Time to support the Turkish demonstrators!

The protests in Turkey remain in the news as the BBC reports tonight there has been a clash of views between the European Union and the Turkish Government on the use of excessive force against the demonstrations taking place. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected any such criticisms by claiming that similar protests in Western Europe would be dealt with "more harshly".

In a disturbing development the BBC also reports:

Mr Erdogan accused the EU of double standards, saying police in Europe and the US used the similar methods.

"Similar protests have taken place in Britain, France, Germany and bigger ones in Greece," he said.

His government was open to "democratic demands", he added, but would not accept "terrorism, violence and vandalism"

This is not the first time the Islamist leader has accused the demonstrators of being linked to "terrorism" and it is worth taking a look at the demands of the protesters to belie this outrageous accusation.

The Statement of Demands by Taksim Solidarity:

To the Government and the people of the Republic of Turkey,

Across the country, particularly in Istanbul-Taksim, all the citizens are demonstrating their democratic reaction to the police violence pursued by the government as a response to the social sensitivity to the attempts to demolish Taksim Gezi Park at 22.00 on 27th May 2013.

First, we are share the grief of the families of Abdullah Comert and Mehmet Ayvalitas who lost their lives and we want to convey best wishes for a speedy recovery to our thousands of injured citizens.

Unfortunately, The government continues to follow policies of violence, oppression and prohibitionist rule despite the fact that the protesters are peacefully and democratically voicing their demands, which are democracy and the most basic human rights. We want everybody to know that we are making intensive effort to reach the social climate where not a single citizen’s nose bleeds, the tensions disappear and the democratic demands can be expressed.

Therefore, as Taksim Solidarity, we are waiting for the government to take concrete steps to immediately meet our demands listed below.

Gezi Park should remain a park.

WE DEMAND that
• Taksim Gezi Park will not be re-developed under the name of Artillery Barracks or any other project,
• an official statement on the cancellation of the current project is made,
• the attempts to demolish Ataturk Cultural Centre stop,
• everybody responsible for the thousands of injured people and two deaths, starting with the Governors and the Police Chiefs of Istanbul, Ankara and Hatay and everyone who prevented the use of the most basic democratic rights of the people; who gave orders for violent repression, enforced or implemented these orders are dismissed from their posts,
• the use of tear gas bombs and other similar materials is prohibited,
• detained citizens who attended the resistance across the country are immediately released and an official statement which declares that there will not be any investigation about them,
• starting with Taksim and Kizilay squares, all the meeting and demonstration bans effecting all of our squares and public areas and all the de facto blockings are abolished and stopped,
• barriers to freedom of expression are removed.

Furthermore, we believe that the content, the spirit, the expectations and the demands of the reactions which have risen in the squares, avenues, streets and all the public areas of our country since 27th May 2013 22.00 should be recognized by the authorities. Trying to explain what has happened with “marginality” means ignoring it. It is seen that the current understanding of power which has been symbolized with the Gezi Park demolition is interpreted by our citizens as “intervention in their life styles and scorning”, that they have shown a public reaction to this with men, women, the young and the old and that their response to power is “we exist, we are here and we have demands”.

We would like to inform those who are currently in government that the content of this rising reaction consists of
• our reaction to the pillaging of our ecological heritage with plans and practices like firstly the project for the 3rd bridge over Bosporus, the project for the 3rd airport in Istanbul, Kanal Istanbul project, AOC (demolition of Ataturk Forest Farm), HES (Hydroelectric Power Plants) and more recently the draft law on the Protection of Nature and Biodiversity,
• our opposition against the war policies in our country and our region, our demand for regional peace, 

• the sensitivities of our alawite citizens,
• the rightful demands of the victims of urban transformation
• the rising voice against the conservative male politics establishing control over women’s bodies,
• the resistance against the oppression on the universities, courts and artists,
• the demands of all the labourers against their rights being deprived, particularly at Turkish Airlines,
• the fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,
• the demand for the removal of all barriers between the citizens and their right to education and health service.

Labourstart are continuing their campaign and have issued the following statement:

Last night, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan returned to Istanbul following a week of protests that have rocked the country.

If anyone was expecting a conciliatory tone, they were disappointed.

Addressing a crowd of his supporters, Erdogan said "These protests that are bordering on illegality must come to an end as of now."

Referring to the thousands of protesters in Istanbul's central Taksim Square, Erdogan's supporters chanted "Let us go, let's crush Taksim."

There is now a serious threat of violence directed against the peaceful protests in which our brothers and sisters in the Turkish trade union movement are playing such an important role.

To the 11,000 of you on this list who have already supported the campaign -- thank you.  But let's not stop there. If you haven't yet signed please use the following link!

Go to: http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=1840

14,300 messages are helping to get Erdogan's attention.  He has already ranted about "foreign interference".

Our brothers and sisters in Istanbul, Ankara and elsewhere are in the streets and squares of Turkey's cities today.  The protests continue. 

Labourstart can be found here: http://www.labourstart.org/2013/

PCS: "The truth is out there" somewhere.......

The PCS entered its' fourth day of regional disputes with strikes in Wales and the South West. The PCS website was making its' usual claims about high turnouts and good pickets under the headline "Members' resolve high on fourth day of joint action". Leaving aside the odd claim about "joint action" (with who exactly?), the website states (among other things) that:

The majority of staff at Bristol CCD and Bristol disability centres stayed away from, as they did at Horfield, Bedminster and Kingswood jobcentres, while on the coast at Weston-super-Mare jobcentre 70% of members were out.

Except this isn't quite the case. Given that  Bristol is covered by the Avon Branch, home of PCS Vice president and Socialist Party member John McInally, you'd think that this area would be a hot bed of militancy but reports received suggest all is not well.

I'm told McInally works at Kingswood Job Centre where there was no picket line or sign of our great strategist as he likes to see himself. Further the office itself was working normally despite the strike and there were sufficient staff to run the office without using "back room staff" or Managers.

 A completely different story to the one peddled by the political activists in PCS. I wonder what the real situation is elsewhere?

There were no picket lines at the main Government Buildings or most of the Job Centres and I've been asked to emphasise that despite the presence of John McInally and DWP time server Christine Cuthbert in the Avon Branch, no press release was issued and subsequently there was no local media coverage.

McInally & Cuthbert did manage to turn up to picket line at Fishponds Job Centre but their lack of charm failed to stop members crossing the picket line. With people like this leading our union its' no surprise that the Government doesn't listen.

Trouble is that the actions of the Socialist Party led union are damaging the union everywhere. One member in my Branch decided to resign and sent me the following e-mail:

Sorry can you take me off your list as I am no longer a member of the union.

As you know I am very disgruntled with the situation with the leaders of this so called union at this time and do not feel that I can support this Union in its present form. I'm sorry but I refuse to leave my pay packet short with pointless days of strike action when they cannot appear to be bothered about starting pay agreement talks, it would appear that they are more concerned about their own beliefs in trying to score points with the activist party!!!

I have remained a member having spoken to you a short while ago, but having had to once again cross a picket line due to strike action I cannot support, and once again feeling like a leper I feel that my only option at this time is to resign the union.

This is by no means a reflection on my local representatives, who do a sterling job for their local members, and are rewarded by a cut in the facility time which once again shows me that the present leadership are even less concerned about their members.

Again I am sorry as I feel that on a local level I would willingly stay with the union but I just cannot justify the membership at a higher level, and this is now the only way I can show my dissatisfaction with the leadership of this once great union

Sharon

Her views are quite representative of a large swathe of members in my Branch and across the country that I regularly keep in touch with.

The union needs to change direction and cease being used by the comrades of the far left as a Trojan Horse for their own benefit.

PCS: a union on a road to nowhere

Members of the PCS union in the DWP, HMRC and Valuation Agency took part in a third day of regional strikes today across London, the South east and the Midlands today. Coverage of the dispute appeared to be minimal despite the efforts and sacrifice of Reps and members.

The PCS website makes as much as it can with talk of good turnouts in several places, whilst ignoring the lower turnouts in London in particular. No Job Centres were closed and management had already taken precautions to ensure that little disruption took place with the cancelling and rescheduling of appointments for claimants.

There was little enthusiasm amongst large numbers of members, with even those usually more active and involved stating they did not see the point of continuing the dispute. Many have indicated that they no confidence that the current strikes were or could achieve anything. One thing is clear that the current dispute, which was clearly lost from the outset, is not shifting Government policy not will any escalation that General Secretary Mark Serwotka seems to be planning at the end of the month.

The leadership of the union remain in complete denial as a e-mail received from the DWP Group Organiser, Steve Cawkwell in response to my article on Monday tried to do:

The strikes were in the NE and Y+H. Every branch reports very high levels of support. You will be pleased that there was a good deal of media coverage in the regional press, radio and television. The main rallies in Newcastle and Leeds were well attended with local media present doing interviews. In Newcastle the media did a vox pop series of interviews with ordinary members comparing our low pay to the MP's money for questions scandal. It is your turn tomorrow and I know it will go well in London.  

If it did, not many people will have noticed, it didn't even make the evening London news programmes.

The fact is that despite everything that's been thrown at them, members have shown unwillingness to be used as part of an openly political strategy instituted by the Socialist Party to use the PCS union as "shock troops" to force if not a "General Strike", then at least "co-ordinated action" across the public sector. Neither of these events are achievable and the issues PCS members have struck over in their own ballot have it has to be said, already been lost.

At the same time disquiet is growing over attempts by activists to virtually turn PCS into a "two level" membership. I sent a copy of the following motion to members in DWP Avon Branch in Bristol when asked about whether PCS reps were no longer to represent members who did not go on strike. That's not quite what the motion says but it will cause waves: The motion as passed at this years DWP Group Conference says:

"This Conference applauds PCS members who followed the democratic will
of the union by taking action as part of the job cuts campaign. However,
Conference also notes that a number of members chose not to participate.
These people could have jeopardised our very successful actions and may
have undermined the efforts of colleagues by attending work. Conference
recognises that as paying members of PCS these people still have the
same rights as colleagues who took action. Conference further recognises
the moral conundrum branch officials have when these members wish to
avail themselves of our services, notably direct representation in
personal cases. Conference therefore agrees that no lay official is
obliged to represent any member who crosses a picket line and that such
cases are passed to a paid employee of PCS to deal with in the most
appropriate manner.”

Members in Bristol were said to be "gobsmacked" and there was an inference that this could cause a further exodus of members. The activists have simply not kept up with the times. There is little faith that PCS can achieve the "bigger aims" that it sets itself and a large amount of growing alienation from the way the union has become politicised with its' policy of looking to contest Parliamentary elections and futile connections with the far-left in the form of the Socialist Party & the SWP.

The majority of members these days see the union as more of an "insurance policy" in case they get into trouble with Management. If they are going to have difficulties in obtaining help from the union (and there are insufficient PCS full time staff to cope with any influx of cases) then they are either going to find another union or leave altogether.

PCS is already in financial difficulties which is why the spectre of a merger with Unite was revived at conference this year. If such ideologically motivated policies continue then membership will plunge.

PCS is in danger of turning itself from a trade union into an irrelevant sect. 

If PCS is to be saved then reps and members must regain control of their union from the political activists who are using it for their own political purposes.

Act Now! General strike in Turkey - our solidarity needed right now

A Labourstart Campaign

The Turkish public sector trade union representing some 240,000 members has begun a two day strike accusing the Islamist Government of committing "state terror" according to today's issue of the London Evening Standard. Two people have been killed and more than 1,700 people arrested as protests have spread to some 60 or more cities across Turkey.

An excellent piece of analysis by Juan Cole can be found on his blog Informed Comment:

Go to: http://www.juancole.com/2013/06/defiant-turkish-economy.html

It is essential that trade unionists in this country and around the world give whatever support they can to both the secularist demonstrators and the trade unions engaged in a struggle to defend their basic human rights against the viscous Islamist Government under Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Labourstart have issued the following message:

Two national trade union centres in Turkey have announced general strikes in the wake of police violence and widespread arrests of protesters.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which represents 175 million workers in 156 countries has called for union members to support our brothers and sisters in Turkey by signing up to the online campaign we launched yesterday.

You can read the ITUC statement here.

I know that thousands of you reading this message have already sent off your messages -- to you I say, thank you, but let's do more. 

Please get your union on board -- help us get the word out that we need thousands more supporters.

This is the web address we should be sharing with all our members:

http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=1840

Labourstart can be found at: http://www.labourstart.org/2013/

Did anyone notice that PCS was on strike today?

The main civil service union PCS began a week-long series of regional strikes in its long running dispute with the Government over pensions, pay and conditions of service, not forgetting all the other issues such as cuts and austerity measures that  Mark Serwotka and his cronies have added to the list of demands. Trouble is no one seems to have noticed.

 

This afternoon I googled the dispute and the "top story" was from the Socialist Party's website which when accessed was just a reprint of the PCS press release. All the other first page entries were PCS website mentions plus the inevitable statement from the SWP front organisation Unite the Resistance who claimed "200,000 members were to strike". Not one single newspaper article nor references to television reports either. So what's gone wrong?

 

The strikes were actually taking place in the two biggest government department, the DWP and the HMRC. You'd think that would at least solicit some interest from the media? Unfortunately it hasn't and since strikes by PCS are almost constantly taking place somewhere they have no longer become newsworthy it would seem. The other problem which the PCS leadership refuses to face up to is the low turnout by members (under a third last time it went national) which continues to decline.

 

The announcement of the 2013 Pay offer in the DWP led to standard comments from members who were faced with a package that they were expecting. A 1% pay rise with a small but welcome bonus for all except the bottom performing 5%. There was no decision for members to be faced with either as the unions pay briefing document stated quite clearly there would be no ballot as the NEC automatically rejected any offer of 1%. Another one of Serwotka's "King Arthur" moments, he surely knows best. No point in asking us at all. Why should we bother with all this democracy nonsense, eh Mark!

 

Not that it would make any difference as the pay offer will be imposed on us at the end of July anyway.

 

This all happened on the day that Facility Time (used by Reps to deal with union/members issues) changed in the DWP, except no one Management or union knows what the new rules are. Except there's less of it, though no one actually knows how much less and any time used will be deducted from an unknown pot. Confused, we all were!

 

The (lack of) time to run the union and represent members was something PCS Reps knew was coming, much of what we do will now have to be done outside work, in our own time including Branch Executives and so on which will cause difficulties for Reps with children/caring responsibilities. Even locally there was a debate about not representing members who cross a picket line. Legally PCS has to, but lay reps are not obliged. Personally I think this attitude is not only impractical in the current circumstances but outdated.

 

With two thirds or more of members not taking part in strike action coupled with the fact people join the unions more for "personal insurance" reasons suggest that this could so easily become a self-defeating attitude. Making it difficult to get  representation is more likely to drive people out of PCS. After all members costs what, around £150 a year, all most people see is the (now bi-monthly) magazine and a diary once a year. Even a former member of the National Executive opined he'd rather spend the money on beer these days having given up his membership.

 

Yet there is a growing gulf between members and activists as a motion at the DWP Conference actually now makes this caveat to membership official policy. Whilst this may have passed most members by for the time being, as people become aware of it and are asked (and refuse to) take part in industrial action that was actually never going to achieve anything even at the beginning, the ineffectiveness of the dispute will add to those who are already questioning the point of belonging to PCS.

 

Some will drift away, but a few are asking if there is another union they can  join. If the PCS leadership carries on with its' current course such sentiments will grow and the PCS union may go into a decline from which it will never recover from.

 

A real question needs to be asked. Does the union belong to and represent its' members or does it exist only to further the interests of the activist class? At the moment the latter is the case. It's time to change that before it is too late.

The growing Islamist threat in Turkey

The current spate of demonstrations against the Turkish Government come at a time when the Islamist based Justice and Development Party are undermining both parliamentary democracy and the secularist constitution of the country. A more dictatorial system is being sought by Prime Minister Recep Erdogan as Le Monde reports:

Erdogan wants to conquer the Presidency in 2014. He wishes to do this after having reformed the constitution in the direction of a Presidential system. Many fear this will mean yet further clampdowns

When the rioting broke out, Erdogan was at a press conference speaking out against smoking, another of his steps towards the Islamisation of Turkey. Already attempts are being made to restrict the sale of alcohol and prevent "public displays of affection" which follow the continued censorship of not just the press and TV, but even the soaps and dramas that form a much needed export to the rest of the Muslim world.

The Sunday Times tells us that these demonstrations are already being described as the "Turkish Spring" by some commentators.  Evidence of this is that members of the armed forces (who have been the natural defenders of the country's secular constitution) have been witnessed refusing to help the police and according to the Sunday Times even handing out gas masks to protesters.

Le Monde further reports that:

This electoral stranglehold allowed Erdogan to get rid of all those inside the state who might be opposed to the government. The army , the bureaucracy and the judiciary, the press, which had previously opposed him, have become instruments of the AKP, the ruling party and its leader.

Since Erdogan has been purging the armed forces in recent years it should be no surprise that there remains considerable consternation amongst their personnel. It also explains why there has been a three-fold increase in the numbers of police, though reports suggest some police have actually joined the protesters!

The evolution of Erdogan and his Islamist Government into an authoritarian regime should come as no surprise. In the nineties he had a reputation as a Islamic firebrand, being jailed in 1999 for reciting a poem calling for the overthrow of secularism in Turkey. Despite presenting himself as a "moderate" and a "democrat", he has proved himself to be neither.

This should serve as a warning to those foolish enough to have believed that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt or the Ennahda Party in Tunisia could be trusted with the reins of power. In all three countries the regimes have not just attacked secularism, but also the basic tenants of democracy right down to the trade unions.

The Salafists, allies of Ennahda have been physically attacking the trade unions for months. The Turkish Government have launched mass arrests of trade unionists (see: http://howiescorner.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/act-now-arrested-turkish-trade.html) and despite the seeming retreat of police from Gezi Park the threat remains to not only the protesters but all democracy activists across Turkey.

One has to ask why the Erdogran feels it necessary to destroy a public park and build a replica of an Ottoman-era army barracks in its' place? Is this part of a growing desire to promote the days of an Islamic empire as part of his growing desire to expand his version of Islamic hegemony through alliances with Tunisia & Egypt via a conflict with both Syria and the Kurds?

Whatever Erdogan's motive, democrats, human rights activists and the trade union movement in Turkey must be supported against yet another clerical fascist regime.

Update: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-02/erdogan-reviled-as-autocrat-in-protests-clouding-presidency-bid.html

Promote HOPE not hate. Fight back against all forms of fascism!

The Hope not Hate organisation has arranged for the publication of a letter from Eddie Izzard in today's issue of the Daily Mirror to call on people everywhere, no matter what their background to oppose the marches of hate being organised by the misnamed English Defence League.

According to an e-mail I received this morning this has been counter-signed by 36,000 people.

Go to: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hope-not-hate-letter-mirror-1925188

Hope not Hate can be found at:

http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/


Peter Tatchell the veteran gay rights campaigner has issued the following statement with a call to the Unite Against Fascism organisation to take the threat of Islamist fascists seriously:

This was published at Harry's Place: http://hurryupharry.org/

The BNP & EDL claim to oppose Islamist extremist bigotry but in reality they generalise and abuse all Muslims. Many of their protests are menacing, even violent.

Islam is not the main problem. Islamist fundamentalism and violent jihad are what we should focus on opposing. It is important to make a clear distinction between Muslims and Islamist extremists. Don’t confuse the two. Unite to isolate the main threats: the Islamist far right and its BNP and EDL equivalents.

I support today’s Unite Against Fascism (UAF) counter-protest against the BNP. But UAF is not consistent. UAF commendably opposes the BNP and EDL but it is silent about Islamist fascists who promote anti-Semitism, homophobia, sexism and sectarian attacks on non-extremist Muslims.

This silence and inaction by the UAF is a shocking betrayal of Muslim people – abandoning them to the Islamist far right.

Islamist fascists want to overthrow democracy, establish a clerical dictatorship, suppress human rights and kill Muslims who don’t conform to their hard-line interpretation of Islam.

It is time the UAF campaigned against the Islamist far right, as well as against the EDL and BNP far right.