Author: admin

 On 11 July 1999, 300,000 full-time and 50,000 part-time workers went on indefinite strike in the Dooars, Terai and Darjeeling regions in West Bengal, where 104,000 hectares of tea gardens produce almost 22% of India’s tea. Production lost per day of strike action amounted to 500,000 kg of tea. Companies affected by the strike include … [Read more…]

This article is a somewhat expanded version of a paper I presented, on behalf of the Socialist Labour Party, to the May Day International Seminar in Brussels organised by the Workers’ Party of Belgium (PTB). Although the paper was presented on 3 May this year, the present version makes reference to certain events and data … [Read more…]

 The ‘Labour’ government, far from reducing the scope of privatisation introduced by Thatcher, is now busily engaged in expanding the policy even further. Specifically it has committed itself to privatisation of the building of schools and hospitals under a scheme known as the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). These proposals caused outbursts of helpless rage at … [Read more…]

  by Katharine McGavigan, Vice-President of the SLP in Scotland. At our recent congress of the Socialist Labour Party in Scotland, the following motion was unanimously passed:“This congress condemns the decision by a Turkish Court in June this year, to sentence Kurdish workers party leader Abdullah Ocalan to death by hanging and notes that the scale of … [Read more…]

 From the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998 until the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) prevented the transfer of power and the establishment of the institutions two weeks ago – a period of almost 16 months – the peace process has limped from one unionist induced crisis to another.This period of time could … [Read more…]

the spread of cancers and deformities since the Gulf WarBy Felicity Arbuthnot  Felicity Arbuthnot is a freelance journalist specialising in social and environmental issues with a special knowledge of Iraq. She is writing a book on the plight of those affected by the Gulf War.[This article is reproduced from theNew Internationalist(September 1999, issue devoted to the … [Read more…]

  Protests erupted on Tehran University around 7 July. Students in 18 Iranian cities were protesting within a week. They shouted “Down with dictators”, “Death to despots”. They carried signs calling for “Freedom, independence and dignity”, slogans from the revolt which overthrew the bloody rule of the Shah in 1979.The United Students’ Front issued 14 demands. … [Read more…]

 Heart disease killed some 300 in every 100,000 people aged 45-64 in Scotland and Northern Ireland and some 240 in every 100,000 of that age in England and Wales. The enormity of these figures can best be appreciated if it is understood that the figure for German is 180, Holland 140, Spain 120 and France … [Read more…]

 Two teenage boys from Guinea (Conakry) were found dead of exposure at Brussels ariport in Belgium on 2 August 1999 hidden in the undercarriage of a Sabena plane which had flown in from Guinea. The boys, Yaguine Koïta and Fodé Tounkara, were found to be carrying a message to the people of Europe appealing them … [Read more…]

 On the morning of 23 September 1996 Diarmuid o’Neill was shot and killed by officers of the Metropolitan Police in Hammersmith. The trial of Brian McHugh and Patrick Kelly – arrested at the same address in Hammersmith – ended in December 1997. The disclosures and evidence presented at that trial exposed Diarmuid’s death as murder. … [Read more…]