End Racist Policing

Two young men have died at the hands of police in South Wales since 1st January. The killings of Mohamud Mohammed Hassan in Cardiff and Mouayed Bashir in Newport have brought out big crowds to demand justice.

Despite Covid restrictions, hundreds of brave, mainly young people have closed the streets in front of police stations, and led marches through the city centre determined to make their voices heard. They rightly say these terrible injustices deserve as much attention as deaths across the Atlantic. 

Fifteen Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests have taken place in South East Wales so far this year. In Cardiff and Newport, the local community is demanding answers.

From the start, the Socialist Party has demanded the immediate suspension of all the officers involved in the deaths. We call for independent inquiries to include representatives of the families, the local community and the trade unions, whose only interest is to secure justice. But we also call for democratic community control of the police, to stop these terrible miscarriages of justice happening in the first place.

In April, the Young Socialists organised a protest in Cardiff to build support for Siyanda Mngaza, jailed for trying to defend herself from a brutal, racist attack. There is also the case of 13-year-old Christopher Kapessa whose death in the River Cynon in 2019 was never properly investigated.

The Socialist Party has played a prominent role speaking at BLM protests and in securing support for Siyanda, Mohamud, Mouayied, and the wider BLM movement from trades councils, trade unions and the Wales Trades Union Congress.

The trade unions are where millions of workers are organised. We call on the trade unions to make their opposition to institutional racism visible by bringing trade union banners out on BLM protests. But also to play their part in fighting to create a new party for workers that has a political programme to end racism and inequality. Socialist Party members are standing as part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) as part of that process.

If you have been fighting for justice in the BLM protests, vote for TUSC on 6 May

Mariam Kamish

TUSC Candidate in the Senedd elections

Promoted by Dave Warren, TUSC Wales secretary, on behalf of TUSC Wales, 29 Tir Y Farchnad, Gowerton SA4 3GS

A political alternative for black and Asian people

The Socialist Party, as part of Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), recognises the disproportionate way black and Asian people are affected by the pandemic, and within the capitalist system itself.

In recent anti-racist protests, we have seen black and Asian youth fighting the inequality within the system. In workplaces, we are seeing workers coming out to fight for better pay and conditions.

We are now seeing more black and Asian people looking for a real alternative, including in the ballot box, that will improve their lives and livelihoods.

Voting for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) in the upcoming election is an opportunity to vote against cuts, to send a message that we want an alternative to the current miserable conditions facing ordinary people.

Traditionally, black and Asian people have seen Labour as the party for them. But the Labour Party under Keir Starmer is not a party that represents our interests. It is turning more and more towards big business and the capitalists. One in five Labour MPs are now black or minority ethnic. But that’s not enough. It is the policies that they stand on that matter.

TUSC stands for a decent future for all: an end to low pay and insecure jobs and for more funding for youth services, NHS and schools.

TUSC is based on the working class and it is therefore not surprising that there are a number of black and Asian workers and young people standing as candidates. It is an example of how a real fighting socialist programme can encourage black and Asian people to be involved in the fightback.

Cammilla Mngaza

TUSC candidate for South Wales East

Promoted by Dave Warren, TUSC Wales secretary, on behalf of TUSC Wales, 29 Tir Y Farchnad, Gowerton SA4 3GS

Justice for Mohamud Hassan!

Even now, after four police officers who dealt with Mohamud Hassan before his death have been served misconduct notices, not a single one has been suspended. Those officers are on still on the streets.

They should be suspended, and a full inquiry headed by workers should be called to uncover the truth.

The family have, quite rightly, demanded the resignation of Jeremy Vaughan, the Chief Constable of South Wales police.

There should be fundamental change as well to prevent these outrageous injustices from being repeated. No force claiming to exist in order to keep ordinary people safe should be so unaccountable to ordinary people. Democratic control of the police by working-class communities and organisations needed.

Welsh voters given real alternative to mainstream parties in Senedd elections

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has announced it is standing in the Welsh Parliament elections on 6 May.

It has decided to contest the South Wales West, South Wales East and South Wales Central regional lists.

TUSC is standing to provide a real alternative for working people, including traditional Labour voters, who have been abandoned by the main parties.

Mark Evans, lead TUSC candidate in South Wales West said: “Under Keir Starmer Labour has abandoned working people. Its defence of big business in opposing the raising of Corporation Tax is just the latest in a series of sharp moves to the right, which will see Labour support in Wales ebbing away.”

Mariam Kamish, TUSC lead candidate in South Wales East added: “Welsh Labour’s voting down of a proposal to allow all children of Universal Credit claimants to receive free school meals shows that Welsh Labour is also not prepared to stand up for the lowest-paid workers in Wales”.

TUSC will be standing for:

• Universal free school meals for all pupils

• Opposition to all cuts and closures to public services, jobs, pay and conditions.

• For an immediate investment in the NHS to reverse previous cutbacks and a 15% pay rise for all NHS and care workers

• A united working-class struggle against racism

• Renationalisation of rail and public transport to electrify Wales railways

• For rent controls, secure tenancies and end to evictions.

• Nationalise energy utilities to create a publicly-owned energy company to build tidal lagoons on the Swansea, Cardiff and North Wales coasts and to make Wales 100% green energy self-sufficient

• For a multi-option referendum on independence

• Full law-making and tax raising powers for the Welsh Parliament including the power to nationalise companies threatening closure

Candidates will include a council workers’ leader, NHS nurses and workers fighting for a decent pay rise in the pandemic, a leader of the rent strike at Swansea University, a prominent community anti-cuts campaigner, a Black Lives’ Matter activist and an 18-year-old college student.

All candidates have pledged to take only the average worker’s wage in Wales if elected.


TUSC list candidates

 

South Wales West

Mark Evans – Carmarthenshire council workers’ leader

Karen Gerrahty – Maesteg NHS occupational therapist

Gareth Bromhall – Secretary of Swansea Trades Union Council and care worker

Oision Mullholland – organiser of the rent strike at Swansea University

Charlie Wells – Swansea University organiser of Free Education campaign



South Wales Central

Ross Saunders – organiser of Cardiff Against The Cuts and secretary of Socialist Party Wales

Beth Webster – nurse at UHW hospital

Mia Hollsing – Cynon Valley campaigner against domestic violence

Kevin Gillen – Barry community activist



South Wales East

Mariam Kamish – Campaigner for A&E at Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr

Cammilla Mngaza – Campaigning for justice for her daughter Siyanda Mngaza

Melanie Benedict – 18 year old campaigner for youth rights

Dave Reid – Trade union activist

Take the Fight Against Racism into the Elections!