Solidarity 019, 6 December 2002

Where there's oil... By Gerry Byrne "Where there's muck there's brass" used to be the slogan of manufacturing capitalists. You might equally say: "Where there's oil there's blood." With threatened war and continuing destabilisation in the Middle East, global capital wants to keep an eye on the next largest oil-producing region, Latin America. Venezuela is the world's fourth biggest oil-producer and a main oil exporter to the US. Oil revenues are Ecuador's largest export earner. Colombia, already the US's seventh largest oil exporter, has vast unexplored sources of oil and natural gas, which...

All of the media misrepresented, some of it with gross lies, Andy Gilchrist's speech to the Socialist Campaign Group conference on 30 November. They said he wanted to bring down the Government. In fact it was a "loyal" appeal to activists in the labour movement to fight for a change in the political direction of the Labour Party. As a service to the movement, we print a straight transcript of the speech here. I am so proud to be a representative of the FBU people here today. Every one of the representatives will do everything we can to support the campaign, which is now led, and being run, and...

Dave Parks reports on a conference of independent members of the SA, held on 30 November plus No expulsions from the Bedfordshire SA By the Bedfordshire Platform I came away from the conference feeling enthused and optimistic for the future. The independents, while remaining a very diverse bunch, are starting to get more organised and more assertive. The conference was well attended and the atmosphere very comradely and constructive. With the SWP being the biggest force in the SA naturally much discussion was devoted to the nature of the relationship between us and them. But the point was not...

Prepare Solidarity Back the FBU Link the struggles Solidarity is key Recall TUC and Labour conferences For a workers' voice in politics "Fire Strike Crumbles" crowed the headline of that repugnant, anti-working class rag, the Sun "newspaper", on 3 December, the day after the Fire Brigades Union suspended their latest eight day strike action. The Sun, scum floating on the top of a cess-pit, always makes its it's own distinctive contribution to public affairs. And the firefighters dispute has proved to be no exception. The press as a whole, and the Sun in particular, is a powerful weapon for the...

Bush's war is not the answer By Clive Bradley Since September 11 it has often been said - and it is believed, it seems, perhaps by a majority in parts of the Muslim world - that the attacks on the World Trade Centre were not really the work of al-Qaida, but of Israel. As evidence, it is claimed that Jews who normally work in Manhattan had been forewarned. The bomb in Mombasa, Kenya, on 28 November, which left 15 dead and scores of injured, and the simultaneous attempt to shoot down a charter plane, targeted Israelis in particular. No doubt some will claim that Israel did this, too, to justify...

By Amina Saddiq Several things happened on 4 December. Twenty thousand students marched through London on the biggest NUS demonstration for years. Speakers from ongoing industrial disputes and the left wing of the labour movement addressed the marchers as they gathered in Kennington Park. And Tony Blair did a U-turn on top-up fees. Shurely shome coincidence? Undoubtedly pressure from the cabinet played some role in Blair's promise that the forthcoming review of student funding will not mean "parents… having to pay upfront thousands of fees". But we must also conclude that 20,000 people on the...