Solidarity 508, 29 May 2019

Sack the 3 Ms

It wasn’t just Alistair Campbell types, Blairites, who defected from Labour to the Lib Dems or the Greens in the 23 May Euro-elections. Many left-wing Labour supporters defected too, or didn’t vote, disgusted by Labour’s equivocation on Brexit. In July we will get a new Tory leader and prime minister, almost certainly a hard-Brexiter. How they will negotiate the difficulty, which destroyed May, of getting a parliamentary majority for any Brexit formula at all, we don’t know. They will be under pressure to steer a course capable of drawing back millions of Tory voters who on 23 May went for...

Gardiner and the Hindu pogromists

The Parliamentary Labour Party is full of unscrupulous and unprincipled politicians willing to exploit communal divisions and promote reactionary “community leaders” for electoral gain. However, the efforts of shadow trade minister Barry Gardiner go well beyond a few public appearances with the local vicar or imam. On 23 May, Gardiner tweeted to give a lavish welcome to right-winger Narendra Modi’s victory in India’s election. In 2001, in the wake of the Gujarat earthquake, Gardiner visited India and handed a £1 million cheque to Modi, who was then Gujarat’s Chief Minister. The money was...

Tories' anti-Muslim bigotry

An ITV report has revealed the Tory party is investigating over a hundred cases of alleged anti-Muslim bigotry and racism within its ranks, including people claiming to be party members alleging Islam is “being allowed to take over our country”, and that Muslims are “aliens” whose “plan is to turn this country into an Islamic state.” Other commenters said, “we don’t have a politician strong enough in the UK to lead us away from this infestation”, and that Muslims “cause mayhem wherever they decide to invade.” The incidents in the dossier relate to comments posted online; Tory party officials...

Another victory in Ireland

Citizens in the Republic of Ireland have voted by an overwhelming 82.1% to liberalise the country’s divorce laws, in a referendum held on the same day as local and European elections. The vote continues Ireland’s path of social liberalisation, which was strikingly demonstrated by 2018’s decision to scrap the ban on abortion and 2015’s legalisation of same-sex marriage. Divorce was banned in the 26 Counties soon after independence, in 1924, and the ban was written into the 1937 Constitution. Even clerical-fascist Portugal never banned divorce; clerical-fascist Spain did, in 1939, but Spain...

SNP trans contradictions

On 17 May, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, the SNP member of parliament Mhairi Black gave a fantastic speech calling for the reform of the Gender Recognition Act (GRA). This came two days after the only trans councillor in Scotland quit the SNP accusing it of institutional transphobia , and just weeks after 15 senior members of the SNP wrote an open letter , publicly attacking the SNP’s plans to reform the GRA, the very reforms Mhairi gave an impassioned speech prompting. The reforms to the Gender Recognition Act shouldn’t be that controversial. The current...

Strikes, unions and climate change

The Green New Deal calls for an economic revolution to put people and planet before profit. In contrast many unions are still supporting environmentally destructive industries. Now is the time for worker-youth solidarity to demand climate and social justice. Our school strike is more than just showing we care about the environment. We are striking for political change. We are striking to demand climate justice. A key part of that is the Green New Deal, to revolutionise our economics and put people before profit, because we recognise that social and climate justice go hand in hand. Our...

4 June against Trump

Hundreds of thousands are likely to turn out for the protest on 4 June (from 11 a.m., Trafalgar Square) against US president Donald Trump’s state visit. The crowd is likely to be even bigger than when Trump last visited, in July 2018. It will take up the same causes: peace, migrant rights, women’s rights, and more. Workers’ Liberty and Solidarity will be there, working with Labour for a Socialist Europe (L4SE), Young L4SE, and Another Europe is Possible to push the anti-Brexit, lower-borders, migrant-rights, European unity message. Remember, Trump has said “Many people would like to see Nigel...

UN votes for Chagos return

On 23 May, the United Nations General Assembly voted 116 to 6 for the UK to end its occupation of the Chagos Islands. Three years before ceding independence to Mauritius in 1968, the UK separated off the islands from the rest of Mauritius to keep control of them, deported the entire population, and leased the largest island, Diego Garcia, to the USA for a huge military base. The Chagossians have been fighting ever since then for the right to go back. A major force in that fight has been the Mauritius socialist group Lalit. Lalit comments: “So, the struggle that Lalit has been spearheading for...

Galloway and Bannon

George Galloway was recently ″papped″ by journalist Natalia Antelava, appearing to hug alt-right pundit Steve Bannon. The photo was taken after both had spoken on a panel at the Eurasian Media Forum in Kazakhstan. Accepting Bannon′s friendly overture was just a matter of good manners, said Galloway afterwards. But in the panel debate Galloway and Bannon′s political worlds did align. Both praised a ″populist turn″ against globalisation. For Galloway it is a matter of trenchant support for a hardline or no-deal Brexit, leading him to cosy up to the likes of Nigel Farage. If you feel like sitting...

Maelstrom of mendacious messaging?

Sometimes the Morning Star comes up with an editorial comment so bizarre, so devoid of evidence, that you wonder whether editor Ben Chacko (or whoever it is writes this stuff) re-reads their own words, or thinks about them, before dashing them off to print. The print edition on Friday 24 May, the day after the Euro-election, carried an extraordinary example. Under the heading “Democracy demands a general election now” the editorial began: “In yesterday’s maelstrom of mendacious messaging, the most dishonest emerged from the Liberal Democrats confirming their reputation for hypocrisy. “No-one...

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