Scottish Socialist Voice
Issue 287
17th November 2006
—front page—
Labour leave children with empty plates
Scottish Executive block Free School Meals Bill
Scottish Socialist MSP Frances Curran this
week served notice on the Scottish Executive that despite the decision by
the Communities Committee to block the progress of her Free School Meals
bill the fight goes on.
Not only is the blocking a crude assault on democracy but it also exposes
the opposition of both the Executive parties, and the SNP.
All three backed the gagging move.
“I have been inundated with angry protests from members of the public and
organisations outraged at the Communities Committee gagging of the free
school meals debate.
“However, my message is that the fight to win healthy free meals for our
primary schools is far from over and I can promise its opponents that they
have seen nothing yet.
“Along with many other organisations supporting it, we will be challenging
all MSPs to come clean and tell us where they stand on this important issue.
“If I am prevented from progressing the Bill through
normal democratic channels, I may seek to raise it as an amendment to the
Executive’s own Health Promotion in Schools bill.
“We will also launch a major text campaign to allow the thousands of supporters
of Free School Meals to let their thumbs do the talking and text support
for this major pro-health and anti-poverty measure.
“These messages will, of course, be forwarded to the First Minister so my
message to free school meals supporters is, watch for the text number and
text Jack with your views.
“I will also use any other legitimate parliamentary device to challenge
the disgraceful anti-democratic behaviour of the Communities Committee,
including examining its supposedly heavy workload which is their lame excuse
for blocking my bill.
“The disgraceful treatment of the Free School Meals bill blows a hole in
the fancy talk about Holyrood being a new democracy and shows that the big
parties will cynically use their power to get their own way.
“The reality is that both the Scottish Executive and the SNP know that there
is massive public support for free school meals and they are desperate to
block any discussion of it.
“Both are content to back bans on junk food in schools and pay for glossy
TV ads and food Tsars but take cover when a concrete policy such as free
school meals is up for discussion.
“Our job is to expose the hypocrisy behind the gagging
of debate and continue to make the case for free school meals loud
and clear.”
—page two—
Peerages scandal threatens Blair
by Ken Ferguson
George W Bush may be reeling from his electoral
savaging last week, but at least he can comfort himself with the thought
that he isn’t facing a grilling from Scotland Yard regarding the flogging
of seats in the House of Lords to a bunch of unsavoury money men.
The question now is not so much when Blair will go but whether he
will manage to get out in time.
There’s a cloud of suspicion brooding over
It is hard to avoid the suspicion - despite hot denials - that the
cash for peerages scandal lies behind the resignation from the government
of multinational grocer, GM food fan and Blair bankroller, Lord Sainsbury.
Initially the prospect of a police probe was scoffed at by the spoonfed
journalists who make a fat living rewriting press releases dished
out to them by Blair’s spin doctors.
These so called ‘lobby’ journalists are portrayed as fearless seekers
of truth when in reality they meet with
Incidentally, despite all the rhetoric about a shining new democracy
in Edinburgh, the establishment politicians there work the same type
of operation, with the largely compliant Holyrood press corps producing
a stream of ‘Jack trounces Nicola/Nicola trounce Jack’ pap which they
have the cheek to pass off as news.
Despite the opinions of these ‘experts’, it is now clear that police
are engaged in more than just a cosmetic glance at complaints about
cash for peerages.
Key Blair henchman Lord ‘cashpoint’ Levy has been arrested and questioned
and the cops are now asking questions of all present and recent government
ministers.
Their enquiries have even taken them to the plush
Indeed the only top politico not yet in the frame is the man himself,
former ‘Teflon Tony’ Blair.
Why?
The latest reports indicate that Scotland Yard is now taking a close
interest in claims that the party produced a false balance sheet and
broke the law by failing to disclose £12m worth of loans in audited
annual figures published last year.
Oops.
It has been alleged that the loans were hidden from Labour’s own auditors
which, if true, is a clearly illegal act with very serious consequences.
It is apparent that the cops will build a strong and serious case,
with a wealth of evidence, before they come knocking on the famous
black door.
Opening this new area of enquiry significantly turns up the heat on
the increasingly beleaguered Blair, placing him firmly at the centre
of suspicion.
Police are said to be looking into allegations that Labour was guilty
of the “systematic concealment of liabilities” in its financial accounts,
according to sources involved in the investigation, with press reports
suggesting that senior New Labour figures knew that the loans were
concealed from auditors.
The Scotland Yard team, led by Assistant Commissioner John Yates,
is expected to feel Mr Blair’s collar in the next few weeks, with
questions about the accounts.
The police will need to consider whether the alleged false balance
sheet, part of Labour’s 2004 accounts, was a breach of the terms of
the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000, which includes
an offence of concealment or disguise.
Meanwhile, ministers are furiously putting distance between themselves
and Blair by telling detectives they cannot explain why he nominated
secret donors for peerages.
They believe “the net is closing in” on Mr Blair after Commissioner
Yates wrote to every member of the Cabinet last week, and clearly
intend to avoid sinking with the captain if SS New Labour goes down
in a vortex of scandal.
Anyone who scoffs must recall that the current law was formulated
as result of just such a scandal, involving Liberal Prime Minister
Lloyd George and his honours salesman, spy and fixer, Maundy Gregory.
Gregory went to jail and then into a comfortable exile in
LG avoided the jail but his political career never recovered and he
was an increasingly isolated figure from the late 1920s until his
death in 1945.
Kids call for free school meals
by Frances Curran
Last Friday I visited
The topic for their presentation, chosen by the class themselves,
was free school meals.
The opening lines read: “In
A red-faced Jackie Baillie was then confronted with the arguments.
“THINK ABOUT IT.
“Without doubt, a tasty nutritious hot meal has a dramatic impact
on behaviour, concentration and the ability to retain information.
“We should learn about food and good eating habits when we are young.
“We believe that if every child received free school meals then: we
would all be equal; we would work better on a full stomach; we would
concentrate more; it ensures one hot meal a day; young children would
be eating a balanced diet; children will be healthier; all of us would
be healthier; we would be encouraged to try other foods.”
I cheered whilst Jackie Baillie squirmed, taught a lesson by the 9-10
year olds of Haldane school, who spoke more sense than Jack McConnell
and all the Labour and Lib Dem backbenchers put together.
Who says young people want to eat junk food and don’t care about what
they eat? It’s a pity we can’t get these pupils into the debate in
Parliament. The Executive can try to silence the idea of Free Healthy
School Meals by blocking my bill but they cannot stop the momentum
for an idea whose time has come.
The presentation ended:
“I am a child, I am special. Every child is special and every child
is equal. We look forward to hearing your views on this subject.”
A challenge if ever I heard it. To the boys and girls of P6 in Haldane
school - respect!
Last week, SSP MSP Carolyn Leckie took part in a
debate in the Scottish Parliament on violence against women.
The debate took place against a background of increasing violence
against women in
However, noted Carolyn, we will find women subjected to sexual violence close to home
too.
Last year, despite 900 reports of rape throughout
Both the Criminal Procedure Act 1996 and The Sexual Offences Act 2003
were meant to give greater protection to women reporting rape and
improve their chances of bringing a successful prosecution.
But the Scottish Executive’s own research shows these efforts have
failed.
In June 2006, it was announced that the Lord Advocate was accepting
50 recommendations to improve the way that rape cases are investigated
and prosecuted.
Carolyn said more is needed to protect and support victims of sexual
violence.
The courts, for instance, are not even protecting them from humiliation
and degradation in the witness box.
Research shows that defence lawyers made verbal applications to introduce
evidence of the complainants’ sexual history in 23 per cent of rape
cases.
Ninety five per cent of these were sprung on the complainant during
her testimony,
“The nature of the questioning and the inspection of the complainers’
private lives, including their medical and gynaecological histories,
can be potentially humiliating and intimidating”.
Research from the States suggests that introducing sexual history
evidence lowers the chances of securing a conviction.
Carolyn called for specialist sexual violence courts of a type similar
to
These courts are presided over by judges who will provide protection
to women complainants; prosecutors are determined to secure justice
for rape victims and defence lawyers are prevented from humiliating
victims.
Until then, we will continue to fail women subjected to vile crimes
against their person, whilst letting rapists believe that they can
get off “Scot free”.
More than 900
The divers’ dispute was backed in a Scottish Parliament motion tabled
by Colin Fox MSP which noted that, despite doing a highly dangerous
and demanding job,
Some 703 - 84 per cent - voted to accept the deal, with 127 - 16 per
cent- against, on an 80 per cent turnout. The strike will therefore
end forthwith.
The settlement gives an immediate increase of 25 per cent on all rates,
with a further five per cent on the new rates next April, and increases
in November 2007 and 2008 of RPI plus 1.5 per cent or five per cent,
whichever is greater.
The seven employer signatories to the deal will all now pay eight
bank holidays, up from four, and each has undertaken to agree proper
bargaining structures with the union, although pay will continue to
be negotiated collectively.
“By any standard, this is a tremendous victory,” RMT general secretary
Bob Crow said Tuesday.
“Divers and their support crews do difficult and hazardous work in
an industry that makes enormous profits, and this settlement represents
a massive stride towards reversing the two decades of pay erosion
they have endured.
He concluded:
“Our members in the
—page three—
Gearing up for G8 2007
Up to 500 activists converged in the north German
town of
A delegation from
Participants included left-wing parties WASG and PDS, anarchist
groups, anti-deportation and anti-nuclear campaigners and representatives
from
It was good to see autonomous groups working closely with anti-capitalist
left groups.
Suggested tactics for the 2007 Alternative Summit include getting
‘big name’ speakers like Noam Chomsky to hold outdoor mass meetings,
as a radical alternative to lecture-theatre style of ‘plenaries’.
Concerns were voiced that the organising process could become
dominated by less radical NGOs, who seem lukewarm about direct
action, proposing a series of press-conferences instead.
There were also concerns that the German trade unions remain ambivalent
to the Anti-G8 movement
Council workers resist cliff-edge pay cuts made in the name of ‘equality’
by Richie Venton SSP National Workplace Organiser
Labour and SNP councils across
SSP members in the council workers’ unions are campaigning for
a national demo to pull together the strands of struggle, to prevent
isolation and dislocation being used as a weapon by the employers,
and for strike action if cuts are imposed.
We have everything to fight for. Council and Scottish parliamentary
elections loom, making councillors and MSPs nervous and susceptible
to orchestrated pressure. The last thing these chancers want is
a revolt of council workers, their families and communities.
The SSP MSPs used their allocated debating time last week to argue
for funding from the Scottish Executive to reach settlements with
the local government workers’ unions without detriment to services.
Carolyn Leckie, moving the motion, reported that her sister, who
works with learning disabled adults, is about to see her pay slashed
by nearly £3000.
“When the single status agreement was reached, equal pay had been
a matter of law for almost three decades, but for all that time,
women have had their labour stolen, and over their lifetimes,
they have been short-changed by hundreds of thousands of pounds.
“This inequality persists.”
Glasgow city council’s 13,000 UNISON members are balloting for
strike action against the Labour council’s attempt to impose a
package that directly cuts the pay of one in six workers - nearly
5,000 of the 31,000 staff.
Some stand to lose over £10,000 in cliff-edge pay drops from March
2009.
Many of them are already amongst the lowest paid.
For instance, ushers at the chief executive’s offices face a cut
of 10 per cent on their £15,063 salary.
The council insists that nobody will lose out as they will be
retrained to restore their current salaries by March 2009. This
is nonsense! Workers will have their pay frozen till then, and
the scale of rises required and the time-scale to achieve the
re-training make it impossible.
Kate Riordan, UNISON steward in Culture and Leisure services,
urges members to vote yes for strike action.
“There are a lot of people in my department losing out badly.
Michael is a Visitor Assistant, his wife Janette is a Senior Library
Assistant, between them they stand to lose £4,000 a year. They
are not untypical.
The council, she says, are bulldozing through the cuts.
“Even the council’s bribery of those who gain is dodgy. Many of
them will actually lose out after cuts to enhancements, bonuses
and overtime rates are taken into account. For example, cleaning
staff face £400 a year cuts after the loss of enhancements.
“The council have said they will issue those who sign up for the
new deal with lump sums in December. Everyone assumes they will
get that for Christmas, when in fact it will not be until 28 December
and therefore in the January pay packets.
“I really hope we get the YES vote
for strike action. And the councillors should be made aware that
many council workers who used to vote labour will never do so
again - over 4,500 of them, plus their families for a start.”
Scottish power profits reach for the sky
Scottish Power, the fifth largest energy supplier
in the
Meantime, Scottish Power bills have risen 32 per cent for gas,
and 18 per cent for electricity.
Scottish Power is the target of a £12billion bid by Spanish company
Iberdola.
Lovely news for shareholders, terrible news for us, as it spells
an increasing concentration of ownership in the energy sector,
the inevitable result of privatisation.
The company insists the profits are borne of ‘restructuring’,
rendering Scottish Power ‘leaner and more responsive’.
In other words, sacking loads of staff and keeping power prices
sky-high, thus ensuring that tens of thousands of over-65s die
of cold-related illness in the coming months and some 90,000 children
live in discomfort because their families cannot afford to pay
their fuel bills.
Scottish Power blame rising wholesale prices.
But in fact, they source their electricity cheaply, from coal-fired
generators, and forward-bought their gas when prices were lower.
Nonetheless, the government seems set to do nothing and charities
like Help the Aged are reduced to lobbying
the power giants, asking them to be a bit nicer.
If that happens, hell will freeze over. Then again, given fuel
prices these days, that may be a possibility.
—page four—
Israeli phosphorous use exposed
Civilians burned alive in
“Phosphorous burns bodies, melting the
flesh right down to the bone.”
So said a former US soldier, describing the use of white phosphorous,
known in military slang as Willy Pete, in an Italian documentary for RAI
News 24, into the
Willy Pete is in the news again, a team from the UN confirming that the
Israeli army used it during its onslaught on Lebanon this summer, which
ended on 14 August.
White phosphorous is often compared to napalm, as it combusts spontaneously
and melts human skin. It is banned under the Geneva Convention for use
in weapons directed against civilians, though
We know that isn’t true, as both assaults were characterised by the wholescale
destruction of both civilian infrastructure and civilian life.
The Italian documentary - Fallujah: the Hidden Massacre, directed by Sigfrido
Ranucci - quotes the former US soldier again, describing seeing the burned
bodies of women and children, some of them incinerated in their beds.
“The phosphorous explodes and forms a plume. Whoever is within a 150 metre
radius has no hope.”
A medical team were dispatched to Fallujah, to report on what they saw.
They were appointed by the Bush-appointed Iraqi interim government, and
thus were unlikely to be punting propaganda against the
They confirmed that “burning chemicals” had evidently been used on the
civilian population there.
“All forms of nature were wiped out,” said Dr ash-Shaykhli, meaning animals
and plants as well as people. He was speaking at a press conference that
went universally unreported by the embedded media.
A Fallujah biologist, Mohamed Tareq, recalled:
“A rain of fire fell on the city, the people struck by its multi-coloured
substance started to burn. We found people dead with strange wounds, the
bodies burned but the clothes intact.”
The
On another but hardly lighter note, the UN team insisted they found no
trace of Depleted Uranium (DU) use by the Israelis. This conflicts with
the findings of three British activists in October, who found traces of
DU in southern
Dr Chris Busby, one of the three activists, is alarmed by the UN’s failure
to confirm their findings.
“We are concerned that UNEP don’t know what they are doing. Earlier (in
2001), they were useless at finding depleted uranium in Kosovo, due to
the wrong choice of instrumentation.”
Children damaged by chemical overload
by Roz Paterson
We face a ‘silent pandemic’ of brain-damaged
children, borne of the overload of toxic chemicals in the biosphere, according
to a shocking but timely report by Harvard School of Public Health in
conjunction with Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
Children born to industrialised nations between 1960 and 1980 were exposed
to potentially toxic levels of lead from petrol. This may have reduced
the number of IQ levels above 130 in these children, whilst increasing
the number of IQ levels below 70.
But those born now face many more hazards, from the manufacture and use
of pesticides, petrol additives, plastics, fizzy drinks cans and fertilisers,
amongst other things, which could lead to such Neurodevelopmental Disorders
(NDDs) as autism, Attention Deficit Disorder and cerebral palsy.
One sixth of developmental disability in children could be the result
of even low-level chemical exposure, warns the peer-reviewed study, which
is due to be published in The Lancet.
The authors identified 202 chemicals as potentially dangerous, including
styrene, used in plastics production, and which can cause hearing and
visual problems, and hinder responsiveness, and acetone, used in nail
polish remover, which can cause dizziness and confusion.
These chemicals have already, almost certainly, damaged the lives of millions
of children worldwide.
Furthermore, the authors stress, this is by no means an exhaustive list,
as over 1000 chemicals are known to be toxic to laboratory animals.
During pregnancy and early childhood, our brains are essentially ‘hard-wired’
- any interference during this period, through accident, ingestion of
alcohol or exposure to toxic chemicals, can have a lifelong legacy as
there is little potential thereafter for repair.
The fact that the placental barrier during pregnancy is not proof against
toxic substances entering the mother’s bloodstream, and that the blood-brain
barrier is not established until a baby is at least six months old, also
explains why very young children are so especially vulnerable.
We know about alcohol and its detrimental effect on a developing foetus,
so it’s not a great stretch to accept that the chemical soup created through
decades of irresponsible, market-lead industrial production could be implicated
in NDDs.
Industry interests are already trying to undermine the report as scaremongering,
and the case is rendered more difficult to make because NDDs tend to evade
statistics as their effects are sub-clinical, or not clinically visible
- an example being lower than average intelligence.
The report recommends erring on the side of caution and imposing strict
regulations on chemical testing and production now, especially with regards
to pregnant women and children, rather than waiting until there is categorical
proof, a process which could take decades, by which time many more millions
of children’s brains could be irreparably damaged.
“There really is a lot at stake,” says Philippe Grandjean, of Harvard,
and the lead author of the study.
“We are talking about the brain development of future generations. There
will be an enormous cost of not regulating exposure.”
He continues:
“We must make protection of the young brain a paramount goal of public
health protection. You only have one chance to develop a brain.’
n www.hsph.harvard.edu/
—page five—
letters page
Rough theatre
Willie Rough, previewed in last week’s Voice (issue 286),
is a ‘must see’ play for all those who oppose exploitation and injustice.
Written some years ago by Bill Bryden, a weel-kent figure of the Scottish
theatre, it is thanks to Leitheatre for reviving this classic about
the period prior to and during the First World War.
Willie Rough, the main character, is a young man determined to fight
for decent wages and conditions on the
But this play, which is based on fact, also mentions that women played
an important role in fighting rent increases, forcing landlords and
the government to come to their terms. Willie inevitably falls foul
of the Defence of the Realm Act and is imprisoned for his anti-war
stance and socialist views when he writes an article in a left wing
newspaper.
The
Get along and see this powerful production - for the play has an important
message today for all those who believe in a better world and socialism.
It’s performed in the Church Hill Theatre,
Ron Brown,
Leith
The market’s greatest failure
Congratulations on the Voice’s coverage of the environment
last week. As socialists, however, you missed a trick.
For years Thatcherism and Reaganomics have assured us that if left
to its own devices, the market would automatically, without the intervention
of anyone, correct any imperfections in its functioning. Supply and
demand, not legislation, will see to it that at some point it will
become profitable to stop looting the planet and trashing the environment.
Not only that, there would also be a ‘trickle down effect’, whereby
the filthy, mucky, dirty, foul, loathsome, spotted, creeping and,
of coarse, stinking rich would, by buying caviar and personal jet
aircraft, stimulate the economy and allow us to share the goodies.
Great! I hear you exclaim.
Not so. It’s official! Capitalism will destroy the planet! But don’t
take my word for it. Let me quote Sir Nicholas Stern, chief economic
advisor to the Treasury and head of the government economic service,
doing the media rounds last week: “This is the greatest market failure
the world has ever seen.”
You bet, Nicky. Start composting!
So all you little Fukuyamas
out there, who thought history over and socialism as dead as the Berlin
Wall, had better think again. It seems
the only trickle down that we are likely to see in the immediate future
is excrement.
David Fowler,
Bonnybridge
Grumpy old men bite back!
The SSP members of Maryhill North branch were outraged to
read in the Voice financial appeal (issue 286) that our honourable
title of glue factory is deemed to be a ‘cruel’ label.
It is, in fact, a badge of honour to our age and time within the socialist
movement, taking inspiration from Boxer the horse in Animal Farm.
As this paper does not seem to do research before making inflammatory
allegations, we see no alternative but to seek legal counsel.
Not only have you now to raise monies to keep your paper going, but
will have to raise extra for legal expenses and our damages - approximately
£200,000.
Comrade Malcontent and Comrade Grudge,
Maryhill, Glasgow
SSY just won’t stop growing
New ideas
Voices from the SSY
Jack Ferguson
This weekend, 18-19 November, sees
the fifth annual conference of Scottish Socialist Youth, and it looks
set to be a real milestone for our organisation.
For the first time ever we’re holding a two day conference, with a
record number of motions and members set to be heard.
But that doesn’t mean we’ve lost time for a whole series of participatory
and exciting workshops on a wide range of topics.
Naturally enough, after the dramatic events of the summer, there’s
a number of motions relating to the split in the SSP and reforming
the constitution of SSY. But apart from the sections that we’ve titled
‘The Shit from the Split’ and ‘Navel Gazing’ there are also outward
looking motions set to spark really interesting debate, including
proposed affiliations to Hands off Venezuela and Iraqi Union Solidarity,
as well as participation in the Faslane 365 project.
We’ll also be putting forward statements of solidarity with Communist
youth, banned by the Czech government, and with the mass movement
against electoral fraud and for democracy in
To open the educational part of the weekend we’ll be having a major
workshop for everyone on the SSP’s People Not Profit campaign. Groups
will discuss one of the ten points from the campaign and try and come
up with some specific action that we’ll take on that issue between
now and the May elections.
Another workshop for all participants on the Saturday will be Clare
and Roisin’s Sparkly Guide to not Being a
Bastard. SSY’s resident angry schoolgirl feminists will be educating
us on the whole issue of violence against women and unacceptable behaviour.
In SSY we recognise that just joining a socialist organisation doesn’t
immunise you from the effects of growing up in a capitalist patriarchal
society. SSY members are just as capable as other members of society
of reflecting the sexist culture they are part of, and if we want
to change that we all need to actively examine and challenge our own
prejudices and ideas.
A highlight for Saturday’s programme is going to be slam poet Eamonn
Coyle. Eamonn is now known for his work throughout the party after
his barnstorming performance at the rally for Unity, Integrity and
Socialism (you can still check it out on YouTube).
But we’ve been aware of his talent for some time now. At the weekend
he’ll be leading a workshop on radical poetry and song, with the aim
of coming up with some new material for anti-war demos.
On Sunday we’ll have workshops on topics as diverse as the possible
revolution taking place in
Frances Curran is coming along to talk about the campaign for free
school meals for all. We’re trying out new directions with workshops
on radical graffiti and stencilling, as well as one on radical theatre,
and how we can use drama as a tool for our internal education and
also as a means of political expression to the wider world.
And of course on Saturday night there’ll be more legendary SSY partying,
with music for all tastes from a variety of DJs.
SSY has come on leaps and bounds since our first conference, and have
become a fully autonomous part of the SSP with our own identity, campaigns
and membership.
It will be a brilliant introduction to what SSY is
all about, and looks set to be an important step on the road to building
a mass socialist youth movement in
Elderslie by-election
On 7 December, voters in the council
ward of Elderslie, Renfrewshire, will have the opportunity to give
Labour a good kicking. If they lose - a distinct possibility - the
result will be a hung council.
If the SSP win, and we admit it’s a long shot, candidate Gerry McCartney,
a local GP, will fight for public ownership and community facilities,
decent council housing, the abolition of the Council Tax and the introduction
of free school meals.
Gerry was involved in the recent, successful campaign for a ‘no’ vote
in the Renfrewshire Housing Stock Transfer ballot.
“Now we want to see the money, promised if they voted yes, to be released,
and invested in housing directly,” he told the Voice.
He is also calling for the local swimming pool, recently transferred
to Renfrewshire Leisure Ltd, to be returned to public ownership and
subject to longer opening hours.
“We will also campaign hard for the re-provision of youth clubs and
facilities for young people in Elderslie and the surrounding area.
“It’s not the answer to everything, but it would ensure less young
people were hanging around with nothing to do and maybe getting into
trouble.”
—centre pages—
The state of the union
Yes, the Republicans were hammered in
the
And yes, Donald Rumsfeld and John Bolton, two odious,
ruthless thugs to be sure, lost their political heads.
And indeed, everyone’s saying this means the beginning
of the end of the
But if you think this means the
In opposition, the Democrats were no great shakes. Did
I say no great shakes? I meant diabolical.
Or, as American journalist and author (of Empire Burlesque:
the Secret History of the Bush Regime) Chris Floyd puts
it:
“(This) gaggle of corporate bagmen, spine-free time-servers
and craven accomplices of tyranny and aggression...Whenever
it really counted - Supreme Court nominations, tax cuts
for the rich, the class warfare nuclear bomb of the Bankruptcy
Bill, the appointment of sleazy, third-rate officials
such as torture-enabler and Constitution-gutter Alberto
Gonzalez to high office and, of course, the eager goose-stepping
into the war crime of Iraq (which was, let us remember,
approved by a Democratic-controlled Congress) - (they)
folded, would not even go down fighting.”
The Democrats even helped usher in the Military Commissions
Bill (see Voice 284), which allows the President - yes,
all by himself - to suspend Habeas Corpus regarding certain
suspects, thereby denying them access to a free trial
and tearing up several centuries of Constitutional law.
In power, for sure, the Democrats will slow down the handcart
to hell that is/was the Bush regime, but they won’t change
the face of
The rich will remain rich and lightly-taxed. Hell yes.
The Democrats, like the modern-day Labour Party, is dripping
with multi-millionaire sponsors.
And the poor will continue to work three jobs, hardly
see their kids, and feed them out of church-run soup kitchens.
Without the vast army of poor people, who work for barely
enough wages to sustain them, the rich wouldn’t get to
be rich, so don’t expect any super new worker-friendly
legislation any year soon.
The minimum wage may get a slight tweak upwards, but only
because the law of physics demands it; the Republicans
have been sitting on it for so long, it’s bound to blow
all of its own accord.
But that doesn’t mean Wal-mart ‘associates’ (the corporation’s
creepy euphemism for worker) will suddenly be allowed
to join a trade union, or health insurance will become
an affordable commodity. For
Internationally, it’s not looking good either.
For the Palestinians, the outlook’s bleak. The powerful
Zionist lobby seeps deep into the Democrat machine, which
displays a wholehearted enthusiasm for arming
In truth, the Democrats and Republicans are not poles
apart. Both are rich, elitist parties dedicated to rich
elites.
Furthermore, the Democrats have limited power, even with
both houses in hand, as they control only the legislative
wing of government, while George W Bush remains Commander-in-Chief
and at the helm. Only if the President is impeached will
he lose that power, and the Democrats have already said
they won’t follow up on that one.
Which means that, though this was certainly a ballot on
the war, and the outcome was a resounding opposition to
it, the victorious Democrats cannot do much about it.
Congress can ask some awkward questions, through investigations
and hearings, into the failure of intelligence that led
to 9/11 for instance, and the whole WMD fiction, but they
can’t stop the war.
But all this aside, the Democrats’ victory is remarkable
and good news for the world.
Remarkable because - you know those crazy Republicans!
- vote-rigging peaked this election, with an estimated
4.5million potential Democrat votes canned before the
first polling booth even opened, through vote spoilage
(900 per cent more likely to happen to you if you’re black),
the photo ID scam that allows Republicans to hang around
polling stations demanding that your ID photo exactly
matches the one on the state database, and a tiny clause
of a new law that bars would-be voters if their ID cannot
be verified against the state database.
Says Greg Palast, the investigative journalist who first
lifted the lid on the Florida 2000 vote-rigging scandal,
“You just can’t win with 51 per cent of the vote anymore.”
And the Democrats didn’t. They won with something nearer
58 per cent. The American people, disillusioned with politicians
and government, sickened by war, impoverished by the free
market, and, much more than us, unconvinced that their
vote could matter, even if they were lucky enough to be
allowed to use it, came out and voted anyway, and in so
doing, sent the Bush administration into a tailspin.
It won’t change the world, but it sure is a step in the
right direction. God Bless
It was the war what done it George
Sleaze, corruption and hypocrisy impacted
heavily on the Republicans’ vote last week. ‘It was for
a friend’, whined Ted Haggard, Bush’s closest religious
advisor, as he was caught buying crystal meth from a male
sex worker whom he’d been paying for sex over three years.
Republicans are alleged to have covered up for congressman
Mark Foley, who sent sexually harassing messages to young
volunteers, afraid that exposure just before an election
would damage their vote. But possible attempts to conceal
his behaviour damaged them even further.
The scandal of Jack Abromoffs, a lobbyist who conned Native
American tribes out of vast sums of cash, tainted Republicans
all the way up to the Oval Office.
Exit polls found 41 per cent of American voters said ‘public
morality’ was ‘extremely important’.
But there’s no doubt the overarching concern was the bloody
quagmire in
The war in
Some polls found as many as 60 per cent of voters saying
they disapproved of the
In the lead-up to the vote, the Democrats kept shaking
that stick, candidate after candidate queuing up to say
the elections were a referendum on Bush and his failed
policies abroad.
The tactic worked, yet the vote was not an enthusiastic
one for them, but an overwhelming measure of revulsion
for Bush.
William Hughes, for the
Meanwhile other, even right-wing commentators, found the
result to be a rejection of the entire neo-conservative
Bush project.
“It’s clear that this election will mark the end of conservative
dominance,” noted David Brooks, a principal columnist
in the New York Times, a few weeks before the election.
“This election is a period, not a comma in political history.”
First Socialist
In the
by Colin Fox
Amidst the dog fight between Democrat
and Republican in the mid-term elections, a remarkable
result was barely covered - for the first time, ever,
a socialist was elected to the US Senate.
Bernie Sanders was elected to the US House of Representatives
as an independent 16 years ago.
In 2005, the Voice reported that he had agreed to join
us in
Unfortunately he had to call off because of his election
campaign commitments - and now that campaign had paid
off.
Last week he won the
Bernie Sanders’ story is all the more remarkable in a
country which to the outside world appears dominated by
neo-cons, warmongers and the Christian right wing.
Originally from
Vermont is, to be fair, not typical of the rest of the
But it is in these circumstances that Sanders has built
up a formidable following and support. An outspoken opponent
of the war in
The war in
He has repeatedly led the argument for a national healthcare
system which ensures every American gets free treatment.
He led thousands of people across the Canadian border
to protest and buy their prescription drugs there because
they are a third of the price of US-bought drugs.
He is “outraged”, he says, that the
“Bernie Sanders stands for the working families of
The people of
Rogues’ Gallery
Robert Gates
Robert Gates, incoming US Defense Secretary,
is no stranger to ‘controversy’ as the American journals
like to refer to his involvement in the Iran-Contra affair,
which saw US agents selling deadly arms to Iran and funnelling
the profits to the equally deadly Contras, at the time
engaged in a vicious bid to overthrow the democratically
elected, leftist government of Nicaragua.
Gates, then Deputy Director of the CIA, could not but
have known what was going on, yet he appears to have gone
to some lengths to hide the truth from Congress as the
scandal was breaking, in so doing clearly breaching his
duty as a servant of the American people.
He was never indicted over this, but could be in the future.
He was also implicated in a scandal involving the passing
of sensitive information to
Oh yes, and accused of knowingly exaggerating the military
power of the
An old pal of George W Bush’s daddy, Gates is regarded,
in the current climate, as a relatively safe pair of hands.
Things are bad.
Donald Rumsfeld
“If you are not criticised, you are
not doing your job,” he once said. But Rumsfeld wasn’t
so much criticised as loathed. Even Nixon called him “a
ruthless little bastard”.
Rumsfeld began his career in the Eisenhower administration,
his subsequent career following the established path of
members of the American establishment in combining public
and private service - that is, big business and high office,
including a stint as Reagan’s special envoy to the
A hardened neo-con and war enthusiast, Rumsfeld’s military
strategy with regards to
On “his watch”, prisoners were brutally abused in Abu
Ghraib, suspects were detained, and tortured, without
charge or trial at Guantanamo Bay (regarding which a war
crimes case is being filed against him, in Germany, as
we speak) and 655,000 Iraqis were killed, as were nearly
3,000 American soldiers, mostly poor, working-class boys
sent to war on false pretences.
Nancy Pelosi
She will be the first woman speaker
of the House and, they say, a real thorn in George W Bush’s
side. Yeah, whatever.
Ms Pelosi loves to network and powerbase, often calling
on her very long list of loyal donors, including such
cuddly corporations as IBM and Lockheed Martin, the world’s
foremost military contractor, as well as rewarding those
who stay on-message with perks and jobs.
This, ahem, hard leftist is richer than George W Bush,
she and her partner being worth in excess of £13.1 million.
She’s not all bad. She was instrumental in derailing Bush’s
attempt to privatise the social security system and was
one of the very few to vote against the
She is, however, more likely to pay ball with Bush than
kick it in his face.
She is also, lest we forget, an avowed friend of
—page eight—
A community stands together
“They were not members of the Asian community.
They were not members of any community. They were brutal, vicious
people who were not a part of us.”
Kriss Donald was only 15 years old when he was snatched from
What followed was the stuff of nightmares and his stabbed, beaten
and burnt body was found the next day, dumped on the Clyde Walkway.
Last week, three men - Imran Shahid, 29, his brother Zeeshan,
28, and Mohammed Faisil Mushtaq, 27 - were sentenced, to 25,
23 and 22 years’ imprisonment respectively for this most brutal
of killings.
It was the first conviction under the new Scots Law charge of
racially aggravated killing.
The community of Pollokshields, which is 50/50 Asian and white,
heaved a sigh of relief.
But back in March 2003, in the days that followed Kriss’s murder,
the tension was palpable. Shutters were drawn down over shops,
the streets were unnaturally silent, people walked quickly,
looking down.
Everyone feared some kind of horrific reprisal against the Asian
community and the BNP, sniffing an opportunity, made plans to
hold an open-air rally in the centre of
Pollokshields is an odd socio-economic mix, including the street
with the most millionaires in
Educational attainment is patchy, crime stats are hardly desirable
though no worse than similar areas, economically speaking, and
housing is often poor.
Yet race relations are actually quite good; this is not a black
ghetto where certain streets are no-go zones for particular
races, though it would be naïve to say there is no racism, particularly
white on Asian, though in some cases also Asian on white.
This latter, according to Manjot Sumal, a DJ in local radio
station Awaz FM, is generally a result of being racially abused
and wanting to give as good as you get.
“In my teens, I was kicked, punched and spat on. I didn’t go
down the violent route, but some people might think, ‘If you
do this to me because of the colour of my skin, then I will
do it back to you.’”
But Kriss’s murder, while race played a part - the killers sought
revenge for a scuffle in a nightclub the previous night, and
were out to get ‘a white guy’, didn’t matter which one - so
too did gang culture, which stalks these streets.
Kriss’s mother led the way, by saying that her son’s murder
was not a racial matter. Her calmness and dignity, her recognition
that the killers were simply murderous thugs, allowed everyone
to recognise that it was not a case of ‘us and them’, white
versus Asian, but ‘us and them’, ordinary people versus brutal
criminals.
A local Asian worker, quoted at the top of this article, told
us that there was “no support for them”, meaning the three killers
who absconded to
Mohammad Sarwar, the local MP, waged a 15 month campaign with
the Pakistani authorities to have them handed over.
They relented when he persuaded them of the importance of these
convictions to the Pakistani community in
Not only did the Shahids terrorise whites, they also terrorised
Asians.
“If it had been me they’d had a row with that night, it would
have been an Asian they picked up,” says our local worker.
In fact, a very similar event happened in 2003, when the son
of a former city councillor, an Asian, was abducted from the
streets by the Shahid gang and driven around until he managed
to escape.
He was 23; his age and strength perhaps gave him an edge on
young Kriss.
Imran Shahid was convicted that same year for a road rage incident
in which he punched a middle-aged female social worker unconscious,
then tried to run her over. Sentenced to 30 months, he served
nine.
Three months after that, he murdered Kriss.
Osama Saeed, Scottish spokesperson for the Muslim Association
of Britain, is 26. He knew these guys in school.
“They hit everyone. They beat up Asians, white people, whoever.”
They were not “Asian supremacists”.
But they thought they were untouchable; something that Osama
believes was fuelled in part by the paltry sentence served by
Imran Shahid in 2003.
Pollokshields is well rid of them and the fact that the community
managed to come together over such a terrible murder is testament
to how strong is the will to live together and work things out.
There’s a plaque now where Kriss was abducted. His sweet face
smiles down at the flowers and flags that are laid there in
his memory.
One, a flag of
No place for the nazi BNP
The acquittal of BNP Führer Nick Griffin and
his Goebbelsesque Director of Publicity Mark Collet on race
hate charges last week came as a shock to many anti-racists.
The charges were brought after the BBC showed footage of them
both making racist speeches at a BNP meeting in 2004, in which
they lashed out at Muslims, asylum seekers, and the murdered
black student Stephen Lawrence, claiming that he was not killed
by a group of white racists but by someone black.
The trial was a success in more ways than one for the nazis
of the BNP; the media frenzy that surrounded the case gave them
more publicity than they could ever have hoped for.
Since
But scratch the surface and you will find the beast underneath,
a gang of Hitler-worshipping nazi thugs.
Take their Scottish Secretary Kenny Smith, recently named top
of their Holyrood list for
Or
Or take Robert Cottage, BNP candidate for Pendle council in
Lancashire police announced that the haul was the largest stash
of bomb-making equipment ever discovered in a British home.
Yet the pair were virtually ignored in the news - perhaps surprising,
considering the media frenzy over other raids on supposed home
bomb-factories, even ones which have produced nothing at all.
Raids on other homes, of course, owned by Asian people, because
that’s what the media consider terrorists to look like. Anything
else just does not compute.
Mind you, they’re only following the New Labour government’s
lead in the portrayal of anyone with brown skin as a spectre
to be feared.
The policies of this government have been the manure that has
helped the BNP grow in
The BNP have declared they plan to stand candidates for the
Scottish Parliament, trying to spread their racist venom across
the country in an attempt to whip up hatred and division in
our communities. They must be stopped.
The people of Pollokshields have given a remarkable example
to follow. Griffin came up to Glasgow to try and start a race
war after the brutal murder of Kriss Donald but was told in
no uncertain terms to crawl back into his bunker. His vile hatred
is not welcome on the streets of
—page nine—
Reading, writing and arrest
Naming The Dead - A Serious Crime by Maya Anne
Evans with
by Dick Barbor-Might
On Sunday four British servicemen were killed
and three injured in
Maya and her companion in crime, Milan Rai, had fallen foul of
the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) that had come
into force that April and that amongst a host of other provisions
had outlawed the previously taken-for-granted right to assemble
in the vicinity of Parliament. Now that unqualified right was
abrogated and specific police permission had to be obtained in
advance. The Government had inserted this provision into the Act
to take care of a persistent nuisance. The nuisance, a serious
one from their point of view, was that for several years Blair
and his MPs had had to pass by the colourful anti-war displays
of Brian Haw whenever they entered or left the Commons. Poor drafting
of the Act meant that Brian was allowed to stay in
Along the way other protesters have been ignored by the police,
who can choose to look the other way when somebody like the rebel
Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn is there with his microphone. But at other
times people have been arrested or harassed. Mark Barrett, for
example, was found guilty of violating SOCPA and fined £500 including
costs for meeting other activists for weekly “tea and cake” parties
in
The trademark of Barbara Tucker, another activist, has been described
as a violently pink placard, “Blair’s genocide”, featuring photos
of civilian deaths. Barbara has been accused under a public order
act of causing alarm and distress to members of the public with
her photos. The police dropped this line when nobody in the crowd
would own up to being alarmed and distressed other than by Tony
Blair. On another occasion she was charged with “obstruction”
and handcuffed, her arms pulled tightly behind her back. She
has been threatened with being sectioned under the Mental Health
Act “for her own protection”, in case some enraged member of the
public should attack her. The police dropped this after a huddled
consultation behind the gates of
Yet, although there can be a funny side, there is still the catch
in the throat at the prospect of being arrested. In her new book,
Maya Evans describes her personal moment of truth when she and
her friend Milan Rai approached the Cenotaph and were told by
a sympathiser that the police definitely would arrest them if
they went ahead with their plan to read out the names of the British
soldiers killed in
Since her arrest Maya Evans has become used to speaking in public
and to the outward eye seems confident enough. But in her book
she describes her embarrassment at the very idea of public speaking.
She recounts how she grew up in multicultural Hackney with her
mum and sister and how, although attracted to Islam through friendships
with girls she met in school, she never made the final leap into
faith. All this went with her sense of being just an ordinary
person. At university she immersed herself in the anti-war movement.
Later, on the day that
Maya didn’t give up. Eventually she and
Falconer: “The idea that you take a measure which is a public
order measure, designed to protect our Parliament building, as
depriving people of freedom of speech is ridiculously overdone,
if I may say so.”
Humphreys: “I shall bear that in mind next time I stand outside
Parliament and read my newspaper aloud, possibly an editorial
that somebody doesn’t like.”
A few months later, in June 2006, somebody was stopped and questioned
by the police for standing outside Downing Street with a copy
of The Independent with a headline that read: “Warning: if you
read this newspaper you may be arrested under the Government’s
anti-terror laws.”
You couldn’t make it up.
You (Burmese) Tube
When the daughter of
The blushing bride wore enough priceless-looking jewellery to
sink a small battleship as she gaily squandered champagne and
counted up the cost of her wedding gifts. Some $50million, since
you’re asking.
Meanwhile, for the ordinary people of
Women are routinely raped and murdered, children are recruited
into an army that kills their own families, ethnic minorities
are slowly annihilated...and vicious poverty bites deeper every
day.
The wedding video, which provides a rare window on this almost
hermetically sealed world, was leaked to Youtube last week and
is stirring international outrage on behalf of the Burmese people
who may never be able to view it, as internet access is severely
restricted in Burma.
Tuned in
Keef Tomkinson
Saturday 18 November
Life Is Beautiful, BBC4 11pm
Roberto Benigni’s masterpiece is the story of a loving husband
and devoted father desperate to shield his family from the holocaust.
His clownish behaviour appalled many critics, confused at their
own emotional reaction, but there are few better films about Hitler’s
barbarism and the resistance to it.
Sunday 19 November
The Music Show, BBC2 7.30pm
BBC Scotland output is so poor you have to wonder why they don’t
advertise the good stuff. This show returned a few weeks ago to
showcase
Monday 20 November
Saddam’s Road to Hell, Channel4 8pm
Channel Four’s obsession to show a documentary about
Rory Bremner: Beneath
As above, since there are so many of these shows on at the moment,
this could be new or a repeat from the first Gulf War. Whichever
it is, I am sure it will be funny and poignant.
Tuesday 21 November
Rain in My Heart, BBC2 9pm
While illegal drugs and tobacco are confirmed BADS, the jury is
still out on booze. While health ads hit us from all directions,
media bravado and giggles allow it to be acceptable drug abuse.
This doc follows four alcohol abusers struggling through not only
their own but other’s lives.
Wednesday 22 November
Pleasantville, BBC1 11.40pm
Toby Maguire and Reese Witherspoon star in this late night gem.
Two teens are transported into the world of a 1950s TV Soap. Their
impact on the highly conservative and mundane environment reflects
not only on the tight conformity of the past but the prejudices
we continue to exhibit. Don’t worry it’s a fun film but with brains.
Friday 23 November
Assault on Precinct 13, Film4 11pm
A black police lieutenant, independent minded women, local convict
and serial killer, armed with a pistol and two rifles are all
that stands between a machine gun wielding gang of hoods and a
father grieving his daughter shot down for wanting raspberry on
her ice cream.
—page ten—
international news
Free the Cuban Five!
by Gerry Corbett
In September 1998 five men - Gerardo
Hernández, Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando
González and René González - gave the American FBI office
in
Groups like Commandos F4, Alpha 66 and ‘Brothers to the
Rescue’, who operate with impunity and the knowledge of
the American government, had been monitored by the Cuban
men over the past few months. However, instead of acting
on the evidence provided, the FBI promptly arrested the
five men and illegally held them in solitary confinement
for 17 months.
November 2000 saw the start of their trial and seven months
later the five men, now widely known as the
Gerardo Hernandez, who was sentenced to two life sentences
and 80 months, was convicted of an additional ‘conspiracy
to commit murder’. The conviction was for the shooting
down, by the Cuban military, of two ‘Brothers to the Rescue’
planes on 24 February 1996. The planes had ignored warnings
and penetrated
Hernandez had nothing to do with the shooting down of
the plane but had sent word to the Cuban government warning
them that a flight would be travelling across at some
point in the near future.
On August 9 2005, after seven years of unjust imprisonment,
the Cuban Five won an unprecedented victory on appeal.
A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals
overturned the convictions of the Cuban Five and ordered
a new trial outside of
Therefore the opinion overturning the Cuban Five’s convictions
has been set aside while a new appeal is heard. Oral Agreements
were heard on February 14, 2006 and we continue to await
a verdict from the Court of Appeals. Meanwhile the five
men are still left stranded in an American jail.
George Bush’s ‘war on terrorism’ does not extend to terrorists
who are his pals. While the
On August 26, 2004, in one of her last acts as President,
Mireya Moscoso pardoned them in violation of Panamanian
law. In March 2005 his friends smuggled him into
n For more info contact:
Scottish
52 St Enoch’s Square,
Salsa and solidarity
by Barbara Scott
Two years ago I took part in an International
Work Brigade to
There’s a lot of misinformation and ignorance about
Well meaning family friends made my parents worry with
stories about how ‘dangerous’
The work brigade is undoubtedly an unforgettable experience.
Friendships are forged for life, from all around the world.
There were around 20 of us on the ‘
There were brigades taking part from all over Europe including
We stayed at the Campamento Internacionale Julio Antonio
Mella, a camp consisting of eight-bunk dormitories, showers
and toilet blocks of intermittent usefulness, an open-air
bar, a stage for entertainment, and the dining room.
Staying with us at the camp were our Cuban hosts, who
looked after us during our three-week stay. Many were
students working at the camp for their summer vacation,
including the interpreters assigned to our group, Monica
and Lacey. They told us that they could study for six
years at university for free - unlike in
Well this wasn’t a holiday - it was a work brigade! The
main purpose was to show solidarity with the Cuban people
and the Cuban revolution by doing voluntary work.
During our stay, which was during July and August, we
worked in the sugar cane fields, the orange groves, and
on a construction site.
As one not used to manual labour, or scorching heat for
that matter, I found it hard going. Gerry however seemed
happy digging big holes with all the boys. However, in
the spirit of “each according to his/her ability”, I was
given a special job straightening used nails, with a hammer,
in the shade!
This brought home the level of hardship caused by the
It is real work, and you are expected to make an effort
- that is the point of the brigade.
In the afternoons we had a series of meetings with different
organisations, including the Communist Youth, the women’s
organisation, trade unions, and the families of the Miami
Five, known as the Five Heroes in
We also went on trips to
Of course all work and no play makes Babs a dull girl,
and there was also plenty of entertainment. Every night
Son, Salsa and African music were played by a live band.
We were always mindful that our Cuban hosts had much less
money than us - for example, a week’s wages in the camp
bar is around US$8. So we always made sure that we paid
for them to go on trips with us and bought them drinks.
They in turn tried very hard to teach us all to dance,
but in my case, though not through lack of effort, it
was a bit of a lost cause.
The downside of the trip was the food - there was plenty
to eat, but it was mainly beans and rice. Being a vegetarian
there was a bit of a non-starter too. However I’m sure
it was much healthier and better for us than the processed
and packaged foods we eat here.
You could say that we saw the
—page eleven—
international news
New UN resolution
by Brian Pollitt
On 7 November, the UN General Assembly voted in
favour of a resolution requiring the
The resolution has been passed but ignored by the
Those voting with the
by Stephen Kaczynski
It won’t have attracted much attention here, but
the verdict of an appeal hearing in
In February this year a number of people from
Three of those convicted - two men, Musa Asoglu and Kaya Saz, and
a woman, Sukriye Akar - were immediately imprisoned in
Lawyers for those convicted entered an appeal for the sentences
to be quashed. But a lawyer hired by the Turkish state called for
the sentences to be not only upheld but made more severe.
Human rights
I attended much of the appeal hearing in September, as
I have known many of those arrested for many years and have often
worked with them campaigning against human rights abuses in
The DHKP-C has never carried out armed actions in
In 1999, Fehriye Erdal, a young Kurdish woman, was discovered by
the police in
Erdal has consistently denied involvement and was kept under house
arrest. Since
Musa, Sukriye, Kaya and Bahar all worked at the DHKC (Revolutionary
People’s Liberation Front) Brussels Information Bureau. This was
set up in 1995, located close to the European Parliament, and was
a thorn in the side of the Turkish authorities, who accused it of
engaging in terrorist propaganda.
For example, in 2000, Bahar and others got inside the European Parliament
chamber and protested there against the presence of Ismail Cem,
the then foreign minister of
However,
It was with this law that my friends were convicted earlier this
year. Fehriye Erdal was also convicted, but escaped and is still
on the run.
Isolation
Musa, Sukriye and Kaya have been kept in isolation conditions
by the prison authorities.
Ideologically motivated prisoners have generally been kept in isolation
in recent decades in
This can amount to sensory deprivation and prisoners' entire social
contact can be cut off in the name of "security".
At the appeal verdict on 7 November, the Turkish state got what
it wanted. A year was added to Musa’s six-year sentence, Bahar was
imprisoned and had a year added to his sentence. Other sentences
stayed the same. There were scuffles in court after the sentences
were announced and several people were detained.
In a letter to me some weeks before, Musa said the trial was “political”
and would probably not have been surprised by the verdict, and I
don’t think Sukriye would have been either. Neither was present
at the hearing, they were protesting against aspects of their prison
treatment.
Jan Fermon, one of the defence lawyers, said the trial and verdict
was another stage in the criminalising of beliefs, adding that “it
is not
CLEA, a Belgian civil liberties group, held a banner outside the
courtroom saying: “A political opinion does not equal terrorism.”
However, the lesson to be drawn from this is that you can be criminalised
for your beliefs.
Maoists celebrate in
by Ken Ferguson
Under the agreement, Maoist weapons will be held in secure stores
but the rebels will not actually be disarmed.
What is increasingly clear is that the monarchy - which imposed
a royal, military-backed, dictatorship - is almost certainly finished
as a serious force in Nepali life. At the
Maoist leaders said that they had laid down their arms for peace,
but they insisted that the ideological battle will continue. They
urged their activists to take the agreement as a partial victory,
asking them to remain cautious.
But the significance of the gains won by
—page twelve—
by Malcolm McDonald
In its most ferocious attack on Palestinians
in four years, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) shelled a residential
area of the northern
The massacre took place in the early hours, killing and maiming
families as they slept.
This latest atrocity,
With typically obnoxious arrogance, Israeli foreign minister
Tzipi Livni referred to the massacre as “a regrettable incident”.
Losing your house keys is a “regrettable incident”.
This was bloody murder.
It’s been a long process since IDF troops in helicopter gunships,
tanks and bulldozers first darkened the skies and streets
of
A process of attrition, a determined siege with added killing,
maiming and abuse.
The death and injury statistics are horrible in themselves,
but countless others of the 1.4 million Palestinian souls
crammed into
Power cut. Hospitals therefore of limited use. Water polluted.
Tax revenues collected on the Palestinian Authority’s behalf
but withheld, thereby seriously affecting the
Sanctions
Sanctions imposed by the West haven’t helped, of
course. The West has absolutely nothing to be proud of in
So far it remains unsatisfied in its demands for a “good”
Fatah-directed national unity government to replace the “bad”
Hamas-led democratically elected government chosen by the
Palestinian people. Naturally Israel is doing its damnedest
to make it as difficult as possible for this stitch up, sorry,
“transition” to take place, by bombing and bulldozing places
like Beit Hanoun to bloody rubble, thereby effectively derailing
any diplomatic progress.
As Beit Hanoun cemetery gridlocked with 18 ambulances, the
grief-shattered men of the town cried “God is greater than
The belief on the Israeli side appears to be rather different,
however.
The biblical mission, of course, means stealing
Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh is the latest Israeli
thug to squat on the moral high ground and spout offensive
nonsense.
He reckons the moral responsibility for Palestinian loss of
life lies with the Palestinian militants who are “cynically
using their civil population as human shields for terrorist
activity”.
The truth is that his boss, Defence Minis