Katie Bonnar: attainment gap Colin Fox: it’s time to won’t close without determined make the socialist anti-poverty action case for independence • see page 9 • see page 10

£1 • issue 483 • 9th – 22nd September 2016 scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com

Scotland’s ‘National Conversation’: WE NEED TO

PHOTO: Craig Maclean

POVERTY HOUSING TeAnd loLw pKay an d ABObuilUd 150T ,000 ... zero hours – £10/hr affordable social minimum wage homes to rent for all, NOW PRIVATE PROFIT nationalise railways, energy, GREEN ENERGY and essential harness our services resources for TRIDENT people and planet scrap nuclear subs – not profit WELFARE stop benefit – no to NATO sanction harassment – sack ATOS & CAPITA

ScottishSocialistVoice.wordpress.com /ScottishSocialistVoice @ssv_voice WELFARE The Scottish Government’s welfare ‘conversation’ needs to be two-way by DON’T PASS ON TORY AUSTERITY: the SNP should protect folk from Tory policies, which we know will only worsen LAST WEEK the SNP called (PHOTO: Simon Whittle) for a conversation with Scot - land. For those of us who called for such a debate during the ref - erendum this is nothing new. The SNP conversation is noth - ing but a number of questions where you can respond yes or no. Quite one sided. However after The , difficult powers have been given to the Scottish Government. Time to look at how the Scottish Government should use these for the better good and for us on the left to have a two way conversation. care for them, the dreaded doctors rather than the assess - this policy where being a few The Smith Commission gave ATOS and CAPITA assessments ment of professionals who have minutes late, or having to miss an difficult benefit decisions to cause so much fear. People with no knowledge of an individual’s appointment means your benefit make to the Scottish Govern - disabilities are being perceived need? Such a system based on an is cut. A friend, Michael, had his ment. These include disability as scroungers. If you can walk individual’s need would put less benefit reduced to £50-a-week. and carers benefits, benefit sanc - from the car park or you go people in stressful situations. How is anyone supposed to sur - tions which are the scourge of alone—you’re fit for work. Despite the Carer’s Bill being vive on this? We need an end to many communities. ‘Michelle’ spoke to me of her praised, this is a piece of paper benefit sanctions. experience: “I have spina bifida without any teeth. Carers con - The Scottish Government are SNP: left of centre? and have received DLA since I tinue to be paid lip service too having public meetings to con - Difficult decisions have to be was a wee girl. I rely on my car and the new social care powers sult on benefit changes. One plan made. For the SNP government to get out. The assessment was have little impact on carers lives. is a Scottish social security sys - they can no longer protest to be terrible. I went alone and didn’t The SNP propose to raise tem. Language is important but left of centre. know what to say. The PIP as - Carer’s Allowance to £75 per what matters most is a change in This is their opportunity to sessment made me feel vulnera - week, but for those who provide how we view the welfare state. show how different Scotland ble. I was only awarded low rate health care for much more than could be and indeed should be. PIP so could have lost my car. the working time directive, this Tory food stamps They have to “hold the door” Thankfully I was allowed to keep will change nothing. Carers de - For socialists, it means a safety and protect folk from the Tories it until my appeal which I won. serve a living wage like other net for all. One of the questions policies which we know will This process is dehumanising.” workers. in the Scottish Government’s re - only worsen. For many people Would it not be better to read Workers are seeing a cut in view is should we use goods or with disabilities, and those who reports from individual’s own working tax credits which money to give to claimants. This subscriptions groups such as The Child is exactly the attitude of the To - Poverty Action Group and the ries who want to give cards to poverty alliance. Low paid buy food. Another step closer to work is not the answer but a liv - food stamps. This is a challenge To subscribe, see: scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com or fill in this form ing wage is. In the meantime for the SNP—we need actions and send it to: SSV, Suite 370, Central Chambers, 93 Hope St, Glasgow those in poorly paid work more than words, to show how G2 6LD. Phone: 07810205747. Cheques payable to ‘’ should not have to fear Univer - different Scotland can be. Name...... sal Credit and a demand to seek The SSP will be contributing more hours. This impacts to the consultation on benefits Address...... mostly on single parents and but I would urge you to send the ...... people with disabilities. No Scottish Government your per - Phone...... change since Thatcher then. sonal perspectives as well. Email...... I live in the town in the west Bread and roses is not too coast which dishes out the most much to ask. Neither is a kinder, g £5 for 2 issues g £10 for 4 issues g £20 for 8 issues benefit sanctions. It is time to end fairer Scotland.

2 • scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com • issue 483 EDITORIAL National discussion must consider issues facing working class majority by Ken Ferguson STANDIING UP FOR...... ? fforr tthe Scottttiish Goverrnmentt,, dealliing wiitth Brrexiitt and iitts FIRST MINISTER Sturgeon’s “summer consequences arre tthe ttop independence offensive”—in fact launched prriiorriitty,, wiitth iindyrreff 2 as a on the first official day of autumn in the ffacttorr iin tthiis prrocess rrattherr leafy surroundings of Stirling University— tthan tthe centtrrall iissue (PHOTO: Craig Maclean) was not so much a call to arms as the lat - (PHOTO: Craig Maclean) est example of the growing uncertainty surrounding the details of when a second referendum might happen. In what has been a political hothouse since the Brexit vote in June the question of indyref 2 has taken on a mercurial qual - ity now a certainty, then a prospect, to be held before Brexit only to be held when the terms are known etc. The issue is now set in a swirling fog of uncertainty and confusion with politicians, commentators and pollsters all offering a wide range of opinions and predictions. All this has one clear origin and it is that Brexit was not in the game plan of the SNP government re-elected a few weeks before it happened clearly focused on a within it must guard against. Firstly there reshape the campaign with a clear em - gradualist caution on a second referen - is a growing tendency to put Scotland’s phasis on winning over Scotland’s work - dum qualified only by the famous “mater - relationship with the EU at the heart of all ing class majority by focusing clearly on ial change” clause. politics as for example in response to the the issues of jobs, wages pensions and Then 24 June delivered the material GERS deficit and this can easily slip into the economy which were key drivers of change and, despite winning praise for a position which offers as “Brexit bad, EU the 2014 No vote. her sure footed response in reality Nicola good” story which is at best simplistic. This clearly entails making a case for Sturgeon was just as surprised as the ma - On Brexit, sections of the left, such as both breaking with the British state and jority of the political class in both Scotland the SSP, supported a critical Remain vote with the mainstream failed economics of and the UK. which argued that there was much to crit - the last 30 years supported by main - icise in the EU but a No vote would deliver stream politicians including the SNP. The indy factor a victory to the hard right as has proved Declarations about a second referen - to be the case. Dodging billions in tax dum being “on the table” in the days after However it would be a serious mistake Scandals such as the PFI rip-off, pri - Brexit upped the ante and played well at to believe that those rejecting the far right vate profiteers running railways and a tax least initially with SNP members and the May cabinet installed after Cameron’s de - regime which allows giant corporations to wider Yes camp. mise can find a socially just and progres - dodge billions in tax must end. However as the weeks have passed, it sive alternative in ’s EU which only What is needed is real independence is increasingly clear that for the Scottish last year crushed Greece and is a stan - both political and economic which not Government, dealing with Brexit and its dard bearer for free market neoliberalism. only meets the democratic demand for in - consequences are the top priority with in - Of course, gains on workers’ rights and dependence but opens the way to using dyref 2 as a factor in this process rather environmental protection must be de - that independence to serve the needs of than the central issue. fended but equally the EU needs to the majority not the wealthy few. So we have had expert committees change in favour of people over profit if it Such a campaign based on the need formed, flights to Brussels to meet EU is to play a progressive role in a world for full trade union rights, £10-an-hour leaders, votes for cross party campaign to dominated by big capital. wages, ending privatisation, building keep Scotland’s EU links and a plethora Secondly there is the key question of homes for rent and so on can make a of academic and political opinions on how how any second indyref—whatever its powerful case for a Yes vote not to this might be done. timing—can be won and the road opened change flags and emblems but to open Two dangers flow from this process up for radical change. Shaping such a the way to a radically different Scotland which the independence movement more campaign will need to take as a starting putting people and planet rather than generally and the radical and left forces point the reasons for failure in 2014 and profit as its key priority.

issue 483 • scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com • 3 WOMEN Scotland’s gender pay gap at 28% by Jenni Gunn

RESEARCH CONDUCTED by the In - stitute of Fiscal Studies has found that the gender pay gap stands at around 18 per cent across the UK, with the average in Scotland currently standing at a stagger - ing 29 per cent. Although the 18 per cent figure is an im - provement on figures from recent years, the research also uncovered that women at work are suffering a “motherhood penalty”—the gender pay gap widens markedly for women in the 12 years after having their first child. According to the research, the situation is worst for graduates and women with A- levels who experience a gender pay gap that is essentially the same as it was two decades ago. WORK TO BE DONE: even though more women are participating in formalised education, this isn’t translating into pay parity or equality of opportunity The report found that the “wage penalty for taking time out of paid work is greater entrenched idea that women should considered to be the sole duty of women. for more highly educated women” rising 4 shoulder the primary responsibility as The guilt that many women experience per cent each year a woman takes out of caregivers, whether that means caring for when returning to work after the birth of a paid work. Opportunities for promotion children or sick or elderly relatives. child speaks to the pressure within soci - and progression decrease dramatically This burden continues to lies dispropor - ety to conform to traditional gender roles once returning to work after having a child. tionately on the shoulders of women. Gen - of “mother”. Whilst attitudes may be Even though women are participating in der norms that are imposed on women (and slowly changing, statistics show that formalised education more than ever, this men) from a young age mean that women’s women are still bearing the brunt of child - isn’t translating into pay parity or into employment continues to be highly concen - care responsibilities. equality of opportunity for women entering trated in undervalued, low-paid sectors. By allowing men and women to adopt the labour market. Retail and care work are salient exam - flexible working patterns, and allowing and ples of what is still considered to be encouraging men to take paternity leave, No choice in a vacuum “women’s work,” women still make up the we will hopefully bring about the change in For those women without formal quali - majority of the workforce. The lack of cultural norms that will bring us closer not fications, the gap doesn’t appear to be quality part-time and flexible jobs is stop - only to pay parity but a more equal view of quite so punishing; owing simply to the ping women from achieving pay parity. women’s place in the home. Not to mention fact that women in lower paid employ - These aren’t choices—for many women the workplace and in society as a whole. ment have fewer opportunities for wage it’s the only employment they are able to And we need to raise women’s wages— progression and promotion to miss out on get whilst balancing care responsibilities because this will benefit everyone. in the first place. and the lion’s share of unpaid domestic Since the report has been circulated on labour in the home. Keep up the pressure social media, there have been attempts by Childcare is a major issue; many Over 63 per cent of those earning less many to argue that these statistics prove women are only able to work part-time than the living wage are women. We need that sexism in the workplace is no longer after the birth of a child due in part to the ensure that the sectors in which women an issue—this gap doesn’t exist because exorbitant cost of childcare. A system of traditionally dominate the work force are of inherent sexism within the system, but universally free, high-quality childcare valued as socially and economically equal because of the choices women make. would go some way in levelling the field to those sectors dominated by men. This Hey, if you want to have a baby and for women in the workplace. is good for everyone across the sector, take time out to do that, that’s a woman’s Childcare should also become more flex - but is particularly good for women. prerogative. If you want to have a kid and ible in order to fit with the working patterns To this end, we need to keep up the can only afford to be in part-time work, of parents. In addition, we need to pressure pressure on employers to pay the £10-an- that’s your choice. You can’t complain if employers to institute more flexibility at hour living wage. It will have a massive women choose to work in lower paid in - work to make childcare more manageable. impact on the lowest earners, and dra - dustries, right? Right? It is essential that we push for a major matically change the lives of those Wrong. Choice does not exist in a vac - cultural shift too, where fathering is encour - women who are most vulnerable to low- uum. This is a manifestation of a deeply aged and caring for children is no longer paid employment and poverty.

4 • scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com • issue 483 CULTURE Arab awakening becoming Arab nightmare

The Age of Jihad: Islamic State and the archaeologist. But as yet there is no But it is the Libyan ‘failed state’ which Great War for the Middle East by sustained counter-attack to eliminate the receives Cockburn’s most chilling , Verso, £14.99 Islamic state.’ verdict. ‘Libya is falling apart’ he And yet he is quick to explain this was concludes. ‘If the real objective of the by Colin Fox not always so. Two decades ago such war was to replace Gaddafi with a barbaric religious divisions were rare. secular democracy, it is absurd that the DESCRIBED BY Seymour Hersh as Secular regimes were the norm, albeit West’s regional allies in the conflict ‘the best western journalist at work in with ruthless ‘strongmen’ like Saddam, should have been theocratic absolute the Middle East today’ Patrick Gaddafi or Assad at the helm. Time and monarchies in Saudi Arabia and the Cockburn’s latest book charts the again Cockburn’s witnesses testify Gulf. Western intervention has reduced continuing conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, wistfully that ‘Things were very bad a country that had been peaceful for 50 Syria, Libya, Bahrain and the Yemen under Saddam/Assad/The Taliban [insert years to a level of violence approaching and underlines why he merits such an relevant tyrant] but things are ten times Syria and Iraq.’ accolade. worse now’. Take the testimony of ‘Faraj’ Where the West and its client states The Age of Jihad is both an invaluable [not his real name] whom Cockburn did not ignite the conflict they fuelled its reference for anyone seeking to barbarity. The Syrian civil war is a 5 fold understand the complex and often conflict involving a popular uprising horrific events unfolding in the region against Assad, a sectarian battle and a devastating indictment of Western between Sunni and Shia, another foreign policy over decades. between Sunni, Shia and Kurds, a Born in Cork and educated privately at struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran Glenalmond College in Perthshire and another Cold war between the USA Cockburn comes from a family of and Vladimir Putin’s Russia. reporters. His father was the acclaimed communist writer , his Slide to barbarism journalist brother the late Alexander That the Middle East is sliding towards Cockburn and his niece the former BBC barbarism is not in doubt. Economics Editor Stephanie Flanders. The question is who benefits from this His knowledge of the Islamic State is political stasis? Certainly Israel gains without peer in the English speaking from the bitter divisions of its foes. world. ‘Patrick Cockburn spotted the Russia too benefits through its influence emergence of ISIS much earlier than in Syria bolstering Assad. anybody else and wrote about it with a Among the losers however is Turkey depth of understanding that was just in a ‘with its vision of a new Ottoman Empire league of its own’ concluded the judges now gone with the wind’. Saudi Arabia awarding him the Foreign Affairs too, with its medieval ‘Wahibi’ Journalist of the year title in 2014. fundamentalism, is losing what little international tolerance it had left. And Vital context interviews in hospital the US with its once hegemonic ‘It is difficult to find many optimists in in Syria ‘At first we dreamed of having a influence markedly waning is clearly Baghdad’ he writes with characteristic revolution and gaining our liberty’ he another loser. But above all it is the understatement about the politics of recalls ‘but unfortunately the popular millions of ordinary Arabs, Kurds and Iraq. And he reaches the same gloomy movement was not well organised and it Afghans desperately trying to survive conclusion about the prospects for was manipulated by neighbouring amid the grotesque political corruption, millions more in Syria, Libya, countries such as the Gulf states, who economic privations and blood-curdling Afghanistan, Bahrain and the Yemen. turned it into jihad.’ sectarian depravity all around them who Cockburn has recorded the deteriorating Secular societies have been reduced stand to lose most. conditions of life there over the past 13 to rubble by a mixture of US imperialism, Ultimately this book poses more years but unlike others he offers vital sectarian civil wars, religious fanaticism questions than it answers. And that is a context and an acute historical and regime savagery. good thing for Cockburn is a reporter not perspective to explain them. ‘An Islamic Muhammed Karzai is disparagingly a polemicist. He avoids the grotesque cult motivates people so they are referred to as ‘the mayor of Kabul’ errors of his colleagues who may prepared to die for it in a way that is no because his ‘power’ barely reaches the highlight the problems but reach longer true of nationalism or socialism. city limits. The Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi dreadfully poor conclusions about what There is outrage at the Caliphate as its is considered equally impotent as the needs to be done beyond pious pleas militants blow up the ancient buildings of country is ‘Cantonised’ into 3 separate for ‘compromise’ and utopian homilies Palmyra and cut of the head of the chief states and facing impending civil war. they probably learned at Glenalmond.

issue 483 • scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com • 5 WORKPLACE Demand public ownership by , SSP national took home a humble £2.16million last year! For instance, that privatisation had workplace organiser Meanwhile Govia’s political puppeteers— massively escalated costs of running the the Tory government—made their very network, requiring three times as much THE BATTLE to ensure public safety own announcement regarding Southern public subsidy as under previous nation - and job security on Scotland’s railways railways... literally the day before. alisation; costing three times as much to continues, and the They declared that £20million of taxpay - run; being 30 per cent less efficient than is determined to play its part alongside the ers’ money was to be taken from govern - the railways in other European countries. rail workers’ unions and passengers. As ment-run Network Rail’s budget and gifted In large measure because the latter are the Voice went to press, the RMT held a to Govia-run Southern railways! Another ex - mostly state owned, and don’t suffer the demo outside the and ample of workers and passengers bailing plague of scores of competing profiteers, a series of public meetings on the issue. out the profiteers. Reward for failure; prop - each requiring their own dividend payouts The prolonged talks between ScotRail ping up the profiteers at public expense. and chaotic lack of coordination—with a Abellio bosses and the two railway This capitalist chaos on the railways ap - whole system of fines and incentive pay - unions—RMT and ASLEF—have yet to plies across the UK, including Scotland. ments that are often contradictory. reach an acceptable agreement on keep - And all the pro-business, mainstream po - With train operators (TOCs) vying with ing the guards. Many workers are furious litical parties prefer and perpetrate this rolling stock providers (ROSCOs) which at the bosses’ stalling tactics, and are will - profit-driven chaos; the Tories, Lib Dems, lease them the trains, and a myriad sys - ing to resume strike action if they don’t Labour and indeed the SNP. tem of payments between Network Rail rapidly offer an acceptable package that and these, money ripped out of the labour puts guards not drivers—who should be of rail workers and fares has poured into left to drive—at the heart of train dispatch the coffers of numerous franchise-holders. procedures, as demanded jointly by the RMT and ASLEF. Annual waste of £1.2bn Every event surrounding these issues In 2011, an RMT-commissioned study proves that the plague of privatisation and showed that £1.2billion a year was wasted profiteering is totally incompatible with pub - this way. That could have been invested lic safety and people’s jobs being secured. in track maintenance; new rolling stock; longer, faster and greener trains to match Plague of privatisation the rocketing number of passengers; safe, Perhaps the worst current example of friendly, fully-staffed stations and ticket of - how profit threatens safety and rips asun - fices; and extension of safety-critical der public services is that of Southern rail - SAFETY FIRST: guards guards on every single train in the land. protect passengers ways—the busiest lines in the whole UK. But that would have required coordina - Under privatisation, French-owned The roots of current battles to keep tion, rational planning, and a system Govia has the franchise, and has caused safety critical guards on our trains, and to driven by public need not private greed; it absolute mayhem and meltdown for pas - stop cuts to station staff, ticket offices, sig - would need renationalisation of the entire sengers, whilst treating their staff like nalling and track maintenance, go back to railway network, with a democratic system slaves to be punished for daring to stand the McNulty Report of May 2011. of working class control and management. up for public safety. Titled Rail Value for Money Study it was Instead of that, we’ve suffered the con - When train drivers took industrial action commissioned by the Labour government sequences of privatisation before and to stop the company breaching safety but published and enthusiastically em - since the McNulty report—a document agreements, they grabbed £250,000 from braced by the subsequent Tory/Lib Dem which scorned the option of an integrated ASLEF through the courts, seized drivers’ Coalition. public rail network, and instead made mobile phones to gather evidence on in - As the late socialist RMT leader Bob many of the proposals for savage cuts dustrial action, and removed their travel Crow wrote at the time, “The basic mes - and assaults on safety that are being concessions. sage of the McNulty report is that rail work - rammed through right now. Hot on the heels of this, the same ers and passengers are being asked to Passenger numbers have rocketed bosses have tried to bypass the RMT to pay the price of privatisation. The multitude since the mid-1990s. In Scotland, pas - enforce Driver Only trains—and this week of private competing interests who make senger journeys have exploded by 35 per the same company announced a phe - up our fragmented industry are not only let cent in the last 10 years, to 93 million a nomenal 27 per cent rise in their profits— off the hook, but are given even more pow - year. But rolling stock has lagged drasti - to £99.8million for the year up to July. ers based on the same crackpot ideology cally behind the booming numbers of pas - Anticipating public anger on their profi - that led to the original privatisation.” sengers. For instance, a recent report teering chief executive, David Brown, has Sir Roy McNulty ignored the damning showed only one new seat on Scotland’s waived his annual bonus and this year’s evidence against privatisation that his trains for every 3,300 extra passenger salary increase. However we should add he own study unearthed. journeys over 10 years!

6 • scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com • issue 483 WORKPLACE hind the cost-cutting crusade to get rid of guards, regardless of the cost to public for public safety safety. It’s only the courageous strike ac - tion by the same guards that has stayed SUPPORT THE GUARDS: their hands. the SSP calls for every one of the current 600 During the RMT strikes, the govern - guards’ posts to be ment and Abellio were quick to repeat that retained, undiluted, with 57 per cent of ScotRail trains are already full control of train DOO. But whilst there are 600 guards on dispatch and demand the minority share of trains, there are only that it be extended to a guard on EVERY train 300 Ticket Examiners employed to staff the 57 per cent! Monitoring by drivers in recent months proves at least 20 per cent of DOO trains run without even a second crew mem - ber—with all the horrendous potential safety consequences. Alongside that, by the SNP government’s own admission, 70 per cent of all Scotland’s stations are totally unstaffed. That’s a factor behind several heartbreaking incidents of Fares have leapt up to the dearest in lying on a cheap, integrated, safe rail serv - disabled people being left stranded on the Europe—30 per cent higher than the av - ice? No, by their deeds, the SNP have im - station at night, with no station staff, or erage in Sweden, France, Switzerland itated the actions of other pro-big business guard, or Ticket Examiner to help them. and Holland (homeland of Abellio!), for in - parties when it comes to the railways. The SSP strongly supports the rail stance. As far back as May 2012, under Alex unions’ campaigns to ensure safe trains. The McNulty plan for savage cuts ear - Salmond’s government, the Scottish par - We call for every one of the current 600 marked 35 per cent of all ‘savings’ to liament’s Infrastructure and Capital In - guards’ posts to be retained, undiluted, come through staff cuts. And the govern - vestment Committee left us in no doubt with full control of train dispatch and de - ment and train profiteers have gone about about their intentions. mand that it be extended to a guard on this business like demented axemen, with They stated, in black and white: “We EVERY train. rampant closure of ticket offices, cuts to heard ideas that Transport Scotland could station staff, reduction of infrastructure use to ensure that efficiency savings rec - The SSP’s track record and maintenance crews, and concerted ommended in the McNulty Report are re - We want every station to be staffed, removal of guards—one thing the rival alised... Passengers care little about how with a ticket office, and provision for pas - train companies certainly agree on and the franchise is run... paving the way to - senger comfort and safety. coordinate their plans for. wards meeting the targets recommended We call for full investment in infrastruc - by the McNulty Review...” ture and maintenance. Passengers suffer So instead of using the powers already And the SSP goes even further, to cam - In the case of Scotland, successive devolved to set a clear, inspiring example paign for an integrated, fare-free public franchise-holders—First Group and Abel - of what could de - transport system, a measure to combat lio—have been hellbent on extending liver regarding rail services, the SNP poverty and pollution, a policy that would Driver Only Operations (DOO). In this grabbed onto the poisoned plans of Mc - generate vast numbers of new and skilled they are carrying out the explicit aims of Nulty and sought to implement them. jobs for this and future generations. the McNulty report to the letter: Of course some welcome investment Railworkers and passengers alike “The default position for all services on the and improvements have been imple - should study the track record of the pro- UK rail network should be DOO, with a sec - mented. But not a finger has been lifted capitalist parties in contrast with that of ond member of train crew only being pro - by the SNP to remove the profit motive Scotland’s socialist party, the SSP. vided where there is a commercial, technical from the service, despite all the evidence The first set stands up for profit through or other imperative” (McNulty, May 2011). in favour of public ownership that Mc - privatisation, with safety consequences, But McNulty was a Westminster plan, Nulty’s research inadvertently provided. and rampant waste to the public purse. initiated by New Labour, pursued by the Instead of ScotRail being taken into In contrast, the SSP campaigns for dem - Coalition and Tory governments. Scottish government control in 2014, the ocratic public ownership of our railways However, transport is a devolved issue SNP handed it over to Dutch government and wider transport services, to ensure in - in Scotland, with control in the hands of control, via the Dutch state-owned Abellio. vestment in people’s needs and safety— the Holyrood government—the SNP gov - and as demanded by McNulty, the Trans - as part of the broader aims we share with ernment, elected on claims to be anti-aus - port Scotland arm of the SNP government the RMT union Rule Book, which declares, terity and to be ‘Stronger for Scotland’. insisted on extension of DOO as a clause “for the supercession of the capitalist sys - Which Scotland?! The Scotland of Scot in the franchise awarded to Abellio. It’s the tem by a socialistic order of society”. Rail workers and working class people re - hand of SNP government that lurks be - Join us in that struggle.

issue 483 • scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com • 7 MEDIA Scotland’s media needs real radical action to win back public confidence says Paul Holleran, journalism and court and and demand for better balanced although there is a real Scottish Organiser NUJ council reporting, which are life news and current affairs opportunity to turn that around. blood issues for communities. coverage. In recent years results from THERE ARE many people What is happening at local The hiring or retaining of public and internal surveys across Scotland who are totally authority level and in our courts quality reporters, writers and which show a lack of sceptical about the “mainstream is about public awareness and sub-editors would be an satisfaction from those who media” with academic surveys in accountability. However many obvious solution for me and watch the news and recent years which show a seri - newspapers and media present and future members of entertainment and also those ous mistrust of journalists. organisations are not delivering the NUJ and that is top of our who deliver it have been largely One such investigation into in this field anymore and this agenda. ignored with little action taken. the plummeting relationship undermines local democracy. As national and local papers Demonstrations outside between the public and media Democracy requires an continue to come under Pacific Quay along with non- instigated a two year project by informed public. No governing pressure to attract advertisers stop campaigning on social University of Law body, private company or and subscribers it is not good media highlighted the School. As part of a diverse public service organisation enough to continue on the complaints of a certain section team of individuals I was should think they are free of current road. The very future of of the public. However the hopeful of the project scrutiny by the press, as it goes some titles and newspaper wider discontent appears to delivering an extensive report without saying, accountability groups are at risk following have been ignored or that could provide a set of would diminish and vanish with Brexit, which has accelerated minimised until now. solutions which could turn all the follow-on implications. the decline in various ways. The question is what are they around the downward spiral of An essential aspect of this The price of newsprint has going to do about it? the fourth estate. ongoing crisis and public soared since the EU However it never happened disengagement, is the reduction referendum, pension scheme Licence fee for various reasons and the in the ability of the media to deficits are raising their ugly An impressive business plan search continues for some of us expose people to varying heads again and share prices for the expansion of BBC with a view to protecting and opinions or views contrary to have dropped worryingly in Scotland was submitted in 2015 restoring an essential element their own. recent weeks. by a management team set up of a functioning democracy. The state of the industry and to turn things around. Without stating the bleeding Solutions to explore reasons for decline are complex It was then scandalously obvious that it is a tough time It would be wrong to suggest but the dialogue on how restore kicked into the long grass, with for print journalism, there needs the media give equal or even a healthy press and media in top brass in London blaming to be wider recognition that proportional representation to Scotland needs to be stepped the latest politically driven bad newspapers do many things that all opinions and many people up. Newspapers should be licence fee settlement. can’t be replaced. use that as an excuse or reason recognised as community assets The NUJ campaign Or at least they should and for not reading a newspaper or and where they are at risk of supporting the 2015 business could do things if newsrooms watching television news. closure or not capable of plan was backed by cross-party were properly resourced. Maybe that is one of the delivering for the public, they support and pressure at As jobs continue to be solutions we need to explore, should be taken into ownership Holyrood and Westminster has slashed year on year, there is with current owners taking in co-operative form. continued. less time for investigative cognisance of the public need The NUJ will be holding a Maybe the joint demands of conference before the end of the unions, politicians and most the year to step up the level of importantly the public will now engagement and increase have the desired effect and meaningful discussion on how persuade Tony Hall and his Fill in this formJ and osend iit tno: Sc ottishh Sociealist P aSrty, SuSite 37P 0, we as a country can save its team to throw their weight 4th Floor, Central Chambers, 93 Hope St, Glasgow G2 6LD. Or phone: indigenous press and go some behind that original plan. 07810205747. Or join the SSP online: scottishsocialistparty.org/join-us way to enhancing our Maybe they will see that the g I would like to join the Scottish Socialist Party democracy as we look to an Scottish public demand more g I would like more info on the Scottish Socialist Party uncertain future. for their licence fees in the Name...... The fight also continues for a shape of more qualitative and Address...... better resourced BBC Scotland. quantitative news and current ...... There is a complacency within affairs, as well as vastly more Phone...... certain circles of senior drama and music originated in management at Pacific Quay, Scotland for Scots and for the Email...... that borders on delusional, rest of the world.

8 • scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com • issue 483 POVERTY Life of a child growing up in poverty by Katie Bonnar, SSP co-spokesperson

THE RECENT government survey on multiple deprivation has again highlighted the issue of child poverty something that has been around since Victorian times. When we consider the Victo - rians, many of us will conjure up images of poor children like Oliver Twist, growing up in ab - ject poverty and condemned to DISTURBING: one in a life of drudgery. four children in Thankfully, the 21st century Britain live in poverty (PHOTO: Simon Whittle) brought with it the ideas of state intervention, technology and their chances of escaping poverty Poor children often have to classrooms and recently, an ad - medicine along with basic rights when they grow up. forgo events that more of us ditional £100million has been in the workplace. It is therefore At age five, a gap begins to would take for granted, like pledged to schools in conjunc - disturbing to think that for some appear between a child growing school trips, holidays or even tion with more power being children, the Victorian era does up in poverty and a child from having friends over for dinner. given to head teachers to decide not feel like a distant memory a more affluent background in As parent(s) are likely to be where it should be spent. and in fact is more reflective of terms of numeracy and literacy. working in low wage jobs often On paper this sounds like a their life today. Studies from the Joseph with anti-social hours, and it is good thing but the £100million It is estimated that one in four Rowntree Foundation show the unlikely they will be able to allocated to schools is dwarfed children in Britain are living in learning gap can be as much as spend as much time with their by the £300million that has been poverty. This statistic increases ten months. This attainment gap child and participating in worth - cut from councils across the for areas in Glasgow or even the increases the older children get. while activities like reading. board. As a teacher, I welcome recently named poorest area in The impact of persistent Reading from a young age is the extra resources for schools Scotland, Ferguslie Park where poverty on a child is huge. Chil - directly linked to attainment in but I am doubtful it will make a one in three children are living dren living in poverty are twice schools. These experiences en - huge amount of difference. in poverty. as likely to live in bad housing rich a child’s life and increase Poverty has to be tackled at which has an impact on their their cultural capital which in turn the root for a real difference to Life chances mental and physical health. will improve their life chances. be made. People need to earn These statistics should not Fuel poverty is a major con - higher wages and have secure come as a surprise as they have tributor to poor conditions, as Cycle of deprivation contracts of employment. been widely reported, however, many families have to make the With all of these different fac - Affordable, good quality social it is important that we under - basic choice between eating and tors influencing a child’s life, it housing should be built and allo - stand what this means practi - heating their home. is no wonder they fall behind cated to the people who need it. cally for these children. How The communities of depriva - their more affluent peers. Free child care would make a does it impact their life chances? tion are more likely to be of poor They are less prepared and massive difference to families, es - As a teacher, unsurprisingly, quality housing which has an less able to learn. At age five, pecially lone parent households. my focus is the relationship be - impact on mental health but also the pattern has set in and it be - Perhaps some of the £100mil - tween education and child on general morale. Facilities like comes almost predictable that lion for schools could be put to - poverty. A good quality educa - playgrounds are more likely to the cycle of deprivation will wards providing free school tion can hugely improve a be run down and vandalised. continue. Whole generations of meals for all children instead of child’s chances in life. Children from low income children are practically written stigmatising the very poorest. Leaving school with good families are more likely to weigh off and condemned like their Until some of these ideas are exam results is not the be all and less at birth, suffer from chronic Victorian counterparts to a life implemented, child poverty will end all but it can lead to more pos - illness during childhood or have of drudgery. This is an outrage continue to exist. More genera - itive destinations after schools, a disability. This can be linked to in the 21st century. tions will leave school with lit - such as further education or better poor quality housing and poor The SNP government has tle or no exam results and the job prospects. For children grow - diet. Even as children, this group made ‘closing the attainment cycle will continue. It is time to ing up in poverty, they are signif - has a shorter life expectancy gap’ its priority. The Education tackle poverty at its heart and icantly less likely to achieve good than children from higher in - Minister, John Swinney has been make a real difference to the exam results — which reduces come households would. tasked with raising standards in lives of thousands of children.

issue 483 • scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com • 9 COLIN FOX Neoliberal crisis and the socialist indy case by Colin Fox, SSP co-spokesperson their time after being denied the dignity ironic because the same SNP has bought they deserved in their final years. into neoliberalism in a big way. So their sup - THE SCOTTISH Government published Cuthbert is not the First Minister’s only port reflects, at one and the same time, the its annual Expenditure and Revenue fig - critic. The Bank of Scotland reports that backlash against Labour and neoliberalism, ures [GERS] recently showing a marked half the firms in the oil and gas industry and an unknowing endorsement of it. decline in North Sea oil revenues and a intend to make further redundancies on Like the other movements Jacques £14.8billion deficit. SNP leader Nicola top of the 45,000 jobs already lost. For - identifies the SNP have absorbed ‘an in - Sturgeon tried to deflect attention by claim - mer RBS Chief Economist Sir Jeremy choate expression of resentment and ing Scotland’s ‘onshore economy was Peat agrees ‘The Scottish economy is in protest’. But as David Marquand asks in strong’ and returned to her favourite theme a parlous state with Scottish GDP close The New Statesman ‘what use is a social of preventing Scotland’s exit from the EU. to standstill.’ democratic party if it doesn’t represent the Labour meanwhile seized on the fig - And Professor Brian Ashcroft’s ‘Scottish less fortunate?’ ures. Ian Murray claimed Scotland had Economy Watch’ concludes ‘there is And there’s the rub. For the SNP can - ‘dodged a bullet’ by rejecting independ - much to worry about concerning the fu - not serve and overthrow neoliberalism at ence as the UK economy was in rude ture growth of the Scottish economy’. the same time. So which is it to be? health and capable of protecting us from Real wages will continue to decline he The YES side lost the argument over dramatic falls in our living standards. concludes this year and next. currency last time because the SNP did The fact is they are both wrong. For nei - The Purchasing Managers Index con - not persuade voters Sterling was control - ther the Scottish economy nor the UK’s cludes the labour market is continuing to lable. Now the architect of that ‘let’s keep are in good shape. weaken as job losses dampen demand the pound’ strategy Joseph Stiglitz has The respected economist [and inde - further leading to lower wages, greater conceded it was a mistake. He now pendence supporter] Margaret Cuthbert casualisation, a decline in investment, a favours the Scottish Socialist Party’s op - of Stirling University slammed the GERS fall in Scottish export volumes and further tion of having our own currency. figures writing ‘It is far from good enough public sector austerity. for the First Minister to say ‘…the funda - The omens for the UK economy are just SNP’s currency struggle mentals of our economy are strong’. as poor. The collapse in oil prices should But in a sign the SNP is still struggling It is becoming a trademark of the SNP have acted as a stimulus to growth but with the issue George Kerevan MP ar - Government that important statements the fall in demand has been too much for gues for a separate currency pegged to are not backed up by relevant data.’ this reduction to counteract. Sterling before admitting it would mean She asked why the SNP is spending so The Purchasing Managers index for Au - five years of austerity to build up the nec - little on ‘social protection’ when the in - gust concluded ‘The UK economy is con - essary reserves. equalities are so immense? tracting at its fastest rate since 2008. The Whilst the SNP is wedded to neoliber - unprecedented month-on-month fall in all alism, the Scottish Socialist Party wants Damning indictment sectors of the economy has increased the an economy built around good wages, It is a timely question, for this week, the chances of the UK sliding into recession. quality public services, taxes on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation was Confidence about the year ahead is at its wealthy, public investment and owner - published, showing the same urban work - lowest level since February 2009’. ship, labour market protection and much ing class areas that have topped the table ‘The Bank of England is not very confi - narrower income distribution. for the past three decades are still there. dent about the future of the UK economy’ Unlike the SNP we also favour nation - The statistics are a damning indictment of concluded BBC Economics Editor Kamal alisation of Scotland’s North Sea oil in - UK and Scottish Governments past and Ahmed understating the announcement dustry. That way the profits come to the present, Tory, Labour and SNP. by Governor Mark Carney that base rates Treasury not the world’s richest compa - What happened many will ask to the had been cut to 0.25 per cent in yet an - nies. There is huge wealth to be gener - SNP’s promise to eradicate fuel poverty other attempt to stimulate demand. ated in the North Sea for decades to in this energy rich nation by 2015? What Commenting on this evidence Martin come both in oil exploration and in de - happened to their promise to replace the Jacques [ Observer 22/8/16] points out that commissioning the existing infrastructure. unjust Council tax with a fairer alterna - Western economies have stagnated for a With the industry in such a poor state tive? What happened to their promise to decade now. He argues that the era of ne - and the cost of borrowing so low now is build much needed social housing for the oliberalism may be over. There are signs, the ideal time to take the sector back into 170,000 families waiting on the list? he concludes, that popular movements are public hands and reap rich rewards for fu - Patience will again be urged by SNP emerging across the Western world to ture generations. Ministers as more youngsters from Fer - challenge its erstwhile ‘hegemony’. Mobilising Scotland’s working class ma - guslie Park are failed by school, as more The revolts whilst politically incoherent jority behind that kind of vision is the way young men from Barlanark end up in jail, are nonetheless encapsulated in the move - to win Independence. as more teenage mothers in Muirhouse ments around Trump, Sanders, Corbyn, Le step onto the poverty treadmill and more Pen, Brexit and the SNP says Jacques. • This article was recently published the elderly people in Drumchapel die before If he is right, and he could well be, it is Morning Star

10 • scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com • issue 483 ENVIRONMENT Lakeland lather over National Trust plans by Roz Paterson HOPPING MAD! Melvyn Bragg argued, “Had a billionaire bullied his way IT’S ALL goin’ on down in Bor - into this disgraceful rowdale this week, following the purchase there would have National Trust’s barnstorming been a deserved outcry.” bid—£950,000, since you ask— But until the land-ownership for the lands pertaining to Thor - laws change, maybe this is the best that can be done neythwaite Farm in the Lake District, a farm worked by gen - erations of sheep farmers, and probably familiar to Wordsworth, certainly to Melvyn Bragg, that other Lakeland son, who equated the NT with a Trump-esque ‘billionaire bully’. Why? Because they didn’t buy the actual farmhouse, signalling that the end is probably nigh for all those centuries of tradition; because they outbid all the farm - with drought and deluge taking course, make them easy to shoot. Furthermore, sheep-farming ers who wanted this sublime up where our temperate climate In some corners, notably those is deeply unprofitable. Farmers patch of Olde England; and be - seems to have left off, we need occupied by the NFU, the Bor - make a slim margin, and that’s cause they’re going in for that trees and vegetation, we need rowdale stand-off is being char - including the EU subsidies that new-fangled ‘re-wilding’ busi - twisting rivers full of branches acterised as the traditional town can account for 60 per cent of a ness beloved of urban hipsters and fallen trees, to suck up the versus countryside one; a battle farm’s income. Post-Brexit, it who wouldn’t know a Swaledale sudden, tempestuous rain be - that has been raging since could get even less plausible. Tup if it rammed them up the fore it floods the valleys, or Johnny Town Mouse spat out a But what of Melvyn Bragg’s arse, instead of letting country slow it down as it courses into thistle-seed and took the ham - claim, that the NT is nothing but folk do what they’ve always towns and villages. per home to town. a monied thug, pushing out the done, come hail or high water. That’s what re-wilding means But should ‘townies’ really be little guy? Yeah? Actually, the High water is actually one of in this context—returning to a shoved out the debate about the NT is no more a person than a the points to this, as anyone fa - natural state, to combat the fate of our (rapidly diminishing) multi-national corporation is. miliar with the downside of worst excesses of our now countryside? Couldn’t it be said It is a massive, well-supported sheep-farming may already volatile climate. that it is the very practises of the charity that has, in its time, saved have guessed. We are vocal in lambasting countryside—the intensive important buildings from ruin, Brazilian farmers for felling the farming, the monocultures, the and beautiful and important Ecological disaster rainforest to plant soya beans disastrous but traditional pattern landscapes from development. Sheep-farming is described by and farm cattle, so why would of land-ownership—that have It is unfortunate that, as land- George Monbiot, in his book we approve the continued de - played a huge part in bringing ownership laws stand today, the Feral , as “a slow-burning ecolog - nuding of our own land? us to this pass? only way to save places for the ical disaster, which has done more In Scotland, re-wilding is people is to stump up the cash to damage to the living systems of afoot, with little patches of We’re all connected actually buy them. But until this country than either climate Caledonian forest taking root in The urban/rural divide is these laws change, maybe this is change or industrial pollution.” substantial corners here and surely a false one. We are all the best that can be done. Sheep graze like no other do - there, to pretty universal ap - connected, our actions impact William Wordsworth may not mestic animal; they eat the land - proval. Far from lamenting the on each other; a fact brought have approved of a forested scape down to the bone, to the greening-over of Queen Victo - home to us by the harsh realities Lake District, but then he prob - point where it cannot recover by ria’s brigadoon, many of us are of global warming. ably wouldn’t have been greatly itself. Hence a Lakeland land - excited to see what a natural It is sad to see traditions that inspired by the tailbacks of hol - scape of sweeping, barren hill - Scotland would look like. served generations pass, but iday traffic that clog Grasmere’s sides and panoramic views. Even the escapee Beavers on pass they must. narrow, windy roads every high It is this very starkness of the Tay are being cheered on by Few would argue now that day and holiday. which the poets wrote, but it isn’t the peeps, with the notable ex - whale-hunting has any place in He did urge that we “Come how it was before man took over, ception of landowners who make our economy and culture, yet forth into the light of things, Let and it is argued, strongly, that it is their money keeping our wild - once it did, and the countries that Nature be your teacher.” no longer a landscape that serves. nernesses heathery and barren, in continue the practice in the name And that, perhaps, is all we In these days of climate change, order to breed game birds and, of of tradition are vilified for it. can do now.

issue 483 • scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com • 11 for Socialism, Independence and Internationalism Issue 483 9th – 22nd September 2016 email: [email protected] scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com Promoted by Jim McVicar on behalf of the Scottish Socialist Party, Suite 370, Central Chambers, 93 Hope Street, Glasgow G2 6LD. Printed by Forward Graphics, Elderpark Workspace, 100 Elderpark Street, Glasgow G51 3TR Celtic fans’ £188,80 0 Palestine solidarity by Liam McLaughlin

VOICE READERS will be probably be aware that in the most recent home match in the Uefa Champions League, Celtic fans were beamed across TV screens and social media channels around the world in a show of peaceful and dignified solidarity with the oppressed people of occupied Palestine as the team took on the Israeli champions, Hapoel Be’er Sheva. The purpose of this article however is not to merely lay out the events of that night but to add some context and attempt to show - case the deeper significance of the actions of the fans, from the perspective of someone who is both a passionate supporter of the Palestinian cause and of Glasgow Celtic. The first things to set out immediately is to address the argument surrounding rela - tionship of politics with sport and in partic - FREE PALESTINE: soon after Celtic fans’ defiant protest last month, images flooded back from ular its relationship with football. Gaza and the West Bank showing Celtic banners and emblems being projected onto buildings Given the history of Celtic is that of a club formed to support the oppressed and united in their political beliefs and their love brutal assault on our workplaces and com - poor of the Irish diaspora who settled in the of their club stuck two fingers up to the cor - munities in the name of neoliberalism, East End of Glasgow in the aftermath of the rupt individuals who unfortunately rule the deregulation and subsequent austerity. Irish potato famine, to not have highlighted roost at the head of European football and Football has the power to bring tens of the increasingly volatile and harrowing re - refused to be bowed by their intimidation thousands of people together and be a force ality of the Israeli occupation and settlement and threats to try silence or discourage their for good, political education and solidarity of Palestine while the Israeli champions democratic right to peaceful protest and of within people who would otherwise con - took to the field of Celtic Park would have political expression. sider politics to be something distant and in itself have been a political statement. As What fills me with the most pride how - for the elites of society. is the very decision of Uefa to allow Israeli ever is the still ongoing #MatchtheFinefor - football teams to even have any involve - Palestine crowd funder. Originally set at the A small price to pay ment in its competitions. ambitious target of £15,000, the cash raised We are however continually mocked, de - is now nearing its £188,800 final target monised and attacked in the press and by Celtic pride (Celtic formed in 1888). Every penny of politicians here in Scotland as we remain This is of course done while Palestinian this crowdsourced fundraising will be sub - the only section of society uniquely subject kids playing football on the beaches of sequently split between Medical Aid for to legislation limiting our right to political Gaza are being murdered and Palestinian Palestinians and a health and social centre expression within the confines of our cho - professional footballers are held in Israeli in occupied Palestine providing support and sen Saturday afternoon entertainment. jails without trial or charge. sporting facilities for the people there. The fans’ actions that evening will result The reaction to the protest, with images Word has reached us back in Glasgow a fine for our club, however in the grand from the occupied Gaza Strip and the West that the intention is to start and fund a foot - scheme of things I’m sure it’s one Voice Bank showing Celtic and Scottish emblems ball team within the centre which will in - readers will agree is a small price to pay for being projected onto buildings and banners clude the name Celtic. shining the light on the illegal Israeli occu - fills me with immense pride. Perhaps the most prevalent point in re - pation of Palestine. Pride that the actions of a group of fans gards to the demonstration is the sheer vol - For those in the Gaza Strip and the West in a corner of Glasgow’s East End have ume of media attention the demonstration Bank, sport and every aspect of their life reached a people under siege and reminded received both within Scotland and in the rest are affected by political decisions made by them that their cause is one with interna - of the world, and the comparative tone of the Israeli government. If our actions have tional support and perhaps given them the coverage received. Football in Scotland helped raise awareness of that reality and much needed strength and solidarity. Pride remains one of the main pillars of working given those people some hope and strength, that a group of largely working class people, class life largely untouched following the no fine in the world could deter us.