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Created on Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:35

Written by Newcastle FRFI

On the 24^th April, the Rana Plaza complex in Dhaka, Bangladesh collapsed, killing hundreds of garment workers. Two weeks later, bodies were still being found amongst the rubble, bringing the death toll to over 1,050 and rising every day. The workers had been toiling in sweatshops to produce clothing for companies such as Primark and Matalan and Mango.

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Created on Wednesday, 15 May 2013 09:51

Written by Newcastle FRFI

On 10 May, FRFI published a report of a sexist attack by SWP and TUC officials on FRFI supporters who attempted to attend a meeting of Newcastle Unites against the EDL on 7 May (SWP and Newcastle TUC: sexist thugs defend Labour, 7 May 2013).

On 13 May, Newcastle Unites responded – not on the issue of its violence towards us, but instead claiming that we had endangered their organisation by naming the venue in which they were secretly meeting. Let us be clear: this is hogwash. The TUC centre has been used for all sorts of left-wing, anti-racist and anti-fascist meetings. The TUC itself has taken a public stand against the EDL. There has been no EDL attack on the premises. Meetings of Tyneside Community Action against Racism (TCAR) have been publicly advertised at the same venue and have not been attacked.

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Created on Wednesday, 17 April 2013 15:48

Written by Helen Yaffe

Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 232 April/May 2013                                               

International prize-winning Cuban opposition ‘blogger’, Yoani Sanchez, is touring 12 countries over three continents in 80 days. She plays the lead in a grotesque circus performance which sees a handful of counter-revolutionaries jet-set to high-profile platforms, mainly in the US and Europe, to call for ‘regime change’ in Cuba. Others include Berta Soler, from the Ladies in White, and fellow ‘blogger’ Eliecer Avila. This follows the relaxation of Cuban migration legislation earlier this year (see FRFI 230). The tours are exposing the hypocrisy of these so-called champions of human rights and their links to imperialist interests. HELEN YAFFE reports.*

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Created on Tuesday, 02 April 2013 16:00

Written by Bob Shepherd

Obama’s visit to Israel in March was designed to reassure Israel that they still play a central role in imperialism’s plans to control the Middle East and Central Asia. It was also an opportunity for Obama to point out to the Zionists that they won’t find a more pliant and servile Palestinian leadership than Abbas and the current Palestinian Authority (PA).

Obama’s speech in Jerusalem on 21 March was deliberately phrased in a pro-Zionist language. Full of distortions and outright lies, it praised the ‘achievements’ of Israeli democracy, equated Jewish culture with Israel and highlighted the shared interests of Israel and the US, only adding the plight of the Palestinians for liberal effect.

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Created on Thursday, 28 March 2013 14:01

Written by Carol Brickley

Cuts to Legal Aid provision, taking effect at the beginning of April, will seal the poverty trap for the poorest sections of the working class in Britain. Communities already facing the brunt of the government’s attack on living standards, in particular those who rely on welfare benefits to survive with dignity, will now be unable to seek legal advice, help or representation to challenge the unfair and worsening conditions they are forced to suffer.

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Created on Wednesday, 27 March 2013 12:18

Written by FRFI

Those who think that ‘political correctness’ is no more than a scheme to stop tasteless jokes about people who are perceived as different should think again. In the bleak days of the past children who were born with physical disabilities or learning difficulties were regarded with superstitious hatred and often locked away from the community. Campaigners fought for integrated schooling as the best option for the majority of children with special needs, including those with physical disabilities, and have largely been vindicated. The long struggle to include the rights of all in the rights of the child, irrespective of class, race, gender or ability was adopted and enshrined in the 1994 UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) Salamanca Statement which described inclusive education as ‘combating discriminatory attitudes and creating welcoming communities’. Provision for a wide spectrum of children with learning needs was introduced into mainstream schools in the UK.

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Created on Wednesday, 20 March 2013 13:28

Written by Robert Clough

The bedroom tax is just one part of the wholesale attack on benefits that is being ratcheted up from the beginning of April. The council tax benefit cut will affect at least 670,000 working-age recipients in both social and private accommodation including an estimated 162,000 low-paid workers. They will have to find between £100 and £250 per year. This will be on top of any bedroom tax for which they may be liable, or on top of any rent they have to pay because of last year’s cuts in local housing allowance for those in private rented accommodation.

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Created on Thursday, 14 March 2013 22:04

Written by FRFI

Karl Marx

14 March is the 130th anniversary of the death of Karl Marx. We reproduce below Frederick Engels' funeral oration on 17 March 1883 in Highgate Cemetery.

Frederick Engels' Speech at the Grave of Karl Marx
Highgate Cemetery, London. March 17, 1883

On the 14th of March, at a quarter to three in the afternoon, the greatest living thinker ceased to think. He had been left alone for scarcely two minutes, and when we came back we found him in his armchair, peacefully gone to sleep -- but for ever.

An immeasurable loss has been sustained both by the militant proletariat of Europe and America, and by historical science, in the death of this man. The gap that has been left by the departure of this mighty spirit will soon enough make itself felt.

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