The Socialist issue 371

20 November 2004

AFTER A six-day bloody assault, George Bush declared ‘victory’ in Fallujah. It is an empty victory that will come back to haunt both him and Blair. (Cartoon by Alan Hardman)

Joe Higgins is a Socialist Party Deputy in the Irish Parliament. He made a statement in Parliament taking up the Irish government’s statements that it "shared values" with the US government, after the EU summit of 4…

BUSH’S FIRST Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has resigned. Powell had significant differences with the neo-conservative hard-liners who dominate Bush’s cabinet. He thought more long-term about the future of capitalism but when it came to the…

Come to ISR conference

How can we change things? This is the question many thousands of young people are asking themselves. After the invasion of Iraq, the re-election of Bush and the horrific assault on Fallujah, is it possible for us to make a difference?…

HUNDREDS OF people, packed into a TUC-organised rally in defence of pensions on 16 November, heard Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS union openly call for a one-day public sector general strike in the spring…

SUCH IS the blurring of Tory and Labour policies that they’re now trying to outdo each other over who can provide the best childcare for working parents…

Defend democracy in the NUS: Opening the National Union of Students (NUS) extraordinary conference on 9 November, the chair called it "a festival of democracy". It was tongue in cheek but the irony echoed throughout the day…

Palestinians mourn Arafat but struggle for liberation will continue

Obituary: Yasser Arafat: MANY PALESTINIANS will view the death of Yasser Arafat with a mixture of sadness and a wish that the Palestinian Authority he led, had done much more to end the poverty and oppression that blights their lives…

DURING THE US preparations for the invasion of Iraq many in the anti-war movement, including some influential voices on the liberal left, were taken in by the opposition of the French government and its diplomatic efforts to avoid a war…

UNISON elections – nominate Roger Bannister

THE GOVERNMENT’S latest proposals on council workers’ and other public sector staff’s pension schemes will mean higher contributions but lower pensions, based only on basic salary and taking no account of overtime or weekend payments…

MEMBERS OF the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) at the giant National Savings complexes in Glasgow, Blackpool and Durham have reluctantly voted to accept the proposed transfer of 250 jobs to India…

27 November Demonstration: Support Jaguar workers and join the March and Rally through Coventry city centre from 10am on Saturday 27 November 2004…

THE NATIONAL leadership of public-sector union, UNISON can gain no satisfaction from the Agenda for Change (AfC) national ballot result. Although there was a three to one margin in favour, only 26% of Unison Health members voted to accept the…