Solidarity 173, 13 May 2010

Greek debt and the arms industry

Greek debt needs a little more thought. We all know about the caricature of over-indulgent civil servants, early retirement generosity by the state, the fiddling of EU money. Many countries are immersed in corruption, bribery, expenses scandals, jaw-dropping bonuses for making losses, so what is the real geopolitical issue causing all the fuss about Greece? The issue is about weapons and war. The German President may say that Germany sympathises. The Bild-Zeitung may say that Germans get up earlier than Greeks and work longer in terms of hours and years. But we ask these politicians and...

London lecturers fight job cuts

Lecturers at 11 London colleges and four universities struck against job cuts on 5 May; well-attended picket lines across the city fed into a thousand-strong rally in central London. Now, more and more colleges will be sucked into the dispute: another 13 have announced redundancies. The problem is that different colleges are at very different stages of struggle: none of those 13 have yet moved to a ballot, while at others momentum is already difficult to maintain. On 18 May only four colleges — College of North East London, Tower Hamlets, Lambeth and Hackney — will strike. At some other...

Middlesex students occupy to save Philosophy

The management at Middlesex University have decided to axe the world-renowned philosophy department, but are meeting more resistance than they expected. While the department is very successful — philosophy is the highest research-rated subject in the university — it just doesn't make quite as much money as other departments. The staff and students were told the shocking news on 26 April. The staff and students set up an online petition, which you can sign at www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-middlesex-philosophy.html The students were due to have a meeting with Arts Dean Edward Esche on...

CWU Conference: are we ready?

At this year’s Communication Workers’ Union conference (23-7 May) the bureaucracy will attempt to introduce a biennial conference and biennial elections for the CWU national executive. The General Secretary, Billy Hayes, and the Senior Deputy General Secretary, Tony Kearns, have argued that the current democratic structure is not affordable. There are financial problems due to a reduction in membership caused by job losses in Royal Mail and BT, two of the main employers with CWU representation, but no significant cutbacks are proposed in officers’ or HQ pay and associated costs. The lay...

PCS Conference: leaders must practice what they preach

Under a Lib Dem-Tory coalition, we know that members of the Public and Commercial Services Union will be attacked even more viciously than we were under New Labour; indeed the whole of the public sector will be. It is against this background that the PCS will hold its national conference between 17 and 19 May. In our view the union must put itself on a war footing to meet the threats ahead. This means constant agitation amongst members, explaining what will happen and the need for industrial action; it means vigorous recruiting of non-members; it means working out how best to hurt the employer...

UNISON General Secretary election: why we support Paul Holmes

As public sector workers face unprecedented cuts in jobs and conditions, having to pay the cost for the bank crisis, Unison, the biggest public sector union, should be at the front of the battle to defend jobs and services. How well it can do that may depend on the outcome of an election for general secretary due to begin on 15 May. The current general secretary Dave Prentis, who is standing for re-election, has a terrible record — his style has been to make occasional left wing speeches at conferences, threatening a fight but never following up with action. He has done everything possible to...

BNP set back, but far from finished

The BNP’s drubbing in Barking, where they lost all their previous 12 council seats to Labour, and elsewhere is very good news indeed. Some will see the BNP’s defeat as a proof that bland “don’t vote Nazi” messages and music festivals work. But the Hope not Hate campaign in Barking, though formally “non-partisan”, was in fact very closely tied to Labour, and must have been seen by local voters as such. Labour MP Margaret Hodge’s majority increased as a result of the extra campaigning. In the grand scheme, and as compared to the alternative of the BNP gaining ground, this is all good. We should...

AV? PR? STV?

The Tory-Liberal government say they will hold a referendum on the Alternative Vote system. It retains constituencies and “first past the post”, but people cast second, third, fourth, etc, preferences as well as first-preference votes, and the winner gets “past the post” only when transferred preferences take him or her past 50% of the turnout. Like the current system AV leaves smaller parties (other than those with a very localised base) without representation. But it makes parties’ “transfers” — their recommendations as to how the voters who rank them no.1 should use their second, third, etc...

Cambridge women march for liberation

Reclaim the Night demonstrations have historically been a point of contention within the women’s movement. Such marches are often anti-sex work and pro-bourgeois feminism; it has been the job of socialist feminists to fight for class-based, internationalist feminism against a sometimes hostile backdrop. Cambridge’s second Reclaim the Night march since its re-launch last year was different. The demonstration consisted of a self-defining women’s demonstration, a vigil open to all genders and a series of talks and music in King’s College chapel. Cambridge University Student’s Union women’s...

SATS boycott hits, but not hard enough

Standardised Assessment Tests for 10 and 11 year olds were supposed to take place 10-13 May, but have been boycotted by head teachers in the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT). An East London Year 6 teacher and NUT member explains the limitations and the importance of the SATs boycott. They are boycotting the test in my school and in my borough. There is about a 50% take up of the boycott. My impression is that there are pockets where the take up is less than that and pockets where it is more. The information coming out from the NUT is a 50-70%...

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