Socialist Worker

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Kick out Clegg & Cameron - Tunisia shows the way

Students have led the fightback against the Tory coalition. Thousands of young people have poured onto the streets to battle student fees and cuts.

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International Comment Features Reviews What We Think Other

News

Rotherham: Rawmarsh school teachers step up strike fight

Striking Rotherham teachers are stepping up their fight against job cuts at the end of three further days on strike this week.

Mass protests across Egypt threaten Mubarak's dictatorship

Thousands of people remain on the streets of towns and cities in Egypt after a day of huge demonstrations calling for the downfall of the dictator Hosni Mubarak and his regime.

Thousands join student marches in London and Manchester

Thousands of university, college and school students – joined by workers – are marching in London and Manchester against Tory cuts to education, fee rises and attacks on jobs and services.

Pictures of student protests in London and Manchester, 29 January

Student marches go their own way to build solidarity

In both London and Manchester student marches have diverged from their planned routes—one march has gone to join protesters outside the Egyptian embassy, while a breakaway from the other has occupied a branch of Barclays bank.

Video of Wassim Wagdy outside the Egyptian embassy in London

Egyptian socialist Wassim Wagdy spoke about what the revolution in Egypt means on a protest outside the Egyptian embassy in London, 28 January 2011

Luton: stop the English Defence League where it started

On Saturday 5 February, the racist English Defence League (EDL) is going back to where it all began for the group—Luton.

Labour councillor says we must oppose the EDL

Sian Timoney is a Labour councillor in Luton’s Farley ward, where the EDL is planning to assemble on 5 February. She spoke to Socialist Worker.

Can non-violent action bring about change?

Can we beat the state with non-violent methods? This is the question that emerges in many mass movements and has come up most recently during the student protests and the Tunisian revolt.

Bristol ambulance staff take action

Workers at Great Western Ambulance Service in Bristol, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and parts of Somerset say they will begin industrial action on Thursday of this week.

South East ambulance workers fight bosses' ultimatum

Bosses at South East Coast Ambulance Service are demanding workers accept a 25 percent pay cut, or the loss of 30 jobs.

Stop Mirfat Badallah being deported

Mirfat Badallah’s campaign to stop her deportation to Yemen is growing. Last week she sent 28 letters of support to the Home Office. She urgently needs more solidarity.

Migrant workers defend their rights

Refugee and migrant workers’ groups held a meeting in central London last Saturday following a series of horrendous immigration raids on workplaces in which workers have been arrested and deported.

Perkins workers to strike every week

Some 250 workers at Perkins Engines in Stafford, West Midlands, struck on Tuesday of last week and were set to come out again on Thursday this week.

Bosses' attempts to divide Formica workers fail

Over 100 North Shields factory workers struck last Saturday over pay.

British Airways: turn strike vote into action

British Airways (BA) cabin crew last week voted by a fantastic 78.5 percent for strikes on a 75 percent turnout. This is a bigger vote than in their last ballot.

Deadly reality of health and safety cuts

Dan Hazelton, his brother Tom, Peter Johnson, and Adam Taylor died at work last week in Great Yarmouth.

Teachers to join TUC talks over pensions action

The National Union of Teachers is seeking the earliest possible timetable for co-ordinated industrial action to defend pensions.

ATL union threatens first strike in 30 years

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) has announced that it is preparing to ballot members for a national strike over the government’s plans to increase teachers pensions contributions. If it goes ahead, it will be the first time the ATL has struck since 1979.

Lecturers set to begin strike ballots

Ballots for strikes will begin next week in the lecturers’ UCU union on jobs, pay and pensions.

Hundreds of post workers march against privatisation

Up to 1,000 postal workers and their supporters joined a march and rally in Kingston, south west London, against the privatisation of Royal Mail last Saturday.

26 March: we can beat the Tories

The TUC is calling for a quarter of a million trade unionists to take to the streets of London and march against the government’s brutal cuts on Saturday 26 March.

The People’s Convention: coming together against cuts

Hundreds of anti-cuts activists, trade unionists, pensioners and students are signed up to the People’s Convention on 12 February.

Tory attacks grow - but so does resistance

The jobs massacre is growing every day.

Leaked documents show secret DSA cuts plans

Driving Standards Agency (DSA) bosses have been planning to close the agency’s Cardiff office—and move on to shut its Newcastle one.

Jobcentre Plus workers strike against worse conditions

A solid strike by 3,000 call centre workers on Thursday and Friday of last week highlighted their horrendous working conditions.

National Shop Stewards Network: Conference sets wrong course to fight cuts

A gathering of several hundred trade union militants and socialists voted to launch another national campaign against the cuts last weekend.

Meeting to defend health service in Waltham Forest

Over 50 local people and health workers attended a meeting called to defend the NHS on Tuesday of last week in Waltham Forest.

Birmingham bin workers furious as council reneges on deal

Bin workers in Birmingham are furious as they have discovered that council managers have reneged on a deal reached last week.

DLR court ruling is an attack on the right to strike

The legal right to strike received another blow last week as a High Court judge granted an injunction on petty technicalities to halt a 48-hour strike by Docklands Light Railway (DLR) workers in London.

Disabled activists protest against Atos

Tories plan to exploit young as unemployment rockets

The Tories have found a new way to help their boss friends profit from ordinary people’s misery.

Rupert Murdoch: the puppeteer

David Cameron’s spin‑doctor Andy Coulson quit last week over phone-hacking at the News of the World.

The super rich and their obscene London pads

The global super-rich gathered in London last week to celebrate the opening of One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge.

Tommy Sheridan jailed for three years - a statement from Solidarity

"Scottish justice has notched up another political miscarriage of justice alongside that of Al Megrahi and Muir of Huntershill"

Tony Blair's war lust laid bare at Chilcot inquiry

It was a case of deja vu as warmonger Tony Blair put in his second appearance at the Iraq inquiry last Friday.

May council elections

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) met last Saturday to discuss May’s council elections.

Wapping striker speaks 25 years on: ‘If we’d had all of Fleet Street out we couldn’t have failed’

"I remember in September 1985, two things happened. One was someone showed me the front page of the Socialist Worker, with an article quoting a EEPTU branch official from Southampton talking about his worries about a recruiting office opening there with hundreds of people coming down to Wapping.

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International

Egyptian socialist: 'We can make Mubarak run like Ben Ali'

They said they would be there, and they were. The 25 January was declared a "Day of Anger" by democratic and socialist forces a week beforehand. The significance of the choice of date cannot be overestimated—it is "Police Day— an occasion when the regime incessantly drums up the virtues of its patriotic police force.

Palestine papers: Israel wants wants total humiliation of Palestine

Secret documents reveal that Palestinian negotiators were prepared to offer Israel almost anything to get something they could call a state. Despite this surrender, Israeli negotiators still refused an agreement.

Tunisian trade unionist: ‘Our revolt inspires hope across the Arab states’

Waves of anger generated by the Tunisian revolution continue to crash against the country’s battered ruling class.

‘People are discussing politics and poetry’

Tunisian socialist Mohammed told Socialist Worker that his mother Sadiha and his aunt Khwala went to greet the "Liberation Caravan".

Dictators everywhere are living in fear of Tunisian example

The Tunisian revolution has given confidence to people everywhere to resist:

New election in Ireland as crisis deepens

Official politics in Ireland descended into chaos in the last week.

Imperialism lies behind collapse of Lebanese government

Political and sectarian tensions in Lebanon are at the fore once more. On Tuesday, the Hizbollah-backed candidate for prime minister, Najib Mikati, was appointed. Anti-Hizbollah demonstrations broke out in the north of the country as the appointement was announced.

Greek socialists take on a fascist in the council chamber

Socialists in Greece are leading the fight against the government’s austerity programme and attempts to blame immigrants for the crisis. As part of this racist scapegoating, fascists had taken over parts of the Agios Panteleimonos area of Athens and attacked immigrants.

Sudan's referendum: a socialist's view

A referendum has taken place in the south of the African country of Sudan to ask people whether they want to form a separate state.

Egypt's protests rock the regime

Mass protests took over the streets of Egypt yesterday—in Alexandria, Suez, the capital Cairo and other parts of the country.

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Comment

Statement on the Tunisian revolution

The importance of the victory of the Tunisian masses is not limited to the successful overthrow of Ben-Ali, ending 23 years of dictatorship. The Tunisian Revolution refutes the arguments that had been disseminated by many right-wing intellectuals over the past few decades that the Arab masses are incapable of achieving revolutionary change, and that the times of revolution are over.

Holocaust memorial day: a day to take anti-fascism forward

Part of my family was wiped out for the crime of being Jewish in what has become known as the Holocaust. The German Nazi regime strove to create a racially pure, authoritarian society where dissent or difference was not to be tolerated.

Libraries: Why we must fight for the right to read

The public library service is in crisis. The government’s slash-and-burn approach means a 28 percent cut in spending on them.

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Features

Tunisia: patterns of revolt

The Tunisian revolution has dramatically interrupted what passes for normality in the Arab world. Despite huge economic inequality, the hated domination of US imperialism, and the occasional assassination, the region suffers from astonishing political stagnation.

Eton: posh school that reveals class divide

"No parents with a talented boy should feel that Eton is necessarily beyond their means."

...and it's not just at Eton

Paul Foot, who went to Shrewsbury public school, once wrote, "The main characteristic of the school I went to was barbarism."

It costs £150,000 to go to Eton - before the extras

Eton was advertising for a pantry assistant earlier this month—offering £10,483 per year for a 40-hour week.

Voices from the NHS: a system on the verge of breakdown

‘The Tories want to poison the NHS.’ Karen Reissmann, community psychiatric nurse and Unison health executive member

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Reviews

Woody Sez: Radical songs raging from the Depression

Woody Guthrie is often known as the father of protest songs. He was a massive influence on musicians such as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.

Black Swan: neither fish nor fowl

I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting from Black Swan. I knew it had been likened to The Red Shoes from 1948.

Neds

John McGill likes to learn, but as he advances to secondary school he realises that the system has already written him off because of his poor background.

London Gypsy Orchestra - Stratford Circus

The spectacular 45‑piece orchestra present a programme of traditional Roma and traveller music from Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

Phantom Noise

Poet and former US soldier Brian Turner faces the traumatic aftermath of war in this new collection.

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What We Think

Don't let them tell us to pay the price for recession

When the price of a loaf of bread starts to become the subject of conversations at work it’s a terrible sign of the times—hard times.

Russia could use Moscow bombs to justify a new crackdown

The bombing of Russia’s Domodedovo airport in Moscow, which saw at least 35 people killed and more than 100 injured, was blamed on "Islamic terrorists" from the Caucasus region.

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Other Categories

Tim on the bosses' contradictions

Letters

New Cross Fire deaths that led to a revolt against racism Thirty years ago last week, on 18 January 1981, a fire in New Cross, south east London, killed 13 young black people during a birthday party.

The week's news in quotes

‘Somebody better get down there and explain offside to her’

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