Solidarity 214, 24 August 2011

Arab spring frees the Berbers

One consequence of the uprisings across North Africa is the new freedoms won by the Berber peoples. Authoritarian Arab regimes had suppressed Berber history and language, claiming they threatened ‘national unity’. Islamists supported Arabic-only laws. There are perhaps over 20 million Berbers, mainly in Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Mali and Niger. They share a common history and mainly speak variations of the Tamazight language. In Libya Qaddafi believed Berber culture was “colonialism’s poison” and banned their language. Many of the rebel fighters in the West of Libya are Berbers from their...

Assad must go now!

The rebel victory in Libya will strengthen the resolve of the Syrian democracy protesters and weaken the Baathist dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad. Last week the increasingly isolated Syrian regime faced UN, US and European calls for Assad to step down. The UN Human Rights Council has ordered an investigation into violations carried out by the state during the five month-old uprising. The UN accuses the single-party state of killing 2200 civilians and of a shoot-to-kill policy against unarmed volunteers. The friends of the Syrian dictatorship — authoritarian Russia, one-party China and Cuba —...

Libya: the return of hope

For anyone who believes in basic human freedom, the fact that Muammar Qaddafi’s 42-year long reign of autocratic terror in Libya is seemingly at an end must be a cause for celebration. As we go to press fighting is still going on in the capital Tripoli, but for the vast majority of Libyan people it seems to be the return of hope. Qaddafi’s rule was characterised by the most brutal extermination of all political opposition. Torture and public execution were commonplace. The scenes of mass jubilation on the streets of Tripoli and other Libyan cities that greeted the rebels’ advances are an...

AWL summer camp 2011 report

By Sam Greenwood, Hull AWL Workers’ Liberty’s summer camp, the first we have organised, took place in Hebden Bridge, in West Yorkshire, on 19-21 August. 35 young activists, a mix of young workers, university and school students and unemployed people, took part in a weekend of political discussions, workshops and socialising. From the opening workshop on Marxist ecology to the closing rendition of the Internationale, the event was a success. Over the three days there were eleven workshops, ranging from a socialist attitude to imperialism and what this means particularly in Iraq and Libya, to...

Victory to the working class of Libya!

Martyn Hudson reports on the imminent fall of Qaddafi's regime in Libya. The hopes and aspirations of revolutionaries across North Africa have apparently been vindicated by the fall of Tripoli, the lair of the despotic Qaddafi family, to the democratic Libyan revolution. But the remnants of the regime are still firing on rebel forces. The victory in Misrata, where massacre was averted by its struggling and heroic population and the intervention of NATO forces had led to a westwards advance by the rebels. Over the weekend the key towns of Zawiya and Zlitan fell. The pro-regime troops in the...

Australia's Tea Party

Australia now has its "Tea Party", in the form of the Convoy of No Confidence of trucks and other vehicles heading for Canberra. The first contingent started from Port Hedland in Western Australia on 16 August, and all the eleven contingents converge in Canberra on 22 August. The main organisation sponsoring the convoy is the National Road Freighters' Association. It is promoting a petition to demand a fresh federal election because the Government "has been compromised into wilfully and intentionally misleading the Australian people by introducing a Carbon Tax". Other grievances in the convoy...

Fight union busting at Plymouth council!

In the midst of long-running negotiations over a council cuts plan, in which 300 jobs are threatened and some workers could lose up to 20% of their income, Plymouth City Council has de-recognised the public sector Unison, leaving 1,500 council employees (80% of whom are women) voiceless as the council seeks to impose its new pay plans. The council's plans are extensive and include cuts to annual leave, the abolition of unsociable hours payments and a reduction of maternity and paternity rights to the statutory minimum. The council initially wanted to extend the working week to Monday-Saturday...

Banning the EDL march will do no good

On what looks set to be their biggest racist provocation to date, the anti-Muslim English Defence League plan to march through Tower Hamlets, East London. The impact of such a march and the dangers it presents are significant. The EDL are not planning a ‘peaceful’ demonstration in this part of London. They are seeking opportunities to disrupt the community and attack local Muslims. Many of the people mobilised by the EDL will be hoping for violent confrontation with those standing in self-defence and others standing in solidarity with them. This, if anything, is the predictable pattern of EDL...

"Syrian people can no longer live under this regime"

By Ali Khalaf, a Syrian activist based in the UK Syrian people that can no longer live under the regime started the movement. The political programme is to give the people of Syria freedom and dignity. The main demands of the people remains the same as it did in the beginning of the revolution; freedom and dignity for all Syrians. Due to the way the regime has reacted, they are now demanding the regime is toppled. This revolution was not started by any political party. It was purely started by and for the everyday people of Syria. Political parties independent of the Ba’ath Party have never...

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