Solidarity 244, 2 May 2012

Will a Hollande victory change Euro-economics?

John Palmer, former European editor of the Guardian, spoke to Solidarity about the background to, possibilities of, and implications of the call by François Hollande, who looks likely to win the presidency of France in the run-off poll on 6 May, for a reshaping of European Union economic policy. Hollande’s position to some extent reflects a shift in the thinking of important sectors of capital and the political elite outside social democracy. It is clear that even among finance capital there is growing scepticism about the coherence of a deflationist austerity strategy. There is a broader...

Osborne is to blame!

If there is high unemployment, and little buying power for goods and services, then government cuts raise unemployment higher, cut buying power further, and thus snowball a slump. And yes, that is what has happened with George Osborne’s economic policies. Statistics now show a decline in output for two quarters (six months) in a row, which is the rule-of-thumb definition of a recession. Real life shows continuing high unemployment, at best levelling off, and steadily dropping real wages. In the Great Depression of the 1930s, there was a quicker recovery. By 1934, four years after the slump of...

Salmond, Murdoch — best of mates

SNP leader Alex Salmond’s best-of-pals relationship with Rupert Murdoch and his son has been thrust into the limelight by the Leveson inquiry. In an email dated 11 February last year Frederic Michel (a Mr Fixit for Murdoch Jr) told his boss: “I met with Alex Salmond’s adviser today. He (Salmond) will call Hunt (the Tory Culture Secretary) whenever we need him to.” On 1 March 2011, Salmond had dinner with the editor of the Scottish version of the Sun. The Sun pledged to support the SNP in the Holyrood elections taking place in two months time. The following day Salmond phoned Michel and asked...

North Korea: why are unions silent?

The week leading up to May Day is commemorated each year around the world as “North Korea Freedom Week”, though you’d hardly know that if you were active in the British labour movement. British unions pride themselves on their solidarity campaigns in support of workers in Palestine, Colombia, Venezuela and Cuba, but never speak out in defence of those workers who live in North Korea, a country that is effectively a giant prison. This year, there was a commemoration in the House of Commons and three North Korean refugees spoke, as well as someone from Amnesty International (AI). Several people...

Socialists and crises

Recent capitalist history has thrown up sharper economic declines and higher levels of unemployment than the ones we are currently witnessing in Greece and Spain. It’s just that they haven’t occurred in nice Mediterranean countries that Britons visit for beach holidays and long weekends. So while the latest estimates from the local central bank suggest that Greek GDP will fall 5% in 2012, marking a cumulative drop of 13% since 2008, it remains true that the Asian financial crisis of 15 years or so ago was far worse. GDP plunged 13% in Indonesia in 1998 alone, with reductions of 11% in Thailand...

Profiteers bleeding the NHS

Last Tuesday, private health giants Capita and United Healthcare introduced themselves to London’s leading GPs with Andrew Lansley as matchmaker. With the sinister language of a self-help book, the multinationals claimed the conference was “designed to ensure that Clinical Commissioning Groups are fully empowered, liberated and able to define their future.” In fact, this was a shallow marketing exercise designed to woo the new masters of NHS into handing over large amounts of public money. The effect of the Health and Social Care Act will be to “liberate” the private health firms to make huge...

Unison leader calls for TUC demo

On 25 April Unison general secretary Dave Prentis called on the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to organise a national demonstration in autumn 2012. The demonstration, says Prentis, will “bring together an alternative coalition opposed to the government’s damaging policies including public spending cuts, heavy job losses, damaging privatisation and the unfair pay freeze... “We need the TUC to organise the biggest demonstration in our Labour movement’s history. Today I am calling on the TUC to set plans in motion to show the government that there is a real alternative. This must include ditching...

Organising against anti-choice bigotry

On 28 April, the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child organised a series of “vigils” (i.e. demonstrations) against abortion in towns across the UK. They were met by pro-choice protests. In Sheffield SPUC numbered around twenty. We were 30 or more. The vigil was next to Meadowhall shopping centre, so was very busy with traffic. The vast majority of public support was for us, lots of cars honking, smiles and waves. There was a peaceful atmosphere, lots of young feminists as well as some older men and women. The Liverpool SPUC event was attended by about 20 anti-abortionists and 30 pro...

Confront the EDL in Luton

Anti-fascists will mobilise in Luton on Saturday 5 May, as the English Defence League prepare to demonstrate in what many EDL supporters see as their organisation’s spiritual home. Although the far-right “March for England” was routed by anti-fascists in Brighton on Sunday 22 April, the EDL remains sufficiently confident to physically attack left-wing activists, including recently hospitalising two people after attacking an SWP-run stall in Lewisham, south east London. The new alliance between the EDL and the British Freedom Party, a 2010 split from the BNP, will increase the EDL’s activity in...

Expelling London's poor

The local council of Newham, east London (the main site of the 2012 Olympic Games), has written to a housing association in Stoke-on-Trent (160 miles away) in an attempt to re-house 500 families. It claims this is due to “overcrowding”, and the difficulty of finding private-rental homes for housing benefit claimants following the Tories’ introduction of a benefits cap. Gill Brown, the chief executive of Brighter Futures, the Stoke housing association approached by Newham, said they would decline the offer and denounced the plan as “social cleansing”. Waltham Forest borough council confirmed...

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