Socialist Worker

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Massacre at Haditha: how the occupation turned an Iraqi town into hell

The Iraqi town of Haditha will now forever be linked with the blood and terror of the US occupation. For many it will be Iraq’s equivalent of Vietnam’s My Lai, a symbol of the violence of imperialism.

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International Comment Features Reviews What We Think Other

News

Scottish Socialist Party votes to support Sheridan

Members of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) voted at an emergency meeting last Sunday to give full political support to Tommy Sheridan, the party co-chair and member of the Scottish parliament (MSP).

Construction workers sacked after asbestos strike

Some 250 workers have been sacked after objecting to the way asbestos was removed from a building site at the liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel terminal being built near Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire.

Victories for the left in the PCS union

Left candidates in the PCS civil service workers’ union won all but one of the national executive seats in the union’s recent elections.

TUC disability conference

Around 200 delegates from over 30 affiliated unions attended the TUC disability conference on 24 and 25 May.

Mikey Powell case latest

Mikey Powell died in the early hours of 7 September 2003 after being struck by a police car, hit with a baton and sprayed with CS gas in the Lozells area of Birmingham.

Stephen Whenary case

An innocent man was left with extensive injuries following a beating by police officers.

Reports round-up

Peugeot protest Some 100 Peugeot Ryton workers protested on Friday of last week over the closure of their plant. The demonstration took place outside the Peugeot dealership in Coventry. Workers are balloting for strikes despite threats from Peugeot to accelerate the closure if workers vote for action.

Britain’s chilling role in Northern Ireland death squads revealed

The British state is guilty of murder and terrorism.

Aids: when ABC is wrong

My new book, Body Count: How they Turned Aids into a Catastrophe, marks the 25th anniversary of the Aids epidemic, dated from 5 June 1981. That was the first medical report in the US of mysterious clusters of rare pneumonias among gay men.

Natfhe conference: lecturers vote for boycott of Israeli institutions

The Natfhe lecturers’ union will recommend that its members boycott Israeli universities and academics who do not dissociate themselves from their government’s policies.

Lecturers’ pay dispute

University workers and students have been coming together to demand that managers make a better offer to lecturers engaged in a bitter struggle over pay.

Royal Mail managers go on the offensive

There were signs at the start of this week that Royal Mail management were preparing for new attacks just as workers were organising for a national strike ballot in five weeks time.

Health and Safety: fewer inspections mean accidents go up

New figures reveal employers have never enjoyed such freedom to neglect safety rules.

HP Sauce workers protest

Workers from the threatened HP sauce factory in Birmingham are set to protest in the city against 125 proposed job cuts this Saturday.

Rail workers strike at Waterloo

Train drivers working for South West Trains based at London’s Waterloo station struck for 24 hours on Tuesday of this week.

Public Services Not Privatisation

A joint union campaign against privatisation will be launched at a rally and mass lobby of parliament on Tuesday 27 June.

Community unites to stop fire station closures

Firefighters in Hertfordshire struck for eight hours on Friday of last week against plans by the county fire authority to "modernise" the service by closing two fire stations and axing up to 50 frontline firefighter posts.

Immigration round-up

Saqib Almas must stay Sam Almas, who was featured in last week’s Socialist Worker, is launching a campaign to stop the deportation of her brother Saqib.

Kabul, Afghanistan, rises in a wave of demonstrations and riots

Tanks were patrolling the streets of the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday of this week following a wave of demonstrations and riots that targeted symbols of the Western occupation of the country.

Discontent and desertion in the British army

At least 1,000 British soldiers have deserted from the army since the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003, the BBC reported this week.

Private firm to run GP's surgery

New Labour's vision of an NHS opened to market forces moved a step closer last week as Care UK became the first private company to take over a GP’s surgery.

Tell It Like It Is campaign launch

Following the success of the Tell It Like It Is book highlighting how the education system fails black children, a campaign of the same name is set to be launched on Saturday 17 June at 11am outside 10 Downing Street.

New Labour plan to work us to death

The government’s new pension plans mean that everyone currently aged 47 or younger will have to work longer before claiming a state pension.

Pensions White Paper will do nothing to tackle our poverty

‘The government’s failure to address the issues of pensioner poverty, unpopular means testing and the plight of five million existing women pensioners is the biggest whitewash of older people in the history of social policy.

Pensions round-up

The Unison union is asking its branches to consult members on the next steps in the fight to defend the local government pensions scheme (LGPS). But the consultation is very narrow.

Birmingham protest at BNP councillors

At the council elections in Birmingham the elections office miscounted the votes in the Kingstanding ward and declared the BNP candidate Sharon Ebanks to have won. This makes her the official councillor until the courts reverse the count and declare the Labour Party candidate the winner.

Birmingham Gay Pride

Thousands of of people turned out for the Pride parade in Birmingham this Sunday. The parade got a very good response as it passed through the city centre. Respect members gave out leaflets calling for equality and peace which were well received.

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International

Young activists tortured in Egypt

Two prominent members of the Youth for Change movement in Egypt have been arrested and savagely beaten by state security police.

Documents confirm horror of Abu Ghraib

A new batch of declassified US army documents has strengthened the case that torture in Iraq and Afghanistan was officially sanctioned, widespread and systematic.

General strike under way in Bangladesh

Over the last two weeks workers in garment factories of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka have been rebelling against low wages, long working hours and the denial of their trade union rights.

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Comment

East Timor's crisis cannot be solved by imperialism

Over 2,000 Australian troops have been sent to East Timor in the last fortnight as part of an international "peacekeeping force" along with troops from Malaysia, New Zealand and Portugal.

The Euston Manifesto: covering up for colonialism

Over the past few weeks much attention in the media and on the web has been devoted to a document called the Euston Manifesto, which was finally launched on Thursday of last week.

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Features

Searching for a modern utopia

When the anti-capitalist movement began to emblazon its banners with the slogan "Another World is Possible", it signalled the revival of a utopianism that had been furled up and forgotten for at least a couple of decades.

The people’s revolt against fascist threat

Alongside the protests of the unemployed, two mass campaigns dominated politics in the 1930s – against fascism and war. The working class movement and its activists played a central role in spreading the message.

The Philippines: between repression and revolt

From the moment I was elected president of the union in 1994, I knew it would be a time of harsh struggle. The Philippines is at the cutting edge of imperialism and globalisation.

Under the shadow of US imperialism

The Philippines archipelago, made up of over 7,000 islands, was "discovered" by the West in 1521 by the Spanish naval adventurer Ferdinand Magellan.

Eight million Filipinos are forced to work abroad

The crisis in the Philippines has fuelled pressure to make its workers go abroad to find a better life. Nearly 10 percent of Filipinos—eight million people—are now working abroad.

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Reviews

Brazil’s music may be cool, but it isn’t easy listening

Chill Brazil, Favela Chic, Brazilian Flavas… From Bebel Gilberto’s chart topping "new" bossa nova to corporate adverts for Nissan, Citroen, Orange and Ikea, Brazilian music seems to be back – and in a big way.

Reviews round-up

Cheltenham Science Festival7-11 June<a href="http://www.cheltenhamfestivals.co.uk" target = "_blank">www.cheltenhamfestivals.co.uk</a> This five-day festival across a variety of venues in Cheltenham is now in its fifth year, attracting thousands of people to a mixture of debates, talks and workshops, designed to explain and explore scientific issues to a general audience.

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What We Think

Kabul protests show the growing anger

The Afghan capital Kabul was the one place US and Nato occupation forces and the government of president Hamid Karzai could claim control. But an uprising this week, after a US military truck crashed into rush hour traffic killing at least five people, was a major show of opposition to an occupation in which British forces are taking a leading role.

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Other Categories

Bob Smith

When I heard of the death of Bob Smith at the age of 51, like most comrades and friends of his, I was completely shocked and saddened.

Letters

Nuclear is not the answer The provision of sufficient affordable electricity for all citizens, regardless of wealth or income should, in the 21st century, be regarded as a human right.

Who says?

"I don’t need to spell it out, but the wars that we have seen, the occupations that we see throughout the world—people finally cannot turn away from that... Maybe if we start telling the truth about the past, we can start telling the truth about the present."Director Ken Loach, whose new film The Wind That Shakes The Barley has won the top prize at the Cannes film festival

Marxism 2006: A festival of resistance

For five days thousands will gather at this political festival to celebrate the global movement against war and injustice.

Meetings, events, demonstrations and film showings

Meetings And Events

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