'Old wine in new bottles': sexist sushi, racist restaurants

The 'at least our brownie won't eat your dog' advert from New Zealand plays on racist prejudices about the alleged uncivilised habits of Maoris and Pacific peoples. It is shocking to see such backward, old-fashioned nonsense like this in the 21st century. The advertisers - for a pizza outlet - attempt to get away with it, however, by presenting it as mischievously 'ironic', a knowing reference to stereotypes.

Read about the campaign against this racist advertising HERE.

Something similar is true with the extraordinary new plans for a posh Japanese restaurant in London, offering diners the chance to eat off the body of a naked woman. This is part of a supposed post-modern cool, with those objecting branded as 'humourless' or retrograde. In reality it is utterly degrading in how it treats and represents women, while reinforcing the most reactionary ideas about gender and power. Old bigotries are repackaged so they're more palatable, but they are no less obnoxious.

Read Tansy Hoskins' critique of this 'new sexism' HERE.

Turning up the pressure on Gordon Brown

How can you tell that Gordon Brown's government is entering a political crisis over the continuing occupation of Afghanistan? Answer: because even Ross Kemp has now joined the chorus of criticism.

Yes, the former Eastenders actor and professional 'hard man'/'proper bloke' has described Afghanistan as an "unwinnable war" and modestly suggested "the west doesn't get it at times". Of course, Kemp - previously accused of being a crude propagandist for his two 'documentary' series about UK troops in Afghanistan - doesn't go as far as calling for withdrawal of the troops. Political clarity is not his forte. Instead he calls for negotiations with the Taliban, as well as insisting more helicopters are needed.

Kemp's pronouncments, made at the Edinburgh Television Festival, reflect confused ideas about Britain's role in Afghanistan: deep concern about how badly it's going combined with an assumption that withdrawal is not a realistic option, leading to the seemingly contradictory call for more helicopters and more neogtiations. This is the thinking of a section of popular opinion and is expressed by many in the media; politically, the Tories attempt to make capital from such responses, by deploring shoddy equipment but downplaying the fact that they've been unwavering cheerleaders for war and occupation over the last eight years.

Nobody - not even military chiefs or government representatives - can claim it's all going to be fine anymore. The pro-war camp can only claim, without conviction, that the troops' presence is necessary in order to prevent terrorism on the streets of Britain. This conveniently overlooks the simple fact that apparently endless occupation of others' countries has stoked sympathy for terrorists, rather than diminishing it.

Gordon Brown has today suggested we're due another increase in the number of UK troops operating in Afghanistan, in particular in the Helmand Province where the majority of this country's soldiers are based. Brown was making one of those 'surprise visits' that serves no useful purpose whatsoever, but is designed to make him look good in the media. As the BBC radio newsreader pointed out, on a bulletin I heard this evening, Brown's charm offensive was undermined by the news that another British soldier had been killed, taking the total to 208.

James Landale, a BBC chief political correspondent, says that Afghanistan is now a top priority for Brown, writing: 'The sheer scale of British deaths - 38 since the beginning of July - and the rows over possible helicopter shortages have brought the war centre stage at Westminster in a way it has not been for some time.' Brown simply cannot escape this being a very big domestic political issue.

In the United Sates, meanwhile, there's growing pressure from the military for more boots on the ground. General Stanley McChrystal is head of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. According to Landale: 'He is expected to recommend to President Obama shortly that more troops be sent to Afghanistan. What he says will have a huge impact on the scale of any British troop increase.'

That must be the famous transatlantic 'special relationship': US generals demand lots more troops, so the British government agrees to send them, irrespective of the mounting public anger about such a wasteful and bloody war. A serious political crisis at home becomes inevitable for Brown.

But the outcome of that crisis depends on something else: the active response of people in this country to our own government's blind pursuit of a war even Ross Kemp describes as "unwinnable". The public meetings, local protests, vigils and - above all - the national demonstration on 24 October, calling for an end to the occupation, can turn up the political pressure on Brown. The debate at Westminster is about mere details - it takes a movement on the streets to demand we change the whole picture.

Israel: boycott, divestment and sanctions

There's an excellent article, 'Turning up the heat on a serial abuser', about Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns aimed at Israel. Supporters have scored a noteworthy victory in the last couple of weeks, with Amnesty International's withdrawal from involvement in Leonard Cohen's concert in Israel. Efforts are now being made to get Cohen to scrap the concert, scheduled for 24 September, altogether.

The article refers to the fact a number of trade unions have recently passed BDS motions, reflecting a sea change in public opinion on Israel. There is widespread opposition to Israel's brutal treatment of the Palestinians, on a scale that was once unthinkable. Comparisons with the old apartheid regime in South Africa are now routine; this year we have seen large demonstrations and a wave of student occupations in solidarity with Gaza.

Consumer boycotts are a useful part of the solidarity movement and, as the article indicates, there are various ways of promoting these. Also, the unions have a crucial role to play, in taking practical action and sending a strong message of solidarity, but just as importantly by raising consciousness of Palestinian suffering and the political issues around it.

In this country perhaps the greatest challenge is breaking the links between the arms industry and Israel. Many of the student occupations included a demand for universities to stop investing in research and development for arms production, or to withdraw investment from arms manufacturers.

When students return to Newcastle University next month, for example, they will resume campaigning for complete divestment. Whenever such action is succesful it both harms Israel economically and damages its veneer of respectability. If you are in any doubt about why that's so necessary, just take a look at the map above.

Lewisham Bridge: lessons in solidarity and resistance

An inspiring campaign, to save Lewisham Bridge school, captured beautifully in this video montage documenting the whole sequence of events up to victory on 30 July. The message, really, is simple: when people take action into their own hands, and co-ordinate their efforts collectively, they can do amazing things - and win.

The solidarity evoked here is tremendous: it is reciprocal, with the campaigners receiving support from various quarters, but also offering solidarity with Visteon and (later) Vestas workers who were occupying to save jobs. These occupations have put militant DIY tactics back on the map, and (as shown here) begun to create networks of solidarity and resistance.

The prospect of increased public sector cuts, including in education, indicates the need for more campaigns like Lewisham Bridge. There's a lot of talk about the Tories' plans, post-election, for a slash and burn approach to public services. The fears are justified, but we shouldn't kid ourselves that everything's fine this side of an election. There will be plenty of groups of public sector workers and service users, over coming months, who could benefit from learning the lessons in this video.

Climate Camp's message to police

A truly inspired video, I'm sure you will agree. I'm posting it as much because I think it's an excellent model for activists' use of video as I am out of sympathy with the message and cause. I like the notion of videos designed to promote events in advance, especially when they're as well-made as this one.

Uniting the Left

It has become obvious, in recent weeks, that any progress with electoral left unity will be tentative, uneven, dotted with false starts. A major national project is, as I see it, off the agenda entirely. There are numerous factors behind this, including the history of distrust and political differences between different strands of the radical left. It is also a consequence, though, of the broader political context.

Compare with the founding of Respect in January 2004. The same disillusionment with New Labour, and mainstream politics, is there. The same democratic deficit, the gulf between official politics and the aspirations and ideas of the people, remains. But there's no escaping the important difference, which is the lack of a mass movement on the scale of the anti-war movement from which Respect emerged. Respect was formed out of co-operation and unity in mobilising against the war in Iraq, a movement which tapped into a whole range of other, related, issues.

Whatever partial struggles take place now, there isn't the basis for a national electoral organisation in the same way. This shouldn't, however, be cause for despair - it merely means a re-thinking of expectations, time frame and approach. The simple truth is that it's the local and ad hoc alliances which will matter in the coming months, not grand schemes involving open letters, conferences and the involvement of national union leaders. In the longer term these localised initiatives have potential to become something more.

One hopeful example is the Newcastle meeting above. Around 50 socialists, some belonging to groups like the SWP but a great many of them non-aligned, attended the first meeting on left unity in July. This is a follow-up open organising meeting, designed to see if anything firmer, more practical, can be developed. It isn't solely about elections, but concerned with bringing leftwingers locally into greater co-operation on a number of issues, from Stop the War to Vestas solidarity to campaigning against privatisation of the Metro transport system.

It probably helps that July's launch was initiated by a small number of non-aligned socialists. It isn't driven by any particular organisation - something that, in the current climate of the left, can kill an initiative before it gets going - but is connected to real campaigns in which people already work together.

I'm aware of positive developments in Preston and Wigan too - and I'm sure there are other areas where something similar is happening. The campaign for Tom Woodcock in Cambridge earlier in the year - rooted in local campaigns, mobilising everyone who wanted to help regardless of 'affiliation' - offers a useful model, as do the campaigns in Ireland under the 'People before Profit' banner.

Uniting the Left
Thursday 3 September, 7pm
St John's Church Hall, Newcastle

Justice for Sean Rigg: 300 march in his memory

Footage from vigil and march on Friday (21 August), marking the 1st anniversary of Sean Rigg's death in police custody at Brixton station.

The charge sheet against the Metropolitan Police:
Missing CCTV
Not obtaining medical help for people in custody
Conflicting stories
Failure to investigate
Inaccurate coroner's reports
Unrecorded injuries
Failure to obtain statements for months or take basic forensic evidence immediately
Wrongful arrests without charge
Unprovoked aggression and kettling peaceful protests

For a report on this event, and the background, click HERE.

206 and rising...

Stop the War groups have held 'Naming the Dead' ceremonies this weekend, to commemorate the fact that over 200 UK soldiers have now been killed in the NATO occupation of Afghanistan. The casualty rate during July and August has been far higher than before, taking the tally of British military fatalities well beyond the total for Iraq. If this continues, with public opinion hardening in opposition, the British political and military elite face a serious crisis - not only on the frontline, but domestically in the form of a growing political backlash.

I helped read the names at the event in Newcastle and felt honoured to do so. It was a poignant experience, especially reading the ages (some as young as 18) of the soldiers killed. We also read the names of Afghan women, men and children - they aren't counted but we know the total runs into the thousands. I was reassured that BBC TV regional news turned up, as did the main local paper, and there was a sympathetic interview on local BBC radio with one of our activists beforehand. We know, of course, that the media response to recent events has been in many ways appalling - see Richard Seymour's article in this week's Socialist Worker on this.

The next task for the anti-war movement is building a big turnout on 24 October, the first national demonstration specifically focused on Afghanistan for eight years. We can't allow the generals and politicians, with their predictions of anywhere between five years and forty years ahead, to keep us bogged down in an awful, futile war.

Futurism and revolutionary art

When I was in London earlier this month I went to Tate Modern for the Futurism exhibition, plus a visit to the Russian revolutionary posters. These exhibitions have a few things in common - magnificent inventiveness, technical mastery and political engagement amongst them. But another common feature is that in both the Futurist art and the revolutionary posters you can see, through changes in the art, how history played itself out in Europe and Russia during the 1910s and 1920s.

Much, though far from all, of the Futurist art of this period is simply amongst my favourite art: I love the style, all jagged edges and distorted perspectives, strange combinations and dazzling use of colour. While there are plenty of mediocre and unoriginal pieces, a fair proportion was highly innovative at the time and still feels incredibly fresh. A lot of it is social and political, but very rarely in crude or propagandist ways.

Tate Modern has grouped the art so that it's easier to follow Futurism's development, and how that interlocked with historical, political changes. The simple version of the story of Futurism is roughly as follows: before 1917 it was artistically revolutionary but not that political, then after 1917 the Russian version became political and left-wing while the Itlaian Futurists went over to Mussolini and glorified war and nation.

While this is over-simplistic, it interested me how Futurism did very obviously develop in different directions. The weakest art, in my view, was the bland, vague wartime Italian work that celebrated Italian nationhood. Art shouldn't be judged on crassly political criteria, but curiously it was indeed the most ideologically conservative strand that proved least artistically interesting.

Some of the best and most inspiring works, conversely, were the most politcally charged, such as the outstanding 'Revolt' by Luigi Russolo above. With fairly non-naturalistic art, there's room for interpretation, but I viewed it as a depiction of mass collective action, creating and striving for new horizons, suffused with hope (and that was before glancing at the title). I enjoyed an exhibition specifically of Russian Futurism in Newcastle a year or two back - and it's the Russian variant that provides much of the best work at Tate Modern. And this exhibition also benefits from some superb art that isn't strictly Futurist, but overlaps in period and style (including some Picasso).

I used the term 'propagandist' above as an insult. This is perhaps lazy, as the revolutionary posters demonstrated how propaganda can rise to the heights of great creativity and artistry. They in fact challenge the very idea of a hierarchy, in which an exhibited artwork is automatically assumed to be superior to a political poster. Some of the posters from the early revolutionary period were stunning and visionary, undoubtedly fuelled by passion for building a better world.

The historical changes were reflected in various ways. For example, in an early poster a woman was depicted as very strong, assured, determined; some years later, in the era of Stalin, and there's a softer-toned, traditionally feminine, unthreatening portrait. The contrast speaks volumes about the counter-revolution against the progressive ideals of 1917. Generally, the iconography becomes blander, the style more naturalistic, and there's a growing focus on showing the individual rather than collective struggles and aspirations.

For those who are interested, the Futurism exhibition is on until 20 September.

Tweeting Trotsky

Clare Solomon, who runs the blog Solomons Mindfield, organised a forum called 'Internet for Activists' earlier this year. She is now preparing a paper on how the left uses (or too often doesn't use) the Internet politically. It's for a conference of the journal Historical Materialism and, in a post titled 'Cyberspace Lenin... absolutely'(the title is inspired by a Slavoj Zizek article in the ISJ), she invites ideas about the topic. The starting point appears to be the inventive use of blogging and other web tools during recent months to build and spread struggles, starting with the student occupations over Gaza (hence the illustration above).

Here I'm developing slightly the comment I've posted on Clare's blog - this still isn't coherent or very theoretical, but as a rough sketch on socialist activists and online tools it'll do for now...

1. The left needs to use the Net far more - and more effectively - than at present. That does NOT mean abandoning other methods entirely. Any organisation needs a strategy that thinks through how to combine a variety of methods so they get the most from all of them.

2. The Net is useful for spreading ideas, connecting people, and promoting activities happening offline. It should not be viewed as a substitute for activity in the 'real world' - it reports on, helps organise, and promotes that activity. Online petitions, for example, have some value, but it's also crucial to make direct contact with people face to face, through street stalls and the like.

3. Most people are now online - it is therefore no longer credible to claim that emphasising it as a political tool is elitist or middle class. It simply isn't. We've reached a point where only a retrograde fool would claim that prioritising the Net is 'anti-working class'.

4. Conservatism in resisting online activism is linked to conservatism in other ways. Bending the stick (in Leninist terms) towards using the Net properly goes together with overcoming conservatism and inertia inside a revolutionary party more generally.

5. It's not enough to merely bung printed material online. We have to utilise the particular strengths of the web - it's more dynamic, immediate, interactive, audio-visual, etc. A website should be created from scratch, with a sharp sense of the peculiarities of web communication, rather than being simply another way of accesing something you can get in printed form.

6. We should utilise the Net's potential to enable people to be particpants not just readers, feeding in their own reports, stories etc and offering own comments. It is interactive not one-way. This is consistent with Lenin's Pravda, but with modern tools, as the Bolsheviks grasped the need for workers in every locality and factory to contribute to socialist newspapers. This enriched the content and helped those contributing to identify themselves with the paper - and therofore the party producing it.

7. Any active socialist who isn't on Facebook should be. It is extremely useful for sharing news, analysis etc (through posting links) and for publicisng protests, meetings and other events.

8. Many non-socialists in anti-capitalist and other movements have been far quicker at getting hang of all this. The left has to catch up. Poor use of the Net is one reason for marginalisation of the left in some campaigns and movements.

9.Video is especially important, e.g. when students at SOAS occupied in opposition to the deportation of low paid cleaners their videos, posted on YouTube, were vital for spreading the message and galvanising support. It's not just about the written word.

10. There are different expectations online when it comes to time frame. If there's an anti-fascist demonstration, for example, reports or videos should be posted as soon as possible (indeed it's possible, via microblogging tools like Twitter, to post updates during the event). This is radically different to the routines of a weekly socialist newspaper.

Michael Moore vs Wall Street

Michael Moore's new film, Capitalism: A Love Story, coming soon...

Thinking allowed

Andy Beckett's contentious Guardian feature on the state of the left, published earlier this week, has triggered some debate about how the British left can shift gear and build in an era of capitalist crisis. I thought I'd just float a few ideas, thinking aloud/allowed as it were...

1. The 'Fight for your right to work' conference in June launched a campaign of sorts: a steering committee elected, plans for another conference in Novemeber, initiating a demo at the Labour Party conference. The demo is very promising (it's on 27 September in Brighton), but where do we go after that? Perhaps the way forward is to develop local groups in every area, to build stronger networks for solidarity with those facing job losses. The next time there's a dispute like Vestas the left will be in a stronger position to campaign and mobilise for victory.

2. With sections of the media ramping up the jingoism to rally support for war in Afghanistan, and the BNP supporters organising street protests targeting Muslims, its urgent that we develop united opposition to Islamophobia. The Kafa/Enough initiatve was launched by Stop the War and Muslim organisations in June. If rolled out across the country, this could channel the strengths of our anti-war movement into combatting the new 'respectable racism'.

3. Anti-capitalism is back on the agenda, with the fury at bankers' bonuses and the whole system visibly in a massive crisis. The anniversary of the great Seattle WTO protests is in three months or so. Hopefully this can be a chance to take stock of the anti-capitalist movement, strengthen connections between activists, and discuss how to renew anti-capitalism in an era crying out for it. To do that we'll need a conference or similar event - from what I gather something is in the pipeline. The G20 protests in Scotland will be another opportunity, with a conter-conference planned as well as demonstrations.

4. Yesterday I posted info about the Mutiny event planned for September. It's a far more creative, imaginative approach to political meetings than we normally get on the left, which is prone to habit and routine. We could surely do with more inventive approaches and, in particular, more cultural events. For example, I'm looking forward to the 'Poetry for Palestine' some of us in Newcastle are organising for December. Music, poetry, art and photography reach people who aren't wild about traditional meeting formats.

5. Let's drag the left's use of the Net into the 21st century, kicking and screaming if necessary! There are quite a few leftie blogs now, and many active socialists use tools like Facebook and Twitter to spread ideas and promote events, but we could do a lot better. Counter Fire demonstrates what's possible with websites - great layout, easy-to-access content and updated every day.

Anyhow, that's more than enough to be getting on with I'd have thought...

Alex Callinicos: response to Andy Beckett article HERE.

Remembering Tony Cliff - how you can help

Over the last few weeks I've been collating a blog archive dedicated to Tony Cliff - founder member of the Socialist Workers Party - alongside this blog. I've just got a few posts still to do - linking to articles by Cliff that I think are really essential reading today - and I'll be sticking to my promise to complete it by 31 August. After that it will remain online indefinitely. I have a small request to make too - more of which in a few moments...

The intention has never been to collate anything definitive: there's already a magnificent, and exceptionally wide-ranging, online archive of Cliff's works - ranging from 1935, when he was a teenager, until just before his death in 2000 - at the Marxists Internet Archive. I wanted to choose some of the pieces I regard as most historcally important, well-written or pertinent to contemporary concerns (a few even meet all three criteria). I hope I've succeeded, through succinct commentaries, in placing the selected articles, essays and book chapters in their historical context so they become more accessible.

I've generally avoided explicit comments on how Cliff's writing is applicable today -it's likely the reader can infer this anyway, and I've made a point of selecting carefully with a view to relevance. My most recent post, for example, is on Israel/Palestine - sadly, this remains as significant today as when it was written in 1982. I've included a chapter from Cliff's 1984 book on women's liberation, for example, because I think we can still learn from him on this topic. New material may be needed on the focus of the chapter I chose - the family - to account for recent developments, but theoretically Cliff's still incredibly useful.

As those two examples probably indicate, there's considerable breadth in the selection: from Lenin to the union bureaucracies, from Egypt in the 30s to France in '68. At the core of the selection, however, is Cliff's deep preoccupation with the project of building revolutionary socialist organisation. As well as being his life's calling in practice, this was theoretically an area where he made an enormous contribution to the Marxist tradition (the greatest since Lenin). My hope is that Cliff's ideas and wealth of experiences can guide revolutionaries in the future.

So, finally, a modest request. If you have personal recollection of Cliff, e.g. hearing him speak at the anuual Marxism festival or at a public meeting, this is your chance to make a small contribution to my permanent Cliff archive. Early on I asked for examples of the metaphors, anecdotes, jokes, analogies and catchphrases Cliff used. He had a rich repertoire of these. Although I've had some very good examples sent to me, I would love some more.

These will be featured in the final blog post. For this to be possible I really need material by next Saturday - 29 August - so please get in touch. You can add a comment to this post or send me an email: luna17activist@googlemail.com

It would be great if many of Cliff's rhetorical gems could be preserved for posterity - if you can, please help.

Is the left ready for Mutiny?

It's always refreshing when left wing or activist groups adopt creative approaches to political discussion, education or awareness raising. It is so easy (and so boring) for long-established groups to get stuck in somewhat stale routines, going through the motions - or unthinkingly organising in precisely the same way they have done for years.

I'm therefore impressed by the brand new Mutiny events, which I've learnt about via the wonder of modern technology that is Facebook. The accompanying blog still appears to be in the development stage, but for now you can join the Facebook group and check out the details for the first Mutiny event (I'll post details of the blog when it's up and running).

The publicity promises 'Politics like you've never seen b4' - I'm a liberal-minded English teacher so am willing to accept, if a little nervously, the use of 'b4' - and 'Revolutionary performance politics with audience participation - plus art exhibition, interactive poetry wall, DJs, dancing and discussion'.

Now, I don't need to explain to anyone familiar with the routines of left-wing meetings that this is a million miles from the conventional. And a very good thing too: there's a whiff of the dynamism and inventiveness (and perhaps eccentricity) of 1968, or maybe Rock Against Racism in the late 70s, that is - right now - exactly what we need.

Even the venue's name has a revolutionary feel to it: Resistance Gallery (A quick Google search reveals it recently hosted some Japanese rope bondage, so the name could have a double meaning). The first event - titled 'Money on Trial' - is on 24 September and will explore music and money (can music be used to build a political movement?), environment and money (can we solve climate change in a world with money?) and democracy and money (can we live in a world without money?).

The topics are familiar, but my impression is that they'll be explored in more imaginative and diverse ways than we tend to get on the left, with video, art and music all prominent. Hopefully they will reach the parts (and the people) other left-wing events don't get to.

Put People First: G20 back in town

On 28 March 35,000 people marched 'for jobs, justice and climate' in central London. Put People First, the coalition of organisations responsible, is now gearing up for the G20 Finance Ministers' visit to London on Friday 4 September. Details of events for the day are HERE.

While these activities won't be on the scale as the demo earlier in the year, they represent a chance to bring trade unionists, movement activists and the left together in united protest - demanding action is taken to alleviate the impact of economic crisis.

Plans are also being made for the G20's return visit to these shores in November, though on that occasion St Andrews is the location (fine for us Geordies - it's nearer than London). Protests and a 'G20 Alternatives' conference are in the pipeline - I'll confirm details when I have them, but the weekend of 7/8 November is the main focus.

The idea will be to bring together a number of big issues - hopefully the 'war on terror' will be one of them, as its exclusion from the official slogans in March was an unfortunate weakness. If Stop the War and peace groups can be more involved, and help build a good turnout, that will surely strengthen everyone.

All of these events will in turn build towards what should be this country's biggest climate change protest yet. The 5 December national demo co-incides with the UN talks in Copenhagen and will be part of a global wave of action. The date is also, interestingly, very close to the 10th anniversary of one of the anti-capitalist movement's great landmarks: the protests at Seattle's WTO summit.

As far as I'm aware, nothing is currently arranged to mark the occasion. This seems a shame, as its precisely the Seattle mobilisation's combination of unity, radicalism and militancy that we need now more than ever. Learning the lessons of our movement's history can serve us in a new era of deep capitalist crisis.

Afghanistan: Naming the Dead

I am helping organise this Saturday's 'Naming the Dead' event in the centre of Newcastle, to mark the 200th death of a UK soldier in the long war in Afghanistan. We plan to read out the names of all the British soldiers and 200 Afghans killed since October 2001, when NATO troops invaded. This follows Monday's ceremony at the Cenotaph in Whitehall (press pictured above), and co-incides with similar events elsewhere.

One of the other organisers has produced and circulated a press release, which I think sums it up very well, so I'm publishing the main part of it here:

'Tyneside Stop the War will be holding a Naming of the Dead Ceremony at Grey's Monument, Newcastle, as a further 5 troops have died in Afghanistan this weekend taking the total of military dead in Afghanistan to 204.

According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) 1,013 civilians have been killed between January 1st 2009 and June 30th 2009. It is estimated that 13,000 innocent civilians - men, women and children - have been killed since the war began in 2001.

Tyneside Stop the War will name a solider who has died during service followed by a civilian who has been killed.

Tyneside Stop the War and the Stop the War Coalition as a whole supports our brave service personnel. They are doing their jobs under the most extreme of circumstances but we can’t condone or submit to the government's reasons why our armed forces are fighting in Afghanistan, where they are both ill-equipped and dying for no good reason in an un-winnable war.'

Also: read Afghan MP Malalai Joya's powerful words about this week's farcical elections HERE.

1936: The Battle of Cable Street

Classic newsreel footage showing how tens of thousands of people in London's East End stopped Oswald Mosley's 'British Union of Fascists'. Commentary: "From impartial people the police earned nothing but praise". Ahem.

Manufacturing Consent: digging beneath the surface appearance

This is a clever and creative way of explaining how our world works: film images carefully edited to go with a commentary on capitalist economics, commodities and the experience of alienation. There are 2 parts, each just 10 minutes long, packing in the really core concepts of a Marxist critique of capitalism.

The inspiration is Michael Burawoy's 'Manufacturing Consent', not to be confused with the better-known Chomsky/Herman book of the same name. You can find Part 2 of the video, full transcripts of both videos, and suggestions for further reading HERE.

The case of the Derbyshire Drone

Brendan Montague has penned a very good article, 'Down the Drone', over at The Sauce, about the police's use of a pilot-less aerial drone at Saturday's protest in Codnor. As I've already reported, the Unite Against Fascism blockading of the BNP's 'Red, White and Blue' festival seriously rattled the Nazi hardcore who hoped to use the event to toughen up their newer supporters. Their efforts to present a respectable facade - 'family event' and all that guff - were scuppered by 2000 protestors who were impressively committed to ruining their day.

The police's use of heavy-handed surveillance should be a cause for concern, not just for anti-fascist campaigners but for all those who value the right to peaceful protest. Their main purpose is to stigmatise protest, attempting to make demonstrating appear to be a dubious, borderline criminal, activity (therefore putting off a layer of potential protestors from taking part). The drone can gather detailed surveillance data, for absolutely no worthwhile purpose whatsoever.

As the report at The Sauce points out, some of us are looking into using Freedom of Information legislation to obtain records of the surveillance. If you were at the Codnor protest and want to apply for the surveillance data - and give the police the kind of headache that could make them think twice about using a drone again - you'll find the form HERE.

Has the left blown its big chance of success? Discuss.

The Guardian has an interesting feature article by Andy Beckett, attempting to address the question above. The obvious answer is yes - and indeed that's the answer offered by Beckett and a number of those he interviewed for his piece, one of whom suggests the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 was the great test (and we failed the test).

While I broadly agree with the thrust of the article, it's worth first noting a serious problem. Beckett appears to overestimate the opportunities we can expect to have due to economic crisis. The current crisis has a generated a complex situation, ideologically and politcally, and it inevitably won't all go the way of the radical left. Other forces, like the mainstream Right (e.g. Cameron's Tories) and the far right (e.g. BNP) can exploit the disillusionment and anger created by the crisis.

Beckett's article will resonate with people, however, because a crisis for capitalism is bound to prompt discussion of what can be done about it - and what alternatives exist. At least at the level of ideas, a crisis for the whole global system - and collapse of the ruling ideology of the last 30 years, neoliberalism - must open up new opportunities for the radical left.

Several months ago mainstream papers were reporting that there had been a renewed interest in Marx, citing a surge in sales of his masterpiece Capital and a number of lesser works. Neoliberalism's collapse doesn't automatically mean people reject capitalism altogether, but it does at least create a space in which Marxists can debate with people. In this context should we be doing better? Yes we should.

Of course it is an objective difficulty that the level of class struggle remains relatively low, despite the inspiring stirrings of revolt from workers at Waterfords, Visteon, Vestas and Thomas Cook, all sites of militant occupations. This prevents rapid and mass growth of socialist organisations.

But a time of raw working class anger at capitalist greed and questioning of the system, against a backdrop of years of what might be called a 'political upturn' (anti-capitalist and anti-war movements, mass rejection of New Labour's rightwards shift), should be fertile for the left. So, yes we can do better.

200th UK soldier killed in Afghanistan

The tragic toll of 200 UK soldier deaths in Afghanistan has been reached - a higher figure, lest we forget, than the total casualty rate for British troops in Iraq. Stop the War groups across the country are organising events during the next week to commemorate this occasion - and to assert the urgent need for all troops to be withdrawn from occupied Afghanistan. Many areas will hold 'Naming the dead' ceremonies, at which the names of British soldiers killed in the country will be read out. These events are also to commemorate the thousands of Afghan civilians who have lost their lives in the last 8 years of war, conflict and foreign occupation. The events already arranged include:

Monday 17 August, noon
The Cenotaph, Whitehall, London
Called by Stop the War Coalition - see www.stopwar.org.uk for more on this (and updates on events elsewhere)

Saturday 22 August, 1pm
Grey's Monument, Newcastle
Called by Tyneside Stop the War

A new meritocracy?

Here's an excellent article, Myths of 'social mobility', which takes apart the seductive but bogus arguments about a supposed meritocracy. Alan Milburn, Blairite ultra and (I regret to say) a son of the North East,has recently revived the rhetoric of social mobility and meritocracy. In fact it is a cover for continuing vast inequality in British society.

One issue alluded to here is that of higher education, and the way grants abolition and the introduction of fees helped entrench inequalities in access to university. This stark reality makes a mockery of the weasel words from champions of neoliberalism like Milburn.

Disrupting the Nazi jamboree

I've just got back from protesting, with up to 2000 other anti-fascists, at the BNP's 'Red, White and Blue' festival in Codnor, Derbyshire. The Unite Against Fascism demo caused a lot of disruption to the Nazis' annual gathering, stopping some from getting in and demoralising many others. It was nice to see the miserable looks on the BNP faithful's faces and witnessing them getting so irritated and bad-tempered.

At least 150 people, including everyone from the Tyneside UAF coach, were in my contingent. There was a tremendous spirit of unity and determination, helping us to hold the police and BNP supporters at bay for around three hours. Sitting in their parked cars was as far as the thoroughly pissed-off racists could get throughout this time. A great many simply gave up and drove off. Others were eventually able to trudge off, across muddy fields, to their hate-fest, but only thanks to the police lining up and parking their vans across the road.

It is important that the BNP is having such a horrible time with this 'festival'. It is their flagship event - this year they hoped it would serve as celebration of their recent victories in getting two MEPs elected, including wannabe Fuhrer Nick Griffin. The event's primary purpose is to draw 'soft' members and supporters into becoming part of the fascist cadre at the core of BNP organisation.

Isolating the hardcore Hitler-lovers from their broader support is a vital task for anti-fascist campaigners. We took a step in that direction in Codnor today.

Iraq inquiry: another whitewash?

Mmmm... somehow I'm not holding out much hope that this inquiry will lead to justice. Especially after watching this revealing and insightful documentary, written and presented by John Rees, Stop the War officer and author of Imperialism and Resistance.

An example for all

A good speech here about the inspring fightback by Thomas Cook workers in Dublin, defending their jobs. Jessie Fenn, of the TSSA union, was speaking at a Right to Work support meeting in central London last Friday. The occupying workers certainly employed a few inventive tactics, as well as universal principles of collective action and solidarity.

Other speeches from the meeting - including by Visteon and Vestas representatives - can also be found at Ady Cousins' channel on YouTube.

The Observer: worth fighting for?

The Observer newspaper is reportedly in crisis, even threatened with closure. I bought it for the first time in a while today and, at a costly £2, it's easy to see why it is struggling. It doesn't have any obviously distinctive character - for example, its editorial line is too conservative (marginally to the right of sister paper The Guardian)to clearly mark it out from papers like the Sunday Times. For example, it adopted a pro-war stance over Iraq, despite many readers being passionately anti-war. It also lacks columnists worth getting bothered about, with the unfortunate exception of the widely despised Nick Cohen.

Some have immediately responded to the paper's possible demise with calls to 'save' it - I notice there's a Facebook group dedicated to that very cause. I have some sympathy: there's an insitinctive wish to preserve press freedom and avoid a narrowing of what is on the market, especially as The Observer is regarded as more liberal/left than others (and, for some, anything that shifts the press a little more towards a Murdoch monopoly is A Very Bad Thing).

However, calling for a newspaper to be saved is - in a free market - obviously futile. It can only be a token gesture, with people actually buying the paper the only solution to its crisis. So why is it in crisis? To answer that requires thinking about why the press in general is in trouble - after all, most newspapers are experiencing significant declines in circulation over the longer term.

The most commonly cited reason is the rise of the Internet, as readers move online. This must be a major factor, though I'd speculate about three further causes. Firstly, the emergence of free newspapers like Metro devalues newspapers - anyone who gets used to picking up news for free is likely to become reluctant to pay for it. The papers have responded to the wide accessibility of news by other means largely by focusing on features, lifestyle, numerous supplements etc.

Another way in which news has become more widespread - and a factor in the decline of the press - is the expansion of broadcast news: digital, cable and satellite channels, including rolling news. Finally, there's the impact of the recession which has two effects - some people make savings and decide they can live without a Sunday paper, and businesses are forced into slashing expenditure on advertising.

So, part of me wants to see The Observer survive, but I'm also aware that it's symptomatic of a bigger cultural and economic shift, one that is probably irreversible. It is perhaps just a question of how long it takes a number of newspapers to vanish, rather than whether or not they will close.

Tony Cliff's major biographies now online

As I am currently running a blog devoted to the work of Tony Cliff, founder of the International Socialists tradition 60 years ago and leading member of the Socialist Workers Party until his death in 2000, I am thrilled to make a happy discovery at the Marxists' Internet Archive: all four volumes of his epic Trotsky biography are now online. This is in addition to two complete volumes of his study of Lenin.

There are over 120 articles, essays and even whole books by Cliff on the MIA - a tremendous contribution to making accessible the work of a vital figure in the marxist tradition. It is especially welcome that the Lenin and Trotsky works - which haven't been republished in many years - are now availiable.

Have a look at my Cliff blog, but more importantly find some time to dig deeper by reading the original Cliff - maybe even have a go at the biographies. They are written in an accessible style, provide a wealth of historical material, and offer up numerous lessons for building socialist organisation today.

Dive in...

Time to bring them home

This article is also published at www.counterfire.org

CNN's latest poll shows a clear majority of the US public opposed to the occupation of Afghanistan. It shows a shift in the last three months, with the popular mood moving against the occupation - 54% say they are opposed, with only 41% in favour. The argument for withdrawing NATO troops has rarely been so vilified in the media, yet in both this country and the US recent polls inidcate strong anti-war feeling.

Military chiefs on both sides of the Atlantic have stepped up pressure on political leaders for more money and more troops. Many of those politicians need little persuading anyway - as they are dedicated to the whole long-term imperial project, and Afghanistan's vital place in it - though it nonetheless creates tensions for them that are hard to resolve.

They know the continuing occupation isn't popular, a problem exacerbated by the widely reported rising toll of deaths of US/UK soldiers, and they can't hide from an overwhelming sesne that the war is unwinnable. Pulling them in the opposite direction is the nauseating 'patriotism' of much media coverage, the Right's arguments about underfunding of the armed forces being the core problem, and their own determination to pursue the wider 'war on terror'.

Recent talk of a long war becoming ever-longer, stretching on even for decades, clashes with the brutal political reality that domestically people simply won't tolerate such futility and misery. The casualties mount up, the money keeps pouring in - at a time of increasing hardship due to recession and plans for public service cuts - and the sense of pointlessness eats away at people who aren't traditionally anti-war.

Barack Obama may have been powered to victory in large part thanks to his anti-war stance regarding Iraq - and because he wasn't the warmonger George Bush - but the goodwill towards him can't last forever. The new poll ratings are especially striking when you recall that Obama, greeted with such jubilation on election last November, has consistently been (and continues to be) steadfastly pro-occupation and keen to intensify NATO operations. CNN report opposition to his policy in Afghanistan is mainly among Democrat supporters. A gulf is opening up between the President and those who elected him.

Here we have a politically similar scenario: Gordon Brown was viewed by many as sure to be better than Blair, including in the area of foreign policy, but has turned out (as some of us warned) to be all continuity and no change. It is apparent that change will come only with a strengthening of the anti-war movement in the coming weeks and months, starting with nationwide protests to greet the news of the 200th British soldier being killed (the total is currently 195).

On Saturday 24 October thousands will march in London to demand we bring the troops home now. Regardless of the Westminster consensus on Afghanistan, despite the media's narrowing of debate, this movement reflects majority public opinion - and carries the possibility of real change.

Five to Follow on Friday

With a nod to the Twitter trend of recommending other tweeters for FollowFriday, here are a few left-wing blogs I suggest keeping track of. All are updated frequently and have interesting things to say.

Solomon's Mindfield has is strongly oriented on activism and especially good at promoting upcoming events and reporting protests. It helps that it's run by an energetic blogger who is herself active in various campaigns.

The Third Estate is a team effort with thoughtful commentaries, and I especially like the fact it currently has two contrasting views of the same issue, namely whether we should be bothered about The Observer newspaper's financial crisis.

Socialist Aotearoa is a New Zealand blog that combines text, photos and videos to share news of struggles in its native land and globally.

CapitalD is an engaging blog with a great mix of material, including wise reflections on the state of the class struggle, especially the recent (and on-going) spate of workers' occupations.

The Tony Cliff Archive is - I'm being naughty here - my own (temporary) blog devoted to the founder of the International Socialists tradition, which some of us seek to continue building. I'm two weeks in to this and there's loads on there now, so please check it out and offer any comments that may spring to mind.

Seoul: Police brutality against occupying workers

For an update on this occupation, read journalist Brendan Montague's very useful account, 'So Long Ssangyong', at his blog The Sauce. It looks like the workers have been beaten and bullied into acceptance, after a long and heroic struggle to preserve their jobs (in defiance of state brutality). They have, however, inspired people around the world with their collective stand against the bosses' attempts to make workers pay for the crisis.

Head north this November

As I've mentioned previously, this autumn will see two major opportunities for anti-war and anti-G20 protest in quick succession in Scotland. Those of us in the North East of England will be mobilising for the demonstrations too.

G20 Finance Ministers - Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and his equivalents in the other major economies of the world - will gather to discuss the global economic crisis in St Andrews. They will be joined, so I gather, by the governors of their respective countries' central banks. This is an important summit for our ruling elites - and we can expect little in the way of new solutions.

Just one week later the Nato Defence Ministers will be heading to Scotland - this time to Edinburgh, principally to talk about the occupation of Afghanistan they bear responsibility for. They will be greeted by thousands of anti-war protestors angry at the continuing tragedy of that country.

These demonstrations provide a rare chance to tie together the big issues facing us all. Put People First - the coalition of unions and NGOs behind a major London demo in March - is mobilising against the G20, as well as Scottish TUC and Stop the War. This will no doubt feed into the following weekend's anti-war protest and broaden its politcal scope. Crucially, the day after the demo there's a chance to bring it all together with a counter-summit covering war, climate change and recession.

This is the latest information,from Scottish Stop the War, about the anti-Nato mobilisation (I'll post further details - about these events and the previous weekend's activities - when available):

Saturday 14th November: Stop the War Scotland has called a demonstration in Edinburgh. The demo is supported by UK Stop the War, SCND and British CND. The slogans are 'No to Nato', 'Troops Out of Afghanistan', 'Scrap Trident' and 'Jobs not Bombs'.

Sunday 15th November: Alternative summit - in Edinburgh - with venue to be confirmed. The themes are imperialism and war/ climate change / jobs and the economy.

If you would like to get involved in the organising groups for either the demo or the alternative summit please contact scotlandstopwar@hotmail.co.uk

Soldier facing court martial joins Stop the War

This is from Stop the War:

'Court martial proceedings have begun against Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, the first British soldier to speak out publicly against the war in Afghanistan. Joe has joined the Stop the War Coalition and intends to deny desertion, calling an expert on international law to argue against the legality of the war in Afghanistan. Joe delivered a letter to Gordon Brown last week at Downing Street giving his reasons for refusing to fight an unjust war. His case has received widespread media coverage, including the BBC TV News discussion between Lindsey German, national convenor of Stop the War, and Major-General Sir Patrick Cordingly, who led the British army in the first Gulf War against Iraq'.

Email your support to: joeisinnocent@hotmail.co.uk.
Download the petition for Joe at www.stopwar.org.uk

In the heat of the struggle

There's been some extraordinary scenes in South Korea. Owen Miller reported from Seoul for Socialist Worker online - see 'Day of fierce fighting at occupied South Korean car factory'. The police, with the company's own hired thugs, have sought to brutally repress the workers' resistance in defence of their own jobs.

There's a protest at the South Korean Embassy in London tomorrow - see the details at the Solomon's Mindfield blog.

The occupation tactic continues to spread in this country. Bus workers in London staged a sit-in protest today. Socialist Worker's report, 'Bus workers occupy Transport for London office', reports: 'Around 60 drivers occupied the foyer of the [Transport for London] office waving flags, singing slogans about equal pay and dancing to drummers from Unite's Justice for Cleaners Campaign who had joined the protest in solidarity.'

Finally, a reminder of the state's determination to defend the interests of the rich and powerful comes not only from Seoul but also from Irish police's treatment of shop workers in Dublin. See the report and video here: 'Police smash way into Thomas Cook occupation'.

Milly and Mandy: two for the price of one

David Miliband is a Tyneside MP as well as Foreign Secretary. This autumn he's playing host, in his South Shields constituency, to none other than Peter Mandelson, who is effectively Gordon Brown's number two in addition to overseeing trade and business. Mandy will deliver the David Miliband Annual Lecture.

But he and Milly might be disappointed when they are greeted by a crowd of protestors demanding 'Jobs not bombs' and an end to UK participation in the disastrous occupation of Afghanistan. This evening's meeting of Tyneside Stop the War Coalition enthusiastically agreed to call a major protest outside the event, on 23 October. Quite a few people locally have been itching to target the Foreign Sec for a protest - him being a local MP is an obvious temptation. Now - with the Prince of Darkness descending on us - we're getting two for the price of one.

Actually, it's not the first time this has happened. In January, days after the Gaza ceasefire, 100 people turned out in the freezing cold and the dark to shout boisterously at Miliband and his guest John Hutton, then Defence Secretary, at South Shields' Labour Party dinner. You might have expected Milly to learn his lesson.

The following day - Saturday 24 October - is the national demo called by Stop the War. We're organising transport and the previous evening's protest is sure to warm us up for a big and powerful demo in London. Shortly after, in November, we'll be mobilising for protests in Scotland: at the G20 Finance Ministers (7 November in St Andrews) and the NATO Defence Ministers (14 November in Edinburgh).

The movement for troops out of Afghanistan is growing. We must keep marching, and build in ever-bigger numbers, so we really turn up the heat on Brown and his discredited government.

occupations - what does it all mean?

This article is also published at www.counterfire.org

A few thoughts about the current occupations - most significantly Vestas, but also the Thomas Cook occupations in Dublin and the south London care home (see my previous post).

1. It is important that workers are willing to challenge the law, including in a number of recent cases (e.g. Visteon) the anti-union laws, and take unofficial action which is, to a greater or lesser degree, independent of the union bureaucracies. It doesn't yet represent a substantial rank and file movement (sadly), but it does at least give a powerful glimpse of the potential for independent rank and file action.

2. The willingness to take unoffical and illegal action stems in large part from desperation and raw working class anger at the impact of the recession. Job losses are the most visible, direct and acute expression of economic crisis. While in general the recession is seen as an unalterable, alien force, there is always potential for resisting job cuts or workplace closures - they make tangible the notion of 'resisting the recession'.

3. Occupation is an increasingly appealing tactic because there is simply no alternative response to an announcement of a workplace's closure. A strike or demonstration won't work in that context, hence the turn to occupations.

4. It is significant that Vestas workers are non-unionised. It is a reminder that in economically unstable times the most militant workers are often NOT those with long and strong traditions of union organisation. Indeed, such traditions can be an obstacle, due to a combination of conservatism in the rank and file and the role of the union leaders in pursuing compromises.

5. At the same time the solidarity from the union movement, most notably the RMT (in the case of Vestas), is crucial. There will apparently be a letter about the Vestas dispute in tomorrow's Guardian signed by 14 union general secretaries. At grassroots level the Vestas occupiers have captured the imaginations of many activists across a range of unions.

6. The Vestas occupation has put nationalisation to save jobs firmly on the agenda - this is a political issue being discussed beyond the usual circles of socialist activists. The left only stands a chance of shaping a response to the economic crisis if it can champion concrete solutions to the effects of recession. It is especially useful if the forces clearly exist to fight for demands like nationalisation - this is what we can see happening on the Isle of Wight. This is also noteworthy because it's a refreshing sign of progress since the construction walkouts several months ago, when poisonous politics ('British Jobs for British Workers') tempered enthusiasm for a revival in rank and file struggle.

7. The Vestas dispute raises wider issues, most importantly climate change and economic planning. It therefore has a highly political dimension - furthermore, the logic of events leads people to radical solutions about how we tackle climate change, e.g. greater public control of the energy sector, which clash with the priorities of corporate power and the capitalist system.

8. Following on from this, it is fantastic to see green and anti-capitalist activists forging connections with workers in struggle. It is a manifestation of the 'Teamster-Turtle' alliance of trade unionists and environmentalists famously on display at the Seattle anti-WTO demonstrations a decade ago. This process encourages climate campaigners to see workers' collective action as essential to taking action on climate change.

9. For a number of reasons the last couple of weeks have been a breakthrough, as my comments indicate. However, we should also be vigilant and realistic about the limitations: there hasn't yet been an occupation which has successfully triggered a wave of occupations elsehwere (or solidarity industrial action), the rank and file more generally lacks organisation and confidence to act independently, and the recession is still widely seen as something that can't be fought. The coming months are fairly unpredictable.

10. A key task for socialists now is to strengthen the links between different issues and groups, e.g. the relationship between trade union supporters of the Vestas occupation and climate campaigners. The last fortnight has shifted the prospects for a renewal of anti-capitalist activism in this country, with a dynamic and exciting example of workers' militancy connecting closely with the big issues about how we run society. We need to push forward the political solutions, e.g. economic planning, as a left-wing response to the broader economic crisis. These tasks are vital, as is the buidling of solidarity everywhere with those workers who take militant action. And solidarity will be strengthened greatly if we nurture networks - way beyond the modest ranks of organised socialists - capable of promoting every occupation against job losses that emerges.

occupations - everyone's doing it

For the latest updates on the Vestas occupation , click here.

Victory at Lewisham Bridge Primary School! Click here.

Workers at Thomas Cook in Dublin went into occupation yesterday. Click here.

New occupation by 45 workers at a South London care home. Click here.

Reflections on the Visteon and Vestas occupations, and what they represent. Click here.