The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) have called on the British left to exorcise the ghost of past support for Israel and the Jewish National Fund by disrupting next year's England vs Israel football match.
Mick Napier of the SPSC was speaking following a public meeting of SPSC with guest speaker Gilad Atzmon. The talk focussed on the nature of "solidarity" and in particular the weaknesses of the British left and Jewish socialist groups on the issue. Napier called for a sustained action against Israel and for left groups to organise for the match in September 2007.
"I would propose a test, somewhat crude I know, but the real test of a theory is practice. While the denunciatory emails and articles fly, let us all mobilise to stop the England vs Israel football game next September, and any pro-Israeli events in between. Let us see how many coaches each of us can fill to get supporters into the ground to disrupt the game, and other demonstrators outside in support. Let us excise the shame of allowing JNF fund-raising events for the violation of Palestine to go unchallenged on English soil."
Tommy Sheridan Criticises Lack of Vision on Transport
Solidarity Co-Convenor Tommy Sheridan has criticised Tavish Scott for his lack of vision in his national transport strategy published today. The Glasgow MSP who is also a member of the Local Government and Transport Committee said:
"Tavish Scott has announced a new transport strategy which is a mouse rather than a lion, it is big on reviews, studies and plans but short on substance. It also accepts the current trends and projects them into the future rather than trying to plan, it is not a strategy so much as an acceptance of what the market will provide. A real transport strategy would take Scotland's transport into public ownership, as the majority of people in Scotland want, and plan for an integrated, publicly owned and controlled transport system which gets people off the roads and air and into public transport."
Chavez Victory Is A Victory For Human Progress
Solidarity joins with the poor and working class of Venezuela, along with millions around the world, in hailing the electoral victory of Hugo Chavez.
By this morning it had become clear that over sixty percent of Venezuelan voters had opted to continue the Bolivarian Revolution against an opposition coalition made up of various oligarchs, business leaders and media barons offering a vision for the country designed to appease their backers in Washington. In short, their aim was, and is, a return to the free market hell responsible for the misery and poverty which had blighted Venezuelan society, and Latin America in general, before Chavez first came to power on the back of a popular movement from below in 1998.
The radical reforms implemented in his six years in power have literally transformed the lives of millions of people. Just under a million children in Venezuela from the shanty towns and poorest villages now receive free education; 1.2 million illiterate adults have been taught to read and write; secondary education has been made available to 250,000 children previously excluded by their social status. As for healthcare, the 14,000 Cuban doctors sent to help the country have transformed the situation in poor communities, where 11,000 neighbourhood clinics have been established and the health budget has tripled. New homes have been and are being built, agrarian reform has redistributed large swathes of land to the poor, and an entire generation are being politicised in the process.
Solidarity – Scotland’s Socialist Movement today welcomed the climb down by New Labour led Glasgow City Council over their plans to enforce wage cuts on up to 4,500 city council workers from March 2009.
In a fantastic show of solidarity with their fellow workers 11,000 Unison members had voted overwhelmingly to strike for three days this week over the council’s threat to impose swingeing wage cuts.
Facing a massive strike from tomorrow that would have brought all council services to a halt in the city, council leader Stephen Purcell and the council leadership have now agreed that the March 2009 deadline be dropped. There is now a commitment that those who were to lose out in this process will maintain their earnings beyond March 2009 while the council’s process of retraining/service redesign takes place. This will be a massive relief to thousands of council workers, many of whom are low paid, and who faced the prospect of draconian cuts in pay and for some of losing their homes.
Solidarity MSP, Tommy Sheridan said:
“We welcome this victory. It is a marvellous example of working class solidarity forcing the employer to retreat. I pay tribute to the Unison members who have won a victory, not only for the Glasgow City Council workforce but for council workers across Scotland. This was a flawed review process from the start that was about taking money from already hard pressed and low paid workers to resolve longstanding unequal pay. Solidarity demands that the Scottish Executive and Scotland’s local authorities pay up to deliver genuine equal pay and abandon their strategy of robbing peter to paul.”
Sheridan Attacks GHA Over Evictions
Solidarity MSP Tommy Sheridan has attacked the Glasgow Housing Association after figures showed an increase in evictions. A reply to a letter from Sheridan showed a near 40% rise in evictions between 2004 and 2005. The Co-Convenor of Scotland's fastest growing political movement called for investment in public housing in the Highlands to match that given to Inverclyde's new housing quango.
"These figures show that the GHA is increasing sharply the number of people thrown out from 178 in 2004 to 247 in 2005, and from what I hear in Glasgow it is rising again this year. These people are likely to be joining the hidden homeless which is a growing problem in Scotland and since the GHA is getting rid of rented houses rather than building new ones the problem will only be getting worse. The GHA are an undemocratic quango ran by overpaid managers set up to facilitate the backdoor privatisation of council housing and they are certainly succeeding but for the poor of Glasgow it is a disaster."
Following the ballot of tenants in Inverclyde in favour of transfer of stock to a new private association, the Glasgow MSP called on the executive to show the same commitment to public housing in the areas where tenants had rejected the Executives privatisation agenda.
"If the investment was there for a yes vote, the money must surely be there for those who choose their housing to be publicly owned and democratically accountable. I call on the Scottish Executive to release the money to invest in public housing in Highlands, Stirling and Edinburgh just as they will for the new undemocratic quangos in other areas."
Farepack Victims Thank Solidarity for Support
The Farepack victims group unfairpak has thanked Solidarity for their unconditional support for the campaign for compensation. Solidarity agreed last week to support the demo against HBOS at the Mound in Edinburgh by producing a leaflet for the event. The group were also very pleased with Solidarity Co-Convenor Rosemary Byrne's contribution to the debate in parliament. Chair of the unfairpak campaign Suzy Hall said:
"Rosemary's contribution to the debate was fantastic and we are very grateful to Solidarity for their help and practical support with leaflets and other assistance."
Solidarity members across the country have played a key role in organising practical help for the victims of what amounts to corporate robbery.
John Wight of Lothians Solidarity welcomed Suzy Hall's words:
"We agreed unanimously to support the campaign unconditionally more than a week ago and Solidarity members, many of whom lost money to Farepack, are angry about this theft. We will be on the mound showing Solidarity with Suzy Hall and the other campaigners on the 11th and would hope that all socialists and campaigners for justice will join us."
Details of the demo and the campaign at the unfairpak website www.unfairpak.co.uk
Tommy Sheridan Hits the Airwaves
Solidarity Co-Convenor Tommy Sheridan takes to the airwaves today for the first airing of his new weekly radio show on Talk107.
"Sunday Morning With Citizen Tommy" is on from 10.00am till 1pm and will include chat, discussion and phone-ins. The Solidarity MSP for Glasgow is looking forward to the contributions from listeners:
"I am looking forward to it, hopefully I will be able to give a platform to members of the public to discuss politics and other issues in a friendly, comradely spirit. In the first show I will be talking about my hero John MacLean, and will invite listeners to call, text and email me who their heroes are and why."
The show goes out through the Edinburgh area but anyone can tune in and hear it live on the internet at www.talk107.co.uk or can download the show at anytime from that address.
Call Tommy on 0845 4 107 107, text him on 8181 and start your message with the word 'talk', or email him on '
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Solidarity with the Victims of Bhopal
On the 22nd anniversary of the environmental disaster in Bhopal,India, Solidarity have called on the petrochemical company Dow to face criminal proceedings, fully compensate victims, and clean up the site and surrounding areas.
On the 2nd and 3rd December 1984, the worlds worst ever industrial disaster killed thousands of people in India and left 150,000 disabled. To this day over 50,000 local people are too sick to work and some are dying still. Mary Spowart, environmental activist and South of Scotland Solidarity member said:
“The Bhopal disaster got me involved in environmental politics, this was the worst ever industrial disaster but there are hundreds of Bhopals across the world and those who have made massive financial gain from the industry have failed to take the blame and face the consequences.”
Five anti-war protesters have been cleared of storming a US military plane after the court case against them collapsed. All five were acquitted at Ayr Sherrif court today due to "insufficient corroberation".
They were charged with breaching security at Prestwick Airport in August amid protests over British airports being used by the US to transport arms to Israel. Ayr Sheriff Court heard of a stand-off between security staff and five people who got on to a Hercules C130 aircraft at the airport in Ayrshire.
Solidarity Co-Convenor MSP Rosemary Byrne welcomed the news:
"The real criminals are in the Israeli Government who ruthlessly attacked Lebanon and Gaza. The protesters were very brave and have done a service for all of us by highlighting the abuse of Scottish airspace to supply arms to Israel."
The MSP for South of Scotland region called for the Scottish Executive to intervene to stop Prestwick being used by The USA and Israel's Illegal acts of war:
"It is time that Jack McConnel stood up to Bush and Blair and told them that we will not tolerate this in Ayrshire or anywhere else."
“Scottish Separation is part of the process of England’s Imperial disintegration and is a help towards the ultimate triumph of the workers of the world.” So wrote the great John MacLean on his election address for the Gorbals division in the December 1923 Parliamentary election.
Sadly he didn’t win but as the Scottish Parliament debated the idea of a new public holiday on the occasion of St Andrew’s day, November 30th each year, I hope the memory and spirit of Scotland’s greatest ever socialist is also celebrated on that day. For John MacLean, born in 1879, didn’t live to see the 6th December 1923 election. He died from pneumonia six days before on 30th November 1923 aged only 44.John MacLean was a world recognised socialist in his day. From the bread and butter issues of opposition to rent rises and support for workers striking for better pay to his courageous and steadfast opposition to the cruel carnage that was the First World War.
Events Calendar
