Solidarity 254, 22 August 2012

The bases of Putin's popularity

Pussy Riot have garnered international support, but ordinary Russians have been less sympathetic. Pussy Riot’s “Punk Prayer” criticised the close political relationship of President Putin and the head of the Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, in what is supposed still to be a secular state. The state grants a role for the Orthodox church — along with the other “traditional” religions of Buddhism, Islam and Judaism. It suits the state to manage relationships with a few faiths. The Orthodox church guards its position against other Christian denominations. It is the Russian nature of the church...

Pussy Riot: performance and protest

Nadya Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich, three members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, have been sentenced to two years in jail for “hooliganism” for performing their “Punk Prayer” at Christ the Saviour Cathedral, Russia’s main Christian Orthodox place of worship. As part of their trial on 8 August, the women read testimonies out in court. When each speech was met with applause, the Judge (Marina Syrova) responded: “We are not in a theatre.” It was an apt response, therefore, for London’s Royal Court Theatre to stage readings of the testimonies, translated by Sasha...

Organising postgraduate workers

To Jenny Thatcher from the Postgraduate Workers’ Association spoke to Solidarity in a personal capacity about the campaign At first I saw PhD students working for free as a local, internal issue at my university, University of East London. But when I set up a Facebook group, “PhD students should not work for free”, I started to get emails, first from people at University of London universities, and then from across the country. There was a general feeling that we needed a national campaign, and the Postgraduate Workers’ Association (PGWA) came out of that. We had our first meeting on 28 April...

Stop these parasites!

News of potential job losses at Circle-run Hinchingbrooke Hospital has come as no surprise to campaigners who opposed a controversial franchise deal. Six months into the deal, which was seen by many as a testing ground for the future of the NHS, it is rumoured that 50 nursing and nursing assistant posts could go as part of efficiency savings. It is also believed that £500,000 has been cut from the cleaning budget with staff facing cuts and redundancies. When the management of Hinchingbrooke Healthcare Trust was taken over by Circle in February ministers declared it was a 'financial and...

Fight imperialism, denigrate women...

The Assange case has shone a light on the degree of political degeneracy of parts of the left. Women's rights, and regard for the rights of victims of rape and sexual assault have fallen by the wayside in the Assange case. Put aside because of a perceived conflict with principles of “anti-imperialism”. Facts and politics are interpreted through the lens of conspiracy theories. The limited legal protections against sexual abuse, often won through struggle, can be dismissed as “capitalist justice” and therefore grounds for dismissing the allegations here! Many “left-wing” commentators are...

Julian Assange, free speech and rape

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is now holed up in Ecuador’s Embassy, west London, having been granted political asylum by Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is now holed up in Ecuador’s Embassy, west London, having been granted political asylum by Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa. Correa says he granted asylum to prevent Assange being extradited to a “third country”, meaning the US. There is now a stand-off between the British state — which wants to send him to Sweden, where he faces allegations of rape and sexual assault, following a completed process in...

Support Iranian labour activists

Alireza Asgari and Jalil Mohammadi, labour activists and members of the Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organisations, were arrested when Iranian security forces raided the annual general meeting of the Committee on 15 June. Asgari has now been sentenced to serve a year in prison. Mohammadi, suffering from a deteriorating physical condition sustained during his interrogation, was given a three-year suspended sentence. He must report regularly to authorities. The International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran is organising protests against these sentences. More details here .

Tunisian Islamists attack artists

In June Salafists — hard-line Islamists — attacked a Tunis art gallery, sparking riots that left one person dead and more than 100 injured. During the riots trade union buildings, courts and police stations were also attacked. The government then banned Islamist marches apparently organised by the groups Hizb ut-Tahrir and Ansar al-Shariah. Salafists are now systematically attacking cultural events they regard as “un-Islamic”. Five people were injured on Thursday 16 August when Islamists armed with swords and clubs disrupted the Bizerte music and theatre festival. Eventually the thugs were...

Pakistan: abolish the blasphemy law!

A young Christian girl, Rimsha Masih, has been arrested and her family placed under protective custody after a Muslim mob in a poor part of Islamabad threatened to set her alight for allegedly burning pages of the Koran. Nine hundred Christians living in the slum neighbourhood, where they have lived for almost two decades, have been forced to leave. A local Mullah told reporters: “We are not upset the Christians have left and we will be pleased if they don't come back. They have done this to provoke the Muslims, like they have with their noisy banging and singing from their churches.” A large...

Spanish workers resist cuts

Despite the return to work by Spanish miners, resistance to the government’s austerity measures continues. The decision by the Spanish miners’ unions to call off their strike came as a surprise to many observers (including the writer of these lines). Nevertheless, in the coalfields and in much of the rest of Spain, the situation can hardly be described as “normal”. In announcing the end of the strike, Felipe López, the General Secretary of the Industrial Section of the Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), stated: “We are going to do what will hurt them [the government] most, where it hurts them most and...

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