Scottish Socialist Voice
Issue 282
11 th October 2006
—front page—
Stop the nuclear tyrant!
The legacy of Kim Jong Blair
The world looks on in horror as one man’s nuclear
ambition threatens to destabilise the planet.
His own people are sick of his antics yet, the more they protest,
the less he listens.
Now, with his nation’s infrastructure on the verge of collapse, he
and his slavishly loyal apparachiks are preparing to spend £79billion
on a nuclear arsenal that could destroy the world a dozen times over.
And all in the name of peace,
apparently.
Tony Blair, for it is he, is a ‘legitimate’
member of the nuclear club, which means the
The Labour government’s drive to replace Trident, that 48 warhead
arsenal moored in the Clyde, has not met with international cries
of outrage, not a single whisper of a sanction, not even George W
Bush, and he should know, accusing us of being a “threat to international
peace”.
Yet Mr Blair is hardly a safe pair of hands.
He may not have bouffant hair and high heels, but he has been implicated
in the illegal invasion of a sovereign state, in detaining people
without charge or trial in conditions that fall far below international
standards, and creating laws that can and are used to suppress peaceful
political opponents.
Not only does it heighten our risk of terrorist attack, it is capable
of reducing the Earth to ashes.
It is an abomination and we, like every other state in the world,
have no right to harbour such horror.
—page two—
Stop the war on women
by Dawn Fyfe
The Scottish Executive recently released the latest
domestic abuse statistics for
As expected the statistics have shown a rise in the number of incidents
reported, although this does not explain whether this is due to
a rise in reporting or incidence.
What has been confirmed is that yet again the vast majority, 87
per cent, of perpetrators of domestic violence are men, against
women.
One of the questions asked of women who are abused through domestic
violence is “why don’t you leave?”
These statistics show how unrealistic this question is, as in 50
per cent of the incidents reported the “victim” and the perpetrator
were either ex-partners or not living together.
One extremely disturbing statistic is that women are most at risk
of domestic violence between the ages of 22 and 25 years old.
Whether this is because younger women are more at risk or that older
women are less likely to report violence to the police is unclear
what is clear is that the phenomenon of male violence against current
or ex-partners continues to result in the murder of at least two
women per week in the UK.
This usually occurs after a catalogue of abuse against the women,
the statistics show 55 per cent of the cases reported were known
to be repeat victimisations.
What is not shown in the statistics is how many children have been
affected by domestic violence in 2005/06.
Children are just one of the responsibilities that women have that
can prevent them from escaping violence, and often is one of threats
used by abusers to prevent women leaving.
The introduction of the
Passport pickets over pay
by Richie Venton,
SSP national trade union organiser
Two and half thousand passport workers in the
seven Identity and Passport Service (IPS) offices across the
Over 74 per cent of these Public & Commercial Services union
members voted in favour of the strike, which will be followed by
a discontinuous work to rule.
The workforce are furious at the IPS management’s foot-dragging
over pay, particularly in light of the 50 per cent rise in the price
of passports to the public in the past year.
The settlement date for this year’s pay was August and with no pay
offer in the foreseeable future, staff fear a repeat of last year
when management dragged out the pay settlement for over a year.
As Bryan McKenna, PCS branch secretary at the
“Last year we waited ten months for a pay offer, and when it came
it was rejected by 49 per cent of the members! They made it clear
to IPS management that they will not stand for such outrageous delays
again.
“We put in this year’s pay claim along with the Home Office in May,
just for our normal, annual rise. But IPS management sat on it for
three months, only submitting it to the Treasury in September. I
believe there are 130 civil service pay claims being held up at
the Treasury already. PCS believes they should move on all these
claims, not just ours at Passports.
“Our members are supporting the action throughout the
Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary said:
“The union has been pressing for a formal pay offer, but management
have shown a distinct lack of urgency by dragging their feet and
cancelling pay negotiations. Members are angry at the apparent inertia
of the employer who had stated that it wanted to settle this year’s
pay as quickly as possible.
“It is now time for IPS to show some urgency in settling pay, otherwise
the industrial action scheduled for Friday will cause severe disruption
to passport applications.”
Scottish Socialist Party convener Colin Fox MSP has lodged a motion
in the Scottish Parliament demanding solidarity with these workers.
The SSP will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Passport workers in
their fight to make the employers and government cough up a decent
pay rise.
Council workers gear up for fight over cuts
by Richie Venton
Council workers across the land are shaping up
to fight cuts to pay and conditions. The cuts loom as spineless
councils, forced to redress years of underpaying women workers,
instead of raising women’s pay are levelling everyone down.
First in the firing line are
They spent £2million on a job evaluation and then announced cuts
in pay for many staff, reductions in overtime rates and a lengthening
of the working day.
The SNP councillors are proving themselves to have the same stunted
vision as their Labour counterparts. They lack the backbone to join
the unions in a battle to win the funding from the Scottish Executive
for equal pay without detriment to any worker.
About 250
UNSON branch secretary Gray Allan warned the councillors:
“When you threaten pay cuts to members we send you the good trade
union response - you are not on! We will explore every means of
demanding equal pay, which is a central principle for us, without
any detriment to wages and conditions to a single one of us.
“We will fight this legally but also prepare for strike action if
you go ahead with your plans to impose your 18 December contracts.”
The union asked Carolyn Leckie MSP to speak, and warmly applauded
her demand that equal pay should be achieved by levelling up, not
levelling down - which Carolyn has demanded in a motion to the Scottish
Parliament as it prepares budget settlements for councils.
To help coordinate the fight across
It was subsequently agreed at Scottish UNISON level after being
proposed by Stephen Smellie, SSP member and branch secretary of
South Lanarkshire Unison.
Other councils are rapidly queuing up to make the same assaults.
Glasgow UNISON are asking for a strike ballot.
The Scottish Executive only gave a 2 per cent increase towards the
wages bill last year - which took no account of inflation above
that, nor the estimated £560million owed in back payments for the
years of wage discrimination against women workers, let alone the
estimated £300million cost of implementing Single Status this year.
The money is there if the fight is mounted to demand it. Successive
years of under-spend by the Scottish Executive is one immediately
obvious source. And as the Labour/LibDem Scottish Executive, plus
Labour and SNP councillors face the 2007 elections, a united campaign
by the unions, wider communities and parties like the SSP could
force the authorities to implement equal pay without ripping off
workers' wages, bonuses, working conditions and public services.
Mackinnon workers strike as bosses refuse to negotiate
by John Moffat
Workers at the Mackinnon Mills factory in
The factory produces knitwear, which is sold at an outlet at the
factory.
The ignorance and contempt from the Mackinnon bosses knows no bounds,
as they point blank refuse to initiate negotiations, or even talk
to the union.
One of the workers told the Voice:
“It’s simple, if they won’t begin negotiations, then the dispute
won’t be resolved, and we’ll continue our action.”
The workers are solid and resilient, as they bear the oncoming winter
weather throughout the night.
Members of the Airdrie and
More action is planned for Tuesday 10 and 12 October, and again
on the 16 and 18 October.
—page three—
Defend abortion rights
The campaigning group Abortion Rights has called a
‘pro-choice action week’ for the end of this month, to mark the anniversary
of the 1967 Abortion Act. The group hopes the week will become an annual
focus point for campaigning.
Between 23-29 October, Abortion Rights are asking people to lobby their
MPs, organise meetings or film nights, and raise awareness of the issues
surrounding women’s right to have control over their own bodies.
They are also asking for organisations to affiliate to the campaign.
Abortion Rights is a grassroots organisation, building a pro-choice
movement to oppose any restrictions in women’s current rights and access
to abortion, to liberalise the current
n For more detals see: www.abortionrights.org.uk for more details, or
email choice@abortionrights.org.uk for a campaign pack, including stickers,
lobbying and postcards. The group can also provide speakers, or films,
for meetings.
Straw unveils Labour’s racism
by Ken Ferguson
Jack Straw’s disgusting use of the wearing of the
veil by Muslim women as a pawn in his desperate struggle for power spotlights
the utter bankruptcy of Blairism.
Decades of anti-racist and anti-fascist campaigning by trade unionists,
socialists and community activists is cast aside by this Labour careerist
as he strives for promotion.
Make no mistake about it - behind all the high-sounding stuff about
respect for culture, integration into ‘our’ way of life (sic), lies
squalid, naked political ambition.
Straw has been MP for
Has it really taken 27 years for his concern about Muslim women’s dress
to become a central issue?
No!
Straw’s ‘thoughts’, though dressed up with pious-sounding language,
are just the usual cocktail of political fear and political ambition.
Straw and company are uneasy at the growth of the BNP and the electoral
damage it might inflict on Labour.
Nobody on the left wants to see the BNP anywhere than in the political
dustbin but Straw’s tactics are dangerous and divisive and likely only
to boost the far right.
The real reason for the Straw intervention can be found, for Scots,
nearer home.
Dr John Reid, the multi-tasking, cabinet careerist MP for Airdrie, has
set the gold standard in right-wing rhetoric in the increasingly bitter
war of the Blair succession.
Reid - who, as we go to press, is still Home Secretary - is a reformed
Stalinist in his politics but not his methods.
An unashamed self-publicist, his recent meeting with Muslim activists
with his ‘spot a suicide bomber’ lecture was no doubt planned to get
the sort of heckling it did indeed generate.
Reid is carving out an increasingly right-wing profile as he struggles
to deprive Gordon Brown of the keys to
The result is that the entire Labour debate is now conducted in terms
that are solely right-wing, with the newly re-branded Tories increasingly
looking like the new party of the left!
In practical terms, the result is more demands for more jailings, bursting-full
prisons, and a dramatic increase in dawn raids and the persecution of
asylum seekers.
This sorry spectacle is taking place on the 70th anniversary
of an event which throws into sharp relief the revolting neo-racism
of the modern Labour party’s men in suits - the battle of
On 4 October 1936,
Often ignored now, the fact is that Mosley had significant support in
wide circles of the British establishment, who saw Hitler as a potential
bulwark against the
Radical journalist Claude Cockburn exposed much of this when he wrote
of high-level meetings between Nazi ambassador Ribbentrop and leading
Tories.
It was opposition to the whole pro-Nazi agenda, as well as Moseley himself,
that brought thousands onto the streets in angry protest.
The result was reported in the Communist Daily Worker of the day thus:
“Sir Oswald Mosley’s challenge to east
Describing the action the Worker continued:
“The rout of the Mosley gang is due to the splendid way in which the
whole of east
“The
Today, as we watch the unfolding racism of the Labour leadership contest,
we must always remind ourselves that it is
‘It is part of my religion, my identity. It’s not about being different from other people’
by Roz Paterson
In Straw’s home constituency of Blackburn, the word
on the street is that, since he has lost the ‘Muslim vote’ through his
support for the Iraq war - assuming you accept the idea that Muslims
vote en bloc - he is now courting the extreme white one.
But in stating his aversion to the niqab, the Muslim veil that covers
a woman’s face, revealing only her eyes, he is at risk of causing the
divisions within communities that he claims to be trying to heal.
Straw stated that he now asks women to remove full veils when attending
his surgeries. He says such garments hinder community relations. Blair
has now waded in, saying Straw had every right to say what he said,
and that a bit of honest debate never hurt anyone.
But what do the subjects of his comments think? Would they agree that
no one got hurt?
“To me, it’s like he said he doesn’t like Muslim people,” one woman
told the Voice. She has lived in Pollokshields,
Indeed, with regard to those “community relations” that Straw is so
worried about, this woman argues that she has always felt at home here,
and never been criticised for wearing Muslim dress.
She might now, though, says Imran Alam, from Shawlands, Glasgow, who
points out that women have been wearing these items for decades now,
and “no one noticed. But Straw’s remarks make people more sensitive
to it; they see it now.”
He points out that when British people, including Jack Straw no doubt,
go to foreign cities, they marvel at the wonderful culture.
“But when it arrives on their doorstep, it becomes another matter. Yet
when Brits go and live abroad they cling to their British identity,
setting up little British enclaves in
“Wouldn’t they feel victimised if they were told to drop their identity?”
On the subject of the worldwide revival of Islam, which he notes scholars
expected to see die out in the 19th century after the dissolution of
the
“A lot of Muslim countries have corrupt, self-serving rulers. The movements
for freedom, like Hamas, are conducted under the flag of Islam. You
can understand why people are turning to a higher form, to something
beyond, after generations have suffered, in places like
It’s happened before. The Jews in concentration camps embraced their
faith. A move that should not be confused with the rise of Zionism,
just as the struggles that Imran is talking about should not be confused
with blowing up London buses.
He adds that it is impossible for Muslims not to see the latest salvo
against British Muslims as part of an international campaign against
Islam.
“People start to question it. Why is he saying this now? What’s the
agenda?”
Another woman, who habitually wears the hijab, echoes this. “I just
want to know why he said this. It’s caused us a lot of uneasiness. To
me, it is worse than someone coming up to me in the street and calling
me a ‘Paki’. That’s just a stupid thing to say, they don’t know what
they mean by ‘Paki’. But this, it feels very personal. I feel like I
am personally being attacked.”
Her friend, who wears the niqab, agrees that the decision to wear ‘purdah’
goes very deep, and is related to upbringing and religious values.
For her, the niqab is “from our religion, about a woman not showing
the shape of her body.”
Being asked to remove it, and by a man especially, is a particularly
intrusive request. A request that would be difficult not to interpret
as an assault on her privacy.
Both women felt that Muslims have been under increased attack since
the
“My son is only seven years old. He heard what was being said then,
and asked, ‘Why are they always blaming Muslims?’ We’re not all the
same. Yet we are treated as if we are.”
—page four—
The dirty war on
On 14 July, Israeli forces pounded the Jiyyeh
power station, 12 miles south of
The following day, they bombed the plant again, rupturing six oil tanks
and sparking a series of explosions that led to the collapse of a dyke designed
to prevent oil leaking into the
In all, an estimated 30,000 tonnes of fuel oil have since flowed into the
sea off
Initially, this slick acted as a blanket across the sea’s surface, blocking
off light and killing plant and animal life.
In the ancient fishing town of
But there are even worse implications. Within a month of the bombing, the
oil slick began to sink.
It is, says Greenpeace Beirut, now accumulating on the seabed in a layer
up to 4 inches thick.
Rick Steiner, of the
“I have never in my years of looking at oil spills seen such gross contamination,”
he says.
The Exxon Valdez spill may have been much larger, but it was crude, not
fuel, oil. Fuel oil is “heavier and thicker - and much harder to work with.”
Greenpeace believes there are at least 10,000, possibly 15,000 tonnes of
toxic fuel down there already. Only dredging could shift it now.
Steiner sums it up:
“There’s no way to cut it - oil and water and fish and wildlife simply do
not mix.”
Dead fish wash up along the coast, while others ingest the oil-related toxins
and live, but pass them on up the foodchain, ultimately to human beings.
That’s not all; the initial explosions released a “high-risk toxic cocktail
made up of substances which cause cancer and damage to the endocrine system,”
according to marine experts at Inforac, a group working with the UN Environment
Programme (Unep).
The 2 million inhabitants of
Yaccoub Sarraf, Lebanon’s Environment Minister, says it could take ten years
for the coastline to recover, and with it the local economy on which so
many depend; the human health cost may take much longer to play itself out.
“The damage has been done. It goes without saying that the whole fishing
community will be hit for at least two to three years before the ecosystem
re-establishes itself.”
Tourism will also be blighted, for several years at least. “...and I am
being very optimistic.”
In
People here are bewildered by it all.
Sarraf warns: “If we do not intervene as soon as possible, the spill
that is still floating off the coast of
Steiner is more graphic.
“If we don’t get this stuff out of the water, a month or six months from
now, it will probably pop back to the surface...We could see huge tar balls
washing up on the shores of the
The disaster was exacerbated by the ongoing conflict.
Usually, in the case of oil spills, intervention is quick, within 48-72
hours.
Even this isn’t enough to stem much of the damage.
But not even a full assessment of the spillage, never mind the actual clean-up
itself, could begin until Israel called a ceasefire as conditions were just
too dangerous for workers to move into the area.
The subsequent naval blockade meant that agencies still couldn’t guarantee
the safety of their operators, so the delay was extended. By 8 August, some
20 days on, no action had been taken.
It’s underway now, but only just, and Unep, on the request of the Lebanese
government, are working to establish a full picture of the environmental
damage wreaked by
“There is,” says Unep’s secretary general Achim Steiner, “an urgent need
to assess the environmental legacy of the recent conflict and put in place
a comprehensive clean-up of polluted and hazardous sites.’
Work is “ongoing” to deal with the oil spill, “but we must now look at the
wider impacts as they relate to issues such as underground and surface water
supplies, coastal contamination and the health and fertility of the land.
As well as Jiyyah, Israeli forces destroyed or damaged 22 petrol stations,
causing fuel to leak into the surrounding areas; breached sewage treatment
centres, hospital waste disposal facilities, water storage areas; and damaged
oil tanks at
Then there are the collapsed buildings, leaking gas and toxins, the ruptured
pipelines, the damaged power transformers.
—page five—
letters page
Free school meals: too important for party
politics
It is indeed a sad day for Scottish politics when pigeons take
precedence over politics and bird nuisance in Holyrood is deemed more
newsworthy than proposals that have the potential to change the health
of the Scottish people for generations to come.
As a member of the Free School Meals campaign, I was privileged to attend
the recent launch of Frances Curran’s School Meals Bill, which proposes
to provide one free school meal daily to all primary children. This
is the first really serious step - perhaps the only effective step so
far - to address the rapidly increasing problem of obesity in young
children. This would, in turn, help to reduce some of the more serious
health problems in later life such as heart disease and diabetes.
It would also be an extremely powerful drive against poverty insofar
as it would remove the stigma that prevents one in three children from
receiving the free school lunch to which they are entitled.
However, despite the fact that the media was present and film was taken
as we signed our names in support of the bill, there was very little
mention of the event on the TV that evening or in the press the next
day.
I was, personally, very proud to take part in this event, having consistently
argued for this measure since the mid-60s. I was also extremely pleased
to be there as an SNP education spokesperson, in the knowledge that
I was representing the views of many members and grass-root supporters
within my party.
I have to admit that I was extremely disappointed that none of the MSPs
from my own party came forward to add their signatures. I do find it
passing strange that at least some members of a party whose overriding
concern is surely the welfare and well-being of the Scottish people,
could not see fit to support a bill that would offer such a boost to
the health and education of Scottish children.
Since 1958 there has been evidence in various research papers which
shows that undernourished children perform less well academically; that
they are less able to concentrate in school and, as a result, they are
more likely to indulge in attention-seeking behaviour.
Hopefully, when the bill comes before the Scottish Parliament, members
of all political parties will be influenced by the realisation that
one nutritious meal per school day can go a long way to rectify this.
Jim
Cruden
People united can stop raids
As the recent story of Caritas Sony, snatched from her home
along with her two young babies, illustrates, neither the government
in Westminister nor the Scottish Executive have any plans to finally
put an end to the practice of dawn raids.
The history of popular struggle shows that the only way to combat unpopular
and immoral practices such as these is to mobilise the local community
to direct action.
This must mean physically stopping these raids as they happen. There
are surely enough people involved the various campaigns to mount an
effective resistance to any raid as it happens and as such it may be
worthwhile getting together with any local groups to organise some kind
of mobilisation system.
We simply must find better ways of getting people out to the site of
these raids as they happen.
James Kerr, Linwood
Voice moves ancestral lands
It is wonderful that socialists so far away from
As your September 29 article points out (issue 280), the decision has
upset racists and, appallingly, the Labor Party has leapt to the higher
courts about the ruling.
But, while the racists are in “a tailspin”, as you say, there is one
thing in your article that has me spun out as well.
You were just checking to see if we were awake, weren’t you?
Barry Healy,
Convener, East/Hills Socialist Alliance branch,
Darlington,
Baffled by 50-50
It was with considerable empathy that I read the letter from
Ian Smith (issue 281) as I too have felt baffled, patronised and insulted
by what, in my opinion as a woman, is the unsocialist notion that women
should be given what amounts to preferential treatment (50/50 representation,
etc) because they are women.
In her article in issue 277, Roz Paterson speculates as to the number
of socialist women “in that part of the world” (ie Orkney), who happen
to be two Scots, three English and one South African, and who have always
participated on an equal basis with their male comrades.
However, as recent reports on SSY (Scottish Socialist Youth) activities
have been very encouraging, without any indications of inequality between
members, this augurs well for the future of the Party.
Jean Baugh, Stromness
Grand oration isn’t everything
Hugh Kerr’s letter (issue 281) leaves no doubt about his support
for Tommy Sheridan.
No one can doubt Tommy Sheridan’s ability as an orator.
He reminds me of the “blood and thunder” preachers I heard as a child.
That ability persuaded seven jurors to vote for him in the court case.
However, there is only one truth, and I believe it will be revealed
when the current investigation ends.
I am sad to see Tommy Sheridan try to break up the effective socialist
party in
Ian Finlayson, Edinburgh
—centre pages—
THE HUMAN FACTOR
Dick Barbor-Might meets diplomat the British state
tried to silence over brutality in
Craig Murray met the Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov
soon after he arrived in the capital
“I am delighted to meet you, Mr Ambassador,” he said...
“I have always had the greatest admiration for the wisdom of the
“One great example of the wisdom of your government, on which I
must congratulate you, is that you have just made a derogation [withdrawal]
from the European Convention on Human Rights to enable terrorist
suspects to be detained in the
Subtext: ‘Don’t you lecture me on human rights - people who live
in glass houses...’
Let’s start where Craig Murray starts his book in a chapter entitled
‘Awakening’. He had heard that there was a dissident trial. With
his high status as Her Majesty’s ambassador in
He waited for two hours in a squalid courtyard with a small crowd
of distressed and anxious relatives until the barrier was opened
and they all walked past a line of Ministry of Interior goons into
a courtroom where six prisoners squatted on benches inside a large
cage.
“An old man was assisted to the witness stand... He was shaking
with fright. One of the accused was his nephew.
“The old man’s statement was read out to him, in which he confirmed
that his nephew was a terrorist who stole money to send to Osama
bin Laden and had travelled to
“‘Is this your testimony?’ asked the prosecutor. ‘But it’s not true’,
replied the old man. ‘They tortured me to say it... They tortured
my grandson before my eyes... Then they brought my granddaughter
and said they would rape her. All the time they said: ‘Osama bin
Laden, Osama bin Laden.’
“‘We are poor farmers from Andijan. We are good Muslims, but what
do we know of Osama bin Laden?’...
“I had seen enough and left. Those three hours in court had a profound
effect on me. If these were our allies in the War on Terror, we
were not on the clear moral ground which Blair and Bush claimed
so boastfully.”
Craig Murray took up his post as British Ambassador in
It was Year 6 of the Blair era. British policy was being driven
by one imperative: unqualified support for George W Bush both in
the War on Terror and in the struggle to secure unimpeded access
to oil and natural gas and the lucrative profits that went with
them.
The ex-Soviet boss Islam Karimov had adopted Uzbek nationalism as
his ideology.
Symbolising the change, he replaced Marx and Lenin as the totemic
figures with that of the cruellest of medieval dictators, the legendary
Tamerlane.
The huge granite head of Karl Marx in central
Before grappling with these realities Craig Murray first had to
receive his instructions. As is the way with the Foreign Office,
the procedure combined functional efficiency with stuffy pomposity.
Protocol required that newly appointed ambassadors should meet members
of the Royal Family. At
Murray was no monarchist but was worried that his wife Fiona would
mind. But she had already met the Queen on previous diplomatic postings
and was pleased that she could clock up another couple of royals.
Prince Andrew managed a lame joke that he wouldn’t be sailing with
the Royal Navy into landlocked
She was worried about declining standards of health and education
and increasing child poverty. This was the shrewdest observation
that anybody made to
Finally
All this I knew through reading Craig Murray’s book. What I didn’t
know was whether there was anything in his early life that might
have influenced him to do what eventually he did do. For this career
diplomat did the unimaginable.
On behalf of tortured dissidents in far away
And, still sticking to his principles, he endured a protracted and
malicious undermining of his position until he suffered a physical
and mental breakdown.
Recovering and insisting on his trade union rights he demanded that
he be allowed to return to
I met Craig Murray at the door of his
The family background was of the
After the war, the father worked as a civilian on American bases
in
Murray senior later became a big man in
Once again there was poverty, this time in a
The most important influence was the long forgotten JA Hobson, who
is credited with influencing Lenin but was an important thinker
in his own right. For
Hobson saw these invasions and interventions as being wicked in
themselves. He also saw that they went hand in hand with xenophobia,
racism and militarism back home, thus enabling the very worst brand
of politicians to rise to power. With such views
Soon after his awakening to the grisly realities of the Karimov
regime a colleague came into
Indeed they were, photos of a corpse that once had been a middle-aged
man. The man seemed to have been horribly tortured, a supposition
that was confirmed a fortnight later when the Pathology Department
of Glasgow University reported back to the embassy that the victim
had died of immersion in boiling liquid - not splashing but immersion.
For a time
Karimov knew very well what
Thus
Murray even received the attentions of Gulnara Karimova, who was
Karimov’s daughter and the apple of his eye. As the two of them
stood on a little bridge in the embassy garden,
These ambassadorial jollities were the light relief to what was
soon to become a nightmare. Behind the Blair government’s superficial
adherence to human rights lay a bottomless hypocrisy.
As
In marked contrast, the Bush-Blairs did not even want to know about
the hideous abuses perpetrated in
From his remote outpost,
But the problem for
Soon his superiors were expressing their concern “about areas of
your performance”.
The intelligence about
As he came to realise from his own sources, much of this material
was derived from Karimov’s torturers.
Morality apart, the information was worthless since people will
say anything under torture.
Karimov, the sharpest operator in town, knew precisely what he was
doing: label his own dissidents as “Muslim terrorists” and the CIA
would lap up the resulting “intelligence product.” And so would
MI6.
Yet there was every reason to obtain good intelligence.
Having no MI6 officer operating under diplomatic cover,
He used his own unconventional contacts to find out, for example,
about the extensive heroin traffic that was routed from
Yet none of this excellent reporting, which revealed the sheer wanton
folly of the War on Terror, seemed to matter a jot to Simon Butt,
Visiting
It was the murder in
Some time later,
Miraidov did not blame Murray, who realised that totalitarian regimes
try to terrify you into inaction and that if you give in they win.
There is a but.
“I think I will see those images of Shukrat’s corpse, horribly tortured
yet peaceful, in my dreams until the day I too die.”
London did not seem to care.
In fact, as Simon Butt informed
It took the officials some time (with Jack Straw informed of every
move but keeping in the background).
They did for Craig Murray in the end, with an inventive cruelty
that he was able to only partially counter.
He did his best and was supported by his trade union and by some
surprising allies, including British businessmen in
In October 2004,
It had been a long drawn out struggle and one that only really ended
when he stood unsuccessfully against Straw in the May 2005 general
election and found that, in violation of electoral law, he was unable
to find any premises in
Indeed, the story is not really over yet since Craig Murray stays
alive and active.
And what of the man himself? He is friendly and witty, is in great
demand as a speaker, runs an excellent website and is a tireless
helper to asylum seekers from
Yet he does not see himself as a hero and self condemns for the
hurt he caused his wife, Fiona, as he took up with an Uzbek girlfriend.
In the small hours of the night he agrees with his critics that
he behaved badly in his private life. In public life, his credo
is that government must have some principles of conduct and not
torturing people is a fundamental one.
So why did Craig Murray sacrifice his career when nearly all his
colleagues went along with Blair and Straw?
Why did he show such exceptional moral courage?
I don’t think it’s ideology. Let’s call it - the person he is, the
human factor.
n Read ‘Murder in
See: www.craigmurray.co.uk
Craig Murray will be speaking at 6pm Friday 13
October at the Radical Book Fair in the Blue Drill Hall,
‘KENNY BOY’
Until 2004, the American company Enron was “top
career donor” to George W Bush. The relationship was buddy to buddy
with Bush calling the company’s chairman Ken Lay “Kenny Boy”.
Even when he was still Governor of Texas Bush did the company favours,
for example by using his official position to help Enron to access
the oil and natural gas fields in
For a time Enron (who liked to call themselves “the smartest guys
in the room”) were in the ascendant - not least in 10 Downing Street
where the mere mention of the company’s name opened all doors. But
then the company collapsed and Kenny Boy was convicted of ten counts
of fraud and conspiracy.
Vladimir Putin in
But feelers were being put out and Karimov’s daughter Gulnara Karimova
began to put together deals with the Russians, brokering a deal
with the Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov (who has bought a large
share in the Anglo-Dutch company Corus).
Eventually Karimov changed sides, with a vengeance. The
In Moscow Putin may have allowed himself one of his wintry smiles.
In
THE ROYAL REGIMENT OF
“
(Human Rights Watch, September 2006)
George W Bush reportedly blocked a call by NATO to investigate the
massacre in which, according to Human Rights Watch, more than 500
people were killed. Human Rights Watch determined that Karimov’s
troops made “indiscriminate use of lethal force against unarmed
people.”
However, a White House spokesman called for restraint “on both sides”
and suggested that Islamic “terrorist groups” might have been behind
the shootings.
Karimov immediately flew into the area and took personal charge.
The following day, according to reports, Uzbek troops killed about
200 more people in the neighbouring city of
The Scotsman has revealed that the Uzbek Army, whose prime target
is its own civilians, has received training from the UK and had
conducted a joint combat training exercise at the Farish camp with
150 troops from the Royal Regiment of Wales, fresh from the war
in Iraq.
—page eight—
This is your conference call
I may be the only time Colin Fox will get away with
comparing himself to Johnny Depp. But when he quoted Jack Sparrow, Depp’s
legendary Pirate of the Caribbean - who, on being told he was the worst
pirate to ever sail the high seas, replied, “Aye, but at least you’ve
heard of me” - it summed up both the good humour of the SSP’s two-day
conference, and the obstinate determination which has seen the party
emerge from what Colin described as a “real life horror movie”.
Colin’s opening remarks to conference, where he was re-elected unopposed
as the party’s convenor, focussed on the SSP campaigning which will
see us through to next year’s Scottish Parliament elections.
“The party has been bruised and battered,” he admitted, but “the most
recent poll puts us at 6 per cent, within striking distance of maintaining
the six MSPs we saw elected in 2003.”
He spoke of fantastic support on the streets for the SSP’s free school
meals bill, due to go before parliament soon, our continuing opposition
to Bush and Blair’s lie-fuelled war on terror and the new generation
of nuclear weapons, and our resolute campaigning on genuine anti-poverty
measures.
Saturday morning’s discussion began with Richie Venton introducing a
motion which “salutes the courageous, principled defence of the SSP
and the interests of socialism” by the vast majority of those who stayed
with the SSP, refusing to split the movement.
The motion, overwhelmingly agreed, also stated that individuals persuaded
by “the misguided actions of some” to leave, would be welcomed back
without recriminations.
Putting into practice declarations that this conference would not be
consumed by internal matters, delegates took a break to march together
to
Ensuing discussions agreed new policies, including the extension of
the SSP’s existing opposition to nuclear weapons to include Trident’s
replacement and taking part in the year-long Faslane 365 protest, and
the promotion of Gaelic as a crucial element of Scottish culture, long
under threat from cultural imperialism and homogenisation.
Once again, delegates confirmed the party’s support for independence.
However, conference did not shy away from the turmoil induced by Tommy
Sheridan’s court case and subsequent departure from the SSP - the ‘elephant
in the room’ was acknowledged often enough for chairperson Morag Balfour to suggest we all give it a wave.
A resolution was overwhelmingly agreed asserting that SSP members should
not resort to the courts or to ‘non-party media’ to settle grievances.
Much of Sunday’s business was taken up with considerations of how we
can prevent the re-occurrence of the recent painful period.
A substantial motion setting up a commission to review the party’s structures,
from top to bottom, was agreed and many other constitutional motions
were remitted to be included in that review.
This should lead to a dedicated conference on party structures at some
point following the Holyrood elections next year.
Conference ended with a huge vote of thanks to Allan Green, who stood
down this weekend as the party’s national secretary, having been in
the post since the birth of the SSP.
His job has been one of the most thankless in the party, as a lynchpin
in day-to-day organisation, and the person who is almost always the
first port of call with problems.
Allan was also one of the merry few with the vision and inspiration
to see the possibilities for the Scottish Socialist Party, and was a
driving force in its establishment.
His fairness, honesty, bravery and deadly efficiency will be sorely
missed, although of course he’ll continue to play a part in the SSP
as a member of Campsie branch.
Pamela Currie steps into his shoes this week, and she can be contacted
in the usual ways, via scottishsocialistparty@btconnect.com and on 0141
429 8200.
‘A radical demand for a radical socialist party’
The prostitution policy debate was the culmination
of over three years of discussion, prompted by Margo MacDonald’s bill
on prostitution tolerance zones, since withdrawn.
The motion put before conference, by Edinburgh Central branch, recognises
the need to ensure the safety of prostituted women, but notes the disastrous
impact of legalisation of prostitution in other countries.
In Victoria, Australia, for example, legalisation has seen the number
of brothels more than double, with one in six women in the state now
working in the sex industry and an estimated 60,000 men using prostituted
women every week.
Legalised brothels are listed on the stock exchange, allowing investors to make money from the sale of
women’s bodies, without ever being anywhere near the sex industry themselves.
The motion recognises prostitution as inherently exploitative, the supply
driven by poverty and the demand driven by unhealthy sexual attitudes.
It calls on the SSP to campaign for an approach in Scotland informed
by policy in Sweden, where criminalisation has switched from those who
sell sex to those who buy it - prostituted women and men will not face
criminal charges but their ‘clients’ will. It also calls for education
to be used to address demand.
Moving the motion, Mhairi McAlpine, of Govan branch, argued, “We have
to eradicate prostitution, not manage it.” There was clear consensus
around this demand.
Debate centred instead on an amendment, which proposed to include a
section to “encourage” prostituted women to join trade unions “to protect
themselves against violence, abuse and to campaign to lessen the exploitation
they endure.”
Elaine Jones, of
Others argued that trade unionisation was not appropriate in this case,
Jimmy Scott of Maryhill North branch asking, just what could trade unions do to improve the live
of prostituted women?
Catriona Grant, of Edinburgh Central, described how women in
The amendment was rejected on a card vote, by 63 to 124, and the unamended
motion was agreed almost unanimously, giving us, as Sean Donnelly of
Edinburgh Central described it, “a radical demand for a radical socialist
party”.
Waging war on war
by Pauline Bradley
At a fringe meeting to discuss building solidarity
with the Iraqi trade union movement, Richie Venton, SSP trade union
organiser, spoke about the war’s ultimate aim - to privatise
Hassan Juma, of the General Union of Oil Employees, has made links with
oil workers in
As former convenor of Iraq Union Solidarity (IUS), based in
The group meets monthly, publishes articles, organises meetings for
Iraqi trade unionists, collects money and will move and speak to motions
in union branches, etc.
Some discontent was expressed about the
A Scottish Socialist Youth meeting also discussed anti-war work, and
came out supporting Iraqi trade unions, organising at army recruitment
fares, doing more community work and working with Military Families
Against the War.
The SSP is emerging from crisis stronger, more focussed and determined
to oppose war.
Election results
National Co-Chairs:
Morag Balfour
John McAllion
Female EC list:
Lorna Bett
Felicity Garvie
Carol Hainey
Anthea Irwin
Joanne Kelly
Carolyn Leckie
Mhairi McAlpine
Denise Morton (elected - top up for the South of Scotland)
Male EC List:
Gerry Corbett
Jack Ferguson
Alan McCombes
Kevin McVey
Donnie Nicolson
Steven Nimmo
Liam Young
Donnie Fraser (elected - top up for the Highlands & Islands)
Automatically on EC:
Colin Fox, National Convener; Pam Currie, National Secretary;
Morag Balfour, National Co-Chair; John McAllion, National Co-Chair;
Allison Kane, National Treasurer; Jo Harvie, SSV editor; Richie Venton,
National trade union organiser
There are 23 EC members. Just over half of the EC, 12, are female.
Two are members of Scottish Socialist Youth.
Nine members overall are on the EC for the first time.
—page nine—
Let’s head on over to Glasgay
Glasgay!,
Thinking of getting hitched? Then come and see Manuel Pereira’s
It’s a big, glossy Spanish take on the country’s first mass gay wedding. Your
guides for the hour are five mothers coping not only with their sons’ romantic
problems but with some of their own as well.
What Tammy Needs To Know - CCA, 350 Sauchiehall St, from Thursday 19 to Saturday
21 October at 8pm, price £10 (conc. £8) - is a performance installation that
incorporates autobiographical text, original music and audience interaction.
What does a 55-year-old, trailer trash, ex-heterosexual, ex-famous country
and western singer need to learn in order to become a contemporary lesbian
performance artist?
Richard Move’s Martha @... is designed to pay special tribute to the legendary
Grande Dame of the Dance, Martha Graham. Move has won accolades with his highly
developed, entertaining and academically researched portrayal of the mother
of Contemporary Dance. Martha @ Tramway is on at... The Tramway,
For years, Diane Torr wanted to create a performance in celebration of the
life of her late brother, Donald, who died from AIDS in 1992. Diane and her
two elder brothers, grew up in Mastrick, a housing scheme that pushed into
the countryside on the outskirts of
Donald Does Dusty is at the CCA from Wednesday 25 until Saturday 28 October
at 8pm, price £8 (conc. £6).
At the Tron Theatre, 63 Trongate, there’s a rare chance to see five of the
original Talking Heads - Alan Bennett’s wonderful, legendary 80s TV monologues
which highlighted a Britain changing beyond recognition.
Delusional actress Lesley (Pauline Goldsmith) thinks Her Big Chance will come
just after she’s completed the low-budget semi-porn movie she’s currently
shooting.
Doris’s (Kay Gallie) feisty independence leaves her helpless on the floor
where she spies A Cream Cracker Under The Settee. But could this water biscuit
be her last meal?
Disillusioned vicar’s wife Susan’s (Jill Riddiford) mid-life crisis drives
her to the communion wine, the back shop of Mr Ramesh’s grocery store and
a Bed Among The Lentils.
Devoted son Graham’s (Ross Stenhouse) life is turned upside down when a man
from mother’s past shows up and deigns to entertain them in a tearoom where
there’s A Chip In The Sugar.
Curtain twitching Irene’s (Gwyneth Guthrie) fervent correspondence gets her
into trouble with the law but this Lady Of Letters finds the freedom she craves
in the most unexpected place.
Tuesday 7 November: A Chip In The Sugar & A Cream Cracker Under The Settee;
Wednesday 8: A Lady Of Letters & Her Big Chance; Thursday 9: Bed Among
The Lentils & A Cream Cracker Under The Settee; Friday 10: A Lady Of Letters
& A Chip In The Sugar; Saturday 11: Her Big Chance & A Lady Of Letters;
Sunday 12: Bed Among The Lentils & A Cream Cracker Under The Settee. All
performances at 8pm, price £14 (conc. £10).
n See glasgay.co.uk
Ahlam’S Story
In a new video, Ahlam Souidi speaks frankly
about her time as an asylum seeker in
Watch and circulate the links to this video. It challenges views by relating
everyday life for an asylum seeker.
Teacher Pamela Page, who’s used the video in class, said: “Ahlam’s story is
powerful. Her humanity, honesty and vitality shine through everything she
says. Let’s make her so well-known that it’s impossible for her to be forced
to leave her home.”
n Ahlam’s Story:
Part 1 youtube.com/watch?v =0sr7jSWLjg8
Part 2 youtube.com/watch?v =31rojR3prCA
Part 3 youtube.com/watch?v =Kl1RIiO1Tgc
Request full-length videos: nwsocialist@yahoo.co.uk
See Ahlam speaking at the 7 October Demo for Refugees: youtube.com/ watch?v=UwD_Gsdum7w
n See youtube.com/group/ Socialist for SSP videos
Pioneering advance for medical comedy
Green Wing - Series 1 and 2.
Four-disc box set out now on Channel 4 DVD
by Simon Whittle
Surreal, hospital-based comedy Green Wing is
one of those beautiful rarities in television that the word ‘groundbreaking’
can actually be applied to without ambiguity.
It’s obviously a comedy but it’s hard to describe it as a sitcom because some
scenes come across like sketches - some are related to a plot, others are
entirely of themselves.
Half the time, the characters needn’t be in a hospital at all, as the comedy
is all about their interaction with each other. Or by themselves in some cases
Green Wing creator Victoria Pile said the series was initially a progression
from Smack the Pony, but with characters who had “a bit more depth and longevity”,
and more narrative.
There are seven writers involved in Green Wing alongside Pile, a throwback
to the original sketch-show idea, with individual writers contributing random
material.
It obviously works. And even with such talented writing, knitted together
into a tight script, the actors still manage to sneak some improvisation in.
Green Wing’s stand-out actor is Mark Heap (who also starred in Graham Linehan
and Arthur Mathews’ Big Train, and Chris Morris’ Brass Eye and Jam).
Heap plays neurotic senior doctor Alan Statham, whose days are peppered with
gigantic bouts of insecurity and a kind of mutinous lust that possesses his
mind and body entirely every now and again.
And again. And again and again.
The object of this lust? The oppressive, smoke-aholic head of human relations
Joanna Clore (Pippa Haywood).
Every senior doctor must have a nemesis student, I’d guess, and Dr Statham
is no exception - that’s why Boyce (Oliver Chris) exists.
Near the end of the first series, at a packed charity slave auction, Doctor
Statham, decked out in gladiator garb, fails to attract any bids - so Boyce
buys him for 30p.
When he’s not preoccupied with the objects of his desire or derision (or murdering
a face-painted dwarf with a stuffed heron), he’s obsessing over the ‘flow’
of his white doctors’ coat as he walks around corners in the hospital.
That’s what Green Wing is all about.
That and the heavily-stylised rhythmical music-driven editing which, although
it undoubtedly put many potential viewers off, helps the show stand out from
the pack.
This year’s Xmas special is likely to be the last installment of this genre-breaking
situ-drama-sketch-thing. Enjoy.
Tuned in
Keef Tomkinson
Saturday 14 October
Life of Pryor: The Richard Pryor Story, BBC2,
9.40pm
Richard Pryor: Live in Concert, BBC2, 10.40pm
When you grow up in a brothel which your grandmother runs, your mum works
in and your dad pimps, you gotta laugh. That’s what Richard Pryor did. Using
his comedy for self-analysis and to examine 1970s racist
Monday 16 October
In 1956 the ‘Great’ in
Tuesday 17 October
Good Bye Lenin!, BBC4, 11pm
This German comedy follows a son’s desperate attempts to hide the fall of
the Berlin Wall from his frail, devoted communist mother. The story of building
an epic lie... mmm.
Thursday 19 October
Death of a President, Channel 4, 10pm
Mock-documentary portraying how
Friday 20 October
Unreported World:
Unreported World returns to its nightmare early Friday evening slot. Nevertheless,
try and catch this examination of the rise in xenophobic attacks of immigrants
in
Cross of Iron, ITV4, 10pm
Sam Peckinpah leaves the dying embers of the Old West for the last days of
World War Two. The film centres around James Coburn’s retreating German platoon
as they battle Russians, Nazi stooges and an aristocratic officer desperate
for glory. One of the great anti-war films.
—page ten—
international news
Murdered in
Obituary
Anna Politkovskaya
1958-2006
Anna Politkovskaya’s death in
Last Saturday, the world-famous journalist entered the lift of her
She never made it.
Instead, a few hours later, a neighbour found her body; she’d been
shot four times, once in the head, in what bears all the hallmarks
of a contract killing.
Anna was a fierce opponent of the war on
“We have little doubt,” said Vitaly Yaroshevsky, her shocked editor
at Novoya Gazeta, “that she was killed because of her work. Her reporting
made her many enemies. Her death is a catastrophe.”
Born in
Her first two books - A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from
She did not uncover any great secrets;
she simply dared to tell the truth about what she saw with her own
eyes on her many, dangerous trips to the war-blighted country.
Such was the regard in which Chechens held her that, during the 2002
siege of a
She inspired such fear in Russian government circles that, when she
attempted to travel to Beslan in 2004 to cover the school siege, she
was poisoned and had to be treated in hospital.
She survived, but her card was clearly marked.
Her third book - Putin’s
Equally rattled was Kadyrov; Anna claimed to have material linking
him to the wave of kidnappings and murders that still sweep
Could this have been the motive for her murder? Or was it an agent
of the Putin government? Or perhaps a free agent, keen to ingratiate
themselves by performing this uncalled-for, but clearly welcome, hit?
Whoever is to blame, the culture fostered under Putin, where press
freedom is being strangled and journalists can be murdered seemingly
with impunity, facilitated them.
Anna is the thirteenth journalist to be murdered under Putin’s watch.
Her death, a tragedy for her two children and her colleagues and supporters,
could prove to be the final nail in the coffin for Russian journalism.
“If the state murdered her,” says political commentator Alexei Malashenko,
“then we don’t need such a state.”
Anna did not see herself as a martyr to her cause.
“I am not on a crusade. But I feel that someone has to write about
what is happening in our country.
“I have always been driven by a sense of solidarity for ordinary people
who suffer at the hands of this regime.
“In
She repeatedly warned that
The Russian Journalists’
It urged the world to remember her, not for her dreadful death, but
for her extraordinary life and work.
—page eleven—
international news
The ruling military junta in
That this is a farce of the highest order goes without saying, not
least because Burma, now known as Myanmar, remains the bloodiest
dictatorship in the world, where rape and torture are used routinely
by government forces, where children are forcibly recruited as soldiers,
where ethnic minorities are murdered en masse, where at least hundreds
of thousands are internally displaced, and where people are enslaved
in the tourism industry, the biggest source of income for the military
government.
Not only that, but the National League for Democracy (NLD), which
won the country’s last General Election in 1990 yet has never been
allowed to govern, has been excluded from these constitutional talks.
Their leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, remains in detention, having been
held under house arrest on and off for 17 years. On 9 October, she
clocked up 4,000 days in detention. On 24 October, that will come
to 11 years.
Says Yvette Mahon, of the
“These milestones come and go, yet still most of the world looks
the other way.”
The United Nations, however, has at least put
UN under-Secretary General Ibrahim Gambari, leader of the UN delegation,
is worryingly naïve when it comes to
On 29 September, he reported that progress was being made as two
political prisoners had been released. Unfortunately, five pro-democracy
leaders were arrested around the same time, “to prevent instability
of the state and to prevent terrorist attacks”, according to the
government. Supporters of the five arrestees, leaders of the 1988
pro-democracy movement, have been urged to wear white and already
a 120,000-strong petition has been put together.
by Wullie McGartland
The
The claimants were victims of
The uprising was a turning point in
The resistance of the Kikuyu people to European colonisation was
well established before the Second World War.
The Kikuyu Central Association was active in the 1930s under Jomo
Kenyatta who campaigned for the Kikuyu in
In 1951, Kenyatta was arrested and imprisoned by the British for
being a leader of the Mau Mau movement.
With his detention, Mau Mau grew in numbers. In October 1952, the
British declared a State of
The State of
In reality, it was just an attempt to quell the growing tide in
favour of Kenyan independence.
During the uprising, 13,000 were killed fighting the British, another
80,000 were tortured or maimed, and over 160,000 were kept in inhumane
conditions in detention camps.
The number of Europeans who died in the course of the emergency
totalled just 32. In 1960, the uprising was suppressed by the British
imperialists.
Kenyatta was released in 1961. The Kenyan African National Union
(KANU) had voted him their President while he was still in prison.
Veterans of the Mau Mau are demanding an apology and an out-of-court
financial settlement from the British government in reparation for
their treatment during the uprising.
Eleven test cases are being brought against the government. If the
British authorities fail to settle out of court, the case would
go before the High Court in
One of these cases is that brought by Jane Muthoni Mara, who was
just 15 when she was rounded up by security forces on suspicion
of sending food to the Mau Mau.
She then spent three years digging gravel in a series of British
concentration camps.
Another is that brought by Wambugu Wa Nyingi, aged 78. At a press
conference in
The claimants’ lawyer Martyn Day, a British lawyer hired by the
Kenyan Human Rights Commission, told the media that neither
“We recognise the pain, suffering and torment that these freedom
fighters have gone through, many of them are still suffering from
the after-effects today,” he said.
“We call on the British government to pay compensation to these
people so that they can receive the justice they deserve.”
A human rights delegation from
Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, the former president, Carlos Sanchez
Berzain and Jorge Berindoague left Bolivia in rather a hurry three
years ago, following the popular uprising that put an end to their
regime.
The people were enraged by de Lozada’s government’s decision to
export natural gas direct through a port in
But then, when did a neo-liberal government, of which de Lozada’s
was a prime example, ever do anything for the people? After all,
it had its multinational friends to consider, between whom it had
carved up
Tanks
In late September/early October 2003, hundreds of thousands
of Bolivians took to the streets. And were met by government tanks
and troops, who gunned them down mercilessly, resulting in the death
and injury tally noted above.
This armed response was to provide legal security to the foreign
multinationals; underscoring the fact that this government’s loyalties
were with the forces of globalised capitalism and most definitely
not with its people.
Rogelio Mayta, part of the human rights delegation and a lawyer
representing those killed in 2003, recalls that brutal response,
saying: “It was about scaring the people so that they would stop
protesting.”
He points out that the people’s resistance was characterised by
its peacefulness. The only ones who bore arms were those carrying
out the orders of the government.
President Evo Morales, in
He stated that, thus far, the
Obstructing
“(W)e’re worried, because now the
The
Sanchez de Lozada’s government was also behind the infamous law
that allowed multinational Bechtel to seize control of
A popular and sustained protest put paid to that, though there are
still rumblings at the World Bank ongoing.
Oscar Olivera, one of
“He was not the principal protagonist in that struggle, nor was...Oscar
Olivera. It was the Bolivian people...(Morales) is in government
to obey the people...to change the political and economic system
of the country. We’re going to continue pushing forward that process,
which means recovering our common goods, as well as our capacity
to decide.”
Olivera was due to participate in a demo outside de Lozada’s current
residence in
n See www.democracynow.org
by Ken Ferguson
Talks between Maoist rebels and the
“The draft of the interim constitution was presented before the
top leaders of the seven parties and the Maoists at Sunday’s meeting,”
said a joint release issued after an eight-hour meeting attended
by Premier GP Koirala and elusive Maoist chief Prachanda, alongside
senior leaders of the Seven Party Alliance
The Maoists played a major part in massive street protests earlier
this year which forced the collapse of the Royal dictatorship and
the assumption of power by the Seven Party Alliance (SPA).
Political prisoners have been released, royal power severely restricted
and the military put under civilian control.
The talks had a number of pressing issues on the agenda, including
the interim constitution, election to a constituent assembly, implementation
of past agreements, arms management, relief to conflict victims,
socio-economic transformation and restructuring of the state.
Official sources described the talks as “cordial” but it is clear
that the issue of Maoist weapons and military forces will be a thorny
matter to resolve.
Rajendra Mahato, general secretary of Nepal Sadbhavana Party, commented:
“The meeting failed to produce any concrete results as expected
by many and it was decided that more time was needed for further
discussions on other crucial issues.”
Thus talks were to continue on Tuesday.
That said, according to Communist Party of Nepal (UML) general secretary
Madhav Kumar Nepal, there was a “wide understanding” that the elections
to a Constituent Assembly would be completed by May next year.
The meeting also agreed to appoint commissioners at the Election
Commission at the earliest possible opportunity.
The talks, resumed after a four month gap, were held at the prime
minister’s residence at Baluwatar amidst tight security with the
venue being surrounded by security forces and Maoist cadres.
The first round, between the Seven Party Alliance and the Maoists,
held in June, was aimed at ending the decade-long insurgency after
King Gyanendra was forced to end 14 months of royal dictatorship
in April following mass public protests led by an alliance of SPA
and Maoists against the monarch.
A large number of pro-democracy activists, those injured in the
April protests, youths and students, were gathered near the venue
‘to exert pressure’ on their leaders.
Nepal Congress (Democratic) President Sher Bahadur Deuba, Deputy
Prime Minister and People’s Front Nepal chairman Amik Serchan, Nepal
Sadbhavana Party acting president Bharat Bimal Yadav, Nepal Workers
and Peasants Party chairman Narayanman Bijukchhe and United Left
Front leader and minister Prabhunarayan Chaudhari took part in the
talks.
—page twelve—
Demand free school meals for
New research has revealed that exercise alone will
not cure
Clearly the rise of a sedentary culture, where children play computer
games in their bedrooms rather than ball games in their streets, is
doing young people’s health no favours, but the findings of a Glasgow
University research team suggest that it is what you eat that makes
you what you are.
The study took in 545 pupils across 36 nursery schools, in a bid to
determine whether regular exercise in school would reduce Body Mass
Index (BMI).
In some schools, pupils undertook three exercise sessions, of 30 minutes’
duration, a week. This was supplemented by parents being given guidance
on increasing physical play at home.
In other schools, there was no such structured exercise.
The results showed that BMI was unchanged from nursery to nursery, as
children who undertook increased physical activity at school rested
more at other times.
Confidence
What the school exercise did improve, however, was motor skills
and confidence, which could improve long-term health in making a child
more predisposed to physical activity.
So what can be done to combat the rise of childhood obesity? Currently
10 per cent of four to five year olds are clinically obese. If this
trend continues, we are facing an upcoming generation of seriously overweight
adults, with the attendant health problems - cancers, heart disease,
infertility - to match. It’s a death sentence
and we owe it to those in our care - our children - to do something
to prevent it.
Intervention
If we were talking about an epidemic of TB, the government
would have no hesitation in launching a major public health intervention.
Why can’t they do the same for obesity? Leaving it to food manufacturers
and privately-run catering companies is a dereliction of duty of the
highest order.
The SSP’s proposal for free, nutritious school meals for every state
school child in
But as the examples of
And with at least one wholesome meal inside them, school students will
be less inclined to graze on junk food and will grow up with at least
one good example of what constitutes a healthy diet, even if their parents
can’t provide it.
We could do the same, and it would cost less than it will to build the
five mile stretch of the M74 extension, which was flagged through by
the Scottish Executive in the teeth of opposition. Not that they’ll
necessarily get away with it, of course!
Frances Curran’s Free School Meals bill is being tabled in the Scottish
Parliament very soon. Make sure your MSP knows all about it, and keep
on at them until they agree to support it.
SSP activists across
No more deportations!
by Donnie Nicolson
Despite a growing climate of fear amongst asylum seeker
communities, 600 people, mostly asylum seekers, gathered in
The protest follows last week’s dramatic events, when Home Office snatch
squads were faced down by angry protesters at early-morning vigils in
Scotstoun and Cardonald.
The size of the rally pays testament to the courage and resilience of
people seeking sanctuary in
Campaigners are speculating that Home Secretary John Reid has given
a green light to snatch squads to ignore a previously agreed protocol
and step up their hugely unpopular process of dawn raids. This has led
many families to fear that they or their friends and neighbours may
be next.
Cat Storrie from the Unity Centre was pleased with the turnout: “Today
has been great. We had hundreds of people from different communities...of
different countries around the world. The whole day was good fun despite
the very serious reason for being there.”
The rally was boosted by three feeder marches which came from Sighthill,
the Gorbals, and Maryhill. The Maryhill march - called by a
public meeting of local asylum seekers, support groups and Rosie
Kane MSP - involved nearly 100 people.
The crowd in
SSP activists and other campaigners will continue to defy the Home Office
until the barbaric process of dawn raiding and deportations ceases.