Workers' Liberty

Lie no. 1: Ireland is a single unit.

Geoff Bell: There is nothing wrong in reassessing Marxist interpretations, but where this has led Socialist Organiser as far as this particular exercise is concerned is to the other side of the class divide. This is illustrated in the January edition of the magazine Workers' Liberty and an article therein by Sean Matgamna.

An analogy may help to explain the issues - the case of Ceylon/ Sri Lanka. I assume Geoff Bell and Socialist Outlook are in favour of the right of the Tamils to secede from the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan state and set up their own state. But how did things in Ceylon/ Sri Lanka turn out like this? Look at the history.

Nominations to be in - by posting to awl-debate@lists.workersliberty.org - by midnight Tuesday 6 May/ Wednesday 7 May. Each nominated candidate then to be required to write about 100 words describing their activity and record in the organisation, and any particular political slant which they hope to represent on the NC.

Those self-descriptions will be made available at the conference. The conference will include a hustings session in which AWL members can speak in favour or against particular candidates, or in favour of or against a particular balance on the committee.

Last lot of amendments to AWL conference documents: on feminist work, and on organising young workers.

This week, a police report showed that immigrants are, in fact, not the bunch of criminals that some right-wing rags and ignorant bigots would have you believe. It seems that even in the few crimes where a disproportionate number of perpetrators are foreign, the same disproportion of victims are also foreign.

On Sunday 20 Apr, the Bangladeshi Caterer’s Association (BCA) mobilised thousands for a demonstration in Trafalgar Square, calling for an end to raids on restaurants by the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) and the regularisation of undocumented staff. The demonstration originated with restaurant workers and owners in China Town and spread to involving bosses and workers from other restaurants.

On 27 March, Augustine, a Biafran independence activist was deported to Nigeria, where his brother has been killed and his wife and children are missing. He is still laid up with the injuries he sustained by the five thugs who twisted his neck and kicked and punched him to the ground while handcuffed. Unable to afford medical care, we fear for his life.

The Probation Service is proposing to remove the automatic annual increments awarded to most workers. It is the first public-service sector to come out with this proposal.

Members of the public service union Unison should have already received ballot papers for the Service Group Executive (SGE) elections being held now.

In sharp contrast to the health sector, members of the public sector union Unison in local government are being given a clear direction to reject their current pay offer and prepare for strike action.

On 12 April — a very wet Saturday morning — forty feminists from around the country gathered at the London School of Economics for a teach-in on the threats to reproductive rights in the UK and internationally. The event was organised by Feminist Fightback, with a balance of in-depth discussion and practical planning for action.