Socialism Today – Page 41 – Socialist Party magazine

Opening statement to the Undercover Policing Inquiry

9 December, 2020Admin

These are extracts from the Opening Statement by James Scobie QC (Garden Court Chambers), Piers Marquis (Doughty Street Chambers) and Paul Heron (Public Interest Law Centre) on behalf of Dave Nellist, Lois Austin, Hannah Sell, Richard Chessum and ‘Mary’. The full statement can be found at bit.ly/PILCopeningstatement

The bulk of the tactics that have outraged and disgusted society to the extent that this Inquiry had to be called, were being used as far back as 1975. They were not aberrations. They were repeated time and time again. They were systematic and systemic.

Lois Austin and Hannah Sell helped set up Youth Against Racism in Europe; a campaigning group aimed at a united response to racism and racist violence. It was a mass protest movement, advocating peaceful change, combating racism with socialist ideas rather than violence and campaigning around the concept of ‘jobs and homes, not racism’. A significant part of their campaign was against the British National Party (BNP) in Tower Hamlets and South East London. In the latter, the BNP set up their headquarters in Welling. They began recruiting locally, even outside of schools, and the incidence of racist attacks increased significantly and escalated in severity. In February 1991 Rolan Adams was murdered. In July 1992 Rohit Duggal was murdered. In April 1993 Stephen Lawrence was murdered. That is real crime that needed to be prevented. That is a job for the police.

Trump out but not down

9 December, 2020Admin

As in the 2016 US presidential election Donald Trump was heavily defeated in the popular vote and on this occasion in the undemocratic electoral college too. But the conditions that created Trumpism have not gone away, argues ROBERT BECHERT of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI).

In the US and around the world millions greeted Trump’s defeat in November’s presidential elections. His removal from office, notwithstanding his legal claims, will be widely welcomed. Clearly there will be changes within the US and international repercussions – although many of the worldwide changes will be in trying to act more closely with traditional US allies than in fundamental policy shifts, for example in dealing with the Chinese regime.

But while Trump’s defeat was welcomed, the limits of Joe Biden’s victory were clear. Despite his huge vote there was no ‘blue wave’ for the Democratic Party. And it was not just Biden’s but also Trump’s vote that soared in the polarised election. The Republicans can, depending on January’s special election in Georgia, hold the Senate and, in this election, made gains in the House of Representatives.

As the Independent Socialist Group, CWI supporters in the USA, explained: “Biden mostly ran against Trump rather than for meaningful policies”. A result was that in some areas there was less motivation to vote.

Lesser evil Democrats won’t end Trumpism

9 December, 2020Admin

JEFF BOOTH, of the Independent Socialist Group, reports on the situation in the US and what needs to be done after Biden’s victory.

The outcome of the 2020 elections can only be understood in the context of the economic and social crisis in the US. Covid-19 infections are exploding. People in the US suffer from the most deaths due to coronavirus of any country. The recession that is now gripping the US was in process before the pandemic hit. But the pandemic accelerated the economic downturn and as the recession deepens, tens of millions face increasing job, housing, and food insecurity.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics “long-term unemployment (27 weeks and over) continues to rise, increasing by 1.2 million in October. State and local employment continue to decline, falling 130,000 in October. The labor market is down 1.3 million state and local government jobs over the last eight months – most of it (more than one million) in education”.

Workers fightback after Covid

9 December, 2020Admin

As Covid-19 wrecks havoc on workers’ lives and livelihoods, a discussion has opened up within the labour movement on post-pandemic economic reconstruction. JIM HORTON considers whether a contribution from the Institute of Employment Rights offers a way forward for trade unionists.

Reconstruction after the Crisis: Repaying the nation’s debt to our workers
By Keith Ewing, John Hendy, Carolyn Jones and Geoff Shears
An Institute of Employment Rights paper, June 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed not just the disastrous incompetence of a Tory government wedded to a neoliberal ideology, it has also laid bare the innate iniquities and inequalities of the capitalist economic system.

In their paper, Reconstruction after the Crisis, the Institute of Employment Rights (IER) authors present a searing indictment of capitalism, not only in relation to the economy during the pandemic, but the impact of forty years of neoliberal policies and ten years of austerity on workers living standards, job security and employment rights.

Editorial: How to fight back after Corbynism

2 November, 20202 November, 2020Admin

Like all the processes in society speeded up by the Covid-19 crisis, the consequences of the defeat of Corbynism within the Labour Party framework for working class political representation are being revealed more acutely by the day.

As discontent with Boris Johnson’s leadership grows inside the Tory party at his inept handling of the pandemic – and amongst wider circles of the ruling class for his reckless Brexit talks brinkmanship – the Keir Starmer New Labour-retread leadership becomes ever more determined to prove itself a reliable alternative for capitalism.

Preparing for an independence showdown in 2021

2 November, 2020Admin

“A new poll has suggested that 58% now say that they would vote Yes in another independence referendum” in Scotland, noted the elections analyst professor John Curtice, writing for the BBC website on October 14. “No previous poll has put ever support for independence so high. More importantly this is the ninth poll in a row since June to put Yes ahead”, he went on. “It is the first time in Scottish polling history that support for independence has consistently outstripped backing for staying in the Union”.

The Scottish parliamentary elections, Covid permitting, are due to take place in May 2021. All the current indications point to a landslide win for the ruling Scottish National Party (SNP) who are riding high at 58% support.

Profit versus health in Northern Ireland

2 November, 2020Admin

When the Covid-19 virus first broke in Northern Ireland, workers were once again told that ‘we are all in this together’. It is no more true today than during the 2008 bankers’ crisis where capitalist governments attempted to push the cost of the crisis onto our backs.

Working-class people are paying the price for capitalist governments who seek to prioritise profit over public health. North and South the authorities were refusing to follow the recommendations of the medical professionals, despite having asked for impartial advice.

Global Warning: So what is to be done, then?

2 November, 2020Admin

Climate Strike: the practical politics of the climate crisis
By Derek Wall
Published by Merlin Press, 2020, £10
Reviewed by Clive Heemskerk

Derek Wall was a founder of the Association of Socialist Greens grouping that existed within the Green Party in England and Wales in the 1980s and, later, a leading figure in the Green Left.

In 2006 he became the Greens’ co-Principal Speaker, the closest role to that of leader within the party before it changed its structure to include a formal leader position in 2008 (which was won by the then MEP Caroline Lucas).

Given this background his new book, as would be expected, provides a good summary of the climate crisis, including in an early chapter a sober assessment of challenges to the science of climate change.

The battle for Unite

2 November, 20202 November, 2020Admin

While not formally triggered, an election contest is under way for the leadership of Unite, the pivotal trade union in Britain both industrially and politically. ROB WILLIAMS examines the key issues at stake.

Over the next 18 months, and perhaps sooner, the three biggest unions in Britain – Unite, Unison and GMB – will have elected new general secretaries. Being the largest affiliates to the Labour Party, these elections will have particular significance for Sir Keir Starmer as he looks to consolidate his leadership victory over Corbynism. As it desperately looks to navigate out of the Covid crisis, the capitalist establishment is closely monitoring these events. In particular, it will be assessing whether Len McCluskey’s successor as the general secretary of Unite is capable of maintaining the union’s challenge to the Blairites in Labour. As the BBC’s Iain Watson said, “The result of that contest will determine whether the union works closely with Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership, or is willing to be openly critical”. (19 August)

Policing with prejudice

2 November, 2020Admin

Racism and homophobia are intrinsic to the role of the police under capitalism. The experience of an individual officer fighting to challenge discrimination is the subject of a recent book, reviewed by SARAH SACHS-ELDRIDGE.

Forced Out: A detective’s story of prejudice and resilience
By Kevin Maxwell
Published by Granta Books, 2020, £14-99

Forced Out is a personal account of a black gay police officer who experienced systematic and persistent racism and homophobia within the police. Kevin Maxwell recounts the sustained and high-level attempts to silence him when he challenged discrimination. As a child he says he was “obsessed with, seduced by, the police force”. But just over a decade after joining up, his experience made him ill and he was forced to resign.

Maxwell’s is not a wholly unique experience in terms of black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) and LGBT+ police officers in Britain. In 2008, as he points out, the Secret Policeman Returns Panorama documentary found that 72% of Black Police Association (BPA) members had experienced racism at work and 60% felt their career had been hindered by their ethnicity. He says that most officers who are BAME, women and/or LGBT+ and make it to the top of the police do so by not challenging discrimination, to the extent of denying the reality of racism, sexism, and homophobia, and even hiding their sexuality.