By New Worker correspondent
THE GREENWICH Council for Racial Equality was formally wound up last Tuesday evening at its annual general meeting in Woolwich, after a long and successful fight against racism and discrimination in the area.
And it was still functioning fully until the end, providing services ranging from keep-fit classes for elderly Asian ladies to cultural groups, giving advice and support in discrimination cases at work and in schools, advice in immigration, benefits, health and many other issues – and providing a powerful counter to racist abuse and violence.
Its downfall was a tragedy. An internal audit last year threw up a suspicion of embezzlement. Instead of covering up the matter, as they might have been tempted, the organisation’s officers did the correct thing and informed the local council – GCRE’s major source of funding.
The council immediately suspended funding and undertook its own investigation. In the meantime it instructed GCRE to implement a major structural and management overhaul and advised them to use a consultant to draw up a new business plan.
GCRE did this but the consultant, though very expensive, failed to come up with a new viable business plan. The council agreed that GCRE officers – with the exception of two who have now been formally charged by police – had all acted responsibly and followed the council’s instructions.
But as Con-Dem government cuts policies began to sink in, the mood of the council changed. The suspended funding was not restored. The business plan was rejected out of hand.
And with the investigation in progress it was impossible to seek funding elsewhere.
The organisation soldiered on using reserves to pay staff and running costs until it reached a point where liabilities equalled assets and winding up was the only option.
Now the staff – with a wealth of experience and specialised skills – are all redundant.
It was a sad and shocked meeting on Tuesday night, the end of an era and the end of a powerful campaigning organisation that has fought fascism and racism in the area for decades.
It supported the families of race murder victims Rolan Adams, Rohit Duggal and Stephen Lawrence; it battled with serious racist attitudes in the local police; it led the fight for the closure of the BNP office in neighbouring Bexley and it set examples of how to fight racism in the community that have been followed around the country and internationally.
GCRE officers pioneered the tactic of countering racist attacks and abuse on estates by knocking on doors, talking to people from all backgrounds about their concerns, getting them all together in meetings, introducing them to each other so that black, white and brown could find out that they all had the same problems and that the minority of youths who were carrying out the racist attacks were also responsible for a lot of other anti-social behaviour.
GCRE lawyers won landmark cases against the police over the ill-treatment of young black people while in custody and GCRE officers ended up teaching police officers how to handle racism effectively and build community harmony – not once but over and over again as police officers were re-assigned, moved on and new ones showed up who had to be taught from scratch again.
Recently GCRE officers had been doing pioneering work to end the isolation of elderly Asian women, many of them with poor English, improving their access to health and social care.
The offices were always buzzing. If you visited on any week day there were singing groups, health classes going on all around. GCRE supported small cultural groups from many local ethnic communities and being under one roof enabled them to be aware of each other and build a truly multi-cultural community.
Now that must all go – and at a time when so many other services are being withdrawn and Islamophobia is growing into a serious danger.
But, as ever, the struggle goes on. A new organisation will be formed. It will have no funding at the start. It will only be able to provide a tiny fraction of the services that GCRE provided.
But it will be free to campaign in a much more political way and put pressure on the council, on the police and it will have a wealth of knowledge and experience to do this.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
All Out on 30th June!
HUNDREDS of thousands of teachers and public servants are preparing to take action in the biggest protest so far against the Government’s cuts. And on the day they will be joined by many others who will refuse to cross picket lines. Over a million workers will be taking part in the day of action on 30th June, the biggest since the General Strike and the first massive blow of the union resistance to the Tory-led coalition’s austerity measures, which are driving down the living standards of millions upon millions of working people.
David Cameron’s government claims that it’s ready to negotiate but they’ve made it clear that there’s nothing to talk about accept the timetable for implementing the draconian measures designed to make workers pay for the capitalist crisis.
They claim that raising the retirement age, cutting pensions, reducing welfare benefits, cutting and privatising the health service and the rest of what remains of the public sector is inevitable. But it will only happen if we allow them to get away with it.
While we’re told to tighten our belts and work longer for less pay the rich are getting richer. The wealth of the millionaires has risen by 18 per cent collectively over the past year and the top 1,000 richest people in Britain now have between them over £60 billion more than they had a year ago.
These parasites live the lives of Roman emperors while working people, who produce all the wealth that they plunder, are expected to simply grin and bear it until the supposed “up-turn” comes round.
But the Tories and their Liberal Democrat collaborators have failed to undermine the action with their threat to bring in more anti-union legislation in the future. The bleats of the dregs of the Blairite faction, still in the Labour Party because they’ve nowhere else to go, have been ignored. However the response from the Labour leadership has been lukewarm at the best.
Miliband & Co want the unions’ support and they want they unions’ money but they don’t want to give much back in return. Labour’s “challenge” to the Cameron plan is little more than the feeble social-Keynesianism of the last days of the Brown government, designed to cushion the worst effects of slump with some minor reforms to lessen the worst effects of austerity amongst the poor.
Labour should be defending every existing right that workers possess, including their pensions and welfare benefits. They should be demanding the complete restoration of the “welfare state” and the public sector that Labour built up after the Second World War and which could still be easily paid for if the rich were taxed at the levels that existed in its hey-day in the 1970s.
Rank and file pressure from the millions of affiliated members can change Labour’s direction like the mass movement that has propelled the union leaders into next week’s confrontation with the Government.
But one swallow doesn’t make a summer and one day of action will not stop the Government in its tracks. Everyone must work to make 30th June a successful and massive demonstration of anger and solidarity. But it can only be a stepping stone for future mass co-ordinated strike action to force the Government to back down and if it won’t to force it to stand down and call another election.
David Cameron’s government claims that it’s ready to negotiate but they’ve made it clear that there’s nothing to talk about accept the timetable for implementing the draconian measures designed to make workers pay for the capitalist crisis.
They claim that raising the retirement age, cutting pensions, reducing welfare benefits, cutting and privatising the health service and the rest of what remains of the public sector is inevitable. But it will only happen if we allow them to get away with it.
While we’re told to tighten our belts and work longer for less pay the rich are getting richer. The wealth of the millionaires has risen by 18 per cent collectively over the past year and the top 1,000 richest people in Britain now have between them over £60 billion more than they had a year ago.
These parasites live the lives of Roman emperors while working people, who produce all the wealth that they plunder, are expected to simply grin and bear it until the supposed “up-turn” comes round.
But the Tories and their Liberal Democrat collaborators have failed to undermine the action with their threat to bring in more anti-union legislation in the future. The bleats of the dregs of the Blairite faction, still in the Labour Party because they’ve nowhere else to go, have been ignored. However the response from the Labour leadership has been lukewarm at the best.
Miliband & Co want the unions’ support and they want they unions’ money but they don’t want to give much back in return. Labour’s “challenge” to the Cameron plan is little more than the feeble social-Keynesianism of the last days of the Brown government, designed to cushion the worst effects of slump with some minor reforms to lessen the worst effects of austerity amongst the poor.
Labour should be defending every existing right that workers possess, including their pensions and welfare benefits. They should be demanding the complete restoration of the “welfare state” and the public sector that Labour built up after the Second World War and which could still be easily paid for if the rich were taxed at the levels that existed in its hey-day in the 1970s.
Rank and file pressure from the millions of affiliated members can change Labour’s direction like the mass movement that has propelled the union leaders into next week’s confrontation with the Government.
But one swallow doesn’t make a summer and one day of action will not stop the Government in its tracks. Everyone must work to make 30th June a successful and massive demonstration of anger and solidarity. But it can only be a stepping stone for future mass co-ordinated strike action to force the Government to back down and if it won’t to force it to stand down and call another election.
Brian Haw
Brian Haw
1949 – 2011
BRIAN HAW, whose lone vigil in Parliament Square made him an icon amongst the peace movement in Britain and across the world, died last weekend.
Brian Haw was an little-known evangelical Christian, motivated by the pacifist teachings of Jesus of Nazareth that are often ignored by many of those who profess to believe in him, who travelled to northern Ireland and Cambodia to preach “love, peace and justice for all” in the 70s and 80s. But he hit the headlines with his one-man protest against the imperialist aggression against Iraq.
He set up his tent opposite the so-called “Mother of Parliaments” in June 2001 to protest against the cruel imperialist blockade against Iraq that preceded the invasion and occupation by Anglo-American imperialism in 2003.
Brian was never short of company. Peace campaigners made a point of visiting his tent in the heart of London to help or spend some time in solidarity with the protest, which grew as Haw decorated the square with his home-made posters and peace banners condemning the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. This rapidly became an alternative London tourist attraction. But it was also an embarrassment to the Establishment and it soon attracted the unwelcome attention of the police.
For over 10 years Haw maintained his round-the-clock vigil, braving all weathers and violent attacks from thugs and the police. He defied all threats to evict him, including an abortive new law to restrict demonstrations within half-a-mile of Parliament.
Leading left Labour MPs Tony Benn and John McDonnell acted as character witnesses for Brian during his many appearances in court, including some brought by the Metropolitan Police on charges of aggression and assault.
In 2006 the police succeeded in obtaining authority to remove and confiscated Brian’s entire display. Fortunately the 40 metre long display was entirely recreated by the artist Mark Wallinger who won the 2007 Turner Prize for his exact replica of the encampment, entitled State Britain, that was exhibited in the Tate Modern art gallery.
Supporters maintained the protest tent when ill-health forced Haw to seek treatment in Germany, paid out of a fund raised by British supporters. Now there are calls for his memory to be preserved with a permanent monument in Parliament Square.
Brian Haw was flown to Germany for cancer treatment in January and died in Berlin on 18th June.
The legacy of the H-Block hunger strikers
By New Worker
correspondent
correspondent
THE LONDON Irish Centre in Camden last Saturday was packed to hear an array of powerful speakers at an event organised by Sinn Féin to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the hunger strikes in the notorious H-blocks of Long Kesh prison.
The hunger strikes saw 10 courageous young men starve themselves to death in 1981 in protest at the inhumane conditions in the prison.
Their deaths caused consternation and won support from all around the world, marking a watershed moment in the struggle of the nationalist community in the occupied six counties of northern Ireland, paving the way for the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process.
Foremost among the speakers was Brendan “Bik” McFarlane, who had been the Officer Commanding of the republican prisoners in the H-Blocks. He had a pivotal role and negotiator and liaison officer between the hunger strikers, the prison authorities, the IRA Army Council, the families and the outside world in general.
He took on the role of OC from Bobby Sands when Sands began his hunger strike – a role he did not want but knew he had to carry.
He told the meeting that the battle over prison conditions began in 1976, when the Labour Home Secretary Merlyn Rees withdrew political status from the IRA prisoners.
“It was British imperialism’s choice of a political basis to fight by pretending it was not a war and that the IRA were ordinary criminals. In demonising the IRA they effectively criminalised hundreds of years of Irish struggle for freedom from Britain.
“In this they were supported by the media, who described the IRA as gangsters and mobsters.”
When Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979 she continued this policy with a vengeance.
“It was a hard, hard time. Hundreds of prisoners were brought in for interrogation in torture centres,” McFarlane continued. “We had the Diplock Courts, without juries, we had forced confessions. They were trying to crush our power to resist.”
Most of those arrested were very young, in their teens and some as young as 16. Hundreds of families in the nationalist community saw their sons and daughters arrested on almost any pretext.
The prisoners in the H-blocks decided to fight back by resisting criminalisation. They refused to wear the prison uniforms that carried the status of criminal and demanded prisoner-of-war status, the right to association and to conduct their own education programmes within the prison.
The prison authorities responded by stripping them and locking them in freezing cells with nothing to wear but old and dirty blankets.
“The regime tried to physically break people and resistance built up. Increasing numbers became involved – and the brutality also increased. Some pretty awful things happened.
“We decided to go for a hunger strike because the political ramifications of failure for both sides were huge…
“We ended up with a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week lock up. We had no access to toilets or washing facilities.
“So first the urine went out of the window. Then the shit followed. We had no choice. Then they boarded up the windows. So the shit went on the walls. That is the truth of the ‘dirty protest’.
“When Cardinal McPhee visited to see the conditions he was physically sick. He made a hard-hitting statement to the media about the conditions.”
Pressure for reform began to build but Thatcher would not be moved. A first hunger strike by prisoners came to an end when the British government offered some reforms, which in effect turned out to be a lie.
So a second hunger strike was agreed and a number of volunteers came forward and the then OC, Bobby Sands was the first. That is when he passed on his position to Bik McFarlane with some harsh instructions – not to allow the prison authorities to resuscitate hunger strikers who had fallen into a coma.
They decided to stagger the hunger strikes; volunteers began at weekly intervals so their deaths would have maximum impact in the media.
At first the IRA Army Council outside the prison opposed the hunger strikes on a humanitarian basis but the prisoners convinced them there was no other way.
As the prisoners started dying outwardly the British government did not move but behind the scenes informal channels of negotiation began to open, involving MI5, businessmen and Sinn Féin.
The election of Bobby Sands as an MP to Westminster while he was in prison and on hunger strike was another big blow to the British government – it gave the lie to propaganda claims that the IRA were a bunch of criminals with no popular support.
The European Commission for Human Rights started to take notice.
Families were brought in to visit the dying men – and try to persuade them to give up their hunger strikes.
“That’s what pressure is,” said Bik McFarlane. “What sustained us was the example of the lads in the hospital, their courage, determination and their humour. Seeing them up to 60 days into the strike, the change, the deterioration was appalling.”
McFarlane brought them offers of reforms from the authorities that the hunger strikers rejected because they were not enough.
Bobby Sands began his hunger strike on March 1st and died on 3rd May.
As the men died the pressure on the Government grew. On the surface nothing seemed to change but the hunger strikes ended on 1st October 1981. Three days later all the reforms they had demanded were granted.
At enormous cost, the Irish republican movement had forged its way into the political processes of the occupied north of Ireland – from which they had previously been totally excluded.
Other speakers included Bairbre de Brun, Sinn Féin MEP, who had been outside, organising H-Block support committees who spoke of how the nationalist community fought to defend its imprisoned youth and tell the world their children were not criminals.
She also spoke of the rising involvement of women in the struggle – and how they broke the convention that only men could play a role in funerals.
Dr Kevin McNamara was also there. He was a Labour MP during the hunger strikes and Shadow Secretary of State. He played a pivotal role in shaping Labour policy on Ireland.
Francis Wurtz, an MEP from the French Communist Party, spoke of his battles inside the European Parliament to raise the plight of the prisoners in the H-blocks. He attended Bobby Sands funeral.
Jenny McCann, now a Sinn Féin Assembly Member, gave an account of the struggles of women prisoners involved in protests in Armagh and Maghaberry prisons, where she had been imprisoned.
Ronnie Kasrils played a leading role in the freedom struggle against apartheid in South Africa in the ANC’s armed wing, “Spear of the Nation”. He spoke of the impact the news of the hunger strikes had in Africa. He declared that the hunger strikes were “one of the most heroic acts in the struggle for freedom in human history”.
Kevin Ovenden reported that throughout the Middle East and North Africa freedom fighters regard Bobby Sands and the hunger strikers as their own heroes.
photo: Bik McFarlane
Workers protest at Unilever pension betrayal
UNILEVER workers, members of Unite, fighting to save their pension scheme took part in a demonstration last Tuesday 21st June as Unilever began its formal consultation in London over plans to axe the final salary pension scheme for its 5,000 staff in Britain.
The company plans to scrap the final salary scheme and transfer workers to an inferior career average revalued earnings (CARE) scheme from 1st January 2012.
Unilever introduced a CARE scheme in 2008 for new starters, promising that this would safeguard the final salary scheme for all existing workers but this scheme is also under attack, making it an even worse option for Unilever workers.
Unite has slammed this attack on the pensions of its members as a “betrayal” to its loyal and hard working workforce. The union is calling on household giant Unilever to reverse these pension changes that will destroy the retirement plans for 5,000 workers.
Unite nationally is leading the campaign “Unilever – hands off our pensions” to strongly resist this unacceptable attack on the pensions of its members.
Unilever makes such iconic brands as PG Tips, Marmite, Pot Noodle, Hellman’s mayonnaise, Dove, Comfort and Surf.
The company plans to scrap the final salary scheme and transfer workers to an inferior career average revalued earnings (CARE) scheme from 1st January 2012.
Unilever introduced a CARE scheme in 2008 for new starters, promising that this would safeguard the final salary scheme for all existing workers but this scheme is also under attack, making it an even worse option for Unilever workers.
Unite has slammed this attack on the pensions of its members as a “betrayal” to its loyal and hard working workforce. The union is calling on household giant Unilever to reverse these pension changes that will destroy the retirement plans for 5,000 workers.
Unite nationally is leading the campaign “Unilever – hands off our pensions” to strongly resist this unacceptable attack on the pensions of its members.
Unilever makes such iconic brands as PG Tips, Marmite, Pot Noodle, Hellman’s mayonnaise, Dove, Comfort and Surf.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Stop the War
by New Worker correspondent
MORE THAN 300 supporters of Stop the War attended the organisation’s successful conference in London last weekend, times to coincide with the imperialist invasion of Afghanistan, which triggered the foundation of Stop the War.
There were many international speakers, including Arab Spring activists, students, artists, military family members, historians, and Members of Parliament.
The conference discussed plans to deliver a petition against bombing Libya to Downing Street, along with a number of members of Parliament on 28th June, and they are planning to occupy Trafalgar Square in October on the 10th anniversary of both the invasion of Afghanistan and the creation of the Stop the War Coalition.
Jeremy Corbyn MP, was introduced on Saturday by Stop the War Coalition's Andrew Murray as working with a pack of warlords.
Corbyn agreed; he said that Parliament is made up of war lords and war criminals. He also credited the Stop the War Coalition with helping to prevent an attack on Iran in recent years.
The Labour MP called the idea that more time is needed to finish a job in Afghanistan a "load of tosh." He also pointed out that the two sides fighting in Libya can exchange parts for their rifles, because they both have rifles provided by Britain.
A young woman from Tunisia expressed the sentiment shared by many other Arabs: "Our countries do not want Western intervention, or money! It comes with policies. It's not free or even just with high interest."
A number of speakers argued that a counter-revolution against the Arab Spring is being fought by Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United States, the UK, France, and Nato.
An opposition leader from Bahrain said that what his people want is for the West to stop training troops to oppress and torture.
Author John Rees said that after Tunisia and Egypt took the imperial powers by surprise, they went into Libya and Bahrain as a counter-attack, misusing popular sympathy with the Arab Spring to rehabilitate the idea of war that had been so discredited in Iraq and Afghanistan. Egypt, Rees argues, is still the central struggle, where the new military government is working to demobilise the people and imprison those who demonstrate or strike.
Tariq Ali said that people should be left free to succeed or fail. No one ever proposed that China invade Indochina, he said. Why should Nato invade Libya? Or Syria? Or Yemen? Bahrain didn't ask for intervention, he pointed out, but got it anyway.
Former Respect MP George Galloway was the last speaker on Saturday. He recalled telling Jack Straw in Parliament eight years ago that contrary to Straw's assertion, British troops would not be home by Christmas, nor would they be home 10 Christmases hence.
Straw laughed. But the war will eventually conclude, Galloway said, on the very terms it could have concluded with 10 years earlier.
The BBC, Galloway complained, is denouncing Syria for using Apache helicopters to attack its own people. "I've never understood," said Galloway, "why it is worse to kill your own people than other people's people."
The BBC had cheered a week or 10 days earlier for Apache helicopters used by Britain to kill Libyans.
Galloway said: “The problem with Syria, Galloway said, is not that it's run by the latest Adolf Hitler of the month, but that it harbours Palestinian leadership, supports Lebanese national resistance, and refused to participate in the attack on Iraq.”
MORE THAN 300 supporters of Stop the War attended the organisation’s successful conference in London last weekend, times to coincide with the imperialist invasion of Afghanistan, which triggered the foundation of Stop the War.
There were many international speakers, including Arab Spring activists, students, artists, military family members, historians, and Members of Parliament.
The conference discussed plans to deliver a petition against bombing Libya to Downing Street, along with a number of members of Parliament on 28th June, and they are planning to occupy Trafalgar Square in October on the 10th anniversary of both the invasion of Afghanistan and the creation of the Stop the War Coalition.
Jeremy Corbyn MP, was introduced on Saturday by Stop the War Coalition's Andrew Murray as working with a pack of warlords.
Corbyn agreed; he said that Parliament is made up of war lords and war criminals. He also credited the Stop the War Coalition with helping to prevent an attack on Iran in recent years.
The Labour MP called the idea that more time is needed to finish a job in Afghanistan a "load of tosh." He also pointed out that the two sides fighting in Libya can exchange parts for their rifles, because they both have rifles provided by Britain.
A young woman from Tunisia expressed the sentiment shared by many other Arabs: "Our countries do not want Western intervention, or money! It comes with policies. It's not free or even just with high interest."
A number of speakers argued that a counter-revolution against the Arab Spring is being fought by Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United States, the UK, France, and Nato.
An opposition leader from Bahrain said that what his people want is for the West to stop training troops to oppress and torture.
Author John Rees said that after Tunisia and Egypt took the imperial powers by surprise, they went into Libya and Bahrain as a counter-attack, misusing popular sympathy with the Arab Spring to rehabilitate the idea of war that had been so discredited in Iraq and Afghanistan. Egypt, Rees argues, is still the central struggle, where the new military government is working to demobilise the people and imprison those who demonstrate or strike.
Tariq Ali said that people should be left free to succeed or fail. No one ever proposed that China invade Indochina, he said. Why should Nato invade Libya? Or Syria? Or Yemen? Bahrain didn't ask for intervention, he pointed out, but got it anyway.
Former Respect MP George Galloway was the last speaker on Saturday. He recalled telling Jack Straw in Parliament eight years ago that contrary to Straw's assertion, British troops would not be home by Christmas, nor would they be home 10 Christmases hence.
Straw laughed. But the war will eventually conclude, Galloway said, on the very terms it could have concluded with 10 years earlier.
The BBC, Galloway complained, is denouncing Syria for using Apache helicopters to attack its own people. "I've never understood," said Galloway, "why it is worse to kill your own people than other people's people."
The BBC had cheered a week or 10 days earlier for Apache helicopters used by Britain to kill Libyans.
Galloway said: “The problem with Syria, Galloway said, is not that it's run by the latest Adolf Hitler of the month, but that it harbours Palestinian leadership, supports Lebanese national resistance, and refused to participate in the attack on Iraq.”
Wildcat strike at Royal Mail gets the goods
STAFF at a London delivery office last week took illegal strike action and won the reinstatement of a fellow worker.
Around 90 postal workers at the N1 sorting office took unofficial strike action yesterday in support of a longstanding worker suspended for “wilful delay of the mail”.
After three hours of strike action managers caved in and reinstated the worker.
“It’s a complete victory,” said Mark Dolan, a senior CWU union rep in north London.
The Royal Mail saw more strike action this week as engineers working for Royal Mail subsidiary Romec struck at mail centres around the country. According to union officials, non-union staff refused to cross the picket at Warrington mail centre.
The CWU-organised ballot saw 92 per cent of members voting for strike action on a turnout of 75 per cent. Further strikes are scheduled for Cardiff, Dorset and London on Monday,
The strike relates to imposed changes to shift patterns pushed through without consultation, and which have seen pay docked from workers for non-compliance.
Meanwhile, London postal workers have voted to strike in an official CWU ballot in a dispute arising from the closure of mail centres in Vauxhall and Bow. Thus far, Royal Mail management have refused to rule out compulsory redundancies as a result of the closures. They are expected to result in over 500 job losses. Postal workers voted four-to-one in favour of strike action.
Around 90 postal workers at the N1 sorting office took unofficial strike action yesterday in support of a longstanding worker suspended for “wilful delay of the mail”.
After three hours of strike action managers caved in and reinstated the worker.
“It’s a complete victory,” said Mark Dolan, a senior CWU union rep in north London.
The Royal Mail saw more strike action this week as engineers working for Royal Mail subsidiary Romec struck at mail centres around the country. According to union officials, non-union staff refused to cross the picket at Warrington mail centre.
The CWU-organised ballot saw 92 per cent of members voting for strike action on a turnout of 75 per cent. Further strikes are scheduled for Cardiff, Dorset and London on Monday,
The strike relates to imposed changes to shift patterns pushed through without consultation, and which have seen pay docked from workers for non-compliance.
Meanwhile, London postal workers have voted to strike in an official CWU ballot in a dispute arising from the closure of mail centres in Vauxhall and Bow. Thus far, Royal Mail management have refused to rule out compulsory redundancies as a result of the closures. They are expected to result in over 500 job losses. Postal workers voted four-to-one in favour of strike action.
Friday, June 17, 2011
London Slut Walk
By New Worker correspondent
SOME 5,000 Londoners turned out for last Saturday’s “Slutwalk” to rally for women’s rights and protest about sexist attitudes to women and rape. The first Slutwalk was held in Toronto in April, triggered by a Canadian policeman’s comment that women should “avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised”.
He has subsequenty apologised for his remark. But the word “slut” was then taken up by Canadian activists “tired of being oppressed by slut-shaming; of being judged by our sexuality and feeling unsafe as a result”. At the first march in Canada the organisers said that “being in charge of our sexual lives should not mean that we are opening ourselves to an expectation of violence, regardless if we participate in sex for pleasure or work".
Now their call has been taken up in north America and other parts of Europe as a rallying cry against sexist attitudes to rape, victim-blaming and discrimination against marginalised groups of men and women. The protesters, colourfully dressed to affirms the right to wear what one likes, marched from Piccadilly for a rally in Trafalgar Square.
Speakers at the rally also spoke against the Con-Dem Coalition cuts, pointing out that they directly target women both in jobs and in the support services that protect them from domestic and other abuse and take away their independence, leaving them more dependent on abusive partners.
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
The revolutionary movement in India
By New Worker correspondent
New Worker supporters discussed the problems facing the revolutionary movement in India and Nepal last week at a NCP London District meeting at the Fitzrovia Centre in central London. The discussion was opened by Kumar Sarkar, from the Second Wave solidarity movement, who has recently returned from Nepal and West Bengal. The NCP London district holds a number of meetings in central London while the Metropolitan New Worker supporters group regularly meets at the Party Centre. Check the diary for forthcoming events or contract the Centre directly.
New Worker supporters discussed the problems facing the revolutionary movement in India and Nepal last week at a NCP London District meeting at the Fitzrovia Centre in central London. The discussion was opened by Kumar Sarkar, from the Second Wave solidarity movement, who has recently returned from Nepal and West Bengal. The NCP London district holds a number of meetings in central London while the Metropolitan New Worker supporters group regularly meets at the Party Centre. Check the diary for forthcoming events or contract the Centre directly.
Friday, May 27, 2011
The Smiling Face of Imperialism
By Daphne Liddle
PRESIDENT Obama arrived in London on Tuesday to cheers and smiles from Prime Minister Cameron, the Queen as the rich and powerful eagerly sought to be photographed near the man who is described as the most powerful on the planet.
But just out of shot of most of the media’s lenses were hundreds of protesters with long list of issues and grievances.
When he came to power in 2009 Obama promised to extricate the United States from the illegal and unending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to close the concentration cam at Guantánamo Bay.
But two years on there is still a US presence in Iraq to prop up the otherwise non-viable puppet state and in Afghanistan American and British forces are still fighting a losing battle and in the process still killing Afghan civilians, destroying their homes and driving the angry and bereaved people into the arms of the Islamic fundamentalists who are seen as the only defence against imperialist bombing.
Even worse, with the lessons of George W Bush’s ill-judged attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan, the humiliating failures to defeat to defeat the resistance forces and the damage the cost has done to the US economy plain to see, Obama is in the process of opening up yet another war – in Libya. And US imperialism is now also threatening Syria.
Democrat or Republican, the US ruling class cannot seem to learn from defeat and continues to sacrifice everything to achieve world hegemony – which continues to elude them as the working people of the rest of the world come together in mutual defence.
Among those protesting outside Buckingham Palace as Obama dined with the Queen were the family and friends of Shaker Aamer and campaigners against Guantánamo, wearing bright orange prison suits.
Shaker Aamer has been held in Guantánamo prison for over nine years now without charge or trial. His family in Battersea includes one child born after he was detained who he has yet to see.
There was also a large group of Libyan protesters supporting Gaddafi, with green flags and scarves, also calling for an end to Nato attacks on Libya, which are killing civilians and contaminating the country with toxic depleted uranium debris, and the embargoes which are making life hard for the people of the country.
A large group of Bahrainis took part in the demonstration, protesting about the use of Saudi troops against protesters there as well as Syrians showing their support for the Assad government that imperialism has targeted for sanctions.
CND and New Worker supporters and other peace activists joined the throng that included Peter Tatchell – protesting with a placard calling for the release of Wikileaks whistleblower Bradley Manning who exposed US war crimes.
The murder of Al Qaeda front man Osama bin Laden by US Special Forces in Pakistan recently could easily have given Obama the opportunity to make a face-saving withdrawal from the bloody mess of the Afghan war; to close Guantánamo and declare the ridiculous “war on terror” over and done.
But far from taking this opportunity to steer America into more peaceful waters and focus on the huge problems facing the US domestic economy, Obama is now eager to repeat Bush’s lunacies and lead his country into even more military escapades.
It will only result in more humiliation for US imperialism as its growing military, political and economic weaknesses are demonstrated on the world stage yet again.
Meanwhile Cameron is desperately hoping Obama will endorse his economic policy of savage public spending cuts, which is in deep trouble as popular opposition grows.
Obama has agreed to open up the White House top secret National Security Council to Downing Street and to establish a joint National Security Strategy Board comprising senior officials on both sides of the Atlantic.
Later Obama will visit Warsaw before attending the G8 summit in Deauville, France on Thursday and Friday.
If either Cameron or Obama really wanted peace and security they would stop invading other countries and allow the peoples of the rest of the world some peace and security from their ill-omened attacks.
PRESIDENT Obama arrived in London on Tuesday to cheers and smiles from Prime Minister Cameron, the Queen as the rich and powerful eagerly sought to be photographed near the man who is described as the most powerful on the planet.
But just out of shot of most of the media’s lenses were hundreds of protesters with long list of issues and grievances.
When he came to power in 2009 Obama promised to extricate the United States from the illegal and unending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to close the concentration cam at Guantánamo Bay.
But two years on there is still a US presence in Iraq to prop up the otherwise non-viable puppet state and in Afghanistan American and British forces are still fighting a losing battle and in the process still killing Afghan civilians, destroying their homes and driving the angry and bereaved people into the arms of the Islamic fundamentalists who are seen as the only defence against imperialist bombing.
Even worse, with the lessons of George W Bush’s ill-judged attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan, the humiliating failures to defeat to defeat the resistance forces and the damage the cost has done to the US economy plain to see, Obama is in the process of opening up yet another war – in Libya. And US imperialism is now also threatening Syria.
Democrat or Republican, the US ruling class cannot seem to learn from defeat and continues to sacrifice everything to achieve world hegemony – which continues to elude them as the working people of the rest of the world come together in mutual defence.
Among those protesting outside Buckingham Palace as Obama dined with the Queen were the family and friends of Shaker Aamer and campaigners against Guantánamo, wearing bright orange prison suits.
Shaker Aamer has been held in Guantánamo prison for over nine years now without charge or trial. His family in Battersea includes one child born after he was detained who he has yet to see.
There was also a large group of Libyan protesters supporting Gaddafi, with green flags and scarves, also calling for an end to Nato attacks on Libya, which are killing civilians and contaminating the country with toxic depleted uranium debris, and the embargoes which are making life hard for the people of the country.
A large group of Bahrainis took part in the demonstration, protesting about the use of Saudi troops against protesters there as well as Syrians showing their support for the Assad government that imperialism has targeted for sanctions.
CND and New Worker supporters and other peace activists joined the throng that included Peter Tatchell – protesting with a placard calling for the release of Wikileaks whistleblower Bradley Manning who exposed US war crimes.
The murder of Al Qaeda front man Osama bin Laden by US Special Forces in Pakistan recently could easily have given Obama the opportunity to make a face-saving withdrawal from the bloody mess of the Afghan war; to close Guantánamo and declare the ridiculous “war on terror” over and done.
But far from taking this opportunity to steer America into more peaceful waters and focus on the huge problems facing the US domestic economy, Obama is now eager to repeat Bush’s lunacies and lead his country into even more military escapades.
It will only result in more humiliation for US imperialism as its growing military, political and economic weaknesses are demonstrated on the world stage yet again.
Meanwhile Cameron is desperately hoping Obama will endorse his economic policy of savage public spending cuts, which is in deep trouble as popular opposition grows.
Obama has agreed to open up the White House top secret National Security Council to Downing Street and to establish a joint National Security Strategy Board comprising senior officials on both sides of the Atlantic.
Later Obama will visit Warsaw before attending the G8 summit in Deauville, France on Thursday and Friday.
If either Cameron or Obama really wanted peace and security they would stop invading other countries and allow the peoples of the rest of the world some peace and security from their ill-omened attacks.
Monday, May 23, 2011
MPs must stop war on Libya!
By New Worker correspondent
As Parliament debated the Libya conflict anti-war protesters chanted 'Stop Bombing Libya', 'David Cameron hear us say, intervention no way', 'One, two, three four -we don't want another war', “Hands off Libyan oil'.
The demonstration, which was organised by Stop the War Coalition, was addressed by Lindsey German, the coalition's convenor while protesters hoisted green banners with white lettering : "Hands off Libya".
“We are here today because they are debating the fate of Libya in parliament”, German said. “They got a UN resolution two months ago which allowed them to bomb and to impose a no fly zone to protect civilians. What have we seen since then? We have seen innocent people bombed, we have seen members of Gaddafi's family killed, and there is no end to this war in sight. Now in Parliament they are saying we want to extend this war, we want more bombing, we want more killing. We are not content with what we are doing and we want to do more – and we want regime change.
“I am against regime change. Regime change by the West is not acceptable. It is what they told us they would do in Afghanistan, that is what they said they would do in Iraq and now that is what they are trying to do in Libya. It is not up to the Americans or the British or the French to decide who runs anybody's country. It is up to the people of that country themselves.
“We know that people in Libya are divided on this question and that is a terrible tragedy. But they have to sort their problems out themselves. The people there [the anti-Gaddafi demonstrators] who believe that Nato bombs are going to help them are wrong. They will find they are wrong. They have already been told they have to support the war on terror, they have already been told they have to apologise for Lockerbie. We say this is not acceptable.
“There is no humanitarian intervention bought by bombs from 20,000 feet. There is no intervention by the Western forces which has ever done any good in this region and the people of the Middle East for the first time in many many years, have shown that they can change things. The revolution in Egypt has led to the opening of the Rafha crossing and the opening of the border with Gaza. You can bet nothing will be said about the Palestinian demonstrators shot down by the Israelis. We see the double standards involved here. If you support the West they support you. They supported Gaddafi for a number of years and now they think they can no longer get what they want by supporting Gaddafi so they turned against him. That is what it is about.
“The parliamentarians will take us into more wars at tremendous cost. This war in Libya is costing seven million pounds a day and at the same time the same parliament is cutting our welfare, is cutting services for the sick and disabled, is cutting education. There is one message we want to send loud and clear. The Arab people have got nothing to gain and everything to lose by siding with the West.”, German concluded.
Wanis from Sirte told us that the war has to be stopped because too many people have died in Libya without any result. “The war should be stopped and we have to discuss what to do. People are dying every day. The problem can be solved through discussion. If Gaddafi goes out we can't find a solution. He controlled Libya for 42 years and if he leaves now many people will want to be the president”.
David Baresford, an Anglican priest, said: “I am protesting because I feel strongly about this war. It is an illegal war. We are going against international law by waging war against a sovereign state. Trying to assassinate the leader of a sovereign state is against international law. If we can't observe international law ourselves how can we lecture other countries about following it. I think we haven't learnt a lesson from Iraq and we are repeating the same mistakes in Libya. People are dying, we are dropping bombs on people and killing them and that is wrong”.
Recently retired Michael Culver said: “We are attacking another country due to its oil resources, which is what we did in Afghanistan. We killed two and a half million people in Iraq – it is about oil resources. Gaddafi may or may not be a dictator but as far as I see the so-called opposition has largely been put in place by the CIA and MI6. It would appear that we just want to make sure we have a totally compliant government in Libya which just wants to make sure it sells the oil to Western oil companies. That is what it is all about. And probably getting rid of a few of our bombs – usually on other people in other countries who have never attacked us. As a British citizen I so utterly disgusted with this country but where can you go? You can't go to America because that is even worse. And all the European states appear to be pro this obscenity as well as pro the Iraq and Afghan obscenities”.
In a statement Stop War Coalition said that the Nato intervention in Libya is leading to full scale war. In just two months, we have gone from "no-fly zone" to "no-drive zone" to "let's assassinate Gaddafi". Now, the head of the British armed forces, General Sir David Richards, is calling for the destruction of Libya's infrastructure.Over 2000 bombing raids by the US, Britain and their allies have only produced stalemate and the western powers are facing another disaster in the third Muslim country they have attacked in the last decade.
General Richards makes it clear that included in the aims of the escalation he is proposing would be the killing of Colonel Gaddafi. This is yet more evidence that a war for regime change -- which is illegal under international law – has been disguised as a humanitarian intervention to "protect" the Libyan people.We know from the Iraq "shock and awe" experience, what destruction of Libya's infrastructure will mean for the Libyan people -- countless deaths, essential facilities in ruins, and the collapse of public services.
It is outrageous that a military officer like General Richards can make such overtly political statements. How long is it before he is calling for ground troops to invade Libya?A war opposed by the majority of the British public, which we were promised would be over in weeks and would -- according to the government -- "cost tens, not hundreds of millions", now has no end in sight. Stop the War has called a protest to demand that the bombing of Libya stop immediately and the negotiations to reach a peaceful resolution to the civil war, which have been proposed by a number of countries, now take place.MPs have got into the habit of supporting wars of aggression against foreign countries, with disastrous consequences in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now is the time for MPs to represent the majority view of those who elected them to parliament, by voting to stop the bombing of Libya and to end the Nato intervention.
As Parliament debated the Libya conflict anti-war protesters chanted 'Stop Bombing Libya', 'David Cameron hear us say, intervention no way', 'One, two, three four -we don't want another war', “Hands off Libyan oil'.
The demonstration, which was organised by Stop the War Coalition, was addressed by Lindsey German, the coalition's convenor while protesters hoisted green banners with white lettering : "Hands off Libya".
“We are here today because they are debating the fate of Libya in parliament”, German said. “They got a UN resolution two months ago which allowed them to bomb and to impose a no fly zone to protect civilians. What have we seen since then? We have seen innocent people bombed, we have seen members of Gaddafi's family killed, and there is no end to this war in sight. Now in Parliament they are saying we want to extend this war, we want more bombing, we want more killing. We are not content with what we are doing and we want to do more – and we want regime change.
“I am against regime change. Regime change by the West is not acceptable. It is what they told us they would do in Afghanistan, that is what they said they would do in Iraq and now that is what they are trying to do in Libya. It is not up to the Americans or the British or the French to decide who runs anybody's country. It is up to the people of that country themselves.
“We know that people in Libya are divided on this question and that is a terrible tragedy. But they have to sort their problems out themselves. The people there [the anti-Gaddafi demonstrators] who believe that Nato bombs are going to help them are wrong. They will find they are wrong. They have already been told they have to support the war on terror, they have already been told they have to apologise for Lockerbie. We say this is not acceptable.
“There is no humanitarian intervention bought by bombs from 20,000 feet. There is no intervention by the Western forces which has ever done any good in this region and the people of the Middle East for the first time in many many years, have shown that they can change things. The revolution in Egypt has led to the opening of the Rafha crossing and the opening of the border with Gaza. You can bet nothing will be said about the Palestinian demonstrators shot down by the Israelis. We see the double standards involved here. If you support the West they support you. They supported Gaddafi for a number of years and now they think they can no longer get what they want by supporting Gaddafi so they turned against him. That is what it is about.
“The parliamentarians will take us into more wars at tremendous cost. This war in Libya is costing seven million pounds a day and at the same time the same parliament is cutting our welfare, is cutting services for the sick and disabled, is cutting education. There is one message we want to send loud and clear. The Arab people have got nothing to gain and everything to lose by siding with the West.”, German concluded.
Wanis from Sirte told us that the war has to be stopped because too many people have died in Libya without any result. “The war should be stopped and we have to discuss what to do. People are dying every day. The problem can be solved through discussion. If Gaddafi goes out we can't find a solution. He controlled Libya for 42 years and if he leaves now many people will want to be the president”.
David Baresford, an Anglican priest, said: “I am protesting because I feel strongly about this war. It is an illegal war. We are going against international law by waging war against a sovereign state. Trying to assassinate the leader of a sovereign state is against international law. If we can't observe international law ourselves how can we lecture other countries about following it. I think we haven't learnt a lesson from Iraq and we are repeating the same mistakes in Libya. People are dying, we are dropping bombs on people and killing them and that is wrong”.
Recently retired Michael Culver said: “We are attacking another country due to its oil resources, which is what we did in Afghanistan. We killed two and a half million people in Iraq – it is about oil resources. Gaddafi may or may not be a dictator but as far as I see the so-called opposition has largely been put in place by the CIA and MI6. It would appear that we just want to make sure we have a totally compliant government in Libya which just wants to make sure it sells the oil to Western oil companies. That is what it is all about. And probably getting rid of a few of our bombs – usually on other people in other countries who have never attacked us. As a British citizen I so utterly disgusted with this country but where can you go? You can't go to America because that is even worse. And all the European states appear to be pro this obscenity as well as pro the Iraq and Afghan obscenities”.
In a statement Stop War Coalition said that the Nato intervention in Libya is leading to full scale war. In just two months, we have gone from "no-fly zone" to "no-drive zone" to "let's assassinate Gaddafi". Now, the head of the British armed forces, General Sir David Richards, is calling for the destruction of Libya's infrastructure.Over 2000 bombing raids by the US, Britain and their allies have only produced stalemate and the western powers are facing another disaster in the third Muslim country they have attacked in the last decade.
General Richards makes it clear that included in the aims of the escalation he is proposing would be the killing of Colonel Gaddafi. This is yet more evidence that a war for regime change -- which is illegal under international law – has been disguised as a humanitarian intervention to "protect" the Libyan people.We know from the Iraq "shock and awe" experience, what destruction of Libya's infrastructure will mean for the Libyan people -- countless deaths, essential facilities in ruins, and the collapse of public services.
It is outrageous that a military officer like General Richards can make such overtly political statements. How long is it before he is calling for ground troops to invade Libya?A war opposed by the majority of the British public, which we were promised would be over in weeks and would -- according to the government -- "cost tens, not hundreds of millions", now has no end in sight. Stop the War has called a protest to demand that the bombing of Libya stop immediately and the negotiations to reach a peaceful resolution to the civil war, which have been proposed by a number of countries, now take place.MPs have got into the habit of supporting wars of aggression against foreign countries, with disastrous consequences in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now is the time for MPs to represent the majority view of those who elected them to parliament, by voting to stop the bombing of Libya and to end the Nato intervention.
Hardest Hit: disabled show anger and fear at cuts
By New Worker
Correspondent
OVER 5,000 people with a wide range of physical and mental health problems last Wednesday came to Westminster to tell Parliament of their anger and outrage at a multiplicity of cuts from all directions that will affect their lives dramatically and could leave some totally destitute.
For most of those present just getting there was a mammoth task. A group of wheelchair users from East Anglia faced the problem that local trains could only accommodate two wheelchairs per train, so they had to travel two at a time and meet up again in London; likewise for the return journey. It made what was in any case a difficult journey a logistical nightmare.
Most needed friends, family or carers to come with them. And most had never been on a demonstration before.
Some were petrified at the prospect the demonstration might be “kettled” – confined by police in one spot for hours on end, denied access to toilets, drinking water and their medications.
But they came all the same. And for everyone who came there were dozens of others who would have liked to come but for logistical and/or health reasons just could not.
They carried placards saying: “I didn’t choose to be disabled” or “Easy target: cuts to the disabled disgraceful”.
The cuts they face are many and varied but add up to a frightening assault on their ability to live any sort of reasonable life.
The Disability Living Allowance – a sum paid to all registered disabled whether or not they have a job in recognition that living with a disability incurs extra expenses – faces cutting if not total abolition.
The replacement benefits will be administered by local authority social services who will assess claimants’ needs on an individual basis. The costs of administering these assessments will eat up half the available budgets.
Eligibility to mobility allowance – usually delivered in the form of a free travel pass or a car for the use of the claimant or their carer – is dependent on being eligible for Disability Allowance.
Without this many severely disabled people will be virtually imprisoned in their homes.
Local authorities are facing huge cuts and are closing all sorts of services like day care centres, places where disabled people can socialise.
Charities also supply support services for the disabled. The Government somehow expects charities, as part of the illusory “big society” to step in and replace the gaps left by the withdrawal of local authority services. But funding for charities is also being drastically cut.
Perhaps the biggest threat is the Government’s “Work Assessment” programme – forcing ever claimant of Incapacity Benefit/Employment Support Allowance or Income Support to have their condition assessed to see if they could do some work, and if they could, to transfer them to Jobseekers’ Allowance. This is paid at a much lower rate and is conditional on claimants being able to prove they are “actively seeking work”. If they cannot even this benefit is withdrawn.
The assessment is not done by people who are medically qualified but by employees of commercial agencies like Atos – who are paid thousands of pounds to reduce the number of benefit claimants.
The assessment is purely mechanistic and full of traps. Many are decreed fit for work simply on the basis that they were capable of getting to the interview. Those who can operate a mobile phone are assessed as being capable of computer work. The mentally ill are deemed cured and fit for work if they are not shivering and shaking in a corner.
Already hundreds of these assessments have been challenged in the courts and reversed – with the aid and support of Citizens’ Advice Bureaux and law centres, which are also due to be cut in the near future. Yet in some cases the assessment agencies have ignored the court findings and still denied benefits to the claimants.
These assessments have already led to a number of suicides and this is likely to increase. The Government knows this and expects it.
Many disabled people would love to do a job that would give them economic independence. But most employers will not even consider them.
One marcher, Kathryn Harrington, who started at 5am to travel from Plymouth, is registered blind. She lives in supported accommodation – but funding for this has been cut by 40 per cent over the last year so there are no longer support staff available in emergencies.
She is an experience computer programmer but says: “When I apply for jobs I’m seen as a heath and safety risk.
Speakers at a rally before the short march included Jane Asher, president of the Arthritis Council, National Autistic Society and Parkinson’s UK. She said: "The Government’s cuts to disability benefits risk leaving the vulnerable people I represent impoverished, confined to their homes and without access to appropriate services and support networks.
“The Hardest Hit campaign is a chance for disabled people, their families, carers, charities and other organisations to come together to send a unified message to the Government – that these cuts must be re-thought.”
The Hardest Hit campaign has been organised jointly by the UK Disabled People’s Council and the Disability Benefits Consortium of over 40 organisations, including the NAS, Arthritis Care and Parkinson’s UK, who are committed to working towards a fair benefits system.
Mark Lever, NAS Chief Executive, said: “We have serious concerns that these cuts will result in people with disabilities missing out on vital services and benefits. Many adults with autism that we speak to are already extremely worried about the possibility of losing their support networks and financial lifelines.
“We hope the campaign will encourage the Government to rethink the impact their cuts may have on the very people they pledged to protect.”
The march was backed by many unions, including Unison, Unite, and PCS. Commenting on the Hardest Hit march, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “Today's unprecedented demonstration by the disabled should make even the most hard-hearted members of the government think again.
“The march underlines just how much some of the most vulnerable members of our society have been hit by deep spending cuts that have forced the Bank of England to downgrade its growth forecasts.
“The cuts are hurting but they are not working.”
Fight to save children's services in Lambeth
by New Worker correspondent
HUNDREDS of people assembled outside Lambeth Town Hall last Wednesday evening to protest at planned cuts to children’s services in the borough.
The event was organised by Lambeth Save Our Services. In particular they are fighting to save adventure playgrounds, the Max Roach Centre and One-O'Clock-Clubs.
The organisers said: “We are now facing the myriad of cuts as they come through thick and fast, devastating everything we have fought for and built over the years.”
Protesters said: ““It’s so cynical how the council is running things down, they know young people can’t fight back and can’t vote. The council is saying they are protecting front-line services but they are not at all protected. We are not open tonight; we might not be open tomorrow night.”
Another said: “The kids at Max Roach are a family, they stick by each other. This will break down this family, the spirit and unity of the community. As a single parent my son doesn’t have a male role model, but black role models are exactly what the centre provides, they make sure our sons have something to aspire to. If people don’t stand up and fight together nothing will change, and things will just get worse.”
And another: “These are services that are well needed, well respected, and free. Businesses are looking to make money providing these services now; this is all a cover up to make parents pay for a service that they are entitled to.”
by New Worker
Correspondent
HUNDREDS of protesters assembled in Whitehall, Westminster, opposite Downing Street last Saturday to demand that the British government put pressure on Israel to end the siege of Gaza immediately.
The event – along with hundreds of similar events around the globs – also commemorated the Palestinian Nakba, or Great Catastrophe, in 1948 when the state of Israel was founded and Palestinians were violently driven out of their homes and their land was taken from them at gunpoint.
Palestinian refugees, 60 years after their dispossession, still hope to return to their homes and live in peace with their neighbours, and they continue to demand the right to do so.
The event was organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and supported by the British Muslim Initiative, Stop the War, War of Want, CND and the unions Unite, PCS, CWS and Unison.
There were speeches from Professor Karma Nablusi, Dave Randall, Andy Slaughter MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Caroline Lucas MP, Baroness Jenny Tonge Reem Kehaim, Jody McIntyre and others.
Many spoke of the hopes raised by the uprisings in Egypt and other Arab countries and by the concord reached by Hamas and Fatah.
And there were calls for volunteers to join the next aid flotilla to Gaza.
A small group of Israeli nationalists tried to stage a counter demonstration on the opposite side of the road, by the gates to Downing Street, waving blue-on-white Star of David flags.
But pro-Palestinian demonstrators joined them with Palestinian flags and soon outnumbered them. Police moved to intervene but although there were heated verbal exchanges the incident passed off peacefully.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Red Roses for Victory Day!
by New Worker
correspondent
THE WARM weather in April has brought on an abundance of early roses and great bushels of magnificent red roses made up the dozens of wreaths and bouquets that were laid at the Soviet War Memorial in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park last Monday to commemorate the Red Army’s Victory Day in the war against the Nazi hordes on 9th May 1945.
The annual event was organised by the Soviet Memorial Trust Fund and was attended by the local Mayor, Councillor Lorraine Louder MBE, local MO Simon Hughes, who led the wreath-laying ceremony.
They were followed by ambassadors and attachés from most of the embassies of the former Soviet Union and this year also a defence attaché from the United States embassy.
It was good to see him paying his respects to the heroes of the Red Army and the Soviet citizens who defeated over 60 Nazi army divisions but lost around 27 million lives in doing so.
There was also a representative of the British armed forces.
All the usual groups of veterans were there: the Arctic Convoy Club, the British Legion, The RAF Russia Association, the International Brigade Memorial Trust and the Normandy Veterans’ Association. There were also a couple of Soviet Navy veterans.
Former Labour MP Bob Wareing is a regular at these events and laid a wreath on behalf of the Society for Cooperation in Russian and Soviet Studies.
And there were similar floral tributes from the New Communist Party, the Communist Party of Britain, the Vietnam Friendship Society, the Marx Memorial Library and many more.
This year there was a group from the 2nd Guards Rifle Division – a historical re-enactment group, all dressed in authentic Red Army uniforms.
London’s growing Russian community also turned out in force and Polina Baranova, a young pupil at the Russian Embassy School, sang solo, unaccompanied, with a magnificent voice, a song by poet Yevgeni Yevtushenko, set to music by Eduard Kolmanovsky.
The newly appointed Russian ambassador, HE Alexander Yakovenko, in a speech before the wreath-laying, stressed how important it is to remember the horrors of the Nazi threat and never let that ideology rise up again. Ceremonies like this must continue so that our children remember and pass on the message down the generations, he said.
After the formal ceremonies he invited everyone present to join in drinking a toast to long life and health of the veterans and to the memory of all who fought and died defending the world from Nazism.
The embassies of the former Soviet republics had laid on speciality food, wine and many varieties of vodka.
RMT calls off strike
THE RMT transport union last Tuesday agreed to suspend strike action due to begin next week pending further an agreement by London Underground Limited to re-employ union activist Eamonn Lynch, who had been unfairly sacked, and to discuss further the position of Arwyn Thomas – also unfairly sacked.
An employment tribunal has already ruled that Lynch was unfairly dismissed; Thomas’s case is still to be heard but LUL has agreed to discuss his position in advance of the hearing.
At a preliminary hearing at the end of last year both Lynch and Thomas were awarded full pay while waiting the outcome of their cases – a condition that tribunals rarely make unless they think the workers have a very sound case.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “This dispute has only ever been about securing justice for our members who have been unfairly dismissed.
“As a result of this agreement Eamonn Lynch can return to work with his continuity of employment and standard of living protected.
“We now also have an agreement to enter into further discussions with relation to Arwyn Thomas aimed at resolving his unfair dismissal case in advance of his Employment Tribunal.
“As a result we have agreed to suspend the action to allow those further discussions to take place over the next week.
“I want to pay tribute to the loyalty and determination of our members on London Underground who have continued to stand shoulder to shoulder with their colleagues Eamonn and Arwyn.
“Their strength and courage has been a shining example to the entire trade union movement.”
Throughout the dispute London Mayor Boris Johnson has absolutely refused to meet RMT negotiators and instead has berated Business Secretary Vince Cable for failing to formulate new anti-union laws to outlaw strike on the London Underground.
Cable responded by telling Johnson to “get off his backside” and talk to Crow and told Johnson it was his job to “reach out” to the unions.
He said that ministers were “not in the mood” to be blamed for Johnson’s “lack of strategy”.
Tory Employment Relations Minister Ed Davey apologised to Cable because Johnson “was behaving in an embarrassing way” over the impending strikes – that would have shut down the Tube network for three days this month and another three in June.
Davey said that Johnson should stop asking the Government to solve the problem and criticised him for failing to talk to the RMT for two years.
“Boris is trying to pass the buck when actually the buck stops with City Hall,” said Davey.
An employment tribunal has already ruled that Lynch was unfairly dismissed; Thomas’s case is still to be heard but LUL has agreed to discuss his position in advance of the hearing.
At a preliminary hearing at the end of last year both Lynch and Thomas were awarded full pay while waiting the outcome of their cases – a condition that tribunals rarely make unless they think the workers have a very sound case.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “This dispute has only ever been about securing justice for our members who have been unfairly dismissed.
“As a result of this agreement Eamonn Lynch can return to work with his continuity of employment and standard of living protected.
“We now also have an agreement to enter into further discussions with relation to Arwyn Thomas aimed at resolving his unfair dismissal case in advance of his Employment Tribunal.
“As a result we have agreed to suspend the action to allow those further discussions to take place over the next week.
“I want to pay tribute to the loyalty and determination of our members on London Underground who have continued to stand shoulder to shoulder with their colleagues Eamonn and Arwyn.
“Their strength and courage has been a shining example to the entire trade union movement.”
Throughout the dispute London Mayor Boris Johnson has absolutely refused to meet RMT negotiators and instead has berated Business Secretary Vince Cable for failing to formulate new anti-union laws to outlaw strike on the London Underground.
Cable responded by telling Johnson to “get off his backside” and talk to Crow and told Johnson it was his job to “reach out” to the unions.
He said that ministers were “not in the mood” to be blamed for Johnson’s “lack of strategy”.
Tory Employment Relations Minister Ed Davey apologised to Cable because Johnson “was behaving in an embarrassing way” over the impending strikes – that would have shut down the Tube network for three days this month and another three in June.
Davey said that Johnson should stop asking the Government to solve the problem and criticised him for failing to talk to the RMT for two years.
“Boris is trying to pass the buck when actually the buck stops with City Hall,” said Davey.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tomlinson "unlawfully killed"
by New Worker correspondent
THE INQUEST into the sudden death of Ian Tomlinson two years ago after he was pushed over by a police officer at the G20 protests in London last Tuesday delivered a verdict of unlawful killing.
Tomlinson was not involved in the protests; he was making his way home from work as a news vendor and walking through the area where police and protesters were gathered.
The 47-year-old collapsed and died after he was hit by a baton and pushed to the ground by Pc Simon Harwood at the protests in London on 1st April 2009.
The events were captured on film by protesters and sent to the press.
His family said the verdict was a “huge relief”, while the Crown Prosecution Service could reopen criminal proceedings against Pc Harwood.
The officer said after the verdict he had not intended to push him over. The jury decided Pc Harwood acted illegally, recklessly and dangerously, and used “excessive and unreasonable” force in striking Tomlinson.
Pathologist Dr Freddy Patel told the inquest that Mr Tomlinson died of a heart attack but the jury favoured the evidence of a number of experts who said he died of internal bleeding.
During evidence, the family’s lawyer Matthew Ryder QC said Pc Harwood had told “half truths” and “deliberately painted a false picture of Mr Tomlinson”.
Outside the hearing, Tomlinson’s step-son Paul King said the family hoped manslaughter charges would be brought against Pc Harwood.
Paul King said: “After two years, we’re really grateful that the inquest process has made a strong statement about how Ian died.”
THE INQUEST into the sudden death of Ian Tomlinson two years ago after he was pushed over by a police officer at the G20 protests in London last Tuesday delivered a verdict of unlawful killing.
Tomlinson was not involved in the protests; he was making his way home from work as a news vendor and walking through the area where police and protesters were gathered.
The 47-year-old collapsed and died after he was hit by a baton and pushed to the ground by Pc Simon Harwood at the protests in London on 1st April 2009.
The events were captured on film by protesters and sent to the press.
His family said the verdict was a “huge relief”, while the Crown Prosecution Service could reopen criminal proceedings against Pc Harwood.
The officer said after the verdict he had not intended to push him over. The jury decided Pc Harwood acted illegally, recklessly and dangerously, and used “excessive and unreasonable” force in striking Tomlinson.
Pathologist Dr Freddy Patel told the inquest that Mr Tomlinson died of a heart attack but the jury favoured the evidence of a number of experts who said he died of internal bleeding.
During evidence, the family’s lawyer Matthew Ryder QC said Pc Harwood had told “half truths” and “deliberately painted a false picture of Mr Tomlinson”.
Outside the hearing, Tomlinson’s step-son Paul King said the family hoped manslaughter charges would be brought against Pc Harwood.
Paul King said: “After two years, we’re really grateful that the inquest process has made a strong statement about how Ian died.”
Saturday, May 07, 2011
Republicanism in Britain celebrated
By New Worker correspondent
London communists marked the royal wedding in their own way last week by taking part in a special NCP one-day school at the Party Centre on the role of the British monarchy past and present. Chaired by Theo Russell discussions were opened by Andy Brooks on the role of Oliver Cromwell and the English republic followed by Neil Harris on the role that the monarchy plays today. Everyone thought it was time well spent and £50 was raised for the fighting fund as well!
photo: Andy Brooks opening the discussion
London communists marked the royal wedding in their own way last week by taking part in a special NCP one-day school at the Party Centre on the role of the British monarchy past and present. Chaired by Theo Russell discussions were opened by Andy Brooks on the role of Oliver Cromwell and the English republic followed by Neil Harris on the role that the monarchy plays today. Everyone thought it was time well spent and £50 was raised for the fighting fund as well!
photo: Andy Brooks opening the discussion
Thursday, May 05, 2011
May Day in London
by New Worker correspondent
New Worker supporters joined between 10,000 and 15,000 trade unionists, political activists and community groups gathered in warm sunshine in Clerkenwell Green outside Marx House for the start of the annual May Day march last Sunday.
The London march was, as ever, made colourful by the presence of large numbers of Turks, Kurds and other communities from the Middle East – all united in support for communism and many carrying portraits of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin as well as the heroes and martyrs of their own struggles.
The march to Trafalgar Square was headed by trade union banners – though not nearly enough of them to sustain the momentum of the fight against the cuts demonstrated by the huge rally in Hyde Park on 26th March.
There were a respectable number of trades council banners and some banners from local branches of the major unions. But the big union leaderships were missing.
The rally in Trafalgar Square was addressed by veteran Labour campaigner Tony Benn, who called for action from the "majority who create the world's wealth" to re-establish their rights over "the handful who control the world's wealth".
He continued: "All the gains that have been made have been made by people like ourselves, campaigning year in and year out. This week, local authorities have got their elections.
“We must use our vote to build on what the TUC did on 26th March, and work for a better society for ourselves and our children and grandchildren."
Sarah Veale of the TUC warned that cuts in public spending would have a devastating effect on public services. "It's going to have a particularly devastating effect on women, both as the providers and main users of services. It's given new meaning to the phrase 'women and children first', because that's where the cuts are going to bite," she added.
New Worker supporters joined between 10,000 and 15,000 trade unionists, political activists and community groups gathered in warm sunshine in Clerkenwell Green outside Marx House for the start of the annual May Day march last Sunday.
The London march was, as ever, made colourful by the presence of large numbers of Turks, Kurds and other communities from the Middle East – all united in support for communism and many carrying portraits of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin as well as the heroes and martyrs of their own struggles.
The march to Trafalgar Square was headed by trade union banners – though not nearly enough of them to sustain the momentum of the fight against the cuts demonstrated by the huge rally in Hyde Park on 26th March.
There were a respectable number of trades council banners and some banners from local branches of the major unions. But the big union leaderships were missing.
The rally in Trafalgar Square was addressed by veteran Labour campaigner Tony Benn, who called for action from the "majority who create the world's wealth" to re-establish their rights over "the handful who control the world's wealth".
He continued: "All the gains that have been made have been made by people like ourselves, campaigning year in and year out. This week, local authorities have got their elections.
“We must use our vote to build on what the TUC did on 26th March, and work for a better society for ourselves and our children and grandchildren."
Sarah Veale of the TUC warned that cuts in public spending would have a devastating effect on public services. "It's going to have a particularly devastating effect on women, both as the providers and main users of services. It's given new meaning to the phrase 'women and children first', because that's where the cuts are going to bite," she added.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
JUSTICE FOR SMILEY CULTURE!
by New Worker
correspondent
AROUND 1,000 relatives, friends and supporters gathered in south London last Saturday to march to Scotland Yard to demand justice following the unexplained death of rapper and DJ Smiley Culture during a police raid on his home last month.
They marched from Wandsworth Road, near his home in Stockwell, behind a float pumping reggae music in a peaceful and colourful procession to protest at yet another name being added to the list of 400 who have died in police custody in unexplained circumstances over the last decade.
Police raided Smiley’s flat in the early hours of 15th March and while they were there he died of a single stab wound to the heart.
The police officers say he went to the kitchen to make a cup of tea while they searched other rooms and that he stabbed himself to death.
Family, friends and campaigners are sceptical and have referred the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
As one of the chants on the march pointed out: “Four hundred dead – nothing said”.
Family campaigns such as those for Sean Rigg, who died in custody at Brixton police station in 2008, were also on the march, and the names of Ian Tomlinson, who died after being punched by police on the G20 demonstration in 2009, and Jean Charles de Menezes, shot by police at Stockwell tube station in 2005, cropped up again and again.
No police officer has ever been convicted for any of these deaths.
The march was led by family members including Smiley’s nephew Merlin Emmanuel and activist and lawyer Lee Jasper. Both spoke at a rally outside Scotland Yard at the end of the march.
The demand continues to be: “Who killed Smiley Culture? And when will the Met be brought to account for the deaths of Londoners in police custody?"
Stop the war in Libya!
by New Worker correspondent
AROUND 200 people, including members of the Libyan community, took part in Stop the War Coalition’s third London protest outside Ten Downing Street, against Nato’s intervention in Libya.
Most of the protesters carried green placards with the slogan “Hands off Libya” in bold white letters. The slogans on other placards included “We do not need intervention”, “This war is not for people, it is for oil”, “Stop killing our frightened families”, “Here we go again, the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan have not been learned”.
The protesters chanted: “One, two, three four we don’t want another war, five, six, seven, eight spend it on the welfare state” and “David Cameron, hear us say, intervention no way”.
In a statement to the New Worker, John Rees from Stop the War Coalition said that it is not only the protesters who are opposing the war.
“It is opposed by the majority of people in this country as indicated by the opinion polls. This is just the moment when the Government should be reconsidering. The no-fly zone is not working and David Cameron is considering committing ground troops and that will drag Britain even further into an absolutely unwinnable situation in Libya.
“The Government’s current actions are on the brink of moving beyond anything that has been sanctioned by their previous statements or anything that is sanctioned by the United Nations resolution. We were opposed to the war from the beginning but we are absolutely opposed to any extension of the war.
“The Government is now in the position where its initial intervention failed and that is the point at which it should draw the conclusion that it made a mistake and it should get out of Libya”.
Kate Hudson, the General Secretary of CND told the New Worker: “We are here today because we are outraged at the position of our Government. It is only three weeks since Parliament debated this issue and the Prime Minister assured MPs that this was not a war.
“It was a no-fly zone to protect Libyan civilians. And what have we seen since then? We have seen the escalation of that war; we have seen the use of cruise missiles.
“Now we have a statement from Sarkozy, Obama and Cameron saying this is indeed a war for regime change. So not only it is reprehensible on a human and moral level, it is also an illegal war and a war which is not authorised by the British Parliament.
“And it is no surprise that many MPs are now saying that they were misled and that the Government is proceeding along a line which does not have authorisation.
“Recently we have heard demands by a number of MPs that Parliament, which is currently in recess, should be recalled in order to further discuss this issue. And our very strong message to the Prime minister today is he doesn’t have the authorisation of Parliament, he doesn’t have the backing of international law, he does not have the backing of the UN Security Council Resolution and he does not have the backing of the British people.
“Many of our politicians regret now what they did in Iraq and believe that they were duped and they were lied to”.
Author Jim Brann said: “I do not think it is the business of the British, French or American government to decide by force or any other way who the government of Libya is.
“I note that all three leaders have said the war is about regime change. I have read their letter and it is very clear that what they are doing is deciding who is, and who is not the government of Libya. That is the clear meaning of their letter.”
AROUND 200 people, including members of the Libyan community, took part in Stop the War Coalition’s third London protest outside Ten Downing Street, against Nato’s intervention in Libya.
Most of the protesters carried green placards with the slogan “Hands off Libya” in bold white letters. The slogans on other placards included “We do not need intervention”, “This war is not for people, it is for oil”, “Stop killing our frightened families”, “Here we go again, the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan have not been learned”.
The protesters chanted: “One, two, three four we don’t want another war, five, six, seven, eight spend it on the welfare state” and “David Cameron, hear us say, intervention no way”.
In a statement to the New Worker, John Rees from Stop the War Coalition said that it is not only the protesters who are opposing the war.
“It is opposed by the majority of people in this country as indicated by the opinion polls. This is just the moment when the Government should be reconsidering. The no-fly zone is not working and David Cameron is considering committing ground troops and that will drag Britain even further into an absolutely unwinnable situation in Libya.
“The Government’s current actions are on the brink of moving beyond anything that has been sanctioned by their previous statements or anything that is sanctioned by the United Nations resolution. We were opposed to the war from the beginning but we are absolutely opposed to any extension of the war.
“The Government is now in the position where its initial intervention failed and that is the point at which it should draw the conclusion that it made a mistake and it should get out of Libya”.
Kate Hudson, the General Secretary of CND told the New Worker: “We are here today because we are outraged at the position of our Government. It is only three weeks since Parliament debated this issue and the Prime Minister assured MPs that this was not a war.
“It was a no-fly zone to protect Libyan civilians. And what have we seen since then? We have seen the escalation of that war; we have seen the use of cruise missiles.
“Now we have a statement from Sarkozy, Obama and Cameron saying this is indeed a war for regime change. So not only it is reprehensible on a human and moral level, it is also an illegal war and a war which is not authorised by the British Parliament.
“And it is no surprise that many MPs are now saying that they were misled and that the Government is proceeding along a line which does not have authorisation.
“Recently we have heard demands by a number of MPs that Parliament, which is currently in recess, should be recalled in order to further discuss this issue. And our very strong message to the Prime minister today is he doesn’t have the authorisation of Parliament, he doesn’t have the backing of international law, he does not have the backing of the UN Security Council Resolution and he does not have the backing of the British people.
“Many of our politicians regret now what they did in Iraq and believe that they were duped and they were lied to”.
Author Jim Brann said: “I do not think it is the business of the British, French or American government to decide by force or any other way who the government of Libya is.
“I note that all three leaders have said the war is about regime change. I have read their letter and it is very clear that what they are doing is deciding who is, and who is not the government of Libya. That is the clear meaning of their letter.”
Solidarity with the Venezuelan revolution
By New Worker correspondent
Supporters of the Venezuelan revolution packed London’s Conway Hall last Saturday for a conference by the Venezuela Solidarity Committee.
Issued discussed included how the country is developing public services and social inclusion, the 2012 general election in Venezuela and how to combat the demonisation of the country by the western imperialist media.
Speakers included Samuel Moncada, Venezuelan Ambassador to Britain and Ireland, Benita Fional from the Venezuelan Women’s Ministry, Temir Porras, Venezuelan Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Juana Garcia from the Venezuelan National Women’s Institute, author Richard Gott, journalists Alex Main and Jody McIntyre and Islington Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn.
The first plenary session was chaired by Gail Cartmail of the union Unite and began with Ambassador Moncada giving an account of how the country has improved since Hugo Chavez was elected to the presidency in 1998; how the oil revenues of the country have been turned from supplying profits to wealthy imperialists to tackling poverty, illiteracy and ill health in Venezuela and the impact this has made.
Levels of malnutrition have fallen from 7.7 per cent of the population to 3.7 per cent (the Latin American average is six per cent), thanks to food prices subsidised by oil money.
And Moncada told the conference that although Venezuela had been affected by the recent global economic crisis and had fallen into a brief period of recession, it had never cut funding to any of the programmes aimed at improving the social wellbeing of the people – but rather increased them, investing in the working people.
Moncada also mentioned the unsuccessful US-backed coup of 2002, which had the support of the right-wing media in Venezuela – though later, when the coup was brought down by the people, they tried to deny their support.
The Catholic Archbishop of Caracas had even complained to the Chavez government that the church was being sidelined in its work among the poor and downtrodden because now there was a shortage of people who were poor and downtrodden.
Women have been at the forefront of Chavez’s onslaught on poverty, illiteracy and malnutrition and Benita Fional explained why Chavez has the loyalty and support of the women of Venezuela.
She said that one of Chavez’s first acts had been to outlaw violence against women and all forms of domestic violence and to pass a law confirming the equality of women in all aspects of life.
This has made a huge difference to their lives and opened up a vast array of opportunities previously closed to women. Now they are well represented at all levels of government and administration – and now men to their share of looking after the children and housework, including the washing up.
Many speakers stressed the onslaught of irrational and vicious slanders directed at Venezuela and Chavez in particular, describing him as a dictator in spite of his continuing support in elections – and the fact that Chavez lost one referendum vote on 2005 And the right-wing still control the media in Venezuela and they do have an impact. As Temir Porras said, of the four million or so who cast their votes against Chavez, “they are not all wealthy oligarchs”.
Journalist Alex Main and researcher Lee Salter showed how the western media, in Britain the BBC in particular, describe Chavez’s achievements negatively for their impact on a small minority of wealthy people – who they regard as “Venezuela”, while the majority of workers and poor people who vote for Chavez are regarded as a dangerous, intimidating sub-human mob.
They all stressed how important it is for progressives in Britain to keep countering these lies and to promote a more balanced view of Venezuela, in the run-up to next year’s elections.
photo: Temir Porras
Gagarin in London
By New Worker correspondent
DOZENS of people from left-wing progressive groups, the world of art and literature and the London Russian community last Thursday gathered at the headquarters of the Society for Cooperation in Russian and Soviet Studies (SCRSS) last Thursday to mark the opening of a photographic exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic flight into space, on 12th April 1961.
The exhibition included Soviet posters marking the achievement of the first person to travel into space and orbit the earth, as well as pictures of Gagarin’s later visit to London, when he met all manner of dignitaries, dined with the Queen but also called in at the Kensington headquarters of the Society for Cultural Relations with the USSR – the forerunner of the SCRSS.
There Gagarin met, among others, the young poet and playwright Bernard Kops, who was present again last Thursday to read out the poem he had presented to Yuri Gagarin 50 years ago.
The gathering also saw a video presentation of Gagarin’s career before he be came the first man in space. He had not been an academic but had followed a vocational career as an engineer working in the production of farm machinery.
They also heard a recording of his first message from space – a message of peace for the whole world at the height of imperialism’s Cold War propaganda.
The British Council is to erect a statue to Yuri Gagarin outside their headquarters in the Mall – an exact copy of one in his home town. It will be unveiled in July to coincide with the anniversary of Gagarin’s visit to Britain but will be on display only for six months – unless there is enough public interest to warrant keeping it there longer.
The photo exhibition will run until 21st May at the SCRSS headquarters at 320 Brixton Road, London SW9. Phone 020 7274 2282 in advance for details or visit http://www.scrss.org.uk/
DOZENS of people from left-wing progressive groups, the world of art and literature and the London Russian community last Thursday gathered at the headquarters of the Society for Cooperation in Russian and Soviet Studies (SCRSS) last Thursday to mark the opening of a photographic exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic flight into space, on 12th April 1961.
The exhibition included Soviet posters marking the achievement of the first person to travel into space and orbit the earth, as well as pictures of Gagarin’s later visit to London, when he met all manner of dignitaries, dined with the Queen but also called in at the Kensington headquarters of the Society for Cultural Relations with the USSR – the forerunner of the SCRSS.
There Gagarin met, among others, the young poet and playwright Bernard Kops, who was present again last Thursday to read out the poem he had presented to Yuri Gagarin 50 years ago.
The gathering also saw a video presentation of Gagarin’s career before he be came the first man in space. He had not been an academic but had followed a vocational career as an engineer working in the production of farm machinery.
They also heard a recording of his first message from space – a message of peace for the whole world at the height of imperialism’s Cold War propaganda.
The British Council is to erect a statue to Yuri Gagarin outside their headquarters in the Mall – an exact copy of one in his home town. It will be unveiled in July to coincide with the anniversary of Gagarin’s visit to Britain but will be on display only for six months – unless there is enough public interest to warrant keeping it there longer.
The photo exhibition will run until 21st May at the SCRSS headquarters at 320 Brixton Road, London SW9. Phone 020 7274 2282 in advance for details or visit http://www.scrss.org.uk/
photo:Bernard Kops reading his poem to Gagarin
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Kim Il Sung -- a great communist fighter
by New Worker
correspondent
Friend of Korea met on 9th April to mark the 99th anniversary of the birth of the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung at the Marchmont Centre in London.
Dermot Hudson, chair of the Juché Idea Study Group of England and the UK representative of the KFA, presided over the meeting and opened stressing the importance of Sun’s Day. Other speakers included Michael Chant from the RCPB (ML), Ella Rule of the CPGB (ML), John McLeod of the SLP and NCP leader Andy Brooks.
Dermot told the meeting that all the DPRK achievements are associated with the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung. He said that the DPRK under the leadership of the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il had been great achievements and was advancing in the fields of science and education.
Ella Rule talked about the great ideological achievements made by the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung pointing out that the Worker’s Party of Korea firmly opposed modern revisionism and the so called “market socialism”.
John McLeod spoke about the US provocation of the Korean War and the atrocities committed by the US imperialists and Andy Brooks, general secretary of the New Communist Party, stressed the role of the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung in developing the communist movement in Korea and opposing the division of Korea caused by the Americans. He said Kim Il Sung was a giant amongst communist leaders.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Thursday, April 07, 2011
London call to end the war
By New Worker correspondent
Some 200 people called for an end to the imperialist aggression against Libya at meeting in the heart of London called by Stop the War Coalition. In the historic Conway Hall a galaxy of speakers from the peace and labour movement addressed the meeting including veteran statesman Tony Benn, CND General Secretary Kate Hudson, Sami Ramadan of Iraqi Democrats, Andrew Murray and Lindsay German from the Stop the War Coalition, left Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn and campaigning former MP George Galloway.
Andrew Murray, who chaired of the meeting said that the Stop the War Coalition was trying to build a mass movement against the war against Libya and to get people across Britain to understand that the war is another war for regime change and it can do nothing to stop the problems in the Middle East.
"We need to build a mass movement to force our government to declare a ceasefire and cease its military involvement in Libya,” he said. "It is not our job to say that regime change by force, regime change from outside is a lawless, hopeless position which we have to oppose. The Arab revolution must be a revolution made for and by Arabs".
This was echoed by all the other speakers, who condemned the Western hypocrisy and double standards evident in the war on Libya and drew parallels with the ongoing conflict in Iraq.
Tony Benn told the meeting that the argument that the Security Council agrees to something may make it legal but it doesn’t make it right. "It is very difficult to escape the conclusion that the war is about the desire of the British and French governments to try and restore the control they had over the North African coast” in the colonial era, he declared.
That was also George Galloway’s view. This was about Empire and empires are built on blood he said. But the war in Libya was a military stalemate in the making. "Our troops are not coming home for Christmas from this war or the Christmas after that. The cost of the war will be taken from the Libyan wealth. The Libyans are going to pay for this".
Galloway dismissed the Arab League’s support for the attack with contempt. The League was a collection of dictatorships most of whom are busy shooting down their own democracy activists. "Qatar has the biggest American military base in the entire world and Qatar's ruler has been appointed the oil minister of “liberated” Libya and has been given the job in London of selling Libyan oil from the so-called liberated area in complete disregard and breach of international law. How can the ruler of Qatar, an absolut monarch be part of a coalition for democracy in Libya? It is absolutely absurd".
And that, Andrew Murray said in his closing remarks, was going to be a major task for the Stop the War Coalition which is holding Hands Off Libya meetings up and down the country to mobilise public opinion end what Galloway aptly called “this monstrous and grotesque adventure”.
Some 200 people called for an end to the imperialist aggression against Libya at meeting in the heart of London called by Stop the War Coalition. In the historic Conway Hall a galaxy of speakers from the peace and labour movement addressed the meeting including veteran statesman Tony Benn, CND General Secretary Kate Hudson, Sami Ramadan of Iraqi Democrats, Andrew Murray and Lindsay German from the Stop the War Coalition, left Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn and campaigning former MP George Galloway.
Andrew Murray, who chaired of the meeting said that the Stop the War Coalition was trying to build a mass movement against the war against Libya and to get people across Britain to understand that the war is another war for regime change and it can do nothing to stop the problems in the Middle East.
"We need to build a mass movement to force our government to declare a ceasefire and cease its military involvement in Libya,” he said. "It is not our job to say that regime change by force, regime change from outside is a lawless, hopeless position which we have to oppose. The Arab revolution must be a revolution made for and by Arabs".
This was echoed by all the other speakers, who condemned the Western hypocrisy and double standards evident in the war on Libya and drew parallels with the ongoing conflict in Iraq.
Tony Benn told the meeting that the argument that the Security Council agrees to something may make it legal but it doesn’t make it right. "It is very difficult to escape the conclusion that the war is about the desire of the British and French governments to try and restore the control they had over the North African coast” in the colonial era, he declared.
That was also George Galloway’s view. This was about Empire and empires are built on blood he said. But the war in Libya was a military stalemate in the making. "Our troops are not coming home for Christmas from this war or the Christmas after that. The cost of the war will be taken from the Libyan wealth. The Libyans are going to pay for this".
Galloway dismissed the Arab League’s support for the attack with contempt. The League was a collection of dictatorships most of whom are busy shooting down their own democracy activists. "Qatar has the biggest American military base in the entire world and Qatar's ruler has been appointed the oil minister of “liberated” Libya and has been given the job in London of selling Libyan oil from the so-called liberated area in complete disregard and breach of international law. How can the ruler of Qatar, an absolut monarch be part of a coalition for democracy in Libya? It is absolutely absurd".
And that, Andrew Murray said in his closing remarks, was going to be a major task for the Stop the War Coalition which is holding Hands Off Libya meetings up and down the country to mobilise public opinion end what Galloway aptly called “this monstrous and grotesque adventure”.
Viva Venezuela!
An important gathering of progressives from the labour movement and beyond will come together in London on April 16, to discuss how we can learn from and further build support for Venezuela, a country at the forefront of the struggle for peace, justice and socialism in the 21st century, writes Richard Irons.
Reading the coverage of the corporate press of the country, very few people would know that since the election of Hugo Chavez as President of Venezuela in 1998, enormous changes have taken place in that country, transforming the lives of millions, including:
Reading the coverage of the corporate press of the country, very few people would know that since the election of Hugo Chavez as President of Venezuela in 1998, enormous changes have taken place in that country, transforming the lives of millions, including:
- the eradication of illiteracy after 1.5m people learnt to read and write in just two years
- the introduction of free education for all, with the number of university students trebling
- a free National Health System being introduced, which is estimated to have saved 240,000 lives.
- 4 million Venezuelans being lifted out of poverty since 1998 with poverty rates falling by half and extreme poverty by two-thirds
- The adoption of a new constitution and social policies that guarantee rights for women, indigenous and black communities and disabled people
- Measures to protect and extend workers’ rights, with the minimum wage now the highest in Latin America, with the privatisation and outsourcing of public services now illegal.
A Voice for Peace and Justice in the World
But Venezuela’s progressive role goes beyond social progress at home, it is also a leading voice for peace, justice plus non-alignment, seeking an end to neo-liberalism internationally and a new, multi-polar world order.
Examples of this include playing a leading role in both ALBA – a ‘bloc’ of progressive nations in the region such as Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua that is putting trade in a context of social development rather than private profit- helping them remove the ‘dead hand’ of debts to the West and bodies such as the IMF plus World Bank.
Additionally, President Chavez has been a vocal opponent of the adventures in Afghanistan, Iraq and now Libya, recently arguing that "We know what's going to happen: bombs, bombs, war, more suffering for the people, [and] more death," when asked about the air strikes on that country. Venezuela is also a great friend of the Palestinian and Libyan people, and their quest for justice against Israel’s illegal occupations – for example, expelling the Israeli Ambassador during the bombardment of Gaza in 2009.
Lessons to be Learnt & Solidarity Needed!
Here, in Britain, and in many other places in Europe and the world, millions of people are looking for alternatives to the failed ‘solutions’ of cuts and privatisation. To these people, Venezuela can show that governments can put people first – despite the effects of the global recession, Venezuela has continued to both lift people out of poverty and expand their social spending!
Many lessons can be learnt from specific struggles and social programmes in that country, which is why so many are looking to it as a progressive beacon. Of course, equally as a leading critic of neo-liberalism and US imperialism, the Venezuelan Government has many enemies, both across the world and in Venezuela itself, including those worried about ‘the threat of a good example.
Venezuela’s government is still under constant attack from the former ruling elite who previously ran the country into the ground, and their allies on the hard right in the US who, following recent electoral gains, have regained confidence in calling for intervention and ‘regime change,’ with Republican Connie Mack recently arguing for the US to "confront Hugo Chavez directly."
Of course, the continual electoral victories (14 out of 15 national elections) of Chavez and his coalition (led by his own United Socialist Party, and including the Communist Party of Venezuela and others) does not alter their perspective in this one bit! Additionally, allies of the Venezuelan Opposition in the international media continue to propagate disinformation in an attempt to isolate the government internationally and prevent the truth about social progress from reaching a wider audience.
It is therefore vitally important in the run-up to 2012’s presidential elections in Venezuela that we continue to spread the truth and counter media misrepresentations. All who support social progress should show their solidarity by joining the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign and attending our major event on April 16, which will bring together guests from Venezuela, elsewhere in Latin America, Europe and Britain to discuss not only what we can learn from Venezuela but what we can do to offer support.
The Venezuela: Defending the Majority, Not Punishing the Poorest Conference , supported by the TUC, and many others is on April 16 at Conway Hall, London, WC1R 4RL. Speakers include Venezuelan trade union leader Jacobo Torres, women’s leader Juana Garcia, a former Higher Education Minister Samuel Moncada, and Andreína Tarazón, youth and student leader of the Hugo Chavez-led PSUV political party.
You can register online and get more information at http://www.venezuelasolidarity.co.uk/ or register by post by sending a £9 (£5 concession) cheque to ‘Venezuela Solidarity Campaign,’ c/o PO Box 56210, London, N4 4XH. The event is followed by a dinner and celebration of Venezuela at Bolivar Hall with live Latin music – contact info@venezuelasolidarity.co.uk for more information.
Friday, April 01, 2011
No War for Oil!
By New Worker correspondent
OVER 100 demonstrators, many of them Libyan students, took part in an peace protest against the London Conference on Libya at Lancaster House last Tuesday. The protesters, hoisting green flags, chanted 'Stop bombing Libya', “Hands off Libya', “No war for oil”, 'Down down Cameron', and ' Down, down Obama”.
No one was allowed to get near the conference venue and the protest was confined to a street leading to Lancaster House. “As always when they get these people together there is an exclusion zone or a security zone,” said Chris Neiman of Stop the War Coalition. “We are protesting because we think Western intervention in Libya is a disaster,” he said. “ We are here to say that Western leaders should have learned by now from Iraq and Afghanistan that you can't bomb a country into democracy. What is liable to happen – what is already happening – is that Western bombs are causing civilian casualties. They are creating a situation which will be perceived as one in which Western powers are leading a third war against a Muslim country. I just can't understand why or how this can possibly help any move towards democracy by the people of Libya. I think this is liable to draw the country and the draw the West into a widening war, possibly lead to the partition of the country but do nothing to improve the lives of the people of Libya”.
“I am protesting here today because we don't believe that military might is the way to stop complex political problems”, said Kate Hudson the General Secretary of CND. “Our concern is that the increasing use of military force, including the quite substantial use of cruise missiles and other missiles will result in large numbers of civilians casualties. We think it is up to the Libyan people to decide for themselves who runs their country and how their country is run and they should come to their own conclusions about that. We are here today particularly outside this conference because increasingly the agenda is looking less like the supposed humanitarian mission that was spoken about a week or so ago. Now the talk seems to be about regime change for Libyan, the West's role in political change in that country, the West's role in helping to rebuild that country and helping to determine its future. It is clear that the West has had a long history of involvement in North Africa and in the Middle East. That involvement has generally led to the disenfranchisement of the people of those countries and that process has to end. Foreign countries should be out of Libya and other Middle Eastern countries and those countries should decide for themselves what relationships they wish to have with other independent states. So our view is Libya must determine its own future without Western or any foreign military intervention”.
“We are against the war, we don't want our children and our families to be killed”, said Dekhil Ramadan a Libyan student. “That is the reason why we are here. We are supporting our families and our country. We support Colonel Gaddafi. All the tv news you are seeing is a lie. They don't tell us the truth. They are only portraying one view. They just show all the news for one view. The people they call the revolutionaries or the rebels they are not revolutionaries. They destroy all the buildings. If you want to have a demonstration it has to be peaceful. Like in Egypt and Tunisia. This is not a demonstration. There are people from Egypt, Tunisia and Pakistan so we see that Al Qaeda is there. The people who have been captured are from Algeria, from Afghanistan and from Yemen. So it is not the Libyan people who are taking part in this demonstration. The Libyan people have to demonstrate, not people from other countries”.
“I want this bombing to stop. That is why I am here,” said Huda Shebani a Libyan student who has taken a break from her studies to defend her country. “I want these countries to take their hands out of my country because we can solve our problem ourselves. That is why I am protesting. Every day my family is calling me and telling me they started bombing us in my home town. They destroyed even my college. They say they are saving the civilians. What civilians are they saving? They want our oil and say they are saving civilians. Why don't they just say we want your oil? We will defend ourselves”.
We've marched together...
...now let's strike together!
By New Worker correspondents
NEW COMMUNIST Party comrades from all over the country descended on London to join more than half a million demonstrators last Saturday to take part in the TUC’s March for the Alternative to the massive cuts in public jobs and services being implemented by the Con-Dem Coalition.
The protesters came from every trade union you can name and from every city, town, hamlet and village in the country. They came by coach, train, bus, bicycle, wheelchair and on foot. And there were solidarity contingents from Europe. The march through the heart of the capital was so big that five hours after the head reached Hyde Park marchers were still thronging past the giant statue of Achilles, festooned with banners, placards, balloons and ribbons. The marchers could be heard coming from far away – armed with whistles, vuvuzelas, brass bands, jazz bands, songs, chants and slogans.
The Fire Brigades Union brought a banner expressing solidarity with the firefighters of Wisconsin. FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: ““I am sure many of you will have been following the remarkable struggles in of trade unionists, students and local communities against attacks on public services and trade union rights Wisconsin and other US states. To send solidarity greeting, the FBU has produced a special ‘Stand with Wisconsin banner for the demonstration’.” He also said: “Cameron and Clegg have launched a war on working people and today’s demonstration is the start of the fight-back. They expect us to suffer tax increases, pay cuts, unemployment and devastation of our pensions to pay for the crisis their friends in the city caused. They should expect the fight of their lives.”
At the rally in Hyde Park there was a long list of speakers from the galaxy of the union movement including Len McCluskey of Unite, Michael Leahy of Community, Brendan Barber of the TUC, Dave Prentis of Unison, Bob Crow of RMT, Mark Serwotka of PCS, pensioners, leaders of Black and minority ethnic organisations, representatives of European trade unions, students, disabled workers and people from the world of show business – all introduced by TV presenter and comedian Tony Robinson.
In his speech Len McCluskey repeated his call for the Met police to “keep your sleazy hands off our kids”. He called on Labour MPs to come to “the barricades” and saying that the country needed “coordinated industrial strike action” and more “direct action”. Few Labour parliamentarians would go that far these days. But some were part of the vast crowd in Hyde Park which heard Labour leader Ed Miliband declare that he was “profoundly moved” by the turnout. “David Cameron, you wanted to create the big society. This is the big society,” he declared. Miliband was the first Labour leader to attend a demonstration of any kind since Michael Foot back in the early 80s. In the past most of the people filling Hyde Park were workers of the kind that the bourgeoisie called the “the salt of the earth”. Yet Miliband was attacked in the bourgeois press and media for associating with them.
The lines for a serious class war are being drawn – by the ruling class. In his speech PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka restated his union’s opposition to all cuts and called for joint strike action. He began: “What a fantastic turnout. Now, let me start with a story. Before Christmas, I went with the leaders of the TUC to meet the Government. Do you want to know something amazing about the Government – everyone on their side of the table was a multi-millionaire.
“And these multi-millionaires, they tell us we’re all in it together. But they don’t use our services and they don’t use all the things we care about in our community. “And let me tell you another thing, they have no mandate whatsoever for these cuts… “Now listen. Let’s be clear about this demonstration and something my union feels passionately about. And let the journalists and the media hear it loud and proud. We must oppose every single cut in public spending. No cuts. No Cuts whatsoever.
“And why do we oppose every cut? Because if we don’t we will have to choose between young people and pensioners; between public sector and private sector; between those on welfare and those in work. We should defend every student, every pensioner and every worker wherever they are.
“So, let’s also be clear about two things to finish. There is an alternative to the cuts, and I’ll tell you what the alternative is. Let’s collect the tax that is avoided by the rich people in this country.
“And while we’re at it, while we’re at it, let’s start naming the scroungers. Sir Philip Green from Top Shop – what a scrounger he is. In one body swerve he avoided paying a quarter of a billion pounds in tax by investing it in Monaco….
“Now look around you in this park. Imagine what it would be if we didn’t only march together, we took strike action together across all of our public services.
“And let’s be clear, whether you work in health, in schools, in the civil service, in private industry, wherever you work. We are stronger when we march together, so let’s ensure that we strike together to let the government know we won’t accept it.”
Thoughts on the Commune
By New Worker correspondent
COMRADES and friends recalled the heady days the Paris Commune at the Fitzrovia community centre in central London last week. The Communards established the first workers’ government in 1871 following France’s defeat in the war with Prussia. Though it was brutally suppressed by the French bourgeoisie the Commune’s acts and decrees during its two months of freedom were, as Marx said, the prototype for a revolutionary government of the future. The meeting, organised by the London District New Communist Party, began with tributes from Neil Harris of the NCP, Thierry Schaffauser from Left Front Art and Mushtaq Lasharie from Third World Solidarity followed by a round-table discussion on the meaning and lessons of the Commune for workers today.
photo: Andy Brooks making a point during the discussion
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