Uncategorized

Having cancelled several planned 48-hour strikes in an effort to reach agreement with employers, the first industrial action by firefighters in a generation started at 1800 on Wednesday 13 November with a 48-hour walkout over pay and conditions. In the biggest mobilisation of troops since the Gulf War, 19,000 armed forces, a mixture of army, … [Read more…]

The first global recession of the 21st century The capitalist world did get that luck [which Mr. Martin Wolf spoke of in his article in the Financial Times on 23 December 1998 – see Part One of this article in the last issue of Lalkar] for a brief period but ran out of it, as … [Read more…]

On 28 September this year, the largest anti-war demonstration in a generation, and possibly since the thirties, took place in central London under the dual slogans of ‘Don’t attack Iraq’ and ‘Freedom for Palestine’. Reporters and organisers put the numbers between 300,000 and 450,000, while the police, realising that their initial piece of routine misinformation … [Read more…]

There has been a hue and cry in the media over the last week concerning the DPRK’s supposed admission that it has been secretly developing nuclear weapons in contravention of the 1994 Geneva Framework Agreement. US imperialism, to whom the Koreans are supposed to have made this admission, is using it to try to undermine … [Read more…]

This is the slogan of the Fire Brigades Union, demanding a 40% increase in the wages of its members, from £21,500 a year to £30,000. Howls of protest have needless to say arisen from all the bourgeois media. Typical is Martin Wolf in the Financial Times of 28 October 2002: “… [W]hen overall inflation is … [Read more…]

The first global recession of the 21st century The capitalist world did get that luck [which Mr. Martin Wolf spoke of in his article in the Financial Times on 23 December 1998 – see Part One of this article in the last issue of Lalkar] for a brief period but ran out of it, as … [Read more…]

The British government and the unionists in Northern Ireland were compelled to sign the Good Friday Agreement owing to the strength of the national liberation struggle of the majority of the Irish people. However, it has been their endeavour ever since the agreement was signed to frustrate its implementation. As a result the Good Friday … [Read more…]

In the face of worldwide opposition to a new US war against Iraq, as well as Iraqi willingness to comply with existing UN resolutions on disarming Iraq of the weapons of mass destruction (WMD), US imperialism, hell-bent on waging a war of aggression, continues to intensify its criminal preparations for such a war. Of course, … [Read more…]

The British government and the unionists in Northern Ireland were compelled to sign the Good Friday Agreement owing to the strength of the national liberation struggle of the majority of the Irish people. However, it has been their endeavour ever since the agreement was signed to frustrate its implementation. As a result the Good Friday … [Read more…]

The recent election in Sweden was characterised by some commentators as a “non-event” and “completely unnecessary”, since the Social-Democratic government remained in power, with the same two parties (Left Party and Green Party) supporting it in parliament – just as before. Göran Persson stays on as prime minister, and can continue in the role he … [Read more…]