In this week's issue:

The Socialist 2 June 2010, issue Stop Israeli state terror!

Stop Israeli state terror!

* End the Israeli blockade of Gaza. For the immediate withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Palestinian territories.
* For a mass struggle of the Palestinians, under their own democratic control, to fight for genuine national liberation.
* For independent workers' organisations in Palestine and Israel...

British Airways strike: Full support for the cabin crew

British Airways cabin crew on strike at Heathrow airport, photo Paul Mattsson

As the first week of the British Airways (BA) cabin crew strike drew to a close, I spoke to Penny White, a retired cabin crew member who now works for Bassa, the trade union branch within Unite representing the cabin crew, writes Edmund Schluessel, Socialist Party Cardiff East.

Oil spill is 'worst environmental disaster' to hit US

Extent of surface oil slick on May 24 2010, photo NASA

THE OIL spill in the Gulf of Mexico following the fatal explosion on the BP leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig has exceeded the Exxon Valdez catastrophe of 1989, when eleven million gallons of crude oil devastated the pristine Alaskan coastline...

No to privatised academies: Defend public education

THE NEW government has put the whole future of comprehensive state education under threat, writes Martin Powell-Davies, NUT executive (personal capacity).

Millionaire cabinet plans cuts in benefits

One Law for the rich...

Them and us!

Interview with sacked Telegen workers

Youth Fight for Jobs: More trade unions add their support

Cardiff says 'no' to the racist EDL

Anti-racist campaigners from all over Cardiff are mobilising on 5 June against the English/Welsh Defence League (E/WDL), writes A Cardiff Socialist Party member and member of, Youth Fight For Jobs.

Gateshead tenants demand decent homes

A housing protest on the Seven Stars estate in Wrekenton, Gateshead, photo Elaine Brunskill

For years the residents of the Seven Stars Estate in Wrekenton, Gateshead, have been promised by councillors and housing management that their homes would be updated by 2010 with new kitchens, bathrooms, fires and combi-boilers, alongside having houses re-painted and rewired, writes Elaine Brunskill, Newcastle Socialist Party.

Socialists campaign for Pride not profit in Birmingham

On Saturday 29 May, Socialist Party activists from across the West Midlands region campaigned at Birmingham's annual LGBT Pride event, writes Jennifer O'Sullivan, Birmingham Socialist Party.

Margaret Thatcher: Why workers cannot forget

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, as she will always be remembered, photo Alan Hardman

The new Tory-Lib Dem coalition government claims to be heralding in a 'new politics'. But a large layer of workers throughout Britain have recoiled in horror at the prospect of a Tory-dominated government,...

Minority representation in Scotland for Westminster coalition of cuts

The formation of the so-called "liberal - conservative" coalition will open up a period of instability and class conflict not seen in Britain for decades, writes Philip Stott.

Socialist Party Scotland to be launched

Fighting council cuts: Planning for united strikes in Kirklees

LOCAL GOVERNMENT jobs and services are under attack. Local councils will have £2 billion less in grants from central government after the first £6 billion Con-Dem government cutbacks. The threat is angering...

PCS conference Defend the public sector

Coventry - time for mass action

Will the councils fight the cuts?

University and Colleges Union: Congress votes to fight

UCU young members' conference

NSSN conference 2010

Jamaican armed forces surround and storm poor neighbourhood

TIVOLI GARDENS in Kingston, Jamaica's first public housing estate, resembled a war zone after armed police, backed by the army, fought their way into the neighbourhood to arrest alleged drug boss Christopher "Dudus" Coke and to suppress the "Shower Posse" - his loyal armed supporters who had er, writes Dave Carr.

Workers' suicides: The human cost of an iPad

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