Update #84

Hello everyone,
Welcome to this week's update from Derby Socialist Workers Party.

In this week's update:

• This week's branch meeting - why is Big Pharma bad for your health?
• Save the NHS: support the Junior Doctors
• Support Derby Stand Up To Racism
• Marxism Festival 2016 - first peek
• Heart Unions Week

Branch Meetings

The SWP is a party of activists who know that we need to understand the world to be effective in our actions. Our meetings have a discussion about key issues: economic, political, historical and cultural; as well as planning for events and activities.

We hope that we will be able to post the text of last week's talk about anti-Semitism today. It led to a wide-ranging discussion looking at all aspects of the way in which racism is constructed by capitalist societies and the dominant forms of racism today.

This week our meeting will address why Big Pharma is bad for your health. How does the healthcare industry let us down under capitalism? Why doesn't it act in our best interests? Thursday 11th February, 7 pm at the West End Community Centre on Mackworth Road (next to Britannia Mill).

Join us for a lively discussion and debate, as well as planning for activities in the city for the week ahead!

All welcome. See you there!

Solidarity with Junior Doctors
The Junior Doctors are taking their dispute forward again this week, in the face of disgusting behaviour from the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who has gone on a propaganda offensive that tries to smear health workers desperate to save the NHS whilst at the same time ordering the firing of thousands of NHS workers.

Junior Doctors are engaging in a 24 hour stoppage on Tuesday. There will be pickets outside hospitals from 7.30 am. Drop by and show your support!

The Doctors have the support of the public, the Tories don't. Together we can win, and in doing so we can strike a real blow against the Tory plans to destroy the NHS and our other public services.


Stand Up To Racism rally

Derby's Stand Up To Racism group met for a planning meeting last week and are organising a rally for the 3rd March. If you would like more details or to get involved in the group email derbysutr@gmail.com

Several comrades attended the packed UAF conference on Saturday 6th Feb - we hope to bring you a brief report on this too.



Marxism Festival 2016

The first peek at this year's Marxism Festival is out now.

Marxism festival is the biggest event of its kind in Europe - thousands of people attending a five day festival of ideas, with meetings on a vast range of subjects and loads of activities.

It is a fantastic event and anyone who wants to change the world should get down to it!

There's £5 off ticket prices if you book before the end of March. For more details see the official website here: http://www.marxismfestival.org.uk/


Heart Unions Week
The TUC has organised a week of campaigning against the Trades Union Bill. The Derby Trades Council is leafleting at the Ram in the city centre on Friday 12th February from 12 pm until 2 pm. Show your support for the trades unions that defend our class.

Can't make our meetings?
If you want to find out more about us, meet some of our comrades, sign up to any of our petitions, find out about campaigns we are involved in, buy our paper or get hold of some of our other literature, why not come along to the campaign stall on Saturdays?

Find us on St Peter's St from 12 pm!

Solidarity With Junior Doctors

Yesterday junior doctors in Derby petitioned the public to support them in their dispute with the Department of Health. Campaigners from 38 Degrees and the NUT joined them, as did comrades from the SWP. It was a very popular petition! At some points there were queues to sign or take selfies. There was a media presence too so it got a good amount of publicity.

On our campaign stall we also collected signatures to support them and presented them to the doctors to add to their collection. Comrades' support was warmly received by doctors present and it was generally a really positive event that showed what unity can achieve.

The strike ballot was really impressive. It would have allowed national action even under the Tories' new laws that attempt to repress trades unionists and suppress our efforts to take action to defend ourselves. At last week's Unite the Resistance conference, junior doctor and BMA activist Yannis Gourtsoyannis spoke to explain the reasons for the action and the urgent need for solidarity:



The campaign was very popular with the public and at times there were queues to sign and take support selfies for Twitter. Unless the DoH backs down, the junior doctors' plan of strike action is as follows:

• Emergency care only – 8am, Tuesday 1 to 8am Wednesday 2 December 2015
• Full withdrawal of junior doctors' labour – 8am to 5pm, Tuesday 8 December 2015
• Full withdrawal of junior doctors' labour – 8am to 5pm, Wednesday 16 December 2015

It is important for comrades to show solidarity on picket lines if at all possible - details will be posted on the blog as soon as they are known.

This fight is only the latest provoked by the Tories as they seek to dismantle our public services in order to open them up to be run for profit - it is not enough for them that working people are paying for the crisis they and their class caused by having our wages held down, epidemics of underemployment and the cutting of the services which we rely on, they want themselves and their cronies to be able to profit from whatever services we are able to use. This is a fight that needs our full support - it will be a real victory for working people across the country and expose the weakness of this nasty party that managed to get the support of less than a quarter of the population in the election this year.

Unite The Resistance 2015

Unite The Resistance pamphlets are available from us - come to our branch meetings or find us on St Peter's St at our campaign stalls Saturdays from 12 pm!

Report back by Kieran, branch secretary.

This Saturday was the annual conference of Unite The Resistance (UTR). UTR is a united front organisation that aims to bring together trades union activists to fight austerity and the divisive, bullying Tory government. The conference shares success stories, perspectives on the Tory attacks on the working class and how to fight it.

I always look forward immensely to the UTR conference. There are lots of organisations which oppose austerity, and which we as a party are proud to be a part of, such as the People's Assembly and TUSC. What makes UTR special is that it offers us not only a concrete and powerful way to build an effective fightback, being based where our class has power - in the workplaces, but also welcome success stories. It can be easy to believe, if you rely on the mainstream media coverage for your news, that strikes are rare and ineffective, but in fact there have been some fantastic examples of solidarity and victories from across the various sectors of the economy. UTR is also a great way to learn about ongoing fights and how to support them.

Morning Session

Yesterday we heard from Candy Unwin and Sandy Nicholl, victimised reps who won reinstatement because of solid support from their members. Candy was one of the leaders of the fantastic strike at the National Gallery, which won significant victories in their battle with management against privatisation, and Sandy's colleagues took unauthorised strike action that had their management at SOAS backtracking almost immediately. Conference also sent support to Andrew Mootoo, victimised rep at Royal Mail in Bridgwater, whose managers again are frantically retreating after wildcat action when they attempted to sack him.

Speakers were from across the trades union movement, but there were also comrades from campaigning organisations such as DPAC (Disabled People Against the Cuts) (amazing speech - IDS should be very afraid of DPAC!) and political parties (most notably Natalie Bennett, the Green Party leader, who gave an excellent speech).

John Burgess, candidate for UNISON General Secretary, was brilliant about the need to fight the bill and break the law collectively.

Obviously the focus was on how to stop the Trades Union Bill when it passes, in particular how we can organise an effective counter to it and support each other in breaking this unjust new law collectively. John Hendy QC kicked off the first speech with a short illustration of what awaits us. I was able to record it for posterity here. (The sessions were recorded by proper people with proper equipment and will be posted on the Unite The Resistance Youtube channel here - I suggest you subscribe!)

Don't let them divide us

Of course, the horrific events of Friday in Paris cast a pall over proceedings. Conference began with a statement of solidarity with the victims and many speakers also offered statements of support, particularly Natalie Bennett of the Green Party. The Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, who is a longtime supporter of UTR and was scheduled to speak was unable to attend as the Shadow Cabinet were in session following the attacks. The SWP has put out an excellent statement in response to the murders, which you can read here. After the initial session I and some other local comrades attended a session which we thought was especially relevant that day: Don't let them divide us.

This session included speakers on the Prevent agenda and the Justice for Cleaners campaign as well as the general drive by the Tories and other elements within the ruling class, particularly the right wing media, to use racist bile against Muslims and migrants to divide our class wherever they can.

I was struck by the Justice for Cleaners campaigner, who spoke of the ways that bosses try to divide migrant workers, trying to pit 'documented' against 'undocumented' and Spanish against Latin American. This is the kind of hatred upon which the bosses thrive.

Repeatedly speakers emphasised the need to unite now to prevent the right from trying to capitalise on the murders in Paris to promote their racist, Islamophobic agenda. UTR is about sharing ideas and success stories, not just listening to speakers, and there were some fantastic contributions from the floor. One point which was made more than once is that the right will attempt to use the murders to attack migrants, and we need to continue to say that migrants are people fleeing exactly the sort of horror which the people of Paris experienced. One practical thing which we will need to do is continue to defend migrants and promote the Stand Up To Racism campaign to welcome refugees, especially as winter approaches and thousands are in danger from the cold in makeshift camps in Calais and elsewhere. Find out more about Stand Up To Racism and donate to the Calais winter appeal here.

Afternoon Session

In the final session we heard from speakers on the environment and climate (or as David Cameron calls it: 'green crap') and the People's March for Climate, Justice and Jobs on the 29th November in London. From Derby there will be at least one coach going to this vital demonstration - come if you can!

For me there were two particular highlights of the afternoon session. The first was the speaker from the BMA who spoke very well on the dispute between junior doctors and the Department for Health.

He got a well-deserved standing ovation in his call for solidarity and his promise of solidarity in return.

Finally, Ian Hodson of the bakers' union BFAWU, who I always look forward to. He is a passionate and animated speaker, and I will remember particularly two lines. The first from the fallout when he compared Cameron's policies towards trades unions to Hitler's: "if you don't want to be compared to a fascist dictator, don't use policies out of Mein Kampf!" The second was one of my favourites, and I know one of his (it's not the first time he's used it :) ) and it's from Nye Bevan, architect of the NHS:

Loud and angry demonstration outside Council House

UNISON called its second demonstration against the severe attacks on school support staff by the Labour-led Derby City Council last night.

With some teaching assistants facing up to 25% wage cuts the mood was angry and noisy.

There was a lot of support from the public as car horns joined the shouts, whistles and chants of demonstrators.

UNISON were supported by a solidarity delegation from the NUT and the local People's Assembly as well as comrades from the SWP.

An unexpected development was the presence of the Derby North Labour Party banner (which bore the face of Jeremy Corbyn) even as the Labour council tries to push through these pay cuts.

Update #71

Hello everyone,
Welcome to this week's update from Derby Socialist Workers Party. What's going on? Find out below!

Branch Meetings

The SWP is a party of activists who know that we need to understand the world to be effective in our actions. Our meetings have a discussion about key issues: economic, political, historical and cultural; as well as planning for events and activities.

This week we will have a more social meeting with a showing of the film Sylvia Pankhurst: Everything is Possible, which will look at the more radical, egalitarian suffragist, anti-war and working-class movement that is not given its full head in Suffragette. Join us for socialism, socialising and snacks!

The following week we have our rescheduled meeting why do we celebrate the Russian Revolution? Our guest speaker, Dave Hayes, addressed this topic at this year's Marxism festival, so this should be an exceptionally good talk and discussion! Come and join us for a revolutionary socialist perspective on 1917 and all that!

Unite The Resistance - national conference

On Saturday November 14th it will be the national conference of Unite the Resistance, an organisation aiming to unite activists and workers from across the country. It is an opportunity to debate the national situation, hear success stories from workers who have organised to defend themselves from attacks by the bosses and the Tories, and share ideas. There will be some fantastic speakers, including John McDonnell, shadow Chancellor; Candy Unwin, the rep at the National Gallery whose colleagues have recently fought a successful all-out strike action, and Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party.

There will be a number of people going to the conference, so we would like to help organise transport if possible. Please get in touch at derbyswp@gmail.com if you are interested in sharing a car down.

Can't make our meetings?

If you want to find out more about us, meet some of our comrades, sign up to any of our petitions, find out about campaigns we are involved in, buy our paper or get hold of some of our other literature, why not come along to the campaign stall on Saturdays?

Find us on St Peter's St from 12 pm!

Update #69

Hello everyone,
Welcome to this week's update from Derby Socialist Workers Party. What's going on? Find out below!

Branch Meetings

The SWP is a party of activists who know that we need to understand the world to be effective in our actions. Our meetings have a discussion about key issues: economic, political, historical and cultural; as well as planning for events and activities.

Last week, following the enormous demonstration in Manchester against the Tories, we had a lively and wide-ranging discussion about how to defeat the anti-trades union laws that the Tories are proposing. Although there are serious threats to our ability to organise the Tories are seriously weak in some areas, and the Labour Party is, under Corbyn, opposed to the laws and will overturn them if elected. Passage of the bill is by no means assured, if trades unionists fight hard to oppose it. Even if we can't stop the passage of the bill, enforcing it is another matter: given the hardship which working people are to face over the next 5 years if the Tories are not thrown out of office, we can realistically say that a serious fightback by workers in the country is a genuine possibilty - and as revolutionaries, despite the grave threat that the proposed laws pose to our class, we still have reasons to be cheerful!

We have no branch meeting this week as there is an important meeting on the anti-trades union laws in Nottingham. (See below.

The following week we will look at the way that the capitalist system works. Why do most of us have to work for bosses? Why is profit so important? Why, in a world which produces more than enough to feed us all, do millions starve? Come along for our topic: How does capitalism work? An introduction to Marxist economics. Thursday 22nd October, 7 pm.

Protect the Right to Strike - 15th October

Join us in Nottingham on the 15th October if you can - the anti union laws are the most serious attack on the working class yet posed by the Tories, as they try to take on the best institutions which we have for fighting back against their onslaught. We must defeat the bill if we can!

Britain First - Not Welcome in Burton 

Over the summer, members of Nazi organisation Britain First turned up on the streets of Derby. 40 people turned out the following week to join a vigil against them, sending a clear message that Nazis aren't welcome on our streets.

The anti-Britain First vigil this summer

Although they haven't been back to Derby, they have announced their intention to march in Burton on October 17th. The RMT, UAF and NORCARF have called for a joint mobilisation to stop them. This is a call for all anti-racists and anti-fascists. At a recent Britain First demonstration in Rotherham the Nazis were hugely outnumbered by the counter-demonstration. Wherever opposition to the fascists is organised, our side shows that we are many and they are few - but that won't stop them trying to intimidate local people and demonise minorities. They claim to be anti-'extremist', but their march gives the lie to that - they want to demonstrate against the building of a mosque!

Join us on the counter-demonstration on October 17th - tell the fascists that they aren't welcome anywhere.

Demo Round Up

The last couple of weeks have seen some massive demonstrations: in Manchester against the Tories, and a big, lively, angry demonstration in Derby against pay cuts to teaching support staff across the city. Here are some pictures from comrades who were part of the demonstrations!

Demonstrate Against the Tories - Manchester, last Sunday

Demonstration by School Support Staff, Council House this Wednesday

Support staff in schools are facing swingeing pay cuts at the moment, but they aren't taking it lying down - SWP comrades were there to show solidarity with them!

 

Can't make our meetings?

If you want to find out more about us, meet some of our comrades, sign up to any of our petitions, find out about campaigns we are involved in, buy our paper or get hold of some of our other literature, why not come along to the campaign stall on Saturdays?

Find us on St Peter's St from 12 pm!