Successful Hands off Venezuela meeting after anti-war demo The London Hands off Venezuela campaign held an excellent meeting at the Walkers of Whitehall pub just off Trafalgar Square after the anti-war demonstration on March 19, 2005. Hands off Venezuela had a stall at the demonstration that attracted a lot of attention, where DVDs, pamphlets and leaflets were distributed on the revolutionary events in Venezuela.
Students occupy UCL premises in protest against the imperialist occupation of Iraq A group of students organised in the UCL Social Forum, UCL Stop the War Society and the UCLSSWS, together with other activists, occupied the University College London on the eve of the national march against the occupation of Iraq.
Workers Unite Yorkshire We are very happy to publish this leaflet that has been distributed in West Yorkshire. The authors of the leaflet are a small but committed group of young Socialists who are based in the area.
The effects of the crisis within the Greek Orthodox Church and the position of the Marxists Further to our previous articles, we publish an Editorial Statement of the Greek Marxist Tendency, Marxistiki Foni, on the meaning of the severe crisis that has shaken the Greek Orthodox Church and how this relates to the future class battles that are being prepared in Greece.
Chechen leader Maskhadov assassinated – but nothing has been solved On March 8th, Aslan Maskhadov was killed. There are currently conflicting reports as to how Russian forces killed the recognised leader of Chechen resistance against the Russian state. His death has been painted as a personal victory for President Putin, who was compelled to admit the weaknesses of the Russian state following the Beslan tragedy. But there is still no end in sight for the war of attrition between Chechen independence fighters and the Russian army.
Faith: A Dramatic Tribute to the Miners' Strike of 1984-85 Twenty years ago this month, the heroic twelve-month long struggle of the British miners to defend their jobs and their communities came to an end. The BBC drama Faith broadcast on February 28 on these events was like a breath of fresh air, an antidote to that earlier filth masquerading as ‘impartial documentaries’. For the first time in the national media the role of the state – its specially created national police force, its media, its secret services, and all the weapons employed by the ruling class to fight the miners – was vividly exposed.
Britain: Don't let the Tories in... and kick them out of Labour Tony Blair has called the general election for May 5. He did this as opinion polls show a sharp fall in Labour support, down to 37% of the electorate, with the Tories close behind at 34% and the Liberal Democrats at 21%. This would indicate another Blair victory but with a much reduced majority and with significant layers of the working class voting for nobody. There will be no street parties this time.
UK Budget 2005: Never Had It So Good? Way back in 1959, the then Tory prime minister, Harold Macmillan, went into an election with the slogan that Britain has “never had it so good.” Now, according to Gordon Brown, the UK has enjoyed, under his stewardship, the longest period of sustained economic growth since 1701! However, it does not say much for capitalism and the British variety of it that the longest period of economic growth in its history is just seven years.
Britain: Boot Privateers out of Public Services Jamie Oliver’s television programme has highlighted the scandal of junk food school meals being served up to British children by private firms. In some cases a pathetic 37p is being spent per child. This is the inevitable consequence of allowing profit hungry privateers anywhere near our children’s health and education.
Southern Ireland: End of the Miracle - Now the attack on the working class begins In Southern Ireland the economic miracle is well and truly over. As we have predicted and explained for some time now, the Celtic Tiger phenomenon did not mean that capitalism had solved any of its contradictions. Now in the context of a declining world market the only road open to the bosses to protect their profits will be an assault on workers living standards.
Warmonger Bush not welcome in Belgium Last week thousands of Belgians protested against US President Bush, who was in Brussels for a short trip from February 20-22. After having alienated most of his European allies, Bush was in Belgium to heal the wounds since he is aware the United States cannot simply keep running like a bull in a china shop on the stage of world affairs. Bush needs to seek points of support in Europe and that is why (temporarily) diplomacy seems to have taken the front seat again. Even little Belgium can help the United States, which is what the country is doing at the moment in relation to the war in Iraq. Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt may be “proud” of not having any Belgian troops in Iraq, but the...
Greece: Scandals within the Church and the Judiciary are shaking the foundations of society The Greek Orthodox Church and the Judiciary have been involved in major corruption scandals, involving embezzlement, drug running and bribing of judges to fix trials. Two “pillars” of the Greek state have thus been exposed in the eyes of the masses, something which will have profound consequences in the coming years of class struggle. We publish an introduction by Fred Weston and the Editorial statement of the new Greek Marxist journal, Marxistiki Phoni, on these developments.
Austria: Whose street? Ours! - Balance sheet of the anti-fascist demo in Vorarlberg Some 800 anti-fascists responded to the appeal of the Marxist-led Sozialistische Jugend (SJ, Young Socialists) Vorarlberg to demonstrate in Bludenz, a traditional working-class town in the conservative region of Vorarlberg, next to the Swiss and German border. With this demo the anti-fascist movement has again gone onto the offensive.
Labour government launches unparalleled assault on civil liberties The cornerstone of a freedom established almost 800 years ago is now under threat from a Labour government. The latest reactionary piece of legislation hands power to the Home Secretary of the day to hold those he claims to be suspected terrorists under house arrest indefinitely.
Class struggle erupts again in France More than half a million public and private sector workers demonstrated on February 5 against proposals to scrap the 35-hour week, while 100,000 school students came on the streets to protest against education reform on February 10. The class struggle in France has suddenly spluttered back into life after more than eighteen months of relative slumber.
