Author: avantipopulo

4^th February 2023

Energy companies – continue to pile on the profits

The means by which the working class in Britain are persecuted are many and varied.  Poor housing, increasingly limited educational opportunities, limited apprenticeships for skilled work, low pay, zero hours contracts, limited trade union rights, the list goes on.  Add to this the so called cost of living crisis (in reality a crisis of profits for capitalism), in particular relating to energy bills, and life for many of the poorest in our communities is little more than miserable.

In such circumstances it is no surprise that some may fall behind on bills as they try to square the heating or eating circle, forced to make impossible choices in order to stay warm, maintain good health and survive to the end of another week. 

Into this mix add the practice of energy firms forcibly installing prepayment meters, resulting in many vulnerable families being at risk of having their power cut off, if they cannot afford to top up.   Prepayment meters are generally more expensive, meaning that the scam perpetrated by the energy companies does not just put vulnerable families at risk it helps ramp up their already obscene profits.

The energy watchdog, Ofgem, having finally woken up to the practice of forced installation, has asked the energy firms to review how they deal with customers who fall behind on their bills.  The public furore over the practice has forced the energy firms to step back and most have now said that they will suspend all prepayment warrant activity, the polite euphemism for breaking into people’s homes, “at least until the end of winter.”

British Gas, one of the main perpetrators of the breaking and entering scam, have attempted to blag their way out of their responsibility by claiming that, “It’s not how we do business.”  This may be a thinly veiled effort to shift the blame onto the bailiffs they employ to break doors on their behalf but there is certainly no indication that British Gas are returning any excess profits accrued as a result of their nefarious actions.  It is very much how they have been doing business and may continue to be the case after “the end of the winter.”

Like a bankrobber counting the loot from his latest heist, ending forced entry is the least the energy firms can do, though it sounds a lot like saying, we have fleeced you enough for now but we will be back….

As robbery goes the energy firms could easily teach the average safe cracker a thing or two.  Shell this week announced profits of £32.2 billion for 2022, the highest in its 115 year history!   The company is valued at £168bn but lobbied hard against a windfall tax on the basis that it would hinder energy investments.  The reality of how Shell spends its profits is quite different however. 

The think tank Common Wealth has found that in the final quarter of last year Shell invested £871 million in exploring hydrogen and carbon capture and storage.  Shareholder dividends for the same period totalled £5 billion while marketing cost the company a cool £1.6 billion.  Apparently, shareholders will also benefit from a £3.2bn share buy back scheme. 

This is hardly the action of a company committed to forging ahead in pursuit of renewable energy sources.  On the contrary, a complaint has been filed in the US accusing Shell of including investments in gas under the label of renewables.

While the Tories did, under pressure, introduce a form of windfall tax on the profits of energy companies, calls for this to be made tougher are growing.   There is no indication at present that the Tories will relent with Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, more content to applaud Shell’s “substantive investments here in the UK.”

Nor is the government prepared to tighten the law when it comes to constraining the issuing of prepay warrants and the forced installation of meters, stating through an unnamed spokesman that,

“The independent regulator Ofgem operates the licensing regime for energy suppliers.  They have the power to fine suppliers who do not comply with their licence conditions.”

In effect the government is confirming its complicity in attacks upon the most vulnerable families, while doing its utmost to protect the methods of those prepared to maximise their profits by any means, at anyone’s expense.

The current strike wave is a clear demonstration that resistance to the Tories is growing and that their actions are clearly based on protecting the interests of their own class, rather than some spurious notion of the ‘national interest’. 

Linking organised trade union action to community resistance will be vital to taking the struggle against the Tories to a new level in the political arena.  That will require a commitment that the energy companies must be nationalised, in order to serve the interests of the many, not the few wealthy shareholders, as at present. That would be a real commitment to the national interest. Labour need to wake up to the need to take the lead on this issue or they may well be left behind.

28^th January 2023

Nothing in the tank – Chancellor Jeremy Hunt fails to enthuse even his own supporters

Britain’s Tory Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, claims to have a plan for economic growth.  As he and his political predecessors have presided over the active de-industrialisation of Britain for over 40 years this news was not greeted by thousands pouring onto the streets, to await words of wisdom from the Chancellor.  Thousands have continued to swell the ranks of picket lines however, protesting the case for better pay, terms and conditions.

Undeterred by the evidence of political chaos and the sounds of the crumbling economic edifice all around him, Hunt pressed on regardless.  He was at least conscious of the dangers of making any pronouncements in a public sector building, so retreated to the safety of the City of London, choosing the headquarters of the financial data and news service Bloomberg.  No nasty picket lines there and no one worrying about their next meal, their wait for a hip operation or how they were going to pay the energy bills.

Scene set, what did the wisdom of Jeremy Hunt consist of?  Well, in typical soundbite fashion, Hunt explained that he wanted to focus on ‘the four Es’; enterprise, education, employment and everywhere.

On the issue of enterprise Hunt was keen to see Britain as a leader in digital technology.  Hunt failed to account for the fact that the tech world is united in its criticism of the scale and speed of Britain’s broadband infrastructure, which is becoming more of an impediment than an aid to progress.  The failure of Britishvolt this week to establish the electric battery manufacturing plant in Blyth in Northumberland, also sent out something of a negative signal.  When asked about this during the week the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, denied it was lack of government support which undermined the project but a failure of the private sector to cough up enough cash.  

Enterprise, looked wobbly and its prospects were not enhanced by reliance on private companies, BT Openreach and the National Grid, to modernise the technology and electricity infrastructure.   Hunt is clearly relying on the misplaced Tory mantra that the private sector is the engine of the economy.   In reality it is public sector investment, planned and sustained, without which the private sector cannot function, that is the engine of economic growth, even in capitalist terms.

As the party which has done all in its power to dismantle the comprehensive education sector, and continues to champion tax payer subsidised public school education for the privileged few, hopes were not riding high for the second E from the Chancellor; education.

The recent autumn budget did see an injection of £2.3 billion for the schools budget but, far from this being a boost for greater educational opportunity or training pupils for jobs in a bright high tech future, it just about saved them from having to go onto the streets to busk and beg for pencils!   With seven days of strike action by teachers coming up throughout February, in protest at real terms cuts in teachers’ pay, and a struggle to recruit and retain in the profession, Hunt seemed to be out of touch with the realities once again in his second E.

Third E; employment.  The outcome of a confident booming economy where well educated and well trained young people get well paid jobs with prospects of promotion and advancement.  Such an approach would go against the Tory economic model of the past forty years and nothing Hunt said indicated that this would change.  The low pay, zero hours contract, anti trades union, gig economy does not appear to give Hunt any cause for sleepless nights.  Nothing in Hunt’s plan appeared to suggest that there were any issues to address here. 

With even workers at Amazon centres going on strike this week, it is obvious that the bubble is beginning to burst in a sector which has traditionally relied on poor terms and conditions being compensated for by relatively higher pay than low paid public service jobs.  The derisory 50p an hour pay increase offered to Amazon staff contrasted sharply enough with the billions the company made in profits to see GMB membership soar in the past week.

Finally, Hunt moved on the E number four; everywhere.  The government’s failure to give up on the redundant concept of ‘levelling up’ is abject.  The last round of so called levelling up funds saw 60% land in London and the South East; £19m go to the well heeled constituency of one Rishi Sunak MP, Richmond in North Yorkshire; with a few scraps left over to try and shore up so called red wall seats for the Tories, in advance of the looming General Election.  Continuing to labour under the levelling up delusion Hunt nevertheless claimed that the programme would ensure all parts of the UK would benefit from “making Britain one of the most prosperous places in Europe.”

As the world’s sixth largest economy it should not have escaped Hunt’s notice that Britain is already quite prosperous.  The problem, for the majority, is the uneven and inequitable distribution of that prosperity with the number of billionaires increasing at the same time as more people end up homeless and sleeping on the streets.  

In economic terms Hunt and his boss Rishi Sunak behave with the mentality of a couple of barrow boys flogging knockoff kit at a street market.  Shift as much gear as you can, as quick as you can, then do a runner before the cops turn up.  It is no way to run a modern economy, even a capitalist one.

A planned approach to production, investment based on the needs of the people, not the profit margins of private companies, and a socialist approach to economic planning, are the ultimate solution.  These are not approaches which fit the mindset of the Tories and sadly continue to be too taxing for the limited imaginations of those running the Labour Party at present.  The Tories are beyond redemption as dyed in the wool defenders of capitalism.  The hope remains that with pressure and persuasion Labour can change.

The final word on Hunt’s plan for growth however goes to the Institute of Directors, a traditionally reliable true blue Tory supporting institution, who described the content of the Chancellor’s speech with a fifth E; empty.

21^st January 2023

The illegal Israeli wall on the West Bank part of the land grab from Palestinians

Fifty nations, either part of or allied to the NATO military alliance, have been meeting in Germany to decide how much more weaponry they can pour in the conflict in Ukraine.  High on the agenda is how many German built Leopard 2 tanks can be channelled to the right wing nationalist Ukrainian government to extend the war with Russia. 

The meeting did not end in agreement, with Germany reluctant to send more tanks, or grant export licences for other countries to do so, unless the United States committed to sending more of its own tank weaponry.

As a result of NATO’s expansion over the past thirty years, extending its reach ever closer to the borders of Russia year by year, there are thousands of Leopard 2 tanks across Europe.  In spite of the recent failure to reach agreement, there is every likelihood is that they will be mobilised for action in the not too distant future.  With the first anniversary of the Russian intervention looming on 24^th February, there can be no doubt that the Ukrainian public relations machine, fronted by President Zelensky, will shift up a gear to pressurise NATO members.

In the meantime, Leopard tanks or not, there is no shortage of weaponry pouring into Ukraine.   The United States, already world leaders in fuelling the conflict, have promised a further $2.5bn in weaponry to prolong the war.  In addition, Britain has committed a further 14 Challenger 2 tanks, while Poland is threatening to go against the Germans and export a similar number of Leopard 2 tanks anyway.  

In spite of this firepower heading their way the Ukrainian pitch is for 300 tanks, necessary they claim, to resist a Russian Spring offensive.  Any talk of peace or a negotiated settlement appears to have evaporated in the frenzy to supply more arms to Ukraine and the increasing tendency for NATO to fall behind the line, articulated by Zelensky, that nothing short of military victory over Russia will be an acceptable outcome.

The Western allies have long contested Russia’s claim to the Crimea, as well as that of the largely Russian speaking Donbas region of Ukraine.   Any chance of reverting back to the Minsk agreements, negotiated with German arbitration in 2014, seems to have been torn up.  While that deal appeared to have a settlement in place, around the largely Russian speaking Donbas, Ukraine never stuck to the deal and thousands have died as a consequence.  This fact was not big news in the West and the Ukrainians, including the neo-Nazi Azov battalion, were given free reign to carry on with their civil conflict in the Donbas region. 

The Western response to Russian intervention in Ukraine contrasts sharply with the response of the Western world to the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians.   In spite of United Nations resolutions calling for a two state solution in Palestine the illegal occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and Golan Heights by the Israeli military has continued, without any significant challenge from the West, since 1967, nearly 60 years.

Following elections in November, the Israeli Parliament in December swore in what is widely acknowledged to be the country’s most far-right, religiously conservative government in history.   The coalition sees the return of Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister.  Netanyahu, who was prime minister between 1996 and 1999, and then between 2009 and 2021, has said that an end to the “Arab-Israeli conflict” would be his top priority, as well as stopping Iran’s nuclear programme and building up Israel’s military capacity.

The new government includes far-right leaders who have been given top posts, such as Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich, and Jewish Power leader Itamar Ben-Gvir, who previously expressed support for Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish Israeli man who killed 29 Palestinians in a shooting at Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque in 1994. The result is a coalition that has explicitly called settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, its top priority, in spite of such settlement being illegal under international law.

Even before the new right wing coalition takes office the United Nations estimates that  Palestinians have already faced their deadliest year since 2006, after Israel’s outgoing government launched an offensive in Gaza in August, as well as near-daily raids in the West Bank that have led to dozens of killings and arrests.

UN Middle East envoy, Tor Wennesland, told the Security Council in December that more than 150 Palestinians and over 20 Israelis have been killed in the West Bank and Israel in 2022, the highest number of deaths in years.

The UN envoy also said Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, remains deeply concerning. The number of housing units advanced in occupied East Jerusalem more than tripled: from 900 in 2021 to 3,100 in 2022.  

“I also remain deeply concerned by the continued demolitions and seizures of Palestinian structures,” said Mr. Wennesland.   “I am alarmed, in particular, by the demolition of a donor-funded school in Masafer Yatta and the stated intention of Israeli authorities to demolish additional structures in the herding communities of that area, which would have a significant humanitarian toll, if implemented.” 

He called on Israel to cease advancement of all settlement activities as well as the demolition of Palestinian-owned property, and to prevent possible displacement and evictions. In calling for an end to the conflict the UN envoy stressed that,

“There is no substitute for a legitimate political process that will resolve the core issues driving the conflict.”  

The same message could equally be applied to the conflict in Ukraine.

Not surprisingly there is no international contact group considering how many tanks can be provided to the Palestinians to defend themselves against Israeli aggression and to uphold international law.

On the contrary, the United States is by far the biggest exporter of arms to Israel. Between 2009-2020, more than 70 percent of the arms Israel bought came from the US. Between 2013-2017, the US delivered $4.9bn (£3.3bn) in arms to Israel.

Under a security assistance agreement spanning 2019-2028, the US has agreed, subject to congressional approval, to give Israel $3.8bn annually in foreign military financing, most of which it has to spend on US-made weapons.

Conflict resolution is clearly not part of the political lexicon of US imperialism.  Whether it is the right wing nationalist zealots in Ukraine, or the right wing religious zealots in Israel, US imperialism is in the thick of fuelling conflict, war and misery for thousands across the globe. 

Anti-war and anti-arms trade activism must continue on all fronts, to combat the malign impact of US machinations. Exposing the role of the US and its allies in fuelling conflicts is the first step on the road to finding solutions based upon peace and mutually agreed boundaries, before escalation goes too far.

14^th January 2023

Parthenon Sculptures – not part of ‘our culture’

British Secretary’s of State for Culture rarely make the headlines and the previously unknown and largely anonymous incumbent, Michelle Donelan, has stayed true to form until this week.  What has brought Ms Donelan into the spotlight is the question of the Parthenon Sculptures, known by many to date as the Elgin Marbles.

The sculptures have been in the ‘ownership’ of the British museum since 1816 having been removed between 1801 and 1812 from the Parthenon in Athens, then part of the Ottoman Empire, by British diplomat and soldier, Lord Elgin.  The claim by Elgin that he had permission to take the sculptures is hotly contested.   That they are historical artefacts of significance to Greece, dating back to the 5^th century BC, is not disputed.

It should be no surprise that the Greeks have a long standing claim for the sculptures to be returned to Greece, where they rightly belong.  Successive British governments have disputed the Greek claim, on the basis of backing Lord Elgin’s assertion that they were legitimately acquired, and are therefore legally in the ownership of the British Museum.

In an interview with the BBC Culture and Media Editor, Katie Razzall, this week Michelle Donelan went to great lengths to defend the current position.  Donelan claimed that the sculptures “belong here in the UK” and that sending the sculptures to Greece would be a “dangerous road to go down”, going further to suggest that such a move would “open the gateway to the question of the entire contents of our museums.”

Perhaps most significantly Donelan claimed that “it is important that we stand up and protect our culture”.  When being interviewed by news anchor, Sophie Rayworth, about her interview with the Culture Secretary, Katie Razzall picked up on this point in defence of Donelan, suggesting that she ‘mis-spoke’, as the sculptures are clearly part of Greek culture.

As a piece of challenging journalism this is poor in the extreme.  Razzall did not challenge the ‘our culture’ comment in the interview but compounded the error by subsequently going out of her way to leap to Donelan’s defence.

While this underlines much of what we already know about the supine journalism of the BBC it also confirms what we know about the Tory definition of culture.  The culture that Donelan refers to is clearly that of the British ruling class, who have robbed, pillaged and enslaved huge areas of the globe in order to enrich a select few, maintain a privileged aristocracy, and claim any loot they could lay their hands on for personal gain.

The Parthenon Sculptures are part of a long list of artefacts claimed by the ruling class as part of ‘our culture’ including tombs robbed in Egypt, the bronzes from Benin and jewellery from across the world.  Most famous in this regard is the Koh-i-noor diamond, sitting at the centre of the British Monarch’s crown but effectively swindled from the Indian Sikh community by British Imperialism’s 19^th century advanced guard, in the form of the East India Company.

The British working class have on various occasions been press ganged, dragooned or duped into engaging in ruling class wars of adventure or plunder.  The frontline in the armed forces are inevitably drawn from the working class, who also bear the brunt of the casualties in any conflict, from the two World Wars of the 20^th century to more recent occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That does not mean that such actions are either in the interests of the working class or widely supported amongst the population, though the ruling class mouthpieces of the Mail, Express, Telegraph and The Sun do their best to persuade us otherwise. 

Working class culture is founded on collective action resulting in the formation of trade unions, the Labour Party and a whole range of educational, welfare and community based organisations.  Which is not to say that elements of sexism, racism and jingoism are not present in working class communities, infected by the prevailing orthodoxy within capitalism. 

The difference is that progress to change society in a positive direction comes from working class struggle and collective action.  Such action is always resisted by the ruling class until they are compelled to make concessions.  Any concessions that are made are as quickly eroded when working class organisations are weakened or lacking militant leadership.  

This is not what Donelan is referring to when she talks about ‘our culture’.  On the contrary this is precisely the culture that she and her class want to suppress, in favour of a definition of culture which is distinct from the concerns of working class communities, has a rarefied  boundary and is essentially the preserve of an educated elite.

 Working class culture does emerge however, in the form of writers, artists and musicians who articulate the realities of lives for the underprivileged and oppressed, the victims of capitalism who can only peer in at the window of the world of culture, as defined by Donelan, but who continue to generate their own cultural space in which to survive.

The fate of the Parthenon Sculptures may not be to the forefront for those struggling in the streets of Bolton or Belfast.  Whether they go back to Greece or stay in the British Museum is not going to put food on the table or pay the energy bill.  In the long term however, how we interpret history has a profound effect on the present and is key to shaping the future.  Reclaiming that history for those who have struggled to improve the world, rather than make a personal fortune from it, is a vital first step.

7^th January 2023

Starmer and Sunak – New Year face off

In his New Year speech this week British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, promised to deliver on the “people’s priorities”.  Needless to say he has fallen at the first hurdle by virtue of still being in office at the end of the week.  The people’s number one priority is clearly to be rid of the self serving, tin eared government he leads but Sunak either missed or ignored that particular priority.

Sunak spotted that NHS waiting times are too long, not news to the rest of the population but as head of the government he is, at least in theory, in a position to do something about it.  Sunak offered nothing.  He did not even offer an apology for the years of failure under successive Tory governments, which has precipitated a health and social care crisis due to the austerity imposed on local government and the privatisation of the care sector, resulting in the obscenity of care for the elderly being run for profit.

In the NHS itself morale is so low that vacancies are running at 132,139 out of a workforce of 1.2 million.  Vacancies amongst nurses alone is at 46,828 the highest on record.  The strike action currently being undertaken by nurses and ambulance workers may soon be joined by junior doctors, who begin to ballot on Monday (9^th January), with the prospect of three consecutive days of walkout in March.

It is now widely understood that a major source of pressure upon the NHS is the inability of hospitals to discharge otherwise medically healthy patients, if they need a social care package, as the pressure in that sector is so great due to funding cuts. 

By 2040 it is estimated that the number of those aged 85+ years old will have doubled.  Unless that age cohort are all living miraculously fit and healthy lives the pressure for social care will increase exponentially.  Not only that but the surviving children of this age group will themselves be in their 50’s and 60’s, hardly in a position to easily provide informal care and in danger of having to make demands upon the care system themselves.

The situation is further exacerbated by the impact of Tory austerity cuts upon the arts, museums, libraries and sports services run by local authorities, all proven to be major contributors to maintaining physical and mental health and wellbeing, but increasingly under pressure.

Still, as one of Sunak’s big announcements was to make maths learning compulsory to the age of 18, the younger generation should be well positioned to count the cost of Tory errors.

Rather than seeking to address the source of the current wave of disputes, due to poor pay and conditions, rampant inflation and the cost of living crisis, Sunak plans new anti-strike legislation, first flagged by Liz Truss, to enforce “minimum service levels” in key public sector areas including the NHS and schools.  To suggest that this has drawn a furious reaction from unions is an understatement, as pay awards for the current year continue to be off the government’s agenda for discussion with the unions.

Sharon Graham, the general secretary of the Unite union, said: “Yet again, Rishi Sunak abdicates his responsibility as a leader. Whatever the latest scheme the government comes up with to attack us, unions will continue to defend workers.”

It is clear that the “people’s priorities” that Sunak is trying to address are not the people on the frontline delivering the jobs and services on which the public depend.  As is always the case with the Tories the only “people” being prioritised are the company bosses and shareholders, making a handsome profit for doing little but shelling out donations to the Tory Party in the hope of making it onto the next honours list.

Labour leader, Kier Starmer, also dipped his toes in the waters of a New Year speech this week, edging forward with characteristic caution in spite of Labour’s 20 point opinion poll lead.  Starmer did at least promise to repeal any new anti-trade union legislation Sunak may bring in but did not address that already on the statute books.  He continued to take the market reassuring line of “fiscal responsibility”, promising no big state cheque book and only to spend what is raised.

Quite what this will mean for the massive investment required to renew Britain’s ailing infrastructure, address the pay deficit in the public sector and tackle the inequities in the tax system remains to be seen.  Starmer also promised more devolution, proclaiming “a new way of governing” which would take power out of the hands of Westminster and give it to the regions.  It has a populist appeal but the realities on the ground rarely match the rhetoric.

The much discussed North East England devolution deal, recently agreed, promises £4.2 billion over 30 years.  While this has got a lot of politicians in the region excited what is being promised barely repays what has been robbed from working class communities over many years in the first place.  Secretary of State, Michael Gove, regards the deal as another victory for the so called levelling up programme. 

The reality is however that, under capitalism, the playing field will never be level and the Tories, as the political representatives of their class, will always act in the interests of that class.  Any real levelling up will only happen when the working class is represented by a political movement capable of doing the same in its interest.

1^st January 2023

2023 – not such a party for all

However much alcohol they may have consumed the night before, the reality is that for millions of working class people the biggest hangover they will wake up to on New Year’s Day is a financial one.  The fact that they are in this situation, together with millions of others, is scant compensation when the bills continue to roll in and the choice between heating and eating is a very real one.

It’s New Year’s Day why the pessimism, surely this is the time for a bit of optimism, a bit of hope, the turning of a new page as we head into 2023?

It is true that for some the prospects in 2023 do seem brighter than for others, certainly if 2022 is anything to go by.  Estate agents Knight Frank have just published research looking at the sale of “super prime country houses.”   In total 168 homes outside London were sold for more than £5m in the year end to October, the highest number since 2007, the year before the financial crash.

The reason for this? It would appear, according to Knight Frank, that the boom in country mansion sales was as a result of “wealth creation” during and after the Covid pandemic.  This, it would seem, led to a rise in the number of “ultra high net worth” (UHNW) individuals, defined as having a fortune of more than $50 million, now at a record 218,200 level.  

Investment bank Credit Suisse confirm the Knight Frank findings, stating that the world’s richest people benefitted from “almost an explosion of wealth” during the recovery from the pandemic.  Credit Suisse add that the number of people in the UHNW bracket has increased by more than 50% in the past two years. 

For Knight Frank and Credit Suisse the concept of wealth creation appears simply to mean that more people got richer, not that they actually did anything to create this wealth, other than to exploit the labour of others.  In effect, on the back of the hard work done by millions in shops, factories, offices, schools and hospitals, to keep people safe and the economy functioning throughout the pandemic, those who were already remarkably rich, and extremely safe financially, have lined their pockets even further.

It is possible that some of those benefitting from this boom in wealth for the few work in the banking sector.  According to the European Banking Authority there are 3,519 bankers working in Britain who earn more than €1 million (£880,000) a year.  This is seven times higher than Germany, which has the second highest number of €1 million a year bankers in Europe.  

The government appear not to be concerned about inflation when it comes to the eye watering earnings and pay increases in the banking sector or for those profiting lucratively from the pandemic.  For the government inflation only appears to be a threat if wage demands are coming from postal workers, nurses, rail workers, border staff, junior doctors or local government employees.

Of course, this is the economics of setting the rules in order to make sure you win the game, although even many capitalist economists disagree with the assertion that increased wages for low paid workers fuels inflation.  Given that these are the workers on whom economic demand depends, as they are the people who go out and buy goods and services, being able to afford to spend on these things is more likely to aid economic recovery than hamper it. 

As it stands the headline rate of pay for all workers last year, excluding bonuses, reached 6.1% but when adjusted for inflation pay for all workers fell by 2.7%, underlining the impact of the cost of living crisis for many.   According to a recent Which? survey in the run up to Xmas 1.9 million households failed to meet at least one mortgage, rent, loan, credit card or energy payment.

In these circumstances the danger of loan sharks moving in to working class communities becomes significant, as families struggle to meet basic needs and resort to ever more desperate measures to survive.  Support from Citizen’s Advice, community organisations and others offering debt counselling can go so far but when there is simply not enough money to make ends meet there is only so much which good advice can achieve.

While the privileged few may enter the New Year in anticipation of turning a bigger profit or making a mansion purchase, for the majority capitalism is not a system working in their favour or in their interests.  The trade union struggles for greater pay must be linked to community action to tackle poverty and the recognition that low pay, poverty and the cycle of deprivation are endemic to the capitalist system. 

In the short term it is important that struggles for improved pay and conditions are won.  However, the wider political struggle to make fundamental changes in the direction of socialism, to meet the needs of the many, not the few must be the most important resolution for the New Year.  That is the task facing all those concerned with shaping a system which truly reflects the ideals of peace, democracy and social justice run by, and in the interests of, the working class.

23^rd December 2022

Zelensky addresses US Congress – more weapons in prospect

“So this is Christmas and what have you done”

Famous opening lines to the John Lennon and Yoko Ono classic Happy Xmas (War is Over) their Xmas hit which doubled as a protest against US involvement in VietNam.

Sadly, in a world dominated by imperialism, war is never over. This Xmas the focus of war is in Ukraine and the carefully stage managed visit of Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, to Washington this week to appeal for more aid and more weapons has dominated US and world headlines.

The current emphasis for US President, Joe Biden, is upon getting a further $45 billion package across the line before the Democrats lose control of the House of Representatives in January, following the November mid-term election results.  The Republicans edged ahead following those polls and many are sceptical about providing a blank cheque for Zelensky, whatever their concerns may be about perceived Russian expansionism.

Not that this represents a volte face by right wing Republicans, who still want to see the US as the dominant world power.  For most there would be little hesitation in interfering, either overtly or covertly in Cuba, Venezuela or Nicaragua for example, territory which many still regard as the US backyard.

However, leading Republican, Kevin McCarthy, stated recently that “people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine.”  Recent polling reported in the Wall St. Journal suggests that politicians are following the trend of US voters, 30% of whom think that the US is doing too much to support Ukraine, up from 6% in a March poll.  Amongst Republicans those figures are up from 13% in March to 27% now.

The share of Republican voters who said the US has not taken enough actions to aid Ukraine fell from 61% in March to 17% in the recent poll.

If Congress passes the bill to agree a further $45 billion to fuel the war in Ukraine US spending, since the conflict began in February, will amount to more than $100 billion, allocated over four emergency spending packages.  While there is a growing demand for peace negotiations, with nearly half of Americans favouring pressure to settle for peace as soon as possible, the US and Ukrainian governments continue to assert that Russia is not prepared to negotiate in good faith and would exploit any peace agreement for military advantage.

Given that the current conflict was precipitated by the failure of Ukraine to adhere to the Minsk peace deal agreed in 2015, giving recognition to the Russian speaking population in the Donbas region, this is disingenuous to say the least.  As a result of Ukraine reneging on the agreement an estimated 14,000 people were killed in the Donbas, eventually resulting in the Russian intervention.

Neither the people of Ukraine nor the people of Russia will benefit from the conflict continuing.  Essentially the war is being fought between two right wing nationalist governments, one with its own regional agenda, the other being used as a tool by the West and NATO to complete the encirclement of Russia which has been going on for the past thirty years.

The posturing of Zelensky, that Ukraine will fight on till victory, may make for good media soundbites but without ongoing US aid and Western weapons being poured into the conflict Zelensky would have to negotiate.  The alternative is that the current proxy war which NATO is mounting against Russia, with Ukraine as a conduit, will become a direct confrontation between the world’s two most heavily armed nuclear states.

If the US policy objective is to contain Russia that would be achieved, even allowing for Russian presence in the Donbass and Crimea, given the encirclement policy NATO has implemented.  There is little space for Russia to expand into without risking a direct attack upon a NATO member, which would give even Putin pause for thought.

If the West however is seeking to defeat Russia militarily, or weaken it to bring about regime change, that is a much longer and more dangerous game.  Confining such a conflict to Europe would be impossible and the prospect of direct conflict with China would loom.  That is the danger to which the anti war movements across Europe and elsewhere in the world must be alert. Campaigning to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine, with a negotiated settlement to which both sides adhere, must be a priority for 2023.

For the people of Russia and the Ukraine in particular, it will be difficult to contemplate a happy Christmas until war is over.

Avanti Populo is taking an end of year break and will be back in the New Year.  Best wishes and solidarity with those currently on strike and in struggle.  Victory in 2023!!

17th December 2022

 Protests continue across Iran in spite of the regime’s crackdown

Since the murder of 22 year old, Mahsa Amini, by the Iranian morality police in September, nearly 400 protesters are known to have been killed, including 57 children, while over 16,000 people are known to have been arrested.  At last count, 990 separate protests had taken place across 146 cities and 140 university and college campuses around Iran.

Protests have continued in earnest in defiance of a warning by the head of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) that they must stop. A vote by 227 of Iran’s 290 legislators in November, decreed that the death penalty be applied to those protesters brought before the courts on charges of serious crimes against the state. 

The charges against the protesters have included vaguely defined national security charges such as enmity against God, corruption on earth, and armed rebellion.  All of these vaguely worded crimes are capital offences. The trial proceedings are rushed and defendants are prevented from having a lawyer of their choice, falling well below accepted international standards.

The first two death sentences have already been carried out by the regime.  In Mashhad the regime has publicly executed 23-year-old Majid Reza Rahnavard, found guilty of enmity against God, for the alleged killing of two security officers, and injuring four others.

The regime is also reported to have executed 23-year-old Mohsen Shekari, who was sentenced to death for enmity against God for allegedly “using a weapon to spread terror and violate the public’s freedoms and security” and for injuring a police officer.

Courts in and around the Iranian capital, Tehran, alone have jailed 400 people on charges related to recent protests, for terms of up to 10 years.  Ali Alghasi-Mehr, the judiciary chief for Tehran province, said,

“One hundred and sixty people were sentenced to between five and 10 years in prison, 80 people to two to five years and 160 people to up to two years.”

These arrests and executions follow a consistent pattern of behaviour by the Iranian regime over the past forty years and follow on directly from the anti-working class character of successive regime’s in Iran going back to the days of the Shahs.

The early years of the Islamic Republic set the tone for the ongoing record of the Iranian regime in relation to human and democratic rights in general, and the rights of political and trade union activists in particular.   In draconian purges against those who opposed the establishment of a theocratic state, they arrested, tortured and exiled key sections of the Left, effectively driving underground any opposition to the consolidation of the rule of the theocracy.

It remains an appalling record, with many activists still exiled and trade union activity either restricted by the state or forced to operate clandestinely.

In December 2020, a group of UN human rights experts wrote to the Iranian government warning that past and ongoing violations related to the prison massacres of 1988 may amount to crimes against humanity and that they would call for an international investigation if these violations persisted.

Between late July and early September 1988, thousands of imprisoned political dissidents across Iran were forcibly disappeared and then extrajudicially executed under a shroud of secrecy.  For more than 30 years, the Iranian authorities have systematically concealed the circumstances surrounding their deaths and the whereabouts of their remains. 

During this brutal atrocity, the core structures and leaderships of the main Left opposition parties, including the Tudeh Party of Iran, were effectively annihilated, and any remnants of those organisations were driven either underground or into exile.

Following the violent suppression of the Green Movement after the rigged presidential elections in June 2009, it became clear, even to those who remained under any doubt, that the Iranian regime was beyond reform.  The two-term Rouhani presidency, elected on a supposedly reformist ticket, attempted to paper over the cracks. 

However, the sham of Iranian democracy which sees all candidates in parliamentary and presidential elections vetted for approval by the Islamic Guardian Council, and power ultimately in the hands of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, prevailed over any leaning towards change in the country.

Even according to the regime’s own statistics, almost 40% of the population live below the poverty line in Iran.  This is the result of three decades of neo-liberal economic policies imposed by the regime, encouraged by the IMF and World Bank.  The class interests of the regime are inextricably aligned with the interests of the country’s corrupt and parasitic big bourgeoisie which controls the entire economic and political direction of Iran.

There remains confusion in some left-wing and progressive circles in characterising the regime in Iran as an anti-imperialist force, owing to its record of posturing against the United States.  However, despite the Iranian regime’s anti-imperialist rhetoric, the Islamic Republic has remained a faithful aid to imperialist designs and interests throughout its existence.

This ranges from its support for the Contras in Nicaragua, and secret relationship with the US and Apartheid South Africa, during the 1980s; through to its active participation in the US’ destabilisation and overthrow of the People’s Democratic Republic of Afghanistan; the civil war in Tajikistan; the subsequent invasions and occupations of both Afghanistan and Iraq; and its continued support for some of the most reactionary forces in the region, including the Taliban. 

These are not the actions of a regime with which the Left and progressive forces can do business or count on as an anti-imperialist ally.  The only true interest of the theocracy ruling Iran is in its own survival, whatever the cost to its own people and whatever expedient international relationships it may forge to perpetuate its own hold on power.

Supporting the demands of the people of Iran for peace, democracy and social justice is the only legitimate position for the Left to adopt in relation to Iran today.

For more information visit www.codir.net

11^th December 2022

Postal workers – on strike due to intransigent management

There are 50,000 vacancies for nurses across Britain.  The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is about to embark on the first days of industrial action in its history, planned for the 15^th and 20^th December.  The RCN are asking for inflation plus 5% in their pay claim, to address the cost of living crisis and to get to a decent wage level for nurses to stop the outflow from the profession.  As it stands Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, is refusing to meet nurses leaders to discuss pay.

Quite apart from the long hours, variable shifts and often emotionally draining nature of nursing as a profession, the fact is that nurses in many parts of the country are having to resort to using food banks to make ends meet.  Having been applauded on doorsteps, including 10, Downing Street, as heroes throughout the COVID 19 pandemic, nurses are now engaged in struggle alongside many others to make a decent living.

Intransigence on the part of management, in the face of the legitimate demands of rail workers, is resulting in further transport disruption over Xmas and the New Year.  As usual the supine BBC ran the headline that rail workers union RMT had refused an 8% pay offer from management.  Quite apart from the offer being well below inflation at 11%+ anyway, and being tied to unacceptable changes in working practices, the offer was over two years.  Not quite the headline the media want the public to believe.

Postal workers face similar issues with management insisting that any deal on pay has to be tied to changes to work practices, with the unions justifiably pointing out that working practices have been changed  and it is only failings on the part of management that are resulting in them being forced to take action.  

Royal Mail management have taken to social and traditional media channels to accuse the Communications Workers Union (CWU) of bullying tactics on picket lines, in the hope of breaking union and public support for the postal workers action.  The strike action arises from the management of Royal Mail unilaterally reneging on an agreement reached with trade unions last year to deliver what the CWU described as “an historic pension solution, a mutual interest driven relationship and a joint vision for a successful postal service with social aims.”

Over 70,000 university staff at 150 universities took strike action  for three days in November over attacks on pay, working conditions and pensions. The National Union of Students (NUS) has backed the strikes, which will be the biggest ever to hit UK universities and could impact 2.5 million students.  The University and College Union (UCU) has said that further disruption can be avoided if employers  make improved offers. If not, strike action will escalate in the New Year alongside a marking and assessment boycott.

In relation to pay and working conditions, the union’s demands include a meaningful pay rise to deal with the cost of living crisis and action to end the use of insecure contracts. Employers imposed a pay rise worth just 3% this year following over a decade of below inflation pay awards. A third of academic staff are on some form of temporary contract.

In relation to pensions, UCU is demanding employers revoke recent cuts and restore benefits. The package of cuts made earlier this year will see the average member lose 35% from their guaranteed future retirement income. For those at the beginning of their careers the losses are in the hundreds of thousands of pounds.  This is at a time when the university sector generated record income of over £40 billion last year.

Further action is likely in the New Year with junior doctors having been given the go ahead to ballot for strike action in January, after the government failed to meet the British Medical Associations (BMA) demand for pay restoration to 2008/9 levels.   Junior doctors have experienced real-term pay cuts of more than a quarter of their salaries since 2008/9. The Government this year gave junior doctors a 2% pay uplift, excluding them from the higher 4.5% pay uplift for other NHS workers which the BMA says is ‘still derisory’ given the ongoing cost of living crisis and following the COVID pandemic.

Two-thirds of trainee doctors responding to a recent General Medical Council survey said they ‘always’ or ‘often’ felt worn out at the end of a working day.  The BMA said it is ‘deeply concerned’ that continuing pay erosion will drive doctors out of the profession at a time of record backlogs and when the NHS ‘can least stand to lose them’.  The union believes the lack of a fair pay deal will lead to ‘a vicious cycle of crippling staffing shortages and worse patient care’.

Rather than looking to address the legitimate demands of workers across a wide range of sectors, Downing Street has set up a dedicated unit to coordinate its response over the waves of action, fearing a repeat of the “winter of discontent” of 1978-79, as the crisis grows. The Cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden has been delegated by Rishi Sunak to plan for how the government responds to growing industrial unrest.

Already the army have been put on alert to act as scabs in order to try and break disputes.  The government has said that military personnel, civil servants and volunteers are being trained to scab in a range of services, including Border Force at airports and ports.

A statement from Number 10 claims that the decision on whether troops would be deployed has yet to be taken, but that personnel “are part of the range of options available should strike action in these areas go ahead as planned”.

The government have a dilemma in that the usual tropes about greedy strikers and manipulative union leaders will not wash with a public who are directly engaged in industrial action, suffering from the cost of living crisis and are themselves, in many cases, resorting to foodbanks for survival.  As the strike movement gathers momentum there is scope for the TUC to add to the government’s isolation by greater co-ordination of strike action.  Positive support from the Labour leadership would also do no harm.    

Clearly, the government sees the unrest as an arena for confrontation rather than negotiation.  It does not see the wave of demands for fair pay as evidence of its own failings or as an endemic flaw in capitalism as a system.  The government’s “dedicated unit” will be dedicated, as ever, to defending the interests of the class it represents and in making sure that its power and privileges are protected.

3rd December 2022

Food banks – on the increase across Britain

As the Winter begins to bite, energy bills continue to soar and the cost of living crisis takes a grip on many working class families, the realities of Tory generated rampant inflation are being exposed. As part of a recent report consumer magazine, Which?, and researchers from  the Consumer Research Data Centre at the University of Leeds, have created a Priority Places for Food Index.

The index shows where people need extra support to find healthy and affordable food.  It found factors such as low income, a lack of online shopping deliveries and circumstances such as not having access to a car, can make it hard for people to put food on the table.

The index shows almost half (45%) of local areas in the North East of England are in ‘dire’ need of extra support due to poor access to online shopping deliveries, being further away from supermarkets and the need for support such as food banks and free school meals.

Yorkshire and the Humber, the West Midlands and the North West of England all have about a third of local areas in the region in need of extra help. Birmingham Hodge Hill is considered the worst, as 100% of its local areas are in need of extra support.

The research behind the index shows that many people are changing their behaviour by trading down, buying cheaper products or shopping around. Some are having to take more drastic action, such as missing meals, with the impact being especially high on those who are struggling financially, for whom it is becoming much more difficult to eat healthily.

The report outlines a ten-point plan aimed at supermarkets, encouraging them to do more to help those struggling on low incomes to make healthier choices.  The plan includes asking supermarkets to make pricing more transparent so that shoppers can more easily compare best value;  offer straightforward price reductions rather than multi-buy offers, which require higher initial outlay; and making more promotions available on healthier foods.

Such suggestions help to raise the issue but whether they can impact upon supermarket strategies is another matter.  While retailers have an interest in retaining their customer base they are also driven by the need to generate a profit.  The latter is certainly the bottom line as far as shareholders are concerned and just how magnanimous local managers can be, faced with the pressure to turn a profit, is likely to be limited.

There is no doubt however that food poverty is on the increase.  In May 2022, the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) surveyed 101 of its organisations representing 194 independent food banks across 94 local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales. At that stage 93% of organisations reported an increase or significant increase in the need for their services since the start of 2022.  It is likely that demand will only increase as the start of 2023 looms.

It is estimated that there are over 2,500 food banks across Britain.  In 2019-20, pre-pandemic, it is estimated that 700,000 or 2.5% of British households used a food bank.  In February 2022, the Food Standards Agency published data on food bank usage in England, Wales and Northern Ireland gathered by IPSOS Mori between April 2020 and October 2021 showing that 8% of respondents had used a food bank or a food charity in April. This rose to 11% by October 2021.  Once again, this data is only likely to be heading in one direction.

At the other end of the spectrum Britain’s super rich have grown their combined fortunes by 8 per cent to a record £710 billion in just 12 months, according to this year’s Sunday Times Rich List.  A record 177 UK billionaires are identified in the 34th edition of the annual rankings, six more than in 2021. This year’s top 250 now have more wealth than the entire 1,000 entries of the 2017 Rich List.

Millions of households may be facing the sharpest rise in the cost of living for 40 years, but it is clear that a golden era for the super rich is continuing unchecked.  Is it any wonder that rail workers, postal workers, teachers, nurses and many others on low wages are taking, or threatening to take, strike action just to make ends meet, just to pay for the rising cost of energy, just to put food on the table?

This is the reality of capitalism in the twenty first century, in many ways no different to the twentieth century, but even worse.  More poverty, more struggle for the working class but more billionaires and a boom time for the super rich.  A system which cannot address the basic needs of its people has clearly outworn its usefulness, overstayed its welcome and needs to exit the historical stage.

Planning for people, not for profit, in the context of a socialist economy is the only way forward.  The present strike wave must be encouraged and supported but must be linked to the wider struggle for a change in the system, otherwise the rich will only continue to get richer, while the rest continue to suffer.