> >>New Worker Online Digest >> >>Week commencing 4th February, 2000. >> >>1) Editorial - Peace matters. >> >>2) Lead story - True cost of NHS bed shortage. >> >>3) Feature article - New police enquiry into Telford hangings. >> >>4) International story - More Unionist threats to the Irish peace process. >> >>5) British news item - Connex drivers achieve resounding victory. >> >> >>1) Editorial >> >>Peace matters. >> >>WHEN it comes to the peace process in Ireland it is the maintainance of the >>ceasefire and the advance of social equality and justice which really >>matters, not the handing in of weapons by some arbitrary date. >> >> The rush for immediate decommissioning of weapons is a demand from the >>most backward and bigoted section of the Unionist camp -- one which >>Unionist leader David Trimble is all too willing to oblige. >> >> It is not even a genuine demand but a tub-thumping device to scupper the >>peace process and continue with the old ways of subjecting the Catholic >>community of northern Ireland to institutionalised discrimination and >>social injustice. >> >> If Republicans had taken the same boneheaded view from their own >>standpoint -- that peace and progress could not begin until British and >>Loyalist weapons were decommissioned -- there would have been no IRA >>ceasefire and no peace process at all. >> >> The progress that has been achieved so far is based on the courageous >>steps taken by the IRA in calling and maintaining its ceasefire, by Sinn >>Fein and the SDLP in fighting for the peace process to get underway and by >>the majority of the people from both communities who voted for the Good >>Friday Agreement and expressed their desire for an end to violence. >> >> In all of this has been an understanding that peace has to be built on >>justice and on growing trust and that the weapons and means of war will >>finally go when the fear and the oppression are gone. >> >> It is unreasonable -- ridiculous even -- to expect the oppressed community >>to disarm before members of the new Assembly have even had time to get used >>to saying "good morning" to each other let alone carry out the reforms >>necessary for building a lasting peace. >> >> Decommissioning should be seen as the fruit of the struggle for peace, not >>a demand made at the outset by a bunch of bigots hoping to bring the new >>Assembly to a grinding halt. >> >> The British imperialist state, which lies at the root of the divisions and >>the violence, has not only failed to speak out against the reactionary >>Orange bigots but has so far failed to adequately carry out its >>self-appointed task of reforming the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), apart >>from a little tinkering and the dropping of the word "royal" from its title. >> >> This has a bearing on the weapons issue since decommissioning depends on >>both Republicans and Loyalists feeling confident that they have security >>and that the police and other agents of the state will be impartial, fair >>and willing to protect and serve all of the people without fear or favour. >> >> The RUC is light years away from this position. It has always been a >>sectarian, almost entirely Protestant, force which has played a major >>rolein the long-standing oppression of the Catholic minority. The Catholic >>community neither trusts nor wants this remnant of the past -- and with >>very good reason. >> >> Not surprisingly the capitalist media gives plenty of space and air time >>to Trimble and the bigots behind him. This promotes the view that the >>threat to peace comes from the weapons of the IRA. >> >> This all flies in the face of the fact that the IRA ceasefire has held >>firm despite many deliberate provocations and that Loyalist gunmen have in >>that time carried out sectarian killings. >> >> it also ignores the fact that the largest arsenal of all belongs to the >>British Army. Despite the opening of the Assembly, British troops continue >>to circle the fields and villages of South Armagh in military helicopters >>and the many fortified barracks continue to cast a shadow over the north of >>Ireland. >> >> Nor should it be forgotten that weapons do not fire themselves -- if there >>were a return to violence it would arise from a breakdown in the struggle >>for peace. >> >> The armed groups are not equal in the decommissioning stakes. For the >>British Army decommissioning is meaningless since it is an army and always >>has a ready supply of guns. Only British withdrawal from Ireland would meet >>the requirements. >> >> The Loyalist para-military gangs are in a similar position. It is never >>really explained where their weapons come from but considering which >>interests they ultimately serve it is clear there would always be a ready >>resupply available. >> >> In this situation the demands for immediate decommissioning are simply >>calls for one-sided disannament based on holding the >>democratically-approved Assembly to hostage. >> >> ************************** >> >>2) Lead story >> >>True cost of NHS bed shortage. >> >>by Daphne Liddle >> >>FIGURES published last week reveal that 26 patients died in December in the >>London area as doctors tried desperately to find intensive care beds. >> >> The figures from the Emergency Beds Service were leaked to the London >>Evening Standard. They cover only one month and only one part of the country. >> >> The indications are that most of the rest of the country faced a similar >>plight and the figures for January are likely to be worse because the >>height of the flu crisis came in that month. >> >> Outside London there are just as many horror stories. For example, one >>woman was airlifted 50 miles from the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton to >>the Isle of Wight in a gale on Christmas eve. >> >> The figures show that doctors made 352 enquiries to the Emergency Beds >>Service and 148 patients ended up being transferred. >> >> In 169 cases the transfer did not happen, either because the patient was >>too ill to travel, they had died or they had been found a bed in the >>hospital after all. >> >> Geoff Martin of the campaigning group London Health Emergency said: "This >>is hard evidence that everyone who needs an intensive care bed in London is >>not getting one -- which for some people is a death sentence. >> >> "All of these people were seriously ill and a number would have died >>anyway, but it certainly cannot help that people are being ferried around >>London and further when their life is on a knife edge." >> >> Many more patients suffered unacceptable waits for treatment and a survey >>published last week showed that elderly people with serious conditions, >>including heart attacks and breathing problems are being kept waiting >>longer than a day for a hospital bed. >> >> One woman aged 71 had to wait 40 hours on a trolley for admission at >>Northwick Park Hospital. Another women in the same department aged 69 and >>suffering from a heart complaint waited 30 hours on a trolley. >> >> In the King George Hospital in Ilford, six patients with very serious >>conditions had each been kept waiting for over 20 hours. >> >> Christine Hancock, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, >>described this as a "national scandal". >> >> "Nurses are at breaking point concerned that they can't even provide the >>basics of care." >> >> Donna Covey, director of the Association of Community Health Councils, >>said: "These shocking and distressing figures show that people are right to >>be alarmed about the state of the health service. >> >> "Despite the extra money the Government invested in Accident and Emergency >>following last year's survey, people are still facing unacceptably long >>waits, even by the Department of Health's own standards." >> >> The crisis has of course led to increasing delays for those awaiting >>non-urgent surgery and it could be that some will never get it. An >>influential pressure group that once advised former Tory health secretary >>Virginia Bottomley that London did not really need most of its hospitals, >>is now saying the NHS should concentrate only on those who are likely to >>die from their illnesses or conditions. >> >> The King's Fund last week called on the Government to abandon hospital >>waiting lists, sending patients back to their family doctors, and admit >>that it cannot fund all non-urgent or "elective" care. >> >> This would affect more than a million on waiting lists. Many are suffering >>from painful and disabling conditions that prevent them from working or >>from leading normal lives. >> >> Providing support for them while they wait often for years or more, is >>costing the country millions and costing the patients a quality of life >>that cannot be assessed in financial terms. >> >> Many will try to scrape up the money to pay for private treatment and get >>into debt. Others will just have to go on suffering. >> >> This is outrageous in a wealthy country. It is a scandal that some people >>now incapacitated by curable conditions, who have relatives in India, are >>travelling there for treatment because waiting lists are shorter and >>private treatment lessexpensive. >> >> The Department of Health announced last Wednesday that it was to >>reintroduce recovery wards for elderly patients to be nursed after surgery, >>recognising at last that they cannot just be sent home immediately after >>surgery and be expected to cope. >> >> This is aimed to free beds in acute wards for emergency cases but it >>implies an increase in the total number of hospital beds. This is very >>welcome but may not be easy to achieve with the increasing NHS reliance on >>private Finance Initiative hospitals. >> >> These are rented from the private sector -- which determines the number of >>beds in them. >> >> ********************* >> >> >>3) Feature article >> >>New police enquiry into Telford hangings. >> >>by Daphne Liddle >> >>POLICE last Monday announced a new investigation into the deaths by hanging >>of two black men, which they had written off as suicide but which friends >>and family of the victims claim were racist murders. >> Harold McGowan, known as Errol, was found hanging last July and then his >>nephew Jason McGowan was found dead in similar circumstances on New Year's >>Eve. Neither left a suicide note nor had any reason to be depressed -- >>except a campaign of racist abuse. >> >> Errol was a builder and part-time bouncer. Two years ago he barred a group >>of white troublemakers from a pub. After that he was subjected to a >>sustained campaign of racist abuse and threats. >> >> >>threatening >> >> There were threatening phone calls. Cars would drive past his house while >>the occupants gestured, drawing a finger across their throats, implying >>"You're dead". >> >> His eight-year-old son was attacked in the streef pushed to the ground and >>told his fingers would be cut off. >> >> Errol was told often that he was as good as dead and that his name had >>been added to a death list of the local Combat 18 (neo-Nazi thugs) cell. >> >> He asked for police protection in the week before he died and reported a >>number of racist incidents. >> >> But when the police found his body they said there were no suspicious >>circumstances and put it down to suicide. This was at a time when the >>McPherson inquiry into the police handling of the Stephen Lawrence racist >>murder was filling the headlines and police officers were telling the >>public that sort of thing would never happen again. >> >> Errol was found dead in a house he was minding for a friend, positioned to >>look as though he had cut a length of flex from an iron and hanged himself >>from a door knob with his feet on the floor. >> >> An independent pathologist called in by the family has questioned if >>anyone could kill themselves in this way -- the pain would stop them long >>before they were dead. >> >> Jason was deeply disturbed by his uncle's death and changed his name from >>King to McGowan. He began to investigate Errol's death and to try to >>involve colleagues where he worked for the local newspaper, the Shropshire >>Star. >> >> >>warnings >> >> Then the family began to get warnings that another McGowan would be >>"sorted out". >> >> Jason was a young man with a wife, Sinead, and was thinking of starting a >>family. The couple spent New Year's Eve at the Elephant and Castle Pub in >>Telford, opposite the newspaper's offices. >> >> His wife recalled him saying: "There's no reason to change anything. I am >>totally happy." >> >> At around 11.30pm he left the pub for some fresh air and was not seen >>alive again by his friends and family. >> >> He was later found hanged by his belt, on some railings beside a playing >>field, in a similar position to Errol. >> >> The police at least did acknowledge this death may have been suspicious >>but claimed their investigations led them nowhere. >> >> The family were quite clear. They said: "Jason and Harold were killed by >>racists. They had no reason to take their own lives." >> >> The story came to national attention when the Independent ran it on its >>front page. Then followed a curious dispute between the national broadsheet >>and the local Shropshire Star which wrote: "Jason: is the grief distorting >>the facts?" >> >> Many Telford people are horrified by suggestions in the national press >>that racist lynch mobs are running out of control in their town.They are >>adamant that Telford is no worse than most towns in Britain. >> >> But it does not take a mob to commit shocking racist murders -- just a >>tiny handful of vicious racist thugs, as in Eltham where Stephen Lawrence >>died. >> >> The people of Telford are probably indeed no better or worse than anywhere >>else but that is no reason to deny the existence of racist murderers. >> >> It is in everybody's interests that these killers are found quickly and >>brought to justice. >> >> The police cannot claim they are ignorant of Combat 18, its nature and >>most of its members. Just after the McPherson inquiry, John Grieve, who >>heads the Metropolitan Police new race crime squad, claimed they had Combat >>18 and similar racist terret groups under very close surveillance. >> >> And Scotland Yard is now helping the West Mercia police to investigate the >>Telford killings. They cannot claim they have no leads. Anti-fascist >>organisations like Searchlight could point them in the right direction. >> >> But it seems as though the lessons of the McPherson inquiry have not sunk >>in at all with the police. >> >> ************************* >> >>4) International story >> >>More Unionist threats to the Irish peace process. >> >>by Steve Lawton >> >>ONCE again, the fragile roots of the Irish peace process are being tested. >>David Trimble, Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader and First Minister in the >>power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly, is threatening to suspend the >>two-month old devolved government. >> >> This is "inevitable" he said, because Canadian General John de >>Chastelain's report of the Decommissioning body last Monday on weapons >>handover, does not demonstrate that the IRA has begun giving up its >>weapons. Trimble said he hadn't actually seen the report. >> >> He accuses Sinn Fein of breaking the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. But the >>timetabling of demilitarisation is not enshrined in that Agreement as the >>exclusive responsibility of the IRA. >> >> There has been a typical and tacitly provocative silence about the obvious >>fact that Loyalist death squad's have yet to decommission, and the British >>military have yet to begin seriously scaling down its occupation forces let >>alone actually to begin to decamp. There's plenty of evidence, in fact >>suggesting the military is strengthening patrols. >> >> The hardware numbers game would hardly require a mathematician to see how >>grossly unbalanced is the military potential between British-backed >>unionist-loyalist forces and the republican-nationalist movement. The IRA >>in its statement on Tuesday made its position clear. They were "persuaded >>to enter into discussions", which they "did in good faith and >>construetively" and are "totally committed to the peace process...that the >>declaration and maintenance of the cessation, which is now entering its >>fifth year is evidence of thaf that the IRA's guns are silent and that >>there is no threat to the peace process from the IRA." >> >> As we go to press, there is the familiar intense political shuttling and >>manoeuvring between the major parties in Ireland -- north and south -- and >>the British government as efforts are made to prevent the re-imposition of >>Westminster powers. >> >> United States President Bill Clinton said his Administration is "heavily >>involved" in the latest hurdle. And to prevent the process being derailed, >>he said, all parties will have to "honour the terms of the [Good Friday] >>Agreement." >> >> Sinn Fein chairman Mitchel McLaughlin said: "I can understand why 86 per >>cent of people want decommissioning now, but if you were to ask those same >>people should we destroy the political structure's over guns which are >>silent you would get a similar percentage of people saying 'No, no, that's >>not what we want at all'." >> >> The Sinn Fein leader lamented the fact that guns were not yet "redundant", >>but he said "we haven't made that degree of political progress." >> >> Northern Ireland secretary Peter Mandelson on Tuesday said there was >>nothing inevitable about suspending Stormont. Much will depend on how the >>so far undisclosed de Chastelain report is interpreted. >> >> But it is also about maintaining pressure on Sinn Fein's growing political >>representation at grassroots level. >> >> As the Executive and Assembly proceeds, the practical implementation of >>change looms larger. Working peoples' concerns, to some extent across the >>divide, that Sinn Fein policies most radically represent is creating >>visible tensions. >> >> Delivery and real representation on the economy, health and education, for >>instance, is beginning to define the Assembly parties' fortunes for the >>future. As ever -- in whose interests will each party act? >> >> Trimble said that Sinn Fein has got the best deal it's going to get, and >>that suggests a fear that Sinn Fein is capable of winning hearts and minds >>by addressing social and economic issues. >> >> Guns are therefore not the longer term issue. But it is for unionists who >>want to use it to keep Sinn Fein at arms length in the shaky Assembly and, >>if nof then put everything in reverse. As Gerry Adams said, that would >>spell disaster all round. >> >> * Nearly ten years on and a further blow was delivered to the families of >>Karen Reilly and Martin Peake -- both of whom were shot dead and a third >>injured in a car on 30 September 1990 by British soldiers: The northern >>Ireland Court of Appeal last weekend acquitted Private Lee Clegg of any >>criminal act in the incident. >> >> Clegg, who has been promoted to Corporal, was initially found guilty of >>killing Karen Reilly, he was cleared after a retrial and was then convicted >>again of shooting Martin Peake. Following CLegg's appeal last November, >>Lord Chief Justice Carswell last weekend cleared him on the basis of "weak" >>evidence. >> >> Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams described it as "the final insult" to the >>families of the dead and the wider nationalist community. >> >> "Nationalists will not be surprised by this ruling. This decision will >>reinforce the view of many, that the British criminal justice system and >>those Diplock judges who are an integral part of it must go." >> >> ********************* >> >>5) British news item >> >>Connex drivers achieve resounding victory. >> >>by Caroline Colebrook >> >>ONE DAY of solid strike action last week won train drivers working for the >>French-owned train company Connex a complete victory in their battle for a >>shorter working week and for all their pay to be taken into account when >>calculating pensions. >> >> The strike brought chaos to south London and south east England as >>commuters either stayed away from work or took to their cars, resulting in >>horrendous traffrc jams and disruption to just about all the capital's >>businesses. >> >> Only 10 per cent of Connex trains ran and they were driven by instructors. >> >> The strike was one of a number planned but the rest were called off after >>the company capitulated and agreed to meet Aslef, the drivers' union, and >>implement the long-promised reduction in working hours from 37 a week to >>35. The cut will be fully implemented by October 2001. >> >> Connex will be forced to recruit at least another 80 drivers so it can >>operate a proper train service without demanding overtime working from its >>regular drivers. >> >> Aslef general secretary Mick Rix said: "It is thanks to the solidarity and >>determination of our members at Connex that we have been able to achieve >>this satisfactory result." >> >> Drivers had been angered by the company relying on them to work on their >>rest days in order simply to operate a normal service. This left them >>exhausted with obvious implications for safety. >> >> The company had agreed to these measures last year but had dragged its >>heels in implementation. >> >> Then Connex went to court last December for a ruling to prevent an >>overtime ban over the Christmas and Millennium celebrations -- effectively >>forcing drivers to work exhausting hours when they most wanted some time to >>be with their families. >> >> It was this that led to a full overtime ban from the first week of January >>and 100 percent solid backing for the strike action. >> >> Connex knew its franchise to run the trains was due soon for renewal and >>in danger of being lost. And the company faced the prospect of mounting >>fines for failing to operate a satisfactory service. >> >> The union is now prepared to push for further improvements from all the >>privatised train operating companies, including reducing the retirement age >>to 60. >> >> Aslef is also fighting to bring the numbers of drivers employed on all >>Britain's railways back to the level it was before privatisation in 1995. >> >> The new franchise companies first action was to cut the number of drivers >>from 17,500 in 1995 to 14,000 in 1998. At the same time passenger numbers >>increased by eight per cent. >> >> This meant more and more drivers working more and more overtime. Last >>year, after pressure from Aslef and after several train companies were >>penalised for not running adequate services, the number of drivers >>increased by 600. >> >> One senior industry consultant admitted: "There will be further pressure, >>and drivers will end up being seriously better paid than they are today. >> >> "But in many ways train drivers are underpaid. They work long hours in a >>stressful job where they have up to 800 people travelling behind them. A >>moment's loss of concentration can be catastrophic." >> >> And a senior executive of one of the rail companies complained: "Next they >>will want a four-day week. If the drivers end up breaking a few companies, >>they have nothing to worry about. >> >> "The Strategic Rail Authority would have to take over and they would be >>kept on to run the services. It takes between one and two years to train a >>driver, so managers cannot bust a strike by simply climbing into the cab." >> >> This is a back-handed admission that the companies are mere parasites. >>They are not needed but the drivers are essential. >> >> If the drivers and other rail employees can succeed in breaking the >>companies so they are returned to public ownership, everyone will benefit >>except the companies and their greedy shareholders. >> >> ********************* >> >> >>New Communist Party of Britain Homepage >> >>http://www.newcommunistparty.org.uk >> >>A news service for the Working Class! >> >>Workers of all countries Unite! > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
