We have received news from students at Glasgow University of an
attempt by police to put an end to the 7-week long occupation of the
Hetherington Club by the forcible removal of the students.
A million workers on strike. This is the minimum response that should be given to plans being drawn up by the government to implement Hutton’s report on public sector pension ‘reform.’
According to a news report, an expert has warned of "food riots" coming to the UK
Council workers supported by other public sector trade unionists
lobbied Gateshead Councillors prior to the budget setting meeting on
Thursday March 3rd. The council has a yawning budget deficit
of £70 million over the next two years. £32 million of cuts are set to
fall this year and up to £38 million over the next two years.
Six Labour councillors from Hackney in London have signed a statement against carrying out any cuts. Socialist
Appeal welcomes the stand taken by these Labour councillors and
calls on other elected representatives to make a stand now and join
them. A concerted drive of this nature would have a tremendous effect on
the anti-cuts campaign and deliver a serious blow to the government’s
attempt to “pass the buck” for the cuts programme to the local councils.
The biggest cuts in living memory are creating massive opposition
everywhere, even in the leafy Tory shires, as the £81bn of cuts start to
bite. While the Coalition’s austerity policies have been cheered on by
the big business institutions of the IMF and the OECD, rage is bubbling
up amongst ordinary people. No wonder support for the Coalition
government has crashed. Even Cameron has been forced to recognise this:
“It will not make us popular. It will make us unpopular. It will make me
unpopular.”
On March 3rd the University of London
Union Marxists will play host to a very special meeting on the
revolutionary events unfolding in the Arab world. Speakers include:
Houzan Mahmoud, the representative of the Organisations of Women’s
Freedom in Iraq and a member of the Worker-Communist Party of Iraq;
Serge Goulart, co-ordinator of the Occupied Factory movement in Brazil;
and Alan Woods, secretary of the International Marxist Tendency.
Thousands gathered in London’s Trafalgar Square on Saturday (12th
February) to celebrate the departure of the hated, now former
president, Hosni Mubarak. The gathering was actually called as a
demonstration against the regime and to demand the resignation of
Mubarak. However, events have moved at such a rate that the despot had
tendered his resignation the day the before. Therefore, the event was
now a party in the centre of London to concur with the one in Tahrir
Square.
From students to pensioners, private to
public sectors workers, unemployed and disabled, the march represented all of
Worcester residents threatened by the cuts. As one of the placards said,
“Cameron, Unions are the Original Big Society.”
On Saturday (5th February) around one
thousand people – Egyptians, Londoners and others ‑ gathered outside the
United States embassy and later marched through central London to the
Egyptian embassy. The protest was called to show solidarity with the
revolutionary struggle of the people of Egypt.
NEXT DEMO: RALLY AT TRAFALGAR SQ THIS SAT. 12.00 – 14.00
The confirmation today that 2,000 public sector jobs are to
go at Manchester City Council, as part of a planned budget reduction of £110
million, will come as grim reading for the people of that city.
There are just over three months to go before the elections for the
Scottish parliament, which take place on May 5th. Aside from the
contest itself the Scottish electorate is left with the knowledge that,
whoever wins the election, massive cuts are set to follow after the
Nationalist Scottish Government set a budget in December clearly aimed
at winning this election.