News

Don't let our rights be lost

AS A lawyer specialising in human rights, civil liberties and asylum, I am extremely concerned about the climate of intolerance, fear and racism which surrounds our government's declaration of a "war on terrorism." We cannot claim to be fighting for democracy and human rights if we start off by abrogating basic freedoms and perpetrating injustice. Proposals to bring in even more draconian terrorist laws and laws against asylum seekers will carry with them expectations that this will somehow result in the identification of terrorist suspects.

We have had enough death

I WORK at a school in north west England. I was very shocked by the deaths at the World Trade Centre and I still feel horrified whenever I see the pictures on the television. But I am also very determined that this horror should not lead to others, such as the further destruction of Afghanistan.

Satpal Ram is innocent

THE struggle to free Satpal Ram continues, despite the home secretary's decision to overrule the recommendation of the parole board for him to be released immediately. On only three occasions in the last 20 years have home secretaries overuled recommendations by the parole board.

Letters

Workers fight the BNP in Oldham WE MET last week to launch Oldham Trade Unionists Against Racism and Fascism. Around 20 people, mostly local union reps and shop stewards from a range of unions including MSF, AEEU, UNISON, NUT, PCS and others, attended our inaugural meeting.

Burnley carnival: Fight this ban

FOLLOWING recent events here in Burnley, readers may be aware that Lancashire police-unelected members of society-have decided to call upon home secretary David Blunkett to ban the planned anti-Nazi demonstration and carnival on 1 September.

Letters

Refugees: Their fight is ours The new immigration law passed in Spain last December is a clear attempt to undermine immigrant rights, leaving them in inhuman conditions. The law cuts their right to vote, strike, meet and unionise. The right wing Spanish government wants to keep the "sans papiers" in a situation of slavery.

Letters

The Prudential insurance firm has just announced it is axing some 2,000 staff – nearly 20 percent of its entire British workforce. I work in one of the Prudential call centres in Reading. Most of those who are being sacked are "field staff". These are the people who visit policy holders in their own homes and deal with individual cases. They are all being done away with.

Letters

We fund them, they whack us I am fed up with our union giving the Labour Party hundreds of thousands of pounds while in government that party attacks us. I am a postal worker in the Communication Workers Union (CWU). New Labour is pushing "joint ventures" and privatisation which are a huge threat to our jobs and conditions.

Letters: Still up against racism

A 1996 report into policing in Tottenham, north London, described how officers believed they were "at war" with the local community. Despite the promises made after the Lawrence report two years ago, that war is still going on. People in Tottenham are sickened by the continuing casualties.

Letters

Nuclear protesters found not guilty On 18 January in Manchester Crown Court a jury of six men and six women found two Trident Ploughshares campaigners not guilty of a charge of conspiracy to commit criminal damage.

Letters

: A very fruitful Bristol protest I was one of the people who heard Tony Blair speak when he came to Bristol on Tuesday of last week. As I approached the council building where he was to be speaking I was delighted to see many different protest groups demonstrating. People were there protesting against the government's policy on Iraq, and children and parents shouted against the closure of their schools. The Bristol Socialist Alliance (BSA) were there too.

Letters

Steel workers feel betrayed The steel maker Corus has issued 150 compulsory redundancies in Scunthorpe as part of this year's job cuts. Workers who have spent their whole working lives in steel are now being sacked because they don't fit management's criteria. These workers feel betrayed. For the last 20 years steel workers in Scunthorpe have faced annual job losses. British Steel told its workers that they could only make their future secure by becoming "leaner and fitter". Each year steel workers delivered better productivity.

Refugees: No festive spirit from Straw

JACK STRAW'S seasonal greetings were bogus. They did not stretch as far as those seeking asylum. Solomon was told that he had to sign on at the police station on 25 December, between 7pm and 8pm. His crime? None. Solomon was a hard working student. He worked to keep himself and was successful in his studies. Then the government had a crackdown on asylum seekers. Now Solomon has been criminalised.

Education: When only the grade matters

MY SON Matthew is going into year 11 at school, when he faces his GCSEs. I feel I should encourage him to get "good grades" because I would like him to have as many opportunities as it is possible to have in a capitalist society.

Great politics on the Connex picket lines

Great politics on the picket lines DURING THE Connex rail strike on Tuesday of last week myself and another comrade went down to the drivers' picket line at Orpington, Kent. The response we received was brilliant. People welcomed us when we said we were from Socialist Worker. There was a real willingness by the strikers to talk about the issues behind their dispute and the wider political situation facing workers today.

'Military' tactics won't stop anger

ALONG WITH thousands of other people demonstrating against the World Trade Organisation at Euston station last week I was outraged by the behaviour of both the press and the police. Before the event the press massively hyped up expectations of violence.

The RUC are not heroes

THE NEWS that the RUC has been awarded the George Cross for "bravery" has shocked many thousands of people here in Northern Ireland. The RUC has an absolutely terrible record of human rights violations, sectarianism and brutality.

Letters

I want more than justice for Harry Stanley I WAS a friend of Harry Stanley. From time to time we did the things friends and neighbours do - chat in the street, have a drink together. Harry's murder by the police shook everyone. Harry wasn't an angel, but he wasn't a gangster either. He was a character, a family man, a grandad.

More unequal than before

Socialist Worker is a superb paper. It is so strong on foreign affairs and feedback from workers. I work as a hotel porter and sell all the mainstream papers. The Daily Telegraph is handed out free there. I like some of their obituaries, and some of yours too – particularly Lord Denning's.

Letters

How Ford has caused divide The problems highlighted by the Sukhjit Parma case at Ford Dagenham began in the 1.8 Diesel Assembly area when group leaders were introduced in around 1994. In each area hourly paid workers were asked to apply for positions in their departments as group leaders who were to be paid 10 percent extra for assisting the foremen.