The LEFT Alternative - Formerly Cardiff RESPECT

MARCH ON THE ISRAELI EMBASSY ON SATURDAY

2009-01-05T08:06:00.000-08:00

MARCH ON THE ISRAELI EMBASSY
STOP THE WAR ON GAZA
STOP THE MASSACRE

Saturday 10 January, Central London
Coaches leave at 8 am, Museum Steps Cardiff and
8.30 am Bus Station, Newport

Contact Cardiff Stop the War Coalition at cardifftroopsout@googlemail.com to book a seat asap! Tickets - £16 waged / £10 unwaged

500 dead. Thousands injured. United States blocks UN call for carnage to stop.

This ground attack is intended to turn Gaza into Israeli killing fields. Within hours of troops entering Gaza, hospitals reported that 23 people had been killed and that twenty of them were civilians.

Demonstrations across the world call for an immediate stop to the carnage. Every country in the world bar one wants the killing and destruction to stop now. But just as it did in the Lebanon War in 2006, The United States has given the green light to Israel to intensify its barbarism.

The US is blocking all UN diplomacy for an immediate ceasefire with the tacit compliance of the British government, which calls for an immediate ceasefire while at the same time endorsing America's refusal to allow any discussion in the United Nations to achieve this end.

When Israel broke the six month ceasefire on November 4, it was the trigger for this long planned invasion, deliberately timed for the last few weeks of George Bush's presidency and a few weeks before Israeli elections, in which all the leading politicians are competing as to how many Palestinians they can kill.

Stop the War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, British Muslim Initiative, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament are organising continual protests in the next week, culminating in a national demonstration marching to the Israeli Embassy in London on Saturday 10 January.

Everyone who is shocked and outraged by Israel's barbarity, and the prospect of hundreds more Palestinian civilians being killed by the fourth most powerful military in the world, should commit themselves to helping mobilise for the protests in the coming week and for making the national demonstration on Saturday 10 January the biggest yet seen in this country for the freedom of Palestine.

PROTEST MARCH
Friday 9 January
Assemble 2 p.m. outside Cardiff City Hall, Cathays Park.

Two Gaza Emergency Appeal Fundraising events:

I.Wednesday 7 January
Benefit gig for Gaza in aid of Middle East Childrens Alliance
with Frankie Armstrong - Cath Little - Bob Evans & Mary Ann Roberts -
Imran Khan - Shanee Taylor - Guto Dafis - Stefano Giaconne
Côr Cochion (Cardiff Reds Choir) and poems by Patrick Jones- stories by Amanda Rackstraw Tickets: £5 or donation, Available at the door: 7:30-11 pm in Dempseys, Castle St. Cardiff - tickets £5 or donation

II.Thursday 8 January
Fundraising dinner in aid of Islamic Relief Wales,
Cardiff City Hall, 6-10 p.m tickets £15
Contact - salahma50@gmail.com

South Wales - Workers take Direct Action

2008-12-09T10:42:00.001-08:00

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Adam Johannes reports on the workers blockade in Hirwaun.

Everytime a workplace closes it is like a death in the family. The bosses of Ferrari's bakery chain have treated their workforce like scum, laying them off en-masse after letting them work for over a month without ever intending to pay their wages. To add insult to injury. workers are unable to claim benefits for that month because the State registers them as having been working for Ferrari. Many people are owed as much as £1000, and with bills and rent to pay, and food needed on tables, raw anger is turning into action.

With a fullscale jobs massacre underway across South Wales, the Wales TUC has spectacularly failed to show any fighting spirit or leadership. The level of job cuts and closures in Wales is a national scandal, yet our politicians and union bureaucrats seem to have become rent-a-platitude. The lights will be going out in South Wales shortly - unless we build a movement. In this situation it's heartening to see Ferrari workers begin to take things into their own hands.

The union bureaucrats have been as good as useless, doing nothing to build a mass movement for justice, so yesterday former employees went to one of the main stores to blockade lorries transporting goods out. They rightly claimed that the goods being transported were of equal value to the money they were owed and should be used to pay the wages owed to employers rather than increase the profits of the employers.

We now need to mobilise community fightbacks, so that any worker who takes a stand is not left to struggle alone. What the ex-Ferarri workers were trying to do was heroic, but with hundreds of people in South Wales in a similar boat, this should have been a mass blockade supported by a mass campaign that stopped the lorries, and forced the political elits to sit up and listen.

South Wales Chartists - supporters of the People Before Profit Charter are attempting to build such a network under the slogan - "An attack on one is an attack on all", the campaign hopes to co-ordinate opposition to working class people paying for the economic crisis and provide networks of support and solidarity. We have two campaign meetings this week. To get involved, email: CardiffChartists@live.co.uk

Hirwaun marks the birth of a new politics in South Wales, it is very different to the Cardiff Bay soap opera and the cosy discussions of the Welsh media set, but this anger and this despair is more real than anything they have to offer us.

SWANSEA

When workers at a Sweetmans bakery on St Helen's Road, Swansea discovered that their shop was set to close, they decided to defy the bosses and take matters into their own hands to save the bakery, the local staff have taken over the lease. Sweetmans in Woodfield Street, Morriston has now followed suit. This is nothing like workers control, the bakery will still have a manager and be run along the same line as previous owners, and there is little possibility that 'workers buy-outs' can offer a real alternative to the jobs massacre but it it suggests that closures are not as inevitable as the bosses claim.

We now need to fight for companies that intend to cut jobs to be taken into public ownership and run by the workers in the interests of wider society. This can save hundreds of jobs. We live in a mad world, when the rich plunge us into an economic crisis, hundreds of thousands are made unemployed, thrown onto the scrapheap, and their vital skills and talents wasted, as a left wing newspaper put it:

'Just because bosses and banks can’t make enough profits from Woolworths doesn’t mean that people don’t need children’s clothes and household essentials. Car workers being laid off at Jaguar, Ford and Aston Martin have skills that could be used to create the next generation of public transport vehicles. Manufacturing workers could be retrained and factories retooled to produce the wind turbines and other green energy sources we need to tackle climate change.'

Factory Occupied to Stop Closure - Chicago shows the Way Forward

2008-12-08T10:35:00.001-08:00

"This is the end of an era in which corporate greed is the rule. This is the start of something new." - James Thindwa, Jobs with Justice

What do you do when your boss tells you that your workplace is being shut down in 3 days time and you will get no pay? In Chicago, 250 angry workers have taken their factory hostage, preventing equipment being taken out, occupying to focus the whole attention of the nation on their just cause. At a time when government's spend billions bailing out bankers and capitalists, the workers have demanded a 'people's bailout'.

In raw anger, they chanted

'Bank of America - YOU GOT BAILED OUT - WE GOT SOLD OUT'.

This audacious and courageous stand has won local, national and international support and media attention. It points to the road that people in South Wales are gonna have to travel: Twenty years ago, Thatcher ripped the hearts out of our community replacing coal with heroin, jobs with despair. We cannot allow another jobs massacre to wipe-out our communities.

Read more here

Action gets results:

Calcast factory in Derry makes parts for Ford. They announced 90 redundancies recently, the union dragged its feet in doing anything about it, but workers decided to occupy and won a much better redundancy package.

Remember people are being laid off in South Wales with no redundancy pay. Welsh TV has shown people with tears rolling down their cheeks when they were told that they were being laid off with no redundancy pay just weeks before Christmas. And what the hell are the trade union bureaucrats and the politicians who star in the Cardiff Bay soap opera doing about it? We have to say to Ieuan Wyn Jones and Rhodri Morgan: Your platitudes won't feed my family!

Meanwhile in Cheshire, electricians at Fiddler’s Ferry power station heard that 60 people were being laid off by their agency BMSL. They staged wildcat strike action.

A newspaper report:

"'When they announced that they were sacking us, the contractors and the subcontractors blamed each other. But we weren’t having it. Nobody from any other trade crossed the picket so they had no choice but to get everyone back on site.' The electricians were reinstated. Some 45 were taken on by another subcontractor, the rest staying with BMSL"

Action meant that 60 people facing spending christmas on the dole still have their jobs.

You can watch footage of our brothers and sisters in Chicago here and here

Right on!

SOUTH WALES JOB MASSACRE - Fightback Time!

2008-12-03T05:01:00.000-08:00

The New Chartists in South Wales (supporters of the People Before Profit Charter) have put together two meetings to organise community fightbacks against the job massacres. Many shopstewards, union reps, the convenor of UNITE at Hoover, the Vice-Chair of PCS Wales (in personal capacities) will be coming along, but it important that we mobilise the entire community behind the struggle to save South Wales from being once again laid waste by capital red in tooth and claw.

Wednesday 10 December, 7.30
Glebeland Club (above Belle Vue Pub)
Glebeland Street
Merthyr Tydfil

Thursday 11 December, 7.30 pm
The STAR Centre
Splott Road
Splott
Cardiff
(NOTE CHANGE OF VENUE!)

We have been busy as hell visiting factories & workplaces in South Wales facing closure, we hope we can link up different working class communities under attack. In Merthyr town centre last weekend, hundreds of people signed petitions, some signing for every member of their family & Merthyr Tydfil FC Supporters Group requesting petitions to take away. A Facebook group gained over 2,000 members in 3 days.

Over 4,000 jobs have been lost or put under threat in the last 4 weeks. From Budelpack in Maesteg to Bosch in Llantrisant to the thousands of uncertain positions in Woolworths, the avalanche of job losses threatens to grow as the recession gets worse.

Without a fightback, not only will these jobs go but it will be easier for the bosses to come back and sack more. Millions of jobs around the country will be under threat. It's imprtant that when they say "cutback," we say "fightback!"

We've also been around the affected factories trying to arrange delegations. If you know people affected by the job cuts, please get in touch ASAP. Please do your best to come along and let as many people know as possible.

Save Hoover's Factory in Merthyr - Campaign Diary

2008-11-23T08:49:00.000-08:00

An online campaign against the closure of Hoover attracted almost 2000 supporters over 3 days, this is now turning into a real life fightback to defend our communities. Jonny Jones, South Wales Chartists - Supporters of the People Before Profit Charter, who set up the campaign writes from Merthyr:

04/12/08 Tony Benn Statement / Government rejects petition!

Hi everyone. Here is a statement from Tony Benn to all of us. Tony Benn is the best known figure on the Labour left who retired from Parliament to "spend more time involved in politics." Since then he has campaigned tirelessly against the war as President of the Stop the War Coalition and is a strong supporter of the People Before Profit Charter.

"The economic crisis is having a devastating effect on workers all across Britain. In South Wales, the impact is being felt particularly sharply. From Budelpack to Bosch, Maesteg to Merthyr, thousands of jobs are being wiped out by the recession. Unemployment in Wales is rising four times faster the national average.

The announcement of an end to manufacturing at the Hoover factory in Merthyr Tydfil is symbolic of how grave this crisis is. Hoover has been in Merthyr for 60 years, and, in that time, tens of thousands of workers and their families have relied on the factory for their livelihoods. To announce the job cuts just before Christmas is an appalling insult to the workers and people of Merthyr.

It has always been the case that, in times of crisis, big business seeks to safeguard its profits by making ordinary people pay the price. That is why it is so important for workers, trade unionists, socialists and activists to come together and fight to safeguard their common interests.

Democracy has always relied upon mass movements to win and defend our rights. The Chartists, who struggled to win the vote, faced down repression courageously in places like Newport in South Wales and inspired millions across the country. The mass anti-war movement was able to win the vast majority of the British people to opposing the immoral wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Meetings like those organised by the supporters of the People Before Profit Charter in Merthyr and Cardiff can be an important first step in building a new movement, one that seeks to unite all those who face unemployment and uncertainty in struggle for social justice and the right to work. I wish them and all who support them the very best in their campaign."

Also, Gordon Brown's 10 Downing Street Website has refused to host a petition under the title 'Stop the Jobs Massacre in South Wales' on the basis that it includes "Language which is offensive, intemperate, or provocative" ... what a cheek!

We've just had another 370 jobs cut in tax offices around Wales, 450 jobs at an aluminium factory outside Newport. Brown might prefer to dress these job cuts up as something other than a massacre but for the thousands who face redundancy, this ain't no Christmas Party!It's clear that this is a problem that will run and run, please do your best to keep pushing for people to attend these important meetings next week.

02/12/08 - Meetings set-up for next week and Tony Benn wishes us success!

Big things happening over the next two weeks! I spoke to Tony Benn last night about the campaign to stop the job cuts at Hoover. Tony has been a central figure in British politics for decades and has a record of standing up for working people. He said that I should communicate to everyone his best wishes for success in our campaign!

Two meetings have been organised to bring together all those who want to campaign against the closure of Hoover and all the other places being affected by mass redundancies.

In Merthyr, the meeting will be on Wednesday 10th December at 7.30pm in the Glebeland Club (upstairs from the Belle Vue Pub) on Glebeland Street in the town centre. We're currently working on getting guests arranged but have already heard from the convenor at Hoover that he and some of the shop stewards will be coming along!

There will be another meeting in Cardiff on Thursday 11th December at 7.30pm in the Royal Hotel, St Mary's Street in the city centre. Any suggestions as to what we could be doing or offers of help to publicise the meeting would be greatly appreciated! Please do your best to get along and bring others.We're trying to contact as many people who have lost their jobs or whose jobs are under threat as possible.

If you know people who worked at Ferrari's Bakers before the closure last week, or who works / worked at Budelpack, Bosch, Serious Food Co. etc then please get in touch: theyoungdudes@yahoo.com

26/11/08 - 2000 members! But we need to keep building...

Brilliant to see we're now at over 2000 members in little over a week. It's great to see that people are still pushing the group and trying to get the campaign known.

If we needed any more evidence of how important it is to fight back against the cuts, it came today when both Woolworths and MFI went into administration threatening thousands of jobs. In Maesteg, the old Revlon factory has annouced it is closing with the loss of 400 jobs. In Llantrisant, another 200 jobs are going at the Serious Food Co, that's on top of the 250 cut from Bosch just last week.

This is just the beginning of recession and the onslaught on jobs we face in the coming years. That's why I've been contacting people to try to get a meeting on job cuts set-up in Merthyr as soon as possible. I've contacted Labour, Plaid and the Unite union as well as representatives from the PCS union.

Hopefully we'll be able to announce more details in the days to come but in the meanwhile keep letting people know about the campaign and stay in touch with your ideas about what we can be doing. Your response so far has been brilliant - even the Merthyr Tydfil FC Supporters Club are backing us and are taking a petition to the next match! If you're a member of an organisation or union that could back the campaign, get in touch.

25/11/08: Campaign Gets a Brilliant Response in Merthyr!

On Saturday a few of us set up a stall in the centre of Merthyr for a couple of hours doing a petition calling for intervention to save jobs at Hoover.

We couldn't believe the response. Hundreds of people signed, some people wanting to list their entire family! We met current workers from the factory who are incredibly angry. We met many workers who've been there over the years, including one who had worked there when it first opened.

It's blindingly obvious from that response and from the response to the facebook group that people in Merthyr want to resist these cuts and closures. It's not just Hoover either. Thirty jobs are to go at Sekisui and the tax office is going to be closed with the loss of around fifty jobs. If Hoover's workers go down without a fight it will be that much easier for the next company to lay people off.

That's why over the next few days we want to try to organise a public meeting in Merthyr to defend jobs. Please get in touch if you have contacts with people inside or outside the factory who would be able to advertise a meeting or if you have suggestions as to who might be able to speak. It's important to have representatives from the parties and the unions, but even more important is that local people and workers have a place where they can come together, discuss the situation and come up with a plan to fight back!

21/11/08: Over 1000 members in three days!

When I set this group up, I didn't imagine it's get so big so fast, and I certainly didn't expect so much international support from all around the world. Thanks to everyone who's joined and please carry on inviting more of your friends.

We're often told how much the people of Merthyr owe to Hoover for providing so many with a living. The truth is, Hoover owes Merthyr. Hoover has been happy to take advantage of low wages in the Valleys to make profits over the decades. Now it wants to shut up shop and exploit even lower wages overseas. With the recession growing, Hoover thinks it can get away with cutting and running without a fight back.

There's more to this than just Hoover, though. Gordon Brown has spent over £500 BILLION on loans and bailouts to the banks this year. He tells us this was essential to support the economy. It doesn't seem to be working. The last three month rise in unemployment figures was over 140,000 – almost 30,000 of these job cuts were in Wales!

At the same time, New Labour is attempting to push thousands of ill people and single parents back into work. In Merthyr, where one-in-five is on long term sickness, these changes coming on top of massive job cuts will be disastrous. With the number of people looking for jobs exploding just as jobs are disappearing it will mean misery for many people.

Welsh Assembly AM Huw Lewis has rightly called for a serious regeneration program to help those affected by the job cuts. Leanne Wood AM has called for a workers' bailout to go alongside the one the banks got.

None of these things will be handed over to us. A strong campaign, rooted in communities like Merthyr, will be essential to winning the change we need. Meetings, protests, marches, strikes, occupations – all can play a part in building confidence and winning support. Please get in touch if you want to get involved: theyoungdudes@yahoo.com

What's Goin' On?

2008-11-17T11:31:00.000-08:00

To advertise your event, email: respect_yourself_cardiff@hotmail.co.uk

STOP THE ST ATHAN MILITARY ACADEMY CAMPAIGN MEETING
Tuesday 18 November, 6.30 pm
Temple of Peace, Edward VII Avenue

http://www.antimetrix.org

CARDIFF GREEN DRINKS
Wednesday 19 November, 6 pm onwards
The Yard (upstairs), 42-43 St Mary Street

Greendrinks is a monthly informal gathering over a drink for anyone with an interest in the environment, a free buffet is also laid on!

'NEW ARRIVALS' COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PLAY
Thursday 20 November
Sherman Theatre
Tickets £3 - Free for asylum seekers

FILM SHOWING - 'TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE'
Friday 21 November, 7.30
Talybont Social Centre (Upstairs)

A free film showing about US torture in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.

UNDERCURRENTS - BEYOND TV
Saturday 22 - Sunday 23 November
Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea

Radical environmental films, forums and masterclasses from the world of documentary filmmaking. This years festival will be focused upon the filmmakers. If you are a documentary maker please attend and forge links with other film-makers, music makers and animators

OPPOSE THE INTRODUCTION OF ID CARDS
Tuesday 25 November, 12 - 1 pm
Borders Agency, 31 - 33 Newport Road

Biometric ID cards will come into force for non-EU students and spouses from 25th November and will be issued from offices in Birmingham, Cardiff, Croydon, Glasgow, Liverpool, and Sheffield. We will be holding a protest outside the Home Office building in Cardiff and hope for protests outside each of the other offices on that day. We welcome all opponents of the increasing levels of social control that the government wishes to extend over all our lives to take part. Join us during your lunch break from work or study to show solidarity with migrants being victimised by these cynical divide and rule tactics by The Home Office. By resisting the repression of migrants, we defend the freedom of everyone! Called by No Borders South Wales.

RE-VAMP - CARDIFF'S FIRST EVER GIANT CLOTHES SWAPPING EVENT
Thursday 27 November, 6 pm - Midnight
Koko Gorrilaz, Salisbury Road

If there was ever a time to have a good old rummage through your wardrobe and dig out those forgotten items of clothing that haven’t seen daylight in at least a year, then it’s now! Instead of letting those poor un-loved garments gather dust and feel sorry for themselves, give them the chance of a new life at Re-Vamp! A group of creative, eco-minded females have put their resourceful heads together to bring you a unique night of swapping clothes, exchanging skills, and all whilst barely parting with a penny! Certainly not your average night out! You can expect: CLOTHES SWAPPING - Swap your cast-offs for someone else’s and get a whole ‘new’ outfit totally free. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure! RE-VAMPED FASHION SHOW – See what other people have created from old clothes and get inspired! RE-VAMPING AREA - Learn how to Re-vamp your own clothes and make accessories from un-wanted materials. We will have girls on hand with sewing machines and crafty ideas to share. PEDAL-POWERED BINGO – Yes, that’s right, bingo on a bike, it has to be seen to be believed! Join in and you could win a Re-Vamped goody bag! RE-VAMPED TUNES – Top local female DJs will be mixing it up on the decks.

Do you already make clothes or accessories from re-used materials, maybe you would like to be involved in the fashion show or run a creative workshop? We are also looking for people to lend us clothes rails and coat hangers.

SEEKING ASYLUM IN BRITAIN - HORROR OR HUMANE?
Friday 28 November, 6.30 pm
Small Chemistry Lecture Theatre, Main Building, Cardiff University

Forum on the state of the British asylum system. How do we really treat refugees? Asylum seekers tell their stories, plus guest speakers and a question panel. Organised by STAR

PROTEST ASYLUM SEEKER DESTITUTION
Wednesday 3 December, 4.30 - 6 pm
Nye Bevan Statue, Queen Street

Raising awareness and protesting on World Migration Day

THE WAVES - CARDIFF FEMINIST FORUM
Wednesday 3 December, 6 pm
Milgi Lounge, City Road (to be confirmed)

Cardiff's newest and fastest growing feminist group meets monthly.

CARDIFF PUBLIC SERVICES NOT PRIVATE PROFIT CAMPAIGN LAUNCH
Wednesday 3 December, 7 pm

Update: NOW POSTPONED TILL NEW YEAR

NATIONAL CLIMATE MARCH
Saturday 6 December, Central London

March on parliament. More info here: Coach stopping 8 am, Cardiff Museum Steps and 8.30 am Newport Bus StationTickets - £18 waged or £10 student/unwagedE-mail CardiffCCC@hotmail.co.uk to reserve a place asap!

PROTEST INTRODUCTION OF ID CARDS FOR NON-EU STUDENTS & SPOUSES
Wednesday 10 December, 12 noon
Borders Agency, 31-33 Newport Road

Following the protest outside the UK border Agency on 25th Novemer when ID cards came into force, there will be another protest when the Cardiff office starts to register people on Wednesday 10th December. Called by No Borders South Wales.

SAVE HOOVER'S FACTORY IN MERTHYR - EMERGENCY MEETING
Wednesday 10 December, 7.30 pm
Glebeland Club (above Belle Vue Pub)
Glebeland St
Merthyr

With trade union reps, shop stewards, activists and people from the community. Organised by South Wales Chartists - Supporters of the People Before Profit Charter

STOP THE JOBS MASSACRE
Thursday 11 December, 7.30 pm
Royal Hotel
St Mary's Street
Cardiff

With union reps, shop stewards, activists and people from the community. All welcome. Organised by South Wales Chartists - Supporters of the People Before Profit Charter.

BUTE PARK - CRITICS CONFRONT COUNCIL
Friday 12 December, 5 - 7 pm
Glamorgan Building, Cardiff University

Prof Kevin Morgan, school of City and Regional Planning at Cardiff University, believes the planned roadways would desecrate one of the city’s greatest assets, a top-grade Park. He has planned a head-to-head debate between senior City Councillors, the Heritage Lottery Fund and their critics. This is a chance to question and challenge the plans to build roads to suit the largest lorries and to channel traffic through the memorial woodland in Bute Park.

Armistice Day in Aberystwyth

2008-11-11T04:41:00.000-08:00

Aberystwyth is the first local council to officially comemorate non combatants as part of remembrance, indeed it is the only local authority in Britain to have an officially sanctioned event where a wreath of white poppies is lain at the Cenotaph (as well as the traditional wreath of red poppies) to remember all victims of war after a vote on the council in 2004. It has not been without controversy. We recently received in our big red postbag this statement from Aberystwyth Peace & Justice Network

“On behalf of our town Council, Aberystwyth Peace and Justice Network wouldlike to invite you to a service of remembrance and peace. Please forward this message to your networks.

Once again this year Aberystwyth Town Council will lay a white poppy wreathat the war memorial. In taking this action our Council is unique in Britain.But the decision to maintain the tradition was not made easily. It took the casting vote of Mayor, Sue Jones-Davies. So, the initiative needs the activesupport of everyone committed to working for a peaceful and just world.

The white poppy not only commemorates all those who suffer in wars, it alsosends out the message that, ‘there are better ways to resolve conflicts than killing strangers’. Britain is the world’s second largest arms exporter. The white poppy represents hope for a culture in which preparation for armed conflict is considered immoral rather than a valid economic activity.

This year’s ceremony takes place on Saturday 8th November at 11am. It willbe led by Rhidian Griffith, an elder of Capel y Morfa, Aberystwyth. Côr Gobaith will sing No More War and Mae Gen I Freuddwyd. The latter is asong based on Martin Luther King Jr’s historic speech ‘I have a dream’. Words are by Myrddin Ap Dafydd and the song envisages a world of peace,harmony and justice.

Prior to the Council’s decision, Aberystwth Peace and Justice Network and the Royal British Legion failed to reconcile the red and white poppy traditions. In September Aberystwyth RBL wrote to the Council to declin ebecause ‘the White Poppy is not a charitable thing… November is the Remembrance of those who gave their lives in the service of their country.’

Meanwhile, Assembly Member Bethan Jenkins, a former Guild of Students President in Aberystwyth University, has called on Neath and Port Talbot Council to follow Aberystwth’s example. ‘I hope Councils all over Wales heedBethan’s call,’ said Lotte Reimer of AP&JN.”

Remembrance Sunday - A soldier's Declaration

2008-11-09T05:53:00.000-08:00

The "old lie" featured recently in the South Wales Echo who inform us that the people who fought in World War One died for "our" freedom. In truth, working class people were sent to butcher working class people from other countries on behalf of their rulers. A whole generation was damned so that the elites in our society could extend their power and wealth -as in World War One, so in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Siegfried Sassoon, the great poet, was swept up by patriotism and in 1914-15 joined up. He gained a reputation for exceptional bravery, including the single-handed capture of a German trench. He would go out on night raids and bombing patrols and known for his manic courage. He was decorated for bravery.

Two years later he realised "the whole damn thing was a lie" and decided to make a stand against the war. He hurled his medals into the River Mersey, before making the following declaration that was printed in the Times and read and discussed in Parliament.

I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it.

I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that the war upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation has now become a war of agression and conquest. I believe that the purposes for which I and my fellow soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them and that had this been done the objects which actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation.

I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops and I can no longer be a party to prolonging these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust. I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed.

On behalf of those who are suffering now, I make this protest against the deception which is being practised upon them; also I believe it may help to destroy the callous complacency with which the majority of those at home regard the continuance of agonies which they do not share and which they have not enough imagination to realise.

Quote of the Week

2008-11-08T06:43:00.001-08:00

"Which is the greater crime, to rob a bank or to own one?''
- Bertolt Brecht

Back by popular demand!

After a short absence, our "quote of the week" feature returns with this gem from Bertolt Brecht's satire of decaying & rotting capitalism, The Three-Penny Opera, sent to us by one Mrs EH Jones of Treharris Street, Roath.

As our many readers and correspondents know our site aims to be the 'voice of the streets'.

If you have a favourite quote why not send it to our Big Red Postbag at: respect_yourself_cardiff@hotmail.co.uk

We receive a high volume of emails and correspondence, but will endeavor to reply to all enquiries, comments as soon as humanly possible.

2008-11-06T10:47:00.001-08:00

Obama Victory

2008-11-05T06:30:00.000-08:00

"We lead the world in battling immediate evils and promoting the ultimate good . . .We must lead by building a 21st century military.... I strongly support the expansion of our ground forces by adding 65,000 soldiers to the Army and 27,000 Marines."
- Barack Obama, April 2007

"a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear ... this world down – we will defeat you... "
- Barack Obama, Victory speech signalling a continuation of the wider 'war on terror'

"From day one of the Obama victory, which will unleash a wave of high expectations on the domestic and global fronts, activist pressure is crucial to achieve anything. I think antiwar activists should turn up in large numbers to the inauguration with banners reading, "Congrats Barack, now out of Kabul and Iraq!"
- Tariq Ali

Anthony Arnove, an American peace activist & author of Iraq - The Logic of Withdrawal has eloquently decoded what an Obama victory means for the Iraqi people here.

We reproduce his response to the US election below, read other commentary from the US left here and here

The first thing to say is that there should be no honeymoon. The Democrats have held a majority in the House and Senate for two years, yet have continued to fund the occupation of Iraq, to allow warrantless wiretaps, to expand the military budget.

But the Democrats can no longer use the excuse of Bush and the need to win the White House to continue to defy the widespread desire for change. That means we need to challenge Obama from the first day he takes office, with public protest and mobilization.

Second, we have to insist that Obama's "let's not and say we did" position on withdrawal from Iraq is unacceptable. Withdrawal means withdrawal, not redeployment of some troops to Afghanistan while leaving tens of thousands of troops for "counter-insurgency," maintaining long-term bases, establishing the largest foreign Central Intelligence Agency station and U.S. embassy in Baghdad, and allowing mercenaries to remain.

We can't let Iraq slip into the background, out of the headlines, and accept a repacking of the occupation as a solution.

Third, we need to be clear that the problem with the so-called Bush Doctrine of preventive war is not that it was misapplied, but that it is wrong on principle. We must pressure Obama to renounce--which so far he has shown no signs of doing--regime change in Iran and the right to strike countries like Syria and Somalia at will.

That applies to U.S. allies such as Israel as well, to which this obscene power has long been extended (along with the right to maintain an arsenal of nuclear weapons, like other U.S. allies that have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, India and Pakistan, in contrast to Iran).

Last, we need to say to Obama that we want an end to the ideological war on Arabs and Muslims, on immigrants, and the outrageous powers according to the executive to detain and torture, to use secret evidence, to hold people in Guantánamo Bay or prisons in Afghanistan and Iraq. Guantánamo should be closed immediately and the territory completely returned to Cuba.

Renditions and torture should be renounced without qualification. The United States should end its defiance of the international convention on violence against children (protecting the right to execute minors) and on the use of land mines and cluster munitions, as well as nuclear weapons (the new generation of so-called mini-nukes).

Now is not a time for "bipartisanship." We have seen all too much of that. Bipartisanship has led to all the problems we presently confront, with the complicity and, in many cases, full-throated support of the Democrats. Now is time for a radical break.

But we should not for a moment hold our breath or expect Obama to deliver this of his own initiative. Nothing in his career or policy statements--or in the lessons of our history--should lead us to expect that.

If anything, we should anticipate Obama will govern to the right of his campaign promises, not the left. Last century, we saw two presidents legislate to the left of the policies they advocated as candidates: Franklin Roosevelt and Richard Nixon. The reason was not to be explained by their personal characteristics, but the fact that both were confronted by massive social movements that disrupted business as usual and forced unexpected democratic changes from below.

HAVE YOUR NEWS!

2008-11-03T08:39:00.001-08:00

Some of our people - members, supporters and friends - have been involved in creating a satirical regular radio news-broadcast. You can listen here

Episode 2. War Report.

Richard Branson mislables middle east in sat nav disaster.
Miss Georgia on imperialism.
Gordon Ramsay's African Kitchen Nighmares.
Sell. Sell. Sell. Bail out. Shoot. Kill. Kill. Invade. Sell.

So was the theory coming from John Mcain’s campaign team on how best to deal with the global crisis.

At Have Your News we stood bemused as Cliff’s mortgage went up and Harry’s mother defaulted on her china dog repayments.

Have Your News Iceland was nationalised. Over here we were caught up in an orchestrated buyout of our parent company MagazineNews4All.com after Lehman Brothers hit the wall.

We even started making jokes. “Is that the new credit crunch cereal bar you’re eating” quipped Cliff. But he was laughing on the other side of his face when his HBOS shares dropped faster than a heavy pile of books that were tied together. The comic genius however, keeps flowing like a boat on a nice river.

Things are just moving so fast. Even Ninjas can’t keep up. If you are finding it hard then please take some advice from our pamphlet. “How to kick the crunch and stay awake” available from Starbucks TM coffee shops. Handy tips like “Buy one cappuccino, not two” and “Don’t get skinny latte, buy a Creamyacino TM for the same price” are invaluable in this time of need. Gordon Brown saved his leadership by simply spending a load of cash and all his rivals could say was “I would spend £500 billion.

Definitely. I could do that no problem. Look at the size of my….”.

It’s not all bad news though, cheer up! Gregg’s the pasty maker has announced record profits. All empty houses are now to be turned into Gregg’s “Pasty Palaces” instead of homes to feed the hungry this Christmas.

Ordering Roquefort and caramelised pear warm salad? Better get a steak bake. Screamed the financial times lifestyle supplement headline last week.

Even sacked Bank of Scotland boss Sir Fred Goodwin who left on £4.15 million had to say goodbye to his dreams. “Looks like the closest thing I’ll be getting to my dream home in the Caribbean this Christmas is the thousand island dressing on my tuna melt” said the glum banker. Our hearts go out to all facing trouble; hopefully we can cheer you up a little.

Have Your News will be back with a U.S election Global Crisis special.

Sshh . . . Hallowe'en Protest - Samhain Anti-Capitalist Action in Cardiff

2008-10-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Torchlight March and Street Party, Assemble 5 pm, Friday 31st October, Nye Bevan Statue, Queen Street. Called by the Cardiff Chartists - Supporters of the People before Profit Charter.

"Show me a capitalist and I'll show you a bloodsucker!" - Malcolm X

The free market is crumbling, yet the ghosts of the past are desperate to prop up the system. Billions of pounds of our money has been diverted to the vampires of the banking system, who are sucking our wallets dry.

After nationalising the banks we've continued to see home repossessions spiral. In Wales, court actions against late mortgage payers have tripled in the past year. Every single hour, four people in Wales are told they will lose their house. Not many of the bankers will be losing their luxury castles with velvet-coated coffins, while ordinary workers feel the bite.

On Halloween 2008, supporters of the People Before Profit Charter will be protesting against the government's so called nationalisations of banks - nationalisations that are only in the interests of the rich. They think that we're too stupid to realise what's going on, that we're a bunch of zombies who will quietly pay for the crisis which they have created.

Come along on the 31st of October and demand that nationalisation of banks should mean nationalisation in our interests. If we own the banks, why don't we get a say in what happens to our money? Giving billions of pounds to the same people who drove the economy into the crypt makes about as much sense as asking the Wolf Man to safely herd sheep.

We will assemble at 5pm at the Aneurin Bevan statue on Queen Street, right by Bradford and Bingley. We will then have a torch-lit march from bank to bank, exorcising the ghouls and ghosts of the free market and stamping our claim on our banks!

Many people will be coming in fancy dress, though that's not essential. There'll also be music and street art in abundance, please bring drums, pots, whistles or anything else to add to the cacophony!

“Awake, thou sleeper on the Rock of Eternity ! Albion awake ! The trumpet of Judgment hath sounded” - William Blake

Are YOU Green?

2008-10-15T08:17:00.000-07:00

The LEFT Alternative received this message in our big Cardiff postbag:

"Cardiff hasn’t had a Greendrinks…until now! The first Cardiff Greendrinks will take place at The Yard, St Mary’s Street tonight onWednesday, October 15th at 6pm. This is our first meeting so we are finding our feet and we want to find out what people want from Greendrinks Cardiff, and when and where they want it before a grand launch in November. In the spirit of Greendrinks we couldn’t think of a better way to do this than to invite people along and ask! Please pass on these details to anybody you think may be interested, and of course bring along any friends and colleagues.
Can’t make it but want to in future? Want to help organise Greendrinks? Want to get your group involved with Greendrinks? Please let us know at alun.nicola@virgin.net or drop us a message."

For those who don't know Greendrinks is a laid back monthly meeting where people with an interest in all things environmental and green can relax and talk over a . . . drink! It's an international movement. To find us, turn up and say, "Are you Green?" (Though the LEFT Alternative bloc at the bar will also answer to the greeting, "Are you Red?". For us, our socialism and our ecology go hand-in-hand)

The Rich turn Nasty . . .

2008-10-10T13:02:00.000-07:00

According to a recent article in the Hate Mail (as we like to call the Daily Mail around here), a Merseyside Letting Agency is putting up "Rent Dodger Lives Here" placards on the houses of tenants who pay their rent late or not at all.

Most people who have experience of being ripped off by letting agency's will be mad at this. The LEFT Alternative in Cardiff will be printing signs with the phrase "Tax Dodger Lives Here" to put on the houses of the rich!

Last year the majority of billionaires in Wales didn't pay a penny in income tax, while over the summer a Barry pensioner spent a month behind bars because she failed to pay her council tax due to financial hardship.

And let's not forget that our taxes are paying for thick layabout scroungers like those pictured above on the right.

March on the City - We Won't Bail out the Bankers (Today in London)

2008-10-10T07:30:00.000-07:00

Students, pensioners and working people are marching in London to the Bank of England today to make it clear to the government and the bankers that we will not pay for their crisis. Assemble outside the Bank of England at 4pm today.

Within a day of confirming £50bn to part-nationalise Britain's biggest banks, this figure was turned into £500bn. There was talk of another £50bn available to the eight largest banks and building societies, another £200bn for short-term borrowing to provide liquidity and a special company to provide up to £250bn in loan guarantees. Did the taxpayer ever get a chance to agree to this change? Or indeed the whole idea of bailing out the banks and the bankers? The short answer is no.

But part of the problem is, so far, "recapitalisation" of the banking industry has done nothing to regain confidence in the markets, let alone being a "bold and far-reaching solution" to the crisis, as Gordon Brown would have us believe. This is because nobody knows the extent of "toxic assets" or where they are located, least of all the government. The FTSE index has lost nearly 19 percent so far this week, just short of the losses during the crash of 1987.

So where does HM Treasury get all this money? Government borrowing means that the taxpayer pays for this crisis. In time this means there will be less money for schools, less money for hospitals and less money for the things that the majority need; that is, unless the government chooses to spend public money on these things. Or, unless the public makes the government spend money on these things.

Even if city bonuses are reduced from their staggering levels, the Centre for Economics and Business Research reports that the forecast for bonuses to be paid out this year is £3.5bn. Billions in company profits among energy companies such as British Gas and supermarkets such as Tesco, combined with rising fuel and food prices by these same companies, is only feeding anger among working people.

Pensioners are also being hit badly by the crisis, with no benefit from the bailout. According to analysts, in the last month alone, retirement savings have lost more than 10% of their value as investors sell their shares to avoid the worst effects of the credit crunch. Ros Altmann, an independent pensions analyst said, "the government's response to the credit crunch is dreadful for pensions. This knee-jerk panic reaction shows no sign of understanding how we got into the mess, nor how to get out of it."

This is why students, pensioners and working people are marching to the Bank of England today to make it clear that we will not pay for their crisis. When it comes to bailing out the banks and the bankers the government can find hundreds of billions of pounds, but when it comes to pensioners freezing in their homes, student poverty, or money for the NHS, the message from the government is that we need to tighten our belts. This is our chance to say no.

War Games in Wales: Talkin' World War III Blues

2008-10-09T08:48:00.000-07:00

Fighter jets, infantry troops, destroyers and submarines have all converged on Wales for the biggest military exercise of all time. The whole of Wales has been designated a flying zone for the exercise which will provide coordinated training for all three UK Armed Services, plus forces from eight allied nations. Huge sections of our coastline have been taken over by the military.

Where is the outrage? Where are the 'lefty' Welsh politicians speaking out? (Other than us) Who is speaking out?

The MoD claim: "The two-week exercise – codenamed Joint Warrior – is designed to recreate a scenario in which Britain and other sovereign nations go to war against a “state-sponsored terrorist movement” – using a vast array of lethal modern weapons."

So is Britain to take up arms against America? Or has the Ministry of 'Defence' declared war on itself?

If we cut through the spin, it is clear that the aim of this exercise is to train British troops to wage war against another country. With the 'war on terror; spiralling into countries as diverse as Pakistan and Somalia, and threats against Iran, the exercise could be more than just training for the continued subjugation of the Afghan and Iraqi people, but also the dress rehearsal for another imperialist adventure.

Britain is already locked into at least two imperialist adventures opposed by the majority of citizens in Britain, the silence of the Welsh political class over these war games is sickening, but not unexpected. With a million dead in Iraq and still counting since 2003, we need to demand - at the very least - for a moratorium on any military exercises in Wales while British troops are involved in occupying Iraq and Afghanistan, and an end to the military training of Iraqi militia here.

The Welsh Assembly is totally complicit in the British Military Industrial Complex: First Minister of Wales, Rhodri Morgan - infamously - refused to oppose the Iraq War and is an apologist for Raytheon, a big company directly involved in war crimes. While not a single AM has unequivocally spoken out over the building of the Military Academy at St Athan, the biggest PFI in history.

The Academy will make a profit by training - not only the crack troops of British imperialism - but soldiers from any despotic regime allied to the West prepared to fork out the cash. Any Welsh politician who claims to be on the left should grasp that basic working class solidarity with those on the receiving end of Britain's imperialist adventures means opposing the Academy tooth-and-nail.

Adam Johannes, anti-war activist and Left Alternative member

Cardiff Council Are Rubbish! Victory to the Bin Men & Women!

2008-10-08T05:35:00.001-07:00

Wolfie Smith from North Cardiff Left Alternative reports on the upcoming bin strike on Monday.

Recently City Boss, Rodders (Rodney Berman, Leader of Cardiff Council - Ed.) has been trying to act the hard man facing down the unions. Berman is, of course, singular inappropriate to play the role of hard man as he doth more resemble a petulant child prone to temper-tantrums, but there is a nasty edge to the LibDem/Plaid Council and its attacks on council workers and trade unions: The petulant child is turning into a bully.

A few months ago it was the attempt to introduce a new tough regime for workers who dared to take time off sick, now it is the attempt to impose new shift patterns with no proper consultation.

Traditionally local refuse collectors have done a shift beginning at 7 am and wrapping up at 3 pm at the latest. But now the Council has taken a unililateral decision to change workers contracts and terms of employment, and replace shifts with two new shifts from 6 am to 2 pm, and 2 pm to 10 pm related to the introduction of new weekly food waste collections.

In response, to the failure to properly discuss these changes with the workforce, 90% of GMB members voted to stage a strike beginning on Monday. There seems no recognition from Cardiff Council that working from 2 pm to 10 pm would count as anti-social hours, especially if you have a family (ten minutes to see your kids at the breakfast table?!), and workers should receive a raise in wages accordingly. There also appaars be no recognition of the impact that such a radical change of working patterns might have, and the basic need to be led by workers representatives to facilitate any transition.

More disturbing is the report that our taxpayers money is going to be used by the LibDems and Plaid in Cardiff to pay for scab labour. Why not contact your local councillor to complain? We would also suggest putting signs on your rubbish saying, 'To be collected by GMB members only, Scabs don't touch!'

Left Alternative members and supporters of the People before Profit Charter will be sure to visit picket lines and workers to show support and solidarity for their just cause, for the workers united can never be defeated!

Defend Holtsfield

2008-10-08T05:04:00.000-07:00

Once again Holtsfield Community on the Gower Peninsula is under threat with an attempted eviction on Tuesday. Adam Johannes, from the Left Alternative (Roath Branch) reports.

A couple of years back, I had the great honour to visit Holtsfield as part of a day of cob-building. Cob-houses are a form of sustainable housing made from clay bricks. The clay means that the house is warm in winter meaning no need for heating, thus cutting down on energy bills, and lovely and cool in the summer. During my visit I also saw an organic farm and straw bale houses. But the jewel in the crown of Holtsfield is its low impact housing.

In secluded semi-woodland you will find a random settlement of almost thirty single storey chalets. Holtsfield is part of the heritage of South Wales. Originally holiday homes, the chalets were occupied by working class people who had their homes bombed during the war. The chalets are beautiful, and highly individual painted in different colours and made of timber and lightweight materials. Visitors always comment how they seem to melt into the landscape.

Since the hard times of the post-war period the community has developed a village like ambience and is home to people from many different walks of life and background.

Around 1990 things changed when, the freehold was bought by a Swansea development company, Elitestone Ltd. This has resulted in a longterm struggle by the company to evict the residents, harrass them and plans to move in rich people and build houses. The company also lobbied to overturn the designation of the area as a conservation area. Now they are planning to carry out evictions. We urge everybody who can make it to get down to Holtsfield.

Bonita James reports:

"On the Tuesday 14 October at half past 12 there is a planned eviction of number 9 Holtsfield.This is my mothers house and the house I grew up in.

Show your support and if you are able to turn up on the day to peacefully protest, your help would be much appreciated. We do not wish for any violent behaviour at all, we mainly want witnesses because last time the behaviour of the hired security was very heavy handed so the more people there to see it, the less likely it is someone will get hurt.The last time Tim Jones tried to evict was in 1998 and it was only avoided due to local community support on the day. As so much time has passed since then a lot of people are unaware that the threat of eviction is still present. All this group hopes to achieve is to gather support and inform people of the current circumstances."

Anti-ID card protest outside Newport Passport Office

2008-10-01T02:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday 4th October at 2pm
outside the Passport Office,
Olympia House, Upper Dock Street,
Newport, NP20 1XA

From organisers:

'The new card will hold the holder’s photograph, name, date of birth, nationality, immigration status and an electronic chip with biometric details, including fingerprints and digital facial image. All indefinitely held on the UK Identity and Passport Service database.

Initially the ID cards will be issued to non-EU students and marriage visa holders then, foreign nationals wanting to enter the UK. From next year other foreign nationals living in the UK will begin to be issued with ID cards. These groups will be forced to enrol on the scheme and use the card, rather than their passport, for identification,

Once migrants have been used to test the scheme, in 2009 anyone, regardless of nationality, who works in an area the government deems “sensitive” such as airports will be required to have an ID card. From 2010, students will need ID cards to get a student loan and they will be available to the rest of us on a “voluntary” basis, with them being paired with passports in 2011.

It is patently clear that this card is the thin end of the wedge, the first blow in an attack on civil liberties we all enjoy. The government is open about their plans, it wants everyone in the UK tagged, numbered and repressed, using migrants as a testing ground for it’s authoritarian desire to increase the size of the surveillance state. The opposition to ID cards must begin now.'

2008-10-01T02:52:00.001-07:00

The Evil is Gas Bills - Protest Increased Bills

2008-09-24T04:44:00.000-07:00

PROTEST AT THE OFFICES OF BRITISH GAS
NO TO GAS BILL INCREASES & NO TO FUEL POVERTY

Saturday 27 September at 2 pm
British Gas Office
Churchill Way (off Queen Street)
past Capitol arcade

Bring banners, placards, drums . . . people etc.!

*Windfall tax on profits to alieviate burden on poor & fund environmental measures such as house insulation
* Greater regulation and price capping
* Re-nationalisation of the energy companies

This protest is initiated by Cardiff Chartists - Supporters of the People Before Profit Charter & supported by leading city trade unionists, environmentalists, community and social justice campaigners.

The call for a demonstration has also received messages of support, in a personal capacity, from Jill Evans MEP, Leanne Wood AM, Bethan Jenkins AM (Plaid), veteran left wing concillor, Ray Davies (Labour), Cllr Ron Davies, former Welsh Secretary, Jill Gough, National Secretary of CND Cymru, Cymdeithas and many others.

For more information or to sign the Charter, email: cardiffchartists@live.co.uk

Babi was Deported

2008-09-22T06:43:00.000-07:00

from No Borders Wales

Just an update to say that after much lobbying, struggle, and effort from Babi and his supporters which continued right up until the last minute, he was removed from the country on a BMI flight out of Heathrow on Saturday.

A friend spoke to him when he phoned from Baku late on Saturday night.

No Borders South Wales would like to thank everyone who helped in the struggle to keep Babi safe in Cardiff, and we promise to keep you updated about his situation and anything we can do to help him now he is back in Azerbaijan. Keep checking the blog for updates.

The next No Borders meeting will be at 7.00pm in Riverside Community Centre, Brunel St, Cardiff on Thursday 25th September.

Last Orders at the Local?

2008-09-22T05:36:00.000-07:00

Another day, and another pub faces closure. According to CAMRA, 'four pubs are closing every day in Britain. This national crisis has left communities pub-less, with over half of British villages being without a local for the first time since 1066' and the situation is not much better in the cities & under the current administration in Cardiff we might be left with trendy bars for people to consume as much alcohol in as short a space of time as possible, but no places to talk, meet, listen to music and feel a sense of real community.

As the Rough Pub Guide laments:

“Life was once simple: you could choose either the public bar, stand around with a pint, play darts and enjoy a platter of roast potatoes . . . or you could retire to the lounge, where, in amongst the flock wallpaper and red velvet bench seats, an old bloke would invariably run through his repertoire on an organ."

Of course, Pubs had to change and develop, but unfortunately as is so often the case, profit seems to be placed before people.

The good news is that the historic Pantmawr Inn in North Cardiff has a reprieve with a Welsh Assembly inquiry.

The bad news is that it may be last orders at the Lansdowne Hotel in Canton as another one of our communities is gutted of a local social centre due to the shortsightedness of the Council. The news is especially poignant as the pub, perhaps once more known as a favourite of City fans, has recently hosted a series of imaginative events aimed at the wider community and families. For example, a recent 3 day indoor festival raised hundreds of pounds for War on Want and saw over 30 bands play, buskers, jugglers, snail racing, face painting, fair trade stalls, a skittles tournament and an exhibition of art by city-based artists. As well as a shabby caravan where diners could indulge in a sit-down, candlelit meal with waitress service!

The current Council administration has been incredibly obstructive to building a grassroots local arts and music scene, as witnessed in the trouble the late Toucan Club had getting a license, and the petty threats to close down the Point. Let's all unite to save our communities from the Council's vision of Cardiff PLC!

BABI MUST STAY IN THE UK!

2008-09-19T04:24:00.001-07:00

This an urgent appeal: A treasured member of our community, internationally renowned artist and poet, Babi Badalov is due to be deported on Saturday at 8 am. He is currently imprisoned in Campsfield Detention Camp. To find out how you can help Babi, see here:

BABI MUST STAY IN THE UK!

Protest against Proposed Motorway through the Gwent Levels

2008-09-18T07:59:00.000-07:00

Protest against the proposed motorway through the Gwent levels.
No New M4! - The Big CALM Protest
Tuesday 23rd September at 12 Noon
Steps of the Senedd, Cardiff Bay

The day after the Assembly re-opens after the summer break; CALM will be holding a protest on the steps of the Senedd.

This is our chance to tell the government that enough is enough, and that these damaging plans need to be axed, now.

This is your chance to tell your elected representatives that you don't want your money spent on destroying our natural heritage and the atmosphere. Join us in opposing this environmentally devastating scheme! Please pledge to attend our protest event.

For those who do not know about CALM, it stands for Campaign Against the Levels Motorway which will cut through 5 miles of the Gwent Levels SSSI, in reens, destroying grazing marsh, affecting the habitat of species like otter, water vole and barn owl (and being certain to cause road deaths of far too many otters and barn owls too), turning three chunks of the Gwent Levels into pathetic isolated 'islands' cut-off from the remainder of the Caldicot and Wentlooge Levels, with pollution from the scheme set to spread through the reen system to damage the freshwater life of the whole wetland system.

www.savethelevels.org.uk

Urgent - Take Action to Keep Babi Safe in Cardiff

2008-09-17T02:46:00.000-07:00

Babakhan Badalov, (Babi) the openly gay, internationally renowned radical artist and poet from Azerbaijan was arrested yesterday morning while signing on at the UK Border Agency Offices in Cardiff and is due to be deported on Saturday.

'Babi went for his weekly sign-in with friends from the Keep Babi Safe in Cardiff Campaign.

When he did not come back out of the building campaigners became concerned and enquired after his well-being only to be told he had been detained and would be removed from the country as soon as possible.'

There is an emergency protest today at noon at the Borders Agency on Newport Road.

Please, please bombard the Home Office with letters, emails, phonecalls and faxes in support of Babi. Also contact any media, political and arts organisations that may be able to help publicise the Keep Babi Safe in Cardiff Campaign.

Information on how to help can be found here

The Evil is Gas Bills - Cardiff Fuel Poverty Protest

2008-09-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

Assemble 2 pm, Saturday 27th September, British Gas Offices, Churchill Way (off Queen Street) Cardiff. Near the Capitol Arcade

Worried about how you will afford your gas bill in the coming winter? Then join the protest:

PROTEST AGAINST BRITISH GAS!
PROTEST AGAINST FUEL POVERTY!
PROTEST AGAINST INCREASED GAS & ELECTRICITY BILLS!

Protest to demand -

* AN EMERGENCY WINDFALL TAX on profits of gas companies to fund measures to alieviate the burden working people & fund environmental measures such as house insulation to lower household fuel bills

* GREATER REGULATION OF CORPORATE POWER - government enforced price-capping

* RE-NATIONALISATION OF THE GAS & ELECTRICITY companies and run them to meet the needs of the many instead of the profits of the few!

Stop the Great Gas Rip-Off! The Evil is Gas Bills . . .

British Gas hiked prices to increase profits by 500% last year, now they and the other gas companies have increased bills again. We see no reason why quarter of the population should be plunged into fuel poverty so that Jake Ulrich, boss of Centrica can 'earn' a million a year. The government spent billions to re-nationalise Nothern Rock to bail out some bankers, how about re-nationalisting the gas companies to bail out ordinary people at the mercies of cowboys like British Gas, EDF, Centrica et al? Enough is Enough. The gas companies are not making a living - they're making a killing - literally! - according to Help the Aged, 25,000 pensioners could die this winter because they have to choose between spending money on food or heating their homes.Join the protest on Saturday 27 September!

This protest is initiated by Cardiff supporters of the People Before Profit Charter but anybody is welcome to support. Already the protest has been endorsed support from left wing councillors, socialists, trade unionists, environmentalists, church poverty groups, social justice campaigners & concerned citizens. A full list of sponsors of the protest will be publicised shortly.

If you wish to support the protest or more information about the charter, email: cardiffchartists@live.co.uk

Save the Vulcan!

2008-09-08T04:48:00.000-07:00

Our traditional working class social centres (ie Pubs) are under threat across Britain. The latest to face the axe is Adamsdown's own gem, The Vulcan. Situated on Adams Street, it will be replaced with 3,000-space car park for the new shopping centre, St Davids Centre 2, and we're hopping mad about it!

Cardiff Council seems determined to rip the heart out of our city, whether it is auctioning off our cultural treasures or covering the city with a clone-town style city centre. They are the people who understand the cost/price of everything and the value of nothing.

Voted Pub of the Year in 1997, the Vulcan is a historic drinking den that was built in 1853. For over 155 years it has been the local landmark, a north star for weary proletarians.

Not only is The Vulcan is one of the oldest pubs in Cardiff, it is the oldest to have kept its original name - a slice of history, something that connects us with our past. Its name, a reference to the 'God of Fire', was given by the Ironworks in Balls Road when it was built.

For those who have never tasted a pint of real beer at the Vulcan, it has been decribed thus: "a real old fashioned pub. Literally a spit and sawdust pub, with many original features, such as a a large ships wheel, and is often photographed. It stands forlorn amongst modern buildings just before the bridge that marks the end of Adamsdown and the start of the town centre. A perpertual entry in the Camra pub guide. A real step back in time."

The historic Pantmawr Inn in North Cardiff is also facing closure due to greedy developers.

We need a campaign now to save the Vulcan and concerned citizens can rest assured that this will be top of the agenda at the next meeting of Adamsdown Left Alternative along with rocketing gas prices.

For anyone who stands between a free born briton and his or her drink is either a fanatic or a fool.

Welsh History Day School - A Report

2008-09-06T12:20:00.001-07:00

A report of the recent day school on Robert Owen & The Co-operative Movement, hosted by the Welsh People's History Society, Llafur by Anna Guevara from the LEFT Alternative.

With an early autumn monsoon and swathes of South Wales flooded, we were fearful that the day school on "Robert Owen and the Co-operative Movement", might be rained off, especially with the venue – Pontypridd Museum – being perilously close to a river . . .

Fortunately, the event went ahead as planned, and around 40 people’s remembrancers crammed into a basement hall to hear a series of papers and presentations on 150 years of the co-operative movement in Wales from the Chartists to Tower Colliery. The day school was opened with two enjoyable and stimulating papers by Bryan Davies of Pontypridd Museum, and Llafur stalwart, Alun Burge, both demolishing the generally held belief that the first co-operative in Wales was at Cwmbach – We were to learn that morning, that the Cwmbach co-op was neither the first, nor the second, third, fourth or fifth co-operative in Wales. We discovered that neither were the Rochdale Pioneers the first co-operative in Britain. Instead we heard a fascinating story of how working class rebels linked with the Chartist movement launched the first co-ops because town-shopkeepers were hostile to their politics. This forgotten history of Chartist Co-operatives was one that Llafur promised to do more future research on.

The story of the first co-operative in Wales at Pontypridd is to be found in the pages of the Northern Star, the radical newspaper that played the role of organiser in the Chartist movement. We heard of a co-operative that could not get groceries from local wholesalers who refused to sell to the radicals, and enquired for information on wholesalers further afield. The co-operative was also subject to attempts at sabotage from the local tradespeople and town councillors. The Chartists linked with the co-op met in a local beer-house, ostensibly for Welsh lessons, but the police expected more subversive purposes – though historical information is scarce due to the insurgents taking the traditional collective oath of secrecy.

What was especially inspiring was how these early co-operatives were closely interlinked with the beginnings of militant trade unionism and political agitation, and essentially formed self-help organisations set up by the most politically conscious workers at the time. Historians argue that the Pontypridd co-op failed because it went bankrupt through extending too much credit to striking train workers at Brown-Lennox, a similar story was told about the Cwmbach co-op, that it went out of business through overfunding the 1921 miners lockout, indeed, the co-op effectively funded the lockout.

A key figure in the Pontypridd Co-op was a radical Doctor and Chartist leader named William Price, A whole book could be written about Price (and probably has!), an early pioneer of cremation who played a role in laying the ground for the final legalisation of the practice in 1902, he was also a druid and an advocate of free love.

Dr Price can also be seen as a father of socialised medicine: Elected doctor by striking workers who paid weekly contributions in return for free health care, he caustically commented that people paid for doctors when they were sick, but that people should only pay for doctors when they had been cured, and when they were sick the doctors should pay the patients!

An interesting angle was opened up, when we heard about the influence of Iolo Morganwg, stonemason and inventor of the modern bards, on Price and Welsh chartists. It was argued that Morganwg bequeathed Welsh radicals the equivalent of the English concept of “the Norman Yoke” (read Christopher Hill for background on this idea). The Welsh couldn’t look back to a golden age before the Norman conquest of justice because they had never been conquered by the Normans!

Iolo, “The bard of liberty”, invented a fiction of a radical and democratic druidic past long before the Roman invasion of Britain, a distant Welsh or British utopia, presided over by Druids who were lawgivers and moral teachers, a fiction was promoted that in the Middle Ages, Welsh Kings were appointed and removed by popular assembly. William Price believed that this utopian past could fire people's imaginations to create a radical present.

We heard anecdotes that Iolo's Triads of the Social State had even influenced Karl Marx, and it was argued that Iolo had shaped many false ideas that people had of medieval Welsh history, speakers argued that people had read the Laws of Hywel Dda through the prism of Iolo’s preface that gave them a democratic and egalitarian twist that wasn’t really there: For example a group of 19th century squatters invoked in their defence the laws of Hywel Dda, but it was claimed that they had inherited a false and romantic idea of the laws.

This inspired much controversy with the floor, especially when the speaker raised the issue of Welsh suffragettes claiming inspiration from Celtic women who supposedly enjoyed equality as an example of how a completely romanticised view of the laws had developed. Some argued that Hywel Dda’s laws were progressive particularly in regards to divorce and defended them as an egalitarian system of law.

Other presentations were concerned with Robert Owen, needs no introduction from us, except to say that the verdict is still open on whether he was a utopian socialist or an enlightened capitalist. Certainly he was a pioneer of adult education and nursery education, and defender of childrens rights, and pioneered reforms such as sick pay, but my own gut feeling is that he belongs to the prehistory of the working class movement.

The conference ended with a discussion of the relevance of co-operative movement today. A paper promoting co-operative schools stimulated discussion, while one speaker from the floor bitterly commented that some co-ops treated their workers just as shoddily as capitalist firms. Others saw the co-operative as offering a model for self-help and decentralised alternative to top-down socialism. While a few implied that Owenites were middle class do-gooders and paternalistic. Another debate hinged on ‘nationalisation’ and the nature of public ownership. People argued that their needed to be some grassroots form of public ownership based on democratic and community control, leading to a general debate on what socialism should be in Century 21.

Llafur is to be commended on organising an enjoyable and educational conference. The next event will be a day school History of Welsh Sport at the SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff on the 1st November. The event is free. Contact Siân Williams s.f.williams@swansea.ac.uk to book your place. Another day school on gender and sport will take place in Cardiff in November.

Message to Cllr Rodney Berman & Co. - "Hands Off Our Books!"

2008-09-05T05:24:00.000-07:00

WATCH THE NEW VIDEO DEDICATION TO CARDIFF COUNCIL HERE!

Following our correspondent's story yesterday highlighting the LibDem/Plaid Coalition nefarious plan to auction of our city's cultural treasures to the highest bidder on the sly, we have been bombarded with emails from concerned citizens. We will post up contact details for the Cardiff Heritage Friends campaign shortly.

Now bombard local politicians with letters demanding that our cultural heritage be saved. The more letters, emails, etc, that can be sent to the Council's Executive (and to your local ward councillors and your Assembly Member and MP), the better. One thing to request specifically is that the matter be put on the agenda of the next Council Executive meeting. Also the more letters to the press and postings on websites, the better!

The email address for Cllr Nigel Howells, the Executive Member for Sport , Leisure and Culture (and therefore the councillor responsible for libraries) is NHowells@cardiff.gov.uk

The report recommending the sale of the collections is published on the Council’s website. The report is entitled - we kid you not - ‘Disposal of Surplus [sic] Library Stock’. Cardiff Council have made Farenheit 451 a reality!

Cardiff Council to Flog off our Cultural Treasures & Books to Highest Bidder!

2008-09-04T01:36:00.000-07:00

"A lot of people are aghast about this. For Cardiff, having these books is the difference between Cardiff being a local and Welsh interest library to being a library in the international league. In the past the council has not invested in these books and did not include them on the electronic catalogue, which means that the majority of people did not know they were there."

Dr Wyn James, Secretary of Cardiff Welsh Bibliographical Society, speaking to the BBC

One occasionally suspects that certain senior Council leaders have never read a book, this certainly might explain the wanton barbarism of the mafia who run the Council putting up our cultural treasures up for auction. This act of cultural vandalism from the LibDem/Plaid Coalition marks a new low point and a step back for the city.

Books that may be flogged off include Tyndale's Bible, one of the oldest English translations of the Bible, published in the 16th Century when translating the Bible into the common tongue was a deeply suversive and political act, risking death; Second edition Shakespeare's; Key English and European texts from the Protestant reformation; And a substantial and significant collection of political tracts from the English Civil War, an epoch of democratic struggle and revolution that our politicians may wish to forget, when the people deposed an autocratic and out of touch leader.

While certain books will be saved - including the 13th Century Llyfr Aneirin (The Book of Aneirin), the manuscript collection (including the Captain Scott manuscripts and Bute papers)., and early printed Welsh books and bibles, including a Bishop Morgan bible - Already over 100 books have been sent to the auctioneer with little evidence of public consultation, and talk of up to 18,000 antique books - many dating as far back to the 15th Century - to be flogged to the highest bidder.

Indeed, according to Peter Keelan, Head of special collections and archives at Cardiff University Library, the first batch of books date back to the 1500s and are probably the most valuable of the books being sold.

He identifies the key importance of this collection:

"There is nothing else here in Wales as the library in Aberystwyth concentrates more on Welsh texts. Students would have to go to London for their research. If these books disappear from Cardiff, research will grind to a halt."

Cardiff University has expressed an interest in taking custody the books to so that people from all over Cardiff could see them, and they would be available for scholars and research, but how could a university library match the sums that the Council will get from the auctioneers?

A new campaigning group, Cardiff Heritage Friends, has been launched as a coalition of local residents, historians, other academics, solicitors, and librarians, that is calling for the council to stop the sale "of some of Wales' greatest treasures".

This marks an escalation of the local council's attacks on public libraries and our cultural heritage. The council claims that it will use the sale from its cultural vandalism to fund public libraries, but should culture be funded by attacking culture?

When Cardiff Central Library was moved to its temporary home in a glorified shed, Council Leader, Rodney Berman made much spin of Cardiff soon having a 'state-of-the-art Library' but beneath the blather lies the reality that the new Central Library will contain much fewer books than the previous incarnation - what is this but a cut? Indeed, before the Library moved to its temporary home, hundreds of important books, many of them out-of-print and unavailable from bookshops were similarly sold off.

"Where there is no vision - the people perish". The Leaders of the Council have made it clear that they are not men and women of culture: The disgraceful threats to close one of Wales' finest music venues, the Point, the demise of the Coal Exchange, the hassle around the Toucan show this, the attempts to build a road through Bute Park. Or rather they have their own culture based around money and profit, expressed in Rodney Berman fighting hard to bring a Super-Casino to Cardiff, the St Davids Centre 2, and one of Wales' poorest areas - Loudon Square - being in an area that has had billions poured into 'regeneration' and surrounded by new luxury flats.

We hope to articulate an alternative vision of our city, and struggle to make Cardiff a city of culture and a city of the people.

SAVE BUTE PARK!

2008-09-02T03:43:00.000-07:00

The LEFT Alternative has just received this tip off from a very concerned citizen (see below), a response from Cardiff Councillor Nigel Howells whose brief is Sports, Leisure & Culture to these concerns can be found in the comments section to this article.

"Cardiff Council has brought back plans to put a new access bridge into Bute Park and a ROAD through the park - this is immediately opposite the end of Corbett Road (ie off North Road and opposite Optometry).

In fact these are plans that will change the face of the park as we know it - the bridge is to be 9 metres wide! - this is to let 2 articulated lorries pass each other - a new, very wide road then drops over the feeder canal and down into the park near the nursery.

Many trees will be removed - amazingly a large number have already been removed without any planning permission approved - you can see the gash in the tree line. The plans have to be abandoned before the election but they are BACK with them again!"

Sign the petition here

Our correspondent asks:

"Have you seen the destruction, on the pretence of taking down a diseased tree! I hope you are appalled. Are the Council officers covering up this unlawful action BEFORE planning permission?"

Bute Park's designer and planer, Andrew Pettigrew, was one of the most important park designers of the second half of the nineteenth century, andthe open, flowing informal design allowed a smooth transition from a private pleasure ground to a public park. Much of the Victorian planting, particularly of ornamental trees, survives but are the trees safe in Cardiff Councils hands?

PLEASE OBJECT TO:

e-mail: rcole@cardiff.gov.uk
internet: www.cardiff.gov.uk/dc

Development Control, Strategic Planning & Environment, Room 127 City Hall, Cardiff, CF10 3ND
Application No. 07/02649/
CDate: 29/08/2008

Please ask for: Richard Cole
Telephone: (029) 2087 1668
Fax (029) 2087 1826

History Day School - Robert Owen and the Co-operative Movement in Wales

2008-09-02T02:42:00.000-07:00

George Orwell once said “those who control the present control the past, and those who control the past control the future.” Knowing our own history is very important for the working class movement.

Llafur (Welsh People's History Society) is organising a day school to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of Robert Owen of Newtown, the ‘father of the Co-operative Movement’.

The day school will start at 11am on Saturday 6 September, and will be held in Pontypridd Museum. Speakers include Brian Davies, Alun Burge, Roger Davies, Mervyn Wilson, and Chris Williams.

The event is free. Please contact Siân Williams s.f.williams@swansea.ac.uk to book your place.

Some LEFT Alternative supporters hope to attend. Report to follow - watch this space!

The LEFT Alternative fights for Greener Local Councils

2008-08-29T06:49:00.000-07:00

Preston City Council voted yesterday to recognise trade union "environmental representatives" to help the council set and meet stringent carbon emission targets. The TUC and its affiliate unions have been actively working towards establishing such reps as part of their Green Workplaces Project.

The motion was part of a radical package proposed by the LEFT Alternative councillor Michael Lavalette (pictured right) and actively supported by left-wing Labour councillors in the city.

The motion also proposes that the council should commit to the principle of establishing a local power company, under local authority control, which will provide cheap, carbon neutral energy to the local population.

Cllr Lavalette, who proposed the motion, said:

This is an incredibly significant motion. When it is implemented - alongside other motions we have passed on public transport systems - it will make Preston one of the greenest cities in Britain. But the motion also puts us in line to be the first significant employer to recognise trade union environmental reps. The unions will be important players if we are to tackle climate change; it is only right that they and their members are given a recognised role in setting and implementing carbon emission targets.

Labour Deputy Leader Matthew Brown added:

Setting up a local power company is a realistic possibility. It allows us to deal with issues associated with climate change and carbon emissions, and, at the same time, allows us to provide cheap fuel for the people of Preston, some of whom are amongst the poorest in the country.

Both councillors said they hoped that the Preston motion would become a model that other councils would follow. The full motion is as follows:

Preston City Council notes:

1. The continuing threat from abrupt climate change.
2. The world's leading scientists and recognised climate change authorities note that if action is not taken to reduce greenhouse gases (CO2 equivalent emissions) within 30 years there is likely to be an irreversible effect on the Global Climate.
3. The Government's Royal Commission on Environment Pollution has predicted that the target reduction in greenhouse gases, expressed as CO2 equivalent emissions, should be 60% by 2050 and 80% by 2100.

Preston City Council further notes:

1. The efforts made by Woking Council to adopt a comprehensive Climate Change Strategy on a scale that is likely to meet The Royal Commission on Environment Pollution targets of 60% reductions of CO2 equivalent emissions by 2050 and 80% by 2100.
2. That Derby Council have a five year strategy to achieve a 25% reduction in carbon emissions and Norwich council have an annual reduction target of 6%.
3. That the TUC (via its Green Workplaces Project) and its affiliate unions are actively campaigning for employers to recognise 'environmental representatives' with a role in setting CO2 reduction targets, initiating workplace environmental audits and educating members on green and sustainability issues.

Preston City Council resolves:

1. To use solar panels on the Town Hall as a means of meeting energy needs and reducing CO2 emissions
2. To commit to the principle of establishing a local power company within Preston, in local authority ownership, to generate power for the area and investigate how this can be implemented.
3. To use sustainable combine heat and power sources of energy in the City Council buildings - discouraging the production of CO2 type gasses.
4. To increase use of photovoltaic and renewable energy
5. To investigate improvements to insulation in all council buildings and workplaces.
6. To incorporate planning policies which will ensure that new developments in the City reduces CO2 equivalent emissions of greenhouse gases.
7. To establish a carbon neutral approach to the future of services and activities within the City
8. To make progress as speedily as possible on the long-delayed City Council travel plan, aimed at reducing car use for travel to work and staff (and member) travel on business.
9. To enter negotiations with all local authority trade unions to recognise environmental representatives, and to establish with the unions the active role of the representatives in achieving the council's carbon emission targets.

One Law for the Rich . . .

2008-08-29T05:43:00.000-07:00

In July, a Barry pensioner spent almost a month in a prison in Gloucestershire because she failed to pay her council tax due to financial hardship.

Last year the majority of billionaires in Britain who face no financial hardship did not pay a single penny in income tax. These parasites faced no threat of imprisonment.

While council tax for working class people goes up every year, income tax for the rich is being continually cut by every government - could there be a connection? Is this wealth redistribution, but from the bottom of society to the top?

(In Wales, Plaid want to tax multinationals even less than Thatcher or Brown)

Under New Labour the gap between rich and poor has grown meaning our society becomes even less democratic.

When there are extremes of wealth, then the idea of democratic choice of goods and services is a sham right from the start. The 'choice' for someone with money is entirely different to that for someone with no money - who has no 'choice'.

We have a free press in Britain - if you can afford one! The idea that a man who owns a couple of newspapers and a supermarket chains is equally represented in society with anyone who works in those supermarkets & reads those newspapers is plainly false. That is why the struggle for equality is a struggle for democracy. Political democracy without economic democracy is bogus.

Dole Queue Rock

2008-08-29T05:11:00.000-07:00

On benefits?

Then voting for a mainstream party is akin to a turkey voting for Christmas: The LEFT Alternative is proud to be the only party that stands up for people on benefits, we welcome unemployed members of the working class into our ranks with open arms.

Had a benefit decision go the wrong way?

Remember to lodge an appeal. Usually you have nothing to loose from an appeal, and appeals sometimes win. You normally only have one month to do that though, so be quick! (There are some exceptions allowed, so consider still appealing even if outside the time limit). Independent medicals can be paid for viathe legal aid scheme, so it can be worth making an appointment with a lawyer also for medical related appeals.

With Economists predicting that unemployment is set to rocket due to the credit crunch, the government has launched an offensive on claimants to make life much harder.

The new welfare reform will see the introduction of 'workfare' where people unemployed for over a year face working for their dole doing 'community service' such as collecting litter of the streets or cleaning graffiti for a fraction of the minimum wage.

Sick and disabled vulnerable people face harsh medical tests by private doctors and increased harrasment in order to claim meagre benefits. There is also the threat of being forced prematurely into work - the new mantra is "work is the best medicine": While sitting down to a morning of Trisha might not help you out of your depression, the LEFT Alternative reckons that neither will doing a shit McJob.

Alongside a mass campaign against welfare reform, traditional working class self-help is needed to help claimants - such as credit-unions, grassroots community welfare schemes, and advocacy to help people appeal - if you have skills in these kind of areas why not get in touch!

Sign the People Before Profit Charter

2008-08-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

The Credit-Crunch threatens communities with devastation as workplaces close and jobs are lost. People’s lives will be wrecked as their homes are repossessed.

Most of the media presents the collapse towards recession as a natural disaster.

For them, and the politicians, all we can do is sit tight, accept cuts in our living standards, and wait for better times to return.

Gordon Brown’s government only answers are to demand that people stop throwing away food and that we “tighten our belts” to help the economy recover.

But the crisis is not natural and we can do something about it.

That is why trade union activists and other campaigners have launched the People Before Profit Charter.

The Charter challenges the logic of a system that puts profits before people. It puts forward clear proposals to improve workers’ lives and insists that ordinary people should not pay for the crisis.

The Charter can be a rallying point for the resistance that is taking place across the country.

Inflation and recession are now tightening their grip on the economy with every day that passes. Working people face rapidly increasing prices, especially for food and fuel; government led pay restraint; rising unemployment and a disastrous housing crisis. At the same time the super-rich continue to enjoy huge profits, salaries and bonuses - yet pay less tax than under the Tories. The desperation felt by many is having equally serious political effects: the resurgence of the Tories and an increase in anti-immigrant and fascist arguments. We need a coordinated response to these threats. As part of this response please add your name to this Charter and then move support for the Charter at your trade union, party or campaign organisation.

1. Wage increases no lower than the rate of inflation as given by the Retail Price Index. No to the government’s 2 percent pay limit.
2. Increase tax on big companies. Introduce a windfall tax on corporation superprofits, especially those of the oil companies.
3. Repeal the Tory anti-union laws. Support the Trade Union Freedom Bill.
4. Unsold houses and flats should be taken over by local councils to ease the housing crisis. No house repossessions. For an emergency programme of council house building.
5. Stop the privatisation of public services. Free and equal health and education services available to all.
6. End the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and use the money to expand public services. Stop the erosion of civil liberties.
7. Abolish tax on fuel and energy for old people and the poor. Re-establish the link between wages and pensions.
8. No to racism. No to the British National Party. No scapegoating of immigrants.
9. Reintroduce grants and abolish tuition fees for students.
10. Increase the minimum wage to £8.00 an hour. Many workers and trade unionists are now engaged in strikes and protests to defend their pay, jobs and services. We pledge ourselves to support their action and to support the campaigns that are dedicated to protecting working people, including:

* Unite Against Fascism
* Public Services not Private Profit
* Defend Council Housing
* Stop the War Coalition
* Keep Our NHS Public

Please return to: People Before Profit Charter, BM 6035, London WC1N 3XX or email your name and details to peoplebeforeprofitcharter@gmail.com

"The People Before Profit Charter is important because it allows us to debate the economic crisis facing ordinary people outside the boundaries fixed by the mainstream media and the political class it represents.

Everyone knows privatisation has been a disaster, that Gordon Brown’s PFI has been theft by another name, that the City of London’s games and power are unaccountable, that the priorities of public expenditure are distorted – £4 billion for two aircraft carriers, peanuts for public sector workers – and yet orthodox discussion remains stuck in a sterile world of party fortunes and personalities (If only they had personalities!).

Every opinion poll shows a clear public majority in favour of the principle of public services before profit. That should be the starting point.” - John Pilger, Writer & Broadcaster

Quote of the Week - Dom Helder Camara

2008-08-19T01:40:00.000-07:00

"When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. But when I ask why the poor have no food they call me a communist”

Dom Helder Camara (1909 - 1999)

In the 60s and 70s many Latin American catholics became radicalised. Dom Helder Camara was part of this wave, in his seminal 1971 text, The Spiral of Violence, he observed how violence built up at three levels in a society: Primary violence is the everyday effect of structurally ingrained social injustice. This generates secondary violence - the revolt of the oppressed. And that in turn provokes tertiary violence - repression by the powerful to secure their privileged position. And so the spiral of violence tightens

MAHMOUD DARWISH: 13th March 1941 – 9th August 2008

2008-08-15T05:12:00.000-07:00

Her eyes are Palestinian
Her name is Palestinian
Her dress and sorrow Palestinian
Her kerchief, her feet and body Palestinian
Her words and silence Palestinian
Her voice Palestinian
Her birth and her death Palestinian

The LEFT Alternative in Cardiff salutes Mahmoud Darwish who died this week. Adam Johannes writes in tribute.

Mahmoud Darwish was not only the poet of Palestine, but one of the great poets of the twentieth century. It is perhaps fiting that he died aged 67 - the same age at which Edward Said, the great intellectual of national liberation, bid farewell to life, and in the same year as George Habash. All three men died in exile, and all three were iconic figures of Palestinian nationalism. They formed part of a generation of giants forged in the afterglow of the 1968 battle of Karemeh and birth of the PLO, and their lives spanned the great epic of modern Palestinian history that rose from the ashes of 1948 when the land disappeared from the maps of the world. Tragically none lived to see freedom and justice restored.

In Darwish's writing Palestine was not only Palestine, but also the loss of Eden, the fall of innocence, birth and resurrection, dispossesion and exile, love and rage. Stripped of his Israeli 'citizenship', a citizenship he famously derided in his poem 'Identity Card', he spent most of his life in exile, he was a witness to the '82 Israeli invasion of Lebanon when Beirut with all its flowers came to smell of smoke and fire. Beirut was to be a pivotal moment for him, his poetry and the dream of Palestine. He left on the raft of a ship with other members of the Resistance for Tunisia.

One commentator captured the greatness of Darwish: "under house arrest, having his second-class citizenship revoked, being chased and hounded from one exile to another, being bombed in almost each of these exiles and living under countless sieges, Darwish's humanism never succumbed. One of his most popular poems, Rita, spoke of his love for a Jewish Israeli woman by that name; and about the absurdity of wars coming between lovers. This poem was made into a popular song by Lebanese musician Marcel Khalife."

His deep humanism was witnessed in his address to the Israeli soldiers shelling his neighbourhood during the 2002 siege of Ramallah,

You, standing at the doorsteps, come in
And drink with us our Arabic coffee
For you may feel that you are human like us

Darwish will also be remembered for his hand in crafting the 1988 declaration of independence, and the speech with which Arafat electrified the UN General Assembly in 1974, "Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand. Repeat, do not let the olive branch fall from my hand". He has the good sense to reject the the sell-out of the Oslo frauds.

Towards the end of his life, he became dismayed at the division in the Palestinian house. Last summer in a bitter voice thick with irony, he was to declaim:

"We have triumphed . . . Gaza won its independence from the West Bank. One people now have two states, two prisons who don't greet each other. We are victims dressed in executioners' clothing. We have triumphed knowing that it is the occupier who really won. We have to understand - not justify - what gives rise to this tragedy.

It's not because they're looking for beautiful virgins in heaven, as Orientalists portray it. Palestinian people are in love with life. If we give them hope - a political solution - they'll stop killing themselves.

Sarcasm helps me overcome the harshness of the reality we live, eases the pain of scars and makes people smile . . .the sarcasm is not only related to today’s reality but also to history. History laughs at both the victim and the aggressor.

I will continue to humanise even the enemy... The first teacher who taught me Hebrew was a Jew. The first love affair in my life was with a Jewish girl. The first judge who sent me to prison was a Jewish woman. So from the beginning, I didn't see Jews as devils or angels but as human beings." [Several poems of his poems were to Jewish lovers] "These poems take the side of love not war"

This poem written during the siege of Beirut, contains a line that poignantly captures the deadlock of the Palestinian resistance - "Where do we go after the last frontier? Where does the bird fly after the last sky?". After armed struggle, appeals to international law and the conscience of the world, negotiations, peace processes. mass civil disobedience, Palestine still remains unfree:

The earth is closing on us, pushing us through the last passage, and
we tear off our limbs to pass through.
The earth is squeezing us. I wish we were its wheat so we could die
and live again. I wish the earth was our mother
So she'd be kind to us. I wish we were pictures on the rocks for
our dreams to carry
As mirrors. We saw the faces of those to be killed by the last of us in
the last defense of the soul.
We cried over their children's feast. We saw the faces of those who'll
throw our children
Out of the windows of the last space. Our star will hang up in mirrors.
Where should we go after the last frontiers? Where should the birds
fly after the last sky?
Where should the plants sleep after the last breath of air? We will
write our names with scarlet steam.
We will cut off the head of the song to be finished by our flesh.
We will die here,
Here in the last passage. Here and here our blood
will plant its olive tree.

The Assembly Gravy Train

2008-08-13T07:47:00.000-07:00

Spent £245 on a night in a hotel recently?
Spent two grand on a sofa recently?
Recently purchased a £1000 surround-sound TV system?

. . . then you may be an Assembly Member, only they didn't spend this money - we did!

All these items were paid for by the taxpayer out of an allowance given to AMs. And not only these items, also luxuries like cable TV, a glass bowl costing £2 and a host of other items. It seems the Assembly is a gravy train stopping at every station . . . !!

Many workers forced to commute to work on overcrowded public transport will feel little sympathy with overpaid politicians who live 45 minutes drive from Cardiff getting £12,500 a year living expenses for a house in the capital.

It may be fair that AMs who have to travel from North Wales to require accomodation in Cardiff, but should two AMs like Lynne Neagle & Huw Lewis who share a house in Penarth be given thousands from the public purse for a second home?

While public sector workers are being told to tighten their belt in the face of the credit crunch and facing a wage freeze, the majority of Assembly Members believe they are entitled to a pay rise of more than 8%.

But this sleaze and lawful corruption point to a deeper malaise. If you are wondering why Welsh politicians have been virtually silent over British Gas (who had a 500% rise in profits last year) raising bills dramatically, then consider: How can our politicians empathise with the problems faced by the majority of Welsh people such as rising fuel bills, increases in food prices & council tax, debt, housing costs when they are able to live such an elite lifestyle?

The recent death of former socialist MP, Terry Fields reminds us of another model, Terry was elected to parliament in 1983 on the slogan a "worker's MP on a worker's wage" taking only the average salary of a British worker, and donating the remainder of his salary to trade union and community causes, because he believed that an MP should live the same lifestyle as the people he or she claimed to represent. While a Labour MP he was imprisoned for refusal to pay the poll tax.

The LEFT Alternative is not made up of wannable politicians but rather working class people who want to organise in the community for change. To get involved, email: respect_yourself_cardiff@hotmail.co.uk

Civilians pay for American and Russian imperialism

2008-08-12T05:26:00.000-07:00

Over 2,000 people have been killed in the recent fighting in the Caucasus after Georgia declared war on Russia over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. These regions have never wanted to be part of Georgia and the treatment of minorities within Georgia's borders has always been a problem.

But the fighting is also the result of imperial powers attempting to secure the energy and resources in the region through military force, and it must condemned.

The US has responded to the fighting by accusing Russia of wanting "regime change" in Georgia. The hypocrisy of this accusation is astounding, given that the goal of the US in Iraq was nothing less than regime change. Yet for the US administration this is an unacceptable goal for other imperial powers to have.

Russia shares this hypocrisy. While Russia moved against Georgia on what it claims are humanitarian grounds, arguing that because many South Ossetians have Russian citizenship they must be protected, the real reason is to secure its geopolitical interests. Russian aggression has little to do with humanitarian principles. It claims that if the US can recognise Kosovo as independent, it can make moves to ensure that South Ossetia and Abkhazia are under its sphere of influence. Russia also wants to prevent Georgia from joining NATO, and has demonstrated it will use military force to do so.

The region is heavily contested between Russia and the US, and each have interests in securing their domination of the untapped oil reserves. Pipelines are being built from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey, with strong political support from the US. The situation has undoubtedly escalated tensions between the US and Russia, not seen since the end of the Cold War.

The US administration referred to a "significant long-term impact" on US-Russian relations if Russia continued to attack the Georgians disproportionately. But this is exactly the way the US is fighting in Iraq; through disproportionate attacks.

It is unacceptable that both powers are using military force to secure their interests, without concern for civilians. The Left Alternative opposes the fighting and calls on all sides to end hostilities. We also call on Britain to refrain from supporting the US and break with US foreign policy.

Police bullying at Camp Kingsnorth

2008-08-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

GARETH DALE reports from the Climate Camp 2008

I've just returned from a 2-3 day sojourn at the Climate Camp at Kingsnorth -- site of a proposed new coal-fired power station – which is now gearing up towards its climax. As usual the headlines focus upon policing and the inevitable 'discovery' of a weapons cache, more on which below. But once you make the effort – a word I use advisedly -- to get through police lines and into the camp itself the overwhelming impression is of a D.I.Y. heaven: solar panels and a wind turbine being erected, water pipes connected, sanitation systems constructed, media and cinema tents put up, impromptu kitchens, cleaning zones … an al fresco and non-commercial soukh catering to the pleasures and necessities of daily life.

The Camp's great strength is that theory and practice share a space for a week. Having kicked off with marches and due to finish on Saturday with direct action, in the days between there are workshops galore – a hundred or more – covering the usual themes as well as not a few tailored to specialist tastes: "the world lawn tango championships," "five-finger direct action training," and – one cannot but wonder whether practice and theory were united here -- "safe sex for activists." That Arthur Scargill made an appearance was welcome, although it was disappointing to see that he has not yet got it. (In the USA at the outset of World War Two it was union leaders who, against bitter resistance from big business, championed the conversion of auto plants to make planes. In the war upon climate change, just think: the skills of power station engineers; solar, wave and wind; surely a no-brainer.) The high-point was a session (pictured above) at which George Monbiot spoke on the role of the state in mitigating climate chaos -- although it was marred when that organ itself, in the shape of riot police, threatened to enter the camp, prompting most of the 250-strong audience to exit theory in a headlong rush to practice.

A degree of division arose with regard to the appropriate tactics for countering the police, but it was a no-win situation. Agreement to allow the police onto site – with their batons and video cameras, their bullying, snooping, sniffing and otherwise canine ways – would have necessitated constant surveillance of the surveillers, a continuous and enervating tug-of-war. The other option, the one taken, was to concentrate forces at the gates, to keep them at bay. With this, the boys in blue-and-dayglow-yellow needed only to build up forces at one gate, deploy riot police to the fore, or engage in any minor feint, in order to panic and disrupt the Camp. Which of course they did. In afternoons, during workshops. At two a.m. -- waking all with a cacophony of sirens that sparked a mass exit from tents, followed by the thuds of sleepy running bodies tripping over guy ropes. And then again, after adrenaline levels had subsided and campers had returned to sleep, at the break of dawn.

The question is, why have Her Majesty's police force decided to subject a crew of campers to such astonishing levels of harassment? What tactics are involved, and at what level were they authorised?

On harassment and intimidation the litany is endless. We observed their tactics, aghast. They must've looked up and memorised every petty by-law they could find, in addition to compendia of recent legislation. (Thanks to the cop who dropped his copy of the 'Pocket Legislation Guide on Policing Protest,' which gives an overview of legislation that can be used to stifle any form of legitimate protest, we know a bit more about an organisation, the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit, that assisted them in this.) They terminated our shuttlebus service (for ferrying participants from rail station to campsite) and arrested the driver on the grounds that one copper, claiming to have witnessed a passenger give a driver a donation, deemed it to be an unlicensed taxi. They filmed everyone. There were interminable and repeated searches of anyone entering or exiting camp -- and these were not the usual cursory pat down. In my case (not an extreme one): in addition to searching all bags and pockets they were uncommonly interested in the linings of my trousers; and they dismantled my mobile phone and took the battery out ("in case there's a razor blade concealed inside"). From me they took nothing but others were less fortunate. The innumerable items confiscated included: plywood, wheelie bins, a track for wheelchair access, a puncture repair kit, carpet, a board game and part of a windmill. And, of course, childrens' crayons. (They're a graffiti hazard, don't you know?)

Arguably the most visible and unarguably the most audible police presence is the helicopter. Upon arrival, I asked the copper who was searching me – time for such conversations was not rationed -- why the chopper was in the air. "It's because an incident is going on. Don't worry, it costs a fortune to keep it up there, it'll only be sent up when there's something going on." In fact, it was airborne about one minute in every three; deafening, menacing, watching. Even at night it hovered above us, and would sometimes swoop low – perhaps in case its clatter at normal altitude hadn't yet woken a few of those below.

So we may return to the question: why apply these tactics? The resources involved, in terms of manpower, equipment and fuel, are colossal. In conversation with a senior police officer, I listened to his point of view. "Don't get us wrong: we know very well that 99% of the people in the camp are completely non-violent. It's the other 1% we're concerned about." A machete, he claimed, had been found in nearby undergrowth. During my days there, I saw nothing to suggest a potentially violent "1%" – and, unlike the officer, I was observing campers up close. The machete story is a smear. Chances are it is a fiction, or planted, or belonged to a nearby villager. Activists, being ecologically aware, know full well that to approach Kingsnorth does not require hacking paths through jungle. But let's assume for a moment that he is right. There are around 1,000 people at the Camp. If that same officer were responsible for policing a village of 1,000 people, and was informed that 10 were potentially violent, would he call up a fleet of fully-manned vans from the North Wales Heddlu, alongside similar convoys from the West Mids, South Yorks, the Met, Essex, Kent and all? Rumour has it that 27 forces were involved! Would he call in a helicopter, and riot police? Or would he think "me oh my what an English idyll – a pity, perhaps, about one or two delinquents at closing time on a Friday night, but a token presence should deal with that"?

Perhaps there is a better reason: the police tactic is all about defending Kingsnorth. After all, the Camp's clearly and openly stated aim is to shut it down. But this explanation has no more traction than does the "violent 1%." Participants show no sign of going anywhere near Kingsnorth until Saturday, so why police the Camp, which is situated many miles away, all week long? To the possible rejoinder that an absence of police attention would encourage activists to approach the power station sooner than declared, there is an obvious reply. With the same police numbers deployed to harass the Camp, the power station could be thrice encircled: it could be sealed off by land, sea, air and any other conceivable avenue of approach, and with enough spare policepower to boot (no pun intended) that the Heddlu and the Brummies could be sent back home. Just think of all the trouble and tension that could be spared, not to mention police overspend.

The only possible reason for this level of intimidation – apart, perhaps, from an interest in giving riot cops some live training -- is that the police force is hell bent on hounding and intimidating the movement against climate chaos. This does not represent a departure from recent trends in policing – as witnessed in London at the anti-Bush protest (with its use of agent provocateurs) and the 'Circle Line Party.' Yet it is an escalation.

The question that remains is: who authorised this strategy? Downing Street, one would suppose, but we should be told.

Our City is Not For Sale - No to Privatisation

2008-08-06T04:28:00.000-07:00

The LEFT Alternative fully supports Cardiff UNISON's campaign against the possible privatisation of council services, which could see rising prices for swimming pools, leisure centres, libraries, theatres and other services: Our city is not for sale, and we will resist the corporate takeover of Cardiff - by any means necessary.

Branch secretary, Mark Turner was quoted last month as saying in the South Wales Echo, privatisation would

"sever the link between democratically elected councillors and the management of the service and replace public control with the control of the market. In other cities in the UK where charitable trusts have been set up to run leisure centres, libraries, swimming pools and theatres they have had to increase ticket and entrance prices to keep afloat. Council services are about people. Inevitably people take second place to profit if the private sector or its methods were to be used in Cardiff.”

In May, when the LibDems and Plaid Cymru formed a coalition to run Cardiff Council they made a public commitment that there would be a "presumption against privatisation", yet in the public "consultation" one of the options being considered, as part of the shake-up of council services, is for the delivery of services to be moved out of the council’s direct control to arms-length organisations and charitable trusts. We urge the ruling parties to keep this pledge.

If you want to know what privatisation would mean in practice, Cardiff UNISON on their website give a glimpse of previous sell-outs:

"Car Parks controlled by Cardiff Council sold to private company

Council now powerless to stop massive price rises seen recently. Profits going into private hands instead of supporting rate payers.

University Hospital of Wales entered into long car park lease with private company

Now unable to comply with Welsh Office requirements to cut patient parking charges for many years. Profits going into private hands instead of supporting patient care.

Suicide victim left in garage for 5 hours

Due to Police now using private firm for FME that do not have manpower to act swiftly. Unlike previous system of using local doctors

Do we want this happening to council services ?
This could happen under the council's 'Partnership for Change'
This is likely to lead to job and service quality losses"

Another Cardiff is possible!

Climate Camp 2008

2008-08-03T04:39:00.000-07:00

Food riots abroad, house prices and pensions collapsing at home, energy prices skyrocketing worldwide. And slap bang in the middle of all of this - climate change - which the government and the power giant E.ON propose to make worse by building the UK's first coal-fired power station in 30 years at Kingsnorth in Kent.

The Climate Change Camp people have secured a site for the camp which officially began today!

Some of our activists are down in Kent at the moment, happy camping! For a report of last years camp, see here, and for more articles on the planet, see here

CRACH WAR at the EISTEDDFOD

2008-08-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

Working class people used to be the salt of the earth, now we're the scum of the earth. We need to rebuild old traditions of solidarity and start reclaiming our communities back from the profiteers and privateers. Enough IS Enough!

Nothing shows the contempt that the 4 main parties in Wales have for us more than their silence over a 35% rise in our gas bills at a time when British Gas is raking in record profits. What do the Labour Left in Wales have to say about this? What are Plaid saying? What are the LibDems saying? Nothing. What can one say about these jokers? Each is as bad as the other. Each is worse than the other.

The 4 capitalist parties don't have the bottle to rock against the rich. They could be calling for a wonderful windfall tax on the energy companies profits. They could demand the Brown raise corporation tax (not likely from Plaid who want to cut corporation tax even more than Thatcher did!), they could start campaigning for the government to put a cap on how much the corporations can increase bills.

But they are not doing it. Working people are gonna have to get organised themselves. As Che said, words are beautiful - but action is even better.

This week, Welsh speakers in the LEFT Alternative have produced hundreds of leaflets calling for an end to the great gas rip-off to dish out at the Eisteddfod. Nobody in the Welsh political establishment is calling for the gas and electricity companies to be re-nationalised, so we're gonna shout it from the rooftops! Wales has some righteous traditions of good old fashioned socialism and right-on working class militancy. It's time!

The LEFT Alternative defends the Welsh language, not out of nationalism but out of respect for international culture. International culture to us does not mean the 'culture' of Murdoch, Mcdonalds and Market Values, but of those who believe another world not only possible; but necessary. We believe our children should have access to the Mabinogion, Shakespeare, Salman Rushdie, Caradoc Evans, Dylan Thomas, Bapsi Sidhwa, Chinua Achebe and many others - and in whatever language they want! Such a stance also includes fighting for the rights of those who speak other languages such as refugees and asylum seekers and their children so that they have access to education and other facilities in their own languages.

We believe the money is there to provide this, but the government wastes billions on a war opposed by millions. Our movements, whether they be for language rights, or against war and injustice have begun to provide the basis for a real alternative to the status quo. But our views are far too often marginalized and disregarded by the mainstream political parties. We want to be a megaphone for the millions who are opposed to war, racism, privatisation inequality and the destruction of the planet. We hope to create a new fighting coalition of the working class.

Quote of the Week - Eugene Debs, 1918

2008-07-27T05:22:00.000-07:00

"While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."

Eugene Debs, American Socialist, 1918 at his trial for sedition for agitating against the first world war.

On Wednesday, Binyam Mohammed turned 30. He's the last British citizen to be detained in the US concentration camp in Guantanamo Bay and was tortured with the support of the UK government in Morrocco and Afghanistan. We will continue to campaign for Binyam's release, the closure of Guantanemo Bay, an end to the attacks on our civil liberties, and the defeat of our rulers 'war on terror'.

Campaign Against the Level Motorways (CALM)

2008-07-22T11:38:00.001-07:00

Green activists in the LEFT Alternative asked us to flag up this campaign and invite people to support it. Our group hopes to support all local campaigns that put people and planet before profit. If you are involved in any activism or have any news stories why not email us!

Campaign Against the Levels Motorway is an alliance of individuals and organisations who oppose the construction of the M4 relief motorway through the Gwent Levels Site of Special Scientific Interest.

To relieve congestion on the M4 around Newport the Welsh Assembly Government wants to build 24km of dual three-lane motorway around the south of the city. The road would link junction 23A at Magor with junction 29 at Castleton with two new junctions being proposed for Newport.

In 1999, consultants acting for the Assembly Government concluded that steps to reduce the demands for car journeys plus improved public transport could be a successful alternative to major roadbuilding. They also added that construction of the M4 Relief Road would cause huge environmental damage to nationally important sites and would encourage more car trips.

If approved, the new road would:

* cost hundreds of millions of pounds
* be Wales' first toll motorway increase traffic levels and pollution in South Wales
* devastate important wildlife sites
* shatter the tranquillity of the Levels
* fuel dangerous climate change

Cardiff Zimbabwean Activist Speaks Out

2008-07-17T02:20:00.000-07:00

Finally, a bold step is taken by Mr Brown, as it would seem, but lets pick up on the obvious: Halting deportations to Zimbabwe. What about those in detention? What does that mean for them? Nothing at all.

What does it mean for a suffering Asylum seeker? It means continue suffering while we try to get you back to Zimbabwe to a life you escaped 10 years ago. 10 years that you will never get back, to a home that is now foreign to you.

Basically, Mr Brown is not going to do anything positive for the Asylum seekers, the exit route has already been mapped out, keep them in Limbo, as long as it takes, until we can send then back.

But Mr Brown picks out the positives in all this. Failed asylum seekers get accommodation and shopping vouchers to keep them from being destitute. Some of the accommodation I have seen would not be suitable for a dead dog and this accommodation is not pro families. If you were single when you applied no consideration is made when you now have a family, thus you are forced to stay at a specified address while your family stays else where; with most abandoning the accommodation because partners can be forced to live in different cities. No one cares to address the family issue.

As for the shopping vouchers, let's see what one can do with £35 per week: buy food, clothes and all you need with just £140 per month? Because the shopping voucher is used in very specific shops and you have no actual money for local travel, all those asylum seekers walk because they can't afford to catch the bus. Imagine braving the cold and rainy weather on foot, well we are African so we must be accustomed to suffering even in places where things are meant to be easier.

The LEFT Alternative fights for unity between all workers - legal or 'illegal', migrant or 'native', locally and internationally. We support ALL anti-deportation campaigns.

Stand up to this tide of anti-Muslim hatred

2008-07-16T05:58:00.000-07:00

It is now three years since the 7 July terrorist attacks on London that killed 52 people along with the four bombers. Those three years have witnessed a systematic ratcheting up of prejudice and hate propaganda against Muslims.

A new report by researchers from Cardiff University’s School of Journalism shows that recent years have seen a series of stories that paint Muslims as terrorists and extremists, or claim that Islam is incompatible with “Western values”. Only 5 percent of stories involving Muslims focus on the problems faced by the community.

It is no surprise that this media assault has been accompanied by an increase in physical attacks on Muslims in Britain. These attacks typically go unreported by newspapers that are only too happy to devote endless space to elaborate descriptions of terrorist plots based on little more than a spook’s imagination.

Meanwhile crazy “clash of civilisations” rants that were previously confined to the fringes of the right are now considered respectable middle class opinion. The novelist Martin Amis fantasises about “strip-searching people who look like they’re from the Middle East or from Pakistan”, while the Sun’s Trevor Kavanagh states that “Muslim men are entitled to beat their wives... such barbaric treatment of women has been imported and thrives here.”

The real “barbarism” going on here is one that is perfectly compatible with “Western values”. The current campaign against Muslims is all but identical to that waged against Jews in the first half of the 20th century. That antisemitism opened the door to the Holocaust. And today’s Islamophobia is potentially no less deadly.

LibDems & Plaid to Close More Schools

2008-07-16T03:43:00.000-07:00

Last time Rodney Berman tried to close our schools he was defeated by the biggest street demonstrations and popular movement in Cardiff since the 2003 resistance to the Iraq War, a return to the streets is necessary if we are to defeat round two of the "school re-organisation programme". This is part of a battle across Wales, and we have tried to link up with campaigners elsewhere to compare and share experiences and strategies.

With the LibDem/Plaid council announcing the closure of Cefn Onn Primary School, in Llanishen, and St Anne’s Church in Wales Infant School, in Roath, it is clear that parents, teachers, school students, trade unions and citizens need to organise quickly to defend our communities. LEFT Alternative supporters who attended campaign meetings around the earlier attempt to close St Anne's will be pleased to offer whatever support we can to those fighting to save both schools threatened with closure.

The new attempt at closing schools has also shown up the utter cynicism of Plaid Cymru in Cardiff, who in exchange for power, have cut a completely unprincipled deal with the Liberal Democrats to just save schools in West Cardiff where they have their base while supporting closures elsehwere. People in Cardiff will wonder how Plaid can agitate to save schools in their patch, but support and vote for similar schools being closed in other areas of Cardiff. Such an approach is consistent with the approach of the mainstream parties who see politics as being about getting the best deal within existing neoliberalism rather than fighting to roll back the tide.

Council Workers Strike

2008-07-16T03:09:00.000-07:00

If you are around during the day, there are two events which you can attend to show support for striking council workers, LEFT alternative supporters hope to be out in force!

Wednesday 16 July

Rally at The Point, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff Bay, 11.30am.

Thursday 17 July

Lobby of the Senedd, the Welsh Assembly, Cardiff Bay, 12 noon.

Community Notice - Spread the Word

2008-07-15T05:32:00.000-07:00

According to the Beeb, if you used the Natwest cashpoint at Cardiff Central Station between the 7th & 14th July you may be at risk:

"Customers who used a cash machine at Cardiff's main railway station are being warned to destroy their cards after a card skimming device was found. "

We're here to serve the people - If you have any other community news or notices, email us!

Solidarity Forever! Support the Local Strikes

2008-07-15T01:52:00.000-07:00

The politcal elites are using the credit crisis to drive down our wages, they hope to stabilise their profits by squeezing the working class. They seek to impose a cut in living standards on all public sector workers, as the first step in attacking the wages of all working people.

There has been (or will be) strike action across a huge section of the union movement: Teachers, Postal Workers, Civil Servants, Council Workers, Railway workers, Lecturers and others. If all these unions were strike on the same day - a general strike of the public sector - it would turn an economic dispute into a political blow against New Labour.

Brown has been using divide and rule - in his references to public sector workers enjoying privileges that most workers don't enjoy - but if the attack on pay in the public sector succeeds it will send a clear signal to big business to start cutting wages for workers in the private sector: They divide each to conquer all.

Therefore, each individual struggle of a group of workers against the pay freeze is a fight for all working people, because they are part of a fightback against the attempt to impose a cut in living standards and wages on ALL working people.

In our group we have been trying in a modest way to support groups of workers on strike - taking collections at our workplaces for striking workers, setting up an informal network of rank and file unionists, trying to make people aware that these disputes are in defence all working people, and trying to push for co-ordinated strike action. We also seek to build a grassroots alternative to the union bureaucracy and Labour Party link. Sure it's not perfect, but if we can help build a fighting coalition of the working class on some level, then that will be something.

Supporters of the LEFT Alternative will be on strike this week, and others will be visiting picket lines. It's all about basic working class solidarity. For us, any working class people trying to fight back against the bosses merit support.

This strike is taking place against the backdrop of wider unrest. Currently a huge proportion of people in Wales work in the public sector, the attempt at a wage freeze comes at the same time as workers are already feeling the pinch of rising fuel prices, electricity and water bills, rising council tax, rising food prices. We also know that it's not everyone being told to tighten their belts - for the rich, they've never had it so good!

As socialists we support the trade union movement. We believe that if this strike is successful it will build confidence among other workers to organise and improve the lot of our class. People in Britain now work the longest hours for the worst pay in Europe - why? Because the trade union movement was smashed under Thatcher. Supporting these seemingly small disputes is part of rebuilding the combativity of working class organisations so that we can begin to improve the life and conditions of people in Wales and start pushing back against the continued dismantling of the Welfare State and the reforms won in 1945 like free health care and free education. Because of their strategic power under capitalism, workplace organisation is very important, the best weapon for social justice that we have.

The strikes this week are not just a dispute between one group of workers and the council, but rather about working people as a whole bettering themselves through collective organisation and collective struggle.

Quote of the Week - Aneurin Bevan

2008-07-15T01:20:00.000-07:00

"That is why no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party that inflicted those bitter experiences on me. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.

They condemned millions of first-class people to semi-starvation. Now the Tories are pouring out money in propaganda of all sorts and are hoping by this organised sustained mass suggestion to eradicate from our minds all memory of what we went through.

But, I warn you young men and women, do not listen to what they are saying now. Do not listen to the seductions of Lord Woolton. He is a very good salesman. If you are selling shoddy stuff you have to be a good salesman. But I warn you they have not changed, or if they have they are slightly worse than they were."

The Nationalist parties have indicated that in the event of a hanged parliament after the next election they would be prepared to prop up the Tories. This follows them coming within a whisker of forming a coalition in the Assembly in 2007 that would have seen the Tories brought into power in Wales, such scabbing cannot be tolerated and is alien to the best traditions of working class struggle in Wales.

Pride

2008-07-11T01:10:00.000-07:00

The Left Alternative (formerly Respect) had a successful float and walking group at this year's Pride Parade where we were able to give out thousands of leaflets, outlining our policies against homophobia and for full social and economic equality for all LGBT people, to a crowd of 800,000.

London Pride Parade is a yearly event that aims to promote equality and diversity and raise awareness of discrimination and the issues and difficulties affecting the lives of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people around the world.

After an effective 2007 float, Pride organisers invited the Left Alternative back again to have a float and walking group on their "fairytales, myths and legends themed parade. Our legend was based on Robin Hood - People before Profit and was the only socialist themed float on the parade.

A group of Left Alternative activists dressed up and handed out material that called for:

* Support for all LGBT people facing discrimination in any country
* A grassroots campaign in every school of LGBT teachers, school catering staff, unions and their supporters to bring about cultural change in the education system
* Legislation of same sex marriages
* Full equality for LGBT people
* Cab pooling to get people home at night, bus conductors and tube guards brought back, and more refuges and counselling for hate crime victims.

To see Lindsey German's speech at this year's Stonewall hustings click here

Letter to the G8 - From a Zimbabwean Activist in Cardiff

2008-07-09T05:13:00.001-07:00

Dear Gordon Brown,

It is with deep sadness that I watch and read the news about the G8 were you masquerade triumphantly on your new added sanctions that do not cause Mr Mugabe any loss of sleep but actually turn up the heat on the already suffering, brutalised, dejected, hopeless, sick, starving, poor and dying Zimbabweans citizens.

For years we have had sanctions against Mugabe, travel restrictions but it seems those were targeted at the Zimbabwean citizens as We are the ones that seem to be restricted on travel as Mr Mugabe seems to still travel as he pleases.

Recently you have decided to punish our sportsmen how is that a deterrent for Mr Mugabe who has had some of the most vocal protests about his regime come from our sports women and man.

What a performance you put on showing fake concern, Zimbabweans that escaped the regime have been made destitute and live in limbo; with uncertain futures while Your goons at the Home Office wait for the window opportunity to forcibly remove over 12 000 failed asylum seekers.

At the moment we have 6 Zimbabweans that have been in detention for 23 months.They have been treated like criminals or terrorist held for so long with no sentence, indefinitely. Their only hope being to just surrender to their fate and voluntary return to Zimbabwe for slaughter. So that we can read about them and add them to the statistics that you have and read every morning with your cup of tea.

In closing next time you speak on behalf of the Zimbabweans and their suffering don't bother with the performance because We all know you do not care about Us.

The Dispossessed

2008-07-03T05:26:00.000-07:00

Writing about the Black civil rights movement, Harlem Renaissance Poet-man, Langston Hughes scrawled:

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the events that Palestinians refer to as Al-Nakba, 'The Catastrophe' when the land of Palestine disappeared from the maps of the world. Until there is justice for the people of Palestine there will be no peace in the Middle East.

If the American War of Independence (from Britain) was simultaneously a war of expansion against the indigenous native populative, then likewise what Israelis refer to as a "the war of independence" was also a war of expansion against the people who had lived there for generations. These people were ethnically cleansed and their memory cleansed also in an orgy of destruction that saw over 400 Palestinian villages totally destroyed in the land that is now called Israel.

Like the Native Americans, Palestinians were driven at gunpoint from the land where they had lived for generations, many were herded into refugee camps where they still live alongside children and grandchildren. The West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem was carved up between the Arab states, and later under Israeli occupation. A small remnant remained in Israel to live as third-class citizens. For the first twenty years of Israel's existence this Palestinian minority lived under direct military rule. The situation in the Middle East is explosive, 60 years of dispossession is 60 years too long: Palestine is a dream deferred.

Power in the Union

2008-07-02T07:24:00.000-07:00

The language of priorities is the religion of socialism. There is an anecdote about Arthur Scargill & the miners of South Wales that perhaps puts things in the correct perspective:

In 1972, during the great strike, Arthur Scargill rang Dai Francis the leader of the South Wales miners and said,

‘Look, Dai, we need pickets up at Saltley, in Birmingham.’

Dai said, ‘Where’s that?’

Arthur explained.

‘Yes, we can organise them. When do you want them?’

‘Tomorrow, Saturday.’

Dai paused.

‘But Wales are playing Scotland at Cardiff Arms Park.’

There was a silence, and Scargill replied,

‘But Dai, the working class are playing the ruling class at Saltley.’

Needless to say a big delegation of miners from South Wales were present at the Battle of Saltley Gate!

Fighting for Wind Power - Challenging the Myths

2008-06-18T03:51:00.000-07:00

Wind energy - offshore and onshore - could generate up to a third of Wales' electricity, but there is a campaign of misinformation being waged. This excellent new briefing from Friends of the Earth Cymru answers the myths. RESPECT/Left Party says let's make Wales and Britain a 'global showcase for clean energy' and campaign for a rapid transition to a low carbon economy.

2008-06-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

Afghanistan: Get the Troops Out NOW!

2008-06-09T01:30:00.000-07:00

The hundredth British soldier was killed in Afghanistan today.

Afghanistan is a distaster for occupier and occupied alike: NATO forces are bogged down, deeply unpopular, facing more and more resistance and bringing mayhem rather than democracy.

When our media says "Taliban killed", the reality is usually that ordinary men, women and children cut down, and this is uniting the Afghan people against the foreign invader. We demand Brown pulls the troops out, because British soldiers shouldn't be dying in a futile war, and there can be no progress in Afghanistan while it is occupied by foreign armies.

Read Jonathan Neale on the forgotten war in Afghanistan here

Peter Hain's Aspirations for Wales

2008-06-04T01:06:00.000-07:00

Former minister Peter Hain has argued that Welsh Labour must move to the right, but his analysis is way off the mark, writes Huw Williams, a socialist activist in Blackwood, South Wales.

Following New Labour’s disastrous election results on 1 May, the Neath Labour MP and former cabinet minister Peter Hain has written a pamphlet, Changing Wales: Changing Welsh Labour.

The pamphlet, published by Blairite think tank Progress, essentially calls on the Welsh Labour Party to enact the changes to its policies that New Labour undertook in England during the 1990s.

Hain argues that the nature of Welsh society has changed to such a degree that “Old Labour” type politics no longer have a mass appeal.

He says that Welsh Labour needs to look to what he terms the “aspirational vote” as well as the “core vote”. The terms are essentially bywords for middle class and working class voters.

Hain argues that the working class and its organisations no longer provide the mechanism by which Labour can dominate Welsh politics as it has done for generations.

It is a familiar argument – the decline of the mining and steel industries is seen as the end of the working class. Hain points to the decline of trade union activity in Labour but also to how wider working class social networks such as rugby clubs have declined.

He states that people live more private lives and gain their views via the television and not the workplace.

Hain is right of course that the mining and steel industries have been in sharp decline for many years. However the view that this somehow signals the end of the Welsh working class is fundamentally flawed.

Those working in the NHS, local government, education or service industries are part of the working class. They have to rely on collective organisation to better their conditions as much as miners or steel workers did.

The real reason for longtime Labour voters staying at home is the sense of betrayal caused by New Labour’s hand-outs to the rich, its worshipping of big business, its lies about the Iraq war, its commitment to privatisation and its scapegoating of immigrants.

Hain argues that it is wrong of the “ultra new Labourites” to simply expect “core voters” to keep turning up and to assume they have nowhere else to go. He cites the worrying vote for the British National Party.

However he fails to address the fact that the main haemorrhaging of Labour’s vote in the Welsh council elections was in its heartland of the valleys.

Here Labour voters in great numbers switched from Labour not to the fascists but to historically large numbers of independent candidates.

Many, although not all, of these independents are former Labour Party members and some are grouped around the Welsh Assembly Member Trish Law from Blaneau Gwent.

In the main the appeal of these independents is that they are seen as critical of New Labour from the left and able to connect with the concerns of working class communities in those areas.
Plaid Cymru also continues in the main to speak an “Old Labour” message – albeit now compromised by its coalition with New Labour in the Welsh Assembly.

Hain argues that the councils that Labour retained – such as Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend – did so because they took tough financial decisions and provided good services.

Of course Hain doesn’t mention that Bridgend council workers in the Unison union are contemplating strike action due to a deal which offers only a 12 month protection of wages, or that they have privatised meals on wheels and leisure service provision.

Likewise Hain argues that young people are not interested in politics.

Yet many school students took part in strikes against the Iraq war and school students in Pontllanfraith Comprehensive School in Caerphilly recently held a day’s strike and protest against teacher redundancies.

Surely Hain should be asking why the Labour Party has no appeal for these people.
There is no doubt that Wales has changed dramatically over recent generations. The loss of mining and the defeat back in 1985 of the Miners’ Strike still has a resonance in Labour heartlands.

Communities have been fragmented by these changes but the question is how socialists rebuild those traditions of struggle and solidarity.

The vast majority of workers still believe that there is a fundamental divide between the rich and those working.

Lastly, the very fact that middle class voters are described as “aspirational” smacks of the elitism running through New Labour.

The working class have aspirations – but these are for affordable housing, good healthcare and education, an end to wars and privatisation.

The real problem for New Labour is not how its message is spun but that it doesn’t share the aspirations of the mass of working people.

Hain’s message is a call for more of the same from New Labour and to remove what little was different in Welsh Labour from New Labour.
Welsh workers deserve better.

'O Arglwydd, dyma gamwedd' - Oh Lord, here is injustice: The Merthyr Commune of 1831

2008-06-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

Go to the indoor market on St Mary's Street in Cardiff and see the place where Dic Penderyn was hanged in 1831. Gaze with solemn wonder at the plaque to remember him. His last words:"Oh Lord, Here is injustice" . This man - everyman - was a hero and martyr of the working class. He died young - aged 23, his spirit lives on: Adam Johannes looks at the Red Commune of 1831, "The Merthyr Rising", when Welsh workers stormed heaven.

Redundancies. Rising prices. Wage-cuts. A credit crisis. Ordinary people protesting are fired upon by the British army massacring two-dozen people. The protestors fight back hard and raise the red flag. Armed workers drive out the rich and take-over Merthyr placing it under ‘workers control’. They throw up barricades on the roads leading into the town. The authorities are surrounded and under siege in their own headquarters. Another battalion of the British army is surrounded and disarmed. For five glorious days working class people rule the town against the army who eventually crushed them.

In May-June 1831, the Welsh working class exploded onto the pages of history in a ferocious uprising unprecedented in British history. It is no accident that popular novelist, Alexander Cordell was to title his account of the Merthyr Rising, The Fire People. But what happened in Merthyr has historic significance. This was the first time the Red Flag of rebellion and revolution was raised on this Island and the working class took independent action as a class-for-itself, a time when, for almost a week, the people set up a “Commune”, a democratic society run by the poor organised from below rather than grasping elites. It took a thousand British troops to smash the dream.

At that time, Merthyr was a wild 'frontier town', the town of pig-iron - over a third of all iron in Britain was dragged up from the mines of Merthyr. It was a fluid town, being rapidly reshaped in the furnace of industrial revolution. All kinds of people were being uprooted and little changes in consciousness taking place. Many ordinary people felt a sense of dislocation of living in a world that was changing fast. They had come in from the countryside with old traditions of rural solidarity to be herded into what was the largest and fastest growing town in Wales at the time. Many were temporary and seasonal workers who would make a long trek back to West Wales at harvest time. Many of the workers were familiar with subversive literature from London that was circulated, and the latest political pamphlets and Jacobin writings were eagerly passed around and discussed.

With talk today of a credit crisis, we do well to remember that it was such a crisis that lay the foundations for poor and working people taking direct action in Merthyr. A British economic depression starting in 1829 becomes the tinder that lights a fire three years later. Times are hard, with the prices of basic goods rising, people begin to be forced into debt - just to survive, and face having the Court of Requests seize their property. By 1831, bailiffs are extremely active in the area and goods are being seized on a regular basis. There is a river of political discontent too - protests against the corn laws, marches for parliamentary reform. The town is also teeming with immigrant workers who bring different political traditions and vibrant cultures to the place, young and chaotic, prone to wild enthusiasms, they are destined to be swept into currents of history that would carry the whole town with it.

Another strata of discontent were the "shopocracy" a middle class, strongly influenced by liberal-democratic traditions and a Unitarian faith. Above all this loomed the local bosess: Four local iron masters who like lords ruled this wild place and its economy. In May, the Iron Masters are beginning to make men redundant and force wage cuts. This has the effect of crystalising working class discontent into a profound rage against the existing order. There is a general heightened political atmosphere in the town. Thousands of people take to the streets that month, and many take out their anger on the rich. The 'ringleaders' are arrested.

This might be the end of the matter, but thousands force the magistrates to set them free. It is the birth of popular power in South Wales. And for a brief week the streets of Merthyr transmute into a festival of the oppressed.

A simple outline of events reads like a movie-script. A poor but defiant man, defends his home from bailiffs. They attempt to seize goods from his home, but during the night he finds allies, and is supported by his neighbours who prevent them entering the humble abode.

The name of our hero is Lewis Lewis (Lewsyn yr Heliwr). He may be a kind of Bakunin of the barricades, an Emilano Zapata type leader who would rather die on his feet than live on his knees. But at this point, he is just a poor man standing up against injustice who steps onto the stage of history at the right moment.

The bailiffs call the magistrate, and a compromise is brokered: The bailiffs can remove a single trunk belonging to Lewis.

So far, so good. But within 24 hours, there is a march from Hirwaun led by Lewislewis to the home of the shopkeeper who now owns his trunk. The crowd take the trunk back by force and return to Merthyr. On the way, they go, house to house, reclaiming goods that the bailiffs and debtors Court of Requests had repossessed from the poor and return them to their owners. Like Robin Hood they ransack the home of one of the Bailiffs and take his property. The crowd is growing, swelled by angry working men from Cyfartha and Hirwaun Ironworks and they march into the area near the Castle Inn, where the wealthier members of the community reside. A hated moneylender has his house laid siege to. He is forced to sign a pledge to return the goods of a woman whose goods had been seized for defaulting on a debt.

By now, a local magistrate, fears that the town is close to being in the grip of mob rule. But this isn’t a ‘mob’, it’s a popular revolt against the Court of Request with justice on its side. The magistrates call in70 special constables, all middle class, to restore order. A message is sent to the Brecon garrison to warn that troops may be needed. The Ironmasters try and get the crowd to disperse. The Riot Act is read out. The crowd not only ignore these pleas but proceed to drive the Magistrates out of town. As things escalate, the crowd assemble outside the house of the President of the Court of Requests, demanding the court records and records of debtors.

Following a mass meeting on Hirwaun Common where different political factions debate and argue, the records are publicly burnt down in the street, along with the court house. Appropriately during the mass meeting, Lewis Lewis has leapt upon his recovered trunk to make the speech that will launch the insurrection. Working class insurgents are now storming all the local bastilles. The offices of the bailiffs, where property reposessed from the poor has been kept, is razed to the ground, along with the records of the debt. Demonstrators then marched on the local mines, demanding that the workers stage a general strike. Something else dramatic is about to happen, some unknown proletarian will do something symbolic that will create a new symbol of workers power: A white sheet is taken and dipped in the blood of a calf to make a red flag that is placed at the head of the march – The first time a red flag is raised in Britain!

The burning down of the hated debtors court represents a profoundly symbolic moment of liberation. Akin to the kicking over of the statues in the 1989 events in Eastern Europe, or the anarchists burning immoral money in the looted gun-shops of Barcelona, or jubilant workers shooting the clocks off churches in the Paris Commune, it is a deep cry against the injustice of this world where the big fish always eat the small fish.

By now, troops are being dispatched. At the same time the crowd form flying pickets, marching on local ironworks to persuade workers to walk out in wildcat strikes and join the movement. Internationalist and radical slogans are being chanted: “Remember Paris!”, “Bread AND CHEESE!”, “Down with the King!”, “Remember Poland!”. The insurgents meet the soldiers of the 93rd Highlanders and force them to retreat to the Castle Inn where the agents of the old order – the bosses, the magistrates, and soldiers from the British army - are besieged. The workers dispatch emissaries to the bosses demanding concessions: A wage rise, a reduction in the price of bread, but the bosses refuse to negotiate with (what they call) a rabble.

When the workers refuse to disperse, the Ironmasters order their soldiers to open fire on the crowd murdering two-dozen men and women. The workers fight back, keeping the inn under siege, and return fire. By now the insurgency and the ordinary people are in effective control of the town. Roadblocks and barricades are set up, and armed workers guard checkpoints into the town. When the Swansea Cavalry arrive from Aberdare they are surrounded and disarmed. There is an attempt to spread the revolution, with delegates of workers rushing to other local towns.

The rising finds an echo: Hundreds of workers from other areas of Wales are only prevented from entering Merthyr by troops under the lead of another local boss. The magistrates have also left – fled – town and make their way to Cardiff, Newport and London for reinforcements. Fierce clashes take place between insurgent workers and soldiers over the next 48 hours. There is a millenarian mood of people demanding utopia now.

To buy time, as reinforcements are being sent, the bosses offer concessions. This spreads confusion through the working class movement, with some believing the rising should end, while others wanting to press for more. As the movement stalls, a thousands troops are arriving on the scene. Soon they have re-established "order".

In the aftermath of the Rising, the old order takes revenge. Lewis Lewis is transported to Australia. A young miner by the name of Richard Lewis, better known as Dic Penderyn is arrested and thrown in gaol. Rather than make a martyr of the leaders, the authorities choose to make an example of an ordinary working man, they pick a typical worker from the community, one of many young men who had flocked to Merthyr from elsewhere looking for work, frame him on trumped up charges of stabbing a Scottish soldier, and hang him in Cardiff.

They want to see an ordinary worker die to show all ordinary workers what will be in store for them if they dare to rise up against injustice. Penderyn becomes a popular hero, thousands will sign a petition for his release, and his coffin is followed by thousands to its burial ground. But what Penderyn stood for is not buried. Over the next hundred years, the workers of South Wales will become known as the most militant in Britain.

There are many good ways to remember our secret heroes, Dic Penderyn and Lewislewis, on the anniversary of the Red Commune of Wales. You could pay a visit to the picket line of Cardiff Council workers who are due to go on strike shortly to show solidarity. They are under attack from the LibDems and Plaid Cymru who want to victimise workers who take time off due to ill-health. You can read Gwyn Alf Williams masterful book, The Merthyr Rising, that has been called The Making of the Welsh Working Class. You can take Alexander Cordell's novel about the rising, The Fire People as your holiday reaching with you to Barry Island beach, and if you are a fellow wage-slave hold your head high: Lewis Lewis and Dic Penderyn did it for us!

Support the Raytheon 9 - Resisting War Crimes is Not a Crime!

2008-05-16T06:12:00.000-07:00

The trial of Derry Anti War Coalition activists, the Raytheon 9, has begun. It is being held in Belfast. The trial was moved to Belfast after the Prosecution Service applied to have it moved; it argued that the Derry jury pool is likely to know too much about the campaign against Raytheon, including the non-violent direct action taken on 9th August 2006 and that any jury from Derry may be too sympathetic to the action and/or intimidated by the level of support for the Raytheon 9 because of all the protests held outside the court over the almost two years since the nine were arrested.

The Derry Anti War Coalition is confident that, wherever the trial is heard, there will be large demonstrations in support of the Nine and that any jury who hears the truth about what was happening in Lebanon when the action took place cannot but find that the Nine acted to stop war crimes and, therefore, committed no crime.

Rush messages of support to resistderry(at)aol.com

Davy McAuley, travelled to Cardiff recently to speak on behalf of the Derry Anti-War Coalition to speak at a protest rally called by the Stop the St Athan's Military Academy Campaign. He says “The creation of a military super-academy at St Athan, between Cardiff and Swansea, was announced as a done deal in January 2007. Despite the fact this represented the biggest PFI in history, involving £14 billion of taxpayers' money, there had been no debate in either Westminster or the Welsh Assembly (Senedd). DAWC were invited to speak because the winning bidders for the project were the Metrix consortium. This consortium includes Raytheon and the anti-war people of Wales are as unhappy with their taxes pouring profits into the coffers of arms traders as are the anti-war people of Derry. The consortium also includes Qinetiq, the privatised research and development wing of the MoD. Qinetiq was recently the subject of intense criticism by the National Audit Office. Its privatisation was proposed by MoD managers - who then saw their shares rise 10,000% on the day of the sale!"

Davey says that, in any case, “people need to imagine think about what else could be done with £14 billion! With hospitals and schools closing throughout Wales and the North of Ireland, with a desperate need to improve social facilities, create sustainable sources of energy etc, such public money could be invested in socially useful projects rather than the preparation for future wars of occupation like Iraq."

More about the Raytheon 9 can be found here

MESSAGE TO CARDIFF PEACE MOVEMENT:

It is a fact, not an allegation, that Raytheon is complicit in war crimes in Lebanon, Palestine and elsewhere in the world. Human Rights Watch reports have detailed the appalling suffering inflicted by Raytheon munitions on helpless civilians in Lebanon in the summer of 2006. The response of raytheon was to rush replenishments to the region so that slaughter might proceed.

We greet the members of the Stop the St Athan Military Academy Campaign and the Cardiff Stop the War Coalition who have highlighted the role of Raytheon in fuelling war for profit. We send our solidarity to you in your struggle to expose the obscenity of Raytheon involvement in military training in Wales. We thank you for the support you have shown us. We look forward to working in the future with you and with opponents of war and mitlitarism everywhere to cleans the world of the ugliness which Raytheon represents.

Eamonn McCann, Raytheon 9, Derry

A Worker Reads History

2008-05-15T03:41:00.001-07:00

Who built the seven gates of Thebes?
The books are filled with names of kings.
Was it the kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?
And Babylon, so many times destroyed.
Who built the city up each time? In which of Lima's houses,
That city glittering with gold, lived those who built it?
In the evening when the Chinese wall was finished
Where did the masons go? Imperial Rome
Is full of arcs of triumph. Who reared them up? Over whom
Did the Caesars triumph? Byzantium lives in song.
Were all her dwellings palaces? And even in Atlantis of the legend
The night the seas rushed in,
The drowning men still bellowed for their slaves.
Young Alexander conquered India.
He alone?
Caesar beat the Gauls.
Was there not even a cook in his army?
Phillip of Spain wept as his fleet
was sunk and destroyed. Were there no other tears?
Frederick the Greek triumphed in the Seven Years War.
Who triumphed with him?
Each page a victory
At whose expense the victory ball?
Every ten years a great man,
Who paid the piper?

So many particulars.
So many questions.

- Bertold Brecht

2008-05-04T11:41:00.000-07:00

"When the old is dying but the new cannot be born, a great variety of morbid symptoms appear"
Antonio Gramsci, Prison Notebooks

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act"
George Orwell

May 1968 - When Students & Workers Rocked the World

2008-05-01T02:46:00.000-07:00

Today is May Day - International Workers Day, a day to celebrate solidarity and common humanity. 40 years ago, students and workers rose up in Paris because they believed "Another World is Possible" - 10 million people waged an all out general strike. We still believe Another World is Possible. RESPECT/LEFT Party is standing two candidates in Adamsdown and Butetown, if you have some spare time vote for us - but better still get involved in the movement - if voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal!

Graffiti daubed on the walls of Paris in May 1968:

In the decor of the spectacle, the eye meets only things and their prices.

Commute, work, commute, sleep . . .

Meanwhile everyone wants to breathe and nobody can and many say, “We will breathe later.”

And most of them don’t die because they are already dead.

Boredom is counterrevolutionary.

We don’t want a world where the guarantee of not dying of starvation brings the risk of dying of boredom.

We want to live.

Don’t beg for the right to live — take it. I

n a society that has abolished every kind of adventure the only adventure that remains is to abolish the society.

The liberation of humanity is all or nothing.

Those who make revolutions half way only dig their own graves.

No replastering, the structure is rotten.

Masochism today takes the form of reformism.

Reform my ass.

The revolution is incredible because it’s really happening.

I came, I saw, I was won over.

Run, comrade, the old world is behind you!

Quick! If we only have enough time . . . In any case, no regrets!

Already ten days of happiness.

Live in the moment.

Comrades, if everyone did like us . . .

We will ask nothing. We will demand nothing. We will take, occupy.

Down with the state.

When the National Assembly becomes a bourgeois theater, all the bourgeois theaters should be turned into national assemblies.[Written above the entrance of the occupied Odéon Theater] Referendum: whether we vote yes or no, it turns us into suckers.

It’s painful to submit to our bosses; it’s even more stupid to choose them.

Let’s not change bosses, let’s change life.

Don’t liberate me — I’ll take care of that.

I’m not a servant of the people (much less of their self-appointed leaders).

Let the people serve themselves.

Abolish class society.

Nature created neither servants nor masters.

I want neither to rule nor to be ruled.

We will have good masters as soon as everyone is their own.

“In revolution there are two types of people: those who make it and those who profit from it.” (Napoleon)

Warning: ambitious careerists may now be disguised as “progressives.”

Don’t be taken in by the politicos and their filthy demagogy.

We must rely on ourselves.

Socialism without freedom is a barracks.

All power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

We want structures that serve people, not people serving structures.

The revolution doesn’t belong to the committees, it’s yours.

Politics is in the streets.

Barricades close the streets but open the way.

Our hope can come only from the hopeless.

A proletarian is someone who has no power over his life and knows it.

Never work.

People who work get bored when they don’t work. People who don’t work never get bored. Workers of all countries, enjoy!

Since 1936 I have fought for wage increases. My father before me fought for wage increases. Now I have a TV, a fridge, a Volkswagen. Yet my whole life has been a drag.

Don’t negotiate with the bosses. Abolish them.

The boss needs you, you don’t need the boss.

By stopping our machines together we will demonstrate their weakness.

Occupy the factories.

Power to the workers councils. (an enragé) Power to the enragés councils. (a worker)

Worker: You may be only 25 years old, but your union dates from the last century.

Labor unions are whorehouses.

Comrades, let’s lynch Séguy! [Georges Séguy: head bureaucrat of the Communist Party-dominated labor union]

Please leave the Communist Party as clean on leaving it as you would like to find it on entering. Stalinists, your children are with us!

Man is neither Rousseau’s noble savage nor the Church’s or La Rochefoucauld’s depraved sinner. He is violent when oppressed, gentle when free. Conflict is the origin of everything. (Heraclitus) If we have to resort to force, don’t sit on the fence.

Be cruel.

Humanity won’t be happy till the last capitalist is hung with the guts of the last bureaucrat. When the last sociologist has been hung with the guts of the last bureaucrat, will we still have “problems”?

The passion of destruction is a creative joy. (Bakunin)

A single nonrevolutionary weekend is infinitely more bloody than a month of total revolution. The tears of philistines are the nectar of the gods.

This concerns everyone.

We are all German Jews.

We refuse to be highrised, diplomaed, licensed, inventoried, registered, indoctrinated, suburbanized, sermonized, beaten, telemanipulated, gassed, booked.

We are all “undesirables.”

We must remain “unadapted.”

The forest precedes man, the desert follows him.

Under the paving stones, the beach.

Concrete breeds apathy.

Coming soon to this location: charming ruins.

Beautiful, maybe not, but O how charming: life versus survival.

“My aim is to agitate and disturb people. I’m not selling bread, I’m selling yeast.” (Unamuno) Conservatism is a synonym for rottenness and ugliness. You are hollow. You will end up dying of comfort. Hide yourself, object!

No to coat-and-tie revolution.

A revolution that requires us to sacrifice ourselves for it is Papa’s revolution.

Revolution ceases to be the moment it calls for self-sacrifice.

The prospect of finding pleasure tomorrow will never compensate for today’s boredom.

When people notice they are bored, they stop being bored.

Happiness is a new idea.

Live without dead time.

Those who talk about revolution and class struggle without referringto everyday reality have a corpse in their mouth.

Culture is an inversion of life.

Poetry is in the streets.

The most beautiful sculpture is a paving stone thrown at a cop’s head. A

rt is dead, don’t consume its corpse.

Art is dead, let’s liberate our everyday life.

Art is dead, Godard can’t change that.

Godard: the supreme Swiss Maoist jerk.

Permanent cultural vibration.

We want a wild and ephemeral music.

We propose a fundamental regeneration: concert strikes, sound gatherings with collective investigation.

Abolish copyrights: sound structures belong to everyone.

Anarchy is me.

Revolution, I love you.

Down with the abstract, long live the ephemeral.

(Marxist-Pessimist Youth) Don’t consume Marx, live him. I’m a Groucho Marxist.

I take my desires for reality because I believe in the reality of my desires.

Desiring reality is great! Realizing your desires is even better!

Practice wishful thinking.

I declare a permanent state of happiness.

Be realistic, demand the impossible.

Power to the imagination. T

hose who lack imagination cannot imagine what is lacking.

Imagination is not a gift, it must be conquered. (Breton)

Action must not be a reaction, but a creation.

Action enables us to overcome divisions and find solutions.

Exaggeration is the beginning of invention.

The enemy of movement is skepticism.

Everything that has been realized comes from dynamism, which comes from spontaneity. Here, we spontane.

“You must bear a chaos inside you to give birth to a dancing star.” (Nietzsche)

Chance must be systematically explored. A

lcohol kills. Take LSD. Unbutton your mind as often as your fly.

“Every view of things that is not strange is false.” (Valéry)

Life is elsewhere.

Forget everything you’ve been taught.

Start by dreaming.

Form dream committees.

Dare! This word contains all the politics of the present moment. (Saint-Just)

Arise, ye wretched of the university.

Students are jerks.

The student’s susceptibility to recruitment as a militant for any cause is a sufficient demonstration of his real impotence. (enragé women)

Professors, you make us grow old.

Terminate the university.

Rape your Alma Mater.

What if we burned the Sorbonne?

Professors, you are as senile as your culture, your modernism is nothing but the modernization of the police.

We refuse the role assigned to us: we will not be trained as police dogs.

We don’t want to be the watchdogs or servants of capitalism.

Exams = servility, social promotion, hierarchical society.

When examined, answer with questions.

Insolence is the new revolutionary weapon.

Every teacher is taught, everyone taught teaches.

The Old Mole of history seems to be splendidly undermining the Sorbonne. (telegram from Marx, 13 May 1968)

Thought that stagnates rots.

To call in question the society you “live” in, you must first be capable of calling yourself in question.

Take revolution seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously.

The walls have ears. Your ears have walls.

Making revolution also means breaking our internal chains.

A cop sleeps inside each one of us. We must kill him. Drive the cop out of your head.

Religion is the ultimate con.

Neither God nor master.

I suspect God of being a leftist intellectual.

The bourgeoisie has no other pleasure than to degrade all pleasures.

Going through the motions kills the emotions. S

truggle against the emotional fixations that paralyze our potentials. (Committee of Women on the Path of Liberation)

The more I make love, the more I want to make revolution. The more I make revolution, the more I want to make love.

SEX: It’s okay, says Mao, as long as you don’t do it too often.

Comrades, 5 hours of sleep a day is indispensable: we need you for the revolution.

Embrace your love without dropping your guard.

I love you!!! Oh, say it with paving stones!!!

I’m coming in the paving stones.

Total orgasm.

Revolutionary women are more beautiful.

Zelda, I love you! Down with work!

The young make love, the old make obscene gestures.

Make love, not war.

Whoever speaks of love destroys love.

Down with consumer society.

The more you consume, the less you live.

Commodities are the opium of the people.

Burn commodities. Y

ou can’t buy happiness. Steal it.

See Nanterre and live. Die in Naples with Club Med.

Are you a consumer or a participant?

To be free in 1968 means to participate. I participate. You participate. He participates. We participate. They profit. T

he golden age was the age when gold didn’t reign.

“The cause of all wars, riots and injustices is the existence of property.” (St. Augustine) Happiness is hanging your landlord.

Millionaires of the world unite.

The wind is turning. The economy is wounded — I hope it dies!

How sad to love money.

You too can steal.

I don’t like to write on walls. Write everywhere. Before writing, learn to think. I don’t know how to write but I would like to say beautiful things and I don’t know how. I don’t have time to write!!!

I have something to say but I don’t know what.

Speechmaking is counterrevolutionary.

Comrades, stop applauding, the spectacle is everywhere.

Don’t get caught up in the spectacle of opposition. Oppose the spectacle. Down with spectacle-commodity society. Down with journalists and those who cater to them. Only the truth is revolutionary.

It is forbidden to forbid.

To hell with boundaries.

You can no longer sleep quietly once you’ve suddenly opened your eyes.

The future will only contain what we put into it now.

"Our Lives Are Worth More Than Your Profits" - A Week in Politics in Cardiff

2008-04-30T03:52:00.001-07:00

RH Tawney once quipped, 'What thoughtful rich people call the problem of poverty, thoughtful poor people call with equal justice a problem of riches.'

Over the last 7 days, our two Cardiff RESPECT candidates standing as The LEFT Party - Joe 'Red' Redmond, Adamdown & Karen Tyre, Butetown - have been out campaigning against war, racism, privatisation and poverty.

This is a record of the final few days of our campaign. We have encountered huge disillusionment with mainstream politics and politicians. In Butetown we met some of the poorest communities in Wales, surrounded by luxury apartments, next door to the Welsh Assembly. If we have in a small way helped empower people to organise at the base of society against the rich and powerful, then our campaign will have been a success

Thursday

A day of strike action all over South Wales meant an early start and plenty of picket lines for Respect activists to visit before joining a huge teachers’ rally for in Cardiff. After chatting with members of the NUT and other unions, Joe and Karen were interviewed by Radio Wales, who asked whether today’s strike signalled the rebirth of the trade union movement – we told them “having been on civil servants’ and postal workers' picket lines we know there is already a mass movement against Gordon Brown’s attack on public sector pay and conditions. We applaud teachers for joining the struggle and will continue to build links between all unions.”

“Inflation and the cost of living are spiralling out of control at the same time as New Labour enforces the abolition of the 10p tax rate and hands billions of pounds in public money to Northern Rock. The government keeps telling us there is no money for workers in the public service to earn a fair wage and clearly this is a lie!”

Teachers also seemed very interested in Saturday’s demonstration against the St Athan, especially as several schools in the area are discussing investment from private companies which will underwrite the curriculum and groom pupils for the Military Academy.

Friday

A quiet day as far as canvassing goes – all our energy is focussed on making sure there is a strong turnout for the weekend’s two major events. Like every other day for the past few weeks though there are always more leaflets to be posted!

Saturday

Joe & Karen join March against £14 billion being spent on a huge Military Academy being built near Cardiff run by private companies like Raytheon who manufacture cluster bombs. We think this is a massive waste of public money - why are we told there's no money for pensions and public services, but there's always money for war? There are lots of young people on the march and a big delegation from the PCS trade union, many of whom we have met on the picket lines in the last year.

Police serve Public Order Act on the demonstration to prevent us marching in the City Centre where people can see us - it seems the political establishment in Wales is rattled. The highlight of the day is an impassioned speech from Davy McAuley from the Derry Raytheon 9 campaign; he talks about meeting a family in Lebanon who lost 20 family members to a Raytheon bomb, and seeing children with their limbs blown off. Later in the bar, we have a long conversation about socialism, setting up an organised trade union faction and the living wage campaign.

Sunday

With many of our members up in London joining thousands at the LoveMusicHateRacism Carnival against the Nazi BNP, the rest of us canvass a couple of neighbourhoods in Adamsdown.

It's good to see a local shop with our election leaflet up. On the doorstep a major issue seems to be lack of youth facilities and anything for young people to do in the area. People complain about politicians making promises to the local community but not delivering, the local park for example needs work. We try and connect the local issues to the big issues of privatisation and the government’s refusal to tax the rich to fund public services, and the lack of decent council housing.

We also challenge those who want let our politicians off the hook by blaming immigrants for bad housing and the state of the NHS - we defend our multicultural society.

Monday

Joe and Karen visit Butetown Community Centre to hear a presentation from the Local Health Board on the future of health services in Cardiff and specifically the future of Butetown Community Centre which has been threatened with closure. There is a great turnout - local people are extremely worried about the disruption to services and question why other parts of the city are getting a better deal. One woman says she’s been seeing men in hard hats outside her window every day for 25 years – but all that gets built is luxury flats.

After the meeting we speak to community leaders who believe the council wants to force residents off the land so they can sell it to property developers. Just like people in Adamsdown they are angry about the lack of investment in leisure facilities. They blame lack of amenities for contributing to rising tension between young people from different cultures – creating rivalries rather than cohesion. We meet some really passionate people who are extremely sceptical about promises from politicians and interested in hearing what Respect has to say about offering something new and not just looking out for big business.

Tuesday

Karen attends a public meeting organised by Cardiff Trades Council to mobilise people to defend public services. A small meeting, after all, it was competing with election canvassing and the Champions League semi-final! During the discussion, we talk about how different ways of trying to reach people need to be used, relating to people enthused by the anti-war movement and anti-racist work. We've made a start at getting new forces involved in this campaign, lets hope we can keep up the momentum.

Meanwhile, our other candidate is getting the message out in the Adamdown ward, he says "I'm visiting the people in my block and surrounding streets – make sure they know the name!"
Other supporters are at the anti-Military Academy campaign meeting.

Wednesday

Karen and Joe have been invited to Red Sea House (home of the Butetown Elders’ Centre – an important meeting place, particularly amongst Somali men). We’re visiting after evening prayer so there should be plenty of people there and we’ll also be doing more canvassing locally if we have time.

Thursday Election Day

On the ground in both wards!

March against the Military Academy

2008-04-25T07:39:00.001-07:00

Meet Joe 'RED' Redmond and Karen Tyre, Respect/Left Party candidates for Adamsdown & Butetown tomorrow as they join the mass demonstration against the billions being wasted on building a military academy near Cardiff. We are proud to be the only political party to oppose the Academy in our election material and take a stand against the militarisation of our society.

Hi everyone,

Just a reminder that Stop the War Coalition has called a national demonstration in conjunction with the anti-St Athan military campaign tomorrow at 1.30pm outside Cardiff City Hall.

The St Athan military academy is a monstrosity, a £14 BILLION project that will be in the hands of private contractors and weapons manufacturers like Raytheon, the supplier of cluster bombs that have killed scores of innocent civillians accross the Middle East and around the world.

The Academy will be used to train soldiers from Britain and around the world in techniques to be used in the war on terror. Let's make no bones about it - the academy will be a place where "friendly" dictatorships like Saudi Arabia and Egypt will have their officers trained to murder and torture the poor people who dare to stand up to US and UK imperialism.

The development of the academy fits into the government's increasing militarisation of society, it's aggressive recruitment campaigns in poor schools, it's attempt to glorify war in an "armed forces day". These things are intrinsically linked to building support for the "war on terror", and specifically the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. That is why we want to make sure that this protest draws the clear links between St Athan and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Please do your best to get along. Spend 10 minutes tonight calling people to try and get them there. Come out and join the march on your lunch break as it winds down Queen Street.

Cheers,

Jonny Jones, RESPECT/Left Party in Wales

Ten Commandments to Save the Planet, Life & Humanity

2008-04-25T03:13:00.000-07:00

Speaking at the United Nations today, Bolivian president Evo Morales proposed 10 commandments to save the planet, life and humanity that few sensible people could disagree with.

Acabar con el sistema capitalista
Putting an end to the capitalist system

Renunciar a las guerras
Renouncing wars

Un mundo sin imperialismo ni colonialismo
A world without imperialism or colonialism

Derecho al agua
Right to water

Desarrollo de energías limpias
Development of clean energies

Respeto a la madre tierra
Respect for Mother Earth

Servicios básicos como derechos humanos
Treat basic services as human rights

Combatir las desigualdades
Fighting inequalities

Promover la diversidad de culturas y economías
Promoting diversity of cultures and economies

Vivir bien, no vivir mejor a costa del otro
Living well, not living better at the expense of others

Support the Strikes!

2008-04-23T04:48:00.000-07:00

Two trade union reps are standing for Cardiff Respect under the banner LEFT Party. Vote Joe Redmond in Adamsdown & Karen Tyre in Butetown! You can meet them tommorrow at the NUT strike rally at 10.30 am, St Peter's Hall, St Peter's Road (off City Road) where they will be showing support for striking teachers: THE WORKERS UNITED CAN NEVER BE DEFEATED!

Left List supports call for strike action
22/04/2008

Gordon Brown is facing the biggest political crisis of his premiership over the abolition of the 10 percent income tax band for Britain's lowest earners. There is now serious speculation that he could even be forced from office. But if Brown has found himself in a hole, he has only himself to blame.

It is his commitment to big business and his determination to make the poorest in society pay for growing economic turmoil has led him into this storm. We are both workers who have been hit by Brown's attempts to clamp down on public sector wages - and we are both taking strike action on Thursday of this week to break through his pay limit.

We will be walking out alongside hundreds of thousands of teachers, lecturers, civil service workers, council workers and others.The strike is a great chance for workers to ramp up the pressure on the prime minister. It is a chance for us to put our demands - for decent pay, housing, public services and living standards - at the heart of the political storm that Brown now faces.

The attacks we face are caused by Brown's commitment to policies of profit, privatisation and war. That's why we need a political challenge to New Labour. On Thursday of next week we'll have a chance to show there is an alternative - by voting for the Left List in the London and local elections on 1st May.

The Left List is standing to represent ordinary working people who have been betrayed by New Labour and sold short by all the mainstream parties' challenge to the neoliberal drive of Brown and his New Labour cronies. That's why we're calling on everyone to back our strike this Thursday, 24th April - and to vote Left List on Thursday, 1st May.

Oliur Rahman, East London Respect/Left Party councillor, PCS union member and candidate for London Assembly
Sara Tomlinson, joint branch secretary of Lambeth NUT teachers union (pc)

March against the Military Academy

2008-04-22T11:32:00.000-07:00

Wales recently recently received its biggest ever award of taxpayers money: £14 billion. Unfortunately the 4 main parties in Wales have supported this money not being spent on hospitals, schools and public services. but instead on war, in the shape of a huge, privatised military academy being built at St Athan, near Cardiff. RESPECT - The Left Party is proud to be the only political party in Wales speaking out against the Academy in the upcoming elections.

Stop the War NOW: MARCH TO STOP THE UK MILITARY ACADEMY

Mass demonstration called by Stop the St Athan Military Academy Campaign
Supported by UK Stop the War Coalition

Assemble 1.30 pm, Cathays Park
(opposite Museum/City Hall, Cardiff
Saturday 26 April

In the summer of 2006, hundreds of people protested in Cardiff against the war on Lebanon. The Israeli military dropped half-a-million cluster bombs on Lebanon supplied by arms companies like Raytheon. Now Raytheon has been invited to Wales by the Welsh Assembly Government to help run a huge, privatised military academy near Cardiff. It's time to get back onto the streets! Anything we can do in Wales to prevent the State waging war on its terms can only be of help to those resisting in the frontline in the Middle East and beyond.

Stop the St Athan Military Academy Campaign supporters include:

Aberystwyth Peace & Justice Network, Bangor Peace & Justice GroupCaernarfon Peace & Justice Group, Cardiff Anarchist Network, Cardiff Justice & Peace Group, Cardiff RESPECT/Left Party, Church Action Against Poverty, CND Cymru, CND (Swansea), Communist Party of Wales, Cymdeithas y Cymod (Fellowship of Reconciliation Wales), Cymdeithas yr Iaith (Welsh Language Society), Cynefin y Werin, Green Party (Wales), Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, Penarth Justice & Peace Group, Permanent Revolution, Quakers (Caerleon), RESPECT/Left Party, Socialist Labour Party (Wales), South Wales Anarchists, Stop the War Coalition (UK), Stop the War (Bristol)Stop the War (Cardiff), Stop the War (Swindon), Stop the War (Wrekin), Women in Black (Abergavenny), Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Wrexham Peace & Justice Centre

To add your name or organisation to the list of supporters or for more information about the campaign, email: no2militaryacademy@inbox.com

Imagine a world in which the armed forces are trained by arms dealers.And we subsidise their profits.

That world will become reality unless we stop the proposed school of death at St Athan.The creation of a military super-academy at St Athan, between Cardiff and Swansea, was announced as a done deal in January 2007. Despite the fact this represented the biggest PFI in history, involving £14 billion of taxpayers' money, there had been no debate in either Westminster or the Welsh Assembly (Senedd). A promise of 5500 local jobs was trumpeted loudly by an uncritical news media and presented as a great victory for Wales.

No wonder the politicians didn't want any debate. The new super-academy, replacing many smaller centres, means that military training will now be in the hands of shameless profiteers.The winning bidders for the project were the Metrix consortium. This consortium includes Qinetiq, the privatised research and development wing of the MoD. Qinetiq was recently the subject of intense criticism by the National Audit Office. Its privatisation was proposed by MoD managers – who then saw their shares rise 10,000% on the day of the sale! 33.8% of Qinetiq was also bought by the US-based Carlyle Group, a sinister lash-up of politicians and arms dealers with a vested interest in promoting war.Former members of its board include one George W. Bush.

Then there is the US arms manufacturer Raytheon. Raytheon make the missiles which deliver cluster bombs, the horrendous weapons which are estimated to have killed 100,000 people – 98% of them innocent civilians. The world can also thank Raytheon for the depleted uranium weapons which have led to thousands of horribly deformed babies and large increases in cancers in war zones and beyond.Raytheon, Qinetiq and friends will not just be training UK armed forces at St Athan. They will train any soldiers, sailors and air force personnel that are willing to pay for the privilege. And like all PFIs, the St Athan academy will be subsidised by the taxpayer, and if necessary, bailed out with public money.There has never been a detailed breakdown of the jobs the academy will bring. However, even Metrix admit that many of the military trainers will relocate from elsewhere. Every PFI has secured profits by cutting costs. St Athan will mean less MoD jobs overall, and the poorest pay and conditions for lowskilled workers.

In any case, imagine what else could be done with £14 billion! With hospitals and schools closing throughout Wales and the UK, with a desperate need to improve social facilities, create sustainable sources of energy etc, such public money could be invested in socially useful projects rather than the preparation for future wars of occupation like Iraq.

If this development goes ahead, 21 st century Wales will be become a militarised, security-obsessed nightmare. If you want to stop the war profiteers in their tracks, support the campaign and raise it in your union, student union, workplace and community.

Justice for Ama Sumani - End Deportations

2008-04-11T01:32:00.000-07:00

AMA SUMANI CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCES DEMONSTRATION IN HER MEMORY
Assemble 1 pm, Nye Bevan Statue, Queen Street, Saturday 19 April

Supporters and friends of Ama Sumani, who died in Ghana on March 19th after being removed from the University Hospital of Wales whilst receiving treatment for cancer, have called a demonstration in her memory.

Campaigners hope that the event will be both a tribute to Ama and a message to the authorities that this kind of situation must never be repeated.

“This protest is important because we have to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again” said Janet Symmons, Ama's friend and co-ordinator of the campaign. “Ama's tragedy touched a lot of people, but it is important to understand that there are hundreds of people in similar situations right now. I know a Zambian lady who has a baby daughter with brain damage, a Cameroonian boy with Hepatitis – all have the threat of deportation hanging over them.”Ama Sumani had contracted cancer whilst living in Britain and required dialysis after her kidneys became damaged.

Despite protests that Ama would die in Ghana due to a lack of necessary medical resources, Ama was removed from hospital at 8am on January 9th and had been deported from the country by mid-afternoon.

The decision was condemned by the likes of medical journal The Lancet and Archbishop of Wales Dr Barry Morgan, and thousands of pounds were donated to help pay for Ama's medical care.

Despite this, Ama died just hours after hearing that doctors who could treat her had been found. She was just 39 and left two orphaned children, a daughter and son aged 16 and seven.

Karen Tyre, a local government worker and trade union rep who had been involved in the campaign, said that “Ama's deportation shows just how cruel politicians can be when dealing with human life. It was a disgrace that local MP Alun Michael, rather than condemning this appalling act, chose to defend the actions of the Immigration Service.”

She continued: “To them, Ama was a statistic, a number, but for millions of people who learned of her plight she was a real person who was ignored by those who had the power to help her. This event will be a chance for people around the country to come together in memory of Ama and say 'never again'.”

Organisers of the event, including African groups, refugee support groups and trade unionists, hope that they will bring British people and migrants closer together.

The demonstration will take place on Saturday April 19, exactly one month after Ama passed away. It will assemble at 1pm at the Aneurin Bevan statue on Queen Street. Speakers and supporters will be announced soon.

Ms Symmons summed up the appeal to people by saying: “I remember the case of the terminally ill woman who was denied the right to travel to Switzerland so she could take her life painlessly. Yet Ama wanted to live and she was sent away. This is not the way to treat human beings, so please join us and help get the message out.”

Stop Carmageddon!

2008-03-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

This is a loose discussion document to start a debate within the left wing movement in Cardiff on developing an alternative transport plan for the city based on principles of ecology, social justice and equality. We also need to talk about how we facilitate more walking and cycling. We need trade unions to push for work-based initiatives to encourage car-share, cycling to work and sustainable town planning to cut down journeys. It is a work-in-progress. Any feedback, comments or criticism welcome! By Joe Redmond, Workplace Environmental Union rep and Adamsdown RESPECT candidate.

* Cardiff Respect believes there should be an integrated publicly owned transport system within the city of Cardiff. This should include trains, buses and even trams, all of which could be boarded using a fixed price (£1) ticket, valid on any combination of transport modes for one hour from the time you board – ample time to travel across the city.

* There is massive support for the re-introduction of a tram system in Cardiff and the city is not too big to introduce circular lines linking the two train stations and civic centre, with further routes attainable along St Mary Street and towards Cardiff Bay.

* The massive multi-million pound building project of St David’s 2 provided the perfect opportunity for the council to investigate this dramatic move but they are only concerned with building hundreds of additional shops which will turn Cardiff into just another clone town.

* The Lib Dem (and previously New Labour) council rather than tackle traffic congestion are building more roads, accommodating more cars and allocating more space for parking. Most of this parking is provided by private companies, such as NCP, charging upwards of £8.50 per day (roughly £4,000 a year!).

* The Lib Dems and New Labour councillors advocate a congestion charge which will mean roads for the rich – who can continue to drive their cars while working class people, already feeling the pinch from low wages, spiralling fuel costs and rising mortgage rates will have to fork out thousands of pounds a year just to get to their jobs.

* The current rail network excludes the most populous edges of the city, yet serves middle class areas like Lisvane and Llanishen where the majority of residents have at least two cars. A rail link should be introduced from Ely to St Mellons & Pentwyn (via the city centre). This would allow working class people the option of leaving their car at home without depending on unreliable public buses.

* Cardiff Respect believes there should be no privatisation of Cardiff Bus. The decline of the railways serves as an example of the failure of the profit motive in transport. Less popular routes will be cut – cutting elderly and disabled people off from doctors, shops, post offices and other vital services.

* Free Public Transport: Cardiff should investigate the examples of European cities with completely free bus services. In the Belgian city of Hasselt, a local council has abolished bus-fares, leading to a 900% increase in public transport use and a spectacular decline in car use and congestion. This is a highly effective measure to tackle climate chaos, radically lowering the city's carbon footprint. It is also a key social justice reform: 1 in 3 people do not drive or own a car. It is the poor who have least access to decent transport. Free public transport helps those on low incomes fully participate in society.

Post comments here or send them to respect_yourself_cardiff@hotmail.co.uk

International Women's Day

2008-03-08T14:33:00.000-08:00

Today is International Women’s Day. Palestinian refugee Fatima Helou celebrates the women resisting occupation today. This article was first published on International Women's Day 2005.

Amnesty International has just published a disturbing report on the plight of women in Iraq. The report reveals how sanctions, war and occupation have wiped out years of advances made by Iraqi women. Two years of war and occupation have driven women into the home, seen their jobs disappear and their rights eroded.

It is an indictment of the world today that this report should be published on the eve of International Women’s Day, a day that should see women celebrating everywhere.

Even though there seems little to cheer about, International Women’s Day touches women all over the world. This year we should dedicate this day to the women of Iraq and Palestine.

Since we lost our homeland in 1948 Palestinian women have taken part in the struggle as sisters, wives and mothers. We have fought occupation and oppression hand-in-hand with men.

Women sold their jewellery to buy weapons, faced imprisonment for their dissent, defied humiliation and took up arms for their liberation. Many have embraced death for our freedom.

I would like to dedicate this day to the memory of a young woman, barely in her twenties, who took up arms in 1978 to fight for the liberation of Palestine.

Dalal al-Mugrabi was killed on the orders of Ehud Barak, later a prime minister of Israel. She had just led a commando raid in Israel. The punishment for her resistance continued after her death, as the Israeli troops refused to bury her body. She has become a symbol for all Palestinian women.

On this day I remember the women of Shatilla refugee camp in Lebanon where I was born, and where I lived under siege as a teenager in the mid 1980s.

I had survived the Sabra and Chatilla massacre during the Israeli invasion of 1982. But four years later, we found ourselves once again fighting for our very survival.

We were in the midst of a siege by a Lebanese militia force. Our food was running out and water was becoming scarce. Nevertheless, the young women in the camp gathered to mark International Women’s Day.

It was the first time I had heard about such a celebration. We were given a carton of juice—a luxury during the siege—and the women made speeches calling for equality and freedom.

Women, we were told, had to be at the centre of the struggle for our own liberation, and on this day millions of women around the world were also fighting for their survival—whether under occupation, against war, poverty or for their basic rights.

I, and many of my sisters, felt for the first time that we were part of a global struggle. That night in 1986 brought us hope because we no longer felt isolated and abandoned.

I would like to dedicate this day to the women living under occupation today—the thousands of women in Palestine and Iraq who find themselves at the head of families. Women who have to step into the shoes of men to carry on the struggle for survival. Women who, through war, find themselves becoming both mother and father. Women who have to find food to feed their families as their husbands, sons and brothers rot in prison, or are killed or maimed.

On this day we should remember how small acts of defiance are important, such as the defiance shown by two schoolgirls from Hebron who resisted attempts by Israeli soldiers to humiliate them. They suffered beatings and imprisonment at a military checkpoint after they refused an order to undress in front of the soldiers.

I would also like to dedicate this day to the thousands of women across the world who show their solidarity, and through their campaigns and small deeds have broken the isolation many of us feel.

Most of all I would like to dedicate International Women’s Day to the millions of women around the world whose daily battle against all odds keeps our hope for a better future alive.

Fatima Helou is a Palestinian refugee living in Scotland. She was seriously wounded in an Israeli airstrike during the invasion of Lebanon in 1982. She survived the Sabra and Shatilla massacre that year and the War of the Camps in 1986. Fatima fled Lebanon after an attempt on her life for her campaign to indict Ariel Sharon and Lebanese warlords for their role in the massacre. She is currently facing deportation back to Lebanon under New Labour’s asylum laws.

Saturday 15 March will see a demonstration in London to mark the 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq - coaches will be going from Cardiff. Email - cardiff_troopsout@hotmail.com for more information.

'A Question of Social Justice'

2008-02-22T04:17:00.000-08:00

A report from the Campaign against Climate Change Trade Union Conference by Joe Redmond, Adamsdown RESPECT candidate and workplace environmental union representative. His report of the Heathrow climate camp can be read here

Saturday 9th February 2008 saw the UK’s first national Trade Union conference on climate change, convened by the Campaign against Climate Change and believed also to be the first of its kind in the world. Hundreds of activists and trade unionists packed the main hall of University College London Union to discuss the role of unions in developing just and equitable solutions to the potential threat of climate change, an ecological catastrophe that threatens billions of people especially the poorest and most vulnerable - who will inevitably be its victims. RESPECT Environment spokesperson Elaine Graham Leigh called it ‘a question of social justice’ and was one of many speakers to cite the £50billion investment in Northern Rock and several billions more into the so-called ‘War on Terror’ as draining taxpayers money from investment in alternative energy sources that would break our dependence on fossil fuels.

While capitalism and its roots in the industrial revolution are undeniably the causes of the problem, governments and the international business community rely on the free market to provide the solution through carbon exchange schemes and development of new technologies. This is clearly double speak from the ruling classes who are more than aware that unqualified freedom creates exactly the opposite – with restraints to trade removed there is nothing to stop the strongest from oppressing the weak (as successive announcements of record profits for oil and gas companies demonstrate). Author and socialist Jonathan Neale reminded activists at the conference that the whole world economy was re-drawn for the Second World War – and a similar seismic shift is needed to tackle climate change.

With industry the main contributor to CO2 emissions, and government nowhere near to applying meaningful regulation, workers must pressure their employers to make change. Chris Bough from the PCS union said that environmental impact is a logical extension of health and safety and echoed the belief of many delegates that green reps should be given legal status. He added that unions should promote learning peers to educate management and co-workers.

The role of trade unionists

For many trade unions and their leadership the environment has historically been a divisive issue – workers are generally told their jobs are under threat - however, a transition to ‘green collar’ jobs would see workers trained towards a future in a low carbon economy. This was envisioned by Lucas Aerospace workers in the 1970’s, who attempted to defend their jobs by calling for an end to the production of military goods and a switch to high technology equipment like kidney dialysis machines. (Lucas workers also argued that the radar systems used in fighter planes could be used for sight aid for blind people).

The workforce would be much happier with this from the point of view of jobs and the quality of work.

Under capitalism the world's resources and wealth are owned and used to make profit for the wealthy. Money is invested where profit is highest and the fulfilment of human needs is always a secondary priority. The Lucas Plan challenged many of the basic assumptions of capitalism: why should profits come before people? What value have weapons in a world with so many other pressing needs?

Affordable jobs and homes

Providing good jobs locally would help minimalise day to day travel (particularly by single car users) and reduce the stress of commuting. Investment rather than privatisation in public transport would decrease pollution and begin to tackle the health problems caused by the amount of traffic in cities. Spiralling fuel and food costs only further diminish the quality of life for workers, especially in an era of public sector pay freezes (which are locked below the level of inflation – effective pay cuts in the real world).

A strong presence of teachers at the conference was reflected in the reception granted to Christine Burr (NUT) who said that 14% of pupils are delivered by parents in private transport. A lack of school buses coupled with closures, particularly in rural areas, has only exacerbated this problem. She added that schools are forced to tarmac important recreational spaces to accommodate temporary classrooms and parking spaces for teachers.

RESPECT believes that people should be able to live near to where they work or study and should be able to do so in decent quality council housing without having to pay extortionate rents dictated by the property market, driven by New Labour’s love of buy-to-let mortgages – which place no responsibility on landlords while offering tenants no security. Developers in major cities continue to build high price luxury flats which stand empty while working families endure endless council and housing association waiting lists.

Emergency

Matt Wrack (FBU) highlighted the problems faced by Fire & Rescue Services in responding to emergencies like last year’s nationwide floods. Insurers have only this week said they will not pay out in such cases in future and that developers should think twice about building on flood plains – offering small consolation to people who cannot afford to buy a home elsewhere! Fire & Rescue are not tasked with responding but have to since no-one else can. FBU members believe the Fire Service Act should be changed to recognise this and include training and money to deal with these increasingly regular incidents. Perhaps in older days the army would have rolled out the Green Goddesses (as during the fire workers’ strike a couple of years ago) however they are too busy overseas looking after our ‘energy security’.

It’s the individual, stupid!

Instead of addressing these many problems, we are told we are failing in our individual responsibility to the planet. We are told to switch off our televisions and buy energy saving light bulbs, we are told to recycle, as if our habits of consumption are solely to blame rather than the society that created and depends on them.

By doing this the government gets away with doing nothing and creates among individuals the familiar state of denial that Mark Lynas describes in his book ‘Six Degrees’: “There is the metaphor of displaced commitment… denial of responsibility ("I am not the main cause of this problem"); condemnation of the accuser ("You have no right to challenge me"); rejection of blame ("I've done nothing wrong"); ignorance ("I don’t know the consequences of my actions"); powerlessness ("Nothing I do makes much difference"); comfort ("It is too difficult for me to change my behaviour"); and "fabricated constraints" ("There are too many impediments").

Direct Action

John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington, bemoaned his own party’s record. He called for re-nationalisation of railways and energy companies and invited anyone and everyone to come to the next climate camp at Heathrow Airport – to protest and take direct action against the planned third runway which would see air traffic double and several hundred of his constituents forced from their homes.

Since 2005 Campaign against Climate Change has organised annual Global Days of Protest, and 65 countries were involved last year. In London, tens of thousands took part and will do so again at the next national demonstration on December 6th. If politicians are not prepared to act then we must go onto the streets and demand that they do!

RESPECT’s Nine Point Plan to Save the Planet

* Reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by at least 90% by 2050 and massively increased investment in renewables

* No nuclear power

* Cheap, integrated, publicly-owned public transport system, run for need not profit

* A new binding international treaty to ensure real cuts in greenhouse gas emissions

* Halt airport expansion and end the £9 billion tax-break to the airlines

* Increase public investment to make all homes energy efficient, and all new homes sustainably designed

* Localise food production, packaging and distribution where possible, to cut food miles

* High-quality facilities to maximise recycling and no incinerators

* No biofuel production, which takes land needed for food crops and drives up food prices

''Dim ysgol, dim cymuned'' – No School, No Community

2008-02-21T08:26:00.000-08:00

When Rodney Berman, Leader of Cardiff Council brazenly announced the closure of 22 schools he could never have imagined that within the year popular protest from school students, teachers and parents would sink the LibDems flagship school “reorganisation” programme. The streets of Cardiff were filled with the biggest marches seen since the protests against the invasion of Iraq. The people won that battle but the war goes on with new attempts to close Cardiff schools.

But it is not only in Cardiff that schools are threatened with closure, North Wales has seen huge protests. The argument for school closures is phrased differently, but the closures are even more sinister, threatening to rip out the heart of rural communities. In Gwynedd, Plaid are attempting the biggest school closure programme in Wales. Some have tried to create spin from the fact that one or two of the schools have less than ten pupils, but this by no means typical of the schools being shut.

Bethan Wyn Evans is a teacher at Ysgol Bronyfooel, Y Fron, an old slate quarry community on the hills overlooking Caernarfon. She describes herself as “as not a very political person” but nevertheless was impelled by outrage at the effect school closures would have on rural communities to take a stand. Speaking to Adam Johannes from RESPECT, she eloquently demolished the arguments that small schools are a bad thing,

'Some schools in Gwynedd do have very small numbers of pupils' which she blames on rumours of closures, 'I assume that this pleases the council as they won't be blamed for the closure! - Our school has just short of 50 pupils. I teach 7-12 year old, there are 22 pupiles in my class. There is a high ratio of special ed needs, I feel stongly that they benefit from being with me for 4 years because I know their needs very well from year to year. These children would struggle in large schools and would fall behind and be 'ignored' within a big class situation. We have a special needs unit in the school - included in the 50 children'.

With many city schools failing our special needs children it is heartening to hear a village school is setting such a shining example, shamefully Welsh politicians are threatening this school with closure. But Bethan also believes that a fog has been created by the local council over figures and spending in order to push through their agenda, 'The figures and percentages of spending per head have been portrayed in a very unclear way. Our school seems to have a high amount of spending per head, when, in fact, part of the special needs teacher's wage comes into the total.' She notes children from the whole catchement area come to the special needs unit in the school, and suggests therefore that figures that include this in their spending are very misleading.

Extraordinarily the work of the special needs unit at the school has not been highlighted in any of the official papers or consultation around the closure, despite along waiting list of pupils to join it, this has led members of the Bronyfoel Action Group to accuse the Assembly and Council of discrimination against special needs children by preventing them from reaching their full potential. In selling the closures the council claimed that it would ‘reduce inequalities and promote equal opportunities for children’, but nowhere did they even consider how the proposals would effect children with special needs and disabilities.

Bethan also strongly defends the concept of small schools, 'As for education being better in bigger schools, I take this as a personal insult! Last month we had an OFSTED inspection, even though our school is under threat! We had an excellent inspection. We run a fruit shop, school council, our composting business, Urdd club, breakafst club......our children have all the experiences a child in a large school could have!'

But she also worries about the impact on the whole community if they lose the fight. Y Fron is like many old industrial areas,'rundown - empty and derelict houses, no shop, no pub, demolished Chapel, no village hall.' and identifies the school as 'the only lifeline in the village -The only place for a chat is outside the school, the only social activites, concerts, bingo, carboot... are held in the school. English speaking parents have learnt Welsh because of their children - why would they otherwise? Old people do not come to the Fron to live as it isn't very accessible to public ameneties. Young people come here as there is currently a shop here.'

Understandably she feels betrayed by politicians and worried for the future, 'What does the future hold? Alun Ffred AM said that ''Dim ysgol, dim cymuned'' (no school, no community) was only a slogan! He should take 5 minutes to come up to the Fron and see how fragile some poorer rural communities really are!'

The effects of Plaid's school closure programme are creating local and national ripples with big guns like Daffyd Iwan, the President of the party and Lord Daffyd Ellis Thomas berating those who oppose the closure as pie-in-the-sky middle class liberals with ‘no idea of how to operate in the constraints of a budget’, but there has also been high profile resignations from the local party and the announcement of a new party to contest the local elections. With our children’s education and futures under attack by cuts pushed by all four major parties there is a need to link all the different school campaigns across Wales against the closures. Closures are being justified by falling school numbers in some schools which has led the mainstream politicians to talk of 'surplus places'. But falling school numbers could be seen as a golden opportunity to achieve smaller class sizes.

Last month, 600 people marched in Cardiff to keep open one local primary school that is threatened with closure. It was an angry march led by working class parents, teachers and school kids. A popular slogan of the movement has been - “There are NO surplus places only smaller class sizes” - because, of course, educationalists are united in arguing that smaller class sizes are better for our children, all “surplus places” means is that class sizes will be smaller! In reality the politicians and their accountants are attempting a con-trick, an attempt to use bogus arguments to carry through a neoliberal cut, but what our children need is no more cuts in education but more investment and an education driven not by the needs of big business but creating rounded, fully developed human beings.

Local councils in Wales and the Assembly do face genuine problems with funding from Central Government, the unjust Barnett Formula needs to be replaced with funding that recognises Wales unique poverty and social deprivation. Unfortunately none of the mainstream parties have the stomach to fight for more funds preferring attacks on the very parents and teachers who voted for them. This is to be expected, a real fight for our children’s futures and our communities would demand a very different kind of politics involving trade unions, public meetings, demonstrations and the kind of mass struggles not seen in Wales since the defeat of the great miners strike.

In Gwynedd, the battle against school closures is also a fight to save rural Wales. Rural communities are being destroyed by the closure of village shops, schools and post offices, the absence of public transport and key services. Low pay, under-employment and deprivation for working families is now widespread with huge problems of poverty for small farmers and their low paid workplace

But for the wealthy and Welsh millionaires, with their large houses, holiday homes, leisure pursuits and four-wheel drives, the countryside will remain a playground. The polarisation between rural rich and rural poor is widening with the privatisation of bus services and the collapse of much of the rural economy.

Against the panorama of global politics, local residents opposing the closure of a small village school might seem a small matter, but it is precisely these numerous small battles across Wales to defend communities and their public services that will determine the world our children and grandchildren inherit.

Another Wales is Possible!

Another School is Possible!

2008-02-20T10:37:00.000-08:00

Cardiff has been rocked for the last year by protests against the attempts by the LibDem Council to close our schools, but we also need to protest and fight for a different kind of curriculum and different kind of school too. Teacher & NUT union rep Paul Vernell writes on the possibility of another kind of school.

An opportunity has opened up for teacher activists to liberate spaces in the curriculum: At Filton High School in South Gloucestershire an attempt has been made to begin to redesign the curriculum to make it more based on problem-solving and linked to changing the world. Staff from across the teaching and non-teaching unions set up the Alternative Futures Group at the end of 2006. This has met frequently after school over the last seven months. The group has worked on what staff feel should be the real purpose of education.

This culminated recently when 200 Year Nine students presented their solutions on solving climate change to an invited guest of local councillors and representatives. The ideas included solar panels and wind turbines they had designed, locally sourced food they had cooked and music they had written lyrics for. This celebration of students’ ingenuity took place after they had spent two weeks exploring the issue of climate change in all of their lessons.

Rachel Kendall, an English teacher at Filton High School and South Gloucestershire division NUT president, explained, “Workers at the school have a good record on fighting on pay and conditions. During the recent local elections, staff went out three nights running after school and leafleted against the fascist BNP who were standing in the area. So it is natural that we also should be extending our role and trying to shape the curriculum.”

During the first week students were given a choice of in-school events and trips to deepen their understanding of of climate change. On the Wednesday over 100 pupils went out to seven different locations.

Footprint

Some visited the award- winning Bordeaux Quay restaurant where they used locally sourced ingredients to make meals from healthy ingredients. Lauren, a student, said, “It was interesting finding out about how the restaurant was reducing its carbon footprint. I really enjoyed making a couscous salad. We were allowed to eat it too. I’ve never had one before.”

A trip to a village saw students being taught how to measure a community’s carbon footprint.
In school there was a carousel of activities including one with local artist Ruth Ramsey who led workshops on fashion and rubbish, where students made fashion items out of used materials. A group organised a Question Time session. They invited an audience of around 100 people after school to question students in the roles of minister David Miliband, Rupert Murdoch and other well-known individuals. Students started breaking down the parcelling up of knowledge that is characteristic of most learning in school so that they can be tested more readily.

Research

Teacher Laura Storey said, “It was incredible to see how much research the students had done. Their confidence grew throughout so that they could engage and argue back.” We also invited seven experts from organisations including The Soil Association and the Campaign against Climate Change. Groups of students came up to them with questions they had prepared in their English lessons. They took notes to use in the groups they were working in to produce leaflets and web pages.

Lessons looked different too. Instead of teaching in their usual spaces, staff experimented. We launched the event in the school hall and had all pupils working in groups on thinking skills activities to find out what they knew about the causes and effects of climate change.

French and German classes were grouped together and were taught by four teachers. Asked what he had enjoyed most, Liam stated, “It was great working collaboratively with our friends and that the lessons were all linked.”

In maths pupils were “unsetted” and designed a survey on public transport and recycling. They went on to the street to ask questions of the public. Chris Carter, the head of maths, said, “We want students to have an audience and purpose for their learning. Often you feel ground down by the targets and performance management stuff and let the tests shape what you do. “The next step is to get other schools to have a go. Perhaps next year we could get 50 or 100 schools to do the same thing at the same time and offer a real challenge to the current system.”

Jonathan Reddiford, the head of the sixth form at Nailsea School in North Somerset, agrees. He said, “In my school we have embarked on a similar project to the one at Filton. We chose the war on terror as our subject. “It would be a step forward if more schools could push for this type of approach and teachers’ unions threw their weight behind the idea of a national fortnight of ‘curriculum’ action.”

RESPECT calls for

*An education system that is not dependent on the ability to pay, that is comprehensive and gives an equal chance in life to every child, no matter how wealthy or poor their parents, from nursery to university. Scrap unnecessary tests.
* Education free at the point of use, from pre-school to FE, to university and adult learning.
* A radical reduction in class size.
* A qualified teacher for every class.
* Better pay for teachers and other education workers.
* An end to specialist school status, to Academies and to Trust schools.
* Restoration of local decision-making powers over admissions and new schools to elected local authorities, not government-appointed bureaucrats.
* Free after-school clubs and play centres for all that need them.
* Full and part-time nursery and day-care places as a right, for all who want them.
* An end to charitable status and tax breaks for private schools.
* Free education and a living grant for all further and higher education students. Abolish student fees and student loans!
* Free and life-long access for all to high quality vocational education and adult education

Greening our Community - Local Courses

2008-02-08T13:51:00.000-08:00

FREE COURSE ORGANISED BY RIVERSIDE COMMUNITY MARKET ASSOCIATION

SURE START FOR SEEDS will take you through: seed sowing techniques, seed sowing in containers, seed sowing in beds, looking after your seedlings & transplants, thinning, potting on and transplanting. This is a 100% practical, outdoor course with clear demonstrations and hands on activities. The course is suitable for beginners who want to learn how to grow vegetables and flowers from scratch.

This is a free course with a free lunch! (If there is such a thing!)

START DATE: 19th February
FINISH DATE: 15th April (Easter Tuesday missed)
COURSE DURATION: 8 weeks
TIME: 10 – 1 pm
START DATE: 19th February
FINISH DATE: 15th April (Easter Tuesday missed)
COURSE DURATION: 8 weeks
TIME: 10 – 1 pm
VENUE: RCMA COMMUNITY GARDEN, Pontcanna Permanent Allotments, Pontcanna Fields (opposite the stables, by Western Avenue)
TUTOR: Edible gardening teacher & designer - Michele Fitzsimmons - www.ediblelandscaping.co.uk
CONTACT DETAILS: ediblelandscaping@googlemail.com - for course outline & further info

EDIBLE GARDENING LOW MAINTENANCE FOOD GROWING

This course will take you through low maintenance food growing and gardening techniques, unusual perennial food plants, managing your pests naturally, working with weeds, basic soil science, water management techniques and basic design skills. Hands on activities, lots of visual aids & class participation with visits to a garden included.

START DATE: 10th April
FINISH DATE: 19th June (half term missed)
COURSE DURATION: 10 weeks
TIME: 1 – 3 pm
VENUE: MAC – Michaelston Adult Centre, Michaelston Road, Ely, Cardiff, CF5 4SX
TUTOR: Edible gardening teacher & designer - Michele Fitzsimmons - www.ediblelandscaping.co.uk
CONTACT DETAILS: ediblelandscaping@googlemail.com - for course outline & further information
FEE: £57.00 (Reduced Fee £22.00)
For enrolment forms and general course enquiries contact Michaelston Adult Centre reception on:
Tel: 029 20671430
Fax: 029 20671430
Email: themac@cardif.gov.uk

PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE 2008

This Permaculture Design Course will focus on permaculture ethics, principles and designing integrated systems. Topics covered will include permaculture gardening, creative thinking techniques, design strategies, localising the economy, bioregionalism, sustainable energy and green buildings. Lots of visual aids & class participation with field trips to working examples also included.

The course will be divided into 4 self contained modules each worth 10 credits at level 1. The modules can be taken in isolation. However, only a successful completion of all 4 modules will also result in a Permaculture Designer’s Certificate.

START DATE: Saturday 10th May
COURSE DURATION: 12 weeks
TIME: 9.30am – 4.15pm
VENUE: Cardiff University
TUTORS: Permaculture Gardening - Michele Fitzsimmons - www.ediblelandscaping.co.uk
Other tutors tba
CONTACT DETAILS: Ali Battye on ali@cardifftransitionproject.org.uk
or Michele Fitzsimmons on edblelandscaping@googlemail.com
FEE: £65.00 (Reduced Fee £52.00) per module. £260 (Reduced Fee £208.00) for all 4 modules. You may be eligible for a free place – certain conditions would apply.
For enrolment forms and general course enquiries contact the Centre for Lifelong Learning reception on:
Tel: 0292087 0000
Fax: 0292066 8935
Email:learn@cardiff.ac.uk
Website:http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/learn

TESCOPOLY

2008-02-08T06:30:00.000-08:00

Adam Johannes, Roath/Plasnewydd RESPECT: "The last year has seen yet another Tesco's open in Roath within ten minutes walking distance of two similar stores. Other Supermarkets are planned in the area. While supermarkets offer workers convenience, the stranglehold of multinational corporations over the food we eat has had an incredibly negative impact on both the environment and public health. We also need to campaign for every school student to have access to one free and nutritious school meal a day - surely the health of our children is worth the cost?"

DEFEND CHOICE

RESPECT is not opposed to those who shop in supermarkets, we are opposed to the supermarket monopoly. Their power limits choice and jeopardies diversity. There is mounting impact that the stranglehold of supermarkets over the food we eat has lowered public nutrition and the quality of food that we eat. As Tesco buys up convenience stores and sells ever more types of non-food produce from kettles to financial services, local food and the very character of Britain's high streets are under threat.

DEMAND GOOD FOOD FOR WORKING PEOPLE

The use of additives, colouring a flavouring has enabled supermarkets to increase profits and lower the quality of food by increasing shelf life and enhancing its taste and appearance.

REDUCE FOOD MILES - FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE

The way Tesco seeks maximum profit, as well as the 'just in time' distribution strategy, increases the transportation of products all over the globe as well as up and down the country.

SOLIDARITY WITH THE GLOBAL SOUTH

The worlds poor are getting poorer. The multinational agro-industrial complex forces many farmers off land and into sweatshops or worse. Many farmers are forced into debt and suicide is far to common. Multinationals also divert vital water sources away from local people in order to maximize farming or food production.

FOR WORKERS RIGHTS

The average Tesco employee earns £11,000 a year, the chief executive earns £4m. Tesco exploit vulnerable people - many part times, on a high turnover with little of few benifits and paid just above the minimum wage.

STAND UP FOR MIGRANT WORKERS

Supermarkets make enormous profits (Tescos up by £13bn last year) by pushing producers to cut corners, employ gang masters and create unacceptable working conditions.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF AGRI-BUSINESSES

Intensive farming of cash crops using fertilisers and without long them planning is having a huge impact on important ecosystems. Switching crops on global demand often leads to massive over production in one crop. In the case of Bio-fuels this has lead to staple food shortages in some countries.

TOO CLOSE TO GOVERNMENT

The big supermarkets maintain and increase their monopoly through huge lobbying power and many have long histories of funding the three main parties. Tesco's fund the Lib Dem's and the Tory Party and Lord Sainsbury is in the New Labour Government.

The Power of the Powerless

2008-02-03T09:09:00.000-08:00

"Last night I received a text message from my dear friend Fida: "It's coming down -- it's coming down!" she declared ecstatically. "Laila! The Palestinians destroyed the Rafah wall, all of it. All of it not part of it! Your sister, Fida." More texts followed, as I received periodical updates on the situation in Rafah, where it was 3am. "Two hours ago people were praising God everywhere. The metal wall was cut and destroyed. So was the cement one. It is great, Laila, it is great," she declared."
Laila El-Haddad writing from the US on the Electronic Intifada website

Last week saw an extraordinary uprising against injustice from a stateless people. To recap on recent history: In the Gaza Ghetto, under siege, blockaded, electricity shut off, one and a half million people are forced to live like rats in a trap in the biggest open air prison on earth. This is one of the darkest chapters in the 60 years of dispossession that fate has visited on the people of Palestine.

With the siege becoming increasingly brutal and mediaeval a 'danse macabre' of famine, disease and disorder threatens. The Palestinian house is divided with US backed President Abbas acting like the Marshall Petain of the Middle East against democratically elected Hamas. Meanwhile the Israeli government (encouraged by the United States and the EU) reject every offer of a truce from the Palestinian resistance, preferring a scorched earth policy of trying to destabilise one of the few democratically elected administration's in the region.

Then militants blow holes in the prison walls that surround the people and, in biblical scenes, hundreds of thousands of men, women and children pour into Egypt pushing back the police and soldiers of the Mubarak regime to bring back desperately needed food and supplies. This is mass direct action straight out of the movie Gandhi. It's like the fall of the Berlin Wall, for a brief moment, Rafah is the Brandenburg gate. It is a moment of liberation - symbolic and real - that will resonate for a long time. The long freeze that has seen the Palestinian national movement at an impasse has been broken by a mass movement from below. Across the Arab world, the dying regime of Egyptian despot, Mubarak has also been exposed as his soldiers desperately tried to truncheon the prisoners back into their prison. Millions now know the bitter truth: The Arab regimes are not the allies of Palestinian liberation, they are the obstacles to liberation.

What will happen next nobody knows. Palestinians have made it clear that they will never submit to being herded into reservations like cattle, nor will they end their resistance, because for them resistance equals existence. The friends of Palestine are many and growing in numbers, but their enemies are immensely powerful. They form an axis of evil that runs from the White House to occupied Jerusalem, and this axis extends to the capitals and palaces of an Arab continent bound in chains by repressive regimes who do the dirty work of the West. One thing is certain, we in Cardiff RESPECT will do our utmost to build solidarity for all people struggling for justice and peace in the Middle East. A fuse has been lit by this anti-colonial struggle that will burn for a long time, and so many heroic acts have been witnessed in the last week so that children might have bread to eat. Dr Martin Luther King once said, 'an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere': Now is the time to intensify the struggle to end Israeli aparthied.

There is something fitting that George Habash, veteran leftist, lived just long enough to see the birth of a new mass movement. Habash was to die - in exile, a penniless but defiant refugee - just at the moment the torch of liberty was passed to a new generation.

His life spanned the entire epic of Palestinian history: From the Arab Revolt of 1936 that required three-quarters of the British army to put it down, to the catastrophe of 1948 when Palestine disappeared from the map of the world, from the defeat of 1967, to the dark days of Black September and the expulsion of the PLO in ships from Beirut in the 80s. The organisation he was to found was to play a courageous role in the years of fire and ash that marked the first intifada, and he will always be remembered for his far-sighted rejection of the fraudulent Oslo peace process that promised “a kingdom of illusions with the Israelis firmly in charge”.

Adam Johannes, RESPECT member (Roath Branch)

O those who pass between fleeting words
Carry your names, and be gone
Rid our time of your hours, and be gone
Steal what you will from the blueness of the sea
And the sand of memory
Take what pictures you will, so that you understand
That which you never will:
How a stone from our land builds the ceiling of our sky.

O those who pass between fleeting words
From you the sword -- from us the blood
From you steel and fire -- from us our flesh
From you yet another tank -- from us stones
From you teargas -- from us rain
Above us, as above you, are sky and air
So take your share of our blood -- and be gone
Go to a dancing party -- and be gone
As for us, we have to water the martyrs' flowers
As for us, we have to live as we see fit.

O those who pass between fleeting words
As bitter dust, go where you wish, but
Do not pass between us like flying insects
For we have work to do in our land:
We have wheat to grow which we water with our bodies' dew
We have that which does not please you here: Stones or partridges
So take the past, if you wish, to the antiquities market
And return the skeleton to the hoopoe, if you wish,
On a clay platter
We have that which does not please you here: we have the future
And we have things to do in our land.

O those who pass between fleeting words
Pile your illusions in a deserted pit, and be gone
Return the hand of time to the law of the golden calf
Or to the time of the revolvers's music!
For we have that which does not please you here,
So be gone
And we have what you lack:
A bleeding homeland of a bleeding people
A homeland fit for oblivion or memory
O those who pass between fleeting words
It is time for you to be gone
Live wherever you like, but do not live among us
It is time for you to be gone
Die wherever you like, but do not live among us
It is time for you to be gone
Die wherever you like, but do not die among us
For we have work to do in our land
We have the past here
We have the first cry of life
We have the present, the present and the future
We have this world here, and the hereafter
So leave our country
Our land, our sea
Our wheat, our salt, our wounds
Everything, and leave
The memories of memory
O those who pass between fleeting words!

Mahmoud Darwish
translator unknown

South-East Wales Respect Election Launch

2008-01-29T07:37:00.000-08:00

SOUTH EAST WALES & CARDIFF ELECTION LAUNCH

Against privatisation, racism, war & the destruction of the planet:

Building an activist alternative to the established government in Wales

Wednesday 6 February 6th at 7.30pm,

Roath Community Centre, Ninian Road, Roath, Cardiff

The meeting will include election of a steering committee for S.E. Wales and selection of wards and candidates for the May council elections where RESPECT plans to provide an alternative to the parties of inequality and big business.
If anyone wants to put themselves forward please let us know by email at respect.wales@gmail.com
The meeting will also have a report back from Respect National Council giving members a chance to hear about how things have been developing nationally.

Please spread the word of this meeting to anyone you know who's interested in getting involved in the campaign!

ANOTHER WALES IS POSSIBLE!

Fare Strike Against First Great Western!

2008-01-29T07:05:00.000-08:00

FARES UP 10% - PROFITS UP 10%

"Despite being the worst performing rail franchise in the country, parent company FirstGroup increased profits by more than 10 % to £103.1 million in the six months to Sept 30. Its rail division increased operating profit by 9.8 % to £48.2 million. In contrast to their success at raiing profits they remain unable to improve the reliability of their trains, with only 80% of their trains arriving on time, or at all. This is an average figure accross their rail division with punctuality figures for some trains as low as 50% on a regular basis."
- More Trains Less Strain

Organisers of a Fare strike yesterday handed out hundreds of fake tickets in an inspirational piece of direct action against fare rises.

Hundreds of commuters wore cattle masks as they boarded their trains in an angry protest against unreliable services and rising fares. Campaigners gathered at 20 stations across the South West and handed out "fake tickets" for passengers to display their displeasure at the service provided by First Great Western.

Organisers of yesterday's protest, which started at 7.30am, said they handed out more than 2,000 fake tickets by the protest's end at 9am. Commuter Tony Ambrose said many people used the fake tickets rather than pay for their journey."This has sent out a really strong message that commuters just can't be taken for granted any more. Things have to change, they simply cannot go on as they are at present," he added.

Cardiff RESPECT campaigns for the re-nationalisation of the railways: The climate crisis underlines the urgency of free and cheap public transport. Under New Labour, the cost of private motoring has gone down, while train and bus fares have rockets. We campaign for the £30 billion being spent on Labour's unsustainable road-building programme to be re-directed into public transport and for cheap and affordable transport for all workers.

A School for Slaughter

2008-01-19T13:11:00.000-08:00

This week a very important protest took place outside the National Assembly to protest the militarisation of Wales.

The 4 main parties in Wales have supported £14 billion of taxpayers money being spent not on the NHS, students, pensioners, child poverty or renewable energy but on War in the form of the St Athan’s UK Military Academy.

The Academy will train not only the latest recruits to the 'war on terror' from across the UK, but foreign militaries. While paid for by our taxes, the profits from military training will pour into the coffers of the private arms companies (including cluster bomb manufacturer, Raytheon) which are involved in running the academy.

The Military Academy looks set to become Britain’s “School of the Americas” a focus for imperialist adventures abroad and counter-insurgency training. It is also the biggest ever PFI in history. Some background here.

Many people will once again wonder: Why is there always billions for war but none for vital public services?

Many will wonder at Plaid Cymru who in the past have claimed to be anti-war but slavishly support the Academy, with not a single Plaid AM, MP or Councillor publicly opposing the Military Academy. Adam Price MP says he is against war, against militarism, against privatisation - yet he supports the Academy.

In a sense, the St Athan’s Military Academy represents the nationalists “clause 4" moment. Jewish philosopher, Hannah Arrendt once spoke of the ‘banality of evil’. She was thinking of the mediocre bureaucrats who oversaw the slaughter of millions of Jews.

Today we speak of the ‘banality of Plaid’ whose so-called left wing has been silent in the face of the militarisation of Wales and the spending of billions on War.
RESPECT is proud to have been the only party in Wales to have campaigned against the Military Academy during the Welsh Assembly elections, we say:

"STOP THE MURDER ACADEMY - BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!"

Francois Villon - Vagabond Poet

2008-01-18T13:18:00.000-08:00

Murray Bookchin:
Francois Villon . . . The mediaeval poet was involved in an underworld, with its own parallel institutions - Princes, Counts - They were all crooks and in the City the legal world feared entering their quarters. Villon thrived there. He was a Murderer. He and his cohorts hung out in Brothels like Toulouse-Lautrec.

Janet Biehl:
So how did he get to be a poet?

Murray Bookchin:
He wrote wills that are works of art, comic, satirical, poetic . . .
He also wrote poems that ended with an envoi - "Lord of thieves, Be gentle to me." Wit was supremely important, Even as he faced the hangman.

Rest in Peace Francois Villon!
Rest in Peace Murray Bookchin!

We want a Robin Hood Economy: Take from the Rich and give to the Poor!

2008-01-06T08:56:00.000-08:00

Gordon Brown and Adam Price MP have one thing in common: Both believe in an economy founded on massive tax breaks to multinationals, only Plaid want to cut corporation tax to even lower levels than even Thatcher, Blair or Brown!
As outlined by Adam Price MP Plaid's economic strategy for rebuilding Wales is based on massive tax breaks to multinational coporations in order to attract foreign companies into Wales. Corporate globalisation means that multinationals race around the world looking for whichever country offers the lowest paid workers with worst conditions, Plaid's economic strategy can only mean the continuation of the low wage economy.
Adam Johannes from Roath RESPECT outlines a socialist alternative.

Once upon a time, sections of the Labour Party spoke of 'taxing the rich until the pips squeaked', of 'howls of anguish from those rich enough to pay over 75% on their last slice of earnings' - but that was a very long time ago! Since 1979, the burden of taxation has shifted decisively from the rich to poor. RESPECT believes that we need to tax the rich to rebuild the Welfare State: Join our fight to make the rich pay their fair share as part of the bigger crusade to combat poverty and inequality in Wales!

Shift in tax

There been a fundamental shift in tax in Britain over the last 30 years. The Tories and now New Labour have increased increased indirect taxes that hit the poor the hardest. When Thatcher's Tory government was elected in 1979 one of its first acts was to slash income tax on the rich and radically increase VAT on consumer goods. It radically cut the top rate of tax on the rich.

At the same time it doubled VAT from 8 percent to 15 percent, forcing up the price of many basic goods.

When the Tories were forced to abandon the poll tax in 1991 they hit back at working people by raising VAT to 17.5 percent. The Tories also introduced the nastiest fuel tax of all. They imposed a special 8 percent VAT tax on domestic fuel in 1994, and planned to increase it further.

The tax added 8 percent to people's gas and electric bills and hit pensioners struggling to keep warm in the winter especially hard. New Labour reduced this tax to 5 percent but refuses to scrap it. Since New Labour was elected in 1997 it has done nothing to change the Tory shift from direct to consumption taxes.

New Labour refuses to increase the top rate of income tax. And it has cut taxes on business profits even more than the Tories did.

There's an urgent need for a fight against the pro-rich, pro-business agenda of Tories, New Labour and Plaid. It should be based not on higher consumption taxes, but on a major increase in income tax on the rich. There should also be a massive increase in tax on corporate profits.

This should go hand-in-hand with price controls on basic goods to stop business protecting their profits by forcing up prices paid by ordinary people.

Let's recap: Under the first 8 years of the Thatcher government, the richest paid a rate of 60% on excess earnings, under New Labour this has sunk to 40%. Under James Callaghan the rich paid over 80% and under Harold Wilson almost 90%. If the government were to tax the rich at the same rate as Thatcher - hardly a socialist! - we could scrap student fees, rebuild the NHS, keep our schools open and provide for our pensioners. Instead New Labour have cut corpoaration tax again to the lowest rates of any major economy, lower than America, Germany and Japan. Incredibly, Plaid Cymru argue that corporation tax should be cut even further! In Wales, in contrast, RESPECT argues that we need to take on corporate power not extend it.

Scrap Council Tax - For a Local Service Tax

The policies of the mainstream parties in promoting tax breaks for the rich have mean council tax bills for working people have rocketed. The richest 20% of the Welsh population also pay a lesser proportion of their income on council tax than the poorest 20%. Council Tax is obscenely regressive. Other parties moan about the Council Tax: we demand its abolition. A local service tax based on income could actually generate more money than the current council tax!

Cardiff RESPECT will be campaigning in May for the scrapping of the council tax in Wales. We wish to see it replaced with a local service tax based on income. Under our scheme three quarters of people would be better off, while the rich would have to pay more. Low income houses would save more than £20 a week. We would campaign for those whose income was below £10,000 a year to be exempt from the tax.

To spread this system fairly across Britain you would have to continue redistributing wealth from councils in richer areas to those in poorer areas. Otherwise in areas where there were fewer people with high incomes, there would be less money to spend on services, or workers would have to pay more.

'The language of priorities' . . .

Aneurin Bevan called socialism, 'the language of priorities'. If this is the case, then the priorities of the two ruling parties in Wales are very far from socialism.

New Labour, Plaid Cymru, the Tories and LibDems have supported over £14 billion being spent on war in the shape of a huge, privatised, UK Military Academy at St Athan's. This money could have been spent on eliminating child poverty, on keeping schools and hospitals open, on creating jobs based on renewable energy and socially useful activities. Instead, New Labour and Plaid showed that while we are told that there is no money for vital public services, there will always be money to fuel the military-industrial complex.

Cardiff RESPECT is proud to stand against the tide of militarism and to have been the only party in Wales to have campaigned against the school for slaughter in the recent assembly elections. We believe that there is enough money in Wales to create a very different society, the problem is that it is concentrated in the hands of the few. We aim to build a party of the millions rather than the millionaires to build a society based on principles of equality, social justice, peace and sustainability. To get involved email: respect_yourself_cardiff@hotmail.co.uk

ANOTHER WALES IS POSSIBLE!

Cardiff RESPECT calls for

* A massive cut in military spending. Disband Britain’s weapons of mass destruction and scrap nuclear weapons. Decommission Trident. No to £14 billion being wasted on a military academy at St Athan's in South Wales.
* Transfer resources from military to useful production.
* Tax currency speculation.
* Abolish VAT and replace it with increased direct taxation.
* Raise the top rate of income tax.
* Raise the tax threshold to ensure that no one on the minimum wage pays income tax.
* A big increase in corporation tax, with an additional tax on the super-profits of the oil companies and the banks.
* A turnover tax on multi-nationals doing businesses in Britain.
* Raise the top rate of inheritance tax whilst putting higher duties on other transfers of wealth and financial transaction.
* Increased stamp duty on stocks and shares.
* A crack down on tax evasion by big companies and action against offshore tax havens.
* Abolish the ceiling on National Insurance contributions.

Campaign for A Living Wage!

2008-01-03T13:23:00.000-08:00

While the government devotes millions to combatting "benefit fraud" including advertising campaigns, hiring detectives and harrassing working people, it seems strangely reluctant to prosecute employers who fail to pay their employees the minimum wage, indeed up until extremely recently not a single employer has been prosecuted for breaking the law. It seems that the "law" is applied selectively in Labour Party Capitalist Britain.

Living Wage campaigner and Mersyside RESPECT member, Nick Wall comments:

"We have just seen the first successful prosecution of an employer under the National Minimum Wage legislation. That’s one prosecution in nearly 10 years. But wait, it gets worse. The owner of Rascals Day Nursery in Walthamstow was fined just £2,500 for her deliberate non-cooperation with investigators. Miserable though this penalty may seem, the maximum fine employers can face is just £5,000. In practice, it is ludicrously easy for employers to avoid any prosection at all. 95 per cent of employers caught underpaying the minimum wage simply pay back what they owe to avoid any further penalty. If they fail to do this within a 4 week period, they can be landed with a fixed penalty notice (about £225 per worker).

If the government seems inept at flushing out those employers who pay starvation wages, it is because the resources devoted to finding them are totally inadequate. Earlier this year the government announced proudly that the budget to enforce minimum wage laws was to increase by 50%. Unfortunately this was just an increase from £6m to £9m - scarcely enough to cover the office furnishings of some government departments. I read that the government is doing a mail out to hotel employers this month, informing them about minimum wage rules and things they need to be doing. After a short ‘bedding in’ period this will be followed up by spot checks from enfocrement officers. I just have one question : isn’t ten years a long enough bedding in period for employers to comply with the law ?"

More information about the campaign for a Living Wage can be found here

Who Should Be Blamed for the Missing Discs?

2008-01-02T07:29:00.000-08:00

Marianne Owens is a member of Rhondda RESPECT and currently Vice-Chair of the PCS Union in Wales, she writes in a personal capacity.

Following the loss of 25 million peoples personal records by the government, over 6,000 pensioners personal data was lost in an office in Cardiff. This is clearly linked to job cuts. Cardiff RESPECT was proud to visit PCS picket lines during the strike last May against attacks on civil service workers jobs and conditions.

The news that 25 million tax payers’ records have been lost by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) comes as no surprise to anyone, like me, who works for the organisation.

For several years our PCS union has been warning that the relentless “efficiency measures” being imposed by the department would lead to disaster. We are working under extreme pressure as jobs are cut, our offices are closed and there are weekly announcements of “procedural changes” designed to cut costs and corners.

One particular efficiency program that PCS members have been in dispute over has led to mountains of unopened post piling up – we believe that there are a million pieces of mail sitting unopened in dusty warehouses.

Staff training has been slashed. When I started work at HMRC five years ago, I received 16 weeks training, now new staff get a maximum of only four weeks.

What has incensed me most about the whole discs affair is the news that the government is holding a junior official – on administrative officer grade, and therefore earning around £14,000 a year – responsible for the scandal.

I find it unbelievable that an employee at this level would be solely responsible for the dispatch of such sensitive information. I am a grade higher than this, and I am barely allowed to sneeze without permission.

It is a disgrace that an ordinary low paid civil service worker, who would have been following orders, is used as a scapegoat for a national scandal while chief executive Paul Gray is allowed to resign, keep his pension, and no doubt a substantial pay off.

Let’s lay the blame squarely where it belongs – at the feet of our ex-chancellor and new prime minister Gordon Brown.

Marianne Owens, PCS R&C group executive committee member (pc)