INSIDER DEALER I WAS extremely sorry to see Jacques Attali, who has received a £150,000 pay-off from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, rumbled after a two-year ride on the gravy train.
Established in April 1991, EBRD has so far spent E200 million on kitting out its super de-luxe London offices and running costs, and only half that amount on what it was supposed to do, namely helping eastern Europe get back to capitalism. ing private jets to destinations well served by scheduled services.
On one of the few occasions he slummed it he was reimbursed twice for the same first class trip to Tokyo. in addition. he ran up what were called 'significant amounts of private expenditure on his corporate credit card.
His dismissal was most unfair. After all, if they sacked every executive who fiddled his expenses, there would be damned few business leaders left. Tough luck old boy, although the golden handshake should tide you over until you come up with another number. A PANAMANIAN-flag gas tanker, in Uk waters recently. displayed a notice from the skipper to the crew headed "Filipino Feeding Scale'.
It read as follows: 'Gentlemen, please find below the feeding scale which has been given to me by the UK caterng agents. You will find you are being grossly overfed at the present time and I will be requiring the cook to work closely to this scale.' It went on to list what the ratings were entitled to every week - four kilos of rice, 0.75 kilos of fish etc. Underneath the captain added: What is being served in the officers' mess is of no concern to you. If you feel you are not being served the amount on the scale please fell free to speak to me.
Naturally, I instantly slapped a buy recommendation on shares of the comBillion dollar men AS THE continuing revelations over Conservative Party funding have mercifully dried up of late, it's probably safe to let you Trot bastards in on a bit of gossip.
The Kuwait Investment Office's Spanish operation is currently under investigation by the Kuwaiti parliament atter mysterious losses of a trifling $5,000 million. As part officials are claiming that some £200 million was used to buy political support in the West after the Iraqi invasion in late 1990. JUDICIOUSLY-placed back manueis ensured tal key votes on the United Nations security council went the based, you ask? Why, London, naturally.
Meanwhile i hear it said that the Omani government's likely move to save Swan Hunter shipyard by chipping in with an order for four motor boats may not be entirely unconnected with past arms contracts secured by one Mark Thatcher, son of the Glorious Leader herself. I'll keep you posted. MICHAEL Stoney, former treasurer of Mirror Group Newspapers, has been arrested and charged with conspiracy to defraud and false accounting over his role in the Maxwell affair.
The conspiracy to defraud charge alleges that Mr Stoney conspired with Kevin to defraud MGN by obtaining a E50 million revolving credit facility from Bankers Trust Company in the name of MGN, but then diverted the proceeds.
Two false accounting charges allege that he cooked the MGN books by the omitting of, the receipt of £50 million on 21 October 1991.
Stoney was remanded on conditional bail with a single surety of £50,000. He his passport, but allowed to take a one-month family holiday in Miami.
Card sharp GERMANY'S far-right RepubFikaner Partei faces legal action from the country's state-owned telecom company after illegally selling 5,000 phone cards bearing a portrait of its leaders, Franz Schoenhuber. Issued to mark Schoenhuber's 70th birthday. the cards sold for DM70 but were only good for DM12 worth of calls.
capitalist rule. survived only by repressing their own working class. tradition of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky. establish its own class rule. those fighting imperialism in Ireland and throughout the world. in 40 countries world-wide. a mass revolutionary within the labour movement, playing into the hands of the right wing. and Wales should be left to await the outcome of a socialist revolutheir own demands, which are a part of the struggle for socialism. workers in struggle, must be taken into the unions, the Labour Party and every campaign and struggle in which workers and the op pressed fight for their rights. key issues such as fighting racism and fascism - in which various left currents can work together for common objectives while remaining free to debate their differences. join with us in the struggie for socialism, readers groups meet in many towns across the country. Contact us now, get organised, and get active! YES, I agree with much of what I have seen in Socialist Outlook, and want to know more about readers' groups in my area. Name.. Address. Phone... Send to: Socialist Outlook, PO Box 1109, London N4 2UL! socialist alternative. Every retreat and concession they have made to the employers and the government has simply fuelled and encouraged the offensive against jobs, wages, conditions and union New realism is the latest form taken by the politics of reformism. seeking no more than improved conditions within the framework of Socialist Outlook rejects reformism, not because we are against fighting for reforms, but because we know that the needs of the working class - for full employment, decent living standards, a clean environment, peace and democracy - can never be achleved under Nor, as we argued long before the collapse of Stalinism, could these demands ever be achieved under the bureaucratically deformed workers states and degenerated USSR, whose regimes We are a marxist current, based not on the brutish totalitarian "marxism' beloved by armchair academics, but the revolutionary Our socialist alternative is not based on parliamentary elections or illusions of peaceful legislative change. We fight to mobilise and unleash the power of the working class - the overwhelming majority of society-to topple the corrupt and reactionary rule of capital and We struggle against fragmentation by building solidarity, working to link and unite the various struggles of workers, the unemployed. of women, of pensioners, of the black communities and ethnic minorities, of lesbians and gay men, of students, of youth - and of Socialist Outlookis above all an internationalistcurrent, in solidarity with the Trotskyist Fourth International, which organises co-thinkers Unlike some other groupings on the British left. we do not believe party can be built simply by proclaiming ourselves to be one. Too often this degenerates into sectarian posturing and abstention from the actual struggle taking shape Nor do we believe that the demands of women, black people. lesbians and gays or the national demands of people in Scotland ton. The oppressed must organise themselves and fight now around But propaganda alone, however good, will not bring socialism. The fight for policies which can mobilise and politically educate To strengthen this fight we press for united front campaigns on If you agree with what you see in Socialist Outlook, and want to
N4 2UU. WORKERS Aid for Bosnia meeting 7.30pm Conway Hall Red Lion Square WC1Holborn tube ARA lobby of Bexely Council 6pm Civic Offices The Broadway Bexelyheath BR details 071 278 6869 THE RISE of the fascist right - Crisis in Germany and Italy Socialist Outlook public forum with Phil Hearse 7.30pm Union Club 723 Pershore Poad Selly Park Birmingham *THE NEW wave of anti-union attacks'. Socialist Outook public meeting with Celia Dignan 7.45pm Queen's Head 66 Acton St WC1 Kings Cross BR Thursday 22 SWANSEA Workers Aid for Bosnia public meeting 7.30pm Community Resource Centre The Strand WORKERS Aid for Bosnia weekly organising meeting 7.30pm details 081 694 9799 PROTEST arrests of anti-Nazi protestors! 9.15am Victoria Courts Birmingham By Bob Smith BURNSALL strikers made a trip to the GMB's London headquarters on 14 July to demand official union support is restored to the dispute, the 52 outstanding Industrial Tribunals and the court cases of 12 supporters facing Public Order Act charges arising from scab attacks and police harassment.
GMB General Secretary John Edmonds refused to meet the strikers or to mate a future Instead assisiant Dave Hewitt was sent to the striker's impromptu press conterence.
to say the dispute was consu cred unwinnable and that he SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No. 47, July-August 1993. Page 15 return to the fortnightly schedule on 10 September. Friday 23 WORKERS Aid for Bosnia meeting 7.30pm Northgate Community Centre Crawley INICRRATIUNAL YOUUT Gine opens Jönköping southern Sweden tickets £187 including coach, meals & entrance Saturday 24 MIDDLEBROOK Mushrooms rally 9.45am Selby RALLY on the tenth anniversary of anti-Tamil riots 1pm Portland Place W1 Oxford Circus tube organised by the International Federation of Tamils. NUJ Left meeting 11am Queen's Head 66 Acton St WC1 Kings Cross BR Sunday 25 TIMEX Strikers Comedy Benefit with Jo Brand John Hegely Mark Hurst and others Hackney Empire 291 Mare St E8 doors 7.30pm show 8.30pm E8/E7 Box Office 081 985 2424 details 071 733 5670 Monday 26 WEEKLY mass picket Revell and George 6am Cow Lane off Oldfield Rd Salford WORKERS Aid for Bosnia meeting 7.30pm Colin Roach Centre 10a Bradbury Street N16 would give no guarantees on the legal position. The strikers will continue the dispute despite the GMB leadership's contempt and treachery.
The Birmingham Support Group called on the union to justify the closure of the dispute, demanding they still defend the strikers industrial tribunals, court cases, and distribute donations to the fund.
The strikers had been out for 54 weeks when the GMB closed down the dispute without consulting them or cailing They only received their union cards and found out where their branch met (indeed, that they had one on the day the strike was ended. Throughout the dispute the union has shown contempt for the strikers, who are mainly black (11 Pensioners lobby Parliament Thursday 29 Tuesday 27 DEFEND the Bosnian people! Haringey Miners Support Group video showing 7.30pm Asian Community Centre Duckets Lane by Turnpike Lane tube Workers Aid for Bosnia meeting 7.30pm Big Lounge Four Cresent Road Kingston-uponThames SHOWING of Geoff Bell's film Why Britain should withdraw from Ireland 7.30pm Kingsbury Road Community Centre Erdington Birmingham Wednesday 28 WORKERS Aid for Bosnia meeting with Geoff Ryan and Ken Livingstone MP 7.30pm Leary Constantine Centre Dudden Hill Lane Willesden Thursday 29 NEW world slaughter! Iraq, Somalia, Where will US imperialism strike next?
Socialist Outlook public meeting with Phil Hearse 7.30pm Oxford Town Hall PROTEST VAT on fuel! national lobby of Parliament Friday 30 SOCIALIST Campaign Group Supporters Rally are Punjabi women), and their culture. Rarely was a translafor availabic. ine cocumentation was entirely English.
With brutal treachery like this, it is difficult to see how women, blacks, youth, and low paid workers can be membership. Which has fallen from over ten million to under six million since 1979. With treachery, no wonder mem bership declines.
A new strike fund. obviously separate from the GMB. is to be set up. • Birmingham Support Group 021-551 4679 meets every Monday Indian Workers' Asso. ciation, Soho Road.
London Support Group 071-713 7907 National Pensioners' Convention 7.30pm Mechanics Institute 103 Princess St Manchester Saturday 31 REGGAE revival disco in support of the Burnsall's strikers Queen's Head Soho Road Birmingham DEMONSTRATE for restoration of democratic rights in Nigeria! 10am from Tate library, by Lambeth Town Hall to Trafalgar Square details Cir Yomi Buraimoh-lobo 071 978 1449 OXFORD Socialist Outlook party 6pm onwards Southview Old Botley tickets £3/£1.50 children free food and glass of wine NATIONAL Conference on the anti-black Families Act Marcus Garvey Centre Lenton Boulevard Nottingham NG organised by National Black Caucus tickets E5/E3 details 0602 700896 HARINGEY Socialist Outlook social 3pm till late details 081 888 3421 PICKET the committal procedNetwork Sixth SOCIALIST CONFERENCE at The Winding Wheel Chesterfield Saturday 30 & Sunday 31 October 1993 be Opting in ... • the fight for democratic public services for them. Confirmed speakers so far: TONY BENN MP, new book - Common Sense MOSES MAYEKISO South African National Civic Croanselon Now Left Plus many activists from trade union and community campaigns to defend and improve public services: g alternative economic strategles. Space for seif-organised workshops. Creche. Disabled access. Food and bars. Saturday night benefit for the Chesterflold Labour Club Appeal. Socialist Movement/Network 1 Newton Street & 0800 581611 Kings of Stephen Lawrence's murderers! 9am Thames Magistrates Court Bow Road tube. Called by Stephen Lawrence Family Campaign Saturday 7 HOPED-FOR departure date of Workers Aid for Bosnia convoy Sunday 8 ARAFEST 2pm-8pm Burgess Park south London details and stall bookings 071 837 3797 SOCIALIST Movement fundraising cycling day details 0272 227768 NORTH London Socialist Outlook bridge tournament details 071 263 8289 Saturday 21 DEMONSTRATE against fascist terror in Germany! 1pm Piccadilly Gardens Manchester Saturday 28 SOCIALIST Outfook summer school opens north Wales tickets £95/235 CLOSE down BP HQ! National demonstration called by ANL, YRE, Rolan Adams & Rohit Duggal Family Campaigns NATIONAL demonstration called by Stephen Lawrence family Central London SOCIALIST Conference Chesterfield, freephone 0800 581611 THE SOCIALST Movement/Network presents a weekend of non-sectarian discussion, debate, information, Ideas HOME NEWS and fun). Looking beyond the Age of the Individual and the Free Market, the theme of the conference wil • and a sustainable and equal economics to pay HILARY WAINWRIGHT, new book - Arguments for a and socialist, green and feminist economics working on Manchester M1 1HW or Freephone Answerphone
Socialist Can the bureaucrats smash the link?
Hitting the buffers
Food for thought
Hush hush slush
Stoney - not broke
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As usual, we skip two issues this summer. The deadline for our next issue is 13 August. We JULY Wednesday 21
AUGUST Sunday 1
Tuesday 3 & Wednesday 4
OCTOBER Saturday 16
Saturday 30 & Sunday 31