The Socialist 3 November 2021

Socialist change to end climate change

Socialist change to end climate change

Fight for socialism to end climate destruction

COP26 begins - workers strike for pay

COP26 News in brief

Why I joined the Socialist Party

Fund the fight for a socialist world

Sheffield students tirelessly campaigning for socialist change

Hackney children's centres: Campaigners see through council deception

East London gentrification plans exposed

Fight for a real wage rise for all

Local government cuts set to continue - we need councillors prepared to fight

Race to top for bankers

Fight for a £15-an-hour minimum wage and an end to youth rates

Water companies put profits before protecting our environment

Tories threaten arts students: we are prepared to fight back!

Tory Universal Credit crumbs no solution to cost of living crisis

Tory plans won't fix social care

Pay freeze lifted for civil servants - prepare now for the struggle for a decent rise

NEU: Strategy needed to bring members together to take national action

Oaks Park school strike spurred on by head's lies

Scunthorpe scaffs strike into fifth week

Unite leaflets supermarkets to build support for Weetabix fire and rehire strike

Plant engineers pay dispute

Sexism, safety and the profit system

Sudan - mass protests and general strike against coup

Chile: International solidarity campaign to free political prisoners

Vaccine inequality - the ugly face of capitalism

Hunger strike in Calais for refugee rights

Protests against Sudan coup reach Britain

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Hunger strike in Calais for refugee rights

'The Jungle' camp in Calais, photo Paul Mattsson (Click to enlarge)

Lizzie Manning, Coventry Socialist Party

Three humanitarian activists started a hunger strike on 11 October in the hope of capturing the attention of the French state to highlight the conditions of those displaced people in Calais hoping to reach the UK.

Philippe Demeestere, Anaïs Vogel and Ludovic Holbein started the strike as a direct response to the brutal living conditions migrants have been forced to endure. The strike is also heavily motivated by the recent tragic deaths of two young asylum seekers attempting to cross the English Channel to the UK.

The daily harassment and humiliation in the Calais region is absolutely shocking. The police routinely dismantle camps, destroy migrants' tents and confiscate their belongings, as well as using violence.

The French state is completely out of touch with local humanitarian associations regarding migration issues.

On 25 October, journalists asked French president Emmanuel Macron whether he had plans to meet with the three hunger strikers. He was seemingly unaware and made the pathetic claim that he will 'go in the following weeks', but furthered that he had no prior plan to visit before being directly asked.

Demeestere, Vogel and Holbein are campaigning for suspension of daily evictions and dismantling of camps during the winter months, and for the confiscation of tents and personal belongings to be stopped.

They are also asking for the creation of a reasoned citizens' dialogue between public authorities and associations not mandated by the state, about the opening and location of distribution points for all goods necessary to maintain the health of those seeking refuge.

In this issue

COP26

Socialist change to end climate change