Remembering Karl Marx at Highgate...

ROBERT LAURIE laid flowers on behalf of the New Communist Party by the tomb of Karl Marx last Saturday at the annual ceremony in Highgate Cemetery.
Marx died in his study at half-past two on the afternoon of Wednesday 14th March 1883.
To commemorate his passing the Marx Memorial Library has for many decades held an annual graveside oration at his burial place in Highgate Cemetery in North London at the exact moment of his death.
Prof John Callow gave the oration on behalf of the Library to all who had come to pay their respects to the memory of the author of Das Kapital including diplomats from socialist countries, Library members and a large contingent of Chinese students from Westminster College.

...and celebrating him at the Party Centre

COMRADES and friends gathered at the NCP Centre in south London last Saturday evening for their annual tribute to the co-founder of the modern communist movement. Tributes to Karl Marx were made by Jang Song Chol from the London embassy of the DPR Korea, John McLeod from the Socialist Labour Party and NCP general secretary Andy Brooks.
The NCP leader used a satirical parable from early Soviet literature to make the point that Marx was a practical revolutionary as well as a profound socialist theorist.
Now with the pillars of the capitalist world crashing down around us everyone can see that what Marx foresaw was now coming to pass.
But socialism was not inevitable Andy said. Marx warned that the alternative to socialism was barbarism and our task, together with struggling people all over the world was to work for the revolutionary change that will end all oppression and exploitation for ever. No NCP event can end without a stirring appeal for the fighting fund and the one given by National Chair Alex Kempshall was no exception.
We now have a paper which has jumped technology. We can be proud of our achievements but it all costs money. Alex called for a big collection for the New Worker Special Appeal and comrades dug deep to the tune of £1,298!

photo: Andy Brooks cracks a joke

Newroz in London

THE KURDISH community of London gathered in Trafalgar Square last Saturday to celebrate Newroz, the traditional Middle Eastern spring festival. Newroz has been celebrated for many years in the capital but never before in London’s historic Trafalgar Square.
Stalls served Kurdish and Turkish food as people danced to music from the Kurdish rappers and folk groups performing on the main stage throughout the afternoon.
Kurdish flags and others bearing pictures of imprisoned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan were flown throughout the event. London Green MEP Jean Lambert and other MPs spoke to the cheering crowd, thanking them for the contribution that the Kurdish people have made to British society and encouraging them to be politically active in supporting candidates that take up the Kurdish cause.

Unions damn welfare reform bill

MEMBERS of the public and union activists lobbied MPs on Tuesday to protest against the Government’s reactionary welfare reform bill organised by the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, the biggest civil service union in the country, and backed by the TUC and a number of other unions and pressure groups.

At the same time PCS has released a damning report that shows that public opinion is overwhelming opposed the Government’s plans that will lead to the privatisation of employment services and the social fund; introduce “work for welfare” schemes; abolish income support; cut benefits for single parents and those on long –term illness and require all parents of young children to seek work.

Speaking at the lobby at the House of Commons on Tuesday TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O’Grady stated that the Welfare Reform Bill is “the wrong Bill for the wrong time”, and that it will be resisted by unions.

“It’s clear that aspects of the Welfare Reform Bill now going through Parliament are not fit for purpose. This is the wrong Bill for the wrong time: conceived in a boom, about to be implemented in a bust,” he declared.

“The Government’s ideas would be flawed at the best of times; but with Britain deep in recession, these are emphatically not the best of times.

“Just think about the implications. A new regime for jobseekers, limiting the time for job search and retraining.

“Tougher rules for parents, undermining the Government’s pledge to halve and then end child poverty.

“The introduction of sanctions, stigmatising the most vulnerable as villains, not victims, and driving working people into poverty.

“And the privatisation and break up of a world-class public service, with private contractors profiting from joblessness.

“This is the reality confronting us. Why, after the near collapse of free-market capitalism, does the Government press ahead with an agenda of privatisation, marketisation and competition? Why, during the worst economic crisis for generations, is there seemingly one rule for the rich and another one for the rest?

“The contrast could not be starker. Bailouts for the bankers, punishments for the poor - welfare for Wall Sreet, workfare for working people. That is unacceptable; and we will resist it.

the answers

“So what are the answers? How do we create a welfare system that delivers in this downturn? The TUC is campaigning for a change of direction: for policies that give ordinary working people the help they need when they need it. We have already secured some important concessions - not least the welcome scrapping of plans to make disabled people look for jobs or risk losing benefits.

“But we need to go further. That means more generous benefits to stop people falling into poverty, and the TUC has been proud to lead the call for an immediate increase of £15 a week in Jobseekers Allowance.

“That means helping unemployed workers into proper retraining schemes and jobs that pay the going rate.

“And that means giving Jobcentre Plus and the dedicated staff who work in it the resources and the support they need to make a difference where it is needed most.

“Make no mistake: our welfare state has never been more needed than now. It is one of Britain’s greatest achievements. A genuine safety net for everyone: won through the campaigning of generations of socialists, trade unionists and progressive reformers. And we are not about to give up on that legacy now.

“So today let our message go out clearly. We will resist any changes that diminish our welfare system. We will stand up for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our society. And that we will continue to fight for what we believe in.”

Seventy nine per cent of people are not confident of surviving on the current rate of jobseekers allowance (£60.50) according to an ICM poll for PCS. The poll also shows that just six per cent of respondents feel ‘very confident’ about the ability of private sector companies to take over some of the work of Jobcentres.

Coming against a backdrop of rising unemployment and government plans to privatise some of the work of Jobcentre Plus, the poll also shows that just one in three think there are enough jobcentres or that there are enough staff in jobcentres to deal with the current economic crisis.

Over the past five years the government has closed over 500 jobcentres and benefit offices.

Commenting, Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “There is little appetite for the government’s plans to privatise some of the work of jobcentres, with the poll showing a lack of confidence in the private sector’s ability to take over this work.

“The public sector has consistently outperformed the private sector in getting people back into work with jobcentres working flat out and doing a fantastic job in helping the rising numbers of unemployed.

“This poll should be a wake up call to the government which needs to raise benefit levels to alleviate the threat of poverty, ditch its plans for privatisation and start opening Jobcentres to deal with rising numbers of unemployed.”

Making the case for council housing

MORE THAN 200 people including tenants, councillors, officers and trade unionists took part in the House of Commons Council Housing Group’s inquiry at Westminster on 25th February. Fourteen MPs heard verbal evidence from 25 delegations, dozens of local authorities, tenants’ organisations and trade unions have submitted written evidence and many met their MPs whilst at Westminster.
Campaigners from Defend Council Housing are asking everyone to make sure their MP signs the Early Day Motion Council House Building (EDM 355) and joins the Council Housing group at Parliament to show their support.
Delegations called for an end to the “robbery” from tenants’ rents – £1.7 billion this year!
They made a strong argument that Government has to stop charging tenants for “historic debts” that should have been paid several times over from the money government has siphoned out of council housing.
Everyone agreed that rents and receipts should be ring-fenced to fund the management, maintenance, repair and improvement of council housing although there is a debate about whether the national Housing Revenue Account should be maintained.
The Council Housing group intends to produce a report to submit to Housing Minister Margaret Beckett and has asked to meet Gordon Brown.

London round-up

Police predict ‘summer of rage’

A SENIOR London police officer last week predicted that growing numbers of people losing their jobs and homes through the economic crisis are likely to take to the streets to demonstrate against financial institutions.
Superintendent David Hartshorn, who heads the Metropolitan Police public order branch, said his force is preparing to cope with hundreds of middle class individuals who would never have considered joining demonstrations may seek to vent their anger through potentially violent mass protests.
The police definition of middle class probably extends to anyone who has had a regular job and or a mortgage, reserving the term working class for the low paid who live on council estates.
Hartshorn said that banks, especially those still paying big bonuses after multi-billion pound taxpayer bail-outs, will become “visible targets”, along with other financial institutions in the City which are being blamed for the financial crisis.
To most of our readers this prediction of a sudden dawning of class consciousness may seem welcome and long overdue. But Hartshorn could be signalling changes in Met policy towards demonstrators, going back to the policies of confrontation that marked the miners’ and poll tax campaigns in the days before Ken Livingstone was Mayor of London and before the existence of the Greater London Authority police authority.

Met accused of apartheid

AN ASIAN community police officer formerly employed at Belgravia police station in London last week told an employment tribunal that the Metropolitan police still has a “culture of apartheid”.
Police community support officer Asad Saeed claims white officers framed him over an alleged assault on a vagrant in a McDonald’s burger restaurant in central London.
Saeed was ordered to be dismissed, but was later reinstated on appeal. Both hearings heard allegations of racism that Scotland Yard thought belonged to the “canteen culture” of two decades ago.
According to Saeed’s claim, which has been leaked to the press, one senior white officer privately wrote he believed some of the racism allegations. The internal police hearing heard, and Saeed claims in his employment tribunal hearing, that:

• Saeed was framed after complaining about racist behaviour by two white colleagues.
• One white officer made “threats of violence against other ethnic colleagues”.
• His complaints were ignored by senior officers, who turned a blind eye to the “apartheid culture”.
• White officers refused to allow black officers in their van.
• White officers refused to send a van out to pick up ethnic minority colleagues.
• Officers gambled inside the station’s common room for “large sums of cash”.
• Some white officers wrote up false stop-and-search forms “using east European names” they had made up.
• One officer sold “counterfeit merchandise inside [the police station]”.
• Handwritten notes from the disciplinary hearing that first dismissed the Muslim officer from the force were “inadvertently … mislaid”.

In his claim, Saeed says police bosses withheld from him CCTV evidence from the alleged assault that led to his dismissal. When he obtained it, he says, it showed he had not attacked anyone. Furthermore, one of his white colleagues who claimed to have witnessed the assault was not in the restaurant.
Saeed’s claims are all the more embarrassing because they were made public on the same day that new Met chief Sir Paul Stephenson was making a public speech to mark the 10th anniversary of the McPherson report, and was claiming that the Met was no longer institutionally racist.

Doreen Lawrence accuses police

TEN YEARS after the landmark inquiry into the appalling and way that local police responded to the racist murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence, his mother Doreen says that police are still failing black Britons and delivering them a second class service.
She was speaking to the Guardian to mark the approaching anniversary of the McPherson report into the murder of her son which found that police “professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership” lead to blunders that have allowed the killers to escape justice.
Doreen Lawrence said there have been positive changes in Britain but the mothers of other victims of racist murder have sought her advice because they too felt the police had let them down.
“Some mothers say they don’t feel as if they’ve been treated the same way as white victims’ families. Families out there are still feeling the same way I did when Stephen was killed.”
The McPherson report was scathing on the insensitivity of the police towards the bereaved Lawrence family and found that they were treated unsympathetically, had information withheld from them and the police would not accept that the murder was racist.
Doreen Lawrence says mothers are still contacting her with the same complaints.
Last week Stephen Otter, the Association of Chief Police Officer’s race and diversity spokesperson, claimed: “So much has changed over the past 10 years that I don’t thing it is right to label us institutionally racist.”
But Doreen Lawrence complains that after initial improvements, mainly at the higher levels, the police have lost interest in combating racist violence and new “anti-terror” laws mean that once again, Asian and black young people are being stopped and searched in large numbers.
“It comes down to racism again. Because of the colour of your skin, automatically if you are a black person, you must be into criminality,” said Lawrence.
She criticised the downgrading of the Commission for Racial Equality when it was merged with gender and disability equal rights groups to form the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
“Ten years on I think a lot of people have become complacent. They feel ‘we’ve done that, got the T-shirt; let’s move on’. The reality is we haven’t.
“Race is just wiped out of all the vocabulary, they use the word diversity, they seem to be more comfortable with it. I would not say they have given up caring about race. I just feel they believe they have addressed it.”
Her words echo the experiences of Dev Barrah of the Greenwich Council for Racial Equality, who has been combating racist violence in the London Borough of Greenwich for more than two decades now.
He reported that after the McPherson report, senior police were eager to improve and to work with him, learning how to respond to the needs of the local mixed, low-income community.
But those officers have moved on; new ones arrive and the process of education goes back to square one. Many officers see dealing with racism and community issues as a box to be ticked as they rise through the ranks; once they’ve done it they can forget it and move on with their careers.

Remembering Stella

Friends and comrades of Stella Moutafis braved the harsh weather last Saturday to pay their last respects to the wonderful woman who died so sadly last December. But the memorial meeting at the Party Centre was a tribute to her life and dedication to the communist cause that began when she joined the NCP in 1990 and continued right up until her last days.
NCP leader Andy Brooks said Stella was modest to a fault but her determination to overcome illness to take part in the struggle for peace and socialism was shown in her eagerness to help build the Party and the New Worker in every way she could. She was always there – despatching the paper on Thursdays; leafleting or selling the New Worker on demonstrations; representing the Party at events and writing entertaining reviews for our journals. NCP President Eric Trevett spoke of her courage, sense of humour and her ideological strength – which was echoed in the tributes from Michael Chant from the RCPB (ML), Daphne Liddle and many others who had worked with her over the years.
Written tributes from Stefan Eggerdinger from the Workers’ League for the Restoration of the Communist Party of Germany and Korean friendship activist Dermot Hudson were read out by Party Chair Alex Kempshall who also spoke of Stella’s regular financial contribution to the fighting fund. Earlier in the day the Politburo of the NCP had decided to launch a New Worker £10,000 Special Appeal to meet the increased costs of colour production. He called on comrades to remember Stella in the way she would have wanted by kicking off the appeal with a bounce – and they did to the tune of £1,826.50!
Stella Moutafis was an outstanding comrade. She is sorely missed but she will never be forgotten.

photo: Stella with NCP leader Andy Brooks

Defying the Gaza aid bans

MEMBERS and supporters of the Stop the War Coalition in Bristol and Lewisham last weekend challenged bans on raising humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza.
Last Friday protesters forced the Bristol Lloyds-TSB Bank to close amid scenes of chaos on Corn Street, as police and security guards failed to hold back a surge of chanting demonstrators reaching the doors of the bank. It hurriedly closed its doors and remained shut for the rest of the afternoon.
A crowd of over 60 Gaza campaigners assembled on Corn Street in the afternoon and sent a message into the bank to ask to see the manager. They wanted to discuss the “Early Day Motion” which is being circulated in Parliament accusing Lloyds Bank of blocking charity money reaching Gaza.
When no reply was received they laid out boxes of dolls wrapped in blood-stained shrouds on the steps of the Bank. These represented the extra deaths which will have occurred in Gaza due to Lloyds-TSB action.
Lloyds TSB recently ordered the Islamic Bank of Britain which it owns, to close the accounts of Interpal, a highly respected international humanitarian relief charity – working in Occupied Palestine
Interpal is a respected UK charity which helps alleviate the agony of Gaza. It has been thoroughly investigated by the Charities Commission (following malicious complaints by US Government) and had been given the all clear!
By doing this, Lloyds TSB is on the verge of ending humanitarian aid for up to five million Palestinian refugees in desperate need. It will only serve to escalate the horrific suffering of innocent people.
At first Lloyds TSB denied any hand in the affair however it has now transpired that Lloyds TSB (acting as a clearing bank) to Islamic Bank of Britain (with whom Interpal bank), wrote to the IBB on 8th October 2008 stating: “We are writing to you to give you notice that…we do not wish you to transfer, receive, process or in any way deal with any funds, or in any way whatsoever (acting either as banker or agent on behalf of the Customer) be involved with any type of banking arrangements for Interpal”
Even for a Goliath like Lloyds TSB, which has itself recently received billions of pounds in bailout funds from the British taxpayer, this is indeed uncharacteristic behaviour. Why would the bank take such a callous action? Remarkably no official reason has been given.
The Muslim community in Bristol were also supporting this event.
Imam Assad Ali Shah, Imam of St Marks Road Mosque said “The people of Gaza are suffering now – women, children, and the elderly. They have shortages of food, medicine, and all the basic necessities of life. The people of the world, for humanitarian reasons, are reaching out to help them. How can it be, that charities working on the ground like Interpal, have their work obstructed by Lloyds-TSB closing their accounts? This is a moral crime. This extra suffering far the people in Gaza will be on the shoulders of those who made these callous decisions.”
In Lewisham Norma and Mukhtar Rana, members of the local Palestine Solidarity Campaign and New Worker Supporters’ Group, horrified at the death and destruction inflicted on Gaza, wanted to raise some money to help the victims.
They applied to the administrators of the shopping mall – owned jointly by the London Borough of Lewisham and Grosvenor Estates (the Duke of Westminster) – to collect money for the registered charity, Medical Aid for Palestine, but were rejected on the grounds that it was “too political”.
So members of Lewisham Stop the War last Saturday entered the mall, armed with nothing but leaflets and collecting buckets for the Disasters Emergency Committee Appeal for Gaza.
Almost immediately they were challenged by security staff, followed by a discussion. The collectors were forced to leave when the security guards called the police – but not before they had collected £186 for the people of Gaza.
The Stop the War comrades then proceeded to picket the local Lloyds TSB Bank, echoing the tactics of their Bristol colleagues the day before, carrying dolls swathes in “bloodstained” bandages and getting the message across to shoppers of the role that the bank was playing in preventing vital humanitarian aid reaching the people of Gaza.

photo: demonstrators in Lewisham

London debut for Shanghai treasures

The British Museum has celebrated the launch of Shanghai Week in London with the opening of Treasures from Shanghai, a spectacular collection of 60 ancient Chinese jade and bronze masterpieces on show in Europe for the first time.
"This exhibition brings to London pieces of superlative quality rarely seen outside China itself," said the exhibition's guest curator Jessica Rawson.
"The Neolithic jades on display are astonishing, particularly those that feature fine designs of strange human-like figures, birds and monsters with large teeth."
She added: "The Shanghai Museum houses one of the world's greatest collections of Chinese art."
Chen Kelun, deputy director general of the Shanghai Museum, said the exhibition would provide "insights into the time-honoured urban civilization and etiquette of China" and identify themselves with the theme of the World Expo to be held in Shanghai next year.
The month-long exhibition is another example of the British Museum's collaboration with China after the exhibition First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army in 2007.
Shanghai Week is designed to commemorate the increasingly close relationship between Britain and China, and showcase the heritage and culture of Shanghai as it prepares for the World Expo.
Other highlights include a seminar at the Victoria and Albert Museum entitled "From London to Shanghai: Inheritance and innovation - wisdom in urban development" and a photographic exhibition at City Hall – Shanghai and Shanghai Exposition.
Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng and Boris Johnson, his London counterpart, sent congratulatory messages to Shanghai Week organizers.
Meanwhile, Sarah Brightman, who sang at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, has been named Shanghai 2010 World Expo Promotion Ambassador in Britain.

Shanghai Daily

The Treasures from Shanghai exhibition of jades and bronzes runs until the 27th March. It’s in Room Two at the British Museum, Great Russell Street, London. Galleries open from 10.00 to 17.30 (20.30 Thursdays and Fridays) and the admission is free.

Cuba: 50 years of victory

By Andy Brooks

Solidarity and cultural events big and small are taking place up and down the country to mark the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution. Many are part of the festival organised by Cuba50, the umbrella committee supported by the Cuban Ministry of Culture, Cuban Embassy, Cuba Solidarity Campaign and a number of unions, tourist and business interests. Others like last week’s solidarity meeting in the House of Commons are being organised by progressive organisations like Third World Solidarity (TWS).
Third World Solidarity is no stranger to the Pakistani community in Britain or New Worker supporters in London. The driving force is its Chair, Mushtaq Lasharie, a Labour councillor in Kensington, and TWS has sponsored impressive solidarity events throughout the year since its foundation in 1986.
Last Tuesday was no exception with glittering panel of guest speakers that included the ambassadors of Cuba and Venezuela, veteran Labour politician Tony Benn, the famed American novelist and commentator Gore Vidal and, of course, Mushtaq Lasharie himself.
Ably chaired by Labour MP Dave Anderson speaker after speaker spoke of their impressions of the Cuban revolution and its lesson for today. Tony Benn said the Cuban revolution was one of the most important events of the 20th century because it was a direct attack on the US “Monroe Doctrine” which regarded the whole of Latin America as their own backyard. It gave the people of Cuba the opportunity to develop the full creative spirit of the Cuban people. Inspire by Fidel, they were led by Fidel, Benn said but the achievement was that of the Cuban people themselves.
Speaker after speaker paid their own tributes to Cuba’s new life on the day Barack Obama had been sworn in as President of the United States in Washington DC and this was the cue for Gore Vidal, who gave a scathing commentary on American political life over the period that largely spanned his own 80-odd years. Fidel had seen out all his enemies: the Kennedy brothers, Lyndon Johnson and the two Bush’s .But Vidal was mildly optimistic about Barack Obama saying he hoped the new president would restore the American constitution and American civil rights.
Gore Vidal visited Cuba in 2007 and he said “I came to Cuba with my broken knee to help break 40 years of embargo” – a call echoed by the 150 or so who packed the parliamentary committee room in Westminster.
The American man of letters who is wheel-chair bound called his assistant, a former US naval officer, to speak about “Veterans against the War” and the anti-war movement that is growing in the United States. Though “Veterans against the War” has only 2,000 members’ opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan amongst the officers and the rank-and-file was put at around 50 per cent and growing.
And that was the point Mushtaq Lasharie stressed in his call for solidarity with all the struggling peoples of the world, whether they be in Cuba, Iraq, Afghanistan or the streets of Gaza.

Third World Solidarity can be contacted by writing to : The Secretary, TWS, 303 Testerton Walk London W11 1WG

Holocaust Memorial Day

AMBASSADORS, religious leaders, war veterans, local dignitaries, an MP, a union leader, communists and other progressives gathered last Tuesday at the Soviet War Memorial in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, next to the Imperial War Museum, to mark the international day of remembrance for the victims of the Nazi Holocaust.
The event began with a short religious service led by Rabbi the Reverend Alan Greenblatt who stressed the theme of this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day: “Stand up to hatred”.
And he recited the Jewish prayer of remembrance for the dead.
This was followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at the Soviet War Memorial. Those who laid flowers included: Southwark Mayor Councillor Eliza Mann, Russian Ambassador Yury Fedotov, Southwark MP Simon Hughes and Philip Matthews of the Soviet Memorial Trust Fund.
Ambassadors and attachés from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan also laid flowers. As usual the North Russia Arctic Convoys Club laid flowers, as did the local British Legion, the RAF-Russia Association and many others.

The New Communist Party flowers were laid by Robert Laurie; Phil Brand laid flowers for the Communist Party of Britain.

Anger at Heathrow decision

THE CIVIL Service union PCS last week expressed anger at Government decision to go ahead with a third runway at Heathrow.
Other unions, Unite and GMB, welcomed the decision because it would provide construction jobs to build the airport extension and then more permanent jobs to staff it.
But PCS believes that a third runway would have a devastating environmental impact with the airport becoming the biggest source of carbon emissions in the country, as well as breaching European Union safety levels for nitrogen dioxide.
PCS believes there are viable alternatives to expanding Heathrow which have not been considered by the Government and pointed to research by authoritative sources, including the Sustainable Development Commission, which casts doubt upon the economic benefits of Heathrow expansion given the current downturn.
The union says research conducted recently by the Campaign for Better Transport shows that businesses in Britain do not need bigger airports.
A combination of high speed rail, better facilities at stations for business travellers and improved teleconferencing would serve the needs of business just as well.
Commenting on the announcement, PCS assistant general secretary Chris Baugh said: “A third runway at Heathrow must be opposed. It will create more noise and pollution and will mean the government won’t be able to meet the targets in the historic Climate Change Act passed in Parliament only last year.
“Over 1,000 people who live in the area will also be removed from their homes. The Government should instead produce a new transport strategy for the UK focussed upon a publicly owned high speed rail network that will create jobs and contribute to the transition to a low carbon economy and the fight against climate change.”

100,000 in London demand Gaza ceasefire

by Daphne Liddle



AROUND 100,000 protesters braved sub-zero temperatures and blistering winds last Saturday to take part in the biggest public demonstration for several years to express anger and anguish at the continuing slaughter of the people of Gaza by the invading Israeli war machine.
It was the second Saturday in a row that saw a massive demonstration on this issue in London, while other demonstrations continued in major cities throughout the world, along with local vigils and other protests.
The New Communist Central Committee banner was present among thousands of others from Palestine Solidarity, Stop the War, CND, dozens of Muslim organisations. There were also trade union and many trades council banners.
The protest began with a rally in Hyde Park, addressed by a long list of speakers, including Andrew Murray, who chairs Stop the War, Azzam Tamimi, director of Islamic Political Thought, George Galloway MP, Martin Linton MP, who founded Labour Friends of Palestine, jazz singer Annie Lennox, actor Lauren Booth, Children’s Poet laureate Michael Rosen, activist Bianca Jagger and the Reverend Garth Hewitt, canon at St George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem.
As the march flooded into Kensington High Street in order to lobby the Israeli Embassy police divided the march into sections and penned them separately into various pens, surrounded by steel barriers and ranks of riot police.
The marchers were then held in this way for almost two hours, unable to come or go and very cold, tired and in some discomfort, while riot police tried to provoke them into rioting. This was a tough time for elderly or very young demonstrators but for all their efforts to antagonise Asian youths in these penned enclosures, there was very little violent response – a few of the light wooden sticks used to hold up placards were thrown and some protesters brought old shoes they had brought for the purpose at the Israeli embassy.
At one stage police charged demonstrators, knocking some to the ground and injuring veteran campaigner Ray Davies from South Wales.
In the following mêlée the windows of a branch of Starbuck’s were broken.
Many noted that this seemed to be a return to the confrontational policing tactics of the 1980s which disappeared from London during the mayorship of Ken Livingstone.
Tory Mayor Boris Johnson last summer made a point of forcing the resignation of Metropolitan Police Chief Sir Ian Blair, who had worked closely with Livingstone. hackers
Immediately before the demonstration the website of Stop the War Coalition was forced to shut down after it was attacked by hackers.
A spokesperson said: “It’s a well-known tactic. The same thing happened to us before our anti-Iraq war protests in 2003. “We obviously can’t prove any connection but the timing would suggest that it’s a supporter of Israel. In fact, someone told me there is a firm in Israel which specialises in that sort of thing.
“At the same time that our website was under attack, a number of videos went up on YouTube which claimed the demonstration had been cancelled. Someone posted notices on our Facebook groups saying the same thing.”
Meanwhile the TUC has launched an emergency financial appeal through its TUC Aid organisation to assist the humanitarian effort in Gaza.
In the occupied north of Ireland there was a mass march against the massacres in Gaza organised by the Irish Congress of Trades Unions (ICTU) despite objections from the Democratic Unionist Party, which supports Israel.
A parade planned by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Trade Union Friends of Ireland has been cancelled.

• An updated version of the NCP leaflet produced for the demonstration can be read here.

Gaza massacre sparks world-wide protests

by Daphne Liddle

THOUSANDS of people gathered last Saturday in the wintry sunshine on London’s Embankment to join the rapidly-organised protest against the one-week-old Israeli onslaught on Gaza, which had turned from bombing raids to ground invasion on the Friday night.
The 50,000-strong protest was organised jointly by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War coalition, the Muslim Council of Britain, CND and other groups as one of dozens of similar demonstrations. Another 30 marches were held on the same day in Britain. Two thousand protesters joined a rally in Manchester. In Portsmouth, nearly 500 people took to the streets and some 300 marched in Bristol. Hundreds turned out in Cardiff.
Police said there were about 500 demonstrators in Glasgow and 600 in Edinburgh, although organisers said there were more like 2,000 protesters in each city.
Marches were held in France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Turkey and many other countries.
Israeli Arabs held a protest march, Kuwaitis also took to the streets, a day after bigger Middle East rallies, and peaceful pro- and anti-Israel protests were held in New York.
In Paris, police said more than 21,000 demonstrators, many wearing Palestinian keffiyeh headscarves, marched through the city centre chanting slogans such as “Israel murderer” and waving banners demanding an end to the air attacks.
There were many union banners on the London march and union leaders had urged their members to join it.
Many protesters paused along the route as they passed Downing Street to hurl old shoes at the security barricades there in solidarity with Iraqi journalist Muntadar al Zeidi, who had thrown his shoes at George Bush in a news conference in Baghdad in December.
Someone threw a firework, causing a lot of noise but no damage but police were unnerved by it.
The march was led by veteran campaigner Tony Benn, George Galloway MP, jazz singer Annie Lennox, activist Bianca Jagger and comedian Alexei Sayle.
At a news conference before the rally Dr Daud Abdullah of the Muslim Council of Britain said he found it “incomprehensible” that the British government, and the US, did not approve a Security Council vote calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Lennox said that TV footage of the attacks, which, at that stage, had killed more than 400 people, had left her “shaken to the core”.
Alexei Sayle said Jewish people in the public eye should stress this was “not being done in our name”. Later, addressing the rally in Trafalgar Square, he said Israel has an idea it was being noble but was using the “psychology of the murderer” to explain the attacks.
Meanwhile, Labour MP John McDonnell, who leads the Labour Representation Committee, accused the Government of “standing by” and demanded that Parliament was recalled to discuss urgent action on the crisis.
Former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone called for the European Union and Britain to withdraw their ambassadors from Israel to signal disapproval with the “slaughter and systematic murder of innocent Arabs”.
Respect MP George Galloway suggested Israel’s attacks would create a new generation of radicals around the world. “We will be very, very lucky if the explosions taking place in Gaza today don’t blow up in our own face at some time in the future,” he said. disproportionate
Bianca Jagger condemned the attack by Hamas against innocent Israeli citizens, but called for the international community to guarantee the immediate halt of the “disproportionate, unlawful use of force by Israel”.
She added: “I would like to make an appeal to President-elect Obama to speak up. People throughout the world were hopeful when he was elected and we must appeal to him to ask for the immediate cessation of the bombardment of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.”
After the rally around 5,000 demonstrators left the Square heading to the Israeli Embassy to continue the protests that had taken place there every evening since the bombing began.
As they made their way there were chaotic scenes when protesters entered an underpass. According to eyewitness reports, police in riot gear began hitting and stamping on protesters, leaving several wounded with head injuries. complaint
Organisers said they would make an official complaint to Scotland Yard after claiming that riot police charged into people during the protest. Eyewitnesses claimed that a number of people, including children, were thrown to the ground in an underpass at Hyde Park at the end of the demonstration.
Progressive political leaders around the world have condemned Israel’s brutality. Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams last Monday called on the International community to focus diplomatic efforts on persuading Israel to cease hostilities in Gaza.
Adams said: “The Israeli ground offensive in Gaza, while widely anticipated, will be greeted with horror around the world. The latest development marks a further escalation of the onslaught endured by the people of Gaza for the past week.
“The United Nations has advised that there is a growing shortage of basic foodstuffs and fresh water because of damage to the infrastructure in Gaza.
“This is nothing short of a humanitarian crisis. More than 400 people have already been killed while hospitals are struggling to cope with the more than 2,000 injured. The combined efforts of the international community, including that of the Irish Government and the EU, must now be bent towards resolving the situation in Gaza. All diplomatic efforts must be focused on persuading the Israeli Government to cease its operations in Gaza and end hostilities.”
Malaysia’s former Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad has blamed the United States for backing Israeli military aggression against Palestinians in Gaza, saying it makes the US “much more guilty than even the Israelis”.
Mahathir Mohamad, long known for his anti-West views, on Monday said that no matter how clever or powerful Israel was it would not be able to carry out the offensive without US support.
“The backing by the US gives it encouragement to do all these things which I think ordinary Americans would not like to see them do,” Mahathir said in an interview with Al Jazeera.
“Israelis believe if they go to war there is this big brother that is going to come with the weapons, with the money, so they don’t care what the world thinks.”
The Indian government also condemned the Israeli aggression. “The Government of India condemns the on-going incursion into Gaza by Israeli ground and other forces. It urges an immediate end to military action by all concerned,” External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said in New Delhi.
He said the suffering of civilians in the region must end.
India has also announced an aid of US$ one million for the civilian victims of the action in Gaza.
There will be another national demonstration this Saturday, 10th January – Assemble Hyde Park: March to Israeli Embassy High St Kensington, London. There are also daily protests on 5th to 9th January, 5.30pm-7.00 pm Israeli Embassy, High St, Kensington, London.
And there will be a march through Cardiff on Friday 9th January assembling at 2pm on the green opposite City Hall and a vigil at the Nye Bevan statue from 12 noon to 1pm every Tuesday until the massacres stop.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

all the best for 2008

the next issue of the New Worker will be out on 8th January 2009

75 years of enlightenment

NEW COMMUNIST Party leader Andy Brooks and Robert Laurie from the Central Committee attended a celebration at the Marx Memorial Library on 10th December to mark the 75th anniversary of its foundation. Prof David McLellan and Dr John Callow both spoke on Marx in London and in the world and a recently donated portrait of Paul Robeson was unveiled on the second floor.

Stella Moutafis 1956 -- 2008

by Andy Brooks

THE PASSING of a comrade is a sad event at any time. It is much, much more so when that comrade’s life is cut short in the prime of her life. Stella Moutafis battled against mental illness for the best part of her life but she struggled against adversity till the end.
Stella joined the New Communist Party in October 1990 and she devoted her life to building the Party and the New Worker from the start. She worked as a volunteer at the Party Centre and an activist in her branch and the London District Committee.
Every week Stella would join the dedicated early morning team that despatches the New Worker on Thursday, joining in the lively discussion on the news of the day or telling us of the antics of her pet budgie, who we all heard cheeping away in the background whenever we rang her at home.
But while the “wrap” was a constant in her calendar Stella also came down from Epsom most Mondays or Tuesdays to help out at the centre or prepare for campaigns in the capital, cheering us all up with her enthusiasm and commitment to the cause.
Stella loved to be active in the broad movement as well as the Party working in solidarity with Cuba, Korea and Vietnam, CND, the Marx Memorial Library and the Labour Representation Committee. London District was reorganised following the rule changes in 2003 and Stella played a leading role in developing the Metropolitan Cell’s New Worker Supporters’ Group, the biggest in the country.
Stella had a thirst for knowledge, embracing the age of the Internet as soon as free access became available at her local library and then obtaining a home computer to explore the Web and develop her creative writing skills.
But she always returned to books. She studied the classic works of Marx and Engels, Lenin and Stalin as well as those on contemporary politics, and took part in many local and national schools. She was always a delegate to Congress and she ably represented the Party at many ceremonial events and embassy receptions over the years.
On demonstrations, and there were few she missed in London, she was out there through thick and thin: giving out leaflets, selling the paper or helping the team to carry the NCP national banner.
The Party was an important part of her life but it wasn’t a one-way road. She brought her love of the countryside, wild-life, music, science fiction and movies to us and this was reflected in her words.
Stella’s letters brightened up the columns of the New Worker, Morning Star and the local Epsom press and her keen observation, humanity and humour were demonstrated in her reviews of the London cultural scene that frequently appeared in our paper.
Above all Stella worked to see the Party and the New Worker grow. She was tremendously cheered to see the first colour edition of the New Worker come out in November. Sadly that was the last edition she ever saw.
Always modest and unassuming she never fully realised how she touched the lives of all those who had the privilege of knowing her. Stella was a great friend and a great comrade. She will never be forgotten.

Stella Moutafis died on 23rd November 2008. Her funeral, a small private ceremony at her family’s request, took place this week. NCP leader Andy Brooks and Dolly Shaer from the Political Bureau, paid their last respects on behalf of the Party. A New Worker memorial meeting will be held early in the New Year.

Time to ditch New Labour

TUC GENERAL secretary Brendan Barber last Saturday told the annual Progress conference at TUC Congress House in London that “it’s time to ditch New Labour”.
His speech marked a distinct leftward shift for the TUC. It did not reach the point of raising awareness of basic class conflicts and the nature of capitalism but nevertheless indicated a complete rejection of the free market concepts that have dominated Labour and Tory governments for three decades now.
He said the global financial crisis had put “the right on the intellectual back foot”. He said: “This autumn, the world has changed. We’ve witnessed a global financial crisis unprecedented in our lifetimes.
“In the past few months we have seen the collapse of the dominant neo-liberal consensus of the past three decades.
“All over the world, the right is on the intellectual back foot. Its most cherished nostrums – a minimal state, deregulation, privatisation, liberalisation – have been brought into disrepute.
“It’s up to us on the progressive left to articulate a compelling alternative.
“The TUC welcomes much of what Labour has done since September – a genuinely radical, imaginative response to the downturn.
“In particular we applaud the hugely symbolic pledge announced in Monday’s [24th Nov] Pre-Budget Report to introduce a new 45 per cent tax for the richest one per cent of our society.
“This is evidence of how far the terms of the political debate have shifted in the past year. Indeed we’ve nothing to fear from being bold – thinking what was once the unthinkable.
“Events this autumn have reminded us that where the market has failed, the state can be a powerful force for good. This has profound implications across the policy spectrum; from the way we deliver public services to the way we respond to the housing challenge.
“And the election of Barack Obama suggests there is a huge clamour for change among ordinary people.
“We believe there is a burning desire for fairness: for fair tax – where everyone pays their fair share; for fair rewards – where hard work takes precedence over speculation. And for fair chances – where everybody is given the opportunity to fulfil their potential.
“And at the heart of all of this – what kind of economic settlement we build out of the wreckage of our broken financial system.
“Indeed, I believe the single most pressing challenge for progressives is to set out an alternative vision of the global economy.
“Avoiding the false security of protectionism, and instead showing how globalisation can deliver for the many not the few. Addressing the real insecurities felt by ordinary people in their workplaces and their communities.
“The centre-left should be confident about taking the lead on this – it is natural territory for us.We are freed from having to make an uncomfortable accommodation with neo-liberalism. The new ideological terrain is ours to forge.
“So let’s find the ideas to capture people’s imagination and let’s find the language to get our vision across.
“Because if there’s one outstanding lesson from the American election, then it’s surely this - people can be inspired by change.
“It’s time to ditch the New Labour discourse – of stakeholder partnerships, joined-up Government, outcome-driven policy and all the rest of it – and get our message across by using altogether more inspiring language.
“The language of equality, fairness and social justice.”
Other speakers at the conference included James Purnell MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions; Lord Peter Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform; and Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.
Also speaking were Hazel Blears, Martin Bright, Chris Bryant, Andy Burnham, Liam Byrne, Charles Clarke, Derek Draper, Caroline Flint, Kate Green, Peter Hain, Tristram Hunt, Tessa Jowell, Peter Kellner, David Lammy, Tony McNulty, Fiona Mactaggart, Alan Milburn, Ed Miliband, Trevor Phillips, plus many more.

Ian Blair warns of police politicisation

THE OUTGOING Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Ian Blair, last week issued a warning to politicians that they must give “breathing room” to senior officers to run their police forces without politically motivated interference.
He said that frontline policing was a high-risk business and Scotland Yard must “move on” from its “occasional disasters”. Blair was speaking on his last day in office and said that running the £3.5 billion organisation of some 50,000 employees has been “99 per cent enjoyable”.
serious mistakes
But he admitted many will focus on the other one per cent, including the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Forest Gate raids and a string of serious mistakes.
Blair’s remarks came after he blasted Tory London Mayor Boris Johnson for forcing him to resign after taking charge of the Metropolitan Police Authority.
He said standing down was the “only honourable course”, despite retaining the support of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, when Johnson said he did not support him.
Blair admitted that the upper reaches of Britain’s largest force have “got a bit like politics” with one side briefing against the other.
Speaking about diversity, Sir Ian said the Met had made “extraordinary strides” since the death of Stephen Lawrence in 1993.

Baby-P: the power of 'positive thinking'

THE FALL-OUT from the Baby-P case has begun to hit various officers and staff at the London Borough of Haringey with blame and recriminations being thrown around – and recalling the findings of the inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié, also in Haringey.
That inquiry painted a clear picture of insufficient numbers of social workers, some of whom were only partially trained and inexperienced in legal child protection work. Staff were dealing with 19 caseloads at a time when 12 was the recommended maximum. Managers then blamed the front line staff for failing to report that they were not coping.
The inquiry found that managers were “way out of touch with what was happening at the grass roots and did not really seem to care”.
Ms Bradley, a social worker in one of the long-term teams and a Unison representative, described the situation as “conveyor belt social work”. She said that the “ethos seemed to be particularly about getting the cases through the system and meeting the targets, meeting the statistics, getting them through the system”, rather than doing the work that needed to be done.
This refrain will strike a chord with most people who work on the front line in various civil service, local authorities and NHS services. And it’s all down to a culture of cuts and privatising services that goes back to the Thatcher years. On the front line staff leave and are not replaced; workloads grow.
At the same time a culture of targets is introduced and pressure is put on management to continually “improve” the services with fewer and fewer staff. Those who fail fear they will be among the next round of cuts. The targets cannot really be met so the statistics are doctored to make it appear so; middle managers spend all their time becoming accomplished spin doctors, neglecting all other duties. And upper management levels never hear any bad news from below. They live in a world of sugary optimism and fantasy while oblivious to the crumbling mess that the services are turning into below them.They call this “positive thinking” and wage a continual war against “negative thinking” – or objective reality as the frontline staff and their clients would see it.
When cuts and services fall below a certain level in most areas they will provoke a public outcry. Closed schools, hospitals, libraries, parks and playing field will spark local protests. The more middle class the area, the more articulate the protests will be generally. Councillors who wish to be re-elected will spread their limited funding accordingly.
There are few protest demonstrations on behalf of the really poor and disadvantaged; the mentally ill, the disabled, the downtrodden, disillusioned and alienated. Abused children are powerless to organise a protest and demand more social workers. So these are the departments that get cut and cut and cut.
The media pay no attention until a scandalous tragedy happens. Then there will be outrage in the papers, an inquiry and a plan of action. In a few months’ time Haringey council will report that it has put into action a new plan to improve social services, with targets, deadlines and all the rest. The statistics will soon show the plan has been implemented and is working well – more “positive thinking”. And only the frontline staff and the abused children will know what is really happening.
Haringey is not alone. This is happening all around the country and it is a miracle that cases like Baby P do not happen more often.
The real answer is to recognise that the narrow bourgeois family is an unnatural institution that isolates vulnerable children and women into tiny cells that can and do go very wrong; that the whole of society has a responsibility to take a share in the rearing and nurturing of children. The wider families of pre-capitalist times, involving umpteen grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins to the umpteenth degree are gone and need to be replaced by crèches, child centres, after-school centres, youth clubs, young pioneer palaces and so on where young people can be taught that society welcomes and values them.
We need a society that values children and parenthood and is prepared to support both much more closely. We need socialism.