Socialist Worker 2383 2013-12-10 17:47:40.0
start lead story
Cash for them, cuts for us: MPs' pay hiked while workers' pay cut
University and college workers struck over pay last week (Pic: Margot Hill) This week MPs learned they are to be awarded a massive £7,600 wage rise—an 11 percent leap. An MP’s annual wage rises from £66,396 to a whopping £74,000, not including their expenses.  Two thirds of MPs told spending watchdog Ipsa they felt underpaid. Although party leaders—who earn even more—have been keen to announce they are against the rise.  They are rightly worried about the reaction of voters at a time when most workers are getting below inflation rises or are suffering pay freezes.  A Joseph Rowntree Foundation study revealed this week that for the first time over half of those living in poverty in Britain are in work. That’s 6.7 million people, an increase of 500,000 from last year. The report stated that average incomes have dropped by 8 percent since 2008.  Labour Research found that the majority of private sector pay deals in 2012-13 delivered below-inflation results.  In 2008-9 the typical private pay settlement was 4 percent. This dropped to 2.5 percent for 2012-13.  It reported that the sum of pay rises negotiated since the recession is around 13 percent. That’s less than the 15 percent rise in the Retail Prices Index (RPI).  It is also less than the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). Both CPI and RPI measure inflation. The government prefers to use CPI as it is often lower than RPI.  Workers who are members of trade unions earn more on average than non-unionised workers. This has remained the case since the crash in 2008.  Collective This is coined as the “union premium” and shows the potential power of collective organisation. But the only pay settlements to keep ahead of inflation since 2008 were in the energy and water sector. Cumulative wage rises in those sectors came to 16.2 percent.  At the other end of the scale was construction in the private sector. Construction workers have seen national pay freezes. Their wage rises reached a total of 8.7 percent over the same period. The lowest cumulative pay settlements have been in the areas covered by public sector employers, so for example 7.6 percent in education and 5.3 percent in health.  With inflation at its current rates such wage rises are effectively a pay cut. Average earnings normally run at a higher figure than pay settlements because they include extras such as overtime and shift payments. But this relationship has changed since 2011.  This shows how much workers are being squeezed in every area of pay and not just on national agreements on the basic rate. The only way workers are going to stop the rot is to get organised and take action.  The MPs’ pay hike is an opportunity to expose the hypocrisy of the politicians who tell us austerity is necessary while they earn nearly three times the national average wage.  It should also be a spur to action.  Any section of workers that fights against below-inflation deals or pay cuts by stealth can lay down a marker for millions of other workers struggling.   Low pay is not inevitable The Tories and the bosses have used the economic crisis to launch an ideological offensive to make people accept that low pay is inevitable.  Low pay can be imposed in different ways. The imposition of flexible or zero hours contracts mean people only get paid when their employers are busy and offer them work shifts.  Many public sector workers have been denied “pay progression” where workers receive an increment at the end of each year in a job, in recognition of the greater experience they have. Around 1.4 million workers are “underemployed”. That means they work part time but want to work full time. It’s the highest figure in 20 years.

end lead story 

start story
Things They Say
‘Hang Nelson Mandela’ A Tory poster in 1985   ‘This hero worship is very much misplaced’ John Carlisle MP, on the Free Nelson Mandela concert 1990   ‘The ANC is a typical terrorist organisation ... Anyone who thinks it is going to run the government in South Africa is living in cloud cuckoo land’  Former Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1987   ‘How much longer will the prime minister allow herself to be kicked in the face by this black terrorist?’  Tory MP Terry Dicks, 1980s   ‘Nelson Mandela should be shot’  Tory MP Teddy Taylor, 1980s   ‘We were proved right’ Lord Tebbit shares what passes for a thought on the death of Nelson Mandela and defends Tory policy on South Africa in the 1980s
end story 

start story
Letters
Malnutrition is all we can afford with the bedroom tax I am affected by bedroom tax for the second time this year and it scares the hell out of me. Last time I lost a stone in weight because I could not afford to eat properly. I have lived in a two bedroom home since 1978 and gave up my job when I was nearly 40 to care for my mum who had a stroke. I thought I’d get a job easy but two years on with my savings gone, I was still out of work and hit by the bedroom tax. To survive I treated it as a war situation—by rationing food and heating. That’s what people in our situation have to do. This government has declared war on its own people. I’ve spoken at the Benefits for Justice Summit in London, the People’s Assembly, Manchester TUC, and local bedroom tax group meetings.   One lady told me that she ate one meal a day because she would rather her disabled husband had the food. This was because she had to pay bedroom tax. It is a diet of malnutrition. In July I was lucky enough to get a full-time job. This didn’t stop me campaigning because I knew I was one of the lucky ones. I was earning enough to buy decent food and last month I was back to my fighting fit weight of 8 stone. But on 22 November I was made redundant suddenly without warning and thrown out of work with the rest of my colleagues. I have my heating off as I am scared to put it on. I haven’t yet started rationing my food again but know I will have to soon.  I never thought I’d see any legislation worse than the Poll Tax.  The bedroom tax is the nastiest legislation ever. Even the Poll Tax had exemptions for the unemployed and sick whereas the bedroom tax deliberately targets the vulnerable, sick and disabled. I am scared to death. But I am determined to survive, and survive I must because I am that inspiration to others to fight back.   Maria Brabiner Salford Derry murals take on the Turner Prize Our Turner mural is a printed banner of our painting on freedom of speech targeted by power elites in need for secrecy. We use art as a critical weapon against hypocrisy and exploitation. Our Turner banner is not sour grapes. The elitest competition, held in Derry, Northern Ireland this year, is one of the more insidious forms of cultural control.  Since the 1998 peace accord Sinn Fein and DUP Unionists have tried to rob the world famous murals of Bogside Artists, Tom Kelly, William Kelly and Kevin Hasson of all historical and artistic significance. Thousands come here from all over the world to see our art work. The Turner Prize cannot claim to support freedom of expression while supporting the outright state-controlled suppression of the Bogside Artists. Bogside Artists www.bogsideartists.com Law Society must fight criminal legal aid cuts  The Law Society has been forced to call a special general meeting. It faces a motion of no confidence tabled by over 100 solicitors angry at the Society’s handling of opposition to the proposed cuts to criminal legal aid. The Law Society struck a rotten deal while the opposition to the cuts was growing, without discussing it with the solicitors.  One solicitor said, “Solicitors are fed up of the Law Society. We have been bashed for years by the government and instead of defending us they only seem to care about giving us more regulation. The latest sellout was the final straw.” The meeting will be held on Tuesday 17 December, 10.30am at the Law Society’s Hall, 113 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1PL  Name withheld South London Breaking up solidarity?  I agreed with most of your article, “Down with the union—support Scottish independence” (Socialist Worker, 17 Sept). However, I was under the impression that socialism meant solidarity of the working class and that the Scottish working class would be walking away from their fellow working class in the rest of Britain. The article says, “But the break up of Britain would be a small victory.” I am confused as to how breaking up Britain would therefore be a small victory for the working class?  Name withheld by email Union can beat Ineos Ineos’ billionaire owner Jim Ratcliffe is now looking to make 200 workers at Grangemouth redundant. Len McCluskey and the Unite leadership have seen where industrial passivity has got them.  They must now fight for every job at Grangemouth. The refinery provides Scotland with 70 percent of its fuel. That gives the workers enormous power should they occupy the refinery and negotiate from a position of strength. The Grangemouth experience proves that submission to the bosses’ demands brings workers nothing but more attacks. Unite must lead a fight at Grangemouth. There IS power in a union—but only if that power is used. Sasha Simic East London
end story 

start story
Reports round-up
Join Portsmouth march for shipbuilding jobs BAe Systems workers and their supporters are set to march in Portsmouth to save shipbuilding jobs and skills on Saturday of this week. The Unite union called the march. Its leader Len McCluskey is set to address a rally. Plans to close the plant would cost hundreds of jobs and end 500 years of shipbuilding in Portsmouth. Assemble Victory Gate, Queen Street, 11am. March 12 noon. Rally Guildhall Square, 12.30pm Rentokil cleaners come out for a living wage Cleaners in the RMT union working for Rentokil Initial on East Midlands Trains struck for 48 hours on Friday and Saturday of last week.   They previously struck for 48 hours in September for a living wage and better sick and holiday pay. ‘3 Cosas’ strikers call new dates Cleaners in the IWGB union at the University of London working for Balfour Beatty have announced a three-day strike for 27-29 January. Their “3 Cosas” campaign is named for the three things they want—sick pay, holiday pay and pensions. Their strike in early December won some improved holiday and sick pay. Cleaners' meeting demands Justice for Christmas  London cleaners plan to rally for Justice for Christmas at the House of Commons on Wednesday of this week with films, reports and speakers. They will include cleaners in the RMT union on the trains at Paddington and Kings Cross and those in IWGB union including the “3 Cosas”, University of London cleaners. Progress on tube suspends action The RMT union suspended a planned one-day strike of drivers on London Underground’s Piccadilly Line on Wednesday of last week.  The union said progress had been made in negotiations. Workers had voted by 88 percent for action over bosses ripping up their agreements. Vote yes in London Underground ticket office closure ballot  Tube workers in the RMT union on London Underground are campaigning for a yes vote in their strike ballot.  They are voting on action against up to 1,000 job cuts, slashed wages and plans to close every ticket office.  The ballot is set to close on 10 January.
end story 

start story
Humbug - a darkly comic tale for Christmas
Victorian London is replaced by modern Cardiff in this darkly comic interpretation of Charles Dickens’ classic redemption tale A Christmas Carol by the Leftfield Theatre Company. With the help of three job?weary ghosts Ebs must face the wrongs he has done to his wife, his best friend, his community and ultimately himself. It uses modern dance and theatre to look beyond the Christian ethics of Dickens’ original to a more social analysis of a person’s place in the modern world and how it can go wrong. Humbug, directed by Rowena Moreno, Chapter Theatre, Cardiff, 18-20 December £10/£8. chapter.org
end story 

start story
Ofsted lines up with hated Michael Gove
The hated schools inspectorate Ofsted was set to publish its annual report as Socialist Worker went to press. Ofsted boss Sir Michael Wilshaw was expected to blame children’s low achievement on teachers. This is the same man who argued it was fine for schools to employ unqualified teachers earlier this month. His comments followed education secretary Michael Gove’s move to allow academies to hire teachers with no teaching qualifications. Wilshaw was also expected to focus on the failings of white working class children. This will be music to the ears of racists who claim that not enough is being done for white people. Wilshaw’s report is expected to call for “incentives” to improve schools. Gove wants to drive through performance-related pay for teachers. Gove’s attacks on education harm all working class children, of whatever ethnic background. And Wilshaw is adding to the damage.  
end story 

start story
UCU higher education committee discusses further action
The lecturers’ UCU union held a special higher education committee on Friday of last week. It followed a successful walkout by UCU, Unison, EIS and Unite union members on Tuesday of last week. The action, against below-inflation pay deals, hit colleges and universities across Britain. The success of the strike showed workers’ willingness to fight. Jo is a Unite member at the University of Leeds. She told Socialist Worker, “We had a lot of solidarity. People are discussing taking action in January during exams. There’s a real sense that this is a serious campaign.” Jake Douglas is joint branch secretary of the UCU at the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London. He said, “The strike was very solid. I’m feeling more confident than I have for a long time.” Max Watson, a Unison member at London Metropolitan University, said last week’s walkout was stronger than a previous strike in October. He told a rally in London, “We’re not going to give up.” Unions have not yet announced their next steps. The further education committee of the UCU is set to meet in January. But many workers clearly want to see escalating action and a serious campaign that can win.  
end story 

start story
Steel workers hold sit-ins and strikes in Egypt
Over 300 iron and steel workers demonstrated in central Cairo, Egypt’s capital city, on Monday of this week.  They gathered outside the Holding Company for Metallurgical Industries. Up to 5,000 workers have been taking part in two weeks of sit-ins at the Helwan Iron and Steel factory.  They are demanding the payment of 16 months worth of promised bonuses. The workers also want  the sacking of managers and the reinstatement of sacked workers. Workers left a number of strikers inside the Helwan factory to maintain the sit-in as others marched.  Some days before the steel workers welded the gates of the factory shut.  The Revolutionary Front, which unites the Revolutionary Socialists and other activists, is organising solidarity with strikers.   
end story 

start story
Drive for profit puts cyclists in danger on the roads
Cyclists stage a "die-in" in London to protest against cycling deaths (Pic: Socialist Worker)  The number of cyclists killed or seriously injured on London’s roads has soared by 50 percent since Tory Boris Johnson became the capital’s mayor. Some 445 were killed or seriously injured in 2008, the year Johnson was elected. By 2012 the figure had risen to 671. This can’t be explained away by the fact that there are more cyclists on the roads. The rate of deaths and serious injuries has risen every year since 2009. Johnson promised a “cycling revolution” in London. He made much of his cycle hire scheme and investment in cycle “superhighways” (see box). And he claims that cycling is becoming safer. Yet the deaths of six cyclists on London’s roads in a fortnight put him under huge pressure last month. Many people want to know how to keep cyclists safe on London’s congested streets. Figures for deaths on London’s roads have stayed relatively similar over the past decade. Some 14 cyclists have been killed on London’s roads so far this year, compared to 14 last year and 16 in 2011. Yet serious injuries have rocketed. Clogged Larger numbers of cyclists are competing for space on increasingly traffic-clogged roads. The number of daily cycling journeys has tripled since 2001 to more than 570,000, according to Transport for London (TfL).  London traffic rose in the last year after a decade-long decline. Cars make up the overwhelming majority of this traffic. They accounted for almost 80 percent of average daily traffic flows in London in 2010.  Smaller trucks and vans made up 12 percent, while Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) made up five percent.  Motorbikes, buses and bicycles made up the rest—a miniscule 3 percent. People are pushed to use cars or bikes to get around because we don’t have an efficient, affordable public transport system. The way that our cities are thought out space is used create major problems for safety. Streets account for 80 percent of London’s public spaces. But most of the space is prioritised for motorised vehicles, not the people that live in them. One statistic that doesn’t grab much media attention is the number of pedestrian deaths on London’s roads.  They account for half of all deaths and almost 40 percent of serious injuries are on London roads. The key question isn’t who is jumping red lights, or whether cyclists wear helmets.  The real problem is that the Tory “cycling mayor” has prioritised keeping traffic and profits flowing over creating safe cycling and streets for ordinary people. Stop Killing Cyclists protest—Thursday 19 December, 7.30am-8.30am, Vauxhall Cross, London SW8 1SR   A bonanza for Boris Boris Johnson’s “cycling revolution” has amounted to introducing a cycle hire scheme and putting some expensive blue paint on the roads. The hire scheme is sponsored by a bank and run by a security firm. And the paint cost up to £4 million per mile. Barclays bank has done well out of the deal. The cycle hire scheme allows its logo to invade our space on 4,000 bikes being ridden across the city. Barclays promised to invest £50 million when the hire scheme launched in 2010.  By the end of last year it had paid less than £14 million. The scheme was originally promised to be self-funding. It is now projected to cost us £225 million by 2015/16. Some two million young people could have been given a free bike for the same amount of money. And as with other travel fares Johnson has put up the prices. Cycle hire fees doubled in January. Hires have dropped by a third compared to this time last year. Cops clampdown on cyclists Cyclists are to blame for last month’s spate of deaths for not taking enough care on the roads, according to Boris Johnson. Cops appeared at 166 London road junctions almost immediately. They have harassed cyclists for not wearing helmets or having no lights, even in daylight. “Operation Safeway” turned out to be an opportunity for cops to hit their monthly targets for issuing fines. In the words of Inspector Colin Davies, of the Metropolitan Police’s South East Area Traffic Garage, “Officers have four months to do 40 cycle tickets. Ten per month.” Cyclists are understandably angry. Keeping safe on the roads may well lead them to break road traffic laws due to some of the dangerous cycle routes that exist. At London’s Vauxhall Bridge junction a separate cycle lane stops suddenly, forcing cyclists to rejoin traffic at a left hand turn.  These are precisely the kind of dangerous junctions where a cyclist can end up in a blind spot of a HGV driver. A safety-conscious cyclist would avoid such a situation and use a wide pavement instead but would be deemed to be breaking the law and be fined. Tory twaddle over deaths  Tory Lord James of Blackheath thinks London cyclists like to “stand in the middle of the road with a camera, and defy you to run them down while they photograph you doing it”.  “That’s what they’re longing for,” he added, during a recent debate on cycling. Fatalities link to big trucks Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) feature disproportionately highly in cycling fatalities.  They make up roughly 5 percent of London’s traffic. Yet nine of the 14 deaths in London so far this year involved HGVs. Trucks and bicycles should be structurally separated by having cycle routes with no HGVs.
end story 

start story
Kill Your Darlings - a tragic Beats biopic that reveals a love worth howling about
Daniel RaDcliffe as Allen Ginsberg and Dane DeHaan as Lucien Carr in Kill Your Darlings Kill Your Darlings is a daring project which attempts to bring to life the early years of three of the founding Beat authors, Allen Ginsberg and his contemporaries William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac. For many, the Beats helped to define a generation of defiance against the status quo of consumerism, sexual repression and conservatism associated with the post-war boom years. Any attempt to bring their story to life is a steep challenge. The plot centres on the murder of David Kammerer by Lucien Carr, that shaped the future of all three writers.  The two men were part of the underground Beat scene in Manhattan, and close friends of all three writers. It was Ginsberg’s relationship with Lucien Carr that inspired him to later write his famous poem Howl, which lashed out against the pressure to conform within capitalist society. The film follows young Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe) from his impoverished home in Paterson, New Jersey to his first year at Columbia University on a scholarship.  Expelled Here he meets Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan), a wealthy, hedonistic and temperamental young man who has already been expelled from two Ivy League universities. Ginsberg is swept up in Carr’s whirl-wind life of downtown parties, jazz, drink, smoke—and, once he’s introduced to Burroughs, the amphetamine benzedrine. Some scenes take on a scattered, jazz-like rhythm appropriate for the film’s Beat Generation theme. It also has moments of thriller-like suspension and others of high impact dramatic tension. But it is all being painted too pretty and fantastical. While the acting includes outstanding performances, at times the actors come across as if playing iconic characters from history rather than real people. The closest it gets to grappling with the struggle which shaped Ginsberg’s poetry and made him such an iconic radical artist is its depiction of his relationship with Carr. There is a strong connecton between the two. The film shows their love as part of a mutual quest for new beginnings, within a society intolerant of homosexuality. The most redeeming feature of the film is the way it portrays Ginsberg awakening to his sexuality and the pain of realising not only that his love is unaccepted in society, but his lover has murdered a friend, which will separate them permanently. In this it begins to grasp the contradiction of the Beats: their hedonistic rejection of society could only go as far as they could will it to.   Kill Your Darlings is on general release
end story 

start story
Veteran Tory faces abuse questioning
A former Tory cabinet minister is to be questioned by the Metropolitan Police over allegations of child abuse. A video and a number of photographs allegedly place the ex-MP at one of several parties where boys were sexually abused. The veteran Tory is understood to deny any wrongdoing.  Detectives used pictures of a victim who came forward when he was a boy to cross reference with those of him at the party. The witness said, “The police tell me that they have photographic evidence that I went to these parties.” While the photographs and video allegedly place the ex-minister and the victim at a party, they do not prove that the former politician carried out any abuse. The Crown Prosecution Service is set to drop some charges against two people in connection with abusing boys at Elm Guest House in the London borough of Richmond.  Separately the police made a decision to release without charge Harry Kasir, the former co-manager of the guest house. John Stingemore who used to run Grafton Close children’s home in Richmond and Father Tony McSweeney still face child abuse charges. They are due to appear in court on Thursday of next week.  
end story 

start story
News in brief
It’s a recovery—but whose? The majority of people believe the Tories that the economy is recovering, a new poll shows. But 70 percent say they do not feel they are getting any benefits from it. Protester won’t be deported A judge has overturned home secretary Theresa May’s decision to deny a visa to protester Trenton Oldfield.  He faced being deported to Australia despite living in Britain since 2001. Trenton was jailed for six weeks after he disrupted the Oxford-Cambridge boat race last year.  Minister denies benefit debacle Benefits minister Iain Duncan Smith insisted last week that “there’s no debacle” in his flagship plan to combine benefits into a single Universal Credit. It emerged that more than £40 million spending had to be written off and hundreds of thousands of people still won’t be on it by 2017.  
end story 

start story
Firefighters’ strikes need to ‘escalate to win’ on pensions
Striking firefighters and supporters in October in north London (Pic: Emma Davis) The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has announced two further strikes in the row over pensions. Workers in England and Wales were set to walk out on Friday and Saturday of this week. Both strikes begin at 6pm and end at 10pm.  The walkouts will be the fifth and sixth times workers have struck this year. The strikes were called after FBU general secretary Matt Wrack attended a round table discussion with the government on Wednesday of last week. Firefighters are furious about a proposed rise in pension contributions that would see most workers paying £4,000 a year towards their pensions. That’s  14.2 percent of their pay—one of the most expensive schemes. “They’re trying to price firefighters out of a pension scheme,” Simon Hickman, FBU rep at Agecroft fire station in Greater Manchester, told Socialist Worker. Tory fire minister Brandon Lewis has also withdrawn a pension offer he made in June. This was for pension contributions to be an average of 13.2 percent of firefighters’ wages. Capability Simon said, “The government is being intransigent. They don’t seem to be interested in anything the union has to say.” The new scheme also expects firefighters to work until they are 60—up from 55. And the government wants to make it easier to sack workers under capability assessments if they fail to maintain the required  standard of fitness. In a provocative move Greater Manchester fire bosses have sacked a firefighter under capability assessments. Such sackings will become more common if the government push their proposals through. Workers will be robbed of their contributions, which are deferred wages, if they fail to maintain fitness standards. Demands  Firefighters taking home £1,650 a month and paying £340 a month into the  pension scheme face a retirement pension of £9,000 a year if they can’t work after age 55. Some will have been paying into their pension fund for 35 years. Previously firefighters in Scotland weren’t included in any action because the union said it was making progress in negotiations with their employer. But now firefighters in England, Wales and Scotland have voted by 86 percent to support further industrial action on top of strikes. Control staff will now also be involved in action. But this can’t substitute for strikes. “We can only force the government into serious negotiations by escalating strikes,” said Simon. “A lot of firefighters nationally, including in Scotland, are looking for action around Christmas and New Year to put the pressure on. “We need more of these shorter strikes, or for a longer duration. Only strikes can win.”  
end story 

start story
Thailand government forced to call general elections in Thailand
The government in Thailand has called a general election for 2 February following mass protests. Around 150,000 protesters targeted government headquarters on Monday of this week. Protesters demanded that prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra resign before the election. She has refused to do so. The protests are couched in the language of democracy but are reactionary. So protesters say that they want to replace the government with a “People’s Council”—but this would be unelected. The protests are mostly made up of middle class royalists. Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban has called for the “restoration of an absolute monarchy”. He said protests will continue.
end story 

start story
LGBT protesters say Pride not profit
Protesters demand Pride not profit in Manchester's Gay Village (Pic: Martin Empson) A small demonstration took place in Manchester’s Gay Village last Saturday to reclaim Pride, the annual LGBT festival. The simple demand was to ask the Pride Board what they do with Pride’s money. Just £36,100—or 3.7 percent—went to charity or good causes in 2012 and no explanation was given for the rest. David McAdam  Sign the petition at chn.ge/1ksluwM
end story 

start story
Happy Lands competition result
Thanks to all who entered our competition to win a copy of The Happy Lands on DVD. We asked when the 1926 general strike began, and many of you correctly answered 3 May. Congratulations to our winners Anne Sneddon, John Ross, RG Charles, Ronnie Scott and Valerie Giaconi. Your DVDs are on the way.
end story 

start story
Get ready to stand up to racism across Europe
Anti-racists kept the Nazis out of East London last September A coalition of activists plans to organise a Stand Up to Racism demonstration next spring. It is a response to the call from Greek anti-racists for solidarity action across Europe next March against the rise of Golden Dawn. Supporters so far include Diane Abbott MP, Peter Hain MP, Claude Moraes MEP, Azad Ali (Engage), Anas Altikriti (Cordoba Foundation), Christine Blower (NUT), Bob Crow (RMT),  Liz Fekete (IRR), Lindsey German (StWC), Frances O’Grady (TUC), Billy Hayes (CWU), Zita Holbourne (Barac), Sally Hunt (UCU), Owen Jones, Paul Kenny (GMB), Aaron Kiely (NUS), Mohammed Kozbar (BMI), Len McClusky (Unite), Farooq Murad (MCB), Dave Prentis (Unison), Mark Serwotka (PCS), Leon Silver (East London Central Synagogue), Michelle Stanistreet (NUJ), Matt Wrack (FBU), Salma Yaqoob and Weyman Bennett (UAF). For full list see bit.ly/1d4TE71  Stand up to Racism! Saturday 22 March, 11am, central London uaf.org.uk
end story 

start story
Chris Maguire 1952-2013
It is with sadness that we report the suicide of Chris Maguire. Like a large number of working class kids from the estates of Leeds, he found a communal voice for his ideas in the Socialist Workers Party in 1978.  Chris never lost his belief that socialism could open up the human spirit.  He loved his music and his socialism. Both went with him through the streets of Leeds. But he was forced to leave the city to find work.  He always came back though. He was part of the generation that hung around the infamous Roscoe pub.  This was where Leeds Rock Against Racism was set up.  Chris was well known in Leeds punk music circles. He even played in his own band at one time. He had a sharp laugh, a bad moustache and a dry, Yorkshire appreciation of the absurd.  He was an active member of the Anti Nazi League and went on countless demonstrations against racism. And he’d confront the vicious local fascists every week when we sold Socialist Worker in the centre of Leeds.  For many years, Chris worked for a church-based housing association but, hounded by constant and persistent bullying, one day he left and took out a grievance against them.  This was the start of a bitter and protracted process which left him physically exhausted. It was compounded by a string of tragic bereavements.  Chris fell into a deep depression which would leave him unable to speak to people for days on end. He was left incapable of work.  Atos summoned him before a tribunal and declared him fit for work. On appeal, the judge decided he was unfit and instructed Atos to “leave this man alone for at least a year”.  That was about six weeks ago. Cheered by this result, Chris appeared more chipper than he had done in years. But without any real income and relentlessly harassed by the authorities, he fell into despair once again. Chris took his own life at his flat in Horsforth, Leeds.  He left a note for his friends quoting Shelley’s poem The Mask of Anarchy “Rise like Lions after slumber In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew Which in sleep had fallen on you— Ye are many—they are few.” Rest in peace, dear brother. Funeral: Rawdon Crematorium, Leeds, 11am, Tuesday 17 December
end story 

start story
Tories talk up a crisis in education then try to make it worse
Gove wants more and more tests The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) issued the latest of its three year reports on education earlier this month.  Known as Pisa—Programme for International Assessment—this report analyses the performance of 15 year old school students in mathematics, reading and science in 65 countries.  The UK failed to make the top 20. Tory education secretary Michael Gove claimed that UK performance in these tests had been at best stagnant, at worst declining, since the 1990s. Before we go further down the road of returning to the old “talk and chalk” formal education we need to consider these figures. As any teacher knows, it is extremely difficult to compare progress between pupils within an individual class—never mind between schools.  To make a comparison across nations is extremely difficult. The OECD website has a mass of data with graphs to attempt to overcome all the factors that affect such comparisons. These include test score gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils and the relative numbers of such pupils.  It also includes the trends in scores by different social classes and the fact that pupils in different countries respond differently to international tests. Then there are different cultures and attitudes to education in general and to tests in particular. Several interesting facts emerge.  Finland, the most consistent high performer over the three reports, has the least selective system. It has the most comprehensive system in the world and no inspectors. It also has no examinations before 18 years old and a national curriculum that is only broadly defined.  Yet Sweden has plummeted down the score tables since the introduction of free schools. The focus of the 2012 Pisa  test in mathematics was on the capacity of the individual to formulate, employ and interpret mathematics in a variety of contexts. This does not suggest that the best way to teach mathematics is through the formal methods that Gove and his allies advocate.  It is also very worrying how the OECD set out the six levels of difficulty that they use to assess the pupils being tested. They state that “low proficiency” pupils will be unable to tackle the top five levels of difficulty and are probably unable to tackle even the lowest level.  What type of teacher would set pupils a test when they are unable to answer any of the questions? The report also states that the educational experience of pupils throughout the world is very different. Yet it also states that all pupils will be competing for the same types of jobs and therefore it is necessary to carry out this type of comparison.  Clearly their view is that education is concerned with preparing cogs to go into the machine of business. There is far more to education than equipping students for work.  Of far more importance is the development of individual personalities to enable young people to become creative and whole. Then they can participate in all aspects of society with a will and a mind to bring about those changes that will benefit all of us. The OECD has its agenda— it’s not the same as ours. We have to challenge these distortions and press for a fully comprehensive system of education that meets the needs of all our young people.  
end story 

start story
People's Assemblies get organised to take on Tory austerity
The People’s Assembly held its first national meeting for representatives of local groups last Saturday.  Some 60 people discussed a national action plan and a People’s Assembly conference next spring. Upbeat reports described successful launch meetings around Britain.  The organisation’s “hands off our unions” statement has gathered thousands of signatures. The meeting agreed a series of priorities. These include a student week of action, budget day protests and support for a Unite Against Fascism national protest on 22 March. Pete Jackson Around 250-300 people attended the south London People’s Assembly conference at Goldsmiths College on Saturday of last week.  Speakers including Owen Jones, Lindsey German and Lee Jasper addressed two plenary sessions. Fourteen workshops covered issues including fighting benefit cuts, defending the NHS and fighting racism. There were quite a few new people there. In the final plenary Jack Monroe gave a moving speech about living in poverty as a single parent.  It reinforced the need to build a movement against austerity. Ian Crosson
end story 

start story
France deploys more than 1,600 troops into Central African Republic
French defence minister Yves Le Drian Over 1,600 French troops are now deployed in the Central African Republic (CAR).  The United Nations (UN) Security Council authorised this deployment and African intervention on Thursday of last week. “We are intervening for humanitarian reasons,” French president Francois Hollande said. “There are no terrorists in Central African Republic.” Around 300 people are believed to have died in sectarian clashes in the days before the deployment. French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said last Sunday, “It’s from tomorrow that the disarmament will start. First we’ll ask nicely and if they don't react, we’ll do it by force.” Militias that used to be part of the Seleka rebel alliance are reported to be acting as bandits.  Some groups are backed by foreign mercenaries. The country has a majority Christian population, but the Seleka largely came from the Muslim minority.  A recent UN report blamed these militias for “arbitrary arrests and detention, sexual violence against women and children, torture, rape, targeted killings, recruitment of child soldiers, and attacks.” Anti-Seleka groups have accused the militias of attacking Christians and have retaliated with attacks on Muslims. France and other Western powers are in competition with China to gain access to the country’s resources—from timber to uranium.  Under Hollande’s government since May 2012 France has intervened in Africa in Ivory Coast, Somalia, Mali and now CAR. As in Mali, the British government has offered support into the intervention. In this case this is likely to be military equipment on a C-17 transport aircraft.  The French government is out to rebuild its influence and prestige in Africa. It says that its interventions, unlike those of China, are made in the interests of local people and with the agreement of local governments.  More than 40 African leaders met before the deployment. French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said, “We can sell Airbuses, food. We can invest. The interest of Africa and the interest of Europe, notably France, is to move closer together.” If this was true it would be a first.  France, like other colonial powers, used its military and economic strength to bully and dominate its former colonies.  CAR was ruled for years by the brutal dictator Jean-Bedel Bokassa, who was supported by the French.  
end story 

start story
Copland High school Santa strike
Teachers at Copland High school in Brent, north London, struck on Tuesday of last week. Dressed as Santas they protested outside Wembley Ark Academy to protest at their school being forced into the Ark academy chain. Teachers say unless their concerns are taken seriously they will strike again on 17 December and in January (Pic: Hank Roberts)  
end story 

start story
Don’t force Elton Community Primary School to become an academy
About 120 people demonstrated outside Elton Community Primary School in Bury on 2 December against it being forced into becoming an academy.  Two Tory governors had to wait outside the school while parents, current students, ex-students, trade unionists and Labour councillors shouted their disapproval. Everyone agreed that forcing the change would do the school no good at all.  People were pleasantly surprised at the good turnout.  It was pointed out to the Tory governors that the community and the parents in particular were completely opposed to the school becoming an academy.   One man listed all the members of his family who had started at Elton primary and since gone on to become well qualified doctors, engineers, and biochemists. Anti Academies Alliance AGM The Anti Academies Alliance will hold its Annual General Meeting on Saturday 25 January. The meeting will take place from 1pm to 4pm in central London. Go to antiacademies.org.uk for details.  
end story 

start story
Lawyer in Mark Duggan inquest asks cop if an officer 'planted' gun
Firearms officer pointing to where it is alleged a gun was found (Pic: Mark Duggan Inquest) The coroner in the inquest into the police shooting of Mark Duggan began his summing up this week. Judge Keith Cutler told jurors that their decision would help to “establish the truth” about the events leading up to Mark’s death on 4 August 2011. He told them to consider their conclusions based on the evidence they’ve heard over the weeks. The jury has now heard the last of the oral evidence in the inquest. A firearms officer, only known as V59, was recalled to give evidence on Thursday of last week. V59 denied lying in his testimony. Leslie Thomas, who represents Mark’s family, questioned how he knew where the gun was before it was allegedly found.  In his statement written in the days after the shooting V59 said that another officer, known as R31, had informed him that a gun had been found near to where Mark was shot.  He said that when armed response officers arrived on the scene he told them to go and secure the firearm. He repeated this in further statements given in January and May 2012 and again when he gave evidence earlier in the inquest.  The inquest had been shown video footage which shows the gun allegedly being found 34 seconds after V59 initially said he had told the armed response officers to secure it. Firearms He told the inquest that he had only just noticed the error in his chronology and had in fact told the officers to go and secure the scene of the shooting, as opposed to the firearm.  Leslie Thomas said, “I’m going to suggest to you, V59, so you can deal with it, that you knew where the gun was before the officers had gone round because you and/or your colleague had planted it there.” V59 replied, “Mr Thomas I find that deeply offensive. My team are very professional.” The inquest also heard from the witness who filmed the footage out of the window of their flat. Witness B lived on Ferry Lane close to the site of the shooting. They told the inquest that they saw Mark exit the taxi and run in the direction of Tottenham Hale station.  When an officer blocked his way, Mark turned back and got a few steps before being shot twice by an armed officer. The witness said he looked “baffled” as he raised his hands, clutching what the witness said he was certain was a Blackberry phone in his right hand. Thomas asked, “I would describe that as surrendering. Is that how you would describe it?” Witness B responded, “yes”. Thomas asked, “Is there any doubt whatsoever that there was a phone, as opposed to a gun, in Mark Duggan’s hand?” Witness B replied, “It was a phone. Like I’ve always said from day one. It was a phone.” The jury are set to retire to consider their conclusions this week.
end story 

start story
Mass meeting shows mood to stop Sheffield council pay cut
More than 400 council workers attended a mass meeting on Monday of this week to discuss a proposed pay cut by Sheffield council.  The workers, in the GMB, Unison and Unite unions, were extremely angry. Many have already had huge pay cuts from recent “pay and grading” changes. The bosses’ new proposal will leave some around £3,000 worse off over three years. Sheffield council wants to get rid of the incremental pay progression that reflects the experience workers build up each year. The meeting reflected anger that the Labour-run council isn’t standing up to the government and that unions should lead a militant campaign against the attacks.  The unions are holding indicative ballots until the end of this month. If workers reject the proposals, they will move to ballot for action. Bea Kay Workers at South Gloucestershire council have voted by 66 percent to accept an offer from bosses.  The offer gives workers the equivalent of one year’s enhanced Saturday pay. But the Unison union members are still angry at the council’s removal of enhanced Saturday pay—an average pay cut of 10 percent. The workers struck several times against the attack. The offer will give workers more money than they lost by striking. But it still represents a serious attack.
end story 

start story
Reinstate sacked hospital rep Charlotte Monro
Over 80 health workers and NHS activists protested outside Royal London Hospital, east London, on Wednesday of last week against the sacking of Charlotte Monro. She is an occupational therapist and Unison union rep who worked at Whipps Cross Hospital—now part of Barts Health trust—for 26 years. She has appealed but the result probably won’t be known until next week. She was sacked after she talked to the Scrutiny Committee about staff worries over cuts at Barts Health.  Bosses are slashing staff and wages because of the PFI debt that cost £2 million each week. Bosses maintain that Charlotte was sacked for giving “inaccurate information” but have not said what this was. Send messages of support to unisonunion@tiscali.co.uk Go to saveournhs-el.org.uk  
end story 

start story
Support socialist journalists in Greece as court case against Workers Solidarity begins
Panos Garganas, editor of Workers Solidarity on a strike demonstration in Greece (Pic: Workers Solidarity) Support has poured in from across Greece for the newspaper Workers Solidarity, Socialist Worker’s sister publication. Its editor Panos Garganas, journalist Katerina Thoidou and publisher Tasos Anastasiades were set to stand trial on Thursday of this week. They are accused of  defamation by Ioannis Andriopoulos, a lawyer on the Golden Dawn payroll. The accusation relates to an article about his attempt to overturn a law granting citizenship to second generation migrants. “We’ve seen a wave of solidarity,” Panos told Socialist Worker. “As well as many unions we’re now seeing local councils pass resolutions to support us. The courts have to take this into account.” Journalists’ union leader Dimitris Trimis has pledged to testify that the article was true and that they should have the freedom to say it. Supporters of the paper say workers are rallying to defend it. “We’ve gathered dozens of signatures from the Agios Savvas hospital,” said Stella Myrisioti in Athens.  “Many people tell us they will be there outside the court. They are angry that the murderous gang of fascists dares, after all its crimes, to try to sue the anti-fascists.” The trial is one of several court battles against fascism currently underway in Greece. The Keerfa anti-racist and anti-fascist coalition is supporting the family of murdered Pakistani worker Shehzad Luqman.  The state has tried to keep the trial of his murder separate from the trial of Golden Dawn’s leaders, even though one of the alleged killers had Golden Dawn leaflets. The trial of Workers Solidarity is also an attack on the left and the workers’ movement that has made life hard for the Greek government. The government only just got its next budget through parliament last week. It faces ongoing strikes in health and education. Hospital worker Maria Alifieri said, “We have been fighting closures and layoffs, and against the Golden Dawn Nazis’ attempt to organise blood donation for ‘Greeks only’. “Workers Solidarity supported all these struggles. Many hospital workers buy and read it.” Workers who occupied state broadcaster ERT for almost six months to stop its closure have also pledged to support the paper. ERT occupier Gavrilos Kasimatis said, “Throughout our fight Workers Solidarity showed us solidarity and now we must do the same. “We will be outside the courts, and call on everyone who supported us to support Workers Solidarity as well”. Thanks to Nikos Loudos, Aleka Donou and Workers Solidarity journalists Solidarity picket at the Greek Embassy, London Wednesday 11 December, 1-2pm, 1A Holland Park, W11 3TP. Messages of protest to gremb.lon@mfa.gr for the attention of Ambassador Konstantinos Bikas, Embassy of Greece, London. Send financial support—details at bit.ly/1iQDEdH
end story 

start story
Beyond El Dorado - the looted treasures of a civilisation drowned in blood
The beginning of the modern country of Colombia was the end of a much longer history. More than 95 percent of the area’s indigenous population died out within 100 years of the first European settlement—from famine, disease, slavery or murder. These had been complex and highly developed societies, with evidence of irrigation, farming and states going back almost 2,000 years in some areas. Invading Conquistadors ran amok in search of gold. They were driven in part by the legend of El Dorado based on exaggerated reports of rituals at the sacred mountain lake Guatavita. A British company eventually succeeded in draining the lake in 1910, and found only £500 worth of loot. Some of the gold behind the frenzied myth is on display in the British Museum’s Beyond  El Dorado exhibition. Gold marked a threshold between life and death. There are tiny, delicate figures of people and animals to hide in important places. And brash chest and face decorations for warriors and chiefs. Skilled artisans used advanced smelting, beating and casting techniques.  These treasures—along with the few textiles and pottery that survived the centuries and the church’s war on “idols to the devil” are about all that’s left of the civilisations that made them. The exhibition only euphemistically acknowledges, many of their descendants are still brutally oppressed today. They look as impressive as the museum’s Greek and Egyptian collections.  It makes you wonder what could have been if they hadn’t been crushed so soon.  Beyond El Dorado, British Museum, London, £10/£8, until 23 March 2014  
end story 

start story
'Bedroom tax, my arse'
Ricky Tomlinson at the Manchester social (Pic: Mark Krantz) Council and housing association tenants and their supporters found themselves chanting “bedroom tax, my arse” in Manchester last weekend. Actor Ricky Tomlinson made a surprise visit to the Manchester Anti Bedroom Tax Federation’s solidarity social. The bakers’ union Bfawu helped fill solidarity hampers of food. And campaigners prepared to mobilise for court dates in January, when a number of landlords are attempting to get notices seeking possession of bedroom tax victims’ homes. Petition forces bedroom tax debate in Ashfield A petition that I started in April has forced our local Labour-controlled Ashfield District Council to hold a debate on bedroom tax evictions. It was held on Friday of last week. I introduced a heated debate before the Labour group got a motion passed to improve help for tenants while looking into formally adopting a no-evictions policy. John Moore
end story 

start story
World Trade Organisation agreement is a deal for the rich
Ministers from 159 countries have signed up to the World Trade Organisation’s first global trade deal. It followed 12 years of negotiations. The deal will add £600 billion to the world economy—if you believe the hype. David Cameron said it will be a “lifeline” for poor people—and, more importantly, an extra  £600 million for the profits of British business. US president Barack Obama ominously promised it would help “robust enforcement of America’s trade rights.” Previous rounds of trade “liberalisation” have made hunger and poverty worse.  This put pressure on some governments, particularly India, to hold out against elements of the deal. The deal focuses on slashing “red tape” in poor countries to make it easier and cheaper for companies in rich countries to do business there. But it didn’t go anywhere near as far as some of its champions had hoped it would. Business leaders and Western politicians would have liked to sweep away import and export controls, and subsidies on growing food from poorer countries.  This would have put their profits above the jobs, services, environment and even access to food of billions of people. They only want to protect their profits. Ending poverty is the last thing on their agenda.
end story 

start story
Students continue to stand up to clampdown on protests
Hundreds rally for suspended students at the University of Sussex (Pic: Antony Hamilton) University bosses are using the courts, police and disciplinary measures to clamp down on student protest at the University of Sussex and the University of London. Management at Sussex suspended five students for their involvement in a week-long occupation in solidarity with a national staff strike on 3 December.  Occupier Laura Grossman told Socialist Worker, “Management have accused us of violence and criminal damage. They say the five students are ‘ringleaders’ and ‘disruptive’.  “This isn’t just about privatisation anymore, it’s also about intimidation by management and police.” Hundreds protested on the campus last week demanding the reinstatement of the “Sussex Five”.  Over 600 students voted at an emergency student union meeting on Monday of this week to strike the following day. They also voted for no confidence in the vice chancellor’s executive group (VCEG). No one spoke against the motions. The higher education committee of the UCU lecturers’ union called for the reinstatement of the Sussex  students, and more than 260 Sussex staff wrote to their management demanding the same.  Pressure Under pressure, the VCEG lifted the suspensions on Monday—but the students still face disciplinary action. Lewis Nielsen, one of the Sussex Five, told Socialist Worker, “This is a real testament to the campaign’s strategy to broaden our support.  “We talked to university workers and their unions and also got our student union involved to reach the widest layer of students possible. “This was crucial for us to pile the pressure on VCEG. But it’s not over until the threat of disciplinary action is completely lifted.” At the University of London students took part in a series of protests last week. Students had occupied the university’s Senate House building in solidarity with striking cleaners (see page 18) and were evicted on Wednesday night.  Police also violently attacked a protest organised against the clampdown on Thursday. Hundreds of cops turned up to attack the demonstration, and arrested 36 people.  Action Mohammad Tahboub, a student at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas) campus, told Socialist Worker, “This all started with action to save our student union and for workers’ rights. Now it’s about the right to protest. We have to fight for our rights.” University management are now attempting to criminalise protest on campus. They have obtained a court injunction lasting six months. Nadje Al-Ali is the Soas UCU lecturers’ union president and was on the protest last week. She told Socialist Worker the police eviction “was a disproportionate violent crackdown on peaceful protest”. “Students supported our strike—now it’s our turn to support them,” Nadje added. More protests have been called for Wednesday of this week.
end story 

start story
Troublemaker
Spooks in game search for  terror trolls on the internet Not limiting their activities to the earthly realm, spies infiltrated the fantasy worlds of online games. Documents leaked by Edward Snowden show the spooks entered terrain populated by digital avatars. The spies have created make-believe characters to snoop and to try and recruit informers. The reasoning went along the lines of: game players adopt identities. Terrorists use fake identities so… Online games might seem innocuous, a top-secret 2008 National Security Agency (NSA) document warned, but they had the potential to be a “target-rich communication network” allowing intelligence suspects “a way to hide in plain sight.”  So many spies were hunting around in one game, Second Life, that a “deconfliction” group was needed to avoid them bumping into each other. The documents do not offer evidence of any counter-terrorism successes from the effort. Another project involved companies being brought in to produce apps that would appeal to potential suspects. The phones could then be monitored more effectively after the app had been downloaded. In 2008 Britain’s GCHQ had set up its “first operational deployment”, code-named Operation Galician.  The spies running the effort were aided by a virtual  informer using an avatar “who helpfully volunteered information on the target group’s latest activities.” Whether the informer was an elf or a wizard is not clear.   According to the minutes of a January 2009 meeting, GCHQ’s “network gaming exploitation team” had “successfully been able to get  the discussions between different game players on Xbox Live.”  One World of Warcraft game discussion had the measure of the spies. In it a human death knight with the user name Crrassus asked whether the NSA might be reading game chat logs. “If they ever read these forums,” wrote a goblin priest with the user name Diaya, “they would realise they were wasting their time.” Cash for access and leaf blowing sadness David Cameron went with family and friends, or key business people as they preferred to be called, to China last month. Troublemaker can reveal that accountants EY paid UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) an undisclosed sum to co-sponsor a lunch attended by the prime minister on his China trade mission.  The UKTI is the government body that manages the public’s stakes in Britain’s bailed-out banks. The “partnership arrangement” allowed EY beancounters to break bread —well, smoked salmon and beef Wellington—with around 600 bosses. At the bash was Sir Vincent Blank former chairman of Lloyds TSB. The issue that is keeping Sir Victor Blank awake at night is leaf-blowers. Sir Victor lives near an excess of foliage–Hampstead Garden Suburb, since you ask. But council leaf blowers mean his “sense of peace and quiet” has, sadly, been “eroded”. Luxury jet to sugar the deportation  The Home Office reserved a private jet to deport a man who had been on hunger strike in immigration detention for nearly 100 days. Isa Muazu was put on flight number EDC684. The inside of the plane is pictured. This is registered with Air Scotland Charter Ltd, an aviation firm whose fleet includes Sir Alan Sugar’s private plane. Alan Sugar said that his jet would not be used in the removal. Air Scotland Charter boast on their website, “Whether for business, or pleasure, a personal flight provided by Air Charter Scotland provides a secure environment where distance shrinks, time is conserved, and even money saved.” The cost of the failed flight was around £100,000. ZIP IT UKIP! Victoria Ayling’s is a Ukip councillor on Lincolnshire county council. She recorded a video with her then-husband five years ago when she was a member of the Tory party.  She says: “We must basically [re]patriate those that shouldn’t be here. That’s not quite policy yet. Maybe I should soften it a bit … OK, send them back.” Nigel Farage backs her. Politicians, like Troublemaker, send cards at this time of year. None would dream of exploiting their children to send a family message though (above). But that is better than Godfrey Bloom who left the Ukip group in the European parliament. He referred to women as “sluts” and referred to “bongo bongo land”. He has produced a card with him holding bongos and his wife dressed in their idea of a “slut”. MPs fake tiles are up for sale THE latest money making wheeze at parliament is flogging old floor tiles. But Sir Alan Haslehurst, chair of the Commons Admin Committee, sounds a note of caution. “They may contain sharp edges and noxious substances,” he warns. So he recommended making reproduction tiles and selling them. THE billionaire Tory peer Lord Ashcroft has offered to bankroll a campaign to reduce the prison sentence of a soldier jailed for murder. Sergeant Alexander Blackman last week was sentenced to life for murder. The soldier was videoed shooting an Afghan prisoner. Ashcroft has more than 150 Victoria Cross medals—though he gained none through battlefield exploits. Troublemaker’s favourite banker Bob Diamond, ousted as boss of Barclays , is making a return to the City. The financier once dubbed the “unacceptable face of banking”, is trying to raise £153 million within the next two weeks. As yet there is no indication of his projected  bonus.
end story 

start story
Unions back camp against fracking
Anti-fracking protesters at Barton Moss in Eccles (Pic: Martin Empson) Around 250 protesters turned out to support those camping at Barton Moss in Salford against exploratory drilling for shale gas.  Trade unions backed the anti-fracking demonstration with banners from the UCU, Unison, and Salford and Manchester Trades Councils.  A speaker from the bakers’ Bfawu union joined the protest, along with a samba band from the PCS union. The fracking site is close to housing. Residents are worried about the impact it could have on their environment. Mike Kelly told Socialist Worker that he was protesting for his children and grandchildren. The camp is set to continue. And there are regular blockades of lorries delivering equipment to the site. Martin Empson
end story 

start story
Sean Rigg's family get IPCC investigation reopened
Sean Rigg, who died in police custody The investigation into the death of Sean Rigg in police custody is to be re-opened, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has announced. Sean died in Brixton police station, south London in 2008 after he was restrained and held in an outside cage. An inquest in 2012 found that the police had used “unsuitable force”. An IPCC report, which Sean’s family rejected, had ruled out disciplinary actions for the officers involved. But earlier this year a review found that the IPCC investigation was flawed. His family have welcomed the reopening of the investigation.  “This is a vindication for the family, we have been proven right” Sean’s sister Samantha Rigg-David told Socialist Worker. “The IPCC did a really shoddy investigation. “We made a complaint after it about the complete lack of robustness of the IPCC and the schoolboy errors that they made.” Samantha vowed that the family will continue to fight for justice for Sean. She said, “It’s been five years now. If you’re not strong, you can be broken by it. “If we allowed it, it would have completely broken us as a family but we turned it around to make a difference.”
end story 

start story
Land and Labour: for a sustainable solution to the ecological crises
“Natural” landscapes have been shaped by millennia of human activity One of the most surprising things about the modern British landscape is just how little of it is natural. For example, the Norfolk Broads have long been a destination for tourists to experience nature.  But in the 1960s archaeologists found that the hundreds of square kilometres of waterways that make up the Broads are not natural at all. They are the result of enormous peat excavations which flooded in Medieval times. High moors such as the Pennines were covered in woodland until they were cleared for farmland and villages in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Because Marxists often talk about the potential people have to modify the world and shape their own existence, Marxism is often caricatured as simply being about economic growth.  It is dismissed as disregarding the impact upon the natural world through a desire to simply develop productive forces. In the Soviet Union nature was something to be utilised, but this was driven by cut throat competition with capitalist economies in the West, not by Marxism.  Karl Marx and Frederick Engels developed a far more nuanced understanding of the way that human society interacts with nature. They began by locating humans as part of nature, but also understanding that what makes us human is our ability to labour and shape nature.  For Marx, far from a socialist society further destroying the environment, it would heal the “metabolic rift” between human society and nature that had developed with the rise of capitalism. Under capitalism we are alienated from the natural world, trapped in a system where production is driven irrationally for profit. This Marxist approach to an ecological understanding of our society comes out clearly when we look at Marx and Engels’ approach to historical change. Looking at the struggles of the past can also show us how a sustainable society can be built after the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism. Speaking at Karl Marx’s funeral, Engels summed up the core ideas of his friend’s ideas. He noted the “iron law of development of human history” that “mankind must first of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing, before it can pursue politics, science, art, religion”.  In other words, before humans can do anything else, they must have the basic necessities of life. They do this through an interaction with the natural world that they themselves are part of. Precisely how humans have organised to do this has varied enormously throughout history. Today for the first time in human history the majority of people live in urban areas which can make the natural world can seem remote.  History For the majority of human history our ancestors have had to shape nature directly—gathering food, hunting animals, clearing trees to plant crops, or damming rivers for irrigation. Even the earliest human societies could fundamentally alter the local environment. At the end of the last ice age the humans who arrived in North America set about hunting mammoths and mastodons, killing enough of them to cause a “megafauna” extinction. But Marx’s insight was far more than simply acknowledging that humans interact with the natural world. He understood that the particular way human’s organised production helped to determine the type of society that they lived in.  Thus hunter-gatherers needed to live in small groups. Their nomadic life meant small numbers and few possessions. This was how people lived for much of our history. Such societies were egalitarian, and hunter-gatherer communities are marked by a much larger degree of equality between men and women. But as human society changed, our relationship with the natural world changed. When humans developed agriculture, it became possible for class societies to arise. This “Neolithic Revolution” meant that for the first time in history not everyone had to be involved in producing food. Agriculture meant that a surplus could be created to support others who don’t work in the fields. Over time those who controlled the surplus formed a ruling class. Thus the changing relationship of humans with nature, through the development of agriculture, changed the relationships between people.  These societies were now based on exploitation of one group of people by another. Why did people shift into what were more oppressive societies? One reason is the greater control over nature. People who can store food are not as exposed to the threat of famine. The development of agriculture and the rise of class society also transformed relationships between the sexes. For instance, in some societies men were more likely to drive ploughs, as the early instruments needed large physical strength.  It is difficult and dangerous to plough while caring for young children. Control of the means of producing food was one factor that helped push women into subordinate roles. Because society developed in different ways around the globe, different forms of social organisation co-existed. When these societies encountered each other, there was often an enormous clash between different attitudes towards the natural world. In New England the Native American population had, over centuries, developed a complex ecology. They burned woodland to encourage animals like deer and birds, or to clear areas for the shifting cultivation they practised.  Commodities The colonists arrived in the “New World” and assumed that the resultant “patchwork” of woods was the natural countryside. Coming from a society dominated by the exchange of goods as commodities, these colonists could only interpret what they saw in terms of its value.  To the colonists, the natives were lazy, because they didn’t farm like Europeans and as a result had no right to the lands they used. The lawyer John Winthrop remarked “they enclose no land, neither have any settled habitation, nor any tame cattle to improve the land by, and so have no other but a Natural Right to those Countries.”  He and other colonists felt justified in driving off, excluding and killing the natives.  The development of capitalism accelerated this process. In England, one part of the revolution that achieved this involved the poorest fighting to defend what they had lost to large landowners. But once the new capitalist order was in control it had little interest in protecting those at the bottom of society.  In the countryside it transformed society through the destruction of old forms of agriculture. The peasantry were driven from the land through the enclosures.  The Marxist historian EP Thompson points out that “enclosure destroyed the scratch-as-scratch-can subsistence economy of the poor. The cottager without legal proof of rights was rarely compensated.” Many of those forced from the land ended up working as wage-labour in factories, or other people’s farms. Small farms were replaced with sheep walks. Forests vanished and colonies were sucked dry of resources. This was on a substantially different scale to previous societies. Under capitalism production is in the interest of profit.   The competitive accumulation at the heart of the system means, as Marx wrote, “nature becomes purely an object for humankind, purely a matter of utility; ceases to be recognized as a power for itself; and the theoretical discovery of its autonomous laws appears merely as a ruse so as to subjugate it under human needs, whether as an object of consumption or as a means of production.” This irrational approach to the natural world lies at the heart of the capitalist environmental crisis. Other human societies have  faced environmental disaster.  Whether they survived often depended on whether or not they were able to change. Between 800 and 1000 AD, the Maya civilisation in South America experienced an enormous drought. Some cities were abandoned, but others thrived.  Those that survived did so because they were able to transform their political and economic systems to deal with the crisis. We need to learn these historical lessons. In order to avoid environmental catastrophe we have to transform our society. A socialist society, based on the rational organisation of production, can heal the “rift” that has developed between human society and the natural world.  It will understand, as Marx pointed out, that we are not the owners of the earth, but must “bequeath it in an improved state to succeeding generations”.     Land and Labour: Marxism, Ecology and Human History by Martin Empson, £12 (special offer from Bookmarks) Drawing on a Marxist understanding of history, Martin Empson grapples with the contradictory potential of our relationship with the environment. He shows that human action is key, both to the destruction of nature and to the possibility of a sustainable solution to the ecological crises of the 21st century. The book includes chapters on early human history, hunter-gatherer society, the rise of agriculture, Mayan society, urbanisation, capitalism and nature, climate change and possible sustainable futures. “Engaging, comprehensive and very well-written, it’s an important contribution to the field of Marxist ecology.” Simon Butler, co-author Too Many People? “Essential reading for everyone who wants to know how we got into this mess—and how we can get out of it.” Ian Angus, editor Climate & Capitalism  Available at Bookmarks, the socialist bookshop. Phone 020 7637 1848 bookmarksbookshop.co.uk
end story 

start story
Send holiday greetings and solidarity to prisoners
Babar Ahmad 393184 CT. Dept of Correction, Northern Correctional Institution,  287 Bilton Rd, Somers, Connecticut  CT 06071, USA   Syed Talha Ahsan 393183 CT. Dept of Correction, Northern Correctional Institution,  287 Bilton Rd, Somers, Connecticut CT 06071, USA   Alvin Black A5931AL HMP Whitemoor, Longhill Rd, March PE15 0PR   George Black A3887AE HMP Whitemoor, Longhill Rd, March PE15 0PR   John Bowden HMP Shotts, Cantrell Rd, Shotts ML7 4LE   Jamil Chowdhary A9402AG HMP Whitemoor, Long Hill Rd, March PE15 0PR   James Cullinane 112467 HMP Shotts, Cantrell Rd, Shotts ML7 4LE   Norman Grant A8832AM HMP Whitemoor, Long Hill Rd, March PE15 0PR   Dale Lockin dalelockin@justice4dalelockin.co.uk   Chelsea Manning Please address to, PVT Bradley E Manning 89289 1300 N Warehouse Rd Ft Leavenworth KS 66027-2304, USA   Brendan McConville HMP Maghaberry, Old Road, Ballinderry Upper, Lisburn  BT28 2PT   John Paul Wootton HMP Maghaberry, Old Road, Ballinderry Upper, Lisburn BT28 2PT   Colin Norris  freecolin.norris@hotmail.co.uk HMP Frankland, Finchale Ave,  County Durham  DH1 5YA
end story 

start story
New struggles rock South Africa today
The death of Nelson Mandela has made the South African political establishment look at its own aims and record. Compared to the ideals of 1994 and the sacrifice of Mandela, their aspirations fall very short of what the mass of South Africa’s people want. A general election is due before June 2014. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) is in a panic over the likely results. Its attitude may seem odd to outsiders as it has been in office without serious challenge since the first non-racial elections in 1994. It got more than 65 percent of the vote in the last election and few people seriously believe that it will not win next year. Conservatives have tried to make something of the revelation, since his death, that Mandela was on the central committee of the South African Communist Party (SACP) when he was arrested. But the politics of the ANC have long been interchangeable with those of the SACP. Even when he was negotiating from prison Mandela reassured representatives of big business that an ANC government would not threaten them.  This was largely true in office. Union radicals like the National Union of Mineworkers’ Cyril Ramaphosa became wealthy businessmen. Thabo Mbeki—who succeeded Mandela as president in 1999—asked last week, “Do we have the quality of leadership such as was exemplified by Mandela and others, sufficient to respond to the challenges we face?” This is a little like former British prime minister Tony Blair’s attacks on his successors. Mbeki neglects to remind people that he was removed by his own party because his relish for neoliberalism was desperately unpopular. Jacob Zuma, who ousted Mbeki, used radical language rather than any change in policy towards working people. He looked to anti-apartheid resistance, famously singing the song Umshini Wami (Bring Me My Machine Gun).  His popularity has fallen as his government has failed to improve life for poor people during the recession. The left populist Julius Malema got into trouble with the ANC leadership for singing another revolutionary song Dubul’ibhunu (Shoot the Boer). He has gone further politically though, breaking from the ANC whose Youth Wing he used to head.  Massacre Malema has set up a new political party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). It is fuelled by the radicalism and strike wave that exploded after the massacre of miners in Marikana in 2012. Several parties challenge the ANC. But the shifts in the past year are liable to be seen as more of a threat to the hold of the tripartite alliance of the ANC, the SACP and the Cosatu union federation.  So the Congress of the People, founded largely by ANC conservatives who supported Mbeki against Zuma, has 30 of the 400 seats in South Africa’s parliament. But it still exists within the orbit of the ANC and official politics. EFF appears to have broken this mould. And there are rumours that it will be followed by a new organisation set up by the militant National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa).  Numsa had planned a special congress for this week. It will now be held from 17 to 20 December in Boksburg. Union spokesperson Castro Ngobese said the union wanted to mourn Mandela. He described Mandela as a “freedom fighter, political prisoner, people’s hero, people’s servant, leader of our people, and founding father of our post-1994 democratic dispensation”. The ANC’s National Development Plan (NDP) and youth wage subsidy are particularly unpopular. Numsa said it will start a mass campaign, including strikes, against these policies early next year—just as electioneering begins. It issued a statement saying, “If we support the ANC’s election campaign now, would we be able to stand firm after the elections and say we reject the NDP?” Political pundits like to pretend that politics is shaped by what politicians do behind closed doors. The reality is that the shift in South Africa’s politics is down to the return of its working class to the stage of history.
end story 

start story
Riot cops surround Ukrainian parliament as confrontation comes to a head
Protesters in Kiev Riot police encircled central Kiev on Monday of this week as the government prepared a crackdown on anti-government protesters. The move came within hours of Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovych saying he was prepared to hold talks with opposition leaders. Caught in a tug of war between European and Russian interests, Ukraine faces a severe economic crisis while thousands of protesters and riot police officers are massed in the streets. A three-day deadline to leave government buildings expired as Socialist Worker went to press. Hundreds of riot police surrounded the whole of the city centre. But, they remained a short distance away from Independence Square, the epicentre of the protests where thousands of demonstrators have camped out. Elsewhere in the city, masked men with machine guns raided the headquarters of the Fatherland party of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko late on Monday. They took away computers.  Barricades Police tore down barricades set up by protesters near government buildings in the capital. They were reported to have surrounded a group of demonstrators outside the presidential administration building. Ukraine’s prosecutor-general Viktor Pshonka warned, “Do not test the patience of government. Do not provoke law enforcement. Lift the blockades of premises and of transport.”  The moves came after hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians flocked to Kiev on Sunday. It was the biggest demonstration since the current protests began—and the largest since Ukraine’s 2004 pro-democracy “Orange” revolution. Symbolically they tore down and smashed the capital’s main statue of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin. A week earlier, baton-wielding police injured scores of people at similar demonstrations.  “We will stand here till the end to defend our rights,” Sergei Kuzan, a lawyer, told Reuters in Kiev’s central Independence Square. “My task is not to let the police through, nor the provocateurs.” Ukraine’s president turned his back on an integration deal with the European Union (EU) nearly three weeks ago in favour of strengthening ties with Moscow—sparking the protests. Baroness Ashton, the EU’s envoy, was expected to arrive in the country for talks as Socialist Worker went to press. Various people and groups are manoeuvring to be at the head of the protest movement. There is Yulia Tymoshenko’s Fatherland Party which while reclaiming ground was mired in  corruption in the past. The boxer Vitali Klitschko leads the anti corruption pro free market UDAR party. Oleg Tyagnibok leads the fascist Svoboda party.  The question is whether the protest movement can build enough momentum to escape the competing interests of the West and Russia, and its own divided ruling class.  
end story 

start story
We have the power to fight and win - and our rulers know it
Nelson Mandela was born into a country where he was deemed a second class citizen simply because of the colour of his skin. Black people were the majority in South Africa. But the racist system of apartheid meant they were oppressed in every area of life. When Mandela became a young activist the idea that apartheid could be dismantled and a black man become president must have seemed like a fantasy. But he and millions of others decided to resist.  Mainstream politicians today treat Mandela’s long walk to freedom purely as an example of personal resilience. The life and death struggle to pull down apartheid has been eclipsed by a post-apartheid drive for unity and reconciliation. The British establishment wants to draw a veil over the struggles of black South Africans who fought for their freedom. That’s because it was on the wrong side of that fight. Many politicians who despised that struggle now shower praise on Mandela. Although even today some Tory grandees reveal their true opinions and show no shame.  During parliamentary tributes in Britain Tory veteran Malcolm Rifkind said Mandela was no saint because, “He actually believed in the armed struggle in the earlier part of his career and perhaps to some degree for the rest of his career.” Of course the anti-apartheid struggle took on a violent racist oppressor. It involved mass uprisings, workers’ strikes and violence. Those at the top of the apartheid regime fought tooth and nail to cling onto their power. History shows that ruling classes never give any concessions voluntarily. But they can be forced to do so through struggle. Today in Britain we have a government dominated by public school millionaires. Our rulers are intent on the wholesale destruction of living standards for millions of working class people. When we don’t have mass, militant action challenging these attacks it can seem like the Tories and bosses can get away with anything.  But ruling classes are not all-powerful. And ordinary people have the power to overturn their systems and create new ways of running the world for themselves. The revolutionary Karl Marx pointed out that the history of all class societies is the history of class struggle.  He meant that in societies where a minority class exploits and oppresses the majority there isn’t stability.  There’s a tension that can lead people to fight, whatever the odds. But if struggle is inevitable, victory isn’t.  So to make the most of every opportunity of resistance, we need to be organised.
end story 

start story
Hengrove Play Park Protest
Nearly 200 people—including children, parents and grandparents—marched around the brilliant Hengrove Play Park in Bristol.  They were protesting against the mayor’s proposed job cuts.  The jobs of the staff who supervise the play area are all under threat and this prompted local people to organise an online petition which raised over 10,000 signatures.  This gave them confidence to organise the demonstration. George Ferguson, the mayor, has proposed budget cuts which will lead to the loss of 1,000 jobs.  
end story 

start story
Walkouts for wages hit fast food chains across the US
Fast food workers in cities across the US struck on Thursday of last week against poverty pay and for the right to be in a union. Unions want a decent minimum wage of £9.19 ($15) an hour. The current one is less than half that. The walkout hit fast food chains including Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Burger King and McDonald’s.  Many of the workers joined rallies during the 24-hour strike, which followed a national strike in August. Striker Kachelle Krump works at Burger King and said she wanted to work more hours than she was being offered. “I have a child who is seven years old,” she told the BBC. “She’s in school, she needs things.”  Kachelle said Burger King was “a billion dollar company. Share a little.”   
end story 

start story
Witness threatened with deportation
Afolashade Lamidi is being held at Yarl’s Wood detention centre near Bedford.  She believes she is being fast-tracked for deportation because she witnessed sexual harassment there. This follows the case of Sirah Jeng, who was threatened with deportation before she could make a complaint on the same issue.  Isa Muazu’s lawyers Duncan Lewis have won a stay on his deportation until the outcome of a judicial review. The review began on Monday of this week. Isa has been on hunger strike for more than 100 days. But home secretary Theresa May is determined to deport him.  An attempt to deport him two weeks ago failed when the Nigerian government refused his plane permission to land.  It has announced that it would allow the plane to land if he was deported again.
end story 

start story
Royal Mail workers should reject this damaging deal
The CWU union has announced it has reached an agreement with Royal Mail after weeks of talks.  The post has been privatised and Royal Mail bosses want to make it a company driven in the pursuit of profit to benefit shareholders. The CWU has been in dispute with Royal Mail over protecting workers’ terms and conditions. The union’s postal executive agreed to recommend the new deal. Some have hailed it as a success as Royal Mail has been forced to retreat.  The agreement now says workers have five years protection on pay and job security, and a 9.06 percent pay deal over three years. Workers are also getting £200 over Christmas. Post workers will welcome the extra money in their pay packet.   “But parts of the agreement are pretty appalling,” one post worker based in Cambridge’s mail centre, told Socialist Worker.  “The fundamental problem is still deliveries. The agreement talks about bringing in a review over allegations of bullying and harassment, but also about effectively increasing workloads. “Royal Mail have a lot of get-out clauses. They seem to have everything they wanted.” The agreement talks of “building a climate of sustainable trust with a can do culture” and “improving efficiency”. This means increased workloads, and more pressure and stress for workers.  It will only benefit the bosses. And as workloads increase, so will bullying and harassment by management. More worryingly Royal Mail can withdraw the agreement under what it calls “exceptional circumstances”.  One of these is if the union calls a national strike.  The current agreement will be reviewed again in 2019, so this is effectively a no-strike deal for five years. Signing away the ability to strike would be very damaging to the union. The threat of a national strike forced Royal Mail to the table.  Leaving workers without this option will be disastrous. It stifles the union’s power. The agreement will be put to a membership vote in January. Post workers should meet now to discuss all aspects of the agreement. And they should campaign to reject the deal in January. Post Office action hits bosses Workers in Crown Post Offices have begun a timetable of rolling strikes set to last for three weeks. The CWU union members are fighting mass job cuts. Workers will walk out at 12.30pm until closing time from Mondays to Thursdays. On Fridays strikes begin at 3pm and on Saturdays workers will strike for the whole day. Workers in the south region struck on Monday of this week. They were set to strike again on Thursday of this week, and Tuesday, Friday and Saturday of next week. Those in the central region struck on Tuesday of this week.  They were set to strike again on Friday and Saturday of this week, and Wednesday of next week. And workers in the north region were set to strike on Wednesday of this week and Monday and Thursday of next week. Unofficial walkout over Post worker sackings Some 140 post workers in Wimbledon walked out on unofficial strike last week. It took place after bosses sacked two workers on the spot for allegedly leaving post unattended. The offices on strike covered the S19 and SW20 area. Bosses brought in scabs to try to break the strike, which took place on Monday and Tuesday of last week. The strike was called off after bosses agreed to bring a hearing for the sacked workers forward.
end story 

All articles finished