Solidarity 316, 12 March 2014

Seamus Milne's shoddy arguments for Putin

In the Guardian of 5 March, Seumas Milne, associate editor of the paper, argued for blaming the conflict in Ukraine entirely, or almost entirely, on the USA and the EU. “The clash in Crimea is the fruit of western expansion”. Of course the USA and the EU wish to pull Ukraine more fully into the capitalist world market, as a rich source of raw materials and cheap labour-power. But Milne’s objection is not to the logic of the capitalist world market. He does not, for example, raise the call for the USA and the EU to cancel Ukraine’s crippling foreign debt and thus short-circuit IMF plans to...

Socialists and the male circumcision debate

Camilla Bassi’s “basic socialist demands” regarding male circumcision have no foundation in Marxist tradition, give legitimacy to racist and anti-Semitic arguments, and are wrong. Bassi admits to learning only recently about the calls for a ban on male circumcision from an article by Frank Furedi. Furedi refers to a debate in the Nordic countries and Solidarity chose to headline the article with a reference to the “Scandinavian debate”. This softens the blow, because Scandinavians, after all, are modern, progressive people. Though there’s been a rise in the far Right in some Nordic countries...

Anti-abortionists challenged

Anti-abortion group Abort67 appeared outside Sussex University campus on 6 March, giving only several hours notice of their unwanted arrival. The group of seven people (mostly men over 40) carried with them a large banner with graphic, distressing images of abortions and similar leaflets that they attempted to distribute. They were met by about 100 Sussex students aiming to confront and disband the group. Though they refused to leave immediately it was a victory that there was such strong opposition to this regressive group.

Against Lib-Dems, but what are we for?

Around a thousand marched in York on a TUC-organised demo against Lib Dem Spring Conference on 8 March. Unlike at some of the marches against Tory conferences, there wasn’t a police sniper or nine foot tall metal barrier in sight, even though we marched past the conference venue. The demo was mainly trade unionists, although there was also a prominent Keep Our NHS Public contingent. There was, however, few student activists. It’s good that the TUC organised this demo, and on International Woman’s Day to highlight way that austerity is disproportionately affecting women. However the political...

UCL win

Workers’ Liberty member Omar Raii has been elected as a sabbatical at University College London student union. For several years UCLU has been a strong base for the left, including the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts. But the UCL left split over this particular election. A few leftists whipped themselves into an anti-AWL campaign. We were accused of being “sexist” and “Islamophobic” — despite Omar’s background as an Afghan refugee from a Muslim family, and despite his support from the president and leading activists of the Islamic Society. While our (non-Muslim) opponents slandered us...

Sheffield council moves in for the kill on libraries

On Friday 7 March, Sheffield City Council voted through a budget that contains a host of cuts to services in Sheffield. The main bulk is library cuts, which campaigners in Sheffield have been fighting since consultations started in the summer of 2012. The cuts involve a 40% cut to library staff across the city, cuts to the mobile library service and huge cuts to the local studies and archives library, including the trade union archives. A flawed consultation asked questions which led people towards suggesting they prefered one method of cutting or another, rather than being able to oppose cuts...

Half a million on zero hours

New figures have shown that 582,935 workers were on zero-hours contracts in 2013 — more than double the government’s own estimate. The upward revision comes after a change in how the Office for National Statistics (ONS) calculates its figures, as it emerged that many employers were not reporting the use of the contracts. Zero-hours contracts guarantee workers no minimum hours or benefits, effectively placing them “on call” when their employer needs them. Often thought to be a marginal element of the labour market restricted to hotels, catering and similar sectors, zero-hours contracts are in...

Swedish fascists attack left and feminists

Several people were attacked in central Malmö by members of the fascist Svenskarnas Parti (Swedes Party), on their way home after having taken part in celebrations for International Women's Day on 8 March. The incident occurred after a night time demonstration against violence against women. One person is now in intensive care with serious head injuries and a further three have suffered knife wounds to the arms and lung, amongst which was a member of [socialist group] Allt åt Alla Malmö. The attack on demonstrators can’t be seen as an isolated incident. Neo-nazis have carried out violence...

Australian labour on back foot

Australia’s right-wing prime minister Tony Abbott has called for a Royal Commission into union “corruption”, as a way of paving the way for new anti-union laws, which he can’t introduce straight off because he lacks a majority in the Senate (upper house). The comment by former Labor minister and former ACTU [Australian TUC] president Martin Ferguson on Abbott’s anti-union drive focuses some of the problems in the labour movement’s response. He says he is pleased that Abbott is suggesting what he calls “sensible industrial relations reform”. Gas bosses, he says, could lose billions “because of...

Rebuilding independent working-class education

Colin Waugh from the Independent Working-class Education Network spoke to Solidarity about their draft manifesto. In the preamble to the manifesto, it is said that the document could be used as a pamphlet in order to build the network. What do you see as the main purpose of the IWCE network, and towards what end do you see it being built? To me, the central purpose of the network is to draw together a group of people who want to rebuild a form of independent working-class education that is in the spirit of the Plebs League but adapted to present-day circumstances. Through speaking engagements...

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