>New Worker Online Digest > >Week commencing 22nd December, 2000. > >1) Editorial - Hollow victory. > >2) Lead story - Turkish protesters seize London Eye. > >3) Feature article - Hague insults Damilola family. > >4) International story - Mid-East talks while Palestine burns. > >5) British news item - A bleak new year for industry and jobs. > > >1) Editorial > >Hollow victory. > >JUST over a decade ago the tycoons, big bankers, transnational bosses and >all the other exploiters of the capitalist world were busy writing epitaphs >for socialism and rejoicing at what they claimed was the death of communism. > > The destruction of the Berlin Wall was celebrated, the collapse of Soviet >state power was cheered and the new opportunities for imperialism were >welcomed as the dawning of a new age -- the "New World Order" being the >chosen term for the ensuing scramble for new markets, cheap raw materials >and the plundering of assets. > > The capitalist world, deep in crisis, had indeed found a breathing space >and the military might of imperialism had found itself free from the >restraints applied by the old balance of power. > > And yet, the monster of imperialism knew even as it rejoiced that >socialism was not dead -- it flourished in Democratic Korea, China, >Vietnam, Laos and Cuba - they knew that the struggle of oppressed peoples >the world over would continue. The class struggle, even in the heart of the >capitalist world, could not end while capitalism existed. > > Some communist parties did indeed crumble into dust or transformed >themselves into social democratic white elephants. But those which made, or >had already made, a clean break with revisionist treachery -- the key that >opened ihe door to counter-revolution in the former Soviet Union -- >survived, strengthened by all that had been learnt. > > In the last ten years, the actions of rampant imperialism may not have >been answered by the restraining hand of Soviet power. But criminal acts >such as the carpet bombing of Iraq, and later the round-the-clock bombing >of Yugoslavia, were certainly answered by mass protests across the world >and a new spirit of anti-imperialist solidarity. > > Oppressed peoples are on their feet and fighting back. The people of >Palestine are demanding justice and the crimes committed against them by >the Zionists and their imperialist backers have sparked demonstrations by >millions. > > For example, just a few weeks ago huge crowds gathered in West Bengal >where an effigy of Clinton was set on fire. Millions of protesters have >turned out in every continent and pressure is so strong in the Arab world >that governments are being forced to listen. And United States, British and >Israeli embassies have been targets of protest. > > In South America the popular movements against repression, exploitation >and landlordism have gathered strength and impetus. In Columbia the growing >support for FARC has wiped the gleeful smile off the faces of power in >Washington and replaced it with a frown of anxiety. > > Poverty in the developing world is increasingly being seen for what it is >-- a product of capitalism. A growing number of young, and not so young, >people no longer think the answer to poverty is charity. Now they are >demonstrating outside the meetings of the World Trade Organisation >demanding imperialist trade stitch-ups are ended and calling for third >world debts to be cancelled. > > In Britain, despite the dominant position of the right-wing in the Labour >Party and much of the labour movement, the growing discontent over rail >privatisation is gathering momentum. No one doubts that a majority of >people want to see the railways renationalised. The strength of feeling on >this issue has already had an effect on the government's thinking about the >future of London Underground. > > Pensioners' protests too have been so sustained and vociferous that >neither of the big parties can ignore the issue. The pensioners have not >yet won their main demand -- to restore the link between pensions and >average male earnings -- but they have made it clear they are not going to >stop fighting until they win. > > Car workers hit by the threat of unemployment, as the first tremors of a >new recession are lit, have not taken the news lying down. Last week they >stormed the British head office of General Motors and this has been >followed by a protest march through Luton. > > The imperialists who trumpeted victory a decade ago are certainly having >to deal with a pretty lively corpse! And it is the workers and masses of >the world who can 1 look to the New Year with optimism and new energy. > > ********************* > >2) Lead story > >Turkish protesters seize London Eye. > >TURKISH and Kurdish demonstrators hijacked the London Eye Wednesday >afternoon to protest at the massacre of political prisoners in Turkey. Some >600 people were evacuated from the big wheel after 22 protesters took over >two pods and threatened to set themselves alight. > > Earlier two protesters were dragged out of the public gallery in the House >of Commons after they started chanting "Stop the massacres in Turkish >prisons". > > In a separate protest supporters of the Kurdish resistance occupied the >London offices of the European Commission, again in protest at Turkish >state brutality in their iails. > > Istanbul's Umraniye prison was stormed in a pre-dawn raid backed by >armoured cars, bulldozers and fire-engines. The prisoners barricaded >themselves in their wards and resisted. Within hours other operations >followed. > > Turkish security forces went into action last Tuesday storming into 20 >prisons throughout the country to halt hunger strikes by political pnsoners >and resistance fighters which began 61 days ago. The storming of the >prisons was shown live on Turkish television. At least two policemen and 15 >prisoners died in the fighting and the police have still to regain control >in two of the jails. Many of the inmates chose to burn themselves alive >rather than surrender. > > Resistance has been growing inside the prisons for some months. Some >prisoners, 284 in total, had vowed to fast until death and 1,139 had gone >on hunger-strike. Anger grew when the news of new prison reforms -- which >would end the old barracks system and put prisoners in single or three-bed >cells -- spread. > > The regime wants to move the political prisoners to new maximum security >prisons and end the tradition barracks-type wards - which can hold up to a >hundred inmates. Many of these wards have become strongholds of the >resistance inside prison. > > The "reforms" -- linked to a plan for a mass amnesty of prisoners charged >with criminal offences to lower the overall prison population -- have >increased fears that inmates will be more vulnerable to ill-treatment. The >prisoners fear that small cells will give the guards or the police the >chance to torture them in private. Human rights groups confirm reports that >torture is common in Turkish prisons. > > Turkish Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk justified the raids as a move to >save the lives of the hunger-strikers, claiming that many of them had been >forced to make the protest by "terrorist" organisations. > > "The initiatives to put an end to these protests continued to the very >end. But, unfortunately, common sense did not prevail and the protest could >not be ended with the consent of the inmates," Turk said. > > He asked the parents of the prisoners to "trust" the state. Without irony >he said: "The target of this operation was to save your children and the >state has extended a tender hand to them". > > Last year ten left-wing prisoners were killed when soldiers stormed an >Ankara prison to quell a riot. And Islamic militants wounded 54 soldiers >and held more than 100 prison guards hostage in a protest against moves to >transfer them. > > ********************** > >3) Feature article > >Hague insults Damilola family. > >by Daphne Liddle > >TORY leader William Hague sank to new depths of opportunist electioneering >last week when he played the race card, saying that the McPherson report >had led to a break down of law and order by lowering police morale. > > He went on to say the fatal attack on Damilola Taylor in Peckham, south >London, was the result of a lack of policing due to MacPherson. > > When the Taylor family protested that Hague was using their son's tragic >death as "a political football" Hague responded by saying he "would not be >bullied" into silence on crime or police numbers. > > The McPherson inquiry two years ago into the police handling of the racist >stabbing of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in April 1973 certainly did >send shock waves through the police establishment as it unveiled a horrific >catalogue of racism, incompetence, and corruption among the police who >handled the murder investigation. > > It also uncovered a failure at the highest level in the Metropolitan >Police Force to address the complaints of the Lawrence family or deal with >the police who had failed the family. > > It was this failure which led the Mcpherson report to conclude that black >people in Britain do not obtain the same level of service from the police >force that a similarly placed white family would get and that they are >entitled to. > > This is why the report concluded that the Met is institutionally racist. >It does not mean that every police officer is racist but that the >institution at the highest level did not deal with the racism in its ranks. > > It was not the Lawrence family or McPherson who created the problem. They >simply highlighted the glaring failures that most black people, Irish, >gypsies and striking workers were already well aware of but that >well-heeled, white, middle England preferred to turn a blind eye to. > > Now Hague is trying to tap into this section of the population for support >and blame the victims of racism for criticising the police. He is implying >that racism is OK and its victims should just shut up and stop whining. > > Hague's remarks have shaken many of his Tory colleagues. One senior party >member said: "He has a point but my view on Hague is that he tends to shoot >from the hip. He doesn't sit down and work out the consequences of what he >says. He has to learn about the responsibility of leadership and think out >what he says so as not to give succour and comfort to a lot of people whom >he shouldn't." > > Shadow foreign secretary Francis Maude made pointed remarks about people >inside the Tory party spreading poison while former Prime Minister Sir >Edward Heath commented that Hague "seems to have got into a slight muddle". > > He went on: "My own position on race has been known all the time, ever >since I sacked Enoch Powell. And nobody has ever questioned that. What the >leader of our party has got to do now is to make it absolutely plain where >does he stand in all of this." > > Tom Butler, the Bishop of Southwark, accused Hague of breaking a pledge >not to raise the issue of race to make political capital. The bishop, whose >diocese includes Peckham, said that the McPherson report had transformed >relations between the police and ethnic communities. > > He said that although there are now fewer police, their support from the >community is greater and therefore they are getting better information on >criminals. > > He also said it was foolish to link Damilola's death with a shortage of >police: "With this particular crime we don't know what happened. It is very >foolish to speculate." > > But it was Bill Morris, general secretary of the Transport and General >Workers' Union, who brought out the growing similarities between Hague and >Powell. > >He compared Hague's remarks with Enoch Powell's "rivers of blood" speech >and warned that racists would interpret Hague's views as "permission to >attack young black people". > > "Looking at this speech I recall the famous speech by Enoch Powell, the >rivers of blood speech. I don't believe there has been another political >speech that has done more damage to race relations than the speech which, >sadly, Mr Hague has made this week," said Bill Morris. > > But Hague's speech is an indication of some of the thinking that lurks in >the back rooms of the Tory party and is a dire warning to us that we must >on no account allow the Tories to be elected at the coming general election. > > ************************* > >4) International story > >Mid-East talks while Palestine burns. > >by Our Middle East Affairs correspondent > >PALESTINIAN and Israeli negotiating teams have arrived in the United States >for talks to end the fighting and breath new life into the US-sponsored >peace process. > > Neither side showed any signs of optimism when they arrived at the Belling >Air Force Base on the outskirts of Washington. Not surprising given the >mounting Arab death toll as the Israeli army and armed settler gangs >continue their rampage throughout the occupied territories. > > The day the negotiators arrived in America two more Palestinians were >killed -- one a 10 year-old boy shot in the head in the Gaza Strip and the >other a Palestinian firefighter killed when an Israeli army jeep opened >fire on his fire-engine in Gaza. > > The same day the Anglo-American imperialism showed its true colours again >when they moved to kill the proposed UN international protection force at >the UN Security Council. > > The proposed force, which would have operated throughout the occupied >territories was backed by eight of the 15 Security Council members, one >short of the number needed to get it passed. > > The United States said it would veto it anyway, if there was any >likelihood of being carried. In the end the resolution's sponsors -- >Bangladesh, Jamaica, Malaysia, Mali, Namibia and Tunisia and backed by >People's China and Ukraine -- knew they would even get a symbolic victory >when the Russians said they would join the Anglo-American abstention bloc. > > The other abstainers were Argentina, Canada, France and the Netherlands. >All claimed such a move would endanger the current talks in Washington. >That wasn't the view of the Palestinians. > > "The objection to a UN mission in the Palestinian territories will spur >Israel to carry on its atrocities." Nabil Abu Redina, an adviser to >Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, declared. "The international community >should protect the Palestinian people," he stressed. "The UN General >Assembly should take into consideration the Security Council resolutions >and international laws regarding protection for the Palestinians". > > Back in Tel Aviv rumours abound about a new "deal" for the Palestinians. >Premier Ehud Barak, who is seeking a new mandate, they say, is prepared to >make more concessions to Arafat to help the Israeli leader woo his domestic >peace movement and get him re-elected in the polls set for 6 February. > > There's speculation of a greater Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and >more direct control ofthe Islamic shrines in Jerusalem if Arafat agrees to >end the fighting and accepts more years, if not decades, of Israeli >occupation of large swathes of occupied Palestine. > > But there's no sign that Barak, or anyone else in the Israeli >establishment, is prepared to meet the Arabs' legitimate demand for the >Zionist entity to withdraw from every inch of the West Bank and the Gaza >Strip. > > Barak's snap premiership election ploy has already paid-off - former >Premier Benyamin Netanyahu of the extreme right-wing opposition Likud blee >- has failed to get parliamentary approval to stand as a private citizen in >the poll. This means Barak will face a Likud challenge under their current >leader - the equally extreme but less popular General Sharon. > > But Baraks biggest problem is that it's not Arafat or the Israeli >peaceniks he need to accommodate -- it is the Palestinian masses >themselves. They're the ones defying the tanks and guns of the Zionists. >They're the ones ready to fight and die for their freedom. They know what >they want and they are determined to get it now. > > ********************* > >5) British news item > >A bleak new year for industry and jobs. > >THE ANNOUNCEMENT of the Vauxhall motor company's intention to close its >Luton plant and axe 2,000 jobs two weeks ago has been followed by >reverberations and echoes throughout British industry. > > Within days Tony Woodley, the Transport and General Workers' Union chief >negotiator, was warning that Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port factory on >Merseyside was also in danger of closure. > > Mr Woodley reported he had been told by Vauxhall's chief executive Nick >Reilly last year that any plant closure in Britain could have "a domino >effect". > > "I was told," he said, "that if Vauxhall closed one plant, it could hit >production at another plant. I have no reason to believe that situation has >changed." > > The Ellesmere Port workers will have to wait until February to know if >their jobs are safe. > > Workers at Rolls Royce are also fighting for their jobs after the company >threatened to relocate 1,300 key research and development jobs to Canada as >the start of a total withdrawal from Britain. > > A consultative ballot among the 2,400 research staff at Ansty, near >Coventry resulted in 85 per cent in favour of strike action. Full ballots >are expected to be conducted by the MSI general union next year. > > John Wall, the union's national secretary, said: "There is no economic >case for the job cuts in Britain and especially at Ansty." He added that >members fear this decision means "the beginning of an exodus of Rolls Royce >from Britain." > > TUC general secretary John Monks criticised the Government for failing to >defend British jobs. In particular the ease with which workers in Britain >can be sacked compared to their German counterparts where there are laws >governing minimum notice periods and laying down the rights of works >councils, which include unions, to information and consultation. > > Mr Monks said: "Trades unions simply do not understand why our members >should be treated in this shoddy way, and why Labour rejects every >opportunity to do the decent thing. > > "It is intolerable that British workers should have second class rights. > > "My message to the Prime Minister is clear. British workers are fed up >with being kept in the dark and treated like mushrooms. > > The general downturn in motor manufacturing was also reflected last week >in a decision by the German firm Mercedes Benz to drop 63 dealerships from >its network of 156 outlets. > > The motor industry is one of the steel industry's major customers and with >just about every motor manufacturer in the world currently cutting >production, thousands of steel jobs are also threatened. > > The Llanwern steel works, owned by the Anglo-Dutch firm Corus, is now >under serious threat. A company spokesperson said there has not yet been >any decision to close the plant but confirmed that the firm's core business >of carbon steel production is seeing substantial losses. > > "Some major action will be necessary," he said. > > If the plant is closed the effect on South Wales will be devastating and >it will signal the end of the steel industry there. > > ********************* > > >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 geopolitics. 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