National News
LRC: resistance is our role
by New Worker correspondent
BANKERS are taking over the political protest and our role is to resist this Labour MP John McDonald told the annual conference of the Labour Representation Committee, which packed out the main hall at the University of London Union last Saturday.
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Don’t put the clock back
by New Worker correspondent
AROUND a thousand angry women, along with friends and supporters, last Saturday marched from Temple to Whitehall to demand that the Con-Dem Coalition stop making cuts that take away women’s chances of an equal life.
The march, organised by the Fawcett Society, was a protest at the way the cuts are turning back the clock on women’s rights and freedoms. Many marchers wore 1950s style clothing — from French Haute Couture to overalls, pinnies, hairnets and head scarves with rubber gloves, to make the point that this was an age they did not want to go back to.
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Cuts hit care for elderly
AROUND half a million elderly people need regular care in their own homes and this is paid for and organised by local councils.
But cuts to council budgets mean the levels of care are deteriorating rapidly.
A report presented last Tuesday by Channel Four News showed the system struggling to cope.
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Balfour Beatty to cuts 1,300 skilled sparks
THE GIANT union Unite last week announced that it had learnt that Balfour Beatty Engineering Services intend to cut up to 1,300 directly employed skilled electricians by semi-skilled agency labour in its move to de-skill the industry and sack workers who do not sign up to inferior contracts.
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Iraqi torture victims win inquiry on British soldiers
MORE THAN 100 Iraqi civilians last week won a battle in the Court of Appeal for a new public inquiry into their claims of torture by British soldiers.
The High Court had previously backed Government claims that an inquiry into whether abuse was systematic was not needed as a team had already been set up to look into the allegations.
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Bosses’ pay ‘corrosive’
by New Worker correspondent
FRIENDS of the Korean people from home and abroad gathered last Saturday for an international meeting of the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) in central London. Leading activists in the Korean solidarity movement including KFA President Alejandro Cao de Benos, Dermot Hudson from the UK KFA and others from Europe and Africa took part in the conference. But others from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand and Russia were prevented by the Foreign Office from entering the country.
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International News
What can we expect from the Spanish election?
by Eduardo José González
NOT SURPRISINGLY the right-wing Popular Party of Spain won the general elections on Sunday. It was a victory that was achieved without a strong manifesto or a good electoral strategy.
The key to success was the protest vote against the current government of the social-democratic Socialist Workers Party. But also, and perhaps the main reason, was because society had few political options on the agenda given that no serious or progressive proposals have emerged so far to deal with the economic crisis.
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Arab football fans honour Gaddafi
Mathaba
DURING a friendly football match between Algeria and Tunisia on 13th November in the Mustapha Tchaker stadium in Blida, Algeria, fans held up a huge photo of Muammar Gaddafi in support of the Libyan Green Resistance, which is fighting against the Nato Al-Qaeda terrorists in their country.
The Algerian fans and Free Libya supporters waved banners with the famous slogan “Zenga Zenga”, used by Gaddafi during his speech on 22nd February, when he addressed the Libyan people and predicted how the Nato-rebels in Libya will be defeated: alley by alley; house by house; inch by inch.
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Putin upsets Condoleezza Rice
by Anton Kulikov
THE SECURITY advisor and the Secretary of State in the administration of the most unpopular president in US history believes that Vladimir Putin’s intention to run for presidency will lead to massive unrest in Russia.
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Chavez calls for Venezuelan student unity
by Xelcis Presno
VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez has called for the unity and continuity of the country’s student movement, which staged a march that marked the end of the Bicentennial Congress on Tuesday.
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Veteran Vietnamese composer honoured
VNS
BAI CA Hy Vong [Song of Hope], a song by veteran composer Van Ky, was the highlight of a music show, broadcast on VTV this month reviewing the composer’s long career. The programme also honoured other well-known and developing composers who are drawing the music map in Vietnam.
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Much ado about Manchu
Shanghai Daily
SHI JUNGUAN has no teaching diploma, but the former rice farmer got a language-teaching job with a verbal reference from his grandmother about his command of Manchu — the language once used in imperial documents but now on the verge of extinction.
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Features
Basque Country: ETA ends armed struggle
by Gerry Adams TD
President of Sinn Féin
THE DECISIVE and positive terms of ETA’s response on 20th October to the “Declaration” in Donostia-San Sebastian by the International Conference Group in October is to be welcomed, as is the response of the Spanish Government and others. It has taken many years of patient work to get to this point and every effort must be made to build momentum into the process.
I first became involved in the efforts to build a peace process in the Basque Country at the time of our own peace agreement in 1998. An Irish priest, Fr Alex Reid, who I have known for almost 40 years, had played a key role in creating the Irish Peace Process and he was asked by a priest in that region to bring his expertise to bear.
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Suspicious deals and square meals
by Rob Gowland
WHEN the Labour Party (Australia) was in office in New South Wales (NSW), Liberal leader Barry O’Farrell was a relentless denouncer of the chicanery and corruption that was such a trademark of the Labour Right. He presented himself as an honest man combating sharks and shysters.
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Palme Dutt remembered in Cambridge
by Harsev Bains
WHILE paying glowing tributes to Rajani Palme Dutt, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Politburo member and Indian MP, Sitaram Yechury, noted that the CPI(M) is doing its utmost to uphold Dutt’s traditions and legacy.
He highlighted the momentous contribution of “RPD”, as he was affectionately known, as the general secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) from 1939-41 and to the international movement through his close guidance to the Communist Party of India as a representative of the Comintern. Yechury asserted that the CPI(M) is proud of having been associated with RPD.
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