Monday, 22 April 2013
Saturday, 13 April 2013
Margaret Thatcher death party - Trafalgar Square, London, 13 April 2013
Repost - information only
An Analysis...
The Guardian live stream confirms 3,000 attended last night's "official" Thatcher death party in London's Trafalgar Square - which, for those critics who claim this event was "insensitive", to put the moral issues in perspective, is only slightly more people than were murdered by Thatcher's great friend, the monetarist pioneer General Pinochet, and alot less than died of superbug infections after the Tories privatised the cleaning of NHS hospitals! All in all a good turn-out for an event that was conceived 20 years ago by an activist group that doesn't exist any more, and all the more impressive for people making the effort at short notice and in the pouring rain.
At present the BBC and Daily Mail etc are wildly under-estimating attendances and seem to be down-playing the level of confrontation, of anger and of disruption, mindful, no doubt, especially in The Daily Blackshirt's case, of how their hysterical opposition to anti-Thatcher protests helped draw attention to articulate and well-informed criticism of Thatcher's poisonous legacy, thereby seriously damaging the carefully-manufactured spectacle of adulation, which the far-right media hoped they'd be able to manufacture and to retrofit on history (not to mention, again in The Daily Mail's case, helping draw attention to their own track-record of outright Fascism). As the Met Police themselves confirmed on TV, (quoting almost verbatim) the police won't be able to search everyone at Thatcher's funeral, and the "reputational damage" caused by even one protestor with a tin of paint or box of eggs will be massive, but in some senses the metaphorical can of paint has already been thrown.
Despite the fact that most critics of Thatcherism endured and lived through the bullshit from day one, a few (notably BBC) reporters grasp at straws, trying to imply it's somehow odd that younger critics of Thatcherism didn't live through Thatcher's personal reign. The implication that younger people aren't entitled to an opinion about events they're still living with, amounts to an attempt to discourage young people from learning about history (which is, of course, exactly what the right-wing would prefer young people do). However it's now very clear that, as a result of the monetarist politics pursued in both Thatcher's UK and Reagan's USA, de-regulation of the financial sectors and attacks on unionised industry placed employees, taxpayers and ultimately entire economies at the mercy of financial crooks, but Thatcher's legacy also lives on in employment practices that allow for instance the exploitation of interns. Once radicals fought to secure workers a decent living wage, now, as a direct medium-term outcome of Thatcher's attacks on organised labour, many young workers struggle for the right to earn ANY wage! In many cases the same corporations that cheat on taxes are actively subsidised by the ordinary parents who support those interns, and that same legacy also damages the lives of salaried employees, as, day-in-day-out, cowed and hen-pecked staff acquiesce to ever-increasing pressure to neglect their families and work late into yet another evening...
Meanwhile the right-wing media are trying to airbrush history, dishonestly re-packaging a Prime Minister who bitterly opposed the Anti-Apartheid movement, as someone who somehow deserves credit for helping bring down Apartheid.
We care about history because we care about posterity... Keep up the pressure... Fight Back!
William Godwin
link
An Analysis...
The Guardian live stream confirms 3,000 attended last night's "official" Thatcher death party in London's Trafalgar Square - which, for those critics who claim this event was "insensitive", to put the moral issues in perspective, is only slightly more people than were murdered by Thatcher's great friend, the monetarist pioneer General Pinochet, and alot less than died of superbug infections after the Tories privatised the cleaning of NHS hospitals! All in all a good turn-out for an event that was conceived 20 years ago by an activist group that doesn't exist any more, and all the more impressive for people making the effort at short notice and in the pouring rain.
At present the BBC and Daily Mail etc are wildly under-estimating attendances and seem to be down-playing the level of confrontation, of anger and of disruption, mindful, no doubt, especially in The Daily Blackshirt's case, of how their hysterical opposition to anti-Thatcher protests helped draw attention to articulate and well-informed criticism of Thatcher's poisonous legacy, thereby seriously damaging the carefully-manufactured spectacle of adulation, which the far-right media hoped they'd be able to manufacture and to retrofit on history (not to mention, again in The Daily Mail's case, helping draw attention to their own track-record of outright Fascism). As the Met Police themselves confirmed on TV, (quoting almost verbatim) the police won't be able to search everyone at Thatcher's funeral, and the "reputational damage" caused by even one protestor with a tin of paint or box of eggs will be massive, but in some senses the metaphorical can of paint has already been thrown.
Despite the fact that most critics of Thatcherism endured and lived through the bullshit from day one, a few (notably BBC) reporters grasp at straws, trying to imply it's somehow odd that younger critics of Thatcherism didn't live through Thatcher's personal reign. The implication that younger people aren't entitled to an opinion about events they're still living with, amounts to an attempt to discourage young people from learning about history (which is, of course, exactly what the right-wing would prefer young people do). However it's now very clear that, as a result of the monetarist politics pursued in both Thatcher's UK and Reagan's USA, de-regulation of the financial sectors and attacks on unionised industry placed employees, taxpayers and ultimately entire economies at the mercy of financial crooks, but Thatcher's legacy also lives on in employment practices that allow for instance the exploitation of interns. Once radicals fought to secure workers a decent living wage, now, as a direct medium-term outcome of Thatcher's attacks on organised labour, many young workers struggle for the right to earn ANY wage! In many cases the same corporations that cheat on taxes are actively subsidised by the ordinary parents who support those interns, and that same legacy also damages the lives of salaried employees, as, day-in-day-out, cowed and hen-pecked staff acquiesce to ever-increasing pressure to neglect their families and work late into yet another evening...
Meanwhile the right-wing media are trying to airbrush history, dishonestly re-packaging a Prime Minister who bitterly opposed the Anti-Apartheid movement, as someone who somehow deserves credit for helping bring down Apartheid.
We care about history because we care about posterity... Keep up the pressure... Fight Back!
William Godwin
link
On the death of Thatcher
A repost
Original posted by Red Youth on April 8, 2013
Thatcher 1925-2013 – no friend of the youth
Red Youth sheds no tears at the death of Margaret Thatcher today. Thatcher caused immense harm to British youth throughout the 1980′s, enacting a number of reactionary Employment Acts which helped destroy job security for young people and laid the basis for the reactionary policies pursued by John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in subsequent years. In 2013 the number of young people out of work, with no opportunity to study or build a future is a direct result of the anti-working class agenda she forced upon the British people with the aid of a servile trade union movement which was firmly tied to social democracy and which betrayed the working class by its refusal to stand with Arthur Scargill and the National Union of Mineworkers during their heroic stand 1984/5. The job today, as it was then, is to break the link between social democracy and the workers movement, to forge a strong and disciplined Communist Party capable of leading the working class out of the abyss and towards a bright socialist future. We publish below one of the finest and most dignified statements made today, that of comrade Gerry Adams:
“Margaret Thatcher did great hurt to the Irish and British people during her time as British Prime Minister. Working class communities were devastated in Britain because of her policies.
Her role in international affairs was equally belligerent whether in support of the Chilean dictator Pinochet, her opposition to sanctions against apartheid South Africa; and her support for the Khmer Rouge. Here in Ireland her espousal of old draconian militaristic policies prolonged the war and caused great suffering. She embraced censorship, collusion and the killing of citizens by covert operations, including the targeting of solicitors like Pat Finucane, alongside more open military operations and refused to recognise the rights of citizens to vote for parties of their choice.
Her failed efforts to criminalise the republican struggle and the political prisoners is part of her legacy. It should be noted that in complete contradiction of her public posturing, she authorised a back channel of communications with the Sinn Féin leadership but failed to act on the logic of this.
Unfortunately she was faced with weak Irish governments who failed to oppose her securocrat agenda or to enlist international support in defence of citizens in the north.
Margaret Thatcher will be especially remembered for her shameful role during the epic hunger strikes of 1980 and ’81.
Her Irish policy failed miserably.”
Link to original post
Thursday, 11 April 2013
Margaret Thatcher - The woman who tore Britain apart
a repost
Monday 08 April 2013
by Peter Lazenby and Roger Bagley
Margaret Thatcher, the most hated British prime minister of the 20th century, died today.
Victims of her vicious 1980s onslaught against the working class refused to show any sorrow over the final demise of the frail 87-year-old after a stroke.
Spontaneous exultation broke out across Britain as news of her death spread like wildfire.
The strongest waves of satisfaction were in former mining and industrial communities ravaged by Thatcher, and among labour movement activists throughout the land.
Following vocal protests, No 10 shelved plans for a state funeral, announcing that she will receive a ceremonial funeral at St Paul's Cathedral.
Thatcher blighted Britain during her ruthless rule from 1979 to 1990.
She once regarded herself as the indestructible goddess of rapacious capitalism, often deploying the royal "We" during her arrogant diatribes.
Overseas she was a friend to tyranny who attacked Nelson Mandela and the ANC as terrorists but praised mass-murdering Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet for "bringing democracy to Chile."
Communist Party general secretary Robert Griffiths said: "The Thatcher governments inflicted enormous damage on the fabric of British society.
"Many working-class communities were torn apart by mass unemployment, poverty, drugs and alcohol abuse as the result of Tory policies.
"She and her regime waged war against organised labour at home, privatised valuable utilities, locked Britain into the European Union and revived the readiness to engage in imperialist wars abroad."
Thatcher once branded coalminers striking for their livelihood the real "enemy within" - but Mr Griffiths said she was the "enemy within who faithfully represented the interests of financial big business.
"She leaves a challenge to the labour movement to rebuild productive industry, restore social justice and regain trade union and other democratic rights."
Spontaneous celebrations took place in Yorkshire, where 50 mining communities were destroyed by Thatcher and her allies after the strike.
Mick Appleyard was a miner and elected National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) official at Sharlston, near Wakefield, a typical Yorkshire mining village whose economy was totally dependent on the pit - and which was wrecked by its closure after the historic 1984-5 strike.
"She killed my village," he said. "Sharlston is now a low-wage, menial wage economy, for those who are lucky enough to find jobs.
"Our young people are on the streets. There's nothing for them. They turn to drugs and drink because there's nothing else."
And NUM general secretary Chris Kitchen, who was a young miner during the strike, said: "She deserves no respect from the NUM, or any of the working people she put on the dole.
"It's a shame her policies have not died with her - the ones Cameron is continuing.
"She will never be forgiven for the disaster she inflicted on the mining industry, on our communities, and on the miners."
Email networks were swamped with the announcement of celebrations, including events in central Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester.
Morning Star online
Monday, 9 July 2012
Trotskyism is a tool of the capitalists ... Leninism is a weapon for the workers!
Last week, the Guardian asked whether Marxism was 'on the rise', and, after worrying about where all this agitation might end, went on to give a massive plug to the Trotskyist SWP's festival of disinformation, held every year in London under the name 'Marxism ----' (insert year here).
A cursory look around the world at any point in the last 100 years would tell you that Marxism never went away. Marxists have led or been involved in every serious anti-capitalist struggle since Marxism came into existence, and, despite temporary reverses, communists still lead vast swathes of the world's poorest people in the life-and-death battle to rid the world of imperialist domination.
Britain's own once powerful communist movement was decimated after the old CPGB gave up on revolution and started telling workers to support the Labour party instead. Today, though, with poverty, unemployment and debt spiralling out of control, and with the economic crisis set to get worse while imperialist wars get bigger and dirtier, it's certainly true that more and more people -- even in this still relatively cushioned imperialist heartland -- are joining the class struggle.
They are finally waking up to the reality that this parasitic system has outlived its usefulness and has a future only in the past. Capitalism and imperialism have nothing to offer the vast masses of the world's people except deeper poverty, more crippling debt slavery, more barbarous wars and more devastating human and environmental waste and destruction.
So it's not surprising that corporate media and politicians are desperate to persuade us that the pro-imperialists of the SWP are the people to join if you want to express opposition to capitalism in Britain. Opportunists and counter-revolutionaries of all kinds will be getting plenty more free advertising in the capitalist press from now on, precisely because they will be as much use to workers in overthrowing capitalism as chocolate is in making a pot to hold tea.
- Trotskyism is a tool of the capitalists ... Leninism is a weapon for the workers! -
Leaflet issued by CPGB-ML, 5 July 2012
What is Trotskyism?
1. THEORY OF PERMANENT REVOLUTION. This claims that socialism can only be successful if revolution occurs in all the advanced capitalist countries at once; and that all attempts at building socialism in a single country that has carried out a successful revolution are bound to fail.
Since this hypothetical simultaneous revolution has so far failed to materialise in real life (and is unlikely ever to do so), this position simply means that Trotskyists always end up denouncing all the real revolutions that have taken place, and furiously attacking any country that has not only carried out a revolution but actually had the temerity to go on and try to build socialism.
2. ANTI-LENINISM IN ORGANISATION. Leninism calls for the building of a revolutionary, disciplined proletarian revolutionary party, which is able to act with unity and is hostile to opportunist elements. Trotskyism stands for a loose mish-mash of whoever wants to sign up; for reformists and opportunists to be allowed into the ranks of the proletarian party; for the formation of groups, factions and cliques within a single party. No wonder no Trotskyist party has ever led a revolution!
3. HOSTILITY TO LENINIST LEADERS. We are constantly told that Trotsky was the true ‘inheritor’ of Lenin and one of the authors of the Russian revolution, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Trotsky was an enemy of Lenin and Leninism until the eve of the revolution, and only joined the Bolsheviks in 1917 when it was obvious they were going to win. In 1913, Trotsky described Lenin as a "professional exploiter of every kind of backwardness in the Russian working-class movement", and went on to say that the "entire edifice of Leninism at the present time is built on lies and falsification and bears within itself the poisonous elements of its own decay". (Letter to Chkeidze)
If Trotsky could express such ill-mannered views about Lenin before the revolution, while doing his best to undermine the building of a truly revolutionary party in Russia, it is not surprising that he went on to shower vile abuse on Lenin’s faithful pupil Stalin after the revolution -- while furiously working to undermine the building of socialism in the USSR that was being led by the Bolshevik party. Trotsky’s attacks on ‘Stalinism’ were actually just the continuation of his lifelong struggle against Leninism. The counter-revolutionary nature of Trotskyism explains why Trotsky is held up to schoolchildren throughout the imperialist world as the ‘real’ revolutionary!
Uniting the counter-revolutionaries
Because of its reactionary content, Trotskyism inevitably attracted all those elements that were striving to weaken and destroy socialism in the USSR. With a passionate hatred of socialism and workers’ power, these elements strove for the overthrow of the Soviet regime, and, fully backed by imperialism, supported Trotsky abroad after his expulsion from the USSR. And the same type of people have continued to call on workers to rally around Trotskyism, even after it morphed from being a mistaken political trend within the working-class movement into "a frantic and unprincipled gang of wreckers, diversionists, spies and murderers acting on the instructions of the intelligence services of foreign states". (Stalin, March 1937)
Ever since then there has been a kind of division of labour between the imperialists and the Trotskyists, who have worked in tandem to slander and defame the Soviet system, its government, its institutions and its leadership -- all so as to belittle and discredit the achievements of socialist construction.
Trotsky went to the despicable length of equating fascism with ‘Stalinism’, and imperialists have hung on to that useful slander ever since, using it to confuse workers and combat communist influence. Moreover, Trotsky actually predicted the defeat of the USSR in WWII. He would have been devastated to witness the crowning victory of socialism over fascism, but was saved that final humiliation thanks to his assassination by one of his own followers in Mexico in 1941.
Not surprisingly, Trotskyism has supported every counter-revolutionary movement against socialism, from the Hungarian uprising of 1956 and the so-called Prague Spring of 1968 to the counter-revolutions that swept through eastern and central Europe in the late 1980s, and which finally brought down the once great and glorious USSR in 1991.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, as a result of the revisionist economic and political policies set in place under Khrushchev after Stalin’s death, Trotskyite organisations went delirious with joy. Beside a photograph of a toppled statute of the great Lenin, the Socialist Worker declared that "Communism has collapsed. It is a fact that should have every socialist rejoicing." It even claimed that Yeltsin’s counter-revolution had brought "the workers of the Soviet Union closer to the spirit of the socialist revolution of 1917, not further form it". (31 August 1991)
Two years later, Labour’s 1993 election defeat led the same SWP to suffer a deep "depression" and "post-election demoralisation", declaring that "the election was a disaster for everyone who wants a better society". What could better demonstrate the incurably anti-popular nature of the SWP than its malicious glee at the fall of the Soviet Union and its heart-aching pain at the fourth consecutive electoral defeat of the imperialist Labour party, with its proven track record of attacks on the working class at home and wars against the oppressed peoples abroad?
Trotskyism is a thoroughly counter-revolutionary trend marked by double-speak and cynical hypocrisy. It practises sectarianism and factionalism while calling for unity; it supports imperialist wars against the oppressed while mouthing phrases about anti-imperialism; it facilitates attacks on the working class through its cretinous support for the Labour party, while pretending to oppose such attacks; it supports counter-revolutions everywhere in the name of defending revolution.
Right in essence and left in form is the best way of describing this malicious tendency, which everywhere sows confusion and division in the working-class movement, making us weaker to defend ourselves against the onslaught of imperialism. If we wish to liberate our world from imperialist exploitation and oppression, we must first rid our movement of all pro-imperialist, social-democratic ideology, not least the r-r-revolutionary garbage of Trotskyism.
CPGB ML
Thursday, 5 July 2012
A refutation of the reports of the so-called All Parliamentary Group on north Korea"
The ASSPUK, JISGE and UK KFA wish strongly denounce the reports issued by the so-called All Party Parliamentary group on Korea. UK KFA is in no way opposed to genuine friendship and exchange between parliamentarians of the DPRK and UK but the so-called "All Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea" is not doing this rather it is acting as an anti DPRK propaganda outlet. Its recent documents are peppered with slanders and lies about the DPRK socialist system and its supreme leadership.
The group includes members of the House of Lords, in fact the chairman and vice-chair are both from the House of Lords How can those who have are not elected criticise the DPRK and call for democracy. The House of Lords is a residual vestige of feudalism and absolutism in the UK .
Although the group is supposedly a non partisan group made up of different parties in actual reality it is dominated by right wingers of various . Lord Alton of Liverpool, a Liberal Democrat peer(the Liberal Democrats being the coalition
partners of the Conservatives) . Lord Alton is a fervent anti-communist .
The background of the vice-chair of the group Baroness Cox is curious to say the least. Supposedly a "crossbench" or non party peer she was previously a Conservative party member. Baroness Cox was one of the founders of the
Committee For a Free Britain , once described as the lunatic fringe of the Conservative party. This body was linked to the Thatcher government but also British intelligence. Baroness Cox is an extreme anti-communist having contributed to the book "Rape of Reason " a McCarthy style book in the 1970s attacking so-called Marxist academics and calling for a purge of the universities Ms Cox was heavily involved in supporting counter revolutionary dissidents in the socialist countries with a view to destroying these countries. The "Executive Intelligence Review" even alleges that she was the British intelligence liasion with the counter- revolutionary Solidarnosc movement. One of the latest exploits of Baroness Cox was to invite Dutch far rightist politican Gert Wilders to the UK.
Thus with such a person in a leading position within the group objectivity, fairness and impartiality cannot be expected. It is not unsurprising that they the All Party group invited Park Sun-Young from the far right wing party Liberty Forward party in south Korea, which is actually further to the right than the ruling Saenuri party. Park is well known for anti-communism and anti DPRK activities. Thus inviting her to speak on the DPRK is a bit like inviting the EDL or
the BNP to speak on Islamic culture in Britain.
Ms Park seemed to have a poor grasp of reality and understanding of history. In her speech she referred to Kim Jong Il ruling the
DPRK with " an iron fist " for 37 years. This makes no sense. It can be said that comrade Kim Jong Il lead the DPRK for 17 years since President Kim Il Sung died. Comrade Kim Jong Il became chairman of the National Defence Commission in 1993 (19 years ago) and supreme commander of the KPA in 1991 (21 years ago) but where on earth does the figure of 37 years come from ?
Predictably the same old rubbish about human rights and prison camps is wheeled out. Of course Ms Pak has actually seen such things. She claims that the DPRK regularly carry out public executions . However why aren-t these on
KCTV or in KCNA and Rodong Sinmun . Ms Pak significantly does not name the places in the DPRK where the alleged public executions are carried out.
Ms Pak goes on about prison camps . Delegations of the UK KFA and JISGE had never seen a prison camp in the DPRK. The stories about prison camps have been refuted in the book "Behind the Mirror of Lies " .
Ms Pak talks a lot about defections and defections. Here is what
one so-called defector had to say about defection
"The defectors are dirty human scum who harbor grudge against the DPRK system or committed crimes in the DPRK before fleeing it. They are desperately escalating confrontation with the DPRK for getting some money in return for pleasing the south Korean conservative group.
Now the south Korean "government" authorities leave no stone unturned in their anti-DPRK propaganda. Those disguised as "red cross organization" and "volunteering servants" allure "defectors from the north" with money and let them make invectives slandering the DPRK and justifying south Korean society and even stage demonstrations chanting anti-DPRK slogans. People do not want to go there because they are aware that they were aimed to abet anti-DPRK confrontation with false stories and fabrications and they often ended up in chaos. That is why the authorities cook up such methods as alluring the defectors with money.
One time south Korean media loudly asserted that "defectors from the north" who went to China were taken back to the north. Later, it was disclosed that the authorities cooked up the story for anti-DPRK propaganda by using the names of those who went abroad unable to live in south Korea or were already dead.
Asked how they came to south Korea, one man said that he was allured by a lump sum and expensive materials at a restaurant and another said that he went to a toilet being drunken and somebody threatened him to go to south Korea. There was even a man who said he was tempted by women. There were many other reasons.
In fact, the worst human rights abuser is none other than the Lee Myung Bak group.
The Lee group is now persistently vociferating about the issue of "defectors" and making desperate efforts to defame the DPRK by use of human scum. But, it is a foolish action."
This is a quote from Pak Jong Suk who was tricked and co-erced into going tosouth Korea but recently returned to the DPRK
Rather than being a "gigantic prison camp ", as Ms Park Sun Young, alleges the DPRK is a land of creativity and happiness. The delegation of the JISGE witnessed this during our visit to the DPRK in April . People gladly celebrated the 100th birth anniversary of the great leader President Kim Il Sung, . Rather than
a giant prison camp we saw many happy and vigorous people celebrating. We saw the mass soirée of youth and students on Kim Il Sung square and one of our delegation actually participated in it. If the DPRK is a prison camp why bother to mobilise people through ideology ?
The DPRK has a Juche-orientated and people centred socialist system of a Korean style. This guarantees people's human rights. People get free housing, free education and free health care. The right to work is constitutionally guaranteed.
Unlike the capitalist countries such as the UK where parliament is corrupted and dominated by capitalists, the DPRK has a genuine people's democracy , a socialist democracy based on Juche . People have to the right to vote at 17 and to be elected (article 66 of the constitution) this contrasts to the minimum voting age of 18 and minimum age for MPs of 21 in the UK. In the DPRK deputies to the Supreme Peoples Assembly are accountable to their
electors and deputies may be recalled at any time if they lose the confidence of their electors (article 7) no such provision exists in the UK or other capitalist
countries.
It has to be said in passing that there is a certain irony in some parliamentarians lambasting the DPRK over 'democracy' etc. These are the people who have incomes of £65000 per year plus expenses plus in many cases directorships and consultancies.Lord Alton and Baroness Cox , not not actually elected by anyone as members of the House of Lords, can receive £300 a day in expenses . It is well known that MPs were caught out fiddling their expenses in some cases on a massive scale.
The report of the so-called "All Party Parliamentary Group " is slanders and lies about the DPRK . It is evident the intention of the so called all party group is to force the DPRK into 'reform' and 'opening up' in order to subvert and destroy the socialist system of the DPRK. All true friends of the DPRK must fight to expose their anti DPRK manoeuvres.
ASSPUK
JISGE
UK KFA
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
UK KFA Activities June 2012
UK KFA is organising a picket of the US Embassy on June 25th between 4pm and 6pm
subject to confirmation. This is to mark the 62nd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean war but more importantly the start of the month of solidarity with the Korean people More details on request.
We will be holding our Annual General Meeting the same day from 6pm onwards. Just waiting for confirmation of the venue.
UK KFA REFUTES THE SUN !
Although the record of the tabloid "Sun " newspaper part of the discredited and corrupt Murdoch monopoly media empire speaks for itself (note the former editor Ms Rebekah Brooks was arrested for phone-hacking) UK KFA have decided to make some comments about the article in the "Sun" on the DPRK on May 30th ,as the "Sun" still has a large circulation(surprisingly). We do not intend to waste a lot of energy and space on this but a few things need putting straight.
The headline " Sun men trick way into north Korea" speaks for itself. Of course there was no need for them to do this as in April 2012 many journalists from different media outlets, BBC,ITN ,CNN,NBC and numerous newspapers visited the DPRK . The Associated Press maintains a small bureau in Pyongyang. However the "Sun" decided that this was too straightforward for them and resorted to trickery but what can you expect from people who sanction phone-hacking.
The "Sun" men got a number of things wrong either intentionally or out of sheer ignorance. They claimed that the lights in Pyongyang go out at 11pm at night. UK KFA members who were in Pyongyang in April 2012 can testify that this is not true and that lights are still on at 1-30 in the morning. Power supply problems have in fact been resolved in Pyongyang by the construction of the Huichon Power station.
In the style of a semi-literate ignoramus they referred to "communist badges" which presumably was a reference to the portrait badges of the DPRK supreme leaders.
Neeedless to say the guiding ideology of the DPRK , the Juche idea is not mentioned once in the article. This shows just how superficial and hollow the article is.
They claimed that there were armed guards on the road out of the island that the Yangkaddo Hotel is on but we did not see them in April. Of course the recent revelation about US spies being parachuted into the DPRK means that a high level of vigilance is needed but our friends from the "Sun" would probably be too thick to be in an intelligence service.
The "Sun " "journalists" had to admit that people in the DPRK get given flats free of charge but claimed these were grotty flats but did not offer any evidence for this assertion. I am sure that the legions of homeless in London would not say no to a free flat grotty or otherwise. The latest flats in Pyongyang such as the Mansudae area have been equipped with all the latest facilities and are spacious. New flats are been built and existing ones renovated. Average floor space of flats is about 100 sq metres . Some detailed info on this;
Ragwon Street constructed 1975 floor space 70 sq m
Munsu Stree constructed 1983 floor 100sq m +
Changgwang Street constructed 1985 floor space 150 sq m
An Sang Thaek Street constructed 1987 floor space 120 sq m
Kwangbok Street constructed 1989 floor space 110-180 sq m
As the "Sun" says flats are given free of charge in the DPRK but to rent a 150 sq metre flat in Rotherhithe,London is £3000 per week or 6 times(or more) the average take-home pay of a worker in London.
Ludicrously the "Sun " claimed no one receives a wage or salary in the DPRK ! If this was true the "Sun" would be applauding because for the past few years they have been enthusiastic supporters of "workfare", that is people working for nothing. The "Sun" seemed to find fault with the WPK leadership urging people to work harder in order to build a thriving socialist country but doesn't the "Sun" continually urge British workers to work harder and blame problems on the "workshy".
They also claimed that there were few cars on the road but the amount of traffic has increased a lot in Pyongyang.
The "Sun" wrongly claimed that the Kaeson Youth Park funfair was closed but in fact this was extensively renovated and rebuilt and is up and running. It was clearly working whilst we were there in April. The claim was also made that many of the DPRK's leisure facilities are expensively priced when in fact they are either low-cost or free of charge. Reference is made to the Meari shooting range where they claimed it was £8 for 20 bullets, I have not been able to verify this but it is reasonably priced compared with the UK where some shooting clubs charge £30 per day
True to form the "Sun" managed to rehash the old "they are all starving " line but contradicted it by saying that people were receiving handouts of rice and potato. Lads, didn't they ever tell you that starvation means no food at all ?
Desperate to find a shock horror story to smear the DPRK and turn people against they found fault with animals being made to perform in the Pyongyang Circus. A little bit liberal and out of character for the "Sun" which prides itself on being an enemy of anything PC. No word of praise for the DPRK's animal trainers who showed creativity, ingenuity and great skill in training animals to perform tricks. It was also the height of hypocrisy for the "Sun" to complain about the treatment of animals as every day they degrade and humilate women on page 3 of their paper. Has it not occured to the blockheads of the "Sun" that if it was wrong for the DPRK to use animals in circuses then the use of animals in films and advertising in the UK and elsewhere is equally bad.
Maybe the "Sun" journalists could have offered the "glum-faced baboon "(aren,t baboons always glum-faced)they felt sorry for a job as a leader writer on their paper !
For more info about media lies about the DPRK please read
Thursday, 1 December 2011
AT LEAST 2 MILLION STRIKE ACROSS BRITAIN ON NOVEMBER 30 2011
SEE PHOTO REPORTS OF THE DAY
London 1
Police arrests in Dalston
Newcastle on strike
Back in London, more arrest in evening near Piccadilly after protestors smashed their way into offices of highest paid CEO and occupied the rooftop
Sheffield on strike
Undercover cops spotted at N30
Fortress London....Trafalgar squaure, N30, police cordons
Birmingham strike
PCS picket line photos
More photos from PCS union
DEMOTIX STREETWIRE PHOTOS
London 1
Police arrests in Dalston
Newcastle on strike
Back in London, more arrest in evening near Piccadilly after protestors smashed their way into offices of highest paid CEO and occupied the rooftop
Sheffield on strike
Undercover cops spotted at N30
Fortress London....Trafalgar squaure, N30, police cordons
Birmingham strike
PCS picket line photos
More photos from PCS union
DEMOTIX STREETWIRE PHOTOS
Friday, 11 November 2011
NOV 9 Students Electricians and Cabbies take the streets
An early morning start, at 7am. Rank-and-file electricians involved in a pay dispute ("sparks"), students, and their supporters took the streets outside the Pinnacle building site in the City before marching to the Cannon St construction site. They refused to be stopped by police and pushed through police lines to reach their destination [video] then leaving there just after 9am onto their stated tour of the construction industry in the area including a visit to the Occupied London camp at St Paul's. Earlier speakers urged people to join the students in marching later in the day.
A large student demonstration started at University of London student union and set off towards the City. With up to 15,000 people demonstrating at various parts of London, the day was characterised by a heavy intimidatory police presence at every intersection already tooled up in riot gear and shields, with snatch squads and moving kettles. There was an attempt made to occupy Trafalgar Square using pop up tents which was quickly cleared and 12 arrests made. The student march ended up near Moorgate station surrounded by lines of riot police that let people out slowly, the aim seemed to frustrate and minimise the visibility of the political message. By the end of the day 20 people had been arrested, a few of whom are still in cells.
Source London Indymedia
Full Photo reports
A large student demonstration started at University of London student union and set off towards the City. With up to 15,000 people demonstrating at various parts of London, the day was characterised by a heavy intimidatory police presence at every intersection already tooled up in riot gear and shields, with snatch squads and moving kettles. There was an attempt made to occupy Trafalgar Square using pop up tents which was quickly cleared and 12 arrests made. The student march ended up near Moorgate station surrounded by lines of riot police that let people out slowly, the aim seemed to frustrate and minimise the visibility of the political message. By the end of the day 20 people had been arrested, a few of whom are still in cells.
Source London Indymedia
Full Photo reports
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
FASCIST UK COPS THROWING PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR HOMES ONTO THE STREETS
Dale Farm Eviction Underway
Published: October 19, 2011 08:07 by 7am | Share
Tagged as: dale_farm eviction social_struggles solidarity
Neighbourhoods:
Early this morning riot police and bailiffs stormed the Dale Farm community in a dawn raid. Police violated the court order and used sledgehammers to smash through the walls of a fully legal plot on the site in order to force entry. Human rights observers reported several injuries of residents and supporters from police action as they forced their way onto site. Police have used tasers on those protesting the eviction.
Photos
More
For continued updates
Dale Farm Solidarity website
Published: October 19, 2011 08:07 by 7am | Share
Tagged as: dale_farm eviction social_struggles solidarity
Neighbourhoods:
Early this morning riot police and bailiffs stormed the Dale Farm community in a dawn raid. Police violated the court order and used sledgehammers to smash through the walls of a fully legal plot on the site in order to force entry. Human rights observers reported several injuries of residents and supporters from police action as they forced their way onto site. Police have used tasers on those protesting the eviction.
Photos
More
For continued updates
Dale Farm Solidarity website
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
AUCPB ON THE AUGUST 2011 RIOTS IN LONDON
GREEK SCENARIO IN ENGLAND
09.08.2011 19:45
Young people seeking justice in England, in arson, broken shop windows and burned cars
For several consecutive days in a row, the UK shook with civil unrest, which in the bourgeois media is traditionally referred to as "disturbances". Beginning in the outlying districts of London, they overwhelmed mega-cities of Birmingham and Liverpool. Onto the streets of UK cities poured young people - children of "dysfunctional" working-class suburbs, migrant workers.
The detonator of the people's wrath was the killing by police of 29 year old Mark Duggan. Outraged by the arbitrariness of the police, the residents of London's Tottenham on August 6th went to the streets to demand "justice" and laid siege to a police station. Under the same slogan - the restoration of justice - unfolded events at the Manege Square in Moscow, and almost the same (with the murder by police officers of a 15-year-old) began a wave of unrest by anarchist youth in Athens in 2009.
Protesters threw stones and petrol bombs at two police cars and burned several civilian cars, smashed shops ... if this was the only thing, the British authorities could have easily convinced the world community that Saturday's performance was a one-off and "taken all measures to prevent this happening again"- these words usually end the stories of bourgeois reporters about the events of this kind.
But the unrest quickly broke out in other areas of the city: Enfield, Croydon, Clapham, Peckham, etc. All of these – are so-called slums, but in Russian - working-class suburbs, with their perpetual poverty and despair. It is against poverty, slave labour, lack of prospects - better to say, against all the conditions of their life – that the young Englishmen rebelled, challenging the very neo-liberal model. Their anger was wrongly directed at the material symbols of capitalist reality - in the troubled areas, shops and bookmakers were looted, restaurants windows broken, cars set ablaze. This indicates the absence in the ranks of the rebels, of an organizing force that can send a spontaneous protest of the masses into the mainstream conscious struggle for the abolition of capitalism. Such, is meanwhile what replaces resentment, accumulated over years of living under draconian laws of capitalist society. Police use it to discredit the protesters, portraying them as hooligans and looters. In addition, this approach allows to justify in the eyes of the public the use of harsh methods of suppressing riots. According to press reports, from the beginning of mass demonstrations in London arrested 220 people, 25 of whom are accused of looting and riots. Only the first two days of clashes injured 11 people and 26 police officers. (The number was a lot higher after -3000 approx- FB)
The gulf between workers and the elite of the oldest capitalist country of Europe was exposed: while the British youth and adolescents, crushed by poverty, terrorized by the police authorities, were fighting on the streets of their cities, much of the country's leadership, it turns out was holidaying abroad. Cold cynicism emanates from reports that "the British prime minister, David Cameron interrupted his vacation in Italy, where he was resting with his family and returned to the country because of the riots," "from overseas" was ready to return, and the Mayor of London on "holiday in Switzerland," and quickly returned to Britain, Interior Minister Theresa May. Of course, at the first sign of really serious political action by the people, all the ministers and other officials of the bourgeois government get ready to fly abroad to their "friends" and fellows in imperialist camp, and from there, direct the suppression of popular uprisings. Equally characteristic of this situation is in Russia, where the Governor (i.e, the governor of the Kaliningrad region, Georgy Boos), just from seeing posters demanding his resignation, climbed on board his "awaiting" aircraft and flew to Moscow under the protection of a handful of same looters themselves having given themselves supreme authority.
As one of the causes of unrest in the UK is called what we decide to call ethnic strife - claiming that the British "can not afford to create a multicultural society." But is it really what the British elite are aiming for? After all, the notorious "multiculturalism" boils down ultimately to the neglect of national cultural traditions and replacing them with thre implanted in society so-called "ideology of consumerism." We should not forget that the introduction of discord between workers of different nationalities – is the trump card of the bourgeoisie in its struggle for the extension of its rule. And it is inter-ethnic clashes and hostility that benefit the bourgeoisie of all nationalities because its helps keep workers in a state of fear and disunity.
In the ranks of protesting British youth, as you might guess, were a lot of provocateurs, either for their own selfish goals (evidenced, for example, in robberies of jewellery stores), or acting on orders from the police. However, it is not worth reducing what happened to the actions of some provocative groups. Of course, the root cause of riots that swept Britain in those days is capitalism. It is capitalism that creates poverty of workers and screaming luxury of the exploiters, unemployment and high prices, lawlessness and violence over millions of people, generated by the permissiveness of a tiny number of elite.
What we witnessed on those days in England were the echoes of massive class struggles, that swept continental Europe and several U.S. states. For years, workers in Greece have been organizing strikes and protest marches, fighting against the plans of the bourgeoisie to escape from the crisis of their fortunes at the expense of the people. Students and unemployed in Madrid on the streets, Chilean youth fighting with police, including school and college students, for free education. Yes, and in the UK the current unrest is not the first. In winter, there were the massive student demonstrations against the commercialization of education within the framework of the well-known in Russia, "Bologna process". Then, too, that was not without smashed up cars, but the British young people showed their solidarity and determination to succeed. It would be nice, if our own suffering students with their well-known apolitism, remembered the experience of their overseas peers – because the commercialization process and the final destruction of Russian education is gaining momentum.
The fact that for millions of Soviet people there was natural - free education, free high-quality and the same medical care, permanent employment, lower prices - under capitalism, these becomes the subject of a fierce struggle, often with fatalities. At any moment, that entire rotten facade concealing its exploitative system, touting itself as a "democracy" with "human rights" - may turn out, and turns out, as the imperialist predator bearing its teeth: police terror, fascist dictatorship, and military action. But working people who are forced to literally tear from the bourgeoisie its right to exist, is gaining invaluable experience of class struggle and the understanding that cannot be a peaceful way to solve the existing problems and that the only way to get rid of them - once and for all, is to put an end to capitalism.
The August riots that took place on British soil, signed the sentence of the imperialist "neoliberal model". The discontent of working people and young people at own situation and what is happening in the country, the anger against the fattening of the elites, sucking the juices from the people, is growing close to a critical point. This means that the early collapse of imperialism and the seizure of power by the working class is inevitable.
E. Fatyanova, AUCPB
Photo report
09.08.2011 19:45
Young people seeking justice in England, in arson, broken shop windows and burned cars
For several consecutive days in a row, the UK shook with civil unrest, which in the bourgeois media is traditionally referred to as "disturbances". Beginning in the outlying districts of London, they overwhelmed mega-cities of Birmingham and Liverpool. Onto the streets of UK cities poured young people - children of "dysfunctional" working-class suburbs, migrant workers.
The detonator of the people's wrath was the killing by police of 29 year old Mark Duggan. Outraged by the arbitrariness of the police, the residents of London's Tottenham on August 6th went to the streets to demand "justice" and laid siege to a police station. Under the same slogan - the restoration of justice - unfolded events at the Manege Square in Moscow, and almost the same (with the murder by police officers of a 15-year-old) began a wave of unrest by anarchist youth in Athens in 2009.
Protesters threw stones and petrol bombs at two police cars and burned several civilian cars, smashed shops ... if this was the only thing, the British authorities could have easily convinced the world community that Saturday's performance was a one-off and "taken all measures to prevent this happening again"- these words usually end the stories of bourgeois reporters about the events of this kind.
But the unrest quickly broke out in other areas of the city: Enfield, Croydon, Clapham, Peckham, etc. All of these – are so-called slums, but in Russian - working-class suburbs, with their perpetual poverty and despair. It is against poverty, slave labour, lack of prospects - better to say, against all the conditions of their life – that the young Englishmen rebelled, challenging the very neo-liberal model. Their anger was wrongly directed at the material symbols of capitalist reality - in the troubled areas, shops and bookmakers were looted, restaurants windows broken, cars set ablaze. This indicates the absence in the ranks of the rebels, of an organizing force that can send a spontaneous protest of the masses into the mainstream conscious struggle for the abolition of capitalism. Such, is meanwhile what replaces resentment, accumulated over years of living under draconian laws of capitalist society. Police use it to discredit the protesters, portraying them as hooligans and looters. In addition, this approach allows to justify in the eyes of the public the use of harsh methods of suppressing riots. According to press reports, from the beginning of mass demonstrations in London arrested 220 people, 25 of whom are accused of looting and riots. Only the first two days of clashes injured 11 people and 26 police officers. (The number was a lot higher after -3000 approx- FB)
The gulf between workers and the elite of the oldest capitalist country of Europe was exposed: while the British youth and adolescents, crushed by poverty, terrorized by the police authorities, were fighting on the streets of their cities, much of the country's leadership, it turns out was holidaying abroad. Cold cynicism emanates from reports that "the British prime minister, David Cameron interrupted his vacation in Italy, where he was resting with his family and returned to the country because of the riots," "from overseas" was ready to return, and the Mayor of London on "holiday in Switzerland," and quickly returned to Britain, Interior Minister Theresa May. Of course, at the first sign of really serious political action by the people, all the ministers and other officials of the bourgeois government get ready to fly abroad to their "friends" and fellows in imperialist camp, and from there, direct the suppression of popular uprisings. Equally characteristic of this situation is in Russia, where the Governor (i.e, the governor of the Kaliningrad region, Georgy Boos), just from seeing posters demanding his resignation, climbed on board his "awaiting" aircraft and flew to Moscow under the protection of a handful of same looters themselves having given themselves supreme authority.
As one of the causes of unrest in the UK is called what we decide to call ethnic strife - claiming that the British "can not afford to create a multicultural society." But is it really what the British elite are aiming for? After all, the notorious "multiculturalism" boils down ultimately to the neglect of national cultural traditions and replacing them with thre implanted in society so-called "ideology of consumerism." We should not forget that the introduction of discord between workers of different nationalities – is the trump card of the bourgeoisie in its struggle for the extension of its rule. And it is inter-ethnic clashes and hostility that benefit the bourgeoisie of all nationalities because its helps keep workers in a state of fear and disunity.
In the ranks of protesting British youth, as you might guess, were a lot of provocateurs, either for their own selfish goals (evidenced, for example, in robberies of jewellery stores), or acting on orders from the police. However, it is not worth reducing what happened to the actions of some provocative groups. Of course, the root cause of riots that swept Britain in those days is capitalism. It is capitalism that creates poverty of workers and screaming luxury of the exploiters, unemployment and high prices, lawlessness and violence over millions of people, generated by the permissiveness of a tiny number of elite.
What we witnessed on those days in England were the echoes of massive class struggles, that swept continental Europe and several U.S. states. For years, workers in Greece have been organizing strikes and protest marches, fighting against the plans of the bourgeoisie to escape from the crisis of their fortunes at the expense of the people. Students and unemployed in Madrid on the streets, Chilean youth fighting with police, including school and college students, for free education. Yes, and in the UK the current unrest is not the first. In winter, there were the massive student demonstrations against the commercialization of education within the framework of the well-known in Russia, "Bologna process". Then, too, that was not without smashed up cars, but the British young people showed their solidarity and determination to succeed. It would be nice, if our own suffering students with their well-known apolitism, remembered the experience of their overseas peers – because the commercialization process and the final destruction of Russian education is gaining momentum.
The fact that for millions of Soviet people there was natural - free education, free high-quality and the same medical care, permanent employment, lower prices - under capitalism, these becomes the subject of a fierce struggle, often with fatalities. At any moment, that entire rotten facade concealing its exploitative system, touting itself as a "democracy" with "human rights" - may turn out, and turns out, as the imperialist predator bearing its teeth: police terror, fascist dictatorship, and military action. But working people who are forced to literally tear from the bourgeoisie its right to exist, is gaining invaluable experience of class struggle and the understanding that cannot be a peaceful way to solve the existing problems and that the only way to get rid of them - once and for all, is to put an end to capitalism.
The August riots that took place on British soil, signed the sentence of the imperialist "neoliberal model". The discontent of working people and young people at own situation and what is happening in the country, the anger against the fattening of the elites, sucking the juices from the people, is growing close to a critical point. This means that the early collapse of imperialism and the seizure of power by the working class is inevitable.
E. Fatyanova, AUCPB
Photo report
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
No to Britain's participation in "Ulji Freedom Guardian "-ASSPUK ,JISGE and UK KFA
We have just learnt ,with shock and anger , the Britain is participating in the so-called "Ulji Freedom Guardian " war exercises of the US imperialists and south Korean puppets as part of the so called "UN command forces " in south Korea. We , the UK Korean Friendship Association, the Association for the Study of Songun Politics of the UK and the Juche Idea Study Group, in a joint statement strongly denounce this.
The UFG exercises are nothing but war exercises aimed at a dry-run at invading the DPRK and destroying its socialist system. The so-called "UN command " in south Korea is a ghost like structure which simply aims at covering up US imperialist aggression in south Korea.
This gives an even more sinister complexion to the war exercises as the revival of the moribund "UN command " is an attempt to create 'multi-national force' as in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya . It is a disgrace that Britain is being reduced to a mere satellite state of US imperialism . Is the UK government planning to repeat the shameful past when Britain along with other satellite states of US imperialism sent troops to murder and oppress the Korean people and prevent the reunification of Korea.
We demand that Britain immediately withdraws its forces from these exercises and reiterate that the whole UFG exercise must be halted and cancelled immediately,
ASSPUK
JISGE
UK KFA
Monday, 8 August 2011
RIOTS IN LONDON
Underlying social tension, poverty, unemployment, austerity....police violence....the recipe needed to spark to ignite the flames sporadic rioting, that spread to others part of London following the cops' shooting and killing of a London resident.
FUCK THE LAW, NOT THE POOR
SMASH THE CAPITALIST STATE
Revolution!
Smash Capitalism!
See photos...(courtesy of Demotix)
Youtube
No doubt this action will continue
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
SUCCESSFUL SONGUN MEETING IN LONDON
ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF SONGUN POLITICS UK
email juche007@yahoo.co.uk
London 26th of July Juche 100(2011)
Today the ASSPUK and JISGE issued a joint statement on the 58th anniversary of the victory in the Fatherland Liberation war of the Korean people against the US imperialist aggressors. July 27th is the second day of liberation for the Korean people . Not only for the Korean people but for Juche idea followers, Songun idea followers and anti-imperialist fighters the world over ,from Bogota to Belfast.
The Fatherland Liberation War of the Korean was an unequal battle as the US imperialists threw in huge armed forces and the troops of 15 of their satellite countries as well the Japanese militarists . The US imperialists used barbaric methods of warfare exceeding those of the Hitlerlite nazis. They used germ and chemical warfare and carried out horrendous massacres. All these failed to subdue the Korean people who under the wise leadership of the great revolutionary leader Marshal Kim Il Sung achieved a great victory.
The forces of the heroic KPA defeated the so called "Invincible US 24th Divsion", taking its commander General Dean prisoner. Dean was the first US general to be captured by an opposing side. The KPA turned Height 1211 into a hill of heartbreak for the US imperialist aggressors.
The KPA and Korean people fought in the revolutionary spirit of self reliance. The great revolutionary leader Marshal Kim IL Sung stated“We must solve our problems no matter who is helping us and what help we get......Victory must be won by our strength”
"
It was their efforts that were primary in defeating the US imperialist aggressors. The US imperialists lost over : 1,567,128 men including 405,498 US soldiers, 1,130,965 south Korean puppet troops, and 30,665 soldiers of their satellite states were killed, wounded or captured; 12,224 airplanes including "air fortress B-29" were downed, damaged or captured, 7,695 guns, 3,255 233 tanks and armoured cars were lost; and 564 warships and vessels including the heavy cruiser Baltimore and the flagship of the Seventh Fleet Missouri were sunk or damaged. The loss suffered by the US imperialists was nearly 2.3 times greater than what they had suffered in the four years of the Pacific War during World War II.
The great revolutionary leader Marshal Kim Il Sung said
In this great struggle our people fought determinedly as one in
mind under the correct leadership of the party and government and thereby withstood the harsh trials of war honourably and won a historic victory inflicting an ignominious defeat on US imperialism and its running dogs"
In the Fatherland Liberation War commanded by the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung ,the reactionary bourgeois military theory was smashed by the Juche- orientated revolutionary military strategy and theory. It was a burning crucible of Songun. The idea of army-people unity was fully displayed during the war . The Fatherland Liberation War ended in victory due to the Juche orientated military tactics and Songun revolutionary leadership of the great leader supreme commander Marshal Kim Il Sung. The victory inspired national liberation and revolutionary movements all over the world and started US imperialism on its decline.
Today under the command of the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il the KPA is many times stronger than it was in the 1950s and the KPA and Korean people are determined to defend the sovereignty of the DPRK and prevent the US imperialist from launching a second Korean war.
ASSPUK
JISGE
email juche007@yahoo.co.uk
London 26th of July Juche 100(2011)
Today the ASSPUK and JISGE issued a joint statement on the 58th anniversary of the victory in the Fatherland Liberation war of the Korean people against the US imperialist aggressors. July 27th is the second day of liberation for the Korean people . Not only for the Korean people but for Juche idea followers, Songun idea followers and anti-imperialist fighters the world over ,from Bogota to Belfast.
The Fatherland Liberation War of the Korean was an unequal battle as the US imperialists threw in huge armed forces and the troops of 15 of their satellite countries as well the Japanese militarists . The US imperialists used barbaric methods of warfare exceeding those of the Hitlerlite nazis. They used germ and chemical warfare and carried out horrendous massacres. All these failed to subdue the Korean people who under the wise leadership of the great revolutionary leader Marshal Kim Il Sung achieved a great victory.
The forces of the heroic KPA defeated the so called "Invincible US 24th Divsion", taking its commander General Dean prisoner. Dean was the first US general to be captured by an opposing side. The KPA turned Height 1211 into a hill of heartbreak for the US imperialist aggressors.
The KPA and Korean people fought in the revolutionary spirit of self reliance. The great revolutionary leader Marshal Kim IL Sung stated“We must solve our problems no matter who is helping us and what help we get......Victory must be won by our strength”
"
It was their efforts that were primary in defeating the US imperialist aggressors. The US imperialists lost over : 1,567,128 men including 405,498 US soldiers, 1,130,965 south Korean puppet troops, and 30,665 soldiers of their satellite states were killed, wounded or captured; 12,224 airplanes including "air fortress B-29" were downed, damaged or captured, 7,695 guns, 3,255 233 tanks and armoured cars were lost; and 564 warships and vessels including the heavy cruiser Baltimore and the flagship of the Seventh Fleet Missouri were sunk or damaged. The loss suffered by the US imperialists was nearly 2.3 times greater than what they had suffered in the four years of the Pacific War during World War II.
The great revolutionary leader Marshal Kim Il Sung said
In this great struggle our people fought determinedly as one in
mind under the correct leadership of the party and government and thereby withstood the harsh trials of war honourably and won a historic victory inflicting an ignominious defeat on US imperialism and its running dogs"
In the Fatherland Liberation War commanded by the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung ,the reactionary bourgeois military theory was smashed by the Juche- orientated revolutionary military strategy and theory. It was a burning crucible of Songun. The idea of army-people unity was fully displayed during the war . The Fatherland Liberation War ended in victory due to the Juche orientated military tactics and Songun revolutionary leadership of the great leader supreme commander Marshal Kim Il Sung. The victory inspired national liberation and revolutionary movements all over the world and started US imperialism on its decline.
Today under the command of the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il the KPA is many times stronger than it was in the 1950s and the KPA and Korean people are determined to defend the sovereignty of the DPRK and prevent the US imperialist from launching a second Korean war.
ASSPUK
JISGE
Friday, 1 July 2011
J30 Public sector strike hits across Britain
Between half a million and 750,000 public sector workers staged a 24-hour strike on Thursday against the coalition government’s attack on their pension scheme. The Conservative-Liberal Democrat government intends to raise the state pension age, increase employee contributions and link pension values to the generally lower consumer prices index (CPI) rather than the retail prices index (RPI).
reports
J30 1
DEMOTIX PHOTO REPORTS
J30 STRIKE WEBSITE
J30 strike: stop search and arrest pics
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Successful UK KFA AGM in London
Successful KFA Annual General Meeting
Report
The annual general meeting of the UK KFA and also a meeting to mark the month of solidarity with the Korean people and 47th anniversary of the start of work of the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il at the CC of the WPK.
The meeting received greetings from International KFA president Alejandro Cao Benos , from Staffordshire KFA and from Councillor Carl Clark of Breckland Council.
Alejandro Cao De Benos said in his message:
Dear Comrades and friends,
I wish the UK-KFA national meeting will be successful and take measures to
serve as a launching platform for the KFA International Meeting to be held
in November in London , commemorating the 100th Birth Anniversary of
President Kim Il Sung.
Our recent opening of KFA branches in Venezuela , Argentina , New Zealand
and Bangladesh show once again the interest in the DPRK from the
progressive people's worldwide and further enhances the honor of our
organization as the biggest international entity supporting the country
and our Great Leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. For this reason to say
'I am member of the KFA' in Pyongyang , it means a honor of being part of
the Korean family and also a responsibility to proactively support and
defend our socialist system and way of life.
KFA UK was one of the very first branches that we established and since our very beginnings has been growing constantly due to your sincere
effort.
I would like to thanks our KFA officials in UK that have been working on a
daily basis and encourage everyone to do more work in the future to bring
greater knowledge about the DPRK to the world's people.
Looking forward to meet you and continue together our work,
Alejandro Cao de Benos
President of the KFA
=========================
Message from
STAFFORDSHIRE BRANCH OF THE KOREAN FRIENDSHIP ASSOICATION ( UK )
Dear Friends,
May I on behalf on the Staffordshire KFA sincerely wish everybody involved in the national KFA AGM great success in their important and vital tasks in building and consolidating the KFA throughout the UK . Although there were sectarian and opportunist elements who wish to destroy the KFA as a campaigning organisation on behalf of the Korean people, these individuals and their issues have been resolved by the mandate of the vast majority of the KFA (UK) membership. We as a solidarity and friendship body will achieve further success in the run up to the Glorious 100th Birth Anniversary of the Great President KIM IL SUNG, the Sun of Humanity.
KOREA IS ONE!!
yours fraternally
Shaun Pickford
Staffordshire KFA
==== =================
Mesasge from:
Councillor Carl Clark said in his message.
The portrayal of the DPRK by the western media is for one aim only, that is to wipe all the good things that are going on in the DPRK there is a rich culture which hopefully i will be privelliged to see in October, i applaud the tenacity of the DPRK in standing up against the western powers and the bullying by the U.S and Israel to try and gain control of your valuable resources
which they are running out of.
======================
The KFA Official Delegate opened the meeting . He said that the DPRK still
faced an intense threat from US imperialism and world imperialism and the south Korean puppets . The anti DPRK propaganda campaign continued unabated and had reached new levels . June 15 will be the 11th anniversary of the historic north -south declaration but the Lee Myung Bak puppets were trampling on the declaration . They had slandered the DPRK and gone to the extreme length of violently assailing the supreme dignity of the DPRK. The south Korean puppets had arrested pro reunification patriots such as the Rev Han. June 25th will be the start of the the month of solidarity with the Korean people and the anniversary of the provocation of the Korean (Fatherland Liberation War ) War by the US imperialists.
On a positive note , he said , June 19th will be the 47th anniversary of the start of the work of the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il at the central committee of the Workers' Party of Korea . Thus the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il has led the Korean revolution for nearly 5 decades. All the achievements of socialist Korea are associated with the leadership of the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il.
Next April 2012 will be the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung Sun of Juche . UK KFA must organise significant celebrations of this event and must organise a preparatory committee if others fail to do so. UK KFA will also host the KFA international meeting in November.
The Organisation secretary of UK KFA gave a report of the organisational work of UK KFA. He said many achievements had been made such as organising pickets and the succesful book exhibition, He said that we must focus on organising the KFA international meeting in November and on the preparation for the 100th birth anniversary of the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung in April 2012.
Discussion was held on future activities of the UK KFA. It was stressed that a key role must to combat media disinformation.
A presentaton on the US provocation of the Korean War . The speaker said that it was clear that the US provoked the Korean War because John Foster Dulles visited south Korea only 5 days before the start of the war. The US saw the Korean War as the "rollback of communism" . They evacuated wives and children of US personnel only hours before the war started. The US imperialists killed 1,200,000 Koreans in the DPRK and used biological warfare.
Mention was made of the book "I fought in Korea " by Captain Julian Tunstall as well the reporting of Alan Winnington and Wilfrid Burchett.
Meeting concluded at 7pm
Report
The annual general meeting of the UK KFA and also a meeting to mark the month of solidarity with the Korean people and 47th anniversary of the start of work of the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il at the CC of the WPK.
The meeting received greetings from International KFA president Alejandro Cao Benos , from Staffordshire KFA and from Councillor Carl Clark of Breckland Council.
Alejandro Cao De Benos said in his message:
Dear Comrades and friends,
I wish the UK-KFA national meeting will be successful and take measures to
serve as a launching platform for the KFA International Meeting to be held
in November in London , commemorating the 100th Birth Anniversary of
President Kim Il Sung.
Our recent opening of KFA branches in Venezuela , Argentina , New Zealand
and Bangladesh show once again the interest in the DPRK from the
progressive people's worldwide and further enhances the honor of our
organization as the biggest international entity supporting the country
and our Great Leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. For this reason to say
'I am member of the KFA' in Pyongyang , it means a honor of being part of
the Korean family and also a responsibility to proactively support and
defend our socialist system and way of life.
KFA UK was one of the very first branches that we established and since our very beginnings has been growing constantly due to your sincere
effort.
I would like to thanks our KFA officials in UK that have been working on a
daily basis and encourage everyone to do more work in the future to bring
greater knowledge about the DPRK to the world's people.
Looking forward to meet you and continue together our work,
Alejandro Cao de Benos
President of the KFA
=========================
Message from
STAFFORDSHIRE BRANCH OF THE KOREAN FRIENDSHIP ASSOICATION ( UK )
Dear Friends,
May I on behalf on the Staffordshire KFA sincerely wish everybody involved in the national KFA AGM great success in their important and vital tasks in building and consolidating the KFA throughout the UK . Although there were sectarian and opportunist elements who wish to destroy the KFA as a campaigning organisation on behalf of the Korean people, these individuals and their issues have been resolved by the mandate of the vast majority of the KFA (UK) membership. We as a solidarity and friendship body will achieve further success in the run up to the Glorious 100th Birth Anniversary of the Great President KIM IL SUNG, the Sun of Humanity.
KOREA IS ONE!!
yours fraternally
Shaun Pickford
Staffordshire KFA
==== =================
Mesasge from:
Councillor Carl Clark said in his message.
The portrayal of the DPRK by the western media is for one aim only, that is to wipe all the good things that are going on in the DPRK there is a rich culture which hopefully i will be privelliged to see in October, i applaud the tenacity of the DPRK in standing up against the western powers and the bullying by the U.S and Israel to try and gain control of your valuable resources
which they are running out of.
======================
The KFA Official Delegate opened the meeting . He said that the DPRK still
faced an intense threat from US imperialism and world imperialism and the south Korean puppets . The anti DPRK propaganda campaign continued unabated and had reached new levels . June 15 will be the 11th anniversary of the historic north -south declaration but the Lee Myung Bak puppets were trampling on the declaration . They had slandered the DPRK and gone to the extreme length of violently assailing the supreme dignity of the DPRK. The south Korean puppets had arrested pro reunification patriots such as the Rev Han. June 25th will be the start of the the month of solidarity with the Korean people and the anniversary of the provocation of the Korean (Fatherland Liberation War ) War by the US imperialists.
On a positive note , he said , June 19th will be the 47th anniversary of the start of the work of the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il at the central committee of the Workers' Party of Korea . Thus the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il has led the Korean revolution for nearly 5 decades. All the achievements of socialist Korea are associated with the leadership of the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il.
Next April 2012 will be the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung Sun of Juche . UK KFA must organise significant celebrations of this event and must organise a preparatory committee if others fail to do so. UK KFA will also host the KFA international meeting in November.
The Organisation secretary of UK KFA gave a report of the organisational work of UK KFA. He said many achievements had been made such as organising pickets and the succesful book exhibition, He said that we must focus on organising the KFA international meeting in November and on the preparation for the 100th birth anniversary of the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung in April 2012.
Discussion was held on future activities of the UK KFA. It was stressed that a key role must to combat media disinformation.
A presentaton on the US provocation of the Korean War . The speaker said that it was clear that the US provoked the Korean War because John Foster Dulles visited south Korea only 5 days before the start of the war. The US saw the Korean War as the "rollback of communism" . They evacuated wives and children of US personnel only hours before the war started. The US imperialists killed 1,200,000 Koreans in the DPRK and used biological warfare.
Mention was made of the book "I fought in Korea " by Captain Julian Tunstall as well the reporting of Alan Winnington and Wilfrid Burchett.
Meeting concluded at 7pm
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
9 MAY SOVIET VICTORY DAY CEREMONY IN LONDON
Wreath Laying at Soviet War memorial in London
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Nazi German invasion of the USSR on 22 June 1941 and the 66th anniversary of the Soviet and allied Victory over Fascism in WWII. An Act of Remembrance took place at 11am at the Soviet War Memorial.
Embassy officials from republics of the ex-USSR, war veteran organisations and representatives of the Stalin Society, CPGB ML, NCP, CPB and others laid wreaths at the Soviet War Memorial. Speeches were made and followed by refreshments and a film showing of "Hurricanes to Murmansk", a one-hour documentary organised by the Soviet Memorial Trust Fund in co-operation with the Imperial War Museum tookplace after the ceremony.
============================
Thursday, 5 May 2011
AUCPB CLASS STRUGGLE UK 6 MAY
70% of courses cut- London Metropolitan University Occupied
The Graduate Centre of Holloway Road Campus is currently occupied by students in protest against Vice- Chancellor Malcolm Gillies’ decision to axe 70% of courses- including Performing Arts, Philosophy and History. Gillies’ decision came as a shock a couple of weeks ago.
A demonstration has been called by the National Union of Teachers and the University College Union in support of the occupation, which will take place at 12.30pm, tomorrow (Thursday 5th May) outside the occupation in the Tower Building , Holloway Road.
None of the university teaching staff was consulted about the cuts. A majority of the excellent, dedicated tutors are under imminent threat of losing their jobs. Students already enrolled on the courses face an uncertain future. There have been rumours about transfers to other universities with which WE DO NOT AGREE. This statement is our call for help to save our university, our future and our dreams: to keep London Metropolitan University open to everyone, regardless of their social class, wealth and chosen subject of study. The purpose of this occupation is to present the Vice-Chancellor with our demands:
THE DEMANDS:
1) Meeting with Vice- Chancellor
2) Transparent process and direct communication
3) University management goes back to HEFCE to renegotiate repayment terms
4) Vice- Chancellor to accept proposals put forward by staff in HALE
5) University retracts decision of cuts of ALL courses
6) Students on existing courses which are being deleted, WILL NOT BE TRANSFERRED.
7) Free access IN and OUT of the Occupation
8) No student is victimized following action taken to occupy the space.
There is no other university which offers such a wide range of courses as London Metropolitan. We do not want to be transferred. We are proud to be London Met. Help us save our university and our future.
Claire Locke : Student Union President Elect
Agnes Panasiuk, Daniel Sado: Performing Arts students
Contact: Claire Locke
Mobile: 07957 540012
London Met Student Union President
Email: wearelondonmet@gmail.com
Website: www.wearelondonmet.wordpress.com
wearelondonmet
e-mail: wearelondonmet@gmail.com
Homepage: wearelondonmet@gmail.com
Indymedia
========================================
Connexions Strike Birmingham
On a sunny May afternoon on Broad Street, Birmingham, Connexions workers walked out on strike. There were pickets outside the Connexions offices in Kingsheath, Northfield and Broad St. At around 2pm they planned to unofficially march to a rally in the city centre.
This is the second time Connexions have taken industrial action to prevent Birmingham City Council hemorrhaging jobs. Since the last strike, Connexions Unison members feel that management and the Council are starting to moot ideas about how to reduce the risk to 34 posts, but they obviously need a lot more prompting. 300 posts have been lost through compulsory redundancies elsewhere in the Council this year. The situation in other parts of the country for Connexions workers is a lot worse. We can't expect any political saviours, it's down to people like us to make the difference.
It's good if you can wrong-foot the employer and take action when you realise posts and services may be at risk, before people start serving their notices - because by then, demoralisation can creep in amongst staff. It would also be harder for the employer to back down and it would be more of a symbolic protest.
The lesson is, if you hit the ground running: agitate, organise, build support with the wider anti-cuts movement, take action, this will put your workforce in a stronger position to resist government attacks. It can also inspire others not to give up hope, but to fight back.
What you can do:
i) Draw people's attention to the struggle with the Connexions leaflets and petition, write to Councillors and the local press letters pages
ii) Use Connexions actions to inspire others
ii) Join future pickets and events, people are very welcome - bring colleagues, friends, young people.
Solidarity Forever
Source
================================
Hundreds march through Cambridge against cuts.
Cameraboy | 03.05.2011 17:08 | Public sector cuts | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | Cambridge
On Saturday April 30th 2011, to mark the Mayday tradition of working class action, and in response to the latest round of public sector cuts, several hundred people gathered in Cambridge Market Square to to make it known that they don't agree with Clegg and Cameron's 'necessary' funding cuts.
The occasion was also marked and celebrated by several musicians and poets performing for all gathered (I don't know all the artists, please add in a comment if you do), including reknowned singer-songwriter Cosmo, who urged everyone (in sung form of course) to "Strike, Occupy Resist"!
This protest also came the day after we were informed that at least £30 million of public funds were spent on the wedding of one of our unelected royal figureheads, while in previous weeks Cambridgeshire County Council had cut funding for many projects and services by over £100 million.
In the circumstances, it should come as no surpise that there are many people who are feeling a bit peeved and are inspired enough to come out on the streets to make their dissent known.
The march did a single circuit of Cambridge city centre, arriving back at The Market Square in time for an hour of music, and before this many local representatives from the community spoke (further input/comments appreciated here), including an FBU rep, amongst many others.
There was a very broad cross section of the community present, including quite a few parents with their children, all of them concerned about the future their kids will face after our public sector has been so drastically (and forcibly) 'downsized' by a government intent on using the national deficit as an excuse to introduce 'market forces' into services where they really don't belong.
The police presence was very low key and there were no arrests.
Cameraboy
Homepage: http://www.cambridgeshireagainstthecuts.org.uk/
Photos
=================================
Staff strike over equalities cuts
Wednesday 04 May 2011
by John Millington in Birmingham
Printable
Email
Workers at the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s walked out today in protest at brutal budget cuts which would see regional offices close.
PCS members in Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, London and Manchester co-ordinated a one-hour strike in a bid to save the essential service.
The union also accused the government and commission chief Trevor Philips of wanting to slash staff numbers from 460 to 200 and disconnect an advice helpline at the same time it is paying consultants more than £1,000 a day.
Striking workers in Birmingham received support from passing drivers as they donned yellow union t-shirts and held up placards outside their office.
Workplace rep Laura Ingram said the action was the first of four strikes set for the next four weeks.
But she explained that the action was limited to an hour so as not to “disrupt” the service for vulnerable people facing discrimination.
“We’re here to display our dissatisfaction with the cuts,” she said.
“But any strike action will affect people who face discrimination, so we have to take that into account.”
PCS campaigns officer Zahid Nawaz said workers at the commission performed a vital role in promoting equality “at the grassroots and in communities across Britain.”
Mr Nawaz said the cuts made no sense in the context of the “big society” rhetoric from the coalition.
“Our service is about community empowerment. We cannot do that if we are just based the other side of the Thames.”
Regional adviser Helar Shahid, who works in Nottingham, claimed bosses told them “to pack up their desks” with no discussion on what would happen next.
“I am worried about losing my job,” he said.
A commission spokesperson said: “We regret that the union has decided to withdraw from this process after issuing a list of unrealistic demands which the commission simply cannot meet.
“The entire public sector is having to take difficult decisions and we are cannot give untenable guarantees to staff here.”
johnm@peoples-press.com
Morning Star
=======================
The Graduate Centre of Holloway Road Campus is currently occupied by students in protest against Vice- Chancellor Malcolm Gillies’ decision to axe 70% of courses- including Performing Arts, Philosophy and History. Gillies’ decision came as a shock a couple of weeks ago.
A demonstration has been called by the National Union of Teachers and the University College Union in support of the occupation, which will take place at 12.30pm, tomorrow (Thursday 5th May) outside the occupation in the Tower Building , Holloway Road.
None of the university teaching staff was consulted about the cuts. A majority of the excellent, dedicated tutors are under imminent threat of losing their jobs. Students already enrolled on the courses face an uncertain future. There have been rumours about transfers to other universities with which WE DO NOT AGREE. This statement is our call for help to save our university, our future and our dreams: to keep London Metropolitan University open to everyone, regardless of their social class, wealth and chosen subject of study. The purpose of this occupation is to present the Vice-Chancellor with our demands:
THE DEMANDS:
1) Meeting with Vice- Chancellor
2) Transparent process and direct communication
3) University management goes back to HEFCE to renegotiate repayment terms
4) Vice- Chancellor to accept proposals put forward by staff in HALE
5) University retracts decision of cuts of ALL courses
6) Students on existing courses which are being deleted, WILL NOT BE TRANSFERRED.
7) Free access IN and OUT of the Occupation
8) No student is victimized following action taken to occupy the space.
There is no other university which offers such a wide range of courses as London Metropolitan. We do not want to be transferred. We are proud to be London Met. Help us save our university and our future.
Claire Locke : Student Union President Elect
Agnes Panasiuk, Daniel Sado: Performing Arts students
Contact: Claire Locke
Mobile: 07957 540012
London Met Student Union President
Email: wearelondonmet@gmail.com
Website: www.wearelondonmet.wordpress.com
wearelondonmet
e-mail: wearelondonmet@gmail.com
Homepage: wearelondonmet@gmail.com
Indymedia
========================================
Connexions Strike Birmingham
On a sunny May afternoon on Broad Street, Birmingham, Connexions workers walked out on strike. There were pickets outside the Connexions offices in Kingsheath, Northfield and Broad St. At around 2pm they planned to unofficially march to a rally in the city centre.
This is the second time Connexions have taken industrial action to prevent Birmingham City Council hemorrhaging jobs. Since the last strike, Connexions Unison members feel that management and the Council are starting to moot ideas about how to reduce the risk to 34 posts, but they obviously need a lot more prompting. 300 posts have been lost through compulsory redundancies elsewhere in the Council this year. The situation in other parts of the country for Connexions workers is a lot worse. We can't expect any political saviours, it's down to people like us to make the difference.
It's good if you can wrong-foot the employer and take action when you realise posts and services may be at risk, before people start serving their notices - because by then, demoralisation can creep in amongst staff. It would also be harder for the employer to back down and it would be more of a symbolic protest.
The lesson is, if you hit the ground running: agitate, organise, build support with the wider anti-cuts movement, take action, this will put your workforce in a stronger position to resist government attacks. It can also inspire others not to give up hope, but to fight back.
What you can do:
i) Draw people's attention to the struggle with the Connexions leaflets and petition, write to Councillors and the local press letters pages
ii) Use Connexions actions to inspire others
ii) Join future pickets and events, people are very welcome - bring colleagues, friends, young people.
Solidarity Forever
Source
================================
Hundreds march through Cambridge against cuts.
Cameraboy | 03.05.2011 17:08 | Public sector cuts | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | Cambridge
On Saturday April 30th 2011, to mark the Mayday tradition of working class action, and in response to the latest round of public sector cuts, several hundred people gathered in Cambridge Market Square to to make it known that they don't agree with Clegg and Cameron's 'necessary' funding cuts.
The occasion was also marked and celebrated by several musicians and poets performing for all gathered (I don't know all the artists, please add in a comment if you do), including reknowned singer-songwriter Cosmo, who urged everyone (in sung form of course) to "Strike, Occupy Resist"!
This protest also came the day after we were informed that at least £30 million of public funds were spent on the wedding of one of our unelected royal figureheads, while in previous weeks Cambridgeshire County Council had cut funding for many projects and services by over £100 million.
In the circumstances, it should come as no surpise that there are many people who are feeling a bit peeved and are inspired enough to come out on the streets to make their dissent known.
The march did a single circuit of Cambridge city centre, arriving back at The Market Square in time for an hour of music, and before this many local representatives from the community spoke (further input/comments appreciated here), including an FBU rep, amongst many others.
There was a very broad cross section of the community present, including quite a few parents with their children, all of them concerned about the future their kids will face after our public sector has been so drastically (and forcibly) 'downsized' by a government intent on using the national deficit as an excuse to introduce 'market forces' into services where they really don't belong.
The police presence was very low key and there were no arrests.
Cameraboy
Homepage: http://www.cambridgeshireagainstthecuts.org.uk/
Photos
=================================
Staff strike over equalities cuts
Wednesday 04 May 2011
by John Millington in Birmingham
Printable
Workers at the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s walked out today in protest at brutal budget cuts which would see regional offices close.
PCS members in Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, London and Manchester co-ordinated a one-hour strike in a bid to save the essential service.
The union also accused the government and commission chief Trevor Philips of wanting to slash staff numbers from 460 to 200 and disconnect an advice helpline at the same time it is paying consultants more than £1,000 a day.
Striking workers in Birmingham received support from passing drivers as they donned yellow union t-shirts and held up placards outside their office.
Workplace rep Laura Ingram said the action was the first of four strikes set for the next four weeks.
But she explained that the action was limited to an hour so as not to “disrupt” the service for vulnerable people facing discrimination.
“We’re here to display our dissatisfaction with the cuts,” she said.
“But any strike action will affect people who face discrimination, so we have to take that into account.”
PCS campaigns officer Zahid Nawaz said workers at the commission performed a vital role in promoting equality “at the grassroots and in communities across Britain.”
Mr Nawaz said the cuts made no sense in the context of the “big society” rhetoric from the coalition.
“Our service is about community empowerment. We cannot do that if we are just based the other side of the Thames.”
Regional adviser Helar Shahid, who works in Nottingham, claimed bosses told them “to pack up their desks” with no discussion on what would happen next.
“I am worried about losing my job,” he said.
A commission spokesperson said: “We regret that the union has decided to withdraw from this process after issuing a list of unrealistic demands which the commission simply cannot meet.
“The entire public sector is having to take difficult decisions and we are cannot give untenable guarantees to staff here.”
johnm@peoples-press.com
Morning Star
=======================
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Friday, 29 April 2011
POLICE RAIDS ACROSS LONDON AND UK
London Social Centres raided, arrests at Rat Star
Published: April 28, 2011 08:24 by beautifulsouth |
Share
Tagged as: free_spaces
Neighbourhoods: camberwell clapton
Published by group: beautiful south
At least two London Social Centres raided this morning - police have broken into the Ratstar and Offmarket autonomous spaces. There are about 8 arrests reported from the Rat Star in Camberwell.
At least two London Social Centres raided : If you can make it down to the Ratstar (298 Camberwell Road) near Camberwell Green or Offmarket (121 Lower Clapton Road, Clapton, Hackney) it would still be good to have a presence there.
There are about 8 arrests reported from the Rat Star in CamberwelL
Raids and arrests have taken place in others cities across the UK
Indymedia
=========================================
Published: April 28, 2011 08:24 by beautifulsouth |
Share
Tagged as: free_spaces
Neighbourhoods: camberwell clapton
Published by group: beautiful south
At least two London Social Centres raided this morning - police have broken into the Ratstar and Offmarket autonomous spaces. There are about 8 arrests reported from the Rat Star in Camberwell.
At least two London Social Centres raided : If you can make it down to the Ratstar (298 Camberwell Road) near Camberwell Green or Offmarket (121 Lower Clapton Road, Clapton, Hackney) it would still be good to have a presence there.
There are about 8 arrests reported from the Rat Star in CamberwelL
Raids and arrests have taken place in others cities across the UK
Indymedia
=========================================
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