HOV Conference 2010: Photo Spread
Last Saturday’s HOV conference, held in London, was a great event. Here are some photo’s by HOV’s resident snapper, Will.
Ireland: The beginnings of a protest movement?
Under
heavy Gardaí surveillance, including a helicopter, a crowd of over 1500
filled up Molesworth St, opposite the Dáil’s gates on the 18th
May. It was the second protest, after the 11th of May, organised by the
Right to Work Campaign (RWC) sponsored by the union UNITE and the
support of all the left groups with presence in Dublin, including SF.
There were also two banners of the Labour party, although this party is
not officially supporting the protest.
‘Unite behind John McDonnell’
With Labour Party officials now having been forced by pressure
from below into extending the time period for MPs to nominate for the
position of Labour leader, the campaign to get John McDonnell onto the
ballot has been given a new impetus. As part of this Jerry
Hicks, the left candidate for the position of Unite General Secretary,
has issued a press release giving support to John:
Who needs enemies when you have friends like… Diane Abbott
For all those of us who had hoped that
the Labour Party leadership election campaign might bring some serious
debate
on the need for socialist policies, we have this morning received yet
another
blow. After the NEC decided to make the period for candidates to collect
nominations from MP a mere four days (24-27 May), in the way of the
uphill
struggle for John McDonnell has been placed another formidable obstacle
in
Diane Abbott.
A Modern Fairy Tale
At this year’s Trades Council conference, the West Mids delegate was
asked to do the traditional vote of thanks speech – so he decided to
tell the delegates a little fairy story. Here it is. Please note that
any connextion between this and the current UK situation is purely
intentional!
Conference Votes to Campaign for a Public Sector Alliance to Defend Public Services.
Against the backdrop of a Con-Lib
government intent on savagely cutting public spending to make working
people
pay for the crisis of the capitalist system, the annual Conference of
Trades Councils
took place in Blackpool on the weekend of May
15th and 16th.
Imperialism and Africa
When watching
Comic Relief or any other sort of international aid fundraiser, viewers
are
often startled with images of starving children, and an attempt is made
to
portray the African continent as a complete humanitarian disaster,
composed of
destitute countries that are plagued by famine, drought, disease,
corruption,
and civil war. Whilst it is true that natural disasters and adverse
conditions have
hindered the development of many African countries, these media sources
do not
attempt to address why the continent is prone to civil war and
corruption and
no effort is made to explain the root cause of the problem: imperialism.(Photo: Paul Shaffner)
Deepwater Horizon Disaster: Everything’s well out of hand
It’s been close to a month since the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig
exploded and sank into the Gulf of Mexico, just 45 miles south of the
already beleaguered gulf coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi. The
ensuing oil spill may well surpass that which followed the wreck of the
Exxon Valdez, which poured over 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska’s
Prince William Sound in the spring of 1989.
Cameron given the run-around!
After spending most of the week following the general election wheeling
and dealing his way to power, David Cameron expected his first prime
ministerial visit to Scotland to be somewhat more dignified. However
this was not to be as the Tory leader was once again forced in and out
of the back doors. This time it wasn’t to woo the Liberals but to flee
from protestors!
UNISON General Secretary Election approaching final stages – Vote for Paul Holmes!
On
Monday, May 17th, 1.3 million ballot papers will go out for an election
that has the potential to worry the ruling class even more than the
general election, which we were told had world financial markets in
jitters.
Choice… or no choice: we say John4leader!
No sooner has the dust started to settle on the fall out
from the 2010 general election and the decision of Gordon Brown to fall
on his
sword both as PM and Labour leader than we are already seeing names
being put
forward as “suitable” choices to become the new leader of the labour
Party.
Elections in the North: Sectarian politics won’t answer the economic crisis
We continue our analysis of the 2010 General Election with a look at the issues raised by the results in Northern Ireland.