Anti-war campaigners from across Scotland will gather tomorrow (Saturday) at a series of events against the occupation of Iraq and Afhanistan and in sombre ceremonies to remember the dead and call for peace in the Middle East.
Solidarity Co-Convenor, Rosemary Byrne, will join a vigil in her home town of Irvine and the welcome those who take part at her conctituency office for light refreshments. The South of Scotland MSP said:
"With so much going on in our lives at this time of year it is easy sometimes to forget the sluaghter taking place in our name across the Middle East. I would urge all Solidarity members and others to come along to one of the events this weekend and stand in Solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq."
UNITE FOR PEACE - Glasgow
12:30 PM-2:00 PM George Square Glasgow BRING THE TROOPS HOME - DEFEND OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES - SAY NO TO ISLAMOPHOBIA Organised by Glasgow Stop The War Coalition
5:00 PM-6:00 PM War Memorial, The Cross,Irvine Brief Speeches amd Messages about the need for Peace, a Chance to Light a Candle For Peace. Organised by various local groups and campaigns Light Refreshments at Rosemary Byrne MSP, Montgomery Street, Irvine From 6.15pm
5:00 PM-7:30 PM on the steps of St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral, top of Leith Walk, Edinburgh.
Join the St. Marys Justice and Peace Group supported by Edinburgh STW
BRING THE TROOPS HOME FROM IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN - NO TRIDENT REPLACEMENT
5:00 PM-6:00 PM Burns Statue Square, Ayr Brief Speeches and Messages about the urgent need for Peace in the Middle East Chance to Light a Candle For Peace - Vigil Organised by the Ayrshire Palestine Forum
Solidarity with Council Workers
Solidarity – Scotland’s Socialist Movement gives 100% support to council workers across Scotland who are fighting back against cuts in pay and attempts to worsen their terms and conditions.
We will join hundreds of UNISON and GMB members in Falkirk to protest against the actions of the SNP and others on Falkirk Council who ended negotiations with the trades unions and are imposing new contracts. We demand that the Council abandon their plans to cut wages and inpose new contracts and instead agree an acceptable deal with the trades unions. The Scottish Executive must fund genuine equal pay and provide the resources to local authorities to cover the costs.
The tremendous vote for strike action by GMB members in Falkirk and UNISON members in Glasgow are an example for other workers to follow.
Glasgow’s New Labour council were forced to retreat in the face of strike action last week and members of Solidarity played a key role in this victory.
Tricia McLeish, UNISON and Solidarity member:
“Women workers have suffered the brunt of low and unequal pay for years. It is scandalous the New Labour, the SNP and the rest think it is justified to cut the pay of the low paid, including many women, to deal with unequal pay. We need decent pay for all, and that is what Solidarity is committed to fighting for.”
The SNP, like New Labour have proved that, despite their words, in practice they are no friends of working class people and the trade unions. That is why we need a party that stands up for Trade unionists.
Solidarity are that party. We are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with trade unionists in Falkirk and across Scotland. Join us!
UNISON Demo – Saturday 16th December – Callendar Park Falkirk – 11.00 am
Highlands Rent Increase is "Spiteful and Unnecessary
Solidarity, Scotland’s Socialist Movement party has condemned any proposed rent increase in the Highlands and Islands Region as “unnecessary and spiteful”
In a savage and wide-ranging criticism of the Council’s housing troubles, Solidarity, which was at the forefront of the No vote campaign, has identified numerous sources of funding that would make excessive increases in rents avoidable.
Steve Arnott, spokesperson for Scotland’s fastest growing political party in the region said:
“There was plenty of money available to fund the privatisation of council houses, so why is it not being made available to councils which retain their stock?
Solidarity Co-Convenor, Tommy Sheridan MSP, backed Arnott's calls, calling on the Scottish Executive to release Regeneration funding:
"“We expect the council to demand that the remaining £21 million of the £50 million Regeneration Fund, used as a bribe during the stock transfer process, be honoured by the Scottish Executive."
Arnott detailed many options for funding available to the region:
“Just look at the money sloshing about - £160million to write off the housing debt, £11million to cover debt restructuring, £5.6million to create the defeated housing company. The current housing debt is also falling by £7million annually, and by re-investing those repayment premiums of around £700,000 per year the Council could raise new money in excess of £7million per year. There are also unspent capital reserves of £14million that would have been lost in the event of transfer. Add to this a further £21million remaining in the Regeneration fund used as a bribe to encourage transfer."
While Farepak victims struggle to pay for Christmas and face a bleak winter due to ever-increasing energy costs, HBoS, bankers to Farepak’s parent company EHR, will announce a staggering £5.35B profit for this year.
Solidarity MSP Rosemary Byrne, has attacked the profits as “obscene” and called for the Scottish Executive to end it’s cosy relationship with the bank.
Speaking today after hearing of the 11% rise in profits, the Co-Convenor of Scotland’s fastest growing political party said:
“On Monday night I joined the campaigners form Unfairpak in the cold outside a champagne reception held by the bank’s fat cats. Those hard working families who have lost their Christmas savings will be disgusted to hear of the obscene profits the bank have announced today. Meanwhile Jack McConnell and the Scottish Executive cosy up to David Fisher and the Executives of HBoS, by giving them a seat on the Scottish Executive Management Board. I call on HBoS to dig into their profits to compensate the Farepak victims and on the Scottish Executive to ask Fisher to act on this or to resign from his unelected role in the Government of our country.”
Suzy Hall, organiser of the Unfairpak campaign was not surprised at the massive profits:
"This comes as no surprise and I am sure the provisions for losses that HBOS would have made earlier in the summer have been reversed now that they have recouped Farepak savers' money. I wish all those shareholders and senior executives who are receiving massive bonuses a very Merry Christmas"
Tommy Sheridan Uncovers a Shocking Rise in Homelessness
Solidarity MSP Tommy Sheridan has, through parliamentary questions, (see below) discovered a big rise in homelessness in Scotland. The figures show an overall rise of 38% in the past 5 years. In some local authority areas, such as Local Government Minister Tom McCabe's Constituency in North Lanarkshire, there has been a rise of more than 200%. Even over the last year the overall rise across Scotland was over 4%. Sheridan, Co-Convenor of Scotland's fastest growing political party said:
“These figures are a shocking indictment of the Executives failure on housing. We need a major new programme of council house building or we will see more families become literally roofless. These staggering rises reflect the growing pressure of fuel prices, council tax and interest rate rises. People can no longer afford to live in the private housing market and, when they go to the public sector, they find that there are few homes available. After 5 years of new homelessness law, the numbers of homeless are rising sharply. We can now see that Labours claim to abolish homelessness by 2012 are nothing but a cruel spin with no substance."
Number of applications assessed as homeless in Scotland: 2000-01 to 2005-06
Byrne Calls for Urgent Action on Heroin Prescription Following Five Brutal Murders in Suffolk
Solidarity Co-Convenor Rosemary Byrne has repeated her calls for heroin to be made available on prescription following the brutal murder of five women in Ipswich. Byrne has been campaigning for 3 years on the The Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation (Scotland) bill, that would provide, as part of the proposals, heroin on prescription for addicts.
The bill is currently held up by parliament red tape as the South of Scotland MSP argues for it to be pushed ahead. The horrific killings in Ipswich over the last weeks have highlighted the urgency of such moves and the real benefits that could be delivered. Byrne said:
"The whole country is shocked and saddened by the news of the murders in Ipswich, but we should not be surprised as these women, working in the sex industry to feed their habit, are oppressed not just by their gender, but by their work and by their addiction. It is imperative that the UK government, and the Scottish Executive, act quickly to introduce heroin on prescription as a move that can assist women to get out the chaotic lives and brutality that they face on a daily basis."
Over 100 illegal Prisons Identified Worldwide
Disappearances in the War on Terror have formed an integral part of the Bush administration’s programme of secret detention. This latest report by Cageprisoners: Beyond the Law: The War on Terror’s Secret Network of Global Detentions, highlights the wide-reaching extent of those countries that house these detainees, generally at the behest of the US government. The report shows that out of the 120 prisons identified worldwide, 72 have been, or are currently being used by the US to interrogate detainees.
By piecing together statements of released detainees, work of investigative journalists and human rights organisations, we provide the most definitive and up to date list of prisons used in the ‘War on Terror.’
Commenting on the findings of the report, Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, wrote,
“…Cageprisoners publishes a comprehensive report which reveals the systematic practice of enforced disappearances in a global network of secret places of detention.”
Further, the Chair of the British Institute of Human Rights, Geoffrey Bindman, states that in the policies of the War on Terror,
“This report is directed at one glaringly disgraceful element in that strategy: the detention without charge or trial and the physical abuse of those suspected of involvement in terrorism.”
Rose Gentle yesterday branded British Justice “a waste of time” after the Court of Appeal rejected the call for a public inquiry into the UK’s involvement in Iraq. Rose and Beverley Clarke, who both lost their sons in the illegal invasion, had argued that the Government was under an implied obligation to hold an independent inquiry under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the "right to life"., but three appeal judges rejected their claims.
While the families said that their fight had not been a waste of time Rose considered that taking it any further in British courts would be. She said:
“"We could try the House of Lords next, but I don't think very much of British justice," she told reporters. It has not been a waste of time - this is my son's life we are talking about."
Solicitor for the families, Phil Shiner, said that the verdict was disappointing to lose but claimed that they won all the legal arguments. The lawyer was prepared to take the case on to the European Court of Human Rights: "I have assured my clients that we can win this case in Strasbourg.”
126 British Service personnel have now lost their lives in Iraq and events will be staged across the country this weekend organised by the Stop the War Coalition. This Saturday anti-war activists will gather in George Square in Glasgow at noon and a torchlight vigil will be held in Edinburgh at 5.30 p.m. on the steps of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Leith Walk. www.stopwar.org.uk
Leading Trade Unionists Stand for Solidarity
Solidarity - Scotland's Socialist Movement announced our candidates who will lead the campaign on the North East regional list for next year's Holyrood elections.
Solidarity members across the North-East have elected Jim Malone to head our list for the Scottish parliament elections on May 3rd 2007. Jim Malone is the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) Tayside brigade secretary. Jim is one of Dundee's most prominent and outspoken trade unionsts and has a long and distiguished record of fighting in defence of public services, pensions and opposing privatisation.
Jim Malone said: "As a Trade Unionist for over 30 years I have been actively involved in supporting the workers movement in Scotland, campaigning for decent wages, pensions, working conditions and trade union rights. The only party in Scotland at present who can continue to represent Trade Unionists in their struggle to build a socialist alternative is Solidarity. I have joined Solidarity because it is the only political party in Scotland that can represent the aspirations of the trade unionists and working people in Scotland."
Jim McFarlane was selected second on Solidarity's list for the May elections and is the Chair of Dundee City Unison which has 1,000 members in the city.
Jim McFarlane said: "New Labour long ago turned its back on trade unionists and today clearly stands on the side of the rich and for big business. Prime Minister in waiting Gordon Brown has recently announced his intention to freeze the wages of public sector workers from next year. This annoncement comes at a time when the wages of the top bosses have risen by over 80% in the last five years. Solidarity is standing in the elections to offer a real voice for trade unionists and working people."
Solidarity - Scotland's Socialist Movement will make an announcement in the new year about our candidates for the Dundee constituency and local government elections.
HBoS Attack Rosemary Byrne as Solidarity Call for Bank Directors to Resign
Solidarity condemns the spin campaign undertaken by HBoS in response to the Farepak scandal, and calls for Jack McConnell to sack HBoS official, David Fisher, from the Executive Management Group.
Solidarity MSP Rosemary Byrne has condemned the HBoS campaign as an attempt to divert attention from their role in the collapse of Farepak. Following the motion she put down in Parliament condemning HBoS, Byrne received a letter from an HBoS spin doctor which completely failed to engage with the issues.
HBoS claims to have fulfilled its 'moral obligations' to its 'customers', by which it means the Farepak parent company EHR. This simply confirms that the Bank's moral obligation is first and foremost to make sure it makes as much money out of ordinary customers as possible. According to the HBoS spin doctor, whose job description apparently encompasses spin, lobbying and 'corporate responsibility', HBoS went, 'more than the extra mile' for the Farepak parent company and 'stood behind EHR through a period of significant financial difficulty'.
This confirms the allegations of Suzy Hall, national co-ordinator of Unfairpak, who stated yesterday on Tommy Sheridan's Talk107 radio show that, "It is still my belief that HBOS knew EHR was in financial difficulties and allowed them to continue taking customers' money."
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