Solidarity 212, 20 July 2011

The right to get distributed

One factor in the domination of the British newspaper industry by billionaires is that it is difficult for smaller newspapers — such as Solidarity — to get distributed. In Britain, newspaper and magazine distribution is dominated by two big corporations, Smiths News and Menzies Distribution. They are reluctant to distribute anything unorthodox or radical. Smiths refused to distribute Private Eye until well into the 1970s, and does not distribute any left-wing publication. In France, the dominant distribution network, Presstalis (formerly NMPP), is obliged by a 1947 law to distribute all...

Take the media from the billionaires!

The scandals now unfolding are like a hidden network of wires behind plaster which, exposed by the Milly Dowler case to vigorous investigation, are being pulled on, shattering the plaster. Hidden connections are being exposed, showing the links of the Murdoch press (but surely not only the Murdoch press) to career criminals, politicians, and corrupt policemen. The wires are still being yanked on, and there is no knowing where it will lead. Cameron is implicated — the same Cameron who a few months ago moved Lib-Dem minister Vince Cable sideways in his government because Cable had identified...

Murdoch's power

By Dave Osler If there is a qualitative difference between having a dominant interest in BSkyB and outright ownership of the satellite broadcaster, it pretty much escapes me. But Rupert Murdoch has decided that outright ownership is what he wants, and, until a few days ago, that was exactly what it looked like he was going to get. This is a man who has for decades played a role in British politics that illustrates perfectly the radical left critique of parliamentary democracy. To rewrite an old anarchist slogan: whoever you vote for, News International gets in. Not only does the company have a...

Hacking: the press view

The more liberal and broadsheet press have, understandably, and in the case of the Guardian deservedly, had a good time with the unfolding crisis around News International. It was Nick Davies of the Guardian who originally painstakingly uncovered the hacking phenomenon. The Independent too saw its more high-minded approach to journalism vindicated. But the more interesting aspect of press coverage of the affair has been the response of the remaining Murdoch papers and the right-wing press in general. For the first week or so the Sun ignored the biggest story in the country. By last week that...

Debating the Histradrut

Recently I have become involved in a debate on the Morning Star letters page about Israel and the Israeli trade union federation Histadrut. I thought readers would like to read some snippets. On 17 June I took issue with a Morning Star review: “Roger Fletcher’s review of Michael Riordon’s new book equates holocaust denial with a failure to speak out against the ‘fascistic policy and actions of the Israeli state.’ “Calling Israel fascist is lazy but also very dangerous. Fascism destroyed independent labour movements and suppressed socialist groups. Israel has free trade unions, a peace movement...

Stop the local government fire sale!

A new government White Paper proposes to allow almost all public services to be opened up to competition from the private and voluntary sector. Vicki Morris reports on the reality of the Tory council in Barnet, north London. Barnet council is inviting bidders for a contract worth £275 million over 10 years. The successful bidder will take over the council’s regulatory and development functions which includes things such as planning, environmental health and transport. This is only the first of a number of big contracts worth more than £1 billion over the next 10 years. The Tory administration...

Agribusiness booms, millions starve

In Europe, the capitalist crisis means discomfort, stress, and humiliation for millions. In many parts of the world, it means outright starvation. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, “countries in the [Horn of Africa] are confronted with the failure of the short rains in late 2010 and negative trends that threaten the long rainy season in 2011... “The number of those requiring emergency assistance has grown from 6.3 million in early 2011 to 10 million today — a 40 percent increase — in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda (Karamoja region). The majority of the newly...

Northern Ireland "rejectionism"

Serious street fighting in Northern Ireland between police, Catholic youths, and dissident Republicans, on one side, and Protestants, Catholics and police on the other, is becoming all too reminiscent of the clashes that led to the breakdown of the old Six Counties Protestant-ruled state in mid-1969, and the beginning of British army intervention on the streets. There are people on both sides of the Catholic/Protestant sectarian divide who work deliberately to push things as far as they can, in order to smash up the present mandatory power-sharing system set up under the Good Friday Agreement...

US debt: into the abyss?

“An August panic similar to those in 2007 and 2008 no longer appears far-fetched. Only this time, the global economy is far less well-equipped to cope... “Another leg of the economic crisis which started in 2007 is a distinct possibility – and exchequers simply do not have the fire-power to offset another private sector panic”. That is how the Financial Times summed it up (18 July), under the headline: “The abyss that awaits”. One factor is the spread of the eurozone crisis to Italy. The other is the prospect that the US government will run out of cash on 2 August. The US government, unlike...

"Euro periphery" needs investment

George Irvin is a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, and author of Super rich: the rise of inequality in Britain and the United States . He spoke to Solidarity about the new stage of the eurozone crisis created by the jump, from 8 July, in the interest rates that Italy has to pay to sell bonds (IOUs) on world markets. Eurozone politicians have been so slow to react that the bond markets are rightly worried about the poor and inadequate nature of the response. Bond markets a few months ago worried about excessive deficits and high public debt-to-GDP ratios. Now...

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