Emergency Demonstration: Israelis kill 20 on aid flotilla to Gaza

Emergency Demonstration: Israelis kill 20 on aid flotilla to Gaza

PROTEST TODAY MONDAY 31 MAY 2.00PM
DOWNING STREET LONDON. SPREAD THE WORD.

Yet another act of Israeli barbarism as its forces storm one of the seven ships on the international flotilla taking aid to Gaza, where Israel's illegal seige is starving Palestinians of essential resources. At least 20 activists on board are reported to have been killed by Israeli forces. Please join the emergency demonstration today if you can. Publicise it as widely as possible by email, text, Facebook, Twitter etc.

See videos of Israeli assault...
Another video from Turkish televison...
For updates see...

More:
Stop the War Press Release: Israeli terror on the high seas

Monday 31 May 2010

The killing of at least 10 people and the injuring of many more on board the flotilla taking aid to Gaza is the latest in a series of crimes which should see Israel condemned under international law. The 600 protesters were on a peaceful mission and unarmed.

Israel has repeatedly flouted law and public opinion worldwide in its treatment of the Palestinians. Its bombing of Gaza in 2009 and its continued blockade has caused outrage round the world. The flotilla was an attempt to bring aid to the blockaded population of Gaza. It was supported by many organisations and individuals internationally.

The decision by Israel to attack the flotilla with such loss of human life shows its arrogant and deadly intent in opposing any aid to the Palestinians.

The British and EU governments should immediately condemn this act of terror and break all links with Israel.

The Stop the War Coalition will be joining other organisations at 2pm today to demonstrate outside Downing Street.

Emergency Demonstration
Demand British government breaks links with Israel
Protest today Monday 31 May 2.00PM

George Galloway on radio below:

Link: Aftermath of Israel's attack on Gaza flotilla - Aljazeera.Net
Link: Stop The War Coalition

Convention of the Left - "protest against cuts together"

Convention of the Left - "protest against cuts together"

Dear Convention of the Left supporter

The following is a summary of actions agreed for developing the fight against the cuts and building for the Convention of the Left in Manchester this September (before/during Labour Conference).

I hope that this is helpful to people locally and that you are able to circulate, publicise, participate and contribute (including financially ! – see website for more details).

In any case, thanks for your support and looking forward to seeing you in September – best of luck in your own anti-cuts actions locally and nationally.

John N

On behalf of Convention of the Left

1. We agree to encourage and participate fully with as many others in anti cuts campaigning locally and nationally.

Following the positive reporting from the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) meeting at the weekend - at which Convention supporters were welcomed and contributed strongly:

a) In particular we agree to take up the proposal for a local anti cuts alliance (possible title "Protest Against Cuts Together" - or PACT - could stand for several other things!) and to take this proposal to all other organisations we are involved with - trade union branches, community organisations, political parties, individuals - with a view to a public meeting to be arranged probably in the week following the budget (understood to be June 22nd). This to include Labour members/councillors who may be willing to fight the Tory cuts - we should pressure anyone on the left of Labour, or even Liberal, towards anti cuts campaigning.

b) We agree to pass this proposal on to the Right to Work conference in London on Saturday May 22nd similarly, with a view to supporting local action(s ) on June 22nd itself (exact format to be decided in discussion between people - possible "CSI" of the RBS was raised; that is, as Michael Moore in his film "Capitalism: A Love Story" - on tv this weekend - where he surrounded the bank with a police tape and tried to do citizens arrests of bank executives; or further "pots and pans" demonstrations at the banks).

2. We agree to developing ideas and explanations about the crisis, for publication in short leaflets, on websites, or otherwise.

a) This may include explaining the Tories strategy (pretend to examine the books, make cuts for 2 years, then relax a little so that they can say "happy times are here again"), the money that the banks now hold (which is our money, and the banks are "our" banks!), the reality that the wealth exists in society to pay for our public services (and the welfare state was built at a time of much bigger "deficit").

b) It should also demonstrate the breadth of "cuts" - not just hospitals and schools but also benefits and pensions, women will feel the brunt, campaigning needs to be more community based and not just traditional places - so that we are showing we are fighting the cuts but also why it is not necessary to make the cuts and where the immoral money is being spent (trident, tax evasion by the rich, banks themselves - though no longer ID cards, third runways and detention of children in immigration centres....!) - this is an ideological onslaught as well as a financial one, as migrants and those seeking benefits will be blamed for the crisis and we need to oppose this too.

c) Also we can use the economics made simple material provided by Andrew F (LEAP) from the last Convention event in February.

3. We may want to consider the issue of proportional representation, as it is recognised that there is much ignorance about this, especially in terms of details of different systems, not all of which are necessarily more democratic. This is not so immediate however.

[circulate options for information]

4. We agree to the Convention of the Left holding events before/during Labour Party Conference in Manchester this September (also possibly fringe at TUC beforehand, to build up for these)

This means we will have (some or more of) :

* Friday 24th Sept evening, Friends Meeting House - possible international speakers/ rally

* Saturday 25th Sept all day, Friends Meeting House (may be able to go into evening as well) - bring left groups and anti cuts campaigns together from around the country, also NB aspect from other countries (eg Irish protests)

* Sunday 26th Sept - possible public activity during the day (LP members arrive)

and LRC (Labour Representation Committee) meeting in Friends Meeting House in the evening (to be part of the overall programme for the weekend/week)

Tuesday (or Wednesday) evening, possibly in Peoples History Museum - Question Time event (or similar, as last time) - need confirmation from possible participants for this.

* Further planning to take place at regular Convention meetings between now and then. (Manchester, third Monday of the month – see website for details)

* Urgent need for everyone to circulate and let people know about the dates.

* Registration availability to be on website as soon as possible.

* everyone contact their own organisations about support for this. So far LRC, Respect, SWP have indicated their support, thank you. Everyone else to look to their own organisations to do likewise - not just political participation but also financial donations - either see website for donation form or let John N know.

Link: Convention of the Left

Entry of the yellow Tories

Entry of the yellow Tories - Morning Star.

So it would appear that the people have spoken and the Tories and Lib Dems have not listened to a single word they said - as is usual.

For it is a completely and absolutely reactionary government that now holds the reins of power.

The Lib Dems, who made such a play of being neither Tory nor Labour, but something completely different, have shed their protective coloration and come out in the open for what they are, at least in their national leadership, just plain old closet Tories.

The tens of thousands of people who voted Lib Dem in this, and indeed in many previous elections, just to keep the Tories out, have been discarded and their views ignored by a Lib Dem leadership which, sniffing at a couple of seats at the top table, jettisoned everything that they claimed to believe in to get a taste of it.

And in country constituencies, many of which have seen resounding battles between Liberals and Tories and in which the Labour Party regularly comes a poor third, what choice now faces the Lib Dem voter?

The answer is, precious little.

They can now vote for the yellow Tory or the blue Tory and that isn't going to please them in the slightest.

And what of the thousands who voted Lib Dem because that party's policy on Trident was better than anything else on offer? That particular policy hasn't been exactly prominent in the posh chaps coalition's utterances so far and merely including it in a spending review will convince no-one.

Then there's Europe. Granted that Tory scepticism on Europe wasn't for the best of motives, how will William Hague sit with the Europhiles in the Lib Dem fold?

Again the answer is brief. Not very well.

All in all, it would seem that the Lib Dems have just committed a very public act of hara-kiri in the pursuit of a few seats in the second rank of a Tory government.

Not that that need concern us very much. They were always the acceptable face of Toryism anyway, and their pronounced anti-trade unionism will probably be a good fit with the Tories as they nestle into their new blue-yellow brotherhood.

And brotherhood it most definitely is. The lack of little except white men in suits - with the exception of Theresa May, whose policies seem to be more anti-women than pro - is the most evident thing about the Cabinet line-up so far.

So what does this mean for Labour? Well what it should mean is that the battle for the centre ground, which was always new Labour's flagship strategy, has failed dismally and that should mean the unmourned end of the dismal new Labour project.

It should mean a return to policies to benefit working people and an end to the nonsense about being the "natural party of business" and all the class-collaborationist drivel that was spouted during the Blair-Brown era.

But the new Labour clique don't give up that easily and there are already signs that they are regrouping and preparing to put up yet another set of candidates for the vacant leadership slot who will dance to the City's tune whenever the bell rings.

This quite simply cannot be allowed to happen. With the new unity of declared and previously undeclared Tories that this improbable coalition represents, it would be unthinkable to to try to approach Parliament with anything other than a progressive platform of policies clearly differentiating Labour from the Libservatives.

New Labour has failed, even in its own limited terms, and it is time for the trade unions and the other organisations of the working class to flex their underused muscles and warn that only a radical and progressive opposition will succeed in toppling this government.

It's time for Labour to remember its roots, to rebuild its relationship with the labour movement and to abandon the pale impersonation of a government for suburbia that it has adopted for so long. There is a huge fight on cuts and jobs coming and it has to be won.

And if Labour hasn't the belly for that fight, it will be fought without, or in spite of, them.

Link: Morning Star

Vote labour - with a lowercase L

NEVER AGAIN!

Vote Respect, Vote TUSC, Vote Independent Socialists, Vote Green (in Brighton) then:

Vote labour - with a lowercase L - Morning Star

On Thursday, millions of Britons go to the polls. They will cast their votes in one of the most peculiar elections in the last 50 years.

It's peculiar because to all outward appearances the only thing that separates the major parties is not policy but a matter of timetabling - when the axe will fall, not if.

That, of course, is just the outward appearance. But it is on those outward appearances that voters rely, following half a century of deliberate depoliticisation by all the mass media.

This has been aided and abetted by parties who increasingly rely on a centre ground of declassed and alienated voters to rubber-stamp a parliamentary majority for them.

The old verities of class loyalty have been deliberately buried under a growing heap of verbiage, with the result that capitalist politicians have managed to convince whole sections of the population that such crass and embarrassing issues as class are "old" politics and have nothing to do with present realities.

Present reality apparently means that we're all in it together, banks can't be allowed to fail - although manufacturing companies can - and the boss is going to make you redundant for the good of the shareholders/company/country/economy (delete as applicable).

The working class doesn't exist any more, we're all middle class and there's a field-marshal's baton in every rucksack and, really, we're all just waiting for the riches of the absurdly well-off to trickle down onto us.

But such candy-floss interpretations of politics have their weaknesses and reality manages to intrude and disturb the cosy illusion of three nice chaps debating in a studio for the entertainment of the masses.

Because this election, just like every other election, is about class. It's about a Tory Party whose "big society, small state" is in reality about destroying civil society and replacing it with a market-run, profit-driven anarchy where the rich survive and the weakest go to the wall.

And that's direct rule by the bosses and devil take the hindmost.

The Lib Dems' liberal democracy sounds all very well, but when issues arise where the working class take action, it encompasses divesting whole sections of the working class of the right to strike.

It contains an anti-war policy that only holds until the first shot is fired and, as has been seen in local authorities, all too frequently dissolves into policies that cut jobs and services to the poor and disadvantaged to make the books balance. In short, it's a Tory party without the honesty to admit it.

And how does Labour come out of all this? The truth is, not very well. New Labour's lack of principle and its commitment to market capitalism have poisoned its policies to the extent that no decent socialist will touch the new Labour corpse with a barge-pole.

So what does the Star say? Simply, we say vote labour - but note the lack of a capital L.

In many, indeed most, constituencies that will be a vote for the Labour candidate, but only because the party is much more than the clique that controls it at the moment.

The Labour Party is the electoral expression of the labour movement and needs to be taken away from the miserable pro-capitalist clique that has taken it over so that it becomes again that expression of our movement's position and not of snivelling obeisance to the boss class.

In a handful of constituencies, there is another option. There are Communist and left candidates who deserve your support (VOTE RESPECT).

If elected, they would constitute a force to drive Labour leftward in Parliament and, if not elected, a strong left-wing vote would constitute the sharpest possible message to a Labour Party which needs to find the courage to rid itself of its right-wing leadership.

Above all, remember that parliamentary politics is not the be-all and end-all of the drive to build a better world.

It's a small part of a very long march whose route is by no means set in stone.

Your vote will be important, but it does not exist in a static and unchanging reality. The struggle will continue to change shape and emphasis, but the direction is clear.

And it's towards a socialist Britain.

Link: Respect
Link: TUSC