ANOTHER OPINION poll in Britain last week showed the shock and anger many people feel at George Bush's rush to start a war on Iraq. Some 91 percent of Daily Mirror readers said in a phone poll that they were against the war. The paper has run several articles critical of an attack on Iraq and the war on Afghanistan. "Mr Blair will next month face one of the biggest anti-war protests in Britain for years," said the Mirror last week. Protesters will mass in London on 28 September. A string of Stop the War Coalition events will be held over the next few weeks."
THE US and Britain are trying to present themselves as the champions of freedom and democracy as they threaten war on Iraq. But both countries are locking people up indefinitely without charge and denying them any right to protest.
THE US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld is a key figure leading the charge for war against Iraq. He says Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is a monster who has to be stopped by US military might.
THE KEY myths about refugees in Britain have been trashed in a recent report that was commissioned by the Home Office. Vaughan Robinson and Jeremy Segrott from the University of Wales produced the report that investigates why asylum seekers end up in Britain. The report takes on the arguments poured out by press and politicians that refugees flock to Britain because it is a "soft touch".
SOME 5,000 people joined a protest against sectarianism outside Belfast City Hall in Northern Ireland on Friday of last week. The rally was in response to the sectarian murder of a young Catholic man, Gerard Lawlor, by Loyalist paramilitaries. The Loyalist death squad, the Ulster Freedom Fighters, appeared on TV wearing balaclavas and combat gear and wielding guns, claiming responsibility for the murder.
THE TRIALS have started of people who were arrested during the Govanhill pool protests in Glasgow last year. In an effort to stop the immensely popular pool from being closed by the city council, local people and their supporters occupied the facility. On 7 August last year sheriff officers backed by police began removing people from the building. People rushed on to the streets to protest and were eventually met by charges from mounted police.
MORE THAN 100 journalists on the Newcastle Chronicle and Journal struck on Thursday of last week as part of their continuing fight for a fair wage. This is their second one-day strike. More action is planned-journalists will walk out again for two days on Friday and Saturday this week. Those two days will badly hit a planned relaunch of the group's Sunday Sun on August 11.
RAIL WORKERS on First North Western trains (FNW) have won a victory. They called off a series of strikes planned for this week after the 1,000 workers won a pay rise of 3.5 percent. RMT members also won a 35-hour week by September 2003 as part of a three-year deal. These issues have been the subject of negotiations since 1999. The threat of strikes made the difference.
ABOUT 300 workers employed by the private contractor Sodexho at Glasgow Royal Infirmary struck for three days this week over pay. This follows a two-day strike last week. Strikers picketed the hospital enthusiastically and showed they are solidly behind the strike. One of the pickets told Socialist Worker, "We're sick of low pay and being pushed around by this management. Those on strike are porters, domestics, and catering and security staff. We are an important part of the NHS and we deserve to get a decent rate of pay."
"WE'RE FIGHTING to save our jobs, save our pensions and to not be privatised." That is how Nicky, a striker and Unison union member at Tory-controlled Westminster council, central London, summed up the battle to stop the wholesale privatisation of services. Nicky, along with 76 other members of the parking department at the council, has been out on strike for three weeks.
