4 March At 4pm, all twelve workers were committed, whatever the cost, to occupying the plant and fighting for their rights. These notes are snapshots of the battle for success:
On 15 January I was travelling to a conference against imperialism in Beirut. An official took me aside at Heathrow airport. He asked why I still use the UK Travel Document after 19 years in Britain. This was originally issued to me so I could travel abroad when I had no passport because I was a refugee.
We are paying twice over for this crisis. We have been paying with job losses and cuts since capitalism started to spiral downwards.
What matters most – spending cash to rescue the banks and revive business confidence, or trying to stem Britain’s escalating public deficit?
Wednesday 1 April was one of those days where everything suddenly came together.
Around a sixth of Britain's population – some 11 million people – are pensioners. Yet the basic state pension is just 15 percent of the average wage, down from 25 percent when pensions were first paid in 1909.
Last weekend’s warm-up to the G20 meeting in London next month delivered few tangible results. At their meeting in Sussex, finance ministers resisted US pressure for yet more government spending to prevent the world economy sliding deeper into trouble.
Barack Obama announced the plans for his first budget last week. They reinforced the impression that his presidency marks a clear break from the years of George Bush.
The fascist British National Party (BNP) is gearing up for the European elections to be held on 4 June this year – but anti-fascists are out to stop them.
The new US director of national intelligence, Dennis Blair, last week proclaimed that instability caused by the global economic crisis had outstripped terrorism to become the country’s biggest security threat.
The enemies of the Thai people and Democracy may have their army, courts and prisons. They may have seized and rigged parliament and established the government through crimes like the blockading of the airports and other undemocratic actions by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD).
It’s a bit rich that politicians and big business lined up to lecture us on the virtues of racial tolerance and international solidarity during the recent wildcat strikes.
