Where is Labour going?

Gerry Downing, Tony Greenstein, Theo Russell and Andy Brooks

by New Worker correspondent

That was the question the panel of speakers attempted to answer at a well-attended New Worker meeting at the Cock Tavern in central London last week. Chaired by Theo Russell, the audience heard openings from NCP leader Andy Brooks and two well-known victims of the current witch-hunt inside the Labour Party. Gerry Downing of Socialist Fight was expelled on trumped-up charges of ‘anti-Semitism’ last year and Tony Greenstein, a veteran anti-Zionist campaigner from Brighton, remains suspended on similar accusations.

   The charges are absurd – Tony, for instance, is the son of a rabbi – and they were singled out by the Blairite bureaucracy, along with many others including Ken Livingstone and Jackie Walker, because of their principled stand in support of Palestinian rights and their persistent support for Jeremy Corbyn.

The far-ranging discussion that followed spanning justice for the Palestinians, the struggle against the Blairites and Labour’s chances in the forthcoming general election, took up the rest of the meeting and continued for many in the downstairs bar until closing time!

Tai Chi in Charlton

by New Worker correspondent

Londoners marked World Tai Chi & Qigong Day in Charlton Park in style last weekend, joining thousands of other martial arts enthusiasts all round the world taking part in this year’s annual event. For nearly two decades tai chi has been celebrated on the last Saturday of April all over the world. Each year in hundreds of cities in over 80 countries, spanning six continents, World Tai Chi & Qigong Day events have been held around the planet all on the same day.

The event's motto is "One World... One Breath". In recent years David Dorian Ross, Tai Chi champion, and Bill Douglas, the founder of World Tai Chi & Qigong Day, have teamed up to livestream this global phenomenon as it unfolds across the planet, dubbing this livestream project as "24 Hours of World Peace." Its goal is to educate the planet on the benefits of mind–body practices, and through the event's unfolding to provide an example of how the world can come together across racial, ethnic, religious and geo-political borders to focus on personal and global health and healing.

‘Seize the day’ McDonnell tells May Day Rally

On the march!

by New Worker correspondent

THOUSANDS of trade unionists, socialists, communists and members of Turkish, Kurdish, Iranian, Iraqi, Indian, Pakistani and other communities living in London last Monday gathered in Clerkenwell Green outside Marx House for the start of the annual May Day march to Trafalgar Square.

The New Communist Party, with its banner, was on the march along with our comrades from the Italian Partido Communista and the Greek KKE communist party as well as the Irish Connolly Association.

It was a colourful march with several bands and many families with children, along with pensioners, students and all sorts.

And there could be no doubt that these May Day marchers were all in full support for Labour, led by Jeremy Corbyn, to win the 8^th June general election. In the past, with Blair, Brown and Miliband as Labour leaders, arguing for support for Labour has been an uphill task but not now.

The millions of workers of Britain suffering under the oppressive Tory austerity regime have very good reason to vote now that Labour has a leader who opposes austerity.

In Trafalgar Square John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, told the crowd: “There are those in the Tory press who will wish to paint this gathering in a negative light, but this rally on a day like today is really about the positive contribution many hard-working people in our country make. And how we can protect them, for the future of our country depends upon it…

“Today’s May Day rally must be remembered for its purpose – to focus all our minds on removing a Tory Government. And it falls on each and every one of us to be upbeat and take that peaceful positive vision of a Britain reborn on the 8^th of June to each and every doorstep over the next few weeks. But it is not protest alone that changes these things. Changing government policy is the ultimate aim. And changing this Government in its entirety is our ultimate goal right now.

“Yesterday, I announced Labour’s 20 point plan to transform our workplaces from the shop-floor right up to the boardroom. Today, Jeremy Corbyn announced Labour’s plans to reform the housing market, to give renters the protections they desperately need.

New Worker seller and Italian communists

“But we can only achieve those goals if all of us here today take this passion out into the communities in our country, win the arguments on the doorsteps, and in our family and friendship groups, to get a Labour Government elected next month. Today may be the 1^st May, but let’s make 8^th June the last day of Theresa May and her Tory Government.

And it is vital we do this. As this is a Tory Government that has presided over a country in which our nurses have to rely on foodbanks, yes that’s right. Nurses, the heroes of our NHS. Abandoned by this Government. And all this Tory Prime Minister can say about it is there are ‘complex’ reasons. It just shows how out of touch and how little she and her party really care about the problems facing hard-working people in our country.

“The reasons why people use foodbanks are not complex – they use them because they are hungry and cannot afford to feed themselves. And many of them are in that position because of seven wasted years of Tory economic failure.

“That’s why we need a Labour Government that will stand up for the many, and not the few…

 “This will be the biggest political battle we have ever known. But remember we are fighting for the future of our country. The choice is a Tory future in which nurses use foodbanks, and millions live in poverty and low pay. Or a Labour future for the many, with a high wage, high skill, fair economy of the future. Put simply, it is a choice between a Labour Government that stands up for the interests of the many in our country, not a Tory Government that only stands up for a rich few.

“This is our opportunity, brothers and sisters. Some of us have worked for this all our lives, so the message is this; yes, carpe diem – seize the moment.

“This is our chance – take it, brothers and sisters. Solidarity.”