Europe Follow

Why is the European Union (EU) constitution such an explosive issue?

MARXISM 2004 starts in two weeks time. It is the biggest festival of socialist ideas in Europe. Over 200 different meetings, forums and debates will take place on everything from \"Iraq: war and resistance\" to \"Life after capitalism\", from \"What sort of democracy do we want?\" to \"Islam, secularism and socialism\".

TONY BLAIR has always sought his "place in history" and now he has achieved it-by steering Labour to one of its worst ever electoral perfomances. In last week's council elections Labour came third with just 24 percent. The European elections were, it is true, different. They were even worse. Here Labour polled only 23 percent.

THIS WEEK'S Socialist Worker is a must for everyone who has been involved in the Respect campaign or who voted Respect. It gives the results, the analysis and the arguments about the future that you will not read anywhere else. You can't rely on the BBC-they switched from the elections to Top Gear just as the European results were coming out!

THE ELECTIONS across Europe showed the same phenomenon-people punishing the government, whether it was centre right or centre left. In France the opposition Socialist Party took 30 percent of the vote as the right wing governing party of president Jacques Chirac slumped to 16.8 percent.

PUT AN X wherever you see the name Respect, the Unity Coalition (George Galloway) on the ballot paper. Make sure you fill in all the ballot papers. For the European elections (except in all postal vote areas) local polling stations will be open on Thursday from 7am to 10pm. You do not have to have a polling card to vote. If you are registered, just go along and give your name and address.

ALFIO NICOTRA is heading the European Parliament list for Rifondazione Comunista in the central Italy constituency, which includes Rome.

Abrupt climate change has been a growing topic of concern for climate scientists. They fear that global warming could shut down the "ocean conveyor" that warms the North Atlantic, plunging Europe and parts of North America into Siberia-like conditions within a few decades or even years.

THE NAZI British National Party (BNP) is hoping to make a breakthrough in the European elections on 10 June. The BNP hopes to capitalise on the disillusionment with New Labour and a low turnout. But the forces exist that can stop the BNP. Unite Against Fascism has been drawing those forces together in unprecedented numbers to campaign against the Nazis.

INDIA'S RIGHT wing Hindu chauvinist party, the BJP, suffered a shock defeat in last week's general elections. It had a net loss of nearly a third of its parliamentary seats, while its main opponent, Congress, had a net gain of a third. At the core of the BJP is an organisation with some similarities to European fascism, the RSS. It lay behind a murderous onslaught on the Muslim minority in the state of Gujarat that caused some 2,000 deaths just two years ago.

IN THE four months since Respect: The Unity Coalition's launch on 25 January we have achieved a minor miracle. We've set up a new party with members all over England and Wales. We are standing candidates in every constituency for the European and Greater London elections, as well as a few local ones. So far we've raised and spent more than £250,000.

Jim Rogers was an activist in the FBU firefighters' union and a Labour council leader in Harlow, Essex. Now he is heading up the Respect coalition's list of candidates in the Eastern constituency for the European elections