Letters

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Send your news, views and criticism in not more than 150 words to Socialist Postbox, PO Box 24697, London E11 1YD, phone 020 8988 8771 or email [email protected].

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Views of letter writers do not necessarily match those of the Socialist Party.


Rape, women, blame

Despite public discussion about domestic violence, sexual harassment and rape, victims still encounter the assumption that they are somehow to blame. According to the Office for National Statistics (2015), more than a quarter of the public believes women who are drunk at the time of an assault are at least partly responsible for what happens to them.

One Tory MP caused a furore in 2013 when he suggested women should not wear tight skirts and heels as it hinders their flight from “predators”. In reality, predatory or opportunistic rapists account for very few assaults: most women know the man who raped them. In the UK, two women and one child a week die at the hands of someone they know well.

On average, a woman will suffer 35 times before she asks for help or reports it. Cuts to domestic violence services, adult social services and policing aggravate this situation.

Since 2010, 54% of domestic violence services have been forced to close. In many areas there are no places in hostels or women’s refuges, thus leaving women and children vulnerable. Appeals to our local MPs about cuts to services and facilities to help victims of rape and domestic victims have failed.

One key area which receives insufficient funding is the support of women from ethnic minorities – and there is precious little charity money available either. Not least because victims are stigmatised.

Sue Powell, Gloucester

McDonnell boosts Blairite mayor

Fresh from his advice that councillors couldn’t fight the cuts, John McDonnell makes this astounding observation in response to a question from the Liverpool Echo:

What do you make of Joe Anderson as Mayor of Liverpool?

“I think he’s been a really strong voice for Liverpool. A strong voice, dynamic and absolutely committed, working himself into the ground basically for the city and I think he’s done a great job. He’s one of the best advocates Liverpool has had for decades, to be honest.

“And when he comes down to London his voice is heard. He lobbies ministers. Within the Labour Party he’s extremely well respected because of the advocacy he does on behalf of the city. I think he’s turning the city around. He’s got great ideas.”

With all the respect I can muster, I think John is wildly out of touch and he should be reminded he is a member of Corbyn’s anti-austerity team. In that capacity he should make time to speak to those who have suffered from the £340 million cuts Anderson’s council has imposed on the city’s neediest.

Tony Mulhearn, Liverpool

Healthcare headache

An elderly disabled couple came up to my street stall in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, to sign our petition on ‘No to a privatised NHS’. I got talking to them about the consequences of this cruel and tyrannical regime’s treatment of the elderly and disabled.

In the event of total privatisation along American lines, they could have to take out private health insurance – potentially losing their lifetime of National Insurance contributions. They both informed me that because they have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and multiple sclerosis, they cannot currently get such insurance!

Kris Caci, Stoke

Errors of pro-EU left

This is just a short opening shot in the campaign we’ll be conducting in the next three months against the anti-worker, racist, capitalist ‘inners’, and against the anti-worker, racist, capitalist ‘outers’.

Unfortunately, many on the left are adopting one position or another on the European Union (EU) on the shaky basis of very superficial impressions, hopes and fears. This will lead to all sorts of political mistakes during the swings of the debate – on political alliances (Galloway with Farage, for example), migration, democracy and austerity.

We need a clear understanding of the class nature of the EU, but also of the frustrations and confusions in the minds of different groups in the working class and middle class, as a firm basis for our campaign.

The referendum also presents a potential opportunity to get rid of Cameron and his deeply divided, weakened government within months – if the Opposition had the right programme and strategy. An exit or narrow remain vote could lead to formal splits both in the Tory and Labour parties, completely changing the political landscape, and unleashing forces from below which the ruling class can’t control.

Socialists have not only always opposed British membership of the EU; as working class internationalists, we’re for the abolition of the EU itself. Originally set up by the coal and steel barons, it’s a free-market bureaucracy serving only the interests of the banks and big business, not ordinary Europeans.

The Lisbon Treaty allowed Thatcherites like Cameron and Merkel to impose their policies of lower wages, austerity and privatisation on other governments like Greece – and on their own populations – while blaming “Brussels”. Now these right-wing politicians are using the EU to make secret negotiations with the USA to privatise public services like the NHS and allow corporations to dictate government policies solely in the interests of their own profits.

The Trade Union Congress wrongly relies on the EU to safeguard workplace rights instead of getting off its backside and fighting. Concessions like maternity leave and maximum hours were only won by pressure from below, not granted by pro-business bureaucrats or toothless MEPs.

Workers need to rely on our own strength, and international solidarity, to fight for better living standards and social progress. No to the capitalist EU, yes to fighting for a socialist Europe!

Brent Kennedy, Carlisle

Global economy gripes

After the financial crash of 2008, the Socialist Party predicted that any recovery was always going to be fragile.

Recently, we have seen more panic selling on global stock exchanges. China has been the latest and biggest economy to suffer. For a while, enormous government investment kept the country afloat, but this growth has stalled, leaving behind ghost towns of empty properties, which the mass of people simply cannot afford.

America too, is suffering. Cheap oil has meant that its investment in environmentally disastrous industries such as fracking is not paying dividends.

In place of a system built on fleeting, short-term gains for a few, socialists look to democratic planning, and collective solutions to meet the world’s needs.

Ian Reynolds, Leicester