NEWS IN BRIEF

Colombia – The guerrilla advancesThe Timesof 13 July 1999 reports that thousands of FARC rebels have advanced on 25 towns in Colombia, including its capital Bogota:“Using tanks made from tractors wrapped in steel sheets, and missiles made from gas canisters … Yesterday Colombia continued under rebel siege with reports of guerrillas advancing towards Bogota by … [Read more…]

‘The Committee’

by Tim LoganSean McPhilemy’s banned book, The Committee, exposes the RUC Death Squads and their links with the ‘establishment’ in northern Ireland Sean McPhilemy’s bannedbookThe Committeemakes sensational claims of inextricable links between David Trimble and prominent members of the Unionist establishment accused of ordering the murder of political opponents.Trimble and his now-deceased constituent ‘King Rat’, the … [Read more…]

The Labour government cuts welfare benefits for the disabled

Currently between readings in the House of Lords is the Welfare Reform and Benefits Bill, the second piece of legislation introduced by the Labour government is part of the British bourgeoisie’s attack on the British welfare state (the first being the cuts in benefit to single parents last year).This new Bill voices the determination of … [Read more…]

(Untitled)

Since the last issue ofLalkar(May/June 1999), the people of Scotland and Wales have been to the polls to elect a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly respectively; there were also government elections in some areas; finally the elections to the European Parliament were held on 10 June. In Scotland the Socialist Labour Party polled 55,000 … [Read more…]

Another Hillingdon High Point, but …

 In September 1995 neither the sacked workers or their employers or their union officials could have believed that the struggle would still be raging 4 years later. The persistence and tenacity of these heroic strikers has won the hearts and minds of workers, men and women, black and white, young and old, across Britain and … [Read more…]

Iraq sanctions: A Crime Against Humanity

 By Susan Wareham [Dr Susan Wareham is president of the Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia) and regional vice-president, International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War.] WALID spends most of his time on the streets of Baghdad. He is 14 years old and shines shoes each day to earn a meagre existence for his mother and … [Read more…]

The Peace Process in Ireland

 As the Orange faction in Irish politics does its best to sidle out of the awful prospect (from its point of view) of being forced to do business with northern Ireland’s Catholic and Republican community, of being forced to allow them to participate in matters of state, it is hard to avoid noticing their fascistic … [Read more…]

Turkey moving headlong to disaster

 DAVID MORGAN shows how the death sentence on PKK leader Ocalan looks set to provoke a new Kurdish uprising if it ends in execution. Macabre scenes in Turkey greeted news of the death sentence pronounced on Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan on 29 June, a verdict that came as no surprise to anyone closely following what has … [Read more…]