>New Worker Online Digest > >Week commencing 7th July, 2000. > >1) Editorial - Stop digging. > >2) Lead story - Loyalist violence returns to Drumcree. > >3) Feature article - Truth remains casulty of war on Yugoslavia. > >4) International story - Mid-East crisis hots up. > >5) British news item - Campaigners warn of new nuclear escalation. > > >1) Editorial > >Stop digging. > >THE wealthy elite who make up Britain's capitalist class have long been >divided on the question of European Monetary Union. Clearly the majority of >that class wants to throw in its lot with the European Union and to go >ahead with joining the single currency -- the Euro. > > Others look across the Atlantic to the United States and believe there is >more to be gained from keeping a tight hold of the world's richest coat >tails. This section, who are undoubtedly drawn to the Anglo-American camp >by their own American business portfolios, are currently banging the Daily >Telegraph's latest drum to gather support for Britain to join the North >American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta). > > These are not just debates between the well-heeled club members of St >James and Pall Mall. There is supposed to be a referendum on Britain's >entry to the Euro (or not) after the next general election and this is >concentrating the national media's attention on the issue. > > Pro and anti Euro camps are eagerly trying to win the working class vote >by raising the spectre of unemployment. The Euro-now camp claims three >million jobs could be lost if Britain does not go all the way with the EU. > > The Euro sceptics claim the EU would not punish Britain in this way >because even more European jobs depend upon continuing trade with Britain. >They also argue that developing free trade with America and its other >trading partners would help British employment levels. > > The point most of the media will not make, but which needs to be said loud >and clear, is that all these arguments come from within the ruling >capitalist class -- and none of that class, from any sectional interest, >gives a monkey's about us. > > The whole debate being targeted on the public hinges on the old myth that >what is good for Britain's capitalists is also good for the rest of us. We >are supposed to swallow the lie that the boss is some kind of benevolent >provider of work and sustenance and that if things go badly for the boss we >will suffer too. And if the boss does well then so do we. > > These lies certainly never square with our own experience. When businesses >do well the bosses do not come around offering to share the bunce with the >workers -- getting a decent pay rise, however good the profits, always >requires struggle. > > And when it comes to who needs who -- it is the owners, the capitalists, >who need the workforce. Without workers there would be no goods, no >services and no profits. But without the bosses, there would still be goods >and services and the surplus used for the benefit of everyone. > > Furthermore, the dynamics of the capitalist system compels capitalists to >drive for higher and higher profits. Every effort has to be made to keep >labour costs down. Standing still is not an option as rivals will soon take >over. As a result labour and capital have conflicting interests not >identical ones. > > The struggle to keep labour costs low by exerting downward pressure on >wages and by "rationalising" workforces and creating unemployment, make it >impossible for the capitalists to sell all the goods and services that the >workers have produced. The world's markets are full of things people need >but cannot afford to buy -- a crisis of overproduction. > > Capital does not, and cannot, respond by raising wages, cancelling third >world debt or finding more jobs for the unemployed. It does the very >opposite and lays off even more workers and raises the level of >exploitation on those still in work. The crisis just gets worse and worse. > > This problem of markets and the increasing rivalry of the leading >capitalists and capitalist centres leads to growing efforts to introduce >more trade tariffs and set up trading blocs. Nafta and the single European >state are examples of this response. > > None of these measures will confront the crisis of overproduction. The >only beneficiaries are the leading capitalist players -- the big >monopolies, the major banks, the giant transnational companies and the >wealthiest of the wealthy. Small businesses will continue to be squeezed >out and the working class everywhere will suffer as their oppressors >consolidate their gains. > >We say No to the Euro, No to Nafta, No to capitalism. > > Common sense dictates that when you are in a hole, as the capitalist >system is, you should stop digging. Since capitalism is incapable of >solving the problems it has created and since the vast majority of the >world's people can barely live in this old way, it is high time for change. >The modern system -- the system of socialism -- is the answer and the future. > > ********************* > >2) Lead story > >Loyalist violence returns to Drumcree. > >by Steve Lawton > >UGLY scenes of thuggery have returned to Drumcree as the traditional season >of parades and marches across the north of Ireland gets underway, revealing >just how out of step loyalist bigotry has now become. > > Condemned by many within the unionist community itself, tension is rising >again with the unleashing of loyalist provocations that have continued >since last weekend. Fears that this will spark attacks elsewhere against >Catholics and nationalists has already begun. > > The British government appointed Parades Commission, in a statement by its >chairperson Tony Holland on Monday, refused for the third year in a row, to >grant the Orange Order access to the nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown >this Sunday. > > He said he "cannot envisage circumstances in which any subsequent Orange >Order parade could take place along the Garvaghy Road except on the basis >of a local agreement." > > Garvaghy Road Residents' leader Breandan MacCionaith said the decision was >the only logical course of action. Sinn Fein Assembly member for Upper >Bann, Dara O'Hagan said four criteria had first to be met, besides the need >to remove the loyalist Drumcree hill focus of sectarian action. > > O'Hagan said the Orange Order must adhere to the Parades decision; stop >all Drumcree-related marches; end the general incitement to lawlessness; >and they must negotiate with the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition. >Therefore, "any talk of limited Orange Order marches in the future is >premature." > > This is compounded by the Grand Orange Lodge's decision last month, by 88 >votes to 43, to maintain their non-contact with the Parades Commission. But >pressure to overturn that position is apparently growing, especially from >within the troubled areas where an accomodation is being fought for -- >something Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader David Trimble is pushing. > > What has so far occurred obviously fails these conditions. Loyalist >Volunteer Force (LVF) and Ulster Freedom Fighter (UFF) members, since last >weekend, have hurled petrol bombs, bricks, bottles, stones and firecrackers >at the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and in the course of the rampage an >armoured vehicle was set alight. > > Johnny Adair, former UFF commander and recently released from prison, led >the paramilitaries under a banner which read: "Shankill Road UFF, 2nd >Battalion C.Coy." The RUC and British army repelled them, but on one >occasion the RUC fired warning shots. > > About a mile from the main focus, on the Protestant Corcrain estate early >this week, balaclava clad Loyalists read out a 'no surrender-style' >statement. They vowed to avenge the December 1997 Maze prison killing of >LVF leader Billy Wright by republican breakaway group INLA. Pistols raised, >volleys were then let off. > > Drumcree Orange leader Harold Gracey virtually incited their forces to >rise up and "get off their bellies" in their thousands all over the north >of Ireland, creating a general atmosphere of renewed tension. Adair, >claiming to be responding to this call, said the Orange Order should >provide "clear and decisive leadership". > > But the LVF-UFF actions were attacked by Gary McMichael, leader of the >Ulster Democratic Party (UDP), as a "macho display". He called upon >"loyalist paramilitaries not to become embroiled at Drumcree". > > Therewere clashes also in parts of Belfast County Down and County Tyrone. >But there have also been terror attacks on Catholic homes which Sinn Fein >link to Drumcree tensions. > > In the predominantly Protestant Fortwilliam Parade area of north Belfast, >Colin O'Brien was with his pregnant partner Lisa Magee when a masked gang >battered down their front door with iron bars last Sunday evening and tried >to gain entry to the living room. > > Failing to get any further, they smashed the hallway up and left. When >relatives arrived to offer help, the couple said an RUC officer hit one of >them. Sinn Fein are investigating, but it again means Catholics will be >forced to move from their homes. The RUC acted equally impartially at an >Orange Order parade disturbance in County Down last Saturday. > > Loyalists marched into a largely nationalist cul-dc-sac in Annalong, and >nationalists were out protesting. Sinn Fein South Down Assembly member Mick >Murthy, said the RUC were telling a "tissue of lies" when they claimed the >RUC was responding to an attack by protesters. > > Martin Connolly, Nationalists for Equality leader from Mourne, said they >"have available video footage that clearly shows the aggressive nature of >the RUC." The RUC was also captured on camera by international observers >present to monitor the parade. > >Precisely this unreconstructed behaviour governs the nationalist desire to >sec a sweeping change to the policing of northern Ireland. The way in which >loyalists and RUC continue to collude in many of these circumstances, >despite the appearance of confrontation, make adhering to the Patten >proposals all the more urgent. > > The Irish Premier Bertie Ahern, in welcoming the Parades Commission >decision on Garvaghy Road at a ceremony to honour Senator George Mitchell >with the Tipperary International Peace Award, said he had no doubt in his >mind that the peace process was "fixed and firmly set". Setbacks there may >be, but overwhelmingly people "want peace and political stability", he said. > > * Gerry Adams hailed Sinn Fein's 'hat trick' Monday with the election of >Sean MacManus as Mayor of Sligo and Michael Colreavy and Brian McKenna as >chairpersons respectively of Leitrim and Monaghan County Councils. It is >the first time Sinn Fein has had a mayor anywhere in the 26 counties of >Ireland since 1967. In the others, Sinn Fein's presence breaks many more >decades of absence. > > MacManus, a carpenter and former National Chairperson of Sinn Fein, said >his term will have a "republican and labour character", that it will be "a >Mayoralty for the ordinary worker and local communities of Sligo... We will >give the people a strong voice to defend and promote their interests and >provide effective and honest leadership at a time when people are >increasingly disillusioned with the establishment parties." > > * The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) was seeking to debate a motion >aimed at removing the two Sinn Fein ministers on the Assembly executive, in >a bid also to undermine UUP leader David Trimble. > > Most UUP, Sinn Fein and SDLP were absent, the motion was defeated and -- >as they had said they would do if that happened -- Peter Robinson and Nigel >Dodds resigned. They are to be replaced as we go to press. > > ********************** > >3) Feature article > >Truth remains casulty of war on Yugoslavia. > >by Renee Sams > >TRUTH IS the first casualty of war is a well-known saying that has been >amply proved by the mass media coverage of not only Kosovo but the Gulf War. > > Philip Knightly, speaking at a meeting on Tuesday 27 June organised by the >Committee for Peace in the Balkans, told his audience of all the stories he >had found in his study of war reporting. > > He is the author of a book, From Crimea to Vietnam which takes a look at >the coverage in the newspapers at the time of the wars and how long it took >for the truth of many incidents in was to become known to the public. > > "It became apparent to me at the age of 18, when I was a young reporter," >he said, "that newspapers were not publishing the truth." > > And he told how a senior man on the paper told him to "just make something >up". > > So he made up a far-fetched story about a pervert on a train molesting >women and it was published. > > He was sure it would not be believed and that he would be found out. But >days went by and he had a phone call from the police. > > They thanked him for the story and said they had now caught the man! > > In the early days of war reporting it was a great adventure. Reporters >were risking their lives to bring the news to people back home. But he >asked the question: "What if all they had written bore no relation to the >truth?" > > His studies of reports in newspapers convinced him that journalists had a >tendency to favour their own side in their war reporting. > > "After all," he said, "every journalist wants to ensure support for their >own side." It was felt that this was part of the "war effort". > > But this patriotic tradition began to fade after the Second World War. >During the Vietnam War some journalists, American and British, let slip war >stories that were not favourable to the American government or the Pentagon. > > The military and governments have learned since then and begun to control >journalists more tightly, with their own "manuals" and "guidelines" to keep >reporters on the right path. > > By the time of the Gulf War there was even more control over propaganda. >The military provided its own spokespersons to stand before the cameras and >tell the stories that Nato wanted to put across. > > The same kind of tight control was provided for the Kosovan conflict and >journalists could only get into the country if they were given permission >and taken by naval warship. > > On television people were bombarded daily with the wonders of technical >warfare, and the astonishing accuracy with which their war planes could >drop bombs on the chosen target. > > People were assured daily that "every precaution was being taken to ensure >that only military targets would be attacked and no civilians would be >killed". > > Most of the media, Philip Knightly said, "have shown themselves to be >willing accomplices" to the Nato war machine. > > He pointed out that in earlier wars "it took many, many years for the >truth to come out". But for the latest wars, the cameras can show up the >lies we were told much faster. > > It has become all too clear that in the Balkans the damage to the civilian >infrastructure was part of a deliberate policy and the slickness of the >Nato lies are revealed. > > ************************* > >4) International story > >Mid-East crisis hots up. > >by our Middle East Affairs correspondent > >Yasser Arafat says he will proclaim an independent Palestinian state on 13 >September, whether Israel likes it or not, provoking a storm of diplomatic >activity in Tel Aviv, London and Washington. > > The declaration, made by the 129-strong Palestinian parliament endorsed >Arafat's proposal for a state which would claim authority over the entire >West Bank and Gaza Strip, even though over 60 per cent is still occupied by >Israeli troops and hundreds of thousands of Zionist settlers. > > Arab Jerusalem would be the Palestinian capital and its borders would be >those of the 1949 Armistice line which prevailed until 4 June 1967 -- the >day before the Israeli invasion which seized the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. > > "There will be a battle for Jerusalem," Palestinian Communications >Minister Imad Faluja warned. "No Israeli may live in the occupied >territories and we will not allow the settlers to return to their homes,". > > Israel has warned that its response would be to annex the Jordan Valley, >the Zionist settlements and what it calls "Greater Jerusalem" if Yasser >Arafat goes ahead with his threat. > > But the "old man" of the Palestinian national movement has said all this >before. No-one knows whether Arafat is again bluffing to get the "peace >process" going again or whether he's now resigned to a new period of >confrontation with the Israeli occupiers. > > It's certainly being taken seriously in Tel Aviv. Israeli Prime Minister >Ehud Barak flew into London on Wednesday to try and get Tony Blair to put >pressure on Arafat to back down. He then dashed to Paris to meet President >Chirac to make the same plea. And US President Bill Clinton has convened an >emergency Middle East peace summit for next Tuesday to head off the crisis. > > In London Barak was giving away nothing. "I hope, of course, that >everything will be decided in negotiation," he said outside No.lO. "I made >it clear... that if unilateral steps will be taken by one side, we will >have to respond with our own unilateral steps," he added. > > According to the Israeli media, Barak is prepared to return 80 percent of >the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian National Authority, >while the rest would be "leased" or annexed by Israel. Few Palestinians >believe even this -- and in any case everyone knows the 20 per cent Tel >Aviv covets includes "Greater Jerusalem" and the Jordan Valley. And nothing >is being said about the plight of the millions of Palestinian refugees who >have been promised nothing at all. > > Arafat is under increasing pressure from the Palestinians under his >authority and the much larger refugee community across the Arab world to >stand up to Israelis. Israel has sent three extra battalions into the West >Bank backed up by tanks, helicopter gunships end a new "gravel gun" >designed to disperse crowds. Confrontation or Israeli concessions -- we'll >soon know one way or another. > > ********************* > >5) British news item > >Campaigners warn of new nuclear escalation. > > LONDON Region Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and Labour CND have > called for support for a picket of the United States Embassy, taking >place from 12 noon to 2pm on Friday 7 July. > > The action is to protest against the threat of a new arms race posed by >US plans to violate the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which has been the >cornerstone of nuclear arms control for al most three decades. > > Friday is the date of the United States next test in the US national >missile defence (NMD) system, when American crews will fire an intercepter >missile from a Pacific atoll at a target missile. > > Under the current schedule, the first 20 interceptors are due to be in >place by 2005. NMD will cost around $60 billion. > > The United Nations General Assembly has called for "full and strict >compliance" with the terms of the ABM Treaty, by 80 votes to 4. > > Opening the nuclear disarmament conference in New York earlier this year, >General Secretary Kofi Annan warned that "the growing pressure to deploy >national missile defences ... is jeopardising the ABM Treaty - which has >been called the 'cornerstone of strategic stability' - and could well lead >to a new arms race". > > As part of the first stage of NMD development, Fylingdales missile >tracking base in Yorkshire -- the scene of a national CND protest on >Saturday 8 July -- is due to be upgraded. > > CND is calling on the British government to give a commitment that >Fylingdales or other facilities in Britain, such as Menwith Hill spy base, >will not be used as part of US missile defence plans. > > * CND Chairperson, Dave Knight, said: "We believe the US is determined to >press ahead with this crazy system despite opposition from Russia, China, >Nato countries and scientists, academics and campaign groups around the >world. This is already destabilising international relations and could very >well start a new nuclear arms race." > > ********************* > > >New Communist Party of Britain Homepage > >http://www.newcommunistparty.org.uk > >A news service for the Working Class! > >Workers of all countries Unite! > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >Best friends, most artistic, class clown Find 'em here: >http://click.egroups.com/1/5533/10/_/_/_/962911250/ >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
