What does Blair stand for?
It is part of every day conversation among the left that Blair is a Tory. Comedians and broadsheet newspaper columnists are fond of saying that Blair is the best Tory to lead the Labour Party. This sort of throwaway analysis extends well beyond the Parliamentary Socialist Campaign Group. MPs such as Frank Field, Roy Hattersley and even Gerald Kauffman have launched attacks on the New Labour project.
And yet there has been a steadfast refusal to challenge Blair's leadership. This is down to two factors. It is very difficult to mount any kind of challenge because of the extensive rule changes which have been designed to prevent any such moves. The second more important factor is sheer political opportunism and greed. The MPs and the trade union leaders are part of the gravy train of government, some of which was briefly glimpsed when the House of Parliament's members' expenses were disclosed. The so-called "left" trade union leaders completely let Blair off the hook over Iraq and many other issues at the Labour Party conference in return for a few morsels agreed at the Policy Forum.
Some of Blair's media friends have tried to defend him, particularly over the accusations that he is Bush's poodle. They have said he is absolutely convinced of the morality of the struggle against terrorism. That he is his own man. That he is sincere. He wants to bridge the gap between the USA and Europe. In fact some of Blair's supporters have attacked Bush for not been strong enough. They seem to be lining Blair up alongside the Neo Cons to the right of Bush.
What the commentators do not remark upon is the practical near-unanimity of pro-Americanism among New Labour's leading team. From the days of Gaitskell there has always been a pro-American faction inside the Labour Party's leadership. Magazines like Socialist Commentary were used by the CIA to infiltrate the Labour Party. This whole period has been brilliantly exposed by Richard Fletcher in his pamphlet Who were they travelling with? (read it here). Luckily two different groups of researchers are preparing similar pamphlets linking the New Labour project, its "think tanks", big business and US agents of influence. Hopefully they will be published in the run-up to the General Election. All I need to do here is to emphasise that Blair, Brown, Straw, Hoon and Blunkett all share the same pro-American world view. When I write about 'pro-American' I am writing about the Bush administration and the huge energy and oil conglomerates that back it. And not those great Americans protesting against the Iraqi invasion every night outside the New York Public Library.
Below I want to outline to what extent Blair is a creature of the Bush administration internationally, and of Thatcher domestically. This material is not new. It is drawn in the main from public sources. Taken together the case against Blair is damming.
Those left-wingers remaining inside the New Labour machine no longer have a choice of fighting their corner issue by issue. What is clearly at stake is the leadership of the Labour Party. They have to fight for this or get out. Protest politics within New Labour is finished. There are alternatives outside the rapidly shrinking Labour Party. The recent meeting between the Alliance for Green Socialism, the Socialist Party, the Alliance for Workers Liberty, the Socialist Alliance Democratic Platform and other organisations is an indication that the left outside the Labour Party is getting its act together.
Torture
- British courts have been asked to consider evidence in a trial that was obtained by torture overseas.
- There appears to be clear evidence that British citizens and others have been tortured at Guantanamo Bay besides being held in solitary confinement for over two years.
- British troops in Iraq have routinely handed over prisoners to the US authorities in Baghdad jail where they have been tortured. Other "coalition" forces have refused to do this.
- Bush's Congressional Republicans are pushing through a law called the 9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act of 2004. This will legalise "extraordinary rendition", ie suspected terrorists will be transferred to countries where they can be tortured for information. The US authorities have already done this as I outlined in a previous Umbrella where a Canadian citizen, Arar, was sent to Syria where he was imprisoned and tortured.
- British citizens have been tortured in Saudi Arabia. They are having to sue the Saudi regime because of zero help from the UK government.
- They have recalled and disciplined the British ambassador for Uzbekistan because he complained about torture.
- Blair supports the hitting of children. He opposes the amendments from my old and excellent friend Dave Hinchliffe MP in trying to ban this barbarous practice.
Not a single member of the UK cabinet nor the National Executive of the New Labour Party has condemned any of these actions. This is the grim reality of Blair's 2004. Some people have speculated, after the revelations about the peculiar flogging habits of a former teacher of Paul Foot, who ended up at Blair's private school, that this may have unbalanced Blair's mind over torture.
Blair and Iraq
- Blair consistently lied over the negotiations for peace and over the inspections. Bush had always intended to invade and Blair was always going to go along. This was the case throughout the UN inspections. According to a UK court martial the detailed invasion plans (with provisional dates) were delivered to Blair 6 months before the attack.
- Cryptome is hosting an excellent analysis here of the recently leaked (reported in the Daily Telegraph and elsewhere) cabinet office papers. To no-one's surprise Blair committed us to a war for regime change a whole year before all the so-called debates.
- There were no weapons of mass destruction. Iraq couldn't deliver anything in 45 minutes, not even a pizza. Despite having partially admitted that no weapons of mass destruction have been found Blair and his ministers still have difficulty coming to terms with the facts. One example of this is the firing of John Morrison, an intelligence expert advising the House of Commons Intelligence and Security Committee. His crime was that he told Panorama that Tony Blair's claim that Saddam Hussein posed a direct threat prompted a "collective raspberry" in Whitehall.
- The left has always opposed Saddam Hussein's vicious reactionary regime. It was particularly opposed to selling him arms during his war with Iran. Blair has not prosecuted a single person or company for the aid given to the dictator. This included those who sent him arms when he was engaged in massive internal repression against the Kurds and Marsh Arabs.
- After months of searching, questioning, bribes and torture the American's have established that an Al Qaida representative had a discussion with some minor officials in Hussein's regime. Blair has created the conditions in Iraq where Al Qaida not only can attack the occupation forces at will but where it can terrorise the populations with its brand of fundamentalism.
- The strategy in Iraq is to crush the opposition to the occupation to ensure that the elections in Iraq in 2005 will return a government that will be pro American. There has been no attempt to negotiate with those who oppose the invasion. They have to be smashed. Given that this seems to be the majority of Iraq this has lead to appalling causalities. The effect has been to drive together many otherwise hostile groups. I will in a future Umbrella analyse the different opposition groups. However, they appear to have around 25,000 active fighters, some hundreds of thousands of direct supporters and are capable of launching around 100 attacks a day on the occupying forces. This strategy is the exact opposite of Blair's speeches on seeking a political solution.
- The lie that Blair is supporting an independent government in Iraq. The failure to release the two Iraqi women scientists after an announcement that it was likely to happen by an Iraqi Government Minister led to Ken Bigley's death. The Americans wouldn't allow the release because it would undermine Bush's credibility over Weapons of Mass Destruction during his election campaign. Blair made no attempt to support the Iraqi Minister against the Americans. He instead personally approved the botched secret service operation which led directly to Ken Bigley's death.
- Hussein murdered many Iraqis. He buried them in mass graves. Blair has repeatedly and cynically exaggerated the size of the mass graves in order to make the relative size of the killings by the coalition forces appear smaller. Blair's collaboration in the mass slaughter of Iraqis is pure evil. An article in the respected medical journal Lancet estimates than 100,000 civilian Iraqis, mainly women and children, have died as result of the invasion. The deaths came mainly from bombing. The total number of deaths from the two invasions and the effects of the sanctions have resulted in nearly one million casualties. Hussein appears to be a saint in comparison to Blair.
Beyond Iraq
Blair's subservience to Bush goes well beyond Iraq:
- The refusal to allow the inhabitants of Diego Garcia to return home
- A failure to support Cuba in the face of increasing attacks from the USA
- A failure to support the Palestinians in the face of the increasing oppression by the US client state of Israel
- The signing of unequal treaties with the US which allows UK citizens to be deported without the evidence being properly examined in the UK courts. The UK is not allowed to extradite US citizens in the same way.
- Even laws which are supposed to be equal are being applied to suppress critical voices of the US in the UK
Indymedia services closed down in the UK
On Friday 8 October Rackspace put out the following statement:
In the present matter regarding Indymedia, Rackspace Managed Hosting, a US-based company with offices in London, is acting in compliance with a court order pursuant to a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), which establishes procedures for countries to assist each other in investigations such as international terrorism, kidnapping and money laundering. Rackspace responded to a Commissioner's subpoena, duly issued under Title 28, United States Code, Section 1782 in an investigation that did not arise in the United States. Rackspace is acting as a good corporate citizen and is cooperating with international law enforcement authorities. The court prohibits Rackspace from commenting further on this matter.
The Indymedia servers have been seized as a direct result of a request from the FBI and the company hosting them is forbidden from commenting on the matter. This can only be done by the direct intervention of the Home Secretary, Blunkett.
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) statement on FBI seizure of Indymedia servers (PDF file) in London. Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary comments:
We have witnessed an intolerable and intrusive international police operation against a network specialising in independent journalism. The way this has been done smacks more of intimidation of legitimate journalistic inquiry than crime-busting. The seizing of computers and the high profile nature of this incident suggests that someone wanted to stifle these independent voices in journalism. We need a full investigation into why this action took place, who took part and who authorised it.
Hoon and Blair have not only allowed the upgrading of Menwith Hill and Fylingdales spy stations, they have agreed that they should be protected by anti-missile missiles. These will be for the defence of the US only and will only increase the UK's profile as a target. The anti-missile systems developed by the US have been ineffective and in some cases downright dangerous. A British Tornado jet was shot down last year by a Patriot air and missile unit in Kuwait, Another unit managed to shoot down a US Navy F-18. The initial reports into these "friendly" fire incidents indicate they were due to inherent flaws in the system. They will certainly cut down my use of Leeds Bradford Airport.
Blunkett only stops to ask how high he has to jump.
Blair and big business
- New Labour takes money from rich businessmen and in return does them favours.
- Blair likes rich business men in his cabinet
- Blair has relaxed the environmental targets for carbon dioxide for business
- New Labour has failed to introduce effective laws on corporate manslaughter. It has diluted its current proposals as a result of lobbying from big business.
- It has failed to roll back Thatcher's restrictions on the rights of trade unionists.
There has not been a single example that when the choice is between big business and the work force, he has not come down on the side of the bosses.
Blair and democracy
- He refuses to accept an elected second chamber
- He continues to accept the monarchy. He is planning a new crime to ensure protestors at Buckingham Palace get up six months jail for criminal trespass, while the young princes are allowed to roam the streets of London punching people without any application of Anti Social Behaviour Orders or investigation by the police.
- He has set up quango after quango; all of which are unaccountable and in the end are controlled by his own officials.
The Carbon Trust
This is a quango close to the heart of the Alliance for Green Socialism. This was set up to help "business and the public sector cut carbon emissions and capture the commercial potential of low carbon technologies." It is an "independent" company funded and set up by the Government. Its function is to bribe private industry using our money to reach carbon dioxide emission targets.
The Government has appointed a board that in the main reflects the interests of big business, so it's Chairman is also the Chairman of Network Rail, and its Deputy Chairman is a director of Johnson Matthey. There are other luminaries representing BP, United Utilities and the CBI. There is of course one or two representing the public but the vast majority (7 in all) are directly paid by the Government.
The bias of the organisation is even clearer when one examines the background of the full time staff. They have worked for:
- Shell
- UBS Warburg
- McKinsey & Co
- International nuclear R&D policy posts
- KPMG Consulting
- GLE Development Capital
- Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions
- The Labour Party
It is completely predictable that one of their main campaigns in 2004 is being run in conjunction with the Daily Telegraph.
The one thing that this quango shares with all its fellow New Labour creations is a complete lack of accountability to the public. Zero democratic input. Its function is to serve the needs of big business while providing a smokescreen that something is being done about global warming.
In fact Blair set up the Carbon Trust to counteract the influence of environmental and green groups in 2000. He raided the national lottery to provide £50 million a year to further subsidise business.
- He has consistently undermined and removed the power of elected councils. For instance in the case of education he wants to remove all local democratic input. He supports fundamentalist millionaire such as Reg Vardy being allowed to run our schools.
- He has continued to allow unelected people to sit on the police committees
- He has failed to support the democratically elected members of the European Parliament in exercising the lawful powers
- He has undermined the United Nations and international rule of law by his invasion of Iraq
Man Robs Bank Wearing George W Bush Mask
PA: Cops hunting presidential imitator in swing state stickup
OCTOBER 18--Police in the battleground state of Pennsylvania are looking for a man who robbed a bank Thursday night wearing a George W. Bush mask. The holdup man, who did not flash a weapon, demanded the money from a teller at a Commerce Bank near York. As seen in the below bank surveillance photos--provided to TSG by the Northern York County Regional Police--the robber wore gloves, a ski hat, and a fixed grin. A police spokesman would not say how much the Dubya doppelganger got away with. Perhaps it wasn't a mask just Bush, who has been repeatedly seen in Pennsylvania, raising to some money for the last days of his campaign.
Wind Energy
Some of the attackers of renewable energy, especially those paid apologists for the nuclear lobby, have attacked wind energy as only been able to supply a small proportion of the world's energy needs. However a research team at Utrecht University have calculated that every continent has the wind capacity to generate the energy it needs. In doing their calculations they excluded any wind energy being generated offshore.
In fact their calculations showed that an area the size of Saudi Arabia could have generated all the world's energy needs for 2001 at approximately twice today's prices.
If the report was seriously acted upon it would seriously effect the way the oil cabals are able to raise their prices and make the huge profits that BP and Shell are now making.
New Labour in Leeds
At last New Labour in Leeds has woken up to the fact they are opposition. They have set up a working group to develop a plan to try to return to power. Despite being faced with a bizarre coalition of Greens, Liberal Democrats and Tories they have made little progress. This is because the coalition has had no problems in following the right-wing instructions from the New Labour Government. Away from the practical things the council does they have managed to appear to the left of the New Labour group. For instance, the leader of the Tories has written to the Yorkshire Evening Post raising his doubts over the illegal invasion of Iraq. For Keith Wakefield and the other members of his group they are faced with the difficult problem of being only able to wrong-foot the coalition by attacking New Labour - something they usually fail to do.
The fire service in Leeds
The one example where they have managed to act against New Labour was over the reorganisation of the fire service in Leeds. This "modernisation" plan came straight from Whitehall. Garforth Fire station was to be made part-time and Moortown to be reduced to just one active engine. The extra resources freed up were to be used in fire prevention. The plans were opposed by everyone who had an interest. This crucially included local Labour MPs such as Colin Burgon and Fabian Hamilton. Burgon went even to the extent of telephoning people at home to support their protests. Many community organisations also opposed the cuts along with the Fire Brigades Union.
Community pressure made the Fire Authority back down over Garforth, however the rest of the scheme went through with most of New Labour Councillors voting against, secure in the knowledge that the opposition would vote them down. Garforth's new fire station came about because of the late County Councillor Noel Cooper. Noel was Chair of the West Yorkshire Fire Service and a Garforth Councillor. A suspicion must remain that the attempt to reduce the service was aimed at reducing the power of elected members. Noel was one of those socialists who got better as he got older. Just before he died he took part in many of the demonstrations against the Falklands War and he would have been on the demonstrations against the invasion of Iraq. It is noticeable than none of his successors have taken any interest in politics.
The Leeds Alliance for Green Socialism also sent its opposition to the plans to the Fire Authority website, however they were not posted. They eventually received a short note saying their comments had been noted and ignored. With the exception of the temporary keeping open of Garforth Fire Station the Chief Fire Office made no changes to his original plan. He and the majority of the Fire Service Committee obviously know better than the members of the community and the value of ignoring consultation.
Greening your home
A few weeks ago I picked up a couple of glossy leaflets published by Leeds City Council. They were Greening your Home and Greening your Workplace. They are very similar, and in the case of Greening your Home almost identical to the brochure A Practical Guide to Green Living in Leeds (81 kbyte PDF file) produced by the Leeds Alliance for Green Socialism, of which 4,000 copies were distributed during April and May. The AGS's brochure acknowledges its debt to Lorna Arblaster's earlier Chapel Allerton pamphlet.
However no attempt has been made to distribute the Council leaflet. A few copies have been left in Libraries and in the case of the workplace leaflet it has been restricted to internal use.
It is however possible to obtain your own copy from the Wise Up Leeds website.
A victory
Parent, teachers and students in Conisbrough near Doncaster have won an important victory. They have stopped their local secondary school from being turned into a academy run by the Christian fundamentalist Emmanuel Schools Foundation. This is funded by the evangelical Christian Peter Vardy, owner of the car sales company.
This is quite a blow for Blair, who is trying to create 200 such academies. These are set up with a sponsor putting 10% of the capital costs for a new school. We as taxpayers put in the other 90%. In return they get complete control of the school there being only one member of the governing body elected from the parents.
I am looking forward to listening to Tracy Darton from the campaign in Conisbrough speaking at the Leeds Alliance for Green Socialism on Tuesday 16 November (7.30 pm), Leeds TUC, North Street.
A Marxist plot
Leeds's own ultra Blairite babe Councillor Stuart Bruce has announced on his blog how angry he was about the Labour Party Conference vote for the fourth option on public housing. This fourth option would allow public housing to remain under the democratic control of local councils. Young Stuart believes the vote was swayed propaganda being "peddled" by Unison and the Save Council Housing campaign. He thinks their campaign is being driven by "dated Marxist ideology".
I am not sure he would recognise Marxist ideology if it hit him in the face. Perhaps his insights come from observing his leader, Councillor Keith Wakefield, who once had a brief dalliance with the Communist Party. However his praise of the ALMO's (Arms Length Management Option) is based on ignoring how they work. Tenants' representatives are deliberately made a minority on the management committees outvoted by professionals and council representatives who are committed to the scheme. Anyone who was politically opposed was excluded from the management committees. This is social exclusion Blair style. But the big downer on the ALMO's is the way they are financed. In essence a variation of the Private Finance Initiative they will result in tenants paying more they would under the fourth option due to the increased interest charges. They have become victims of Gordon Brown's pro-big business finance polices.
Ripping off the pensioners
In Umbrella 77 and other previous Umbrellas I have dealt with a number of examples ranging from Leeds United to Enron where shareholders and workforces were ripped off by their managers. This exposes the fallacy that you can save for your pension by investing in the stock exchange. New Labour has consistently pushed this Tory solution as part of its programme of helping business reduce its responsibilities for its workers.
The Chief operating manager of Marconi is leaving his job with a set of payouts totalling £8.5 million. The company was effectively bankrupt but continued to payout millions to the directors and practically nothing to the shareholders. In the restructuring of the company the original shareholders ended up with 0.5% of the new company. In the process 20,000 workers lost their jobs. In reorganising the company the Chief operating manager worked himself out of his own job but unlike the shareholders and many of the workers he ensured he was well taken care of.
-- Half-Celestial Khan
