Issues Follow Follow

The government is pursuing a "carrot and stick" approach towards British Muslims. The "stick" has been very much in evidence in recent weeks.

The future of the Hertfordshire firefighters’ dispute was in the balance as Socialist Worker went to press, with negotiators from the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) still consulting with branches in the county over proposals from the employers.

The Organising for Fighting Unions conference, set for Saturday 11 November, will discuss defending public services from the government’s assault. It will also discuss political representation for trade unionists. The conference has been initiated by Respect, and hundreds of trade unionists from across the labour movement have signed up to back it.

Civil liberties Some 25 people protested outside Birmingham airport last Saturday as part of a national day of protests against the use of British airports for extraordinary rendition flights, where people kidnapped by the CIA are flown to Guantanamo and other illegal detention facilities. Protests also took place in London and in Edinburgh, where former British ambassador Craig Murray was among the 30 protesters.

Tony Blair has always edged away from a full scale confrontation involving more than one group of workers. He has emulated Margaret Thatcher, whose strategy was to pick off one group at a time, starting with the weakest.

Jack Dromey, deputy general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, has called for an amnesty for the estimated half million so-called "illegal immigrants" who work, without permission from the government, in the service economy, agriculture, cleaning and catering, and caring for the old and sick.

A recently revealed US department of defence report has sounded alarm bells among human rights groups. The report marks an attempt by the US military to reclassify the meaning of torture while discrediting its victims.

Prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay attempted to commit suicide in 2003. The attempt was in protest at their treatment by guards and the fear that they will never be released, according to recently declassified military documents.

Two more British troops died early this week in southern Afghanistan—the second and third killed since British troops took over from the US in Helmand province.

The deepening radicalisation in Britain’s colleges is feeding into growing interest in Marxism 2006. Hannah Dee, who is organising the event, explains:

New Labour in Tower Hamlets, east London, is running scared of the issues raised by Respect. And it has come up with a novel tactic for avoiding any kind of public accountability for its programme of neo-liberalism and privatisation.

Every inhabitant of the Gaza Strip knows what it is like to be held hostage by the Israeli state. It is the daily reality for the Palestinian population in one of the most densely inhabited places on the planet.