Quds Day rally for Palestine

By New Worker correspondent

THOUSANDS of people joined the annual Quds Day Rally and march in London last Saturday, organised by the UK-based Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC).
The march was a peaceful, noisy, colourful affair supported by hundreds of family and community groups and political organisations.
Among the supporting organisations was a group of religious Jews in traditional costume who oppose Zionism as racist and oppose the occupation of Palestinian land. Their leaders walked hand-in-hand with the imams at the head of the march.
But it came under attack from three groups, who worked together as an unlikely alliance that said everything about their political opportunism.
The first was a group of dissident Iranians, claiming to be a Green Party but who were clearly from the American-backed opposition to the Ahmadinejad government. They tried to discourage support for the Palestinian cause on the grounds that it is supported by the Iranian government.
The second was a group of extreme right-wing fundamentalist Zionists, waving Israeli flags.
And the third and largest opposition group was from the English Defence League – a collection of football hooligans and other ill-informed “patriots” directed from the back by hard-core, long-standing neo-Nazis.
Amazingly these three groups were happy to make common cause and support each other, standing together outside the Hilton Hotel and causing the police to re-route the Quds day march as it made its way to Grosvenor Square and the United States Embassy.
Several provocative attempts by EDL supporters to attack the march were thwarted by police and those on the march remained calm and good-humoured and refused to be provoked.
Muslim youths on the march told the New Worker they were well aware of the EDL’s aim to spark a fight that, if they rose to the bait, would get them reported as violent lunatic Islamist fundamentalists in the right-wing tabloid press. They ignored the provocations.
The march passed into Grosvenor Square for a rally with speakers who put the blame for the continuing Middle East turmoil firmly on US imperialism with its massive financial and military backing of Zionist Israel, using the people of Israel as their surrogate military presence in the region.
A few EDL supporters made their way to the perimeter of Grosvenor Square but were kept firmly at the opposite end of the square by police.

Green thoughts in a green shade!

The South London New Worker Supporters Group held its annual fun-raising garden party in Charlton last weekend under the calming influence of shady trees and bird-song accompanied by the sound of fountains. There was also good food, drink and conversation and the event raised just over £18 for the New Worker.

Supporting the Korean revolution!

By New Worker correspondent

Friends of the Korean revolution were out again in London last Tuesday outside the south Korean and American embassies to condemn the latest imperialist war-games on the Korean peninsula.
NCP leader Andy Brooks joined protesters, including some who had come from Oxford and Southampton, in denouncing the US “Ulji Freedom Guardian” exercises of the American army of occupation in south Korea and their puppet auxiliaries. The protest was the latest in a series of afternoon solidarity pickets organised by the UK Korean Friendship Association and supported by the NCP, the For Bolshevism group and a number of other solidarity movements.
After a two hour stint outside the south Korean embassy the protesters moved on to Grosvenor Square to picket the US embassy chanting slogans in support of peace and Korean re-unification and reading out statements from the Democratic Korean media.
Dermot Hudson of the KFA said that the Obama regime had continued with the policy of Bush aimed at stifling the DPR Korea. “Ulji Freedom Guardian” is a rehearsal to invade the DPRK and that Obama is just the trendy face of US
Imperialism, he said. Other speakers also drew attention to the insidious attempt of the US imperialists to extradite Sean Garland, the leader of the Workers Party of Ireland and friend of the DPRK, and alleged computer hacker Gary McKinnon.
Passers-by stopped to chat with the demonstrators and some joined in the protest including a worker from one of the former Soviet Baltic republics and members of London’s Malaysian community.
Afterwards some picketers adjourned for a small social to mark the 50th anniversary of the Songun revolutionary leadership of Korean leader Kim Jong Il and plan for future events and meetings.

Justice demanded for Ian Tomlinson

by a New Worker correspondent

AROUND 200 protesters gathered at the London headquarters of the Crown Prosecution Service on the south bank of the Thames in Southwark last Friday to demand that the police constable responsible for pushing Ian Tomlinson to the ground with such force that he died minutes later should face a criminal prosecution.
The protesters were demanding further action be taken against Pc Stephen Harwood – and the CPS for shielding police officers who assault, injure and kill members of the public from facing criminal charges.
Members of the campaign for justice for the victims of police violence were there in force.
The event was noisy but there were no incidents. After a number of speeches there was a two-minute silence for Ian Tomlinson.
Tomlinson was making his way home from work, walking with his hands in his pockets through an area where riot police were clashing with G20 protesters on 1st April 2009.
Dozens of witnesses saw, and some filmed on their mobile phone cameras, as PC Stephen Harwood gratuitously pushed Tomlinson from behind; since his hand were in his pockets Tomlinson fell heavily and died shortly afterwards.
A week ago the CPS refused to prosecute because, they said, three post mortem examinations had given two different results. This decision was given on 22nd July – exactly five years from the shooting by armed officers of Jean-Charles de Menezes.
Understandably the family of Ian Tomlinson was greatly concerned by the lengthy investigation fearing a cover-up and the impact this whole process has had on their lives.
In April 2010, John McDonnell MP and leading civil liberties campaigners, MEPs and trade unionists wrote a letter to the Guardian to express their “growing concerns” about the investigation.
The Labour Representation Committee expressed outrage at the decision not to prosecute Harwood, Saying: “Today’s announcement illustrates that the police are a law unto themselves. Ian Tomlinson died in an unprovoked savage attack exposed on video yet that is not enough for the CPS to seek prosecution. Where is the justice for Ian Tomlinson’s family – who have described the decision as a “disgrace”?
John McDonnell MP, who chairs the LRC, said: “Given the stark nature of the video evidence it is hard to understand the CPS’s findings. An independent public inquiry is warranted.”

Hiroshima commemoration in Charlton

By New Worker correspondent


AROUND 100 people attended an event last Tuesday in the historic early 17th century Charlton House, south London, to commemorate the dead and injured victims of the atom bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 and to hear survivor Shoso Kawamoto tell his story.
The event was organised by Lewisham and Greenwich CND with Sydenham and Forest Hill CND and Beckenham and Bromley CND, to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The event began with a bring-and-share picnic on the lawn behind Charlton House, after which the Mayor of Greenwich, Councillor Barbara Barwick, welcomed Shoso Kawamoto from the Hiroshima Peace Museum who spoke about his life in Hiroshima as a child in the aftermath of the bombing.
This was followed by a moment of silence in the Charlton House Peace Garden and then music will be provided by the One World Club.

The spirit of Beijing comes to London

By New Worker correspondent


JUST over a year ago the people of Charlton in south east London noticed council workers installing a variety of exercise machines in a corner of Charlton Park, close to the path where hundreds of people every day cut through from various estates to the village shops and bus stops, on their way to work, shopping or whatever.
The council workers also erected a couple of basket ball nets and a five-a-side football sized goal with a small kick-about area and a long wall with irregular hand and footholds for would-be climbers to make their way along.
The equipment was checked and then just left. For anyone and everyone to use, as and when they wanted to. No formalities, no joining a club, no commitments to turn up regularly. Just use as you want to, as the mood takes you.
And it has been a roaring success. It is almost continually in use at all times of day and late into the night. It has its busy times, mostly in the evenings but it is rare to pass it at any time of day and not find at least one or two people using it.
It is used by schoolchildren coming home from school, by young men and women, by early morning joggers, by the middle aged and occasionally the elderly. It is used by all shades and colours of Londoners as well as new arrivals from the Third World and eastern Europe. Women’s fitness clubs turn up to use it regularly, as do budding sports enthusiasts. Small children who cannot reach to use the equipment as intended find ingenious different ways to use it. People who have heard about it come from miles around to use it.
So far there are no reports of anyone being hurt using it, nor any serious arguments developing over it. And it has never been vandalised in any way.
Earlier this year two solid table-tennis tables were added. We thought that the wind would make outdoor ping-pong impossible. We were proved wrong. At first the tables were used mainly by young immigrants from the Far East but their enthusiasm has spread and now locals are taking up ping-pong.
The young men who used to meet regularly at a certain park bench at dusk to talk and trade in small paper packages have moved on – or given up and joined the free gym users. The spot is now much too public for that sort of trade. And the free gym undermines that trade in another way – it needs customers who are truly bored with their lives and there are now fewer of those.
The free gym was put up after a couple of Greenwich councillors who, in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics, went out to Beijing just before the 2008 Olympics to study the way the Chinese authorities prepared there. Apparently they noticed these small free gyms erected in parks throughout the Chinese capital and thought they were a good idea.
Free access to sport for all was a way to get local people interested in the games. But did those councillors realise they were importing dangerous communist ideas?
They decided to try a couple in the London Borough of Greenwich to see how they worked out; they would then roll out the scheme to every park in the borough – and other boroughs might take it up.
Greenwich also pioneered the free swimming for over-60s scheme that the new Con-Dem government has just axed – even though it can hardly have cost the borough anything – a few extra people in the pool at off-peak times cannot have added to the running costs.
Likewise the free gym, once erected it cannot cost the borough much to maintain it.
But there are some in the new government who abhor in principle the idea that anything should ever be free. It is part of their ideology; they will claim it is unfair on the commercial gyms in the area that charge people a fortune so only the well off can afford to use them.
Will the borough continue with the free gym and expand it as planned? Or will the Government squash the whole idea as far too communist? We shall wait and see.

When imperialism was stopped in its tracks!

By a New Worker correspondent
New Worker supporters joined other Korean solidarity campaigners at London’s Conway Hall for a celebration of the 57th anniversary of the Korean people’s victory in the Fatherland Liberation War on Saturday 24th July.
Called by the Juche Idea Study Group of England (JISGE) and the Association for the Study of Songun Politics the meeting opened with a talk by JISGE Chair Dermot Hudson followed by other contributions from Shaun Pickford and Kevin Cain calling for solidarity with the DPR Korea. Following a round-table discussion a message and a solidarity resolution were adopted by all present. Some participants in the meeting then went to south east London to a party to celebrate the Korean people’s defeat of US imperialism and its lackeys in 1953.

Comrades celebrate Party Day!

COMRADES friends joined New Communist Party leader Andy Brooks and Party Chair Alex Kempshall in celebrating the NCP's founding day reception on 10th July at the Party Centre in London. Michael Chant from the RCPB (ML) and Dermot Hudson from the UK Korean Friendship Association spoke of the NCP’s international solidarity and consistent work over the past 33 years in upholding the communist banner in Britain, while solidarity messages included greetings the Workers’ Party of Korea and from an old comrade who now lives in one of the former Soviet republics. No NCP social ends without an appeal for the New Worker and National Treasurer Dolly Shaer’s call raised £652 for the fighting fund!

Remembering the IB prisoners

by a New Worker correspondent


WHEN the Spanish war against fascism ended in 1939, the International Brigaders gathered for a final rally before leaving with their heads held high and the words of Dolores Ibuarri (La Pasionaria) ringing in their ears: “You are history, you are legend”.
But some were left behind; suffering the horrors of incarceration in Franco’s fascist jails and their story is not yet well documented.
And remembering these forgotten heroes was the theme of this year’s memorial event in Jubilee Gardens in south London on Saturday 3rd July.
Scores of people gathered in the baking sun, many of them relatives of those who had volunteered to fight against fascism in Spain in 1936 because they could see that rising fascism threatened to unleash a cataclysm on the human race.
The event, organised by the International Brigade association, began with speeches from Ramon Ganderias, deputy head of mission at the Spanish embassy, and from Sr Miquel Caminal, director of Memorial Democratic de Catalunya.
This was followed by the singing of the song Jarama, a one-minute silence and then the laying of wreaths at the memorial statue.
Dolly West-Shaer, daughter of Brigader Frank West and New Communist Party Treasurer, gave an account of her family’s shock when Frank did not return with the other brigaders and the discovery that he was still held prisoner at a time when Europe was hurtling towards war against fascism.
The Franco regime was engaged in the wholesale slaughter of its prisoners of war but DN Pritt, a Labour Party leading campaigner and barrister, “practically sat on the Foreign Office doorstep in his fight to get the remaining prisoners home and Dad was one of the 11 who were the last prisoners to come home,” Dolly told the crowd.
And he came with a harrowing story of his eight months imprisonment in the derelict monastery, San Pedro de Cardenas. The place contained 700 International Brigaders as well as hundreds of Basque and Spanish prisoners, most of whom were killed.
Prisoners’ health suffered badly from the lack of food and medicine – many of them were wounded. The German Nazis sent SS officers to interrogate the prisoners. German members of the brigade were shipped back to concentration camps where few survived.
Further to this the prisoners suffered continual physical attacks from their sadistic guards.
But their spirits did not succumb. “They set up classes in chess, languages, philosophy, sciences and Marxism; they shared their experiences of life in the international working class,” said Dolly. “And they survived!
“And left us a period of working class history that we can all be proud of.”
Christine Collins gave the crowd in Jubilee Gardens an equally harrowing tale of the experiences of her grandfather as a prisoner of Franco’s forces.
The event finished with the emotional singing of the Internationale.

photo:Dolly Shaer salutes the memory of the Brigaders

Supporting Democratic Korea!

FRIENDS of the Korean people marked the 60th anniversary of the imperialist attack on the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea with pickets outside the south Korean and US embassies last Friday. NCP leader Andy Brooks joined other comrades in the afternoon protests organised by the UK Korea Friendship Association, the Juche Idea Study Group and supporters of the Russian AUCPB communist party, which included the continuous reading out of Democratic Korean statements and solidarity messages outside both embassies by UK KFA organisers Kevin Cain and Dermot Hudson. Then everyone else was invited to take a turn on the megaphone to deliver their own messages of support for the Korean revolution.
Owen Liddle and Juan Zapata from the Metropolitan New Worker Supporters’ Group along with members of the Revolutionary Workers’ Party (Posadist) and the Revolutionary Communist Group helped in giving out leaflets to passers-by in the spirited and cheerful demonstrations which ended in Grosvenor Square with the playing of the DPRK national anthem.

Morning Star conference

Capitalism is the crisis


By New Worker correspondent


“THE GLOBAL financial crisis started in the unregulated finance and banking sector. But now the ruling class is trying to shift the responsibility on to the working class and in particular the public sector,” Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, told the Morning Star conference last Saturday – and his words summed up the theme of the conference.
The conference, at the TUC’s Congress House in London, attracted a wide spectrum of Star readers including union leaders, academics, international guests and activists across the whole spectrum of the labour movement.
Other union leaders who opened discussions included Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT transport union, Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke, National Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers and Megan Dobney of the South-East Region TUC.
Green Party MEP Keith Taylor, Sinn Fein northern Ireland Legislative Assembly Member Billy Leonard and former Respect MP George Galloway took part in wide-ranging debates throughout the day while the international perspective of the struggle was stressed in openings from Panos Rentzelas of the Greek Communist Party (KKE), Venezuelan ambassador Samuel Moncada and Carolina Amador Perez. the Head of International Relations of the Federation of Cuban Women.
The conference opened with a session entitled “Star gazing” – a history of the Morning Star and its predecessor, the Daily Worker and the left-wing press in Britain back to the days of the Chartist movement and it included the showing of a special DVD marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Daily Worker.
In the debate on the economy Matt Wrack gave his warning on Prime Minister Cameron’s intentions to lay the blame for the economic crisis on the working class and the public sector in particular, with his misleading talk about “gold-plated public sector pensions”, which in reality rarely amount to more than £4,000 to £5,000 a year.
And he accused the Tories of opportunistically using the economic crisis to carry out swingeing public sector cuts that they had always wanted to do anyway.
Speaking of the £900 billion bail out of the banks, he said: “There has been a massive transfer of wealth from the vast majority of people to the tiny clique who rule this country.”
Panos Rentzelas spoke of the work of the KKE in Greece to build unity throughout the workers to refuse to pay the price of bailing out the bankers. The Greek banks received £20 billion in bail-outs and are now making £200 billion in profits.
Panos reported that, following 10 successive national strikes, recruitment to the militant trade union front Pame is soaring. And in the banner that KKE members draped from the Parthenon in March, they reached out to workers across Europe with their message; “Peoples of Europe rise up!”





Many speakers throughout Saturday’s conference said how this sight had inspired them.
“Stopping the capitalist attack is not enough,” said Panos, “we must counter-attack with class coalitions and alliances and prepare to bring socialism to power.”
And he defined socialism as a state under workers’ control, with a centrally planned economy run for the benefit of the people.
He reported that there are growing threats to outlaw the KKE but the party is not dismayed. Working in conditions of adversity would help the KKE to build the beginnings of the organs of a workers’ state.
Panos finished by repeating the message of the iconic banner: “People of Europe rise up; the future belongs to the workers, not the capitalists!”
The Clarion Singers, members of the Workers’ Music Association, entertained everyone in the main lobby during the lunch break with great renditions of traditional working class songs while others went to fringe meetings on LGBT rights and privatisation.
“Where next for Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Rights” was led by Dr Peter Purton, Deidre Costigan and Thierry Schaffauser and chaired by Anton Johnson and the other was a power point presentation from the civil service union PCS on privatisation.
In the afternoon Professor Keith Ewing, Bob Crow, George Galloway and Tony Burke spoke on “Trade union freedoms/the Labour Party: can you have one without the other?” – followed by discussion from the floor.
Crow argued that the Labour Party was dead while Galloway and Burke argued that is was not, citing the surge of working class vote for Labour on 6th May in the traditional inner city Labour seats.
Professor Ewing warned that changes proposed by the new Con-Dem coalition involve cutting the number of parliamentary seats and redrawing constituency boundaries – not to the advantage of the working class.
He also warned that introducing state funding of political parties would outlaw the funding that Labour now gets from the unions and the representation of the working class in Parliament.
“This is a cynical move,” he said and warned: “there may never be another Labour government elected in Westminster.”
In a later session headed: “Life, the universe and everything: the way forward in fighting capitalism” Sinn Fein Assembly Member Billy Leonard spoke of the very sudden impact of the banking crisis on the Republic of Ireland and the swift departure of the “Celtic Tiger”.
There were many stalls at the conference, including one organised by the Metropolitan New Worker Supporters’ Group, which sparked a lot of interest and discussions with the comrades which included NCP general secretary Andy Brooks along with Daphne Liddle and Robert Laurie from the Central Committee as well as Juan Zapata and other London supporters. Pamphlets on, about or by Stalin proved especially popular and the total sales of papers, pamphlets and books raised £102 for the New Worker fighting fund.

photo 1: thoughtful moments for Billy Leonard and Star Editor Bill Benfield

photo 2: Panos Rentzelas and Andy Brooks swapping stories at the New Worker stall

Solidarity with DPR Korea

Solidarity with the DPR Korea


FRIENDS of the Korean revolution met in London last week to discuss the contribution of Kim Jong Il to the world communist movement and the role of Juche-style Party-building in a seminar to mark the anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s starting work on the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
Meeting at the John Buckle Centre, the RCPB(ML) headquarters in south London, contributions were made by NCP leader Andy Brooks, Michael Chant of the RCPB (ML), Dermot Hudson from the Korea Friendship Society along with Ella Rule and Keith Bennett from the CPGB (ML). They all stressed the important and in some ways unique tactics of the Korean communist movement in building the resistance to Japanese colonialism that led to final liberation and the establishment of a people’s democracy in the north of the country.
The meeting ended with the sending of message of congratulations to Comrade Kim Jong Il which was adopted by everyone in the room.

photo: Dermot Hudson makes his point

Turning 'em red at Turnham Green

COMRADES from Southall New Communist Party ran a stall at the annual Turnham Green Peace Market on Saturday 6th June in very hot weather.
They made a profit of £23.90 selling a mixture of political literature and homemade produce – including their highly reputed marmalade.

London to Colchester peace walk

PEACE campaigners are planning to mark Armed Forces Day on 26th June with a Day of Action in London and the next day begin a five-day peace walk from London to Colchester as an act of solidarity with Joe Glenton, the British soldier who is currently in military prison for refusing to return to Afghanistan, which he describes as “an unjust war”.
The Day of Action in London will include protests outside some of the new army recruitment centres, sometimes called the “Arcades of Death”, which are usually located in shopping centres.
These recruitment centres use computer games and the promise of career prospects to lure young people to enlist in the army.
The activists taking part in the London to Colchester march will stay in Chelmsford overnight on Tuesday 29th June and possibly also on 28th and 30th.
In the evenings they hope to hold public meetings with films and discussions.
The events are being organised jointly by people from Peace News, London Catholic Worker, Justice not Vengeance and CND.
They are asking people to join them in the London protests or by taking part in the walk, offering food/accommodation to walkers and by attending meetings.

Building alliances for a living wage

MATTHEW BOLTON of the public sector union Unison last weekend addressed a rally of the London Citizens’ group – of which he is the lead organiser.
London Citizens is the community organising group which has successfully brought together faith groups, schools, community groups and unions to fight for a living wage for some of London’s lowest paid workers. It is part of Citizens UK, which aims to be the national home of community organising.
“We can and will build powerful alliances,” said Bolton. “Unions and communities can and will build powerful alliances that will not just defend ourselves but shape decision-making”, he told local government delegates.
“We face a difficult five years,” he said, “and it is in all of our interests to face it together.”
Bolton said that in five years of organising, the group has won some £40 million in increased pay and conditions for cleaners and catering staff in London.
“I don’t have to tell you about the cuts,” he said. “Up to 725,000 jobs could go in public services in the next five years and public service workers are facing at best a pay freeze at a time when real inflation is running at five per cent.
“And for my own work, my target is to persuade 15 local councils that the living wage rate should be standard in their procurement of contracts at a time when budgets are being slashed.
“How will we meet these challenges? Unison has a membership of 1.3 million. The problem is not the power of your organisation. We have 160 groups that are part of London Citizens. The problem is how we connect the unions with the communities your members serve.”
He encouraged union branches to look at the groups members are already part of and see each of them as “a little pocket of power that could join together to support your campaign”.
He reminded delegates that London Citizens and Unison had worked together in East London to win a living wage for staff in four hospitals and help to recruit and organise the local Unison branches.
But he warned that community alliances needed to be built on trust and common interests and needed to “bring in the moderates, not just round up the usual suspects”.
Unions needed to understand that while individual casework is important for members, “it is not a great tool to build power – to do that, you need to invest your time in building up alliances.
“We aim to spread across the UK. Could your branch be a founding member of a local alliance? Can you see yourselves not as spectators, but as leading the way?”

Bus sale threatens thousands of jobs

THE GIANT union Unite last week made it clear that the current situation facing the East London Bus Group must not impact detrimentally on its 4,500 members.
The large bus company which runs routes in east London, south east London and central London has announced that it will be selling up, as it is facing huge losses.
Unite is concerned that the proposed sale will mean potential job losses, a reduction in services in the city and could lead to a number of routes lost, affecting the travelling public.
Unite is prepared to listen to the company's plan for moving out of the chaos it finds itself in, but 630 Unite members made clear at a mass meeting that they would not be prepared to accept the significant wage cuts and attacks on terms and conditions that the East London Bus Group is demanding.
Unite regional officer, John Griffiths, said: “This is the result of the mayor's tendering policies in the London bus market which is leading to an accelerated and ugly race to the bottom.
“Our members carry millions of passengers everyday and keep this city moving. Why should they be penalised as a result of this anarchic system, and by an operator that has made a fast buck, and is now bailing out.
“Our huge fear is for the many thousands of loyal workers at the East London Bus Group and Unite is calling for a swift resolution to end the uncertainty that our members face.”
Unite is now seeking urgent meetings with Transport for London to seek assurances that jobs and terms and conditions will be preserved.
The East London Bus Group was acquired from Stagecoach by a consortium led by Australian investment bank Macquarie.

McGuinness goes to Westminster

By Theo Russell

MARTIN McGUINNESS, deputy First Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive, told friends and supporters of Sinn Féin at the House of Commons last week that “the political process and the peace process in my opinion are steadier now than at any time in the past”.
McGuinness was in London for a meeting with David Cameron, Nick Clegg and the first ministers of Scotland and Wales. He pointed out that while abstaining as Westminster MPs, the five Sinn Féin members make a point of visiting England, Scotland and Wales regularly, and meeting MPs and supporters from all parties.
He told the meeting that the message from the Westminster elections was that “politics in the north of Ireland stood firm against what was effectively an attempt return to sectarian community politics”.
In Fermanagh-South Tyrone, where three Unionist parties united behind one candidate: Michelle Guildernew, who won by just four votes, he said: “Voters had looked to the future and not the past,” and that “A section of Unionist voters felt that they couldn’t vote for someone representing the past and a Conservative government which has made its intentions on spending cuts clear.”
But, “The most important outcome was that a very clear message was sent to Jim Allister and the Traditional Unionist Voice (a rejectionist break-away from the DUP) that people were not prepared to return to the past.”
McGuinness said Allister’s campaign was damaged by his TV appearances, including one on Question Time in which “the audience effectively turned against him”.
“The Unionist community has bought into the idea that we have to work together, and it’s clear that they wanted Peter Robinson and I to carry on working together, and that the Good Friday institutions represent the best and only way to move forward,” McGuinness said.
He said it was unfortunate that DUP Peter Robinson had lost his Westminster seat, and encouraged him to continue his work as First Minister, adding: ”Relations between myself and Peter improved dramatically since the Hillsborough agreement.”
He said “Robinson had clearly showed leadership in converting his party from opposing change to supporting change,” to achieve agreement at Hillsborough in February which paved the way for the transfer of policing and justice powers to the Executive, putting the last major element of the Good Friday Agreement in place.
McGuinness welcomed the election of Sylvia Hermon, who he said she was committed to the peace process. Hermon was the UUP’s last remaining MP, but stood as an independent rather than stand under the new UUP-Tory alliance, the UCU-New Force.
McGuinness said: “This alliance has taken place against a backdrop of rumours of secret meetings and attempts to build on the concept of Unionist unity. From our point of view this was an attempt to target constituencies they felt were vulnerable, namely Fermanagh-South Tyrone and South Belfast.”
He said: “After Hillsborough and the setbacks to Unionist rejectionists, the political process and the peace process in my opinion are steadier now than at any time in the past.” He added that the British government was duty bound not to attempt to alter the Good Friday Agreement, and that this had been accepted by Cameron and Clegg.
McGuinness said: “Sinn Féin’s main focus in the Executive is to ensure that the economy is front and centre of our policies, creating jobs and raising living standards for our people, and tackling deprivation in both Unionist and republican areas.
“It’s disappointing for us that we’ve felt the effects of the recession in a society which is still emerging from conflict, and that largely due to the activities of bankers we face punitive times ahead. Our job is to protect the public sector, to protect frontline services and to protect those people who are more socially disadvantaged in society.”
He pointed to a new road from Monaghan to Donegal crossing the north of Ireland, partly financed by Dublin, and planned upgrades to the ports of Belfast and Larne as positive developments.
Rather than cut spending, he said, the British government should look at billions in uncollected taxes, and the costs of the Afghan war and Trident. “I told David Cameron and Nick Clegg that the lives of Nato and British soldiers, and countless number of Afghans were being wasted, and asked them how much was being spent on the war, but received no reply. This is an unwinnable war and money is being poured down a drain.”
He said the new Northern Ireland secretary, Owen Patterson, was prepared to create an enterprise zone in Northern Ireland and was considering reducing corporation tax to match that in the Republic of Ireland, and that an investment conference backed by President Obama would take place in Washington in the autumn.
McGuinness said Sinn Féin remained determined to continue building towards Irish unification. “The path we’re on – the institutions, the north-south and east-west (British-Irish) institutions – is the correct strategy as we move forward.”
Turning to the dissident republican groups, McGuinness said: “They had attempted to convince people in East Tyrone and Mid-Ulster not to vote, but the outcome was that people voted in large numbers and Sinn Féin’s majority went up.”
He pointed to the community outcry against the Real IRA’s execution of Kieran Doherty in Derry, and the defiance of loyalist threats by the Shankill Road community by large numbers of people attending the funeral of Bobby Moffe, as “representing a huge backlash and sending a clear message that people don’t want any more of this”.
Asked about the investigations into collusion by the British government with loyalist paramilitaries, McGuinness said: “There is “a huge challenge to overcome the legacy of actions by the RUC, RUR, British intelligence, the British Army and their collusion with loyalists.”
He recalled that in private talks at Chequers: “Tony Blair admitted that Margaret Thatcher’s approach to Northern Ireland was flawed and that she had turned a blind eye to collusion. But will he ever appear before an international inquiry and say that? Maybe we’ll get a surprise.”

End the siege of Gaza!

by a New Worker correspondent


NEW WORKER supporters joined thousands of protesters who marched through London to the Israeli Embassy to express their anger at the murder of nine activists by Israeli forces who raided a convoy of ships bringing emergency aid to the blockaded people of Gaza.
Demonstrators in Whitehall carried placards demanding “Gaza End the Siege” and “For Freedom We Sail” and chanted “Stop Israeli piracy”.
Some 20,000 turned out to show their solidarity with the Palestinians in the march organised by groups including the Stop the War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, British Muslim Initiative, CND, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Viva Palestina and Palestinian Forum of Britain.
People from all faiths and cultures expressed their anger against the Israel’s attack on the flotilla on Monday. The attack which happened while the ships were sailing in international waters left nine killed and 54 others injured.
At the rally near the Israeli embassy, speakers said the number of people killed in the Israeli raid was more than nine. Six activists, they claimed, were still missing. Ismael Patel of Friends of al-Aqsa group said the attack was wholly “unprovoked.” “No warning was given,” he said demanding an independent international inquiry.
A number of prominent politicians and activists, including witnesses from the Mavi Marmara – the ship on which nine Turkish aid workers were shot dead at close range – demanded the end of the siege and called for the British government to take an active role in condemning Israel.
Veteran Labour politician Tony Benn said: “The recent killing of innocent aid workers is a catastrophe.”
He compared Israel with South African apartheid, saying: “This is not only the struggle of Palestinians but now a struggle for all of us.”
Recently elected Green Party MP Caroline Lucas demanded justice and freedom for Palestinians. She said: “Gaza is the biggest open air prison in the world. We are here to demand the end of the siege of Gaza and to demand the end of the occupation.”
Amid cheers from the crowd she continued: “The UK government has been complicit in these horrors and this must come to an end.”
She asked people to write to their Members of Parliament and demand action.
Novelist and political campaigner Tariq Ali said the British government needs to go one step further to break off all diplomatic and trade relations with Israel.
“I am calling on David Cameron to end the siege now”, he said.
Jews against Zionism speaker John Rose who has given up his right of return to Israel said: “There is no democracy in Israel.”
He said a number of prominent Israelis including academics such as Avi Shlaim have publicly denounced the occupation and asked for people to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.
British hip-hop artist Lowkey called for the British and US governments to stop the 62-year occupation of Palestine. He ended his speech with a rendition of his famous rap Long Live Palestine.
“How many more resolutions have to be violated, how many more children have to be annihilated?” he sang.
Louise Thomas, a civil servant from London said: “I think the events of the past few weeks have shown Israel in its true light. For too long the Israel government has been able to get away with violating international laws and it needs to stop now.”
While the demonstration was happening Israeli forces stopped another aid ship, the Rachel Corrie, from proceeding to Gaza with a ship-load of aid.
This time there was no violence but it was still an illegal act of piracy by the Israeli forces designed to prevent any aid of help reaching the people of Gaza.
Since then the Iranian government has offered a protective escort for future aid ships.
Many of those attending last Saturday’s march were from London’s Turkish community, such as 38-year-old Ali Seylan who said his brother had been on board the flotilla.
“Thank God nothing happened to my brother – if anything happened to him I was going to get my revenge myself,” he told reporters.
“Israel made a big mistake, Israel’s government managed to get all Turkish people the enemy of Israel.”
He said many London-based Turks were joining the march, adding: “Religionists are here, socialists are here, even Turkish drunks are here.”

A new Queer activism

by Anton Johnson

AT ITS AGM this weekend Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Labour passed a motion to engage in outward campaigning work with trade unions and trade councils following the defeat of Labour at the polls last month. Encouragingly the AGM also agreed affiliation to Hope Not Hate/Searchlight. Hopefully this will lead to LGBT Labour re-engaging with grassroots activism.
A great many gains were made under the 13 years of Labour rule for LGBT people – but this has led to a complacency and lack of political debate within the LGBT communities dominated by a large commercial scene. The advances made are potentially at risk from the new Con-Dem government; therefore LGBT communities need to be looking at how to defend our hard-won rights – many of which were campaigned for by the old Labour Campaign for Lesbian & Gay Rights in the 1980s and 1990s.
There is the beginning of a change in this: the agreeing of the motions at LGBT Labour as noted above is a sign of this. In 2009 there was a conference sponsored by the CWU and FBU trade unions initiated by Left Front Art – a network of progressive LGBT activists, artists and academics – to look at igniting progressive debate anchored in the Labour Movement within the LGBT communities and support grassroots activity. That conference has led to Left Front Art organising two public debates in London hosted by Greater London Association of Trade Union Councils, a body that now has a LGBT Officer. The motion passed at the LGBT Labour AGM originated within the Left Front Art network.
Trade unions and trades councils are supporting LGBT grassroots community activism in London, such as the initiative to hold an East London Pride following a vicious attack on a young Trans person and her two gay male friends in Dalston, just a short walk away from the popular LGBT venue, Dalston Superstore.
The organisers of the East London Pride project – OUT East – ran a workshop at the Hackney Unites event, supported by Hackney TUC last Saturday. Queer activists engaging with the wider community and linking up for the battles ahead.
This summer will see Queeruption in Manchester – a gathering of LGBT and Queer community activists and artists running workshops and holding political debates. In London the Queer Invisibility Academy will be running a day school in London – looking at the past of LGBT activism and what a new generation can learn for the future.
Behind Bars – the Queer arts collective that brings performance art and politics together – continues to grow in popularity with its next event on 12th June in south London. Many of the artists who have been involved in Behind Bars have performed or shown their work at the successful SERTUC LGBT Network LGBT History Month events, such as performer Pietro La Hara, visual artist Boxikus and film maker Meerak Meinhog.
These different expressions of activity are welcome and refreshing in re-energising progressive debate and activity in the LGBT communities, with the added bonus of Queers recognising the importance of the Labour Movement and joining trade unions and taking an interest in the value of Trade Councils.
A new generation of Queer activists in the community and Trade Unions is using the mediums of art to communicate ideas. This is important in rebuilding activism and our movement and communities – with activism from the ground up and educating. Memorial and vigils are good as far as they go, what is refreshing – and much needed – about OUT East is that the organisers want to be proactive, celebrate and show strength and confidence.
These positive developments go in hand with raising the visibility of LGBT people in movement, such as Thierry Schaffuser – SERTUC LGBT network secretary leading and addressing the London May Day rally this year, as a confident Queer in drag.
In London there are two events coming up – one an LGBT fringe meeting at the Morning Star conference on the topic of where next for LGBT rights under the Con-Dem government. And on 14th June OUT East will be holding a public engagement meeting at the London Resource Action Centre, Fieldgate St E1, an initiative supported by GLATUC, Hackney TUC and GMB SHOUT!
Those living in Hackney or Tower Hamlets who are interested will be welcome at the meeting and can contact OUT East co-ordinator Simon Leahy at simonleahy@hotmail.com

for more information.

*THE LABOUR Party’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Society (LGBT) were astonished last Saturday when the duty manager at the Greencoat Boy pub in Westminster refused to serve them and said he would not have accepted their booking if he had known they were a gay group.
The pub chain, Punch taverns, has since apologised and suspended the duty manager and the Metropolitan Police are investigating it as a homophobic incident.
James Asser, a member of the group, said: “Everyone involved was shocked and outraged. This attitude is totally unacceptable in this day and age.
“What century are we living in here?
“When you encounter prejudice you have to stand up and be counted – at the very least we expect an apology.
“We also want a demonstration that the pub chain takes this very seriously and will make sure it never happens again.”
Former Labour Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott Tweeted in support of the group, writing: “Forty years ago we campaigned against a Hull pub that banned ‘women and queers’. This is disgraceful.”


photo:Thierry Schaffuser in drag addressing this year's May Day rally

Judge questions Mayor's power

THE CASE brought by London Mayor Boris Johnson in the High Court to remove the peace camp from Parliament Square where it has been since 1st May – along with Brian Haw, the peace activist who has sustained a peace vigil opposite the House of Commons for nine years.
But the judge, Mr Justice Maddison, questioned Johnson’s power to take legal action to evict the peace campers. He said that his provisional view was that Boris Johnson was “likely ultimately to succeed”. But he added there was room for “lively and legitimate argument as to whether or not he does have title to bring these proceedings”.
Whatever happens, the case is going to take a lot longer than Johnson had hoped.
Anti-war protesters, climate change activists and anarchists have been living in the camp, dubbed Democracy Village, since 1st May.
Veteran anti-war campaigner Brian Haw, who has camped at the site since 2001, has previously won legal battles to be allowed to continue his demonstration in the Square.
Johnson said he has a right to bring trespass action against the protesters as the Greater London Authority owns the green space.
He claims the protesters do not have the right to monopolise the green space. But the campers are not preventing anyone else from access to what is, in effect, a large traffic island. They argue that the only person who can take such an action is the Queen.
Maddison said the issue of eviction of “Democracy Village” needed to be “decided at the very earliest opportunity”.
The case was adjourned and is now expected to return to the court on Friday.