VETERAN IRISH Republican Marian Price has been imprisoned without trial since May 2011. This harks back to the British government’s widespread use of internment in the 1970’s as a way of silencing opposition to its rule in the north of Ireland. This repressive policy only succeeded in broadening the scale of the anti-Unionist and anti-British […]
By Marcus Halaby THE HEADY combination of big business, land development, local and national politics, and the struggle for international prestige has always ensured that major sporting events like the Olympics are fraught with issues for the communities that live and work near them. Few people, however, could have expected the news that ground-based […]
By Sally Turner REMPLOY, a government-owned company that provides disabled people with employment, is closing 36 of its 54 factories and sacking at least 1,700 workers. Everyone should oppose this act, which will destroy workers’ dignity and independence, as well as halting socially useful production. Workers Power and Revolution members went to meet the […]
By Rebecca Anderson The issue of overriding importance at this year’s conference of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union will again be the battle to save our pensions. The government has now implemented the changes to our pensions – we will work longer, pay more and get less – but this does mean […]
BUS DRIVERS in the capital are to ballot for strike action in pursuit of a £500 Olympic bonus to compensate for the 800,000 extra passengers expected during the summer Games. The mental stress and physical strain (the extra work of the engine in a jam-packed bus jars the drivers’ back) of working extra hours in this […]
By Sally Turner As soldiers prepare to scab on tanker drivers, it is clear that the threat of a national strike remains very real. Despite ongoing negotiations and a final proposal from the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) to prevent a strike, it seems unlikely that drivers will accept it. Last month, workers […]
The fight to save the NHS starts with the pensions strike on 10 May, argues NHS worker Dara O’Connell A HUNDRED thousand health workers in Unite will take strike action on Thursday 10 May over attacks to their pensions. Members of the PCS, UCU, Nipsa and the RMT will join them, as strikes hit […]
By Bernie McAdam, Sandwell NUT The National Union of Teachers (NUT) Conference this Easter made abundantly clear to its leaders that more national strike action was needed to stop the Coalition’s pensions attack. A successful motion called for regional strikes in the summer term, culminating in a national strike in June. Within weeks, however, the […]
WE ARE IN the midst of the biggest capitalist offensive for generations and yet the response from the trade union leaders has been miniscule. There is a yawning chasm between the scale of action needed to stop the cuts and bring down the government, and the timid industrial action strategies put forward by union leaders, […]
PAKISTAN’S MILITARY has intensified its fifth operation in Balochistan, battling a resistance movement against national oppression. Thousands of Balochi political activists are missing, and four hundred bodies of students, engineers, doctors and workers have been found, many showing evidence of severe torture. Arshad Shazhad reports. Rebel leader Nawab Akbar Bugti’s assassination in August 2006, and […]
Students in Québec, Canada have been on strike for three months against the government’s attempts to raise university tuition fees, while Chilean students are protesting for reforms in the public education system, writes KD Tait THE GENERAL unlimited strike, organised by a coalition of student federations, started on February 13 and has drawn in […]
The Arab Spring of 2011 inspired millions around the world through its acts of heroism. But now the revolutions have stalled. In the spirit of solidarity with these movements and communist internationalism, Marcus Halaby takes a critical look at the far left in these countries and Syria in particular One of the most noticeable […]
The Greek elections have demonstrated a massive popular rejection of the governing parties who support the EU-IMF austerity memorandum that has caused so much suffering to ordinary Greek people over the last two years. New Democracy (ND), which won 33.5 per cent in 2009, is in first place with 18.9 per cent, a loss of […]
THE VICTORY of Francois Hollande has raised huge expectations among workers across France and Europe of an end to austerity, posing the possibility of major struggles ahead. On a high turnout of 81 per cent, right-wing incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy was booted from office, leaving the Elysée Palace to be occupied by a Socialist President for the […]
The latest crisis in the police goes beyond individual racism, the whole system defends the police from accountability or prosecution. Crown Prosecution Service The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the government agency involved in bringing forward cases for prosecution, works hand in glove with the police. It has a long record of giving police a ‘get […]
Only token changes have been made since the 1999 Macpherson report concluded that the police were “institutionally racist”, after an inquiry into the Stephen Lawrence murder case exposed rampant police corruption and racism. Despite rising discrimination against Black and Asian people critical reports on continued police racism in 2004 and 2009, particularly around the racist […]
In the last week, the London Metropolitan Police have become swamped by a series of exposes of police racism dating back to the London riots. The allegations expose the way the whole justice system protects the police and defends racism. On 30 March the Guardian newspaper released a recording made by Mauro Demetrio, a 21 […]
As we approach the second anniversary of the Coalition government coming to office, Workers Power conference looked back at the movement against austerity – not from the viewpoint of passively recording history, but in order to build on our strengths, overcome our weaknesses and chart a path forward. Since coming to power in 2010, […]
Big Society is Watching You! Kady Tait After the budget, the petrol chaos and the pasty tax, the Tories’ latest attack comes in the form of wide-ranging powers to snoop on our online communications. A new proposal expected to be outlined in the Queen’s speech in May would allow the secret services to have […]
By Andy Yorke The media and Tory ministers have jumped on this week’s report on the August riots to cover up police repression and blame the poorest youth and their families. The ‘Riots Communities and Victims Panel’ didn’t include anyone from the community. Set up by the Coalition with Labour backing, the hand-picked panel of […]
No Cuts – No War – No Privatisation Left winger George Galloway stormed to victory in the Bradford West by-election with 18,000 votes and a huge 37 per cent swing from Labour. Richard Brenner writes This extraordinary event, in which thousands of young people in Bradford, white and Asian, rallied to an anti-cuts candidate and […]
On 3 March Anthony Grainger, 36, was executed by police in a car park in suburban Manchester. He was sat, unarmed, in a stationary vehicle, having been followed by police in a pre-planned operation. Writes Helen and Chrissie Hadfield.
Italian workers have downed tools as political opposition grows to labour reforms. Unelected Italian Prime Minister, Mario Monti, is facing serious opposition to his plans to “free up” labour contracts. In fact, as with similar “reforms” in Spain, his aim is to allow employers to sack workers with near-impunity, as they can in Britain. Dave […]
The killing of 17 year-old black teenager Trayvon Martin by an armed Neighbourhood Watch man in Sanford near Orlando, Florida has sparked national outrage. George Zimmerman was detained after he shot and killed Martin, but was then released by police without charge. Writes Simon Hardy.
The 29 March one-day general strike witnessed massive participation across Spain as millions rallied to the unions’ call to resist government attacks on fundamental workplace rights. Kady Tait reports After three years of vicious austerity, 5.3 million people, a quarter of the workforce, and 50 per cent of young people are unemployed. Spain has entered […]
On 19 March, China awoke to widespread rumours of a coup in Beijing. The internet was alive with tales of troop movements, artillery fire in the capital and splits in the ruling Communist Party. Within hours it was clear that there was no coup, but every reason to believe that the splits are real enough. […]
A report by the Fair Labor Association into working conditions at three plants in China that supply Apple with iPads and iPhones has confirmed gross violations of Chinese labour law and unacceptable management practices, writes Peter Main
Workers Power conference debated and passed another resolution specifically on the fight to stop the destruction of the NHS, recognising the political importance of this struggle.
As we approach the second anniversary of the Coalition government coming to office, the Workers Power 2012 conference reviewed the movement against austerity – not from the viewpoint of passively recording history, but in order to build on our strengths, overcome our weaknesses and chart a path forward
Two years of Tory Britain has taken its toll on young people. Unemployment stands at 20 per cent and rising; for Black youth the figure is pushing 50 per cent. University fees have tripled, Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) has gone, and unpaid workfare is the only option for a million youth without jobs, education or […]