Students at the London College of
Communication occupied the main lecture hall as part of a campaign to
oppose planned cutbacks.The action started on Monday night and
continued untill Wednesday afternoon. The decision to occupy was taken after a meeting on 9th
of November where management refused to compromise on a “restructuring” plan
that will involve course closers and staff redundancies, which have already amounted to over 150.
In the aftermath of the decision by the CWU leadership to call off the latest round of national action last week, there are allready signs that the deal agreed may be unravelling. We reproduce here a statement issued by Socialist Appeal supporters in the CWU on the way forward.
“Poor Mexico! So far from God, so near to the United States.” The
famous words of Porfirio Díaz are truer today than at any time in the
tempestuous history of this country. The crisis of world capitalism has
hit Mexico hard. And its extreme dependence on the USA, which
previously was presented as something beneficial to the Mexican
economy, has turned out to be a colossal problem.
Ireland: Wednesday’s demonstration of the 24/7 Frontline Alliance was a lot smaller than the
big rain soaked demonstrations on Friday, but no less important in some
ways. It’s seldom a good idea to take on all of your enemies at the
same time. It’s a sign of the times when the Gards, their Sergeants,
and the Prison Officers start agitating. But this is a crisis of the
bosses making, there are savage cuts in payments and huge pressures on
the rank and file Gardai. The crisis is eroding the support for the
entire system.
Last week, a mob from the English Defence League (EDL), a rag-tag collection of football
‘service crews’ and other assorted hooligan and racist elements, mobilised in
the northern city of Leeds. Clearly hoping to capitalise on their ‘successes’
in Manchester (where they managed to mobilise several hundred people) and Luton
(where the absence of any counter-mobilisation by the labour movement allowed
the EDL’s thugs to attack Muslims in the street), several hundred of these
fascist yobs gathered in City Square. Over 1500 (see picture) came to oppose them.
Tens of thousands of people: public
sector and private sector workers and their families, unemployed
workers, pensioners and students thronged the streets of eight cities
in the South on Friday, November 6; while 10 further demonstrations
took place in the north also. 70,000 marched into Merrion Square in
Dublin, 20,000 in Cork, 10,000 in Waterford, 6,000 in Galway, 5,000 in
Sligo, 5,000 in Limerick, 4,000 in Tullamore and 1,500 in Dundalk. Not
bad for a Friday with a grim weather forecast.
Over the last few months we have posted reports on strike actions involving bus workers in Northumberland, Doncaster, Manchester and Essex. Now action has arrived in the capital city itself. Bus workers in East London are out today in a dispute over wages and conditions – and the red flags are flying in Romford!
Today we mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall by publishing an article from the current edition of Socialist Appeal which analyses why the events of 1989 have not had the outcome which the West expected. You can also download an audio file on the subject by clicking here .
Each November we mark the anniversary of the Russian Revolution. For the first time the working class conquered state power and at least began the task of the socialist transfomation of society. Listen here to this special meeting of the ULU Marxist Society where Fred Weston, editor of the website ‘In Defence of Marxism’ (marxist.com), speaks on the Russian Revolution and the founding of the Comintern; and subsequently their eventual demise and abandonment at the hands of the Stalinist bureaucracy.
A lot of noise had been made about
the so-called “reinstatement of Zelaya”, but is that what is really
happening? So far a lot of wheeling and dealing has taken place, but no
concrete steps to put Zelaya back as the legitimate president. We will
see in the coming days how real this agreement is.
Cynicism is a very useful tool for
those in power. Although it inherently expresses a sense of
dissatisfaction, it offers nothing as a way out. The charade of the
two-party system has done a lot of damage to American workers’
perception of politics in general, and created a situation where
cynicism and apparent apathy is widespread. What is needed in the US is
a party that represents working people. Such a party would go far in
combatting the cynical and apathetic attitudes of many toward politics,
as there would finally be a force led by workers in the interests of
workers.