John McDonnell, supported by the Trade Union Co-ordinating Group, presented his Private Members’ Bill to parliament last week.

If adopted, the Bill would significantly improve unions’ ability to defend their members and would be the first step towards the full restoration of trade union rights.

After coming first in the Private Members’ Ballot and in consultation with the trade union movement and leading trade union lawyers, John McDonnell MP is sponsoring the “Lawful Industrial Action (Minor Errors) Bill” to tackle the increasing practice by employers of using minor technical errors in the balloting process – which have no material effect on the outcome – to take unions to court in order to prevent them from taking industrial action.

Commenting on the Bill, John McDonnell MP said:

We have seen in the current BA Cabin Crew dispute and many other recent disputes, employers have been able to exploit loopholes in the existing law by using minor technical errors in a trade union ballot to thwart trade unionists from taking strike action.

This resort to the courts by some ruthless employers is bringing current employment law into disrepute and undermining industrial relations in this country. This cannot be right and in the interests of good industrial relations needs to be addressed.

Steve Gillan, General Secretary of the POA, said:

The POA supports the Private Members Bill entitled Lawful Industrial Action as employers are using the anti trade union legislation to stop legitimate industrial action from taking place, by getting the Courts to rule on minor technical errors. You only have to look at the disgraceful cases taken against Unite and RMT Unions. This is a small step in the right direction but the anti trade union legislation needs to go to protect all workers.

Jeremy Dear, General Secretary of the NUJ, said:

The NUJ supports the Lawful Industrial Action Private Members’ Bill because we suffer from some of the worst trade union laws in Europe. Employers should not be allowed to use the courts as a way to clamp down on democratic votes in the workplace. The heavily one-sided nature of the law does not respect basic civic rights and freedoms and therefore needs to change.

John McDonnell MP is sponsoring the Lawful Industrial Action (Minor Errors) Bill to amend section 232B of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (c. 52) to extend the circumstances in which, by virtue of that section, industrial action is not to be treated as excluded from the protection of section 219 of that Act.

The Bill has been co-signed by Kate Hoey MP, Tony Lloyd MP, Dave Anderson MP, Michael Connarty MP, Austin Mitchell MP, Frank Doran MP, Kelvin Hopkins MP, Jim Sheridan MP, David Crausby MP, Ian Lavery MP and John Cryer MP.

Second Reading of the Bill will be 22nd October 2010.

There will be a mass rally and lobby of parliament on the 13th October 2010.

Peter Davies, who has made it his personal mission to rid Doncaster of political correctness, said that under the Taliban, Afghanistan had an “ordered system of family life”. By contrast he said social policies which disregarded the importance of the traditional family had “created mayhem” in Britain.

Under the Taliban, women were banned from working outside the home, studying in schools or universities, from talking to men who were not family members, and from wearing cosmetics, high heels, or clothes made in “sexually attracting colours”.

They were stoned to death if caught having sex outside marriage, and whipped for not covering their ankles in public or being unaccompanied by a suitable male relative in public. Despite these shortcomings – which Amnesty International concluded “virtually confined women to the home” – Mr Davies said the Taliban’s rule did have some advantages.

WTF, it is like saying the trains ran on time under the Nazi’s, so lets not worry about concentration camps. Sometimes a regime is so oppressive that nothing can be added to the equation as an ‘advantage.’

But what does the Mayor consider makes up for girls and women living as less than second class citizens, where they risk physical attacks or death by going to school or clawing back the bare minimum of control of their own lives and bodies.

Of course he doesn’t like the Taliban, but :

He stressed that he “detested” the Taliban, but added: “The point I was making was that even a regime as hideous as the Taliban at least appear to have sort of decent sort of family affairs. In fact probably…they have an ordered society.

“We in this country have created mayhem through lax social policies of disregard for marriage and the family and we have created mayhem in society.”

Now before some of you get your knickers in a twist and say that I’m supporting the invasion of Afghanistan, think the situation is great for women etc etc , I’m not. I’m talking about the Taliban because that is what the nasty little fuckwit in Doncaster is talking about. I’m addressing his points , its not a post about the general oppressive way women are treated , whether by the Karzai administration or the Taliban. Clear?

Here are some posts that look at how women are not better off under the invasion.
Anyway, this man is a fuckwit. See here for a campaign against him.

Well its not really a shock, she has been coming out with this crap for a while now. As the interview in The Guardian points out:

She was vilified for her assertion in an interview in 1998 that being raped wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to a woman, and a few years ago she complained that feminism had undermined men too much. In her book What Makes Women Happy she advised faking orgasms. Did she feel part of the feminist movement?

“Inevitably, but I never wrote propaganda because it all seemed so evident. It became obvious that you had to be a feminist because it was such a ridiculous state of affairs.” Her contemporaries, she says, “usually come round to my way of thinking in the end. I’m probably the one, the only feminist there is and the others are all out of step.”

Well arrogance aside that she is the only real feminist, it seems that by most criteria she seems pretty out of step.

The comments that have excited The Telegraph (and The Mail) are:

…does she think that feminism has ruined females?

“It hasn’t. No. Life is much better, because you are not dependent on the goodwill of men. But the trouble is, the battle became too fierce, and the whole culture encouraged women to believe that men are stupid, useless creatures who are the enemy. But men nowadays aren’t s––––. They’re actually much nicer. They just don’t want to commit to you, and why would they when you are a busy working woman who can look after yourself and probably goes to bed easily with them?

Hmm, why should women play games? If they want to have sex ‘easily,’ so what? Oh no, we are back to Daily Mail land, a place where men marry ‘nice’ girls with the implication that men are sexual beings and women, well they shouldn’t be too keen.

And what’s with the busy working woman who can look after herself?

Fay, basic of feminism, women need to be independent of men ! This means earning and managing our own money and shock horror, working. Don’t know about your world Fay, money needs earning to pay bills . And yeah, some of us, like men, have careers and are busy and not waiting around to be looked after. Or would she rather women were dependent and couldn’t get out of abusive or unhappy relationships ?

The thing is, you need to find a man who is cleverer than you, or at east not let him know that you are cleverer than him. Women want their boyfriends to be like their girlfriends, fun to go to the pictures with, but men are not like that. They want sex and they grunt. If you really want a man to be nice to you, never give him a hard time, never talk about emotions and never ask him how he is feeling…

Actually for all her nonsense about women belittling men she seems to do a pretty good job of it herself. So men don’t want women to be too clever and they basically grunt and have sex ? Well sex is good, but in a relationship being able to hold intelligent conversations is pretty useful in the time not spent shagging.

In Fay’s world the male ego is so fragile it needs a woman to pretend to not be as clever as she is, to make him feel superior? Should we also flutter our eyelashes whilst looking up at him adoringly as well?

Tell me again, why is this woman classed a feminist?

… “There are women at work and there’s mating behaviour and women get them confused. At work, gender should not come into it. Women are right to refuse to make the coffee, but when you get home I’m afraid you have to make the coffee. It’s such a waste of time trying to tell your husband to pick up the socks or clean the loo. It’s much easier just to do it yourself.”

Well I am soooo grateful that Fay thinks women should have some equality in the workplace, though won’t this upset the man, being a working woman who is capable? Ah no, because when she walks through the door she then reverts to 1950s housewife.

If both partners are busy at work, and of course that as we know is problematic in Fay’s feminist world, why the fuck should women then do all the household tasks ? I am not better at cooking, cleaning or tidying than any male partner I have had. I certainly don’t enjoy it. So why should I just go round cleaning the toilet or picking up their socks? If I leave my underwear on the floor, which I do, then I should pick it up.

Again, seems Fay again belittles men as much as she seems to think us not proper feminists do. Yep, grab a man , who will just do, and breed. And linked to her other stuff, perhaps if the man did his share of household and childcare tasks the woman might not be too tired for sex.

Your view of women AND men is insulting , seeing them as insecure shallow beings who need looking after and pandering to.

Demos against the BNP event are good, but the numbers won’t match those that voted for them . What is needed is to take apart their arguments, policies and expose what they really stand for and seems like the NOTW has done a good job of that last element.

It’s not enough to shout racist, we need to argue why they are wrong to blame immigrants for a lack of decent social housing and jobs if we are to counter their hate filled message.

Although I’m saying its good the NOTW has exposed this, I’m in not in anyway saying the Murdoch press are on our side, but lets use what they have discovered in our arguments and campaigns.

Pop over to read in full, but its pretty stomach churning:

For £1 a go, people were throwing wet sponges at a man in a Barack Obama mask locked in stocks.

Elsewhere stalls were selling T-shirts with slogans like It’s A White Thing and books such as Race, Evolution and Behavior – which insists whites give birth to larger-brained babies and blacks are prone to crime.

Supporters gave Nazi-style salutes and shouted Sieg Heil.

But the most sickening bit was :

…local council candidates John Coombes, of Maidenhead, Berks, and Dick Hamilton of Marlow, Bucks, were sitting with others around a brazier.

Hamilton’s ghettoblaster blared out songs supporting Hitler and attacking “ni**ers”.

Then began the “trial” led by Coombes, 45.

A 12-year-old girl there with her dad (we are protecting her identity) held a golly called Winston over the fire as Coombes “charged” him with “mugging, rape, drug dealing”.

He sneered: “Right Winston, you’re about to get cooked. Anything else to say?

“Says he ain’t a drug dealer. He thinks he’s not black. He’s charged with being black. Now get on there.”

Skinhead Hamilton chipped in: “If he jumps off he’s innocent.” Coombes went on: “He’s guilty, guilty as charged.

“Let’s get a real one – in the town we’ll find one or two. They’ll also be guilty of the heinous crimes I charged him with – may God forgive your horrible soul.” Coombes repeated the charges then added: “He may have appeared innocent to you lot but I’m sure he done lots of things wrong.”

Much as I dislike the NOTW, the reality is I’d much rather this was in their paper than a leftie one due the the numbers who will read it .

Senior City bankers are demanding pay rises of up to 10 per cent this year to make up for the clampdown on the bonus culture, a senior City head-hunter has told The Independent.

So when they fuck up and can’t get ‘performance related’ bonuses they then want more on their salary? So what happened to all the free market arguments about competition, rewarding ability etc etc.

Seems they want to get paid well regardless of how well they perform. Now what would they say of that was the public sector?

Check out ‘Let them stay‘ for how you can support this family .

Below is a you tube telling the families story. Pamela explains the process of FGM and how she tried to get help for her daughter who bled to death after being butchered, all in the name of controlling women’s sexuality.

hat tip F Word

Just as it looked like Sarah Palin was going to walk away with the Bad Faith Awards, Christian ‘lone’ Voice Stephen Green makes a late bid for the prize, by forcing the Waterstones in Cardiff to cancel a book signing. Patrick Jones was due to sign copies of his new poetry collection Darkness is Where the Stars Are but Waterstones cancelled at the last moment citing concerns about disruption. Apparently our friend Stephen had mobilised a few believers, aggrieved at what they consider Jones’ blasphemy, who sent emails and called the store. What’s the deal! Are we allowed to pressure bookstores to cancel events featuring people we don’t like… if so there’s a few I’d like to start with.

I phoned the manager of the Cardiff Store, who wouldn’t comment but referred me to John Howells in their central press office. He said the event was cancelled because of concerns about safety in the light of a high volume of complaints received yesterday (he wouldn’t say how many or what proportion were emails or phone calls).

Surely it is a matter of principle that you should not be able to precipitate the cancellation of any event just by claiming it offends you or implying that you will attempt to disrupt it? Surely it is the author and publisher who Waterstones should be supporting here?

Its worrying that bookshops are running scared of causing the slightest offence to religious sensibilities, as NH say:

If you don’t like the book don’t read it and don’t come to the books signing. End of. If bookstores start caving in to this kind of (albeit cowardly and pathetic click-of-a-mouse intimidation) then we really are in the shit.

They suggest e -mailing Waterstones and complaining :

- Email Waterstones to let him know what you think: comments@waterstones.com (Howells says this will be logged and it would be nice if complaints on behalf of free speech end up equally those of offended religionists)
- Email Waterstones’ cheif exec to let him know what you think: gerry.johnson@waterstones.com

The religious right are very good at their e-mail and letter campaigns and we who want free speech and to put the opposing view are usually quite lazy at it. I would urge readers to e-mail Waterstones. its takes five minutes and to be honest most of us waste a lot more time arguing with each other on the blogs, so no excuses !

The Left Women’s Network (LeftWN) is the women’s section of The Labour Representation Committee, an open democratic organisation committed to the development of a radical policy agenda for the Labour Party, the trade unions and the wider labour movement. Since 2007 we have been successful in bringing women together from within The Labour Party, trade union movement, campaigning organisations and the wider labour movement.

We urge women activists to come along and meet other

LeftWN members to discuss how to tackle gender inequality and improve women’s participation in the labour and trade union movement.
Please distribute this widely.

Speakers include :

Maria Exall (Vice-chair LRC / TUC Women’s Committee);
Katy Clark MP;
Veronica Killen (Charter for Women);
Linda Riordan MP
Christine Shawcroft (vice-chair LRC / Labour Party NEC
Clara Osagiede – Cleaning Grades Secretary, RMT. A key organiser of th RMT Cleaner’s Strike.
Kate Ahrens – UNISON Nec

Register at the LWN website

I considered serious political theoretical and strategic discussion but decided to cut to the chase, yep all the old bitter battles as to who did what in 1981 or more recent spats with the SWP could be settled by a cage fight.

Apparently :

The fighting style itself is a physically gruelling mixture of wrestling and martial arts where almost anything goes. Only biting, clawing, gouging, and low blows to the genitals are forbidden. Unlike commercial wrestling leagues, there are no dummy punches or special clickers in the shoes to make it sound like a blow has been landed.

Like boxing, a winner defeats their opponent either by knocking them out or on judges’ point-scoring. Pinning down one’s adversary also works.

No more arguing the toss over who has the correct line and quoting obscure Marxist theory, no more rehashing old feuds , just a good old fashioned fight.

So, who would you like to see in a cage fighting ?

The wife of the First Minister of Northern Ireland has caused controversy with her born-again Christian outlook on life. Iris Robinson is MP for Strangford and chairs the Northern Ireland Assembly’s health committee.

Reacting to news that a man was viciously attacked because he is gay, she suggested that he should consider therapy to “cure” him of his homosexuality. Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster today she condemned the attack on Stephen Smith but added: “I have a very lovely psychiatrist who works with me in my offices and his Christian background is that he tries to help homosexuals trying to turn away from what they are engaged in. And I have met people who have turned around to become heterosexual.”

This pisses me off in so many ways.

For many years lesbian and gay people were seen as suffering from a psychiatric disorder and it was only in 1973 that it was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) . Lesbian and gay people were often subjected to ‘treatments’ such as :

surgical treatments such as hysterectomy, ovariectomy, clitoridectomy, castration, vasectomy, pudic nerve surgery and lobotomy. Substance-based treatment attempts have included hormone treatment,pharmacologic shock treatment, and treatment with sexual stimulants and sexual depressants. Other attempts include aversion therapy, the attempted reduction of aversion to heterosexuality,electroshock treatment,group therapy, hypnosis, and psychoanalysis.

Lesbian and gay people were made to feel guilty and lets not forget that for gay men having sex together was illegal and of course still is in many parts of the world. There were, and still are, religious , social and family pressures. Lesbian and gay people still face attacks even in gay friendly Brighton .

So this guy gets beaten up by homophobic thugs and Ms Robinson suggests he needs treatment to ‘turn’ !! No, the vicious bigots should be punished and attitudes that lead to such violence need to be challenged. No matter how much she condemns the attack, her words only add to an attitude that lesbian and gay people are sick and need to be cured. This breeds breed violence and discrimination.

Sadly many people are still pressurised to conform to heterosexual norms , usually through family and religious pressure. Others have residual guilt and if they do try to change only end up unhappy and living a lie, trying to please the religious intolerance of people like Ms Robinson.

What is her problem, why does it matter to her if two men have sex together. No one is asking her to indulge in a little girl on girl action, no one is telling her not to be in a heterosexual marriage and family.

Oh and something I did hear about on the pro choice demo and that Pink News refers to :

Mrs Robinson’s view of gay and lesbian people is well-known. Last month she castigated MPs in the House of Commons during debate on fertility treatments. MPs decided to remove the requirement on doctors to consider the need for a father when assessing women for fertility treatments.

“Envisage, down the road, a child going to primary school and being collected by two females or two males, and the bullying and abuse to which those children will be exposed; or going into their parents’ bedroom, as is natural for a child to do, and finding two women or two men making love?” said Mrs Robinson. “I stand by my faith and the word of God that man was created in the image of God and that woman was created from the rib of Adam to be his helpmeet and companion. That is the natural progression of procreation.”

“The word of God says that procreation is through a man and a woman. “We are moving mountains to facilitate immorality and to bring the rights of lesbians above all others in this country. It is a shame, and honourable Members ought to hang their heads in shame.”

Oh for goodness sake what a stupid bigoted woman , no one is saying children should walk in on their parents having sex , whether straight or gay. Is she saying that its OK for kids to see their heterosexual parents having sex ?? I would assume that any parent , whatever their sexuality, would ensure they children did not walk in. Perhaps it is a regular occurrence in Ms Robinson’s home for the kids to wander in and catch her and hubby going at it, is that ‘natural’?

Oh and if she believe’s that being gay is a psychiatric illness it could be argued that religious beliefs are a bit delusional and could do with some treatment. I mean hearing voices, messages from a imaginary god, belief in miracles, woman made from ribs …sounds a bit psychotic to me, must dig out my DSM and see what it says.

Thing is Ms Robinson and her ilk are free to believe such superstitious nonsense and live their lives as they wish. I’m not suggesting they seek a ‘cure.’ Can’t they just leave others to live their lives ?

Pic : last years Pride in Brighton .Another good religious chap bothered about other people’s sex lives and trying to save souls

News update:
Police to investigage Iris Robinson over homophobic comments

Blog chatter:
Splintered Sunrise – Another little vignette from our rainbow province
The Cedar Lounge Revolution – the Iris ‘n’ Pete Show rumbles into town…
Paul Walter – ‘Gays can be “turned” by psychiatry’
Well done fillet – I really fucking despair sometimes…

Yeah they will often make the right noises, but they will make excuses for anti abortion men such as Galloway, and yet I can’t see them being quite so tolerant if someone was, ooh let’s say pro-war. But abortion is a women’s issue isn’t it, it’s not quite up there with the serious male leftie men and their real politics about war and arguing the toss over the finer obscure theoretical points of Marxism or who did what when to whom in 1983.

That’s not to say the majority of the left aren’t pro choice and I’m not going to bang on about Galloway as it’s pointless. Back to the subject, the left and pro choice, why should they get their finger out on this?

Much has been said on this, so I will try to focus on what I see as specific issues for the left, starting with the fact that working class women are those who lose out the most when abortion rights are restricted. Money has always helped procure such services from discreet private doctors.

Working class women, pre 1967, had to make do with the back street abortionists and the resultant risks to health, potentially fatal.

Some on the left get caught up by the reasons for abortion and then sympathise with the conclusion that abortion should be restricted or is a bad thing.

Many argue that it’s wrong that women should have to have an abortion because they can’t afford a child. Well yes, but the answer is not to make it illegal, all that does is put those women at risk. The left need to fight for better childcare, benefits, wages.

Even with improved finances some women may still decide that they don’t want more or even any children and that should be their right. And some won’t feel bad about it or suffer psychologically, especially without the guilt trips from others .

An issue that the left should grapple more with is disability rights.
People with disability are often angry that it’s a ground for abortion. Are we trying to create perfection? On the flip side some with a disability, such as the hearing impaired, argue for the right to have a child with the same disability as them.

Now within the world of disabilities there is a wide spectrum. There was a case a while back of a teenager in Ireland who came to Britain for an abortion. She was refused it at home even though the baby would have died very soon after birth so severe were the disabilities. This case illustrates the lack of humanity of some anti abortionists, who would make a young girl suffer like that . No matter what we do, situations that sad will probably always occur.

Greyer areas are more complex. The reality is that, adopting a social model of disability, its society that causes the most problems. People with disabilities have less chances to earn a good wage , expectations of what their life will be like is lower and benefits inadequate. The physical environment is disabling. Many people, the left included, are still patronising and paternalistic to those with disabilities. Parents, and especially mothers, struggle to care for and bring up a child.

So what should the left’s response be to the conflicting views of women’s and disability rights?

I would argue the left must support the current rights women do have and argue for their extension as well as challenging the way disabled people are viewed in society, campaigning for better support for parents and their children with disabilities.

We should challenge what is the norm and the increasing pressure for ‘perfect’ children, to argue for difference and diversity in people. We do not though make it more difficult for women to have an abortion and force them to have a child they do not feel they can cope with.

Finally, some point to left currents that are not pro choice, Nicaragua being one such example.

Nicaragua highlights the dangers of the left going along with religion and ignoring women’s rights. In Nicaragua it is a crime to have an abortion, even if the woman’s life is in danger. A report last year in the Guardian highlighted the costs to women of this law. It hits the poorest:

This central American country has become the third country in the world, after Chile and El Salvador, to criminalise all abortions. It is a blanket ban. There are no exceptions for rape, incest, or life- or health-threatening pregnancies.

“Nicaraguan doctors are now afraid of going to trial or jail and losing their licence,” says Leonel Arguello, president of the Nicaraguan Society of General Medicine. “Many are thinking that instead of taking the risk, it is better to let a woman die.”

For the Nicaraguan rich, a problematic pregnancy need not be a death sentence. You can fly to Miami or bribe a discreet private clinic in Managua. But in this wretchedly poor country most young women do not have money. Their choice is to go through with a pregnancy that may kill them, or attempt a DIY termination that may kill them.

As a result of the blanket ban enacted last November at least 82 women have died, according to advocacy groups.

The anti-abortion camp, in contrast, is euphoric. The new law, it says, is a beacon in the fight to protect the unborn. It is time to celebrate. “Now it is all penalised. And Catholics agree that is should be this way,” says Roberto González, 50, a Franciscan priest in Managua. “The population sees the church as behind the law – behind the pressure that succeeded in getting the government to change the law.”

The stories highlighted in the report show it’s the poorest who are most affected, that young women die and children are left without a mother, often going into care. I expect many of these women were catholic, allowed to die for the sake of a foetus that didn’t even survive.

The left needs to keep this in mind when it bows to religious groups. Where abortion is limited or illegal women die, the poorest suffer the most. It does not stop abortion happening, it does not reduce the causes and reasons for abortion, it does not mean people are more accepting of disability or difference. The left need to focus on reducing the causes, not excuse religious reactionary views on what women can do with their bodies .

The left needs to campaign to improve disability rights, access to good sex education and contraception, tell religious leaders to butt out and work to improve the rights, support and attitudes to disability and difference.

The left should accept that whatever we do to improve the financial situation of women, availability of contraception and quality of sex education, attitudes to disability and support available, that women still have control over their own bodies. That control should not lie with men, the state or any religious groups. It lies with the woman: ‘our bodies, our choice’.

—————
A longer version is posted on stroppyblog.