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Covid, crisis & resistance: build the National Activist meeting on Sunday
Last week Britain hit over 100,000 deaths from Covid. We cannot allow the barbarity of Covid and its deadly mishandling to be normalised. 2020 saw the highest number of deaths in Britain for over a century. Yet the news that Britain has recorded a daily record high of over 1,500 fatalities last Wednesday did not even make the top news item on Radio 4. Hospitals are overwhelmed, health workers left traumatised and the economic consequences are catastrophic.
In such a situation there will be new flashpoints of resistance. Last week saw the furore over the meagre school meals parcels being provided by a private company. Already there is pressure on Boris Johnson not to scrap the £20 a week universal credit “uplift” that was introduced during the first wave of the pandemic. Johnson has even told his MPs to abstain on a vote on the issue organised by the Labour Party. Some Tory MPs cited how after the school meals debate earlier in the year their offices were targeted. It shows the importance of resistance and the weakness of the government. Yet at the same time the lack of opposition from the Labour Party under Starmer continues. Last week shadow Chancellor Annaliese Dodds went out of her way to reassure bankers and big business that Labour would be a “responsible government” if in office. See the SW article here.
That is why building opposition through the People Before Profit network and the Emergency Programme for Jobs, Safety and services is so important. This Sunday’s meeting is crucial as part of this (see details below).
After the storming of the Capitol... Trump, the far right and the US under Biden
7 PM Wednesday 20th January
Zoom meeting ID: 823 6470 6218 Passcode: 967537
Thousands of Trump supporters marched and then hundreds stormed the Capitol building on January 6th. As they swept through the hallways of Congress, they marched with a flag of the pro-slavery Confederates from the US Civil War.
These events should be a spur to mass protests and working class struggle against the far-right in America. It is not a reason to huddle around the Democratic Party or seek to reconstruct some alleged “centre ground” - in the US or here in the UK. Crucially, the politics of Trumpism - with or without Trump - are not going away after Biden takes office.
Join us as Biden’s inauguration takes place on 20th January as we discuss the events that have happened? And how do we build a politics and movement that prevents it again?
Tues 2 Feb 7 PM: SWP Live event: "10 years on - why the Arab Spring still matters"
• Hossam El-Hamalawy, journalist and member of the Egyptian Revolutionary socialists
• Anne Alexander, author of forthcoming "Revolution is the choice of the people - Middle East and North Africa's rebellious decade"
• Muzan Alneel, Sudanese activist
A wave of revolutions and uprisings - wrongly referred to as the 'Arab Spring' - swept the Middle East in 2011. From Tunisia to Libya, Egypt, Syria and Yemen dictators who had ruled for decades tottered in the face of huge protests. Mass strikes played a crucial role in the victory of the first two uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt following years of rising working class anger and militancy. Even the Gulf was not immune as popular uprising convulsed Bahrain and protests spread into neighbouring Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province among the kingdom's oppressed Shia minority.
Democratic rights and social justice were the main demands of the mass movements, but in many countries they also challenged racism, sectarianism and sexism, mobilising millions of people as agents of their own liberation.
Despite the horrors of counter-revolution and war which followed, a new round of uprisings began in Sudan, where dictator Omar el Bashir was toppled by a popular movement in April 2019.
Understanding what are the conditions which lead to revolutions, when they succeed and why they fail is a crucial task for anyone who wants to change the world. In this special meeting to mark the tenth anniversary of the 2011 uprisings, we will be joined by Egyptian revolutionary activist Hossam el-Hamalawy, author Anne Alexander and Sudanese activist Muzn al-Nil to discuss why the 2011 uprisings matter to socialists today.
People before Profit activists meeting: Building the resistance in 2021
People Before Profit is hosting a national activists’ meeting on Sunday 24th January to launch into a new year of resistance. It will be a participatory meeting with workshops taking place on Zoom. All local COVID action and People Before Profit groups should be aiming to get as many local activists as possible to be joining the meeting to take part in the discussions. Workshops include: Fighting redundancies - fighting for climate jobs • Defending Services - Resisting austerity • Covid - the battle for safety at work • Opposing the Pay Freeze • No to scapegoating • Campaigning for welfare and housing
RSVP to the Facebook event here And register for the event itself on Zoom here
Workshops:
• Fighting redundancies - fighting for climate jobs, with Mark Porter from Rolls Royce Barnoldswick, FB event here • Defending Services - Resisting austerity – opposing the pay freeze, chaired by Jane Loftus, CWU vice president, FB event here • Covid - the battle for safety at work, with Shelly Asquith, TUC • Health and Safety Officer FB event here • After the schools revolt... resistance in schools, colleges and universities FB event here • Don’t let the Tories divide us - No to scapegoating, with Stand Up To Racism • Campaigning for welfare and housing
TUE, 26 JAN AT 18:00 UTC
Never Again- Holocaust Memorial Day online event
Oxon planning meeting for UN Anti Racism International Day of Action
Monday 1st February, 7pm Zoom meeting ID: 891 7936 3304 Passcode: 753082
12 Noon SATURDAY, 27 FEBRUARY 2021
Stand Up To Racism & TUC conference 2021 - book tickets here
- From COVID-19 to #BlackLivesMatter... Fighting for anti-racist workplaces
SAT, 20 MAR 2021
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