"It’s not banks we should be looking
after, it’s workers." Tony Woodley, Joint General Secretary, Unite Trade Union.
With
these words Tony Woodley sought to galvanise and enthuse the crowd of marchers
who had braved the elements of torrential rain on this Saturday May 16
to march to Centennial Square
off Broad Street
in Birmingham to
demand action on jobs.
We received this piece from a young supporter of Socialist Appeal. The article shows how many young people are beginning to think about the ugly reality behind the shops they buy their clothes and accessories from: sweat-shops, child labour and vicious exploitation of the workers that produce these commodities. Young people, increasingly aware of these horrors, want to do something to show solidarity with the workers. This instinctive internationalism we welcome wholeheartedly.
Last week Justice For Cleaners activist Alberto was arrested as part of a clear stratergy of victimisation. We publish here with thanks a report by Paul Haste which first appeared in The Morning Star dated 8th May.
Meanwhile the struggle of the Mitie workers goes on with demonstrations in the City of London each Friday lunchtime.
The MPs expenses scandal – based on nicked data ‘obtained’ by the Daily Torygraph has become the talking point of the day. Around the country people are furious that these same publicly paid MPs, who tell us all to cut back and grandly complain about every minor infringement of benefit claims, have taken expense claim fiddling to a level undreamt off by most of us – and it’s not just a few ‘bad eggs’ either. Nearly all of them seem to be at it! Mick Brooks now takes a light look at this scandal and makes a few biting points at their – for once – expense.
The 1920s were good years for the world economy. They were years of boom. Boom and speculation go together like strawberries and cream, and there was speculation aplenty as well. In such a period of ‘irrational exuberance’ the illusion spreads that the good times will go on for ever. Sound familiar? In a ‘bull market’ as in 1925-29 nearly all share prices go up and up. Over those years US industrial shares trebled in price! We all know what happened next. What are the parallels with today?
This Wednesday 13th May at Bolivar Hall in London
OCCUPY! The Factory Occupation Movement in Venezuela and London.
7.00pm start. Videos and Speakers. Admission Free.
Students and education workers have taken action across Europe in recent months in response to the so called ‘Bologna Process’; a vicious attack on the provision of public education centred around privatising public institutions and stripping down staff numbers and facilities to a bare minimum. In response to this there have been large demonstrations and strikes of students and workers in Austria, Italy, Spain and France. In Britain there are now proposals for a huge funding cut back at London Metropolitan University and the selling off of Strathclyde University in Glasgow, amongst other attacks.
The mass panic which has gripped Britain and the rest of the world
arising from the ‘Swine Flu’ outbreak has occupied the media for nearly a
fortnight now. Schools have been shut and people are being urged to
wash their hands like crazy. However those who have contracted the flu
have described the symtoms as being like a ‘bad cold’ and all seem to
be recovering OK. Yet in Mexico – where the flu outbreak evidently
started – many have died. Why is this? Marxist.com ‘s Mexican correspondent has sent this report on who is really to blame.
The Irish economy is predicted to crash this year. It’s set to contract by 9.2%. To put this into perspective, the growth rates during the years of the Celtic Tiger were about 6%. So these figures are the equivalent of turning the clock back economically by almost two years. The Economic and Social Research Unit are predicting unemployment will spiral to 17% next year. 300,000 jobs will disappear and living standards will fall to 15% lower than in 2007.
Socialist Appeal in the UK congratulates
our comrades in the USA on the publication of the
first US edition of Bolshevism: The Road to Revolution by Alan Woods.
This marks a great step forward for the forces of Marxism in the US and
we are sure this publication will be a great success. We reproduce inside the online blurb issued by the comrades.
What can you say to
your son when he asks "why is my life so sh*te?" All you can do listen and
sympathise.
"A. Father" on the frontline of life in capitalist Britain shows how he decided to do something about it!
Here are some pictures from the construction workers’ demo held
early morning on May 6th at the Olympic site in Stratford, East London.
Later on workers assembled outside Parliament in order to lobby their
MPs.