Archive for November 2006
2 November 2006
West Midlands says 'Save our hospitals'
ANGER OVER cutbacks in local health services is still growing. Two more marches took place in the West Midlands last weekend. On 28 October, 300 patients... By Dave Griffiths
2 November 2006
Bring the NHS into public ownership and rebuild it as a publicly funded service free at the point of use, with immediate cash to end the crisis of under-funding...
2 November 2006
ON 26 October Leeds Socialist Party members protested outside the Leeds offices of PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC)... By Manny Dominguez and Jane Westwood
2 November 2006
Can global warming be stopped?
A radical environmentalist perhaps? The outline for a Hollywood film? No, this was part of an appraisal of global warming's possible impact for the US...
2 November 2006
Capitalism is killing the planet: Fight for socialism!
FROM NOVEMBER 6-17 countries will meet in Nairobi (Kenya) in UN sponsored talks on climate change... By Dave Nellist Coventry Socialist Party councillor
2 November 2006
Mexico: Police and army attack Oaxaca rebellion
AFTER FIVE months of struggle and open rebellion in Oaxaca, the outgoing Mexican president Vicente Fox has taken a gamble by sending in the police and the army to retake control of state institutions and the city... By Karl Debbaut, CWI
2 November 2006
Lula's win is no victory for Brazil's poor
BRAZIL'S INCUMBENT president, Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, cruised to victory in last Sunday's run-off ballot...
2 November 2006
Cyprus: Fight for Kurdish asylum rights
SAAID ALHACHEMI, a Kurdish asylum seeker, has been imprisoned illegally by the Greek Cypriot government for 20 days... By Greg Maughan
2 November 2006
Big Bucks for Starbucks - nothing for small farmers
GLOBAL COFFEE chain Starbucks is the McDonalds of the coffee world with hundreds of shops throughout Britain and the world. Its annual revenue is £3.2 billion.
2 November 2006
Union votes for anti-cuts campaign
Southampton: SOUTHAMPTON SOC-IALIST Party are holding a public meeting on 2 November to build a campaign against cuts and privatisation planned by the city council... By Nick Chaffey
2 November 2006
Thousands join fees demonstration
Student protests: ON 29 October, thousands of students showed their opposition to government attacks on higher education by demonstrating against top-up fees... By Michael Pooler Manchester University Socialist Students
2 November 2006
MEMBERS OF Socialist Students marched as a red, socialist contingent on the demonstration against fees.... By Ben Robinson
2 November 2006
Hungary 1956: When workers rose in their millions
Clare Doyle explains the background to these inspiring events and the reasons why the Hungarian revolution was brutally crushed by a new 'Soviet' invasion....
2 November 2006
Crime and punishment - the prison officers' view
the socialist interview: BRIAN CATON, the general secretary of the Prison Officers' Association (POA) recently spoke to the socialist about this and other important issues facing his trade union....
2 November 2006
Building a national shop stewards' network
OVER 200 trade union shop stewards and workplace reps attended the railworkers' RMT union conference held on 28 October to discuss the setting up of a national shop stewards' network.... By Ken Smith
2 November 2006
Southampton journalists take on Newsquest
OVER 40 striking journalists formed pickets outside the offices of the Southern Daily Echo in Southampton, in a successful two-day strike over pay. ... By Nick Chaffey
2 November 2006
THE DEPARTMENT for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have made 19 wildlife officers compulsory redundant...
2 November 2006
Now build for further action THOUSANDS OF people descended on parliament on 1 November to demonstrate their anger at the devastating cuts and closures to the National Health Service...
9 November 2006
The immigration 'debate': silent on class
IMMIGRATION HAS resurfaced as a headline grabbing issue, with the Home Office announcement that, since 2004, 600,000 Eastern Europeans from the new EU countries, mainly from Poland, have arrived in Britain, writes Sean Figg.
9 November 2006
Doctor attacks Labour-backing Prentis
AN ANGRY east London GP has written the open letter below to Dave Prentis, General Secretary of the largest trade union in the NHS, UNISON.
9 November 2006
Health minister's 'scary' performance
AT 6.30am on 1 November, with people from our hospital, we set off to Westminster to lobby our MPs regarding the systematic cuts taking place in our health service... By Jon Smith, GMB branch secretary, Sheffield Children's Hospital
9 November 2006
NURSES, MIDWIVES and other health workers are told their next year's annual settlement should limit pay rises to 1.5%, well below the 3.6% official inflation rate, let alone the rise in fuel prices over the last year (as hig...
9 November 2006
"I'M NOT in business to make cars. I'm in business to make money," said Donald Stokes, chairman of British Leyland when it was the biggest British car company in the 1970s. Now, another chief executive said the same, this time about medicines.
9 November 2006
Hanging Saddam won't end crisis in Iraq
THE DEATH sentence passed on former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, for 'crimes against humanity', will do little to end sectarian violence in Iraq... By Dave Carr
9 November 2006
Solidarity - Scotland's socialist movement
Conference agrees to build a socialist party: TWO HUNDRED and fifty members of Solidarity - Scotland's Socialist Movement attended the first national conference of the new party on Saturday...
9 November 2006
National action needed against performance pay
School teachers: TOO MANY teachers are being ground down under the pressures of a divisive system of performance monitoring, imposed targets, league tables and inspections... By Martin Powell-Davies
9 November 2006
EXETER SOCIALIST Students' public meeting on privatisation and marketisation of education attracted many trainee teachers angry at New Labour's destruction of comprehensive education... By Jim Lowe, Exeter Socialist Party and Devon NUT
9 November 2006
WE WERE promised "education, education, education". We got lies, lies, lies. "Students benefit because upfront fees disappear" is the line the government... By Sarah Sachs-Eldridge
9 November 2006
Campaign to defeat top-up fees
On Sunday 29 October, when around 15,000 students marched on the NUS demo, the chants were loud and clear: "Top-up fees, no way!" It was clear that this was a demo not just to keep the cap on top-up fees, but against all fe... By Sarah Sachs-Eldridge
9 November 2006
LAST YEAR Lambeth College made £2.3 million cuts; another 5% in funding cuts were announced this year. If cuts like these continue for the next two or three years, adult education provision will be decimated.
9 November 2006
Build a real alternative to BNP
SOCIALIST STUDENTS groups from across Yorkshire have been fighting alongside other left- wing organisations and trade unions to expose the far-right BNP's fascist underbelly, which they have been trying to hide.... By Monique Hirst and Ian Slattery, Huddersfield Socialist Students
9 November 2006
When British imperialism hit the rocks
Suez 1956: : ON 5 November 1956 British and French paratroops occupied Egypt's Port Said at the entrance to the Suez Canal....
9 November 2006
Reactionary Jewish and Arab groups in homophobic campaign
Israel: Gay Pride demo under serious threat: A GAY Pride demo will be held in Jerusalem, on 10 November, against a background of vicious incitement and homophobic propaganda by reactionary Jewish and Arab organisations... By Shahar Benhar, Maavak Sozialisti, CWI Israel
9 November 2006
Private operating theatres in supermarket car-parks! Cancer treatment for pets! This is the madness that the 'internal market' and privatisation is bringing... By Alistair Tice
16 November 2006
Iraq, corruption and wealth gap send Republicans into a tail-spin
But corporate Democrats offer no real alternative: THE REPUBLICANS and Bush have suffered a 'thumping' political defeat. Bush himself admitted it, adding, "I didn't see it coming. But what would I know?"...
16 November 2006
Palestine: "No excuse can justify this atrocity"
ISRAELI PM Ehud Olmert enraged Palestinians by describing the deaths of 18 civilians, killed by Israel tank shells in Gaza last Wednesday, as a "technical mistake"...
16 November 2006
Join the fightback - save the NHS
THE NHS is facing a 'winter of discontent', media reports claim. More than 200 trusts, 40% of the total have 'overspent' half-way through the year...
16 November 2006
Manchester: AROUND 30 staff and supporters lobbied the local health trust on 9 November, demanding they drop plans for sweeping cuts to community mental health-care in Manchester...
16 November 2006
THE WHITE House is lobbying Blair's government to give the world's pharmaceutical giants - largely US-owned - unrestricted access to the NHS as part of the package of 'free market' health service reforms....
16 November 2006
NICK GRIFFIN, leader of the far-right, racist British National Party (BNP) has been acquitted of charges of behaviour intended to stir up racial hatred at Leeds Crown Court on 9 November...
16 November 2006
Is capitalism killing football?
Peter Taaffe reviews My Father and Other Working Class Football Heroes by Gary Imlach, published by ELO Jersey Press (£7.99)....
16 November 2006
Farepack: THE MILLIONAIRES are falling out. Sir Clive Thompson, director of Farepak Christmas savings club accuses Halifax Bank of Scotland of pulling the plug...
16 November 2006
NEW LABOUR ministers tell students that there's no other way to fund higher education than to make us pay fees...
16 November 2006
Fighting start for the Campaign to Defeat Fees
Socialist Student members have been campaigning against fees since the lie came out of Tony Blair's mouth - "Education, education, education"...
16 November 2006
Respect Organising Fighting Unions Conference
Lack of debate exposes limitations: THE RESPECT-initiated Organising Fighting Unions Conference held in London on 11 November attracted about 600-700 trade unionists and socialists....
16 November 2006
Visteon workers:: Vote 'no' to concessions
AFTER ALMOST 15 months of threats and intimidation under the name of 'negotiations', workers at Visteon, Ford's parts organisation, finally appear to be facing the crunch...
16 November 2006
NEARLY 300 GMB members employed by JJB Sports at their warehouse in Wigan are currently taking strike action...
16 November 2006
AS PART of an occasional series about life at work, the socialist recently spoke to a young worker who worked for the computer games retailer Game....
16 November 2006
Millions reject war and occupation
Bush & Blair's Iraq disaster: GEORGE BUSH'S Iraq policy received a massive thumbs down from disgruntled US voters in last week's elections....
22 November 2006
Nurses against 'natural wastage'
NURSES ARE told that the government wants a publicly owned NHS providing the best-quality care for all patients...
22 November 2006
SWANSEA'S COMMUNITY Health Council (CHC), that acts as a public watchdog on local health issues, has voted for a second time against plans to shut Fairwood hospital and ward 1 at Hill House.
22 November 2006
Ipswich campaign saves nurses' jobs
FOLLOWING A campaign by the local newspaper, which Ipswich Socialist Party members helped spearhead on behalf of Ipswich Trades Council, the local Primary Care Trust's proposals to axe 31 specialist nurses' jobs have been s...
22 November 2006
Bury: A HUNDRED people marched through Bury, Greater Manchester, on 18 November to protest at the closure of Ward 30 at Fairfield General Hospital....
22 November 2006
Stop the fat cats! No to Cutbacks! Fight tuition fees!
Education: THE BOSSES' organisation, CBI, has complained about the government "wasting" billions on funding courses in Further Education (FE) colleges...
22 November 2006
Queen's speech says 'work till you drop'
WE'LL WORK into our graves, if we don't get locked up without a trial, while only rich people will be able to drive...
22 November 2006
New publication: BILL MULLINS, the Socialist Party's national industrial organiser, reviews Marxism in Today's World, the new book from the Committee for a Workers' International. THE NEW book published by the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI), Marxism in Today's World, is an opportunity for many people to read in detail the ideas and policies of the CWI.
22 November 2006
Worldwide protests at MP's murder
Sri Lanka: ON MONDAY, 13 November, up to 10,000 people filed through central Colombo, Sri Lanka, with the coffin of murdered TNA MP, Nadarajah Raviraj...
22 November 2006
Leicester Socialist Party Public meeting: : ABOUT 25 Tamil people held a protest in Leicester city centre on 18 November against the Sri Lankan government's role in the killings and starvation of Tamil people there...
22 November 2006
Lincoln organises against the far right
The demonstration will meet in front of the atrium at the University of Lincoln, on Brayford Wharf East at 11.30am on Saturday 2 December...
22 November 2006
Thatcher's monetarist guru dies
Milton Friedman: MILTON FRIEDMAN, economics guru of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and US president Ronald Reagan, died last week...
22 November 2006
Local government pensions: We're no April fools!
ON 22 NOVEMBER, UNISON members are lobbying parliament about the local government pension scheme...
22 November 2006
Disciplinary action against UNISON secretary
For more information please contact [email protected] Please also send messages of support....
22 November 2006
JJB Sports workers score a victory
AFTER FIVE days of strike action, an overtime ban and solidarity protests across the country, workers at JJB Sports distribution depot in Wigan have scored a famous victory...
22 November 2006
HUNDREDS OF staff working for giant multinational Fujitsu IT Services took strike action on 20 November against attacks on pay, working conditions and union rights...
22 November 2006
Interview with John McDonnell MP: Hannah Sell, assistant secretary of the Campaign for a New Workers' Party and Ken Smith, Socialist Party Trade Union organiser, interviewed John McDonnell MP on his challenge for the leadership of the Labour Party.
22 November 2006
Homelessness: Privatising the problem
THE BBC launch their homelessness season this week to mark the 40th anniversary of the famous TV drama Cathy Come Home...
22 November 2006
Six months after it narrowly defeated the right-wing government of Silvio Berlusconi, Romano Prodi's centre-left coalition in Italy is hanging by a thread....
22 November 2006
Public health not private profit
NATIONAL HEALTH Service chiefs have told hospital trusts that they can start advertising for patients...
26 November 2006
US rages but Ortega's victory is no revolution
Nicaragua elections: Politicians in the US have petitioned secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, demanding that remittances sent by Nicaraguans living in the US back to their families should be blocked...
28 November 2006
OUT OF the comfort of the boardroom came a familiar sight to viewers of Question Time (but not so much to an audience at a Socialist Party youth rally!), a representative of the Tory party – Mark Clarke, chair of Conservative...
28 November 2006
ONCE AGAIN the finance collection at the Socialism Rally was a highlight of the weekend...
28 November 2006
Films show a world of rising struggles
THE RALLY began with a short film showing workers fighting back around the world...
28 November 2006
"ALMOST HALF the world lives without clean water or modern sewage systems," said Hannah Sell, introducing the Rally for Socialism...
28 November 2006
Socialism 2006: a great success
SOCIALISM 2006 more than lived up to the expectations of those that attended...
28 November 2006
Socialism 2006 closing rally: defend the NHS
THE CLOSING rally on how to defend the NHS, not surprisingly, was packed. Dr Jackie Grunsell and Huddersfield Save Our NHS councillor gave a moving introduction,...
28 November 2006
IN SRI Lanka, 3,000 people have lost their lives as a three year-old ceasefire is falling apart...
29 November 2006
Gemayel killing fuels political tensions
Lebanon: UNIDENTIFIED GUNMEN assassinated Pierre Gemayel, Lebanon's industry minister and leader of the reactionary right-wing Kataeb (Phalange) party on 22 November...
29 November 2006
Glasgow council workers prepare to strike
UNISON MEMBERS in Glasgow Council have voted 2:1 in favour of strike action...
29 November 2006
Socialism 2006: "A brilliant and inspiring experience"
SOCIALISM 2006 more than lived up to the expectations of those that attended...
29 November 2006
The rally began with a short film showing workers fighting back around the world...
29 November 2006
Youth rally: Socialist ideas are the future
Out of the comfort of the boardroom came a familiar sight to viewers of Question Time (but not so much to an audience at a Socialist Party youth rally!), a representative of the Tory party - Mark Clarke, chair of Conservative...
29 November 2006
Closing rally: How to defend the NHS
THE CLOSING rally on how to defend the NHS, not surprisingly, was packed. Dr Jackie Grunsell and Huddersfield Save Our NHS councillor gave a moving introduction,...
29 November 2006
Socialism 2006 - an unmissable event!
Well over 800 people packed out the Friends' Meeting House for the Rally for Socialism to hear the inspiring speeches of Tommy Sheridan, Len Hockey, Peter Taaffe and others...
29 November 2006
Once again the finance collection at the Socialism Rally was a highlight of the weekend...
29 November 2006
Vote 'yes' for national strike action
Fighting civil service job cuts: THE PCS National Executive Committee (NEC) has agreed to organise a national industrial action ballot in the new year as part of the campaign against job cuts and the imposition of below-inflation pay deals on civil service w...
29 November 2006
Fighting and striking, on all fronts
Surrey UNISON: UNISON MEMBERS working for Surrey County Council (SCC) are striking on 30 November, over pay. This involves around 4,000 workers. ...
29 November 2006
Ripping the heart out of the NHS
"THE OTHER day a district nurse, who had previously worked in our practice, came to me in tears...
29 November 2006
Dutch Socialist Party makes sensational election gains
A POLITICAL earthquake took place in the Netherlands last week when the Dutch Socialist Party (SP) made the biggest gains in the 22 November general elections, coming third place with 25seats...
29 November 2006
Australia - Big increase in votes for Socialist Party in Richmond
IN LAST week's Victoria state elections the Socialist Party (SP - CWI, Australia) stood Yarra Councillor, Stephen Jolly, in the seat of Richmond in Melbourne...
29 November 2006
Socialists fight Labour's attacks
SOCIALIST PARTY councillors and campaigners in Lewisham, south London, are resisting attacks on working-class people's education and housing...
29 November 2006
Gaza: How long will the ceasefire last?
THE ISRAELI government began operating a ceasefire in the Gaza strip, along with Palestinian militias, on Sunday 26 November...
29 November 2006
Hundreds of thousands gather to inaugurate Lopez Obrador
Mexico: : ON 20 November, the official anniversary of the 1910 Mexican revolution, and 141 days after the right-wing parties stole the presidential election, the popular protest movement headed by the ex-presidential candidate
29 November 2006
Local government pensions: THE CIVIL service union PCS National Executive Committee (NEC) met recently and discussed and agreed a motion condemning the assassination in Sri Lanka of prominent Tamil MP, Nadarajah Raviraj and the ongoing threats to other...
29 November 2006
Bosses' tax moans threaten cuts
THE CONFEDERATION of British Industry (CBI) represents big business interests...
29 November 2006
Top cops say: "Protest but don't offend anyone"
BRITAIN'S BIGGEST police force, the Metropolitan Police are lobbying for new powers to arrest protesters for 'causing offence' through the words that they chant, the slogans they put on their placards and even the headband...
29 November 2006
Costs soar while communities ignored
Olympics 2012: IT WOULDN'T have taken a genius to predict that the cost of the London Olympics would rise from the original forecast of just under £2.5 billion...
30 November 2006
Leon Trotsky's Transitional Programme
IN THE second of our occasional series on Marxist classics, Michael Garrett looks at The Transitional Programme by Leon Trotsky. ...
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.
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