MORE KEY figures in New Labour have come out against war. Roy Hattersley, former Labour deputy leader, admitted on Monday of this week that he had turned from an "unlikely hawk" into a "Gulf war dove" in the last six weeks.
A UN World Food Programme report said this week that 14.5 million people across southern Africa face starvation and famine. The famine doesn't just affect Zimbabwe, which the British media concentrated on as part of its support for rich white farmers against Mugabe's government. It also hits Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.
IN THE run-up to next week's anti-war demonstration big meetings have been held in many parts of Britain. Bristol Stop the War Coalition organised a showing of the Not In My Name film on 11 September. Over 160 people turned up to hear Mike Marqusee introduce the discussion. This meant that a second showing had to be put on while Mike Marqusee spoke to the overflow crowd outside the cinema. Both the film and the discussion received an excellent response. One person said, "It's great to come to an event like this on a day like today when you see George Bush and Tony Blair using the deaths on 11 September to build support for an attack on Iraq." A Stop the War Coalition activist
QASIM KHAN, a 16 year old, was found guilty last week of five charges including police assault and racial abuse. The verdicts arise from a demonstration in support of the Govanhill pool occupation last year. The sheriff's verdict has shocked campaigners. Qasim had denied all the charges. Sentencing will take place in October. Other recent verdicts include: Sher Khan was acquitted of assaulting police by spraying them with urine. The Children's Panel accepted that his "super-soaker" contained only water, and he was admonished and dismissed without penalty. A charge that he racially abused a Sikh officer was also withdrawn.
The postal executive of the Communication Workers Union has narrowly voted in favour of a deal to end the dispute over the privatisation of the Romec cleaning and maintenance section of the Post Office. After a long debate the executive voted by ten votes to six to accept management's offer. The minority who wanted to throw out the deal and push hard for action against the joint venture were absolutely right.
Tuesday 22 October will be a global day of solidarity with the Kensington 87, the protesters who were arrested in Johannesburg, South Africa, for demonstrating against water and electricity cutoffs. The defendants include Trevor Ngwane. They will go before a court on 23 October to face serious charges. Globalise Resistance has called a demonstration outside the South African embassy in London at 5pm on 22 October.
PAUL FOOT, the Socialist Alliance candidate for mayor of Hackney in east London, has helped to expose manoeuvres linking the election process and the council's strike-busting operation against library workers.
Workers at the Caparo Steel Group have shown that strikes are the best way to defend pensions. They have forced concessions from their employer after five 24-hour strikes at weekly intervals. The 340 workers at plants in Scunthorpe, Wrexham and Tredegar had threatened to increase their action to two 24-hour strikes per week.
Around 90,000 civil servants in the PCS union began balloting this week over a new pay deal in the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). DWP bosses have offered workers on the lowest grades a 4 percent pay rise. This is higher than other offers to civil servants this year.
Bosses at Arriva Trains Northern are cancelling four out of ten services on non-strike days in a desperate effort to break resistance by members of the RMT rail union. Arriva managing director Ray Price admitted in a confidential briefing to managers that cancellations are at record levels. He wrote on 10 September, "The last period five about a month was the worst train performance experienced for a very long time."
Parents and teachers at Kingsland School in Hackney, east London, are determined to fight the threatened closure of the school. Hackney people desperately need Kingsland, one of only two mixed secular comprehensives in the borough.
A one-day strike was staged by over 100 workers at William Freeman Ltd in Barnsley on Thursday of last week. The workers, members of the GMB union, plan a further series of one-day strikes in their campaign for a 4.5 percent pay rise.
