National News
Human rights crisis
by New Worker correspondent
ONE of the CIA’s main British subsidiaries, Amnesty International, has come under fire for its employment practices that led to the suicides of two members of staff last year.
A recent report by the KonTerra Group found that: “39 per cent of Amnesty International staff reported that they developed mental or physical health issues as the direct result of working at Amnesty,” adding that: “Organisational culture and management failures are the root cause of most staff wellbeing issues.”
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Secret disinformation unit wanted millions in government funding
Sputnik
THE ANONYMOUS hacktivist group suggests that the Institute for Statecraft think-tank, which set up the Integrity Initiative project to wage an information war against Russia, wanted to secure £5.5 million in funding from the government.
Anonymous has released files that, according to the group, are linked to the activities of the government-funded Integrity Initiative, which also receives funding from other sources. According to the files, the project is setting up a network of offices in former Soviet republics and European states.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
A ‘heartfelt’ moment
by New Worker correspondent
THIS WEEK is ‘HeartUnions’ week, an annual TUC-sponsored initiative to promote the idea that trade unions are a good thing in much the same way as Sunday sermons deplore sin and advocate goodness. Thus the TUC say it is “fighting to stamp out exploitative working practices such as zero-hours contracts and working with politicians who will restore and protect trade union rights”.
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Ferry much less pay
by New Worker correspondent
WORKERS on the Woolwich Ferry, which carries an estimated 2.6 million passengers cross the Thames in east London, are holding a strike ballot in a dispute over pay, health and safety, and lack of staffing.
Briggs Marine Contractors Ltd, who run the ferry on behalf of Transport for London, is refusing to grant a six per cent pay rise, has imposed mew duties and has refused to provide an adequate number of staff to operate the service.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Ambulance workers
by New Worker correspondent
AMBULANCE workers in Scotland have forced their bosses to climb down and withdraw planned “reforms” that would have resulted in cuts to terms and conditions of Scottish Ambulance Service and NHS staff when they voted 98.8 per cent against the move.
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Low Pay
by New Worker correspondent
SHOPWORKERS union USDAW has launched a petition calling for a minimum wage of £10 per hour, employment contracts to reflect an individual’s normal hours of work, workers to be offered at least 16 hours work per week and a ban on zero-hours contracts.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Chelsea Manning steals the show
Sputnik
FAMED whistleblower and 2018 US Senate candidate Chelsea Manning will be the cover star of the 2019 spring issue of Dazed, the bi-monthly British style magazine founded in 1991, which will be dedicated to “talking about the global creativity and power” of the LGBT community.
Born Bradley Edward Manning the former US intelligence officer claimed a female gender identity in 2013 while doing time in an American prison for disclosing a trove of sensitive documents to WikiLeaks.According to the media outlet
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It wisnae me
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
IT IS customary for the Scottish National Party (SNP) to blame “Westmonster” for any shortcomings over matters that they have been controlling for more than a decade. Last week they found an unusual alibi for excuse when one of their new policies came under fire: their long-standing Green allies.
The issue was the Workplace Parking Levy. Announced in the Budget, this measure was to allow councils to impose a tax on car parks at work to discourage car use. This would be paid to councils by employers, who would have the choice over whether or not to pass the charge on to workers (to be effective it would clearly have to hit the motorist in the pocket).
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Keeping it in the Family
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
A Holyrood Committee has been established to investigate the SNP government’s handling of complaints against former first Minister Alex Salmond. It was approved 92—19. The dissenting votes were from Labour, whose reservations were reflected in the remarks of Labour MSP Neil findlay who said during the debate: “This is a big test for us all. It is vital that any committee is not compromised before its work begins and that there’s no perception of inbuilt bias.”
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Across the Pond
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
The first Minister has been on her travels once more pretending to be a world statesperson. She has been “promoting Scotland in North America”. Which is helpful to any American or Canadian who was unaware of the existence of the Scots. Canada has had several prime ministers with surnames beginning with ‘Mac’ and further south the former British colony has a president with a Scottish mother.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Give Venezuela back its gold!
by New Worker correspondent
DEMONSTRATORS picketed the Bank of England last week to demand the release of 31 tonnes of Venezuelan gold reserves that the bank is holding. Many believe that Britain’s supposedly independent central bank will eventually hand the gold over to the emissaries of Juan Guaidó, the self-proclaimed “interim president’ of Venezuela and a pawn of US imperialism.
[Read the complete story at Give Venezuela back its gold!]
Year of the Pig in London
Xinhua
LONDON hosted one of the largest Chinese New Year celebrations outside Asia on Sunday, drawing tens of thousands of visitors to the heart of the capital to share the joy.
The celebration began with a grand parade featuring 30 teams, including a Chinese Dragon and Lion team, an iconic London double-decker bus and a variety of floats, streaming through the streets from Trafalgar Square via the West End before reaching its final destination, Chinatown.
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Identity Politics?
Reviewed by Ben Soton
England’s Discontents — Political Cultures and National Identities by Mike Wayne (2018). Pluto: London; 288 pp, paperback, £19.99. ISBN: 9780745399331
IN THIS BOOK Mike Wayne discusses the ideologies that have shaped British political culture and national identity over the last two hundred years. According to the author the dominant elements of British political culture are conservatism and liberalism, in particular economic liberalism with the left-wing ideologies of social-democracy and socialism existing on the fringes.
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A rousing performance
Reviewed by Mark Campey
Rouse ye women!, a play by John Kirkpatrick and Neil Gore.
A PLAY by Townsend Productions is just starting out on a national tour and tells the true story of the women chain makers of Cradley Heath, Birmingham, who went on strike in 1910 in a fight to end low pay and establish a minimum wage. They were victorious after a long struggle against the chain manufacturers who sub-contracted work out to agents known as ‘foggers’.
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International News
Is Trump looking for a war in Latin America?
by Jorge Ruiz Miyares
THE PRESIDENT of the USA, Donald Trump, has reaffirmed that he will withdraw US troops from Syria and Afghanistan but not from Iraq, and reinforced his insinuations that a military attack on Venezuela is still on the table, with a view to overthrowing the president of that South American country, Nicolas Maduro.
To be sure, the withdrawal of US troops from Syria implies the recognition of the defeat of the plot that began back in 2011 to depose the legitimate President of that Arab nation, Bashar Al Assad, and “defeat” is not a very pleasant word in the White House halls.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Kim—Trump summit success depends on stronger trust
by Zhu Dongyang
US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a second meeting with top leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Kim Jong Un, renewed hopes amongst those who have good intentions for the future of the Korean Peninsula.
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Ukraine’s ‘no choice’ elections
Statement from the Ukrainian Borotba resistance movement
SINCE the coup d’État and beginning of the civil war, a complicated political situation has developed in Ukraine. Today, there is not a single presidential candidate who advocates for an alternative point of view on the future socio-political and economic development of Ukraine, nor for the peaceful resolution of internal and external conflicts, whilst respecting the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens.
[Read the complete story at Ukraine’s ‘no choice’ elections]
Features
Twenty years on: The ‘Peace Conference’ that led to NATO war on Serbia
Sputnik
ACCORDING TO the official version, the 1999 Peace Conference in Rambouillet was the last chance for a peaceful resolution to the escalating Kosovo crisis. Eyewitnesses to the events and Serbian experts however, argue that Western sponsors of Kosovo’s independence project never intended to use this opportunity. They had completely different plans.
Twenty years ago, on 6th February 1999, negotiations on the settlement of the Kosovo conflict began in Château de Rambouillet, near Paris, under the auspices of the international community, during which the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and Kosovo Albanians were to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Fascism will fall in Ukraine
by Theo Russell
fiVE YEARS after a coup planned and executed by the USA at a cost of $5 billion with enthusiastic support from European Union (EU) leaders, the illegitimate president Petro Poroshenko’s fascist-infested regime is in deep crisis and has nowhere to turn.
He is so unpopular that many expect him to lose elections in June; Ukraine’s economy is a basket case and worse off than any other ex-Soviet republic. He is powerless to end the war in the Donbas without permission from his masters in Washington.
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