SSP Public Meeting

"All my activity is aimed at silencing the weapons and seeking a peaceful resolution to the Kurdish problem"
Leyla Zana in her defence speech at the State Security Court, 1994

Public Meeting

Freedom for the Kurds - Freedom for Leyla Zana
Turkey, its human rights record in the aftermath of the war and ongoing repression of the Kurds

5.30-7.30pm
Wednesday, 8 October 2003

Committee Room 4, Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh

Hosted and chaired by Frances Curran MSP

Speakers include:

• Akif Bozat, Kurdistan National Congress (KNK)


• UK representative, Mark Muller, barrister and Chair of Kurdish Human Rights Project

Leyla Zana, in jail since 1994, remains a potent symbol of Kurdish resistance and won many accolades for her stand for peace and reconciliation in a truly democratic Turkey. Recently, the unilateral ceasefire adopted by the Kurdish PKK in 1999 and upheld by its successor KADEK, the Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress, came to an end. Turkey had failed to respond in any meaningful way and instead sought to enforce a complete surrender on the Kurds through a so-called Repentance Law. Now KADEK has issued a “road map” providing a credible blueprint for peace and renewed hope for a resolution of the Kurdish question. This fragile hope needs to be encouraged and the proposals seriously discussed. The paper reforms adopted by Turkey need to be implemented. The reforms will only become credible for the Kurds when political prisoners like Leyla Zana and Abdullah Ocalan are freed.

Leyla Zana is an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience and her many accolades include the European Parliament’s Sakharov Peace Prize.

Supported by Peace in Kurdistan Campaign

The Appledore Work-In

The Appledore Work-In

Workers at the Appledore ship-yard in Devon have occupied it to save their jobs. Read more about the struggle and find out how you can help at the link above, which is a blog set up by the workforce.

End the Occupation: Demo Pictures

End the Occupations of Iraq and Palestine. Demonstration, Edinburgh 27.9.03

Click on the link above to see pictures of the demonstration.

Free School Meals Call

Healthy eating campaign branded a failure

AN expensive and high-profile campaign by the Scottish Executive to improve diet and help banish the "sick man of Europe" tag has failed to win widespread public support.
New statistics show only 0.5% of Scots have called the Healthy Living advice helpline in the nine months since Jack McConnell launched the initiative, describing it as a "long-term commitment to improve our nation's health".
Despite a multi-million-pound TV, radio, and newspaper advertising campaign featuring celebrity chef Nick Nairn, figures show the number of calls to the helpline has slumped dramatically...

The executive has already begun a second phase of promotional multi-media advertising, estimated to cost more than £1m in what is expected to be a three-year campaign.
However, Tommy Sheridan, convener of the Scottish Socialist party, said the healthy living campaign was "as useful as a chocolate teapot".
Mr Sheridan, whose free school meals bill was defeated in the Scottish Parliament last year, said: "They should stop wasting our money. If they were serious about tackling this health timebomb, they would adopt universal, nutritional and free school meals. The key to changing attitudes is through the schools." The Herald

Anti War Protest

Colin Fox MSP addresses 1500 demonstrators in Edinburgh calling for an end to the occupation of Iraq and of Palestine. The rally was addressed by Iraqi and Palestinian speakers, author A.L. Kennedy as well as Green and SSP representatives.

Anti-war protest in Edinburgh

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Anti-war protest in the capital

Protesters have gathered outside the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh to demand the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq.

About 1,500 people attended the rally which was organised by the Scottish Coalition for Justice not War.

The demonstration was part of a campaign to indict Tony Blair for taking Britain to war in Iraq without a United Nations mandate.

Police said the event was largely incident-free, although three men were arrested for hanging a banner from scaffolding in Princes Street.

Independence 'convention' call

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Independence 'convention' call: "Mr Sheridan told the meeting of about 60 activists: 'Our country isn't going to sleepwalk towards independence.

'Our country is going to have to be inspired.

'There is going to have to be a vision for the type of independent Scotland we have in our hearts and our heads.

'And we are going to have to march our citizens proudly towards the vision of a small nation that becomes a beacon of social justice across the world.' "

The Scotsman - Politics - Backing for coalition call

Telegraph | News | Politicians told to hand over £3,000

Irish Consulate Picket

SSP members picketed the Irish Consulate in Edinburgh and handed in protest petitions calling for the freeing of Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins and councillor Clare Daly who have been jailed as part of the ongoing bin-tax campaign.

Independence Convention

Edinburgh Evening News - Top Stories - Parties urged: unite for go-it-alone fight A NEW cross-party campaign was launched today in an ambitious attempt to build a consensus for Scottish independence.

Organisers of the Independence Convention want the SNP, Scottish Socialists, Greens and others to work together to draw up detailed plans for a go-it-alone Scotland.

And SSP leader Tommy Sheridan claimed there was already close to a majority in favour of independence.

The convention was being launched at a fringe meeting at the Scottish Nationalists’ annual conference in Inverness, addressed by Mr Sheridan, leading SNP backbencher Alex Neil, pensioners MSP John Swinburne and actor-director David Hayman.

There were messages of support from Labour’s John McAllion and former Clydeside communist Jimmy Reid.

And organisers have also lined up support from figures outside politics, including actors Elaine C Smith and Peter Mullan. The convention aims to capitalise on the fact that, despite heavy SNP losses in the May elections, there are now three parties - plus independents - in the Scottish Parliament who believe in a separate Scotland.

Mr Sheridan said: "I’m very enthusiastic about the prospect of a wide-ranging campaign, united to promote the principle of independence that cuts across party lines. I think there is close to, if not already, a majority of Scots who would support independence. Among some sections, particularly the young, it is an overwhelming majority." Edinburgh Evening News

BBC NEWS | Scotland | SNP levies elected members SNP levies elected members
The Scottish National Party has told its elected politicians to donate £250 a month to the party.

The levy, passed at the party's annual conference in Inverness today, came after it emerged that one third of its MPs, MSPs and MEPs give nothing to the party.

The conference heard that last year, Scottish Socialist Party leader Tommy Sheridan personally donated more cash to his party than all the SNP parliamentarians collectively donated to theirs.

However the new levy, which was backed by party leader John Swinney, was criticised by local party members who said that they now stand to see little or none of the proceeds.

CONFERENCE OF WORKERS AND TRADE UNIONISTS

CONFERENCE OF WORKERS AND TRADE UNIONISTS Papers from the SSP Workers and Trade Unionists Conference are now available on the SSP website.

SSP Calls for End to Council Tax

Scottish Parliament - Official Report Tommy Sheridan calls for the end of the Council Tax and it's replacement with a service tax, based on ability to pay, during First Ministers Questions.

Scrap the Council Tax

The Herald: Future of council tax in doubt as McConnell signals review

'Convention' call to SNP

BBC NEWS | Scotland | 'Convention' call to SNP: " A leading figure in the Scottish National Party has called for it to consider joining a 'convention' of pro-independence parties.

The idea is being floated publicly at a fringe meeting of the SNP conference in Inverness on Friday.

The Scottish Socialist Party leader Tommy Sheridan will be among those arguing in favour of the move.

Prominent SNP MSP Alex Neil said there were now three parties at Holyrood with a policy of independence of Scotland."

Bill seeks to axe council tax

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Bill seeks to axe council tax: "Bill seeks to axe council tax

A plan to scrap the council tax has been lodged at Holyrood by Scottish Socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan.

The SSP leader has put forward a member's bill in the Scottish Parliament proposing to replace the council tax with an income-based alternative.

Earlier this week, Liberal Democrats voted to axe the council tax at their UK conference in Brighton, but the party in Scotland did not make abolition a condition of its coalition deal with Labour in May.

The Scottish Executive has only committed itself to a review of how councils are funded.

'Pensioner's purse'

During First Minister's Questions on Thursday, Mr Sheridan called on Jack McConnell to scrap the council tax.

He highlighted the UK Lib Dem's campaign to replace it with a local income tax of up to 3%.

The current system was 'hammering' the elderly who face rises much larger than increases in their pension, Mr Sheridan said.

He said that five out of Holyrood's seven political parties now wanted to abolish the council tax.

Mr Sheridan told the first minister: 'It's about time that you supported a system based on personal income, that instead of continuing to plunder the pensioner's purse, we started to fleece the fat-cat wallet.' "

Nursery Nurses

Plea to women MSPs

FEMALE Labour MSPs were today told they should back nursery nurses in their fight for more pay.
Scottish Socialist MSP Carolyn Leckie called on them to back the staff over their re-grading claim.
In a Members' Debate in the Scottish Parliament, Ms Leckie tabled a motion demanding councils made an offer that met nurses'"modest and legitimate" demands.
The MSP said: "This is an obvious case of a gender pay gap where work traditionally done by women is being undervalued. They are entitled to an even greater rise than what they are asking for and I would hope Labour women politicians, in particular, would publicly support this claim."
The motion has cross-party support, but only one Labour MSP, Elaine Smith of Coatbridge and Chryston, has signed it.
A fully qualified nursery nurse with eight years' experience receives a maximum of13,800.
Their union, Unison, has rejected an18,000 offer and says it wants a pay scale of £18,000 to £21,000. Glasgow Evening Times

Scrap the Council Tax

Rebel LibDems back Sheridan on tax abolition

TWO rebel Liberal Democrat MSPs and three independents last night gave unexpected force to a Scottish Parliament back-bench bill from Tommy Sheridan to abolish the council tax.
Mr Sheridan, leader of the Scottish Socialists, surprised Holyrood by effectively gaining the minimum backing necessary for forcing the parliament to consider his proposed law replacing the council tax with a tax "based on personal income".
His Council Tax Abolition (Scotland) Bill must now be placed in the parliamentary pipeline and, if considered constitutionally valid by George Reid, the presiding officer, will be sent for consideration to the appropriate committees, probably those considering local government and finance.
Abolition of the council tax and its replacement with a local income tax is SSP and LibDem policy. The SNP also wants the council tax abolished, but has so far no policy on what would replace it.
If the bill gathers more support, particularly from Labour left-wingers, it could provoke a plausible challenge to the Labour-LibDem coalition's six-vote majority.
John Farquhar Munro, the individualist LibDem MSP for Ross, Skye and Inverness West, and Donald Gorrie, another LibDem parliamentary free spirit, both signed Mr Sheridan's bill along with John Swinburne, the pensioners' list MSP from Central Scotland; Margo MacDonald, the Lothians independent; and Jean Turner, the hospitals campaigner from Strathkelvin and Bearsden.
To make headway in Holyrood, a member's bill must attract 11 signatures plus that of the sponsor. Apart from the two LibDems and three independents, all five of Mr Sheridan's SSP parliamentary colleagues will support it, and Mr Sheridan said he also had support from other MSPs, including some Nationalists.
His move comes after the LibDems in Brighton this week voted to scrap the council tax after an outcry in England about its soaring cost, particularly to pensioners and those on low incomes.
The SSP campaigned during the Scottish Parliament elections for the tax to be scrapped and replaced by a "service" tax, which was widely interpreted as a local income tax.
Labour claimed income tax excepting the basic rate was a power reserved to Westminster and that the SSP plan was therefore a non-starter.
The SSP leader said: "The unfair Tory council tax is now on the scrapheap. It hammers the pensioners and lower paid workers in Scotland, but pampers the rich and wealthy. It has been called the 'pensioner tax' because of its disproportionate effect on pensioner incomes.
"We in the SSP want a Scottish-wide service tax applied progressively to redistribute income and generate more money for local authorities. The Liberals and SNP are also opposed to the council tax. My bill will allow it to be abolished."
Mr Sheridan will challenge Jack McConnell on the council tax at question time today. The Herald

Protest to Free Clare Daly and Joe Higgins

In Ireland Joe Higgins TD and councillor Clare Daly have both been jailed for a month each for opposing the unjust "bin tax".

There will be a protest outside the Irish Consulate in Edinburgh on Friday at 2 pm. 16 Randolph Crescent. Please try to attend.

More info on Indymedia Ireland

Health

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Scotland's health troubles MSPs

SNP in Crisis

SNP conference: Battle to keep healthy membership rolls

TOMMY Sheridan taunted the SNP leadership last night, urging dissident nationalists to defect to his Scottish Socialist Party if they wanted to do more than just "swop flags and anthems". The SSP leader will join Alex Neil, the SNP MSP, at a meeting on Friday on the fringe of the party conference in Inverness to speak in favour of the proposed independence convention, based on the constitutional convention which led to home rule.

Mr Swinney is to snub the meeting and will press on with his own plan for a referendum bill. Mr Sheridan told Nationalists critical of Mr Swinney: "If you want to be part of a radical, left-wing, pro-independence party, join the SSP." He said he was opening the SSP's door to those wanting to go farther than "just swopping flags and anthems", and taunted Mr Swinney, claiming: "The SNP no longer has exclusive ownership of the cause of independence. And on its own, the SNP cannot achieve independence." The Herald

SNP obsession with backroom politicking Herald Letters

Letter to The Scotsman

The SNP’s route map to independence involves seeking to become the biggest single party at Holyrood, establishing a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, then, three years into that government, holding an independence referendum.

Such a strategy is fraught with pitfalls. Even if everything else goes to plan, the SNP’s "pre-legislative referendum" would not take place until 2010, at the earliest. This would then be followed by several years of negotiation with Westminster, presumably followed by a further referendum on the final deal.

The SNP should be working with pro-independence parties and individuals in an independence convention. This could work out a detailed constitution for an independent Scotland. If there was a pro-independence majority at the next Holyrood election, or in the next Westminster election, the plan could be put before the people in a referendum.

As a road map to independence, this would be a fast, broad highway, in contrast to the SNP’s slow, tortuous de-tour along country lanes and byways, some of which may prove to be impassable.

ALAN McCOMBES
National policy co-ordinator, SSP

Nursery Nurses dispute

The Scottish Parliament: Nursery Nurses Dispute

With the dispute on Nursery Nurses pay and grading still unresolved after 18 months, Central Scotland MSP Carolyn Leckie will lead a members' business debate in Parliament on the dispute on Wednesday, 24 September.

Click on the link above to participate in an online debate at the Scottish Parliament website.

Carolyn Leckie's Motion

"Nursery Nurses
That the Parliament sends solidarity greetings and best wishes to all Scotland's nursery nurses and UNISON in advance of their gala day on Saturday 13 September 2003; supports their grading claim in full, and considers that COSLA should make an offer that meets the modest and legitimate demands of the nursery nurses."

Supported by: Colin Fox, Ms Rosemary Byrne, Frances Curran, Stewart Stevenson, Tommy Sheridan, Rosie Kane, Tricia Marwick, Chris Ballance, Ms Sandra White, Mr Adam Ingram, Shiona Baird, Christine Grahame, John Swinburne, Elaine Smith, Fiona Hyslop (List correct at 22 September 2003)

Isle of Arran SSP branch have a new website.

Free School Meals

Taking a bite out of city's poor diet

MALNUTRITION is a problem many people associate with the developing world and pictures seen only on the television news.

But now visual images are being used to highlight the effect poverty is having on diets here in Scotland, where children are malnourished, not because they do not have enough food, but because what they are eating is bad for their health.

A photography project in Edinburgh’s Wester Hailes has highlighted the problems families on low income face when the choice of produce, and shopping opportunities are limited.

It is estimated that 40 per cent of people admitted to hospital in the UK are malnourished, and in Scotland around a quarter of people live in low-income households, higher than the UK average.

There are an estimated 18,500 lone parent families in Lothian alone, with a meagre average income of £204 a week, leaving few choices when it comes to the weekly food shopping.

But why are people on low incomes tending to eat junk food such as chips and pizzas rather than fresh food and vegetables?

"People on low incomes do not have the same access to healthy food as those who earn more," explains Danny Philips, head of Child Poverty Action Scotland.
So how do we solve this massive problem? Philips is a strong believer in providing free school meals for all children in Scotland, which would go a long way to redressing the balance. He is part of the campaign to encourage the Scottish Executive to introduce this policy...

"It is our duty to provide children with a good diet, just as we provide them with an education," he says. "If they are given a healthy meal in the middle of the day at school then they will get many of the daily nutritional elements that they need. Also, they are more likely to tell their parents that they enjoy certain healthy foods and the risk factor is reduced, meaning parents can buy these foods knowing their children will eat them. Children will then grow up knowing what it is to eat a healthy, balanced diet.

"But, ultimately, we have to educate people about healthy eating and also increase their income so they can afford to buy these foods. Only then will we be able to truly tackle food poverty head on." Edinburgh Evening News

Anger at plans to expand Dungavel

Anger at plans to expand Dungavel

THE Home Office has spent months secretly planning the expansion of Dungavel detention centre amid nationwide calls for its closure, it was confirmed yesterday.

Rosie Kane, the Scottish Socialist list MSP for Glasgow, said: "The Home Office have been playing Jack McConnell for a fool. While 80% of Scots want Dungavel closed, the Home Office have been planning all through the summer to expand it. It looks to us as though Westminster doesn't want Scotland's powers so much devolved as dissolved.
"Surely now the first minister, who has been coming on the hard man all week in relation to Scotland's justice system, has to stand up to the little Englanders who run the Home Office and who are determined to run a detention camp on Scottish soil that the people and elected representatives of the Scottish Parliament have no control over."

...Ms Kane flies to Dublin today to assist a socialist member of the Irish parliament who supported the case of Mercy Ikolo, who was detained in Dungavel and allowed into the MSP's care pending a Home Office decision on her future.
Joe Higgins was jailed after protesting about taxation and taking up the case of Ms Ikolo and her daughter, who was born in Ireland. "With Joe now in the jail for taking a principled stand, I need to raise Mercy's voice in the Dail," Ms Kane said. The Herald

Independence Convention

Sunday Herald: Swinney attacked on all sides in leadership race
"The leader’s tactic is to present an alternative to a proposed cross-party convention of those supporting independence, holding its first meeting at a conference fringe event next Friday. This is being pushed by the left-wing and fundamentalist part of the SNP, including former leadership candidate Alex Neil and former leader Willie Wolfe. It will have at its inaugural meeting Tommy Sheridan of the Scottish Socialist Party, senior citizen MSP John Swinburne, plus former shipyard union leader Jimmy Reid and actor/director David Hayman."

Unions

ic Wales - Creators of Labour Party poised to sever all connections: "Mr Crow told delegates he was keen to forge closer ties with Welsh and Scottish nationalists, the Scottish Socialist Party and any Labour MP still supporting the RMT's calls to re-nationalise the railway network." Western Mail

Council joins calls for Dungavel rethink

The Herald: Council joins calls for Dungavel rethink

SCOTLAND'S largest council yesterday added its weight to calls for the reform of Dungavel detention centre. In an uncomfortable move for the Scottish Executive and Westminster, Labour-run Glasgow City Council called for a root-and-branch review of the use of the former Lanarkshire prison for housing asylum seekers and their children. Charlie Gordon, council leader, said locking up children at the centre was "morally wrong"...

In a motion to a full meeting of the council, Keith Baldassara, Scottish Socialist, called for Dungavel to be closed and all its asylum seekers released into the community.

He praised Glasgow for housing some 11,000 asylum seekers under the Home Office dispersal programme, and educating thousands of their children in mainstream schools. He said Dungavel was the opposite of such an enlightened model and "no civilised society can accept that children are detained there. (It) is a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights."

Tetra masts

Telegraph | News | Green Party fails to stop erection of radio masts: "But the Greens, who have the support of the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Socialist Party, claimed the signal used by Tetra had been associated with adverse health effects."

Drug Reform

The Scotsman - Scotland won't go soft on cannabis Colin Fox, an SSP MSP, said it was a "colossal waste" that 70 per cent of police anti-drug work was spent chasing cannabis users. "Scotland’s police and court time is being taken up with the prosecution of cannabis users," he said.
"By ruling out a change to the guidelines in Scotland, the First Minister is ensuring that Scotland will continue to live in the past when it comes to making progress on these arcane and outdated laws."

Policies Not Working

The Herald

Letter to the Herald

I was struck by the quote on your front page (September 17) attributed to one of Mr McConnell's "special advisers". In a groundbreaking statement of faultless logic, he said: "So that is the starting point. What we are currently doing is not working."

Great. So what about the failed approach to poverty and low income? Poverty is more prevalent now than four years ago and the army of working poor grows incessantly. What the executive is doing to tackle this scourge is not working. What about the illegal drugs strategy? Earlier this month Scotland recorded a tragic milestone with a record 382 deaths from illegal drug abuse. The executive's moralistic get-tough approach has delivered more drugs deaths, more drug addiction, more drug-related crime, and more drug-related prisoners. What it is doing is not working.

In the field of dietary ill health, we observe a time-bomb of obesity, diabetes, and other diet-related illnesses while the executive makes good speeches but votes against universal and healthy free school meals with milk and water for every Scottish child. What the government of Finland did to tackle the same dietary ill-health problem has worked. What the Scottish Executive is currently doing is not working.

Is this honest approach by the special adviser a welcome and new development in government policy, or merely an empty phrase aimed at bolstering an even more empty and reactionary criminal justice approach, engineered to cater for the insatiable hunger of the reactionary tabloids and not to serve Scotland's communities?

Tommy Sheridan MSP, Scottish Parliament.

Politicians would be to blame for racist backlash Letters, The Herald

Dungavel

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Bid to free Dungavel children : Campaigners against the detention of children at the Dungavel centre have started a fundraising campaign to get more families released on bail.

Prominent members of the arts community have also pledged to raise the issue on the international stage.

Award winning actors, writers and directors attended the launch of the fund - including Peter Mullan, David Hayman and Gary Lewis, who starred in Billy Elliot.

They have promised to raise the issues surrounding Dungavel when attending premieres and arts festivals.

Campaigners say about 23 children are being held at the centre at present but they hope to raise enough money to get them out.

The fund has been set up by the anti-racist charity Positive Action in Housing, who are also asking for offers of accommodation from the public.

Dungavel may lead to Mullan film The Herald

New cannabis approach urged in Scotland

BBC NEWS | Politics | New cannabis approach urged in Scotland : "Scottish Socialist Party leader Tommy Sheridan said the guidelines should be issued to Scottish police forces too.

He said: "In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the police are to be issued with new guidelines that will effectively decriminalise cannabis for personal use.

"The police in Scotland must urgently draw up similar guidelines to end the needless prosecution and criminalisation of cannabis users north of the border.

"In England, Wales and Northern Ireland they are at least beginning to address the issue, here in Scotland we are sadly lagging behind.

"The Scottish Socialist Party will continue to fight for the full legalisation of cannabis within a licensing framework similar to alcohol and tobacco that enables the setting up of Dutch style cannabis cafés."

Dungavel

United calls to end children’s detention The Herald

The quality of mercy is plain to see

The quality of mercy is plain to see: "Ah, she's only doing it for the publicity. It's just a cheap political stunt. It is gesture politics of the worst kind, and not a serious solution to the asylum crisis. So it goes on. The fact that Rosie Kane, the Scottish Socialist Party MSP, has welcomed an asylum-seeker, complete with daughter, into her home has met with predictable sneers...." The Herald

Dungavel schooling deal dashed

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Dungavel schooling deal dashed: "In an impassioned speech, Scottish Socialist MSP Rosie Kane made clear her opposition to Dungavel.

She said: 'Detention of innocent people is wrong. Dungavel and other detention centres all over the UK are wrong.

'Innocent people are being kept in new family units and we have to oppose that. We cannot shut up in this parliament.'"

STUC leader agrees to deliver SNP lecture

STUC leader agrees to deliver SNP lecture: "Mr Speirs said: 'The general council over the past few years has taken the view that we would engage with all of Scotland's democratic political parties. We have met with the first minister, with the Conservatives, and with the Liberal Democrats, so this invitation fitted neatly with this policy of engagement with all. That will also include the Scottish Socialists in a month's time." The Herald

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Ministers in gay rights opt-out: "The Scottish Socialist Party also accused ministers of 'washing their hands' of the issue and vowed to continue to support Mr Harvie's bill. "

Send Jack a Weetabix

Letters to The Herald



Why Dungavel is worse than a prison

Many people have compared the detention centre in Dungavel to a prison. They are wrong. In prison - I speak from personal experience -

no-one is punished for having food in their cell. In Barlinnie your cell is where you eat (and slop out). Where a canteen system operates, as in Greenock, you help yourself to bread, and can take it back to your cell for later on.

In Dungavel, for feeding her child one Weetabix in her cell, a woman is punished with the loss of her weekly allowance of £3.50. Dungavel is not like a prison. It is worse than a prison.

To the mean-minded minority who have written to justifying the indefensible - the detention of the innocent children and innocent parents in prison - I have only two questions. How would you like a child of yours to be subjected to this treatment? And do you imagine that the children locked up in Dungavel are less worthy of love or less infinitely precious than your own?

To all who are nauseated by the antics of Three Monkeys McConnell and his cohorts of spineless tonyclonies mugwumping on the Mound, may I suggest a practical way of communicating your contempt? Send one individual Weetabix, carefully wrapped, to the first minister. Get your friends to do the same. Perhaps this will give Jack something to chew on while he looks the other way.

Brian Quail, 2 Hyndland Avenue, Glasgow.

Rosie Kane has indeed sheltered the homeless

Chuck O'Connell (Letters, September 8) wonders if Rosie Kane would show the same generosity to a "homeless Scot" as she has to Mercy Ikolo and her daughter. The short answer is yes. I have personally witnessed Rosie taking a homeless family into her home to prevent them having to sleep on the streets or in hostels. People in Scotland perform such acts of decency all the time, even if they escape the glare of publicity.

As in the case of Mercy Ikolo, it was the injustice of the situation and the suffering of the people involved that prompted Rosie to act, rather than some idiotic idea of racial precedence. I will leave Mr O'Connell to judge for himself what the PR value of helping people in need may be, although the chances are we would never have publicised this act of principle and kindness unless he had asked about it.

Mick Eyre, constituency caseworker to Rosie Kane, MSP, 73 Robertson Street, Glasgow.

IN reply to Chuck O'Connell, I know it has become inevitable that every time a true socialist stands up to be counted someone will pop up and question their motives but the anger over children incarcerated in Dungavel detention centre is an entirely different issue from homelessness on our streets. The fact that Rosie Kane has taken direct action over the former does not mean that she or the SSP are not concerned about the latter. As Mr O'Connell seems so concerned about the latter, can he inform us what he intends to do about it? Joining the SSP might be a good start.

Allan Johnston, 23 Dudley Terrace, Edinburgh.


Having read Chuck O'Connell's snide comment about Rosie Kane, I would not be surprised to find that his living-room wall bore a plaque with the homily "Cynicism begins at home".

David Stevenson 47 Cairns Road, Cambuslang.

Shut Down Dungavel! Demonstration 6th September 2003

More than 2000 people came to Dungavel detention centre for asylum seekers, in Ayrshire, to demonstrate. They were calling for the closure of the centre and for an end to the barbaric practice of detaining children, in prison conditions, with poor access to education. There were speakers from refugee campaigns, the STUC, the Greens and the SNP as well as individuals from Labour and Liberal-Democrats who were opposing the line of the Scottish Executive. Rosie Kane MSP spoke on behalf of the SSP and the biggest cheers of the day were for Mercy Ikolo, who was recently bailed from Dungavel and is now staying with Rosie Kane.

To see more photos of the demo to shut Dungavel, Click here

SHUT IT

sundaymail - SHUT IT: "Mercy Ikolo, 32, who was released on bail, described the restrictive conditions imposed at the centre.

She said: ``We're not allowed to go out when we want to go out. Our children are not allowed to eat when they want to eat. They're only supposed to eat at certain times surrounded by people. They cannot eat when they are seen by so many people.

``We are not allowed to speak to our solicitors, so how can we make a case for our freedom? We are monitored everywhere we go -when we go to the library, when we go to the shop.

``It's a really, really bad place.'' Mercy and her daughter Percile-Liz have moved in with Socialist MSP Rosie Kane after being granted bail.

She described the firebrand politician as her ``new friend and mother''.

Kane told the rally: ``I would rather be silenced screaming for justice than silenced with Blair's foot on my throat. I am disgusted and ashamed at what the Home Office has done.''
"

Protesters call for Dungavel to be shut down

Scotsman.com News - Immigration and refugees - Protesters call for Dungavel to be shut down: "POLITICAL and religious leaders last night demanded the immediate closure of Dungavel asylum detention centre during a mass rally.

Around 2,000 protesters gathered at the centre near Strathaven, Lanarkshire, opposing government policy on detaining the children of certain asylum seekers along with their families.
"

Dungavel Protest

Scotland on Sunday - Top Stories - Home sweet home for MSP and the asylum-seeker she has given a bed EVEN though the 14-month-old baby has just crumpled up a picture of her two teenage daughters and put the silver frame on her head, Rosie Kane is still laughing.

As the child, who belongs to asylum-seeker Mercy Ikolo, lunges for her handbag and empties the contents around her cosy sitting room, the Scottish Socialist MSP just smiles and keeps on talking.

"I wish I had more space to offer them but there’s a lot of warmth and fun here," she says.

It has certainly been a welcome move for Ikolo, 32, and her baby Percile-Liz, who had been detained at the Dungavel Detention Centre since August 17. Last week Kane invited mother and baby to stay at her two-bedroom Glasgow flat until their asylum cases are processed.

Sunday Herald: Executive duped over Dungavel SCOTTISH ministers who now refuse to speak out on the detention of refugee children at Dungavel were so worried about the problem in 2001 that they wrung promises from Westminster that they would only be held there as a last resort and for no more than a few days.

The 2001 pledge to Executive ministers was almost immediately broken. Some children have been held at Dungavel for more than a year; others have been held even though they have not been issued with deportation orders.

Drumry By-Election

Council Services - Glasgow City Council

SSP beats SNP and takes second place in Glasgow Drumry council by-election.

Drumry (Glasgow)

Labour 667 (62.6%) ( 7.6%)
SSP 191 (17.9%) ( 2.0%)
SNP 143 (13.4%) (-1.6%)
Con 31 (2.9%) ( 0.4%)
Lib 15 (1.4%) (-1.4%)
Green 12 (1.1%) ( 1.1%)
SLP 7 (0.7%) ( 0.7%)

The Scotsman - Politics - MSP offers asylum seekers a home

A warm haven after chill of Dungavel The Herald

Dungavel

Bishop calls McConnell to account over his silence about Dungavel

: "The Scottish Socialists, meanwhile, were taking more direct action, with Ms Kane welcoming into her home Mercy Ikolo, 32, and her daughter Bessie, who had been held at Dungavel since August 17.

They were granted bail at a hearing in Glasgow when the Home Office offered no objection to the applicant staying with the MSP pending the outcome of her asylum application.

The Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees had a whip-round to raise the £100 bail, with Ms Kane contributing £40.

Ms Ikolo will live with Ms Kane at her two-bedroom flat in Govanhill, which she shares with her two teenage girls.

Tommy Sheridan, the SSP leader, said he was proud of his colleague. "Powerful ministers on huge salaries could apparently do nothing but Rosie Kane, armed only with compassion and courage, secured the release of a mother and her daughter from prison."

In a survey more than 20 MSPs backed outright closure of Dungavel. Positive Action Housing, a campaign group, asked 129 MSPs for their views on Dungavel, but received just 34 responses. Two-thirds of these supported closure: the SSP, Greens, Denis Canavan, the Independent MSP, eight of the nine SNP members, John Farquhar Munro, LibDem, and Elaine Smith, Labour." The Herald

Edinburgh Evening News - Opinion - Party's over for voters north of Border

Edinburgh Evening News - Politics - Sheridan's call to legalise cannabis

Dungavel

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Mother and child leave Dungavel

The woman and child were being held at Dungavel

A woman who was being held at the Dungavel Immigration and Removal Centre with her young daughter has been released on bail.

Scottish Socialist MSP Rosie Kane had offered to accommodate the pair if they were allowed to leave the centre.

Belgian Fascist Will Not Visit Parliament

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Far-right politician's visit axed

Independence Convention

Moves to launch convention The Herald

Dungavel

dailyrecord - KIDS GO HUNGRY IN REFUGEE HOUSE

Researcher in SNP row to testify The Herald

Independence Convention

Greens snub Sheridan's plan for united front on independence The Scotsman

Opening up access to cultural events

Letters to the Herald

IN reply to Archie Flockhart's query (Letters, September 2), Angus Calder stood in for me at the launch of our cultural manifesto last April, where we amassed a wide array of the cream of Scottish cultural talent at the GFT, who supported the aims of the SSP. Unfortunately, as I am working-class, I could not attend as I was working.
Not only does the SSP have a cultural spokesperson, me, but we have also actively promoted cultural events. For two years, Colin Fox, now an MSP, has been heavily involved in the People's Festival in Edinburgh. In Glasgow, the SSP is setting up our second People's Party to be held on the first weekend in November. One of aims of both these cultural events is to try to remove some of the perceived elitism which surrounds culture.

Part of the SSP's policies are to open up access to the theatres, etc, by making them more affordable to ordinary people. The truth of the matter is that Britain/Scotland spends less on culture than most of our European neighbours, thus most events are either city-centric or too expensive. Our aim, therefore, is not to keep our "core middle-class" voters happy - even a brief examination of where our core vote comes from would dispel this myth - but to encourage much wider participation in cultural events.

In answer to Mr Flockhart's cheap gibe that we shouldn't bother with manifesto promises as we will never be in the position to realise them: it was also stated that we would never get Tommy Sheridan elected and were never going to get six MSPs elected, until, of course, we did.

Kenneth McEwan, SSP cultural spokesperson, 66 Melrose Road, Greenfaulds, Cumbernauld.

IT is apt that someone with a "first-past-the-post" mentality like Archie Flockhart should shoot so wide of goal when he compares the SSP to Cowdenbeath FC. Our policy of full support for Scottish Opera, he states, is as wildly suppositious as a Cowdenbeath offer of free tickets to supporters when they get into the Champions' League.

But the SSP is already in the Premier Division of Scottish politics - the Holyrood Parliament - and may just qualify for Europe in the coming EC elections. Mr Flockhart chooses not to understand how Scottish politics now works. Because of proportional representation, no party has, or is likely to get, an overall majority. But any item in any manifesto might succeed with cross-party support, as when Tommy Sheridan got through the abolition of warrant sales. In the relevant committee, an SSP representative can realistically hope to win consent to a reasonable proposal. SSP support for the arts in Scotland thus has real weight.

Mr Flockhart does not consider our policy on its merits, but chooses to view it as opportunistic angling for middle-class votes, thus endorsing the pernicious lie that "culture" is a posh preserve. Our fine classical musicians, struggling for low remuneration in an insecure profession, are surely as working-class as anyone else these days. I am very happy indeed if they judge that the SSP is on their side.

I was "acting temporary" SSP cultural spokesperson in the last election - a fact which incites Flockhart to flippancy - because one MSP could not be everywhere at once. Now we have six, I am pleased to be redundant. And more are on the way. Unlike Christopher Robin, though we are "clever as clever", we do not wish to "be six for ever and ever".

Angus Calder, 15 Spittal Street, Edinburgh.

Voting Reform

Letters to The Herald

Specifically aimed against smaller parties

ROBERT Brown attacks the SSP and the Green Party for protesting at Labour's kite-flying over changing the voting system to elect the Scottish Parliament (Letters, September 1). I think he is deliberately misrepresenting our concern. The Labour kite mentions an STV system based on a three- or four-member constituency. This is the same model being proposed for local government in Scotland by his Labour-LibDem coalition. This is specifically designed to minimise the impact of the smaller parties and retain the cosy coalition of the four main parties. The SSP is in favour of STV for local government; for two years I have represented the SSP on Fairshare, the lobby for STV in local government which the LibDems are also on.

But we are committed to getting wards large enough to reflect minority opinion on local government and we will be putting forward amendments to this effect at committee level. Can we expect Robert Brown's support?

We would have had STV for local government by now if only the LibDems had not let Labour off the hook in their first coalition deal. Let's hope they don't sell the pass again for "party advantage". Finally, could I remind Robert Brown that he was elected by the list system that he complains about and, by my calculations, he would be unlikely to be elected in Glasgow with a three- or four-member constituency, whereas Tommy Sheridan certainly would be.

Hugh Kerr, SSP press officer, The Scottish Parliament.


ROBERT Brown, MSP, is wrong to claim that the media have exaggerated the support of the SSP. The number of SSP MSPs in the Scottish Parliament is fewer than the SSP would have got in an exactly proportional system, based on their percentage of the vote. He is also wrong to say that the SSP (or, indeed, the Greens) have reneged on their commitment to STV voting. What both Mr Harper and the SSP spokesperson actually said was that they feared that a new system of voting would be introduced in such a way as to make it more difficult for smaller parties by effectively reducing the constituency size from seven representatives, under the current regional lists, to three or four.

Mr Brown also seems confused over the purpose of the second vote, which he believes is a "second-choice vote". Although many of the electorate in Scotland used their two votes to vote for different parties, the majority did not. They understood, even if Mr Brown does not, that the vote in the regional list section does not have to be different from the constituency preference. What the second vote does give the voter is the opportunity in every region to vote for the party of their choice (at least among six) and stand a realistic chance of that party benefiting from the vote. If anything, the second vote is arguably a truer representation of party support than the constituency vote, as it is less influenced by local, personal, and "wasted vote" considerations.

Frank Hotchkiss, 27/2 Freelands Crescent, Old Kilpatrick.

Independence Convention

SSP backs independence move BBC

Letters to the Herald

Welcome for an Independence Convention

THE SSP's proposed Independence Convention is a welcome development in the continuing evolution of post-devolution Scottish politics. The sovereigntist parties would do well to come together under such an umbrella. Why not even field joint candidates for Westminster elections under the Scottish Sovereigntist banner?

This is the formula that took the Bloc Québécois so far in the 1990s.

The SNP needs to accept that it is no longer the sole party of the Scottish national movement. Other options for those who believe in Scottish sovereignty now exist. This is a welcome, if unintended, consequence of Holyrood's electoral system. Two parallel sets of political parties are evolving, one Unionist and the other Sovereigntist. Labour/Liberals/Tories versus the SSP/Greens/SNP, currently a 60-40 split.

When I emigrated 15 years ago, I would not have thought this degree of progress possible. The political establishment obviously never thought so, too. I wager this is the real reason why changes to Holyrood's electoral system are now being discussed.

David Young, 4285 St Rte 681N, Albany, OH 45710, USA.


AS a member of the SNP I welcome the idea of a convention for independence, just as I welcomed the commitment of the SSP and the Green Party to independence several years ago. The more people across the political spectrum espouse the cause of freedom for Scotland, the better.

John Swinney is entitled to be canny about the convention idea, at present, because his party has not committed itself to take part. I hope that it makes such a commitment at its conference in four weeks' time. To seek the widest possible support for independence has always been the attitude of the SNP, in my experience (I joined in 1959). A convention will allow each party or participating organisation to contribute to the discussions without compromising its own policies.

Agreement among the participants on the route to independence and on the constitution of a free and independent Scotland would surely be a major step towards that honourable and democratic aim. Another aspect of the convention which I would welcome is the participation of citizens who are not at present members of any party. None of us has a monopoly when it comes to the aspirations and interests of the people of Scotland.

William Wolfe, 17 Limekilnburn Road, Quarter, Hamilton.

Letter to the Scotsman

Scottish Opera must be funded properly

I know from several spontaneous remarks to me that many people are grateful for Michael Tumelty's timely piece on Richard Armstrong and Scottish Opera (August 30).

You chuck money at British athletics and get the current pathetic results in Paris. (OK, of course they'll do better next time . . . but . . . ) The public money spent over the years on bailing out Scottish Opera during intermittent crises has produced something world-class for all of us to take pride in. As people do - the atmosphere of mutual self-congratulation at the final Götterdämmerung was as thick and comfortable as clootie dumpling. As Tumelty suggested, good though imported soloists were, it was our very own orchestra which sealed the triumph.

Why don't our parliamentarians get the point? As acting temporary cultural spokesperson for the Scottish Socialist Party in the spring election, I was proud to declare that we are the only party to demand that Scottish Opera is fully and adequately funded, so that it can confidently go on producing world-class musical drama at prices all can afford. (I am not in the least against sport, but cannot forebear to point out that the entire Ring could be had for no more than the price of watching our rugby team getting walloped, once, at Murrayfield.)

The SSP is also in favour of doubling the parliament's overall budget for the arts. People don't live by free school meals alone . . . Pride in our country can also help us get by. We are damned good at music, theatre, and film. And little Belle Elliott in Castlemilk, like her English counterpart Ballet Billy, deserves a world-class opera company worthy of her wonderful voice.

Angus Calder, 15 Spittal Street, Edinburgh.

Letter to the Scotsman

Problem of drugs use is spiralling out of control

So the deputy justice minister, Hugh Henry, thinks the record level of drug deaths in Scotland are "troubling." They are not "troubling"; they are a national disgrace.

Heroin floods our communities at record levels, addiction rates continue to rise worse than anywhere else in western Europe, law enforcement agencies concede they are incapable of intercepting even 5 per cent of the illegal drug market, red tape hampers agencies trying to deliver treatment services, and drug workers don’t have the re-sources or adequate staff levels to deal with a problem that has spiralled out of control.

And as your report implies, it is no use blaming previous administrations either, as drug-related deaths are up 70 per cent since 1997. There has been plenty of time to turn this around but complacency, lack of resources and fear of radical initiatives have stymied any noticeable progress.

Three weeks ago, I met a group of mothers of young heroin addicts in Irvine who told a heart-breaking story of how their youngsters had gone through the required counselling services necessary for a place on a methadone maintenance programme only to be told at the end of that course that it was no longer available - it had been stopped for financial reasons.

This was confirmed to me and Rosemary Byrne, MSP, when we met the director of the Ayrshire Health Board.

Incredibly, one young addict was even offered valium as a stop-gap alternative to the methadone maintenance programme she had put herself forward for. She is now back on heroin and feels betrayed by what happened when she came forward for help.

So what does "Mr Henry have to say about this except, presumably, "we can’t comment on individual cases". If so, could I suggest that he and the health minister, Malcolm Chisholm, who is ultimately responsible for delivering or cutting back such services, meets the likes of the Irvine-based mothers, and the addicts who were duped and abandon-ed by the system. They will all confirm this is what is happening on the ground. It is no surprise that drug deaths are in-creasing when this is the reality of the problem.

Also, only last year, the Scottish Executive blocked implementing a trial of a heroin maintenance programme in Scotland after the Home Office gave it the all clear. Such a programme, if extended nationally to all registered addicts who seek help, could have helped stabilise the lives of addicts while they got their acts together and brought some much-needed respite to communities ravaged by addiction-related crime. No more excuses are acceptable from the Scottish Executive. It is a problem as much of its own making as anyone else’s.

Instead of presenting failure as some sort of phoney success story, let us see a real change in the national drug strategy, with radical, realistic initiatives tried out here that have worked in other countries.

KEVIN WILLIAMSON, Drugs spokesperson, SSP, Robertson Street, Glasgow


'Socialist throat' silences Scotland's voice of protest The Scotsman

Sound of Socialist silenceThe Scotsman