Alys Elica Zaerin, one of the organisers of School Students Against the War, spoke to Socialist Worker about plans by school students to walk out in protest against poverty and war.
Gill Hubbard is one of the organisers of the G8 Alternatives summit on Sunday and the Wednesday demonstration at the Gleneagles Hotel.
Friday 1 JulyG8 Alternatives opening rally5.30pm, Queens Hall, Edinburgh University. Speakers include Dennis Brutus, Haidi Giuliani, Bill Speirs, Mark Ruskell, Trevor Ngwane, Eamonn McCann.International Socialist Tendency meeting7.30pm, Gillis Centre, 100 Strathearn Road, Edinburgh EH9. Speakers include Petros Constantinou from Greece’s SEK, Chris Bambery from Socialist Worker, and a speaker from Spain’s En Lucha.
The spirit of revolt lives on in Portugal in the form of the Bloco de Esquerda, the Left Bloc. This radical left party won eight MPs in the Portuguese general election in February this year.
The Left Bloc began by bringing together people from different traditions of the radical left in Portugal.
ON 25 April 1974 army officers overthrew the 50 year old fascist dictatorship in Portugal. They were disgusted at the wasteful and brutal colonial wars being waged by the Portuguese state in Mozambique, Angola and Guinea-Bissau.
25 April 1974Officers overthrow the Caetano dictatorship. General Spinola appointed president.1 May 1974100,000 people march through Lisbon to celebrate May Day.27-28 September 1974Right plans coup. Spinola calls for demonstration of the "silent majority". Workers build barricades and block bridges. Right wingers arrested. Spinola resigns.11 March 1975Right wing, led by Spinola, attempt coup by attacking left wing soldiers in Lisbon. Workers besiege police barracks and surround the paratroopers attacking the soldiers, arguing with them. Coup peters out and Spinola flees to Brazil.
One of the most important movements in the army was Soldiers United Will Win (SUV).
The industrial district of Setubal was one of the most militant parts of Portugal during the revolution.
British workers were very active in providing solidarity for Portuguese workers before and during the revolution. Bruno Ponte and Clara Queiroz were Portuguese exiles from fascism living in Edinburgh before the 1974 revolution.
Class polarisation in Britain is growing. The figures for the distribution of wealth in society fly in the face of the idea that most people are contented, while only a minority at the bottom face the harsh realities associated with being working class.
Some 83 percent of the British public want Tony Blair to challenge George Bush over the issue of climate change at next month’s G8 summit according to a Guardian/ICM opinion poll. But Blair has shown no sign of being willing to do this.
