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The general election campaign has started in
earnest. With so little to choose between the main parties, however, the
election is already marked by vitriolic personal abuse and dirty tricks,
as well as the early use of the immigration race-card.
Since the introduction of universal suffrage, the
gap between the world of Westminster and the reality of people’s lives
has never been greater. In mid-February, when New Labour launched its
election campaign, the country was seized by a feeling of leaden gloom
at the thought of another three months of election propaganda. Tony
Blair has talked about the danger of the nation ‘sleepwalking into a
Conservative victory’, but it is not apathy that is hanging like a pall
over the general election, but alienation from all mainstream parties.
HANNAH SELL writes.
Lebanon
assassination triggers crisis
The assassination of former prime minister, Rafik
al-Hariri, sparked the largest demonstrations in the Middle East since
the 1978/9 Iranian revolution. While 8 March saw up to a million
protesting against US, Israeli and French interference, six days later a
possibly bigger protest demanded the withdrawal of Syrian troops. It
also gave George Bush the chance to push more of the US neo-conservative
agenda in the region. ROBERT BECHERT reports.
Lessons of
the UNISON general secretary election
LAST MONTH’S election for the general secretary of
the public services union, UNISON, Britain’s biggest trade union,
revealed a lot about the state of the unions and the union left. The
sitting general secretary Dave Prentis, as widely expected, won with
184,769 votes (75.6%). Socialist Party member, Roger Bannister, polled
41,406 votes (16.9%). But the ‘United Left’ (UL) candidate Jon Rogers, a
UNISON branch secretary in Lambeth and a recently elected national
executive member, received just 18,306 votes (7.5%). BILL MULLINS
reports.
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