Archive for February 2001

2 February 2001

Hackney Solid strike against cuts threat

IN HACKNEY'S biggest strike movement in 20 years thousands of Hackney council workers staged a three-day strike this week in their battle to save jobs and services, writes Jim Horton.

2 February 2001

"It's our livelihoods at stake"

AS A nursery worker in Hackney I am disgusted at the managers in Hackney. Their attitude is deplorable. They are arrogant, self-opinionated fools, writes A Hackney UNISON member.

2 February 2001

Servants of big business

ANDREW RAWNSLEY'S book Servants of the People is an account of the inner workings of Blair and his cabal from the first day of the Labour government in May 1997 until the summer of 2000...

2 February 2001

"You were the weakest link -goodbye!"

THE DEPARTURE from Tony Blair's government of former Cabinet Minister, Peter Mandelson, finds no sympathy from former Labour MP, now Socialist Party councillor Dave Nellist...

2 February 2001

Bribery, Bofors and the Hinduja brothers

CORRUPTION CASES are nothing new to India. In recent times some cases have been pursued vigorously and quite a few have been indicted, but the judicial system gives the rich and powerful umpteen loopholes.

2 February 2001

Back the Tube Workers

LONDON UNDERGROUND workers have voted overwhelmingly for strike action against privatisation of the tube (PPP), writes Bill Johnson, RMT member and London Underground worker.

2 February 2001

When flunkies fall out

All these parliamentary capitalist parties are seen as hypocrites. At the general election it's likely that more voters will refuse to vote, being turned off by the whole issue of Mandelson, sleaze etc...

2 February 2001

World Economic Forum: The heights of capitalism

POLITICAL AND business leaders of world capitalism assembled last week for their annual get together - the World Economic Forum - in the mountain-top resort of Davos, Switzerland, writes Dave Carr.

2 February 2001

The Philippines after Estrada

THE REMOVAL of the corrupt Philippines president Joseph Estrada, came in the wake of months' long mass street demonstrations and protests...

2 February 2001

Corus Steel Closures Strike to Stop Job Cuts

THE ANNOUNCEMENT by Corus to cut back at Ebbw Vale steelworks and the 'heavy' end of Llanwern steelworks with thousands of job losses, is expected as we go to press, writes Dave Reid, Socialist Party Wales.

9 February 2001

The case for socialist nationalisation

WITH ONE stroke of Corus chairman Brian Moffat's pen, over 12,000 workers will lose their livelihoods once the knock-on effects of last week's steel closures work their way through the local economy...

9 February 2001

Solid Tube strike tells bosses - no sell off!

THE TUBE strike in London on 5 February was a massive step forward in our fight against tube privatisation, writes Bill Johnson, RMT member, London Underground.

9 February 2001

Imagine - A socialist vision for the 21st Century?

HANNAH SELL reviews Imagine, a socialist vision for the 21st century by Alan McCombes and Tommy Sheridan...

9 February 2001

Who's in charge at our hospitals?

THE REDFERN Report into the organ retention scandal at Alder Hey hospital, Liverpool, has had a huge impact, writes Andy Ford, MSF Blood Services Committee.

9 February 2001

Gujurat earthquake - No 'natural' disaster

IN THE worst ever earthquake that India has seen in the last two centuries, Ahemadabad, Bhuj, Bhachau and the entire Kutch district have been devastated, writes Jagadish G Chandra, New Socialist Alternative, CWI - India..

9 February 2001

Get Organised: Strike Back!

Workers Show Their Strength: THIS WEEK tube workers brought London to a standstill and showed the power of organised labour. The courts, the press and London Underground management could not stop the first political strike against...

9 February 2001

Coventry University expulsion threat

STUDENT ACTIVISTS at Coventry University have stepped up their campaign to stop the threatened expulsions of students who are not paying their tuition fees, writes Tim, Coventry University.

16 February 2001

STUDENTS FIGHT FEES

LABOUR'S HOLLOW PROMISES: LAST WEEK Tony Blair announced plans to increase the numbers of university students. He claims by the year 2010 half of under-30-year olds will have been to university. On the same day education secretary...

16 February 2001

Education - Labour's Year Zero

What we think: NEW LABOUR'S plans for a second term, outlined last week, focus primarily on education. These were so outrageously right wing that the Tories' education spokesperson, Teresa May, said indignantly that...

16 February 2001

Drugs giants scramble for profits

THIS WEEK, two competing journals claimed they'd revealed the entire genetic code of a human, writes Roger Shrives.

16 February 2001

Sellafield's lethal gas

BRITISH NUCLEAR Fuels Ltd (BNFL) has been constantly releasing the radioactive gas krypton 85 from its THORP reprocessing facility at Sellafield in Cumbria, since its opening in 1994, writes Alistair McConnell.

16 February 2001

Scottish Socialists weigh up ambitious plans

Philip Stott, from the Committee for a Workers International (CWI - the international socialist organisation which the Socialist Party is affiliated to) in Scotland reports on the conference of the Scottish Socialist Party, held in Glasgow...

16 February 2001

Arrests at Faslane's big blockade

OVER 350 people were arrested in the "Big Blockade" at Faslane, a protest at the nuclear submarine base in Scotland which holds Britain's Trident fleet...

16 February 2001

Socialist ideas and organisation for the 21st century

Britain: THE NATIONAL conference of the Socialist Party in England and Wales took place in London on 10-12 February...

16 February 2001

Israeli election: A new period of insecurity

NETANYAHU WAS deposed after three years, Barak after only 18 months, and Sharon's term in office as prime minister will probably be even shorter...

16 February 2001

"BOG OFF" BLAIR

LABOUR'S NIGHTMARE EDUCATION PLANS: THE DAYS of "bog standard" comprehensives are over says Tony Blair. In practice he's announced the end of comprehensive education and the opening up of education to big business. New Labour are returning...

23 February 2001

VAUXHALL WORKERS STRIKE BACK

THOUSANDS of Vauxhall workers will take strike action this Thursday, 22 February, against the company's plans to shut its Luton plant and axe over 2,000 jobs...

23 February 2001

Iraq bombing - US imperialism flexes its muscles

JUST WEEKS after his inauguration, US president George Bush has flexed his country's military muscles by bombing Iraq and in so doing has sought to demonstrate his 'decisiveness'...

23 February 2001

Global warming: capitalism has no solution

A REPORT published last month by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a UN body, confirms the threat to the environment from global warming is occurring faster than previously predicted, writes Amrita Huggins.

23 February 2001

NUS week of action 26 February - 1 March

EDUCATION IS in crisis. The elitist Blair government is attacking education 'from the cradle to the grave', spitefully snatching away the gains of a century. A chronic lack of funding condemns schools,...

23 February 2001

World Social Forum

PORTO ALEGRE, state capital of Rio Grande do Sul, was the venue for the first World Social Forum from 25-30 January...

23 February 2001

Workers' anger at Sri Lankan government attacks

ANGER AT the Sri Lankan People's Alliance (PA) government is mounting by the day. The economic situation has become dire. Fuel prices have gone up four times in six months, bus fares have doubled in three...

23 February 2001

Fight For Socialist Change

Ditch the Labour cynics: LABOUR UNVEILED parts of its election programme last week saying the biggest threat to them winning a second term is voters' cynicism...