Derby SWP Weekly Update #6

After a slight delay caused by lots of tiredness from the excellent demonstration in Manchester yesterday, welcome back to your essential guide to the week in Derby!

SWP Branch Meeting

There is no branch meeting this week.

The next branch meeting will be on Thursday 10^th October at 7 pm in the West End Community Centre, Derby, where the topic will be 'can unions make a revolution?' All welcome.

Teachers' Strike TOMORROW

The two largest teachers' unions will be on strike tomorrow in large parts of the country. Thousands of teachers in Derby will join teachers across Yorkshire, Humberside, the Midlands and the East of England in a day of action against the disastrous changes being foisted upon them by the Tories. There will be a march assembling at 9.30 tomorrow in the market place and a rally at 10.30 at the Spot. All welcome. Send solidarity messages to cityofderbynut@gmail.com and follow events @cityofderbynut on Twitter.

Demonstration Against the Tories

Sunday's march against the Tories in Manchester saw 70,000 people march to defend the NHS and public services. Teachers, firefighters, public sector workers, environmental campaigners, anti-bedroom tax campaigners and many more marched to show the Tories we want them out. Now.

Unite the Resistance conference 19 October: Organising to win
Build the protests, build the strikes, build the unions: Organising to win.
Speakers include: Billy Hayes, CWU general secretary; Jeremy Corbyn MP; Ronnie Draper, BFAWU general secretary, Frank Morris, blacklisted UNITE shop steward who was reinstated after determined campaigning; speakers from the One Housing Dispute and the Boris Bikes dispute.
Unite the Resistance has called a national conference for 19 October. The Tories continue their assault on working class people. Alongside huge cuts in public spending and an onslaught on benefits, workers face pay cuts, attacks on their pensions and job losses. Millions of workers want to see a fight back.
This conference is a unique opportunity for those new to organising in the workplace and their communities as well as those who have experience in the trade unions and campaigns, here and internationally, to come together and discuss how we can organise to win.
We need a strategy to build bigger and more effective trade unions. Across the public and private sector protests, campaigns and strikes are being planned for this autumn. This conference will address how we build as much support as possible for these and provide an alternative to austerity that can give hope to all those resisting the government’s assault on working people’s lives.
There will be a number of workshops introduced by trade unionists, campaigners and activists at the cutting edge of the struggle against austerity.Click here to download leaflet

Weird Weather – Climate Change Coalition meeting

There will be a public meeting of the Climate Change Coalition on Thursday 3^rd October at 7 pm in St Peter's Conference Centre on St Peter's St in Derby.

Derby SWP Weekly Update #5

Hello everyone,

After a slight hiatus, welcome back to your essential guide to the week in Derby!

SWP Branch Meeting

There is no branch meeting this week or next week. Instead there will be a social at the Greyhound pub on Friargate from 7 pm.

The next branch meeting will be on Thursday 10^th October at 7 pm in the West End Community Centre, Derby, where the topic will be the possibilities for union actions to overturn austerity politics - title to be confirmed.

Demonstrate Against the Tories

On the 29th September the Tories will be holding their conference in Manchester. The trades unions and campaign groups have called a massive demonstration against them and their policies. Coaches have been put on by several trades unions. If you would like to join in and need transport, let us know by replying to this email.

The Tory assault on working class people is gathering pace. Our public services are being destroyed, jobs lost, benefits cut and wages driven down.
Increasingly claimants and migrant workers are being scapegoated for the economic mess, not the bankers and politicians who are to blame.
The Cameron government wants to make us pay for the crisis.
We face the fight of our lives to turn things around.
The Tory party conference starts in Manchester on Sunday 29 September.
UNISON, UNITE and the GMB are calling for a protest at the conference to defend the NHS and this is backed by the TUC. Bedroom tax and benefits justice campaigners who have been organising across Britain have called for people to join a protest at the Tory conference too.
We should demonstrate at the Tory conference in our tens of thousands.
http://uniteresist.org/2013/06/marchonthetoryconference/Click here for transport details

FBU to strike on Wednesday 25th September
The Fire Brigades Union has a called a strike of all firefighters in England and Wales on Wednesday 25 September. The strike is over attacks to their pensions and will be a four hour strike. This comes after 78 percent of firefighters voted to strike.
Unite the Resistance urges every trade unionist to show solidarity with the Fire Fighters by sending messages of support and visiting picket lines.Click here to read the FBU statement
Solidarity with Hovis Strikers

Hovis strikers returned to work on Wednesday following their second week long strike.
They scored more successes in the strike with 2 early morning pickets which saw hardly any delivery trucks leaving the depot. Solidarity is building up with supporters joining the pickets from around the North West.
Leicester and Belfast plants are balloting for industrial action and Bradford has already won a yes vote by 70 percent for industrial action.Pickets at Hovis pile pressure on bosses – again!
Early morning Hovis picket stops deliveries leaving the depot

Rush messages of support to region4@bfawu.org

Unite the Resistance conference 19 October: Organising to win
Build the protests, build the strikes, build the unions: Organising to win.
Speakers include: Billy Hayes, CWU general secretary; Jeremy Corbyn MP; Ronnie Draper, BFAWU general secretary, Frank Morris, blacklisted UNITE shop steward who was reinstated after determined campaigning; speakers from the One Housing Dispute and the Boris Bikes dispute.
Unite the Resistance has called a national conference for 19 October. The Tories continue their assault on working class people. Alongside huge cuts in public spending and an onslaught on benefits, workers face pay cuts, attacks on their pensions and job losses. Millions of workers want to see a fight back.
This conference is a unique opportunity for those new to organising in the workplace and their communities as well as those who have experience in the trade unions and campaigns, here and internationally, to come together and discuss how we can organise to win.
We need a strategy to build bigger and more effective trade unions. Across the public and private sector protests, campaigns and strikes are being planned for this autumn. This conference will address how we build as much support as possible for these and provide an alternative to austerity that can give hope to all those resisting the government’s assault on working people’s lives.
There will be a number of workshops introduced by trade unionists, campaigners and activists at the cutting edge of the struggle against austerity.Click here to download leaflet
Click here for b&w leaflet Save Our NHS – March on the Tory Conference

NASUWT and NUT confirm next phase of industrial action
The two largest teacher unions, the NASUWT and the NUT, representing nine out of ten teachers, are today confirming the next phase of their jointly coordinated campaign to Protect Teachers and Defend Education.
Following the continued refusal of the Secretary of State to genuinely engage with the NUT and the NASUWT to seek to resolve our trade disputes with him, plans are in place for the next stage of industrial action which will include
1st October – strike action in the Eastern, East Midlands, West Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside regions
17th October – strike action in North East, London, South East and South West regions
There are also rallies in Cambridge and Exeter on 21st September.
http://uniteresist.org/2013/08/teachers-prepare-rallies-and-strikes-for-the-new-term/http://uniteresist.org/2013/09/nasuwt-nut-announce-next-regional-strike-dates/

For contributions from speakers at last week's Rally for Education in Nottingham, check out the @CityofDerbyNUT twitter feed!

“Get organised” day school, Sunday 6 October

Get Organised! SWP Industrial Dayschool: For new members, young workers and those organising at work for the first time Sunday 6 October, 12 – 4.30pm, Venue will be emailed out

12 - 1.30pm: Revolutionaries and the unions

1.30 – 2.15pm: Break

2.15 – 3.45pm: The Working Class Today

3.45 – 4pm: Break

4 – 4.30pm: Get Organised: Building in the Workplace

Please let the industrial department know as soon as possible if you yourself can attend or not, and if you are aware of other comrades going from your branch/ district/ union fraction.

Weird Weather – Climate Change Coalition meeting

There will be a public meeting of the Climate Change Coalition on Thursday 3^rd October at 7 pm in St Peter's Conference Centre on St Peter's St in Derby.

Rally for Education THIS SATURDAY

This Saturday in Nottingham there will be a rally for education, organised by the NUT and NASUWT unions.

This rally is ahead of the next round of strike action.

Derby and most of the North and Midlands will be on strike on 1st October.

The Nottingham rally will be at the Crowne Plaza Hotel from 11am to 12.30.

Speakers include Chris Keates, General Secretary of NASUWT and Kevin Courtney, Deputy General Secretary of the NUT.

It is open to anyone who wants to show support for teachers as they take action against Michael Gove and his disastrous policies.

We need to make the action as strong as possible - make sure you attend!

Unmade Beds and Pickled Fish: What should socialists say about Contemporary Art?

This week's meeting was on Contemporary Art. Here's one comrade's view of
the talk and discussion. Enjoy!

When I first became involved with socialist politics, I brought with me an assumption that a socialist future would be drab, utilitarian and without much time for, or interest in, art and culture. This is an idea that many outside the left might have of socialism, perhaps inspired by the hauntingly grim brutalist architecture of Stalinist Russia and so many British towns and city centres, uniform in their blank functionality and frequent ugliness.

This myth is just that. An important belief of many of my new comrades was that in a socialist society, where the focus was not on creating a surplus to maintain a capitalist class there would be more space and time for the arts rather than less – became increasingly solidified in my mind. Art and culture are frequent subjects of our meetings, and art and cultural reviews feature prominently in the party’s monthly magazine, Socialist Review.

The meeting of Thursday 15 August was a particular treat as we heard from one of our branch members about their passion for contemporary art. Sue shared with us one of her passions and asked whether, as socialists, we should engage with contemporary art.

The talk began with a definition of contemporary art and Sue suggested that the best definition which she could find was that offered on the website of the Baltic Art Gallery, Gateshead:

What does ‘Contemporary Art’ mean? It means that the art belongs to the present day. A contemporary artist is alive today and makes art works to show in galleries and public spaces. Unlike modern art, contemporary art is not defined by a list of schools of art, time periods or styles of art. 

The talk focused on looking at some key contemporary art of the past hundred years, starting with Marcel Duchamp's Fountain (1917) and posing the question as to why it shouldn’t be considered art. Sue suggested that whilst we often focus on the artistic movements which began in the 60s and 70s as representing the beginning of contemporary art, it was in fact as early as Duchamp that the idea was first formed that something which you have picked up could be art and presenting everyday items in new lights and from new perspectives could be artistic in itself.

We were shown some of the controversial pieces and had an opportunity to find out more about some of these as well as to simply look at them in new ways. There seemed consensus in the room that ‘The Fountain’ was beautiful, though some pieces were more controversial and split opinion. A particular favourite of mine was the opportunity to see in close up a section of a three dimensional model which was closely inspired by Goya’s ‘Disasters of War’ No. 39. Seeing a close up image of a section of the Chapman brothers’ model of the same name, alongside an image of Goya’s original, was quite striking and gave a sense of the newness in terms of material and innovation but the sense of tradition and continuity which ties contemporary art to its predecessors.

Goya

Chapman (cont. p94)

Another favourite piece of mine was the Marc Quinn sculpture made using the artist’s own blood. As Sue pointed out the process of continuous renewal which is required as a result of the chosen medium, and the link between the sculpture and the tradition of death masks, I was able to see the connection between this new and perhaps shocking piece of work and the tradition of sculpture which had come before. The challenge to notions of how much you put into your own art was combined with a beautiful and compelling piece of art. In fact, one of the key arguments of Sue’s talk was that in spite of the sensational aspects of much of contemporary art, the major themes which have always been in art continue to inform contemporary artists’ work in much the same way. Self-portraits, reactions to war and questioning conceptions of beauty were shown to be key factors in contemporary art as much as more traditionally accepted art forms. We also looked at some of the attempts to blur the boundaries between crafts and fine arts and everyone was in agreement that Grayson Perry’s ‘We’ve Found the Body of Your Child’ (2000) was a thought provoking and beautiful piece of art, full of ambiguity and wonder.

Grayson Perry, We've found the body of your child, 2000

Having explored some of the themes of contemporary art in this way, Sue moved on to explore the political nature of contemporary art. Looking at Rachel Whiteread’s holocaust memorial in Vienna and the negative impressions of houses which were demolished around them, Sue showed us that contemporary art is often linked to the wider political climate. Deller’s ‘Battle of Orgreave’ (2001) is a photograph of a re-enactment of the infamous confrontation where the police attacked a mass picket during the 1984-5 Miners’ Strike. This piece has a clear political element to it, as do Harvey’s ‘Maggie From White Riot’ (2009) and ‘Myra’(1995).

However, whilst there are some challenging and politically engaged examples of contemporary art, there are some artists and examples of work, particularly amongst the ‘Young British Artists’ which were shown to be right wing and capitalist in their approach. In many ways, Sue was able to show us that this group were very much Thatcher’s children and had benefitted from the patronage and investment of members of the nouveau riche such as Charles Saatchi.

Sue opened the discussion up about whether contemporary art is right wing and what view we may take of it as socialists, leaving the image of Hirst’s ‘For the Love of God’ (2007) looming down at us from the screen at the front.

A lively discussion ensued as to whether there is any value for socialists engaging with contemporary art given the commoditisation and right wing nature of some of this art but given the political engagement which some of it embodies. In the end, though opinions were split; it seemed we could all agree that to some extent, as with all art, personal engagement with the individual piece based on its aesthetic and contextual appeal would determine which art we liked and which art we reacted strongly against.
Whilst our speaker was a clear fan of Tracey Emin’s earlier work, for example, and was able to talk about the power of the famous self portrait ‘My Bed’ (1999) to be both very personal and self-obsessed but to translate to all women nonetheless, she was also very critical of her later works including ‘More Passion’ which was gifted from Emin to David Cameron and reflects perhaps a betrayal of earlier ideas.

One comrade quoted stand-up comedian Stewart Lee, who said that ‘great art should be mysterious and opaque.’ As the Hirst sculpture loomed across the room, we questioned whether there was anything opaque in his work. Perhaps this is why we reacted less positively to his work than some of the other artists and, as Sue pointed out, why he was one of the few Young British Artists who has not been granted any of the establishment honours that his contemporaries have received. It was certain that most people in the room engaged with this far less than any of the other works which we had seen.

It may be that, in the end, we were still unable to determine whether our politics should have any bearing on our engagement with art, but we certainly had an enjoyable and lively discussion and got to see and hear about a range of familiar and unfamiliar examples of contemporary art and consider how recent artists’ work responds to and reflects the society in which we live.

Next week's meeting, 22nd August, will be on 'Marx and Religion.'

Derby SWP Weekly Update #4

Hello everyone,

Welcome to your essential guide to the week in Derby!

SWP Branch Meeting – Marx and Religion

What is religion? Does it have anything to do with God? What attitudes should Marxists have towards religion? Can you be an atheist and still believe that Richard Dawkins is dead wrong? Some of these questions and more may well be answered at this week's branch meeting. All welcome.

Thurs 22nd August 7 pm West End Community Centre, Derby.

Demonstrate Against the Tories
On the 29th September the Tories will be holding their conference in Manchester. The trades unions and campaign groups have called a massive demonstration against them and their policies. If you would like to join in and need transport, let us know by replying to this email.



For more details see the Unite The Resistance website here: http://uniteresist.org/2013/06/marchonthetoryconference/

Unite Against Fascism

There is a relaunch event for UAF in Derby on Monday 19^th August, 5.30-7 pm at St James Centre in Normanton.

If you are concerned about the attempts of the EDL and BNP to march in several cities recently, come and join us to get an active and broad-based group going in our city.

Unite the Resistance

The assault on workers from plummeting pay to zero hour’s contracts has brought the question of organisation in the workplace to centre stage. At the 4000 strong Peoples Assembly it was clear most delegates wanted to see a stronger response to austerity from the unions. Strengthening trade union organisation in the face of attacks by the employers and the government is a crucial task for every socialist. This conference can play a real part in building the resistance to the bosses and the Tories. We should be fighting to get new activists signed up alongside long time trade unionists. This is a place for all of us to learn the lessons of previous fights, discuss today’s workplace experience and to develop strategies to make the workplace the centre of resistance to austerity. We should be fighting to get as many trade union branches and campaign groups backing this event as possible. Download the model motion to back the conference here. Register now here.

Rally to defend education

On Saturday 14th September there will be a rally to defend education in Nottingham. We want this to be as large an event as possible and any available comrades should make sure they are there. The government has been attacking education with the same viciousness that they have shown in health, and teachers are taking strike action in the autumn to defend education for every child.

The rally will aim to build teachers' confidence and public support; so come and make it big and loud enough to be heard in Westminster!

Transport will be available, email us for details.

Derby People's Assembly

The People's Assembly have been holding public events to raise awareness of the September 29^th demonstration against the Tories and the Derby People's Assembly launch event on October 26^th. If you would like to help out, there is a regular stall on Saturdays from 12 pm on St Peter's Street, next to the SWP stall. We have committed to helping the stall on a rota basis – see you there!

Teachers on strike

The two largest teaching unions, NUT and NASUWT are engaged in a rolling programme of strike action in the autumn. The first will be in the week commencing September 30th, which Derby will be involved in. Before this there will be a rally in Nottingham on 14th September which we would like to get as many comrades to as possible. Further updates as we have them.



Fire Brigades ballot for strike action
FBU: Firefighters’ ballot: Firefighters are balloting for national strike action against attacks on their pensions. FBU members could face mass sackings as the government forces firefighters to work to 60 years old. We need to get into as many of the fire stations as we can the latest SW leaflet arguing for a yes vote. You can download the leaflet from http://swp.org.uk/resource/246

Derby LGBTQ Pride -cancelled

Unfortunately, it appears that Pride has been cancelled this year, due to problems with fundraising. More here: http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/Gay-pride-event-cancelled-lack-funds/story-19672603-detail/story.html#axzz2cKNHsupN

Marxism 2013 recordings
Marxism is our annual festival of political meetings, discussions and events, the largest of its kind in Europe. Meetings on a huge range of subjects, from the uses and abuses of Gramsci to the tricky topic of socialism and Doctor Who are attended by thousands of people.
Thanks to much hard work by Kevin and the recording team, audio versions of many Marxism 2013 meetings will soon be available at www.swpradiocast.bandcamp.com There will also be a range of videos available on our Youtube channel.

Derby UAF meeting now scheduled

The UAF relaunch meeting has now been scheduled. Hope to see as many comrades and fellow anti-fascists as possible at the meeting next Monday.

5.30 pm - 7pm Molineux Room, St James Centre, Normanton.

Anyone not familiar with the work of UAF, which is a broad anti-fascist coalition, please see their website at http://uaf.org.uk/

Derby SWP Weekly Update #3

Welcome to your weekly guide for anyone who is mad as hell and not going to take it any more. :)

SWP Branch Meeting. Unmade beds and pickled fish – should socialists have anything to say about Contemporary Art?

This week’s meeting has a cultural theme as our resident art historian picks over the works of the Contemporary Art movement and asks: what relevance do Tracy Emin, Damian Hirst and the rest of the once-Young British Artists have to socialists?

Come along for a fun and lively discussion to the West End Community Centre, next to Britannia Mill. Thursday 15^th September, 7 pm (see attached map)

UAF Relaunch Event

Unite Against Fascism is a broad coalition of anti-racists and anti-fascists set up to oppose the BNP and in more recent years the EDL. It is supported by the SWP, the Labour Party and unions such as the NUT. Derby has been fortunate not to have been target by the violent, racist thugs of the EDL, but with their recent attempts to capitalise on the murder of Lee Rigby anti-fascists everywhere must be prepared to defend their communities.

The UAF in Derby has unfortunately not been as active recently as in the past, but a re-launch event has now been organised. If you don’t want to see the EDL or BNP on Derby’s streets, it is essential that you make this meeting.

Two weeks ago, an SWP stall in Manchester was attacked by National Front members. We must remember that the fascists have not gone away and will return if they think they will not be opposed.

The meeting is to be held next Monday, 19^th September, time and venue to be confirmed. An update posted here as soon as we have more information.

Action for Rail Event

The Derby Climate Change Coalition has organised an event at Derby station, from 7:45 a.m. to 8:45. Peter Robinson, chair of the Coalition says: Rail fares are going up yet again. “On 13 August the inflation figure will be announced that will be used to calculate increases to regulated rail fares, like season tickets, from next year. From January 2014, your rail fares are likely to increase from 4% to 9%. Well ahead of your pay packet. Another squeeze on your living standards in these difficult times. Since the crash in 2008, rail fares have increased three times faster than average earnings.”

March on the Tories: Sun 29 Sept, Manchester

In many areas where the party organises coaches are now booked for the demonstration at the Tory Party conference on Sunday 29 September in Manchester.

It’s crucial that in every locality transport is booked now, before the trade union movement closes down for August, and that we immediately are part of filling the coaches that are booked and pressing for more.

This demo can be built everywhere. The NHS remains a potentially huge mobilising issue as the government flogs off more and more health services and rams through cuts and closures. We also have the inspiring example of Lewisham in south east London (following the victory at Whittington in north London) of how campaigning can make a difference.

The demo is backed by all the major unions and the TUC. It is a focus for everyone who wants to fight the Tories on any issue.

The TUC’s publicity has shifted from concentrating almost exclusively on the NHS to stressing the importance of the NHS but also the wider attacks on working people.

You can download the TUC leaflet and poster at http://www.tuc.org.uk/industrial/tuc-22405-f0.cfm

The demonstration could play a real part in raising the level of resistance to austerity in Britain. We are going into the autumn with teachers’ action already underway. There is also the potential for a fight in the fire service, the post and more action in the civil service.

Every SWP member, branch and district needs a plan for how we are going to maximise the turnout on this demonstration.

The 29 September march assembles at 11am on Liverpool Road near the Museum of Science and Industry. At 12.30pm the front of the march will set off via Deansgate and John Dalton Street for Whitworth Park, where the rally will take place - opposite the Manchester Royal Infirmary - from around 2pm. The full listing for the rally is still to be confirmed but will include a range of national and local speakers, including TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady.

Each SWP branch needs to have a target list of major local workplaces that we are leafleting, union reps and activists that we are visiting and activity that we are involved in to build the protest. Every public Socialist Worker sale needs to become a centre of agitation for the protest. Everyone who signs a petition or buys the paper should take away a pile of leaflets and a sign up sheet for transport.

And of course alongside building the protest we want to build up the network of Socialist Worker buyers around every branch. You can download Unite the Resistance materials at http://uniteresist.org/2013/06/marchonthetoryconference/

Unite the Resistance – Organising to Win 19^th October

Alongside the demo at the Tory conference, we want to build the biggest possible Unite the Resistance Organising to win event on 19 October.

The conference aims to bring together key trade union activists to debate the way forward. But its workshop format is also designed to strengthen workplace organisation, build unions and get more union reps.

You can register online at http://uniteresist.org/2013/07/unite-the-resistance-conference-19-octobe...

Rally for Education

On Saturday 14^th September there will be a rally to defend education in Nottingham. We want this to be as large an event as possible and any available comrades should make sure they are there. The government has been attacking education with the same viciousness that they have shown in health, and teachers are taking strike action in the autumn to defend education for every child.

The rally will aim to build teachers' confidence and public support; so come and make it big and loud enough to be heard in Westminster!

Transport will be available; email us for details.

Postal workers’ national ballot

Last week 500 postal workers’ reps in the CWU gathered in London to discuss the next steps in the battle against privatisation, over workload, to defend pensions and fight for decent pay.

They voted overwhelmingly to ballot the union’s 115,000 Royal Mail members no later than September for strikes.

This has the potential to be a massive campaign, centred on defending public services as well as workers’ rights.

Reps also passed amendments committing union leaders to put any offer to another policy forum/ special conference.

Union leaders outlined a number of key lines in the sand that they would not settle short of. This included saying the union would not agree any pay deal that is linked to pensions, and anything short of an above inflation pay deal.

It was also announced that if a strike is called the CWU would call “the biggest demonstration of postal workers, on the day of the strike, in London for many years”.

An updated leaflet for postal workplaces will be sent out this week.

Over the next month, branches and districts should consider what workplaces in their area should be leafleted and have paper sales and aim to get contacts.

Fire Brigades ballot for strike action

Firefighters are balloting for national strike action against attacks on their pensions. FBU members could face mass sackings as the government forces firefighters to work to 60 years old. The ballot closes on 29 August. We need to get into as many of the fire stations as we can the latest SW leaflet arguing for a yes vote. You can download the leaflet from http://swp.org.uk/resource/246

Give Bradley Manning the Nobel Peace Prize!

Bradley Manning faces a prison sentence of up to 136 years after being found guilty of 20 charges for revealing the war crimes carried out by the US and Britain. US author and peace activist Norman Solomon from the USA is on his way to present to the Nobel committee in Oslo a petition with over 100,000 names calling for Bradley Manning to be awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Details, leaflet etc at http://stopwar.org.uk/