Resisting Austerity- a Coalition of Resistance public meeting
Birmingham Coalition of Resistance will be hosting a public meeting in the Council House, Committee Rooms 3 and 4 at 7pm on Thursday 9th February and we are very pleased to announce the following speakers:
Owen Jones, author of “Chavs:the demonization of the working class”
George Barratt, a councillor from Barking, recently expelled from the Labour Party for refusing to vote for cuts
Claire Solomon, former President of the University of London Union and author of “Springtime: The new student rebellions”
We will also hear from representitives of the Montgomery School campaign.
The meeting is supported by GMB B49 Branch and Birmingham Against the Cuts
Burning Crops & Breaking Rocks- Biofuels, Fracking and other ways NOT to save the planet!
A public forum
Tuesday 21st February, 2012, at 7.00pm, Committee Rooms 3 and 4, Council House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B3 3BD.
Speakers: Deepak Rughani, Biofuelwatch
Steve Hall, Socialist Resistance and anti-fracking campaigner
Chair: Chris Crean, West Midlands Friends of the Earth’s regional campaigner
For further details contact: Midlands@socialistresistance.org or call 07775942841
The Assault of Bioenergy
The government believes it can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by providing finance to renewable energy technologies through subsidies called Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs). As well as providing support for clean technologies like wind and solar, ROCs also finance electricity from biomass and bioliquids, which increase greenhouse gas emissions, drive deforestation, and worsen air quality locally. Greenhouse gas emissions from burning biomass are around 50% higher than those from burning coal per unit of energy.
The Committee on Climate Change has expressed concern that the large scale use of biomass electricity would hinder rather than help the UK’s transition to a low carbon economy. Bioliquids produce significant levels of local air pollution affecting health in this country, as well as black carbon (soot) which accelerates polar ice melt. Per unit of energy, biomass burning compared to coal produces higher levels of nitrogen dioxide and small particulates which are linked to respiratory and heart diseases. The Environmental Audit Committee recently found that the Government is already putting thousands of UK lives at risk by not adequately addressing air quality problems, and the European Environment Agency has just reported on air quality noting with concern the increasing use of wood burning in Europe.
The sourcing of biofuels and biomass from overseas is directly linked to natural habitat conversion to monocultures with devastating impacts on biodiversity. Natural ecosystems because of their biodiverse nature are major drivers of biospheric cycles including the rainfall cycle. Weakening these cycles has very serious implications for global warming, global rainfall patterns and ultimately on global food production. Biofuels and biomass has also been widely implicated (directly and indirectly) in human rights abuses – including the forced eviction of people from their land and inhumane treatment of workers.
Deepak Rughani trained as an ecologist. He taught environmental science at a conservation centre and ecology at London University. He worked as a change management consultant for 12 years before becoming active as an environmental campaigner in 2005. Biofuelwatch was set up in 2006 as it became clear that the rush to bioenergy carried with it grave systemic risks to climate, ecosystems, indigenous communities and food production. Deepak is contactable at biofuelwatch@ymail.com
If the leaking of smelly shale gas from your water taps and the ground generally, well-head fires and potential earthquakes weren’t a good enough reason to be worried about the expansion of hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’ for shale gas, then the use of toxic chemicals in the fracking process which could be even more disastrous, surely must be. This is because of the possibility of them contaminating not only the surrounding land and water courses when they are pumped back to the surface, but of contaminating underground aquifers as well, from which many get their drinking water. What we need in this country as well as globally, is not shale gas and what goes with it, but massive state investment in the development of renewable forms of energy like, marine, solar and wind power.
Stephen Hall is a supporter of Socialist Resistance in the North West. He attended last years Camp Frack protests near Preston and he will give an update on the campaign against shale gas extraction.
Charles House- a victory!
Bob Whitehead reports on another local anti-cuts victory:
The reply from the Birmingham City Council Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families, Councillor Les Lawrence, to a question from Cllr Eddie Freeman (Weoley) says it all;
“A significant number of comments, representations and consultation responses were received with regard to the provision of respite services to those young people, such as attending Charles House, indicating the value and importance of the service to their well-being, personal development and families.
The commitment shown by parents, staff and young people as expressed at the Northfield Ward Committee Meeting and at the meeting, as you detail in your question, was an important factor in the consideration of the future for Charles House.
I can therefore confirm that Charles House will continue to be a vital component in the overall provision of respite services. Already changes to the process by which places are provided have occurred, staffing profiles assessed, to enable improvements in the access to and provision of placements.
Therefore Charles House, which has on three separate occasions been judged by OfSTED as outstanding, will continue to provide high quality respite care for young people together with supporting their families underpinned by staff who are highly respected.”
An elected dictator in the Council House?
No to elected mayors – democratise the Council!
On May 3rd voters will be asked
“How would you like Birmingham to be run?
“By a leader who is an elected councillor chosen by a vote of the other elected councillors. This is how the council is run now.
“Or by a mayor who is elected by voters. This would be a change from how the council is run now.”
If they vote yes to an elected mayor an election will be held probably in November 2012. At present there are three serious candidates, all Labour: Albert Bore, Sion Simon and Gisela Stuart. Read more…
New Parties of the Left in Europe- a debate
The next SR Forum will be a debate between Fred Leplat of Socialist Resistance and Chris Bambery of the International Socialist Group (Scotland) on the theme of our new book ‘New Parties of the Left- Experiences from Europe’
Chris writes: “
“Across Europe resistance to austerity and cuts is mounting. Yet this comes at a time when much of the left in Europe is in crisis and this resistance all too often passes it by. In recent years the experience of the European radical left provides some valuable experiences but also some warnings which should be heeded. As the centre left falls in behind the drive for austerity the need to pose an effective left alternative is greater than ever. That begins by throwing ourselves into the resistance to austerity.”
7.30pm, Wednesday 18th January, 2012 at Bennetts, Bennetts Hill, B2 5RS
SR Forum: Back in the USSR
The next Birmingham SR Forum will be Tuesday 13th December, 7.30pm at Bennetts, Bennetts Hill, Central Birmingham, B2 5RS.
We are pleased to have Rick Simon, Senior Lecturer in East European Studies, Nottingham Trent University speaking on contemporary Russia.
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 opened the way to the restoration of capitalism in what was now the Russian Federation. With Boris Yeltsin as president, Russia was supposedly heading for democracy and
prosperity, but the drive for rapid privatisation and marketization resulted in massive corruption, the rise of the Russian Mafia, and the impoverishment of the vast majority of ordinary Russians, while a tiny number of so-called oligarchs, such as Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, became vastly wealthy by plundering Russia’s natural resources. Read more…
All out on November 30th- Put the boot into this government
The vote by UNISON, Britain’s biggest union, to take strike action on November 30 in defence of pension rights, with 245,358 in favour and 70,253 against, put the strike on course to be the most important such action for a generation. It is now by far the most significant initiative in the fight against the coalition cuts. It means that the around three million workers will be taking action on that day.
The strike is the product of several key actions taken over the past year which have pushed the movement forward. The first was the student revolt a year ago which electrified the struggle and exposed the lethargy of the trade union movement, which, despite conference speeches had still to take any form of action.
Then in March half a million turned out for the TUC London demonstration, making it far bigger and more militant than the organisers had anticipated. Around the same time UK Uncut emerged as an important and innovative direct action group.
This was followed In June by the highly successful strike by the teaching and civil service unions. This brought large numbers of young teachers and civil servants into strike action and onto the streets for the first time making it a game changer for the unions. The strike was a tribute to those in the teaching and civil service unions – not least Mark Serwotka of the PCS and left-wingers on the NUT Executive, who fought long and hard to deliver the action and make it a big success.
Now we have the November 30 strike which is a big step forward over previous actions. Most of the teaching and civil service unions already have live ballot results which allow them to take action on November 30. These include: the PCS, the NUT, the UCU, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, the Welsh teachers union the UCAC. The EIS Scottish teachers union has already voted in favour.
Those currently balloting for strike action with results out shortly are: Unite, the GMB, the NASUWT teaching union, the NAHT head teachers’ union, the FDA civil service union, Prospect, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, and NIPSA the Northern Ireland civil service union. Most if not all of these unions are expected to vote for strike action. Such united action has not been seen in Britain for a very long time.
Nor are the strikes just in defence of pensions – important as that issue is. It is widely seen as a strike against the whole of the coalition’s cuts agenda. People feel that it has been organised in this way to avoid the draconian anti-union laws which outlaw solidarity action.
The decision of the Government to offer some marginal concessions – a slightly better accrual rate and some protection for workers close to retirement – was an attempt to split the strike. The unions, to their credit, rejected them and decided that the strike would go ahead. It was also a sign of weakness. It was not a part of the plan. The plan was to face the unions down hard line and enforce their full terms. The offer was a clear sign that the coalition is losing confidence in its ability to see the struggle though.
The reasons for this are not difficult to see. They are shocked that they are facing a strike of three million workers at this stage and they are faced with the spectacular failure of their economic perspective, which, by whatever measure used, is falling apart in front of their eyes. They are facing the slide towards a double-dip recession no chance of the reversing it in time for the next election – which was the plan behind the coalition agreement. If they did not face a weak and compromised opposition, and did not have the media wholeheartedly on their side in the debate over the debt and the cuts, they would have been lucky to survive until now.
The coalition’s problems are compounded by the economic and political tsunami taking place in the Euro Zone, which threatens to overshadow and derail anything the coalition might do in Britain. This is exemplified by the catastrophe facing Greece, the contagion overtaking Italy, the imminent break-up of the Euro Zone, and the paralysis of the G20.
The crisis in the European Union has also triggered a remarkable revolt of Tory Eurosceptics, who are taking the chance to vent their nationalistic and xenophobic spleen. In fact Cameron is facing a bigger and more vociferous revolt than that faced by John Major in the 90s – the ones he called ‘the bastards’.
All this underlines the extent to which Cameron has swung the Tory party back to the days of Thatcherism and the rabid rightwing nature of recent Tory MP intakes. It is also politically divisive within the coalition with the hapless ultra-pro-EU Lib Dems caught in the middle of this mayhem disingenuously defending a coalition which continues to use them as convenient shields for Tory policies.
The lesson from all this for the trade unions and the anti-cuts movement is clear. This is exactly the time to pile on the pressure and build the fight back to its full potential. It is the time not only to maximise opposition to the cuts but is a real opportunity to put the trade unions back centre stage where they have not been for a very long time. The education unions were boosted by the strike in June. This strike can do the same right across the public sector.
The unions, therefore, have two important tasks for November 30. The first is to make the strike as solid and effective as possible. The second is the call for and encourage the widest possible solidarity action with it. This means calling on the whole of the labour movement and the anti-cuts movement to back the strike in any and every way possible. This means trade union demonstrations, student demonstrations, occupations, and protests of every kind in towns and cities right across the country.
An important new factor in this is the inspirational Occupy Movement with its highly successful tented presence at St Pauls in London and in other parts of the country. It brings to the struggle the spirit of Tahrir Square, the powerful example of the Arab Spring, and the image of mass popular movements bringing down brutal dictatorships which had been there for years – practical demonstrations of how such power can be successfully challenged.
But a big success on November 30, however, is still only a stage in the struggle, if a very important one. It is crucial that the dynamic and momentum of the strike is continued and the pressure maintained. This mean not only consolidating the gains of this action but preparing for the next. This is the best opportunity get to strike a serious blow against this government and it is important that the movement takes full advantage of it.
Wanted: Young people 14-16 for varied work…
This article from our comrade Stephen Hall of Wigan Borough Green Socialists fits neatly with our own recent posts about youth unemployment…
This famous photo shows an unemployed worker in Wigan at the time of George Orwell’s visit to the town prior to his writing of “The Road to Wigan Pier”. Must we return to such bleak scenes before local youth rise up an act?
Are you looking for a 32 hour, four days a week job which pays a minimum £6.50 an hour to start with, has 30 days paid holidays a year, early retirement at 60 and a decent pension?
Alternatively, looking for an apprenticeship leading to a more skilled job, as well as in either case, looking for free lifelong access to education, including Higher Education, and/or on the job training?
If so, then you should, as the former Labour Party Young Socialists’ “Youth Campaign Against Unemployment” leaflets in the early 80s used to say: JOIN THE FIGHT TO GET IT!
This is the kind of employment and future income prospect all young people might have, not only in the Wigan area but throughout the land, if they all fought for it. To achieve it will mean putting to an end the very economic and political system which sees 25% of those in the 16 to 24 year old age range currently in the Wigan area NOT in EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION or TRAINING. Or alternatively, in the case of the vast majority of the remaining 75%, sees them in generally much lower paid and lesser skilled jobs offering little in the way of future advancement, and depending on whether they’ve been to University and got a degree or not, potentially shackled to a huge student loan and other debts to go with it.
It is difficult to say who is currently in the worse position of all these young people – the formally more qualified graduate, who even if they lucky to be able get a well paid job, will soon find themselves with a student debt in excess of £30k at the beginning of their work lives which they have to pay back, those graduates who can’t find any suitable work in keeping with their qualifications, those in low paid dead end jobs, or those who are NEET.
What is for certain though is if young people don’t themselves decide to do anything the situation can only get worse for all of them, apart from that is of course, the children of the most well-off.
Whilst some of us older comrades might want to do our bit and stand up for the rights of our young people and are prepared to fight for them to the extent we might be able, we are no substitute for the mass of young people (and the mass of the people as a whole) doing it for themselves, and only young people (and the mass of the people as a whole) doing it for themselves can ultimately ensure it actually happens.
The vast majority of our young people currently face a bleak future without decisive action on their part in the next period, not only in relation to securing jobs and decent living standards, but in relation to the growing threat of irreversible global ecological degradation and catastrophic climate change which cast a shadow over the very future of humanity.
Whilst the Wigan Borough Green Socialists, would fully support the idea of young people across Wigan organising themselves independently to promote their own interests, and believe young people would probably prefer to do that without the likes of us older comrades interfering, the lack of such independent organisation by youth in the Borough is glaringly obvious at the moment, including at the level of students.
As a consequence, I think it would be at the least apt for us to offer our unconditional support to any young person or group of young people wanting to get something off the ground. This might take the shape of organising and paying for a room for a meeting, printing leaflets or posters, helping with travel expenses, or whatever.
Feed the world- without destroying the planet! 15th November 2011
We live in a world where soil erosion, desertification and famine is an ever-increasing reality for millions of poor people.
At the same time the profits of large landowners and supermarkets continue to soar. The issues of food production and food sovereignty – who controls the production, sale and distribution of food – have never been more crucial.
Monoculture – the industrial growing of a single cash crop – is a major contributor to soil erosion and desertification along with forest clearance for farming multi-nationals. Agribusiness calls for ever-increasing yields that may give short-term benefits but at a devastating long-term cost including pesticides polluting rivers and oceans. The cost to human communities is also immeasurable – peasants are thrown off their farms as land reform is reversed in the insatiable search for profit. Millions are forced to migrate to unsustainable cities – living in shantytowns with no infrastructure.
There is resistance – from the growth of militant peasant and indigenous organisations and the pioneering of organic agriculture in countries as diverse as Cuba, Venezuela and the Philippines to guerilla gardening in the deserts of post-industrial cities in the United States.
On November 15th 2011 Socialist Resistance and Green Left will be hosting a meeting in Birmingham to discuss these issues.
Our main speaker will be Maria Neri from Mindanao in the Philippines. Maria is a longstanding activist and ecosocialist and works for CONZARRD an NGO focusing on agrarian reform and rural development.
She will share her powerful experiences in the struggle for land reform and ecologically sustainable food production.
7pm, Tuesday 15th November, Committee Rooms 3 & 4, Council House, Birmingham, B3 3BD
Call 07775942841 for further details or email midlands@socialistresistance.org
You can download a copy of a leaflet here
Education without jobs? Youth unemployment in Birmingham
Education without jobs? is a new pamphlet by Richard Hatcher, published by Birmingham Socialist Resistance. With a wealth of detail, it looks at unemployment trends and patterns locally and nationally, analyses both Coalition and previously, Labour policies and presents suggestions for an action plan for the labour and trade union movement to propose as an alternative.
You can read / download it here or get a printed copy from your friendly neighbourhood SR supporter for just 50p
