Socialist Worker

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Gordon Brown beats drums of war

Gordon Brown turned up the heat on Iran this week by threatening serious consequences if the country did not comply with US demands to ditch its nuclear programme.

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News

Reports round-up

Stop the cuts in adult education Around 100 students and teachers from Lambeth and Morley Colleges in south London lobbied Lambeth council on Wednesday of last week.

Lecturers step up the momentum in the fight over pay

Members of the UCU lecturers’ union in further education (FE) colleges around the country are still waiting for a promised ballot on industrial action over their current below inflation pay offer.

UCU special conference on higher education

The UCU union held a special conference on higher education (HE) last week with over 100 delegates attending from universities across Britain. The conference was called in response to the employers’ threats to abandon national bargaining.

Bus workers mood for action at Stagecoach

Some 1,300 bus workers at Stagecoach in Manchester have voted overwhelmingly to strike in their battle for better pay.

Support grows for Fremantle workers

Trade unionists from across London joined a protest in support of the Fremantle care workers in Barnet, north west London, last Saturday.

All-out strike over sacked health rep

One of the most crucial strikes in the National Health Service for more than a decade has erupted in defence of sacked union rep and senior nurse Karen Reissmann.

Money pours in to Karen Reissmann strike fund

"Since my sacking, trade unionists and campaigners have rallied magnificently to support our strike," Karen Reissmann told Socialist Worker.

Socialist Worker Appeal reaches £98,000

"Socialist Worker is a valuable tool for building socialist ideas and for building Respect. Having a paper like Socialist Worker helps us to keep our minds clearly focused on the issues that matter. It’s a fantastic paper for the movement."

STUC women’s conference moves to defend abortion rights

The Scottish TUC women’s Conference this week in Glasgow Glasgow heard strong speeches on abortion rights.

Conference of Solidarity - Scotland’s Socialist Movement

The first policy-making conference of Solidarity – Scotland’s Socialist Movement took place in Glasgow last weekend.

War and peace in Sheffield

The 70th anniversary of Pablo Picasso’s anti-war painting Guernica provided the centrepiece for a Sheffield Stop the War Coalition event. It was attended by more than 70 people on Friday of last week and was called to mark the cost of war over the remembrance weekend.

Prysmian Cables workers defend pensions

A mass meeting of Wrexham workers facing the end of their final salary pension scheme pledged to fight the proposals last week.

Strike ballot over single status deals in Swansea

Workers in the GMB union at Swansea council began a strike ballot this week over a single status pay deal.

Protest planned at Newham council to defend Michael Gavan

Michael Gavan’s Unison union branch in Newham, east London, is continuing to fight against his victimisation and suspension from work.

British writers support Hollywood strike

The Writers Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), which is affiliated to the TUC, has pledged its support to the 12,000 members of the Writers Guild of America who have been on strike since last week.

Third Silverlink strike over pensions

Train drivers in the Aslef union working for Silverlink struck for the third time on Friday of last week in defence of their pension rights.

London meeting on climate change draws 600

Around 600 people came to a public meeting organised by the Campaign Against Climate Change (CACC) in central London last week. George Monbiot, John Sauven, director of Greenpeace UK, Phil Thornhill of CACC and an organiser of August’s Climate Camp all spoke at the meeting.

Fight to stop Cadbury closures

Workers at Cadbury’s four chocolate factory sites have voted in favour of holding a ballot on strike action.

DWP ballot for pay strike

Over 80,000 members of the PCS civil service workers’ union in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are being balloted to strike over the threatened imposition of a below inflation pay offer.

Is Peter Hain shutting Remploy?

The management of Remploy is proposing to close 28 factories employing 1,600 disabled workers.

Bread & butter issues

It’s often in our pockets that we connect most directly to the politics of food. But the struggle for food extends across a broader canvas, and it’s one that affects workers intimately. The production of food, for instance, is a battlefield of exploitation and resistance.

Tower Hamlets Respect meeting looks to the future

Around 80 Respect supporters in Tower Hamlets, east London met on Monday of this week to discuss the way forward for the organisation in the wake of George Galloway’s decision to split.

Kumar Murshid: ‘I left Labour to get away from corrupting practices’

The Tower Hamlets Respect meeting was chaired by Kumar Murshid, a former Labour councillor in Tower Hamlets and former adviser to London mayor Ken Livingsone. Kumar quit Labour to join Respect earlier this year.

Shirebrook councillor fights for the people

Since my election in May I have been getting myself established as a councillor who works for the people.

Support Glasgow day centre workers’ strike

Day Centre workers in Glasgow have begun their fifth week of an indefinite strike.

Post: vote to reject the deal

Myself and thousands of other postal workers across Britain this week received ballot papers from our CWU union asking us if we are willing to accept a leadership-backed deal to end our long running dispute.

Campaigning across the CWU branches

Activists are campaigning for a no vote in branches that have recommended to accept the deal, as well as in those that aim to reject it.

Aamer Anwar: human rights lawyer faces contempt charge

Leading Scottish human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar has been told that he will face a hearing over possible contempt of court charges.

Gordon Gentle ‘died for a lie’

The ministry of Defence was heavily criticised at the inquest into the death of Gordon Gentle, a soldier who was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in June 2004.

Identity card costs spiral as ‘interrogation centres’ open

Plans for ID cards are in danger of sliding into farce as hold-ups have again delayed the scheme.

Jean Charles De Menezes: two reports, one conviction, but no charges

Last week’s Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report into the shooting of the Jean Charles de Menezes notes that not one of the 17 witnesses on the Northern Line tube train could recall hearing armed police identify themselves as they rushed into the train carriage where Jean was shot dead.

Somalia demo: ‘We want our country back’

Over 500 people joined an angry demonstration in London against foreign intervention in Somalia on Saturday of last week.

Anti-war feeling in colleges helps build day of action

The Stop the War Coalition is mobilising against the US, France and Britain’s threats against Iran. Its recent conference called for two days of action next week to highlight the growing danger of the extension of the "war on terror" to Iran.

Respect conference looks to the future (part 1)

Some 350 delegates and observers gathered to discuss the way forward at Respect’s fourth annual conference, held at the University of Westminster in central London.

Respect Renewal rally launches new organisation with attacks on SWP

George Galloway MP opened the launch rally for his Respect Renewal organisation with personal attacks on John Rees, the national secretary of Respect, and Lindsey German, Respect candidate for London mayor and convenor of the Stop the War Coalition.

Respect conference looks to the future (part 2)

Respect conference looks to the future (part 2)

Video of speakers addressing Respect Conference 2007

Mark Serwotka – 'We need a united left alternative to Labour' <object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/FzxtUoWhgHE&rel=1\"></param><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"></param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/FzxtUoWhgHE&rel=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"></embed></object>

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International

French students strike against neoliberal reform

Students in France are mobilising against a new reform of higher education. Students had struck or occupied at over 30 universities as Socialist Worker went to press.

Students intensify Pakistan protests

The spectre of defeat haunts the dictatorship of Pervez Musharraf and his supporters.

Mass protest in South Korea calls for troop withdrawal

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Comment

Crucial tasks for Respect’s future

Respect came from the anti-war movement and opposition to war and imperialism must remain central priorities.

Preston shows the potential for Respect to build strong roots

Preston Respect offers a model of what the organisation could achieve across the country.

‘We are strong and we are united’

‘I was a Labour councillor in Preston for ten years. I left the Labour Party to join Respect because of the work that Respect was doing.

Norman Mailer and the menace of the US

Norman Mailer’s dream was to write the Great American Novel, but, by the time of his death at 84 last weekend, it was clear that he hadn’t succeeded.

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Features

Resisting the war

The global anti-war movement has achieved unprecedented, astonishing successes. Launched in many cases before a single bomb fell on Afghanistan, it rapidly crystallised into an expression of the grave doubts about US strategy in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks, before becoming the organised expression of outright hostility to George Bush’s policies.

Welcoming migrants: Poles in 1940s Britain

Last week’s column argued that mass immigration is intimately connected to the growth of capitalism.

The death of the Comintern

The Communist International was founded in 1919 by those who had stood firm against imperialist war and utilised the crisis of the First World War to "hasten the downfall of capitalist class rule" through revolution.

Credit crunch: a house built on sand

The credit crisis rumbles on. Just when it seemed safe to sound the all clear, a wave of additional losses has toppled the heads of two major US investment banks. And it has signalled a major intensification of the global credit squeeze that threatens recessions on both sides of the Atlantic.

Stopped and searched on the way to classes

Clapton in east London is what the home office likes to call a "crime hotspot", brimming with what police jargon calls "targeted individuals" or "prominent nominals". An ethnically mixed area of the capital, it picked up a bad reputation with the media, who called the neighbourhood the "murder mile". Both police and locals say this description is now out of date.

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Reviews

Driving Miss Smith: a memoir of Linda Smith

She once described profits as "unpaid wages" and Tavistock as "a town devoted to the production of potpourri".

Che Guevara - Lucha Por La Vida

This album celebrates the life of the great Latin American revolutionary and his "struggle for life".

Once

This is a lovely, eccentric and very musical film set in Dublin. Writer and director John Carney says he set out to make a "visual album" – and the songs play as important a role in the film as the dialogue.

Mise Eire and Saoirse? Films that chart the Irish struggle for liberation

Few Socialist Worker readers will have an Irish language DVD in their film collection. Well here’s a chance to get two, subtitled in English!

The Company: On the look out for some much better company

The Company is a spy story set in the 1950s, starring the CIA, their friends and their enemies. Half the characters are double crossing the other half, mostly in shadows, darkened rooms and gloomy alleyways.

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What We Think

Democracy in Pakistan will not come from Benazir Bhutto

As brave lawyers and democracy activists battle it out with General Musharraf’s police, the British and US establishments have been busy behind the scenes.

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Other Categories

Leon Kuhn: 'Don't swallow it'

Tim: poetry terrorism

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Letters

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Meetings And Events

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