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The government is trying to push a proposal through Parliament to
increase the length of time a suspect can be detained without charge to 42
days. What argument does the government use as excuse for eliminating rights
and liberties we have defended for hundreds of years? Not much. The authorities
present the ‘war against terror’ as one that demands secrecy on their part.
They hint darkly that lives are at risk if they tell us what they know, but
that the situation is grim. Trust us!
Listen to Alan Woods speak at a recent meeting of the Socialist Appeal. "...what capitalism shows us is the enormous potential that exists in our hands. In the first decade of the 21st century you can say for the first time in history all the fundamental problems that we face can be solved now, today. For example for the first time in history it is possible to say their is no need for anyone to starve in this world. There is plenty of possibility to produce food for everybody. As a matter of fact if you check the records for the last 30 or 40 years in Europe and the United States they have been destroying food in huge quantities in order to keep the prices artificially high for the capitalist farmers."
PCS union reps in the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(Efra) Group are currently gearing up for an industrial action ballot in the
Rural Payments Agency (RPA), the civil service body that is responsible for
making subsidy payments to farmers. The RPA is based at several large offices
in Exeter, Reading, Northallerton, Newcastle, Workington and Carlisle.
Members are angry that they are having a flawed reporting system
imposed on them without agreement of their union.
In 
This
Friday, the national UNISON Industrial Action Committee meets to discuss their
response to the 55% vote in favour of strike action in local government over
pay. The vote is a clear rejection of Gordon Brown’s pay restraint and reflects
the impact that the economic crisis is having on thousands of UNISON members.
Yet the outcome of this ballot wasn’t a racing certainty by any means. In fact
the initial position of the Local Government Service Group Executive was
particularly muted.
The death of Manuel Marulanda, the legendary leader of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), reopens a debate over the perspectives
for the FARC and for the class struggle in Colombia.
AROUND 700 RMT Tube cleaners working
for four private contractors are to stage a series of strikes after voting by a
landslide 125-to-one margin for action to win the London living wage and decent
working conditions. Cleaners working for ISS, ITS, ICS
and GBM will not book on for shifts that commence during the 24 hours between
18:50 next Thursday, June 26 and 18:49 on Friday June 27.
British capitalism is in big
trouble. The official annual inflation
rate has hit 3.3%, its highest level for 16 years. The governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn
King, has been forced to send a letter to the Chancellor of Exchequer, Alastair
Darling, to explain why the Bank has been unable to keep inflation from rising
at more than 2%, which is the target set by the government for the Bank.
Ireland, after a long period of economic boom, is
now feeling the effects of the worldwide slowdown. Some have made big money,
but at the other end of the social spectrum there are many who have lost out.
Now is the time to raise the banner of genuine socialism within the Republican
movement and the working class as a whole.
The following is an audio recording of Alan Woods on World Perspectives which was recorded in April of this year at the National Conference of Socialist Appeal. We have clearly entered a new stage of the world crisis of capitalism, which is characterised by colossal volatility at every level. Perspectives are a guide to action, and therefore this particular contribution is very important in orientating Marxists to the likely developments which can unfold on a world stage.
The British bourgeoisie and its apologists
have always tried to bury their revolutionary past. They continually promote
the false idea that “gradualism” has always been the true British tradition.
Revolutions were always affairs of the continent, but have no relevance here. Next
year, on the 450th anniversary of the death of the great
revolutionary Oliver Cromwell, will be no exception.
