National News
Blunkett incites anti-Roma fears
FORMER Labour Home Secretary David Blunkett last week caused a stir in the media and sharply divided the community in Sheffield by warning that the arrival of Roma immigrants could trigger riots.
And he called on the Roma community to adapt themselves to the British way of life and no to behave in a provocative or intimidating way.
Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence party welcomed Blunkett’s remarks and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, was quick to jump on the bandwagon and criticise the immigrants for behaving in a “sometimes intimidating, sometimes offensive” way. He added that they should act in a more British fashion.
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Thousands may lose homes after benefits sanctions
THE HOMELESSNESS Charity Crisis last week issued a stark warning that nearly half a million people whose benefits have been stopped or “sanctioned” since October last year have been left at risk of severe hardship and risk of homelessness — often through no fault of their own.
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Resisting the enemies of democracy
by New Worker correspondent
ANTI-FASCIST and anti-racist activists and academics gathered last Saturday at the Bishopsgate Institute in London’s East End to debate the rising threat of extreme rightwing ideas throughout Europe and the western world and how to confront it.
The conference was called by the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, which it marking its 50th year. Searchlight editor Gerry Gable told the New Worker that “many people when looking at the far right do not see beyond the British National Party and the English Defence League”.
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Misleading reports
THE EUROPEAN Court of Human Rights last week moved to correct “seriously misleading” information which had appeared in the British media.
One such article appeared in the Daily Mail newspaper on 7th October, entitled “Human right to make a killing: Damning dossier reveals taxpayers’ bill for European court pay-outs to murderers, terrorists and traitors.”
It claimed that Strasbourg judges “handed the criminals taxpayer-funded pay-outs of £4.4million — an average of £22,000 a head.”
But the court says that is simply wrong. A statement from the Registrar of the Court said: “Several British newspapers have this week published articles based on a table produced in Westminster in response to a written parliamentary question.
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Police officers suspended over death
FIVE BEDFORDSHIRE police officers and two members of staff under investigation have been suspended over the death custody of Leon Briggs on 4th November after being held at a Luton police station under section 136 of the Mental Health Act.
The suspensions were announced just hours before angry residents spoke of their concern over the death at a public meeting held at the UK Centre for Carnival Arts last week.
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Cameron wants lessons in capitalism
THE PRIME Minister last week said he wanted a “fundamental change” in attitudes to money making and called for a culture “that values that typically British, entrepreneurial, buccaneering spirit” in a speech at the Lord Mayor’s banquet in the City.
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Ethiopian protest at Saudi embassy
OVER 1,000 Ethiopians living in Britain last Monday evening staged an angry protest outside the embassy of Saudi Arabia in London to express their outrage at more than five deaths and reported brutality against migrants in Saudi’s visa crackdown.
The protest came after the start of a crackdown on illegal workers in Saudi, which has seen five people killed amid allegations of brutality by authorities.
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Exeter Together marches against EDL
AROUND a thousand anti-fascists, organised by Exeter Together, came out on to the streets of Exeter last Saturday to protest at a march planned by the Islamophobic English Defence League.
The Exeter Together march was led by city council leader councillor Pete Edwards and a number of young people.
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Statement from the Durham Miners’ Association
LEADING members of the Durham Miners’ Association (DMA) have received threatening telephone calls from supporters of the English Defence League.
These threats followed a march through Shotton Colliery of 200 supporters of the EDL, mostly from outside the area, on 9th November 2013. Many who made up this tribe of fascists and racists had travelled from as far as Edinburgh and Sheffield. Only a handful were from the Shotton area and what seems to have incensed them was the flying of the DMA Blackhall Lodge banner at a counter-demonstration.
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International News
Greeks march to mark 1973 uprising
KKE
MASS DEMONSTRATIONS took place in Athens and in many other Greek cities on 17th November to honour the 40th anniversary of the uprising of the students and the working people of Athens against the military junta in November 1973.
A huge march was held in Athens which started from the building of the Polytechnic University, passed through the central streets of Athens and ended at the US embassy.
The communist contingents of Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and its youth wing, which has carried out 95 years of ceaseless struggle for the cause of the working class, were militant and mass.
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Qatar World Cup: Over how many dead bodies?
by Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
QATAR, one of the richest countries in the world just because it sits on massive resources of hydro-carbons, and the pariah of the international community with its alleged funding and aiding of terrorist groups in Chechnya, Libya and Syria, has been accused in a recent report of abusing migrant workers and having a deplorable safety record. Is this what FIFA stands for?
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Ireland: war over ‘Black and Tans memorial’ at Kilmichael
by Mark Maloney
ON 24th NOVEMBER 1920, a unit of IRA Volunteers under the command of Tom Barry wiped out a squad of Auxiliaries in an ambush at Kilmichael. It was one of the most decisive operations of the Tan War and shattered the morale of the Black and Tans in Munster.
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DPRK: Six decades of dramatic arts
by Om Hyang Sim
THE PYONGYANG University of Dramatic and Cinematic Arts recently celebrated its 60th anniversary at the National Theatre.
Graduates of the university and popular artists got together for celebratory events and recalled the proud history of the university.
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Jackie Chan gets his own statue
by Fei Lai
INTERNATIONALLY acclaimed Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan unveiled his own statue “Battle of Harmony” in Shanghai last week, right in front of the JC Film Gallery set to open in Putuo District next April.
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Tribute to the Danzón
by Wilfredo Alayón
The 2013 Cubadanzón Festival, set for 21st to 24th November in Matanzas, will focus on bringing back the danzón, a musical genre that is part of the Cuban cultural identity, said María Victoria Oliver, a member of the organising committee.
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Features
The story of a Soviet hero still to be written
by Andrei Mikhailov
THIS STORY took place 40 years ago, in the beginning of November 1973. Four students at an automotive technical school, dreaming of a beautiful life in the United States, wielding hunting rifles and knives, attempted to hijack a Yak-40 passenger plane. The hijacking was averted, and an ordinary police lieutenant, Alexander Popryadukhin, became a Hero of the Soviet Union.
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Two opposing views on climate change
by Deirdre Griswold
HAIYAN, a disastrous Class Five super-typhoon, just roared across the Philippines with winds believed to have set new records for this type of storm. It was so destructive that, as of this writing, authorities there have not been able to provide even an estimate of the carnage.
While scientists cannot say that this particular storm was caused by global warming, they can assert with confidence that warming temperatures, especially of sea water, set the stage for storms of greater intensity and frequency.
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