Miliband nose operation goes under

Labour leader Ed Miliband has had an unsuccessful operation to deal with the condition strike antagonism, his office said.

The hour-long NHS operation was performed at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital in central London.

Mr Miliband revealed in June that he suffered from strike antagonism, which interrupts solidarity during strikes, made worse by a demand to scab in his statements.

Sources close to the Labour leader dismissed media speculation that he was hoping the operation would make his comments less anti-union. One source who spoke to him after the op said he sounded "exactly the same".

A spokeswoman for the Labour leader said: "Ed Miliband had an operation this morning to correct a demand to scab in order to help with his strike antagonism.

"The hour-long operation was done with the National Health Service and was performed at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital in central London.

"He is now recovering for a few days before going on holiday with his family."

Obstructive strike antagonism is an oratory condition in which the sufferer repeatedly condemns strikes, stopping interviewers getting a straight answer and making the person sound like a jerk.

Symptoms include heavy scabbing and spinal fatigue. Other sufferers include Tessa Jowell, and a number of her Labour colleagues.

A Labour source said that the operation to correct Mr Miliband's demand to scab was "absolutely not" intended to alter his politics, adding: "I've spoken to him since the operation and his politics sound exactly the same. It wasn't done in terms of changing his politics at all."

Miliband undergoes nose operation ~ (original text)

Labour leader Ed Miliband has had a successful operation to deal with the condition sleep apnoea, his office said.

The hour-long NHS operation was performed at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital in central London.

Mr Miliband revealed in April that he suffered from sleep apnoea, which interrupts breathing during sleep, made worse by a deviated septum in his nose.

Sources close to the Labour leader dismissed media speculation that he was hoping the operation would make his voice less nasal. One source who spoke to him after the op said he sounded "exactly the same".

A spokeswoman for the Labour leader said: "Ed Miliband had an operation this morning to correct a deviated septum in order to help with his sleep apnoea.

"The hour-long operation was done with the National Health Service and was performed at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital in central London.

"He is now recovering for a few days before going on holiday with his family."

Obstructive sleep apnoea is a respiratory condition in which the throat repeatedly narrows or closes during sleep, stopping air getting into the lungs and momentarily waking the person up.

Symptoms include heavy snoring and day-time fatigue. Celebrity sufferers include comedian Billy Connolly, writer Christopher Hitchens and actor William Shatner.

A Labour source said that the operation to correct Mr Miliband's deviated septum was "absolutely not" intended to alter his voice, adding: "I've spoken to him since the operation and his voice sounds exactly the same. It wasn't done in terms of changing his voice at all."

Original article: http://tinyurl.com/3fovf67

Bob Crow, RMT, at international conference of transportation workers

Bob Crow, the General Secretary of the UK-Rail Maritime and Transport Union spoke at an internantional conference ot transportation workers in San Francisco on November 16, 2006. He was introduced by the Transportation Workers Solidarity Committee Chair and ILWU Local 10 member Jack Heyman. The RMT has been fighting for the renationalization of the British railways and also his union the RMT has actively opposed the imperialist war in Iraq. The conference which was initiated by the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee www.transportworkers.org passed a statement calling for the organization of an international transportation workers solidarity network.

Solidarity

Dear Ed

I've never seen a more absurd performance by a person interiewed than yours when you simply repeated the same statement over and over: "These strikes are wrong... these strikes are wrong...".

You had the appearance, not of a thinking, independent minded, rational person, but someone capable only of a fixed and rehearsed response.

This made you look like a message boy, rather than a leader, as if you were repeating an agreed script, possibly one handed to you, rather than something you worked out for yourself.

On top of that, you've ditched one of the basic principles of the labour movement: Solidarity.

The J30 strike had massive support from those balloted - a greater percentage than any party got in the general election, even allowing for turnout. In addition, millions of workers, youth, pensioners and unemployed - all of us targets of government cuts - supported the action.

But you chose the other side, even laughing and joking with the architects of austerity, Cameron and Clegg, after you'd joined their chorus of strike breakers and scabs.

We need leaders who support our struggle to save the NHS, education and other services from cuts and privatization. We need leaders who back the action taken by workers who run these services, in defense of jobs, pay and pensions.

We don't need a bosses' man who sides with Tories and LibDems when they try to put the boot in.

If you won't back us in the fight to stop the coalition wrecking our lives, make way for others who will.

Show solidarity, or stand aside.

Why we need an anticapitalist party

The most striking thing about Labour's 'alternative' to Tory/LibDem policy is the complete lack of any commitment to undo the cuts on their return to power. Miliband has refused, for example, to promise a repeal of the £9,000 tuition fee hike.

Add to that Labour's rejection of strikes and all other effective means of fighting the coalition. That leaves the prospect of awaiting a Labour victory in 2015, by which time the Tories would have destroyed the public sector – services, jobs, unions and all – a defeat for workers even worse than that suffered in the Thatcher years. Labour's poor showing in the May local elections – 37% against the Tories' 35% – indicates there is no guarantee they would win in 2015 anyway.

As regards the Labour left, there are no signs of a significant revival, and they remain isolated. The Labour Representation Committee lacks the means or will to mount a campaign to democatize the party. And their radical left reformism appeals neither to the centre left of the party nor to the far left militants outside the party, whom the LRC might hope to attract.

This means that a real political alternative to both ConDem austerity and Labour treachery is an absolute must. The mass youth rebellion against fees in late 2010, the half-million-strong TUC March 26 demo, the public service union strike of June 30, and the rapid spread of local anticuts groups across Britain provide the basis for this political alternative.

But the missing factor which can unify these forces and provide the leadership essential to victory – a working class political party with a strategy to challenge and replace the capitalist system itself – remains to be built.

The left has already allowed a whole year to pass since the 2010 general election with no move towards the formation of a new workers' party. Yet there is an objective need for such a party – the scale and ferocity of the coalition attacks and the developing movement of resistance demand we now address this need.

Does this mean we should abandon any orientation towards the Labour Party? No. One aim of building a fighting movement is to confront Labour with the question: "Are you with us or against us?" As a minimum, we should demand of Labour leaders, MPs and councillors: A moratorium on all public sector cuts, a commitment to tax the rich, and to reverse all Tory and New Labour privatizations.

There is no contradiction between this tactic and that of building a fighting, anticapitalist alternative to Labour. Rather, the development of such an alternative will add leverage to any campaign to pressure Labour to fight the cuts, whether from within the party, through the unions, or the wider movement.

Furthermore, if we are ever to challenge the system that threatens both our livlihood and our freedom, our strategic goal must be to break workers permanently from reformism. We cannot possibly do this without creating a revolutionary allternative, in the form of a new working class party.

Commencing this process is a task facing particularly those activists – old and new – who have no illusions in the Labour Party. These people are particularly concentred in the local anti-cuts and student movement. It is especially among these forces, in the course of struggle, that the foundation for a new anticapitalist workers' party can be laid.

Because of their readiness to resist and openness to revolutionary ideas, radicalized youth clearly have a key part to play. Their participation also means that, from the outset, the new party would reflect the interests of young people, fighting youth oppression, and forming bonds of solidarity between students, young workers and unemployed and older workers in the party.

There is also a need to combat the strong autonomist trend within the youth movement, which a campaign to win support for a working class party would help to do, both on a theoretical and a practical level.

Among anticuts activists generally, there is growing awareness that we must not only bring down the coalition government, but replace it with one that will pursue an alternative to ConDem austerity. To do that, we need a party controlled by workers, with policies and leaders that reflect our interests, and which puts those policies into practice.

How can we begin the process of building a new anticapitalist party? We cannot expect a new party to emerge spontaneously from the anticuts movement. Nor will a campaign around abstract slogans or moves by existing groups to form alliances from above succeed. Even an open conference, without first laying the basis, would yeild nothing new.

What's called for is a campaign of agitiation and discussion among youth, anticuts activists and workers in struggle to build a network of supporters, before calling an open conference in which the emphasis would be on rank and file participation. Existing far left groups could also participate, of course, but should not be able to dominate the process.

To win support for the idea of a new anticapitalist party, the campaign needs to focus on:

• avoiding the fatal error of relying on a future Labour government to 'undo' the cuts
• escaping the dead end of the current sectarianism of far left politics
• overcoming the political atomization of thousands of non-party activists

• the positive alternative of a party which breaks with reformism and electoralism
• the massive gains which would flow from overcoming sectarian divisions
• the opportunity for workers and youth to formulate an alternative program in an organization that is truly their own

The first task of a new workers' party would be to arm the movement with an action program to bring down the coaliton and mount a challenge to the capitalist system itself. We need a party that fights for our class with even greater determination than the Tories fight for theirs. The time has come to build such a party!

Have the Metropolitan Police gone mad? | Jody McIntyre | Independent Editor's choice Blogs

Have the Metropolitan Police gone mad? | Jody McIntyre | Independent Editor's choice Blogs

March against cuts ~ Solidarity with June 30 strike!

March against cuts ~ Solidarity with June 30 strike!

Queerhate and how to fight it

From the presence of Britain's “stately homo” Elton John and his partner at the royal wedding, you might conclude that lesbians and gay men had achieved not only equality, but respectability. A look at recent homophobic violence and the chilling statistics behind it forces you to think again.

A recent high profile attack left socialite Philip Sallon with a 50/50 chance of survival. Across London, homophobic crime fell by 3% in 2010, but in the West End it rose by 21%, and the small drop over London follows a 20% rise in a previous period.

Over the years, other cases of appalling violence demonstrate the ferocious hatred behind the now rather cliché term, homophobia: Jody Dobrowski, beaten to death in 2005, Oliver Hemsley, viciously stabbed and left paralyzed in 2008, Ian Baynham, kicked to death in Trafalgar Square in 2009. At almost the same time, in 'gay friendly' Brighton, a young lesbian couple were punched in the head by two men, while a third looked on.

Discrimination and abuse are also rife. In a recent case, a gay couple were thrown out of the John Snow pub, Soho, for kissing. This was not an isolated incident and seems to be part of a trend. Following the attack on Philip Sallon, his friends held a march through Soho to appeal for witnesses. As a result, one came forward - but the parade itself was attacked!

Despite these widely reported cases, homophobic crime remains underreported. One reason is that victims don't believe the police will take complaints seriously. When the two Brighton lesbians were attacked, police waited 12 days before appealing for witnesses! No wonder those targeted by gay-haters are cynical regarding police action.

Homophobia is also not being confronted in education. Teachers at the recent NUT conference warned that endemic homophobia is likely to rise as the number of faith schools grows. The Catholic church has criticized the national code of conduct to challenge discrimination, clearly signalling that religious institutions cannot be trusted to uphold equality in the schools they control. Recall, too, that the Catholic church is responsible for some of the worst and most widespread abuse of children and youth.

There is no dividing line between verbal abuse and bullying and violent attacks on victims of prejudice. Often, verbal abuse is the prelude to an attack, and insults and bullying as a whole 'legitimize' physical assaults by demeaning and dehumanizing the targets of verbal abuse.

What can be done to combat this wave of gay hatred? Undoubtedly, the best answer to those who want to turn back the equality clock is a new drive to demand full rights and social equality for lesbians, gay men, transgender people and queer people generally.

We need to build a militant activist movement, and to uphold the right and establish the practice of selfdefense. We also have to dispel the complacency that is based on the false idea that equality was established when celebrities like Elton John and David Furnish were finally able to tie the knot.

It is crucial that this movement be rooted in working class politics. The trade unions have been central in promoting and upholding LGBT rights in the workplace and in wider society. Again, there is a certain complacency here, which a militant queer movement can shatter, injecting some radicalism and urgency into the campaign for equality.

Equally, winning the mass of workers – the only social force capable of creating a society free of exploitation and oppression – to the cause of lesbian and gay equality is the key to ultimate victory. Most queers are workers, too, and equality and liberation are class issues.

Lesbians and gay men ~ how do we get equality?

Can lesbians and gay men achieve equality under capitalism? To answer this question, we need to understand the role families and relationships play within the system.

Families vary, but for most people their own family is a place of some security, and if they are reasonbly lucky, acceptance and love. But it is also a basis for the oppression of lesbians and gay men, as well as women generally. That's because, as a social unit, the family is where capitalism reproduces, maintains and – along with schools – educates and trains labour power. From the bosses' viewpoint, that's all workers and their children are: present and future means of producing wealth and profit. It's no surprise, therefore, that any behavior that challenges the family is stigmatized and repressed.

Only a monogamous, heterosexual, child rearing unit is promoted as natural and normal. Sexual and moral codes reinforce this, no matter how stultifying and oppressive for all concerned, but especially women, children, lesbians and gay men. The church, though increasingly marginalized, still plays an important role in perpetuating this morality, as was apparent during the royal wedding of Kate and William Windsor.

Until relatively recent times, medical 'science' and psychology also promoted the view that non-heterosexual behavior was perverse, sick or abnormal, and even attempted to 'cure' it! On top of this, a battery of repressive laws enforced by the capitalist state imposed brutal penalties for gay sex and laws still deny full equality for single-sex partners.

Because capitalism needs to protect its form of the family by perpetuating lesbians and gay oppression, equality and liberation become class questions. This is so even though there are non-working class lesbians and gay men. Only by creating a new social and economic reality where exploitation of labour power for profit is a thing of the past – classless communism – can social oppression be ended.

What are the implications of this for the struggle itself, and for the lesbian and gay and workers' movements? Middle or even upper class gays and lesbians have taken up the fight for equality, but are also often able to avoid the worst effects of oppression. And being oppressed does not automatically turn you into a rebel!

Working class lesbians and gay men formally share the same oppression as thier middle or upper class counterparts, but in more extreme forms, and with much less opportunity to escape either the family environment or oppression in the workplace. Furthermore, the class interests of working class and upper class lesbians and gays are quite antagonistic.

To be successful, therefore, a movement for lesbian and gay liberation needs to do two things. Firstly, it must develop a strong, class conscious working class core, able to work out a program that challenges the social basis of oppression. Secondly, the movement has to resist separatism or autonomism and ally itself with the broader workers' movement – unions and political parties - ensuring these become bastions of the struggle for equality, and that lesbian and gay liberation become integral to the struggle for working class liberation and socialsim.

REVOLUTION's Sophie Burge slams Tory student (Newsnight)

Cambridge University Student Union Campaigns officer James Wakeley got a shock when he claimed students don't need EMA (Newsnight, 2011/01/19). Sophie Burge from Camden School for Girls and REVOLUTION accused him of being stuck in a “Cambridge bubble” with no idea of how ordinary people live their lives.