Solidarity 238, 14 March 2012

In School Wars Melissa Benn lays out in details the increasing privatisation of Britain’s schools, the scale of an impending disaster. Benn begins by highlighting a 2011 Guardian article which revealed that “civil servants privately advised ministers that schools should be allowed to fail, if government was serious about reform”. The Tories’ vision rests on an ideological belief in a market system which will allow thousands of students in unfashionable schools, the ones with difficult pupil intakes, bolshie staff not keen on pay-and–conditions-smashing privatisation, or parents not willing to...

I wanted to like this film. I really did. But Bel Ami, despite all its potential, is just unlikeable. Based on Guy de Maupassant’s novel published in 1885, it is the first film directed by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, the co-founders of theatre company Cheek by Jowl. Bel Ami boasts an impressive cast: Kristin Scott Thomas, Uma Thurman, Christina Ricci, and Colm Meaney all play supporting roles. The production values are impressive considering the film’s small budget. But it is undone by a weak script and an abysmal leading man. The story follows its protagonist Georges Duroy (portrayed...

You get sick, you will be cared for regardless of your income. When you need healthcare, the National Health Service is there — for free. That is the founding principle of the NHS. All of that is now under threat. The principles embodied in the NHS are a high point, perhaps the high point, of attempts to civilise and tame capitalism. As profit reigned supreme above all else, establishing the NHS was a major victory for the working class. What went before it was misery, suffering and premature death for workers and their families. Yet the Coalition government is being allowed to snatch the NHS...

Ever wondered what do the stinking rich do with all their money? One indicator is the “cost of living extremely well index” — an annual survey of price trends for the stuff that only rich people can afford — produced by US business magazine Forbes. Items include: Hospital VIP treatment, a Russian sable coat, thoroughbred racehorse, a Sikorski helicopter, a concert grand piano, a Rolls Royce Phantom, one kilo of top-notch caviar, a box at the opera, a year’s tuition at Harvard University. Feeling green with envy? Or just feeling sick? According to Forbes, the global number of billionaires rose...

Based on the responses I've had from workplaces meetings, I think members of the National Union of Teachers will overwhelmingly endorse the union's rejection of the Government’s terms on pensions, and will vote yes to further strike action. The survey in the NUT, concluding on 14 March, asks for support for further action starting with 28 March. Just one further strike day can't be enough, and neither can more of the same (i.e. disconnected one-day strikes). We need to develop a strategy which maintains the pressure in a more constant and sustained way. That has to mean selective and rolling...

The deadline for submissions to the Westminster government’s consultation on the conduct of the referendum on Scotland’s constitutional future passed on Friday 9 March. The Holyrood government’s consultation on the referendum has a later submissions deadline of 11 May. The “model response” to the consultations drawn up by the Scottish Labour Party argues in favour of a single-question referendum: “... in order to give a definitive answer on whether or not Scotland remains part of the UK.” There is a democratic basis for that position. The referendum is being held because the SNP’s 2011...

February saw nearly 30 industrial disputes across China, according to labour movement NGO China Labour Bulletin (CLB). The strikes took place across a wide range of industries around a range of demands focusing on pay, hours, terms and conditions. Four of the disputes centres on management plans to relocate workplaces or unreasonable employee deployment. One strike took place when workers previously employed by German manufacturer Putzmeister demanded a higher compensation package after the company was sold to Sany Heavy Industries (the largest Sino-German business transaction in history)...

Since the start of March, pictures of farmers in vans distributing potatoes to queues of people have dominated the Greek media. Producers of potatoes in the Pieria region decided to get rid of the middleman and distribute their potatoes at €0.25 per kilo instead of €0.60. Almost everybody across the political spectrum, including the government and the mainstream media, has endorsed this “potato movement”, though for different reasons. The strident and significant exception is the strong though diehard-Stalinist Greek Communist Party (KKE). The far-left coalition Antarsya, for example, has...

The Kenyan government has sacked 25,000 health workers in a desperate attempt to break a mass strike over pay. The government is asking unemployed and retired health workers to report to their nearest hospital or clinic to participate in interviews for the vacant posts. The workers are on strike for higher pay; health workers in Kenya currently earn around 25,000 shillings (less than £200) per month, and are fighting for an increase that would double this amount. Alex Orina, spokesman for the Kenya Health Professionals Society, said: "We are ignoring the sacking threat. These are cat-and-mouse...

A viral internet and street art campaign, launched by the charity Invisible Children, gathered an enormous amount of support across the world on 7 March, with its denunciation of Joseph Kony, leader of a militia which has committed many atrocities in Uganda and in Congo. The denunciation is thoroughly justified, but there are problems with the Invisible Children operation and its slant on the issue. In our view, people who want to take action against militias like Kony’s - his, sadly, is by no means the only one in the region - are right to want to do that, but would do better to help build...