ENOUGH!

Polls opened this morning and votes are currently being cast in the Scottish Parliamentary election. As #2 candidate on the Scottish Socialist Party’s Glasgow Regional List, I should be out at the polling stations, desperately trying to convince voters to put an ‘X’ beside Scotland’s only party of independence, socialism and internationalism. The bogging weather has driven me indoors, where the only way to ease my inactivity-related guilt is to blog about how all parties are bastards except the SSP.

The campaign has been characterised by Labour imploding under the laughable ‘leadership’ of the embarassingly shit Mr Gray; the main parties refusing to lay out resistance to cuts, while squabbling about such red-hot issues as whether or not to rejig emergency services’ management boards; and the public’s interest in Holyrood plummeting to an all-time low.

Gray gunning for power

Analysts are predicting victory for the pro-independence Scottish National Party, with an increase in their number of seats. This seemed highly unlikely at the start of the campaign, with Labour riding high in the polls, independence unpopular and Alex Salmond’s “arc of prosperity” reduced to rubble. So confident was I that Labour would romp it, I bet SSP Glasgow  top-of-the-list candidate Frances Curran a hefty fiver that Iain Gray would be the next First Minister. Though I will weep at the loss of 10% of my weekly giro, I am mighty relieved that Elmer Fudd will not be leading my country for the next 5 years. (Dinnae fret about the cash either, ah’m gonnae pull a fly wan n dingy payin her).

If Scottish Labour’s beleaguered leader has done nothing else in this campaign, he has at least provided us with plenty of laughs -- at his expense. As well as allegedly shiting out of being in the same ASDA as Salmond while they were both visiting the seaside paradise of Ardrossan, the aptly-named Gray made headlines by running away from anti-cuts activists in Glasgow, seeking refuge in a local Subway branch. It’s not known whether he went for a 6-inch or a footlong, but if anything like his speeches, it would have been full of cheese and lacking substance with a nasty aftertaste. Many of the protesters wanted to speak to him about the planned closure of the Accord Centre in the East End, a vital resource for disabled people and their families, which the Labour Council are demolishing in favour of a car park for the Commonwealth Games. Check their facebook page here.

I’ve been out and voted already. And I will now undermine the principle of the secret ballot by telling you what I did. Firstly, I voted SSP (obv lol) on the regional ballot paper. The SSP look set to receive an increase in votes compared to the disastrous 2007 election, but we are likely to fall short of the numbers needed to return a socialist MSP. Oh wellz.

Then, I held my nose and voted for Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP in my constituency, just as I did in 2007. The way I see it, there have been many issues on which socialists would challenge the SNP-led Scottish Government of 2007-2011; not least dropping their policy of regulating the buses after receiving a substantial donation from Stagecoach millionaire Brian Soutar, or overruling Aberdeenshire Council and helping evil tycoon Donald Trump to ruin the world. But they are also head and shoulders above the rest -- including Labour -- from a progressive viewpoint. Their regime began with the Scottish Govt stepping in to save hospitals from closure in Lanarkshire and Ayrshire.

SAVE CRICHTON CAMPUS!

In the first few months of government, keen to avoid triggering clashes with popular resistance movements, they intervened to prevent damaging school mergers in Edinburgh (following a campaign led by SSY organiser Sarah, among others) and stopped the closure of Glasgow Uni’s Crichton Campus -- another campaign with a high level of input from our members. They nicked socialist policy and got rid of Prescription Charges, even if they did unnecessarily stagger it over 4 years, costing thousands of people money in “sick tax”, but making them look good just before this election. Shame they didn’t stick to their word when they (again borrowing from the SSP manifesto) said they’d scrap Council Tax. But they did destroy a key component of Thatcher’s legacy by abolishing “right to buy” on council housing. Sometimes politics comes down to a choice between 2 undesirable options, making the SNP & Salmond an easy choice compared to New Labour & Gray. Speaking of undesirable options…

There was the referendum on changing the electoral system to use Alternative Vote. I am in favour of real electoral reform, to break the stranglehold of the big-money mainstream parties and stop the crime of huge chunks of the population effectively being disenfranchised because they live in a local Labour/Tory/whoever dictatorship.

Props to Stefan

But AV will not change anything. The LibDems know it, the Yes campaign knows it, everyone knows it. And no-one even supports AV! However, I didn’t wanna vote to preserve FPTP. Also, I consider this an illegitimate plebiscite as it abuses the people’s wish for proportionality by offering 2 systems which aren’t proportional. Therefore I fulfilled a lifelong ambition, drawing a giant willy on the ballot paper. I also wrote “DO YOU THINK WE’RE STUPID? THIS REFERENDUM IS A FARCE” and “Clegg, Cameron, both are dicks”. Yas.

Thankfully in Scotland we have a slightly better electoral system (AMS), so there’s a chance a few Greens will get in. Some sources say there’s a chance that SNP+Greens+Margo McDonald could equal a pro-independence majority. Here’s hoping. From that point of view (and for several other reasons) it is to be hoped that arch-Unionist and sham-socialist George Galloway is not succesful in his self-serving effort to grab a seat in the Parly.

As time has gone on, the shine has somewhat faded from the once bright and hopeful Scottish Parliament. Certainly it was sad that the ‘Rainbow Parliament’ turned grey in 2007, with the SSP presence wiped out along with many other smaller parties and independents. The relatively low levels of interest in this campaign show that the Parliament is in danger of becoming irrelevant to most working-class people. There is only one way for Holyrood to prevent that: by representing the wishes of  the vast majority of the Scottish people, and resisting the program of cuts and austerity which has been led by the ConDem coalition at Westminster.

Some career politicians may lie that the cuts are necessary, others that their Parliament can’t do anything. The social movements will pressurise them all. We must tell them: you may not have the constitutional capacity to defy the cuts, but there is certainly the political capacity, and it must be used. The people of Scotland would fully support a Parliament which offered an alternative, where public services are protected and expanded, and the rich are taxed more to pay for that. A defiant, anti-cuts Parliament would be a major act of Scottish self-determination and a key step towards an independent socialist republic.

The likelihood is, no matter who wins, we’ll get another crop of careerist bastards. But those in authority are vulnerable. I am optimistic about the capacity for struggle and change in Scotland, and I’m cheered by the recent emergence of a nascent grassroots anti-capitalist movement based on direct action and direct democracy. Whether the politicians respond or not, there is a new world to be built.

Some of this info may be duplicating what you already know from Liam T’s recent post (his 100th on this blog btw!) but I reckon this is a story worth telling several times, kinda like how the Bible has like 4 Gospels or something.

A better edit of this article will appear in the next issue of Scottish Socialist Voice.

Tuesday 22nd March was a day that will be remebered for sensational events at Glasgow University. Dozens of Police and security guards swooped on the Free Hetherington, in an attempt to clear students out of their 50-day occupation of the disused Research Club building. Following eviction, protesters went on to occupy the luxurious Senate building. Astonishingly, this resulted in a late-night capitulation from management, with an invitation for us to return to the Hetherington in exchange for vacating the Senate.

The day began with an unexpected visit from campus security, who told occupiers to leave immediately. When this was refused, the cops were called in. Simultaneously, solidarity appeals went out via text message, facebook and twitter, with around 700 Hetherington supporters rushing to the scene. In an operation widely denounced as “excessive” and “heavy-handed”, over 80 police officers, equipped with 18 cars, a dog-handling unit and a helicopter (…yes, really!) were drafted in to back up zealous uni guards in the operation.

What followed was an illegal forced eviction of a peaceful sit-in, resulting in a number of instances of injury and arrest of non-violent protesters. Several people ended up with dislocations and sprains of shoulders and wrists. I am bruised all over my chest, shoulder and neck after being knelt on and assaulted by two members of the security team. One woman was pushed into a wall, causing concussion, then arrested and charged.

Undeterred by this show of force, hundreds of activists responded by marching to the university’s iconic main building, before occupying a number of rooms in the Senate. This space is absolutely vital to the uni administration, so the new occupation represented a significant escalation. As a result of our determination and audacity, we had gone from being down and defeated to being in a position of huge strength, all in the space of a few hectic minutes. The Herald sensationalised about “angry students” who “ran rampage…laying siege to the institution…[in] scenes of anarchy unprecedented in its 560-year history”. They were exaggerating, but not that much.

The next few hours saw the students getting back to normal occupation routine, in extraordinary circumstances. There were political discussions, organising meetings, a folk gig. The Senior Management Group (SMG) visited for a grilling, which was novel since they hadn’t spoken to us for 7 weeks. Refusing to condemn the day’s violence or to admit any wrongdoing, they made us an offer we could refuse – leave the Senate and you can get a meeting with uni principal Anton Muscatelli. After a vote, their offer was politely declined.

The plushness of our new pad was remarkable. It was all chandeliers, wood-panelled walls, ancient mahogany furniture, massive portraits of old principals (including the villainous Sir Muir Russell) and one of those TVs that emerges from a cabinet when you press a special button. It seems unnecessary to have such grandeur in an institution supposedly dedicated to learning. This made me think – no wonder our leaders are so out-of-touch, if they spend their lives in rooms such as this. Susan Stewart, the Director of Corporate Communications, seemed to be on the point of a nervous breakdown when a load of folk were moving their obviously-expensive chairs from one room to another.

Back home at the Free HRC

Thanks is due to American singer David Rovics, who was in Glasgow to play a benefit gig for Gaza. He popped in to lift our spirits with a range of brilliant songs. Highlights were songs about the Tunisian Revolution, the St Patrick’s Battalion of Irish-American mutineers, and the hilarious piss-take “I’m A Bigger Anarchist Than You”. He moved out onto the balcony, to belt out the Internationale for comrades unable to gain entry. We also learned a song which can get you gaoled in America, as it describes torching a Walmart. I will never forget chanting “burn it down” into the night sky while looking across the city. No wonder security wanted us out.

And so they gave us back the Hetherington! The building at 13 University Gardens was gifted to the university in the 1950s to be used as a student social space, but closed last year, amid accusations of mismanagement and allegations that senior university officials had allowed it to close as part of their £20million cuts package. Aware of the special regard many people held the old club in, and keen to establish an anti-cuts hub for Glasgow, a diverse alliance  - students, workers and unemployed -- reclaimed the disused but not-yet-derelict building on 1^st February, giving it new life as a non-commercial centre for education and discussion. Several well-ken’t faces have visited, including Liz Lochead, Mark Steel and Tom Leonard. It has attracted solidarity from across the world.

Looking to the future, we have an opportunity to shape a radical space of our own. Uni management have invited us to carry on as we were, apparently backtracking on plans to redevelop the place into offices and labs. There has been an assurance that there will never be a repeat of scenes of mass numbers of police interfering with our business. And so we invite everyone to make use of the Free Hetherington for politics, culture and free cups of tea.

Plenty remains to campaign on. The SMG’s austerity program will be resisted. Staff are openly in revolt, calling for the resignation of Muscatelli and the rest of senior management. We are with the workers on that. Student president-elect Stuart Richie has attracted ire for suggesting that police should have used teargas and that the Free Hetherington should be burned down. Calls are now ringing out for his path to office to be blocked. Of course, bad behaviour from posh right-wing students is nothing new – a few weeks ago pissed-up members of the elitist GUU ran naked into the building, harassing other students and setting off the fire alarm. We’ve been informed Private Eye are storing the pictoral evidence, to be published when the intruders become powerful bankers/politicians/company directors. SSP co-spokesperson Frances Curran was quoted in news outlets demanding information on the cost of the operation, and employees have called for an independent inquiry.

Our support must go to those students who are now facing criminal charges. The concussed individual was visited by Strathclyde’s finest the following morning, who cuffed her after watching her dress, before realising they’d made a mistake and were looking for someone else. Two others who had been arrested on the day, then de-arrested by a senior cop, were re-arrested the following morning. The movement must support these individuals and call for the vindictive and unjustified charges to be dropped.

Returning to the Free Hetherington on Tuesday night, everyone was elated after a great victory, and ready to get back on with the task of resisting the cuts everywhere. We can move forward, secure in this great asset.



Representatives of ETA, the armed wing of the Basque independence movement, yesterday issued a permanent ceasefire annoucement. This represents a clear message, calling an end to the movement’s decades-long armed struggle. Today’s pledge follows on from September’s commitment to pursuing independence through non-violent means, as blogged about by Jack.

Incredibly, the response of the Spanish state has been to dismiss the ceasefire announcement… AGAIN. You would think they’d be encouraging the Basque national liberation movement to put down the guns, but no, they’ve simply said it doesn’t count as “an irreversible end to violence”, while talking trash about ETA being “arrogant”.

The national liberation movement has made a big effort in recent years to take account of the current political situation and new events in other oppressed nations. In particular, they have closely studied what has been going on in Ireland, with the IRA decommissioning weapons and Sinn Fein now forming part of the coalition government at Stormont. The ETA leadership has said the process will be open to mediation by other countries — they are happy to be scrutinised, as they are sincere in wanting a democratic solution. However, this suggestion was rebuffed by Spain’s deputy prime minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba. He took a bold/ludicrous stand: “There is no way we are going to allow someone to place conditions on peace or impose the intervention of international mediators.” This is daft, as any meaningful peace process will naturally involve neutral arbitrators.

DEMO IN BILBAO

Here is the point where Spain’s ‘democratic’ mask starts to slip. Despite their ‘anti-terrorist’ rhetoric, the Spanish state is still committed to a campaign of state terror against the pro-independence Left, with over 400 Basque political prisoners having been arrested in recent months. The Spanish government is pursuing a policy Franco would have been proud of — they don’t want a peaceful solution; they want total victory, with the Basque claim to self-determination airbrushed from history.

Despite Spain’s intransigence, the streets of Euskal Herria have recently witnessed some of the biggest solidarity demonstrations in living memory, e.g. 64,000 marching in Bilbao last Saturday, in support of the jailed comrades. Such events must have the authorities in Madrid shaken, as it shows the potential for a peaceful revolution in favour of independence. The ETA leadership deserve credit for recognising the need for mass struggle rather than vanguardism.

As with the Provo struggle in the North of Ireland, there has recently been a sense that small paramilitary groups had become ineffective, if indeed they were ever a viable means of achieving national liberation. I hope that the comrades can maintain a meaningful commitment to socialist revolution — the experience in the North of Ireland has left a bitter taste in the mouth, with the old radical McGuinness heading up a neoliberal regime based on a sectarian division of power, with Irish reunification no closer to becoming reality.

This situation is different as it is not about coming to some kind of power-sharing arrangement. There is still a clear demarcation between the stateless nation and the oppressor. ETA ending the armed struggle helps to boost the general struggle for freedom, with key demands which should be supported internationally. Firstly, the ban on Batasuna and associated political parties must be lifted — the Basque people must be allowed to vote for who they want to. Secondly, the Basque nation should be allowed the freedom to control its own destiny; there is now a new opportunity for a debate on what type of country the people want. Ultimately, the right of the Basques to declare an independent state if (they choose to do so) must be made explicit and protected.

The constitution of the Spanish state currently forbids any ‘region’ from declaring independence. This makes Spain a prisonhouse of nationalities. And historically they’ve never hesitated to use violence to back up what they say: stories of extraordinary rendition, torture and assassination are sadly not uncommon amond Basque activists. Information of such state crimes does not often reach us -- Spain is an ally of the UK and in the past few were able to break through the imposed media blackout.

What the ‘Socialist’ government in Madrid (effectively the Spanish version of New Labour) do not understand is the erosion of the basis for their methods of ruling. The internet means that we are now able to see and hear about what is really going on. A resurgence in awareness of the Basque situation will take place, in fact it has already started. With the excuse of ‘combatting terrorism’ gone, Spain will have to recognise the Basques’ right to self-determination or be damned.

It is now the duty of all socialists, progressives and democrats, in Europe and around the world, to support the movement in Euskal Herria and help make sure that justice triumphs.

See the full text of the declaration here.

GORA EUSKAL HERRIA SOZIALISTA!

VICTORY TO THE INTIFADA!

Gaza Youth Breaks Out this week achieved the massive honour of becoming my favourite facebook page, nipping in just ahead of The Guy Who Looks Like A Thumb and I HATE IT WHEN U R SOoOoO STEAMIN & U DON’T REMEMBER WEE LADS U BUCKED.

They’ve already been condemned as an arm of the international Zionist conspiracy and chastised for unnecessary swearing, so before you even read it, you know they’re cool. SSY has had all the same shit flung at us as well.

Seriously though, their manifesto is one of the most stirring documents I’ve ever read. Its style is angry, artistic, original and beautiful. They speak out against the Israeli occupation, fundamentalist thugs, the indifference of international powers and the pain of having so many dreams stifled.

Please check out their FB page and their blog at gazaybo.wordpress.com.

They’re using the internet partly because all other avenues of expression are being shut down, yet even that freedom is currently being obstructed by the powers that be. Hardly surprising, since GYBO has the potential to act as the spark for a world youth revolution which could sweep away all the stinking garbage of the old men who govern us. The Gaza comrades can be assured that we will 1000% support them, politically and logistically.

Anyway, here’s their statement, reproduced in full:

GAZAN YOUTH’S MANIFESTO FOR CHANGE

Fuck Hamas. Fuck Israel. Fuck Fatah. Fuck UN. Fuck UNWRA. Fuck USA! We, the youth in Gaza, are so fed up with Israel, Hamas, the occupation, the violations of human rights and the indifference of the international community! We want to scream and break this wall of silence, injustice and indifference like the Israeli F16’s breaking the wall of sound; scream with all the power in our souls in order to release this immense frustration that consumes us because of this fucking situation we live in; we are like lice between two nails living a nightmare inside a nightmare, no room for hope, no space for freedom. We are sick of being caught in this political struggle; sick of coal dark nights with airplanes circling above our homes; sick of innocent farmers getting shot in the buffer zone because they are taking care of their lands; sick of bearded guys walking around with their guns abusing their power, beating up or incarcerating young people demonstrating for what they believe in; sick of the wall of shame that separates us from the rest of our country and keeps us imprisoned in a stamp-sized piece of land; sick of being portrayed as terrorists, homemade fanatics with explosives in our pockets and evil in our eyes; sick of the indifference we meet from the international community, the so-called experts in expressing concerns and drafting resolutions but cowards in enforcing anything they agree on; we are sick and tired of living a shitty life, being kept in jail by Israel, beaten up by Hamas and completely ignored by the rest of the world.
There is a revolution growing inside of us, an immense dissatisfaction and frustration that will destroy us unless we find a way of canalizing this energy into something that can challenge the status quo and give us some kind of hope. The final drop that made our hearts tremble with frustration and hopelessness happened 30rd November, when Hamas’ officers came to Sharek Youth Forum, a leading youth organization (www.sharek.ps) with their guns, lies and aggressiveness, throwing everybody outside, incarcerating some and prohibiting Sharek from working. A few days later, demonstrators in front of Sharek were beaten and some incarcerated. We are really living a nightmare inside a nightmare. It is difficult to find words for the pressure we are under. We barely survived the Operation Cast Lead, where Israel very effectively bombed the shit out of us, destroying thousands of homes and even more lives and dreams. They did not get rid of Hamas, as they intended, but they sure scared us forever and distributed post traumatic stress syndrome to everybody, as there was nowhere to run.

FUCK THE OCCUPATION

We are youth with heavy hearts. We carry in ourselves a heaviness so immense that it makes it difficult to us to enjoy the sunset. How to enjoy it when dark clouds paint the horizon and bleak memories run past our eyes every time we close them? We smile in order to hide the pain. We laugh in order to forget the war. We hope in order not to commit suicide here and now. During the war we got the unmistakable feeling that Israel wanted to erase us from the face of the earth. During the last years Hamas has been doing all they can to control our thoughts, behaviour and aspirations. We are a generation of young people used to face missiles, carrying what seems to be a impossible mission of living a normal and healthy life, and only barely tolerated by a massive organization that has spread in our society as a malicious cancer disease, causing mayhem and effectively killing all living cells, thoughts and dreams on its way as well as paralyzing people with its terror regime. Not to mention the prison we live in, a prison sustained by a so-called democratic country.

History is repeating itself in its most cruel way and nobody seems to care. We are scared. Here in Gaza we are scared of being incarcerated, interrogated, hit, tortured, bombed, killed. We are afraid of living, because every single step we take has to be considered and well-thought, there are limitations everywhere, we cannot move as we want, say what we want, do what we want, sometimes we even cant think what we want because the occupation has occupied our brains and hearts so terrible that it hurts and it makes us want to shed endless tears of frustration and rage!

We do not want to hate, we do not want to feel all of this feelings, we do not want to be victims anymore. ENOUGH! Enough pain, enough tears, enough suffering, enough control, limitations, unjust justifications, terror, torture, excuses, bombings, sleepless nights, dead civilians, black memories, bleak future, heart aching present, disturbed politics, fanatic politicians, religious bullshit, enough incarceration! WE SAY STOP! This is not the future we want!

We want three things. We want to be free. We want to be able to live a normal life. We want peace. Is that too much to ask? We are a peace movement consistent of young people in Gaza and supporters elsewhere that will not rest until the truth about Gaza is known by everybody in this whole world and in such a degree that no more silent consent or loud indifference will be accepted.

This is the Gazan youth’s manifesto for change!

We will start by destroying the occupation that surrounds ourselves, we will break free from this mental incarceration and regain our dignity and self respect. We will carry our heads high even though we will face resistance. We will work day and night in order to change these miserable conditions we are living under. We will build dreams where we meet walls.

We only hope that you – yes, you reading this statement right now! – can support us. In order to find out how, please write on our wall or contact us directly: freegazayouth@hotmail.com

We want to be free, we want to live, we want peace.
FREE GAZA YOUTH!
GYBO
December, 2010

After the recent student rebellion against the ConDem attacks on education, the anti-cuts movement is now recognised as a force to be reckoned with. This site has led the way in reports and analysis of this new movement, which I consider to be as significant as 2003’s opposition to the invasion of Iraq. As recently argued by Aidan Kerr, we must generalise the struggle, opposing all cuts and establishing solidarity networks between all sections of the working class.

The Scottish student movement can be proud of its contribution to opposing Westminster’s reactionary ‘reforms’, with peaceful sit-ins at the universities of St Andrews, Edinburgh, Strathclyde and Glasgow. This will worry the high-heid-yins of the SNP and Scottish Labour, who will be imposing an austerity program in this country, starting with the forthcoming March Scottish Budget.  Our recent mobilisations are an indicator that fierce resistance will meet any party attempting to undermine the principle of free education for all.

A key difference between this struggle and the anti-war movement of 2003, is that there is unlikely to be any moment where people think “this is happening now and we can’t stop it”. After troops had been mobilised and entered Iraqi territory, it became difficult to sustain the same momentum on the peace marches – many thought there was nothing they could do and numbers slowly dwindled. However, despite the Lib Dem leadership’s belief that this moment of public displeasure will pass, we are actually just at the beginning of what will be a massive and enduring fight. It feels like it has really started now, and it will end with the toppling of this Government.

HANDS UP IF UR A BAM

Remember back in May, when Clegg and Cameron’s new partnership was formally announced, all the talk was “Can the Coalition last the full 5-year term?” At the time, what everyone meant was “Can the Tories and Liberals get along with each other?” There may be rumblings within the Lib Dems, but their leader’s plans have them tied into blocking an early election and denying voters a say until May 2015. It would seem that party is unprincipled enough to drink the neoliberal cup down to its dregs.

But the Government’s ability to stay in power will be challenged. Again, we ask  ”Can the Coalition last the full 5-year term?” not as a result of a potential tiff between Nick n’ Dave, but because there is a prospect that the country could become ungovernable for them. I’m not daft enough to say there is an inevitable impending revolution at this moment. But no-one saw the student rebellion coming. It shows that a new generation has entered the fray, with few illusions in mainstream parties or the parliamentary system. Volatile times are ahead and we must be ambitious.

A key skill we will have to learn is multi-tasking. I am part of the camp that says free education can still be won, despite last week’s vote in the Commons. We must of course continue this campaign. But we must also be alert to the bullshit policies being prepared for other aspects of our lives. Everyone can now see through the media’s discourse about lazy students and diddy degrees, but the Press has reserved even more venom for another embattled section of our class – people on state benefit payments. Similar to their colleagues in Ireland, our pro-capitalist regime has plans afoot to slash the welfare bill, which will cause a spike in ill healh, homelessness and child poverty.

Right-wing politicians like to talk tough on ‘benefit fraud’, but they are clearly making scapegoats of millions of people, mainly relatively poor, doing nothing more than claiming what they’re entitled to. The rich want to dismantle every aspect of the Welfare State, which was won by the workers movement through mass campaigns in the first half of the 20th Century, which the ruling class capitulated to as they feared the prospect of Revolution. The ‘progressive’ Coalition is trying to return us to the Victorian era, with the “undeserving poor” effectively forced into slave labour through modern Workfare.

For several years now, right-wing papers such as the Daily Mail have been whipping up a climate of hysteria around the issue of disability benefits. To read that paper’s glorious pages, you’d think that half the nation was faking depression or kidding on they have whiplash, just for a few extra pounds per week. Of course it’s propaganda, the point of which is to justify a real terms decrease in the amount of money the Government gives sick people to live on.

Sorry to deviate into anecdotes, but I have several friends who have experienced depression and been unfit for work. It is a very common and very serious illness. A civilised society provides help to people like that, folk who need it. But here, under sucessive governments, their standard of living has been on the slide for a long time, with the biggest ever attack currently happening. Shame on the callous politicians who are going through with this.

In the last few months our friends in the press have been asking the tough questions about how much housing benefit costs us and whether we can afford it in the current economic climate. I don’t know when it happened, but they seem to have succeeded in eliminating from the debate the fact that people need somewhere to live, and some way to pay for that. The result will be another of our en vogue emulations of the USA – thousands will be forced to sleep in cars, on the floors of extended family members, or out on the streets. Affordable housing is already rare in many parts of the UK due to Thatcher’s decision to sell off council houses and refuse to build new ones (a policy maintained by Labour). Broken families and ruined lives are sure to be caused by this particular ‘efficiency’. Many will receive only part of what their rent is, meaning taking money from their already meagre benefits.

It is worth putting things in perspective. Benefit fraud costs the economy around £1 billion per year. Legalised tax-dodging has cost us £120 billion in recent times. The bailout of the banks and resulting financial stimulus cost around £1 trillion. You do not wreck a system which is relied upon by millions of people just because a small minority abuse it. We must ignore the media’s attempts to divide the working class on the basis of Worker vs. Claimant. With record levels of employees in poverty, and unemployment rates that would make Thatcher blush, the need for unity is obvious.

Raising the flag to defend welfare, this Wednesday has been named as ‘National Day of Protest Against Welfare & Housing Benefit Cuts’. There’s a facebook event here with some useful info. Sadly, at the moment of writing there’s few details of any Scottish events, but some bright spark has come up with an excellent idea that we can all participate in. Check out National Troll A Tory Day! where the group say:

For all those unable to attend the National Day of Action Against Benefit Cuts we are pleased to present the first National Troll A Tory Day* on December 15th 2010.

*Tory can also be taken to mean Lib Dem, as we can longer see any difference between them.

Spend the day online firing out as many passionate, mischievous, heartfelt or just down and dirty rude messages to the Tory press, Tory or Libdem bloggers and Tory/Lib Dem MPs wh…erever they may skulk.

For too long the media have portrayed benefit claimants as scroungers, lazy or fraudulent. This is our chance to tell the truth about life on benefits and how these cuts will affect us all.

The obvious candidates are the Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph and The Sun. All allow comments and in the Mail’s case these comments are sometimes unmoderated. Find a recent story about benefit claimants, or just dive in an interrupt the latest chat about X Factor.

In the event comments are removed or strictly moderated then why not switch to Tory/Lib Dem bloggers. Government supporting website Guido Fawkes and MP Iain Dale are two of the most prominent. Again comment moderation may be turned on, but don’t let that put you off, make them work for their living for a change. Should you tire of these, then Iain Dale has a handy list of the top 100 Conservative blogs to get your teeth into. There’s a similar list of Lib Dem blogs on Libdemvoice.

http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2010/09/top-100-conservative-blogs.html

http://www.libdemvoice.org/top-75-lib-dem-blogs-the-total-politics-list-15984.html

Facebookers might want to pay a visit to the facebook pages of David Cameron, Nick Clegg or Vince Cable. Conservative Home, and conservatives.com also have the facility to leave comments. Lots of Tory councillors and MPs have blogs, use google to find them and give them a piece of your mind. If you have a blog yourself why not write a post about the upcoming benefit cuts or use facebook, twitter or any of the new fangled devices available to show your contempt.

You can write to your MP via theyworkforyou.com. Or how about a letter to your local paper explaining to them how the vicious benefit cuts are likely to impact on you or your family.

The internet gives us unprecedented opportunity to tell this spineless Government exactly what we think of them. Let’s come out in force on the 15th December and start the fight back against the welfare and housing benefit cuts set to devastate so many lives.

Please feel free to leave more links to Tory and Libdem scumbag’s sites in the comments.

For links to all the above mentioned sites visit: http://benefitclaimantsfightback.wordpress.com/2010/12/09/national-troll-a-tory-day/

SMASH THE COALITION

At 1pm today we received word that around 100 people had started occupying Glasgow Uni’s Gilmorehill G12 Theatre. The group includes GU staff, students from every uni in Glasgow and school students.  The occupation group are organising a teach-in to develop ideas for building the peoples’ opposition, from 5pm onwards – all anti-cuts activists welcome to join in.

Inside the occupation, an activist says:

“The atmosphere is really good. Messages of support are flooding in – staff from the theatre department just came down to say that they fully support what we’re doing! NUS Scotland have also sent support, we’re just waiting on the SRC to follow now!”

Later, confirmation was received that GU Student Representative Council President Tommy Gore IS backing the event, and has helped secure freedom of entry/exit for comrades and visitors

Today’s activities started with a march around campus, attended by over 150 people. Impressive, but smaller than some recent activities on campus, on account of recent adverse weather and many people having exams. Nevertheless, the group felt the need to take direct action, and moved quickly to reclaim part of the uni and set it up as a Liberated Space.

The move represents yet another significant activity from the new, spontaneously-formed radical student anti-cuts movement.

This movement has seen a huge range of activities across the UK – from the Millbank mob smashing up Tory HQ, to mass demos, walkouts and occupations (including at St Andrews and Edinburgh Uni – more analysis on the Edin Uni movement coming soon…)

Cracks are now starting to appear on the surface of the Coalition, exposing fault-lines in the junior partner Liberal Democrat party, who are currently in crisis as their MPs are set to split 3 ways on tomorrow’s vote on tripling tuition fees. Glasgow Uni’s rector is Lib Dem MP Charles Kennedy, whose contact details can be found here.

Back at Glasgow Uni, morale is still high and the participants are keen to encourage you to come and join in, or just observe!  Get down there to show your opposition to education cuts and tuition fees. The building is at the uni end of Kelvin Way, opposite the GUU building. Any comments of support will be passed on to students. We’ll update this article as news comes in, but you can follow events on their facebook and twitter pages.

Some Scottish Socialist Youth members are involved, and the rest of us send 100% solidarity.

Don’t forget: All out tomorrow for the Day X student walkout!

Apart from the SSY blog, the internet has very few useful functions. One of them however, is the autocomplete function when you type stuff into Google. If you type “is obama”, the top results are:

• 
  

  Obama spots one of his many gods in the crowd

  a muslim

• anti british
• a freemason
• the antichrist
• a good president
• american
• a christian
• related to bush
• jewish
• a socialist

It’s impossible for us to come with an authoritative answer for each one, but, after having spent 5 minutes scanning over some of the linked sites, the balance of evidence suggests the answer to all of the above is YES.

I spent last weekend up in the metropolis of Menie and its near neighbour, a wee place called Aberdeen. It may be a 7-hour round trip and it may cost £26.50 (!!!?!) just for a single ticket on the bus from the ‘Deen back to Gleska; but it was worth it for the 2 great events I attended.

The first was the magnificent ‘March of Menie’ organised by Tripping Up Trump, protesting against Donald ‘The Chump’

i wish that wig would blow off

Trump’s plans to evict local residents and wreck a Site of Special Scientific Interest, just so he can build a new golf course. His project will, I imagine, be enjoyed mainly by an elite group of fat rich men, who use cat-o-ninetails on their caddies and light giant cigars with $100 bills.

A report of the demo will follow as soon as ‘pride of Aberdeen SSP’ Euan Benzie gets his finger out and indulges his blogging skillz. But I can tell you that there were up to 300 people on the march, representing a good balance of locals and visitors, from a vast array of backgrounds. Very impressive for rural Aberdeenshire, disproving Trump’s claims that his plans are opposed by “three men and a dog”. There was a good 15-20 dogs, actually. It is a truly amazing place, with beautiful coastal scenery, amazing sand-dunes, and wild stags frolicking all over the shop. It’d be a shame to wreck it by turning it into a playground for rich bastards.

Back in Aberdeen, there were a few beers (and ciders and rums) at a comrade’s house, followed the next day by a meeting of SSY’s National Executive Committee. This was the first time in a long time we’ve had a meeting like this up in the North-East and it was overdue considering there’s been a good number of active members up there for a few months. It was a really productive day and we planned loads of exciting stuff, some of which I’m gonna unveil RIGHT NOW!

First of all, we’re getting right behind the STUC’s new campaign, There Is A Better Way. Expect to hear more about this is coming days, as there’s gonna be a big demo in Edinburgh on the 23^rd October. More about that on the Better Way website.

march against cameron and clegg's cuts

The gist is that they’re providing a focal point for widespread opposition to the ConDem cuts, which, as everyone knows, are ideologically-driven rather than economically necessary. They’re calling for Jobs, Services, Fairer Taxes and a Living Wage. Quite right. Different unions are running free buses to Edinburgh on the day, so get in touch with the STUC to get yourself on one, or drop us an email at scottishsocialistyouth@gmail.com and we’ll keep you in the loop. I think it’s gonna be a big demo.

Also in October (probably) is gonna be an SSY Glasgow Halloween extravaganza fundraiser thing. This will (probably) involve booze, dancing, great costumes (NB ‘HILARIOUS’ KKK/NAZI UNIFORMS NOT ALLOWED!) and all the usual Halloween fun, which will (hopefully) make us loadsa money. Muahahahaha.

Back to Aberdeen again, and we’ve got plans for a mega dayschool entitled ‘Silver City Socialism’ on the 4^th of December. Expect workshops on Palestine Solidarity, What Socialists Stand For, organising against racists & fascists, feminism and the aforementioned TuT campaign. If you live in the area or just like the sound of it, then make sure to get yourself along. There will be an afterparty including vegan mince pies, mulled wine and an Alternative Xmas mix CD. Full details to follow, this one’s gonna be a cracker.

Finally and perhaps most excitingly, we decided to make a big fuss of ourselves and organise a tour to publicise the launch of the SSP’s pamphlet on Afghanistan (buy it here!), written by SSY members Andy Bowden and Jack Ferguson. The Party has been consistent in opposing imperialist intervention, and the pamphlet examines Afghan history and some of the geopolitical reasons for the invasion and occupation. Despite sounding heavy, it’s actually really well put together and easy to read; a good one for people who know nothing about the issue and seasoned anti-war activists alike. It’s a bargain buy and all profits go to the Revolutionary Association of theWomen of Afghanistan. Expect a forthcoming announcement on dates for the tour which will be coming to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, St Andrews, Dundee and possibly Stirling. We’ll have a range of different speakers and plenty of space for debate and discussion.

At a time of failing military missions and impending Tory attacks on our class’s living conditions, there is a helluva lot for young socialists to be out campaigning on. SSY is right in about it like a dog eatin hot chips.

Naismith stoops to head home and complete a great move

3-2. Another game, another glorious failure for Scotland’s national football team. Losing bravely seems to be what we do best. Well, some of the time at least. The less said about the recent dismal defeat in Prague, the better.

Of course there is no shame in losing by such a narrow margin to the reigning European and World champions. Before the match, Scotland manager Craig Levein had described this Spanish side as “the toughest opponents we’ve ever faced” in Scotland’s history. It would be silly of me to mention the much tougher historical battles and wars fought against English invaders, because he was obviously just talking about football.

No-one apart from the most deluded of optimists could really have expected much more from the game. At kick-off, I had decided I was going to remain emotionally detached and just try to enjoy watching masters such as David Villa and Andrés Iniesta at work. You can compare and contrast my mood then compared with the moment when Gerard Piqué put through his own net to level the scores at 2-2. I was absolutely elated. It’s a real shame that we were unable to hold out for a draw, but the performance will be more important than the result, by restoring some belief and hopefully encouraging Levein to confine his 4-6-0 formation to the dustbin of history.

Prior to the match, I joined with several other members of the Basque Solidarity Campaign to help raise awareness of the dark side of the Spanish state. We also had the objective of building support for the Basque independence movement in general and the plight of political prisoners in particular. We were able to hand out hundreds of leaflets and engage with many members of the public. Hopefully this activity will be the launchpad for a continuous program of solidarity actions throughout the year.

This is really important because, at a time when sporting triumphs have brought Spain international attention, many people in Europe are seemingly unaware of the situation in Euskal Herria (the Basque-language name for their 7-province homeland). While there has been a concerted effort to promote the concept of a New Spain – where all the constituent regions and nations are able to celebrate their identity and enjoy equality under the rojigualda – the Francoist policies of internment, torture and extraordinary rendition remain in place.

Scottish-Basque solidarity

Despite ETA’s ceasefire announcement, which declared an end to armed struggle and commitment to peaceful methods (confirming in words what has been happening in practice for a good while now), the Spanish PSOE government continues to use a false terrorist threat as an excuse for arresting pro-independence activists, often detaining them in the south of Spain or even North Africa. Their ‘crime’ is to campaign for an independent socialist republic. The punishment is often long periods in jail, under conditions which have changed little since Spain’s transition from fascism to democracy.

Sporting events can sometimes be difficult places to raise awareness of international problems. A lot of fans don’t want to be distracted from simply supporting their team and enjoying the occasion with friends and family. Despite this, we received some really positive responses. Many people seemed supportive or interested. When I said “stop Spanish oppression against the Basques”, there was a lot of “quite right” and “aye mate, definitely”. One guy, sticking his thumb up, shouted back at me “…and the Catalans!” There was a crowd of young Celtic fans hanging around the ground (I suspect they were looking for a way to sneak in!) who all happily took leaflets from us and seemed to have some prior knowledge of the Basque liberation struggle.

However, to leave it there would not tell the full story. Apart from the standard number of people who aren’t interested in any politics, there seemed to be a significant amount of people who just did not know what we were referring to. I think some people deemed us misguided for printing pictures of Spanish police wielding huge coshes, masked up in balaclavas. After all, surely democratic EU-member states don’t do that kind of thing. But this one does. “The Basques?” some asked, apparently genuinely not knowing that these people even existed.

Freedom for the Basque people!

For this, I do not blame the fans. The Spanish state propaganda machine has been at pains to suppress information getting out about their repressive practices, and to stop people from knowing about the mass struggle for an independent Basque homeland. They have cynically taken advantage of the post-9/11 ‘War On Terror’ to ratchet up repression against the pro-independence Left. For such practices, they have even been critcised by Amnesty International, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at the media in Spain or allied states such as France (which currently controls 3 of the Basque provinces) and Britain. With our media collaborating in covering-up the crimes of the Spanish state, it becomes all the more important for those of us in Scotland who are for human rights, peace, independence and socialism to break the media embargo and let people know what’s going on.

Watch this space for further updates on what’s happening over there and what we’re doing over here. Meanwhile, I hope we can build on our recent success in establishing deeper links between the movements for self-determination and socialism in Euskal Herria and Scotland. Let’s not be divided just because it was a Basque striker who killed our hopes last night!