Issue102

Three hundred ancillary workers at Glasgow's Royal Infirmary have won a sweeping victory over one of the most powerful multinational corporations in Europe.
Before the strike, the workers, including porters, domestics and catering staff, were paid £4.20 to £4.67 an hour.
They had just three to six weeks paid sick leave depending on length of service. They had no shift allowances and were paid just time and a quarter overtime.
But after a bitter strike the company have caved in.
On the eve of a wave of strikes the company agreed to:

* A £5 an hour minimum wage fully backdated to April 2002.
* Three months sick leave on full pay, with a further three months on half pay.
* A 20 per cent shift allowance and overtime payments increased to time and half.

Sodexho also conceded an extra day's public holiday a year.
During the strike the company had bussed in scab labour from all over Britain, including young 16 and 17 years olds brought in from army camps in England and Wales.
In retaliation, workers had stepped up the picketing and begun to organise a boycott of Sodexho facilities across Scotland and internationally.
Sixty thousand Celtic fans attending a European cup-tie this Wednesday had been asked to boycott catering facilities run by Sodexho at the stadium.
The strike was led by Scottish Socialist Party co-chair, Carolyn Leckie, who is the Glasgow North hospitals UNISON branch secretary.
Carolyn thanked all those who supported the strike and praised the determination of the workforce.
"Three hundred low paid workers in Glasgow have taken on and defeated a giant multinational.
"This is a landmark victory which could open up the floodgates of opposition to low pay and exploitation in the NHS."
Tracey, a domestic told the Voice: "Us domestics have been treated like shit for years.
"Now we've swept the Sodexho rubbish aside."

* The victorious strikers have organised a celebration at Shettleston Juniors social club, 8pm on Friday August 16.
Everybody welcome - except Sodexho management of course.

News

Going down the tubes?

Editorial Comment

As new figures revealed that the Scottish economy is in recession for the first time in 20 years, Labour's Westminster MPs were nowhere to be seen.
Even the though the wider economy is a reserved Westminster power, it was left to the hapless Holyrood enterprise minister, Iain Gray, to reassure the public that there was nothing to worry about.
But there is no question that the plummeting stock exchange and the collapse in inward investment will lead to a blizzard of job losses through the coming winter and far into the future.
Already the hi-tech sector, which was to be the saviour of Scotland's economy after Thatcher butchered the heavy engineering industry, is disintegrating daily.
In the 1980s and 1990s the Tories offered multi-national chip-builders, PC and mobile phone assemblers all sorts of incentives and tax breaks to set up shop in Scotland.
They also bragged about how they had knocked the stuffing out of a once powerful trade union movement.
With a compliant workforce, prepared to work long hours for sweatshop rates of pay, foreign multinationals would be queuing up to invest in Scotland.
The Tory strategy was continued under New Labour. But now the same multinationals who greedily grabbed grants and subsidies to set up shop in Scotland are flooding out of the country to seek more lucrative pickings elsewhere.
The response of the SNP shows how far to the right the party has swung over the past decade.
The party's economy spokesperson, Andrew Wilson, calls for business to be given a "competitive advantage" by slashing Corporation Tax and allowing big business to make even more lavish profits.
This is the politics of the begging bowl. It would mean pitching Scotland into a competition with the countries of Eastern Europe and the Far East for the crumbs off the table of the multinationals.
It would mean shifting wealth from the public sector and the ordinary people of Scotland to wealthy shareholders in London, Tokyo and New York.
Meanwhile, a new opinion poll has shown that 70 per cent of people in Scotland want Holyrood to be given full control over taxation.
The Scottish Socialist Party backs full political and economic independence for Scotland.
But while the SNP are fighting for an independent capitalist Scotland subservient to the multinationals, we are fighting for an independent socialist Scotland which will no longer be at the mercy of the stock exchanges and the multinationals.

Water, water everywhere as sewerage system fails

by Simon Whittle

The Labour-dominated Scottish Executive are refusing to help non-insured victims of the floods that hit the east end of Glasgow earlier this month.
But 80 per cent of the flood victims in Shettleston - officially the poorest and unhealthiest constituency in Britain - are on benefits and most are uninsured because of the high premiums.
Hundreds had to spend a night in emergency accommodation due to the flooding. Up to 500 homes were affected.
For years, locals have been warning that the drainage system can't cope with heavy rainfall and urgently needs to be renewed.
A resident of the Springboig area told the Voice:
"When there's heavy rain in the area there is a good chance that some of the area, especially Cockenzie Street, will be flooded.
"When we were kids, we all knew that that was the place to go to get a ride in the rowboat.
"Because of the flooding situation, home insurance is more expensive.
"That's why a lot of people don't have any. Something obviously needs to be done to prevent the flooding."
Norwich Union, which insures one in five homes, admitted people in high-risk areas could be priced-out of specific flood cover.
A council spokesperson said the flooding had been caused by "a combination of things"!
Meanwhile, public trust in Scotland's drinking water supplies is virtually non-existent after Scottish Water's handling of the cryptosporidium outbreak in Glasgow, around the same time as the floods.
Water bosses kept 140,000 people in the dark for more than 24 hours about the discovery of a potentially fatal parasite in supplies.
The cryptosporidium bug was found in water from the Mugdock Reservoir in Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire.
Those served by the reservoir were supposed to be warned to boil their tap water before drinking or using it to prepare food, brush teeth or bathe babies.
But many people didn't find out until they picked up a paper on Sunday or Monday.
One Govan resident told the Voice:
"I was away from Friday until Monday (August 5) and didn't know I was supposed to be boiling my water till Tuesday afternoon.
"I asked around and neighbours said that no-one had been round here with a tannoy - which is what they've been saying on the news."
Holyrood Environment Minister Ross Finnie has been heavily criticised for not letting the public know what was happening.
He told the Sunday Herald he was worried that if he started telling the public there were low levels of cryptosporidium in water it would mean "bugger all but it would cause public bloody panic".
Well, that happened anyway, if the demand for bottled water is anything to go by, with supermarkets selling-out a week's supply in one day.
Finnie obviously doesn't know bugger all about trusting the public.
So why should we trust that bugger?

news

Pool protestors fight trumped up charges

by Matt Preston

The trial of the first of nine people charged over the mass demonstration against the closure of Glasgow's Govanhill Pool began this month.
On August 2 and 9, 16 year old Qasim Khan faced charges of police assault and spraying officers with urine.
Already these charges have been seriously called into question. They rely on the testimony of police officers who admit to destroying the evidence by burning their uniforms.
The reliability of another witness, private security supervisor Edward Harkens, has also been undermined.
He claims to have witnessed Qasim urinate into a bottle and pour it into a water gun.
As well as providing contradictory accounts, Harkens has also admitted that he will soon face three charges of assault against female protesters several days after the demonstration.
The idea that Qasim would commit an act like this has been ridiculed.
Involved from the start, he has proved himself as responsible and committed in his position on the campaign's youth committee.
This is the same person that the Daily Record described as a 'rent-a-yob'.
Qasim has also been charged with racial abuse directed at police officers, both white and Asian.
But what has emerged in the trial is that Qasim was questioning the police on whether they were making racist comments.
Aamer Anwar, who is representing the defendants, spoke to the Voice:
"I have real concerns that individuals are being targeted in response to the allegations made against the police.
"Questions also have to be asked here about racism.
"It was clear that the majority of people present on the day were white, yet six of the nine on trial are black."
In response the community have launched a campaign for all charges to be dropped.
Alistair Hulett, a campaigner, said:
"Strathclyde Police and its Chief Constable should realise that its actions are serving to further alienate his force from this community."
The support of those from the public, trade unions, the SSP and other groups has been invaluable. The public gallery needs to be filled by people who know that the real criminals on the day were the police.
The trial continues on Tuesday August 13 and Friday August 16 at Glasgow Sheriff's Court. People should arrive to join the picket outside at 9.30am.
The hearing will commence at 10am and it is essential that people in the public gallery remain silent throughout the proceedings.

Transco offers £300 compensation insult

by Omar Ibrahim

The Transco gas explosion of Christmas 1999 took the lives of Drew and Jeanette Findlay, their children Daryl and Stacey and left another four families homeless.
Eleven adults and eight children had to live in rented accommodation for eighteen months as their homes were rebuilt.
After making profits of £683 million in the year of the disaster, the firm have decided on offering £300 as a 'goodwill gesture', rather than an admission of guilt, to the dispossessed families.
Transco are still facing charges of corporate culpable homicide relating to the disaster.
The Transco board of directors is filled with peers, aristocrats and honoured members of society.
They have included an academic and advisor on the Paddington railway disaster of October 1999, Sir David Davies.
As President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Davies was congratulated by John Prescott as the man whose report called for the introduction of a cheaper and less sophisticated train safety system as the best short-term solution for the railways.
Another gem is Baroness Diana Warwick who feels that market fees, higher fees for popular courses, is the way forward for higher education.
As Chief Executive of Universities UK she has defended fat cat salaries for university vice-chancellors of upwards of £100,000 whilst ignoring teaching unions' calls for equal pay rises.
Transco board members are paid hundreds of thousands every year to oversee cost cutting.
Yet they offer a sickening £300 to the victims when it all goes wrong and lives and homes are lost.
It seems that people with such major motives for profit, whilst wielding such power, may not have the public good at heart.

Set Robert Brown free

The Miscarriages of Justice Organisation is starting a petition for the release of Robert Brown on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
Robert Brown has consistantly declared his innocence and has now served 25 years in jail for a crime he did not commit.
Justice Roderick-Evans on Tuesday July 30 took the cruel decision to refuse bail to Robert Brown, even though the judge agreed that Robert had strong arguments for his appeal, and the Crown did not challenge the bail application
To top it all off was the unique humanitarian reasons for seeking bail. Robert Brown's mother is 74 years of age, and in very poor health.
If Robert Brown has to wait until his appeal date (yet to be announced, but can take up until a year or more) many of us are worried that Margaret will not see her son alive as a free man.
To get copies of the petition contact the Miscarriages of Justice Organisation mojoscotland@mac.com or on 07977 850 503

Help keep the Voice roaring

Well, for some of us the summer break is over and it's back to work. And for those still on holidays, enjoy and think of us.
The Voice recently celebrated its 100th issue. Quite an accomplishment for a left wing newspaper on a shoestring amidst all the capitalist press and their big business buddies.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support, through articles, letters, subscriptions, buying the paper and making donations.
Without your support the Voice would not have been able to make its 100th issue.
With your continuing support we will be able to make the next 100 issues - "nae bother".
So please, make a donation today. Or can you take extra copies to sell to friends, workmates and family, or encourage them to take out a subscription or make a donation?
Do you have an article about a local campaign or injustice?
It's your paper, make sure it keeps coming off the presses.
Please make all cheques payable to the 'Scottish Socialist Voice' and send to SSV Donation Appeal, 73 Robertson St, Glasgow G2 8QD.
Please send any articles to SSV Editorial at the same address.

Fifers aim to stop incinerator plans

Campaigners in Fife will continue to battle against the creation of a new rubbish dump and incinerator at a public hearing on Friday August 16.
FifeWest Action Group (FWAG) will argue that the proposed recycling facility will add to the area's already high levels of airborne pollution.
Action to reduce this is far preferable to developments that will see an extra 130 lorries a day.
The proposed recycling method is a factor in the objections.
FWAG say that the only way Alba would be able to reach their targets would be through the use of Energy from Waste (EfW) incinerators.
EfW sounds like a good idea as they divert waste from landfill.
However they rely on incinerating mainly plastics, which consist mostly of oil and are basically equivalent to fossil fuels, and paper which it is more efficient to recycle.
One campaigner said:
"Alba's original hope was to build an incinerator on the site. Public outcry forced them to back down.
"We are just as opposed to EfW incineration as we are to conventional incinerators."
FWAG have suggested that it would be safer and more efficient for recycling to begin at the community level.
The campaign has repeatedly been given the cold shoulder, despite councillors admitting that Alba's proposal is not the most efficient.
This hearing is a chance for the public to ask why the project is still going ahead.
The hearing is on Friday August 16 at 10am, at Fife House, Glenrothes.
For further information go to:
www.sspglenrothes.freehosting.net/fwag/fwag_index.htm

Police show whose side they're on at picket line

by Kath Kyle

As Sodexho management were busing in scabs from all over Britain in an attempt to break the strike at the Royal Infirmary, the police were out in force with one aim - to protect Sodexho's interests.
That's the only conclusion that can be reached after events on the picket line last week.
At one point police out numbered the pickets almost two to one and yet a thief managed to run off down the street with someone's handbag.
The police didn't even attempt to catch him and it was left to the pickets to recover the bag.
Later that night, while the hospital was completely ringed by police, there was a drive-by shooting on the main road outside.
The gunman fired into a car, drove the motorcycle into the back of a transit van and made an escape. Again hundreds of police did nothing and there have been no arrests for either crime.
UNISON branch secretary Carolyn Leckie told the Voice:
"We couldn't believe it. We were surrounded by police but all they seemed interested in was pushing us about.
"I think there's plenty of things the police would be better spending their time on rather than encircling peaceful pickets."

Socialism marches on

The forward march of the Scottish Socialist Party continues.
For the second month in a row, the regular System Three poll in The Herald shows support for the SSP running at 8 per cent on the second ballot for Holyrood - just two points behind the Tory Party.
A record 6 per cent say they will back the SSP in the first ballot, which is conducted under first-past-the-post, while another record 5 per cent say they will vote SSP in the next Westminster elections.
A breakdown of the latest poll shows the party on course to win at least six seats in Holyrood. The poll also shows the party breaking through the 10 per cent barrier in four regions - Glasgow, the Highlands and Islands, Lothians and the South of Scotland.

Rebel ink
Kevin Williamson

Scottish drugs death toll soars
while MSPs spout the same weasel words

Deputy Justice Minister, Dr Richard Simpson has reminded us (in a response to a recent report) that even as drug deaths hit record highs in Scotland the politicians are still making the same old noises and making the same old mistakes.
The facts are a disgrace to any civilised and caring society.
Since 1996 - the year Scotland Against Drugs was formed to "rid Scotland of the drugs menace within ten years" - drug-related deaths have increased by 36 per cent.
Last year drug deaths went up from 292 to 332: a 14 per cent increase in just twelve months.
The rest of the statistics are similarly depressing and just as enraging.
These are people's lives not just statistics. These are people who could and should have been alive if the government hadn't treated drugs as some sort of war-game against the people involved.
There are well-meaning but misguided individuals who mistakenly believe that education combined with law enforcement and treatment initiatives can somehow halt this state of affairs.
This is despite the evidence, year after year, in every country on the face of this planet, proving otherwise.
None of the measures in Dr Simpson's article, which is a summary of the government's latest half-hearted and timid excuse for a drugs policy, will make much difference to the current trends in drug use and abuse.
Why not? Because this government refuses to:
* Take cannabis out of the criminal black market - thereby leaving the most vulnerable young people to buy their hash/weed from flats and houses where heroin or crack may also being smoked.
These people still haven't understood that they will NEVER ever be able to tackle heroin and crack abuse while the use and sale of cannabis is still outlawed.
Ending cannabis prohibition is the first step to winning the trust of recreational drug users as Holland has discovered.
It is also the first crucial step to driving a wedge between cannabis use and the use of these other more addictive drugs.
Failure to do so indicates the politicians are just spouting weasel words.
* To recognise that an emergency national heroin maintenance scheme has to be rolled out immediately with full provision of care and counselling for all long term and registered heroin addicts.
Scotland has an estimated 30-55,000 heroin addicts. This is a national crisis which needs drastic and emergency measures with appropriate funding.
* To tackle boredom by finding the money from whatever source (this is a very rich country, soaked with wealth, albeit in the hands of the richest and most privileged) and start consulting with young people to plan and build recreational, sport and entertainment facilities in every community that are high quality and affordable.
* To tackle poverty by starting to build high-quality public housing again, not scabby high-rise flats, in communities planned by the local people.
In Edinburgh the lack of decent public housing and ludicrously overpriced property has reached the point of meltdown and despair for many young people trying to get a first home of their own.
However, the apprenticeships and jobs that building homes would create would leave the shitty slave labour employers at BK and McDonald's with plenty of unfilled red hats.
Such an enterprise would give young people a future, and a sense of self-worth that would marginalize heroin and crack abuse.
Those socialistic measures may not eliminate heroin and crack cocaine addiction overnight but there's a good chance they would eventually get pretty damn close.
The Executive have instead earmarked £40 million a year which is akin to a piss in the ocean (wasting most of it on parasites like the futile Scottish DEA and the equally futile Know The Score campaign).
They've even gone back to the empty rhetoric of the so-called 'War Against Drugs' (read War Against Drug Users).
The only people who benefit from the war against drugs are the foot soldiers of the state - the usual uniformed suspects who squander millions of tax payers' money without even doing the good that the wee Dutch kid did with his finger in the dyke.
Young people gathered in their thousands on July 27 to take part in Scottish Socialist Youth's legalise cannabis day of action, J27. After successful demos in Glasgow in the last two years, this year we held marches in Glasgow and Inverness, a rally in Dundee and street campaigning in Edinburgh (where an unlikely looking copper arrested a giant packet of fags).
The success of J27 showed that people haven't fallen for Labour's dangerous halfway house of reclassifying cannabis, but leaving it ultimately in the control of the same criminal gangs who flood our communities with heroin and cocaine.
Scotland needs a genuine transfomation of our drugs laws now - before politicians sacrifice another generation to hard drug dealers for the sake of a few votes.

back to index

Do women who dress sexily 'ask for it'? Is a woman who is friendly and outgoing, maybe even a little flirtatious, inviting harassment?
Is she responsible for it if she is raped?
This is what seemed to be implied in the recent case of Lindsay Armstrong - yet another example of how a young woman's determination to obtain justice can lead to further injustice as a result of a fundamentally sexist legal system.
In September last year, at the age of 16, Lindsay Armstrong was raped.
Her attacker was found guilty in court, but three weeks later she killed herself.
Under cross-examination by the defence, Lindsay was asked to show the court the knickers she had been wearing at the time of the attack and read out what was written on them.
This type of blatant mistreatment of survivors of rape during cross examination is not uncommon.
In 1986, a study published by the Scottish Office found mistreatment of rape victims by defence counsel and an "acquiescent" attitude on the part of prosecutors and judges.
Twenty victims were interviewed for the study and most said that they felt as if they were on trial themselves.
A separate study in 1993 that monitored rape trials at the Old Bailey indicated that women were still being systematically humiliated in court.
Another study on how barristers act in rape cases, published in 2000, found they routinely asked questions about their clothing in an attempt to discredit the complainant.
This type of questioning undermines any notion that women have the right to say 'no' - no matter how they behave or dress.
It is also based on an outdated and simplistic analysis of rape - that it is a result of men's uncontrollable sexual desire, and therefore women who wear 'sexy' clothes are 'asking for it'.
Rape is about the abuse of power and the betrayal of trust. Eighty per cent of rapes are committed by someone known to the victim.
An individual woman's behaviour doesn't cause rape. Rather it's the broader ideological acceptance of women as sex objects which is created and sustained by the mass media and advertising industry.
Sadly, the granting of formal equality to women, the reform of sexual assault laws and the introduction of sex discrimination and sexual harassment legislation have not provided a safe environment for women to report the crimes against them.
Many women report and prosecute sexual assault and discrimination cases knowing that they will gain no personal benefit from their actions, and even that they will suffer more for them.
They do it so that other women will benefit, so that rapists and misogynists are exposed, precedents are set and society is put on notice that these crimes against women will not be tolerated.
The courageous acts of women such as Lindsay Armstrong have an important part in the history of feminism.
If you want to write an article or piece for women's voice please get in touch with the Women's Network or Sarah on 0141 419 0651 or sarahpeart@yahoo.com

Members of the Scottish Socialist Party will be heading for Florence in November to join a variety of other organisations and parties opposed to the effects of rampant free market capitalism. The European Social Forum will allow activists from all over Europe to meet and discuss how to combat war, racism, poverty and hunger internationally.

In this week's Voice, Ally Black from the SSP's international committee looks at the protest movement behind the social forums and why it's important that socialists play a role within it. Gill Hubbard of Globalise Resistance Scotland reports from the ESF planning meeting in Greece.

In the last decade of the twentieth century it all seemed so easy for the bosses.
The Berlin Wall had been brought crashing down, and we were told that socialism had crumbled with it.
Political commentators said that the free-market capitalism of the West, where workers' wages are driven down and prices are jacked up to maximise the profits of company fat cats, reigned supreme.
The bosses' institutions like the G8, International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and European Union could now force countries to open up their economies to multinationals and privatise public services.
If, for example, an African country wanted its debts rescheduled it would have to agree to privatise its water or electricity industry - usually by selling it to an American or European multinational.
Those countries who paid the lowest wages and had the worst conditions for workers were more 'competitive' and more likely to get jobs and aid. It was a 'race to the bottom' where profit was all that mattered.
But a new movement emerged to fight this consensus. At events like the Seattle and Genoa protests, against the G8 summit of world leaders, we saw this movement come together.
It was a movement which rejected the idea that capitalism and the 'free market' was the only way to run the world.
It saw the 'new world order' for what it was, an agenda of privatisation, attacks on union rights and civil liberties, environmental destruction and the exploitation of the Third World.
It understands that this ideology leads to injustice, war, racism and poverty for billions of people around the world.
The range of opposition is very broad - including trade unionists, environmentalists, anti-debt campaigners, indigenous people, women, young people.
Within the movement there are lots of alternatives proposed from socialists, anarchists and those who want to introduce smaller reforms.
The movement is commonly called the anti-globalisation movement. But this is not a fair term.
The movement is not against globalisation or international links. But it is opposed to the way corporations are carrying out globalisation in their own interests.
A better term is the anti corporate-globalisation movement or the global justice movement. Anti-capitalism is another term that is commonly used.
Many of those involved are anti-capitalist, but not all. Many of the anti-capitalists are socialists, but not all.
The Scottish Socialist Party is part of this movement. We want to unite with all those who are fighting the system.
At the same time we have an alternative, a vision of a socialist world where people matter and profit is not our god.
The movement has begun to coordinate its activities partly through the World Social Forum which has met in Porto Alegre, Brazil for the last couple of years. Now a European Social Forum is to meet.
The European Social Forum (ESF) will be held in Florence, Italy from November 6 to November 10, 2002.
It will be a European Forum for the diverse movement against corporate globalisation and will bring together tens of thousands of activists.
Those supporting the ESF include the European TUC, many individual unions, charities, campaigns like ATTAC (which wants to see a tax on international transfers of capital) and political activists from many campaigns and parties (see the report from Salonika below).
This forum will discuss the key issues that we all face today.
Already dozens of SSP members have signed up to attend. We will be listening to the experiences and viewpoints of our fellow activists from around the world.
We will have an opportunity to meet and discuss ideas with other campaigners and we will also have a chance to explain our own experiences and to argue for a socialist alternative.
The movement against corporate globalisation is a growing one. In countries like Italy and Spain we have seen millions march and come together in Social Forums.
In Italy Rifondazione Comunista (RC), which is a mass party of the Italian working class, has played a key role in this process.
They argue that socialists need to make themselves relevant and engage in the anti-globalisation movement, or that movement may shift to the right.
They believe that socialists urgently need to cooperate with each other internationally and begin to rebuild the influence of socialist ideas in society.
The SSP agrees with this, we are internationalists.
That is why we have joined with many other parties like the RC throughout Europe to participate in the conferences of the anti-capitalist left.
We hope to send a substantial delegation to Florence in November to take part in the first European Social Forum.

The anti-capitalist movement is much stronger now than ever before.
General strikes and demonstrations of millions have taken place against unbridled free market capitalism and against war around the world.
In Bolivia, miners recently took to the streets to protest against free market policies.
A magnificent 150,000 people marched through the Italian city of Genoa last month.
They were there to mark the first anniversary of the anti-capitalist protests against world leaders at the G8 summit and to commemorate the police killing of 23 year old protestor, Carlo Giuliani.
Earlier this year, an amazing 80,000 people participated in the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
An estimated 30,000 will come to the European Social Forum being held in Florence in November.
At the same time, hundreds of thousands will come for the demonstrations.
The mobilisation for the European Social Forum is going from strength to strength.
Over 200 people attended the planning meeting in Salonika, Greece.
This included representation from the European Trades Union Congress, NGOs such as Oxfam, ATTAC, Globalise Resistance Scotland and the Italian Social Forum.
Anti-capitalists from the East and West of Europe will come together in Florence to discuss, debate and demonstrate.
In Salonika it was agreed that there will be two major demonstrations. One will be in support of refugees and against Fortress Europe and the other will be against war.
We will take to the streets of Florence to show the butchers of the world that we will stop their wars. There was a real feeling in Salonika that another world is possible if we join together in our hundreds of thousands.
The ESF will also be an opportunity for our movement to discuss and debate a range of issues that affect ordinary people across the world, including: Neo-liberalism and the campaign against privatisation; War and Peace; Human rights and citizenship; and Palestine.
There will also be a huge meeting to plan for the mobilisation against the G8 summit in France next year.
Six meetings holding 2,000 people each will simultaneously take place every morning with translation in seven different languages.
In the afternoon there will be 50 simultaneous meetings of 200 people, and workshops organised by campaigning groups and political parties in the evening.
The purpose of these meetings is to co-ordinate joint action across Europe against neo-liberalism, racism and war. This is why we want as many members and supporters of the SSP as possible to be in Florence.
Globalise Resistance is co-ordinating the mobilisation for the ESF in Scotland.
For more details: www.grscotland.net or write to:
Globalise Resistance, PO Box 16790,
Glasgow, G11 5ZA

Dear Friends,
A protest movement is growing across Europe.
In March in Barcelona 500,000 people demonstrated against a Europe of capital and war.
In the same month three million protested in Rome against Berlusconi and for trade union rights.
Since then there have been general strikes in Greece, Italy and Spain against attacks on workers' rights.
Across the continent governments are trying to privatise services, cut jobs, and roll back pension and welfare rights.
The move to war has whipped up hatred and racism, and asylum seekers are under widespread attack.
Meanwhile racist organisations like the National Front in France are seeking to capitalise on the misery caused by neo-liberal policies.
The European Social Forum, which will be held in Florence in Italy from 7 to 10 November, aims to help the movements of opposition grow.
The call for the ESF came from the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in January this year. It was attended by 70,000 activists from around the world.
The ESF has already received wide backing from trade unions in Italy and across Europe.
As trade unionists in Britain we face the same attacks as our European brothers and sisters, and we have the means to oppose those policies and to organise for a more equitable world.
Resistance to privatisation is growing in hospitals and schools, on council schemes and in transport.
Many trade unionists have taken part in recent demonstrations against the war in Afghanistan and Palestine.
We think it is important that as many British trade unionists as possible come to Florence, both to contribute and to learn.
There will be discussions about combating racism and the drive to war, as well as the problems caused by our governments' obsession with the market.
We want to build a strong movement for change across Europe that cannot be ignored by the press and politicians.
We are writing to you to ask for your support. First, we ask you to publicise the ESF in your organisation and sponsor as big a delegation as you can to Florence.
Second, we urge you to support the mobilisation for the ESF so that we can publicise the event more widely and organise the broadest possible spread of delegations. Another world is possible!
Yours in solidarity
Billy Hayes general secretary CWU. Mark Serwotka general secretary elect PCS (personal capacity). Willie Black Amicus Senior Steward, ScottishPower. Mike Arnott Secretary of Dundee Trades Council. Robin Harper MSP Scottish Green Party. Tommy Sheridan MSP. Tony Benn. Paul Foot.

Registration is now open via the ESF website - http://www.fse-esf.org/
The best way to travel to Florence is to fly. If you want to go by plane, you are advised to book your flights as soon as possible, as the number of cheap flights are limited.
To let us know that you want to go to the ESF and for further advice about travel, please contact us at sspinternational@hotmail.com or call Frances Curran on 0141 574 7316.
There are two choices for accommodation. Firstly, Florence City Council will be providing free basic accommodation for thousands of activists. You will need a sleeping bag. This is on a first-come-first-served basis, you will need to register via the above web site as soon as possible. Alternatively you can book your own accommodation in a hotel or hostel separately.
Many trade-unions are sponsoring the event. Contact your union to sponsor yourself or another participant. The SSP and Globalise Resistance will be organising collections and fundraisers. Get involved!

Links for more information
European Social Forum website: http://www.fse-esf.org/
SSP International Committee:
email: sspinternational@hotmail.com
http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/navigation/international.html
Globalise Resistance Scotland: http://www.grscotland.net/
Mobilisation for the ESF in England: http://www.mobilise.org.uk

Cultural Resistance

Where's the sunshine?

Sunshine State. Directed by John Sayles. On general release now

by Duncan Rowan

Following Florida's key role in the stealing of the 2000 American Presidential Election, it's odd that Sunshine State from 'radical' filmmaker John Sayles completely fails to even touch on those events.
Instead he presents us with the familiar territory of a racially divided small community attempting to unite and resist the machinations of a group of property developers determined to further increase the world's surplus of golf courses, malls and gated communities.
Over the course of Plantation Island's 'Buccaneer Days' festival, an all too well realised piece of tourist tat complete with fake pirates and stuffed shoulder parrots, we're introduced - Altman-style - to a confusing cast of characters that represent all sides of the struggle.
The film is anchored and in some respects saved by the two central performances by Angela Bassett and Edie Falco.
On the white half of the island, Delrona Beach, Marly (Falco) a former mermaid impersonator, is the sardonic motel operator trapped by a sense of loyalty in running the family business but tempted to take the developers money and run.
In the black community of Lincoln Beach, Desiree (Bassett) returns home to see her mother after 25 years of exile, the result of a scandalous teenage pregnancy, as a prosperous infomercial actress complete with anaesthetist husband.
As the weekend progresses these characters struggle with their own personal lives and pasts, as well as with the developers, before the movie reaches its somewhat flat conclusion.
To its credit Sunshine State does try to avoid the clichŽs of the plucky small community versus evil capitalists that mainstream Hollywood occasionally doles out and at least tries to develop complex and realistic characters.
But as a whole, Sunshine State has a curiously flat feel to it, making it difficult to become involved and even care about the unfolding stories and struggle, despite the actors' best efforts.
John Sayles should be congratulated for at least trying to honestly deal with issues such as race, community and corporate greed that Hollywood either ignores, trivialises or sentimentalises.
But as a film, Sunshine State retreads too familiar ground in an uninvolving way to be either enjoyable or instructive.

Original pirate material

'The Coral' by The Coral. Out now on Deltasonic Records

by Simon Whittle

And now for something completely different. A musical breath of fresh, sea air.
The Coral are here.
They'll smoke all your weed and make you walk the plank. And you'll love it.
From Hoylake near Liverpool, their port-town pride is there for all to see in the references to all things aquatic.
Couple this with a penchant for marijuana, and you get lines like (from Skeleton Key):
"Brother roll another for me. I am shipwrecked on the rocks."
Their self-titled debut album is already shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize, where art meets businessmen in suits (like water meeting electricity - a very bad idea).
But it's easy to see why The Coral is being discussed by these corporate arseholes.
The album is so plain different, it's hard not to have an opinion.
I shouldn't say 'original' because Cossack music, R&B, dub Reggae, sea shanties and Beach Boys harmonies all existed before. But they've never co-existed before.
This is Coral reefer madness.
The artwork is awash with crazy collages of crazy ideas. Terry Gilliam nuttiness fuelled by cannabis. Probably.
Could you imagine the Doors produced by the Specials and the Clash, and mixed by the Animals and the Super Furry Animals?
Me neither.
But The Coral could be the nearest thing you'll get. It's simply unique.
Album of the year? Yeah!
* Visit the official website: www.thecoral.co.uk

People's festival

by John Stevenson

The Jack Kane Centre in Craigmillar is way off the beaten track as far as the Edinburgh Festival is concerned.
Of the 20,000 performances planned this year, none will take place there, or indeed virtually anywhere else outside the city centre. Yet 'the Jack Kane' is the location for the 2002 Edinburgh People's Festival.
The venue, says People's Festival spokesperson Colin Fox, is symbolic of the gulf between the five mainstream festivals - which make millions for the bars, restaurants and hotels of the city centre - and the People's Festival.
Mr Fox believes there is a need for a sixth festival in Edinburgh.
He says that the People's Festival, organised by trade unionists and local community activists, aims to bring the arts to the ignored indigenous communities across the city.
He told the Voice about the idea behind this "alternative" event:
"In the 1950s a fierce debate ensued over the character of the nascent Edinburgh Festival.
"Many people felt that it had become elitist and inaccessible to working people. Sound familiar?

Celebration
"Many feel that 'the world's biggest arts festival' ignores many citizens of this city. Out of that 1950s debate Edinburgh Trades Unions resolved to present a series of events designed to involve working people.
"The Edinburgh People's Festival was born in 1951.
"Labour Councillor Jack Kane, as Chairman, persuaded many performers to get involved, among them the late Hamish Henderson, Hugh MacDiarmid and Ewan McColl.
"The People's Festival became a huge success often eclipsing the official version. It ran for four years until falling victim to the poison of McCarthyism.
"We will present a Gala evening at the Jack Kane Centre in Craigmillar on August 24.
"We're calling it a reformation of the Edinburgh People's Festival and hope this year's celebration acts as a stimulus for involving more communities in future."
The Edinburgh People's Festival presents A Festival for A', on Saturday August 24, Jack Kane Centre, Edinburgh.
More than a dozen comics, singers, actors, poets and musicians have generously agreed to perform. The final line up will be announced next week.
* Phone 0131 557 0426 for more information

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page nine

Give us your opinion
YOUR VOICE is your chance to give us your opinions on any issues we’ve covered. Letters should be kept to around 200 words. We can accommodate longer articles but, due to space, these should be discussed with the editorial staff first. You can contact us by fax, phone, letter or email. Tel: 0141 221 7714 Fax: 0141 221 7715 Email: ssv@ndirect.co.uk Address: SSV, 73 Robertson Street, Glasgow, G2 8QD Letters, columns and signed articles which appear in the Voice do not necessarily represent the editorial view of the Scottish Socialist Voice or the Scottish Socialist Party

Pensions and penury
The private pensions industry helped fuel the artificial stock market boom.
Its collapse shows Karl Marx was right about the periodic boom and slump nature of capitalism.
But it's little comfort to us now, as millions of people face penury in retirement.
As a former pension salesman in the Highlands I played an unwitting part in this fiasco.
Blair presses ahead with the hare-brained stakeholder scheme and Scottish Labour and the LibDems tag along - mesmerised by the mirage of endless boom. But when the plans go sour, as they inevitably do, it is ordinary people who suffer.
There is a simple way to ensure all our retirements are safe and sound. A state pension linked to average earnings and paid from National Insurance contributions, is the obvious remedy.
A proper pension that can provide more than just the bare necessities of life is a priority.
Frank Ward,
Dornoch

SSP and the euro
Before the Voice went on its well earned holiday, I replied to Colin Bell's piece on the euro. Unfortunately I missed the deadline for the last issue but I feel that the matters raised can't be allowed to pass without some comment.
There are two important issues. Firstly the opposition raised gives an indication of some of the criticisms our policy will attract, especially when it is not explained and ignorance is allowed to fill the void.
So the short pamphlet currently being produced, which will explain a socialist opposition to the euro, is welcomed.
Whenever the referendum is called we must be ready to take on both the capitalist pro-euro camp and the opportunist xenophobic right. This brings me to the second point.
We have a difficult enough job to do in combating the entire British media and every other political party in Scotland without having to repair the damage and confusion caused by columnists in the Voice!
Every party member is entitled to their own opinion. Mr Bell is in the privileged position of being able to put his across via the Voice.
Frank Hotchkiss,
Scottish Socialist Party Spokesperson on Europe
* The Voice does not have policy that columnists must agree with, or represent SSP policy.

Historic Palestine
I was grateful for Dave Sherry's reply to my letter in the last issue.
It raises the important question, "What is historic Palestine?"
The word comes from the Greek Palaistina, originally from the Hebrew Pleshet (Land of the Philistines, also called Philistia.) The Roman "Syria Palaestina" in the 2nd century BC referred to the southern third of the province of Syria, including the former Judea.
The name "Palestine" was revised as an official title when the British were granted a mandate after World War One.
For Dave Sherry to be correct about the Israelis occupying 78 per cent of Historic Palestine, you are only allowed to go as far back as 1947. At the Paris Peace conference Historic Palestine consisted of what is presently Israel and Jordan.
Jordan occupies 78 per cent of the 1922 Historic Palestine and Israel only 16 per cent.
If you go back to the Ottoman rule of the area from 1516 to 1917, there was no historic Palestine.
How far back should you go?
I deliberately ignored the source of the conflict in my letter in issue 100 to focus on a solution in need of discussion as too much focus on the source only brings you back to the present problem with no solutions.
James McCready,
Dunoon

Blairspeak
The Herald recently carried the following quote from Tony Blair in response to enquiries about when the UK government would publish evidence that Iraq possesses a serious programme of developing weapons of mass destruction:
"The only reason why we haven't published this documentation before is that you have to choose your time to do it, because otherwise you send something running up the agenda when it's not necessarily there."
Can anyone interpret this mince?
David Stevenson,
Cambuslang

Colin Bell -
off the air

Colin Bell is one of Scotland's most well known and respected broadcasters.

Edinburgh Tories try a U-turn

Things are getting just a tiny bit confusing at the moment. And no, I don't think it's just that my senior moments are telescoping into one long mental dribble. But I've just laid hands on a really punchy political pamphlet, which echoes my own views on a contentious, issue and displays a keen sense for the electoral jugular.
The problem is, it emanates from the Edinburgh Pentlands Tories. Possibly because they are keen readers of this column (which, sadly, I doubt) or worse, because they've finally begun to empathise with ordinary people, the blood splattered veterans of Rifkind's Rout have latched on to the irrational injustices of the Edinburgh congestion-charge scheme. And frankly, I think it will yield them real dividends in Baberton, Juniper, Currie and Balerno in next year's council elections. I also assume they'll be running with it in other deeply - aggrieved places like South Queensferry.
It yet could be that they'll present me with another problem and come out in favour of the euro.

History doesn't lie but some historians do

Colleagues of the monstrously irritating historian David Starkey, whom you will recall is getting £60,000 a pop for his latest series of Tudor telly, are falling over each other to relay the news that when Starkey relinquished his office space in college, the new occupant was taken aback to discover that there were not only no books in it, there were no bookshelves.
There was, however, a handsome chaise longue, not normally assumed to be an essential for tutorial purposes.

Alliss in Bigotland

Now, let me throw open my own closet door. I am addicted to watching golf on television. Which is odd, since I don't much like television and I don't actually play golf. But there you are.
And at this year's Open there was a certain amount of fuss that Muirfield's owners, the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, won't admit women to their company or even their premises.
But then neither do the other organisations to which these frightfully well-connected chaps belong - the Archers, the Masons and, until very recently, the New Club.
Come to that, not a lot of Charlotte Square boardrooms let in women after the Hoovers are switched off.
Yet nobody made any fuss at all about the commentary, by Peter Alliss, who is actually described as lovable by the kind of folk who think Jim Davidson is funny and Tim Henman can play tennis.
Alliss is paid to offer informed comment on golf but appears to enjoy complete freedom to throw in any racist or sexist stereotype he likes. This year I stopped counting after he'd racked up irrelevant and offensive remarks about the Japanese, the Burmese, the Indians and indeed the Americans, commented on the sexual attractions of female colleagues, and wondered if the soldiers who were acting as course stewards saw the resemblance between the rough and Kosovo. Probably not, Peter. Few mass graves at Muirfield, although the thought did cross my mind.

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page ten

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page eleven

International news

Bush sets his sights on Iraq

by Nick McKerrell

The last few weeks have seen significant developments in George Bush's drive for war in the Gulf and plans to attack Iraq.
Last Saturday the US vice-president met with six Iraqi opposition groups. to discuss political life after Saddam Hussein is ousted.
Previously the US was wary of dealing directly with the opposition as they are hopelessly divided on the future of Iraq.
Of particular significance is the Kurdish opposition to Saddam who were denied a seat at the table in the Pentagon.
The Kurds have suffered brutal repression both from Iraq, who used horrific chemical weapons against them, and from Turkey.
The proposed state of Kurdistan, continually denied by Western powers since the end of the First World War in 1918, overlaps these two countries.
The US is terrified of encouraging Kurdish national aspirations because Turkey is a key ally in the Bush regime's proposed war.
Turkey is desperate to ingratiate itself to imperialism.
It is a member of NATO and is looking to join the EU.
It is ready to allow its air bases to be used in any US action.
The meeting with the opposition is an attempt to replicate the approach taken with the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.
One of the opposition present at the meeting said that the US wants a democratic state in Iraq:
"They would not support replacing one dictator with another".
This did not bother America when it backed Saddam throughout the 1980s as a bulwark against Iran, at the time he gassed the Kurds.
But such words are so much hot air and are more part of a general propaganda offensive by the US.
Arab states are almost unanimous in their disapproval of a war on Iraq.
King Hussein of Jordan used a recent visit to Washington DC to underline his opposition.
Saudi Arabia took the unprecedented step of stating that no US attack could use its land or air space.
Even an offer to re-admit weapons inspectors was shrugged off by the US government. It is demanding a "regime change" in Iraq.
Such a demand is even outside the scope of the UN resolutions which state that sanctions will be lifted once there is full cooperation with the weapons' inspectorate.
Bush and Blair keep insisting that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. They ignore the utter devastation suffered by Iraq after more than a decade of crippling sanctions and the destruction of Iraq's military capability by previous inspections.
The International Atomic Energy Association in 1998 stated that there was absolutely no evidence of prohibited nuclear activity.
Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector in Iraq says that its ability to produce chemical weapons was ended in 1995.
He also witnessed the destruction of 817 out of Iraq's 819 missiles.
Sanctions have killed millions, caused infant mortality to sky rocket and almost completely destroyed Iraq's infrastructure.
The bombing of Iraq has hardly ceased since 1991 with large scale campaigns in 1993, 1998 and 2001. It is clear that Bush wants to completely destroy Iraqi society.
The anti-war movement is growing internationally.
It must counter Bush and Blair, the war-mongers.

Witness to resistance

In Palestine, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) are volunteers who act as independent witnesses to the brutality of the Israeli repression of the area.
Irish socialist Colm Breathnach joined the ISM and documented his experiences through email.
He saw how Israeli soldiers treat Palestinians:
"The Israeli Army has ripped up a lot of roads, sewage and water pipes.
"Everything is done to make normal life impossible for Palestinians.
"They are humiliated at the Israeli army checkpoints.
In Ramallah, Colm arrived to see soldiers leaving an apartment block:
"They had blown in most of the doors with some sort of explosive and wrecked the apartments.
"Every thing was broken inside, washing machines pulled out, pictures and furniture smashed up. I've never seen anything like it."
He also saw that despite constant harassment and threats to their lives, many Palestinians refuse to be cowed:
"We marched down to a refugee camp where all the residents were out in defiance of the curfew.
"The kids ignore the curfew and stay outside playing.
"At this stage the local people took over the march led by a big crowd of chanting kids.
"When we got back to the hospital, which stands on a hill above Ramallah, we saw a really moving sight.
"The sky over the town was filled with dozens of kites flown by children in every part of town showing that they were out playing in defiance of the curfew,
"Some kites even had Palestinian flags attached."
There will be an in depth interview with Colm in a future issue of the Voice.

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page twelve

Voice at Work

Fired up for strike

by Dave Sherry

After last month's colourful and highly successful march and rally through Glasgow, the Fire Brigades Union is stepping up its pay campaign.
The union has called three more national demonstrations as its 55,000 members move to ballot for a national strike over pay.
There will be marches and rallies in Swansea on August 17, Belfast on August 24 and London on September 2.
Last Thursday firefighters and emergency control staff from Strathclyde lobbied the Hamilton headquarters of Strathclyde Fire Board to demand support for an increase in firefighters' pay to £30,000 a year.
Jock Munro, the FBU Scottish pay campaign coordinator says:
"Firefighters and emergency control staff pay is at such a level that many qualify to claim Working Family Tax Credit.
"It is an outrage that people who work 42 hours per week, including 14 and 16 hour nightshifts, providing a life saving service, should have to rely on state benefit in order to make ends meet."
To date, the local authority employers have spurned the union's demand.
A final meeting with the employers will take place at the beginning of September but it is unlikely that the government will allow any movement.
The union has organised a special pay conference in Manchester on September 12 that will vote on a recommendation for an immediate strike ballot.

Left jubilant as Simpson and Serwotka trounce the right

While the Voice was on holiday socialists inside the unions notched up two spectacular victories.
In the AMICUS/AEEU general secretary election, left-winger Derek Simpson beat the arch right-wing incumbent, Sir Ken Jackson. The AEEU has long been a bastion of the right and Jackson was Tony Blair's ally.
AMICUS is now Britain's second biggest union. On the eve of the ballot for its general secretary a New Labour internal memo had warned:
"A victory for Derek Simpson could tip Britain upside down."
The result has rocked the Blairites. Derek Simpson has thanked Scottish Socialist Party activists for mounting a successful campaign on his behalf here in Scotland.
The defeat of Sir Ken Jackson was followed by the legal victory of civil servants union leader, Mark Serwotka.
A high court judge confirmed what most PCS union members already knew - that Mark's election in November 2000 was valid and that the coup attempt by former right-wing general secretary Barry Reamsbottom was illegal.
The misnamed Moderate Group's attempt to sideline Mark Serwotka and PCS union president, Janice Godrich backfired.
The judge ruled that Reamsbottom is no longer a member of the union. The result is a knockout victory for the left.
Mark Serwotka supports the Socialist Alliance and Janice Godrich was elected union President as a member of the Scottish Socialist Party.
As Mark says:
"My view is the court that matters is the members, and that court ruled in our favour. I and PCS president Janice Godrich have addressed countless meetings the like of which we've never seen before in our union."
These victories follow the election of a group of prominent socialists in major union elections over the last few years. Tony Blair calls them 'the awkward squad'.
Derek and Mark now join them - more evidence that a real mood for resistance is growing inside the organised working class.

union street -
Alex Watt

Alex Watt, UCATT steward at Walker Profiles in Motherwell, talks to Mick Parkin

What does your job involve?

We make and fit doors and windows almost exclusively in council houses. I used to be employed direct by the council, in a DLO but in June '98 Donald Dewar decided to privatise us for having a £4 million deficit, but the building he dreamt up is already £240 million over budget and nothing's happened to the people behind that.
Apart from which, we cleared that deficit in the next year. It's obvious they were looking for an excuse to privatise us.

So, you're conditions are worse now?

We transferred under a TUPE agreement so we took our conditions with us, but that agreement runs out in June 2003. Once that goes they'll want to bring us down to the same standard as all their other workers, which is rubbish.
Thing is, though, there's plenty of work around at the moment, so most of the fitters will just walk if that happens.
Even if all 24 of us get another job that's at least 30 decent jobs that no longer exist. That work will be done by some poor devils on flexible contracts, no security, no sick pay or holidays.

And this was New Labour's idea?

The Tories would never have got away with it because all the labour councils would have been screaming their heads off. Now though, they all know which side their bread's buttered on.
You'd think New Labour would have some interest in preserving decent jobs.
Obviously they don't. But it's Europe as well, cos the EU says we've got to get our public debt down to a certain level, so getting people off the government payroll is a great way to do that.
Same as them getting rid of the housing stock. Obviously when these new Housing Associations want repairs done they're going to look for the lowest bid, not for the people who give their employees decent working conditions.
The only real guarantee for workers conditions is if we're all in one big organisation, like the DLO, and everyone's employed directly. Get rid of these fly-by-night cowboys sub-contracting work out to people with no rights and no security.

Did you have a strike recently?

Yeah, the company are constantly trying to undermine our conditions. When you're putting in windows they don't always fit perfectly, so you have to add a bit of wood down both sides and lots of little fiddly things like that to get a good fit.
Obviously that's all part of the job, but the company said we were just going to get the usual rate that we get if it fitted properly.
We went on strike one day a week and eventually came to an agreement.
They're always trying to get more work out of you. We had an agreement with the council that you could stop work in 'inclement weather', Now it's just up to the person in charge.
Anything to drive wages down.
Yeah, it really annoys me that you can be doing a decent weeks work, but then your wages are so low that you have to go and claim benefits. Family Credit should be abolished - it's making it easier for bosses to pay poverty wages.
I can't believe some of the things that New Labour are doing but maybe with what's been happening lately, the trade union movement is starting to realise that New Labour is on the bosses side, totally geared up to create a low-pay, flexible workforce. As far as I'm concerned that's not good enough

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