Workers' Liberty

On 22 April, the Association of University Teachers (AUT), at its conference, voted to impose an academic boycott on two Israeli universities. The decision has led to legal objections, on grounds of which the AUT has told its members to hold off from any action until they receive guidelines from the union; and to demands by some AUT members for a special conference to reconsider.

How should socialist activists, trade unionists and anti-war activists vote in the 2005 election? The immediate choices of government are miserable.

By Jim Denham

In the end the MG Rover plant at Longbridge closed not with a bang, but a whimper. The factory that in the 1960s and 70s had been a byword for militancy, just lay down and died. Even in 2000, when the previous owners BMW pulled out, there had been angry mass meetings and a huge demonstration through the centre of Birmingham. The few token protests that occurred in April 2005 were pathetic affairs, more like wakes than any sort of serious resistance.

Industrial action ballot papers have just been sent out to BBC workers.

The ballot, being run in protest at plans for thousands of job cuts and further privatisation of the BBC, covers members of BECTU, NUJ, and Amicus.

As part of the discussion leading up to the conference of the Alliance for Workers' Liberty on 21-22 May, Sean Matgamna locates our activity and perspectives in a longer view of history

In Solidarity 3/71 we wrote about an anti-semitic leaflet issued by an Islamist member of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS). GUPS have dissociated themselves from this leaflet. Their statement:

Lecturers at Hackney Community College have taken strike action over planned redundancies.

The college has a £1.6 million deficit, and has been threatening job cuts for some time - they had said, through voluntary severance. Now compulsory redundancies have been announced.

By Martin Thomas

After the uproar created by Jamie Oliver's television series "School Dinners", the Government promised an extra £280 million to improve school meals in England.

Twenty-five student activists met in London on 23 April to discuss and plan the development of a major new student campaign, Students Against Sweatshops.

One thing is certain about the General Election. The new government after 5 May will be one that most working-class people regard as arrogant, unresponsive, accountable, and one that is attuned more to the drives of global capital than to the wants and needs of most voters.

Activists in the civil service union PCS and the public services union Unison are discussing a push to revive the unions' campaign on pensions at their conferences in June.

By Mike Rowley

The racist rhetoric of the 2005 election is already leading to violent attacks. Devon and Cornwall police have made a public statement about "election-related racism" inspired by far-right parties.

Schools Minister David Milliband demonstrated the Government's adoration of business involvement in schools when he declared that every FTSE company ought to become a sponsor for state secondary schools.

The former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan is standing against Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in Blackburn. He was sacked after making complaints about the UK goverment using information obtained under torture by the Uzbekistan government. Stan Crooke reviews a new book by Shahram Akbarzadeh, Uzbekistan and the United States - Authoritarianism, Islamism and Washington's Security Agenda (Zed books). It won't he says, answer all your questions about this former Soviet republic.

By Dan Nichols

In Romford, where I live, it seems immigration has been the only issue in the election. The charge is led by the Tories, who have published adverts in local newspapers and distributed leaflets claiming that asylum seekers are responsible for increased council tax bills. But in their wake have come several fascist/far right parties, eager to join the racist feeding frenzy. The BNP, Third Way (an offshoot of the old National Front) and UKIP are all standing in my local area. Even the Residents' Association candidates are making a big play on the issue of immigration!

By Cathy Nugent

All the major parties say they want to "control" immigration. The Tories want a "quota system". Once a monthly or yearly quota of asylum seekers and migrants into the UK has been reached, no more will be let in. Never mind the degree of torture or persecution they have endured or the danger they continue to face, or indeed the need for particular workers with specific skills. But it won't be Michael Howard who will have to look the rape or torture victim in the face and say, "Go somewhere else, there is ˜no room' here."

By Harry Glass

The diplomatic spat between Japan and China shows no sign of abating, despite several attempts at conciliation.

By John Bloxam

George Galloway, the loud cheerleader for the fundamentalists and others of the Iraqi "resistance", noticeably changed tack last week when some fundamentalists turned up on his own doorstep.

Since 17 April more than 10,000 workers from the Japanese-invested Uniden Electronics factory in Fuyong Town, Shenzhen, have been striking to win the right to set up their own trade union in the factory. This demand was originally conceded in 2000 but has never been allowed. They also want sick pay and maternity leave, permanent contracts and quality meals. This is the first time Chinese workers have ever staged a strike specifically in order to form a trade union.

By Paul Hampton

Has Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, embraced socialism? Is his "Bolivarian revolution" about to grow over into a socialist revolution? Wide sections of the international left seem to think so.

Les Hearn marks the centenary of Albert Einstein's confirmation of the existence of atoms

Mike Rowley reviews The impressionists (Channel 4)

The Tories have used the election campaign to pour scorn and hatred on gypsies and travellers. This has spurred the Sun newspaper into an explicitly racist "Stamp on the Camps" campaign against travellers, and there has been an increase in physical attacks on travellers.

Many socialists, trade unionists and campaigners who would usually vote Labour are thinking of supporting Respect, the Green Party or the Lib Dems as an alternative to Labour in the coming general election. We examine the manifestos of these parties to see whether they deserve such hopes being pinned on them.

National Agenda for Change profiles for ambulance workers have just been released. There has been a dispute for some time between UNISON's Ambulance sector and the management organisation, the Ambulance Service Association (ASA), over these profiles. The ASA had been unwilling to agree to the release of profiles because they did not want to fund the likely results - ambulance workers would be entitled to more money.

By a health worker

Health workers are stepping up campaigns for NHS pay and conditions from the private contractors in the NHS. Privatised NHS workers get lower pay and poorer conditions than workers doing the same job on NHS contracts.

A UNISON health steward is standing against Blair loyalist Stephen Hepburn in the Jarrow constituency. Roger Nettleship's platform is "Save the National Health Service!", opposing NHS cuts and privatisation .

By a UNISON member

Delegates arrived at UNISON's health conference in Plymouth (25-27 April) burdened by the impact of Agenda for Change, the new NHS pay system, and troubled by uncertainties about the NHS pension scheme. They left three days later with neither issue resolved.

Unison, one of the UK's biggest unions recently sent a broadsheet to its members, "Labour Link News", reminding them of the bad things the Tories did when power. One of the bad things it chose to highlight was this: "The total number of asylum applications increased by 45% between 1993 and 1997, while Michael Howard was Home Secretary".

By Colin Foster

Tories are saying that pay-outs to top bosses should be curbed, and New Labour is saying no such action is necessary. That's a measure of where Blair and Brown have taken the Labour Party.