British soldiers jailed for telling truth about war AT LEAST two British soldiers are facing a court martial and imprisonment because they do not want to fight in a war that kills innocent civilians. They have been sent back to Colchester to await disciplinary action and a possible two years imprisonment.
THE BOMBING of Basra put 100,000 children under the age of five at imminent risk of killer diseases from unsafe water, says the United Nations Children's Fund. Those lives and many more hang by a thread as the US and Britain turn to the cruellest and crudest form of warfare, the siege.
"THERE HAVE been massive spontaneous demonstrations throughout the Middle East over the last ten days. Around 15,000 people protested in the city of Alexandria in Egypt on Sunday. There have been regular clashes with the police.
TENS OF thousands of people took to the streets of Britain last Saturday as part of the Stop the War Coalition's day of action. "Over 15,000 marched in Edinburgh," says Mick Napier. "The mood was determined. Speaker after speaker called for the immediate end to the invasion. Susan Karim, an Iraqi, used information from her relatives inside Iraq to describe the horrors being visited on the heads of ordinary Iraqis by the invading American and British forces."
LONDON POSTAL workers have this week started an unofficial ballot for action to win an improved London weighting. The decision, which was provoked by the failure of the CWU union's pay campaign to deliver results, has caused fierce argument inside the union. Even branches and individuals who would normally back militant action have criticised London for "trying to take money from the rest of the country".
FIREFIGHTERS in Newcastle remain determined to win a decent pay increase. A national activists' meeting has been called to organise to reject the latest terrible offer from the employers: 1pm, Wednesday 9 April, United Services, Gough Street, Birmingham.
ANTI-NAZI campaigners in outer east London are mobilising against a British National Party (BNP) candidate standing in a council by-election in Barkingside on Thursday of next week. The Nazis are trying to gain publicity in the run-up to local council elections in England and national elections in Scotland and Wales on 1 May.
LAST YEAR some 15,000 people from Iraq fled to Britain and applied for asylum. At last count, only 700 had received refugee status. In early March the Home Office deported to Spain an Iraqi family that had come to this country in 1999.
WORKERS AT Arriva Trains Northern have compiled an "e-book" telling the story of their year-long dispute. Trouble at the TOC (train operating company) explains what went right and wrong in what became the longest running rail dispute in history. The dispute started in January of last year after guards were offered a derisory 3 percent.
NURSERY NURSES in Kirklees schools have voted overwhelmingly to strike over a regrading claim. The first strike was set for Friday of this week affecting over 70 schools, followed by three days of action next week. The Unison union lodged the regrading claim nearly three years ago.
BALLOT PAPERS will start going out next week for elections to the national executive of Britain's biggest union, Unison. The union has members in local councils, the health service, schools, higher and further education, as well as in areas like the gas, water and electricity industries.
THE MOST coordinated strike action on the railway since privatisation forced train operating companies to cancel up to 90 percent of services across nine firms this Monday and on Friday of last week. Some 3,000 guards in the RMT union held two 24-hour strikes over a long-running safety dispute. Further action is planned for Thursday 17 April. Despite government support for strikebreaking, management on the nine companies admitted the strike's success.
