Issue87

IT’S SIX months since the US sent its bombers halfway across the world to fire the opening shots in the ‘War Against Terror’.
It would be all over by Christmas, we were told. Osama bin Laden would be hunted down. Terrorism would be vanquished. The world would be a safer place.
Today the world looks a more dangerous place than it looked then.
In the Middle East, Israel - armed to the teeth with American tanks, helicopters and fighter planes - steps up its murderous onslaught against the Palestinian people of the West Bank.
In revenge for generations of humiliation and degradation, an endless procession of young Palestinian suicide bombers blow themselves up in crowded shopping centres, nightclubs and pizza parlours.
But for every Israeli killed in suicide attacks, three Palestinians are slaughtered by the Israeli armed forces.
Back in Afghanistan, over 5000 civilians have been killed by American bombs.
And as Taliban and Al Qaeda regroup in the mountains, hundreds of young Scottish soldiers get ready to die in battle.
But Osama bin Laden the prime target of the military campaign seems to have vanished.
Now the politicians and the generals are plotting a war to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
Iraq is a developed country where most people live in big cities, in high rise flats, rather than in remote mountain villages.
If it took 5000 civilian deaths in bombing raids to oust the Taliban, it could take 500,000 civilian deaths in bombing raids to oust Saddam Hussein.
As Ariel Sharon sends in the tanks and helicopters to the West Bank, and as George Bush threatens to send in the nuclear weapons to Baghdad, there is uproar from Cairo to Khartoum. The entire Arab world threatens to burst into flames.
There can be no peace in the Middle East until there is justice.
National justice for the Palestinians, who were evicted from their homeland more than half a century ago.
And economic justice for the millions of people who live in poverty in an oil rich region whose wealth has been plundered mercilessly by Western governments, by big business, and by their own corrupt rulers.

news

Glasgow schools PPP plan starts to collapse

Glasgow Council's controversial Private Public Partnership (PPP) scheme for Education - Project 2002 - has been hit by two more scandals.
First of all it was revealed that the senior education boss responsible for pushing the scheme is to be investigated for alleged corruption.
Then just as pupils and staff at Notre Dame secondary school in Glasgow were leaving for their Easter holidays, a retaining wall collapsed, crushing three vehicles.
Fortunately no pupils or staff were hurt.
The wall was built only last year by sub contractors employed by 3ED, the Public Private Consortium behind the scheme. 3ED, which includes Amey Construction, the Miller Group, Hewlett Packard and Halifax plc, has taken over the rebuilding, refurbishment and management of the city's secondary schools. The result has been chaos.
Refurbishment work has brought disruption and danger to secondary schools across the city. Recently janitors were forced to take action to protect their working conditions and agreements.
The project hardly represents 'value for money' for the citizens of Glasgow. Total cost is estimated at over £1.2 billion - at least £34 million more than if the same work was done through the public sector.
Now Glasgow's PPP supremo, Depute Director of Education, Ian MacDonald, is alleged to have given a £390,000 contract for supplying school websites to his son's business without council approval.
The highly paid McDonald is a hard-nosed proponent of PPP. He has dismissed official union concerns about the project and has rubbished trade union reps who have dared to speak out against the scandal.

A Glasgow teacher told the Voice:
"Many teachers who have been on the receiving end will feel relieved. What they have long suspected has at last come to public attention - that PPP is about jobs for the boys.
"The scheme is a disaster for Glasgow schools. Educational concerns take a backseat while the companies involved make their profit.
"It has become ludicrous. We are told that the companies now own the classroom walls and educational material can no longer be posted on them in case the walls get damaged."

Angry workers fight to foil aluminium factory closure

Two hundred jobs are under threat at ALCAN's Polmadie factory in Glasgow where the giant mutinational makes aluminium foil products.
Since the start of the year the shop stewards at Polmadie have been campaigning to reverse management's closure decision.
But ALCAN are hell-bent on axing the profitable Glasgow plant and plan to transfer production to their bigger, loss-making operation at Bridgend in Shropshire.
ALCAN has plants in Fort William, Falkirk and Burntisland as well as others across England and Wales. The company is one of the top landowners in Scotland.
Davy Jamieson, TGWU convenor at Polmadie, told the Voice:
"The union has had talks with senior management and the Scottish Executive, but the talks have got us nowhere. Polmadie is busy and profitable and at first we couldn't understand why the company would close here and move work to Shropshire where they make a loss.
"But it transpires that the Shropshire site has been badly contaminated due to long term oil leakage by the company.
"If ALCAN move it would cost them a fortune to decontaminate that site. They couldn't just walk away from it so they claim it's more profitable for them to shut us down up here.
"That news has really angered a lot of people and we intend to fight it all the way."
The 200 workers at Polmadie are union members and most are in the TGWU.
At a mass meeting last month they held an indicative ballot and a clear majority are for some form of action against the company.
ALCAN's decision to sell Polmadie may also have been influenced by the fact that the land lies beside the line of the proposed M74 extension and its value has increased.

School meals debate date

The date has been anounced for the parliamentray debate on Tommy Sheridan's Free School Meals Bill.
The bill will be debated and decided upon by the Scottish Parliament on June 27 - the final day of the parliamentary session.
The bill aims to provide a nutritious free school meal with milk for every school pupil in Scotland.
The bill is co-sponsored by Labour's John McAllion and the SNP's Alex Neil and has attracted wide support, with some MSPs from all parties, apart from the Tories, pledging support for the initiative.
The bill has also won support from a range of anti-poverty charities, from community and church groups, from the STUC Women's Organisation and from the Sunday Herald newspaper.
The Scottish Socialist Party is planning to launch a major campaign in support of the bill throughout the months of May and June.

Lanarkshire demo to save children's ward

by Ian Smith

Around 40 people took part in a demonstration on Saturday against Lanarkshire NHS Trust's decision to permanently close the children's ward at Monklands Hospital.
Local MSPs Karen Whitefield and Elaine Smith were both invited along, but preferred to show their contempt by not showing up - no change there then.
The SSP are calling for the resignation of Martin Hill (chairman of Lanarkshire NHS Trust) after lying to local politicians, media and constituents alike over the closure of this vital facility.
Hill insisted that the ward would reopen on the April 1 2002, but has now admitted that the ward will remain closed.
Further demonstrations are planned for Thursday April 4 when the trust board meet in Hamilton.

news

Sodexho staff protest over sacked porters

by Dave Sherry

On Tuesday over 120 domestics and porters at Glasgow Royal Infirmary walked out in protest at their employer, Sodexho.
The French owned multinational, which now provides private catering, cleaning, portering and security services to the North Glasgow NHS Trust, announced that ten staff will be paid off.
The workers, who are members of UNISON, were already bitter after failing to win the same pay and rights as NHS staff. Their pay claim, which was submitted last year, has still not been resolved.
Last week, UNISON branch secretary Carolyn Leckie had warned:
"Sodexho has ignored the union and a lot of members are considering industrial action unless there's movement soon."
So when management announced they would sack ten temporary employees without talking to the union, members decided to act in support of their sacked colleagues.
They stayed out for the day and mounted a big demonstration outside the main gates of the hospital.
Many of the protestors were clamouring for an official ballot for further action and arguing that GMB union members employed by Sodexho should join the action.
One of the women domestics told the Voice:
"Sodexho are eating away at our conditions. We're overworked, understaffed and underpaid. Losing ten jobs makes it worse.
"They won't give us a wage rise and they're changing our pay arrangements. We've had it with them."
In January, Sedexho were implicated in the epidemic at the Victoria Infirmary and were exposed for filthy conditions at the Royal.

Eduardo Sanchez must stay

Julio Eduardo Hoyos Sanchez, a 36 year old Peruvian, is being held in Dungavel detention centre Ayrshire.
Eduardo, who lives in the Pollokshaws area of Glasgow and is a freelance drama artist, was detained on Monday March 25 as he signed at his local police station as he has done for the last two years.
A deportation order was granted on the March 19.
Eduardo Sanchez has lived in Scotland for 11 years. He has a nine year old son called Yan Sanchez Shearer who lives with his mother Carol Shearer - Eduardo's former partner - in Orkney.
Yan is seeking action in defence of his own human rights to stop the deportation of his father, who he will never see again if it goes ahead.
Yan is adamant that he spends time with his father regularly throughout the year especially in the summer months and every other school break as well as contact over the phone. But Yan's views are being ignored by those carrying out the deportation order.
All of the Shearer family oppose the deportation of Eduardo and hope that his appeal is successful.
Tommy Sheridan, who is taking his case up in the Scottish Parliament, will be seeking the support of MSPs, MPs, trade unionists and other campaigns to halt this insensitive and inhumane decision.

Crocodile tears and establishment fears

by Jo Harvie

The death of a 101 year old woman is not something that would usually cause a wave of shock to crash through the nation's media.
But this weekend, page after newspaper page and countless hours of television were devoted to wailing and gnashing of teeth, as the British media rolled about in grief like an over excited corgi in a puddle.
At the end of ITV's uninterupted Saturday evening coverage of the death of the Queen Mother, they promised news updates throughout the night. Presumably this was in case at any point she was any more or less dead.
With the notable exception of the Guardian, newspapers fought to outdo each other in the volume of their coverage.
The Scotsman hysterically celebrated its victory in carrying more tributes and teary pictures than any other paper, with a 28 page supplement and seven news pages.
In its sister paper, Scotland on Sunday, Tory columnist Katie Grant condemned BBC news reader Peter Sissons for daring to appear on television without a black tie, a theme that was also taken up by the Daily Mail. Thank goodness treason is still a hanging offence.
Oddly enough, just a couple of years ago The Scotsman and SoS publisher Andrew Neil was proclaiming himself a 'meritocratist'.
He was opposed to the Royal Family, he said, because such feudal ties could only impinge on the ultimate victory of the free market.
But since the owners of The Scotsman, the Barclay Brothers, were knighted, Neil has aboutturned. Today his papers have become glorified royalist fanzines.
So why, as Israeli tanks crushed homes and lives in Palestine, was so much time and space devoted to a hardly unexpected death?
The fact is that this is not, as many papers declared on their front pages, an end of an era.
Public opposition to the monarchy has grown steadily over the last couple of decades as people become increasingly hostile to these costly and estranged so-called representatives of the people.
The Queen Mother herself called Thatcher her favourite Prime Minister ever - although adding that she didn't go far enough with anti-trade union measures.
But there's nothing like a 'tragedy' to shore up support for a crumbling institution.
And of course the Queen Mother was far more important than your or my granny. Apparently she was the Granny of the Nation.
In that case, it might be time to ask for some back dated birthday money.

Help keep the Voice roaring

In a week where the mainstream media is soaked in tributes to the Queen Mother, the Voice is still covering the issues that matter.
The Voice is the only anti-war, anti-privatisation, anti-poverty and anti-monarchy paper in Scotland.
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Please make a donation today. Or you can buy extra copies to sell to friends, workmates and family, or encourage them to take out a subscription or make a donation.
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home truths
Keith Baldassara

Glasgow No vote campaign nears end

This stage in the battle to defend council housing in Glasgow is almost over, as the housing stock transfer ballot comes to an end on April 4.
The Scottish Executive self-appointed quango Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) is quite buoyant at this late stage, believing that based on their returns they will secure a high percentage Yes vote. They're already claiming victory.
The turn out so far has surprised both camps. Most commentators were expecting a 40 - 50 per cent turn out.
But to date approximately 60 per cent of all tenants have cast their vote - 47,000 ballot forms returned out of the 78,000 that have been distributed.

Publicity
It is clear that the publicity of both campaigns for and against has generated a response, which is now reflected in the turn out.
For those of us campaigning against the transfer it has been difficult to combat the daily lies that have appeared in the press. The Glasgow Evening Times in particular has worked as an unofficial mouthpiece for the GHA, providing them with hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of free publicity.
This has included giving Labour MSP Margaret Curran a column specifically in support of the housing stock transfer.
Bob Allan, Chief Executive of the GHA, and Glasgow council leader Charlie Gordon have had seemingly unlimited access to their pages to answer criticisms of the transfer (untruthfully).
The Campaign for a No Vote has worked tirelessly for the last two years and has begun to reap the benefits in the response on the streets from tenants.
Many have approached the stalls enthusiastically declaring that they have voted No in conjunction with many of their neighbours.
Based on this anecdotal evidence, which has been repeated throughout the city, a No vote could be possible.
But at this stage it's impossible to tell either way. The result of the ballot will be announced on Friday April 5.

workplace news

union street
Janice Godrich

SSP member Janice Godrich is currently the Vice President of the civil service union PCS. As part of the Left Unity slate, she is standing for the post of President of the union
It's been two years since the last elections for the National Executive committee.
In the past there were two left wing slates but this time we have come together to stand one Left Unity slate.
We are fighting against privatisation. We are also representing increasing numbers of workers in the private sector.
We want to challenge the whole privatisation agenda.
But we still must fight for the rights of workers whose jobs have been already been privatised and campaign for those jobs to come back in to the public sector.
Until very recently I combined my union posts with my regular job. It's vital to stay in touch with members and not become isolated and distant - as many trade union leaders can be.
I'm not a career trade unionist. One of the key factors in building a strong trade union is that the views and the voice of ordinary members are heard.
Two thousand members chose an openly socialist general secretary, Mark Serwotka.
Now we need an NEC who will back him up and deliver to the members.

n The other SSP members who are standing as candidates are:
Danny Williamson (Vice President)
Allan Brown (NEC)
Joy Dunn (NEC)
Richard McLean (NEC)

ScotRail drivers vote on new deal

by Dave Sherry

The 750 train drivers involved in the three month dispute for wage parity are voting on an improved offer from ScotRail.
Strikes due on March 2 and 9 are cancelled while the drivers decide whether or not to accept it. The deal, equivalent to a 22 per cent rise over 18 months, is tied to productivity improvements.
The drivers brought the network to a standstill on four occasions and were planning a further eleven stoppages. It was this threat that forced ScotRail to improve their offer.
The unions had originally sought £28,000 with no strings attached and while the threat of further industrial action has wrested major concessions, the new offer does not meet the full claim.
It gives drivers a 14 per cent rise in June, which takes their basic pay from £23,000 to £26,200. That would then rise to £27,000 in January 2003 and to £28,000 in January 2004.
The negotiators have also accepted changes to conditions. These include new sickness and return to work procedures and drivers accepting responsibility for checking when next on shift.
But management has failed to get the key concessions they had earlier demanded - a reduction in holidays and a cut in sick pay.
Rest day working and overtime will remain voluntary and ScotRail promise to recruit more drivers and cut minimum shifts to five hours.
Both ASLEF and RMT rail unions are recommending acceptance and the ballot result will be known by the end of next week.
Even if the drivers accept the new offer, ScotRail are likely to face wage claims from other low paid employees. The RMT, whose wage agreement for non-driving staff with ScotRail ran out on Monday, will now wait to see what the drivers get.
RMT members are already striking at Arriva Trains in England, where non-driving staff have only been offered 3 per cent, while drivers received 18 per cent.

Scottish postal workers demand strike action

by Richie Venton

Postal workers are furious at the announced redundancies, depot closures and galloping privatisation of the 350-year-old service.
After decades of making profits they are being punished for the bosses' incompetence and Blair's dogmatic opposition to public ownership.
The mounting pressure from postal workers is reflected in the CWU's threat to withdraw £500,000 from its funding of New Labour.
As CWU Scotland no.2 branch secretary Derek Durkin said:
"New Labour's fingerprints are all over everything the employers have done. The union must make the break from them, not just make a gesture.
"Our branch has moved a motion to implement the decision of CWU conference 2000 to break all links if New Labour privatise any part of the postal industry."
The Scottish Socialist Party postal workers' group is campaigning for a one-day strike in Scotland on April 25 to enable postal workers to join the CWU's lobby of the Scottish parliament.
This would give focus to the fury, which includes anger at the CWU national leadership's failure to implement the members' 2:1 vote for strike action.
A delivery driver in Ayrshire Local Depot, which faces closure, told the Voice:
"Fifty one out of 101 depots face closure, threatening 6,700 Parcelforce jobs. We've been told very little.
"The voluntary redundancy package probably offers a measly two weeks for every year's service. For me after working here nine years it means £4,000 tops.
"We've got until July to decide between that, fitting into Royal Mail letters, or resign the job, hire our own van, set up a business and charge Parcelforce for hiring us.
"This would save them covering our pension, sickness and holidays, and we'd have to pay for repairs to a van driving round in full post office livery.
"They want to shed 30,000 jobs, so even if we slotted into a letter delivery office, six months down the line we could face redundancy again on the basis of last in, first out.
"I feel real anger because we all knew problems years ago but management refused to listen.
"At Christmas we worked through our breaks, came in early, met 150 per cent of our targets - this is the thanks we get.
"Even the boss from headquarters who came to announce closure admitted they have 200 managers at head office where 50 would be enough.
"So the bosses sit back but we face 6,700 job losses that could have been saved years ago."

JobCentre safety battle will go on

by Scottish PCS members

After the long, bitter dispute in the Employment Service and Benefits Agency, PCS members are balloting on a proposed agreement.
Whilst not ideal it is a big improvement on management's original offer.
If members vote yes to accept, the campaign for screened areas in every JobCentre Plus office will continue.
Key improvements have been conceded.
'Welcome Points' will replace BA reception areas and will only direct callers to other parts of the office. Only volunteer staff will fill frontline posts.
Staff have the discretionary right not to see any customer in an unscreened area.
Any office delivering 'higher risk functions' will have screened areas.
These improvements have been won by the brilliant solidarity of the strikers in Pathfinders offices, the two day strikes throughout the BA and ES, and the hard work of local union reps.
Attempts were made to undermine the strike from the beginning - by the employer, the government, but also by right wing elements in the union who are always keen to do New Labour's dirty work.
Whilst for the union this has been a health and safety dispute, for the government it has been an attempt to smash the union.
Although this proposed agreement is a substantial improvement on management's original proposals it is far from perfect.
The absence of an initial screened reception will worry many members.
However, the union leadership made a judgement about how much more strike action we could deliver and whether any further concessions could be forced out of management, especially with the union right wing always undermining the dispute.
Although the proposed agreement is not a complete victory, all PCS members should be very proud of the improvements won by their solidarity.
This has been especially difficult against a notoriously hard-line management - egged on by the union-bashing New Labour government - who have now been forced to respect the union.
This is particularly important as we face hard battles ahead on pay, conditions of service and privatisation threats.
Regardless of the outcome of the current ballot of union members on this proposed agreement, the battle will continue on workplace safety.

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environment news

one
world
Peter Murray

Munlochy vigil demands an end to GM farming

People on the Black Isle are spearheading a campaign to ban GM crops. They have taken their fight to the Scottish Parliament. Peter Murray reports
Anthony Jackson is a woodcutter who lives and works in the Black Isle.
Caring for the native woodland is his living and his passion.
He has an understandable vested interest in the 'biodiversity' of his area.
So too do other people on the Black Isle who earn their living from agriculture, fishing, woodland and wildlife reserves, organic farming, organic brewing, beekeeping, and nature tourism.
They were incensed when the Black Isle was selected for a one year trial of Genetically Modified (GM) oilseed rape.
Anthony Jackson told the Voice:
"A 60 hectare area has been established which contains 15 hectares of GM oilseed rape crop, a fifteen hectare 'control crop' and an area with a commercial crop.
"We were immediately alarmed when this was set up some eight months ago.
"There is a major potential risk to the environment from these GM crops.
"We are told that a 50 metre separation between GM and non GM crops is adequate to prevent cross contamination, but GM pollens have been found up to two and a half kilometres from trial sites."
The European Environment Agency (EEA) report that GM oilseed rape in particular was a "high risk for cross-contamination, which increases the likelihood of extinction of wild relatives".
This means that the GM crop will start taking over, wiping out existing strains of plants and reducing biodiversity.
"This could result in crop failures and threaten the livelihoods of conventional and organic farmers," said Anthony Jackson, who also highlighted the English Nature report which warned that GM crops could lead to the "inevitability" of "superweeds" which would be resistant to herbicides.
This in turn could lead to the use of more powerful and damaging herbicides such as paraquat and even a substance derived from Agent Orange - the fearful defoliant the Americans used in Vietnam and which is responsible for terrible birth defects.
The Sunday Times, on February 17, leaked preliminary results from trials which showed that GM oilseed rape was "damaging the environment".
Black Isle residents responded to this threat by establishing a vigil at the Munlochy trial site.
The vigil provides an information resource to everyone who wanted to know more about GM crops. They plan to lobby politicians and have presented a petition to the Scottish Parliament.
They have recently linked up with the Fife Against GMO group and are planning joint oppposition.
The vigil also monitors the site and checks the guidelines for GM trials are adhered to.
Anthony Jackson alleges the guidelines have been breached.
"After harvesting of a GM crop, the ground should be left for three weeks to avoid the spread of stray seeds etc.
"But at Munlochy the ground was left for only three days."

Petition
The Munlochy vigil petition calls for an immediate end to GM crop trials in Scotland and a full debate in the parliament, with a free vote on the future of GM in Scotland.
Tommy Sheridan and Dennis Canavan are amongst the petition's supporters. Ross Finnie is due to report back to the Transport and environment committee after Easter.
He has promised that he will stop the trials if he has evidence of a risk to the environment.
Anthony Jackson added:
"He now has that evidence and must pull the trials without delay."
He urged all Voice readers to contact Ross Finnie before April 16 to demand a halt to GM trials:
"An EU survey found that 79 per cent of consumers will not eat GM food. Many conventional and organic farmers reject the idea of GM crops.
"But GM companies are motivated to make profits from their control of GM patents.
"Now Ross Finnie must know that the people of Scotland reject GM.
"This is a chance to defeat powerful vested interests and protect our countryside."

Contact Ross Finnie and others by e-mail to express your support for the Munlochy vigil petition:
Ross.Finnie.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
Jack.McConnell.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
Nora.Radcliffe.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
Charles Kennedy: rossldp@cix.co.uk

Fury at Faslane jobs loss

by Les Robertson

Furious naval workers may strike after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) decided to privatise the submarine bases at Faslane and Coulport.
This move threatens 500 jobs in the Dumbarton and Vale of Leven area which already has over 10 per cent unemployment.
New Labour's decision to award the Warship Maintenance Review to the private sector company Babcocks was greeted with fury by the unions.
Union chief Derek Torrie, who chairs the industrial campaign group at Faslane and Coulport, said: "New Labour, when in opposition, described privatisation plans as obscene. Now they are stabbing a loyal and hardworking workforce in the back. They are more than happy to take money from the trade unions but sell us out like this."
Tommy Sheridan raised the issue of Trident in the Scottish Parliament recently and Dumbarton's MSP, Jackie Baillie attacked the SSP's defence policy.
She warned of a nuclear winter for jobs if the SSP's plans for scrapping Trident were put into action. How her words have come back to haunt her.
Workers at bases were understandably nervous that nuclear disarmament would destroy their jobs.
Scare stories circulated by people like Jackie Baillie had an effect.
But if the billions that New Labour pour into nuclear weapons were spent on socially useful production, five times as many jobs would be created.
Diversification away from arms production would provide greater stability and job security for armaments workers.
The biggest threat to jobs at Faslane and Coulport is privatisation not the demand for nuclear disarmament.
More workers have been discarded like rubbish by New Labour.
All workers at Faslane and Coulport should be able to stay in the public sector.

opinion

Cox and bull stories

During the dark days of Thatcher, Peter Cox was one of her most rabid cheerleaders.
During his time as a top editor at the London Sun, the paper called for the crushing of the miners, supported the Poll Tax and ran headlines such as Stop Your Snivelling Jocks.
Came to Scotland in 1999. Since he took over as editor of the Record sales of the paper have slumped by 70,000 a day.
Since Peter Cox took over as editor, the Daily Record has conducted a disgusting personal smear campaign against Tommy Sheridan.
His latest tawdry outburst concern Tommy's donation of half his salary to the SSP.
The paper tried to imply that Tommy was lying.
"He should spend less time under the sunlamp and more making sure he's put his money where his mouth is," said the paper's editorial.
Political editor Paul Sinclair condemned Tommy as a "hypocrite" and linked him with the disgraced First Minister McLeish. Ironically the Record backed Henry McLeish right down the line.
The paper defended McLeish who illegally RECEIVED £36,000.
And now it attacks Tommy Sheridan for legally DONATING £25,000.
If that's not hypocrisy, the Daily Record is a serious intellectual newspaper.
The Record has denied Tommy or the SSP the right of reply.

So here we print a letter, along with a personal letter that Tommy sent to the Record.
Unlike the Record we are not afraid of public debate. So we offer Daily Record editor Peter Cox the opportunity to explain his double standards.
And while he's at it, perhaps he can come clean about his own salary. We understand it's £250,000 a year - which makes him one of Scotland's biggest fatcats.
No wonder he's running scared of socialism.

Tommy Sheridan's letter to Peter Cox

Dear Mr Cox
Your paper has now printed four prominent articles designed to deliberately distort the SSP policy regarding politicians living on the average wage of a skilled worker and my consistent and transparent adherence to this policy.
I fully accept the Record's status as a New Labour in-house poodle, but I refuse to accept your use of the Record to deliberately distort what we in the SSP say and do.
Advice from the Press Complaints Commission, which is of course a toothless tiger on these matters, is to seek from you a PROMINENT RIGHT OF REPLY before pursuing the matter further with them.
I believe you know no law has been broken and no attempt has been made to hide our finances or my finances. Your paper tries to distort these facts. You are also aware that Mr McLeish was caught mis-claiming PUBLIC funds.
Your columnist seeks to compare me with him when the matter you seek to distort concerns my PERSONAL finances and those of a democratic socialist party.
I seek an assurance from you today that you will feature my small reply (attached) of only 274 words in a prominent position. After four days of front-page, page-lead, editorial and feature writing distortion, it is the least I can expect.
Yours with contempt
Tommy Sheridan MSP

The reply they refused to print

Paul Sinclair - your golf writer turned political editor - should stick to writing about birdies and holes in one.
He accuses me of being a hypocrite for donating half my salary to the Scottish Socialist Party.
There is nothing remotely hypocritical about my stand. I have never hidden my donations to the SSP. They have been reported widely in the Scottish press including the Daily Record.
Paul Sinclair snidely claims my donation is to pay for more posters to get me re-elected. Wrong again.
Our party constitution insists that ALL Scottish Socialist parliamentary candidates pledge to live on the average wage of a skilled worker - and donate the balance back to the party.
We do this to ensure our elected politicians remain in touch with the people who elected them. We refuse to accept that an MSP is worth two nurses, two teachers or five hospital ancillary workers.
It is contemptible that Paul Sinclair should link me with Henry McLeish - who receives a £34,000 a year pension for life on top of his £48,000 MSP's salary.
The fact is Paul Sinclair and the Record backed Henry McLeish to the hilt right up to the day of his resignation - despite his blatant abuse of PUBLIC funds.
Now the Record vilifies me for using my PERSONAL income to support a small political party which gets no funding from big business. I'm sorry to say it's the Record that's being hypocritical here.
And by the way, while we're on the subject of transparency - would Paul Sinclair or the Editor of the Daily Record, Peter Cox care to reveal their salaries to Daily Record readers?

What the Record said about the Henry McLeish scandal:

Witchhunt of Honest Henry
The harassment of Henry McLeish is a classic case of the hysteria which occasionally grips Scottish politics.
This time there is a new nastiness, stooping to smears and character assassinations.
Those making the accusations know they are outrageous. They also know the one thing they cannot question is Henry's integrity.
It is not Henry McLeish who is bringing Scottish politics into disrepute. It is the mud slingers and the smearers.
- Daily Record October 30, 2001

Spite of attacks sullied all MSPs

His opponents are trying to make McLeish's office expenses look like a matter of overpowering importance.
In fact it is a paltry affair... Scots in the street aren't the least bit bothered about it.
Unlike opposition MSPs, they think there are more important matters.
- Daily Record November 2, 2001

Toad who dropped Henry in it

His career-threatening crisis has been lifted...
Officegate has been finally closed down.
Henry can enmerge stronger and a better First Minister.
- Daily Record November 7, 2001

Scottish Socialist Youth, the network for young members and supporters of the Scottish Socialist Party, was officially launched in February. Here the Voice presents an edited version of their charter for Scottish youth.
One in three Scottish children live in poverty, but the banks in Edinburgh control £300 billion worth of funds. SSY have set out these demands for basic rights for Scottish young people as part of an international fight against global environmental destruction, poverty and inequality.

Unemployment and poverty wages are symptoms of a sick society. Any society which cannot put to use the talents and abilities of its people and support them accordingly, needs to be changed.
We are fighting for:
* A minimum wage for all, of at least £7 an hour and tied to inflation
* A 35 hour maximum working week.
* Rises in benefits matching the rise in minimum wage and the scrapping of age discrimination in benefits.
* Unemployment benefits restored to 16 and 17 year-olds.

Low wages, lack of benefits, unaffordable private rents and dwindling public housing mean that for the majority getting a place of your own is impossible. A direct result of this situation is that around 4,500 under 18s live homeless in Scotland.
We need:
* Council housing to remain in public control, with significant public investment to make these homes an acceptable place to live.
* A massive program of publicly funded house-building, utilising regenerated urban areas to minimise environmental damage.
* Action taken against exploitative slum landlords, with confiscation of property if improvements are not made.
* Housing benefits to be restored to 16 and 17 year-olds.
* Free hostels to be provided for the homeless where required.
* Support given to young people when looking for a home for the first time.

The education of young people is one of the most crucial influences on what society will look like in the future. However, student poverty is rife and schools, colleges and universities all suffer from cuts in government spending.
The shortfalls are currently being filled using private finance, in Public Private Partnerships (PPP). These schemes lead to cost-cutting in building and maintenance work, schools are plastered with advertising and businesses are now closely involved in the actual running of the schools.
The only option for many people leaving school is a New Deal training scheme. People are forced into the schemes with the threat of losing benefits, and once in they are no better off than before.
We need publicly owned schools, colleges and universities, fit for the 21st century, open to every single young person in Scotland, and reflective of our diverse culture.

We demand:
* An end to the corporate sponsorship of education through PPP, to be replaced with full government funding.
* An end to the division between public and private schooling.
* An end to compulsory religious education.
* The immediate abolition of student loans and fees, cancellation of debts, and the introduction of a universal student grant.
* Return housing benefit and income support to students.
* Failed New Deal training schemes to be replaced with non-compulsory, well-paid apprenticeships.

At the age of 16 we can get married, legally have sex, join the armed services and pay taxes.
We can be forced into a New Deal training scheme and work for a pitiful wage.
Yet we must wait another two years before we vote.
Young people are acutely aware of how our so-called representatives affect our lives, but are unable to take part in choosing a government.
We demand the lowering of the voting age to 16 and the right of everyone who is entitled to vote to stand for public office.

In the past couple of decades measures have been taken by successive governments to restrict the rights of people to organise.
The Criminal Justice Act 1994 gave the police new powers to put a stop to 'unauthorised' public activity. Taking part in a 'prohibited assembly' can result in immediate arrest and a fine or imprisonment.
Recent 'anti-terrorist' legislation includes definitions of terrorism which are loose enough to include anyone that the authorities don't like. It can now be made illegal to be a member of selected organisations, which will affect the growing anti-globalisation movement. The suggested introduction of ID cards is an attack on civil liberties that must be opposed.
Trade unions are potentially the most powerful force to change society. If working people decided that they wanted a different world, together they could bring the system to a halt. Yet their potential has been actively limited by the law, bureaucratic control and even violence.
The importance of trade unions is often not fully explained to young workers, and few have democratic youth structures in place. Young people should be given the option to join a union at school, college, university or work.
We have a democratic right to organise, demonstrate and strike.

Most young people today believe that men and women should be treated as equals, yet the facts show that traditional ideas of male superiority are still ingrained in our culture.
More women work, but are still affected by low pay and poor conditions more than any other section of society. Roughly 70 per cent of those working on the minimum wage are women, earning just 56 per cent of men's incomes.
Even while working, women still take on the burden of caring for children, elderly and disabled relatives, and still do 90 per cent of household chores.
Women face an increased threat of violence. An estimated one in five women experience violence from an intimate male partner. Between one in five and one in seven women are victims of rape.
On top of this, the media uses women portrayed as sexual objects to sell everything from magazines to furniture polish and continues to promote the idea that before anything else a woman should conform to a certain ideal of beauty.
SSY are working toward a society based on equality. As part of this struggle we will oppose sexism in all its forms. We demand:

* Genuine wage equality.
* A statutory one year's paid maternity/paternity.
* Free nursery provision and after-school and holiday clubs.
* Full funding for refuges for women attempting to escape violent relationships and for services that support women who have experienced violence, rape and child sexual abuse.
* The decriminalisation of prostitution, and the provision of safe areas for prostitutes to work, while providing resources to help women out of prostitution and into other areas of work.

Given the wealth of our society, and the advances made in technology and medicine, it should be possible to meet everyone's needs, no matter how complex they are.
Yet because our society is based on inequality the reverse is true. Many people are unable to access the facilities they need because of cost, or lack of availability.
We need a society inclusive of everyone, but to achieve this we must have:

* The repeal of the Disability Discrimination Act and its replacement with new legislation outlawing discrimination against disabled people in all spheres of society.
* Increased access and promotion of the disability living allowance and incapacity benefit.
* Fully accessible public transport, public buildings, workplaces and housing.
* An end to segregation of those with special needs. In schools and further education, classes should be integrated with each student's needs met, and classroom assistants provided where necessary.
* Full funding for community care.
* Increased assistance for carers.

Asylum seekers arriving in Britain are fleeing situations of extreme violence, oppression and poverty. Our country has the wealth to support them, yet mainstream politicians and the media use them as scapegoats.
Media hysteria over asylum seekers breeds violence and racism that spills over into the lives of all ethnic minorities.
Fascist organisations such as the British National Party take advantage of this hysteria to violently divide communities. SSY opposes racism at all levels of our society and will challenge those attitudes whenever they are raised. We will fight for:

* The scrapping of all racist immigration and asylum legislation.
* The welcoming of asylum seekers into Scotland, and an end to detention and deportation.
* Action to counter discrimination against minorities in housing, employment and the legal system.
* Full support and assistance to those forced to defend themselves against racist attacks.
* Action at community level to oppose and prevent fascist organisation.
* Increased funding to provide public information in ethnic languages.

Homophobic prejudice and violence are still common in our society and are supported by discriminatory laws and government policy.
Young people are especially vulnerable as there is often no support available when we are figuring out what is meant by sexuality.
We support the right for everyone to explore and express their sexuality, and demand:

* The equalisation of the age of consent at 16, regardless of sexuality.
* Inclusive and unbiased sex education at schools.
* An end to all discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Specifically an end to discrimination in parenting, adoption, and in employment.
* The recognition of same-sex and non-married partners in pension and insurance schemes.
* Full support and assistance to those resisting homophobic violence and intimidation.

A women's right to control her own body is a fundamental human right. Every year thousands of women around the world die as a result of unsafe backstreet abortions. Women should have total control over their reproductive system, being able to make free and informed decisions about how they live.
We need a feminist, public and political campaign in support of the availability of abortion on request - to make it fully available on the NHS, accessible and safe.
We also need full funding and promotion of family planning clinics, with free and easily accessible contraception, independent advice and counselling.

Funding cuts to local councils have meant the disappearance of nearly all community recreation areas. For many the only option is hanging about in the street.
The freedom to choose how we spend our time depends on the material opportunities available. We need spaces in which to organise our own entertainment; and facilities to develop skills in music, arts, and sport.
Only with significant public funding, organised at the level of local councils, and with the direct input of young people, can we have a real opportunity to develop a vibrant youth culture.

In Scotland alcohol and tobacco-related illnesses kill well over a hundred times more people than illegal drugs.
An estimated 25 per cent of young Scots smoke cannabis, which many studies have shown to be far less harmful than alcohol, or even caffeine. Yet people continue to be criminalised. The reclassification of cannabis is not enough to separate it from hard drugs and take it out of the hands of black market dealers.
And while dangerous drugs like heroin are controlled by criminals they are cut with all kinds of lethal substances and purity is left dangerously unregulated.
Drug use and abuse has to be treated as a social and health issue - not a criminal problem.

* Immediate legalisation and licensed sale of cannabis.
* Decriminalisation of all other illegal drugs.
* Freely available testing kits.
* Funding for independent advice and education in schools and communities.
* A complete ban on tobacco and alcohol advertising.
* Heroin on prescription to registered addicts would reduce crime in our communities and save many lives.
* Major resources to help addicts break their heroin addiction, including expansion of detox, rehabilitation and counselling services.
* A radical social program to tackle the roots of drug abuse.

Scotland has the worst figures in Western Europe for heart disease, cancer and drug abuse. It is no surprise that where you find poverty you also find poor health and lower life expectancies. We believe in:

* Free nutritious school meals and milk to all primary and secondary school pupils.
* Price caps on the cost of organic fruit and vegetables.
* A huge expansion of cultural and low cost sporting facilities at community level.
* An end to discrimination against those with HIV and AIDS.
* The nationalisation of drugs companies who profit from our ill health.
* A reversal of underfunding in the NHS, and an end to PPP.
* An end to charges for prescriptions, dental check-ups and eye tests.

The world watched the terrorist attacks of September 11 with horror and disbelief. Then, four weeks later, many people watched the American led retaliation with equal horror. In the name of defending 'civilisation', the 'War on Terrorism' began by massacring thousands of innocent civilians in Afghanistan. This has done nothing to rid the world of terrorism. In fact it was yet another act of terror, which now shows no sign of ending. Our government spends more money on the military than it spends on education, health and housing, and sells weapons to oppressive regimes around the world.
Scottish Socialist Youth commits itself not only to opposing all war, but to fight for a society where young men and women are not forced to join the armed forces as a way out of poverty.

The future belongs to the young. Yet it looks increasingly bleak as our environment is destroyed by big business. It looks even bleaker when we find out that maniacs like George Bush have the power to veto limits on pollution, and can release an arsenal of nuclear weapons at the touch of a button.
Capitalism works only in the interests of the very few, who, blinded by profit, will stop at nothing to get it. Only socialism will ensure that young people everywhere have a future to look forward to. This is the struggle that SSY are committed to, in the course of which we will work with environmental campaigners to fight for:

* The removal of Trident and all nuclear weapons from Scotland, as part of an international campaign for unilateral disarmament.
* The decommissioning of nuclear power plants and development of alternative sources of energy.
* An end to all nuclear and chemical dumping in Scotland, and the closure and sealing off of all toxic waste sites.
* Tighter controls to restrict pollution caused by industry.
* Food production to be concentrated on sustainable, humane and organic methods.
* A five year ban on GM crops to enable further research to take place.
* A halt to all new motorway construction.
* Massive investment into an affordable and efficient public transport network.

cultural resistance

Rebel
ink
Kevin Williamson

ITV Digital: Rupert's red card

When Rupert Murdoch and then ITV Digital hoofed a couple of financial long balls up the park, the potential consequences went over the heads of all those playing the beautiful game and the loot fell into the eager hands of the usual suspects.
As a result, players like Nicky Butt got a basic salary of twenty grand a week for sitting on the Man Utd bench.
Clubs like the two Glasgwegian corporate behemoths made fools out of themselves as they tried to move south of the border in order to get their fat snouts in Murdoch's trough.
Clubs in the heart of working class communities such as Airdrie were pushed to the brink of extinction as desperate fans rallied round to save what looked increasingly like a lost cause. But now, with imminent collapse of ITV Digital, the roof is about to cave in on the supposed bottomless pit that was televised football's greed money.
The future suddenly doesn't look so bright for many of the smaller clubs that have been struggling, nor, for that matter, for many of the second rate chancers who have managed to extract obscene salaries to spend on flash motors, poncey designer suits and lap-dancing mistresses.
While football commentators and overpaid prima donnas wring their hands in despair at the demise of the gravy train, real football fans should be glad that the whole televised shebang has gone belly up. The result of global media giants owning football has been a disaster for fans.
It's the Murdochs of this world who have decided when we watch football now, not the fans.
They put games on at daft times of the day and night without any thought to the inconvenience and cost for the travelling fans - aye, that's the ones who go to the matches and shout and sing and pay huge sums to provide Sky with an atmospheric backdrop to their advertising hoardings.
I'll bet for every couch spud who will greet into his kerry-oot if he can't watch live football seven nights a week for his forty bucks a month subscription, there'll be as many women who can't wait till they get a chance to say good riddance to it.
And no wonder. Live televised football is great to watch now and again, if it's a top match, or if you can't afford to go to the game, sure, but the sheer quantity of live matches on TV is causing major nightly arguments in many households all over the country.
Only a terminal football geek in need of a life transplant would subject his eyes and ears (and family) to regular nights of watching the Nationwide First Division from England.
The thing that is of most concern (to football fans) isn't the quantity of live matches but whether their team can economically survive at all.
If we are serious about the survival of clubs that have been rooted in their local communities for over a century then the most effective way is to take the clubs stadiums and facilities into local authority ownership and make them available to clubs to rent.
There isn't a football club in this country that has provided decent facilities for fans. Slimy mingin' pies that you have to queue up for ages to get, pathetic dancing mascots at half-time, toilets that stink and have no bog roll?
Fans are still treated like dirt - even in the shiny new all-seater stands that we have to pay an arm and a leg to get shepherded in to.
A football shake-up was long overdue at every level.
Fans forums should be consulted on the way forward as well as the businessmen who run the clubs.
In fact, looking at this co-called crisis, the only thing that could make the collapse of ITV Digital better for football fans would be if Rupert Murdoch got presented with a backdated bill for a lifetime's tax evasion and BskyB went bust too.

A look back at the anger

by Simon Whittle

It's been 25 years since The Clash released their self-titled debut album.
Over the years, there has been quite a lot of debate about whether or not The Clash were a 'working class band'.
"Punk died the day The Clash signed to CBS," proclaimed Mark P in his influential Sniffin' Glue fanzine at the time.
The Sex Pistols' 'Anarchy' tour in December '76 had lost tens of thousands of pounds, as did The Clash's 'White Riot' tour in spring '77. Would the likes of P have preferred a punk movement without tours or records?
C'mon. There's purity and there's the ridiculous.
Any successful band would fail the 'leftist' test if they were put under the microscope.
But the beauty of The Clash is that their records stand up to scrutiny years later.
Their debut LP is no exception. The Clash came out in April 1977 and kicked its way to the top end of the charts, which surprised their record label.
Take I'm So Bored with the USA.
At face value, it's a rant about British TV being full of American shows, with references to Starsky & Hutch and Kojak.
But once singer/rhythm guitarist Joe Strummer's raging vocals are deciphered, the song is clearly about US cultural, economic and military imperialism:
"Yankee dollar talk/To the dictators of the world/In fact it's giving orders/And they can't afford to miss a word/I'm so bored with the USA/But what can I do?"
The Clash were accused of being racist by ignorant reactionaries for releasing the single White Riot (released a week before the album).
White Riot was about jealousy: "Black man gotta lotta problems/but they don't mind throwing a brick."
It made clear that the 'clash' that they were seeking was not between blacks and whites, but between the rulers and the ruled:
"All the powers in the hands/of the people rich enough to buy it/While we walk the street/too chicken to even try it."
Bassist Paul Simonon brags about how he'd thrown a traffic cone at a moving motorcycle-cop, soon after the first brick had been hurled at the Notting Hill Carnival riot in August 1976.
Punk and reggae went arm in arm. The DJ at top London punk club The Roxy was Rasta filmmaker, Don Letts.
Early in 1977, there were only a handful of punk releases, so he played reggae to make up for it.
The subject matter was the same and both the movements' audiences had the same gripes (rich versus poor/rulers versus ruled).
Junior Murvin's reggae classic Police and Thieves was covered on The Clash.
The band would work with the producer of the original, Lee Scratch Perry, who produced their finest moment, the Complete Control single, that summer.
Arranged by guitarist Mick Jones, Police and Thieves was an experiment that worked better than anybody expected.
It was punked-up reggae, with its duelling guitar snap and Ramones-esque ultra simple drums.
The Clash lived and breathed reggae, even if it wasn't apparent in the speed-driven riffs of most of their songs at this point.
Their use of drop-out - where the guitars stop, leaving only drums and bass to carry the song (usually accompanied by a Strummer rant) until the guitars crash back in - is a reggae trait, a dub technique.
It's there in the chorus of Janie Jones, at the end of the verses of London's Burning and in the "Oi!" break of Career Opportunities.
The Clash wrote about what affected their everyday lives - no love songs allowed.
They sang about boss/worker relations on Janie Jones, they sang Hate and War in direct contrast to the hippies' 'love and peace' ethic - "Like trousers, like brain," as Strummer said.
They tackled unemployment and shite jobs on Career Opportunities, boredom on London's Burning and all of the above on White Riot's B-side, 1977.
The kind of people who slagged (or slag) off The Clash are the kind of people who never got off of their arse to try anything remotely like what they did. Armchair critics with everything better to do.
Like haircut, like brain.

page eleven

cultural resistance

Sticking the blade in - twice

Blade II (18) directed by Guillermo del Toro.
On general release now

by Keef Tomkinson

Time: 16.45. Place: CafŽ Bohemia, Glasgow's West End. Conversation:
'Dominic, are you going to the film theatre to watch that new four hour Uzbeki biopic about the Nigerian who invented blue Tippex?'
Time: 16.46. Place: Outside any Spar in Scotland. Conversation:
'Donnie maaan, u've got tae see 'at Blade by the way. Its full o' blood an' guts an' shit an' all 'at. Hold on... gonna get us a bottle of Mad Dog pal?'
Allowing for stereotyping that is an example of how nothing divides us like movies (well, maybe wealth).
Some would like it to be an intellectual divide. The Guardian reader versus The Sun reader.
That infers that there is something inherently dumb about Hollywood action films.
It also infers that a more advanced society would scorn such product.
For socialists that is an issue.
In a more humane and equal society would there be a market or even funding for films where people's eyes are torn out?
Lets look at Blade II.
Blade is the daywalker, half-man, half-vampire. He wants to kill them all and is not shy about that.
The sequel sees them join forces to defeat a greater enemy.
Soon there is betrayal and the pact collapses. A metaphor for socialist organisation?
It is violent from the start. The body count in the first minute is around 200 vampires.
Overall, 98 per cent of the film is dedicated to battles, death and repetitive beats. The epic last fight makes Bruce Lee look like a Morris dancer.
This is what Hollywood does best - the Hollywood I love.
When it tries to think, it produces We Were Soldiers.
There is no point to it. No hidden message.
But why should a film have a point? Is entertainment enough?
Would or should a socialist society demand greater depth to its art? What is art?
I don't know but Blade II sucked the blood from my world.

Where do you stand on the movie debate?

1) The hero X stands over an opponent Y preparing to send him to the gates of hell. You want to see...?
a) X prepares to decapitate Y but pulls back explaining that by killing Y he would really be killing himself. Y is released to discover the joy of life.
b) X hacks at Y with a rusty samurai sword before pouring acid into his wounds. As Y screams, X whispers 'I hate farewells' before cutting Y's head off with a chainsaw.
c) X can't decide how to torture Y so he enlists the help of a focus group made up of CIA death squad instructors.

2) At the finale, the hero holds the heroine in his arms. You want to see...?
a) As their lips move closer the heroine turns her face away. She explains to the hero that whilst she loves him she does not love him. The hero cries like a man.
b) The heroine's dress falls off.
c) They marry and have children before returning to work and claiming the Working FamiliesTax Credit.

3) With the corrupt cop X slain, the anti-hero Y straddles his Harley. You want to see...?
a) The anti-hero lights a cigarette before riding off towards a horizon which captures both the beauty and harshness of nature. His journey is a journey through life.
b) The anti-hero lights a cigarette before riding off towards the horizon. Meanwhile the blood soaked hand of the cop twitches into life and the credits roll.
c) An internal police investigation squad arrive

to arrest Y and hide evidence pointing to X's guilt.

How did you do?

If you answered:
mostly A, then drink white cider.
mostly B, then read a book. A PROPER BOOK.
mostly C, then join New Labour.

Sports heroes gain hall of fame

Scottish Sports Hall of Fame exhibition. Royal Museum, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. Open 10am-5pm Monday to Saturday (10am-8pm on Tuesdays) and 12noon to 5pm - Exhibition runs until June 30, 2002. Free entry

by Willie Duncan

Sports fans looking for a nostalgic afternoon may find something of a haven in the Royal Museum's Scottish Sports Hall of Fame exhibition.
The exhibition honours 100 of Scotland's sporting heroes and heroines.
There are representatives from many disciplines - from football and rugby to boxing and sailing.
Graeme Obree (cycling), Benny Lynch (boxing), Alan Wells (athletics), Andy Irvine (rugby), Sir Chay Blyth (sailing), Jim Baxter (football) and Jim Clark OBE (motor racing) are all there.
Visitors are encouraged to nominate their own Scottish sporting greats.
The final 50 will be celebrated at a ceremony to be held in Edinburgh on St Andrews Day, November 30, 2002.
Apart from the information boards on the 100 sports legends there are also exhibits such as Eric Liddell's 400 metre Olympic Gold medal from 1924, the Weem Curling Jug from 1856 and Ellen King's 1928 Olympic Silver Medal for the 150 yard backstroke.
Also included is Graeme Obree's cycling jersey from 1996, the year he set the world record, and a Silver Baton from the 1970 Commonwealth Games which were held in Edinburgh.
If you can't get along to the museum it is still possible to vote for your favourite Sports star via the website. The address is: www.scottishsportshalloffame.
co.uk.
The exhibition is small due to the stipulation that nominees must be at least five years retired, and this makes for some glaring omissions.
David Sole (rugby), Stephen Hendry and John Higgins (snooker), Liz McColgan (athletics) and Sir Alex Ferguson are all left out - as is Rhona Martin and her Olympic Gold Medal winning curling team.
It is hoped that the exhibition will, in time, grow to an American-style celebration of the legends of Scottish sport.
Perhaps one idea is to develop Halls of Fame for individual sports such as rugby, football, golf and athletics - sports in which Scotland have had a wealth of legends over the years.
One minor criticism is that there is not a lot to do at the exhibition and it is only a visual display and is not really interactive.
You are more likely to spend half-an-hour in the exhibition than half a day.
The exhibition, however, is representative of all sports and worth a look if you love your sport and want to indulge in a wee bit of national pride.
Lets hope that Berti McVogts and Scotland's other sports coaches can provide us with moments and legends worthy of inclusion in years to come.

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page twelve

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page thirteen

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

No lessons learned from foot and mouth
On March 11, Dumfries SSP members took part in a demonstration at the Sheriff Court in support of Kirsten McBride.
Her only 'crime' was to attempt to defend her pet goat against the vets and slaughtermen from the Ministry of Agriculture determined to kill it in pursuit of their disastrous mass slaughter policy during the foot and moth outbreak.
Well over £2 billion was wasted in compensation payments with the huge costs of the culling on top of that.
This is money that could have gone into desperately needed new houses, hospitals and schools.
The first infected premises could and should have been isolated had the Ministry acted immediately to stop all animal movements.
For a tiny fraction of the eventual cost a mass vaccination programme in and around the affected herds, which we advocated at the time, would have prevented the spread of the disease.
To date it seems no lessons have been learnt from foot and mouth.
There are no effective inspections to ensure that cheap animal feeds do not contain meat products.
Nor are meat imports properly inspected and there's no sign of any move to bring back local abattoirs.
Crowded lorries full of live cattle, sheep and pigs still travel huge distances from farm to market to abattoir - and even abroad.
Maybe it takes a wee while to develop alternative agriculture policies that go against the wishes of the big meat companies.
Fair enough.
But there's no justice in refusing to drop criminal charges against a young woman whose pet goat was one of the millions of innocent healthy animals slaughtered because of the incompetence of Ministry officials.
John Dennis,
Dumfries

Inspirational Tony Benn
Donald Anderson's letter attacking Tony Benn (Voice issue 85) was uncomradely and certainly over the top.
Tony Benn is a highly respected MP and is viewed as someone who generally sticks up for ordinary folk.
It is rare to hear him being criticised.
I for one have a lot to thank Tony Benn for. I read his book, Arguments for Socialism, while I was seriously ill in hospital in 1981.
This was the first political book I had read, which then inspired me to join the Labour Party Young Socialists.
So thanks, Tony, for the trigger which gave me my political itch.
Ann Lynch,
Clydebank

Hollow passion?
I believe how the SSP works with members of opposing parties is a key political issue. Therefore it was disappointing that Keir McKechnie (Voice issue 86) branded my criticism of George Galloway as sectarian.
We were treated to another recital of the myths of Galloway. Apart from his principled stance on the war and the Middle East, I believe his passion on working class deprivation is hollow.
The only danger he saw at Faslane was missing out on some great photo opportunities. Comrades who attended last year's election count will remember him launching an attack on the SSP for having the temerity to stand in his patch and win 8 per cent of the vote.
Most worryingly was the suggestion that there are still socialist activists in Labour to be won to the SSP. Where are they?
Since Blair's arrival as leader its membership has collapsed through a mixture of disenchantment and demoralisation.
Maybe it's the hardcore activists from Galloway's 'Red Kelvin' that are being described. In a year as Kelvin's SSP branch organiser I saw them on the streets TWICE.
The big challenge for the SSP is to convince Labour voters to make the break and support Scotland's only socialist alternative.
We must be careful not to sow illusions that Labour is one man way from finding socialism.
Those wishing to just lobby Labour should join the Fabian Society. The SSP is an independent party fighting a free market establishment that contains Galloway's Labour Party.
Keef Tomkinson,
Glasgow

Is appealing to Labour a priority?
I agree that both Keef Tomkinson and Donald Anderson's letters concerning the Voice's interviews with Tony Benn and George Galloway were over the top.
I think the Voice is doing a good job of covering the ideas of significant figures on the left, even if the Scottish Socialist Party would not fully support all their ideas or actions.
However I disagree with Keir McKechnie over the purpose of carrying such interviews. We carry an interview with George Galloway on the issues of Iraq and Middle East because he has significant opinions on these issues, which play a role in a wider discussion.
But I don't think the Voice should bother too much about appealing to "disaffected Labour members", as Keir puts it, because to be honest, in Scotland that amounts to about three people and a dog.
If there are still socialists in the Scottish Labour Party for whom the whole New Labour project hasn't been enough to make them rip up their party card, then an interview with George Galloway in the Voice isn't going to make them see the light. Especially as he won't call for people to leave New Labour.
The Voice should be concerned with getting socialist ideas into our communities, to local activists and trade unionists, to people who may have voted Labour in the past or who have no interest in mainstream politics at all.
If an interview with George Galloway or the indisputable principles of Tony Benn can help us do that on occasion, then all the better.
Ann Marie McKenna,
Glasgow

Tradition of struggle
It's great to see the old style socialists in the Voice. People like Tony Benn and George Galloway were inspirations to a generation of socialists, like Tommy is to a new generation today.
I think it's easy to say that they made mistakes when you didn't have to deal with the situations they found themselves in.
But both these campaigners still represent a tradition of struggle and solidarity - the same traditions that the Scottish Socialist Party says it stands on.
Reenie Robertson,
Kirkcaldy

Off the Record
Yesterday I bought my last ever copy of the Daily Record, a paper I have bought nearly every day for the last twenty years. It was yet another unprovoked attack on Tommy Sheridan MSP that made up my mind.
Like most folk I was appalled at the sight of Scotland's MSPs awarding themselves a thoroughly underserved wage rise. I am a joiner and I would be happy with half of what they get.
Tommy Sheridan was the only MSP who stood against the tide and condemned the greed of his fellow parliamentarians. His reward was to be vilified by the most unprincipled paper in Scotland.
For me it is sad to see a paper I thought once stood up for working people launch such slanderous attacks against the only politician in this country who speaks for those in poverty.
For me there is now the problem of finding a new daily paper. My hope is that the Scottish Socialist Voice will eventually become the daily it deserves to be.
Jack McGee,
Tullibody

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page fourteen

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page fifteen

international news

Cuba solidarity campaign office opens in Glasgow

Luis Marron is the head of the Northern European Division of the Cuban Institute for Friendship of the Peoples. Recently, he spoke to the Voice at the opening of the Scottish Cuba Solidarity Campaign office (SCSC) in Glasgow
Clothes with the Cuban flag, Che Guevara or just Cuba on them are becoming more popular. Luis didn't seem to think that this did the message he was trying to bring any harm.
"I think this is a momentum we shouldn't lose. We should use it to let people know what is happening in Cuba and what the Cuban revolution was really all about.
"The US has had an economic blockade in force on Cuba for 43 years which has stopped the country developing trading links. Cuba is completely isolated.
"This is one of the most inhumane and cruel things that is happening in the world today. It makes it difficult to access technology, to buy medicine, to buy food, or just have normal exchanges.
"For the last eight years there has been a majority in the United Nations against the blockade. Only Israel, United States and the Marshall Islands (a US protectorate) have voted for.
"Cubans have managed to find ways of developing ourselves.
"We have learned to rely on ourselves and only on ourselves. We have had to be innovative to find solutions.
"The blockade applies not only in relation to Cuba but also in relation to other countries.
"There are laws which try to prevent trade and investment in Cuba from anywhere in the world.
"The difficulties range from being unable to import a single Aspirin to accessing advanced technology.
"There was the case of a five month old girl who had serious internal bleeding. The only medication which could save her life was manufactured by a US pharmaceutical company.
"They would not sell to Cuba and none of the subsidiaries in Europe would sell to Cuba. We had to go through five intermediaries before we could purchase the medicine.
"The child had no ideology, she did not belong to any party. The only crime that child had committed was to be born in Cuba.
"It is the blockade which is criminal.
"There is growing opposition in the US to the blockade. Both from ordinary people who see the inhumanity of it but also from corporate America.
"One of the provisions of the 'Trading With The Enemy Act' which legislates the blockade, bans US citizens from freely travelling to Cuba. They must apply for permission from their government and state a valid reason for travelling. They must also promise not to spend money in Cuba or relate to anything which sounds socialist or communist.
"Breaking this law means up to ten years in jail.
"But people are becoming more aware. US citizens are wondering why their country has relations with China and with Vietnam, then why not Cuba?
"Although people in US are waking up we do not forsee an immediate end to the blockade."
When the hurricane hit Cuba in November last year there was some limited trading with the US.
"The US came forward with an offer of aid. They applied conditions that their experts would tell us how bad it was and how much we needed.
"We refused this offer, we know what we needed and we are willing to pay for it. So we bought vital supplies then.
"Some people thought this was a sign that the blockade was weakened. But it was a one-off and the blockade is stronger now than ever before.
"The only thing it proves is that things could be different.
"But the conditions that the US imposes before relations are normalised we are not willing to accept."
There are Cuba solidarity groups in 130 countries in the world. Luis was adamant that this kind of support was vital.
"Solidarity has always played an important role for Cuba and the Cuban people.
"The support we get - physical moral or material - is extremely important. It is important to know that we are not alone.
"This is something which encourages us to keep moving forward.
"It is not just the future of Cuba at stake. If Cuba doesn't stand strong there will be many people all over the world who will be let down.
"We did not ask to be in this position but a lot of people look to Cuba as an example of what is possible.
"The largest and strongest solidarity group is in the US.
"I encourage all Voice readers to get involved with the solidarity campaign here."

Italian socialist inspired by SSP

The Party of Communist Refoundation (PRC) in Italy produces a daily paper called Liberazione. Their UK correspondent, Andrew (who, despite his Scottish name, is Italian) came to the Scottish Socialist Party conference and spoke to the Voice.
The PRC was formed 11 years ago when the Italian Communist Party became the equivalent of New Labour.
"A core along with other parties on the left formed the PRC.
"We wanted to look at the history of the labour movement in Italy, the history of the communist movement and to rebuild a new communism."
The PRC is now a well established party of 100,000 members and takes about 6 per cent in elections, approximately 1.2 million votes.
They have 13 MPs, two Euro MPs and currently they are involved with the anti-globalisation movement.
"We recognise the importance of this and we helped to organise the demonstration in Genoa which was the biggest in Europe.
Andrew thinks that the growth of anti-globalisation movement has important lessons for socialists in Europe.
"Young people especially don't feel they are represented by left wing parties. So what we can learn from the anti-globalisation movement is important.
"We need to be able to listen to people and see what they want.
"And if the old ways don't work then we need to devise new ways.
Andrew came to the SSP conference because the PRC are very interested in left wing developments across Europe.
"Sectarianism amongst the left is a big problem to the growth of unity. In Scotland the SSP seems to have found a way forward.
"There is obviously a strong commitment to working together and that comes across despite controversial debates.
"Divisions on interpretations of Marx or Trotsky are all well and good for academics but it doesn't really get the working class anywhere.
"The last thing that is needed at a picket line is ten people with ten different views and ten different papers.
"The experience of the SSP is invaluable. We must work together in a united European left. Only when we work together can we make a real impact on the policies of the ruling class in Europe.
"We must network and forge alliances with all left wing parties and trade unions - another world is possible. I think that is key."

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page sixteen

West Lothian rent rebels won't pay

Labour led West Lothian Council has embarked on a collision course with thousands of its tenants.
The conflict centres on the council's decision to levy a supplement of £5 per week on rents for the next five years to pay for a programme of kitchen and bathroom renovations.
Much of the council's housing stock is 40 years old and certainly needs modernising.
But thousands of tenants object to the charge because they have a fitted kitchen or bathroom that they put in themselves and don't want it ripped out and replaced with another.
Others object because they feel they have paid for improvements such as these many times over as long standing tenants.
The £2.3 million programme should, they argue, be paid for from current rent budget. The Labour Group itself is split 10-9 with one abstention over the decision to plough on with the decision to levy the extra £5 rather than go for funding out of existing housing budgets.
Having been elected on a commitment to keep rent rises to inflation plus 1 per cent many Labour councillors fear their proposed 15 per cent increase will cost them their seats next year.
The splits in the Labour Party are further exacerbated by threats from council leader, Graham Morrice, to evict those who do not pay the £5.
He boasts about the "42 evictions carried out by this council in recent years" as a warning to the rebels not to underestimate his determination.
A local campaign, West Lothian against the Fiver, established out of a maelstrom of activity by those opposed to the council's plan, has collected more than three thousand signatures in six weeks.
Local petitioner Mrs Jenny McNulty, a pensioner and tenant of 50 years, from Whitburn, is typical of the rebels.
Hundreds have attended a series of public meetings.
In Bathgate last month the Scottish Socialist Party branch was staggered when 225 people attended a public meeting it called on the issue.
People are angry at the injustice they see in the plan, and the repeated declaration of 'Well a'm no payin' has brought comparisons with the Poll Tax campaign.
The haughty way in which council leaders have dismissed campaigners has only served to galvanise the rebellion.
It is that sense of 'everything else has been tried, the only thing they listen to is money' attitude which has forced tenants reluctantly to embark on a rent strike/non payment campaign.
This Saturday, April 6, a mass rally, 'No extra Fiver, No Evictions', is planned for Bathgate town centre at 11.30am. West Lothian Against the Fiver spokesperson Steven Nimmo has called for a "summer of defiance".

Bathgate Public Rally

Saturday, 6 April, 11.30am
Bathgate Steelyard
'No extra Fiver, No Evictions'
Speakers: Tommy Sheridan MSP, Steve Nimmo - Spokesperson, West Lothian Against the Fiver, Fiona Hyslop MSP

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