Solidarity 422, 2 November 2016

The millionaire regulator

IMPRESS — “a community interest company” — has been given official state backing to operate as a press regulator. But as IMPRESS has been majority-funded through charities set up by former Formula 1 tycoon Max Mosley, how “independent” is it likely to be? After the Leveson Enquiry into the conduct and ethics of the UK press, the question of how to manage press regulation has been fought over by rival groups of newspaper owners and lobby groups like Hacked Off! The widely discredited Press Complaints Commission has to be replaced, but what with? The main charge against the PCC was that it was...

The struggle against layoffs

Hello Solidarity readers! Me again from Paris. Since I last wrote (September), the Labour Law mobilisation has died down and no more protests or strike actions have occurred. I thought I would write about the dire situation with layoffs in France. PSA Peugeot Citroën have just announced 2,133 job cuts, in addition to the 17,000 job cuts of the past four years. They are still turning a very nice profit, though: 1.2 billion dollars in the first half of 2016. SFR (a telecommunications company) have just eliminated 5,000 jobs. This adds to hundreds of job losses at HSBC, Hitachi, Phillips, Tilly...

Orgreave: cops still getting away with it, 32 years on

Worried that it could return an indictment of the police as over the Hillsborough disaster, the Tory government has refused an inquiry into the “Battle of Orgreave”, when cops attacked striking miners outside a coking plant near Sheffield. Bernard Jackson was one of the miners arrested on 18 June 1984, charged with riot and put on trial. He described the day: Around 8 a.m.... out rode fourteen mounted police straight into the pickets. As they did, police in the line beat on their riot shields with truncheons, creating a wall of noise which was meant to intimidate and frighten. Within minutes...

Tories drop Education Bill

On 27 October, the government announced that it would drop plans for a new Education Bill any time before summer 2017. In his last budget statement as Chancellor, George Osborne had announced that all schools in England would be forced to convert to academy status by 2022. The following day, 17 March, the then education secretary Nicky Morgan published a White Paper which outlined the variety of ways in which this goal would be achieved. The scale and breadth of opposition to this proposal, not least in Tory-run local authorities, meant that by the time the now-dropped Education Bill was...

Solidarity with the Calais migrants!

Since the destruction of the Calais “Jungle” the number of migrants sleeping rough on the streets of Paris has risen — around 2,500 people (up from 1,500). The closure of the Calais camp has added to an already desperate situation in Paris — an estimated 80 migrants arrive in Paris. After François Hollande, vowed to evacuate the migrants’ makeshift Paris settlements the French cops started what they were calling an “administrative operation” to clear the streets — rounding up people and bulldozing of dozens of tents. As we go to press the operation continues with the authorities claiming...

Mosul: thousands flee the city

As we go to press Iraqi government troops are on the point of entering Mosul in their drive to expel Daesh (Islamic State) from the city. With Kurdish Peshmerga and Shia militias operating in the surrounding areas, Mosul is surrounded, leaving Daesh with limited capacity to repel the attack. 50,000 Iraqi soldiers, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Sunni Arab tribesmen and Shia militiamen are now involved in the offensive. Almost 18,000 people have already fled Mosul and the UN believes a further 700,000 will follow. Daesh has increased its violence against the population. Civilians have been taken...

The rise of Trumpism and how to fight it

Even after the latest controversy over Hillary Clinton’s e-mails, it appears that the Republican nominee [for President] has been too thoroughly exposed as a sexual predator, tax cheat and all-around sleazebag to catch up with Clinton. Nevertheless, tens of millions of people will cast their ballots for this man. And some may do more than just vote. Between Trump’s comments inciting his base to “get everybody to go out and watch” polling stations and his bluster about only accepting the results “if I win,” hard-right elements drawn to his campaign might organise to harass voters on election...

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