Solidarity 030, 14 May 2003

Defend the International Solidarity Movement!

Three women were taken into custody by Israeli state forces after a raid on the offices of the international peace group, the ISM, on Friday 9 May. Twenty military vehicles, army jeeps and a large armoured personnel carrier surrounded the ISM media office. Two Americans and a Palestinian woman were arrested and computers were confiscated at the office in Beit Sahour. The ISM is a high-profile peace group, which uses non-violent action to help protect Palestinians from Israeli state violence. A number of ISM volunteers have been killed or injured, including the young American activist, Rachel...

"Road Map" peace plan for Middle East

Maximum profile, minimum action By Dan Katz Less than two weeks have passed since the publication of the long awaited "road map" peace plan for Israel Peace Plan- officially a joint venture by the US and European powers - yet already it has disappeared from the diplomatic discourse. George Bush made no mention at all of the road map in his most recent speech on the Middle East, on Friday 9 May. That is because the US has decided to put the road map to one side to focus on obtaining reciprocal gestures of "good faith" from the Israelis and Palestinians that could lead to a renewal of political...

Support the independent workers' voice

Every single part of Murdoch's vast empire of papers and media supported Bush and Blair's drive for war. On one man's say so, irrespective of what "public opinion" really was, they pumped 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 improve our coverage...

Help Iraqi workers find their voice

The slum area of Baghdad populated mainly by Shi'a Muslims, and known under the dictatorship as Saddam City, technically has reverted to its old name, Thawra (Revolution) City; in fact, its people call it Sadr City, after the Shi'a leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, who is emerging as one of the contenders for power in post-Ba'athist Iraq. Son of a cleric murdered by Saddam in 1999, al-Sadr built a base in Sadr City, and in the holy city of Najaf, before the war. According to some reports, his group - identified with the al Da'wa Party (the Islamic Call) repressed by the regime in the early 1980s - is...

30k website and the FBU rank and file

By Vicki Morris What has 4,600 members and puts the wind up FBU General Secretary Andy Gilchrist? Not the scab outfit the Retained Firefighters Union, that's for sure - contrary to its claims, it probably only has a thousand members. The answer is... a website. www.30kfirepay.co.uk was set up at the beginning of the firefighters' pay dispute, first, to inform the public about the dispute. But its forum section, where FBU members share views and experiences, quickly came to be its main raison d'etre. And it has played a vital role! The website has become a major organiser of the dispute, and...

Crazies of the world unite!

(You alone know what is right?) Weekly Worker is sometimes very bizarre indeed. Most of us become more calm and reflective when we sit down in a quiet corner to write. Some Weekly Worker writers who in person are mild and sane-seeming turn into crazies when they rev up to go into print. Thus Jack Conrad's seven-part series on the AWL, late last year. And WW's second polemic-writer, Ian Donovan? In the last Weekly Worker he wrote this about the editorial on George Galloway in Solidarity 3/29: "One gets the distinct impression that Matgamna, for all his proclaimed credentials as a democrat...

Writing on the Wall

Quick victory, slow recovery The pro-war camp crows about the speed and relatively low casualty rate of the war on Iraq. Estimates of huge casualties and an unquenchable tide of refugees were grossly exaggerated, the implication being that the anti-war movement was mobilised under false pretences. What this leaves out is that the effects of war last long after the fighting has stopped. Starvation threat According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, Iraq's agriculture is facing collapse with consequent mass starvation a serious threat. Seeds, fertiliser and pesticides have been...

Workers of the World

By Pablo Velasco Korean truck drivers' strike A strike by 1,000 South Korean truck drivers has escalated into a national dispute after thousands of other drivers walked out in solidarity. The dispute began on 2 May in Pohang, with workers from the Korea Cargo Transportation Workers' Union demanding better wages and trade union rights. The strikes paralysed steel shipments from the city, the hub of Korea's steel industry. Drivers in the capital Seoul and other cities such as Inchon came out in solidarity. The strike has held up car manufacturing, shipbuilding and other export industries. The...

The International Fight Against Sweatshops

Speakers: Catalina from CAT, Mexican workers' support group, Puebla, speaking about the recent dispute with Puma and the wage negotiations at the Mexmode plant, Monina Wong - Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee, + Anton Marcus, a union organiser of free trade areas in Sri Lanka Wednesday 21 May at 7.00, upstairs at the Ritzy Cinema, Brixton (corner of Brixton High Street and Coldharbour Lane) No Sweat steering group… Meets in central London, 2.00-5.00 Saturday 17 May Venue details: 07904 431959 All welcome.

G8 protests in Evian

By Dan Katz Evian, a small French town on the border with Switzerland, will be the heavily guarded venue for the G8 summit, to be held at the start of June. Protesters will assemble around an exclusion zone, converging on the French side around Annemasse and, over the Swiss border, in Geneva. Anti-capitalist camps and "villages" will settle on both sides of the border. Activists from dozens of campaigns and political organisations will attempt to blockade roads leading to Evian, and prevent delegates, many of whom will be staying in Geneva, from attending. Four-counter summits - on debt, the...

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