The Socialist 17 February 2021

'If you want to stay healthy - you've got to fight back!'

Tory consultation on home-use abortion pills

Tory cladding money will not make us safe

Sham inquiry into 'progressive extremism' will not stop movements against capitalism

Cumbria mine: How can we fight for jobs and stop climate change?

Cryptocurrency bubble: Insanity of capitalism

News in brief

Online workers' rally: Taking fight to the bosses

SNP's independence referendum 2 'roadmap'

NHS white paper: no solution to failed Tory policies

Boot private companies out of our NHS

Covid workplace safety

Derby Toyota plant Covid crisis

Hackney teaching assistants strike against cruel and unnecessary job cuts

PCS: Reject the HMRC pay deal

Manchester Go North West bus drivers in all-out strike over fire and rehire dispute

London bus drivers set to strike over pay and conditions

Scaffolders' strike continues

Strike back for free education

Socialist Students conference - Sunday 28 February

Socialist Party Black and Asian caucus

Remembering Mohamud Hassan - continuing the fight against police brutality

How you can amplify the Socialist's voice - Help us build subscriptions to the Socialist

Swarming the London Mayor's question time

Southern new members meeting - a vivid illustration of the appetite for socialist ideas

Doing all we can to fund the anti-cuts stand at the ballot box

Film Review: Dear Comrades!

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Socialist Party Black and Asian caucus

Discussing the need for socialism to eradicate all forms of oppression

Wolverhampton Black Lives Matter protest June 2020 (Click to enlarge)

Deji Olayinka, Socialist Party Black and Asian Caucus

The Socialist Party Black and Asian caucus held its first meeting of the year on Saturday 13 February. Isai Priya introduced the main political discussion on a Marxist view of identity politics. She outlined how, in addition to their oppression as workers, individuals also face different forms of oppression under capitalism on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, and other aspects of their identity. We recognised, for example ,that working-class black women face triple oppression.

The discussion progressed onto privilege theory and intersectionality, ideas which have grown in popularity beyond academic circles, but have opened the door to neoliberal politics. These ideas tend to shift focus away from solutions that address the structural causes of oppression, and instead advocate individual actions and solutions.

The limits of 'representative' politics was a hot topic. The second wave of the #EndSars protests in Nigeria, which started on the morning of the meeting, was living proof that having black police doesn't prevent police brutality. The danger was raised of supporting capitalist politicians simply because of their background - politicians like US vice-president Kamala Harris, who seeks to use her identity as a BAME woman to hide that fact that her capitalist politics cause suffering for the same groups that she claims to represent.

A South African member warned that while ending apartheid was a huge achievement, the economic depravity that has continued under black capitalism has left the door open for racism to fester.

From this, we discussed our interventions in the Black Lives Matter movement and acknowledged that many people come to politics through struggling against their own specific oppression. It is our job to put forward the correct arguments to explain the roots of oppression and the need for socialism as the basis to permanently eradicate all forms of oppression.

The Socialist Party's new Black Workers' Charter was discussed with suggestions for improvements. It was emphasised that it should be used as part of all of our campaigns and absorb relevant demands from those campaigns to act as an ever-living document.

The meeting closed with updates on campaigns the Socialist Party supports including: a campaign to protect community spaces in Lewisham; the justice for Mohamud Hassan campaign, and the Free Siyanda Campaign. Mohamud died soon after leaving police custody in Cardiff. Siyanda was the victim of a racist attack and has been wrongfully imprisoned for defending herself.

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