Solidarity 066, 3 February 2005

Just before and on 27 January, the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, part of the Polish radical left participated in small demos in a few cities (e.g., Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk, Poznan). Each demo attracted a few dozen people, organised with the message, “Auschwitz (Oswiecim) 1945, Chechnya 2005, Stop the genocide” (as the poster of the organisers put it explicitly in Krakow). The demos were organised in the main by the Committee “Free Caucasus”. This group is dominated by the radical anti-Communist right (activists from the Republican League, who were a few...

By Yassmine Mather The re-election of George Bush was followed by a barrage of threats against Iran’s Islamic Republic. In December 2004 Donald Rumsfeld told reporters he often dreamt that he would wake up one morning to “regime change” in Iran. In the same week the Wall Street Journal urged the White House to support the “new referendum” movement (a coalition in Iran ranging from Royalists to former members of the current regime calling for a referendum on the Iranian constitution). Soon after the publication of Seymour Hersh’s article in the New Yorker (“The United States has been conducting...

Vicki Morris reviews Vera Drake , directed by Mike Leigh Vera Drake is rather a slow film but interesting enough to awaken or revive interest in the history and the future of abortion rights — it sent me scurrying to the history books. It is also topical — Tony Blair has mooted reducing the time limit for abortions from 24 to 22 weeks. David Steel, the Liberal politician who sponsored the 1967 Abortion Act, supports such a reduction, although he favours balancing this with making abortion available “on demand” up to 13 weeks. Currently the consent of two doctors is needed before a woman may...

Having now completed reading the third in Sean Matgamna’s series on Iraq (Solidarity 3-63, 64 and 65), I want to return to a point he makes several times in the first of the series. In attempting to distinguish the views of the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty from those of Labour Friends of Iraq (LFIQ), Sean makes use on several occasions of the word “Menshevik”. He accuses Alan Johnson of “adopting the ‘stages’ approach of Menshevism and Stalinism” regarding Iraq. He adds: “Think of those poor, benighted political ‘idiots’, the Bolsheviks, who in 1917 would not listen to the Mensheviks and SRs...

Unfortunately, this event has been cancelled Ethical fashion shows at the London College of Fashion Two shows: 2.30 pm and 6.30 pm, Friday 25 February at LCF, 20 John Prince’s Street, Oxford Circus To highlight the abuse of garment workers The money raised will go to Haitian union organisation Batay Ouvriye which is unionising the Free Trade Zone on the Haitian-Dominican Republic border. Here, workers stitch Levi’s jeans for £10 a week and face violence from right-wing militias hired by management Tickets £2.50 from the Students’ Union or online. More details: 07854 277865. No Sweat: www...

The Socialist Alliance meets for probably its last conference on 8 February, from 2pm at the University of London Union, Malet Street. The main officials of the Socialist Alliance — members of the Socialist Workers Party — have called this conference in order to shut down the Alliance and pay over its remaining funds, £6,000, to Respect, the non-socialist electoral coalition formed by the SWP with George Galloway MP. Unfortunately, the SWP has got another group — the Socialist Unity Network, a group of “loyal oppositionists” within Respect — to do the dirty work for it, and put down the formal...

Sacha Ismail reviews Team America: World Police This is the latest concoction from “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. It is, believe it or not, even cruder than the famous TV series. You’ve been warned. If toilet humour and extreme profanity aren’t your thing, don’t see it. It is also less funny and less effective as political satire, so I left feeling rather disappointed. “South Park” wasn’t as explicitly political as this film is; nonetheless, most episodes included potshots at various right-wing freaks, including anti-semites, gun nuts and the American military. It had a...

By Mick Duncan The fourth one-day strike by low paid teaching assistants in Brighton and Hove, due to happen on 6 January, was called off at the last minute as unions and the Council struck a very shaky deal. The Council has agreed to the union’s demand of binding arbitration with ACAS. The dispute, by members of the GMB and Unison, is about attempts by the council to cut the number of weeks teaching assistants are paid for. The Council offered a pay rise with one hand, but tied it to a cut in weeks with the other. The net result would be a cut in pay for many workers already receiving a low...

By Peter Tatchell* Has the left lost the plot? On a number of issues sections of the left have abandoned the principles of universal human rights and social justice. Over a number of years I have done solidarity work with Zimbabweans struggling for democracy, socialism and human rights. They have not had much support from the mainstream left. Why Zimbabwe? I have a copy of ZANU’s 1970s political programme: its goals were a socialist democracy with a free press and workers’ rights. That is why I supported Mugabe and ZANU in their liberation struggle. It is also why I now oppose the present...

In January Bolivia was gripped by marches and protests. Here is an abridged account by Jim Shultz from the Democracy Center, based in Cochabamba in Bolivia: President Mesa has announced that he will support a reform allowing each of Bolivia’s departments (essentially the same as states in the US) to directly elect their governors. Right now those governors are appointed by the President. There is no legislative branch at the state level. A demand for autonomy in Santa Cruz has come from the right, not the left, sparked by business leaders and others hot to cut a gas export deal and angry at...