The curriculum has been developed in line with the Thatcherite plans of the nineties. Many children are subject to an arid skills and academic based curriculum which in no way addresses their needs.
Teachers are still teaching large classes and subject to the immense pressure of Ofsted, performance management and poor wages Here in Bristol the Labour controlled council has managed to remove two secondary schools from the community of Knowle. They are proposing to close two primary schools in the Hartcliffe and Withywoon areas of the city. The Bristol Socialist Alliance has been heavily involved in fighting "The racist treatment of asylum seekers through the introduction of vouchers and the dispersal system has been impossible to stomach." these aloneside local parents Since it was elected in 1997. the Labour government has continued to attack sections of the community including single mothers and the disabled. In particular it has developed a policy of criminalisation of youth with policies such as the imposition of curfew.
The racist treatment of asylum seekers through the introduction of vouchers and the dispersal system has been impossible to stomach.
Local MPs, with the sole exception of Roger Berry, have been abject supporters of the worst of these policies. Ne'Te In terms of the economy the government has pursued neoliberal policies. The massacre of jobs in the car industry, the collapse of the privatised steel industry and the continued and relentless loss of jobs across the whole of manufacturing is the result.
The disasters we have seen on the Rail network cry out for renationalisation. That is why we were happy in Bristol to be part of the Socialist Alliance campaign against rail privatisation, mounting a picket of Temple Meades station. The response of the government to the experience on the railways - to privatise air traffic control and the London Underground - beggars belief.
New Labour plans to take Britain into the Euro as soon as in feels confident of winning a referendum. This would result in acceleration of manufactur. ing job loss, further privatisations and regulations which strengthen the hand of the international cartels.
As Treasury Minister, Dawn Primarolo must take responsibility for the failure to renationalise the rail and the unpopular and highly inadequate local bus cervice.
Treasury policies have led to the attacks on manufacturing -on our car and steel industries.
On the international stage, Blair has shown his support for George Bush's 'son of star wars' project, which may rely on the use of Fylingdales and Menwith Hill.
And British troops will be used as a police force for NATO in an increasing number of wars across the globe I have consistently opposed the use of British troops in foreign wars- most recently in the Gulf and the Balkans - and so these are also issues I will seek to highlight through standing in this election"
Tony Blair's hypocrisy has no bounds. The catalogue of death in recent times speaks for itself, he says, speaking of the growing trade in human trafficking..
Writing in the Observer on February together with Italian PM Giuliano Amato, Blair announced announced a joint initiative between the two countries to stem the flow of so-called illegal immigrants from the former Yugoslavia The region is the starting point of one of the main transit routes for illegal immigration to Western Europe and gangs operating along it are believed responsible for smuggling up to 50,000 people a year.
The UN says the route. could be responsible for 10% of Europe's illegal immigrants, some paying up to £2,700 to make the trip.
But what is their solution to this tragedy which has seen many die by drowning or suffocation as they desperately flee to supposed safety?
At least people drowned last year Adriatic attempting to cross from Albania to Italy. Two years ago, 90 Romanian illegal immigrants were rescued from a locked lorry in Italy suffering from asphyxiation. Just before that, in a incident globe? similar to the one at Dover, Do they suggest ways to in which 58 Chinese refugees lessen the environmental suffocated, dozens of Sri devastation and increasing Lankans died after a driver "natural" disasters which left them locked in a con- result in so many people tainer lorry at the Austro- leaving their homes and Hungarian border. communities behind?
Do they nave proposals Do they take up the fact which would bring an end to that trade in human beings is military conflict and politi- the grotesque result of their cal persecution across the economic and social pracE Home Office ministers boast that they deported 8,000 "illegal" immigrants last year, while thousands more have been imprisoned in detention centres like Oakington and Campsfield tices in which everything becomes a commodity? If the human genome, rare plants, water and air are all for sale in this brave new world of the 21st Century then what's so different about trafficking people? It seems obvious that the only way to end this barbarity is to end all immigration controls - to anow peopie lo move at will. Such a move would end this scandal at one fell swoop - the criminal mafia would no longer be able to exploit people desperate to escape. But no. None of these logical and progressive policies appeal New Instead these great statesmen have pledge to deploy more police and immigration officers in Bosnia to step up border checks.
Blair has also offered extra funds for a "voluntary repatriation" scheme encouraging people who had made the journey "just to seek a better life" to return home.
Sentences of up to 14 years for criminals profiting from the world's fastest growing illegal trade could be introduced as part of the crackdown. In Britain they currently face a 10-year sentence - less in many other EU countries. Officials are reported to favour a Europe-wide sentence for traffickers. If other countries support the proposals, the new could be • in place across Europe within six months. This article appeared just the day after a debate on Radio 4's Today programme which showed that asylum seekers in the UK are going hungry because of lengthy delays in issuing vouchers. Nick Hardwick of the Refugee Council believes there is a "crisis" in the system which is affecting families across the UK. He told the programme: "All over the country there are groups of asylum seekers who are going days or weeks without food because the vouchers administration has broken down."
He said one impoverished mother in Liverpool had been forced to make nappies for her baby out of newspaper. "People are scrounging food for small children because the vouchers aren't arriving."
It is impossible for asylum seekers to make ends meet even when the vouchers arrive - given that they represent only 80 per cent of miserly social security levels and can only be exchanged in generally more expensive shops.
When even the vouchers don't arrive, the level of deprivation is just unspeakable.
These revelations follow on the heels of a report from homeless charity Shelter on January which showed that many asylum seekers were living in compeltely sub-standard accomodation.
The organisation inspected 154 properties used by asylum seekers and found that one-in-five were unfit for human habitation.
Many were infested with cockroaches, fleas or bedbugs, and four out of five of the shared houses had major fire risks, Shelter says the system is allowing hundreds of landjords to cash in on some of the poorest and most vulnerable people.
Far from the myths peddled by the tabloids, and fanned by government policies, asylum seekers are not living in luxury at all.
This cycle of exploitation
AMPS CAN LE THE AMS
Outlook Terry Conway
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