by Caroline Colebrook
TRAIN drivers employed by South West Trains walked out on a 24-hour strike last Tuesday, crippling commuter services on some of the busiest routes into London.
Keith Norman, general secretary of the train drivers’ union Aslef thanked all his members who had taken part in the strike but put the blame for the dispute firmly on the employer, who, he said, “preferred a punch-up to a settlement”.
The dispute is the result of a number of issues, which include the high-handedness of SWT management.
The conflict began with a small, local dispute in Waterloo, where there was a disagreement over the company providing taxis for drivers on early and late duties.
Aslef says this could have been easily settled, “but we believe management engineered a dispute”. During the resulting action, SWT drafted in managers to drive trains.
This was in direct contravention of an existing agreement which says managers will only drive trains in cases of health, safety or the possibility of civil unrest.
The union was also concerned at the safety risks: one manager, although technically competent, had not driven a train alone for a decade. The union accused the company of being more concerned with scoring industrial relations points than with the safety of passengers.
The dispute was then inflamed when it was shown that SWT was bringing in managers to drive trains from as far away as Bournemouth – and, to add insult to injury fetched them in by taxi!
Aslef accordingly held a ballot of all its members in SWT which overwhelmingly supported the industrial action. Keith Norman said it was astonishing that since he had informed the company of the intention to strike, SWT had only approached the union at national level to make legal threats – and not to seek discussions aimed at reaching an agreement.
SWT management claimed to be running one train in 10 but the union described this as “wishful thinking” and dismissed it as propaganda.
Speaking on most national radio stations on Tuesday morning, Keith Norman accused management of “wanting a punch-up and using the public as its boxing-gloves”.
He said SWT had spent masses of money on legal threats and newspaper adverts – but had made no attempts to sit down and negotiate a settlement.
“I have been in London all weekend prepared to speak to the company,” he said, “but they have been too busy making excuses to do anything positive. The union has shown its organising abilities today – but I’m sure the public would prefer us to be demonstrating our negotiating skills.
“Unfortunately, this would involve management coming to the table – which it is reluctant to do.”
Keith Norman said the union cannot allow management to disregard agreements it has entered into. “When we shake hands, we deliver. When they make an agreement they apply it if its convenient.
“Industrial relations cannot function like that. Today we were forced to make a stand.”
The union’s national organiser Andy Reed said the strike was solid in the areas around Portsmouth and Basingstoke which he visited this morning.
“None of our members wanted this,” he said, “but they are not the sort of people who can be threatened or intimidated.”
A guard on one service told the union one 12-coach train, driven by a manager, had pulled into a nine-coach platform at Waterloo –endorsing the union’s safety arguments.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
East London hospital strike
PORTERS, cleaners and switchboard staff employed by Rentokil Initial, based at Whipps Cross Hospital in East London, have been on strike since 21st July.
An agreement over pay and conditions was made in 2003, due to come into force in April 2006; several other East London hospitals agreed to the deal, only Rentokil at Whipps Cross has failed to honour it.
The pay award is roughly equivalent to a £2 per hour raise, for staff who in some cases earn as little as £5.52 per hour, the agreement also included increases in leave entitlement.
Staff are on strike for the full award with pay backdated to April. Over 300 staff are employed by Rentokil Initial at Whipps Cross, and around 270 are members of the public sector union Unison.
So far there have been four days of strike action, with the strike days increasing from one to two days every other week over the past month. Rentokil has refused to discuss the deal with either the workers directly or with Unison, although some negotiations are planned with the hospital trust itself.
In light of this, strike days were increased from two to three in the next round of action on 29th August, and there is likely to be all out indefinite strike action during September if no deal is made.
The dispute is restricted to Whipps Cross at the moment, since it’s a local deal, which only Rentokil Initial has not met.
However a Unison member at the hospital told me that a national agreement is due to come into force in October, which Rentokil is unlikely to meet. This could lead to the dispute spreading nationally to all Rentokil Initial hospital staff during October.
One picket line worker said: “Everyone’s been out here every day, we don’t expect to have an offer at all, but we’ll be here again tomorrow and keep doing it as long as necessary, it’s been a really good atmosphere out here.”
The turn out on the picket line has been consistently over 200 people per day, starting at 6am and finishing around 5 or 6pm.
Only five Initial Rentokil workers employed at the hospital have crossed the line since the first day of the strike, many workers who were not members of Unison have joined the action unofficially or joined since it started.
But company has been shipping in employees from all over London and even Brighton as scab labour, in some cases putting them up in hospital accommodation.
An agreement over pay and conditions was made in 2003, due to come into force in April 2006; several other East London hospitals agreed to the deal, only Rentokil at Whipps Cross has failed to honour it.
The pay award is roughly equivalent to a £2 per hour raise, for staff who in some cases earn as little as £5.52 per hour, the agreement also included increases in leave entitlement.
Staff are on strike for the full award with pay backdated to April. Over 300 staff are employed by Rentokil Initial at Whipps Cross, and around 270 are members of the public sector union Unison.
So far there have been four days of strike action, with the strike days increasing from one to two days every other week over the past month. Rentokil has refused to discuss the deal with either the workers directly or with Unison, although some negotiations are planned with the hospital trust itself.
In light of this, strike days were increased from two to three in the next round of action on 29th August, and there is likely to be all out indefinite strike action during September if no deal is made.
The dispute is restricted to Whipps Cross at the moment, since it’s a local deal, which only Rentokil Initial has not met.
However a Unison member at the hospital told me that a national agreement is due to come into force in October, which Rentokil is unlikely to meet. This could lead to the dispute spreading nationally to all Rentokil Initial hospital staff during October.
One picket line worker said: “Everyone’s been out here every day, we don’t expect to have an offer at all, but we’ll be here again tomorrow and keep doing it as long as necessary, it’s been a really good atmosphere out here.”
The turn out on the picket line has been consistently over 200 people per day, starting at 6am and finishing around 5 or 6pm.
Only five Initial Rentokil workers employed at the hospital have crossed the line since the first day of the strike, many workers who were not members of Unison have joined the action unofficially or joined since it started.
But company has been shipping in employees from all over London and even Brighton as scab labour, in some cases putting them up in hospital accommodation.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Labour Representation Committee Conference
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.”
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.”
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.
Monday, May 15, 2006
KICK BLAIR OUT!
LAST WEEK’S local election results are the writing on the wall for Tony Blair and those who cling to his coat-tails. Rocked by incompetence, scandal and sleaze the Government looks as if it’s on its last legs with the latest opinion polls showing that Labour’s support has fallen to its lowest level since 1992.
Labour lost over 300 council seats in the English local elections and control of 19 councils, including a number of key boroughs in London, mostly to a resurgent Tory Party with the Liberal Democrats making only modest gains. To cap it all, Labour suffered a humiliating reverse in Barking and Dagenham, with 11 councillors defeated by the neo-Nazi BNP and failed to stem the advance of George Galloway’s Respect Party in Tower Hamlets.
The blame game began while the gloomy results were being tallied. Some believe that Blair’s spin merchants were deliberately puffing up the BNP in the run-up to the poll to divert attention away from the expected swing to the Tories.
There can be no doubt that the widely-publicised remarks by Barking Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who claimed that 80 per cent of white families in her constituency were “tempted” by the BNP, gave the fascists the oxygen to fuel their racist campaign. But that doesn’t fully explain why a thoroughly working-class borough that was once a Labour stronghold with a thriving local communist movement 30 years ago should become the feeding ground for the racists and fascists.
Labour’s traditional working class supporters are deeply disillusioned. They put Blair in office three times on the bounce and have got little in return. A tiny minority have been duped by the lies of the fascists who blame the woes of the workers on the immigrants and the ethnic minorities and seek to solve the crisis by simply redistributing the crumbs from the rich man’s table. Others fall for the old lies of bourgeois Tory and Liberal Democrat parties who have never served the working class and can never defend our class’s interests.
For those who think the answer is to build another left social-democratic movement in opposition to Labour, the paltry gains of Respect and the former Trotskyist parties of the left are a warning. The only alternative to a Labour Government at the next election is going to be one led by the Tories – and we only have to recall the dark days of Mrs Thatcher and John Major to know exactly what that will mean for the working class.
Blair’s answer was a pathetic reshuffle but if he thinks that sacking Charles Clarke and demoting Jack Straw will take the heat off him he is much mistaken.
Labour’s problems begin and end with Blair and his “New Labour” agenda that is becoming increasingly indistinguishable from the worst excesses of the Thatcher era. Blair and his cronies bleat on that they listen to the people when it is obvious to everyone apart from themselves that the Labour leadership only head the advice of the most venal and reactionary elements of the global ruling class.
They took us into the criminal invasion and occupation of Iraq reducing our soldiers to the role of sepoys in the service of American imperialism. While our health service totters for lack of funds, billions are spent on the armed forces and the so-called nuclear deterrent that is ultimately under American control.
The masses want affordable housing, decent jobs, and adequate pensions for a dignified retirement that a country like Britain, with the fourth greatest economy in the world, can easily provide. What we’ve got is round the clock drinking, casinos and a minimal tax system that has made our country a paradise for the millionaires.
Blair says he’s going but he still won’t name the day. We have to make sure it’s as soon as possible. Blair’s an albatross around Labour’s neck. The longer he stays the worse it will get. A leadership election must be triggered under Labour Party rules to force him out. The sooner he goes the better.
Labour lost over 300 council seats in the English local elections and control of 19 councils, including a number of key boroughs in London, mostly to a resurgent Tory Party with the Liberal Democrats making only modest gains. To cap it all, Labour suffered a humiliating reverse in Barking and Dagenham, with 11 councillors defeated by the neo-Nazi BNP and failed to stem the advance of George Galloway’s Respect Party in Tower Hamlets.
The blame game began while the gloomy results were being tallied. Some believe that Blair’s spin merchants were deliberately puffing up the BNP in the run-up to the poll to divert attention away from the expected swing to the Tories.
There can be no doubt that the widely-publicised remarks by Barking Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who claimed that 80 per cent of white families in her constituency were “tempted” by the BNP, gave the fascists the oxygen to fuel their racist campaign. But that doesn’t fully explain why a thoroughly working-class borough that was once a Labour stronghold with a thriving local communist movement 30 years ago should become the feeding ground for the racists and fascists.
Labour’s traditional working class supporters are deeply disillusioned. They put Blair in office three times on the bounce and have got little in return. A tiny minority have been duped by the lies of the fascists who blame the woes of the workers on the immigrants and the ethnic minorities and seek to solve the crisis by simply redistributing the crumbs from the rich man’s table. Others fall for the old lies of bourgeois Tory and Liberal Democrat parties who have never served the working class and can never defend our class’s interests.
For those who think the answer is to build another left social-democratic movement in opposition to Labour, the paltry gains of Respect and the former Trotskyist parties of the left are a warning. The only alternative to a Labour Government at the next election is going to be one led by the Tories – and we only have to recall the dark days of Mrs Thatcher and John Major to know exactly what that will mean for the working class.
Blair’s answer was a pathetic reshuffle but if he thinks that sacking Charles Clarke and demoting Jack Straw will take the heat off him he is much mistaken.
Labour’s problems begin and end with Blair and his “New Labour” agenda that is becoming increasingly indistinguishable from the worst excesses of the Thatcher era. Blair and his cronies bleat on that they listen to the people when it is obvious to everyone apart from themselves that the Labour leadership only head the advice of the most venal and reactionary elements of the global ruling class.
They took us into the criminal invasion and occupation of Iraq reducing our soldiers to the role of sepoys in the service of American imperialism. While our health service totters for lack of funds, billions are spent on the armed forces and the so-called nuclear deterrent that is ultimately under American control.
The masses want affordable housing, decent jobs, and adequate pensions for a dignified retirement that a country like Britain, with the fourth greatest economy in the world, can easily provide. What we’ve got is round the clock drinking, casinos and a minimal tax system that has made our country a paradise for the millionaires.
Blair says he’s going but he still won’t name the day. We have to make sure it’s as soon as possible. Blair’s an albatross around Labour’s neck. The longer he stays the worse it will get. A leadership election must be triggered under Labour Party rules to force him out. The sooner he goes the better.
BNP gain "disappointing"
ANTI-FASCIST campaigners should not be too downhearted after the neo-Nazi British National Party gained 32 new councillors in last Thursday’s local elections, leaving them with a total of 42 throughout the country.
Only one of their existing councillors, whose seat was up for re-election, held that seat. Elsewhere voters who had experienced life with a BNP councillor did not want to repeat the experience.
The largest BNP gain was in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (one subject to a High Court petition).
The anti-fascist magazine Searchlight said: “Any BNP victory should be a cause of concern. Its presence raises tensions and divides communities, and its lies, which are central to its campaigning tactics, incite fear and racial violence.
“While the media focused on the success in east London, BNP fortunes elsewhere were more mixed. Although the BNP took three seats in Stoke-on-Trent, Epping Forest and Sandwell, there were other areas where it failed to make its expected breakthrough.
“There were no BNP successes in Oldham, Dudley, Blackburn and Thurrock. The BNP fell back in Calderdale, where it was defending two seats but only succeeded in one. Kirklees was another top target and the two councillors elected there were fewer than expected.”
In Bradford the BNP gained only one new councillor compared to the four it gained in 2004, despite serious BNP threats in nine wards, it lost two of the wards it had won in 2004. The defeat of the BNP in these areas was down to serious grass roots hard work by anti-fascist campaigners, including the Searchlight organisation, local anti-BNP groups, political parties and trade unions.
Searchlight said: “The work done by a few activists across the country cannot be underestimated. Over 400,000 copies of the Searchlight newspaper, in 16 editions, were distributed as were 220,000 postcards.
“The Searchlight telephone banks identified 33,000 anti-BNP voters and it is clear that our direct contact with these people in several wards stopped the BNP from winning. Coseley East, Tipton Green and Longton North are just three examples. “The large increase in BNP councillors is discouraging but not altogether unexpected. The media’s coverage of the BNP was quite despicable, especially the BBC which at times appeared more like BNP TV.
“Then there was the Home Office’s debacle over the foreign prisoners issue, which unsurprisingly played straight into the hands of the BNP. The BNP will never get publicity like it again, especially in the run-up to an election, and with that in mind one could argue that if it could not break through in some places this year then it never will.”
The BNP gains in Barking and Dagenham came after remarks from local New Labour Margaret Hodge that eight out of ten of the constituents she spoke to “had considered” voting for the BNP. For this boost the BNP sent her a bunch of flowers.
The problem was exacerbated by the failure of other parties to stand. In many Barking and Dagenham wards, the only names on the ballot papers belonged to either Labour or the BNP. Protest votes against Labour had nowhere else to go.
“Barking and Dagenham was obviously the worst result of the night,” said Searchlight, “but no blame could be attached to the local Labour Party, unions or local anti-BNP activists. The quite ridiculous comments from Margaret Hodge, the MP for Barking, lit the fuse that ended with 12 BNP councillors elected.
“The media were never out of the area and they did more than the BNP themselves to spread the racist message and present the BNP as a legitimate protest vote.
“Against this backdrop, there was little anti-fascists could do. There is no disguising the BNP threat. Anti-fascists need to regroup and critically assess what have been their most effective campaigning techniques. The trade unions need to look again at how to prevent their members from supporting the BNP.
“All of the political parties need to look at how they can re-engage with voters rather than take them for granted. And there also needs to be serious consideration of wider public policy.
“How can local government be made more meaningful and important? How can we manage an increase in migrant workers without creating a backlash from those who see their jobs disappear as a consequence? Most fundamentally, how can we connect growing numbers of disillusioned people with the political system?
“Our task gets harder but the campaigns in Dudley, Oldham and Bradford prove that we can win even against the background of a media love-in with the BNP. The 2006 local elections were disappointing but the BNP did not achieve the political breakthrough some think it did.
“Our job is to make sure that it is downhill from now on for the BNP.”
Only one of their existing councillors, whose seat was up for re-election, held that seat. Elsewhere voters who had experienced life with a BNP councillor did not want to repeat the experience.
The largest BNP gain was in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (one subject to a High Court petition).
The anti-fascist magazine Searchlight said: “Any BNP victory should be a cause of concern. Its presence raises tensions and divides communities, and its lies, which are central to its campaigning tactics, incite fear and racial violence.
“While the media focused on the success in east London, BNP fortunes elsewhere were more mixed. Although the BNP took three seats in Stoke-on-Trent, Epping Forest and Sandwell, there were other areas where it failed to make its expected breakthrough.
“There were no BNP successes in Oldham, Dudley, Blackburn and Thurrock. The BNP fell back in Calderdale, where it was defending two seats but only succeeded in one. Kirklees was another top target and the two councillors elected there were fewer than expected.”
In Bradford the BNP gained only one new councillor compared to the four it gained in 2004, despite serious BNP threats in nine wards, it lost two of the wards it had won in 2004. The defeat of the BNP in these areas was down to serious grass roots hard work by anti-fascist campaigners, including the Searchlight organisation, local anti-BNP groups, political parties and trade unions.
Searchlight said: “The work done by a few activists across the country cannot be underestimated. Over 400,000 copies of the Searchlight newspaper, in 16 editions, were distributed as were 220,000 postcards.
“The Searchlight telephone banks identified 33,000 anti-BNP voters and it is clear that our direct contact with these people in several wards stopped the BNP from winning. Coseley East, Tipton Green and Longton North are just three examples. “The large increase in BNP councillors is discouraging but not altogether unexpected. The media’s coverage of the BNP was quite despicable, especially the BBC which at times appeared more like BNP TV.
“Then there was the Home Office’s debacle over the foreign prisoners issue, which unsurprisingly played straight into the hands of the BNP. The BNP will never get publicity like it again, especially in the run-up to an election, and with that in mind one could argue that if it could not break through in some places this year then it never will.”
The BNP gains in Barking and Dagenham came after remarks from local New Labour Margaret Hodge that eight out of ten of the constituents she spoke to “had considered” voting for the BNP. For this boost the BNP sent her a bunch of flowers.
The problem was exacerbated by the failure of other parties to stand. In many Barking and Dagenham wards, the only names on the ballot papers belonged to either Labour or the BNP. Protest votes against Labour had nowhere else to go.
“Barking and Dagenham was obviously the worst result of the night,” said Searchlight, “but no blame could be attached to the local Labour Party, unions or local anti-BNP activists. The quite ridiculous comments from Margaret Hodge, the MP for Barking, lit the fuse that ended with 12 BNP councillors elected.
“The media were never out of the area and they did more than the BNP themselves to spread the racist message and present the BNP as a legitimate protest vote.
“Against this backdrop, there was little anti-fascists could do. There is no disguising the BNP threat. Anti-fascists need to regroup and critically assess what have been their most effective campaigning techniques. The trade unions need to look again at how to prevent their members from supporting the BNP.
“All of the political parties need to look at how they can re-engage with voters rather than take them for granted. And there also needs to be serious consideration of wider public policy.
“How can local government be made more meaningful and important? How can we manage an increase in migrant workers without creating a backlash from those who see their jobs disappear as a consequence? Most fundamentally, how can we connect growing numbers of disillusioned people with the political system?
“Our task gets harder but the campaigns in Dudley, Oldham and Bradford prove that we can win even against the background of a media love-in with the BNP. The 2006 local elections were disappointing but the BNP did not achieve the political breakthrough some think it did.
“Our job is to make sure that it is downhill from now on for the BNP.”
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Irish Republicanism never been stronger
Republicanism in Ireland ‘has never been stronger’by Theo Russell
FORMER hunger striker Jackie McMullan last Saturday told a London meeting: “Republicanism in Ireland has never been stronger – it’s on the march. Men and women have come out of prison and re-joined the struggle, and the vast majority are still involved.”
He was talking to the annual James Connolly-Bobby Sands commemoration meeting, held this year at the London Irish Centre – in the year that marks the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising, in which James Connolly played a leading role and was wounded, taken prisoner and shot by the British occupation forces.
This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the famous Long Kesh hunger strike, in which Bobby Sands and eight other prisoners gave their lives rather than be classed as common criminals for fighting to free the occupied six counties of the north of Ireland. During the strike Bobby Sands was elected as an MP to Westminster, though of course he was never able to take his seat.
Jackie McMullan reminded his audience that there were significant hunger strikes apart from at Long Kesh, in Portlaoise, Limerick and the Crumlin in Belfast, some involving force-feeding for over a year.
He recalled Bobby Sands saying that “what is won or lost in the prisons will be won for the republic,” and that “the British government is trying to turn the prisons into a breaker’s yard for republicanism.”
Jackie continued: “The struggle against criminalisation had become central to the republican movement. Their struggle and sacrifice has been imprinted on the history of our country like no other. It was a watershed event. British rule in Ireland was once again exposed as a criminal act.”
“The elections of Bobby Sands as MP and one of his close comrades as TD (Member of the Irish Parliament) sent shockwaves through the political establishment in Ireland.”
Jackie ended by saying: “Our objectives have still not been realised, and the need for solidarity still applies.” The meeting was organised by the Wolfe Tone Society and during a workshop on campaign work Dennis Grace listed the many areas of work the society had been involved with over the years.
These included:
• Working closely with left Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell;
• Regular (and highly appreciated) contact with republican prisoners, including those at Portlaoise, sending cards, books, music and DVDs;
• Playing a major part in campaigns for justice for Diarmuid O’Neill, the release of Roisin McAliskey, the Colombia Three, the Bloody Sunday campaign, the Holy Cross school, the Garvaghy Road, the Short Strand, opposing Orange Order marches and many other issues;
• Cultural events, including a commemoration of the United Irish Rising in songs and poems, a Cuban-Irish night and annual Dinner Dances;
• Fact-finding and solidarity visits to combat media distortion and disinformation, and a trip to London for children from the Short Strand including meeting an MP at Parliament and Mayor Ken Livingstone at City Hall.
• A regular campaign newsletter, Fuascailt, now available on the Wolfe Tone Society website;
• Solidarity with Cuba, Palestine and the Basque Country, and support for the Muslim community, the target of the new anti-terror laws.
Dennis said: “Realising peace and justice in Ireland requires people to actually do the necessary work,” and recalled that at Sinn Féin’s Ard Fheis last February Gerry Adams had spoken of “the huge debt of gratitude to solidarity in England”, making solidarity there one the party’s top five priorities.
He stressed the importance of actually writing to MPs, giving the example of John McDonnell being asked to raise an issue in Parliament when he hadn’t received a single letter about it.
Francis Brolly, Sinn Féin MLA (Member of the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly) for Limavady and well known singer and songwriter, said: “The 1966 commemoration of the Easter Rising in Dublin re-kindled a flame, especially in the north, but also provoked the fear and hatred of the Northern Ireland establishment and the British ruling class.
“Two years later men and women in the north took to the streets to protest against the humiliation which their mothers and fathers had endured.
“The IRA campaign was difficult and terrible, and people knew there would be a legacy which would be very difficult to deal with.
“The British establishment was shaken by the campaign, and came up with a plan to ‘get them in the prisons’ through the criminalisation campaign.”
Peter Middleton of the WTS ended the rally by speaking of the need to lobby the British government to re-vitalise the Northern Ireland Assembly, hold new elections, and to end its appeasement of the DUP, adding that “we need to re-focus our campaign on the whole of the 32 counties”.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Soviet Victory Day in London
Soviet Victory DayTHE PEOPLES of the former Soviet Union still celebrate 9th May as Victory Day, the day that the Nazis surrendered in 1945. And in south London, at the Soviet War Memorial in the grounds of the Imperial War Museum, representatives of the former Soviet republics and war veterans gathered to remember the 27 million Soviet citizens who died in the war to defeat Nazism. There were also a number of local dignitaries and veterans’ organisations represented. The distinctive white berets of the Russian Convoy Club were, as ever, present in good numbers.
After brief speeches from Philip Matthews, who chairs the Soviet Memorial Trust Fund, from Tom Watson, the newly appointed Minister for Veterans on behalf of the Government and from HE Yuri Fedotov, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation.
Then followed a wreath laying ceremony, with flowers laid by the ambassadors of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Representatives of the Australian and United States embassies also laid wreaths, as did Bob Wareing MP, a veteran representative of London Region Ucatt, Keith Bell of the Russian Convoy Club and Jean Turner of the Society for Cooperation in Russian and Soviet Studies.
Also present were Squadron Leader FA Forbes and FV Bashford of the RAF in Russia Association.
After the ceremony, inside the museum’s cinema, Air Chief Marshall Sir John Cheshire presented a film, Hurricanes over Russia, which related a little-known piece of RAF history – the short but significant and successful existence of No 151 Wing.
After the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22nd June 1941, Stalin’s call to Churchill for assistance was answered. Churchill replied positively, saying the British government was considering basing some British fighter squadrons in Murmansk.
In August 1941 the first Arctic Convoy carried 550 RAF men with Hurricane fighter aircraft on board in crates. Other Hurricanes were flown directly from warships to an airfield near Murmansk.
When all the planes had been assembled and gathered they comprised 151 Wing, which was in action against the Luftwaffe and engaged in training Russian pilots to fly Hurricanes, so that they could make the best use of the thousands of Hurricanes that would eventually be delivered as part of British aid to the Soviet war effort.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Organisation is the key!
The May Day March that made its way from outside Marx House on Clerkenwell Green to Trafalgar Square last Monday was the largest for decades and showed that Britain’s trade union movement can still turn out thousands when it has a mind to.
Here was the real British working class united and in upbeat mood to fight to defend pensions, education and the NHS; to oppose privatisation and to demand backing for a new Bill of Workers’ Rights. It was a far cry from the image of ignorant, apathetic racists that much of the media – and some Blairite Labour MPs – regard the working class to be. There were also plenty of colourful international contingents on the march as usual; reminding us that in celebrating May Day we are part of a global movement supported by billions.
As one speaker in Trafalgar Square put it, “How can we hope to win against people like Bush and Blair? We’ve only got six billion on our side!”
Organisation is the key. The power and strength of millions of workers can only be effective through unity and organisation. In 1848 the Chartist leader Ernest Jones told a rally in Manchester: “Some tell you that teetotalism will get you the Charter: The Charter don’t lie at the bottom of a glass of water. Some tell you social cooperation will do it; cooperation is at the mercy of those who hold political power. Then what will do it? Two year ago and more, I went to prison for speaking three words. Those words were: ‘Organise – organise – organise’… And this day again I say: ‘Organise! Organise! Organise!’”
Organisation is power and the ruling class know that once the working class is properly organised, they are doomed. That is why ever since the Chartist days they have sought to destroy and undermine working class organisation. They have sent splitters into our movement to foster faint-heartedness, reformism, revisionism, confusion and ultra-leftism.
The front line of the class struggle is inside the labour and trade union movement because the ruling class know that spreading disorganisation here is the key to them holding on to power.
The Labour Party was founded to be the political expression of the trade unions, the organised working class. And the ruling class set out to subvert it from the beginning. The correct strategy of the working class must be to combat that subversion and throw out the treacherous Blairites. But that cannot be done by quitting the arena of struggle. That is to surrender the labour movement to the enemy.
One small group calling themselves communists were calling on the unions to “Break the link with Labour! Defy the anti-trade union laws!” Nothing would suit ruling class better than to have the potential power of organised working class further fractured and splintered. Break the link with Labour and the movement will be fragmented and working class unity virtually impossible to achieve.
We owe it to our predecessors from the Chartists onwards, who struggled to build the labour movement we have today – and to the rank and file trade unionists and Labour Party members who are still working hard to save the party from a catastrophe in the local elections and keep the BNP at bay – to defend the unity and strength of the movement.
The current spate of scandals surrounding John Prescott and Charles Clarke – not to forget Tessa Jowell and the cash for coronets scam – have brought disgrace on the Labour leadership. The privatisation policies of Patricia Hewitt and Ruth Kelly are an attack on the working class. But all of them put together pale into insignificance compared to Blair taking the country into an illegal war on false pretences.
The trade union and labour movement leaders throughout the country must be aware that the leadership of their party is in the hands of the class enemy – and that they have the power and the organisational tools to throw out Blair and his clique. The rank and file have made their feelings clear on May Day. By the time you read this, it is likely that voters throughout the country will have made their views clear. The labour movement must use that power and deliver the movement from Blairism.
Here was the real British working class united and in upbeat mood to fight to defend pensions, education and the NHS; to oppose privatisation and to demand backing for a new Bill of Workers’ Rights. It was a far cry from the image of ignorant, apathetic racists that much of the media – and some Blairite Labour MPs – regard the working class to be. There were also plenty of colourful international contingents on the march as usual; reminding us that in celebrating May Day we are part of a global movement supported by billions.
As one speaker in Trafalgar Square put it, “How can we hope to win against people like Bush and Blair? We’ve only got six billion on our side!”
Organisation is the key. The power and strength of millions of workers can only be effective through unity and organisation. In 1848 the Chartist leader Ernest Jones told a rally in Manchester: “Some tell you that teetotalism will get you the Charter: The Charter don’t lie at the bottom of a glass of water. Some tell you social cooperation will do it; cooperation is at the mercy of those who hold political power. Then what will do it? Two year ago and more, I went to prison for speaking three words. Those words were: ‘Organise – organise – organise’… And this day again I say: ‘Organise! Organise! Organise!’”
Organisation is power and the ruling class know that once the working class is properly organised, they are doomed. That is why ever since the Chartist days they have sought to destroy and undermine working class organisation. They have sent splitters into our movement to foster faint-heartedness, reformism, revisionism, confusion and ultra-leftism.
The front line of the class struggle is inside the labour and trade union movement because the ruling class know that spreading disorganisation here is the key to them holding on to power.
The Labour Party was founded to be the political expression of the trade unions, the organised working class. And the ruling class set out to subvert it from the beginning. The correct strategy of the working class must be to combat that subversion and throw out the treacherous Blairites. But that cannot be done by quitting the arena of struggle. That is to surrender the labour movement to the enemy.
One small group calling themselves communists were calling on the unions to “Break the link with Labour! Defy the anti-trade union laws!” Nothing would suit ruling class better than to have the potential power of organised working class further fractured and splintered. Break the link with Labour and the movement will be fragmented and working class unity virtually impossible to achieve.
We owe it to our predecessors from the Chartists onwards, who struggled to build the labour movement we have today – and to the rank and file trade unionists and Labour Party members who are still working hard to save the party from a catastrophe in the local elections and keep the BNP at bay – to defend the unity and strength of the movement.
The current spate of scandals surrounding John Prescott and Charles Clarke – not to forget Tessa Jowell and the cash for coronets scam – have brought disgrace on the Labour leadership. The privatisation policies of Patricia Hewitt and Ruth Kelly are an attack on the working class. But all of them put together pale into insignificance compared to Blair taking the country into an illegal war on false pretences.
The trade union and labour movement leaders throughout the country must be aware that the leadership of their party is in the hands of the class enemy – and that they have the power and the organisational tools to throw out Blair and his clique. The rank and file have made their feelings clear on May Day. By the time you read this, it is likely that voters throughout the country will have made their views clear. The labour movement must use that power and deliver the movement from Blairism.
Biggest London May Day march for years
OVER 10,000 trade unionists last Monday took to the streets of London to mark International Workers Day and to give their backing for a new Campaign for Workplace Justice and a Bill for workers’ rights.
But the contingent from the RMT transport union alone was well over 1,000. The Transport and General Workers’ Union and Amicus also had huge contingents.
Other unions present included public sector union Unison, the Communication Workers’ Union, the GMB general union, building workers’ union Ucatt, train drivers’ union Aslef, the National Union of Journalists, broadcasting union Bectu, shopworkers’ union Usdaw, PCS civil service union, the National Union of Teachers and many more. There was hardly a union not represented.
There were banners, placards, flags and balloons. And there were jazz bands, brass bands, Punjabi drummers, and a lone bagpiper.
Dozens of trades councils were present, along with pensioners’ groups, an assortment of left wing parties and many international contingents. These included the colourful Turkish and Kurdish community groups and even a group from Bolivia.
The Gate Gourmet workers were there in force, along with the workers from Peugeot’s Ryton works, threatened with closure and the loss of 2,300 jobs.
Veteran trade union leader and International Brigader Jack Jones stood near the entrance to Trafalgar Square to welcome the marchers as they entered.
In the Square his successor, the TGWU general secretary Tony Woodley, spoke of the new initiative against the Thatcherite anti-union laws and for justice in the workplace. He said: “Solidarity must be put back at the centre of trade union and Labour Party policies.”
He called on the Government to heed the support of many MPs and millions of working people for the Trade Union Freedom Bill, which would allow trade unionists to take solidarity action in certain circumstances, and is supported by Labour Party conference policy.
The Bill would also remove restrictive procedures for ballots and notice of industrial action, and help develop justice at work for those whose rights were stripped away by successive Tory anti-union laws.
“Labour voted against each of those laws when in Opposition,” said Tony Woodley. “Surely it is not too much to expect the Government to recognise the need to restore fairness in the workplace through the measures contained in the Trade Union Freedom Bill.”
While no law could deliver fairness at work without the vigilance of trade unions to enforce it, the time had come to restore some equilibrium in industrial relations in Britain. needed now
“Strong trade unions are needed now more than ever to secure proper rights for all workers in safe workplaces. There are those who say that trade unions are old-fashioned and their concerns have been overtaken by the freedoms of the marketplace in labour and services,” he added.
“Don’t bother trying to explain that to the hundreds of workers killed each year because of unsafe working environments, or to the 150,000 seriously injured, often as a direct result of the criminal indifference of those who employ them. “The freedom of the market place is little consolation to the families of 23 Chinese migrant workers sacrificed on Morecambe Sands last year to the wickedness of exploitation which has gone on for so long in the farming and food industry.
“And freedom of employers to sack workers by text, by megaphone and by bullying also underlines the vital job which trade unions have to play in fighting for basic rights in employment.
“A series of vicious anti-union laws introduced by the Tories violated the concept of fairness at work, and we have waited more than long enough to restore equilibrium in industrial relations.
“Our demands are many, and I make no apology for that. But our basic requirement on behalf of all workers – and particularly the underpaid and exploited – is a decent living and a proper balance between working hours and family life.” Amicus general secretary Derek Simpson warned the Labour leadership that they face a “disastrous defeat” at the next general election unless the Government urgently addressed concerns over NHS cuts, job insecurities and pensions.
He called for a change in the Labour leadership to stop the rapid decline in support for the party. Simpson told the rally: “The sooner this Government learns some humility, starts listening to ordinary people, does something about employment laws, does something about pensions, does something to protect industry, then this demonstration would have served its purpose.”
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber told the rally strong laws were needed to end poverty pay, close the gender wage gap and tackle discrimination.
“No longer should British workers like the Peugeot workers in Coventry find that they are the cheapest and easiest in Europe to get rid of when the going gets tough,” he said.
But the contingent from the RMT transport union alone was well over 1,000. The Transport and General Workers’ Union and Amicus also had huge contingents.
Other unions present included public sector union Unison, the Communication Workers’ Union, the GMB general union, building workers’ union Ucatt, train drivers’ union Aslef, the National Union of Journalists, broadcasting union Bectu, shopworkers’ union Usdaw, PCS civil service union, the National Union of Teachers and many more. There was hardly a union not represented.
There were banners, placards, flags and balloons. And there were jazz bands, brass bands, Punjabi drummers, and a lone bagpiper.
Dozens of trades councils were present, along with pensioners’ groups, an assortment of left wing parties and many international contingents. These included the colourful Turkish and Kurdish community groups and even a group from Bolivia.
The Gate Gourmet workers were there in force, along with the workers from Peugeot’s Ryton works, threatened with closure and the loss of 2,300 jobs.
Veteran trade union leader and International Brigader Jack Jones stood near the entrance to Trafalgar Square to welcome the marchers as they entered.
In the Square his successor, the TGWU general secretary Tony Woodley, spoke of the new initiative against the Thatcherite anti-union laws and for justice in the workplace. He said: “Solidarity must be put back at the centre of trade union and Labour Party policies.”
He called on the Government to heed the support of many MPs and millions of working people for the Trade Union Freedom Bill, which would allow trade unionists to take solidarity action in certain circumstances, and is supported by Labour Party conference policy.
The Bill would also remove restrictive procedures for ballots and notice of industrial action, and help develop justice at work for those whose rights were stripped away by successive Tory anti-union laws.
“Labour voted against each of those laws when in Opposition,” said Tony Woodley. “Surely it is not too much to expect the Government to recognise the need to restore fairness in the workplace through the measures contained in the Trade Union Freedom Bill.”
While no law could deliver fairness at work without the vigilance of trade unions to enforce it, the time had come to restore some equilibrium in industrial relations in Britain. needed now
“Strong trade unions are needed now more than ever to secure proper rights for all workers in safe workplaces. There are those who say that trade unions are old-fashioned and their concerns have been overtaken by the freedoms of the marketplace in labour and services,” he added.
“Don’t bother trying to explain that to the hundreds of workers killed each year because of unsafe working environments, or to the 150,000 seriously injured, often as a direct result of the criminal indifference of those who employ them. “The freedom of the market place is little consolation to the families of 23 Chinese migrant workers sacrificed on Morecambe Sands last year to the wickedness of exploitation which has gone on for so long in the farming and food industry.
“And freedom of employers to sack workers by text, by megaphone and by bullying also underlines the vital job which trade unions have to play in fighting for basic rights in employment.
“A series of vicious anti-union laws introduced by the Tories violated the concept of fairness at work, and we have waited more than long enough to restore equilibrium in industrial relations.
“Our demands are many, and I make no apology for that. But our basic requirement on behalf of all workers – and particularly the underpaid and exploited – is a decent living and a proper balance between working hours and family life.” Amicus general secretary Derek Simpson warned the Labour leadership that they face a “disastrous defeat” at the next general election unless the Government urgently addressed concerns over NHS cuts, job insecurities and pensions.
He called for a change in the Labour leadership to stop the rapid decline in support for the party. Simpson told the rally: “The sooner this Government learns some humility, starts listening to ordinary people, does something about employment laws, does something about pensions, does something to protect industry, then this demonstration would have served its purpose.”
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber told the rally strong laws were needed to end poverty pay, close the gender wage gap and tackle discrimination.
“No longer should British workers like the Peugeot workers in Coventry find that they are the cheapest and easiest in Europe to get rid of when the going gets tough,” he said.
Workers' Memorial Day
WORKERS all round Britain – and all around the world – took time off from work last Friday, 28th April, to mark Workers’ International Memorial Day. This is an annual international trade union event that is growing in size and support.
It is aimed to commemorate all workers who have been killed, injured or made ill at their workplace and is marked by wearing purple ribbons.
Last year more than 200 people died at work and 150,000 were seriously injured. Globally, each year more than 56,000 workers die from job injuries and illnesses, and another six million get injured.
This year’s Workers’ Memorial Day theme was: “Union Workplaces – Safer Workplaces”.
The purpose behind Workers’ Memorial Day has always been to “remember the dead: fight for the living” and unions are asked to focus on both areas, by considering memorials to all those killed through work but at the same time ensuring that such tragedies are not repeated.
That can best be done by building trade union organisation, and campaigning for stricter enforcement with higher penalties for breaches of health and safety laws.
This year trade unionists in London marched from Canada House in Trafalgar Square to the Tate Modern and then on to the Greater London Authority headquarters near the southern end of Tower Bridge.
In the south-west of England the local Forest of Dean history society has commissioned a dramatic sculpture to honour those who worked, suffered and were killed in iron and coal mines and quarries in the Forest.
Last week the sculpture, created by local artists, Graham Tyler and John Wakefield, provided the backdrop for a wreath laying ceremony to mark Workers’ Memorial Day.
In Bristol city safety representatives gathered with other trade unionists at the City Council’s Romney House site to tie purple ribbons to the Workers’ Memorial Day tree.
A similar event took place in Wolverhampton by the Workers’ Memorial Day Tree, next to the war memorial in St Peter’s Square. In Birmingham there was a wreath-laying ceremony at the Workers’ Memorial Stone, Brueton Park, another in Solihull and a service of remembrance in Coventry.
In Sheffield there was a public meeting followed by a ceremony organised by the Sheffield Trades Council. At Immingham there was a memorial service at the Workers’ Memorial in the grounds of the War Memorial.
There were other similar events in Leeds, Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Manchester, Chorely, Preston and Liverpool. In Scotland students on the TUC health and safety planted a tree and placed a bench, both with plaques, in Dundee’s Discovery Point – one of the town’s busiest tourist attractions.
There were ceremonies in Edinburgh, Bathgate, Bonnyrigg, and Glasgow.
Trade union leaders spoke at these events and released statements. Transport and General Workers’ Union general secretary Tony Woodley said: “We call all these deaths accidents, but it is time we used a more precise term. They are killings, and many of them are the result of criminal greed and indifference to safety at work.
“If the Government wants to show how tough it is on crime, then this criminal waste of human life must be addressed immediately with legislation that identifies the responsibility of company directors for killings at work, and forces them to make workplaces safer.”
Bill Callaghan, who chairs the Health and Safety Committee, spoke of the 200 workers killed and 150,000 seriously injured last year in Britain. He said: “There has been progress in reducing this figure but the progress has been slow. Workers have the right to be protected at work. Everyone has a duty to see this happens; employers, regulators, trade union representatives and the employees themselves.
“We must all remember that every injury and death at work seriously affects not only the victim but those around them, their families and work colleagues.”
The shopworkers’ union Usdaw gave full backing to the Workers’ International Memorial Day. General secretary John Hannett said: “In Usdaw we can take pride in the fact that we were one of the first British trade unions to adopt Workers’ Memorial Day back in 1995.
“It’s good to see how the event has grown in stature and is now truly international so it is only right and fitting that we should all take a few minutes to reflect on the toll of death and serious injury that poor health and safety management causes.
“A safe workplace to work should be a right and not a privilege, yet millions of workers are killed and maimed every year. Even greater numbers suffer diseases and ill health as a result of risks that can and should be prevented.”
It is aimed to commemorate all workers who have been killed, injured or made ill at their workplace and is marked by wearing purple ribbons.
Last year more than 200 people died at work and 150,000 were seriously injured. Globally, each year more than 56,000 workers die from job injuries and illnesses, and another six million get injured.
This year’s Workers’ Memorial Day theme was: “Union Workplaces – Safer Workplaces”.
The purpose behind Workers’ Memorial Day has always been to “remember the dead: fight for the living” and unions are asked to focus on both areas, by considering memorials to all those killed through work but at the same time ensuring that such tragedies are not repeated.
That can best be done by building trade union organisation, and campaigning for stricter enforcement with higher penalties for breaches of health and safety laws.
This year trade unionists in London marched from Canada House in Trafalgar Square to the Tate Modern and then on to the Greater London Authority headquarters near the southern end of Tower Bridge.
In the south-west of England the local Forest of Dean history society has commissioned a dramatic sculpture to honour those who worked, suffered and were killed in iron and coal mines and quarries in the Forest.
Last week the sculpture, created by local artists, Graham Tyler and John Wakefield, provided the backdrop for a wreath laying ceremony to mark Workers’ Memorial Day.
In Bristol city safety representatives gathered with other trade unionists at the City Council’s Romney House site to tie purple ribbons to the Workers’ Memorial Day tree.
A similar event took place in Wolverhampton by the Workers’ Memorial Day Tree, next to the war memorial in St Peter’s Square. In Birmingham there was a wreath-laying ceremony at the Workers’ Memorial Stone, Brueton Park, another in Solihull and a service of remembrance in Coventry.
In Sheffield there was a public meeting followed by a ceremony organised by the Sheffield Trades Council. At Immingham there was a memorial service at the Workers’ Memorial in the grounds of the War Memorial.
There were other similar events in Leeds, Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Manchester, Chorely, Preston and Liverpool. In Scotland students on the TUC health and safety planted a tree and placed a bench, both with plaques, in Dundee’s Discovery Point – one of the town’s busiest tourist attractions.
There were ceremonies in Edinburgh, Bathgate, Bonnyrigg, and Glasgow.
Trade union leaders spoke at these events and released statements. Transport and General Workers’ Union general secretary Tony Woodley said: “We call all these deaths accidents, but it is time we used a more precise term. They are killings, and many of them are the result of criminal greed and indifference to safety at work.
“If the Government wants to show how tough it is on crime, then this criminal waste of human life must be addressed immediately with legislation that identifies the responsibility of company directors for killings at work, and forces them to make workplaces safer.”
Bill Callaghan, who chairs the Health and Safety Committee, spoke of the 200 workers killed and 150,000 seriously injured last year in Britain. He said: “There has been progress in reducing this figure but the progress has been slow. Workers have the right to be protected at work. Everyone has a duty to see this happens; employers, regulators, trade union representatives and the employees themselves.
“We must all remember that every injury and death at work seriously affects not only the victim but those around them, their families and work colleagues.”
The shopworkers’ union Usdaw gave full backing to the Workers’ International Memorial Day. General secretary John Hannett said: “In Usdaw we can take pride in the fact that we were one of the first British trade unions to adopt Workers’ Memorial Day back in 1995.
“It’s good to see how the event has grown in stature and is now truly international so it is only right and fitting that we should all take a few minutes to reflect on the toll of death and serious injury that poor health and safety management causes.
“A safe workplace to work should be a right and not a privilege, yet millions of workers are killed and maimed every year. Even greater numbers suffer diseases and ill health as a result of risks that can and should be prevented.”
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
The Meaning of May Day
MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS of workers throughout the world are marching on Monday to mark international workers’ day. In the socialist countries the Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Laotian and Cuban peoples are holding festivals to celebrate their revolutionary successes and pay tribute to the struggle of the international working class.
In the developing world, workers and peasants are rallying to rededicate themselves to the struggles ahead against imperialism and oppression. And in the heart of imperialism, in Britain and the other centres of global capitalism, workers march for peace, trade union rights and socialist advance.
Though May Day festivals go back to hallowed antiquity, the modern celebration recalls the grim days of 19th century America.
On 1st May 1886 American workers went on a general strike over the eight-hour day and better working conditions. In Chicago workers were gunned down by the cops during a rally in Haymarket Square. Eight of their leaders were condemned to death on trumped up charges and despite mass protests at this travesty of justice four were hanged the following year.
In 1889 the First Congress of the Second International decided to mark every May Day as a day of remembrance for the Chicago martyrs and international workers’ solidarity. These were the “martyred dead” our Labour Party leaders once honoured, often in their ignorance, when they sang the Red Flag.
But May Day is much more than honouring the dead. It is the one day of the year when the entire world’s labour movement marches in step, east and west, north and south. It is a time for reflection, a time to pause and honour the martyrs who died for the cause and a time for optimism for the socialist future that will liberate the entire human race. It is a powerful symbol of working class unity and strength — a challenge to the capitalist system of oppression, plunder and exploitation which must be ended once and for all.
Marx and Engels, who spent much of their working lives in Britain, were practical revolutionaries as well as great thinkers. Though they laboured tirelessly to build the working class movement, they knew they would never see socialism in their own lifetimes. Yet they never doubted the inevitability or the necessity for change.
Marx and Engels witnessed the epic days of the Paris Commune in 1871 when working people took destiny into their own hands for the first time in history. The torch of freedom that fanned the fires of the Commune and blazed in Chicago lit the flames of the 1917 Russian Revolution that continues to burn throughout the world.
The imperialists rejoiced at the counter-revolutions in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. They preached “globalisation” which meant nothing more than the restoration of the old world of colonialism, oppression and exploitation. But a new generation of working class fighters has risen to challenge their “new world order” in Venezuela and throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia. Now these imperialist dreams are dying in the mountains of Nepal and the streets of Baghdad.
The revolutionary storm that liberated the Chinese and Korean people; that freed the people of Vietnam and Cuba now steels the Nepalese masses struggling to rid themselves of a hated autocrat.
The lesson of these epic struggles is that socialism can only be won through revolution and that revolution can only be led by a revolutionary party. It can’t be done through elections because when the bourgeoisie is threatened it reaches for its gun and abandons all trappings of democracy.
It can only be achieved through the mobilisation of the masses – the working class along with a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist party around which the class can close ranks around.
This is the meaning of May Day for us and together we are marching forward again. Whether we live to see the day of victory is not important. What we can be certain is that day will surely come.
In the developing world, workers and peasants are rallying to rededicate themselves to the struggles ahead against imperialism and oppression. And in the heart of imperialism, in Britain and the other centres of global capitalism, workers march for peace, trade union rights and socialist advance.
Though May Day festivals go back to hallowed antiquity, the modern celebration recalls the grim days of 19th century America.
On 1st May 1886 American workers went on a general strike over the eight-hour day and better working conditions. In Chicago workers were gunned down by the cops during a rally in Haymarket Square. Eight of their leaders were condemned to death on trumped up charges and despite mass protests at this travesty of justice four were hanged the following year.
In 1889 the First Congress of the Second International decided to mark every May Day as a day of remembrance for the Chicago martyrs and international workers’ solidarity. These were the “martyred dead” our Labour Party leaders once honoured, often in their ignorance, when they sang the Red Flag.
But May Day is much more than honouring the dead. It is the one day of the year when the entire world’s labour movement marches in step, east and west, north and south. It is a time for reflection, a time to pause and honour the martyrs who died for the cause and a time for optimism for the socialist future that will liberate the entire human race. It is a powerful symbol of working class unity and strength — a challenge to the capitalist system of oppression, plunder and exploitation which must be ended once and for all.
Marx and Engels, who spent much of their working lives in Britain, were practical revolutionaries as well as great thinkers. Though they laboured tirelessly to build the working class movement, they knew they would never see socialism in their own lifetimes. Yet they never doubted the inevitability or the necessity for change.
Marx and Engels witnessed the epic days of the Paris Commune in 1871 when working people took destiny into their own hands for the first time in history. The torch of freedom that fanned the fires of the Commune and blazed in Chicago lit the flames of the 1917 Russian Revolution that continues to burn throughout the world.
The imperialists rejoiced at the counter-revolutions in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. They preached “globalisation” which meant nothing more than the restoration of the old world of colonialism, oppression and exploitation. But a new generation of working class fighters has risen to challenge their “new world order” in Venezuela and throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia. Now these imperialist dreams are dying in the mountains of Nepal and the streets of Baghdad.
The revolutionary storm that liberated the Chinese and Korean people; that freed the people of Vietnam and Cuba now steels the Nepalese masses struggling to rid themselves of a hated autocrat.
The lesson of these epic struggles is that socialism can only be won through revolution and that revolution can only be led by a revolutionary party. It can’t be done through elections because when the bourgeoisie is threatened it reaches for its gun and abandons all trappings of democracy.
It can only be achieved through the mobilisation of the masses – the working class along with a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist party around which the class can close ranks around.
This is the meaning of May Day for us and together we are marching forward again. Whether we live to see the day of victory is not important. What we can be certain is that day will surely come.
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