Workers of All Countries, Unite!

WORKERS OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!

No 1400 Week commencing 11 August 2006 Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain 50p STOP ISRAELI TERROR NOW!

By our Arab Affairs Correspondent Parliament certainly ISRAELI tanks are must be recalled and at the pouring into Lebanon as governing coalition in territories in Palestine and same time millions must be the Zionists intensified Beirut, endorsed the Leba- it has called on trade unions mobilised for mass protests their strikes on Beirut nese government’s pro- all over the world to stand throughout the country to and southern Lebanon posal to deploy 15,000 on the side of Lebanon and end Britain’s slavish col- on Monday, killing at troops along the frontier Palestine. laboration with Israeli ag- least 33 people in what once a ceasefire is in place In the Middle East, the gression, demand the im- is being called one of the and Israel has withdrawn. Popular Front for the Lib- mediate withdrawal of all bloodiest death tolls in But he was dismissive of eration of Palestine Israeli forces from Leba- Tel Aviv’s ongoing war the Franco-American draft (PFLP) gave its full sup- non and the unconditional of aggression. Israeli proposal at the UN. “The port to the Hezbollah resis- and immediate withdrawal warplanes repeatedly least we can describe this tance fighters. Wisal Farha of all British troops from bombed Beirut’s south- is as unfair and unjust. It Bakdash, the leader of the Iraq and Afghanistan. ern suburbs and has given Israel more than Syrian Communist Party, pounded other areas of it wanted and more than it called on the Arab masses Lebanon, wounding an was looking for,” he de- to unite their efforts and unknown number of ci- clared. their guns in the face of vilians. Israeli naval war- Back in occupied Pal- racist Zionism. The Leba- ships are bombarding estine, Israeli forces have nese Communist Party has Lebanese positions as launched a reign of terror urged the people to stand well as enforcing a sea in a frantic bid to get the steadfast with the Leba- blockade. military wing of the Hamas nese national resistance Nearly a 1,000 Muslim Brotherhood to re- movement, Hezbollah, take Lebanese, most of them lease an Israeli soldier up arms and confront “the civilians, have been killed taken last month. Some 30 hordes of the aggressor in and thousands more injured Palestinian MPs and a third signed a statement in soli defence of our land, our in the Israeli offensive. Up of the Palestinian cabinet sovereignty, our people, to a million more have fled have been arrested in the parties.The and all things we hold sa- their homes to escape the past six weeks. The latest, demonstratorscalled for a cred” and the Jordanian Israeli onslaught. Palestinian Parliamentary prisoner exchange deal communists are calling for Zionist forces carried Speaker Aziz Dweik, was with Hezbollah and Hamas “material and moral support out about 80 air strikes seized on Sunday. A and they urged soldiers to to Lebanon in order to en- Monday night, dropping Hamas spokesman said he refuse to go to Lebanon. able them to stand fast leaflets in areas of south- has been taken to hospital Though the Olmert-led against the fascist aggres- ern Lebanon which warned after being beaten by Is- centre-left coalition is still sors. We call for a unified of an escalation of military raeli guards. The army, riding high in the Israeli Arab stand against the US operations “with extreme which is holding him, denied opinion polls, the peace and Israeli policy of occu- force” in the area. The leaf- the claims. movement is beginning to pation and aggression in lets, dropped by air, say Zi- At the United Nations gain ground as more and Lebanon, Palestine and onist forces will destroy in New York Arab diplo- more Israelis see and pay Iraq”. any moving vehicle in an mats are pressing for sub- the price for this new inva- The pressure is mount- area south of the Litani stantial amendments to the sion of Lebanon. ing against Blair. Scottish FUND River, 30 km – about 18 Franco-American draft The port of Haifa is Labour MP Jim Sheridan miles – from the border Our July fund ended well, resolution that was rejected closed. Israel’s tourist in- has resigned his junior de- with £730.20 arriving in the last with Israel. In Tel Aviv, Is- by Lebanon last weekend. dustry is dead. Millions of fence aide post in protest raeli Defence Minster Amir week, giving a total of £3,181.37, Russia has said it will not Israelis now take to the at the Government’s policy well over our £3,000 target. Peretz admitted that Israel support any resolution shelters at night. Over a 100 to the Middle East after was preparing to occupy And our August fund is off to a which is not endorsed by Israelis have died and earlier expressing his con- very good start with a total of more areas of southern the Lebanese government nearly 2,000 have been cern at the use of British Lebanon. £1,679.10 in, leaving £1,320.90 and People’s China is call- wounded in the month-long airports to refuel US arms to raise to meet our monthly But the Lebanese resis- ing for an immediate conflict according to Tel supply jets bound for Is- tance fights on. Every day £3,000 target. ceasefire – a demand that Aviv. But in southern rael. We have had a magnificent hundreds of rockets rain is opposed by Anglo- Lebanon the Israeli army is Last weekend a down on northern Israel, donation of £1,500 in memory American imperialism and being hit hard by the guer- 100,000 people marched of Comrade Harry Danvers, a forcing hundreds of thou- Israel. rillas. Hezbollah spokes- through London demanding sands of Israelis to flee and darity with the Palestinian founding member of the New In Tel Aviv, the biggest men claim to have hit two and Lebanese people. an immediate ceasefire in Communist Party. disrupting the Israeli demonstration against the Israeli navy corvettes, Lebanon strengthening the army’s supply lines to the Strongly condemning Is- We also thank a Cumbrian war held in Israel until now downedtwo raeli aggression the com- call of more than 130 MPs bee-keeper for £10, a Manches- Lebanese front. took place last Saturday. helicoptergunships and two – half of them Labour and Hezbollah leader munists called for an imme- ter comrade for £60, another Some 10,000 demonstra- warplanes, destroyed 47 diate cease-fire, the re- a number of ex-ministers - Manchester supporter for £10, a Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah tors from all over the coun- tanks and 12 armoured ve- demanding a recall of Par- warned all Israeli Arabs liv- lease of all political prison- south London reader for £30 and try, among them many hicles while maintaining a ers and Israel’s withdrawal liament to debate the cri- another reader for £2.50. ing in Haifa to leave to Arab citizens, marched missile capability, which sis. The move, led by the avoid being hit by resis- from southern Lebanon and We thank you all sincerely through the city centre for has fired over 3,000 rock- all the other occupied ter- centre-left Compass group, and beg you to keep the money tance missile attacks, in a a rally organised by Gush ets into the north of the Zi- is supported by the leaders televised address on ritories. The World Federa- coming. Send whatever you can Shalom (Peace Now), the onist entity. tion of Trade Unions of the Liberal Democrats, to the New Worker Fund or the Wednesday. The Lebanese Communist Party of Israel, Seventy-two commu- Scottish Nationalists and resistance leader, whose (WFTU) has sent a team Press Appeal, both at PO Box progressive Israeli move- nist and workers’ parties of five doctors to occupied Plaid Cymru. 73, London SW11 2PQ. movement is part of the ments and the Israeli Arab including the NCP have Page 2 THE NEW WORKER 11 August 2006 email: [email protected] News Desk 020 7223 4050

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Strapped for cash the opportunity to gain as He made a simple technical police for wrongful arrest and much as five times its value.” analysis of the locking him in the back of a Weekly paper of the New Communist Party The illegal war against anatomicalphysics involved police van while his grade II Iraq is costing the United and was then inspired to de- listed home burned down, full States government a lot Waste disposal sign a circular table,to which of artworks and antiques. Stand by the more than expected – so a woman could be strapped Carlisle had called the fire much that it is being while in labour. He claims this brigade and while waiting for forced to sell of some of When pensioner Vic will be of more use to modern them to arrive he and his wife its vast gold reserves. Smethurst bought a new women who “often do not set about carrying out as In a full page advert washing machine, he solved have theopportunity to de- much of their valuable pos- Arabs in the press last Thursday, the problem of getting rid of velop the muscles needed in sessions as they could. the US government ex- the old one by wrapping it in confinement”. But the police arrived be- The Lebanese national resistance has plained: “Ongoing battles the packaging of the new one The Blonskys claim: “The fore the fire brigade and or- bravely fought the Israeli army to a standstill in in Iraq, the nuclear ambi- and leaving it in his drive in foetus needs the application dered the couple out. Carlisle tions of Iran, and most re- Gravesend in Kent. As he had of considerable propelling told the police: “Don’t be southern Lebanon. The people have stood firm cently, renewed fighting hoped, it was stolen. force” and that the device pro- bloody stupid”. He claims in the face of Israeli terror bombing and a land, between Israel and vides “an apparatus which there was no smoke in the sea and air blockade that has devastated the Hezbollah – Middle East Centrifugal force will assist the under-equipped rooms and six sturdy oak country. Over a 1,000 Lebanese civilians have conflict continues to fuel women by creating a gentle, doors between them and the evenly-distributed, properly died and nearly a million forced to flee their stock market volatility George and Charlotte fire. and the worry that Blonsky of New York have directed, precision-controlled Police claim they locked homes. people’s money is simply devised an electro-mechanical force that acts in unison with the elderly couple in their van But the people have closed ranks behind the not safe.” device that is supposed to and supplements her own ef- to save their lives. They were resistance, the militia of the south Lebanese Hezbollah It then tells worried hasten the labour of childbirth. forts.” forced to watch helplessly as movement, whose rockets are pouring down on northern investors: “Did you George, a mining engineer, their home took 90 minutes to Israel to give the Israelis a dose of the terror the Zionists realise that if you had was inspired when he visited burn down with all their trea- have so routinely given to the Arabs over the past five £25,000 in the bank and the Bronx Zoo and saw a Thwarted sures in it. Now Carlisle is su- then transferred it into heavily pregnant elephant ing the police for failing to decades. Now the Zionists and their masters in Gold [a capital G for their turning herself in circles as obey his orders and prevent- Washington are trying to win through diplomacy what God] at today’s prices, she prepared to deliver a 250- Edmund Carlisle, 84, a re- ing him from directing the has eluded them on the battlefield for the past four weeks. your money would have pound baby. tired army captain is suing the firefighters when they arrived. Those Lebanese who believed that France, their old colonial master, would protect their interests have learnt a bitter lesson these past few days. Franco-German imperialism certainly does want to build a European Union Planning for the post-Blair era presence in the region and they are ready to exploit the The Labour Representation Committee conference situation while Anglo-American imperialism is bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan. The draft resolution is THE MAIN item on the executive statement for the ment to public services, op- PCE general secretary Mark intended to pave the way for the despatch of up to 15,000 agenda at the annual confer- conference, which said: “The position to civil service cuts, French troops to southern Lebanon under some sort of Serwotka and NUJ general sec- ence of the Labour Represen- Blair era is slowly grinding to for a Trade Union Freedom retary Jeremy Dear. UN mandate but Lebanese national demands have been tation Committee in London an nd. It is increasingly ac- Bill, support for lesbian, gay, ignored. last month was MP John cepted that within 12 to 18 bisexual and transgender The draft UN resolution concocted by American McDonnell’s announcement months the Prime Minister will rights, opposition to the “war and French imperialism seeks to reward Israel for its that, on Tony Blair’s retire- resign. Events my even over- on terror”, support for Ven- take him sooner. This pre- aggression by demanding that the fighting Lebanese ment as prime minister, he ezuela and an emergency would stand against Gordon sents the Left with two seri- unilaterally lay down their arms without an immediate Israeli resolution on the Middle East. Brown as successor. ous challenges: able to implement all the other withdrawal or a complete Israeli cessation of hostilities. This would force a vote “First, how the Left re- resolutions. It proposes a “buffer zone” entirely on Lebanese and a full debate of policies sponds to the present attempt But the key resolution, territory while making only the vaguest references to the within the Labour Party. All by the Prime Minister to se- on which all the others Arab demands for the release of prisoners in Israeli jails and individual members would cure in his last months his hinged, was backing for John the return of the Shebaa Farms, a patch of Lebanon in the have to be balloted and all ‘legacy agenda’. McDonnell’s leadership chal- Golan Heights still occupied by Israel. affiliated unions would have “Second, how the Left lenge. challenges for the future of the The imperialists imagined that the Lebanese to ballot their members. If this succeeds, it could Given the current level of post Blair Labour Party.” government would fall on its knees last weekend and accept result in a Labour leadership dissatisfaction among It covers the New Labour both willing andable to imple- whatever France and America had to offer at the United Labour rank and file members intentions to eradicate the last ment all the other resolutions. Nations. They believed that the craven and venal politicians with both Blair and Brown, vestiges of the social and po- Among the within the Lebanese government who had led the movement this would mean that Brown’s litical model inherited from organisations present at the to force the Syrian peace-keepers out last year would once succession would be far from past labour governments and conference were the Fire Bri- again collaborate with the imperialist agenda for the Middle secure. It could lead to a dra- to install the foundations of a gades Union and the RMT East. They have been proved wrong. matic change in the party and market state. transport union. Both of The Lebanese government, backed by the Arab its policies. And it issues a call: “For these unions are no longer The current LRC has now the next 12 to 18 months the League, has rejected the draft and called for significant affiliated to the Labour Party been in existence for just two aim of the Left must be to cam- in protest at cuts and amendments. The first call is for an immediate ceasefire, the years and is based on the paign in the party, in our privatisation policies which lifting of the blockade and the speedy withdrawal of all Israeli historic Labour Representa- unions and in every have had an adverse effect troops. The Lebanese are ready to accept a strengthened tion Committee that first organisation available to us to on union members. The PCS UN presence in concert with the deployment of their own founded the Labour Party. hold back the ‘legacy agenda’ union, which never was af- army to the south once the Israelis have gone. But they The conference began of privatisations, attacks on filiated to the Labour Party, insist that Israel hands over maps of the minefields planted with a review of the LRC’s civil liberties and nuclear risk. was also there. during Israel’s past occupation of the south of their country. progress since last year’s “The LRC commits itself to There were calls for these conference. Individual mem- supporting at local and na- They want a prisoner exchange to free some if not all the unions to affiliate to the bership now exceeds 1,000; tional levels campaigns to Labour Party in order to play Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners held in Israel and they it has more than 100 affiliated protect public services such a fuller role in fighting for want the return of the Shebaa Farms. organisations and claims to as ‘Keep the NHS Public’ and change. The three general Washington and Tel Aviv must realise that they be the biggest rank and file ‘Public Services not Private secretaries – Matt Wrack, cannot dictate the course of events in the Middle East any left Labour organisation. Profit’.” Bob Crow and Mark longer. An end to the conflict in Lebanon must meet the Among those attending This statement was en- Serwotka – indicated their legitimate demands of the Lebanese people for peace and the conference were four del- dorsed unanimously – as personal agreement. security and an end to Israeli interference. The Shebaa Farms egates from the New Commu- were 10 other resolutions sub- This was a conference mitted by affiliated that Israel seized in the 1967 war must be returned to Lebanon. nist Party, which is affiliated marked by its unity of pur- to the LRC. organisations. Finally the imperialists on both sides of the Atlantic pose and without divisions The LRC issued an These included opposi- or splits. There were rousing and both sides of the Rhine must recognise that there is no tion to state funding of politi- speeches from John way for stability in the region except through a just and cal parties or a cap on dona- McDonnell, veteran cam- comprehensive peace settlement to the Arab-Israeli struggle. tions – which would under- paigner Tony Benn, Jeremy This must include Israel’s complete pull out of the occupied mine the link between the Corbyn MP, Bob Wareing Arab territories with the establishment of an independent unions and the party. MP, Alice Mahon MP, Lyn Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza and the Other resolutions called Jones MP, RMT general sec- for the renationalisation of the restoration of the Palestinian Arabs legitimate rights retary Bob Crow, FBU gen- rail transport system, commit- including the right of return of the refugees to their homes eral secretary Matt Wrack, or adequate compensation if they so choose. 11 August 2006 THE NEW WORKER Page 3 Home News Newsdesk 020 7223 4050 Massive protest at Israeli attack on Lebanon

AROUND 100,000 people gathered in Hyde Park last Saturday to take part in a protest match to Parliament Square, via Grosvenor Square and the United States Embassy, to tell the British and Ameri- can governments to stop supporting the illegal Is- raeli attacks on the Leba- non and Palestine. The march included people from all walks of life: community and reli- gious groups, trade unions and progressive political organisations. These included a sect of Jews who are opposed to Zionism. There were many yel- low Hezbollah flags carried and chants of: “We are all Hezbollah” – recognising that south Lebanon has no other ef- raeli raids on Lebanon. Speaking for the Tri- fective defence force to Meanwhile at dent Ploughshares peace combat the imperialist- Prestwick airport in Scot- group, David McKenzie backed Israeli invasion. land, other anti-war pro- said the protesters had The march, around 20 testers demonstrated boarded a US plane at the abreast, took over 90 min- against the use of the air- airport after gaining access utes to pass through Park field as a refuelling point for to it by cutting through a Lane on its way to US Air Force planes car- perimeter fence. They Grosvenor Square. It rying supplies of bombs to found the plane with its moved slowly at first as it the Israeli government, for doors open. turned into the bottleneck immediate use against the McKenzie said: of North Audley Street civilian population of the “We’ve been told that and into Grosvenor Lebanon. Prestwick is no longer be- Square. These protests contin- ing used by the US military After that, in the in- ued throughout the week- to transport hazardous ma- tense heat, it became very end. On Sunday four terials but we suspect that spread out, with the rear people were arrested after is not true. of the march taking sev- demonstrators broke “Unless citizens take it eral hours to reach Parlia- through security fencing into their own hands to find ment Square. onto the main runway. out what’s going on then no As it passed the Ceno- And on Monday 12 one will really know.” taph, many marchers laid protesters were arrested One of the protesters children’s shoes to mark after they boarded a plane was sitting in the pilot’s seat the very high number of to search for US weapons reading a manual when he child casualties from Is- being transported to Israel. was arrested. Page 4 THE NEW WORKER 11 August 2006 Features Emblems to Internet in Cuba: tool for be proud of development

by Rob Gowland IN A CONSUMERIST soci- informatics programmes under- ety, the Internet service is way which have shown positive ON THE Wednesday of the just another commodity; while results in supporting general edu- ACTU’s [Australian Confed- in Cuba it is considered a cation - with 100 percent of the eration of Trade Unions] Na- valuable tool for the country’s nation’s students involved, from tional Day of Action against economic and social develop- primary level all the way up to the Federal Government’s ment. the university. Cuba is advanc- industrial relations laws, The use of that service allows ing rapidly in computer education Sydney Communist Party of people to access the most diverse due to the University of Computer Australia members joined and current sources of scientific, Science (UCI) with its 8,000 stu- trade unionists and other po- technical and cultural information, dents and because of the litical activists in a rally at thereby allowing the enrichment country’s 26 polytechnical Blacktown Showground, in national research and under- informatics schools, with 40,000 Sydney’s western suburbs. standing. To meet such an objec- students enrolled. At the conclusion of the tive is not an easy task, consid- To guarantee what has been speeches, the rally was led off ering that the island possesses called the “informatisation of on a march from the limited economic resources and Cuban society,” the Informatics Showground, past the railway sta- must pay for the Internet with its Ministry is making costly and di- tion and the office of the local equally limited hard currency. verse investments, mainly in the Federal MP (a Lib, I am in- Added to this situation is the expansion and digitalization of the formed) and eventually back to expense of the service stemming telecommunications network and the Showground for a concert. from Washington’s economic in increasing band widths, while In the course of the march, I blockade against the island. This giving priority to the Ministries of found myself and some other prevents Cuba from having un- Education, Higher Education and comrades marching immediately derwater fibre optic cables and Health. behind a small group of militant forces the country to use the With this we can show that trade unionists from one of the costly, slow and lower capacity the Internet and information are larger unions. satellites for communication. tools for development. That is not We were carrying our Party Given this circumstance, Cuba a simplistic statement; it is a con- banner and whenever the march has had no other choice but to crete expression with tangible paused in its progress we loomed prioritise the use of its informa- results. “This is only the begin- up on their heels. Eventually they tion technology by supporting in- ning,” said President Fidel Castro looked around to see what the big stitutions and individuals directly recently, on the occasion of the banner was that they were im- involved in socio-economic, sci- first one millionth Cuban who had mediately in front of. • A proud moment for all communists – the hammer and sickle flies entific-technical and cultural de- enrolled in a Youth Computer As most readers probably over Berlin in the Second World War. velopment. Centre. know, our Party banners feature trenched. In Western Europe, on quickly dissipated. I remember, The significant efforts have Radio Havana Cuba the CPA logo: the hammer and the other hand, despite all the at- during the huge demonstration been made to advance and sickle over the Southern Cross. tempts to portray the hammer against Bush, Howard and broaden current programmes, The hammer and sickle of course and sickle, for example, as a Blair’s imminent attack on Iraq, among them the Youth Computer is the international symbol of the “Russian” emblem, popular dem- with so many people crammed and Electronic Centres, with 600 unity of the industrial workers onstrations by workers and left into Sydney’s Hyde Park you fre- presently operating in the 169 ON 3RD JULY Shanghai sent its with the small farmers and land- students continued to feature quently literally could not move, municipalities across the island. first group of 22 tourists to Ti- less rural workers. plentiful hammer and sickle flags a woman asked an anarchist The INFOMED Information bet on the world’s highest rail- That the group of young (and still do today). standing near me where she Network is another important way. They came back on 13th unionists in front of us were As for South and Central could buy a particular T-shirt. programme which emerged in the July after what they described startled by our banner was in- America, South Africa, the Indian He said, “they have them on 1990’s as a solution to the chal- as 10 unforgettable days. stantly obvious: they hurriedly sub-continent and of course the the CPA stall”, looked over the lenge of rationally sharing the Jenny Shao’s sun-burned conferred with one another and Middle East, the hammer and heads of the crowd for our ban- country’s limited resources. cheeks and ethnic fashion acces- then, as Australians always do sickle flourishes. ner, spotted it and told her “See, INFOMED is where the best sories made her stand out among when confronted by something TV viewers watching the re- over there where the hammer existing information on medicine the crowds at the Shanghai Rail- outside their immediate sphere of cent clash between the people of and sickle is”. No antagonism, no exists on the Internet. way Station yesterday. cultural reference, they laughed. Nepal and their reactionary king hostility, no paranoia. Thanks to this, dozens of re- “The train ride was around 60 Then one of them, bolder than could hardly have missed the fre- We may have restored the search institutions can communi- hours in total, but really it was his mates, asked us, “What’s the quent close-ups of the flags car- hammer and sickle in Australia cate with other healthcare insti- worth it,” Shao, a businesswoman hammer and sickle for?” I was ried by the demonstrators de- to its rightful place as an tutions, hospitals and the major- in her early 30s, said. She was just about to explain the intrica- manding the return of democratic honoured part of the political ity of the nation’s more than still buoyant after the long jour- cies of the symbolism of one of rule: the hammer and sickle flags scene, but that only makes the 78,000 doctors and dentists and ney back home. the most recognised political sym- of the CPN-UML (Communist recurrence of Cold War senti- its 84,000 nurses across the is- On the way to Lhasa, Shao bol on the planet, when he went Party of Nepal – Unified Marx- ments that much more disap- land. The Virtual Health Univer- said the train stopped at major on: “You might as well have the ist Leninist). pointing and disconcerting. sity is another project underway stations, and let passengers off aimed at upgrading teachers. for photos in Tuotuo River, Golmud Nazi swastika up there.” In Central America and the The unionist at Blacktown and Damxung. That was a jolt: here was Caribbean, where sugar cane is Showground had been subjected It is no coincidence that the Journal of Medical Internet “The train interior is clean, and a militant worker, marching more prevalent than grain crops, to anti-Communist propaganda the sleeping compartments are against the anti-worker policies the emblem subtly changed its ever since he was born. It is Research — considered the lead- cosy, not crowded,” she said. The of an extremely reactionary gov- form (but not its meaning) to the hardly surprising that he had ing magazine on issues such as group took hard-sleepers both ernment, who nevertheless hap- localised equivalent – the ham- uncritically absorbed some of it. health and communications tech- ways. pily accepted the most anti-work- mer and machete. In other coun- With renewed attacks in many nology in the world — described Getting food was no problem, ing class lies of the Cold War pro- tries the sickle is replaced by a parts of Europe against the sym- INFOMED as an international she said. The dining car has 44 pagandists: “There is no differ- machinery cog. bols of the workers’ movement model for the integration of health seats, but food carts pass through ence between the anti-fascists My point is that outside the along with campaigns “to expose information. But there is more. the carriages every few hours. and the fascists”, “scientific so- narrow confines of Australia and the crimes of Communism”, we Cuba has other computer and Meals are pre-cooked, and re- cialism is no alternative to the countries with similar extremely need to step up our efforts to heated based on passenger or- evils of capitalism because it is restricted media, the hammer and counter this anti-communist pro- ders. riddled with the same evils as sickle is not perceived as the paganda with the truth about the “We also brought many fascism”. emblem of the USSR alone, but role of Communists in the trade snacks of our own,” said tour During the decades after the as the emblem of the workers and union movement in Australia, the guide Liu Zhipeng. Second World War when the peasants, everywhere. truth about the Communists and Some in the group showed Cold War openly flourished and The CPA adopted the combi- the struggle against fascism, the symptoms of altitude sickness was assiduously pursued by anti- nation of Southern Cross and truth about Communists and the during train climbs of more than communist governments every- hammer and sickle in the 1990s. struggle for democratic rights in 4,800 metres through the where, the symbols of socialism Actually, we re-adopted it, for in this country. Tanggula Mountain Pass. were singled out for smearing a slightly different form it had We have nothing to be The train offers oxygen once and besmirching. been the Party’s symbol during ashamed of and every reason to over 3,000 meters. Passengers Curiously, this only really part of the Second World War at be proud of our history, and our can breathe enriched oxygen worked in North America, Brit- least. emblems. through plastic tubes linked to out- ain, Australia and New Zealand, At first, there was some re- lets in each carriage. the same regions where the Cold sidual Cold War paranoia about Guardian “We had oxygen outlets above War became strongly en- the use of the symbol, but this Australian communist each bed, it was quite conve- weekly 11 August 2006 THE NEW WORKER Page 5 Features 020 7223 4052 The pension crisis: another corporate swindle

by Milt Neidenberg retire with benefits are in for a On 8th October 1995, Delphi, YOU WALK into your bank nasty surprise. How corporations the largest auto supplier in the US, to withdraw cash. The teller are picking people’s pockets with filed for bankruptcy protection says: “You have nothing in the help of Congress.” with an $11-billion pension short- your account.” You thought The Time article was a major fall. In 1999, General Motors you had money in there. But exposé that related heartbreak- spun off Delphi, its main supplier. you don’t. The bank took your ing stories of workers and retir- The shortage in GM’s own pen- money to invest or to pay ees who lost their pensions. sion fund is estimated by the debts. Or they just wanted it “From 2001 to 2004,” it said, PBGC at a whopping $31 billion. for themselves. That’s what is “nearly 200 corporations in the Ford Motor Co has a $12.3 happening to millions of Fortune 1000 killed or froze their billion pension deficit. Daimler- workers who won pensions defined-benefit plans and since Chrysler is pitting local unions (deferred wages), sometimes 1985 over 5 million workers are against each other to achieve in contract negotiations, many no longer covered in the private deep concessions. times through hard struggle sector.” The Big Three and Delphi on the picket lines and hard The pension crisis is have plans to shut down or sell times on strikes. crystallised in a graph—“Pen- plants to restructure their corpo- Giant corporations—United sions in Peril”—showing that rations, lay off thousands of Airlines, US Airways, Bethlehem since 1985 the number of com- workers, downsize wages and Steel, Northwest, Delta, pany-sponsored pension plans benefits, and hire temporary Delphi—and hundreds of other has dropped from 112,200 to workers. Delphi is demanding a companies have declared bank- 29,700. As of 2004 company wage cut from $27 to $12 an hour ruptcy and defaulted on pension plans were under-funded by a for the remaining unionised benefits won under legal and bind- total of over $450 billion, with the workers. These transnational ing contracts. Millionaires who amount steadily climbing. When corporations are whipsawing the union workforce and girding for became billionaires—and of multi-employer pension funds are • A joke? Perhaps not, few pensions are safe today. course enjoy fully funded pen- added, the figure rises to over a showdown in 2007 when the sions and health care in addition $600 billion. For the public sec- following corporate abuses of contract with the United Auto to their exorbitant salaries, ob- tor, employee pension funds in the workers’ pensions in the 1960s Workers, the primary union, ex- scene bonuses and stock op- US are short by $700 billion. and 1970s, Congress passed the pires. tions—are robbing the workers. The capitalist government Employee Retirement Income Recently General Motors an- A headline on the cover of the was supposed to guarantee these Security Act (ERISA). Coupled nounced the results of a massive 31st October 2005, Time maga- benefits, which were won by the with the formation of the Pension buyout plan that included Delphi. zine read: “The Great Retirement blood and sweat of workers who Benefit Guaranty Corporation Of 131,000 workers at GM and Ripoff”. Subheads said: “Millions created the value and profits of (PBGC), a quasi-governmental Delphi who were offered them, of Americans who think they will the giant corporations. In 1974, agency, ERISA was supposed to approximately 35,000 accepted provide oversight as well as as- some sort of buyout. Of those, surance to the millions of diverse around two thirds were GM workers here that their retire- workers. ment pensions would be secure. Corporate strategy was to di- President Gerald Ford, who vide the retirees from the active signed the legislation on Labour production-line workforce. The Travellers return with Day 1974, promised, “This legis- buyouts were a way to weaken lation will alleviate the fears and the resolve expressed by the the anxiety of people who are on • An angry pensioner displays the “Grinch” that has stolen his Delphi workers when they voted tall tales from Tibet the production lines or in the money. by over 95 per cent to authorise mines or elsewhere, in that they a strike. now know that their investment of $100 million or more, includ- Divide to conquer will be met in private pension funds will be ing six in excess of $500 million.” with resistance. Retirees have a better protected.” In reality, the deficits are major stake in the outcome of However, Congress wrote worse than the public data sug- 2007 contract negotiations: en- ERISA so broadly that, during the gests. The Government Account- forcing the pension promises that 1980s, top management was able ability Office stated earlier this GM made in the buyouts. They to dip into pension funds and re- year: “PBGC’s accumulated defi- are rightfully concerned and they move the equity set aside for the cit is too big, and plans simply do will join production line workers workers’ retirement. This was a not have enough money in the to turn the pension crisis into a bonanza for corporate raiders, system to back up the long-term general struggle. speculators and Wall Street con- promises many employers have There are rank and file groups glomerates, which were able to made to their workers.” coming together to take on these skim millions and billions from A Wall Street Journal edito- monumental challenges. Soldiers pension funds to buy up distressed rial on 27th June, headlined “Pen- of Solidarity is one that has a corporations. Even though Con- sion Crash Landing,” criticised splendid record in the formative gress has imposed an excise tax Congress, whose House and Sen- stage of this epic crisis. Their on money removed from the pen- ate conferees are “busy negoti- name is an eloquent expression sions and rewritten some of the ating another pension fix.” This of what is needed: an army of rules, this was a slap on the wrist. mouthpiece of finance capital— workers prepared to do battle in The rip-off goes on. no friend of labour—is warning independent, class-wide solidar- • The new rail service goes through remote Tibet. After three decades under the government: “On present ity with workers, organised and ERISA, pension plans that com- trends, this could become a fi- nient,” said Shao. “I didn’t plug the “The others either went with the unorganised, and their communi- panies are dumping are so short asco on the order of the saving ties across the spectrum of the tubes in though. I only felt a bit Zhongs, or travelled to Chengdu of assets that the financial status dizzy but it was during the next (Sichuan Province),” said Liu. and loans collapse.” pension crisis, which at its roots of the PBGC, the body respon- They were referring to the is a capitalist crisis. The empire morning.” “Their spirits were so high, and sible for protecting the pensions, Zhong Taifeng, 68, the oldest they weren’t willing to come home bailout—which cost tens of bil- of high finance is counting on is rapidly deteriorating. In 2000, lions in taxpayers’ and workers’ never-ending war to solve these traveller in the group, said that yet.” the agency operated with a $10 older tourists were better off us- The tour also included Xigaze, money—in the 1980s and 1990s problems, further aggravating, billion surplus. By 2004, this be- when another government in- not alleviating, the many crises ing the oxygen to combat moun- the Nam Co Lake and Yangbajing. came a $23 billion deficit. By the tain sickness. The tour package cost 3,980 surer, the Federal Savings and here. end of this year, the shortfall Loan Insurance Corporation, It was rank and file auto “My wife and I couldn’t just yuan (£277) per person and a could top $30 billion. collapse on the train, we still had ticket for Lanzhou to Lhasa costs went belly up during a real es- workers who seized the General a long way to go,” he said. According to PBGC Execu- tate crisis. Whether the govern- Motors empire in the late 1930s. 522 yuan each way. tive Director Bradley D Belt, who Zhong and his wife, Wang Experts estimate the number ment will pick up the tab if the The UAW was born out of the Jinmei, also 68, took the Tibet recently announced his resigna- PBGC collapses remains to be Flint sit-ins. The organised resis- of tourists to Tibet will grow by 15 tion, “The agency has on record railway back to Xining and con- to 20 per cent year on year now seen. Without a broad-based tance began with the few and tinued their rail journey across the that the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is 350 active bankruptcy cases.” struggle, pensions could go the grew into an army of the many. country. open. A total of 2.5 million tour- Belt told Congress, which is cur- way of the dinosaur. Are we in for a rerun? Just five members returned to ists will come to Tibet in 2010 and rently discussing ERISA, “thirty The centre of a potential class Shanghai yesterday, according to 6 million in 2020. seven have underfunding claims struggle is emerging in the auto the guide Liu. Shanghai Daily industry. Workers World (US) Page 6 THE NEW WORKER 11 August 2006 Home News

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1234567890123456789012345678 Dear Editor express our deep gratitude Dear Comrades 1234567890123456789012345678 myself, what crimes did 123456789012345678901234567Diary 8 these children commit for for your solidarity and ac- 1234567890123456789012345678 Regarding the article them to suffer the effects tions to support both the Will the multi-national about Chinese rock’n’roll of a war that ended in Palestinian and Lebanese force being proposed for Friday 11 August Monday 21 August (21st July 2006), American Lebanon (Nato) be the 1975? people. 12-2pm film screening ‘Paradise rock’n’roll arose from the I have asked this and We highly appreciate same one that destroyed maelstrom of a compara- other questions to those in your attention to our just Yugoslavia? And will Bush, Protest for Peace - US Now’ tively young nation of positions of power in the cause, and all the efforts Blair and Israel manipulate embassy 7 pm doors open for multi-national pioneers and United States, to the Presi- you are making to encour- them into attacking Syria Grosvenor Square drinks and light immigrants. and/or Iran to bring peace dents, Secretaries of State age a political solution to London W1A refreshments Surely China’s many – including one Colin end this conflict in a peace- and democracy (US style)? centuries of rich, home- Powell, who twice served ful way – taking into your An oily plan indeed! nearest tube: Bond Street 7.30 pm screening grown culture cannot sus- in Vietnam came down consideration that Israeli It will certainly not be Called by Friends of followed by discussion tain in its guts the same with an illness related to occupation of the West used to remove the illegal Lebanon Bakehouse, Lewisham feelings for this recent ex- Agent Orange. Bank, the Gaza Strip and occupation by Israel of Organised by Lewisham ample of self-expression – East Jerusalem is at the Palestinian land. Beware I have also questioned STW and SE PSC hence the report about a a Secretary of Defence, heart of the conflict. of these proposals to ex- sense of decline. US Ambassadors, Mem- We call on you to urge tend western imperialism Friday 11 August 2006 bers of Congress, and the the Security Council to pass into the Middle East. For Protest opposite Best wishes, Chairmen of Monsanto and an immediate ceasefire once there they will never Downing Street - Saturday 9 September JH Edwards, leave. Dow Chemicals – two of resolution, and to condemn Ceasefire Now! Lewisham peace fair Manchester. the companies 36 compa- the Israeli massacre in Witness the many nies that manufactured Qana in which 60 civilians places around the world 5-7pm opposite Downing 3-7 pm at Ladywell Fields Agent Orange. Only two were killed, among them 37 where generations of US Street Catford, London Dear Editor replied, their answers, as children.We think that it is troops have brought up Bring flowers to their families there. expected, were non-com- becoming necessary more commemorate the dead Saturday 23 September Despite the tragic mittal. than at any time before, to We in Britain must op- wars, with their heavy loss Veterans of the Viet- take effective measures pose such military moves Called by Palestine Stop the War National of life, taking place in the nam War from the United against Israel for commit- and end Israel’s aggression Solidarity Campaign with Demonstration Middle-East, can I remind States, Australia, New ting war crimes against ci- to extend the American British Muslim Initiative, 1.00 pm Labour Party your readers of the Viet- Zealand, and South Korea vilians in the Gaza Strip and empire. CND, Stop the War Conference nam War? Although it will, on 10th August, join Lebanon. ended in 1975, the poison- with people of Vietnam and We also suggest a po- George Marsh, Coalition Manchester ous chemical – mainly many others countries on litical and economical boy- Surrey. Agent Orange – used by the annual commemoration cott of Israel. the US is still affecting mil- of the use of these chemi- We call on you to con- lions of Vietnamese. cals and will be calling for tinue all kinds of political, In memory of From 1961 to 1971 over the justice that is long over- moral, and financial support 82 million litres of chemi- due. to our people. HARRY cals were sprayed over ar- Later in the year, in a Thank you for your eas of South Vietnam to court in New York, an ap- understanding and coop- destroy forests, vegetation peal submitted by over 25 eration. DANVERS and crops. US lawyers on behalf of Kind Regards Tragically the chemi- the affected Vietnamese Zahira Kamal a founder member of the New cals, and in particular Agent will be heard calling for the International Rela- Communist Party and a tireless Orange, also poisoned the ruling by Judge Jack tions Committee supporter of socialism. people. As a result today in Weinstein of 2005 to be Palestinian Demo- Vietnam there are over overturned and for com- cratic Union (FIDA) On the anniversary of his birthday three million people, from pensation to be paid by the – new-born babes to war 36 companies. veterans – men and women Meanwhile we appeal – suffering pain, illnesses to your readers to support and trying to cope with se- all victims of Agent Orange vere disabilities. by signing the international On the Web... In yearly visits to the online petition we set-up at New Worker National – country since 1989 I have www.petitiononline.com/ ROB GOWLAND www.newworker.org met with many of these AOVN/ NCP Central – tragic victims in hospitals, Your readers’ help is www.geocities.com/ncpcentral clinics and in their homes. vital for those seeking jus- London District NCP– Three years ago when in tice for a crime that was GET WELL SOON! Ho Chi Minh City, I visited http://londoncommunists.blogspot.com/ committed between 1961 Brighton NCP – the Tu Du hospital and and 1971. Please help by amongst the children there signing. http://brightoncommunists.blogspot.com/ I saw an 18-month-old ALL THE COMRADES AT NCP-PCS – baby minus her legs, a Yours sincerely www.geocities.ncppcs/pcs1.html young lad of eight years Len Aldis. Secretary THE NEW WORKER minus both arms and one Britain-Vietnam of his legs half the length Friendship Society. of the other. There was another lad Dear Colleagues of five years whose head was four times the normal On behalf of the Pal- 30 YEARS SINCE THE GRUNWICK size – and these are only estinian Democratic Union STRIKE three of many. I asked (FIDA) we would like to COMMEMORATIVE EVENT WITH SPEAKERS, EXHIBITIONS AND FILMS SUNDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER 2006 -11am-5pm TRICYCLE THEATRE, 269 HIGH ROAD, Weekly paper of the New Communist Party KILBURN, LONDON NW6 7JR SUBSCRIBE NOW! Emergency New Worker 6 weeks: £4; 3 months: £8; 6 months: £15; annual: £30 press appeal Name...... Because of a problem on our printing press we are Address...... launching an emergency appeal for ...... Post code...... £3,000 Phone...... to cover repairs and maintenance. Cheque/P.O.’s, made out to New Worker, to: Please send what you can to: Press Appeal (cheques/PO’s to New Worker), New NW Subs, PO Box 73, London SW11 2PQ Worker, PO Box 73, London SW11 2PQ. 11 August 2006 THE NEW WORKER Page 7 020 7223 4052 Whos imprisoned in Israeli jails?

by Michael Kramer and Lebanese militants. Over punched during interrogation the years the prisoners have and laser lights were pointed taken their own actions to at his eyes. “TODAY while we un- defend their dignity and their Another detainee, Ra’ed derstand, appreciate and internationally recognised Ayid Al Aroury, was tied to a grasp the extreme pres- human rights. chair from morning to night for sures the resistance in The Salem detention 10 straight days. Palestine is being sub- camp is located near the West News of the successful Bank city of Jenin. A lawyer Hamas and Hezbollah military jected to, both externally operations, which captured and internally, we unite for the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) — Mustafa Al prisoners of war, reached ju- our voices and stand with bilant prisoners in the Zionist theirs to say yes this is- Azmouty —reported in June that conditions were deterio- dungeons. Punitive measures sue is worth that level of rating. quickly followed. sacrifice, confrontation “The detainees said they At the Damoun and Shatta and steadiness, for it is a are punished any time they prisons, captors fired tear gas matter of principle and complain of mistreatment and into the cells. In response, the issue of 10,000 de- that soldiers have confined 2,320 prisoners at Al Naqab held a one-day hunger strike tainees.” several detainees to solitary th Hezbollah Secretary- confinement without appar- on 14 July. General Sayyed Hassan ent reasons,” he said, noting The prisoners at Shatta Nasrallah that, “The detainees also com- continued their hunger strike plained that there is a short- for four days. The extremely difficult situ- age of food and that the food Since 1948, tens of thou- ation of approximately 10,000 provided is often not very sands of Palestinians have political prisoners held in a good quality … The detain- passed through Zionist pris- constellation of Zionist pris- ees added that soldiers re- ons. The struggle to liberate ons is central for understand- peatedly broke into their them is a just struggle. Their ing the events unfolding in rooms and attacked them terrogation and subjected to Al Naqab prison is located Many prisoners are denied incarceration has been a night- Occupied Palestine and Leba- without explanation.” different sorts of humiliation in the southern Palestinian cigarettes and access to spe- mare for their families and non. Mishkat Al Aseer is an and psychological pres- desert. According to PPS, cial diet foods, such as low- friends. Healthy young men Most of the prisoners are organisation that represents sures.” conditions at the prison con- sodium foods for prisoners and women have been perma- Palestinian, while a smaller Palestinian prisoners and ex- Hawwash appealed to hu- travene the Fourth Geneva with health problems. Prison- nently scarred and disabled number are Lebanese and Jor- poses human rights viola- manitarian, governmental and Convention which is con- ers also face refusal to use the — physically and psychologi- danian. They include men, tions. A lawyer from the non-governmental cerned with the treatment of toilet.” cally. women and children, and also organisation, Dirar Moneer Al organisations to help get his civilians in occupied lands Al Moskobiyya interro- And many others—too elected officials. Some have Saady, was arrested in Janu- client released. Hamas and and prohibits collective pun- gation facility in Jerusalem is many others for the Zion- been jailed since the 1970s. ary and sent to Salem. He is Hezbollah responded to his ishment. well known to Palestinians. ists—have become even Their cause has resulted still in prison. According to call with their recent actions Detainees there, “com- Jamil Hasan Mizhir, a 20-year- more committed to the in numerous self-sacrificing his lawyer, Fareed Hawwash, and demands that Israel free plain of screams, beatings, old from Ramallah, stated in struggle to liberate all of Pal- actions by both Palestinian “He was tortured during in- its political prisoners. insults and verbal abuse. June that he was kicked and estine. Workers World (US) What’s going on in Colombia and Peru? by Zulema Facciola Horacio Serpa, candi- single block. Garcia gained THE RECENT elec- date of the Liberal Party, only 36 of a possible 120 tions in Colombia and traditionally the other party seats, but counts on the Peru went against the of the ruling oligarchy to- support of minority parties. trend of Latin American gether with the victorious Ollanda Humala’s party politics, which has seen Conservatives of Uribe, also triumphed in 14 of the a tremendous increase only managed a meagre 12 24 provincial elections, es- in the power of progres- per cent of the vote. pecially in the poorest ar- sive and populist move- Carlos Gaviria of the eas. That’s why he has ments in the last few Democratic Alternative called on regional move- years. Let’s have a won 22 per cent of the vote, ments, social organisations, closer look at the situa- and although he wasn’t and all left and progressive tion. able to force a run-off forces to join him in a Na- against Uribe, broke the tionalist Front with the aim Colombia traditional Liberal-Conser- of “transforming Peru, re- vative power block. Demo- claiming the dignity of the With an abstention rate cratic Alternative thereby people, taking possession of 57 per cent, Alvaro became the second force of our natural resources, Uribe, the Conservative in Colombian politics, and and putting the economy at candidate, was re-elected although unable to offer a the service of all the with 62 per cent of the to- strong parliamentary oppo- people.” tal votes cast. This result sition, it will certainly be gave him an absolute ma- able to transform its votes Conclusions jority in Congress, the Co- into a mass struggle, with lombian parliament. Uribe, street demonstrations and Progress is rarely in a who in his 2002 campaign campaigns on social, trade • The revolutionary fighters of FARC. straight line that goes ever promised to destroy FARC, union, and cultural issues. ment and the Colombian Peru social and economic col- upwards. The political pro- the principal progressive One candidate was armed forces have to pay lapse, political murder and cess in different countries and revolutionary force in forced to withdraw from for all the information they Down in Peru there corruption. His party, does not follow the same Colombia, won again offer- the election. Leyva Duran, receive, whereas the Co- was no re-election, but the APRA (American Popular rhythm, and there are steps ing security and a “hard viewed as a possible revo- lombian people supply the successful candidate was Revolutionary Party), had backwards as well as for- hand against the insur- lutionary-progressive guerrillas with all the intel- someone who had been been founded in 1923 as a ward. Although we did not gency”. leader, had received nu- ligence they need com- president some years ago. socialist force, but over the see progressive electoral Uribe is Bush’s closest merous death threats from pletely free of charge. The progressive candidate, years has drifted to the triumphs in Colombia and ally in Latin America, and paramilitary and criminal FARC will continue to Ollanta Humala, who in the right, and now supports the Peru, there is plenty of rea- signed Colombia up to the groups. search for a political solu- first round of voting won Free Trade Agreement of son for hope. The people Free Trade Agreement of Another political cam- tion, including seeking the 900,000 more votes than the Americas. His vice- are seeking solutions for the Americas. He also re- paign, although this time not exchange of hostages held Alan Garcia, who emerged president is a retired admi- their most basic needs and ceived millions of dollars an electoral one, is of by the government. The as the eventual winner, was ral, former close associate social problems. The winds from the US through the so- course the military struggle guerrillas also have a po- defeated by the bourgeoi- of the disgraced former of anti-imperialism, of free- called “Colombia Plan” of the armed revolutionary litical programme of tran- sie and middle-classes who president Alberto Fujimori, dom, and social justice that (later re-named the Patri- movements, especially sition to socialism, based on saw their privileges under now hiding from justice in blow in Latin America will otic Plan), which under the FARC, which has been economic changes, agricul- threat from someone who Japan. continue to strengthen. Our pretext of the fight against fighting for more than 40 tural reforms, a participa- looked likely to follow the Ollanda Humala, who support will make them drug trafficking is no more years, fed, supported, and tive democracy, improve- example of Venezuela and formed his movement UPP ever stronger. than a trial run for a US financed by the undercover ments in health and educa- Bolivia. Garcia had left the (Union for Peru) only a military domination of the support of the Colombian tion, and a reining-in of the presidency in 1990 having year ago, will have 45 seats continent. working class. The govern- army. reduced Peru to a state of in Parliament, the largest Unidad y Lucha (Spain) Page 8 11 August 2006

International News Web: www.newworker.org Fax 020 7223 4057 Castro’s illness: Sinn Féin - Kick the warmongers Cubans rise to the occasion out of Shannon Airport THE MESSAGES sent farmers and workers are that have turned ideas THE WORLD is out- his supine ally Tony Blair to the Cuban people by undertaking their daily into realities. raged at the US-backed is resulting in an escalating President Fidel Castro, Israeli bombardment and nightmare for millions of tasks, many of them Buildings and facilities invasion of Lebanon, yet innocent civilians in the and by leaders who involved in the social have been constructed in the Irish Government con- Middle East. spoke with him after programmes the sectors of health, tinues to allow Shannon There is no doubt that his recent surgery, all encompassed by Cuba’s sports, culture and Airport to be used as a stag- the slaughter of over 50 ci- ing post for US military vilians, 37 of them children, exhibit total confidence Battle of Ideas. recreation. In addition to that the people of the operations in the Middle in the Israeli bombing of This group of initiatives serving the community, East. Qana was deliberate, as island will meet the seeks to translate social these facilities provide It was claimed this was the bombing of the UN responsibilities that ideas and goals into employment opportunities week that the Irish Govern- compound in which four ment would not allow the UN personnel were killed have arisen. concrete actions and and income. The circumstances are passage of weapons des- last week. projects. It has turned out At the same time other tined for Israel but this is a The complete normal for Cubans to be a true social projects serve as a pathetic response. Is it the disempowerment of the because when President revolution that has taken platform to increase case that those who delib- UN itself by the US and its Fidel Castro suddenly shape over the past six Cuban internationalism, erately bomb children in allies was seen in the fail- took ill he delegated his like Operation Miracle, Lebanon are unacceptable ure of the Security Council and a half years within in Shannon while those to condemn Israel for this responsibilities. After a Cuba’s revolutionary through which more than who deliberately bomb chil- attack. This raises serious complicated operation, the project initiated in l959. 230 thousand Latin dren in Iraq are accept- questions for the Irish Gov- Cuban leader’s condition Cuba is not removed Americans have regained able? That is the morally ernment. Should Irish is stable. their vision free-of-charge bankrupt position of the troops continue to be de- from the globalised world Irish Government. ployed under an Some in Washington and that values consumerism and the Cuban literacy Similarly at European unreformed UN Security Miami gleefully predicted above all else, just the method, “Yes, I can”, Union level the Irish Gov- Council which cannot even that the situation, which is opposite of what Cubans now being applied in 15 ernment has defended the condemn a military power position adopted by Foreign that deliberately kills UN painful and unexpected are attempting to do on countries. for Cubans, would spark Despite the temporary Ministers this week which personnel? the island where, though fell short of a call for an The shame of Shannon chaos on the island. But there are many material absence of President immediate ceasefire in must be ended. The jury in fact, the reaction has scarcities, the little there Fidel Castro at the helm Lebanon and Israel. For- who acquitted the five cam- eign Affairs Minister paigners who damaged the been just the opposite, is used in the most of the nation, the Cuban which is evident to people and authorities Dermot Ahern tried to US warplanes at Shannon rational way possible. claim that the EU call have shown the way. For everyone here. The innovative Battle of have made opportune amounted to a ceasefire the Irish Government to While closely monitoring Ideas programme was decisions guaranteeing demand but he was contra- retain any semblance of an the written press and based on the principle that the smooth continuation dicted by his own colleague independent foreign policy television and radio news of Battle of Ideas Senator Mary O’Rourke it must refuse to allow Sh- the time had come to who pointed out at an emer- annon Airport to be used by for the latest on President work even harder to programmes and gency meeting of the the US military. Castro’s convalescence, achieve equality of continued assistance to Oireachtas Foreign Affairs An Phoblacht Cubans continue with opportunity for all. A other peoples around the Committee that the statement urging a “cessation of their daily chores and group of projects destined world. obligations. hostilities” falls short of to increase the spiritual There is still much to do what is required and allows As students continue to and material well-being of and Cuban’s an “out” to Israel. enjoy their summer the population has taken organisational capabilities On a positive note, that Oireachtas Committee vacations, hundreds of shape and after six-and- will help facilitate every thousands of construction endeavour. adopted unanimously a a-half years, we can see resolution calling for EU workers, scientists, concrete achievements Radio Havana trade sanctions against Is- Cuba rael. This was backed by Sinn Féin International Af- fairs spokesperson Aengus Massive turnout in Congo poll Ó Snodaigh TD [MP] who By G Dunkel pointed out that he had favourite to win. He took Lumumba. made a similar proposal to THE TURNOUT for over after his father, The vast wealth that the Committee a year ago elections in the Democratic Laurent Désiré Kabila, Congo’s minerals generate but was opposed by Fine Republic of Congo was was assassinated in 2001. has been siphoned by these Gael and others. massive, according to me- It will take more than imperialist powers, rather As predicted, the so- dia reports, even in the three weeks to count the than for roads and called “war on terror” ini- eastern provinces where vote. A second round in the healthcare and education. tiated by George Bush and conditions are still tense presidential election, if As a result, today Congo and violence and armed needed, is tentatively has less than 200 miles of conflicts still frequent, de- scheduled for October. roads outside its cities, spite the fact that a formal The wars in the Demo- which is why ballots for this peace agreement was cratic Republic of Congo election, and all the election signed four years ago. from 1997 to 2002 cost be- equipment like ballot boxes More than 9,700 can- tween two and four million and voting lists, had to be didates are running for 500 lives — the bloodiest con- transported by air. seats in parliament and 32 flict since the Second The United Nations candidates are vying for the World War — and com- has 17,000 troops in the presidency. There will only pletely destroyed whatever Congo — backed by 2,000 be one round of voting for infrastructure was left af- or so troops from the Eu- parliament, so in big elec- ter Mobuto Sese Seko ran ropean Union. The UN tion districts like Kinshasa, the country from 1965 to also has 1,000 election ob- the capital, a candidate with 1997. servers there and estimates one per cent of the vote Mobuto was installed that it will spend more than who leads all the rest could with the connivance of the $400 million on this vote. win a seat. United States, Belgium and More than 90 per cent There will be two France after they engi- of the population of Congo rounds of voting for presi- neered the assassination of lives on less than a dollar a dent. The current presi- the last popularly elected day. dent, Joseph Kabila, is the president, Patrice Workers World (US) Printed by New Age Press (TU). Registed at the Post Office as a newspaper. Printed by New Age Press (TU). Registed at the Post Office