Statement from Positive Action in Housing www.paih.org
At a rally in Glasgow, around 500 protesters turned up to voice their concerns over the forced removal of asylum seekers.
The protest against the controversial dawn raids came after it emerged that first minister Jack McConnell has spoken to home secretary John Reid voicing his own concerns about their effectiveness.
Robina Qureshi from Positive Action in Housing organisation said:
"What about the neighbour that has to wake up at five o'clock in the morning and hear that their neighbour's door is being booted in by metal battering rams and children being dragged out screaming? What about the Scottish school teacher that's in a Drumchapel school who doesn't know whether the kids didn't turn up at school that morning because either they were off with flu or because they disappeared because the Home Office dawn raid van's came out and dragged their children screaming and kicking? It upsets everyone, there's nothing reserved about the pain that's being felt because of these dawn raids and that's why the pressure is growing to stop the dawn raids, and to boot that tactic out of Scotland. It's unacceptable."
Rosemary Byrne's bill calls for a personal care package for all addicts within one week of asking for help. The South of Scotland MSP said:
"My bill is about treating heroin as a health and social problem, not a criminal one. If passed we would take the victims of this addiction out of the courts and jails and into the health centres."
Tommy Sheridan’s bill would take ownership of our railways back into public hands and accountability, running the network for the benefit of the public and not for private profit.
Solidarity on the March
Saturday, 07 October 2006
The rise of Solidarity, Scotland’s Socialist Movement continued at pace this week with another set of rallies and meetings across the country.
On Monday, Solidarity MSPs Tommy Sheridan and Rosemary Byrne addressed 70 activists and socialists in Paisley Town Hall.
Tuesday saw a packed day with Solidarity students and Tommy Sheridan holding a public meeting in Dundee University that attracted 60 young people. Special branch activity focussing on young Muslims in Dundee was the main issue and 13 new members joined the movement. From there Philip Stott and Tommy Sheridan visited a local fire control centre under threat of closure with Jim Malone of the FBU.
Press Release: Another Packed Audience At Solidarity Meeting
Thursday, 05 October 2006
Solidarity Scotlands Socialist Movement
Last night the organisers of Edinburgh University's Politics Society had to turn people away as over 150 students packed a meeting room to hear Tommy Sheridan deliver a talk titled: Peace, Independence and Socialism.
On Peace, Tommy pointed out the ridiculous contradiction between the fact that the proposed replacement of Trident nuclear weapons will cost £76 billion over the next 30 years, while pensioners are still forced to suffer the humiliation of means-tested benefits and students have to take out loans in order to afford the same higher education which people like Gordon Brown and Jack MaConnell received for free.
Solidarity, Scotland’s Socialist Movement, today called for public investment in the coal industry as part of a future energy strategy. The party are backing the campaign to upgrade the coal fired power station at Longannet to ensure that Scotland’s indigenous coal reserves play their part in future green energy policy.
South of Scotland MSP Rosemary Byrne said:
"There is 600 years of coal in Scotland and the industry employs 3,500 people. The technology to reduce carbon emissions by 90% was developed in Scotland and investment in the industry can protect jobs as well as providing the nation with a base load of energy that negates the arguments for new nuclear power stations."
Events Calendar
