Solidarity 342, 5 November 2014

More than 200 Kurds and their supporters marched through Manchester in support of Kobane. Shamefully noticeable by their absence was the majority of the Manchester left. Workers' Liberty comrades distributed a leaflet and sold papers which were well received. The Kurdish organisers of the demonstration hadn't bothered with the technicality of getting police permission for the march from All Saints to Piccadilly Gardens. The very well stewarded march stuck to the pavement with the stewards controlling the traffic at the various road crossings. At Piccadilly Gardens there was a lively rally with...

The Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad has offered the Western governments battling ISIS an alliance “to fight terrorism”. But as the Independent 's Kim Sengupta put it at the end of September, Assad is now fighting the “enemy he always wanted”. From the start of anti-Assad struggle in Syria, the regime has worked to strengthen Sunni-sectarian and radical Islamist forces in order to position itself as the champion of non-Sunni Syrians. With the help of foreign (Saudi, Qatari, UAE) aid for some of the Sunni jihadis, it has largely succeeded in transforming the country's democratic revolution...

Over a thousand Kurdish people gathered in Trafalgar Square, London, on Saturday 1 November, taking part in a day of international solidarity for the Kurds fighting ISIS (Daesh, "Islamic State") in Kobane. Among the small number of people at the protest who were not Kurdish were a handful of representatives of the Socialist Party and SWP. Both these groups have a problem. Both campaign to stop the US bombing which is currently helping the Kurds resist IS. They do not just do as Solidarity does - express no confidence in the US, refuse to endorse its campaign. They specifically campaign to stop...

On 8 October, outsourced workers – cleaners, caterers, switchboard workers, seamstresses, porters and others – employed by ISS at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, South London, struck for the same pay and conditions as directly employed workers. To find out more about the dispute, visit their page on the GMB Southern region website . To make a donation to their strike fund, scroll down to the bottom of the page. Messages of solidarity and requests for more info to nadine.houghton@gmb.org.uk The workers are in talks with management and will be deciding their next course of action soon...