Socialist Worker

Issue: 2250

Dated: 07 May 2011

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West's leaders are bloody hypocrites

Around the world newspaper front pages screamed with celebration at the announcement that US forces had killed Osama Bin Laden in his compound in Pakistan.

International Comment Features Reviews What We Think Other

News

Is class decided by the ‘old school tie’?

Governments of all kinds have promised in recent years to break down barriers to social mobility.

Bin Laden—from friend to foe of US imperialism

Osama Bin Laden is often presented as single-handedly controlling world "terrorism" from a bunker in Afghanistan or Pakistan. It is a myth that has suited both Bin Laden and his enemies.

A bloody war in Afghanistan, thousands of lives lost, what have we gained?

The war in Afghanistan is in its tenth year. Tens of thousands of Afghan civilians have died, and 2,375 foreign troops have been killed, including 1,509 US and 360 British soldiers.

May Day marches show the anger against Tories

Thousands of trade unionists and other activists celebrated International Workers’ Day last weekend by joining protests in towns and cities across Britain.

Fighting for votes up until the last minute

Left wing campaigners are standing in this week’s elections to step up the fight against the government’s austerity programme.

Police crackdown on right to protest

Metropolitan police, and other forces across Britain, used the royal wedding to crackdown on "potential protesters".

Packed meeting for Bryan Simpson

Up to 200 people attended a public meeting in defence of student protester Bryan Simpson at Strathclyde university last Friday.

Bristol: another night of repression and resistance

Bristol’s streets were again in flames as riots erupted for a second time on Thursday of last week.

Fury at ward closures

NHS campaigners in east London last week reacted with fury to health authority plans to close the Connaught Day Hospital at Whipps Cross hospital in Waltham Forest.

Lewisham hospital demonstration

Around 120 people in Lewisham, south London, demonstrated last week against £500,000 of cuts to child and adolescent mental health services.

Strikes after Kirklees worker locked in office by bosses Around 100 cleansing workers at the Sita company in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, are striking against alleged management bullying and intimidation.

Drivers signal strikes to defend their union

London Underground will likely face severe disruption for at least 48 hours after tube drivers voted for strikes over the victimisation of union reps.

Vote to fight the education cuts

Teachers at Islington Arts and Media School began balloting for strike action against threatened compulsory redundancies last week.

Derbyshire teachers to strike against redundancies

Teachers in the NASUWT union at Sinfin Community School in Derbyshire were set to strike on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

Sheffield lecturers walk out over job cuts

Lecturers at Sheffield College struck on Wednesday of last week in protest at bosses’ plans to cut jobs.

Manchester strike on hold

Over 300 Unison union members at the newly-formed Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) body have just finished voting in their official strike ballot.

Fighting for jobs and against racism

Over 200 campaigners joined a lively march through Stoke called "Defending jobs, Standing up for communities" on Saturday of last week.

Setback for Scottish teachers

Scottish teachers narrowly voted to accept a two-year pay freeze and changes to their pay and conditions last week.

Unison national executive election

Voting continues in the elections for the national executive of the Unison union.

Royal cleaners: '£7.85 an hour? It’s hardly a king’s ransom'

Union activists joined a protest outside Buckingham Palace the day before the royal wedding as part of the campaign to win the royals’ cleaners the London Living Wage.

Move to Birmingham or get the push

Workers who look after the financial affairs of vulnerable people struck on Tuesday against plans to relocate their jobs.

Equalities take a strike break

PCS union members at offices of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) across Britain were to walk out for an hour from 11am on Wednesday of this week and again on Wednesday of next week.

Fighting the cuts in Glasgow

Striking scribes’ spirits lifted by torrent of texts

Journalists at Tindle Newspapers in north London last week completed a 14-day strike to demand more staff.

Workers' Memorial Day

Protests across Britain marked Workers Memorial Day last week.

Saltend protests spread

Locked out construction workers at Saltend in Hull spread protests to a British Sugar plant in Newark last week. Some 400 workers have been in dispute since March.

Bring down the coalition

The Tories and the Liberal Democrats dreaded voters giving them a hammering in this week’s elections for their vicious attacks on working people over the past year.

Join the fight to save the health service

Dozens of hospitals already struggling to cope with the government’s crippling financial demands will be forced to slash even more jobs and services.

Struggle and solidarity in the streets of Cairo

Egypt’s workers have reclaimed May Day as a celebration of struggle and solidarity.

Tunisia: celebrating the future

Around 2,000 people joined the first public May Day celebrations in Tunis for 50 years.

Will the Home Office let six refugees die?

Six Kurdish Iranian refugees are on hunger strike in London in protest against British government plans to deport them to Iran.

Ian Tomlinson unlawfully killed

The jury at the inquest into the death of Ian Tomlinson had just ruled that he was unlawfully killed as Socialist Worker went to press.

Localism: a cynical attack on workers

The Localism Bill sets out the legislative framework for David Cameron’s "Big Society".

Bahrain: royals will be put in the dock

Bahraini citizens living in Britain are set to take their case against the Gulf state’s royal family to court this week.

New threat to abortion rights

Anti-choice MPs have launched a fresh attack on abortion rights.

Recovery, what recovery?

While the Tories talk of a "fragile economic recovery", life is getting increasingly worse for most people—not better.

Figure it out: women's refuge cuts

£36 million

Protest supports student occupation at London Met

Students are occupying London Metropolitan University against bosses’ plans to axe 70 percent of all the courses at the college.

London postal workers ballot for strikes over closures

Postal workers in London are starting a strike ballot after Royal Mail rejected union plans to save jobs in the capital’s mail centres.

Packed meeting pledges to defend the right to protest

Around 200 activists packed into a meeting in London yesterday (Thursday) called by the Defend The Right To Protest group. The diverse gathering was a response to recent attempts by police to criminalise dissent.

Southampton council workers vote to strike

Workers at Southampton City Council have voted to strike to stop bosses forcing through pay cuts, their union announced today (Friday).

After 5 May elections: Organise to bring down the coalition

<a href=http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/graphics/2011/keep/may5election.pdf>Download article as leaflet</a> 123kb PDF

SWP members who stood in the election on 6 May 2011

Romsey ward, Cambridge <table>

'Revolutionary Egypt: the view from the workplaces' - meeting with reports from Cairo

Come and hear British trade unionists report from May Day in Cairo.

Bahrainis take torture evidence to UN

The International Criminal Court (ICC) will decide this week as to whether it plans to accept a case of war crimes against Bahrain’s government. A group of Bahrainis living in Britain, with a team of international lawyers, travelled to The Hague last week to present their report to the prosecutor.

Wildcat post strike in Liverpool

Around 300 postal workers in Liverpool are on unofficial strike after Royal Mail sacked six workers—for following management instructions!

International

Crisis deepens for the West in Libya

The British embassy in Tripoli was burned to the ground when news broke that a Nato attack had killed the second youngest of Colonel Gaddafi’s sons, 29-year old Saif al-Arab, and three grandchildren under the age of 12.

Pakistan: Poor pay price for West’s agenda

Western commentators were quick to blame Pakistan for allowing Bin Laden to hide in Abbottabad—a military town just miles from the capital Islamabad.

Resisting the crackdown in Syria

Rebels in Syria are still protesting on the streets despite a brutal government crackdown.

Comment

Marriage obsession reveals its true role

The gushing drivel that passed for media coverage of the royal wedding felt like a long advert for the institution of marriage. Every little girl apparently wants to become a princess.

Obama’s Afghan exit strategy

Barack Obama concluded his announcement that US forces had assassinated Osama Bin Laden by saying, "Tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to."

Features

Why are world food prices rocketing?

The biggest wheat crop in world history is expected this year—yet half the globe’s population are at risk of going hungry. Globally, food prices have risen by 36 percent in the past year, meaning millions of people are priced out of the basic foods.

Bobby Sands: ‘Our revenge will be the laughter of our children’

Bobby Sands was a young working class man from Belfast whose death 30 years ago shook the establishment. After his 17th birthday, he never saw a Christmas outside prison. He died aged 27, an MP in the British parliament.