Solidarity 115 19 July 2007

TGWU delegates denied vote on boycott

The T&G has joined the growing number of unions voting to support a boycott of Israel in some form. The Biennial Delegate Conference voted on 4 July to “support a boycott of Israeli products and goods” — in very strange circumstances. This decision follows the recent passing of pro-boycott motions by NUJ, UCU and Unison. Those votes, though in no case did they represent likely majority opinion among the membership, were carried out properly after a fairly extensive debate from the floor. At the T&G conference, however, pro-boycott activists manoeuvred successfully to avoid a debate. Two...

TGWU meets for the last time

By a conference delegate Members of the TGWU gathered in Brighton at the beginning of July for the last ever T&G Biennial Delegates’ Conference. The first day of the conference started with an opening address from newly elected chair Brenda Sanders. This is the first time in the history of the T&G that there has been a woman chair. Debates were held on manufacturing, food and agriculture, public services and an emergency motion on Land Rover/Jaguar. The afternoon saw General Secretary Tony Woodley give his keynote speech. He started by laying out his vision for the new union Unite which he...

Solidarity 3/115 (17 July) is out

Download the pages, as pdfs, here (click on "read more", or read it on this website by clicking here . Page 2: US Congress votes for troops withdrawal; Smoking ban; Obituary: Roy Webb Page 3: Editorials: Conrad Black, George Galloway Page 4: Industrial reports: TGWU meeting, boycott vote, Bakerloo strike, anti-Academy campaign, Leeds public sector pay rally, Crown Post Offices strike Page 5: A government of "all the capitalist talents", Gordon Brown's democracy, Metronet Page 6: Starbucks campaign: organise, exposing the reality; Poem: The cockle pickers Page 7: Free Mansour Osanloo, Interview...

Debate: 9/11: Conspiracy cannot be dismissed

9/11: conspiracy cannot be dismissed John Moeller, in his article ‘The “nine eleven truth” movement’ (Solidarity 3/110) makes a number of good points. But he fails to recognise that because some proponents of a theory are crackpots one must not dismiss what others, with some evidence to support them, are saying. History is replete with examples of conspiracies of all kinds, economic and political. Of course, we don’t need a ‘secret plot’ to explain alienation. But the link between fundamental economic exploitation and alienation is mediated by political events, some of which do involve...

Iraq: analysis must be our starting point (A reply to Dan Randall)

The main problem with Dan Randall's article (Questions and answers on Iraq) (Solidarity 3/144) is methodological. Dan says: our starting point is not, therefore, “who is currently the strongest force in Iraq?” or even “what would happen (or probably happen, or certainly happen) if the troops left?” Our starting point is “what will build the third camp?” This is not our starting point. To develop a programme and a strategy to build the third camp, you have to start with an assessment of reality. Marx wrote that human beings make history, but not in circumstances of their own choosing. Lenin and...

A "government of all the talents"? Bourgeois talent!

By Sacha Ismail GORDON Brown’s comment about wanting a “government of all the talents” was originally interpreted as signalling reconciliation with the “Blairite” faction within the Labour leadership. Since coming to office as Prime Minister, however, he has gone much further, offering positions to a wide-variety of right-wing, non-Labour figures in what looks like an attempt to construct a government of “national unity” (read: capitalist unity). • Brown’s camp have engineered and hailed the defection of Tory MP Quentin Davies. Previous Tory defector Shaun Woodward was, unsurprisingly, an anti...

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