Stopping the war
The campaign against the war is still gathering momentum. There was a very successful candlelit vigil in the centre of Leeds and dozens of young people staged a school walkout in the City. There are regional demonstrations all over the UK including a demonstration in Leeds on 15th March. There is also increasing support for workplace walkout in the event of the UK declaring war. This sort of widespread unease about government war aims is unprecedented in British history. All the protagonists are entering new and dangerous territory.
The vote in Parliament saw five Leeds MPs joining the rebels against the Blair-Bush axis. They were John Battle, Harold Best, Colin Challen, Fabian Hamilton and Paul Truswell. All of them have expressed unease at the headlong rush to support Bush and the unwillingness to let the UN inspectors do their job. All five deserve congratulation and support in their campaign to stop the war.
George Mudie made it clear to people attending his surgery that he too would vote against any war that did not have United Nations backing. He said that many other Labour MPs would join him. This seems to be the case. Initially Colin Burgon was reported to be joining the rebels but then appeared to back down, telling the Yorkshire Post that he would however join them if there was no UN mandate.
The weakness of the MPs' political position is that it takes no notice of the bullying and bribery that the American Government is using to get its own way at the UN. The US has already bugged senior UN ambassadors in order to try to give them an edge. On top of this, Bush Administration officials are talking of withdrawing from the UN and stopping all payments to the organisation. Their slogan is "USA out of the UN, UN out of the USA". Their initial withdrawal is seen as temporary but would become permanent if the UN didn't see things Bush's way.
The Alliance for Green Socialism has launched a lobbying drive at the United Nations for a special meeting of the General Assembly to discuss Iraq.
Thomas PM Barnett, Professor of Warfare Analysis at the US Naval War College and an advisor to the US Office of the Secretary of Defence, spells out how Iraq fits in with the US global strategy in the March edition of Esquire. The article is available in full at http://www.nwc.navy.mil/NewRuleSets/ThePentagonsNewMap.htm
Titled The Pentagon's New Map, the article explains "why we're going to war, and why we'll keep going to war." These gung-ho war merchants have become a key element in driving Bush forward by providing the ideological underpinning for US domination of the world. They provide the background for the "asymmetrical attack response" and "full spectrum dominance" strategies of the Pentagon.
Barnett's chilling opening sentence is "Let me tell you why military engagement with Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad is not only necessary and inevitable, but good." He goes to explain that the world is divided into parts. One part, which he calls the Function Core, consists of the advanced capitalist countries lead by the US. These countries are fully signed up to globalisation through the World Trade Organisation and the rights of huge multinational corporations to exploit without restriction. The rest he calls the Non-Integrating Gap. The job of the US is to ensure that the countries of the Gap are brought into the core by force if necessary. It is very clear that Iraq is seen as the beginning of a new crusade. This interpretation is reinforced by an article in the Daily Telegraph by my old friend Stephen Pollard (now sheltering in the flesh pots of Brussels) where he explains the importance of Blair to Bush in the context of the need to invade Iran next.
However in the real world 20 million plus have demonstrated against the war. In countries such as Italy and Spain the very size of the protest have threatened the continued existence of their governments. In a recent speech Fidel Castro attacked how the US treated the rest of the world as its own backyard but said that people should and would resist. He is speaking for hundreds of millions.
A war of torture and shadows
All of the UK media have reported the arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a supposed top leader of al-Qaeda. Some have said how fortuitous the timing was, given that one of the main criticisms of the war on the Iraqi people was that it was diverting attention away from the war on terrorism. However none of the media have been able to meet Khalid and none reported the story below from the Asia Times of 30th October 2002.
From A Chilling Inheritance of Terror by Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times, 30 Oct 2002:
Ever since the frenzied shootout last month on September 11 in Karachi there have been doubts over whether Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed head of al-Qaeda's military committee, died in the police raid on his apartment. [...] Now it has emerged that Kuwaiti national Khalid Shaikh Mohammed did indeed perish in the raid, but his wife and child were taken from the apartment and handed over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in whose hands they remain.
[...] After the World Trade Centre attack, the FBI were onto Shaikh Mohammed in a big way, and, no doubt not entirely without coincidence, on September 11 they decided on a showdown at the apartment of Shaikh Mohammed, his wife and child, in the Defense Housing Authority near Korangi Road. A number of Arabs were also living in the apartment at the time. Initially, the joint ISI-FBI plan was to take Shaikh Mohammed alive so that he could be grilled, especially as he was believed to have knowledge of al-Qaeda cells in Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and elsewhere. However, as a plainclothed officer climbed the stairs toward the third-floor apartment, a hand grenade was thrown, and he retreated. Reinforcements then arrived, and for the next few hours a fierce gun battle blazed. The FBI, still keen to take Shaikh Mohammed alive, teargassed the area, and a number of people were captured.
However, despite instructions to the contrary, a few Pakistan Rangers entered the flat, where they found Shaikh Mohammed and another man, allegedly with their hands up. The Rangers nevertheless opened fire on the pair. Later, the Pakistani press carried pictures of a message scrawled in blood on the wall of the flat, proclaiming the Muslim refrain of Kalma, in Arabic: "There is no God except Allah, Mohammed is his messenger").
An official who was present in the flat at the time of the shooting has told Asia Times Online that the message was written by Shaikh Mohammed with his own blood as his life drained from him. Subsequently, to their surprise, the raiders learned that Ramzi Binalshibh had been netted in the swoop. And nothing further was said of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. But now it emerges that an Arab woman and a child were taken to an ISI safe house, where they identified the Shaikh Mohammed's body as their husband and father. The body was kept in a private NGO mortuary for 20 days before being buried, under the surveillance of the FBI, in a graveyard in the central district of Karachi.
The widow subsequently underwent exhaustive interrogation in the custody of FBI officials, during which she revealed details of people who visited her husband, and of his other contacts and plans. News of the death of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was intentionally suppressed so that officials could play on the power of his name to follow up leads and contacts.
Some newspapers have reported that Khalid will be subject to "slapping" and "sleep deprivation" in order to extract information from him, particularly about the whereabouts of Bin Laden. He will not be able to see a lawyer and as he may be already dead he will never be brought to trial.
American military officials have already acknowledged that two prisoners captured in Afghanistan in December had been killed while under interrogation at Bagram air base north of Kabul. A spokesman for the air base has confirmed that the official cause of death of the two men was "homicide", contradicting earlier accounts that one had died of a heart attack and the other from a pulmonary embolism.
The men's death certificates, made public earlier this week, showed that one captive, known only as Dilawar, 22, from the Khost region, died from "blunt force injuries to lower extremities complicating coronary artery disease" while another captive, Mullah Habibullah, 30, suffered from blood clot in the lung that was exacerbated by a "blunt force injury".
US officials previously admitted using "stress and duress" on prisoners including sleep deprivation, denial of medication for battle injuries, forcing them to stand or kneel for hours on end with hoods on, subjecting them to loud noises and sudden flashes of light and engaging in culturally humiliating practices such as having them kicked by female officers.
This treatment of prisoners of war breaks the Geneva conventions and those responsible will be brought to justice.
Paying for the war
Gordon Brown is facing a £21 billion deficit. The Government auditors are refusing to sign off the accounts unless the true nature of the debts is spelled out. The pound is shrinking against both the dollar and the Euro. Brown has hit upon a novel method of paying for the war on the Iraqi people. He is going to take all the money from the end of balances of Government Departments. All Departments are allowed to carry over into the new financial year a percentage of their revenue. This is good practice. It enables them to even out unexpected expenses from year to year and to engage in long term planning. This means Brown will be taking billions off the health service and perhaps even raiding the surplus in the National Insurance which could be used to raise pensions. The war is going to be paid for by those who can least afford it.
However those companies which supplied Iraq equipment, which allegedly is being used to make weapons of mass destruction to be used against us, are being paid by Brown's Treasury various export guarantee grants.
Who are the real traitors?
The fire dispute
Or, How to break the workers
How can Councillor Ray Mitchell, the former left wing firebrand and man about town, sit on his hands with swinging 22% in tax for the West Yorkshire Fire Service and yet not break ranks and pay the fireworkers? After all in West Yorkshire they already have modernised and they carry the defibrillators. To hide behind the discredited Bain Report after the Fire Service Review smacks of a lack of intellectual effort or cowardice. Perhaps all dear Ray wants is a couple of months of peace before becoming an Honorary Alderman and spend his afternoons hanging around in the Leeds centre and Civic Hall. Wake up Ray. You can use your time to help the Fireworkers win which would be a victory for all of us. If the extra money is not used to pay the workers, where is it going?
A recent government report has highlighted that was a 400% increase in managers on the railways since privatisation. The money for this comes straight from the fare and taxpayers. Is this what is happening to our taxes instead being spent on the frontline fire workers?
Part of the problem is that the authority votes itself extra meetings in order to collect attendance allowances. One special subcommittee meeting was held on the 10 Feb to approve a report that said the National Non-Domestic Rate Payers Consultation had resulted in none of them attending and none sending anything in. This meeting could have been combined with another or used to expose the lack of interest business people have in our fire service.
In preparation for any terrorist attack on West Yorkshire the New Labour Government has cut the emergency-planning budget by £61,000. Yorkshire is expendable in event of a terrorist attack.
The government has also cut the budget for the coming year by a further £1.4 million. This is of course similar to the attacks launched on the Council budgets in Leeds and Wakefield.
The failure of the New Labour Councillors to challenge the government will be met at the ballot box.
Snippets
Taxing the millionaires
In a recent Leeds City Council meeting practically all the New Labour Councillors voted to introduce means testing for the elderly and disabled using their day centres and receiving home support. Only Councillor Patrick Hall abstained. The New Labour leader Councillor Brian (sleep) Walker justified this on the grounds that without means testing the council tax payers would end up subsidising millionaires.
This is an argument which directly undermines the welfare state. If millionaires pay their taxes they should be entitled to the same council service as anyone else. Otherwise a two-tier system will evolve. Of course none of Leeds' 90 millionaires has actually taken advantage of any of the services on offer. The real reason is that Walker and his colleagues are jealous that some of the allowances which disabled people receive allow them to get above the poverty line, and they wish to take this money off them.
The Chapel Allerton Councillors Taggart, Moxon and Hutchinson all voted for means testing. These same three councillors have put their name to a survey of council tenants in the Scott Hall, Miles Hill and Potternewton areas of Leeds. However the local people were not consulted before the questionnaire was drawn up and of course the key question of the Private Finance Initiative was omitted. The questionnaire reflects the contempt New Labour has for tenants and represents a further stage in their attempts to disempower them.
This sorry episode has allowed the Tories and Liberal Democrats to take the moral high ground. Opposing the two formidable campaigners Ivy Needham and Malcolm Naylor will add to New Labour's difficulties at the May elections.
Spin
Nicholas Jones, former veteran BBC Political Correspondent, gave his spin on New Labour's attempt to control the media. He politically concentrated on how Blair and Alasdair Campbell manipulated a largely willing media through the two General Elections and conflicts such as Kosovo. Blair and Campbell are struggling a bit now because of a lack of pictorial material but once the MOD approved pictures of "our brave squaddies" going into action against the "evil" Saddam then they hope to change public opinion on the forthcoming war.
Campbell has altered the whole timing of parliamentary political business in order to ensure that the government's agenda dominates the 24 hour news cycle. This leaves opponents responding to an already set agenda. Key in this conspiracy to manage the news are large media owners such as Murdoch. In return for going along they are been rewarded with a media bill in parliament that will allow them to buy the UK terrestrial channels.
However with the growth of cable, satellite and above all the Internet, media management becomes more and more risky and open to more varied responses.
Key lessons learned by those who fought for Liz Davies in the Leeds North East Campaign can be used in the forthcoming elections and the Stop the War Campaigns.
Blair's big American supporter Murdoch has been given official permission to lie by the Florida Appeals Court.
The court reversed the $425,000 jury verdict in favour of journalist Jane Akre who charged that she was pressured by Fox Television management and lawyers to air what she knew and documented to be false information. The ruling basically declares it is technically not against any law, rule, or regulation to deliberately lie or distort the news on a television broadcast.
The attorneys for Fox, owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch, argued the First Amendment gives broadcasters the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves. See http://www.sierratimes.com/03/02/28/arpubmg022803.htm
Anti Nazi League Statement on Attack in Leeds
"True face of the Nazis - anti Nazis' car firebombed! Anti Nazis in Leeds whose details were on the Nazi website Redwatch have been attacked. Their car, parked outside their home in Leeds, was firebombed. The Nazis want to be seen as respectable to con their way onto council seats - they are not! Redwatch is hosted by Combat 18 - it is full of photos and the details of ordinary people who oppose the BNP. It is there to intimidate and frighten us. It must be shut down! Leeds Nazi Mark Collett had to resign as youth BNP organiser after the Channel 4 programme 'Young, Nazi and Proud' was shown. The programme exposed how Collett would canvass for the BNP, but when he thought the cameras were off he told of his admiration for Hitler and Nazi Germany. He has also threatened anti Nazis with violence and claimed he would make sure that his opponents' details would be used by Redwatch. His replacement as youth leader, Tony Wentworth, was captured by Yorkshire TV taking photos of anti Nazis - those photos were put on Redwatch. The Nazi BNP are standing 8 candidates in Leeds. They are also standing in Bradford, Kirklees, Calderdale and Wakefield. We need a massive 'Don't Vote Nazi' campaign in West Yorkshire - Get involved in the campaign - give us a donation! The Nazis want us to go away and stop fighting - this attack must make us even more determined! "
From my favourite music and culture promoters The Dainty Crew
The Dainty Crew attended a networking event showcasing their website and services in Birmingham. The event was in celebration of International Women's Day. The Black Women's Network (organised by legendary super networker Nicola) in conjunction with Jyoti Ashram and Reducing Domestic Violence Project presented KONECT 2003 a networking day for black women in Birmingham and the organisations that work to support them.
Many took the opportunity to meet the ladies behind The Dainty Crew website and also mix, mingle and network with other Black and Asian businesses in the Birmingham area.
Copies of The Dainty Crew's market research questionnaires were distrbuted and some lucky people won CDs
Check out their website, http://www.daintycrew.com
Council Tax rises
I was misled by press reports over the levels of Council tax rises. They were much higher than I reported. Leeds and Wakefield tax rises were closer to 10% than the 8% I predicted. On top of these swingeing increases comes a huge rise in the rates for West Yorkshire Police and the Fireservice.
And yet there will be no dramatic increases in service. In fact the very opposite. Leeds city Council is pulling out of collecting trade waste, thereby relinquishing any real control over recycling.
Clive Betts
Clive Betts, a Sheffield MP and former council colleague of David Blunkett, has been viciously attacked over his gay relationship with his researcher by the tabloid media. What has been the response of the unelected officials New Labour Yorkshire Labour Party? They've suspended his selection conference. It looks as though homophobia runs deeply through their Wakefield office.
-- Half-Celestial Khan
