Blair the liar tries diversion
Blair wants to move the agenda on from the war in Iraq. He wants his Labour colleagues to concentrate on domestic issues. He wants people to ignore the fact that he has repeatedly lied over the Weapons of Mass Destruction. Above all he wants us to ignore the fact that he has twice followed Bush into disastrous wars and will do so again despite what we want. His spin-doctors are putting it out that people are bored with stories of the decision-making about the war and the time has come to move on.
When the going gets really desperate Mandelson crawls out of the woodwork. He has attacked Labour MPs for their principled stands on the war and on top-up fees. He claims that some MPs are plotting to remove the Prime Minister and this would let the Tories in. This is a blatant attack on their democratic right to represent their constituents. Twice Mandelson has been tossed out of public office and yet he still attends weekly meetings at Number 10. Blair has few real friends.
Leeds: New Labour and Liberal Democrats, two peas in the same pod
In Leeds, Blair's New Labour councillors never raised the question of the war in the Council. They deliberately ignored the thousands of Leeds voters who demonstrated against the illegal invasion. And yet when they come back to the domestic agenda there is no money for our trams, our schools and our social services. There is no money because billions of pounds have been spent on the invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
When some money seems to come from the government it turns out not to be real. So the recent announcement on increased expenditure on schools turns out to be Private Finance Initiative money which the council taxpayers of Leeds and their children will be paying for through the nose. And the control of this will pass to some shady non-elected quango.
Keith Wakefield, the very model of a modern new Labour poodle, politely expresses his disapproval when the government imposes postal ballots on the city (against the recommendations of the Electoral Commission) and the same bootlicking approach over the government's delays over the Leeds tram project. This completely gutless approach means the citizens of Leeds are not even getting the crumbs thrown to them by London.
The Liberal Democrats claimed to be against the war in Iraq and yet when it started they completely backed the Blair liar. There was not a peep out of the local Liberal Democrat Councillors in Leeds and no attempt to raise the issues in Council. They talk one message in the Community and walk another way in the Council.
They fail to tackle the big issues, which affect everyone in Leeds. Their role over the proposed Leeds tram, which will benefit the whole city, shows where they have hung on to the coat tails of New Labour Councillors when they have crawled to government ministers.
The Hutton whitewash
I agree with the majority of the press comment on the use of the word whitewash to describe the Hutton inquiry. Even I thought that there was no one corrupt enough not to condemn Hoon's spineless and irresponsible role in the run up to the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Below is an article which deals with Hutton's history from http://www.indymedia.org.uk/
So Who the Hell is Hutton?
By Re-Sista! 28/1/04
A history of Hutton's life, from Bloody Sunday cover up to Pinochet affair to Iraq war lies
Upon his resignation as BBC chairman Gavyn Davies commented on the irreconcilable contradictions between Hutton's "bald conclusions" and the balance of evidence presented to the actual Inquiry. Even BBC political editor Andrew Marr comments on Huttons underlying assumptions and background, making him more likely to believe and trust certain social groups: "again and again, he comes down on the side of politicians and officials."
So who is Hutton, and what is in his background to come to these extraordinary conclusions? What has lead to the report's extraordinary absolution of Blair's war lies and attack on journalistic freedom?
The 72 year old Baron Hutton of Bresagh, County of Down, North Ireland, is a classic representative of the British ruling establishment. A member of the Anglo-Irish elite, he was educated at Shrewsbury all-boys boarding school, and then Balliol, Oxford, before entering the exclusive club of the British Judiciary. Whilst British Judges are overwhelmingly conservative, upper class, white, male and biased, Hutton's background is even more compromised. His name will be familiar to residents of the Six counties of Ulster. During the bloody thirty years war Hutton was an instrument of British state repression, starting in the late 1960's as junior counsel to the Northern Ireland attorney general, and by 1988 rising to the top job of Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.
Hutton spent his career as Judge and Jury in the notorious northern Ireland kangaroo 'Diplock Courts'. These were special non-Jury courts, condemned by human rights advocates for their miscarriages of justice. He was hated for this role by the families of the many innocent Catholics wrongly convicted here. Hutton distinguished himself after the Bloody Sunday massacre of civil rights protesters in 1972. He played a key role in the ensuing judicial cover-up called the Widgery Inquiry which absolved British troops of Murder. This miscarriage of justice is only now being investigated by the current Saville inquiry. Then in 1978 he represented the British Government before the European Court of Human Rights, defending it against a ruling that it abused and maltreated detainees from the conflict.
However, he will be remembered in the rest of the UK for his role in the 1999 Pinochet affair. Another senior Judge, Lord Hoffman had contributed to the decision to arrest and extradite the notorious former dictator of Chile and mass murderer General Pinochet during his visit to Britain. As a law lord, Hutton led the rightwing attack on Lord Hoffman, on the excuse that Hoffman's links to the human rights group Amnesty international invalidated Pinochets arrest! Lord Hutton said "public confidence in the integrity of the administration of justice would be shaken" if Lord Hoffman's ruling was not overturned.
More recently, Hutton was also involved in the ruling that David Shayler, the former MI5 agent, could not argue he was acting in the public interest by revealing secrets. This history of intimate links with, and knowledge of Britains secret military intelligence operations meant he could be a trusted pair of hands when it came to the Kelly affair.
Palestine
Every week dozens of Palestinians are murdered by heavily armed Israeli soldiers. However Blair gave the Israeli defence minister Shaul Mofaz an assurance of immunity from arrest in connection with allegations of crimes against humanity during his recent visit to London. Human rights lawyers accused the government of a "creative legal interpretation" designed to protect him from a Scotland Yard investigation during his four-day visit. Mr Mofaz was the army chief of staff during the Israeli military reoccupation of West Bank cities in 2002. He left Britain hurriedly during a visit 16 months ago after lawyers for Palestinian families sent a dossier of alleged war crimes to the director of public prosecutions. The DPP passed the file to Scotland Yard to investigate the claim that he was responsible for targeted assassinations, the destruction of homes and other breaches of international humanitarian law.
Scotland Yard now claim that Mofaz can claim diplomatic immunity. But Kathleen Cavanaugh, a professor of international law and author of an Amnesty International report on Israel and the occupied territories, said diplomatic immunity for crimes against humanity applied only to heads of state.
Scotland Yard's investigation of Mr Mofaz is still open. Imran Kahn compiled the 17-page dossier on him. The file alleges that Mr Mofaz was responsible, while army chief of staff, for the Israeli military's use of human shields, killing of activists, torture of prisoners, and destruction of homes. Mr Khan said the British police forces had a mandatory obligation under the Geneva conventions to bring to justice those responsible for crimes against humanity.
Mofaz will not meet the British families killed by the Israeli armed forces. However the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, pressed him to ensure that there is a transparent investigation of the killings. This 'pressing' involved shaking hands and a big wink.
Snippets
Leeds National Union of Journalists: Tell me lies
A packed meeting at West Yorkshire Playhouse heard three speakers on the media manipulation carried out by Blair in the run up to and during the invasion of Iraq. The meeting also marked the occasion of the publication by Pluto Press of Tell Me Lies: Propaganda and Media Distortion in the Attack on Iraq [www.amazon.co.uk link] -- David Miller (Editor) ISBN: 0745322018 November 2003.
Professor Paul Rodgers of the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford analysed the role the US media had in preparing the American public for war. The propaganda linked without evidence Bin Laden and Saddam Hussain as well pushing the myth of weapons of mass destruction. Paul emphasised the importance of oil. The US now how had less than 10% of the world's oil reserves compared with over 67% in Iraq and the Gulf region. Bush has no intention of letting any of this go and is building three permanent military bases in Iraq. There are also plans to keep 100,000 US troops in Iraq until at least 2006.
Steve Dorrill, the UK intelligence expert and academic, explained how the campaign of misinformation prepared the British public for the invasion. One favourite method, fell for by the willing media repeatedly, was planting stories in foreign newspapers and the intelligence services then nudging pliable journalists in the direction of the story. Newspapers such as the Sunday Times carried articles explaining as fact that Iraq was on the edge of developing a nuclear capacity.
Granville Williams of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom showed what could be done to expose the corrupt methods of distorting news in the UK. In particular he called for a principled defence of the BBC from a Blairite take-over or the allowing the full reign of Murdoch's media to dominate the airwaves.
The lively discussion indicated that many in Leeds were willing to take the struggle for an open democratic media forward.
Really modern music
The Barbican in London was the scene of an amazing series of concerts celebrating the work of John Cage. There were concerts, lectures and happenings attracting thousands of mainly young people.
One highlight on the Saturday afternoon saw a variety of artists, performers and musicians playing a co-ordinated and yet random series of pieces which transformed the Barbican foyer into a musically magical place. The combination of the BBC Choirs, John Tilbury's prepared piano playing plus dancers and many other participants gave 45 minutes of pure pleasure.
The evening concert with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra although more formal again was inspirational. Lisa Luxenberg singing (and acting) John Cage's Aria for a Solo Voice was funny, inspirational and entertaining. The audience cheered her to the ceiling. The concert finished with a complex performance from the orchestra, a team of electrical engineers and John Tilbury at the piano playing three interacting Cage pieces.
And on the 4th March you can hear John Tilbury live in Leeds. He is playing the organ and will be performing with Keith Rowe at the Holy Trinity Church, Boar Lane thanks to the Termite Club.
Tickets will be £5 waged or £3 unwaged, available in advance from the FUSELEEDS festival box office: 0113 222 3434
Further information on the festival at www.fuseleeds.org.uk with more details at http://www.qubik.com/termite/events.html This is a rare chance to see the improvisers John Tilbury and Keith Rowe who are longstanding opponents of US and British imperialism and vociferous in their condemnation of the invasion of Iraq.
Around the New Labour selections
After a two-month delay the New Labour selection for councillors in Leeds has not got much further. Many of the selections have to be re-run. These include Roundhay, Otley, the replacement Rothwell Ward, and it is even rumoured that this includes Middleton, the bailiwick of the very modern New Labour Councillor Stuart Bruce. The situation is so confusing that even my inside mole in Wakefield is finding it difficult to say where things stand.
It does appear fairly certain that Lord Lucan, ie Lord Mayor Neil Taggart, has been selected for the Labour marginal of Bramley. However there are not enough candidates on the Panel for New Labour to find 99 candidates in Leeds. Besides a lack of volunteers (and activists for that matter) the Labour Party in Leeds is running out of money. It has raised nowhere near the £100,000 it needs to run a campaign to regain control of the Council and what money it has raised is being taken away to run the European Election campaign which is much more important to the Blairites in London.
All three of the major parties are finding this election difficult but New labour is finding this harder than the rest. It is not helped by some estimates that there will only be around 40 New Labour Councillors after the election. This might explain the extraordinary friendship being shown to the Green Party by both the New Labour and the Liberal Democrat leaders.
Mind you, the Leeds Liberal Democrats have grown so desperate as to form small gangs going round to try to intimidate people into standing for them. They too are living in fear that Michael Meadowcroft's Liberal Party might decide to stand in some of their target areas such as Harehills.
The future of Leeds United
25 people attended the Chapel Allerton branch of the Alliance for Green Socialism to hear Dr Bill Gerrard, an internationally recognised authority on football finance, speak on the present crisis of Leeds United and how it may be resolved.
The disastrous management of the last few years of this once proud and successful club was carefully and cruelly dissected. The route to which it became a club with no real financial control was explained. In essence management was replaced with magic castles of new stadiums and ice hockey pitches. The realisation of which completely depended on Leeds continuing to play international football.
And despite failing to achieve this the management continued to spend money as though it was going out of fashion. They gave themselves over thirty company cars, the most expensive fish tank in Leeds (almost as big as the Deep in Hull) and they continued to pay members of the management elite even when they left. The managers sucked the money from the fans, shareholders and trading partners to finance their lavish lifestyles. This has lead to question marks over the very survival of the club.
Dr Gerrard was hopeful that the club would survive if someone can be found to take on the debt.
Malcolm Christie, former Alliance for Green Socialism candidate in Roundhay and season ticket holder, explained how football clubs had been businesses from the very beginning. Leeds itself had a history of clubs going bust and being restarted.
Garth Frankland made the point in the discussion that George Mudie MP, hero of the battle against university top-up fees when leader of Leeds City Council, bought the Elland Road Stadium and leased it back to the club. This enabled him to obtain places on the board and hundreds of free tickets for the low-paid in the city. Leeds United was able to use the money freed up to build the team to re-enter the Premiership Division. His New Labour successors continued the close relationship with the club but abandoned any attempt to represent the interests of the city and the fans. They appointed Peter Ridsdale to be Chair of Education Leeds. This means he is the leading figure for school education in Leeds. This post he still holds despite his disastrous record at the club. New Labour also gave up their positions on the Board of Leeds United, which removed an important element of outside supervision.
Garth pledged the Alliance for Green Socialism to urge the council to play a role in rescuing the club and to campaign for the removal of Ridsdale from Education Leeds.
Chapeltown Post Office
Some of you might have received a leaflet purporting to come from Chapel Allerton Labour Party. The leaflet has been written to boost the candidatures of Mohamed Raffiq and Jane Dawson in the June Elections. They do not live in Chapel Allerton and therefore are not entitled to be members of the local Labour Party or hold office however they appear in the leaflets as though they are. The leaflet cynically avoids mentioning one of the Chapel Allerton Councillors. I intend to come back this in more detail.
The leaflet also asks for your opinions on the closure of Chapeltown Post Office. The Chapel Allerton Alliance for Green Socialism has already written against the closure and is about to launch a campaign to save it. I am sure they will invite the remnants of Chapel Allerton Labour Party to help them out.
Join the protest against the closure of Chapeltown Post Office, Chapeltown Road: Friday 20 February at 2pm to 3 pm.
-- Half-Celestial Khan
