The Plough Vol 03 No 10

The Plough
Volume 3, Number 10
8 December 2005

E-Mail Newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) The Irish Ferries Dispute
2) The Hard Edge of Our Apathy
3) Solidarity with Political Prisoners
4) Beyond Bars Conference
5) Press Statement: Groups Oppose Proposed Legislation
6) From the Newspapers
7) Letters
8) What's On

*******

THE IRISH FERRIES DISPUTE

The Irish Republican Socialist Party fully support the day of action
against Irish Ferries called for on Friday 9th December. We also call
for a boycott of Irish Ferries in solidarity with the workers. These
workers are currently locked in a dispute, which goes to the roots of
what the Trade Union Movement is all about. The dispute began back in
September when Irish Ferries announced it was looking to replace 543
Irish workers with foreign agency staff, who would be required to work
longer hours for much lower wages. This is known as out-sourcing and
is just a part of the overall economic liberal agenda that also
includes free trade and the wholesale privatisation of all publicly
owned assets.

The dispute escalated on November 24 when so-called security personnel
employed by Irish Ferries escorted Eastern European seafarers onboard
the 'Isle of Inishmore' in Pembroke and the 'Ulysses' in Holyhead,
Wales, leading to protests on both vessels.

Irish Ferries has put into action a deliberate plan to smash the
unions and give itself a free hand to ratchet up their profits over
the coming years at the expense of workers' livelihoods and working
conditions. Irish Ferries is valued at €228m. It made profits of €26m
in 2004 and has projected profits of €20m this year. The plan is being
spearheaded by Managing Director Eamonn Rothwell who took home
€687,000 last year alone! No low pay for him!

Furthermore, Irish Ferries intends to go ahead with the redundancies
regardless of talks. It has also stated its intention to re-flag its
vessels under the flag of Cyprus, which would mean it would not be
bound by 26 County laws to pay its employees the minimum wage. Bertie
Ahern, leader of the 26 County government, has said he cannot do
anything to prevent this despite that fact that article 91 of the UN
Law of the Sea states that a company using a country's flag must have
a link with that country.

The stance of Irish Ferries and the government is backed up by the
Independent group of newspapers owned by media mogul Tony O'Reilly.
This is the same group of newspapers that supported Dublin employers
during the famous lockout of Dublin workers in 1913 when the workers
were led by Jim Larkin and James Connolly. William Martin Murphy,
leader of the Employer's Federation who staged the lockout, called for
the execution of James Connolly after the 1916 uprising. His wishes
were granted.

"The group's industry correspondent, Gerry Flynn, was taken off the
Irish Ferries story after the ferry company denied a report he wrote
in the November 26 edition of the Irish Independent. The paper also
decided not to publish a column critical of Irish Ferries written by
staff journalist, Justine McCarthy. She was also told her weekly
column was to be dropped." (Saturday November 26, 2005, The Guardian)

Alf McGrath is the human resources director for Irish Ferries.
Coincidentally he is former director of human resources at Independent
Newspapers. There are other connections between the two companies.
Bernard Sommers is a director of Irish Continental Group (ICG), Irish
Ferries' parent company, and is also on the Independent's board.
Independent Chief Executive Vincent Crowley is a brother of ICG
director Peter Crowley. In addition, the Chairman of UTV is John B.
McGuckian who is also a non-executive director of Irish Ferries.

There is no doubt that this dispute is a defining moment for the Irish
Trade Union Movement. What is happening now is an attempt to roll back
the hard fought for rights and working conditions won by Irish workers
in the years since 1913.

This is a challenge that must be met head on. The stakes are high; a
victory for Irish Ferries would give the green light for wholesale
exploitation. What we are witnessing is the playing out of the
globalisation agenda, a world where the most vulnerable, in this case
migrant workers, are exploited and used to set one section of the
working class against the other. This is not simply an attack on the
workers of Irish Ferries but is an attack on the pay, conditions and
working time of every worker in Ireland.

(Sources: The Guardian / FifthInternational.org Global Newswire)

*******

THE HARD EDGE OF OUR APATHY
By Tomas Gorman

"What luck for rulers when men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler

Mr Hitler, I'm sure, would feel incredibly lucky if he was to witness
the level of political apathy manifest in today's Ireland.
Particularly here in the North where politics have been freshly
branded in the old sectarian way by the failed Good Friday Agreement.
Whilst new dynamics have been formed in the political landscape for
new elites to benefit, the ordinary working person is turning away
from what is essentially 'more of the same'. Whilst new, younger
voters are unexcited and perhaps even embarrassed about having to
identify themselves with either of the two opposing nationalistic blocs.

Sean McAughey's analysis, ("Those voting outside of the box are
overall winners" The Blanket 11-05-05) highlights the growing apathy
with which the 6 county population views the electoral representation
model of democracy. This revolt could be viewed as progressive if the
population were then in turn actively organizing for a participative
democracy model but this, sadly, isn't so. The 'apathetics' conscious
or sub-conscious decision to ignore the dark warning from Hitler
surely comes at a cost as its shadow casts not just over electoral
realms but rather permeates throughout our entire society as well as
most of the "developed world".

Ideally, democracy is about participation and being involved in what
goes on around us. So when ASDA-WALMART opened a store in West
Belfast, one would ideally expect that the local population would turn
their nose up at a supermarket chain that routinely exploits its own
workers as well as their suppliers (see Joe Zacunes piece on ASDA in
on ZNet http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=8886).

On the contrary, people continue to pack its aisles in search, many
out of necessity, for bargains. The local population are allowing the
corporatist nightmare permitting the worst forms of managerial
authoritarianism to creep in through the back door in return for lower
prices.

This insular culture of self-preservation, which is a direct result of
market economy, has made itself felt in many facets of our society;
for example, the escalating problems relating to our youth.

Belfast and Derry are experiencing a rapid growth in behavioural
defects amongst their youth that was witnessed in urban areas of
London, Middlesbrough and New York where a culture of community was
scarce. Back home, our communal culture is eroding rapidly in
conjunction with the rapid growth of an insular consumerist mindset,
which could be a cause of our youths' social ills. Meanwhile tabloids
such the populist Andersonstown News cries out in indignation about
these thugs/scum, etc. whilst devoting roughly 50% of its pages to
commercial advertising.

What is it going to take to jolt the local population and encourage
them to re engage with political issues that directly affect them?
History has shown that the only way to do so in capitalist society is
to affect the financial well being of the population. We are quite
plump in an economic sense hence there is no real scope for radical
political movements to gain a foothold in the public consciousness.
The various groups raising the crucial issue of water privatisation
have struggled to galvanise an organised response from ordinary
working class communities despite the huge ramifications of the
government's proposals. It is generally felt amongst the anti-water
tax groups is that the major reaction will take really place when the
first bills hit the front doors. Meanwhile the groups prepare as much
as possible in the face of this "last minute mentality".

Which is perhaps what the rest of us on the left can realistically do?
There is a general feeling amongst the IRSP that its role is to push
the radical socialist agenda as much a feasible whilst preparing the
next generation for the next turbulent era of the ongoing struggle.
In order to do fulfil the former duty the party along with other
groups require a media platform from which to espouse its analysis and
agenda.

Fortunately for us all there seems to be taking place what John Pilger
describes as a "News Revolution"
(http://www.antiwar.com/orig/pilger.php?articleid=8150) as a result of
which many of those wishing to seek credible "subjugated knowledge"
are turning to unrestricted and uncontrolled web based news and
comment sites for our information on local and global political
current affairs. The growth of these sites is tantamount to the
progress of radical political remedies for our societal rot and I long
for the day those groups like Indymedia, ZNet, etc. expand onto other
media realms such as the printed word and/or broadcasting. Until then
it is up to the left to do what we can to plea with our communities,
at a grass roots level as well as national and international level, to
prepare for the worst rather than have to deal with the worst when it
hits us hard.

The unsustainable beast of neo-liberal capitalism has those who
benefit most from it sweating anxiously about the predictions of a
global economic slump because of diminishing natural resources being
unable to prop up rickety oil based global economy. Financial experts
are predicting that oil production will peak in around 30-35 years
time and after that oil will simply rocket in price until its too
expensive for all of us to use and in turn the world economy, without
a replacement, will simply collapse causing extreme financial hardship
amongst the have nots throughout the entire world. What luck for
themselves if people actually did think and do something now before
our next generation suffers the hard edge of our apathy.

*******

SOLIDARITY WITH POLITICAL PRISONERS

On behalf of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement, the Irish
Republican Socialist Committees of North America issues the following
statement in support of the First International Day of Solidarity with
Political Prisoners. We send our greetings to all of the solidarity
events being held today as well as to all progressive or revolutionary
political prisoners.

Over the thirty-one years the IRSM has existed, members of the Irish
Republican Socialist Party and the Irish National Liberation Army have
been imprisoned by the British imperialist state and its lackeys in
the partitionist regime of Dublin for their role in the struggle for
national liberation and socialism in Ireland. They took part in all of
the prison struggles, from the blanket protests to the dirty protests
to the hunger strikes. Three members of the INLA -- Patsy O'Hara,
Kevin Lynch, and Michael Devine -- gave their lives on hunger strike
in 1981, along with seven members of the Provisional Irish Republican
Army, protesting the removal of their status as political prisoners of
war.

Whether they're imprisoned in America, Britain, Ireland, France,
Spain, Iraq, or anywhere else, Irish republican socialists stand in
solidarity with those progressives or revolutionaries imprisoned
because of their political beliefs or their politically motivated
actions against oppressive, imperialist states, recognising that those
struggles against oppression and imperialism are part of the same
struggle for human liberation that we're engaged in.

We would like to take this opportunity to call further attention to
the hunger strike being undertaken by Spanish political prisoners in
France. We stand with you, comrades, and we call on all progressives
and revolutionaries to also stand in solidarity with you.

We again call on the Dublin regime to free our comrade, Dessie O'Hare,
who is a qualifying prisoner under the early release scheme of the
Good Friday Agreement. According to the terms of the GFA, he should
have been released no later than 2000, yet he remains a hostage of the
Dublin regime. We say free Dessie O'Hare now!

In conclusion, as the IRSM boldly goes forward in our struggle for
socialism and the liberation of humankind from the shackles of
capitalism and imperialism, we stand in solidarity with progressive or
revolutionary political prisoners and prisoners of war and we condemn
the oppressive, imperialist states, which have them imprisoned.

Saoirse Go Deo! Freedom Forever!

*******

BEYOND BARS CONFERENCE

Danielle Ni Dhighe, a member of the Irish Republican Socialist
Movement who serves on the coordinating committee of the Irish
Republican Socialist Committees of North America, attended the Beyond
Bars conference at Fairhaven College in Bellingham, Washington State,
USA on Saturday, December 3rd. She led a workshop on Irish national
liberation and prison struggles and participated in a panel discussion
later in the day. Following is her report:

"I arrived at the conference after a 100 mile (160 kilometer) car
trip. The first event of the day was a play staged by former prisoners
showing what a normal day in the life of a prisoner is like. After the
play, various workshops were held in different rooms.

"The workshop I led examined the history of the Irish struggle for
national liberation, in particular the struggle of Irish political
prisoners within British prisons. It also covered some other
international prison struggles, such as the ongoing hunger strikes by
political prisoners in Turkey and France. The workshop was
well-attended and the participants seemed engaged with the subject
matter. At the end there was a Q&A session with the participants.
Afterwards, several participants thanked me for my talk and wanted
more information about the Irish struggle and the IRSM.

"Then I attended a workshop about the case of Chris McIntosh, an
anarchist and an environmentalist whom the US government charged with
an arson attack on a McDonald's Restaurant, an action that was jointly
claimed by the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front.
Despite there being only some property damage to an empty restaurant,
the US government initially charged him with terrorist offenses with a
penalty of a minimum thirty year sentence in a federal prison. Those
charges were based on the testimony of two known police informers.
Faced with that, Chris pled guilty to lesser charges with a penalty of
eight to ten years. The IRSCNA will issue a statement about his case
in the near future.

"After lunch, which was provided by the local chapter of Food Not
Bombs, I attended a workshop about colonisation and the current issues
of Native American prisoners. The workshop was led by Chrystos, a
Native American writer and lesbian activist, and her talk was very
informative.

"I finished up the conference on a panel with four other people,
including two former political prisoners -- Mark Cook, a former Black
Panther who served twenty-four years for his alleged participation
with the George Jackson Brigade, an underground leftist paramilitary
that operated in the Seattle area in the 1970s, carrying out at least
eleven bombings of government agencies and corporations (a local
police chief said at the time, "Is Seattle in for a Northern Ireland
episode?"); and Amin Odeh, a Palestinian who lived most of his early
life in a refugee camp near Bethlehem in the Israeli occupied West
Bank and was imprisoned in an Israeli military prison during the first
Intifada.

"The panel discussion brought home the reality that the struggles of
revolutionaries in and out of prison are ultimately part of the same
struggle for human liberation and building a mass struggle is of great
importance for enacting revolutionary change both locally and
globally. The panel as a whole also defended prisoners who committed
politically motivated violence in response to an audience question
about whether prisoners who committed violence should be considered
political prisoners.

"All told, it was an excellent conference and I thank the organisers
for inviting me to participate. I hope my talk gained further support
for the Irish struggle and that more people will support political
prisoners in general."

*******

PRESS STATEMENT: GROUPS OPPOSE PROPOSED LEGISLATION

Joint statement from Justice for the Forgotten, Relatives for Justice
and the Pat Finucane Centre

30 November 2005

A number of groups, which support victims and survivors, have spoken
out against the proposed NI (Offences) Bill. Relatives For Justice,
the Pat Finucane Centre and Justice for the Forgotten* have called on
the Secretary of State "to go back to the drawing board and
drastically rethink these proposals which show no consideration
whatsoever for the rights and needs of families who have lost loved
ones. This proposal is a complete non-starter."

The groups listed a numbers of concerns with the legislation which is
intended to make special provisions for all those accused of having
committed serious crimes before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

No allowance has been made for international involvement, as was the
case with prisoner releases, policing reform, decommissioning and the
talks process;

No proper provision is made for the involvement of relatives;

Decisions on what if any information should be provided to families is
discretionary;

The Secretary of State (SoS) will have the power to direct that all
information surrounding a certificate application be withheld from
relatives;

The SoS will have the power to direct that an individual who applies
for a certificate should remain anonymous;

The members of the Special Appeal Tribunal and the Special Prosecutor
will all be appointed by the SoS and are thus open to political
interference;

The SoS will have sole power to appoint the certification commissioner
who is thus open to political interference;

An applicant must supply any information or document required by the
commissioner but the SoS can direct that the PSNI withhold documents
and information from the same commissioner;

The SoS can also withhold information from the certification commissioner;

Speaking today RFJ spokesperson Mark Thompson said, "Together these
groups represent hundreds of families who have lost loved ones from as
far back as 1969 and as recently as last year, from throughout the
North, in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, in the Murder Triangle and
in hundreds of other individuals incidents. We are all united in
opposition to the present legislation. Let no-one be fooled; the
principal beneficiary is the British state. They drew up the
legislation and it is they who are pushing it through their
parliament. Two principles must apply.

"The rights and needs of families must be at the core of any proposal.
Relatives have a right and need to know the truth. This legislation
makes no allowance whatsoever for a truth recovery process linked to
certification.

"The only truth recovery process that will enjoy cross-community and
cross border support is one that has international involvement from
the outset. The NIO, security forces, prosecution service and
judiciary have been part of the problem and cannot be allowed to
determine the process alone. We need respected international figures
to be involved in making appointments and deciding procedures. We also
need respected international figures who themselves can be appointed."

Speaking on behalf of Justice for the Forgotten Margaret Irwin said,
"The Northern Secretary withheld documents and refused to give
evidence to an inquiry led by a former supreme court judge, Justice
Barron, in this jurisdiction. In doing so the NIO showed unbelievable
contempt for a senior judicial figure. How can we trust a process
totally determined by the Northern Secretary and the NIO? It's not
rocket science to figure out that the NIO will use the 'national
security' clause to close down anything that might embarrass them on
the Dublin and Monaghan bombings."

In a similar vein Paul O'Connor of the Pat Finucane Centre argued
that, "This legislation is a dream come true for the spooks at
Vauxhall Bridge (MI5 HQ). Had this legislation been in place in 1992
the Secretary of State could have withheld the name of Brian Nelson,
directed that the RUC, FRU and MI5 withhold evidence from the
prosecution and withheld all information regarding charges and
eventual prosecution from the Finucane family. The NIO cannot be
allowed to determine this process. It is part of the problem.

"We have seen the use of Public Interest Immunity Certificates,
anonymity rulings, evidence from behind screens and so called
'national security' in order to cover up the truth. If this
legislation goes through it will have profound implications for the
criminal justice and policing institutions for decades to come. A
chance to deal with the past honestly and fairly will have been lost."

END

Contact RFJ @ 02890 220100 info@relativesforjustice.org
PFC @ 02871 268846 info@patfinucanecentre.org
JFTF @ 003531 855 4300 1974bombings@esatlink.com

*Justice for the Forgotten represents the families of those killed and
injured in the 1972 and 1973 Dublin bombings and the 1974 Dublin and
Monaghan bombings.

*******

FROM THE NEWSPAPERS

*

London Independent
8 December 2005

Primark is Named as Least Ethical Clothes Shop
By Martin Hickman

Primark, the discount clothing chain beloved of bargain hunters, has
been rated the least ethical place to buy clothes in Britain.

Primark scores just 2.5 out of 20 on an ethical index that ranks the
leading clothing chains on criteria such as workers' rights and
whether they do business with oppressive regimes. Mk One and Marks &
Spencer were ranked second and third worst for ethics by Ethical
Consumer magazine.

Jigsaw and Matalan scored the highest ratings but researchers said
ethical standards were so low among the 27 high street clothing chains
surveyed that none of them could be recommended to shoppers with a
conscience.

Primark has become a fashion success story in the past two years and
now operates more than 120 stores in Britain and Ireland. During a
high street slump, it has built a reputation as a seller of
extraordinarily cheap garments and shoppers have besieged its new
stores, some of them bought from the collapsed Allders chain. Profits
soared by 30 per cent last year to £1bn, despite the retailing downturn.

Ethical Consumer, in its January/February edition published next week,
criticised the company for not having a code of conduct, selling
leather goods and "environmentally-damaging" PVC products and for
operating in an oppressive regime -- China.

The firm also scored badly because its owner, Wittington Investments,
performed poorly for environmental reporting and owned other companies
with negative ratings, such as the London department store Fortnum &
and Mason, which sells foie gras. Wittington Investments, owned by the
secretive Weston family, also owns Littlewoods.

"If people shop in Primark because the prices are low then they must
be aware that they are low for a reason," said Ruth Rosselson, a
spokeswoman for Ethical Consumer. "And they must start asking
questions: 'Where is this made? How do I know that this was made under
good conditions?' Then the companies will realise that people care."

Primark robustly defended its record and said there were a number of
inaccuracies in the assessment. Primark did have a code of conduct for
suppliers which was independently audited abroad, a spokesman insisted.

He said: "We buy our clothing from pretty much the same range of
suppliers and countries as everyone else on the high street. We do buy
a lot of clothing from China and that's something we do and everybody
else does as well."

The magazine said that, in general, fashion retailers seemed to be
locked into a "race to the bottom" by selling increasingly cheap
clothes made in low-wage economies with scant regard for workers'
conditions. It said the one positive development in the past three
years had been Gap's decision to provide details of any labour rights
violations in its supply chain.

The magazine said in an overview that there was far too little
accountability about from where and how clothes were produced.
Researchers toured the aisles of the shops to check labels and found
the origin of garments was missing at French Connection, Moss Bros and
Primark.

"The chances are that the goods on sale in high street shops will be
coming from less than desirable conditions," said Ms Rosselson.

"Companies often say that they are responsible but we want independent
auditors to go into factories and check. It's very unusual for us not
to recommend a company in the table but we have been unable to say
that any of these high street stores are an ethical place to shop".

The magazine suggests shoppers buy from charity shops, try vintage
clothing and seek out organic cotton. Conventionally farmed cotton is
treated with 10 per cent of the world's pesticides, which the
Pesticide Action Network estimates causes 20,000 deaths in the Third
World every year.

The magazine lists an alternative clothing directory that includes
firms such as Patagonia, Traidcraft, Natural Clothing and Footprint.

*

Searchlight Information Services
25 November 2005

Searchlight Acts to Stop Tesco Sale of Nazi Books
By Gerry Gable

Tesco, Britain's leading supermarket, has promised to stop selling
Nazi books following representations by Searchlight.

A Searchlight investigator was surprised and horrified to find a wide
range of hardcore Nazi and antisemitic literature for sale on Tesco's
website. The books included The Protocols of the Learned Elders of
Zion, a 19th century forgery that purports to prove that Jews plotted
to take over the world. The Protocols was one of the main weapons in
Hitler's propaganda campaign against the Jews, which laid the
groundwork for his "Final Solution".

The book is still a principal propaganda weapon of Nazis and other
antisemites and is normally only distributed by groups such as the Ku
Klux Klan, outright Nazis, a few Islamist groups and Holocaust
deniers. Tesco has a choice of three different editions.

Another staple text of Hitler's Nazis and modern antisemites is Henry
Ford's The International Jew. All its four volumes were on sale at
Tesco in a list of 22 books from the US far-right publisher Liberty
Bell. Other authors included George Lincoln Rockwell, leader of the
American Nazi Party until he was shot dead in 1967; Revilo P Oliver,
who was a US racist writer; Corneliu Codreanu, pre-war leader of the
Romanian fascist Iron Guard; and Harold Covington, a notorious US Nazi
and racist.

Britain's Nazis were over the moon when they found their favourite
books openly on sale. Posting a link direct to the Liberty Bell list
on Tesco's website, the administrators of the Nazi Blood and Honour
guestbook tried to justify buying from what Nazis see as a Jewish
company. "Great stuff," wrote "Admin", "so what if it's a yid firm,
we'd starve to death if we didn't put some money some yid's way at
least once in a while, who makes the profits on petrol for instance?"

Hardly able to believe their eyes, "Admin" continued: "These are all
NS [national socialist] books, besides the Henry Ford, RP Oliver
titles and those by Commander Rockwell, there's also Germany's Hitler
which shows his war record and why the Fuhrer REALLY won the Iron
Cross twice, because of his bravery on the battlefront and not the
Hollywood version. Worth buying and who cares if a kike is flogging
it. Amazingly they sell the Protocols as well!!!"

When Searchlight challenged Tesco, a spokesperson explained that any
book published in the UK was automatically listed. However the company
was taking this very seriously and was particularly concerned by the
link from the Nazi website. Later she told Searchlight that the
decision had been made to remove all books by Liberty Bell because of
the nature of their content.

We can perhaps pass over the fact that Liberty Bell is a US not a UK
publisher. But can Tesco be so naïve as to think it is acceptable to
sell any book that is published without any regard for whether its
content contravenes the law or is offensive?

Further research by Searchlight threw up a list of 106 books from
Steven Books. This British-based publisher and book distributor is a
front for Keith Thompson, the man who ran the elite hardline Nazi
group, the League of St George. Thompson also operates the booklists
for a number of far-right organisations including the November 9th
Society, whose leader, Kevin Quinn, was convicted at the Old Bailey in
November for possession of material likely to incite race hate.

The Steven Books list includes works by John Amery and William Joyce,
nicknamed "Lord Haw Haw". Both men were hanged a few months after the
end of the war for making radio broadcasts for Hitler –- Amery also
for recruiting British prisoners of war as volunteers for the British
SS unit the Legion of St George.

Three books are by Arnold Leese, the pre-war British Nazi leader, who
was imprisoned in the 1930s for his antisemitic writings and again at
the end of the war for aiding escaped SS POWs.

There are several books by Sir Oswald Mosley, the British fascist
leader, and titles by Jeffrey Hamm, who was interned during the war;
Kerry Bolton, a New Zealand Satanist; the American Nazis William
Pierce and Edward R Fields; A K Chesterton, founder of the National
Front, and even the lunatic Nazi Kenneth McKilliam. We could go on -–
all 106 books are hardline national socialist including many Nazi
classics. Most of them are so extreme that even the British National
Party does not sell them.

When Searchlight drew Tesco's attention to the Steven books list, the
spokesperson said the company would look into it as well. But despite
the company's assurance on Thursday afternoon that the books would be
removed, and an email to Andrew Gilligan of the Evening Standard at
5.30 on Friday morning stating that the books were no longer on sale,
at 11.00 this morning, three days after Searchlight brought the matter
to Tesco's attention, online shoppers were still able to place them in
their baskets.

The internet makes it very easy for businesses to sell a much wider
range of goods, which they buy in when orders are placed. Most of
these books are marked "Special order usually dispatched within 4-6
weeks", a reflection of the unreliability of the Nazi suppliers. At
this time of year the book entries are also tagged, "We cannot
guarantee delivery in time for Christmas", which may leave a few Nazis
disappointed when they open their Yuletide stockings.

But the nature of internet trading does not absolve a company from
responsibility for what it sells. And selling Nazi, racist and
antisemitic books is unacceptable and inexcusable.

Mark Gardner, Director of Communications for the Jewish Community
Security Trust, said: "It is inexplicable and shameful that Tesco is
selling hate literature. We expect that when they examine this
offensive material they will remove it from sale immediately."

Searchlight does not know exactly how these books got onto Tesco's
book lists. Perhaps there was a concerted effort by Nazis to order
these titles, which prompted Tesco to fulfil a perceived demand.
Whatever the case, Tesco and other internet book retailers must take
these books off their websites now and make sure they and similar
literature never reappear.

Tesco is not the only offender. Amazon is carrying material by Arnold
Leese as well as the Protocols. Steven Books appears to have cornered
the market in republishing some of the worst hate material that has
been around since the First World War. While these major and
respectable companies have allowed the sale of these books to tarnish
their image, Thompson is laughing all the way to the bank.

Meanwhile the BNP has been going bananas on its website over a
campaign to stop it trading via Paypal. The party claims it receives
thousands of pounds a month in donations, sales of merchandise and
membership dues through the international internet payments system.
Searchlight fired the first shot in this campaign some weeks ago when
we wrote to Paypal asking the company to enforce its code against
dealing in racist and offensive material.

*

The Register
23 November 2005

Lancaster MP Joins Debate About AUP
By Tim Richardson

Tory MP Ben Wallace has written to the boss of PayPal Europe over
concerns that the online payment service is being used to raise funds
for the British National Party (BNP).

The MP for Lancaster & Wyre was reacting to a campaign set in motion
by his local branch of Unite Against Fascism (UAF) which claims that
the BNP's extremist views breach Paypal's Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)
which states that "You many not use PayPal in the purchase or sale of
items or support of organizations that promote hate, violence, or
racial intolerance."

Activists want e-Bay-owned PayPal to pull the plug on the BNP's
account in a bid to dry up funding for the political party.

Lancaster UAF has already gained support for its campaign at a grass
roots level and is now turning to the net to help boost awareness.

"We've been busy emailing the universe at large about the campaign
against Paypal's support of the British National Party," said a
posting on its blog.

"Mails have gone out to the Campaign for Racial Equality, the Campaign
Against Racism and Fascism, the Board of Deputies, the Moslem Council
of Great Britain, Ken Livingstone and over two hundred MPs and MEPs
(all the ones we can find email addresses for, in fact) plus numerous
other organisations.

"Ben Wallace, MP for Lancaster and Wyre, has written to say that he's
written directly to Geoff Iddison, the Chief Exec of Paypal, asking
for his response to the concerns we expressed. Good stuff, Ben. We're
all looking forward to Iddison's reply."

Asked to comment a spokesman for PayPal said: "PayPal has no evidence
that the BNP is in breach of its acceptable use policy. However, as
with any organisation, were we to receive evidence this wasn't the
case or a breach had been made, we would review the situation."

A spokesman for the BNP dismissed the campaign saying: "We're supposed
to live in a democracy yet these people are not tolerant of a legally
registered political party."

In 2004 Barclays and HSBC closed the accounts of the BNP following an
undercover documentary by the BBC into the actions of the party. ®

*******

LETTERS

*

Dear Comrades,

Visit 1/888 T&G Branch Website at
http://www.one888truckdrivers.org.uk/newsblog.html

We are a lorry drivers branch and have set up a 9 nation 8 Trade Union
international organisation for truck drivers to get together face to
face to fight the threat of cheap labour in a way that also fights
prejudice and national chauvinism. You will see the material on our
website. The unions are from Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia,
Sweden, Germany, Rep. of Ireland and the UK, (the T&G are proud to
have members in the 26 counties + the 6 counties + the UK). We haven't
yet decided on a name although we have had 6 meetings in Lithuania,
Denmark, Sweden, the UK and Latvia. At the moment it is called "the
Baltic Drivers Project" because the Danish (3FS) (ex SiD) union raised
some money from the EU. I know it is doubtful if England is a "Baltic
Country" and Ireland is definitely not, but we are doing the work,
drivers meeting face to face to fight cheap labour, even if we haven't
decided on a suitable name!

*******

WHAT’S ON

*

Friday, 9 December

National Day of Protest against Irish Ferries

ALL WORKERS, REPUBLICANS SOCIALISTS should support the day of protest
on Friday, 9 December. The marches will take place in the following
centres

Dublin - Parnell Square, 1.30pm

Cork - Connolly Hall, 1.30pm

Limerick - Mechanics Institute, Hartstone Street, 1.00pm

Galway - Cathedral Car Park, 2pm

Sligo - Blue Lagoon, 2pm

Athlone - Golden Island Shopping Centre, 2.30pm

Waterford - Waterford Industrial Estate,1.15pm

Rosslare - Rosslare Harbour, 1.30pm


*

Friday, 9 December

AGAINST POVERTY, LOW PAY AND EXPLOITATION OF MIGRANT WORKERS

Demonstration in solidarity with workers in Irish Ferries And Against
the exploitation of migrant workers.

1.00pm on Friday 9th December

Rally outside the UTV offices

Havelock House, Ormeau Road, Belfast.

The Belfast and District Trades Union Council (B&DTUC) with the ICTU
have arranged a solidarity demo in Belfast for 1.00pm on Friday 9th
December outside the UTV offices, Havelock House, Ormeau Road, Belfast.

This venue has been chosen because the Chairman of UTV is John B
McGuckian who is also a non-executive director of Irish Ferries.

The issues at the core of this dispute are very serious and relevant
to us in Belfast. Overpaid Irish ferries directors are attempting to
exploit and abuse vulnerable migrant workers by using them to break
the union organisation and drive down rates of pay and conditions.
Please attend and circulate as widely as possible.

*

US delays response to wife's seventh visa request

Olga Salanueva is married to René González, one of the Miami Five. She
and her daughter, Ivette, have been denied access to the United States
to visit René for the past five years.

Olga and Ivette will be in Ireland in early December for a series of
meetings with Irish politicians and human rights activists, at which
Olga will give an account of the recent developments in the case and
seek support for her five-year campaign to be allowed to visit her
husband. It is hoped to combine this event with the showing of a film
on the Miami Five.

(from SOCIALIST VOICE, a monthly publication of the Communist Party of
Ireland)

*

Saturday, 17 December

The Dublin IRSP annual fundraiser for current POWs' dependents which
will take place on the 17th December at 8.30 in Saints and Sinners
Public House Dublin. Guest speaker Eddie McGarrigle of Teach Na Failte.

*

Saturday, 29 January

Bloody Sunday Commemoration
Glasgow 2006

MARCH & RALLY
SATURDAY 29TH JANUARY 2006, ASSEMBLE 11AM, SHAMROCK STREET, GLASGOW
CITY CENTRE, (RALLY POINT: ROYSTONHILL) SPEAKERS IN ATTENDANCE, ALL
WELLCOME

*******

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*

Support the IRSP

Standing Order Form

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Please pay First Trust Bank Andersonstown Branch, Belfast, and credit
to Irish Republican Socialist Party, A/C Number 70490021, Branch Code
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