Fighting against job cuts at Uni Glam!

This tuesday saw a demonstration of about 200 people at the Main campus of the University of Glamorgan with smaler demonstrations held at another two campus'. The demostration was called by the Unison trade union in response to a proposed 40 compulsory redundancies amongst its members.


It wasn't just unison members in attendence but members of UCU, GMB and plenty of students as well. The turn out of students was particuarly impressive as it was not annouced publicly on the Student Union website until the afternoon before (though I may be mistaken) I certainly didn't find out until the afternoon and that was by chance from a brief discussion with a unison member.


The 40 jobs cuts which have been mentioned is just those threatened amongst unison members but there will also be job cuts coming in other areas of university staff as well and these are just the cuts which have already been announced. The fact that at short notice over 200 attended a demonstration during the exam period shows not only a definate need to fight back against the cuts but also that there are alot of people willing to be a part of such a campaign. There needs to be a co-ordinated campaign from all four unions on campus. Unison, UCU, GMB and the SU.


A united struggle of all staff unions and students is the only way in which we will be able to stop the cuts at uni glam and demand that management open up the books and show us where the money is going.

More to come shortly at the moment I am having difficulties uploading pictures of the demonstration

The Right to Strike?

Once again the scheduled BA cabin crew strike has been ruled out as illegal. The story is reported by the BBC here. The ruling of this strike as illegal comes after the scheduled strike at Christmas time had previously been ruled out by the High Court as illegal and since then another strike this time of RMT members had also be ruled out by the high court once again on a technical basis.

This all comes out even with Britain having already got the most restrictive trade union legislation in western Europe. The high court has ruled the strike out on this occasion as Unite had failed to inform every member of the result of the ballot. This of course seems to be an absurd notion for several reasons. There was no mention of any problem with the election process or with any member of the union being unable to vote or any problem with the result. The only problem is that not every member had been informed of the result! Unite had stated that due to the international nature of the industry they did the best they could have done, posting results on key notice boards, on the union website and via the use of e-mails and text messages. The only conclusion that any sane person can come to is that this has been a blatant attack on the democratic right to strike.

So we have the situation where three scheduled strikes have gone through a democratic procedure and voted for strike action only to be ruled illegal by a completely unelected High Court judge! A Unite official said it was "an affront to democracy in this country". And Steve Turner, Unite’s national officer said that "decent citizens had voted in an open ballot which had then been ruled out by the judiciary”. And went on to say “the union would hope to be in the Court of Appeal as early as possible, possibly on Tuesday”

But all this does beg the question should a legal challenge be the only route? It is not simply a case of High Court judges acting out of turn but the problem is systematic and the Court of Appeal is part of the same system. It is clear that this is a class war at this stage initiated by the ruling class against the organised working class and there is no indication that the Court of Appeal will be any different.

The situation trade unionists now face on top of the already restrictive laws on the right to strike are several recent precedents set in law now which further curtail or could even be said to make strike action virtually impossible, furthermore this attack comes in the most blatant and class biased of ways and therefore the time to defy the anti-trade union laws and these recent court rulings and launch wildcat strike action is now.

It is only by the trade unions defying these laws with the help and support of the rest of the labour movement that we can show these laws to be worth less than the paper they are written on and enter the coming struggles for jobs and public services in a position of strength. If the anti-trade union laws are not defied then it seems clear that this will continue to happen and possibly even worsen under a tory government and will mean that at the most critical time the entire trade union movement could remain stagnant and paralysed.

For further updates on the BA cabin crew strikes check out the AirStrike blog.

The Life and Death of St. Kilda

A few months ago after lengthy debates with a lecturer which dominated seminars about the nature of the Human race,centred around whether humans are inherently selfish with particular reference to the prospects of a classless society. Eventually the lecturer in question offered to lend a book to me called "The Life and Death of St. Kilda - The moving story of a vanished island community"

I have since read the book and although there was nothing within the book that surprised me about human nature, being a marxist I obviously firmly believe there is nothing inherent human nature to prevent a classless society from existing. However I was struck by the existence of a classless society which had existed for centuries still in existence in 20th Century Britain.

The book by Tom Steel outlines the history of the people on the small island group of the coast of Scotland, its the furthest out island group in the region, after the islands there is nothing again until the Americas. The islands are very inaccessible and therefore remained largely isolated from the outside world though some communication and movement of people were possible.

The book begins by delving into the history of the St. Kildan people and the island itself but very little seems to e known about its origins.  It goes on to outline the state of life in St.Kilda which due to the harsh climatic nature of the Island was not easy, nevertheless although technically having a feudal overlord they never visited and the community lived in peace never having seen war.

When the St. Kildans had to took they worked hard those capable all chipped in those incapable due to age illness or temporary illness did not go without and every abled bodied person covered there share of the work in essence St Kildan society lived by the motto "From each according to his ability to each according to their need" Men and woman in St Kildan society performed different roles, it wasn't simply that woman stayed at home to rear children and cook and clean but that men and woman were geniunely given different roles within society. This is where i can find the only criticism that where men met every day to divide up the work for the day between themselves this would also be where any decisions would be made for the community in general, whilst not neccessarilly of major importance it did mean that woman were prevented from participating.

However this society did not end because of internal factors but due to external factors from outside from the capitalist world on its doors steps. During the world wars St Kilda was taken over by the armed forces as a strategic outpost and in exchange, not that the St Kildan's had much choice they were employed by the military to help install installations etc. Although the St Kildans had for centuries traded with the outside world this was the first instance in which currency had been introduced into daily use in their society. With wages being paid to them by the military and purchases being made for stores built for the use of military personell or even a tavern which had been built. It was in this period in which many of the younger males and females decided to venture out into the world and this began the demise of St Kilda.

With many of the able bodied deciding to venture out to explore the world or even just Scotland in some cases it became increasingly difficult for the remaining St Kildans to continue to provide for those still there. Despite the government having caused much of the problems for the islanders after using it as a military base and subsequently as a research base they became increasingly reluctant to provide support for them.

Eventually a plan was hatched to relocate them to the mainland with employment in the forestry commission, an odd choice as there were no trees to be found on St Kilda. Many of the St. Kildans did not want to leave and it took a number of years for them to eventually agree. However what happened next enbittened the majority of the St Kildans whose livestock was all sold at auction and they received very little for it. They were split up into different areas some of which were completely isolated and very soon became very aware of the nature of capitalism and the difficulties of surviving on the poverty wages.

The St. Kildans soon came to realise that life on St. Kilda was much better and found difficulties in adjusting to wage-slavery. More and more the dominant idea amongst the St. Kildans was that after all there life was much better of back on St. Kilda and many of them lobbied the government to allow them to return. Some were allowed to return but only on a temporary basis as and none were allowed to return permanently even though they were simply asking to go home!

The story will live on of a classless society who's land was taken by a capitalist government on the promise of a better life in the modern world, but soon the reality of the modern world hit them and they began to realise that life before had always been better and they would have been better of if they had.

Cardiff Communities Against Racism

Last Thursday Cardiff Communities Against Racism to co-ordinate events on the 5th of June. The racist English Defence League or as they are calling themselves around these parts the Welsh Defence League (WDL) plan to bring their racist ideas to Cardiff on the 5th of June.

Cardiff Communities Against Racism (CCAR) an ubrella group which had various anti-racist organisations attending and participating in the meeting of between 60-70 people included members of Searchlight Cymru, Unite Against Fascism, Youth Against Racism Newport Communities Against Racism and a whole host of other organisations as well as trade unionists and Students. The campaign has also recieved the official backing on both the University of Glamorgan and Cardiff Students' Unions'. 

The meeting was there to thrash out ideas to show everyone in Cardiff and in particular the racist thugs that their ideas are not welcome in our city. Several ideas were mentioned throughout the discussion including producing stickers to give to rugby fans (as the protest coincides with the Wales vs South Africa rugby match. But most importantantly of looking back at the recent success that anti-fascist protesters had in both Newport and Swansea towards the end of last year in which neither of the planned WDL protest were able to go ahead to due the fantastic response of anti-fascists to mobolise into the area and force the police to remove the WDL from the vicinity in Swansea and in the case of Newport where the WDL were to embarressed to even turn up. Many of those in attendence had been at either one or both of the demonstrations and could of their experiences in a favourable light.

Due to the fantastic turn out at the meeting and the passion for action within the room it was impossible to come to a concrete proposal for the demonstration on the day but there will be a follow up meeting of CCAR this time held in Cardiff University Students Union this Thursday which will hopefully allow the campaign against racism to continue with some solid proposals.All anti-facists welcome to attend more information to follow shortly

Back Again!

So I have let the blog lapse a bit in the last few months, but now I am back and will soon be blogging reguarly once more.

And what blog topics to cover? Well there is a tory government but I will imagine within the next week a will have several blog posts about the election covering different aspects of it.

I fought the presidential elections for Uni Glam Students Union and lost but a month later won the position of Chair of the Treforest (the main campus) so there will be some stuff on student politics touching on the NUS, cut backs in education, student radicalism and also the damage the liberals have done amongst thier student base.

On a personal note several things have been happening much of which will not appear on the blog, but I have recently become an uncle, my sister had a baby boy a couple of weeks ago and that may be blogged on as well.

More to come shortly.

Everyones Favourite Comrade.

150+ Outside UKBA

Earlier today there was around 150 people (maybe more) protesting outside the UK Border Agency offices in Cardiff. The demonstration was organised by Refugee Voice Wales in the background of allegations of a racist culture within the offices when dealing with asylum applications. Something that most people could take an educated guess at anyway, but these allegations were made by a former employee at the Border Agency who revealed that the racism was not just of individuals but was a systematic practice within the office.


The demonstration was extremely significant because it is very rare for asylum seekers themselves to participate in demonstrations outside the Border Agency but on this occasion they were organising the demonstration, speaking from the platform and leading the chants all afternoon. At least half of the demonstrators but probably more were asylum seekers. A significant step forward in the campaign for migrants rights.


There was at least 150 people there but possibly more than that, for a weekday demonstration in Cardiff it is quite rare to see a demonstration of that size and the police were clearly stunned by the amount of people there and had to call for reinforcements, although it must be said that the reinforcements brought the total number of police officers up to only four anyway so was a rather pointless exercise on there part and they clearly didn't have any control over the demonstration which was effectively stewarding itself.


This is definitely a step towards a campaign to unite workers and migrants with many workers and youth participating in the demonstration alongside asylum seekers. Youth Fight for Jobs members participated in the demonstration and gave out leaflets for the March 13th anti-racist demonstration in Barking the leaflets went down really well and one member spoke from the platform explaining the importance of the demonstration to cut across the racist propaganda of the BNP and the main parties of trying to blame the economic crisis on migrants taking jobs and using public services. That we needed a campaign that will able to unite all working class people to fight for decent jobs and public services for all. This was well received by the demonstration.


For more reports of the demonstration check out No Borders South Wales.

Outside the senydd with UCU

This afternoon I attended a UCU Higher Education (HE) lobby of the Welsh Assembly. There were UCU members from the 4 Universities in south east Wales (Cardiff University, UWIC, Newport University and the University of Glamorgan) as well as a few members of Socialist Students to show solidarity.

The lobby was called in order to defend Higher Education against future cuts in the sector and to fight to secure adequate funding for the future. With it looking likely that the will be a funding cut from the Welsh Assembly to Higher Education institutions when the finances for next year are released, there has already been cuts at several welsh universities if not all of them even before budget cuts have been announced. For more information go to the UCU Wales website.

Several Welsh assembly members came out to speak to the lobby, but with one or two exceptions as predicted as soon as the camera’s left so did they! This of course did not go unnoticed by UCU & Socialist Student members who were present. Some of the AM’s even went as far as to question the value of education whilst at the same time having the cheek to stand next to us and tell us that they were on our side, couldn’t even be bothered to put in the effort to hide their blatant opposition to defending Higher Education.

It seemed clear to everyone there that despite no official decision having been made yet, that it was more than likely that the majority of AM’s had made up their mind to support cuts rather than to make the bosses pay for the economic crisis. After the lobby a few UCU members along with myself went off for a coffee and discussed the need for joint action between students and university staff to stop the cuts in Higher Education all in all a very productive day.

For Jobs and Services Not Racism

March 13th is a date for your diary. On March 13th there will be a Youth Fight for Jobs Demonstration in Barking, London. This follows on from the fantastic demonstration that YFJ organised a last November with more than 1,000 marching through the streets of London 1and demanding a future for young people demanded decent jobs and free education for all.


YFJ DEMO VIDEO


Why on this occasion is it so important to demonstrate in Barking though? Barking is the constituency that Nick Griffin the fascist himself, who is the leader of the BNP. They already have several councillors in the area and now with the finanicial resources they possess having two MEP's means that they will seriously targeting the area. As as ever the BNP have picked an area with a sizeable immigrant community in attempt to blame immigranst for the social deprevation of the area.

There clearly is social deprivation in the area, but its the fault of government cut backs and the rich who scapegoat migrants in order to distract from their own roles. It is for this reason that Youth Fight For Jobs will be marching through Barking to present a campaigning positive alternative to the racism of the BNP.

There will be transport from all over South Wales to Barking for the demonstration (and from other areas of the country no doubt) for more information leave a comment on the blog and we can take it for there. YFJ Says:

NO TO THE RACIST POLICIES OF THE BNP

THE RIGHT TO A DECENT JOB FOR ALL, WITH A LIVING WAGE OF AT LEAST £8 AN HOUR


NO TO CHEAP LABOUR APPRENTICESHIPS! ALL APPRENTICESHIPS TO PAY AT LEAST THE MINIMUM WAGE, WITH A JOB GUARANTEED AT THE END


NO TO UNIVERSITY FEES. SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN TO DEFEAT FEES

Demonstrate at the Border Agency

Following on from the recent demonstration at the UK Border Agency in Cardiff which took place just after the revelations of an ex-employer who said there was a culture of racism in the office, there have been calls for an investigation and a halt to any deportations as a result of casework in Cardiff. The call for an investigation is being led by Bethan Jenkins AM.


To show opposition to the UK Border Agency there will be a demonstration on Friday 26th of February. This demonstration is more significant than the last though. The previous demonstration was organised by No Borders South Wales, who have more information on their site. This demonstration is also supported by No Borders but this time it has been organised by Refugee Voice Wales, which is significant because previously they have been apprehensive about protesting outside of the Border Agency themselves so this is definitely an event to attend. Refugee Voice put out a statement which included:


“We are calling for an immediate stop to consistent racial abuse and harassment of asylum seekers by the UKBA staff. We demand:
that all cases dealt by unscrupulous officers be reviewed
immediate suspension of all removals / deportations
the suspension of all corrupt staff and their supervisors
an instant independent overhaul of the whole system at Cardiff UKBA
An independent inquiry into all UKBA offices to uphold the Refugee Convention

Tell everyone you know to come! Come play your part to create freedom. If you have BLACK GLOVES please wear them on the day for the freedom salute! Come let’s have a mass toyi-toyi (African War dance for freedom and equality). This is a mockery to the inclusion and integration policies so encouraged by the Welsh Assembly.”

I would have to disagree with the emphasis of this statement which seems to suggest that the the problem is down to a few racists in the office, whilst that may be true the real problem is that the whole system is racist and as No borders South Wales put it. “Any attempts to remove ‘a few bad apples’ will be of little effect because the barrel itself is rotten to the core.”

Nevertheless this is definitely a step forward in the fight for refugee support so come along of Friday the 26th February between 1pm-3pm outside the UK Border Agency offices on Newport Road, Cardiff.

Fighting for the Future

Earlier today between 30-40 people demonstrated outside the Welsh Assembly. The demonstration was organised by Youth Fight for Jobs (YFJ). We demanded that there should be ‘No Cuts & Closures’. We were campaigning against the lack of Job opportunities available, but particularly to young people. Against the attacks on education which will result in huge job losses as well as a huge reduction in the number of university places and at a detriment to the education of those who are able to gain a place in the first place.

We demanded that the Welsh Assembly does not simply play the role of administrator, in which they simply administer cuts dictated to them by Westminster and proclaiming that they have no other choice. Instead they should refuse to implement any cuts but rather demand that the Westminster provide them with the necessary funds to create jobs and improve education. This could easily be done by nationalising the banks under democratic control and using the vast profits to fund public sector works.

There were a range of speakers at the rally which reflected the wide range of the campaign, from trade unionists to student activists to unemployed youth. Who all highlighted the harsh conditions that young people face today with very few decent jobs around and the lack of university places around, magnified but the onslaught of cuts to come in the public sector.

The demonstration signalled the beginning of an organised fight back against cuts and closures in South Wales and afterwards we went to the pub to discuss strategy and tactics for building towards the YFJ in Barking on the 13th March. It was a well worth discussion with a lot of ideas coming out for the future. Consequently though, I am a bit pissed after spending all afternoon in the pub so I will leave it there for now.

The importance of listening

Recently I have had several discussions with people who should really know better, people who call themselves Marxists but have advocated a vote for the Labour Party in the forthcoming General Election. A position which I cannot understand for any socialist to hold, to advocate a vote for the neo-liberal agenda of New Labour, a party which has lost all the democratic structures which means there is no hope of reclaiming the party. Nevertheless these points seem to have fallen on deaf ears amongst many so I thought I would blog from a different angle.

Earlier today I spend several hours outside to different Job Centres in Cardiff leafleting for the Youth Fight for Jobs (YFJ) demonstration on Wednesday at the Welsh Assembly. As such a had the opportunity to discuss politics with a lot of people as they were hanging around waiting for their appointments in the job centre. I heard the same thing from each person I spoke to. The anger was most certainly there but so was the demoralisation.

Everyone I spoke to agreed that labour doesn't care about ordinary people any more. Particularly amongst the youth but not exclusively the people I spoke saw no difference between Labour, Tory or Lib Dem and rightfully so. The problem was that they were all extremely demoralised and saw noway forward. Nobody I spoke to said this but one or two did display the potential of voting for the BNP because of how disenfranchised they have been by the main parties and of course because of the media scapegoating as well.

But it exactly for these reasons that Socialists should not call for a Labour vote because this will increase the disenfranchisement and the feeling that nothing can e done which on one hand could lead to political apathy and on the other hand it could lead to the kind of rise in the BNP vote which we have already seen so far.

When we spoke to people about both the YFJ demonstration and the TUSC electoral challenge the conversation took a turn, it significantly changed their outlook and many said they would come along on Wednesday. The Labour Party has already hung itself which is evident by the outlook by many people who rightfully so no difference between Labour and the other main parties. Instead of offering them more rope we should pull the noose shut, refuse to offer them any support. It is important now that we support candidates of the left and where there are not any agate for abstentions and the urgent need to build an alternative

VOTE TUSC AT THE ELECTION AND COME TO THE YOUTH FIGHT FOR JOBS DEMO ON WEDNESDAY

7 Years On...

I thought it would be appropriate for some political reflection of the past 7 years. It was 7 years ago today that saw 2 million people (including myself) on the streets of London and 35 million worldwide. Demonstrating against the prospect of an invasion of Iraq. An invasion which unfortunately did happen and the occupation that continues until this day, As this was the beginning of my political activity the fact that not only the invasion happened but that the misery continues to this day is something which pains me everytime I think of it.


The day also had a personal significance to me, it was the day I joined the Socialist Party, which is not inconsequential on the matter. The demonstrations were an eclectic selection of people and individuals, significantly though there was a significant amount of young people involved this was where my generation who up until this point had not been politically involved but burst on to the scene in the biggest demonstration in British history, many demonstrators including myself were not at this point old enough to vote.


Unfortunately though over the years we have seen that despite the anger against the war the demonstrations have got smaller and smaller, we have seen national demonstrations go from the size of millions to a few thousand. It is not something that we as anti-war activists should just except but something we just learn from in order to avoid these mistakes again. Days after the demo the New York Times dubbed world public opinion "the second global superpower" Yet although the potential was there for the anti-war movement it become a superpower it was unable to. For a superpower doesn't just walk the streets and threaten no further action than that ultimately the anti-war movement did not provide any reason not to go to war other than public opinion and we all know that public opinion does not concern the government.


Whilst my peers around me slowly stopped coming to demonstrations because it seemed that they were not making a difference, the demonstrations starter getting smaller and consequently there was a domino effect where we had national demonstrations with only a few thousand despite pubic opinion remaining high against the war. I can only assume that those who simply stopped demonstrating because they felt that it was not working and indeed it wasn't, so the question you ask is why did I stay.


As I already mentioned this was the same time as I had joined the Socialist Party, the members I discussed with explained al this to me at the time so I was prepared to for it,but crucially they also presented an alternative strategy for a way forward, explained the need to escalate action,such as A call for a political strike at the 2 million strong demonstration. If that happened then the course of events could have been drastically different. Subsequently in the years following up until this point I have been arguing for the rebuilding of the anti-war movement and to learn the lessons from the past, i.e. it is pointless to resign ourselves to demonstration after demonstration with no prospect of further action.


The need to learn the lessons from reason history is something I have raised within the Stop the War Coalition, unfortunately some have responded to me by saying that the anti-war movement did not fail and that it achieved so much. This is the kind of response given to me about the rise of the BNP which you can read here. Now although saying things like this is done with the intention of keeping spirits high, it would be correct to say it is a lie. What is more it is clear that we have failed, Iraq was invaded and occupied and 100,000s have died. So we need to learn the lessons and re construct the movement rather than painting a huge defeat as a victory as unfortunately some do.

I would attribute the fact that so many youth left the movement whilst I stayed to my membership of the Socialist Party, because it was through this party that I was given and extremely good political education explaining the need to escalate action on the movement would die a death. Although one might say a pessimistic outlook, it was a honest appraisal of the situation which not only prepared me for the inevitable demoralising decline on the anti-war movement but more importantly gave me a strategy of how to fight for this to be prevented.

7 years on from the biggest demonstration in British history, it is time we learn the lessons. So that we can end the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.