Tribute to Nelson Mandela

6th December 2013 Socialist Action 0

Every socialist and progressive person will mourn today for the loss of Nelson Mandela.

The struggle he waged was against the greatest inhumanity to afflict the post-war world: the existence of a state where black people were treated as little more than cattle, racially segregated in every aspect of life, confined by pass laws, forcibly removed from traditional homelands, imprisoned, beaten and often killed, denied any democratic voice, banned from protest, forbidden to marry as they chose, under-educated through the ‘Bantu education’ system, subject to discriminatory taxes and denied South African citizenship including the right to a passport.

Osborne puts energy company profits before saving lives and the climate

6th December 2013 Socialist Action 0

By Bridget Robertson

Rising energy bills mean that a quarter of the population of Britain now has to spend more than 10 per cent of their income on energy, at the same time as energy company profits have increased by 77 per cent in one year alone.

This has meant thousands of households are being forced to choose between heating and eating as the Tory assault on living standards takes its toll. However, for the vulnerable the consequences are even more serious. Last winter 31 000 people died prematurely, with around a third of those deaths attributable to living in a cold home.

A glimmer of hope from Warsaw – another failed climate summit

4th December 2013 Socialist Action 0

By Christina Prentice

Anyone keeping one eye on the UN climate negotiations in Warsaw could be forgiven for concluding that the, now routine, spectacle of international bickering is messy but, on the whole, is guiding the world to hold back climate change. Politicians attend, they tell the world’s media that there have been difficult negotiations – even staying up all night. And at the last minute a deal is struck and we are told there has been great progress. It’s all a sham of course.