News

Lies, damned lies and statistics on racism

RECENT NEWSPAPER headlines screamed that four out of ten whites did not want to have a black neighbour, after a poll by MORI. We live in a racist society. But if the headlines were accurate we would have taken a significant backward step to a more segregated society. The problem is not what people were asked or what people said. It is the way the findings were reported.

Disgusted at how Labour government is treating us

I AM speaking on behalf of a large group of women who have suffered an injustice in our fight for equal pay.

Letters

Avoiding the state Mike Gonzalez (Socialist Worker, 17 January) is right to describe how the Zapatista movement in Mexico has provided a great inspiration for activists across the world.

Challenging arguments over headscarf issue

MANY OF us here have watched with disgust how the French government has said it wants to ban Muslim women from wearing the headscarf in schools. However, we should not be complacent about Britain.

New asylum law would have been my death warrant

ASYLUM SEEKERS are a vulnerable group who are being scapegoated.

Children will still face poverty this Christmas

THERE WERE three events last week which emphasised Labour's continuing failure to address the horror of child poverty in this country.

Letters

Abortion – why we defend women's right to choose THE COURT case brought by trainee vicar Joanna Jepson to have a doctor charged for performing an abortion after 24 weeks because of "severe foetal abnormality" has caused uproar in the media.

Letters

The Israeli state’s racist policies are not in our name The British press has been full of stories lately about the reported rise of anti-Semitism, hatred of Jews, throughout Europe. It has said that criticism of Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians equals anti-Semitism.

Totalitarian vision of government child plan

THE CONSULTATION on one of the most cynical government Green Papers ever closes on 1 December. Yet there has been virtually no public debate about its contents. "Every Child Matters" is meant to be a response to the killing of Victoria Climbie, and the subsequent Laming Report.

Vote to boycott SATs tests

WE ARE primary school teachers in south London. Next week we will begin balloting to boycott the SATs tests.

‘The US is now in deeper trouble’

THE SERIAL liars in the US administration keep telling the world and an increasingly sceptical US public that "the security situation in Iraq is improving and everything is returning to normal".

Support Iranian asylum seekers

EUROPEAN countries are stepping up their war against asylum seekers with plans to establish a new list of safe countries.

Unions calling

I WORK for £5.20 an hour in a call centre. Recently the Unifi union has started to hold regular stalls at my workplace.

Your View

Blair just doesn’t get it

Nestlé milks its profits from poor

AROUND ELEVEN million people are facing hunger in the African country of Ethiopia in 2003. But the huge multinational Nestlé has caused outrage by demanding $6 million from the Ethiopian government. It is claiming compensation for a company that was nationalised 27 years ago by the military government and later bought by NestlŽ. Nestlé is one of the world's largest food companies. It makes $6 million profit every hour.

Letters

Speaking out against racism of police force A couple of weeks ago I was with my friend at Forest Gate train station, east London, when we were stopped and searched.

Truth is out on the police

ONE OF the officers suspended following the documentary on racism in the police worked at Chadderton Station in Oldham.

Top-up fees: another revolt to worry Blair

LAST SUNDAY Blair faced a real challenge as over 30,000 students took to the streets to protest against university tuition fees. The demonstration was far larger than any recent student marches. The war in Iraq has left more than Blair's heart in a weak condition. He faces massive revolts in his own party and in the nation at large over a whole range of issues.

Letters

We are not going to let racism divide our workforce I AM so proud of what we did as Wolverhampton postal workers to strike back against racism. We have shown that we are not going to allow racism to become "normal" or to be used to divide the workforce.