Calling all anti-racists: all out for BBC Wales this Thursday, Newport this Saturday

From Cardiff Stop the War:

Following reports of an attempt to stage a far right hate rally against Muslims in John Frost Square this Saturday, anti-racists in Newport have called on good people to fill the Square well before noon & will be assembling there an hour before. There will be a short march organised by Newport Unite against Fascism leaving at 11 am from Commercial Road, Old KwikSave car park in Pill, Newport to march on John Frost Square to converge with others in a monster demonstration and carnival against racism and fascism.

Unite against Fascism will also be protesting at the headquarters of BBC Wales this week to co-incide with the appearance of BNP leader Nick Griffin on Question Time:

5.30 pm Thursday 22 October – BBC Offices, Llantrisant Rd. Cardiff CF5 2YQ

SWP’s open letter on left unity: how the left is responding

The SWP have issued an open letter on left unity which we print below with links to responses from different left groups. Comments welcome.

Labour’s vote collapsed to a historic low in last week’s elections as the right made gains. The Tories under David Cameron are now set to win the next general election.

The British National Party (BNP) secured two seats in the European parliament. Never before have fascists achieved such a success in Britain.

The result has sent a shockwave across the labour and anti-fascist movements, and the left.

The meltdown of the Labour vote and the civil war engulfing the party poses a question – where do we go from here?

The fascists pose a threat to working class organisations, black, Asian and other residents of this country – who BNP führer Nick Griffin dubs “alien” – our civil liberties and much else.

History teaches us that fascism can be fought and stopped, but only if we unite to resist it.

The SWP firmly believes that the first priority is to build even greater unity and resistance to the fascists over the coming months and years.

The BNP believes it has created the momentum for it to achieve a breakthrough. We have to break its momentum.

The success of the anti-Nazi festival in Stoke and the numbers of people who joined in anti-fascist campaigning shows the basis is there for a powerful movement against the Nazis.

The Nazis’ success will encourage those within the BNP urging a “return to the streets”.

This would mean marches targeting multiracial areas and increased racist attacks. We need to be ready to mobilise to stop that occurring.

Griffin predicted a “perfect storm” would secure the BNP’s success. The first part of that storm he identified was the impact of the recession.

The BNP’s policies of scapegoating migrants, black and Asian people will divide working people and make it easier to drive through sackings, and attacks on services and pensions.

Unity is not a luxury. It is a necessity. If we do not stand together we will pay the price for a crisis we did not cause.

The second lesson from the European elections is that we need a united fightback to save jobs and services.

If Cameron is elected he will attempt to drive through policies of austerity at the expense of the vast majority of the British people.

But the Tories’ vote fell last week and they are nervous about pushing through attacks.

Shadow chancellor George Osborne told business leaders, “After three months in power we will be the most unpopular government since the war.”

We need to prepare for battle.

But there is a third and vital issue facing the left and the wider working class. The crisis that has engulfed Westminster benefited the BNP.

The revelations of corruption, which cabinet members were involved in, were too much for many Labour voters, who could not bring themselves to vote for the party.

One answer to the problem is to say that we should swallow everything New Labour has done and back it to keep David Cameron, and the BNP, out.

Yet it would take a miracle for Gordon Brown to be elected back into Downing Street.

The danger is that by simply clinging on we would be pulled down with the wreckage of New Labour.

Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the PCS civil service workers’ union, has asked how, come the general election, can we ask working people to cast a ballot for ministers like Pat McFadden.

McFadden is pushing through the privatisation of the post office.

Serwotka proposes that trade unions should stand candidates.

Those who campaigned against the BNP in the elections know that when they said to people, “Don’t vote Nazi” they were often then asked who people should vote for.

The fact that there is no single, united left alternative to Labour means there was no clear answer available.

The European election results demonstrate that the left of Labour vote was small, fragmented and dispersed.

The Greens did not make significant gains either. The mass of Labour voters simply did not vote. We cannot afford a repeat of that.

The SWP is all too aware of the differences and difficulties involved in constructing such an alternative.

We do not believe we have all the answers or a perfect prescription for a left wing alternative.

But we do believe we have to urgently start a debate and begin planning to come together to offer such an alternative at the next election, with the awareness that Gordon Brown might not survive his full term.

One simple step would be to convene a conference of all those committed to presenting candidates representing working class interests at the next election.

The SWP is prepared to help initiate such a gathering and to commit its forces to such a project.

We look forward to your response.

For more information or to show your support email us stating your name, what organisations/campaigns/unions you are a member of, and any positions you hold in these to -
openletter@swp.org.uk

Response from Permanent Revolution.

Response from Socialist Party.

Response from the AWL.

Response from Workers Power.

Strike threat pays off as Rob Williams reinstated

The threat of an all-out indefinite strike this Thursday by workers at the Linamar car plant in Swansea (formerly Visteon) has paid dividends. Linamar have reinstated sacked union convenor Rob Williams, an active socialist whose links with other threatened car plants made him a key target for bosses set on breaking union organisation.

The vote for strike action was overwhelming. It came on the back of a disgraceful campaign of intimidation by bosses, including foremen threatening workers with the sack if they took action in support of Rob. Clearly the bosses’ tactics have backfired.

This victory should serve as inspiration for all threatened car workers, trade unionists, left activists and any person concerned with the way workers are being made to pay for a crisis created by bankers. The recent Euro elections showed how the BNP and others on the far right are benefiting from the betrayal of workers by Labour: if we are to reverse this trend then we must rebuild the fighting organisations of the working class. That will not happen without significant victories in the class struggle. And as the Linamar workers have shown, no weapon is more powerful than the threat of all-out indefinite strike action, especially when backed by the threat of solidarity action at Linamar’s suppliers in the USA. In a period when national chauvinism has reared its ugly head in the labour movement, this was a timely reminder of the need for workers to unite internationally to combat a multinational enemy.

Visteon: the fight goes on

Below is an interview with Piers Hood, Deputy Convenor at the Enfield Visteon plant, where workers continue to fight against their arbitrary dismissal.

How did your occupation begin?

It began with all the workers, approximately a 100 strong meeting at the gates. We worked our way round the sides gates and forced our way through an exit, got ourselves onto the roof and the paint shop which is on the second floor. This way we could barricade the four exits, and we had a walk way so that we could get food and drink and people could come and go because we could control the gate. It was sort of a spontaneous thing, it wasn’t really planned. We didn’t have much supplies and it just went from there.

How did you organise once you were in?

We had a core of convenors and ex-convenors and people that could be relied on who would discuss regularly what we needed to do next and then we would have mass meetings of the occupation to decide and vote on things. Using the media was important. Having people on the outside to keep things going and bringing in messages of support was key to morale. If you can get laptops and things like that then it means you can keep lines of communication. Knowing your rights such as Squatters Rights is good and we delayed eviction for a few days. Everyone got stuck in, cleaning, cooking and doing shift duty and everyone was up for it, especially the women in our factory.

We were up on the roof and it was very cold at night. Of course it’s hard work and some people like to sleep a lot and others don’t sleep at all, but we all worked together. There was a lot of camaraderie and jokes and to be honest it was a great experience that I doubt I’ll have again in my lifetime.

Why did you feel that you had to occupy the plant in the first place?

Basically we had no other option but to do that. We were told there was no money in the kitty to come to us and people were so angry and felt that it was the only thing we could do and it felt right to do it. There was no other option and we were forced to do it. Once we heard Belfast had occupied we decided to join them. Unfortunately Basildon were blocked by the police and never got in.

What reasons did Visteon give for the closure of the factory?

The day before on the Tuesday we was all called upstairs at 2 o’clock and people in suits walked in who were the receivers, KPMG. We were made redundant in about six minutes flat and we was told to come back the next day to pick up our personal affects. There was no notice, no consultation with the union and we were told that we would have to claim any redundancy pay from the government so the taxpayer was footing for it.

It had been engineered by Visteon who had got us into this position because they had deliberately been losing money and running the business so badly to make it go that way.

Visteon claim that they are in receivership because of the economic crisis and you found yourself in this place because there was nothing they could do. What would you say to that?

They fiddled the figures so we have found since that money has been moved from one place to another because they still kept two separate entities; Visteon Engineering Services (VES) and VCTC (managing and marketing). VES is an engineering company and even though we weren’t having anything engineered they were still draining off millions of pounds so that money would stay in the global corporation. There were other ways, creative accounting and such. They sold two presses and claimed they only made £5000 and we have since spoken to an engineer who saw the paper work with £40,000 on it, so where has all the money gone? It’s all been fiddled. I’m sure KPMG would like to see the paperwork. On every level it has been corrupt and engineered and fiddled.

There’s a rumour that Steve Gawne, director of Visteon UK has another business in the waiting.

Steve Gawne, whilst he was the UK director of Visteon UK has set up another company. I have seen the paperwork, and this new company is based at Basildon and we have heard the core business is the LP59 Freelander, which is what we make here. We believe he is either going to open this factory up again at Enfield or possibly Basildon, or definitely get the machinery out and move it somewhere else. It seems to us that he is guilty of fraud and there are all sorts of things he has been up to. He has reneged on European Works Council Agreements and it needs looking at by the lawyers. The paper trail goes way back. We have found links that Ford were complicit in this and knew what they were doing. It has opened a whole can of worms and it needs legal work really, and hopefully the union will do that for us.

What are your demands?

The bottom line for us is to honour our Ford contracts and give us a proper redundancy deal in line with Southampton, for example who have recently had to make people redundant. We want our pensions protected because our pensions have now gone into PPF, which means they will be frozen until you are 65. We’ll have to see what they offer. Some people might take to it, some won’t. At the end of the day we will have to have a vote on it and see. At the end of the day they should pay us what they owe us.

What about the demand that you get your jobs back?

That has been mentioned. The plan might be to re-open the plant anyway and they would probably expect us to reapply for our jobs on 60% of the money we was on before. Some people are after flow-back to Ford Dagenham. Ford would have to have VRs (voluntary redundancies) from their plant and then we would ‘back fill’ those jobs which is dependent on whether Ford will pay out VR package for Ford Workers.

You were forced to come out of the factory on Thursday 9 April. Why did you end up leaving the factory and ending the occupation?

Me and Kevin Nolan, the Convenor, ended up going to the High Court and were issued committal orders and costs etc. It was a bit touch and go. The union did come through with a good legal team and over the negotiations which probably suited the union more than our people was that me and Kevin weren’t allowed in because we would be instantly arrested and go to prison and we had to stay out. But we was given a few days grace until Thursday 12 o’clock so that Kevin Nolan could fly out to New York and have a meeting with the American bosses on the Wednesday and return on the Thursday morning and everyone would come out with a big publicity fanfare.

Quite a few people after felt that they wanted to stay, but in the end everyone came out. It might not have been the most ideal situation because we were getting more publicity when we was in there.

So even though they got you out on 9 April, the fight’s not over is it?

As soon as we came out we went straight into 24 hour pickets and initially there was three gates on the far side of the plant and now, because they are trying to get workers back in, there is another gate on the far side that we have to cover. We have been out picketing Dagenham Motors, which is a car sales chain owned by Ford. So we are just trying to escalate things a bit and we will see what happens tomorrow at the meeting with the Americans. If things don’t go our way at the meeting we have other options and things we could do to escalate the action.

What are sort of support are you asking from workers in Fords and Jaguar who receive your components?

We have already been given support from VNJWC (Visteon National Joint Works Committee) that is where the Ford convenors meet. Myself and two other ex-convenors from Visteon met with them and they have given us 100 per cent support. What we need now is getting Ford workers to reject Visteon work, which has been bandied around but whether it has actually started happening yet I don’t know. I heard in America that Ford workers might reject Visteon work. It’s fine saying things but they have got to actually back it up and apply the pressure on Ford motor company.

What would you say about the role of the Unite officials?

Patchy at best. We are chasing up today for some funds. People are struggling with food and things and it’s hard. When we first came out, there was a lot of press there and the officials were there dishing the Unite flags out and taking the adulation and when it all calms down they disappear and we do get a bit disenchanted with them, me included. With the court case we did finally get looked after but it took a while and they did have to give them a boot up the arse to be honest. Sometimes they have been good and other times they have been wishy-washy at best.

Britain has some of the most draconian anti-union laws that make it difficult to take effective action. Do you think union leaders should be playing by the book at the moment?

It seems to get anywhere you have to do something a bit outrageous or break the law. If you do what you just allowed to do, you don’t seem to really get anywhere because the laws make it so difficult. So you have got to up the ante to get anything. You need strong union leaders to force things through and at the moment they seem hand in glove with the Labour government. It is disappointing sometimes. People do feel let down; they have paid their subs all year round and they just go missing when you actually need them.

Latest figures put unemployment at 2 million. The crisis is getting worse. What do you think of the Labour government’s response?

As far as I can see, the government aren’t interested at all. Our MP was down for the first day, and we’ve never seen him since. I understand that he did ask a question in the Houses of Parliament when there was no one there. No ministers have got involved or said anything. I might be wrong since I have been locked up in a plant and haven’t seen much news. Generally they seem totally apathetic and that they want it to happen. It’s almost as if they want certain companies to shut down to clear the way for others. Over the last ten years Enfield has suffered massive job losses here and elsewhere and no one in government seems to be bothered at all.

What would your alternative to redundancies and closures be?

I would love for the place to be kept open. But I don’t see it happening with this government. I can understand why workers at Fords are worried but if we don’t do something we’ll get steam-rollered. It seems that any manufacturing now is being pulled out the Eastern Block or further a field. You have got to maintain some kind of manufacturing, you can’t just have service industries. It’s almost like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted because there is nothing much left. I’m not just talking about the car industry. Most other industries have been virtually annihilated.

Some of the workers have been discussing the idea that if the car market has collapsed under the pressure of the credit crunch, that the workers could direct production to other things. Is that a practical possibility?

For the last few years when we was being told how much money we had been losing we would say to them we can quite easily be making anything else. We make components made of plastic; there are lots of things we could make. But we know they weren’t interested.

What has kept you going over the last few weeks?

From the trade unions we have had fantastic support from the NUT, RMT, CWU, it’s been really fantastic all the way through. On top of that we have had the Socialist Wokers Party and the Socialist Party and other socialists who have probably given more support than our union to be honest. And just local people who have turned up and given us money and food. In the occupation they were passing food through the bars on the gate and throwing food over. It’s been fantastic all the way through. It’s really opened our eyes up for what people can do for other people when they feel that they are in difficulty and how we just all pull together.

What message would you give to workers facing job losses and unemployment?

These bosses, the lot of them, expect you just to take it. You have got to get your people together and you have to take action and as soon as possible. You can’t take what’s been dished out because it’s just gonna get worse and worse. If it comes to it, occupations or a protest is what seems to get results. What ever happens you have got to get together, organise and do something. Don’t just sit there and take it.

Send messages of support to: visteonoccupation@googlemail.com

Press release from G20 witnesses to Ian Tomlinson death

The following statement has been made from witnesses to the death of Ian Tomlinson:

Various participants in the City of London demonstrations on April 1st have come forward as witnesses to the collapse of a man later identified by authorities as Ian Tomlinson. Four different university students witnessed the collapse of Mr. Tomlinson. “He stumbled towards us from the direction of police and protestors and collapsed,” said Peter Apps. “I saw a demonstrator who was a first aider attend to the person who had collapsed. The man was late 40s, had tattoos on his hands, and was wearing a Millwall shirt.”

While the first aider was helping the man, another demonstrator with a megaphone was calling the police over so that they could help.

Natalie Langford, a student at Queen Mary, said “there was a police charge. A lot of people ran in our direction. The woman giving first aid stood in the path of the crowd.” The running people, seeing a guy on the ground, went around them.

Another demonstrator had already called 999 and was getting medical advice from the ambulance dispatcher. “Four police with two police medics came. They told her [the first aider] to ‘move along’.”, said Peter Apps. “Then they pushed her forcibly away from him. They refused to listen to her [the first aider] when she tried to explain his condition.”

The first aider, who did not wish to be named, said “The police surrounded the collapsed man. I was standing with the person who’d called 999. The ambulance dispatcher wanted to talk to the police, the phone was being held out to them, but the police refused.”

Another witness, Elias Stoakes, added “we didn’t see them [the police] perform CPR.”

Other people who had tried to stay with the collapsed man were also pushed away.

All of the witnesses deny the allegation that many missiles were thrown.

According to Peter Apps, “one bottle was thrown, but it didn’t come close to the police. Nothing was thrown afterwards as other demonstrators told the person to stop. The person who threw the bottle probably didn’t realize that someone was behind the ring of police.” All the witnesses said that the demonstrators were concerned for the well-being of the collapsed man once they realized that there was an injured person.

Natalie Langford said “when the ambulance arrived the protestors got straight out of the way.”

These witnesses are happy to give media statements.

They can be contacted through this press liasion email: g20witnesses@gmail.com

Stop press: evidence to IPCC accuses police of attacking Ian Tomlinson before his death.

Splott incinerator: protest now!

Press release from Cardiff FOE:

Members of Cardiff Friends of the Earth are inviting people to join them and other local residents in a demonstration outside Cardiff City Hall at 1.30 pm on Wednesday (11 March), as the council’s planning committee rules on proposals for a large waste incinerator in the city.

There has been fierce opposition to the planning application from Viridor waste management for a 350,000 tonne per year waste incinerator to be situated in Trident Park, near Splott. Cardiff Friends of the Earth has handed in objections from over 300 people and many others have also expressed their opposition.

The group has objected to the proposal on the grounds that the incinerator would burn waste which should be recycled or composted. They argue that incineration is not an efficient way of generating energy and that pollution from the site could be harmful to the health of local residents and could pollute important wildlife sites.

The objection says that household waste should be dealt with as near to where it was produced as possible, whereas an incinerator would take waste from across south east Wales, possibly much further.

Phil Ward, Waste Campaigner for Cardiff Friends of the Earth will be speaking on behalf of the group at the council meeting. He commented:

“The people of Cardiff do not want a massive incinerator at the heart of the city burning waste from across south Wales. We should all be taking radical steps to reduce the amount of waste we produce. Then we need to be recycling and composting all we can.

“Incineration is not a ‘green’ technology and there is no sense in driving huge amounts of waste around the country increasing congestion and pollution. Other, less damaging and more sustainable, technologies are available that could be implemented in each local area.

The National Question

Last week’s socialist forum, which had been planned in the wake of the Gaza invasion, also found much to discuss about the so-called ‘British jobs for British workers’ protest at the Lindsey oil refinery. Though the oft-quoted slogan was undoubtedly reactionary and the eventual settlement – quotas for British workers – an encouragement for national chauvinists, the actions of Total were first and foremost an attack on trade unionism, and the responses of workers were in many ways a model of what is needed to challenge this. The forum discussion was informed by the report by Professor Gregor Gall which can be found here on the Forum page.

The forum also found time for a discussion of the Welsh national question. For socialists the vital question is whether the fight for national sovereignity can promote or derail the struggle for workers’ unity and socialism. A fuller discussion of this issue will follow.

Further meetings of CRSF will be advertised shortly: with the upsurge in class struggle and reinvigoration of the anti-war movement, the need for programmatic clarity is greater than ever.

A report of a public meeting featuring activists from the Lindsey protest can be found here.

Cops club Ray Davies unconscious at Gaza protest

The Daily Mail and other right-wing media love to specialise in pictures of mugged pensioners – but when the pensioner in question is a veteran activist and the muggers are the police, you can bet no outraged articles will be forthcoming.

Ray Davies, 79, is a familiar figure on the South Wales political scene whose commitment to the rights of Palestinians is unquestionable. On Saturday’s march against the invasion of Gaza he was amongst those protesting at the Israeli embassy when the police, for the second week running, launched a brutal attack on demonstrators. Having perhaps unwisely tried to reason with the boys in blue, Ray was hit by truncheons and riot shields then kicked while on the ground, losing consciousness. Fortunately he was able to recover sufficiently to travel home with other demonstrators, but this hardly excuses the savagery of the police’s actions.

Ray commented: “I have experienced the war zones in the Occupied Territories; I have been shot at, teargassed and beaten by the Israeli Defence Force; but I never expected such abuse and brutal treatment in Britain from our own police force.”

The truth is, however, that the police who attack our demonstrations are no more ‘our own’ than if they were the Israeli Defence Force. Their loyalty is to the British ruling class and its allies, whose interests it will stoutly defend even if it means breaking the law themselves. The present conflict in Gaza reveals with absolute clarity how Israel remains the most vital ally for Western imperialism in the oil-rich Middle East, and how even its attacks on UN outposts can escape censure from the likes of Bush, Brown or president-elect Obama. Protesters venting their justified anger at the Israeli embassy in London must therefore be seen to be hammered by the UK authorities.

Clearly however outrage at the Gaza atrocities is growing. The first London demo attracted at least 30,000 and the second was far larger, with even the BBC scorning the police’s estimate of 20,000 and claiming 50,000 – still a conservative estimate.

Ray Davies will clearly not be dissuaded by his brutal experience and nor should any other activist. With a public meeting this Weds in Cardiff and the probability of more UK and local demos to come, we should take the violence of the state’s henchmen as a sign of their weakness and redouble our efforts to oppose the obscenities taking place in Gaza.

Fuller accounts of the events at the Israeli embassy can be found here and here. Links to other articles may be posted in the comment section below.

There is a Gaza Action in Wales page on facebook.

Unfinished business for 2009

The campaign against the proposed death academy at St Athan meets on January 3rd with the project even further on the rocks now that Land Services Trillium has abandoned the Metrix Consortium. In the light of mass redundancies in Souith Wales and the government’s refusal to bail out workers the way they have bailed out their banking friends, the fact that £11bn of public money is earmarked for funding a project which will only benefit war profiteers is an insult to every Welsh worker. It’s surely time to breathe new life into the campaign against the academy and to put this scandal back on the front pages.

Residents of south Cardiff are already subjected to the second highest levels of dioxins in Wales thanks to steel production at East Moors. Now a massive incinerator is planned for Tremorfa in the service of waste profiteers. Local residents and environmental activists have other ideas. Even if planning permission is granted for the scheme, the fight to stop it will continue into 2009.

Also upcoming in the new year, the Convention of the Left has its recall conference in Manchester on Jan 24th. The COTL is a genuinely non-sectarian initiative to address the problems of the left but also the opportunities, and to take steps towards principled unity.

The Cardiff Radical Socialist Forum is also part of this process and will announce a new programme of events in the new year to which all socialists and class struggle anarchists are invited. Compliments of the season and let’s come out fighting in 2009!

Dec 28 update:
There will be a protest against the Israeli attacks on Gaza on Dec 30, 12 noon, and New Years Eve, 5-6pm, both at Nye Bevan.
Protesters are occupying the roof of Metrix partners Raytheon in Bristol. Details here.

ID card protest wins support

A well-attended protest against the introduction of ID cards for non-EU students had passing motorists honking their horns in support today. The protest, outside the UK Border Agency on Newport Rd, Cardiff, was called by South Wales No Borders to highlight the fact that this sinister extension of state snooping is the thin end of a wedge that will eventually affect all of us. More details at the No Borders website.