https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0rWv6hayP0
Saturday, January 14, 2023
Striking UK ambulance workers speak
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/01/12/amin-j12.html
“I want to see us come together saying we need to go beyond these piecemeal, one-day strikes, half-day strikes in a general strike”
Our reporters
a day ago
World Socialist Web Site reporters spoke with striking National Health Service (NHS) ambulance workers Wednesday. Ambulance workers in Wales will strike next Thursday, and in England and Wales on January 23.
Manchester
Ambulance worker Allan said, “I’m really passionate that the NHS is run for the people of Britain who need the service. I’m passionate that the NHS doesn’t disintegrate. I want to bring this to the attention to the public. I want them to see it on the TV. I want them to read it in the newspapers. And not just about how many percentage points of the pay rise we’re going to get. I want people to know what the real issues are. I want them to know that the NHS, the transport infrastructure, education system in this country is significantly at risk, because it is being seen as a cash cow. It’s been seen as a way of creating money for the government and companies.
“As a trade unionist, I want to see us come together saying we need to go beyond these piecemeal, one-day strikes, half-day strikes, in a general strike. This isn’t just a group of people who are looking out for themselves. We will come together to make sure that we can exercise the power that is ours and is rightfully there to affect how this country is run. It should be run by us and for us.”
Rotherham
At Rotherham General Hospital, there was a lively picket of over 20 ambulance workers. Mick, who has worked for the ambulance service for over 20 years, is a bank (supply) worker and also works for the Yorkshire Fire Service.
“I am on strike to defend our working conditions and to make them better. The conditions are not good. There are long waits for patients and handovers. And to protect our own welfare and better pay so we don’t have to rely on overtime and have to go to food banks or ask friends for help as that is what is happening. There is so much more demand on the service. We are not just an ambulance service, we are social workers, we are security workers.
“In the ambulance service we have three main unions, Unison, Unite and GMB. We need to work together. There are different start times for strike action across the unions and on different days. We must have coordinated action as it causes a lot of stress and anxiety with members thinking they have to cross picket lines when we are on the same side.
“I disagree with the anti-union laws. I went to parliament in December, talking to politicians. They were all telling us that they were for us and their door is always open. but then said there is nothing there in terms of pay.
“The government says our strikes aren’t safe. Today we have ambulances waiting to take calls. It’s not us putting lives at risk, it is the government, through their cuts. They could have prevented this if they gave us a decent wage rise we can live off. The government won’t back down and this will continue throughout the country, across other sectors like the rail.
“I also work for the Fire Service and we are balloting. We will be all out. All the trade unions should come together and organise a general strike and fight this government. We were there for the pandemic, but clapping doesn’t pay our bills. All we want is decent pay and better conditions and patient safety and care.”
Huddersfield
Alan, an ambulance driver at the Huddersfield station, said, “I love my job. I have been doing it 20 years; I like meeting people, I like helping people when they need it. The job has diversified over the last 20 years. From being an absolute emergency cover we have to cover a variety of mental health issues, which is now becoming a very big thing. But there is a limit to what we can take on and do effectively.
“We are prehospital and very limited as far as a doctor is concerned. We are paramedics. We do three years when we pass our test and become competent and learn our craft on the job.
“The pandemic was a big shock having to wear masks and goggles, gloves and aprons while looking after ourselves and our families. A lot in the public sector thinks Covid has gone but it hasn’t. The government wants to sweep it under the carpet.
“[Business Secretary] Grant Shapps is a nightmare. He reminds me of Emperor Nero. While Rome burns, he fiddles.
“I don’t think the new anti-union laws will be accepted. It is like they want to get us back to Victorian times where we don’t have a right to withdraw your labour, which is a democratic right.
“This is an ongoing campaign. The number of staff per patient has gone down. Staff that have been here for 30 years are leaving. You can’t lose that much experience. It seems we are on a war-footing. It’s a stark contrast to how we were a couple of years ago when Boris stood outside Number 10 giving all the key workers a round of applause.”
Bradford
Lucy explained, “I work for patient transport (PTS) and I have been doing this job for eight years. I am out on the picket line to support my colleagues. We deserve more pay. We get peanuts for what we do, the abuse we have to put up with, the responsibilities. And then all of the headaches that come with the job.
“Myself and colleagues shouldn’t have to be worrying about finances, how we will be able to pay for the mortgage, put food on the table for ourselves and our kids. That obviously has an impact on your job because you start bringing your personal life to work. Finances are a big issue because everything has gone up: fuel costs, food prices, mortgages, gas and electric. That is the last thing that you should be thinking about when you are doing what we do.
“We shouldn’t have to have food banks! You should be able to go to the supermarket and do your shopping on your wage. Instead you’re thinking, oh I’ve got £50 and I can’t go over as I’ve got to pay for the mortgage, or put fuel in my car so I can go to work. If not there are less crews out there on the road and it is the ripple effect this is having on people.
“I love what I do but it is very draining, physically and emotionally. My colleagues on the emergency rigs are suffering from PTSD and having to go off sick because they can’t get treated.
“You’re waiting so long for an ambulance that when you get to the hospital and you want to book them into A&E, colleagues are waiting 6, 7 or 9 hours. The situation is spiralling out of control.
“People need to speak up because the longer it goes on, the worse it’s going to get. I don’t think the laws about minimum service are going to go down well. We should be so grateful that we have the NHS. Those in power have private healthcare, but us workers would die without it. I’d be interested to see if you took ¾ of MPs’ wages from them and they were made to live on that, like us, and see how they fare.”
Tom said, “I don’t imagine it will be settled anytime soon. Usually strike action takes the form of ‘We want these conditions, we want this to change.’ The government says ‘no’. We strike and then it’s negotiations. This time they say we shouldn’t be allowed to do that. That’s what the new anti-strike Bill is trying to do, to limit our ability to strike in future. Their line is that it’s unsafe, but it’s been unsafe for many years. We’ve had a much-delayed response and we’re finding people dead at home after originally calling with medical conditions that on paper seem treatable.
“A month ago, I had a Category 2, which is supposed to have a response time of 18 minutes. It took us an hour and forty-five minutes and the patient had been dead for 20 minutes before we got there. We spent about 45 minutes outside the previous patient’s address trying to make referrals so that they weren’t at a high risk of falling. There aren’t enough staff. It’s heartbreaking.
“Everyone in the NHS feels we are understaffed and under-resourced. You’ve got one person doing three-or four-people’s workload and that becomes the norm. We are expected to carry on like that. The pandemic didn’t help. No one wants to join because it’s such a stressful environment across the NHS.”
Friday, January 13, 2023
The Golden Globes dominated by the US war drive and identity politics
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/01/13/knqz-j13.html
David Walsh
19 hours ago
This year’s Golden Globes awards ceremony provided another platform for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, in a taped message, to offer a lying defense of the US-NATO war, which threatens to turn into a global conflict between nuclear powers.
The Hollywood establishment, firmly in the pocket of the Biden administration, did what it could Tuesday to delude and confuse the annual award ceremony’s viewing audience (one of the lowest in Golden Globes history). Wealthy portions of the American middle class, represented at the event by actor Sean Penn, who introduced Zelensky, have made the anti-Russian war their particular crusade.
Penn, having shifted from anti-war opponent under the Bush administration in 2003 to pro-war fanatic, made nearly incoherent remarks. The actor indicated he was proud that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), who stage the Golden Globes annually, had seen fit to encourage the “highest aspirations” of filmmaking by having those aspirations “share this stage tonight with a very real world example of that which inspires film’s creation.”
In fact, Zelensky is a stooge of US and European capitalism, a front man in their war drive against Russia, aimed at advancing their vast geopolitical ambitions. He presides over a regime infested by fascists and neo-Nazis that has declared war on democratic rights in Ukraine and overseen the vast impoverishment of the population.
After paying tribute to the opposition in Iran and the “women’s movement” in Afghanistan, Penn claimed that “the freedom to dream is not simply a human luxury, but rather a human need that must be fought and sacrificed for.” He went on, bizarrely, “If the freedom to dream were a spear, I proudly present a human being who tonight represents that spear’s most honed tip,” i.e., Zelensky.
In his own brief comments, Zelensky pointed to the birth of the Golden Globes in 1944, asserting that the “Second World War wasn’t over yet, but the tide was turned. All knew who would win. There were still battles and tears ahead.” Zelensky did not point out that many of the Ukrainian nationalist forces, whose political descendants form part of his regime today, were openly and actively on the side of Hitler’s forces, collaborating in the unimaginable crimes of the German military.
The Ukrainian president went on to claim that in 2023 “the war in Ukraine is not over yet, but the tide is turning, and it is already clear who will win.” The well-heeled crowd in Los Angeles broke into applause at this point. Likening the world political situation to an awards program, Zelensky commented that “I can definitely tell you who were the best in the previous year: It was you, the free people of the free world, those who united around the support of the free Ukrainian people in our common struggle for freedom and democracy.”
This is obscene. “Freedom and democracy” for the “free people of Ukraine” as defined by the White House, the CIA and the Pentagon: in alliance with fascists, submitting to the dictates of American imperialism, participating in the proposed dismemberment of Russia and helping pave the way for an even more cataclysmic war with China.
Zelensky promised his audience that while the “First World War claimed millions of lives” and the “Second World War claimed tens of millions of them,” there would be “no Third World War. It is not a trilogy: Ukraine will stop the Russian aggression on our land.”
The reference to the danger of a Third World War and the empty pledge to prevent it are tacit acknowledgments that the ongoing war is not popular in the US or anywhere else, and that fear about its inexorable expansion grips growing numbers of people.
Every aspect of Zelensky’s appearance was cynical. His reactionary propaganda was forced on the viewing audience, and those in attendance, who had no choice in the matter. Again, however, recognizing that support for the war was not widespread, the entertainment media made as little as possible of Zelensky’s presentation. Remarkably, in the face of what was widely reported as a “historical,” “powerful” speech, much of the media ignored the Ukrainian president’s presence in its coverage of the Golden Globes. In its extended “highlights” of the event, Entertainment Tonight, for example, omitted his speech entirely!
Zelensky has previously appeared via recorded messages at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and the Grammy Awards.
The other dominant feature of the Golden Globes this year was race politics. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association was the target of a largely manufactured controversy in 2021 when it came under attack for its lack of “diversity.” As a punishment, NBC refused to broadcast the 2022 ceremony.
Desperate to get back into the good graces of the identity politics crowd, the HFPA has expanded its membership and recently partnered with the NAACP on a five-year plan named “Reimagine Coalition.”
The HFPA has about 105 members from 55 countries who cover the entertainment industry for media with a combined following of some 250 million people.
One of the outcomes of these sordid goings-on was the hosting of this year’s Golden Globes by comic Jerrod Carmichael, who delivered a tasteless, vulgar opening monologue. “I’ll tell you why I'm here. I'm here because I’m black,' Carmichael commented. “The Golden Globe Awards did not air last year because the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which I won't say they were a racist organization, but they didn’t have a single black member until George Floyd died. So, do with that information what you will.”
In the course of his monologue, Carmichael referred, astonishingly, to the fact that he was receiving $500,000 for the one night’s work!
On the whole, the organizers did everything in their power Tuesday night to emphasize race and gender.
The American media enjoys asserting that such ceremonies, with attendees coiffed and dressed to the nines, glittering and shimmering with rented diamonds, display Hollywood and the entertainment industry “at their best.” The opposite is generally the case. Such awards programs, organized by and under the thumb of massive corporate interests, designed to deaden the consciousness of the participants and those watching them, bring out and encourage the very worst instincts—above all, prostration before wealth and celebrity.
Nonetheless, in spite of the deplorable political aims and mercenary commercial interests at work, a number of worthy individuals, films and series were nominated for awards this year. A few of them even won.
Cate Blanchett deservedly won for best actress in a drama for her performance in Tár, as did Amanda Seyfried for best actress in a limited series or television movie for The Dropout. Jennifer Coolidge took home the prize for best supporting actress in a limited series or television movie for The White Lotus, and the latter received recognition as best limited series, anthology series or television movie. Malaysian-born, Hong Kong-based Michelle Yeoh was honored as best actress and Vietnamese-born American actor Ke Huy Quan as best supporting actor for Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Other prominent winners included The Fabelmans (awards for best dramatic film and best director for Steven Spielberg) and Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin (best musical or comic film, best screenplay [McDonagh] and best actor in a musical or comedy, Colin Farrell).
Abbott Elementary received the award for best television musical or comedy series, and its creator and lead performer, Quinta Brunson, took the honor for best actress in such a series. Tyler James Williams won the award for best supporting actor in a television series for the same program. House of the Dragon won for best television drama series. Austin Butler was named best actor in a drama for his performance in Elvis.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio was honored as best animated film, and Argentina, 1985 (Santiago Mitre) won in the best non-English language film category (over Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front).
The 95th Academy Awards, hosted by comic Jimmy Kimmel, is scheduled for March 12.
“Two World Wars are enough! Stop the warmongers!”: Socialist Equality Party puts up over 6,000 election posters across Berlin
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/01/13/haxa-j13.html
Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei
20 hours ago
The Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party, SGP) has put up a total of 6,000 posters and several larger placards for the Berlin state election on lampposts across Berlin in recent days. The SGP is therefore now visible throughout the German capital as the only party counteracting the hated war policy and social devastation that is being promoted at the federal and state levels.
“We deliberately aimed our poster campaign at making the Socialist Equality Party known as an anti-war party among broad sections of the population,” explained Christoph Vandreier, the lead candidate and chairman of the SGP. “On February 12, Berlin residents will have the opportunity to say no to war and no to attacks on social spending by voting for the SGP. That’s the point our placards are making.”
A central theme on the posters is the fight against the return of German militarism and the war in Ukraine, which the NATO powers are constantly escalating, threatening to trigger a nuclear world war. “Two World Wars are enough! Stop the warmongers!” declares one of the posters, underscoring the historical issues that are once again coming to the fore. “Vote for the SGP! Vote against the parties of war!”
Another poster bears the slogan “Stop the War” in Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Arabic and English. It underlines the fact that a nuclear world war can only be prevented by an international movement of the working class. “The SGP, together with its sister parties in the International Committee of the Fourth International, is building a worldwide socialist movement against war and its cause, capitalism,” the SGP declared in a statement.
The poster with the slogan “100 billion for health and education instead of rearmament” refers to the special fund approved by the federal parliament for the German armed forces (Bundeswehr), which is the largest rearmament program since Hitler. At the same time, kindergartens, schools and hospitals are being devastated by budget cuts and workers’ wages are being decimated by horrendous inflation. A poster that declares “Expropriate: landlord sharks, energy companies, war profiteers,” presents this policy in connection with the socialist perspective of the expropriation of the big banks and corporations and placing them under democratic control.
Finally, a sixth poster campaigns for the central election rally being held by the SGP on February 4 at Potsdamer Platz with the slogans “Stop the rearmament! Stop the war in Ukraine!”
The posters are part of an intensive election campaign led by members and supporters of the SGP across the city and online. The campaign includes regular anti-war rallies in different neighbourhoods, information tables where thousands of discussions are being held across the city, and daily reports, statements and videos on the World Socialist Web Site.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)