Solidarity - articles before 22 November 2002

There is no "democratic" way to wipe out Israel

A Palestinian state? Yes. Back Saddam against Israel? No. Solidarity 3/12, 12 September 2002 War against Iraq, which may be accompanied by renewed Iraqi attacks on Israel, will raise even more sharply the question of how socialists see the terrible conflict between Israel and Palestine and what we propose as a solution to it. When Saddam Hussein launched rockets against Israel during the Gulf War of 1991, sections of the left - among them the SWP's Socialist Worker - praised his anti-Zionism. Such a response is incompatible with the principles of socialism. It grows out of the refusal of the...

Campaign for a workers' Europe

By Michaela Collins The publicity round the euro referendum gives us the opportunity to spell out our positive policies for European workers' unity. Both the official Yes and the official No campaign are set up to promote one faction or other of the bosses' interests. They include representatives of the labour and trade union movement, but their politics are dictated by big business: on the one hand, Blair and Euro-centred big business; on the other, Rupert Murdoch, the Tories and those seeking a closer alignment with US capital. Neither of these in any way represents workers' interests. We...

Militant unions under attack in Australia

From Solidarity 3/12, 12 September 2002 The most militant trade unions in Australia are under fierce attack from Australia's conservative government - and from the top trade union leaders, including supposedly left-wing ones. When elected in 1996, the Liberal/Conservative government was quite open about wanting to break the power of the unions. So far, on the whole, despite trying hard, it has failed. Its latest moves are a "Royal Commission" on the building industry - a device to get the construction, mining, and forestry union, CFMEU, de-registered (deprived of legal recognition) - and a...

The mirage of the "internationalist no"

From Solidarity 3/12, 12 September 2002 Even if a strong internationalist campaign for "no" were theoretically possible, it certainly will not happen. At the Socialist Alliance National Council on 7 September, John Rees of the SWP said flatly and clearly that he wanted a "no" campaign run in unity with "other left forces", including, by name, the Communist Party of Britain. The Communist Party has a long, long tradition of British nationalism - on Europe especially. Many socialists unsure on the euro say that the question for them is whether it is possible to make an internationalist campaign...

The way forward on union political funds

Discussion article from Solidarity 3/12, 12 September 2002, by Martin Thomas Originally "democratise the political funds" meant pursuing a policy like the FBU's May 2001 decision, as opposed to arguing for unions to disaffiliate from the Labour Party. Now, however, some people in the Socialist Alliance, notably the SWP, are interpreting "democratise the political funds" as "fragment the political funds". "Use union funds to pursue collective working-class interests!" should be our slogan, not "fragment the political funds". Not the sort of TUC Congress we have become accustomed to in recent...

Questions and answers on Iraq

From Solidarity 3/12, 12 September 2002 Come and join us on the streets, and in the meetings, so that we can build a strong anti-war movement on a clear internationalist and democratic basis. Is Saddam Hussein a threat? Yes. A threat to his own people - he rules them by terror. A threat to Iraq's oppressed national minority, the Kurds - he has massacred them. A threat to neighbouring peoples - in 1980 (against Iran) and in 1990 (against Kuwait) he went to war to make his state the regional "big power" in the Gulf. He is in no position to attempt a new war of expansion now, but given half a...

Fighting again for democracy

From Solidarity 3/12, 12 September 2002 By Annie O'Keeffe There are small incidents which light up a whole situation. One such incident is the attempt by Graham Allen MP to hire the House of Commons, or some other big building, so that MPs denied the right to meet as a parliament by the King, sorry, by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, can meet unofficially and discuss the Government's drive for war with Iraq. What is lit up here is the state of parliamentary government and of democracy in Britain. The Prime Minister is beating the drums for war. He has plainly entered into commitments with...

The Australian Socialist Alliance is abuzz

The Australian Socialist Alliance is abuzz with discussion on a radically new turn. The Democratic Socialist Party, the biggest of the organised groups within the Alliance, sent out a letter on 3 September saying that it planned to "cease to operate as a public organising and begin to operate as an internal tendency in the Socialist Alliance from January 2003. The letter is available online ; so is the text of a speech by leading DSP member Dick Nichols, expounding the DSP's views at an ISO weekend school in Melbourne onn 6-8 September. "Our members will be recruiting to the Socialist Alliance...

Three tasks on 28 September

From Solidarity 3/12, 12 September 2002 On 28 September, and in the run-up to it, socialists have three tasks. First, to build the broadest possible mobilisation. Second, to establish on the demonstration a visible internationalist and democratic counter-presence to the Islamists and their "left" allies. Third, to work for a strong "Unions against War" movement. The demonstration on 28 September against war on Iraq will be huge. Supported by ten national trade unions and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, it should outstrip the demonstrations last year against the USA's war in Afghanistan...

Air traffic warning

Air traffic controllers have warned the Government that air safety will be compromised unless more cash is found for the part-privatised National Air Traffic Service (NATS). The call comes after a report by MPs condemned NATS's decision to cut back on safety critical staff. Prospect, which represents 3,500 NATS controllers and engineers, is says the Government should face up to its responsibility and halve the debt NATS has been saddled with under the terms of the PPP. David Luxton, the union's aviation officer, said: "As part of NATS' cost cutting measures, the organisation plans to shed 450...

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