Issue 62: Resistance is Not Futile
Issue 62 of the Scottish Left Review explores what is being done to organise resistance to the impending cuts agenda and what more we can do.
Issue 62
Resistance is Not Futile
Jan - Feb 2011
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Comment: Issue 62
In recent years we have seen the British State at work abroad and we think we are familiar with how it operates when it establishes itself in foreign lands (although few of us can really appreciate what the horror of this work looks like abroad).
How Do We Resist?
Trade unions may not yet be the public face of resistance to the cuts in Britain, but it is not too late. By building on the start made by students and anti-tax avoidance campaigns, Mark Serwotka argues that the unions can seriously challenge the cuts agenda.
Resisting the assault on care
Martin Sime argues that the voluntary sector can play a major role in resisting cuts which affect the most vulnerable, but that the left must take a more thoughtful look at the issues faced at the margins of the state. Will voluntary organisations be in the vanguard of those resisting the cuts? And what, exactly […]
The war that is coming
The managerialisation of local government means it is fanciful to imagine it will resist the cuts like it did in the 1980s. But Vince Mills argues that this does not mean the battle is over. There is, according to military pundits, always a danger that we fight the wrong war, in the sense that we […]
Beyond usual boundaries
Stephen Smellie argues that trade unions must run a political campaign and not just seek to protect member interests, which means reaching out beyond the unions. But he warns that this may not be as easy as it seems. All across Scotland Councils, Health Boards, non-departmental public bodies and community and voluntary sector organisations are […]
The Scotland Bill is Broken
If the Scottish Parliament uses its tax powers successfully, it loses money. If it doesn’t use its tax powers successfully, it loses money. Given that Jim and Margaret Cuthbert already pointed out this serious flaw, why is it still there? The Scotland Bill, which is intended to implement many of the proposals stemming from the […]
Road to ruin
David McVey has discovered that the M74 extension is running even further over budget than has been reported and that the promised public transport improvements have been negligible. Here he asks why is no-one else asking these questions? The M74 Northern Extension, said, mile-for-mile, to be Europe’s most expensive urban motorway, is fast approaching completion. […]
City of no children
The horror of the effects of depleted uranium deserve to be heard in Scotland, argues Bill Wilson It was recently reported that doctors had advised women in Fallujah not to give birth. There are many medical reasons for infertility which might shatter the dreams of a young woman. It is not difficult to imagine how […]
The other end of Europe
Continuing our post-financial crash series on small countries around the world, Hamish Kirk looks at the recent history of Bulgaria. When Romania and Bulgaria were accepted as the newest (and last?) states to be accepted into the EU what did we at the other end of Europe know about them? Even amongst those who follow […]
Reviews 62
Beyond The Last Dragon: Life Of Edwin Morgan James McGonigal, Sandstone Press, £24 99 – reviewed by Donny O’Rourke Edwin Morgan, who died in August at the age of ninety, quickened the cultural life of Scotland more than any poet since MacDiarmid. This was, to some extent, a matter of longevity. ‘Laureateship’ played its part […]
Web Review 62
Educate ANIMATE Organise Well it’s “bliadhna mhath ur” to all our readers. Now we have a real Tory government, the type of rule that Blair really wanted, it must be time for us to support and study the actions of comrades world wide to crack the Tory–Liberal Orange Book ideologues within the next twelve months. […]
Kick Up The Taloids
Serial Killer Shovel Freak-Out As 2010 started with the worst winter the UK has experienced since the last time we had a right-wing Tory government, Britain entered the year snowbound and with the prospect of the coming year bringing us a right-wing Tory government. By the time you read this, of course, the snow may […]