THE ELECTION of Matt Wrack as assistant general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is a stunning victory for the left in the union. He got 6,260 votes to 5,527 for John McGhee — who was supported by the union’s leadership — and 1,981 for a third candidate, Dean Mills.
THE BIGGEST corporate profits in history were announced this week. Oil giant Shell made £9.3 billion last year — Britain’s biggest ever profit. The money rolled in at more than £1 million an hour. US oil giant ExxonMobil, which owns Esso, also announced its profits — £13 billion. It is the highest profit figure ever recorded.
WHEN I hear of Shell’s profits I remember the suffering of the Nigerian people and of people throughout the world whose economies are enslaved to the oil companies. In Nigeria it is the Ogoni people, whose plight was championed by writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who have been hit most. But there are many other similar communities in our country.
Several years ago I joined a school as an openly gay teacher and things appeared to be going well. Unfortunately a young man in year 11 inflicted a physical homophobic attack upon me. The issue was dealt with by the school — the boy being suspended, parents seen and warnings given.
The general election expected later this year will be played out to the drum beat of bigotry. That was the message from home secretary Charles Clarke on Monday, as he danced to Michael Howard’s tune and unveiled New Labour’s five year plan to "curb" immigration.
There was an item on the news at the weekend where a reporter went out on the streets and read out quotes from Labour on immigration. The reporter asked people, "Which political party said this?" Every single person thought it was the Tories. This is Labour’s strategy on every single issue — welfare, trade unions, war. They’re in the business of winning elections by out-Torying the Tories. But this whole argument on immigration is based on a lie. Every economic study shows that immigrants put far more into the economy in taxes and labour than they take in benefits.
Labour governments have capitulated to immigrant-bashing before. On each occasion the result was spiralling racism. In the 1964 general election, the Tories ran a vicious and nakedly racist campaign in the Labour seat of Smethwick.
Australia’s right wing government has consistently used images of hordes of brown people flooding into the country to whip up fear and racism towards asylum seekers. This has created nothing short of a living hell for those who wish to seek refuge in Australia. Asylum seekers are imprisoned in detention centres built in desert areas or remote islands, miles away from the eyes of the public.
Two Egyptian socialist activists arrested on 28 January at the Cairo International Book Fair have been released on bail, campaigners in Cairo told Socialist Worker.
Babar Ahmad, a 30 year old computer technician from Tooting, South London, is currently in jail awaiting an extradition hearing. He was arrested last year on the request of US authorities, who accuse him of funding "terrorism" in Chechnya and Afghanistan, which he denies.
Protest as Labour meets DEFEND COUNCIL housing campaigners will be lobbying Labour’s spring conference in Gateshead on Saturday. They will be seeking to step up the pressure on the government for direct investment in council housing — the "fourth option" — rather than stock transfer, private finance initiative deals or arms-length management organisations (ALMOs).
