Solidarity 397, 9 March 2016

Spanish radical left follow Dieudonné

Yves Coleman of Ni patrie ni frontières discusses how Podemos, Izquierda Unida and the Candidatura d'Unitat Popular (CUP) as well as representatives of the Spanish “cultural world”, defend the “freedom of expression”of the anti-Semitic magazine El Jueves.1 El Jueves has no inhibition in proclaiming its hatred of Jews as the magazine stated in 2009: “So says El Jueves, a coarse and anti-Semitic publication...”.2 With such a motto, so proudly sported, its readers can indulge in vile jokes about the “gazpacho3” or “judias” 4(meaning white beans, but also Jewish women in Spanish, that provoke gas...

The sham elections and opening Iran for big business

Commentary in some British newspapers argues that the new diplomatic rapprochement and lucrative business deals in Iran might be threatened by the hardline faction of the Iranian regime. This is, however, a general picture that both wings of the regime are creating to keep the whole system in power. On the one hand, “reformists” and “moderates” want to perpetuate the myth that the regime, after nearly four decades of big rhetoric and broken promises, can one day in the future provide workers, the poor and the lower layers of the petty bourgeoisie with a decent standard of living. They ask for...

The Kurds, Aleppo, Russia, and the USA

Michael Karadjis of the Australian Socialist Alliance has written a long and informative analysis of what he reckons to have been a U-turn by the Kurdish nationalist movement in Syria, the PYD, under the title " The Kurdish PYD’s alliance with Russia against Free Aleppo: Evidence and analysis of a disaster " . He criticises PYD clashes with other rebel groups in Syria, and the PYD's project of a reunification of Rojava (the Kurdish-claimed area of northern Syria) against the wishes of Arabs and Turkmen and other minorities within its declared borders. Several reports indicate that the PYD, and...

Israeli teenager refuses military service

Israeli teenager Tair Kaminer has spent 45 days in prison for refusing compulsory military service in Israel. Tair is the latest young person to refuse to serve due to Israel′s continued occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people. Tair is 19 years old and has now refused to join the army before three separate tribunals. She is about to start her third term in jail. There is a small but consistent movement of army refusers in Israel who work with other peace and left-wing organisations. Tair says “My refusal comes from my will to make my contribution to society, and make this a better...

SNP goes back on promise to scrap Council Tax

The SNP ditched another of its previous manifesto commitments — big time — when it announced plans to reform the Council Tax system in Scotland last week. For well over a decade the SNP has promised to scrap Council Tax. In 2003, the current SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said: “There is no doubt that the SNP’s proposal to scrap the Council Tax in favour of a fair local income tax is hugely popular with voters.” In 2004, the current SNP Finance Secretary John Swinney said: “Every vote for the SNP in the European election will be a vote to axe the Council Tax.” The SNP manifesto for the 2007...

Students occupy Sheffield University to fight HE reforms

Tanju Çakar, an activist taking part in a student occupation of Sheffield University, spoke to Solidarity . We wanted to put some demands on the university: for the university to not comply with Prevent; non-compliance with the Teaching Excellence Framework and the other reforms in the HE green paper; secure contracts and an end to low pay for casual staff. The HE Green Paper that the government has issued means potential tuition fee rises, allowing private firms to cut into higher education, and the TEF will force teachers to compete with each other. We have a similar framework in place...

To understand, there is no better place to start than here

Review of Sean Matgamna: The two Trotskyisms confront Stalinism: The fate of the Russian Revolution volume 2 (London: Workers Liberty, 2015) Faced with the slaughterhouse that Russia had become under Stalin’s rule, faced with the Pact that Stalin forged with Hitler to divide up Poland between them (and hand the largest Jewish population in the world to the most deadly antisemite in the world), faced with the brutalities of the Soviet Union’s own military expansionism in Poland and Finland, Leon Trotsky did not hesitate to use the word ‘totalitarianism’ to refer to the regime of barbarism...

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