National News
Shining Path to Victory
by New Worker correspondent
Lighthouse keepers are more famous for going mad in horror fiction than for participating in the class struggle, but a struggle which has been brewing since March at the Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) has resulted in a substantial victory for its workers. While there are no longer any constantly manned lighthouses the NLB still employs Able Seamen, base assistants, cooks and technicians to maintain its 208 lighthouses and beacons around Scotland and the Isle of Man. Even in these days of satellite navigation it remains a vital service, especially for smaller ships and amateurs who take to the sea thinking a mobile phone is all they need
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On the Rails and Buses
by New Worker correspondent
There is mixed news from the railways, Firstly, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) ended their long running (18 months) industrial action and accepted a pay deal from 14 train firms, including a backdated five per cent pay rise for 2022–23 along with much needed job security guarantees. This will ensure no industrial action until the spring – but talks regarding pay for the current financial year are continuing.
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Hospital workers stand for Gaza!
by New Worker correspondent
NHS workers held a moment of silence in memory of their colleagues killed during the brutal Israeli onslaught against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip at a solidarity picket outside St Thomas’ Hospital in central London on Tuesday. Hospital staff and Palestinian solidarity activists called for an urgent and permanent cease-fire to end the slaughter of defenceless civilians that has already claimed the lives of over 11,000 Palestinian Arabs during the Israeli invasion.
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At the chalk front
by New Worker correspondent
Even readers who have nightmares about school dinners in their younger days should raise a cheer to celebrate the victory by Unison over the catering company Dolce, who have been forced to pay workers on the north west of England thousands of unpaid wages after cutting their hours
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Stop the Slaughter in Gaza!
by New Worker correspondent
The first Saturday of December saw the latest round of pro-Palestine solidarity events calling for a ceasefire, with unions joining the protests for the first time. Local protests were held all around the country and all over London. London comrades joined demonstrators at two of them.
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Defending the Korean people!
by New Worker correspondent
British Korean solidarity activists pledged to redouble their efforts to defend Democratic Korea at an international solidarity meeting in Spain last month
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Scottish Political News
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
It has generally been a quiet period in Scottish politics. The Health Minister is keeping a low profile in the hope he can cling on to his job. A predictably bad set of education statistics competed with the news that another leading SNP figure has announced he is giving up as the highlight of the week. Michael Russell, the former MSP and Minister, announced he was stepping down as party president despite being re-elected as recently as October. He hopes to get on the quango gravy train and become Chairman of the Scottish Land Commission, a post which requires the approval of Holyrood where the SNP is in a minority
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International News
A Caravan of Losers in Washington
by Ilya Tsukanov, Sputnik
Liz Truss, the former prime minister who spent 50 days in office before being forced to resign in October 2022, arrived in Washington last week with Tory colleagues to try to convince the Republican Party’s MAGA wing to reverse its stance on Ukraine funding. But given her sorry record at home, the ex-PM’s chances are anyone’s guess, a leading UK politics expert says.
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COP28: A new attempt to stop the climate crisis
by María Josefina Arce, Radio Havana Cuba
The 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Con- vention on Climate Change (COP28), a new attempt to curb the climate crisis that the planet is experiencing, has opened its doors in Dubai, the biggest city in the United Arab Emirates.
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Who Will Pay for Zelensky’s Wall?
by Ekaterina Blinova , Sputnik
President Vladimir Zelensky says that Ukraine has now entered a new phase of the conflict. He wants to build defensive structures from the Donbas to the Black Sea. But will it succeed?
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Will Israel be excluded from the Olympics?
by Oscar Sánchez Serra, Granma
If the world were to adhere to the ideals of the Olympic spirit: culture, friendship and peaceful competition – it would have to be crowned with a laurel wreath, like the victors of the sporting events in ancient Greece. The planet in which we live, however, increasingly convulsed by petty aspirations and the unquenchable thirst for power, has overturned that pure message.
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Features
The World Does Not Want War
by Vijay Prashad, People’s Democracy (India)
Both the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have accelerated a new mood amongst people around the world against conflict and for peace. This mood had been growing be- fore 2022, when Russian troops entered Ukrainian territory, but has only in- creased since then. Faith in the West’s role in the management of world affairs declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, when certain older trends continued to the horror of large sections of the world. The
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Clinging to the colonial past
by Mark Blacklock, Global Times
It is possible to present an argument in favour of a museum’s relics being retained and displayed and not returning them to their land of origin. It doesn’t hold up, however, when you hear the other side. One argument in favour of repatriation that overwhelmingly tips the rhetorical balance is quite simple: The objects do not belong to them
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Lenin Was Right: The Ukrainian war proves that
This is the contribution from Konrad Rękas, a Polish journalist and political commentator to the International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity successful ‘hybrid’ meeting in central London earlier in November.
In 1913, the world was convinced that the threat of war was completely impossible, which was related with the progress of civilisation, the development of science, and especially the international system based on the so-called concert of powers, international conferences during which colonial empires shared global spheres of influence. In reality, however, under the skin of this alleged belle epoque there were insurmountable contradictions and class conflicts, and enlightened minds already saw the spectre of a crisis that would surpass all previous problems of capitalism.
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