Sparks off the Rock

THE row over some of Rupert Murdoch's minions routinely tapping telephones for their stories has brought diverse reactions. A journalist friend, inclined perhaps to defend his colleagues rather than consider how his skills (not to mention scruples) were being rendered redundant, has remarked on the hypocrisy of those in government who authorise telephone tapping and surveillance of mere working folk and political dissidents, yet show outrage on hearing it is done to them,as well as showbiz celebs.

On the other hand, many people point to what seems like police reluctance to go into this, compared to the alacrity with which others are prosecuted. "I wonder what the News of the World has on the Yard?", asked one cheeky letter writer. Whatever it is, those of us who remember the charging police horses outside Fort Wapping tend to assume that, broken laws or not, the Met and Murdoch's merry men and women understand they are on the same side.

Britain is said to have more surveillance than any other country. For my generation "Big Brother" held menace, for the young it's just a naff television programme offering instant "celebrity" to anyone desperate for attention. The way some people use their mobiles you can listen into them from a distance whether you like it or not, without needing any bugging equipment, though what with the over-acting performance I sometimes suspect if you could hear the other end it would just be a clear voice saying "the time now is...exactly".

But those of us who do worry about surveillance and eavesdropping are aware that they are often linked with the other, less entertaining aspects of Big Brother, such as police repression and blacklisting. Now and then the kind of thing we all suspect, or know, goes on comes into the public gaze, and people who have previously sneered that we were paranoid turn to shrugging and saying "of course, so what?", even "don't you think it is justified?"


Back in December I wrote about a new little book that was out, telling how the British government insisted on a Gibraltarian trade unionist, Albert Fava, being removed from his home and exiled , perhaps because he was too good at organising.
http://randompottins.blogspot.com/2008/12/labour-in-government-and-rights-on-rock.html

That happened in 1948, and yes we had a Labour government then. As we did when Brian Bamford had his experience, as he tells in the Summer issue of Northern Voices magazine.

"One Saturday morning in the Summer of 1967, I met Alberto Risso, then boss of the Gibraltar branch of the Transport and General Workers' Union and Gibraltar's Minister of Labour, outside the Town Hall on Main Street, Gibraltar . We were there to get the aid of Sir Joshua Hassan, who became Gibraltar's Chief Minister, to help me to continue to work as an electrician and let my young family stay in Gibraltar. Our residence permit had been cancelled by the British authorities".

Albert Fava's expulsion was ordered on the basis of intercepted correspondence with British trades unionists and the Communist Party. In Brian's case, as he was told by Alberto Risso, the authorities knew he was "not a communist", but they saw him as a "dangerous anarchist". As Brian recalls, this was at a time when General Franco was stepping up pressure on Gibraltar and about to close the frontier. Faced with a hostile fascist dictator, the British Foreign Office and security services naturally had to clamp down on the fascists' enemies, the communits and anarchists!

Harold Wilson's Labour government was in office. Back in Manchester, Brian, the "dangerous anarchist" had been involved in the 1960 engineering apprentices' strike, and had served four days in Strangeways for taling part in a Ban-the-Bomb sit-down in 1962. So now he was blackballed to prevent him working in Her Majesty's Dockyard, or for any of the contractors engaged in government work. A memo was sent out to local firms warning them not to employ this man.

He managed to get a job as an electrician with Gibraltar City Council, but that was when the British government stepped in with its powers to take away Brian and his family's residence permit.

What prompted Brian to recall this episode was the raid on the Droitwich premises of a Mr.Ian Kerr and the Consulting Association which led to Kerr's appearance in court in May and his case being sent to Crown Court for prosecution. Kerr had begun with the right-wing Economic League, which gathered and circulated information on thousands of people it considered left-wing "subversives", and had its activities funded by some of the leading names in British business. .After the League was officially wound up in 1993, Kerr set up his own operation, with building firms like Costain, Laing, Balfour Beatty and McAlpine as clients, pooling informaton and paying for dirt on job applicants.

For their £3,000 a year plus £2.20 per inquiry they could receive information such as that so-and-so was "Irish, ex-army, bad egg", or someone else an "ex-shop steward". There were files on more than 3,200 people. Some workers were listed for going to employment tribunals or even raising health and safety issues.

Blacklisting is not illegal - the Labour government resisted calls from trade unionists to outlaw the banning of workers from jobs in its 1999 Employment Act, claiming it did not have enough evidence of the practice. Kerr was raided and faces prosecution under the Data Protection Act, for keeping information on computer about individuals, without their knowledge, and denying the existence of these files.

One group of workers for whom the news of the blacklist was not news were some of Brian Bamford's fellow electricians in Manchester area, who have been in dispute at the Royal Infirmary site since 2006. Sure enough their names appeared in the files. Steve Acheson, secretary of the Manchester contracting branch of my own union Unite is described as a master militant. The workers' suspicion that they were blacklisted had already been confirmed when former Haden Young manager Alan Wainwright accused his company -Balfour Beatty's electrical subsidiary - of fraud and blacklisting. Wainwright said they employed a firm to gather information, and he released names of 1,000 electricians on the blacklist. He lost an unfair dismissal claim against Hayden Young, and now it is understood his own name is on the blacklist.

One entry quoted by Brian Bamford says that "EPIU site activity in Manchester is in the hands of **** *****, and other role apart from becoming an anarchist, is to travel around the country addressing meeetings."
Clearly, a dangerous type!

The Electrical and Plumbing Industries Union(EPIU), formed when the EETPU electrical union was expelled from the TUC after Wapping, merged into the TGWU which is now part of Unite the Union. The EETPU meanwhile had merged with the engineers' union, and thus via Amicus is part of Unite's other wing. Brian notes that UCATT, the building union, is campaigning for blacklisting to be made unlawful. He wonders why Unite isn't doing more.

For now, this is a free country. You're free, more or less, to say what you like, to object to unsafe working conditions, for instance, and to join a trade union. If you gather some mates to picket, say, or go to another place to persuade others to come out, you may be accused of "conspiracy", as the Shrewsbury building workers were, and if you stop work in solidarity with others you may be in breach of the laws on secondary action, as we saw when airport workers were forbidden to come out in support of fellow workers - some of them family members -sacked by catering firm Gate Gourmet. The employers on the other hand can band together to exchange information and deny employment to someone, preventing that person earning their livelihood and providing for their family. But that is not considered "violence", or "conspiracy", and the threat that persuades you to keep your mouth shut and "nose clean" if you want to work, is not considered intimidation. Of course it is not illegal.

See also:
Haden Youngs whistleblower:
http://www.cnplus.co.uk/news/haden-young-director-tells-tribunal-that-firm-used-blacklisting-company/374072.article


Kerr in court:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/may/27/construction-worker-blacklist-database1

UCATT leader on blacklist:
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/features/blacklist_shame

To contact Northern Voices, e-mail northernvoices@hotmail.com

"You will never leave Gaza"

AS if Israeli piracy and kidnapping of aid workers was not enough, Egyptian authorities helping maintain the siege of Gaza are not only holding up relief supplies and harassing international volunteers trying to get into the Strip, but have given a new twist to their dirty game, by stopping two people leaving, according to a message received today.

The message, posted in among other places the Just Peace UK group on Yahoo says:

Action alert for Jenny and Natalie – “You will never leave Gaza”

Jenny and Natalie, both British passport holders, and both long term human
rights workers in the Gaza strip, are being prevented from leaving Gaza via the
Rafah Crossing. Please take action on their behalf.

Jenny Linnell is a co-founder of the ISM Rafah group, and an original crew
member of one of the "Free Gaza" boats. For the last year she has been
accompanying Palestinians and documenting events in the Gaza strip, both before,
during and after the war. You can see footage of her work with fishermen and
farmers under fire at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDD8ANFgwtA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTUYivihoTE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Ffishingu...

Natalie, from Lebanon (but with a British passport) also entered Gaza via one
of the Free Gaza boats and has been working as part of the International
Solidarity movement within Gaza since November 2008. You can see her work at
http://gaza08.blogspot.com/


Since the end of May Jenny has been trying to leave and return home via the
border crossing at Rafah into Egypt. She keeps getting turned away, most
recently under pretty extreme circumstances, as outlined below. Natalie also
needs to leave Gaza in order to take up her place at a British University. The
Egyptian Border Guards told both women that they were being refused exit because
of their work with the Free Gaza boats. They were told that they would 'never be
let out'.


Natalie has written an account of their treatment, and their inhuman treatment
of so many Palestinians at the Rafah crossing, in ‘The Gates of Hell’

http://gaza08.blogspot.com/
(June 30th post)


For the sake of both women and other peace workers it is vital that this
treatment is not allowed to continue unchallenged. Please help us get them back
by ringing the British Foreign office and the Egyptian Embassy in London.



The Egyptian Embassy in London
phone 020 7499 3304/2401
Fax: +44 (0)20 7491 1542
The British Foreign Office
Middle East Desk
Tel: +44 (0)20 70088784
Email: jill.bayl...@... and trish.wi...@...



Or the Consular team: phone the Foreign office on +44 (0)2070081500 and ask to
be put through to the Consular Assistance team, ( who are there to assist
British travellers when abroad).



If you get a chance to mail me to let me know when you rang, and how it went, it
would be great for helping us keep tabs on how effectively the mobilising going.
Many many thanks on behalf of Jenny, Natalie and their friends and family.


Liz Snook. lizthesnook at gmail.com.
(UK support team for Jenny and Natalie)

Sample letter:

Dear sir/ madam

I am concerned about the continued refusal at the Egyptian Border with Gaza to
let British citizens Jenny Linnell and Natalie Abou Chakra leave Gaza for return
via Egypt to the UK. In the past months they have been engaged in humanitarian
work in Gaza and it is important that as British Citizens they must be given
whatever legal protection and entitlement is necessary for their safe return to
the UK.

They had been assured that their documentation was in order and yet on the 28th
of June it was deemed to be inadequate despite assurances made to the contrary.
There appears to be a missing link in the coordination between the MFA and the
Egyptian Intelligence Services, or between these offices and the officials
working in the crossing, resulting in Ms Linnell and Ms Abou Chakras continued
refused entry into Egypt.

As a matter of urgency, it is essential that a greater level of assurance is
acquired from the MFA that this situation does not arise again, either through
further coordination or documentation, or by the physical presence of a
representatives to ensure the border guards at the Egyptian crossing implement
what appears to have been agreed by more senior Egyptian officials.

The women have every reason to believe that simple reiterations of documentation
and assurances alone will not be sufficient. They have put their faith in these
mechanisms for over a month now, with no effect. They first approached the
British Embassy in Cairo on the 31st of May. On the 9th of June they were told
that they had the required coordination and paperwork from the MFA, this was
faxed through to the British Embassy in Cairo. They took a copy of this fax to
the Crossing when they attempted to pass. They had been told that it was
acceptable for British nationals to leave before the date of the official
opening of the Crossing so they attempted to cross on the 10th of June. After
several hours and several trips backwards and forwards by the by the Palestinian
official responsible for coordination they were told that the Egyptian
Intelligence office at the Crossing had informed him that we were not allowed to
go through at that time and said things would work out once the Crossing opened. Despite several calls to Ms. Hayek from the MFA, they were refused entry.

On Saturday 27th June, 2009, the first day of the officially announced three-day
opening of the Rafah Crossing, 4 British citizens including Ms Linnell and Ms
Abou Chakra passed through six phases of checkpoints, before finally being
allowed onto a bus waiting before the gates to the Egyptian side of the
Crossing. This meant that they were still on the Palestinian side, in a bus in a
queue of around seven buses and dozens of ambulances, stranded waiting for the
Egyptians to open the entry gate to the Egyptian terminal. At 7.30pm local time,
the Egyptians called the Palestinians to return back. The Egyptians then allowed
some ambulances through, although 20 ambulances and the buses were left stranded
again until 11pm, when all were returned back to Gaza.
The following day, Sunday 28th June, the four British nationals headed to the
crossing in the early morning. At 2pm they were asked to get on a bus heading to
the Egyptian gate. At 3pm, the four British nationals had gained entry to the
Egyptian terminal. At 7.30pm, the other two British nationals were allowed into
Egypt, however Ms. Linnell and Ms. Abou Chakra were told their passports were
being checked and were then questioned by the border officials regarding the
purpose of their stay in Gaza, their arrival, and marital status. An hour later,
Ms. Linnell and Ms. Abou Chakra's names were called as part of the list of those
to be “returned back” to Gaza. The afore-mentioned protested against this,
thinking that there must have been a misunderstanding, reiterated that they had
"tanseeq", or coordination from the MFA based on the request of the British
Embassy and repeatedly showed the document from the MFA.

They were told by a uniformed officer that the faxed document was in fact a
letter from the British Embassy and what they actually needed was a letter from
the Egyptian Government, despite the fact that the document was written on
letter-headed notepaper from the MFA emblazoned with a governmental emblem and
that it bore a governmental stamp below the text. They were also told that they
weren't being allowed to pass because the British Embassy hadn't approved of
their departure from Gaza.

The officers and Intelligence personnel threw the faxed document on the ground.
Ms. Linnell and Ms. Abou Chakra attempted to refuse to leave the Crossing,
demanding to know why the permission they had previously been granted was not
now being honoured. No answer was given although an Intelligence officer there,
Mr. Saeid, insisted that they needed “tassdeeq” which constitutes a call by the
MFA to their office at the Crossing. He said the document from the MFA meant
nothing. Ms. Dina Hayek from the MFA had previously explained to Ms. Linnell
that it would have been impossible for her to have sent the fax to the British
Embassy without the approval of the Intelligence Services.

After approaching other Intelligence officers, they were denied entry to the
Government Security office that they'd been recommended. At around twelve
midnight, when one of the women was speaking to the media about the situation at
the Crossing, Mr. Saeid approached her saying “I will make sure you will not
leave Gaza,” and assured her “We are untouchable” (literally, meen hayhasibna).
During these hours, Ms. Linnell and Ms. Abou Chakra were speaking on the
telephone with family members who contacted the British Embassy in Cairo. “We
are working on it,” was a repetitive answer.. Hours later, they received a
'phone call from Caroline, the Duty Officer at the Embassy saying, “I've seen
this happen before,” “Wait till tomorrow when we can sort things out,” and “You
have everything you need to cross, the problem is from them [Egyptian
Intelligence Services].”

The two British women informed the Embassy that they would remain in the
crossing until an explanation was given as to why they had been denied entry
based on unjustifiable and potentially false grounds. The Egyptian officials at
the border asked how they entered Gaza, and on explaining that they arrived on
the Free Gaza Movement Boats they were told, “So, you don’t need us to answer.
You already know why you’re not being allowed out.”

This would seem to suggest that they were detained as a form of unofficial
punishment for their humanitarian work in Gaza. This is extremely alarming.
Officers then forcibly removed them from the departure hall to where there was a
bus waiting outside. Moments later, Ms. Abou Chakra was also assaulted and lost
sight of Ms. Linnell. Officers again threatened Ms. Abou Chakra with her
continued detention in Gaza saying saying “We will make sure you will never get
out,” and, “You are lucky you are not in Jordan. Our boots would be in your
mouths by now.”

The treatment Ms. Linnell and Ms. Abou Chakra were subjected to was abusive and
unnecessary. The Egyptian authorities at the Crossing have failed to acknowledge
their right of passage. As is evident from the verbal exchange mentioned above,
this is a ...

As is evident from the verbal exchange mentioned above, this is a direct
challenge from the Egyptian authorities to the democratic rights of any person
who has been working aiding the desperate situation in Gaza.

I would be grateful if you would fully investigate this matter further and urge
you to act on this information to secure an efficient and safe passage from Gaza
for these two humanitarian workers, which they have so far been unjustly denied.
I would appreciate you keeping me informed of the results of your enquiries.
--Yours sincerely

State Piracy: captives released but blockade remains - and so does news silence

SIX human rights campaigners illegally taken captive on the high seas by Israeli forces have been released. No thanks, so far as we know, to the British and US governments, nor to the corporate news media such as the BBC, which did not even report what had happened even though British citizens were on the boat that was seized.

The Free Gaza Movement vessel Spirit of Humanity was carrying medical supplies and children's toys when it was seized 23 miles off the coast of Gaza, on June 30. Among the 21 people on board, from 11 nationalities, were Irish Nobel peace laureate Mairead Maguire and former US congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.

The Israeli state is maintaining a blockade on the Gaza strip, in breach of international law, and there are reports now of Israeli forces preventing Palestinians in the West Bank taking food and drink through military checkpoints. But it appears there is another blockade trying to prevent the public here knowing any of this is happening.

The news statement issued below is from Italian MEP Luisa Morgantini, who is a member of Rifondazione Comunista, and vice president of the European Parliament:.

FREED THE 6 HUMAN RIGHTS ACTVISTS ARRESTED BY THE ISRAELI ARMY FOR TAKING MEDICINES AND TOYS TO GAZA BY SEA

Luisa Morgantini and a delegation from the End the Siege in Gaza campaign will be in Brussels next Wednesday, 8^th July, and meet EU HR Solana to present their protests

Rome, 7^th July 2009

Finally Israel released yesterday the Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire, the former U.S. congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and all the human rights activists of the Free Gaza Movement arrested on 30^th June while they were trying to taking medicines and toys to Gaza by boat, forcibly boarded by the Israeli Navy, who threatened to fire and confiscated the ship.

A Delegation of members of European Parliaments and activists from the End the Siege Campaign will meet on Wednesday 8^th July at 11 a.m. the HR for EU Foreign Affairs Javier Solana in order to reiterate the request -arriving from many NGOs and human rights organizations in the world, as well as from European Parliament’s resolutions - to break the siege of Gaza and to compel Israel to open the borders for people and goods. The delegation will also denounce the case of SPIRIT OF HUMANITY - the ship aimed to deliver humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza- and protest against the takeover by Israel's navy of the boat and of its 21-member crew in violation of the international law.

The delegation will accuse once again the lack of legality and Humanity shown by the Israeli Authorities preventing medicines and toys to enter in Gaza, arresting and abducting human rights defenders and journalists, and also denying the right for Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire –arriving today in Ireland- to access her medicine: the same or probably worse happens for about 11000 Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli jails -many without trial- and the worst of course happens with the collective punishment of Gaza population, prevented to basic needs through the siege as Mairead Maguire denounced in an interview from an Israeli prison.

“We have been detained, and we want the people of the world to see how we have been treated just because we wanted to deliver humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza; how can I be in prison for collecting crayons to kids?” asked in a letter written from her cell in Ramle prison a former U.S. congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.

Legality and human dignity must always and everywhere be respected: Israel must stop its illegal policies. The inhuman siege of the Strip must immediately end, as well as all settlements activity in the West Bank and the Israeli military occupation, the only way to achieve a peaceful and just solution in the region. The delegation, who will meet the HR for EU Foreign Affairs Javier Solana, will be very adamant in its request.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A fwq questions

Mairead Maguire was able to speak from her prison cell on the US Democracy Now radio.

http://i1.democracynow.org/2009/7/2/nobel_peace_laureate_mairead_maguire_speaks

Why not on RTE and BBC?

Luisa Morgantini has been to Gaza (and to Sderot) and is raising human rights and the Palestinian people's plight in the European parliament. What are other MEPs doing? And what is the point of supposed Left alternatives standing if all they can say is "No to EU" and promise they won't even take their seats?

Return to Shrewsbury

ASSEMBLING for the off at Abbey Foregate.
RICKY TOMLINSON speaking at the rally.
CROWD was swelled by local people.



THE historic market town of Shrewsbury, and its abbey particularly, will be known to fans of historic crime fiction as the place from which Ellis Peters' detective monk Brother Cadfael sets out to investigate foul deeds and right injustices. The crowd that gathered at the Abbey Foregate on Saturday, July 4, are just as determined to uncover the truth and set right a real injustice that occurred 25 years ago.

It was to Shrewsbury that 32 building workers were brought after the 1972 building workers' strike to stand trial on alleged offences committed when they came to picket and persuade workers on nearby sites to join their strike. Oddly enough, none of them had been arrested on the day they came down from North Wales - indeed as Ricky Tomlinson told Saturday's rally, the police had escorted the pickets from site to site, and when they were about to go home the officer in charge boarded their coach to say thankyou for the way they had conducted themselves!

It was after the strike that police raided homes and took men into custody, and they wound up in the dock on "conspiracy" charges. As Tomlinson revealed, he had initially been approached to act as a prosecution witness
, perhaps because they knew his politics were different ("I wasn't always a left-winger").. As fellow-defendent Des Warren told the court, "There was a conspiracy, but not by the building workers". It was the Tories, the employers, senior police officers and judges who had conspired, and now we know MI5 was also involved.

After appeal, Ricky Tomlinson got a two year sentence, and Des Warren got three. Des died in 2004, having suffered drug-induced Parkinsonism as a result of the way he was treated in prison. Besides describing some of the harassment and frequent moves they went through, Ricky Tomlinson reminded us that a Labour Home Secretary could have freed them, but they spent more of their time inside under Labour than had been under the Tories.

The Shrewsbury pickets campaign wants all the verdicts against the 24 overturned, with an apology, but it also wants a full inquiry into what went on behind the scenes, with all the documents released. The government is still insisting that would endanger "national security!!

Shrewsbury picket Terry Renshaw, who has gone on to become mayor of Flint and, as he pointed out, sits on a police authority, told us "I'm the same man". He has seen Justice Minister Jack Straw in his efforts to obtain an inquiry into the case. Besides local trades union activists, other speakers included miners' leader Arthur Scargill, who had flown back from a meeting in France to attend, and of a newer generation of militants, Rob Williams, reinstated convenor at the Linamar factory in Swansea.

Besides building workers, some of whom had travelled from as far as Crook, in County Durham and Croydon in south London, Saturday's march and rally included sacked Liverpool dockers, with their banner, and members of the Amicus engineering union, and rail union RMT, post office workers, Unison, and PCS civil servants from the Telford and Shrewsbury areas. Des Warren's son and sister were also present. After the speeches we were able to quench our thirst in Unison's social club behind the county hall, and were entertained by Liverpool singer Alun Parry and Birmingham's Banner theatre.

But the unanimous feeling of all assembled was that this was not an end but a new beginning to our campaign; and local people, including some youth who joined us, were very pleased the campaign had come to Shrewsbury.There was applause to the suggestion that this become an annual event.

Arms profiteers versus Armenian people

WHY, in these recession-hit times, when companies are backing off so many projects, have six big corporations - one of them BAE Systems(formerly known as British Aerospace) found money to lobby the US Congress, not over trade restrictions, taxes or legislation that might obviously effect business, but on an issue concerning something that happened almost a century ago?

A recent report by Associated Press writer Stephen Singer,featured in the Boston Globe, "Companies lobby (quietly) on Armenia genocide bill, June 13, said:"Five military contractors and an energy company have stepped into a fight over whether the U.S. should label Turkey's slaughter of a million Armenians nearly a century ago as genocide".

The companies concerned are BAE, Goodrich, Northrop Grunman, Raytheon, United Technologies,all in the weapons business, and Chevron, an oil company. Not suprisingly they all have ties with Turkey, "a key strategic ally of the US", as Singer notes.

What is perhaps surprising is that almost a century after the 1915 massacres, when the Turkish government could apologise and say it has nothing to do with what was done so long ago, during the First World War, the Turkish state is apparently still in denial, so much that companies with business in Turkey find it worthwhile to lobby for silence.
Not that the companies have made any public statement.

"They don't want to be seen opposing a resolution that has a very evident human rights element," said Rouben Adalian, director of the Armenian National Institute, a Washington research organization. "It would put them on the side of denying history and denying genocide."

According to the Associated Press report the six companies spent $14 million to lobby Congress in the first quarter of this year. Besides the genocide resolution, the companies lobbied on Pentagon spending, climate change, taxes and more.

"United Technologies, which sells Sikorsky helicopters to Turkey, says it provided information to lawmakers 'that helped round out their understanding of the international trade and national security interests involved.'

"Lobbying on human rights issues comes with risks, said Gerry Keim, associate dean at Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business. Several companies halted their efforts opposing restrictions on white minority-ruled South Africa in the 1980s when anti-apartheid activists applied pressure.

"Originally, they were concerned about markets in South Africa. Then they were concerned about markets here," Keim said. Other analysts say any public backlash against companies lobbying on the Armenia genocide resolution would be minimal because the firms serve governments, not individual consumers who could boycott their products.


"Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million mostly Christian Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I. Turkey denies that the deaths were genocide, saying the number of casualties is inflated and was the consequence of civil war and unrest."

Among the current U.S.-Turkish business links are a $3 billion contract from Northrop to a Turkish company to be a supplier for fighter jets. Goodrich Corp. and a Turkish firm agreed to a joint venture for maintenance and repair work on engine components. BAE Systems and a Turkish company jointly market and supply armored vehicles to the Turkish armed forces.

Chevron holds a stakes in a pipeline that crosses the country. Raytheon has agreed to sell to Turkey Stinger missile launcher systems valued at $34 million and is working to sell its missile defense systems.

Representatives of the U.S. subsidiary of London-based BAE Systems PLC and Northrop referred questions to the Aerospace Industries Association. The trade group defended Turkey as a key U.S. ally and cited "large and growing commercial ties" between the two nations.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/06/13/companies_lobby_quietly_on_armenia_genocide_bill/

The Centre for Armenian Remembrance has expressed concern that the big corporations are spending as much as a million dollars a week. "The world-wide Armenian community cannot match this level of expenditure" It is appealing for people to sign a petition that will go to the company heads and key stockholders.

http://www.centerar.org/petition/

Pirates seize Freedom boat, but perhaps it isn't 'news'?

THAT Mairead Corrigan Maguire is in the news again. At least, she ought to be.
The Irish Nobel peace prize winner who once used to be front-page news as one of the Northern Ireland peace women has been shot with an Israeli rubber bullet in the Palestinian West Bank village of Bil'in, and yesterday she was on a boat seized on the high seas by the Israeli navy.

But this has not made the TV news in Britain tonight, and I don't know whether it will make the broadsheets. the shooting didn't either. Not even, so far as I could see, the Irish papers. So without more ado, let's get on to the story, which reached us today.

30 June 2009

ISRAEL ATTACKS JUSTICE BOAT; KIDNAPS HUMAN RIGHTS WORKERS; CONFISCATES MEDICINE, TOYS AND OLIVE TREES

For more information contact:
Greta Berlin (English)
tel: +357 99 081 767 / friends@freegaza.org

Caoimhe Butterly (Arabic/English/Spanish):
tel: +357 99 077 820 / sahara78@hotmail.co.uk
www.FreeGaza.org

[23 miles off the coast of Gaza, 15:30pm] - Today Israeli Occupation Forces attacked and boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, abducting 21 human rights workers from 11 countries, including Noble laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (see below for a complete list of passengers). The passengers and crew are being forcibly dragged toward Israel.

“This is an outrageous violation of international law against us. Our boat was not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip,” said Cynthia McKinney, a former U.S. Congresswoman and presidential candidate. “President Obama just told Israel to let in humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and that’s exactly what we tried to do. We're asking the international community to demand our release so we can resume our journey.”

According to an International Committee of the Red Cross report released yesterday, the Palestinians living in Gaza are “trapped in despair.” Thousands of Gazans whose homes were destroyed earlier during Israel’s December/January massacre are still without shelter despite pledges of almost $4.5 billion in aid, because Israel refuses to allow cement and other building material into the Gaza Strip. The report also notes that hospitals are struggling to meet the needs of their patients due to Israel’s disruption of medical supplies.

“The aid we were carrying is a symbol of hope for the people of Gaza, hope that the sea route would open for them, and they would be able to transport their own materials to begin to reconstruct the schools, hospitals and thousands of homes destroyed during the onslaught of "Cast Lead”. Our mission is a gesture to the people of Gaza that we stand by them and that they are not alone" said fellow passenger Mairead Maguire, winner of a Noble Peace Prize for her work in Northern Ireland.

Just before being kidnapped by Israel, Huwaida Arraf, Free Gaza Movement chairperson and delegation co-coordinator on this voyage, stated that: “No one could possibly believe that our small boat constitutes any sort of threat to Israel. We carry medical and reconstruction supplies, and children’s toys. Our passengers include a Nobel peace prize laureate and a former U.S. congressperson. Our boat was searched and received a security clearance by Cypriot Port Authorities before we departed, and at no time did we ever approach Israeli waters.”

Arraf continued, “Israel’s deliberate and premeditated attack on our unarmed boat is a clear violation of international law and we demand our immediate and unconditional release.”
###

WHAT YOU CAN DO!

CONTACT the Israeli Ministry of Justice
tel: +972 2646 6666 or +972 2646 6340
fax: +972 2646 6357

CONTACT the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
tel: +972 2530 3111
fax: +972 2530 3367

CONTACT Mark Regev in the Prime Minister's office at:
tel: +972 5 0620 3264 or +972 2670 5354
mark.regev@it.pmo.gov.il

CONTACT the International Committee of the Red Cross to ask for their assistance in establishing the wellbeing of the kidnapped human rights workers and help in securing their immediate release!

Red Cross Israel
tel: +972 3524 5286
fax: +972 3527 0370
tel_aviv.tel@icrc.org

Red Cross Switzerland:
tel: +41 22 730 3443
fax: +41 22 734 8280

Red Cross USA:
tel: +1 212 599 6021
fax: +1 212 599 6009
###

Kidnapped Passengers from the Spirit of Humanity include:

Khalad Abdelkader, Bahrain
Khalad is an engineer representing the Islamic Charitable Association of Bahrain.

Othman Abufalah, Jordan
Othman is a world-renowned journalist with al-Jazeera TV.

Khaled Al-Shenoo, Bahrain
Khaled is a lecturer with the University of Bahrain.

Mansour Al-Abi, Yemen
Mansour is a cameraman with Al-Jazeera TV.

Fatima Al-Attawi, Bahrain
Fatima is a relief worker and community activist from Bahrain.

Juhaina Alqaed, Bahrain
Juhaina is a journalist & human rights activist.

Huwaida Arraf, US
Huwaida is the Chair of the Free Gaza Movement and delegation co-coordinator for this voyage.

Ishmahil Blagrove, UK
Ishmahil is a Jamaican-born journalist, documentary film maker and founder of the Rice & Peas film production company. His documentaries focus on international struggles for social justice.

Kaltham Ghloom, Bahrain
Kaltham is a community activist.

Derek Graham, Ireland
Derek Graham is an electrician, Free Gaza organizer, and first mate aboard the Spirit of Humanity.

Alex Harrison, UK
Alex is a solidarity worker from Britain. She is traveling to Gaza to do long-term human rights monitoring.

Denis Healey, UK
Denis is Captain of the Spirit of Humanity. This will be his fifth voyage to Gaza.

Fathi Jaouadi, UK
Fathi is a British journalist, Free Gaza organizer, and delegation co-coordinator for this voyage.

Mairead Maguire, Ireland
Mairead is a Nobel laureate and renowned peace activist.

Lubna Masarwa, Palestine/Israel
Lubna is a Palestinian human rights activist and Free Gaza organizer.

Theresa McDermott, Scotland
Theresa is a solidarity worker from Scotland. She is traveling to Gaza to do long-term human rights monitoring.

Cynthia McKinney, US
Cynthia McKinney is an outspoken advocate for human rights and social justice issues, as well as a former U.S. congressperson and presidential candidate.

Adnan Mormesh, UK
Adnan is a solidarity worker from Britain. He is traveling to Gaza to do long-term human rights monitoring.

Adam Qvist, Denmark
Adam is a solidarity worker from Denmark. He is traveling to Gaza to do human rights monitoring.

Adam Shapiro, US
Adam is an American documentary film maker and human rights activist.

Kathy Sheetz, US
Kathy is a nurse and film maker, traveling to Gaza to do human rights monitoring.

You can also visit the Free Gaza movement's website:
http://www.freegaza.org/ar/live

I'm glad to say the Morning Star has taken up the story:
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/world/israel_threatens_and_boards_gaza_aid_ship

THERE IS AN EMERGENCY DEMONSTRATION IN DUBLIN TOMORROW.
Outside the GPO on O'Connell street, starting at 5pm
Demanding that Israel release the boat and its cargo and passengers unharmed, and let them continue to Gaza.

Discord in Unison

GORDON Brown and David Cameron are sparring over who will cut spending on public services, though both know the billions thrown at the banks will have to be recouped from the public, and there are bound to be job losses. Both are championing privatisation, even though the public is having to subsidise it. Union leaders have seemed oblivious to the widespread working-class disillusionment with Labour, and indeed, with parliament.

So some of my friends were excited recently when Dave Prentis, general secretary of the public service union Unison, said public sector workers support for the Labour Party had collapsed, and members were tired of Labour biting the hand that feeds it. Unison, with members working in local government and health services, is the Labour Party's second-biggest donor.

Addressing delegates at the union's annual conference in Brighton, Prentis warned that union money would not back MPs who voted for privatisation, and suggested that the union’s £1 million campaign fund to support the party at the next general election was also under threat unless it changed direction on policy. He warned there would be no more blank cheques, as Labour in office “had let the billionaires, the bankers and the private profiteers call the shots”.

That's good stuff, though threatening to withhold the union's generous funding is not the same as raising the need for a left-wing alternative, as some young comrades seem mistakenly to imagine. I'm old enough to remember that one of the unions which formed Unison was the old National Association of Local Government Officers (NALGO), which was not affiliated to Labour anyway, and some of its higher paid members in both council and health service management were never your typical Labour voter.

But coming up to date, assuming Dave Prentis' justified warning to Labour signals determination to fight its pro-capitalist, privatising policies, with the union's workplace muscle accompanied by political clout; is Unison geared up for such a fight? Defending jobs and public services requires mobilising the enthusiasm of every union member. And as every union member in hospitals and local services knows, it also needs the solidarity, understanding and support of other working people who are the users of your services.

Last weekend I went to the conference of the National Shop Stewards Network, and listened to speakers from the strike committee at Lindsey Oil Refinery, and the cleaners' fight at London School of Oriental and African Studies. John Maguire, Unite convenor at Visteon in Belfast, spoke, and so did Rob Williams, who has won reinstatement at Linamar in Swansea. Brian Caton, general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, was there, and so was John McInally, vice president of the PCS union whose members mainly work in the civil service. Otherwise it was mainly a rank-and-file gathering, and I was pleased to hear Clara Osagiede again, speaking about the struggle of cleaners on London Underground for decent treatment in a supposedly civilised society. This was a conference of workers from the grass roots, reporting from the front lines.

Aiming to unite workers from different unions and industries, the National Shop Stewards Network adopted a clause at its very beginning pledging that it will not interfere in the internal affairs of any individual trade union. Some people were grumbling about this assurance a while back, saying it stopped them criticising union leaders, but I argued it was so union officialdom would have no excuse to oppose the National Shop Stewards Network by claiming it undermined or usurped the authority of the union.

I was wrong to think that would work. Some union officials evidently need no excuse, specifically those of Unison. This is what they told their branches this year:

Constitutional matters – National Shop Stewards’ Network

Some UNISON branches may have been notified of a national conference taking place on 27 June 2009.

UNISON is not affiliated to the convening organisation - which has interfered repeatedly in internal UNISON matters.

UNISON rules & the Democracy in UNISON guidelines make clear that support should be given to external organisations only if the union is affiliated to the outside organisation or its activities are in line with UNISON aims and objectives.

Therefore, no UNISON funds or resources should be used in promoting the NSSN or facilitating attendance at events convened by the organisation.

On November 1, 2006, a Unison member called Tony Staunton, secretary of the union's City of Plymouth branch and a delegate on Plymouth Trades Union Council, set off to London with a delegation of south-west area trades unionists to take part in a lobby of Parliament over the National Health Service. On the same day, at 11 am, knowing Bro.Staunton would be away, a team of senior officials went to the Unison offices in Plymouth Civic Centre. There they downloaded information on computers, questioned the branch administrator and treasurer, and took away all records and financial documents.

Tony was contacted in London, and told he must hand over his laptop and home computer the next day. He had to explain that these contained personal files and software that was not the union's property, including his children's Windows XP accounts. The equipment had been given to him in lieu of honoraria for doing union work. He was willing to co-operate if the officials wanted to check the computers in his presence.

All this followed a complaint to the General Secretary of Unison, alleging that a 2-sided A4 colour newsletter of the UNISON UNITED Left South West, which contained Tony Staunton's mobile phone number, had apparently been printed using union resources outside of the union’s Rules.

It was like the employers at the worst, if not a police state. As if sending three officials to investigate was not enough, the union also sought legal advice to get its hands on those computers. Who was making wrong use of union funds? In the end, after a six months suspension, Bro. Staunton was found not to have committed most of the things alleged against him. But he was expelled from the union.

Unison activist Tony Staunton expelled after 23 years in the union
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=12697

Tony Staunton: Expelled from the union for reading a leaflet.
http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/27435

From the South-West to the North-East. Yunus Bakhsh was at the NSSN conference on Saturday.
Yunus, a staff nurse with a 23-year career, was suspended from his job with Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust in 2006. A disciplinary hearing was held in his absence, over anonymous allegations of bullying, even though a doctor had certified Yunus was suffering from stress. Then a year ago he was sacked.

Yunus might have expected backing from his union, Unison. He had served on the union's national executive and on its health service group executive. But Unison suspended him too, stopping him from using his union office, and taking away computers and records. Later he was to face charges concerning expenses, phone calls, and misuse of the computer for political purposes. A dossier on him included allegations of threatening phone calls to people who had made complaints, break-ins, and smashed windows. Strangely, nobody had gone to the police over these serious matters.

While he was suspended from work, Yunus Bakhsh had time to think about who might have made the complaints against him. A friend introduced him to Facebook, where he was startled to find that Kerry Cafferty, a colleague who had given evidence against him, had "friends" who were known members of the British National Party and other far-Right groups. Cafferty's husband Peter was Unison chair of health, regional auditor and Labour link officer.

Yunus also discovered the Stormfront website, where he found racists and neo-Nazis discussing him and his activities in Tyne and Wear Anti-Fascist Action and other political causes, as well as Unison. In October 2005 someone calling themself 'Northern Flame' asked for "real and substantiated dirt on this nasty piece of work of immigrant stock". The following year a 'Bob Blatchford' wrote: "Just had it on good authority that Yunus Bakhsh was sacked for BULLYING fellow workers! On January 28 another contributor discssed why the Unison branch had been put in administration. They seemed well-informed on the allegations against Yunus - more so than he was, as he had not been officially informed yet.

In January this year, having previously written to Dave Prentis about Kerry Cafferty, Yunus Bakhsh provided the union with evidence about her membership of racist Facebook groups, and about the far-Right seeming far too well-informed on Unison matters. He was told that Cafferty had resigned from the union, and it has nothing against her husband. Presumably the NHS Trust bosses, whose 35 per cent rises Yunus Bakhsh had had denounced, have nothing against Peter Cafferty either. As chair of the staff side he agreed to ending concessionary Christmas transport for staff.

But Yunus Bakhsh remains sacked from his job and expelled from Unison. And the Nazis of the North-East must still be laughing.

Dave Prentis is supposed to be one of the TUC "awkward squad", and he deserves support if he is challenging New Labour. But there is some awkward business to be sorted out in Unison. And the National Shop Stewards Network may feeel entitled to reconsider its pledge about "non-interference".

National Shop Stewards Network, see:

http://www.shopstewards.net/

Schools for Scandal

TEACHERS, and no doubt parents, have been worriedly discussing whether members of the far-Right British National Party(BNP) should be allowed to teach in schools. BNP leader Nick Griffin has been answering questions from the Equalities Commission about his party's racial criteria for membership. But a school in north-west London has been found in breach of race relations law when it refused a boy admission.

Three judges in the Court of Appeal were unanimous in ruling that the Jews Free School (JFS) in Kenton acted unlawfully when it discriminated against the boy because of his mother's ethnicity. The boy, referred to in court as M, is the son of a Jewish father, and a mother who converted to Judaism. According to Jewish tradition descent is reckoned from the mother. But M's mother's conversion was not recognised as sufficient for the school's rules of admission because it took place in a Progressive synagogue.

Although the Jews Free School is within the state sector, and might be expected to take any pupils whose parents wish them to have a Jewish education, it operates an admissions policy determined by the Office of the Chief Rabbi, which insists the child's mother must be Jewish, and does not recognise other than Orthodox conversions. In one case we heard of a woman who had been converted in Israel, and who taught Hebrew in the school was told that her son could not be enrolled as a pupil because they did not recognise her as Jewish.

In a Jewish New Year television broadcast last year Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks went to a Jewish school, the King David in Birmingham where, though the Israeli flag was displayed and children were being taught about the Jewish religion, they included youngsters from Muslim and Sikh families who evidently considered it a good school. This helped the school make up numbers, as well as reflecting its multicultural surroundings, and it helped Sacks portray a cuddly, open and friendly image for his brand of Judaism. Only months earlier, while the bombs fell on Lebanon, the same Chief Rabbi had been proclaiming his pride in Israel, at a rally held at the Jews Free School.

The United Synagogue, which Chief Rabbi Sacks heads, spent £150,000 fighting this case, and claims it represents a threat unless overturned. M's father had appealed against an earlier High Court judgement which said the JFS entry policy was "entirely legitimate". Urging the school not to pursue another appeal, John Hallford, the lawyer representing M.'s father,said:
"We have never sought to interfere with the right of Orthodox Jews to define for their own religious purposes who they do or do not recognise as Jewish. However , it is unlawful for a child's ethnic origins to be used as the criterion for entry to a school. Such a practice is even more unacceptable in the case of a comprehensive school funded by the taxpayer."


Quite.

The JFS is not unique in mean-spiritedness or discrimination. Some years back I heard of a particularly nasty case involving a toddler with special needs being refused a place in a suitable place because the parents could not provide the grandmother's ketuba, or religious marriage certificate. They pointed out that this grandparent was from Germany, and her documents had gone up in smoke along with the rest of her family.

But the case of 12-year old M. should prove a test case. And while attention is drawn to the JFS, perhaps someone will examine other special features of this state-funded comprehensive - like the allocation of time to training as propagandists for the State of Israel, or the activity in school of a well-heeled religious cult called Aish, about whose influence some parents are concerned.

I'm against faith schools, on which this government has been over-keen, and I wish people would not send their kids to them. But while such places exist, and draw public funds, people should know what they're letting their kids in for, and we are all entitled to know what is going on in them.

Jewish Chronicle report on JFS case:
http://www.thejc.com/articles/jewish-school-entry-policies-are-unlawful-court-rules


Jewish Socialist article about Aish:
http://jewishsocialist.org.uk/aish.html

Copland cops it

A couple of days before the news about JFS, another school in the North West London Borough of Brent was in the news for different reasons. We reported before how three teachers from Copland community school in Wembley were being suspended, following a row over excessive payments to the head. Subsequently the three were reinstated, while it was the turn of the head, Sir Alan Davies and his deputy to be suspended.

It did not stop there. Here is the latest from the Harrow Times:

Copland school board of governors suspended

Tuesday 23rd June 2009

By Jack Royston

THE board of governors has been suspended at a Wembley school where the head was paid £130,000 in bonuses.

Brent Council is investigating claims close to £1m was dished out to a range of staff, including Sir Alan Davies, headteacher at Copland Community School, on top of their salaries.

Sir Alan and two senior managers were suspended in May and the authority has now asked Ed Balls, the children's secretary, to appoint an interim board to run the Cecil Avenue technology college.

Mr Balls said: “It is in the best interests of the school, pupils and parents. Robust governance and management must be established as soon as possible at Copland.

“I have considered arguments on all sides very carefully, including representations that opposed Brent Council’s application to replace the governing body - but there is no alternative in putting Copland back on track.

“I am very concerned about these very serious allegations and am pleased that Brent has acted decisively in putting new management in place.

“I am being kept in touch closely with Brent’s ongoing investigation.”

The council's inquiry centres around two dossiers of information compiled by Hank Roberts, a union rep at the school.

They contain allegation that close to £1m was paid out over seven years in bonuses to a range of staff, including £20,000 allegedly paid to Sir Alan's son Gareth, the caretaker.

Deputy head Dr Richard Evans and bursar Columbus Udokoro were also suspended in May, and Philip O'Hear, head of Capital City Academy, was drafted in to run Copland during the investigation.

The council, which also suspended the budget it gives the school, said suspending senior management was a “neutral act” often undertaken where allegation of this nature are made.

The chairman of the board of governors stood by Sir Alan when the accusations were originally made."

------------------------

Unfortunately what the government has not suspended is its policy of letting schools like Copland have relative autonomy or pouring support into City Academies, run by private interests, even as the private interests become less keen on putting their money in.

And so to SOAS

And so to a different kind of school, London's School of Oriental and African Studies
(SOAS),a part of the university which I always assumed was there to train anthropologists and spies, but whose students have acquired a bit of a name for militancy in recent years, whether deserved or not, because of their natural concern for the stormy events and human tragedies in the Middle East.

The SOAS students recently had an education in struggles for humanity and justice nearer home, as college cleaners, employed by a company called ISS,fought to achieve the London living wage. First a Unison branch secretary who had organised the cleaners was sacked, and then one morning cleaners were called to a 6.30 am meeting only to find immigration officers waiting. Nine of the cleaners were taken away, and we heard six were deported.

After protests by SOAS students and teachers, management has agreed to review its practices and to write to the Home Secretary asking for "exceptional leave to remain" for those who were detained. SOAS will also ask that those deported be allowed to return.

Well done to the cleaners who fought for a decent living in return for their work, and well done to the students and staff who acted in solidarity with those less secure or well off.