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Showing posts from May, 2011

Missile offence at sea: protest fasts in US and Korea

STANDING AT BATH IRON WORKS Coastline of Gangjeong village on Jeu Island ... imagine these rocks covered with cement At BIW yesterday as workers left the shipyard I was able to hand out six leaflets yesterday as the hundreds of workers walked past me and hundreds more drove past my little spot on the corner in front of Bath Iron Works (BIW). I plan on going back again today, and every weekday, as long as I continue with this fast (now 3rd day) in support of the extraordinary people of Gangjeong village on Jeju Island. They build the Navy Aegis destroyers at BIW that are outfitted with missile offense systems and will be deployed at the base on Jeju Island and at other bases in the Asian-Pacific thus forcing China to expand its military in response. I am grateful to Dennis Bernstein at KPFA in Berkeley who yesterday interviewed me about this story. I was touched by the sincerity of Dennis about Professor Yang Yoon-Mo who today is on his 51st day of hunger strike. You can hear the inter

Two reviews of Imperialism

Imperialism: A Study by J. A. Hobson Introduction by Nathaniel Mehr Foreword by Jeremy Corbyn MP First published in 1902, Hobson’s seminal work was among the first to make the link between political economy and the imperialist expansionism of the advanced capitalist nations at the turn of the 20th Century. A devastating moral critique of the murderous cynicism of imperialism, Hobson’s book paved the way for the influential Marxist theories of imperialism advanced by Lenin and Bukharin and others. It provides an invaluable framework for understanding militarism and war in the 21st Century. Two reviews of this classic work are available from: Morning Star and Socialist Review

Wapping - An Exhibition and a New Book

On 24th January, 1986, Rupert Murdoch's News International group moved production of its four national newspapers to Wapping in London's Docklands. Over 5,000 production and clerical workers were sacked overnight. The journalists were not sacked but more than 100 - the "refuseniks" - took a stand on principle and walked out of their jobs. Wapping 25 Years On , is an exhibition of the dramatic images and accounts of the dispute and the challenges for print and media workers. The exhibition is being held at the Marx Memorial Library , 37A Clerkenwell Green, London, EC1R 0DU, until 31 May. The latest podcast from Radio Free Press features a tour of this exhibition. Nicholas Jones talks to a number of Wapping veterans, including the exhibition organiser, Ann Field, a former official with the print union SOGAT and a union activist on The Times , John Bailey, a chapel father for the NGA print union at the Sun , and Graham Dodkins, former library worker at The Times and co-