THE FIFTIETH anniversary of Stalin's death has given the press a new opportunity to misrepresent the real socialist tradition. The Financial Times published a piece by Robert Conquest - friend of Margaret Thatcher - claiming that "it is 35 years since Conquest's book The Great Terror revealed the full depth of Stalin's crimes to the world".
"NO WAR! Blair out!" was the chant as thousands of protesters converged on Manchester city centre from three separate starting points on Saturday of last week. Some 15,000 people defied appalling weather to join the protests, which coincided with International Women's Day.
"THIS IS a very important debate about the future of the labour movement. There are weeks when decades happen. I believe we are in the middle of such weeks. Our country committed a war crime today. Six Iraqi people were killed in an act that went far beyond the government's extraordinarily elastic definition of its legal position.
"THE IDEA for the assembly comes out of the historic demonstration on 15 February when two million people marched against the war. That protest made it clear that people are not only opposed to the war but that they also want to do something to stop it.
PARLIAMENT HAS refused to reflect the will of the majority on the question of war on Iraq. So the People's Assembly will convene in Westminster Central Hall, next to the House of Commons.
THOSE SEEKING to justify war argue that dictators like Saddam Hussein can only be overthrown by military intervention coming from outside their country. But there are many examples of tyrants being overthrown by their own populations.
THE PICTURE of Tony Blair being chauffeured away from parliament said it all. On Wednesday of last week, looking stunned and struggling to keep a stiff upper lip, Blair resembled no one more than Margaret Thatcher in November 1990, as she scuttled away after her resignation.
War is the only way to remove Iraq's brutal dictator, says Tony Blair. His claim is echoed by commentators such as David Aaronovitch, Christopher Hitchens and Nick Cohen. Blair puts to one side the fact that the West hoisted the brutal Iraqi dictator into power.
THE LIE that refugees are living a life of luxury in "soft touch" Britain was exposed in the High Court last week. Judge Justice Collins ruled that New Labour was forcing refugees to face destitution in Britain or return to the persecution they fled from.
ONE OF George Bush's staunchest allies in Latin America had to flee his presidential palace in the Bolivian capital, La Paz, last week. Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, the multimillionaire businessman president, escaped hidden in the back of an ambulance as government buildings in the capital burned.
Nadje al-Ali is a member of Act Together: Women against Sanctions and War on Iraq.
THE PRO-WAR lobby claims that Saddam Hussein has hidden weapons of mass destruction and must be disarmed by military force. We do not know what weapons Iraq really has. The United Nations weapons inspectors have so far found nothing.
