THE NEW WORKER

The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 15th February 2019

Lead story

The struggle for Libya

by our Arab Affairs correspondent

NINE YEARS after the NATO toppling of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi Libya remains in ruins as rival militias battle it out for control of the country. The authority of the United Nations-backed interim ‘Government of National Accord’ that is supported by Anglo-American and Franco-German imperialism barely stretches beyond the capital, Tripoli. A rival government based in the eastern coastal city of Tobruk is dominated by General Khalifa Haftar, the head of the Libyan National Army. Meanwhile rival sectarian Islamic militias backed by the Saudis and the other feudal Arab leaders battle it out across the country for the favours of the big oil corporations that plunder Libya’s oil.

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Preparing the movement for future struggles

by New Worker correspondent

MEMBERS and delegates from affiliated organisations, including the New Communist Party (NCP), attended the annual conference of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) in London last Saturday.

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Farewell to Paul Barrett

by New Worker correspondent

COMRADES joined relatives and friends at the Thornhill Cemetery in Cardiff last week to pay their last respects to Paul Barrett.

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Editorial

Freedom for Catalonia

IN OCTOBER 2017 the leaders of the autonomous region of Catalonia made a bid for independence following a regional referendum that overwhelmingly voted for independence from Spain. The Spanish government’s response was to declare the vote illegal, dismiss the Catalan government and dissolve its parliament.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont fled to Belgium to avoid arrest. Twelve other Catalan leaders were detained on trumped-up charges of rebellion and embezzlement of public funds. Their trial, for their alleged roles in the events leading to the Catalonian declaration of independence, began in the Spanish Supreme Court in Madrid this week. If found guilty the prisoners could face up to 25 years in jail.

Their defence team rightly says that the trial is about “the right to self-determination and the democratic principle”. But their claim that “there is no international or European Union [EU] law that prevents the secession of a sub-state entity, it does not exist” is unlikely to be accepted by the court which, almost certainly, will uphold the pretensions of the central Spanish state.

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