Letter sent to West Lothian courier on Saturday's anti-cuts demo in Edinburgh

Last Saturday’s demonstration in Edinburgh against the welfare cuts announced by the coalition Government was a damning indictment against both Labour and SNP. Neither party had a meaningful presence at the demonstration since they both agree with the principle of the cuts differing only with their severity and speed of implementation.

However the Scottish Socialist Party had a significant presence with party members from all over the country in attendance. We organised a street stall with thousands of people signing our petition, taking party literature and talking to party members. The majority of people welcomed our alternative approach to the impending cuts.

As witnessed on Saturday the people of Scotland are opposed to these draconian cuts and the Scottish Socialist Party will be at the forefront of the campaign promoting our Socialist alternative for the people of Scotland.


MORE PHOTOS FROM THE DEMO. 

Letter sent by west lothian branch to local newspapers on upcoming cuts.

This week the full extent of the proposed Tory-Lib Dems cuts deemed necessary to deal with ‘the economic mess inherited from the previous Labour Government’ have been revealed for ordinary working class and middle income families to ponder.

Prior to the announced cuts, thousands of jobs, both in the public and private sectors, have already been lost as a result of the economic crisis provoked by the perceived need for the Government to bail out several banks on the brink of bankruptcy to the tune of £350 billion.

However, this latest “crisis of capitalism” can and should be dealt with in a different manner from the Labour, Tory, Lib Dem and SNP politicians who all agree that cuts have to be made to reduce the budget deficit and level of national indebtedness but only disagree on the timetable for said cuts which will result in further job losses, more repossessed houses and reduced living standards.

The truth is there are plenty of alternatives for dealing with the debt crisis that avoid the need to curtail essential services and jobs in the public sector. These include shutting off tax avoidance and evasion schemes used by wealthy companies that cost this country over £100bn annually; taxing the huge profits amassed by the banks and the obscene bonuses given to their top employees; scrapping Public Private Partnership schemes to build our schools, hospitals, prisons and roads at a greatly inflated cost to the tax payer; withdrawing our troops from the senseless war in Afghanistan; and cancelling plans for the multi-billion replacement for the ageing Trident submarines which would not only be beneficial to national finances but also serve to promote the cause of nuclear disarmament and reduce the threat of global annihilation.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has given notice that the pain and suffering via cuts in services and job losses already endured by many working people in the wake of the current economic crisis are to be amplified and extended much more widely. He claims that his proposed course of action to deal with the budget deficit and national debt is in the ‘national interest’. Not so when there are perfectly viable alternatives that avoid hardship for the vast majority of citizens.

Colin Fox's letter to The hearld on The war in Afghanistan

Afghans do not want British and American forces to continue occupying their country!!

By party co-spokeperson

Colin Fox

David Pratt is correct when he writes: “We are losing the war in Afghanistan … the mission is lost” (“Now civil war looms for the lost cause that is Afghanistan”, The Herald, September 17).

The reasons for this defeat have been obvious for some time. Uppermost among them is the fact that the US and Britain are occupying a country which doesn’t want us to be there. The majority of Afghanistan’s 33 million citizens now see British and American soldiers as armies of occupation. The origins of this lie in Tony Blair’s decision to invade Afghanistan in 2001, claiming it was responsible for the 9/11 twin towers attacks. He knew then that Afghans were not involved. So Britain invaded a country guilty of no crime, has occupied it for the best part of a decade and some 50,000 innocent Afghan civilians have been killed.

The insurgency is winning in Afghanistan because Britain and the US alienated the population by installing a corrupt, illegitimate and despised puppet regime with Hamid Karzai at its head.

All the polls here highlight the lack of confidence the UK population has in the political leaders as 75% want to see the troops brought home. Our soldiers will continue to die until the discredited Afghan army and police can take over. Yet there is, in reality, no such thing as a national army or police force in Afghanistan – only militias and paramilitaries loyal to warlords who pay their wages.

David Pratt is right to suggest that Britain’s legacy to Afghanistan will be the same civil war which followed the Soviet withdrawal of the 1980s.

If Afghanistan is to prosper as a democratic and stable country, the future rests with people like the remarkable Afghan MP Malalai Joya, one of the few actually elected. She campaigns for a democratic, multi-ethnic Afghanistan and she asks of people who share her vision that we first of all withdraw foreign forces.

Colin Fox,

HUGO CHAVEZ

HUGO CHAVEZ ON THE BBC's HARDtalk!!!!!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH CHAVEZ INTERVIEW ON BBC IPLAYER