Lewisham hospital victory march

CAMPAIGNERS to save Lewisham Hospital’s maternity and accident and emergency units last Saturday staged a victory march through the town centre to mark a court success against the plans by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to close Lewisham’s maternity accident and A&E units in order to bail out the bankrupt neighbouring South London Health Trust.

But the battle is far from over. Hunt decided to lodge an appeal against the ruling of Judge Justice Silber at the very last minute so the case will now go to the Appeal Court.

Local campaigners were angry at the waste of taxpayers’ money in dragging out the legal battle.

But leading campaigner George Hallam from the People before Profit Party pointed out a more serious threat to Lewisham Hospital from a Department of Health decision to carve up and rearrange south London’s hospital trusts.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Woolwich Common – sinking under the weight of PFI debts – is to be detached from the bankrupt South London Healthcare Trust and put in a new trust specially created trust with Lewisham.

It will leave Lewisham’s maternity and A&E safe for a few years. But, as campaigner Helen Mercer has shown, it will not be long before the Woolwich hospital’s debts render the new trust insolvent and the cuts will be put on the agenda again.

In a paper presented to the campaign and to the health authorities, Helen Mercer argued: “The Government’s own figures show that over the next 16 years PFI charges on the new merged Trust will increase by an average 4.7 per cent per year. In contrast, Government support for these charges will be frozen after 2015. Consequently the burden of unsupported PFI charges the new Trust will inherit from QEH will grow an average rate of 6.7 per cent.

“In cash terms the unsupported PFI burden will grow from 17 million this year to 20 million in 2016-17, to 25 million in 2019-20. By 2029-30 it will be an extra 47.7 million in.

“This means that just to remain solvent the new Trust will have to make ‘savings’ of millions of pounds every single year. The only way of avoiding these will be to increase income by expanding provision for private patients.

“Inevitably, a point will be reached were the only way of making ends meet will be through the same sort of savage cuts, such as the closure of whole departments, that the Special Administrator has sought to impose. The difference will be that such cuts will be an internal matter for the Trust and so not something we can challenge through a Judicial Review.

“Recognition of the extent of the problem puts an unavoidable duty on the campaign to discuss a response, to seek legal advice as necessary and to raise the issue publicly.

“I propose that SLH agrees that support for the merger will depend on the liquidation of, or at least renegotiation, of PFI commitments.

“One possible route might be to argue that the merger as envisaged should be reviewed with the aim of ensuring that any merger that does take place is preceded by a clear indication of how the PFI debts of the merged trust are to be paid in such a way as to avoid future threats to A&E, maternity services and so on in either hospital.

“Clearly, this requires taking legal advice. Unless this is done, the only way that the new Trust will be viable is through cuts and increased private patients.”

A report issued last week by the Office of National Statistics showed that 21,000 NHS jobs were lost over the last three months

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: “These figures show how government cuts are continuing to hit vital frontline services with 21,000 jobs lost in the NHS over the last three months alone.

“Despite the Chancellor's boasts this week, austerity is continuing to cause damage and we are far from a strong and sustained jobs recovery.”

An afternoon for Korea

By New Worker correspondent

FRIENDS of the Korean revolution returned to the historic Lucas Arms in north London on Saturday for a further celebration of the foundation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Academics and school students joined Korean solidarity workers to take part in the meeting called by the British Juché Idea Study Group at the Kings Cross pub, which has been a working class venue for many years and was the place where the Committee to Defeat Revisionism for Communist Unity was founded to challenge the leadership of the old Communist Party of Great Britain in 1963.

             Dermot Hudson opened the meeting by saying that the 65^th anniversary of the DPRK was proudly celebrated by the successful Worker-Peasant Red Guard parade in the DPRK on September. He also paid tribute to Madame Kim Jong Suk the mother of Korea who passed away 64 years ago on the 22^nd September.

                  Shaun Pickford, the secretary general of the group, was unable to travel into London as his father is gravely ill. But he sent a paper that stressed the remarkable achievements of Democratic Korea over the past 65 years, including free medical care, free housing, no taxation and other benefits of the DPRK's social system. In the DPRK there is the tradition of collectivism throughout society, the spirit of single-hearted unity.

Dermot then followed with a contribution on the Juché and Songun politics that had transformed the DPR Korea into a modern socialist republic. And this was taken up Dr Hugh Goodacre, a senior lecturer in economics who explained the deep significance of anniversary of the foundation within the context of the Juché Idea. He said that in the DPRK the people are the masters of the state.  The great leader President Kim Il Sung was a great man of the people, Hugh said, who mixed with workers and farmers and even shook the ink-stained hands of academics!

Dr Goodacre, who is an accomplished linguist, demonstrated his talents by singing the national anthem of the DPRK in Korean to the applause of the audience and the meeting ended in informal discussion and a buffet.

MPs seek mandatory Commons vote on arms for Syrian rebels

By Theo Russell

PEACE campaigners and MPs met on 4th September at the House of Commons to discuss the historic defeat in Parliament of plans to join air strikes on Syria and to discuss the way forward for peace.

Diane Abbott said: “The long shadow of the Iraq war has hung over the debate. For the first time Parliament was able to vote in time to prevent military action and I hope that will set a precedent.

“This was an important day for Parliament but also an important day for those of us who have campaigned for so long.” She added: “Hundreds of people are still alive today who wouldn’t be alive if Syria had been bombed.”

Abbott also said that Ed Miliband had been subjected to “major pressure inside the Shadow Cabinet from people of the Blair type,” and that “he did well to stand up to that pressure”.

She called for votes at the United Nations to be decided by the General Assembly rather than by the Security Council.

Sarah Wollastone, one of 61 Tory backbenchers to rebel or abstain on 29th August told the meeting: “The message from Parliament is very clear – we reject the notion that humanitarian aid is best delivered at the end of a cruise missile.

“Any action in Syria should come from an Arab nation. We are told that no Arab nation is capable of delivering assistance – I’m sorry, but what have we been doing all these years selling arms to these people?”

Lindsay German from Stop the War said: The vote created a political crisis around the world, and as a result Obama has been forced to go to Congress make a case, although he’s already said he’ll carry on with strikes anyway.” She added: “The Government’s defeat would not have happened without an anti-war movement.”

But she also warned against the “chorus of voices” claiming the vote was a “tragedy” for Britain and calling for another vote, including Paddy Ashdown, Boris Johnson and Henry Kissinger. Fortunately for the peace movement, Cameron cannot risk another vote, which could force him to resign if it falls again.

“The vast majority of people in Britain support our position, but the establishment, the media and the Government are out of touch with ordinary people,” German said.

Both Diane Abbott and fellow Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn called for a War Powers Act to prevent the use of the Royal Prerogative to take Britain to war.

Senior Labour backbencher Peter Hain again called for “President Assad and other concerned parties, including Iran, to be included in any negotiations on resolving the conflict in Syria,” saying it was “impractical and unrealistic” for them to be left out.

Commenting on France’s support for strikes on Syria, Jeremy Corbyn MP recalled that the Free French forces led by Charles de Gaulle had fought against the Syrian independence movement in the midst of the Second World War.

He added that Britain is spending £35 billion every year on “defence” when there is “no money for housing or libraries, and more and more people sleeping on our streets”.

Anti-Fascist victory – followed by a police sting

By New Worker correspondent

 AROUND 5,000 anti-fascists from a wide spectrum of community groups, faith groups and trade unions succeeded once again in preventing the Islamophobic English Defence League from bringing their message of hate and violence into London’s East End.

But after the EDL thugs had been marched away police sprang a nasty surprise and kettled and arrested a large number of anti-fascists who had started to make their way home – the numbers given vary from 160 to 180 – and took them away in buses laid on for the purpose.

The arrestees then had their details taken and were bailed after few hours with a caution that included a bar on them taking part in any demonstration near the EDL or the British National Party within the area bounded by the M25.

Local community organisations, the Mayor of Tower Hamlets Lutfur Rahman, Jim Fitzpatrick MP and Unite Against Fascism leader Weyman Bennett had been in close liaison with the police prior to the event.

They had been told that the borough police force would supervise the anti-fascists while “Gold Command” would supervise the EDL.

Relations with the police seemed to be good; there was no violence or provocation from the anti-fascists with the exception of a small group of youngsters who tried to intercept the EDL march south of the river near Tower Bridge.

The fascists had gone from the scene; there was no longer any real danger of a clash or violence; the anti-fascists were in a good mood and partying. So the decision to arrest a large number is very disturbing. And at least five legal observers were among those arrested.

A legal expert told the New Worker: “Gold Command is just the code name for the officer in charge of the operation – in this case the entire 'public order' incident. There is a silver and bronze command underneath him.

“This assurance was always nonsense you know the police often lie….

“My guess is that the kettling was partly to make it simpler for the police to keep the two sides separate. It would also be very useful for the police to arrest 180 people – for the names and addresses, DNA and fingerprints and personal details.

“A caution is actually an admission to committing an offence – you get a record, you just aren't taken to court.

“If you are charged, or released on bail there can be bail conditions for example don't go somewhere or do something as a condition of being released.

“I'm not sure what legal force this has - no one should sign something like that without speaking to a lawyer first – better to get charged.”

 The EDL, who had initially promised to mobilise thousands, were left embarrassed when only 750 racists turned out on the day. Their demonstration was disrupted by drunkenness and violence as they targeted each other when it became clear their racist march would not make it to Tower Hamlets.

In contrast, local mosques, trade unions, and community organisations mobilised thousands of people onto Whitechapel Road to protect the East London Mosque which had been threatened by the EDL.

The UAF rally highlighted the strength of multiculturalism in the borough, people from different cultural, religious and political backgrounds were determined to stand together in the face of racism.

UAF groups from across the country, including the South East coast, the Midlands, and as far afield as Wales, also joined the counter-demonstration. But the majority of the mobilisation were themselves local residents angry at EDL attempts to divide them.

When news reached Altab Ali Park that Tommy Robinson had been arrested, and that the EDL had turned away early from their rally, cheers went up throughout the demonstration. Protestors carried a banner saying, “Tower Hamlets United Against Racism” and led a victory march along Whitechapel Road to the East London Mosque. Marchers made it clear, if the EDL were to return, they would too.

Sixty-Five Fighting Years!

By New Worker correspondent

ON THE 9^th SEPTEMBER 1948 the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was established in the free northern part of the Korean peninsula that had once been part of the Japanese Empire. In the DPRK it is a public holiday and hundreds of thousands of Koreans packed Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang for a spectacular military and civilian parade through the capital.

It’s a special day for Koreans on both sides of the divided country and amongst the overseas Korean community because on that day in 1948 the Korean people expressed their democratic will through popular power and immediately took the first steps towards building a new socialist life for the workers and peasants who had fought to free themselves from the Japanese yoke that had enslaved them for many decades.

 It’s also special day for communists all over the world who showed their solidarity with Democratic Korea. London was no exception. Communists and Korean solidarity activists joined diplomats, journalists and business-people at a lunch-time reception at the DPRK embassy that was opened by DPRK ambassador Hyong Hak Bong last week.

Andy Brooks, Hyong Hak Bong and Michael Chant at the reception

 The leaders of the NCP and the RCPB (ML), Andy Brooks and Michael Chant, were there along with veteran London communist Monty Goldman from the CPB, who was jailed for two months for protesting against the Korean War, as well as Daphne Liddle, the joint editor of the New Worker, and Dermot Hudson from the Korean Friendship Association.

And Comrade Hyong Hak Bong returned to south London as guest of honour at a meeting and social to honour the 65^th anniversary of the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea that was opened by Andy Brooks, who chairs the Friends of Korea, in south London on Sunday.

The event, at the south London headquarters of the RCPB (ML) kicked off with a spirited rendition of the DPRK national anthem and the Song of Kim Il Sung by the violinist Leslie Larkum, who has recently visited Democratic Korea. This was followed by the screening of a documentary covering the recent visit of a RCPB (ML) delegation to Democratic Korea produced by one of their own comrades.

Comrades heard lively eye-witness reports from comrades who took part in the recent 60^th anniversary celebration in the DPRK of the Korean people’s victory in the Fatherland Liberation War in July. Michael Chant, Leslie Larkum and Dermot Hudson painted a vivid picture of Democratic Korea which is led by Kim Jong Un and guided by Marxism-Leninism and the Juché Idea and also determined to struggle for reunification and defend its socialist path.

Comrade Hyong Hak Bong addresses the meeting

 And a 16-year-old student who was also in Pyongyang in July told us about his impressions of the socialist capital and his struggle to tell the truth at school about the reality of the DPRK today.

Other friends of Korea, like John McLeod of the Socialist Labour Party and Theo Russell of the NCP, who have also been to north Korea, joined in a general discussion that ended with an appeal from Hyong Hak Bong for everyone to go to the DPRK, if they can, and see for the new life for the Korean people with their own eyes.