Solidarity 224, 9 November 2011

Israel’ s right-wing government continues to persecute Israel’ s Bedouin population. Plans are underway for the mass resettlement of tens of thousands in cities. But the Bedouin are refusing to go. Israel has 200,000 Bedouin, with a further 40,000 in the West Bank and millions beyond, in Jordan, Sinai and Gaza. Nearly half the Negev’ s Bedouin live in un-registered villages. Many settlements predate the state, but are unrecognised and so are refused road, public transport, water and electricity. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank 2,000 Bedouin are to be shifted to the edge of a rubbish dump to...

A four-hour general strike in Israel caused what the Ha’ aretz paper called “near paralysis” on the morning of Monday 7 November as workers took action in a dispute about public sector contracts. Schools, transport hubs (including Ben Gurion International Airport) and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchanged were shut down as hundreds of thousands of workers took action. The Histadrut union federation is demanding that the government hires 250,000 public sector workers currently employed through agencies on a temporary or semi-casual basis on permanent contracts and levels up their conditions to those of...

Activists in Sydney successfully re-occupied part of the city centre following a forced eviction from Martin Place by police last week. Following a march on Saturday 5 November from the Town Hall the movement then entered Hyde Park for a rally, before occupying the space. There were some scuffles with the police during the re-occupation. Keeping the occupation going for as long as possible in Sydney — and elsewhere — allows activists to keep up pressure on the capitalist ruling class.

Syrian activists were sceptical when the Arab League announced a plan agreed with Syrian officials to end the violence against the opposition. Now the League has announced a meeting in Cairo on Saturday 12 November to discuss the Syrian state’ s failure to take steps to resolve the crisis and stop the crackdown inside the country. The Turkey-based opposition group, the Syrian National Council, called on Arab and other international observers to be sent to Homs, which they describe as a “humanitarian disaster area”. Fighting in the Baba Amr neighbourhood of Homs has continued for days, with...

Two weeks after the death of Qaddafi and the wholesale rout of the last remnants of pro-regime fighters in Sirte there are major debates in Libya about the post-war resolution and how Libyan civil society can implement a new policy and practice on human rights. The apparent mass murder of Qaddafi loyalists in one of the main hotels in Sirte points to violations which are not just about mopping up the remnants of fighting forces. The dead were prisoners or injured. A mass grave just outside of Qaddafi’ s compound in Tripoli indicates a mass execution of regime soldiers, many of whom had their...

Liam Byrne, Labour’ s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, has told chancellor George Osborne that he should not include pensions in a Tory plan to not increase benefits in line with the 5.2% inflation rate recorded in September. The plan will save £10.4 billion for the government. But Byrne stayed silent on other benefits! Does he think that some of the most vulnerable in society could be receiving even less cash in real terms? Labour should not be calling for only pensioners to be spared the axe — everyone should see their benefits increase, and financial support should be scaled up not down.

While workers face wage freezes or real-terms pay cuts, those who top the market food chain are enjoying ever-bigger payouts. Bosses of the FTSE 100 companies saw their pay rise by an average of 49% in the last financial year. According to a report from Income Data Services the bulk of the increase is down to a sharp rise in bonuses, which leapt from an average of £737,624 in 2010 to £906,044 this year. Workers’ real wages meanwhile dropped by 2.7%, according to the Daily Telegraph (13 July 2011). Free market capitalism is to blame; economist Nouriel Roubini said: “[it is] a deeper truth that...

A new traveller solidarity network has been set up to support families who are being evicted from their homes despite the huge questions raised by the Dale Farm eviction last month. The Traveller Solidarity Movement met in London on 5 November to discuss strategy after Dale Farm. The meeting resolved to set up the network, linking local supporter and activist groups, including anti-fascist and anti-racist organisations, with regional travellers. A website and mailing list is being set up, but to get involved now subscribe to the Dale Farm mailing list. Travellers themselves will lead the...

Health workers have won a small victory against privatisation of the NHS after it was announced the Blood and Transplant Service will not be privatised. The Industrial Workers of the World and Unison unions had led the campaign to stop the service being put into the hands of companies such as DHL and Capita, who had shown an interest in running the service. A commercial review of the service reported on 18 October that it should remain nationalised. Activists must now build momentum from this to stop the wholesale selling-off of the rest of the NHS to companies interested not in saving lives...

Bankers have again shown their contempt for democracy by avoiding an estimated £10 million in tax. Lawyers and top civil servants at Revenue and Customs have been questioned by MPs over a tax repayment agreement made with Goldman Sachs. The Wall Street investment banking firm fought a five year battle to avoid national insurance payments on bankers’ bonuses, which were paid from offshore tax havens. They eventually settled with HMRC, but tax officials allowed Goldman Sachs to avoid paying an additional £8-10 million in interest. Top tax chiefs say that they didn’t understand they could charge...