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Weekly Worker 714 Thursday March 27 2008 Subscribe to the Weekly Worker

Mehdi must stay

Ben Lewis reports on the recent protest

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Words of support

This week we feature the messages of a few selected comrades who have taken out a new or increased standing order to show their support for the Weekly Worker and our target of an extra £500 in monthly income.

Chris Gray - Campaign for a Marxist Party and New Interventions editorial board:

“The Weekly Worker gives regular coverage of developments on the left in the UK, which is useful, and carries original contributions to socialist theory. The letter pages are also a valuable asset.”

Dave Osler - socialist author and Dave’s Part blogger:

“I’m fed up with reading socialist publications that simply rehash Guardian articles and then stick two or three transitional demands on the end. So I’m more than happy to give a fiver a week to ensure publication of a grown-up Marxist weekly that actually takes up the serious political debates the far left needs to have.”

Gerry Downing - Campaign for a Marxist Party:

“The Weekly Worker is a useful tool for those on the left who want to engage in a process of regroupment, as it fosters a wider range of political discussion and disagreements than any other on the left in Britain. Its demise would be a blow for those who want to engage in this process and so I took out my SO in anticipation that this will continue and develop.”

Sandy McBurney - CMP and Scottish Socialist Party:

“The Weekly Worker doesn’t try to paper over differences, but aims for clarification through open polemic. Although I disagree with some of the positions adopted by the CPGB, I fully support the Weekly Worker’s commitment to the airing of differences as the means to achieve clarity.”

These sentiments are typical of those who have committed themselves to helping achieve the extra £500 needed. And from what I know there is a good deal more such support to be tapped.

The total of additional standing orders since we launched our appeal has now reached £399 - four-fifths of the way there. Thanks this week go to comrade NR, who has increased his monthly standing order by £15.

However, probably because of the bank holidays delaying things, I haven’t had much to report by way of one-off donations over the last seven days. Thank you, GT, for your £20 cheque and DT for adding a fiver to your resubscription. We also got a £20 gift via PayPal from comrade DC - he was one of 25,217 online readers last week.

So our total for March now stands at £649 - but that is well short of the £1,000 we now need to start hitting. Please rush in your donations to reach us by Monday March 31. Don’t forget, we get your cash instantly if you donate via our website.

Robbie Rix

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On Saturday, around 15 members and supporters of Hands Off the People of Iran joined in the protest against the threat to deport to Iran Mehdi Kazemi, the 19-year-old gay man whose partner was executed by the regime for “sexual crimes” (ie, being gay).

Around 100 turned out, with the majority of them coming from the National Union of Students LGBT contingent. In fact, the overwhelming majority of the British left, most notably the Socialist Workers Party, were not present. This should not come as much of a surprise, considering that the SWP’s position on Iran is a (slightly less consistent) version of Galloway’s apologia (See ‘George Galloway alibis Iran’ Weekly Worker March 20).

The demo was called by the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty-sponsored Middle East Workers’ Solidarity and, despite fundamental disagreements with the AWL on Iraq and the nature of imperialism, Hopi was more than happy to support such an action and build support against Kazemi’s deportation, whilst at the same time not blunting our unequivocal opposition to imperialist wars and sanctions.

Moreover, Hopi’s leaflet warned that “… sections of the establishment and the media have seized upon this case to win support for their threats against Iran. Only a year ago the British media couldn’t care less about cases such as that of the persecuted Iranian lesbian, Pegah Emambakhsh. This propaganda effort is as inexorably linked to the war drive as the sanctions that are currently strangling Iran”.

The leaflet prompted some interesting discussions with the demonstrators, including with an AWL member who was trying to argue the case for economic sanctions against Iran. Indeed, he was also of the opinion that an imperialist-promoted ‘velvet revolution’, were it to incite some activity amongst the masses, would also not necessarily be a bad thing! This is obviously not a majority position, but it says a lot about the AWL that such shameless social-imperialists are able to find a natural home in this outfit.

Speakers included Hopi steering committee member Peter Tatchell, Communist Students candidate for the NUS executive Chris Strafford, and Sofie Buckland and David Broder from the AWL.

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