’t capitulate, they face the sack.

One of the“not-so-magnificent seven” contractors who want to impose the changes, TClarkes Plc, has an electrical contract on the extension, currently underconstruction, at the Tate Modern.

Unite regionalofficer, Vince Passfield, said: “By protesting outside such an iconic building,construction workers will be showing their employers just how fired up they areat the threat to de-skill their jobs and cut their pay by a third.

"If thesecompanies get away with this attack our members won't be able to pay for theirmortgages or support their families.”

Sparksalso demonstrated on the same day outside Manchester Library.

Similardemonstrations have hit construction sites throughout the country, includingthe Linsted Oil refinery, the Olympic Village in east London and last weekOxford Circus, where there were clashes with police.

Don’t destroy Remploy

REMPLOY workers descended on Parliament on Wednesday 12th October to urge MPs to keep their factories working, as the Government’sconsultation into their future nears its end.

The giant union Unitesays that the jobs of 2,800 disabled workers are at risk because the Governmentwould rather pull the plug and sell off the publicly-funded factories thaninvest in skilled jobs for disabled workers.

The Government iscurrently consulting on the Sayce report, due to end in mid-October, whichUnite believes is nothing more than a smokescreen to close Remploy’s 54factories and throw 2,800 workers to the back of the dole queue.

No to posh parties in memorial gardens

MARITIME UNION RMT said last week that the proposal to holdChristmas parties for bankers in the memorial gardens to the merchant seafarerswho have lost their lives since the First World War has been blocked by theMayor of Tower Hamlets as a result of a protest campaign mobilised bypoliticians, unions, seafarers’ organisations and the local community.

In a statement on theTower Hamlets website Mayor Lutfur Rahman said: “The Council do not wish tocause any offence to any of the parties involved. As it [the proposed bankersparties in Trinity Square Gardens] no longer has the supportof Trinity House and the maritime community I have put a stop this event."

Ward Councillor andCabinet Member for the Environment, Cllr Shahed Ali, added, "These gardensare an important part of the borough's heritage and I am extremely glad theMayor has used his executive powers to stop this event taking place."

Afghan War: Ten years too long

2011-10-14T17:16:00.001+01:00

Julian Assange slates imperialism

By Caroline Colebrook

THOUSANDS of peace campaigners filled Trafalgar Square lastSaturday for a rally organised by Stop the War, the Campaign for NuclearDisarmament and the Muslim Association of Britain to commemorate the tenthanniversary if the war against Afghanistan.

In October 2001 USPresident George Bush used the excuse of the 11th September attacks to launch awar on Afghanistanthat he had been planning anyway.

He dubbed it the “Waron Terror” and also used this excuse to invade Iraqin March 2003.

The Stop the Warorganisation was founded in response to the attack on Afghanistanand has campaigned against imperialist wars in the Middle Eastever since.

The wars in Afghanistan,Iraq, and now Libyahave cost the lives of many hundreds of British soldiers and more than amillion civilians in those countries.

The rally heard along array of speakers condemning the wars and saw films displayed illustratingthe history of the struggle for peace on giant screens.

Speakers included106-year-old veteran peace campaigner Hetty Bower. She told the rally of how,in 1914 at the age of nine, her father had told the family: “It seems we are atwar; this is where the lies begin”.

“We were told theGermans were cutting off the hands of Belgian children. The lies have changednow but they still go on,” said Hetty, and she made a plea for world peace.

Speakers included JoeGlenton, a former soldier who refused to do a second tour of duty in Afghanistanbecause he had realised that “The Afghan people were not the enemy, it was thesenior officers ordering us to shoot them”.

He quoted the FirstWorld War poet Siegfried Sassoon about “the war is being prolonged by those whohave the power to end it”.

Guardian journalistSeamus Milne spoke of a war “not on terror but of terror”.

Singer Brian Enodelivered a long list of the costs of the wars and what that money could beused for.

Julian Assange, thefounder of Wikileaks, attacked those journalists who propagate theimperialists’ lies used to justify the horrors of war.

Billy Hayes, generalsecretary of the Communication Workers’ Union and LenMcCluskey of Unite were among the speakers, who also included Bruce Kent, TonyBenn, George Galloway, Jemima Khan, John Pilger, Lindsey German and JeremyCorbyn MP.

Joan Humphries whosegrandson Kevin Elliot was killed in Afghanistanspoke for herself and other families of soldiers who have died there. She laidthe blame squarely at the feet of those who had ordered our army to invade Afghanistan.

There were manywriters, actors, musicians, academics and former soldiers who spoke – andschoolgirls new to peace campaigning.

All around the Squarethere were stalls from different campaigns, performance events, artinstallations, and debates.

One campaign calledfor the release of Shaker Aamer, a Londonresident whose wife and family live in Battersea, who is still held prisoner inGuantanamo Bay,and for the release of Babar Ahmad, a 37-year-old British Muslim who has beendetained without charge in this country since August 2004.

At around 4pm the crowd assembled for a short march down Whitehallto present a petition at Downing Street.

As police tried toherd the demonstrators into pens some campaigners staged a sit-down across theroad (most had been on their feet for over four hours), which prompted policeto kettle the area for a short time but there were no arrests and theprotesters dispersed soon after.

Earlier thatafternoon in a totally separate event a small group of English Defence Leaguemembers had presented a petition at Downing Street.After this a couple of their members had wandered up to Trafalgar Square.

But if they had hopedto disrupt the peace rally or try to provoke the many young Muslims there theyfailed. A small group of police officers kept them completely surrounded untilthey left the square.

EDL defied in Downing Street

2011-10-13T23:55:00.000+01:00

by New Worker correspondent

THE ISLAMPOHOBIC English Defence League last Saturdayorganised its women’s section, known as its “Angels” to present a petition to Downing Street calling on Prime Minister David Cameron to retract theremark he made when he described the EDL as “the sickest of all”.

Around 50 EDL womenand double that number of EDL men gathered in and around the Red Lion inWhitehall – but so did a counter demonstration organised by Unite AgainstFascism and that outnumbered the EDL about three-to-one.

A handful of the EDLwomen were allowed into Downing Street to present thepetition – but not their chief organiser – she had forgotten to bring proof ofidentity.

The petitionattracted 780 signatures on the web site (though at least one person signed itfive times and a quite a few including “Adolf Hitler” and “Eva Braun” areclearly spoofs).

After presenting thepetition the EDL supporters moved off to a brief rally outside the headquartersof the Liberal Democrat Party.

One group of womentaking part in the counter-demonstration told me that they had been attacked bya group of male EDL supporters on their way to the protest for carrying ananti-EDL placard. Police stepped in and prevented anything further developing.

Block the Bridge! Block the Bill!!

2011-10-13T23:48:00.000+01:00

By New Worker

correspondent

THOUSANDS of protesters, many ofthem doctors and other health service professionals, blocked Westminster Bridge last Sunday in protest atthe Cameron government’s onslaught against the NHS. Many fear that the billwill lead to the wholesale privatisation of the health service and the end ofthe principle of comprehensive healthcare provided equally to all.

Around 3,000 demonstrators, some dressed assurgeons, staged a sit-down protest on the bridge at 1pm, bringing traffic to a standstill on both sides of theThames. The bridge, normally one of London's busiest,links St Thomas' hospital on the southern bank with the Houses of Parliamentand the protest was called to highlight the Health and Social Care Bill, whichgoes to the House of Lords this week.

St Thomas’ is a leading teaching hospital and one of Britain’soldest medical institutions. If the Bill passes, hospitals like St Thomas’ could be sold to private corporations, thestaff put on private payrolls and beds given over to private patients.

UK Uncut, theanti-cuts group which organised the Block the Bridge, Block the Billdemonstration, said: "Today has brought together doctors, nurses, parents,students, unions, pensioners and children together in an unprecedented act ofmass civil disobedience. We are occupying the bridge because the Bill would bebad for the NHS, bad for patients and bad for society."

Theprotesters later held a "general assembly" in the middle of thebridge, similar to those organised by campaigners on Wall Street, where theydiscussed future demonstrations against the government's cuts.

Korean communists fighting history

2011-10-13T23:43:00.000+01:00

Mun Myong Sin, Dermot Hudson, Michael Chant and Andy Brooks

By New Worker correspondent

NEW COMMUNIST Party comradesjoined other communists at seminar last week at the John Buckle Centre in southLondon to celebrate the 66^thanniversary of the foundation of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK).

Theseminar at the London HQ of the RCPB (ML), called by the Friends of Koreaco-ordinating committee, heard contributions from Korean solidarity activistson the achievements of the WPK and its great leaders Kim Il Song and Kim JongIl, over the years.

It was chairedby Dermot Hudson of the UK Korea FriendshipAssociation and the discussion began with contributions from Michael Chant ofthe RCPB (ML), NCP general secretary Andy Brooks and DPR Korea London diplomatMun Myong Sin on the importance and relevance of the Korean revolutionaryexperience to the world communist movement in the 21^st century.

The NCP leaderpraised the feats of the WPK and denounced the hostile propaganda ofimperialism against the DPRK in his contribution, which focused on therelevance and meaning of independence and self-sufficiency in Juche thinking.

Michael Chant spoke about the importance andsignificance of the WPK and the great role of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and Dermot Hudson gave a succinct history of the Korean communists’revolutionary struggle from the beginning of the struggle against Japanesecolonial rule in the 1920s.

After around-table discussion the seminar concluded with the unanimous agreement tosend a congratulatory message to Democratic Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

Day of Action against ATOS

2011-10-08T22:40:00.000+01:00

by New Worker correspondent

DISABILITY campaigners around Britainlast Friday staged a Day of Action against the private company employed by theGovernment to conduct tests on the disabled with a view to getting as many aspossible off of long-term benefits and on to the much lower Job Seekers’Allowance.

In Islington nearly100 people with a wide range of disabilities, their friends and supportersstaged a protest outside a British Medical Journal recruitment fair where Atoswas attempting to recruit doctors – many of them newly arrived in Britain– and other medical personnel to become assessors.

There were speechesfrom the Islington and national Disabled People Against Cuts groups,Winvisible, PCS representatives, Mad Pride,student groups, Queer Resistance, Right To Work and many more.

Campaigners handedout leaflets, reminding possible recruits of their Hippocratic Oath: “First dono harm….”

They have also putpressure on the British Medical Journal to refuse to take recruiting advertsfrom Atos on the grounds that working for Atos is contrary to the good healthof the patients.

Atos assessments haverepeatedly ignored the evidence of GPs and consultants in preference to ashort, computer-based test to assess people’s ability to work.

Assessors arerequired to carry out assessments in fields in whish they are not qualifies,such as mental health.

They have declaredpeople with terminal cancer and many other very serious conditions as fit towork.

A recent study by themental health charity Mind found that 75 per cent of the people it surveyedsaid the prospect of work capability assessment made their mental health worseand 51 per cent said it had left them with suicidal thoughts.

Some people withmental ill-health and other conditions have committed suicide as a result ofAtos decisions.

Those who are deniedlong-term sickness benefit and transferred to Job Seekers’ Allianceare compelled to prove they are actively seeking work or they face losing thatbenefit as well and could become completely destitute.

A former employee ofAtos said: “The job was making me sick. It is against my principles to treatpeople with long-term illnesses in such a disgusting way. So I had to give itup.

“People go into thoseinterviews and talk openly to you because you are a nurse and they trust you.

“Then your skills areused against them, to take away their benefits and destroy their lives.”

The Islington eventwas covered by Channel 4 and BBC radio. Manyspeakers made the point that attacks on the most vulnerable is all part of theGovernment’s agenda to make the people pay for a financial crisis they didn’tcreate.

One speaker pointedout that more than 40 per cent of the people who appeal against Atos decisionshave their benefits reinstated and that figure rises to 90 per cent for thosewho have legal representation.

But Government cutsto legal aid, Citizens’ Advice Bureaux and other legal support is taking awayvulnerable people’s only defence against wrong decisions by Atos.

In Brighton 50 peoplejoined the day of action. Several different groups were there including Brightonbenefits campaign, Solidarity group, others.

Seventeen towns andcities around the country saw actions and protests outside Atos offices,including Oxford, Hastings,Edinburgh, Sheffield,Chatham, Manchester,York, Leeds,Chester, Plymouth,Bristol, Glasgowand Birmingham.

CABLE STREET: THEY DID NOT PASS!

2011-10-08T15:25:00.001+01:00

By Caroline Colebrook

AROUND 1,000 anti-fascists gathered last Sunday near AldgateEast Station in London’s East End for a march to a rally in the St George’s Gardensto commemorate the historic Battle of Cable Street exactly 75 years ago.

In that battle localpeople including Jewish immigrants and Irish dockers fought side by side toprevent Sir Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists (known as theBlackshirts) from making a provocative march through the area, designed tointimidate the local communities, especially the Jews.

The resistance wasorganised largely by the local Communist Party. The Labour leadership at thetime opposed direct action on the streets; nevertheless many Labour rank andfile members ignored their leaders and took part.

Hundreds of thousandsof local East Enders barricaded their streets to deny the fascists access.

With the main routesinto the East End blocked police tried to clear a waythrough Cable Street wherefighting between local people and police became intense, with many arrests andmuch police brutality as residents threw all manner of objects from upstairswindows on to the police.

Eventually policegave up and Mosley never did get to march through the East End.His aim to split local communities and foment racist violence instead unitedlocal people in opposition to fascism.

This contrastedstarkly to events just four weeks previously when the Islamophobic EnglishDefence League also tried to stage a provocative march through the same area.

On the occasion thepolice were on the other side, confining the fascists to a brief bad-temperedstatic rally near Liverpool Street Station – inside the City of London.They did not get to set foot in the East End.

Last Sunday the newlocal immigrant community – of Bangladeshi origin – played a leading role incelebrating the 75th anniversary of the defeat of Oswald Mosley and stressingthat the fight against fascism and racism continues.

Their organisationsincluded the Bangladesh Youth Union UKand the Altab Ali Memorial group. Altab Ali was a victim of a racist murder inWhitechaple in 1978.

There is still alarge Jewish community in the area and relations between the Jews there and theIslamic Bangladeshis are warm and comradely.

There were manyspeakers at the rally including 97-year-old Max Levitas, a veteran of theInternational Brigades, and peace campaigner Hetty Bower, aged 106 that day.The rally sang Happy Birthday.

Bob Crowe, generalsecretary of the RMT transport union, gave a rousing anti-fascist speech. Hesaid: “Fascists feed off scapegoats. But if you create a society where everyonehas a house and a job then you have a society where the fascist cannot live.”

Other trade unionspeakers included TUC deputy generalsecretary Frances O’Grady and Gail Cartmail from Unite.

The final speakerwas Matthew Collins from Hope not Hate, who has recently had published a bookabout his experiences as a member of the National Front and BNPas a naïve and alienated youth before he realised that far from fighting forthe white working class, these fascist organisations are profoundlyanti-working class.

He is now a dedicatedanti-fascist activist and a class warrior for the whole working class.

Matthew Collinsclosed proceedings in his usual witty way with a recollection of sellingfascist newspapers just up the road in Brick Lane in the 1980's and earlynineties and being given a rudimentary lesson in anti-fascism by an outragedlocal.

Vigil for Yemen at Downing Street

2011-09-30T21:55:00.000+01:00

by New Worker correspondent

MEMBERS of the Yemeni community inLondon held a silent protestopposite Downing Street last Saturday to demonstrateagainst the killing of peaceful protesters in Sanaa by troops loyal toPresident Ali Abdullah Saleh. The vigil, timed to coincide with more massprotests in Yemen,was a silent one, with protesters standing with tape over their mouths with themessage “Silence Kills” and placards listed the number of deaths and called forfreedom rather than slaughter in the Yemen.Many held the red, white and black Yemeni tricolour and others had it paintedon their faces.

Judge saves London fire engines

2011-09-28T23:29:00.001+01:00

A HIGH Court judge last week granted an adjournment,delaying applications to wind up AssetCo, the private company that owns thefire engines used by the London andLincoln fire brigades.

This will give thecompany another month to negotiate a deal with its creditors to wipe out debtsof over £100 million

Mr Justice Floyd,sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice in London,granted applications to adjourn moves until 28th September to wind up the firmin favour of allowing the company to open negotiations with its creditors on adeal that will recover some of their lost investments.

Last May the LondonFire Brigades Union had expressed alarm at a move to bankrupt AssetCo, whichowns London’s fire engines and50,000 pieces of safety critical equipment.

The union warned thatany such move could see creditors move to sell the company’s assets to recovertheir debts.

Northern Bank basedin Belfast, had lodged a creditors’petition – a move to bankruptcy – over a £1.3 million debt owed by AssetCo.

The company warnedshareholders it could only pay parts of its loans and informed them of the moveby Northern Bank.

The deeply troubledcompany is still in the running to secure a contract to train London’sfirefighters. It is playing a key part in the Capital Training Solutionsconsortium, one of three preferred bidders to be chosen by the end of the year.

Challenged by theFBU, the London fire brigade saidits financial experts had examined each member of the consortium, includingAssetCo, and confirmed the bidders were financially “stable”. This was onlydays after the company told shareholders it could not pay off all its loans.

Ben Sprung, LondonFBU regional organiser said: “The company, which owns and maintains our fireengines and 50,000 pieces of equipment, is staring bankruptcy in the face. Wecould end with all London’s fireengines and kit being put up for sale to settle the debts.

“Profits havecrashed; the share price has collapsed and top staff, including a new financedirector, have recently left.

“It now can’t keep upall its loan payments and there is a move towards bankruptcy.

“Londonfire service first said it had guarantees this could not happen but could notproduce them. Now it says it has contingency plans if it does happen but theywon’t say what they are.

“There is a seriouscrisis looming and the only ones raising public concerns are the capital’sfirefighters. It is a scandal that the ownership and maintenance of criticalequipment is in the hands of a company which has reached this state.

“There are seriousissues of public safety here. The fire authority needs to set out what it hasdone and what fallback plans it has. The mayor needs to get a grip on thisbefore it’s too late.”

Currently the Mayor’soffice, the heads of London Fire Brigade, AssetCo and its creditors are engagedin emergency negotiations to keep the fire engines on the road.

They will probablyreach a deal but it will probably end up with Londoncouncil tax-payers footing the bill.

The creditors namedinclude state-owned Halifax Bank of Scotlandwhich is owed £12 million and energy company, EDF, which suggests AssetCo maynot have paid fuel bills for premises they run in London.

Others include FDDirect, the Inland Revenue. They will still be big losers.

FBU general secretaryMatt Wrack said: “Privatising emergency services is stupid and dangerous. Thelong, slow death of AssetCo is a perfect illustration of this.

“We still do not knowwhat is going to happen to Londonand Lincolnshire’s fireengines. They are, we believe, going tobe the property of AssetCo’s creditors when AssetCo finally goes under. I call on the London Fire Brigade and theGovernment to bring the fleet and their maintenance back into public ownership.”

Keep religion out of government

2011-09-23T16:53:00.000+01:00

By New Worker correspondent

MILITANT atheists took to thestreets of London last Saturday fora march and rally in the capital calling for an end to religious privileges andfor European institutions to remain secular. Several hundred people took part in the march organised by the Secular Europe Campaignthat was originally launched in 2008 to challenge the enormous power andinfluence of the Vaticanwithin the European Union. A similar protest was held in Romethe same day against the huge three billion euro tax exemption the Vaticanenjoys.

But theBritish campaign is broader and "aims at representing all the issuesaround secularism and human rights, including opposition to state-funded faithschools, rejection of religious tribunals and support to equal rights for Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual and Transgender citizens."

MarcoTranchino, who is organising the Secular Europe Campaign, said: “Wherever thePope goes now he will be sure to face criticism and protest. We want to keepthe impetus going that started last year at the Protest the Pope event, andencourage all people who believe in separation of religion from the state tojoin us.”

Tranchino saysthat the Vaticanhas far too much influence on the institutions of the European Union and it wastime for that to be challenged.

“We have thesupport of feminist, gay and secular groups from all around Europeand large numbers of individuals who are following us on social network sites.We hope that this will send a message to the governments of Europeand Great Britainthat alarm is growing at the undue influence of religion on politicaldecision-making. We want a secular Europe where there isroom for everyone, whether they have a religious belief or not, where policy isdirected only by elected politicians, not by priests who are answerable tono-one.”

Fighting talk at the TUC

2011-09-16T23:58:00.001+01:00

by Daphne Liddle

THE ANNUAL conference of the TUC in London this week has set in motion plans for massive public sector strikes to defend pensions, including at least one, and possibly several, national strikes in November that could involve over two million workers.

This is in the teeth of threats from the Con-Dem Coalition to bring in new anti-union legislation and the disapproval of Labour leader Ed Miliband.

Len McCluskey, general secretary of the giant union Unite, set the tone. He said: “This debate could be a ritual. We have it every year. Unanimously vote for the composite and then get on with working within laws which we do not really expect to be changed.

“It is time — past time — that we took a different approach. This composite makes it clear what is needed. Let me read just one sentence from it:

‘Congress calls on the TUC to develop an industrial strategy of resistance so that workers are not left to fight alone against draconian laws and exploiting bosses.’

“What does it mean? It will mean learning from the student movement’s struggles to support decent education.

“It will mean building on the impetus of the magnificent trade union march for an alternative this year, the biggest in our movement’s history.

“It will mean learning from our best fighting traditions. But it cannot mean meekly accepting the laws as it stands. Unite has spent enough time going in and out of courts arguing for the basic right of employees to collectively withdraw their labour. At British Airways and elsewhere.

“Of course we must win the argument for trade union rights. Use the language of fairness and freedom which resonates with those who are not our members. But let’s also say — if tax avoidance is lawful and unpunished. Let’s plan for anti-union law avoidance in the same spirit.”

He added that “coming to the end of 13 years of Labour government with the Thatcher laws still in place is a stain on Labour’s record. And a betrayal of its historic mission and purpose of advancing working people’s rights....

“Law is an essential thing for a civilised society of course. But class law, pushed through a parliament full of expense cheats, by a cobbled-together coalition which no-one voted for is not going to paralyse me and it should not paralyse our movement.”

McCluskey promised to bring Wisconsin to Westminster if the Government tried to outlaw the strikes. “Our rights — including the right to organise and struggle together for a better life for working people — are not the gift of ministers or judges. They are ours to assert.”

GMB general secretary Paul Kenny said: “We will give them the biggest campaign of civil disobedience their tiny little minds can ever imagine. Bad laws have to be broken,” he said. “If going to prison is the price for standing up to bad laws, then so be it.”

Ed Miliband made a bland speech that was more union-friendly than any made by Blair or Gordon Brown. But he was heckled when he called for strikes to be postponed until negotiations had finished.

Bob Crow of the RMT said: “You can’t play political games when workers are facing the biggest all-out attack on their rights and their livelihoods since the war. A Labour leader who doesn’t stand by the workers is on a one-way ticket to oblivion.”

Matt Wrack, the leader of the Fire Brigades Union, said he thought the speech was “pretty feeble”, adding: “It was almost like he wanted to tick a box criticising strikes.”

Union leaders also had plenty of anger over Prime Minister David Cameron’s response to last month’s riots, with references to the “feral ruling class” and a return to Victorian values of the “undeserving poor”.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber spoke of the riots: “The Prime Minister chose to describe these events as ‘criminality pure and simple’. But it isn’t so simple and what happened in August actually revealed deep fractures within our society.

“A society that ranks among the most unequal anywhere in the developed world; where a super rich elite have been allowed to float free from the rest of us; where a generation of young people are growing up without work, without prospects, without hope. None harder hit than the black youngsters held back by an unemployment rate approaching 50 per cent.

“And yet as they have retreated to Victorian language about the undeserving poor, they have said nothing about moral disintegration among the rich. The financiers with huge assets sneakily channelled through the tax havens. The out-of-control traders and speculators who razed our economy to the ground. The super rich tax cheats whose greed impoverishes our schools and hospitals?.“And in a year when we commemorated the 25th anniversary of Wapping, let us say loud and clear that moral standards must apply to you too Mr Murdoch.”

They did not pass!

2011-09-09T23:26:00.002+01:00

By Caroline Colebrook

THE ENGLISH Defence League (EDL) boasted that their plannedmarch and rally in the East End of London would be a national event marking aturning point in the fortunes of the far-right violent Islamophobicorganisation of neo-Nazis, football hooligans and other thugs.

They intended to holdtheir march through Tower Hamlets’ Muslim community. But that community, alongwith anti-fascists from Hope not Hate, trade unionists and other activistscampaigned for a ban on that march that that was aimed at bringing provocation,hatred and violence to the East End.

They produced a25,000-signature petition to Home Secretary Theresa May.

The police haveofficially still failed to recognise the EDL as an extremist organisation but,after the riots of last month, the Metropolitan Police decided to support therequest for a ban on the march.

But the EDL stillinsisted on their statutory right to a static demonstration.

Meanwhile UniteAgainst fascism organised a big counter demonstration.

One the day the wholearea of Aldgate and Whitechapel filled up with hundreds of police vans –including contingents from Strathclyde, NorwichCumbria in themorning.

The UAF demonstrationbegan at 11am in the east of the areaattended by several thousand, including groups of Muslim youths from the localcommunity, who patrolled their own streets. More mature members of the Muslimcommunity also patrolled as official stewards with a main aim of keeping thepeace and preventing damage or injury.

The EDL demonstrationwas not due to start until 2pm and reports came in of large numbers arrivingand causing trouble in pubs around the Kings Cross area and that members of theRMT transport union had closed access to the Tube Station to keep them out ofLondon’s Underground.

Then there werereports that some had reached the pubs around Liverpool Street, close to Aldgate. But it was getting onfor 3pm before a small group appearedwaving flags, shouting and gesticulating.

They were soon joinedby others but there were never more than around 1,000 at the official protest.Some stragglers and late-comers ended up wandering lost around the area.

The thousands ofpolice surrounding the EDL halted them in the main road in front of the Aldgate Tower for their rally.

The UAF and theirsupporters marched up to the end of Whitechapel High Street but were kept wellapart from the EDL.

EDL leader StephenYaxley-Lennon arrived disguised as a mock rabbi. After removing his disguise hehave a speech in which he boasted that he was breaching the conditions of hisbail, imposed recently at Luton and South Bedfordshire Magistrates’ Court. Hehad appeared there for an alleged assault during a demonstration in April in Blackburn.

Police charged intothe EDL crowd to arrest him and there was some confusion over whether they hadsucceeded but by evening Yaxley-Lennon was definitely in custody. According tolatest reports he has begun a hunger strike in protest at being denied his“human right” to insult, provoke and beat up those who disagree with him.

After a couple ofhours it dawned on some of the EDL members that their protest was not actuallyin Tower Hamlets. The Griffin thatmarks the City of London boundarywas a couple of hundred yards to the east of the EDL rally. They were still inthe City; they had not even set foot in Tower Hamlets.

A few tried in vainto charge the heavy police cordon. Thunder-flashes were thrown and there wereheavy scuffles and 16 arrests. Eventually police escorted them away across Tower Bridge and into waiting coaches.

Later that evening arogue coach full of EDL supporters strayed down Whitechapel High Street, whereit stopped outside the mosque as those on board shouted insults and abuse.

The coach was soonsurrounded by angry Muslim youths who broke some of the coach windows. An EDLwoman was injured in the fracas that followed but was rescued by Muslimstewards from the mosque.

Police soon floodedthe area, commandeered a bus, put the EDL members on it and sent them out ofthe area. According to some reports it then broke down, according to others thedriver became so exasperated he simply stopped it and walked away.

Once again the EDLpassengers were on the street and 44 of them were arrested.

Migrant domestic workers protest

2011-09-09T23:18:00.001+01:00

HUNDREDS of migrant domestic workers gathered last Sunday inOld Palace Yard, Westminster todemonstrate against the Government’s proposed changes to the domestic workers’visa.

The Britishgovernment has proposed to change the domestic workers’ visa and remove some ofthe most fundamental rights of migrant domestic workers, which could leave themvulnerable to abuse, exploitation and human trafficking.

At present migrantdomestic workers have some protections. They are allowed to change theiremployer without losing their immigration status, meaning if they aremistreated, they can leave and find new non-exploitative work to support theirfamilies.

They can seek justicethrough the police or the employment courts without fearing they will bedeported.

If these rights areremoved, unscrupulous employers will know they can abuse and exploit withimpunity.

Justice 4 DomesticWorkers, the domestic worker led group organising the rally, and supported byKalayaan and Unite the union in demanding that the Government does not returnslavery to Britainand that:

• Domesticworker visa rights are retained, including the right to change employer andrecognition as a worker covered by employment legislation;

• Those whocome to the UKwith diplomats have these same rights;

• The UKgovernment ratifies and implements the International Labour Convention ondomestic workers

Marissa Begonia,chair of Justice 4 Domestic Workers, said: “Where are we heading if the minimalprotection we have is about to be removed, back to the century of slavery?

“The domestic workervisa has been our escape route from abusive employers and enabled us to rebuildour lives from this exploitative situation.

“The UKgovernment acknowledged the need to protect migrant domestic workers in 1998and implemented the domestic workers’ visa. Why take back what is proven as thebest protection of some of the most vulnerable workers?

“We urge theGovernment to uphold the honour and dignity of the United Kingdom and improve the current working andliving conditions of domestic workers. The more vulnerable the worker is, themore protection they need.”

Jenny Moss, communityadvocate at Kalayaan, said: “Removing the vital protections associated with thedomestic worker visa will undoubtedly lead to an increase in abuse,exploitation and human trafficking. It is shameful that the UKgovernment intends to return us to slavery for the sake of knocking 1,000people from their net migration total.”

Diana Holland, Uniteassistant general secretary, said: “The domestic worker visa was introducedwith all-party support to right a very serious wrong. It is horrifying tocontemplate a return to the slavery and bonded labour before the visa. ThisGovernment cannot brush the issue of slavery under the carpet.”

Education workers to lobby MPs

2011-09-09T23:16:00.000+01:00

AROUND 25,000 teachers and lecturers are expected to gatherat Parliament on Wednesday 26th October in a mass lobby to protest againstsavage pension cuts in the education sector.

The action is part ofa joint campaign by seven leading education unions to draw attention to themyths surrounding the debate on pensions and to the severity of the cuts beingproposed.

The campaign, DecentPensions: Securing the Future for All, aims to have a representative at thelobby from every school in the maintained, academy and independent sectors inEngland and Wales as well as from colleges and post-92 universities(approximately 25,000 in total), and many institutions are expected to sendgroups of staff to swell numbers even further.

The lobby is beingheld during the half-term holiday to avoid interrupting schoolchildren’seducation and causing disruption for parents. But the seven unionshave not ruled out further industrial action if the Government continues toerode pensions.

Information is goingout this week to schools, colleges and post-92 universities along withpetitions to be signed by staff on behalf of their school or college.

Organisers of thecampaign issued this statement: “The fact that thousands of teachers andlecturers from around the country are giving up a day of their half-termholiday to come to London to lobbyMPs shows just how high feelings are running. The profession is absolutelyunited in condemning the scandalous way pensions are being ransacked to pay offthe national debt.

“The public has aright to know that cuts could ultimately affect the quality of education foryoung people as high calibre graduates re-think their career choice. We willalso be challenging the myths about how public sector pensions impact ontaxpayers.

“Teachers and lecturersnever take strike action lightly and for this reason the lobby has beenorganised during half term, to ensure there is no disruption to pupils orparents.

“However if theGovernment continues to erode pensions, which they know are both affordable andsustainable, teachers will be left with no option but to take further action,including strike action.

“We urge theGovernment to listen to the message that this lobby sends. Teachers cannotstand by and see their pensions eroded for purely political reasons. It isentirely possible to avoid further disruption but for that to happen theGovernment needs to negotiate fairly.”

New Worker Pamphlets

2011-09-06T14:06:00.000+01:00

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2011-09-03T12:44:00.000+01:00

ANTI-FASCISTS WIN EDL MARCH BAN

by Daphne Liddle

ANTI-FASCISTS last week were delighted to learn that the Government has finally decided to ban a planned march by the Islamophobic English Defence League (EDL) through Muslim areas of Tower Hamlets.

This follows months of campaigning by Hope not Hate and a petition with over 25,000 signatures, backed by leading trade unions and local community activists.

But what finally moved Home Secretary Theresa May was the rioting a few weeks ago, which showed up how precarious is the police hold on keeping control when large numbers of youths defy them.

And it was the Metropolitan Police who finally asked for a ban.

But the ban May has imposed is a blanket ban for one month on all marches within six east London Boroughs: the City, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Waltham Forest, Islington and Hackney.

Some activists are concerned this will also rule out an anti-fascist counter demonstration and any other anti-cuts or anti-war demonstrations. They argue that anti-fascists should not rely on the state to stop the fascists but should do this by mass labour movement and local community action. They point to the crowds who came out and succeeded in stopping Mosley’s Blackshirts in 1936 — almost exactly 75 years ago.

But those working class and community masses, led by the Communist Party, fought mainly with the police who were trying to force a way through for the fascists.

This time the police are on the other side. They will be stopping the fascists from marching.

The EDL, according to latest reports, has insisted on its right to a static demonstration in Whitechapel Sainsbury’s car park. But it will be heavily “kettled”.

And if large numbers of anti-fascists flood the area next Saturday there is a real danger of an enormous three-cornered fight breaking out — which is exactly what the EDL want — and what the local community of all religions and ethnicities does not want.

Retired Searchlight editor Gerry Gable told the New Worker: “This is a crazy idea. Who do they think is going to stop the EDL? Look at the balance of forces. Starting a fight with the police would be completely insane.”

And the current Searchlight editor, Nick Lowles, wrote on the ban on the march: “This decision is a victory for common sense. The EDL clearly intended to use the proposed march to bring violence and disorder to the streets of Tower Hamlets.

“Their plan has been foiled.

“While the EDL might still decide to hold a static protest they will not now be able to march through residential areas and, most importantly, march past the East London mosque. A static protest will be far easier to police and it will probably also discourage a lot of EDL supporters from travelling.”

And he thanked the 25,300 people who signed the petition, the hundreds of people who donated to the campaign fund and the dozens of people who came out campaigning in Tower Hamlets.

The EDL are mixed collection of out-and-out neo-Nazis, football hooligans, former squaddies and a few bigots who have been taken in by their pretence that it is only Islam that the EDL wants to fight.

They have recently lost their Zionist supporters and the EDL is full of factional rifts. But this makes it more unpredictable. It is notoriously violent and was admired by Norwegian neo-Nazi Anders Breivik.

Our place in the sun!

2011-09-01T12:05:00.002+01:00

NEW WORKER readers took a chance on the weather when they turned up for the Metropolitan supporters group garden party in Charlton last weekend. But rain did not stop play and comrades were able to enjoy good food and drink throughout the afternoon while the discussion ranged from the part played by the hidden hand in the union movement to role of Soviet and Anglo-American commanders in the Second World War. Our paper was not forgotten either and over £50 was raised for the New Worker.

Sick Society

2011-08-27T11:42:00.000+01:00

PRIME Minister David Cameron and former Prime Minister Tony Blair have been arguing over whether British society is deeply sick or just a bit off-colour around the fringes.
For once Cameron is right, British society is deeply sick and the rot comes from the top. The disease is capitalism and it divides the human race into the ruling class who have endlessly increasing wealth, comfort and ease at the expense of the working classes face lives of increasing poverty, debt, drudgery, unemployment, poor housing, poor education and lack of opportunities.
Under Blair’s government working people did get some amelioration in the social wage, better public services, access to higher education — though it was Blair who introduced student tuition fees.
There was a complex network of support services for the disabled involving benefits and services from the NHS and local government. It was often a fight to get it but it was a legal entitlement.
There was access to legal aid to secure justice, not just in criminal cases but in housing, benefits, family law and immigration. There were advice centres for working people to direct them and support them in getting grievances resolved.
There were youth services and dozens of inner-city projects aiming to steer young people away from street crime while their debt-enchained parents were forced to work so many hours they were left with little time for their children.
It was still a very unequal society and the wealth gap was growing steadily.
But the thousand-and-one services smoothed off the worst of the rough edges and made it just about tolerable. And workers on the whole just want to get on with their lives and feel secure from one day to the next. It takes a lot of pain to drive them to contemplate either rebellion or revolution.
But Cameron’s cuts — way beyond what was necessary to deal with Government debt and driven by right-wing Tory ideology — are supplying that pain. For a long time workers in Europe or even the United States would wonder at how passive and resigned the British working class has been, how much they have put up with that would have sparked anger and uprisings elsewhere. In other countries such measures as car clamps and street CCTV cameras never worked because they were automatically vandalised by outraged citizens as soon as they appeared.
Blair’s education policy of sending hundreds of thousands of young people into universities — ultimately at their own expense — gave people the illusion that they could rise in society and become middle class. In reality it was a way of keeping unemployment figures down and at the same time ensnaring young people into a lifetime of debt and passivity.
Both Blair and Cameron are promoters of the obscene proposition, dominant now throughout the global ruling classes, that poverty is a choice — that the poor are too lazy to make the most of their lives and their misfortunes entirely of their own making because they have “the wrong attitude”.
Dozens of self-help books promote this idea, telling people they must keep a positive (meek and acquiescent) attitude, change everything about themselves to fit in with what their capitalist bosses want, give their whole lives over to work and wealth will inevitably come their way. When this fails to happen they are told it is they who failed — not that they have been failed by capitalist society.
Cameron’s approach sweeps these illusions aside. His cuts are pure, ruthless class war. And they hurt the most vulnerable in society.
Young workers can see that those at the top — the bankers, MPs, top police officers, the Murdoch set — are all in it to make as much money as they can for themselves and to keep it to themselves. They can see how sick this society really is at the top.
They are a couple of generations away from the levels of class consciousness of the workers who built the trade unions, created the labour movement and fought for state welfare but they are starting to learn.
Those who are being hastily imprisoned for their role in the recent riots — 90 per cent of them have neither a job nor a place in higher or further education — will come out a lot less naïve than when they went in. For a start they’ll find a way to deal with street CCTV cameras.
But it is up to us to help them achieve a proper class political perspective, the importance of education, agitation and organisation — not just to defend themselves from ruling class vindictiveness but to go on the offensive against our truly sick ruling class.

Rough Justice

2011-08-27T11:40:00.000+01:00

CAMERON’S LAW

by Daphne Liddle

THE RECENT RIOTS IN London that spread throughout the country gave the ruling class a scare. And now the bourgeois state machine, through the courts, is responding vindictively and handing out draconian custodial sentences to hundreds of people — most of whom were first offenders.
More than 2,770 people have been arrested in connection with last week’s riots; 1,277 suspects had appeared in court by last Tuesday and 64 per cent had been remanded in custody, compared to the 2010 remand rate of 10 per cent for serious offences. And two young men have been sentenced to four years in prison for using Facebook to incite a riot that never happened in Cheshire.
Paul Mendelle QC, who used to chair the Criminal Bar Association, told BBC Five Live: “When people get caught up and act out of character, in a similar way, there is a danger that the courts themselves may get caught up in a different kind of collective hysteria — I’m not suggesting violence or anything like that — but in purporting to reflect the public mood actually go over the top and hand out sentences which are too long and too harsh.”
There have been calls for rioters who are council tenants to be evicted and the London Borough of Wandsworth has already served an eviction notice on the family of one rioter. Similarly they are calling for rioters who are on benefits to be cut off.
These proposals are in total opposition to the international convention on human rights, which bans collective punishments — punishing a whole family for the offence of one member.
unequal
And it also puts council tenants and benefit claimants in an unequal position before the law. They would be liable to a far harsher punishment than someone not a council tenant or claimant who is found guilty of an identical offence.
Rendering people homeless and destitute is a very harsh punishment — even mass murderers in prison get food and a roof over their head.
The civil rights group Liberty said: “We fail to see how leaning on magistrates to lock up youngsters and evicting entire families — innocent siblings and all — from their homes — is justified.
“Crude spite is flawed, both in theory and practice, and will lead to more prob lems than it solves. Shutting down entire phone and social media networks — punishing innocent users and those warning others of violence — is as useless as it is disproportionate.”
defended
Prime Minister Cameron has defended the harsh sentences and claims that the courts are acting independently. But the Con-Dem Coalition and the media are exerting heavy pressure on magistrates, many of whom have been sitting day and night trying dozens of cases with little rest. What they are dishing out is anything but carefully considered justice.
And we are seeing staggering levels of hypocrisy from the Con-Dems. A letter in last Tuesday’s Evening Standard accused London Mayor Boris Johnson of breaking shop windows during a Bullingdon Club binge. And Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has a conviction for youthful arson.
But these are minor offences compared to the vandalism against the fabric of our society being committed by the cuts this government is making for ideological reasons and that are worsening the country’s economic position by closing down so much economic activity.
The Con Dems and the media claim that the soft approach to dealing with delinquent youngsters is the cause of the “break down in society”. But the opposite is true.
It is no coincidence that there were no riots under the Labour government but that when we get a Tory-led government that implements savage social cuts we do get riots.
In previous centuries London had a long history of rioting and the London Mob was famous for it. It largely disappeared in the last century as the state welfare system grew in response to demands from the organised working class and labour movement — the sort of benefits that are now disappearing.
The riots have never been a race issue, they are a class issue. Various bourgeois pundits have ascribed them to poverty and to culture but they avoid the use of the “c” word — class.
They are the inarticulate anger of the true proletariat — those who have nothing to lose but their chains and no means of making a living except by selling their labour power on a fragile and temporary basis in a market rigged against them.
The fact that some better off opportunists joined in the looting does not change this.
The tragedy is that these young people are so inarticulate, have so little political perspective and are not yet organised. But they’re learning fast.

Youth rebellion explodes

2011-08-13T01:27:00.000+01:00

New Worker editorial

TORY governments and inner-city riots seem to go together. And everything that David Cameron has done since he came to power just over a year ago has laid the grounds for the spontaneous explosions of youth anger and rebellion that have rocked London and now other major cities in Britain.
The job cuts, the benefit cuts, the youth service cuts — and the police cuts have swept away all the carefully constructed but fragile bridges and pathways out of poverty and deprivation that community members, youth workers, advice and counselling services had been constructing since riots of the 1980s.
Now today’s inner city youths are right back where their parents were a generation ago with no present, no future and being bullied by the state.
The police in their turn have their morale at rock bottom. The Con-Dem Coalition praises them and gives words of support while stabbing them in the back with job cuts, funding cuts and swingeing cuts in civilian support services. Then the Met Chief Constable, Sir Paul Stephenson and his number two both resign under allegations of bribery and corruption — and another police chief in Cleveland is suspended under allegations of corruption.
Public respect for the police has plummeted and the lower ranks are feeling the brunt.
The Government also swept away some of the regulations regarding stop-and-search and disgruntled young police officers have been using thus tactic to make a life a misery for youth throughout London — especially black youth.
The killing of a young black man in Tottenham last Thursday — followed by rumours that he had been shot while on the ground, sparked anger. The Independent Police Complaints Commission immediately began an inquiry. After literally hundreds of deaths in custody, the community knows that the role of the IPCC is to keep all information suppressed until the victim is forgotten by all but the grieving family. And after the cases of John Charles de Menezes and Ian Tomlinson they do not trust the police.
But police at Tottenham police station could have defused the whole situation last Saturday if they had consented to a serious discussion with the family and supporters at the peaceful protest there. Instead they remained in their fortress for hours until a rumour began that a police officer had struck a teenage girl at the protest. Then everything exploded.
This is a rebellion, not a revolution. It has no leaders, very little political consciousness, no focus, no structure and no direction. The young rioters have not yet struck the ruling class with anything except fear. They have hit a lot of petty-bourgeois shopkeepers and some people in their own communities have been made homeless.
Mostly the youngsters seem elated at the helplessness of the over-stretched police to stop them and making the most of it while they can to grab some of the consumer goodies they thought they would never be able to afford.
It is not a race riot — black, white and brown youths have been running together. Their parents are Afro-Caribbean, Nigerian, Somali, Indian, Pakistani, Irish, every community you can think of. And their parents are bewildered and afraid. Mainly they are low-paid, very hard up inner city workers who lead lives of debt-saddled drudgery and deprivation.
But there are extreme right-wingers who will try to portray it as a “race war” and there is a danger of right-wing vigilantism.
And there is a much bigger danger. In the enclaves of the ruling class now and officers’ messes up and down the country there will be heated debates about what a hopeless milksop that Cameron is and plans being formed to step in.
Cameron has few options. He does not have enough police to enforce a curfew — and that would upset business in our 24/7 cities. The army is too small and mostly abroad fighting unnecessary wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. He does not have enough water cannon or people trained to use them.
Even worse, probably at the moment many members of the public, politically naïve, would welcome a “strong” force to intervene and “restore law and order” and we could wake up with a new Government that is fully fascist and racist before the organised Left has got its socks on.
One thing is certain, the police absolutely now must ban the provocative EDL march planned for 3rd September through the Muslim communities of London’s East End.

Threat of Police State

2011-08-12T18:21:00.001+01:00

By Daphne Liddle

PRIME MINISTER David Cameron has authorised the use of water cannon and rubber bullets to quell the youth rebellion that has spread throughout the country.
Following a meeting of the national security council Cobra, Cameron said that police throughout the country are being issued with baton rounds (rubber bullets) and will have access to water cannon at 24-hours notice.
Meanwhile the Con-Dem Coalition claimed on Wednesday morning that flooding London’s streets last night with 16,000 police officers succeeded in preventing a fifth consecutive night of disorder and looting throughout the capital – though looting and arson continued in Canning Town, Barking and Tottenham.
Cameron made no attempt to disguise his hatred and contempt of the young rebels, referring to a “part of our society” that has “no respect”.
This is rich coming from a man who has, unprovoked in any way, for the past five months rained terror and mayhem down on the innocent citizens of Libya.
And after the parliamentary expenses scandal, the Murdoch media corruption scandal, the resignations of Met chief Sir Paul Stephenson, and his deputy, from their positions at the head of the Metropolitan Police, it is hard to know who these young people are supposed to feel respect for.
And when they see before them the unrestrained greed of the top bankers who take billion pound bailouts from the taxpayers and pocket most of it themselves in bonuses – while they face huge cuts in their living standards and life prospects – it is not hard to understand that the hatred and contempt between those at the top of our society and those at the bottom is mutual and growing.
This is not a race issue – young people of every race and ethnicity are involved and united. It is a class issue.
Cameron can count himself lucky that most of these young people have little political awareness, venting most of their anger in looting big stores and those of petty bourgeois retailers.
Violence erupted on Saturday evening in Tottenham four days after the shooting of a young man suspected of drug related offences. Initially the police claimed the man had been killed in an exchange of gunfire.
Now we know that only one bullet was fired, the one that killed Mark Duggan and then ricocheted into the radio of one of the police officers present. Some say that Duggan had been dragged from the minicab by the police and thrown on the ground before being shot.
The family of Mark Duggan and supporters wanted answers from the police and held a peaceful demonstration outside Tottenham police station. Police ignored their demands to speak to a senior officer for over four hours.
Then, after rumours that an officer had struck a teenage girl protester, the violence exploded. As more joined in it turned to looting. And as police seemed unable to stop it young people throughout the capital saw that police were unable to stop them and went out to share in the rebellion.
The Labour Representation Committee issued a statement, giving the background to the young people’s anger: “In March Haringey Council approved cuts of £84 million from a total budget of £273 million. There was a savage 75 per cent cut to the Youth Service budget, including: closing the youth centres; connexions careers advice service for young people reduced by 75 per cent; and the children’s centre service reduced.
“Haringey has one of the highest numbers of children living in severe poverty, and unemployment in the borough is among the highest in the UK. In London as a whole, youth unemployment is at 23 per cent….
“In Haringey, you are three times as likely to be stopped and searched if you are black; and over two-thirds of those stopped are under 25.”
Some are already suggesting that slowness of the police in tackling rioters in London while allowing fires to get a firm hold before making it safe for fire engines to approach was part of a hidden agenda to stampede the general public into accepting more draconian powers to repress all forms of protest during the
chaotic times ahead as the economy of western capitalism crumbles.
This week’s events demonstrate how quickly Britain’s passive and demoralised young working class can change their mood once they get a little confidence. But the only protection against the vicious backlash to come is to turn their anger into organised resistance that can end the whole rotten system once and for all.

Defending the right to protest

2011-08-05T19:39:00.004+01:00

By New Worker correspondent

Campaigners showed their support for arrested students and anti-cuts protesters outside Westminster City Court in London on Saturday. The protest was organised by the Defend the Right to Protest campaign in support of those arrested at Fortnum & Mason occupation in Piccadilly during the TUC anti-cuts demonstration on 26th March and students arrested on the previous anti fees protest.
Activists were told by a senior police officer during the Fortnum & Mason occupation that they would not be detained if they ended their occupation. But they were promptly arrested when they left the building. Police later confirmed that the arrests were for intelligence gathering purposes.
The police originally charged 138 people with aggravated trespass. All their mobile phones, which contained details of secure networks and email accounts used to mobilise and organise actions, were confiscated.
The Defend the Right to Protest campaign is demanding that all prosecutions brought against protesters be dropped and that an inquiry be held into the process that has led to punitive sentences being meted out by the judiciary to those already convicted.

News roundup

2011-08-05T19:36:00.001+01:00

RMT on Bombardier ‘fit-up’

RAIL UNION RMT last Tuesday issued a fresh call for the Government to reverse the decision to award the Thameslink fleet contract to German company Siemens in preference to Bombardier in Derby as the union revealed that over £15 million of taxpayers’ money was spent on advisers engaged in the tendering process.
RMT is calling on the National Audit Office to include the advisers and consultants costs in their investigations into the contract – particularly as these well-paid advisers totally failed to include the wider costs to the British economy in the tendering evaluation despite the fact that it is standard practice in other European countries.
The latest scandal around the Bombardier fit-up comes hot on the heels of evidence last week that the Government could simply rule out Siemens as preferred bidders without any comeback whatsoever as a result of the company’s track record globally of being involved in corrupt business practices.
There is no reason why the Government could not now award the work the only remaining and approved bidder, Bombardier in Derby.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “The news that over £15 million of taxpayers’ money has been soaked up in advisers and consultants fees to oil the wheels of the Bombardier stitch up just adds insult to injury.
“This is money that could have been invested in defending train manufacturing jobs in the UK instead of filling the pockets of City consultancy spivs. It’s time to bring this whole shabby exercise to a close and for the Government to step in and award this contract to the Derby work force. We are sick of the catalogue of excuses from various ministers and we are demanding urgent action.”

Rickshaw congestion warning

THE TRANSPORT union RMT last week warned that central London will be “jammed solid” with unlicensed and dangerous rickshaws as we head towards Olympics, with the authorities refusing to lift a finger to clampdown on the unregulated trade.
RMT London Taxi Branch has a clear position of opposition to rickshaws in London and last month RMT parliamentary group convenor John McDonnell successfully objected to the TFL London Local Authorities Bill at Second Reading – specifically on the grounds that it would lead to the continued proliferation of unlicensed, unsafe rickshaws clogging up central London.
This was an important and significant victory in the battle by RMT Taxi Branch to end the London rickshaw trade all together.
Now the RMT is demanding urgent action to clear the rickshaws off the busy streets of the capital before there is a fatality.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “There is a very real danger that the whole of central London could be clogged up with unlicensed and unregulated rickshaws in the run up to the Olympics if the authorities don’t get an urgent grip on the situation.
“Alongside the threat to the livelihoods of our licensed taxi branch members there is also the threat of serious injury to unwary members of the public who have no idea that they are climbing into uninsured and unregistered vehicles on London’s busy streets. We have heard reports of rip-off fares of as much as £50 for a journey of a few hundred metres.
“Our taxi branch is demanding action now before this chaotic situation spirals out of control and we will be leading a campaign on the streets and in Parliament to raise public awareness of the rickshaw threat and to force the authorities to end this trade before we have a tragedy on our hands.”

London nurse wins landmark equal pay case

THE PUBLIC sector union Unison helped a nurse win a landmark equal pay claim against City & Hackney Teaching Primary Care Trust.
The Trust failed to justify Gloria Emmanuel’s pay being lower than her male comparator’s, a maintenance supervisor.
The first test case in the equal pay claims against NHS Trusts – of whether employers can justify paying women less than men under the old Whitley Council pay system – will have implications for thousands of claims being pursued.
Bronwyn McKenna, assistant general secretary of Unison, said: “This is a landmark case that should send out a clear signal to employers that it is not right to pay women less than men….
“Women are bearing the brunt of the Government cuts, as well as facing a rising cost of living. It is unfair to force women to take home less than a man for doing the equivalent job.
“This victory will have implications for thousands more NHS women workers’ cases.”

Marxism: the choice of the Chinese people

2011-07-28T12:36:00.005+01:00

Ambassador Liu opens the seminar

by New Worker correspondent

NEW COMMUNIST Party leader Andy Brooks took part in a seminar with other communists, academics and labour movement leaders at the Chinese embassy in London last week, held to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai in 1921.
Around the theme of Marxism in China, the participants discussed the historic links between the British and Chinese people and the role of the Communist Party of China in liberating the country and leading the people’s republic into the 21st century.
Ambassador Liu Xiaoming opened the seminar with a keynote speech in which he said “Marxism became the choice of the Chinese people following a painstaking journey of exploration and perseverance since the second half of the 19th century,” in an opening that swept across the struggle of the Chinese communist movement over the decades to achieve liberation and practice and develop Marxism following the establishment of the people’s government in 1949.
“In 1921 the CPC started with 50 members,” he said. “Today, 90 years after its birth the CPC has become the world's largest ruling party with over 80 million members. Over the same period, China has been utterly transformed. In 1921 China was a poor, weak and underdeveloped country. Today, 90 years on, China is the second largest global economy. The Chinese people, once on the verge of crisis, are well on the path toward a great rejuvenation.”
Ambassador Liu was followed by openings from a panel that included historian and Labour MP Tristram Hunt, John Callow from the Marx Memorial Library, Graham Stevenson, who is president of the European Transport Workers’ Federation, Communist Party of Britain general secretary Robert Griffiths and Keith Bennett from the 48 Group Club, established in the early 1950s by progressive British businessmen to promote trade with the People’s Republic.
The efforts of the communist leadership to represent the advanced productive forces, the advanced culture and the interests of the broad masses to build a harmonious society were an underlying theme of most of the contributions to the discussion.
When the people’s government was established in 1949 China had the lowest standard of living in the world. Today China can now not only feed, cloth and educate its people but also provide consumer goods and living standards for working people unimaginable before liberation. China has a modern expanding economy that has withstood much of the current global capitalist crisis.
Feudal China was once the workshop of the world – a position it lost when it was exploited and plundered by the modern imperialists.

NCP leader Andy Brooks

But as Andy Brooks pointed out: “In the 13th century China was ahead of Europe in per capita income terms. China accounted for one third of the world’s GDP in 1820. It was a global economic power during 18 of the past 20 centuries and it is only regaining the ground it lost because of the interference of imperialism during the 100 years from the mid 19th century”.
Other participants included Billy Hayes, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, Prof John Ross, a former advisor to the Livingstone administration in London, Dr Jenny Clegg, a China specialist at the University of Central Lancashire and former Respect MP George Galloway.

The full text of Ambassador Liu Xiaoming's opening remarks

Spotlight on Nepal

2011-07-28T12:35:00.001+01:00

By New Worker correspondent

COMRADES gathered in central London for a New Worker meeting last week to hear a report from writer and journalist Peter Tobin, who has recently returned after six months in Nepal.
Tobin covered the current political situation there and the prospects for the UN-backed peace process, three-and-a-half years after the end of the civil war that brought about the fall of the feudal monarchy. He described the complex balance of internal and external forces, and how the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) – the largest party in the Constituent Assembly – has consolidated its organisation in Nepal’s cities and towns and is resisting attempts to disarm and neutralise its armed wing: the People’s Liberation Army.
Tobin summarised the position of the pro-Indian Nepal Congress Party and the “constitutional” Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), the current state of the bourgeois and feudal forces in Nepal and the role played by the Indian government and US imperialism in backing them.
Both Tobin and Kumar Sarkar, of Second Wave Publications, who also visited Nepal recently, discussed the emerging divisions within the UCPN(M) over strategy in the coming period and the advancement of the Nepali peoples’ revolutionary gains, and plans to hold the UCPN(Maoist)’s second party congress in the near future to resolve these questions.

Party Day at the Centre

2011-07-28T12:30:00.003+01:00

greetings from Poland

By New Worker
correspondent

COMRADES and friends joined New Communist Party leader Andy Brooks and Party Chair Alex Kempshall in celebrating the NCP's founding day reception last Saturday at the Party Centre in London.
The New Communist Party of Britain was established in July 1977 and since then the Party has worked to build the communist movement and working class unity while upholding the tenets of Marxism-Leninism. But this work cannot be done alone. This was a point made by Andy Brooks and this was a theme echoed by friends old and new during the formal part of the proceedings.
Michael Chant from the RCPB (ML) spoke of the consistent and principled co-operation between our two parties that began in 1994 and continues with greater depth today.
Kumar Sarkar from the South Asia Forum raised the problems of the communist movement in India and Nepal and Andrei from Polish Labour Party youth movement talked about the current struggle in Poland. Congratulatory messages were also received from Dermot Hudson of the UK Korean Friendship Association and Anton Johnson of the London Left Front Art group.
No NCP social ends without an appeal for the New Worker but this time it was to launch a special fund for the essential repair and restoration of part of the back of the Party building. National Treasurer Dolly Shaer said all donations earmarked for this fund would help to pay for the building work, which began last month with the clearing of the yard, and £143 was raised on the night.

Unite launches workers' "big society"!

2011-07-28T12:20:00.002+01:00

by New Worker correspondent

THE GIANT union Unite last week chose the first anniversary of David Cameron’s “Big Society” to launch their own by inviting students, single parents, the unemployed and claimants to join the union under a new “community membership” scheme for just 50 pence-a-week.
Unite is considering offering legal support and education facilities under the community membership scheme in exchange for “collective community action”, which could include supporting industrial action or campaigns against job cuts.
And it is offering these services precisely to those made most vulnerable by the withdrawal of state services like legal aid, advice and general support services.
Last Tuesday evening a small rally in Whitehall saw the launch of the new scheme, attended by Unite officer Kingsley Abrams attended by Unite officer Kingsley Abrams – a former Lambeth councillor who campaigned for his council to refuse to implement Government cuts. Also in attendance were leading disability rights campaigners.
The next day Unite’s “Big Society” road show came to an end on Wednesday 20th July with the delivery to Downing Street of four massive anniversary cards, crammed full of hundreds of furious messages to the Prime Minister.
The trip to Downing Street of Unite voluntary sector workers ends a two-week road show which has taken in Dorset in the South West, Liverpool, Durham and London.
The event culminated with a mass rally in central London outside the Houses of Parliament.
Thousands of people have shared their stories which have exposed the true scale of the devastation being wrought by the Government’s cuts to communities across the country in the year since the Prime Minister launched his so-called “Big Society”.
Cameron launched his “Big Society” a year ago (19th July 2010) to great fanfare but during the past year, his government has snatched a staggering £4.4 billion from the voluntary sector – services are being slashed, jobs cut and charities have been left struggling to survive.
Sally Kosky, Unite national officer for the not-for-profit sector said: “The stories of the thousands of people who took the time to respond to us should serve as a wake up call to David Cameron and his ministers, but instead he continues to turn a blind eye to the devastation his cuts are causing to millions of people throughout the country.
“The Prime Minister’s idea of the ‘Big Society’ is an insult to the hundreds of thousands of voluntary sector workers who keep our elderly safe, our disabled supported, the young off the streets and give a voice to the most marginalised in society.
“Cameron and his millionaires’ cabinet need to stop hiding behind ever more elaborate cost-cutting gimmicks and face up to the fact that their can be no volunteers without a voluntary sector with professional staff to underpin its structure.”
Unite the union, which has 60,000 members in the not for profit sector, is calling on the Government to give back the £4.4 billion it has taken from the sector.
In an interview with the Guardian, the general secretary of Unite, Len McCluskey, warned that strikes by millions of state employees are “inevitable” this autumn because of Government inflexibility over pension reforms, while he criticised Labour party leader Ed Miliband for an “ill-advised” attack on last month’s public sector walkouts.
McCluskey said the trade union movement already reflects through its voluntary membership structure the Conservative party’s “big society” vision of non-state organisations taking a bigger role in running public services. “David Cameron is talking about the big society. Well we are here. In many ways we are the big society. It will include students, single parent families, unemployed people, and retired individuals. If they want to come join us in this large family where we can link our work places and families together, that’s the type of union that we are looking to develop.”
McCluskey added that the TUC march against public sector cuts this year, attended by 250,000 people, underlined the potential for a community membership project. “There are millions of people out there who are vulnerable and without a voice.
“As the 26th March demonstration showed, I will bet that there are tens of thousands of people who were not union members. The only organisations speaking up for people are trade unions. I want to extend our remit into areas where perhaps we have not represented people before. If advice bureaus close down where do people seek help?”
He criticised Labour’s record in power, saying that the party’s “absolute adherence to the financial markets and the slavish following of neo-liberalism” had created a poverty gap.
McCluskey added: “I think Ed was wrong to condemn the strikes on 30th June. He was ill-advised to condemn those workers. We are talking about teachers here.”

¡NO PASARAN!

2011-07-22T08:47:00.007+01:00

by New Worker correspondent

Progressive musicians paid tribute to the fight for Spain at a concert dedicated to their memory last weekend. Piano virtuoso Michael Chant and contemporary musician Hugh Shrapnel, together with many other artists, assembled in London’s historic Bridewell Hall for an evening of music, song and poetry celebrating the stand against war and fascism of the heroes of the Spanish Republic and the International Brigade.
The hall, originally part of the St Bride’s printers’ library and polytechnic founded in 1894, was for decades used by Fleet Street print chapels and other nearby union branches for mass meetings and strike rallies. Now the renovated hall is home for broader cultural events. But last Saturday it returned to its roots with a concert organised by revolutionary musicians who had worked with the late Cornelius Cardew and the cutting edge Scratch Orchestra and People’s Liberation Music group back in the 1970s that later developed into the Progressive Cultural Association.
The main work, Song of Songs, written by Michael Chant, who also organised the event, was inspired by a poem by T E Nicholas, the Welsh communist also known as Niclas y Glais, who was a founder member of the old CPGB and a life-long revolutionary and struggler for peace.
Hugh Shrapnel and the De Madrugada (The Dawn) ensemble performed two pieces in memory of the International Brigaders and all those who fell in the battle to defeat Hitler and the Axis in the Second World War, while pianist Robert Coleridge played a composition dedicated to John Cornford, the communist poet who volunteered to fight in Spain and was killed in action in 1936.

A concert of music by Cornelius Cardew will take place at the Conway Hall, in central London, on Saturday 17th December to mark the 30th anniversary of his death. The communist musician and composer was killed on 13th December 1981 by a hit-and-run driver shortly after he had organised an anti-fascist concert to mark the 45th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War and the Battle of Cable Street.

News roundup

2011-07-22T08:44:00.001+01:00

Tube bosses to rely on volunteers during Olympics

THE TRANSPORT union RMT last week warned of dangerous consequences as tube bosses plan to replace station staff with untrained volunteers during the Olympics
The union cast a public safety warning over London Underground’s Olympic strategy for staffing stations as it emerged they plan to use “Non-Licensed Volunteers” to work throughout stations doing “way finding” – a coded term for crowd control – a skill and task that should only be carried out by experienced competent members of staff.
The main reason behind LU’s plan to use volunteers is their admission to the unions that they need an extra 400-600 Olympic duties per day to able to cope with the demand.
This admission totally demolishes the company’s case for dumping station staff posts and solidly proves RMT’s point that the 650 operational jobs shed by the company this year was a short sighted and dangerous move that has now left them desperately short of personnel.

Care home fire safety 'horrifying'

THE CON-DEM Coalition is eager to make a “bonfire of red tape” by getting rid of as many regulations as possible and reducing health and safety inspections. But this may well lead to a real bonfire of residential care homes and the people living in them, according to the London Fire Brigade.
The FBU reports that dozens of care homes across London have been ordered to improve after failing to achieve even basic fire safety standards.
After hospitals, firefighters consider care homes to present the single greatest risk to life of any public buildings. Residents are often elderly, fragile or mentally ill.
But 29 care homes in the city have been discovered not reaching basic standards since 2010.
The London Fire Brigade issued each of the homes – many of which were breaching the law – with a legal Enforcement Order, compelling them to make changes.
The homes were guilty of breaches including:

No fire escape plans
No training for staff
No marked fire exits

Green Party London Assembly Member Jenny Jones said: "It is quite horrifying. In care homes you have some of the most vulnerable people in society – people who can't move around quickly. It's crucial those homes have good fire safety procedures.”
But residential care homes are under increasing pressure from rising costs at the same time as local authority cuts in the grants they can give per resident. So the problem is likely to get worse.
Ms Jones said: "At the moment fire checks only have to happen every four years. I'd say there's a strong argument for having them more often – particularly in places where there are vulnerable people."
Six of the 29 flawed homes were in Croydon. All are privately run.

2011-07-12T22:21:00.004+01:00

by New Worker correspondent

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared at the High Court in London onTuesday to appeal against his extradition to Sweden over sex allegations. The former computer hacker was arrested in December over the sex assault claims, while WikiLeaks was in the process of releasing another huge cache of leaked US diplomatic cables. Assange says the claims are without basis and that he has no chance of a fair trial in Sweden because of the controversy around the case which followed an earlier massive leak of secret American documents. His lawyers also claim that if Assange was deported to Sweden he could then face extradition to the United States and incarceration in Guantánamo Bay on charges that carry the death penalty.

A toast to Kim Il Sung

2011-07-12T17:59:00.002+01:00

By New Worker correspondent

Friends of Korea marked the passing of great leader Kim Il Sung, who died in July 1994, at the John Buckle bookshop in south London last week. During the formal part of the proceedings RCPB (ML) leader Michael Chant and NCP general secretary Andy Brooks both paid tribute to the contribution Kim Il Sung had made in the fight for Korean independence and in the world communist movement throughout his long and active life.

Defending the Right to Protest

2011-07-12T17:51:00.003+01:00

By New Worker correspondent

Demonstrators turned up outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court last Wednesday in solidarity with the UK Uncut activists who have been charged with “aggravated trespass” following their occupation of Fortnum & Mason’s store in Oxford Street during the big union march through London in March. The activists peacefully occupied the luxury West End store to highlight the owner’s tax avoidance schemes. They were told by the police that they would not be charged if they left quietly but 139 were arrested after they left the building.
At the hearing on 5th July their supporters were again threatened with arrest if they waved banners or started chanting by police who claimed that it was “unlawful” as they had not received 49 hours notice of the demonstration. Some taped their mouths in defiance but Labour MP John McDonnell, the leader of the Labour Representation Committee, reasoned with the police and the demo went ahead anyway without incident.

photo: John McDonnell at the picket

Save the NHS!

2011-07-12T17:29:00.002+01:00

by New Worker correspondent

Thousands of health workers, trade unionists and campaigners marched through London on Tuesday 5th July in a “Save the NHS” protest called by Unite the union on the 63rd anniversary of the founding of the national health service. Led by Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey, the demonstrators marched through central London to a rally at Old Palace Yard, opposite Parliament, to hear speakers that included Labour Shadow Health Secretary John Healey.

Remembering Spain

2011-07-12T12:57:00.016+01:00

by New Worker
correspondent

This month Londoners stopped to remember the struggle and sacrifice of those who volunteered to defend the Spanish republic against General Franco’s rebels and his Nazi and Italian fascist allies during the Spanish Civil War. The Soviet Union sent arms and materiel to the legitimate Popular Front government but Britain stood aside. Anglo-French imperialism tacitly supported the fascists with a policy of “non-intervention” that prevented the Spanish government from importing British or French arms while turning a blind eye to the intervention of Mussolini’s fascist legions and the Nazi Luftwaffe which ultimately proved decisive.
Some 4,000 volunteers from Britain and Ireland , many of them communists, went to Spain to aid the republican cause fighting in the ranks of the International Brigade or working in front-line medical services. Over 35,000 anti-fascists from all over the world rallied to the call to defend the doomed efforts of the Spanish republic to quell Franco’s rebellion.
This year the International Brigade Memorial Trust is holding a number of events around the country to mark the 75th anniversary of the Brigades' formation in October 1936 starting with the annual ceremony at the brigade memorial in Jubilee Gardens in London’s South Bank on Saturday 2nd July. Guests of honour included the Spanish ambassador and representatives from the Catalan regional government along with delegations from Swedish and German brigader associations. Wreaths were laid by representatives of the British Jewish Ex-Servicemen’s Association and Veterans for Peace from the United States along with those of two surviving veteran volunteers,Thomas Watters and David Lomon.

End of an era in Greenwich fight against racism

2011-06-30T20:11:00.002+01:00

By New Worker correspondent

THE GREENWICH Council for Racial Equality was formally wound up last Tuesday evening at its annual general meeting in Woolwich, after a long and successful fight against racism and discrimination in the area.
And it was still functioning fully until the end, providing services ranging from keep-fit classes for elderly Asian ladies to cultural groups, giving advice and support in discrimination cases at work and in schools, advice in immigration, benefits, health and many other issues – and providing a powerful counter to racist abuse and violence.
Its downfall was a tragedy. An internal audit last year threw up a suspicion of embezzlement. Instead of covering up the matter, as they might have been tempted, the organisation’s officers did the correct thing and informed the local council – GCRE’s major source of funding.
The council immediately suspended funding and undertook its own investigation. In the meantime it instructed GCRE to implement a major structural and management overhaul and advised them to use a consultant to draw up a new business plan.
GCRE did this but the consultant, though very expensive, failed to come up with a new viable business plan. The council agreed that GCRE officers – with the exception of two who have now been formally charged by police – had all acted responsibly and followed the council’s instructions.
But as Con-Dem government cuts policies began to sink in, the mood of the council changed. The suspended funding was not restored. The business plan was rejected out of hand.
And with the investigation in progress it was impossible to seek funding elsewhere.
The organisation soldiered on using reserves to pay staff and running costs until it reached a point where liabilities equalled assets and winding up was the only option.
Now the staff – with a wealth of experience and specialised skills – are all redundant.
It was a sad and shocked meeting on Tuesday night, the end of an era and the end of a powerful campaigning organisation that has fought fascism and racism in the area for decades.
It supported the families of race murder victims Rolan Adams, Rohit Duggal and Stephen Lawrence; it battled with serious racist attitudes in the local police; it led the fight for the closure of the BNP office in neighbouring Bexley and it set examples of how to fight racism in the community that have been followed around the country and internationally.
GCRE officers pioneered the tactic of countering racist attacks and abuse on estates by knocking on doors, talking to people from all backgrounds about their concerns, getting them all together in meetings, introducing them to each other so that black, white and brown could find out that they all had the same problems and that the minority of youths who were carrying out the racist attacks were also responsible for a lot of other anti-social behaviour.
GCRE lawyers won landmark cases against the police over the ill-treatment of young black people while in custody and GCRE officers ended up teaching police officers how to handle racism effectively and build community harmony – not once but over and over again as police officers were re-assigned, moved on and new ones showed up who had to be taught from scratch again.
Recently GCRE officers had been doing pioneering work to end the isolation of elderly Asian women, many of them with poor English, improving their access to health and social care.
The offices were always buzzing. If you visited on any week day there were singing groups, health classes going on all around. GCRE supported small cultural groups from many local ethnic communities and being under one roof enabled them to be aware of each other and build a truly multi-cultural community.
Now that must all go – and at a time when so many other services are being withdrawn and Islamophobia is growing into a serious danger.
But, as ever, the struggle goes on. A new organisation will be formed. It will have no funding at the start. It will only be able to provide a tiny fraction of the services that GCRE provided.
But it will be free to campaign in a much more political way and put pressure on the council, on the police and it will have a wealth of knowledge and experience to do this.

All Out on 30th June!

2011-06-25T20:34:00.001+01:00

HUNDREDS of thousands of teachers and public servants are preparing to take action in the biggest protest so far against the Government’s cuts. And on the day they will be joined by many others who will refuse to cross picket lines. Over a million workers will be taking part in the day of action on 30th June, the biggest since the General Strike and the first massive blow of the union resistance to the Tory-led coalition’s austerity measures, which are driving down the living standards of millions upon millions of working people.
David Cameron’s government claims that it’s ready to negotiate but they’ve made it clear that there’s nothing to talk about accept the timetable for implementing the draconian measures designed to make workers pay for the capitalist crisis.
They claim that raising the retirement age, cutting pensions, reducing welfare benefits, cutting and privatising the health service and the rest of what remains of the public sector is inevitable. But it will only happen if we allow them to get away with it.
While we’re told to tighten our belts and work longer for less pay the rich are getting richer. The wealth of the millionaires has risen by 18 per cent collectively over the past year and the top 1,000 richest people in Britain now have between them over £60 billion more than they had a year ago.
These parasites live the lives of Roman emperors while working people, who produce all the wealth that they plunder, are expected to simply grin and bear it until the supposed “up-turn” comes round.
But the Tories and their Liberal Democrat collaborators have failed to undermine the action with their threat to bring in more anti-union legislation in the future. The bleats of the dregs of the Blairite faction, still in the Labour Party because they’ve nowhere else to go, have been ignored. However the response from the Labour leadership has been lukewarm at the best.
Miliband & Co want the unions’ support and they want they unions’ money but they don’t want to give much back in return. Labour’s “challenge” to the Cameron plan is little more than the feeble social-Keynesianism of the last days of the Brown government, designed to cushion the worst effects of slump with some minor reforms to lessen the worst effects of austerity amongst the poor.
Labour should be defending every existing right that workers possess, including their pensions and welfare benefits. They should be demanding the complete restoration of the “welfare state” and the public sector that Labour built up after the Second World War and which could still be easily paid for if the rich were taxed at the levels that existed in its hey-day in the 1970s.
Rank and file pressure from the millions of affiliated members can change Labour’s direction like the mass movement that has propelled the union leaders into next week’s confrontation with the Government.
But one swallow doesn’t make a summer and one day of action will not stop the Government in its tracks. Everyone must work to make 30th June a successful and massive demonstration of anger and solidarity. But it can only be a stepping stone for future mass co-ordinated strike action to force the Government to back down and if it won’t to force it to stand down and call another election.

Brian Haw

2011-06-25T20:26:00.002+01:00

Brian Haw

1949 – 2011

BRIAN HAW, whose lone vigil in Parliament Square made him an icon amongst the peace movement in Britain and across the world, died last weekend.
Brian Haw was an little-known evangelical Christian, motivated by the pacifist teachings of Jesus of Nazareth that are often ignored by many of those who profess to believe in him, who travelled to northern Ireland and Cambodia to preach “love, peace and justice for all” in the 70s and 80s. But he hit the headlines with his one-man protest against the imperialist aggression against Iraq.
He set up his tent opposite the so-called “Mother of Parliaments” in June 2001 to protest against the cruel imperialist blockade against Iraq that preceded the invasion and occupation by Anglo-American imperialism in 2003.
Brian was never short of company. Peace campaigners made a point of visiting his tent in the heart of London to help or spend some time in solidarity with the protest, which grew as Haw decorated the square with his home-made posters and peace banners condemning the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. This rapidly became an alternative London tourist attraction. But it was also an embarrassment to the Establishment and it soon attracted the unwelcome attention of the police.
For over 10 years Haw maintained his round-the-clock vigil, braving all weathers and violent attacks from thugs and the police. He defied all threats to evict him, including an abortive new law to restrict demonstrations within half-a-mile of Parliament.
Leading left Labour MPs Tony Benn and John McDonnell acted as character witnesses for Brian during his many appearances in court, including some brought by the Metropolitan Police on charges of aggression and assault.
In 2006 the police succeeded in obtaining authority to remove and confiscated Brian’s entire display. Fortunately the 40 metre long display was entirely recreated by the artist Mark Wallinger who won the 2007 Turner Prize for his exact replica of the encampment, entitled State Britain, that was exhibited in the Tate Modern art gallery.
Supporters maintained the protest tent when ill-health forced Haw to seek treatment in Germany, paid out of a fund raised by British supporters. Now there are calls for his memory to be preserved with a permanent monument in Parliament Square.

Brian Haw was flown to Germany for cancer treatment in January and died in Berlin on 18th June.

The legacy of the H-Block hunger strikers

2011-06-25T20:17:00.003+01:00

By New Worker
correspondent

THE LONDON Irish Centre in Camden last Saturday was packed to hear an array of powerful speakers at an event organised by Sinn Féin to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the hunger strikes in the notorious H-blocks of Long Kesh prison.
The hunger strikes saw 10 courageous young men starve themselves to death in 1981 in protest at the inhumane conditions in the prison.
Their deaths caused consternation and won support from all around the world, marking a watershed moment in the struggle of the nationalist community in the occupied six counties of northern Ireland, paving the way for the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process.
Foremost among the speakers was Brendan “Bik” McFarlane, who had been the Officer Commanding of the republican prisoners in the H-Blocks. He had a pivotal role and negotiator and liaison officer between the hunger strikers, the prison authorities, the IRA Army Council, the families and the outside world in general.
He took on the role of OC from Bobby Sands when Sands began his hunger strike – a role he did not want but knew he had to carry.
He told the meeting that the battle over prison conditions began in 1976, when the Labour Home Secretary Merlyn Rees withdrew political status from the IRA prisoners.
“It was British imperialism’s choice of a political basis to fight by pretending it was not a war and that the IRA were ordinary criminals. In demonising the IRA they effectively criminalised hundreds of years of Irish struggle for freedom from Britain.
“In this they were supported by the media, who described the IRA as gangsters and mobsters.”
When Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979 she continued this policy with a vengeance.
“It was a hard, hard time. Hundreds of prisoners were brought in for interrogation in torture centres,” McFarlane continued. “We had the Diplock Courts, without juries, we had forced confessions. They were trying to crush our power to resist.”
Most of those arrested were very young, in their teens and some as young as 16. Hundreds of families in the nationalist community saw their sons and daughters arrested on almost any pretext.
The prisoners in the H-blocks decided to fight back by resisting criminalisation. They refused to wear the prison uniforms that carried the status of criminal and demanded prisoner-of-war status, the right to association and to conduct their own education programmes within the prison.
The prison authorities responded by stripping them and locking them in freezing cells with nothing to wear but old and dirty blankets.
“The regime tried to physically break people and resistance built up. Increasing numbers became involved – and the brutality also increased. Some pretty awful things happened.
“We decided to go for a hunger strike because the political ramifications of failure for both sides were huge…
“We ended up with a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week lock up. We had no access to toilets or washing facilities.
“So first the urine went out of the window. Then the shit followed. We had no choice. Then they boarded up the windows. So the shit went on the walls. That is the truth of the ‘dirty protest’.
“When Cardinal McPhee visited to see the conditions he was physically sick. He made a hard-hitting statement to the media about the conditions.”
Pressure for reform began to build but Thatcher would not be moved. A first hunger strike by prisoners came to an end when the British government offered some reforms, which in effect turned out to be a lie.
So a second hunger strike was agreed and a number of volunteers came forward and the then OC, Bobby Sands was the first. That is when he passed on his position to Bik McFarlane with some harsh instructions – not to allow the prison authorities to resuscitate hunger strikers who had fallen into a coma.
They decided to stagger the hunger strikes; volunteers began at weekly intervals so their deaths would have maximum impact in the media.
At first the IRA Army Council outside the prison opposed the hunger strikes on a humanitarian basis but the prisoners convinced them there was no other way.
As the prisoners started dying outwardly the British government did not move but behind the scenes informal channels of negotiation began to open, involving MI5, businessmen and Sinn Féin.
The election of Bobby Sands as an MP to Westminster while he was in prison and on hunger strike was another big blow to the British government – it gave the lie to propaganda claims that the IRA were a bunch of criminals with no popular support.
The European Commission for Human Rights started to take notice.
Families were brought in to visit the dying men – and try to persuade them to give up their hunger strikes.
“That’s what pressure is,” said Bik McFarlane. “What sustained us was the example of the lads in the hospital, their courage, determination and their humour. Seeing them up to 60 days into the strike, the change, the deterioration was appalling.”
McFarlane brought them offers of reforms from the authorities that the hunger strikers rejected because they were not enough.
Bobby Sands began his hunger strike on March 1st and died on 3rd May.
As the men died the pressure on the Government grew. On the surface nothing seemed to change but the hunger strikes ended on 1st October 1981. Three days later all the reforms they had demanded were granted.
At enormous cost, the Irish republican movement had forged its way into the political processes of the occupied north of Ireland – from which they had previously been totally excluded.
Other speakers included Bairbre de Brun, Sinn Féin MEP, who had been outside, organising H-Block support committees who spoke of how the nationalist community fought to defend its imprisoned youth and tell the world their children were not criminals.
She also spoke of the rising involvement of women in the struggle – and how they broke the convention that only men could play a role in funerals.
Dr Kevin McNamara was also there. He was a Labour MP during the hunger strikes and Shadow Secretary of State. He played a pivotal role in shaping Labour policy on Ireland.
Francis Wurtz, an MEP from the French Communist Party, spoke of his battles inside the European Parliament to raise the plight of the prisoners in the H-blocks. He attended Bobby Sands funeral.
Jenny McCann, now a Sinn Féin Assembly Member, gave an account of the struggles of women prisoners involved in protests in Armagh and Maghaberry prisons, where she had been imprisoned.
Ronnie Kasrils played a leading role in the freedom struggle against apartheid in South Africa in the ANC’s armed wing, “Spear of the Nation”. He spoke of the impact the news of the hunger strikes had in Africa. He declared that the hunger strikes were “one of the most heroic acts in the struggle for freedom in human history”.
Kevin Ovenden reported that throughout the Middle East and North Africa freedom fighters regard Bobby Sands and the hunger strikers as their own heroes.

photo: Bik McFarlane

Workers protest at Unilever pension betrayal

2011-06-25T20:15:00.002+01:00

UNILEVER workers, members of Unite, fighting to save their pension scheme took part in a demonstration last Tuesday 21st June as Unilever began its formal consultation in London over plans to axe the final salary pension scheme for its 5,000 staff in Britain.
The company plans to scrap the final salary scheme and transfer workers to an inferior career average revalued earnings (CARE) scheme from 1st January 2012.
Unilever introduced a CARE scheme in 2008 for new starters, promising that this would safeguard the final salary scheme for all existing workers but this scheme is also under attack, making it an even worse option for Unilever workers.
Unite has slammed this attack on the pensions of its members as a “betrayal” to its loyal and hard working workforce. The union is calling on household giant Unilever to reverse these pension changes that will destroy the retirement plans for 5,000 workers.
Unite nationally is leading the campaign “Unilever – hands off our pensions” to strongly resist this unacceptable attack on the pensions of its members.
Unilever makes such iconic brands as PG Tips, Marmite, Pot Noodle, Hellman’s mayonnaise, Dove, Comfort and Surf.

Stop the War

2011-06-21T11:02:00.002+01:00

by New Worker correspondent

MORE THAN 300 supporters of Stop the War attended the organisation’s successful conference in London last weekend, times to coincide with the imperialist invasion of Afghanistan, which triggered the foundation of Stop the War.
There were many international speakers, including Arab Spring activists, students, artists, military family members, historians, and Members of Parliament.
The conference discussed plans to deliver a petition against bombing Libya to Downing Street, along with a number of members of Parliament on 28th June, and they are planning to occupy Trafalgar Square in October on the 10th anniversary of both the invasion of Afghanistan and the creation of the Stop the War Coalition.
Jeremy Corbyn MP, was introduced on Saturday by Stop the War Coalition's Andrew Murray as working with a pack of warlords.
Corbyn agreed; he said that Parliament is made up of war lords and war criminals. He also credited the Stop the War Coalition with helping to prevent an attack on Iran in recent years.
The Labour MP called the idea that more time is needed to finish a job in Afghanistan a "load of tosh." He also pointed out that the two sides fighting in Libya can exchange parts for their rifles, because they both have rifles provided by Britain.
A young woman from Tunisia expressed the sentiment shared by many other Arabs: "Our countries do not want Western intervention, or money! It comes with policies. It's not free or even just with high interest."
A number of speakers argued that a counter-revolution against the Arab Spring is being fought by Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United States, the UK, France, and Nato.
An opposition leader from Bahrain said that what his people want is for the West to stop training troops to oppress and torture.
Author John Rees said that after Tunisia and Egypt took the imperial powers by surprise, they went into Libya and Bahrain as a counter-attack, misusing popular sympathy with the Arab Spring to rehabilitate the idea of war that had been so discredited in Iraq and Afghanistan. Egypt, Rees argues, is still the central struggle, where the new military government is working to demobilise the people and imprison those who demonstrate or strike.
Tariq Ali said that people should be left free to succeed or fail. No one ever proposed that China invade Indochina, he said. Why should Nato invade Libya? Or Syria? Or Yemen? Bahrain didn't ask for intervention, he pointed out, but got it anyway.
Former Respect MP George Galloway was the last speaker on Saturday. He recalled telling Jack Straw in Parliament eight years ago that contrary to Straw's assertion, British troops would not be home by Christmas, nor would they be home 10 Christmases hence.
Straw laughed. But the war will eventually conclude, Galloway said, on the very terms it could have concluded with 10 years earlier.
The BBC, Galloway complained, is denouncing Syria for using Apache helicopters to attack its own people. "I've never understood," said Galloway, "why it is worse to kill your own people than other people's people."
The BBC had cheered a week or 10 days earlier for Apache helicopters used by Britain to kill Libyans.
Galloway said: “The problem with Syria, Galloway said, is not that it's run by the latest Adolf Hitler of the month, but that it harbours Palestinian leadership, supports Lebanese national resistance, and refused to participate in the attack on Iraq.”

Wildcat strike at Royal Mail gets the goods

2011-06-21T11:00:00.001+01:00

STAFF at a London delivery office last week took illegal strike action and won the reinstatement of a fellow worker.
Around 90 postal workers at the N1 sorting office took unofficial strike action yesterday in support of a longstanding worker suspended for “wilful delay of the mail”.
After three hours of strike action managers caved in and reinstated the worker.
“It’s a complete victory,” said Mark Dolan, a senior CWU union rep in north London.
The Royal Mail saw more strike action this week as engineers working for Royal Mail subsidiary Romec struck at mail centres around the country. According to union officials, non-union staff refused to cross the picket at Warrington mail centre.
The CWU-organised ballot saw 92 per cent of members voting for strike action on a turnout of 75 per cent. Further strikes are scheduled for Cardiff, Dorset and London on Monday,
The strike relates to imposed changes to shift patterns pushed through without consultation, and which have seen pay docked from workers for non-compliance.
Meanwhile, London postal workers have voted to strike in an official CWU ballot in a dispute arising from the closure of mail centres in Vauxhall and Bow. Thus far, Royal Mail management have refused to rule out compulsory redundancies as a result of the closures. They are expected to result in over 500 job losses. Postal workers voted four-to-one in favour of strike action.

London Slut Walk

2011-06-17T21:19:00.002+01:00

By New Worker correspondent

SOME 5,000 Londoners turned out for last Saturday’s “Slutwalk” to rally for women’s rights and protest about sexist attitudes to women and rape. The first Slutwalk was held in Toronto in April, triggered by a Canadian policeman’s comment that women should “avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised”.
He has subsequenty apologised for his remark. But the word “slut” was then taken up by Canadian activists “tired of being oppressed by slut-shaming; of being judged by our sexuality and feeling unsafe as a result”. At the first march in Canada the organisers said that “being in charge of our sexual lives should not mean that we are opening ourselves to an expectation of violence, regardless if we participate in sex for pleasure or work".
Now their call has been taken up in north America and other parts of Europe as a rallying cry against sexist attitudes to rape, victim-blaming and discrimination against marginalised groups of men and women. The protesters, colourfully dressed to affirms the right to wear what one likes, marched from Piccadilly for a rally in Trafalgar Square.
Speakers at the rally also spoke against the Con-Dem Coalition cuts, pointing out that they directly target women both in jobs and in the support services that protect them from domestic and other abuse and take away their independence, leaving them more dependent on abusive partners.

The revolutionary movement in India

2011-06-07T12:59:00.002+01:00

By New Worker correspondent

New Worker supporters discussed the problems facing the revolutionary movement in India and Nepal last week at a NCP London District meeting at the Fitzrovia Centre in central London. The discussion was opened by Kumar Sarkar, from the Second Wave solidarity movement, who has recently returned from Nepal and West Bengal. The NCP London district holds a number of meetings in central London while the Metropolitan New Worker supporters group regularly meets at the Party Centre. Check the diary for forthcoming events or contract the Centre directly.

The Smiling Face of Imperialism

2011-05-27T12:13:00.003+01:00

By Daphne Liddle

PRESIDENT Obama arrived in London on Tuesday to cheers and smiles from Prime Minister Cameron, the Queen as the rich and powerful eagerly sought to be photographed near the man who is described as the most powerful on the planet.
But just out of shot of most of the media’s lenses were hundreds of protesters with long list of issues and grievances.
When he came to power in 2009 Obama promised to extricate the United States from the illegal and unending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to close the concentration cam at Guantánamo Bay.
But two years on there is still a US presence in Iraq to prop up the otherwise non-viable puppet state and in Afghanistan American and British forces are still fighting a losing battle and in the process still killing Afghan civilians, destroying their homes and driving the angry and bereaved people into the arms of the Islamic fundamentalists who are seen as the only defence against imperialist bombing.
Even worse, with the lessons of George W Bush’s ill-judged attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan, the humiliating failures to defeat to defeat the resistance forces and the damage the cost has done to the US economy plain to see, Obama is in the process of opening up yet another war – in Libya. And US imperialism is now also threatening Syria.
Democrat or Republican, the US ruling class cannot seem to learn from defeat and continues to sacrifice everything to achieve world hegemony – which continues to elude them as the working people of the rest of the world come together in mutual defence.
Among those protesting outside Buckingham Palace as Obama dined with the Queen were the family and friends of Shaker Aamer and campaigners against Guantánamo, wearing bright orange prison suits.
Shaker Aamer has been held in Guantánamo prison for over nine years now without charge or trial. His family in Battersea includes one child born after he was detained who he has yet to see.
There was also a large group of Libyan protesters supporting Gaddafi, with green flags and scarves, also calling for an end to Nato attacks on Libya, which are killing civilians and contaminating the country with toxic depleted uranium debris, and the embargoes which are making life hard for the people of the country.
A large group of Bahrainis took part in the demonstration, protesting about the use of Saudi troops against protesters there as well as Syrians showing their support for the Assad government that imperialism has targeted for sanctions.
CND and New Worker supporters and other peace activists joined the throng that included Peter Tatchell – protesting with a placard calling for the release of Wikileaks whistleblower Bradley Manning who exposed US war crimes.
The murder of Al Qaeda front man Osama bin Laden by US Special Forces in Pakistan recently could easily have given Obama the opportunity to make a face-saving withdrawal from the bloody mess of the Afghan war; to close Guantánamo and declare the ridiculous “war on terror” over and done.
But far from taking this opportunity to steer America into more peaceful waters and focus on the huge problems facing the US domestic economy, Obama is now eager to repeat Bush’s lunacies and lead his country into even more military escapades.
It will only result in more humiliation for US imperialism as its growing military, political and economic weaknesses are demonstrated on the world stage yet again.
Meanwhile Cameron is desperately hoping Obama will endorse his economic policy of savage public spending cuts, which is in deep trouble as popular opposition grows.
Obama has agreed to open up the White House top secret National Security Council to Downing Street and to establish a joint National Security Strategy Board comprising senior officials on both sides of the Atlantic.
Later Obama will visit Warsaw before attending the G8 summit in Deauville, France on Thursday and Friday.
If either Cameron or Obama really wanted peace and security they would stop invading other countries and allow the peoples of the rest of the world some peace and security from their ill-omened attacks.