Solidarity 202, 4 May 2011

Oppose deportations to Iran!

Six Iranian refugees are now in their fifth week of a hunger strike to demand asylum in the UK and protest against mistreatment by the Home Office. On Friday 6 May supporters will march to the Home Office in Westminster to demand fair treatment for refugees. The six were tortured and imprisoned for their involvement in opposition to the Iranian regime. But despite clear evidence of this, the Home Office has refused to let them stay in the UK. Facing deportation, they took drastic action: four of them have sewn their mouths together in protest; by Friday all will have gone 32 days without food...

Syrian revolt at a turning point

The confrontation between the Syrian police state and the popular movement is now in a decisive phase. Either the regime manages to use sufficient violence and terror to force the demonstrators off the streets, or the inability to do so fatally wounds it. There are two preconditions for a step forward for the mass movement. Firstly, a continued willingness — despite the obscene, murderous violence of Syria’s rulers — to come out onto the streets and risk a massacre. Secondly, a serious split in the Syrian state machine. The protest which began six weeks ago in the southern town of Deraa has...

Your chance to hear leaders of Egypt's new workers' movement speak in Britain

On 19 and 20 May, leaders of Egypt's new, independent trade union movement will be speaking in Britain. The Egyptian Revolution was prepared by groups of workers struggling to build independent trade unions - and since the fall of Mubarak, union organisation, workers' protests and strikes have spread like wildfire. Between 18 and 21 May, Kamal Abbas and Tamer Fathy from Egypt's href="http://www.ctuws.com">Centre for Trade Union and Workers' Services and Federation for Independent Unions will be visiting the UK, hosted by Egypt Workers' Solidarity . On 19 May Kamal will be speaking at the Fire...

Hamas-Fatah agreement

The Palestinian secular nationalist party, Fatah, has reached an agreement with the Islamists of Hamas to form an interim Palestinian government and to organise a general election. The agreement goes alongside an Egyptian promise to open up the Egypt-Gaza border. Speaking on Egyptian state television, Fatah central committee member Azzam al-Ahmad said the election would take place within a year. The formal, detailed agreement is expected to be signed on 4 May. Hamas’ leader Khaled Meshaal arrived in Cairo on 1 May to take part in the formal signing, which has been brokered by Egypt. As details...

Libyan rebels fight for life

Qaddafi has been draping himself in the battle flags of the past and appealing to international opinion in order to achieve a ceasefire which would provide a cover for the complete elimination of the rebel positions in Misrata. Draped in his Punic Roman toga whilst addressing “his” people, he has also received support from a super-team of his international pals — a pro-regime “anti-imperialist” international including Daniel Ortega, Castro, Chavez and Kim Jong-Il. The death of his youngest son in the NATO raids on his Tripoli compound has led to further appeals to NATO to back off. Some Tory...

Tunisia: we should push for a workers' government

On 24 February there was the movement that we call here “Casbah 2” — more than 300,000 people demanding that Ghannouchi go. On 27 February Ghannouchi and the other Rally for Constitutional Democracy (RCD) ministers resigned. Everybody demanded a “technocratic” government to lead the country “administratively”. But in my opinion the far left committed an error in demanding a “technocratic” government. The January 14th Front [a coalition of left groups] made the mistake of not advancing the demand for a workers’ and popular government. The new government has come to satisfy the popular demand...

30 June and after

Teachers, civil servants, and other workers are set to strike on 30 June against the coalition government’s increases in pension contributions, cuts in pension provision, and raising of the pension age. At Easter (22-26 April) the National Union of Teachers conference voted to ballot union members for a series of strikes. Other big public service union conferences are coming up soon. The civil service union PCS meets in Brighton on 16-20 May. Its Executive has already decided to ballot members on strike action, soon enough for them to join NUT on 30 June. The lecturers’ union UCU, which meets...

A new wave of university cuts

From the Tory-Liberal government’s huge cut in government money for university teaching budgets will follow, for all universities unable to compete in the £9000-fee top end of the market, big cuts in courses; and for all universities, a re-gearing to market criteria. London Metropolitan University is leading the way by cutting down from 577 courses to 160. Vice Chancellor Malcolm Gillies says that his cuts package is aimed at making the university “lean”, “competitive” and “tightly organised”. The university is being re-invented as a profit-gouging business, whose portfolio of courses will...

Socialism must mean more democracy

The AWL is right to demand “democracy at every level” of society ( Solidarity 200). It’s important, because as well as opposing cuts, we should be demanding a more greater say in how our workplaces and communities are run. If there was more genuine democracy in the UK, then maybe the credit crunch might not have happened. The financial system has revealed itself as accountable to nobody. A deregulated system meant that the banks operated like gambling casinos. Governments have been too timid in monitoring and controlling the system. And we’re paying the price in lost jobs. We need a banking...

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