CULTURE: FOR PEACE AND SOCIALISM FULL MARX FOR THE AV FESTIVAL PAGE 25

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INSIDE YOUR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY EDITION WOMEN’S Louise Raw: p22 Militancy beyond myths Zita Holbourne: p15 Women and racism PAY BEGINS Gloria Mills: p10 Workplace inequality Bernadette Horton: p21 Working-class women Gail Cartmail: p10 Pregnancy discrimination TODAY Ruth Serwotka: p18 International Women’s Day marks the fi rst day New women’s movement of the year female workers ‘start getting paid’

Charlotte Hughes: p20 by Ceren Sagir TUC general secretary mark 100 years since some much pressure on “women to Frances O’Grady said: “Nearly 50 women were fi rst allowed to look good, be the perfect wife, Women tackling poverty years since the Ford machinists vote, women still face unac- the perfect mother and bring A WHOPPING gender pay gap went on strike at Dagenham, ceptable pay disparities.” home a salary. Men are not means that the average female the UK still has one of the worst Unison Wales also revealed judged in the same way and Karen Ingala Smith: p18 worker starts getting paid for gender pay gaps in Europe. today that 70 per cent of 150 the expectations and aspira- the year today — on Interna- “Women in the UK will only women polled did not believe tions we ask of them are much On domestic violence tional Women’s Day. start to get paid properly when equality in the workplace had lower.” TUC research revealed that we have better-paid part-time and been achieved, with more than Shadow women and equali- women work for free for more fl exible jobs. And higher wages half having witnessed or expe- ties minister Dawn Butler than two months of the year, in key sectors like social care.” rienced sexism. said: “Today we celebrate Lynda Walker: p22 when their wages are compared Ms O’Grady said the best Unison Wales how far we have come in the with those of men. fi rst step for women women’s offi cer fight for equality, while also Women and the vote The gender pay gap for full- worried about pay Jenny Griffi n said recognising how far we still and part-time employees cur- was to join a union that there’s so have to go. rently stands at over 18 per cent. as “workplaces that “It is time to address these But in some industries, recognise unions deep-rooted inequalities. Mary Davis: p22 women have to wait until April are more likely to “The next Labour govern- or even May for their “Women’s have family friendly ment will introduce radical On the origins of IWD Pay Day.” policies and fair pay.” ADDRESSING reforms to tackle the structural In education, the gender pay Shadow work and INEQUALITIES: barriers facing women across gap is currently more than 26 pensions secretary Frances O’Grady our society.” per cent, so the average woman Debbie Abrahams said: Women’s rights campaigners Sabby Dhalu: p14 eff ectively works for free for over “On International across Britain are taking part a quarter of the year and has to Women’s Day in protests today to mark Inter- Fighting sexism and racism wait until April 7 to start earning and the year national Women’s Day. the same as the average man. in which we Turn to page 5

This edition is being provided to delegates attending the TUC Women’s Conference with the compliments of Unite Morning Star morningstaronline.co.uk 2 Thursday news morningstaronline March 8 2018 @m_star_online

■ NUCLEAR POWER EDF backs down on pay cut for snow NUCLEAR plant bosses backed down yesterday over their attempt to stop staff pay during last week’s bad weather. ■ ECONOMY Negotiators from unions Unite, GMB and Prospect won the agreement fol- lowing a sit-in at Hicnkley Working women Point C by about 600 Keir Bam workers angry at EDF chiefs’ refusal to pay wages when snow stopped falling far behind work last week. After being told to return to their lodg- real living wage ings last Thursday and not being able to work the weekend, staff were by Ceren Sagir The Fawcett Society’s Jem- texted that they wouldn’t ima Olchawski said the reason be paid for the Friday, women were more likely to be Saturday or Sunday. MILLIONS of working women in in low-paid work was partly due Unite regional offi cer Britain face fi nancial insecurity to the need for fl exible or part- Rob Miguel said: “Unite with a third earning less than time work. welcomes the constructive the living wage and no savings, She said: “It’s also because approach to industrial new research out today reveals. society undervalues women relations adopted by EDF Nearly half of women have and the work they do. Jobs during negotiations.” under £100 saved and over 30 dominated by women such as GMB senior convener per cent of the women surveyed caring roles are consistently Brendan Stack said the have more than £1,000 of debt, amongst the lowest paid. talks were “more challeng- the poll found. “To maximise the talent ing than fi rst envisaged Living Wage Foundation available to them recruiters due to previous issues.” director Tess Lanning said: should make all jobs fl exible “The precariousness of life for by default, so a wider range of women earning little more people can progress at work. than the government mini- “We’d urge larger employers mum shows the need for more to look closely at the nature ■ MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN VISIT employers to take a stand by and causes of the pay gap in paying the real Living Wage their organisation and make an based on what people need to action plan to close it.” make ends meet.” Nearly all of the women said Corbyn pushes May to end Research shows that 3.4 mil- they worry about their fi nan- lion women in work (26 per cial situation and 66 per cent cent) earn less than the real did not foresee an improvement living wage compared to 16 soon. arms contracts with Saudis per cent of all men [email protected]

by Lamiat Sabin potentially hundreds of people Parliamentary Reporter in this country.” She attempted to justify the The Workers’ Stately Saudi blitz by saying it was JEREMY CORBYN pressed requested by the Yemeni gov- Home sends greetings to Theresa May yesterday to can- ernment — a puppet of Riyadh. cel arms deals and demand She said Britain also supports a ceasefi re in Yemen at her the war and it is backed by the all women on this upcoming private dinner with UN security council. Saudi Crown Prince Moham- Only 6 per cent of British special International med bin Salman. people support arms sales to The British government is Saudi Arabia, according to a Women’s Day “colluding” in war crimes by Populus poll of 2,000 people selling weapons to Saudi Ara- published yesterday. bia, the Labour leader said dur- Meanwhile Saudi Arabia has ing Prime Minister’s Questions. doubled its rate of executions Unite National Publishing Britain also has military to 133 since Mohammed bin offi cers advising and training Salman was appointed to his and Media Branch LE/ E the coalition bombing Yemen. position last July, according to The royal’s red-carpet wel- new research by human rights come yesterday, before he charity Reprieve. lunched with Elizabeth Wind- If this rate of an average of sor, triggered protests last night just over 16 per month contin- Comradely outside Downing Street. ues, this year could see 200 Saudi Arabia is Britain’s big- executions, the highest number greetings to all gest arms customer, having ever recorded in Saudi Arabia licensed £4.6 billion-worth of in one year. on International equipment since beginning its Reprieve director Maya Foa ONGOING PROTESTS: Demonstrators on a bus at Buckingham Palace and Women’s Day bombardment of its southern said: “Beneath his glossy public (above) a statue is placed near Parliament by Save the Children neighbour Yemen in early 2015. image, Mohammed bin Salman Mr Corbyn pointed out that is one of the most brutal leaders ernisation programme Vision During an urgent question in Germany has suspended arms in the kingdom’s recent history.” 2030, dismissed as a “mirage” the Commons, shadow foreign sales to the warmongering She called on Ms May to urge by Amnesty International. secretary Emily Thornberry monarchy. him to “commute the sentences An inaugural annual meeting accused the British govern- Ms May claimed that Britain’s of all child protesters facing of a UK-Saudi strategic partner- ment of “bowing and scraping” Gareth Lowe Sarah Bennett relationship with Saudi Arabia execution.” ship council will be held at No 10 to Prince Salman and his regime. Chair Secretary — helping it kill thousands in Mohammed bin Salman is during his three-day visit to dis- [email protected] Yemen — has “saved the lives of behind Saudi Arabia’s mod- cuss £100bn of Saudi investment. Star comment: p12 morningstaronline.co.uk Morning Star morningstaronline news Thursday @m_star_online March 8 2018 3

■ CHILDREN’S SERVICES KIDS’ LIVES AT RISK DUE TO £2BN TORY FUNDING HOLE McDONNELL: ‘National scandal’ as number of children in care hits highest level in three decades

by Lamiat Sabin exceeded their children’s serv- Parliamentary Reporter ices budgets and have a com- bined overspend of £605 million — have seen a 40 per cent cut TORY cuts to children’s serv- in early intervention spending. ices in England are putting And the National Children’s kids’ lives at risk, according to Bureau said that more than one a new Labour study published in three councillors are warn- yesterday, as councils face a £2 ing that cuts have left them billion funding hole. with insuffi cient resources to Shadow chancellor John support vulnerable children. McDonnell said that the par- Labour cited an bureau ty’s research showed that the report which expects a further number of youngsters taken real-terms cut of £388m to chil- into care was on the rise, and BUDGET CALL: The shadow chancellor says Hammond needs to fi nd cash dren’s services budgets by the had reached levels not seen end of the decade. since the 1980s. they face a £2bn funding black that the number of children at Mr McDonnell said that “fail- In the 12 months to March last hole by 2020. Mr McDonnell risk of abuse who are subject to ure to act would be morally rep- year, a total of 72,670 vulnerable said: “It is a national scandal a protection plan rose by 29 per rehensible.” children were taken in by chil- that vulnerable children are cent between 2010 and 2016. Shadow communities secre- dren’s homes or foster families. paying the price for the aus- In the same period, the tary Andrew Gwynne warned POLLUTION: Birds interact with plastic waste as Mr McDonnell visited the Liz terity policies of this Tory gov- number of children social that more vulnerable children Greenpeace surveys pollution at Bass Rock in Scotland. Atkinson Children’s Centre in ernment.” workers assessed as being in who are at risk of harm will Micro plastics have been found in some of the country’s London to launch the party’s He called on Chancellor need rose by 5 per cent and the not get the help they need from most remote waters, threatening seabirds and fi sh report highlighting the wors- Philip Hammond to allocate number of children taken into social services if councils fi nd stocks. Greenpeace has said that the problem is not as ening funding crisis in English the £2bn needed in his Spring care went up by 10 per cent. themselves in even more seri- bad as some other regions of the world but criticised a children’s services. Budget next week. However, councils in England ous diffi culty. lack of planning to address the problem. Councils have warned that Labour’s research showed — of which three-quarters have [email protected]

■ LOGISTICS Unite London and Eastern DHL annual accounts show Region accidents are on the rise celebrates IWD by Sam Tobin But the report also revealed down in cash, let’s remember an increase in the accident rate much of what they’ve achieved and continues to in 2017, with 4.4 workplace has been on the back of exploit- COURIER company DHL’s senior accidents per 200,000 hours ing employees. place equality at the manager “should be ashamed” worked, up from four in 2016. “Nowhere is this more true of himself for mistreating staff It follows threats of indus- than DHL/UKMail, where couri- heart of our union who have delivered huge prof- trial action by staff earlier this ers have had pay cut after pay its for the company, GMB said year after DHL/UK Mail sacked cut forced on them, and con- yesterday. 20 drivers who had refused to tinue to suff er unexplained Pete Kavanagh Jim Kelly The fi rm’s 2017 annual accept a £2,000 pay cut. and unauthorised deductions Regional secretary Regional chair report showed its earnings Their union GMB said drivers in their pay packets week in before interest and taxes were at depots across Britain were and week out. Bronwen Handyside Niamh O’Brady up 7.2 per cent to over €3.7 bil- “frogmarched” into offi ces and “DHL is a cash rich global Regional Vice-Chair Chair Women’s Committee lion (£3.3bn) while chairman told to sign a contract incorporat- company that claims it signs Frank Appel’s basic annual ing the pay cut or their services up to the UN global compact salary went up to just shy of would no longer be required. agreement. £2 million. GMB national offi cer Mick “Yet in DHL/UKMail, they act Mr Appel also stands to trou- Rix said: “Whilst DHL pat like any other spiv company ser more than £5m over the themselves on the back, wallow in the parcel sector — with no next four years in “perform- in the their huge profi ts and moral compass whatsoever.” ance-related remuneration.” senior execs hose themselves [email protected]

■ MANUFACTURING Rolls-Royce cuts jobs despite soaring profi ts ENGINE maker Rolls-Royce He stressed that the engi- selves truly competitive and will make further job cuts neer workforce would be fi t for the future.” despite announcing a £4.9 bil- unaff ected, with plans to The proposed job cuts will lion annual profi t yesterday. invest £1.4 billion in research be imposed despite a return Rolls-Royce boss Warren and development and to hire to profi t last year, recovering East said it was too early to engineers and technology from a £4.6bn loss in 2016 say how many jobs will be experts. caused by a plunge in the aff ected but the company Mr East said the fi rm had pound’s value and a bribery would cut out duplicate roles made “good progress in 2017” scandal which saw it pay out in its support and manage- but ongoing restructuring £671m to British, US and Bra- ment functions. was necessary to “make our- zilian authorities. FBU North West sends greetings on International CWU SENDS Women’s Day GREETINGS ON NORTH Regional Secretary EC Member WEST INTERNATIONAL Mark Rowe Les Skarratts REGION Regional Treasurer Regional Chair 5 WOMEN’S DAY Steve Shelton Ian McGill

DAVE WARD JANE LOFTUS General Secretary President

www.cwu.org The Communications Union @CWUNews morningstaronline.co.uk Morning Star morningstaronline news Thursday @m_star_online March 8 2018 5

■ LEVESON PART II

WORTH WAITING FOR: Horticulturist Simon Allan gazes up at the 16ft Doryanthes Tories ‘sucking up palmeri, also known as the giant spear lily, in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. This is the fi rst time the plant has fl owered to press barons’ in 60 years. by Sam Tobin Mr Brown has called for a police investigation. Culture Secretary Matt Han- THE TORY government was cock said the existence of new accused of “capitulating to allegations was “not a reason to the press barons” yesterday reopen decisions that were taken by once again ruling out the exactly on the basis that the second part of the Leveson world had changed” as the Lev- inquiry despite fresh allega- eson inquiry’s terms of reference tions of criminal behaviour covered “this type of allegation.” by the Sunday Times. But Mr Watson accused Mr Shadow culture secretary Hancock of using “the ‘one Tom Watson raised an urgent rogue blagger’ defence,” saying: question in the House of Com- “The world has not changed.” mons in response to allegations He added: “The Secretary made by former private inves- of State is capitulating to the tigator John Ford about work press barons who want to use he did for the Sunday Times their raw power to close down between 1995 and 2010. a national public inquiry. Mr Ford claimed in an inter- “I would like to ask him, in view with the Guardian that light of these new allegations, he broke into then chancellor will he reconsider his decision Gordon Brown’s bank and mort- on the public inquiry into ille- gage accounts and obtained gality in the press?” secret polling memos from spin Mr Watson said: “The only doctor Alastair Campbell’s bins. way to reach the truth and The Sunday Times said it achieve justice for victims is for “strongly rejects the accusation Leveson part II to go ahead. The that it has in the past retained government must reconsider or commissioned any individ- their position.” ual to act illegally.” [email protected]

DUMFRIES

■ FRONT PAGE ■ PUBLIC-SECTOR PAY RALLY Readers & Communist Party Supporters Group of Britain WOMEN’S Commemorate International Women’s Day PAY LABOUR VOWS TO by remembering Comrades Clara Zetkin, Alexandra Kollontai and BEGINS Rosa Luxemburg TODAY SCRAP CAP FIRST FROM P1: Over 250 people across the country are joining Remembered with pride on a 24-hour “freedom fast” today in solidarity with hunger strik- International Women’s Day ers locked up in Yarl’s Wood DAY IN OFFICE immigration centre. Blanche, Marie and Mary The Home Offi ce has refused to meet demands of the strikers by Lamiat Sabin of using the “divide-and-rule” even aff ord well-below-infl ation as the protest reaches its second Parliamentary Reporter tactic of lifting the pay cap for pay awards of 1 per cent. Love from Sue, Selina, Liz and Phoebe week, responding by threaten- uniformed public-sector work- To aff ord the above-infl ation ing to accelerate deportation. ers — police and prison offi c- 5 per cent rise, the DWP, HMRC A demonstration along with A LABOUR government would ers, of which he pointed out and Department for Transport the freedom fast will be held scrap the public-sector pay cap the majority are men — while would each need a 20 per cent outside the Home Offi ce this on its fi rst day, shadow chancel- leaving mainly non-uniformed increase in expenditure limits. afternoon at 3pm, and at 5pm lor John McDonnell has vowed. ones without. She said it was “beyond an in Carfax, Oxford, in support. He reiterated the manifesto The government is lying injustice” that the government How can you measure the worth of a life, And Global Women’s Strike is pledge at a parliamentary rally when it says it does not have was “fudging the truth” by organising a protest in support on Tuesday evening held by the money for lifting the cap, he claiming that jobs would have As sister, as mother, as daughter or wife. of Sisters of Rohingya outside Civil Service union PCS. said. “We did not believe it then to be cut in order for the work- A partner, a comrade, all through her life. the Unilever offi ces in London. Labour has drafted legisla- and we do not believe it now.” ers to get a pay rise. With over £430 million tion that it would be ready to Also present were PCS gen- Ms Cartmail said it would be invested in Myanmar, Uni- enact in government in order eral secretary Mark Serwotka, “unimaginable” that private- lever is one of the biggest for- to “restore the country” after PCS president Janice Godrich, sector employees would be told eign fi rms there. Myanmar’s eight years of spending cuts by Labour MPs Laura Pidcock and to “fi nd the money themselves” Greetings on military is committing ethnic the Tory government, he said. Ian Lavery, Unite assistant gen- when requesting a pay rise. cleansing, systematic rape and “We are hoping that the eral secretary Gail Cartmail, Mr Serwotka reiterated calls International Women’s torture against the Rohingya. Tories will go soon. They’re teaching union NEU president for PCS members to receive a 5 And an International Wom- in paralysis with the back Louise Regan and Centre for per cent or £1,200 rise, which- Day to all comrades en’s Day march will be held in benches and the DUP vetoing Labour and Social Studies ever is the greater, and a real liv- Glasgow at 4.30pm at the La everything. (Class) think tank director Dr ing wage of at least £10 an hour. Pasionaria statue. “In the meantime, to prepare Faiza Shaheen. Those attending stood and Anne Schuman The demonstration will be for government we are taking Ms Shaheen presented Class’ held a moment of silence for joined by #Solidarity4Repeal every policy and drafting leg- new research showing that parliamentary trade union campaigners to raise aware- islation to be ready for when Whitehall budgets have been researcher Simeon Andrews, ness about access to abortion. we go in.” slashed so dramatically that who died suddenly last week. [email protected] He accused the government departments will not be able to [email protected] Unite South East Region

Solidarity to woman everywhere on International Women’s Day and to all delegates attending TUC Women’s Conference. Whilst we celebrate the countless achievements of so many amazing women over the last 100 years and more, we will keep fi ghting until we achieve genuine equality for all.

Janet Henney Jackie McLeod Regional Women & Chair, Women’s Equalities Offi cer Committee

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2018 The Communist Party greets all women readers and supporters on International Women’s Day.

Forward to freedom from exploitation and oppression!

In solidarity against austerity and for an equal, just and fair society!

Robert Griffi ths Liz Payne General secretary Chair and Women’s organiser Ruth Styles Vice-chair morningstaronline.co.uk Morning Star morningstaronline news Thursday @m_star_online March 8 2018 7

■ SHALE GAS ■ LABOUR PARTY Yorkshire fracking tests UNIONS BLAST SHAWCROFT’S now delayed until autumn CALLS FOR LABOUR TO CUT TIES THIRD ENERGY will not be fracking at a site in North Yorkshire before the autumn, RANK AND RILE: Lansman ally’s suggestion of unions disaffi liating from party described as ‘divisive nonsense’ it confi rmed yesterday. The energy fi rm had UNION leaders vehemently by Sam Tobin after time.” expected to complete a series rejected suggestions yesterday She added on her own Face- of test fracks at a well in the vil- that the Labour Party should book page: “Only someone lage of Kirby Misperton before end its long-standing links with from [Mr Lansman’s] tradi- Christmas, but was held up as trade unions. “Anyone who thinks the tion will support the rights it waited for the fi nal go-ahead Christine Shawcroft, who unions don’t have a role in the of rank-and-file members from the government. sits on Labour’s national party we built and have stood in the [constituency Labour The company decided to executive committee (NEC), by through thick and thin parties].” let contractors remove some claimed “major trade unions should ask themselves if they’re Her posts have since been of the equipment from the are actively opposed” to party in the right place.” deleted. site after an assessment of members and said it was Ms Shawcroft supports Momentum appeared to push its “fi nancial resilience” was “time to support disaffi lia- Momentum founder Jon Lans- back against the comments, ordered by government. tion of the unions from the man to succeed Iain McNicol with a spokesperson saying: Hannah Martin, head of Labour Party.” as the party’s new general sec- “The unions were central to the energy for Greenpeace, said The suggestion was roundly retary. formation of the Labour Party the government had over- criticised by union leaders, Mr Lansman will be standing and every day they represent ruled local democracy and with Unite general secretary against Jennie Formby, Unite’s millions of people fi ghting for changed planning law while Len McCluskey calling for her south-east regional secretary, better rights at work. “trying unsuccessfully to sell to withdraw the comments in a vote on March 20. “We fi rmly support Labour’s fracking to communities.” while Unison general secre- Following a subcommittee trade union link and hope to “If the government put this tary Dave Prentis dismissed meeting on Tuesday, Momen- see more unions affi liate in the level of support behind any of them as “wrong on every tum official Ms Shawcroft future.” the clean energy technologies count.” said on Facebook that “noth- Mr McCluskey said: “Chris- UNION FOUNDATIONS: Unite general secretary Len McCluskey which will be dominating GMB general secretary Tim ing would induce me to sup- tine Shawcroft is a member of this century, we could be a Roache said: “Our movement is port a candidate from a major the Labour Party. The clue is Mr Prentis stated: “Trade kind of divisive nonsense. We world leader. Instead, we have built on collectivism, our party trade union,” claiming “they in the name. We are the party unions are an integral and need to focus on getting Labour two muddy fi elds with holes came from the trade union stick it to the rank-and-file of labour, founded by the trade historic part of the Labour elected.” in them,” she said. movement. members time after time union movement.” Party. This is no time for this [email protected]

GUIDING GIRLS: Two Brownies from Girlguiding Scotland help launch a new JOAN WILLS initiative aimed at empower girls and inspire more young Celebrating the lives of Mum, and her women to consider a great friends and comrades, career in politics. The Citizen Girl Margaret Brunel (Kentfi eld), scheme has been Joan Snellar, and Betty Davis. backed by First Min- ister Nicola Sturgeon, former Scottish Brilliant, inspirational, feminist Labour leader Kezia socialists, your legacy lives on and Dugdale and Scottish continues to inspire and motivate. Conservative leader Ruth Davidson. Girlguiding Scot- In loving memory, and gratitude, land are also calling on all political parties Tanya to submit 50 per cent female candidates in elections.

Greetings on International ■ PENSION DISPUTE Women’s Day to sisters everywhere and delegates at the TUC Women’s Confer- Scottish uni staff head to Holyrood ence. by Sam Tobin tional Women’s Day, UCU Scot- disproportionately hard.” pations of university offi ces. Let’s continue our land offi cial Mary Senior will After the rally, a UCU delega- Lecturers and support and draw attention to the fact that tion will meet the Scottish gov- admin staff at more than 60 fi ght for a better President STRIKING university staff and proposed pension cuts will “hit ernment’s minister for further universities across Britain are Anita Wright their supporters will hold a those in the pension scheme on education, higher education and fi ghting proposals by employ- world free from Secretary rally at the Scottish Parliament the lowest incomes most. And all science, Shirley-Anne Somerville. ers’ body Universities UK (UUK) Liz Payne wars, exploitation, this afternoon to demand a res- too often that means they will Today marks the ninth day of to sever the link between pen- olution to the pension dispute. aff ect women most harshly.” escalating strikes, which began sions and fi nal salaries. Treasurer Eleanor oppression and The University and College She will say that given the on February 22, and will culmi- UUK is made up of university Lewington Union (UCU) organised the rally “signifi cant gender pay gap” in nate in a full week of strikes vice-chancellors, whose own inequality. as part of ongoing strike action higher education, which sees from this coming Monday. pensions are linked to their sala- [email protected] taking place at 10 Scottish uni- a woman academic earning Striking workers have ries and will be exempt from the SISTERS in SOLIDARITY to versities over planned changes £6,000 a year less on average received widespread support proposals, which UCU says will www.sisters.org.uk to staff and lecturers’ pensions. than a male counterpart, the from students both on the cost retired staff £10,000 a year. END RACISM and SEXISM At the rally, held on Interna- proposed cuts will “hit [women] picket line and through occu- [email protected] Morning Star morningstaronline.co.uk 8 Thursday world morningstaronline March 8 2018 @m_star_online

in brief ■ SRI LANKA ■ CLIMATE CHANGE Protesters target MP ‘Crazy’ Arctic over new trade deal State of emergency fails to heatwave NEW ZEALAND: Activists adds to fears fi xed themselves in stem anti-Muslim violence cement outside the offi ce NEW weather data shows of Labour MP Ruth Dyson the Arctic has just experi- in Christchurch yesterday by Our Foreign Desk the temple, but he refused to enced its warmest winter on in protest at the pending say who was responsible. record, with scientists say- signing of the successor In the nearby small town of ing the lack of sea ice was to the Trans-Pacifi c Part- RELIGIOUS violence fl ared Katugastota, Ikram Mohamed, “unprecedented” and a sign nership trade deal. again yesterday in central Sri a Muslim, stood outside the of severe climate change. Trade Minister David Lanka despite a state of emer- wreckage of the textile shop “It’s just crazy, crazy Parker is due to sign gency, with Buddhist mobs where he worked, after Sin- stuff ,” said Mark Serreze, the CPTPP — eff ectively sweeping through towns and halese Buddhist mobs set it director of the US National the TPP but without villages, burning Muslim on fi re. Snow and Ice Data Centre the United States — in homes and businesses, and leav- He and the owner had closed in Boulder, Colorado, who Chile, despite the ruling ing victims barricaded inside the shop yesterday morning has been studying the Arc- Labour Party opposing mosques. when police announced the tic since 1982. “These heat the TPP. The government ordered curfew. They returned to fi nd waves, I’ve never seen any- Our Children’s Future popular social media networks it destroyed, and clothing and thing like this.” activist Gen de Spa said blocked in an attempt to stop dressmaker dummies smoking Last month’s record-break- the deal would make the violence from spreading in the ruins. ing high temperatures at New Zealand “vulnerable and thousands of police and “There are many good Sin- Cape Morris Jesup on Green- to being sued by overseas soldiers spread out across the halese people,” he said. “This land’s north coast have been corporations when we go worst-hit areas. is being done by a few jealous more like those in May, said against their profi ts.” The police also ordered a cur- people.” Ruth Mottram, a climate sci- few across much of the region Muslims own many of the entist at the Danish Meteoro- for a third straight day, trying small businesses in Sri Lanka, logical Institute. Opinion poll boost to calm the situation. a fact that many believe has Ice centre senior scientist Hundreds of Muslim residents helped make them targets as Walt Meier said that “climate for Lopez Obrador of Mullegama, a village in the Buddhist-Muslim relations change is the overriding hills of central Sri Lanka, bar- SPREADING THE HATE: have worsened in recent years [cause].” Scientists believe MEXICO: Left-wing presi- ricaded themselves inside a local A vandalised mosque in amid the rise of extremist Bud- the warming Arctic is caus- dential candidate Andres mosque after Buddhist mobs Diana, central Sri Lanka dhist groups, which accuse ing extreme weather further Manuel Lopez Obrador has attacked their homes yester- Muslims of forcing people to south. extended his opinon poll day morning, accusing them convert and destroying sacred Rutgers University’s Jenni- lead to 14 points, currently of stealing the donation box of als, said police prevented them local Buddhist man said the Buddhist sites. fer Francis warned that “the holding 35 per cent support a nearby temple. from saving their property and Muslims were using improvised Residents said mobs swept underlying disease that’s in a survey published by At least 20 Muslim homes did nothing to stop the attackers. explosives, which the men in through at least two towns causing [extreme weather] is Reuters yesterday. appeared badly damaged and One Sinhala Buddhist man the mosque denied. in the central hills yesterday, getting worse,” referring to His total support has fl ames engulfed one house. who was part of the attack died Mullegama Piyaratana, a attacking two mosques and a greenhouse gases from the grown by 1 per cent in the The Muslims hiding in the in an explosion and another local Buddhist monk, claimed string of Muslim-owned shops burning of coal, oil and gas. past month, but his two mosque, speaking on condition man was injured, according the mob rampage took place and buildings. Cases of extreme weather closest rivals have been of anonymity for fear of repris- to the men in the mosque. A after people threw rocks at [email protected] “are just the symptoms.” slinging mud at each other. Mr Lopez Obrador has pledged to break the hold of the capitalist class on the MORNINGSTAR The socialist news hub ■ HUNGARY political system. ONLINE.CO.UK Orban aide’s video ups the racist ante

by Our Foreign Desk “If we let them in and they will live in our cities, the conse- quences will be crime, impover- HUNGARIAN Prime Minister ishment, dirt, fi lth and impos- Viktor Orban’s chief of staff has sible urban conditions.” ramped up the ruling party’s Mr Lazar said only elderly racist campaign against refu- pensioners remain in the gees, posting a video on his Vienna district “among whites Facebook page showing him and Christians,” while “every- in a district of Austria’s capital one else is an immigrant” for Vienna that he says is dirtier, whom “a city within a city” is poorer and increasingly crime- being created. ridden since refugees began liv- “There are a great number of ing there. schools in Vienna where there Janos Lazar says in the are no white Viennese children video that, 20 years from now, left, only the children of Mus- Hungary’s capital Budapest lim immigrants and immi- could look like the unidenti- grants from the Middle East,” fi ed Vienna neighbourhood if Mr Lazar ranted. opposition parties “let in the On Tuesday, United Nations migrants.” human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Hungary’s parliamentary al-Hussein said he stood by elections are on April 8 and “every single word” of his crit- the obsessively anti-immigra- icism of Mr Orban, whom he tion Mr Orban’s Fidesz party called a racist and xenophobe has made migrants the focal last month. point of the campaign. Mr Hussein criticised Mr “Evidently the streets are Orban for saying that Hungar- dirtier, evidently the area is ians don’t want their “own poorer and there’s lots more colour, traditions and national crime,” Mr Lazar says in the culture to be mixed by others.” video. [email protected] morningstaronline.co.uk Morning Star morningstaronline world Thursday @m_star_online March 8 2018 9

■ UNITED STATES in brief Sessions steps up Uni workers picket in bargaining row war on California’s CANADA: Academic workers are manning picket lines around York University in Toronto as uni bosses immigration laws refuse to resume collective bargaining. by Our Foreign Desk unfair and unconstitutional The 3,000 members of policies that have been imposed public employees’ union on you,” Mr Sessions is due to CUPE branch 3903 are US ATTORNEY General Jeff Ses- tell police chiefs. “I believe that on strike over insecure sions was expected to talk to we are going to win.” contracts, sexual violence on police offi cials in Sacramento, California offi cials remained campus, and the right of 700 California, yesterday as the fed- defi ant, with Democratic Gov- graduates students to join a eral government sues the state for ernor Jerry Brown mimicking union after they were shut enacting laws that protect people President Donald Trump on out by the last set of talks. living in the country illegally. Twitter as he criticised Mr Ses- Branch members carry It is the most severe act yet sions for coming to Sacramento out 60 per cent of York’s in the Trump administration’s “to further divide and polarise teaching and lab instruction. bid to force so-called sanctuary America. Jeff , these political cities and states to co-operate stunts may be the norm in with immigration authorities. Washington, but they don’t Air pollution warning The US Justice Department work here. SAD!!!” is challenging three California State attorney general Xavier COLOMBIA: Authorities laws that, among other things, Becerra, an elected offi cial, said have issued a red alert bar police from asking people the state is on fi rm legal foot- in Medellin as increased about their citizenship status or ing. “Our track record so far pollution made the city’s participating in federal immi- when it comes to any dispute air dangerous to human gration enforcement activities. with the federal government health. The lawsuit fi led in federal has been pretty good,” he said. The alert is in force court in Sacramento says the US Immigration and Customs from yesterday until laws are unconstitutional and Enforcement has said it will tomorrow evening, and have kept federal agents from increase its presence in Califor- carries with it restric- doing their jobs. nia and Mr Sessions wants to tions on motor vehicles, “The Department of Justice cut off funding to jurisdictions depending on their THIRSTY WORK: Farmers from south-eastern Spain march in Madrid yesterday demanding better water and the Trump administration that won’t co-operate. licence plate number. supplies for their fruit and vegetables crops. The signs read: ‘We need water’ are going to fi ght these unjust, [email protected]

■ JAPAN Unite London Print Branch FUKUSHIMA ALERT LE/ L

Sends Solidarity for OVER RADIOACTIVE International Women’s Day and greetings to TUC Women’s Conference WATER BUILD-UP For real equality and a world without oppression and harassment NUCLEAR DISASTER AFTERMATH: £250m ice wall ‘only partly eff ective’

by Our Foreign Desk on March 11 2011 in the worst buildings was reduced to 95 nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. tons per day with the ice wall, Mick Cotter Tom Murphy Investigators found that Tepco compared to nearly 200 tons Branch Chair Branch Secretary NUCLEAR experts concluded had not met basic safety require- without. yesterday that a £250 million ments before the disaster. That is part of the 500 tons ice wall meant to stop ground The government-commis- of contaminated water created water contamination at the sioned panel said additional every day at the plant, with the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi measures need to be taken to other 300 tons pumped out power station is only partially minimise the infl ow of rainwa- via wells, treated and stored Unite Branch LE/ eff ective and that other meas- ter and groundwater, such as in tanks. ures were urgently needed. repairing roofs and other dam- In addition to the £250m Workers in Social Inclusion & Care The plant’s private opera- aged parts of buildings. construction cost paid by the tor Tepco says the ice wall has “We recognise that the ice government, the ice wall needs helped reduce the ever-growing wall has had an eff ect, but more about £7m a year to be spent amount of radioactive water by work is needed to mitigate on maintenance and operation. Solidarity to all women today half. The plant also pumps out rainfall ahead of the typhoon The plant has been struggling several times as much ground- season,” said panel chairman with the ever-growing amounts water before it reaches the tsu- Yuzo Onishi, a Kansai Univer- of water — only slightly contam- – International Women’s Day nami-damaged reactors. sity civil engineering professor. inated after treatment — now The groundwater mixes with The mile-long, coolant-fi lled totalling 1 million tons and Towards change and radioactive water leaking from underground structure was stored in 1,000 tanks, taking up the damaged reactors. Contam- installed around the wrecked signifi cant space at the complex, inated water also results from reactor buildings to create where a decades-long decommis- inclusiveness rainwater that comes in contact a frozen soil barrier to keep sioning eff ort continues. with tainted soil and structures groundwater from fl owing into Offi cials aim to minimise the at the plant. the heavily radioactive area. contaminated water in the reac- Fukushima Daiichi suff ered Tepco said yesterday the tor before starting to remove Angie Stack Anton Johnson meltdowns of three reactors amount of contaminated water melted fuel in 2021. after an earthquake and tsunami that collects inside the reactor [email protected] Branch Chair Branch Secretary Morning Star morningstaronline.co.uk 10 Thursday features morningstaronline March 8 2018 @m_star_online Time is up to end Too many women the indignities and facing blatant inequalities women face in the workplace pregnancy Unison will be building on its discrimination successes in championing Mums to be deserve much the rights of women, says better protection under the GLORIA MILLS law, writes GAIL CARTMAIL

NISON has been at the forefront MONG the most survey that revealed shocking What will dismay many cam- of the fight for heartbreaking employer attitudes towards paigners is that the EHRC 2005 women’s rights cases of work- pregnant women and new comparable research showed Uand gender place discrimi- mothers. 30,000 women lost their jobs. equality for the Anation I have The recent timeline on Put simply, employer discrimi- last 25 years. e n c o u n t e r e d research, inquiries, reports and nation is endemic and getting In July, we celebrate a quar- have been those that are preg- recommendations starts in 2016 worse. In fact, the 2016 figures ter of a century as one of the nancy related. Women who when the EHRC revealed a stag- show pregnancy-related dis- foremost champions on wom- oftentimes come to doubt gering 77 per cent of pregnant crimination is 80 per cent higher en’s equality, defending their their ability and self-worth are women and new mothers expe- than the previous decade. rights at work and beyond, and faced with blatant or disguised rienced discrimination or nega- Prompted by the EHRC find- creating a rich legacy of legal discriminatory attitudes and/ tive attitudes during pregnancy, ings, the parliamentary women precedents to protect women or actions. Many may not be maternity leave and on their and equalities select commit- into the future. aware that their experiences return from maternity leave. tee set up an inquiry into the As Britain exits the EU, Uni- are increasingly the norm. When the EHRC 2016 data is issues raised, which duly pub- son will be lobbying to protect The equality and human scaled up, it amounts to 54,000 lished their recommendations a raft of EU-derived employ- rights commission (EHRC) women having lost their job, in January 2017 based on the ment rights, equality and fun- doggedly plugs away producing needless sacrifices accounted following observation, “We find damental freedoms. research and, most recently, a for by employers’ discrimination. it shocking that the number of The good news is that our The agenda is packed with Insecure jobs, outsourcing, union continues to grow — priorities agreed at our women’s the privatisation of public serv- resilient and buoyant with conference in February, where ices and the proliferation of one million women, growing over 900 women, the biggest zero-hours contracts are erod- stronger together. gathering of its kind in the UK, ing decent jobs and employ- Whatever the challenge, shaped the union’s agenda and ment rights for women at work. Unison will be leading the fight policies leading our campaigns. The TUC has called a national Women need trade to protect public services, jobs, But their resolve abounds in demonstration as part of its pay, pensions and working con- fighting on issues to promote great jobs agenda, and Unison ditions. a better work-life balance. women will be making their As part of the ongoing cam- Women still bear the major voices heard and their presence paign for equal pay, legislation role of unpaid primary carer visible on the streets of London unions to take on the on pay transparency comes into and have to juggle work and on Saturday May 12. force next month. care. Official data shows that They will push for progress For the first time public, unpaid care falls most heavily and action to tackle the scourge private and voluntary sector on women aged 50 to 64. of sexual harassment engulfing employers with 250 or more From childcare to dependent the corridors of power and the threat of automation employees must publish infor- care, women are in the main workplace. mation on the gender pay gap the majority carer, which has a Women’s rights are workers’ in their organisation. huge impact on their economic rights. Time is up to end the As Unison women celebrate income and independence. indignities, inequalities and The jobs being hardest hit by automation key milestones, they will con- Other priorities include injustices women face in the tinue to push for progress on women’s mental health and workplace and beyond. gender equality, building on wellbeing, effective rights for It’s time to break with the are in occupations dominated by women, our successes — the Pay up Now part-time and flexible workers, past. In June, at an interna- campaign that’s helped lift the tackling low and unequal pay, tional level, we will be cam- government’s public-sector pay protecting women’s safety in paigning with Public Services says SHARON GRAHAM cap and the landmark victory the workplace, safe travel for International to lobby govern- in the Supreme Court last July women and safety in public ments around the world to abolishing employment tribu- spaces, and fighting sexual support an ILO Convention on nal fees. assaults, harassment and vio- violence against women and They will be confident that lence against women. men at work. their resolve in challenging The impact of automation, We will campaign for and injustice, from wherever it digitalisation and technology demand a new gender contract comes, has restored access to on women’s jobs in public serv- that tackles misogyny and hate justice for millions of British ices, and the role unions can crime, respects women’s dig- working people. play ensuring the creation of nity and fundamental human Moreover, during the year, higher skilled, better-paid jobs rights. these same women will be fight- that improve the lives and work ing hard to improve real pay, of women will form a major ■ Gloria Mills is national secretary pensions and living standards. campaign. equalities, Unison. morningstaronline.co.uk Morning Star morningstaronline features Thursday @m_star_online March 8 2018 11

senior decision makers and for “other ideas” to address the its enforcement powers. here is what it found: problem! So 15 months on and I could find no mention of n Six in 10 agreed women the determination “to build an the role of trade unions on should have to disclose if economy for everyone” seems the Working Forward web- they are pregnant during the to have evaporated, at least as site, despite unions rolling recruitment process far as pregnant and new moth- back employment tribunal fees n Nearly half agreed that it ers are concerned. that impeded access to justice is reasonable to ask women if From next month, employ- and saw a dramatic drop in they have young children dur- ers with over 250 employees discrimination cases being ing the recruitment process are required to publish their brought forward. n 44 per cent stated a woman gender pay gap. What we can Labour’s 2016 manifesto should work for an organisa- already see from reports is the stated that, under the Con- tion for a year before deciding high price paid by women work- servatives, maternity discrimi- to have children ing part-time and/or shoulder- nation is out of control, a claim No wonder the EHRC com- ing carer responsibilities, the based on facts. Labour echoes mented that “British employers occupational gender segregation the MA call for an extension are ‘living in the dark ages’ and with jobs typically ‘women’s of the time period from three have worrying attitudes towards work’ being regarded as of lesser to six months when applying unlawful behaviour when it value and direct discrimination. for maternity discrimination comes to recruiting women.” The number of women in the to the employment tribunal. Maternity Action (MA) cam- labour market is at an historic It should not be up to women paigns against pregnancy- high and the Maternity Alli- individually to first overcome related discrimination, 80,000 ance calls on employers to eval- discrimination during recruit- legal information sheets are uate retention rates and argues ment, face discrimination when downloaded from its website this should be a requirement of pregnant, during maternity each month. In a comprehen- gender pay gap reporting. leave or when they return to sive and insightful report pub- The costs to women of preg- work and/or the loss of their job. lished in November 2017, MA nancy (or perceived pregnancy) Prevention is better than highlights specific actions related discrimination includes cure. In the short term, our needed to drive change. As loss of income, reduced career demands should include well as demanding better law, progression and avoidable restored funding for the EHRC, Maternity Action recommends stress and mental ill health. an injection of cash called for training midwives, support The state loses tax revenue and by charities working to end workers and health visitors in pays increased benefits. maternity-related discrimina- maternity rights so they can The EHRC is inviting employ- tion such as Maternity Alli- new and expectant mothers made redundant in specific tives will confirm, beneath the signpost women to sources of ers to join Working Forward ance and, at the very least, feeling forced out of their job circumstances. There are exist- EHRC data are dreadful cases advice and support. and choose two or three “action the government introducing has nearly doubled in the past ing rights in British law. For where women are told their They also propose that bet- areas” covering leadership, legal protection similar, and decade.” example, women are entitled maternity cover “did a better ter protections, if introduced, employee confidence, support- not less than, what is in place The committee called for to be offered a suitable alter- job,” “there is no space for be extended to fathers and ing line managers and flexible in Germany. better protection throughout native vacancy, if one exists, if them” and even “the organisa- partners taking paternity leave, working. My faith is in a Labour gov- pregnancy and maternity leave their role is redundant at any tion has moved on.” Many cou- shared parental leave and paren- Voluntarism is all well and ernment not only because it and six months afterwards. The time during the maternity rageous women do challenge tal leave during the pregnancy good, however, experience has always been Labour that government responded with leave period and not be forced employers without union sup- and the child’s first year. over decades demonstrates has backed equality law, but the platitude that it was “deter- to compete by assessment or port and this can be daunting The Alliance for Maternity that, to end pregnancy-related because Labour is committed mined to build an economy for interview. and expensive. Rights, which includes trade discrimination, or indeed the to freedoms for trade unions everyone” but did at least com- Women are also entitled Even if rights were tough- unions and is coordinated by gender pay gap, a much tougher that will support sectoral col- mit to review the position in to consultation and it is not ened up, without enforce- MA, met government officials approach is needed. The EHRC lective bargaining, with the relation to pregnancy-discrimi- deemed sex discrimination ment and serious penalties for following the select committee is the UK equality watchdog yet potential to genuinely create nation-related redundancy. against a man to provide breaches, women are reliant on inquiry and the government’s has seen its funding and staff an economy that works for all. The government needs look more favourable treatment to their employer ‘doing the right response. levels severely reduced and Women deserve no less. no further than to Germany a woman because of pregnancy thing.’ The alliance was told that the current political climate where pregnant women and and maternity leave. In February 2018, the EHRC government is not planning any favouring deregulation may n Gail Cartmail is Unite assistant new mothers can only be Yet, as any union representa- published its survey of 1,106 regulatory changes and asked think twice about exercising general secretary.

HERE are few those decisions. The problem is drafting a 21st Century Mani- Politically our hopes lie with threats as poten- that the real world is still full of festo for the workplace. This a future government of the left tially dangerous sexism and other social biases. will include both our indus- — one that puts the interests for working people These biases can then picked trial objectives and our politi- of working people at the heart Tas “industry 4.0.” up and replicated by “machine cal demands. of decision-making. Research sug- learning.” Human resource The union has already pro- Industrially, we can start gests that 35 per cent of all UK functions are already overrun duced a new technology agree- making change today. This jobs could be lost within the with automation. It is easy to ment for collective bargaining is no time for defeatism and next two decades. see how that could affect the to help our shop stewards and cynicism. It is time for realis- But, as well as eliminating already uneven playing field reps negotiate safeguards and tic ambition. entire occupations, automa- that women face at work. promote benefits such as shorter Why can’t women fight to tion will also create vast wealth. AT RISK: Checkout In the past year I have been working time without loss of pay. protect their jobs? And why PriceWaterhouseCoopers esti- workers are being talking to thousands of shop This should be deliverable. can’t profit-loaded corporations mates that artificial intelligence increasingly replaced stewards, reps, equalities com- Better robots should not just reduce working time without alone could add £232 billion to by machines mittees, officers and organisers mean job cuts and reskilling. loss of pay? the UK economy by 2030. of the union about Unite’s polit- We should be realistic but also Britain’s long-hours culture In the midst of the 1980s ical and industrial response to confident and ambitious. is notorious and hits women Thatcherite reforms, we lost women, are predicted to be hard On top of this we have automation. When we consulted our shop hardest. If their union is jobs and wages to technology hit by dramatic advances in AI. good old sexism, like James Across the union our activ- stewards and reps, they over- organised and willing, there while boardrooms profited. Experts believe that, in five Damore from Google opining ists have made it clear that we whelmingly backed a progres- is no reason whatsoever that As a society we can’t afford years, we won’t even be able to that women are genetically will need to ensure a future sive, industrial response. concessions will not be won the same again but worse. tell the difference between talk- unsuited to tech roles. Please. that works for women. Over 80 per cent supported from employers. Today is International Women’s ing to a computer or a human. And this from a mouthpiece One element of our consul- building strike-ready work- Mass sackings are not inevi- Day and we are on the front This impending, at times of the so-called Silicon Valley tation was the launch of our places. They are clearly pre- table. It is time for the trade line of automation. dramatic, loss of work will be progressives. automation survey to shop pared to fight if they have union movement to have more Right now the jobs being further exacerbated for women. There is clearly a real fight to stewards and reps. Over 2,000 to, but they also want politi- confidence in itself, in our rea- hardest hit are in occupations Recent research by the Institute be had. We already know that responded and their verdict cal change. Over 90 per cent son for being. dominated by women. You of Development Studies shows there are fewer women quali- was clear. Hundreds included wanted job protection to be We should not be embar- only have to look at your local that women are also less likely fied to take Stem jobs and bla- equalities as a priority. enshrined in law and for rassed to demand more from high street and see cashiers to get the new jobs created tant sexism is not going to help. But automation will not only human beings to be made the rich man’s table and neither disappearing — 73 per cent of over the coming decades. The And as more decisions are affect women. It will change legally accountable for the should we bow to the “inevita- whom are women — to know proverbial “double-whammy.” taken by artificial intelligence the way all of us work and live. actions of robots. ble” and lay blame elsewhere. that retail jobs are already in On the one hand, work done and not people, we run the risk So how do we make sure that Only when we as a trade If we really want it, we can be the emergency ward. by women will be eroded, of hard-wiring sexism into the ordinary working people get union movement are prepared that change that working peo- And the same is going to hap- while, on the other, new jobs algorithms that they use. their fair share? for the future industrially and ple are looking for. pen in other sectors. Call cen- are likely to be created in sec- Algorithms tell machines At Unite we believe there politically will we really be able tres, another area where the tors where women are in the how to make decisions and has to be both an industrial to press for the change that we n Sharon Graham is Unite execu- majority of the workforce are minority. keep “learning” to improve and political response. We are all want to see. tive officer. Morning Star morningstaronline.co.uk 12 Thursday features morningstaronline March 8 2018 @m_star_online Star comment May should break ties with the blood-soaked Riyadh regime

WHO cares how many Yemeni civilians are slaughtered by the Saudi air force? Selling military hardware to Saudi Arabia is profitable. Shorn of diplomatic niceties, that is the government’s justification for its close relationship with the medieval dictatorship in Riyadh. Arms sales underpin the British-Saudi partnership, which is why the top face cards of Britain’s monarchy are wheeled out to welcome the blood-soaked crown prince of the house of Saud. Mohammed bin Salman has overall responsibility for the Saudi military intervention into Yemen and brooks no ques- tioning of the extensive bombing of civilian targets there. He denies accusations of trying to starve Yemenis opposed to his plans into submission, although interna- tional aid agencies, among others, have testified to the reality of ports being blockaded by Saudi armed forces and their allies. Theresa May insists she raised “concerns about human EXISM has long rights” in her meeting with Prince Mohammed, although been a prob- she and fellow apologists for Riyadh are obsessed with the lem. It is still a prospect of Saudi women driving cars. problem. This is Welcome though that may be, it is surely not the human Sdespite all the Misogyny is rights pinnacle to which the Saudi people can aspire. progress women have made and historic changes in the law. Women are still fighting sex- Women were able to drive cars in Iraq, Libya and Syria, ism at endemic levels at work, but that did not prevent imperialist military interventions in school, in public, on social widespread in on one or another democracy-linked pretext. media. Democracy merits no mention when British and US In 2018, it is shocking to politicians discuss Saudi Arabia and its allied kingdoms, see such high levels of sexual emirates and sheikhdoms. harassment, abuse and assault, All that matters are trade opportunities, especially including the murder of women export of British-made warplanes and other armaments, by intimate partners of 2.6 with government-guaranteed profits for firms engaged in every week in the UK. our society – and this dirty dealing. The longstanding failure Even if, after years of chatter, the right of a tiny minor- of the justice system becomes ity of Saudi women to drive cars is finally recognised, it clearer every day. Even the won’t alter the denial of human rights to the kingdom’s recent legal victory by two vic- Shi’ite minority who are despised as heretics in accordance tims of John Worboys, which with state orthodoxy. states that the police have tackling it begins It won’t affect the increasing rate of public beheadings a duty to investigate crimes for a range of offences after charades of legal proceedings against women, is a reminder in which torture is ever-present. that we can never take our Nor will it entail a different “anti-corruption” strategy rights for granted. than that used by Prince Mohammed in detaining dozens Women still face a gender of his siblings and other princes in a luxurious lock-up pay gap and every year in the in our schools until they agreed to cough up tens of billions of pounds UK 54,000 women lose their looted from state funds. jobs due to pregnancy and Above all, it won’t mean that the Yemeni people will maternity discrimination. enjoy the human right to life itself. They will still face Austerity and the cuts to aerial bombing while British experts advise Saudi pilots public services have a dispro- The increasingly macho nature on targets in line with British-Saudi military co-operation. portionate impact on women and children and this is exac- erbated by class and race. of the education regime is The increase in racist hate May recalls that the UN security council originally and assault have had a gendered backed Saudi intervention to restore President Abdrabbuh dimension, with women bear- modelling oppressive behaviour, Mansour Hadi to office after being overthrown by Houthi ing the brunt of these crimes. rebels, but the situation has changed substantially and it We are going backwards and says KIRI TUNKS is widely understood that there can be no solution that we need the labour movement — ignores a role for the Houthis. and the Labour Party — to com- Our Prime Minister cannot whitewash solid evidence mit to turning things around. start would be a serious com- is a problem everywhere but it women and those in insecure of war crimes by crediting co-operation with Saudi intel- It was good to hear John mitment to tackling sexism in shouldn’t be present anywhere work or in male-dominated ligence services for saving British lives. McDonnell pledge at Labour society. on the left. workplaces. Riyadh’s ongoing sponsorship of Salafist groups in conference that every Labour Anti-discrimination laws Women have a right to For black women, it inter- Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and elsewhere poses a live policy will be assessed for its exist, but they need strength- expect higher standards from sects with racism and racist terrorist threat in numerous countries, which cannot be impact on women. ening. The recent legal victory people engaged in struggles for tropes. In the vast majority wished away as an inconvenient spin-off from her insist- Labour’s election manifesto by Unison, which ruled employ- equality and justice. Too often of cases, the perpetrator was ence on supplying state-of-the-art war materiel to the Saudi shows that Labour wants to ment tribunal fees illegal, is a our brothers let us down. a man — in most cases, a col- armed forces. address the crisis in the pub- crucial step in removing the The TUC report Still Just a league but often a third party Middle East Minister Alistair Burt insists that the gov- lic sector. barriers to women accessing Bit of Banter? details the alarm- such as a customer or a patient. ernment is doing all it can to deal with the humanitarian And Jeremy Corbyn has been justice when they’ve been faced ingly high levels of sexual har- Crucially, only one in five crisis in Yemen, but this is meaningless as long as it stokes clear about the importance of discrimination at work. assment in the workplace. Some women reported the harass- up Saudi capacity to maintain its onslaught against Yemen. trade union membership and But there is a cultural prob- 52 per cent of women polled ment to anyone. The reasons May should tell Prince Mohammed that this collabora- activity. lem that will be harder to shift. by the TUC experienced sexual why women didn’t report it tion ends now and that he should order an immediate halt But women are going to need The casual sexism in society, harassment at work. Although ranged from shame to fear to the bombing campaigning in Yemen. much more. And we will be the sexual objectification, the a problem for all women, it is of negative consequences for demanding it. A good place to minimising of sexist behaviour more prevalent for younger their job. morningstaronline.co.uk Morning Star morningstaronline features Thursday @m_star_online March 8 2018 13 Taking a stand on sexism is just too risky for most women – and employers know this

T’S amazing how the unac- ceptable can become nor- Workplace misogyny and belittling mal. How would the men in my workplace react if Ithey were routinely called of women is rife, but liberal notions “boys”? If when they discussed the football they were mocked for of ‘leaning in’ do little to help, “gossiping”? Or if they didn’t get their cuppa in the morning because it isn’t actually written argues JO BARTOSCH into any women’s job descrip- tion to go and buy the milk? my health and after five years These are such petty exam- I left to change career.” ples that, if any of them were Aping the misogynist behav- called out as sexist, the accuser iour of men to get on is not would be told she was over- unique to high-flying lawyers. And who can blame women and make space in the curricu- reacting. Rebecca worked as an for fearing victimisation? We lum to educate and challenge. We can all sit through tedi- administrator in local govern- only need to look at Harvey This is no longer the case. ous equalities and diversity ment. She explained how the Weinstein to see how the power The NEU survey It’s Just training, have reams of policy all-male IT team in her office dynamics at play in sexual har- Everywhere found that 54 per on our shelves and walk past would judge all the women on assment can mean the end of cent of girls and 34 per cent posters telling us to report a scale of “hotness.” women’s careers. boys say they have witnessed harassment, but the reality is As a lesbian, to put herself We need to build a serious someone using sexist language workplaces are microcosms of outside their predatory gaze trade union campaign to make while 30 per cent of girls and 18 the wider world and the wider she would join in. She explains: demands on our own organisa- per cent of boys have person- world is sexist. “It was easier that way and tions and politicians to ensure ally been described using sexist When I asked for reports of for a bit it was a laugh. Then that our equality laws are under- language. workplace sexism, I was inun- it struck me that it stopped stood by all and are enforced. dated. From sexual assault to me seeing them as human, as We need the government to nd it’s not just a working practices that made women like me. It made me collect data on sexual harassment problem in sec- having a family impossible, realise how easy it is to go with — plenty of other countries do ondary schools threaded through each of the the flow and how misogynist and it would allow us to properly where 64 per accounts was a mixture of that current is ... I didn’t have research the causes, monitor the Acent of teachers anger and resignation. the confidence to call it out.” prevalence and put strategies in say they hear The following accounts are To my mind, what these sto- place to bring it to an end. sexist language weekly and not chosen to be shocking, ries show is that no amount of We need the reinstatement 29 per cent daily. For primary unique or special. They are the “leaning in” can change a cul- of third party harassment leg- schools the figures are 45 per everyday experiences of women establishment running. is often “put up and shut up” or ture where men bond through islation, which was repealed in cent and 15 per cent. in today’s British workplaces. Anna reflects that she was “get out and go hungry.” the humiliation of women. Sim- 2013, to make it easier for the The atomisation of educa- The first I received was from lucky she could leave and that How women cope with insti- ilarly, “awareness raising” can’t many women working in sectors tion system, now fractured by Anna who worked in a small the future for the migrant tutional sexism is complex. The totally unpick the unconscious such as the NHS, hospitality and academies and free schools, care home for a large social women with little choice but phenomenon of high-flying bias that we all carry. retail who face harassment from has broken a strong network of care provider. She described the to endure would be hard. women pulling the ladder up As the pay scandals from the customers or patients to hold governance that used to ensure working environment as “like Austerity has punished the with them is all too real and we BBC to EasyJet show, taking a their employers to account. issues like racism and sexism being trapped in a Benny Hill poor, but as a group it is women have all heard the horror stories stand and calling out sexism is We need to extend the full were tackled systemically. show with no escape.” who have been hurt most of female CEOs who speak out just too risky for most women range of statutory employment Now these issues are del- Anna began her testimony deeply, with an estimated 68 against family-friendly policies. and undoubtedly employers rights to all workers, regardless egated to outside organisa- by apologising for “being a bit per cent of cuts coming directly To some extent perhaps this know this. of employment status or type tions of varying standard on negative” — to me this dem- from the pockets of women. is understandable — male-dom- Expecting women to demand of contract. drop-down days so a box can onstrated that one of the first For migrant women and inated working environments pay rises and negotiate promo- This would remove discrimi- be ticked for Ofsted. This is not barriers we often need to over- women of colour the situation can be intimidating, particu- tions is unrealistic in a climate nation for atypical workers and good enough. come as women is the notion is even more stark. The choice larly for young women, and where jobs are scarce and address issues regarding zero- The catastrophic funding that we don’t deserve to speak whatever one’s status in an women who assert themselves hours or temporary contracts. cuts mean there’s no money out or that our experience is organisation, as a woman, sex- are demonised as “unfemi- We need recognition and for what some term “fluffy not valid. ism is inescapable. nine,” pushy or aggressive. facility time for trade union learning,” with the focus being Part of a team of carers, Sarah got in touch with her Workplace sexism is not a reps. They need to be trained entirely on the “basics” as if Anna explained the working experience. She flew through a problem made by women and and resourced to be able to helping children live respect- conditions as “minimum wage, top university before graduat- it should not be left to us to respond to and address com- ful, equal lives isn’t a basis for with no rights until after the ing from law school and joining redress what is after all a man- plaints of sexual harassment. a healthy society. six-month probation period,” a city firm as a lawyer. made injustice. As a movement, we also need The increasingly macho and crucially “a workforce with She now recalls with hor- Whether it is flagrant or to raise the consciousness of our nature of the education regime is migrant workers who did not ror how she would go to lap- underhand, dismissed as ban- reps so that they are able to spot modelling oppressive behaviour. know what a good working dancing clubs with clients and ter or demonstrably discour- harassment in the workplace and Changes to initial teacher environment might be like.” colleagues because she needed aged, sexism exists in every ensure that women feel empow- training mean teachers aren’t With both men and women to fit in. workplace. ered to report it and take action. being trained in these areas in the team, she explained “ She explains: “It wasn’t Sexism in the workplace is The government is consult- and many complain they just how it was standard practice to really a choice, it was a coping not a niche concern or incon- ing on this issue. If everyone don’t know how to tackle it. “leave all the grotty, domestic Sexism in the mechanism. There were two venient distraction, it is at the reading this paper sent in a The NEU is committed to tack- tasks to the women.” types of women in the office, core of the struggle for better response and got their col- ling this. Next week 200 people This went totally unchal- workplace is not I could be a ‘boot’ or ‘bunny.’ working conditions. leagues and union comrades to are attending our conference on lenged as she explained: “The “The only way I could get In the week when the TUC complete it too, we could start Challenging Sexism, but we can’t other women there couldn’t a niche concern on was to play the boys at women’s conference meets, the to build a drive for change. do it alone. We need everyone afford to make a fuss.” their own game, so I deflected experiences of Anna, Rebecca Sadly, as the National Edu- to be part of making sexism a The male manager would advances with humour and and Sarah underscore the fact cation Union found, sexism is thing of the past. Please help us. indulge in sexist banter with or inconvenient tried to grow a thick skin. that the fight for women’s lib- also prevalent in schools. In the the male team members, who “The constant need to bat off eration should be front and past, schools have been able to ■ Kiri Tunks is NUT vice-president, bonded by humiliating the very distraction sexual advances and suppress centre of campaigns for work- ameliorate the worst excesses NEU. women whose labour kept the my anxiety took a heavy toll on ers’ rights. Morning Star morningstaronline.co.uk 14 Thursday features morningstaronline March 8 2018 @m_star_online

and Reagan administrations. A thousands marching for refu- similar approach is being taken gees and against racism in ALL THE DANGER SIGNS: in European countries. Europe. CasaPound fascists Why we While deliberately pursu- This year’s March Against descend on Rome last week ing policies that make people Racism on Saturday March 17 worse off, government attacks marking UN Anti-Racism Day, on women, Muslims, refugees, an international day of action immigrants, black people are against racism, could not come must march used to distract people from at a more timely moment. falling standards of living. These The #MeToo movement has groups are also scapegoated for inspired women across the austerity while suffering dispro- globe to stand up and speak out portionately from it. against sexual assault, violence, against racism However, amid this darkness, misogyny, sexism and discrim- there is light. The Jeremy Cor- ination in Hollywood, govern- byn-led Labour Party is a beacon ment, politics, mass media — no of hope for the left in Europe. As sphere is immune to this. Racism is the cutting edge of far-right outlined in his recent speech, This movement must also Corbyn is prioritising jobs, embrace anti-racism and under- growth and improving living stand the disproportionality of populism, it brings with it sexism, standards. He has also consist- sexism, violence and misogyny ently stood up to racism and for directed at black and Muslim misogyny and reactionary policy on women’s rights. Corbyn stands women, politically, socially and for making every one better economically. off. Only this type of approach The abuse directed at shadow women’s rights – that is precisely why it must can defeat the far right, as illus- home secretary Diane Abbott trated by the growth in support MP is a case in point. Ms Abbott SABBY DHALU for Labour and collapse in sup- was the first black woman MP be resolutely resisted, writes port for Ukip at the 2017 general elected to Parliament and the election. most prominent black woman OMEN and 33 per cent and its impact on right in Austria, France and Ger- Blairism — the turn to neo- in British politics. Research by Muslim woman leaving her hos- black peo- women and black people in par- many. Similarly, there is Donald liberalism by social democrats Amnesty International showed pitalised for three months with ple consti- ticular. For white men, tax credit Trump’s election as US president. — has failed. It is why the cen- Abbott received 45 per cent of severe fractures to her pelvis and tute the cuts have reduced their annual The continuing economic crisis tre left has performed badly in all abusive tweets sent to women spine and a broken leg. The same Wm a j o r - income by just over 8 per cent, is the underlying cause of the recent elections in Europe, but MPs in the six weeks before the man then attacked a 12-year-old ity of for African/Caribbean men this biggest rise in racism since fas- this lesson has not been under- 2017 general election. Many Muslim girl, attempting to hit humanity yet are some of the figure increases to 9 per cent cism’s rise to power. stood by the majority of social of them were death and rape her with his car. Incidents of most oppressed people in the and 10 per cent for Asian men. Racism is the cutting edge of democratic parties, as indicated threats. anti-Muslim abuse and attacks world. The struggle for women’s But the impact on women, far-right populism, but it also recently by the weak SPD poll- Worse still is the level of vio- in public areas rose by 326 per liberation goes hand in hand particularly African, Carib- brings with it sexism, misogyny ing in Germany. In the face of a lence Muslim women wearing cent in 2015, with women dis- with the struggle against racism. bean and Asian women, is more and reactionary policy on wom- growth in support for Alterna- hijab are subjected to. Political proportionately targeted by The unity of our struggles is the severe. For the poorest 33 per en’s rights. tive for Deutschland, the SPD attacks on Muslim women’s white male perpetrators. key to our liberation. cent of white women, cuts to Trump is implementing a has agreed to form a coalition clothing such as the niqab It is often assumed and In Europe and the US, women tax credits have reduced their Muslim ban, wants to build a government with Angela Mer- (face veil) and hijab (headscarf) reported that Muslim women and black people are facing the annual income by over 11 per racist wall and his administra- kel’s CDU, which will undoubt- are perhaps the most startling wearing the hijab do so because most harsh consequences of cent. This increases to 14 per tion has emboldened racists, edly prove disastrous. To defeat illustration of how campaigns by they are forced to by men. This austerity, economic growth cent for African and Caribbean resulting in scenes in Charlottes- the far right, the left must learn the media and politicians have may be the case for a minority, stagnation and the fall in living women and, staggeringly, over ville last year not seen since the these lessons. led to violence on the streets. but for the majority of these standards that follows. 19 per cent for Asian women. civil rights movement. His atti- Second, in the US and Europe After the terrorist attacks women the hijab is simply a Research by the Women’s Right-wing populism is cur- tude towards women is notori- there is a growing movement in 2017, many Muslim women way of expressing their faith Budget Group in 2017 has shown rently on the rise. It advanced ously abhorrent and his admin- against racism and sexism as around the country were report- and culture – something they the disproportionate impact of in Sunday’s Italian general elec- istration is more anti-abortion reflected in the huge women’s ing physical and verbal abuse. In will hold onto more strongly tax credit cuts to the poorest tion alongside the rise of the far than even the George W Bush marches against Trump and Leicester, a white man ran over a during rising Islamophobia A woman’s place is in the international strike

S we celebrate Inter- speech at the Congress of national Women’s The global grassroots movement is fighting for an anti-racist, the Social Democratic Party Day we must in 1896, she emphasised that Aremember the radi- anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, all-inclusive feminism for the the bourgeois woman and the cal roots of March 8. working-class woman have In so doing, we turn to the separate concerns in their lib- comrades who have given us 99 per cent, write DOREEN DENSKY and DANA MILLS eration struggle. social democracy as well as The bourgeois woman International Women’s Day, oppression and exploitation Luxemburg understood very talist patriarchy. and fascism, who brought a demanded better educational theorists and activists Rosa would no longer be. well that our challenges are Later in her life she devel- proposal to the Second Interna- opportunities and broader Luxemburg and Clara Zetkin. Luxemburg was internation- international — hence they can oped this notion further, say- tional Conference of Working access to areas of work, while Bound by a long friendship alist through and through. only be brought down interna- ing: “The masses must make Women in 1910 to declare a day her working-class compatriot and in mutual struggle against She understood the only way tionally. themselves heard in order to as the International Working needed to fight “hand in hand oppression and fascism, their to transcend multiple sys- She wrote economic as well propel the party ship forward. Women’s Day, which became with the man of her class exchanges and their respec- tems of oppression is through as political theory; her work Then we will be able to face the March 8 a few years later. against capitalist society.” tive calls to action share that organised action, writing: was rich and multifaceted. future confidently. History will The day needs to be “accord- Zetkin adds that the work- they were not satisfied with “The whole development, the One of her most influential do its work. See that you too do ing to socialist precepts,” she ing-class woman “agrees with reforms. whole tendency of imperialism works was The Mass Strike, your work.” (1913). stressed, and it “must have an the demands of the bourgeois They advocated a revolution in the last decade leads the the Political Party and Trade Luxemburg’s understanding international character.” women’s movement, but she of the unjust world, character- international working class Unions (1906). of the mass strike underpins While addressing the con- regards the fulfilment of those ised by oppression, war and the to see more clearly and more Further, she writes: “The the women’s strike. It is exactly temporary issue of women demands simply as a means to evils of capitalism. tangibly that only the per- mass strike is the first natural, because it is impossible, that it suffrage, Zetkin’s call was enable that movement to enter But let us turn to their own sonal stepping forward of the impulsive form of every great is necessary. We will stop doing also a response to demonstra- the battle, equipped with the thought and action which still broadest masses, their personal revolutionary struggle of the our work as a way to let his- tions and a 13-week strike of same weapons, alongside the echo so much today. political action, mass demon- proletariat and the more highly tory do its work and collapse garment workers in New York proletariat.” Luxemburg (1871- 1919) was a strations and mass strikes developed the antagonism is patriarchal capitalism. City in the previous year. Much of this resonates with groundbreaking Polish-Jewish that sooner or later open into between capital and labour, It was Luxemburg’s friend The 1911 International Wom- our present moment, namely at Marxist writer and activist. a period of revolutionary action the more effective and decisive and comrade, the German en’s Day was a big success and a time when the mainstream She has left us a rich legacy in the state can give the correct must mass strikes become.” Clara Zetkin (1857-1933), a thus became enshrined in parties foster a neoliberal kind to consider in 2018. She was answer to the proletariat to the The mass strike is the voice passionate speaker, organiser socialist-feminist history. of feminism — corporate, elit- always focused firmly on the immense pressure of imperial- of the masse. The strike is prag- for women’s rights and activist Zetkin’s feminism was ist and individualistic. future, in a world in which istic policy.” matic work to bring down capi- against capitalist exploitation always revolutionary. In a In the International Wom- morningstaronline.co.uk Morning Star morningstaronline features Thursday @m_star_online March 8 2018 15 International Women’s Day is for all women Black women are too often objectified, demonised and face threats to our lives just for speaking out. Our voices must be lifted, says ZITA HOLBOURNE

RESS for progress be real and meaningful. is the theme for Symbolic solidarity is good, STAYING POSITIVE: The this year’s Inter- but we also need practical soli- Nawi Collective and (below) national Wom- darity with a physical presence. a poster by Zita Holbourne Pen’s Day, focused Black women, illustrated on equal pay and very clearly by the experience standing up to gender violence of Diane Abbott MP, are repeat- and harassment. edly targeted for abuse online as a way of fighting back. For To achieve gender parity at and physically in an attempt to these women, the sharpest the current rate of progress we silence us. oppression they face is the rac- would have to wait 200 years. We are objectified, demonised ism, Islamophobia and misog- We deserve equality in our and face threats to our lives just yny, mostly from white men. lifetime, but to achieve it we for speaking out, whether we Defending a Muslim woman’s need men as well as women to are standing up for the rights right to choose what she wears stand up for gender equality. of women or black people or for is the duty of every feminist It’s encouraging to see the human rights of all of us. and anti-racist. women-led campaigns such as If the global women’s move- On International Women’s #timeup and #metoo but it is ment is to be truly progressive, Day we must celebrate the con- essential that women’s move- inclusive and achieve gender tribution of, and campaign for, ments and feminist spaces are parity, it has to be a movement all women in society. We must inclusive of all women. that is led by all women for the also fight for better living stand- Women who are black, benefit of all women. ards, confront head-on the racist migrant, lesbian, bisexual, trans, We have to acknowledge our far right and pledge to #Mar- disabled, younger and older face intersectionality and recognise chAgainstRacism on March 17 not just gender discrimination that some women have more and mark UN Anti-Racism Day. and disadvantage but double privilege than others and some A better world is possible and or multiple discrimination and women are more disadvantaged we must fight for it. as such there is an even more and marginalised than others. adverse impact on them when We have a real chance to build ■ Sabby Dhalu is co-convener for it comes to achieving equal pay, on the momentum of current Stand Up To Racism. accessing jobs and services and women’s movements and in just having a seat at the table. marking the 100-year anniver- In addition to this, intersec- sary of some women gaining tional women face a dispropor- the vote, but, unless we stand tionate impact of austerity and with all our sisters and lift all of race, ethnicity, gender, age, education, health, disabilities gender equality? They are not as campaigners are more likely our voices, progress will be slow. class etc and were not inclusive and media. included and are scapegoated to face harassment, abuse, troll- This must come hand in hand of them. In Swaziland one in three as less than human, coming to ing, death threats and misogyny. with challenging the patriarchal Our collective, while focused girls experience sexual violence, steal jobs and housing by politi- As if all of that was not hard society we live in and it means around singing and performing, 31 per cent of women are HIV cians and the media. enough to contend with, we are that men must be accountable is equally important as a safe positive, marital rape is legal Those celebrities using their en’s Strike (IWS), however, we often excluded from women’s for their actions and examine space to come together, recharge and out of 65 delegates to the voices to say #metoo #timesup find Luxemburg’s and Zetkin’s structures and movements or, their own behaviours. our batteries, exhale and feel House of Assembly only four are and #pressforprogress have the radical spirit returning to us. if we are included, it is a token- I am part of an all-black invigorated for the struggles of women. privilege and opportunity to After all, the global grassroots istic approach to tick the box. women’s choir called Nawi Col- #everydayracism and #everyday- use their global positions to movement is fighting for an Then, when we lective. We sing for sexism we must navigate to get very other month, bring about real change in the anti-racist, anti-capitalist, create our own safe freedom, for equal- through each waking day. for the past three- way people think of feminism anti-imperialist, all-inclusive spaces and practise ity, for justice. We It was founded by an amaz- and-a-half years, and women’s movements. So feminism for the 99 per cent. self-care, we are are named after ing young black woman, Amina my organisation my message to them for IWD On March 8 last year, thou- accused of being Nawi, who was the Gichinga, who is our choir EBlack Activists Ris- is to not just lift your own sands of women rallied and separatist or over- last survivor of the leader, a musician, vocalist, ing Against Cuts voice but to use your power marched in the largest cities, sensitive. all-women Amazon campaigner and activist. UK has been co-ordinating to empower all women to use inspired by — and in solidarity If we are to army in the king- Such spaces are essential for solidarity and humanitarian their voices — if you have a with — strikes in Poland and achieve progress dom of Dahomey women who face multiple dis- aid distributions and convoys platform, share it with a sister. Argentina. for gender equal- which is believed to crimination in the same way to our sisters and brothers Sometimes in order to make This year’s International ity, we must build be the inspiration spaces for other intersectional who are refugees in northern progress we have to challenge Women’s Day is marked again a movement that for the Dora Milaje women exist, for example, the France. not just those outside but chal- by worldwide mobilisation is fully inclusive of warriors of Marvel’s fantastic Sisters of Frida provid- While the majority of lenge our own perceptions against gendered violence and all women’s experi- Black Panther. ing a space for disabled women. those who are currently there about what progress looks like. the system that enables it. ences and voices and Our collective is Many other women globally are men or boys, there are a Comrades Zetkin and Luxem- not pay lip service to equality made up of inspirational and create safe and empowering number of women, many with ■ Zita Holbourne is the national burg have left us a calling and nor have a hierarchy of equal- strong, predominantly young, spaces for women, sometimes young children, who have faced vice-president of PCS, a member an urgency to not lose sight of ity rights. black women and, before and at great risk to their own horrific experiences, forcing of the national executive of Art- our historical moment as we There should be no expecta- after our performance exactly safety, such as the rural wom- them to flee for their lives on ists Union England, elected to the march on. tion of us to be twice as good as one week before International en’s groups of Swaziland, with long and perilous journeys to TUC race relations committee, co- our white counterparts in order Women’s Day at London’s Jazz 350 women coming together face inhumane conditions liv- founder and national chair of Barac ■ Doreen Densky is an activist and to participate. Cafe in the green room, we to form a Progressive Women’s ing outside in Calais and other UK, an artist, curator, poet, author, academic based in New York. Dana We do not need to be talked debated the meaning of femi- Charter that was launched on parts of France and Europe, writer and vocalist. She is elected Mills is an activist and academic about, as we are perfectly capa- nism and who feminism is for. International Women’s Day in where they are often harassed to the Action for Southern Africa based in Oxford. They met through ble of speaking for ourselves. All the women I spoke with 2016 and includes declarations by police who take and destroy (Actsa) NEC and you can read more internationalist organising and this Solidarity for the real strug- felt that current feminist move- relating to patriarchal culture, tents and blankets. about the charter and our solidarity is a product of a longstanding col- gles that black women and other ments were not about them and religion, gender, land, food sov- Where are the voices of these work with Swazi women via www. laboration and dialogue. intersectional women face has to the struggles they face because ereignty, marriages, governance, women in the discourse about actsa.org. Morning Star morningstaronline.co.uk 16 Thursday features morningstaronline March 8 2018 @m_star_online

HE list of things that conspire to make me an incipient Grumpy TOld Woman grows longer, especially around March 8. The insistence on “celebrat- ing,” for one. We don’t have equal pay! Cause for complaint, rather than celebration, I think. And another thing, people who “battle” illness, especially cancer. They’re always brave, they’re always fighters, they “overcome” or they “lose the fight.” In my limited experience, anticipating a cancer diagno- sis can render us fearful, self- pitying and cowardly. As a journalist, I blame the media, mainly, for shoe-horn- ing real people’s experiences into formulaic little packages. Oh, and here’s another thing I can’t bear — people who go off on fundraising crusades. They’re swimming the Chan- nel, they’re up Kilimanjaro every five minutes, they’re in flipflops up Snowdon, elbow- ing walkers aside. They want a lovely adventure and they crave CELEBRATION: our praise and admiration. It’s Ursula Martin at all for charity, so we must kow- the finish line tow to this, even if we believe that governments should fund health services and that charity is not the way to end injustice. And then I encountered Ursula Martin. Here is a self- confessed “ordinary woman.” I’ve come to doubt that. The woman who At 32, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Part of her response was to curl up at home, crying. Part was to set off on a trek around her beloved Wales of 3,700 miles. She says of that start in walked Wales March 2014: “I was a plump, unpractised woman in a rain- coat and woollen hat.” Martin planned to do the trip in seven months. It took LYNNE WALSH 18. She slept wild a lot of the introduces us to Ursula Martin, who, on time — in a ruined cottage, a club doorway, a pub garden, fields of wheat, a golf course, a being diagnosed with ovarian cancer at 32, decided to slate tower, a polytunnel, black plastic pipes, a barn. set off on a 3,700-mile trek around her beloved Wales She was sometimes in dan- ger, often in pain. She walked on through appalling winter weather with a tarpaulin and It describes the natural up the skills she needed, as a digested anecdotes in her light I had my diagnosis, and then a bivvy bag. Her feet blistered world, with its glorious sun- woman alone on her journey. and lively style. They are also the surgery, I spent a period and bled. At one stage, she said: rises and its cowpats. It’s a love I asked how she coped, meet- allusions to the age in which we of months, crying, nourishing “I’m more worried about my story too between the writer ing strangers every day, often live, hardship versus comfort. myself, before I started the jour- feet than my ovary.” She was and the countryside of Wales. taking up their offers of a spare Reading the book, I was ney. In responses to extreme ill- still recovering from surgery It is not prosaic — see her bed or simply getting along reminded of Bill Bryson’s work. ness, we can’t pretend it’s not on an ovarian tumour and had description of her foot pain. “As with those who approached He’d seemed to drift into a difficult — that’s false. You have hospital appointments to keep. [it] returned, I wanted to weep her, drawn by the flags on her small town, sit in the corner to allow yourself to break before Martin spent 538 days on her in anticipation of the future. walking poles and by the very of a pub and scribble notes. you can start to heal.” trek. That included 197 days of This is how torture works, I “ fact of her solitude in the cities These later became hilarious Now, with a book-signing rain (yes, yes — it’s Wales). She realised. People don’t break and landscapes of wild Wales. tales, often with a sweet but schedule under way and ahead, fell over 10 times and was fol- under the duress of the suf- She slept wild a “Meeting strangers — well, moral undertow. this ordinary woman, who has lowed by cows 37 times. fering but in fear of the many you have to be responsive to Martin encountered an eld- accomplished the extraordi- I know this because she kept more painful days to come.” whatever is thrown at you. erly woman. “We chatted a bit nary, is off again, starting a journals and blogged between The starting point of this lot of the time I’ve worked in social care. I’ve and she offered to buy me lunch trek in Ukraine this summer. the gruelling walking, trying incredible challenge was not opened the doors at a homeless in memory of her son who had “I love the newness of travel- to find places to spend the night her diagnosis, though that — in a ruined hostel, having to decide, faced died from cancer long before ling. I find it very stimulating. and relying on the kindness of was the catalyst. Martin was by half a dozen people stand- but hadn’t been forgotten.” It’s like when you see a painting strangers who took her in, fed born in Swansea and the fam- ing there, if they can come in. There has been fundrais- for the first time — it’s so fresh. her, gave her donations and ily moved to England when she cottage, a club You have to deal with whatever ing along the odyssey, nearly I love the intensity of the new.” let her take soul-soothing hot was a baby. they present.” £12,000 so far for Target Ovar- Why Ukraine? baths in their homes. She returned as a 19-year-old, doorway, a pub The great trek saw many ian Cancer and Penny Brohn “I like the look of the Crimea From her diligent writing, having given up on A-levels to moments that were beyond Cancer Care. That continues and the Carpathian Mountains often done while dog-tired do a voluntary job for charity. garden, fields of discomfort. Martin’s descrip- with £1 from every copy of and the rawness of eastern and in pain, there is a book. Since then, she’s done many tions of being cold and wet, her printed book going to the Europe. There’s a hard edge to One Woman Walks Wales — an jobs — baker, farm worker, tired and hungry, juxtaposed former. life there.” understated title if ever there TEFL teacher, festival crew, wheat, a golf with the luxury of hot tea and Now “cancer-free,” that tiny For now, Martin is busy were one — is an odyssey. It’s care worker. Each of these, biscuits, with a cosy bed and phrase to encapsulate huge baking bread in Llanidloes, a full of charm and wit, honesty along with her love of travel course, a barn the use of a stranger’s wash- emotion, she says of the other, town which has taken her to its and even mood swings. and sheer stamina, has built ing machine. These are easily psychological journey: “When heart. She has just been asked morningstaronline.co.uk Morning Star morningstaronline features Thursday @m_star_online March 8 2018 17

HE news that SCENIC: Boots off well-paid Euro- for breakfast by pean men rented the Usk reservoir young women Tand girls for sex- ual use in Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake reminded me of a judgement by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda that made legal history by rul- ing that consent has no rel- evance when there is coercion. Imagine a woman working in her field in Rwanda in that awful summer of 1994. She’s alone with her children when 20 armed men approach her with the intent of raping her. If she runs, they might shoot her or rape or kill her children. So she stays … Now put yourself in the posi- tion of a young mother after a massive earthquake in a coun- try that’s been systematically impoverished by Western pow- ers over decades. She has no money, no home and no way of feeding her children. She’s out of options and desperate. So, when an unattractive white man offers her money to surrender to his sexual abuse, she accepts ... I think we can all see that in such circumstances, whether the coercion is brute force or extreme inequality, consent Hypocrisy and cognitive RESOURCEFUL: has no validity. Ursula constructed But why is it so much harder a tarp shelter on to see this when the coercion Sarn Helen or inequality is here in Britain? Why is the government so dissonance in Haiti quick to censure Oxfam while turning a blind eye to similar abuses of power closer to home? The #MeToo movement has exposed how powerful men and Westminster commonly coerce younger women into sex in return for progress in their chosen field. In a subsequent interview, its appallingly biased recom- This is exactly what Kate one of the young migrant men mendations, as we found out Maltby accused former first Why is it so hard to see the Vaz prostituted, said: “No-one recently in the response to an secretary of state Damian wants to do this, to sell their FOI request. Green of. coercion and inequality of body. It’s a shame, people are The specification of the The substance of her com- only doing this when they research is so sloppy that there plaint was not that he had have to, when they don’t have is a good chance it, like the brushed her knee with his prostitution when it a choice and they can’t get a inquiry, will find out nothing hand but that he was making job or money.” it doesn’t want to hear. it clear that, if she wanted him And there we have it. As soon Could it be that, like Vaz, to help her political career, she happens here in Britain? as he got out of the situation, he many with power, both on the must have sex with him. was able to articulate the real- left and the right, don’t want to This dynamic mirrors the ity. It was horrible. He didn’t change the exploitative prosti- prostitution relationship. A asks ANNA FISHER have a choice. It was his only tution system, let alone look at to be a godmother to a friend’s man, a beneficiary of the struc- option for survival. their own behaviour? baby. tural inequality between the For consent to have any Could it be that both the “I love this town; I feel a part sexes, uses money or patronage meaning, you need to have men who have political power of it. Wales is a special place. I to gain sexual access to women, the deal was. And so did he. sex a criminal offence, with meaningful options. So much and the women who depend on know there are idealised ver- who by virtue of their sex are He knew exactly what he was the key aim of creating new for Vaz’s claim to impartial and them for patronage are directly sions of it, but I live here and excluded from many of the doing. social norms and reducing the rational assessment. or indirectly beneficiaries of it is special to me.” benefits he has so easily gained. But how is anyone to critique demand for prostitution that So why can the government this exploitative system? One Woman Walks Wales When prostitution is legiti- that game when any serious drives sex trafficking. see the violation when it Could this be because pros- is published by Honno, whose mised, this behaviour becomes feminist analysis is written The committee wrote off applies to poor black women titution is a foundation stone name translates from the normalised so that eventually off as “pearl-clutching,” “mor- those submissions as “moral and girls in Haiti and not when of the inequality in our soci- Welsh as “that one [feminine] it becomes invisible. alising,” a “whorephobe” or values” and “emotive reac- it applies to desperate women ety and a key tool for keep- who is elsewhere.” It is an inde- So what if Maltby had suc- accused of being a “Swerf?” tions” and contrasted this with and migrants in Britain? ing ordinary people divided pendent co-operative press run cumbed to Green? No doubt This is what the home affairs its own “rational assessment.” Even though Vaz clearly against each other, men by women. everyone would have blamed select committee (HASC) did in But it only listened to those broke the parliamentary rules against women, women against Publisher Caroline Oakley her for “sleeping her way” to its 2016 report into its prostitu- who told them what they on conflicts of interests — one women, breaking collective sol- says: “Ursula is an inspiration the top. tion inquiry. wanted to hear — that prosti- of the aims of the inquiry was idarity and making everyone to women everywhere. You can This exactly illustrates the A large number of women’s tution is work like any other to consider whether sex buy- easier to control and exploit? do it, as she says. ‘Just keep tak- double bind that women are organisations and individual and is a legitimate arrange- ing should be made a crimi- Could it be that prostitution ing small steps and don’t stop in — the “choice” between a women, including those who’ve ment between consenting nal offence — he continues as is necessary for the neoliberal whatever your aim’.” rock and a hard place. survived prostitution, made adults — and who promote the a Labour MP and member of capitalist project to flourish? This Grumpy Old Woman Green can act innocent and submissions to the inquiry, full decriminalisation of all the NEC. Be in no doubt, we will not is convinced. I’ll be joining claim he never made any “sex- providing evidence of the harm the actors in the sex industry, Jeremy Corbyn himself change the corrupt and cor- Martin on one leg of that trip ual advances” towards her and that prostitution causes and including sex buyers and pimps. claimed that it was a private rupting system of male con- across Europe. Join her, support it was all a misunderstanding, calling for the Nordic model When I read the report, I matter much as Oxfam seems trol and patronage within her. She’s not ordinary. She is implying she’s a silly oversensi- as a way of addressing them. had no doubt it had been writ- to have seen the abuse of the our political system while sex phenomenal. tive woman and everyone nods The Nordic model decrimi- ten by a sex buyer. So I was women in Haiti at the time. buying is considered acceptable their heads. These silly young nalises those who are prosti- not surprised when, a couple The Home Office legitimised anywhere. ■ March 2018 is Ovarian Cancer women, they just don’t under- tuted and provides services of months later, Keith Vaz, the HASC report by accepting Month. For more information visit stand the game. to help them build a new life, the chair of the inquiry, was it uncritically and has com- ■ Anna Fisher is chair of Nordic www.targetovarian.cancer.org.uk. But actually she knew what while making the purchase of exposed as a sex buyer himself. missioned research based on Model Now! Morning Star morningstaronline.co.uk 18 Thursday features morningstaronline March 8 2018 @m_star_online

OMEN are N International l e a d i n g Women’s Day, the news it is with a and not Why do we need a new growing sense Win a good Oof impatience way. This that I reflect week a report detailed how on the progress of the under- women and children in Eng- cover policing inquiry, the pub- land are suffering increasing women’s movement? lic probe set up to investigate levels of poverty and depriva- undercover policing in England tion. The impact on women’s and Wales. health has become significant, I am a core participant in with the life expectancy of this inquiry, as I am one of women in lower social classes There is currently a vicious backlash a number of female activists going into decline. deceived into long-term rela- Discrimination at work dur- against those who say being a woman tionships by spycops. I lived ing pregnancy has failed to with, and was engaged to, abate despite the best efforts notorious Special Demonstra- of trade unions, with one in five means something. But women are tion Squad officer “Carlo Neri” pregnant women currently los- for two years. ing their employment due to In August last year, I wrote maternity discrimination. getting organised to defend their here of my hope that Sir John When women are at work, Mitting, the newly appointed they fare no better. We do not chair, would see through the receive equal pay with men hard-won rights, says RUTH SERWOTKA web of state-sponsored lies and and, despite anti-discrimination obfuscation, that he would lis- legislation having been in exist- ten to our stories in an insight- ence for nearly 50 years, we do DEBATE: ful and impartial way. not experience the same promo- WPUK’s recent Unfortunately, with each tion opportunities as men. London meeting, new tranche of anonymity deci- Men hold political office and with speakers sions, it becomes worryingly the lion’s share of political rep- (left to right) more apparent that Mitting resentation is with them. Steph Pike, holds the rights of perpetra- One hundred years after the Pilgrim Tucker, tors in higher regard than the first women got the vote, we still Megan Dobney rights of victims. and Lucy Masoud do not have a 50:50 Parliament He clearly sees the officers’ or a settled method for increas- human rights as sacrosanct, For us “participants,” our ing women’s political participa- withholding the names of current levels of frustration are tion and representation. Worse the spycops who invaded our unsustainable. We do the right still, powerful men are behav- homes, our families and our thing and attend the almost far- ing badly all around us. The sup- intimate lives. cical inquiry hearings only for posed “good guys” in the char- Let’s not forget, at the very core the supposedly impartial chair ity sector have abused the most of this inquiry is the need to scru- to follow whatever course is vulnerable and desperate women pulously investigate and expose recommended by the army of and they have had to acknowl- institutional sexism and racism. police lawyers. edge inappropriate behaviour Let’s not forget that the Mitting even told our QC and step down or step aside. undercover units breached our Phillippa Kaufmann that he And even a left candidate in human rights to privacy and would be meeting her “with Labour’s internal youth elec- family life, to freedom from a brick wall of silence” should

tion has called a woman a c**t. Isherwood Pam Pic: discrimination, to freedom she question him further on Young women face increas- from torture. two of his anonymity decisions. ing levels of objectification males who self-identify as means something, but still But we could also look at The police have admitted Secrecy pervades this so- and sexualisation. The men- women access to changing there is stubborn persistence personal relationships and to this. Their treatment of us was called “public” inquiry, where tal health problems of young rooms, bathing facilities, hospi- amongst women to brave the say No to unwanted sexual inhumane. officers who abused our rights women have sky-rocketed. tal wards and domestic violence opprobrium and insist that advances and to have access to Pornography online is now refuges is not a movement that being female matters. autonomous female space such accessed at the rate of thou- shares an objective alliance From such dogged deter- as changing rooms. sands of degrading images per with women’s interests. mination we can build a new We could be clear that les- N Britain, femicide — the found or as details emerge second and extreme images of The demand of transgender women’s movement whose first bianism is same-sex attraction killing of women because of the deaths of women who harm are easily accessible at activists to have unfettered principle is that sex is a mate- and fight the notion that it is they’re women — isn’t are on my “maybe” list or the press of a button. access to women’s spaces and rial reality and that it shapes otherwise as predatory. legally differentiated from when The Femicide Census We have left-wing male com- their linked assertion women women’s lives. We could look at the radi- Ihomicide as it is in some — a project I run in partner- mentators defending the right must acknowledge “cis” privi- If sex is real, then so is sex- cal notion that women are countries. There isn’t even ship with Women’s Aid (Eng- to access porn online, not just lege for the mere biological fact ism and women deserve legal exploited in the domestic an agreed definition. land) — send out freedom of in private but also at work. of having a womb are in real- protection as a result. Policy sphere where our labour is Do we include the killings of information requests to police This objectification and ity a denial of the logic of the would have to follow along the freely appropriated to the all women or only those where constabularies for details of minimalising of women to #metoo movement. lines of this general principle. benefit of exploitative class we can say with some certainty women killed by men. mere pornographic tropes infil- For, in essence, demand- Anybody suggesting that relationships but also to the that misogyny was a factor or Similarly, because the infor- trates all of society’s cultural ing the right to self-identify holding such a position is akin benefit of individual men and where we know they were mation isn’t in the public iconography impacting daily into female-only spaces is the to bigotry would be mown down that men’s individual behav- killed because of their sex? domain yet, we don’t yet know on women’s lives. demand that women must learn by the growing confidence iour will be scrutinised and Do we include women killed who killed all these women, but It models a type of behaviour to ignore our own boundaries among those women who came called out when falling short. by women if these were factors of 113 women, I know at least for all men where women do and to put our needs for privacy to know that their boundaries With a new women’s lib- or only women killed by men? 40 were killed by a partner or not matter, where our sexual and safety second. Nothing matter and must be respected. eration movement, we could Or do we, as I would argue, ex-partner, seven were killed by needs are secondary to theirs speaks more of the nonsense Such a movement could change the lives of women for include all women and girls their sons, three by their grand- and where we are dehumanised. of on the one hand supporting revisit the early principles of the better. killed by men because to do son or step-grandson, four by No surprise then that reports #metoo while also demanding the women’s liberation move- It is needed now so very otherwise, fails to sufficiently other family members, four by of sexual harassment, rape and female prisoners share spaces ment whose 48th anniver- much as clearly women’s lives acknowledge the perpetrator, a burglars and at least three by women being pressured into with convicted rapists now sary of the first meeting has have become ever more diffi- man, and in doing so neglects sexually violent predators. acts of sexual degradation are claiming womanhood. recently passed. cult. to name the problem and the Usually in the UK, about two- everywhere. The growing feminist We would be clear that We need a women’s move- importance and of socially con- thirds of women killed by men While the #metoo and response has involved a coa- women must have equal social, ment that can centre women structed gender? are killed by current or former #timesup social media move- lescing of socialist and radi- economic and political rights once again. We need a women’s Since International Women’s partners, but it’s important to ments reflect a growing con- cal feminists and transgender with men. That pornography movement that can assert that Day last year, at least 133 UK understand that men’s fatal fidence among women to allies around the now revo- and prostitution involve the the female sex matters. women and girls aged 13 or violence against women goes demand an end to disrespect- lutionary notion that sex is a extreme abuse and violation of above have been killed by men. beyond the context of intimate ing female boundaries, they material reality that dominates women and girls and we would ■ Ruth Serwotka is a co-founder I say “at least” because these partner violence and that, at are, bizarrely, simultaneously women’s lives and that sex is at seek to penalise those profiting of Woman’s Place UK and the are the women about whom I’ve a societal level, the causes — restrained by the demand that the root of women’s oppression, and benefiting. We could reas- convener of Socialist Feminist Net- been able to find information inequality between women and we allow males who self-iden- buttressed by crushing gender sert the notion that women’s work. The next WPUK meeting will from searching the internet. men, men’s belief in their own- tify as women into intimate expectations of hyper-feminin- bodily autonomy is non-negoti- be held in Birmingham on Thurs- I know that the list will get ership of women or the enti- spaces with women and girls. ity and conformity. able, including the right to free day March 15 at 7pm. Venue to be longer when cases go to trial tlement to access to women’s Support for the removal of The backlash is omnipres- contraception and abortion. We announced. Tickets are available via which I missed because they bodies, the objectification of same-sex exemptions from ent and vicious against those could demand equality in the Eventbrite. For more information received little or no coverage women, sexual or not, and the equality law, allowing those women who say being a woman workplace. visit womansplaceuk.org. when the woman’s body was impacts of socially constructed morningstaronline.co.uk Morning Star morningstaronline features Thursday @m_star_online March 8 2018 19

discrimination are at the very heart of this scandal, is Mitting really the right man for the job? He is after all a member of the Spycops’ crimes Garrick Club, a men-only dino- saur of an institution. Alison, who was deceived into a five-year relationship by Mark Jenner, is leading a call for a panel of experts to be appointed against women who can properly represent and understand the issues at the heart of this scandal. For Alison, the length of time it is taking for Jenner to be offi- cially named by the inquiry is must be exposed unfathomable, given that her successful case against the Met- ropolitan Police was launched in 2011. She is one of the eight ANDREA, who was tricked into a women, including Steel, who were given a groundbreaking apology by the Met in 2015. relationship with notorious spycop This has been the year of the #metoo movement. We have wit- nessed international outrage at ‘Carlo Neri,’ has little faith that the the prevalence of sexual assault and harassment of women in society, in the workplace. Where Mitting inquiry will bring justice for does that leave us? The crimes perpetrated on DECEIT: ‘Carlo Neri’ pictured with ‘Andrea’ the female victims of state agents us by these agents of the state must be exposed. This was sys- tematic, misogynistic abuse. They must be held to account. are granted private hearings weight of responsibility for the term permanent relationship, rage in the Royal Courts of Jus- Helen Steel, who was One more thing as I sit here with the chair to convince him victim to hold? sometimes simultaneously. tice. The normally staid public deceived into a long-term rela- and reflect just how amazing to protect their privacy. These men should be held to “There are also officers who gallery of court 76 erupted. As tionship by John Dines, pointed this group of women is, the In cases where the real name account by the inquiry, not by have reached a ripe old age who the whistleblower Peter Francis, out at the same hearing that, impact this discovery has had is not already in the public individuals affected who can are still married to the same a former undercover cop him- in several cases, officers’ wives on my life has been profound, domain and where Mitting is potentially be singled out as woman that they were married self, acknowledged, these men were pregnant while their hus- but I cannot imagine how it aware that an officer has been “vengeful.” to as a very young man. The being investigated are highly bands were living with activists might be without their sup- involved in a deceitful intimate At Mitting’s second hearing experience of life tells one that trained, highly skilled liars. who believed they were in fully port, wisdom, friendship and relationship — “wrongdoing,” as chair in February, he offered the latter person is less likely to How on Earth can Mitting committed relationships. solidarity. he calls it — he will release the us a profound insight into his have engaged in extramarital take what they say at face How’s that for a picture of None of us deserved this. For real name. But there’s a catch archaic and misinformed affairs than the former.” value? All the men that we sexism? The disgusting and us, the personal is the political. — only to the woman affected. views, compounding what we He is in effect telling us that know were engaged in deceit- immoral practice of deceiving Until the truth is uncovered, Should she then wish to suspected already. if a man has stayed married ful and abusive relationships women into long-term relation- our campaign is far from over. make that name public and This is one of his most extraor- to one woman for a long time, were married. ships has had a devastating hold the perpetrator to account, dinary statements yet. “We have then he will not have deceived These marriages often only impact on those of us affected. ■ Andrea is a pseudonym. For the burden falls on her, and not had examples of undercover the women activists he spied on broke down when the female And we know there are more more information on spycop vic- the inquiry, to do so. male officers who have gone into sexual relationships. activists themselves uncovered women yet to find out. tims’ stories, please see policespie- Surely that’s an unacceptable through more than one long- This statement caused out- the truth. Given that sex, race and class soutoflives.org.uk. We cannot push crimes of men’s violence against women to some social group labelled ‘other’

the women killed, their kill- KAREN INGALA SMITH explains why naming and ers and the circumstances in which they were killed? Ultimately it is because I recording male violence against women is so important want to see a reduction in men’s violence against women, including the numbers of gender — are the same. every terrorist attack in Brit- her 32-year-old grandson has A young woman was stabbed women killed by men. This year, for the first time ain, like mass-shootings in the been charged. to death in a sexually moti- Through understanding “ since I began Counting Dead US, we learn that the perpetra- A 28-year-old lesbian was vated premeditated murder we can identify the causes — Women in 2012, 22 women and tors had histories of violence killed when her throat was by a 52-year old man who had though feminists have been Violence against girls were killed by men in the against women. For me, these slit from behind, allegedly by approached other women in addressing this for years and context of terrorism. reasons justify their inclusion. the male ex-partner of her part- the park before he attacked we know that ultimately it is women is Some will say that women’s Men who kill women and ner. Two men are currently on the 18 year-old A-level student. sex inequality between women deaths through terrorism the women they kill cross trial for the rape and murder We cannot push crimes of and men and the ways in which shouldn’t be included in femi- boundaries other boundaries of a 29-year-old young woman men’s violence against women gender is imposed to maintain endemic in our cide figures because they weren’t too, boundaries of social class, whose body was found in a to some social group labelled women’s subjugation and men’s killed because of their sex. race, age, race, ethnicity or cul- burning car — medical records “other.” dominance — and if we can do society and But they were killed by men, ture and sometimes sexuality. indicate that she was still alive It is endemic in our society that, if we listen to feminists, the sex of the perpetrator is rel- The women killed include when the fire started — had and instrumental to the main- we can start to make the evant and they were killed by musicians, teachers, shop come to Britain from Vietnam tenance of sex inequality. All changes needed. instrumental to men whose aim is to promote assistants, a police officer a to study business. men benefit from this form of an ideology that is deeply sex- postwoman, students and The four women killed control of women. ■ Karen Ingala Smith is a feminist the maintenance ist and misogynistic, they were schools girls. in burglaries were all aged Why is this important? Why activist and CEO of nia, a charity killed in a context where men The oldest woman killed between 72 and 83. At least one am I bothering to record the supporting women who have been of sex inequality are overwhelmingly the perpe- was 94. She was stabbed in of them was raped. Their killers names of women killed by men subjected to sexual or domestic trator and where with almost the neck, a crime for which on average aged 35. and to push for an analysis of violence. Morning Star morningstaronline.co.uk 20 Thursday features morningstaronline March 8 2018 @m_star_online We need to urge local authorities to uphold their duty of care

SPOKE to a woman recently by Charlotte Hughes noted that fellow blogger Kate ing amount of families are being pening though? It’s a costly deci- ful eff ects that tearing a child who had become homeless Belgrave had also came across made homeless upon that basis, sion to make, both fi nancially away from a loving parent has through no fault of her own. similar cases in diff erent loca- makes it clear that this defi ni- and emotionally. on the child. A foster carer or IShe had lived with her part- tions. Single parents and fami- tion needs completely revising. The cost of keeping a child a children’s unit can’t provide ner and children and life tion to house the parents but lies being made homeless for We are now seeing an ever- in the care system varies from the same love and security that had been very hard for them all. just had a duty of care towards various reasons — namely, rent increasing number of homeless £2,100 per week if placed in a parent can. They were wrongfully evicted the children. As a result, their arrears due to delay in benefi t families evicted from their residential care to £447 per Children are often moved from their home by a private children were taken into care payments, rent arrears due to homes due to reasons that week if a child is placed in from home to home until they landlord and are currently fi ght- and they are now street home- private landlords increasing were out of their control. They foster care. Compare this with reach the age of 18 when they ing against this decision with less. rent, the loss of a job, the bed- couldn’t stop their landlords the more substantial cost of are left to fend for themselves. the help of Shelter and other They did not know that the room tax and other assorted from putting their rent up. placing a family in temporary Surely it would be kinder and organisations. local council did in fact have a benefi t-related debts. Nor could they tell the benefi ts accommodation. Are the needs more cost-eff ective for a local After sofa surfi ng for a while duty of care towards both the None of these families makes agency to pay their rent with of both child and parent being authority to keep a child with with their children they reached parents and children and had a conscious decision to become greater urgency and nor could ignored in the guise of a cost- their family, albeit in temporary out to their local authority for also ignored the fact that they homeless. Indeed, the opposite they stop the benefi t cap. cutting exercise? accommodation, rather than to help. They had little knowl- had not made themselves inten- applies, they try to cling onto Recently, I have noticed The suff ering of these fami- deal with the ramifi cations of edge of their legal rights and tionally homeless, a term that their homes knowing that the a large number of fostering lies continues. Many children life in the care system. The cost were struggling to survive on appears to get used far too often chances of being able to fi nd adverts online and in local live with the possibility of never might be higher, but this should a day-to-day basis. They simply by local councils. another is very low. newspapers. Meanwhile, chil- being able to live with their par- never become a cost-cutting wanted somewhere warm and I wondered if this was an The defi nition of becoming dren who had been living with ents again because they can’t exercise. safe for them all to sleep. unusual case, but it appears to intentionally homeless is “the good parents are taken away fi nd aff ordable accommodation, We need to urge local authori- Upon approaching their local be a decision that local housing person deliberately does or fails and put into the care system while their parents continue to ties to uphold their duty of care housing options department, departments are making far too to do anything in consequence because they are told that their sofa-surf or live on the streets towards both parent and child. the family were told in no often. of which the person ceases to local councils have no duty of hoping that one day they might Homelessness is often a compli- uncertain terms that the local I documented this case on occupy accommodation.” care towards the parents of be reunited with their children. cated issue, but there is never authority had no legal obliga- my blog and, while doing so, I The fact that an ever-increas- these children. Why is this hap- We cannot forget the harm- an excuse for not doing this.

YLVIA PANKHURST’S response to the 1918 R e p r e s e n t a t i o n The legacy of the suff ragettes lies Sof the People Act refl ected her politics. She had opposed the fi rst world war from the start and with today’s working-class women spent the war years defending the rights of poor women and ner working full time, they, not just in keeping her morale children in the East End of Lon- There is a massive gap between well-off like most people, are just one high. She wrote a leafl et for the don who had become economic pay cheque away from economic campaign and took part in their victims of that war. women who seeks to promote their books, meltdown. actions. Pankhurst believed that a She has been politicised by “Taking part in their cam- partial suff rage victory was no their businesses and brands as ‘feminists’ and her grandmother Christine paign made me more vocal and victory at all, particularly when Clark, a Green Party and femi- more politically aware.” it left most working women still nist activist. Lauren McCourt, aged 23, is a without the vote. the real inheritors of suff ragism and radical “Everything I know about feminist and prominent activist Her words could be echoed politics I have learnt from my in her union BFAWU. today by the inheritors of her politics, says BERNADETTE HYLAND gran,” she says. “I have voted She has chosen to challenge philosophy and activity. Uncom- since I turned 18 and always the everyday oppression meted promising and off ended by many women renamed it. event, of course. en’s aid services and refuges for the Green Party.” out to young people in her work- the legislation she responded: In 2018 suff rage history has She blasts: “In my opinion, it have forced women and chil- But working in the NHS has place, some of which has paral- “Saddened and oppressed by been sanitised. On February 6, is abhorrent that Theresa May dren to live with an abusive made her change her views, say- lels with 1918. the great world tragedy, by the for instance, Theresa May was is celebrating 100 years of some partner.” ing: “I really like Corbyn and, “We have zero-hours con- multiplying graves of men and welcomed by Helen Pankhurst, women getting the vote. Since The #Vote100 events sym- being worried about the state tracts, low pay and bullying the broken hearts of women, we Emmeline’s grand-daughter, to Theresa May and bolise the massive gap there is of the NHS, I decided to vote managers. Unions are impor- hold aloof from such rejoicings. the Pankhurst Centre in Man- the Conserva- between well-off women who Labour at the last election.” tant to protect people against They stride with a hollow and chester, the home of the Pan- tive party can turn up at these events and Clark sees herself as a femi- these issues.” unreal sound upon our con- khurst family until 1907, to have been promote their books, their busi- nist. She cares about inequali- And, just as in 1918, the sciousness.” kick off their celebrations in offi ce, nesses and brands as “feminists” ties and feels that even in 2018 response from women was to 1918, and the years following, of 1918. women have and the real inheritors of suff ra- they are still there. get organised. were a bad time for women in Anti-austerity cam- been victim gism and radical politics. Absent “I do feel equal to my partner, “Being in a union for a this country. paigner and writer Char- to what appears from these events are the young but I think that there needs to woman shows the management The 1918 Act rewarded the lotte Hughes, was like endless cuts to women who are today’s Sylvia be improvements in the way that women will fi ght back homecoming soldiers by giv- not invited to this their income, Pankhursts. women and ethnic minorities against issues such as sexual ing all men the vote, while, as their right Life for young women in 2018 are treated.” harassment.” the war industries wound down, to stay at has improved dramatically over Student Eden Lewis, aged In 2018, some feminists are tens of thousands of women home to the last 100 years. Young women 19, is confi dent about being a trying to turn Sylvia Pankhurst who had been working in tra- look after today have a personal and feminist and holding her own into a kind of celebrity feminist ditionally male industries were children, economic independence only against the men on her sports shown by the campaign to get bundled out of the way for men while the dreamed of by women in 1918. journalist course. her a statue, which literally as a miserable reward for keep- cuts to But life is still hard. I spoke “My generation is not going means turning her Marxist ing the wartime economy going. legal aid to Josephine Clark, aged 23, a to let people keep us down. We politics into stone. Female unemployment rose and wom- parent and student nurse. She is won’t stand for it.” What women need is her rapidly. By March 1919 at least one of the lucky student nurses As a young woman she was anger and actions to make real half a million women were as she started her training when involved in the “Girls Against” her socialist view of the world. registered as unemployed, but there were still bursaries, but, group which challenged sexual The true inheritors of that it was probably higher as the even with her part- harassment at pop concerts. She philosophy are found in the labour exchanges were encour- voted for the fi rst time at the words and actions of women aged to refuse to register women last general election and reluc- such as Hughes, Clark, Lewis as not genuinely seeking work. tantly voted Labour. and McCourt. Just like in 2018. “The Labour MP, Helen Good- Also they could be refused man, does nothing for the area ■ Come and hear Lauren McCourt benefi t if they turned down and the only other choice was speak on March 10 at 2pm at a joint work, no matter how unsuited Tory or Ukip.” event between the Mary Quaile Club to their skills or how badly paid. EXEMPLARY CONDUCT: Suff ragette Lewis’s mother is Lisa Turn- and the Working Class Movement Just like in 2018. leader Sylvia Pankhurst protesting in bull, one of the most inspiring Library in Salford. The event is free, Many women were forced to Trafalgar Square, London, against women activists of the Durham book tickets by emailing trustees@ return to domestic service or British policy in India in 1932 Teaching Assistants Campaign. wcml.org.uk. More details: mary- rather “domestic slavery,” as Pic: Nationaal Archief/Creative Commons Lewis supported her mum, quaileclub.wordpress.com. morningstaronline.co.uk Morning Star morningstaronline features Thursday @m_star_online March 8 2018 21

EXCEPTION NOT THE RULE: Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner

HE swanky black ball gowns glis- ten in the night at yet another Working-class women’s Tmovie awards ceremony. White roses are clutched by actors on the red carpet in a defiant display of sisterhood for those who have been abused. These progress is far too slow are the glamorous symbols of the #MeToo campaign. Highlighting the abuse of women is an excellent cause The abuse of the voiceless, the broken, the abused, the working-class and award-winning women are right and just to use their fame women in our communities must end now or #MeToo is simply an empty to publicly denounce directors, fellow actors and all connected with the film industry for rap- soundbite in a moneyed echo chamber, argues BERNADETTE HORTON ing, shaming and abusing women. Homelessness, poverty, job who accepts the rent on a home women where domestic abuse Even when working class this myself as a working class But, when the cameras stop instability, foodbank use, family that may be wholly or partly is rife behind closed doors? women manage to break their carer of a disabled child. The rolling, the ball gowns are dis- breakdown, single parenthood, paid by universal credit. “No What of those girls as young chains, they are still often vili- support and financial backing carded and the glitzy awards divorce, educational opportuni- DSS” is pushed in their faces as five caring for a relative and fied and shunned by an estab- simply isn’t there and this has to ceremonies are no longer front- ties hit working-class parents as they are deemed to not be juggling school with hardly lishment that thinks they change for working class women page news, where is the fight for first and are passed down to of the class required to rent a any support by a slashed social have no right to be there. The to break the glass ceiling. the working-class women and the child. property. services department? What of Labour Party is going through On International Women’s girls out there who do not have By the time a working-class Often there may be a disabled those women fleeing war-torn something of a transition seeing Day let us be proud of the a voice or platform to speak out girl is five years old, she is child to care for and then the countries, arriving in the UK Angela Rayner become shadow advances we have made on regarding their suffering? already behind her middle-class paltry £63pw Carers Allowance and being sold into domestic education secretary after being racial inclusion and of female The voiceless are most often peers educationally. is dished out by the DWP like slavery, prostitution or simply a single mum at 16 and living inclusion in society. But let us be the hidden too. Working-class As a teenager, while middle- women should be thankful they being hounded by those who on a council estate and the ris- more than painfully aware that, women are in the majority but class parents are preparing can claim it at all. deem it acceptable “to send ing star of Laura Pidcock who while famous women can wear can be so ordinary, their every- their daughters for university Then middle age may find them all back home” under speaks her mind on issues gov- any number of black ballgowns day lives so mundane, that they with expensive extra-curricular them caring for elderly rela- our broken immigration sys- erning working class lives. to highlight the #MeToo cam- go unnoticed and thus unheard. activities and work placements, tives, their pensions eroded tem? What of those teenage But still working class women paign, there are working class The #MeToo campaign working-class girls are strug- and having to work several years girls being let down in care, and in parliament are a tiny minor- Cinderellas out here who are focuses primarily on the physi- gling to get by. There may be past retirement as WASPI suffer- being pimped and trafficked to ity. They are ridiculed and not being invited to the ball yet cal abuse of women, but there expectations that the girl must ers, or simply because they can- rapists and abusers in our towns mocked for their accents, their have a whole heap of talent to are so many ways in which be working on completion of not afford to retire. All along the and cities? views. Their past doesn’t fit in offer the world and a whole load working-class women are school in order to help out with way, working class women’s life These women and girls often with how the establishment of suffering that needs to stop. abused that to concentrate on family finances and put bread choices are severely restricted, have one common denominator wants their MPs to look like Their voices and talents must their struggles really does open on the table. severely limited. Their lives can — they are working class and and act. Even in our unions not go unsung any longer. The your eyes to suffering. As young women and young be one of drudgery and simply therefore voiceless. There is no and at local Labour branches, abuse of the unseen, the voice- Working-class girls are mothers, they may be juggling getting by and this can be as strong voice who has a constant there are those who seek to put less, the broken, the abused, abused from birth by the cur- a mundane factory conveyor- good as it gets, as Tory austerity media platform to raise their working class women “back in the working-class women in rent Tory government. Born belt job or a zero-hours-con- clamps down on women whose cases or highlight their suffer- their box” as they do not have our communities must end now into poverty, their life chances tract retail job with childcare shoulders are the beasts of eco- ing. It’s as if society says these the perceived correct profile of or #MeToo is simply an empty are severely hindered from the in order to make ends meet and nomic burden. women do not matter and that a prospective candidate. I speak soundbite in a moneyed echo minute they are born. trying to find a private landlord And what of those girls and is utterly abhorrent. from personal experience of chamber. Morning Star morningstaronline.co.uk 22 Thursday features morningstaronline March 8 2018 @m_star_online

RS BANKS in Mary Pop- pins has a What did the lot to answer Mfor. The wacky, well- off Edwardian mother and employer of the magical nanny, vote ever do we saw her pop out for a bit of suffragetting as her modern “yummy mummy” counterpart might a hot yoga class. The impression was that for women? suffragettes were a bit silly — white, privileged, slightly irra- tional about their cause. T IS understandable that, by Lynda Walker Mrs Banks was, in fact, the on International Women’s end product of the Establish- Day this year, organisa- ment’s long-term approach to tions will focus on the sales, tea-making, cheerleading radical women which was — if it Iissue of the women’s organisation but, as one of the couldn’t ignore them — to belit- franchise. longest existing women’s groups tle, demonise or imprison them. The centenary of the vote in Northern Ireland, it was the Most suffragettes were not for women is being celebrated backbone of the unionist party. eccentric privileged white and, as many people point out, Democratic Unionist Party ladies inexplicably chaining it was only a partial franchise. leader Ian Paisley’s daughter themselves to railings. This It wasn’t until 1922 in the Rhonda Paisley was elected to was a diverse movement, Republic of Ireland and 1928 the Belfast City Council in 1985. encompassing activists who in the UK that the universal She did at one stage condemn were Indian, teenaged, work- franchise was introduced for International Women’s Day as a ing-class, disabled, socialist and all women over the age of 21. Sinn Fein plot, a view that was all regarded as enemies of the All this is becoming com- swiftly dealt with in a critical letter. state and treated accordingly. mon knowledge as women However, writing in 1992, Well before the advent of the take more interest in their Paisley acknowledged how femi- suffragettes, the original, pejo- own hidden history, but how nism is far removed from the rative name given to members women benefited from voting reactionary nature of the union- of the Women’s Social Political is something that also needs to ist party, writing: “It is almost Union (WSPU) founded in 1903 become more widely known. incredible to realise that more by Emmeline Pankhurst and In Ireland, women were women than men vote on poll- others, working-class women STRUGGLE: Suffragette leader granted the partial vote in 1918 ing day and yet we remain the — Lancashire mill workers, in Hannah Mitchell (top) and a but not without a struggle. The minority of minorities when it particular — were prominent suffragette being arrested Irish Parliamentary and the comes to representation.” in the National Union of Wom- Unionist parties applied pressure She noted that union- en’s Suffrage Societies. at Westminster police court, she was assaulted by multiple Solomon, was 66 at the time and to postpone the bill to Ireland, ists have no interest in the WSPU leaders Hannah Mitch- according to the Daily Mir- men. Gangs eventually attacked unable to speak about what had but they were unsuccessful. feminist agenda and that the ell and Annie Kenney had been ror, “women were kicked and every woman in sight and Pan- happened to her for a month. Two women stood as Sinn Fein answer lies with women who a seamstress and mill worker struck and trampled under khurst described women after Eventually, overcoming her candidates in the 1918 elections. give their vote too readily and, respectively and hundreds of horses’ hooves.” the meeting as “bruised, clothes humiliation, she revealed: “I Constance Markievicz was “as a result, there is no serious thousands of working-class Campaigning the same year, torn, false teeth knocked out, was gripped by the breasts — the first woman ever to win competition for the female vote women either joined or set up Pankhurst and fellow WSPU eyed swollen, noses bleeding.” by no means an exceptional (but not take) a seat at West- right across the board, not just their own WSPU branches. member Nellie Martel were In 1910 on what became act — younger women were minster and Winifred Carney within unionism. Another myth is that the suf- beaten up by a group of men. known as Black Friday, sexual also assaulted in this and other who stood in East Belfast but “There are candidates on fragettes’ militant tactics were Pankhurst recalled: “They beat violence was employed on a repellent ‘ways’.” did not get elected. the DUP ticket whom I do not violent and so disproportion- Nellie over the back of the head mass scale. WSPU member Jessie Stephen- Sinn Fein was the only party vote for. Women’s issues form ately so that they actually held with their fists.” Three hundred WSPU mem- son remembered: “For hours I to stand women candidates no part of their platform and back the granting of the vote. She herself was punched bers who marched to Parlia- was beaten about the body, and then only two, causing thus they don’t get my vote. It was women’s war work what to the ground and limped for ment in protest, including Prin- thrown backwards and forwards Constance to say “it looks as “Our greatest weapon is our won it, runs this canard. weeks afterwards, but resumed cess Sophia Duleep Singh, one from one to another until I one if Irishmen, even republicans, vote. It was bought for us at a The truth is that the only campaigning immediately. of many Indian suffragettes, felt dazed by the horror of it.” need teaching in this matter.” terrific price. I believe it is time untrammelled violence seen At a meeting in the Albert 200 of them were beaten and She added that she was Renowned Irish historian for us to address seriously the during the campaign came Hall in 1908, 25-year-old Helen assaulted for hours, with police “pushed helplessly by [my] tor- Rosemary Cullen Owens wrote question of whether or not we from the state. Ogston was attacked by two targeting their breasts and lift- mentor into a side street . ..he on the heated discussions sur- are prepared to continue to In 1907, mounted police men, one of whom burnt her ing their skirts, making sure beat up and down [my] spine rounding the issue of suffrage: waste it or to use it to demand charged suffragettes leaving wrist with his cigar. The other the crowds could see the abuse. until a cramp seized my legs. “The women’s vote was seen as a an agenda which addresses the a meeting in London. Women punched her breast. Georgiana Solomon, widow ‘I will teach you a lesson … I pawn in the game of power. Pro issues we want and to not use it were arrested and the next day As she tried to escape them, of South African politician Saul will punish you, you____, you’.” and anti-treaty representatives to merely endorse a reaction.” both claimed that the majority Paisley has since removed her- of women favoured their side.” self from the political scene and Women’s employment and thousands of women still vote ITHIN the last men in the labour movement citizens’ rights were attacked for the DUP and other unionists. 20 years many and elsewhere of the inspira- after universal franchise was However, in 1996, the North- thousands of tional socialist origins of IWD introduced in 1922. ern Ireland Women’s Coalition The origins of women world- in the hope that it will ignite Decades later and five months (NIWC) broke the mould when Wwide have again a progressive socialist after her defeat in the 1943 elec- they challenged an all-male begun to cel- feminist women’s movement tion, prominent suffragette agenda resulting in two female ebrate International Women’s rooted in an understanding Hanna Sheehy Skeffington asked candidates, Monica McWilliams Day (IWD). of the class basis of women’s the pertinent question: “Is the and Jane Morrice, elected to the International However, the way in which inequality. We can learn from Dail [Assembly of Ireland] a fit peace talks in 1996 and the NI the day is marked often bears our history, but first we must place for a woman? The answer Regional Assembly in 1998. little resemblance to the origi- rediscover it. of the electorate would appear These women lasted 10 years and nal IWD purpose and origins. The motivation for IWD came to be no.” made an impact, but the voters, This is a great misfortune, from two sources — the strug- Twenty five years after win- women included, went back to Women’s Day especially in the current cli- gle of working-class women to ning the vote, women were the old voting patterns, they lost mate in which there is an form trade unions and the fight not willing to use the vote to their seats and the NIWC folded. attack on the fundamental for women’s franchise. increase their representation At the present time, we are principle of women’s rights. These two issues united in the Dail. in limbo without any repre- All those celebrating IWD IWD was founded at the European women with their Turning attention to North- sentation, domestic violence beginning of the last century sisters in the US. In 1908, hun- ern Ireland, the Ulster Women’s laws are shelved, abortion law should not forget its to both highlight and celebrate dreds of women workers in the Unionist Council promoted reform is hanging in the air the struggle of working women New York needle trades dem- male rather than female can- and the first rape crisis centre against their oppression and onstrated in Rutgers Square in didates in the first election in Belfast has now been shut socialist feminist roots, double exploitation. Manhattan’s Lower East Side to to preserve the safety of the down. But we are fighting back! Today this fight has not form their own union and to unionist cause. been won — their struggle is demand the right to vote. Some viewed the Ulster Wom- ■ Lynda Walker is chair of the says MARY DAVIS still our struggle. Thus it is This historic demonstration en’s Unionist Council as a jumble Communist Party of Ireland. timely to remind women and took place on March 8. It led, in morningstaronline.co.uk Morning Star morningstaronline features Thursday @m_star_online March 8 2018 23 The march of the women – militancy beyond the myths It’s widely believed that the suffragette campaign asw violent – the truth is that the only untrammelled violence seen during the campaign came from the state, says LOUISE RAW

apparent pleasure the police suppose … for at last I heard the suffrage campaign and, in foremen and met with violence — and unquestionably brave had taken in the violence. them say: ‘That’s all’ and I vom- opposing the war long after it from police on demonstrations. women — like Alyssa Milano The violence continued to ited as the tube came up. was fashionable to do so and Like the suffragettes too, they and Rose McGowan who spoke the end of the campaign — “They left me on the bed beyond the point it was consid- came out fighting. out about sexual assault. suffragette Zelie Emerson had exhausted, gasping for breath ered treacherous. These were no passive, waif- And no wonder when this is her skull broken by a police and sobbing convulsively. The There is a strong likelihood like “Little Matchgirls,” but, as the story the media overwhelm- truncheon in Hyde Park in 1913. same thing happened in the some of those same women, the matchwomen’s historian, I ingly prefers and the only one Another ordeal suffragettes evening, but I was too tired to or their relatives, would have have been fighting a 20-year bat- most adults have heard too. faced was force-feeding in fight so long.” taken part in the groundbreak- tle against another myth about In fact, the movement was prison and this could include Incredibly, suffragettes in ing Bryant and May strike 20 that undercuts their agency and begun not in 2017 but 2006 and sexual assault. Holloway were even subjected years earlier. refuses to die — that they were not by a white movie star but by Maude Kate Smith was fed to anal and vaginal “feeding” little more than the passive US woman of colour and politi- nasally and, 60 years later, which, of course, would have he way “sweated” puppets of middle-class Fabian cal activist Tanara Burke, who still suffered nosebleeds from served no purpose beyond m a t c h w o m e n socialists like Annie Besant who had been sexually abused her- COURAGEOUS: Disabled permanently damaged nasal sadistic sexual assault. had turned their have been credited with “lead- self and became the conduit for suffragette May Billinghurst cavities. Lilian Lenton suf- Suffragettes came out fight- situation around ing” the strike. victims reclaiming their voices fered double pneumonia and ing. They set fire to letter boxes Tin less than two Among the people who and power. pleurisy from food particles and buildings, ensuring the lat- weeks of indus- clearly and repeatedly denied If we look beyond the main- on her lungs. ter were empty first, and broke trial action and protest, win- this was Besant herself, who stream narrative, beyond celeb- May Billinghurst, a disabled As a WSPU leader, Sylvia Pan- windows. They did not however, ning out over one of the coun- thought striking was a terrible rities and “great individuals,” suffragette, was thrown out of khurst got the brunt of rough injure or sexually assault anyone. try’s most powerful employers idea yet has been memorialised we will find not one or two but her wheelchair by police and treatment during hundreds of When the vote came for some and forming the largest union by many as the strike’s “leader.” literally thousands of stories of attacked, then forced into a force-feedings. in 1918, far from being rewarded, of women and girls at the time, As with the suffragettes, the extraordinary “ordinary” women side street where a gang of A slight woman, she was held many female war workers were was unprecedented and not lost unwillingness to accept that who have changed the world. men awaited her. The police down by six wardresses. “The actually not enfranchised. Only on other exploited workers. working-class women could Small wonder those in power removed the rivets from her doctors came stealing in … I felt those over 30 with a small prop- In the East End, throughout be truly and effectively politi- don’t favour a history which chair to make sure she couldn’t a man’s hand trying to force my erty qualification were. the country and beyond — Ire- cal has led to the truth being demonstrates that “working- escape. Billinghurst faced them mouth open. My breath was com- Evidence suggests the grant- land, Sweden, even Australia warped in ways that matter. class sheroes” can be radical, down with such courage that ing so quickly that I felt as if I ing of the vote was in fact — the victory note was heard Girls and women need their unstoppable agents of change the mood turned — the men should suffocate. I felt his fingers delayed by war and that the and the matchwomen’s exam- historical role models every — all the more reason why we assisted her. trying to press my lips apart … government feared a return ple followed. bit as much as men do, if not should. The indomitable Billinghurst and a steel gag running around to militancy by women even Hundreds of thousands took more. If, as they say, you can’t later worked out a way to use my gums. It gradually prised more righteously angry than strike action and new unions see it, it’s hard to be it. ■ Dr Louise Raw is a historian, her wheelchair as a battering my jaws apart as they turned before, having sacrificed much were formed every week. This We might expect this to be broadcaster, author of Striking ram to break police ranks. a screw. It felt like having my for their country. surge of “New Unionism” was a problem of the past, but the a Light (Bloomsbury) on the 1888 The next day, however, teeth drawn, but I resisted — I As Jessie Stephenson put it, the foundation of our mod- desire to allow only the “right” matchwomen’s strike, and organiser The Times spoke only of the resisted. I held my poor bleed- “Governments are not philan- ern labour movement and, by type of heroines to make the of the annual London Matchwomen’s women’s unacceptable behav- ing gums down on the steel with thropists — certainly not to extension, the Labour Party. grade has been visible too in cov- Festival, which takes place on June iour, saying the men present all my strength. Soon they were non-voters. They seldom give Like suffragettes, the match- erage of the #MeToo campaign. 30 in Bow, featuring Michael Rosen, had “kept their tempers trying to force the India-rubber what they are not forced to.” women were no strangers to When I ask school pupils Shami Chakrabarti and more. See pretty well.” The Daily Mirror tube down my throat. Women in the East End had violence — they were used to about it, most think it was Eventbrite “Matchwomen’s Festival” disagreed, writing about the “They got the tube down, I been particularly active on beatings at the hands of their begun last year by movie stars for details and tickets.

first time in 1907 in Stuttgart leading to World War I, albeit women … decided the destiny of link this with women’s strug- alongside one of the periodic on different days each year (eg the troops; they went to the bar- gles worldwide and to demon- conferences of the Second March 18 in 1911 in Austria- racks, spoke to the soldiers and strate international sisterly International (1889-1914). Hungary, Germany Denmark the latter joined the revolution solidarity with working women Three years later in 1910, and Switzerland and the last … Women, we salute you.” everywhere. Zetkin proposed the follow- Sunday in February in the US). It In 1922, in honour of the This is now more urgent ing motion at the Copenhagen was not marked or even noticed women’s role on IWD in 1917, than ever. In this country we Conference of the Second Inter- in Britain until much later. Lenin declared that March 8 are witnessing the persist- national: “The Socialist women In 1917 in Russia, Interna- should be designated officially ence of the gender pay gap, of all countries will hold each tional Women’s Day acquired as Women’s Day. the increasing feminisation of year a Women’s Day, whose great significance — it was Much later it was a national poverty, the closure of women’s foremost purpose it must be to the flashpoint for the Russian holiday in the Soviet Union safe spaces and an insidious aid the attainment of women’s Revolution. On March 8 (West- and most of the former social- attack on the very notion of suffrage. This demand must be ern calendar) female workers ist countries. The cold war may women’s rights in favour of the handled in conjunction with in Petrograd held a mass strike explain why it was that a pub- ideology of identity politics — PIONEER: the entire women’s question and demonstration demanding lic holiday celebrated by com- a prime example of false con- Clara Zetkin according to Socialist precepts. peace and bread. munists was largely ignored sciousness. The Women’s Day must have an The strike movement spread in capitalist countries, despite This is why all those who international character and is from factory to factory and effec- the fact that in 1975 (Inter- are celebrating IWD should the following year to the “upris- particular, it inspired Euro- to be prepared carefully.” tively became an insurrection. national Women’s Year), the not forget its socialist feminist ing” of 30,000 women shirtwaist pean socialist women who had The motion was carried. The Bolshevik paper Pravda United Nations belatedly recog- origins. We should use March makers which resulted in the established, on the initiative of March 8 was favoured, although reported that the action of nised March 8 as International 8 to pledge to redouble our first permanent trade unions the German socialist feminist at this stage no formal date women led to revolution, result- Women’s Day. efforts to protect and extend for women workers in the US. Clara Zetkin (1857-1933), the was set. Nonetheless IWD was ing in the downfall of the tsar, a Today we acknowledge that women’s rights “for the many Meanwhile news of the International Socialist Wom- marked by rallies and demon- precursor to the Bolshevik revo- IWD gives us an opportunity not the few.” heroic fight of US women en’s Conference. strations in the US and many lution. “The first day of the revo- to draw attention to our own The price of women’s equal- workers reached Europe — in This latter body met for the European countries in the years lution was Women’s Day … the struggles for women’s rights, to ity demands eternal vigilance. Morning Star morningstaronline.co.uk Thursday morningstaronline 24 March 8 2018 info | entertainment @m_star_online

WEATHER OUTLOOK Fighting Fund days23 left TODAY NEXT FEW DAYS A mixture of clear spells Sunny intervals tomor- YOU’VE RAISED: WE NEED: and showers. A band of row with showers eas- rain and hill snow will ing. Turning wet in the move eastwards across southwest later. Rain Wales and southern and spreads northwards on £4,786 £9,008 central England. Turning Saturday, with snow frosty where skies are on northern hills. Rain clear. or showers on Sunday. Turning milder. MARCH has already been an That sum includes £10 from the Birmingham headquarters stered our total with £35. amazing month in Fighting a friend from Conwy in north of historic British fi rm GKN. And, lastly, cheers to the Fund terms. After a run of Wales. Last year, we reported A cheque for £10 from a com- friend from Blackpool who do- staggering daily donations, on Conwy Borough’s decision rade in Croydon was happily nated £3, every donation helps CONTACT US the sack was a little lighter to award an anti-union French recieved by all. In January, we to keep us ticking over here at yesterday. company the contract to build a reported how the Labour coun- Rust Towers. We were up there However, that means we can £800 million waste plant. cil plans to take back control only last month bringing news GENERAL ENQUIRIES CIRCULATION heap gratitude upon every sin- Another recurring donation, of Croydon’s 13 libraries after from the Unite national equali- William Rust House Bernadette Keaveney gle comrade who dug deep and this time £5, came from Bir- the collapse of – start the loud ties conferences. 52 Beachy Road, [email protected] raised £73. mingham – only yesterday we booing now please – Carillion. Which other daily paper will London E3 2NS Here goes: thanks to our highlighted the protests held I’ve also got to mention the bring these important stories [email protected] CAMPAIGNS “recurrers” we are up £25. by engineering workers outside standing orders crew who bol- to your attention? (020) 8510-0815 Calvin Tucker (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm) [email protected]

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DAILY SUDOKU (ouch) TV and radio preview with Ann Douglas

Alamet’s Crosswordsare fi endish fun on Saturday

Yesterday’s sudoku

Solution tomorrow… Concert spotlight falls on composers consigned to undeserved obscurity QUIZMASTER with William Sitwell IS IT hats off to Radio 3 for mark- composers such as Florence B women’s suff rage in Britain with TODAY’S QUESTIONS ing International Women’s Day Price (1887-1953). Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough with a schedule that celebrates When the Chicago Symphony on tonight’s Free Thinking (10pm). female composers and perform- premiered her Symphony in E And on Late Junction (11pm) 1 Which river in Northern Ireland ers? Or is it a big demerit mark minor in 1933, Price (pictured) Verity Sharp celebrates the has been crossed by the against the rest of the networks became the fi rst African-Amer- female musical collective in all Peace Bridge since 2011? and broadcasters for ignoring it? ican female composer to have its forms, styles and structures. Let’s stick with the positive, a work performed by a major A collaborative session has 2 What does the R stand for in and consider some of the high- orchestra. been assembled for the occasion HMRC? lights of Radio 3’s day. Price was Arkansas-born, and featuring members of notable Composer of the Week (noon) her writing often refl ected her performance collectives past and 3 True or false: Der Spiegel, a continues with its profi le of southern and gospel roots. Her present including Maggie Nichols, German news magazine, Rachel Portman, who discusses work was championed by the cel- who co-founded the Feminist means “The Mirror.” her music for fi lm today with ebrated African-American singer Improvising Group and Verity presenter Donald Macleod. Marian Anderson but fell into Susman, formerly of Electrelane. Portman was the fi rst female obscurity after her death. It has Over on Radio 4 director Lynne composer to win an Academy enjoyed a revival since the 2009 Ramsay (Ratcatcher, We Need to Award, an Oscar, and a Prime- discovery of a substantial collec- Talk About Kevin) talks to The YESTERDAY’S ANSWERS time Emmy Award for her vari- tion of her works and papers in Film Programme’s Francine Stock ous fi lm music projects. an abandoned house in Illinois. (4pm). Ramsay’s most recent fi lm, 1. Toubkal (pictured) is the highest peak in The congestion charge Jane Glover conducts the BBC Writer and activist Helen the brutal hitman thriller You which African mountain range? The Atlas 3. Earlier this year Minette Batters became Concert Orchestra in tonight’s Pankhurst, historians Jane Rob- Were Never Really Here, which Mountains the fi rst woman to lead which industry Radio 3 in Concert (7.30pm). We inson and Fern Ridell, writers stars Joaquin Phoenix, got a 2. What does a white C in a red disc on a association? The National Farmers Union get to hear works from distin- Shahida Rahman and Miranda lengthy standing ovation at its London road refer to? (of England and Wales) guished but forgotten female Garrett discuss the history of Cannes premiere last year. morningstaronline.co.uk Morning Star morningstaronline Thursday @m_star_online culture March 8 2018 25 n BOOK REVIEW Last journey of a continental explorer Michal Boncza recommends the final collection of works by the great Latin American writer EDUARDO GALEANO Pic: Jose Francisco Piton/Creative Commons

comprador bourgeoisie mined in the exquisite Open Veins with a bullet hole mare!” Naked, she was poked source of life.” Hunter of Stories is as devastating today translations by Mark in its middle. He got it from a and prodded by many hands. When the book was trans- by Eduardo Galeano as when it was first pub- Fried is the fact that in Salvadorean army officer who, At the age of thirteen, she lated into German, the trans- (Constable, £14.99) lished. 16th-century Mexico in turn, found it on a dead teen- was already writing poems in a lator, who knew Marx’s work It's a must-read, as is Spanish priests believed age guerilla — the bullet had language not her own. No one from A to Z, asked me where Hunter of Stories, com- chocolate caused flatu- gone through his heart — and believed she was the author. I found that sentence, because N LATIN America, time pleted shortly before lence, melancholy the book was the only thing in At the age of twenty, Phillis he did not recall it and could is measured before and his death from cancer and abetted sin, while his rucksack. was interrogated by a tribunal not locate it in any book. after Eduardo Galeano’s in 2015. in Brazil in 1967 Lea Galeano confesses to writing of eighteen illustrious gentle- I searched as well, but in book Open Veins of Latin As the accompanying Campos became the in the “hope of making us all men in frocks and powdered vain. Still, I was certain my IAmerica: Five Centuries of extracts demonstrate, they're first woman ever to referee a stronger than our fear of fail- wigs. memory had not betrayed me the Pillage of a Continent. delivered in Galeano's trade- football match. ure or of punishment, when She had to recite texts by on that perfect synthesis of A literary Pandora’s Box if mark style of compact vignettes We learn too that in Mon- choosing between indignation Virgil and Milton, plus several dialectical thinking. ever there was one, it's a book that combine dialogue, fable tevideo all streets are named and indignity.” passages from the Bible, and So, I told the translator: “The that transformed the conti- and anecdote. They continue after appalling individuals That's exactly what his book she had to prove that her own sentence is from Marx, but he nent’s self-awareness by tearing his revelatory musings on the except the one Galeano lived does. poems were original. forgot to write it down.” down the veil of falsity drawn continent’s neglected collec- on, named after musician Seated in a chair, she over its true history by bour- tive memory — and its soul — Dalmiro Costa, and that the endured her long examination. geois apologists. narrated with an ever-present intelligence section of Bue- The Poet Finally, the tribunal relented: Rain Published in 1971, it was sense of humour, tragedy and nos Aires provincial police she was a woman, she was soon banned by all the dicta- loss. during the period of the “dis- SHE was called Phillis because black, and she was a poet. AMONG all the world’s music torships of the region except Not since Guy de Maupas- appeared” in the 1970s listed that was the name of the ship and all heaven’s too, my favour- in the author’s native Uruguay sant has the short literary form Clara Anahi Mariani as an she came on, and Wheatley ite is the concerto for solo rain. where the military thought, for been imbued with such grace, “extremist.” because it was the name of ‘Rot is the Every time it plays on the a while, that it was a medical elegance and poignancy. Rarely She was three-months-old the merchant who bought her. source of life’ skylight of my house, I listen manual. longer than half a page, these when her parents were assas- She was born in Senegal in as if I were at Mass. Galeano's exposé of the con- quintessential and often poetic sinated and she’s never been 1753. MY BOOK Days and Nights of tinent being bled — in both pearls astonish, inspire reflec- seen again. In Boston, slave traders put Love and War opens with a senses of the word — by the tion and entertain. And he relates how a friend her up for sale: “Seven years quote from Karl Marx: “In his- Reprinted by kind permission of Spaniards first and, later, the Among the nuggets to be hands him an edition of the old! She’ll make a great brood tory, as in nature, rot is the Constable publishers. n PREVIEW Socialism firmly on the cultural agenda CONRAD LANDIN reports on the radical intent of the AV Festival in Newcastle

HEN the AV Festi- sions for Everybody, which fol- taken, is the supportive role In my new home town of val lost its fund- lows the path of George Orwell played by Marx’s aristocratic Glasgow, Scottish Young Labour Wing in the latest from his Indian birthplace to wife Jenny and Engels’s work- has set up a night school to round of Arts the north of England, Catalonia ing-class Irish partner Mary train activists in the basics of Council awards, there was lit- and Burma. Burns. Both are shown to be theory and practice, while in tle outcry in the national press. Lucy Parker’s video instal- fierce intellectual minds in Manchester the newly estab- The fact that the festival is lation Apologies comes from their own right. lished Chorlton Socialist Club is defiantly not London focused extensive work with the Black- “It’s a network of people who attracting huge crowds for gigs — connecting as it does north- list Support Group, a campaign argue, support each other, fight and political discussions alike. east England with art projects well familiar to Morning Star and fall in love,” Sengupta said. At Sunday night’s screening, the world over — could well readers. But rather than simply And he contended that the Newcastle city councillor Nigel point us to why. dwelling on the crimes of the “lively maturity” of the film’s Todd said that, as a veteran But though the festival past, it questions the worth of intellectual exchanges is some- Labour activist, he welcomed which opened last week could public apologies and examines thing today’s left should be the change in political culture. well be the last, it shows no the continued campaign for a seeking to emulate. “The past 30 years have been signs of abating in its boldness, public inquiry. I welcomed the British left’s like living in a coffin,” he said. vibrancy and originality. At Newcastle’s Mining Insti- renewed interest in ideas. Another audience member, a This year’s AV is the second tute, Prabhakar Pachpute has Under new Labour, social demo- striking lecturer at Newcastle to be titled Meanwhile, What connected England and India cratic politics rejected debate University, urged fellow view- About Socialism? The first, across mining landscapes, and intellectualism while ers to join the picket lines and staged two years ago, explored mechanics and trade union- EVERYDAY COMMUNISTS: Stefan Konarske (left) as Engels and embracing the worst aspects of teach-ins this week. the history of industry and ism, while Jeamin Cha’s Twelve August Diehl as Marx in The Young Karl Marx the academic world — techno- Once again, the AV Festival left-wing institutions and the reimagines the work of South cratic management, think-tank was using the past to look to festival’s formidable director Korea’s clandestine minimum munist Manifesto in 1848. through adopting a broader wonkery and the fetishisation the future and using the ideas Rebecca Shatwell says that wage commission, bringing the There was an enlightening perspective than the classic of selective aspects of the new. of far away to think about fault 2018’s programme is all about limits of arbitration to the fore. post-screening discussion on biopic. The new generation of left lines far closer to home. presenting “new work by artists In its opening weekend, the the relevance of Marx’s writ- Instead, it examines Marx’s activists, freed from the shack- It’s a massive shame, though and film-makers that consider festival hosted the British pre- ings today, which I took part in, collaboration with Engels and les of cultish Trotskyite sects not surprising, that Britain’s the future.” miere of Raoul Peck’s film The with Shuddhabrata Sengupta the influence of other intel- thanks to Labour’s transforma- arts establishment isn’t inter- Its highlights include a new Young Karl Marx, which charts of Raqs arguing that the film’s lectuals such as the anarchist tion into a mass movement, is ested. commission from New Delhi’s Marx and Engels’s collaboration strongest message was “the Proudhon. Equally key, with a instead embracing political The AV festival runs until March Raqs Media Collective, Provi- up to the writing of the Com- communism of everyday life” lot of welcome creative licence education. 31, details: avfestival.co.uk Morning Star morningstaronline.co.uk Thursday morningstaronline 26 March 8 2018 letters @m_star_online

■ CONTACT SPORTS ■ POLITICS Women must Boxers do not set out to cause no longer be marginalised brain damage to opponents RUTH SERWOTKA writes an important article THE recent tragic death of Scott of poverty to many working- (M Star February 23) on Westgarth has, once again, CASUALTY: Scott Westgarth (centre), class fi ghters. Maybe if there the need for the Labour highlighted how dangerous a who died after a match last month, in was less poverty and depriva- Party to consult with sport boxing can be. action against Lee Nutland in 2014 tion in this country, boxing women on the eff ect of Roger Fletcher (Letters March would not be fl ourishing as it its policies on us. 3) makes some very pertinent is at the moment. More than 50 per cent points about brain damage suf- Fortunately, deaths in the of the world’s population fered by boxers. However, his ring are very rare and Scott’s must no longer be seen by assertion that boxing is the case will be a tragic reminder politicians as secondary only sport that deliberately to all the boxing community to “the important things seeks to cause brain damage just how dangerous the sport of life.” We, not politi- is incorrect. can be. cians, will defi ne who we I do not know of any boxer, He was a decent fi ghter and are and what we need. amateur or professional — a decent man. The boxing com- Labour’s economic and I speak as a former boxer munity will salute his bravery emphasis is on parity myself — who steps into the and remember him as such. among workers, a neces- ring with the aim of causing DAVE PULLER sary objective. But 50 brain damage to his opponent. Manchester years ago, my mother, an I have been at mixed martial unwaged homeworker, arts and cage-fi ghting events when hearing the term that were much more brutal “the workers,” would and violent than any boxing exclaim indignantly: contest I have ever attended. “We’re all workers.” Boxing is a highly regulated Today, both waged and and medicalised sport where unwaged are made to boxers are checked regularly, serve a failed economic both before and after fi ghts. system, one result being Anyone suff ering a loss by the diminution and even stoppage, or knockout, has to HAVE YOUR SAY loss of family and com- undergo a thorough medical munity life. Write (up to 300 words) toor before they can box again. every boxer, man or woman, the gloves and step into the ing participation is on the MARILYN WARBIS [email protected] Admittedly, boxing is a dan- is acutely aware of the risks ring. increase in this country. Profes- by post: 52 Beachy Rd, Plymouth gerous and tough sport, but involved when they strap on Even allowing for this, box- sional boxing off ers a way out London E3 2NS

■ PALESTINE ■ COMMONWEALTH US embassy move Time to cut royal link to Britain is the fi nal insult Laugh along FURTHER to your report on for the Commonwealth as countries which today make BY ANNOUNCING that the US the forum of MPs from Com- an international network up the Commonwealth are with Marx embassy in Israel will move to monwealth countries (M Star helping to promote peace, republics, not monarchies, I’ll have the last laugh yet! Jerusalem on May 14, the day March 1), it is worth noting co-operation and respect and for another monarch Karl Marx cartoon and caricatures before the Palestinian Nakba, that the Commonwealth’s for human rights, but its to take over as the organi- An ideal present for the Marx the US shows it is not at all own “high-level” group is relevance and future suc- sation’s head would be an bicentenary. £11.49 including p&p interested in resolving the issue currently considering the cess depends on terminating irrelevance and a missed cheques to PPPS, 52 Beachy Road, London E2 2NS, phone of Palestine and delivers a fi nal future of the leadership of the outdated links with the opportunity of historic (020) 8510-0815 or online at shop.morningstaronline.co.uk insult to its people. the organisation after the British empire and British proportions. PHIL BRAND death of the Queen. monarchy. MICHAEL McGOWAN London SW17 There is a strong case The majority of the 53 Leeds

GRAHAM STEVENSON explores the Star’s online archives HIDDEN FROM 80 YEARS AGO TODAY... HISTORY Women who Women to march for peace and security as fascist threat looms changed the world ROSE SMITH reported in the in co-operative, political, trade union, followed by a mass rally at Llwynypia ■ Daily Worker of March 8 1938 peace, anti-fascist and feminist organ- library, focusing on the organising of that International Women’s Day isations.” Labour MP Ellen Wilkinson women against the high cost of living would see women all over the world was to be the main speaker at a and for school dinners and free milk, “gather their forces to march forward rally at St Pancras Town Hall nursery schools and a better to peace and security.” In Britain, they that evening. You can local maternity scheme. A selection of Peter Frost’s would demonstrate their solidarity Scotland had already read editions of Afterwards, there would be articles from his Morning Star with “the oppressed women of China, held International the Daily Worker a late afternoon march (1930-45) columns on the female Spain and the countries of fascist Women’s Day events and Morning through the valley, dictatorship” and pledge to defend and was gearing up Star (200 0-today) before the participants , online at heroes often overlooked in peace, campaign against the high cost to support Labour mstar.link/DWMSarchive returned for refresh- of living and aim for improvements in Women’s Interna- ments. An evening of political history social and industrial conditions and tional Week from Ten days’ access costs entertainment would the defence of workers’ rights. March 19, while south just include “fi lm, theatre, Price £11.95 + p&p £5.99 and a It was the fi rst time that London Wales had exceeded year is choir and concert items,” Online: shop.morningstaronline.co.uk would see International Women’s all expectations. In the £72 while a printed newspa- Day celebrations held on a “widely Rhondda, Pontypridd, per, the Rhondda Women’s By phone: (020) 8510-0815 representative basis, organised by a Tonyrefail and Gilfach Goch, Spotlight, was brought out for joint committee of women prominent local morning meetings were to be the day. morningstaronline.co.uk Morning Star morningstaronline Thursday @m_star_online sport March 8 2018 27

not tHis time: n men’s cricket Sarah Taylor ATTACKING INTENT WON’T BE A VICTIM OF KIWIS’ CULL ONE-DAY INTERNATIONAL SERIES: Morgan unrepentant despite collapse against New Zealand

by our sports Desk after New Zealand initially case of over-ambition he said: 370 score, we’ve not had a col- faltered to two for two in reply. “I’m a big fan of over-ambition. lapse like that.” The Kiwis pulled off a five- “When two guys play out of Taylor had to take the drinks EOIN MORGAN could only rue wicket win, with three balls to their skin … we’ve got to put buggy across the ground to his the collapse which cost England spare, to level the series at 2-2 the cream on the cake and the press conference as he strug- series victory against New Zea- and set up a weekend decider cherry on top.” gled with the thigh injury land yesterday. in Christchurch, with Taylor There will be no inquest which ruled him out of the England’s white-ball captain unbeaten on a career-best 181. unless middle-order collapses previous match. was unrepentant, however, Morgan (pictured) did not are repeated, and certainly no He hopes to be fit for the week- about the attacking intent dispute that England lost the recriminations. end, and agreed his 19th ODI hun- which fell flat after Jonny match when four of their most “It’s something that’s not dred must rank among his best. Bairstow and Joe Root raced to powerful batsmen — includ- happened before, and is “Being there at the end, in 267 for one in the 38th over ing him — mustered nine extremely disappointing,” said a win, [it] has to be up there,” n women’s cricket of the fourth one-day inter- runs collectively as Kiwi Morgan. said Taylor. national in Dunedin. leg-spinner Ish Sodhi “It has been a one-off. We’ve “If they’d got to 360-370 it The tourists promptly lost (four for 58) intervened. certainly had collapses of the would have been an unrealis- taylor and brunt miss out their next six wickets for 21 Asked if the collapse top order — in the first 10 tic target — especially at two on the way to 335 for had been decisive, he (overs), we’ve been four or five for two. on england’s tour of india nine, and then had said: “Yes, it has.” down. “We always knew we’d have no answer to Ross But at the sug- “But certainly when we’ve to bat well but we knew it SARAH TAYLOR and Katherine Amy Jones are all in contention Taylor’s brilliance gestion it was a earned the right to push for a wasn’t out of our reach.” Brunt will miss England Wom- to feature in England’s opening en’s limited-overs tour of India. T20 international against Aus- Wicketkeeper-batsman Taylor tralia in Mumbai on March 23 has been rested while bowler after returning to the group. TODAY’S TIPS n cricket Brunt is unavailable after injur- Coach Mark Robinson said: ing her back during the Wom- “We’ve said for a long time that en’s Big Bash League. we need to play more games Farringdon’s Doubles nash takes parting shot at ecb bosses Uncapped trio Bryony Smith, and it’s exciting that we’ve oceanus DIRECTOR Andy Nash criticised ing to an end his 14-year stint dignity and no complaints. I Alice Davidson-Richards and been able to arrange this very Southwell 5:10 (nap) the England and Wales Cricket on the ECB board. wish all at the ECB & in cricket Katie George were named by competitive series outside of craving Board (ECB) under chairman Nash wrote in an accompany- the very best for the future.” England in a 16-strong squad for the ICC Women’s Champion- Southwell 3:00 Colin Graves for unacceptable ing tweet: “I have today resigned Central to Nash’s complaints a one-day international series ship. standards of governance in his from the ECB board with a heavy is the plan, revealed by The against India and a Twenty20 “It gives us a chance to see Houseman’s Choice resignation letter yesterday. heart. Ultimately as a non-execu- Times on Tuesday, to pay com- tri-series that includes Aus- other players and measure testa rossa Nash, a former Somerset tive director if you find yourself pensation to Test match-hosting tralia. their progress and that also Newcastle 7:15 chairman, made public his let- with significant disagreements counties in the years they do Kate Cross, Tash Farrant and means we can rest and rotate.” ter to Graves on Twitter, bring- you must walk the plank with not stage a match. n men’s football Huddy’s flair is there, but it’s not the whole picture BOOK REVIEW: A sometimes candid look at the Chelsea star that doesn’t get under his skin

Huddy: the official American Soccer League. alcohol and womanising before often confined to the idea that biography of alan Once his footballing the needs of his family. “Alan is Alan, and that’s just Hudson days were over, alcohol- It’s also upfront about his the way he is.” Jason Pettigrove ism, bad judgement and mood swings and debilitating This is particularly disappoint- St David’s Press, £13.99 bad luck played their periods of depression, some of ing when there are so many part in a disjointed, some- which have taken him to the fascinating avenues to explore times troubled, later life, edge of sanity. in that direction, including a AS A gifted midfielder for which in recent years has been But there’s also a one- consideration of how much Hud- Chelsea, Stoke and Arsenal, blighted by the horrific injuries sidedness to the project, for, son was responsible for his own Alan Hudson was a maverick he sustained when a hit-and- although the book presents us footballing difficulties and how English footballer who won the run driver mowed him down with the occasional voice of a much the conservative forces hearts of terrace fans during on a street in east London. critic, in general there’s little in control of the game were to the 1960s and ’70s but whose Jason Pettigrove’s account of to hear from anyone who might blame for stifling his influence. carousing lifestyle and anti- Hudson’s ups and downs is easy have an alternative to Hudson’s While the benefit of an offi- authoritarian attitude resulted to digest and engaging enough idiosyncratic world view. cial biography is that it provides in a career that fell short of its to be read in one hit. Given that he’s such a tricky access to inside information that initial promise. Entertaining and well personality to understand, any might not otherwise be avail- While Hudson won cups informed about his playing detailed attempt to explain able, the flip side is that it can with Chelsea and became a days and insightful about some Hudson’s complex psyche result in a one-eyed portrayal. legendary figure at Stoke, he of the painful times that fol- would have been more than While this book is by no played just twice for England. lowed, it’s also refreshingly welcome, especially as Petti- means a hagiography and is Many thought he should have candid in places, conceding grove is a friend. well worth a read, it never had 50 or more caps, but his readily, for example, that Hud- Instead, on the occasions quite provides us with a three- peak years were seen out in son was an inattentive husband when we do get to consider the dimensional profile. the backwaters of the North and father who frequently put nature of the man, analysis is Peter mason oPPortunitY knocks: Alan Hudson posing in his Chelsea kit in 1968 Thursday SPORT March 8 2018 INSIDE: Huddy biography not the whole picture n PYEONGCHANG 2018 n FOOTBALL Uefa fails to find evidence GALLAGHER: BRITS KNOW of Brewster racism claims UEFA’s investigation into WINTER SPORTS ARE COOL Liverpool youngster Rhian Brewster’s racism allegations against Spartak Moscow’s Leonid Mironov has failed to find any evidence to cor- Paralympic skiing ace hits back at claims public is frosty towards snow sports roborate the claim. Its control, ethics and by Matt Slater with a dislocated elbow and and niche for most ordinary back empty-handed from six of disciplinary body acknowl- broken ribs. Britons. the 11 previous Winter Games but edged the allegation was “It’s been a bumpy road and But Gallagher is having none won six medals four years ago. made in good faith by the PARALYMPICS GB star I have had moments when I of that, saying: “I get really With £4 million of excheq- 17-year-old, but, after a Kelly Gallagher arrived in thought: ‘It’s OK, mate, you annoyed about this talk that uer and lottery cash behind number of extensive inter- Pyeongchang for her third can do something else now,’ but we’re not a winter sports nation. them, they have been given a views of players and match Winter Games yesterday with something kept me going. I’m “Tell that to all those people target of seven in South Korea officials, it came down to a simple message for the British really pleased it did,” she said. sitting on planes out to the Alps but could win more if the tal- Brewster’s word against public — Don’t tell me we’re Gallagher started skiing and everywhere else. I appreci- ented 17-strong squad performs Spartak captain Mironov. not a winter sports nation. again last summer, which ate it’s not everybody’s favourite to the maximum of Mironov admitted swear- The 32-year-old Bangorian sounds strange but encapsu- sport, but you can’t tell me that its ability. ing at Brewster during the became the first British skier lates Britain’s relationship there isn’t an appetite for it. Russian club’s 2-0 defeat in to win a gold medal at either an with winter sports. Despite “The Winter Games are so the Uefa Youth League match Olympics or Paralympics when our recent weather, we are not special because they’re the only in December but denied she won the Super-G event for really set up for them but seem place you’re going to see people using racist language. the visually impaired at Sochi to enjoy trying them. throwing themselves off moun- Five players from each 2014. Backed by elite funding tains, sliding down tracks and side plus the match officials Gallagher considered retir- agency UK Sport, Gallagher generally doing mad things. were questioned about the ing after that achievement and Smith can train in places “And if you look at the history incident, but none could — Britain’s first gold medal like Chile, Norway and Europe’s of winter sports, the Brits are all confirm hearing any dis- in any sport at a Winter Para- best indoor slope in Wit- over it. We were strapping bits criminatory language. lympics — particularly when tenburg, near Hamburg, but of wood on our feet and jump- Liverpool praised Brewster her sighted guide in Sochi, millions of Britons try skiing ing on sledges years ago. for the way he had handled Charlotte Evans, retired from and snowboarding every year, “OK, you’re not going to the issue. competition. either on holiday or at indoor walk into a bar and find blokes But the maths graduate centres or artificial slopes at watching skiing on the TV. said she recalculated because home. We’re not Austria. But when the a “nagging feeling kept telling Despite this, UK Sport’s deci- Olympics were on, everybody me I wasn’t done.” sion to double its support for was talking about what they’d Gallagher teamed up with Britain’s Olympic and Paralym- just seen on the BBC.” new guide Gary Smith in 2016 pic teams in Pyeongchang this Gallagher is convinced many only to then miss most of winter has provoked a debate will be having the same con- the 2017 season after a crash about funding elite athletes versations when the Winter in training before the world in sports many consider to be Paralympics start tomorrow. championships that left her too expensive, middle-class ParalympicsGB have come n MO FARAH ‘Racist’ copper was only doing his job, say police by Our Sports Desk clip, but a spokesman for the on him and blamed this check runner said he had felt it was a racist measure. Obviously he “racially motivated and that was very upset.” THE GERMAN copper accused he was unfairly treated by the It said the police officer was of racially harassing Mo Farah airport security staff. called over by security staff was “properly carrying out his But a German Federal Police because Farah refused to leave duty,” police insisted yesterday. spokesperson hit back yester- and then started filming the The Olympic champion day, saying: “I cannot see any area, which is forbidden. filmed an altercation he had indication of racial harassment Another officer was called with a uniformed police officer by the Federal Police officer at over to help, but “Mr Farah at Munich airport on Tuesday, all.” persistently ignored this second posting it on social media with The police statement said a police order so that the officer the comment,“Sad to see racial private security company was slightly touched him and tried harassment in this day and age. responsible for security checks. to direct him away from the 2018!” “It seemed that Sir Mo Farah security check area to the shop- Farah failed to capture any did not agree with this passen- ping and gate section what you racial abuse in the 37-second ger security check performed can see in the video,” said the statement. “Finally the Federal Police MSTAR 2018-03-08 THU 1.0 Published by the People’s Press Printing Society Ltd, William Rust officer was properly carrying out 1 0 House, 52 Beachy Road, Bow, his duty. I cannot see any indica- London E3 2NS. Telephone: (020) 8510-0815. Fax: (020) 8986- tion of racial harassment by the 5694. Email: enquiries@peoples- Federal Police officer at all.” press.com. Registered with Farah stood by his claim and Companies House as Morning Star (in corporating the Daily Worker) a spokesperson said yesterday No N5559. Printed by trade union that he had lodged a formal labour at Trinity Mirror. complaint with Munich Airport Thursday and the German Federal Police. 9 770307 175244 March 8 2018