National News

Massive support for Jobcentre strike

THE CIVIL service union last Monday reported that the nationwide strike of members working for the Department of Work and Pensions had massive support, with almost all its members refusing to go into work and some new members signing up to join the union.

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Justice for Smiley Culture!

by New Worker correspondent

AROUND 1,000 relatives, friends and supporters gathered in south London last Saturday to march to Scotland Yard to demand justice following the unexplained death of rapper and DJ Smiley Culture during a police raid on his home last month.

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Hope not Hate sets BNP wipe-out goal

NICK Lowles, editor of the Searchlight anti-fascist publication last week announced that the aim of the Hope not Hate campaign against the British National Party was a complete wipe-out of BNP councillors throughout the country in the May local elections.

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Keep off the grass

PEACE campaigner Brian Haw, who has camped opposite the House of Commons for over a decade now to protest at imperialist aggression in the Middle East, last week failed in his appeal against his removal from Parliament Square Gardens.

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Anger as Con-Dems label green laws as red tape

THE CON-DEM Coalition has enraged environmentalists after describing 278 laws designed to protect the environment and reduce carbon emissions as “red tape” and likely to be abolished.

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The battle for Scotland

from our Scottish political correspondent

HIGH powered Gladstonian oratory and dazzling high minded debates have been in short supply in the present election for the Scottish Parliament which takes place on 5th May. Established in the wake of Labour’s 1997 election victory the first two Scottish Parliament elections in 1999 and 2003 saw Labour enter coalitions with the Liberal Democrats.

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Oil motive in invasion confirmed

GOVERNMENT ministers were engaged in secret discussions with the world’s largest oil companies considering plans to exploit Iraq’s oil reserves during the year before the US-British illegal invasion of Iraq, according to secret memos that came to light last week.

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Hands off Libya

by New Worker correspondent

AROUND 200 people, including members of the Libyan community, took part in Stop the War Coalition’s third London protest outside Ten Downing Street, against Nato’s intervention in Libya.

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Yuri Gagarin’s achievement remembered

by New Worker correspondent

DOZENS of people from left-wing progressive groups, the world of art and literature and the London Russian community last Thursday gathered at the headquarters of the Society for Cooperation in Russian and Soviet Studies (SCRSS) last Thursday to mark the opening of a photographic exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic flight into space, on 12th April 1961.

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Solidarity with the Venezuelan revolution

by New Worker correspondent

SUPPORTERS of the Venezuelan revolution packed London’s Conway Hall last Saturday for a conference by the Venezuela Solidarity Committee.

Issued discussed included how the country is developing public services and social inclusion, the 2012 general election in Venezuela and how to combat the demonisation of the country by the western imperialist media.

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International News

Greek communists

THOUSANDS of workers and young people took to the streets of Athens on Monday to protest against the budget cuts imposed by the social-democratic government and take part in massive communist rally outside the Greek parliament in Constitution Square.

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Killing of Italian activist challenges Hamas

by Fares Akram in Gaza

THE KIDNAPPING and killing of a pro-Palestinian Italian activist in the Gaza Strip last week sheds light on the challenges faced by Hamas in dealing with the radical groups in the enclave.

Vittorio Arrigoni, 36, was found dead in a house a few hours after Al-Tawheed wal Jihad [monotheism and holy war], a radical Al Qaida-inspired group, said in a video that it has abducted the activist.

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Cuban Communists chart the way forward

Radio Havana Cuba

THE COMMUNIST Party of Cuba tackled important issues related to the Cuban people and the economic and political development of the country during its Sixth Congress held this week in Havana.

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Historic opportunity for communists

by New Worker correspondent

COMMUNIST and workers’ parties from all over Europe met in Brussels on 11th and 12th April to exchange views on the response of the movement to social and political processes across the continent.

Representatives of 38 parties from 31 countries, including the New Communist Party of Britain, took part in the conference held in the European Parliament in the Belgian capital. Mirta Castro, head of the Cuban delegation to the European Parliament, ambassador to Belgium and Luxemburg and representative of the Communist Party of Cuba, was also present at the meeting.

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Features

Africa under imperialist siege

by Abayomi Azikiwe Editor, Pan-African News Wire

UNITED States, United Nations and Nato military forces have intensified the implementation of policies aimed at total economic domination and regime change for states that resist interference in their internal affairs. As Africa becomes more of a major source for exploiting oil, strategic minerals and agricultural commodities, the continent will be under increasing pressure from western capitalist countries.

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Message from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi

Pravda.Ru

“In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful...

FOR FORTY years, or was it longer, I can’t remember, I did all I could to give people houses, hospitals, schools, and when they were hungry, I gave them food. I even made Benghazi into farmland from the desert, I stood up to attacks from that cowboy Reagan, when he killed my adopted orphaned daughter. He was trying to kill me. Instead he killed that poor innocent child.

Then I helped my brothers and sisters from Africa with money for the African Union.

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World communist movement

Joint statement of the European Communist and Workers Parties meeting in Brussels.

THE COMMUNIST and workers parties that participated in the European Communist Meeting in Brussels on 11th and 12th April, exchanged their views on the ongoing deep crisis of the capitalist system and denounced the imperialist aggression against Libya.