Increase Investments in Social Programmes!
"Investment" and "Reform" Must Not Be Linked!

Workers' Daily Internet Edition: Article Index :

Increase Investments in Social Programmes! "Investment" and "Reform" Must Not Be Linked!

Jack Straw in South Africa on Britain’s Foreign Policy:
Apologies for Intervention in the name of Freedom and Multilateralism

Free Palestine! End Israeli Occupation!

The London Political Forum:
The People’s Movement against War – The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy

Edenham High School in Croydon sent home 720 pupils on May 21, saying that it was facing a huge shortfall in its budget and did not have funds to pay supply teachers to take lessons.

Other schools are set to follow suit and are even consulting on large-scale redundancies of teachers. Headteachers’ leaders have said that this is the first visible sign of the funding crisis in schools beginning to bite.

The funding allocation by central government has been totally inadequate for additional costs that schools have been required to meet. These include the teachers’ pay increase and the National Insurance increase. There have also been changes in the mechanism for allocating funding to different parts of the country, which has also led to reductions in school funding for certain areas.

A National Union of Teachers spokeswoman said that the union was "looking for a meeting with (Education Secretary) Charles Clarke, and the outcome of the meeting will determine the way forward", in the dispute over school tests. The Education Secretary announced on May 20 the "reform" of SATS tests for seven and 11-year-olds, but he said that "targets, tests and tables are here to stay". Teachers at the NUT conference voted to ballot union members for a boycott of SATS tests.

The government is linking "reform" in education to the promise of the provision of funding, as it is also doing in the health service. Yet the experience is that the emphasis is on reform and not the increase in funding needed for a healthy economy and the all-round provision of the social needs of the people. The struggle is under way that investments in social programmes must be increased and that the government must recognise that "investment" and "reform" are two different things and must not be linked.

In a speech in Pretoria during his recent visit to South Africa Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, made a number of remarks in defence of Britain’s foreign policy. The Foreign Secretary’s visit to South Africa included high-level talks with President Thabo Mbeki and other senior members of the South African government. It is reported that the talks reflected the close relationship that exists between the two governments and included discussion and briefings on the situation in Zimbabwe and other parts of Africa, as well as preparations for the G8 summit meeting, which will be held next month, and where much of the focus will be on Africa and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NePAD).

In response to what he referred to as "trenchant criticisms of Britain’s policy towards Iraq", Jack Straw argued that the British government was still committed to "multilateralism" and a central role for the UN and other international institutions, even though he accepted that Britain’s invasion of Iraq was seen by many as ushering in a new era where "force of arms and national self interest" prevail. Indeed the Foreign Secretary was completely unable to provide any new arguments to counter the worldwide condemnation of Britain’s warmongering foreign policy and was forced to rehash those that world public opinion has already rejected. Jack Straw’s lame assertion that "Iraq is becoming a better place because of our intervention" would find few supporters in Iraq itself, where there are already growing calls for US-British forces to leave. His assertion that "freedom of expression" exists in Iraq is even further from the truth, since the Iraqi people have been shot for expressing their views and warned by the US government that only a government and political system based on the values of the conquerors will be acceptable.

Britain’s military invasion of Iraq demonstrates more graphically than any words what the government’s attitude is to "multilateralism", the UN and UN Security Council resolutions. Jack Straw’s statement that the British government also wishes to see the "multilateral system" find a solution to the problem of Palestine underlines the fact that here too the Anglo-US imperialists will continue to operate in their own interests and against those of both the Israeli and Palestinian people. History has shown US imperialism and the British government manipulate, bully and disregard the UN as they see fit based on the medieval principle that in the final analysis "might makes right". At the same time, it is clear that the UN Security Council will remain an arena of struggle between all the big powers, a reflection of the growing contention between them.

In regard to Africa, Jack Straw’s comments highlighted the fact that Britain will continue its policy of intervention in the affairs of that continent, whether by direct military means, as in such countries as Sierra Leone, or by other means as in Angola, Zimbabwe and elsewhere. Britain continues to act as if it were still the colonial master, refusing to accept election results in Zimbabwe for example, while warmly welcoming those in Nigeria. In particular the British government continues to be a zealous supporter of NePAD and the view that Africa’s progress must be based on the Eurocentric values of neo-liberal globalisation, which Jack Straw referred to as "the universal values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law". In this context Jack Straw welcomed the championing of NePAD by Thabo Mbeki as well as South African intervention in Congo, Zimbabwe and elsewhere. It is clear that through such means and using South Africa as a proxy, Britain wishes to further its strategic ands economic interests in various parts of Africa.

But what was altogether missing from Jack Straw’s speech was any mention of British governments’ historic responsibilities, whether for those crimes committed in Africa, the Middle East or elsewhere. Jack Straw simply assumed the "white man’s burden", a position of apparent concern for all the problems of the world, which in fact have been and continue to be created by Britain and the other big powers. At the start of the new millennium what is required is a modern foreign policy for Britain, one decided by the people of Britain and in their interests, a foreign policy that acknowledges and makes reparation for the crimes of the past, one that is not based on the chauvinist outlook of a big power, but which can contribute to building a new democratic international order recognising the equality of all nations and a new world, free from insecurity and the threat of imperialist war.

Around 5,000 people packed into Trafalgar Square on Sunday May 17 at a rally organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. The rally was held to commemorate the anniversary of Nakba (Catastrophe) Day, the driving of Palestinians from their homes on May 15, 1948. The call of the rally was Free Palestine! End Israeli Occupation!

Afif Safieh, Palestinian General Delegate to the UK, said that these were difficult moments. The events of 1948 were not frozen in time. The attack on the Palestinian people was ongoing. Under the aegis of the US war machine and in the wake of the Iraq war, Israel was still attempting to acquire as much Palestinian land as possible. He recalled that Brecht in Galileo had a character say "an unhappy people have no heroes" only to be told "an unhappy people still need heroes". The collective heroes in this case were the Palestinian people themselves. He paid tribute to them and also to the international solidarity movement, including the volunteers putting themselves forward as human shields. He paid respects to the names of Rachel Corrie, Ian Hook, Tom Hurndall and others. He said the Palestinian issue provided a test of courage and cowardice. On the government level, he said, there was too much cowardice. Where were the protective troops, where the monitors, he asked? The NGOs had to act as the bad conscience of states. He said PSC would be putting forward the Palestinian people as a collective for the Nobel Prize in Oslo this year. The Palestinian people, he said, were determined not to be the Red Indians of the 21st century. They needed support.

Chelsea Sandicott, an activist of ISM who had been eight days on hunger strike in Israel, said that the principle of ISM was that if the UN would not do it, we must do it ourselves. She said that calls for international protection for the Palestinian people were blocked by the USA and Israel. The UN was not doing even its minimum duty. The Israeli state was defying international law and basic human conduct. We could not stand by, she said. She quoted an Israeli soldier, who said he was not a pacifist or leftwinger, saying "the ISM are my heroes" prepared to "repair the world" and "pay the tab with blood". She spoke of Rachel Corrie, killed by an Israeli army bulldozer on March 16; Brian Avery, shot in the face; Tom Hurndall, shot in the back of the head shepherding three Palestinian children to safety and now on life support with severe brain damage, not expected to survive. She said we were still waiting for the US and British governments to act. The British government, she said, were failing to address the deliberate targeting of its citizens by the Israeli army. The ISM would not give up. She asked for material support in the form of laptops and video cameras. The ISM would continue to monitor Israeli army activity, bear witness to its brutality and lobby governments to act. We will not take No for an answer, she said.

Jeremy Corbyn MP pointed out that on the Stop the War Coalition masthead on February 15 had been the slogans: Stop the War against Iraq! Justice for the Palestinian people! The two were linked. There could be no peace without addressing the causes. No one had been more unjustly treated than the Palestinian people. The war on Iraq had been for economic advantage, for oil and political domination. Today’s news of US oil companies taking control of the oilfields in Southern Iraq only confirmed this. We were seeing the privatisation of an entire country by the cronies of George W Bush, with the Iraqi people as guinea pigs for the so-called "New American Century". He asked if the so-called US "roadmap" marked a road to justice? Whenever the US and Britain wanted support in the Middle East, he said, they revealed yet another "peace process". But these "peace processes" never addressed the plight of the Palestinian people, thrown out of their land and homes. They never addressed the right of return, to live in peace free from assassination and bombardment. He pointed out that the biggest breacher of UN Resolutions was Israel and that it was the one country in the Middle East that undoubtedly possessed weapons of mass destruction, as attested to by Mordecai Vanunu, held in jail for 14 years now for his exposures. There was a duty in the British parliament, he said, to demand an end to the arming and funding of the Israeli forces. The arms trade to Israel must be stopped. He paid tribute to the international solidarity movement, to the Palestinians who laid down their lives and to the international observers who did likewise. He was fed up, he said, hearing about certain "inextricable" problems in the peace process. There was one simple problem: it was wrong to illegally occupy a country by force, to turn parts of it, as Gaza, into an open prison. Today in this historic square, he said, we must pledge to redouble our efforts. Peace through Justice! Long Live Palestine!

A message was read from Richard Burden MP. In it he pointed out, among other things, that it had become impossible for aid agencies to operate in Palestine, where large numbers were suffering malnourishment.

Caroline Lucas MEP, of the Green Party, demanded an end to Israeli state terror, to the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory, and to the hypocrisy of Tony Blair and George W Bush. How could they go to war on the pretext of a country defying UN Resolutions, but ignore others. It was not just the cold killings that aroused such anger, she said, but the daily humiliation. No country was condemned more than Israel, she said. It was getting away with "rogue" behaviour backed by a "rogue" USA. She mentioned the US $2 billion military aid; the 230 British licences for military exports to Israel. She said the Greens in the European Parliament were campaigning for full implementation of UN Resolutions on Palestine and for a boycott of Israeli goods. She condemned the depiction of North Korea and Iran as "rogue" states. The USA and Israel were the "rogue" states, she said. Sharon was on his way to meet Bush but was still building the wall, she pointed out. There could only be peace through justice. Justice for the Palestinian people!

Abe of JustPeaceUK spoke for Jews working for an end to the occupation and for a just peace. He said Sharon and his fascist government did not speak for them. He supported a trade and arms embargo. He said his organisation was in contact with courageous Israeli peace activists, including the refusenik soldiers. He said there was pressure from dissenting Jews which contradicted the bland acceptance of the Jewish community. It challenged the myths of the Israeli government and upheld Jewish ethics. He said there were Israelis documenting the horrors of Gaza. Israel must obey international law and stop labelling valid criticism as "anti-Semitism". He called for a truly free Palestine, with all the hideous injustices redressed. He said it was ironic that Israel with its experience of the holocaust should now be following an apartheid policy. The building of the wall was a crime which could only create despair. To say it was for "Israeli security" was a nonsense. Security for Israel could not come at the expense of tragedy for the Palestinians. The occupation and assaults provoked violence. Israel must end its state terror. It must rid the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction. The obscene wall must come down, the illegal settlements be removed and Israel return to the 1967 Green Line. The struggle against Sharon, he said, was also a struggle against Blair and Bush. The struggle for a free Palestine was also here. He said a dissenting Jewish voice was being raised for freedom and justice.

Actress Juliet Stevenson said she followed the news of the occupation and its terror with increasing horror. She was particularly concerned with the fate of the children, many of whom were traumatised. She spoke of the children in prison and the denial of nutrition and education which violated even Israeli law. A quarter of those killed were children, she said. She recounted the stories of a 2 year old shot in the head from a settlement, of a settler getting a 7 month suspended sentence for killing a child in a playground after saying he meant only to "frighten" the child. She said the World Health Organisation listed 51 women giving birth at checkpoints, 29 of whom had died. To whom could anyone appeal, she asked, the Israeli government? We must stand up against the normalisation of such horrors. We must urge the exclusion of Israel from EU privileged status. The government must understand people’s horror and acknowledge Britain’s historic responsibility for the Palestinian tragedy. It could speak of "abuses" in Iraq justifying war, but turned a blind eye to Israeli abuses. Human rights violations must end and we must work harder to bring peace for the Palestinian people, she said.

Sophie Hurndall, sister of Tom Hurndall, shot in the head by an Israeli sniper while shepherding children to safety, spoke movingly of her brother’s heroism and sacrifice. Their family, she said, had no political affiliation. Her brother had gone to Gaza through his deep concern to photograph and document human rights abuses. He was now in an Israeli hospital in a deep coma from which he was not likely to regain consciousness. She described how he had gone to the aid of three Palestinian small children who were traumatised when Israeli soldiers opened fire on a group of children playing on a mound. He had shepherded one child to safety when he was shot in the back of the head while helping the second child. The Israelis claimed he was armed and wearing camouflage uniform. But ten eye witnesses described him in an orange vest and there being no cross fire. The Israelis, she said, had interviewed none of the eyewitnesses. Some had been arrested and deported. Her parents, she said, who were at Tom’s bedside, had been refused any explanation by the Israeli forces. They were now refused entry to Gaza unless they signed a waiver in case they themselves got shot. They had been shot at in a British Embassy vehicle. She demanded an independent public enquiry while pointing out that her brother was not the only victim. Every day Palestinians were killed. She said we could not stand by silently while such assassinations were occurring. If the Israeli government was not held accountable there would be no end. She urged people to put pressure on Jack Straw and the British government. She paid tribute to all the ISM observers.

Andrew Murray of the Stop the War Coalition said his organisation stood side by side with the PSC and the Muslim Association of Britain in demanding peace and justice in the Middle East. He said the government should remember that when two million people demonstrated in London on February 15 the slogans had been Stop the War and Freedom for Palestine. War had not brought peace and justice. The same powers who waged war on Iraq supported Israel. In Iraq now every week hundreds are killed on top of the direct war victims. There was double looting: of historic treasures and of resources such as oil. He said the Stop the War Coalition now called for an end to the occupation of Iraq and for the Iraqi people to determine their own future. The war was a fraud, he said. Where were the weapons of mass destruction? We had been lied to concerning weapons of mass destruction, UN backing for the war, and the welcome to be given by the Iraqi people. The same people were lying as regards justice for the Palestinian people. The Stop the War Coalition was still in business, he said, demanding an end to the occupation of Iraq and no war against Syria, Iran North Korea or Cuba. He expressed solidarity with George Galloway, who had expressed the opinions shared by millions throughout Britain. It was not George Galloway who was bringing the Labour Party into disrepute, he said, but Tony Blair, Jack Straw and the other lying imperialists. The Stop the War Coalition would stand in solidarity with the PSC demanding Freedom for Palestine!

In a written message read to the rally George Galloway MP wrote that for 30 years he had stood in the front line in the battle for Palestine. He had made many enemies, but was proud to be hated by these people! He expressed solidarity with all the freedom fighters. Long Live Palestine, he wrote. Victory to the Intifada!

Dr Mustafa Barghouti, Head of the Health, Development and Information and Policy Institute, Ramallah, brought greetings from the Palestinian people and thanked the participants in the rally for their support. He said the Palestinians expelled in 1948, 1967 and thereafter and those still in their lands all comprised one people deprived of their freedom and independence. They were more than ever determined to be free by their own hands. The Palestinian cause, he said, was not a negotiation or a dispute. It was a people struggling for their national liberation against occupation, colonisation and oppression. They had agreed a compromise of 22% of their land but were now being asked to compromise the compromise. They would never accept! What entity is it, he asked, which has no control of borders or water? It is not a state, but a Bantustan, a ghetto. If it is indecent, inappropriate, unacceptable for Jews to live in ghettoes or South Africans to live under apartheid, how can it be so for Palestinians? He said he had met Colin Powell in Ramallah. Powell had asked what do Palestinians in the street think? He said he had replied that Palestinians in the street valued national unity and were determined to prevent divisions in their ranks. They wanted a Palestine free and democratic. They wanted to live with dignity denied them for 55 years. They wanted democratic and free elections. They wanted only themselves to choose freely who would talk on their behalf. Dr Barghouti said the Israelis wanted not a solution but an imposed arrangement. This would never happen. The Palestinians would not allow it. Even the so-called "roadmap" Sharon was doing his best to destroy. He had tabled 12 pages of amendments to a 5-page document. The new plans for the wall were aimed at annexation and further theft of land. He said Israel was outside the ranks of international law. If the USA and Israel wanted a solution the road was short: abide by UN Resolutions! Israel must be forced to stop its violation of human rights and its double standards. It was not only attacking Palestinian citizens but ISM observers and medical relief teams. Victory would be achieved, he said, through our own struggle and your solidarity. The struggle would continue against the longest occupation in history. Enumerating the thousands of deaths of those killed in the Intifada, including civilians, medical staff and children, he said this was the size of the crime. There could be no justification or excuse for these killings. He mentioned the deaths of Rachel Corrie and other volunteers. He mentioned the 45 Palestinian women giving birth at checkpoints. The time comes, he said, when people will not take injustice any more. That time has come to Palestine. The suffering must end. The settlements must end. The prisoners must be freed. With your efforts and our struggle, he ended, Palestine will be free!

The Reverend Michael Pryor of St Mary’s College, University of Surrey, spoke of the problem faced by the Christian Churches as regards the Palestinian question. He spoke of the affection in which the Holy Land was held by Christians and the fact that the Christians in that region were unequal citizens since the Israeli occupation. He decried the influence which fundamentalist Zionism had on US policy. He said those that put all their emphasis on Christ’s second coming ignored the teachings aimed at making the blind see and the lame walk. They supported those who made the seeing blind and the walking lame. He denounced the Churches for their failure to protest at the ethnic cleansing and other injustices visited on the Palestinians by political Zionism. He said the Church leaders subscribed to the fallacy of "balance" and were paralysed by guilt over the historical treatment of Jews.

Anita Halpin of the National Union of Journalists spoke of her union’s support for an independent Palestinian state. She spoke of the dangers facing journalists in the current period and denounced the killing of the British journalist James Miller, an NUJ member, as a criminal act. She denounced the harassment, jailing and killing of Palestinian journalists, pointing out that the Geneva Convention classified journalists as civilians and accorded them protection as such. Through truth, peace, she said.

Paul Mackney, General Secretary of NATFHE, called on all trades unions to sign up to solidarity with the Palestinian people. He expressed solidarity in particular with the plight of Palestinian students and academic staff, as well as with Israeli academics who criticised Israeli policy. He said that Sharon’s policies only copied those of Tony Blair and George W Bush in flouting international law. He predicted that among the first acts of the new Baghdad government would be relations with Israel and oil supplies to that country. He demanded that Tony Blair and Jack Straw get off the coat-tails of George W Bush. He pointed out that Blair had won applause at the Labour Party Conference for advocating Palestinian independence. He should now demand withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian lands and implementation of UN Resolutions and end the sale of arms to Israel. British troops must withdraw from the Middle East, he said. The Palestinian people must not be sold out, he said. No Peace without Justice!

Michel Abdul Massih, a Palestinian QC, called for a democratic state of the whole of Palestine in which Muslims, Christians and Jews would all be free to live. He said that the Palestinian people would win their freedom.

Hassan Amimi of the Muslim Association of Britain said that the Palestinians would give the Israelis peace when they had got justice. Millions were behind them. Tony Blair and his Cabinet should take heed of the local elections, he said, and we should begin mobilising now for the next General Election.

Ken Cameron of Trade Union Friends of Palestine, former General Secretary of the FBU, demanded of Tony Blair that he put pressure on Bush to ensure an independent viable Palestinian state, an end to the humiliation and murder of the Palestinian people. He denounced the war against Iraq and pointed out the terrible fate that had befallen the Iraqi people.

Saeed spoke on behalf of Samar and Jawad, Palestinian activists falsely accused and incarcerated in British jails for the last eight years. He denounced the British government for issuing a series of gagging orders to prevent disclosure of the facts.

A Palestinian activist from Paris said that the question of Palestine had never before been as prominent as today. It had become a symbol of justice and humanity. But the evildoers had never before been so evil and so cynical! He pointed out that it was the struggle of the people and the worldwide protests that had seen off apartheid in South Africa and military dictators in South America. The Palestinians would win their freedom!

Journalist John Pilger began by paying tribute to George Galloway, as an unrelenting defender of the Palestinian and Iraqi people. Tony Blair, he said, had suspended him from the Labour Party in order to undermine resistance to his policies. Blair, he said, had gone further than anyone in supporting the Israeli state and had given the green light for the invasion of the West Bank and Gaza. He disclosed an Israeli plan to undermine a secret agreement to end suicide bombings between Hamas and Arafat in November 2001 by provoking a reprisal to a deliberate assassination of a Hamas leader. Tony Blair had known all about the Israeli plot aimed at reoccupying Palestinian territory, he said. He denounced the British sale to Israel of the means of manufacturing chemical weapons as well as the reciprocal sale by Israel to Britain of cluster bomb parts. He said that anger must be targeted at Downing Street and Washington. The so-called "roadmap" was a dead end. It only legitimised the Israeli stranglehold over Palestine and apartheid. He called on fellow journalists to throw off the intimidation over Palestine. He said, for example, that on TV one rarely heard a straight description of the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory, of the Palestinians compromise after compromise, of the fact that Sharon is an indicted war criminal. He spoke of the death-threats received by journalists such as himself but said these must not be allowed to silence the truth. He said it was time all journalists stood up and told the truth about Palestine. Media language must change. The Israelis must be described as "terrorists" and the so-called "benevolence" of Western governments exposed. Blair and Bush, he said, feared the truth about Palestine as much as about Iraq. This is why Al Jazeera was bombed and 19 journalists killed in Iraq, he said. And he denounced the killing of journalist James Miller in Palestine. He said that like on February 15 when two million had marched in London, these days we were no longer mere demonstrators but the democratic opposition in Britain.

Ismail Musl Batail of Friends of Al Aqsa said that generations had demonstrated in Trafalgar Square. They had seen the fall of apartheid and the Berlin wall. Today’s generations would see a free Palestine and the fall of Sharon’s wall. Words were cheap, he said. Peace deals and UN Resolutions only allowed Israel to strengthen its hold on the Palestinian people. Tony Blair should stop belittling the Palestinians. There must be peace but peace with justice. Britain must end its economic aid to the apartheid Israeli regime. Israel must end its torture of Palestinians, its demolition of homes, its occupation, now.

Richard Cooper of Jews for Justice in Palestine called on all Jews to support those Israelis opposing the Israeli government, including the refusenik soldiers. He denounced the Israeli government for claiming to speak on behalf of all Jews and using the argument of "anti-Semitism" as a shield. He said it was precisely because of the Holocaust that Israel must be judged as any other state. Jews cannot allow the suffering of one to justify the suffering of another. Ethnic cleansing must stop in Palestine. It was not done in our name, he said.

Najla Begum of Youth Action for Palestine spoke of her organisations concern for the plight of the Palestinian children, their education, their medical care, their leisure facilities, their right to protest, even their right to life. She read the names of some 20 children killed in March alone. She spoke of the important role played by the youth in Britain, particularly against the Iraq war. Their activity was very significant, she said, and gave the lie to the slur of being "apathetic". Freedom for Palestine!

Former MP Tony Benn said that the rally was part of the popular movement for peace and justice. This was the same movement which had marched in massive numbers against the Iraq war and had brought Muslims and Christians and others together as never before in Britain. He demanded the end of the Israeli occupation, of violence and of ethnic cleansing. He said Sharon would not be able to carry out such activity without the full support of the USA, who armed and funded his regime. The so-called "roadmap" was a fraud, he said, the peace process a public relations device put forward whenever the aim was war. We must demand a Palestinian state, but now! The struggle of the Palestinian people, he said, was the struggle of all people. They are the creators of all wealth and should run the world!

Abdullah of the Palestinian Return Centre pointed out that a quarter of the refugees in the whole world were Palestinian. The "roadmap" violated international law, he said. The right of return was not negotiable. We must keep marching for Palestine.

Actor Corin Redgrave said that on March 18, with some honourable exceptions, MPs had voted for war with Iraq. Every word justifying it was a lie. The war was illegal and a case of criminal deception. Similarly the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands violated international law every day and spurned terrorism. The link between the two was plain for all to see. The Intifada was one of the great moral causes of the 20th century. We are the majority, he said. The road to peace lay in making Israel comply with international law.

Hassan of the General Union of Palestine Students demanded an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people. He gave details of the brutal Israeli attacks on educational and cultural institutions.

Concluding the rally, Betty Hunter of PSC thanked all the speakers and emphasised the importance of international support for the struggle of the Palestinian people for their freedom.

"Modern democracies have been around for long enough for neo-liberal capitalists to learn how to subvert them. They have mastered the technique of infiltrating the instruments of democracy – the ‘independent’ judiciary, the ‘free’ press, the parliament – and moulding them to their purpose. The project of corporate globalisation has cracked the code. Free elections, a free press, and an independent judiciary mean little when the free market has reduced them to commodities on sale to the highest bidder." – Arundhati Roy

Despite the popular opposition to the war against Iraq, the government disregarded the will of the people and participated in the illegal invasion and occupation of that country. Now, indeed, reports are surfacing of the US and British torture of Iraqi prisoners, just as happened in Afghanistan. But Tony Blair appears unrepentant and unapologetic. He has declared that it is up to the government to make hard and unpopular choices. Why? What kind of democracy is it that puts forward such arguments? The strength of the people’s movement against war has highlighted a crisis in the legitimacy of this country’s political system, termed "parliamentary democracy".

This crisis is a profound one. It seems that every kind of outrage is being committed in the name of democracy. What content should the people place in the word "democracy"? What alternative can the people put forward so that "democracy" as another word for neo-liberal capitalism and globalisation can be challenged?

This is the important discussion that will take place at the London Political Forum on May 28. The discussion will take account of the way that the war in Iraq is being "brought back home". In other words, it will examine the connection between the spending on militarisation and the war in Iraq and the cuts in the funding of social programmes, the stepped up disinformation being put out by the monopoly media, the attacks on the level of culture in this country, and the violation of human rights contained in the so-called "anti-terrorist" legislation.

These issues show that as well as paying the economic costs of war, the working class and people are paying for the "liberation" of Iraq with their own freedoms. This underlines that for us in Britain, the struggle is not only against the US-British agenda of occupation in the interests of the big corporations and "western-style" democracy, but it is for an alternative democracy also in this country.

Can this be simply for a change in the style of government, a change in leadership, or is something more fundamental called for? A system in which the people can be empowered and involved in governance, in which the people decide? And how can the resistance against the agenda of neo-liberalism, of reaction all along the line, be made more effective?

London Political Forum invites all concerned about such issues to participate. Come, join in and speak out!

Wednesday, May 28, 2003 – 7.30 p.m.

Marx House, 37a Clerkenwell Green, EC1R 0DU

(Nearest Tube: Farringdon)

Speakers : Campaign against Criminalising Communities, Revolutionary Communist Party Britain (Marxist-Leninist), and others to be confirmed.

The London Political Forum (LPF) was established out of the need to create a space for workers to set their own agenda through discussing in a serious way the many questions facing society and which need to be answered. The LPF is an open forum concerned with building the alternative to the party-dominated system of government that exists in Britain today. It is a place where people can come and take part in wide-ranging discussion aimed at getting to the essence of problems, building the workers’ opposition and turning around people’s disempowerment.

The LPF has set itself a programme of monthly meetings leading to a one-day conference on Sunday, September 21, 2003, which will focus on the topic of Bringing The Alternative Into Being.