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Volume 55 Number 1, January 25, 2025 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBCENTRE | SUBSCRIBE |
Workers' Weekly Internet Edition: Article Index :
Workers Forum:
Vestas Isle of Wight Once Again Announces Hundreds Are At Risk of RedundancyMilitant Demonstrations Across the US Protest Trump Inauguration:
Working Class and People Categorically Oppose Use of Presidential Police Powers
Opposition to NATO in Paris, October 2022 - Photo: Tehran
Times
On Thursday, January 16, the Prime Minister Kier Starmer travelled to Kyiv, Ukraine and signed with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "landmark 100 Year Partnership to deepen security ties and strengthen partnership for future generations." [1] Given the crisis in the proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, and the imminent inauguration of US President Trump and its unpredictable consequences in Ukraine, one wonders if self-mockery was the aim in signing this "100 Year Partnership", or whether Kier Starmer is simply in denial of the trends in history, and that Zelenskyy is a pawn in the US/NATO proxy war. Certainly the British working class and people condemn this British warmongering "partnership" agreement and its "strategic dialogue" with Ukraine, an agreement which is in the service of Britain's imperialist ambitions, its monopolies and war industries.
According to reports, in his first trip to Ukraine since becoming prime minister in July last year, "Starmer was keen to underline Britain's support for the nation just days before Donald Trump returns to power in the United States." [2] Starmer's trip to Ukraine came two days after German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius also travelled to the country, with European leaders "weighing what security guarantees they can provide as part of any peace agreement that may be pushed by Trump". According to these reports both Britain and the EU are concerned that Trump's return to the White House will end in a "bid to end Moscow's war could force Ukraine to cede large parts of the country to Russia for the foreseeable future". This statement reveals that the British and European leaders are not seeking a permanent peace but are being forced to make concessions for the "foreseeable future" on their global ambitions to continue to embed themselves in their proxy state of Ukraine, and use it to weaken Russia in Eastern Europe and Asia.
The press release says that the Treaty will "bolster military collaboration on maritime security" through a new "framework to strengthen Baltic Sea, Black Sea, and Azov Sea security" as well as "bring together experts to advance scientific and technology partnerships", significantly mentioning "agri-tech, space and drones". The government will "build on the £12.8 billion package of support the UK has given Ukraine, including £7.8bn of military assistance", a commitment "for £3bn in military aid a year until as long as it takes". The statement concludes that the UK and Ukraine "will use an annual high-level Strategic Dialogue to ensure progress on the partnership for decades to come."
Whilst gone is the rhetoric of the UK governments that they will support Ukraine "until victory" against Russia if a peace deal comes about, Starmer is hoping that Britain can still use Ukraine as a proxy for its interference and warmongering against Russia in the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Azov Sea and in Ukraine itself. This they are trying to do should the Anglo-US and NATO alliance be forced to agree a peace deal in Ukraine with Russia which the people and majority of countries in the world are demanding.
In particular, the British warmongers are frustrated and want to continue to lay the foundations to continue the war. Significantly, the agreement mentions the Azov Sea which is a Russian internal sea. This was one of Britain's provocations against Russia that led to the war with Ukraine in 2022. In 2021 Britain signed an agreement with Ukraine in Odessa on its warship HMS Defender to "assist in building naval bases around the Azov Sea and the Black Sea regions" with Babcock International, a British Marine, Nuclear, Land and Aviation arms manufacturer "as the prime industrial partner" as well as also sending warships to Ukraine [3]. This latest agreement deliberately continues that British provocation before any peace agreement is agreed between Russia and Ukraine.
Map Aljazeera
The text of the agreement also reveals that the "strategic dialogue" of the British ruling elite is to continue to disrupt and interfere in any de-escalation and peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. Reports also speculate that France and Britain are also considering another provocation of sending troops as "peacekeepers" to Ukraine. However, what is certain is that the One Hundred Year Partnership agreement [4] states that Britain intends to "build a partnership in maritime security. We will focus on speedy restoration of Ukraine's control over all temporarily occupied territories and strengthen its potential as a powerful maritime and riverine state through implementation of the Maritime Security Strategy of Ukraine." It goes on; "we will work together to ensure NATO learns the lessons from Ukraine's experience in the Black Sea to inform its development of future maritime capabilities. We will promote the development of naval bases on the territory of Ukraine." It also states that "the Participants will explore options for deploying and maintaining defence infrastructure in Ukraine, including military bases, logistics depots, reserve military equipment storage facilities and war reserve stockpiles."
In other words Britain and the EU "old powers" of Europe are trying to continue their desperate attempts to stop the collapse of their ambitions in Ukraine against Russia, together with their failing attempts to continue their influence and interference and support for wars in Africa, Asia and their support for Israel's genocide against the Palestinians in the Middle East. The agreement and the "strategic dialogue" reveal it has no intention of resolving the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and bringing about peace and an end the huge loss of life in the war.
The peoples will not accept that that conflict, in which Britain is playing such a nefarious role, must continue against Russia "to the last Ukrainian", as is said. The anti-war movement in Britain is facing the crucial task of opposing the schemes of the British government and continuing to expose and oppose the destructive military alliances such as the Anglo/US-led NATO which continue to promote and provoke and escalate and build infrastructure for these wars all over the world in the name of a "defensive alliance". At the same time, the anti-war movement is a force in its own right, and the working class and people must empower themselves to bring about an anti-war government in Britain, casting aside the old structures which perpetuate their disempowerment. This is an urgent aim for all the movements of the people.
Notes
1. Government Press Release: UK and Ukraine sign landmark 100 Year Partnership
to deepen security ties and strengthen partnership for future generations,
January 16 2025
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-and-ukraine-sign-landmark-100-year-partnership-to-deepen-security-ties-and-strengthen-partnership-for-future-generations
2. UK's Starmer vows to put Ukraine in 'strongest position' against Russia
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/uks-starmer-vows-to-put-ukraine-in-strongest-position-against-russia/ar-AA1xiGGy?ocid=BingNewsSerp
3. NATO Operation Sea Breeze 21 in the Black Sea: US, Britain, NATO - Get Out
of the Black Sea! Workers' Weekly July 17 2021
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-21/ww21-21/ww21-21-05.htm
4. One Hundred Year Partnership agreement between the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland and Ukraine
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/one-hundred-year-partnership-agreement-between-the-united-kingdom-of-great-britain-and-northern-ireland-and-ukraine
Vestas announced on December 11, 2024, that 600 jobs at its Isle of Wight factory are at risk of redundancy. Though Vestas' technology activities, employing around 140 people, remain so far unaffected, the decision leaves hundreds of local people uncertain about the coming year, not to mention the knock-on effects to the island's economy.
Though a 45-day "consultation" period has been initiated, with a final decision expected today, January 25, it is a decision in which none of the workers and others directly or indirectly affected have played any role. Workers had been summoned to the Stag Lane depot, where some were told to give up their uniforms, there and then, at the meeting, to get changed as they would not be going back to the factory floor. The doors to the rest of the building were closed [1]. The whole style is of a decision imposed, and arranged so as to attempt to completely disempower the workers and their communities. The memory of the workers' occupation 15 years ago is evidently still fresh in the mind of the senior management.
A spokesperson for the company cited a collapse in demand for their offshore blades, specifically their V174 model. "You are aware that this was the last customer project in the pipeline for the V174. There is no longer any demand for this product in the market, and we have not secured any additional orders for the V174," they said. "We have been building blades for the service project, which was intended to take us through early to March next year, with the expectation that we would build 33 blades... Today, I need to tell you that the order from service has been reduced from 33 to 15 blades. Due to this reduction, we are building the last web and prefab components now."
After 15 years and more, the problems at Vestas on the Isle of Wight remain. Workers occupied the plant in 2009 at a time when they were being sacked, their organisation was being wrecked, and the site's productive capacity undermined. Jobs are now threatened once again. For the workers, and the community at large, it is unfinished business.
The occupying workers demanded control over their destiny, in a militant manifestation of their desire to replace the existing decision-makers. They called for nationalisation at that time as means towards public ownership, putting on the agenda the question of "Whose company? Who does the plant belong to?" Supporters gathered and camped outside the factory gates and made their views known on the famous "Magic Roundabout", the demands of the occupation open for all to see. The modern democratic personality began to take shape, both collectively through the discussion and decision-making that began to flourish, and in the form of individuals who spoke from erected platforms outside the site in solidarity. Those in power at the present time seek to maintain a level of control that prevents any repeat of such actions and movement amongst the workers and local population [2].
There is a further dimension to the move from onshore to offshore wind power. Ed Miliband, the Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary, has been promoting Green New Deal initiatives. He has been carrying out the government agenda for control over energy, a pipedream of Britain becoming a "clean energy superpower", with Britain a key hub in the global energy corridors, and where wind power is controlled from Britain [3]. A key aspect of the plan is new public-private partnerships, which "will see the public sector taking on a new role undertaking additional early development work for offshore wind projects." [4] Not only is there nothing green about this latest rehash of "making Britain great again", but it is also destined to fail as it does nothing to address the direction of the economy.
Vestas workers and the people of the Isle of Wight are well-acquainted with Ed Miliband. Back in 2009, as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, he was responsible for overseeing the country's energy policies and climate change initiatives. Confronted by the workers demanding intervention to save the plant, his response was "No" - government does not interfere in commercial decisions [5].
So, why the change of heart? Labour is pretending that growth is replacing austerity. That growth can be met by the Green New Deal, that investments will be ensured and jobs created, and that now there is this new public role in offshore wind projects. In the case of Vestas, the company is demanding a bailout from the government if they are to continue to produce. This demand for a pay-the-rich scheme is a fraud to pump diminishing resources into failure. Still the issues of the direction of the economy, and crucially, who decides, remain.
At the heart of the problem is the competition for a share in a shaky "renewables" market. The company claims that its facility can no longer cope with the supply and demand issues of large blade turbines. Global investors, and various national governments in their service, from Biden to Starmer, and including Denmark, where Vestas is headquartered, have turned their attention to "green revolution": green new deals, destined for failure and cannot become the replacement industry for existing commodity production growth. There is no magic bullet to enable business as usual. The current operating system of raw material and energy extraction that enables the economy to function requires fundamental changes in line with the equally fundamental change in the direction of the economy that is required. A bailout with investment targeted in "offshore" and not "onshore" is another impending failure. Capacity will be destroyed or neglected here too because the company cannot control the failing "renewables" market.
In reality, the recent climate-change engendered storm Darragh ripped the blades from turbines and shattered fields of solar panels [6]. The floundering government deliverology cannot be sustained: the planned basis of energy production has become the anathema and fly in the ointment of the cartel parties. There is only speculation left and no discussion of concrete reality. So how are workers to settle the scores?
The fact is that now, today, the conscious workforce are raising their voices ever higher, demanding a say in the decision-making process. They are rejecting being marginalised and presented as non-existent. Rather, workers are seeking ways to empower themselves so that their solutions as to how the technology should adapt, how the labour should be transferred, or how existing energy should be used, can be heeded. What technology development should there be for the peaceful development of society? How can production change at Vestas as the entire direction of the economy as a whole should change? At Vestas, on the Isle of Wight, among those who raised the questions in 2009 and those who are asking them again now, workers must and will take this discussion further.
Notes
1. "600 jobs at risk as redundancies announced at Vestas just 2 weeks
before Christmas", Darren Toogood, December 11, 2024, Island
Echo
https://www.islandecho.co.uk/600-jobs-at-risk-as-redundancies-announced-at-vestas-just-2-weeks-before-christmas
2. See for example Workers' Daily Internet Edition, July 29, 2009
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wdie-09/d09-054.htm
3. "The Labour Government's Economic Programme", Workers'
Weekly, August 11, 2024
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-24/ww24-19/ww24-19-03.htm
4. "New Great British Energy partnership launched to turbocharge energy
independence", Government press release, July 25, 2024
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-great-british-energy-partnership-launched-to-turbocharge-energy-independence
5. "Confronting Ed Miliband", Workers' Daily Internet Edition,
August 3, 2009
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wdie-09/d09-055.htm
6. "Solar Farms and Wind Turbines Tested and Failed by Storm
Darragh", The Civil Engineer, December 9, 2024
https://www.thecivilengineer.org/news/solar-farms-and-wind-turbines-tested-and-failed-by-storm-darragh?form=MG0AV3
People's March, Washington DC, January 18,
2025
Militant demonstrations were held in more than 80 US cities in over 40 states on the occasion of the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States. Starting with the mass rally held in Washington DC on January 18, the Saturday before the inauguration, people's marches and inauguration day actions were also held in New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, Atlanta, Charlotte, Montgomery, Chicago, Houston and New Orleans as well as other places.
Detroit, USA
US workers and people from all fields of endeavour made known in no uncertain terms their rejection of the measures Donald Trump is taking. With speeches, slogans and placards, they upheld the cause of peace, freedom and democracy. Many demanded new arrangements which put the demands of the people in first place, not those of the billionaire class.
The fight against the brutal wave of anti-immigration raids has also begun to take shape. People all over the United States are opposing the state-organised racist attacks on US workers, all of whom are of immigrant origin, with the exception of the original inhabitants of the land which includes the inhabitants of the 55 per cent of Mexican territory annexed in 1848. This includes the original Mexican inhabitants of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and most of Arizona and Colorado, while Texas had been annexed three years earlier. In return, the Mexican inhabitants of those lands were given US citizenship but continue to be treated as enemy aliens in order to create chaos and divide the US people to keep them from uniting against the anti-social attacks of the narrow private interests which have usurped the powers of the state.
According to reports, the declared modus operandi of the government and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents is to target undocumented immigrants starting with major cities including New York, Miami, and Chicago. In addition, ICE is detaining individuals with previous criminal records or those deemed to be in violation of immigration laws. Establishment media are creating utmost confusion about what is legal and what is not. The resistance forces are aware this is aimed at spreading uncertainty in the movements in defence of all to make them vacillate. But as people step up the fight for what is right, this will not succeed. They oppose the brutal treatment of human beings, families, children and workers in every sector of the economy and are actively opposing the campaigns of fear by uniting people in action to defend the rights of all.
Boston, USA
There are some 600 sanctuary cities and jurisdictions in the US, each with its own restrictions on the actions of federal forces. For instance, Chicago will only permit the detainment of undocumented individuals if they are wanted on a criminal warrant by local or federal authorities, if they have been convicted of a serious crime and remain in the United States illegally, or if they are otherwise a clear threat to public safety or national security. These are the pretexts ICE is using to target, detain and criminalise people of colour, "documented" or not. Thousands in working class neighbourhoods are affected along with their communities.
Establishment media reports are repeating that fear has gripped the working class communities and neighbourhoods but they remain largely silent about the people's united fight against the raids. These establishment forces never see the face of the US working class and its fight for the rights of all. They see the society divided into people of colour and those of no colour, those who they deem to be documented and those they deem are undocumented, those they see as criminals and those they do not see at all and so on.
In their dreams, the US working class and people are not fighting, are not defending the rights of all. In their dreams, they are united behind the Trump agenda. In their dreams, human rights organisations and civil liberties organisations are not protesting against abuses, disruption of families and impunity of all kinds.
The People's Agenda
Washington DC, USA
By taking to the streets, during the demonstrations held all over the US, working people militantly staked their claim on society and the rights which belong to them by virtue of being human. They stated clearly that working people must be the ones who set the agenda for the society, not the billionaires, the ultra-rich and their representatives. Many have been steeled in the opposition to the US/Israeli genocide, attacks on LGBT2SQ communities, especially trans youth, and many other struggles waged to humanise the natural and social environment in the past and present.
One of the announced aims of the demonstrations was to launch a nation-wide movement which pledged to oppose the "ultra-right, billionaire agenda". Organisations of the working class and those involved in the fights for peace and social justice which signed the pledge include the Party for Socialism and Liberation, United Auto Workers Local 4811, Palestinian Youth Movement, United Educators of San Francisco, Black Men Build, Democratic Socialists of America, The People's Forum, ANSWER Coalition, US Palestinian Community Network, UNITE HERE Local 2, Artists Against Apartheid, CODEPINK, Los Angeles Tenants Union and Dream Defenders, amongst others.
Their speeches and placards made clear that the people's resistance and mettle is what will define the future.
"Trump is planning to wage war on immigrant families through a brutal mass deportation campaign," said Claudia De La Cruz, who ran on a socialist platform in her campaign for president against both Harris and Trump, on the ticket of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. "We will stand up and say NO to these attacks. Trump is a billionaire, was elected with the help of other billionaires, and runs the government on behalf of the billionaire class. All working people, no matter where you were born, should stand together in solidarity against the billionaire class that wants to rob and exploit us all," she said.
"His real agenda is to destroy workers' rights, deport millions of immigrant families," Brian Becker, National Director of the ANSWER Coalition, said. Calling Trump's "put American Workers First" a Con game, Becker added that Trump plans to "pave the way for a complete corporate takeover by ending regulations to protect the environment, firing thousands of public sector workers, and transferring ever-larger parts of the national treasury to the military industrial complex."
In the opinion of Manolo De Los Santos, Executive Director of The People's Forum, "We can defeat the Trump programme not by following the Democratic Party establishment, but by building a massive movement against the ruling class and the political system that gives everything to billionaires while impoverishing an ever larger section of the population."
(TML In the News, January 22, 2025)
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