& Workers’ Liberty SolFor siociadl ownershaip of the branks aind intdustry y No 505 8 May 2019 50p/£1 Debate on Israel-Palestine Pages 8-15 Don’t bail out Tories on Brexit Labour for a Socialist Europe calls for Labour to break off talks with May SCHOOLS: LEARNING Page 5 NOT LABELLING learners and must be a matter of teachers’ them. Rather than worrying about the exact By Duncan Morrison , Assistant professional judgment. The days of universal implementation of the boycott, we should District Secretary, Lewisham NEU standardised testing, designed more to make point out that school groups and members (personal capacity) judgments about school performance than emboldened by a big "yes" vote and a vigor - about pupil learning, are numbered". ous campaign, will understand how to im - School worker activists in the National The ballot opens on 4 June and will run plement it. Climate walk - Education Union (NEU) are busily prepar - until at least 12 July. The union is organising Activists in the other school unions, in par - ing for the consultative ballot about boy - district meetings, representatives’ meetings, ticular GMB and Unison, should be demand - cotting high stakes summative testing in and school group meetings, and speaking to ing that they join the boycott. If this is not out 25 May How to take forward climate-change ac - primary schools. members. All reports so far suggest the re - successful then we must ensure their mem - tivism The ballot was decided at the union's con - sponse of members is positive. bers do not carry out the work we are boy - ference in April. The NEU says: "There can be Generally, the union leadership do seem to cotting. Page 3 no lasting solution to problems of children’s be preparing to make a serious effort to win The motion passed at conference doesn’t well-being, teacher workload, curriculum the ballot, despite having opposed it at con - demand a boycott of preparation for tests. narrowness and teaching to the test unless ference. However, some around the leader - our assessment system changes. ship seem keen to amplify and embellish the Renew Labour "NEU members have asserted their convic - honest concerns of the membership about the tion that assessment must be supportive of ballot: finding problems rather than solving More on page 5 Vote Labour on 23 May Labour and Brexit: call a Special Conference! Pages 2 and 5 2 NEWS More online at www.workersliberty.org Alarm bell for Labour Chuka Umunna's Change UK. tivism has been declining. By Rhodri Evans There are a lot of different notes • Thus Labour is not rebuilding The local elections on 2 May in the alarm bell for Labour, and it its base. For decades now, there has gave an alarm bell to Labour. is difficult to sort them out. At least been a trend for party loyalties to The Tories lost 1330 seats. They the following points, though, are decay as, simultaneously, parties' had expected to lose a lot. Those indicated: "face-to-face" operations in com - seats were last contested in 2015, on • Labour's equivocal efforts to munities (and, for Labour, in work - the same day that the Tories won "bail out" the Tories over Brexit (as places, through unionists' activity) the general election. They had not shadow minister Barry Gardiner have declined, and politics has be - expected to lose so many. put it) are losing left-minded vot - come a more atomised affair, medi - Since the reference point was ers, who go to the Greens or Lib- ated through TV, social media, etc. 2015, Labour had expected to gain. Dems (or don't vote). At the same The increase in Labour member - In fact Labour lost 84 council seats. time, they are not retaining Leave- ship after 2015 offered a chance to The Lib Dems had expected to minded voters, who, even if they rebuild that base. On the whole it gain. 2015 was a low point for might be won over by a clear argu - hasn't happened. In particular, them, when they were discredited ment on Europe, resent what they Labour's youth movement has by their 2010-5 coalition with the see as stalling and manipulation on scarcely rebuilt at all. Tories. They gained more than they Brexit. And they are not winning Even of those who have actually expected (704 seats). over waverers. joined the Labour Party, an aca - Semenya: a cruel decision The Greens were up 194 seats. • Labour's party political broad - demic survey has found 41% who cast before the 2 May poll was had had no face-to-face (rather than Almost as big a gainer as the Lib this is the social reaction that ac - Dems were "Independents", up 605 slickly made, but said nothing at all electronic) contact with other By Steff Farley about what Labour councils would Labour Party members (although companies bodies interpreted as fe - seats. The label covers a wide male. She has for the most part range. Most usually, perhaps, "in - do. In fact Labour councils will con - that survey was done straight after It was recently announced that tinue making cuts as decreed by the 2017 general election, which the IAAF [International Associa - existed in the world as someone dependents" are Tory-minded peo - who has a female body. ple wanting to dissociate from the Tory central government, modify - must have mobilised some previ - tion of Athletics Federations] will ing them at best by gentler admin - ously inactive people). enforce a rule to make women Additionally, the mainstream official Tories. There were also narrative surrounding this situa - many ex-Labour "independents". istration. Labour voters don't like And union membership and or - with high testosterone levels that (and are right not to). ganisation has not been boosted by take drugs to reduce the levels tion overwhelmingly involves a The latest poll for the European Eurocentric understanding of sex election on 23 May shows Nigel • From all we can gather, the "Corbyn surge". of the hormone in their bodies. Socialist politics cannot be and gender and enforcing this un - Farage's new Brexit Party scooping Labour's campaign was generally The policy has been enforced fol - built by self-congratulation derstanding as a global policy, one up Tory-minded and Ukip-minded weak. There has been a big increase lowing a long and very public case within a social-media bubble, but that in particular is targeting a protest votes and getting a large in Labour membership since 2015, surrounding [world women's 800 only by getting out into the work - black South African woman, is a lead over Labour, and the Lib Dems but less of an increase in on-the- metre champion] Caster Semenya places and onto the streets. form of ideological colonialism. doing better at the expense of streets Labour activism. Of late ac - and was based on research that showed athletes in 400m, 800m and Forcing your definitions of sex or 1500m with hyperandrogenism gender onto a black woman from (heightened testosterone but other - South Africa – where, incidentally, wise female sexual characteristics) she is adored – is historically a Guaidó’s big push fails had an advantage over female ath - white supremacist, patriarchal and letes without this condition. colonialist act. units joined the pro-opposition At least 52 people were injured in Primarily though, the reason There is no scientific justification By Eduardo Tovar demonstrators, clashing with secu - Caracas during the protests. why the ruling is wrong and Se - for not classifying Semenya as fe - rity forces still loyal to Maduro. Footage that appeared to show ar - menya should be able to com - Nearly four months into the male but there are several justifica - That was the first time in the Presi - moured vehicles attempting to run pete in the category of her Venezuelan Presidential crisis, it tions for allowing her to compete as dential crisis that military person - down anti-Maduro demonstrators choice is because it is a cruel, has come the closest so far to a usual in the female category. Firstly, nel have directly combatted each on the highway quickly spread humiliating punishment to not literal coup dynamic. there has been a social reaction to other. Reportedly, one Venezuelan across social media. Venezuelan allow her to do so. On the morning of Tuesday 30 Caster Semenya’s natural material colonel was shot during the con - Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino • More: bit.ly/sf-cs April, Juan Guaidó, the self-de - body through her whole life and clared interim President of frontation. López condemned Guaido's move Venezuela, appeared in a video In fact, the military element did - as a terrorist act that was certain to near a Caracas air base with oppo - n't expand, and the bulk of fail. sition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who Guaidó’s operation was civilian President Trump has threatened had previously been kept under protests. Cuba, a consistent ally of Maduro’s Nothing to report? house arrest. Accompanied by men Despite this being the most direct regime, with an embargo and new September and November, give in military uniforms, Guaidó an - and dramatic challenge to his rule sanctions. US Secretary of State By Keith Road very little detail. Either the NEC nounced the “final phase of Opera - so far, Maduro very much retained Mike Pompeo has reiterated that members do not wish to report on tion Liberty”, calling on troops and the upper hand. Although Guaidó military action in Venezuela is Since September the CLP (Con - matters in any detail, or they found civilians to make a last push was clearly banking on splitting the “possible”.