We are not slaves

There are those who decry migrant workers because of the fact that capitalists use imported labour to lower wages and it canot be denied that inded some employers do use that tactic . But Socialist Courier has always said that the way to fight this is not by imposing immigration bans on workers from abroad but by engaging in class struggle here in the work places to stop this exploitation of foreign workers .

Gleaned from the Polish mainstream press and reported at the Anarkismo website is this story .

Radoslaw Sawicki came to Ireland seven months ago. Grafton recruitment agency offered him work carrying boxes of goods in Tesco's largest warehouse in Dublin. The wage: 9.52 euros per hour, or about 360 euros a week.

Sawicki quickly realised that Irish people working in the same job, but employed by Tesco and not by the agency as the foreigners were, earn at least 200 euros a week more. Poles also did not receive bonuses or additions although their work quotas were continually raised. At the beginning Sawicki carried 500 boxes a shift. Lately that number has doubled (i.e. several tonnes per day). When he and several colleagues complained to the shift manager they were told: "if you don't like it you can go home: there are others willing to take your place."

The next day he came to work wearing a shirt reading [in English] "We are picking 800. No more."

"We will defend ourselves. We are not slaves," adds Sawicki.

Now Poles, with the support of the unions, are fighting for the warehouse to treat them like their own workers.

WELCOME TO THE NHS (2)

"Hygiene standards in NHS hospitals have been called into question after it emerged they are routinely dealing with infestations of vermin. Outbreaks have included rats in maternity wards, wasps and fleas in neo-natal units, bed bug infestations, flies in operating theatres and maggots found in patients' slippers. The data, uncovered using Freedom of Information rules, include hospitals with maggots, "over-run" with ants and mice "all over" wards; cockroaches in a urology unit and a store for sterile materials infested with mice. (Daily Telegraph, 6 August) RD

WELCOME TO THE NHS

"Thousands of seriously-ill mental patients are enduring "unacceptable" levels of violence on overcrowded NHS wards where they are vulnerable to sexual predators, an investigation has found. The most comprehensive survey of mental health hospital care in England, published today by the Healthcare Commission, paints a picture of a dysfunctional service where patients feel threatened and unsafe with high levels of drug and alcohol abuse, a lack of therapeutic activities and a heavy dependence on temporary staff." (Independent, 23 July) RD

The reality of the real world

From the Guardian ;

The top 10% of income earners get 27.3% of the cake, while the bottom 10% get just 2.6%

Twenty years ago the average chief executive of a FTSE 100 company earned 17 times the average employee's pay; now it is more than 75 times

Since Labour came to power in 1997 the proportion of personal wealth held by the top 10% has swelled from 47% to 54%.

Tax consultants Grant Thornton estimated that in 2006 at least 32 of the UK's 54 billionaires paid no income tax at all.

"We now live in a separate economy, we live on a separate level to the vast majority of people in the country. We don't send our kids to the same schools, we have more choice over schools, we have more choice over health, we have more choice over where we live, we have more choice over where we go on holiday and what we do for our jobs. And we live in a completely different world to the people we live next door to."

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

“I still say a church with a lightning rod on top shows a lack of confidence”
Doug McLeod

THE GODESS THAT FAILED

"A stampede at a Hindu festival yesterday left at least 145 people dead, including 40 children, in the mountainous north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, according to local police. The stampede was triggered by the collapse of iron railings along a narrow path leading to the hilltop Naina Devi temple, where tens of thousands of people had gathered for a festival that began on Saturday, police said. ... They were celebrating Shravan Navratas, a nine-day festival in honour of the Hindu goddess Shakrti, or Divine Mother."
(Times, 4 August) RD

HOW THE OTHER 5% LIVE (2)

"One of my duties was to clean her cigarette holder." Lady Glenconner recalls the delightful days she spent as lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret." (Observer, 3 August) RD

HOW THE OTHER 5% LIVE

"In a city obsessed with fine dining, one name has always stood out among New York restaurants: Cipriani. ... `Going to Cipriani is restaurant as theatre. It represents privilege when food becomes part of your identity, like buying a luxury car, says Danyelle Freeman, restaurant critic of the New York Daily News." (Observer, 3 August) RD

POLITICAL PROSTITUTES

Inside capitalism reformists politicians will do anything to get support. A well known fornicator like President Kennedy would speak of his Christian convictions, and John Major the UK prime minister could speak of a return to Victorian values while he was screwing a member of his cabinet. So the following piece of religious/political nonsense should not be a great surprise. Votes at any cost are the mantra for this group of job-seeking politicians. "Allies of India's ruling Congress party performed a massive goat sacrifice for the "well-being and stability" of the government to time with a confidence vote last week, a report said Thursday. The regional Samajwadi party, which propped up the government after its left allies withdrew support, sacrificed at least 267 goats and 15 buffaloes in a prayer for the longevity of the government, the Times of India reported. The prayers began a day before the government won the motion on July 22 with 275 votes to 256 for the opposition, which wanted to bring down the ruling party for going ahead with a controversial nuclear pact with the United States." (Yahoo News, 31 July) Kill a goat get a nuclear pact? Really weird. RD

GROWING OLD DISGRACEFULLY

In primitive society one of the greatest sources of human survival was the knowledge of the elderly. If you lived in a gathering/ hunting society the knowledge of where plants occurred, where animals existed and at what times of the year was essential for human society. Knowledge was power. So much was this the case for human survival that one of the first forms of religion was Ancestor Worship.
We no longer live in a gathering/hunting society; we live in a modern capitalist society. This is a society where the majority work for a wage or a salary and a tiny minority live off the surplus value that they produce. Inside this society attitudes towards the elderly are completely different. If they are poor they are looked upon as a burden by the capitalist class and some sort of creature that had they any decency would just disappear.
Away back in 1908 when state pensions were first paid in the UK there was the view that this piece of reform would end old-age poverty. People like David Llyod George and Charles Booth hailed the legislation as a mayor breakthrough on the abolition of old-age poverty.
"Yet 100 years on, 2.5 million pensioners - more than a fifth of all those aged over 65 - still struggle to pay their bills and keep their home warm." (Times, 31 July) Such is the nature of capitalism and the lick-spittles that operate it that they have come up with a great new idea that will save the owning class millions.
"People will be forced to work until they are aged 70 if the basic state pension is to survive into the next century, according to the Government’s pension supremo. Lord Turner of Ecchinswell, the architect of radical reform in which the retirement age will rise to 68 by 2046, said that with no limit in sight for life expectancy, people are going to have to work even longer than he proposed." (Times, 31 July)
When I was very young an elderly man taught me about capitalism. One of the lessons he taught me was - the owning class need young men and women to provide for them, but we don't need them. As in primitive society we must heed the elderly - knowledge is power.
RD

WORDS OF WISDOM

Phil Wark, professional bouncer: "Of course, clubs have admission policies and many have dress codes. Some won't accept trainers. We are like any other workers in the ruthless world of 21st-century UK capitalism: we do what we are told by management." (Times, 31 July) RD

Socialist Standard August 2008 Mini-me

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 editorial: contents: Also available as HTML (image lite) and PDF Pages: 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Wal-Mart - Anti-union

Wal-Mart , the owners of the supermarket chain , Asda , reveal what happens when capitalists feel threatened by democracy - they use their influence and access to voters to swing the vote . This from the Wall St Journal (via Harry's Place blog)

Wal-Mart in the USA is mobilizing its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they'll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies -- including Wal-Mart.

In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses the downside for workers if stores were to be unionized. Wal-Mart executives claim that employees at unionized stores would have to pay hefty union dues while getting nothing in return, and may have to go on strike without compensation. Also, unionization could mean fewer jobs as labor costs rise.

Wal-Mart don't specifically tell attendees how to vote in November's election, but make it clear that voting for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama would be tantamount to inviting unions in .

Wal-Mart has fought hard to keep unions out of its stores, flying in labor-relations rapid-response teams from its Bentonville, Ark., headquarters to any location where union activity was building. The United Food and Commercial Workers was successful in organizing only one group of Wal-Mart workers -- a small number of butchers in East Texas in early 2000. Several weeks later, the company phased out butchers in all of its stores and began stocking prepackaged meat. When a store in Canada voted to unionize several years ago, the company closed the store, saying it had been unprofitable for years.

ASDA in the UK have followed moreorless the same policy of discouraging and restricting unions

Investors first and foremost

On Wednesday, British Gas raised gas bills by 35% with immediate effect, to restore "reasonable profitability".
Profits were £992m in the first six months of 2008 , £5m-per-day profits .
"This is a business that has got a million shareholders - a lot of pension funds and people have got their savings invested in British Gas shares and we have to look after them". Centrica's chief executive said.

One-in-three pensioners are likely to be in fuel poverty this winter Age Concern's head of public affairs said.

MINIMUM WAGE? FORGET IT!

1974 Vintage
"Hand crafted in 1974 this noble spirit of rare breeding has been cosseted and nurtured during its long maturation in the beachside warehouses. Undaunted, warmed and comforted by the finest sherry wood, the result is a spectrum of delight with flavours of chewy caramel, crushed hazelnuts, chocolate and warm hints of liquorice, cinnamon and orange peel.
At last this great masterpiece has been awakened for you to enjoy. Sip and savour the very heart of Jura and feel every beat of Island life…

Vintage 1974 / 648 bottles produced / 70cl / 44.5% ABV / £500.00" RD

BEHIND THE BRAVADO

"Washington - More than 22,000 veterans have sought help from a special suicide hot line in its first year, and 1,221 suicides have been averted, the government says. According to a recent RAND Corp. study, roughly one in five soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan displays symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, putting them at a higher risk for suicide. Researchers at Portland State University found that male veterans are twice as likely to commit suicide as men who are not veterans. ...The VA (Veterans Affairs) estimates that every year 6,500 veterans take their own lives. The mental health director for the VA, Ira Katz, said in an e-mail last December that of the 18 veterans who commit suicide each day, four to five of them are under VA care, and 12,000 veterans under VA care are attempting suicide each year." (Yahoo News, 28 July)RD

DYING FOR WORK

"A Nigerian migrant's account of how his two children were thrown overboard after dying of thirst on their voyage to Italy has added fuel to a debate on whether illegal immigration is out of control. The father and 74 other migrants were rescued on Saturday after setting sail from Libya a week ago. They were picked up by the Italian coastguard a day after the government declared a state of emergency for illegal immigration. "The night we left Libya, the youngest one ... died in my arms and we were forced to throw him in the sea," the 30-year- old Nigerian said in comments carried in newspapers on Sunday, though an Ansa news agency report later said police had noted contradictions over some details of his story. A day later, his three-year-old daughter also died, he said. "She wanted water and something to eat. She suffered a lot, resisted a bit longer but didn't make it in the end," he said. Thousands of illegal African migrants arrive in Italy in flimsy boats each summer." (Yahoo News, 27 July) RD

JUNKYARD CAPITALISM

"Francis McConnell is a field supervisor for the Philadelphia Water Department, but lately he is acting more like an undercover police officer. Several hours a day, five days a week, he stakes out junkyards. Pretending to read a newspaper, Mr. McConnell sits near the entrances and writes down descriptions of passing pickup trucks and shirtless men pushing shopping carts. His mission is to figure out who is stealing the city’s manhole covers and its storm drain and street grates, increasingly valuable commodities on the scrap market. More than 2,500 covers and grates have disappeared in the past year, up from an annual average of about 100. Thieves have so thoroughly stripped some neighbourhoods on the city’s north and southwest sides that some blocks look like slalom courses, dotted with orange cones to warn drivers and pedestrians of gaping holes, some nearly 30 feet deep." (New York Times, 23 July) RD

THE PERFECT WORKER

"A Ugandan official has suggested to MPs that funerals should be limited to Saturday afternoons to stop people taking time off work to attend them. Speciosa Kazibwe, a former vice-president who now heads a state development agency, noted that Uganda's death rate was very high. (BBC News, 25 July)
Socialists used to say that the capitalist's idea of the perfect worker was one who left school at 15, worked 50 weeks a year for 50 years and dropped down dead the first day he went to collect his pension at the post office. We will have to amend this ideal blueprint in view of the Ugandan official's view. Ideally he would die on the Thursday so that his family could attend his Saturday funeral without missing out on a day producing surplus value for the owning class. RD

NATIONALISED REDUNDANCY?

Northern Rock unveils job losses
Northern Rock has announced that it expects to make about 1,300 staff redundant as part of its plan to restructure the troubled bank.
It hopes to limit the number of compulsory redundancies to 800, while 500 staff will leave voluntarily.
Northern Rock was effectively nationalised at the beginning of this year after it was hit by a shortage of funds as a result of the credit crunch.

IT’S AN ILL WIND

Comfort eating helps fuel Cadbury's profits

People treating themselves to chocolate and sweets as the economy worsens has helped fuel a 28pc jump in profits at Cadbury, according to its chief executive.
The London-based confectionery company, who makes Dairy Milk chocolate and Trident gum, reported pre-tax profits for the first half of £143m on revenues up 14pc to £2,653m.
However, the results were boosted by strong currencies, which increased the total profits growth from 12pc to 28pc. Cadbury's shares rose 1pc to 631.5p, as the company said it was on target to meet analysts' forecasts for full-year sales growth.
"No matter how bleak things look, people will always go for those small, affordable treats," Mr Stitzer said. "We see confectionery as a particularly robust category."

LUCKY WHITE HEATHER?

"A woman accidentally stabbed herself in the foot with a 3-foot-long sword while performing a Wiccan good luck ritual at a central Indiana cemetery. Katherine Gunther, 36, of Lebanon, pierced her left foot with the sword while performing the rite at Oak Hill Cemetery, police said. Gunther said she was performing the ceremony to give thanks for a recent run of good luck. The ceremony involves the use of candles, incense and driving swords into the ground during the full moon. Gunther said she was aiming to put the sword in the ground, but hit her foot instead." (Yahoo News, 22 July) RD

THEM AND US

"Cleaners, waiters and other low-paid workers from some of London's poshest hotels will launch a campaign for a `living wage` and better working conditions tomorrow. A coalition of trades unionists, students, faith healers and locals will join workers at a rally outside the Hyatt Andaz hotel in Liverpool Street tomorrow. Rooms at the hotel cost up to £640 a night - but many of its staff are struggling to scrape by on the national minimum wage of £5.52 per hour."
(Observer, 27 July) RD

HE SHOULD KNOW

"Gavis Snook is the billion-pound Rok construction boss who believes that home ownership is a `con` perpetrated by financial institutions, which are the only winners in Britain's property-owning democracy. ...And if that's not enough, the son of a scaffolder is not afraid to say on the record that the reason fatalities among construction workers are stubbornly high is because of the casualised work-force encouraged by the industry's biggest players. ... This year there were 72 deaths, compared with 60 two years ago. `Part of the reason why this industry killed more people is that it can't cope with the demand, so corners are cut`, Snook reckons."
(Observer, 27 July) RD

Picking Sides for Another Go?

World trade talks reportedly fail

Marathon talks in Geneva aimed at liberalising global trade are reported to have ended without agreement. The trade talks collapsed after China, India and the US failed to agree on import rules. This politely called "Failure to Agree",is indicative of the aggressive, competitive nature, of the capitalist system .When talks turn to trade war and ultimately real war.

WELCOME TO CAPITALISM

"Childhood is the happiest, most carefree of times. That is, unless your country has been torn apart by war. The United Nations estimates that children in 50 countries are currently growing up in the midst of war or its ugly aftermath. In the past decades, 2 million children have been killed and 6 million injured in war-torn places. And 23 million children have been forced from their homes." (Yahoo News, 18 July) RD

MINISTER UNDER FIRE

UCATT reacted angrily to a speech by Business Secretary John Hutton in which he ruled out further employment rights legislation. The Government minister said new rights would undermine "Labour market flexibility" and the Government should only set "minimum standards" in the workplace.
UCATT General Secretary Alan Richie said: "It is exactly this kind of subservience to business which is causing Labour to haemorrage grassroots support"

SELF EMPLOYED APPRENTICE?

Funeral collection for 20 year old scaffolder

£508 was raised in a bucket for the family of a young building worker killed at work who have been left to pay the funeral bill because he was supposedly "self-employed".

Apprentice scaffolder Sunny Holland, aged 20 died on 25 April, the day after he lost his footing and fell 20 feet while working on a site just a few hundred yards from the Houses of Parliament in London.

General Secretary Alan Richie (at the UCATT Delegates Conference)appealed to delegates to make donations. Holland, he explained, had disgracefully been classified as "self-employed" even though he was an apprentice, so he was not covered by funeral insurance.

The family, from St Mary Cray, Kent, could not afford a proper funeral without help, Richie explained.

It was another shocking case of bogus self-employment and the industry's callous neglect of its workers.

FAT CAT SALARIES

The pay packets of Britain's top company bosses has doubled in the past five years. When pensions, share options and other benefits are included, the cheif executives of Britain's top construction firms earn more on average in one week what many craft workers take home in a whole year. http://www.ucatt.info/

The crazy logic of capitalist economics

The Sunday Times has found that home-grown products are being transported thousands of miles overseas for processing before being put on sale back in Britain. Socialist Courier reported this market madness back here .

Scottish prawns are being hand-shelled in China, Atlantic haddock caught off Scotland is being prepared in Poland and Welsh cockles are being sent to Holland to be put in jars before going on sale in Britain.

Meanwhile, products grown overseas are taking circuitous routes to Britain. African-grown coffee is being packed 3,500 miles away in India, Canadian prawns are processed in Iceland, and Bolivian nuts are being packed in Italy.

“We are producing food in one corner of the world, packing it in another and then shipping it somewhere else. It’s mad.”

Dawnfresh, a Scottish seafood company that supplies supermarkets and other large retailers, cut 70 jobs last year after deciding to ship its scampi more than 5,000 miles to China to be shelled by hand, then shipped back to the River Clyde in Scotland and breaded for sale in Britain.

The company said it was forced to make the move by commercial pressures. “This seems a bizarre thing to do but the reality is that the numbers don’t stack up any other way,” said Andrew Stapley, a director. “We are not the first in the industry to have had to do this. Sadly, it’s cheaper to process overseas than in the UK and companies like us are having to do this to remain competitive.”

Haddock is one of the fish most commonly caught by British trawlers, but Tesco sends its Atlantic haddock for processing to Poland where labour costs are lower. It is then driven more than 850 miles to Tesco’s depot in Daventry, Northamptonshire.

Traidcraft coffee, sold at Sainsbury’s, is made from beans grown in Bukoba, Tanzania.

Once the coffee is cultivated, it is driven 656 miles to Dar-es-Salaam and then shipped 3,250 miles to Vijayawada in India where it is packed. The coffee is loaded back on the ships and transported another 5,000 miles to Southampton. It is then driven 330 miles to Gateshead and is finally driven to Leeds for distribution to Sainsbury’s stores.

Sainsbury’s organic fair trade rice, produced in the lush foothills of the Himalayas, is shipped to Lille, France, rather than Britain, to be packed. It then makes a second journey to end up on Sainsbury’s shelves.It is not just fair trade coffee that is sent from country to country. Instead of directly importing coffee beans from Costa Rica for their instant coffee, Sainsbury’s and Tesco first send them to Germany. The final product then undergoes another 500-mile lorry journey to get to Britain.Similarly, French-grown walnuts sold in Waitrose are sent to Naples to be packed. The retailer’s Brazil nuts from South America are also transported to Italy before being sent to Britain.

The industrialisation of the food chain means even small firms are being forced to ship their produce abroad for processing. Pilchard fillets, produced by the Pilchard Works in Cornwall, are sent on the overnight ferry to France because there is no suitable processing plant in England. The pilchards are canned in Douarnenez in Brittany, then returned to Cornwall. Similarly, Welsh cockles – produced by Van Smirren Seafoods – are driven across Britain to Dover and then transported to Yerseke in Holland. They are pickled and put in jars before being sent back to Britain.

Caroline Lucas, the Green party MEP, said: “Ultimately, the price is paid by all of us in the shape of higher greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution and congestion, and food that is both less tasty and less healthy.”

WORDS OF WISDOM

"I'd like people to be more aware of the use of fossil fuels. Hopefully [Barack] Obama will bring in some change, but really he is just a puppet. Any person that runs as president is a servant of the big corporations." Says Chaka Khan, singer. (Independent, 12 July) RD

A SCAREY FUTURE

"Israel will almost surely attack Iran’s nuclear sites in the next four to seven months — and the leaders in Washington and even Tehran should hope that the attack will be successful enough to cause at least a significant delay in the Iranian production schedule, if not complete destruction, of that country’s nuclear program. Because if the attack fails, the Middle East will almost certainly face a nuclear war — either through a subsequent pre-emptive Israeli nuclear strike or a nuclear exchange shortly after Iran gets the bomb." (New York Times, 18 July) RD

THE DIGNITY OF LABOUR ?

"We've come across a company who was actually using the swipe card system for staff to access the toilets, and then deducting the time spent from their wages," says Ian Tasker of the TUC, "We would argue that it is not so much the right of staff to take breaks, but the rights of any worker not only to a reasonable amount of privacy, but a reasonable amount of dignity at work." (Times, 23 July) RD

ethical exploitation

The "ethical" fish restaurant group, Loch Fyne, pays staff salaries below the minimum wage . Loch Fyne champions marine conservation, and proclaims a corporate philosophy of "an enterprise with respect for animals, people and ecology." according to the BBC
It relies on customer tips to boost total pay to a lawful level . Staff at Loch Fyne Restaurants say they are on a salary of £5.05 an hour, compared with the legal minimum wage of £5.52. The Unite union called the company's behaviour "appalling", and said all restaurant staff should be on a minimum wage salary, as well as getting a fair share of tips. Restaurants are legally allowed to include tips in the calculation of employees earnings, but the practice has been criticised as unethical.
The BBC also revealed that salaries at the Hard Rock Cafe in London were less than half the minimum wage, with waiters on £2.06 an hour

who owns the North Pole - part 11

The Socialist Copurier has been following the scramble for the Arctic and its resources for a while now.
The lasted development has been the research by the US Geological Survey revealing that the Arctic is estimated to hold 90 billion barrels of untapped oil and has three times as much untapped natural gas as oil.
The figures from the USGS are said to be the first estimate of the energy available north of the Arctic circle. According to the survey, the Arctic holds about 13% of the world's undiscovered oil, 30% of the undiscovered natural gas, and 20% of the undiscovered natural gas liquids. Exploration companies believe the recent rapid ice melt in the Arctic may make it easier to get reserves out of the region.
Hence the importance placed on the competition for territorial rights and sovereignty in the Arctic region .

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people”
Karl Marx

CAN FAITH (RE) MOVE POVERTY!

Hundreds of religious leaders marched through London to demand action on global poverty, in an event hailed by Gordon Brown as one of the greatest public demonstrations of faith the city had ever seen.
Mr Brown was presented with a letter by the archbishop which echoed his fears that the goals to tackle poverty would not be met.
Dr Williams wrote: "Because our faith challenges us to eradicate poverty, and not merely to reduce it, we should all be more alarmed that with the halfway mark to 2015 passed, it is clear that most of these achievable targets will not be met. The cause is not a lack of resources but a lack of global political will." (Telegraph 24th July.)
Capitalism creates poverty, Socialism will eradicate poverty.

A MARKET OPPORTUNITY

Lots of people live in flats or towers, so connecting up to wind turbines is out of the question in spite of the cost, (an obvious disadvantage for most people) it is possible.
Diana Hofman is a woman with the money but so far unable to erect a turbine because
The city does not have a law allowing turbine construction.
The BBC programme “Burn Up” about the Oil Moguls, was excited about the market opportunities available now that the price of oil is making wind power a profitable possibility. This gives them the chance of appearing to care, but, as workers the only way we can get electricity remains as always, no money, no electricity.
The turbine can generate a minimum of 400 kilowatt hours of electricity a month, enough to run Hofman's entire home, she said. Hofman spends about $200 a month on electricity.
After a $4,500 rebate, Hofman will spend about $8,000 on the turbine. She said a number of neighbours and residents have called her to ask about installing their own turbines.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

“Atheism is a non-prophet organisation”
George Carlin

GOD AND THE TAXMAN

“It is not yours, it is God's, and you are not going to get it.” said Kenneth Copeland, the television evangelist, when asked to submit his ministry's private financial records to Washington. Mr Copeland is one of at least six American “televangelists” facing the scrutiny of a senate investigation for alleged financial wrongdoing." (Times 7 July)
As Mr Copeland has acquired a mansion reputed to be "as big as an hotel", an aeroplane and even an airport; we imagine that his so-called all powerful god will have to submit to the scrutiny of the US taxman. RD

ONLY INSIDE SOCIALISM?

"As we face $4.50 a gallon gas, we also know that alternative energy sources — coal, oil shale, ethanol, wind and ground-based solar — are either of limited potential, very expensive, require huge energy storage systems or harm the environment. There is, however, one potential future energy source that is environmentally friendly, has essentially unlimited potential and can be cost competitive with any renewable source: space solar power. Science fiction? Actually, no — the technology already exists. A space solar power system would involve building large solar energy collectors in orbit around the Earth. These panels would collect far more energy than land-based units, which are hampered by weather, low angles of the sun in northern climes and, of course, the darkness of night. Once collected, the solar energy would be safely beamed to Earth via wireless radio transmission, where it would be received by antennas near cities and other places where large amounts of power are used. The received energy would then be converted to electric power for distribution over the existing grid." (New York Times, 23 July) RD

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

“We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in.
Some of us just go one god further”
Richard Dawkins

GOD’S LAW! WHICH GOD

Democratic Unionist MP Iris Robinson, wife of First Minister Peter Robinson, criticised pro-choice campaigners who have demanded a relaxation of the abortion laws in Northern Ireland.
“I think it was a mistake,” Mr McGuinness said of the remarks. “In the society that we live in now with many newcomers to our shores, and in many democracies throughout the world, we have a situation where many people within society believe in different things and believe in different gods.
“So what god are we talking about?“Is it the Free Presbyterian god, is it the Church of Ireland god, is it the god that Catholics adhere to, is it the Mormon god, is it the Jehovah’s, the Islamic?”

THE HIGH COST OF DIEING

"Lockheed Martin Corp's F-22 "Raptor" fighter jet, widely considered the world's most advanced, streaked through a milestone performance on Monday for a warplane that money cannot buy. ... Unlike most fighter aircraft, no weapons are carried externally on the Raptor, to make it harder to detect on radar screens. ...Japan, Israel and Australia have shown interest in buying the F-22 if the U.S. Congress were to change a law that makes it unavailable for export because it is deemed too good at what it does. The ban was enacted 10 years ago, partly to prevent the spread of U.S. technological know-how and partly to avoid regional arms races....U.S. Air Force officials have said they need 381 Raptors to meet their requirements. But the Pentagon's fiscal 2009 budget request, unveiled February 4, made no provision for any beyond 183 jets already approved. ....F-22s go for $142 million apiece not including development costs, according to the Air Force."
(Yahoo News, 14 July) RD

The Socialist Party Summer School

awaiting the rest of the visitors to arrive

The Socialist Party Summer School

Gwynn and Mike preparing for the meeting

Report on the Socialist Party Summer School

The first thing I must say is credit for the organising of the summer schools at Fircroft College over the years was rightly accredited to the recently deceased comrade Ron Cook of Birmingham branch, however, he has left the branch members determined to keep their efforts to his high standards, so I can say the social activities were pleasant and relaxing.

Sandy Easton opened up on Friday evening with “The Real Meaning of Religion”. Does religion represent some sinister plot by the ruling class to keep us down, or does it express an earnest attempt by men and women to answer serious and meaningful questions? Will religion uniquely continue to answer a fundamental human need, or is it high time we transcended this psychological baggage of or past? Was all this missing the point anyway, and what is the real meaning of religion?

Mike Foster on the Saturday morning introduced “End Times Beliefs”. Perhaps the most extraordinary book in the Bible is its final one –­ The Revelation of St. John the Devine. Here, we are given vivid prophecies about the end of life as we know it. And it’s not pleasant. While downplayed by most mainstream Christians in Britain, the events predicted in Revelation have been central to the belief systems of many smaller religious movements. However, this does not mean that End Times beliefs only exist on the fringes of Christianity. The scenario described in Revelation has seeped into our consciousness in many unexpectedly way. And while they may tell us nothing of the future, End Times beliefs tell us plenty about peoples hopes and fears.

Howard Moss, on Saturday afternoon discussed the question of “Is Socialism a Faith?” Is Socialism a replacement religion in the sense that it’s a belief in some kind of absolute? Why is it that people of a religious disposition are not infrequently attracted to socialist ideas, at least until they are told the two are incompatible? Does socialism have a ‘spiritual’ dimension, and will it be able to satisfy spiritual needs?

Gwynn Thomas introduced Saturday’s evening study “Islam, Politics and Revolution”. One in five of the world’s population claim adherence to Islam. What they claim this entails and what this might mean for non-believers. Some politicians and commentators have identified Islamism as one of the most serious challenges facing the world. They point to the threatened and actual use of deadly violence by some Muslim groups. How real is this threat? What motivates the protagonists? Is their dispute with the rest of world theological? Or is it political? A distinction was drawn between Islam as a religion and Islam as an ideology.

The concluding session on Sunday morning introduced by Adam Buick “Evolution and the God Hypothesis” considered the questions, did God create plants on the third day, fishes and birds on the fifth, and land animals and humans on the sixth- more or less in their present forms? Or did all existing (and extinct) life forms evolve through the process of natural selection? The mainstream Christian churches, even including the Catholics, have long accepted evolution through natural selection (for them, God only has the minor role of introducing a ‘soul’ into one species). It is only amongst fundamentalist sects that ‘creation’ survives. In America, to get round the constitutional separation between religion and state, the fundamentalists have invented a pseudo- science they call ‘intelligent design’. But it is only a pseudo-science.

I think we can agree the subject was well explored.

Working for less

The average family is £9 a week worse off than a year ago as steep rises in the cost of living wipe out pay increases, according to Sky News .

Despite average earnings rising by £22 a week during the past 12 months, the typical family had 6.5% less disposable income in June after meeting all their essential outgoings than they had a year earlier.Households had a monthly income of around £538 per week after paying tax during the month, 3.2% more than they had coming in during June last year.But the rise in pay was more than wiped out by a 6.8% jump in the cost of essential goods, such as food, clothes, utility bills, housing and transport, with households spending around £407 on these items a week.

As a result, people had just £131 of disposable income left after meeting all their bills, £9 less than in June 2007.

The research found that the rise in spending on essentials was driven by a 9.5% jump in food prices, while transport costs have soared by 7.3% during the past year.The typical family now also spends around 7% more on utility bills than they did in June last year.

Growing poverty

The number of people living in poverty in the world's 50 least developed countries is rising despite their economies growing at the fastest pace in 30 years, a UN report said

In its annual Least Developed Countries Report, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) said that overall growth rates of 7% in the countries between 2005 and 2006 should have provided an opportunity for "substantial improvements" in living conditions. But three-quarters of their people continue to survive on less than $2 (£1) a day and 277 million people live on less than $1 a day, compared with 265 million in 2000 and 245 million in 1995.

Low progress in reducing poverty means the countries will not be able to achieve the first of the UN millennium development goals, halving the proportion of those living on less than $1 a day between 1990 and 2015. To achieve this, they would need to cut their absolute poverty rate to 20% by 2015. Unctad said that if current trends continued, they would only achieve 33% of the target by that date.

Unctad believes the global food crisis will worsen the situation. Sharp rises in international food prices in 2007 and early 2008 have led to domestic food costs soaring. In some countries the prices of staples such as maize, wheat and rice have doubled in the past 18 months.Two-thirds of the countries import more food than they export.

Capitalism fails to deliver , just as socialists predicted .

health and wealth

We here at Socialist Courier have frequently posted stories that reveal the class link concerning health -- the wealthier you are , the better health you possess and the longer you live . Another report once again confirms this view .

The importance of money was illustrated by an ethnic breakdown of outcomes in the US. White Americans, who are on the whole wealthier and therefore more able to afford the insurance which underpins the US system, were up to 14% more likely than others to survive cancer.

Meanwhile the report states that the UK had 69.7% survival for breast cancer, just above 40% for colon and rectal cancer for both men and women and 51.1% for prostate cancer.

And "...there were also large regional variations within the UK, which were linked to differences in access to care and ability of patients to navigate the local health services. Both are directly linked to deprivation..."