Turning 'em red at Turnham Green

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

London to Colchester peace walk

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

Building alliances for a living wage

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

Bus sale threatens thousands of jobs

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

McGuinness goes to Westminster

By Theo Russell

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

End the siege of Gaza!

by a New Worker correspondent


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

A new Queer activism

by Anton Johnson

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

for more information.

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


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

Judge questions Mayor's power

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

Celebrating Vietnam

by Theo Russell

HUNDREDS of people packed the Bolivar Hall in central London last week for an event organised by Trade Union Friends of Vietnam and the Vietnamese Embassy to mark the 35th anniversary of the defeat of American imperialism in the Vietnam war.
Vietnamese ambassador Tran Quang Hoan spoke of the economic achievements which have made Vietnam among the most dynamic economies in the region, with average growth of seven to eight per cent since the adoption of a socialist market policy In 1986. He said the government was “determined to make Vietnam into a developed, industrialised country by 2020”.
Hoan said the industrial sector had grown form 20 per cent to 40 per cent of the economy since 1980, and in 2009 despite of the global financial crisis growth was almost six per cent.
“Living standards are constantly improving, and our growth has contributed to eradicating poverty, with levels down from 75 per cent of the population in 1976 to 13.5 per cent in 2008,” he said.
“The victories of the Vietnamese people took place under the revolutionary leadership of Ho Chi Minh, a great and universal cultural personality and the beloved uncle to his people,” said Hoan, adding that 2010 also marks the 120th anniversary of Ho’s birth and 65 years since the declaration of Vietnam’s independence.
“During those difficult years of war the British people stood side by side with the Vietnamese people,” he said.
Chau Nhat Binh, Leader of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour also spoke of “celebrating the end of the most barbaric war in history waged by US imperialism,” a war which followed 100 years of French colonialism “only to be divided by the Geneva Agreement” in 1954.
“We had to pay a high price for this victory. In Robert McNamara’s words, ‘we owe it to future generations to explain why we mobilised 6.5 million young people to fight and 22,000 factories to supply this war machine’.”
Binh, who joined the Vietnam People’s Army in 1972 and was almost killed twice, recalled that the US had used 80 million litres of chemical defoliants and 10 million tons of bombs, “Yet while spending billions on wars all over the world, the US has given Vietnam only $3 million to clear unexploded bombs.”
“Thirty five years later the scars remain painful,” he said. “Three million people are still affected by Agent Orange, including ex-US soldiers. We call on people around the world to continue the struggle for justice.”
The US defoliant manufacturers continue to deny responsibility, and yet another legal case has now been launched after several previous cases were turned down by US courts.
Minh said the Vietnamese government’s care for disabled people includes treatment and job creation programmes, and many training centres and workplaces specifically designed for disabled people.
Replying to questions Tran Quang Hoan said relations with China were “very good”. “China is our biggest trading partner, although there are still some problems. The question of the Spratly Islands has not been resolved, but we are open to proposals from the Chinese side.”
“We have an open door foreign policy and we aim to be a friendly and reliable partner to all countries on the basis of sovereignty, mutual respect and independence.”
“We don’t forget the past or the crimes which were committed, but at this moment we put the past aside in order to create a better life for our people who have suffered so much.”
Chau Nhat Binh spoke of the challenges and negative aspects the trade unions faced. “Economic growth is not sustainable with poorly trained workers, and our infrastructure is still poor. Since the adoption of a socialist market policy the divisions between rich and poor have widened, and there exploitation and degradation have increased.
“Our priorities today are to extend collective bargaining, especially to non-manufacturing industries, and trade union recruitment. We aim to have two million trade union members by 2013.
“The biggest problem is how to organise workers to protect their interests, and we need to be prepared to deal with the big international corporations which are now moving into Vietnam.”
Binh said healthcare was also a major concern. “Wage earners in the factories usually have health insurance which the employers and government contribute towards, but we need to encourage people in the rural areas, with poverty levels of 65 per cent, to take up health insurance.”
“Children under six receive free healthcare, but the government still has much to do to improve healthcare in Vietnam,” he said.
Len Aldis of the Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society pointed to another cruel legacy of the US war of aggression: cluster bombs, often disguised as brightly coloured objects looking like toys, which he said would take 300 years to clear. “Every week there are horrific injuries from cluster bomb explosions, with children especially vulnerable,” he said.
“People are still being born in southern Vietnam with no eyes or missing limbs due to Agent Orange poisoning, often several children in one family. What kind of life will these children be able to live?”

Ken to run for Mayor again

KEN LIVINGSTONE last week announced his bid to be chosen as Labour candidate in the 2012 London mayoral election.
He said that if re-elected he would:
• fight Tory public sector cuts;
• raise the congestion charge for the most polluting cars;
• hold down bus and Tube fares (which have risen by up to a third under Boris Johnson);
• scrap “zany” ideas like a floating airport in the Thames estuary and the new “Routemaster” bus;
• take no pay rise for the four-year term and institute a four-year pay freeze for senior staff;
• restore relations with China and India, which have been neglected;
• reverse cuts to police numbers and guarantee a total of 640 local neighbourhood policing teams;
• press the Government for powers to raise money on the bond markets to build affordable homes, including for rent;
• cut energy bills by improving insulation in every building in London over 10 years.

Remembering the Kwanju massacre

NEW COMMUNIST Party comrades joined friends of the Korean revolution picketing the south Korean embassy in London last Friday to mark the 30th anniversary of the Kwanju massacre, when thousands of south Korean students and pro-democracy demonstrators were mowed down by the forces of the US puppet regime.
The protest was organised by the UK Korea Friendship Association and also supported by the Juche Idea Study Group, Association for the Study of Songun Politics and supporters of the Russian AUCPB communist party.

Freedom for Mumia!

PROTESTERS stood outside the US embassy in London last Wednesday to demonstrate their support for Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther, who has spent nearly 30 years in jail for a crime he did not commit.
New Worker supporters joined the picket held on 19th May – the birthday of Malcolm X, the American Black Muslim leader assassinated in 1965 – to raise public awareness about this monstrous miscarriage of justice and demand his immediate and unconditional release.
International support for Mumia has grown over the years including world leaders like Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela, members of the Westminster, European and Japanese parliaments and Hollywood celebrities as well as unions and social justice groups representing millions across the globe.
Mumia Abu-Jamal is a renowned journalist from Philadelphia who has been in prison since 1981 for the alleged killing of a police officer. Mumia is known as the “Voice of the Voiceless” for his award-winning reporting on police brutality and other social and racial epidemics in the United States and the rest of the world. He has always protested his innocence but Mumia remains on death row despite the fact that another man admitted in 1999 that he was responsible for the shooting.
From his cell Mumia has continued to speak out for all who are oppressed through his journalism. He has published four books, and his weekly columns are published throughout the world. His case is one of the most important social justice fights of our time

Brian Haw arrested

PEACE campaigner Brian Haw, who has lived for nine years in a tent opposite the House of Commons, was arrested along with a fellow protester last Tuesday at dawn on the day of the Queen’s official opening of Parliament.
Police also moved to try to clear demonstrators encamped in a peace camp on Parliament Square before the Queen’s arrival. But they failed and the Queen was met by a sea of anti-monarchist placards and hostile slogans.
Haw was arrested officially for trying to stop the police searching his tent and carried away, held off the ground by his arms that were twisted behind him.
Another protester at the camp, Barbara Tucker, was also arrested. Tucker was heard saying on BBC London 94.9: “You can’t arrest him [Mr Haw]; you don’t have a search order.”
Haw first set up camp in June 2001 in a one-man protest against war and foreign policy – initially, the sanctions against Iraq.
He said he was inspired to take up his vigil after seeing the images and information produced by the Mariam appeal, an anti-sanctions campaign.
Haw only leaves his campsite to attend court hearings and survives on food brought by supporters, who include the former Labour cabinet minister Tony Benn and activist and comedian Mark Thomas.

Join the Resistance!

LRC backs McDonnell for Labour leader



by Theo Russell

THE TORY-Liberal Democrat assault on public services and a Labour Party leadership contest provided the backdrop of a conference last Saturday called by the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) that came with an invitation to “Join the Resistance”.
And immediately after the conference the LRC national committee voted to endorse John McDonnell MP as a Labour leadership candidate and urged LRC members and others to lobby Labour MPs and pass motions in their Constituency Labour Parties and trade union branches to nominate McDonnell.
A statement urged “people who have left the party to rejoin in order to vote for John,” adding that new members will be eligible to vote in the Labour leadership election.
On Tuesday John McDonnell accused the Labour Party of organising a “discredited” leadership contest after it set a deadline for nomination as a leadership candidate of 27th May – even though the winner will not be announced until party conference in September.
He needs to win nomination from 33 MPs before that date for his name to appear on the ballot paper and will struggle to make it in under a fortnight.
McDonnell said this would exclude make rank and file members from choosing him and reduce the chances of a fresh start.
Around 300 people from across the country turned up for the Join the Resistance conference at the University of London Union on 15th May despite the very short notice.
Billy Hayes, general secretary of the Communication Workers’ Union, delivered the welcome news that in the previous week Labour had gained 12,000 new members, many believed to be disgusted Lib-Dem supporters.

own campaign

McDonnell told the conference he may not get on the ballot paper, but said “don’t be disillusioned. We’ll run our own campaign in parallel with the leadership battle to put our ideas across.
“I won’t support any of the others on the ‘faux left’ – anyone who has blood on their hands from the Iraq war, supported the privatisations of the past 13 years and the most severe attack on civil liberties in the past 50 years.”
He described how Labour had alienated its supporters since 1997, failing to deliver on trade union rights and the environment, going to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and attacking pensioners.
“We’ve alienated that coalition, we lost our moral compass, and we lost at the election because we deserved to lose”, he said, adding that where left-wing Labour candidates such as Jeremy Corbyn and Kelvin Hopkins stood Labour’s vote had increased significantly.
“Now we’re going to learn through brutal struggle. Jobs across the public sector will go, and trade union rights will be attacked as the only way to ensure more privatisation and public sector outsourcing.”
Peter Firmin, joint LRC secretary, pointed the finger at trade union leaders “who didn’t campaign for our policies, who sponsored over 100 MPs who voted for right-wing Labour policies”.
He also condemned the Trade Union Labour Organisation’s call for tactical voting, saying “members of affiliated unions should demand to know why they encouraged people to vote Liberal Democrat, when their manifesto called for privatising the Royal Mail”.
Gary Heather, a Communication Workers’ Union national executive committee member and chair of Islington trades union council, pointed to the success of the campaign to save the Whittington Hospital in north London (with plans to close the Accident and Emergency department shelved at least for now) as an example of a non-sectarian campaign bringing people into activity.
Luton Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins said that the British people were “to the left of the Labour Party”, with polls showing majorities supporting increased pensions, higher taxes to pay for services and re-nationalising the railways.
“What New Labour don’t like is active branches and campaigning socialists,” he said. “People who voted Liberal Democrat thinking it is some kind of left-wing party have been totally disillusioned. I think the Liberal Party is finished and we’re going to go back to a two-party system, representing capital and labour – they represent capital and we represent labour.”
Veteran Labour activist Walter Wolfgang urged people not just to join the Labour Party but to come forward as candidates and delegates, and work actively “to make the Labour Party what is was meant to be – a major force for socialism”.
Tony Benn was among several speakers to point out that “new parties are not the answer,” and call for focused campaigns.
“Thatcher knew what to go for – trade unions, local government and public ownership,” he said. “We need to recognise that campaigns on issues such as Iraq and the BNP can rally people from across the labour movement. Pick the main issues and campaign around them.”
He added that although the Tories are in power “it seems to me they are a bit frightened – they are in a very difficult situation and know their task will not be easy”.

Remembering the Nakba!

by Robert Laurie

ON SATURDAY 15th May hundreds of protesters joined a picket in Whitehall opposite Downing Streets to commemorate the 62nd anniversary of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by the newly formed Israel state in 1948, known as the Nakba (catastrophe).
Organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition, the British Muslim Initiative and CND the lively lunchtime picket included Palestinian exiles, British Muslims, left-wing supporters of the Palestinian cause and orthodox Jews who regard Zionism as a perversion of their faith.
This, the first protest outside Downing Street since the installation of David Cameron as Prime Minister saw the delivery of a petition protesting against the British government persistent support for every aggressive action of the Israeli government.
Sarah Colborne, of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: “We’re asking the new government to remember the Nakba and let it serve as a reminder of the justice that is long overdue to the Palestinian people.
“We are asking for the government not to let those responsible for Israel’s war crimes evade justice. Whilst Israel continues to steal Palestinian land in the West Bank, and lays siege to Gaza without fear of sanction from the international community, there will be no peace or justice for the people of Palestine.”
The petition, that was handed in Number 10 Downing Street said: “We demand the government:
* End Israel’s violations of international law, including ending its illegal occupation and building of settlements;
* End the siege on Gaza;
* Support bringing Israeli war criminals to justice – no attack on universal jurisdiction;
* Ban settlement goods;
* Suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement;
* End the arms trade with Israel.


photo: Protestors including former comedian Alexei Sayle at the picket

Left Labour prepares for battle

by Daphne Liddle

WE HAVE a new Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition government and Gordon Brown has resigned both as Prime Minister and as leader of the Labour Party. New Prime Minister David Cameron is busy stitching up the Liberal Democrats while the left of the Labour Party is rallying to wage a defensive war against the coming urge of public sector spending cuts.
The Labour Representation Committee (LRC) has already organised a conference for this Saturday 15th May in London’s University of London Union (10.30am to 3.30pm, admission free, donations welcome) for labour activists and trade unionists to discuss how to build their own coalition.
The LRC said: “With a Tory-Lib Dem coalition threatening massive cuts in public spending, there is clearly a need for the Left to discuss how it can build a coalition to argue against and defeat the cuts consensus.
“There is also the fight for socialism in the Labour Party to be fought – and a vacancy for Labour Party leader . . .
“This is a one day conference for the labour movement left across the UK to share experiences of the General Election and plan for the coming months.”
Speakers will include John McDonnell MP and Billy Hayes, general secretary of the Communication Workers’ Union.
They are encouraged good results that Labour won in last week’s general election in traditional Labour’s core areas of the north of England, central London, Scotland and Wales. LRC MPs John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn both succeeded in increasing their majorities.
And although Labour lost the general election it made significant gains in the local elections.
The message from voters is that they have no stomach for Cameron’s proposed drastic cuts to local government spending.
John McDonnell said on Monday: “The public and private horse-trading masks the fact that whatever government emerges will be somewhere on the neo-liberal spectrum, and will soon be driving through large scale cuts in public services, pensions and benefits.
“To face a neo-liberal coalition government, the left and trade unions will be forging a coalition to resist attacks on our communities.
“The disgusting sight of the bond markets opening during the night to speculate at our expense demonstrates starkly what we are up against: the return of the casino economy backed by a neo-liberal coalition government.”
The Liberal-Democrat Party encompasses a wide political spectrum with party leader Nick Clegg on the right of it. He is facing a huge challenge to ensure his 57 Lib-Dem MPs will toe the Tory line. Many are bitterly opposed to it.
On Tuesday night the Labour Party’s on-line membership application page crashed under a flood of applications. Political commentators believe many of them were from left Lib-Dems unhappy with Clegg’s decision to form a coalition with the Tories.
Cameron is not making it easy for Clegg. Already the Lib-Dems have had to jettison their principled opposition to the renewal of the Trident missile system.
On proportional representation – their flagship policy – the only concessions the Tories have made is to agree a referendum on Alternative Voting – a halfway step. But the Tories have made it clear they will campaign for the proposal to be rejected.
Since Labour also opposes PR the Lib-Dems chances of winning it are remote.
The Cabinet positions given so far to the Lib-Dems carry little political weight. Clegg will be made Deputy Prime Minister.
Vince Cable – a far better economist than the Tories John Osborne – has been denied the position of Chancellor. He will have to make do with Minister for Banking and Business while Osborne occupies Number 11 Downing Street.
Danny Alexander, a member of the Liberal Democrat team which negotiated the coalition, becomes Scottish Secretary.
Chris Huhne will take on Energy and Climate Change, while David Laws will be Treasury Chief Secretary. No real power there at all.
So at the moment Clegg is crowing that he is the first “Liberal” to enter Number 10 as a Cabinet Minister for about 90 years but it is not certain he will have a party at all in a few months.
This will be an unstable coalition and Labour had better get on selecting a new leader in time for the next general election, which many believe is only months away.
And Labour must recognise that the left of the party polled much more strongly than the right-wing New Labourites.

Election results

THE COUNTRY voted last Thursday and, as predicted, it resulted in a hung parliament. But some interesting patterns emerged. The Tories gained more seats than any other party but not enough to form a government on their own, which shows that for all Labour’s faults most of the people of this country do not really want the Tory alternative.
The Labour vote held up well in the traditional Labour core areas: the North of England, central and east London, Scotland, Wales and Birmingham – and all the major urban working class areas. London MPs Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell – both members of the Labour Representation Committee opposed to “New Labour” – even increased their majorities.
The Labour Party campaign had very little funding so there was nothing much in the way of poster or media campaigns. This actually worked in the party’s favour because it reduced the influence of the right-wing “New Labourites”, while the door-to-door canvassers were mainly traditional party activists.
The evidence is that wherever there was door-to-door canvassing, Labour did well; the three televised debates between the party leaders dominated the media and the opinion polls but had little effect on the final vote; the vilification of Labour by the right-wing press (only one paper, the Mirror, supported Labour) had little effect and Lord Ashcroft’s multi-million-pound poster campaign also had little effect. Voters have developed an immunity to the ruling class media circus and commercial style advertising. But they do listen to people like themselves who can be bothered to come and talk to them face to face.
Certainly a return to old fashioned door-to-door canvassing was a major factor in the high turn out. And the high turn out was a major factor in the huge defeats suffered by the fascist British National Party. They failed to gain a parliamentary seat and lost the local government seats that were up for election at the same time. This is a triumph of the massive sheer hard slog of the work of thousands of supporters of Hope not Hate who put in the door-to-door work and we congratulate them. Wherever Hope not Hate had campaigned the turn out was higher and it was this that defeated the BNP. But we cannot be complacent – the racists actually increased their total vote but it shrank in proportion to the votes of other parties.
In many places the turn out was so high that there were long queues and hundreds were not able to vote before the polls closed, by law, on the dot of 10pm. This is the result of local government cuts – not enough staff to process the voters quickly enough and a lesson to all politicians who think that they can cut and cut and cut public sector jobs without it having any effect on them.
We now face a real possibility that the Liberal Democrats will insist that the new government ensures that the next election is held under some sort of proportional representation. This will not help the left.
The suggested Alternative Vote system will largely benefit the Liberal Democrats and guarantee their place as kingmakers in parliaments for many years to come. Under full proportional representation, if the threshold was one per cent of the vote as it is in some countries, the BNP would have won a parliamentary seat, as would UKIP. If the threshold was five per cent the result would be much the same as today with a parliament dominated by the three major parties but with a larger slice for the Liberal Democrats. Either way none of the fringe left parties would get into parliament.
Like most proportional representation governments it would become more bureaucratic, expensive and unwieldy than it already is. Bourgeois state machines are never truly democratic and are always geared to keep the working class out of power.
Even when there is a centre left coalition that gives a few government positions to left fringe parties they have no opportunities to implement left policies. They find themselves being used as tools to enforce anti-working class policies and end up betraying their class.
But it looks as though proportional representation will be on the agenda and our responsibility as a communist party will be to expose its lack of real democracy and fight to build the organised, class-conscious working class, as we would under any bourgeois state.
And it looks as though we will almost certainly have another general election within the year. As ever, the struggle goes on!

Hope not Hate success in Barking!

THE LEADER of the fascist British National Party, Nick Griffin, failed dramatically in his bid to gain a Westminster seat last Thursday when he suffered a resounding defeat in the BNP’s east London stronghold.
Margaret Hodge, the Labour incumbent, won by a majority of more than 16,000 to deflect the BNP leader’s challenge in what she labelled the most important and moral fight of her life.
In a humiliating defeat, Griffin was relegated to third place in Barking, trailing behind Conservative candidate Simon Marcus. The BNP’s share of the vote dropped by two per cent – the result of an extensive campaign to mobilise voters against the threat of the far right.
Hodge, the former Culture Minister, achieved a seven per cent swing, winning more than 24,000 votes and 55 per cent of the vote.
She said: “The message of Barking to the BNP is clear: get out and stay out. You are not wanted here and your vile politics have no place in British democracy. Pack your bags and go.”
She said voters had chosen democratic politics built on fairness over “a fascist politics built on division, prejudice and hatred”.
“We have not just beaten but we have smashed the attempts of extremists.”
The BNP had considered Barking a stronghold after exploiting local concerns about immigration and housing to win twelve seats in the local council in 2006.
But following a disastrous election campaign, Griffin received 6,620 votes – one third as many as Hodge.
There were indications of a national collapse in the BNP vote after it failed to make headway in its other target seat, Stoke Central.
It lost its 12 seats on the Barking and Dagenham Council, despite beginning the campaign with hopes of gaining a majority.
Griffin blamed high voter turnout for his defeat and said that it was the “last chance for Barking”.
As his voice was drowned out by booing, he said: “This was the last of London. Within the next five years the indigenous people of London will be a minority in our own capital city. This is a wake up call, not just for London. This is a wake up call for the whole of Britain.”
Griffin said he would not resign, despite the crushing defeat, however elements in his party are certain to demand answers about the disastrous performance.
There was a heavy police presence at the count in Goresbrook Leisure Centre, in Dagenham, as large numbers of BNP supporters turned out to support their leader.
The BNP’s campaign has been was plagued with trouble and infighting. In the first week, Griffin faced an alleged plot by BNP officials to overthrow him.
He also told police that a colleague had threatened to kill him after an investigation into the political “conspiracy”.
Last Tuesday 4th May the head of the party’s online operation resigned and took the website down with him. Simon Bennett, 41, directed BNP traffic to his personal site, which contained a lengthy diatribe against Griffin and other senior figures.
The next day Robert Bailey, the party’s London organiser and Romford candidate, was videoed assaulting an Asian youth who had spat on him.
The civil service union PCS described Griffin’s defeat as “a victory for community organisation”.
Responding to the news that the BNP has been wiped out from Barking and Dagenham council, PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “We are absolutely delighted. This is a huge victory for grassroots community organisation and solidarity, and a tribute to all those who have spent weeks and months campaigning in the borough.
“It shows what can be achieved when people from all backgrounds, races and religions come together with a positive message of hope.
“This is not the end of the campaign, it’s the beginning. Wherever the far right tries to spread its hate and poison in our communities, we must be there to stop them, and we have shown that we can.”
Anti-fascist campaigning by PCS members in Barking and Dagenham during the election included:
• Distributing material as part of PCS’s Love Public Services Hate Fascism campaign, including leaflets, posters and Hope not Hate anti-fascist tabloid newspapers;
• Taking part in days of action in the borough, as well as in the BNP’s other main target area of Stoke.
For example, more than 20,000 people were canvassed or leafleted at a Unite Against Fascism and PCS day of action in Barking. A Hope not Hate joint-union day of action attracted 500 people delivering more than 82,000 tabloids.
PCS Midlands regional secretary Andrew Lloyd said: “The hard work in challenging the BNP and the far right in Stoke has paid off.
“Not only did Simon Darby, the BNP’s number two, fail to win the Stoke Central parliamentary seat, but far right candidates also lost seats in the city’s council election. Even the BNP’s own leader in the area described the elections as ‘a disaster’.
“During the campaign we sponsored events, sent an open top bus around the city to demonstrate our opposition to the BNP and funded an anti-fascist worker for Stoke who has linked up with local groups.
“We are proud to have contributed to the efforts in Stoke to ensure the BNP did not make any gains in these elections.”

London news wrap

London police still stopping photographers

PROFESSIONAL photographer Grant Smith, renowned for his work on architecture, was stopped and searched by police last week for taking pictures of the London skyline and subjected to a search under anti-terrorism laws – six months after a similar incident in which he was prevented from taking pictures on a London church.
He said the officers from the City of London Police prevented him from using his camera to film the stop and search and held his arms behind his back while they searched through his possessions. They even refused to allow him to use pen and paper to take notes.
He was told he was being held under section 44 of the Terrorism Act because of his obstructive and non-compliant attitude.
Smith said police left him feeling humiliated after manhandling him in front of office workers.
Last December police had stopped him from photographing the spire of Sir Christopher Wren’s Christ Church. This and a number of other well publicised incidents led to a public furore after which several senior police officers instructed their officers to refrain from inappropriate use of section 44 and reminding them that there are no laws against people taking pictures of buildings.
And earlier this year the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the arbitrary stop and search of people under section 44 without suspicion is illegal.

Boris renationalises Tube

TORY Mayor of London Boris Johnson last week accomplished one of the main goals of his predecessor, Ken Livingstone, when he renationalised the London Underground.
LU services have been blighted for over a decade by a deeply unpopular Government-imposed public-private partnership (PPP) for maintenance of the rail network that has seen the private companies involved milk the system for millions of pound for the benefit of their shareholders while delivering late and faulty work, causing hundreds of lines closures and delays.
But Boris had to pay a high price – £310 million – to buy the companies out of the PPP scheme. And there are more delays and closures to come because Transport for London (TfL) has discovered new, complex “challenges” in terms of work that needs doing before the system is working as it should.
And this extra cost is causing concern that the deal will involve cuts to jobs and services.
The Jubilee Line has suffered 113 closures since 2008 due to the installation of a new signalling system. A further 33 closures are planned but it may need a lot more as TfL has discovered “substantial further work” needed before the line can operate normally.
People living in south-east London have been forced to regard the line as generally a week-day only service.
This has particularly hit the O2 (formerly the Dome) – a venue for many large events of all kinds that depends on the Jubilee Line as the main public transport connection with central London.
The RMT transport union is concerned that the new strategy is a smokescreen for job cuts, ticket office closures and attacks on safety standards.
The union warns that Boris’s well publicised launch of his new TfL policy is masking a multi-billion transport cuts package that threatens thousands of jobs, ticket office closures across the capital and a systematic undermining of current safety standards.
RMT repeated its pledge to fight the tube and TfL cuts, including the threat to jobs following the final collapse of the PPP shambles with the buying out of the Tube Lines contract.
The union also raised fears that the incoming government, whichever format it takes, will seek further cuts in transport budgets as it swings the axe at public expenditure.

Victory Day in London

by Caroline Colebrook

SOME OF the joy and exuberance of the Soviet peoples at the defeat of Nazism 65 years ago resurfaced as spontaneous singing and dancing last week in a south London park, after a solemn ceremony to remember the millions of Soviet citizens who gave their lives to save their Soviet Motherland and the rest of the world from the horrors of Nazism.
Hundreds of people had gathered in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, in the grounds of the Imperial War Museum for the annual ceremony at London’s memorial to the fallen Soviet fighters to mark the day the Nazis surrendered and peace broke out in Europe.
The event was attended by war veterans from Britain and the former Soviet Union including members of the Arctic Convoy Club, in their familiar white berets who are regulars at these events, members of the British Legion, who made up the colour party and representatives from almost all the embassies of the former Soviet republics.
There were also representatives of a wide spectrum of progressive parties and organisations, including the New Communist Party, the Communist Party of Britain, the International Brigade Association and Marx House – all regulars at these events.
And there were individuals like a survivor of the Holocaust who had been a child slave of the Nazis until liberated by the Red Army and representatives of the expanding Russian community in London, including many young students from the Russian embassy school.
The ceremony began with a welcoming speech from the mayor of Southwark and the Soviet Memorial Trust fund who organised the event.
There were also speeches from local MP Simon Hughes and the Russian ambassador, Yuri Fedotov.
Then there was the wreath-laying with so many laying flowers – including New Communist Party general secretary Andy Brooks – that it took a long time and left the large stone in front of the memorial totally carpeted with flowers.
Polina Baranova, a teenage student from the Russian embassy, sang, unaccompanied, a melancholy song, Nightingales, that had been popular with Soviet troops during the war.
That was followed by the Last Post, the exhortation: “They shall not grow old…” and the two minutes silence.
Then Ambassador Fedotov invited everyone to toast the victory over Nazism with vodka, wine and food laid on jointly by the embassies.
The atmosphere changed from solemn to celebratory, spontaneous singing and dancing broke out and everyone was talking and laughing with everyone else – across all boundaries of generation, race, nationality and language.
After the event the Arctic Convoy veterans climbed aboard a coach to go to ceremony on board HMS Belfast, moored in the Thames at Southwark for decades now but one of the ships that made the heroic wartime journeys to Archangel and Murmansk, braving nightmare weather and predatory U-boats.
There Ambassador Fedotov honoured the veterans’ dedication and sacrifice and presented medals to them.
Many of them had been teenagers when they made those terrible but vital journeys. Of about 1,400 ships on the 78 convoys, 85 merchant vessels and 16 Royal Navy ships were sunk.



photo:Andy Brooks at the memorial