chill out mum, it's only ..
lissue 4 1-
summer 2004
SOp or donation
alise
It
NO\N!
PLUS: Venezuela - legalise cannabis - project scotland - the nhs - where's saddam? and more ...
But first, a word from our sponsor ... ... this edition of leWield is sponsored by Ronald Reagan. Ron says; "When I'm not busy reminiscing about illegally invading Grenada in 1984, or ordering the killing of civilians in Guatemala, Nic agua, Iran etc, I like nothing more than relaxing my copy of leWield, and a jar of my fave jelly beans. It's pity that I won't be able to get a copy of issue four, du g dead." But depite his deadnes of the article in issue
kindly agreed to review some eers, Ron!
Wishaw, is not impressed with New Labour's Anti Youth Politics. Neither are we!
41
The SSY legalise cannabis campaign. As we mentioned in lemield issue #3, our campaign has seriously Summer's affected the way the public - and the media here at last! talk about young peo'tis the season of ple, and drug culture in Music Festivals, scotland, where we'!"fork out nearly a wek's Why do we do it? wages to Some good people multinatio argue that getting Tennents a' stoned is not good fo Virgin to ge U, so young sociali ' slice of our ,Id stay clear of t culture, whil uck ... paying the res
Ahh
.
But we a/l know someone who does if; why should we be inalised for somethat doesn't harm people" and is a a lot less harmful gal drugs like and tobacco!?
And today's government is too out of touch to change anything, unless it comes under pressure from ordinary people. So ... that's what we've got to do. Organise together to change the laws. SSY will be campaigning throughout summer, so if y nt to get inv et in touch, but ortantly, get to
he
our hard earne dough on overpriced drinks an badly cooked foo
But summer is also time of year for big outdoor fry The annual SSY legalise cannabis demonstration. SSY has been at the head of the campaign to legalise cannabis in scotland for the past 5 years.
"Why, I don't know if I'm stoned, Nancy, or just plain nuts ...
Now that the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill has become law, what else has the government got in store for young people?
"blab blab blab blab blab blab blab"
jack mcconnell
QIQject scotland is a new scheme drawn up by the scottish executive aimed at gettin voluntary organisations. is this a ne or just another gov m
The Scottish Executive performed a remarkable u-turn in its launch of "Project Scotland"; a scheme intended to encourage young people into voluntary work.
g people into f ur future,
first minister "this scheme is a con like" Andy McMeg
glasgow ssy
Instead of the grassroots comm organisations peop the SSY may volun for (such as the Parkhead Youth Project), this is a teaming up of all 'the Executive's corporate chums -
Jack McConnell had this to say of young people, his new best friends: "They are amazing. the scheme is backed They are increasingly by Scottish Power, bright and articulate." HBOS, Standard Life and L10yds TSB, all This demonstrates a bit organisations with nonof a change from the existent track records past characterisation of in helping anybody but themselves. Smells like PPP Spirit' for the voluntary I
FROM NEDS TO HEROES young people as Neds, vandals and housebreakers.
sector! And further reading goes on to show that the Executive is only interested in helping organisations that:
Don't get me wrong: the change in tone is welcome, if it were not so showered in hypocrisy.
"have demonstrated a capacity to grow by finding and developing market opportunities".
"We shall make funding available to support activities and services carried out by voluntary and volunteering organisations that demonstrably contribute to meeting our priorities and objectives. "
*the views of andy mcmeg are not necessarily the views of anyone else.
a e sco a ,0 'CK 0 fort illiam ~o oban to inverness to glasgow, leftfield readers better hope they don't get sick. but labour was once upon a time the champion of teh NHS... so what are the tories' plans for our health?
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Dundee SSY's Alasdair Abers looked into it ••.
Many people were shocked when they heard Tory leader Michael Howard say "The NHS should be comprehensive and available to all on the basis of need and not the ability to pay". Hearing this from a Tory is as surprising as Tony Blair talking about socialism, but when looking into the details of their plan it can be seen that they are still on the side of the rich like always.
Another Tory proposal would give the private sector more rights to treat NHS patients, while giving private hospitals the same amount of money as the NHS gets! However the classic tactic used by the private sector is to treat a patient, and if they need to stay in to be watched, they hand them back to the NHS so that they can treat more people (and make more money) and by doing this, they clog up NHS beds,
the Classic CONs exposed whe "Right to Choose lth document where every;proposal for reformin~!,~he NHS}gives the riv te sectej'\ia leading role.
with no regardtot~eha' causes society. ,.. It is plain t~ see that the Tory pia are only"goillgtQAJoost the privat sector, help tlie,r;i,C;:t.1. skip waiting I andstart the dismantling of the N
Why we must support the struggle of the Venezuelan workers by igor in Fife
V
ERYFEW PEOPLE
thought in 1998 that things were going to go so far in Venezuela.
coup On April 11th 2002 the world woke up to the news that the Venezuelan government had changed overnight, after the 'resignation' of Chavez. In m9st of the bourgeois media, the news was cheerfully announced as being a democratic "transition". In fact a coup d'etat was being carried through by the Venezuelan oligarchy with the help of the US embassy in the capital Caracas.
was being put back in office by the Venezuelan paratroopers, the former army battalion of Chavez.
the most reactionary sections of the army and the corrupt bureaucracy of the old trade union structures
The reality was rather different.
(CTV).
When the poor people from the Caracas slums realised that a coup d'etat was taking place, they marched towards the Miraflores Palace with the serious intention
If anyone had doubts about the involvement of ' the US in this coup, Colin Powell made hugo chavez it clear enough bv showing up on TV, of overthrowing the and immediately new government, endorsing the new headed by the government. leader of FEDECAMARAS (the Only 48 hours later, bosses union) and the same media backed by the was announcing Roman Catholic that Hugo Chavez Church hierarchy,
collapse Under this pressure the new government collapsed leading to the restoration of Chavez. Incredibly and against any sort of logic, the restored Chavez government did practically nothing against these plotters, though people in the streets were demanding measures against them. Bolivarian The reactionaries took advantage of this reprieve and tried to destabilise the movement again. In December of 2002, they tried a so-called general strike (in reality a
~----
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lock-out) called bY" the bosses' organisationsand the bureaucracy of
N OW t he Venezuelan lution is at a
leon Trotsky defined Revolution as
".. the direct interference of the masses in historical events" (History of the Russian Revolution) ,
This is what is actuallv happening in Venezuela right now. People are taking • food subsidies and %t4:f~control of their own fates. This vouchers for ,'"" ;jj';iiiprocessis not free from danger. Military regnant women ahoff:;{jprovocations are taking place along the new mothers 'P;,y!1border with Colombia, trying to justify a l"::t::!,foreignintervention. But the dangers are 4t a huge expansion l:'idnot just from abroad; in Venezuela the of health care &;,,;',jreactionhas not been eliminated, and Li,:;#everydaythere are calls from the • J.5 million children pro-reaction media for US intervention in At the beginning of in school are getting the country. We, the workers and youth 2004 the of the rest of the world must defend the reaction tried to call a three free meals a day amongst other revolution ... referendum. measures The revolution must move forward to After they failed to achieve the socialism as a means to complete the 2,400,000 signatures process. needed to call the referendum, the reactionaries hired fascist gangs to terrorise all those who support the revolutionary process. But they were defeated again.
In Solidarity with the Venezuelan Revolution
more info: www.handsoffvenezuela.org
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Since his capture in december last year,
murder thousands of innocent kurds
.,...\/
'Theon . ormation . we have about him is, .'.,.that he.' i~ beif)gheld 'by US forces sOITlewhere'in the. Middle East,> ' .. possibly Saudi Arabia BubUS attempts at 'using stand~i ..' . "Saddam .... beenGri .
.
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f'jascPr an e no:,show.of saddamhussein will help yoypgpeoplein Scotland jtorean~7th;e true nature "of ImperialisbUSA, .and their arsed.ickipg .alliesr the UKgovernll1ent. In future issues of leftfieldr we will feature more examples of US/UK lies and treachery.
sconish socialist youth
international
ssy members and others are going to the 4th international summer camp at Ruesta village, in the Zaragoza province of the Spanish Pyrenees. Ruesta is owned and run by the CGT, a major Spanish Trade Union. They have allowed us full use of their campsite and facilities for the week
ssy ha!i,;peeo al.locat.ed 40 sRCicesJof this camp. j~,,,,..
SpaiD 2004
I
"'I
spectrum of Socialists, Greens, Anarchists and just plain old folks who are pissed off with this stealthy attempt to yank their civil liberties out from beneath them.
we want your name, your fingerprint, and your iris scan. big brother isn't just watching you, he's got a file on you. SSY's Alexander Blitzer has been in the thick of the defy id campaign. We woke him up to ask him what's been happening ... It is the 21st of March 9:00am. In the bleak chill of a Glasgow morning, outside the DVLA office, a tired looking copper passes the time of day with a bored press photographer. He is waiting for his boss (Home Office Minister Des Browne MP) to finish waxing lyrical to Glasgow's press corps about the launch of the UKPS
As security officers step forward to de~1 with the disturbance, it becomes clear that the one suit accompanying the motley crew is in fact Patrick Harvie (Green MSP), upon whom the press descended like locusts before the group is finally ejected. This was the first action of a new group called Defy ID Glasgow.
defy id =
=n
==
identity card
IV trial.
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=
Just as Mr Browne is about to speak, eight scruffy looking youths storm into the office shouting "DEFY IO" and proceed to unroll a huge banner. They look more than a little pissed off.
It was formed at a public meeting only the night before, in response to the revelation that Glasgow would be used as one of the test sites for the new Biometric ID card scheme. The group encompasses a broad political
Defy ID Glasgow meets at the Printworks social centre, 58 Albion street at 7:00pm on thursdays and is open to all. The members choose their own level of involvement from flyering the public to protest and direct action. Defy ID Glasgow is part of a larger UK wide campaign organised by an ad hoc network of groups and individuals. This network is growing fast as people rally to repel this spin-ridden assault on their civil liberties. I have chosen not to debunk the lies of Blair and Blunkett nor argue the case against ID cards for a reason. There isn't time to mess around preaching to the converted, you know why this is wrong. As a young Glaswegian socialist I cannot recall, even in the dark days of Thatcherism, a time when our civil liberties were more threatened. The question is not why Blunkett's ID cards must be fought and fought hard, simply how.
I\I\I;Wl6tâ&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘defy- id. org. u,k"
you can't get me i'm a union dude... The average age of a worker in this country is 34. The .average age of a trade union member is 46. Last month, Kevin Leetion was elected as youth convenor of the pes in Lothians. Kevin spoke to lemield about 21st century Workers Power... A 2001 Labour Force Survey showed that 83% of workers aged 18 to 29 work in the private sector, where just 11% of them are unio ised.
By this I don't mean they should give out HMV vouchers and pretend to like Busted in an effort to 'get down'there would be nothing r ikel. to ut us
who, when they haven't been killing Iraqi children, have consistently acted against the interests of union members.
issues of low pay (which affects young workers more than anyone else), and particularly the issue of a minimum wage for all workers.
Get back to work . you lazy communist monkeys
issue 4 â&#x20AC;˘ summer 2004
is a publication of Scottish Socialist Youth
SSY HQ:
Martin Barnet
70 Stanley St Kinning Park Glasgow G41 IJB
martinbamet@hotmaiI.com
Lothians .SSY
0141 429,8200
'Cameron Smith
North East Scotland SSY Don,pieNicolson. Natio~al Organiser ssp.youth@btconnect.com
zakawele42@hotmaiI.com Scott Barr
SouthWest Scotland SSY
anti-war: troops out of Iraq protest .. take direct action! internationalism victory to the intifada!
Regional Organisers:
dou_ barbie@hotmail.com
Jack Ferguson Mid'Scotland and FifeSSY ssptaycoast@hotmail.com
Wi shaw SSY (Skatepark campaign) thirdarc@yahoo.com
Leah Ganley Highland and Islands SSY 01463 248 853 hissp@hotmail.com
www.ssy.org.uk
Got issues? - Get
II lid
anti-capitalism no to slave labour under nu labour
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'Jii!%jiironald reagan , .~
ex-leader of usa, we will miss you like a dose of the clap. you invaded grenada to take US public opinion away from the marines killed in lebanon. You sent "Contras" into Guatemala, Iran and Nicaragua, murdering countless thousands of innocents, and forcing dictators onto foreign countries. You cut welfare spending to an all time low, sending millions of US workers onto the breadline .
reagan tribute? it's got to be .0 top colonel gadaffi - "I'm very sad that
o
e :::t.
if you have an art ice, a story, a picture, a cartoon, etc for lefUield, then ... send it in to donnie@ssy.org.uk and we'll include it in the next issue. unless it's really shite.
ronald reagan has died ... before he has been tried for war crimes after bombing libya and killing hundreds of innocent people, including my daughter" nice one, daffy.
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