Our Bus Service is not for Sale!

“While I understand a minority shareholding would be involved, I believe this would be the thin edge of the wedge and will open the door to full privatisation of Cardiff Bus which will gradually reduce the service to customers.

Any private company would expect a return of at least 15 per cent on turnover.

The only way that can be met is through increased fares and/or a large reduction in marginal services which Cardiff Bus operates as a sort of dividend for the owners, the people of Cardiff: This looks like a fire sale to deal with a short-term financial position." - Steve Pantak, Chairman of Cardiff Bus

The corporate take-over of Cardiff continues unabated. The neo-Liberal democrats cuts and privatisation agenda reveals that they are "yellow Tories". First school cuts, then the Library cuts, now a brutal attempt at privatising the local bus network.

Cardiff Council is currently talking about selling off a 40% slice of the Cardiff Bus Company - this could pave the way for total privatisation of one of the few remaining Bus services in the country still in public ownership under the municipal control of local government.

A Bus service run for profit could see price rises and vital services cut.

RESPECT defends the idea that local bus services should be publicly owned and democratically accountable to local government. This is the only basis on which an integrated, low carbon transport network can be built. We campaign for free or cheap public transport available to all workers as an alternative to car-mageddon.

The fruits of bus privatisation have already been seen across the UK. In the early 80s when the Tories privatised and derregulated public transport, they said it would increase competition, drive down prices and the travelling public would benefit. Instead workers have faced increased prices, fewer services, a lack of accountability, and incessant cuts and timetable changes.

The long-term fruits of privatisation and de-regulation have been private bus monopolies seizing control of the market throughout the country by driving out smaller operators.

In order to satisfy private operators’ endless thirst for increased profits, they have to constantly cut or remove the less profitable services. These are often the routes that provide a social service, linking isolated local communities and providing a lifeline for many people, especially the elderly.

For corporations run for profit this is of no concern, often declining passenger numbers are then used as an excuse for further rounds of cuts. The knock-on effects are considerable with many vulnerable people left isolated in their communities.

But there is another fundamental issue. When bus services are in public ownership it is much easier to challenge cuts in services, price rises, and provision, but once they are privatised there is no longer consultation or accountability. The bottom line is that the Bus Companies are free to do whatever they want with only their profit margins to worry about.

RESPECT campaigns for the extension of democracy in our society. Decisions on the provision and implementation of local services such as public transport must be made by people accountable to the communities they represent. Therefore we will be building a mass campaign to defend our public services:

Our Bus Service is Not For Sale

Heathrow Climate Camp 2007

Report by Joe Redmond, Cardiff RESPECT member (Adamsdown Branch) and Unison Workplace Environmental Representative.

Contrary to press scare stories about environmental extremists threatening to cause mass disruption to Europe’s busiest airport on a weekend in August, the 1,500 people deposited on an overgrown “sports field” adjacent to Heathrow’s northern runway had united to draw attention to government’s continued hypocrisy on the issues surrounding climate change and it’s reluctance to impose restrictions on the aviation industry.

While mainstream politicians pay lip service to tackling CO2 emissions, people from all walks of life, including myself, arrived at the climate camp to register their disgust, to meet with like-minded individuals and talk with local people whose lifelong homes were to be destroyed by the planned third runway that would double the amount of already suffocating air traffic overhead.

Police presence was ridiculously overwhelming; officers outnumbered climate campers two to one and BAA – the company which owns and runs Heathrow – roped in extra security staff, fearful of the day of mass protest planned for Sunday 21st August.

Following the embarrassing failure of BAA to secure a wide-ranging injunction to stop the camp taking place, police were authorised to invoke terror laws to stop and search, detain without charge and film campers from the ground and by helicopter above.

If the aim was to discredit eco-protestors as a bunch of cranks and anarchists it was spectacularly unsuccessful, with mainstream media giving the event acres of coverage denied to much larger recent protests such as the 100,000 strong London march against renewing the Trident nuclear “defence” system. Discussions on the issues surrounding climate change were once again on the front page of national newspapers as well as being the lead story on evening news bulletins.

Villagers from nearby Sipson, which would be levelled to make room for the new runway, visited the camp throughout the week to show their appreciation and support bringing fresh local produce, homemade samosas and flasks of coffee.

Local residents joined men, women and children from the camp on a march towards Harmondsworth, which will also be decimated by Heathrow’s planned expansion until we were circled by a ring of police in riot vans determined not to let us reach our destination – a rally in a garden centre at which local MP John McDonnell was due to speak. Armed with drums, guitars and an accordion we kept our spirits up by singing for over an hour.

A group of activists set up camp overnight on the tarmac outside BAA’s offices and Monday morning workers were told to go home by bosses who were unable to get through the blockade. Recruiters scoured the main camp in the early hours of the morning for reinforcements and some of those who had been woken up by the first roar of jet engines at 5a.m. were compelled to join in.

The camp communications tent offered text message updates on the movement of police and protesters, working overtime to inform us that two teenage girls had climbed to the roof of BAA’s offices and unfurled a banner saying “Make Planes History”, or that a group of people had chained themselves to the cargo terminal used for holding foods imported by UK supermarkets. Hilariously, one message told how a riderless police horse had been sighted circling a field next to the camp, pursued breathlessly by a horseless police officer.

During the week leading up to the day of action such luminaries as Mark Lynas and George Monbiot delivered lectures and workshops on the worsening climate crisis and the need to build a society less reliant on the unstable petrocarbon-economy. Comedian Rob Newman, who performed on Saturday evening, deemed the event “an historic occasion” and the rapturous applause gained by his comments showed we were determined to take our experiences away and continue to build local campaigns and make our voices heard.

Cardiff RESPECT calls for

* Unilateral reduction of CO2 emissions in the UK of 90% by 2030, with similar reductions in other developed countries. We demand that the Welsh Assembly set binding annual targets to cut emissions. We call for an international treaty that goes way beyond Kyoto to cap global carbon emissions.

* International rationing of air-travel. Halt airport expansion, restrict binge flying. Nationalise the airlines. We oppose the expansion of Cardiff Airport and opening of an Anglesey/Cardiff air-route. End the £9 billion tax break to the aviation industry and spend the money on more sustainable forms of public transport.

* Stop car-mageddon: Free, or cheap, integrated publicly owned transport systems. End New Labour's road building programme and spend the £30 billion on public transport. Nationalisation of rail, road freight and bus companies.

* Cancel all third-world debt. There is no point calling on impoverished countries to tackle climate change if they are saddled with debt.

* Massive investment in renewable energy. Keep Wales nuclear free. We oppose the building of new nuclear power plants in Wales supported by the leader's of both New Labour and Plaid Cymru.

* Scrap weapons of mass destruction and use the resources for sustainable development and renewable energy.

*End the productivist throwaway society: production for use not profit.

* Sustainable town planning: redesigned cities to eliminate unnecessary journeys and conserve energy.

* All new buildings to be zero-carbon; provide insulation, energy conservation etc. to all homes to make them energy efficient and therefore lower fuel bills for working class people. We call for sustanable council housing in Wales

.* Localised food production and opposition to "Supermarket Britain".

* No GM crops for food or fuel.

* No to incinerators. High quality facilities to maximise recycling. The aim should be the full recycling of waste. We oppose the LibDems plans for a Cardiff incinerator. In Neath, Respect activists launched the Crymlyn Burrows Stop the Incinerator Campaign

.* End the destruction of the rainforests.

* Defend the rights of climate change refugees and migrants. Protect those hit by drought, desertification, floods, crop failure and extreme weather conditions.

* Renationalise water and protect water reserves. End the pollution of the rivers and water ways.

After the Flood

Last week, thousands of flood victims joined a march called by Tewksbury Council. The government has now provided a £6.2 million recovery package for England.

In Wales, the New Labour/Plaid coalition has yet to provide any help for the forgotten Welsh flood victms.

Adam Johannes from Roath RESPECT argues that climate change activists and socialists in Wales need to fight for the Assembly government to intervene as part of the struggle for a very different kind of society.

Nye Bevan famously said that "socialism is the language of priorities". If this is the case, then the New Labour/Plaid Cymru coalition that mis-run the Welsh Assembly are very far from socialism.

In the Vale of Glamorgan, £16 billion is being spent - not on schools, hospitals, socially useful jobs, or to eliminate child poverty - but rather to oil the wheels of the British war machine.

The priorities of the two ruling parties in Wales are clear: Billions can be found to set up a Military Academy to train the latest recruits to the "war on terror", but not a penny for a flood hit community in the same area: At home and abroad, our rulers wage war on the poor.

We shouldn't be surprised. It's no secret that Rhodri Morgan and George W Bush are the only world leaders that still refuse to take climate change seriously.

Only a few months ago, the First Minister of Wales even suggested that climate change could boost tourism! He rabidly opposes the Assembly setting binding targets to cut carbon emissions and has failed to visit communities in Wales hit by flooding. Perhaps, Mr Morgan should go to Barry and tell the people who have had their homes destroyed by floods that climate change is good for tourism . . .

Climate, Class & Inequality

Climate change will result in increasingly volatile and extreme weather: Heatwaves, floods, droughts can be expected. This will effect everyone - but not equally. We have already seen that the first and worst victims will be poor and working class people.

In New Orleans, the rich whites were evacuated while the poor - black and white - were left to fend for themselves.

In August 2003, a heat wave engulfed Europe. It resulted in 15,000 deaths in France alone. Half of the people who died lived in old people's homes, few of which have air conditioning. The deaths were overwhelmingly poor and working class people.

In our own country, thousands die of hypothermia each winter: More pensioners die in the UK - the 4th richest economy in the world - than in Siberia. The reason they die is because they cannot afford to adequately heat their home. The reason they cannot afford to adequately heat their home is because Labour and the Tories have attacked pensions and dismantled the Welfare State.

No More Oil Wars!

Our pensioners suffer from fuel poverty while our government sends young working class men abroad to kill in a war for oil. In Iraq, the occupied country - a country with the second biggest oil reserves in the Middle East - ordinary people don't have enough fuel for their homes or cars. In Britain, the occupying country, pensioners die because they can't afford fuel to hear their homes. Who, then, is profiting from Iraqi oil?

The mystery is explained when we grasp that the war is about the richest 10% of our population extending their profits and power.

Is it not the same people who make British workers work the longest hours for the worst pay in the Western World who concocted this "war on terror"? Is it not the same corporations, oil companies, and vested interests that lobbied for the war on Iraq that now bribe the US government to block global action on climate change?

Floods - Who will Pay for the Damage?

It is clear that the floods were also the result of government policies of building housing on flood plains, of poor draining, of flood defences cut back because the government cares about profits not people. Yet, in many cases working people are expected to pay for the damage themselves. In Barry, some families whose houses are uninhabitable don't have house insurance.

Behind the TV images lie many untold stories of desperation, wrecked lives, and despair.

Cardiff RESPECT argues that the government must provide grants for all families effected by the floods in Wales and England to rebuild their lives, these grants should be funded by a special windfall tax on Britain's millionaires, but we also recognise that until we build a credible left wing alternative to New Labour and Plaid, we cannot force the government to do anything. So effective solidarity with the flood victims naturally leads to the necessity of creating a mass organisation in England and Wales to deliver it.

Re-nationalise the Water!

It was once assumed that public utilities like water and electricity should be publicly owned by not-for-profit bodies that were democratically accountable, but Thatcher sold our water and electricity to private corporations to make money, and Blair and Brown refused to re-nationalise them.

The pursuit of profits by the rich and powerful often means that they cut corners when it comes to health and safety. In Gloucestershire, the local water company built water treatment works on the edge of a flood plain and had inadequate flood defences.

During the flooding disaster, they announced £300 million profits with shareholders given a special payment of £575 million, yet now they are saying that water bills must be increased to pay for the damage cause by the floods!

So working class people already faced with huge costs due to their communities being destroyed face the burden of increased water charges levied by corporations making record profits!

For the Planet - Against the State

Climate change - itself the bitter fruit of an economic system based on greed not need - is taking place in a world brutally divided between the rich and poor: Capitalism seemlessly transmutes natural distaster into human catastrophe.

Climate change is not just about weather, it is about inequality, how society is organised, housing, pensions and a host of other issues.

And solving climate change is not about "green taxes" and the fake solutions offered by the mainstream parties. It is about re-nationalising the railways and cheap bus-fares to make travelling by car unnessecary. It is about increasing public health by promoting walking and cycling. It is about a massive programme of house insulation that will mean that working class people will save money from lower fuel bills. It is about healthy locally grown food rather than processed food flown from abroad. It is about jobs that are close to where you work so you don't have to commute. It is about city gardens and sustainability. It is about supporting protests like the Climate Camp and the demonstrations called by Campaign against Climate Change, it is about raising the issue of climate chaos in your work-place, community and trade union branch.

RESPECT fights for a rapid transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy as a move from war towards peace, but more fundamentally we argue for a break with the neoliberal model of George Bush, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Menzies Campbell, Ieuan Wyn Jones and Rhodri Morgan. We want to build a world based on the principle of People before Profit!

Feedback from Student RESPECT

To read RESPECT's vision of what the NUS should be, see here

NATIONAL UNION OF STUDENTS
NEC - MONDAY 13 AUGUST

Monday was an unusually tame meeting but one that still marked an important moment for NUS with a near unanimous vote to affiliate to the Stop the War Coalition.

Affiliation to Stop the War and support for the Communications Workers Union (CWU) was voted through less then an hour after the NEC accepted a priority campaign without any campaigning, and the most significant points need to be discussed more widely.

STOP THE WAR COALITION

Over the last few years NUS has done more and more work with the coalition. Both Gemma and Veronica King have spoken at recent demonstrations and Gemma is speaking at the relaunch of Stop the War’s student work on the 8th.

Stop the War has mobilised thousands of students repeatedly in numbers that no other campaign has reached and maintained a level of visibility and influence on far less money then the NUS spends in a month. Joint work around broad slogans between the NUS and StWc can and will be of huge benefit to both organisations.

NUS will be helping with a “Troops Out” tour featuring comedian Mark Steel and ex-SAS veteran Ben Griffen that will be among the biggest meetings to take place at any university this year. This year’s campaign will be discussed at the Stop the War activist meeting on the 8th with Tony Benn.

STOP THE WAR - REPORT OF STUDENT ORGANISING MEETING WITH TONY BENN, GEMMA TUMELTY & LINDSEY GERMAN

The only attempt to derail affiliation came from Sophie Buckland of Education not for Sale (ENS), the one organisation of the “left” not to call for an end to the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

ENS attempted to exploit Wes’ cheap demagogy about the right of Israel to “defend” itself to derail the discussion and succeeded in passing an amendment marking out NUS as on the rightwing of the coalition.

The vote on the amendment was close with many abstaining and others pressured into voting for by the emotive (and dishonest) posturing of Labour Students and ENS, and the main thrust of the motion remains an overwhelmingly positive desire to put NUS at the heart of the anti-war movement.

EDUCATION

Wes attempted to sell the education priority campaign with the twisted logic that “it’s very easy to campaign but it’s far harder to have breakfasts and lunches with important people.”

The campaign will be formally launched on the 4th of September and loath though I am to spoil the surprise there are some things that need discussing now.

The concept of the campaign is based around two basic points:

1) We need to “keep our powder dry.” It is argued that it is unwise to run any public campaigns until 2009 because campaigning “puts students off” and furthermore that organisations like the NUS should model themselves on Amnesty International and call on our members for set piece actions every now and again (like turning on and off a tap.)

2) We can’t “pre-empt the review” by proposing what we believe in at this stage as that would stop the government listening to us. Instead we must brown nose officials and gather data to put forwards a pragmatic alternative later which will be considered as a serious option.

The fact that this is deeply flawed on many levels was raised only by the left on the NEC. The comparison between NUS and a lobby group like Amnesty is one of the most worrying aspects of the campaign. It is a marked difference from the idea of a union of students.

Our strength is based on the fact that we collectively organise students at the point where they engage with their education and the world around them.
To successfully develop that strength we need to be involving them in understanding our education system and attempting to change it. This has to be through a consistent series of activities and events to engage our members with our activists and the NUS.

It simply won’t work to expect people to suddenly engage en masse with NUS in 2009 unless we have done the hard work of building up a base.

The second point is the changing nature of universities themselves. It simply isn’t true that the “debate on HE” is actually very narrow and directed. Since New Labour’s theory of “the knowledge economy” the government has systematically accelerated the drive to subvert Universities to the interests of the neo-liberal economy.

It isn’t possible for NUS to tinker around the edges and expect a better deal for students - we need to fundamentally challenge the direction the government is moving in.

We need to be open about our principles to our members and potential supporters and politically win them to the need for a free and fair education.

SOLIDARITY WITH THE CWU - SUPPORT THE POSTAL STRIKE!

Almost unanimously the executive voted to show our solidarity with the post workers strike.

Scott Cuthbertson spoke well in favour of encouraging a sense of Trade Union solidarity amongst our members. The strike may currently be suspended but the prospects of wider public sector strikes to defend public services are very much on the horizon.

Other motions included unanimous support for the BMA’s organ donation campaign and work to lower the age of consent to 16 across the board.

Why Are Disabled People Oppressed?

Capitalist ideology views disabled people as “surplus to requirements”. We need to fight for a society that meets people’s needs rather than excluding them, writes Pat Stack from RESPECT

It’s important for socialists to understand the nature of the oppression that disabled people face. There is no question that disabled people are oppressed – but our oppression has somewhat different roots to that of women or ethnic minorities.

Disabled people face discrimination every day in terms of negative attitudes and exclusion from wider society. But in the past we have faced much more extreme forms of repression.

In Germany during the 1930s, the first victims of the Nazis were 100,000 disabled people – or “inferiors”, as they were called. People with physical and learning disabilities were butchered as a consequence of Hitler’s ideology of “racial purity”.

Their bodies didn’t fit, so he got rid of them – before moving on to the Jews, Gypsies, trade unionists and so on.

So the oppression of disabled people, either historically or today, is no less than that of other oppressed groups in society such as women or black people. But it doesn’t quite serve the same purpose – discrimination against disabled people arises from a slightly different economic motive.

Under capitalism, women are seen as a source of cheap labour (especially with regards to childcare) and a source for the reproduction of labour.

That is why capitalism has an interest in the continued oppression of women. It also has an interest in promoting racism as a means of weakening and dividing the working class, thereby driving down the costs of labour.

Profitability

For disabled people, the root of our oppression is the fact that capitalism sees everything in terms of profit and profitability – and this colours how capitalists view disabled workers.

Most employers see disabled employees as a “problem” – something difficult, something different, something that will cost them more to employ. That isn’t to say that capitalists are incapable of realising that disabled people can be a source of cheap labour.

But the oppression starts from a different trajectory – the initial assumption is that disabled people are worthless under capitalism, rather than of great use within capitalism.

So the oppression of disabled people is a reflection of the way in which capitalism reduces everything to profit – effectively, capitalism says disabled people are surplus to requirements. This is especially true in periods of economic crisis – provision for disabled people is always one of the first things to be hit.

It’s important that we understand the roots of disabled people’s oppression, since that understanding also gives us clarity with regards to what we’re fighting against – and why we’re fighting against it.

The starting point for the disability movement is that you don’t deny that impairments exist, that people have impairments. But the impairment, in and of itself, does not deny people access to employment, social integration, general wellbeing and so on. Those things are denied because society denies them.

They are denied when society fails to provide the means to overcome that exclusion, when it fails to provide access and employment to disabled people, when it chooses to segregate disabled people unnecessarily.

That is the starting point – what we call the social model of disability. And despite the huge steps forward in terms of awareness of these issues, much exclusion still exists.

Moreover, much disability exists because of the kind of society we live in. Large numbers of people across the world are disabled because of the poverty they live in – because of undernourishment, environmental pollution, a lack health and safety provision at their place of work, or because of the carelessness of capitalism.

Unemployed

Discrimination in the job market is a fact of life for people with disabilities. If you’re disabled, you’re three times more likely to be unemployed and six times more likely to be turned down after submitting a job application than if you’re not disabled.

If you say you are disabled on your job application form, you are six times more likely not to be interviewed.

If you get an interview, you are six times more likely to be rejected for the job. And if we look at the question of wages, most disabled people are forced into poorly paid, low skilled jobs. That’s the reality of life for disabled people in the job market.

One approach to dealing with this discrimination is that of organisations such as Remploy – government aided factories that employ people with disabilities. These government workshops are by and large something that’s been fading out in recent years. Remploy in particular has been in the news because its factories are facing closure.

Traditionally what Remploy represented was the segregation of disabled workers – which is why large numbers of disability activists have long objected to the way Remploy is run.

Now Remploy workers are fighting to defend their jobs – but many disability charities have lined up with the government to say the factories should be closed.
While Remploy is something that socialists would want to see consigned to the past, the way to go about that is not by picking people off and forcibly throwing them into a job market that is hostile to them. We should fight for a job market where there is no longer any need for specialised workplaces to employ disabled workers.

The majority of disabled people earn lower wages, while living costs are frequently higher for disabled people. So it’s not surprising that something like two thirds of disabled people live below the poverty line.

Historically the notion was that if a person was disabled, and if nobody could look after them, then they should be put into an institution of some sort. Nowadays the emphasis is on making sure that appropriate care can be provided at home – which is a real advance in terms of society’s attitudes to disabled people.

More recently there have been further advances that question who controls that home care – the disabled person or the care agency.

If you’re a disabled person there is no reason why you shouldn’t prefer going to bed at 11pm rather than at 8pm because that suits somebody else. Your life shouldn’t be lived as if you are in a hospital the whole time.

These changes are real, but there are problems. There is much fine talk from the government about liberating the care environment, giving disabled people real freedom and choice and so on. But in reality you often find the exact opposite is happening. The problem is that the funding is not there, especially at local authority level.

I work for a disability charity. We have people who ask us for more care and more support.

They’ll say, “I’m on my own – I need somebody to come in at night because I need to go to the toilet at night. So I need somebody to come in for a couple of hours.”
Humiliated

The response to these requests is increasingly becoming either (a) “Don’t drink water before you go to sleep,” or (b) “We’ll provide you with incontinence pants.”
So either you’re totally humiliated or you’re lying there thirsty. The government talks about providing “liberation” but won’t provide the funds so that disabled people can make real choices.

In Camden, north London, where I live, there had been no charge for disabled home care – but this has changed recently. Anyone who has more than £30,000 in savings gets charged, as does anybody who receives disability living allowance.

So take a person whose sole income is income support and disability living allowance. Now local authorities are saying we want a big chunk of that disability living allowance back off you in order for us to provide you with care. You are effectively paying a disability tax.

I met the Tory councillor who introduced this change and he said, “This is New Labour policy – we’re just doing what the government says we should do.” Not many people realise you now basically have to pay for the “privilege” of being disabled.

We have to understand what is happening – and we have to understand that fighting for the rights of disabled people means fighting for a different kind of society, one where people’s needs are the priority rather than profits.

Welsh Soldier's death: Rhodri Morgan's silence

With another Welsh soldier dying in Iraq, anti-war campaigners have angrily accused Rhodri Morgan of failing to represent the people of Wales and are launching a mass campaign to demand that the Assembly Government and the new Labour/Plaid administration take a clear anti-war position and call on the UK government to pull the troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Adam Johannes from Cardiff RESPECT said:

"Another Welsh soldier is coming home from Iraq in a pine-box, yet the Assembly remains silent on the war.

The Mayor of London and the First Minister of Scotland unequivocally oppose the war, yet the First Minister of Wales shamefully refuses to take a position on it.

With more Welsh soldiers fighting and - in some cases - tragically dying in Iraq and Afghanistan it is time for Rhodri Morgan to show some principles and represent the overwhelming majority of Welsh people who want an end to our involvement in foreign wars.

Wales has some of the poorest communities in the UK, yet billions that could have been spent on pensioners, hospitals and eliminating child poverty is being spent on the illegal wars that Rhodri Morgan refuses to oppose.

The Iraq War has now created twice as many refugees as the Darfur crisis. Up to a million people have died joining the million who perished due to the UN administered genocide of sanctions in the 1990s. Half the population live in absolute poverty, while even more are unemployed: You can almost imagine some well-meaning liberal calling for Western intervention - only this is Western intervention"

RESPECT VS. NEW LABOUR

The following debate took place between RESPECT and New Labour AM Jeff Cuthbert, during the Assembly elections, in the Western Mail; after First Minister Rhodri Morgan appealed to voters not to punish him because of New Labour’s role in Iraq -

Anti-War vote has a home on May 3rd

Rhodri Morgan was dead wrong when he suggested that voters who wanted to give Labour a bloody nose for the war in Iraq should wait until the next general election, rather than on May 3.

Perhaps he is still guilt ridden after his shambolic performance on Question Time last year, when he refused to make a commitment either way on the basis that the war "wasn't a Welsh issue".

He should try telling that to Reg Keys in North Wales, who lost a son in Iraq, or the numerous other Welsh families that have lost sons, daughters and loved ones in a needless war.

May 3 would be the ideal date for punishing Rhodri for impersonating a jellyfish on such a crucial issue. The only problem is that the mainstream parties are more interested in bartering for a place in a coalition government and will therefore sidestep any discussion of the war during the Assembly elections.

That is why it is so important that RESPECT is standing in the South Wales West and South Wales Central electoral lists.

RESPECT emerged from the anti- war movement, and stands against the neo-liberal policies of Blair and Brown.

We have played a key role in campaigns against racism and war and in defence of public services and council housing.Those who have voted with their feet and demonstrated against the war in South Wales can now vote at the ballot box for a party that believes the billions of pounds wasted on war should be invested in our hospitals, our schools and our communities.

DES MANNAY, Gwent RESPECT

This shabby tactic will not fool Wales - New Labour responds

I refer to the letter of April 11 from Des Mannay, of RESPECT. He criticises Rhodri Morgan for not stating a view on Iraq.

But it is Mr Mannay and not Rhodri that is at fault.When Rhodri speaks he does so as First Minister (that was certainly the case on Question Time).

It is unfair and unreasonable to hound him to state "personal" opinions.

Someone in Rhodri's position will always be judged as a public figure and not as an individual.

What Mr Mannay and his friends are trying to do is to shift the focus of this election campaign away from the true issues. By that I mean the areas of devolved government that the Assembly is responsible for.

Mr Mannay, and others that use the same tactic, are simply being opportunist.They do this because they know that the record of Welsh Labour is a good one. Our investment in education, healthcare and our communities is huge and has increased markedly over the past few years.

There is no evidence to support Mr Mannay's claim that spending in Wales has suffered because of UK Government actions.

But they do not want to debate the real issues so they switch to issues that they know are outside the scope of the Assembly. This is a shabby tactic and will not fool the people of Wales.

JEFF CUTHBERT, New Labour Assembly Member for Caerphilly

RESPECT stands with all those fighting for a better world

Labour AM Jeff Cuthbert states in his letter of April 13 that RESPECT are wrong to try to suggest that Rhodri Morgan should take a position on the Iraq War in public since it doesn't fall under his remit as First Minister.

The same could be said of Labour's elected Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, yet he is able to make the war a point of principle - why should things be different for Rhodri?

The fact is that this illegal war has diverted money that could be spent on public services to maintain an occupation that has seen the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and thousands of coalition troops.

Mr Cuthbert lauds the Assembly's investment in health and education, seemingly not realising that Labour's slavish devotion to market solutions to social issues has led to much of this investment being frittered away on overpaid management and consultancy. The result? Hospital cuts and massive waiting lists. An excess of school places becomes an excuse to close schools rather than use that excess to drastically cut class sizes.

Rhodri Morgan's slavish devotion to New Labour as opposed to working people has left him sitting idly by while the party is transformed into a party of sleaze, war and big business.

By contrast, RESPECT stands with all those fighting for a better world. This means supporting those who campaign against war and racism; and public service workers fighting to defend our essential services.

It also means supporting the council residents of Swansea who magnificently defeated the privatisation that the Assembly government and city council tried to force on it, or the kids who came out of Cantonian High School to protest against the cuts and closures that have become the hallmark of Labour in Cardiff and Westminster.

JONNY JONES, RESPECT Wales Steering Committee

RESPECT member becomes Children's Laureate!

Cardiff RESPECT congratulates Michael Rosen on becoming Children's Laureate. He received the award at a ceremony in London in June. Rosen is also well known as an author and broadcaster, presenting programmes such as "Word of Mouth" on Radio 4.

The position is awarded every two years to a writer or illustrator of children's books. Judges consider nominations from a range of organisations representing librarians, critics, writers, booksellers and children.

"I utterly resent and reject the notion that you can teach reading without books," he told journalists after his appointment.

"There is a huge push on to create an environment - in nurseries, and reception, and year ones and year twos - where books are secondary to the process of reading. This seems oxymoronic to me. We must, must have at the heart of learning to read the pleasure that is reading. Otherwise why bother? You could learn phonics, learn how to read and then put it behind you and watch telly - you're given no reason to read. There are many ways in which people learn how to read; the idea that there is one way is an outrageous fib.

It's taken a long time for my daughter to bring a picture book home from school because she's been bringing home the Oxford Reading Tree day after day, week after week. The idea that that's what the school provides to children in her class who might not encounter other books horrifies me. We don't care about lists of words. We care about the Gruffalo. So why aren't kids bringing home The Gruffalo?"

Rosen has stated that he will be working with Booktrust, the charity that administers the laureateship, to promote the use of picture books in schools.

The author of more than 140 books, Rosen is best known for his collections of humorous verse for children, and his other commitments during his two-year stint will emphasise verse.

Presenting his ideas under the provisional title Diverse Verse for All, Rosen said that he would like to develop some kind of website, similar to YouTube, where schools could share videos of children performing their poetry. Alongside it would be an online space for poetry discussion; and widening participation in poetry through libraries.

He also intends to create a touring show of performance poetry for kids, Poetry A-Z - "from Agard to Zephaniah," Rosen joked.

He stresses that poetry offers children "another way to deal with reality" and a "portable philosophy" to be carried around, even in just a couple of lines. "It's a great assistance in life," he added.

However, despite being fifth children's laureate, and the first poet to take the honour, Rosen had one confession to make. "I can't find a word to rhyme with laureate," he said, ruefully.

The children's laureateship was the brainchild of Michael Morpurgo and his friend - and then poet laureate - Ted Hughes, although it was not first endowed until 1999, after Hughes's death. The role, which lasts for two years, is awarded to a children's writer or illustrator, to celebrate immense achievement in their field.

RESPECT CALLS FOR -

* A fully comprehensive school system providing a common core curriculum for all until 18. End selection. Scrap SATs and other 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.
* The abolition of tuition fees and student loans. Free education and a living grant for all further and higher education students.
* Free and life-long access for all to high quality vocational education and adult education.* A fully comprehensive school system providing a common core curriculum for all until 18. End selection. Scrap SATs and other 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.
* The abolition of tuition fees and student loans. Free education and a living grant for all further and higher education students.
* Free and life-long access for all to high quality vocational education and adult education.

Women - Free to Work Harder

The following article by Lindsey German was printed in today's Guardian.

Lindsey is National Convenor of the UK Stop the War Coalition, RESPECT candidate for London Mayor & Author of "Material Girls: Women, Men & Work"

The women's economic miracle has passed largely unremarked, but increasing numbers of women over the past two decades have contributed more to global economic growth than either new technology or the rapidly industrialising giants of China and India. In the 1970s many of us thought working outside the home would be liberating for women, freeing them from financial dependence on men and allowing them roles beyond those of wife and mother.

It hasn't worked out that way. Women's labour has been bought on the cheap, their working hours have become longer and their family commitments have barely diminished. Yesterday's G2 special investigation into how employers treat parents highlighted companies offering decent maternity packages, but many firms refused to take part, and the question remained whether a woman's career would survive childbirth.

The reality for most working women is a near impossible feat of working ever harder. There have been new opportunities for some women: professions once closed to them, such as law, have opened up. Women managers are commonplace, though the top boardrooms remain male preserves. Professional and managerial women have done well out of neoliberalism. Their salaries allow them to hire domestic help.

But more women face worsening conditions: the supermarket or call centre workers; the cooks, cleaners and hairdressers; all find themselves in low-wage, low-status jobs with no possibility of paying to have their houses cleaned by someone else. Even those in professions once-regarded as reasonably high-status, such as teaching, nursing or office work, have seen that status pushed down with longer hours, more regulation and lower pay.

Inequality is not just between men and women, but increasingly between "top" women and those at the lower levels of wages and conditions. Class divisions between women appear in starker form than they did a generation ago. Indeed, those at the top often rely on the labour of those at the bottom to sustain their lifestyles.

Role models such as cabinet ministers Yvette Cooper (three children) or Ruth Kelly (four) do not face the problems of most working women. They receive salaries of three or four times the average female wage, have far longer holidays, access to drivers and other benefits. Estimates have put the cost of employing a nanny at £35,000 a year. Even the cost of a full-time nursery place, at £10,000 a year in London, is close to many women's annual wage.

Women's right to work should not mean a family life where partners rarely see each other or their children. Yet a quarter of all families with dependent children have one parent working nights or evenings, many of them because of childcare problems.

The legislative changes of the 1960s and 1970s helped establish women's legal and financial independence, but we have long come up against the limits of the law. A more radical social transformation would mean using the country's wealth - much of it now produced by women - to create a decent family life. A 35-hour week and a national childcare service would be a start.

It is hard to imagine the major employers conceding such demands. Every gain that women have made at work has had to be fought for.

Women's lives have undergone a revolution over the past few decades that has seen married women, and mothers in particular, go from a private family role to a much more social role at work. But they haven't left the family role behind: now they are expected to work even harder to do both.

Socialism proposes the transformation of human beings

Socialism proposes the transformation of human beings into living poems - Octavio Paz, Mexican surrealist

BELLS OF RHYMNEY
(Idris Davies)

Oh what will you give me?
Say the sad bells of Rhymney
Is there hope for the future?
Cry the brown bells of Merthyr.
Who made the mine owner?
Say the black bells of Rhondda.
And who robbed the miner?
Cry the grim bells of Blaina.

They will plunder willy-nilly,
Cry the bells of Caerphilly.
They have fangs, they have teeth,
Say the loud bells of Neath.
Even God is uneasy,
Say the moist bells of Swansea.
And what will you give me?
Say the sad bells of Rhymney
Put the vandals in court
Say the bells of Newport.
All would be well if, if, if,
Cry the green bells of Cardiff.
Why so worried, sisters, why?
Sang the silver bells of Wye.
And what will you give me?
Say the sad bells of Rhymney.

Idris Davies was self-taught. His poetry chronicles the decay and social breakdown of Wales in the 20s and 30s . He began work as a miner after leaving school at the age of 14. The defeat of the General Strike of 1926 (see poem below) broke his spirit. He took a correspondence course and left Wales to become a teacher in England.

As to the bells themselves the bells of Brecon and Wye are off the South Wales coalfield, which meant that they could be happy without the mass unemployment endured by the coalfield to the south. Neath is in the anthracite coalfield of South Wales, which didn't experience the depression of the 20s and 30s so severely. Caerphilly is just off the coalfield. Many miners from Merthyr and Rhymney traveled to pits in the Neath valley at that time. At this time the British government was talking of closing down Merthyr and transporting the people to England- hence the brown bells. This is not a 'song' by miners this is a poem by a great poet who happened to be a miner that expressess a great biterness and hurt.The poem was borrowed by an American singer. Nothing wrong with that.

The miners were called, "the worms of the earth". The poem ends defiantly.

Do you remember 1926? That summer of soups and speeches,
The sunlight on the idle wheels and the deserted crossings,
And the laughter and the cursing in the moonlit streets?
Do you remember 1926? The slogans and the penny concerts,
The jazz-bands and the moorland picnics,
And the slanderous tongues of famous cities?
Do you remember 1926? The great dream and the swift disaster,
The fanatic and the traitor, and more than all,
The bravery of the simple, faithful folk? "
Ay, ay, we remember 1926," said Dai and Shinkin,
As they stood on the kerb in Charing Cross Road, "
And we shall remember 1926 until our blood is dry."

Solidarity with the Posties!

As Postal workers enter their third bout of strike action, many pickets lines have seen solidarity visits from other workers.

Karen Tyre, who was a RESPECT candidate in May and is a Unison union steward in the Vale of Glamorgan council took some muffins down to the picket line at the mail centre in Cardiff.

She told RESPECT,

“The pickets were very positive. I was very warmly welcomed and we discussed the need for united action across the public sector.

I have done two collections round my building which I have taken to different post workers. The second collection I did was for the counter workers who work in the post office next to the office where I work. I spoke to them in the morning and they seemed a bit down about the dispute, so I took a petition and collection around my office – most people gave money – and took it back that evening. It was a real boost for the post workers.

The collections boost the post workers’ morale, but its also been really good for people in my office to feel part of the fight back. We have our own issues in the council so it has been good to build links.”

George Galloway IS Spartacus!

At last a politician has been suspended for their role over the Iraq War. You'd have thought it would have happened before now, and you might have thought when it happened, it wouldn't be the politician most prominently against the war!

Galloway cites Spartacus, the ultimate heroic tale of the oppressed underdog rising up to glory, as his favourite film. "It has inspired me," he says with hushed reverence for the story of Kirk Douglas as the slave who takes on the Roman Empire. "Its message is that to be right, rather than to be popular, is what counts. I am moved by the scene where all of the slaves stand up and say 'I am Spartacus' to protect him - although under New Labour it would be: 'He is Spartacus.'"

George Galloway MP writes:

"Once more and yet again I have been cleared of taking a single penny or in any way personally benefiting from the former Iraqi regime through the Oil for Food programme or any other means.

The Commissioner's report states that unequivocally no less than six times. The Commissioner further states that it would be a "travesty" to describe me as a "paid mouth-piece" and that my actions on Iraq stemmed from "deep conviction."

This is therefore an argument about the funding of a political campaign to lift non-military sanctions on Iraq, which killed one million people, and to stop the rush to a war which has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands more.

The Committee appear utterly oblivious to the grotesque irony of a pro-sanctions and pro-war Committee of a pro-sanctions and pro-war Parliament passing judgment on the work of their opponents, especially in the light of the bloody march of events in Iraq since this inquiry began four years ago.

They describe that as questioning their integrity and bringing Parliament into disrepute. The House would do well to honestly calibrate exactly how its reputation on all matters concerning the war in Iraq stands with the public before deciding who precisely has brought it into disrepute.

After a four year inquiry – costing a fortune in public funds – the report asks me to apologise for not registering consistently the Mariam Appeal I established (the Commissioner concedes that I did so, but randomly) and for using House of Commons resources allocated to me to campaign against the policies of those now sitting in judgment on me.

The Committee of MPs acknowledges that "had these been the only matters before us, we would have confined ourselves to seeking an apology to the House."

However, in a surprisingly thin-skinned rejoinder, the MPs complain that because I questioned their impartiality and made trenchant criticisms of evidence and witnesses (which, incidentally, they don’t attempt to refute in most cases) I am to be suspended for 18 days.

I reiterate that the Commissioner is right to state that he found no evidence that I benefited personally in any way from any Iraqi monies and moreover I never asked any of the Mariam Appeal's donors – the King of Saudi Arabia, the Emir of UAE, or Fawaz Zureikat, the chairman of the Appeal – from where they earned the wealth from which they made donations to a campaign to end sanctions and war."
For a point-by-point refutation of the commission, see: http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=12487

New Labour plays the race card in Wales - AGAIN!

Penny Matthews was recently elected Labour councillor for the Llansamlet ward of Swansea, unfortunately in her election literature rather than give real solutions to the problems her constituents face she whipped up racism.

Up to half a million Roma perished during the holocaust. Yet racism towards Roma and traveller people is still deemed acceptable. It is disheartening to read that New Labour in Wales has once again played the race card. In 2004, Labour issued racist leaflets in Llanederyn and Pentwyn areas of Cardiff attacking Roma people. In 2005, Labour issued racist leaflets in Cardiff Central attacking asylum seekers.

RESPECT aims to fight the racist poison and provide genuine solutions to the problems that working people face. We express full solidarity with the Roma and traveller people in Swansea and wish them well.

From the Western Mail:

"THE Labour Party has been told a poster campaign about Gypsy travellers during a council by-election campaign may have breached race relation laws.

The Commission for Racial Equality has made a formal complaint to Welsh Labour after the distribution of a leaflet in the Llansamlet area of Swansea, where a by-election takes place next Thursday.

The leaflet, which includes photographs of Swansea East MP Sian James and the constituency’s AM Val Lloyd, is headed,

“Council Bye [sic] Election referendum on gipsy site”.It goes on to say, “Many commentators see this current bye election as a referendum on the gypsy encampment on Swansea Vale.With the Labour Party commitment to getting the site removed and the Liberal Democrat, Independent alliance (kept in power by the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru) unwilling to take the necessary action to remove it [sic].

Every vote Labour gets in the bye election will add strength to the resolve to remove this site on council land.

“Vote Labour. Vote to remove the illegal travellers site.”

It's never too late to love - or rebel!

Culture is an important weapon in the struggle for socialism: Socialism is an important weapon in the struggle for culture . . .

"When I was growing up in Pakistan at age 16 or so, I would go to a poetry reading that would start after dinner about 10:30 p.m. and it would be going on when it was time for breakfast. In the morning we were just swaying with the rhythm of the words and the chant would go up from the crowd to recite some extemporary poetry–make it up. The poets would then have a competition. They would decide on a subject and recite poetry. And the audience would judge which one was the best." - Tariq Ali

Faiz Ahmad Faiz was a revolutionary, an anti-imperialist and one of the greatest poets to ever walk the earth. He is considered by some to be the national poet of Pakistan and many of his poems have become popular songs. This perhaps his most famous poem begins with a beautiful description of a love affair and infatuation, but the idyll is suddenly interrupted by injustice in the world and the poet declares that he must renounce the cocooon of romantic love for something else.

DON'T ASK ME FOR THAT LOVE AGAIN
Faiz Ahmad Faiz

That which then was ours, my love,
don’t ask me for that love again.

The world then was gold, burnished with light –
and only because of you. That’s what I had believed.
How could one weep for sorrows other than yours?
How could one have any sorrow but the one you gave?
So what were these protests, these rumors of injustice?
A glimpse of your face was evidence of springtime.
The sky, wherever I looked, was nothing but your eyes.
If You’d fall into my arms, Fate would be helpless.

All this I’d thought, all this I’d believed.
But there were other sorrows, comforts other than love.
The rich had cast their spell on history:
dark centuries had been embroidered on brocades and silks.
Bitter threads began to unravel before me
as I went into alleys and in open market
ssaw bodies plastered with ash, bathed in blood.
I saw them sold and bought, again and again.
This too deserves attention. I can’t help but look back
when I return from those alleys –what should one do?
And you still are so ravishing –what should I do?
There are other sorrows in this world,
comforts other than love.

Don’t ask me, my love, for that love again.

Support School Staff: Term Time Pay - No Way!

UNISON members in Cardiff are campaigning for the fair and equal treatment of ALL staff working in schools. RESPECT supports this campaign 110% and will be doing everything we can to publicise it!

Sign the petition here:

http://www.cardiffunison.co.uk/schoolpetition.htm

(From UNISON website)

DID YOU KNOW:

Support staff make up around 50% of all employees in Cardiff Schools.

Like teachers, they work term time and take their holidays during the school holidays. Unlike teachers, many don’t get paid for the full year.

School support staff are not in ‘part time’ jobs – so how is justified that they get part time pay?

WHAT WE ARE FIGHTING FOR:

* Equality for all school staff and an end to term time only pay, which means;
* Paid 52 week contracts
* Fair pension entitlement
* Full week = full time status
* A maximised number of paid hours and weeks
* Tackling low and unequal pay and achieving proper levels of reward and career opportunities.

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT US ?

This is a new campaign but already we are building popular levels of support in Cardiff and nationally within UNISON. On top of organised general meetings for all school members, over 60 UNISON members are now signed up as contacts in their school to receive regular information. The campaign is being co-ordinated by UNISON officers, the UNISON Cardiff schools convenor, stewards and school support staff members who make up a campaign steering committee.

SOME COMMENTS FROM UNISON'S PETITION:

"Schools work as teams. All staff contracts should be on similar terms and conditions. 52-week contracts for teachers should mean the same for all support staff. That comes from a teacher. The inequality must stop now!"

"Second class employees First class workers"

"Equality for all"

"I have worked for 20 years in the school but my pension is worked out as 13 years due to being paid for 38 weeks instead of 52."

"Under valued and under paid!"

"Term time workers are just as important as the rest so stop treating them like their not. Equality for all workers now."

"This system discriminates against people ( mainly women) who make a valuable contribution to our children's education, and hence our society. They should be paid in the same way as teachers who they work alongside every day.UNISON is working to end this unequal treatment."

Smash the Pay Freeze

This is going to be a very important meeting in Cardiff for all those who want to support the workers striking against Gordon Brown's pay-freeze.

Let's make sure it's a success and take in the argument that joint action between PCS, CWU and other unions can beat New Labour and increase the confidence of workers all over Britain to fight back against neoliberalism...

Cardiff County Trades Union Council Public Meeting
Defending Public Services, Defending Public Sector Jobs

Tuesday 17th July 2007
Sandringham Hotel
St. Mary Street
Cardiff

Commencing at 7.30p.m.

Confirmed Speakers
John McInally PCS, National Executive Member
Alex Gordon, RMT Member of Council of Executives
Jane Loftus, CWU, President

At a time when workers are feeling under severe pressure and attack, come and debate with those who are leading the fight to save our public services and to defend the jobs of public service workers.

All are welcome - Please support

Building a labour movement conference on Climate Change

Recently in the Western Mail, a leading Welsh trade unionist attacked the leader of the Welsh Tories for calling on the Welsh Assembly to adopt carbon reduction targets. There are many good reasons for attacking the Tories, but this wasn't a valid one! The trade unionist argued that cutting emissions would adversely effect jobs. We believe that this man is not fit to call himself a trade unionist having forgotten basic principles of internationalism and solidarity: Climate change will effect working class and poor people the worst. While UNISON, at a national level, now supports climate activism, the trade union movement has been incredibly backward in taking up this issue. Hopefully this conference will help improve the situation! Please send this info. to all concerned trade unionists

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

At the recent Campaign Against Climate Change International conference there was a workshop for trade unionists addressed by Cllr Rania Khan from Tower Hamlets, Tony Staunton from Plymouth UNISON and East London NUT activist Andy Stone.

Inspired by an excellent session there was enthusiastic support for a much wider network of trade unionists to coordinate work on these issues in UK workplaces.

We agreed an initial aim of organising a Labour Movement Conference on Climate Change for February 2008. I volunteered to coordinate this. So I am now writing to you for two reasons.

1. There will be an open planning meeting for this conference in Birmingham on Saturday 14 July. The venue is Carrs Lane Church, Carrs Lane, Birmingham City Centre (directions below), and the start time is 12.45pm. Please do all you can to publicise this meeting amongst your union friends and comrades.We will need to take decisions on the venue, budget, structure and publicity for the February event at this meeting. If you are planning to attend this meeting in Birmingham please let me know by email as soon as possible.

2. In order to get some publicity for this conference and the work of this group we want to get a first leaflet printed for circulation amongst trade unionists as soon as possible. I am therefore asking for signatories from interested trade unionists to be listed on this leaflet. All will be in a personal capacity, unless otherwise indicated. Can you please get these back to me by Friday 22nd June so that we can get a leaflet out in good time. Bob Crow (General Secretary RMT) has kindly agreed to add his name to the conference in order to get the ball rolling.

In solidarity,

Roy Wilkes
4 Oakhurst Gardens,
Prestwich
Manchester
M25 1JQ

Phone: 0161 773 8699
Mobile: 07801 263 265
E-mail: roywilkes59@talktalk. net

Stop the Cardiff Bay Incinerator

LIB DEM COUNCIL TO APPROVE INCINERATOR?

Members of Butetown RESPECT report that it looks likely that the LibDem mafia who run Cardiff Council will approve plans by two corporations to build a massive incinerator in Cardiff Bay. The incinerator will collect rubbish from across South Wales and sabotage efforts to increase recycling and composting. RESPECT believes that waste should be dealt with in the areas where it is produced rather than being transported across Wales and increasing our carbon footprint.

NO TO INCINERATORS!

RESPECT says no to incinerators, the aim should be the full recycling of waste: In Flanders, local government recycles and composts over two-thirds of waste, in Cardiff, the LibDems manage only 12%. Incineration involves burning paper and plastics that should be recycled. Contrary to myth this does not generate renewable energy because most of the fuel comes from plastics which are made from oil. RESPECT campaigns for a rapid transition to a non-fossil fuel based, low carbon economy.

INCINERATORS LEAD TO MORE POLLUTION

Stopping the Cardiff Incinerator will be a blow against the government and for the planet: New Labour claims it wants to use incinerators as a “green” way to deal with the amount of waste produced in Britain. An environment white paper due to be published next month suggests that the proportion of burned waste could rise from 9 percent to 25 percent in the next 15 years.

It urges making “energy from waste”, a process in which incinerators are used to power electricity generation plants. But incinerators are extremely inefficient generators of energy, producing more carbon dioxide per unit of energy than a coal-fired power station.

This will increase the threat of global warming as well as putting the health of those who live near incinerators at risk.

REPORTS FROM UK ANTI-INCINERATOR CONFERENCE

RESPECT members in South Wales attended the UK anti-incinerator conference last year.

A representative of the Guildford anti-incinerator campaign in Surrey said, “We need to link all the disparate campaigns around Britain. Even if you stop one particular incinerator the real aim must be to make the government think again about how we deal with the waste we produce. And about how we produce the energy we need in a sustainable way.”

Around 9 percent of municipal waste in England is currently incinerated, with the West Midlands burning the most, sending 31 percent of the region’s waste to incinerators.

Around 72 percent of waste is currently sent to landfill sites, but incinerators are not the answer to reducing this figure. Incinerator operators need a constant level of waste in order to keep the fires burning. To meet this demand local authorities abandon recycling and waste reduction plans.

But the main concern surrounds pollutants found in the ash left in the incinerator and emitted from the chimney. These include dioxins, acid gases, nitrogen oxide, heavy metals and particulates. These are suspected of causing cancer.

Although most incinerators in Britain are used to generate electricity, it does not save energy in the long run because the waste is not recycled. This means more raw materials have to be produced to replace the burnt material.

RESPECT ACTIVISTS IN WALES LEAD FIGHT BACK

RESPECT member Huw Pudner was one of the founders of the Stop The Incinerator Campaign which was set up to oppose the incinerator in Neath, South Wales.

Huw said, “The company running the Crymlyn Burrows giant incinerator and waste treatment plant has gone bankrupt.

This is only the latest sorry chapter in a long running saga of political and environmental incompetence involving the Neath Port Talbot council and its private partners HLC which was responsible for the running of the plant. It has gone bust owing some £40 million.

Ever since the plant was proposed six years ago it has run into a storm of protest from residents and environmentalists. The incinerator has been a fiasco. It was unloved, unwanted and an affront to those who have to live in its shadow.

Before it was officially opened it was destroyed by fire and it has contaminated local houses and the nearby beach. Now the company that runs it has gone to the wall.

The Neath branch of RESPECT believes that it should be closed down permanently and its workers employed on environmental projects in the area.”

HEALTH RISK

According to Dr Jerry Thompson ,an activist from the Slough anti-incinerator campaign in Buckinghamshire, their are huge health risks associated with incinerators:

“The report on the Sint Niklaas incinerator in Belgium is the only complete study ever done on incinerators.

Although the proposed incinerator at Colnbrook in this area will have a lower dioxin output than that at Sint Niklaas, the fact that it would be nine times larger, will emit higher volumes of particulates and will foolishly be allowed to incinerate radioactive material gives little cause for comfort.

Children are more vulnerable to the pollutants produced by incinerators, breathing in more air than adults relative to their size, and are likely to be the first to suffer from adverse effects. The foetus and newborn are uniquely vulnerable.

The report on the Sint Niklaas incinerator showed that blood and glandular cancers appeared in children about five years after the incinerator started operating. This preceded the increase in adult cancers by seven years. Adults cancers showed a five-fold increase over 20 years.

The Sint Niklaas study also showed an excess of autism, hyperactivity, allergies, asthma, repeated infections and congenital defects.”

Immigrant Workers: Police Harrassment in Cardiff

RESPECT members in Cardiff have reacted with disgust and anger to the news that fellow workers are being harrased by the home office and demand the immediate release and right to work of 5 arrested immigrant workers described as "illegal".

Adam Johannes, a clerical worker and member of Roath RESPECT who saw the operation first hand commented:

"Why should it be classified as illegal to come to Cardiff from another country to find work and seek a better life?

The UK state and their media demonise asylum seekers and economic refugees, but surely the real enemy of working people is the top 10% of the population who own two-thirds of the wealth in this country and are making us work the longest hours for the worst pay in Western Europe?

The wealthy will move to whichever country gives them the biggest tax break, but working people face discrimination, imprisonment and deportation.

It is vital that trade unionists, anti-capitalists and the organised labour movement defend immigrant workers and challenge racism: No one is illegal".

On Friday, the police sealed off both ends of Caroline Street (popularly known as Chip Alley) shutting down the street for half an hour as immigration and border authorities raided local fast food outlets. They bullied and harrased workers in the late night kebab and chip shops demanding passports and proof of status. 5 workers were taken away.

Postal Workers on Strike! Smash the Pay Freeze!

In the hot summer of 2004 we launched our coalition, RESPECT.

At that time, the CWU in South East Wales voted to support us in the European Elections.

On Friday, RESPECT members in the postal service joined other workers in a strike against Gordon Brown's attempt to impose a pay freeze on workers across the public sector.

Many other RESPECT members also visited picket lines in solidarity and collected donations at their workplaces for striking postal workers.

This follows strike action by workers in the PCS and other unions on the same issue. Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of the PCS and a member of RESPECT's National Council has been pushing for different unions to strike together on the same day. It is rumoured that he has written 5 times to Billy Hayes, the leader of the CWU with the proposal that they co-ordinate strike actions and not received even a reply.

It seems that Labour Party member, Billy Hayes, places loyalty to his discredited party over the interests of CWU members and working people as a whole. RESPECT members are organising at the grassroots to put pressure on the union bureaucracies to co-ordinate strike action to smash Gordon Brown's pay freeze.

Jonny Jones from Splott RESPECT in Cardiff visited picket lines to show solidarity, he writes:

"From the Post Office in the Mumbles to the massive sorting office in Cardiff, the CWU picket lines in South Wales were friendly and very determined to win their dispute.

There were around a dozen pickets at the main sorting office in Swansea, most of whom were very glad to see Respect supporters on the picket line. One picket joked that there were more teachers than posties!

In Cardiff the strike was almost completely solid. One picket said that only one person had gone in and that we should feel free to print his name in bold.

AJ Singh of Cardiff CWU said, “If Alan Leighton wants dignity and respect in the postal service then he needs to show some dignity and respect by paying staff properly and not eroding their working conditions”.

Strikers talked about the possibility of joint action with the PCS and will be working with PCS members to set up a joint union meeting on how best to beat Gordon Brown’s pay freeze."

Battle Stations: CWU vote for Strike!

Over 77 per cent of members who voted in the Communication Workers Union (CWU) ballot this past week have voted in favour of taking industrial action over Gordon Brown's pay freeze.

The ballot result reflects the massive anger and growing disillusionment among postal workers not only over Gordon Brown's pay offer of 2.5%, which compared to the latest inflation figures of 4.5% is effectively a pay cut, but also privatisation of the postal service and an increasingly aggressive management.


With a turnout of 67% and an overwhelming majority for strike action, it also signals an imminent set-piece battle between the CWU and Royal Mail.

Jane Loftus, a member of RESPECT, soon to be President of CWU, said "This is a brilliant result which shows that all sections of the postal workforce have defied intense pressure from management and shown their faith in the union."

The mood in the country is for united action, and RESPECT encourages this unity. The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has a policy of joining forces with other public sector unions calling for industrial action, and Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of PCS (& member of RESPECTs National Council) has written to the CWU to express his solidarity.

There should be no mistake that Management will do everything in their power to undermine CWU efforts and undercut support for a strike.

RESPECT members and supporters need to be ready to build solidarity and provide whatever support is needed by CWU members, including spreading information about the vote, inviting CWU activists to address RESPECT meetings and building on opportunities for united action on this issue.

RESPECT congratulates the CWU and expresses its full support for any industrial action that takes place.

Urgent! Solidarity with Iraqi Workers

The following was issued as a press release by Naftana, an independent UK-based committee supporting democratic trade unionism in Iraq. The leader of the Basra Oil Workers' Union spoke powerfully at the Stop the War Coalition's UK conference against the occupation and privatisation two years ago.

Iraq's powerful oil workers' trade union today expressed alarm as an arrest warrant was issued for its leaders, in an attempt to clamp down on industrial action.

Members of the union have been on strike since Monday 4th June, in protest at the government's failure to meet any of its promises made in a meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on 16th May.

The union's 16 demands included improvements to wages, health and other working and living conditions as well as consultation on the proposed oil law, which the union opposes.

The union added a 17th demand yesterday demanding the sacking of the General Manager of the Southern Pipeline Company.

On Tuesday, al-Maliki warned that he would meet threats to oil production "with an iron fist". The arrest warrant, based on a charge of "sabotaging the economy" specifically names Hassan Juma'a Awad, the leader of the 26,000-strong Federation of Oil Unions, and three other leaders of the Federation.

Hassan Juma'a commented, "the government is intimidating the union but we are determined to gain our legitimate rights." He added that the strike would continue in accordance with the union's plan.

The strike entered its third day today and is in its "second phase," which now includes the closure of the main distribution pipelines, including supplies to Baghdad. "Phase one" closed some of the smaller distribution pipelines. Phases one and two did not include production and exports.

The union is calling on all its supporters and unions across the world to back the union at this critical juncture. Sami Ramadani from the union's UK-based support committee, Naftana said: "Issuing a warrant for the arrest of the oil workers' leaders is an outrageous attack on trade union and democratic freedoms."

For further information contact:

Sami Ramadani – 07863 138748
sami.ramadani@londonmet.ac.uk
Kamil Mahdi –
k.a.mahdi@exeter.ac.uk

Sabah Jawad – 07985 336886
sabah.jawad@idao.org

Naftana works in solidarity with the IFOU. It strives to publicize the union's struggle for Iraqi social and economic rights and its stand against the privatisation of Iraqi oil demanded by the occupying powers. For more information see the IFOU's website www.basraoilunion.org

40th Anniversary of Occupation of West Bank, Gaza & East Jerusalem

ENOUGH!
END THE OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE!
FREE PALESTINE!
MAKE A STAND - Say NO to occupation

Cardiff demonstration marking the 40th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem calling for its' END

Tuesday 5 June at 5.30 pm
Aneurin Bevan Statue
Queens Street
Cardiff

With music, speakers and dance to raise awareness and call for the END of this brutal occupation.

PLEASE COME BRING YR FRIENDS, BANNERS, PLACARDS etc.
If you are able to lend a PA system for use outdoors please email me.
If you want to travel with us to the big ENOUGH! occupation demonstration in London on Saturday 9 June, email flas6eeny@hotmail.com or eisoj@care2.com

(www.enoughoccupation.org)

Ghaith Nassar
Palestinian Solidarity Society
Cardiff University
flas6eeny@hotmail.com

RESPECT is proud to be the only political party in the UK that has a commitment to opposing apartheid Israel and support for the people of Palestine in its' founding statement and constitution.

Lessons from the Past - The Asian Youth Movement

This election saw the biggest ever attempt by the fascists to gain a foothold in Wales. Fortunately, they failed to get a single candidate elected. We reproduce, to start a debate on how we fight racism and fascism in Wales, this thoughtful article by Tariq Mehmood, written when the media and politicians united to condemn all those involved in the disturbances in Oldham, Burnley and Bradford, Tariq Mehmood asks us to learn from 1980s experiences of fighting racism and fascism -- and for black and white to defend their communities together.

Twenty years ago, on 11 July 1981, many British cities were ablaze with youthful rebellion. Then, as now, the fascists were out holding marches and meetings and creating mayhem in black areas. Unlike their present showing in general elections, then they were trounced.

The media -- joined by an assortment of odds and sods presented as "community leaders" -- then as now in Oldham, Burnley and Bradford, condemned the Asian youth of the 1980s as the perpetrators of criminal activity and "mindless thugs", bent on wanton destruction. Some of the middle-aged "community leaders" today, including MPs such as Marsha Singh, were themselves youths at that time, and were engaged in activities not dissimilar to those they are condemning today. I went on many a demonstration with Marsha Singh, chanting "Labour-Tory both the same -- both play the racist game!"

Bradford city has always had a proud history of resistance to racist and fascist provocation. There are uncanny similarities between the present situation in northern England and the conditions 20 years ago, which led to myself and 11 other Asian youths being arrested and imprisoned on charges of conspiracy and possession of explosive substances. In the mid-1970s, the fascists threatened to march through Manningham. Thousands of people in Bradford demonstrated peacefully and ended up in a rally in the city centre. Unlike now, the police then tried to keep the youths in the city centre, so that the fascists could have their rally in the heart of Manningham. The youths broke through the police lines and rushed up Lumb Lane to defend Manningham from fascism. There then ensued terrible violence in which the police fought pitched battles against the youths.

The youth of that time was forced to learn there was no other course than self-organisation. But in order to organise, we had to learn about the nature of the enemy we were organising against. We were forced to try to understand what racism was.

We knew of its devastating effects in our own lives. Our parents worked in dirty run-down mills, we lived in ghettos and had few prospects in front of us. White gangs were attacking us, but why? At school we were embroiled in battles against racist youth and racism within the educational system. But what was racism and from where did it spring?

We came to understand racism was an ideology used in various ways to portray us -- that is, black people -- as sub-human. Sometimes it was used to divide us as workers in the factories and mills, sometimes racism meant we became a political football, kicked about by both Labour and the Tories. There were many expressions of racism in our day-to-day existence. We began to understand that it had a base in history and did not arise simply because we were now here in this country.

We began to ask why had we come into this country in the first place? This led us to our own histories. We learnt that contrary to what the history books had taught us, the British came to India and Africa not primarily on humanitarian missions, but to rob and pillage. This was the major cause of the poverty of our countries of origin. It is here we learnt of capitalism as a system, and racism as an ideology that had developed, changing with the changing times to the present era in which we came of youthful age in Bradford. And it was now being used by neo-fascist organisations.

Following the riots of 1976, Bradford's Asian youth formed themselves into the Asian Youth Movement (AYM). The AYM then spent many years in not only helping young people organise, but also building unity among wider sections of the population. It united with all manner of oppressed layers of British society. One of the alarming developments of the present situation in Bradford, Burnley and Oldham is that there has been a dearth of organised progressive voices.

In the 1970s and 1980s there was a broad abhorrence of fascism in the British populace.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of anti-fascists always met just a handful of fascists whenever they showed themselves. I was in my mid-twenties and had learnt through bitter street experience that the major problem was not the fascist gangs, but racism, the oxygen that fascism needed to feed on. I grew up in Bradford, and was quickly forced to learn, even at school -- especially in view of the terrible racist violence of the playground and the journeys to and from school -- that black minorities in this country had no choice but to organise to defend themselves, and then seek alliances with progressive white people.

We saw black and white as political colours. While trying to forge unity among Afro-Asian youth, at the same time we actively encouraged white youth to work with us, as we believed the necessity of uniting all people against common enemies. Racism, we believed, was a common enemy not only of black people, but of all people. But we also believed that our primary task was to organise ourselves, as we were the direct targets of racist and fascist gangs.

The youth of today need to look to their immediate histories, as we did in our time, and learn from the experiences of those who had organised before us. In the late 1970's, Asian youth formed organisations in almost all the cities in which they lived. I was involved in the formation and activities of a number of these organisations, in places such as the East End, Southall, Birmingham and Bradford. The objective of the youth then was not in fighting against white people, but against racism. The fight was born out of poverty and degradation, of being effectively imprisoned in the inner-city ghetto, with no apparent hope of escape. We too were faced with similar situations, and had no choice but to come together and organise. When we organised we became stronger. By uniting ourselves, we were gaining a public voice. We developed systems in which we could quickly mobilise to defend people under physical attack, while at the same time challenging publications in the media that tried to denigrate our communities or organisations.

When people begin to organise, the state agencies do not just sit by as idle observers. It is not in their interest to allow the independent development of militant organisations.

Following the rebellion of 1981, the state moved quickly to buy off the leadership of the emerging youth movements. We were offered youth workers. We argued that we did not want youth workers but work. The most active and effective time of these youth organisations was when we funded our activities from the money we raised ourselves. As soon as we applied for funding and received it, our organisations began to decay and eventually die. By getting money from state institutions, we became answerable to them. As soon as they controlled our purse strings they controlled us. The lesson from that time is that people's organisations must be responsible only to the people.

Even though the gangs that attacked us in the mid-1980s were coming from run-down white working-class neighbourhoods, we believed that without white workers and progressive white people coming out against racism, we stood no chance. Unlike now, 20 years earlier, especially in towns like Burnley, there were many popular organisations all fighting for their particular demands, such as trade unions, left organisations, tenants associations, women's organisations and even Labour Party members, who took part in anti-racist activities. Those who fight for their own rights learn the meaning of the suffering of others and can see the logic in forging unity.

Situations like this create the conditions for the building of effective anti-racist unity. Following racist violence, our areas became flooded with well-meaning white comrades from different white left organisations. They wanted to organise against racism and pick up a few members along the way. We pleaded with them to go and organise in white areas where the racists live and people are in need of education and organisation.

Progressive and anti-racist white people should look for the rise in racism not in black but white ghettos. It is in the deprived white areas where the far-right is gaining strength.

On 11 July 1981, police fought pitched battles with youth in numerous British cities. For nearly two weeks before this day, there were sporadic flare-ups with racist and fascist gangs and/or police officers raiding black communities. People of Bradford, especially young people, decided not to place their faith in the hands of the police and organise the defence of their different localities. We were confronted with the questions: what is defence? What is legitimate in one's self-defence?

In those days, just like today, racist and fascist gangs were attacking us with all manner of weapons, including petrol bombs. We decided that it was our right to defend our communities, and ourselves by arming ourselves with petrol bombs. We built some and kept them hidden for safekeeping.

However, the main focal point of our activities was in the mobilisation and organisation of the broadest possible numbers of people. We divided into groups, often of hundreds of people, and spent the day patrolling our streets. Echoing their actions of 7 July 2001, two decades earlier the police had advised people to stay indoors as well. In view of our history of the mid-1970s, and the actions of the police towards our communities, we did not trust them to defend us. We made a call for people to come out. And they did come out in their hundreds. Wherever we went, people came out and offered us drinks and sweetmeats. A few fascists did show up in the town centre but these were seen off by mostly white youth.

The evening came. We went to the city centre. There was no fascist invasion. A few bored police officers got involved in a skirmish with some white youths. I was arrested in the confusion that followed this. The petrol bombs were not used.

A few weeks later we were charged on terrorist charges and imprisoned. Our arrest was met by a massive sense of outrage by Bradford's community. The Bradford 12 Defence Campaign brought thousands of people, from right across the country, out on to the streets to defend the right to self-defence.

The police and the courts argued that petrol bombs could not be used as weapons of self-defence. We maintained that it was our right to arm ourselves as we were faced with attackers who were similarly armed. After a nine-week trial, we were all acquitted. The lesson from that trial is that people under attack have the right in law to defend themselves appropriately. The most important components of defence are community-based organisations, clear in their aims and objectives. These must be responsible to the people they are defending. And without organisations, we are defenceless.

The present situation in Bradford and other northern towns is not born out of something unique in these cities. The fundamental causes of violence are not the questions of the colour of skin, but poverty and a feeling of helplessness. Hope can only be found in organising and in uniting with principled anti-racist and anti-imperialist forces.