Solidarity 130, 10 April 2008

Q. You’re writing a polemic for the AWL “majority” position on Iraq against “the minority”? A. It falsifies the debate to put it that way. For a start, “the minority” have different views among themselves. The final revised proposal on Iraq for AWL conference submitted by David Broder and two other AWL people differs seriously — in politics, not just literarily — from what David wrote in Solidarity 3/128. For example, though David in that article insisted on troops out now, the conference proposal pointedly does not. I don’t reproach the three for having differences between themselves. There...

Review of A Thousand Splendid Suns , a novel by Khaled Hosseini Dedicated to “the women of Afghanistan”, this book tells the tale of two women, Mariam and Laila, as they grow up in the thirty or so years of bloody wars and coups that have defined Afghanistan’s recent history. In sparse prose, the novel paints a picture of these women as victims of misogyny and war, being buffeted here and there by the working out of political forces which they care little for and cannot influence. Most striking, and to Hosseini’s great credit, is the way in which he portrays patriarchy, as the very real...

Continuing a series on the history of the blues The Second World War had meant mass migration with papers like the Chicago Defender and Pittsburgh Courier even advertising for blacks to make the migration north to a better life via the Illinois Central and Highway 61. Blacks replaced white workers in Detroit, Chicago and New York who had gone off to fight in the wars. Migration also took place to the defence industries in California and the Western states, after the successful threat of a March on Washington in 1963 by the Brotherhood of Railway Porters against the colour bar in these...

How should student and labour movement activists respond to fascists being given a platform to speak — in student unions for example? Do normal considerations about “free speech” not apply? Comrades Adam and Beth are committed student activists who spend more time doing political activity than they do on college work. The leader of the British National Party (BNP) youth section is a student at their college and has organised a public meeting with party leader Nick Griffin. Posters have gone up around campus and leaflets have been distributed. The college’s “free speech” policy allows for any...

This series: The Northern Ireland crisis of 1968-9 and the left Part 13 Part 1: Why Northern Ireland Broke Down Part 2: The Irish Workers' Group, IS and the "Trotskyist Tendency" Part 3: Why Northern Ireland Split on Communal, Not Class, Lines Part 4: When militant sloganeering meant promoting communal war Part 5: When socialists looked to "Catholic Power" ; and Part 5 Section 2 Part 6: SWP (IS) and Northern Ireland in 1968-9: Advocating civil war — until it starts! ; and Section 2 Part 7: The end of the old order in Northern Ireland ; Section 2 ; Section 3 Part 8: IS/SWP conference, September...

Since October last year, London No Sweat, has been holding regular pickets of Tesco stores in the East End, exposing the exploitation that lies at the root of Tesco’s bumper profits and focussing particularly on workers’ struggles in Bangladesh. At our meeting in March Sam Maher updated us on the situation in Bangladesh. The garment industry is key to the Bangladeshi economy and to the global trade in textiles. Employing 2.2 million workers (90% of whom are women), the Bangladeshi textiles industry is enormous, compromising 75% of the country’s exports. Bangladesh’s outputs are one fifth of...

The ISO is linked to the SWP. We do not agree with much of the analysis, particular the comrades' call to critically support the MDC, and will respond in the next issue of Solidarity, but we print their call as an act of solidarity. Mike Sambo: Zimbabwe is at a cross roads as both Zanu PF and the MDC square up for a presidential run off. The 29 March elections shook Mugabe as the opposition scooped many more parliamentary seats than he had anticipated. Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC won 99 seats to Zanu PF's 97, with six for the other MDC faction; in the upper house the two groups are tied 30-30...

On 1 April the NUT National Executive received the results of the ballot for a one day strike to protest at the continuing cuts in teachers’ real pay. When the result was known there was no hesitation in agreeing to call the action on 24 April. Indeed the vote to proceed with a strike was unanimous. We now need to ensure that the first national teachers’ strike for 21 years is as successful as possible. All NUT members in all schools are asked to take part in the action. Every NUT member is now protected by this ballot and is fully entitled to take part. Unions representing other teachers and...

With strikes, demonstrations and direct action the Greek workers can overthrow the Tory government (Nea Dimokratia) and get the anti-working class reforms withdrawn. This is a longer version of this article than in the printed paper. The Tory government has finally managed to “win” the battle in parliament (i.e. with the slender majority of 151+1 MPs out of 300) and pass the anti-working class reforms. It could not though hide the truth about the nature of these reforms. These reforms will reduce further the workers' pensions; increase the age limit of retirement for women, especially mothers...

Forty socialist candidates will be standing in the local government elections on 1 May, under the umbrella of the Socialist Green Unity Coalition. The Alliance for Green Socialism is standing 13 candidates in Leeds, and a scattering elsewhere. The Socialist Party, this year, will focus its effort on winning re-election for its best-known elected local councillor, Dave Nellist in Coventry, and is standing 12 candidates elsewhere. The Democratic Labour Party is running a number of candidates in Walsall. The Alliance for Workers' Liberty (AWL) and Solidarity have joined with the AGS, the...