Robin's blog

Fighting migration controls is grinding, a daily and often terrible battle, mostly fought by individuals and small groups of people. Often it is inspiring.

This week has been phenomenal. I hope it is an epiphenomenon in some ways, in others of course not. I feel like I have to say from the outset: up class struggle. Down the bosses.

Janine's article is really important, really well-considered.

For Peace in Sri Lanka
For the right to self-determination for the Tamil people
Against chauvinism and communalism
For international workers’ solidarity against capitalist war and exploitation

By Robin Sivapalan
I read Assed’s initial article just over a week ago when I was invited by comrades in the SWP to join the Facebook group set up to defend him. On a quick reading I was pretty disappointed by what he had to say and also, from experience, I could predict the scale and type of enraged response this article would provoke.

The meeting last night was useful, though it had to be cut short because of a misunderstanding about the booking times. I think it's important that we do something on this, limited as it may be.

There's a new worrying twist every day at the moment, with Tony Blair, and the few people who are going to go the distance with him, seeming to snowball in arrogance, like a Kamikaze mission. While there is some opposition to to the Blairite agenda, with Brown (who's never voted either way on any gay rights legislation) hovering to take on the mantle and go further, it is, taken as a whole, a worryingly small fractured and shrill opposition, not really confident of the politcal ideas and forces that might stand up to attack.

A favourite 'fun' 'teambuilding' or 'group' activity that teachers often put in front of captive students is that sinking ship exercise, or variations on it where you're asked to choose which poor fucker you'd have to kick out of the hot air balloon, in what order, to save your own skin. There's usually a societal context, so you'd have to decide whether you'd prioritise the life or death of the plumber, the doctor, the teacher or the priest and so on.