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It is ten
years today since in 2001 an outrageous attack killed 3000 innocent
people and maimed hundreds of others in New York. This anniversary will
be commemorated at a grand ceremony in New York where the US elite will
gather in an outpouring of more pseudo-patriotism and chauvinism to dupe
the working classes of the mightiest empire in history which is now
plagued with economic disaster and social decay
The world
crisis of capitalism has entered a new stage. Rather than recover,
several countries are showing features of a depression. This is an
unprecedented situation and shows the deep malaise affecting the
capitalist system, still reeling from the slump of 2008-9.
Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee have issued a report which comes as close as they dare to damning the
Private Finance Initiative (PFI) approach used over the last decade or so to
fund public projects.
The IMT World School that was held in
Italy between 31 July and 5 August was a tremendous success. About 225
comrades from many different countries and continents travelled to the
Italian seaside resort of Marina de Massa in order to attend a week of
intense but enjoyable and educational meetings.
The social
protest movement in Israel, after a hiatus, is now planning to gather
one million people in Tel Aviv on September 3. The ruling class is
certainly worried by this prospect and the Israeli railways have
announced that they will shut down train services between Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem, and between Tel Aviv and Be’er Sheva, supposedly for "for
maintenance work". Clearly this is a manoeuvre to try and weaken the
mobilisations that are being prepared
After 7 months,
the occupation of the Hetherington Research Club at Glasgow University,
better known as the Free Hetherington, has come to a close. With
universities across Britain on the verge of a new term, two student
activists from Glasgow look at the history of the occupation and the
anti-cuts movement at Glasgow this year, and the lessons that the
student movement can take from it.
While I was in Venezuela a number of comrades asked me about some
manifesto against “Chavez’s attacks on trade union rights” and also
about the controversy over a letter Noam Chomsky had signed which the
bourgeois media had used in their campaign in defence of “human rights”
in Venezuela.
Socialist Appeal recently met up with Claire Locke, president of
London Met SU, to discuss the cuts taking place at London Metropolitan
University and the fightback against them Claire described
how the Tories are conducting a class war at the University. They are
cutting humanities, arts and student support at the same time as
strengthening the business ties of the university.
TUESDAY: Twenty four
hours ago, the streets of Tripoli were full of the sounds of rejoicing.
Now they are filled with the sounds of gunfire. The real battle for
Tripoli has commenced.
The Tories are on the rampage. Their response to the worst riots in
living memory is more state repression. The blame for the riots,
according to David Cameron, lies with the “criminal disease” sweeping
our neighbourhoods.Cameron also attacked the “moral collapse,” the breakdown of “family
values,” poor standards in schools, and a welfare system that rewards
the idle.The Tories’ answer, as always, is tougher rules on benefits claims, the
introduction of National Service, more discipline in schools, ending the
human rights culture, and the introduction of “family tests.”
In the Horn of Africa, a famine is raging that has claimed the lives of
tens of thousands of people. For the first time in 30 years, the UN has
officially declared a famine. The drought in East Africa has resulted in
a food crisis across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya that has affected over
12 million people; hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia have
fled to neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia, where unsanitary and crowded
conditions await, leading to thousands more deaths. But this seems to go
almost unreported in the media, which is dominated by stories of
rioting, phone hacking and the economic crisis.
The end came suddenly and without warning. In the moment of truth the Gaddafi regime fell like a house of cards.
Last
night the streets of Tripoli were filled with wild rejoicing as rebel
forces occupied Green Square in Tripoli. Libyan rebels waved opposition
flags and fired shots into the air in jubilation after reaching the
central square of the capital in the early hours of Monday. Until now
the vast square was reserved for carefully orchestrated rallies praising
Moammar Gaddafi. Now it erupted in celebration after rebel troops
pushed into the centre of the Libyan capital.