From: New Worker Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 22:58:59 +0100
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [New-Worker-News] New Worker Online Digest - 1/6/2001
New Worker Online Digest
Week commencing 1st June, 2001.
1) Editorial - Nazis out!
2) Lead story - Vote for Labour: Build the pressure.
3) Feature article - East End mourns race murder victim.
4) International story - AKEL wins Cyprus elections!
5) British news item - Sinn Fein "can make history".
1) Editorial
Nazis out!
OLDHAM hit the headlines last week as trouble flared on its streets. And
it's certainly no mere coincidence that at the same time the town is being
targeted for attention by an assortment of neo-nazis, including the
unwelcome presence of British National Party (BNP) election candidates in
both East and West Oldham constituencies.
In addition to the BNP, supporters of the National Front (NF) and other
fascist organisations have gathered in the area bringing their racist filth
with them. At least we can be thankful that the NF were prevented from
holding a march in the town which would have been a calculated insult to
all the people of Oldham.
Despite this correct decision by the local police, the fascists'
provocations have not been stopped. There have been reports of deliberate
damage to Asian shops and premises and many accounts of racist abuse being
hurled at Asian residents.
It's not hard to understand the very real concerns of the Asian community
in Oldham. People of Pakistani and Indian origin only account for around 12
per cent of the population in Oldham West and Royton and just four per cent
of the population in Oldham East and Saddleworth.
For this minority to find groups of neo-nazi racists loitering around the
town and to learn that one of the candidates is the national leader of the
BNP is undoubtedly cause for concern. The police, whatever their
intentions, did not inspire confidence and failed to demonstrate clearly
and quickly that they would protect the Asian community wherever necessary.
The fascists meanwhile were clearly hoping to exploit an incident of a few
weeks ago in which an elderly white man was badly beaten by some Asian
youngsters. This act of thuggery should certainly be condemned. And it was
immediately condemned, including by the local leaders of the Asian
community.
Not surprisingly the incident was splashed across the national press -- a
flood of prominent coverage rarely given to the dozens of serious assaults
and cases of harassment meted out to black and Asian people up and down the
country.
What is also abundantly clear from all of this is the profoundly
anti-working class nature of the far right and fascist organisations. They
claim to care about the many economic and social problems experienced by
the white working class, but in reality they serve the interests of the
most backward sections of the rich ruling class and offer nothing but
working class disunity and strife.
They hinder progress for the whole working class by denying the fact that
no ethnic group has a monopoly on hardship and denying the fact that
advance can only come about if people stand in struggle together as a class.
Like so many towns, especially in the north of England, Oldham suffers
from high unemployment -- running at around 9.5 per cent in the East of the
town and 11.5 per cent in the West. This is not the fault of the Asian or
the white community -- it is the bitter fruit of capitalism, the root cause
of the long period of decline in Britain's manufacturing industry.
Those who peddle racism aim to focus attention away from the real problems
people face. They help to conceal the real enemies of the working class and
divert people's frustration and anger at innocent minorities living around
the corner.
Racism and fascism are poison to our class and have to be defeated
everywhere. It is vital that fascist and racist organisations are trounced
at the election. The surest way to administer the order of the boot is to
VOTE LABOUR in every constituency and speak out against racism wherever it
raises its ugly head!
*********************
2) Lead story
Vote for Labour: Build the pressure.
by Caroline Colebrook
LABOUR seems set to win next Thursday's general election with a good
majority, but there is great danger in taking things for granted -- the
disastrous result of the 1992 election proved this.
The Tories, in the run-up to the election, have seemed unable to put a
foot right.
They have promised to cut taxes -- mainly for the rich -- only to have
their sums pulled apart and shown to be hopelessly unrealistic.
They have tried to play the race card and it has rebounded in their face.
A recent ICM poll found that the majority of voters are happy to welcome
economic migrants, including those who are unskilled, because of the
economic contribution they make when they get here.
And in skill shortage areas economic migrants are regarded as essential.
Most people want a legal channel to be opened for controlled numbers of
economic migrants.
The Tories' promises to pensioners are all related to cutting taxes and
will do nothing for the poorest pensioners.
Labour is making all sorts of promises on pensions except the one that
pensioners want -- the restoration on the link between earnings and
pensions.
But though they pretend to turn a deaf ear, the Labour leaders are hearing
the pensioners' campaign loud and clear.
Chancellor Gordon Brown is promising to link the minimum income guarantee
-- a means tested top-up on the basic pension for the most hard up -- to
average earnings.
what they want
This is not what the pensioners want -- they want to do away with
humiliating means tests -- but it indicates that Gordon Brown has their
demands very much in mind.
Many workers may feel the Labour government has not fulfilled their hopes
and expectations, but some real reforms have been wrung from the bourgeois
state under this Labour government.
Scotland and Wales have achieved important measures of devolution. The
hereditary peers have lost their ancient grip on the House of Lords.
The peace process in the north of Ireland has not run smoothly or fairly
but it does exist and the republican communities do now have some level of
representation in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
There is a long way to go but there is at least movement.
On racism, the police force in Oldham has demonstrated that it has failed
to get to grips with the McPherson report recommendations.
But some of its severest critics on this are other police forces and
without a Labour government there would not be a McPherson report.
The right-wing Labour leadership is facing growing popular opposition to
further privatisations, especially the London Underground, and support is
mounting for the renationalisation of our utilities, especially rail.
Full trade union rights have not been restored but the right to membership
and recognition are now law -- unthinkable under the Tories. And trade
union membership is starting to grow again.
Trade union militancy is also growing as some major unions have shown a
marked shift to the left in their choice of leadership.
It is this shift within the organised labour movement that will put the
necessary pressure to wring more reforms for the working class from a
Labour government.
This could not happen under a Tory government.
This is the best deal that can be had from a bourgeois election and it is
worth having. And to secure even small advances for the workers will take
more than just voting.
Pressure must be mounted through growing campaigns and through stronger
working class organisation and unity.
And this of course is a vital prerequisite for bringing about a real
change -- a socialist revolution and the installation of a workers' state.
In the meantime, bothering to vote is the very least we can do.
*************************
3) Feature article
East End mourns race murder victim.
by Renee Sams
OVER 2,000 people attended the funeral service for Shiblu Rahman last
Sunday in Stepney, east London and more than 1,00O followed his coffin all
the way to Newham where he was laid to rest in Woodgrange Cemetery.
Shiblu Rahman was stabbed to death outside his home in Bow, east London on
1 April.
He died of multiple stab wounds after a horrific l0-minute attack by four
white racist thugs.
He managed to stagger to his home where his wife called the emergency
services but it was too late. He died later in hospital.
Many organisations were represented among the mourners, including local
trade unions, local churches, Tower Hamlets Borough councillors, a
representative of the Greater London Authority, the Anti-Nazi League, the
National Assembly Against Racism, the National Civil Rights Movement and
the High Commissioner of Bangladesh.
Over the last 30 years there have been many racist attacks and murders in
east London and the Asian community is asking the question: why have there
been no convictions?
Evidence suggests that in many areas of Tower Hamlets, Asian communities
are still living in fear of racist attacks.
On the estate where Shiblu was killed, there have been many incidents of
arson attacks, blood being smeared on peoples homes and general harassment
of Asian families.
The council and housing associations have proved slow to act on issues of
racist harassment and all too often it is the victim who has to move rather
than the racists.
Despite the McPherson inquiry, local people say that at ground level the
situation is as bad as ever.
The Rahman family are organising a campaign to fight for justice for
Shiblu and they are backed by the National Assembly Against Racism.
* At the spring conference of the National Civil Rights Movement held in
Leicester the day before Shiblu's funeral, participants heard for the first
lime that police now acknowledge a 300 per cent increase in racist attacks
following certain speeches by Tory leaders.
NCRM chair Suresh Grover told the conference: "At this critical time in
the election campaign we have seen a dramatic increase in racist attacks."
The campaign has been saturated with calls for help and advice from
families and individuals suffering from racist harassment.
Suresh told the New Worker: "I am currently dealing with 45 family
campaigns and in other areas of the country there are many more.
Participants al the conference also heard that in Devon and Cornwall there
exists a disease more dangerous that foot and mouth. Racism, individual and
institutional is rampant throughout the southwest.
Recent Home Office figures reveal a 358 per cent increase in racist
incidents reported in this area the second highest in the country.
An Observer special national feature reported that racist attacks are ten
times more likely to take place in rural as opposed to urban areas.
That makes the tourist area one of the most dangerous areas for isolated
blacks and Asians to live.
There is serious under-reporting of race hate crime as immigrants and even
some ethnic minority people born here have a grave distrust of the police.
*************************
4) International story
AKEL wins Cyprus elections!
THE CYPRIOT Communist Party AKEL has come out victor in the island's
general elec tions beating the ruling Democratic Rally (DISY) by a neck.
The fiercely contested poll a turnout of nearly 92 per cent gave the
communist party its best result in 75 years. AKEL, the Progressive Party of
the Working People, garnered 34.71 per cent of the vote. The Democratic
Rally was close behind with 34.1 per cent.
This leaves AKEL biggest single party in the Nicosia parliament with 20
seats. The Democratic Rally retains 19. The Democratic Party won nine, the
Movement of Social Democrats got four and the United Democrats one - all
down one seat from the previous parliament. Three new parties, New
Horizons, the Fighting Democratic Movement and the Ecologists, entered
parliament for the first time winning a seat each in the 56-strong House of
Representatives.
The Democratic Rally's government has been under fire for years -- blamed
for the stock exchange crash amid accusations of insider dealing by
ministers.
Government ministers have been accused of nepotism and graft particularly
in the building industry and the public as a whole is angry at the
staggering rise in crime, shown by the almost nightly bomb blasts and arson
attacks and the alarming increase in drugs and prostitution.
The first task of the new parliament, which meets on 7 June, is to prepare
legislation for the divided island's entry into the European Union.
The growing support for the communists makes AKEL well placed to challenge
President Glafcos Clerides when he comes up for re-election in 2003.
AKEL like most of the Cypriot parties supports joining the EU. Many
Cypriots believe that EU membership will hasten the end of the Turkish
occupation of the north. AKEL calls for a federal solution to the problem
once the Turkish army goes and AKEL leader Demetris Christofias pointedly
referred to the Turkish Cypriots as "compatriots" in his victory address.
This gesture of good-will was not returned by the puppet leader in
northern Cyprus, Rauf Denktash, the veteran Turkish Cypriot politician who
administers northern Cyprus on the back of the guns of the Turkish army,
dismissed the results claiming they showed that "Greek Cypriots have no
intention of finding a solution" Denktash is bitterly opposed to Cyprus's
entry into the EU without a settlement as it would further isolate his
"repubiic of northern Cyprus" which is recognised only by Turkey.
Turkish premier Rulent Ecevit was more circumspect. While not commenting
on the elections directly he said Cyprus' admission to the EU without a
"permanent solution" to the island's division would "create extremely
negative" consequences.
*********************
5) British news item
Sinn Fein "can make history".
by Steve Lawton
"THEY can make history," Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams MP said on the eve
of launching the Party's election manifesto last week, amid confidence that
it will increase public support and consolidate earlier successes.
Contesting local and British Parliamentary seats in the occupied Six
Counties of the north of Ireland for the first time, it has put up
candidates for all 18 constituencies.
Gerry Adams said: "A stronger Sinn Fein mandate in this election will
strengthen the peace process and strengthen our ability in the June
negotiations to secure a decent, civic policing service, real progress on
demilitarisation and progress on implementing the Good Friday Agreement."
The manifesto surveys the path of change that has gripped all of Ireland
and, at a number of stages, the British political scene in recent years.
As the persistent failure to uproot the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)
and advance British military disengagement remains an aggravation to a
durable resolution of conflict, a reelected Labour Government will be found
under the spotlight again.
The manifesto clearly targets this problem, which the Ulster Unionist
Party threatens to deepen, as the priority ahead. But it does not
overshadow the overall leap that has been made by the last six to seven
years of republican and nationalist pressure, at great risk and with loss
of life, to bring British military occupation, unionist domination and
loyalist terror to an end.
Declaring that Sinn Fein has been "in the front line" of demands for
demilitarisation, policing change, fair criminaljustice and human rights,
the manifesto said: "We have honoured every commitment made under the Good
Friday Agreement and we now demand that others do likewise."
The Irish Republican Army's ceasefire, above all, has made this prospect
possible, but its patience is being sorely tested by the antics of unionism
which the British government must reign in.
Sinn Fein, increasingly in tune with grassroots demands and to an extent
across communities, is concerned that the peace process should open the
door to social and economic change benefiting working people as a whole.
The manifesto points out that Catholic males are two times more likely than
Protestant males to be unemployed, while Catholics constitute 70 per cent
of long term unemployed.
The manifesto makes it clear at the outset that as the only all-Ireland
party, the aim is to achieve a united Ireland based on a practical
atmosphere of peace, justice and equality.
To that end, Sinn Fein specifically calls for the right of Six
County-elected MPs to attend proceedings of the Irish Parliament where Sinn
Fein currently has one MP, and for all of Ireland's citizens to have the
right to vote in referendums and presidential elections currently denied to
the north.
Advancing this all-Ireland cooperation strategy, the manifesto said David
Trimble, leader of the UUP and Assembly first minister, must "bring an end
to [his] unlawful actions" -- that is, the blocking of two Sinn Fein
ministers from the cross-border ministerial council.
He has also threated to resign as first minister on 1 July as we go to
press, unless the IRA hand over its weapons. In fact, it has responsibly
engaged the relevant decommissioning body as it itself long ago
acknowledged.
Such provocations during the marching season will have given succour to
loyalist gangs who, yet again, have launched mob assaults, arson attacks
and gun raids on Catholic homes and buildings in republican and nationalist
areas of Belfast in particular.
Residents and activists accuse the RUC of inaction and complicity which is
why Sinn Fein insists the British government must change the policing
legislation.
The manifesto makes four points about policing: "It does not give us
common ownership of policing for all; it does not remove the unionist ethos
and emblems; it does not provide for real democratic accountability; it
does not provide for the mechanisms to identify and expel the torturers and
abusers of human rights." And Sinn Fein demands the shutdown of the Special
Branch.
Sinn Fein local and Parliamentary candidates, election agents and workers
are being targeted by loyalists. Some have been assaulted, and death
threats against leading Sinn Feiners, like their South Antrim candidate
Martin Meehan and his family, have regularly been made. Two of his sons
were recently on the receiving end of loyalist gun attacks in their homes.
Michelle Gildenew, who set up Sinn Fein's London office and is the
candidate in the key Fermanagh/South Tyrone seat, said she will not be
intimidated by the wrecking of their election offices (including the Bobby
Sands memorial) in Enniskillen.
"There are reactionary forces at work here," she told Republican News (24
May), "that are running scared of a Sinn Fein victory, a victory that is
looking more likely with every passing day."
*********************
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