Solidarity 273, 6 February 2013

Help us raise £15,000

Adam David Morton, a senior lecturer at the University of Nottingham, says that our book, Antonio Gramsci: Working-Class Revolutionary is “straight onto the reading list of [his] third-year ‘Gramsci & Global Politics’ module”. Murray Kane, Australian socialist activist, said: “Although only 70 pages long, [it] is remarkable in containing more insights than many a full length book on Gramsci.” British socialist activist Richard Price wrote: “This pamphlet ... can not only stimulate discussion upon the philosophical aspects of Gramsci’s thought, but it can also force socialists to think more...

Letters

I find it difficult to agree with Martin Thomas’ statement in Solidarity 272 (30 January): “Better troops out now than an African Afghanistan.” The differences between the French action in Mali and the US-led action in Afghanistan are as important as any similarities. For a start, the French are in Mali at the invitation of the Malian government (admitted not a democratically elected government), and all credible reports show overwhelming popular support from Malians for the French action. Additionally, this is not just a French action. It is supported by the African Union and west African...

SWP and the EU

Under the headline “No easy solution in or out”, Socialist Worker (2 Feb) describes the divisions which exist in the ruling class and the Tory party over Europe. It identifies these divisions as rooted in the divergent interests and strategies of different groups of capitalists, concluding that “Neither group really knows what to do for the best to pursue profits except to make us pay”. Yet another box on the same page sides with one of the two capitalist factions, saying that SW will “argue to vote to leave [the EU] in any referendum”. “The EU is a club for bosses” (and the UK isn’t?) … “In...

Hunt announces Lewisham cuts. The fight continues

When he was just an opposition MP and looking for votes, Jeremy Hunt, with David Cameron’s support, campaigned to save his local A&E (the Royal Surrey Hospital) from closure. That was then. As Health Minister he is closing down hospitals, cutting jobs, selling off and giving away services, and generally “reconfiguring” the Health Service to his heart’s content. On 31 January, only five days after 25,000 people marched to defend Lewisham Hospital, Hunt announced plans to downgrade state of the art A&E and maternity units, to slash elderly care and acclaimed children’s services, to sell off or...

Q&A: How workers can save Lewisham Hospital

When a service is threatened with closure, our tactics must aim to keep the service open and running. Strike action just won’t work. The thing that workers can do is keep working! But isn’t the main focus the community campaign? The campaign has demonstrated how important Lewisham is to local people. The thousands on the streets to defend it has boosted the morale of the staff, and got attention in the media. But it hasn’t changed Hunt’s mind. When it comes down to it no amount of demonstrations are going to force the government to back down. This is why we have to force the government to...

Fight saves a library

Save Friern Barnet Library campaigners are celebrating partial victory in their fight to save their local library, closed by Barnet Council in April 2012. Barnet Council has agreed to give a two-year lease to a group from the community to continue running a library in the building. They had planned to sell the building. This climbdown result from a two-year campaign by residents, given an added boost recently by Occupy London activists coming to squat the building. With the existing Save Friern Barnet Library Group, the squatters re-opened the library, stocked with donated books. Throughout...

British troops go to Mali

On 29 January the Government announced that up to 400 British troops will be sent to Mali to help the French intervention, and maybe for over a year. The French troops have now taken control of all three main towns in the north-west of Mali, and the French government talks of withdrawing soon. Full French withdrawal any time soon still remains unlikely. The Islamist militias have retreated from the towns to the desert, rather than being defeated in combat. A stable and widely-accepted political settlement in Mali is still remote.

Oppose cuts at Whittington Hospital

More than 70 people attended a meeting at Camden Town Hall to discuss halting cuts at Whittington Hospital in Islington. Whittington Health Trust Board wants to close in-patient wards and reduce bed numbers for the elderly and new parents, close and sell off all staff accommodation, and cap births at the hospital at 4,000 a year. 570 workers face redundancy and, in total, a third of the hospital site is being put up for sale. At the meeting Shirley Franklin, chair of Defend Whittington Coalition, said involving workers from the hospital was “absolutely essential”, but also an uphill struggle...

Freedom bookshop

The anarchist and radical East London bookshop Freedom, linked to the Freedom Press publishing house founded in Whitechapel by Peter Kropotkin in 1886, was firebombed on the morning of Friday 1 February. No-one was hurt, but the store’s stock, and the archives of the Freedom newspaper, were badly damaged. It is not yet known who carried out the attack, but Freedom has previously suffered attacks by Nazi groups due to its links with anti-fascist activism. The shop has launched an appeal to help pay for repairs. Hip-hop artist Skribbo has released a mixtape, featuring Workers’ Liberty member The...

The SWP: where did it all go wrong?

On 3 February the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) National Committee met and voted to authorise the smaller Central Committee to expel members of the opposition which has developed within the SWP since the run-up to its 4-6 January conference. Former Socialist Worker journalist Tom Walker has already quit and published a long analysis of the SWP. We print extracts. Full text: http://bit.ly/twalk . The first charge levelled at any opposition is that they are "outside the tradition", either because they have consciously abandoned it or because they never understood it in the first place. But let...

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