LA LUTTE CONTINUE

Solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners!

2011-10-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

Hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli jails have joined a hunger strike to protest against worsening prison conditions.

The strike was called after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toughened restrictions on Palestinian prisoners as part of an effort to force Hamas to free Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. Shalit is the sole Israeli political prisoner being held by Palestinians, compared to approximately 6,000 Palestinians being held by Israel, many of whom are without charge or trial.

Since the beginning of the Israeli occupation of the remaining Palestinian territories in 1967, over 650,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel. This forms approximately 20% of the total Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza.

To find out about what Palestinians are doing themselves to resist Israeli occupation, imprisonment and ethnic cleansing, read about the great work of the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.

Farid Bakht for London Mayor

2011-03-10T15:23:00.000-08:00

The Green Party recently announced the names of its candidates seeking nomination for the London Mayoral elections in 2012 at a press launch outside City Hall, marking the start of serious campaigning among the three hopefuls.

Shahrar Ali, Farid Bakht and Jenny Jones, are all experienced campaigners and considered strong candidates within party circles. Personally I would be happy with any of those three leading the Party into the next Mayoral election as they each have their strengths, however, as a socialist, politically I am backing Farid Bakht.

This is primarily as Farid emphasises the need for the party to develop roots in working class communities and the student movement. Despite Green policies being inherently pro-working class, the Greens have sometimes stuggled to make headway in terms of activism amongst what are often the most exploited groups in society, who would benefit from greater political participation and representation to fight for social justice.

Working class youths and students, ethnic minorites and trade unionists have been let down by the Lib Dems and Labours slavish obsession with power at any costs and acceptance of neo-liberal ideology. The Greens are arguably the only viable left-wing electoral alternative at a London level as we approach 2012, and we really should be aiming to leap-frog the Lib Dems in the Mayoral election and get 4 or 5 London Assembly seats.

I would like to see Greens form an electoral pact with working class campaign groups that have emerged locally around London in response to the cuts being implemented by Tory, Lib Dem and Labour administrations. There is a growing opposition to the logic of cuts, which has the potential to unite working class people in a way that has not occured in this country for a generation. What is happening in Lambeth is a great example of this.

Farid himself states:

I want Greens to move beyond their comfort zone and build a coalition around students and young people, the one in three Londoners of foreign origin and over a hundred thousand small businesses starved of credit by banks.

My priority is to widen our appeal to people from all communities including the working class within London". Why is it that white working class people don't generally vote for us?

I want to demolish the myth that we are a white, middle class party interested only in a narrow agenda not in tune with people's everyday lives.

We need to demonstrate we are the real opposition to three very similar parties by playing a central role in the anti-cuts movement.

We need to attract Londoners with our message of environmental and social justice, our humane approach to immigration and our commitment to free education, health and council housing.

Half Basque, half Bengali, and born in Hackney, I was brought up in London. I am married with a nine-year old daughter and live in West London.

Brighton Palestine Week - to celebrate and support Palestine: 3 to 13 March

2011-02-27T11:56:00.000-08:00

to celebrate and support Palestine

films exhibitions talks discussions
FILMS
at the Duke of York’s cinema Preston Circus London Rd www.picturehouses.com 0871 902 5728 tickets: adult £8, concessions £7, members £6
Sunday 6 March 1.30
BUDRUS
Award-winning film about the non-violent struggle of the village of Budrus, in the Palestinian West Bank, against Israel’s Apartheid Wall. We see the impact on village politics and families, the leadership role of women and youth, views of Israeli activists who offer support, and an Israeli woman soldier. The outcome for the village is profound though the after-effects and the burden of occupation remain.
“A powerful film filled with the kind of hope you rarely see around this issue.”   Michael Moore
          The Guardian
Followed by Q&A session about the film and the issues
with Riya Mary Alsana and Bushra Khalidi, active members of Sussex University Friends of Palestine.

Director: Dahna Abourahme
78 mins 2010 Eng subtitles
Sunday 13 March 1.30
SLINGSHOT HIP HOP
We follow DAM, the first ever Palestinian HipHop group, from their early awkward studio recordings through the outbreak of the 2nd Intifada to their brilliant fiery shows all over the world. Then we see other rising rappers, including girls, in the West Bank and finally those trapped in the grim prison of Gaza. Their desperate attempts to meet up provide a moving climax.       “Profoundly uplifting… It’s a refreshing take on the conflict” – NOW Toronto

Director: Jackie Reem Salloum     2009 94 mins
Arabic, Eng & Hebrew. English subtitles.


------------------------------------------------

at Friends Meeting House Ship Street Brighton         free
Wed 9 March 7.30
UNTIL WHEN and CHILDREN’S VOICES
Until When follows 4 Palestinian families living in Deisha Refugee Camp near Bethlehem. They talk about their past, the villages they were driven from, and discuss their longing to return, with humour, sorrow, frustration and hope.
The artistic effect reinforces what the people express in words and the aesthetic creation is flawless. --Scoop Magazine Director: Dahna Abourahme 2004 76 mins Eng subtitles

Children’s Voices These children from another Bethlehem camp tell us about their lives, ambitions and hopes. 30 mins.

------------------------------------------------

                                          EXHIBITIONS AND TALKS

Thursday 3rd March 7.30 p.m.
Friends Meeting House Ship Street, Brighton
Israel’s Occupation: political economy and complicity
Shir Hever – well-known author and economic researcher for the Palestinian-Israeli Alternative Information Centre – will speak on the complicity of Israeli society in the illegal occupation of the Palestinian
Territories and the strong case for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, as part of a national tour.
He is the author of The Political Economy of Israel’s Occupation, Pluto Press 2010 All welcome
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

         MARCH 4TH – 13TH
BRIGHTON AND HOVE PALESTINE SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN
INVITES YOU TO AN ART EXHIBITION

LOSS OF INNOCENCE
The Exhibition comprises about 50 pictures, drawn, painted or crayoned by children in Gaza, during and after Israel’s assault on Gaza over the New Year 2008/9.

with
PAULA COX - Prints and photographs      www.paulacoxart.com
MUHANAD ALAZZEH -    Paintings from a Bethlehem artist


OLD COOP BUILDING
LONDON ROAD
BRIGHTON BN1


SATURDAYS           10 - 6PM
MONDAY TO FRIDAY 10 - 6PM
SUNDAYS               10 - 6PM


FRIDAY MARCH 4TH 7PM – at the Old Coop Building London Rd

OPENING PRESENTATION OF THE EXHIBITION
ROD COX
MEMBER OF THE ROAD TO HOPE GAZA CONVOY

PRINTS AND PHOTOS BY PAULA COX CAN ALSO BE SEEN IN THE BAR AREA AT THE DUKE OF YORK’S CINEMA

  More information : O7825540307

----------------------------------------------------

Brighton Palestine Week is organised by Brighton & Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign and has the support and local cooperation of: Amnesty International (Amnesty has a new campaign on Justice for Gaza: see www-secure.amnesty.org),
Brighton Palestinian Community,Taj the Grocer, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, and Sussex and Brighton Universities Friends of Palestine.
Thanks to these organisations and to the Duke of York’s Picturehouse for its cooperation.
For info about Palestine and solidarity activities see www.brightonpalestinecampaign.org Please join us!

Got a couple of hours to help Palestine?

2010-10-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

The Palestine Solidarity Initiative facilitates solidarity with Palestinian students and empowers those who are systematically denied of opportunities to fulfil their academic potential.

PSI provides a mechanism for you to assist Palestinians by encouraging and supporting their application to the vast array of Masters degree programmes on offer in the UK.

We need mentors. You could be one of them.

Find out how you can help a Palestinian apply to a UK university.

Targeted Citizen - Film about the racism against Arabs with Israeli Citizenship

2010-04-03T14:46:00.000-07:00

Targeted Citizen - English from Adalah on Vimeo.

The film “Targeted Citizen” (15 minutes), produced by filmmaker Rachel Leah Jones for Adalah, surveys discrimination against the Palestinian citizens of Israel. With the participation of experts Dr. Yousef Jabareen of the Technion and Dr. Khaled Abu Asbeh of the Van Leer Institute, as well as Adalah attorneys Sawsan Zaher, Abeer Baker and Hassan Jabareen, inequality in land and housing, employment, education and civil and political rights are eloquently addressed. These interviews are reinforced by the contrasting informality of on-the-street conversations conducted by Palestinian comic duo Shammas-Nahas and punctuated by the hard-hitting rhymes of Palestinian rap trio DAM. The film's theme song “Targeted Citizen,” written and recorded by DAM especially for Adalah, tells it like it is without missing a beat.

Robert Mugabe buys his books at the LSE...

2009-12-22T14:16:00.001-08:00

I recenty overheard an extremely excited shop assistant in the Waterstones on LSE's campus bragging how he had just secured a deal to sell £13,000 of books to Robert Mugabe.

Oh dear...

Campaign Launched To Free LSE Student Trapped In Gaza

2009-10-02T10:51:00.002-07:00

Students and alumni of the London School of Economics have started a campaign to allow a student, Othman Sakallah, to be able to leave Gaza and continue his studies at the university.

Othman was successful in applying to the university to study a postgraduate course at LSE in the coming academic year. His application was assisted by the Palestine Solidarity Initiative, which itself was founded by alumni and former governors of the School.

However, a combination of the ongoing Israeli siege of Gaza and the effects of the massacre undertaken by the Israeli military last Winter has left Othman and his family homeless, with little hope of him independently obtaining the financial and diplomatic assistance required to exit to travel to Britain.

The arbitrary Israeli border controls penning over a million civilians into the Gaza Strip, coupled by the economic siege will prevent Othman from raising the funds to ever take up his degree without outside assistance. These problems have been compounded by the recent demolition of his family’s home by the Israeli military.

As a result, Othman has personally written to LSE Director, Howard Davies, in an effort to secure their assistance. So far Davies is yet to reply.

In the past, LSE’s governing body, the LSE Council stated that, “It is not the practice of the School to take political positions, unless its own policies and practices are at issue.” Students and alumni are therefore hopeful that given the Israeli Occupation is now directly affecting one of its own offer holders, it will look to assist Othman in any way possible.

As a result, a broad based campaign is being built to bring pressure on the School to waive Othman’s tuition fees, provide him with a basic living allowance and facilitate his exit from imprisonment in Gaza.

This is not the first time that the LSE’s attention has been drawn to grave need for defending the Palestinian right to education.

The LSESU has been mandated to provide support for the Palestinian Right To Education Campaign by popular student vote and last year around 40 students staged a successful occupation of a lecture theatre, demanding that the LSE support provide more support for Palestinian students. As a result, the waiver of application fees for all Palestinians living under Israeli occupation was agreed, along with material assistance and a commitment to facilitate Palestine-specific scholarships.

A spokesperson for the Palestine Society at LSE stated: “Students will do all we can to secure the necessary assistance for Othman from the School. Students have consistently demonstrated solidarity with the people of Palestine, and we expect the School to meet our expectations to allow Othman to continue his studies.”

James Caspell a co-founder of the Palestine Solidarity Initiative, and a former governor and student at the LSE, added, “Othman’s story is simply tragic and is a direct result of the systematic oppression and racism of the Israeli Occupation. There are millions of Palestinians like him, but in this case LSE has a direct responsibility to provide all the assistance necessary for one of their students to continue his education. This is not a time to feel sorry, but a time to demonstrate solidarity, which it is in the clear interests and ability of LSE to do.”

Aled Dilwyn Fisher, General Secretary of the LSE Students' Union, also fully backs the campaign, stating, "Students from around the globe look to advance their education at LSE and nothing should stand in the way of their ability, especially not a cruel and unjustifiable siege, or the crippling effects of a brutal war."

"International pressure has been brought to bare before, as in the case of those students who were released to pursue their Fulbright scholarships in the US. LSE and other supporters of human rights and justice must stand up again against the oppressive actions of the Israeli government, and for the numerous students denied their education across the world".

ENDS

Notes for Editors:

1. The Palestine Solidarity Initiative facilitates solidarity with Palestinian students and empowers those who are systematically denied of opportunities to fulfil their academic potential. PSI provides a mechanism for people to assist Palestinians by encouraging and supporting their application to the vast array of Masters degree programmes on offer in the UK. For more information visit: http://www.palestinesolidarity.org

LAMBETH UNISON GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO ENVIRONMENT REPS

2009-10-01T03:11:00.000-07:00

The Lambeth Branch of UNISON - the second largest trade union in the UK - has voted to establish environmental reps in workplaces across the Borough. At a meeting of the Lambeth Branch Committee on 15th September, Branch activists agreed to encourage Lambeth UNISON members to elect environmental representatives within their places of work.

The TUC has a led campaign for establishing environmental representatives in the workplace with the same rights as other union reps. Currently union branches can elect environment reps, but they do not have the same rights as shop stewards or health and safety reps. For example, they aren't able to take paid time off work to undertake their duties.

According to the Carbon Trust, workplaces directly produce around 40 per cent of the UK's carbon emissions. UNISON lead the way in the union movement by becoming the first trade union to sign-up to the environmental campaign Stop Climate Chaos.

UNISON nationally have published a suggested “job description” for workplace environmental representatives and a model agreement for branches to try to negotiate with employers for time off for environmental representatives.

Several Lambeth UNISON members who are not currently representatives have show an interest in becoming environmental reps and Lambeth Branch previously took a leading role in the recruitment of Union Learning Representatives.

The Branch also agreed to establish a working group to consolidate detailed recommendations to submit at the Branch AGM and negotiate basic agreements with our employers in an attempt to secure recognition of the role of environmental representatives and appropriate time-off arrangements.

The proposer of the motion, UNISON shop steward James Caspell, stated: “Given that the disastrous social and economic consequences of climate change are driven by the current economic system, the labour movement is a vital agent in the fight against it. The creation of environmental reps is a positive step to combat climate change from within the workplace“

Branch Secretary Nick Venedi added, “Trade Unions and their branches should have the right to establish workplace environmental representatives who have the same rights at work as other trade union representatives. This will include appropriate facilities and time off to undertake their duties”

Green Party Trade Union Group expresses its solidarity with Stalin Bermudez

2009-05-28T03:46:00.000-07:00

The Green Party Trade Union Group expresses its solidarity with Stalin Bermudez, the SOAS Unison Branch Chair, who has been sacked by management at SOAS. GPTU also fully supports the industrial action in response to his sacking that is being taken by SOAS Unison members on
28th May, 2009.

The Green Party has been active in Living Wage campaigns across London, and supported the May Day demonstration for the Bloomsbury Living Wage Campaign which Stalin Bermudez addressed. GPTU reaffirms its support for this campaign, and for all campaigns to
institute a Living Wage across the whole of London; for justice, respect and a decent standard of pay and conditions to be afforded to all workers.

GPTU commends Stalin Bermudez for the work he and his comrades have done in progressing the Living Wage campaign in SOAS and demands his immediate reinstatement in order that his work will be allowed to continue.

Vote Joseph Healy - The green socialist alternative for Princes Ward in Lambeth

2009-05-11T07:55:00.000-07:00

My friend and comrade Joseph Healy has been selected as Lambeth Green Party's candidate for the upcoming by-election in Princes Ward. Joseph is the Male Co-Convener of Green Left and an active trade unionist. See below his address in support of his selection:

I have worked in Lambeth for the best part of five years in the voluntary sector dealing with people living with disabilities. Some of these people are the most marginalised and poorest in the borough and dependant on social housing, the NHS and social care provided by both national and local government. For four years I worked as Advocacy Officer and later Co-Director of Transport for All, representing older and disabled people seeking better and accessible transport across London. More recently I have been working for the borough’s main disability organisation (Disability Advice Service Lambeth) assisting disabled residents in the borough access direct payments to help with assistance and social care in their homes. As such, I have travelled around the borough and met a wide range of people from all ethnic communities. I have also been an active trade unionist, firstly in UNITE, where I was the delegate to the Southwark Trade Union Council, and recently I have joined UNISON.

I am totally opposed to the swingeing job cuts being imposed in Lambeth and the increasing privatisation of public services. The black hole in the Council’s finances should be plugged by limiting the army of consultants swarming over the Council and the costs of such extravagances as the ALMO, which has brought no gains to the council’s tenants and led to a massive rent increase (one of the largest in the country) which Labour’s own MP for Vauxhall has denounced and tried to gain more funding from the government to offset it. The Labour Party’s mismanagement of the Council’s finances over the last three years, where the Chief Executive earns more than the Prime Minister, can only be outdone by the fraud and massive mismanagement which the former Liberal Democrat/Tory regime presided over and which led to their being ousted from the Town Hall three years ago.

Lambeth needs a radical and energetic councillor who will support the Green New Deal programme of job creation and full involvement of the community and an end to the top down managerialist culture of both the ruling Labour Group and the main opposition parties. It was a Green councillor who introduced the Living Wage motion in Lambeth, disgracefully watered down by the Labour Group, to pay a decent wage to all those subcontracted by the Council as well as those directly employed by it. In a borough with some of the poorest and most marginalised people in London, it is time to elect a councillor who will give these communities a voice and fight for their rights. As a member of the LGBT community and a disabled person, I am also hoping to campaign for the rights of these communities in the same way as my fellow party member, Peter Tatchell. This is why I am standing for the by election in Princes Ward.

Campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel!

2009-04-18T05:02:00.000-07:00

In response to the recent Israeli onslaught, 180 Palestinian organizations and unions have called for a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Apartheid Israel.

The movement for BDS is growing fast. South African Dockers refused to offload an Israeli ship on 5 Feb. In Norway on 8 January, locomotive drivers stopped trains and trams for 2 minutes and informed passengers of the solidarity stoppage.

The shop workers’ union is asking employers to remove Israeli goods from stores, and at least 6 major unions are demanding the Norwegian government withdraw all State investment in Israel.

Come along to a lunchtime meeting to discuss ideas on how we can develop the BDS campaign in Lambeth Unison.

Date: 29 April 2009

Venue: Lambeth Town Hall

Time: 1pm-2pm

Support the occupation of Enfield Visteon workers!

2009-04-05T03:20:00.000-07:00

Hot off the heels of workers who have occupied their factory in Belfast, workers in the Enfield Visteon plant joined them this week when they went into occupation on Wednesday 1 April. Some workers are demanding the factory be kept open and that workers make green products such as bikes, solar panels and turbines. The mood is confident and workers are asking for solidarity and support from the labour movement.

For more information visit: http://www.permanentrevolution.net/entry/2636

Drought and Economic Growth Take Their Toll in Syria

2009-03-07T09:41:00.000-08:00

by Matt Loffman

The Syrian Arab Republic is a country which receives a somewhat mixed reception in the global community. Located as it is between Lebanon and Iraq, it is difficult to find a hot issue in the Middle East region where Syria does not play a significant role.

Syria is also a country in the process of economic, political and environmental change. Economically, she continues to grow steadily - although major curtailing of fuel subsidies this year has contributed to high inflation. Politically, visits from major European figures - including Nicolas Sarkozy (President of France) and David Miliband (UK Foreign Secretary) - in addition to a renewal of ties with neighbouring Lebanon are strong signals that the country is seeking a more international future. Environmentally, significant sections of the population are suffering from failed crops, a lack of water and industrial and commercial waste.

This year has seen the worst drought suffered by Syria in decades. More than forty per cent of the population live in rural areas and, according to a recent report released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 150,000 farmers have lost their harvests - their livelihoods. This has a great impact on the wider rural societies. For each farmer that loses his harvest (and it usually is a 'he') an entire family will suffer. Where certain areas suffer in particular; anaemia, diarrhoea and malnutrition take hold - further weakening the chances of recuperating food to sell and to eat. Barley has been the worst-affected crop with an estimated failure rate of up to ninety per cent. This has directly forced herders and keepers of livestock out of production. The OCHA has made an appeal to international donors for more than 20 million dollars to help the worst affected.

Damascus in particular prides itself on the availability of drinking water. Throughout the city, water distributors along with attached metal cups are available for members of the public to drink. However, following the hot, dry summer, drinking water has become short in supply - particularly in rural areas away from the major cities: "the land and the wells are drying up," stated Akram, one local in the north eastern region: "there isn't enough water anymore". The disputed Golan Heights region is one of the most water rich areas in the country. However drinking water there has had to be carried in by trucks to deal with the shortages. If 2009 does not improve, people could be forced to re-locate away from the most affected areas.

As the Syrian population continues to expand, currently at a rate of 3.6 per cent, more pressure is placed on the available resources. Over-fishing, over-hunting and over-grazing are all becoming increasingly commonplace. As the economy expands and consumption levels rise, demand for natural resources increases even more. The Syrian Environmental Protection Society, the first environmental non-governmental organisation in Syria, states the following as the top three environmental problems: 'Contamination, depletion and dissipation of water resources; poor air quality and air pollution; and deterioration of the urban environment'. The connection between economic growth, rising consumer demand and environmental degradation is slowly being realised.

Throughout the Middle East - including the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Syria - waste and environmental degradation are apparent. From piles of litter by the side of busy roads to noise pollution and gas-guzzling old buses, it can be difficult to ignore. However, Syria has a real opportunity to improve. The culture is not based on a high-level consumerism and the vast majority of trade is with neighbouring countries. Major environmental problems, such as crop failure, scarce drinking water supplies and commercial waste, already have a tangible impact on the population and action is beginning to take place. It is crucial for this region that action is taken now to ensure that depletion and misuse of resources does not become a source for greater conflict.

Greater London UNISON Young Members' Elections

2009-02-23T11:08:00.001-08:00

This election will be voted for by all Young Members' of UNISON in the Greater London Region.

Regional Council Election Statement

I am a shop steward in the London Borough of Lambeth and also the Young Members’ and Publicity Officer for my Branch.

I believe that the interests of young members can only be served by a fighting, member-led union in which maximum participation is encouraged in an inclusive environment free of bullying and harassment of young workers.

We need to provide socialist answers to the financial and environmental crises of capitalism, which will affect young people most acutely in terms of unemployment, pay cuts and attacks on our rights won over decades. Only collectively owned, worker-controlled and democratically accountable public services can put people and the planet before the interests of private profit.

Regional Council is essential in ensuring that UNISON follows its own policies within Greater London. Our representatives should facilitate maximum participation of all members, including young workers, providing the confidence we need to fight our employers, fight the government and ultimately fight capitalism!

Europe and International Committee Election Statement

I have a long record as a trade unionist and student activist campaigning for international socialism and against climate change.

I am a shop steward in the London Borough of Lambeth and also the Young Members’ and Publicity Officer for my Branch. I have co-founded the LSE-Palestine Solidarity Initiative which seeks to provide material and practical assistance for those living under Israeli Occupation to apply to British universities. If elected, I would seek to champion the following issues:

• Ending the Israeli occupation in Palestine and campaigning for a secular, single-state solution. Supporting twinning initiatives with our Palestinian comrades.

• Supporting arms divestment and nuclear disarmament campaigns.

• Campaign to secure and extend the rights of migrant workers across the world.

• Putting trade unions at the forefront of the struggle against climate change; workplaces produce 40% of the UK's carbon emissions. Trade unions should also lobby for recognition and support for the millions of environmental refugees that are already a direct consequence of climate change.

Workers of the world unite!

LAMBETH UNISON RAISES OVER £2000 IN SOLIDARITY WITH GAZA

2009-02-18T05:45:00.000-08:00

The Lambeth Branch of UNISON, the second largest trade union in the UK, has raised over £2000 for Medical Aid for Palestinians through a fundraising drive throughout the Borough’s workplaces. Nationally, UNISON has committed to send a donation of £10,000 to Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and Lambeth Branch activists collected a further £2020.43 for MAP’s Emergency Appeal for Gaza through a series of collections amongst Lambeth’s workers.

In the wake of recent Israeli military action, MAP has set up an emergency task force team to provide medical supplies and expertise throughout Gaza, as well as ensuring that the central blood bank has sufficient capacity and can provide emergency shelter. Palestinian medical sources say at least 1,300 Palestinians have been killed and 5,500 injured as a result of Israel's latest military offensive. The United Nations states that some 50,800 people are now homeless and 400,000 are without running water. Staff in Gaza report that many more people could die as medical equipment runs out.

Lambeth UNISON voted at its January Branch Committee to condemn the recent slaughter of Palestinians and the ongoing occupation by Israel. Calling for, "an immediate end to the slaughter of defenceless people and the [ongoing] siege of Gaza" the Branch concluded that, "Israel is a terrorist and apartheid state," and advocated academic, economic and cultural boycotts of Israel in an effort to delegitimise the Occupation of Palestine, and build international and domestic pressure against the state.

Lambeth UNISON International Officer Gurmeet Khurana, stated: “It’s great to see Lambeth’s workers demonstrating their solidarity with the people of Gaza. To raise over £2000 is fantastic and many more people donated online through the publicity produced by the branch. Thanks to all members and Branch activists who worked to raise awareness and provide material support for the Palestinian people. However, all trade unionists must continue to raise this issue in our branches and with our members and step-up solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Palestine.”

Jon Rogers, Branch Secretary added: “The trade union movement in Britain can play a crucial role in putting pressure on the British Government as well as the Israeli state to end the occupation of Palestine. Lambeth UNISON is proud to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Palestine and we will continue to support those in Britain and around the world who are working to bring equality, democracy and peace for all in the Middle East. We encourage branches in UNISON and other unions to do the same.”

ENDS

Notes for Editors
1. For more information about Lambeth UNISON, visit: http://lambethunison.blogspot.com/

2. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) works for the health of Palestinians (especially in conditions of occupation, displacement or exile) based on principles of self-determination and social justice. For more information visit: http://www.map-uk.org/

Contact:
James Caspell
+44 (0)7941 154912
James.caspell@gmail.com

Gurmeet Khurana
+44 (0)7828 668496
gkhurana@lambeth.gov.uk

Lambeth UNISON Publicity Officers' Report - February 2009

2009-02-12T03:56:00.000-08:00

Please see attached report.

James Caspell and Gurmeet Khurana

Lambeth UNISON Publicity Officers

Israeli Elections: A Significant Step Closer to Fascism

2009-02-11T07:33:00.000-08:00

A fascinating analysis below from Omar Barghouti. Omar (born 1964) is a founding committee member of The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).

Barghouti has consistently spoken of Israel as an apartheid state, stating: "From now on, it will be acceptable to compare Israel's apartheid system to its South African predecessor. As a consequence, proposing practical measures to punish Israeli institutions for their role in the racist and colonial policies of their state will no longer be considered beyond the pale."

Omar Barghouti is an independent Palestinian political and cultural analyst whose opinion columns have appeared in several publications. He is also a human rights activist involved in civil struggle to end oppression and conflict in historic Palestine. Barghouti is a founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, PACBI (www.PACBI.org).

He holds a Masters degree in electrical engineering from Columbia University, NY, and is currently a doctoral student of philosophy (ethics) at Tel Aviv University. He contributed to the recently published philosophical volume, “Controversies and Subjectivity” (John Benjamins, 2005). He also contributed to "The New Intifada: Resisting Israel's Apartheid" (Verso Books, 2001). He advocates an ethical vision for a unitary, secular democratic state in historic Palestine. ---

Israeli Elections: A Significant Step Closer to Fascism

According to the almost official results of the Israeli elections, reproduced below, the fanatic-to-fascist right was the biggest winner in Israel. A proper death certificate for the Israeli Zionist "left" should finally be issued -- 61 years late!

Here is a breakdown of the results for all Israeli parties, categorized into groups according to their respective positions towards international law and basic human rights. Only these universal criteria should be used in Israel and anywhere else to decide who is right, who is left and who is ultra right, etc. The common Israeli designations of "left," "right" and "center" to describe Labor, Likud and Kadima, respectively, are completely inaccurate and intentionally misleading, as they steer away from any objective criteria in distinguishing left from right. Still, unfortunately, these meaningless Israeli labels are parroted, verbatim, by commentators, even progressive ones, without any reflection on their accuracy or relevance.

By any objetcive standard, the election results must reveal the following accurate categories:

Ultra Right: (parties that openly adopt racist or fascist platforms calling for forcible displacement, or ethnic cleansing, of the indigenous Palestinian citizens of Israel, based on diverse conditions that depend on the specific party in question; justify and/or commit war crimes and grave violations of international law; reject UN resolutions and international law as THE basis for a just peace; reject all three basic Palestinian rights enshrined in international law: (1) FULLY ending the occupation and withdrawing to the 1967 borders, as per UNSC Res. 242, including withdrawal from occupied east Jerusalem; (2) the UN-sanctioned rights of the refugees to reparations and return to their homes of origin; and (3) the right to full equality inside Israel and ending institutional racism against all "non-Jewish" citizens of the state):

Yisrael Beitenu: 15 Knesset seats
National Union: 4
Shas: 11
Jewish Home: 3
Likud: 27
Kadima: 28
---------------------------
TOTAL (Ultra right): 88 seats (73% of the total seats in the Knesset or 80% of Jewish seats in the Knesset)

Right: (parties that conform to the Ultra-Right principles above with the exception of calling openly for ethnic cleansing as a political platform. There are exceptions, of course, whereby several key Labor leaders have occasionally called for ethnic cleansing, but it was not translated into part of their program or a consistent policy, unlike the parties of the Ultra-Right above)

Labor: 13
United Torah Judaism: 5
Meretz: 3
----------------------------
TOTAL (Right): 21 seats (16% of total or 19% of Jewish seats)

Center: (parties that support a FULL withdrawal from the 1967-occupied territory, but oppose equality for all the citizens of the state and the right of return. It may be generous to call them center, but ...)

NONE

Left: (parties that support a FULL withdrawal from the 1967-occupied territory, equality for all the citizens of the state, and the right of return. These parties are committed to a two-state peaceful solution based on international law and universal human rights principles)

United Arab List: 4 (an entirely Palestinian party -- politically on the left, but socially on the right)
Hadash (communists): 4 (note that less than 1% of Israeli-Jews voted for it, so it can statistically be regarded as a Palestinian party)
Balad (national democrats): 3 (entirely Palestinian)
-----------------------------
TOTAL (Left): 11 seats (9% of total)

It is very important to note that, from initial news reports, it seems that half the Palestinian public in Israel BOYCOTTED the elections, the widest such boycott in history. This means that all the above Palestinian parties represent less than half of the Palestinian voters in Israel!

Main conclusions:

(1) The Israeli Jewish public has voted predominantly for the ultra right (including a huge increase in support for the fascist right)

(2) The Israeli Jewish (Zionist) left does not exist (as predicted) as a political force in Israel

(3) The ONLY left parties in Israel are entirely Palestinian

(4) There is a Jewish consensus in Israel (with the exception of a few brave, principled individuals and tiny anti-Zionist groups) AGAINST all the basic requirements for a just peace as laid out in UN resolutions and supported by most world governments

(5) For the first time in the history of Knesset elections, it is reported that Palestinian voters have shunned Zionist parties to an unprecedented level, opting for Palestinian parties instead.

What's to be done?

A paradigm shift from the defunct, immoral, and now impossible, two-state solution to the democratic, single state solution is NOW called for more than ever. Only by rejecting all forms of racism, apartheid, ethnocentrism, religious fundamentalism and colonialism, and by embracing FULL equality and democracy, including the right of return of the refugees, can we create a just and sustainable peace.

The call for a two-state solution has truly become a smokescreen to cover up and legitimize continued occupation, colonization and Zionist apartheid.

Darren Johnson at RMT demo this morning

2009-02-11T05:41:00.000-08:00

Darren Johnson, Green Party London Assembly Member said to the rally this morning :

"Boris johnson is cutting jobs, axing new transport links and putting up fares. Public transport is not safe in his hands. I am solidly behind the unions in opposing job cuts. Passengers need a human presence on the underground to make their journey safe and efficient."

"It is hard to see how you can lose a thousand staff without having some impact on services. We need the mayor to spell out what work is not going to be done as a result of these redundancies. Tube passengers are paying above inflation fare increases at a time when they are likely to get a poorer service as a result of these job cuts."

Open letter to the Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON

2009-02-06T04:19:00.002-08:00

The following letter was sent yesterday to UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis by several members of UNISON's NEC;

Dear Dave,

The UNISON Northern Region website had a news report dated 29 January 2009 concerning the investigation into racist activity on a social networking website by a former UNISON member, who has resigned from UNISON.

This former member was one of those whose complaints led to the suspension of leading black UNISON activist Yunus Bakhsh, whose complaint that his suspension may have been motivated by racism was dismissed by UNISON.

Information has now come to light which suggests that supporters of the far-right in the North-East were involved in promoting and encouraging complaints against Yunus, leading to his suspension from UNISON and by the employer and to his dismissal from his job.

UNISON is rightly proud of our opposition to racism in general and our opposition to the far right in particular.

It is not acceptable that UNISON should devote our members' money to an appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal in defence of a suspension which we now know was tainted by racism.

The exceptional circumstances of this case require a thoroughly independent and impartial investigation. UNISON members, trade unionists and anti-racists will expect nothing less of us.

Kate Ahrens, NEC; Roger Bannister, NEC; Bernadette Gallagher, NEC; Helen Jenner, NEC; Glenn Kelly, NEC; Diana Leach, NEC; Emma MacBeth, NEC; John McDermott, NEC; Karen Reissmann, NEC; Jon Rogers, NEC; Jessie Russel, NEC; Mike Tucker, NEC

GREEN COUNCILLOR PASSES LIVING WAGE MOTION FOR LAMBETH

2009-02-03T06:10:00.000-08:00

Lambeth's Green Party Councillor, Becca Thackeray has successfully passed a motion endorsing the principle of a Living Wage for all those carrying out work for the London Borough of Lambeth.

At a full Lambeth Council Meeting on Wed 28 Jan, Cllr Thackeray, successfully proposed a motion to make Lambeth Council a "Living Wage" employer. Currently through national pay bargaining rules, every direct employee is paid a Living Wage, but hundreds of staff who work for the Council via contractors are often not and forced to endure poverty pay.

Cllr Thackeray's original motion would have made Labour-run Lambeth responsible in ensuring that all employees of the hundreds of sub-contractors used by the Authority are also paid the Living Wage, including cleaners, security/reception staff and labourers, but a wrecking amendment put forward by Labour was passed to neuter the most relevant role of the motion.

The original motion stated that, "Lambeth Council reaffirms its support for the establishment of the London Living Wage, set at a level calculated by the Living Wage Unit to avoid the 'working poverty trap' in the capital, a situation affecting around 400,000 Londoners who are paid less than can reasonably fund the basic costs of living in London."

However Labour ensured that the part of the motion was deleted which would make Lambeth responsible for ensuring that its hundreds of sub-contracted employees were similarly guarenteed a Living Wage.

Shahrar Ali Barnstorming Speech at BBC Gaza Demo

2009-01-26T09:12:00.000-08:00

Green Party Councillor Proposes Living Wage For Lambeth

2009-01-26T04:28:00.000-08:00

At a full Lambeth Council Meeting on Wed 28 Jan at 7 pm, Cllr Becca Thackeray, Lambeth's Green Party Councillor, is proposing a motion to make Lambeth Council a "Living Wage" employer. Currently through national pay bargaining rules, every direct employee is paid a Living Wage, but the hundreds of staff who work for the Council via contractors are often not and forced to endure poverty pay.

The motion commits the Council to paying all staff, including sub-contracted staff, the London Living Wage and to use local strategic partnerships and other private sector engagements to promote the living wage more widely.

In November, Green Councillor Jenny Jones successfully passed a motion to make Southwark Council a Living Wage employer. Southwark was only the second Borough to adopt official policy backing a Living Wage, with Lewisham being the other where there are 6 Green Party Councillors.

The Living Wage is the real minimum rate of pay that enables a worker to provide a decent standard of living for themselves and their family. In London, the Living Wage currently stands at £7.45 per hour. The background to this figure can be found in the document, A Fairer London: The Living Wage in London (GLA 2008). Many service sector workers - including cleaners, security guards and catering staff - experience low pay and difficult, sometimes exploitative working conditions. It is estimated that in London alone 400,000 people fall into this working poverty trap.

It remains to be seen if the New Labour Council will support the resolution in Lambeth. The Living Wage is supported by trade unions across London. Whilst New Labour Councillors cross picket lines and force more job cuts, the Green Party continues to campaign in the interests of Lambeth's workers.

RE-ELECT JEAN LAMBERT MEP

2009-01-25T12:30:00.000-08:00

by Matt Sellwood

Too often, the impact of the UK’s 87 Members of the European Parliament is ignored. To be fair, some of the time it is easy to see why – they are either mediocre nobodies, unable to get a seat in Westminster, or oddball right-wing xenophobes. Or even worse, properly nasty pieces of work like Kilroy-Silk or Ashley Mote, who spend their time in jungle-based celebrity TV shows or prison. However, a large portion of the UK’s social, environmental and human rights legislation is now discussed, voted on and ratified in Europe. The UK left needs to be much smarter in understanding Europe, and what is going on there.

A good start would be to appreciate the work of the few progressive representatives we currently have at Strasbourg. Specifically, we have two of the most radical Greens in Europe representing UK voters in London and the South-East, in Jean Lambert and Caroline Lucas respectively. Both have been doing the job with real distinction for almost ten years - and bothrepresent Euro regions that are losing a Parliamentary seat as a result of European-wide redistricting, and are therefore becoming tougher to get elected in. In this brief article, I’m going to focus on Jean, simply because as the recently elected Leader of the Green Party, Caroline has had more media exposure.

It would be impossible to discuss all of the issues that Jean has been involved in over the last ten years - so a brief sample of her most recent work will have to serve as an indication of her consistently radical record as an elected representative.

- Working Time Directive

Jean has been an opponent of the UK opt-out to the Working Time Directive since it was introduced, and has campaigned for years to see it abolished. In December 2008 she helped lead the Parliamentary moves to remove the opt-out, which were successful, and have forced the UK government to contemplate new restrictions on corporate power.

- Gaza

Jean has been at the forefront of the efforts over recent weeks by the European Green Group to pass a radical and far-reaching resolution about the atrocities in Gaza….efforts that were successful this week, despite a more anodyne resolution put forward by the Socialist Group (including Labour) in the Parliament. Perhaps Jean’s words will illustrate her views better than mine could, in a press statement just before the massive demonstration on the 10th, at which she was a speaker.

“This weekend a massive demonstration will be taking place in London to call for an immediate and complete ceasefire in Gaza. There is no way to justify this continued devastating assault and granting only three hours of respite a day is simply shameful.

“When I was in Gaza almost a year ago, I witnessed the terrible suffering of the Palestinians as a result of the blockade. They lacked the most basic supplies, including food and essential medical equipment. With many hundreds dead and thousands injured the present situation must be truly horrendous.

“The blockade has totally failed in its stated purpose. It has instead consolidated the power of those parts of Hamas that don’t want a political settlement and weakened the possibility of peaceful, democratic progress.

“As well as the emergency humanitarian response, extensive supplies of health, housing and education resources will be needed to rebuild the shattered lives and communities.

“The EU needs a strong voice on this conflict, calling for a sustained ceasefire on both sides. The European Parliament has voted for EU Governments, including the UK, to halt any upgrading of relations with Israel in light of on-going human rights abuses. It is also time forMember States to take responsibility and end the exports of arms which are being used against civilians. This brutality must not go on.”

- Immigration

Jean is the European Green Group’s lead MEP on asylum and immigration issues, and as such she has taken a prime role in both person-specific struggles and legislative eforts towards a more just and tolerant regime. She was a prominent supporter of an effort in the Parliament to stop EU countries from deporting asylum seekers back to Iraq, and has campaigned vigorously against any deportation of children.

- Human rights

Jean was named the Human Rights and Justice MEP of 2005, and so you would expect her record to be excellent on this issue. Most notably, she has been an outspoken and persistent opponent of the travesty of justice at Guantanamo Bay, and was an active member of the Parliament’s Committee of Inquiry on CIA flights and temporary rendition. She has also campaigned on the issue of rape as a weapon of war, and has testified in front of UN committees on that topic.

Further details of Jean’s human rights work can be found here

- Public Services

Jean has been one of the strongest voices in the European Parliament against privatisation of services, which has included a strong stance against GATs and for the European Trade Union Confederation’s public services campaign. She has marched in support of the NHS, chaired debates on health inequality and poverty in London, and even authored a report that passed through the European Parliament, kickstarting a process whereby it will be made easier for migrants to access social service provision.

These few examples are just a small snapshot of Jean’s work in the European Parliament, which has established her as one of the most progressive MEPs in Europe throughout her decade representing Londoners.

I would argue that the British left should be getting behind MEPs like Jean Lambert, and aiming to ensure their re-election on June 4th. Particularly in the absence of any coherent and unified socialist effort to contest the European elections, we need to do everything within our power to ensure that those progressive politicians we *do* have on a European level, remain there for another term.

If you’re interested in more information on Jean’s views and activities,please visit her MEP site at www.jeanlambertmep.org.uk or her campaignblog at http://re-electjean.blogspot.com
Matt Sellwood is former Deputy Leader of Oxford City Council Green Group, and a former member of the Green Party National Executive.

Palestine Solidarity Initiative hails outcome of student resistance

2009-01-25T10:09:00.000-08:00

The founders of the Palestine Solidarity Initiative ( http://www.palestinesolidarity.org/) have welcomed the outcome of a 7-day theatre occupation by LSE students at the end of which the School administration conceded to several of their demands.

After days of negotiations, LSE Director Howard Davies agreed to make a public statement to express "concern" over the Israeli denial of the right to education of Palestinians and the bombing of education facilities. The LSE-Palestine Solidarity Initiative has long pressured the school to waive application fees for students born or resident in the Occupied Territories. The School has given in to these demands and we have begun facilitating this process through our existing scheme. So far five applicants have had their fees waived.

Students, staff and alumni remain outraged that the School has rejected demands to divest from companies who supply arms to Israel. Howard Davies was heavily criticised in the past for a previous role working in the arms industry, where he served as the non-executive director of GKN. His continued reluctance in taking a decisive step against Apartheid Israel is seen by many as implicit support for Israel. He currently sits on the national council of the Friends of Israel Academic Foundation while refusing requests for academic collaborations with Birzeit University in occupied Palestine. Despite ending their occupation, LSE students have made it clear that their struggle is not over until the School administration meets their demands in full.
SOAS and LSE were the first universities to have started occupations. Other universities that have since followed with their own occupations include Essex, King's, Birmingham, Sussex, Warwick, Oxford, Cambridge and Newcastle. Countless people and organisations expressed their support for the LSE occupation, and many participated in mass rallies that took place in the temporarily renamed "Liberation Theatre" including of Tony Benn, Jeremy Corbyn MP, George Galloway MP and Moshe Machover.

James Caspell, an Honorary Student of the LSE Students' Union and former Governor of the LSE stated: "Students won't remain silent whilst LSE profits from Israeli war crimes. We need to globalise resistance against Israel and ensure that it is no longer allowed to get away with its genocidal policies against a defenseless population, and students, staff and alumni will continue to mobilise in solidarity with the plight of Palestinians."

"The school only reacted after mass resistance from the student movement," said Ziyaad Lunat, also an Honorary Student of the LSE Students' Union and former Governor of the LSE, "their hypocrisy in collusion with Israel's crimes should be condemned in the strongest terms. "

ENDS

Notes for Editors:

For the latest news on the LSE Occupation visit: http://lseoccupation.blogspot.com

1 - The aim of the Palestine Solidarity Initiative is to demonstrate solidarity with Palestinian students, and empower those who are systematically denied of the opportunities to study at institutions where they would be able to fulfil their academic potential.

2 - The Initiative aims to encourage all students, alumni, staff and academics connected with LSE to support Palestinians - politically, educationally and financially – by encouraging and supporting their application to the vast array of Masters degree programs that the LSE has to offer.

3 - The London School of Economics Students' Union is officially twinned with Al-Najah University and recently voted to divest funds from those companies profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. The motion also called on LSE to respect human rights and follow suit in embracing a divestment agenda.

4 - The Palestine Solidarity Initiative was founded by James Caspell and Ziyaad Lunat, two LSE alumni and activists who have long campaigned for the liberation of Palestine.

Contact:
James Caspell
James.caspell@gmail.com

Ziyaad Lunat
z.lunat@gmail.com

Outcry over weapons used in Gaza

2009-01-23T03:30:00.000-08:00

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/200911916132228885.html

Aljazeera.net Monday, January 19, 2009

Medics working in the Gaza Strip have condemned Israel's use of suspected "new weapons" that inflict horrific injuries they say most surgeons will not have seen before.

Dr Jan Brommundt, a German doctor working for Medecins du Monde in the south Gazan city of Khan Younis, described the injuries he had seen as "absolutely gruesome".

Speaking to Al Jazeera on Tuesday, Brommundt said surgeons had reported many cases where casualties had lost both legs rather than one, prompting suspicions that the Israelis were using some form of Dense Inert Metal Explosives (Dime).

When detonated, a Dime device expels a blade of charged tungsten dust that burns and destroys everything within a four-metre radius.

Brommundt also described widespread but previously unseen abdominal injuries that appear minor at first but degenerate within hours causing multi-organ failure.

"Initially everything seems in order... but they will present within one to five hours with an acute abdomen which looks like appendicitus but it turns out on operation that dozens of miniature particles can be found in all of their organs," he said.

"It seems to be some sort of explosive or shell that disperses tiny particles at around 1x1 or 2x1 millimetres that penetrate all organs, these miniature injuries, you are not able to attack them surgically."

The doctors said many patients succomb to septicaemia and die within 24 hours.

Dr Erik Fosse, a Norwegian surgeon who worked at the Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza during the Israeli offensive in Gaza, also told Al Jazeera there was a significant increase in double amputations.

"We suspect they [Israel] used Dime weapons because we saw cases of huge amputations or flesh torn off the lower parts of the body," he said.

"The pressure wave [from a Dime device] moves from the ground upwards and that's why the majority of patients have huge injuries to the lower part of the body and abdomen."

Cancer fears

Fosse described the injuries as "extreme" and "much more dramatic" than those inflicted by landmines as "legs are blown off to the groin, it's like they have been cut to pieces".

He described them as "new injuries" that most doctors will not have come across, although he noted similar wounds were reported in the 2006 Lebanon war.

Noting that Dime explosives are precision weapons that are supposed to minimise civilian casualties, Fosse said: "The problem is that most of the patients I saw were children. If they [the Israelis] are trying to be accurate, it seems obvious these weapons were aimed at children."

Fosse called on the UN to establish a body in Gaza to monitor survivors to see if they developed cancer, following claims Dime devices contain radioactive material.

Medics and observers have also accused the Israelis of using white phosphorus - banned from use near civilians under international law - in the densely populated Gaza Strip.

Human rights organisation Amnesty International (AI) said on Monday that delegates it sent to Gaza had found "indisputable evidence of widespread use of white phosphorus in densely populated residential areas in Gaza City and in the north".

"We saw streets and alleyways littered with evidence of the use of white phoshorus, including still burning wedges and the remnants of the shells and canisters fired by the Israeli army," Christopher Cobb-Smith, a weapons expert touring Gaza as part of AI's four-person delegation, said.

White phosphorus is a toxic chemical that causes severe burns and sparks fires that are difficult to extinguish.

It is dispersed in artillery shells, bombs and rockets and burns on contact with oxygen and is used to create a smokescreen to hide the movement of troops.

War crimes?

Israel fiercely denies using weapons in such a way as to contravene international law.

Major Avital Leibovich, a spokeswoman for the Israeli military, reiterated Israel was using "munitions that other militaries in the world are using" and that weapons were deployed "according to international law" .

Pressed on the number of civilian and child casualties in Gaza, she accused Hamas, the Palestinian faction that controls the territory, of hiding fighters within civilian areas and using ordinary Gazans as "human shields".

Leibovich also said the international community needed to ask itself whether Hamas and other Palestinian factions had committed war crimes by firing rockets at Israeli citizens for eight years.

More than 1,300 Palestinians have been killed in the 22-day offensive, many of them woman and children, and 5,340 injured. Thirteen Israelis, including 10 soldiers and three civilians, have been killed in the same period.

The number of civilian deaths has provoked an international outcry, with senior UN officials demanding an independent investigation into whether Israel has committed war crimes.

The likelihood of either side being subject to a war-crimes action seems remote as the International Criminal Court (ICC) has no jurisdiction to investigate because the Gaza Strip is not a state.

In addition, Israel has not signed the Rome Statute that enshrined the ICC so any investigation would require a UN Security mandate - likely to be vetoed by Israel's ally, the US.

However, Mark Taylor, an international law expert, told Al Jazeera that individual commanders and politicians on both sides could be subject to legal actions lodged abroad.

"I think that Israelis in responsible positions, as well as Palestinians in responsible positions, are going to be looking over their shoulders in the days and weeks to come," he said.

LAMBETH UNISON CALLS FOR BOYCOTT OF "APARTHEID" ISRAEL

2009-01-20T09:14:00.000-08:00

The Lambeth Branch of UNISON, the second largest trade union in the UK, has voted to condemn the recent slaughter of Palestinians and the ongoing occupation by Israel at a meeting of its Branch Committee this morning.

At its monthly meeting of representatives, the Branch called for, "an immediate end to the slaughter of defenceless people and the [ongoing] siege of Gaza." The Branch concluded that, "Israel is an...apartheid state," and has advocated academic, economic and cultural boycotts of Israel in an effort to delegitimise the Occupation of Palestine, and build international and domestic pressure against the state.

For over 6 decades Israel has carried out policies of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people.1.5 million people live in Gaza, which is now effectively open air prison. For years Israel has blocked the transport of food, medicine and vital supplies forcing the people of Gaza to live in inhumane conditions and the vast majority of people are unemployed.

Palestinian medical sources say at least 1,300 Palestinians have been killed and 5,500 injured as a result Israeli's latest military offensive. The United Nations states that some 50,800 people are now homeless and 400,000 are without running water. Staff in Gaza report that many more people could die as medical equipment runs out.

Nationally, UNISON has committed to send a donation of 10,000 to Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and Lambeth Branch is raising its own donations locally. The Branch voted to affiliate with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and to work towards submitting an emergency motion to the UNISON National Delegate Conference in July, demanding diplomatic sanctions and boycotts against Israel. The Branch also resolved to build links with Palestinians, Israelis and Egyptians who oppose the assault on Gaza and to send messages of solidarity to those students at British universities who have undertaken occupations demanding support from their institutions for the Palestinian right to education.

Lambeth UNISON's International Officer, Gurmeet Khurana, stated: "The British trade union movement played a crucial part in denouncing and delegitimising the racist ideology of Apartheid in South Africa, and now it must do the same for Israel. The only peaceful solution is one brought about by political and economic equality in the Middle East, and as such the policy of the Israeli state in carrying out ethnic cleansing needs to be condemned unequivocally."

Ends
Notes for Editors
1. For more information about Lambeth UNISON, visit: http://lambethunison.blogspot.com/

2. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) works for the health of Palestinians (especially in conditions of occupation, displacement or exile) based on principles of self-determination and social justice: http://www.map-uk.org

3. BRICUP is an organisation of UK based academics, set up in response to the Palestinian Call for Academic Boycott.: http://www.bricup.org.uk

4. Palestine Solidarity Campaign: http://www.palestinecampaign.org

Contact:
James Caspell
Lambeth UNISON Publicity Officer
James.caspell@gmail.com

Message of solidarity to the students of SOAS, LSE, Essex and Kings College universities

2009-01-20T07:53:00.001-08:00

Dear comrades,

I am writing to send a message of solidarity on behalf of the Branch Committee of the Lambeth Branch of UNISON.

We salute your courage in campaigning tirelessly for the Palestinian right to education. The tide is turning against the legitimacy of the Israeli Apartheid state and the student movement is crucial to that. We support you in your occupations to bring about firm commitments to Palestinian students from your universities.

You may also be heartened to know that this morning our Branch Committee voted to support calls for academic, cultural and economic boycotts of Israel.

In solidarity,

James Caspell
Lambeth UNISON Young Members' Officer

TONY BENN ENDORSES OCCUPATION - LSE STUDENTS VOW TO CONTINUE UNTIL ALL DEMANDS ARE MET

2009-01-18T14:11:00.001-08:00

Students occupying a lecture theatre at the London School of Economics have announced that the University has agreed to waiver application fees from potential students from Palestine.

The university administration has also agreed to help students send money and surplus LSE computers and library books to Palestine and work towards setting up more scholarships for Palestinians.

The group has planned a day of lectures and rallies for Tuesday to put pressure on the School to issue a statement condemning the Israeli attacks on academic institutions in Gaza, divest from arms firms that supply Israel and finalise the details of its pledges.

George Galloway MP and Dan Gudelson of Jews for Justice are among those who will speak at the occupied theatre.

A spokesperson said, “We are asking for a simple statement condemning the attacks on educational institutions in Gaza. For years we have been going through official channels to demand action on Palestine, but nothing has happened – this is our last resort and we will stay in the Old Theatre until our remaining demands are met.”

The students have arranged a meeting with top LSE officials to take place on Tuesday in the occupied theatre to discuss the implementation of their demands.

40 students started the occupation in solidarity with Palestine last Thursday afternoon after LSE Director Howard Davies failed to meet any requests sent in a letter signed by 250 students and alumni immediately after the start of the Israeli offence against Gaza. The move comes after the Students’ Union voted to condemn Israel for the attacks on Gaza.

The number of occupiers has since doubled, with dozens more visiting regularly to express their solidarity. The group has received messages of support from students in universities across the world as well as academics, NGOs and politicians.

Tony Benn came to speak at the occupied lecture theatre on Friday, drawing a crowd of over 350 students. “I have seen the statement of intent that you have made and I agree with it one hundred percent.” he said, “Don't think that you're an isolated little group at the LSE. In my judgement I believe there is mass support for what you are doing from all over the world.”

The LSE is the second university after SOAS whose students have occupied a building in solidarity with Palestine. On Friday, 50 Essex students occupied one of their lecture theatres. At least three more universities are to join next week, whose identities are being kept secret.

DEMANDS AND PROGRESS:

1) The LSE should issue a statement condemning Israel’s attack on Palestinians’ right to education. Howard Davies has already agreed to issue a statement in a personal capacity condemning the humanitarian disaster.
2) The LSE must divest from BAe and other arms companies who supply the Israeli military. Unfortunately, the administration’s responses to this demand have been inconsistent.
3) Provide 5 new scholarships to Palestinians. Some progress has been made on this issue. However, in his latest response, Howard Davies has attempted to backtrack by obfuscating the matter.
4) Actively support a fundraising day. Davies has agreed to this in principle, but concrete plans are yet to emerge.
5) Send all surplus and old books and computers to educational institutions in Palestine. Howard Davies has commendably agreed to this demand. We have yet to receive written confirmation that the university will cover the costs of shipping.
6) Amnesty for all students, which has been granted. Howard Davies himself has said that we “held scrupulously” to our pledge that no damage and no disruption to lectures would happen.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1) Please view our previous press release for more information. http://lseoccupation.blogspot.com/2009/01/press-release.html .
2) The identity of other universities who will start occupations is being kept secret. Contact us: lseoccupation@googlemail.com
3) For more information on the SOAS occupation: http://soassolidarity4gaza.blogspot.com/
4) For more information on the Essex occupation: http://www.visitpalestine.asia/page.cfm/id/98207
5) For the motion on Gaza passed by the Students’ Union: http://lseoccupation.blogspot.com/2009/01/student-union-passes-motion-condemning.html

Socialist Candidates Challenge Lambeth UNISON Bureaucracy

2009-01-17T04:49:00.000-08:00

A group of socialist activists in Lambeth have produced a manifesto which they hope will politicise UNISON members and provide the platform on which to build a "fighting, member-led branch" based on clear socialist politics. The manifesto was the basis for candidates to contest elections at the Lambeth UNISON AGM on a "Lambeth Activists" platform.

The platform currently comprises independent socialists, members of Permanent Revolution, the Alliance for Workers Liberty, Workers Power and Green Left, the ecosocialist platform within the Green Party.

Policies include fighting against all redundancies and job losses, maximising participation and control of the union by ordinary members and ending automatic and uncritical UNISON support for Labour in building a left alternative.

For more information, visit: http://lambethmilitants.blogspot.com/2009/01/lambeth-activists-for-fighting-member.html

James Caspell, a member of Green Left, won the post of Publicity Officer after making a speech in which he outlined a plan to "give members the confidence to fight the Council, fight the Government and ultimately fight capitalism". Rekha Khurana of Permanent Revolution took the posts of International Officer and Assistant Publicity Officer. Dan Jeffery, also of Permanent Revolution, was elected as a National Conference Delegate and Regional Council Delegate.

In his speech for the election of Membership Officer, which was lost by just three votes, Dan outlined that “we need to provide socialist answers to pay and job cuts”. He also highlighted the case of a colleague who because of privatisation had had her pay slashed and now had to work over 50 hours a week, while consultants for Lambeth in the same building get £1000 a day.

After the AGM, Rekha Khurana emphasised that far from being an electoralist front, the activists’ aim was to work with and engage all those who share a socialist political perspective and work towards rebuilding the union movement at the grassroots: “We need to coordinate our struggles with other local trade unions as well as with workers in other countries to win better rights for all”.

Other contested elections were narrowly won by the incumbent branch bureaucracy, though both the speeches and polices of candidates standing on the Lambeth Activists platform were widely supported amongst members, who welcomed the first set of seriously contested branch elections in a generation.

Notes to Editors

To see full platform, election results and list of candidates, please visit: http://lambethmilitants.blogspot.com/

LSE Old Theatre Under Occupation

2009-01-15T14:04:00.000-08:00

Over forty pro Palestine students have occupied a lecture theatre at the London School of Economics to demand that the university releases a statement condemning the attack on Gaza and divests from arms companies that supply the Israeli military.

Students entered the Old Theatre and sat down on the stage after the Students' Union passed a motion in support of their demands. A lecture continued as scheduled with the students on the stage.

The group want LSE Director to issue a statement condemning the Israeli violence on Gaza.

"LSE is an institution founded on the Fabian values that were the precursor of the human rights agenda of modern politics. LSE must restate those values and condemn state criminality. It is not a matter of politics, it is a matter of humanity," a spokesperson said.

The group are also demanding that LSE divests from arms firm BAE Systems, an arms company who supply the Israeli military.

"The fact that LSE invests in BAE Systems means that it is directly profiting from the collective punishment of the Gazan people. Our University will remain tainted for as long as it is funded by unlawful military aggression. The LSE must divest from BAE and other arms companeis immeditately.

The LSE also invests in arms companies Boeing, Rolls Royce and BHP Billiton, a firm the School says supplies nuclear material for warheads.

They have also issued several demands related to providing material support for Palestinian students including providing 5 fully paid scholarships for Palestinian students, books and computers for Palestinian universities and facilitation for fund raising activities.

The LSE has said "disowned" the protest and said that it will hold the Students' Union responsible for any damage. It has however said that it will not remove the occupiers and have agreed not to prevent free movement in and out of the occupied theatre.

Over 250 students and academics wrote to Director Howard Davies at the beginning of the year to demand a statement and other demands similar to those being demanded by the occupation. Davies agreed to waiver application fees for students affected by the crisis but refused to issue a condemnatory statement, pledge further material assistance or support divestment from arms firms.

Davies claimed that the School does not take positions on "political issues". This is in stark contrast to an overtly political statement issued by the Davies in May 2007 condemning a UCU (University and College Union) resolution concerning the Israeli Occupation, and previous condemnations by LSE of South African Apartheid and the Tiananmen Square massacre in the 1980's.

DEMANDS IN FULL

1) StatementThe LSE should release a statement condemning the Israeli attack on Gaza and demanding a ceasefire. LSE is an institution founded on the Fabian values that were the precursor of the human rights agenda of modern politics. LSE must restate those values and condemn state criminality. It is not a matter of politics, it is a matter of humanity. A statement condemning Israeli violence is fully in keeping with the founding principles of our university.

2) Divestment The LSE currently holds investments in BAE Systems, a firm that the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (caat.org.uk) states provides weapons and ammunition for the Israeli military. This means that our university is being directly funded by the Israeli war on Gaza. The LSE must divest from BAE immediately.

3) 5 fully paid scholarships for Palestinian studentsAt a University as diverse and international as LSE, Palestinian students are grossly underrepresented in the student body when compared to other groups.

4) Fundraising day The LSE administration should facilitate a ‘fundraising day’ where buckets will be in every lecture and seminar to collect money for the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians.

5) Books and ComputersThe LSE has a £26 million surplus and is lucky enough to be able to regularly invest in new equipment. Any computers or books due to be got rid of at the end of Lent and Summer terms should be donated to the University and to schools that have been bombed in Gaza.

6) Amnesty LSE has a proud history of student activism. Students united to campaign against apartheid, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and more recently around divestment from the arms trade. All students have a democratic right to peaceful protest and students should not be prevented from expressing their opinions by fear of reprisals.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS 1. Updates will be available at https://exchange.lse.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=https://exchange.lse.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://lseoccupation.blogspot.com/ 2. It is the official policy of the LSE Students' Union to demand a statement from LSE and demand divestment from arms companies 3. Contact Estelle Cooch; s.e.cooch@lse.ac.uk; 07748874987

Students establish university occupations over Gaza

2009-01-15T07:54:00.001-08:00

The disgusting atrocities being committed by Israel have ignited the student movement in way that has not occurred for a generation.

Two days ago, the Brunei Gallery at SOAS was occupied and is still ongoing. For more info see: http://soassolidarity4gaza.blogspot.com/ Talks and lectures on wide-ranging political issues are being discussed and students have been climbing through the windows to get in!

In the last few minutes, comrades have taken to the stage in the main theatre at LSE and have established another occupation. I encourage all comrades who can to join them!

For peace and Palestine!

James Caspell
Lambeth UNISON Young Members Officer
Honorary Member, LSE Students' Union

Lambeth Activists - For a fighting, member-led branch

2009-01-13T07:43:00.000-08:00

We are a group of activists who believe that UNISON and the trade union movement at large needs to be rebuilt from the grass-roots, encouraging maximum participation and control of unions by members and giving workers the confidence to fight collectively for their own interests in their workplaces.

We are comprised of a group of independent socialists, members of Permanent Revolution, the Alliance for Workers Liberty, Workers Power and Green Left, the ecosocialist platform within the Green Party.

We want an inclusive, active, fighting union that effectively takes on management and the government by involving all workers in action to defend and extend our rights.
Over the last ten years the Lambeth UNISON branch has halved in size and is no longer as effective at protecting our members. We need new blood – passionate activists who are prepared to give their all to fight for members and involve them in the running of the branch.

If you agree with our policies, we ask you to support us!

Candidates for elections at the 2009 AGM:

Chair
Dan Jeffery

Assistant Branch Secretary
Reg Morrison

Membership Officer
Dan Jeffrey

Publicity Officer
James Caspell

National Delegate Conference
Dan Jeffery

Local Government Conference
James Caspell

Regional Council
Dan Jeffery

The following candidates have been elected unopposed:
Assistant Publicity Officer
Gurmeet Khurana

International Officer
Gurmeet Khurana

Young Members Officer
James Caspell

If elected, we will:
« Demand to see Lambeth Council’s accounts and find out why and how Lambeth housing is millions of pounds in debt. No more £1000 per day consultants! Open the books!
« Fight against all redundancies and job losses – including “voluntary” redundancies. Campaign for staff to refuse to cover posts and refuse overtime while staff are being made redundant
« Launch an anti-bullying campaign and end the culture of management bullying and harassment
« Campaign to end scales 1, 2 and 3. Decent wages for all!
« Launch an effective campaign for decent wage increases and an increase in London weighting. We need to force the UNISON leadership to escalate the campaign to include sustained strike action and occupations if we are to win.
« Have no more talking shops and no more “sweetheart deals”– worthless agreements with employers and Councillors made without support of the members.
« Ensure decent working conditions for all staff. Lambeth must abide by health and safety law!
« Build a campaign to defeat plans to further privatise services and cut jobs; fight to bring all council services back in-house. No more auctioning off of council houses!
« Oppose the ALMO – fight for council housing to be brought back under direct council control
« Campaign to set up a Direct Labour Organisation (DLO), implement apprenticeships and training to provide staff and local people with skills and jobs.
« Work with residents to oppose service cuts, privatisation and above inflation increases in rents and charges, and demand substantial investment in public services.
« Demand that councillors support Lambeth’s workers and tenants – or campaign against them in the next local elections. End automatic and uncritical UNISON support for Labour.
« Win the increased severance payments staff have been promised.
« Fight for branches to have the right to set up hardship funds to support members in time of need

How we will build the Branch:
« Organise to recruit and involve temporary workers, shift workers and young people. Campaign for lower union fees. The more members we have, the stronger we will be!
« A steward and notice board in every shop – fighting the bosses in every workplace.
« Ensure convenors and stewards visit workplaces and hold regular workplace meetings.
« An easily accessible web site publicising contact details and actions taken by Branch Officers.
« Regular newsletters in every directorate – let’s communicate our successes.
« Fight against racism, sexism, homophobia and all forms of discrimination. Assist democratic and accountable self-organised groups to get more members involved.
« Branch officers to be fully accountable – all Convenors and Officers to publish monthly reports of how they spend their time to serve you.
« Make the Branch Office more attractive and welcoming, for the use of all members.
« Branches and Directorates to have the right to elect industrial action committees and control and manage their own industrial disputes.

Our broader policies:
« Demand that national and regional UNISON officials are elected annually. All representatives should get the average worker’s wage. Our General Secretary earns £100,000+ a year!
« Fight for to scrap the anti-union laws such as the ban on secondary strikes
« Work to stop climate change, starting by establishing workplace environment reps
« Fight for mass mobilisation and self-defence by the working class and oppressed groups against the BNP and other far-right organisations.
« Show solidarity with workers across the world! Coordinate our struggles with other local trade unions and with workers in other countries to win better rights for all.

War and Natural Gas: The Israeli Invasion and Gaza's Offshore Gas Fields

2009-01-08T05:53:00.000-08:00

By Michel Chossudovsky

URL of this article: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11680

Global Research, January 8, 2009

The military invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli Forces bears a direct relation to the control and ownership of strategic offshore gas reserves.

This is a war of conquest. Discovered in 2000, there are extensive gas reserves off the Gaza coastline.

British Gas (BG Group) and its partner, the Athens based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC) owned by Lebanon's Sabbagh and Koury families, were granted oil and gas exploration rights in a 25 year agreement signed in November 1999 with the Palestinian Authority.

The rights to the offshore gas field are respectively British Gas (60 percent); Consolidated Contractors (CCC) (30 percent); and the Investment Fund of the Palestinian Authority (10 percent). (Haaretz, October 21, 2007). The PA-BG-CCC agreement includes field development and the construction of a gas pipeline.(Middle East Economic Digest, Jan 5, 2001).

The BG licence covers the entire Gazan offshore marine area, which is contiguous to several Israeli offshore gas facilities. It should be noted that 60 percent of the gas reserves along the Gaza-Israel coastline belong to Palestine.

The BG Group drilled two wells in 2000: Gaza Marine-1 and Gaza Marine-2. Reserves are estimated by British Gas to be of the order of 1.4 trillion cubic feet, valued at approximately 4 billion dollars. These are the figures made public by British Gas. The size of Palestine's gas reserves could be much larger.

Who Owns the Gas Fields

The issue of sovereignty over Gaza's gas fields is crucial. From a legal standpoint, the gas reserves belong to Palestine.

The death of Yasser Arafat, the election of the Hamas government and the ruin of the Palestinian Authority have enabled Israel to establish de facto control over Gaza's offshore gas reserves.
British Gas (BG Group) has been dealing with the Tel Aviv government. In turn, the Hamas government has been bypassed in regards to exploration and development rights over the gas fields.

The election of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2001 was a major turning point. Palestine's sovereignty over the offshore gas fields was challenged in the Israeli Supreme Court. Sharon stated unequivocally that "Israel would never buy gas from Palestine" intimating that Gaza's offshore gas reserves belong to Israel.

In 2003, Ariel Sharon, vetoed an initial deal, which would allow British Gas to supply Israel with natural gas from Gaza's offshore wells. (The Independent, August 19, 2003)

The election victory of Hamas in 2006 was conducive to the demise of the Palestinian Authority, which became confined to the West Bank, under the proxy regime of Mahmoud Abbas.
In 2006, British Gas "was close to signing a deal to pump the gas to Egypt." (Times, May, 23, 2007). According to reports, British Prime Minister Tony Blair intervened on behalf of Israel with a view to shunting the agreement with Egypt.

The following year, in May 2007, the Israeli Cabinet approved a proposal by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "to buy gas from the Palestinian Authority." The proposed contract was for $4 billion, with profits of the order of $2 billion of which one billion was to go the Palestinians.
Tel Aviv, however, had no intention on sharing the revenues with Palestine. An Israeli team of negotiators was set up by the Israeli Cabinet to thrash out a deal with the BG Group, bypassing both the Hamas government and the Palestinian Authority:

"Israeli defence authorities want the Palestinians to be paid in goods and services and insist that no money go to the Hamas-controlled Government." (Ibid, emphasis added)
The objective was essentially to nullify the contract signed in 1999 between the BG Group and the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat.

Under the proposed 2007 agreement with BG, Palestinian gas from Gaza's offshore wells was to be channeled by an undersea pipeline to the Israeli seaport of Ashkelon, thereby transferring control over the sale of the natural gas to Israel.

The deal fell through. The negotiations were suspended:

"Mossad Chief Meir Dagan opposed the transaction on security grounds, that the proceeds would fund terror". (Member of Knesset Gilad Erdan, Address to the Knesset on "The Intention of Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Purchase Gas from the Palestinians When Payment Will Serve Hamas," March 1, 2006, quoted in Lt. Gen. (ret.) Moshe Yaalon, Does the Prospective Purchase of British Gas from Gaza's Coastal Waters Threaten Israel's National Security? Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, October 2007)

Israel's intent was to foreclose the possibility that royalties be paid to the Palestinians. In December 2007, The BG Group withdrew from the negotiations with Israel and in January 2008 they closed their office in Israel.(BG website).

Invasion Plan on The Drawing Board

The invasion plan of the Gaza Strip under "Operation Cast Lead" was set in motion in June 2008, according to Israeli military sources:

"Sources in the defense establishment said Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the operation over six months ago [June or before June] , even as Israel was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas."(Barak Ravid, Operation "Cast Lead": Israeli Air Force strike followed months of planning, Haaretz, December 27, 2008)
That very same month, the Israeli authorities contacted British Gas, with a view to resuming crucial negotiations pertaining to the purchase of Gaza's natural gas:

"Both Ministry of Finance director general Yarom Ariav and Ministry of National Infrastructures director general Hezi Kugler agreed to inform BG of Israel's wish to renew the talks.

The sources added that BG has not yet officially responded to Israel's request, but that company executives would probably come to Israel in a few weeks to hold talks with government officials." (Globes online- Israel's Business Arena, June 23, 2008)

The decision to speed up negotiations with British Gas (BG Group) coincided, chronologically, with the planning of the invasion of Gaza initiated in June. It would appear that Israel was anxious to reach an agreement with the BG Group prior to the invasion, which was already in an advanced planning stage.

Moreover, these negotiations with British Gas were conducted by the Ehud Olmert government with the knowledge that a military invasion was on the drawing board and that a new political-territorial arrangement for Gaza strip was being contemplated by Israel.

In fact, negotiations between British Gas and Israeli officials were ongoing in October 2008, 2-3 months prior to the commencement of the bombings on December 27th.

In November 2008, the Israeli Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of National Infrastructures instructed Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) to enter into negotiations with British Gas, on the purchase of natural gas from the BG's offshore concession in Gaza. (Globes, November 13, 2008)
"Ministry of Finance director general Yarom Ariav and Ministry of National Infrastructures director general Hezi Kugler wrote to IEC CEO Amos Lasker recently, informing him of the government's decision to allow negotiations to go forward, in line with the framework proposal it approved earlier this year.

The IEC board, headed by chairman Moti Friedman, approved the principles of the framework proposal a few weeks ago. The talks with BG Group will begin once the board approves the exemption from a tender." (Globes Nov. 13, 2008)

Gaza and Energy Geopolitics

The military occupation of Gaza is intent upon transferring the sovereignty of the gas fields to Israel in violation of international law.

What can we expect in the wake of the invasion? What is the intent of Israel with regard to Palestine's Natural Gas reserves?

A new territorial arrangement, with the stationing of Israeli and/or "peacekeeping" troops?
The militarization of the entire Gaza coastline, which is strategic for Israel?
The outright confiscation of Palestinian gas fields and the unilateral declaration of Israeli sovereignty over Gaza's maritime areas?

If this were to occur, the Gaza gas fields would be integrated into Israel's offshore installations, which are contiguous to those of the Gaza Strip.

These various offshore installations are also linked up to Israel's energy transport corridor, extending from the port of Eilat, which is an oil pipeline terminal, on the Red Sea to the seaport - pipeline terminal at Ashkelon, and northwards to Haifa, and eventually linking up through a proposed Israeli-Turkish pipeline with the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

Ceyhan is the terminal of the Baku, Tblisi Ceyhan Trans Caspian pipeline. "What is envisaged is to link the BTC pipeline to the Trans-Israel Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline, also known as Israel's Tipline." (See Michel Chossudovsky, The War on Lebanon and the Battle for Oil, Global Research, July 23, 2006)

Palestine Solidarity Initiative Slams Silence Over Gaza Genocide

2009-01-07T10:58:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, 07 January 2009

FOR IMMEDATE RELEASE

Palestine Solidarity Initiative Slams Silence Over Gaza Genocide

The founders of the Palestine Solidarity Initiative (http://www.palestinesolidarity.org/) have condemned the university's "hypocritical silence" over the atrocities being committed against the people of Gaza by Israeli military forces.

As hundreds of Gazans lie dead and thousands more wounded, Israel is continuing to destroy societal infrastructure including educational institutions, hospitals, ambulances, mosques and government buildings in the latest manifestation of its policy to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian people from their homeland.

Over 200 students, staff and alumni have signed a letter calling for the School to issue a public statement condemning the Israeli government's actions. In response, LSE Director Howard Davies has so far refused to issue such a statement, claiming that the School does not take positions on "political issues". This is in stark contrast to an overtly political statement issued by the Davies in May 2007 condemning a UCU (University and College Union) resolution concerning the Israeli Occupation, and previous condemnations by LSE of South African Apartheid and the Tiananmen Square massacre in the 1980's.

Ziyaad Lunat, an Honorary Student of the LSE Students' Union and former Governor of the LSE stated: "It is totally hypocritical for LSE to remain silent whilst innocent civilians, many of whom are students and potential students, are being massacred by the Israeli military. We have already noted the cessation of potential applicants to LSE from Gaza as a result of the invasion and urge LSE and all educational institutions to issue messages of solidarity and pledge material support to the Palestinian people.

"We urge those in the LSE community to email Director Howard Davies demanding action and support students, alumni, staff and academics in their campaign to ensure that LSE shows solidarity with the Palestinian people.

James Caspell, also an Honorary Student of the LSE Student's Union and former Governor of the LSE stated:

"This latest Israeli invasion of Gaza is driven by an imperialist ideology rather than reality. Given around twenty Israeli civilians have tragically died as a result of rocket fire in the last decade, the barbaric use of military force which has already murdered hundreds of Gazans is disproportionate and counter-productive to achieving a just peace.

"We send our solidarity to our Palestinian brothers and sisters and support the cause of a one-state solution where Palestinians and Israelis can live in true political, ecological and economic equality. We support those who have taken to the streets in protest all across the world in opposition to the Israeli government, including in Israel itself.

The Palestine Solidarity Initiative supports the following demands being made of LSE by students, staff, academics and alumni:-

1. For LSE to issue a public statement condemning Israel's attack on Palestinian educational institutions, including the bombing of the Islamic University of Gaza, and encourage other British universities to issue a similar call;
2. Establish an emergency fund for Palestinians students from Gaza and waive their tuition fees in support of their efforts to acquire an education;
3. Provide more scholarships aimed specifically at Palestinians;
4. Abolish all postgraduate application fees, which discriminate against students on the basis of their ability to pay, as demanded by the LSE Students' Union;
5. Establish formal links with Birzeit University, as requested by LSE academics and students.
6. That the LSE divests from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation and war, as demanded by the LSE Students' Union;

ENDS

Notes for Editors:
1. The aim of this Initiative is to demonstrate solidarity with Palestinian students, and empower those who are systematically denied of the opportunities to study at institutions where they would be able to fulfil their academic potential.
2. The Initiative aims to encourage all students, alumni, staff and academics connected with LSE to support Palestinians - politically, educationally and financially – by encouraging and supporting their application to the vast array of Masters degree programs that the LSE has to offer.
3. The London School of Economics Students' Union is officially twinned with Al-Najah University and recently voted to divest funds from those companies profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. The motion also called on LSE to respect human rights and follow suit in embracing a divestment agenda.
4. The Palestine Solidarity Initiative was founded by James Caspell and Ziyaad Lunat, two LSE alumni and activists who have long campaigned for the liberation of Palestine.

Contact
James Caspell
James.caspell@gmail.com

Ziyaad Lunat
z.lunat@gmail.com
http://www.palestinesolidarity.org/

On collaboration and resistance of the oppressed

2009-01-03T17:40:00.001-08:00

Ziyaad Lunat, The Electronic Intifada, 3 January 2009

In 1835, Thomas Macaulay, a British colonial officer in India, decreed that "We must do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern, a class of persons Indian in blood and color, but English in taste, in opinions, words and intellect." European colonial powers often used political outsourcing through a network of native collaborators as a convenient way to subjugate the masses. These collaborators would tame the colonized on behalf of their masters who became sheltered in this way from popular uprisings. However, this process was not always predictable. In 1857, the sepoys, Indian soldiers allied to British rule, revolted against their colonial masters. Britain's response was fierce. Over 100,000 sepoys and hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed in cold blood. This became known as India's first struggle for independence; which was finally realized in 1947.

A year later, European settler colonialists established the state of Israel through a pre-mediated campaign of ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian population. Despite divisions amongst Arab governments and self-interested manipulation of the Palestinian plight, the response was that of opposition and generally in line with the feelings of the Arab masses. As a result, western governments have sought for decades to bully those governments into submission by forcing them to accept the premise of an inherently racist Jewish state in their midst.

As Israel massacres the Palestinians in Gaza once again, one may ask what has happened to this Arab voice. It is no surprise that the world's super powers condone Israel's genocidal acts in Gaza. Colonization, slavery, apartheid, genocide and ethnic cleansing have been constants in western colonialist adventures. What has now reached new levels is the open, vocal and active support of Arab governments to the massacre of the Palestinian people. As the Indian sepoys once did, new collaborators have joined the chorus of voices condoning the carnage.

The Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt is a case in point, symbolizing this painful new reality. Hosni Mubarak's government in Egypt and the unelected Palestinian Authority in Ramallah have actively colluded with Israel, first to unsuccessfully overthrow Hamas from Gaza through force and then to choke the Palestinians in Gaza by denying them basics such as food, clean water, medical treatment and a decent education. While this "holocaust in the making" was occurring, as the UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk fittingly described it, PA President Mahmoud Abbas and his cronies were collaborating with Israel to deploy forces across the West Bank cities to suppress resistance to the occupation. As US general Keith Dayton put it, these forces were taught that they "are not here to learn how to fight against the Israeli occupation," but instead to fight "the lawless elements within Palestinian society."

Not surprisingly, Abbas blamed Hamas for the ongoing bloodshed, claiming that they have refused to renew the truce. The best he could come out with, in the face of growing popular discontent, was a "threat" to discontinue negotiations (read, collaboration) with Israel. Hamas has in fact shown willingness to extend the truce but under the condition of ending the illegal siege. This is tantamount to requesting basic human rights for Palestinians, something Abbas never conditioned in his dealings with Israel.

Israel's other ally, Egypt, has accused Hamas of barring the wounded from escaping Israel's attack, conveniently ignoring their own long-term refusal to allow any Palestinians to cross in and out of Rafah. According to the London-based daily al-Quds al-Arabi, the Egyptian Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman deceived Hamas into believing that Israel would not launch an attack on the Gaza Strip while sending their forces to seal the border in preparation for an Israeli attack. Egyptian forces later opened fire against Palestinians wanting to escape the carnage.

This form of hypocrisy found expression all over the Arab world. In the United Arab Emirates for instance, protests in solidarity with the Palestinians were banned or tightly controlled. The Arab League with its usual incompetence has been remarkably slow in reacting, first delaying their meeting for days and then issuing an insignificant declaration for all parties to cease violence offering no solution to the desperate plight of the Palestinians under siege.

But a more important question is how the Arab masses and people of conscience around the world have reacted. What are their real democratic wishes? If the Arab governments surpassed their own low standards in usurping Palestinian rights, the Arab masses have conversely renewed their determination to reject foreign domination, for every time they are stripped off their dignity; their spirit of resistance to oppression is revitalized. Across the Arab world, there has been a renewed sense of revulsion and determination to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians, uniting their causes with the occupied Iraqis and others suffering under oppressive regimes sponsored by the West.

In a very sober address to the Egyptian people, Secretary General of Hizballah Hassan Nasrallah, stated: "Let the Egyptian people take to the streets in their millions. Can the Egyptian police arrest millions of Egyptians? No!" These words sum up why today, Hamas and Hizballah, have gained more respect and legitimacy in the Arab popular opinion than any of the corrupt Arab regimes. The resistance organizations represent the aspirations of the ordinary people, who want their rights and freedom reinstated, not because they support terrorism or are subhuman, as much of the western media portrays them to be. Israel and its allies are sowing the seeds of more radicalism and greater instability in the Middle East. While powerlessly watching the massacres in Gaza, one cannot discern whether this instability is a means or an end in itself. As for the corrupt Arab regimes, they are left with two choices: either they listen to their citizens or they will have to face continuous revolt by the people. The pages of history have taught us that oppression never existed without provoking revolt for liberation and rights.

Abbas and his minions can learn much from the sepoy mutiny in India and the Ghandian nonviolent struggle for liberation that ensued. Since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, the 15 years of collaboration with Israel has yielded more settlements, thousands of house demolitions, kidnappings and massacres -- the truth is that the leaders have nothing to show to the people in return. The time has come for the Palestinian factions to unite behind the popular masses, for active and passive legitimization of Israel's actions to stop and for a return to basics. Resistance to Israel's occupation can most effectively be done through a nonviolent struggle calling for equal rights to that of their Israeli occupiers under one secular state. It is time that we extend the basic premise the West has insisted upon for themselves: that freedom is non-negotiable.

Ziyaad Lunat is an honorary life member of the London School of Economics Students Union (LSE SU) and an activist for Palestine.

Israel's righteous fury and its victims in Gaza

2009-01-03T17:16:00.000-08:00

Ilan Pappe, The Electronic Intifada, 2 January 2009

My visit back home to the Galilee coincided with the genocidal Israeli attack on Gaza. The state, through its media and with the help of its academia, broadcasted one unanimous voice -- even louder than the one heard during the criminal attack against Lebanon in the summer of 2006. Israel is engulfed once more with righteous fury that translates into destructive policies in the Gaza Strip. This appalling self-justification for the inhumanity and impunity is not just annoying, it is a subject worth dwelling on, if one wants to understand the international immunity for the massacre that rages on in Gaza.

It is based first and foremost on sheer lies transmitted with a newspeak reminiscent of darker days in 1930s Europe. Every half an hour a news bulletin on the radio and television describes the victims of Gaza as terrorists and Israel's massive killings of them as an act of self-defense. Israel presents itself to its own people as the righteous victim that defends itself against a great evil. The academic world is recruited to explain how demonic and monstrous is the Palestinian struggle, if it is led by Hamas. These are the same scholars who demonized the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in an earlier era and delegitimized his Fatah movement during the second Palestinian intifada.

It is based first and foremost on sheer lies transmitted with a newspeak reminiscent of darker days in 1930s Europe. Every half an hour a news bulletin on the radio and television describes the victims of Gaza as terrorists and Israel's massive killings of them as an act of self-defense. Israel presents itself to its own people as the righteous victim that defends itself against a great evil. The academic world is recruited to explain how demonic and monstrous is the Palestinian struggle, if it is led by Hamas. These are the same scholars who demonized the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in an earlier era and delegitimized his Fatah movement during the second Palestinian intifada.

There are no boundaries to the hypocrisy that a righteous fury produces. The discourse of the generals and the politicians is moving erratically between self-compliments of the humanity the army displays in its "surgical" operations on the one hand, and the need to destroy Gaza for once and for all, in a humane way of course, on the other.

There are no boundaries to the hypocrisy that a righteous fury produces. The discourse of the generals and the politicians is moving erratically between self-compliments of the humanity the army displays in its "surgical" operations on the one hand, and the need to destroy Gaza for once and for all, in a humane way of course, on the other.

It is crucial to explore the ideological origins of this attitude and derive the necessary political conclusions form its prevalence. This righteous fury shields the society and politicians in Israel from any external rebuke or criticism. But far worse, it is translated always into destructive policies against the Palestinians. With no internal mechanism of criticism and no external pressure, every Palestinian becomes a potential target of this fury. Given the firepower of the Jewish state it can inevitably only end in more massive killings, massacres and ethnic cleansing.

The self-righteousness is a powerful act of self-denial and justification. It explains why the Israeli Jewish society would not be moved by words of wisdom, logical persuasion or diplomatic dialogue. And if one does not want to endorse violence as the means of opposing it, there is only one way forward: challenging head-on this righteousness as an evil ideology meant to cover human atrocities. Another name for this ideology is Zionism and an international rebuke for Zionism, not just for particular Israeli policies, is the only way of countering this self-righteousness. We have to try and explain not only to the world, but also to the Israelis themselves, that Zionism is an ideology that endorses ethnic cleansing, occupation and now massive massacres. What is needed now is not just a condemnation of the present massacre but also delegitimization of the ideology that produced that policy and justifies it morally and politically. Let us hope that significant voices in the world will tell the Jewish state that this ideology and the overall conduct of the state are intolerable and unacceptable and as long as they persist, Israel will be boycotted and subject to sanctions.

But I am not naive. I know that even the killing of hundreds of innocent Palestinians would not be enough to produce such a shift in the Western public opinion; it is even more unlikely that the crimes committed in Gaza would move the European governments to change their policy towards Palestine.

And yet, we cannot allow 2009 to be just another year, less significant than 2008, the commemorative year of the Nakba, that did not fulfill the great hopes we all had for its potential to dramatically transform the Western world's attitude to Palestine and the Palestinians.

It seems that even the most horrendous crimes, such as the genocide in Gaza, are treated as discrete events, unconnected to anything that happened in the past and not associated with any ideology or system. In this new year, we have to try to realign the public opinion to the history of Palestine and to the evils of the Zionist ideology as the best means of both explaining genocidal operations such as the current one in Gaza and as a way of pre-empting worse things to come.

Academically, this has already been done. Our main challenge is to find an efficient to explain the connection between the Zionist ideology and the past policies of destruction, to the present crisis. It may be easier to do it while, under the most terrible circumstances, the world's attention is directed to Palestine once more. It would be even more difficult at times when the situation seems to be "calmer" and less dramatic. In such "relaxed" moments, the short attention span of the Western media would marginalize once more the Palestinian tragedy and neglect it either because of horrific genocides in Africa or the economic crisis and ecological doomsday scenarios in the rest of the world. While the Western media is not likely to be interested in any historical stockpiling, it is only through a historical evaluation that the magnitude of the crimes committed against the Palestinian people throughout the past 60 years can be exposed. Therefore, it is the role of an activist academia and an alternative media to insist on this historical context. These agents should not scoff from educating the public opinion and hopefully even influence the more conscientious politicians to view events in a wider historical perspective.

Academically, this has already been done. Our main challenge is to find an efficient to explain the connection between the Zionist ideology and the past policies of destruction, to the present crisis. It may be easier to do it while, under the most terrible circumstances, the world's attention is directed to Palestine once more. It would be even more difficult at times when the situation seems to be "calmer" and less dramatic. In such "relaxed" moments, the short attention span of the Western media would marginalize once more the Palestinian tragedy and neglect it either because of horrific genocides in Africa or the economic crisis and ecological doomsday scenarios in the rest of the world. While the Western media is not likely to be interested in any historical stockpiling, it is only through a historical evaluation that the magnitude of the crimes committed against the Palestinian people throughout the past 60 years can be exposed. Therefore, it is the role of an activist academia and an alternative media to insist on this historical context. These agents should not scoff from educating the public opinion and hopefully even influence the more conscientious politicians to view events in a wider historical perspective.

Some of us, namely those committed to justice and peace in Palestine, unwittingly evade this debate by focusing, and this is understandable, on the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) -- the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Struggling against the criminal policies there is an urgent mission. But this should not convey the message that the powers that be in the West adopted gladly by a cue from Israel, that Palestine is only in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and that the Palestinians are only the people living in those territories. We should expand the representation of Palestine geographically and demographically by telling the historical narrative of the events in 1948 and ever since and demand equal human and civil rights to all the people who live, or used to live, in what today is Israel and the OPT.

By connecting the Zionist ideology and the policies of the past with the present atrocities, we will be able to provide a clear and logical explanation for the campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions. Challenging by nonviolent means a self-righteous ideological state that allows itself, aided by a mute world, to dispossess and destroy the indigenous people of Palestine, is a just and moral cause. It is also an effective way of galvanizing the public opinion not only against the present genocidal policies in Gaza, but hopefully one that would prevent future atrocities. But more importantly than anything else it will puncture the balloon of self-righteous fury that suffocates the Palestinians every times it inflates. It will help end the Western immunity to Israel's impunity. Without that immunity, one hopes more and more people in Israel will begin to see the real nature of the crimes committed in their name and their fury would be directed against those who trapped them and the Palestinians in this unnecessary cycle of bloodshed and violence.

Ilan Pappe is chair in the Department of History at the University of Exeter.

Solidarity with Gaza: Foreign passport holders in Gaza decide to stay - "We will not leave"

2009-01-03T16:58:00.000-08:00

January 2nd, 2009 Posted in Press Releases, Gaza Region Edit 2nd January 2009, Gaza:

Despite the exception that Israel is making or foreign passport holders to allow them to leave Gaza for safety, some of the foreigners have chosen to remain and share the fate of the rest of the Palestinian people.

Alberto Arce (Spain) has been accompanying ambulances and reporting from hospitals; "Israel does not want witnesses to the crimes that it is committing against the people of Gaza. International journalists and aid agencies are not here. If we leave who will testify to the war crimes we are seeing.On the 28th December I looked into the dying eyes of sisters Lama and Haya Hamdan, four and twelves years old, killed an Israeli missile. The humanity I saw there was no different from our humanity. Are our lives worth more than theirs?" Alberto Arce - International Solidarity Movement.

South African-Palestinian Dr. Haidar Eid said; "I believe that this a historical moment. That this massacre in Gaza runs parallel to that of the 1960 Sharpeville Massacare that took place in South Africa which led to the initiation of the BDS Campaign against Apartheid. The Gaza massacre of 2009 will intensify the BDS campaign against Israeli apartheid. In Apartheid South Africa, the BDS campaign ultimately led to the release of Nelson Mandela being released from prison to later become the first black president of a democratic, muliti-racial, muliti-cultural state in South Africa. So, the BDS campaign against Israeli apartheid must result in a unitary state where all citizens will be treated as equals." Dr Eid is a Professor of Social and Cultural Studies at Al Aqsa University, Gaza. He is also on the Steering committee of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel ( PACBI) and one of the founding members of the One Democratic State Group.

Natalie Abu Shakra (Lebanon) stated; "They did the same thing in Lebanon, but while in Lebanon some places were under heavy bombardment, some places were safe. In Gaza nowhere is safe. How can we lieace these peole behind, we will either live with them or die with them" - Natalie Abu Shakra - International Solidarity Movement

"With the Israeli ban on international journalists, the Gazan voice has been further muted. Communicating the reality on the ground with the external world is essential to highlight the illegality of Israel's attacks. We recently started accompanying ambulances to document the attacks on medical personnel, which is a violation of the Geneva Convention. I have seen and felt the suffering of families and cannot leave them, all the civilians are vulnerable to Israel's attacks. We intend to stay and continue exposing the nature of Israel's attacks on the Gazan people. " Jenny Linnel - International Solidarity Movement

"Israel not only decides who can leave Gaza, but also who can enter. I have seen the demolished houses, mosques, universities and have felt the impact of terrorizing missile attacks in civilian areas. I have seen the dead children and heard the screams of families trapped in their homes as Israel bombs 30 meters away. The Gazan people, all 1.5 million of them, are unable to escape these illegal attacks. Our lives are no more important than theirs and we will stay during their suffering in solidarity and to document what Israel is preventing foreign journalists from revealing." Eva Bartlett - International Solidarity Movement

"Palestinians of Gaza have been isolated from the world by the Israeli imposed siege. Now we are being given the opportunity to leave, an unavailable option for the Gazan people. Staying here, in solidarity with Gazan families, is crucial during this horrific increase in Israeli violence. I have witnessed the effects of the siege, I have seen the ongoing violence towards the civilian population. We will continue to stand with the victims of Israel's illegal policies." Sharon Lock - International Solidarity Movement

"I believe I have a responsibility to be here in solidarity with the people of Gaza who are enduring crimes against humanity perpetrated by Israel. If the international community will not act to stop this physical, psychological and political war on the entire population of Gaza, then international observers, journalists and activists are needed here in Gaza. We must witness, document and stop wherever possible, the war crimes being committed by Israeli occupation forces against the people of Gaza. Israel doesn't want witnesses to its' crimes against humanity, but the people of Gaza do. They keep telling me, 'Please, tell the world what is happening to us, we can't believe what is happening to us. They fear the worst, everybody here is terrified and terrorized. I will not be leaving, it is the Israeli occupation forces that need to abide by international law' and leave Palestine." Ewa Jasiewicz - Free Gaza

Movement"The opening of the Eres Crossing should be used to transport international observers and medical supplies into Gaza, not out. We have seen firsthand the deaths caused by the siege and more recent bombings. I have lost many friends because of Israel's illegal military actions. We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and will continue to document the atrocities. As international observers, we have the responsibility to ensure that the international community has access to the reality of Israel's attacks on Gaza." Vittorio Arrigoni - International Solidarity Movement

International Human Rights Activists have been accompanying ambulances in the Gaza Strip since the murder of medic Mohammed Abu Hassera and Doctor Ihab Al Mathoon by Israeli missiles on the 31st December. The international activists were at the Kamal Adwan hospital, Beit Hanoun, as Dr Mathoon died.

Human Rights Activists staying in Gaza:
Alberto Arce - Spain
Ewa Jasiewicz - Poland/BritainDr. Haider Eid - South AfricaSharon Lock - Australia
Vittorio Arrigoni - Italy
Jenny Linnel - BritainNatalie Abu Shakra - LebanonEva Bartlett - Canada

Gaza Genocide: Carlos Latuff Cartoon

2009-01-01T14:26:00.000-08:00

Gaza families eat grass as Israel locks border

2008-12-22T06:22:00.000-08:00

From The Sunday Times, December 14, 2008

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5338014.ece

Marie Colvin

AS a convoy of blue-and-white United Nations trucks loaded with food waited last night for Israeli permission to enter Gaza, Jindiya Abu Amra and her 12-year-old daughter went scrounging for the wild grass their family now lives on.

"We had one meal today - khobbeizeh," said Abu Amra, 43, showing the leaves of a plant that grows along the streets of Gaza. "Every day, I wake up and start looking for wood and plastic to burn for fuel and I beg. When I find nothing, we eat this grass."

Abu Amra and her unemployed husband have seven daughters and a son. Their tiny breeze-block house has had no furniture since they burnt the last cupboard for heat.

"I can't remember seeing a fruit," said Rabab, 12, who goes with her mother most mornings to scavenge. She is dressed in a tracksuit top and holed jeans, and her feet are bare.

Conditions for most of the 1.5m Gazans have deteriorated dramatically in the past month, since a truce between Israel and Hamas, the ruling Islamist party, broke down.

Israel says it will open the borders again when Hamas stops launching rockets at southern Israel. Hamas says it will crack down on the rocket launchers when Israel opens the borders.

The fragile truce technically ends this Thursday, and there have been few signs it will be renewed. Nobody knows how to resolve the stalemate. Secret talks are under way through Egyptian intermediaries, although both sides deny any contact.

Israel controls the borders and allows in humanitarian supplies only sporadically. Families had electricity for six hours a day last week. Cooking gas was available only through the illegal tunnels that run into Egypt, and by last week had jumped in price from 80 shekels per canister (£14) to 380 shekels (£66).

The UN, which has responsibility for 1m refugees in Gaza, is in despair. "The economy has been crushed and there are no imports or exports," said John Ging, director of its relief and works agency.

"Two weeks ago, for the first time in 60 years, we ran out of food," he said. "We used to get 70 to 80 trucks per day, now we are getting 15 trucks a day, and only when the border opens. We're living hand to mouth."

He has four days of food in stock for distribution to the most desperate - and no idea whether Israel will reopen the border. The Abu Amra family may have to eat wild grass for the foreseeable future.

Lambeth UNISON Young Members Officer, Annual Report 2008-9

2008-12-19T02:46:00.001-08:00

Introduction

For many young people work provides as many challenges as it does benefits. Low pay, dangerous jobs, harassment, and bullying can make working a nightmare.

As such UNISON campaigns to:

- Organise to win improved working conditions and pay,
- Campaigns for better rights, and
- Actively challenges harassment, bullying and inequality.

Recruitment

Lambeth UNISON currently has just 55 members under the age of 27, which is under 3 per cent of total branch membership. This is an obvious weakness in our organisation. Nationally only 1 in 10 “young people” are currently members of a trade union and in order to maximise our potential, locally and nationally, UNISON needs to address this deficit with an active campaign to encourage recruitment and participation.

A Warwick University survey asked people who were not union members why they had not joined one. Most of the non-members were not opposed to unions. Two out of three said that they had not joined because they had not been asked. These same people thought unions were a good thing, but had not been able to take the initiative to join. Young workers who are already union members can therefore make the crucial difference in persuading their friends and colleagues to join them in the fight for a fairer society. As such I have written to every young member encouraging them to actively participate in our Branch, become shop stewards and attempt to recruit their colleagues. I have also met young workers to encourage them to join and become more involved in our branch. I and others have produced and disseminated publicity to outline the benefits of joining a trade union, specifically tailored to emphasise the threats we face in Lambeth, such as job losses, privatisation, abuse of flexi-time and bullying.

I have also ensured that work experience students in Regeneration and Housing Finance are aware of what a union does and involved them in union campaigning work as part of their placements. I encourage all members to do the same as many young people are unaware of what a union exists for and as such the union movement as a whole misses out on opportunities to harness their potential in their early working career.

Pay Dispute

Many young members, including myself, undertook their first ever strike action in July in opposition to the government’s proposed pay cut. Taking strike action is one of the most powerful examples of collective action that can be undertaken by workers, and the decision to take it is never made lightly. However, without democratic consultation, the UNISON bureaucracy took the decision to suspend strike action before undertaking arbitration which appears to have proved futile, with a settlement likely to equate to a pay cut.

Young members can learn from this year’s campaign that we should not accept the undemocratic decisions of our elected and unelected officers simply because they are more experienced, and instead strive to ensure that the union always serves our material interests first and foremost.

Leading up to the strike, much of my time was spent publishing leaflets and posters and organising strike meetings. During this time, the Branch gained several new young members and activists and it is essential that all members and officers harness the energy and enthusiasm of our younger members to pass on lessons learned in the past and make use of new ideas, which are the lifeblood of any campaigning organisation.

National and Local Campaigns Nationally

UNISON Young Members Forum is prioritising the following campaigns, which I have endeavoured to support locally where possible:

- Defending public services against privatisation
- Abolition of age discrimination in the minimum wage
- Pensions
- Against tuition fees for university students and for a living grant to expand access to education.
- Make Poverty History
- Climate change

Locally, young members have supported anti-privatisation campaigns across Lambeth, including plans which will be detrimental to the NHS, the education system, housing and social services. For more information on local anti-privatisation campaigns, see: http://www.saveourservices.org.uk/

On October 1st 2008 the main rate of the national minimum wage increased from £5.52 to £5.73 (for those aged 22 or over) and the development rate (for those aged 18 to 21) from £4.60 to £4.77. The rate for workers aged 16 and 17 increases from £3.40 to £3.53 an hour.

UNISON opposes age discrimination in the minimum wage and continues to campaign to abolish it, ensuring that all workers receive a basic minimum as a right irrespective of their age. This discrimination is most acutely felt by school leavers and apprentices.

UNISON young members also this year backed the successful I-Count (http://www.stopclimatechaos.org/icount) campaign for the Climate Change Bill to be strengthened by increasing carbon emission reduction targets from 60 to 80% by 2050 and for the UKs share of shipping and air transport emissions to be included in those targets. After widespread pressure, the Climate Change Act of 2008 accepted I-Count’s demands for:

- A target of 80% reduction in emissions by 2050
- Yearly targets for emissions reductions
- And aviation and shipping will now be included in the emissions targets

On the 6th of December, as part of the Global Day of Action there were National Climate Marches across over 70 countries, which many young UNISON members attended.
The march in London had four major themes:

- Oppose a 3rd runway at Heathrow and further aviation expansion.
- No new coal power stations.
- Oppose the expansion of agrofuels – which have negative impacts on forests, the climate and world food supply.
- Support for a renewable energy revolution and the creation of green jobs.

With many environmental groups arguing that emissions reduction will need to be 90% by 2050, and the government appearing reticent to take the action necessary to meet its own targets, it is essential that workers continue to educate and agitate in their workplaces to raise awareness of the imminent impacts of climate change, and organise to prevent it.

In solidarity,

James Caspell
Lambeth UNISON Young Members Officer 2008-9
james.caspell@gmail.com

Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip

2008-12-13T04:52:00.000-08:00

Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip from Leo Murray on Vimeo.

Event: Ecosocialism for the 21st century

2008-12-08T04:04:00.000-08:00

Wednesday 10 December @ 7.30

Ecosocialism for the 21st century
A socialist response to climate change and the financial crisis

Speaker: Sean Thompson (Green Left)
Venue: Indian YMCA, 41 Fitzroy Square, W1 (Warren Street tube)

Public borrowing, public spending and tax cuts to inject money into the economy so that people will spend, spend, spend. And of course most of what is bought is either useless, thrown away or environmentally harmful.

It is possible to have a society in which everyone's needs are met and which does not follow Gordon Brown's route of production, profit making and environmental degradation. Sean Thompson will explain how it is possible for working people not to pay the price for the capitalist crisis and to have an ecologically sustainable future.

Wednesday 3rd December - Climate change or climate disaster?

2008-12-02T11:01:00.000-08:00

Members of Permanent Revolution and Green Left discuss the ever more dramatic threat to the planet and whether “ecosocialism” can provide an answer to the oncoming crisis.

Upstairs at the Ship Pub, 68 Borough Road (corner with Newington Causeway) London SE1. Starting time 7.30.pm (nearest tube Elephant & Castle or Borough)

Join PR and Green Left on the national Climate March this Saturday 6th December, part of a Global Day of climate protests. Starts at 12.00 noon Grosvenor Square (Bond st or Marble Arch Tube)

Israeli navy blocks Gaza aid ship

2008-12-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

Reports say Libyan ship carrying 3,000 tonnes of aid has docked at Egyptian port after being turned back by Israeli ship

Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem

guardian.co.uk, Monday December 1 2008 12.26 GMT

The Israeli navy today prevented a Libyan ship carrying 3,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid for Palestinians from docking in Gaza.

The al-Marwa, carrying food, blankets and powdered milk, attempted to challenge Israel's tight economic blockade on the Gaza Strip, which has worsened in recent weeks.

But as the ship approached Gazan water at dawn, an Israeli naval ship ordered it to turn back. The al-Marwa headed south and has reportedly docked at al-Arish, an Egyptian port in the northern Sinai just south of Gaza.

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said there was no physical contact with the ship but it was ordered back by radio. "This is a policy we have had for a long time: if somebody wants to bring in humanitarian aid they can do it through the border with Egypt or the Israeli passages into Gaza," said the spokesman, Andy David.

However, since the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas won parliamentary elections nearly three years ago, Israel has imposed ever tighter restrictions on Gaza.

When Hamas took full control of Gaza last summer those restrictions became an economic blockade, while Egypt has also kept its one crossing into Gaza at Rafah largely closed.

As a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in Gaza has unravelled in the past month, so the blockade has again been tightened. Deliveries of food, aid and fuel have been prevented on most days and journalists have been barred from entering.

Three smaller boats carrying activists and some aid successfully crossed into Gaza from Cyprus without being stopped by the Israeli navy. However, the Israelis moved quickly to prevent the Libyan ship, which carried a much larger cargo, from entering.

A crowd of Palestinians had gathered at the Gaza City harbour from early in the morning ready to meet the ship. Five trucks waited to offload the aid.

"The civilian boat carrying only humanitarian supplies and food was turned away by an Israeli warship," said Jamal Khoudary, a Palestinian MP and head of Gaza's Popular Committee against the Siege.

Some reports suggested the aid might now be unloaded in Egypt and delivered by road, although until now Egypt has been reluctant to turn the Rafah crossing with Gaza into a regular route for deliveries. Egypt does not want to assume responsibility for the strip and is also wary of the influence of Hamas.

Concern is mounting about the humanitarian conditions inside Gaza. Its sole power plant, which relies on fuel deliveries from Israel, paid for by the European Union, was closed for two weeks in November and only restarted last Thursday.

Israel says the crossings are being closed because of rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel and because of reported security threats on the crossings themselves.

Every few days a shipment of food or fuel is allowed in but figures from the UN show in the past month an average of less than five truckloads a day have been allowed in, compared to 123 in October and 475 in May last year, just before Hamas took control of Gaza.

Israel's Eden Springs taking hits from successful boycott campaign

2008-11-25T06:51:00.000-08:00

Israeli water cooler company Eden Springs has closed its East of Scotland depot after losing, according to a well placed industry insider, 'hundreds of contracts' across Scotland. Among the major losses in recent months, in an industry that is generally expanding, are contracts with East Lothian and West Lothian Councils and Caledonian MacBrayne Ferrries, the sole link between the mainland and Scotland's many islands. Heriot –Watt University in Edinburgh has also cancelled and Stevenson College, the Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations, as well as a number of Scottish trade union and student bodies have all voted to boycott Eden springs explicitly on the grounds of their violations of international and human rights law.

The closure of Eden Springs East of Scotland depot at Loanhead (Edinburgh) and the loss of so many contracts is widely recognised within the industry to be due in part, according to the same source, to a determined publicity campaign by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign. This campaign is in response to the appeal from Palestinians, and is supported by the main Israeli peace group, Gush Shalom, who oppose Eden Springs' violations of international and human rights law in the occupied Golan Heights.

Eden Springs has been keen to conceal its status as an-Israeli owned company. Another industry insider, who wished to remain anonymous, reports that Eden Springs manager, Graham Carruthers, has been canvassing customer responses to a name change as one way to limit the damage done by increasing association of the brand with Israel and its crimes. In view of the gravity of the crisis that Eden Springs faces in Scotland, Mr Carruthers has also been handling personally all calls to the sole remaining Scottish depot in Blantyre that relate to Eden Springs' Israeli connection.

Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign secretary@scottishpsc.org.uk www.scottishpsc.org.uk

Under siege: 70% of Gaza blacked out; Israel turns away convoy carrying medicine

2008-11-17T06:49:00.001-08:00

There have been rolling blackouts in Gaza since the power station shut down on Thursday.

Israel has sealed its borders with Gaza virtually every day since 4 November, blocking deliveries of food, fuel, and medicine.

The United Nations was forced to suspend a food program serving 750,000 Palestinians on Friday due to the blockade

From Maan News in Gaza:
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33276

The crisis is deepening in Gaza - Join us on Wednesday the 19
November!

Join the Lobby of Parliament to ask for justice for the Palestinian people this Wednesday the 19th November.

Join the protest - Israeli president Shimon Peres is free to visit and be honoured in the UK while Gaza is denied basic commodities like food and fuel.

Come along to the meeting, 7pm on 19 November, to hear a range of speakers talk about the current situation and how the Government needs to take action now!

Prince Charles – Tax avoider

2008-11-17T06:14:00.000-08:00

Duchy of Cornwall – secret and unaccountable

Inquiry urged into the Duchy powers and finances

London – 14 November 2008

"Princes Charles enjoys privileged tax status. He does not pay corporation or inheritance tax. His income is taxed on a purely voluntary basis," said human rights and republican campaigner Peter Tatchell, on the occasion of the Prince of Wales's 60th birthday."Prince Charles treats the Duchy of Cornwall as his personal fiefdom.

It is valued at nearly £650 million. Although the Prince does not own the Duchy's capital assets, he does receive the income from them,which amounted to £16 million in 2007."It is time to end Charles's tax exemptions and hold a parliamentary inquiry into the constitutional role, power and wealth of Prince Charles in his capacity as the Duke of Cornwall and head of the Duchy of Cornwall."

The Duchy needs reforming, to end its privilege, nepotism and autocracy."Prince Charles should be paid from the civil list. Ownership of the571 square kilometres (135,000 acres) of Duchy land - mostly in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and the Isles of Scilly - should be transferred to local independent trusts and be used for the economic and social regeneration of these deprived, underdeveloped regions of the UK."

The Duchy of Cornwall portrays itself as a private estate which funds the public, charitable and private activities of the Prince of Wale sand his family. But the Duchy and the Prince's legal and financial entitlements are shrouded in secrecy and controversy."Parliamentary scrutiny and oversight is particularly weak.

There is an injunction preventing MPs questioning or discussing the status and power of the Duchy. Parliamentary questions are blocked, as Andrew George MP discovered in 1997."We need far greater transparency and accountability concerning the authority and operations of the Duchy."

In recent years, the Duchy of Cornwall has become a largely commercial enterprise with increasing profits that personally benefit the Duke of Cornwall, Prince Charles," said Mr Tatchell.

Further information: Peter Tatchell 020 7403 1790

Testimony: 12-year-old beaten and imprisoned with adults

2008-11-17T05:52:00.000-08:00

Muhammad Khawajah, 12

I live with my family in Ni'lin. We live on the ground floor of the house, my two uncles and their families live on the first floor, and my grandmother lives on the second floor.

Last Thursday [11 September], around 3:00 A.M., I woke up from my mother's shouts. She was shouting, "Get up! Get up! The army is here!" My father wasn't home that night. I got up and went out with her to the inner courtyard of the house. There were about 12 soldiers there, and their faces were painted black. One soldier wore a black hat that covered his face. He sat on the stairs outside the house and didn't take part. I think he was a collaborator who led them to houses.

The soldiers were on the first floor. I heard them tell my Uncle Sami to direct them to our floor. One of the soldiers asked, "Where is Muhammad?", and I realized he was asking about me. The soldier told my uncle to call me, so he did. I started walking towards them. Two soldiers grabbed me and took me outside. I realized they wanted to arrest me. I was afraid, and began to cry, and called my uncle to come with me.

The soldiers cuffed my hands tight with plastic handcuffs, which hurt a lot. A soldier grabbed me by the shirt from behind and started walking and pushing me forward. The shirt was up against my neck and I couldn't breathe properly. I tried to free myself, and he punched me in the back and pulled the shirt tighter, choking me even more. Another soldier also punched me and pulled my hair as we walked. I cried and called out for my uncle and my father. The soldiers hit me and said, "Quiet! Quiet!" They led me to an alleyway between the houses, where there are cactuses. We were walking by some cactuses and then one of the soldiers pushed me into them. The thorns pricked me in the hands and legs. The soldiers kept on pushing me forward and hitting me along the way.

While we were walking, children from the village began to throw stones at the soldiers. It felt like it was raining stones. The soldiers were confused. Some of them ran off, and the others pushed me to move faster, and I fell down. One soldier started dragging me along the ground, on my stomach, with my hands tied. The ground was full of stones, gravel, and dirt. He pulled me by my hands and I cried and shouted. He told me to shut up. He wanted to pull me faster, to get away from the stones. He dragged me a few meters, until we were behind a wall. It felt like my right knee and the palms of my hands were injured. My knee was bleeding.

Some soldiers fired tear gas in the direction of the stone throwers. The grenade fell not far from me and I started coughing and crying. My eyes were burning. We started walking again, the soldiers pushing me from behind. We got to a house in the village, about 400 meters away, and they broke in. It was the house of 'Abd a-Rahman Lu'ai 'Abd al-Halim, 14, who goes to school with me. They arrested him and his cousin, Sufian Nawaf al-Khawajah, 18. They took the three of us to the village center, about 400 meters from my house, and made us stand facing a shop with our hands raised. 'Abd a-Rahman and Sufian were handcuffed as well. The soldiers beat us and knocked us to the ground. We lay there and they stepped on us, on our heads and stomach, for a few minutes. Then they stood us on our feet and pushed us toward the entrance to the village. A soldier was behind each of us, holding each one by the shirt.

Every now and then the soldiers punched and kicked us. One soldier was angry at me in particular. He beat and strangled me, as if he wanted to kill me. I think some of the soldiers had been hit by the stones thrown by the children. I shouted and cried, I was so scared. It was still dark out. They led us about one kilometer, to the junction that leads to the Nili settlement. There were lots of army jeeps at the junction. The soldiers blindfolded me and put me into a jeep. It was about an hour after they had arrested me. The jeep began to move. I didn't know where it was going.

I sat on the floor of the jeep, without any soldiers next to me. After about half an hour, maybe an hour, of driving, the jeep stopped, and the soldiers took me out of it. I could see a bit through the blindfold. I didn't know where I was, but it was an army base. I saw another two jeeps pull up. They took 'Abd a-Rahman out of one and Sufian out of the other.Then they drove us somewhere else. There they sat us down on benches, and after ten minutes they called us in for questioning, one after the other. 'Abd a-Rahman went first and his questioning lasted for about twenty minutes. Then I went into the room and they took off my blindfold. I saw a man in civilian clothes. He was stout, with a round face and fair skin. He was wearing a skullcap. He said his name was Captain Sasson, and I also heard other people call him that. He sat me down next to his table and asked me questions about children from the village. He showed me pictures from a thick photo album, which had about 200 photos. He asked me about some children again and again, and I told him I didn't know them. Then he stopped asking me about them and showed me three pictures of myself, holding a slingshot in a demonstration against the separation fence. I admitted that it was me, but I kept on saying that I didn't know the other children. Then he hit me in the back with a plastic stool. I cried and shouted, and he hit me twice in the leg with a wooden stick.

A soldier who had a pistol on his hip ordered me to get up and face the window or the closet. There was a camera fixed in place in front of me. He took my picture, and then the interrogator told me to sign, with my fingerprint, a page with Hebrew writing. I don't know what it said. The soldier didn't read it to me. I assume it was a confession. I had to sign, because I was afraid he would beat me. The interrogator took prints of all my fingers, and then told the soldier to blindfold me again. He took me out of the room and sat me down on the bench outside. The interrogation had taken about half an hour. Then they took Sufian in, also for about half an hour.
Then they put the three of us in a big patrol van, and after driving for about quarter of an hour, they took us out and removed the blindfolds. I saw a sign that said "Ofer," and I realized we were in Ofer Prison. They took us into a room where they search people. They took off our clothes and a doctor examined us. They gave us bags with pants, a shirt, and flip-flops. They arrested Sufian and put him in a detention room. A policeman in a blue uniform [of the regular police] spoke with the soldiers. I understood that he was telling them to release us. He said to us, in Arabic, "You are small children and should be released."

They kept 'Abd a-Rahman and me outside the detention room and then returned us to the van. Our hands were still cuffed. After about twenty minutes, they brought each one of us a container of jello. They removed the cuffs and let us eat. About half an hour later, they put the cuffs back on.

Two soldiers were guarding us in the van. We weren't allowed to talk to each other. Whenever we said something, a soldier told us to shut up. It was very hot in the van, and we were sweating a lot. They didn't give us anything to eat or drink. They did let us go to the bathroom, removing the handcuffs and putting them back on when we returned.

We stayed like that until after the muezzin called worshipers to evening prayers, around 8:00 P.M. Then they took us to another camp. I think it was the Beit Sira camp. At the camp, they gave us a chocolate drink and put us in a small room with green army mattresses. There weren't any beds. The cuffs were loose now, so we took them off, drank the chocolate drink and went to sleep.

The next morning, at 10:00, they put us in a patrol van and cuffed our hands again, but this time they didn't blindfold us. They took us back to Ofer Prison and put us in the tent section, Department 2, which had eighty-three detainees, of all ages. Each department had four tents, with about twenty detainees in each.

The detainees treated us well. They gave us candy, chocolate and potato chips. I felt comfortable. I fasted during the day and played soccer and tennis. The Department had TVs, one in each tent. I saw kids' programs during the day and a Syrian show, "Bab al-Hara", at night. A detainee helped me ask for the doctor to treat my leg. They took me to the clinic and the doctor put iodine on my knee wound and bandaged it.

At first, I was afraid and cried sometimes, because my family was far away. I've never been detained before. It was a new experience for me. I didn't know anything about detention before then. I don't know why they detained me – the whole village and all the children took part in the demonstrations, so why did they pick me?! The adult detainees took care of me because I was the youngest detainee in the Department, and they decided to make me assistant to the sergeant of the Department.

I would wake up every morning at 6:00 and call to the detainees: "Let's go! Time for the count!" They would get up and then the soldiers would come in and count them. I stood next to the soldiers as they counted. The soldiers treated me with respect and asked the older detainees to take care of me. The Department sergeant always helped me. He was older than most of the other detainees and spoke Hebrew. We worked together, helping the detainees and submitting their requests to the prison officials and to the guards.

On Sunday morning [14 September], at 6:00, I was taken to court together with 'Abd a-Rahman. Before we left for court, they shackled our hands and legs with handcuffs and iron chains. When we got there, they put us in a small room to wait until the hearing began, at 2:00 P.M. We didn't ask for food or drink because we were fasting.

When the time for the hearing came, they took us into the courtroom, the two of us handcuffed. My father was there and so was a man from B'Tselem. Later, I learned that his name was Iyad Hadad. Other people also came to the hearing, and it made me feel good to see them. I was very happy to see my father, but the soldiers didn't let me hug him or even touch his hand.An Israeli lawyer defended me. I don't know her name. She asked that I be released on bond and the judge granted the request, but set bond at 3,000 shekels. My father didn't have the money, so we couldn't pay.

After the hearing, they took me back into detention. The next day, my father managed to borrow the money for the bond, and I was released on condition that I return to a hearing on Tuesday [16 September]. I went home to my parents and family. I was very happy. I went to the medical clinic in the village because my neck and shoulder hurt, and also because of the scratches and wound to my knee. They examined me and treated me. They told me to rest for a week and to come back for follow-up. My father went with me to the hearing on Tuesday. The hearing was postponed until 21 October 2008.

Since I got released, I've had problems. I wake up at night in fear and I can hardly sleep. I went to a psychologist called Khaled Shahawan and he gave me medicine and sedatives. I feel that it's hard to concentrate in school. Last year my grade average was 94.

Muhammad Salah Muhammad Khawajah, 12, is a student and a resident of Ni'lin in Ramallah District. His testimony was given to Iyad Hadad on 18 September 2008 at the witness's home

The Commune - Group of International Communists

2008-11-17T03:31:00.000-08:00

Eco-socialists may be interested in following the emergence of "The Commune" a group advocating "workers' self-management and communism from below".

You can read about them here: http://thecommune.wordpress.com/

They recently passed a motion at the LRC as below:

Social Ownership and Workers Self-Management

After years of being told 'There is No Alternative', the crisis of global capital has shown that the entire system can be brought into question. Furthermore the widespread state intervention to preserve finance capital has brought into question previously conceived ideas of nationalisation and "public ownership" traditionally accepted in the labour movement.

As part of developing a vision of a viable alternative to capitalism our movement needs to develop new ideas of social ownership and abandon statist conceptions which have proven to be an historical failure.

1. State ownership, no matter what pseudonym it goes under is not social ownership. They are in fact two counter-posed things: one cannot equate the state with society.
2. The state is not a neutral force concerned only with the welfare of society and possessing the ability and the means to take measures suited to this end. The state is not a vehicle to achieve 'socialism' and cannot be relied upon to act as a protective shield against capital.

The capitalist system, whether in its private or state forms of appearance, does not and cannot work in the interest of the majority. It is an unjust system, an economic tyranny where the rulers at all levels make the crucial economic decisions that affect our lives, solely on the basis of what will increase their profits and promote their interests. The Labour Representation Committee considers that the people who should have the deciding voice on the economy and its problems are the people most directly connected with it, the workers who produce the goods and services.

As such the Labour Representation Committee sets as it goal a system of genuine social ownership, organised on the basis of workers' self-management, a system of participatory
democracy based on the sovereignty of those who produce the goods and services in society.
Conference recognises that if we are to realise the slogan 'another world is possible' workers'
self-management is a necessity in the creation of a new cooperative society based on common, social ownership. Workers' self-management is not something which can be proclaimed or enacted from above, nor is there a blueprint. It requires a process of social self-organisation and creativity from below.
The publication of Building a new common sense, Social Ownership in the 21st Century is a
welcome initiative in helping rejuvenate discussion of these issues in the movement.

Conference agrees:
1. To hold a series of forums and conferences on the question of social ownership and workers' self-management, with LEAP and fraternal organisations.
2. To publish a series of pamphlets on making the case for social ownership and workers' self-management, drawing on historical, international and contemporary experiences of the working class.
3. To develop with affiliated trades unions the case for workers' self-management in specific industries.
4. From these discussions and debates to take forward a campaign for workers' selfmanagement
and social ownership

Green Worker - November Edition - Green Party Trade Union Group Newsletter

2008-11-14T02:03:00.001-08:00

Can be downloaded here:

Green Worker - November 2008

- MEPs Demand Recognition for Green Union Reps.
- Green Success Makes Southwark A Living Wage Employer

Next GPTU Meeting:
Wednesday 26th November
6.30pm
1st Floor National Theatre
Southbank, London SE1

All aboard Ken's "Red-Green" bandwagon?

2008-11-13T08:38:00.000-08:00

As expected, Ken has finally launched his popular front vehicle in a bid to recapture the mayoralty in 2012: http://www.progressivelondon.org.uk/:

"Ken Livingstone today announced the establishment of a new coalition, Progressive London, to promote progressive policies in the city."

(i.e. himself)

The likely parallels the 2012 election will have with when Ken took over the reigns of County Hall in 1981 – two years into a Tory government – means that he may well have psephological precedent on his side.

However, Sacha Ismail of the AWL provides a lucid theoretical and empirical critique of why those of us on the revolutionary left shouldn’t be blindly supporting this initiative, with its whole raison d’etre being trotting out (no pun intended) another carousel of faux-cialist elites, rather than a way of building rank and file working class resistance. In conclusion, Ismail states:

All genuine socialists must oppose labour movement involvement in this scheme. Instead we should fight for a labour movement alliance which campaigns to defend and extend the rights of working-class Londoners in the current crisis, and uses the 2012 elections as a platform to rebuild working-class political representation.

I couldn't agree more and hope that many in the Green Party remain sceptical of jumping on the Ken bandwagon earlier than might be electorally necessary. There have been rumours doing the rounds that Ken has even threatened to run as a Green candidate if Labour do not select him!

Derek Wall of my own Green Left and Green Party is more sympathetic to Ken’s initiative (which appears to have the support of both Green Party Assembly Members, Darren Johnson and Jenny Jones), outlining valid and germane points of contention between the old and new Mayoral administrations. Derek also points out Ken’s solidarity with Venezeula and opposition to incinerators.

It’s fair to say that as mainstream politicians go, Ken is quite good on environmental issues and (state-orientated) international issues. However, at the last Mayoral elections, many - mainly outside of the Green Party - were arguing that if anything Ken needed to become more “red” than he needed to become “more green”. I am inclined to agree, whilst emphasising, from an eco-socialist perspective, that far from being mutually exclusive, the two ideological strands are necessarily congruent.

However the extent to which Progressive London can be described as a true "red-green coalition" is tenuous I think, as its clearly a popular front aimed at winning back the portion of the "progressive" centre-left vote that might have voted Boris last time around.

Ken bragged during the elections about how much support he had from the City and spent 8 years slamming the RMT and breaking their picket lines. Similarly in Venezuela, self-styled champion of the people Hugo Chavez has sent the armed police in to break up striking steel workers. Neither are proven allies of the working class from a revolutionary.

Both Chavez and Ken are classic reformist politicians in the sense that they aren't serious about empowering workers to take control of society themselves, but rather making the system slightly better for them through their benevolence. Our support for both should at all times be critical, though we should of course critically support them as least worst options when this is of immediate and relative electoral benefit to the working class (such as in the last – and possibly the next -Mayoral elections).

Green New Deal - or a Raw Deal for Workers?

2008-11-13T04:29:00.000-08:00

The global economy is facing a ‘triple crunch’: a combination of a credit-fuelled financial crisis, accelerating climate change and soaring energy prices underpinned by encroaching peak oil. It is increasingly clear that these three overlapping events threaten to develop into a perfect storm, the like of which has not been seen since the Great Depression, with potentially devastating consequences.

The Green New Deal Group, drawing inspiration from the tone of President Roosevelt’s comprehensive response to the Great Depression, propose a modernised version, a ‘Green New Deal’ designed to power a renewables revolution, create thousands of green-collar jobs and rein in the distorting power of the finance sector while making more low-cost capital available for pressing priorities. (New Economics Foundation)

Trotsky described the first New Deal as a "blood tranfusion" for capitalism and in many ways the emphasis on system stabilisation means that the Green New Deal is no different.

Capitalism and its innate drive towards growth is the root cause of climate change and, as such, attempts to "green" it through reforms alone will not work in delivering an environmentally sustainable society, as it is not in the interests of economic elites to do so. It also means that the billions of people who who have no ownership and control over their lives will continue to languish in absolute and relative poverty as privileged elites seek to preserve their material privilege at their direct expense.

The Green New Deal calls for "Re-regulating and restricting the international finance sector to transform national economies and the global economy" (Page 6). However, it fails to outline the composition of the state (or states) that should carry out such "re-regulation". This implies that existing wealthy, neo-liberal states will carry out this function, though it is difficult to see how or why within the current global governance architecture, and given existing circuits of capital, they would be incentivised to do so for the benefit of the global population. Therefore the Green New Deal is over-reliant on elite negotiation, rather than seeking to encourage and empower workers to take collective action to create a sustainable and egalitarian society in which they have ownership and control over a decentralised planned economy.

The Green Party should encourage workers and unions to take collective industrial and direct action to deliver a fair, sustainable society for everyone, not just the most privileged states and populations in what is currently a fundamentally unequal economic system.

Green New Deal can be downloaded here: http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/z_sys_publicationdetail.aspx?pid=258

Green Success Makes Southwark A Living Wage Employer

2008-11-07T08:56:00.001-08:00

Green Councillor Jenny Jones has successfully passed a motion to make Southwark Council a Living Wage employer, at a full Council meeting on Wednesday 5th of November

The motion commits the Council to paying all staff, including sub-contracted staff, the London Living Wage and to use local strategic partnerships and other private sector engagements to promote the living wage more widely. Proposed by Green Councillor and London Assembly Member, Jenny Jones, the motion passed with support from Labour, despite hostility from Lib Dem Councillors.
Southwark is only the second Borough to adopt official policy backing a Living Wage, with Lewisham being the other where there are 6 Green Party Councillors.

The Living Wage is the real minimum rate of pay that enables a worker to provide a decent standard of living for themselves and their family. In London, the Living Wage currently stands at £7.45 per hour. The background to this figure can be found in the document, A Fairer London: The Living Wage in London (GLA 2008). Many service sector workers - including cleaners, security guards and catering staff - experience low pay and difficult, sometimes exploitative working conditions. It is estimated that in London alone 400,000 people fall into this working poverty trap.

Jenny Jones stated, "The Green Party has supported the London Living Wage from the outset and will continue to fight for all organisations to ensure that their staff are not receiving poverty pay."

ENDS

LSE Students, Staff and Children Campaign to 'Save our Nursery'

2008-11-06T07:57:00.000-08:00

This morning, LSE Students' Union held a vocal protest on campus against the potential closure of the LSE Nursery, supported by the Nursery's children and their parents.

A small delegation of toddlers also presented LSE Director(Vice-Chancellor) Howard Davies with an LSE poster they had made for him. The Nursery, which runs a deficit, is the subject of a consultation initiated by the School's Academic Planning and Resources Committee.

Options being considered include privatisation, childcare vouchers and closure. Commenting on the action, Students' Union General Secretary Aled Dilwyn Fisher said: "I've seen a lot of protests in my time at LSE, but this was by far the best ever - the children, their parents and Nursery staffare all so passionate about the facility. The Nursery is an essential service: saving it is the Students' Union's top priority this year".

He added: "Our Nursery shouldn't need to make a profit; by threatening the Nursery with closure, LSE is risking its reputation as a diverse and inclusive centre of excellence". Student parent Katharine Deas added: "Without the LSE Nursery, I wouldn't be able to study at LSE. We are all extremely worried about the future of the Nursery."

LSE's briefing paper for the consultation can be found here:http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/nursery/pdf/LSEConsultation.pdf2.

Photos of protest located here (Credit Dan Sheldon): http://etc.lsetoday.com/nursery/

CONTACTS
Dan Sheldon (LSE Students' Union Communications Officer) -
020 7955 6832/ 07800 50 21 80, su.comms@lse.ac.uk

OneVoice isn't as inclusive as it sounds!

2008-11-06T07:53:00.000-08:00

OneVoice Europe will be conducting a tour of UK Universities from10th-15th November. This organisation, whose badge was prominently displayed by Paul McCartney on his recent trip to Israel (despite numerous calls for him to stay away), has an impressive Honorary Board of advisors which includes everyone from Dr. Saeb Erekat to Sir Jonathan Sacks, and describes itself as a "grassroots movement" promoting"conflict resolution".

While claiming that it "does not propose any solutions" it is in fact rather dogmatic about an eventual two-state outcome,apparently not welcoming a more diverse debate about the possible forms that the end of occupation and apartheid could take.

BRICUP is highly sceptical of such organisations, with their wishy-washy-touchy-feely ethos promoting "moderate voices" and condemning "extremism". While acknowledging that ending the occupation is a top priority for Palestinians, OneVoice doesn't actually campaign to bring this about, and gives equal prominence to Israeli concerns "to end terror and the existential threat to Israel". In short, its discourse implies equality between the two "sides". BRICUPbelieves that there is no equality between occupier and occupied and that organisations maintaining this pretence merely serve to promote
the status quo.

BRICUP encourages its supporters to attend OneVoice's campus meetings and to argue in them for how international civil society can really make a difference - not by promoting spurious "dialogue"and "negotiations" that lead nowhere, but by supporting the Palestinian call for boycott, sanctions and divestment until Israel complies with international law.

OneVoice's website is here - judge for yourselves:http://www.onevoicemovement.org

Sue Blackwellon behalf of BRICUPwww.bricup.org.uk

Are we really fighting in UNISON?

2008-11-05T07:52:00.000-08:00

By James Caspell
Earlier this year, local government workers in UNISON voted for sustained industrial action in support of their claim to "catch up and match up" their salaries with the level of inflation over the last two years, and reject yet another pay cut being imposed by a Labour Government.

Despite this, after just two days of strike action, UNISON’s national bureaucracy decided to suspend all further threats of industrial action, without consultation, before even entering formal negotiations with the employer, therefore undermining the only tactic we had strong enough to win our demands – the collective withdrawal of our labour power.

Since then negotiations have ensued behind closed doors with little obvious progress. Inflation has continually risen, reaching 5.2% last month using the Governments own measure, whilst Labour continues to expect local government workers to accept a 2.75 % pay cut in real terms.
The logical step for UNISON would have been be to actually demand more than the original 6% claim, and continue to seek inflation proofing for the two year period, backed up with hard-hitting and sustained industrial action as demanded by the membership, yet instead we have seen total capitulation from our national leadership – and not for the first time.

The national bureaucracy cited low turnout as a reason for suspending the campaign for industrial action and it is true that the union was not as solid as it could have been had the workforce been more confident.

Yet many grassroots activists report that the reason for widespread apathy within trade unions is that members know that whatever they "threaten" with regards to collective action, it will be compromised by weak "leadership" and selling out at the earliest possible opportunity. Such compromises are subsequently sold to the membership as a “victory” when they are nothing of the sort.

It is indeed a vicious circle in terms of rebuilding strong fighting unions, but one which can only be broken by rebuilding the trade union movement from the bottom up.

The real solution is to wrestle power and focus away from the unelected bureaucrats and put it back in the hands of rank-and-file workers. The only way of doing that is to organise and empower workers at a shop level upwards, encompassing the "bread and butter" issues which affect them; fighting local injustice and broadening the scope out to wider issues on the back of real successes, rather than empty promises.

Unions need to spell a vision not simply of "nationalising" organisations and bringing them into “public ownership”, but exemplifying what workers-control and co-operation looks like. This requires not only widespread local activism, but political education and encouraging the energy and enthusiasm of workers to participate, instead of pacifying them and seeking to win demands without workers taking part. It is the task of socialists to organise, educate and agitate the working class, not get elected and try and change the system from within devoid of tangible real mass activism.

Why are we calling for hollow demands of "nationalisation" and "public ownership" without any explanation of what that would entail in a way that would benefit the working class? As a result of the credit crunch, the ideology of capitalism has taken a blow which needs to be exploited by painting a picture of what a socialist alternative looks like. The fact that evictions have increased since the “nationalisation” of Northern Rock exemplifies how vacuous it is to repeat the same tired transitional demands at a point when even the three bourgeois parties accept he need for state intervention in the banking sector.

Similarly "planning" should not be centralised by default, but by exception. The only way plans based on socialism and co-operation will be receptive to the needs of people and their communities is if they are the driving force behind them and have control over them collectively, not a centralised bureaucracy, whether it be under a capitalist or "workers" government. The same applies to trade unions.

However, there are as many political and legislative obstacles within our unions, especially at branch level, as there are imposed by central government. Last year UNISON’s bureaucracy launched a disciplinary investigation into five union officers for printing and publishing a leaflet attacking the leadership for blocking the union conference's right to debate issues such as the funding of the Labour Party, the election of fulltime officials and control over strike action. A third of all motions were ruled out of order last year and nearly half of all motions have been ruled out for this year's conference, seemingly for political reasons. Who needs bosses with union bureaucrats like these?

There is a need to reclaim the union, but this cannot be done through regional and national elections alone. UNISON United Left are perhaps admirable in seeking to achieve electoral gains from above, but any effort to win the union at the top will remain vacuous whilst the membership remains almost entirely disengaged at a grassroots level.

Institutionally, the bureaucracy is a cancer of the workers movement rife with material and political privilege for those at the top, and must eventually be swept aside. Through the process of building a rank-and-file union movement is the need to encourage, even demand, that members take ownership over the decision making process and participate in the running of their union in their shops and branches.

There is a lot of room for manoeuvre in the strength of collective action to initiate socialist ideas within the trade union movement, but it requires a fundamental change of approach. Activists need to rid themselves of the default mindset of "what can we do for our members" to encouraging and facilitating workers to take action for themselves and demonstrate what can be achieved through collective action. Representation and workers participation and control are not mutually exclusive, but the former is entirely meaningless, from a socialist perspective, without the latter.

Ultimately for trade unions to be at the forefront of a socialist transformation of society, it will be necessary to break the law. However, in the interim, activists can work to energise workers at a local level and demonstrate that collective action can achieve outcomes from which everyone benefits. For trade unions to pose a socialist, revolutionary alternative, it is essential for activists to organise, educate and agitate alongside and amongst workers, not in place of them.

LSE Students Beaten by Police at Queen Demo

2008-11-05T05:57:00.000-08:00

Police have used unlawful violence to prevent a student demonstration at the London School of Economics.

Students gathered outside the opening of the New Academic Building by the Queen to protest against the naming of a lecture theatre after Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the dead dictator of the UAE. When the group dropped a banner reading "No more Dirty Money at LSE" a policeman approached the group and, without warning, kneed a student in the testicles and punched him on the side of the head twice.

The group also hoped to draw attention to the corporate and unethical direction of the LSE.

A photographer from The Beaver, the newspaper of the LSE Students' Union, took photographs of the unlawful violence. The policeman who had used unlawful violence then approached the photographer and used aggressive and forceful language to unlawfully coerce the photographer to delete the photographs.

When the group arrived, police informed them that a demonstration would not be permitted due the Queen's presence at the opening. The group sought legal advice from a professional lawyer and were told that a demonstration would be legal and any action to prevent it would be illegal.
Protesters were prevented from distributing leaflets on the patio of the New Academic Building by LSE security.

A spokesperson for the group said, "We gathered to lawfully protest against the corporate and unethical direction of the LSE. We made our lawful and non-violent intentions clear to both the Police and the LSE at the beginning of the demonstration. The freedom of association and free speech are essential parts of any liberal democracy. We condemn in the strongest terms both the actions of the Metropolitan Police and LSE security staff. We shall not allow this incident to deter us from drawing attention to and opposing the unethical direction which LSE is taking.

Other banners that the protestors had intended to display read "LSE not £$€" and "Human rights for UAE."

The group intend to make representation to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and other authorities.

Executive Editor of The Beaver Joseph Cotterill said, "For the police to treat protesters in this way is reprehensible in any case, but to deny a member of the media the right to report what happened is completely unacceptable. We want answers."

The leaflets that the protestors distributed read,

"A theatre inside the New Academic Building is named after Sheikh Zayed, the former dictator of the United Arab Emirates. We oppose commemorating a dictator who: According to Amnesty International, sanctioned torture of his citizens and refused to sign international agreements on human rightsOutlawed Trade Unions and implemented employment law which forbid workers from leaving their job or the country without their employer's permission. Outlawed homosexuality and imprisoned LGBT peopleBut there is more. The LSE also: Invests money in arms companies BAE Systems, Boeing and Rolls RoyceInvests in BHP Biliton, a firm which produces produces uranium for nuclear weaponsAccepted donations of over £1m from BP, a company which cut safety budget, leading to the death of 15 people.Appointed BP Chairman Peter Shutherland as Chair of LSE Council despite large scale student opposition.

We are a broad coalition of students concerned with the corporate and unethical direction of the LSE. We resent the fact that the LSE has decided to commemorate former UAE dictator Sheikh Zayed in exchange for £2.5m. By naming a lecture theatre after him the LSE is endorsing his dismal human, workers' and LGBT rights record. We resent too that this is representative of a wider culture at LSE. The LSE currently invests in arms companies and firms which enrich uranium for use in nuclear weapons. The LSE has accepted donations of over £1m from BP and named BP Chairman Peter Sutherland as Chair of LSE Council. Sutherland was present at BP board meetings that authorised the cutting of safety budgets, which cost the lives of 15 people and caused monumental environmental damage.

Our facilities and our knowledge are increasingly harnessed to the demands of an administration subordinated to the profit motive above all else. LSE's students, academics and staff deserve better. In anticipation of further steps in this direction by the School, we have decided to make a stand. Please join us in the fight for a better LSE."

Notes to Editors

Pictures available upon request.
For more information contact 07533058329 or 07825779606 or m.deas@lse.ac.uk or ethicalLSE@googlemail.com
To contact Joseph Cotterill telephone 02079556705

Why vote for Cynthia McKinney (Green Party) over Obama?

2008-11-04T03:54:00.000-08:00

She isn't an anti-working class Zionist who wants to take military action against Pakistan; she represents a Party that is serious about climate change; would increase the minimum wage above the real-terms level it was in 1970 (unlike Obama) and is the only candidate to actually vote against the Iraq War. She introduced, championed, and passed the Arms Trade Code of Conduct, prohibiting the sale of arms to known human rights abusers; she introduced Articles of Impeachment for Bush, Cheney, and Rice. She is the only leftist candidate.

There's never been such a false dawn as the imminent election of Obama. The only good thing about him is that he has enfranchised a lot of black voters who are going to be sadly disappointed sooner or later by his hollow rhetoric. Hopefully they'll not turn back to "guns and religion" and help forge a radical left alternative rather than continue to follow the bankrupt liberal virus embodied by the Democrats, that puts profit before people in the name of "freedom"…

LSE ALUMNI LAUNCH PALESTINE SOLIDARITY INITIATIVE

2008-11-03T02:58:00.000-08:00

Two alumni of the London School of Economics have a launched a "solidarity initiative" that aims to increase the number of Palestinian students who apply to, and potentially attend, the university.

Over recent years, LSE's apparent failure to support the Right to Education Campaign for Palestinians has caused uproar on campus, whilst there were only two Palestinian offer holders expected to attend the university for the current academic year.

The Palestine Solidarity Initiative (http://www.palestinesolidarity.org/) provides an opportunity for those with links to the London School of Economics to actively support the right to education for Palestinian students. It aims to encourage all students, alumni, staff and academics connected with LSE to assist those hindered in exercising their right to education by the Israeli Occupation - politically, educationally and financially – by encouraging and supporting increased applications from Palestinian students to the vast array of Masters degree programs that the LSE has to offer. This is primarily through twinning potential Palestinian applicants with those in the LSE community with the relevant subject knowledge.

Exhibiting clear political aims, the Initiative also aims to encourage people to lobby LSE to provide scholarships specifically aimed at Palestinians, abolish all postgraduate application fees and establish formal links with Birzeit University's Right to Education Campaign. The LSE-Palestine Solidarity initiative also demands that the university divests from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation, which is the explicit policy of the LSE Students' Union.

The Initiative was founded by James Caspell and Ziyaad Lunat, two LSE alumni and student activists who have long campaigned for the liberation of Palestine.

James Caspell stated, "The systematic denial of the right to education is a political problem that will ultimately require a political situation. Therefore this Initiative not only aims to support individual Palestinians, but raise the level of political consciousness and activism within the LSE community, supporting the Palestinian people collectively in their struggle against Israeli Occupation."

Ziyaad Lunat added, "The Palestine Solidarity Initiative is an attempt by activists to bring together political demands with practical solutions and bypass the LSE bureaucracy's pro-Israel bias. Through providing direct support to Palestinians living under Israeli Occupation, we encourage the LSE community to demonstrate solidarity with Palestinian students whilst providing more opportunities for Palestinians to fulfil their academic potential"

Notes to Editors

For more information or to register your support: http://www.palestinesolidarity.org/

For more information on the Right to Education Campaign visit: http://right2edu.birzeit.edu/

The London School of Economics Students' Union is officially twinned with Al-Najah University and recently voted to divest funds from those companies profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. In an attempt to curb the pro-Israel bias of the LSE administration, a number of students involved with the LSE Students' Union Palestine Society occupied a meeting of LSE Council, the highest decision making body, in October 2007 in order to have the opportunity to address their concerns to Director Howard Davies. For more information about the occupation of LSE Council in October 2007, visit: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/10/384758.html

Contact:

James Caspell James.caspell@gmail.com

Ziyaad Lunat mailto:mz.lunat@googlemail.com

Israel's democratic facade erodes, by Ziyaad Lunat

2008-10-15T05:06:00.000-07:00

The Electronic Intifada, 14 October 2008 A Palestinian home torched during the Acre riots. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Recent riots in the Israeli town of Acre have attracted unwanted attention towards its Arab residents, Palestinian citizens of Israel who make a third of the city's population. The disturbances began after Jewish extremists attacked a Palestinian man for driving during the religious holiday of Yom Kippur, when traffic in Israel largely comes to a halt. This was followed by an outbreak of violence during which Jewish mobs attacked the Palestinian neighborhood in Acre's old city, throwing stones and torching homes.

These events have been interpreted by mainstream media as an aberration in Israel's model "democracy." The BBC echoed official Israeli discourse, emphasizing that the so-called "Israeli-Arabs" "have full rights as Israeli citizens." Meanwhile, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called Acre "a shining example of co-existence." However, the latest disturbances have brought to the fore a deeper issue: the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians from inside Israel by Israeli Jewish extremists. According to Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, the violence at Acre was reminiscent of Bosnia, with mobs dehumanizing and inciting hatred against the Palestinians.

Historically, the Zionist state has been in the forefront of the efforts to suppress its Palestinian citizens, through a complex legal framework that circumspectly discriminates against them, but allows for Israel to sustain a "democratic" facade. One example of state discrimination is Israel's policy of expropriating land from Palestinians and reserving it for "the Jewish people in perpetuity" and allowing the Jewish National Fund to administer these properties. This is matched by a separate, but related, policy of house demolitions linked to severe restriction on building permits that are designed to contain Palestinian urban growth within Israel. Therefore, the state has acted as a guarantor of the fragile and often contradictory relationship between democratic values and Zionist's racial doctrine.

Israel provides political representation for its Palestinian citizens, as well as other social and economic rights, but only to the extent of their submissive acceptance of Jewish domination of the public sphere. This means that only the Zionist establishment can dictate the rules of the game for which the Palestinians are allowed to maintain their citizenship rights. In turn, the Israeli state displays its Palestinian citizens as a token of its democratic principles and practices to the rest of the world.

In spite of these measures, Palestinian citizens of Israel have progressively consolidated their capacity for political mobilization and have demanded equal rights under the banner of "a state for all its citizens." There has also been a growing recognition of their common faith with their Palestinian brethren in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. This connection was evident in October 2000, when Israeli security forces killed 13 of its own Palestinian citizens who were protesting in solidarity with Palestinians under occupation in the first month of the second Palestinian intifada.

As a result, the Zionist state found itself having to deal with a "Palestinian problem" in the occupied territories and it became increasingly anxious about the "demographic threat" that its own Palestinian citizens came to represent. Israeli politicians on the left and right of the political spectrum have tried to devise solutions to contain the growing political and demographic strength of its Palestinian citizens. Some have advocated the "transfer" of the Palestinian citizens residing close to the internationally-recognized armistice line marking the boundary between Israel and the West Bank as part of a land swap with the Palestinian Authority in final status negotiations. Tzipi Livni, the prime minister delegate, argued that a Palestinian state would also provide a national solution for the Palestinian citizens of the Jewish state, hinting that they should voluntarily move to the Bantustans if unhappy with the Jewish state. More recently, there were proposals for a national service program as a means to compel Arab loyalty to the state.

The Zionist state however, in its efforts to maintain international legitimacy, has been incapable of devising a radical "final solution" for its Palestinian citizens, mirroring the ethnic cleansing of 1948, which would appease an increasingly impatient electorate. Jewish Israelis have progressively shifted their views to the far right and are increasingly prone to hold extremist views. A 2007 poll by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel shows that half of Jewish Israelis want their government to encourage Jewish emigration from Israel and 75 percent of Jewish youths said Arabs are less intelligent and clean than Jews. These results echo other similar surveys that indicate widespread racism within Jewish Israeli society and these voices have been growing inside government, too.

Extremist elements inside Israel have thus successfully mobilized to bypass the state and take matters into their own hands, for the state is increasingly seen as incapable of silencing Palestinian demands for full equality. The settler movement, long known for operating in this manner, have pioneered this model in the occupied territories. A settler pogrom on the village Asira al-Qabaliya last month alarmed the Israeli establishment by openly demonstrating its inability to control its most extremist citizens. This rift has now crossed into Israel, signaling a new struggle.

Last month, Professor Ze'ev Sternhell, a member of Peace Now, was the victim of an ideologically-motivated bomb attack by Zionist extremists who oppose any governmental "concessions" with the Palestinians in the occupied territories. Not only are the latest mob riots in Acre an expression of a deeply-rooted antagonism towards the Palestinian citizens of Israel, but they also signify a shift within Israeli society, where Zionist zealots bypass the state to articulate their supremacist ideology.

Thus, the Israeli establishment now has to deal with its own intra-communal conflict. Since its creation, Israel has tried to reconcile its image as a "democracy" with the Jewish exclusivist ideology of Zionism and must now contend with its own extremists, who do will not hesitate to wage war against the state in order to further redeem the land of "greater" Israel for an exclusively Jewish population. This rift is slowly disintegrating Israel's facade of co-existence and it is only a matter of time before Israel's internal contradictions are laid bare to the eyes of the world.

Ziyaad Lunat is a long-term activist for Palestinian rights. He is currently on the organizing committee of the Nakba60-London, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Palestinian dispossession and on the coordinating committee of Emory Advocates for Justice in Palestine, in Atlanta. He can be reached at z.lunat A T gmail D O T com.

Defend Our Local GP Surgeries, Meeting in Brixton, 15th October, 7pm

2008-10-06T04:16:00.000-07:00

Defend Our Local GP Surgeries

Keep Private Companies Out Of Our NHS

Host: Lambeth Public Services Not Private Profit

Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: Woolley House, Loughborough Estate, Brixton
Street: Corner of Loughborough Rd and Barrington Rd, Brixton

Map

SPEAKERS:Dr Ron Singer GP, Gill George from Unite (a health workers trade union), plus invited speaker from Lambeth Pensioners Action Group

Lambeth Primary Care Trust (PCT) is planning to build a new privatised health centre in Akerman Road. The new clinic will mean the closure of existing practices at Myatts Fields and Iveagh House - forcing thousands of local people to travel further for our health care.

The private company who will own 80% of the centre will make huge profits from renting it back to the PCT – draining millions of pounds from our publicly funded NHS, which could be used to improve community health services and pay decent wages to local health workers.

Lambeth Council recently rejected the planning application to build the new clinic because it was so badly designed and the area would not be able to cope with the massive increase in traffic. But now Lambeth PCT is coming back to try again so local residents and health workers are getting organised to stop it – come along to the meeting to find out more or to get involved.

New scholarship to promote human rights in Israel and Palestine/Occupied Territories

2008-10-06T04:14:00.000-07:00

From LSE website:

The Centre for the Study of Human Rights is delighted to announce the Sir Siegmund Warburg Scholarship available to students joining the MSc Human Rights programme in October 2009.

This new scholarship, which will be available every year from 2009, will offer Palestinian and Israeli students the opportunity to undertake full-time postgraduate human rights study at LSE.

The MSc Human Rights programme offers a concentrated, twelve-month engagement with human rights. The core course ‘Approaches to Human Rights’ provides students with an overview of the various philosophical, sociological and legal approaches to the subject. The core course is designed to give a strong intellectual underpinning to the MSc, which is then built on further through the choice of optional courses and dissertation subject which each student makes. More information about the MSc Human Rights is in the graduate prospectus.

The scholarship will cover the tuition fee (£13,992) and living expenses of £1000 per month (for up to 12 months). One scholarship will be awarded each year.

Welcoming the scholarship, the Director of the Centre of the Study of Human Rights at LSE Professor Conor Gearty, who also convenes the MSc programme, warmly thanked the anonymous funder whose generosity had made the scholarship available.

‘The academic study of human rights is not only about ideas and intellect, it is also about practice, about making a difference, and nowhere is this a more important goal than in the Middle East. I am very optimistic that over time the holders of this scholarship will make a real difference for the better in that troubled region.’

LAMBETH: Rent hikes could force families to quit work

2008-10-03T07:56:00.000-07:00

from: http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/topstories/3720792.LAMBETH__Rent_hikes_could_force_families_to_quit_work

Low income families could be pushed into unemployment as Lambeth Council hikes rents to pay off a projected £14m overspend.

The council has tripled rents on temporary accommodation meaning homeless residents not claiming benefits will have to pay above market rates to stay in them.

The council has admitted in a report this could encourage people to stop working, as residents claiming benefit are not affected by the increase.

Within weeks working residents staying in one- or two-bedroom flats will be forced to pay more than £300 a week.

About 200 mainly black and ethnic minority households will be affected by the move.

One opposition councillor said the move would catch people affected in a poverty trap and give them a strong disincentive to work.

He added: “This change will have a crippling and sudden impact on some of Lambeth’s most vulnerable families.

“It is wrong that such households should pay the price for mismanagement, incompetence and suspected fraud in the conduct of the temporary accommodation budget.”

The move is intended to maximise cash the Labour council can get off the Government for people claiming benefit in an effort to eat into its debts.

The council’s temporary accommodation fund will be an estimated £14m in the red by the end of this financial year because of a blunder in which the council paid for hundreds of temporary accommodation units that it could not fill.

The council denies any fraud following an internal management investigation.

A council spokeswoman said its proposals were long overdue and have been made to make income owed to the council “work harder” without adversely affecting tenants.

She said the new policy had already been successfully tried and tested in many other local authorities and a thorough risk assessment had been carried out to safeguard vulnerable households.

She added: "Our rent levels offer very good value for money and are considerably lower than market rents for inner-London.

“All households placed in temporary accommodation are eligible to claim housing benefit, and those on lower incomes are likely to receive close to the maximum level of benefit available.

“Additionally households who are suffering severe hardship can apply for Discretionary Housing Payments, which can be awarded by the council to households needing help with their housing costs.”

Scary School Nightmare, with the thoughts of Ivan Illich

2008-10-03T06:32:00.000-07:00

Statement on behalf of the Menezes family

2008-10-03T05:30:00.000-07:00

Press release: For immediate release 2.10.2008

Statement on behalf of the Menezes family"The Menezes family is shocked by the news of Sir Ian Blair's resignation, as it comes in the middle of the inquest into Jean's death.

As head of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Ian Blair should have been ultimately accountable for the death of Jean Charles de Menezes. We believe he certainly bears responsibility for the lies told about Jean and the cover up by the police in the aftermath of the shooting. He even tried to stop the IPCC investigating our cousin's death. The lack of accountability of the country's most senior police officer is one of the most shocking aspects of this tragedy.

For Sir Ian Blair to state that he has resigned 'not because of any failures or pressures of the office' therefore reinforces our belief that he and the Metropolitan Police still refuse to accept full responsibility for Jean's death.

For the family Sir Ian Blair resigning does not change anything. Our focus is on the inquest where we hope we can find out the whole truth about Jean's killing. We await the verdict and findings and hope it will bring us closer to justice and for steps to be taken to ensure that no other family has to suffer the anguish we have over the last 3 years."

A more balanced appraisal of the Ian Blair legacy is needed

2008-10-03T02:49:00.000-07:00

GREEN LEFT PRESS RELEASE:

The resignation of Ian Blair as Metropolitan Police Commissioner is fast becoming the second round of the Mayoral campaign. This is clouding judgement on Blair’s successes and failures. We have heard about his achievements in respect to reducing crime.

What we are not seeing is the other side of a tumultuous period in office.

Ian Blair was initially appointed as a reforming police commander but then came Stockwell. As the hearing continues into the shooting, we are reminded about the cover up and attempted smears of De Menezes. Surely the time for resignation should have been then, in accepting responsibility as the top police officer in the capital.

There is deep disquiet about racism in the police with senior BME officers taking action and the Black Police Officers Association refusing to cooperate with the Met. In a cosmopolitan city where one in four inhabitants come from an ethnic minority background, this issue should not be swept under the carpet.

Joseph Healy, Co-Convenor of Green Left and the Green Party's Parliamentary Candidate for Vauxhall, said “like the New Labour administration which appointed him, he promised much and delivered little. Systemic problems in the Met continue while cosmetic changes have been carried out under his watch.”

An office revolution, with Herbert Marcuse

2008-10-03T02:12:00.000-07:00

UNISON MATTERS Newsletter - September 2008

2008-10-01T07:58:00.000-07:00

The latest issue of Lambeth UNISON's newsletter for members working in Lambeth Living and the Housing, Regeneration and Environment department, is now available!

This month's bumper 12 page issue includes articles on:

- Privatization
- Job cuts
- New flexi-time scheme
- "Rewards" for agency staff
- Bullying
- Struggles in other trade unions and around the world

Click here to download the newsletter

Please print out copies to give to colleagues who don't have access to email or the Internet, and stick up on noticeboards!

Convention of the Left - South London Meeting, Wednesday, 22 October 2008

2008-09-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

The successful Convention of the Left (CoL) in Manchester the week of the 20th-24th September agreed to encourage the development of local left forums. A number of us who were there thought we should explore the idea of building one in south London – across the boroughs of Lewisham, Southwark, Lambeth and Wandsworth.

The CoL was supported by a broad range of individuals and left organisations both in and outside of the Labour Party – including Tony Benn, John MacDonnell MP, John Haylett (Editor Morning Star) Salma Yaqoob (Respect) Derek Wall (Green Party), the SWP, the CPB, Socialist Resistance, Permanent Revolution and many others. The sponsors and initial statement can be found on the CoL website – www.conventionoftheleft.org

We are not trying to create yet one more campaign but rather provide a forum for discussion on the left, exchanging experience of ongoing campaigns and discussing ideas. As there seem few links between the above London boroughs, despite similar struggles going on in all of them, it seemed a useful geographical starting point.

We have a room booked for an initial discussion of ideas and see whether the people and organisations present wish to pursue the idea of a south London CoL. Please pass this letter or email on to anyone you think might be interested.

Date: Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Time: 7.30-9.30
Place: The Vida Walsh Centre, 2b Saltoun Road, Brixton SW2 1EP
(the centre is by Windrush Square, across the road from Lambeth Town Hall, 5 mins from Brixton Tube)

Banner Dropped in Solidarity with Rossport & Maura

2008-09-29T02:40:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday early evening activists climbed lampposts to hang a banner outside of the Shell Centre in London saying ‘Shell to Hell: Victory to Rossport/Women say Nice One Maura.’ 2 were arrested and later released.

From Indymedia:

On Wednesday evening a women’s collective climbed 2 lampposts directly outside of Shell’s headquarters in London. After unfurling the banner the police came in large numbers and harassed the supporters on the ground.

A lively protest ensued for about 20 minutes whilst the climbers stayed up and people on the ground chanted. Information was given to the folks walking near the area about Rossport & Shell’s campaign of destruction in County Mayo. The police eventually managed to cut the banner down.

The climbers were arrested and later released without charge. We did this action to show support for the ongoing struggle of residents and supporters in Mayo to send Shell to Hell (or to Sea, depending on when and who).

Since late 2000 there has been an on-going attempt by multi-nationals and the Irish state to destroy a beautiful remote coastal area in the county Mayo with a toxic refinery and high pressure production gas pipeline.

The local residents and supporters have lead an inspiring and sustained campaign against this construction. In the last few weeks there has been a wave of action to stop the pipe-laying ship, the solitaire, from building.

Included in this was the inspiring hunger strike of local school teacher Maura Harrington. At the end of last week the solitaire left the bay for ‘essential repairs.’ Maura came off hunger strike and the campaign is working on ensuring that it does not come back.

For more information see:

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/09/409002.html
http://struggle.ws/rsc/

Champagne socialism - alive and well ;-)

2008-09-16T08:19:00.001-07:00

You know you're working in the public sector when you get an Out of Office reply like this:

"To all my comrades, living it up for two days in a luxury Hotel in London. Wednesday and Thursday 17-18. Please do not miss me."

Model Motion: Trade Unionists for Choice

2008-09-15T02:53:00.000-07:00

Trade Unionists for Choice (see here for more info http://www.feministfightback.org.uk/)

This branch notes:

- The successful defence of the 24 week time limit for abortion, which was under attack from hostile amendments in the human fertilisation and embryology bill in May.

- Further attempts to restrict a woman's right to choose via amendments to be tabled in October. These include:

1. Increasing the number of doctors required to approve later abortions
2. Imposing information, counselling and 'cooling off' delays to obstruct women.
3. Restricting grounds for abortion on metal health grounds.
4. Banning abortion after 24 weeks on grounds of foetal impairment.

- The positive amendments that have been added to the bill which improve women's ability to access to abortion. These include:

1. Extending access to safe, legal abortion to women in Northern Ireland.
2. Removing the two doctor's signature rule.
3. Enabling suitably trained nurses to carry out early abortions.
4. Allowing abortions to be performed in GP surgeries and family planning clinics rather than just in hospitals.
5. Banning deliberately misleading advertising.

- That the Trade Unionists for Choice initiative is not counter posed to the Abortion Rights campaign, but is intended to compliment it.

This branch believes:

- That any attack on abortion rights will have a detrimental impact on working class women and trade union members.

- That women in Northern Ireland are entitled to abortion rights.

- That we should take inspiration from the British labour movements' history of grassroots campaigning for abortion rights.

- That any campaign for abortion rights should be part of a broader fight for reproductive freedoms.

This branch resolves to:

- Sign the Trade Unionists for Choice statement

- Attend any pro-choice lobby or protest that is organised around the bill in October.

- To spread the information to other members in Unison (e.g through organising meetings, distributing literature).

-To Donate (£x amount) to the trade unionists for choice campaign organised by Feminist Fightback.

Italian comedian faces "Fascist" prosecution for mocking the Pope

2008-09-12T07:04:00.000-07:00

By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk

"The Minister of Justice in Italy has given prosecutors permission to use a Fascist-era law to punish a comedian for mocking the Pope.

Sabina Guzzanti is accused of "offending the honour of the sacred and inviolable person" of Pope Benedict XVI.

The satirist and comedian, during a routine at a rally in Rome in July, condemned the Vatican‘s interference in issues such as gay rights.

“Within twenty years the Pope will be where he ought to be, in Hell, tormented by great big poofter devils — and very active ones, not passive ones," she said.

Now the Rome prosecutor has been given permission to proceed against her under the 1929 Lateran Treaty.

The treaty, between the Vatican and the Italian government, was signed when fascist leader Benito Mussolini was in power.

It stipulated that an insult to the Pope carries the same penalty as an insult to the Italian President. Permission to bring a prosecution has to be given by the Ministry of Justice.

Nobel prize-winning playwright Dario Fo said of the decision to take action against a comedian: "This is Fascism pure and simple."

Ms Guzzanti's father, a centre Right MP, was shocked by the prosecution.
According to The Times Paolo Guzzanti branded it: "a return to the Middle Ages. Perhaps my daughter should be be submitted to the judgement of God by being made to walk on hot coals."

Conservative media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi won the Italian general election in March and began his third term as Prime Minister.

His predecessor Romano Prodi's commitment to increased gay rights caused tension in the previous administration.

It lost the support of parliament in January after the nine-party coalition government he was leading fell apart.

Proposals from ministers to bring forward a draft bill that would grant any unwed couple, gay or straight, the right to register themselves as a family stalled.

The proposed new law would also have granted some pension and health insurance rights, but falls far short of the civil partnerships gay and lesbians in the UK enjoy.

Italy is perhaps the only country in Europe where the Roman Catholic Church retains such strong influence over politics.

Church-state relations have improved following Pope Benedict XVI's repeated attacks on the proposed legislation to recognise gay couples."

"On the Tasks of the Writer-Worker", Nikolai Lyashko

2008-09-12T02:56:00.000-07:00

Found an interesting article on SovLit here:

"Among the desires of the working class in their quest to be strong and live a multi-faceted life, one of the first places is occupied by the desire to have their own artists and writers--precisely their own, from their family, close to them not only in ideology, but also in their feeling for life. From the moment of the awakening of consciousness in the working class, this desire drew individual workers to the pen. The wider the struggle grew, the greater the number of these individuals. Their first steps were the steps of one intoxicated with ideas and the thirst to draw those around them into the world of their ideas, experiences, and strivings."

Pay strikes brewing...

2008-09-10T09:04:00.000-07:00

Update here from Ed at Lib Com

"The past few days have seen teachers set to vote again on strike action in an ongoing dispute over a sub-inflation pay offer while thousands of carpenters, bricklayers, painters, joiners and labourers employed by local authorities voted in favour of industrial action for the same reason.

Executive members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) unanimously voted to proceed with a formal ballot at a meeting on Friday 5th September.

Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the NUT, said: "This is a campaign that becomes more relevant with each passing month. With food prices up 40%, utilities up over 30%, along with general inflation now running at 5%, teachers, particularly young teachers, are suffering."

The NUT represents almost 250,000 teachers and headteachers and is England's biggest teaching union and the strike by NUT members on the 24th April 2008 is estimated to have affected up to 9,500 schools.

The action sought to convince the Government to change its mind about a proposed 2.45% pay rise for teachers this year. Teachers received that pay increase this month, but the workers argue that, with inflation rates at 5%, this amounts to a 2.55% pay cut.

The ballot will take place over the next few months, meaning that action could "potentially take place this term."

Meanwhile, members of the construction workers union Ucatt in England and Wales backed action in protest of their 2.45% offer by 60%.

General secretary Alan Ritchie said: "Our members have signalled their unhappiness with the proposed package. We are scheduled to meet the employers next week. I remain hopeful that even at this late stage common sense will prevail."

Leaders of unions representing other local authority workers have been holding talks with employers for the past few weeks to try to break a deadlocked dispute, also over a 2.45% pay offer."

Good to see the NUT Exec pulling their finger out at last. With the PCS also balloting for industrial action over pay, it remains to be seen if the UNISON bureaucracy bottles it again and recommends a slightly less derisory offer (but still a pay cut in real terms) to the membership. A rumour from someone who is in the know suggests that an increased offer is on the cards, a capitulation to which would be a disgrace given the membership voted for "sustained industrial action" in our demand for 6%, rather than the two days we have already had before the bureaucracy got their deckchairs out for the summer...

There is a real opportunity for united and sustained action on the cards this autumn which would have positive ramifications far wider than just pay. Only by rebuilding the union movement from the bottom up and across industrial cleavages, sweeping aside the bureacratic dinosaurs who so often find reasons for unions not to act collectively, is there hope for trade unionism to realise its potential as a crucial agent of social change.

University staff set for 5% rise

2008-09-09T04:27:00.000-07:00

From BBC.

"UK university staff are set to receive pay rises of more than twice the government's public sector target rate.

Their three-year pay deal provided for 2.5% in the third year, starting next month - or the September retail prices index, whichever is higher.

This RPI figure is likely to be 5% - as Chancellor Alistair Darling is telling TUC delegates the limit should be 2%."

LSE strikes oil - and Holocaust denial

2008-09-08T04:36:00.000-07:00

Come one, come all!

Any oil baron who is anyone these days is flocking to the London School of Economics in an attempt to wipe the blood off of their hands – even the dead ones!

Not content with the sole presence of everyone's favourite abortion-banning oil plutocrat, Peter Sutherland, as Chair of its Council, LSE has gone one further and named its flagship lecture theatre in its new academic building after a fellow purveyor of black gold.

Sheik Zayad (who, for the uninitiated in the lives of oil despots, was “Life President” of the UAE from 1971-2004), has had a lecture theatre named after him with the tidy sum of £2.5m being bunged in LSE's direction, which should help make a dent in the costs of Director, Howard Davies flying business class around the world.

Our Sheik is far from some former Arab socialist championing the "rights" of the people. Oh no. Indeed, even superficial research links him to holocaust denial, anti-Semitism, torture, worker exploitation, human and animal rights abuses and press censorship.

According to one human rights website:

“Sheikh Zayed was an early supporter of neo-Nazi movements. A major vehicle for his ideas and activities was the 'Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow-Up'. Reports and lectures sponsored by the 'Zayed Centre' are often based on Anti Semitic themes branded him a Ku Klux Klan financier, an associate of neo-Nazi extremists who falsified history.”

Wikipedia notes:

“The Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow-up, a think tank established in Abu Dhabi in 1999 for "the fulfillment of the vision of Sheikh Zayed". The Zayed Center published a report that Zionists had caused the Holocaust. The center also hosted a lecture by a professor who claimed Jews celebrate Purim by murdering innocent victims and eating their blood. The director of the Zayed Center has publicly declared the Jewish People "enemies of all nations."

And:

“Controversy over the opinions of the Zayed Center caused the Harvard Divinity School to consider returning Sheikh Zayed's $2.5 million gift to the institution in 2000 as "tainted money." Harvard's equivocation and the engendering negative publicity led the UAE to shut down the Zayed Center”

In the interests of balance, however, it is understood that his 840 gold taps were the envy of the Arab world, though I can't locate any references to back this up.

Given its flagship lecture theatre has been funded on the back of an oil dependency that is destroying the planet, LSE doesn't seem to get the irony of claiming that, “The building, [is] one of the most environmentally friendly in the area”. This is the very same LSE that holds the motto: Rerum cognescere causas (“to understand the causes of things”). Apparently, “climate change” doesn’t fall under this noble remit of academic enquiry, or else perhaps they would be a bit more coy about who is funding their expansion.

Students are understood to be infuriated with the lack of discussion and consultation concerning the naming of the theatre, which would most likely have been made at the level of the clandestine "Campaigns Committee", now the rebranded-but-still-unelected "Development Committee" which contains no student representation.

Lecture boycotts, renaming ceremonies and "occupations against racism" are already being mooted in activist quarters and it's not even Freshers Week!

LSE's administration and ruling oligarchy have previously shown themselves as entirely out of touch with a basic undertsanding of "human rights", but to be associated with someone who directly funded Holocaust denial will no doubt rightly disgust students, academics and donors alike. Perhaps the McCain campaign performed the obviously inadequate vetting process?

Students who wish to arrange an event (or protest) in the New Academic Building should email event.services@lse.ac.uk.

Number-crunching the credit crunch

2008-09-07T12:17:00.001-07:00

Whilst the world's proletariat and peasantry reap the dividends of global capitalism's latest crunch, its worth putting this into the context of how the other half (or 0.1%) live.

The question is, if the transnational capitalist class are immune from the financial hardship endured by those that they exploit to generate their astronomical wealth, why would anything realistically be done to make the current system fairer?

See below some stark figures, courtesy of the Indy here):

946 – billionaires worldwide in 2007, up from 306 in 2000.

£3.2m – average pay of a FTSE100 CEO last year (£737,000 cash, remainder bonuses, pensions, share options)

37% – pay increase for FTSE100 CEOs last year.

4% national average pay increase

£11,195 – income of a worker on the national minimum wage in 2007

130,000 – number of non-doms living in the UK in 2007, up from 64,000 in 2002

916 – super-yacht orders in 2007, up from 241 in 1997

£6,800m – value of private jets purchased in 2005, up from £1,700m in 1995

+1% – average rise in value of properties worth £10m+ last month

-1.6% – average fall of central London properties last month.

Boycott Israeli Goods until Israel abides by international law and respects human rights

2008-09-05T03:50:00.000-07:00

From Palestine Solidarity Campaign:

In July this year TV channel More4 and several national newspapers featured graphic reports about British supermarkets selling goods exported from illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank. This was a stark reminder of the continued apartheid policies of the Israeli state.

At the same time genuine Palestinian producers are deliberately prevented from producing and exporting goods by the drastic conditions of Israeli occupation, and insuperable clamp-downs on trade’. On August 23rd 44 peace activists sailed to Gaza to challenge the siege, and to show the world that the Palestinians are trapped.

Kim Howells the Minister responsible for relations with Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has stated that it “is essential to [ensure] that customers can make an informed choice between Palestinian produce and produce from Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law”.

After 60 years of oppression, dispossession and occupation for the Palestinian people, and no justice from the international community, the BOYCOTT ISRAELI GOODS CAMPAIGN (BIG) is now launching a new campaign:

- To call on shoppers not to buy Israeli goods, and especially goods from the settlements – often misleadingly labelled ‘ West Bank .’

- To call on the supermarkets to stop selling Israeli goods, and to stop colluding with Israel ’s export of goods from the illegal settlements.

- A call for boycott has been issued by more than 180 civil society organisations and unions in the West Bank, until Israel abides by international law and respects Palestinian rights.

- The emphasis on settlement exports spearheads the general case for the boycott of Israeli goods.

- Israel militarily controls every aspect of Palestinian life in Gaza , the West Bank and East Jerusalem .

- Israel’s racist housing policy has resulted in the demolition of 18,000 Palestinian homes since 1967.

- Israel restricts the movement of Palestinians with more than 600 roadblocks.

- Israel continues to expropriate Palestinian land to build its apartheid wall, declared illegal by the International court of justice in 2004.

This new campaign, led by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and Jews for Boycotting of Israeli Goods (JBIG) is part of a wider international campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Apartheid Israel . The campaign will feature a sustained programme of direct action by local branches across the country, with support from trade union members and faith groups. There will be initial Week of Action from September 20th – 27th with letters to supermarket HQ and branches and demonstrations.

A campaign spokesperson said, 'We are calling for a boycott of all Israeli goods, but also especially drawing attention to settlement goods. At present Israel exports fruit and vegetables grown in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and Britain is one of the largest importers. These settlements are illegal under international law. To be complicit in this crime is also a crime in English law. These goods are often inaccurately labelled 'Produce of Israel', or misleadingly as ‘ West Bank ’, causing customers to believe they are Palestinian goods. These goods also benefit, illicitly, from the preferential rates of customs duty under the EC-Israeli Preferential Trade Agreement, thereby costing the British taxpayer millions of pounds in unpaid customs duty.’

There are plentiful alternative sources of supply for all Israeli goods stocked by supermarkets – such as fresh herbs and medjoul dates and other fruit and vegetables. Many supermarkets claim to have ethical trading policies. They should now prove it.

Notes to Editors
1. Israel militarily controls every aspect of Palestinian life in Gaza , the West Bank and East Jerusalem , occupied since 1967
2. “The establishment of settlements in the West Bank violates international humanitarian law which establishes principles that apply during war and occupation. Moreover, the settlements lead to the infringement of international human rights law.
The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits an occupying power from transferring citizens from its own territory to the occupied territory (Article 49). The Hague Regulations prohibit an occupying power from undertaking permanent changes in the occupied area unless these are due to military needs in the narrow sense of the term, or unless they are undertaken for the benefit of the local population.
The establishment of settlements results in the violation of the rights of Palestinians as enshrined in international human rights law. Among other violations, the settlements infringe the right to self-determination, equality, property, an adequate standard of living, and freedom of movement.” (http://www.btselem.org/english/Settlements/International_Law.asp)
3. Aid agencies report a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza because of the Israeli imposed siege ("The Gaza Strip: A Humanitarian Implosion", Oxfam, Amnesty International, CAFOD, Trocaire, Save the Children, Care International, March 2008)
4. Israel 's racist housing policy has resulted in the demolition of 18,000 Palestinian homes since 1967. (The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) http://www.18000homes.org/)
5. Israel restricts the movement of Palestinians with more than 609 obstacles to movement including checkpoints and roadblocks all over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem , and operates a segregated road system. ("Report No.65 Implementation of the Agreement on Movement and Access and Update on Gaza Crossing (30 April – 13 May 2008)", United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, August 2008)
6. According to the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, Israel has killed 4,815 Palestinians, 951 of them minors in the last eight years alone.
7. Israel profits from exporting to the UK fruit and vegetables grown on illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land, and misleadingly labeled 'West Bank' ("'Illicit' settler food sold in UK stores", Observer, July 2008 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/06/israelandthepalestinians.supermarkets)
8. Israel continues to expropriate Palestinian land to build its apartheid wall, declared illegal by the International Court of Justice. ("Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory ", International Court of Justice, July 2004)
9. A call for boycott has been issued by Palestinians in the Occupied Territories . ( Palestine BDS Campaign http://www.bds-palestine.net/)
10. Israeli farms and companies prosper by exploiting stolen land and water, while impoverished Palestinian farmers are denied access to their own fields, orchards and wells and cannot market the few goods they manage to produce.
11. By stocking their shelves with Israeli goods, such as Carmel , Coral and Jaffa brands, supermarkets are supporting companies which benefit from the dispossession of Palestinian families.
12. For information about the Free Gaza Movement boat trip mentioned above please see http://www.freegaza.org/.

Green Left Conference Bulletin

2008-09-05T03:38:00.000-07:00

The Green Left Conference Bulletin is now available online at: http://studentmedic.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/green-left-newsletter-conference-2008.pdf

I think it's a great introductory leaflet in discussing something that is woefully lacking from Green Party conferences and meetings normally - political theory.

Without a fundamental analysis of why the world is as it is - addicted to accumulation, hierarchy, waste and exploitation - any radical organisation has little hope of changing it for the better.

I believe that one of the key roles for Green Left, internally and externally, is to agitate and educate so that more members adopt a full spectrum understanding of the inherent destructive nature of capitalism, and why piecemeal reforms alone, and even winning elections, will not be enough to save the planet and it's people.

Green Left Event TONIGHT: "Greening Latin America"

2008-09-04T06:25:00.000-07:00

Thursday 4th September, 7pm to 9pm

Bolivar Hall: Embassy Of Venezuela 54 Grafton Way W1 5AJ

Chair: Joseph Healy, Green Party of England and Wales International Secretary

Speakers:

Roberto Perez, Cuban permaculturalist who launches his British tour

Dr Diana Raby, Lecturer at the Institute of Latin American Studies (University of Liverpool)

Oscar Bergland Blanco, son of Hugo Blanco editor of Lucha Indigena.

Dr Derek Wall, Green Party Principal Speaker

Knife crime, moral panics and social solidarity

2008-09-03T04:04:00.000-07:00

If there is one place where knife crime and the systemic, material causes behind it needs to be discussed, it’s in schools. News that a poem is to be removed from the GCSE English syllabus because it provides a vignette of somebody who carries a bread knife is the latest overreaction stemming from the moral panic that is clouding a discussion of the real causes of knife crime.

I am not sure what comrades in the NUT think about this decision, but this “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” approach is surely the wrong one in attempting to deal with an issue which is causing the needless deaths of an increasing number of young people.

Knife related crime is without doubt a serious problem. The shock value of working class teenagers stabbing each other for apparently "no reason" is without doubt a difficult issue for the collective consciousness of British society to digest.

However, the mass media is fuelling collective hysteria by amplifying the extent of the problem and, as a result, demonising all young people in the eyes of society as potential “killers”. The reality is that a young person is still more likely to die crossing the road, driving a car, or indeed committing suicide, than to be stabbed to death by a "gang of youths". Yet we do not see daily hysteria demonising reckless drivers in the way that we do “hooded” youths.

When interviewed, young people who do carry knives nearly always concede to carrying a blade through “fear” rather than as an “aggressive” act, and yet there is no forum or indeed discussion as to where this fear originates from. Given the fact that violence generally is rife in the mass media without discussion, and that material insecurity and inequality is fuelling an emergent generation of alienated teenagers, it is essential that the political and social causes and consequences of all forms of violence are discussed at every opportunity, rather than brushed under the carpet.

We live in a society where the only people (including young people) attributed with “value” are those with wealth and power, or those that can at least represent such traits. Under capitalism, our self-worth is commodified and measured against the manufactured social identities of MTV Cribs, Big Brother and celebrity culture. At the same time, the nature of racial and class cleavages in our society denies many from being able to realise such socially constructed goals, and as children become teenagers, such tensions begin to emerge socially with young people denied of a collective political voice and agency.

As a result, opportunities should not be understood as something that individuals benefit from in a “fairer” or “more progressive society”, but rather as a result of collective resistance to the economic system we live in; a measure of the strength of working class solidarity. In short, opportunities must be taken, not given.

In a capitalist society, it is simply short-termist, pie-eyed reformism to suggest schemes aimed at a certain demographic to improve their "life chances" (which ludicrously implies society is organised by “luck”) are the silver-bullet solution to social problems, and the same applies to young people. The argument that we just need more youth clubs or apprenticeships when in the age of 24-hour mass media the very measure of our self-worth is placed out of the material rich of the vast majority is an example of piecemeal reforms which only scratch the surface of youth alienation. As long as “opportunities” only apply to some, or even only a majority of individuals (though this is far from the case currently) then exploitation, material insecurity and alienation will continue to fuel violence and social insecurity.

It was particularly telling to note that certain parts of the mass media only really took the knife crime issue seriously (and perpetuated the hysteria) once a white teenager had been slain. There is unnerving sociological evidence to suggest that the oppression and suffering inflicted on many black brothers and sisters across the world has led to a desensitisation to issues afflicting black people even within our own city. But such an explanation is superficial. The real underlying issue is one of class.

For example, some argue that violence in South Africa has got worse since Apartheid was overthrown. Whether or not this is true, what is true is that violence existed under Apartheid, not only by the white population in oppressing blacks, but also within the townships where hopelessness and despair saw oppressed groups turn on each other. When such violence amongst an underprivileged working class begins to erupt and puncture bourgeois conceptions of hierarchical material security, the ideological state apparatus begins to sit up and take notice – and fights back.

There is always a tension between moralism, used as a fig leaf to justify class oppression, and materialism, where one can identify the inherent, underlying economic factors which fuel social problems. As a result, media amplification results in moral panics where anything but the underlying issues will be blamed for such violence. We see this in Palestine, Georgia and indeed all over the world.

The reality for the majority of the British population, as with the world as a whole, is to have virtually no control over one's material security. Capitalist globalisation weakens this position further, particularly in a time of economic crisis. The resultant alienation and deprivation will continue to fuel the tragic and needless consequences of knife crime and violence generally as young people feel increasingly alienated.

The alternative can only be solidarity, organisation and activism to eventually overthrow the system which underpins violence, material insecurity and the gross inequality that blights our planet, and is indeed killing it. An alternative, and I believe the only one that guarantees security and respect for all, is eco-socialism.

Whatever the means of ridding the world of capitalism and hierarchy and replacing it with equality, solidarity and sustainability and peace, schools remain a vital forum for teenagers to potentially discuss the issues which affect them on a daily basis. Long may that continue.

Starbucks targeted by students at universities

2008-09-03T03:33:00.000-07:00

By Omar Ahmad

Students in two of London’s largest university colleges have targeted relations between the universities and the global coffee chain, Starbucks.

Members of the London School of Economics (LSE) Palestinian Society picketed a Starbucks in Holborn and students at the Queen Mary University of London passed a motion condemning the Israeli occupation of Palestine, the existence of a Starbucks on campus, and forged links between the union and pro-Palestinian academic institutions.

LSE Director, Howard Davies, came under criticism for what was deemed by students as his active support of organisations vocal in their justification of the occupation of Palestine. Davies, a member of the National Council of the Academic Study Group of the Friends of Israel Education Foundation, has previously refused the School’s endorsement of informal links established between LSE academics and Birzeit University in Palestine.

The Academic Study Group was founded in 1977 for the “promotion of new collaborations” with Israeli institutions. Israeli human rights groups have accused the institution as being “part and parcel of Israel’s colonial system of oppression against the Palestinians.”

On May 30, 2007 University and College Union (UCU) passed a resolution at its Annual Congress calling upon members of the Union “to consider the moral implications of existing and proposed links with Israeli academic institutions,” with a view to boycotting them.

The next day, Davies posted a statement on the LSE website condemning the resolution and by implication a free debate on the issue.

Meanwhile, Starkbucks CEO and Chairman, Howard Schultz, has also come under widespread criticism for his support of the Israeli institutions. In 1998 he was honoured by the Jerusalem Fund of Aish HaTorah with “The Israel 50th Anniversary Friend of Zion Tribute Award” for his services to the Israeli state in “playing a key role in promoting close alliance between the United States and Israel.”

The Jerusalem Fund of Aish HaTorah funds Israeli arms fairs and propaganda websites. Schultz’s work for Israel has been praised by the Israeli Foreign Ministry as being key to Israel’s long-term PR success.

In 2002, whilst the Israeli army was fighting Palestinians in Jenin, Nablus and Bethlehem, he made a provocative speech blaming the Palestinians for terrorism, suggesting the intifada was a manifestation of anti- Semitism, and asked people to unite behind Israel. Starbucks is criticised for its support by sponsoring fund raisers for Israel.

The picket at Holborn resulted from the LSE’s attempt to use Starbucks as a supplier of refreshments on LSE’s campus and the outgoing Chair of the LSE Palestine Society, Ziyaad Lunat stated: “LSE should be clear that we will not allow it to actively or passively support the occupation of Palestine, nor collaborate with other organisations renowned for their support of Zionist imperialism.

LSE students are becoming more and more aware of the atrocities committed by Israel, and resolutions passed by a majority of students at LSE show that they find Israel’s activities repugnant.”

UNISON activist and former LSE student, James Caspell, stated: “Students and workers in Britain should unite and show solidarity with our Palestinian comrades at every opportunity, who live in effective open air prisons and are denied of basic material security by the Israeli state.”

LSE Students’ Union is twinned with An-Najah University in the West Bank, and last year voted to divest from companies operating in Israel or providing the state with arms. Queen Mary College, University of London, was the second college to see large scale activity by its union earlier this year against the university’s support of Israel through a contract the subsidiary catering service (CCRS) possesses with Starbucks allowing the chain to operate on campus.

Over 300 students turned up at the Annual General Meeting to pass a motion which not only called for the shutdown of the Starbucks on campus, but will result in the affiliation of the Queen Mary Student Union with campaign groups and solidarity organisations such as ‘Jews for Justice for Palestinians’ and ‘the international campaign to end the siege on Gaza’. Another resolution of the motion is to lobby Queen Mary and NUS to “divest from Apartheid Israel” and companies that are linked to supporting the state in any way.

Faisal Hanjra, outgoing President of the Queen Mary Islamic Society and the current President of the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS), said: “I want to reinvigorate, to awaken the student voice that is potentially so powerful.

There are over 7 million students in Higher and Further education across the UK, these students historically stood against the Vietnam war, stood against the apartheid regime in South Africa and stood against injustices committed wherever they were taking place in the world.”

The Muslim News asked Starbucks for response. A spokesperson directed to a statement posted on their website: “Our primary focus is delivering the best customer experience. Starbucks is a non-political organization and does not support political causes.”

Boris reveals climate change "plan"...

2008-08-29T08:37:00.000-07:00

"Plant more trees and use less water!" Why hasn't anyone else thought of that?! (from beeb):

Londoners must use less water and plant more trees to prevent climate change from damaging the quality of life in the capital, the mayor has said.

Boris Johnson said measures were needed to combat the danger of increased flooding, droughts and heatwaves.

They included more water metering, more green spaces to "cool" the city and steps to reduce leaks from water mains.

Green Party London Assembly member Jenny Jones said the measures contained "nothing new" and were "inadequate".

Climate change could "seriously threaten our quality of life - particularly that of the most vulnerable people", Mr Johnson said.

Some 1.25 million people are at risk of flooding, along with almost half a million properties, 441 schools, 75 London Underground and DLR stations and 10 hospitals, the mayor said.

The Thames region has lower water availability per person than Morocco yet Londoners consume on average 18 litres per day more than the national average, the mayor said.

Meanwhile 600 million litres of water per day are lost through leaks, he added.

The August 2003 heatwave killed at least 600 people in the city, according to the mayor.

"We need to concentrate efforts to slash carbon emissions and become more energy efficient in order to prevent dangerous climate change," Mr Johnson said.

"But we also need to prepare for how our climate is expected to change in the future."

Oil dependence

The mayor also pledged to reduce leakage from water mains, adapt buildings to minimise the need for cooling facilities and improve flood risk management.

Ms Jones said all those suggestions would help combat climate change but said they could have been announced "at any time over the past 10 years".

"These are all good measures, we have got to do all these things," she said.

"But where are the big new ideas? We need the mayor to find ways to reduce our dependence on oil, for example."

She added: "If the mayor ignores the contribution transport makes to climate change, he is ignoring a major part of the problem."

EVENT 5th September : Anti-Zionism: A Jewish Perspective.

2008-08-29T05:07:00.000-07:00

Anti-Zionism: A Jewish Perspective

Hosted by Green Left and SOAS Palestinian Society
Friday 5th September @ 7pm (Khalili Lecture Theatre SOAS)

With

Simon Lynn (Editor of Jewish Socialist Magazine)

Tony Greenstein (Palestine Solidarity Campaign)

Chair: Dr Joseph Healy (Co-Convenor Green Left)

Free entry

Livingstone to be Chavez adviser

2008-08-28T03:00:00.000-07:00

Nothing like a bit of state socialist nepotism to keep the £££'s coming in. Ken will no doubt be earning a few bob to fund his attempt to re-take City Hall in 2012.

One of Boris' first acts as Mayor was to double the price of bus travel for those on income support. He argued that the subsidised oil deal initiated between Chavez's Venezuela and Ken's London was unfair given the fact that Chavez was presiding over such a poor country - which fails to explain why BoJo insisted on also pulling out all of the Mayoral advisers providing technical support for the bureaucrats running Caracas.

The real reason of course is not Boris's commitment to enable the Venezuelan poor to get the real price for their oil, but rather an attempt to ideologically starve any opposition to the free marketeering hierarchy that Boris and the Tories stand for.

Back to Ken's new job, this is lazily c&p'd from the BBC:

Former London mayor Ken Livingstone is to work as a consultant for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Mr Livingstone, who has long been a supporter of Mr Chavez, will advise pro-government mayors in the capital Caracas on urban planning.

He said he was "proud and honoured" to be part of the city's transformation.

As mayor, Mr Livingstone struck a deal to swap cheap Venezuelan oil for city planning advice, but it was cancelled by his successor Boris Johnson.

After a meeting with Mr Chavez in Caracas on Wednesday, the former mayor said he was pleased that Venezuela would now get the "advice that we promised".

The BBC's James Ingham said the two men, who share left-wing political views, hugged each other like old friends.

Transport and tourism

In February 2007, Mr Livingstone signed an oil deal with Venezuela to provide cheap fuel for London's buses.

He said at the time the agreement would help provide half-price bus and tram travel to some 250,000 Londoners on income support.

In return, the mayor was to offer officials in Caracas advice on municipal transport, environmental issues, waste management and tourism.

But after taking office in May, Mr Johnson announced he would not renew the deal, saying many Londoners found it "uncomfortable".

Mr Livingstone said on Wednesday he hoped to help Caracas undergo a transformation in the next 20 years.

"President Chavez has asked that I continue to work with the city and its new mayors to use the experience of London to actually give form to his dream that this can be a first world city in a first world country," he said.

"I am proud and honoured to be in a position to be able to offer my advice to those candidates as they start the task of transforming this city for the benefit of all its people."

Mr Chavez is fighting regional and local elections in November.

The contests, for state governors, mayors and councillors, are being seen as a critical test of Mr Chavez and his political project.

A spokesman for Mr Johnson said he had vowed in his mayoral manifesto to scrap Mr Livingstone's deal and had "kept that promise to the people of London".

"Boris Johnson made it clear during his election campaign that he did not want to be on the payroll of Hugo Chavez and did not believe a poor South American country should be subsidising one of the wealthiest cities in the world," he said.

"Ken Livingstone is free, as a private individual, to offer his advice and services to whomever he wants."

Peru throws out Amazon land laws

2008-08-25T02:04:00.000-07:00

From BBC:

Peru's Congress has voted to repeal two land laws aimed at opening up Amazonian tribal areas to development, which led to protests by indigenous groups.

Correspondents say the repeal of the laws is a blow to President Alan Garcia, who had approved the legislation by decree. Mr Garcia had described the initiative as pivotal to the improvement of life in Peru's poorest regions.

A leading indigenous rights campaigner welcomed the repeal of the laws. Alberto Pizango called it a new dawn for the country's indigenous peoples.

During the protests, which lasted more than 10 days, indigenous groups took several police officers hostage, and took control of both a major natural gas field in southern Peru and an oil pipeline.

'True democracy'

Congress repealed the laws by 66 votes to 29. Speaking before the vote, Roger Naja, president of the National Commission for Andean, Amazonian and Afro-Peruvian Peoples, had urged Congress to vote to rescind the laws.

History, he said, would remember Friday as "the day that the disappearance of the indigenous communities in the jungles and mountains was avoided".

Mr Pizango, leader of the Inter-Ethnic Association of the Peruvian Forest (Aidesep), hailed the repeal as "a moment of true democracy and true inclusion".

"This is a new dawn for the people of this country, and for all Peruvians who wish to develop in freedom, not in oppression," he said.

On Wednesday, President Garcia had warned the repeal would be "a very serious, historic mistake".

"If that were to happen out of fear of protesters, fear of unrest, Peru would some day remember it as the moment when change came to a halt and hundreds of thousands of people were condemned to poverty, exclusion and marginalisation," he told reporters.

The laws would have allowed the sale of tribal lands by a simple majority vote in a community assembly, which the protesters say would make it easier for big energy companies to grab their land.

Around 70% of Peru's Amazon is leased for oil and gas exploration and many of its tribal people say they do not want the companies on their land, the BBC's Dan Collyns reports from the Peruvian capital Lima.

Top 20 Green Blogs

2008-08-22T02:44:00.000-07:00

Tory Blogger Iain Dale has created a "Top 20 Green Blogs", voted for by readers of said blogs.

Far be it from me to indulge in such superficial bourgeois competitions that fail to reflect the material inequality each blogger is forced to operate in (too late), but to come 15th is a welcome surprise given this blog was only started a few months ago as a semi-serious time-filler.

More seriously, I think the quality of green blogs has increased dramatically in the last year whilst the open, transparent debate which blogging enables is entirely in keeping with the democratic traditions of green and socialist ideologies.

Here' s the top 20:

1. The Daily (Maybe)
2. Two Doctors
3. Another Green World
4. Coventry Green Voice
5. George Monbiot
6. Green Ladywell
7. Philobiblon
8. Flesh is Grass
9. Peter Cranie
10. Barkingside 21
11. Paul Kingsnorth - Know Your Place
12. Transition Culture
13. Greenman's Occasional Organ
14. Jason Kitcat
15. La Lutte Continue
16. Ruscombe Green
17. Conservengland
18. Rupert Read
19. Adrian Ramsay
20. Scribo Ergo Sum

Was RMT right to suspend the TubeLines strike?

2008-08-22T02:41:00.000-07:00

Excellent article from AWL website here.

Currently, RPI stands at 5%, so 4.99% is not above inflation after all. And in any case, the RPI figure systematically under-estimates the real inflation of workers' spending. For next year, the pay rise is based on the RPI figure for the February before it comes in, so it only takes a relatively small rise in inflation duing the 14 months after that for the pay rise to be wiped out and even turned into a pay cut. 0.85% is not a big enough buffer against rising inflation.

By calling off the action, the union has missed the chance to see whether it could win more by striking. Last autumn, there was intense pressure on the unions to call off the Metronet strikes as the company's offer gradually improved. But while the others dropped out, RMT stood firm, and guess what? The 'final offer' suddenly wasn't final at all - when the strike started, it improved again.

Doing the Lambeth Walk...

2008-08-21T03:46:00.000-07:00

# Any evening, any day
We will strike for fair pay
You’ll find us all
Doing the Lambeth Walk! Oi!

We know fair pay is our right
We will fight all day and night
You’ll find us all
Doing the Lambeth Walk! Oi!

Workers united can be free
Join us in solidarity
You’ll find us all
Doing the Lambeth Walk! Oi!

Green solidarity with public transport workers

2008-08-19T14:04:00.000-07:00

The Green Party Trade Union Group fully supports the 1,000 Tubelines’ workers who intend to start the first of two 72-hour strikes, after the company tabled a poor offer on pay and conditions.

In line with trade union legislation, the RMT gave notice of their industrial action last Wednesday but have neither heard from Tubelines’ management, not Chief Executive Terry Morgan.

RMT members voted by a margin of three to one to take strike action over pay, pensions and travel facilities. The RMT’s general secretary. Bob Crow, has made the comparison with Metronet where workers doing exactly the same job as those who maintain track and trains for Tubelines on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines, have been offered higher pay rates, a superior pension and better travel facilities.

“While the management of Tubelines has put much effort into scapegoating the RMT in this dispute by calling their action ‘political’, they haven’t bothered to sit down and negotiate a settlement. The only guarantee of a quick resolution to this crisis is for Morgan and co to sit down with the RMT and listen to the grave concerns the RMT have about the pay settlement for their members in Tubelines,” stated Pete Murray.

Meanwhile, the break-down in communication between the management and unions has taken another turn for the worse with the resignation of Tim Parker, Chair of Transport for London. Parker’s resignation is the third resignation, as Darren Johnson, Green GLA member stated: "Tim Parker is the third key figure to resign in less than four months, reflecting the rushed nature of appointments and giving an appearance of chaos in the new administration. Londoners deserve a better deal from the man they have entrusted to run their city."

Crap Arrest of the Week

2008-08-16T10:31:00.000-07:00

...for trying to avoid scurvy.

Just one of many stop'n'searches at the entrance of the Camp For Climate Action last week at Kingsnorth, Kent: Protester Matt Wootton was swiftly in trouble after Police found a few 'Gary Abletts' on him during a search, and nicked him for 'alleged possession of a controlled substance'.

He was held in a cell in Gillingham for over five hours,fingerprinted, DNA swabbed, put in a windowless cell and denied hislegal right to a phone call before police got around the testing thepills...which turned out to be Vitamin C, just as Matt had been claiming all along.

"This is what democracy looks like"...or is it?

2008-08-07T15:46:00.000-07:00

It has emerged that the Green Party’s elected oligarchy has been holding invite-only meetings without publicising them nor releasing details or minutes. As the Party is committed to transparency, democracy and openness, I am posting the details of the last two Gaunts House meetings and the minutes to a pre-meeting which have been leaked.

I present them without comment.

Second Event at Gaunts House, 13th & 14th May 2007

"Dear <>,

> Last July there was a highly successful two day training event held by the
> party at Gaunt's House near Poole. The training was in leadership skills
> and issues of political coalition building. Participants passionately
> debated the issues using the characters of the four very different leaders
> in Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar'. The event was professionally
> facilitated and participants were pleased with the content and results.
>
> The training company involved 'Olivier Mythodrama' have kindly offered
> another expenses only event at the same location on May 13th/14th 2007.
> This follows Richard Olivier's offer that was dependent on the Greens taking on
> board the conclusions of those two days and moving forward with them. I
> believe that we have done this.
>
> This May event will take the form of a two day consideration of the
> principles behind Henry V. The trainers and organisers wish for this
> training to be given to those who accept the basic idea of leadership.
> Participation will therefore be for those Greens whose shared vision is,
> amongst other things, for the Green Party to have a leader and a deputy
> leader by the end of this year.
>
> This event is therefore not on an open invitiation. While there will be
> inevitable differences of opinion between you and the other participants,
> you are being invited because you wish for there to be a positive result
> in the forthcoming conference about there being a referendum. We believe you
> will be supporting a 'yes' in the subsequent referendum ballot.
>
> Participants will be introduced to the story of Shakespeare's most
> inspired and inspiring leader, Henry V. They then choose the leadership challenges
> they wish to explore. These are typically drawn from the following:
>
> ACT 1 - Assessing the Past and Visioning the Future
> · Building consent - uniting disparate people around a common goal.
> · Distinguishing Mission and Vision - what do we want to do and why
> do we want to do it?
> · How to sell a Vision - authentic performance in presentations.
>
> ACT 2 - Identifying internal resources and "traitors"
> · Interactive session to identify own leadership style
> · Reflection on positive and negative potentials
>
> ACT 3 - Overcoming first blocks to success
> · Techniques to motivate demoralised troops.
> · Influencing skills to overcome complacency - 'painting negative
> pictures'.
>
> ACT 4 - Crisis Management
> · Holding authority wisely - 'power distance'
> · Emotional Intelligence - managing fear and doubt in self and
> others.
> · Inspiring the troops to keep struggling against the odds.
>
> ACT 5 - Turning the Battlefield into a Garden
>
> a.. Building relationships
> b.. Sowing seeds for sustainable development and success.
>
> Notice that the training is about leadership generally. It is training
> not deciding. We will not be using the formal sessions to take decisions or
> bind anyone to anything. Discussions about the issues currently faced by
> the party and its membership will undoubtedly come up. But will be
> entirely > up to you to decide whether to participate in discussions and planning
> over mealtimes or evening drinks. There will be no formal sessions.

The Third Gaunt’s Event: 28th to 30th June, “Greens For Parliament”

Timetable:

Please arrive by 8pm Sat 28th for dinner. Food is excellent, vegetarian
with vegan options.

Please be prepared to start at 9am on Sunday morning .

Training by the OMA trainers on teambuilding and organisational change. The
course will mainly going to be in Theatre. However there is only one other
small group - so we do have much of the building for breakout gatherings.

Lunchtime 1pm
Dinner 6.30pm

On the Sunday evening we may go out after dinner. There are beautiful walks
in the grounds. Weather should be reasonable. There is also an open air
swimming pool - bring a costume!

Monday breakfast 7.45-9am

Please be prepared to start at 9.30 am on Monday morning.

This will be our chance to discuss the changing course of the Party. We
will be briefing on the forthcoming campaigns within the party.

Lunchtime 1pm.

Presentation by each participant - what I am doing to assist the Green Party
take its place in Parliament?

The course finishes on Monday at about 4.30pm.

Greens demand Home Office review on LGBT asylum

2008-08-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

Petition for instruction, training and guidance for all asylum staff

Phelim Mac Cafferty, media spokesperson for LGBT Greens stated:

“After much campaigning on the issue since the cases of Iranian LGBT asylum seekers Pegah Emembakhsh and Mehdi Kazemi came to light, we have got clearance from the web team on the Prime Minister’s website for our petition.

“We now challenge the government to start treating LGBT asylum seekers with the fairness that they deserve. These are people who’ve often fled persecution, rape and torture who flee to our country and our response is to lock them up like criminals. We say enough is enough of this inhumane policy- we need to stick our necks out now and stand up for LGBT asylum seekers.”

The full text of the petition is at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/lgbtasylum/ and below- In the light of the cases of Pegah Emembakhsh and Mehdi Kazemi, Iranian LGBT asylum seekers, who sought asylum in the UK , we call upon the Prime Minister for an urgent review of the services provided for all LGBT asylum seekers.

In particular we think that the following are needed for fair treatment -

1. Compulsory training for all asylum staff on sexual-orientation and trans-awareness.

2. Explicit instructions to all immigration and asylum staff, and asylum judges, that homophobic and transphobic persecution are legitimate grounds for granting asylum.

3. Clearer and up-to-date guidance from the Home Office for asylum judges to reflect the accurate scale of LGBT persecution throughout the world using expert information from NGOs like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

4. Legal-aid funding for asylum claims needs to be substantially increased.

Lambeth UNISON Young Members Officer - Report to Branch Committee, August 2008

2008-08-05T03:01:00.000-07:00

Branch Young Members Update

Juliet and Heenal have provided me with membership data for our young members. We have only 55 members under the age of 27, which is under 3 per cent of total branch membership, so an obvious weakness.

Nationally only 1 in 10 “young people” are currently members of a trade union.

In order to locally attempt to address these issues, over the coming months I will be doing the following to help improve participation and density:

1. Writing regularly to every young member encouraging them to participate in their union and offering to meet with them personally.
2. Designing and distributing a generic leaflet to encourage trade union membership for young people.
3. Encouraging more young members to become shop stewards and run for election.
4. Depending on the response, I may organise an informal Young Members social meeting.

Pay Dispute

Most of my time has been spent building for the strike action on the 16th and 17th of July, including publishing leaflets and posters and organising strike meetings etc. During this time, the Branch has gained several new members and activists.

Youth Mayor

I have requested to meet the Youth Mayor and his advisory panel in order to discuss issues of mutual interest. I am awaiting a reply to this request and will chase this up.

National Campaigns

Nationally, UNISON Young Members Forum is prioritising the following campaigns, which I will endeavour to support locally where possible:

- Defending public services
- Abolition of age discrimination in the minimum wage (currently the minimum wage for 16-17 years of age is £3.53!)
- Pensions
- Against tuition fees for university students
- Make Poverty History
- Climate change

Permaculture and Marxism

2008-08-04T07:08:00.000-07:00

Barry Healy

14 July 2007

It is often thought that concern for the interconnection of living systems is a modern development. But Karl Marx’s talked about it repeatedly throughout his Capital.

Marx didn’t use the word “ecology” — it was coined in 1866 — but metabolism . He argued that capitalist accumulation shatters basic processes of ecological sustainability “by destroying the circumstances surrounding [natural] metabolism”. Marx called this “metabolic rift”. So, he said, what is needed is the “systematic restoration [of natural metabolism] as a regulating law of social reproduction”.

In other words: farming and other productive activities have to restore the ecological balance, and this can only really be achieved under a system where people and the environment come before profits — socialism.

Australian-developed permaculture farming principles aim at restoring this balance. Within capitalist Australia, permaculture remains a fringe movement. But in socialist Cuba, it has become mainstream. Viewers of the inspiring film The Power of Community can see with their own eyes the depth of meaning that Marx attached to “healing the metabolic rift”. It is a physical healing of the land, combined with a spiritual rejuvenation of human society.

As Roz Paterson and Jack Ferguson reported in the May 25 Scottish Socialist Voice: “In the 1990s, Cuba made the transition from an industrial society, where farming was conducted on a massive scale, with a heavy reliance on fossil fuel-based pesticides and fertilisers, to a sustainable one, with a food economy based on small organic farms, workers’ co-operatives and urban gardens.”

In Havana, more than 90% of perishable produce is grown within or near the city limits. “Nowadays”, Paterson and Ferguson explained, “while the children of much richer nations begin to fall prey to diet-related diseases we thought we’d seen the back of, such as malnutrition and rickets, as well as life-shrinking levels of obesity, and at a time when we’re throwing away a third of all the food we buy, Cubans are chowing down on the kind of food we can only aspire to — local, organic, fresh — and learning to waste nothing”.

The SSV reported that instead of artificial fertilisers, Cuban farmers use micro-organisms that enrich the soil, earthworms, compost, animal and green manure, and the integration of grazing livestock.

Unfortunately, Australian agribusiness treats the soil like dirt. Similar to using the earth as a hydroponic growth medium, synthetic fertilisers and pesticides are flung around and water pumped through. Farmers who resist these trends are subjected to financial pressure; meanwhile the soil turns acidic and the rivers choke with algae.

Another concern for Marx was the struggle over the Corn Laws, which between 1815 and 1846 were tariffs protecting rich British farmers against foreign competition. Manchester-based industrialists successfully overturned the laws to reduce the amount that they had to pay in wages.

The factory bosses knew that keeping food cheap helps keep wages low. The “reproduction” of labour means workers have to arrive at work with enough food in their bellies to create surplus value for the boss. Cheapening food means that bosses can drive wages down towards a minimum sustenance level.

But cheap food isn’t always good food: often it isn’t really food at all. In Marx’s day, cheap workers’ bread contained stone dust, chalk, pearl ashes, soap and other such choice items. In Capital, Marx quoted testimony to the 1855 parliamentary inquiry into food adulteration that, because of contamination, “the poor men who lived on two pounds of bread a day did not take in one fourth of that amount of nutrition”.

The modern equivalent of such contamination is food colourings and other additives. Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation gives the 50 or so ingredients that constitute the typical artificial strawberry flavour.

The artificial flavour industry took off in the 1950s, when the gas chromatograph and mass spectrometers were invented, allowing the detection of gases in minute quantities. This allowed for tiny amounts of odour and colour to be attached to questionable foods.

We can often tell whether food is fresh or stale by its colour, odour or taste. But artificial additives disguise this. What was ground up rock to our great grandparents is today the mystifying list of numbers on labels. The modern equivalent to the factory owners’ victory over the Corn Laws is our cheap, mass-produced “food” — the modern McDiet.

As a marginal product in Australia, organic food is a little more expensive. But its price shows the real cost of producing authentic food. The artificial number soup slopped out by the Australian food industry simply isn’t worth eating.