Workers' Weekly V.28 No.16

WITH THE UNDERGROUND TESTING of five nuclear devices by India and then a further five by Pakistan, the United States has immediately imposed economic sanctions on these two states of the South Asian sub-continent, and the Labour government in this country also has lost no time in condemning the nuclear tests and recalling its High Commissioners.

It is all very well for the US and Britain to lay down the law and condemn India and Pakistan. If these administrations were so concerned about the danger of nuclear weapons, why have they themselves not completely destroyed their own arsenals? They have not done such a thing, and have no intention of so doing. They prefer to be in a position of domination, to be able to threaten and blackmail about the use of nuclear weapons as they did with Iraq. The fact that Iraq might have even conceivably been in a position to begin to manufacture nuclear devices was enough to bring down a whole panoply of weapons as threats to attempt to bully it into compliance. “Do what we want, or else …” is the refrain of such bullies. Naturally, the world’s people want to live their lives without the threat of nuclear destruction, and this goes for the peoples of India and Pakistan also. But the world is a more dangerous place if just a few big powers can pursue their ambitions and oppose the wishes of the peoples of the world through nuclear blackmail.

The main issue is that as long as such big powers can rely on such a monopoly, then the desired goal of the destruction of all nuclear weapons and the implementation of a policy of peaceful co-existence between countries with differing systems and of non-interference in their internal affairs remains like the pot of gold at the foot of a rainbow. It follows that the only safeguard of peace under these conditions is if all countries are free to possess and test nuclear weapons. This would be a far greater deterrent to their use than allowing the United States to hold the nuclear monopoly, or the five big powers, as was previously the case. The big powers should all destroy their nuclear weapons immediately, or each and every country should be free to develop and possess them.

Neither India or Pakistan is under any obligation under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) – which the United States has not even ratified – to not test or possess nuclear weapons. India and Pakistan, along with North Korea, are not signatories to the CTBT. India has consistently pointed out that it serves the interests of those who already possess nuclear weapons and advanced technology.

The peoples of India and Pakistan are concerned about tension in the sub-continent, but this is a separate issue, which can only and must be sorted out by the fraternal peoples of those countries. Yet under this guise, US imperialism has given itself the right to impose broad economic sanctions on both countries, which is set to wreak havoc with the economies and impose further hardship and suffering on the peoples of India and Pakistan. This only serves to underline the baseness and hypocrisy of the US position. Furthermore, it is a vain hope of the imperialists that they can for ever trample on the dignity of such peoples and prevent them from participating on an equal basis in the international forums of the world, such as the United Nations, in which the five permanent members of the Security Council are presently the big five possessors of nuclear weapons, and other bodies.

The working class and democratic people should focus their condemnation on the US, Britain and others who wish to maintain their nuclear monopoly, pursue their global aspirations and threaten world peace. They should demand that this monopoly be ended as a step towards the complete destruction of all nuclear weapons and their prohibition altogether. They should demand that the equality of all countries, big or small, be recognised internationally. They should condemn US imperialism for imposing sanctions and for assuming the role of world gendarme and attempting to force any it labels as “rogue states”, the list of which seems to know no bounds, to submit to its dictate.

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Students Demand that UEL Meets Needs of All

STUDENTS HAVE BEEN OCCUPYING two of the main teaching buildings at the University of East London (UEL) since May 18. This action by UEL students is part of the response to the attacks on education the Labour government has taken over from the previous Conservative government.

The background to the present situation at UEL and other universities is that student grants are to be cut and replaced with loans. The introduction of a £1,000 tuition fee, and the likelihood of being £10,000 in debt after the completion of a degree, has discouraged many students from attending universities.

As a consequence, many universities have experienced a drop in their numbers, despite attempts to attract students from broader spectrums of society than the traditional 18-year-olds with “A” levels. Universities are funded according to the number of students that are projected to be in attendance by the universities funding council. The number of students at UEL is projected to fall. Therefore, their funding has been reduced. The response of the UEL management has been to make cuts of £2.4 million for the 1998-1999 academic year. These follow £2.1 million in cuts which were made the previous year as a consequence of the same factors.

Despite the claims by the government of increasing student numbers in higher education and widening access, the measures that have been taken by the previous and present governments have had the opposite effect. There were warnings by the National Union of Students (NUS), other student organisations, parents, students and concerned individuals that numbers would drop. However, the government pressed ahead with changes, which placed the burden of financing education on the shoulders of students and their families.

The situation at East London University has developed as a direct consequence of the changes in education funding. To implement the cut-backs, UEL management intends to make a total of 80 part- and full-time lecturers redundant through either compulsory or “voluntary” packages, remove the provision of on-site doctors, remove creche facilities, cut the library’s annual budget, and close the mathematics department. Nursing courses are also to go, although these are integral to the health needs of the local community. The students point out: “The students applying for positions in Nursing and Maths for the next academic year 1999-2000 were deliberately not informed. Consequently, many of them have lost places at university for this year. The lecturers of Nursing and Maths, and many other courses, were not consulted, nor even informed, until they were threatened either to accept ‘voluntary’ terms of redundancy with a deal of £35,000, or be sacked anyway with a payment of £5,000.”

Students have been trying to encourage the UEL management to find some alternative to the cuts for some time. They have gone through the Student Union channels to effect change. However, after an Extraordinary General Meeting where a motion was passed to occupy one of the main lecturing buildings at the Barking campus and the students mounted a picket, the UEL management responded by calling the police, which prompted the students to carry out the motion by occupying the George Brooker building and later the main Administration Building A-Block. This was not expected by the management of UEL, which had timed the announcement of the cuts to coincide with student exams, believing that they would be more concerned about their exams than changes in the university.

The students occupying the university have been supported by lecturers, the mass of the student body and the local community. The university has responded by blaming “left-wing extremists” for the occupation, but in recent meetings conducted by the occupying students, they have been surprised to see that most of the occupiers have been students themselves. Over 250 students, staff and lecturers are now in occupation at the campus.

In a press release, the UEL students explain: “The mix of students involved reflects the wide range of people catered for by the UEL: overseas students from Europe, Africa and Asia together with students from the East London area; mature students from a variety of occupational backgrounds, from military to health-work, from retail to catering. School-leavers, working mothers and retired professionals are all playing their part in this protest. Yet this is more than just a sit-in. Our demands are for the satisfaction of the needs of all people within the university. We have therefore not closed down the university. This university is ‘occupied’ in the sense that it is a place of work, a functioning centre of learning. While the official managers of this university refuse to compromise and listen to the appeals of students and staff, we are running this campus.”

The press release continues: “The academic needs of both lecturers and students are structuring the central activities of this occupation. Childcare has been arranged and lecturers, seminars, tutorials and even Islamic Prayer meetings have been rescheduled. We realise that this occupation has caused disruption to the normal running of this university. However, if our actions help to halt the ‘running down’ of the university by insane budget cuts and callous management decisions, such disruption will prove to be justified. While our efforts have been to positively attend to the proper management of the university, the efforts of the evicted management have done nothing but undermine this process. The management have ordered library and nursery staff not to come to work to which we have responded by organising mini-bus services to the libraries of other campuses of the UEL, and offering our own ‘babysitting club’.”

It concludes that the students are “facing an ever decreasing spiral of cuts, cuts and more cuts in our university, year after year after year. Our main aims are for the cancellation of all cuts, no more sackings, no victimisation of current members of staff.”

The management’s response has been to obtain a warrant to evict the students. Since the warrant was issued the students have been waiting to be forcibly evicted. After being contacted by the police, they have said that they will inform them of future plans on Monday, June 1.

The students at UEL have taken care of the buildings they have occupied and distributed regular correspondence to other students and the media explaining why they have taken their action. They have responded to the charges of the management and attempts to divide the students with clear explanations demonstrating where the management was wrong. The National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) at UEL has completely supported the student occupation, and on May 20 its members passed four resolutions of support.

Workers’ Weekly hails this struggle of the UEL students and wishes it a successful outcome. These events demonstrate not only that students are far from being the selfish careerists that they are often painted by the bourgeoisie, but also shows the power of the students as an organised force addressing the problems created by the anti-social offensive in society on health, education and other social programmes, and the initiative released when sections of the people such as youth and students take control of their own lives, albeit on a local scale. Consider how the problems of society could be tackled if the people were sovereign in society and were the decision-makers, running society to meet the needs of the people!

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Protests against Visit of Japanese Emperor:

The Crimes of Fascism Cannot be Swept Under the Carpet

A series of moving protests by elderly survivors of Second World War Japanese prisoner-of-war camps has continued throughout the current state visit to Britain of the Japanese Emperor. They have been demanding compensation beyond the paltry £49 awarded them immediately after the war and an apology for their and their fallen comrades’ unbearable suffering at the hands of a brutal and inhuman fascist regime. These protests after a period of more than 50 years reflect the deep anti-fascist sentiments among the people in Britain. The veterans have been particularly vehement about the hypocrisy of successive British governments. The protests are also a stark reminder of the crimes of pre-war and post-war British governments and of the dangers of present government policies.

In the pre-war years US and British imperialism nurtured and supported the rise of fascism in Europe and Asia. They planned to hurl it against the Soviet Union and use it to crush the rising workers’ struggles, the revolution and communism. But their plans were frustrated. Inter-imperialist contradictions dragged them into war with the fascist powers and, with the Soviet Union in the forefront, the peoples of the world dealt a crushing blow to fascism.

No sooner had the war ended, however, than imperialism showed its true colours. Led by US imperialism it donned the mantle of Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo in order to maintain capitalist exploitation and oppression throughout the world. In Asia fascist collaborators were installed in power in south Korea, Malaya, Vietnam and other countries. Contrary to the international agreements reached at Potsdam, Teheran and Yalta, among other things fascists were left in high positions in west Germany, monopolies such Siemens and Krupp which were the base of Nazi power were rebuilt, not disbanded as agreed. Britain was not aloof from this whole imperialist exploit, giving succour to the Nazis and sending its troops to smash anti-fascist and communist forces, and being one of the main standard bearers of the crusade against communism. Throughout the world, including South America, brutal and openly fascist military regimes were also put in power, financed and armed by the “West”, in order to maintain the domination over the peoples.

Today, in the new climate following the end of the Cold War and the bipolar division of the world, the dangers have not gone away. The British government’s recent willingness to bomb Iraq, its call to the workers to back their monopolies in making Britain Number One in the globalised world economy, the savage attacks on rights and social provisions in the current anti-social offensive carried out by the government on behalf of the rich, are but some examples. At the same time, the danger remains because the aim of the bourgeoisie is to try and rescue capitalism, and there is not a day goes by when progressive people are not humiliated, imprisoned and killed.

The elderly veterans are to be applauded for their persistence and loyalty to their fallen comrades and for never letting fascism off the hook. They are not beating a drum no longer relevant. The message to the younger generations is extreme vigilance!

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COMMENTARY

Deepening Crisis of Health Service

IT WAS RECENTLY ANNOUNCED that hospital waiting lists have hit an all time record of 1.29 million. This is exposing the claim of the New Labour Government that it is building “a modern and dependable service that is once more the envy of the world”, and whose health strategy over the last year, since they took office, has been based almost solely on the belligerent claims of Frank Dobson, Health Minister, to have been “reducing waiting lists” and the announcement of “extra funding” to tackle the problem. However, what is becoming clear is that the waiting list crisis will not be solved by the paltry measures and “extra funding” promised by New Labour, just as the Conservatives did before them. The waiting list crisis, which has always been present, has become acute because of the anti-social programme of the bourgeoisie to close hospitals and cut back on hospital beds over many years. Today, that crisis is further deepening because as the demand for emergency admissions is rising the number of acute hospital beds is being cut faster than before.

It is estimated that the number of acute beds (not including the loss of long stay beds) has fallen by a third in 25 years, while emergency admissions arose by 3% a year in the eighties and by over 4% recently. This reduction in the number of acute beds can first be attributed to the rationalisation and closure of general hospitals during the ‘80s and ‘90s, with the development of day case surgery and shorter stays in hospital being used as the main excuse for such losses of acute beds. Whilst hospital closures are continuing, as well as reductions in services, today the situation is being made far worse with the present privatisation of all replacement hospitals under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Under this new arrangement 25 replacement hospitals have been approved in England and two in Scotland. According to the bourgeoisie’s own analysts these PFI projects are cutting acute beds by 30% and these bed cuts and other savings are being driven by the need to give private consortia a higher rate of return on investment. If the privatisation of hospitals carries on under the PFI then the waiting list crisis will be further deepened and at a faster rate than the previous period.

It is not possible for New Labour or any other government to address the deepening crisis in health, even if they declare the policy objective that there number one priority is to “reduce waiting lists”, when such a government is governing on behalf of the financial oligarchy and withdrawing the health care provisions of the previous period, and whilst further turning the resources of the NHS into a source of plunder for the pharmaceutical, construction, financial and other monopolies. The present stage of capitalist society is one in which the financial oligarchy demands that the whole society pay tribute to them and the government is ensuring that this is done on a continuous basis. This is the cause of the deepening of the crisis in health.

The only way out of this deepening crisis in health is the demand for a change in the direction of the economy. Instead of the government’s moratorium on meeting the deficits and spending of health authorities and NHS Trusts which is forcing more and more cutbacks in beds and services, the demand should be for a moratorium on the payments to the financial oligarchy. Investments should be increased to the NHS with a change in the direction of the NHS so that it is no longer a source of plunder to the pharmaceutical, construction, financial and other monopolies and instead can use its increased investments to provide the highest possible standard of health care equally to all.

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PROTEST MOVEMENT AGAINST CUTS IN EDUCATION

On the Closure of West Norwood Centre

AS REPORTED in last week’s Workers’ Weekly, Lambeth College is proposing to close its West Norwood Centre, a further education college in South London. A member of staff has informed Workers’ Weekly that the closure is not merely a proposal but will take effect as of September this year. Apparently the students and general staff at the college think the college will be continuing for another year, but this is not the case. In fact, because of the cuts in Further Education College funding, the Lambeth Education Authority has accelerated the rate of closure.

Workers’ Weekly was told that 60 - 70 jobs are expected to go over the next year, starting this September. These jobs are being surreptitiously “lost” by two main methods. Number one, that of “salary protection” where members of staff whether lecturers or within the administration are officially paid the same salary on removal from one site to another. However, this rate of salary only lasts for four months, long enough to register in government statistics as an unadjusted transfer of staff which makes it appear as though nothing has changed. But after four months the worker’s salary is lowered to correspond to the actual status of the new position, which may be several thousands of pounds less per year. Number two, the method of “enhanced voluntary severance”, where older workers and those with a short history within the college are “encouraged” to take the first offer of redundancy, which is “enhanced” with the message that further offers will mean less money and that further cuts are a certainty.

What came through strikingly from this interview was the relentless cuts and closures that have been going on within the education sector. One statistic in particular shows this starkly. In 1992/93, there were 11 college sites within the Lambeth Education Authority spread throughout the borough of Lambeth. By 1998 that number had reduced to five, and with the closure of West Norwood there will be only four sites remaining. Local students will now have to travel to the Clapham site, which takes at least an hour’s journey and two busses for most students.

What this one case – which is repeated up and down the country – exemplifies is that the Labour government, like the Tories before them, is making cost cutting and budget savings the issue, whilst continuing, in fact accelerating, the erosion of the education services available to the people. This is the hallmark of the anti-social offensive in Britain, and must be fought. Education is a right, not a luxury, and the government has no business refusing to recognise this right and pursuing a course which serves only the financial oligarchy.

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FOR YOUR INFORMATION

Cardiff Eurosummit

EUROPEAN UNION heads of state and/or government normally meet every three months to discuss the key issues facing the EU. A European Council is usually held towards the end of each member state’s six-month Presidency. The last such Council was held in Luxembourg in December 1997, and Britain’s European Council will be held in Cardiff on 15 and 16 June.

In addition, the Council normally meets in the middle of each Presidency either to address a particular issue, such as the Jobs Summit in November 1997, or for a particular event. Most recently the heads of state and government met in Brussels on 1-3 May to decide which countries qualified for the launch of Economic and Monetary Union in January 1999.

The formal part of the Cardiff Council is likely to last from Monday 15 June to lunchtime the following day. Most leaders will start arriving in Cardiff on the Sunday evening. The key issues for debate are said to include:

Economic Reform

Under this theme, discussion will centre around the questions of:

• Employment: how “adaptable labour markets” can be promoted,

• Single Market: the policies needed to foster a Single Market,

• Competitiveness: what is needed so that businesses can compete successfully.

Agenda 2000/Enlargement

The project of enlarging the EU to include countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Cyprus was launched under Britain’s Presidency in March. To prepare for the accession of these new countries, as well as to “modernise the EU for the challenges of the next century”, the EU leaders will also be discussing the problems of reforming the Common Agricultural Policy, the EU’s regional policy and its financial arrangements.

The talks are also said to be likely to cover environmental issues, the fight against drugs and organised crime, and key foreign policy issues facing the EU.

As with the G8 Summit in Birmingham, a Counter Summit is being held, together with other counter events, as well as many other satellite events organised in Cardiff on the occasion of the Eurosummit, including youth, cultural and sporting events.

There will be an international demonstration on Saturday, June 13, organised by the Cardiff Eurosummit Demonstration Committee. Its theme is: “No to a bosses’ Europe, yes to jobs, public services and democracy”. It assembles at 1.30pm at the Sophia Gardens (off Cathedral Road) in Cardiff City Centre. It is intended to have 14 speakers at two rallies, seven at each. Further information can be obtained by phoning Ceri Evans on 01222 302324.

A People’s Vigil will take place outside Cardiff City Hall, where meetings of the Council will take place, on June 13, drawing attention to a wider agenda of peace and justice. It will begin at 8.30 p.m., lasting for about half an hour, and is supported by the churches of the Cardiff Churches Forum and other religious bodies of Cardiff Interfaith Forum and was initiated and is been underwritten by Church in Wales.

On June 16 there will be a mass cycle blockade organised by Direct Action groups.

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For Peace and Independence in South Asia

The following was released on May 21 by the Institute for Independence Studies.

The US and Britain have long exploited their status as nuclear powers to exclude the countries of South and East Asia from the position in the world to which they are entitled. This is what lies behind the crisis over nuclear testing in the South Asian sub-continent.

The crisis thus highlights the urgent need for further progress towards global nuclear disarmament, and in particular disarmament by the US and the other big powers.

The US, while hypocritically talking-up the tension in the South Asian region, is now even resorting to its own favoured weapon of mass destruction, economic sanctions. Such sanctions do not achieve their stated aims, but only inflict suffering on the weakest and most powerless members of society. This is the great lesson of the criminal and inhumane sanctions blockade on Iraq.

In order to contribute to the reduction of tension in South Asia, the peace movement in Britain must campaign against all such hypocritical, bullying and divisive interference by the West in the affairs of the sub-continent, and must give full solidarity to all the South Asian peoples and states in their efforts to find a peaceful settlement to all outstanding issues among themselves.

Only on the basis of independence and freedom from outside interference can the peoples of South Asia chart their own path to conflict-resolution and disarmament, and construct a future of mutual friendship, peace and independence.

Public meeting, Thursday June 4 1998, 7.00 p.m. Conway Hall (Bertrand Russell Room), Red Lion Square, London WC1. Tube: Holborn. Organised by the Institute for Independence Studies

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Turkey:

40,000 March against Privatisation

Around 40,000 workers who are members of TURK-IS, the biggest confederation in Turkey, marched against privatisation in the capital, Istanbul, on May 16. Workers came from all over the country, and marched for around 2 km, rallying in Sihhiye square. Their slogans were “Stop Privatisation”, “ No to Privatisation of Energy”.

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Meeting to Celebrate Seven Years of Modern Democracy in Ethiopia

ON SATURDAY, MAY 23, the Ethiopian Support Network (Ethionet) held a public meeting in Conway Hall, London, to mark the 7th anniversary of the overthrow of the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the establishment of a modern democracy there. The meeting was attended by many Ethiopians resident in Britain and by friends and well-wishers of Ethiopia. It addressed by Tesfaye Yilma, Charge d’Affaires at the Ethiopian Embassy and Usman Beshir, Commercial Councillor at the Embassy.

In his presentation to the meeting Usman Beshir gave a comprehensive picture of economic developments in Ethiopia, and spoke of advances in such areas as trade, investment and tourism. He explained that at the heart of Ethiopia’s economic development were the government’s plans for a people-centred economy, that was based around the needs of the great majority – the peasant farmers in the countryside who comprise 85% of the population. He explained that an agricultural extension programme had been initiated which provided the farmers with seeds, fertiliser, credit, intermediate technology and the help of advisers, in order that they might increase agricultural production. The success of this and other programmes can be seen in the fact that in the last five years agricultural production in food crops has more than doubled. In 1997 Ethiopia began to export maize to Kenya for the first time in its history.

Tesfaye Yilma then spoke about the establishment of democracy in Ethiopia. He prefaced his remarks by pointing out that economic development was the key to other advances in the country. First of all Ethiopia must be able to produce food for its entire population and involve the whole population in the development process and the solution of the country’s problems.

He then spoke of the democratic changes in his country, pointing out that the involvement of the people was the key to the advances that had been made, and that in 1991 there were no democratic institutions in the country. He explained that the political structure in Ethiopia had changed radically since the overthrow of the Derg. The highly centralised state had been transformed and power devolved to 14 regional states where all nations and nationalities have equal rights, and the people have a say in their own affairs and election to office at village level, as well as in the state and federal parliaments. The approval of the new constitution in 1994 was itself based on the widest discussion and democratic participation by groups and individuals throughout the country.

Tesfaye Yilma then spoke of other democratic developments including the many political parties, laws governing the freedom of the press and prohibiting inciting enmity between different nations, and some details of the recent international conference on human rights which will pave the way for a Human Rights Commission and an Ombudsman in Ethiopia.

After these presentations a film documenting the agricultural extension programme was shown. There then followed a lengthy period of discussion and questions. Many of the questions focused on Ethiopia’s foreign policy, especially in the wake of the invasion of its territory by the neighbouring country of Eritrea. Tesfaye Yilma explained that Ethiopia’s foreign policy is based on promoting relationships of peace with neighbouring countries and also safeguarding the independence of Ethiopia and the dignity of its peoples. The country had played a significant role in settling disputes in the region and he cited as examples Ethiopia’s role in resolving the conflicts in Somalia and Sudan. He pointed out that a joint commission and other mechanisms existed for settling border disputes between Ethiopia and Eritrea and that the latter’s recent armed occupation of Ethiopian territory was totally unacceptable whatever justification was given. He again reiterated Ethiopia’s position that Eritrea must withdraw its troops before any negotiation could commence.

Many other questions and intervention followed. Chris Coleman spoke on behalf of RCPB(ML), which he said, with other friends, had for many years closely followed and supported the long and heroic liberation struggle of the Ethiopian people. He wished the Ethiopian people and government every success with their struggle to establish a democratic system, with a modern constitution and with the full participation of the peoples; an economy serving the needs of the people; and full human, social and national rights. He pointed out that today, at a time when the big powers and the big monopolies are exerting huge pressure on peoples everywhere to bow to their will, the cause for which the Ethiopian government and people strive is the cause of all progressive humanity and the problems they are addressing are far from solution in virtually every country, certainly in Britain. The speech was warmly received and applauded by the audience.

The organisers concluded the meeting by thanking all the participants and stressed the need for further meetings to raise awareness of the struggles of the Ethiopian people for peace, democracy and development.

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