No Cuts, no closures, no redundancies. Reject the findings of the University of Dundee's Sustainability Review.

Solidarity – Scotland's Socialist Movement fully supports yesterdays protest against the proposed £4.3 million of cuts suggested by University of Dundee's Sustainability Review which saw hundreds of students and staff take to the streets. The cuts will effect every department at the university and threaten the jobs of 100 staff and are being proposed by the university to cover a supposed £1.6 million deficit in the universities accounts for 2005 - 2006. The Dundee University and Colleges Union has said:

"Remarkably, the report simply assumes that a deficit exists and that staff costs are its cause.

"The report says nothing about the financial basis for these assumptions nor provides any detail on the financial position of the university.

"There is no financial crisis requiring reductions in educational provision or staffing, but there is serious financial mismanagement which requires urgent action.".

In fact the supposed £1.6 million deficit includes £1.5 million spent by the university on building work on the privaitised halls of residence and the university's own forecast from December projects a £4 million surplus.

Jim Malone Solidarity candidate for the Scottish Parlaiament elections said:

"The massive scale of the cuts shows that commercialisation of education doesn't work. The attempt by the university to privatise halls of residence and increase its profitability has resulted in students and staff paying the price for the failures of university management. Solidarity- Scotland's Socialist Movement fights for a fully funded public education system with free education for all ages."

In response to the news, carried today by the BBC, that a US plan to mount a military attack on Iran is now in place, Solidarity reaffirms its continued commitment to the international campaign to end the twin occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq by US and UK military forces, along with the ending of any and all US military presence in the region.

The present conflict in the Middle East conforms to the implementation of a pre-9/11 agenda formulated by the American ruling class to seize control of Iraq's vast energy reserves in response to the threat posed by the rival and emerging economies of China, India and the European Union. It is, in short, a conflict motivated by an economic system that is predicated on profit regardless of the human, social or environmental cost.

Present US tactics with regard to Iran of pretending to seek a diplomatic solution whilst preparing for war, issuing denials that military action is on the table, manipulating and using the UN as an extension of the US State Department, are the same as were used preparatory to attacking Iraq in 2003. To date, this illegal invasion and occupation has resulted in the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, along with thousands of American and British military personnel.

Pat Smith is the Solidarity list candidate for the Lothians in the upcoming Scottish elections. She is also on the national steering committee of the Stop the War Coalition. She said:

"There seems little doubt that Iran will be attacked now. If and when it is the response from the movement, here and abroad, will be immediate and nothing like we've seen before."

Tommy Sheridan, Solidarity MSP and co-convenor, said:

"The news of a US plan to attack Iran makes Saturday's Bin The Bomb march and rally in Glasgow even more important than it already is. I urge everyone committed to waging war on war, on poverty and inequality, to assemble in George Square at 11 AM on the 24th to raise their voices once again against these rich, privileged savages and the barbarism they have unleashed in the Middle East."