Solidarity 093, 11 May 2006

Sigmund Freud: the great explorer

After his mid-day meal Trotsky would “Relax on the sofa for an hour or two, and there… take a nap or… read for relaxation some German or Russian or French literature… novels sent to him by friends in France, some new editions of Sigmund Freud, whom he read very extensively and whom he admired enormously. I noticed that he would mark off and annotate page after page of Freud during this siesta period, and after an hour or two would resume work at his desk…” From the reminiscences of Max Shachtman about Trotsky in Turkey in 1930. The great age of world exploration which opened late in the 15th...

Israel boycott resurfaces in NATFHE

By a NATFHE member On 27-29 May, the lecturers’ union NATFHE will meet in Blackpool for its last conference before merger with another lecturers’ union, AUT, to form the “Universities and College Union”, UCU. NATFHE organises lecturers in further education colleges and the “newer” universities, AUT those in the “older” universities, so the merger has industrial logic. All policy at this last NATFHE conference which conflicts with AUT policy will automatically lapse with the merger, so there would seem little point in pushing anything controversial. The South-East Region of NATFHE, however...

As we were saying: Should we boycott Israeli goods?

A new attempt is being made to set up a movement in Britain to support the Palestinian Arabs by organising a boycott of Israeli goods on sale here. It would be a campaign like the decades-long boycott of South African goods. According to press reports, it already has pledges of support from as many as twenty MPs, mainly Labour, and including Clare Short. Socialist Organiser [forerunner of Solidarity] supports the Palestinian uprising in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, and we support those within Israel fighting to get the Israeli army out of the occupied territories and for...

“Left colonisers” - No, you can’t have Marx!

By Amina Saddiq Even given the number of academics and journalists on its supporters list, the “liberal left” Euston Manifesto has received a remarkable amount of press coverage. The latest is an article by Geoffrey Wheatcroft in the 10 May Guardian, arguing that the Eustonites should endorse a new era of “progressive” imperialism and colonialism to bring democracy to the world. In response to the accusation that 'left-wing' supporters of the Iraq war are recapitulating the arguments “used by imperial powers throughout history, including the western imperialism of the 18th and 19th centuries”...

French left discusses next steps

By Martin Thomas Now it’s the Ségo-Sarko show. As if the three months of mass mobilisation which forced France’s right-wing government to withdraw the CPE (its measure to remove all job security for young workers) were just a bad dream, official French politics has turned to speculation about the presidential elections due in 2007 and the front-runners to be candidates, Nicolas Sarkozy for the right (UMP) and Ségolène Royal for the ‘left’ (Socialist Party). Royal is a right-winger within the Socialist Party. And the SP — which was in office, or held the presidency, from 1981 to 2002 with only...

The AWL at the ESF

Four members of the AWL attended this year’s European Social Forum in Athens, held from 3 to 7 May. Although the huge venue made the size of the event difficult to estimate, it seemed smaller than previous Forums. That perhaps reflects the relative cost of getting to Athens, and the size of the Greek left. The dominant politics were the usual inclusive but vague ‘Another World is Possible’, with a strong anti-American flavour. The AWL held a lively debate on socialists’ attitude to the European Union which attracted contributions from a range of groups including supporters of Basque...

Stand up for gay rights in Iraq

At the start of April, Iraqi police dragged out 14 year old Ahmed Khalil and executed him on his family’s doorstep. The Iraqi police force, heavily infiltrated by Shia Islamist militias such as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq’s Badr Corps, is now regularly murdering men accused of being gay. In the case of Ahmed, Iraqi LGBT activists say that he may not even have been gay at all, but working as a prostitute in order to earn money for his family. A group of Iraqi LGBT activists in London are working with Outrage! to support struggles against sexual repression and for gay...

Help Iraqi asylum seekers!

Campaigners against the deportation of Iraqi asylum seekers recently received the following information from a ministerial answer to a parliamentary question by Labour MP Neil Gerrard: “After the resumption of air services to Iraq, from 1 September 2005 the National Asylum Support Service has withdrawn support from 5,148 unsuccessful asylum seekers who were claiming support under section four of the same Act, as they were not fully satisfying the eligibility criteria, for example by not taking reasonable steps to leave the United Kingdom.” The campaign had its last meeting on Monday 8 May and...

On your marks, get set...work

THE Blair government’s obsession with “vocational education” — which is actually just training for the McJobs that the working-class kids who take it will have to get when they leave college — took an entertaining new turn recently when Britain was announced as the host of the 2011 ‘World Skills Games.’ Around 700 young people will compete in the games, attempting to best each other in the fields of landscaping, welding, hairdressing and other “vocational skills and specialist crafts.” Chris Humphries, the man who led Britain’s bid to secure the games, naively thinks it’s all about improving...

Oaten crunch

ON a lighter note, we note with amusement erstwhile Lib Dem leadership candidate Mark Oaten’s explanation for his now well-known indiscretions: he was losing his hair. That’s right, it made him depressed and going bald can make you gay, you know, even if you’re a right-wing family values freak... There are worse things to lose, though, than your hair. I wonder what Menzies Campbell’s excuse is for coming out in favour of Post Office privatisation? Maybe he’s losing his marbles?

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