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Rally for socialism!

Speakers include

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the civil servants' union PCS, (left, speaking at the launch of the Campaign for a new workers party.)

Photo Marc Vallee

The PCS has led important struggles against government attacks on workers pay and conditions

Lucy Redler, member of the WASG regional executive committee and member of SAV (Socialist Alternative - CWI, Germany).

Lucy Redler number one on the WASG’s list of candidates for the Berlin elections

Tommy Sheridan MSP, member of the Scottish parliament and leader of the newly formed Solidarity - the Scottish Socialist Movement.

Tommy, formerly a leader of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP), recently defeated Murdoch's News Of The World in a famous court case.

Len Hockey, Socialist Party member and joint branch secretary of Whipps Cross UNISON, speaking on behalf of the Whipps Cross strikers, hospital workers who have recently won a significant victory.

Saturday 25 November, 6.30-9pm. Friends Meeting House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1

Closing rally Sunday 26 November 3-4.30pm

NHS SOS

The battle to defend the health service

Across the country demonstrations are taking place against cuts in our NHS.

Ward closures, job cuts and service massacres are being met in every corner of the country by angry and determined protests.

How can we link up and co-ordinate these campaigns? What can be done to save the health service?

What is the alternative to New Labour's privatisation bonanza?

Come to this Socialism 2006 closing rally to find out!

Debate Saturday 25 November 3-5pm

Muslims under siege - which way forward for Britain's Muslims?

Speakers: Said Fergani (Muslim Association of Britain) and a Socialist Party speaker.

In the last week we've seen incidents reported in the press of Muslim women having their veils ripped from their faces, an Imam in Glasgow being violently beaten, an increase in racist graffiti and a general increase in hostility towards Muslims.

The immediate trigger for this has been Jack Straw's comments about Muslim women who wear the niqab. It is just one more facet of a mounting climate of fear and intimidation for Muslims in Britain and Asian people in general.

Straw's comments came in the same week that the government called on universities to watch out for 'Asian-looking people' acting suspiciously and follow New Labour's calls for the Muslim community to "root out the extremists in their midst".

The effects of New Labour's drive for cuts and privatisation, as well as war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, have been to alienate significant layers of British Muslims. What is the way forward for Britain's Muslims? How can discrimination and racism be effectively countered?

In this session a representative from the Muslim Association of Britain and from the Socialist Party will outline how they think New Labour's divide-and-rule policies can been fought and how racism can be defeated.

Discussion forum Sunday 26 November 10am-12 noon

How to build a trade union in your workplace

Speakers: Tracy Edwards (PCS Young Members national convenor); Sean Figg (Usdaw); Steve North (Unison); Tony Mulhearn (PCS); Roger Bannister (Unison)

The speakers in this session are a combination of a new young generation of fighting union activists and some longstanding militants with years of experience of building and campaigning in the workplace. For trade unionists and young workers in particular this will be a vital session at Socialism 2006.

Other trade union sessions at Socialism 2006 include:

Manufacturing jobs - doomed to disappear or could the trade unions lead a fightback?
Speakers: Rob Williams (TGWU convenor, Visteon Swansea car plant), Bill Mullins (Socialist Party national industrial organiser)
Public services not private profit - how can the privatisation tide be turned and what role can the trade unions play?

Closing rally Sunday 26 November 3-4.30pm

Who can offer young people a future?

Speakers include: Sarah Sachs-Eldridge (International Socialist Resistance), Matt Dobson (Socialist Students), Owen Jones (Labour Representation Committee), Mark Clarke (Conservative Future national chair), Benjamin Biggs (Liberal Democrat Youth and Students).

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Come and discuss the fightback

SOCIALISM 2006 is a weekend of discussion and debate hosted by the Socialist Party taking place on 25 and 26 November 2006. If you are involved in a campaign against cuts and privatisation, if you have been on strike to defend your pay and conditions, or if you are just interested in discussing how we can change this profit-hungry world, come along to Socialism 2006.