The Bulletin of Socialist Youth July/August 2016

Arlene Foster had the nerve togive a lecture about Women inLeadership on the 23rd of May inQueens. This must have been or-ganised as cruel joke, as the ironyand hypocrisy of a bigoted DUPminister preaching about how farshe has come as a woman – whilesimultaneously denying womentheir rights is astounding.

The very idea of the First MinisterArlene, thinking that she has theright to give a super motivationalpresentation about how farwomen in Northern Ireland havecome makes me feel sick. Arlenedoes not understand what itmeans to be a woman or a younggirl struggling to be the personthey want to be because she isone of the people preventing it.The DUP are known for their reli-gious fundamentalist ideologyand beliefs of women as merevessels for reproduction. It is dis-gusting that they constantly tryand present her as a success forthe female sex.

Arlene Foster doesn’t representwomen. How can she representworking-class women when in

2014/15 she had a wage of£57,684.00 after tax and re-ceived a total of £65,553.00 inexpenses payments and balanc-ing charges, compared to theminimum wage at that time of£6.70 per hour for those over 21(now £7.20 for over 24s)? Howcan she represent young womenand girls when both her views andthose of her party date back tothe dark ages?

We young people have found our-selves in a dire situation where1/5 of us are unemployed andthose of us who can find workface ridiculously low pay and zero-hour contracts.- and what do weget? A dinosaur going to a univer-sity to talk about how great it isto live in this wonderful societywhere women have many an op-portunity to succeed in the work-force. While at the same timeimplementing huge austeritymeasures – destroying jobs andservices hitting women the hard-est.

The draconian stance the DUPhave taken on LGBT rights hasseen them go as far as undemoc-

ratically blocking marriage equal-ity. They along with Sinn Fein con-tinually deny women the right tochoose – even though the HighCourt has said the law here con-travenes human rights. Arlenedoes not represent these women.She doesn’t understand what itreally means to be a women inNorthern Ireland. She can give asmany inspirational speeches asshe wants but when it comes to it,she is one of the main people cre-ating more and more glass ceil-ings for working-class and LGBTyoung women along with thosefacing unwanted pregnancies,then she’s clearly unable to showus leadership. She’ll never trulybe ‘our’ Arlene.

Change is possible. We need amovement to defeat the Stormontdinosaurs whether they dressthemselves in green or orange. Itwas a movement of the working-class and oppressed which wonmarriage equality in the south. Itwas women workers going onstrike that won equal pay in law.We have to return to these tacticsto deliver real and lasting changefor the better in Northern Ireland.

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“My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother,or some darker people, or some poor hungrypeople in the mud for big powerful America,” hesaid at the time. “And shoot them for what? Theynever called me n****r, they never lynched me,they didn’t put no dogs on me, they didn’t rob meof my nationality, rape and kill my mother andfather. … Shoot them for what? How can I shootthem poor people? Just take me to jail.”Muhammad Ali is admiredthroughout the world notonly for his prowessas a boxer but hiswillingness tosacrifice his careerfor his principals.The United States ofAmerica being heldup as the champion offreedom anddemocracy was atwisted joke for theblack population whosuffered under slaverythen the “Jim Crow”racial segregation laws.Racism is endemicthroughout U.S society.Boxing reflected this also. When Jack Johnson, thefirst black heavyweightchampion, won the title in 1908,the radical Jack London (whowas unable to shed his ownracial prejudices) coined the

term ‘Great White Hope’ for a white to defeat him.Jim Jeffries, a previous champion who’d refused tofight blacks, came out of retirement ‘for the solepurpose of proving that a white man is better thana Negro’. Johnson inflicted a humiliating defeat onJeffries, despite the crowd chanting ‘kill then****r!’ Blacks celebrated across the US, but racist reaction wasout for lynchings. The worst rioting of the decadefollowed.Ali was radicalised by the oppression blackssuffered and sought to resist. He joined the

Nation of Islam, a radical blackseparatist organisation who tracedtheir roots back to Marcus Garvey's“Home to Africa” ideology. In 1967 Ali was sentenced to fiveyears in jail for refusing to accept the

draft, and the World BoxingAssociation (WBA) strippedhim of his title. Eventually, in1970, the conviction wasoverturned by the supremecourt and the WBA had toreinstate him. His opposition to War,racism and the willingnessto put his career on the linefor the sake of his principals

makes Ali an inspiration tothose today continuing tostruggle against racist policing,war and the poverty which isimposed on millions of Americansby this bankrupt system.m

uham

mad ali:

inspiration for st

ruggle

ORLANDO S

HOOTINGS:

STAN

D AGAINST HO

MOPHOBIA AN

D TERROR

Outrage followed the news that 50 peoplehad been slaughtered at Pulse Nightclub inOrlando. Globally messages of solidarity andprotest at the killings swept across as thenews came in. LGBTQ people correctly seethis as an attack on their entire communitycoming at a time when reactionaries of var-ious stripes have targeted them in manycountries. But the vast majority of peoplecoming onto the streets also oppose Islam-ophobia and large numbers of Muslims havestood in solidarity with the victims.The killer, Omar Mateen, was clearly influ-enced by Muslim fundamentalism and left amessage saying the attack was carried outin the name of ISIS although there is appar-ently no evidence that he had a direct linkwith them. There is also emerging evidencethat Mateen may have regularly frequented

the nightclub where he carried out the at-tack and that he had mental health issues.Donald Trump of course says the carnage inFlorida shows why Muslims should not be al-lowed to enter the country. This is part andparcel of the vicious xenophobia which hasbeen a key feature of his campaign. It is alsoutterly hypocritical for Trump and the Repub-licans to seek to use the attack on a gayLatino nightclub to their advantage giventhat they are the enemies of Latino andLGBTQ people. Trump wants to build a wallon the Southern border and mass deport allundocumented workers while making oneracist verbal attack on Latinos after an-other. The Republican Party in state afterstate has introduced vicious “bathroombills” aimed at trans people but also atLGBTQ people as a whole.In the coming days and weeks there shouldbe massive mobilizations uniting the labormovement, and progressive organizations insolidarity with the LGBTQ and Muslim com-munities. This is the most effective immedi-ate answer to Trump’s racist poison as wellas to Clinton’s warmongering. It will also bea crucial step in building the type of massmovement that can oppose and ultimatelydefeat the diseased capitalist system whichkeeps producing bigotry, war and terrorism.

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The United States is experiencingone of the most contestedelections in almost 20 years. Boththe Democratic and Republicanparties have candidates, BernieSanders, and Donald Trump,respectively, that have shaken theestablishment. It has and will alterU.S politics forever, for the better orworse. Donald Trump, a former lobbyist,celebrity and 'businessman', whohas bankrupted four of his owncompanies, as a result of his'successful' management skills asCEO, would be a disaster for the99% in America. He has said thathe would kill the families ofterrorists, build a wall betweenMexico and the U.S stoking theflames of racism and encouragingthe scape-goating of ethnicminorities.He has encapsulated an anti-establishment vote primarilyfrom sections of the whiteworking class who havebeen impoverished by de-industrialisation.He does nothowever offera solution. Hisparticularly

rabid form of right-wing populismplaces the blame for theseproblems at the heads of migrantsnot the billionaire class and theirsystem who crashed the economyand plunged billions into poverty. Bernie Sanders has become achampion of the left. He haslevelled a direct challenge to thesystem of the 1%. Sanders hascreated one of the largest grass-roots movements in the UnitedStates in just over a year. He beganas an obscure senator fromVermont - 40% behind Hillary in thepolls. Right in the belly of the beast ofinternational capitalism Sandershas invigorated 100s of 1000s tostruggle for change. He speaks thelanguage of the Occupy movement,talks of socialism and a politicalrevolution. He has become asymbol of hope for the millions ofAmericans stuck in the trap ofpoverty with no real future.Hilary's nomination cannot bethe death of this campaign. IfSanders chooses to confinehimself to the straight-jacketof the

(un)Democratic Party and notlaunch a challenge as anindependent to both parties of WallStreet he is betraying theaspirations of those who have sowntheir faith in him.There is a tremendous opportunityto build a 3rd Party in the U.S. AParty that is not simply a puppet ona string for Wall Street but standsindependently for the 99%. Such aParty would have to organicallyconnect with the struggles of theoppressed – linking up with theBlack Lives Matters movement,movements defending abortionrights and against sexism. Socialistpolicies are necessary to answerthe struggles of poverty. Capitalismhas failed. It has no answers to thiscrisis. We must fight for a socialistfuture.

Fed up of racism, sexism, sectarianism, homophobia and austerity?Socialist Youth is an anti-capitalist organisation run by and for young people sick of the fact that we are not represented anywhere. Wehave members from across the divide and actively oppose sectarianism. From fighting against sexism & for women’s rights, organisingagainst racist attacks, naming/shaming zero-hour contract employers, opposing wars, resisting education cuts and showing solidarityto workers fighting back; Socialist Youth is involved.We stand for real Socialism, which means running society for all peoples’ needs and not for the profit of the few. So much anger existsat the way the world is run that the potential to build a socialist movement for young people at the moment is massive. However, wecannot do this alone. If you are disgusted by the massive inequality of capitalism, if you are against the rise in racism and sectarianismgripping our society, if you are for a world free from exploitation, then join Socialist Youth!

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#keepcorbyn:fight for socialist politics!The biggest breath of fresh air inBritish politics, democraticallyelected as Labour leader on thelargest mandate of any politicalleader in recent history on thepromises of a new kind of politics– far removed from decades ofBlairism. Jeremy Corbyn hasdemonstrated that radical,socialist politics are on the rise.Since his election last year Labourmembership has sharplyincreased, the party being floodedwith tens of thousands of youngpeople hungry for an alternative.

Such was the political earthquakeof Corbyn’s election that a civilwar has been bubbling withinLabour since his appointment asparty leader. The right-wing‘Blairite’ faction that dominate theParliamentary Labour Party (PLP)have finally picked their momentto strike in the wake of the EUreferendum result; withresignations of the shadowcabinet and a no confidence voteof 172 MPs against him.

This ‘coup’- triggered by the right-wing capitalist media and a rulingclass fearful of a shift to the leftamongst Labour supporters andworking class has been a longtime coming.

Despite the misinformation onCorbyn’s record, fraudulentsignatures of Labourcouncillors on a lettercalling on Corbyn to stepdown and a mediabombardment there has

been a counter-movement of theleft to defend Corbyn spurred onby his opposition to austerity. Onjust 24 hours’ notice 10,000young people and trade unionistsorganised a rally in support ofCorbyn outside Parliament alongwith protests up and down thecountry – no other political leaderin Britain today could achievesuch a feat. Such a movementalong polls of Labour membersand 60,000 new members joiningthis week show Corbyn hasenough support of LabourMembers to survive this coup andwin an impending leadershipelection.

He should use a leadershipchallenge to further radicalise theparty towards the left and end thedays of ‘two parties within Labour’;pushing the right-wing austeritysupporting MPs out throughmandatory reselection of MPs orforcing the party to split.Corbyn himselfwas quoted inthe FinancialTimes thathe didnot

want to split but then added, "Butif necessary..." [it would]. In the coming weeks the questionof a split will become moreapparent, along with a morecombative Corbyn who now seemsmore spurred on the fight the rightwithin his own party. It is clear the‘two-party’ situation in Labourcannot continue indefinitely andwas bound to come to a head at acertain stage, if not over the EUthen on some other issue.

We say a split and move away fromthe right would be a welcome,positive development for thelabour movement. It wouldrepresent a complete break withthe discredited right wing and theformation of a new radicalworkers' party, which would in turnact like a magnet for workers and

youth looking for aserious struggleagainstcapitalism andfor socialism.

this article wasprinted on 1st july,

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