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  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…]

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…]

 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…]

  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…]

 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…]

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…]

 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…]

Intensification of all the contradictions of imperialism “War is politics continued by other (i.e., forcible) means.”This famous dictum of Clausewitz, one of the most profound writers on military questions, has received further confirmation from the latest imperialist war in the Balkans. This war started as a continuation of the imperialist peace, and the imperialist peace ending … [Read more…]

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…]

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…]