National News
Nice job if you can get it…
by New Worker correspondent
WE CAN ALL rejoice that at least one group of dedicated workers have secured a decent pay rise without going through the drawn-out process of negotiating with their employers and consultative balloting before another vote on strike action. These are the tireless ruling Labour councillors in the London Borough of Camden, who simply voted themselves a large pay rise.
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Immoral earnings
by New Worker correspondent
THE Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is making sterling efforts to put people into work. Until a few days ago it had on its website a list of search terms for people living on Universal Credit. It says: “Other elementary service providers.” This included jobs such as Bingo Attendant, Clapper Boy and Hotel Assistant, for which few academic qualifications were required.
It also suggested however, that benefits claimants could take up fortune telling or become a “striptease artist”.
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Rail News
by New Worker correspondent
ONCE again the RMT rail union seems to be taking the lead with a series of strike action on the railways and in railway workshops.
first its members at Wabtec Faiveley UK’s engineering factory at Doncaster have voted to strike on four separate days in September, which might be followed by an overtime ban.
RMT General Secretary Mick Cash announced on Tuesday that: “RMT members at Wabtec refuse to accept a paltry below RPI pay offer which effectively means a pay cut in real terms. This a fight for basic pay and workplace justice.
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Corbyn backed over Brexit appeal
Sputnik
LABOUR and other opposition parties have issued a joint statement saying that they agreed to prevent a No-deal Brexit following a call by Jeremy Corbyn to discuss options to prevent a no-deal option if the UK leaves the European Union (EU) on 31st October. The talks were hosted by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, with the participation of the Scottish National Party (SNP), the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and the Independent Group for Change (Change UK).
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Save Hong Kong from violence
by Liang Xizhi and Gui Tao
IT WAS raining heavily in London on Sunday 18th August. Yet for thousands of overseas Chinese and Chinese students attending the lunchtime rally to voice out their demand for peace and stability in Hong Kong, such bad weather would never sink their passions.
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An Annual Tradition
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
AT THIS time of year there is a long-standing tradition for aristocrats and well-heeled members of the bourgeoisie to take to the hills and shoot at the grouse that are helpfully driven towards their guns. A more modern ritual for this time of year is the annual exchange of gunfire over the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) statistics.
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On the Buses
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
This week’s Twenty Years Ago reports on firstBus withdrawing from unprofitable routes in the Glasgow area.
Today the very same company is involved in a dispute with its drivers. Unite the union is balloting its driver members next month for industrial action, including strikes, to protect public safety.
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Keeping it in the Family
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
Glasgow SNP Councillor Graham Campbell is one of the more colourful characters in municipal life. He has just been accused of improperly transferring £2,000 from a voluntary group that he ran to his partner, who served as volunteer, without the board’s “clear and unambiguous consent”.
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The Kings’ Town
by Carole Barclay
KINGSTON-upon-Thames is one of those outer London boroughs that seems to reek of Toryland. The malls and markets are a shoppers’ paradise and the riverside oozes of wealth. But first impressions can be misleading.
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A remarkable life
REVIEW
by Ben Soton
Billy Strachan by David Horsley. Caribbean Labour Solidarity, £2. Copies of this booklet are available from David Horsley: ukdavid.d@gmail.com
WHAT IMAGES come to mind on hearing the word anti-imperialism? Maybe Latin American guerrillas, beautiful Palestinian hijackers, an African carrying a rocket launcher, or maybe a fighter in the jungles of South east Asia or the mountains of Nepal.
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International News
Indian parties demand release of Kashmiri leaders
by New Worker correspondent
LEADERS from six of the largest opposition parties in India led a protest in New Delhi last week demanding the release of political leaders being held under detention in Jammu and Kashmir.
India’s two main communist parties, together with the Congress Party and three major regional parties, called for the restoration of normality and the resumption of telecom services in Indian-controlled east Kashmir, and the immediate release of all political leaders who have been detained.
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World outrage as Amazon burns
by Ed Newman
AMIDST growing international outrage over the massive wildfires ravaging the Amazon, the Brazilian military has started fighting the blazes, with military planes dropping thousands of gallons of water onto the rainforest.
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Israeli attacks amount to war
Radio Havana Cuba
LEBANESE President Michel Aoun says Israel’s recent drone strikes in Lebanon amount to “a declaration of war” against the Arab country, vowing that Lebanon will defend its sovereignty against the Israeli aggression.
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Time up for G7?
by Tian Dongdong, Ying Qiang and Chen Chen
AS FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron hosts his Group of Seven (G7) counterparts in France’s luxurious seaside resort Biarritz to discuss rising global inequality, he may find his high expectations cannot be met as the group’s unity, pride and influence are going downhill.
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Why racism breeds resistance
by Richard Kossaly
DONALD TRUMP has been at it hard this last week or so. He has always been a horrible human being. He has been especially so for the entirety of his candidacy for and tenure as the president of the USA.
We have become so familiar with and expect his offensive behaviour that sometimes it passes with barely a comment, or just becomes the butt of jokes on social media and content in internet memes — most of which is not helpful at all because a lot of this stuff concentrates on his appearance. There is, however, real pain, suffering and death caused by his words and policies.
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Features
Labour Party conference
Pro-Palestine reporter’s Press Pass revoked
Last week the Labour Party revoked Asa Winstanley’s press pass to report on the forthcoming party conference without supplying a reason. The journalist told Radio Sputnik he thinks it’s “part of a long-running witch hunt” against figures on the left who support Palestinian rights.
ASA WINSTANLEY, an investigative journalist and associate editor with the Electronic Intifada said he was all set to cover the Labour Party’s annual conference, which is being held in Brighton from 21—25 September. Then, just days after a report critical of his outlet’s anti-Zionist reporting was published by a major pro-Israeli lobbying group, his pass was mysteriously revoked.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Israel’s ban on Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar backfires
by Marjorie Cohn
DURING the US Congress’s August recess, a group of 41 Democratic and 31 Republican Congress members travelled to Israel on a delegation sponsored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). AIPAC subsidises Congressional trips to Israel in order to further the “special relationship” between Israel and the USA.
Israel is the largest recipient of US military aid: $3.8 billion annually. AIPAC is the chief Israel lobby in the USA and a consistent apologist for Israel’s oppressive policies towards the Palestinians.
Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, had planned their own “Delegation to Palestine”, scheduled to begin on 17th August. Tlaib, who was born in America, planned to travel to the West Bank to visit her 90-year-old Palestinian grandmother, whom she hasn’t seen for a decade. Aided and abetted by Donald Trump, Israel withdrew permission for the trip unless Tlaib agreed to remain silent about Israel’s mistreatment of the Palestinians. She refused to abide by the gag order and the trip was cancelled.
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