> >New Worker Online Digest > >Week commencing 22nd September, 2000. > >1) Editorial - Now that the tankers are rolling. > >2) Lead story - Labour tumbles in polls. > >3) Feature article - London pensioners freeze while Scots invest in heating. > >4) International story - "No return = No peace!". > >5) British news item - Ford workers walk out. > > >1) Editorial > >Now that the tankers are rolling. > >PETROL is back in the pumps, the queues at the service stations are going, >and life is returning to normal except for the editorials in the bourgeois >press and those in Labour's inner circle. > > The Tories, buoyed up by their sudden rise in the opinion polls last week, >are baying for Blair's blood. They've suddenly discovered the virtues of a >cut in petrol duly after years of hiking it up when they were in office. > > The road hauliers and farmers hope that special pleading will get >French-style concessions for themselves though when the action was on they >were eager to claim they were fighting for all consumers. > > Blair & Co are busy blaming everyone but themselves for the mess they are >in. They tried blaming the Arabs and the other oil producers but that >didn't work. They are trying to divert attention to the global extortion of >the big oil corporations though they know they have no control over them. > > In fact they want to talk about anything apart from the one thing the >Government does control -- the extortionate rate of tax at the pumps. So we >are going to be told again and again that the duty cannot be cut except at >the expense of hospitals and schools. > > >Squeeze the rich > >THERE are two easy ways to compensate for loss of petrol tax revenues: >increase income tax at higher levels and cut arms expenditure. Both are >taboo subjects as far as New Labour is concerned. > > Restoring income tax to the pre-1979 levels won't bring back the golden >age but it would go a long way to solving the fiscal problems of this >Government. The wealthy have enjoyed the biggest tax break in British >modern history and they can well afford to pay at least what they paid before. > > Labour used to call it the "redistribution of wealth" before that too >became a taboo word amongst the ranks of the New Labour leadership. Well >even under Attlee, Wilson and Callaghan it wasn't quite like that. The >millionaire exploiters and land-owners barely suffered, though they did >always bleat about death duties. But income tax certainly did ensure that >those who earned vast amounts of money paid more for the benefits that the >state provided. > > The Blair leadership uphold the Tory myth that the "great British public", >sometimes called "Middle England" whatever that means, will not tolerate >high income tax. Blair's spin doctors tell us Labour would pay dearly at >the next election if higher rates were restored. This is simply not true. >The only people who object to higher rates are those who have to pay it. >Even the Liberal Democrats, not friends of working people, recognise this >fact and some are now arguing for a 50 per cent rate at the £100,000 per >annum level. > > >Scrap Trident > >ANOTHER alternative which the labour movement should focus on is the >colossal and wasteful British nuclear arms bill. Scrapping the Trident >missile system would save billions and end the crisis in the hospitals and >schools. At the moment this campaign has been left largely in the hands of >CND and the pacifist movement. It is barely on the agenda as far as the >labour movement is concerned. > > There is no plausible argument to justify the spending of billions of >pounds on Trident while state welfare is slashed and millions of workers >remain unemployed, destitute or on the poverty line. The despicable claim >that the arms industry creates jobs and wealth is based on the fact that >Britain is a major arms producer. It has to be countered by the demand for >conversion and diversification. > > The establishment of an arms conversion plan would create industrial, >manufacturing and service jobs to which workers on so-called defence >projects could be redeployed. It could start by revitalising our woefully >inadequate and expensive public transport system. That would reduce petrol >consumption and help the environment as well. > > The people want cheaper petrol. They want jobs with dignity, good housing >at affordable rates, good liee education and a living pension when they >retire. All of this could be provided now -- even under capitalism -- >because Britain is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. > > The wealth, the fabulous wealth of our rulers, the industrialists, >speculators and land-owners, is held by that tiny minority whose decisions >govern our lives. They live lives comparable to those of Roman emperors. >Only revolution can end this system, but in the meantime we must campaign >for reforms that make the rich pay for the crisis. They've got plenty. They >can afford it. > > ********************* > >2) Lead story > >Labour tumbles in polls. > >by Daphne Liddle > >THE PRIME Minister and the Labour Party leadership last week took a sharp >battering in the opinion polls in the wake of the fuel crisis. > > According to a Guardian/ICM poll earlier this week, Labour has fallen 10 >points from 44 per cent to 34 per cent while the Tories have gained to >reach 38 per cent -- putting them ahead of Labour for the first time since >the May 1997 general election and certainly ruling out any possibility of a >snap general election this autumn. > > Even with this sudden swing, the latest figures indicate that an election >right now would produce a minority Tory government held in powerby the >Ulster Unionists. > > The change is purely down to the Labour leadership's mishandling of the >petrol crisis and its blatant contempt for mass public pinion rather than >anything the Tories have done to gain favour. > > Hague has spent the summer making a fool of himself, jumping on all manner >of bandwagons and claiming to be a great boozer. > > But nevertheless many former Tories who voted Labour in 1997 are returning >to the Conservatives, disillusioned with Labour. > > The sleaze scandals whicll rocked the Tory leadership in its last years in >power are happening again under Labour. The efforts to court "Middle >England" are failing. > > The truth is that most people are fed up with both party leaderships an >the danger is that people will become cynical and alienated from politics >altogether. > > Blair has not succeeded in fooling anyone with his indirect taxes on >petrol that fail to discourage unnecessary car use but do penalise those on >low incomes and those living in rural areas with poor public transport >disproportionately. > > This does not mean that people want the Tories back again but that could >happen unless the Labour Party leadership is forced to listen to working >class demands and put forward policies that will really improve the lives >of the masses of workers in this country. > > As the Labour Party conference approaches there is now a real opportunity >for the Left in that party to press its demands. > > These must include reducing unnecessary car use by a dramatic improvement >in public transport provision. Fares must be lower on buses and trains and >there must be a lot more of them and they must be reliable. Regular bus >routes must be extended into rural areas and new rail lines built. > > But this cannot be achieved while these vital services remain in private >hands. They must be renationalised. > > The 75 pence insult to pensioners must be erased by granting them their >main demand restore the link between average earnings and pensions -- not >some complicated means-tested sop that allows the basic state pension to >wither and delivers us all to the mercy of the private pension companies. > > The madness of privatisation must be halted and reversed especially in >housing. Council housing must be restored and renovated, not indirectly >delivered into the hands of the banks via housing associations. > > The Private Finance Initiative that sets chains of debt burdens round >generations to come must be abolished. > > The taxes on fuel must be cut and the revenue made up by making the rich >pay realistic levels of income tax. They have been on a bonanza too long. > > Labour must regain credibility in the polls by ditching Tory policies or >we could all be faced again with the horror of a real Tory government. > > ********************** > >3) Feature article > >London pensioners freeze while Scots invest in heating. > >by Caroline Colebrook > >MORE than 26,000 pensioners in London die from cold in an average year, >according to research done by London University and published in the >British Medical Association journal. > > This works out at a rate of 3,129 per million of the capital's population >aged between 65 and 74 and means that the elderly are more likely to die of >cold in London than in other European countries, including Scandinavia. > > In the north of Finland, where the average winter temperature is ten >degrees Celsius below the average London winter temperature. The death rate >among the same age group is 2,457 in every million. > > The researchers say their results show that freezing areas of Europe cope >better than relatively warm areas such as London. > > The leader of the research team, Professor William Keating, said: "People >in cold regions of Europe take more effective protective measures against >cold than people in warm regions. In the cold regions mortality rates rise >less steeply as temperature falls." > > A spokesperson for Age Concern said the figures were the result of decades >of neglect in Britain of the housing stock. > > Many homes are cold, draughty and poorly insulated. The poorest pensioners >live in the worst housing and they cannot afford necessary improvements. > >Meanwhile in Scotland, the Scottish Executive last week decided on a >massive programme to install central heading, free of charge, in the homes >of the nation's pensioners and council tenants who do not already have it. > > The programme will take five years and cost around £350 million. It should >benefit 70,000 people aged 60 and over and 71,000 council and housing tenants. > > Most benificiaries will be in Glasgow and Edinburgh where 30 per cent of >local authority homes do not have central heating. In the rest of Scotland >the average is 10 per cent. > > The installation of central heating will be accompanied by improvements to >home insulations and the programme should cut pensioners' fuel bills on >average from £920 a year to £470. > > The decision was welcomed by pensioner groups and by the Federation of >Small Businesses who say it will provide "much economic benefit". > > Funding will come mostly from Scotland's £3.4 billion allocation of the >Comprehensive Spending Review and will be supplemented by funds from >Scottish Homes and the Warm Deal, resources from reduced debt repayments, >obligations on new landlords and private sector interests including >Scottish Gas, Scottish Power, Scottish HydroElectric and Transco. > > The programme has been welcomed by Help the Aged and Age Concern. And Ann >Loughrey of the charity Energy Action said: "We hope this initiative will >remove forever the scenario each winter of the old and poor sitting in >front of a two bar electric fire and worrying about tokens running out foor >the electric meter." > > The deal is not quite so rosy as it seems for Glasgow council tenants. The >city is in the process of trying to transfer its entire housing slock to >the private sector. > > This will mean higher rent and less secure tenancies in the long run which >the investment in central heating will improve the value of the stock for >the new owners. > > ************************* > >4) International story > >"No return = No peace!". > >by Renee Sams > >THERE are now 5.3 million Palestinian refugees scattered in camps and >different countries across the world, making them the largest refugee >community in the world. > > For the last 52 years they have been fighting to return to their homeland. >Since 1948 when Israel drove the Palestinian Arabs out of their homeland, >some 473 Palestinian villages have been destroyed and the people are angry, >they are demanding an end to their exile. > > On Sunday 17 September some 2,000 Palestinians and their supporters staged >a rally in Trafalgar Square, demanding that they be allowed to return home. > > They pointed out that Israel is still breaking United Nations resolution >194, which says that "refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at >peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so". > > The rally also marked the anniversary of the 1982 massacres at Sabra and >Chatila. > > Michael Mansfield QC chaired the rally. He had recently visited the camp >at Gaza and reported "serious deterioration" in living conditions in the >camps where people live in poverty and children lack education. > > Dr Salman Abu Sitta, a right of return expert, highlighted the Israeli >actions as "a crime against humanity" and described Israel as "a land >occupied by a foreign minority" simply because "they claim to be Jews". > > The Israeli government has created a "web of disinformation to deny the >refugees' the right of return," he said. "It has continued to claim that >the country is too full of people and here is no room for the refugees to >return. > > "But only 14 per cent of the land is currently occupied 200,000 people are >holding on to land that belongs by right to those who were driven out. > > "They claim also that Hebrew is the only language. But is fact as so many >of them are of foreign origin, some 32 languages are spoken in Israel now." > > Dr Sitta called for the land to be "restored to the largest refugee >community in the world". > > Anni Kanafani, whose husband Ghassam was murdered by Israeli agents, also >addressed the rally. She is president of the Ghassan Kanafani Cultural >Foundation which has set up kindergartens and schools and helped to improve >the lives of children in refugee camps. > > She told the audience of her sorrow when she discovered that "refugees in >the camps have no rights whatsoever -- they are classed as foreigners in >their own land. Israelis consider them a burden." > > "The Palestinian leadership has been fighting against tremendous odds," >said Dr Ghada Karmi, chair of the Association of the Palestinian Community >in London, "not only against the Israeli government but their backers in >the United Nations and Britain. They are all arrayed against us," she added. > > Richard Burden MP, of the Advancement of Arab-Britain Understanding, said >they were asking for "no more and no less than the implementation of UN >resolution 194 and we must do all we can to bring that about." > > Letters from several MPs in cluding George Galloway and Tony Benn, adding >their voices to the call for a just and lasting peace and an end to the >five decades of exile for the Palestinian people. > > The heartfelt call From the platform: "Next year in Jerusalem; was echoed >by the crowd in the square, who had been waiting so long for a return to >their homeland." > > * Dr Azmi Bishara, an Israeli Arab MP, was pessimistic when he spoke at >the University ColIege, London, last Monday evening. A member of the Balad >bloc in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, he called for "fairness" for >the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, and equality for the >Palestinian Arab minority, some 20 per cent of the total population, who >live in Israel proper. > > Dr Bishara, the first Arab to ever run for the Israeli premiership, >defined himself as an Arab. "If we are not Arabs we have to be Christians >or Muslims. We become tribes fighting each other" he said and argued that >Arabism was the expression of the Arab nation's modernity. > > He felt that any "final settlement" now could only be on "hegemonist >terms" which would not meet a fraction of the legitimate demands of the >Palestinian Arabs. > > The Israeli Arab MP also explained the problems of the Palestinians who >are Israeli citizens fighting for equality in the Israeli state, which were >distinct from the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza, let alone the >millions of refugees in Lebanon, the rest of the Arab world and beyond. > > ********************* > >5) British news item > >Ford workers walk out. > >WORKERS at Ford's Dagenham plant last Monday staged a two-hour walk-out in >protest at the company's plans to end car production at the site. > > Shop stewards also called for a ballot for strike action among the entire >workforce in their battle to keep production going at the Essex plant. This >could result in the dispute spreading to other Ford plants in Britain. > > Duncan Simpson, a senior officer in he Amalgamated Engineering and >Electrical Union, reported a mood of "determined resistance" among the 6000 >Dagenham workforce. > > The stewards' demand for a full ballot will require formal union backing >but Mr Simpson said the ballot is inevitable unless the company changes its >position, and there's no indication that they will. > > "If the stewards' unanimous recommendation is a reflection of the mood at >the plant I'm sure we'll get a positive response," he added. > > AEEU general secretary Sir Ken Jackson has failed to persuade Ford >executives to drop their plans by switching production of Volvos from >Belgium to Dagenham. > > >School dinners dispute > >SCHOOL meals staff in northeast Lincolnshire are contemplating strike >action if plans go ahead to axe hot school dinners. > > The TGWU and GMR general unions and the public sector union Unison warned >they will ballot for strike action after a decision by North East >Lincolnshire Council in favour of introducing sandwich-based snacks, with >options of pasta, fruit or soup instead of hot meals. > > The council believes the new contract can be run by just 50 people and all >the present staff could lose their jobs. It claims that there is a poor >take up of the meals provided and that 60 per cent of pupils go elsewhere >for their lunch. > > ********************* > > >New Communist Party of Britain Homepage > >http://www.newcommunistparty.org.uk > >A news service for the Working Class! > >Workers of all countries Unite! > > > > > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for anti-imperialist news. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________________
