Workers' Weekly V.28 No.13-14

THE REVELATIONS ABOUT British interference in Sierra Leone over the past week underline once more the dirty work that the British government and the arms dealers are involved in on the African continent. Robin Cook can wring his hands in all innocence, point an accusing finger at others, and talk till he is blue in the face on the subject of ethical foreign policy, but the systematic intervention of the big powers and their blocs, the arms dealers and the financial oligarchy in Africa, as in other parts of the world, are facts which are constantly being exposed. The British government must be condemned by all democratic people for their interference in the affairs of the people of Sierra Leone and other parts of Africa in pursuit of their strategic, political and economic interests as they arrogantly strut around on the world stage.

The problems which have been confronting the people of Sierra Leone all have their origins in the colonial and neo-colonial policies of the big powers or are directly caused by their intervention. Foreign monopolies play havoc with the economies of the African countries and infringe their sovereignty, attempting to put the political leaders in their pockets. While Sierra Leone is extremely rich in minerals and other natural resources, it is one of the poorest countries in the world in terms of the quality of life of the people and of human suffering. Despite the fact that it is one of the leading diamond producers in the world, as well as of bauxite, and that conservative estimates say that it has 25-30% of the total global deposits of titanium in the form of rutile, it lacks the capacity to sustain itself and only eight other countries in the world have a lower GDP per head, all of them in Africa. It has continued to depend on Britain and other big powers through “aid” and unequal trade agreements, and is heavily in debt to the IMF and World Bank. Its attempts to meet the fiscal and budgetary targets of these international financial institutions have been at the steep cost of forgoing capital investments and social spending. In addition, the lucrative profits that the arms dealers suck from African peoples are exemplified in Sierra Leone, where published figures show that military expenditure rose from US$5 million to US$20 million at 1990 prices between 1987-92.

Sierra Leone was a British colony until 1961. It was after a military coup in 1992 against the then civilian government of President Joseph Saidu Momoh that Ahmed Tejan Kabbah entered the administration, and he was confirmed as president by elections in 1996. After the coup of May 25, 1997, in which the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council/Revolutionary United Front (AFRC/RUF) led by Lieutenant-Colonel Johnny Paul Koroma overthrew President Kabbah’s government, the Anglo-Americans intervened in any way they could to restore the Kabbah regime. It is open knowledge that the British government sided with and supported the ousted president Kabbah, flouting all international norms in so doing.

The British government has no business dictating by force of arms to the people of Sierra Leone which their government should be. Whether Robin Cook himself “knew” of the flouting of the UN Security Council Resolution 1132 which had imposed an embargo on fuel and arms following the May 25 coup by approving the supply of arms and mercenaries cannot be considered the central issue here. Nor will the claims that Britain acted on “humanitarian” motives and were backing the side which stood for democracy wash. Activists and distinguished figures from Sierra Leone, as well as such organisations as the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, drew attention while the AFRC/RUF was in power to the plight of the people of Sierra Leone who were being denied humanitarian assistance and protested against it to Tony Blair and others, calling for the resolution of the situation by peaceful means. Meanwhile, it is coming to light that the British military involvement could well go far beyond simply giving a nod and a wink to Sandline International.

The progressive forces of Sierra Leone are calling for the immediate withdrawal of ALL foreign forces from the country. That too is the demand of the working class and democratic and peace-loving people in Britain. In particular they must condemn the criminal and illegal involvement of the Labour government, which shows the lengths to which it will go to penetrate Africa, continue imperialist plunder of that continent and impose Eurocentrist systems and values round the world. The Labour government, whether it is in Iraq, the Middle East, the Balkans or in Africa, are demonstrating that they are furthering and stepping up their activities which serve the financial oligarchy and are becoming ever more shameless in trying to justify their criminal activities and dreams of empire. The British working class and people must demand an end to this situation, calling for the British government to cease its inteference throughout the world, and render reparations for the plunder and destruction of lives and properties that it has caused.

Footnote:

Recent revelations concerning arms trafficking in Africa seem to have arisen at an awkward time for the government. It has just sponsored a three-day conference in South Africa to "discuss ways to combat and prevent illicit trafficking in small arms ata cost of £42,000. The conference was funded by the Department for International Development. Minister of State Tony Lloyd said, "The British government has identified the problem of small arms proliferation as a priority both during and after our presidencies of the EU and G8....We are working to develop a responsible approach to all arms exports...." In this context the Department for International Development has pledged $500,000 to assist the UN Development Programme implement a West African moratorium on the import, export and manufacture of light weapons!

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Why are Blair and Major Campaigning in Belfast?

Discussions have been taking place in Ireland north and south between and within the various political groupings about what has become known as the Good Friday Agreement. Recommendations are being made as to how the voters should vote in the separate referendums to be held in north and south on May 22. Sinn Fein are recommending a Yes vote in both. But they are emphasising that the Agreement reached on April 10 does not constitute a settlement to the problem in Ireland, that it falls short of an end to British rule over part of Ireland and that the two separate referenda are not the Irish people exercising their right of national self-determination – the only basis for a lasting settlement.

Nothing could reflect more the correctness of this emphasis than the joint visit last week to the north of Ireland by Tony Blair and John Major to drum up support for a Yes vote. What business did they have there? It was John Major himself in the Downing Street Declaration of 1993 who for the first time ever acknowledged in words the right of the Irish people to national self-determination and claimed that this acknowledgement would underpin the whole peace process being initiated. To descend on Belfast with such fanfare like some 19th century colonial masters dispensing wisdom and largesse to the natives, coupled with various blandishments about investments likely to follow a Yes vote from the likes of Gordon Brown and Bill Clinton, only adds insult to the injury of an Agreement largely railroaded through by the British government in the interests of English, US and other capital.

The Irish organisations of necessity must operate as the circumstances allow. But if the working class in Britain is to assist its fellow workers in Ireland and to defend its own interests at home, as well as ensure that this Agreement – which as it stands both institutionalises British jurisdiction over part of Ireland and institutionalises the sectarian divisions resulting from British rule – is transformed into a stage towards ending British rule and partition, it must be unequivocal in its stand. It must demand that a settlement be reached forthwith that truly acknowledges the sovereignty of the Irish people over all their territory and their right of national self-determination. In other words it must continue to demand immediate steps towards an end to British rule over part of Ireland and an end to British interference in the affairs of the Irish people.

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May Day Marked by Working Class and Peoples in Struggle throughout World

MAY DAY RALLIES, MARCHES AND OTHER EVENTS were held throughout the world. It is characteristic of May Day that in celebrating their unity in struggle against the common enemy, workers throughout the world put forward and reaffirm their independent class programme on this day. Equally, the reactionary bourgeoisie tries to bury the significance of May Day, and most of all would like to extinguish that the working class should have its independent programme and initiative.

Thus, while RCPB(ML) put forward its May Day call to STOP PAYING THE RICH – INCREASE INVESTMENTS IN SOCIAL PROGRAMMES! (see May 1 issue of Workers' Weekly) the bourgeoisie was carefully avoiding any reference to May First as International Working Class Day, and was instead promoting all kinds of diversions, including picking over the significance of one year of Labour government

May Day March in London

On May 1, several thousands took part in a militant May Day march in London from Highbury Fields to Clerkenwell Green, where a rally was held in front of Marx House. The march and rally were organised by the Southern and Eastern Regional TUC (SERTUC), T&GWU, GMB, UNISON and other unions. Workers from the Turkish and Kurdish communities resident in London, who always give a special significance to May Day, were prominent in the march and underlined the international character of the day. In addition to trade union representatives, a number of foreign representatives from France and other countries also addressed the rally. Copies of RCPB(ML)’s May Day call Stop Paying the Rich, Increase Investments in Social Programmes were distributed at the rally and were well received.

May Day March and Rally in Newcastle

On Saturday May 2 around 800 working people took part in the traditional May Day march and rally in Newcastle. In the programme May Day Message distributed for the May Day events by the May Day Committee, on behalf of the Tyne & Wear County Association of Trade Union Councils, the organisers pointed out that “one year after the landslide election of a Labour Government the need for trade unionists to press their demands and voice their aspirations is as urgent as ever.” They pointed out that the “debate around the welfare state is becoming a central ground for struggle.” They opposed the cuts in benefits and opposed the charges which are to be imposed on students for higher education and the level of the proposed minimum wage. The message said that “opposition to European Monetary Union is essential to ensure that the interests of trade unionists and their families are put ahead of central bankers in Europe.” The message concludes by pointing out that “May Day is the time to reaffirm our demands.”

At the front of the march was a huge banner for May Day and declaring “Peace, Homes, Jobs and Health”. This was followed by one of the miners’ bands and contingents marching behind the Trades Union Council and trade union banners. After the march finished a rally was held at Exhibition Park which was addressed by a number of speakers. The speakers were: Gill Hale, Campaign for a Northern Assembly; Paline Abrams, Chair of the TUC Black Workers Conference; Steve Jones from Disability Action North East; Gerry Duddy from the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign; and Neil Kearney, General Secretary of the International Textile, Garment & Leather Worker’s Federation speaking on the International Campaign for the Elimination of Child Labour.

During the march and rally, 70 of the special May Day issue of Workers’ Weekly, containing the Party’s May Day statement Stop Paying the Rich – Increase Investment in Social Programmes! were distributed for donations and were warmly received by young and older working people during the march and at the rally. One older worker commented that it was good to see the communists there and putting forward a communist programme, a younger unemployed man said that it was clear now that New Labour was not only not going to help the unemployed but that they were set on cutting the benefits further and the only hope was an alternative. A number of copies of the Draft Programme for the Working Class were sold at the Party’s bookstall as well as other Marxist-Leninist works and journals.

The Rally concluded with cultural performances from a Cuban Band resident in Britain, a massed choir from the area and other musicians.

May Festival at Finsbury Park

On Sunday May 3, an event was held in Finsbury Park London under the banner of “London Mayday ’98 for Democracy and Respect”. It was organised by London Trades Unions – South East Regional TUC (SERTUC), London GBM, T&GWU Region 1, UNISON London Region and Battersea and Wandsworth TUC. Speakers included John Edmonds, general secretary of the GMB, Rita Donaghy, President of UNISON and Jimmy Knapp of the RMT. Activists from RCPB(ML) in London participated in the event, maintaining a bookstall. Thousands of people began to come to the park in the course of the day so that by 4.00 pm the park was full. In the course of the day, in addition to the bookstall, about 70 Workers’ Weekly were handed out, and many conversations were held around the issues raised in the special edition of the newspaper.

Speaking to Workers’ Weekly, one of the Party activists reported: “We had a tremendous response to the call to Increase Investments in Social Programmes and people responded positively to the slogan of Stop Paying the Rich but wanted to know how this could be done. Especially interesting was that quite a number of women wanted to talk about issues concerning them. One woman said it was a wonderful thing to hear someone describe themselves as a communist because in today’s world people are afraid to declare themselves. A long conversation ensued about the need for women to take an active part in the class struggle and combat the marginalisation of women that can happen in progressive organisations and within society generally.

“Lively discussions were held with a number of the other stallholders, and with one in particular who upon reading the paper was very excited to see a party actually expressing what his concerns were, and said he wanted to know more. But again he wanted to know practically how someone in his position could be involved in political life when he is leading such a hand to mouth existence in the way he earns his living. The overall impression from the day and all the conversations that were held was that people responded very positively to the fact that our Party was presenting a programme to the class rather than just presenting an opposition view to the government. When people came across the fact that we had our programme and were able to engage in discussion around it they found that empowering because we were talking about how to build the future and we were also discussing how people might take a stand in their own areas of struggle.

“Overall, I would say the day was very successful because of the numbers of Workers’ Weekly which were given out and because the line of the Party was widely discussed.”

Celebrating May Day around Britain

Rallies were held at Stockton and Leeds. In Birmingham a rally in Chamberlain Square on Saturday May 2 at 10.30 am was followed by a march to the Trade Union Club in Pershore Road. Other marches and rallies were held in Bradford, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Thousands of people from across the country attended the annual rally in Chesterfield on May 4 at which Tony Benn spoke. He said that it was for the people themselves to demand and organise themselves for a better society.

May Day 1998 Around the World

May Day 1998 was a day of militant struggle by workers and people of countries all around the world against the anti-social offensive being waged under the international dictatorship of the financial oligarchy.

May Day editorials in newspapers in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea declared that on the occasion of May Day, the Korean working class and people extend militant greetings and firm solidarity to the working class and people of the whole world who are struggling for sovereignty, independence, peace and the socialist cause against all sorts of domination and subjugation.

In Seoul, South Korea, over 30,000 workers and students took to the streets to protest against the soaring unemployment and increased layoffs which have risen sharply with the recent economic crisis in east Asia. Fighting erupted when up to 13,000 riot police attacked the demonstrators, who fought back vigorously.

In Japan, over two million people attended rallies and marched nation-wide against unemployment.

Over 15,000 people in Taiwan took part in rallies against privatisation and industrial “restructuring”. In Indonesia, police fought running battles against protesting students. In the Philippines, workers protested in Manila against rising unemployment, low wages and growing starvation in the countryside.

In Iraq, workers protested against the US for the suffering caused to their people under the UN economic sanctions by burning US flags in Baghdad. Marchers torched flags outside the central Baghdad offices of the UN Development Programme as they shouted, “Down with America!”

In Maputo, Mozambique, thousands marched to protest against low wages and mass layoffs which are a result of the government’s privatisation programme, while in South Africa, workers rallied against unemployment. In Nigeria, actions in various parts of the country targeted the military dictatorship under Sani Abacha and were fired upon by the police.

In Istanbul, Turkey, a rally of an estimated 70,000 fought attacks by both riot police and by neo-nazi gangs.

Similarly, May Day demonstrators in Germany and Poland resisted the violence of the state working hand in hand with neo-nazi forces.

In Moscow, an estimated 30,000 demonstrated in Red Square against the government of Boris Yeltsin, some carrying portraits of Joseph Stalin and V.I. Lenin.

Over 10,000 workers rallied in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, waving red flags.

Workers in countries across Europe, including Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain, France and Ukraine, protested against the economic policies of their governments.

At the May Day festival in the Belgian capital Brussels, which was organised by the Workers Party of Belgium, the guest of honour was Nexhmije Hoxha, widow of the late leader of the Albanian people and the Party of Labour of Albania, Enver Hoxha. Several thousand people took part, and the festival was followed by a programme of seminars attended by communist and workers parties from around the world. General Secretary of the New Communist Party Andy Brooks attended from Britain.

In Canada, the city of St. Catherines in Ontario was shut down in a Day of Action on May Day, when close to 8,000 people demonstrated to protest against the anti-social agenda of the government of the province, and there were also marches Canada-wide.

Demonstrations were reported in almost every country in Latin America against the neo-liberal economic and social policies for wage increases and against child labour.

In Havana, Cuba, more than a million people marched through the Plaza of the Revolution in the biggest demonstration since the Cuban revolution in 1959, denouncing the US economic blockade and expressing determination to defend their victories in safeguarding their sovereignty and independence.

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COMMENTARY

G8 Meets in Birmingham, May 15-17

EVEN IN THE YEAR since the G7 countries comprising the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan – and now officially G8 with the inclusion of Russia – the world has undergone significant changes.

The instability and disequilibrium of the world has increased, there is an increasing emphasis on “globalisation”, and the G8 countries are no longer able to function as though the bi-polar division of the world were still in existence. The Asian financial crisis has caused a re-evaluation of the old financial strategies of the imperialist powers, and there is talk in the wake of this crisis of the need for a new “international financial architecture”. This is a reflection that the international financial oligarchy is taking its parasitism to the extreme, moving huge amounts of capital round the world and is demanding that governments throughout the world make the peoples submit to its dictate and put the assets of the nations of the world totally at its disposal.

This has both intensified the people’s opposition to policies of privatisation, neo-liberalism and of society being totally organised along the lines of satisfying the insatiable lust of the financiers for the maximum return on their capital, as well as sharpening the rivalries of the ruling circles of the G8 countries, as well as between the economic blocs of the capitalist powers.

Both of these factors have been at play in the further prolonging of the negotiations on MAI (Multilateral Agreement on Investment), whose aim is to facilitate the penetration of international finance capital into national economies, override laws of the states in question and flagrantly trample the sovereignty of peoples and nations as though they counted for nothing.

The developing situation is causing governments such as the Labour government in this country to work out how to best operate in the “global capital markets”, and further pursue policies of “structural reform of the labour market”, which means to say that the workers must be forced to adapt to the needs of the bourgeoisie in the global market and be punished, along with the most vulnerable in society, for the consequences of unemployment which stubbornly remains chronically high. “Competitiveness in the modern global economy,” has become the watchword. In this context, even large capitalist concerns can be sacrificed whatever the cost to the economy or gobbled up in the process of monopolisation.

The Asian financial crisis is accelerating the trend, which was evident at the Denver Summit, of targeting the continent of Africa as an area of expansion and contention for the imperialist powers. In this context, the demand for cancelling the debt of the 20 poorest nations will only be met if the international financial oligarchy is satisfied that the countries will continue to pursue policies which integrate them into the “global free market economy” and not pursue their own independent paths.

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People’s Summit in Birmingham, May 15-17

UNDER THE SLOGAN “Make a Chainge”, the People’s Summit is being organised in Birmingham as an alternative forum running alongside the G8 Summit of industrialised nations. It is being co-ordinated by the New Economics Foundation. The Summit will also include the Jubilee 2000 Human Chain on Saturday around the International Convention Centre (ICC), assembling at 2.00pm, and linking up at 3.00pm for around an hour, with the theme: Ask world leaders to cancel the debt. At 3.15pm, there will be the presentation of the Jubilee 2000 petition to an official delegate of the summit.

The latest news is that the Foreign Office have confirmed that the G8 leaders will not be in the ICC at the time of the Human Chain. Instead the leaders will be at a country house in Staffordshire, although the time of departure from Birmingham is not known. Hundreds of police are to be deployed, and there has been a call for a demonstration in Birmingham’s New Street.

G8 Cartoon

It is reported that people from all over the country are mobilising groups to come to Birmingham for the People’s Summit, and that over 50 NGOs from various countries will be present. The organisers have called for people to arrive in imaginative forms of transport. For example, three narrow boats are sailing to the Summit from St Albans, receiving welcomes from local people along the route. The official chaplain of the Barnsley Football Club is on a six-day walk to Birmingham. He is due to present a petition to the G8 Summit signed by players and staff of the Club calling for the wiping out of the debts of the developing countries.

For the latest information on the “Chain to Break the Chains of Debt”, call the Human ChainLine on 0891 700 111.

For further details on the People’s Summit programme, ring 0171-377 5720,

Email: sara.murphy@neweconomics.org

or see the website at http://sosig.ac.uk/neweconomics/newecon.html.

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WORKERS' STRUGGLES

North East:

Struggle of Shipyard Workers Continues on Tyneside

ON THURSDAY, May 7, Aker McNulty/Aker Maritime sacked all 50 scaffolders when the night shift workers walked out of Tyne Tees Dockyard at Hebburn, Tyneside, because the contracting company, Sterling, was paying the workers £1.35 an hour less than scaffolders working for the parent company Aker McNulty/Aker Maritime. Within hours Aker McNulty had taken on new scaffolders paid at the rate of £7.45 per hour which is what the men had been demanding. One of the workers told a Workers’ Weekly correspondent that it was imperative that they took a stand against being walked over by the employer even though the situation was complicated by the fact that there was no shortage of scaffolders on the river unlike many other trades. In last week’s issue of Workers’ Weekly it was reported that 258 shipyard workers were sacked at the yard when they went on strike over rates of pay and conditions offered by contractors. However, Aker McNulty was forced to re-employ nearly all of the workers almost immediately they had been sacked.

Workers’ Weekly hails the fighting spirit of the shipyard workers on Tyneside to defend their livelihoods and working conditions in very difficult circumstances and in the face of the present onslaught of the capitalist employers who are striving to increase their exploitation to render maximum profits to themselves and the financial oligarchy.

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NEWS IN BRIEF

Manufacturing Output Drops for Second Quarter in Succession

It is reported that manufacturing output for the first three months of 1998 showed a 0.1% fall on the previous quarter and that it is the second quarterly fall recorded by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) – enough to classify the downturn as recession, according to the definition used by most economists previously. But the ONS said that it did not subscribe to this “technical definition” of recession, saying that the figures suggest a “flat trend” in manufacturing! Manufacturing now accounts for only about one quarter of the UK economy and the economists are now claiming that that there is little danger of a full blown recession while the service sector, now the largest sector in the economy, remains strong. They also blamed the drop in manufacturing output on the “strong pound”.

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PROTEST MOVEMENT AGAINST CUTS IN HEALTH CARE

East London:

The Critical Situation of Health Care in Waltham Forest

AN EXCEPTIONALLY HIGH LEVEL of ill-health in the local community is one reason why Redbridge and Waltham Forest Health Authority has hit financial troubles, according to a recently published report discussed by the Health Authority. Furthermore, a debt of £10 million was inherited from its predecessor when it was formed in 1993.

The report suggests that savings and cuts of £14.6 million must be made by next April if the authority is to fulfil the orders from the Department of Health to balance its books. That comprises £5.4 million from the authority itself, £6.2 million from Forest healthcare Trust and £3.16 million from Redbridge Health Care Trust.

A long and hard fought campaign has been organised by healthcare workers and professionals, together with the people of Waltham Forest, against cuts in healthcare, including mental health provision, drug and alcohol services and community nursing. Although the campaign has won some concessions, these services are still to be cut back to some extent, and the campaign is still continuing. A fundamental issue is that because parts of Leyton, Leytonstone, Walthamstow and South Ilford are among the most deprived areas in England in terms of income, poor housing, special needs and the numbers of refugees, the area has an exceptionally high level of illness. In addition, the free market in healthcare has taken funds out of local services and into other districts or the private sector. The demand that two large mental hospitals be shut down – Claybury which closed in 1996 and Goodmayes which will shut by 2000 – has compounded the problems. That being the case, the current funding arrangements do not reflect local circumstances, and it is imperative that spending be increased to fulfil the people’s needs. The government, if it is to be responsive to the people’s claims for adequate and modern health care, must fund the £14.6 million projected deficit and not see the people’s healthcare needs suffer further attacks.

Furthermore, the government should not only listen to the health workers and professionals, as well as the local people, but act on their demands and institute mechanisms to involve them in decision-making. Not only are their wishes ignored, but their dedication is abused. The pay of a staff nurse at Whipps Cross hospital, for example, rose only by 3.8 per cent last year. This will be the fifth year running that nurses’ pay increases are less than the rate of inflation. This injustice is multiplied across the country, contributing in no small measure to the crisis in healthcare and the NHS.

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East Kent:

Campaign Image

Campaign to Save Kent & Canterbury Hospital

AROUND 8,000 marchers braved howling wind and torrential rain on April 25 to demonstrate their opposition to the proposed downgrading of the Kent and Canterbury Hospital (K&C) and their support for the retaining of three acute hospitals for East Kent. The brass bands participating in the march played on. This was the biggest march yet through Canterbury in support of the campaign and demonstrated without doubt that the people’s opposition to the cuts in health care is growing in strength. Local people claimed it was the largest march in living memory and drew people from all over East Kent and from all walks of life, from both urban and rural areas. It brings the cumulative total of everyone who has marched through the streets to save the K&C to over 20,000 people. The rally in the hospital grounds was followed by a candlelight vigil of more than 50 people which lasted throughout the night in the main drive of the hospital. City councillors are calling for a referendum to give the people of East Kent a say in the future of their hospitals. Although the consultation period for the health authority’s document outlining its plans has already been extended to May 15, there is a demand that it be extended still further until July. This would allow time for a referendum to be held. A petition is due to be presented to 10 Downing Street on May 18.

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South-West London:

Failures in Ambulance Services

AFTER the fight against the closure of emergency services at Queen Mary’s Hospital, Roehampton, health campaigners are now pointing out that ambulance response times have been badly hit by the closure. According to figures from the London Ambulance Service, the speed of response has fallen by an average of almost 50 per cent. The service used to meet the crucial eight-minute response time in 49 per cent of cases, but this has now fallen to just 26 per cent. On the 14-minute response, performance has dropped from 95 per cent to 83 per cent. London Health Emergency campaigns director Geoff Martin said that the figures proved that the close of A&E services at Queen Mary’s had produced a devastating impact on front-line health care across the area, affecting over a million people.

Government “Not Supporting NHS”, Says Nurses Survey

Three out of four nurses reject Labour’s claim that the health service is “safe in its hands”, according to a readers’ survey in the Nursing Standard magazine published last month. The survey shows that 77% of nurses believe the government has failed to deliver its pledge to support the NHS during its first year in office. The readers’ survey is accompanied by a selection of nurses’ views on the first 12 months of New Labour. They were obtained at the annual congress of the Royal College of Nursing in April, at which Health Secretary Frank Dobson was heckled by nurses.

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COMMENTARY

Tony Benn’s Warning against the “Third Way”

LABOUR MP Tony Benn presented an analysis in April to the effect that: “The era of New Labour may well be coming to an end to be replaced by ‘third way’ politics. This would mean a formal or informal coalition, or ‘national government’, within which the leaders of all three political parties could happily cooperate, opting to stay in office forever.” This is a serious political analysis, and one which highlights that the bourgeoisie is putting the idea of a national coalition on the agenda.

What are the conclusions to be drawn from such an analysis, and in what circumstances is it being put forward?

The analysis is being put forward in a situation where disillusion with the Labour government is coupled with an ineffective Conservative parliamentary opposition so that the crisis of “representative democracy” is deepening. The bourgeoisie is thus putting forward “third way” politics as an option for turning the deepening crisis to its advantage, when alternation of the two major parties as the form of government preferred by the bourgeoisie cannot be sustained. At the same time, while the bourgeoisie’s policy of “partnership” between government and people and between exploiters and exploited is arousing increasing opposition, the people remain marginalised because the fact that the bourgeoisie remains in control of political power is not being questioned.

The conclusion to be drawn is that the masses of the people must take up the programme of democratic renewal of the political process and institutions which have become a block to a modern democracy. In this way, the people will gain the initiative in the fight to become the decision-makers. In drawing attention to the trend towards a national coalition, Tony Benn points out, “This re-alignment at the top will necessarily require the people to organise again to gain control of their destiny.” Organisation so that the broad masses of the people gain control of their destiny is indeed the demand of the times, but it is necessary to be wary about the insertion of the word “again”. The experience of the election of New Labour has shown that it is precisely the crisis in representative democracy that has been leading to the introduction of the idea of a national government in which the people are subservient to a “national” interest which is nothing but the dictate of the financial oligarchy. It has proved that a democracy which involves the people to the extent of a vote in the polling booths once every five years must be overhauled and transcended. Not only must the people demand at least the right of selection of candidates, but they must participate in the fight to put in place a modern constitution in Britain which spells out that political power derives from them and from them alone and enshrines the right to concretely exercise that power.

The conclusion to be drawn from the re-alignment at the top is that the people must organise from the bottom up. They must counter the increasing arbitrariness of rule from the top by the fight to ensure that democracy begins and ends with those at the bottom, a democracy in which it is the people who are sovereign and who have authority.

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Meeting of CILRECO Held in Paris

AN ENLARGED meeting of the Presidency of the International Liaison Committee for Reunification and Peace in Korea (CILRECO) was held in Paris on March 21. Representatives of political parties and organisations for friendship and solidarity with Korea attended from Algeria, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Luxemburg, India, Ireland, Malta, Nicaragua, Portugal, El Salvador, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and USA. From Britain were Chris Coleman of RCPB(ML) and Andy Brooks of the New Communist Party, both executive committee members of the Korean Friendship and Solidarity Campaign (KFSC).

The meeting was opened by Amar Bentoumi, honorary chairperson of CILRECO and secretary general of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, who said that the progressive forces of the world should be fully mobilised in the solidarity campaign for Korea’s reunification and peace. Mr Bentoumi was flanked by Romesh Chandra of the World Peace Council, Joe Debono Gruch, Malta’s Minister of Transport and Ports, Stanley Faulkner, veteran US campaigner, Prof. Robert Charvin and Blasco Hugo Fernandes.

Guy Dupre, secretary general of CILRECO, in his report stressed the need to positively seek ways for a more dynamic worldwide solidarity campaign supporting the Korean people’s just cause and making all efforts to help towards accelerating the reunification of Korea. He surveyed the activities of solidarity conducted by CILRECO and its programme for 1998. Li Tai Chen, head of the delegation of the DPRK, spoke among other things of the efforts of the government of the DPRK under the leadership of Kim Jong Il to bring about the reunification of Korea.

A letter to General Kim Jong Il was adopted before CILRECO’s action programme for 1998 was approved. Four main objectives set out in the action programme were: (1) To obtain the cessation of American interference in the Korean nation’s affairs characterised by their politico-military supervision in South Korea and by the continuation of their “policy of force” towards the DPRK. (2) To favour true and free dialogue between all political and social forces of North and South in order to put an end to the existing confrontation and to replace it by a reconciliation policy allowing the beginning of a process of reunification through national union. (3) To support the realistic and fair purpose of reunification of Korea through a confederate system based upon the 3-point charter proposed by President Kim Il Sung in respect of the existing differences between the North and the South. (4) To work to eliminate the state of permanent tension in the Korean peninsula and to establish durable peace with the replacement of the obsolete and inefficient Armistice agreement by a real peace treaty involving the withdrawal of all American troops based in South Korea. Other demands included calling on South Korean President Kim Dae Jung to abandon the policy of dependence on the USA, abolish the national security law and the national agency for security planning and pull down the concrete wall. CILRECO reaffirmed its opposition to provocative US military exercises in the south and the arms build-up by the South Korean administration. It called for an international month of solidarity with the struggle of the Korean people from June 25 to July 27, and earmarked October 1 to 31 for campaigning on the reunification issue. It called for solidarity with the patriotic forces of South Korea from May 17 to 24, the anniversary of the Kwangu massacre, and to mark the anniversaries of liberation from Japanese imperialism on August 15 and the founding of the DPRK on September 9. CILRECO will reinforce its campaign “Solidarity with Korea” to raise food, medicine and other aid and will continue to campaign against the US economic blockade of the DPRK.

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Occupation against Disappearances in Turkey

ON MAY 8, the Committee for Disappearances occupied the Turkish Tourist Information Office in Piccadilly in London. They were bringing to people’s attention the human rights abuses of the Turkish state, which confines progressive people in detention so that no one is aware of their whereabouts. The Committee for Disappearances was protesting in particular about the detention by state forces of Neslihan Uslu, Metin Andaç, Hasan Aydogan and Mehmet Mandal. These four were detained by the police on March 31 and now they cannot be traced.

In a press statement, the Committee points out: “All legal efforts to find these missing people by the revolutionary organisations and the families of the missing persons have come to nothing. The state institution’s reply is: ‘We don’t hold them’.”

The statement continues: “The fascist system has turned our country into a country of disappeared people and a country of massacres. These latest criminal actions by the state show the extent of the atrocities committed by the Turkish state in Turkey and in Kurdistan. Our people are disappearing because they are putting up a resistance against exploitation, torture and injustice. They disappear because they support an independent and a democratic country. They want to live as honourable human beings.

“Let’s join forces to find out the whereabouts of these people. To do this is to fight for the honour of all humanity. It is to stand against those who are committing crimes against humanity. We call upon those who call themselves progressive, democrats and human beings from all walks of life to challenge the Turkish state and ask for the whereabouts of these four people. We want to know what happened to these four people. We want the state to confirm their detention.”

The world-wide network World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT – Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture), based in Geneva, has also taken up this case of the disappearance of the four persons in Izmir, Turkey, a member of the network, CETIM (Centre Europe-Tiers Monde) having expressed its grave concern.

Protests to the Turkish authorities may be addressed to:

President Süleyman Demirel, Office of the President, Cumhur Baskanligi, 06100 Ankara; Fax: 0090-312-427 13 30. Minister of Justice Olatan Sungurlu, Adalet Bakanligi, 06659, Ankara; Fax: 0090-312-417 39 17.

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Attacks on Journalists in Turkey Continue

ACCORDING TO the latest report of TIHV (Turkish Human Rights Foundation), 68 journalists are currently in prison in Turkey. Other sources estimate the number to be as high as 91. TIHV emphasised that the attacks and pressures are especially directed against the opposition press. Journalists are also said to face oppression and brutal attacks while they do their routine job. The case of the murder of Metin Göktepe of the newspaper Evrensel is the first and only concrete example where the police responsible have actually been brought to justice and convicted. The report points out that raids on press offices and arrests of and attacks on journalists on public demonstrations and even in court rooms is being stepped up by the authorities.

The daily newspaper Emek has been banned for one month by the Istanbul State Security Court. The Court took its decision on the basis of an article entitled “Peace”, written by M. Can Yuce.

According to information from the Union of Kurdish Journalists, between the years of 1992 and 1994, 37 press workers were killed by Turkish state-sponsored death squads, including a 76-year-old Kurdish columnist and novelist. Others have been “disappeared” or injured and maimed in armed attacks. One weekly newspaper and three daily newspapers have been closed down by the Turkish state, and the head office of one of them, Ozgur Ulke (Free Country) was bombed in 1994, killing one worker and injuring dozens.

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GRANMA INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL

Cuban victory in the Human Rights Commission:

Time, Reason and History Are on Our Side

APRIL 21 was a historic day for Cuba and the UN. Our little nation and our noble and heroic people have achieved a victory that will be talked of for a long time. The anti-Cuba resolution annually presented by the United States to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Geneva was defeated by 19 votes against, 16 in favour and 18 abstentions.

Seven years ago, when this outrageous vendetta against Cuba was initiated, our country warned that it was condemned to failure because of its political and selective manipulation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with which the powerful victors of the cold war attempted to subdue those who dissented from the new unipolar order, by imposing on them their own models.

In subsequent years, as that anti-Cuba manoeuvre gradually deteriorated and lost credibility, a steadily increasing number of countries refused to give it their backing, perceiving it as an exhausting exercise stripped of all reason, since it involved them in an issue that was the result of the numerous forms of U.S. aggression against Cuba and, in consequence, in a bilateral dispute which they had nothing to do with.

By refusing to co-sponsor or support that unjust, selective and discriminatory treatment, many of them were anticipating its downfall, convinced that nothing would shake our people’s resoluteness and capacity for resistance, and much less its dignified stance in the face of an action which attempted to lacerate its sovereignty and self-determination.

Each one of those 19 votes cast against the resolution on April 21 is a demonstration of political honour and courage, and confirms that genuinely free and dignified nations know how to vote for justice and truth and, above all, to respect the strength of principles that sustains a people like ours. The arrogance of those who attempted to set themselves up as intransigent judges of our Revolution, came up against the will of the nations of the South, especially the African countries, who are likewise victims of those discriminatory policies.

On April 21, they shattered the unjust and gross exercise and the ignominious mechanism with which Washington has tried to place us on the dock for the last seven years, something it was unable to achieve in spite of draconian pressure and blackmail; just like it was unable to legitimise for one instant the spurious special rapporteur, who was imposed and conceived of as a docile instrument of that policy.

Everyone - including those countries which aligned themselves with the United States - was aware that the ostensible rapporteur’s sole source of information for his rather ignoble task came from the disinformation campaigns that were orchestrated against the work of the Cuban Revolution and people via the pages of annexationist newspapers and the microphones of anti-Cuban radio stations.

Cuba never accepted the results of those manipulated votes, and moreover has never refused to speak on any issue. There are abundant examples of the Cuban Revolution’s everyday practice of applying, respecting and defending human rights.

Defeating the anti-Cuba exercise in the Human Rights Commission dealt an extremely harsh blow to the very essence of the United States’ anti-Cuba policy, to the pillars sustaining all the mechanisms of aggression, manipulation and propaganda against Cuba, and with which it has unsuccessfully tried to isolate us, and above all, to the argument that attempted to legitimise the blockade and the Helms-Burton Act.

Let’s hope the United States will not respond with arrogance and prepotency, nor attempt to take revenge on the countries that voted against the resolution, or to continue extorting other states to renew that inglorious, immoral and useless battle.

In parallel with this vote, the governments of Cuba and the Dominican Republic announced their reestablishment of diplomatic relations at the highest level, with which Cuba completes its links with the entire Caribbean region, bringing the total number of nations maintaining ties of that type to 164.

Cuba’s steadfastness and dignity has lent an immeasurable service to Third World nations, likewise victims of these discriminatory exercises through which the HRC has been pressed into sitting in judgment over the nations of the South. It has also contributed to demonstrating that a politicised, unilateral and manipulated judgment of human rights cannot have any future.

Cuba has been allied to the HRC’s most just causes, independently of their origins. This year, for example, our country presented two draft resolutions on the right to food, with 62 co-authors; and on the consequences of economic adjustment policies resulting from the foreign debt and the effective enjoyment of human rights, with 34 co-authors. It has also co-sponsored texts which, although presented by developed countries, reflect the aspirations of the Third World, such as the draft resolution on human rights and extreme poverty, whose only vote against came precisely from the country which has systematically attempted to condemn us in Geneva.

Likewise, the voting by countries of the South, on this occasion with Cuba, demonstrates that the United States cannot continue imposing on the poorest nations political, economic, social, cultural, ideological and moral standards that are alien to their national realities, to the will of their sons and daughters, and that trample over our sovereignty, independence and self-determination.

We have justifiable reasons for our joy; but we shouldn’t forget that our battle against the blockade and in terms of respect for our people’s sovereignty and self-determination has not concluded, and great efforts and challenges still await us in that context.

As we have demonstrated throughout our history, we are fierce in combat, but always respectful in victory. Those who have joined the anti-Cuba exercise will be left alone, stigmatised by history. With them, as with others, Cuba is disposed to dialogue and discuss, on the basis of respect and equality, although we may disagree politically and ideologically with their positions. What we will never accept are attempts to ideologically condemn Cuban socialism by invoking a universal imposition of assumed values.

Our people, with its heroic resistance, its upstanding conduct and its pride in the tremendous work of liberty, humanism and virtue that is the Revolution, and its defence from any trench, have given heart to the Geneva battles over the years. And, of course, it is also the work of those who lead us in our struggle and who have taught us to believe, with Martí, that just principles from the depths of a cave can do more than an army.

As Fidel has said, time, reason and history are on our side.

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Middle East Peace Talks and the Eruption of Violence

The Middle East “peace talks” held in London on May 4 ended in complete deadlock The talks were hosted by the British government, which is seeking to extend its own influence in the region, but the major negotiations were carried out by US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Following the failure of the London talks, the US attempted to convene a summit meeting in Washington, but these attempts have so far also ended in failure, and have led to reported threats by the US to pull out of the “peace process”.

The crux of the current impasse is said to be in the US proposal that Israel hands over a further 13% of the West Bank land to the Palestinians as part of what is referred to as a “land for peace programme”. This proposal, a basis for further negotiations, has been accepted by Yasser Arafat but not by the Israeli government.

But it is to be wondered how such a proposal, backed up by threats and emanating from such a source, can be the basis of peace in the Middle East. The activities of the US, British and other imperialists have never been designed to bring peace to this region. Rather their actions have been dictated by their own economic and strategic interests, including the use of the Suez Canal en route to the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, access to the Persian Gulf and strategic control over the fossil fuels of the region. Now, just as in the past, the major imperialist powers, headed by the US, are maintaining the conditions for instability in the region through their preferred policy of “No War, No Peace”.

It is within this context that the current meetings are taking place. Meanwhile, violent protests have erupted in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank on the 50th anniversary of the state of Israel. Israeli troops have shot and killed at least eight Palestinians. This underlines that whether the “peace process” appears to make headway or not make headway, the interests of the Palestinian people, as well as the Israeli people, are not served, since the interests of the imperialists in the “peace process” is to serve their own interests and suppress the Palestinian people and prevent them from attaining their just cause. As such it is bound to give rise to even greater tragedies for the peoples of the region. A lasting peace and stability in this region will only be brought about by ending all foreign interference and leaving the people of the Middle East to settle their own affairs and make their own lasting arrangements as fraternal peoples.

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Celebratory Meeting on Ethiopia Now: Seven Years of Peace, Democracy and Development

MAY 28 will mark the 7th anniversary of the overthrow of the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the establishment of a modern democracy there. A celebratory meeting is to be held on Saturday, May 23: “Ethiopia Now: 7 Years of Peace, Democracy and Development”. Guest speakers will be Tesfaye Yisma, Charge d’Affaires at the Ethiopian Embassy and Usman Beshir, Commercial Councillor at the Embassy.

The organisers write: “Under the Derg’s 17 year rule, so many atrocities and violations of human rights were carried out and Ethiopia was noted mainly for its politically determined famines and war where the Derg regime at its height was spending 70% of the country’s GDP on military funding. It was only through the heroic struggle of the Ethiopian people led by the forces of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) that the possibility for change and for the establishment of a new democratic process was achieved.

“Ethiopia today is first and foremost distinguished for its championing of the democratic process and the establishment of a people-centred system. Everywhere you go in Ethiopia, in every aspect of life, you can see the involvement and participation of the whole people.”

The organisers identify several key features which have been established in Ethiopia’s democracy in the last seven years. These include: 1) The establishment of peace and stability in Ethiopia and cordial relations with all its neighbours in the Horn of Africa; 2) The creation of a modern constitution and the establishment of a truly democratic government; 3) The reorganisation of the entire economy away from war and a military focus to one that serves the development and rehabilitation of the entire Ethiopian people; 4) The establishment of rights including the recognition of basic human rights for all human beings in Ethiopia and the right of nations and nationalities to self-determination. Upholding these rights, the Ethiopian government held a referendum on the question of Eritrean independence in which 93% of the people voted in favour of an independent Eritrea which was then established.

All well-wishers are warmly invited to attend the meeting.

Ethiopia Now:

7 Years of Peace, Democracy and Development

Saturday, May 23, 1998, 2.00pm – 5.00pm Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1 (Holborn tube or 38 bus)

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