Justice for Assange!

British judges are not known for their liberality and our courts are generally not sympathetic to those who jump bail. Nevertheless, the sentencing of Julian Assange to 50 weeks in jail – just two weeks shy of the 12-month maximum for this offence, smacks of the vindictiveness that the bourgeoisie reserve for those who politically offend them.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail by a London court this week for skipping bail to enter the Ecuadorian embassy, where he was holed up for almost seven years until police dragged him out last month. His sentence, for seeking and receiving asylum, is twice as much as the sentencing guidelines. The so-called ‘speedboat killer’, jailed for six years for the manslaughter for the death of his girl-friend in a crash on the Thames, only got six months extra for failing to appear in court. His supporters now, quite rightly, doubt whether he will receive a fair extradition hearing when it comes up this week.

The persecution of Assange is part of a world-wide imperialist campaign to suppress anything that challenges the lie-machines that exist to justify bourgeois rule. In the past they masqueraded as champions of “democracy” and “human rights” to justify the Cold War and neo-colonialism in the Third World. The ‘New Media Age’, with independent global TV networks and a world-wide internet network than cannot easily be controlled, has broken the bourgeois media monopoly and now the ruling class are resorting to fascist methods of censorship and persecution in a new drive to stifle anything that challenges aggression, oppression and exploitation.

Assange’s ‘crime’ was his refusal to play the bogus ‘human rights’ game and turn a blind eye to the crimes of imperialism. He worked together with former US soldier and whistle-blower Chelsea Manning to expose war-crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the notorious ‘Collateral Murder’ video that shows American helicopter gun-ships mowing down innocent civilians in Baghdad in 2007 during the American occupation of Iraq.

Manning spent around seven years in prison for exposing war-crimes. She’s now back in jail for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. Assange faces even worse retribution if he falls into American hands.

The Americans want to criminalise long-established source protection practices and journalists working with whistle-blowers who disclose classified information for the public interest. Scores of media freedom campaigns, news outlets, United Nations representatives, politicians and public figures are opposed to Assange’s extradition to the USA and they have warned of its worrying implications.

Jeremy Corbyn has called on the May government to oppose any American request to send the 47-year-old WikiLeaks founder for trial in America for obtaining classified information from former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.

 Corbyn said: “The extradition of Julian Assange to the US for exposing evidence of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan should be opposed by the British government” and Labour Shadow Home Secretary, Diane Abbott, likened the case to that of computer hacker Gary McKinnon, whose US extradition was blocked by the Tory government in 2012 when Mrs May was home secretary.

If Assange is extradited to the USA he will face charges that could lead to a long stretch in prison. This must not happen.

Fascists not welcome in Leeds

by New Worker correspondent

Italian commnists on the march

 Italian comrades joined hundreds of other anti-fascists last weekend to show the far-right that they were not welcome in Leeds. Members of the Communist Party of Italy’s Pietro Secchia (UK) branch joined the lunch-time march, called by the Leeds Anti-Fascist Network (Leeds AFN), against Yorkshire racists posing as British ‘Yellow Vests’ who had called for an anti-immigration protest in the city.

On the day the anti-fascists marched through the streets unchallenged because the handful of degenerates who actually turned up for their own demonstration skulked away when they saw the massed ranks against them.

Leeds AFN said: “We brought with us no trouble but a clear message: We will not tolerate the hatred spewed by the far-right in our city. The effect it has on communities across the world is clear for all to see. Recent events such as the Christchurch attacks and pogroms against the Roma in Ukraine and Italy prove the immediate danger these views pose to communities seen as ‘other’ by the far-right. In March of this year here in Leeds, we saw a man affiliated with the far-right charged with six terrorism offences related to planning attacks. Toxic far-right views are a genuine threat which we will continue to stand against wherever we encounter them.”

The Leeds AFN is an independent group of activists from across the left campaigning for militant, working-class anti-fascism and anti-racism.

With a recent resurgence of the far-right and a feeling that the tactics of Unite Against Fascism (UAF) aren’t effective, activists in Leeds set up the local campaign to confront the fascists and racists head-on in the city. The members come from groups from different parts of the left as well as non-aligned individuals, and all are committed to remaining independent of any political party or organisation. Leeds AFN believes that the way to counter fascism isn’t through liberalism but through grass-roots organising and resistance amongst the working class.

Red Joan

Review

by Ben Soton

 Director: Trevor Nunn; Writer: Lindsay Shapero, based on the novel by Jennie Rooney; Stars: Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Stephen Campbell Moore, Tom Hughes, Freddie Gaminara, Tereza Srbova, Ben Miles.

105 minutes; UK certificate: 12A

This is a relatively short film (105 minutes) based on the life of Melita Norwood, a lifelong communist who worked for the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association. In a recognisable 1999 an elderly woman is arrested by Special Branch on charges of providing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. The film takes us back to the 1930s and ‘40s; where the main character, Joan Stanley played by Sophie Cookson (Kingsman the Secret Service, Kingsman the Golden Circle), is initially a student and later a research scientist.

The era is well represented. In an early scene a young Joan is invited to a Socialist film club viewing of Battleship Potemkin. Prior to the screening students sing the Red Flag; this is meant to represent her moment of conversion.

The film also shows the archaic attitude towards women during the period; it is assumed that Stanley is little more than a glorified housemaid, rather than a trained scientist. In one scene a young police constable is too embarrassed to look inside a box of feminine hygiene products when trying to locate a major security breach. It is, however, believed that these attitudes enabled Norwood to evade security successfully.

Back in 1999 a much older Stanley is berated by her son about loyalty to her country. This takes us to what the Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm referred to as International Civil War, where during the period from the Russian Revolution onwards a struggle existed that superseded the nation state on both sides. According to Hobsbawm this struggle takes place between Nation States but also within them. In this conflict individuals on both sides could be said to have betrayed their country; the question being was it their country anyway. From 1917 reactionaries in the Soviet Union were willing to side with fascist or imperialist powers in order to have the country they had had taken away from them returned to them. Arguably communists in the west were willing to work the Soviet Union, both covertly and overtly, in to order to make the country they live in theirs.

Although the film contains a number of negative references to the Moscow Trials, it is not unsympathetic to Norwood’s actions. It should be pointed out that in a number of areas, such as jet and space technology, the Soviet Union was ahead of the imperialist powers. Parity in nuclear technology however, may have created a balance that actually prevented an unwinnable war that would probably have destroyed the planet.

It is for this reason we owe strugglers for peace such as Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, Kim Philby and Melita Norwood a great debt.                            

MAY DAY 2019

 THE WEALTH BELONGS TO THOSE WHO PRODUCE IT!

The World Federation of Trade Unions, on the behalf of its 97 million members in 130 countries of the 5 continents, greets the celebration of the International Workers’ Day 2019 with the slogan: “The wealth belongs to those who produce it!”

We greet workers throughout the globe, and their irreplaceable role in the production of all goods and services, necessary to cover all contemporary needs of the peoples internationally. We honor the history of the world working class, the great struggle of workers in Chicago in May 1886, who fought and achieved the establishment of the 8-hour working day, even by sacrificing their life.

The class oriented trade union movement, through the ranks of the World Federation of Trade Unions, firmly continues its struggles with demands for the essential improvement of the working and living conditions of workers and poor popular strata.

Nowadays, when 1% of the population possesses more than 80% of the produced wealth, while 4.5 billion people live in poverty and misery, workers must claim even more dynamically all the wealth we create, so as to put an end to the injustice and inequalities!

In countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America, monopolies exploit their immense natural wealth, giving peanuts to the peoples. The rivalries among the powerful imperialist states maintain tensions, outbreaks of war and open wounds in countries where interventions, wars and bombings have taken place in the previous years, where crowds of uprooted peoples, of migrants and refugees, were created.

Even in the so-called developed countries, the attack against salaries and pensions, against historic achievements of workers, is taking place in the name of the capitalist economic crisis, for the support of the profitability of big businesses. Poverty, unemployment, insecurity are on the rise, healthcare services are deteriorated, the governments try to limit the action of the militant trade union movement with fierce repression, by putting obstacles to trade union actions, to the right to strike.

The World Federation of Trade Unions calls on its members, friends, workers of the world, to hoist the flag of historic struggles of the peoples and to organize May Day’s strike for one more year, in a way worthy of the day when the world working class celebrates.

Against the false theories of employers, governments and corrupted trade union leaderships, who claim that strikes, demands, action of trade unions have become out-dated, so that they can serve the interests of the big capital in the best possible way.

With massive, dynamic strike mobilizations everywhere, under the banners and slogans of WFTU, which express the class unity and internationalist solidarity. With demands for full-time stable work for all, salary and pension rises, free and high quality health and education services for workers and their families. In defense of the rights of youth and women of the working class.

For peace, for the end of foreign interventions in internal affairs of the countries. For the right of the peoples to decide on their own about their present and future.

For the end of racism, fascism, xenophobia, which is promoted by capitalist exploitation. For the unity of all workers. For the end of imperialist wars, waged for the interests of a minority who exploit the toil of workers and bathe the peoples in blood.

For the end of capitalist exploitation, for a society with true justice and equality, where the wealth will belong to those who produce it, to workers, who are the driving force of all progress and achievements of humanity.

Since the first moment of its foundation and for the 74 years of its course and action, the WFTU firmly by the side of the workers around the globe, on the occasion of May Day 2019 expresses once more its solidarity to the peoples of Venezuela, Cuba, Palestine, Syria, Yemen, Libya.

We will steadily continue our struggles, aiming to make them stronger through new initiatives, activities and mobilizations! With internationalism and solidarity.

Let’s continue our efforts for the strengthening of the militant trade unions with many new members, with young people and women, with the enhancement of class characteristics and of the class unity of all workers. By revealing the dirty role of reformists and of corrupted bureaucrats that turn trade unions into servants of the bourgeoisie.

We participate actively in the strike of May Day 2019!

Long live the International Workers’ Day!

The wealth belongs to those who produce it!