Against the backdrop of a Con-Lib
government intent on savagely cutting public spending to make working
people
pay for the crisis of the capitalist system, the annual Conference of
Trades Councils
took place in Blackpool on the weekend of May
15th and 16th.
When watching
Comic Relief or any other sort of international aid fundraiser, viewers
are
often startled with images of starving children, and an attempt is made
to
portray the African continent as a complete humanitarian disaster,
composed of
destitute countries that are plagued by famine, drought, disease,
corruption,
and civil war. Whilst it is true that natural disasters and adverse
conditions have
hindered the development of many African countries, these media sources
do not
attempt to address why the continent is prone to civil war and
corruption and
no effort is made to explain the root cause of the problem: imperialism.(Photo: Paul Shaffner)
It’s been close to a month since the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig
exploded and sank into the Gulf of Mexico, just 45 miles south of the
already beleaguered gulf coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi. The
ensuing oil spill may well surpass that which followed the wreck of the
Exxon Valdez, which poured over 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska’s
Prince William Sound in the spring of 1989.
After spending most of the week following the general election wheeling
and dealing his way to power, David Cameron expected his first prime
ministerial visit to Scotland to be somewhat more dignified. However
this was not to be as the Tory leader was once again forced in and out
of the back doors. This time it wasn’t to woo the Liberals but to flee
from protestors!
On
Monday, May 17th, 1.3 million ballot papers will go out for an election
that has the potential to worry the ruling class even more than the
general election, which we were told had world financial markets in
jitters.
No sooner has the dust started to settle on the fall out
from the 2010 general election and the decision of Gordon Brown to fall
on his
sword both as PM and Labour leader than we are already seeing names
being put
forward as “suitable” choices to become the new leader of the labour
Party.
We continue our analysis of the 2010 General Election with a look at the issues raised by the results in Northern Ireland.
A joint press conference by Jerry Hicks and Paul Holmes was held in London on Thursday. Click here to watch a video of Jerry speaking.
It was one of the surest things in British politics: when an election
comes around, no matter the national trend, Scotland will always vote
Labour. But with the SNP managing to form a minority government,
winning one more seat than Labour in the 2007 Scottish Parliament
election, and then their shock by-election victory in Glasgow east in
2008 it seemed, to some, that the Scottish working class was switching
their allegiances.
David Cameron has been crowned. After days of torturous
negotiations, the Tories have finally cobbled together a “principled” deal with
the Liberal Democrats “in the national interest”. Cameron is now Prime
Minister, with Nick Clegg his ever-so-thankful Deputy PM. Five cabinet posts
are to be given to the Liberal Democrats to cement together this unholy
coalition, the first coalition in 70 years, since Churchill formed the war-time
government. Gleggameron is upon us!
A decisive battle has been going on within the PSUV in Venezuela, a
battle over who are to be the parliamentary candidates for the party in
the elections later this year. The left have been fighting an unequal
battle, where more right-wing candidates have had much more resources
and official backing locally than candidates who genuinely represent
the workers and poor. It is a key battle in the Venezuelan revolution.
As a new Tory/Liberal coalition takes office – in reality an accomodation of two capitalist parties – on a programme of austerity and attacks on the public sector, we look back at the lessons of the election and what it means for the Labour and trade union movement. (Photo – Flickr)