G8 at Gleneagles - counter demos

The Scottish and the G8 Frances Curran The Cid coming to Scotland has put As the only anti-capitalist party in the Scottish Parliament there is in onus on us to challenge the (ro. an opportunity to try to engage with poo- ple across Scotland about the politics of globalisation and to mobilise people onto the strects to ictively challenge Bush. Blair & (v. An umbrella organisation has been set up called (i8 Alternatives (Ci8A). It includes ourselves. the Circens. some NriOs. theit- tro groups and individual anti capitalist campaigners: it also has the support of in Scotland and the Scottish UNISON Trades Linion Congress. The Gi8 Aller- natives is organising the convergence contre. and an Alternative Summit and the demonstration on the oponing day of the Summit at Cilencagles. We will also have music and theatre events. Through the CiNd and the use of the press and the parliament wo havo boon raising the issues. The SSP sponsored a debate in the Parliament on the Cid. getting a mo- tion passed which upholds our right to assembly and to protest at Cilencagles. But this is only a part of our visibility: our youth organisation. Scottish Social- ist Youth (SSY) will front much of the party's action before hand - expect plenty ot direct action events and ad busting campaigns. The issues we are campaign- ing on are wealth incquality and porerty: targeting some of the multinationals who operate in Scotland. Tho Make Poverty History coalition will organise a hugo demonstration on Satur- day 2 July in Edinburgh and this will also help mobilise for the G8A cronts later in Edinburgh Theatre Workshop the wack. will be putting on a play: Black Sun Over Conoa. in one of the hig Edinburgh thea- tres. where we will welcome everyone on the Friday night. 2 Socialist Party Ho hase an Nternative Summit in Tidin- burgh on the Sunday d3 July) - with inter- national spoakers from the anti-capitalise movemen. The Free Party People. the World Development Movement. People and Planet and Dissent are some of the groups organising the muste ill venues icross the city On Monday A July we will hate it mass blockade of the Faslane Nuclear base organised by (ND and on Tuesday i miss protest in the Dungavel detention which incarcorates contre On Wednesday we march to sockers. Cilencagles. For the whole list of actions and events look at the CiNd website. ww1:g8altcrnatives.org.uk Wi have been able to use our position in the Scottish Parliament. together with the Circens. to challenge the media slant and the fear that the police and some other groups hase tried to whip up against the For tho Scottish Parliament protesters. to piss it motion upholding our rights to protest is quite important in negotia- tions with the police and Edinburgh City Council. We can also challenge through the Parliament any our mas cinent. access to ministers and to chiet occu- tives and senior ofticials of the Councils involved and to ministers in creating the infrastructure needed for mass protest. I beliere the SSY intend to more on from the Cis to launch a campaign on young Workers and low pay. The Cid leaders will tell us that the Western world has never in history hadsuch great prospority: Wi'll ho saying: Is that right? So where's the workers share of the global profits? Ho intend to host a mecting of Europcan anti-capitalist parties in the Scottish Par- liament in the dars botoro the Summit to discuss ideas and links and we will also host a rally of the socialist anti-capitalist left parties after the mass demo. come to the fore.' asylum attempt to discredit living in poverty. We have also had direet The Ba Shaun Cohen The crisis in the provision of pensions oping for some time. Whilst the remit of the Turner Commission of 2002, was to look at private pension policy inevitably the provision of pensions for public sector work- ers has come under close scrutiny. The attempts to change public sector pensions cannot be seen in isolation from the headlong rush to end 'defined benefit' and 'final salary' schemes in the private sector. As the Econo- mist noted on April 9, 'As private employers have stepped back from pension provision, the privileged status of public-sector workers has In 1991 there were 5.6 million workers in the private sector in final salary schemes: by 2001 this had been reduced to 3.8 million and it is still falling. In 2003 one in four final salary schemes closed. This was in part due to com- panies refusing to maintain schemes, which, as they see it, eat into their profits. With longer life expectancy and a volatile stock market, private employers can no longer rely on high equity returns to pay for rising pension costs. Pensioner poverty In the 1980s the Tories effectively attempted to privatise pension provision by both abandon- ing SERPS and cutting the link that pensions had previously had to average earnings, link- ing increases instead to inflation which was always much lower. As a result we have seen an increasing growth in pensioner poverty in Britain, the fourth richest country in the world, with half of the country's 5 million pensioners Despite these attacks the public sector has to date maintained its final salary schemes, vital to staff in the public sector. Whilst the Economist may talk about a privileged public sector the reality is that the average civil servant pension is f4,800 a year and that drawn by council workers is just under €4,000. It is miserly pensions, based on low wages, that lead to pensioners living in pov- erty and reliant on benefits. The attack on public sector pensions is not only caused by the perceived financial crisis facing both central and local government. The Finan- cial Times recently reported that local authori- ties had a shortfall of £30 billion, triple the deficit of four years ago. Some of that deficit is due to employers taking a break from paying their contributions in the 1990s when the stock market was riding high. At the moment centra.