Solidarity 457, 13 December 2017

As well as legislating for a big redistribution of income from workers to the rich, the US Republicans' "tax reform", now (mid-December) being pummelled into final shape to unite versions from the two houses of Congress, undermines "Obamacare". Socialist Worker (US) reports that the "reform" promises "a further crisis of the health care system caused by the repeal of the Obamacare mandate requiring individuals to buy insurance. "From the point of view of the insurance companies, the ACA [Obamacare] exchanges put them in the position of offering policies to too many "high-risk" consumers [with]...

Four in ten former council homes bought under the Right to Buy scheme are now owned by private landlords. The data, obtained by industry magazine Inside Housing from 111 local authorities using a Freedom of Information request, shows how Thatcher's scheme has decimated social housing stock. In the councils surveyed, a total of 180,260 leasehold properties had been sold under the Right to Buy since 1980. Of these, 72,454 are now registered with an "away address", meaning they are not occupied by the owner. The figure varied amongst local authorities, but was as high as 70.9% of former right-to...

On Friday 8 December a demonstration in Mauritius calling for the huge US military base in Diego Garcia (in the Indian Ocean) to be shut down, and the archipelago's inhabitants to be allowed to return. On Thursday afternoon, the demonstration was banned. The Chagos archipelago, of which Diego Garcia is part, was ruled by Britain. After Mauritius became independent, Britain bought the archipelago backed and forcibly evicted its inhabitants, between 1968 and 1973, to make way for the US base. The Mauritian socialist organisation Lalit is part of a “Komite Diego” (Diego Garcia Committee), which...

The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC) held its winter conference in Liverpool last weekend, which saw a lively debate on whether or not to recommit to the 2018 NSS Boycott. After scrutinising the tactic and its potential effectiveness - particularly in relation to the upcoming UCU marking boycott - the conference voted overwhelmingly to continue the boycott into 2018 as part of building a movement of united students and workers against the marketisation of higher education. The conference also voted to support the workers' struggles that have begun to spring up around the country...