“The UNICEF report on children’s well-being, the Oliver James study on mental health in modern society and the Bernard Matthews mountain of dead turkeys all point to the same conclusion – monopoly capitalism is making many of us more, stressed, ill or mad” Steve Johnson told the Communist Party political committee on Wednesday.
He calls for higher social investment, increased wages and benefits and inroads into the wealth and power of big business as part of a “left-wing programme for equality and social justice”.
London district secretary Mr Johnson condemned the tabloid “demonisation” of Britain’s Muslims and pointed to the government’s duplicity in threatening to slash unemployment benefit for non-English speakers while at the same time cutting funds and raising fees for English as a second-language adult classes. The political committee congratulated lecturers union UCU for organising a lobby of Parliament on February 28th in favour of maintaining ESL provision.
Britain’s Communists also backed the conference being organised by the United Campaign for the Repeal of Anti-Trade Union Laws in London on March 1st.
“It is the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, that have sowed the seeds of insurgency and civil war, not real or imagined influence from the reactionary regime in Iran”, Mr Johnson declared. He urged a massive turnout for the ‘No Trident, Troops Out of Iraq’ national demonstrations in London and Glasgow on February 24th.
'Mobilise Against New War' say International Communists
'Recent provocative actions and statements by the Bush regime clearly indicate that US imperialism and its allies are preparing the grounds for military aggression against Iran', Navid Shomali told the Co-ordinating Committee of Communist Parties in Britain on Monday. 'This will not be a war to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, nor to expand democracy and human rights, but to secure political control over the region and its abundant oil resources', declared Mr Shomali who is chair of the committee.
'By far the biggest victims will be the Iranian people who already suffer at the hands of the repressive regime which rigged the 2005 elections and whose words and deeds are providing a pretext for imperialist intervention', he added.
Mr Shomali urged the anti-war movement in Britain and internationally not to confuse the need to oppose aggressive war against the people of Iran with support for the reactionary regime in Tehran.
The Tudeh Party of Iran is calling upon the Ahmadinejad government to adopt a 'consistent pro-peace policy which promotes transparency, confidence-building measures and a reduction of tension in the region'.
The co-ordinating committee backed the national demonstrations in London and Glasgow on February 24 and announced plans for an International Women's Day celebration at Ruskin House, Croydon, on March 10 with music, food and invited representatives from Cuba, Ireland, Venezuela, Iran, Iraq and Greece.
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