Solidarity 027, 3 April 2003

By Oona Swann "Savages" screamed the Sun, when US prisoners of war were paraded by the Iraqis - the (not very subtle) subtext being that putting an end to such savagery justified the massive bomb-power of the US-UK invasion. The prisoners, technical support rather than fighting soldiers, looked shocked, frightened but also surprisingly dignified. When one stated, "I didn't come to kill no Iraqis, I fix broke things," it didn't sound like the words were put into his mouth. It came across as a spontaneous statement of working class solidarity. It was powerful anti-war propaganda because it...

Every single part of Murdoch's vast empire of papers and media supports Bush and Blair's war. On one man's say so, irrespective of what "public opinion" really is, these papers pump out war propaganda. That is why it is so important that the labour movement and socialist groups have their own papers to get their message across. We need papers like Solidarity. Upholding the best traditions of journalism, we are on the ball in our reporting, rigorous in our analysis, and completely partisan in our affiliations: we serve the working class. We need a lot more funds to increase our frequency to...

Although information is sketchy, it seems that a number of British troops in Iraq have been sent home for questioning the conduct of the war. It is not the first time that serving soldiers have been disciplined for refusing to obey orders. In the Gulf war of 1991 Vic Williams, a gunner stationed in Germany, deserted from his regiment in protest at what he saw was a conflict over oil. He spoke at several large anti-war demos before being court-martialled and jailed. In 1966, three American GIs (the Fort Hood Three) were imprisoned for two years for resisting being shipped out to Vietnam. The US...

By Martyn Hudson After all those years and books arguing the need for a "Socialist Alliance party", and that the SA as the only show in town, the Communist Party of Great Britain have effectively abandoned it. Blaming others for the "liquidation of the SA" - absence as an independent force in firefighters' dispute and the anti-war movement - they have removed reference to the SA from the masthead of the paper, got shot of any mention of it from their "What we fight for column" and refused to endorse some suggestions from the RDG and the Alliance for Workers' Liberty to re-energise the Alliance...

In Solidarity 3/26 we printed an appeal for discussion and collaboration on the left so that we can unite the maximum forces for effective action in the new political ferment around us. Over the coming weeks we will carry comments, responses, objections, starting in our next issue with a contribution from Alan Johnson. Alan argues: "The call for unity on the revolutionary left issued by the AWL is very much to be welcomed… [but] the first problem is that it is UK-limited. Unity is better pursued at a European level [building on] the ongoing discussions that have involved a variety of...

A wounded American soldier at a press conference in Germany was asked this week if the war was as he had expected it. No, he said, it was not. He and his fellow soldiers expected to be greeted with carpets of flowers, not stiff resistance. The war in Iraq is far from being the war the US government expected, either. Donald Rumsfeld, US Secretary of Defence and chief architect of the war, faces searching questions this week as it transpires military tops requested more troops than he was prepared to give. Six times he rejected their request. But now more troops are being sent. There is even...

By Daniel Randall After a tremendous wave of walkouts and students strikes up and down the country, action by school students has begun to die down. This does not mean young people have stopped caring about the issue or become apathetic. Far from it! Local demos have been taking place all over Britain, as well as an enormous national demo on 22 March with another national demo planned for 12 April. All of these demos have been attracting vast numbers of young people. It is our democratic right to protest against war, and yet some students have faced heavy disciplinary action against them for...

By Colin Foster Since 27 March the Socialist Workers Party has had a new slogan on its placards for anti-war demonstrations: "Victory to the resistance". Victory for the Republican Guard and the Iraqi armed forces? Questioned, SWP members say no. It means victory for people fighting back and demonstrating everywhere. In fact, however, the slogan can not be other than a deliberately bland, mealy-mouthed, "soft" way of saying "victory to Iraq". Socialist Worker's editorial of 29 March quoted Nasr Al Hussein, a former Iraqi special forces parachutist, who has returned from Jordan to rejoin Iraq's...

Elections for the NUS Executive also showed a resurgence of the left. Kat Fletcher of the Campaign for Free Education and Workers' Liberty, standing on the united left Education Not War slate, came within three votes of winning the presidential election. Overall, the Campaign for Free Education got four people elected to the Executive: Laura Brickwood, Education Not War candidate for vice-president Further Education Union Development; and Kat Fletcher, Alan Clarke (also Workers' Liberty) and John Dickenson-Lilley as part-time Exec members. Gains for left at NUS Conference Students say "No to...

But the left shouldn't boost Galloway These days the Sun, under its new editor, Rebekah Wade, is a tired parody of its old vile self. Its coverage of the war reads like a joke version of its own bone-headed, putrescent chauvinism during the Kuwait war and the South Atlantic war of 1982. To the Sun, opponents of Blair's and Bush's war on Iraq are "traitors". Naturally. It includes Fire Brigades Union leader Andy Gilchrist in its "role of dishonour". Its main target, however, has been George Galloway. The Sun accuses Galloway of "treachery" because he says that "this invasion is illegal... the...