SOCIALIST Worker supporters threw themselves into publicising last Saturday's anti-war demonstration-and at the same time they sold the paper. Leafleting in the run-up to the demo, over 140 papers were sold in just one hour at Tottenham Court Road in London. On the march itself around 2,500 copies were sold.
A mass of anti-war protesters packed the streets of London last Saturday. Exactly one year after the invasion of Iraq, 100,000 people had come to tell Tony Blair that the movement is here to stay. They stretched from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square chanting "No justice, no peace" and "Blair out".
'Nothing has really improved for black people in terms of the institutional racism we face. New Labour ignores us. But there is a thirst for a new political movement.'
POLLY TOYNBEE has produced a neat digest of Downing Street press releases over recent weeks. This is a service to the left, since it allows us to itemise New Labour's defence of government policy and reply point by point.
IN HER Guardian article Polly Toynbee suggested that Labour has reduced child poverty and substantially increased investment in public services, especially in health and education. The conclusion she reaches is that if we want to maintain this progress we should shut up, stop criticising the government and concentrate on fighting the Tories.
'Gordon Brown's budget statement signals an attack on the welfare state. You hear about all these unscrupulous employers who sack their workers by text message or e-mail. Well, the government has gone one better and sacked 40,000 civil servants live on TV.
KEVIN CURRAN, the general secretary of the GMB union, disgracefully praised Gordon Brown's job cuts plans. Curran said, "The chancellor has bravely negotiated cuts in Whitehall departments that will ensure that public service investment reaches communities where it can most help individuals and families." Paul Kenny, head of the London GMB, said he was "mystified and angered" by the comment.
THE ONLY response from home secretary David Blunkett to the bombings in Madrid was to call for more of the repressive measures which failed to prevent the tragedy. Western governments have been locking up hundreds of men for two years, all justified by the claim that a bit of repression is a price worth paying in the "war against terror".
I GOT involved in supporting Rhuhel Ahmed's family in Tipton about a year ago. When the men were first detained there was hostility from the media saying the "Tipton Three" were guilty and fanatics. In that situation the families weren't sure they would get much support from local people.
THE MEDIA coverage marking the 20th anniversary of the Great Miners' Strike has been very mixed. Some of it has provided a glimpse of the solidarity that sustained the strikers and occasionally there have been images showing the violence with which the forces of the state confronted the miners. But in the mainstream media coverage there is an underlying message.
SUPPORT IS flooding in for 4,500 nursery nurses in Scotland who began their third week on all-out strike on Monday. A delegation of strikers arrived in London on Tuesday to spend four days visiting branches and workplaces. The strength of the strike and the solidarity are putting immense pressure on COSLA, the Labour-dominated local employers.
"SOCIALIST WORKER is really hitting the mood," writes Tony Barnsley from the West Midlands. One in five Unison members attending Sandwell General branch's annual general meeting bought a copy of Socialist Worker. In all 21 papers were sold.
