IS WE go to press, news has roken that the Royal Hospitals Trust in East London is proposing to close Queen Elizabeth's Hospital for Children in Hackney and half of Bart's Hospital, to save money The Queen Elizabeth closure, which would take effect by the spring of 1998, would leave Hackney without any children's hospital beds or specialist children's casualty services, forcing parents to travel with their children to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel - a long and awkward Journey by bus in a desperately deprived area with well below average car ownership. QEH handles over 20,000 child casualties a year: the local Homerton hospital has no children's unit, and is only planning to provide out-patient and day surgery.
While these cuts claim to save up to E9 million a year, the Royal Hospitals Trust is still attempting to carry through a ruinously expensive £310m rebuild of the Royal London, financed by private cash. The latest rumours however suggest that this scheme is near to collapse, learIng only the closures intact.
Learn lessons of FN victory in Vitrolles Socialixe Qurkool Samy Johsua and Geoff Ryan (Adapted from an article in the February 13 Issue of Rouge, weekly paper of the Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire, French section of the Fourth International). MILITANTS must now draw up a complete balance sheet of what happened at Vitrolles. Not because the victory of the FN (National Front] has dramatically changed the party's position in French national political life.
Its electoral progress remains limited and partial and in some tory in Vitrolles reveals a danger that is becoming more and more threatening.
Anglade. outgoins Socialist Party mayor, got roughly the same 317) as in 19% (7,466), when he won.
sac ra acrcasco its volc from 7,113 in 1995 to 8,169. A switch of votes by some people who normally vote for the traditional right-wing parties gave Megret, the FN candidate, her victory.
Some right-wing voters clearly feel closer to the FN than the mythi cal 'Republican Front' put forward by the leaders of the traditiona right-wing parties. If this phenomenon, tamiliar in the Provencal re gion, were to spread throughout France the dangers would grow enormously. That is the first lesson of Vitrolles.
Victory at Vitrolles allows the FN to build on its strengths: the ability to bring together people with very different motivations. Megret won both because of and despite a cam. the far-right in France before the Hardened fascists freely indulged in their activitics: semiverbal attacks on forcigners, young people, 'delinquents' and 'degenerates'. Others preferred not to see any of this and voted for the only party that appeared to promise a way out of the problems that are making life more and more unbearable for them.
Unless we reverse the momentum. they will espouse sooner or later, the fascist ideology that runs deenly through the PN One of the specific features of fas. cism is to bring whole layers of the working class into the embrace of an ideology totally hostile to their interests. That, unfortunately, remains possible today. That is the with only a handful of activists, became a rallying point for young people..." sccond Icsson For the left the verdict of Vi. trolles is bitter. Moral discourses, nowever Iccidmate and necessary. are inadequate as a way to deal with manist appeals are not very effective waca tacy come from pcopic who justify the same liberal economic system that pushes voters into the arms of the FN.
Unfortunately the left is increas. ingly incapable of offering honest candidates untainted by corruption, who reject clientalism. This is particularly true of the Socialist Party, at least in the Provençal region.
The anti-FN campaign was based on grass roots organisations in Vitrolles. Initiatives from women's groups and trade union meetings fascist organisation Ras I'Front, ful of activists, became a rallying point for young pcopic and ico many initiatives, including a powertur street acmonstraton. Inis in vestment will not be lost for the struggles we now need to engage in. But it was insufficient.
The mobilisations ran up against the central political question -which people, on sohar programme?
Socialist Party and Communist Party leaders Jospin and Hue came meetings were very successful. The anti-fascist to icil us to reciaim the market squares, to go out and meet people. All well and good, but what do we say to them? How do we respond to the distress of the unemployed, faced with an appalling life in the cities and no prospects on the horizon?
To fight the continual slide of sections of the population towards the FN in some places (and perhaps others tomorrow) we have to put torward alternative policies For many white French people the FN appears to offer an alterna. tive. In the councils it controls it does deal with issues of housing and unemployment. FN leaders declare their support for pensioners and visit old people's homes.
For the moment Le Pen is even plaving down his racist and antiimmigrant rhetoric in favour of social auctions. nore the very real, material reasons why sccoons or the Prcaca working class have been attracted to the FN.
This is even more important because the right-wing government is attempting to undermine FN support by adopting even harsher antiimmigrant laws. On February 15 over 100,000 people marched through Paris in protest against these measures, This is a magniticent step forward, which will be followed un by a demonstration against the FN conference in Stras. bourg on March 29.
In the fight against the FN nothing should be neglected. We should continually denounce them, alongside supporting the struggles of immigrants and women. We need antifascist and anti-racist unity and more demonstrations. But all this indispensable work will count for nothing unless the left puts forward a new alternative at the political level.
We have to put forward answers to the problems of unemployment, homelessness and poverty which nave driven Sccuons of tae French working class into supporting the FN. Moral appeals are not enough.
We have to find ways to resolve tois issuc, aespie ine altaculties This is indispensible if we are going to stop the progress of the FN. This is the fourth and most important lesson. It brings into focus our own responsibilities. THE SUCCESS of the recent remake of 101 Dalmatians has encouraged lots of people to rush out and buy sweatshirts and other Disney merchandithe film portrays Cruella de Vil as a ruthless career woman, Interested only in making money and in fashionable clothes made out of cruelty to cuddly animals. She is also boss. Nothing like Disney's bosses, of course!
Through Icensing merchandising, Disney makes huge profIts out of the exploltation of workers, both adults and chil dren, in other countries. The company has admitted that Haltian workers are pald 4p to sew a sweatshirt which is then sold in Britain for £12. There is evidence of the use of child labour in Halti and Indonesia.
In the US, activists have campaigned for Disney to stop doing business with subcontractors who refuse demands for higher wages, clean drinking water and other Improvements in conditions, genuine collective bargaining and an end to Indiscriminate layoffs and the victimisation of union activists.
Now in Britain the GMB has called for a boycott campaign against Disney stores here, and written to Michael Elsner, chief executive of the Walt Disney Company, protesting against slave labour conditions in Haitl. Members of the GMB and Haiti Solidarity Campaign together with actress Julle Christie launched the campaign in Britain with a picket of Disney's Regent Street store on February 13. Other trade unionists and socialists must join them in raising the issue.
For further Information contact: Disney/Haiti Justice campaign, PO Box 755, Fort Washington Station, New York NY 10001; (212) 242-0986, email soho.ios.com COUNTRY OF HAITI! CONDITIONS!
YOU MUST BE FANTASY LAND!
I0 BORO-MAICH
WORLD < FALOUre.
GMB backing for boycott of airew Wiard sweatshop Disney products
THE DISKEY COMPANY MAKES A LOT OF CHILDREN'S CLOTHES IN THE DESPERATELY POOR
IF WE HAD THE RIGHT TO GNIONIZE AND BARGAIN WE COULD IMPROVE