Solidarity 251, 29 June 2012

Gove's demolition plan for schools

As an ex-journalist, Tory education minister Michael Gove knows how to use the press to further his own agenda. A timely leak from his department to the Daily Mail (20 June) flagged up Gove’s intention to replace GCSE exams taken by most students at 16 (and brought in by the Tories thirty years ago) with a system based on the previous model: O-Levels and CSEs. There was much excitement among Tories who rushed to equate O-Levels with “academic rigour” because the exam was designed to fail four out of five members of the school population. Some commentators lamented the damage caused by the...

Shaking hands with the “Brits”

Former Provisional IRA leader Martin McGuinness has shaken hands with Queen Elizabeth II. Yes really. After a lifetime of fighting for “Brits out”, McGuinness welcomed the head of the British State at a Diamond Jubilee do in Belfast on 27 June. McGuinness’s justification for the meeting speaks volumes about the problems of Northern Ireland’s communal carve-up of a political system. Shaking hands with the Queen is, said McGuinness, “about me representing my party, wishing to show the unionist people in the north that we are prepared to respect what they believe in, albeit that we are still...

Let in more migrants, not fewer

Ed Miliband had said that on immigration the Labour Party needed to make a break with its record in government. He claims the problem is that New Labour failed to impose sufficient controls. In fact they imposed too many. In 2004, New Labour oversaw 1,098 “successful operations” (i.e. raids) against undocumented migrant workers, which saw the arrest of over 3,000 workers, but the prosecution of only eight of the employers responsible for exploiting them. In 2003, only one boss was successfully prosecuted, while 1,779 workers were arrested and removed from the workplace (and presumably deported...

Socialists and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood: a dialogue

Last week AWL activists leafleted SWP meetings to try to engage SWP members over their organisations support for a vote for the Muslim Brotherhood in the Egyptian presidential elections. Generally we found SWP members unwilling even to take our leaflet, never mind read it and discuss. If a debate had actually taken place it might have looked like this. SWP: Fundamentally you are sectarians. You intend to turn your backs on the mass of workers who are following the Muslim Brothers. The Brothers got 10 million votes in the parliamentary elections in December 2011. Yes, the leaders are well-off...

Iran: support imprisoned labour activists!

On 15 June about 60 labour activists were beaten and arrested during a raid on a house in Taraj by agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Intelligence Ministry. It is the latest of a series of attempts by the regime to crack down on independent workers' organisations and highlights the need for solidarity with Iranian workers, both against the clerical-fascist Iranian state and in the event of a war between Western imperialism and Iran. The raid took place during a meeting of the ‘Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers' organisations’ and activists were transferred to Rajai Shahr prison...

LRC youth impact at Young Labour conference

On 23 and 24 June 2012, Young Labour held its annual conference in Newcastle. There were over 200 people in attendance, predominantly university students but with noticeable groups of workers and trade unionists, and some under 18s (who won a debate about the extension of the vote to 16 year olds). The Labour Representation Committee was the largest grouping present, and gave out bulletins on both days, organised fringe meetings, and spoke successfully on many left-wing motions. The priority campaign decided by the conference was youth homelessness. In workshops and a plenary session, the...

London bus strike: "About more than the Olympics."

This strike is about much more than the Olympics. The Olympics bonus is the immediate issue, but people voted yes to this strike because we’re simply fed up with the attacks we’ve faced over the past few years. We’ve had our Sunday working payments reduced, and we’ve had attacks on our working time. It used to be the case that you were entitled to a ninety-minute paid meal break, and if you came back late you could still take it. That’s gone now; if you come back late, your meal break gets knocked off. Finishes are getting later and later. It’s not like working in an office or a factory, where...

The ISG and the "Marxist tradition"

“We believe that the Marxist tradition is essential for anyone who believes we need radical social change and will attempt to develop Marxist theory. We aim to produce a regular theoretical magazine to provide space for the development of Marxist theory. ... For the Marxist tradition!” This was the ringing declaration issued by the 39 Scotland-based members of the Socialist Workers Party in April of last year when – for reasons yet to be fully explained – they quit their organisation and formed the International Socialist Group (Scotland). The ISG’s pretensions to uphold the Marxist tradition...

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