Scottish Socialist Voice
Issue 290
8th Dec 2006
—front page—
Travel doesn’t need to cost the earth.
Get on board for free public transport
The climate is cooking up a storm, yet
more and more people are driving (and crashing) cars, or are stranded
because of an inadequate, expensive and unreliable public transport system.
If this goes on much longer, the outlook is very poor indeed.
Which is why we are calling for a free public transport system for all,
an admittedly ambitious but also visionary proposal that would see car
usage, and CO2 emissions, plummet, which would drive down the incidence
of respiratory-related diseases and reduce drastically the number of accidents
on
Removing the charge for public transport would raise the spending power
of over one million workers by £40-£100 a month, boosting the overall
economy, and attract the visitors who are otherwise put off by our fractured,
and fantastically expensive, transport system.
Congestion, which even the CBI admits costs the
This policy would also represent the biggest anti-poverty and pro-social
inclusion initiative in the history of Holyrood, dramatically reduce our
dependence on the world’s fast-evaporating oil reserves, and attract the
support of environmentalists worldwide, bringing
pressure to bear on other governments to act likewise.
Such a radical idea - a real departure from the piecemeal proposals punted
by the Scottish Executive this week, regarding some road-pricing here
and some rail-links there - could not be implemented overnight. Or without
incurring the wrath of the business interests who stand to lose.
But then, these are the same interests that brought us to this impasse,
from the motor car tycoons who bought up - and tore up - the great American
railroads to the modern manufacturers who scream the brakes on fuel efficiency
standards and the privateers who run buses and trains for profit, not
people.
For our plan to work, bus operators would have to be re-regulated, then
brought back into public ownership. We propose running this new bus company
as eight regional organisations.
Once this was achieved, fares could be removed from all bus, underground
and ferry services.
Finally, the Scotrail franchise, due for renewal in 2011, could and should
be transferred to a new, publicly-owned and publicly-accountable rail
company.
This would also operate on a no-fares principle.
Costly? Not compared to the current defence spend of £3billion, which is what
Ambitious? Yes, but not as ambitious as establishing the NHS and welfare state
in 1945, after six years of ruinous war in
It was torpedoed by Thatcher and her friends in the car, haulage and oil
industries. Within a year, public transport fares doubled, car journeys
rocketed and there were an added 6000 car accidents in the capital every
single day.
And in the late 1980s, in the town of
Quite a contrast to the Scottish Executive’s dismal target of a one per
cent increase in bus journeys.
We don’t have time to waste when it comes to combating climate change
and chronic poverty.
We need something radical, immediate and foolproof. We need free public
transport for all.
—page two—
Harm done at Harmondsworth
by Wullie McGartland
The riot at Harmondsworth
Immigration Removal Centre last week was no surprise to anyone
familiar with the conditions inmates are forced to endure in the
privately run, re-branded prison.
The riot erupted on the same day as a damning report by Anne Owers,
Chief Inspector of Prisons, slammed conditions in the centre and
said that their findings were “undoubtedly the poorest... we have
issued on an immigration removal centre”.
Insider reports claim the riot was sparked when guards in one
wing switched off TVs just as coverage of the Owers report came on the news. They then tried to forcibly
return inmates to their rooms.
The riot quickly spread.
The report found that 60 per cent of detainees felt unsafe - the
main fear being bullying by staff. Custody officers were described
as ‘aggressive’, ‘intimidating’ and ‘unhelpful’, especially to
those without English.
Inspectors attributed these fears to the management’s over-emphasis
on physical security and control, which go against detention centre
rules. Detainees are not allowed basic possessions, such as tins,
jars and nail clippers, movement is strictly controlled and force
is used regularly.
Inspectors found no real system of support for detainees. Suicide
and self-harm work is weak, and staff are
under-trained with night staff not having access to equipment
needed in case of suicide attempts.
No lessons have been learned from previous suicides, such as that
of Eritrean Bereket Yohannes, found hanged in January this year.
The attempted censorship by UK Detention Services, a subsidiary
of Sodexho, which runs the centre, recently
rebranded as Kalyx,
was the final catalyst for detainees’ frustration.
They smashed and burned parts of the centre and wrote “HELP” and
“SOS” on the ground in the exercise yard in a plea for assistance
against their inhuman treatment.
The Home Office refuses to disclose how much companies like Kalyx
make from locking up asylum seekers, claiming it would discourage
companies from dealing with the public sector and might “damage
them commercially”.
Instead, they have released the figures for self-harm and suicide
in immigration detention centres for the ten months up to the
end of January 2006.
These reveal that 185 people “attempted self-harm, requiring medical
treatment” - how many were attempted suicides isn’t known - and
1,467 were put on self-harm watch. Research by the organisation
Medical Justice suggests the numbers could be higher: of 56 “failed”
asylum seekers in four detention centres whom the group examined,
33 showed evidence of post-traumatic stress disorder or depression;
many had harmed themselves or made suicide attempts; and nearly
half had been tortured.
According to the Home Office’s own operating enforcement manual,
torture victims should not be considered suitable for detention
except in “very exceptional circumstances”. But the UK Immigration
Service detains them anyway.
This week alone, two families in
The two families, one an Algerian mother and father and their
three children aged from eight months to seven years, and the
other, a Kurdish mother and father with three sons, aged three
to eight, were thrown into vans, wrenched from their friends and
communities and taken to Scotland’s detention centre, Dungavel.
They have been told they are to be sent back to their countries
of origin to face the same fear and persecution they came here
to escape.
NUJ backs SSP staff dispute
SSP parliamentary staff members are in dispute
with former SSP MSPs Tommy Sheridan
and Rosemary Byrne, who broke away from the party in September
to form their own organisation, called Solidarity.
Sheridan and Byrne unilaterally withdrew from a collective agreement,
signed by all six SSP MSPs upon their
election to the Scottish Parliament in 2003, to meet the salaries
of parliamentary staff until the elections in May 2007.
By withdrawing funds from the pooled resources, Sheridan and
Byrne leave 11 workers facing redundancy as soon as February
2007.
At an NUJ National Executive meeting in November, stated NUJ
NEC member and Scottish Rep Pete Murray, “the NEC wholeheartedly
and solidly backed the (SSP Scottish Parliament) chapel in the
fight to secure their jobs.”
It should be stressed that this is a trade union matter, not
a political dispute.
The SSP Scottish Parliament chapel is pressing the two MSPs, and management officials at the Scottish Parliament, to “offer
an acceptable formula to make good on the financial shortfall
which has created the threat of redundancy for 11 NUJ members.”
The chapel has launched a e-petition
- http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/nujspchapel - for anyone who would like to show their support.
Ken Loach is amongst those who have already signed.
Mackinnon Mills strike suspended
by Kevin McVey
The strike at Mackinnon Mills, in
The decision was taken at a union branch meeting after representatives
from the workers’ union, Community, reported back on talks that
had taken place involving the STUC.
These talks are about to begin after ten weeks of solid and
determined strike action finally forced management to the table
to enter meaningful negotiations..
The strike began over a pay claim of 2.5 per cent.
The strikers ,all women, had grown
sick of management’s disregard for them, despite their long
service and loyalty.
A union representative indicated that they have put forward
various issues for management to go away and think about and
are awaiting a response in the near future.
Rally round for farepak victims
The victims of the Farepak
disaster will take their campaign to the jaws of one of the
beasts responsible for their Xmas misery when they protest outside
a lavish reception at the Bank of Scotland’s plush Edinburgh
HQ this Monday.
Campaign co-ordinator Suzy Hall spoke to the SSP’s
executive committee on Sunday, where she was given the party’s
full support in their fight for justice.
“Thousands of low-paid workers and pensioners have had Christmas
2006 stolen from them,” said Colin Fox.
“The SSP is well aware of the rapacious nature of the
“The SSP Executive has given the campaigners our 100 per cent
backing and will be doing everything we can to mobilise for
the lobby of HBOS’s champagne reception
on 11 December.”
As Farepak’s bankers, the Bank of
Scotland must take their share of the responsibility for the
debacle that has seen Farepak’s 150,000
savers lose an average of £400 each.
It’s a disastrous blow for each of them, but compensating them
would barely make a dint in the bank’s massive £4.8billion yearly
profit.
n Join the demo, Monday 11 December, 5.30pm, the Mound,
‘Cheaper’ Trident - only £65 billion
The government’s new Defence White Paper has
confirmed their commitment to replacing Trident, at a cost of
£65billion over 30 years.
This, we hear, is ‘cheaper’ than other options, despite costing
£1.5billion more per year than the current swatch of nuclear
warheads bristling in the waters of the
We need this vastly expensive arsenal, apparently, to prevent
“state-sponsored terrorist attacks.”
The government has made concessions to the anti-nuke brigade,
however. We’ll be down from 200 to 160 nuclear warheads, and
four to three subs. Like that’s going to make all the difference!
Dr Alan Mackinnon, chair of Scottish CND, commented:
“This is no insurance policy against an uncertain future. It
hugely increases the risks to the people of
“Instead of replacing Trident, we should be negotiating in good
faith with other powers on an agreement to eliminate all nuclear
weapons.”
Victory
And in a small corner of
Five people, members of Trident Ploughshares, who took part
in ‘inspections’ of US aircraft at Prestwick Airport in August have been acquitted at Ayr Sherrif Court.
The ‘inspectors’ were seeking evidence of
Dates are still to be set for the other ‘inspectors’.
—page three—
A victory for united action
Glasgow City Council caves in over wage cuts on eve of strike
by Richie Venton SSP national workplace organiser
The prospect of a united three-day strike
by all UNISON members has forced Glasgow City Council into
a massive climbdown.
Existing staff will now be guaranteed protection of their
current salaries indefinitely - instead of nearly 5,000
facing cliff-edge pay drops of up to £10,000 each in March
2009.
Some workers may feel frustrated at the strike cancellation,
but make no mistake, this is a
substantial victory for militant action.
The council caved in on the very eve of the strike - and
five months before they are brought to account by the public
in the May elections.
It is not, however, a clean-cut victory for the entire workforce.
There are still plans afoot to hive off Culture and Leisure
Services (CLS) to a Trust quango, which means the lifetime
protection of wages will not apply
to its 600-plus CLS staff.
But a united, unflinching trade union campaign can stop
this, just as it saved hundreds of thousands of pounds in
workers’ wages.
As Alex Gordon, UNISON convener in Environmental Protection
Services, told me:
“A very important lesson for the union is that industrial
action works - and refusal to provide ‘life and limb’ cover
is what broke the council.
“They couldn’t get people cleared by Disclosure Scotland
quickly enough from neighbouring councils to cover children’s
homes. And hospital wards they toyed with using were unfit
for humans.”
Any union official who imagines it was their ‘negotiating
skills’ or their good relations with Labour that won this
substantial retreat from the council is deluding themselves.
It was fear, sheer panic, at the prospect of a shutdown
of services, including emergency services,
that forced Steven Purcell and his Labour wage-snatchers
to open up talks with UNISON on Saturday with the immortal
words, “What do you need to avoid this strike?”
Willie Campbell, UNISON steward in social work, told us,
“Senior management were running
round like headless chickens on Monday. It belatedly dawned
on the council that they couldn’t cover emergency services.
They were shitting themselves at the implications of ‘life
and limb’ cover being withdrawn.
“That’s what tipped the balance.”
For 35 years, the council failed to implement Equal Pay
legislation - exploiting women for their cheap labour. And for seven years, failed to implement the equal pay promised under
the Single Status Agreement.
Last year, Labour finally conceded paltry, inadequate
compensation packages - but paid for it with cuts to jobs
and services.
They intended to cut up to £10,000 off nearly 5,000 workers’
wages.
Unity, solidarity, militancy, readiness to strike, put at
stop to it and forced the council to the negotiating table
on a whole raft of outstanding issues.
UNISON and other unions can now use their new advantage
to oppose the removal of Culture and Leisure Services from
council ownership, thereby fighting to include CLS staff
in lifetime protection of salaries.
John Devine, UNISON convener in Culture and Leisure Services,
says this is a critical fight:
“The council target is to offload CLS by next July to some
undefined type of Trust, a quango. Their aim is to save
£10million.
“The Trust Board would make the decisions on our terms and
conditions, with all bets off. Democratic accountability
would not exist. The Trust Chair would have the power to
over-rule Board decisions, even though the council would
still ostensibly be funding it.
“We need to mount a campaign to retain council services
inside the council, with democratic accountability.”
The battle for equal pay and protection of pay, benefits
and services is by no means over.
Although not an unqualified victory, this is a substantial
one for trade union solidarity.
Strikes work! The Labour council are running for dear life
- the time is ripe to chase them to the finish.
GP services in Harthill put out to private tender
The privatisation of the NHS in
The Health Board has put a GP surgery in Harthill out to
tender in a process that could end up in
The previous GP partnership was dissolved and the Health
Board, using the new powers granted to them by our privatisation-loving
Executive, decided that they would go down the route of
putting the surgery on the open market.
Patients now face the prospect of healthcare being delivered
by doctors whose bosses are answerable only to shareholders
and whose bottom line will be profit.
In their usual democratic and inclusive way, the Health
Board finally called a meeting in Harthill last week, two
days before the tendering process closed,
to let patients know what they were planning.
Under pressure they conceded that “patient representatives”
could be involved in the process but considering it will
be shrouded in “commercial confidentiality”, clearly patients’
interests will not be well served.
Central Region MSP, Carolyn Leckie, attended the meeting
and met the Health Board last week to relay her concerns
and opposition to their plans.
Carolyn commented, “This is government legislation that
is allowing the health board to put this out to tender.
No one should be under any illusions that this process is
politically driven.
“I met with NHS Lanarkshire to forcefully make the case
for recalling the tendering process and demand that the
service at Harthill Health Centre be
delivered by GPs in the normal way, without a profit motive.
“These steps that extend privatisation in the NHS have to
be resisted all the way.”
no independent thinking from new labour hacks
by Ken Ferguson
In his latest anti-independence ravings,
Dr John Reid, New Labour’s favourite pitbull, has excelled
himself.
In a desperate attempt to conjure up fearful images of the
Berlin Wall and crumbling watch-towers bristling with machine-guns,
our Home Secretary earnestly intoned that independence would
mean the introduction of border guards along the
These nationalist heavies would be there, apparently, to
check you out as you went to IKEA in Gateshead or to visit
your
Absurd this may be, but he’s not the only New Labour hack
straining to come out with something to torpedo independence.
Gordon ‘market knows best’ Brown has warned, again with
a straight face, that independence would mean the destruction
of jobs and industry.
Could someone tell the onetime socialist and biographer
of Red Clydesider Jimmy Maxton how shipbuilding, steel,
coal, car production, swathes of farming and scores of other
industries were all liquidated under the benevolent gaze
of
His partner in crime, Douglas ‘baby face’ Alexander, is
part of the dynasty supposed to provide the intellectual
fuel for New Labour’s ‘project’ North
of the
Well, if his latest scare tactics on pensions and social
security are anything to go by, it’s small wonder the New
Labour train is running out of steam.
The final confirmation of New Labour’s blind panic over
their Caledonian fiefdom is well described by that great
literary Englishman Doctor Samuel Johnson.
He famously wrote, “Patriotism is the last refuge of the
scoundrel.”
With his outlandish claim that an independent
Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda chief, believed that a lie
told often enough would come to be believed and it begins
to look as if New Labour are holding
fast to that idea.
By all means, engage in political debate with the SNP -
the SSP certainly will -but invented bogeyman tales about
border guards and terror bases should be kept to the nursery.
New Labour is now devoid of political principles and simply
obsessed with holding onto power at home and tail-ending
—page four—
Is meat murdering the planet?
“However close you can be to a vegan
diet, and further from the average American diet, the better
you are for the planet.”
Researchers at the
Roz Paterson argues that, if we want to save the planet, it’s time to go veggie.
Vegans have long been regarded as occupying
the crankier end of the political spectrum. Celebrity chefs and Guardian
writers just can’t get enough of getting stuck into people who eat
tofu and chick peas rather than gristle and ground-up testicles.
“I’d sooner eat something with a pulse than pulses!” joked one wag
recently, in the
But vegans and veggies may have the last laugh, as a slew of reports,
including one from the UN this week, confirm that eating meat doesn’t
just choke your arteries and condemn captive creatures to a life of
lonely agony, it is ravaging the planet too.
Rearing cattle produces more CO2 than cars. It also produces nitrous
oxide and methane, both of which are significantly more damaging to
the earth’s atmosphere than C02.
It also squanders fresh water, fast becoming a precious commodity
in this thirsty world, impoverishes and erodes soil, leading to desertification
in some drier regions, destroys biodiversity and spews dangerous,
life-harming pollutants into the sea, the soil and the sky.
The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation’s (FAO) report - Livestock’s
Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options - attributes one fifth
of global warming-related pollution to meat production, and urges
immediate action.
“The environmental costs per unit of livestock production must be
cut by one half, just to avoid the level of damage worsening beyond
its present level,” it states.
It finds that 9 per cent of all human-related CO2 emissions derive
from meat production, and a staggering 65 per cent of human-related
nitrous oxide emissions, nitrous oxide having 296 times the global
warming potential (GWP) of CO2.
The industry that provides our cheap sausages also accounts for 37
per cent of methane, which has 23 times the GWP of CO2, and 64 per
cent of ammonia, a significant contributor to acid rain.
Things have reached a crisis because our appetite for meat is increasing,
not diminishing.
Global meat production stood at 229 million tons in 1999/2001, but
is predicted to have risen to 465 million tons by 2050.
Milk production is also on the rise, from 580 million tones in 1999/2001
to an anticipated 1043 million tons by mid-century.
In fact, the global livestock sector is grown faster than any other
agricultural sub-sector, comprising 40 per cent of all agriculture
and providing livelihoods for 1.3 billion people.
This vast expansion is eating up the face of the planet. Some 30 per
cent of the earth’s surface is given over to livestock rearing, including
33 per cent of all arable land, now dedicated to producing animal
feed.
Great tracts of forest have been cleared already - including 70 per
cent of forestry in the Amazon - with more due to be felled.
This doesn’t just deplete the vegetation we need to convert CO2 back
into oxygen, it causes terrible soil erosion,
leading to floods and devastating landslides.
Environmentally, nothing happens in a vacuum and everyone gets it
in the end.
The soil is also being degraded by overgrazing, in 20 per cent of
all pasture land, and compaction, which results in some land literally
turning to dust.
Water is another victim. Huge quantities of fresh water are squandered
growing feed when it could be used to grow crops to feed people. Overgrazing
also depletes water sources, disturbing water cycles and reducing
replenishment of above and below ground level water reserves.
Animal waste and the chemicals used in livestock rearing are horrendously
polluting. Millions of tons of animal faeces, antibiotics, hormones,
chemicals from tanneries, fertilisers and pesticides are poured into
our seas and rivers every day and the after-effects are horrific,
from the decimation of marine life to the disintegration of entire
coastal habitats, such as coral reefs, to the entry into the human
food chain of substances that have the potential to cause cancer and
reduce fertility, amongst the known consequences.
Says the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute:
“As environmental science has advanced, it has become apparent that
the human appetite for animal flesh is a driving force behind virtually
every category of environmental damage now threatening the human future.”
FOE suggests some solutions, including more efficiency in farming
methods, improved irrigation and an improved diet for farm animals,
to reduce (don’t laugh) gas emissions.
At a forthcoming conference in
All of which suggests that a more immediate remedy is at hand; a radical
overhaul of our diet, replacing many if not all sources of animal
protein with plant protein.
It’s not a planetary cure-all so long as tracts of the Amazonian rainforest
are also felled by greedy soya magnates, though if animal feed were
no longer required in such gargantuan quantities, demand would drop
drastically.
But the truth remains: if we all ate a vegetarian diet, there would
be enough food in the world to feed every human being without destroying
the earth we grow it on.
If we don’t, there isn’t, simple as that.
All we are saying is give chick peas a chance
Tuoni e Lampo (Thunder and Lightning)
8oz chick peas
8oz macaroni
4 tablespoons olive oil
l large clove garlic, crushed
salt and pepper
to serve: loads of grated parmesan cheese
Cook chick peas until they’re tender (use dried as canned ones don’t
work nearly so well), then drain and keep them warm.
Cook macaroni, then drain.
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan, then add the garlic, chick peas
and macaroni and stir until everything is coated in oil.
Serve immediately.
—page five—
letters page
Happy birthday to us..!
Congratulations to the Voice for making it to its tenth
anniversary. In an age when distribution costs and production
costs are paid for by corporate advertising in the mainstream
media this is no small achievement for a socialist newspaper working
on a shoestring.
For the last ten years I’ve enjoyed reading the Voice - and thoroughly
enjoyed writing for it too - and will continue to do so for as
long as it is produced. It’s still essential reading for Scottish
socialists.
The Voice occasionally infuriates me because it doesn’t give enough
space to Scottish culture and Scottish history - the foundation
stones to our separate Scottish identity - but overall it’s still
the best left wing newspaper around. I can’t even think of another
weekly leftwing newspaper here in
So a big well done to Alan, Kath, Jo and all the staff and volunteers
over the years who’ve kept it going. More power to yer PCs (if
the scummy polis ever give them back.) Aw the best.
Kevin Williamson,
Leith
If it is true that there is no such thing as bad publicity,
those of us in the SNP should be laughing all the way to the polling
booths next May, given the bitter invective hurled at us by some
of Labour’s leading politicians during their recent Oban conference.
Such claptrap cannot be easily dismissed as the usual Blairite
phenomenon of empty vessels making most sound.
The main message most people will take from this vitriolic attack
is that New Labour is running scared - in blind panic, in fact,
fearing that they will lose control in Scotland at the next election.
Shades, methinks, of the last days of the Tory Party in 1997!
It is extremely unlikely that nonsense of this sort will bring
back even one of their many defectors who, according to the opinion
polls, have haemorrhaged from New Labour to the nationalists in
recent years.
But the Scottish Labour Party’s woes are unlikely to end there.
There are many among their rank-and-file who do not share Tony
Blair’s jaundiced view of Scottish independence.
And there are many Labour supporters in
Although these voters might feel that voting SNP was a bridge
too far, who could blame them if they should turn to the Scottish
Socialist Party or the Green Party, both of whom support the principle
of Scottish independence.
Perhaps the dream of an independent socialist
Councillor
Aberdeenshire
Keep the fairy stories
for xmas, not the revolution
As Xmas approaches, being a parent of two young children,
aged five and three, certain tricky questions have arisen.
The five year old is in the school nativity play and the three
year old is looking forward to Santa visiting.
The god question was fairly easy, given that the concept of a
supernatural being living in the sky who has created everything
is unbelievable even at five. And she is, unlike many socialists
who are too scared to say there’s no god to reactionary fundamentalists
of all types, prepared to say it to friends and teachers.
Next, Santa - a bit more truth to it given that the story is based
on the fourth century Bishop Nicholas of
All was well until issue 288 of the Voice, with Che Guevara looking
like Santa!
Well, what do you tell your children about that? Do I go along
with the unthinking left which allows romantic myths about Che
Guevara to continue - the T-shirts and lefty Xmas cards. Sorry,
children, the future health of revolutionary politics is more
important.
1. Che was a Stalinist.
2. He defended the invasion of
3. He supported the ending of the right to strike in 1960 - ‘Cuban
workers will have to get used to living under a collectivist regime
and therefore cannot strike’.
4. With Castro, he established the first labour camp in
Colin Bebbington,
Castle
n We’ve kept Che and his Santa
hat this week, but should he be removed? Or just the hat?
What do you think - letters to the addresses at the top of the
page.
GIE’S PEACE
Morag Balfour
Morag is a long term activist in the peace movement and is the SSP’s peace and disarmament spokesperson
Sweet voices from creaky bodies
Recent news stories have left me
quite bewildered. Are we to believe that the Kremlin gave an order
to murder a former spy?
Can you believe that Loyalist Michael Stone (convicted murderer)
was allowed to walk in to Stormont armed with a knife, a gun and
a bomb? Weirder still was a TV interview given several days before
this where he actually stated that he regretted not assassinating
Martin McGuiness and Gerry Adams.
And we were also expected to believe that the Labour party hadn’t
made its mind up about Nuclear weapons until very recently - feel
at liberty to donate spines to any MP with a conscience, God knows
they need them.
No, life is too odd for me so I’m watching telly.
Ever seen a bunch of pensioners singing James Brown’s I Feel Good?
Neither had I until I tuned into a lengthy programme documenting
the Young@heart Chorus.
The revolution began in
They specialise in singing age-inappropriate material.
The oldest member of the chorus is an Englishwoman called Eileen.
This GI bride, aged 92 when the documentary was filmed, does a
crackin’ rendition of Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash.
Eileen lives in a nursing home and is the only resident with her
own key to the building. She needs one to let herself in after
late-night gigs.
Eileen retains all of her critical faculties and I suspect the
discipline of learning new material and arrangements may be playing
a significant role in her level of true health. One doesn’t need
to be well to be healthy, after all.
We got a sneaky peak at the chorus learning Schizophrenia by Sonic
Youth. The fight most of them had to get their heads round it
was fairly obvious. After some, probably considerable, time they
had put their own unique stamp on it. I liked it.
One chorus member due to sing a solo part was a guy by the name
of Joe. Joe survived six bouts of chemo and had a lot of spirit
about him. The Young@heart chorus kept him going.
On finishing one of the chemo treatments Joe boarded a plane bound
for the European leg of the Chorus’ tour. These are well-travelled
oldies.
Fred Little made a one-off return to the stage to sing Coldplay’s
Fix You. He’d retired from active singing duty five years previously
after being diagnosed with congestive heart disease.
He hobbled on stage, sat down, put his portable oxygen cylinder
on the floor beside his feet, and then proceeded to give the most
powerful, beautiful performance I am ever likely to hear. His
voice had a warm, lived-in quality to it. They don’t make voices
like they used to.
Fred told the film crew about life on the road, “We went from
continent to continent until I became incontinent, and then we
didn’t go any further.”
The choir did a gig in the
It’s hard to know what it was, exactly, that provoked this response,
and continues to provoke this response from all who witness performances.
My theory is that it’s the sense of life about them.
Singing in the Y@H chorus helps them forget about creaky bones,
keeps their brains going, gives the opportunity to expand horizons
and meet nice folk - and travel the world!
The SSP doesn’t have any party policy pertaining to the singing
of scandalously inappropriate songs for the older generation,
but it’s time we did.
Not too cool for the Latin American school
by Felicity Garvie
On the day Hugo Chavez was re-elected
for a third term in presidential office, SSP members met in
Brian Pollitt, Secretary of Scottish Medical Aid for
This was backed up by Andy Higginbottom, of Colombia Solidarity,
with an economic analysis of the involvement, particularly of
British finance capital and the oil and mining corporations, in
Jack Ferguson of Hands off
Andy called upon SSP members to help Colombia Solidarity’s campaign
to hold BP accountable by supporting the call for a conference
in
Brian rounded off the day with a short report of how
The SSP has a proud record of hands-on solidarity with left groups
and indigenous struggles in other countries, but there is always
more we could do.
If you want to get involved, or are interested in any of the campaigns
mentioned above, please contact Felicity on f.sgarvie@talk21.com
or 0131 348 5632.
—centre pages—
WAR ON WOMEN
This weekend see the end of the
‘16 days of activism against gender violence’ -
a period of campaigning which runs from 25 November,
designated by the UN as the International Day for
the Elimination of Violence Against Women, to 10
December, International Human Rights Day.
From war zones to Scottish living rooms, violence
against women results from the way our society,
even in the 21st century, denies women equality.
Catriona Grant looks at the issues raised by the
campaign, and how the Scottish Socialist Party works
against violence against women, Donnie Nicholson
reports on a campaign to help women immigrants trapped
between violence and the benefits gap, and Jo Harvie
considers the disregard shown to women seeking asylum
in the
In 2005, 110 men killed their
former or current female partners. There has been
an increase in familicide - when a whole family
is murdered - perpetrated by abusive partners or
fathers.
Only six per cent of reported rapes result in a
conviction.
Amnesty International recently discovered in a survey
that 50 per cent of 15-21 year olds believe it is
OK to hit your partner in the right circumstances.
Prostitution is on the increase.
Unfortunately, 16 years after the first 16 days
to eliminate violence against women, violence against
women is increasing.
When we discuss violence against women we need to
clarify what we are talking about - and that’s men’s
violence towards women. Of course there is violence
towards women from women, but the majority is men’s
violence towards women and mostly towards women
they know.
The White Ribbon Campaign was launched this year
in
The Campaign began in
For the Scottish launch, 20 well-known Scottish
men spoke out and added their names to the campaign
- but 20 famous men cannot stop violence against
women, we need all men to speak out.
Women have the right to live free from harm, violence
and terror. We need to challenge those men who abuse,
and encourage them to take responsibility for their
actions and to stop the violence.
I asked men in the Scottish Socialist Party what
they thought about men’s violence towards women
and what a socialist party could do about it.
Les Robertson, from the SSP’s
Dumbarton branch, told me: “Historically violence
against women has been rooted in the unequal power
relations between men and women which has led to
domination over and discrimination against women
thus preventing the full advancement of women.
“As a first step in eradicating this imbalance in
wider society, we have to deal with the misogynist
attitude prevalent amongst many male comrades within
the SSP. The recent re-affirmation of 50/50 is a
step in the right direction.”
“Male violence against women is a male issue,” said
Davy Marzella, a supporter of the SSP in
“In my mind, men’s violence towards women starts
with men’s attitudes towards women,” said Gordon
Scott, from Maryhill “Men cannot let themselves
off the hook by blaming a minority of men who actually
physically or emotionally abuse women.
“Without men changing their basic attitudes towards
the position of women in society, then we are perpetuating
the inequalities which eventually and inevitably
lead to violence.
“As for what a socialist party should be doing,
well, looking towards itself would be a start. Are
the attitudes of men in wider society reflected
in our party?
“If so, then we need to begin with our own attitudes
before trying to change others.”
The SSP has been committed to changing the attitudes
of men and women in the party. We have had many
debates and discussions about women’s involvement
and representation; at present we have three female
MSPs and one male one.
We have a distinct policy on prostitution and, after
many years of debate, agree that it is harmful to
prostituted women. The SSP calls for changes in
the law in order that the prostituted person is
decriminalised and has access to the services they
need.
It follows that it should be illegal to buy sex
from a prostitute and we call for a criminal justice
response to the buyers of sex.
We have campaigned against domestic abuse and call
for many more services for women who experience
domestic abuse day in and day out. We recognise
that ending a relationship in itself does not protect
women - out of the 110 women killed last year by
their partner, a third had separated from him.
We need services that support women when they are
living with their partner, when they are choosing
to leave, and when the relationship has ended.
We want children to be safe from abusive fathers
and even when the father has not been abusive to
the children, the mother has a right to safety.
We support the setting up of accountable domestic
abuse perpetrator programmes throughout
We call for a review of the rape laws, looking at
how we how we can best support women coming forward
to report rape and sexual abuse, and an end to the
adversarial court process that deems the victim
to be the perpetrator.
The SSP fully supports the White Ribbon Campaign
and campaigns for the elimination of violence against
women.
www.whiteribboncampaign.co.uk
Come to the march in
If you are affected by domestic abuse you can contact
the domestic abuse helpline - open 24 hours a day,
365 days a year - 0800 027 1234 or www.domesticabuse.co.uk
Between a rock and a hard place
A Scottish Women’s Aid centre
is campaigning to end the destitution of women forced
out of their homes by domestic abuse.
Hemat Gryffe Women's Aid, based in
The loophole affects women who enter the
Nusrat Raza, from Hemat Gryffe, told the Voice:
“A woman who arrives in the
At present, women who leave their violent partners
can appeal to the Home Office for ‘exceptional recourse
to public funds’, and if their appeal is accepted,
they are allowed emergency accommodation and benefits
to help them re-settle.
However, it’s up to the women to prove they’ve been
abused - not easy - and any decision by the Home
Office in
A pilot scheme set up this year by the Scottish
Executive offers limited, time-restricted funding
to women who are appealing for the right to claim
benefits after having been abused.
While Women’s Aid groups have welcomed this new
funding, they point out that its timespan - three
months - is simply not long enough.
As well as urging the Home Office to speed up its
processing of claims, campaigners are asking the
Scottish Executive to extend emergency funding,
via local authorities, so that women in need are
fully supported.
Hemat Gryffe argues that local authorities have
a legal obligation to provide this funding because
of the Children (
Women who escape domestic violence are frightened,
abused and vulnerable.
Women who have arrived in
The SSP is backing Hemat Gryffe’s campaign. The
likelihood that recent local authority cutbacks
for equal-pay compensation could restrict such funding
would be a cruel irony.
The SSP’s Rosie Kane is appealing to the Scottish
Executive on behalf of the campaign, demanding that
they extend funding to
Keep an eye on the Voice for updates on the campaign.
No refuge from sexual violence
For a woman who has been raped,
reporting the crime can be too terrifying an ordeal
to contemplate.
Apart from the trauma of going through the wringer
of the court system, in all likelihood your case
isn’t going to make it that far, and that’s almost
worse. What if you are not believed?
Considering that, in 2003, only 60 out of 1000 reported
rapes ended in conviction in
But how much worse would it be if English was not
your first language? What if you’d just arrived
in the
Rape is routinely used as a weapon of war - it’s
not an inevitable or unavoidable side-effect of
war, it’s used systematically to target the civilian
community, destabilising and terrorising women and
their families.
In recent years alone, rape on a mass scale has
been documented during conflicts in various countries,
including
That has something to do with why at least half
of all women seeking asylum in
Guidelines exist, supposedly to ensure that the
asylum and immigration system in
But a report, compiled by Women Against Rape (WAR)
and the Black Women’s Rape Action Project, has found
that immigration judges at asylum tribunals have
flouted their own guidelines, and international
law, when considering the asylum claims of women
and girls seeking safety and protection from rape.
In Misjudging Rape, launched this week, 60 women’s
experiences are reported and reveal, say the report’s
authors, “few Adjudicators (immigration judges)
even referred to the Guidelines”.
They found that women who had not reported their
rape immediately were accused of reporting it later
to “enhance” their claim, with one of the women’s
claim of rape dismissed as not credible because
she did not report it in her country of origin.
Other women, raped by soldiers, were told that the
violence they had experienced was “simple, dreadful
lust” and therefore not tantamount to persecution.
In separate research, Legal Action for Women found
that 70 per cent of women detained in December 2005
in Yarl’s Wood Removal Centre had been victims of
rape or other sexual violence, in contravention
of UN guidelines which state that victims of torture
should not be detained.
Over 300 female victims of sexual violence have
contacted WAR and the Black Women’s Rape Action
Project from detention in
Ms P, from
She was detained for several months on arrival in
the
WAR’s report for the courts documented how her ill-treatment
in detention compounded the trauma Ms P suffered,
and the Home Office was forced to concede that she
was unlawfully detained. She was released and will
be eligible for substantial damages.
There are many women who are sent back - not just
because they are not believed, but often because
our frantic, unjust and bureaucratic asylum system
does not give them the time and space they need
to explain what’s happened, or access to appropriate
legal support, amongst all the other problems with
the system.
Our legal system as it is places all women who have
survived rape in an incredibly difficult situation
as they seek justice. To women looking for basic
safety and protection, long before they can ever
think about justice, this country hands an almost
impossible battle.
a sick kind of A system
by Polly Tarlton
Just over two years ago, I left
my job as I was no longer able to ignore the depression
that had been making life increasingly difficult
over the previous five years. I left my flat and
most of my friends in
It was then that I had my first contact with the
benefits system.
As I was ‘incapacitated’, I tried to apply for Incapacity
Benefit.
I was given three massive and complicated forms
to fill in, each as thick as a magazine. This was
not easy even with two extremely supportive parents
and a great GP, especially as getting out of bed
was an achievement for me at this point. After handing
them in, I was told since I was relatively young,
23, I hadn’t paid enough National Insurance to qualify,
so was given £38 a week Income Support and told
to get on with it.
I found this especially frustrating as a large percentage
of mental illness begins in a person’s late teens
or early twenties, so just when you are in need
of proper financial support, it is unavailable.
Living on this miserly sum isolated me from my friends
as I could rarely afford to visit them or even do
anything if they came to visit me.
It also meant that although they would never say
it, I was a financial burden on my parents. Which
in turn made me feel guilty and, at this difficult
time of trying to learn to live at home again after
five years, added considerably to the tensions within
the house.
So not exactly an ideal situation for trying to
recover from depression.
Two years later, my benefits had risen to £58 pounds
a week and I was considerably better although still
experiencing difficult times.
I was then sent for a medical to ascertain whether
I was still depressed.
Not wanting to bring myself down by playing up my
depression, I answered the government doctor’s questions
honestly. Big mistake.
I did, however, try to stress that one of the features
of my depression was its variability but there was
no box to tick for that so it didn’t matter that
I could be ten times worse in a few days’ time.
A week later, over three days, I was sent a total
of four letters, none of which made any sense but
I eventually managed to conclude that my benefits
had been cut off.
I was later sent another letter which gave details
of how I had failed to score enough points on my
medical.
I had lost points for managing to turn up. I had
also made the mistake of having washed my hair that
day. And I stupidly wore clean clothes.
This apparently meant that I was fine to work with
no transition period after seven years of depression
and two years off work.
So I applied for Jobseekers’ Allowance.
Apparently this involved getting all my details
again as they couldn’t possibly just get them off
my previous claim.
It was about this time that Tony Blair was making
lots of noise about helping the long-term sick or
disabled back into work, so I assumed there might
be some help available, however superficial. But
no, as I was deemed officially healthy I was treated
the same as everyone elseDespite being terrified
of taking on a job that I couldn’t cope with, which
would have been crushing to my self-esteem.
Although nobody told me about it, I managed to find
out about a job fair of sympathetic employers who
welcomed applicants with various problems or disabilities.
When I optimistically turned up, the number of people
looking for work vastly outnumbered the one employer,
which was a supermarket, offering five or so jobs
working on the checkouts.
I am now back in
Although I am totally skint I’m doing alright with
support from my friends and my parents but I can’t
shake off the feeling that if I had a problem with
literacy, English wasn’t my first language, or I
wasn’t surrounded by such an excellent support network,
there is no way I would have got through the last
two years.
The fact that this is the reality for so many people
in
—page eight—
Room for improvement
by Keith Baldassara
The transfer of Glasgow City Council’s
housing to the private landlord, Glasgow Housing Association
(GHA), has failed to fulfill its promise to build new housing
and radically upgrade existing stock.
It is also dragging its heels on the matter of Second Stage
Transfer (SST), an issue that means little to tenants struggling
with deteriorating accommodation and no-one being held accountable
for it, but a great deal to the Local Housing Organisations
(LHOs), who manage the stock on behalf of the GHA yet have
been stonewalled by this corporate behemoth when they try
to implement local investment plans.
The GHA’s director Michael Lennon, the highest paid social
landlord in
He insists that SST was never costed in the original business
plan that was agreed in 2001 by the then GHA board, Glasgow
City Council, the Scottish Executive and Communities Scotland.
Surely he’s not just noticed?
Opponents to Stock Transfer noticed the glaring omission
at the time, and pointed it out.
The majority of the GHA investment programme wasn’t costed
in this plan either. We couldn’t help but notice that too.
That’s why the Scottish Executive has since had to bail
out the GHA to the tune of over £700million, on top of a
£950million debt write-off.
When considering the Glasgow Housing Stock Transfer, it
is important to remember that it was the largest of its
kind ever undertaken.
Smaller stock transfers in the past saw deteriorating, damp-infested
homes handed over to local housing associations, who received
huge grants - up to 90 per cent of funds required - from
Scottish Homes, now Communities Scotland, to modernise
the stock.
Any debt associated with the stock transferred would be
passed onto the council - no wonder local authority housing
was up to its eyes in debt!
Effectively, the housing associations got the stock for
nothing, plus free money to cover upgrading costs.
They could do no wrong.
Under the GHA, this system is impossible because the private
landlord must seek a return from its asset base - its core
housing stock - in order to pay back monies borrowed.
This return includes the value of the stock itself, and
the projected rental stream in future years.
The GHA estimates it needs £500million to meet the cost
of SST, which the Scottish Executive cannot support.
We agree.
But those LHOs who had hoped to secure SST are up in arms
at this.
They expected, long before now, not to be managing prime
stock - that is, good quality accommodation with a guaranteed
rental income - on behalf of the GHA, but on behalf of themselves.
These LHO’s dreams of an expanded housing empire, courtesy
of the
And its valuation of its stock is £500million more than
the valuation by the banks and/or financial institutions
from whom the LHOs were seeking to borrow money to facilitate
SST.
Thus SST is off the table, as things stand.
This is not a principled position by the GHA, but purely
a financial one.
So what should tenants be demanding, given the current climate?
Should we be calling for SST?
Its advantage is that it takes tenants out of the corporate
big business structure of the GHA.
However, if it came to pass, it could isolate the poorest
tenants, living in deprived areas with the poorest stock,
reducing their opportunity to access good housing elsewhere
in the city.
That is a strong argument against SST.
That said, under no circumstances can we support any other
additional monies going from the taxpayer to the GHA to
see SST through.
Housing associations who are unhappy with this development
should relinquish their LHO status and return the stock
they manage to a tenant-controlled LHO.
Tenant-controlled LHOs could then press ahead with investment
plans to meet the needs of all GHA tenants, which would
undoubtedly inspire more tenants to get involved at a local
level.
Unless the GHA can be opened up at its directorate board
level to tenant control, then its break-up in future years
is certain.
For the tenants of
The opponents of stock transfer predicted such calamities
and were ignored.
A huge opportunity was missed by Glasgow City Council to
demand that, if the Chancellor was prepared to write off
the debt for local authority housing on the proviso they
accepted community transfers, then why could he not leave
the stock under council control and write off the debt anyway?
What a difference it would have made.
In late 2001, opponents of the transfer learnt from the
then directorate of housing in Glasgow City Council that,
based on its annual housing budget with debt write-off and
a borrowing consent currently managed under its rental income,
it could have invested £236.4million per annum into
That’s £2.36billion over ten years, £7.1billion over 30
years, and all without the calamitous business structure
of the GHA or any new debts for tenants.
It dwarfs the current investment programme of the first
four years of the GHA.
A great opportunity lost, leaving
Stock transfer ballot results
Anti-housing stock transfer campaigners
in the
Despite being portrayed as the ‘common-sense’ option, due
to the government bribe to wipe out the region’s £160million
housing debt, tenants had the sense to see through the
rosy picture painted by the council and elements of the
local media.
Operating on a shoe-string budget, in contrast to the £200,000
YES campaign, Highlands Against Stock Transfer (HAST) argued
tirelessly that tenants must vote NO to retain control over
our housing.
The council had initially expected an easy victory and
have no alternative plan in place; an absolute travesty
given the chronic shortage of affordable rented housing
in a region with some of the lowest wages in
Shameless
Some councillors have now taken to the local press
to shamelessly threaten tenants with a 21 per cent rent
hike.
The total lack of backbone within the council is now apparent
for all to see. Instead of demanding increased funding from
the Scottish Executive, they are trying to punish tenants
for taking the ‘wrong’ option.
Local campaigners are now demanding an end to the threat
of inflation-busting rent rises, to Drop the Housing Debt,
and for the resignation of housing convenor, Margaret Davidson.
These issues will be aired at a public meeting in Inverness
on 13 December, at which Colin Fox MSP will speak, alongside
Donnie Kerr, HAST Convenor.
However, in Inverclyde, home to some of the worst housing
in the public sector in
Malcolm Chisholm, the gutless Communities Minister whose
head would have been on a plate had this vote gone the way
of the last five, hailed it as a “brilliant result”.
It isn’t. Tenants were threatened with a 9 per cent annual
increase on rents if they voted NO. They figured things
just couldn’t get worse. This was a victory for blackmail
and desperation. The Scottish Executive must be very proud.
—page nine—
a school for scoundrels
Back in 1992, US President George Bush (Daddy
of the current Whitehouse resident) proclaimed that
He made this statement while asserting the importance of ‘family
values’ at a convention of National Religious Broadcasters.
The reply from Matt Groening was to put a scene in the next
episode of The Simpsons with Bart watching Bush’s speech on
television and proclaiming: “Hey, we’re just like The Waltons,
we’re praying for the end of the Depression, too.”
Ever since, the most biting satire to be found over the pond
has been in the form of animation.
We’ve had the outpourings of Cartman and Co in
The latest slice of animated satire is Lil’ Bush: Resident
of the
Their adventures include torturing school canteen workers
for putting falafel on the menu, teaching Creationism because
Lil’ Bush can’t pronounce the dinosaur names, and getting
their hands on George Snr’s nuclear arsenal and unleashing
it on Lil’ Kim Jong Il.
Lil’ Bush: Resident of the
Right now you can access the five-minute films via the web
either at Ampd or youtube. They’re well worth seeking out
you’ll never look at kids the same way again.
n promotions.ampd.com/lilbush
n www.youtube.com/profile? user=AmpdMobile
Hidden tale of an anti-fascist
In early 2007 BBC Scotland will be screening
a documentary entitled Ethel MacDonald: An Anarchist’s Story.
The film marks the 70th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War
and tells the story of a Scottish woman, Ethel MacDonald,
who risked her life to go off and fight Franco’s fascists.
Ethel was born in 1909 to a working-class family in Motherwell.
Leaving school at 16, she became politically active in the
Independent Labour Party (ILP) and went on to be secretary
the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation in
Ethel then went on to work for the United Socialist Movement
(USM)
In 1936, the USM sent her to
There, she became a broadcaster for an anarchist radio station,
listened to in Europe and
She was one of the first to broadcast reports on the 1937
May Riots, when Stalinists began attacking Anarchists and
Trotskyists, resulting in death squads assassinating prominent
figures from the POUM and CNT/FAI and 400 people being killed
in street fights in
Ethel herself was imprisoned by Stalin’s secret police, but
while the world fretted about her disappearance, she organised
hunger strikes among the prisoners and smuggled out letters.
International pressure was applied for her release and the
Ethel MacDonald Defence Committee was formed.
She was then deported to
“I went to
But she continued to be a campaigner up until her death in
1960 due to multiple sclerosis.
The film tells the story of a remarkable woman, whose heroics
for the struggle of the working class are an inspiration to
all fighting injustice.
The medical (anti) establishment
The Trouble with Medical Journals by Richard Smith, published by Royal Society of Medicine Press Ltd
by Neil Bennet
In the same week as Lancet editor Richard
Horton addressed the crowd of anti-war protestors outside
the Labour Party conference in Manchester, Richard Smith,
former editor of the second major UK medical publication,
the British Medical Journal, released a devastating attack
on the whole medical establishment.
Smith describes in his book, The Trouble with Medical Journals,
how journals, and medical research in general, are in the
pockets of the pharmaceutical industry. Concentrating on
the pressures on journals for publication, advertising and
the promise of massive reprints of articles with industry-friendly
findings creates a massive bias in favour of industry sponsors.
This could be putting patients at risk.
For example studies of new drugs that get funding and make
it to publication tend to show positive results far more often
than negative results. One reason for this is the type of
studies performed - rarely if ever comparing new drugs directly
to ones currently in use, and often designed not to find any
negative side-effects (for example by using sub-optimal concentrations).
Often trials with poor results are simply not published.
Other issues covered include research misconduct, conflict
of interest, the role of the mass media, peer review and ownership
of the journals themselves. In each area Smith is candid about
the situation in his experience, and about early attempts
in trying to deal with each in an organised way.
Some of the conclusions he reaches are quite radical, especially
coming from someone in his position. He envisages a future
where all original research is published freely online and
peer-reviewed openly. Indeed he expresses his support for
projects such as the Public Library of Science (Medicine)
and PubMed Central, open access journals and databases designed
to democratise medical and scientific information.
However despite the forceful criticisms and the radical reforms
he suggests and imagines, Smith fails to adequately resolve
all the issues he has uncovered. Because at the root of almost
all of them is capitalism, and while the pursuit of profit
is put before people, science and medicine will continue to
lose out.
Tuned in
Keef Tomkinson
Square-eyed socialist Keef recommends next week’s TV
Saturday 9 December
The Culture Show, BBC2 7.30pm
Making Showgirls and Basic Instinct won Paul Verhoeven criticism
but his new film, Black Book, revolves around the Dutch Resistance
to Nazi occupation. He talks to Mark Kermode about the film
and his lost time in
Sunday 10 December
Sam Peckinpah’s West: Legacy of a Hollywood
Renegade, ITV4 9pm
While it was not new to subvert the Western genre to examine
the American Dream, Sam Peckinpah revolutionised the genre
with his anti-heroes, twisted characters and visceral violence.
This excellent doc examines his life and is followed by his
masterpiece, The Wild Bunch, at 10.20pm.
Monday 11 December
The True Voice of Prostitution, Channel4
11pm
Richard Wilson, Lesley Sharp and Nikki Amuka-Bird perform
monologues based on the real stories of a businessman who
regularly and openly sees prostitutes, an ‘escort girl’ whose
wealthy clients allow her to earn £1,000 per week and a young
Ugandan girl force to sell herself in order to survive.
Tuesday 12 December
Abdication: A Very British Coup, BBC4 9pm
A new documentary looking at the abdication of King Edward
(VIII). It looks beyond the romantic version of the event
to the manoeuvres of an establishment concerned about a forward
thinking King... Whatever!!! What about his admiration of
Hitler and Nazism?
Bank Robbery!, BBC2 10pm
Except these thieves work in the bank and wear suits, not
ski-masks. This investigation follows bank customers as they
challenge banks over unfair charges and how we can win.
Wednesday 13 December
The Kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt, More4
10pm
The story of 2002 Colombian presidential candidate, Ingrid
Betancourt, who was kidnapped by the guerrilla forces of the
FARC. She quickly became a political tool between the guerrillas
and government she opposed.
Friday 15 December
The Long Good Friday, More4 10pm
Bob Hoskins is brilliant as the mob boss whose business and
plans to control the development of
—page ten—
international news
Chavez wins by landslide in Venezuelan elections
by Jack Ferguson
As the electoral council announced he had a 23 per
cent lead on his main opponent, Manuel Rosales, the
former governor of Zulia state, conceded defeat.
The 80 per cent of Venezuelans who are poor
overwhelmingly backed the President and his ‘Bolivarian
Revolution’. In some poor neighbourhoods people were
queuing from 2am to get to the polls, and queues were
six blocks long.
The election was a spectacular example of popular
engagement with the democratic process, and as soon
as results began to come in, a massive street party
erupted in the capital
Chavez told supporters firing fireworks and blasting
music into the night that “
“Today a new era has started, with the expansion of
the revolution.”
In a massive pre-election rally, Chavez had told supporters
his election victory would be dedicated to the Cuban
revolution, and he used his victory speech to send
a “brotherly salute” to Fidel Castro.
Rosales had managed to unite the majority of the upper
and middle class opposition, who are enraged by Chavez’
social programmes and support for the poor, and fear
the revolution’s threat to their privileges.
The opposition has been firmly defeated again and
again; when they attempted a coup, a bosses’ lockout
to undermine the economy, a recall referendum against
the President and finally, in these presidential elections.
It is unclear what political strategies the opposition
has left.
Violence
Rosales’ concession speech may have given
a hint.
“I want to announce to the people of
This may be a recognition that the opposition has
been so soundly politically defeated that the only
path left open to them is violence, with the support
of
However, the revolution of which Chavez is the figurehead
is clearly gaining massive momentum.
Millions of people are active in their communities,
in occupying and taking over their workplaces, in
the new independent trade union federation and in
social movements for oppressed communities, women
and indigenous people.
These people are not only politicised to vote in a
presidential election, but are also being armed and
trained by the government, and are preparing to defend
the revolution they are making, either from terrorism
or even direct US intervention.
Castro’s
birthday kicks off
by Gerry Corbett, in
Last week in
It began on Tuesday with a gala concert in the Karl
Marx Theatre, opening with a prepared speech by Fidel,
who was too ill to attend. The speech was unusually
short (for Castro) and the message was one of protection
for the world environment.
“What is the use of a socialist world if there is
no world to be socialist in,” was the political message,
with the practical announcement that Cuba is to plant
156million trees over the next ten years to combat
global warming.
The evening continued with a variety of traditional
Cuban entertainment for the 1000 or so guests from
around the world and
Day two, Wednesday, was the start of the two-day symposium
in the Palacio de Convenciones, with a number of workshops
on various subjects in this hi-tech convention centre.
I took part in one on the Cuban NHS, which was interesting
but was aimed at medical professionals - and after
a time, the constant praise for Fidel Castro in all
the speeches became a bit mechanical and tiresome.
After dinner there was an open-air music concert at
one end of the Malecon - the road that runs along
The third day of the celebrations and the second of
the symposium had a workshop on the book 100 Hours
with Fidel, which examined the leadership of Fidel
and his history as entwined with the history of
The evening finished off with dinner at the ‘Casa
de Amistad’ - house of friendship - again with entertainment.
Friday, and the last day of the official celebrations,
was rounded off with a closing ceremony back in the
Karl Marx Theatre.
The closing rally had an array of political and celebrity
dignitaries attending, with Gerard Depardieu the most
notable western visitor.
However, the invited guests at the top table were
even more impressive. The congratulatory speeches
were started by the presidents of St Vincent and
The Venezuelan president, Chavez, was represented
by the foreign minister as he was involved with elections
at the time.
The last speech, and the longest, came from the president
of the Communist Party of Cuba, giving a history of
the revolution and Fidel’s part in it.
But by far the best reception of the evening was for
the president of
It was stated that Fidel has never allowed his birthday
to be celebrated publicly before and had only done
so at this time as it coincides with the 50th anniversary
of the landing of ‘the Grandma’, and the start of
the Cuban revolution.