My Pledge as a Workers' MP for Chorley - on Water Aid

Chorley voters have been writing to me to ask that I pledge support for issues that are of particular concern to them. So that they are on the record for all voters, I am posting my response on some of the key issues here on my blog:

The facts that WaterAid's Manifesto for Water point to - about such a basic necessity as clean water - spell out the huge - and worsening - inequality on our planet:

- 1 in 4 people still don’t have safe water.

- 1 in 2 don’t have a decent toilet where waste is safely managed.

- 2/3 of healthcare facilities in the 46 least developed countries do not have access to basic hand washing facilities.

Water Aid are therefore absolutely right to be calling on the next government's international development agenda to prioritise global access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene. Sadly, however, given that both main parties have made clear that they are parties that will do the bidding of big business, I fear theirr call will be lost under the financial policies that such a new government will follow.

While the representatives of the world's wealthy protect their interests, large parts of the world face social disintegration. Countries such as, for example, Madagascar are ravaged by drought. Not only lack of access to clean water but hunger, famine and destitution are affecting the neo-colonial world on a scale not experienced previously, contributing to an unprecedented migration crisis which the far-right will also seek to exploit.

If elected as MP, I will certainly speak up on this issue, and against global injustice, but I will also speak out for a more lasting solution and that, in my view, is to change the way our society is run from a capitalist one that benefits the few to a socialist one that benefits the many, one that brings into democratic public ownership the major companies and banks that dominate the economy, so that production and services can be planned to meet the needs of all and to protect the environment, not just in Britain but globally.

Martin Powell-Davies

TUSC Candidate for Chorley

Questions to a DGS candidate - Union Democracy, School Safety, Honoraria, Facility Time, International Solidarity.

Quite rightly, once you have declared as a candidate for as important a post as Deputy General Secretary, members and District Officers want to know where you stand on the issues that matter to them. 

I am always happy to be asked, and always happy to give my opinion, even when the questions are on subjects that I know divide opinion within the Union. Further, in order to be transparent, I will use my blog to share my responses for anyone to read.

For a union where members are ‘listened to’, not just ‘talked at'.

I have been asked to comment on a range of different areas this week. The two areas to which I have given the most detailed responses - the 'Help a Child to Learn' appeal (see my separate post) and the limits on 'Honoraria' payable to Local Officers - may seem unconnected. However, the controversy around both issues contains a common element, and that is a worrying lack of prior consultation from the top of the Union.

As I have written below, one of the reasons that I am standing as DGS is to be a voice at Union HQ that will seek to counter a growing tendency to centralise and  impose policy from the top, without sufficiently consulting local activists and listening to the concerns of members in the workplaces. As I have put on my initial campaign leaflet, I stand for a genuinely democratic  union – where members are ‘listened to’, not just ‘talked at’.

That's certainly not to say that, as DGS, I would not be working fully with others as part of the HQ team - indeed, I think I am the candidate who will best strengthen that team. HQ colleagues already know from my work as a National Executive member, and then London Regional Secretary, that I work well with others, staff and local officers, in a leadership role. However, a leadership also needs voices that will not be afraid to question decisions, and to reflect on criticisms that have been raised, when it is necessary to do so. Without those voices being heard, mistakes will be made - as the last week has shown.

School and College Safety - we can't leave room for risk

Following the 'Help a Child to Learn' announcement, the Union yesterday released an updated "Education Recovery Plan". There's much within it that will gain wide support from NEU members - such as the call for a 'recovery curriculum', an end to child poverty, guaranteed access to broadband and laptops and increased staffing budgets to employ additional supply teachers and others in schools and colleges.

However, once again the plan seems to have been released without sufficient prior consultation with the National Executive and others such as the Health and Safety Organising Forum. If that had happened, once again weaknesses could have been addressed in advance of a Union announcement.

In particular, the section of the Recovery Plan on Safety in our Schools and Colleges lacks the detailed clarity that was rightly included in the recently released joint union checklist for 'partial opening'. A call simply to 'limit' numbers and bubble sizes and to call for 'arrangements for distancing' is insufficient to protect staff, students and our communities. Unless we make specific demands - such as the call in the checklist for schools to be operating at a maximum 15% of normal capacity at present - a dangerous return to fully open schools will be much harder to resist.

The Recovery Plan does, however, rightly add a footnote to page 9 of the Government's 'Children's Task and Finish Group' paper of 17 December 2020. That summary provides the answer to the false claims now recirculating again that schools are not, after all, "vectors for transmission".

It confirms, for example, that school-aged children "are more likely to bring the virus into the household than those aged 17+" and that "young people (aged 2-16) are much more likely than those aged 17+ to be the first case in their household". Surely, it must be obvious  - at least to those looking with their eyes open - that fully open schools were the places where those young people were most likely to have contracted that infection!

For our own sake, and for the safety of our families and communities, we must not compromise on insisting on a genuinely safe working environment in schools and colleges.

Honoraria - my reply to questions asked by Districts:

I was a Local Secretary for Lewisham NUT for many years and, as with many NUT Associations, there was a long-standing practice that a small honorarium was awarded to a small number of officers as a token of the work that they had done for the union over the year. 

I appreciate that some Associations did not support the practice, and, in a very few cases, there may also have been highly questionable uses of honoraria with large sums being paid to certain officers without  real democratic oversight from the members of the Association. However, Local Associations were given autonomy and trusted to make their own decisions.

I am sure we would all agree that nobody should be pursuing Union office for personal financial gain. That’s one of the reasons why I have pledged that, if elected as DGS, I will not accept more than a teacher’s salary for carrying out my role. But, equally, no one should be out of pocket for undertaking trade union work and, for example, necessary expenses and caring costs should always be met to ensure nobody is excluded from doing so.

I can appreciate that, on developing the National Education Union as a new organisation, past practices needed to be examined and critiqued. However, I am concerned that the way that limits to payment of honoraria have been agreed by the NEU Executive are one example of a growing top-down centralising tendency within the union that, as DGS, I would seek to counter. I fear that the changes to honoraria have also been drafted by HQ staff and National Officers who do not all have first-hand experience of the hard work required to build a Local District, nor of the hard-working volunteers who carry it out. 

Such important decisions should not be taken without full consultation and appreciation of the difficult and different circumstances that face different Districts, particularly those where facility time has been limited and the pressures of workload on colleagues mean it is difficult to recruit and sustain local officers.  Yet I understand that the Executive has now agreed further limits to the payment of honoraria, again without having considered the impact it could have on Districts such as yours.

A “lay-led Union” cannot just be a slogan. The National Union needs to make sure it is the reality.

In summary, my view would therefore be that:

• Honoraria should never be paid in a way that can be seen as Local Officers simply voting for each other to be paid additional income without democratic oversight. As should always have been the case, honoraria should be subject to approval at a quorate AGM, publicised fully in advance.

• In Districts where the union has been successful in maintaining facility time, and where most officers continue therefore to be released for trade union duties on their existing salary, any honoraria, if agreed to democratically by the District AGM, should only be a token additional amount. There will be other officers, including those who carry out trade union activities as well, that could, as now, also be eligible.

• In Districts where employers are refusing to honour our entitlement to reasonable paid time off to carry out trade union duties, and it is felt that the payment of larger honoraria is required to assist the recruitment and retention of local officers, then this should continue to be payable, subject to the agreement of the District AGM, up to the existing limit of £2,000 per annum.

• Where Districts feel that they are unable to operate without payment of honoraria that exceed these limits, then there should be full consultation with the local Executive members and Regional Office about what support can be given to the District to secure sufficient facility time and to recruit more workplace reps and Local Officers. If, as a result of those discussions, it is clear that additional honoraria are required as a temporary measure, then that should be agreed by the Union.

• I do not support any stipulation that honoraria can never be paid to those who are carrying out trade union duties, such as retired caseworkers. Of course, it would be preferable if casework could be carried out by serving NEU members released on their existing salaries from their posts for the 'reasonable time' needed to carry out our trade union duties. This is, sadly, a legal right which is being denied us by far too many employers and which we need to pursue more vigorously as a Union. But where this is not the case, and others are having to take on those duties without paid release, it is self-defeating to impose an inflexible ruling that threatens to undermine the work of the Union at a local level.

Facility Time

A related question, that I have also been asked, is about my views on the strategies that the Union has been following over recent years to oppose the attacks that have been made on 'local facility time' by successive Conservative governments. 

Many Academy Chains and Local Authorities have sought to cut the budget used to pay the costs of releasing trade union officials for carrying out their duties. At the same time, the pressure and demands on members, and therefore on the Local Officers who support them, is growing ever greater. The need for a successful strategy to defend - and indeed, increase  - facility time is therefore pressing.

The approach taken by the Union, of employing additional organising staff, hasn't been the main problem. The Union can certainly benefit from having an organising team, just as long as as there are clear organising goals and strategies, the organisers themselves are confident in what they are doing, and they are deployed as part of an agreed overall plan that is being worked on together by both Local Districts and Regional & National staff. Unfortunately, that has not been the case.

As DGS, I would call for an urgent review of our approach to defending facility time, particularly listening to the experiences of both Local Officers and the organisers themselves. I would propose we place a greater emphasis on our legal rights as a recognised trade union. We need to insist that our representatives have a right to reasonable paid time off to carry out union duties and undertake training, and that employers need to find the budget to allow the law to be followed. 

At the same time, the Union needs to explain to members why our legal rights have to be defended. We need to go back to basics and make sure that members appreciate that many of the officers they call on for help are volunteers, teachers and support staff like themselves, released from work part-time to carry out union duties, not paid officials. We have to campaign and organise members to insist that their employers honour those rights, including through taking industrial action if necessary. 

International Solidarity

Finally, I was asked my views on the repression of the Uighurs by the Chinese regime. I replied to say that, as a Union, we should certainly add our voices to those rightly speaking out against the persecution of the Uighurs and the mass detention and repression in Xinjiang. In showing solidarity, we should also help workers across China build a united opposition to its dictatorial regime and the inequality over which it presides. 

Suffice to say, we obviously also need to distinguish our trade union solidarity from governments whose 'support' to national struggles too often comes only as a calculated part of their foreign policy, empty words designed to weaken their international competitors, rather than being a genuine offer of support to the struggles of people to free themselves from poverty and oppression. 

Turkish teachers urgently need our financial support

URGENT ACTION APPEAL - TURKEY: Request for action and financial solidarity 

Today, (Sunday November 27) a congress of the Turkish teachers' trade union EĞITIM-SEN is meeting to discuss how to respond to the attacks on its members. In particular, they are voting on an emergency increase in subscription rates to help support their members who have lost their income because of victimisation by their Government. Trade unionists internationally can - and must - help them too!

Last month, under the guise of a new Presidential emergency decree, over 10,000 public sector employees, including around 800 members of EĞITIM-SEN, were permanently dismissed from their jobs. Over 50,000 more are temporarily suspended from their work. 

As was explained at an emergency meeting held in Ankara the day before, President Erdogan claims these dismissals and suspensions are to combat the threat of 'terrorism' after the failed July coup. They are nothing of the sort. In reality, his increasingly dictatorial regime is using the State of Emergency to launch a 'counter-coup', labelling a 'terrorist' anybody who opposes his regime.

The meeting in Ankara was attended by representatives from a range of Turkish political parties and international trade unions, including myself for the NUT, as well as some of the dismissed colleagues who had travelled there from across the country.

We heard Kamuran Karaca, President of EĞITIM-SEN explain that the Government’s actions "are a huge lie. We do not support any coup or violent attacks. The attacks on our union are not for the reasons given. We know why we are targeted, because we stand for secular free education, for democratic principles and peace, because we won't accept this 'new Turkey' ".

Trade unionists, journalists, elected MPs and Mayors have been detained. Newspapers and media channels have been closed down.  

Trade unionists face some of the worst attacks. As the President of the KESK trade union federation explained to the international trade union delegates later (from the Education International, OLME (Greece), GEW (Germany) and the NUT), the suspensions and dismissals could yet herald even greater repression against trade unions in Turkey. The sackings and suspensions of union activists that have already taken place are meant to intimidate workers as a whole into quietly accepting further attacks to come, for example with the 2017 Budget expecting to mean further cuts to living standards.

I spoke to bring solidarity greetings on behalf of the NUT, recognising the critical role trade unions can play in building united struggle against attempts to divide-and-rule, and promising to publicise their struggle and provide concrete support.

There are many concrete steps we can all take to make that solidarity a reality, including protest letters and rallies but also, and urgently, providing financial support too. 

Around 800 EĞITIM-SEN members are suddenly faced with no income to support themselves and their families. Kamuran explained that the Union needs to raise about 2000 TL a month for each dismissed member. The Congress would be asked to support an increase in subs from 17 to 25 TL a month - nearly a 50% increase.

However, we can't allow our teacher colleagues in Turkey to shoulder this burden alone. I hope that national unions, local associations and individual colleagues will respond to the international appeal that has been launched through Education International and the ETUCE.

The appeal letter sent out by Fred van Leeuwen, EI General Secretary asks affiliates to:

1.      Send protest letters to the Turkish government, Turkish embassy in your country and your country’s embassy in Turkey in order to demonstrate that the international education community has not turned a blind eye to the Turkish authorities’ biased, undemocratic and discriminatory actions, and will continue to monitor the situation in the country.

2.      Organise demonstrations in front of the Embassy of Turkey in your country to raise awareness and promote trade union and human rights.

3.      Urge your Government to make all necessary efforts to put an end to endless arbitrary dismissals, investigations and arrests of Turkish education staff, and to recall that the Turkish government has committed itself to promoting freedom of expression, free speech and basic human rights and fundamental freedoms.

4.      Demonstrate financial solidarity with EĞITIM-SEN by making a contribution to the EI Solidarity Fund:   

IBAN: BE05 3101 0061 7075
SWIFT/BIC: BBRUBEBB

Please indicate “UAA Egitim Sen” in communication.

Your contribution will ensure that legal assistance to Turkish education personnel in need can be provided sustainably via EĞITIM-SEN.

I will be reporting back to the National Union from my visit and to ask that we appeal for financial donations from across the NUT - and other TUC affiliates - to send to the EI so that they can be sent on to Egitim Sen for assistance as indicated above.

 

Let's build that real international solidarity !

Lessons from America - It's Poverty, stupid

Teachers have been angered and saddened by the announcements by Nicky Morgan yesterday of more testing, more academies, more attacks that put the blame on individual teachers.

Parents too are angry. It's heartening to see the results of a Daily Mirror online poll showing overwhelming opposition to the reintroduction of 'rigorous' formal tests for seven year-olds. It's a policy designed to label teachers and young people alike - and to label many as 'failures'.

But who's really failing here?  I heard Nicky Morgan claiming that she was acting in the interests of those less well-off than her (and the rest of her privately-educated cabinet colleagues). How dare she! This is the same Cabinet that is driving children into poverty, the poverty that we must never forget is the main factor that impacts educational progress.

As this slide from my Socialism 2015 presentation  points out, it's social class that has the main impact on test scores - a class divide that has only got wider in society since this graph was produced. Yet this fact is deliberately overlooked by right-wing educational policymakers across the globe because, as the US teacher quoted above points out, it suits them to blame teachers and their unions, instead of themselves.

That Global Education Reform Movement is being imposed across the US - but it's also being resisted too. I was sent a link to the video below that's definitely worth taking the time to view:

Here's just a few lines from Dr. Williams that also ring true here in the UK:

 "Test scores aren't the answer to solving our problem, dealing with the poverty that impacts our schools is the answer to solving our problem"
 "Over the kids I've helped my kids by just being there - nice if you don't work two jobs, if you don't work the midnight shift"
"Dr King said we made a grievous error - we focussed so squarely on access and opportunity, we missed one enduring truth, what good is it to have a right to go to a restaurant if you can't afford anything on a menu". 

Building the struggles of the 99% to end poverty and social division are the real answer to educational division. Inspiringly, those struggles are building in the States. I also awoke to the news that Seattle's socialist council member Kshama Sawant has been re-elected despite all the big business funding thrown against her over the last few weeks!


Let's keep building the struggle for a better future for the next generation.

World Teachers' Day - a global struggle for education

World Teachers' Day is a day to restate teachers' determination to defeat the global attacks on public education and teacher trade unionism and to build a world where the 'fully developed individual' can blossom and grow.

My thanks to Mary from Teacher Solidarity for this quick 'video of the day' : 

For anyone who wants to know more about GERM, the Global Education Reform Movement and the battle against privatisation, here's a link to a presentation I produced for a discussion at 'Socialism 2014'. 

Don't forget to book your ticket for this year's 'Socialism 2015' event in London on November 7/8.

CELEBRATE: Greek vote is a massive rejection of austerity

Join with TUSC and celebrate outside the Greek embassy on Monday, 26/1/15 at 6pm (1A Holland Park, London W11 3TP)

Discuss what the election results mean in Greece - and in Britain - at a Lewisham TUSC meeting this Thursday, 29/1/15 at 7.30 pm (All Saints Community Centre, SE14 5DJ)

Watch Paul Murphy, Anti Austerity Alliance TD for Dublin South West, reporting from Athens: https://t.co/zvteMlaY6D

 
The massive vote for SYRIZA in Greece has been a huge rejection of 'austerity'. Their victory - although they have to secure a majority of seats - opens a new chapter in the battle to build a political alternative to cuts and the rule of the super-rich, one that inevitably leaves many questions still to answer (as this interview with a Greek socialist and friend, makes clear: http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/7047)

However, first of all, anyone who has watched their lives get worse as big business political parties have inflicted their cuts upon us, should celebrate SYRIZA's success! 

Those pro-cuts parties, not least PASOK, Greece's equivalent of the Labour Party, have been dealt a shattering blow by the Greek electorate, people who have suffered atrociously at the hands of the European bankers and their political representatives. ( For example, use your browser to translate this article about the effect of cuts on the Health Service in Greece: http://www.xekinima.org/arthra/view/article/nikos-malinogloy-kybernisi-tis-aristeras-ola-tha-krith/ )

As a Press Release just issued by the Socialist Party states: “Since the onset of the economic crisis, we have argued that austerity is not necessary. This election result in Greece will give hope to millions of people across Europe and the world that there is an alternative to the promise of endless cuts and privatisation.

The Socialist Party is part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition which aims to stand 1,000 candidates in May’s local council elections and to challenge for 100 Westminster seats.

The line in the sand is austerity. What makes TUSC candidates and councillors different is that they will not collaborate with Tory cuts. That is the type of representation working people and all those hit by austerity need and deserve. That is why we celebrate the Greek result and why we will fight tooth and nail to offer a no-cuts choice in Britain.”

TUSC is standing to offer the only consistent voice against cuts and austerity in the UK General Election in 2015. Come and join us on:

• Monday, outside the Greek Embasy in London
• Thursday, at Lewisham TUSC's meeting discussing the results of the Greek elections and what it means for this May's elections 

Charlie Hebdo attack - don't be divided!

This is my attempt at an accurate translation of an article posted tonight on the website of Gauche Révolutionnaire, the French section of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI/CIO): http://www.gaucherevolutionnaire.fr/?p=1760

Deadly attack against Charlie Hebdo: for the right to freedom of expression! Don’t let them divide us!

The attack by heavily armed men on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper and the killing of 12 people is a tragic event. We strongly condemn this cowardly and barbaric attack.

Such brilliant cartoonists as Wolinski, Charb', Tignous and Cabu have, in many ways, fought intolerance, racism, censorship ... That they died under the bullets of intolerant madmen, revolts us. At the same time, in this indiscriminate attack, many workers, "ordinary” employees of the newspaper, were also killed.

By targeting this satirical left-wing newspaper, these Islamic reactionaries (according to the latest information), claim to act against attacks suffered by Muslims in France. This is false! We didn’t agree with Charlie's approach on certain issues. Charlie Hebdo had chosen to publish cartoons of Mohammed. This had not aroused much interest nor seemed to us to be particularly funny or necessary. But freedom of expression and opinion is a total right that we defend at all costs. We know that this right can be attacked very quickly by the ruling class.

In no way will the situation facing Muslims in France be alleviated by this act, quite the contrary. They will most often be the ones who will now pay the consequences in the street, each time a reactionary and indiscriminate act is committed. These terrorists who claim to defend a "religion" are no better than the Islamophobic reactionaries. In fact, they go hand in hand together to build intolerance and obscurantism. This heinous and cowardly terrorist act strengthens the reactionaries of all stripes who want to divide workers and young people on a religious or communal basis.

This attack will serve the ruling classes and the capitalists. Hollande, Sarkozy or Le Pen can try to claim that they are the defenders of our freedom, when they are the ones who suppress struggles, stigmatise migrants, and attack our rights.

The climate of Islamophobia is becoming ever stronger.

This climate leads some Muslims in France to understandably feel under attack. We reject any form of racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, sexism ... and we are fighting for a world of solidarity, friendship and tolerance, a world which has nothing in common with those who want to take advantage of these events.

This attack is indeed gold to all racists and reactionaries who want to impose a strengthening of the ‘Vigipirate’ internal security system and repression, especially on the North African population.

We will not take part in "Republican" demonstrations with the right and the far-right to denounce this attack. Islamophobic intellectuals, right-wing politicians, government policies supporting war in Africa and the Middle East and supporting the transfer of wealth to the rich have created the nauseous climate which leads to this murderous madness in response.

No form of ‘national unity’ can be made with those looking to ride a wave of racism and xenophobia. On the contrary, in this climate, the clear voice of the workers’ organisations must be heard. Trade unions, labour movement organizations and associations should put out a call to rally and pay tribute to the victims of Charlie Hebdo on their own platform: for the unity of workers, youth and the great majority of the population regardless of their origin or belief, for freedom of expression, against all reactionary and fundamentalist terrorists, against the racist and imperialist policies of French governments that increase sectarian divisions, intolerance and obscurantism.

A mass movement against racism, and against the policies that force millions into poverty and insecurity, must be built. It is on that basis that we must show support for the journalists and employees of Charlie Hebdo.

Solidarity with Kobane

I was pleased to be able to speak at a Press Conference held in the Stop the War Coalition Office last night, at the invitation of Day-Mer, the Turkish and Kurdish Community organisation. 

The event was called to explain what is happening in Kobane and allowed me to offer my support and solidarity to those struggling bravely to defend the town and, more broadly, to the workers and poor of the whole region in their fight for self-determination, workers' unity  and to defeat poverty, corruption and IS brutality.

In doing so, I made clear my view that trade unionists and socialists must oppose the intervention of the US, UK and other Western powers. As the Turkish Government's actions were confirming, they will only act when it suits their own agenda and to further their own interests.

Whatever happens in the imemdiate battle in Kobane, the heroic resistance being put up by Kurdish fighters shows the determination that people will show when they have a goal worth fighting for.

I spoke alongside other Socialist Party members on the platform and endorse the comments in the article below: 

The plight of ordinary Kurds and others living in Kobane in the Kurdish area of Syria, surrounded and besieged by ISIS, fills everyone who sees the brutal methods of ISIS, including mass executions, beheadings, torture and rape, with horror. 150,000 refugees have fled. The resistance put up by Kurdish fighting forces in Syria, a third of whom are women, is extremely courageous.

Kurds are a stateless nation, divided, since the 1921 post-war agreement between imperialist powers to carve up the Middle East, across Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. As instability has swept the Middle East as a result of western imperialism’s wars, Kurds have been able to develop autonomous areas in both Iraq and Syria. 

The three Kurdish enclaves in Northern Syria are known as Rojava (West Kurdistan). In a region dominated by repressive regimes including suppression of women, Rojava is something of a beacon to Kurds, with its attempts to involve people of all faiths and nationalities in secular cantons. Its standing has grown further in comparison with the corrupt capitalist regime of Barzani in the Kurdish area of Northern Iraq.

The dominant organisation in Rojava is the PYD (Democratic Union Party), linked to the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), a guerrilla organisation with mass support based in the Kurdish areas of Turkey. It was the PKK that entered Iraqi Kurdish areas when the Yazidi (Christian) community were under attack and played a large part in repelling ISIS from Sinjar.

The population of Kobane faces the possibility of a massacre. Many Kurdish organisations have, in desperation, called for action by western powers, in particular for heavy armoury to back up the bombings.

But any involvement of the US, UK and other western capitalist powers will only ever be in pursuit of their own interests. Western imperialism has a long record of standing by while populations are slaughtered - including of Kurds themselves - and intervening to inflict their own carnage when it has served their interests.

Western powers want the involvement of Turkey, and the Turkish government has now agreed to join the campaign against ISIS. However it does this for its own reasons. It is suspected of having colluded with ISIS against the Kurds in Syria. They have allowed jihadists to cross their border in big numbers. They now fear they have created a monster – or in fact two: ISIS itself, which now threatens their own borders, but also an armed and roused Kurdish population. 

A ‘peace process’ is meant to be in place between the PKK and Turkish state but depending on how events develop, they will fear the Kurdish population in Turkey could sweep that aside. Appallingly, the Turkish state has mobilised troops and teargas against Kurds and Turks gathering on the border wanting to get through to join the resistance. Turkish aims in Syria include setting up a buffer zone in Rojava and replacing Kurdish fighters with their own forces. 

The Socialist Party has offered our support to a statement by Turkish and Kurdish community organisation Day-Mer, which stands clearly against western imperialist intervention and correctly says: 

“The crocodile tears of Western imperialist countries, led by the USA, in an attempt to appear to be bombing ISIS, should not deceive anybody. The blood bath in the region is their creation. For this reason, the way forward to get rid of ISIS barbarism is not a new imperialist intervention that provokes conflicts between different beliefs and peoples to plunder the region’s natural resources; on the contrary, it is only possible through termination of these countries’ interventions in the region and the realization of regional people’s right to self-determination of their future.” 

The Socialist Party supports the right to armed resistance by people who face the possibility of slaughter. This should be under the control of democratically-elected, non-sectarian defence committees, which would enable the mass of ordinary people to take an active role, including in deciding the course of action. We support the right of Kurdish people to self-determination.

Both ISIS and imperialism can be repelled in the Middle East. Because of the ethnic and national divides in the Middle East this would have to take the form of a non-sectarian workers defence force with democratic controls. It would require an appeal to workers and poor people across the region, including in Turkey, across Iraq and Syria and beyond, with a programme to defend the democratic rights and national aspirations of all peoples. It would mean campaigning for the vast wealth of the region to be owned and controlled democratically in order to provide a secure standard of living for all working and poor people. A voluntary socialist confederation of the Middle East would enable all peoples to freely and democratically decide their own fates.

Solidarity with the "Umbrella Revolution" !

"This was the weekend that changed everything in Hong Kong. Mass popular resistance on the streets, by night and day, with mass gatherings of 100,000 and up to 180,000, spearheaded by the youth and a weeklong student strike, has forced the unelected Hong Kong government and thousands of heavily armed riot police to beat a retreat."

The inspiring struggle on the streets of Hong Kong, led by youth but with the support of other workers, especially teachers, is being supported by trade unionists across the world.

Thanks to chinaworker.info we have been able to download posters to send messages of support to Hong Kong - and here's ours from Lewisham NUT.

For a socialist analysis of the struggle from those in the midst of the battle, read further on: 
http://chinaworker.info/en/2014/09/30/8245/

社會主義行動 Socialist Action (CWI-Hong Kong) members leading a public forum at the Mong Kok occupation

At today's meeting of the NUT National Executive, members signed the following petition, which can also be found on ipetitions:

We, the undersigned, support the right of Hong Kong citizens to decide who they want to vote for as Chief Executive rather than just to have a choice of candidates who are vetted and approved by Beijing.

We strongly condemn the Hong Kong police’s use of tear gas, pepper spray, batons against the protesting students and the public who only had towels, cling film and umbrellas to protect them.

We support Hong Kong teachers and other workers, who are taking strike action against police brutality and for the right for Hong Kong citizens to choose their own candidates.

我们签名支持香港市民自决权：选举特首需要人民自我决定，而不是在北京钦定的人选里做出选择!

我们强烈谴责直接听命于特区政府的香港警察使用催泪瓦斯，喷雾胡椒, 警棍暴力驱散只有毛巾，保鲜膜，雨伞保护自己的学生和示威民众!

我们声援香港教师和工人因反对警察暴力而采取的罢工行动!香港人民，命运自主!

Tamil Solidarity and Trade Union Solidarity

This evening, I was privileged to be able to attend the Tamil Solidarity Day held at the Day-Mer centre in Tottenham.

Day-Mer have a proud tradition of building links between the Turkish and Kurdish communities and the British trade union movement and Tamil Solidarity are working hard to build similar links from the Tamil community. For example, as well as campaigning to expose and publicise the genocide that took place at the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka, they have produced an excellent leaflet explaining “Why you should join a Union” (see www.tamilsolidarity.org).

After enjoying excellent performances by Rani Moorthy and local musicians, I spoke at the closing rally, alongside speakers from UNISON, RMT, BFAWU, Tamil Solidarity, Socialist Party and Day-Mer.

Here’s some of what I had to say:

“Today has been a day to celebrate and exchange culture, ideas and international solidarity – but it’s also a day to expose the crimes inflicted by the rich and powerful on the poor and on minorities, particularly the Tamil-speaking peoples – and, a day to commit ourselves to work for a common struggle against poverty and oppression.

For anyone who teaches in London, then our working lives are about trying to help and educate youth coming from across the globe to this city.

It’s a job that gets more difficult every year as the resources to support students with English as a second language are cut, as class sizes and workload get ever greater, making it even harder to give individual students the support they need.

But that’s not just the case in Britain – it’s the same internationally. As the hopes of post-war economic expansion became replaced by capitalist downturn and crisis, Governments across the globe have looked to cut costs and privatise education, turning it into just another source of wealth for big business.

Teacher trade unions describe the attacks we face as the GERM – the ‘Global Education Reform Movement’. Internationally, we see schools forced to compete in an education market-place that creates winners and losers at your children’s expense. We see big business corporations take over privatised schools and boast of the billions of dollars they can generate in profits.

We also see political parties that, in the past, trade unions relied on to oppose the profiteers, turn instead into parties of big business. For example, look where Tristram Hunt, the Labour Party’s Education spokesperson gave his big speech to Labour Teachers this summer – at the HQ of the Microsoft Corporation in London!

What we see happening to education is just an example of a worldwide phenomenon – of globalised big business trying to increase its wealth and power at the expense of working people and the poor.

However, as they have been discussing at the NATO summit in Wales this week, they know that faltering capitalism means that they are finding it harder to keep their grip – see the mess they have created in Iraq and Ukraine for example.

That creates opportunities but also dangers – the danger of racism and communalism as the desperate look for more desperate solutions and turn on each other.

It can also create opportunities to defeat their attacks and win struggles – but only if we rely on our own strength, the strength of the unity of working people, to build from common misery into common struggle.

In communities and workplaces worldwide, campaigning trade unions are bringing people together to organise and unite in struggle (like the Hovis workers’ victory described by Ian from the BFAWU).

Thanks to Day-Mer, I was able to see first-hand Turkish workers battling against the Turkish riot police invading Gezi Park in Istanbul. I can also report that Norwegian teachers who I visited this spring have just won a victory after strike action at the start of this term.

Of course, trade unions are not perfect. In every organisation there will be debates and mistakes – and some of you will have heard that the NUT Executive voted yesterday not to join other trade unions on strike on October 14, a decision which I think was a mistake.

You will hear many making speeches about solidarity – but only some can be relied on to deliver that solidarity. I hope you will find that all of us on this platform can be relied on to do so!

In conclusion, if you are a teacher, join the NUT. If you are a parent, support your teachers in action, join us in our battle to defend education. If you are a Tamil student, as Rani explained in her performance, don’t be silent about your struggles and experiences – talk to your classmates, explain so that others can learn from you.

By joining communities together, as we are today, we can struggle together to win”.

Norway: Strike forces employers to retreat

http://www.newsinenglish.no/2014/09/01/teachers-strike-finally-over/

Reports from colleagues in Norway have informed me that their national teachers' strike has come to an end after the employers' federation were forced to back down from their original proposals to worsen teachers' working conditions.

Some reports in English from the Norwegian press are posted on: http://www.newsinenglish.no/2014/09/01/teachers-strike-finally-over/ and http://www.thelocal.no/20140901/norways-teachers-strike-over-as-unions-agree

While the debate on Norwegian teachers' forums shows that there are parts of the new agreement that are still being questioned  (and the new deal still has to be voted on), colleagues are also rightly congratulating each other for standing firm and forcing the employers to retreat.

Teachers' strike builds in Norway

From http://www.nrk.no/rogaland/tusenvis-av-laerere-demonstrerer-1.11890042

Now the summer holidays have come to an end, the strike by Norwegian teachers - of the Utdanningsforbundet union - is escalating. This follows a membership rejection of a deal that was put to them following negotiations earlier in the year (see previous posts under the 'International' label for more background to the dispute).

Colleagues who I visited in April have sent me a brief report: 

"Fantastic turnout at the strike rally today! More than 4000 teachers gathered in small Stavanger... Tomorrow more teachers are starting their strike. Approx 8000 nationally now, and 800 locally. What's fascinating now is that our employers are really under tremendous pressure from politicians, media and people in general - and they do not seem to know how to manage this situation!" 

Look out for more updates ...

There's a summary of the dispute posted on the EI's "Unite for Quality Education" blog: http://www.unite4education.org/quality-teachers/norway-teacher-strike-intensifies-as-schools-re-open 

Norwegian teachers reject negotiated deal and prepare to strike

News is breaking that Norwegian teachers have voted by a large majority, and with a high turnout, to reject the proposed deal on pay and conditions that had been proposed at the end of negotiations between their union and their employers.

The results of the ballot were:
73% NO to the deal
27% YES to the deal
Turnout 67%

More details to follow - but be ready to support our colleagues in Norway taking action to defend education and to oppose the kind of attacks that teachers are facing internationally.

(See previous International posts for the background to this dispute)

UPDATE: This article in English gives more information on the dispute: http://theforeigner.no/pages/news/widespread-norway-teachers-strike-official/

“They have said a resounding ‘no’ to the deal put forward by the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS),” union leader Ragnhild Lied said at today’s NRK-televised press conference. Talks between the union and the employers’ organisation had been successful. They had recommended their members accept the new working agreement.27 per cent of the more than two-thirds who voted did.

Included in this was the teacher losing current flexibility to carry out pre and post-lesson work at home, instead of at school. It means they would have to be there for 7.5 hours a day, like many employment agreements at businesses in Norway. A 3.3 per cent pay rise was also part of the agreement. The number of hours teachers put in regarding their work – which includes preparation and meetings – is considered to be higher than those of staff such as office workers' in the course of a school year. Teachers get the same amount of paid annual leave, with additional days/weeks being time in lieu or due to public holidays.

Ms Lied admitted they knew certain parts of the new deal would be contentious, but had underestimated “the mistrust KS has created amongst teachers – one that has built up over time.” “We’ve taken self-criticism on board, and are now ready to lead a strike,” she said, smiling. According to her, a walkout will now be staged at one school in Bergen, with minor strike action occurring during the summer holidays. Parents and pupils will only start to notice the consequences of teachers’ vote at the beginning of the school year. “We’ll be strongly escalating strike action at this time”, Ms Lied informed reporters, “and this can be widespread and long-lasting.” 

Teachers in Oslo municipality have their own agreement and will not be staging industrial action. The Union of Education represents some 93,000 educational staff.