Not content with job losses which have already reached 1300,
Northumberland County Council’s Lib Dem and Tory leaders are seeking to
privatise up to 1,000 further jobs through a so called “Public Private
Partnership”. The proposal would mean a transfer to the PPP Company by
the end of this financial year.
The second round in Egypt’s fraudulent
presidential elections will be taking place on June 16th and 17th. In
the
election, Ahmad Shafiq, one of Mubarak’s old ministers, will face
Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Marxists can offer no
support to either of these candidates, both of whom represent the forces
of counter-revolution. However, the Revolutionary Socialists group
(sister organisation to the UK Socialist Workers Party) in Egypt
have decided to do just that and it is a grave mistake.
One of the main features of a
revolutionary situation is the suddenness with which the mood of the
masses can change. The workers learn quickly on the basis of events. And
the events of the last 24 hours (2 June) show that the workers and youth of
Egypt are learning fast.
May ended in Spain with frantic
attempts to prevent the collapse of the banking system, saddled with a
massive amount of toxic loans linked to the housing bubble. The
government attempted to involve the European Union in the rescue of
Bankia, while there were rumours of IMF plans for a bail out of Spain.
Meanwhile miners have gone out an all out strike in defence of jobs.
On May 26th, the city of Edinburgh prepared itself to give a heated
welcome to the racist members of the SDL, who were planning to
demonstrate in the city.This demonstration was shamefully unprecedented,
with members of the SDL having been granted the local authorities’
permission to demonstrate legally, despite continuous violent attacks
against Muslims in particular, all across the country.
The flurry of articles in the Irish press over the last few days
attacking the Croke Park Deal should not come as any surprise. However,
it is noteworthy that these ladies and gentlemen chose the days after
the referendum vote to start putting the boot in.
The Irish Times reports that as soon as the result of the referendum
on the treaty appeared to be in the bag, Enda Kenny was on the phone to
Angel Merckel presumably for a pat on the head as he reported on the
completion of his mission.
Almost four months since the national negotiators struck a secret deal with the employers, UNISON has published a press release containing the “main points” of the proposed Local Government Pension Scheme to be known as LGPS 2014. Despite the fact that the elected Service Group Executive found out the content of the proposals only today reports indicate that it was presented in a series of glossy leaflets and factsheets. The proposals which have been rolled out less than three weeks prior to the Local Government Conference of the union has essentially been cobbled together behind the backs of even the highest elected bodies of the union.
On Monday May 21, there was a foiled
attempt against the life of comrade Abraham Rivas. Rivas is General
Secretary of the National Union of Workers of Helados EFE (SINATRASOHE)
as well as General Secretary of the recently created National Federation
of Workers in Food, Beverages and Other Companies (FENACTRALBECA),
which organizes workers in 21 different companies belonging to Grupo
POLAR. He is also a revolutionary Bolivarian activist and a supporter of
the Marxist tendency Lucha de Clases.
The ruling class is scaling up its
dirty war against SYRIZA, and is drawing together its various political
fractions in the hope of preventing a potential electoral victory of
SYRIZA in the elections on June 17. From the point of view of SYRIZA, in
order to achieve our aim of a Left government, we need to correct eight
grave errors and weaknesses.
Over 600 construction workers walked out today at Ratcliffe power
station in support of a suspended unite safety rep
Forty years ago, in 1972, Britain faced a sharp and qualative change and
teetered on the verge of a general strike for the first time in nearly
50 years. A wave of factory occupations and sit-ins had swept the
country. More than 23 million days were lost in strike action,
excluding 4 million lost through political strikes. Only once, in the
revolutionary year of 1919, was the number of days lost greater.