Archive for October 2000

6 October 2000

Stop Council Cuts

BROMLEY COUNCIL'S disciplinary hearing against union activist Glenn Kelly takes place this week. They are charging him with the 'crime' of opposing council plans to cut the night care staff in sheltered...

6 October 2000

Palestinian anger erupts

THE FALTERING Middle East 'peace process' appeared to be unravelling as Palestinians, some armed, some with rocks, fought heavily armed Israeli troops in the Gaza and occupied West Bank territories, writes Dave Carr.

6 October 2000

After the Socialist Alliance conference

ON 30 September 400 members of the Socialist Alliance met in Coventry to discuss organising a socialist challenge in the next general election, writes Hannah Sell, Socialist Party National Campaigns Organiser.

6 October 2000

Oil Prices on a roller coaster ride

THE RECENT tripling of crude oil prices sparked a protest wave throughout Europe. Protesters directed their anger at high fuel taxes, accounting for 72% of the pump price in Britain. Barely tolerable when...

6 October 2000

A blow to the crisis-ridden Euro

THE FIRST referendum on the Euro currency in any European country ended in a clear rejection: 53.1% against and 46.9% for, writes Per Ake Westerlund, Rattviseparteit, (CWI -Sweden).

6 October 2000

Fleece the Fat Cats

THE GOVERNMENT have raised the national minimum wage by 10p an hour to £3.70. Previously New Labour refused to give such a rise - under 3% - for fear this would cause "a growth in inflation"!...

13 October 2000

Middle East on brink of war

LIKE A raging forest fire, an uprising that started in the West Bank and Gaza has spread into Israel proper and ignited mass demonstrations throughout the Arab world, writes Mandy Rabin.

13 October 2000

Uprising in Serbia

A MASS movement has swept Slobodan Milosevic from power. After a week-long strike action, up to one million people converged on Belgrade on 5 October demanding the end of the regime, storming the national...

13 October 2000

Marching against the Nazis

TEN THOUSAND people joined a noisy and determined demonstration to close down the neo-Nazi NPD (National Democratic Party of Germany) office in Kopenick, East Berlin, last Saturday, writes By a member of Youth Against Racism in Europe (YRE).

13 October 2000

Fighting the Vlaams Blok

TWO WEEKS ago a student meeting in Gent of the Active Leftwing Students (ALS, a broad student organisation in which Militant Links - CWI Belgium - plays a leading role) was physically attacked by a group of fascists, writes Geert Cool, Militant Links, Belgium.

13 October 2000

Students get organised!

TUITION FEES and the abolition of the student grant are widening the class divide in education. The drop in university applications from working-class students is threatening further cuts in some universities.

13 October 2000

Labour's NHS Panic

End the crisis with an immediate £20 billion transfusion into the NHS, with substantial increases in nurses and in health service pay to recruit more...

20 October 2000

Rail Safety before Profit

JUST OVER a year after Paddington another privatised train company has seen one of its trains crash with the loss of at least four lives and over 80 injured, when a train carrying 100 people derailed near Hatfield on 17 October...

20 October 2000

Middle East Crisis Staring into the Abyss

THE SPIRALING conflict in the Middle East is taking on a distinctly nationalist, religious character, with Imams in the Gaza mosques calling for the defense of Al Aqsa, and for attacks against Jews, writes Mandy Rabin, Maavak Sozialisti, (CWI, Israel).

20 October 2000

The Reality of being Black and British

RAPH PARKINSON is a Socialist Party member and a Black member of the national executive of UNISON, the public-sector union. He is also chair of the North-West Black Members' Committee...

20 October 2000

Rallying against corporate capitalism

WHILE THE media circus follows the fortunes of big business-backed presidential hopefuls - Democrat Al Gore and Republican George Bush - they ignore the mass rallies organised in support of independent Left candidate, Ralph Nader...

20 October 2000

Can Brown's "cunning plan" buy off fuel protests?

THE PROSPECT of pickets resuming protests outside fuel depots may have receded following a secret meeting between the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, and the Road Haulage Association, writes Dave Reid and Mariam Kamish.

20 October 2000

Fight the Job Cuts

Don't Pay for the Bosses' Greed: NEW LABOUR ministers claim to have abolished mass unemployment. The percentage of workers claiming benefit is the lowest for 25 years, though this is largely due to a harsher social security regime...

27 October 2000

Grants Not Fees

MANY FIRST-year students already feel the financial burden of being at university, 41% will be looking for jobs, predominately low paid and highly exploitative to keep their heads above water, writes Kieran Roberts, Save Free Education (SFE).

27 October 2000

Palestinian Uprising Intensifies

THE WORLD leaders meeting in the peaceful Egyptian desert resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, were a million miles away from the smouldering events on the ground, writes Mandy Rabin, Maavak Sozialisti - CWI, Israel.

27 October 2000

Socialism 2000: An Inspiring Weekend

WELL OVER 300 people attended Socialism 2000, the Socialist Party's annual educational weekend of discussion and debate...

27 October 2000

Profit puts safety last

ON 17 October, a GNER King's Cross to Leeds Express crashed near Hatfield, killing four people. Once again railway safety has become headline news...

27 October 2000

Trotsky's Political Legacy

RUSSIAN TROTSKY archivist Mark Golizinin spoke at the recent Socialism 2000 weekend school organised by the Socialist Party. Earlier he spoke to The Socialist about his research...

27 October 2000

Hands Off Our Services

LAST WEEK'S Hatfield rail crash showed how inefficient and unsafe private enterprise is. This week, New Labour unveiled plans to expand the private sector's involvement in health, education etc, if it...