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Arthur Scargill and Ken Capstick will be speaking on the 40th Anniversary of the Miners’ Strike 1984/85 to miners and their families from Cortonwood and adjacent collieries, including Wombwell Main, Darfield, Elsecar, Houghton Main, Mitchell Main. Wombwell WMC 25 Station Road Wombwell S73 0AY Noon-6:00 p.m. Arthur Scargill acknowledges the packed hall audience a week earlier at Hemsworth Colliery. This was after two similar capacity meetings on 40th Anniversary of the Miners’ strike 1984/5. Videos of meetings at Hatfield and Dodsworth Collieries can be seen on this site below.

Arthur Scargill has been embarking on a series of invitations from collieries involved Speaking to a packed audience at the Miners’ Club at Hatfield Main Colliery in Yorkshire the Arthur Scargill’s speech at Hatfield Main Colliery, 9th March, 2024 The Miners’ Strike, 1984/85 Today, I’m here to honour miners and their families who in 1984/5 fought the greatest workers’ fight since the days of the Chartists and the Tolpuddle Martyrs: to save pits, jobs and our communities. I especially want to pay tribute to the young miners in 1984-1985 who were in every sense fighting for the future – and the magnificent Women Against Pit Closures who were at the forefront of our struggle. Who can forget that amazing day, 12 May 1984, when more than 12,000 women from mining communities around the British Coalfields came together in Barnsley to stage a historic march and rally in support of the NUM’s fight against pit closures? What a march and what a rally. They were supporting our Union’s right to take strike action, which was and is governed by United Nations and International Labour Organisation Conventions No. 87 and 98. The miners’ strike of 1984/85 brought our Union unprecedented support from workers in countries around the world – including France, Spain, Italy, Hungary, East Germany, Ireland and South Africa. I for one never forget the French CGT miners led by my comrade Alain Simon coming across the Channel and into the coalfields at Christmas 1984 driving lorry-loads full of food, provisions and gifts for our families, especially our children and provisions for our communities. Like hundreds of thousands in Britain’s trade union and Labour movement, they provided support for us throughout the dispute. Their reason for doing so was simple: Forty years ago, the Tory Government led by Margaret Thatcher declared war on the National Union of Mineworkers. The Tories had been preparing for a showdown with the NUM since before the 1979 General Election. They could not forget the victorious miners’ strikes of 1969, 1972 and 1974. In the Spring of 1982, I was handed a copy of a secret Government plan prepared by NCB chiefs earmarking 95 pits for closure, with the loss of 100,000 miners’ jobs. It became clear in the following period that the Union would have to take action that would win maximum support and have a unifying effect. A special conference was held on 21 October, 1983, and delegates from all NUM Areas were given a detailed report so that they could vote on what action – if any – should be taken. Conference voted unanimously for a national full overtime ban which over the next four months, had an extraordinary impact. Government statistics confirm that it succeeded in reducing coal output by 30 percent, or 12 million tonnes. It cut national coal stocks to about the same level as they had been during the successful miners’ unofficial strike in 1981. On 1 March, 1984, NCB Directors in four Areas announced the immediate closure of five pits: Cortonwood and Bullcliffe Wood in Yorkshire, Herrington in Durham, Snowdown in Kent and Polmaise in Scotland. On Tuesday, 6 March, Coal Board Chairman Ian MacGregor confirmed that a further 20 would be closed during the coming year, with the loss of over 20,000 jobs. At a National Executive Committee meeting on 8 March, two days later, Scotland and Yorkshire sought endorsement from the NEC for strike action in their Areas. They were given authorization in accordance with National Rule 41, and the NEC confirmed that any Area could if they wished adopt the same policy. On 12 March 1984, Area strikes began. I’m fed up of reading or listening to critics saying we “picked the wrong time of year” for a strike. The industrial action started in November 1983: an appropriate time for miners to start industrial action. At a Special National Delegate Conference on 19 April, 1984, delegates rejected a call for a national strike ballot and voted to support and strengthen the 180,000, or 80% of Britain’s miners who were already on strike on an Area basis in accordance with National Rule 41. PICKETING TARGETS From the start, I was convinced that the steel industry should be the Areas’ main picketing target – far more than power stations or, indeed, the pits in the few Areas that had rejected strike action. It was obvious to me that the NUM needed to fight Government and Coal Board plans for pit closures at targets which were their weakest link. On the basis of information I had, I argued that the obvious targets were the steel plants at Scunthorpe in Yorkshire, Ravenscraig in Scotland and Port Talbot in South Wales, and the coking plants which supplied them. In 1984, the Government had only three weeks’ supply of coke for the steel works in stock – a fact confirmed in the later memoirs of Margaret Thatcher and her Energy Secretary Peter Walker. Scunthorpe was supplied by Orgreave Coking Plant in South Yorkshire which is why I believed it was a crucial target for mass picketing. Its coke supplies could be cut off as had been the case in shutting the Saltley coke depot in Birmingham during the 1972 miners’ strike. My argument was originally rejected by Area leaders who believed that the main targets should be power stations, docks – and those Areas which had not joined the Strike. Following the decision of the Special Conference on 19 April, a National Strike Co-ordinating Committee advised and/or instructed Areas that picketing should be undertaken on an Area basis in accordance with National Rule 41. NUM Areas also set up Co-ordinating Committees whose task was to select picketing targets, provided they were in accordance with the Conference decision and Rule 41. It was not until May that my view on Orgreave was accepted. The Yorkshire NUM had reached an agreement with the British Steel Corporation to allow provision of enough coke to protect Scunthorpe’s ovens – not enough to produce steel. Weeks passed before the Yorkshire NUM discovered that British Steel was breaching that agreement and smuggling in enough coke for producing steel! British Steel’s duplicity led Yorkshire and other Areas to accepting my arguments about Orgreave. The scene was set for that what has become history – often distorted history. I’m fed up with reading and listening to historians and media experts saying that miners “walked into a police trap” at Orgreave on 18 June 1984 – it’s untrue. Picketing started at the Orgreave coking plant on 23 May, and by the 27th thousands of pickets had responded to the call for mass picketing at this plant which supplied the coke essential for Scunthorpe steelworks. Of course police numbers grew accordingly. By 30 May, the growing number of pickets had led to a substantial number of us being arrested, including me. The plan for a mass picket on 18 June, larger than ever, was widely known and publicized. Accordingly, of course the police were turned out in larger numbers. On 18 June, some 10,000 pickets were there – and we knew the police would descend in greater numbers – 8,500 of them. We were there for a reason and with a strategy. We did not “walk into a trap”, nor did the police “wave us in”. To co-ordinate our actions, I had purchased – from a little shop in Sheffield – six walkie-talkies for communication amongst picket leaders, including Dave Douglass and NUM Yorkshire Vice-President Sammy Thompson. It has long been admitted that the police brutality on that day was a deliberate tactic used by the State to wage war against the National Union of Mineworkers. 123 people were injured; a number had to be hospitalized, including me. 95 – including some of the worst injured – were arrested and charged with riot, unlawful assembly and violent disorder. These charges were, of course, discredited and dropped with the acquittal of the first group who were tried. Those facts are often repeated in media accounts of the Battle of Orgreave. What is virtually never reported is that before the end of the day (as Dave Douglass records in his book “Ghost Dancers”) the police were forced to close the plant, a decision confirmed in a telex from British Steel’s Chairman, handed to me by the BBC’s Labour Correspondent, Nicholas Jones. The tragedy was that instead of then stepping up our action, the pickets were withdrawn the next day, despite my desperate urging that picketing should be stepped up. From my hospital bed, I contacted NUM Area leaders and urged that the picketing should be increased, as it had been at Saltley. Had that happened, I have no doubt that Orgreave would have stayed closed and Scunthorpe would have faced immediate closure. The impact of that and the effect elsewhere would have forced the Government to settle the strike. “REFUSAL TO NEGOTIATE” For 40 years, I have been accused of refusing to negotiate a settlement with the NCB, and of ‘snatching defeat from the jaws of victory’. This was and is a lie. The NUM settled the strike with the NCB on five separate occasions in 1984: on 8 June, 8 July, 18 July, 10 September, and 12 October – only to have the NCB renege on these settlements due to what we now know was Government instruction. The most important ‘settlement terms’ were agreed between the leaders of the pit deputies’ union NACODS and the NUM on 12 October 1984. NACODS had just conducted an individual ballot and obtained an 82% vote for strike action. Following the NACODS result, the conciliation service ACAS invited the NCB, NUM and NACODS in to see if there could be a negotiated settlement. After futile discussions with the NCB, the NUM and NACODS held a joint meeting in which on behalf of the NUM I drafted the following proposal: “That the NCB withdraw its pit closure plan, give an undertaking that the five collieries earmarked for immediate closure would be kept open, and guarantee that no pit would be closed unless by joint agreement it was deemed to be exhausted or unsafe.” This proposal was accepted by NACODS and acceptable to the conciliation service ACAS. It was then submitted to the NCB. It was emphasized that if the NCB did not accept this joint proposal, the NACODS strike would go ahead. On the eve of reconvened discussions at ACAS, I learned that the NACODS leadership had inexplicably reneged on its agreement with the NUM and had instead reached an agreement with the NCB for an amended colliery review procedure. No explanation has ever been given by NACODS for this U-Turn, or sell-out, which had terrible historical consequences, leading as it did to the destruction of Britain’s deep coal mining industry. Over the years, I have repeatedly said: We didn’t “come close” to total victory in October, 1984 – we had it, and at the very point of victory we were betrayed. On 21 February 1985, we held a Special Delegate Conference at which the NEC called upon the trade union movement not to leave the NUM isolated. The NEC called upon all our members to stand firm and those not yet involved to support our Union against the Government’s attempt to destroy us. This was carried unanimously. Inexplicably, by 28 February, one week later, five Areas had written to the NUM Secretary asking for a recall Conference to agree an immediate return to work without a settlement. That Conference took place on 3 March 1985. The NEC’s position was for continuation of the strike, as instructed by Conference on 21 February. The resolution to call off the strike and return to work was proposed by the South Wales Area and seconded by Durham. The vote to return to work was carried by 98 votes to 91. The three National Officials, Mick McGahey, Peter Heathfield and Arthur Scargill advocated the continuation of the strike – as did the Yorkshire Delegation. The Miners’ Strike of 1984/85 remains not only an inspiration for workers but a reminder to today’s trade union leaders of their responsibility to their members, and the need to come together in direct action to challenge Government and employers against all forms of injustice, inequality and exploitation. It is a privilege to be here today with all of you who took strike action in 1984 and you who supported our strike – you marched into history, and entered the pantheon of working class heroes and heroines. Arthur Scargill 9 March 2024 Watch the day’s events here from Consortium News: https://consortiumnews.com/2024/03/12/watch-cn-live-miners-march-40-yrs-after-strike/ George Galloway, Arthur Scargill and Ken Capstick, Miners’ 40th Anniversary at Hatfield Coliery

Meeting for the 40th anniversary of the Miners’ Strike, Doncaster Coal Field. Main speaker, Arthur Scargill

Watch the vidoe on YouTube here! https://youtu.be/eiLDymwSkd0?si=9koLfAvFm76nxTTf

STATEMENT PREFACING SPEECH (A. SCARGILL) – preface to text of the speech made at Dodworth Miners’ Welfare, Yorkshire, 2/3/2024 Israel – Slaughter of the Innocent The slaughter of 30,000 innocent people including children and the unborn in Gaza is nothing less than genocide.  The perpetrators should be arrested and jailed for life. It is terrible that the fascist state of Israel has continuously bombed and shelled Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem for nearly five months. These territories are the land of Palestine which Israel has unlawfully occupied since 1967, and unless Israel withdraws, the United States should force it back. If the United States and United Kingdom can unlawfully invade Grenada, Iraq and Libya then they should drive Israel from the occupied territories of Palestine. Arthur Scargill 2 March 2024 The Miners’ Strike, 1984/85 Today, I’m here to honour miners and their families who in 1984/5 fought the greatest worker’ fight since the days of the Chartists and the Tolpuddle Martyrs: to save pits, jobs and our  communities. That includes our young miners who were in every sense fighting for the future – and the magnificent Women Against Pit Closures who were at the forefront of our struggle. I refer in particular to women in Barnsley who played a leading role in helping establish a  national organisation:   Ann Hunter, Anne Scargill, Jean McCrindle, Maureen Exley,  Betty Cook, Marsha Marshall, Ann Musgrave and Pat Charlton (wife of Jackie), to name only a  few. Who can forget that amazing day, 12 May 1984, when more than 12,000 women from mining  communities around the British Coalfields came to Barnsley to stage a historic march and rallyin support of the NUM’s fight against pit closures? Remember that our right to take strike action was and is governed by United Nations and  International Labour Organisation Conventions No. 87 and 98. The miners’ strike of 1984/85 brought our Union unprecedented support from workers around the world. I for one never forget the French CGT miners led by my comrade Alain Simon coming across  the Channel and into the coalfields at Christmas 1984 driving lorry-loads full of food, provisions and gifts for our families, especially our children and provisions  for our communities.  Their reason for doing so was simple: Forty years ago, the Tory Government led by Margaret Thatcher declared war on the National Union of Mineworkers. The Tories had been preparing for a showdown with the NUM since before the 1979 General Election.  They could not forget the victorious miners’ strikes of 1969, 1972 and 1974. In the Spring of 1982, I was handed a copy of a secret Government plan prepared by NCB  chiefs earmarking 95 pits for closure, with the loss of 100,000 miners’ jobs. It became clear in the following period that the Union would have to take action that would  win maximum support and have a unifying effect. A special conference was held on 21 October, 1983, and delegates from all NUM Areas were given a detailed report so that they could vote on what action – if any – should be taken. Conference voted unanimously for a national full overtime ban which over the next four  months, had an extraordinary impact.  Government statistics confirm that it succeeded in  reducing coal output by 30 percent, or 12 million tonnes. It cut national coal stocks to about the same level as they had been during the miners’  unofficial strike in 1981. On 1 March, 1984, NCB Directors in four Areas announced the immediate closure of five pits:  Cortonwood and Bullcliffe Wood in Yorkshire, Herrington in Durham, Snowdown in Kent and  Polmaise in Scotland. On Tuesday, 6 March, Coal Board Chairman Ian MacGregor announced that a further 20  would be closed during the coming year, with the loss of over 20,000 jobs. At a National Executive Committee  meeting on 8 March, two days later, Scotland and  Yorkshire sought endorsement from the NEC for strike action in their Areas.   They were given authorization in accordance with National Rule 41, and the NEC  confirmed that any Area could if they wished adopt the same policy. I’m fed up of reading or listening to critics saying we “picked the wrong time of year” for a  strike. The industrial action started in November 1983:  an appropriate time for miners to start  industrial action. On 12 March 1984,  Area strikes began. At a Special National Delegate Conference on 19 April, 1984, delegates rejected a call for a  national strike ballot and voted to support and strengthen the 180,000, or 80% of Britain’s  miners who were already on strike on an Area basis in accordance with National Rule 41. I was convinced that the steel industry should be the Areas’ main picketing target –in particular, Scunthorpe, Ravenscraig in Scotland and Port Talbot in South Wales but it was  not until May that my view was accepted. In 1984, steel plants were the Government’s weakest point, with only three weeks’ supply of  coke in stock -a fact confirmed in the later memoirs of Margaret Thatcher and  her Energy Secretary Peter  Walker. The scene was set for the battle of Orgreave. Orgreave Coking Plant in South Yorkshire was a crucial target for mass picketing.  Its coke  supplies could be cut off as had been the case in shutting the Saltley coke depot in  Birmingham during the 1972 miners’ strike. Picketing started on 26 May 1984, and by 30 May police tactics had turned vicious with  substantial attacks and arrests of pickets (including me).  It was a signal that the Union’s  members and the trade union movement had to meet this illegal State force with mass  picketing, as they had in Birmingham at Saltley in February 1972 and in London at the mass  picket in July 1972 which freed the Pentonville Five. On 18 June 10,000 pickets faced 8,500 riot police in a scene reminiscent of a battle in  England’s 17th Century Civil War.  That day, over a hundred were arrested and beaten, 95 of whom were charged with riot, unlawful assembly and violent disorder, and dozens were  hospitalized (including me). Police brutality, deliberate provocation and lies were later exposed in Sheffield Crown Court, and the charges were dismissed, with some compensation eventually paid to the victims. What is ignored, or forgotten is that on 18 June, at the end of the day, British Steel’s Chairman sent a telex closing down Orgreave – on a temporary basis because our presence had been so effective -exactly like the first closure of Saltley Coke Depot 12 years before. The fundamental difference between Saltley in 1972 and Orgreave in 1984 was that following the first closure at Saltley, picketing  was increased the following day. At Orgreave, the pickets were withdrawn the next day by NUM Area leaders, despite my  desperate urging that picketing should be stepped up. From my hospital bed on 18 June, I contacted NUM Area leaders and urged that the picketing should be increased, as it had been at Saltley. Had picketing at Orgreave been increased on 19 June 1984, I have no doubt that Orgreave – and then Scunthorpe – would have faced immediate closure, forcing the Government to settle the strike. For 40 years, I have been accused of refusing to negotiate a settlement with the NCB, and of ‘snatching defeat from the jaws of victory’.  This was and is a lie. The NUM settled the strike with the NCB on five separate occasions in 1984: on 8 June,  8 July, 18 July, 10 September, and 12 October –only to have the NCB renege on these settlements due to what we now know was  Government instruction. The most important ‘settlement terms’ were agreed between the leaders of the pit deputies’  union NACODS and the NUM on 12 October 1984. NACODS had just conducted an individual ballot and obtained an 82% vote for strike action. Following the NACODS result, the conciliation service ACAS invited the NCB, NUM and  NACODS in to see if there could be a negotiated settlement. After futile discussions with the NCB, the NUM and NACODS held a joint meeting in which on behalf of the NUM I drafted the following proposal: “That the NCB withdraw its pit closure plan, give an undertaking that the five collieries  earmarked for immediate closure would be kept open, and guarantee that no pit would be closed unless by joint agreement it was deemed to be exhausted or unsafe.” This proposal was accepted by NACODS and acceptable to the conciliation service ACAS.  It was then submitted to the NCB.  It was emphasized that if the NCB did not accept this joint proposal, the NACODS strike would go  ahead. On the eve of reconvened discussions at ACAS, I learned that the NACODS leadership had inexplicably reneged on its agreement with the NUM and had instead reached an agreement  with the NCB for an amended colliery review procedure. No explanation has ever been given by NACODS for this u-turn, or sell-out, which had terrible historical consequences, leading as it did to the destruction of Britain’s deep coal mining industry. Over the years, I have repeatedly said:  We didn’t “come close” to total victory in October,  1984 – we had it, and at the very point of victory we were betrayed. On 21 February 1985, we held a Special Delegate Conference at which the NEC called upon  the trade union movement not to leave the NUM isolated. The NEC called upon all our members to stand firm and those not yet involved to support our Union against the Government’s attempt to destroy us.  This was carried unanimously. Inexplicably, by 28 February, one week later, five Areas had asked for a recall Conference to agree an immediate return to work without a settlement. That Conference took place on 3 March 1985.  The NEC’s position was for continuation of the strike, as instructed by Conference on 21 February. The resolution to call off the strike and return to work was proposed by the South Wales Area and seconded by Durham.  The vote to return to work was carried by 98 votes to 91. The three National Officials, Mick McGahey, Peter Heathfield and myself, advocated and  supported continuation of the strike – as did the Yorkshire Delegation. The Miners’ Strike of 1984/85 remains not only an inspiration for workers but a reminder to  today’s trade union leaders of their responsibility to their members, and the need to come  together in direct action to challenge Government and employers against all forms of  injustice, inequality and exploitation. It is a privilege to be here today with  all of you who took strike action in 1984 and you who supported our strike: You marched into history, and entered the pantheon of working class heroes and heroines. Arthur Scargill March 2024 Arthur Scargill speech at Dodworth Miners’ Welfare, 40th Anniversary of Miners’ Strike – 02.03.2024 STOP PRESS: Watch the full meeting here: https://youtu.be/eiLDymwSkd0?si=9koLfAvFm76nxTTf

Paul Liversuch, SLP member in the East Midlands, has been concerned about the site of a former colliery which young people can gain access. It contains disused mone shafts and other potential dangers. He received the following message from South Derbyshire District Council. Socialist Labour Party, East Midlands, 29/2/2024

BBC News On 8th Novermber, the Socialist Labour Party asked why all those countries calling for a cease fire and deploring what appeared an unfolding genocide of unparalled magnitude were not taking action. It had been reported that the Royal Jordanian Airforce had parachuted supplies to a besieged hospital in northern Gaza so clearly it is possible. Since that time many nations have supported South Africa’s move to take the matter to the International Criminal Court in an attempt to put a stop the unfolding destruction of Gaza with the mass killing of civilians, the majority of whom are women and children, but the SLP called on other deeply concerned nations to take action in addition to their declared expressions of outrage and horror at what we have been witnessing daily. It continues without an end in sight.

On February 21st Reuters reported that “Britain and Jordan have air-dropped four tonnes of aid including medicines, fuel and food to Tal Al-Hawa Hospital in northern Gaza, Britain’s foreign office said on Wednesday. The U.K.-funded aid was delivered by the Jordanian Air Force again. ‘Thousands of patients will benefit and the fuel will enable this vital hospital to continue its life saving work’ British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said in a statement.” “However”, the report continues, “the situation in Gaza is desperate and significantly more aid is needed, and fast. We are calling for an immediate humanitarian pause to allow additional aid into Gaza as quickly as possible and bring hostages home.” We fail to understand why a “humanitarian pause” is asked for rather than demanding an immediate cease fire given that a continuation of the intensity of the destruction would likely annul the purpose of providing aid in the first place. We continue to call on all concerned nations to take urgent action to deliver support to people now dying from hunger, thirst, lack of medical aid reportedly resorting to suicide to end their nightmarish existence. The endless discussions and delay falls into the hands of those expressing their declared intention to destroy life, if not by bombing, the onset of hunger, disease and other means of ending life. Socialist Labour Party 26/2/2024

Russian President Valdimir Putin’s interview with U.S. journalist Tucker Carlson on 11th February, 2024 attracted contrasting responses. Hillary Clinton calling Carson a “useful Idiot” (a phrase reportedly unsed by Lenin!) to a range of comment from noted U.S. commentators wishing to hear directly from the Russian leader. ON WAR AND PEACE IN THE UKRAINE Putin went back centuries before the war begun in 2022. He stated Russia and the Ukraine tried to commence a peace deal in 2022 in Istanbul. This was scuppered by the then U.K. Prime Minister, Boris Johnson rushing to Kyev (Putin named him) to stop President Zelensky proceeding. He said:

“Wouldn’t it be better to come to an agreement with Russia? To agree, understand the situation that is today, understanding that Russia will fight for its interests to the end, and, understanding this, actually return to common sense, start respecting our country, its interests and look for some solutions?” And Russia? “We are ready for this dialogue.” Putin asked why the U.S. wanted to spend hugely arming UKraine for what was comparable to a “civil war”. “Does the United States need this? Why? It is thousands of kilometres away from its territory! Don’t you (i.e. the U.S.) have anthing esle to do? ” He pointed out that Russia had not used tactical nuclear weapons as the West feared. Putin noted that mercenaries from the United States, Poland and Geogia were fighting for Ukraine. RISKS OF GLOBAL WAR NATO’s fears of a global war and nuc feared by the Westlear conflict Putin saw as the West frightening people with “myths of a Russian threat”. Russia had not used tactical nuclear weapons as feared by the West. Russia had no interest in Poland, Latvia or the whole continent of Europe and would not attack unless Russia itself was under attack. ” You don’t need to be some sort of analyst to know that this conradicts common sense – to get involved in some sort of global war. A global was would bring the whole of humanity to the brink of exttinction It is obvious”. The West failed to understand that Russia after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union wanted to be part of the family of so-called “civilised peoples” but that its hopes were spurned as NATO expanded eastwards. “The West” Putin continued ” was more afraid of China than Russia due to its swift economic growth.” THE WORLD, AI AND GENETICS Puting spoke of genetic research and artificial intelligence.saying “geneticists could create a ‘superman’ and Elon Musk had put a chip in a human brain.” Humanity needed to think about what to do about the advances in genetics and artificial intelligence and suggested the nuclear arms control treaties of the Cold War could be a guide. Putin said: “When there arises an understanding that the boundless and uncontrolled development of artificial intelligence or genetics or some other modern trends, cannot be stopped, that these researches will still exist just as it was impossible to hide gunpowder from humanity… when humanity feels a threat to itself, to humanity as a whole, then, it seems to me, there will come a period to negotiate at the inter-state level on how we will regulate this,” ON NORD STREAM Who blew up the pipeline? Mr Putin mentioned the US Central Intelligence Agency. “The CIA has no alibi,” ON U.S. JOURNALIST EVAN GERSHKOVICH Evan Gershkovich, a US citizen, was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on 29 March 2023, in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on charges of espionage that carry up to 20 years in prison. He denies the charges. Putin said Mr Gershkovich was caught “red handed” receiving classified information on behalf of US intelligence. “I do not exclude that the person you mentioned, Mr Gershkovich, may end up back in his homeland. Why not? It makes no sense, more or less, to keep him in jail in Russia. These negotiations are under way.” In return, Moscow wanted Germany to free a Russian citizen who was convicted of the 2019 murder of a Chechen dissident in Berlin. THE NAZI PRESENCE IN UKRAINE TODAY President Putin expressed concern about the presence of Nazis currently active in the Ukraine. Wasn’t this an out dated view? Putin pointed out a recent speech by an elderly Ukrainian to the Canadian Parliament. He was met with a standing ovation by those present, including the Canadian Prime Minister and other senior government figures. Afterwards it was pointed out that the speaker had fought in the second world under Bandera, leader of Nazis in Ukraine who co-operated closely with Hitler’s army in World War II deporting Jewish people and others to the gas chambers. Bandera has become a hero with sections of the Ukrainian people with his picture hanging in the offices of political leaders. Full interview: https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/tucker-carlson-vladimir-putin-interview-1235902906/ Credits, Reuters, R.T.E. Socialist Labour Party 10.2.2024

Demonstration in London on Saturday 3rd February in support of the people of Gazza. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gazza was attended by several hundred thousand people. As a member of the London Region of the Socialist Labour Party  i joined the demonstration from its start at the BBC headquarters in Portland Place until its final destination in Downing Street. The demonstration was a very uplifting event was attended by various Trade Union and political groups. Victory to the Palestine struggle for freedom. Kevin O’Connor London Region Socialist Labour Party

Blinne Ni Ghralaigh’s address on behalf of the South African case on Gaza at the ICJ hearing in the Hague court. Click here to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDKpuyQDI_ 1/2/2024