Workers' Liberty

The myth and the reality

These are exciting times for the Left. George Galloway, the Robert Kilroy-Silk of anti-imperialism, fresh from his glorious election victory over pro-war Blairite MP Oona King in Bethnal Green, has crossed the pond to the US of A to take the war to the lickspittle Republicans...or so goes the tale.

The Edukators are Jan (Daniel Bruhl) and Peter (Stipe Erceg), anti-capitalists with their own ideas for how to build for socialist revolution. With the handy skill of being able to disarm an alarm, they break in to rich people’s houses, go in, and rearrange the furniture. They leave them with the unnerving message “Your days of plenty are numbered”. Directed by Hans Weingartner, his second feature since 2001’s The White Noise, he explains in an interview that, this generation no longer “know how to fight against the system”. His offering to this conundrum has received him nomination for the Golden Palm at The Cannes Film Festival.

Peter Tatchell is a human rights activist who is a member of the Green Party and the gay rights group OutRage! He is particularly well-known for his criticism of homophobic reggae artists and the dictatorship of Robert Mugabe, who he has twice tried to Citizen's Arrest.

The Green Party has really increased its profile in recent years, particularly among Britain's youth. This has led to a progression in the number of Greens and environmentalists at all sorts of demos, and they've managed to make their anti-war sentiment well known. Beyond this, their stances on issues such as gay and lesbian rights, top-up fees and multinationals have meant that they've been able to attract a number of young people, disaffected by the mainstream parties, looking for a group which can voice their anger at the problems in our society.

www.nosweat.org.uk

NO SWEAT DISCUSSION

What does Fair Trade mean?

Monday 13 June, 7.30pm
Old Crown, 33 New Oxford St.
(Tubes: Holborn, Tottenham Ct Rd)

Speakers: Carmen Barrada (From the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign) and a No Sweat speaker

The Queen’s a harmless old bag, isn’t she?

 She may well be, but the monarchy is representative of class rule, inequality and the historic privilege of the aristocracy. A socialist society would have to abolish it and its out-of-date values.

In the Queen’s Speech, the grey-haired racist billionaire announced, on behalf of Blair’s government, that the society constructed in Labour’s third term would be based on “respect.” No, not the dodgy communalist lash-up that managed to get some self-obsessed demagogue elected in East London (see elsewhere on this website), but that fluffy universal value that everyone from Ali G to Tony himself are advocates and exponents of.

The war in Iraq was an event that sparked mass protest when over 1 million people marched on the 15th February 2003 in London. Despite this, as we all know, the USA and UK troops continue to occupy Iraq and bomb its civilians and destroy its infrastructure. The result was the devastation of the work and livelihoods of huge numbers of Iraqis. The occupying forces still have done little to rebuild this as the capitalist oil corporations carved up Iraq for oil profits without even caring about the Iraqi people all. This was no war of liberation, but a war for capitalist profit! The media has afterwards portrayed the battle between the occupying forces of the American and British troops fighting the Islamic guerrillas.

With the second European Social Forum meeting in Paris this November, "social forums" are suddenly all the rage on the left. But what exactly are they? To understand the social forum movement, you need to know a bit about its history...

World Social Forum

The first World Social Forum was called in January 2001 to coincide with the World Economic Forum - an annual meeting where some of the key players in global capitalism sit down to discuss how to best run the world in their own interests. The idea of the WSF was to counterpose "social" values of equality, democracy and solidarity to the profit-oriented capitalist economics represented by the WEF.

A Texan ape, strategically shaven and placed in a suit is coming to Britain to celebrate his war in of Iraq in partnership with his best chum, Tony 'smash the unions' Blair.

Ruben looks at the future of the anti-war movement and asks 'where can we go from here?'

Where can the anti-war movement go from here? First we have to address our problems. It's been difficult to try and make political criticisms of the Stop the War Coalition. People who tried were simply told 'we mobilised 2,000,000 people so there's clearly nothing wrong.' This just isn't true - there are some serious political and tactical issues that the STWC never faced up to. It may seem negative to focus on the bad aspects of the movement, but if we want to build on the good, positive aspects we have to deal with what's wrong.

Party conference season is over. New Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, all staunch backers of the rich, capitalist classes have finished debating how to formulate the policies that best allow the ruling classes to exploit the workers.

Like a few, but sadly not that many, anti-war activists I took to the streets on 27th of September, and like many of those who joined me I was not exactly overjoyed with what I saw and heard there. If ever any indication of the self-imposed crisis the anti-war movement is in were needed then the platform on this demonstration would do the trick quite well.

Everyone’s favourite trained ape has done it again. No sooner have his cluster bombs finished liberating the Iraqi people than he’s got his pencils and crayons out to draw up the future for the Middle East, in the shape of his ‘road map’ to peace. Nice one George, thanks!

Coca Cola, the World Bank, Israel. . .campaigns advocating a boycott of particular products, organisations or even countries are increasingly common on the left, but they have been around for quite a while. During the 1980s, for instance, the main campaign against the South African apartheid regime concentrated on arguing boycotting South African goods, while there is a longstanding campaign to boycott Nestlé because of its unscrupulous promotion of its products in the developing world.

Since his phenomenal success spilled over into the movie world - even bagging him an Oscar - everyone knows who the platinum blonde enfant terrible of rap is. But what's all the fuss about him really about? We asked 3 Bolshy readers the simple question...is Eminem a tosser?

No: by Dan N
Eminem is by far the most successful rapper in the world at this moment. His nearest challenger, 50 Cent, is one of Eminem’s protégés. However, Eminem’s route to the top has not been uncontroversial. Quite apart from the ongoing feud with Irv Gotti’s “Murder Inc.” group of artists, the handgun charge and the turbulent relationship with his mother, Eminem has been regularly slammed for his allegedly homophobic and misogynistic lyrics.

Bolshy brings you your regular round up of whats going on with the UK campaign against sweatshop labour...

Mexican workers fight Levi’s at Tarrant Garments
By the Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador (CAT – workers’ centre)

The western capitalist media is full of reports of acts of ‘resistance’ by Iraqi fighters. Every day American soldiers are gunned down in isolated acts of violence. The knee jerk reaction for many who opposed the war is to support these acts, but in reality, what are they doing to build a better future for Iraq? Are they really going to end the imperialist occupation?

Facing competition from China's new capitalists, the Mexican bosses are driving down wages, imposing ever poorer working conditions and constantly violating labour rights. Workers face long hours, little or no health or safety guarantees, child labour, no freedom of association, and the violation of company Codes of Conduct.

All the latest news from the UK campaign against sweatshop labour.

What should socialists do when faced with a choice between two options, neither of which are going to be beneficial to the working class? How should socialists vote in a Euro referendum?

Some socialists believe voting 'no' to the Euro is the only answer. They feel that if Britain joined the single currency, it would subject the working class here to the power of reactionary bureaucrats in Brussels. They also believe that the euro will bring cuts, and if it is brought in, it will mean a victory for the Blairites and their capitalist partners in crime. Because socialists are anti-capitalists, they say, we must logically oppose the capitalist euro. These socialists often also oppose the idea of the EU, viewing it as nothing more than a bureaucratic club for capitalists.

In 2000, the National Union of Students Conference elected jailed Iranian student Ahmed Batebi Honorary Vice-President. Now Iranian students need our solidarity again!

For the last two weeks, students at universities across Iran have been protesting against the plans of the Islamic fundamentalist dictatorship to privatise higher education. These protests, which have begun to develop into a renwed movement for freedom of speech and democracy, have met with heavy repression. Student activists have been attacked by the security services and religious thugs, with dozens badly beaten and jailed.

What is 'feminism' and the women's movement all about?

Bolshy supports the Alliance for Workers' Liberty, but the AWL is just one of many socialist groups in Britain. Why is the left so divided? How can it be united? And, in the meantime, how do you choose?

Last time we looked at what exactly socialist feminism is, but what have socialist feminists had to do with women's struggles?

By Daniel Randall, Editor

On May Day, people all over the world will take to the streets to celebrate hundreds of years of working class struggle. From the Haymarket Martyrs, to the Matchgirls' strike, from the miners' and fire-fighters' strikes of recent years to the Great Russian Revolution, from the Spanish Civil War to the Solidarnosc shipyards, May Day commemorates those times when working class people stood up for their rights and fought back against their oppressors.

by Jim

On May 1 1886, 80,000 workers and their families walked down Chicago's Michigan Avenue in the worlds first ever May Day Parade. At the same time 340,000 workers in 12,000 factories across the US downed tools in a general strike to demand an eight-hour day. They demanded that their employers provide work for the thousands who were being made unemployed by new machinery.

By Mick from No Sweat

So the bombs have stopped dropping, the "boys" are coming home and "liberation" has been brought to Iraq. The Guardian - in between bravely backing Blair over Iraq, the fire-fighters, immigration, any old anti-working class "tough decision" he can come up with - featured a cartoon by Martin Rowson showing two Iraqis celebrating their liberation in the rubble of Baghdad and commenting that, "if I just sew another thirty trainers by lunchtime, I'll earn a dollar".

YOUR views on the war...

by Amina



Many of those who initially opposed the US war on Iraq said that they would have supported it if the United Nations Security Council had passed a "second resolution". A large section of the anti-war movement, including the Stop the War Coalition, focused on the war being "illegal" - with the strong implication that, if the UN had backed it, it would have both "legal" and right. I think socialists should reject this approach, and refuse to put their trust in the UN.