Solidarity 121, 8 November 2007

Excalibur and the last stand

The Last Legion is an unusual film. It deals with the late Roman Empire and the nominal last emperor of the West, the juvenile Romulus Augustulus. The 1964 epic The Fall of the Roman Empire and the similar Gladiator both follow the eighteenth century historian Edward Gibbon in seeing the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 AD as marking the final decline of Rome. Yet the Empire survived for another three centuries, divided between east and west and engaged in a constant struggle to defend its borders. By the late fifth century, the Western Empire had been reduced to Italy and a foothold in...

What now for the left?

Former Socialist Alliance activists give their views: Pete McLaren was the secretary of the Socialist Alliance before the heavy involvement of the SWP in 2001-3, and is now secretary of the continuing Socialist Alliance group: Respect was never going to succeed. In the original Socialist Alliance, back in 2002-3, when it was first mooted that the SWP was in discussion with people from the mosques, George Galloway and so on, we said that it was such an unlikely alliance that it would never succeed - too many divergent interests. Personally I agree with getting as broad an alliance as possible...

Pro-Ahmedinejad speech provokes walkout at Stop the War conference

The Stop The War Coalition conference on 27 October featured Somaye Zadeh from the SWP-led group Campaign Iran telling us that “the lies about Iran” aren’t true. These “lies” include that the Iranian regime is undemocratic (Ahmedinejad was voted in with a large majority — never mind the widespread evidence of ballot-rigging or the fact that you can only stand at all if you’re a male Islamist!), that it persecutes gay people (despite “problems with homosexuals”, sex changes are allowed: how progressive) and that it’s oppressive to women (more women study at university than men, so who cares...

Why I left the Socialist Workers’ Party

I joined the Socialist Workers Party at their Marxism summer school in July 2005. It was around the time of Make Poverty History and the G8 protests and I had come to realise that the solution was getting rid of capitalism - and that’s what the SWP said they were for. Having become very politicised and impatient to do more than individual activism, I was convinced of the need to join the party, to become part of a bigger whole. But in the SWP there was never any hint that the members contributed to what the group did or said. It was just decreed from the central office in London that we in the...

How India threw off British rule

The following text is a speech given at a 2007 Workers' Liberty’s London forum on “Sixty years since Indian independence”. The other speaker was Sarbjit Johal from South Asia Solidarity Group . The BBC, the Mayor of London, museums, schools, many parts of the establishment, are commemorating the 60th anniversary of Indian independence, but in their own way — basically by celebrating the cultural commodities of present day India. This is both a boon to bourgeois New Labour-style “multiculturalism” and, with India becoming one of the world’s most important economies, a smart business decision...

We need student unions which fight!

On Sunday 4 November, a meeting was held at Birkbeck College in London to launch a united campaign against the attacks on democracy included in the “Governance Review” of the National Union of Students. Attended by 50 student activists and student union officers — including members of Education Not for Sale, Workers’ Liberty, the SWP, Socialist Students, the Young Greens, and a variety of independents — the meeting discussed the nature of the attacks within the context of years of NUS inaction and mismanagement, began to plan a campaign against them, and elected a steering committee to take...

Open Letter: Get out on the streets!

Laura Rogers and Rebecca Galbraith sent a longer version of this letter to the Abortion Rights campaign. On Saturday 20 October we went to Parliament Square expecting to be part of a counter-demonstration to the anti-abortion, anti-women rally; instead we were the demonstration. Where were you? Abortion Rights, as the biggest, best supported, “official” pro-choice campaign, it’s time to up the fight! On Saturday religious reactionaries and anti-abortionists were moved to mobilise 1000 people to commiserate the passing of the 1967 Abortion Act. Their “funeral march” for the six million...

Osanloo and Madadi receive long jail sentences

Two leaders of the Iranian bus workers’ union have been given long prison sentences for “acting against national security”, according to reports from Iran. Mansour Osanloo, the president of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Company was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for “propaganda against the system and acting against national security”, while Ebrahim Madadi, the vice-president was sent down for two years for “acting against national security”. Parvaneh Osanloo, Mansour Osanloo’s wife vowed to fight these unjust sentences. She said that doctors had recommended six...

Unison: Yes vote but no strike

The public service union Unison's ballot of its members in local government for action to improve their 2.475% pay offer produced a small majority for action, but the union's Local Government Executive, meeting on 29 October, decided by a large majority to accept the offer and not to call action. According to Unison's official announcement: “The ballot closed last Friday, 26 October, and saw 144,719 valid ballot papers returned, with 74,631 members (or 51.6%) voting for action and 70,088 (48.4%) voting against. The committee... overwhelmingly voted for a statement which read: However, in all...

Unison 1500 at Birmingham Rally

On Tuesday 6 November 1,500 council workers demonstrated outside Birmingham town hall in protest at a ‘single status’ pay deal which will affect 40,000 staff. Although purportedly intended to even out pay gaps between men and women, many women and many of the lowest paid workers will be hit hardest by the new contract. Many staff will lose around £6,000 from their annual pay packets, and one admin worker will see as much as £10,000 — half of her salary — slashed. Overall, 12 percent of council employees will suffer pay cuts, with many others forced to work longer hours for the same wages. Both...

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