Issue 264 of SOCIALIST REVIEW Published June 2002 Copyright © Socialist Review
A new left is emergingOn a recent visit to Beirut I had the opportunity to see for myself the last 10 days of the sit-in reported in last month's issue (May SR) and speak to some of the activists involved in the protests. This was at a critical moment as it looked like the intifada was being squeezed on all sides, and the need to both explain this and take things forward was urgent. The left in Lebanon looks and sounds like the left anywhere else at the moment. It is young, active, full of confidence and very open to discussion and ideas. The success of the globalisation conference in Beirut nine months ago meant that a delegation was sent to Porto Alegre, and they are hoping to send people to the European Social Forum. Plans are also being made for an Arab Social Forum at the end of the year either in Beirut or Cairo. So out of the protests has come not just a new layer of activists, but crucially a much higher level of organisation and confidence. Many of these activists are conscious of being part of a new left right across the Middle East. They can sense that something significant is happening. Some have been around for a number of years waiting for the space to break out of the hold of Arab Nationalist politics, and some are completely new. So they are struggling with the same issues as the rest of the international movement. Al-Yasari, the first left wing newspaper for a generation, was launched as a result of the protest. The aim is to use the paper as a link between all the activists as the struggle develops. The paper will be carrying arguments for the left to go back to the demand for a democratic secular state of Palestine, and the right of return, whilst at the same time arguing for rights for Palestinians in the camps now. So this means raising the question of fighting for jobs, water and full property rights for Palestinians amongst Lebanese workers and supporting the battles that are brewing over privatisation.
The combination of the economic and military aims of US imperialism, and the bankruptcy of Arab nationalism and Islamic fundamentalism has created a space for a new left to develop. Each time Al Jazeira shows demonstrations from London, Rome, or Washington their confidence grows and the sense of being part of an international fight deepens. The coverage on Palestine and the Middle East (May SR) was excellent. Palestine is now a key fault line in US imperialism's effort to establish 'full spectrum dominance' around the world. This is especially true of the Middle East, but in Europe support for the Palestinians is running high. So in the run-up to Bush's recent visit his supporters were casting criticism of Israel as a direct attack on US interests. They accuse Europe of being both 'anti-American' and 'anti-Semitic', pointing to the success of Le Pen and other fascists in recent European elections. Colin Powell accused Europeans of 'America bashing'. The American Jewish League called for a boycott of the Cannes film festival on the grounds that France was now as anti-Semitic as the wartime Vichy regime. The New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman, obscenely declared: 'The anti-Semitism coming out of Europe...suggests...some Europeans want Mr Sharon to commit a massacre against Palestinians...so they can finally get the guilt of the Holocaust off their backs.' This is filthy hypocrisy. The far right are being fuelled by the Islamophobia inherent within the 'war on terrorism' and by the increasing devastation caused by the neoliberal agenda. The British politicians who supported Bush's warmongering are viciously scapegoating refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. That the Nazis who attack Muslim youth in Burnley also desecrate synagogues gives us all the more reason to build the biggest movement possible against racism, imperialism and war. There is a small minority in the Arab and Muslim community who mistake all Jews as the problem rather than Zionism as such. This is not surprising when Israel insists it represents the interests of all Jews everywhere in the world. The best way to undercut such notions is to build a solidarity movement with the Palestinians that, like the magnificent demonstration on 18 May, brought together Arabs, non-Arabs, Muslims and Jews openly declaring their opposition to Israel.
If there is one lesson of the Holocaust it is that, regardless of nation or race, we should all stand shoulder to shoulder with the oppressed against racism and imperialism. |
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At last month's Globalise Resistance conference in London, and at the European Social Forum mobilising committee meetings in London, proposals have been put (and defeated) about setting up an English Social Forum. The argument is unlikely to totally disappear, so the experience of the social forum movement in Italy needs to be assessed critically.
This form of organisation, which contains all strands of political thought from Blairism leftwards, grew out of the protests against the G8 summit in Genoa last July. There are currently 169 social forums in Italy, each of which has several working groups. The scale of activity needs to be stressed to understand the basis of its existence--the Genoa Social Forum got 300,000 people to come to the city, despite all kinds of difficulties. Following police violence in Genoa, over the following week half a million people demonstrated throughout the country. In localities all over Italy activists asked each other: 'What should we call ourselves?', and the answer they spontaneously came up with was 'a social forum'. So the movement emerged from a mass mobilisation, on a far higher scale than anything so far seen in countries such as Britain.
In recent months the attacks of the Berlusconi government against rights at work have detonated an even bigger movement, that of the organised working class, which in turn has exposed some of the weaknesses of the social forums. For example, in demonstrations during the general strike in April many big cities had two marches in the morning--one organised by the official trade unions, the equivalent of the TUC. The other, often 50,000 to 60,000 strong, were led by rank and file groups such as Cobas. The question arose, who would the social forums march with?
Because the forums have been built on the basis of 'pluralism' and 'diversity' they could not agree where to go, so in many cases they decided to organise a separate march in the afternoon. Very few people who support the creation of social forums outside Italy would agree with such a move. But it is a reminder that basic class divisions can suddenly rear up and 'sandwich' an organisation that thought it could 'bypass' them. This is a bit like the notion that Naomi Klein and others had before Genoa--that you could suddenly 'move round' the question of state power and its tendency to repress dissent and organisations hostile to it.
'Traditional' politics have also resurfaced over the question of standing in elections. Although Italy is still undergoing a fascinating and inspiring period of mass mobilisations, it is not a fundamentally different society to a year ago. So electoral politics and trade union mobilisations still dominate the thinking of the majority of left wing voters and activists. So elements of the movement have been unable to resist the temptation of standing in council elections at the end of May. In Genoa Giuliano Giuliani, Carlo's father, stood for the centre-left DS party. One of the main organisers of the Genoa Social Forum, Massimiliano Morettini, also stood for the DS in his home town. Yet a Genoese spokesperson for the Catholic Lilliput network, which has formally left the social forum movement, criticised the decision: 'entering institutional channels only weakens the movement'.
The same is true outside of Genoa. Communist Refoundation has offered many social forum activists a place in its list of candidates. There is a social forum candidate in Cosenza in the south. And in the far north, Vicenza, the leader of the 'disobedient' wing of the movement, Luca Casarini, also ran as a councillor. So the social forum movement is still far from destroying the dominance of conventional politics although it remains the largest and most exciting movement to emerge in the post-Seattle period, and could still develop further.
Outside of Italy we need to be wary about mechanically trying to reproduce what has happened there. Simply proclaiming an English 'social forum' will not bring about the mass mobilisations upon which the Italian experience has been based. Furthermore, simply calling something a 'social forum' does not change the underlying reality. Indeed just 18 months ago nobody in Italy had heard of them. And six months ago in Argentina no one was talking about or attending things called 'popular assemblies'.
The important thing over the coming months is to build our forces, getting as many people to Florence as possible. If we multiply our forces many times over, the need for a new form of organisation may well arise, and people may well want to give it a name. So let's create a new huge, colourful painting. Then we can think about what to call it.
Tom Behan
Canterbury
The Walrus was right to point out that the bosses are worried about the issue of London weighting (May SR). The Economist recently reported that NERA--an economics consultancy--had published a survey suggesting that London teachers should be claiming an allowance of more than £9,000. NERA arrived at this figure by comparing the regional pay differentials in the private sector. The government use the pay differentials in the public sector, which NERA rejects because it argues they do not accurately reflect the extra cost of hiring people in and around London.
Another important point was made by Ken Livingstone and the GLA. London faces a population increase of 700,000 in the next 15 years. This will include 100,000 extra school children, who will need an extra 130 schools to be built. With London teacher vacancy rates running at two and a half times the national average, it looks like the problem isn't going to go away. On top of this, the Police Federation has reported that despite the £6,000 allowance for the police, the flow of roughly 40 London officers a month to other forces is several times the inflow.
If our bosses realise that £6,000 is probably not enough, we should keep an eye on our union leaders to ensure they don't settle for less. We should also bear in mind that last year the DFES underspent its budget by about £1 billion. The money's there, but only a real fight will get it.
Alasdair Smith
North London
Chris Talbot's review of Cosmology by Peter Coles (April SR) made far too many concessions to the idealist theories that now appear to dominate modern physics. For example, the so called 'Big Bang' theory of the origin of the universe was invented by a Christian cosmologist (Lemaître) who wanted to reconcile cosmology with the biblical story of creation. The evidence for the occurrence of just such a 'Big Bang' is equivocal--at best--despite the hype that surrounds it.
Readers who doubt this should consult The Big Bang Never Happened (by cosmologist Eric Lerner), wherein they will find a detailed account of the ideological roots of this dubious theory, an analysis of its serious weaknesses and an outline of a superior alternative. Also contained in Lerner's book is an analysis of why modern theoretical physics is dominated by idealism, fanciful mathematical models and thought experiments, as well as an explanation of why this encourages a commitment to the belief in a static universe (frozen in a four dimensional manifold). Lerner also shows why there have been no fundamental advances in physics over the last 50 years or so (apart, that is, from the creation of increasingly baroque mathematical models that are as impossible to confirm as they are to comprehend).
It's a pity Chris did not consult Lerner's book before he read Coles' work. At the very least, it might have prevented him from forming a sympathetic opinion of such regressive theories.
Paul Jakubovic
Farnborough
One of the most active groups in modern society is the pensioners' movement. This is for two good reasons. Firstly they remember the periods before and after the Second World War and the pressures which led to the welfare state. Secondly, they are suffering from neglect and the increasing disparity of wealth within society.
Help the Aged has done an invaluable service in providing solid evidence on which we can campaign.
Not enough money is being put into the social care of the elderly. Nothing Personal: Rationing Social Care for Older People is an extensive report looking at all the factors related to social care and is based on detailed research into six representative authorities.
The report identifies the turning point as the NHS and Community Care Act 1990 which led to major changes in the way in which resources for social care were used. Most local authorities found increasing problems in balancing the rising demand for services with finite resources. The response was that resources were targeted at the more heavily dependent. A major consequence has been that preventive systems have been lost. The evidence suggests that those in institutional care are increasingly dependent, particularly in terms of mental health needs.
Social services share boundaries with health and housing. They have had to take on board changes in health care policy in relation to long term care needs, early discharge from hospital, and restrictions of health service responsibility for people with chronic illnesses and disabilities. Long term care provision for older people had its roots in the Poor Law reflecting the fact that older people's problems were seen, until recently, as one of poverty. This has meant personal social care has been means tested. The extension of home ownership in the last 25 years has meant that a majority of home owners are potentially brought within the means testing net.
Government, as a result of public pressure, has seen the need to put resources into the health service. There is an equal need to put resources into social care. We are the fourth richest country in the world. What is needed is a better sense of priorities and a recognition that a civilised society cannot ignore the needs of its elderly people. For details phone Help the aged--020 7278 1116, or go to www.helptheaged.org.uk
Ralph A Tebbutt,
Honorary Secretary, Medway Pensioners' Forum