River's Edge

Have Your Say On The Future of Winckley Square

2011-11-12T23:39:00.001Z

Theindependent body formed to help kick-start the revival of Winckley Square has begun a consultationprocess giving stakeholders of the historic Square a chance to have their say on its future.
TheWinckley Square Community Interest Company’s (WSCIC) ‘Have Your Say’consultation process will run for the remainder of 2011. It will centre around a series of focus groups, interviews and an online survey run through its new website www.winckleysquarecic.org.uk.

DavidGill, chairman of WSCIC, said: “The founding members wanted to create aninclusive culture that allows all stakeholders to have an input into the futureof the Square. We are asking all groups to take part: residents, religiousgroups, businesses, retailers, council members, visitors, students and many more.

“It is important to realise that we are a community interest group therefore werepresent the interests of the whole community.

“Since we announced the formation of the WSCIC, we have been inundated with good wishes and offers of support so it’s apparent that the people of Preston feel passionately about helping shape the future of Winckley Square and surrounding conservation area.”

Mick Goode, architect and director of WSCIC has worked on numerous public consultation projects. He added: “During the first part of 2012, we will be working on our Green Paper which will set out a framework and recommendationsfor the future of Winckley Squarein the short, medium and long term. The results of the consultation process will feed directly into this.

“We are going to using elements of the globally acclaimed Planning for Real framework, a unique community planning model that has helped thousands of people across the world shape the neighbourhoods and communities. It is soimportant that we consult and engage with the people of Preston.”

WSCICwas established in July. Its founding members and elected directors include:David Gill, consultant, Moore and Smalley Chartered Accountants; Simon Turner, managing director, Freshfield; MickGoode, director, Croft Goode Architects; John Chesworth, managing partner, Harrison Drury; Richard McDowell, partner, Napthens; and Mark Clarkson,partner, Eckersley.

The Business Improvement District (BID) has pledged an initial £30,000 in 2011 and a further £150,000 over five years should it secure a second five-year term in December 2011.

Clickon http://www.winckleysquarecic.org/have-your-say/ to have your say.

Preston Bus Station - We're Finally Beginning to Win The Argument

2011-11-05T15:28:00.002Z

There's very sensible editorial in today's LEP about the bus station that's worth the 50p the paper costs on it's own.

12 years ago, those of us who stood up for the bus station were first ignored, then ridiculed, then actively fought against. We were called 'luddites', resistors of progress and many other insulting names. Today it's clear we were right all along and that keeping our bus station is the very best option for Preston.

How much money and time would have been saved if we'd been listened to back then, and how much the city could already have progressed, instead of being locked into stagnation. It goes to show that if you stand bravely for good ideas when everyone else is mocking you, eventually, what's right gets proved to be right.

There's a way to go yet till the bus station is definitely saved, but the momentum today is with us.

This report from 'Social History Jottings' puts the importance of Preston Bus Station into it's historical context.

e-Petition
There's an e-petition on Preston City Council's website calling on the council to debate the future of the bus station and to give the people a referendum on whether it should be kept. If there are 1350 signatures on it from people who live, work or study in Preston, the council has to have that debate.

You can sign the bus station petition here: http://preston.moderngov.co.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=14&RPID=207882&HPID=207882&displaypref=0

Winckley Square Consultation

2011-11-04T13:40:00.003Z

Blogging is a great way of getting instant feedback and results.

The post I put up this morning about 'Preston Tithebarn Plan B' has generated this response from Simon at the Winckley Square Community Interest Company:

Hello – on the back of your blog today we have now over 100 responses to our consultation on Winckley Square. You may or may not be aware of it. Anyway, we are looking to get over 300 by end of year. Website address is in the footer. The messages of support for our group have been phenomenal – and I wondered whether you could lend to support to promoting the online questionnaire. Totally agree with your sentiments on getting input from the people – that is what we are exactly doing.

We have a once in a lifetime opportunity for Preston. Let’s all get together with the Council and run the biggest public consultation this country has ever seen – and let the people of Preston map its future.

From that, a Great Preston Vision Blueprint can be developed for the future. It will take years to complete but at least we’d have a plan. Do it once and do it properly.

Cheers,

Simon Turner

Director Winckley Square Community Interest Company

I'd encourage all this blog's readers to participate in the Winckely Square consultation, the Winckley Square CIC website is here: http://www.winckleysquarecic.org/

Preston's Tithebarn Plan B

2011-11-04T11:26:00.002Z

Nobody is celebrating the self-destruction of the Tithebarn dream, because it has damaged Preston so much.

We need to learn from the mistakes of the past, rather than continuing with them.

The sad reality is that we let developers run our city for the last 12 years, deliberately holding back other developments because of the prospect of a Tithebarn Shangri La. Our supine approach to the developers got us nothing, it has actually held back and damaged our city.

We need to start differently this time round, beginning by 'throwing open the doors' to Preston people, finding out what they think is important, where they want their city to go, and then building from there.

If we'd done this 12 years ago, the Tithebarn plans might have been more sympathetic, proportional and realisable. Democracy and involvement seems expensive and time consuming, but look at how much cost and time has been lost because we froze out the people.

But according to today's LEP, spearheading the search for 'plan B' will be a group of local businessmen, including those who were behind the now infamous Preston Vision Board.

It was Einstein who defined insanity as when you keep doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results. Here we see the council planning to do exactly the same thing, with the very same set of people as before.

The Vision Board revealed it's deep incompetence and lack of grasp of reality with their mad Ribble Barrage scheme, which failed. They compounded this and made themselves a laughing stock with their ludicrous Winckley square scheme, which failed. Now we've experienced the biggest failure of all, with their overblown Tithebarn scheme, yet we're still planning to use the same people and the same methods for 'Plan B'.

The people who live and work near Winckley Square rejected the council's plans, with it's hanging letters, totem poles and fibreoptic lighting displays, and are now meeting together to plan their own much more sympathetic plan for the Square. This is far less likely to fail, because it has buy-in and ownership from the people who care most about the fate of the square, rather than businessmen and consultants who only see the city through the windows of the Tickled Trout hotel.

Is it too much to suggest that this could be done on a far larger scale, involving the people who live and work in the city directly in it's planning journey?

At some point there has to be some leadership, leadership that says 'leaving it all to the men in suits (and particularly to these men in suits) has failed. Let's try something totally unprecedented, like involving the people of Preston themselves in the destiny of their own city.

Tithebarn Sunk

2011-11-03T09:27:00.000Z

This comes as no surprise. The Tithebarn scheme in Preston was flawed from the start.

It wasn't based on Preston's heritage and strengths, just wished to bulldoze our most precious buildings and start with year zero.

A plan developed in conjunction with local people, instead of behind our backs, would have incorporated the popular and iconic bus station into the design, avoided the delays that wrangling over this caused, and perhaps even have been built.

Now we're left to count the cost of Preston's autocratic and secretive developer-led approach to planning.

All that money wasted on the Vision Board in return for nothing. All that money wasted on legal battles with neighbouring councils, in return for nothing, all that time spent preventing other developments from happening, locking our city into a cycle of decline.

We learned nothing from Preston Town Hall. We learned nothing from Ringway and Crystal House, we learned nothing from the docks debacle. This £650m failure must finally ram the message home that the way Preston's leaders conduct planning just does not work.

We need to change the way we do things, open our planning and regneration strategies up, make them democratic, or we will simply continue to fail, over and over again.

If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.

John Lewis To Open New Store!

2011-11-03T01:27:00.003Z

The Shambles in York.
Will there be a shambles in Preston?

This report in today's retail gazette makes the announcement that John Lewis is planning to open a brand new store... In York.

We're awaiting an announcement later today from Preston City Council about the Tithebarn scheme we've been waiting for for the last decade, the scheme that was going to be worth £650m, a scheme that turned our councillors into stunned uncritical rabbits in it's shining headlights, a scheme that would make Preston the '3rd city of the North West' and solve everybody's problems forever.

John Lewis were meant to be at the centre of that scheme, but all the hints and rumours are pessimistic.

York is a proud city that unlike Preston has done it's best to protect it's heritage. It's made a point of it's history and it's uniqueness.

Preston instead has bent over backwards for developers, going along with their every whim, allowing whole sections of the city to decay while we wait for them to deliver their promises.

Which approach has been most successful? We'll find out later today...

Tupele is right

2011-07-12T14:05:00.001+01:00

The Lancashire Evening Post is reporting that Tupele Dorgu has blasted Preston as 'grim' over twitter. The boss of the local 'Business Improvement District' has criticised her for comparing Preston to London. However, Tupele is not comparing Preston with London, she is comparing Preston with how it was 15 years ago.

It's obvious to anyone who looks with unbiased eyes that the last 15 years have been ones where Preston has remained stagnant, if not gone backward. This period coincides with the existence of the Vision Board, which focussed Preston's development agenda onto wildly impractical schemes, like the Ribble Barrage, the Winckley Square massacre and most damaging of all, the Tithebarn scheme, which has mired the city in developer's blight for the last decade. The consequence has been a town centre lined with empty shop fronts, a total lack of any confidence or new investment.

There are a few exceptions, such as DukPond, The Mystery Tea House and the Continental, but these are small, local businesses who have succeeded despite, rather than because of council policy, businesses that have focussed on local needs, and strived to offer something interesting, quality and different. They are not the corporate megamonopolies that focus solely on dull conformity and profit, that the council has been courting unsuccessfully in the overblown strategy it was persuaded in when being awarded 'city status' went to their heads.

Preston City Council, please learn from your mistakes! Focus on what works for our city - local democratic involvement, small scale organic development that builds on our strengths and our real resources, otherwise we'll be trapped in 15 more years of miserable decline.

The River

2011-05-29T23:49:00.002+01:00

Inside Job:

2011-04-17T23:51:00.000+01:00

This film review was originally published here:

http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/5008

Inside Job’, the oscar-winning documentary, could just have well have been called ‘Demolition Job’ for the way it crushes the reputations of top Wall Street institutions and the government figures who protect and serve them.
The film’s tagline, that it “cost $20,000,000,000,000 to make”, is a reference to the massive economic losses, so far, from the global capitalist crisis that began when the US housing bubble burst in 2006. This triggered the worst recession since the 1930s and only narrowly missed a global financial collapse, a threat that still exists because, as this film shows, nothing fundamentally has changed. The recession has cost millions of jobs worldwide – around 10 million in China – plus six million home foreclosures in the US and countless other miseries borne by working class populations, while the bankers who created the crisis have actually gotten richer!
The film shows with meticulous documentation and interview footage how the big banks and financial institutions mould government policies in their favour, dismantling regulatory controls and freeing them to create and speculate in financial products such as ‘credit default swaps’ that few if any understand. Unfortunately, the film never once uses the word ‘capitalism’, which leaves a gaping hole in its argumentation. It speaks about the ‘finance industry’ as the source of these ills, and while this is indisputable, the financialisation of modern capitalism is a symptom rather than cause of the disease afflicting the entire profit system. The same crisis of profitability that causes capitalist companies to shift production to low-wage economies, while selling mostly to high-wage economies, also explains the increased dependence on Wall Street’s financial ‘steroids’ to boost profits. A well-known statistic, not mentioned in the film, is that prior to the banking crash, the financial sector accounted for 40 percent of total corporate profits in the US.

Narrated by Matt Damon, the film starts with footage of Iceland’s banking crash. To images of Iceland’s startling volcanic landscape, we hear how a country with a GDP of just $13bn incurred bank losses of $100bn after its government privatised the banks a decade ago. “Finance took over, and wrecked the place,” says an Icelandic professor. Global banks and governments in other countries all encouraged the deranged lending binge of the Icelandic banks, which were given ‘AAA’ credit ratings by US-based ratings agencies such as Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s. Just days before I watched this film, the Icelandic people for a second time defied their government and political establishment to reject a rotten deal brokered by the EU and IMF that saddles them – ordinary citizens – with the $420 million debts of one of the failed private banks, Icesave.
One of the film’s strengths is the simple, unlaboured way it explains the nature of derivatives such as collateralised debt obligations (CDO) and other so-called securities. Viewers, even those who are not avid followers of economic trends, are left in no doubt that the entire derivatives ‘market’ (worth a nominal $700 trillion) is crazy. A host of Wall Street luminaries and government ‘advisors’, many made to squirm in front of the camera, are questioned on their role in crafting the policies that led to the crisis. Key figures and partisans of financial deregulation like Alan Greenspan (former central bank chief), Larry Summers (Bill Clinton’s Treasury Secretary and former chief economic advisor to Barack Obama) and Timothy Geithner (current Treasury Secretary and former chairman of the New York Federal Reserve Bank) all refused to be interviewed for this film. Several others must surely regret their decision to take part.
Professor Frederic Mishkin, an “expert” and former governor of the Federal Reserve Board (US central bank), probably steals the show with a breathtakingly bumbling performance attempting to justify the neo-liberal capitalist policies that led to the crisis. He is grilled about his authorship of a 2006 report entitled “Financial Stability In Iceland”, in which he makes a ringing endorsement of the island’s hedge-fund economy. When asked how he got it so wrong, he can only say he believed what the Icelandic central bank told him, as central banks are “credible institutions”. It’s revealed that Iceland’s financial industry paid Mishkin $124,000 for the report. His embarrassment deepens when it is then pointed out that the name of his wildly misleading report has been changed – retroactively – in Mishkin’s CV to “Financial Instability In Iceland”. Mishkin excuses this as a “typo”.
‘Inside Job’ exposes the criminal culture of Wall Street, a culture of lies, trickery, corruption and widespread abuse of cocaine and prostitutes. A psychological counsellor for Wall Street bankers tells us these practises “go right to the very top”. It shows the incestuous links between the top banks and governments of both major US parties. Institutions like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley exercise enormous influence over government and use this to shield their interests and kill any political initiatives that threaten their profits. Goldman Sachs has provided Treasury Secretaries for the last three US governments (Timothy Geithner, Hank Paulson and Robert Rubin). Both Paulson and Geithner, former Goldman chief executives, were central figures behind the government’s 2008 bailout of AIG (which collapsed within days of Lehman Brothers, facing catastrophic payouts having written out $500bn worth of ‘credit default swaps’ for which it had no provision) and yet Goldman Sachs was the main beneficiary of that bailout, receiving $40bn of the $130bn in taxpayer funding thanks to the generous terms for AIG bondholders inserted by Geithner and Paulson. Clearly, the US political establishment is a world leader also in the field of corruption.
To make his case against Wall Street, the film’s writer and director Charles Ferguson relies on bourgeois economists such as Nouriel Roubini and Martin Wolf of the Financial Times. These make some telling points, but at no time in 100 minutes of footage do we hear a solution. A number of these ‘critical’ establishment figures and commentators are let off far too lightly and should have been grilled more in the manner of Mishkin.
IMF president Dominique Strauss-Kahn is a case in point. He makes some often heard criticisms that the US financial sector was “out of control” – incontestable in retrospect – but he is not pressed on his organisation’s role before the crisis or for example on Iceland, where the IMF is using financial blackmail to get the Icelandic government and people to swallow the ‘Icesave’ deal. The IMF is playing a similar role across Europe, after decades of practise in the neo-colonial world, with loan conditions designed to protect the banks and pass on the pain to ordinary citizens.
Similarly, Christine Lagarde, the horrendously right-wing finance minister of France, is allowed to represent the film’s ‘prosecution’ side, passing judgement on the misdeeds of US banks and politicians, without any examination of her own record of attacking labour rights, pensions and public sector jobs. This is true not only in France but across Europe through her pivotal role in the EU’s financial structures and its poisonous ‘bailouts’ (launched together with Strauss-Kahn and the IMF) in Greece, Ireland and Portugal. Lagarde infamously announced the economic crisis was “over” at the end of 2008 – a statement that itself should have disqualified her from appearing as an “expert” in this film.
Ferguson’s research team needed to spend more time and attention on European developments from below instead of from above, to balance an overly upbeat – actually naive – view of that continent’s banking rules and politicians. ‘Inside Job’ shows very clearly that Obama is continuing the policies of his predecessors and has resisted any significant moves to clip the claws of the banking sector. Economist Robert Gnaizda ridicules the measures taken by the Obama- Geithner administration: “How can it reform – it’s a Wall Street government!”
But the film then applauds a largely cosmetic initiative from the governments of Italy, Sweden and other EU countries to introduce tighter bank regulation in Europe. As the debt crisis in Ireland, Portugal and other “peripheral” European economies shows, and the withering programme of social cuts and unemployment this has unleashed, capitalist governments on the opposite side of the Atlantic are equally slavish towards the finance capitalists and incapable of offering solutions.
The film’s conclusion is that none of the ‘reforms’ implemented since 2008 will prevent a rerun of the financial crash. The institutions that caused the crisis have grown even more powerful thanks to gigantic bailouts with few strings attached. Socialists can agree on this, only instead of waiting helplessly for the next round of the crisis we know we need to prepare, organise and build the vital socialist alternative.

Northern Ireland Socialist Election Broadcast

2011-04-16T23:38:00.000+01:00

This is an inspiring election broadcast revealing how in Northern Ireland, Socialists are organising working class communities across the sectarian divide to build unity against the cuts:

Vote For Combative Councillors, Not Cuts Collaborators

2011-03-23T23:31:00.000Z

Dave Nellist is someone I've admired for a long time. He was once a Labour MP, but refused to take the bloated salary and perks that the other MPs wallowed in. Instead he took an average skilled worker's wage, and published his expenses claims so that they could be scrutinised by the local trade union movement, long before the big MPs expenses scandal.

Unsurprisingly for a man of such deep principles, he left the Labour Party, but has continued to fight for socialism.

Now he's part of an electoral coalition that is calling for votes for people who will stand up and fight the cuts, rather than roll on their backs like pussy cats, and meekly implement these attacks on working class people on behalf of the ConDem government, as most Labour councillors are doing.

Here is his article, originally published here:

Elect working class fighters!

Dave Nellist at NSSN lobby
of TUC. Photo by
Suleyman Civi

Councillor Dave Nellist, Acting chair, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition

On 5 May millions of voters will pass judgement on the Con-Dem coalition in elections to local councils, the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly. But as all three establishment parties say "cuts are inevitable," the only debate could be over the speed of cuts. Council seats being shuffled between the three main parties will not slow the axing of council jobs, which the GMB union now estimates puts over 170,000 jobs at risk.

Last month in Coventry, for example, Labour brought forward a cuts package that accepted the £38 million reduction in government grants and core funding and sought to cut 500 jobs this year alone. Coventry's Tories proposed an amendment accepting the total amount to be cut, but varying the detail by £1.5 million.

The main parties accepted 100% of the austerity, but argued about 4% of the detail.

We need councillors who refuse to implement cuts in jobs and services. The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), established in 2010, with the Socialist Party's full support, is organising a challenge in many towns in May's local council elections.

That challenge will bring together socialists, trade unionists and anti-cuts campaigners to argue against cutting tens of thousands of jobs and massacring essential local services.

The May elections are the chance to elect councillors who could stop many of the cuts being implemented locally. 30 years ago, 20 Labour councils united in a strategy to fight the then Tory government's plans for cuts in local services. Unfortunately today there aren't even 20 Labour councillors on Labour run councils prepared to vote against cuts. So we have to find new councillors we can rely on.

Today's Labour councillors say they can do nothing until a general election in 2015. By that time, if the cuts package is not successfully challenged, councils will be spending £8 billion a year less on local services, a cut of almost 28% in four years.

But councillors do have a choice. And electing even a single radical councillor could make a difference, provided they used that position (as we try to do in Coventry) to help organise community campaigns and trade unionists to fight against the cuts.

TUSC councillors would pledge to oppose all cuts in council jobs, services, pay and conditions. We will campaign against the idea that 'some cuts' are necessary.

We refuse to allow divisions between council staff, service users and communities, which are inevitable unless we oppose all cuts. TUSC councillors would vote against privatisation of council services, or the transfer of services to 'social enterprises' or 'arm's-length' management organisations.

TUSC councillors would seek to use all the legal powers open to councillors to delay or obstruct government policies which lead to cuts or the transfer of public services to private bodies. For example, councils could refer local NHS decisions for further scrutiny.

They could initiate referenda, public consultations (for example of parents over the creation of divisive academy schools) and commissions as part of a wider campaign.

Councils with housing stock, or with representatives on a social landlord's board, could refuse to use the government's proposed fixed term tenancies, oppose raising social rents up to 80% of market rents and make a policy not to evict tenants in arrears due to housing benefit cuts.

TUSC supporters will work with every anti-cuts campaign, and fight the implementation of the cuts agenda, library by library, swimming pool by swimming pool, youth club by youth club. It's one thing to pass a budget, it's another to implement it!

We will support working class communities in those fights. But out of many such campaigns will emerge new TUSC candidates for those struggles themselves to challenge the big three parties in future elections.

Campaigners in many towns successfully challenged the main parties over issues such as PFI hospitals and the closure of comprehensive schools in favour of academy schools. In Kidderminster, Barrow in Furness, Preston, Wigan, Walsall, and Wellingborough independents, socialists and trade unionists have captured seats. In Coventry, Lewisham and Huddersfield, Socialist Party members have won seats.

These small but significant victories show the possibilities of a wider challenge. And whilst TUSC's initial results may be modest, breakthroughs cannot be ruled out.

At the very least, candidates standing on an open anti-cuts platform will pull the debate towards the left - and away from the overlapping agenda of the big three parties.

Socialist policies

TUSC was set up last year with the backing of fighting trade unionists, including RMT general secretary Bob Crow, leading national officers of the PCS civil service union, and Nina Franklin, vice president of the National Union of Teachers.

TUSC is a federal 'umbrella' coalition with an agreed core policy statement. Its core policies include opposition to public spending cuts and privatisation, student grants not fees, the repeal of the anti-trade union laws, and the clear socialist commitment to "bringing into democratic public ownership the major companies and banks that dominate the economy, so that production and services can be planned to meet the needs of all and to protect the environment".

See those detailed policies on the coalition's website - http://www.tusc.org.uk/

Nominations to stand in May's council elections have to be submitted to your local council by 4 April.

Organisations and groups that want to be involved in the 2011 TUSC local council election challenge should urgently contact TUSC at:

electioncoalition@btinternet.com

Lancaster University Threaten Strikers With Withdrawal Of Death Benefits.

2011-03-21T22:52:00.000Z

Lecturers at Lancaster University are striking tomorrow over attacks on their pensions.
Management at the university took the highly diplomatic and skilled human resources strategy (NOT) of threatening to withdraw any death benefits to staff on strike days, meaning it is financially unwise of them to die while they are strike.

Unsurprisingly, this subtle and sensitive approach to management has led many more people to decide to come out on strike and attend the picket line than would otherwise have participated.

If management were setting out to create bad feeling, tension and dissatisfaction among their staff, this would, without doubt, be the most efficient and effective way to do it.

Universities long ago stopped being places of study and learning for their own sake, and became instead machines for spewing out graduates at the most profitable rate possible.

Libya: Yes to People's Revolution, No to Western Intervention

2011-03-20T00:43:00.001Z

Libya: Revolution Must Not Be Derailed By Western Intervention

The launching of hundreds of cruise missiles and the flights of jet fighters from many Western powers over Libya has brought back the spectre of Iraq. These wolves may have donned sheeps clothing, but for all their bleating about human rights, they are motivated by one thing, and one thing only, the control of the Libyan oilfields.

Here's an excellent analysis of the UN resolution, written hours before the huge imprecise onslaught of western firepower against Libya and it's people.

No to Western military Intervention
http://www.socialistworld.net/, 18/03/2011

website of the committee for a workers' international, CWI

Victory to the Libyan revolution - Build an independent movement of workers and youth!

Robert Bechert, CWI

The UN Security Council’s majority decision to enact a militarily-imposed ‘no-fly-zone’ against Libya, while greeted with joy on the streets of Benghazi and Tobruk, is in no way intended to defend the Libyan revolution. Revolutionaries in Libya may think that this decision will help them, but they are mistaken. Naked economic and political calculations lay behind the imperialist powers’ decision. It is not a lifeline that could ‘save’ the revolution, in the real sense of the word, against Gaddafi. Major imperialist powers decided that they wanted now to exploit the revolution and try to replace Gaddafi with a more reliable regime. However the Libyan foreign minster’s announcement of an immediate ceasefire has complicated imperialism’s position.

Faced with a rapid eastwards advance of Gaddafi’s forces, many in eastern Libya seized hold of the idea of a no-fly-zone to help stem this tide, but this is not the way to defend and extend the revolution. Unfortunately, the revolution’s initial drive towards the west, where two-thirds of Libyans live, was not based on a movement, built upon popular, democratic committees that could offer a clear programme to win support from the masses and the rank and file soldiers, while waging a revolutionary war. This gave Gaddafi an opportunity to regroup.

The growing support for a no-fly-zone was a reversal of the sentiment expressed in the English language posters put up in Benghazi, in February, declaring: “No To Foreign Intervention – Libyans Can Do It By Themselves”. This followed the wonderful examples of Tunisia and Egypt, where sustained mass action completely undermined totalitarian regimes. The Libyan masses were confident that their momentum would secure victory. But Gaddafi was able to retain a grip in Tripoli. This, at least, relative stabilisation of the regime and its counter-offensive led to a change in attitude towards foreign intervention that allowed the largely pro-Western leadership of the rebel ’Interim Transitional National Council’ to overcome youth opposition to asking the West for aid.

However, despite the Gaddafi regime’s blood-curdling words, it is not at all certain that its relatively small forces could have launched an all-out assault on Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, with around a million living in its environs. A mass defence of the city would have blunted the attack of Gaddafi’s relatively small forces. Now, if the ceasefire holds and Gaddafi remains in power in Tripoli, a de-facto breakup of the country could occur, returning to something like the separate entities that existed before Italy first created Libya after 1912 and which Britain recreated in the late 1940s.

Fighters in Benghazi

Whatever the immediate effect the ‘no fly zone’, any trust placed in either the UN or the imperialist powers threatens to undermine all the genuine hopes and aspirations of the revolution that began last month. This is because the powers that have imposed threatened military action are no friends of the Libyan masses. Until recently, they were quite happy to deal with, and pander to, the murderous Gaddafi ruling clique, to maintain a ‘partnership’, especially concerning Libya’s oil and gas industries. Indeed, the day after the UN took its decision, the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal lamented that “the close partnership between the Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s intelligence service and the CIA has been severed” (18 March, 2011). The Journal reported “according to a senior US official” the previous ‘partnership’ was “especially productive”.

Now, having lost former dictatorial allies Mubarak, in Egypt, and Ben Ali, in Tunisia, imperialism is trying to take advantage of the popular uprising in Libya to both refurbish its “democratic” image and to help install a more “reliable” regime, or at least a part of Libya. As before, North Africa and the Middle East, with its oil and strategic location, are of tremendous importance to the imperialist powers.

This reveals the absolute hypocrisy of the main imperialist powers, which have shamelessly supported repressive dictatorial regimes throughout the Middle East for decades. At the very same time that they were deciding the No Fly Zone, the same powers did absolutely nothing to prevent Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies’ increasingly brutal suppression of the majority of the Bahraini population and their attempt to ferment sectarianism. Within 12 hours of the UN decision, the armed forces another regional ally, Yemeni, ally shot dead at least 39 protesters in the capital city, Sanaa. The UN was only able to take its decision on Libya because the Arab League supported a no fly zone, but of course these mainly reactionary rulers say nothing about repression in Bahrain, Yemen or other Arab countries.

Gaddafi and Sarkozy in the Past
in Cameron and Sarkozy’s “concern” for Libya is at least partly motivated by domestic unpopularity and the hope that a foreign success will strengthen their standing. Cameron clearly hopes for a boost similar to that which Thatcher enjoyed after her victory in the 1983 Falklands war. But Thatcher achieved a quick military victory - the no fly zone operation will not will produce a similar military win. Sarkozy, after the disaster of his Tunisia policy that led to the resignation of the French Foreign Minister, needs a “success” to lift his low poll ratings as next year’s Presidential election looms closer.

Gaddafi zig-zags

Despite the imperialist powers’ recent rapprochement with Gaddafi, the tyrant always remained an unreliable ally. Throughout his nearly 42 years in power, Gaddafi zig-zagged in policy, sometimes violently. In 1971, he helped the Sudanese dictator, Nimeiry, crush a left coup that took place in reaction to the earlier suppression of the left, including the banning of the one-million member Sudanese communist party. Six years later, Gaddafi proclaimed a "people’s revolution" and changed the country’s official name from the Libyan Arab Republic to the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah. Despite the name change and the formation of so-called “revolutionary committees”, this was not genuine democratic socialism or a move towards it. The Libyan working people and youth were not running their country. Gaddafi remained in control. This was underlined by the increasingly prominent role that many of his children played in the regime.

Nevertheless, since 1969, on the basis of a large oil income and a small population, there was a big improvement in most Libyans’ lives, especially in education and health, which at least partly explains why Gaddafi still has some basis of support amongst the population. Even while there is growing opposition to the Gaddafi clique, especially amongst Libya’s overwhelmingly young and educated population, there is also fear about who might replace him and opposition to anything that smells of foreign rule. The revolutionaries’ widespread use of the old ruling monarchy’s flag was bound to alienate those who do not want to return to the past and was used by Gaddafi to justify his rule. Flying the old flag also risked alienating Libyans in the west of the country because the former king came from the east and had no historic roots in the area around Tripoli.

But these factors are not a complete explanation as to why Gaddafi was able, at least temporally, to stabilise his position. While there was a popular uprising in eastern Libya, Gaddafi was able to maintain his position in the west, where two-thirds of the population live, despite large protests in Tripoli and uprisings in Misrata, Zuwarah and a few other areas.

Role of the working class

Unlike in Egypt and Tunisia, the working class in Libya has not, so far, begun to play an independent role in the revolution. Furthermore, many workers in Libya are migrants who have fled the country in recent weeks.

The absence of a national focal point which, for example, the Tunisian UGTT trade union federation provided (despite its pro-Ben Ali national leadership), complicated the situation in Libya. The huge revolutionary enthusiasm of the population has not, so far, been given an organised expression. The largely self-appointed ‘National Council’ that emerged in Benghazi is a combination of elements from the old regime and more pro-imperialist elements. For example, the Council’s foreign spokesman, Mahmoud Jibril, the former head of Gaddafi’s National Economic Development Board, was described by the US Ambassador, in November 2009, as a “serious interlocutor who ‘gets’ the US perspective”.

It is easy for Gaddafi to present these people as a threat to Libyan living standards and agents of foreign powers. At the same time, this propaganda will have only a limited effect, as population’s living standards worsening and unemployment increased (standing at 10%) since from the end of the 1980s oil boom and the start of privatisation back in 2003.

Gaddafi’s use of the threat of imperialist intervention did gather some support and if the country becomes divided may gain more. How long this can sustain Gaddafi is another question. In addition to anti-imperialist rhetoric, Gaddafi made concessions to maintain support. Each family has been given the equivalent of $450. Some public sector workers have been given 150% wage increases and taxes and customs duties on food have been abolished. But these steps do not answer the demands for freedom or end the growing frustration of Libya’s youthful population, with an average age of 24, over the regime’s corruption and suffocating grip.

Around the world, millions of people follow, and are inspired by, the revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East. These events inspired protests against the effects of the continuing capitalist crisis in many countries. Some of those welcoming the revolutionary events in the region may support the UN’s ‘no fly zone’ but socialists argue that it is primarily made in the interests of the imperialist powers – the same powers that no nothing substantially to restrain the repressive actions of Gulf states against mass protests in their countries.

But what then can be done internationally to genuinely help the Libyan revolution? First of all, trade unions should block the export of Libyan oil and gas. Secondly, bank workers should organise the freezing of all the Gaddafi regime’s financial assets.

The ‘no fly zone’ will not automatically lead to the overthrow of Gaddafi, in fact, like Saddam Hussein, the Libyan leader could entrench his position for a time in those parts of the country he controls. As the experience of Egypt and Tunisia shows, the key to overthrow dictatorships is the movement of the working masses and youth.

A revolutionary programme
Thus the fate of the revolution will be decided inside Libya itself. Its victory requires a programme that can cut across tribal and regional divisions and unite the mass of the population against the Gaddafi clique and for a struggle for a better future.

A programme for the Libyan revolution that would genuinely benefit the mass of the population would be based on winning and defending real democratic rights; an end to corruption and privilege; the safeguarding and further development of the social gains made since the discovery of oil; opposition to any form of re-colonisation and for a democratically-controlled, publicly-owned, economic plan to use the country’s resources for the future benefit of the mass of people.

The creation of an independent movement of Libyan workers, poor and youth that could implement such a real revolutionary transformation of the country, is the only way to thwart the imperialists’ plans, end dictatorship and to transform the lives of the people

Fylde Fracking Furore

2011-03-17T14:23:00.001Z

The people of North Lancashire are only just beginning to hear about plans to mine shale gas from deep beneath their feet, using the highly contraversial 'fracking' technique.

This article on a petition against fracking in the area near Kirkham and about a public meeting in Lytham was first published by Reigh Belisama on the 'Save The Ribble' blog.

Philip Mitchell from the Blackpool and Fylde Green Party is giving a talk about the Shale Fracking/Coalbed Methane issues at:
Lytham YMCA, Mythop Rd, Lytham
Tuesday 22nd March (UN World Water Day) 7:30pm

Whether or not you are planning to come to the meeting, please sign the PETITION at www.ipetitions.com/petition/ukgas

We will report back from the meeting on March 22nd next week, and in the meantime, here's an interesting extract from Philip Mitchell's Parliamentary Memorandum:

"In Lancashire it has been reported that the Shale Gas field potentially reached from Blackpool to Pendle Hill, and in the DECC map includes the Forest of Bowland and extends to the West side of the Yorkshire Dales. This itself suggests a field of approximately 400 square miles, and on a purely commercial consideration would mean 100 gas wells extracting gas from a well 2 miles apart ( the approximate distance of the first three test wells in the Fylde). THIS IS A TINY PROPORTION OF THE POTENTIAL FIELD across the UK, .

The main risk and source of public outcry in the US has been the contamination of drinking water. In Lancashire the aquifers used in drinking cover this likely area of drilling and in the AJ Lucas press release [... ref attachments of evidence submitted to Parliament] re Preese Hall, Grange Hill, Singleton], appears to be in the location of the Aquifer [...ref attachments of evidence submitted to Parliament ] and Carbonate Rock. Purely commercial Interest would also mean many of the wells would be in the area of the aquifers.

The committee should also consider the risk of extracting 1 billion gallons of water from the surface water of the potential gas field in Lancashire.

The routes to pollution are multiple, and include leakage from the well, spillage from the site and handling of thousands of gallons of liquid which flows back from the well after fracking. The control mechanisms cannot be relied upon alone. I would also urge the committee to seriously consider the long term risks of deterioration of control mechanisms of the vertical well linings meant to protect the well from leakage.

When the liquid used for fracking leaks it has natural gas dissolved in it, this entering the water table has caused wells to explode and domestic water drawn from the aquifer to be inflammable and explosive.[...]
There is a need to dispose of the millions of gallons of highly toxic liquid flow-back following fracking and the committee needs to consider the risks of inadequate numbers of treatment centres to process this waste, for example in Lancashire on the basis of using up to 1 billion gallons of water for fracking. Contamination of water supplies and Rivers would be considered disastrous. This is already a huge problem in New York State and Pennsylvania.

The risk to locally produced food is serious. Contamination with the chemicals involved through any of the many routes of pollution will pose a threat to the farming and local food retail industry as well as the consumers.

The risk to wildlife and animals is huge. [ref attachments of evidence submitted to Parliament ].

There is also a risk of a well blowout which in a reported case spewed out explosive gas and polluting liquid 75 feet into the air and onto the ground for 16 hours. The area around for one square mile had to be evacuated and flight routes diverted.

Experiences in the Fylde

Experiences in the Fylde of the first three production test sites (Weeton – Preese Hall, Singleton and Lytham Moss Anna’s Road) Cuadrilla Resources. Cuadrilla Resources Limited gives its postal address in Lichfield, Leicestershire, UK. AJLucas describe their activities as only in the UK and Europe and that this has been the first time they have carried out "true" shale gas extraction methods (ref attachments of evidence submitted to Parliament ).

At Weeton , Preese Hall, the drilling is through "Clitheroe Limestone" [ref attachments of evidence submitted to Parliament ] whereas the Delaware River Keeper network wishes to ban drilling through" Karst Geology and Carbonate Rock"-
[Philip Mitchell here urges the committee to question Geologists on the significance of drilling through the rock quoted in the AJLucas press release e.g. to contamination of aquifers. ]"

You can read the whole Memorandum here and sign the PETITION at www.ipetitions.com/petition/ukgas

Fukushima Meltdown; A Nuclear Disaster

2011-03-15T22:38:00.004Z

Nuclear Power? No Thanks!

If the disaster at Fukushima does not fully discredit the nuclear industry, I don't know what will. Simply the cost of cleaning up the mess at those nuclear reactors should deter any further reliance on what has always been an inherently unsafe and expensive method of producing power.

The real reason the British state has pumped so much investment into nuclear over the years is nothing to do with power generation, it is to do with having the nuclear material available to make nuclear weapons, so that they can remain one of the 'big boys' club of countries with a nuclear capability.

I'm reposting this excellent article by Martin Powell Davies, a member of the National Union of Teachers National Executive, written in his personal capacity:

News overnight from Japan must surely now shake even the firmest 'accident-deniers' from the nuclear industry into recognising that Fukushima is now the world's second worst nuclear disaster - with long-term consequences.

It seems that last night's blast at reactor no.2 was NOT another hydrogen explosion but a possible breach of the suppression chamber wall INSIDE the containment vessel. This is potentially a far more serious situation. Pressure has reportedly dropped in the suppression chamber - suggesting a crack in the containment vessel. If so, highly radioactive materials (in air or possibly in liquid) will be able to leak out.

Radioactivity levels have now risen significantly - numbers are no longer in MICROsieverts but in MILLIsieverts - a thousand times greater. Recommended maximum annual doses are around 10mSv a year - measurements of 400mSv per hour have been reported near the reactors.

Some operators have been evacuated, others are bravely staying on site to try and maintain water injection. However, there are too many different emergencies for the staff to deal with at once with the limited resources that they have at their disposal.

As a consequence, temperatures in the spent fuel pools have also risen as cooling has not been in place. A further hydrogen-ignited fire therefore broke out in the pool in Reactor 4. Although this reactor is shutdown, the used rods can still generate sufficient heat to cause such an incident if cooling is ceased. These pools are outside the core containment and so radioactive material released by the fire will have risen into the atmosphere.

The previous hydrogen blast at Reactor 3 has left its spent pool uncovered. A fire here could release toxic plutonium into the environment if MOX fuel rods are involved.

So much for a localised 'Level 4' incident. The situation is dire.

For a socialist perspective from the region, read http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/4929'Earthquake could leave “tens of thousands” dead and nuclear threat'
and http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/4931 'Disaster hits workers hardest'

UPDATE: While news reports state that 'radiation levels are falling', the readings are still in millisieverts rather than at the lower microsievert levels previously being recorded. Kyodo News reports the following grim overview:
-- Reactor No. 1 - Cooling failure, partial melting of core, vapor vented, hydrogen explosion, seawater pumped in.
-- Reactor No. 2 - Cooling failure, seawater pumped in, fuel rods fully exposed temporarily, vapor vented, damage to containment system, potential meltdown feared.
-- Reactor No. 3 - Cooling failure, partial melting of core feared, vapor vented, seawater pumped in, hydrogen explosion, high-level radiation measured nearby.
-- Reactor No. 4 - Under maintenance when quake struck, fire caused possibly by hydrogen explosion at pool holding spent fuel rods, pool water level feared receding.

FURTHER UPDATE 22.45: A second fire has now taken hold at reactor No.4 - presumably again from the spent fuel pool. Unlike reactors 5 and 6, where some rods are still in the reactor, reports say that ALL of the rods from reactor 4 had been placed in the spent fuel pool - this unfortunately increases the amount of radioactive material that could be released as a result of the fire.

Churches Get It Wrong On Preston Lamb

2011-03-12T22:13:00.006Z

People who read the "Preston Logo Is A No-Go" story in the LEP about how the council has tried to censor Preston Against Cuts image of the 'Proud Preston' Lamb (covered here several days earlier on River's Edge) will have read these comments on the logo from Father Timothy Lipscomb, Vicar of Preston and Father Bernard Walker, catholic priest at St Wilfrid's Church:

Father Timothy Lipscomb, vicar of Preston, said: “I have a great deal of sympathy for people who have lost their jobs, but an image cutting a symbol of Jesus in half isn’t the best way to go about things. It is very macabre.

“The emblem of the lamb is one of peace. I think the group needs to be careful not to alienate the people they seek to represent.”

Catholic priest Father Bernard Walker, of St Wilfrid’s Church in Preston, said: “In my opinion it is totally tasteless and insulting"

“The image of the lamb is one of the main images of Christianity, and should not be treated in this way.”

With full respect to these august theologians, they are wrong, even in respect of Christian iconography.

Venture into any Christian Church, and you will see pictures and sculptures of saints, and of Christ himself suffering grevious tortures and suffering, their walls are a gorefest that rivals games like 'Doom'.

Preston's Churchmen find this
image offensive to Christians

Christian Image of Christ on The Cross

This image of a lamb pouring its own blood into
a chalice appears in the apse
of St. Josef Church in Sehne-Bolzum, Germany

At a time when some people with disabilities are so worried about government cuts that they are threatening suicide, it seems perverse that our churchmen are more concerned about a cartoon lamb, than about the suffering of real people.

Time for them to get off the fence and join the campaign against the cuts being made by our government and our councils.

China: Heading for Middle East Style Uprisings?

2011-03-11T08:08:00.000Z

This is the editorial from the latest issue of Socialist《社會主義者》magazine (number 9, Spring 2011), published in Hong Kong by Chinese and Hong Kong supporters of the CWI.

As Socialist magazine goes to print, the revolt against despotism in the Middle East and North Africa enters its tenth week and the “dominos” continue to fall. Gaddafi, the dictator of Libya, has lost control of most of the country, but clings to power at least for the time being with the help of mostly mercenary forces. At least 1,000 have been killed. The revolutionary wave shows no signs of subsiding, far from it. We are witnessing history – a massive demonstration of the power of mass struggle and the speed with which such movements can travel.

Even in oil-rich Saudi Arabia, a bastion of reaction across the region, young people are calling for a similar rebellion against the absolutist monarchy. Formerly “calm” Oman, ruled by Sultan Qaboos bin Said, has been drawn into the tumult. Reports are emerging of tear gas, rubber bullets and supermarkets ablaze, as youth on the streets demand higher pay, jobs and political change. These movements are payment for the imposition of brutal neo-liberal programmes over more than 30 years at the behest of the capitalists.

Inevitably the question is raised: Can this revolutionary mood spread from predominantly Arabic-speaking countries to Asia and even China?

“Jasmine Revolution?”

Despite massive online censorship and a block on keywords like “Egypt” and “Jasmine Revolution”, millions of internet-savvy Chinese are scaling the regime’s “Great Firewall” controls and eagerly following the mighty revolutionary tide in the Middle East. The sympathy and excitement about these revolutions does not of course automatically translate into a movement on the streets, even inside the world’s biggest dictatorship, with its own stark inequality not so different to that which is fuelling revolt in Cairo, Tunis, Manama and Algiers.

China is different in one crucial respect: the degree and sophistication of internet and telecommunications controls exceeds anything seen elsewhere. Mobile SMS messages and not just the internet can be filtered by authorities to block sensitive words and monitor those calling for mobilisations. The calls online for regular Sunday protests and a “Jasmine Revolution” have yet to trigger any significant response inside China. But only fools will take this as a sign of “stability” or conclude that Chinese workers and youth are more satisfied than their peers in the Middle East.

Instead, the calls for gatherings in almost 30 cities, while so far largely unheeded, have shown the extreme nervousness of the China’s rulers. “The party is very, very nervous, way beyond their normal level of anxiety,” explained Li Datong, a retired editor of the party-run China Youth Daily.

Tens of thousands of police have been mobilised to cordon off suspected protest sites, often to the bemusement of local shoppers and residents. Dozens of lawyers, activists and dissidents have been arrested. The current crackdown is the biggest since October when dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Increased repression

The fall of Arab dictators who only weeks ago seemed as firmly ensconced in power as China’s ruling party, has sent the government into a spin. Since Mubrarak was deposed in Egypt, two high-level meetings have been held in Beijing to put provincial and military leaders on the highest alert.

At the most recent meeting, China’s top security official Zhou Yongkang urged party chiefs to improve “social management” and “strive to defuse conflicts and disputes while they are still embryonic”. Zhou called for the establishment of a national database to store basic information on all citizens. Since 2008 the Beijing regime’s spending on internal security has risen dramatically and is now almost on a par with defence spending. It is more than the total health budget.

A favourite theme of the regime-controlled media is to dwell on the “instability” and “violence” of the mass movements in the Middle East, and the negative effects on business in particular. One would think China had never had a revolution. Yet this October sees the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the Xinhai revolution, which ended China’s imperial dynasty and established Asia’s first republic. This was overshadowed by the even more powerful revolutionary movement of workers and peasants in 1925-27, and the revolution of 1949 that overthrew feudalism and for a period also capitalism. The Chinese regime’s stress on “harmonious development” echoes the propaganda of Arab dictators Mubarak and Gaddafi, that they are all that stands between “civilisation” and “anarchy”.

Colour revolutions?

Beijing’s propagandists also warn against “colour revolutions” and imply that the movements in the Middle East have been fomented or manipulated by US imperialism to install pro-US regimes. Calls for democratic rights are thus equated with support for an “anti-China” and “pro-Western” approach. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is that almost all the regimes now feeling the heat of revolution are close strategic allies of Western imperialism. Those Chinese dissidents who still believe in the “universal democratic values” of the US capitalist system should open their eyes. The wholesale rejection of pro-US regimes by the mass of the people, despite their lack at this early stage of any clear programme to defeat imperialism, is a nightmarish challenge for the US.

This is the case in Yemen, Djibouti, Egypt and Bahrain, the base of the US Fifth fleet, where the Khalifah monarchy, closely supported by the Saudi ruling family, has also recently attempted – without success – to crush the revolution by force. Unlike Gaddafi in Libya, Bahrain’s tyrant has escaped condemnation by the capitalist United Nations.

“Mubarak is immensely courageous and a force for good,” Britain’s former Labour prime minister Tony Blair told CNN, just one week before the Egyptian dictator was toppled. This shows the real attitude of capitalist leaders (Blair was a key partner of president Bush’s plan to invade Iraq in 2003). Mubarak’s regime has historically been the second largest recipient of US aid worldwide, with four-fifths of this aid going to the military, the power-base of Mubarak’s dictatorship.

This shows the hypocrisy of the Western “democracies” whose actions in the Middle East – i.e. propping up repulsive dictatorships – are decided by naked economic interests. In this power game there is no fundamental difference between the “democracies” and the Beijing regime. While Western capitalist leaders talk of “human rights” and “democracy” to hide their real intentions, Beijing talks of “harmonious development” and the need for “stability”.

Libya – What next?

The level of governmental hypocrisy has reached new heights over Libya. With the largest reserves of oil in Africa, this is a key country for world capitalism. Western governments are rushing to reposition themselves in the eyes of world public opinion, condemning the Libyan regime’s savagery, when in fact for over a decade they have embraced Gaddafi (literally in Blair’s case) as an ally in the fight against “radical islam” and a pillar of regional “stability”. The European Union (EU) has used Gaddafi and his strong-arm methods to police its southern Mediterranean borders against refugees.

Imperialist governments from Paris to Washington are hinting at possible military action against Gaddafi, under a “humanitarian” pretext, but in reality as a means to exercise leverage over a post-Gaddafi regime, protect their business interests in the region and hedge against the deepening revolutionary mood in the region. They fear the fallout from yet another successful mass revolt, and especially that this may spread to the linchpin state of Saudi Arabia.

Although the Chinese regime does not welcome the prospect of Western military involvement in Libya, which sets a dangerous precedent in their eyes, they too want to see the Arab revolt “contained”, fearing further radicalisation that can pose a threat to capitalism in the region. This explains why China did not block a decision in the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Libya, including an arms embargo, although China and Russia are unlikely to support tougher action such as a proposed no-fly zone. In all cases, the powers represented in the UN are deeply hostile to the revolutionary upsurge in the region while also vying for their own interests, which are not identical.

Socialists, the supporters of the CWI internationally and Socialist Action in Hong Kong, oppose any imperialist intervention in the Middle East, which would be an attempt to hijack a revolutionary movement in order to prop up new compliant rulers, rather than support the masses’ demands for democracy and economic justice.

As the articles in this issue of Socialist show, the CWI actively supports the mass revolutionary movements in the Middle East and urges no compromise with the monarchs and dictators – for the removal of these regimes and their capitalist cronies, and their replacement by governments of workers and poor farmers, based on freely elected revolutionary constituent assemblies and mass revolutionary committees. We call for a socialist federation of Middle Eastern and North African states as a step towards defeating capitalism internationally.

China’s turn?
The Chinese leaders are sitting on a social time bomb, no different fundamentally from that faced by Mubarak, Gaddafi and other Arab dictators. There is huge accumulated anger everywhere after decades of privatisations, neo-liberal attacks, an unprecedented wealth gap and rampant corruption.

In China there have been more than 90,000 “mass incidents” in each of the last four years according to official data. Peasant protests against corrupt officials in league with property tycoons have skyrocketed in tandem with soaring land prices – last year struck a new record with over 50,000 illegal land grabs. At the same time the gap between rich and poor is more extreme in China even than in Egypt, Yemen and Tunisia.

Government figures released on January 20 show that rural per capita net income rose 10.9 percent to an average of 5,919 yuan last year. This is hailed as great progress. But it still means that 750 million rural Chinese must eke out a living on 898 US dollars per year – or 2.4 dollars a day! This is the average income level and most therefore receive less than this, with a minority receiving a great deal more. A survey published by the puppet official trade union shows that average salaries for “second generation” migrant workers, the backbone of last year’s historic strike wave, are ten percent lower than the “first generation” of migrants earned in the 1980s and early ‘90s, in real terms.

The Chinese regime is frantically stocking its state armouries and expanding the technical capacities of its more than 40,000 internet cops. But they should heed the example of Gaddafi, who threatened to act “like the Chinese in Tiananmen Square” in order to defeat the revolutionary uprising. Perhaps the greatest lesson of the revolutionary wave we are witnessing is that once the people lose their fear, no amount of repression can succeed against them.

Help Preston Against Cuts Save The Guild Hall

2011-03-10T17:18:00.000Z

Just received an important message from Andy Birchall of Preston Against Cuts, the group are looking for more volunteers to help give out leaflets and get showgoers to sign petitions, to help build the campaign to save Preston Guild Hall:

Stop Cuts to the Guild Hall and Charter Theatre

Saturday 12th March 6.30pm.

We have around 6 volunteers so far who are going to be outside the Guild Hall entrance at 6.30pm Saturday evening handing out leaflets and petitioning those entering.

We believe that this could be the first step toward privatisation of this facility, so instead of having a Vision to protect of cultural centre at the heart of Preston the Council are running it down.

Our resistance is about Bread and Roses and we deserve both.

We look forward to seeing you and may be you will join us for a drink afterwards.

Andy Birchall

Preston Against Cuts Coordinator

A Strategy To Fight The Cuts

2011-03-05T09:55:00.002Z

Britain braced for massive 26 March demonstration

Hannah Sell, Socialist Party (CWI in England & Wales) from Socialism Today, Issue 146

Campaigns to defend public-sector jobs, services and pensions are being built around Britain. The national demonstration on 26 March – reluctantly called by the TUC – offers a great opportunity to step up the movement. HANNAH SELL reports on the potential for developing a mass campaign of coordinated public-sector industrial action, linked with community and users’ groups, students and the unemployed, to defeat the Con-Dem coalition’s vicious cuts.

The government is trying to cow the working class by the sheer scale of the cuts. Two thirds of public-sector bodies are reported to be making job cuts. Every week a new slaughter of public services is announced.

Anti-Cuts Demo

Yet, like the Wizard of Oz, behind the shock and awe, a very weak coalition government trailing in the polls, is pulling the strings. Chancellor George Osborne’s declaration that the government has no plan B, has never been more than propaganda. Behind the scenes, the strategists of capital are clear that the government has no choice but to have a plan B in reserve. As the Financial Times editorial put it on 3 February: "Given the uncertainties, the government may have to adjust its plans in the light of events. To refuse to do so would be irrational".

In the face of mass outrage, the government has already shown that it is capable of retreat. In one week in February it delayed the plans to privatise Britain’s forests, continued threatened funding of debt counsellors for a year, and demagogically warned universities against charging the £9,000 a year fees that the government introduced just two months ago.

These are not major retreats, but they give a glimpse of how scared the government is of potential opposition. David Cameron has had to admit openly that, "It is not possible to make those cuts without cutting some things that are important. It will not make us popular. It will make us unpopular. It will make me unpopular". A determined mass movement, armed with the right strategy and tactics, would be able to defeat this government very quickly. Even a partial movement could potentially force it out of office this year. The scale of the cuts means that mass opposition is inevitable. Whether it can succeed will depend on whether it is inchoate or organised around a clear programme.

The TUC demonstration on 26 March will mark a turning point. At last year’s TUC conference it was the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN), in a move initiated by Socialist Party members, which organised a lobby demanding that the TUC call a national demonstration. The demonstration is only taking place belatedly, when many tens of thousands of jobs have already gone. Nonetheless, it will raise the confidence of the hundreds of thousands of workers who take part, and the millions who watch it on TV. It will demonstrate palpably to all those living in fear for their jobs that they are not alone and that a fight-back is possible. A demonstration, however, is only a starting point.

Unfortunately, the majority of national trade union leaders do not see the possibility of defeating the cuts, in many cases even accepting the argument of New Labour that cuts are necessary, but need to take place more slowly. Therefore, they see their role as no more than organising token resistance and trying to ameliorate the worst effects of the cuts. The strategy put forward at the TUC demonstration is likely to centre on voting Labour in the local elections five weeks later. Even though many of those demonstrating on 26 March will vote Labour in May, in order to punish the ConDems, this ‘strategy’ will rightly be seen as a capitulation given the appalling scale of cuts already being implemented by Labour councils just as much as by Liberal and Tory ones.

Manchester’s Labour city council, for example, has announced that three leisure centres, two swimming pools, five libraries and all but one public toilet will close over the next year. All youth clubs will be handed to the voluntary sector. Refuse collection will only take place fortnightly. Streets will no longer be cleaned overnight. Two thousand council jobs will be cut. Children’s services will be cut by 26% – or £45.1m. Savings of £39.5 million, or 21%, will be made at adult services with charges being introduced. In the run-up to the TUC demo councils up and down the land will announce similar bonfires of public services.

Oppose all cuts

Despite the lack of a fighting strategy from the leadership of the TUC, the demonstration will increase the mood to fight the cuts. Socialists and militant trade unionists have a crucial role to play in intervening in the demonstration to put forward a strategy for victory. The NSSN Anti-Cuts Campaign can play a particularly important role alongside others.

Our starting point has to be opposition to all cuts in jobs and services. This slogan is essential if real unity of the anti-cuts movement is to be achieved. To accept some cuts is to allow the movement to be divided between service users and workers, public- and private-sector workers, benefit claimants and pensioners etc.

The anti-cuts movement will inevitably be multi-faceted given the huge scope of the cuts. The student movement, which led the way so magnificently before Christmas, will remain an important part of the struggle. Already Manchester swimming pool users are threatening to occupy their local pool to prevent it closing. Many similar campaigns will develop. Rent strikes will also be on the cards. A mighty struggle to defend the NHS is required. A movement of benefit claimants is urgently needed, as the vicious cuts literally drive those worst effected to despair. According to the Disability Alliance, nearly one in ten of those claiming the threatened Disability Living Allowance say that losing the benefit may make "life not worth living".

All of these movements and more are essential and inevitable, but to maximise their effectiveness they need to be linked to the enormous potential power of the organised working class in the trade unions. The trade union movement needs to demonstrate that by allying itself clearly with all of those struggling to defend their benefits and services. If the trade unions were to lead a determined struggle against the cuts they would be able to win the active support of many millions more who are not currently organised in the trade unions. Such would be the popular support for such a movement it would be possible to sweep the anti-trade union laws aside.
Coordinated strike action

Our central demand on 26 March will be for a one-day public-sector strike, as a step towards a 24-hour general strike. There is widespread support among public-sector trade unionists for a co-ordinated public-sector strike. At a recent 250-strong Hackney Unison AGM there was a unanimous vote for a one-day public-sector strike. A motion calling for Hackney council to set a needs budget was also carried overwhelmingly. In Scotland, despite the leadership of Unison twice attempting to push through a rotten deal, the Scottish Council has twice stuck to its guns in demanding militant action. In the wake of 26 March, even the most right-wing trade union leaders could be forced to support co-ordinated strike action as a result of the enormous pressure building up from their membership.

Socialists have to support every step towards a public-sector general strike. We are campaigning for those trade unions planning national ballots, both on pensions and cuts, to co-ordinate their strike action and then to appeal to other unions to join them. Such action, even if it was only a partial public-sector general strike in the first instance, would scare the government and tremendously lift the confidence of the working class, preparing the ground for an escalation of the struggle.

To demand co-ordinated action, however, does not mean arguing that workers whose jobs and conditions are under threat should wait for other sections of the working class before taking action. As is being tragically demonstrated in many parts of local government, only speedy and determined action can prevent devastating cuts. If such an approach is taken, council workers fighting in even just one local authority can win victories. At the start of this year, Kirklees Unison, by threatening strike action, was able to force the council to retreat from compulsory redundancies and from reducing redundancy pay and some other measures. This was not a complete victory, but the concessions were won only by threatening militant action and opposing all cuts. The leaderships of many other Unison branches seem to be trying to prevent compulsory redundancies simply by pleading. Contrast Kirklees’ fighting stance to the statement by the Manchester Unison branch which, in the face of devastation, does not say it will fight the cuts but only offers to "assist members during this extremely difficult process".

Strike action needs to be linked to political action. At the moment, Labour is complacent that, despite carrying out government cuts, it will reap the electoral rewards from the government’s unpopularity. The anti-cuts movement urgently needs to discuss standing as many anti-cuts candidates as possible in May’s elections. They should be encouraged to stand under the banner of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), the electoral coalition involving militant trade unionists like Bob Crow alongside the Socialist Party and others, which has an important role to play in co-ordinating this.

Liverpool’s great example

But does this mean that socialists should never call for support for Labour or Green candidates? No. On the contrary, we would enthusiastically build support for the stand of any council that was prepared to fight. At the same time, we do not create illusions that this is likely. The number of Labour councillors who have pledged to defy the cuts can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Not a single Labour council has even considered doing so. This contrasts sharply with the situation in the 1980s when Labour was at base a workers’ party, even though it had a leadership that acted in the interests of the capitalists. When it came to the crunch in the 1980s only the Militant-led Liverpool city council, alongside Lambeth, was prepared to defy the government. Another 18 Labour councils, however, at least pledged to do so, before betraying the struggle at a later stage. Today, even John McDonnell MP, who does support councils defying the government, has made the point that Labour councillors are, in general, among the most right-wing section of the Labour Party, not least because of the salaries they now receive.

'The Socialist' Newspaper

The vast majority of Green councillors also rule out voting against cuts. For example, Samir Jeeraj of the Green Party was a platform speaker at the November conference of the Coalition of Resistance (CoR), in the workshop on ‘what should political representatives do?’ He argued that "many of the tools used by radical councils in the 1980s are no longer available to councillors". Therefore, it is no longer possible to take the ‘Liverpool and Lambeth road’. Bill Randall, the convenor of the Green group on Brighton city council (the largest group of Green councillors in the country), stated clearly: "We can’t stop the cuts, but we believe the blow can be softened by adopting an open-book approach involving councillors, staff, trade unions, the third sector, the business community and services users to find ways to deal with the grievous cuts inflicted upon our city by the government. We urge other parties on the council to join us in negotiating the best possible outcome for the city in these very difficult circumstances". This is identical to the position put by New Labour.

But this assertion is simply untrue. Even Labourlist.org – the Labour bloggers’ website set up by arch-Blairite Derek Draper – published an article by Daniel Blaney saying: "If there was a collective defiance of Eric Pickles by scores of local authorities (essentially going on budget strike), and their act was vindicated by Labour gains in the local elections, it could force a political crisis on the Tory-led coalition. A cascade of ‘no cuts’ budget decisions by local authorities could be the most effective resistance to the cuts so far".

We agree. In the 1980s, Liverpool city council was able to win £60 million in extra funding from the Tory government – fighting without other councils, but with the active support of tens of thousands of workers. Liverpool’s councillors were only surcharged and removed from office, after a four-year struggle, as a result of the betrayal of the right-wing Labour leadership. A ‘cascade’ of Liverpools would have forced Margaret Thatcher from government then, and would defeat the Con-Dem coalition now.

Today, councillors can no longer even be surcharged unless they are found guilty of financial crime for personal gain. But it is still true that any council that refused to carry out cuts or introduce hikes in council tax would come into conflict with the legal system at a certain stage. If a council acts without ‘due regard’ for the advice from the council’s Finance Officer (ie by setting a deficit budget) then it could be referred to the Standards Board and councillors could be barred from office for a period. However, if the inevitable popularity of such a council was used to mobilise a mass movement it would be very difficult – as in Liverpool – to do this. And any councillors removed from office for fighting the cuts would find many others prepared to take their place to continue the struggle.

However, most councils have time to prepare before taking this road. By using their reserves and borrowing powers to avoid making cuts, councils can gain time to build a mass movement in their support. Manchester city council, for example, is estimated to have £100 million in reserves. To strengthen such a stand – and this answers the lie that there is ‘nothing Labour can do’ – Ed Miliband could promise that an incoming Labour government would write off all local authority debts incurred from avoiding cuts.

Exerting pressure from below

Some Labour councillors’ groups, not yet in power, may stand on a platform that comes closer to opposition to cuts than those of Labour councils. Many will have their pledges tested very quickly when they are swept to power in May. In Hull, to give one example, the leader of the Labour group spoke at a 450-strong local anti-cuts rally and pledged to demand the return of the £80 million that has been cut from the council grant by central government, to oppose compulsory redundancies, and bring at least some privatised services back in house. The idea of introducing a local Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) has also been mooted.

The anti-cuts movement in Hull has managed to exert huge pressure on the Labour group. It now needs to draw up an anti-cuts programme and demands that the Labour group stands on it in May’s elections. If the whole Labour group does not adopt it, then individual councillors should be asked to give explicit guarantees to support the whole anti-cuts programme and, if not, to specify which they will support and why they do not support others. Verbal pledges from councillors in anti-cuts meetings, when they are feeling the heat of local workers’ anger, are one thing but are not enough. Concrete, written pledges are required. Any anti-cuts programme needs to include opposition to all cuts in services, jobs, pay and conditions. Given the scale of the cut in the funds Hull receives from central government, any pledge short of this will, in reality, mean devastating cuts.

Potentially, a promise not to carry out compulsory redundancies could mean merely using this as a bargaining chip in order to extract agreements to major cuts in pay and conditions – as Barnsley council has done, for example. Polly Toynbee has shamefully held up Barnsley council as a good example, but for local authority workers in Barnsley it is a council of axe men and women. Nor has accepting cuts in pay and conditions avoided compulsory redundancies. Determined to do the government’s bidding and ‘balance the books’, the council has still had to make some compulsory redundancies.

It is necessary for Labour groups which say they oppose cuts to understand that it is only by coming into conflict with the government, and building a movement to defeat it, that it will be possible to avoid cuts. It may be possible to set a ‘balanced budget’ initially without making cuts – by spending reserves and using borrowing powers, and the local anti-cuts campaign should make proposals on this. But this would only be to gain time in order to prepared for the inevitable conflict with the government at a later stage.

A different approach

These kinds of concrete discussions between anti-cuts organisations and Labour and Green candidates will enable workers to see clearly who really opposes cuts. It is a completely different approach to that taken by the leadership of Right to Work (RtW) and CoR who have uncritically built up New Labour and Green councillors as leaders of the movement, without a word of criticism of them for failing to actually oppose the cuts. Such an approach is to prepare the movement for betrayals and defeats.

There is a clear comparison here with the movement against the Iraq war. The leaderships of both CoR and RtW led the Stop the War Coalition (STWC). Against the objections of the Socialist Party representatives on the STWC committee, the Socialist Workers Party and its allies bulldozed the decision through the committee to allow a platform to the Liberal Democrats – without any public criticisms of them – before hundreds of thousands at the massive anti-war demonstration in London in February 2003.

They also refused to allow any speaker on behalf of a socialist organisation. This burnished the ‘anti-war’ credentials of Charles Kennedy and the Lib-Dems. Undoubtedly, this helped to build up their ‘radical’ image, particularly amongst young people. Today, Nick Clegg boasts of his anti-war stance then, while enthusiastically embracing Osborne’s axe today as well as the continued occupation of Afghanistan! To repeat the same mistake in the anti-cuts movement would have even more serious consequences. That this is a real danger is demonstrated by a RtW advert for a lobby of Manchester Labour council, which is making 2,000 workers redundant. The advert declared: "We want to show the Con-Dem government that we will stand with our councillors in opposing the cuts" – without a mention of the fact that the councillors are the ones voting through the cuts!

The reason given for this is that ‘the broadest and most united possible’ anti-cuts movement is needed to beat the government. This is complete misunderstanding. It is wrong to imagine, in Manchester for example, that the road to involving more local authority workers and service users in the anti-cuts movement is to have the councillors who are decimating services in the leadership of the movement. Without doubt, workers rightly lay the primary blame for the cuts at the feet of the Con-Dem government. But this does not mean that they consider the Labour councils carrying out cuts to be blameless.

We favour united local anti-cuts campaigns, but not to the extent of involving people who are voting through cuts and who inevitably demand that the campaign does not lay any blame at their feet. We have already the example in Coventry of Labour councillors threatening to set up an alternative campaign to Coventry Against the Cuts if it did not desist from its plans to lobby the Labour council for voting through £101 million worth of cuts.

This does not mean that we expect local anti-campaigns to be ‘chemically pure’. There are bound to be workers who are attracted to the local anti-campaigns, seeing them as the best fighters, but do not see the possibility of opposing all cuts at this stage. Such workers are welcome in the struggle. However, this is a different issue to giving a platform to councillors who are implementing cuts. In the anti-poll tax struggle the activists included people of many different political persuasions, including Tory voters. All who supported mass non-payment were welcome. Councillors jailing non-payers were not.

Socialists have a vital role to play in the anti-cuts movement. Potentially, our role, together with the best workers, could make the difference between the success and failure of the movement. At the same time, there will be greater opportunities to win workers to socialism and to Marxism than has been the case for many decades. Undoubtedly, there is an ideological element in the Tories’ messianic drive to destroy public services. In essence, however, the cuts arise from the concrete position that capitalism finds itself at the current time. Across Europe, capitalist governments, regardless of their political stripe, are carrying out similar savage attacks on public spending. Governments can certainly be forced to retreat by mass struggle, but the only way to permanently end the attacks on public services is to end capitalism. In Britain, the Con-Dems could be thrown out of office, but they would be replaced by a Labour government that would also try and continue to cut, albeit at a slightly slower pace. It is essential that socialists are not just the best fighters against the cuts but also link the fight against the cuts to the need to build mass independent workers’ parties with a clear socialist programme.

Saudi Arabia, March 11th: Day of Rage

2011-03-04T23:58:00.001Z

Saudi Arabia: Revolution just below the surface

Like a wildfire the revolution spreads across the Arab world. In country after country, the ordinary people are rising up. Now the flames are licking at the feet of the Al Saud dynasty.

Saudi Arabia could be standing on the verge of a new protest movement inspired by the revolutionary events underway in North Africa and the Middle East. The threat of the spreading of this phenomenon to Saudi Arabia fills the capitalists and imperialists of the region and the world (in the US in particular) with a well justified fear. A mass movement of Saudi workers and poor against the country’s repressive dictatorial monarchy and ruling elite for democratic rights and a solution to the country’s social crisis, with mass unemployment and poverty, would shake capitalism and imperialism.

This report was originally posted by Rukhsana Manzoor and Khalid Bhatti, on the website of the Committee for A Workers International. It gives a marxist analysis of what is happening in Saudi, and a way forward for the new parties and formations that are beginning to form across the Middle East.

The strong winds of change that are blowing throughout the Middle East have finally come to the Saudi Arabia. In last few weeks, some small demonstrations have taken place in different cities. Although, these demonstrations were small but none the less are beginning of an important development in this key Gulf country. It might take more time before the eruption of a mass movement of unemployed youth, layers of public sector workers and middle class people including doctors, engineers, lawyers and professors. It is just the beginning of a long process but an important one.

In many ways, Saudi Arabia has by far the most serious problems of all the Gulf States - a large, youthful and sometimes restive population, chafing under the rule of an aging leadership. There is mass unemployment and corruption, no political rights and few personal freedoms. There has even been unrest in areas such as Najran and the oil-rich Eastern Province, where the minority Shia population is concentrated.

A Saudi "Day of Rage" has been called for 11 March. Just weeks ago, analysts would have said there was no chance of protests, but now there does seem to be the potential for scenes of protest and violence.

Saudi Arabia, a top oil exporter and close U.S. ally is an absolute monarchy that does not tolerate any form of public dissent, does not have an elected parliament or any political parties.

In the town of Safwa, in the eastern region of the kingdom, a march of dozens of Saudis was held. They demanded the release of political prisoners detained without trial since 1996 on suspicion of involvement in the bombing of U.S. barracks in Khobar.

The march urged Saudi authorities to release the nine prisoners. In the city of Qatif, a protest march was held. It was the second of its kind in less than 24 hours, involving about 200 youths. The participants chanted slogans "No Sunni-Shiite .. We all call for freedom."

About 60 women staged a rare demonstration in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Saturday, demanding the release of prisoners held without trial as part of efforts to fight Al Qaeda insurgents, activists said.

Saudi legal authorities released 52 women yesterday who were arrested after protesting in front of the Interior Ministry, reports the Al Quds Al Arabi daily newspaper. The women were released after a meeting between Prince Naif ben Abdelaziz, the Interior Minister, and the relatives of the detainees, who had to promise not to repeat their actions. Amnesty International and other human rights activists have accused Saudi Arabia of having detained thousands of reform activists in its sweep against Al Qaeda, which staged a campaign inside the kingdom from 2003-06.

Nearly 300 people protested in Port city Jeddah against the local authorities for providing poor services. This protest came after the worst flooding in the city in which many buildings, houses and shops were inundated in floodwaters which caused widespread destruction. The police attacked the protest and arrested many people.

Saudi Shi’ites have held a small protest in the kingdom’s oil-producing eastern province, close to Gulf Arab neighbor Bahrain, where unrest has cost six lives, local Shi’ite sources said on Saturday.

They said a group of Shi’ites staged a protest on Thursday in the town of Awwamiya, near the Saudi Shi’ite center of Qatif on the Gulf coast, to demand the release of fellow Shi’ites held in prison without trial. Saudi authorities on Sunday released three Shiite detainees who spent more than a year in jail without trial because of their involvement in a popular sit-in in Qatif province in 2009.

The Saudi Arabian regime fears the possible effects of the bloody protests against the royal family in neighboring Bahrain. It fears that unrest in Bahrain, where majority Shi’ites are protesting against the Sunni government, might spread to its Shi’ite minority who mostly live in the eastern province, the source of Saudi oil wealth.

Saudi Arabia applies an austere Wahhabi version of Sunni Islam and minority Shi’ites say that, while their situation has improved under reforms launched by King Abdullah, they still face restrictions in landing senior government jobs.

Awwamiya, a town visibly less affluent than the rest of the country, was the scene of protests for weeks in 2009 after police launched a search for firebrand Shi’ite preacher, Nimr al-Nimr, who breached a taboo, suggesting in a sermon that Shi’ites could one day seek their own separate state.

The threat, which analysts say was unprecedented since the 1979 Irarian revolution provoked anti-Saudi protests, followed clashes between the Sunni religious police and Shi’ite pilgrims near the tomb of Prophet Mohammad in the holy city of Medina. Since then Saudi Shi’ites say the situation has calmed down but they are still waiting for many promised reform to be carried out. Officials say Shi’ites make up 10% of the Saudi population, though some put it closer to 15%.

Founders of new political party arrested

Saudi authorities have also detained several activists who tried to set up the kingdom’s first political party, human rights activists said on Saturday.

Saudi Islamists and opposition activists this month launched a political party called the "Islamic Umma" in a rare challenge to authority, inspired by mass struggles triggering regime change in Tunisia and Egypt.

This party seems to be dominated by moderate Islamists, who oppose both the religious clergy and al-Qaeda ideology and call for the reforms in the country. At this stage, only existing activists are members of this party and some of them have been campaigning for several years for greater political freedom in Saudi Arabia. These activists are well known in Saudi Arabia and widely respected for their struggle.

"Saudi suppression of political activity is as swift as it is total," Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

"At a time when people throughout the Arab world are out on the street seeking greater freedom, the Saudi secret police seem determined to nip any similar demands in the bud."

The new party had called on its website for the holding of elections, more transparency of government decisions and an independent judiciary.

There have been previous attempts to form parties but the group was the first to announce it publicly, analysts said. Its members include Islamist intellectuals, lecturers, human rights activists and lawyers.

More than 70 Saudi academics, headed by Sheikh Dr. Nasser al-Omar, have forwarded a letter to Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, demanding reforms, including the firing of "opportunists" and corrupt officials, putting an end to public money wasting and placing government contracts and transactions under public supervision.

The letter also demands that the regime "take urgent action to mitigate the effects of unemployment among young people." The signatories also called in their statement for " adequate support to individuals and families living below the poverty line." In addition, they advocated in their statement to open the doors to free print media, radio and television. The statement also called for the Shiite minority to be treated in a fair way.

Another group of some 120 Saudi academics, activists and businessmen have called for major reforms including the establishment of a "constitutional monarchy" in the kingdom, in a statement posted on the Internet on Sunday. "We will submit these requests to King Abdullah at a later stage," said Khaled al-Dakhil, a political science professor at the King Saud University.

The petition posted on the Internet calls for the election rather than appointment of a Shura consultative council, and the creation of a constitutional monarchy. It also calls for expanded participation of women in social and political life in the kingdom.

In a sign of rising discontent, a group of Saudi web activists also launched an online campaign calling for political reform. The Saudi campaign, which was launched on Facebook on 29 January and has 364 members so far, called for a constitutional monarchy, an end to corruption, an even distribution of wealth, and a serious solution to unemployment, among other demands. It claims to fight for "Those who are unemployed, who demand better work conditions and better civil rights."

Activists in Egypt have used the social media websites to rally supporters online and coordinate protests. Saudi Arabia does not allow public dissent. Last month, police detained dozens in the port city of Jeddah after they protested against poor infrastructure following deadly floods.

Among other demands, the Facebook page calls for:

•Automobile factories to be opened in every major area and industrial training for young people.

•Open factories in every area and provide better training in the world of technology, programming and maintenance

•An increase in minimum wage to 6,000 Rials (1700 US dollars) and more employment for young people.

•Open more schools

•Eection of the Shura Council

•An independent judiciary

•An electoral district governor of the people

The Facebook page also notes that there are unemployed people in every home in Saudi Arabia and 76% of the population does not have affordable housing.

These demands clearly show the level of the consciousness of the activists and especially of young educated people. At this stage, the demands are of the democratic nature and more focused on reforms within the system. But as the movement will spread and masses will come into action than more radical demands will come out.

The CWI supports the fight for democratic rights, linked to a struggle to break the power of the national and international capitalists and imperialists, whose exploitation and domination of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East forms the basis for the political repression and economic misery which the people face. Only on the basis of democratic ownership and control of the country and region’s rich resources and wealth by workers and the poor in a socialist society can a viable solution be found.

It is just the beginning and there is potential for a broader movement of the youth and political activists to develop in coming days. Such a movement, with the Saudi working class and poor at its head, would rock the country’s rotten regime and capitalism and imperialism throughout the region.

Tom Mann 1911: Play at The New Continental "Rid The World!"

2011-03-04T11:37:00.007Z

The New Continental in Preston is a brilliant 'black box' style theatre. It will be the perfect setting for a play based on Trevor Griffiths screenplay 'Such Impossibilities' about the momentous 72 day strike in Liverpool in 1911, led by syndicalist and trade unionist, Tom Mann.

In 1911, political activist Tom Mann of the Transport Workers Federation came to Liverpool to organise a transport strike – and in the process transformed Liverpool into a city with its own sense of working-class outrage and social responsibility.

These Anti-Fascist Fighters
in the International Brigades
In the Spanish Civil War
Were so inspired by Tom Mann
and the struggles he led that
they named their platoon
after him.

Written by Rob Johnston, writer of Continental hits Einstein's Daughter and Under My Skin, the play is adapted from the screenplay Such Impossibilities by Trevor Griffiths, author of the modern classic Comedians.

Don’t miss this relevant and thrilling drama of 100 years ago, when gunboats patrolled the Mersey and Liverpool workers stood as one to face odds that were heavily stacked against them.

For those interested in the historic background to the play, here's a recent article on 'The Great Unrest' which covers the events of 1911 -1914, and Tom Mann's involvement in them, along with drawing some lessons for today.

All starts at 8pm. Tickets are £7 / £6 Concessions. You can book your tickets by asking at The Continental bar or phoning 01772 499425
Here's the trailer for 'Rid The World' which will be performed on 4th March 2011:

The play is also going on tour, so if you miss it in Preston, you might catch it in Hyde, Liverpool, Buxton or even Hull.
Breath Out Theatre has all the tour dates.

Barnsley Central By-Election: A Bad Result for Establishment Politicians

2011-03-04T10:14:00.003Z

Both the Liberal Democrats and the Tories will be thinking hard after last night's by-election result in Barnsley Central, but Labour would be making a mistake to be celebrating this as a significant step forward.

Slight over-optimism from
the LibDems in Barnsley

The Lib Dems, who "River's Edge" last year branded 'a universally reviled party' saw their vote plummet from 6394 in 2010 to just 1012 last night, putting them in 6th position.

The media have focussed on the Lib Dems disastrous performance, but the Tories did little better, their vote fell from 6388 in 2010 to just 1999, they were even beaten by UKIP.

The Labour vote was hit by the greedy crimes of the previous incumbent, jailed expenses fraudster Eric Ilsley, their vote fell from 17,487 to just 14,724, just half of the vote they received there in 1997, hardly a ringing endorsement for Miliband.

The result shows how angry people are with the lies of Clegg, and the cuts of Cameron and Clegg, but also that they can summon up little enthusiasm for Labour, especially as the Labour council is inflicting vicious cuts in jobs and services on the community.

Ordinary people are getting fed up of complacent politicians who take their votes for granted, and who fail to lead any form of struggle against the vicious attacks that this government is making on working class people and our jobs and services.

People in Barnsley and Doncaster looking for an alternative could do worse than trying out the Barnsley and Doncaster Socialist Party.

Disabled People Against Cuts

2011-03-03T14:55:00.004Z

A black triangle containing
a fist, emblem of the
Black Triangle Campaign
http://www.dpac.uk.net/2011/03/259/

Disabled People Against Cuts is a great new website and blog that is organising disabled people to fight against cuts in benefits, services and jobs.

It's full of resources, facts, figures and ideas about how to build a campaign.

I'm featuring it here because it's important that the battle against the cuts involves EVERYONE affected by the cuts, united together against ALL the cuts. Campaigns like DPAC which mobilise people with disabilities against the cuts that will do so much damage to their lives are a key part of our movement.
Here's a recent letter they wrote to Margaret Curran, Shadow Minister for Disabled People:

Dear Margaret Curran,

We are writing to you as an organisation of disabled people concerned with what seems to be a sustained, unjustified and vicious attack against disabled people.

As shadow minister for disabled people we seek reassurances from you that you will support disabled people to be able to continue to live independently in the community and that you will work to prevent more and more disabled people being thrust even further into poverty.

We feel that these aims are fully in line with the United Nations Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities which has been ratified by the UK government.

Our main concerns are

• there should be a continuing commitment to provide the additional financial support disabled people need to meet the extra costs of their disability provided through Disability Living Allowance. We note with grave concern plans by the coalition government to arbitrarily remove one in five DLA claimants and that even for those disabled people who currently have been awarded DLA for life there will now be an expensive, unnecessary, and bureaucratic reassessments.

• Plans to remove the mobility component of DLA from 80,000 disabled people living in residential care homes can only be described as heartless and as you are aware will deny disabled people their convention rights to a family life. Removing this benefit amounts to a reduction in income for residents of 60%. We would also like the government to explain to us what will happen to those disabled people who use this money to purchase decent wheelchairs that meet their needs. Will anyone who has the mobility component removed from them also have their wheelchairs repossessed?

• Of particular concern in relation to independent living is the loss of funding from the Independent Living Fund which will be removed from 21,000 of the most severely disabled people by 2015 in spite of the fact that the coalition government promised they would protect this group of disabled people from cuts. Together with the unprecedented reductions to social services budgets this will result in independent living being impossible. In Warwickshire it is estimated that one-third of disabled people will lose their entitlement to free care, yet since only substantial and critical care needs are met these will be disabled people with the highest care needs. Failure to provide the care such people need is ultimately likely to result in them instead needing more complex and expensive health care. The admission of disabled people into inappropriate residential care due to lack of funding for independent living would further be much more expensive for the state to provide than to continue to adequately fund care in the community through the Independent Living Fund and social care provision.

It is totally unacceptable to us that any disabled person as is now the case in Kensington and Chelsea should be refused night-time care and instead be issued with incontinence pads and waterproof sheets. This is a total and utter abuse of disabled people’s right s and dignity.

• The continuing lack of transportability of care packages across county boundaries further makes it virtually impossible for disabled people to move, either to seek employment, to find more suitable, or even cheaper accommodation or to move nearer to family and friends who may be able to offer support. We would therefore welcome a commitment from you to support a national care service where an individual care package would be easily transportable.

• While we welcome some of the moves to help disabled people who are able to seek work to find suitable employment we remain concerned that there are no real mechanisms in place to remove any of the considerable barriers disabled people face in being able to find and keep employment. Certainly the recent cuts to Access to Work funding will in no way contribute to facilitating getting more disabled people into sustainable employment.

Moving 1 million disabled people from Incapacity Benefit onto JSA in the midst of a recession and rising unemployment predicted in both public and private sectors while doing nothing to remove any of the barriers that exist and prevent disabled people gaining work is unacceptable to us. For most disabled people Incapacity Benefit is a contributory benefit which they are entitled to through having paid National Insurance contributions whilst working.

We are further very concerned that no consideration seems to have been given to how fluctuating impairments can effect disabled individuals and that they may as a result of this find themseleves subjected to having their benefits sanctioned if they are unable to meet the conditions imposed on them in seeking work. While we welcome any support we therefore feel that sanctions should not be used against disabled people.

The emphasis on ‘working’ means the needs of those disabled people who will never be able to work are not being fully met. The considerable input from disabled people into the voluntary sector is further ignored.

Heavily criticised ESA assessments which ignore GP and consultant views are earning Atos healthcare £100 million a year, how can this amount of money be justified?

• Already 30% of disabled people live in poverty yet the bulk of the plans outlined by the coalition government in relation to Housing Benefits will exacerbate these levels of poverty further.

There is a continuing dire shortage of accessible social housing throughout the UK with one in four disabled people living in properties they are unable to get into and out of.

In Stratford-on-Avon constituency there is such a shortage of social housing that people are helped to rent in the private sector yet the reduction of Local Housing Allowance to the 30th percentile rent from October 2011 will mean that poverty amongst disabled people renting in this sector will soar, as is the case elsewhere in the country. In many London boroughs the waiting list for social housing is over 10 years.

Further no consideration is given to the difficulties faced by disabled people in finding suitable accommodation to meet a range of needs. For example a wheelchair user may need a larger and therefore more expensive property to meet their needs, someone with a visual impairment would find moving elsewhere very difficult, anyone with a learning disability may take several years to learn to find their way around an area and needs to have continuity of care and support.

All of these additional difficulties mean that for disabled people it is impossible to move to the cheapest properties in an area. Since disabled people are more likely to suffer disability hate crime living in the most deprived areas of towns and cities these actions are also likely to result in an increase in such crimes. Yet another breach of human rights under UNCRPD.

The plans to remove disabled people from social housing that is larger then their current needs dictate from 2013 is flawed. From a financial point of view since many disabled people who are currently living in a social housing property with an extra bedroom have had extensive adaptations made which in order for them to be able to continue living independently would then need to be done and funded yet again if they are forced to move by Housing Benefit being restricted to a one bedroom rate.

Further plans to extend the single room rate to anyone under 35 years of age unless they are in receipt of the higher or middle rate of DLA will affect many younger disabled people with Mental Health conditions, neuro-diverse conditions, and learning difficulties, Precisely those disabled people who need secure accommodation with a reasonable level of privacy. These cuts according to a recent DWP select committee report will result in a difference of an average £47 a week between the HB rates for a one bedroom flat compared to a room in multiple occupancy.

The same DWP select committee has expressed concerns over plans to reduce Housing Benefit for claimants who are out of work for over 12 months. As the select committee point out it is not until you have been out of work for 12 months that people are able to even try to access additional support to find work. Given the additional and substantial barriers that disabled people face in finding work at all this proposed change will impact very badly on them.

The coalition government have said that they have increased the amount of money available through Discretionary Housing Payments to help with such costs however a report by the Mayor of London shows that demand for DHPs will be 4 times higher than the extra amount of money made available to claimants, Further many councils do not pay DHPs for longer then 13-26 weeks and there is no right of appeal against being refused one.

We would be happy to brief you further on any of these issues and would like to leave you to consider a message from one of our members.

“Yes you, and you and you, all of you who stand by and say nothing or encourage such vicious and undeserving attacks are just as responsible for what is happening.

Rights Not Charity

Those who stand by and allow this are equivalent to those who stood by when disabled people and Jews were targeted by the Nazi’s for annihilation.

Too harsh for you?

Its our lives we are fighting for, our very lives, some have already killed themselves due to what is happening, many more are considering it.

Will you stand by?”

Anne Novis MBE

We look forward to receiving your response which we will publish for our members.

Linda Burnip

DPAC

mail@dpac.uk.net

I also strongly recommend people to read James Elder-Woodward's speech to a recent welfare reform conference: http://www.dpac.uk.net/2011/03/james-elder-woodward-disabled-people-are-under-attack/

Libyan Revolution: Which Way Forward?

2011-03-03T13:32:00.003Z

http://www.socialistworld.net/

Every day we're seeing new pictures of horrifying barbarism from the Libyan regime, and inspiring heroism from the Libyan people. Today we're told of 'stalemate' and warned of civil war, while the imperialist powers contemplate 'no fly zones' and other forms of intervention, motivated far more by the prospect of winning control over Libyan oil fields than by the suffering of Libyan people.

Niall Mulholland, a graduate from UCLAN published this analysis of the Libyan uprising on the website of the Committee for a Worker's International:

Gaddafi Must Go: A Fight To the Finish for Libya

Dictator Muammar Gaddafi's control over Libya suffered big reversals over the weekend with the fall of Zawiyah, a city 30 miles from the capital, Tripoli, to opposition forces.

Over 20 people are reported killed in fighting for control of the city, which started last Thursday and lasted four days. Zawiyah, an oil port and refinery, is now surrounded by Libyan army forces still loyal to Gaddafi but they have, so far, not attempted to retake the city.

The ten day uprising has left at least 1,000 dead and led to thousands fleeing the fighting. Tens of thousands of migrants are stranded near Libya's Tunisian border.

Other towns across Libya have fallen to the opposition in recent days. Reports from Misrata town say opponents of Gaddafi repelled a regime counter-attack also over the weekend.

Tripoli, partially still in the grip of the regime, is increasingly encircled. Tanks and checkpoints guard the main roads into the capital but the situation inside the city is becoming more chaotic and desperate, as crowds queue up outside shops to stock up on essential supplies and besiege banks to get their money.

In a push for a final armed assault on Gaddafi's remaining support base, groups of heavily armed opposition forces are reportedly planning to march towards western Libya, to link up with opposition militias near Tripoli.

The groups are mainly made up of young people and former members of the security forces who defected to the opposition during the fierce battles in Benghazi city which led to Gaddafi losing control of Libya's second city.

A member of the newly announced 'interim government' in Benghazi, Ramadan Faitoura, said the armed groups are not part of an 'official' drive on Tripoli, although they have the interim government's support.

Gaddafi's days in power appear to be shortening fast, although the regime's demise can still be protracted and accompanied by more bloodshed. A potential major obstacle for an advancing opposition militia is the traditional Gaddafi family stronghold town of Sirte, which sits half way between Benghazi and Tripoli.

Although some military and security personnel in Sirte defected to the opposition, it has not been in the same numbers as the east of the country. Gaddafi also has tribal support in Sirte.

Libya in revolt
But this support base can fall away if the areas main tribe concludes that Gaddafi is a lost cause.

Indeed, every day, more tribes and former Gaddafi ministers, high ranking officials and diplomats denounce the regime and declare allegiance to the revolution.

Army generals have stated their refusal to order shooting on protests and to launch fighter aircraft against unarmed civilians protesting in the streets.

Gaddafi's recent speeches show a dictator who has lost control. He makes blood-curdling threats against demonstrators, mixed with anti-imperialist phrases mixed with attempts to foster divide and rule tactics - offering some tribes large amounts of money and land - which are failing.

Despite his sometimes "revolutionary" rhetoric and the changes made since the 1969 coup, Gaddafi has ensured that control has remained in his own grip.

Hence the luxurious lifestyle and wealth of his own children.

Sensing the way in which the struggle in Libya is likely to conclude, Western powers are now quickly publicly shedding their cosy links with the brutal Gaddafi regime.

They are exploiting their past hostility to Gaddafi to present themselves as being on the side of the "people", something they do not do in regard to the semi-feudal regimes of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.

The imperialists are scrambling to influence a post-Gaddafi regime, to ensure continuing preferential and lucrative Western big business access to Libya's oil fields and to safeguard imperialist interests in a vital geo-strategic region.

The US, in particular, is terrified that the Libyan events could be emulated in oil-rich Saudi Arabia, where youth on the internet are calling 11 March the day of "revolution".

Imperialism changes its tune

Western leaders have very belatedly discovered they have serious concerns about the lack of democracy in Libya and are now calling for the dictator to step down.

The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, announced that the new UN Security Council sanctions against the Gaddafi regime were imposed "to speed the transition to a new system of governance".

Even Gaddafi's good friend, Italian Prime Minister, Berlusconi, instructed his foreign minister to de facto suspend its 2008 'friendship treaty' with Libya, which includes a 'non-aggression' clause.

Amid reports that Gaddafi moved £3 billion to Britain, last week, the Cameron government froze the assets of the Libyan dictator and his family. British officials also reportedly contacted senior Libyan figures to try to persuade them to defect from the regime so that it collapses, rather than see a last ditch bloody fight to the end.

Under the cloak of 'humanitarian' aid, some Western politicians are calling for a 'no-fly zone' over Libya and even Western military intervention into Libya and Saudi Arabia if mass revolts start there as well.

The US has publicly backed anti-Gaddafi groups in eastern Libya.

Amongst the Libyan masses, who are well aware of their history of opposition to colonialism, there is opposition to another imperialist intervention in the region.

"Despite the heavy sacrifice they are offering every day, Libyans utterly reject any foreign intervention, even for their defence and protection," writes Mahmoud Al-Nakou, a Libyan author (Guardian 28/02/11).

"The people are adamant that this revolution is theirs alone."

Reports from Zawiyah show wide support for the uprising and also repudiate Gaddafi's propaganda claims that the rebels are made up of drug-crazed youth and al-Qaida-inspired foreign fighters: "...they were the town's people...the doctors and engineers, teachers, local youths and old men...", reports the Guardian (London 28/02/11).

Various 'community committees' and 'councils of the elders' have been set up in Benghazi, Musrata and Zawiyah to 'restore order' and opposition forces controlling eastern cities have formed a 'national council' in expectation of the fall of Tripoli.

The former justice minister, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, announced that he would head an interim government, suggesting that it has the backing of the US. He also said an agreement could be reached with the sons of Gaddafi, echoing some Western politicians.

Although Mustafa Abdel-Jalil's comments are disputed by other opposition figures, they still intend to include him in an interim government. This should act as a warning to the Libyan masses - their revolution is in danger of being hijacked by remnants of the Gaddafi regime, pro-bourgeois opposition 'leaders', reactionary tribal leaders and imperialist interests.

Committees vital

For the revolution to win its goals - for real democratic rights and a transformation in living standards - it needs democratically-elected committees that truly represent the interests of the mass of working people, youth and the poor, in the neighbourhoods, workplaces and colleges, linked up at local, regional and national levels.

Building committees within the forces of the state is also vital. Putting forward democratic demands as well as those needed to assure decent living standards, such a movement can appeal to the masses of Tripoli to rise up against Gaddafi's last stronghold.

The masses armed, under democratic control, can defend themselves against Gaddafi's forces, march on his last bases of support, and sweep away the dictator and his entire regime while preventing the country once again falling under foreign control.

Such a mass movement would immediately introduce full democratic rights and oversee elections to a revolutionary constituent assembly. A government representing the interests of workers and small farmers would take the oil fields into public ownership, and other major planks of the economy, under democratic workers' control and management.

This would ensure that the country's huge natural riches serve the majority of society not only an elite around the corrupt Gaddafi family and giant multi-national companies.

To ensure this, mass organisations of the working class need to be formed, including independent unions and a mass party of the working class, with bold socialist policies.

Such mass class organisations would oppose not just Gaddafi and the remnants of his regime but all pro-capitalist and reactionary forces in Libya and meddling imperialism.

Lobby Labour Local Government Conference: Stand Up Against ALL the Cuts

2011-03-03T00:09:00.001Z

Fight The Cuts: NSSN

Sam Cooke, A Change is Gonna Come

2011-03-02T21:21:00.001Z

Sam Cooke's great song, which I'm dedicating to everyone involved in the uprisings against dictatorship across the Arab world, and also to everyone who is getting involved in the battle against the ConDem Government's cuts.

Fracking: Coming To Lancashire

2011-03-02T20:56:00.002Z

Yesterday we reported on Save The Ribble's concerns about plans to introduce deep shale gas drilling to Lancashire.

Here's a film made in the USA about some of the environmental consequences of 'fracking' as the gas extraction process is colloquially known.

Do we really need this on Preston's doorstep?

Save The Ribble Condemns "Russian Roulette" Approach to Shale Gas Drilling

2011-03-02T00:34:00.007Z

The 'Save The Ribble' blog has hit out at proposals to extract gas from shale rock deep beneath our feet using an uncontrollable process known as 'fracking'. They've condemned the proposals as being pursued with 'undue haste' and a 'Russian Roulette mentality' Here's their initial blogpost discussing these ideas:

A large number of Lancashire residents and numerous scientists are extremely concerned about the deep-rock Gas Drilling company Cuadrilla's extraction operations which are about to start at sites at Weeton, Singleton, and Westby, near Kirkham and Blackpool.

There are serious and significant concerns about the potential safety of the process, where rock thousands of feet below Lancashire will be fractured using chemicals to release the gas stored in the rocks, as the process causes the rock to be polluted and there is a risk of contamination of the groundwater - and therefore our drinking water.

The rock in which the gas is stored stretches across a large area of Lancashire from Pendle Hill through to the Irish Sea, and concerns about the so-called "fracking" extraction process are being raised by reputable scientists world-wide, and we will be examining the research and charting the Lancashire and world-wide campaigns against the Gas Drilling over the coming weeks.

A report written by Professor Kevin Anderson from the Tyndall Centre in Manchester has led The Co-operative Financial Services' Chief Executive Neville Richardson to call for "a moratorium on any further exploitation of shale gas which will allow the wider environmental concerns to be fully exposed and addressed."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jan/17/uk-shale-gas-warning?INTCMP=SRCH

Research around the globe is currently forcing a ban on the process in New York State and is raising concerns in other states of the US, as well as in other countries across the world from Canada to South Africa.

Here in Lancashire, as the Lancashire Evening Post report, 'the Blackpool and Fylde Green Party claims the process causes pollution and could be dangerous.

Philip Mitchell, chairman of the party, said: “We demand that a ban is placed on all UK shale gas and coal bed methane industry activity, including testing sites.

“This technology has been used at a site of an important groundwater aquifer and there are over 80 further applications which have been applied for around the UK.

“Aquifers are a natural source of our drinking water, and there is risk of catastrophic harm to water resources, communities and the environment from this industry, which may roll out across Lancashire and the rest of the UK.”

Concerns have been fuelled by US documentary Gasland, which shows flames shooting from taps in areas where hydro fracking has taken place.

Some residents in areas where drilling for shale gas is taking place say they have become ill because of pollution by gas and chemicals, according to the documentary.'

Philip Mitchell has tabled a Parliamentary Memorandum which is a well-researched and illuminating assessment of the risks this process has, and he is calling for a serious re-think of the scheme before the damage is done.

Whilst the Government have made statements to the effect that:
- 'gas extraction is subject to thorough checks' (LEP)

Mark Miller, Cuadrilla chief executive, has said on the one hand that:
- the "solid rock between [the aquifer at Preese Hall Farm, Weeton, Blackpool] and where the fracking takes place would prevent the water mix contaminating the aquifer"
-whilst admitting on the other that "You never have control. Fractures will always go into the path of least resistance."

In other words, they're keeping their fingers crossed for us. Well, that's alright then.

See The Guardian article here for more details
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/mar/01/fracking-shale-gas-energy-mps

Philip Mitchell's Parliamentary Memorandum makes for interesting reading and can be found in full here

We will be reproducing extracts from it on the STR website soon, and keeping you informed about the campaign as it progresses.

I for one wish Save The Ribble well in this new ongoing campaign. I did a little research of my own, and found this very informative page from the movie 'Gasland', (with a great mobile graphic that explains everything in terms even I can understand), that explains

"What Is Fracking?"

Lancashire Coalition Against Cuts: Huge Public Meeting at 53 Degrees

2011-03-01T23:51:00.001Z

Up and down the country people are getting together to discuss ways to resist the ConDem government's vicious cuts. The meetings are getting bigger and bigger as the tide of anger against the cuts gets bigger.

Lancashire Coalition Against the Cuts is a public meeting in response to condem cuts affecting residents of Lancashire.

Guest speakers include former Labour leadership candidate MP John McDonnell. Others speakers include former deputy leadership candidate Tony Benn (TBC).

Everyone is welcome, but come on time as it's first come first served for seating.

The meeting is sponsored by Preston Against Cuts. All Lancashire anti cuts lobby group representatives are also invited.

Come and find out how we can fight back against the condems devastating attack on our community.

The meeting takes place at one of the few venues in Preston big enough to hold it, 53 degrees, on 2nd April 1.30 - 3pm

Facebook Censor The 'Slaughtered Lamb'

2011-03-01T18:13:00.002Z

Preston Against Cuts use an artistically altered version of the lamb and flag symbol of Preston. In this version it's holding a sickle that has slashed open the body of the innocent creature, a direct representation of the damage the Government and Council cuts are doing to Preston's communities . They've been using it as their group logo on Facebook.

It what seems like an act of spite by somebody, Facebook have removed the logo, because of a complaint made under copyright. This appears to be a cowardly and petty attack against the Preston Against Cuts Group because of their growing strength (over 40 attended the last organising meeting) and because the power of their anti-cuts arguments is beginning to make a real impact.

No evidence has been provided that any breach of copyright or other infringement has taken place, and it's highly unlikely indeed that any copyright has actually been broken.

BAE Systems: Time to Think of a New Export Strategy

2011-02-27T21:03:00.002Z

The news that Cameron was accompanied on his recent tour of the Middle East by arms dealers, including BAE systems leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

What was billed as a tour to promote democracy was actually a veil for a bit of wheeling and dealing by 'Dodgy Dave, Dealer in Death', trying to sell weapons to wealthy Arab potentates.

BAE share prices are falling on the stock exchange, hit by cuts in public spending.

BAE's export strategy is looking decidedly dicey too.

Socially Useful Production: Using Engineering Skills
To Make The Things People Really Need

The revolutionary wave sweeping the Arab world means that the days where you could make guaranteed profits selling weapons of mass destruction to corrupt Middle Eastern dictators are over. People have seen these weapons like sniper rifles and gunship helicopters and tear gas and stun grenades being used by murderous regimes against pro-democracy protesters.

This is making the export of arms to dictators a highly disapproved-of way of making money in the eyes of the general public; somewhere in between drugs dealing and estate agency.

The other problem (for arms dealers who want to keep hold of their customer base), is that one after another, the dictators and Royal Houses of the Middle East are falling to mass movements of the people.

BAE does not have to make weapons. It could convert to 'socially useful production', using the undoubted skills of its workforce to make high tech items that people actually need.

Maybe, if they wish to stay in business, BAE bosses should be thinking about this urgently.

United Left Alliance Win Seats in Irish Dail

2011-02-27T20:27:00.003Z

The elections in Ireland saw the routing of the incumbent capitalist party Fianna Fail, The Green Party lost all it's seats, after propping up the Fianna Fail government as part of it's 'deal with the devil'.

It looks likely that the Labour Party in Ireland will form a similar deal with the devil by going into coalition with Fine Gael, forming a government that will continue to impose cuts and austerity policies on the Irish people.

Very encouragingly, there was a strong vote for the United Left Alliance, with Socialists like Joe Higgins, Clare Daly and Richard Boyd Barrett taking seats that will give them a great opportunity to criticise the pro-cuts policies of the Irish Labour Party, and their willingness to sacrifice principle for power.

Here's one of the election broadcasts that helped the ULA achieve it's strong performance:

Middle East Revolution: Tunisia, the People Rise

2011-02-26T21:50:00.003Z

Tunisia

Middle East Revolution: Tunisia

http://www.socialistworld.net/

Protests against government biggest since January 14

This comes from a CWI Reporter in Tunis:

As we post this report, we have received news from Tunis of “a new wave of the revolution”. On a ‘Day of Anger’.

There are now the biggest mass protests in Tunisia since those which ousted the hated president, Ben Ali, on January 14.

Secondary school students are on the streets en masse and the Kasbah area is “black with people”. Determination to “protect the revolution” and bring down Ghannouchi is everywhere! “He may have to go today!”
During the month since the overthrow of Ben Ali, the Tunisian revolution has been almost ‘overshadowed’ by the titanic mass movement of Egyptian workers and youth, and by the heroic uprising of their Libyan neighbours. But the struggle here against what is largely seen as a government of usurpers continues, despite all the efforts being made by the present rulers and their diverse relay teams to impose a different version of the story.

The fact that the Tunisian mass movement is being emulated in the whole region is giving new energy to workers and youth to keep up the fight in their own country. Also, an unprecedented wave of solidarity with the neighbouring revolts has appeared on Tunisia’s streets. This is graphically expressed by the hundreds mobilising in different parts of the country in support of the Libyan struggle against the Khadafi regime.

Unthinkable only a few months ago, demonstrations, sit-ins and strikes have become an integral part of the Tunisian social landscape. All these protests are taking place in the context of widespread mistrust and anger against Mohamed Ghannouchi’s provisional government. The weak authority of the ‘official’ state is illustrated by the fact that these continuing protests are taking place in spite of the noisy threats from the Interior Ministry, calling on citizens to “respect the state of emergency”, which supposedly bans gatherings of more than three people in public places!

This situation is getting on the nerves of the Tunisian bosses, who say, through one of their mouthpieces: “We are seeing everything nowadays. Workers who get rid of officials they don’t like, citizens who do not recognise any authority in court decisions and even a government which is not even capable of saying ‘no’ to the streets.”

The old regime is still in place

Tunisian Uprising

This amount of freedom has only been imposed by the masses’ revolutionary struggle. Yet political and economic power remains in the hands of the same ruling elite. Fundamentally, this self-proclaimed government, recomposed from the ashes of the dictatorship, is only there to assure the continuity of the capitalist state machine. Far from dismantling the apparatus of the dictatorship, the government is, in practice, relying on its remnants to try and keep a semblance of control over the situation. The examples are numerous.

All members of the present parliament, as well as of the regional councils, have been selected by the former regime, while the constitution, on which Ghannouchi is pretending to base his “legality”, is the constitution of the dictatorship. The political police, by whom a CWI activist has been recently attacked, is still in place and according to some testimonies, many political prisoners are still in jail despite the claims of a supposed ‘amnesty’. On Wednesday, an ‘Organisation of Struggle Against Torture’ was created, highlighting the continuing use of such practices in the present period. Relatives of martyrs of the revolution have also denounced the fact that the presumed assassins of their children are, “not only still in functioning, but have even received promotion”. The censorship and obstructive methods of dealing with information in the mainstream media was publicly pointed out recently by a journalist of the national television, denouncing the pressures, lies, intimidations and marginalisation she has been facing because she wanted to “report sincerely on the deep and most pressing problems of the Tunisian people”.

However, the masses who rose up in their millions only some weeks ago, are scrutinising all the measures of this government with close eyes, and have decided not to accept any stealing of their revolution. The episode of the nomination of the new regional governors, in the beginning of February, was very significant in this regard. The list of the new governors appointed by the government to replace the previous ones was composed of 19 RCD members out of 24! Rapidly, this provocation caused massive outrage and protests all over the country. Some of these governors were not able to start their term of office and had to leave their positions under the protection of the army. Forced to retreat, the government then established a new list of governors in agreement with the UGTT trade union.

New occupation of the Kasbah

Last Sunday, tens of thousands walked along Tunis’ streets in a demonstration ‘for the protection of the revolution’, under shouts of “Gouvernement Ghannouchi, degage (resign)!”, “Enough of lies and masquerades!”, “Get out, all you who want to abort our revolution!”… The demonstration was supposed to be much bigger, but the armed forces prevented buses and cars flooding in from several parts of the country’s interior regions from entering the city.

Braving the attempts by the army to disperse them by firing into the air, the demonstrators were able to reoccupy the Kasbah, where the Prime Minister’s office is. Army units had been guarding it since it had been cleared of the previous occupation at the end of last month. They are demanding the resignation of the transitional government of Ghannouchi, and intend to stay there until this demand is met. They put forward demands such as the democratic election of a Constituent Assembly, the effective dissolution of the RCD and the dissolution of both parliamentary chambers.

In the revolutionary process, the mass of workers, young people and poor are learning very quickly. Past illusions in the ‘benevolent’ and protective role of the army have been replaced by a much more defiant attitude. “Where is Rachid Ammar and his promises of protecting the revolution?” young demonstrators were shouting. This refers to General Ammar whose relative popularity had been used by the regime to get him to try and evacuate the occupiers during the first sit-down protest at the Kasbah.

Imperialist masters

The end of French interference in the country is also part of the demands and slogans of demonstrators. On Saturday, a 500-strong demonstration took place in front of the French embassy, with the aim of getting rid of the new French ambassador, Boris Boillon. He started his mandate by insulting journalists who dared to ask him questions related to the attitude of Sarkozy’s government towards Ben Ali’s regime. The response of the masses was rapid: “Boillon, degage! (Get out, Boillon!)”.

The recent days have seen a ceaseless round of visits from French officials and politicians in Tunisia. But the masses have not forgotten the past attitude of all these hypocritical Philistines, who, after having displayed support for Ben Ali’s rotten system for years, are trying now to strengthen French imperialism’s position in the ‘new Tunisia’.

A new sort of struggle is now appearing on Tunisian soil - between rival imperialist powers, mainly France and the United States, attempting to reinforce their control over the Tunisian economy. Both countries have already announced the visits of delegations of businessmen from their respective countries to benefit from the new ‘opportunities’ of exploiting the Tunisian market (the Ben Ali-Trabelsi mafia ruled over 40% of the Tunisian economy…). In order to attract those foreign investors, Ghannouchi’s government is engaged in a campaign to desperately try and stop the strikes that have erupted in many sectors and to restore capitalist order in the workplaces and in the factories.

CWI an international working class movement

Trade Unions

For this dirty job, the government can rely on the disgraceful role played by the UGTT bureaucrats. Since the revolution, the UGTT bureaucracy, the executive committee in particular, has not stopped presenting itself as the ultimate warder of the rotten regime (forced, though, into some notable sharp reversals because of its militant base). On the 8th of February, the executive committee of the trade union concluded an agreement with the government “to work to restore security, dealing with anti-revolutionary forces who are trying to destabilise people, hampering the normal functioning of the institutions, and negatively influencing the social climate”.

For people who did not understand properly what that meant, Abdessalem Jerad, General Secretary of the UGTT, made it clear one week later in an interview. He accused the RCD of being behind the strikes and social unrest, calling the federations of the different sectors to stop the strikes and demands because of this, and declaring that disciplinary sanctions would be adopted against trade unionists who do not follow those instructions.

This anti-strike campaign is beating its drums in all the official media. Workers who are fighting for their rights and social aspirations - who refuse to “produce first and demand afterwards” - are increasingly being targeted as enemies and traitors of the “noble causes of the revolution”. Whatever the poverty wages, precarious work, endless temporary contracts, high cost of living, mass unemployment, ‘economic freedom’ must not be put in jeopardy (the freedom for a handful of capitalists to exploit a cheap and docile workforce). It is quite ironic that it is precisely the people who have allowed and assisted the mafia to loot the economy for years who are now accusing the strikers of “leading the economy into collapse”.

“I do not have a magic wand”, says Ghannouchi, trying to play down the potential of the social volcano on which he is sitting. And this is at a time when all newspapers and media outlets are reporting daily on the huge fortunes, assets and companies of the former ruling families. Tunisian workers and poor have not seen one dinar of all this. One glaring example of what is happening:- On 24 February, the French multinational Vivendi announced its intention to explore the possibility of buying 25% of the shares of the telecom company ‘Tunisiana’ that belongs to “Zitouna Holdings”, whose owner is Sakher El Materi, Ben Ali’s son-in-law. This is what it is all about: the visits of French and American officials are taking place in a race against time to get their hands on the mafia’s fortunes, like vultures on a dead body.

An elementary measure to secure the public interest would be to restore immediately all this wealth to the Tunisian people, by putting all the companies and assets of the mafia under public ownership. No to imperialist thieves and predators taking over! Let the Tunisian people decide their own future! Immediate restitution of all the mafia’s wealth into the hands of the poor, the workers, peasants and young people, to let them benefit from it!

‘Council for the Protection of the Revolution’

A group of twenty eight different opposition political parties and organisations has signed a common statement calling for the establishment of a ‘National Council for the Protection of the Revolution’. It includes the Islamic party Ennahda, the UGTT and the ‘January 14th Front’ - a common platform of about ten left and nationalist organisations.

The provisional government is claiming that such a body has no legitimacy. This is blatant hypocrisy from a government which is itself completely illegitimate! However, as with every good lie, there is an element of truth in it. Instead of seeing such a ‘Council for the Protection of the Revolution’ as something which is democratically built and organised from below, through a network of revolutionary and workers’ committees that could ultimately replace the present government, this is more of a self-proclaimed institution.

De facto it would include non-elected people from all these political parties. Moreover, and more importantly, they consider this council not as an alternative to the present counter-revolutionary government, but as a sort of complement to it that would ‘control’ its activities! This is what Khalil Zaouia, from the Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties (FDTL) has said: “It will give the new government its legitimacy”! The representatives of this initiative are even planning to request the interim president, Foued Mebazaa, to issue a decree to endorse its establishment.

From the point of view of the ‘January 14th Front’, which had put on its banner the organisation of the resistance against Ghannouchi’s government, this is a profound step backwards. In practice, this means an acceptance of the present government’s existence, and gives dangerous illusions that the counter-revolution can be ‘tamed’ so easily from the top by a bunch of wise politicians.

For a genuinely elected constituent assembly. For a revolutionary government of workers, peasants and poor

The CWI supports the demand for the election of a Revolutionary Constituent Assembly, that can draft a new constitution and decide the country’s future. But for these elections to be truly democratic, no trust should be put in any of the old regime’s figures to organise them. They must be under the democratic supervision of local revolutionary committees of workers, poor and young people.
The idea of a government standing clearly for the interests of the poor and working people is instinctively present in the movement, some raising the idea of “people power”. But such a power cannot simply be declared. It must be built from below.

Towards this end, the local popular and revolutionary committees need to be spread and reinforced everywhere. These committees need to be coordinated at every level, and to establish strong links between themselves to avoid isolation or dissolution by the repressive apparatus, which is what the ‘official’ state will inevitably try to do at a later stage in order to restore its authority.

Above all, similar committees need to be organised in a systematic way - in the companies, the administrations and factories, to provide the working class all its weight and strength in the situation. Flying pickets of striking workers could also be organised to assist and protect the sit-down protest of the youth at the Kasbah in Tunis. Similar initiatives are vital, especially since the regime is trying everything to break the unity between the unemployed youth and workers who go on strike. Yet, in many companies, the reduction of working hours is part of the workers’ demands - an important and essential measure to provide jobs for the unemployed.

The official newspaper of the regime, ‘La Presse’, was asking recently: “Can we reasonably ask bosses to leave their companies? If they do, who is going to provide jobs and wages?” Actually, many bosses are now warning of possible job losses, or of relocation elsewhere. Those companies should be taken over and put under the democratic control and management of workers’ committees.

Other companies have been forced to concede wage increases because of strike action. But, as always, and especially in the present period of intense competition and world economic crisis, the capitalists will try to take back from the workers with the right hand what they have been forced to give with its left, and even more. There is no future whatsoever for the majority of people under a capitalist system. This is the real obstacle. It will have to be overthrown and replaced by a rational, democratically-planned economy.

The revolutionary potential of the masses is undoubtedly still alive. However, the absence of a genuine revolutionary party, with a clear policy, independent from the regime and from its capitalist supporters, and arguing for the socialist case in a coherent and consistent manner, makes all the tasks ahead much more complicated.

The left and trade union activists need to discuss the need to link up individual strikes, occupations and walk-outs into nationwide general strike action with demonstrations in every city, town and village. It was the strike action in Sfax and Gafsa and also in Tunis from 12 to 14 January that was decisive in getting Ben Ali to flee the country.

Generalised strike action would be a means to unite the revolutionary masses in a powerful response against the government, the bosses, and their propaganda. The building of strong elected organising committees in the workplaces is vital and also amongst the youth and poor in the neighbourhoods and countryside. Linking them up on a regional and national level would create the instruments for creating a government of the workers and poor.

Particularly crucial in any upsurge of the revolution are elected committees in the armed forces and the police. Large swathes of the army and police can and must be convinced to be on the side of the workers and youth, but they must have control in their hands through elected committees. They should be able to refuse orders to attack demonstrations and strikes and insist on the right to remove reactionary officers. They would also need to link up with the committees of the workers and youth.

None of the problems posed by the revolution has been fundamentally solved yet; a mass mobilisation of the entire working class and the poor, to take political and economic power out of the hands of the capitalist regime and its state machine, will be necessary.

Down with Gannouchi and all ministers of the RCD, whatever name they use today!

A united struggle of workers, youth, poor and soldiers to remove them!

For a government of the people making the revolution – of the youth and their committees, the UGTT and its fighters and genuine anti-capitalist left groups!

Workers, youth and poor, complete the revolution with your own independent forces!

Wisconsin We are With You! Solidarity With Public Sector Strikers

2011-02-26T17:56:00.001Z

Decisive action needed to defend workers’ rights

http://www.socialistworld.net/ , 26/02/2011

website of the committee for a workers' international, CWI

Public sector general strike in Wisconsin

Socialist Alternative (CWI supporters in the US) leaflet text

Saturday, 26 February will see rallies in every state of the US in protest at the attempt of the Republicans in Wisconsin to strip state workers of their collective bargaining rights. A central protest in Madison, Wisconsin’s state capital, is expected to attract around 100,000 in spite of the forecast of bad weather. Socialist Alternative (CWI supporters in the USA) will be distributing the following leaflet.

Governor Scott Walker thought he could walk all over the working people of Wisconsin. Instead, Walker ignited a movement that clearly has the potential power and momentum to bring his corporate sponsored administration to its knees. The key question is how can we unite around a mass action strategy capable of seeing this struggle through to victory?

Walker’s plan to strip state workers of collective bargaining rights is nothing short of an attempt to break the union movement. The Tea Party leaders attacking “Big Labor” are trying to cover for the bankers, Wall Street speculators and corporate politicians who caused the economic crisis. Working people and our unions are not the cause of the fiscal woes of the state. So we have to demand: Stop scapegoating unions! Make the super-rich pay for their own crisis!

But if two weeks of mass demonstrations, sick-outs and walkouts haven’t yet stopped Walker, the Republican legislature, and their big-business backers, what is the next step?

Preparations must begin for a mobilization which will stop “business as usual” across Wisconsin. The South Central Wisconsin Labor Council has urged immediate preparations for a general strike. A decisive first step would be a one-day public sector general strike, combined with mass protests and student walkouts, which appeals to all working people to join the struggle. . And while strike action is not legal for all state workers we must remember that the unions were built in the first place by struggles which defied anti-union laws.

But time is short. If we don’t keep moving forward, we will fall back. And we can’t rely on the Senate Democrats to maintain their stand unless they feel the fire of the movement spreading underneath them. After all, would they have even taken their stand if the working people of the state hadn’t risen up in the first place?

The stakes are extremely high. If this anti-union legislation passes it will embolden those seeking to attack unions elsewhere, but if it is defeated it will give confidence to workers across country to stand up. That is why we must build on the solidarity protests taking place across the country. This means launching determined mass struggles against both budget cuts and the assault on trade unions, following the example of Wisconsin.

Wisconsin has become center stage in a sweeping attack on the public sector all across the country. Other state governments are also targeting wages, benefits, and collective bargaining rights. This is the naked agenda of big business and their corporate servants in office.

It is up to us to stop these attacks. While many Democratic politicians are now talking about workers’ rights it is clear that the leadership of the party is prepared to go along with the Republicans in balancing the budget on the backs of public sector workers by forcing them to pay a lot more toward their pensions and health care in exchange for ending the attack on collective bargaining rights. In Wisconsin it is estimated this would represent a 7% pay cut.

Political alternative
And while President Obama has declared his opposition to union busting in Wisconsin, both his administration and many Democratic politicians at state level across the country have been as unyielding in their attacks on the teacher unions as the Republicans. Likewise, unfortunately, key union leaders have declared their willingness to accept the attacks on pensions and health benefits in Wisconsin in exchange for keeping collective bargaining rights.

It’s time that we build a political alternative to the two parties of corporate America. Campaigns should be launched across the country to stop the budget cuts and defend jobs, services and workers’ rights. The Republican and Tea Party attempts to “divide and conquer” by playing off unionized and unorganized workers must be defeated.

It must be acknowledged that the relentless corporate propaganda about the alleged “privileges” of public sector workers has had an effect. We say that all workers should have decent benefits and it’s way overdue that the unions go back to their roots and organize the private sector, especially low paid workers. The struggle to defend public sector workers must become a struggle to rebuild a labor movement worthy of the name that can fight back against the relentless attacks on working people’s living standards.

Hundreds of thousands are protesting across the country today in solidarity with Wisconsin workers. This energy should be channeled into creating broad-based local campaigns against all budget cuts and union-busting measures. Out of these campaigns we could run our own independent candidates as the first step towards forming a new party that gives a real, consistent, voice to workers and youth and fights for our interests.

Ultimately a decent future can only assured by struggling to take control of society’s wealth out of the hands of corporations and the super-rich instead of increasing the burden on working people.

The time is now to begin the fight-back. The Egyptian workers have shown is it possible to stand up to injustice everywhere. If you agree with the ideas in this leaflet please contacts us to discuss joining Socialist Alternative and how to organize a united struggle to fight for our rights and our future.

• Build solidarity with Wisconsin working people to stop Walker’s anti-union legislation

• Kill the WHOLE Bill! Stop ALL budget cuts, layoffs, and attacks on workers

• Reverse tax cuts for business and the super rich to plug the deficit

• Tax the rich and corporations to immediately fund a massive public sector jobs program at union wages and conditions

All Over the Place sing the praises of Preston Bus Station.

2011-02-26T16:50:00.002Z

It's not just fabric designers that are inspired by Preston Bus Station, Youth TV presenters from the programme 'All Over the Place' were so impressed by it, they've written a song about it, that they performed on national TV.

I'm grateful to the Preston Bus Station blog for bringing this to everyone's attention!

It's on BBC iPlayer, so watch it while you can! The song starts about 15 minutes in.

Let's hope the BBC put it on YouTube. As the Preston Bus Station Blog points out, it's highly unlikely that anyone will ever be inspired to write a song about the Tithebarn scheme, it's the bus station's superb architecture, and the special place it holds in our public transport infrastructure that is making it an iconic example of the best of twentieth century architecture.

Preston Against Cuts Offers Assistance to Everyone Affected by Cuts

2011-02-26T16:23:00.001Z

Lynne Wallace, of Preston Against Cuts just posted this urgent message on their facebook page, to anyone whose services or jobs are being affected by the cuts:

"We need the people of Preston to report where there is service loss or job loss so we can prepare to mobilise our forces. If your job, nursery or care provision or any other service you use is under threat because of budget cuts let us know the details so we can take action against the attack.

Email us your contact details and a brief description of what is happening and when on prestonagainstcuts@gmail.com and the campaign coordinator will contact you for more information.

PAC assistance is available to any person or organisation under threat from the cuts. An attack on one is an attack on us all. Please ask your friends and family to join PAC."

Solidarity with Tripoli and Libya

2011-02-26T00:12:00.000Z

A great video where the people protesting outside the Libyan embassy in London explain why they're there, and ask why Britain sold so many weapons to the Middle Eastern dictators.

Preston Bus Station, Part of the Fabric of our Community

2011-02-25T23:35:00.001Z

Emma Shannon's innovative
fabric design based
on direction indicators on
the upper levels of Preston
Bus Station

Preston Bus Station is an inspiring building. It's awesome curves, it's sheer scale and audacity.

It's therefore not surprising that it is a source of ideas and fundamental sustenance for artists.

The Preston Bus Station Blog spotted this example of the kind of innovative ideas that our bus station is provoking among young designers.

Emma Shannon has been touring the brutalist buildings of Britain, spending time with them, exploring their nooks and crannies, feeling the harsh extremities of these concrete monoliths and using them as a source for the design of her textiles.

Picture by Tony Worrall, we found it at
http://www.prestonbusstation.co.uk/

Here's one piece of her work that was directly inspired by the direction pointers on the upper levels of the bus station car park, apparently it's a pointed twill dobby weave using three wefts.

It wouldn't take much to buy some of that cloth, and to make a skirt or jacket out of it, so that you could literally be wearing a piece of Preston bus station. Clothing that could transport you to places far and wide.

Other fabrics she has designed are based on Caradale House in London, and the Hanover Estate in Sheffield.

Student Struggle in Britain: The Second Wave

2011-02-25T20:35:00.004Z

The momentous student movement that reached a crescendo in December 2010, when students even went as far as shutting down a conference organised by the Liberal Democrat Party is on the move again. Today the youth revolt is beginning to burst back into life as students begin to go back into occupations and join in with the anti-cuts movements that are growing across the country. In Preston students are beginning to organise FTW: "Fight The White Paper".

Here's a really incisive article on the way forward for the National Union of Students, for students at FE colleges, and for school students, originally posted here: http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/4859

IN THE space of one month, the way young people are viewed by the mass media – and by themselves – was turned upside down.
Ben Robinson, Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales), first published in Socialism Today

Frequently criticised for being apathetic, in the first wave of the movement against education cuts (10 November to 9 December), they showed that they were extremely political, determined and active. They engaged in the first battle against the coalition government, bringing them within 22 votes of defeat in parliament.

The initial 50,000-strong demonstration, organised by the National Union of Students (NUS) and the University and College Union (UCU – academic staff), was the biggest student demonstration in recent history. It was also the first national anti-cuts demonstration since the coalition took power, and since the economic crisis. What a start to the battles to come! There was a vibrant mood and a determination to fight the cuts.

The initial demonstration was called on the issue of university fees. But the movement was clearly against cuts in teaching budgets in schools, colleges and universities, as well as hikes in university fees and the slashing of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA – a means-tested grant available to college students). It is a movement of solidarity, with university students fighting against fees increases that will not affect them, and college students opposing the slashing of EMA when only those in their first year will be affected. Many college students came out on the day of the fees vote in parliament, and university students have played an important role in organising protests on EMA.

The movement had victories, too. During the course of the protests, both the Welsh assembly and the Scottish parliament agreed to continue with EMA payments. For Welsh students the level of fees will be frozen at their present level for now. In Scotland there are currently no tuition fees for students (although a university education still means racking up huge debts). Scottish ministers are not proposing to change that, although the elections in May could see a change of government and policy in the parliament there.

In England fees are presently set to rise sky-high, up to £9,000 a year. EMA is frozen at its present level for those who receive it, prior to being phased out in June. These measures mean that many universities face the threat of closure, of becoming private businesses or, at best, returning to polytechnic status. For working-class and many middle-class young people, university would be ruled out under these proposals. Some will find that even college is harder to justify. But there is a clear determination to continue the struggle and ensure that these planned cuts are defeated.

The movement quickly developed outside of the control of the official structures of the NUS. The NUS played a central role in organising the initial demonstration, with local student unions having the financial resources to provide transport. However, it provided no viable strategy to continue the movement beyond a call to lobby MPs. As a result, the NUS quickly lost the momentum.

November 24th, a fortnight after the NUS demonstration, was called by the ‘unofficial’ student movement. This day saw a reported 130,000 take action around the country, larger than the school student walkouts against the invasion of Iraq. Many school and college students staged walkouts, something that was implicit in the NUS call for a mid-week demonstration but which was now organised explicitly, on a far larger scale.

Socialist Students accurately anticipated the mood, calling for mass walkouts in our national material in the run-up to the NUS demonstration. In contrast, the Socialist Workers Party did not expect 24 November to happen on the scale that it did, only organising an after-school protest outside Downing Street.

Further days of action were called in the run-up to the parliamentary vote on fees by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, through its Facebook group. New layers of students would organise walkouts and join in the protests in their areas each time. However, there was also a real danger that the movement could have been worn out by constant days of action, especially those college students receiving EMA as they stood to lose a week’s EMA payment (up to £30) every time they walked out.

The national demonstration on 9 December, when parliament discussed and voted on tuition fees, was well over 30,000 strong. This was organised without the official structures through the London Student Assembly. This body brings together London anti-cuts activists and the national education campaigns, playing a semi-national role as in this case.

No single organisation can claim to have led this spectacular movement. In many areas, local Youth Fight for Jobs groups (and, in the colleges, Youth Fight for Education) helped to organise protests and many of Socialist Students activists played leading roles.

The movement represented a huge outpouring of anger by young people against the education cuts. It was also on the wider issues of youth unemployment, the quality of jobs available, the betrayal of the hopes in the Lib Dems and the feeling of voicelessness in the political system. This movement appeared to come from nowhere. In reality, it had been building up for a long time. Once the anger was unleashed, however, it brought out a huge desire to protest and fight back, with all the drive, spontaneity and inventiveness of hundreds of thousands of young minds. This flood was only brought to a halt, temporarily, by the vote in parliament and the winter break.

On the streets, college students played a vital role in leading demonstrations and protests, often outnumbering those from universities, and often taking more radical action. They started from a relatively unorganised base, many without anti-cuts groups or student unions equipped to fight. They quickly organised themselves to attend protests and coordinate walkouts.

The traditions of political activism at universities, as well as the greater funding and facilities from student unions, meant that, in many areas, established anti-cuts groups already existed. These were able to fully develop and take off during the course of the movement, also becoming beacons to the surrounding colleges and universities. Although on the street the movement was led by the college students, tactics and strategy were decided, by and large, by university-based organisations. Alongside the general demands against fees and cuts, it is also important that we take up the demand for the right for college students to protest, and to organise politically in their college.

There is a determination to defeat the government’s planned attacks. Even though these measures have been passed into law, it is entirely possible to force the government back. The poll tax became law in 1988, but a powerful mass movement was built, which forced Margaret Thatcher out of office and the repeal of the legislation in 1991.

It is important that students and supporters of the education movement learn from the anti-poll tax struggle and other successful movements to build for success with the present campaign. During the poll tax struggle, some argued that it was the riot in Trafalgar Square in March 1990 that defeated it and Thatcher. The anger that was on display on those protests played a central role, but it was the mass non-payment campaign of 18 million, organised through the All Britain Anti-Poll Tax Federation, that defeated the unfair law.

It is organised, mass struggle that has the potential to defeat the Con-Dem government, not confronting the police or rioting. However, it was the police who provoked the street battles – both during the massive anti-poll tax demonstration and on the student protests – with their heavy-handed measures, such as kettling and aggressive intervention against peaceful demonstrators.

Using the clear slogan, ‘can’t pay, won’t pay’, the idea was popularised that people did not have to pay the poll tax and that they stood alongside millions of others who were not paying. Local anti-poll tax unions organised protests, demonstrations, bill-burning, legal advice and support, as well as anti-bailiff activities. This was all organised democratically through these local groups, linking up on an all-Britain basis. This powerful movement, led by Militant (the predecessor of the Socialist Party), had been built up in the two years between the law passing and its measures being introduced. A similar timescale is offered to the student movement, with fees not being introduced until September 2012.

But the university fees are not the only attack students’ face. A huge cut is currently threatened in the teaching budget available to universities. The first batch of those cuts will be announced in April, although many estimates are currently being made in individual institutions. Even if universities receive an increase in the income per student from the fees increase, many will attempt to make huge cuts in universities before then. Colleges also face a decimation of their budgets, with 25% cuts planned and the closure of many colleges on the horizon. The cuts and tuition fees need to be fought together, and be seen as a combined attack on the right to higher education.

It is vital that anti-cuts campaigns continue to build in local areas and that they are launched and developed where they do not exist yet. The education cuts are going to be introduced locally, so this aspect of the campaign is going to be vital. We must maintain a campaign against cuts nationally, and demand that the decisions are reversed. At the same time, local universities and colleges must not be their own gravediggers. They must refuse to implement these cuts and demand that the government restores funding per student to its peak level of 2008/09. If college heads and vice chancellors refuse to defend their institutions, anti-cuts campaigns must demand their resignation.

Even before this current wave of protests, school and college students showed a real determination to defeat the cuts, often organising local walkouts and protests themselves, frequently following the example of staff taking strike action. Now this generation has been infused with the idea that you can fight, and any head or vice chancellor will find it ten times harder to implement local cuts now. These protest waves are also likely to spring up without advance notice, appearing from outside to be spontaneous.

The UCU and National Union of Teachers are seeking to coordinate strike action. This will be one of the next big steps for the education anti-cuts movement. School and college students must support this action, taking part on picket lines, strike rallies and demonstrations. A further day of student walkouts and strike action can be coordinated with this.

A link with workers is vital for the education movement to progress. Already the 10 November demonstration was a joint demonstration between students and education workers, and many trade union banners have been present on the student protests. The education movement has inspired many, and shown that it is possible to struggle against this rotten coalition government.

Many workers were already calling for a fighting policy from their unions against the cuts they face in both the public and private sectors. Radicalised students moving into workplaces could help make that pressure tip over into action, and strikes are going to become an increasing feature of public life. Students should support picket lines and discuss what strategies can secure victories. In addition, local anti-cuts campaigns are developing, and students should make every effort to link up with these and vice versa.

Iraq - The Protests Spread

2011-02-25T09:50:00.000Z

The wave of revolutions sweeping the Middle East is now affecting no less than 20 countries.
Iraq is now one of them. This report written by Abbas Sdiq of the Committee for a Worker's International gives a good insight to what is going on in Iraq. It seems that the Western intervention has achieved nothing for ordinary Iraqis, even the Kurds who were promised so much by the West when the war started. Now, just like the rest of the region, people are taking matters into their own hands...

Iraq: Mass day of protest planned for Friday http://www.socialistworld.net/ 23/02/2011

Protests continue in Kurdistan

Friday, 25 February, will likely see the largest of the recent country-wide demonstrations, so far, in Iraq. In Kurdistan, mass protests continue despite the KDP government’s forces shooting at the demonstrations and killing four protesters.

On Monday, 21 February, around 2,000 people took part in a demonstration in Sulaymaniyah. Staff from the city hospital participated after a meeting in their workplace. "We are with the protesters and taking part in the protests," explained Doctor Kawa Sabah. Employees from the university also joined in protest over last week’s deadly shootings.

The protests have spread to more cities in Iraqi-Kurdistan. In Kalar, Dervendishan and Halabja, demonstrations took place on Monday and more will follow in the coming days. The demonstrations in Karal and Dervendishan involved 200 people each, and several were arrested.

On Monday, a 17-year-old, Sherko Mohammed, was killed by police bullets in Sulaymaniyah and one protester, Surkiu, died in hospital of a gunshot wound he received last week. On Monday, 47 people were reported injured.

The ruling parties in Iraqi-Kurdistan, the KDP and PUK, claim they want ‘negotiations’ with leaders of the opposition. But even the established opposition party, Gorran (Change), says no and demands the government’s resignation. Gorran has taken a cautious approach and not directly participated in the protests. The initiative has come from young people.

The KDP has, like other regimes in the region, threatened more violence. Fazel Mirani, a the KDP leader, said that if someone were to attack the KDP’s party centre "[we] should we cut off his hand." Protesters replied that they would then cut off Mirani’s whole arm!

Close co-operation with US imperialism

The KDP and PUK have jointly controlled Kurdistan in Iraq as an autonomous region since the first US invasion in 1991, with the exception of a civil war between the two parties from 1994-96. Their close cooperation with the US imperialism, and a relative calm situation on the surface in Iraqi-Kurdistan society, has not led to any fundamental difference in the lives of the population compared to the rest of Iraq. Every day, there is only electricity for 10 hours and there is no clean water. Poverty and unemployment are widespread. Often only police or army jobs are available, which means that the KDP and PUK have built up a huge police and security apparatus.

The anger is now focussing on KDP President Barzani and the level of corruption, but protesters also addresses many social concerns, especially demanding an end to mass unemployment.

The protest movement throughout Iraq, which draws strength from the revolutionary movements in the entire region, need to step up to strikes and workers’ participation, as an organized force. Egypt and Tunisia have shown that dictators can be overthrown, but also that the fight must go on and be directed against the entire capitalist system.

Original article here

Lavalette and Cartwright Resist Cuts Budgets

2011-02-24T21:46:00.003Z

Charles Bukowski said "The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting."

Today Preston City Council had its orders. The councillors duly voted for a vicious cuts budget that will mean huge cremation fees, cuts of £35,000 in cemetary grounds maintenance, a drop from 9 to 4 council-run bowling greens, a savage cut of £75,000 in funding to our parks, cuts to the Harris museum, cuts in spending on Youth facilities, cuts to the Preston Employment Partnership and the utter disembowelling of our Guild Hall.

Ken Hudson claims that there will be only 20 compulsory redundancies. With cuts of this scale he must be dreaming.

Labour put forward an alternative budget, which still contained massive cuts, councillor Collins attacked the Guild Hall, saying "the loss making ways of the Guild Hall cannot go on". The Guild Hall makes a £1m loss every year, Guess how much fees the Guild Hall pays to Preston City Council? Yes £1m!

Prestonians may be surprised to hear that our council pays £35,000 a year in insurance against terrorism! (Did you know we were so high on the Al Quaida hitlist?), the tories said that with the level of terrorism threat so high, it would be madness not to pay this insurance.

The best speech of the day was made by Michael Lavalette.

He pointed out that local services could be funded by the money lost through tax avoidance, and by the fabulous bonuses the bankers pay themselves. He opposed cuts to the Guild Hall, which were contained in both the Tory/LibDem and Labour budgets as the Guild Hall provides a valuable service.

He pointed out that the Labour Budget was also a cuts budget, and that therefore he would oppose it.

In the end, the Tory/LibDem budget was passed by a single vote.

Independent councillors Terry Cartwright and Michael Lavalette were the only councillors to vote against BOTH the cuts budgets put forward. We need more independent anti-cuts councillors like them.

About 15 members of Preston Against Cuts were in the public gallery. Their banner was confiscated from them before they entered the chamber, and they were instructed not to take photographs,

Local blogger and journalist A J Halls was told not to use his telephone! So much for democracy and transparency!

You will find the livefeed from the council debate here: http://www.preston.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/about-the-council/plans-and-spending/2011-12-budget-proposals/budget-council-cover-live/

You will find @ajhalls1 excellent livetweeting from the council meeting here: http://twitter.com/#!/ajhalls1

Up and down the country, thousands are marching and protesting against council cuts. Preston City Council passing a cuts budget is not the end of the struggle, it is the beginning. THe anti-cuts movement will grow in strength and anger, and make Cameron regret that he tried to make the working class pay for the mistakes of his wealthy friends.

Preston Against Cuts Meeting Dates

2011-02-21T21:45:00.003Z

Preston Against Cuts

Preston Against Cuts organising meeting dates for your diaries which are to be held at the CVS in the Guild Hall Arcade: 7-9pm:

23.2.11,

9.3.11,

23.3.11,

2.4.11

The CVS office is in the guild precinct ground floor near the escalator. Please come along if you want to join the organising committee. Let us know of any dates or events that may be of interest to PAC.

Join calls on Preston City Council to reverse it's £5m cuts plans.

Preston Against Cuts Facebook Page

Analysis of the Arab Uprising: Revolution Across Middle East and North Africa

2011-02-21T20:05:00.007Z

Revolution is contagious!

The peoples of the Middle East and North Africa are facing vicious repression as they rise up against the dictators - but they are winning. 'SocialistWorld.net' have posted Peter Taaffe's incisive analysis of the underlying processes at work, the perspectives and dangers for the future, and a socialist programme for victory of the workers across this revolutionary region.

Region-wide revolution of the Arab people http://www.socialistworld.net/ 21/02/2011

website of the committee for a workers' international, CWI

To fully succeed, revolutions need to go beyond framework of capitalism

Peter Taaffe, from The Socialist, newspaper of the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales)

"Ten days that shook the world” (Guardian). From Tunisia, to Egypt, to Bahrain, to Libya, to Yemen, to Djibouti and Morocco, the revolution that was sparked by the self-immolation of the heroic street seller in Tunisia has erupted throughout the Middle East. And it is yet to complete its work, as the bloody carnage of the desperate Gaddafi regime in the last few days indicates. With the vast majority of the population seemingly against his regime, a one-sided civil war is unlikely to succeed. This is truly a region-wide revolution of the Arab people.

The super-exploited, impoverished workers and farmers have had their fill of the dictatorial regimes of all persuasions, from ‘kings’ to just ‘plain’ dictators. Like the masses in the French Revolution over two centuries ago, their refrain is "tremble you tyrants the people are coming". A Bahraini father on BBC News was asked whether the murder of his son was necessary to defeat the regime. He replied: "Yes, and the death of my other four sons and myself if it benefits future generations." As in all revolutions the masses have lost their fear of even the most brutal dictatorships. And when that happens, no amount of repression can stop the wheel of history turning.

This is graphically underlined by the uprising in Libya which has split the army. It seems to indicate that even the tribes, who were the main prop of the Gaddafi regime, have now gone over – as have some of the army – to the side of the revolutionaries.

Commonality of conditions

It is true, as Robert Fisk of the London-based Independent newspaper has indicated that each of the countries infected by the virus of revolution is different. But there is a commonality in the social conditions, the denial of basic democratic rights and the consequent feeling of insufferable and unacceptable humiliation in all the countries affected and those that are about to be drawn into the maelstrom. A pattern – revealing the laws of revolution and counter-revolution – is evident in all the movements so far.

Tony Blair and Muammar Gaddafi: Great Friends

The dictatorships – including the kings, allegedly but falsely dubbed less ‘authoritarian’ – faced with mass opposition on the streets, threaten to unleash terrible force against the population. But this only emboldens the revolution and drives it forward. Each attack by reaction deepens the crisis, and widens the circle of protest and those involved in the revolution.

In Bahrain – where the monarchy favours the 30% of the population who are Sunni and viciously discriminates against the 70% who are Shia – many Shia were reluctant initially to join the protest. But the massacre in the capital Manama massively increased the number of protesters, who emulated the occupation of Tahrir Square. "We don’t care if they kill 5,000, the regime must fall," declared one demonstrator. Instinctively opposing sectarianism – which is a danger in the aftermath of the ‘Bloody Sunday’ type massacre of predominantly Shias – the masses went out onto the streets shouting "No to Sunni! No to Shia! We are all Bahraini! Down with the Khalifa royalty!"

If anything, the situation is more intense in Bahrain and elsewhere in the Gulf, both because of the rottenness of the feudal and semi-feudal regimes, but also the repressive role and reliance on foreign mercenaries.

Also in Libya, the 42-year-old regime of Gaddafi is alleged to have relied on foreign mercenaries from Chad and elsewhere. This will not save Gaddafi or his demented son, who threatened civil war unless the protesters ended their opposition.

Cartoon by Sacrava
(on the web at http://politiktoons.blogspot.com

and also at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Events have gone too far; not only Benghazi but now Tripoli has been affected, with the TV station attacked and demonstrators also beginning to lose their fear, although the lingering dread of the vicious Gaddafi regime means that they are only prepared to come out at night, avoiding government sharpshooters and snipers during the day.

The ‘contagion’ has spread in one form or another to all or almost all of the 22 Arab regimes in power. In Algeria, in its capital Algiers, 30,000 police were mobilised against the demonstrations. The bloody civil war of 14 years ago still weighs heavily on the consciousness of the masses of Algeria. But even here President Bouteflika’s regime is under siege. In Morocco, whose King Mohammed, up to recently, had boasted that the country was much more stable because of the ‘democracy’ that exists, mass discontent has broken out. 18% of graduates are unemployed and there is a 44% illiteracy rate in the country.

Process of revolution

Therefore, the process of revolution – with some delays in some countries, perhaps – will continue throughout the region. It has revived the confidence of the downtrodden Palestinian people and consequently undermined the Israeli ruling class and their backers in London and Washington. Despite British foreign secretary William Hague’s attempt to distance Cameron’s government from Gaddafi and the Bahraini monarchy, it is British arms (including tanks) which have been deployed against the revolution. The collaborationist Palestinian Authority – whose leaders wanted to prop up Mubarak – will come under pressure from the masses both in the West Bank and in the other Palestinian areas in the next period.

The Hashemite Jordanian regime is also under ferocious pressure despite the so-called ‘liberal’ credentials of King Abdullah. As in the rest of the Middle East, corruption is rife – stretching right up to the royal household, particularly the Queen – and there is a clamour by a new resurgent movement for fundamental change in the situation which could challenge the very existence of the monarchy in Jordan.

Nor is the Syrian regime – despite the seeming lack of challenge to it on a visible level at least – entirely comfortable and confident it can ride out the present revolutionary wave. In the past the regime could resort to mass terror to cower the population. Ten thousand members of the Muslim Brotherhood were massacred in the city of Aleppo in 1979, an event which has lain heavily on the consciousness of the Syrian masses.

But as Egypt, Bahrain and Libya have shown, terror alone will not succeed in the changed situation gripping the region. This is a movement for democratic rights, but also to change the living conditions of the workers and small farmers in particular, as well as the middle classes who are ideologically and materially stifled by the straitjacket of the dictatorships. In Bahrain, a Sunni leader, although a member of the secular left-wing of the Wa’ad party, declared: "We will definitely have more demonstrations and I’m sure we’ll have a general strike. Bahrain will not be the same as it was before" (Financial Times).

Nor can the repressive Iranian regime sit comfortably with the Middle East revolution, although it pretended initially that it was an echo of the Iranian revolution of 1979. When the Iranian masses march out to confront the Iranian dictatorship, it is greeted with the same heavy-handed brutality as all the other regimes facing a mass movement. Pro-government MPs have called for the execution of opposition leaders. The government and revolutionary guards have a material stake in the maintenance of the Iranian regime. They have been amongst the beneficiaries of the massive privatisation of state assets and will fight alongside Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to retain this. There are perhaps still some reserves for the regime among sections of the population who fear that western imperialism-backed forces, backed up by American imperialism, can yet make a comeback. But the Egyptian army had big links to the ownership of industry and banks too. The Mubarak regime had not completely exhausted every basis of support but it was not enough against the majority of the people who were determined to effect change.

Astonishing and encouraging

Therefore, the Middle East revolution – because that is what it is – still astonishes and encourages us, the workers and poor everywhere. The mighty movement of US workers in Wisconsin has been inspired by the Egyptian and other revolutions. The overthrow of the dictatorships is just the first stage. The achievement of democratic rights would represent a big step forward. But remnants of the old regimes remain – particularly of the former state machine – as is evidenced by the continuing influence and repressive measures of the police and army in Egypt as well as in Tunisia.

The revolution will only fully succeed if it goes beyond the framework of capitalism and landlordism, and poses the social issues of the eradication of unemployment, the destruction of all elements of corruption, and democratic rights. This can only be established through a socialist confederation of the Middle East.

Egypt's Revolution

This movement has inspired workers everywhere. We don’t have an open dictatorship in Britain. But the regime of Deputy Prime Minister Clegg and Prime Minister Cameron is, in effect, an ‘elected dictatorship’. Moreover, increasingly there is a bosses’ ‘dictatorship’, in effect, in the factories and the workplaces. They are conducting an offensive against the working class here to repress and hamper trade unions, backed up by unelected courts and judges.

We must do everything in our power to support the heroic struggling workers and farmers of the Middle East to complete the big changes in society that they yearn for. We must do the same here in Britain, Europe and the rest of the world until all aspects of the brutal, greedy capitalist society, that can offer nothing but unrelieved misery in the future, is abolished.

Save Libraries: Use People Power!

2011-02-21T19:46:00.002Z

Libraries and learning are under attack. This is a great blogpost originally posted yesterday by local author, Dr Jane Brunning (who so ably led the 'Save The Ribble' Campaign) on her blog 'Ribble Babel'

Fight Ignorance With Books

It is the case that if ordinary people speak out, change can happen. Whether on the North African continent or in British forests, ordinary people can make a difference.

If we can force the Government to think again about selling off the last publicly-owned forests in Britain and force the potential reprieves of execution for some of our libraries, then we can try our damnedest to save ALL of our libraries.
Speak Out for your library and other public services, which are under threat as never before .

Once they are gone, they are gone.

Jarrow March 2011: No To Mass Youth Unemployment!

2011-02-21T16:35:00.001Z

No return to the 1930s!”

This October will mark the 75th anniversary of the Jarrow March against unemployment. Recent figures have shown that the issue of unemployment still exists especially amongst youths. At present there are 965,000 16-24 year olds who are unemployed, including 840 in Preston.

Jarrow March 1936

Youth Fight for Jobs will bring the issue right to the fore by holding a march from Jarrow to London, starting on 1 October and ending on 5 November. We will be holding the protest to demand decent jobs and a free education for young people.

Youth Fight for Jobs National Organiser Paul Callanan says: “Young people now face the worst attacks on our rights and living standards we’ve seen in generations. The government is determined to push through cuts that will limit opportunities for youth even further. They also want to see unemployed youth used as slave labour for big business by putting people on work for dole schemes. With the brutal attacks being made on the right to an education as well, we really feel that every avenue is being closed off for people who want a decent future.

Youth Fight For Jobs 2011

“We will be marching from Jarrow to London in October to show this Con-Dem government that we will not see all the gains made by working class people over the last century blotted out of existence. We want to put the issue of youth unemployment right at the top of the agenda. As well as the march we will be building protests, demonstrations and rallies up and down the country in solidarity with the march, with the aim of linking up student activists, trade unionists, those fighting against the cuts and the unemployed.

“This is the time for young people to say; “we won’t be a lost generation! Fight for jobs and education!”

From the BBC:

Youth jobs group plans to recreate Jarrow March

The 75th anniversary of the Jarrow March is to be marked by a similar protest highlighting youth unemployment, activists have announced.

Youth Fight for Jobs plans to march from Jarrow in South Tyneside to London starting on 1 October.

The trade union-backed organisation wants action to help the near one million 16 to 24-year-olds out of work.

In 1936, 200 jobless men marched on the government with a 12,000-name petition calling for help.

Youth Fight for Jobs National organiser Paul Callanan said: “Young people now face the worst attacks on our rights and living standards we’ve seen in generations.

“We will be marching from Jarrow to London in October to show this government that we will not see all the gains made by working-class people over the last century blotted out of existence.”

‘Great regret’

Unemployment figures released last week by the Office for National Statistics showed an increase of 44,000 to almost 2.5 million in the three months to the end of December.

The unemployment rate is now 7.9%, with youth unemployment running at 20.5% – a record high.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said unemployment, particularly among the young, was “a matter of great regret”.

The Jarrow crusaders as they were known were refused a meeting with the government of the day when they arrived in London.

The petition was handed in at Downing Street by the then MP for Jarrow, Ellen Wilkinson.

The last surviving Jarrow marcher, 93-year-old Cornelius Whalen, died in September 2003.

Cuts-Making Liverpool Council Leaders are "Basking in their Own Smugness"

2011-02-21T00:47:00.002Z

Sometimes you read a blogpost, and it just about sums up everything you've been thinking for the last few months. Today I saw just such a post from Phil Dickens on 'Truth Reason and Liberty'. It summed up the rank hypocrisy of council leaders who are busy putting together cuts budgets, but then turning up to, leading and speaking on demos that have been called to oppose cuts. It's a bit like getting the owner of Thwaites Brewery to speak at a Temperance Movement rally.

If you're interested in some of the background to the politics of the cuts in Liverpool, you can read my reblog of the letter written to Joe Anderson by some of the 47 surcharged Liverpool councillors who led Liverpool's resistance against Tory cuts back in the 1980s.
Here's his blogpost in full:

Sunday, 20 February 2011

Marching with the axemen in Liverpool
Posted by Phil Dickens at 18:57

Today, I attended the "Fair Deal for Liverpool" march. As I predicted yesterday, it was nothing more than a photo-opportunity for Liverpool City Council, the leaders of each party trying to justify the cuts whilst claiming to oppose them. Unfortunately, despite the efforts of myself and others, they got away with it.

The march itself might as well have been a funeral procession. Despite up to 5,000 people taking part, it was gripped by silence, and attempts by some to get chanting going quickly died a death. The Liverpool Socialist Singers were at the back of the march, but even by the middle you couldn't hear them singing. At the front, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and the leaders of the council were able to bask in their own smugness.

If there was going to be an attempt to reclaim the march and opposition to the cuts from these career politicians, now would have been it. But the banner saying "No to City Council cuts" was in the hands of Tony Mulhearn and the Socialist Party. They refused to move until even the tail end of the march was quite far ahead, and retain ideological purity a whole five people strong. For the former Militant Tendancy, this was less militancy and more of a strop.
Personally, I would have been in favour of muscling into the front of the march. If an event like this ever happens again, it will be worth noting that a large enough number of people could have flanked the Lib-Lab contingent at the front and shut them down, also allowing people to give out literature and talk to people, arguing for a different approach.

Unfortunately, due to a number of factors, those numbers didn't exist. Thus, we were reduced to a funeral posession that snaked almost silently through the City Centre to St George's Plateau.

At the rally, the Lord Mayor of Liverpool took the role of compere. Which, I suppose, really puts all those middle class trade union bureaucrats who refer to everyone as "colleagues" into some perspective. She told us how great it was to see people pull together as a city and other similar cockwaffle before introducing each speaker in turn.

Joe Anderson was first up, his speech getting louder and more aggressive as people heckled and booed him. In response to my yelling that he was the one making the cuts, and that he was the enemy locally, he returned to his tried and tested "my hands are tied" rhetoric. He also branded me and others "the loony left," before moving on to claim that when he presented his budget to Cameron (with all the job losses and service cuts it entails), he would be "telling them straight" how "unfair" this all was.

However, despite the fact that he has announced 1500 job cuts and said that life-line services will not escape cuts, he will apparently be "leading the fightback." And whilst he's at it, he will "build schools, houses and hospitals." But how you can defy the need for cuts whilst having your hands tied by the exact same point wasn't quite explained. Maybe we're just too stupid to understand.

From there, it was downhill. Warren Bradley, the local Liberal Democrat leader, and Sarah Jennings of the Green Party made similar self-justifying speeches. Blame lies with the Tories, doing what we can to protect people, etc ad nauseum. Jennings even told the crowd that we would have to accept the need for cuts at present, which led to a hail of boos and chants of "off, off." At which point scolding people for not accepting this reality wasn't the smoothest move.

But, to show just how backwards the whole charade was, the Lord Mayor reminded us that we needed to maintain a united front. Again, how uniting across class lines with those wielding the axe was preferable to working class unity against those in power remains to be explained.
But then, as ever, those who call for "unity" only support it when it's on their terms and under their mantle.

As if to prove the point, Joe Anderson closed the rally by calling for people to stand together and slagging off everyone who disagreed with what he was doing. Particularly surreal was his telling hecklers that "the fightback in Liverpool started before you even got here," before closing with "the fightback starts now!" Gotta love consistency, eh?

Immediately afterwards, there was an attempt to have an alternative podium. However, one megaphone was no match for the council's PA system (wonder how much of the budget that took?), and it attracted a much smaller crowd. It was nothing like Manchester on the 19th January, where the bureaucrats and career politicians could be in no doubt that the rank-and-file had vociferously rejected them. Here, it was largely acceptance. Joe Anderson and Warren Bradley got their set-piece victory.
It may be the case that this was a one-off. The politicians have had their photo opportunity and kept up pretences for electoral purposes and can now retreat to make working class peoples' lives so much harder and miserable. But if it is not, and they call another demonstration, much more organisation needs to go into derailing their big moment and arguing for people to lead their own struggles rather than looking to leaders. As satisfying as it was to see Anderson's jowls shudder in anger as we heckled him, it achieved nothing.

Until people like him are, as Aaron Porter was, driven away from the demonstrations altogether, working class militancy will be suffocating under their dead weight.

Link to Phil's original post.

Anti-Cuts Campaign Calls on Labour Councillors To Refuse To Wield The Axe

2011-02-20T00:48:00.006Z

NSSN Anti-Cuts Campaign Logo

The National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) anti-cuts campaign is to march to lobby Labour councillors on Saturday 5 March at Labour's local government conference and present a petition demanding that they refuse to vote for and implement the Con-Dem coalition's cuts.
The NSSN anti-cuts campaign has been launched to unite workers threatened with redundancy with communities suffering cuts to services and young people facing sky high tuition fees, cuts to EMA and 25% unemployment rates.

It is also supporting Cardiff Against the Cuts protests at the Tory and Liberal Democrat conferences taking place in Cardiff on Saturday 5 March.

The NSSN is asking everyone to sign the online petition at www.stopcuts.net/sign.htm

The NSSN is helping to build for a massive turnout at the TUC's demonstration on Saturday 26 March against the government but it is adamant that Labour councils mustn't pass on the cuts.

NSSN anti-cuts convenor Rob Williams said: "Working class people in Manchester, for example, didn't vote for Labour councillors to sack 2,000 council workers.

"We are marching to tell them that they do have a choice - they should stand with their workforces and communities against this government of millionaires, not do their dirty work."

Further information and photos contact:

NSSN via http://www.stopcuts.net/ and www.shopstewards.net

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-the-Cuts/169842406395858

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March details:

Saturday 5 March:

Marching to Labour's local government conference, Assemble at 11am, Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, Southwark, London, SE11.

Protest at the Tory and Lib Dem conferences in Cardiff. 11am City Hall, Cathays Park, Cardiff.

March to a Wales TUC rally.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The NSSN was founded in 2007 and has since held three national conferences, each attracting hundreds of rank-and-file trade union activists.

The Network was initiated by the RMT and now also has national support from PCS, CWU, NUM and POA as well as many union branches, trades councils, etc

Alex Gordon of the RMT speaks (personal capacity) at an NSSN debate on how to fight the cuts.

Other River's Edge Posts on this Topic:

To Labour's 'Reluctant' Axemen

Lavalette and The Labour Fainthearts

Guild Hall Job Cuts, It was Labour's Idea

Are You Deserving or Undeserving? Fight ALL the cuts

Geoff Driver Vs Carers: Lancashire Sets It's Budget

2011-02-17T23:21:00.005Z

There were stormy scenes inside and outside County Hall in Preston today as Lancashire County Council set it's budget.

Blogpreston carries coverage of the build up to the day here, with excellent video interviews with carers and trade unionists.

At the meeting Councillors voted 42 to 23 in favour of axing more than £179m over the next three years, including cuts shutting children’s homes and respite centres, slashing social services and hiking fees for the elderly. These are the biggest cuts in generations, and will cause untold damage to the services our county's most vulnerable people need.

The public gallery was packed full of protestors, who spilled over into a room next door.
Disgracefully, carers who tried to voice their opinions of the proceedings were ejected, one after another, until even more disgracefully, the police were called in to clear the public from the building altogether. It seems that in our so called 'democracy', our elected representatives don't like to look into the faces of the people whose lives they are wrecking with their cuts, and prefer to hide behind the police force.

The contemptuous and arrogant way the leading Tory councillors appeared to treat the carers and other members of the public at the meeting and in remarks on TV has made many of them very angry indeed.

Ned Ludd, a Lancashire carer posted on his blog tonight:

People with a learning disability are particularly being hit with their current support service being 'remodeled' (read cut). There are many more. They actually made more 'savings' than the headline figure because they're bringing in cash by increasing charges - less services for vulnerable people who have to pay for the little that's left.

No namby pamby library closures or reductions in cultural services here - go for the jugular - cut basic living services for those they think can't answer back. The elderly, the disabled, carers.

This report on BBC News Lancashire features video of Angela Murphy, a family carer speaking up for Lancashire's respite provision. "Families with disabled children have to struggle for everything".

Meanwhile Tory County Councillor Peter Britcliffe said he "could not see the point" in agreeing to cuts in his councillors allowances.

Labour County Councillors voted against the budget proposals, but did not put forward any alternative amendments.

Preston Youth Unemployment Soars

2011-02-17T00:15:00.002Z

840 young people aged between 18 and 24 in Preston are unemployed and claiming benefits, 50 more than last month, that is about a quarter of the total number of unemployed in our city, which now stands at 3157, up another 250. (figures from Lancashire Evening Post)

Young people in this country have been failed by successive governments, but the current ConDem regime is really messing things up. The spike in unemployment comes before the full effects of the government cuts to public spending really begins to be felt.

The last generation that was hit this badly by unemployment was the youth of the 1980's under Thatcher. During her rule, the inner cities were rocked by riots. She was challenged by the miners, and then by a massive revolt over the poll tax, where people organised into anti-poll tax unions, and 14 million people refused to pay, clogging up the magistrates courts, defying bailiffs and holding huge demonstrations, a movement which brought about her political demise.

Youth unemployment has been a key issue in the revolts in Egypt and Tunisia. As in Britain, graduates are leaving university, heavily in debt, yet unable to find work. Even the financiers are worried, a writer for Money Week said "

unemployment doesn't just spark trouble in the emerging world. Look to the UK. Here we know that "young adulthood" is a vulnerable time. And we know that when they are out of work, unemployed young people are more likely to commit crimes than when they are not. And we know that we can trace much of our own past episodes of unrest to high rates of youth unemployment – the 1981 inner city riots for example. It also drives the young into gangs (if you can't belong in a work place you still need a group of people to join with every day) and sparks extremism...Youth unemployment in the UK (those under 25) has now hit 20.3%. That is the highest since records on this began in 1992. It is also not much below the rates in the likes of Tunisia, and means that there are now a million-odd irritated young people knocking around looking for something to do.

The fact that a million youth are unemployed in a 21st Century 'advanced' economy is an indictment of our capitalist system. It is failing to meet the needs of this generation, who will be the first generation to be worse off than their parents.

It's not something that all youth are taking lieing down though. We've seen the students taking to the streets in huge demonstrations that shook the coalition government. We're also seeing the rise of organisations like 'Youth Fight for Jobs', who are beginning to mobilise young people around a call for a more rationally organised society, that instead of being based on profit and exploitation, and condemning a generation to rot on the dole, is based on socialist principles of solidarity, where young people's talent and energy is mobilised for the benefit of the whole of society.

Thanks to 'River Online' for the photos used here.

Lobby County Hall Against Cuts Thursday 17th Feb

2011-02-15T11:04:00.008Z

Lancashire County Council are meeting on Thursday to make some of the worst cuts in the County's history.

Preston Against Cuts are calling for people to lobby County Hall between 12.30 and 3.30 that day, to let the councillors see the real people being hit by the cuts they are making: their constituents and neighbours, some of Lancashire's most vulnerable people.

The lobby will assemble down the side nearest to the railway station.

There was a great turnout at the Protest on 12th February in Preston. We need to let the council know that if they intend to implement these cuts, which include a £300,000 cut to Preston's orbital bus route, higher fees for social services, the possible loss of hundreds of jobs, they will have a fight on their hands, local communities will resist, trade unionists will resist.

The Lancashire Evening Post carried coverage of this protest today, featuring the family carers who will be attending the protest.

If you can get to the event and are on fiacebook, you can let everyone know you're attending here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=154700721251616

Andy has put up a great set of photos of last Saturday's Lancashire Anti-Cuts march on Flickr. You can view the set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyangst/sets/72157626033129220/

Here are a couple of great examples of his work:

Valerie Wise addresses Anti-Cuts protestors in Preston
In front of the Harris Library and Museum

A Preston lad with the right idea: "Protect our services, No to cuts"

Preston's MP, Mark Hendrick, just behind a placard calling for
the spirit of Tunisia and Egypt to come to Britain

Andy shared his photos under a 'creative commons' license click here for details of how to reuse and attribute them.

TUC National Demo March 26th London

2011-02-14T13:57:00.006Z

The TUC have called a massive national demonstration against the government's swingeing programme of cuts for March 26th.

Several local trade unions are organising transport down to the demo. Contact your own union branch for more details. If you are organising a train, a coach or a car drive down to the demo from the Lancashire area, and have spare places, let River's Edge know, and we'll advertise them on this site.

TUC National Anti-Cuts Demo March 25th 2011

CUTS ARE NOT THE CURE!

The TUC have issued this brilliant booklet giving the real facts and figures about the UK deficit and national debt, showing that the cuts are unneccessary and unfair.

"Cuts are not the Cure"

Here's a graph from the booklet showing that UK Government debt is actually comparatively low, especially when compared with the inter-war years.

UK Government debt as a proportion of GDP

In Defence of the Public Sector

2011-02-14T13:19:00.002Z

This article has been prompted by some of the debate around the public sector cuts. One poster on the LEP website argued “The private sector makes all the money, the public sector spends it all!”

While the comment betrays a deeply-held ignorance about the most basic laws of economics, it’s also a commonly held view, particularly among Tory voters, and Labour Party leaders.

I’m therefore going to write a defence of the role of the public sector. I could write it from a socialist point of view, pointing out that all organisations run for private profit are inherently inefficient, for many reasons, one being the extraction of profit itself from the organisation, that could otherwise be reinvested in whatever that organisation does, another being the costs of duplication of functions, loss of economies of scale, the expenses of advertising and marketing identical products against each other inherent in any ‘competitive market’.

I could argue from a moralistic Christian point of view, pointing out man’s responsibility for his fellow man, the duties of the ‘Good Samaritan’, the need to cherish the weak and meek etc. The Tory Party all make a song and dance about how Christian their values are, so it might be considered a reasonable starting point.

However I intend in this article to argue for the public sector from the point of view of the full-blooded capitalist, purely in terms of raw profit and loss, hard cash, lost or gained by society, because that seems to be the only terms they can understand in their lucre-centric view of the world.

Let’s take for our example a service that’s being cut back viciously in the current round of cuts; our Youth Services.

Let’s imagine a troubled estate. All the problems of modern capitalist post-Thatcherite society afflict it, drugs, vandalism, gangs, poor housing, poor health. Let’s say that if this estate behaves as the statistics tell us it is likely to, 20 of the local teenagers will end up in a life of crime. A couple of youth workers run a project on the estate, with very limited success, but they do give kids something else to do instead of hanging round on the streets.

Immediately there are savings; because local kids are occupied slightly more constructively that evening, there are fewer complaints to police, meaning that fewer patrols are needed.

Now let’s imagine that the very limited success of this project means that instead of 20 teenagers embarking on a lifestyle of drugs and crime, that number is reduced to 15.

Straight away, we could think about the value of all the crimes now not being committed by those 5 youth, (which are a social cost to everyone as they would lead to higher insurance premiums), and the value of all the police time not being used. Also the cost of legal fees and court time saved, also the cost of imprisonment and probation services saved.

Because their lifestyles are healthier, the kids get jobs and pay taxes, instead of claiming benefits, they are less likely to get chronic mental and physical illnesses associated with poverty and drug use, and therefore less likely to become a future cost to the NHS.

Ignoring the fact that many people are actually happier and feel safer as a result of this work, (we can’t attach a financial value to this, so it doesn’t figure in the mind of the capitalist) the long term financial savings to society of even a mildly successful intervention by Youth Workers are huge – yet youth services are at the sharp end of the cuts.

Do we really want a society like the USA or Mexico where the only ‘Youth Services’ available in some neighbourhoods are the drug gangs, and where the prison population is the highest per-capita in the world, so that people's tax dollars go to imprisoning people rather than to empowering them to lead better lives?

Youth Workers offer huge social benefits, yet it’s impossible to make a profit out of providing them, so they end up not being provided.

I could provide similar examples of how nurses, doctors, libraries, disability services and all the other precious public services add huge amounts of value to our society, and prevent immense expenses to society in the future.

Our public services provide the infrastructure of civilisation, the glue that holds society together. They also provide the structure within which the private sector is able to operate. If basic public services were taken away, the private sector would find itself unable to operate.

Are we prepared to sacrifice all these long term benefits of our public sector for the sake of a few short term reductions in a deficit that was created by the rampant greed and incompetence of the capitalists themselves?

Save Preston Guild Hall from Cuts

2011-02-13T01:47:00.001Z

River's Edge has reported on the drastic programming cuts to Preston Guild Hall here where we talk about the number of jobs that will be lost and here where we discover that Preston Labour have been boasting that it was their idea, as well as here where we point out that the mortally wounded Guild Hall will be 'the elephant in the room' of Preston Guild.

Now you can join a facebook group to show your opposition to these unjustified cuts to a precious oasis of culture and entertainment in Preston.

Sign up here: http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Save-Preston-Guild-Hall-and-Charter-Theatre-from-programming-cuts/138417746222733?v=wall

Lancashire's Outcry Against Cuts Grows Louder

2011-02-12T20:17:00.023Z

Preston Against Cuts Banner

Today's demonstration in Preston against the swingeing cuts being imposed on us by the ConDem government, by Lancashire County Council and by Preston City Council was at least 4 times bigger and about 20 times louder than the first demo last month. About 400 people, including Trade Unionists, Students, Carers and People with Disabilities marched past Preston Markets, down Orchard Street, onto Friargate, then back to the Flagmarket.

Here are a few photos we took during the day, if you want to use them elsewhere, feel free, but make sure you credit 'Rivers Edge' and Link back here.

These drummers gave the demo real impact

The atmosphere on the demo was upbeat. Onlookers waved and cheered, some shoppers even joined the march.

All ages were represented on the Demo.

Carers and People With Disabilities were there to campaign
against cuts to short breaks/respite facilities

Tunisia,.. Egypt... Britain...

There was a real sense of enthusiasm among the protesters, the marchers were inspired by events in Tunisa and Egypt, and loudly applauded any speaker who mentioned Tahrir Square. The revolutions in those countries show that nothing is impossible, if the people move in their millions.

There was real anger at the cuts, and many people, particularly carers for people with disabilities were feeling real pain. Stories of the effects of cuts on Youth Services, Education, Domestic Violence Services and many others underlined just how serious and important this struggle is.

People's lives genuinely depend on it.

We need to unite to fight all the cuts, whoever makes them.

Anit-Cuts Demonstrators Thronging down Orchard Street

Chants included "They say cutback, We say fightback!"

Preston is on the warpath

Students campaigning to keep
Educational Maintenance Allowance

Click here for The Lancashire Evening Post report on the demo

Gavin Hartley of PCS gave a rousing
speech offering a way forward to build
the anti-cuts campaign: uniting people by
opposing ALL the cuts

Bernard Fleming spoke on the threat facing
family carers

Reni Eddo-Lodge said that there was more to
come from the student movement - a key part
of the anti-cuts movement

Preston's MP, Mark Hendrick spoke at the rally
as did John Swindells, Preston Labour Councillor
Neither said much about Preston Labour's
proposals to make cuts to Preston
Guild Hall.

Valerie Wise: "The cuts are not theoretical, they are real
they are hitting real people, now"

Angela Murphy, another carer hit hard by the cuts

Knowledge is Power, Unity is Strength. Blackpool and the Fylde College UCU

Fight The Cuts: Whoever Makes Them

2011-02-10T17:32:00.001Z

The massive 27% cut in central government funding to local authorities is having devastating consequences. Manchester city council, for example, has announced that three leisure centres, two swimming pools, five libraries and all but one public toilet will close over the next year.
Editorial from The Socialist issue 657

All youth clubs will be handed to the voluntary sector. Refuse collection will only take place fortnightly.

Streets will no longer be cleaned overnight. 2,000 council jobs will be cut.

Children's services will be cut by 26% - or £45.1 million. Savings of £39.5 million or 21% will be made from adult services, with charges being introduced.
Over the next month councils up and down the land will announce similar bonfires of public services. Labour council leader, Sir Richard Leese, has said he found making the cuts "unpalatable".

But he could have avoided the unpleasant experience for himself, and the misery that his council is heaping on the population of Manchester, if his council had stood up to the government and refused to implement the cuts.

If any council was to do so they would be enormously popular. Trade unionists and anti-cuts campaigners would be able to mobilise tens of thousands of workers in support of such a stand.

Liverpool council

Unfortunately, not a single Labour council has so far been prepared to even contemplate ceasing collaboration with Con-Dem axe men and women and instead stand up and fight.

This contrasts sharply with the situation in the 1980s, when Labour was at base a workers' party even though it had a leadership that acted in the interests of the capitalists.

When it came to the crunch in the 1980s only Militant-led Liverpool city council, alongside Lambeth, was prepared to defy the government. Another 18 Labour councils, however, at least pledged to do so, before betraying the struggle at a later stage.
Today Labour is a capitalist party and that is reflected very clearly in the composition of Labour councillors. Even left Labour MP John McDonnell, who does support councils defying the government, has made the point that Labour councillors are in general among the most right-wing section of the Labour Party; not least because their salaries act as a major incentive to toe the line.
Unfortunately, most Green councillors also seem to argue that the cuts cannot be defied. The convenor of the Green group on Brighton city council (the largest in the country) has stated clearly that: "We can't stop the cuts, but we believe the blow can be softened by adopting an open-book approach ... to find ways to deal with the grievous cuts inflicted upon our city by the government." But this assertion is simply untrue.

Even Labourlist.org - the Labour bloggers' website set up by arch-Blairite Derek Draper - published an article by Daniel Blaney saying: "If there was a collective defiance of Eric Pickles [Tory local government minister] by scores of local authorities (essentially going on budget strike), and their act was vindicated by Labour gains in the local elections, it could force a political crisis on the Tory-led coalition.

"A cascade of 'no cuts' budget decisions by local authorities could be the most effective resistance to the cuts so far."

We agree. In the 1980s Liverpool city council was able to win £60 million in extra funding from the Tory government - fighting without other councils, but with the active support of tens of thousands of workers.

Liverpool's councillors were only surcharged and removed from office after a four-year struggle, as a result of the betrayal of the right-wing Labour leadership.

A "cascade" of Liverpools would have forced Thatcher from government then, and would defeat the Con-Dem coalition today. And today councillors can no longer even be surcharged unless they are found guilty of financial crime for personal gain.

But it is still true that any council that refused to carry out cuts or introduce hikes in council tax would - at a certain stage - come into conflict with the legal system.

However, if the inevitable popularity of such a council was used to mobilise a mass movement it would be very difficult - as in Liverpool - for the law to be used against the councillors.

Most councils, however, have time to prepare before taking this road. By using their reserves and borrowing powers to avoid making cuts, councils can gain time to build a mass movement in their support.

Manchester city council, for example, is estimated to have £100 million in reserves. In addition, Ed Miliband could promise that an incoming Labour government would write off all local authority debts incurred from avoiding cuts.

The article on Labourlist went on to emphasise that councillors "face a heavy responsibility" and should not be blamed for implementing the cuts.

Unfortunately, this is also the approach of some anti-cuts organisations. Right to Work, for example, called for a lobby of Manchester Labour council to "show the Con-Dem government that we will stand with our councillors in opposing the cuts" without a mention of the fact that the councillors are voting through enormous cuts.

But the 150,000+ local authority workers whose jobs are on the line will not feel this way. That is why the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) anti-cuts campaign is protesting at the Labour local government conference.

Resist the cuts

The NSSN campaign will demand that councils stand up against the onslaught raining down on working class communities. If any council does so anti-cuts campaigners will do everything in our power to support it.

But if, as Labour councils have up until now, they continue to refuse to vote against cuts, then they will be lining up with the public service slashers.

The willingness of councils to wield the axes handed down to them by central government means that local council cuts will only be defeated by mass struggle.

Forced by a movement from below it cannot be excluded that councils will 'find the courage' to make demands on the government. However, this requires a serious struggle, in which the trade unions have a key role to play, linked to campaigns by local communities in defence of services.

The TUC demonstration on 26 March is likely to be huge and will have a big effect on raising the confidence of workers to struggle. However, a demonstration alone will not be enough.

It needs to be a step towards coordinated strike action - beginning with a one-day public sector general strike. This demand has wide support among trade unionists.

At a 250-strong Hackney Unison meeting, for example, there was unanimous support for it.

Unfortunately, the majority of the leadership of the trade unions do not have the same determination to fight. In reality, they see no possibility of defeating the cuts and therefore see their role as, at best, organising token anti-cuts protests and attempting to ameliorate the worst effects of the cuts.

The only way forward is for local government trade unions to refuse to accept cuts and build for strike action against the cuts. Such action should be coordinated nationally.

However, even council workers fighting in one authority can win victories.

At the start of this year Kirklees Unison, by threatening strike action, was able to force the council to retreat from compulsory redundancies and from reducing redundancy pay and some other measures.

This was not a complete victory - but the concessions were only won by threatening militant action and opposing all cuts.

Contrast this fighting stance to the statement by the Manchester Unison branch, which in the face of devastation, does not say they will fight the cuts but only offers to: "assist members during this extremely difficult process"!

Alongside a mass campaign against the cuts, another crucial front in the battle will be the elections. Without a serious electoral challenge, there can be a danger that councillors carrying out cuts can remain impervious to the suffering they are causing.

In this May's local elections we need the broadest possible anti-cuts challenge.

This is understood, for example, by Richard Taylor, who was elected in 2001 as an independent MP for Wyre Forest in defence of local hospital services.

He has now raised that candidates should stand across the country this May in defence of the NHS.

We completely agree, but this should be linked to opposition to all cuts and have trade unionists at its centre. For this reason the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition will have an important role to play.

Preston's Bollards Don't Work

2011-02-10T17:18:00.000Z

I noticed some criticism of people with disabilities in the comments on this article about the Bollards Farce on Preston's Cheapside.

What has basically happened, is that in the spirit of their 'build first, ask questions later' approach, the council put an expensive set of rising bollards across Cheapside to enable them to turn the flagmarket into a pedestrian only area.

What they then discovered is that rising bollards have a whole set of issues and problems with them. Ambulances and Fire Brigade need to get past, delivery lorries need to get past, people with disabilities often need to get past.

As a result, the £35,000 set of bollards have never been used, and the council is locked in discussions with Disability Equality North West about exactly who needs to have pass keys.

If the council had consulted with people with disabilities BEFORE purchasing these bollards, they could have explained the fairly obvious problems with them, and perhaps saved the council £35,000. The lesson for Preston City Council is, (as with so many of their other failures) TALK TO LOCAL PEOPLE FIRST!

Say No To Flood Defence Cuts

2011-02-09T21:02:00.000Z

The government's cuts programme, means that over 1000 flood defence schemes will lose their funding.

According to the Guardian:

more than 1,500 flood defence schemes were in line for capital funding between 2011 and 2015, but that number has been slashed to 356 in the new spending plans for 2011-12. There are no funding plans for 2012-15 as the funding mechanism will be overhauled next year. The changes mean more than 50,000 households will no longer benefit from a reduction in flood risk.

The decision to cut funding for flood defences is incredibly stupid. Climate change is not going to pause in deference to the 'Canute Twins' Cameron and Clegg. We've already seen the drastic effects of floods in recent years, we're reliably informed by meteorologists that the need for flood prevention is going to rise year on year, this is not just coming from the scientists, but from the insurance companies, who say that it may not be long before 1million British homes are uninsurable against flooding.

The cost of repairing the damage caused by floods would dwarf any savings that the government makes from these utterly shortsighted and irresponsible cuts.

Unity Against All the Cuts: Are you 'deserving' or 'undeserving'?

2011-02-07T22:46:00.002Z

One of the most worrying developments I've seen recently is that in the face of the government's swingeing cuts, is that people have started to argue, in pubs and on the internet, about who is most 'deserving' - is it pensioners or people with disabilities? Swimming pools or Guild Halls? Voluntary Sector or Public Sector? Frontline staff or administrative workers?

The myth being spread by some, including the leadership of the Labour Party, nationally and sadly locally, is that we can have "fairer cuts". Hence the Preston Labour councillors' eagerness to nominate those 20+ Guild Hall jobs for the chop.

Cameron and Clegg are watching this infighting with glee. They've given us a much smaller cake, and are watching us fight each other over the crumbs, when we should be trying to take over the bakery.

The government would love us all to spend the next 4 years arguing between ourselves about whose jobs, services and benefits are most crucial, and which of us is most 'deserving'. That way lies disunity confusion and defeat, and a revival of the once discredited Dickensian distinction between the 'deserving and undeserving poor'.

The best way to beat these cuts is for everyone who is affected, whether they're a disabled person, a carer, a public transport worker, Guild Hall staff or students, OAPs or youth workers, library staff or NHS workers, council staff, county council staff or civil servants to all unite together to oppose ALL the cuts.

Lets go back to the old standards of working class solidarity: an injury to one is an injury to all, united we stand, divided we fall. That's how we beat the poll tax and Thatcher, and thats how we'll beat the cuts and Cameron.

Let's have a big show of unity against the cuts in Preston on Saturday 12th February. Let's turn the Flagmarket into our Tahrir Square, and start a movement that sweeps away the architects of the worst cuts since the 1930s, and those that have so cringeingly collaborated with them.

Lancashire Against The Cuts: Demo Feb 12th 2011

2011-02-06T21:16:00.005Z

If you've been horrified by the scale of the cuts being made in people's jobs, benefits and precious public services, now is your chance to do something about it. Perhaps like me you're disgusted at the cuts to Preston's Guild Hall. Perhaps you want to stand up for care services or for local youth workers.

Perhaps you've seen your EMA taken away, perhaps you're faced with huge fees for further education.

Whatever the cut is that's hit you, the best way to resist it is for everyone affected to band together and show their opposition to all cuts.

We don't need to put up with this, we beat the poll tax through massive civil resistance, so too we can beat these cuts.

Join the demonstration happening in Preston on Saturday!

We know that many will be coming from Preston, and many also from other parts of Lancashire, Make sure your workplace and your community is represented.

The Lancashire against cuts - Public Outcry!, Public Rally is being held on Saturday 12th February starting at 12.00pm on the Preston Flag Market.

Please pass this message on it is important to get as many people as possible to attend.

Preston Against Cuts organising meeting dates for your diaries which are to be held at the CVS in Preston Guild Hall, 7-9pm: 23.2.11, 9.3.11, 23.3.11,2.4.11

For more information email prestonag@groups.facebook.com

Guild 2012: Moor Park Future City Arena, But What About the Guild Hall?

2011-02-05T21:58:00.001Z

Preston City Council is thinking big for Guild 2012. Their idea of a 5000 seater arena on Moor Park, as part of their 'Future City Complex' is ambitious, exciting and visionary. It will give the 2012 Guild a centrepiece, and if it manages to pull off events as successful as the Radio 1 Roadshow that rocked Preston a couple of years ago, it could be remembered with affection by Prestonians for years afterward.

But there lies the problem. It's just a temporary structure. The permanent legacy of the 1972 Guild was our Guild Hall. And our council has just struck a deadly blow against this venue and its staff, with a set of swingeing cuts that closed down the PAD gallery and which will leave the Guild Hall on its knees.

So while we're celebrating the Guild on Moor Park, just down the road, and just across from our Town Hall, will be the ailing structure of our Guild Hall, a constant reminder of the viciousness of the government's cuts, and of our council's disregard for our city's history, culture and arts.

Preston Guild Hall will be the 'elephant in the room' of Guild 2012.

Egypt: British Solidarity With Tahrir Square

2011-02-04T19:43:00.002Z

The people of Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and all across Egypt are rising up. On twitter it's been hashtagged #jan25,

Here's a great leaflet showing how people in Britain can support the Egyptian revolution:

If you're in London, try and get to the meetings listed.

Glover's Court Statistics Are A Slur Against Preston

2011-02-01T22:57:00.001Z

The new police website that was supposed to tell people how many crimes are being committed in their local area has been an unmitigated disaster.

First of all, it was too busy to deliver the prompt service people were expecting.

Secondly, it branded Glover's Court in Preston as Britain's most crime-ridden street.

It registered over 150 crimes to one small street in just one month. The regulars at the Wellington must have been wondering what they'd missed. The news was plastered all over the national press and TV.

In reality only 3 crimes had been officially recorded in the street during that month, but a by-product of the way the statistics were collected and compiled has meant that all the crimes committed in Preston City Centre were aggregated onto one postcode.

The old saying "Lies, Damn Lies and Government Statistics" comes to mind.

It would be something to laugh about if it hadn't brought so much negative publicity to Preston. It's associated the name of Preston with high crime rates in a way that is totally unjustified by the facts.

If Preston was a human being, this would be slander.

The website should be taken down until it actually works properly.

The Home Secretary should apologise to the people of Preston.

Winckley Square: Council Puts Land Before Jobs

2011-01-31T22:18:00.001Z

Preston people thought our council had seen sense, and dropped it's plans to carry out a "revamp" of Winckley Square that involved fibre-optic lighting, metal letters hanging from trees, fountains and a massive multi-coloured 'totem pole' when over 1000 locals objected to it.

Now it seems that despite the unpopularity of these plans, the council is still prepared to throw public money at them. They have said that they are ready to buy land from the several landowners who own patches of the historic square.

Preston Council is making massive cuts in services that Preston people want and need, but is still prepared to spend massive amounts of our cash on a vanity project in Winckley Square that nobody wants and nobody needs.

The way to deal with Winckley Square is to keep it's historic character, not destroy it. Invest in parks staff who are able to keep it clean, maintained and cherished over time, rather than cutting these staff. Without proper care by professional council staff, the flashy gimmicky fads our council seems so keen to introduce would be clogged by litter, damaged by vandals and choked by weeds within a year.

Preston Against Cuts: Next Meeting, Next Demo

2011-01-30T11:15:00.001Z

Preston Against Cuts is the body set up by Preston Trades Council to resist ALL the current cuts being pushed through by the ConDem coalition and our local councils.

Here are the details of their next meeting and demo:

The next Preston Against Cuts organising meeting will take place on February 2nd. If you think you can help please come along to Preston CVS Offices, Guild Arcade at 7:00pm. A rally & march is being organised for Saturday February 12th from 12:00 in Preston town centre.

Egypt: The People Rise and Round the World, Tyrants Tremble

2011-01-28T23:06:00.002Z

Revolutionary masses move to overthrow Mubarak

Regime deploys army on streets to try to crush mass movement

Niall Mulholland, CWI

Mass protests spread across Egypt following today’s Friday prayers, demanding an end to Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year presidency. Demonstrations took place in Alexandria, Suez, Mansoura, Sharqiya and Cairo. In many cases, clashes occured between protesters and police. Police deployed tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition. In areas like Alexandria and Suez, the movement reached insurrectionary proportions, with police and security forces retreating from parts of the cities in the face of mass resistance.

These are the largest protests since the ‘food riots’ in 1977, when the Sadat regime was forced to lower food prices, as well as stepping up repression. But today’s movement is on a much greater scale. It is an enormous popular revolt of revolutionary character.

Protests on Thursday saw demonstrators attempting to set fire to a local office of the ruling National Democratic Party. There were reports earlier this week of attempts by the protesters to fraternise with and to win over police. “Brothers! Brothers! How much do they pay you!” protesters said to police ranks in Cairo.

The protesters are showing enormous courage in confronting the might of the state machinery. In some cases, demonstrators are forcing the police to retreat. It is reported that protesters took over a police station in Alexandria and that the “police have now given up fighting the protesters. The police and protesters are now talking, with protesters bringing water and vinegar (for teargas) to the police” (Peter Bouckaert, Human Rights Watch, in Alexandria).

Events are moving at a dizzying speed, as the masses enter the stage of politics. The next hours and days are crucial and could see Mubarak overthrown. It remains to be seen if the state apparatus of repression can withstand the tidal wave of mass protest. The potential role of the army, on the streets or behind the scenes, is currently unclear. At the time of writing, it is reported that riot police in Alexandria were overwhelmed by protesters, who have armed themselves with police riot shields, and that police commanders have lost contact with their subordinates. In Suez, protesters seized police arms and broke into police vans. Two police stations were seized and prisoners released.

Police and army

Demonstrators instinctively made an appeal to the rank and file soldiers and police. Protesters in Cairo chanted slogans calling for the army to support them: "Where is the army? Come and see what the police is doing to us. We want the army. We want the army" An Al Jazerra reporter said protesters jumped and cheered beside an armoured army van, with the soldiers taking no action.

Socialists would add a class appeal to the rank and file army and police, who are mainly drawn from the working class and poor. This would include a call to create their own rank and file committees of action and to purge the officers and hierarchy, thereby fundamentally undermining and neutralising the security forces as a tool of repression for Mubarak.

If the disintegration or partial disintegration of the police seen in Alexandria and Suez today was to spread and be replicated across Egypt, the Mubarak regime would collapse. However, severely wounded by today’s extraordinary events on the streets, the Mubarak regime is now fighting to save its life and can unleash even greater savage repression. Mubarak called on the army to take control of security, indicating he has no confidence the police are capable of holding the line. Indeed, the police in Cairo were unable to quell the street protests.

The regime is attempting to crush the mass movement, imposing a curfew tonight, shutting down most of the internet and sending security forces to Al Jazeera local offices. The army are being deployed on the streets, including army tanks. Some sections of the demonstrators may see the army as potential saviours but this will quickly turn into its opposite should soldiers now be used to brutally prevent further opposition protests.

Events are unfolding fast, and as we publish it remains to be seen how the mass movement responds to these new developments. Will greater regime repression - the “whip of counter-revolution” - lead to even more protests and more steely determination by the masses to overthrow Mubarak? Will the army rank and file go over to the protesters? Or will the brute force of the state see the mass movement temporarily set back?

Even if Mubarak manages to hang on to power, for the moment, and brutally see off the street protests, today’s incredible events – a rising of the masses – means the regime is mortally wounded. Mubarak’s days in power are numbered, and it is no longer possible for the regime to continue to rule in the same old ways.

Today’s demonstrations mark the fourth consecutive day of protests in Egypt, which emulate the mass revolt in neighbouring Tunisia. So far, at least seven people have died in the unrest in Egypt and the police arrested thousands. A spokesperson for the opposition Muslim Brotherhood said that twenty members of his organisation were arrested on Thursday, including senior leaders.

The regime attempted to crack down on today’s planned demonstrations by blocking internet and mobile phone access. But before blocking the internet, activists were able to use social networking to call for protesters to go to mosques and churches today. The regime also warned that an ‘elite special counterterrorism force’ would be deployed at strategic points around Cairo.

This week’s desperate actions by the Mubarak regime shows it has long been losing its social base of support. Around 30% of Egypt’s 80 million-strong population is under 20 years old, with the average age of just 24 years. This week’s events amply illustrates that working people and youth have lost their fear of the regime. Veteran journalist, Robert Fisk, commented, “they are no longer afraid…Mubarak’s men seem to have lost all sense of initiative…the filth and the slums, the open sewers and the corruption of every government official, the bulging prisons, the laughable elections, the whole vast, sclerotic edifice of power has at last brought Egyptians on to their streets” (Independent, London, 28/01/11).

Muslim Brotherhood

The Muslim Brotherhood lagged behind the events of this week. Its leaders prevaricated over whether to support the movement or not. The Brotherhood then ran to catch up with the youth on the streets, attempting to take the initiative today and backing protests following Friday prayers. Protesters are heard chanting, “God is great!” leaving mosques after Friday prayers. Fisk comments that “This is not an Islamic uprising” warning, however, “though it could become one”. He adds, that for the moment “…it is just one mass of Egyptians stifled by decades of failure and humiliation”.

Although recent years have seen impressive strikes and the creation of several independent unions, so far the Egyptian working class has not entered the struggle as an independent organised mass force, stamping its authority on events and giving a clear class lead to overthrow the Mubarak regime. A general strike call now would get overwhelming backing and bring society to a standstill. Elected committees of mass struggle, in the workplaces, communities, schools and colleges, linked on a local, regional and national scale, could spearhead the resistance to Mubarak and form the basis of the rule of workers and the poor.

Workers need their own mass party, with a socialist programme to transform society. But in the absence of strong workers’ and left organisations to lead the mass social eruption, the Brotherhood will try to fill the leadership vacuum.

Also trying to fill the vacuum is Mohamed ElBaradei, who today warned Mubarak that his regime “is on its last legs”. Stung by criticism that he returned to Egypt days after the protests began, ElBaradei stressed his “solidarity” with the protesters.

El-Baradei, leader of the National Alliance for Change, like the Muslim Brotherhood leadership, is belatedly trying to channel the mass movement under his ‘control’.

ElBaradei offered himself to help lead a “transitional government” and warned that "If the international community does not speak out it will have a lot of implications…”

Indeed, US imperialism is extremely concerned at these developments. For decades, the US and other Western imperialist powers backed their ally Mubarak. Now concerned that about where the mass movement will lead, President Obama hypocritically calls on Mubarak to “make changes to the political system”. Mubarak has been a slavish follower of US policy in the region, including acting as prison guard over Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and as an ally against Iran. If Mubarak’s regime was to fall, US imperialist policy in the region could unravel and enter unchartered waters.

With Mubarak’s brutal repression, so far, failing to stop mass protests, imperialism and the Egyptian ruling class may be forced to remove Mubarak and make other changes at the top, to safeguard the future of the ruling elite in Egypt and a vital US ally in the region. They are terrified that Mubarak’s regime would collapse completely, possibly leaving the way open for the Muslim Brotherhood to fill the vacuum. The Tehran regime today provocatively commented that the mass movement in Egypt has “echoes” of the 1979 revolution in Iran that eventually led to the coming of power of the Mullahs.

Regime change?

The removal of Mubarak would be a great success for the mass movement on the streets. But Egyptian workers and youth can have no faith in any ‘national unity’ or ‘national salvation’ government, which would most likely involve remnants of the Mubarak regime and would be dominated by other pro-bourgeois ‘opposition’ forces. It is not even ruled out that attempts will be made to incorporate into a new regime the Muslim Brotherhood (or parts of it), whose leaders have long shown their willingness to compromise and accommodate. It claims its brand of political Islam is ‘moderate’. But as seen in the case of Tunisia, this sort of ‘regime change’ will not meet the needs and demands of the masses.

The Tunisian revolutionary movement is spreading across the Arabic world, from Yemen to Jordan and now most spectacularly to Egypt. Every rotten regime in the region is threatened, sooner or later, with mass street protests and their removal. The working masses have shown their power and blown away the notion that they will not fight back. The mass movements sweeping North Africa and the Middle East are a huge inspiration to working people and youth around the world and, quite rightly, a major concern for the ruling classes everywhere.

The CWI calls for:

End police repression and brutality – For international solidarity with the Egyptian masses

For mass workers’ action, including a general strike, to overthrow Mubarak and the whole rotten, brutal regime

For full democratic rights immediately, including the right to assemble, to strike and to organize democratic independent trade unions

For the creation of democratically elected committees of mass struggle, and defence against state repression, in the workplaces, communities, schools and colleges, linked on local, regional and national scale, to spearhead the resistance

For rank and file committees of police and soldiers - Side with the masses & purge the officers and hierarchy

No to sectarianism – For the unity of all workers across religious lines

No trust in any new ‘national unity’ regime based on the interests of the ruling class and imperialism

For immediate and free elections to a revolutionary democratic constituent assembly - For a majority workers’ and rural workers’ government

For a living minimum wage, guaranteed jobs, a massive programme of house building, education and health

End the Egyptian blockade of Gaza – For self-determination for Palestine and for workers’ unity and mass action to overthrow dictators across the region

For the nationalisation of Egypt’s big corporations, the banks and large estates and their democratic planning to meet the needs of the masses not an elite

For a socialist Egypt and a socialist confederation of the region, on an equal and voluntary basis

Guild Hall Job Cuts: It Was Labour's Idea

2011-01-25T00:06:00.002Z

On Saturday River's Edge commented about the swingeing Preston City Council cuts that will mean the loss of 23 jobs at Preston's Guild Hall.

What we didn't realise at the time was that it was, by their own admission, the Labour Party that pointed the cuts axeman in the direction of the Guild Hall. According to today's Lancashire Evening Post, "Opposition Labour group members say plans to scale down performances at the Guild Hall was an idea put forward by them – with the alternative being the closure of one or more city leisure centres."

It's not true that there was no alternative - the real alternative would have been to fight tooth and nail to resist every cut. That is the only strategy that a party purporting to represent working class people should adopt. Instead Labour are proving that they are exactly the same as the Tories and Liberals. They say slashing the Guild Hall jobs was 'preferable to the alternative', for Labour, when the alternative is putting up a real fight against this government, anything is preferable...

That's not to say that the other parties fought hard on behalf of the Guild Hall staff, both Tory Hudson and LibDem Shannon made blithe comments about this cut being 'preferable' to cuts in other services.

The reality is that all 3 establishment parties are rolling on their backs and implementing vicious cuts on behalf of the Con-Dem government that will be disastrous for public sector workers, and for the people who use the services they provide.

An old socialist slogan is "We want bread, and roses too". It's a myth that cultural events like visits from the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, or by some of the country's top comedians are less important for our community than basic services like the bins. Creating and enjoying theatre, music and dance are activities that can mean the difference between civilisation and dull quotidian existence.

Prestonians must not tolerate what constitutes the beating half to death of our Guild Hall, even if our politicians of all parties have already sacrificed it on the altar of the mythical deficit - a deficit that only exists because our country's resources were used to bail out the bankers, and because no party dares to make the super-rich and the corporations pay the same taxes as the rest.

Every public service is precious. We must unite to fight ALL the cuts.

Pennington Sticks It to The Man

2011-01-24T19:58:00.006Z

Usually it's only the really pleasurable activities that get banned. I suppose it's a sign of just what kind of people make up the ranks of today's Liberal Democrat Party, that their party apparatchiks have banned their members from submitting their own proposals directly to the electoral boundary commission.

While most people could not comprehend why anyone should wish to ban anything so mind-numbingly boring, the diktat has created outrage amongst Preston LibDems, particularly former Riversway Councillor Liam Pennington.

Liam has been busy for months carving up constituencies and redrawing electoral maps. It's been a kind of hobby for him, and he often posts his newly invented constituencies on his twitterstream: @doktorb to entertain his many LibDem followers.

Principled Liberal that he is, he has sworn not to be cowed by threats of disciplinary action from the LibDems NW Regional Office. He has called the ban a "grossly undemocratic 'we know best' manoeuvre and one which is to be ignored without a moment's consideration."and has announced that he will be sending his proposals directly to the Boundary Commission, regardless of the fearful personal consequences to himself.

River's Edge's message to Liam is this:

Liam.

There are plenty of things that should be illegal in the LIbDem constitution; reneging on key election pledges in relation to student fees for example. The ban on submitting individual proposals for redrawing electoral boundaries seems an odd issue to choose to confront your party's bureaucracy over, but in a way, we can see your point: if a citizen chooses to sweat for hours over maps of wards and boundaries all over Lancashire and Greater Manchester, what right does anyone have to stop him submitting the fruits of his public-spirited 'Big Society' labour to the body charged with redrawing constituency boundaries?

We believe that one of the main reasons the Con-Dem government is reducing the number of seats and redrawing electoral boundaries is to divide and weaken the working class vote, and make it more difficult to get Cameron and Clegg out of office. AV could be introduced for very similar reasons. However, no amount of fiddling with electoral boundaries will change ordinary people's growing anger at the vicious cuts being enacted by your government. Those cuts will undoubtedly harm the lives of Lancashire's most vulnerable people, surely this is the issue you should be rebelling over?

Here's Liam's blogpost in full:

Gag reflex

I have been forwarded the following email, an "order" from the NW Region Liberal Democrats related to the necessary boundary changes pursuant to the reduction of MPs from 650 to 600:

The process of submissions to the Boundary Commission is being dealt with directly from Cowley Street with very active input from a nominated Officer within each Region. In the case of the NW that individual is Richard Marbrow.

It has been resolved that: IT WILL BE A MATTER FOR DISCIPLINARY ACTION FOR ANY LOCAL PARTY; LIB DEM COUNCIL; COUNCIL GROUP; INDIVIDUAL PARTY MEMBER etc TO SUBMIT PROPOSALS TO THE BOUNDARY COMMISSION OTHER THAN VIA THE NW REGIONAL OFFICE.

The precise wording of this has been placed in the Standards & Practice Sub Committee to draft and it is expected that ALL Regional Parties will pass a similar resolution.
The Regional Executive recognised that this is a high handed and illiberal directive and was sorry for it. Hopefully my fuller report will help you understand why it is so essential.

This is a grossly undemocratic 'we know best' manoeuvre and one which is to be ignored without a moment's consideration.

I can think of not one valid reason for this diktat, other than it has come from a policy wonk who would rather pass off as his own the proposals from other people. Well-meaning activists, councillors and constituency association chairs should not feel afraid of expressing their opinions by the wagged fingers of either Regional or National Parties.

In short, my proposals for the Lancashire and Greater Manchester review area (maps of which can be seen posted at Scribd) will be sent straight to the Boundary Commission, without any ticks, crosses or nods from a LibDem suited know-it-all.

This highly illiberal move - it actually concedes it is illiberal! - is not exactly a pleasant sign in our party of fairness fighters.

Holocaust Memorial Day in Preston and Chorley

2011-01-23T00:29:00.001Z

A number of events are being held in Preston to remember the communities that suffered as a result of the Nazi Holocaust.

Holocaust Memorial Day is a national event that aims to:

- Recognise the Holocaust was a tragically defining episode of the 20th Century, a crisis for European civilisation and a universal catastrophe for humanity.

- Provide a national mark of respect for all victims of Nazi persecution and demonstrate understanding with all those who still suffer its consequences.

- Raise awareness and understanding of the events of the Holocaust as a continuing issue of fundamental importance for all humanity.

- Make sure the horrendous crimes, racism and victimisation committed during the Second World War to the present day are neither forgotten nor repeated, whether in Europe or elsewhere in the world.

A memorial service will be held on 27th January at St John's Minster in Preston.

The Harris library are holding an Anne Frank exhibition from Monday 24th to Monday 31st January. This will include events for schoolchildren.

A number of events are also happening in Chorley including the laying of a wreath at the Cenotaph by members of the British Legion.

The Holocaust Memorial Day website is here: http://www.hmd.org.uk/