Solidarity 499, 20 March 2019

On Saturday 17 March, hundreds of people in Gaza were picked off the streets and jailed by Hamas police as they used live fire into the air, clubs, metal rods, and pepper spray to disperse a growing wave of demonstrations. The demonstrations were sparked by tax increases on basic goods imposed by the Hamas administration. Hamas, a clerical-fascist movement, have claimed that the protests were “pushed from the outside”, “controlled by Israel and the PA intelligence”, and want to bring down the “Palestinian armed resistance.” Muhammad Shehada (a Palestinian from Gaza currently working in Sweden)...

The Morning Star ought to be feeling well pleased with itself. After all, it has a former contributor who remains a public supporter leading the Labour Party. It has at least two political supporters (Seumas Milne and Andrew Murray) in the most powerful positions of influence within the Leader’s Office. Its pro-Brexit stance appears to have helped a (so far) effective effort to discourage Labour from enacting agreed conference policy regarding a second referendum. And yet, despite all this, the paper is full of self-pity and paranoia. It even claims to be “under siege”. It’s not clear by whom...

Janine Booth ( Solidarity 494) writes that ″[t]he brain wiring that is now called dyslexia has probably existed for thousands of years, but it did not become a problem and was not labelled “dyslexia” until written language became widespread.″ She does acknowledge that this ″so-called impairment, [this] disability, is constructed by something that has developed socially i.e. the form that language takes.″ I′m not convinced that dyslexia can be reduced to a ″brain wiring″, nor that particular ″wirings″ are given, that just the problem and label arise from social factors. I have been diagnosed...

A ten-week strike involving recently unionised women home-workers is the subject of Neil Gore’s latest production. “‘Rouse, Ye Women” is a folk-ballad opera telling the stirring story of the Chainmakers’ Strike of 1910 through uplifting songs sung by Bryony Purdue as Mary MacArthur, and Rowan Godal as “Bird”, a downtrodden chainmaker. With only a guitar and banjolele, a simple but evocative set, and an imaginative use of lighting, the audience are quickly transported to a backyard outhouse in Cradley Heath. This foot tapping, hand clapping, chorus sing-along performance is an inspiring play...

On paper, the Labour Party has 20,000 student members. But only 59 voting delegates attended Labour Students National Conference in Edinburgh on 24 February, representing a handful of Labour clubs. The majority of the candidates on the unofficial “moderate” slate have been elected, despite the “Labour Students Left” slate, backed by Momentum, Open Labour and CLPD Youth, receiving many more nominations from clubs. This year’s National Officer elections were the first to be conducted by OMOV (One Member One Vote). Numerous members complained on social media about the delay in sending electronic...

Sahra Wagenknecht has resigned as a member of the Executive Committee of Germany’s “left-populist” movement Aufstehen (Rise Up) and as co-chair of the parliamentary fraction of Die Linke. Rise Up is the German equivalent of Momentum. Die Linke has its origins in the post-DDR Communist Party, which subsequently merged with a breakaway from the SPD (German equivalent of the Labour Party). Wagenknecht has cited health reasons for her double resignation. But more fundamental political considerations are also in play. Rise Up was launched with great fanfare just six months ago. It would bring...

The career of the journalist Marie Colvin was fairly unique. She covered most of the major conflicts of the 1990s and 2000s up until her death in Homs, Syria, in 2012. Her articles in the Sunday Times brought across some of the horrors of war, not just the conflicts between political factions and leaders but the stories of mass graves in Fallujah, and the near starvation of internally displaced Tamils. Until her death she may be remembered as one of the last journalists to interview Colonel Gadaffi before he was killed in the Libyan conflict of 2011. The film, based on a Vanity Fair article,...

Deliveroo couriers in locations across the country are planning more strikes in April, demanding higher pay in a co-ordinated wave of “rolling strikes”. This follows some very partial victories in a few places. Couriers are falsely categorised as “self-employed independent contractors” rather than “self-employed limb (b) workers” or “employees”, either of which would more accurately reflect our dependency on and relationship to Deliveroo. This miscategorisation allows Deliveroo to deprive us of basic workers’ rights, including minimum wage. Pay is low, insecure, and in many places has been...

On Tuesday 19 March, Hackney’s special needs transport workers struck to demand shift allowances. Two dozen strikers joined the picket line at the depot in Leyton, and were in good spirits despite the drizzle. Pickets included both passenger escorts and drivers, and the majority were black and ethnic minority women. Only four workers had broken the strike, which was the first of six named days of action. Hackney Labour Party activists attended the picket line and told strikers that although the Labour Council is frustrating them, rank-and-file members support them. Labour members now plan to...

The campaign to save the children’s centres in Lambeth, south London, continues despite the Labour council’s vote to go ahead with closures. The next step is a demonstration on Sunday 24 March, from 10.30 at Windrush Square, Brixton. A recent report by the UK’s “big five” charities has confirmed that our children’s services are in crisis. Tory austerity is falling hardest on the country’s poorest and most vulnerable families, at a time when demand for services is rising and more and more children need vital support in their early years. Every one of the 1,000 children’s centres that have been...