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Today (February 14th) marks one month since the
revolutionary overthrow of the hated dictator Ben Ali in Tunisia on
January 14. The last month has been a constant struggle between the
ruling class which wants to return to bourgeois normality and workers
and youth who carried out the revolution and who are struggling to stop
the old regime from trying to make a comeback.
IRELAND: While the political arithmetic of the next Dáil won’t be clear until after February the 25th,
the battle lines in the state have been drawn for some time. The Irish
bourgeois are well aware that Fianna Fáil are a dead duck. Now Enda
Kenny has decided to concentrate his fire on the Labour Party. There is
one reason alone for this. The bourgeois want full control of the levers
of power and to all intents and purposes they want a continuation of
Cowen and Lenihan’s austerity programme, regardless of whoever leads the
government.
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.”
We are now just six weeks away from the March 26th demo called by the TUC to oppose the cuts. It now seems certain that this will be the biggest protest in London since the marches against the Iraq war. Over 300,000 are expect. Read on for full details, transport etc…
The tyrant has fallen! As I write
these lines, Hosni Mubarak has resigned. This is a great victory, not
just for the people of Egypt, but for the workers of the entire world.
After 18 days of continuous revolutionary mobilizations, with 300 dead
and thousands injured, Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year tyranny is no more.
History is indeed being written with
the fall of Mubarak and as the whole of the Middle East and North Africa
erupts in one revolutionary upheaval after another. This is also now
having an impact in Iran as the lines are once again being drawn for a
new round of battles since the eruptions that started one and a half
years ago. The focus is now on the call for a demonstration on Monday,
February 14.
According to news sources, Mubarak may be on the point of being forced
out of office. The army have issued a statement about how they intend to
"support the legitimate demands of the people" which many are
interpreting as code for "Mubarak – time to go!" Sources predict that this may be
confimed later tonight (UK Time).UPDATE: he says he is not going yet – we have arrived at a critical point!
There are situations in which mass
demonstrations are sufficient to bring about the fall of a regime. But
Egypt is not one of them. All the efforts of the masses to bring about
the overthrow of Mubarak through demonstrations and street protests have
so far failed to achieve their principal objective.
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
As the Irish General Election approaches, the Labour Party
leadership continues getting rid of the most radical aspects of its
election programme. And, Labour Party members only get to know about
these changes through the media. The Irish Times revealed the
last of such policy modifications on Monday, 31 Jan.
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.