Planning for the Post-Blair era
THE MAIN item on the agenda at the annual conference of the Labour Representation Committee in London last month was MP John McDonnell’s announcement that, on Tony Blair’s retirement as prime minister, he would stand against Gordon Brown as successor.
This would force a vote and a full debate of policies within the Labour Party. All individual members would have to be balloted and all affiliated unions would have to ballot their members.
Given the current level of dissatisfaction among Labour rank and file members with both Blair and Brown, this would mean that Brown’s succession would be far from secure. It could lead to a dramatic change in the party and its policies.
The current LRC has now been in existence for just two years and is based on the historic Labour Representation Committee that first founded the Labour Party.
The conference began with a review of the LRC’s progress since last year’s conference. Individual membership now exceeds 1,000; it has more than 100 affiliated organisations and claims to be the biggest rank and file left Labour organisation.
Among those attending the conference were four delegates from the New Communist Party, which is affiliated to the LRC.
The LRC issued an executive statement for the conference, which said: “The Blair era is slowly grinding to an end. It is increasingly accepted that within 12 to 18 months the Prime Minister will resign. Events my even overtake him sooner. This presents the Left with two serious challenges:
“First, how the Left responds to the present attempt by the Prime Minister to secure in his last months his ‘legacy agenda’.
“Second, how the Left challenges for the future of the post Blair Labour Party.”
It covers the New Labour intentions to eradicate the last vestiges of the social and political model inherited from past labour governments and to install the foundations of a market state.
And it issues a call: “For the next 12 to 18 months the aim of the Left must be to campaign in the party, in our unions and in every organisation available to us to hold back the ‘legacy agenda’ of privatisations, attacks on civil liberties and nuclear risk.
“The LRC commits itself to supporting at local and national levels campaigns to protect public services such as ‘Keep the NHS Public’ and ‘Public Services not Private Profit’.”
This statement was endorsed unanimously – as were 10 other resolutions submitted by affiliated organisations.
These included opposition to state funding of political parties or a cap on donations – which would undermine the link between the unions and the party.
Other resolutions called for the renationalisation of the rail transport system, commitment to public services, opposition to civil service cuts, for a Trade Union Freedom Bill, support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, opposition to the “war on terror”, support for Venezuela and an emergency resolution on the Middle East.
But the key resolution, on which all the others hinged, was backing for John McDonnell’s leadership challenge.
If this succeeds, it could result in a Labour leadership both willing and able to implement all the other resolutions.
Among the organisations present at the conference were the Fire Brigades Union and the RMT transport union. Both of these unions are no longer affiliated to the Labour Party in protest at cuts and privatisation policies which have had an adverse effect on union members. The PCS union, which never was affiliated to the Labour Party, was also there.
There were calls for these unions to affiliate to the Labour Party in order to play a fuller role in fighting for change. The three general secretaries – Matt Wrack, Bob Crow and Mark Serwotka – indicated their personal agreement.
This was a conference marked by its unity of purpose and without divisions or splits. There were rousing speeches from John McDonnell, veteran campaigner Tony Benn, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Bob Wareing MP, Alice Mahon MP, Lyn Jones MP, RMT general secretary Bob Crow, FBU general secretary Matt Wrack, PCE general secretary Mark Serwotka and NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear.
John McDonnell and Tony Benn were both cheered when they expressed outrage at Tony Blair’s joining George Bush in being the only two national leaders outside of Israel to fail to condemn the bombing of Lebanon or call for an immediate ceasefire.
“The US and Britain are totally isolated in not calling for a ceasefire. Bush could stop this war immediately with one phone call,” said McDonnell.
And explaining his decision to challenge Brown for the leadership of the party, he said: “I did not work for 18 years to get rid of the Tories to elect a Labour government that would privatise more jobs in 10 years than the Tories did in 20.”
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Hiroshima Day in London
By New Worker Correspondent
ON THE 6th August 1945 the American Air force dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, causing the deaths of about 100,000 people leaving countless others to die over the coming decades of radiation related illnesses.
Three days later Nagasaki suffered a similar fate. Since 1967 the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has organised an annual commemoration of these terrible events in London’s Tavistock Square, which itself was the site of the bomb which killed 13 people on number 30 bus in July last year.
The ceremony was chaired by Left Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, who is also Vice Chair of CND. It began with the Liberal Mayor of Camden laying a wreath to the victims.
Veteran pacifist Pat Arrowsmith then read two of her poems while the Workers’ Music Association and Raised Voices choirs sang a number of Japanese and English songs.
The Vicar of nearby St Pancras Church, a priest from the Battersea Park Peace Pagoda and an Imam from the Interfaith Alliance UK all spoke in favour of nuclear disarmament.
Two speakers were from the opposite ends of the age spectrum: 100-year old Rose Hacker, a long-time peace activist and Labour Party member was followed by 11-year-old Sonia from Children Against the War.
Near the end of the ceremony former Labour MP Tony Benn reminded the audience that the dropping of the atomic bombs was not carried out to defeat the Japanese who were already on their knees, but were the intended as a warning to the Soviet Union. They were in fact the first acts of the Cold War.
Benn was one of several a speakers to stress that in the coming months every effort has to be made to prevent Blair, or whoever succeeds him, from committing this country to a replacement for Trident missiles.
ON THE 6th August 1945 the American Air force dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, causing the deaths of about 100,000 people leaving countless others to die over the coming decades of radiation related illnesses.
Three days later Nagasaki suffered a similar fate. Since 1967 the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has organised an annual commemoration of these terrible events in London’s Tavistock Square, which itself was the site of the bomb which killed 13 people on number 30 bus in July last year.
The ceremony was chaired by Left Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, who is also Vice Chair of CND. It began with the Liberal Mayor of Camden laying a wreath to the victims.
Veteran pacifist Pat Arrowsmith then read two of her poems while the Workers’ Music Association and Raised Voices choirs sang a number of Japanese and English songs.
The Vicar of nearby St Pancras Church, a priest from the Battersea Park Peace Pagoda and an Imam from the Interfaith Alliance UK all spoke in favour of nuclear disarmament.
Two speakers were from the opposite ends of the age spectrum: 100-year old Rose Hacker, a long-time peace activist and Labour Party member was followed by 11-year-old Sonia from Children Against the War.
Near the end of the ceremony former Labour MP Tony Benn reminded the audience that the dropping of the atomic bombs was not carried out to defeat the Japanese who were already on their knees, but were the intended as a warning to the Soviet Union. They were in fact the first acts of the Cold War.
Benn was one of several a speakers to stress that in the coming months every effort has to be made to prevent Blair, or whoever succeeds him, from committing this country to a replacement for Trident missiles.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Remembering the heroes who fought fascism in Spain
by Rob Laurie
SEVENTY years ago this month General Franco led a revolt of the Spanish Army against the Popular Front Government elected the previous February. Thus began what is known as the Civil War in Spain – but which is more accurately named the Spanish War Against Fascism – which was to last three years before the fascists triumphed.
This was due to the massive open support of Hitler and Mussolini, to say nothing of the covert support from Britain and other bourgeois democracies.
The Spanish Republic did fight not alone; support came from the Soviet Union and the International Brigades which were formed of volunteers who came from across the globe.
Britain sent 2,100 volunteers to fight against the fascists. Of these 526 died in battle. Today only 24 are still alive.
Contrary to the impression given in the capitalist media the volunteers were not all poets and other gilded youth whose later memoirs greatly exaggerated their role.
The Brigaders were largely working class: among them were Welsh miners, Clydeside engineers and working class Jewish veterans of the struggles against Oswald Mosley in the East End of London.
Last Saturday this heroic struggle was remembered at a ceremony at the International Brigade Memorial under the gaze of the London Eye in south London.
This year the ceremony was important for the first ever attendance of the Spanish Ambassador, Carlos Miranda, which represented a long overdue official recognition by the Spanish government of the efforts made by the International Brigade in the war and afterwards when they campaigned for the political prisoners held in Franco’s jails.
He praised the Brigaders for their role in bringing about Spain’s present democratic constitutional monarchy. While this may not have been the aim of the Brigaders who were largely Communists, they can be credited with encouraging the Spanish people’s resistance to the fascist system which did not long outlive General Franco.
The well attended event was chaired by Jack Jones, former general secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union, himself a Brigader. Among the seven veterans present was Penny Fyvel who served as a nurse in during the war.
There were three wreaths laid. The Spanish Ambassador laid one; a representative of the Jewish ex-servicemen’s organisation, AJAX, laid another and Connie Fraser laid the third on behalf of the International Brigade Memorial Trust – who organised the ceremony.
Bob Doyle, the last surviving Irishman to fight in Spain was also present to sign copies of his recent autobiography Brigadista. While the main speaker was Rodney Bickerstaffe, the former general secretary of Unison, Sam Russell, another Brigader, recited Cecil Day-Lewis’s poem The Volunteer.
He also called upon the large audience to remember the role of women who served as ambulance drivers and nurses. The meeting also saw the launch of a new anthology of poetry written by veterans and edited by Jim Jump.
SEVENTY years ago this month General Franco led a revolt of the Spanish Army against the Popular Front Government elected the previous February. Thus began what is known as the Civil War in Spain – but which is more accurately named the Spanish War Against Fascism – which was to last three years before the fascists triumphed.
This was due to the massive open support of Hitler and Mussolini, to say nothing of the covert support from Britain and other bourgeois democracies.
The Spanish Republic did fight not alone; support came from the Soviet Union and the International Brigades which were formed of volunteers who came from across the globe.
Britain sent 2,100 volunteers to fight against the fascists. Of these 526 died in battle. Today only 24 are still alive.
Contrary to the impression given in the capitalist media the volunteers were not all poets and other gilded youth whose later memoirs greatly exaggerated their role.
The Brigaders were largely working class: among them were Welsh miners, Clydeside engineers and working class Jewish veterans of the struggles against Oswald Mosley in the East End of London.
Last Saturday this heroic struggle was remembered at a ceremony at the International Brigade Memorial under the gaze of the London Eye in south London.
This year the ceremony was important for the first ever attendance of the Spanish Ambassador, Carlos Miranda, which represented a long overdue official recognition by the Spanish government of the efforts made by the International Brigade in the war and afterwards when they campaigned for the political prisoners held in Franco’s jails.
He praised the Brigaders for their role in bringing about Spain’s present democratic constitutional monarchy. While this may not have been the aim of the Brigaders who were largely Communists, they can be credited with encouraging the Spanish people’s resistance to the fascist system which did not long outlive General Franco.
The well attended event was chaired by Jack Jones, former general secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union, himself a Brigader. Among the seven veterans present was Penny Fyvel who served as a nurse in during the war.
There were three wreaths laid. The Spanish Ambassador laid one; a representative of the Jewish ex-servicemen’s organisation, AJAX, laid another and Connie Fraser laid the third on behalf of the International Brigade Memorial Trust – who organised the ceremony.
Bob Doyle, the last surviving Irishman to fight in Spain was also present to sign copies of his recent autobiography Brigadista. While the main speaker was Rodney Bickerstaffe, the former general secretary of Unison, Sam Russell, another Brigader, recited Cecil Day-Lewis’s poem The Volunteer.
He also called upon the large audience to remember the role of women who served as ambulance drivers and nurses. The meeting also saw the launch of a new anthology of poetry written by veterans and edited by Jim Jump.
Menezes family continue fight for justice
THE CROWN Prosecution Service last week ruled that there was not enough evidence to bring criminal charges against any police officers involved in the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes last July. Instead they decided to prosecute the Metropolitan Police under health and safety laws.
But the family of the young Brazilian, mistaken for a terrorist suspect, who was shot and killed on a Tube train at Stockwell Underground Station on 22nd July 2005, say they will continue to campaign for those involved to be brought to justice. unbelievable
Alex Pereira, a cousin of Jean de Menezes, said the CPS decision was “completely unbelievable”. He talked about the decision with Menezes’ family in Brazil.
“They are shocked about the decision,” he said. “They are completely disappointed about what they heard this morning.”
Another cousin, Patricia da Silva Armani, who lived in London with Menezes, said: “I am very disappointed. I was expecting a negative reply and it is shameful. My cousin was shot; they took his life inside an Underground station. “The authorities, in reality they did not have any shame. I feel sickened by that.”
London mayor Ken Livingstone commented: “Health and safety legislation was simply not drawn up to deal with policing a city facing the terrorist threat of 7th July.
“And it makes absolutely no sense to apply such legislation in the case of such an extreme situation.” got stuck
Meanwhile new evidence has emerged that the police unit involved in the shooting stopped for petrol on their way to Stockwell Tube station and then got stuck in heavy traffic as they were supposed to be following a terrorist suspect travelling by bus towards the station.
The delay led to these officers arriving too late at the station to stop Menezes boarding a train. Since they believed at the time that he was an Arab suicide bomber, they felt they had no option but to resort to a shoot-to-kill policy. The Menezes family is now considering their next step forward in their fight for justice.
But the family of the young Brazilian, mistaken for a terrorist suspect, who was shot and killed on a Tube train at Stockwell Underground Station on 22nd July 2005, say they will continue to campaign for those involved to be brought to justice. unbelievable
Alex Pereira, a cousin of Jean de Menezes, said the CPS decision was “completely unbelievable”. He talked about the decision with Menezes’ family in Brazil.
“They are shocked about the decision,” he said. “They are completely disappointed about what they heard this morning.”
Another cousin, Patricia da Silva Armani, who lived in London with Menezes, said: “I am very disappointed. I was expecting a negative reply and it is shameful. My cousin was shot; they took his life inside an Underground station. “The authorities, in reality they did not have any shame. I feel sickened by that.”
London mayor Ken Livingstone commented: “Health and safety legislation was simply not drawn up to deal with policing a city facing the terrorist threat of 7th July.
“And it makes absolutely no sense to apply such legislation in the case of such an extreme situation.” got stuck
Meanwhile new evidence has emerged that the police unit involved in the shooting stopped for petrol on their way to Stockwell Tube station and then got stuck in heavy traffic as they were supposed to be following a terrorist suspect travelling by bus towards the station.
The delay led to these officers arriving too late at the station to stop Menezes boarding a train. Since they believed at the time that he was an Arab suicide bomber, they felt they had no option but to resort to a shoot-to-kill policy. The Menezes family is now considering their next step forward in their fight for justice.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Call to close detention centres
PEOPLE held in London’s Colnbrook Detention Centre last month issued a statement calling for the closure of all detention centres and declared a hunger strike in protest against inhuman treatment.
They describe three types of prisoner being held there. The first of these are asylum seekers; refugees who fled their native country, forced to abandon their families to save their lives.
All they want is to survive and live in safety. They have always complied with the conditions given them. They were detained when they went to make their weekly report in the immigration office, and since then they have been at Colnbrook IRC.
They are held for many months in the centre for no crime and are deprived of all contact with their families.
The second group who suffer are disabled asylum seekers who have been unable to earn a living. They suffer particularly because there are no facilities for disabled prisoners and they do not receive proper medical attention. The third group, a minority, consists of those who have committed offences – for example using a forged passport – served their sentence in prison and are then held indefinitely in the detention centre – sometimes for twice the length of their original sentence.
They are in a legal limbo and have no idea what will happen to them. They feel they are being used as political scapegoats.
Some are suicidal. Their statement says: “We have repeatedly called for help and intervention, for an investigation of these crimes against humanity. We have appealed and will continue to appeal to whoever is willing to listen, to come to our aid, and exert some control, and restraint on this organisations.”
They have embarked on the hunger strike to draw attention to their plight. They are asking for an audience with immigration minister Liam Byrne MP; for an independent parliamentary committee to investigate their situation and for temporary work permits in order to earn a living.
But already one of the hunger strikers has been seized and taken from his cell by 20 police officers. He is a married man with a wife and children who have legal status in Britain and his case was due for a judicial review. Now his friends and family have no idea where he is.
They describe three types of prisoner being held there. The first of these are asylum seekers; refugees who fled their native country, forced to abandon their families to save their lives.
All they want is to survive and live in safety. They have always complied with the conditions given them. They were detained when they went to make their weekly report in the immigration office, and since then they have been at Colnbrook IRC.
They are held for many months in the centre for no crime and are deprived of all contact with their families.
The second group who suffer are disabled asylum seekers who have been unable to earn a living. They suffer particularly because there are no facilities for disabled prisoners and they do not receive proper medical attention. The third group, a minority, consists of those who have committed offences – for example using a forged passport – served their sentence in prison and are then held indefinitely in the detention centre – sometimes for twice the length of their original sentence.
They are in a legal limbo and have no idea what will happen to them. They feel they are being used as political scapegoats.
Some are suicidal. Their statement says: “We have repeatedly called for help and intervention, for an investigation of these crimes against humanity. We have appealed and will continue to appeal to whoever is willing to listen, to come to our aid, and exert some control, and restraint on this organisations.”
They have embarked on the hunger strike to draw attention to their plight. They are asking for an audience with immigration minister Liam Byrne MP; for an independent parliamentary committee to investigate their situation and for temporary work permits in order to earn a living.
But already one of the hunger strikers has been seized and taken from his cell by 20 police officers. He is a married man with a wife and children who have legal status in Britain and his case was due for a judicial review. Now his friends and family have no idea where he is.
Friday, July 07, 2006
7th July Compensation 'hypocrisy'
A LONDON TUBE driver awarded the MBE for his selfless efforts in helping victims of the 7th July bombings at two stations has slammed the “hypocrisy” of ministers seeking to axe compensation to workers injured at work through criminal actions.
John Boyle, a member of the RMT transport union, who was off-duty when he rushed to aid the injured at both Aldgate and Aldgate East stations, received £1,000 in compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) for the serious effects of the trauma he suffered.
But the Home Office has proposed not only that CICA’s minimum tariffs be removed, but that workers injured through criminal actions at work should not qualify for CICA compensation at all.
“The Government’s proposals are just terrible,” says John Boyle. “I was off-duty when the bombs went off, so under these proposals I might still have had a claim, but my workmates and all the emergency services people who did so much wouldn’t qualify at all just because they were on duty.
“How can they say that people injured in the course of duty are different to those injured off-duty, or on their way to work?
“We were all victims that day, and it is appalling that they are trying to find money to pay to people more seriously injured by taking it away from others.
“To call people heroes and then to try to bar them from claiming compensation looks like hypocrisy to me,” John Boyle says.
“Penalising victims of criminal acts is plain wrong and the Government really should just drop these proposals,” said RMT general secretary Bob Crow in Dublin as delegates gathered for the union’s annual general meeting.
“Thompsons, our lawyers, have already made a number of CICA applications on behalf of our members, but people who were affected should get in touch with the union and get a claim in as soon as possible,” Bob Crow said.
John Boyle, a member of the RMT transport union, who was off-duty when he rushed to aid the injured at both Aldgate and Aldgate East stations, received £1,000 in compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) for the serious effects of the trauma he suffered.
But the Home Office has proposed not only that CICA’s minimum tariffs be removed, but that workers injured through criminal actions at work should not qualify for CICA compensation at all.
“The Government’s proposals are just terrible,” says John Boyle. “I was off-duty when the bombs went off, so under these proposals I might still have had a claim, but my workmates and all the emergency services people who did so much wouldn’t qualify at all just because they were on duty.
“How can they say that people injured in the course of duty are different to those injured off-duty, or on their way to work?
“We were all victims that day, and it is appalling that they are trying to find money to pay to people more seriously injured by taking it away from others.
“To call people heroes and then to try to bar them from claiming compensation looks like hypocrisy to me,” John Boyle says.
“Penalising victims of criminal acts is plain wrong and the Government really should just drop these proposals,” said RMT general secretary Bob Crow in Dublin as delegates gathered for the union’s annual general meeting.
“Thompsons, our lawyers, have already made a number of CICA applications on behalf of our members, but people who were affected should get in touch with the union and get a claim in as soon as possible,” Bob Crow said.
Mubarak Inquiry -- 'Institutional Murder'
THE OFFICIAL public inquiry into the racist murder of teenager Zahid Mubarak as he slept in his cell in Feltham Institute for Young Offenders in 2000 ended last week with a list of damning indictments of the prison service.
The family of the murdered youth, who was to have been released the morning after his death, had their own verdict. They accused the prison service of “institutional murder” for placing their son in a cell with a young racist with a long history of violence and mental illness.
The family had to fight for six years and take the Government to court to force a public inquiry, in spite of Government attempts to block it. Family lawyers said they were now exploring the possibility of suing individuals named in the report.
Mubarak’s mother Sajida Mubarak said her son’s death was the result of chronic incompetence. “The Home Office and the prison service, both before and after Zahid’s death, were co-conspirators in a woeful conspiracy of incompetence and indifference,” said lawyer Dexter Dias.
“The prison service had 15 chances to save Zahid from his killer. It squandered them all. The report has convinced the family that Zahid’s death was no more and no less that institutional murder.”
One of the main inquiry conclusions was that either more money must be found for the prison service or fewer people must be sent to prison. It highlighted 186 failings in the prison service that led to the murder.
Mr Justice Keith, who conducted the inquiry, spoke of “a bewildering catalogue of shortcomings, both individual and systemic” and a breakdown in communications between different sections of Feltham which meant that crucial information about Stewart, the young murderer, were not passed on, mislaid or not acted on.
Mubarak had requested a change of cell the day before his death because he did not feel safe locked up with Stewart. But there was plenty of clear evidence that Stewart was so dangerous he should not have shared a cell with anyone.
And Stewart himself had a long record of violence and mental illness, going back to his disturbed childhood, that was never addressed and he never received any mental health treatment. Instead he spent most of his youth in various young offenders’ institutions.
He exhibited bizarre behaviour, including self harm, swallowing batteries, flooding his cell and talking to walls. In an institute near Wigan he met and befriended violent racist Maurice Travis. Two years before Zahid’s murder, Travis was convicted of stabbing a fellow prisoner to death while he and Stewart were both at Stoke Heath Young Offenders’ Institute while Stewart was present.
The prison service missed many warnings, including letters written by Stewart fantasising about racial violence and killing his cellmate.
Mr Justice Keith said: “Because of a dangerous and pernicious cocktail of poor communications and shoddy work practices, prison staff never got to grips with him.”
Stewart was moved to Feltham at a time when it was seriously overstretched and overcrowded. Keith said: “Feltham was being asked to do too much with too few resources. It did not have the number of staff needed to keep pace with its increasing population.”
The prison also suffered from institutional racism and a failure to deal with racism. The inquiry found that the security department was in chaos and that some key staff suffered a lack of initiative and defeatism. The officer who put Stewart into Zahid’s cell was inexperienced in cell allocation. Other members of staff who knew of Stewart’s racist letters failed to raise the matter appropriately. The greatest concern to Zahid’s family is that the overcrowding and lack of resources continue. A similar tragedy could happen again tomorrow.
The family of the murdered youth, who was to have been released the morning after his death, had their own verdict. They accused the prison service of “institutional murder” for placing their son in a cell with a young racist with a long history of violence and mental illness.
The family had to fight for six years and take the Government to court to force a public inquiry, in spite of Government attempts to block it. Family lawyers said they were now exploring the possibility of suing individuals named in the report.
Mubarak’s mother Sajida Mubarak said her son’s death was the result of chronic incompetence. “The Home Office and the prison service, both before and after Zahid’s death, were co-conspirators in a woeful conspiracy of incompetence and indifference,” said lawyer Dexter Dias.
“The prison service had 15 chances to save Zahid from his killer. It squandered them all. The report has convinced the family that Zahid’s death was no more and no less that institutional murder.”
One of the main inquiry conclusions was that either more money must be found for the prison service or fewer people must be sent to prison. It highlighted 186 failings in the prison service that led to the murder.
Mr Justice Keith, who conducted the inquiry, spoke of “a bewildering catalogue of shortcomings, both individual and systemic” and a breakdown in communications between different sections of Feltham which meant that crucial information about Stewart, the young murderer, were not passed on, mislaid or not acted on.
Mubarak had requested a change of cell the day before his death because he did not feel safe locked up with Stewart. But there was plenty of clear evidence that Stewart was so dangerous he should not have shared a cell with anyone.
And Stewart himself had a long record of violence and mental illness, going back to his disturbed childhood, that was never addressed and he never received any mental health treatment. Instead he spent most of his youth in various young offenders’ institutions.
He exhibited bizarre behaviour, including self harm, swallowing batteries, flooding his cell and talking to walls. In an institute near Wigan he met and befriended violent racist Maurice Travis. Two years before Zahid’s murder, Travis was convicted of stabbing a fellow prisoner to death while he and Stewart were both at Stoke Heath Young Offenders’ Institute while Stewart was present.
The prison service missed many warnings, including letters written by Stewart fantasising about racial violence and killing his cellmate.
Mr Justice Keith said: “Because of a dangerous and pernicious cocktail of poor communications and shoddy work practices, prison staff never got to grips with him.”
Stewart was moved to Feltham at a time when it was seriously overstretched and overcrowded. Keith said: “Feltham was being asked to do too much with too few resources. It did not have the number of staff needed to keep pace with its increasing population.”
The prison also suffered from institutional racism and a failure to deal with racism. The inquiry found that the security department was in chaos and that some key staff suffered a lack of initiative and defeatism. The officer who put Stewart into Zahid’s cell was inexperienced in cell allocation. Other members of staff who knew of Stewart’s racist letters failed to raise the matter appropriately. The greatest concern to Zahid’s family is that the overcrowding and lack of resources continue. A similar tragedy could happen again tomorrow.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Solidarity is stronger than nuclear bombs
“THE WORLD is full of distorted information about Korea,” Comrade Jong In Song from the Embassy of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea told anorth London seminar last Saturday.
The seminar was organised by the Friends of Korea coordinating committee and chaired by Harpal Brar with a platform that included Andy Brooks of the New Communist Party, Michael Chant of the RCPB (ML); Godfrey Kramer of the CPGB (ML) and Dermot Hudson from the British Juche Society.
And it took place against a background of rising threats from the United States concerning DPRK plans to test a missile.Comrade Jong continued: “Why are the Americans currently attacking Korea?”he asked.
“Today is the 56th anniversary of the start of the US war against Korea –the Fatherland Liberation War. Why do we still commemorate this year? Andwhy is the western press still hostile to the DPRK?”
Comrade Jong gave a detailed account of the events leading up to the war that began in 1950. This was just five years after the Korean people, led by Kim Il Sung had thrown out the Japanese imperialist occupation forces.
During its long occupation of the Korean peninsula, Japan had suppressed culture, education and economic development, leaving the Koreans without a functioning infrastructure.
In 1945 the end of the Second World War saw Soviet troops in the north of Korea and Americans in the south. This division was supposed to betemporary. Korea was one of the victor nations in the battle against fascist Japan and expected to be united and left to enjoy the peace.
Comrade Jong explained why the first item on the agenda for the new DPRK government in 1948 was the production of pencils. Getting the economy on its feet was not possible without a mass literacy campaign to educate the people– hence the need for pencils.
The Americans accused the North Koreans of invading the south in 1950 but that was a ridiculous claim to make against a country only two years old, struggling to establish an economy and an infrastructure.
When they launched their attack, the Americans used one third of their total ground forces, one fifth of their air force, their entire Pacificfleet and contingents from 15 satellite countries, totalling in excess oftwo million troops – all against the tiny DPRK.
One week before the attack, US statesman John Foster Dulles had visited theUS troops in the south of Korea to approve plans for the invasion, which they boasted would take only one day.
They spoke of breakfast in Kaesong, lunch in Pyongyang and supper at the Chinese border. They had three alternative plans: plan A was to occupy the whole Korean peninsula and use it as a US base; plan B was to continue over the border and invade the young People’s Republic of China and plan C was to carry on over the north-eastern border to invade Siberia.
At the time the US alone had atomic weapons and Washington hawks were keen to make the most of this advantage as quickly as possible with a dash for world domination and the defeat of world socialism.
But the American plans were not to be because the tiny nation, the DPRK, led by Kim Il Sung, did not give way and let the imperialists pass. Instead they put up the mightiest resistance.
What they lacked in weapons and technology they made up for in sheer courage and commitment to defend their homeland – and ingenuity in finding new ways to wage a partisan war against the enemy.
The war ended in 1953 with an armistice – not a peace treaty – signed between the DPRK and the Americans, which has left the country divided by the American occupation of the south and still technically in an unfinished war.
The terms of the treaty specified that a peace conference was to be established within three months to negotiate the terms of the peaceful reunification of Korea. But the US reneged on this and built a huge wall dividing the country in half.
Now the US imperialists still aim to conquer the world. “They try to disarm us,” said Comrade Jong. “That is ridiculous.”
He spoke of the need for solidarity movements “like this one here” to counter act the lies and the hostile propaganda in the western press.“Solidarity is stronger than nuclear bombs,” he said, “We are not afraid.”
NCP leader Andy Brooks paid tribute to Democratic Korea’s stand against US imperialism and pointed out that the DPRK has not only a right but a duty to protect its people against the continuing threat of invasion.
Michael Chant spoke of British complicity in anti-DPRK slanders and smears and the need to take a stand to defend that state.
The meeting ended with a strong message of support for the people for the DPRK that was unanimously supported.
pic: Michael Chant, Jong In Song, Andy Brooks and Harpal Brar at the seminar
Friday, June 23, 2006
Forest Gate Protest Against Police Raid
THOUSANDS of people gathered in East London last Sunday to protest at the police treatment of two Muslim brothers – Abul Koyair and Mohammed Abdul Kayar – and their family after the notorious anti-terror squad raid on their home, in which Kayar was shot in the shoulder.
Mudassar Ahmed, one of the march organisers, attacked the “lies and misinformation” put out by the police after the arrest and the failure of intelligence that led to the raid.
It turns out that the informant upon whose information the raid was based, was a young man with an IQ of just 69, who had been a boyhood friend of the brothers.
The two brothers were released after a week of interrogation with no charges against them and not a scrap of incriminating evidence found, despite a very thorough police search of their home. Ahmed said: “The police are doing their job but they should be doing it properly. The intelligence agencies have much to answer for.”
The brothers and their family were also angered when police released information that £38,000 in cash had been found at their home.
The family, who are strict Muslims, say this money is from a family business but their religious beliefs forbid usury – meaning that they cannot use banks.
Last Sunday’s demonstration in Forest Gate was also supported by the family and friends of Charles de Menezes, the young Brazilian who was shot by anti-terror squads at Stockwell Tube station last July. This was another tragic failure of police intelligence.
Meanwhile Lord Carlile of Berriew last week, in his annual review of counter-terror laws, claimed that Britain’s ports and borders are too poorly policed to deter terrorists.
Civil service cuts over decades have led to a situation where Customs staff are “thinly spread” and the Coast Guard service has also been drastically cut.
Mudassar Ahmed, one of the march organisers, attacked the “lies and misinformation” put out by the police after the arrest and the failure of intelligence that led to the raid.
It turns out that the informant upon whose information the raid was based, was a young man with an IQ of just 69, who had been a boyhood friend of the brothers.
The two brothers were released after a week of interrogation with no charges against them and not a scrap of incriminating evidence found, despite a very thorough police search of their home. Ahmed said: “The police are doing their job but they should be doing it properly. The intelligence agencies have much to answer for.”
The brothers and their family were also angered when police released information that £38,000 in cash had been found at their home.
The family, who are strict Muslims, say this money is from a family business but their religious beliefs forbid usury – meaning that they cannot use banks.
Last Sunday’s demonstration in Forest Gate was also supported by the family and friends of Charles de Menezes, the young Brazilian who was shot by anti-terror squads at Stockwell Tube station last July. This was another tragic failure of police intelligence.
Meanwhile Lord Carlile of Berriew last week, in his annual review of counter-terror laws, claimed that Britain’s ports and borders are too poorly policed to deter terrorists.
Civil service cuts over decades have led to a situation where Customs staff are “thinly spread” and the Coast Guard service has also been drastically cut.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Stop the persecution of Muslims!
THE MASSIVE police “anti-terrorist” raid and the shooting of a young man in a Muslim neighbourhood of East London has ended with the release of the two young Muslim brothers without charge. Mercifully, the wounded “suspect” only suffered light injuries but that doesn’t excuse the cops or those who ordered 250 of them in on a dawn raid based on “reliable” information that turned out to be totally false. No bombs or chemical devices were found and the two men were unarmed.
We’re told of course that there is a “war against terror” and London, which was terror bombed last year, is undoubtedly still a target for the followers of Osama bin Laden. But that doesn’t excuse the racist hysteria whipped up by the bourgeois media against the Muslim community in Britain that began when Anglo-American imperialism invaded Iraq in 2003. It has created a climate of fear similar to that fired up by the ruling class against the Irish community in Britain during the IRA campaign to free the north of Ireland that led to the victimisation and wrongful imprisonment of Irish men and women during the 1970s and 80s and the brutal murder of Diarmuid O’Neill in 1996.
This is the second time the Metropolitan Police have shot an innocent man in the past 12 months in “anti-terror” operations. The first, the young Brazilian mistaken for a terrorist and pumped full of bullets, led to a police apology that will not bring a dead man back and the second must lead to an inquiry to prevent any more innocent blood being shed.
We’re told of course that there is a “war against terror” and London, which was terror bombed last year, is undoubtedly still a target for the followers of Osama bin Laden. But that doesn’t excuse the racist hysteria whipped up by the bourgeois media against the Muslim community in Britain that began when Anglo-American imperialism invaded Iraq in 2003. It has created a climate of fear similar to that fired up by the ruling class against the Irish community in Britain during the IRA campaign to free the north of Ireland that led to the victimisation and wrongful imprisonment of Irish men and women during the 1970s and 80s and the brutal murder of Diarmuid O’Neill in 1996.
This is the second time the Metropolitan Police have shot an innocent man in the past 12 months in “anti-terror” operations. The first, the young Brazilian mistaken for a terrorist and pumped full of bullets, led to a police apology that will not bring a dead man back and the second must lead to an inquiry to prevent any more innocent blood being shed.
Police terror in Forest Gate
by Daphne Liddle
TWO YOUNG Muslim men last Tuesday told the world how it feels to be raided at dawn by anti-terrorist police, shot, beaten up and held without charge for a week – only to be released without charge – all on the basis of false information and a climate of hysteria about terrorism.
Mohammed Abdul Kahar, who was shot in the chest by the police, told the press conference he was woken at about 4am by his brother screaming.
“I just had my boxer shorts on and a T-shirt. It was dark and I assumed a robbery was happening. As I made the first step down the stairs, my brother was still screaming and I turned round to look at the stairs.
“As soon as I turned round, I saw an orange spark and a big bang. I flew into the wall and I slipped down.
“I was on the floor. I looked on my right, on my chest and saw blood coming down my chest and saw the hole in my chest. At that moment I knew I was shot.
“The first thing I was thinking was that an armed robbery was taking place. As I went down, I saw an object flying in my face, so I put my hand over my face. At that moment I did not know what object it was, but I know now it was the gun.
“He tried to hit me over the face with it. I saw the shotgun in my chest and I was begging, ‘Please, please I cannot breathe’. He just kicked me in my face and kept on saying, ‘Shut the fuck up’….
“At that moment I thought they were either going to shoot me again or shoot my brother, so I lay there and heard them say, ‘Secure the room, secure the room’. One of the officers grabbed my left foot and dragged me down the stairs.”
Kahar said he did not realise the men were police until he had been dragged out of the house and saw the police vans. They had never said a word about police.
At that point he heard his mother screaming and thought: “One by one they’re going to kill us.”By that time Kahar was in terrible pain from the shooting, he said he felt as though his whole upper body was burning.
This is frighteningly reminiscent of the treatment meted out to Diarmuid O’Neil in September 1996, an unarmed Irish terror suspect, who was fatally shot by anti-terror police in a dawn raid and then dragged bleeding down a flight of stairs while still alive.
Kahar survived and was taken to hospital but was discharged into police custody the next day. Police detained both brothers and interrogated them for over a week. They were totally innocent and no trace was ever found of any chemical weapons. If anti-terror legislation passed at the end of last year were in force now, they could have been detained for up to a month without charge or trial.
This case demonstrates why such laws – part of Bush and Blair’s “war on terrorism” – are so wrong.
The police carrying out the raid had been told they were acting to stop two dangerous terrorists who were in the process of concocting some sort of chemical suicide bomb that could kill hundreds if not thousands.
But the information was false. It came originally from a police informant and passed to MI5 but it was not checked out by anyone.
Chief Superintendent Ali Dizaei, the senior Muslim officer in the Metropolitan Police force has called for more rigorous analysis of intelligence in future and for lessons to be learned.
The lesson the Government must learn is that imperialist powers cannot go around the world bombing and invading countries like Afghanistan and Iraq without making their home nations a target for terrorists.
And police raids based on false information, hyped up by anti-terrorist hysteria, can only make the situation worse for everyone.
TWO YOUNG Muslim men last Tuesday told the world how it feels to be raided at dawn by anti-terrorist police, shot, beaten up and held without charge for a week – only to be released without charge – all on the basis of false information and a climate of hysteria about terrorism.
Mohammed Abdul Kahar, who was shot in the chest by the police, told the press conference he was woken at about 4am by his brother screaming.
“I just had my boxer shorts on and a T-shirt. It was dark and I assumed a robbery was happening. As I made the first step down the stairs, my brother was still screaming and I turned round to look at the stairs.
“As soon as I turned round, I saw an orange spark and a big bang. I flew into the wall and I slipped down.
“I was on the floor. I looked on my right, on my chest and saw blood coming down my chest and saw the hole in my chest. At that moment I knew I was shot.
“The first thing I was thinking was that an armed robbery was taking place. As I went down, I saw an object flying in my face, so I put my hand over my face. At that moment I did not know what object it was, but I know now it was the gun.
“He tried to hit me over the face with it. I saw the shotgun in my chest and I was begging, ‘Please, please I cannot breathe’. He just kicked me in my face and kept on saying, ‘Shut the fuck up’….
“At that moment I thought they were either going to shoot me again or shoot my brother, so I lay there and heard them say, ‘Secure the room, secure the room’. One of the officers grabbed my left foot and dragged me down the stairs.”
Kahar said he did not realise the men were police until he had been dragged out of the house and saw the police vans. They had never said a word about police.
At that point he heard his mother screaming and thought: “One by one they’re going to kill us.”By that time Kahar was in terrible pain from the shooting, he said he felt as though his whole upper body was burning.
This is frighteningly reminiscent of the treatment meted out to Diarmuid O’Neil in September 1996, an unarmed Irish terror suspect, who was fatally shot by anti-terror police in a dawn raid and then dragged bleeding down a flight of stairs while still alive.
Kahar survived and was taken to hospital but was discharged into police custody the next day. Police detained both brothers and interrogated them for over a week. They were totally innocent and no trace was ever found of any chemical weapons. If anti-terror legislation passed at the end of last year were in force now, they could have been detained for up to a month without charge or trial.
This case demonstrates why such laws – part of Bush and Blair’s “war on terrorism” – are so wrong.
The police carrying out the raid had been told they were acting to stop two dangerous terrorists who were in the process of concocting some sort of chemical suicide bomb that could kill hundreds if not thousands.
But the information was false. It came originally from a police informant and passed to MI5 but it was not checked out by anyone.
Chief Superintendent Ali Dizaei, the senior Muslim officer in the Metropolitan Police force has called for more rigorous analysis of intelligence in future and for lessons to be learned.
The lesson the Government must learn is that imperialist powers cannot go around the world bombing and invading countries like Afghanistan and Iraq without making their home nations a target for terrorists.
And police raids based on false information, hyped up by anti-terrorist hysteria, can only make the situation worse for everyone.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Turnham Green Peace Market
SOUTHALL New Communist party spent a warm, friendly day at the Turnham Green Peace Market in last Saturday, 3rd June.
This event had been organised for many years by West London Peace Council, the organisation being taken over for several years by John Grigg of Acton CND.
The Green was covered in stalls but politically there were three: Stop the War Coalition, Acton CND and Southall NCP.
There was dialogue all day showing the public’s rejection of Blairite policies: outstandingly concern about arbitrary arrest, the Iraq war, cutbacks in the NHS along with general political comment. By popular request John Grigg has organised a second Peace Market on 9th September. Southall NCP will be there.
This event had been organised for many years by West London Peace Council, the organisation being taken over for several years by John Grigg of Acton CND.
The Green was covered in stalls but politically there were three: Stop the War Coalition, Acton CND and Southall NCP.
There was dialogue all day showing the public’s rejection of Blairite policies: outstandingly concern about arbitrary arrest, the Iraq war, cutbacks in the NHS along with general political comment. By popular request John Grigg has organised a second Peace Market on 9th September. Southall NCP will be there.
Flawed intelligence sparked police raid
TWO-HUNDRED-and-fifty police officers, many of them armed, raided a home in Forest Gate, east London, in the early hours of Friday morning.
They burst into the house shouting and screaming as the two brothers, Mohammed Abdul Kahar and Abul Koyair, who lived there struggled to rouse themselves and stumble down the stairs. Halfway down the stairs Kahar was shot and wounded in the shoulder, he says by police coming up the stairs.
In addition, the police raided neighbours’ houses and took them for 12 hours of questioning. One of these neighbours received a head injury that required hospital treatment.
Police claimed they had sound intelligence from MI5 that the house they raided was being used to make a deadly dangerous chemical weapon.
But the most thorough of searches of that house, over several days, have produced neither a shred of evidence of chemical weapons nor any links between the two brothers with terrorism.
Senior counter-terrorism officers now admit the intelligence may have been flawed. It emerged that the specific information came originally from a police informant who had been providing information about the activities of alleged Islamic militants for several weeks.
The police then took this information to MI5 for it to be assessed. The police and MI5 then agreed it was specific and credible and that immediate action was necessary.
There were no attempts to corroborate the information. Information from paid informants is notoriously unreliable because the money is an incentive to invent or exaggerate information. Both brothers deny any involvement with chemical weapons or terrorism.
Later rumours emerged that Kahar had been shot by his brother accidentally in a scuffle.
unarmed
His lawyer, Kate Roxburgh, reported her client’s account of the shooting: “He was woken up about four in the morning by screams from downstairs, got out of bed in his pyjamas obviously unarmed, nothing in his hands, and hurrying down the stairs.
“As he came toward a bend in the stairway, not knowing what was going on downstairs, the police turned the bend up towards him and shot him – and that was without any warning.
“He wasn’t asked to freeze, given any warning and he didn’t know the people in the house were police officers until after he was shot. He is lucky still to be alive.”
The circumstances of the shooting are now the subject of an inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Authority and so the police are refusing to make any further comments.
Koyair’s solicitor, Julian Young, said: “My client denies any involvement in the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorist offences and has maintained that position from the start.”
Kahar was taken to hospital after the shooting but released on Tuesday, when he was arrested and taken to join his brother in custody in Paddington Green police station. On Wednesday the police applied for an extended warrant to hold the men for another week.
A neighbouring family, detained by the police during the raid, have also denied any involvement in any kind of terrorism are also considering legal action against the police.
The family of four adults and an eight-month-old baby said the police had questioned them for 12 hours.
They issued a statement saying: “We would like to express our deep shock and anger at the operation that took place. My family members and I were physically assaulted. I received head injuries that required hospital treatment. We are liaising with our legal team on the course of action to take.”
A woman from the family also had to be treated in hospital for shock.
They burst into the house shouting and screaming as the two brothers, Mohammed Abdul Kahar and Abul Koyair, who lived there struggled to rouse themselves and stumble down the stairs. Halfway down the stairs Kahar was shot and wounded in the shoulder, he says by police coming up the stairs.
In addition, the police raided neighbours’ houses and took them for 12 hours of questioning. One of these neighbours received a head injury that required hospital treatment.
Police claimed they had sound intelligence from MI5 that the house they raided was being used to make a deadly dangerous chemical weapon.
But the most thorough of searches of that house, over several days, have produced neither a shred of evidence of chemical weapons nor any links between the two brothers with terrorism.
Senior counter-terrorism officers now admit the intelligence may have been flawed. It emerged that the specific information came originally from a police informant who had been providing information about the activities of alleged Islamic militants for several weeks.
The police then took this information to MI5 for it to be assessed. The police and MI5 then agreed it was specific and credible and that immediate action was necessary.
There were no attempts to corroborate the information. Information from paid informants is notoriously unreliable because the money is an incentive to invent or exaggerate information. Both brothers deny any involvement with chemical weapons or terrorism.
Later rumours emerged that Kahar had been shot by his brother accidentally in a scuffle.
unarmed
His lawyer, Kate Roxburgh, reported her client’s account of the shooting: “He was woken up about four in the morning by screams from downstairs, got out of bed in his pyjamas obviously unarmed, nothing in his hands, and hurrying down the stairs.
“As he came toward a bend in the stairway, not knowing what was going on downstairs, the police turned the bend up towards him and shot him – and that was without any warning.
“He wasn’t asked to freeze, given any warning and he didn’t know the people in the house were police officers until after he was shot. He is lucky still to be alive.”
The circumstances of the shooting are now the subject of an inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Authority and so the police are refusing to make any further comments.
Koyair’s solicitor, Julian Young, said: “My client denies any involvement in the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorist offences and has maintained that position from the start.”
Kahar was taken to hospital after the shooting but released on Tuesday, when he was arrested and taken to join his brother in custody in Paddington Green police station. On Wednesday the police applied for an extended warrant to hold the men for another week.
A neighbouring family, detained by the police during the raid, have also denied any involvement in any kind of terrorism are also considering legal action against the police.
The family of four adults and an eight-month-old baby said the police had questioned them for 12 hours.
They issued a statement saying: “We would like to express our deep shock and anger at the operation that took place. My family members and I were physically assaulted. I received head injuries that required hospital treatment. We are liaising with our legal team on the course of action to take.”
A woman from the family also had to be treated in hospital for shock.
London's Housing Crisis
THE LABOUR Representation Committee last Monday organised a seminar at the House of Commons on the current housing crisis in London with a view to initiating a major broad campaign on the issue.
The seminar was chaired by Jeremy Corbyn MP and introduced by Austin Mitchell MP. He gave a summary of the causes behind the current shortage of housing and the rising house prices that have put home ownership way beyond the reach of most London workers.
Hardly any council houses are being built, so with a shortage of supply, prices inevitably rise.
“When Labour came to power in 1997, it prioritised spending on health and education. Shamefully, housing was neglected though it must be equally important. If children don’t have a decent home to live in they can’t benefit from education and poor housing damages people’s health.
“The Government estimated that it would cost £19 billion to bring Britain’s long-neglected council housing stock into a fit condition and decided that it could not afford the money in addition to the extra spending on health and education. “Incidentally, that £19 billion is what the London School of Economics reckons the identity card scheme will cost.
“So they told local authorities to raise the money themselves by selling off land or privatising council estates.
“They have had problems with this because tenants have consistently voted against having their estates sold off to the private sector, in spite of pressure and propaganda to accept.
“They’ve virtually been told, ‘Do you want us to sell the estate and get all your repairs and renovation done or do you want to rot in hell?’.
“But they still vote against privatisation. Prescott refuses to budge on the issue, insisting that councils must sell off their housing stock to get any money for renovation and repairs.
“And it’s not as if privatisation was cheaper. It costs at least £430 per dwelling in legal fees and then there’s the costs of all the propaganda.
“When houses are privatised, the new owners are free to sell them on as they fall vacant. And they fall into the higher cost sector. Those homes that are not privatised continue to decay.”
He went on to say that first time buyers now need a minimum joint income of between £38,000 and £40,000 a year. The term “affordable housing” is used a lot but it’s still unaffordable to most Londoners.
“The affordable housing policy is not working,” he said. “We need a real fall in prices and that means we need a major building programme.”
He warned that housing associations are now selling off their stock at market prices – reducing that amount of what is called “social housing”.
“There is still a war on council housing going on,” said Austin Mitchell, “This is a total failure of government.”
Marc Francis from the housing charity and pressure group Shelter pointed out that although there are now fewer people sleeping on the streets of London, there is still a lot of hidden homeless. Around 100,000 people are in emergency temporary accommodation.
“This hits families very hard,” he said. “Children in poor housing conditions suffer bad health and on average miss a quarter of the time they should be in school.
“Much of this temporary housing is a high rents and that creates a poverty trap. They cannot work themselves out of this because if their wages rise, they lose housing benefit. For every £1 extra they earn, they lose 80 pence in benefit cuts.”
He stressed that the most vulnerable – they very young and the very old – suffer most from being trapped in poor or inappropriate housing. Andrew Berry from Islington Unison read out a contribution from Rosemary Plummer, who could not attend because of illness. This statement covered the hidden homelessness in so many young people being unable to afford their own homes, remaining in their parents’ homes.
The Government scheme to help “key workers” – teachers, nurses, firefighters and so on – has been of some help to those categories. But Andrew added that Unison’s view is that every worker in London is a key worker: “How could London operate without its dustmen, its classroom assistants, its shop assistants, its catering workers. He added that even what is called “affordable” accommodation, and the low-cost joint-ownership schemes are still way beyond the reach of low paid workers.
Robert Taylor spoke on community involvement and democracy and how some local authorities seem to suffer from “consultationitis”. Whenever they want to do something, they launch a new consultation. They invite tenants to meetings, listen to them and then do what they were going to do anyway.
“Being consulted is very different from real power,” he said.
Pete Challis, a Greenwich councillor for over 30 years, who lost he seat by one vote to a Tory last month, told the seminar of the individual tragedies and heartbreak behind the statistics; of people in urgent need to transfer because of health conditions, stranded in high rise blocks and children packed into overcrowded homes.
He pointed out that most new building in London now is one or two-bedroom flats. Very few larger, family-size flats are being built and even fewer homes with gardens – and children need gardens.
Pete explained the iniquity of the current boom in profiteering from private sector buying to let, which in effect is subsidised by housing benefit because tenants cannot afford the full, high rents.
Piers Corbyn spoke of the decision to pull down London’s largest estate – the Aylesbury estate near the Elephant and Castle – and to replace it with private sector housing, without any consultation with the tenants on any aspect.
John McDonnell MP ended the seminar with a proposal to invite all the housing campaign groups, housing associations, charities and so on to a conference to draw up a list of campaigning demands – and then to launch a major campaign with a mass rally, perhaps at Westminster Central Hall. This was agreed unanimously.
The seminar was chaired by Jeremy Corbyn MP and introduced by Austin Mitchell MP. He gave a summary of the causes behind the current shortage of housing and the rising house prices that have put home ownership way beyond the reach of most London workers.
Hardly any council houses are being built, so with a shortage of supply, prices inevitably rise.
“When Labour came to power in 1997, it prioritised spending on health and education. Shamefully, housing was neglected though it must be equally important. If children don’t have a decent home to live in they can’t benefit from education and poor housing damages people’s health.
“The Government estimated that it would cost £19 billion to bring Britain’s long-neglected council housing stock into a fit condition and decided that it could not afford the money in addition to the extra spending on health and education. “Incidentally, that £19 billion is what the London School of Economics reckons the identity card scheme will cost.
“So they told local authorities to raise the money themselves by selling off land or privatising council estates.
“They have had problems with this because tenants have consistently voted against having their estates sold off to the private sector, in spite of pressure and propaganda to accept.
“They’ve virtually been told, ‘Do you want us to sell the estate and get all your repairs and renovation done or do you want to rot in hell?’.
“But they still vote against privatisation. Prescott refuses to budge on the issue, insisting that councils must sell off their housing stock to get any money for renovation and repairs.
“And it’s not as if privatisation was cheaper. It costs at least £430 per dwelling in legal fees and then there’s the costs of all the propaganda.
“When houses are privatised, the new owners are free to sell them on as they fall vacant. And they fall into the higher cost sector. Those homes that are not privatised continue to decay.”
He went on to say that first time buyers now need a minimum joint income of between £38,000 and £40,000 a year. The term “affordable housing” is used a lot but it’s still unaffordable to most Londoners.
“The affordable housing policy is not working,” he said. “We need a real fall in prices and that means we need a major building programme.”
He warned that housing associations are now selling off their stock at market prices – reducing that amount of what is called “social housing”.
“There is still a war on council housing going on,” said Austin Mitchell, “This is a total failure of government.”
Marc Francis from the housing charity and pressure group Shelter pointed out that although there are now fewer people sleeping on the streets of London, there is still a lot of hidden homeless. Around 100,000 people are in emergency temporary accommodation.
“This hits families very hard,” he said. “Children in poor housing conditions suffer bad health and on average miss a quarter of the time they should be in school.
“Much of this temporary housing is a high rents and that creates a poverty trap. They cannot work themselves out of this because if their wages rise, they lose housing benefit. For every £1 extra they earn, they lose 80 pence in benefit cuts.”
He stressed that the most vulnerable – they very young and the very old – suffer most from being trapped in poor or inappropriate housing. Andrew Berry from Islington Unison read out a contribution from Rosemary Plummer, who could not attend because of illness. This statement covered the hidden homelessness in so many young people being unable to afford their own homes, remaining in their parents’ homes.
The Government scheme to help “key workers” – teachers, nurses, firefighters and so on – has been of some help to those categories. But Andrew added that Unison’s view is that every worker in London is a key worker: “How could London operate without its dustmen, its classroom assistants, its shop assistants, its catering workers. He added that even what is called “affordable” accommodation, and the low-cost joint-ownership schemes are still way beyond the reach of low paid workers.
Robert Taylor spoke on community involvement and democracy and how some local authorities seem to suffer from “consultationitis”. Whenever they want to do something, they launch a new consultation. They invite tenants to meetings, listen to them and then do what they were going to do anyway.
“Being consulted is very different from real power,” he said.
Pete Challis, a Greenwich councillor for over 30 years, who lost he seat by one vote to a Tory last month, told the seminar of the individual tragedies and heartbreak behind the statistics; of people in urgent need to transfer because of health conditions, stranded in high rise blocks and children packed into overcrowded homes.
He pointed out that most new building in London now is one or two-bedroom flats. Very few larger, family-size flats are being built and even fewer homes with gardens – and children need gardens.
Pete explained the iniquity of the current boom in profiteering from private sector buying to let, which in effect is subsidised by housing benefit because tenants cannot afford the full, high rents.
Piers Corbyn spoke of the decision to pull down London’s largest estate – the Aylesbury estate near the Elephant and Castle – and to replace it with private sector housing, without any consultation with the tenants on any aspect.
John McDonnell MP ended the seminar with a proposal to invite all the housing campaign groups, housing associations, charities and so on to a conference to draw up a list of campaigning demands – and then to launch a major campaign with a mass rally, perhaps at Westminster Central Hall. This was agreed unanimously.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
GMB fights for mini-cab driver
THE GMB general union last week called for the same rules for mini cabs as for black cabs in London after a mini cab driver faces £1,000 in fines for helping disabled fares to reach their destinations safely, when that means stopping along a red route.
The union has called on Transport for London to review its ruling that bars London’s licensed private hire mini cab drivers from picking up and dropping off their fares in red routes even when driving disabled passengers, even though black cabs are allowed to stop in the red routes for picking up and dropping off fares.
The total ban costs London’s 40,000 licensed mini cab drivers thousands of pounds in fines every week. It disadvantages able bodied passengers who have to be dropped some times a long distance from their destination but is particular hard on disabled passengers who would benefit from being picked up and dropped off directly outside their desired location.
This appeal comes as GMB member Ariyibi Adeniran who lives in Hackney and has been a London mini cab driver for many years, faces almost £1,000 worth of fines and a visit from the bailiffs as he cannot afford to pay the outstanding fines many of which are the result of his helping disabled fares reach their destinations safely. Ed Blissett, GMB London region secretary said: “Some laws are just plan wrong and GMB London feels that this total ban may be a case in point. We are not looking to disrupt London’s traffic flow but simply to enable the capital’s mini cab drivers the same rights as London’s black cabs and to help the travelling public and especially the disabled to get to and from their destinations with as little difficulty as possible.”
The union has called on Transport for London to review its ruling that bars London’s licensed private hire mini cab drivers from picking up and dropping off their fares in red routes even when driving disabled passengers, even though black cabs are allowed to stop in the red routes for picking up and dropping off fares.
The total ban costs London’s 40,000 licensed mini cab drivers thousands of pounds in fines every week. It disadvantages able bodied passengers who have to be dropped some times a long distance from their destination but is particular hard on disabled passengers who would benefit from being picked up and dropped off directly outside their desired location.
This appeal comes as GMB member Ariyibi Adeniran who lives in Hackney and has been a London mini cab driver for many years, faces almost £1,000 worth of fines and a visit from the bailiffs as he cannot afford to pay the outstanding fines many of which are the result of his helping disabled fares reach their destinations safely. Ed Blissett, GMB London region secretary said: “Some laws are just plan wrong and GMB London feels that this total ban may be a case in point. We are not looking to disrupt London’s traffic flow but simply to enable the capital’s mini cab drivers the same rights as London’s black cabs and to help the travelling public and especially the disabled to get to and from their destinations with as little difficulty as possible.”
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Racist violence in Barking
IT IS LESS than a month since the British National Party won 11 council seats in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and already racist violence has hit the borough. Kiran Randhawa, an Afghan immigrant who fled the Taliban regime has been stabbed in a racially motivated attack near Barking station.
The mechanic in his 30s was set upon by four white men, who reportedly shouted “fucking Pakis” before they stabbed him in the chest and stomach.
After the attack the gang – all wearing Arsenal football shirts – left an England flag draped over their victim before fleeing, witnesses said.
The man, who is known locally as Asad but has not been formally named, is in a serious but stable condition at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. After the BNP’s success in the election for Barking and Dagenham council this month, anti-racism activists warned racial attacks were likely to increase in the area.
Gerry Gable, publisher of anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, said: “Throughout their history, wherever the BNP have gone, racial violence has followed.”
Meanwhile the new BNP councillors made fools of themselves at their first council meeting.
The town hall was surrounded by a large group of anti-fascist protesters and the new fascist councillors were shouted down outside and inside the hall.
But the leader of the BNP group had tabled an amendment to the council’s constitution to condemn discrimination against “the indigenous majority”.
But laughter broke out as only one of the 11 BNP councillors raised his hand to vote for the amendment. After the meeting, Cllr Barnbrook claimed the mistake had occurred because his party thought they were supposed to press buzzers to vote.
His request to hold the vote again was refused, drawing laughter and heckling from the public gallery. Chairman Cllr John Davis, at one point ordered Cllr Barnbrook to sit down, after he repeatedly interrupted the meeting claiming his copies of documents had not turned up until the day before.
This brought strong protestations from senior officers and all of the other councillors that everybody had received them at the same time.
On Merseyside Alex McFadden, a leading trade unionist and anti-fascist campaigner, was last week attacked and stabbed at the front door of his Wirral home.
McFadden believes racists are behind the attack, as he has received death threats before. He said: “He missed my eye by half an inch. The doctors say I am lucky.”
McFadden is president of the Merseyside Trades Councils and a champion of minority groups. He was a driving force behind a local newspaper’s bully-busters campaign to set up a free helpline for victims of school bullying.
The mechanic in his 30s was set upon by four white men, who reportedly shouted “fucking Pakis” before they stabbed him in the chest and stomach.
After the attack the gang – all wearing Arsenal football shirts – left an England flag draped over their victim before fleeing, witnesses said.
The man, who is known locally as Asad but has not been formally named, is in a serious but stable condition at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. After the BNP’s success in the election for Barking and Dagenham council this month, anti-racism activists warned racial attacks were likely to increase in the area.
Gerry Gable, publisher of anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, said: “Throughout their history, wherever the BNP have gone, racial violence has followed.”
Meanwhile the new BNP councillors made fools of themselves at their first council meeting.
The town hall was surrounded by a large group of anti-fascist protesters and the new fascist councillors were shouted down outside and inside the hall.
But the leader of the BNP group had tabled an amendment to the council’s constitution to condemn discrimination against “the indigenous majority”.
But laughter broke out as only one of the 11 BNP councillors raised his hand to vote for the amendment. After the meeting, Cllr Barnbrook claimed the mistake had occurred because his party thought they were supposed to press buzzers to vote.
His request to hold the vote again was refused, drawing laughter and heckling from the public gallery. Chairman Cllr John Davis, at one point ordered Cllr Barnbrook to sit down, after he repeatedly interrupted the meeting claiming his copies of documents had not turned up until the day before.
This brought strong protestations from senior officers and all of the other councillors that everybody had received them at the same time.
On Merseyside Alex McFadden, a leading trade unionist and anti-fascist campaigner, was last week attacked and stabbed at the front door of his Wirral home.
McFadden believes racists are behind the attack, as he has received death threats before. He said: “He missed my eye by half an inch. The doctors say I am lucky.”
McFadden is president of the Merseyside Trades Councils and a champion of minority groups. He was a driving force behind a local newspaper’s bully-busters campaign to set up a free helpline for victims of school bullying.
Justice for peace in Palestine
THOUSANDS of friends and supporters of Palestine braved the wet and windy weather last Saturday to march from the Thames Embankment, via Parliament Square, to Trafalgar Square for a rally calling for an end to the illegal Israeli occupation of the Palestinian homeland. The event was organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Association of Palestinian Community, Palestinian Return Centre, British Muslim Initiative, Friends of Al-Aqsa and the Palestinian Forum in Britain.
It was supported by: Just Peace UK, Muslim Association of Britain, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Pax Christi, Stop the War Coalition, Campaign for Freedom and Justice for Samar and Jawad, War on Want, Arab Media Watch and major British trade unions. These included public sector union Unison, the National Union of Journalists and the lecturers’ union Natfhe.
Placards and banners on the march demanded: “Stop starving Palestinians” – a reference to the current Israeli economic blockade of Palestine – and called for justice for the Palestinian people.
Professor Manual Assassian, the man who would be the Palestinian ambassador to Britain if Palestine was recognised as a country, addressed the rally. He said that 70 percent of Palestinians were living below the poverty line in a totally gloomy, desperate, desolate and unpredictable environment. The western world preaches democracy and the rule of law but when the Palestinians practice democracy, it reneges.
Other speakers included Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas – who called on the British government to reject Israel’s illegal and immoral occupation – and Baroness Jenny Tonge.
Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn told the rally: “We are here today because we believe that peace can only come about through justice for the Palestinian people. Wars like the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and occupations only benefit those who sell arms.
“The losers are the dispossessed in the Middle East region. Peace will not come about through another insane conflict against the people of Iran. Peace and security will only come through recognising the rights of others on the planet.”
The demonstrators were also addressed by speakers from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Palestinian Forum in Britain, the Palestinian Community in Britain, Friends of Al Aqsa and Jews for Justice for Palestine.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Railway workers take pensions fight to Parliament
SO MANY rail workers turned up at last Tuesday’s (9th May) lobby of Parliament – in defence of workers’ pensions – that the rally had to be divided into two committee rooms at the Palace of Westminster.
The lobby was organised jointly by rail unions to demand Government pressure on the privatised rail companies to negotiate with the unions over the future of the industry’s pension schemes.
The speakers at the rally – Francis O’Grady from the TUC, Keith Norman, general secretary of the train drivers’ union Aslef, Bob Crow of the RMT, Gerry Doherty of TSSA and John Wall (Amicus) – scurried from room to room to get the pensions message over.
Keith Norman condemned the Government for failing to offer any help in solving the burning issue of pensions in the rail industry. urgency
“The rail unions jointly went to the Department for Transport to stress the urgency of the situation, to talk about the probability of industrial action and to urge the Government to broker peace talks between the national unions and representatives of the franchised companies. They failed to do this,” he told the rally.
“They told us to go and talk to the companies individually – all 100 plus! And at the same time the minister says he hopes we can all come to an agreement.
“How can we come to an agreement if we have no one to talk to? The job of Government is to arrange a forum for national talks – and it has refused to move a muscle.
“This is a decision it will regret.”
The unions were contemptuous of the Government excuse that it could do nothing because since privatisation the individual companies were independent and out of its control. control
Gerry Doherty pointed out that the Government now hands out £4 billion to train companies every year. “How can anyone control a purse of £4 billion and not have any influence?” he demanded.
“When our industry was nationalised the taxpayer subsidised the industry by £1 billion. Since privatisation the subsidies have gone to £4 billion,” he added.
“Can you imagine the outcry in the media if those figures were the other way round and nationalisation was shown to cost four times as much as privatisation?”
There seems little chance that industrial action over the issue will be averted. The RMT and TSSA announced at the lobby that they will commence ballots within all companies before the end of May.
The lobby was organised jointly by rail unions to demand Government pressure on the privatised rail companies to negotiate with the unions over the future of the industry’s pension schemes.
The speakers at the rally – Francis O’Grady from the TUC, Keith Norman, general secretary of the train drivers’ union Aslef, Bob Crow of the RMT, Gerry Doherty of TSSA and John Wall (Amicus) – scurried from room to room to get the pensions message over.
Keith Norman condemned the Government for failing to offer any help in solving the burning issue of pensions in the rail industry. urgency
“The rail unions jointly went to the Department for Transport to stress the urgency of the situation, to talk about the probability of industrial action and to urge the Government to broker peace talks between the national unions and representatives of the franchised companies. They failed to do this,” he told the rally.
“They told us to go and talk to the companies individually – all 100 plus! And at the same time the minister says he hopes we can all come to an agreement.
“How can we come to an agreement if we have no one to talk to? The job of Government is to arrange a forum for national talks – and it has refused to move a muscle.
“This is a decision it will regret.”
The unions were contemptuous of the Government excuse that it could do nothing because since privatisation the individual companies were independent and out of its control. control
Gerry Doherty pointed out that the Government now hands out £4 billion to train companies every year. “How can anyone control a purse of £4 billion and not have any influence?” he demanded.
“When our industry was nationalised the taxpayer subsidised the industry by £1 billion. Since privatisation the subsidies have gone to £4 billion,” he added.
“Can you imagine the outcry in the media if those figures were the other way round and nationalisation was shown to cost four times as much as privatisation?”
There seems little chance that industrial action over the issue will be averted. The RMT and TSSA announced at the lobby that they will commence ballots within all companies before the end of May.
Nurses rally against the cuts!
by Caroline Colebrook
HUNDREDS of nurses from all over England rallied in Westminster last Thursday to tell their MPs of their concerns about the impact of NHS deficits on patient services and nursing jobs.
They were joined by nurses, midwives, porters, cleaners, occupational therapists, cooks and administrative staff in an event organised by the Royal College of Nursing and the giant public sector union Unison to protest at the effect of the closures on patient care and staff morale.
They also attended a rally on the impact of NHS deficits at Westminster Central Hall.
RCN General Secretary Dr Beverly Malone, spoke at the event and expressed her concern about the impact of NHS deficits on patient care and nursing jobs, saying: “Today we can defend our patients by lobbying our politicians. Today, we have an opportunity to make our case and offer our solutions. Today we have the chance to say with a voice that is dignified as well as determined, professional as well as passionate: keep nurses working and keep patients safe.
“We recognise that massive sums have been invested and huge strides have been made in improving the NHS in recent years. We also believe that we’ve come too far and achieved too much to sacrifice it because of deficits.
“That’s why the RCN is saying this is not the time to leave trusts to sink or swim, this is the time for support and solutions, this is the time to put high quality patient care back at the top of the health agenda, this is the time to work together to tackle the deficits crisis.”
The protest came as the health unions prepared for crisis talks with Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt next week – in a bid to slow down the Government’s damaging reforms.
Arriving at the House of Commons in an open top bus, health workers first lobbied outside the building, before attending a meeting with MPs inside.
“We want to show MPs the faces behind the figures,” said Unison head of health Karen Jennings.
“Last week’s local election results sent a clear message that the public are not happy with the direction the Government is taking. It’s time to listen and stop the constant revolution destabilising our NHS, stop featherbedding the private sector and keep the NHS working.”
Speakers at the meeting included Karen Jennings, TUC deputy general secretary Frances O’Grady, and Labour MP and former health secretary Frank Dobson.
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich is typical of hospitals facing a debt crisis and having to make cuts that will have a “devastating impact” on patient care.
The trust has already drawn up an £11 million savings plan and is waiting to hear from a new regional health authority whether it will be forced to make a further £6.4 million cuts.
The Government says that hospitals must break even by the end of March next year and it seems the Queen Elizabeth will still be £6.4 million in debt by then.
The trust’s total budget if £140 million but £15 million a year of this has to be paid into the PFI scheme that rebuilt the hospital.
The trust is seeking to become a foundation hospital but local campaigners are opposing this.
Frances Hook of Keep Our NHS said that the trend towards foundation trusts is evidence of the NHS becoming a corporate machine.
“The Government rhetoric is that foundation status will give communities more control over their hospital.
“In reality foundation hospitals will be given unlimited powers to enter into joint ventures with the private sector.
“The drive for profit will erode patient care and create competition between hospitals.”
Meanwhile an investigation by Hospital Doctor magazine revealed that NHS managers are offering “bribes” to general practitioners to persuade them to send patients to a private treatment centre instead of local NHS hospitals.
The investigation uncovered unorthodox payments of £30 for every patient sent to the private sector Greater Manchester surgical centre, run by the South African operator Netcare.
HUNDREDS of nurses from all over England rallied in Westminster last Thursday to tell their MPs of their concerns about the impact of NHS deficits on patient services and nursing jobs.
They were joined by nurses, midwives, porters, cleaners, occupational therapists, cooks and administrative staff in an event organised by the Royal College of Nursing and the giant public sector union Unison to protest at the effect of the closures on patient care and staff morale.
They also attended a rally on the impact of NHS deficits at Westminster Central Hall.
RCN General Secretary Dr Beverly Malone, spoke at the event and expressed her concern about the impact of NHS deficits on patient care and nursing jobs, saying: “Today we can defend our patients by lobbying our politicians. Today, we have an opportunity to make our case and offer our solutions. Today we have the chance to say with a voice that is dignified as well as determined, professional as well as passionate: keep nurses working and keep patients safe.
“We recognise that massive sums have been invested and huge strides have been made in improving the NHS in recent years. We also believe that we’ve come too far and achieved too much to sacrifice it because of deficits.
“That’s why the RCN is saying this is not the time to leave trusts to sink or swim, this is the time for support and solutions, this is the time to put high quality patient care back at the top of the health agenda, this is the time to work together to tackle the deficits crisis.”
The protest came as the health unions prepared for crisis talks with Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt next week – in a bid to slow down the Government’s damaging reforms.
Arriving at the House of Commons in an open top bus, health workers first lobbied outside the building, before attending a meeting with MPs inside.
“We want to show MPs the faces behind the figures,” said Unison head of health Karen Jennings.
“Last week’s local election results sent a clear message that the public are not happy with the direction the Government is taking. It’s time to listen and stop the constant revolution destabilising our NHS, stop featherbedding the private sector and keep the NHS working.”
Speakers at the meeting included Karen Jennings, TUC deputy general secretary Frances O’Grady, and Labour MP and former health secretary Frank Dobson.
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich is typical of hospitals facing a debt crisis and having to make cuts that will have a “devastating impact” on patient care.
The trust has already drawn up an £11 million savings plan and is waiting to hear from a new regional health authority whether it will be forced to make a further £6.4 million cuts.
The Government says that hospitals must break even by the end of March next year and it seems the Queen Elizabeth will still be £6.4 million in debt by then.
The trust’s total budget if £140 million but £15 million a year of this has to be paid into the PFI scheme that rebuilt the hospital.
The trust is seeking to become a foundation hospital but local campaigners are opposing this.
Frances Hook of Keep Our NHS said that the trend towards foundation trusts is evidence of the NHS becoming a corporate machine.
“The Government rhetoric is that foundation status will give communities more control over their hospital.
“In reality foundation hospitals will be given unlimited powers to enter into joint ventures with the private sector.
“The drive for profit will erode patient care and create competition between hospitals.”
Meanwhile an investigation by Hospital Doctor magazine revealed that NHS managers are offering “bribes” to general practitioners to persuade them to send patients to a private treatment centre instead of local NHS hospitals.
The investigation uncovered unorthodox payments of £30 for every patient sent to the private sector Greater Manchester surgical centre, run by the South African operator Netcare.
Rapturous welcome for Chavez
HUGO CHAVEZ, the left-wing President of Venezuela, visited London last weekend as the guest of London Mayor Ken Livingstone, where he delivered a three-and-a-half-hour speech to a packed Camden Centre, attended meetings with trade union leaders and businessmen and gave lots of press interviews. But he did not meet Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The main message he delivered loud and clear was: “We have to marshal our ideas for a better world. We have to infect people. Let’s have a badge saying, ‘I’m a socialist. I will infect you’.”
He received a rapturous welcome from working class, left and progressive organisations and individuals on the strength of his courageous stand against US imperialism and his use of revenues from Venezuela’s vast oil reserves to raise living standards, education and healthcare for Venezuela’s working class – in defiance of the imperialists who think it their right to exploit all the world’s oil for their own profit.
Chavez spoke of his childhood and the effects of extreme poverty on Venezuelan children. He recalled a friend called Jorge he played ball with every day. “Then one day, he didn’t come to school. We asked why. They told us his mother had died in childbirth.
“This happened a lot because there were no doctors for anyone.” Jorge’s father had also died so “he was forced to go to work and become a child labourer. He had little brothers and sisters and they had to be fed”.
Then Chavez spoke of his own family: “Yes, I saw the pain of poverty. My little brother was called Enso, he was a very beautiful child but he became ill. I remember him lying in a hammock.
“He was always smiling. But he died. There were no doctors, nothing. We buried him in a bag. He was one of those children who are swallowed by poverty.”
This poverty existed alongside immense wealth brought by the oil.
During his army career Chavez found himself fighting Maoist rebels and realised they were the same class as himself. He began to study politics. That was the beginning of his journey to becoming what US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice describes as “the most dangerous man in the region”.
Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, who shared a platform with him at the Camden Centre, said: “I am very interested in what they are doing in Venezuela in terms of lessening the gap between rich and poor.
“Maybe the British government could learn something from that. Blair and the Government should recognise which way the wind is blowing in Latin America.”
success
Indeed Chavez’s success in gaining and retaining power – despite an attempted coup against him and numerous imperialist efforts to destabilise his government – that a succession of other Latin American countries have returned left-wing governments. These include Evo Morales in Bolivia and Ollanta Hulama in Peru. Others like Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico and veteran socialist fighter Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua seem likely to come to power soon.
Chavez is setting the example that is giving the working peoples of Latin America real hope and courage to defy American imperialism. He is also giving practical help with cheap oil for progressive causes – including helping the poor people of the United States itself.
Speaking about the US, Chavez told the London rally that Washington was “the greatest threat to this planet” and continued: “The final hours of empire have arrived. Now we have to say to the empire, ‘We are not afraid of you, you are a paper tiger’.” And he added that US imperialism was as doomed as a pig on its way to the slaughterhouse.
The main message he delivered loud and clear was: “We have to marshal our ideas for a better world. We have to infect people. Let’s have a badge saying, ‘I’m a socialist. I will infect you’.”
He received a rapturous welcome from working class, left and progressive organisations and individuals on the strength of his courageous stand against US imperialism and his use of revenues from Venezuela’s vast oil reserves to raise living standards, education and healthcare for Venezuela’s working class – in defiance of the imperialists who think it their right to exploit all the world’s oil for their own profit.
Chavez spoke of his childhood and the effects of extreme poverty on Venezuelan children. He recalled a friend called Jorge he played ball with every day. “Then one day, he didn’t come to school. We asked why. They told us his mother had died in childbirth.
“This happened a lot because there were no doctors for anyone.” Jorge’s father had also died so “he was forced to go to work and become a child labourer. He had little brothers and sisters and they had to be fed”.
Then Chavez spoke of his own family: “Yes, I saw the pain of poverty. My little brother was called Enso, he was a very beautiful child but he became ill. I remember him lying in a hammock.
“He was always smiling. But he died. There were no doctors, nothing. We buried him in a bag. He was one of those children who are swallowed by poverty.”
This poverty existed alongside immense wealth brought by the oil.
During his army career Chavez found himself fighting Maoist rebels and realised they were the same class as himself. He began to study politics. That was the beginning of his journey to becoming what US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice describes as “the most dangerous man in the region”.
Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, who shared a platform with him at the Camden Centre, said: “I am very interested in what they are doing in Venezuela in terms of lessening the gap between rich and poor.
“Maybe the British government could learn something from that. Blair and the Government should recognise which way the wind is blowing in Latin America.”
success
Indeed Chavez’s success in gaining and retaining power – despite an attempted coup against him and numerous imperialist efforts to destabilise his government – that a succession of other Latin American countries have returned left-wing governments. These include Evo Morales in Bolivia and Ollanta Hulama in Peru. Others like Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico and veteran socialist fighter Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua seem likely to come to power soon.
Chavez is setting the example that is giving the working peoples of Latin America real hope and courage to defy American imperialism. He is also giving practical help with cheap oil for progressive causes – including helping the poor people of the United States itself.
Speaking about the US, Chavez told the London rally that Washington was “the greatest threat to this planet” and continued: “The final hours of empire have arrived. Now we have to say to the empire, ‘We are not afraid of you, you are a paper tiger’.” And he added that US imperialism was as doomed as a pig on its way to the slaughterhouse.
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