Workers' Liberty

Bob Carnegie is an organiser for the Queensland Builders’ Labourers’ Federation (BLF). He was previously an organiser for the Maritime Union of Australia, and has been a rank-and-file trade unionist in a number of industries, including construction and seafaring.

By Mike Rowley

The saga of the Government’s new Prevention of Terrorism Bill continues. The Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, has suffered a setback with the outburst of opposition to the Bill from MPs of all parties, especially Labour.

The way western governments internationally — the US and the UK in particular — flout the rule of law was well demonstrated in Channel 4’s series of programmes about the torture of terror suspects.

By Sean Matgamna

Alan Clinton, who in 1974 co-edited, with Richard Chappell, a collection of Trotsky’s writings on Britain in three volumes, has died of cancer at the age of 61. He lived a political life that encapsulated the history of the British left over 40 years. He is entitled to the respect of an honest, critical account of his political life.

Vicki Morris surveys the campaigns of the French far-left against the proposed EU constitution.

Martin Thomas says there are ways to make nuclear power pollute less (Solidarity 3-67). Maybe so. I dare say this might be taken into consideration when the US government starts building new nuclear power stations, as it look sets to do. (And they may be followed in that enterprise by the UK government.) On the other hand it might not.

One step forward

New Labour is trumpeting the raising of the minimum wage above five pounds an hour for the first time. “Over 1.5 million working people are better off” they say, and the unions are reportedly pleased as punch.

The last issue of Solidarity suggested two ways to “turn the tide” of racism against asylum seekers: supporting Socialist Green Unity Coalition candidates standing in the General Election and “fighting in the unions for them to break the hypnosis of the ‘Warwick agreement”’ – or, in plain English, to break with the policies of Blair’s government.

From Manchester Committee to defend asylum seekers

There will be a national demonstration and rally in support of people seeking asylum and against racism on Saturday 2 April at 12.30pm at Whitworth Park, Manchester.

Sacha Ismail’s response to my article on Menshevism confirms my belief that even in the very best Trotskyist organizations, members remain ill-informed about the very foundations of their politics.

No Sweat and the National Union of Students’ Women’s Campaign have organised a speaker tour around International Women’s Day to promote solidarity with the Iraqi women’s movement. The main speaker will be Houzan Mahmoud, UK rep of the Organisation for Women’s Freedom in Iraq.

By Cathy Nugent

In February Saudi Arabia held the first round of municipal council elections — the country’s first direct elections since 1964. As democratic elections go they are very poor:

Travellers will march through central London on Saturday 9 April, calling for an end to evictions. Please join us by coming to St James’s Church, Piccadilly, at 12 noon for the Commemoration of Roma victims of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

By John O’Mahony

The “Chief of Staff” of the Provisional IRA, Thomas Murphy, has in the course of his IRA career, amassed a personal fortune of 58 million euros. That is one of the startling facts that has come to light in the current propaganda war being waged by London and Dublin governments and the media they influence, on the Adams IRA.

The proposed “super-union” formed from a merger between AMICUS, TGWU and possibly the GMB, is an issue that should be taken seriously by all socialists.

Cambodian riot police fired assault rifles and used electric batons last week to break up a protest by 1,300 workers demanding redundancy payment from a garment factory that shut down in January.

From Justice for Colombia

The National Trade Union School [NTUS], a EU funded research institution based in Medellin, Colombia, records 94 assassinations of trade unionists in 2004, an increase on the 90 trade unionists that both the NTUS and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) registered killed in 2003.

A wave of hunger strikes by workers protesting over wage arrears has swept across the Urals in Russia.

Pat Longman reviews “The freedom” by Christian Parenti, The New Press

Workers trying to organise a union in retail giant Wal-Mart in Canada have received a boost from the Quebec labour relations board, who recently ordered Wal-Mart to stop intimidating and harassing workers. The board found that Wal-Mart officials had intimidated three female employees, seeking to prevent them from exercising their rights under the labour code to form a union.

Mick Duncan reviews "Faith", BBC1, 28 February

Rosalind Robson reviews “The Dirty Business”, 1 March, Channel 4

Zely Ariane is the secretary-general of the People’s Democratic Party (PRD), the only openly socialist party in Indonesia. The party played a central role in the movement to overthrow Suharto in 1998. It is the only party supporting the right of the Acehnese people to self-determination. Ariane spoke to Australian socialist paper Green Left Weekly about her recent visit to Aceh.

US hotel workers are locked in a bitter dispute that has now lasted more than six months. Fourteen San Francisco hotels are affected whilst others in Los Angeles are still at odds after year-long contract talks. Hotels affected in California include Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott and Four Seasons.

By Mark Osborn

A year after the fall of the populist, pseudo-radical government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, conditions for the workers and poor of Haiti are terrible and getting worse.

The owners of the Hacienda Luisita in the Philippines will shut down its operations in March to thwart workers involved in a bitter dispute.

Fair Trade Fortnight, World Development Forums, Night of Action for Trade Justice and Eyewitness from Nicaragua.

Read on for details.

Thousands of public-sector workers attended rallies and lobbies on Friday 18 February to protest at government plans to downgrade public-sector pensions schemes. Friday 18 February was called by the TUC as a nationwide day of protest on pensions.

By Rachael Webb

At the end of February representatives from international road transport workers’ unions met to fight an international low wage threat. The meeting included people from Belgium, Germany, Poland, Denmark, UK and Ireland, Sweden, Latvia and Lithuania.

By Colin Foster

Members of the civil service union PCS, and local government members of the public services union Unison, are balloting for a strike on 23 March against the Government’s plans to cut their pensions. Their ballot results are due on 9 March, for Unison, and 11 March, for PCS.