Archive for June 2001

1 June 2001

Bosses Provoke Postal Strike

FOLLOWING AN official strike at Royal Mail Watford, management provocatively diverted work to Liverpool...

9 June 2001

Left challenge gets creditable election results

THE SOCIALIST Party took part in the Socialist Alliance election campaign in England and Wales, writes By Hannah Sell.

9 June 2001

YRE Campaign Against The Fascists In Oldham

FOLLOWING LAST weekend's events in Oldham, Youth Against Racism in Europe (YRE) has continued its anti-racist work in the area, writes By Robin, Manchester YRE and Socialist Party.

9 June 2001

Labour wins but anger grows

NEW LABOUR'S claim to have a fresh mandate will look very threadbare in the months to come. Elected on the lowest turnout since records began, Blair's New Labour looked likely to have a majority of about...

9 June 2001

Socialist Party celebrates election successes

SOCIALIST PARTY members in England and Wales have been celebrating some excellent election results, writes By Judy Beishon.

9 June 2001

150 At Hayes Socialist Election Rally

A WEEK before the election, when media experts were proclaiming public apathy about politics, 150 people attended the Socialist Party local election rally in Hayes, west London, writes Rheian Davies.

9 June 2001

New Labour's Turbulent Second Term

TO NO-ONE'S surprise Labour won the election and the Tories were trounced. But, as JUDY BEISHON points out, Blair's second-term Thatcherite programme has not got a mandate and will meet with ferocious opposition.

9 June 2001

Kick The Private Profiteers Out Of The NHS

Profit From Illness scandal: PRIVATE GOOD, public bad. The mantra of New Labour throughout this election. Health minister Alan Milburn has boldly declared that all new hospitals in England and Wales will be built with private money...

9 June 2001

Indonesia: Reactionaries Step Up Attacks On The Working Class

SUPPORTERS OF Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid clashed violently with police last week in the capital Jakarta, writes Niall Mulholland.

15 June 2001

Kirklees nursery nurses: Labour's Low Pay Scandal

ON 16 JUNE, nursery nurses in Kirklees, Yorkshire will once again be taking to the streets to collect more signatures in support of their local pay claim...

15 June 2001

Union Leaders Belated Warnings To Labour

What we think: NEW LABOUR'S second term will be more turbulent than the first, particularly in its dealings with the unions...

15 June 2001

Advance For Socialist Candidates

THE GENERAL election saw good increases for Socialist candidates. The total Socialist Party vote in England and Wales (whether standing as Socialist Alliance or Socialist Alternative) was 10,363 - an average...

15 June 2001

Northern Ireland: The No Choice Election

DAVID TRIMBLE'S position as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) hangs in the balance after his party's disastrous showing in the Westminster election, writes Peter Hadden, Belfast.

15 June 2001

New Labour Turns Away Liverpool Voters

The lowest turnout In the general election was registered in Liverpool Riverside at a mere 34%. Not far behind was neighbouring Walton where 43% voted, writes Peter Taaffe, Socialist Party general secretary.

15 June 2001

Gothenburg EU Summit: Resist The Bosses' Europe!

US PRESIDENT George W Bush's arrival in Sweden's second city, Gothenburg, on 14 June will trigger three days of demonstrations against imperialism and the European Union (EU), which holds its summit on 15-16 June, writes Laurence Coates, Rattvisepartiet Socialisterna (RS), CWI, Sweden.

15 June 2001

Election 2001: A Dramatic Shift In Outlook

SUPERFICIALLY THE general election changed nothing in British politics. New Labour was returned by a landslide for the second time. Yet in reality, the election signified a dramatic shift in the outlook, writes Hannah Sell, Socialist Party Campaigns Organiser

15 June 2001

Save Our Public Services

National action needed against privatisation: Privatisation is destroying health, education, transport,...
Blair's £47,000 pay rise - an insult to the low paid.

22 June 2001

Anti-Capitalist Resistance Continues

After Gothenburg...: GEORGE BUSH came to see the European Union (EU) leaders the day before their Gothenburg summit to sell "Son of Star Wars" to them and tell them once again that his government does not care about the Kyoto protocol...

22 June 2001

No To Privatisation

ANGRY DELEGATES to public-sector union UNISON's national conference continually barracked Steven Byers, New Labour's transport and local government minister...

22 June 2001

Unison Leaders Under Pressure

SHOWING THE pressure the union leadership is under, new general secretary, Dave Prentis, announced he had "personally promised" the government that there would be disputes in all 29 PFI hospitals if UNISON members' jobs continue to be privatised, writes Bill Mullins.

22 June 2001

Hands Off Our Public Services

CSL's Sheffield sacking scandal: CSL IS the private company hired two years ago by Sheffield council to run their financial services. It was almost the last act of the Labour council before they were kicked out in May 1999, to be replaced...

22 June 2001

Gothenburg's Police State

TENS OF thousands demonstrated against US president George W Bush and the summit of the European Union (EU) in Gothenburg, Sweden, 14-16 June...

22 June 2001

Socialist Alliance Takes Stock Of Election Results

THE FIRST post-election meeting of the Socialist Alliance executive took place on Saturday 16 June, writes Clive Heemskerk.

22 June 2001

Middle East Conflict: A Failure Of Capitalism

A SHAKY ceasefire, brokered by CIA boss George Tenet and agreed by Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, has done nothing to resolve the underlying national conflict in this part of the Middle East...

22 June 2001

Inside Labour's Bermuda Triangle

LIZ DAVIES'S recent book "Through the Looking Glass - A Dissenter Inside New Labour" is a justification of her decision to leave Labour and look elsewhere for a socialist alternative...

22 June 2001

Victory Against The Private Profiteers

WORKERS EMPLOYED by SITA, the private company brought in by Brighton council for refuse collection and street cleaning, have won a magnificent victory...

29 June 2001

Stop Privatisation

Trade Unions Tell Labour...: SOCIALIST PARTY member Glenn Kelly successfully moved a resolution at UNISON's national conference last week, committing the union to a review of its political links with New Labour, writes No union cash for Labour's job cutters.

29 June 2001

Unity To Drive Out Fascists!

LAST WEEKEND, there were successive nights of serious fighting in Burnley, Lancashire, apparently triggered by an argument over noise at a party, writes a member of Youth against Racism in Europe (YRE).

29 June 2001

Deeds Not Words Needed To Stop Privatisation

IN RECENT weeks, union conferences - the communication workers and UNISON - learned 'think tanks' and statistics galore have piled up a crushing case against privatisation...

29 June 2001

Rebuild Pride's Fighting Traditions

IN FOUR years Labour has only delivered two major reforms on gay rights - an equal age of consent, and lifting the ban on gay people in the military, writes Lionel Wright, Socialist Party Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Group.

29 June 2001

Inside Britain's Secret State: Interview with David Shayler

Shayler's stand: DAVID SHAYLER is a former MI5 agent who left its pay in 1997 saying that MI5 and MI6 had been involved in an attempted assassination of Libyan leader Colonel Gadaffi in 1996...

29 June 2001

Uprising In Algeria

ALGERIA'S SHADOWY regime - le pouvoir - has been rocked by the largest mass protests for over a decade, writes Manny Thain.