Published by Linda Smith, Respect, PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU

26/06/2008
The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities will soon be consulting on its intention to introduce a road congestion charging system as part of its successful bid for Government's Transport Innovation Fund (TIF). We are promised an expanded Metrolink network, improved railway stations and more frequent, high quality bus services - not to mention giant tax enforcement gantries across every road into the city!

The TIF is typical of how this New Labour government distributes funding – by competitive bidding, pitting city against city. What is needed is the opposite approach: cooperation, integration and rational planning. How will it benefit global warming if our city improves its public transport while others are unable to do so?

Respect will discussing this statement - with amendments and/or disgreements being aired and debated - at our next branch meeting at 7.30pm - Thursday 3rd July, Saffron Restuarant, Cheetham Hill Road, (200m from MEN arena) Manchester,

Please come along and join in the debate. All welcome

23/06/2008
Reacting to the news that members of the the largest council workers' union, Unison, have voted by 55 percent to 45 percent to strike over pay, Respect MP George Galloway said:

"We in Respect fully support Unison in its battle for fair pay. It has come to something when low-paid classroom assistants, refuse workers and admin staff are having to strike, probably for two days.

"The reasons why are familiar to anyone who is finding it difficult to pay a gas bill, put petrol in the car, do the weekly shop or otherwise make ends meet.

14/06/2008
Manchester Respect reports from the picket line at Stanlow, Cheshire.

Striking Shell tankers drivers were in determined mood on the second day of their strike at the Stanlow Refinery in Cheshire. The drivers, members of the Unite union, are striking to win a decent pay rise from their employers who are contracted by Shell to deliver fuel from the refineries.

Pickets were out in force at the refinery on Saturday morning angry at the their employers, Shell and the media for distorting the truth behind the dispute.

“Every time I watch the news yesterday I heard my pay had gone up,” one strike told Respect. “The highest it reached was £46,000. If I earned that do you really think I’d be on strike?”

10/06/2008
George Galloway today condemned the threat to close some 650 schools which the government claims are "failing".

"This really is a disgrace," said Galloway. "Many of these schools are in areas of multiple deprivation. What they need is investment, not closure. Closing them will lead to all the good work the hard-pressed teachers in those schools have done being destroyed. The threat of closure itself will increase stress massively and lead to demoralisation.

"And what does the government propose to do if it closes them. Hand over hundreds of millions of pounds to big business to set up so-called Academies. Why can't they put that money in now directly to schools with less good exam results."

08/06/2008
Saturday 7th June 2008 in Albert Square Manchester saw a fantastic celebration of Palestinian art, culture, history, experience and politics.

For Palestinian people, it is 60 years of the Nakba [disaster]. Yet despite this there is much to celebrate. Palestine and its culture still exist, thanks to the courage and resilience of its people. Palestine Lives - 2008 !

This event was a year in the planning, particularly designed to counter the appalling assertion of 60 years existence of the Zionist Israeli state is something to celebrate. Also, it followed the similar gathering last June in Sheffield, and once again people from northern towns and cities came together and showed their support and solidarity with the Palestinian people.

31/05/2005
Climate change is the biggest challenge facing the world in the 21st Century. Without urgent action we face a uncertain future where the world’s poor will be hardest hit - but where everyone will suffer.

Both New Labour and the Tories talk about the threat of climate change but the rhetoric is matched only by the depths of their dishonesty. For, in reality, their promotion of free market ‘neo-liberal’ economics is making the problem worse.

In this pamphlet Roy Wilkes, climate campaigner and chair of Manchester Respect, argues for a different strategy to tackle climate change - one that puts human need not company profits first.

25/05/2008
From Saturday’s Morning Star. GEORGE GALLOWAY urges the left inside and out of the Labour Party to get serious.

EVEN after Crewe, it might not be too late to change course, but the time is slipping away fast.

So the second May meltdown at the polls on Thursday was truly something to behold. It’s not just the fact and scale of Labour’s defeat, it’s the manner of it too.

The xenophobic campaign run by Labour’s West Midlands election supremo should turn the stomach of every decent socialist and trade unionist. Nothing could capture the gap between the concerns and efforts of trade union activists, often paying money to the Labour Party, and those who are piloting the party to destruction.

23/05/2008
By Roy Wilkes, Manchester Respect

Up to 100 000 people are now feared dead after Cyclone Nargis ripped through the Irrawaddy delta of Myanmar, with winds of up to 130mph and a 12 foot tidal surge that reached 25 miles inland. Many more lives are now at risk from diseases such as malaria. But is this humanitarian catastrophe a ‘natural disaster’ or is it a symptom of climate change?

"While we can never pinpoint one disaster as the result of climate change," explains Sunita Narain, director of the Indian Center for Science and Environment, “there is enough scientific evidence that climate change will lead to intensification of tropical cyclones. Nargis is a sign of things to come. The victims of these cyclones are climate change victims and their plight should remind the rich world that it is doing too little to contain its greenhouse gas emissions."

But climate change isn’t the only environmental factor to impact on the Irrawaddy delta.

09/05/2008
A solid turnout from all NUT members, joined by members from other schools, other unions, other NUT Branches and loads of pupils refusing to cross the picket, saw one of the best school picket lines for years. Tradesmen refused to cross, members from other unions in the school seething at their own unions inability (unwillingness to act) bringing out teas and coffee.

60 or more pickets spread over two separate entrances. Our officials thought it was ‘brilliant’.

08/05/2008
The collapse of Labour ’s vote in these local elections is about something more than New Labour’s Daily Mail electoral tactics and the stay-at-home revolt of Labour’s traditional supporters.

Though this continues to be a factor – reinforced by the 10 per cent tax ’mistake’. But there’s something deeper going on and it’s less easy to reverse. New Labour is now reaping what it has sown: a cumulative weakening in values of social solidarity, public service and altruism which provide the invisible bedrock on which the electoral fortunes of the Labour Party ultimately depend. New Labour has lived electorally off the legacy of earlier eras of Labour politics without renewing it and it’s a renewal that has been direly needed.

03/05/2008
The local and London elections have been bad for the left and for progressive voters everywhere. The backlash against the Brown government, which many now feel has betrayed them on the economic and social fundamentals, has pushed Labour's share of the vote below the Liberal Democrats nationally.

In London, Johnson is now mayor, although the final margin after second preferences was lower than many predicted. Much worse, the BNP got a first seat on the Assembly. The Liberal Democrats also had a bad day in London, with their vote down substantially and it was a pretty mixed picture for them elsewhere.

02/05/2008
In our three election campaigns in Greater Manchester Respect's best result was in Cheetham, Manchester, where Kay Phillips took 501 votes to come third. Labour held the seat with a comfortable majority but a resurgent Conservative party knocked the Liberal-Democrats out of their normal second place. A good campaign by Respect has laid the basis for future work in the ward.

01/05/2005

28/04/2008
Somalia is experiencing the worst crisis in 15 years, 3586 civilian deaths including infants, children, women and the elderly, and the toll rising by the day. Rape, fear, displacement, misery and suffering on an enormous scale while the Western governments stand by and watch.

The reasons superficially appear local and particular, chaotic government for over 15 years, invasion by neighboring Ethiopia, a bloody conflict between the Transitional Federal Government and the Union of Islamic Courts, but in reality all the players involved are being manipulated by the Western Superpowers.

America and China are fighting out a war for resources by proxy using the poorest nations on the planet as pawns in their game for gain. The US backs Ethiopia’s occupation of Somalia with logistical, financial and political support, and occasionally takes matters into its own hands, dropping missiles on the Kenyan border village of Dobley.

Throw into the equation the “War on Terror” and the threat of Al Qaeda fleeing from Afghanistan to the coast of Somalia and you have the recipe as seen in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, the list is ever expanding.

As the West’s greed for resources grows and the battles are fought to get access to ever dwindling precious resources to control the prices and keep the capitalist economy afloat – Billions and billions of $s of business – while the people who the land belongs to live in miserable poverty and suffer the consequences.

It is shameful that the British Government stands by and watches, as always patsy to the US foreign policy. Is Brown any different to the toady Blair? Or will he stand by and let his US counterpart continue to exacerbate the humanitarian crises? Respect demands that the British Government takes action and makes a statement to condemn the Ethiopian occupation and supports the Somali people.

The Somali people in Britain are strong and organized but ignored by the politicians because they do not have political power - Respect is inviting all the Somali activists in the UK to join forces with the party that believes in fighting Imperialism and campaigns for Peace and Justice, because together we are even stronger.

By Lucinda Lavelle, Respect election agent, Moss Side, Manchester

25/04/2008
Recent days have seen an upsurge in violence in Somalia carried out by the US-backed occupation by the Ethiopian army and their allies in the Transitional Federal Government. On 19th April the Ethiopian Army raided the Al Hidya mosque killing 21 people. Over 150 have died in the last few days.

Amnesty International reports that those killed inside the mosque were unarmed civilians taking no active part in hostilities. Seven of the 21 were reported to have died after their throats were cut – a form of extra-judicial execution practised by Ethiopian forces in Somalia. 41 children are still being held by the military after the mosque raid.

Somalis living in Britain have come together to call an emergency protest this Saturday, 26th April, from 1.00pm to 4.00pm outside Downing Street, London. For more details please called Abdisalam Guled on 07985 469 472 and visit http://free-somalia.org/

24/04/2008
Thursday 24th March was a good day for education. Teachers came out across the country in their thousands, with many thousands joining rallies and demos. Reports from across the country indicate massive support with thousands joining the NUT as new members. Teachers were joined by college lecturers and civil servants in a show of solidarity that raised the spirits of all those involved. Many younger teachers had taken strike action for the first time.

Respect fully supports these strikes and protests. As one teacher said, "If I was a failed banker the government would be throwing money at me. If I was an Olympic Stadium then cash would be no object. But because I wish to educate the young people of Britain I'm supposed to take year on year pay cuts - and apparently this is all to stop inflation. Well, Gordon Brown can't have have a basic grasp of economics if he thinks public sector pay is responsible for rising oil prices or the world market price of wheat. Perhaps Gordon should come back to school. We'd find him a place at the back, though it may be a squeeze as there's already 33 in my class."

21 April, 2008
George Galloway and Respect members have offered their full support to teachers and civil service workers who are set to strike on 24 April over pay. George has written to the civil service union, PCS, in response to a questionnaire put to all candidates, outlining Respect's backing for the stance the union has taken.

We urge everyone to get behind these workers. When Gordon Brown can find billions to bail out failed and greedy bankers while public sector workers get year on year pay cuts, we say the government has the wrong priorities. Meanwhile this government is raising taxes for millions of the lowest paid in society.

With rallies in support of the strikes taking place in Manchester and Bolton please join the protests to show your support.

Bolton - 10am, Bolton Library - called by Bolton NUT
Manchester - 11am, NUT rally, Friends Meeting House, Mount Street, Manchester
Manchester - 12noon, Trades Union Council Rally and Demonstration, Albert Square
Download a leaflet CLICK HERE

13/04/2008
Campaigners from across Greater Manchester have been hitting the streets in support of Respect's candidates in the 2008 local elections. In Moss Side and Cheetham in Manchester, as well as Atherton, Lancashire, Respect has been making new friends with our message of peace, justice and equality. With less than three weeks to go before polling day our campaigns are in full swing with pavement stalls, leafleting and door-to-door canvassing going on every day from now until polling day.

Can you help us for an hour or two? Please CLICK HERE to see our election diaries which show our daily activities. More details will be added as we go through the campaign. On Sunday 20th April we are holding a mass activity day in Moss Side - meet at 2.00pm at the Bella Cafe, corner Maine Road/Claremont Road for leafleting and canvassing. We hope to see you there.

07/04/2008
Respect has thrown its support behind the forthcoming strike by members of the teaching profession. Respect MP and candidate for the London Assembly George Galloway said, "The strength of feeling among teachers over pay is clear from the overwhelming vote by members of the National Union of Teachers for a day's strike action on 24 April.

"They are fully justified in taking this action. The government is not only damaging teachers pay packets by imposing a below inflation rise, it is damaging our children's futures. Young teachers in particular, and especially in London, are being driven out of the profession because they simply cannot afford to teach.

"That's why every parent has in interest in teachers winning this battle. The reason why children will not be at school on 24 April is the government and it's skewed priorities. The defence budget is soaring inexorably to pay for the disastrous occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Other groups of public sector clearly have in interest in supporting the teachers and lecturers as well. This pay freeze policy - coming at the same time as an economic slowdown - is putting huge pressrue on working people across the country.

"Many of my constituents are telling me that they want to be fighting alongside each other over pay. I support that, and the moves by progressive union leaders to coordinate such action."

28/03/08
From the Sukula Family Campaign
On 27th March almost three years after the start of the campaign the Sukulas finally received the news that they'd been given indefinite leave to remain. Over 3000 people have supported the campaign that has also had the support of Unison, the NUT, the NUJ and other unions.

The Sukulas were one of the first families to have all benefits withdrawn under the notorious Section 9 that the government had hoped would drive families out of Britain by taking away their homes, their benefits and even their children who would be placed into the care of social services with the adults made destitute and homeless. The campaign declared that if any attempts were made to evict the Sukulas we would form a physical blockade around the house to prevent either eviction or deportation. We gained support of local unions and Bolton Unison backed social workers who refused to initiate care proceedings purely because of government imposed destitution. This stance was backed by the British Association of Social Workers and later Unison nationally.

27/03/08
Dear Friends
We need your support to help a Libyan Asylum Seeker - Hisham Mohammed Alieb. Hisham has been in detention for months at Oakington Immigration Centre in Cambridge because he refuses to sign a travel document that would grant the immigration services the right to remove him and deport him to Libya.

The Home Office has made it a criminal offence to not sign these documents – so anyone who is genuinely in fear for their life if they are returned to their home Country and refuse to sign the document is criminalized and can be imprisoned in Britain. Another inhumane piece of legislation from the Home Office.

We believe that if there is enough support for Hisham they will release him from detention pending trial and he can continue to gather evidence and build his case to be challenged through the courts, but he can only succeed in that if he is free. We know that others held in detention have been freed under similar circumstances so your involvement and support can make a real difference.

I have attached a letter of support for you to complete and fax to the Duty Chief Immigration Officer on 0151 237 0472 or post to The Duty Chief Immigration Officer, Oakington Immigration Detention Centre, Longstanton, near Cambridgeshire, CB4 4IJ.

Yours in solidarity, The British Libyan Solidarity Campaign

18 March, 2008
Over 120 people attended Greater Manchester Respect's evening with award-wining film director Ken Loach on Tuesday 18th November. Ken introduced his latest film, it’s a free world, which was followed by a discussion of the issues raised by the exploitation of casual labour recruited from Eastern Europe and further afield - as well as the audiences's own opinions of, and reactions to, the film.

Earlier Ken had hosted a special student seminar where discussions ranged from the BBC's recent 'White' series to the changing portrayal of the working class in films and the all important issue (for Ken) of why make such films at all. Ken also urged support for the workers at Shelter taking strike action to defend their working conditions. Those attending all received a copy of the new Respect newspaper and the special edition produced for the anniversary of the Iraq war.

16/03/2008
Up to 40,000 people marched in London to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war. The march was organised jointly by Stop the War Coalition, CND and the British Muslim Initiative. While many of the marchers were verterans of the anti-war movement, there were also many who were joining their first demonstration.

The demonstration included a contingent from Manchester Respect (picture). Prospective local election candidates Dr Kay Phillips and Ali Shelmani both joined the protest and proudly carried the Respect banner.

"This war has cost a million innocent Iraqi Lives and seen 4 million driven from the homes, " said Kay Phillips, Respect's prospective candidate for the Manchester ward of Cheetham. "It has also destroyed the lives of hundreds of US and British soldiers...and all for a pack of lies. Government figures show that the cost of the Iraq war to Britain is set to double this year to £1,700 million pounds. The same amount will be wasted in Afghanistan - in an unwinnable and unnecessary war. It's time to bring all the troops home."

Ali Shelmani, prospective candidate for Moss Side ward added, "I believe that Moss Side has been under invested in for many years while money that could be spent in the area has been diverted for war. The government can find endless finance for its military operations while the Moss Side area is the 7th poorest area in the country."

01/03/2008
The Government's new immigration points based system has started to be implemented this week, less than a month after the Border and Immigration Agency announced details of the "Australian-style" Points scheme on the 6th February. Brown’s government has once again acted with knee-jerk legislation to counter the hysteria about immigration and asylum seekers, hysteria whipped up by the constant bombardment of negative reports in the media.

29/02/2008
As the peerless John Pilger put it, the invasion of Iraq would have been impossible without the supine connivance of the British media. The BBC was as much a part of operations as the Black Watch.

Five years on and a we're being presented with a further instance of the kind of collusion which embeds journalism in the sewer of state spin.

The case for the media keeping mum about Prince Harry’s deployment to Afghanistan is straightforward enough – protecting not only his security but that of those around him. If that were all there was to it then there would be little to consider, except the extraordinary double standard of the British media which means that some people’s safety and privacy is deemed worthy of protection and others' not.

22/02/2008
Clive Searle from Manchester Respect Renewal reports on a great few days, with meetings and walkabouts with candidates and Respect MP George Galloway

If nothing else we worked him hard. George Galloway’s thirty six hours in Greater Manchester were a whirlwind of meetings (three), TV and radio interviews (five) and walkabouts (two).

After a tremendous start in Atherton, Lancashire on Tuesday night the focus for George’s whistle-stop visit turned to Manchester. George, along with prospective Respect candidate Kay Phillips, took to the streets of Cheetham Hill to meet and talk to the voters we hope will be campaigning for Kay in April.

Despite the failure of the heating the temperature inside the meeting soon heated up as the start of the meeting had to be delayed while George Galloway MP conducted a live interview with Channel 4 news from inside the meeting hall. George passionately defended the gains of the Cuban revolution receiving a great round of applause from the meeting after tearing a strip off the interviewer in London.

15/02/2008
BY GEORGE GALLOWAY MP
To say the anti-war movement achieved little is defeatist: Blair left office in ignominy and critics continue to harry his ilk. It is impossible to reflect on the events of five years ago without sharply conflicting feelings.

On the one hand, there was the sense of elation at the tide of humanity that swept through the streets of London to protest against the war. On Pall Mall, the two demonstrations converged as if it were the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates.

There was a sense of shared endeavour, determination and some hope that surely this would make a difference. It did make a difference, but, as we know only too well, the war took place nevertheless.

10/02/2008
Union activists from across the country came together in February in for a day of discussion and planning - speakers included Matt Wrack of the FBU and Derek Wall of the Green Party. Liam MacUaid reports....

"Maybe it is too early to say definitively but the event felt that suddenly a section of the trade union movement in Britain has decided that climate change is an issue that it has to make an urgent priority. There were at least three hundred people present and the majority of them were neither part of the far left nor any of the established environmental groups." READ MORE HERE

05/02/2008
Richard Bransons Virgin group, having done such a great job with our privatised railways and having put in a bid for Northern Rock assets is now planning to move into Primary Healthcare. Virgin has a series of meetings to discuss their ideas with primary care staff.

UNISON has issued a strong statement: "We are absolutely opposed to the move by Virgin Group into GP surgeries. It is deeply alarming that a private company such as Virgin Group will be marketing its additional services to potentially vulnerable patients when they are in need of medical care as if they were visiting a gym.. . . (We should not) allow health centres to be run by gym managers."

Protest 6pm – 7pm Imperial War Museum, Trafford Wharfe Rd (nearest tram stop Broadway)
called by Manchester Community and Mental Health branch Unison

15/01/2008
Greater Manchester Respect Renewal have selected their first prospective candidate for the 2008 local elections this May. Dr Kay Phillips was chosen on a unanimous vote to contest the Cheetham ward in North Manchester. Respect supporters are now gearing up for an election battle that will see Kay pitched against Martin Pagel the deputy leader of the New Labour City Council.