Unprovoked brutality of the police at anti-G20 protests in London The media has been trying - not too convincingly - to claim that the brutal response of the police in London of the past few days was a necessary response to violent anti-G20 demonstrators. All those who participated in the events saw a different picture, a police force intent on provoking violence. This is clearly part of a plan to portray the peaceful protestors as "violent", in effect an attempt to criminalise ordinary people protesting. Here is an eyewitness account.
Britain: Remembering the great miners' strike 1984-85 Mick Brooks looks back at the 1984-85 miners' strike (see also The Ridley Report. How the Tories planned to take on the miners and the working class.) The British ruling class consciously prepared to take on the miners after they had suffered humiliation in 1972 and 1974. In order to push through a generalised attack on the whole of the working class they needed to defeat its vanguard.
The onslaught on the conditions of the European working class Under capitalism there is a steady unremitting pressure on workers’ living standards from the capitalist class, particularly as they compete with one another, and with bosses all around the world, to cut costs - especially labour costs. This need for employers to attack the wages and conditions of European workers has been intensified by the onset of crisis.
Britain: Visteon workers occupy plants! Visteon workers in Enfield and Basildon have joined with Belfast workers in occupying their plants. Management has put the firm into administration and workers were just brutally kicked off the premises without any notice. Belfast workers have been defending their occupation by staying in overnight. The workers are taking action because they have to.
Marching against the G20 summit in London While the G20 prepare to meet, a week of protest activity has also been going on, starting with last demonstration of around 35,000 people. Here we provide a brief report.
Germany: "We Won’t Pay For Your Crisis" – 55,000 march in Berlin and Frankfurt Altogether 55,000 people came out onto to the streets on March 28 in Berlin and Frankfurt/Main as part of Saturday's protests across Europe. The speeches and the comments of workers and shop stewards show that major class conflicts are being prepared in Germany in the coming period.
Austria: Spring awakening in Vienna – 15.000 march against the crisis Austria is in recession, and it gets worse as each day passes. More and more workers are being hit hard, with sackings and cuts in hours and wages. On Saturday we had a taste of what is to come, with a successful demonstration which initially the trade union leaders refused to support, but were later forced to back as the pressure from the ranks built up.
Ireland: “The last roll of the dice for Government, IBEC and unions” The ICTU leaders have deferred the strike action planned for Monday 30 pending the outcome of negotiations. The problem is the government and the bosses have very little room for manoeuvre. The only way to stop the Fianna Fáil/Green Party government and the bosses in their tracks is through militant action.
Mass strikes in France: the gathering storm Last week mass demonstrations involving more than 2.5 million people took place in France. In the face of constant attacks by Sarkozy on the working class the trade union leaders have attempted to hold the movement back, preferring a series of government “consultations”, but the pressure from below is becoming unstoppable. A new period of militant class struggle is opening up.
Ireland: March 30th strike against the crisis! Union after union has been balloting its members over strike action and the message from the rank and file is clear. SIPTU, the teachers, the nurses, the TEEU are all coming out; in IMPACT, the biggest public sector union 65% voted favour and even in UNITE where there is a big private sector presence the votes are on a knife edge. The conditions are all there to transform March 30 into a full-fledged one-day general strike, if the trade union leaders were prepared to make such a call.
Ireland: Waterford Occupation ends; a bitter pill to swallow After displaying a high level of militancy and determination, the Waterford workers have ended their occupation after the union leaders brokered a deal with the owners of the company. This is a bitter blow for the workers, but it also highlights the need to struggle within the unions for a fighting leadership.
Going, going, gone? The referendum on Scottish independence The chances of a referendum on Scottish independence appear increasingly distant following a Scottish parliamentary vote in favour of a resolution condemning moves towards one. This is a huge blow to the Scottish National Party but it has also done little for a Labour Party that has lost all sense of direction, as its leadership exposes itself as utterly unable to capitalise on the SNP’s fall from grace.
Scottish political perspectives The economic crisis looks likely to hit Scotland as badly, if not worse, than the rest of the UK, and is already causing the Scottish National Party some major political headaches.
Northern Ireland: No way out except Socialism Sectarianism only serves to divide the working class. When in reality the conditions that Catholic and Protestant workers face mean that they have far more in common with each other than they could ever have with the bosses.
Ireland: Labour Youth, the Connolly Youth Movement, the Greens and the March 30th Strikes As we know there are indeed 40 shades of green in Ireland, but as the comrades of Labour Youth and the Connolly Youth Movement have explained in their open letter to the Green Party there is another one. The shade of green, that is, which justifies the Green Party’s ongoing support for the Fianna Fáil - which allows the latter to continue to hold a majority in the Dáil.
