Solidarity 038, 9 October 2003

Israeli socialists Adam Keller and Beate Zilversmidt explain why they have joined a "human shield" at Yasser Arafat's presidential compound in the West Bank Saturday [4 October] was suddenly shattered by the shockwaves of the terrible event in Haifa. A suicide bombing claimed the life of 19 people, with whole families wiped out as they sat at the tables of a restaurant jointly owned - and visited - by Jews and Arabs. Six of those killed were Palestinians, as were many of the wounded. After about two hours Health Minister Danny Naveh spoke on the radio, urging the government to "seize this...

Re: "LCR/LO: Shall we dance?" (Solidarity 3/36) In 1999, the joint list of Lutte Ouvrière (LO) and the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire (LCR) allowed the election of five far-left deputies (three for LO and two for the LCR) to the European Parliament. Unfortunately, this success was not followed by any joint activity of the two organisations to combat together the capitalist policies of the Jospin government. In 2002, LO and the LCR each had their own candidate, Arlette Laguiller for LO and Olivier Besancenot for the LCR. That did not hamper the electoral gains of each, so strong was the...

Capitalist globalisation: Haiti Haitian factory life: Police and security guards attack workers Sheffield No Sweat launch Video showing in Leicester No Sweat at the European Social Forum Capitalist globalisation: Haiti Levi's shuts North American plants, re-opens in Haiti On 30 September Levi's jeans announced a $26.7 million quarterly profit - double its earnings from the same quarter a year ago. The company's sales were $1.08 billion, up from $1.02 billion last year. However five days earlier Levi's shut three Canadian plants - two sewing facilities and a finishing centre in Ontario, leading...

By Pablo Velasco Trade unionists, indigenous groups and peasant organisations in Bolivia have organised strikes and road blockades against the economic policies of the centre-right government of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada. The protesters oppose plans to export natural gas to the US. They say rich foreigners are plundering Bolivia's natural resources, and demand that 250,000 homes in Bolivia be supplied with free gas before any is exported. Bolivia has the largest natural gas reserves in Latin America. Three foreign companies-British Gas, Repsol-YPF of Spain and Pan American Energy (a subsidiary...

The European Social Forum is just a month off, tens of thousands gathering to talk politics and decide on Europe-wide campaigns for the coming year. There will be something to suit every taste! Monday 10 November: The AWL's own international meeting. For more information, see www.workersliberty.org/esf . Tuesday and Wednesday 11 and 12 November: trade union meeting organised by ETUC and CGT activists. Wednesday 12 November: Assembly for Women's Rights (see above). evening Weds 12 November: ESF opening ceremonies at the four sites, Saint Denis, Bobigny, La Villette, Ivry. Thursday 12-Saturday...

By Joan Trevor The European Social Forum, Paris, November 12-15, is pledged to fight for women's rights and equality. This should be reflected in the composition of the event: equal numbers-at least-of women and men speakers; the woman angle addressed in all the discussions. In addition, on Wednesday 12 November there will be a separate but associated event, the Assembly for Women's Rights for Another Europe. Around 2,000 women are expected, to discuss six themes: Women and war; Work, poverty and insecurity; Migrant women; Violence against women; Sexual and reproductive rights; and Women and...

By Vicki Morris The London Social Forum was launched on 4 October in a lively day-long event at LSE attended by around 150 people. The topics covered were as eclectic as the organisations offering to organise workshops on them. Life in London was examined from the point of view of transport and-in a workshop organised by No Sweat-work. Major political questions of the anti-war movement, solidarity with asylum seekers, education, Israel/Palestine, and solidarity with people in conflict zones-including now Iraq-were addressed. Inevitably there were also some frankly bizarre offerings. A closing...

This summer, workers at Tarrant Garments, a maquila just inside Oaxcala State, decided to organise a union. The bosses responded by sacking the ringleaders, people like Alejandro, a young worker in his early twenties, with two children and a young wife to support, with no wage and no benefits, blacklisted from working in another maquila. 80% of the workers support the independent union, but on striking they were told they already had union. The State Labour Board told us it was the CTM, and even gave a name for the general secretary. Not only had the workers never heard of him, it was a...

By Mick Duncan The Mexican state of Puebla is sometimes called the jeans capital of America. If you live in the USA, the chances are the jeans you wear were made in Puebla. They will have been made in a maquila, an assembly factory in the free trade zone. At the end of September, Alice from Chumbawamba, Sarah and Paula, organisers from the GPMU print union, Katrina from Lambeth Unison, Pennie from Indymedia and I spent a week in Mexico with the Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador (CAT, Workers' Support Centre) visiting workers involved in independent union struggles there. Over a million people work...

By now most readers will probably be wondering just what the argument between Mark Osborn and myself is actually about. Mark began the first of his three letters about the editorial in Solidarity 31 on the Israel-Palestine "roadmap" in an altogether different voice from one in which he ends his third. He began with a throw-in-everything rant against the editorial. But now he is reduced to complaint: "Sean [says] he represents Marxism and 'analysis', and I, apparently, champion SWP-style 'militancy'… We're all Marxists and we've each got our own, somewhat different, analyses. Perhaps we could...