Socialist Worker

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Chuck out this Eton mess

The millionaires in the cabinet are laughing as they slash services

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News

Thousands of teachers prepare for new battle

A wave of regional teachers’ strikes can help restart the fight against the Tories, says Sadie Robinson

Court staff put on a good strike - but PCS union abandons national action plan

Some 16,500 civil service workers in courts and prisons walked out on Monday of this week, as part of the PCS union’s rolling programme of action.

Campaign halts first bedroom tax eviction

Manchester campaigners have shown it is possible to stop evictions over new benefit cuts, writes Dave Sewell

Birmingham march remembers bedroom tax victim Stephanie Bottrill

More than 300 people marched through Birmingham last Saturday, in memory of Stephanie Bottrill.

SNP says it will scrap bedroom tax

The Scottish National Party promised to scrap the bedroom tax if Scotland becomes independent last week.

Cuts hit hard in north west

The north west of England is hardest hit by cuts to wages, according to the TUC. 

Bin workers' walkout has Brighton council rattled

Some 300 bin workers in Brighton have joined a seven-day strike to stop an assault on their pay. 

Anti-G8 protesters defy intimidation in Northern Ireland

Leaders of the world’s richest countries met in Northern Ireland this week for a G8 summit.

News round-up

The US Supreme Court banned companies from patenting human DNA last week.

Unison conference: Frustration, anger and demands for a fight

Delegates at Unison's Local Government sector conference are critical of their leadership failure to lead the fight for better pay

Activists call for unity in the struggle against racist EDL

Unite Against Fascism (UAF) held meetings in London and Cambridge last week after recent successful mobilisations against the English Defence League (EDL).

Protesters force Nazi BNP to cancel events in Salford

Anti-fascist activists forced the British National Party (BNP) to cancel their meetings in Salford last week—twice.

BBC boosts racist Robinson

Racist EDL leader Tommy Robinson was given the oxygen of publicity three times last week when the BBC broadcast interviews with him.

Second union joins the Chesterfield College jobs fight

Workers at Chesterfield College struck on Tuesday of this week against compulsory redundancies. They were set to strike again on Thursday.

Lecturers' union rejects a smaller executive

The UCU union has thrown out a proposal to cut the size of its national executive committee (NEC) by almost half. Delegates to the union’s annual congress were voting on seven options on the size of the NEC.

Lambeth College protest

Around 200 people defied the downpour to demonstrate against planned cuts and job losses of jobs at Lambeth College, south London, on Saturday of last week. 

More action could have won more

Mid-Yorkshire medical secretaries and admin workers have won a partial victory in their fight against wage cuts and job losses

School workers strike back

NUT and NASUWT union members at John Gulson school in Coventry began a two-day strike on Tuesday of this week.

Defending primary education

Around 100 teachers, parents and education campaigners came to the launch conference of a Charter for Primary Education last Saturday.

Back the STA in NUT teaching union elections

Elections are coming up in the NUT teaching union including a vice presidential election in November.

Industrial round-up

Mess hands to walk out at RAF bases|Firefighters turn up pressure on Boris|Solidarity march for Turkey protests |Protest for union rights in new port| Hearing for tube cleaners’ RMT rep

London housing strikes

Some 150 workers at One Housing Group were set to strike from Wednesday to Friday this week. They are members of the Unite union.

Pride in Edinburgh

 Over 1,000 people attended Edinburgh’s LGBT Pride march and rally last Saturday

Kirklees ballot over job cuts

Kirklees council workers are set to ballot this week

Walkouts at Royal Mail

Royal mail workers in Somerset have voted to strike for better pay and conditions

Cops testify in Smiley Culture inquest

A police officer giving evidence at the inquest into the death of Smiley Culture said the singer used a kitchen knife to stab himself. 

Boris grilled by angry firefighters

Some 200 firefighters halted mayor Boris Johnson’s question time at City Hall in central London on Wednesday of this week.

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International

The misogyny of Australia's elite politicians

Vile abuse aimed at prime minister Julia Gillard reflects a deeper sexism in society that politicians are not challenging, writes Amy Thomas

Athens work-in pushes the government to the brink

A mass meeting of workers at Greek state broadcaster ERT voted to continue working in occupation on Tuesday of this week.

Support floods in for occupying media workers

The ERT workers have been bombarded with messages of support from media organisations around the world.

Turkish police try to drown out protests in vicious crackdown

The occupation of Gezi Park has, for the moment, come to an end.

Election result revives hope in Iran

Millions of Iranians who yearn for justice and peace celebrated the spectacular victory of Hassan Rouhani in Iran’s presidential election. 

West prepares to intervene in Syria

Western intervention is a danger to the struggle against dictatorship, says Judith Orr

US troops in Syria only threaten the revolution

The US government wants to score a win in its regional cold war against Iran. The revolutionary struggle for emancipation in Syria would become the collateral damage. 

Police attack São Paulo protests

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Brazil on Monday of this week, in protest at bus and subway fare hikes.

Anger in France after attacks on Muslim women

Thousands of protesters gathered outside the town hall in Argenteuil near Paris on Friday of last week. They were enraged and upset after a series of racist attacks against Muslim women.

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Comment

Greece - resistance is being televised

Greece’s government was on the verge of collapse as Socialist Worker went to press, writes Panos Garganas

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Features

We've a world to win

Capitalism means misery for billions - but if we organise we have the power to overthrow it, says Sadie Robinson

'Occupation of Taksim Square was a mosaic of anger and ideas'

A protest that originally set out to save an Istanbul park spread into a movement against the Turkish government. Carol Williams spoke to activists in Taksim Square, in the days before the police destroyed their occupation while Ken Olende looks at the issues raised by the protest

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Reviews

Much Ado About Nothing: a seriously screwball take on Shakespeare’s comedy

Joss Whedon’s new film Much Ado About Nothing shows that Shakespeare could be not only subtle and dramatic but funny too, says Sally Campbell

Award for museum celebrating great socialist artist William Morris

The William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, east London, has won this year’s £100,000 Art Fund prize Museum of the Year. 

100 images of migration

These photographs reflect many different experiences of migration in and out of Britain. 

The Amen Corner

Sister Margaret, played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste, is pastor of a Harlem church. She confidently leads her family and congregation. 

Diaz: Don’t clean up this blood

This Italian film is a fictionalised account of the midnight police attack on activists sleeping in Diaz school in Genoa during the 2001 anti-G8 protests. 

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What We Think

People's Assembly is a chance to fight back

The government is bringing constant pain to working class people. The number of people in absolute poverty in Britain rose by nearly a million in just one year. Some 300,000 of these were children.

No lesson from Labour on education

There will be no return to a properly funded, comprehensive education system under a Labour government. 

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Other Categories

Letters

A story of solidarity and your views on beating bigotry

Things they say

In their own words

Arise Sir Brendan—knighted for getting strikes called off

Hearty congratulations are in order this week to Sir Brendan Barber, whose lifetime of “services to employment relations” has finally been recognised by the queen.

Workers see record wage drop as bosses get richer

The Tories say falling unemployment shows that the crisis isn’t so bad. But unprecedented attacks on pay tell a different story, writes Annette Mackin

Pay cuts don't save jobs

Bosses have pushed workers to accept pay cuts by claiming this will keep them in work—and union officials have sometimes accepted this blackmail.

In work - but still in poverty

Unemployment in Britain fell by 5,000 in the three months to April this year according to official figures. 

More women are out of work

The number of women out of work rose by 7,000 to 1.09 million in the three months to April.

Billionaires boom in Britain

As wages are being slashed and austerity forced upon the poorest, the rich are getting richer. 

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