QUB Public Meeting
SKYPE Conference with Lebanese socialist
Lebanon, Egypt, Iran & the struggle for a socialist Middle East
7.30pm Thurs 18 Feb
Room 206
Peter Froggatt Centre
Queen’s University Belfast
Organised by the Socialist Society
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70th anniversary of the assasination of Leon Trotsky
Coming mass revolts will see workers and youth look to Trotsky’s ideas
Seventy years ago the greatest living revolutionary of the time, Leon Trotsky, was murdered by Josef Stalin’s hit man Ramon Mercader. There had been a number of failed previous attempts on Trotsky’s life but this time a fatal blow from an ‘ice pick’ successfully destroyed the ‘brain’ of the working class and the symbol of implacable opposition to capitalism and totalitarian Stalinism. This event, celebrated in the Kremlin by Stalin and the bureaucratic elite he represented, also brought joy to the capitalist governments of Europe, America and the world.
Government of millionaires attack benefits
TheSocialist spoke to William, a disabled low paid worker and single parent in East Belfast who relies on benefits which are now coming under attack.
“I’ve been receiving a small amount of disability benefits for a number of years following a serious breakdown caused by stress and overwork. Although I’ve managed to get back into some work, its only part time and at a very low wage. I get about £2,400 a year in benefits on top of my wages of £9,700, so life is a struggle.
University cuts must be fought
On 23rd July, Queen’s University’s (QUB) senate met and agreed an academic plan for the next five years which will see 103 staff being made redundant. The most dramatic effect of the cuts will be the closure of the German department, but all the university’s schools will be effected in some way.
These cuts come despite QUB actually receiving an increase in funding of 2% for teaching and learning and 7.7% for research. The university management wish to shift the emphasis away from frontline teaching and local-oriented research towards international research, which lends more status within the prestigious Russell Group. Their stated aim is to make Queen’s one of the top 100 universities in the world within the next 5 years. The idea that this can be achieved while cutting staff and resources is entirely false.
“Assembly cuts will fuel sectarianism”
Tommy Black of the Stop the Cuts Campaign today stated:
“The recent trouble on the Lower Newtownards Road demonstrates that the issue of sectarianism has not gone away. The policies of the Assembly parties will in fact fuel sectarianism. Their cuts will mean less jobs and services and more deprivation and despair.