Scottish Socialist Voice
Issue 306
10th May 2007
—front page—
We’re down but not out
Scottish Socialist Party is alive and kicking
We fought in hope, and we got
beat. Big time.
But last Thursday’s electoral rout does not mean that
the Scottish Socialist Party is a spent force, or that we’re
about to implode for months on end to indulge in self-recrimination
and doubt before tentatively hitting the streets again.
While the media lens was turned on the race for Holyrood, time
didn’t stop and life went on inexorably, the rich getting that
little bit richer while the poor got poorer, the private sector
expanding while public sector waiting lists sprawled off the
end of the page, luxury flats going up while council housing
came down, war raging while peace foundered, people dying of
excess while others were wasted through want.
And just as surely
as this goes on, so too does our fight for the radical alternative.
We didn’t paint the town halls
red, or storm the bastions of the Scottish Parliament, but we
did keep on fighting, joining PCS strikers on the picket lines
on 1 May, supporting the Sunvic workers as their strike went
from days into weeks, railing against PFI hospital deals and
private bids for GP services, against the British government’s
war in Iraq and its war at home against the poor, the disabled,
the young and the elderly.
We kept fighting for education for all, and the rights of asylum
seekers to live in peace and prosperity, for public transport
and against motorways, for people first, and profits never.
We didn’t stop for the elections, and we won’t stop now.
The Scottish Socialists are intact, our membership is increasing,
our ideas are powerful, persuasive and making a difference, and our aim is true.
Don’t be put off by the notices of our death that the press
have been so keen to post.
We are the Scottish Socialists, we are alive and kicking, and
our fighting spirit, our hope, springs eternal.
—page two—
Save Meadowbank
Linda Somerville explained to the Voice what the Edinburgh Council election results mean for those resisting the developers in the city
The council result seems to be good for the
Meadowbank campaign. The Liberal Democrats and SNP (who only
had one councillor before) had both indicated before the elections
that they were willing to take another look at the proposed
closure of Meadowbank stadium, one of the best used sports facilities
in the city.
Under massive pressure from the campaign - including a public
meeting attended by 600 locals and athletes in March 2007 -
the Labour group put a motion to the full council meeting on
24 April, pretending that they were reconsidering the move.
In fact, their motion just reiterated their intention to demolish
the stadium, but successful SNP and Lib Dem amendments meant
that the council had agreed to review the decision and look
at all options, with a report due by the end of June.
This seemed to be a short timescale to come up with a proper
proposal for the site. In reality, all of the parties, particularly
Labour, were paying lip service to people’s concerns, preoccupied
with the elections coming up and under pressure from the campaign.
We now have a different council where the Lib Dems hold the
majority of the seats.
No doubt they will review the plans but we don’t know the extent
of this review, and it may still involve partial demolition
of the facilities.
I’m sure the campaign will watch with interest to see what proposals
will now come out.
Labour have been closely aligned with the threat to Meadowbank
and other controversial proposals such as the
The defeat of Trevor Davis and other Labour councillors is good
news for community campaigners in the city, many of whom recently
joined together in a non party-political umbrella group called
‘Edinburgh at Risk’, which aims to extend local campaigns against
the developers ripping up different parts of our city.
n Choice websites: www.savemeadowbank.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk www.eh8.org.uk www.edinburghatrisk.org
Support Sunvic action
Workers at the Sunvic plant in Uddingston
made an appearance at Glasgow May Day to highlight an industrial
action that has been ongoing since March.
The dispute arose following 14 months of negotiations between
staff and management on pay and contracts - negotiations which
collapsed when the latter refused to budge on the issue of enforcing
periodic lay-offs and short-time working as part of new work
contracts.
For years, there had been unspoken understandings regarding
quiet periods and lay-offs, but all that goodwill, long-established,
now seems to count for nothing with a management set on screwing
its workforce down to reduced terms and conditions, with minimal
financial recompense.
This increasingly bitter dispute has seen management invoke
the law to try to prevent picketing, rather than sit down with
workers and negotiate a solution.
Meanwhile, agency staff are being drafted in to do the jobs
of the strikers, who have witnessed taxis ferrying scabs past
their picket-lines on a regular basis.
The strikers comprise 42 production workers, most of whom are
women.
They mainly produce thermostat regulators, for companies including
B&Q.
Scottish Socialists, including former SSP MSP Carolyn Leckie,
have been regular visitors to the Sunvic picket line.
SSP Central Scotland regional organiser Kevin McVey comments:
“The dispute has reached a critical stage, and it is key that
there is broader trade union movement support for these workers.”
n Messages of support can be sent to: Sunvic Controls joint shop steward committee, c/o Margaret Paterson, 51 Emily Drive, Motherwell ML1 2SH. Donations should be made payable to Sunvic Strike Fund
300,000 PCS workers strike
May Day last week was marked with a massive
show of strength by civil service workers in the PCS union,
as around 300,000 took part in a full day of strike action -
calling for decent pay and the protection of vital public services
from Gordon Brown’s axe.
Mairtin Gardner, a PCS rep in the Glasgow Benefits section,
told the Voice that around 90 per cent of his workplace supported
the strike, “and that was reflected across most workplaces -
it was absolutely solid action yet again.”
A two-week overtime ban is currently in place to stop management
soaking up the effect of the strike action.
A PCS rally in
“The next step,” Mairtin told us, with PCS conference beginning
next week, “is to see a Left Unity majority returned in the
NEC and GEC elections, and the elections across the sectors,
to keep up the fight in defence of our members’ and the public’s
interests.”
A PCS rep added that one powerful option in the hands of workers
is a one-day strike across the public sector:
“Labour is weak at the moment, after the elections and with
infighting at the top of the government. Now is the time to
let Gordon Brown know that after ten years of Labour government,
we are prepared to take action to defend jobs, pay and public
services, in the NHS and across local and national government.”
Families struggle with debt
Wages have fallen and the cost of living risen
to such an extent that households can no longer rely upon a
sole breadwinner.
Nearly half of all families in the
Childless families are finding life tough, but not as tough
as those with children.
Over 50 per cent of families with one child or more said they
would not be able to pay household bills and keep a roof over
their heads if both adults weren’t working.
This is forcing many young mothers back into the workforce,
assuming that is they can find affordable childcare, the costs
of which are sky-rocketing across the
This puts families in a precarious position, as periods of high
unemployment could hit them doubly hard, pushing them into debt,
thus making their situation more precarious still.
Debt levels are noticeably higher amongst families with children,
with families with two children owing an average of £100,000,
including mortgage, loan and credit card borrowings, compared
to the average for childless families, which stands at a still
horrifying £82,000.
What the future may hold for such families is hinted at in another
survey, this time from insolvency firm Thomas Clarke, who note
the steeply rising tide of bankruptcy, particularly amongst
the over-55s.
Nearly one quarter of this age group, with a debt of £10,000
or more, said they were ‘quite likely’ or ‘certain’ to go insolvent
compared to one in ten 18-24 year olds.
But this younger group face a lifetime of debt, thanks to the
twin curse of low wages and escalating interest rates.
Debt is not so much easy to get into as impossible to avoid
when our government persists in pegging the minimum wage at
poverty levels, while letting the market dictate the price of
everything, from petrol to housing to basic food items to electricity.
Corporations, especially the major banks and credit card companies,
are making a killing. But they are killing off family life,
and keeping the workforce where they want them - scared stiff
of losing their jobs, however poorly paid, and whatever the
terms and conditions.
—page three—
End of era for ‘eager man’ Tony
by Dick Barbor-Might
This coming Saturday, 12 May, is the
13th anniversary of the death of a Labour politician who never did
make it to
The distress at Smith’s premature death went wide and deep in the
Labour Party. This sadness was reflected, in both words and demeanour,
by the succession of politicians who lined up on St Stephen’s Green
outside the Westminster Parliament to give their tributes to the dead
leader.
I had been detached from any kind of political involvement for several
years but I happened to be watching the TV coverage and saw one politician
after another express their sense of shock. They seemed genuine and,
in a word, gutted.
Then the cameraman did a strange thing. He or she panned along the
line of politicians queuing up for their minute or so of airtime.
And there, three or four along the line, was a man I hadn’t seen before.
Intently, unaware of the camera’s eye, the man was checking the cut
of his suit (he was smartly dressed, the picture of elegance).
Unaware of the camera’s eye upon him, he had an air of eager expectation
upon his face. A few minutes later he was introduced as Tony Blair
and was solemnly expressing to camera his deep regrets at the passing
of John Smith.
Nothing untoward in the words - but his previous look of excitement
when he thought himself unobserved has stuck with me ever since. This,
I remember thinking, is a man eager only for himself and without proper
human feeling. But he well knows how to put on a show and he trades
on personality. And, as we know from all sorts of insiders’ accounts,
in the days that were to follow, Blair cut out his rival Gordon Brown
and manoeuvred with consummate skill to make sure that it was he who
would succeed John Smith as Leader.
Old boy
The other day I was interviewing somebody outside
This was where Tony Blair started out, when he arrived there as a
fresh-faced 13-year old in 1966.
The school is equally famous for its connection with James Bond as
the character invented by Ian Fleming (“expelled from Eton, educated
at Fettes”) as it is for its most famous old boy, Tony Blair, whom
we might say has invented himself.
Fettes is discreetly proud of him. There’s a bronze bust hanging around
somewhere, which I imagine might be prominently displayed when Blair
leaves
Fettes, with its privilege and grandiloquent buildings, was a fitting
setting for the young Tony Blair. His father. Leo Blair, had grown
up in the
Later, after service in the Army where he was promoted to Lieutenant,
Leo changed course. Now he wanted to be a Tory MP and strove to climb
the social ladder, lecturing in law and training as a barrister. Then
Leo suffered a stroke and never did get to realise his ambition, bequeathing
it to his son instead.
Back in 1966, Fettes was - as it has remained - the Scottish public
school of choice for the aspirant middle classes. During his school
career Tony Blair set about making friends and influencing people.
Slightly rebellious - but not enough to encounter any risk - Blair
appeared in school plays, shone a little, developed a taste for “leadership”
and learned how to be utterly charming.
Away from Fettes, first at St John’s College in Oxford and then at
law school in London, he became a barrister, a protégé of ‘Derry’
Irvine (later Irvine was Blair’s Lord Chancellor and became infamous
for spending £58,000 on hand-made flocked wallpaper for his apartment
in the House of Lords).
Blair found the law boring and politics much more congenial - provided
he could avoid the drudgery of canvassing and envelope stuffing. He
had his wish and in 1983 became the Labour MP for the English north-eastern
seat of Sedgefield, along the way charming people as diverse as Michael
Foot and the fixers in the Constituency Labour Party.
Self-promotion
Blair worked hard to become “the coming man” in the Labour
Party of the 1980s and early 1990s. But he was helped, and by none
more so than the then Leader, Neil Kinnock, who was delighted that
Blair was willing and eager to attack such icons of the trade unions
and the Labour Party left as the closed shop.
The self-invented man has always had the sharpest of eyes for his
own self-promotion and an acute judgement for how to ‘play’ others
whom he encounters along the way - their weakness, ambition, cowardice
or scruple.
The man without qualities treats all the world as a stage, his stage,
and is never happier than when posing and performing as an international
statesman: his latest ambition, apparently, is to promote “inter-faith
dialogue” after he leaves office.
The man without moral feeling presents himself as a moralist and uses
sleight of hand in
The man who wants to be rich shares the opinion of his friend Peter
Mandelson that Labour is “totally relaxed about people becoming filthy
rich”. The rich and powerful, notably Rupert Murdoch, are Blair’s
confidantes. And profit seekers are his beneficiaries.
The man who is an accomplished sycophant believes that
The nature of this alliance was also made evident in another unguarded
moment. At a G8 summit in
“Well... it’s only if, I mean... you know. If she’s got a.... or if
she needs the ground prepared, as it were... Because obviously if
she goes out, she’s got to succeed, as it were, whereas I can just
talk...”
The eager man.
Reid resigns to backbenches
Former peacenik turned warmonger Dr
John Reid MP has announced that he intends to leave the Cabinet when
“Tony Blair goes” in June.
The Airdrie and Shotts MP jumped before he was pushed out of office
by PM-in-waiting Gordon Brown.
Reid said he would not be challenging Brown after Blair resigns. “Now
I’ve done nine jobs in ten years,” said Reid, “and from my point of
view I think it’s a good thing to be able to go out to listen, to
learn, to discuss, to get back to the grass roots.” It is not known
if he has purchased the Celtic season ticket he speaks of.
Reid famously had a square go at a Commons attendant in the early
’90s, as the paralytic parliamentarian staggered into the chamber
from the bar, throwing a drunken punch as he steamed through for a
vote.
His ministerial career was almost over within its first year when,
in 2000, The Observer alleged that taxpayers’ money was used to fund
three full-time election campaigners (including his son Kevin, of
‘Lobbygate’ fame) - paid as part-time researchers by Reid and Glasgow
MP John Maxton. But independent commissioner Elizabeth Filkin’s findings
were rejected by the Labour-chaired Committee on Standards and Privileges.
Filkin also condemned Reid for having contacted then Scottish Labour
Party general secretary Alex Rowley and making “threats of a particularly
disturbing kind”.
As defence secretary, Reid committed 3,700 extra British troops to
the quagmire of southern
Nearly 50 British troops have died in
Dr Reid’s dream of succeeding Blair as PM may be over, but he did
take over from Tony when he was crowned ‘Most Slippery Politician’
last month. A team led by Big Brother’s resident psychologist analysed
every political TV interview by the
Reid left 44 per cent of questions put to him unanswered, compared
to 42 per cent for his master, Blair.
—page four—
What a load of rubbish!
by Roz Paterson
The
We produce more rubbish per capita than any of our continental
neighbours and it is predicted that our waste line will
expand to twice its size by 2020.
Meanwhile, our landfill sites are filling up apace, and
are due to run out of room within nine years.
In brief, we are fast approaching crisis point, and a solution
to our rising rubbish mountain is desperately required.
In the
Alas, the marring of vast tracts of countryside, the contamination
of local groundwater and soil, through the leaching of toxic
substances from refuse, not to
mention the noise and smell and pest problem, is by no means
the end of the matter.
Methane
Rotting rubbish releases methane into the atmosphere,
where it contributes to global warming.
Indeed, such is the alarm over this, that the European Parliament has issued a directive demanding
that we reduce the amount of waste we bury by 2020.
Of course, given our little land problem, we’ll have to
do more than that!
In 2004, we produced 335 tonnes of waste, according to the
Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Over half of that came from construction and demolition,
mining and quarrying, and was what is called ‘inert’, meaning
it doesn’t release gas, amongst other things.
Which is not to
say that these industries are carbon neutral or any such
thing, just that their waste, once dumped, tends to just
lie there, without decomposing.
A further quarter is from other industries,
with less than 10 per cent from households.
That said, domestic waste amounts
to 30 million tonnes a year.
So what are our options?
Incineration is one solution, but hardly a good one.
Sure, burning rubbish can be used to generate electricity,
but at a terrible cost.
For those who have to live near incinerators, we’re talking
nauseating smells, endless noise, carcinogenic smoke and highly toxic airborne dioxins.
Not just that, but because incinerators need a minimum amount
of rubbish to operate, they encourage waste as local authorities,
in order to meet demand, scrap recycling and waste reduction
schemes.
Loss
And even though they may produce energy, incinerators
represent a net loss of energy when compared to recycling,
as so much more energy is needed to produce the new goods
and materials that just went up in smoke.
Other ideas include mechanical biological treatment (MBT),
which involves the use of bugs which occur naturally to
extract water from rubbish, thereby reducing its volume
considerably.
Ceramics, glass and stone are then extracted for recycling,
and the rest used to make cement.
It sounds good, but MBT is no cure-all, as so much refuse
is unsuitable to this process, such as out-of-date paint.
Alternatively, we could up the amount we dispatch to
Sifting through unprocessed rubbish is dangerous, nasty
work and, generally speaking, it is the poorest people,
on the most meagre of wages, who do it.
Furthermore, what sense does it make to spew yet more carbon
into our already overheating atmosphere transporting used
plastic milk cartons halfway round the world?
The only sustainable solution, of course, is to reduce and
recycle.
We simply cannot continue to throw away at the rate we do
now.
Not if we want to avoid wading through it every time we
venture onto the streets.
An analysis of domestic waste shows that 25 per cent of
it is paper products.
We can recycle, where facilities exist, most paper and cardboard
and in so doing, save 15 trees and their surrounding habitat
for every tonne we salvage.
We can also reduce the amount we use, for instance, by avoiding
unnecessary packaging wherever possible, and by eliminating
junk mail either by returning all those unsolicited offers
to sender, or registering with the Mailing Preference Scheme
to have our names removed from mailing lists
It is also worth buying recycled paper products wherever
possible, as this creates demand, thereby making recycling
paper a more profitable business.
Some 35 per cent of our waste is kitchen and garden refuse.
Things like vegetable peelings, tea, coffee and garden waste
can be composted, but this is of little use to those without
a garden and no community composting scheme to hand.
We can reduce our tally however by planning meals, checking
the fridge and food cupboards before going shopping, and
learning to use leftovers.
Recent research shows we throw up to one third of our food
away uneaten, which not only makes for stinking rubbish,
but needlessly wastes money and resources.
Toxic Smoke
Plastics, which are made from petrochemicals, account
for a further 11 per cent of domestic waste, and either
take centuries to degrade in landfill or produce toxic smoke
when incinerated.
We can lighten the load through refusing plastic carrier
bags, re-using the ones we have or investing in cloth or
string bags instead, again by avoiding unnecessary packaging
and choosing refillable containers wherever possible.
Nine per cent is comprised of metals, many of which - notably
steel and aluminium - can easily and profitably be recycled,
and facilities are becoming increasingly available.
Glass makes up another nine per cent, and again could so
easily be recycled, saving 30 gallons of oil per tonne,
and vast quantities of sand and limestone, meaning less
quarrying, less energy use, less damage to the countryside
and less pollution.
The final 11 per cent comprises clothes, toys, furniture...much
of which can be re-used with a little effort and the help
of such initiatives as Freeshare (formerly Freecycle).
Every hour, the
Would you like that sitting stinking outside your door for
years on end?
If we don’t find ways to waste away our waste, that’s exactly
what we might have to do.
—page five—
—centre pages—
The day
by Alan McCombes
By any standards this was a
massacre for the left. The red-green presence in Holyrood,
represented by the Scottish Socialist Party, the Greens and
Solidarity was slashed from 15 to two.
Of the six-strong group of independents, only Margo MacDonald
was left standing.
May 3rd 2007 was the day that
The wipe-out of the socialist left was made all the more bitter
by the final electoral arithmetic of the new parliament.
Last Thursday marked the end of Labour’s monolithic stranglehold
over Scottish politics at national and local level. The emergence
of the SNP as the biggest party in
But it is likely to open up a new, turbulent phase in Scottish
politics, a time of strife, which could accelerate the ultimate
break-up of the
After the horrendous internal strife within the left over
the past year, and with the socialist movement bitterly divided,
the SSP went into this election in a brutally realistic frame
of mind. This was a damage limitation exercise. At best, the
party hoped to maintain a fragile toehold in Holyrood in preparation
for better days to come.
Yet no-one expected the sheer scale of the collapse of the
socialist vote, down by 100,000 votes from 2003.
The final tally of votes appeared completely out of sync with
the attitude of voters on the streets and at polling stations,
which was open and receptive to the politics of the SSP.
The Greens too were stunned by the scale of their losses.
On the morning after the election, shell-shocked Green MSPs
admitted that they had been expecting to win nine seats.
Although Solidarity polled more votes than the SSP, the failure
of Tommy Sheridan in
At the start of the campaign, the bookmakers William Hill
had offered odds of 100-1 on Sheridan being re-elected - the
kind of odds that might be offered on rain falling in Glasgow
sometime in the next six months
Every media and academic commentator predicted that Tommy
Sheridan would retain his seat in
As the political pundit, Professor Bill Miller, admitted on
Scottish Television the day after the election, “We all expected
the SSP to lose all its seats, but none of us expected Tommy
Sheridan to lose.”
Sheridan, the most famous celebrity politician in
As well as forecasting his certain victory - and the defeat
of the SSP - the paper even carried a sycophantic double page
spread in the final week, headlined ‘The House of Sheridan’
- festooned with photographs of the
This election has been a serious setback for socialism; it
would be futile to pretend otherwise. It is also a tragedy
for the thousands of people who had come to rely on Scottish
Socialist MSPs to deal with their problems.
In
Other MSPs have tended to hide behind the coat-tails of
Within the parliament too, the SSP has provided a voice for
workers in struggle, and for others who were too poor or marginalised
to be of any interest to the big mainstream parties. Holyrood
will be a poorer place without the Scottish Socialist group
of MSPs.
There is no single explanation for the debacle of May 3rd.
The incineration of the left was the product of a combination
of inflammable ingredients
In the first place, all of the smaller parties and independents
were mangled in a classic political squeeze, in which two
parties were running neck and neck. In this election, the
drama was heightened by the fact that one of the two parties
stands for dissolution of the
These two juggernauts had vast propaganda resources at their
disposal. While the SSP was forced to fight this election
on a shoestring budget of just £30,000, the SNP had a war
chest of £1.5million - ploughed in by big business, including
a £500,000 donation from the reactionary Stagecoach tycoon,
Brian Souter.
Labour, meanwhile, was gifted literally millions of pounds
of free advertising from
Despite the party’s cosy rapprochement with elements of Scottish
big business, many left wing voters - including it appears
most of those who voted SSP in 2003 - swung behind the SNP
in this election.
Alf Young of The Herald - one of
“The far-left took out its anger over New Labour, Blair and
Iraq by backing a party which, while sharing their goal of
Scottish independence, has even less interest than Gordon
Brown in bringing the pillars of modern capitalism crashing
down.”
The small print of Alex Salmond’s economic policies were drowned
out by the headline promises of an independence referendum,
the removal of nuclear weapons, Scottish troops out of Iraq
and more immediately, the scrapping of the Council Tax.
Labour, the LibDems and the Tories have all been tested in
government in recent times, either at
As we go to press, the LibDems have spurned Alex Salmond’s
advances to form a coalition. That means that the SNP are
likely to form a minority government, possibly with the involvement
of the two Green MSPs.
However, with the SNP up against the much larger bloc of unionist
MSPs, it is unlikely that an independence referendum can be
achieved before 2008.
The other key flagship policy of the SNP - replacing the Council
Tax with a three pence rise in income tax - may also have
to be shelved
The economics of the policy do not add up. It would leave
a black hole in council budgets of half a billion pounds,
forcing cuts elsewhere. Moreover, although a deal could possibly
be reached with the Liberal Democrats over the scrapping of
the Council Tax, the Greens have in the past voted against
an income-based tax - which means that the policy could be
scuppered by the narrowest of margins, even with LibDem support.
Paradoxically, a minority SNP government could potentially
create a more favourable climate for a future surge towards
independence. A stable SNP-led coalition would involve backdoor
deals, horse-trading and shoddy compromises with the LibDems,
allowing Labour the opportunity to recapture some ground.
In contrast, a minority SNP government could allow Salmond
to portray the SNP as a party which is trying to introduce
radical changes, but is being blocked and obstructed at every
turn by the three unionist parties.
Either way, the sands of Scottish politics are shifting. The
socialist left may have been marginalised for the time being,
but that can change rapidly and dramatically in the future.
It is not much more than a year ago that the political obituaries
were being written for the SNP after the Dunfermline West
by-election - the SNP’s worst by-election performance since
1982.
A procession of political pundits pronounced the terminal
decline of the SNP and the unstoppable march of the Liberal
Democrats
As one commentator, Chris Deerin, expressed it in
Even within the SSP at the time, some members (who later left
to join Solidarity) drew the conclusion that the SNP was finished,
the LibDems were now the main opposition force in
Fifteen months later, and the SNP are now
As sure as the sun rises in the morning, the socialist left
will be back with a vengeance in the future. And whatever
the arithmetical breakdown last Thursday, the only socialist
party with the capacity of coming back from this defeat is
the Scottish Socialist Party.
The SSP fought this election with dignity and restraint. We
also fought a highly political campaign, with a 450-point
manifesto, including the boldest and most radical policy of
any party in this election - free public transport.
In contrast, Solidarity exposed itself as an embittered personality
cult around Tommy Sheridan.
The 16-point manifesto of the breakaway party, along with
its other election material, prominently featured photographs
of Sheridan, his wife and his two-year-old daughter. His name
appeared on every ballot paper, including even for the local
council elections.
A large part of the Solidarity vote was an expression of sympathy
for Tommy Sheridan based on confusion and misunderstanding
of the facts that led to the split in the socialist movement,
rather than a conscious socialist vote.
Tommy Sheridan himself, in his manifesto, on TV, and at public
meetings repeatedly accused the SSP of lies, dishonesty and
backstabbing.
That is the prospectus upon which Solidarity was created:
that Tommy Sheridan was the victim of a plot to remove him
as party convenor; that the SSP leadership manufactured allegations
about Sheridan’s personal life to justify his removal; that
the party leadership forged documents to back up these allegations;
that members of the SSP conspired to pervert the course of
justice and in order to destroy Sheridan.
The entire Solidarity edifice has been built upon this fairytale,
and will come crashing to the ground as the lies unravel and
the truth emerges.
In the meantime, for wide sections of the public, including
for many ex-SSP supporters, there is no smoke without fire.
The allegations against the SSP have not yet been disproved.
At the very least, people are inclined to lay the blame equally
on both sides.
The events of the last two years have been complex and labyrinthine.
But the stark facts are these.
Like Jeffrey Archer and Jonathan Aitken, two top Tory politicians
who served lengthy jail sentences for their actions, Tommy
Sheridan took out a libel action based on a fraud: at least
some of the material published in the trashy tabloid News
of the World was substantially true.
The SSP did everything it could to dissuade
But
The SSP was also dragged into the Court of Session. Our response
was to defy the courts and face down a jail sentence.
In the weeks that the SSP was under siege, dragged through
the courts, having its offices raided, Sheridan effectively
went into hiding, failing to turn up to any of the meetings
to decide tactics.
The rest of the SSP stood valiantly against the courts.
Finally,
But worse was to come. In an abysmal display of cowardice,
To salvage his fake reputation, he denounced the SSP leadership
as liars, perjurers, forgers and conspirators, before walking
out to split the left and wreck the socialist unity project,
built up over a decade and more.
The mainstream press, cowed by the courts and the threat of
libel action - and perhaps also by the fear of jeopardising
an ongoing police investigation into perjury and conspiracy
to pervert the course of justice - have never been prepared
to bring out these facts.
As a result, the SSP was fighting this election under a cloud
of suspicion. To pretend otherwise would be to run away from
reality.
However, two or three years down the road, the events of the
past year will have begun to fade into the mists of history.
With the removal of Tommy Sheridan from Holyrood, the Solidarity
bubble will burst.
That will be a massive step forward for the left, allowing
Scottish socialism to be rebuilt under the clean banner of
the Scottish Socialist Party.
Spoiling tactics turned confusion into a fiasco
“It’s not who votes that counts,
it’s who counts the votes” said Josef Stalin.
The New Labour establishment could have taught the commissars
of the old
If 100,000 votes had been disqualified in
In
Alex Salmond, the SNP leader, has called for a full judicial
inquiry - a call that has been rejected by the man responsible
for the debacle, the Scottish Secretary, Douglas Alexander.
In
The SSP should support both of these moves. This democratic
abomination was not the result of incompetence by the Scotland
Office.
It was a product of a deliberate, cynical manoeuvre by New
Labour politicians to confuse the public and marginalise the
smaller parties.
Since 1999, Labour has consciously undermined local democracy
by refusing to separate the council elections from the Holyrood
elections. In this election, when council elections were conducted
for the first time under PR, the case for a change was overwhelming.
But it was never put before the Scottish Parliament. A Tory
MSP had begun to initiate a private members bill, but, after
what appeared to be backdoor wheeling and dealing, dropped
the proposal.
Subversion
Even worse was the decision to swap the order of
the Holyrood ballot papers and to include the constituency
and regional votes on a single form for the first time.
This was a deliberate subversion of democracy, designed to
protect the big parties and undermine the diversity of Holyrood.
The SNP went along with this ploy, hoping that they too would
benefit from the confusion. They opportunistically attempted
to manipulate the new arrangements by renaming their party
“Alex Salmond for First Minister - SNP”, reinforcing the confusion
that already existed.
The SSP can report numerous examples of voters - including
even party members - marking their X against Alex Salmond
then scrolling down the regional list to vote SSP. All of
these votes would have been discounted.
Ironically, the SNP’s tactic has almost certainly backfired
on the party. Their cunning plan was that voters would back
Alex Salmond on the left side of the paper, then be forced
to vote again for the SNP on the right side of the ballot
paper when they realised that the smaller parties were not
listed on that side.
What the SNP failed to anticipate was that a large proportion
of voters would mark both their crosses on the left side of
the ballot paper.
Because the regional and constituency ballot papers were not
physically separate, tens of thousands of people appear to
have believed that it didn’t matter which side they marked
their two crosses.
This would not only distort downwards the vote for the smaller
parties; it would also negate many thousands of constituency
votes, particularly for the SNP.
Without a full analysis of every paper, it is impossible to
say how the results were affected by confusion.
Fiction
However it is wishful thinking for Tommy Sheridan
to claim he was robbed of a seat in
Out of around 10,000 disqualified regional votes in
In
Nonetheless, this distortion of democracy blatantly discriminates
against the most deprived voters in the poorest constituencies
who are already disproportionately excluded from electoral
politics.
The constituency with the highest number of disqualified papers,
Glasgow Shettleston, was also the constituency with the lowest
turnout in
And by the way, just in case you didn’t know - Shettleston
also tops the
—page eight—
Diary of
a
by Rod MacGregor, Dundee SSP
Friday 27 April
Free School Meals
stall at Stobswell junction at dinner-time. We give
away free fruit to the kids from
Special poster drafted in from
Evening spent leafleting in Whitfield.
Saturday 28 April
Last Saturday before
the election. Three stalls planned. Morning in Fintry
and Lochee. Then into town at 12.30. Good turnout.
At home there’s a message from Mary McGregor, informing
me that the special poster from yesterday’s Stobswell
stall has gone missing. I never saw the thing, but
I check my car boot anyway.
It’s not there.
Various phone calls follow, resulting in me going
up and down three flights of stairs three times
to check my car boot.
Nothing there.
Where is the poster?
Sunday 29 April
Mary phones mid-morning
to report that SSP HQ is going ballistic over the
loss of the poster as it is needed for a press launch
on Monday.
Could this cost us the election?
Suspicions mount that some kids may have nicked
it.
In an act of futile desperation I end up going back
to Stobswell to see if it has been dumped in the
area. Look in gardens on
Phone Mary back - turns out they’re getting another
one printed.
Two-hour stall at Boots corner in the afternoon.
Some eastern European guys take a fancy to Mary.
Don’t know if she’ll be a hit at the polls, but
she’s certainly a hit with the Poles.
Back home I notice in the Herald sports section
that all parties have answered a questionnaire that
was sent to them. All, that is, except the SSP who,
the paper informs me, did not reply.
Hope there’s as big a rumpus about that as there
was about the missing poster.
Monday 30 April
Menzieshill stall
going well until I coin a new slogan - ‘Crap the
Council Tax!’ - much to the amusement of my comrades.
Menzieshill leafleting next.
Have just finished first block of flats, when Angela
runs towards me. Tells me Nick H has been bitten
by a dog.
She got phone call from him saying, “Help, my finger’s
stuck in a dog.”
To which she replied, “Don’t you mean a door?”
To which he retorted, “No, I mean a dog.”
Next stop, A&E at Ninewells.
While waiting with Angela for Nick H, Fern Britton
and Philip Schofield, somewhat bizarrely, are discussing
sex toys for dogs on the television in the waiting
area. A sense of the surreal envelops me.
Tuesday 1 May
Having finished work
at 1.30am, and made it to bed at 3am, I’m happy
to let Alan Boylan and Angela go with Fiz round
the PCS picket lines, a 6.30am start.
Alan phones from a picket line at the technology
park to tell me strikers are singing and dancing.
Wish I’d got up now!
Arbroath beckons for me, Grant, Fiz and Angela,
while further leafleting gets underway in Menzieshill.
Good stall in Arbroath, followed by a visit to the
Round O chip shop.
Gazing down at the calm
A bunch of comrades attend the Courier hustings
in the Apex Hotel.
A member of some fundamentalist Christian party
launches into anti-gay rant, causing young Nick
H to inquire, “Why is the panel pandering to this
homophobic nutjob?”
Another wonderful quote from young Nick.
Wednesday 2 May
Sadly, the staid
old Courier somehow managed to edit out young Nick’s
intervention, leaving only the usual yawn-inducing
rhetoric.
Leafleting 18 multis in
Can’t make meeting tonight as working, but hastily
scribble minutes of previous one on back of a fag
packet and hand them to Mary McG. Job done.
Thursday 3 May into Friday 4 May
Now’s the day. Put
out some boards at polling stations, grab quick
bite to eat, and then it’s stalls in Douglas, Lochee
and Town Centre, while various comrades attend polling
stations.
Leave early to get some rest as I’m driving to
At 10.30pm, set off with hope in our hearts.
Soon after arrival, it becomes obvious that we are
getting humped and worst fears are confirmed as
we lose all MSPs.
Leave the count early.
Arrive home 3.45am and doze fitfully on settee watching
the disaster unfold.
Can’t help but wonder if losing that poster in Stobswell
cost us the election after all.
Parliamentarians for the people!
The SSP is first
and foremost a grassroots party, built from the
ground up, and rooted in workplaces and communities.
Having a six-strong parliamentary presence - reduced
to four-strong, following the Sheridan-led split
- was a huge boost, of course, a fantastic achievement
for such a young and radical party, and testament
to the fact that the ideas of socialism have a huge
constituency in the modern world.
We achieved a great deal in parliament, and our
hard-working MSPs, who put themselves in the firing
line every time, speaking up for socialism in the
epicentre of cynicism and career politics, are to
be congratulated and given our heartfelt thanks.
The SSP presented bills calling for the Abolition
of the Council Tax, to Scrap Prescription Charges,
and for the introduction of free, nutritious school
meals for every state school child in
All three bills were torpedoed by cynical alliances
between the mainstream parties, but nonetheless,
the very fact that they went out to consultation,
and generated a massive, favourable response from
a whole range of expert bodies, campaigning groups
and individuals, precipitated real, positive change
for ordinary people in Scotland.
Without the free school meals campaign, which has
been running since 2002, there would not have been
such a groundswell of support for the principle
of free, quality provision. And without that, there
would not have been free breakfasts and lunches
being rolled out by councils around the country.
The call to scrap prescription charges forced the
hand of the Labour/LibDem coalition, who felt compelled
to offer a review and extension of provision. It
isn’t nearly what we wanted, but some people may
end up feeling real benefits, and many more have
been alerted to the scandal of our current, piecemeal
system of charging for essential medicines.
The Axe the Tax campaign was so popular, it has
now been taken up by both the SNP and the LibDems,
who have been simply falling over themselves lately
to voice their opposition to this unfair tax.
If the incoming Scottish government does see off
the son of the Poll Tax, we should give ourselves
a big hand, because we had a big hand in it.
Our parliamentary staff and MSPs also ensured that
the striking nursery nurses of 2004 had their case
heard, and were welcomed in person, within the parliament
supposedly created to represent them. That the Scottish
people’s vehement opposition to the
And that the ruling coalition’s bland, unquestioning
support for neo-liberalism and imperialism was questioned,
protested against, held up to the light.
Our MSPs shone a light into the dark workings of
Scottish ‘democracy’, for those of us on the outside
to see by. Furthermore, in their intelligence, experience
and wit, they proved more than a match for the seasoned
political hacks reading from prepared notes.
Just as outgoing SSP councillor Keith Baldassara
shone a light into Glasgow City Chambers, and outshone
them all.
Through surgeries, Keith, Carolyn,
Losing our parliamentary presence, painful though
it is, is not the end of the SSP. Losing our activists
and principles would be, but on that score, we are
gaining ground all the time.
And we have hit the ground running since last week.
Says Colin:
“The SSP has been around for ten years now, and
with or without parliamentary representation, we
have taken the initiative on issues like redistribution
of wealth, public ownership, free school meals and
abolishing the Council Tax, and we will continue
to do so.
“As agreed at the EC on Sunday, we are going to
draw together the disparate forces, including the
SNP and LibDems, and representing the majority of
the population of
“We also intend to campaign for free public transport,
involving environmental groups amongst others.
“Our ideas are popular and they will make a real
difference, and we will continue to lead where others
follow.”
—page nine—
cultural resistance
The war on democracy
by Pablo Navarrete
John Pilger is an award-winning
journalist, author and documentary filmmaker, who began his
career in 1958 in his homeland,
He has been a foreign correspondent and a front-line war reporter,
beginning with the Vietnam War in 1967. He is an impassioned
critic of foreign military and economic adventures by Western
governments.
“It is too easy”, Pilger says, “for Western journalists to see
humanity in terms of its usefulness to ‘our’ interests and to
follow government agendas that ordain good and bad tyrants,
worthy and unworthy victims and present ‘our’ policies as always
benign when the opposite is usually true.
“It’s the journalist’s job, first of all, to look in the mirror
of his own society.”
Pilger also believes a journalist ought to be a guardian of
the public memory and often quotes Milan Kundera: “The struggle
of people against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.”
In a career that has produced more than 55 television documentaries,
Pilger’s first major film for the cinema, The War on Democracy,
will be previewed in
Could you begin by telling us what your new film The War on
Democracy is about?
I happened to watch George Bush’s second inauguration address
in which he pledged to “bring democracy to the world”. He mentioned
the words “democracy” and “liberty” 21 times.
It was a very important speech because, unlike the purple prose
of previous presidents (Ronald Reagan excluded), he left no
doubt that he was stripping noble concepts like “democracy”
and “liberty” of their true meaning - government, for, by and
of the people.
I wanted to make a film that illuminated this disguised truth
- that the
However, for others in the West, the propaganda that has masked
Thanks to Bush and his cabal, and to Blair, the scales have
fallen from millions of eyes. I would like The War on Democracy
to contribute something to this awakening.
The film is about the power of empire and of people. It was
shot in
It tells the story of “
Our filming was concentrated in the barrios where the continent’s
“invisible people” live in hillside shanties that defy gravity.
It tells, above all, a very positive story: that of the rise
of popular social movements that have brought to power governments
promising to stand up to those who control national wealth and
to the imperial master.
The film investigates the 2002 coup d’etat against Chavez and
casts it in a contemporary context. It also describes the differences
between
In
In the
We hope people will see it as another way of seeing the world:
as a metaphor for understanding a wider war on democracy and
the universal struggle of ordinary people, from
As you say, Latin America has often been described as the
Latin America’s strategic importance is often dismissed. That’s
because it is so important. Read Greg Grandin’s recent, excellent
history (I interview him in the film) in which he makes the
case that Latin America has been
For example, when the
The result was the murderous assaults on
This was Ronald Reagan’s “war on terror”, which of course was
a war of terror that provided basic training for those now running
the Bush/Cheney “long war” in the
Noam Chomsky recently said that after five centuries of European
conquests,
Yes, I agree. It’s humbling for someone coming from prosperous
In
The changes made under Chavez are extraordinary - in grassroots
democracy, health care, education and the sheer uplifting of
people’s lives - but true equity and social justice and freedom
from corruption remain distant goals.
This is Orwellian, like “war is peace”. Negroponte, whose record
of overseeing
President Chavez talks about building “socialism of the 21st
century” in
In the time I spent with Chavez, what struck me was how un-self-consciously
he demonstrated his own developing political awareness. I was
intrigued to watch a man who is as much an educator as a leader.
He will arrive at a school or a water project where local people
are gathered and under his arm will be half a dozen books -
Orwell, Chomsky, Dickens, Victor Hugo.
He’ll proceed to quote from them and relate them to the condition
of his audience. What he’s clearly doing is building ordinary
people’s confidence in themselves. At the same time, he’s building
his own political confidence and his understanding of the exercise
of power.
I doubt that he began as a socialist when he won power in 1998
- which makes his political journey all the more interesting.
Clearly, he was always a reformer who paid respect to his impoverished
roots.
Certainly, the Venezuelan economy today is not socialist; perhaps
it’s on the way to becoming something like the social economy
of
Look, this game of labels is pretty pointless; he is an original
and he inspires; so let’s see where the Bolivarian project goes.
True power for enduring change can only be sustained at the
grassroots, and Chavez’s strength is that he has inspired ordinary
people to believe in alternatives to the old venal order.
We have nothing like this spirit in
n ‘The War on Democracy’ will be released in cinemas on 15 June. For more information see johnpilger.com or warondemocracy.net
Article reprinted from www.venezuelanalysis.com
ITV will screen ‘The War on Democracy’ after its cinema debut
—page ten—
international news
Sarkozy victory
sparks a flame of resistance across
The French election,
like the Scottish election, was finally just a slugging-out
between two behemoths, one on the soft left, the
other on the hard right.
Segolene Royal, the Socialist Party candidate, would
not have lifted the people of the scandalously slum-like
housing schemes out of poverty, or opened
The announcement of his victory in the final Presidential
run-off, like so many of the statements that emanate
from his own mouth, was incendiary,
sparking riots across the nation that raged through
Sunday and Monday nights.
And while cars burned and people were arrested in
their hundreds, where was Sarkozy? Why, on his yacht
in the
Just as he has never shown his face again in the schemes
where he branded restless youth ‘scum’, so again was
the former Minister of the Interior keeping well out
the firing line, having lobbed in the live grenade
of promises to weaken the welfare state and tighten
immigration laws.
For his first 100 days, the man who attracted angry
mobs throughout his tour of former African colonies
has gone for the populist, right-wing jugular, promising
tax breaks for overtime to encourage long hours, tougher
sentences for repeat offenders, and legislation to
make it increasingly difficult for immigrants to bring
their families over to
But he is likely to encounter enormous opposition
as French workers are not predisposed to giving up
their rights without a fight.
Indeed, Sarkozy’s supremacy is by no means a done
deal, in that he may have won the Presidency but his
party, the UMP, is still a long way from winning parliament.
If UMP fail
to win, Sarkozy’s neo-liberal reforms will be stopped
in their tracks.
But if they do win, France is headed for dark times
indeed, as Sarkozy seeks to bring it into line with
the low-wage economies of the UK and America, where
people’s rights are ditched in the headlong pursuit
of economic growth, a supposed benefit that only enriches
the few and leaves everyone else hanging on for dear
life.
Protests
held for Socialist leader arrested in
Protests were held
in
Farooq was released after being held for several days,
following his leading role in a campaign for the restoration
of the chief justice of
Chaudry’s removal from office is widely seen as an
attack by General Musharraf’s military regime on judicial
independence.
According to the LPP, Farooq had been under police
surveillance for a couple of weeks, and had been summoned
twice to a police station where he was instructed
to stop his ‘anti-government activities’, but had
refused.
He was arrested at his office on Friday afternoon,
the day before a public reception in support of Chaudhry,
organised by the LPP.
The reception went ahead as planned with Farooq’s
support, while civil society organisations, political
parties and trade unions joined together to condemn
the arrest.
Those participating in the weekend’s demonstrations
also pledged to continue their struggle for democracy
and judicial independence.
—page eleven—
international news
LA Cops shoot Mayday protestors
Tens of thousands gathered in
The march had been noisy and colourful as it made its way through
the streets to a rally and concert at the city’s
The day had been a peaceful family day, until the Los Angeles
Police Department attacked.
The trouble started when police motorcycles deliberately drove
through a dance performance of Indigenous Aztec Dancers forcing
those watching, including children, to flee.
The police then entered the park telling people to disperse.
They began firing plastic bullets and tear gas into the crowd
while indiscriminately beating anyone they could.
Amongst those beaten were members of the media, whose footage
was shown across
The footage showed the police clearly push and hit those trying
to leave the park, including a TV camerawoman.
One eyewitness to the violence was Ernesto Arce, of the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition
and a local radio talk show host.
“Without warning, cops descended into a park full of families,
homeless and handicapped individuals and street cart vendors.
They were merciless.
“For the next 30 minutes, hundreds of activists and bystanders
were shot, beaten by night sticks and run out of the park. The
police had no intention of entertaining requests from people who
were not able to move quickly enough.
They were forcefully hit on the legs until they were immobile.
“The cops didn’t only move people out of the perimeters of the
park, they chased through the park firing at anyone who might
have been an obstacle. I witnessed many people who were shot at
from the back. Children and entire families were being violently
pushed or beaten. An elderly woman cried out for help but few
were willing to run back in the face of fast-approaching SWAT
police.”
The police actions on the day have been attacked from many different
quarters, leading to calls for an enquiry into the events on Mayday.
Already, the highest-ranking officer at the scene of the rally
has been demoted and placed on house leave pending the outcome
of an internal inquiry.
His second-in-charge, has also been demoted
and about 60 riot cops who were involved in the brutal attacks
on the demonstrators have been reassigned to other parts of the
city.
Six dead as US attacks primary school
An attack by a US helicopter, that claimed to be targeting suspected
insurgents, opened fire on the children at a school in the village
of al-Nedan in Diyala
province north-east of Baghdad, near the Iranian border.
Iraqi police officers have said eye-witnesses saw the helicopter
open fire killing the six children and injuring six more.
Children in
Reports on fatalities due to the conflict say anything up to 46
per cent of those killed by the invading armies are under the
age of 15.
Support Kurdish Trade Unionists
Workers in
Workers’ rights to organise and take strike action in
Aside from the everyday danger of surviving in war-torn
But workers in
They’re also calling for the rooting out of corruption, recognition
of a modern labour law according to international labour standards,
the provision of unemployment and other social benefits, and wages
to rise in line with inflation.
Urgent action on the nightmare conditions facing workers and their
families - homelessness and the lack of basic services such as
water and electricity - is another demand, as is the recognition
of the rights of migrant workers as equal to Kurdish workers.
—page twelve—
London marches for new workers
Over 8,000 people marched in
The demonstration was called by the group Strangers into Citizens,
calling for an amnesty for those who have been in the country for
four years to be granted a two year work permit by the
On the march were people from every corner of the globe.
The campaign was backed by trade unions and church groups.
Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor, speaking at a rally in Trafalgar square
after the demo, said: “We know that there are up to half a million
immigrants who are undocumented, and some way should be found for
these people who work in our country and contribute to our economy
so that their rights are respected.”
Jack Dromey, a senior official with the
Transport and General Workers Union also told the rally:
“What the public wants is a fair and lasting solution to irregular
working. It is simply not possible to hunt down and deport the hundreds
of thousands of people who, for a variety of reasons, find themselves
without status in this country.
“Instead of blaming migrant workers for every workplace and social
misfortune, we need to tackle the real causes of exploitation. We
have an immigration system that forces desperate people into the hands
of the rogues, a rights framework that views agency workers as second
class, and an enforcement system that allows crooks to flourish while
ensuring the mistreated stay silent.
“The contribution of migrants to our country today and over the centuries
is clear and to be celebrated. But without fresh thinking by government
on rights and regularisation, migrant workers in this country will
become more deeply marginalised.
“We urge ministers to take their lead from this march and not the
immigration fear-mongers - work with this powerful coalition uniting
behind regularisation. Together we can help those without status step
out of the shadows and benefit all this country’s workers in so doing.”
Strangers into Citizens have said that the 7 May event is just the
first in a concerted campaign to gain employment rights for those
who have come to work in