The Socialist Sept 2017

PAPER OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY

FORmERLY

Workers Need a Pay-Rise

ISSUE 104

INSIDE

Britain: The battle for Labour’s future

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The ‘Alt-Right’ shows its true face in US

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l Break the public sector pay-cap! l Fight for £10 minimum wage NOW!

By Pat Lawlor, Vice-Chair NIPSA Belfast Health branch (personal capacity)

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ike most working class people, our family has been hit hard by the austerity agenda imposed over the last ten years by Westminster and stormont to bail out the bankers and super-rich after the economic crisis they created.

As NHS workers, my wife and I have been forced to accept a 1% pay-cap but the cost of living continues to soar.

We have made real sacrifices to make ends meet while doing all we can to financially support our two daughters at university. We scrimp and save, looking for bargains everywhere, from food to clothes and other basic necessities. Like many others, we have not had a real family holiday in years.

Our story is that of almost every public sector worker across Britain and Northern Ireland, who have lost real earnings of £3,000-£5,000 over the last seven years due to the paycap. As we furiously struggle to not drown in bills, the super-rich and grinning from ear to ear. The Sunday Times rich list in May 2017 spells it out - "their wealth soared into the stratosphere". The 'worth' of the 1,000 richest individuals is a record £250 billion, 23.3% up on last year!

While low-paid workers are forced to go to food banks, the prestige items sought by the super-rich are supercars costing over a $1 million, paintings over $300 million and luxury yachts ranging from $450 million to $1.2 billion.

This sickening inequality is meeting growing resistance. In Britain, the

socialistpartyni

Trade Union Congress (TUC) has launched a ‘Pay Up’ campaign which has resulted in a number of highly successful demonstrations and protests over the summer. This campaign has been taken up by the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).

Unfortunately, the TUC and ICTU leaderships have limited the campaign to protests and lobbying of politicians with only hints of possibility of industrial action to break the cap.

This goes against the changing mood of public sector workers who are increasingly indicating they want to fight back. This was reflected in the 91% support for strike action against the pay-cap received in an indicative ballot by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), a union which has never take such action before. The union has stat-

ed it will move towards a strike this autumn if there is no sign of movement from the government, as has civil service union PCS. Trade union activists should campaign for co-ordinated strike action across the public sector, outlining plans for a determined and escalating programme of action to win real pay-rises from the weak Tory government and the Stormont politicians. This would boost the morale of many workers who felt betrayed by the sell-out of previous battles by the conservative union leaderships. Low-paid workers in the private sector should be brought into this struggle in support of Jeremy Corbyn’s demand for a £10 minimum wage which would lift millions out of poverty. This could begin a movement which would have the super-rich quaking in their mansions.

Bonfires: Solutions must come from communities

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Join the Socialist Party Text ‘Join’ to 07821058319

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September 2017

THE SOCIALIST

news

Britain: The battle for Labour’s future continues

By Owen McCracken

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he dramatic surge in support for Labour in the general election pulled the rug from under corbyn’s opponents within the party. By conceding on the demand for a more radical manifesto, they believed they had provided corbyn enough to hang himself. instead, the manifesto enthused millions faced for the first time with a real alternative after decades of neo-liberal rule under the tories and ‘New Labour’.

In reality, there were two general election campaigns within Labour, with some candidates refusing to even mention Corbyn or the manifesto. Furthermore, Labour HQ displayed a distinct bias towards candidates from the right of the party in terms of finance and other assistance. The overwhelming support for Corbyn amongst the party membership and a wider layer of workers and young people proved crucial in getting the message out on doorsteps, in workplaces and across social media, resulting in most Labour candidates recording a notable rise in their vote.

In light of this, a section of the more career-orientated MPs have softened their stance towards Corbyn. The vast majority of Labour MPs, however, ultimately come from the “New Labour” stable, with many acting as strident representatives of capitalism who fully understand the threat posed

Birmingham bin workers defeated Labour council pay cuts with strike action

by a Corbyn government to the interests of big business, even if some are currently masquerading as “soft lefts”.

Labour councils continue austerity policies This situation is also writ large in relation to the cuts implemented

by Labour councils which appal the vast majority of members and working class voters.

In Birmingham, for example, bin workers were recently forced to

take strike action over seven weeks to fight off an attempt by the Labour council to impose a 25% pay cut. The council spent £2 million of ratepayers’ money in a futile attempt to recruit a scab army to break the strike!

Labour-controlled councils should instead be compelled to follow the example of Liverpool in the 1980s and implement no-cuts budgets, using their large reserves and building campaigns to demand extra funding. Indeed, given the

savage cuts to housing budgets and relaxing of regulations systematically enforced by both Tory and Labour councils, it was only by chance the Grenfell disaster occurred in a Tory council area.

This tragedy should act as warning to all party activists about the consequences of Labour councils continuing to implement austerity.

Party must be democratised Rather than further attempts at conciliation with the right, Corbyn

should campaign to extend party democracy. A central plank of this should be mandatory reselection, which would guarantee that candidates would be selected via a local, democratic process before every election. Prospective candidates must be accountable to party members and affiliated trade unions and open to challenge, rather than sitting right-wingers being able to act with impunity. This is basic party democracy.

Not so for union leaders allied to the Labour right such as Dave Prentis of Unison and John Hannett of USDAW, who have denounced calls for mandatory reselection. It is crucial that left-led unions get together and raise concrete demands to transform the party, including enhanced rights and powers for affiliated unions after decades of measures implemented to curb their influence.

It is also important measures are taken to open up the party and curb bureaucratic practices enshrined in the Blair period. Key to this will be promoting the involvement of the new generation of members in the structures and decision -making of the party.

Furthermore, the witch hunts and expulsions of left activists must be ended. The re-adoption of a federal structure that would involve a wider layer of socialists and antiausterity organisations, including the Socialist Party, would be a key step in bolstering the fight for left ideas within the party.

Labour Party in Northern Ireland thrown into crisis

By Daniel Waldron

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heN Jeremy corbyn emerged as a serious contender for the Labour leadership, Northern ireland was not left untouched by the surge in support for his left-wing, antiausterity policies. membership of the Labour Party here swelled from a few hundred to over 3,000 members and registered supporters from across the sectarian divide, making it the second largest party in the North despite central leadership’s ongoing ban on contesting elections in Northern ireland.

While only a small minority have become activists, the Socialist Party welcomed this as a positive development in putting anti-sectarian, class politics back on the agenda in a serious way and has worked fraternally with Labour activists in campaigns, as well as taking part in comradely discussion.

Executive resignations Unfortunately, the Labour Party in Northern Ireland hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons in early August, with six members of its Executive Committee suddenly resigning their positions, allegedly because of other left groups – People Before Profit (PBP) and the Socialist Party – organising within the party. However, this explanation did not stand up to scrutiny.

After defying Labour leadership, some on NI Executive shifted in conservative direction

Former PBP members on the Executive left that organisation years ago and have every right to be Labour members, including to be elected to leading positions. A small number of Socialist Party members did join Labour. Some did so only to help defend Corbyn against the Blairite coup-attempt, others became active in their local areas in an open and honest way to help develop a broad, anti-sectarian left. However, none sought senior positions within the party and some of those who resigned from the Executive were not only aware of this for quite some time but actively encouraged Socialist Party members’ involvement.

In an opinion piece in the Belfast Telegraph, former secretary Kathryn Johnston seemed to drop the ‘reds under the bed’ explanation for the resignations and, instead, focussed on a dispute on the Executive over an organisational matter which led to allegations of verbal abuse and bullying on both sides. However, procedures to deal with such issues are in place and neither does this adequately explain the resignations of a majority from the Executive. This spat has dragged Labour’s name through the mud and been used to justify the suspension of all activity in Northern Ireland while central leadership conducts an investiga-

tion. So what was it really about?

While we cannot be definitive, the resignations have served to deflect attention from criticism about the stagnation of the party in Northern Ireland, with falling attendance at meetings, no progress in the campaign for the right to stand in elections here and a lack of direction in general. The Executive elected last year was seen as a shift to the left in the party. In last year’s Assembly election, three of the group who resigned had stood as candidates for the NI Labour Representation Committee (NILRC), in defiance of the London leadership.

However, after taking office, they moved in a conservative direction and, against the wishes of a majority of activists, refused to allow members to use this banner to contest the election this March.

While the NILRC candidates received no disciplinary action for their stand, two Labour activists have recently been expelled simply for signing the nomination papers of other left candidates in this year’s election.

What way forward?

This debacle has damaged Labour in Northern Ireland but the party’s activists can still play a vital role in the urgent task of building a crosscommunity, left alternative.

However, this will require a determination to make labour politics relevant to the lives of working

class people here, even if that means risking expulsion by defying the bureaucratic diktats of the party apparatus. Labour activists must campaign against austerity, for socialist solutions to poverty, for marriage equality and a woman’s right to choose. They must also put labour politics forward at election time. What use is a Labour Party membership card if it prevents you from fighting for the future you believe in?

The Socialist Party supports the building of a broad, cross-community party of the working class to help challenge sectarianism and fight for the interests of the 99%.

To that end, we worked with others to launch Labour Alternative ahead of last year’s Assembly election. The four candidates who have stood so far – mostly young, from across the sectarian divide – have won the highest left votes in their respective constituencies in decades. Labour Alternative has been to the fore in campaigns against austerity and for abortion rights.

We believe this exemplifies the approach Labour Party activists should adopt and we appeal to them to work with us to help build the left voice so sorely needed in Northern Ireland. Amidst deepening sectarian polarisation, the enthusiasm for Corbyn’s left policies has created a window of opportunity which we cannot allow to slip by.

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September 2017

THE SOCIALIST

McDonald’s strike: Organising the unorganised

By Neil Moore, Chair, Irish Youth Committee, Unite the Union

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By Donal O’Cofaigh On WEdnEsday 23 august, for the first time since it was established in 2005, the Regulations and Quality Improvement authority (RQIa) intervened to close a privatelyowned and managed nursing home, the ashbrooke nursing Home, operating on the edge of Enniskillen.

Forty elderly residents, many suffering with dementia, will now have to be rehoused by the Western Health & Social Care Trust (WHSCT), which has warned that they may have to be relocated to Derry when the home closes due to the inadequacy of public domiciliary care provision.

The RQIA, which monitors standards in health and social care providers, claimed closure was necessary as there was a “serious risk to life”. They found dirty equipment, a very strong odour of faeces and urine and reported patients looked unkempt with unwashed hair and dirty clothes. Records showed one patient had lost six kilos in a week but that management had done nothing in response.

Ashbrooke is operated by Essex-based privateer Runwood Homes, which runs 67 care homes across England and Northern Ireland. Earlier this year, the company declared annual profits of £8.3 million, although this was reduced by a one-off ‘revaluation’ of property. Profits had actually risen to about £13.6 million from £12.3 million the year previous.

Elderly and vulnerable people should not be at the mercy of big business’s endless demand for profit.

Residential care should be brought fully back into public hands, with investment to meet need, fully-trained staff on a living wage, and compensation paid to private sector owners only on the basis of proven need.

or the first time ever, mcdonald’s workers in Britain are be striking. the first day of this historic strike, on the 4th of september will see some of the worst treated, lowest paid and precarious workers taking on the notoriously antiunion mcdonald’s at its restaurants in cambridge and in crayford, south-east London.

The workers, members of bakers' union BFAWU who organise fast food workers, are campaigning against low pay and the continued use of zero-hour contracts, despite multiple assurances from McDonald’s that all employees would be moved to minimumhours contracts.

Despite claiming earlier in the year that it would offer its employees the chance to transition to guaranteed-hours contracts, McDonald’s continues to employ 80,000 people on zero-hours contracts, making it one of the largest users of such contracts in the UK. In response to their union organisation, workers at Cambridge and Crayford have recently faced drastic cuts in their hours. Ian Hodson, BFAWU President, told the Socialist, “This

has been viewed by some as punishment for joining a union, and has seen employees struggle to meet their rent payments, while some have even lost their homes.”

Precarious workers in fast food, retail and hospitality have drawn inspiration from the Fight for $15 movement in the US, which demands a minimum wage of $15 per hour - nearly double the current federal minimum wage for untipped workers. The ongoing campaign’s efforts have already won wage increases for 22 million workers, 10 million of whom have received or been promised a wage of at least $15 per hour.

The inspirational battle in the

Royal Mail workers fighting back

By Paddy Meehan

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oyaL maiL workers will be balloted for industrial action in september in support of the communication Workers’ Union’s ‘Four Pillars’ campaign during talks with the company.

Workers are fighting for a payrise, including opposing a twotier workforce, defence of pensions, changes to working practices and the re-commitment of the company to their 2013 agreement to maintain the business.

Royal Mail was privatised in 2013. The initial public offering went for a paltry £1.98 billion for the country’s postal services. This was a bung to the financial speculators by Vince Cable, the then Business Secretary in the ToryLib Dem government. On the first day of trading, share prices jumped 38%, making a tidy sum for the financial speculators.

Since then, Royal Mail has sought to undermine the agreement reached with the workers’ union.

The CWU has been campaigning on a number of fronts. The union has rejected any race to the bottom in the postal industry, where senior Royal Mail management want to drive staff’s pay rates down to those of poverty-paying delivery services such as Hermes.

Workers are rejecting any lowering of terms and conditions for new entrants, any further destruction of the pension scheme, performance-related pay increases, as well as the removal of workplace reps from negotiating with management locally. Workers have called for a real strategy to grow the company in the benefit of service users and for decent pay with the prospect of a real pension.

A strong ‘Yes’ vote for industrial action can send a message not just to Royal Mail management but also to all companies who are using the race to the bottom to renege on agreements and drive down workers’ pay and conditions. A ballot result is expected on 3 October.

US, the successful wildcat strikes of Deliveroo workers last year which fought off an even more precarious contract, and the popular support for Corbyn’s pledge of a £10 minimum wage (albeit by 2020) has proven to that these demands can be won.

Workers in the hotel industry, where the median hourly rate sits below the national minimum wage; in the retail industry, where pay is so low that the government has to chip in £11 billion a year to top it up; and fast food, where nine out of ten workers are on zero-hours contracts – these workers can win.

We must fight to organise the unorganised workplaces, expand-

ing the trade unions that can help us all win a better life at work.

However, this has to be coupled with fighting and political strategies to win victories - campaigns such as Fast Food Rights and the Scottish TUC’s #Betterthanzero campaign have proven that by politicising the struggles, ‘notoriously hard to organise’ workers face, a strong foundation can be built for effective struggles that can win massive improvements to people’s lives. The simple demands for a £10 minimum wage and the end of zero-hours contracts would bring more than a million precarious workers out of poverty and misery.

Devastating tsunami of health cuts unleashed

Unions must organise action to resist the cuts

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resh heaLth cuts totalling £70 million across Northern ireland have been announced. this is the result of years when the executive failed to ensure healthcare funding met increased demand, an estimated six percent annual reduction in budgets.

The five Health Trusts have put their cuts proposals out for ‘consultation’, a sham process in which ordinary people and health workers will have no real say. The cuts will see wards closed, waiting lists for non-emergency surgery grow even further and staffing levels drop. It will exacerbate the already existing crisis in GP services in rural areas. The neo-natal unit at the South-West Acute Hospital is under threat, as are

public residential care homes in Derry.

Typically, the response of the DUP and Sinn Féin has been to blame each other. In reality, both are to blame. All the main parties support the project of slashing health under the guise of centralisation while privatising more and more NHS services.

The cuts were met with trade union protests. This is to be welcomed but much more will be required. If this round of cuts is not resisted, more will follow. It’s time for the trade union movement to launch a determined campaign of industrial action, combined with mass protests, in order to demand investment to meet need and kick the profiteers out of our health service.

news

Residential care must be for people, not profit

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September 2017

international

The ‘Alt-Right’ shows its true face in US

By Andrew Farley

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N the aftermath of the racist 'Unite the right' rally in charlottesville, Virginia, at which civil rights activist heather heyer was killed, the question as to how the left and society more broadly should address the far-right – currently describing itself as the ‘alt-right’ – has again been raised.

President Trump made a public statement subsequent to the event in which he condemned the violence “on many sides”, provoking widespread outrage at his refusal to specifically denounce the neoNazis and KKK members in attendance. This comes at a time of crisis for the Trump administration – Trump's failure to repeal Obamacare, in spite of the fact that the Republican party hold a majority in Congress, serves as an embarrassing example of his inability to fulfil his election promises.

Less than two weeks after the rally in Charlottesville, two of the most prominent supporters of the alt-right in Trump's administration were released from their positions: Steve Bannon, the chairman of the Breitbart News Network, and Sebastian Gorka, who has in the past expressed support for the Magyar Gárda – a neo-fascist and anti-Semitic paramilitary in Hungary. There has been speculation as to whether the staff in ques-

tion were sacked or voluntarily tendered their resignation, but the credibility of Trump's presidency is in recognisable detriment in either case.

Far-right grows out of crisis The recent emboldening of the farright in the US is reflective of a wider global trend. In France, the right-wing populist National Front leader Marine Le Pen performed well in the Presidential elections, qualifying for the second round of voting. In Greece and Hungary, fascist parties have gained as much as 20% of the vote in national elections. This is in the context of a global capitalist crisis which has seen the wealth gap between ordinary people and the super-rich elite continue to widen. During such times, it is not uncommon for the ruling class to employ divideand-rule tactics, using nationalist and xenophobic sentiment to undermine the prospect of working class unity.

Whilst only a very small number of individuals subscribe to fascist ideology today, Trump's repeated attacks on the working class and oppressed sections of society only help to feed backward and bigoted beliefs. Although the alt-right might not yet be a coherent movement, there are certainly consciously fascist elements within it attempting to present themselves as politically respectable. Given the noted

Heather Heyer was killed by an 'alt-right' white supremacist

increase in hate crime since Trump's election, it has become clear that far-right forces which seek to harass, intimidate, and commit assaults on innocent people cannot be given free reign to do so.

Mobilise to defeat the far-right A week after the events in Charlottesville, a march of 40,000 people rallied against an alt-right demonstration in Boston. The lat-

ter had been organised two months in advance and yet was only able to gather an attendance of 25, whereas the anti-fascist rally was able to summon tens of thousands to the streets in less than a week. This shows where the balance of power in society lies. The only effective way to defeat the farright is through the creation of democratic, mass movements.

It is important to recognise and

support the right of vulnerable people to physically defend themselves against fascists, and it is necessary to organise against public figures who intend to use their platform to inflict suffering on innocent people. As such, it is absolutely imperative that broad coalitions of socialists, trade unions, and progressive groups be built in order to be able to successfully block the bigots, as well as to ensure the physical safety of those who would be targeted by the violence of the far-right.

It is also vital to understand how the capitalist system in which we live encourages divisive and prejudiced thinking, and as such we must be willing to build a force capable of challenging the system. In times of economic turmoil, racist and ultranationalist sentiments can find resonance among desperate layers of the working and middle classes. It is therefore essential to patiently explain that targeting immigrants and other minorities will not solve capitalism's problems, and that the only way to eradicate poverty and inequality is by uniting all oppressed groups and the working class against our common oppressor. Only by building a mass party made up of these sections can we be effective in tackling and defeating the fascists, the alt-right, and the capitalist class, ensuring a decent standard of living for all, free from persecution, poverty, and injustice.

Venezuela: A crisis of capitalism

By Oisín McKeown

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he coNtiNUiNg political and economic crisis in Venezuela sees an offensive of imperialism and domestic reaction against the left-populist Nicolas maduro government.

Violent riots in the run up to the National constituent assembly elections cost 112 lives, against a backdrop of food shortages and the potential for four-figure inflation this year. the chaos now unfolding in Venezuela is being used as an ideological weapon to beat back the rise of the left internationally and undermine growing support for socialist ideas. the crisis in Venezuela, however, is one of capitalism, not socialism.

In reality, the chaos highlights the limitations of a programme of reforms within the framework of capitalism and the vicious lengths to which capitalism will go to wrestle back any gains made by the working class. The economic turmoil is in no small way is caused by the sabotage of the capitalist class, intent on ousting the Maduro government and installing a rightwing government to carry out a massive austerity programme. It’s estimated that as much as $300 billion has left the Venezuelan economy in the last two years and the import of goods is being held back to cause shortages. This strike of capital and imperialist sanctions,

Maduro's government has left power in the hands of the capitalists

such as Trump’s ban on Venezuelan oil bonds, is hurting Venezuela’s working class.

Limitations of reformism However, blame also lies with the governments of Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez. Since coming to power in 1999, beginning the Bolivarian revolution, the government has used revenue from Venezuelan oil to fund exten-

sive social programmes, benefiting the working class and poor.

However, they left the majority of the economy in the hands of the 1%, allowing them to organise their counter-revolution, which has been strengthened by the global collapse in oil prices. Left movements and parties such as the movement around Corbyn must learn this lesson.

Corbyn’s manifesto pledges -

axing tuition fees, a £10 minimum wage, nationalisation of some industries and so on – would mean huge benefits to workers and youth. However, they would provoke the wrath of British capitalism who would use all the resources at their disposal to cripple his government. The lesson is that you can’t control what you don’t own.

Venezuela’s ruling party, the PSUV, have failed to draw this conclusion. Maduro’s approach to the crisis has been to use left and antiimperialist rhetoric while simultaneously making concessions to the right and attempting to cement his alliance with a section of the capitalists. Cuts to social programmes and the extension of “special economic zones”, where superexploitation of workers is permitted, will only embolden the Venezuelan right and their imperialist allies while also undermining the government’s support among the working class and poor.

Working class must take power The election of the ANC to tweak the constitution in Maduro’s favour will do nothing to ease the situation. To survive, the Bolivarian revolution must make a decisive break with capitalism. This, unfortunately, will not come from the leadership of the PSUV which has become increasingly bureaucratised and begun to use repressive measures against sections of workers

demanding that the revolution moves forward. It is necessary for the working class to independently organise to fight back against the attacks of the right, the concessions granted to capitalism and ultimately for a socialist transformation of society, based on a democratically planned economy.

There is a growing mood among the working class to fight, with sections of the PSUV’s rank-and-file moving into opposition to the bureaucracy. The nationalisation of the key sectors of the economy – the major industries and the banks – under working class control would wrestle power away from the destructive capitalist class.

Running the economy on the basis of democratic control through factory committees and workers’ councils would cut across the corruption and strangulation of the economy by a bureaucratic elite.

These measures would inspire workers across the world to defend the Bolivarian revolution against the imperialist onslaught and fight for socialism in their respective countries.

Venezuela currently sits at a cross roads. The choice before its people is socialism or the barbarism that would accompany a return to power of the right-wing rulers, representing the interests of a tiny, super-rich elite and their imperialist masters. This is a struggle to which all working class activists must pay attention.

THE SOC

CIALIST

September 2017

By Ryan McNally President, Belfast Met Students’ Union (personal capacity)

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eremy corByN's call to scrap tuition fees and to introduce maintenance allowances is a welcome development in the fight for free education. although there is a way to go before these reforms are won, the Labour Party's proposal to invest an extra £25 billion into education in england offered a clear alternative to the long-term programme of cuts and corporatisation. corbyn's manifesto won significant support from young people in particular, with 60% of voters under the age of 25 backing Labour in the general election. this is an important opportunity for students and socialists in Northern ireland, who now must take up the fight for free and accessible education for all.

Students have been a constant target of a capitalist establishment that relies on exploiting and controlling working class people. The

corporatisation of universities is a major attack, and should be resisted. The drive for profit can lead to universities focusing more on areas that are beneficial to big business and less on areas that are beneficial to society and to individuals. The orientation of universities as profit-making institutions is also harmful to the quality of their services, as the interests of a university as a business are often contrary to the interests of staff and students. There can be no room for profiteering in our universities.

The deadlock at Stormont has already been seen as an opportunity by the establishment in Northern Ireland to implement unpopular cuts to vital public services. Education has not been immune, with Ulster University's School of Nursing facing a cut of almost 60% to its budget. The cut was partly reversed after condemnation from health unions and student nurses. In July, the Department of Education tried to cut funding for the school uniform grant by £3 million. This would have slashed the support available

Corbyn's call for free education mobilised young voters behind Labour

to around 98,000 pupils from lowincome households. The department ultimately u-turned on this cut too, but it's clear that education services are still seen as a viable target for austerity. The students' movement should be prepared to unite with trade unionists and workers to campaign against further attacks, while pressing forward with demands for free and public education.

When trying to justify cuts, politi-

Marriage equality: Cross-community campaign can break DUP blockade

cians tend to talk about financial pressure and limited budgets.

However these issues aren't addressed when politicians in Northern Ireland talk about significantly reducing corporation tax, the centrepiece of our political establishment's economic plan. The reality is that the money for a free and decent education system exists in society and it's being hoarded by a tiny super-rich minority. Tens of thousands of pounds of debt is an

unacceptable price to pay for an education while big businesses and the super-wealthy continue to hoard their wealth and profit off the backs of ordinary people. There is a clear need for students to get organised and fight for our rights.

In recent years, student protests in Northern Ireland have blocked prevented plans to increase tuition fees and helped to prevent the abolition of EMA. We need to return to this fighting approach.

Free Ali Feruz, LGBT+ activist in Russia

By Sarah Campton WItH tHE recent Love Equality march and the biggest ever Belfast Pride parade, it is apparent that the general attitude of people in northern Ireland is that it is time for equal marriage, yet time after time it has been shot down in stormont. this is now the only part of Ireland and Britain where same-sex couples cannot marry.

Arlene Foster apparently took great offence at being called a homophobe but she is the leader of the party that has constantly abused the ‘petition of concern’ to bulldoze demands for marriage equality.

However, a majority of DUP voters now support equal marriage. The DUP’s support is not primarily based on support for their fundamentalist agenda but – like Sinn Féin – upon being seen as the strongest voice for ‘their’ community.

They are not impervious to pressure from below, as was reflected in the sacking of Jim Wells as Health Minister after making outrageous homophobic comments.

In 2015, Belfast saw a march of 20,000 strong calling for marriage equality. This is what forced a number of MLAs to change their stance on the issue and delivered the first majority vote for equality. This shows that it is people power that changes society, that

Ali Feruz is threated with deportation, torture and even death

By Emer Lavery

a

Foster doesn't have support of most DUP voters in opposing marriage equality

grassroots campaigning works.

An active campaign can force the DUP to stop using the petition of concern to block marriage equality, but it must be genuinely cross-community and not connected to the nationalist parties, which would be used to create suspicion amongst ordinary Protestants.

The right to marry is just the next step in the fight for LGBTQ equality. LGBTQ people are disproportionately impacted by austerity. For example, 40% of young people

forced into homelessness identify as LGBTQ, due to the stigma which still exists in society.

Religious domination and influence in our schools stigmatises LGBTQ youth, legitimising bullying and causing mental health problems. What we need is the separation of church and state so that people can be free to express their sexuality and their love for one another. We need to take the fight against homophobia and hatred into every arena of life in Northern Ireland.

t the start of august, ali Feruz – trade unionist, LgBt+ activist and journalist for an opposition newspaper in russia – was unjustly arrested and threatened with deportation to Uzbekistan. through his position as a journalist, he exposed how migrant workers and national groups are discriminated against in the country. he also worked alongside our sister party in russia, socialist alternative, to establish the independent trade Union of Journalists, which was incredibly important in exposing the horrific attacks on LgBt+ people in chechnya.

It is believed that, if sent to Uzbekistan, Ali will be persecuted for this activity as well as being openly gay. This made him so desperate that he attempted suicide on hearing the decision in court. He fled Uzbekistan after being arrested and tortured by security forces and eventually went to Russia in 2011 where he has been consistently

denied asylum by migration forces even though he has been living there for six years now and his relatives (including his mother) all hold Russian passports. While his deportation was suspended on the 8th September, an appeal court ruled to keep him detained which has the potential to be dangerous since he reported being beaten and ill-treated on the day of his arrest.

Ali is one of 2000 people have already been arrested for political activities in Russia this year. The Socialist Party and its sister parties across the world have rallied in solidarity with Ali Feruz and LGBT+ activists in Russia. In Belfast and Derry, we intervened into this year's Pride demonstrations with a campaign to raise awareness and build support for Ali's case. We must demand that Ali Feruz be immediately released by the Russian authorities and protected from forced return to Uzbekistan.

Please send messages of protest to the Russian Embassy in London – info@rusemb.org.uk

campaigns

Fight for free, public education!

5

September 2017

analysis

6

THE SOCIALIST

Bonfires:

Solutions must come from working-class communities t

his sUmmer, bonfires again became the subject of controversy. For many working class Protestants, eleventh Night bonfires are part of their culture, while many catholics see them as triumphalist displays. Less prominent are the anti-internment bonfires organised in some nationalist areas by young people and ‘dissident’ republican groups, reenacting a tradition introduced by the Provisional republican movement in the 1970s.

The motion passed by Belfast City Council – supported by Sinn Féin, SDLP, People Before Profit and Alliance councillors – which called for bonfire sites to be cleared, necessarily with the assistance of police, will only serve to antagonise the situation. This was graphically demonstrated by the rioting in Catholic areas in response to attempts to remove bonfire material. If the Council insists on the same approach at contentious bonfires in Protestant areas next year, it will provoke a massive response. The Socialist Party believes any genuine solution must come from the working class communities effected, not be imposed from outside.

Genuine fears On the Eleventh Night, there were some repulsive displays of sectarianism and racism which must be condemned. Many residents who live close to bonfire sites also have genuine health and safety concerns and some have suffered damage to their homes. Blatant sectarianism, however, is not on display at all bonfires. Most pass off without the kind of sectarian provocations mentioned above. Likewise, most bonfire organisers do take health and safety concerns into consideration and they take place at a considerable distance from residential property.

Bonfires are part of many working class communities’ culture, from Guy Fawkes Night in England to the summer solstice bonfires in Cork. Bonfires in Northern Ireland, of course, have a particular colouration. However, it is in no way useful to dismiss them as simply driven by bigotry or to scoff at their cultural value for those involved. In working class Protestant communities, in particular, there is a long tradition of young people working together to build bonfires. sectarian politicians antagonise the situation Attempts to demonise those who take part in bonfires will only entrench attitudes. This was certainly the case with the intervention of Jim McVeigh, leader of the Sinn Féin group on Belfast City Council, who referred to bonfire builders as “headcases”. While there are legitimate concerns about bonfires, the Socialist Party is opposed to draconian attempts to ban them and respects the right of communities to hold such events.

Bonfires are traditional in many working-class communities

Attempts to use workers and police to clear bonfire sites, as Councillor McVeigh and others agreed in their motion at City Hall, will only worsen the situation, as we saw in the Markets and Divis areas. The Troubles taught us that attempts to repress events like this will only make people more determined to hold them, to make them bigger and potentially more provocative. Mr McVeigh has even called for families of those involved in disturbances in Divis to be evicted from their homes, which would again further antagonise the situation rather than resolve the underlying problems. If the police intervene to stop bonfires in Protestant areas, where there is generally more support for the events, they will be met with sharp resistance, particularly if they are seen to do so at the behest of nationalist politicians. As one bonfire builder at Avoniel Leisure centre put it, “What are they going to do about it - take about 700 people to court?"

As Unite the Union has said, Council workers have a right not to be “dragged into the divisive disputes over bonfires”, with all the risks to their safety that can entail.

Using outside contractors simply means putting another set of workers at risk. The fact that contractors have pulled out of this task is a reflection of the complications.

The left and labour movement must address contentious issues and seek to diffuse their ability to lead to conflict on the streets and further divide communities.

Unfortunately, that has not been the approach of People Before Profit during the controversy this summer. Last year, Eamonn McCann advised, in relation to young people building a republican bonfire in the Bogside, that “we have to listen rather than denounce and demonise.” In this, he was correct.

However, People Before Profit did take a denunciatory tone in the wake of this year’s Eleventh Night

bonfires – patronisingly dismissed as “culture” (in inverted commas)

by Councillor Matt Collins – and subsequently voted for the motion to Belfast City Council which will act to worsen the situation in all communities involved.

Community solutions needed Any genuine solution will have to come from within those communities in which bonfires take place – not the paramilitary organisations often connected to contentious bonfires, but ordinary working class people, many of whom have genuine concerns about health and safety and the conduct of these events. A genuine coming together of people within these communities can determine democratically how they are organised in a manner which minimises damage to property and the environment, as well as ensure there are no sectarian or racist provocations.

a generation left behind The bonfires which have been the focus of attention are in some of the most deprived communities in the North. The four east Belfast bonfires targeted by Council injunctions – injunctions supported by Unionist politicians, who are now backtracking in the face of community uproar – are in areas suffering long-term unemployment, with economic inactivity ranging from 35% to over 50%. As one bonfire builder told Stephen Nolan, "It's a job building it and it's the only job I've currently got. I want to do it well." These are areas where a strong feeling exists that Protestant working class communities are losing out at the expense of others – economically, socially and culturally. Even rightwing magazine The Spectator commented that the bonfires reflect “defiance and despair among working-class Protestants, who feel abandoned by the rest of the UK.” We see the same thing, of course,

SF's Jim McVeigh led call for police intervention against bonfires

in nationalist areas. The Divis area suffers from particularly sharp social deprivation, while west Belfast as a whole has seen the number of people that claim at least one form of benefit increasing to 49.9%. These young people, in their own way, echo the same grievances as their Protestant counterparts and are looking for a way to express their frustrations at being left behind, including by the Sinn Féin establishment in the area. State intervention against bonfires will drive disenfranchised young people into the arms of the paramilitaries, loyalist and ‘dissident’ republican.

Working class people were promised a “peace dividend” which simply hasn’t been delivered. The sectarian politicians – implementing austerity, mired in corruption and with no plans for serious job creation – are fundamentally incapable of lifting these communities out of poverty. Socialist policies are necessary to provide young people with opportunities, including significant public investment in decent jobs and apprenticeships, as well as guaranteed access to free education with a living grant.

Build an alternative to challenge sectarian division The last two elections show an increase in sectarian polarisation which is benefiting the DUP and Sinn Féin. That process is not confined to the ballot box and will find expressions on the streets if it is not checked by movements that ¬¬¬unite ordinary people. With divisive questions like a border poll being pushed onto the agenda, these rising tensions – mixed up with the alienation of disenfranchised youth – will be expressed through phenomena like bonfires.

The fact that, nearly twenty years after the Good Friday Agreement, issues like bonfires, parades, flags and legacy issues are nowhere near resolved is a testament to the fundamental contradiction of the ‘peace process’ – that sectarian politicians have no interest and even less capability in overcoming the divisions in our society.

There is a need for a mass, antisectarian party to unite working class people in the fight for a future free from poverty, conflict and division. Movements around the world are repopularising socialist and leftwing ideas, pointing in the direction of what is necessary. Such a force could lift the sights of those who are fed up with the sectarian, backward establishment. By uniting people in struggle for their common interests, it could break down the barriers between communities and challenge the grip of paramilitaries and sectarian politicians. Crucially, such a movement could lay the basis for genuine solutions to contentious questions by bringing people together in a spirit of solidarity, compromise and mutual respect.

The building of a mass party along these lines is an urgent task for socialists, trade unionists and all who want a better future.

7

September 2017

THE SOCIALIST

By Ruth Coppinger TD In tHE south, the Citizens’ assembly (Ca) on abortion rights, made up of 100 randomly selected citizens, was set up early this year under pressure from below. It surprised the conservative dáil (parliament) when it recommended that women and pregnant people be trusted – that abortion should be legalised upon request up to 12 weeks; for socio-economic reasons up to 22 weeks; for health; and for fatal foetal abnormality.

As a member of the parliamentary committee established off the back of the CA and tasked with reviewing the antiabortion 8th Amendment to the Constitution, I will be arguing for a referendum on full repeal of the 8th. I will also be saying that neither the committee nor the Dáil has the right to bury the CA recommendations or to cherry pick only a few. Pro-choice legislation should be prepared in line with the spirit of the CA recom-

mendations. Does anyone seriously believe the Southern establishment — with its relationship to the Catholic Church — will bring in the groundbreaking Citizens’ Assembly proposals without the public forcing them to?

One way of doing this is, on the same day we have a Repeal referendum, to have a plebiscite on any options put forward by the Citizens’ Assembly that the Dáil Committee tries to bury. In Portugal in 2007, the government held a plebiscite for abortion on request up to 10 weeks.

They wouldn’t have enacted abortion legislation had they not had this endorsement.

For the first time in Ireland, a forum where members of the public were given control has recommended abortion on request in the first trimester, when 85% of abortions occur, even for socio-economic reasons. This speaks volumes about how fundamentally societal attitudes have progressed.

We are entering a crucial time in the fight for abortion rights in

Socialists are to the fore in the fight for the right to choose

the South. A referendum is likely before summer 2018. Major mobilisations must be organised for. Furthermore, a massive campaign of political pressure on the parties and their

Jobstown trial exposes Southern state

deputies in the Dáil Committee on the 8th must be launched.

This can affect the nature of the referendum we get next year and the shape of the legislation to follow.

The more far-reaching the change advocated, the easier it will be a build a large, radical social movement of women and young people to ensure a ‘Yes’ for change and abortion rights.

No to terror, war & racism!

By Cerys Falvey

i

N dUBLiN at the end of June, seven defendants – the first of three groups – were found not guilty of falsely imprisoning then deputy Prime minister and Labour leader Joan Burton during a spontaneous, community protest against austerity in the working class community of Jobstown in November 2014. the protest delayed Burton in her minister car, surrounded by police, for three hours in opposition to the hated water charges and her attacks to social welfare.

The significance of this victory cannot be overestimated. Had the defendants been found guilty, the right to peaceful protest and for workers to effectively picket during strikes would have been seriously undermined. Instead, the jury rightly vindicated the accused and established that protest is not a crime, while the trial also exposed the nature of the Southern state, including the police, supposedly there to protect the people.

Firstly, the trial drew attention to a Garda (police) conspiracy to secure the convictions of the Jobstown seven. Specifically, Garda Gavin Cooke claimed to have seen Paul Murphy (Socialist Party member, Solidarity TD and defendant) orchestrating the event and telling people where to stand, whereas CCTV footage proved that Garda Cooke wasn’t even in the same place as Mr Murphy for the majority of the protest, showing that his testimony could not be accurate and calling into questions his motives for lying under oath. Several officers repeated precisely the same false testimony. Throughout the entire Garda investigation of the incident, not one protester was interviewed, proving a desire on the

Solidarity needed in wake of terror attacks

N 17 august, a brutal tero rorist attack on Las ramblas in Barcelona saw a Jobstown defendants dealt a blow to the Southern establishment

part of the Gardaí to make this a one-sided case in favour of the right-wing establishment that they prop up. Further to this, the existence of ‘Operation Mizen’ is a clear example of political policing, in which anti-water charges protestors were specifically targeted, further proving the bias of the Gardaí, and also calling into question the role of the state in handing out orders to target those that oppose them.

It is clear that the Southern state are threatened by the power posed of working class organising against their harsh austerity agenda, as evidenced by their attempt to use the Jobstown defendants as an example to deter such protests in future. A state in which peaceful protesters are threatened with life imprisonment for carrying out their democratic rights is a rotten one, and one which must be chal-

lenged. Unfortunately for them, the ordinary people who made up the jury saw what this trial was about.

Since the bruising verdict, some establishment spokespersons have questioned whether jury trials are necessary! This is another blow for them after the campaign of mass non-payment forced the abolition of the water charges.

It is essential that the workers’ movement demand the dropping all charges against the remaining defendants, as well as an independent inquiry into the Jobstown investigation. Furthermore, we must call for the abolition of political policing units, the democratisation of the Gardaí, and full accountability within the police, so as to ensure the supposed ‘guardians of justice’ act in the interests of everyone, and not just the crooked, capitalist establishment with which they currently collude.

van drive more than half a kilometre, running over hundreds of people in its path. the tragic result of this attack was the death of 13 people, with more than 100 injured. the attack, which islamic state immediately claimed responsibility for, was followed hours later in the town of cambrils in tarragona with an attack where a woman was stabbed to death.

Terror attacks like this need to be wholeheartedly condemned.

But while nothing excuses them, we must understand the context in which they take place. They are born out of the death and destruction caused by Western military intervention in the Middle East, motivated by a desire for power, prestige and profit at the expense of the lives of ordinary soldiers and the mass suffering of the people of the region. This is driving a small minority of Muslim people into

the arms of Islamic fundamentalists both in the region itself and in the West, where Muslims also experience disproportionate social deprivation as well as discrimination and profiling at the hands of the state.

Further military intervention in the Middle East or repression against the Muslim community in Europe will do nothing to prevent further atrocities. It will only serve to create more suffering and drive more angry and disenfranchised young people into the arms of the likes of Islamic State. Instead, we must demand the withdrawal of all foreign military forces from the Middle East, an end to imperialist wars, and fight for a society without racism and discrimination, where society’s wealth is used to provide decent jobs, homes, education and healthcare for all. The rise of far-right terror in Europe and the US demonstrates that terrorism is not an issue of race or religion but a symptom of the sick capitalist system which breeds hated and division.

news

South: Conservative establishment faces battle for abortion rights

PAPER OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY

1967 – women in britain win access to abortion on nhs 2017 – women in ni still denied access & criminalised

ISSUE 104

women won’t wAit! rAlly for ChoiCe 2pm sat 14 oct buoy park (Arts College sq.)

Donegall st, belfast

By Amy Ferguson tHIs OCtOBER marks the fiftieth year since the 1967 abortion act was passed in Britain, yet women in northern Ireland are still being denied the rights to control their own bodies.

Of course, the criminalisation of abortion here has not prevented abortions from being carried out.

Instead, it has only forced women to make desperate decisions; either to travel overseas, resulting in major emotional and financial costs which

greatly discriminates against working class women, to face criminalisation for accessing safe abortion pills, or to resort to more dangerous and potentially life-threatening measures.

This needs to stop. It is time that our politicians, across the sectarian divide, are shown just how backwards and out of touch they are with us, the people, and popular opinion. In fact, recent polls have shown that 72% of people in Northern Ireland think abortion should he available if pregnancy is

JOIN THE SOCIALIST PARTY!

Abortion rights now! the result of rape and 58% believe that abortion should be completely decriminalised.

None of the main parties support a woman’s right to choose. The DUP and SDLP are entirely opposed to any reform, as are the majority of UUP MLAs. Sinn Féin and most Alliance MLAs oppose abortion rights outside the narrow circumstances of sexual crime and fatal foetal abnormality.

While many boast of their ‘prolife’ credentials, all the main parties are involved in cutting funding for

fundamental services and benefits that people rely on to provide a decent life for themselves and their children. What we need is real choice. Women should be able to decide if and when they want children and, if they do, jobs, adequate benefits and free childcare must be guaranteed.

While Jeremy Corbyn's support extending the right to a "safe, legal abortion" to women in Northern Ireland is to welcomed, we cannot sit by idle and wait on change coming from above. We need a radical,

Text ‘Join’ to 07821058319

grassroots movement from below, a movement that goes beyond polite lobbying, to demand the full decriminalisation of and equal access to abortion. With the increasing radicalisation of a new generation, resulting in a swing of public opinion, change is possible.

So, I would encourage everyone to attend the Rally for Choice on the 14 October, 2pm at Buoy Park (Arts College Square) to show our politicians that we cannot and will not wait any longer for the rights to our own bodies.

www.socialistpartyni.org