Archive for December 2006

1 December 2006

Malaysia: Appeal for urgent protests to Malaysian embassies and government over attacks on homes

Armed police and bulldozers demolished a Muslim prayer house and makeshift shelters that were built by people after the first state demolitions.

7 December 2006

Blair's health service lies

THE NATIONWIDE campaign against health service cuts, which was described in the guardian as "the most widespread and prolonged unrest since the poll tax revolt in 1990" has got Blair and New Labour worried....

7 December 2006

NHS mass protests continue

Chertsey: "NOT EITHER but Neither" is the slogan of the NHS Together campaign to save NHS services at St Peters (Chertsey) and Royal Surrey County Hospital (Guildford)...

7 December 2006

Building the national day of action

Waltham Forest: THE CAMPAIGN to stop cuts in the NHS in Waltham Forest, east London is developing daily...

7 December 2006

ITC programme fails

BLAIR'S GOVERNMENT believes in the market but the failure of some of its big initiatives in the health must be testing his faith...

7 December 2006

Diary of events

Department of Health, Whitehall, London SW1. Starting at 5.30pm. The 'ghost of NHS past', accompanied by health protesters will be haunting Patricia...

7 December 2006

Strike threat forces victory

GLASGOW'S NEW Labour council has been forced to retreat in the face of a massive strike over their plans to cut the pay of 4,500 council workers. ...

7 December 2006

"Stop the rent rises!"

Durham students say: : ON 1 December, 250 angry Durham University students demonstrated against a proposed 7% increase in the cost of living in university halls of residence...

7 December 2006

Campaign to Defeat Fees is building across London

London Socialist Students started to build the Campaign to Defeat Fees (CDF) this week with our 'Debt line' stunt...

7 December 2006

CDF online petition launched!

Socialist Students has received a fantastic response from the Campaign to Defeat Fees online petition...

7 December 2006

Fight Blair's divisive academy programme

IN A speech last week Blair announced that his pet academy schools programme would double from the 200 schools planned by 2010 to 400...

7 December 2006

200 march against Lincoln's far right

ON SATURDAY 2 December, over 200 people marched through Lincoln against the increased presence of the British National Party (BNP) on our streets....

7 December 2006

Bush and Blair still in denial

Iraq meltdown: AS IRAQ descends further into sectarian violence, ethnic cleansing, corruption and poverty, Western leaders Tony Blair and George Bush continue to be in a state of denial over the country's impending collapse...

7 December 2006

"The greatest strategic disaster in American history"

Review: FOR READERS who are familiar with Patrick Cockburn's incisive reports from Iraq in the Independent, they will appreciate his new book, The Occupation...

7 December 2006

Chávez re-election - a set-back for the right

Venezuela: : IN CONTRAST to any other President or head of state in the world today, Hugo Chávez , has been re-elected for a third term by a landslide...

7 December 2006

Balance sheet of WASG national conference

Germany: THE RECENT national conference of the WASG (Electoral Alternative for Work and Social Justice) in Germany, held on 18-19 November paved the way for a merger of this new left-wing party with the ex-Stalinist L.PDS (Left Party/...

7 December 2006

Political tensions rage in Bolivia

ON 27 NOVEMBER, several hundred protesters surrounded the entrance to Cochabamba's municipal building in what turned out to be a sharp clash with right-wing thugs and provocateurs and the Cochabamba police...

7 December 2006

Socialism 2006

How can the consequences of globalisation be combated?: Socialism 2006 featured discussions and debates which focused on the key issues facing socialists today...

7 December 2006

Britain's Muslims under siege - which way forward?

The debate between Seyyed Ferjani of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) and Jim Hensman from Coventry Socialist Party was one of the highlights of Socialism 2006...

7 December 2006

"Inspired and informed"

Jim Lowe, Devon...

7 December 2006

Do you have to be red to be green?

The science on global warming is unanswerable now - the danger is that it could develop much more rapidly...

7 December 2006

Socialism 2006 - another major step forward

Tony Mulhearn, Liverpool...

7 December 2006

Trident - a waste of our money

TONY BLAIR is trying to bulldoze through parliament the replacement of Britain's nuclear weapons system Trident...

7 December 2006

Privatised rail bosses hike up fares

FROM JANUARY, the privatised rail companies are putting up their passengers' rail fares by well over the inflation level...

7 December 2006

MPs wannabe rich

OUR MPS want parity with GPs so they've put in a 66% pay claim that would take their salaries to £100,000 a year...

7 December 2006

"Merry Christmas Mr SCCrooge"

UP TO 1,000 members of UNISON, from social services, schools, libraries and offices across Surrey, took strike action on 30 November as part of their fight for a 4% pay increase....

7 December 2006

Blood service staff prepared to fight job losses

LAST WEEK the National Health Service Blood and Transplant authority (NHSBT) announced their new service strategy which will affect mainly the National Blood Service (NBS)...

7 December 2006

UCU: Left victory in sight

THE FOUNDING conference of the UCU Left - the broad left of the new university and college lecturers' union - has marked a key step forward by overwhelmingly endorsing Roger Kline for the forthcoming general secretary electi...

7 December 2006

300,000 workers in PCS strike Ballot

THE DECISON by the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union to ballot its 300,000 members in the civil service and Non Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) for industrial action as part of its campaign against job cuts, low p...

7 December 2006

JJB workers fight sackings

ONLY WEEKS after JJB workers scored a massive victory over anti-union boss Dave Whelan (see the socialist issue 464), their union (GMB) is under serious attack. One steward has been sacked and the convenor is facing disciplinary action.

7 December 2006

NHS campaigns unite

THE BATTLE to defend the NHS took another step forward when 23 NHS campaign groups from around the country met in Nuneaton on 2 December...

7 December 2006

Socialist Party campaigning

The Socialist Party has a long and proud record of struggling to defend working-class people. We are involved in hundreds of campaigns....

15 December 2006

QEH Hospital - a victim of privatisation

THE DIRE financial crisis facing Woolwich's Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) hit the national press headlines this week...

15 December 2006

NHS news

Whitehaven: AROUND 4,000 people marched through the Cumbrian town of Whitehaven on 9 December to warn the local health trust - hands off west Cumbria's hospital services...

15 December 2006

PCS: Vote 'Yes' against job cuts and low pay

300,000 PCS members vote in national ballot: THE PUBLIC and Commercial Services union (PCS) is balloting its 300,000 members for strike action against job cuts, low pay and deteriorating working conditions. The ballot starts on 2 January for action starting with a one-day national strike on 31 January. A two-week overtime ban will start on 1 February....

15 December 2006

Privatisation, but not as we know it

The 'Third Sector': Fran Heathcote, a group organiser for the civil service union PCS in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), pulls apart the spin...

15 December 2006

The wealth gap widens

The unleashing of free-market, capitalist forces has deepened the chasm of inequality between rich and poor, capitalist and worker, both across the globe and within all countries...

15 December 2006

Good riddance to the 'butcher of Chile'

ON SUNDAY 10 December the biggest killer and robber Chile has ever seen, ex dictator Augusto Pinochet, died. Hundreds of thousands of Chileans went out onto the streets to celebrate.

15 December 2006

Private companies rule - and ruin

LAST YEAR, all Exeter's secondary schools were rebuilt using private finance initiatives...

15 December 2006

BNP fiasco but vigilance essential

Barking and Dagenham: AS RICHARD Barnbrook, leader of Barking and Dagenham council's far-right BNP group, started ranting down his megaphone, over 300 anti-fascists ran to the park perimeter to drown him out...

15 December 2006

TWGU merger: Build a fighting union

TGWU merger conference: TWO MILLION TGWU and Amicus members are likely to be balloted in early 2007 on creating Britain's largest trade union...

15 December 2006

Mass meeting prepares for action

JJB Sports: JJB SPORTS warehouse workers in Wigan held a well-attended mass meeting last week to organise the fight against bullying management...

15 December 2006

Protesting against fare increases

SOUTH YORKSHIRE First have announced more bus fare increases from 6 January...

15 December 2006

Leeds workers on strike to defend pensions

MONDAY 11 December. Chaos in Leeds. Traffic jams all over the place. A 24-hour strike by 1,000 First bus drivers brought the city to a halt....

15 December 2006

The Socialist quiz

OUR CHRISTMAS Quiz this year has 36 quiz questions, six quotes and six picture questions on famous people (or horses) for you to identify - they all died in 2006...

15 December 2006

NHS Crisis: Turn anger into action

Reporting on the NHS crisis: NEW LABOUR Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has not only pledged to 'balance' the National Health Service's books this year...

18 December 2006

JOHN HAMILTON – Blairites re-write history

The sad death of John Hamilton, leader of the Liverpool City Council in its titanic struggle to defend Liverpool from the ravagers of Thatcherism, has produced statements extraordinary in their inaccuracy and sanctimoniousnes...

18 December 2006

Heroic struggle scores victory for Visteon workers

WORKERS AT Ford's parts organisation, Visteon, are voting on the pay deals for the three 'tiers' of contracts in the workforce...

19 December 2006

Teachers support day of action against health cuts

Despite the enormous demands on teachers at this time of the year both teachers and support staff at South Grove Primary made sure that they joined in the Whipps Cross protest against health cuts...

23 December 2006

Ipswich murders lifts lid on violent world

THE DISCOVERY of the bodies of five young women in Ipswich, all brutally murdered, shocked and touched people all over the country...