North West

International Socialist Movement

(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/northwestism)

Boycott Israeli goods

There has been an on-going campaign, by activists who support Palestinian rights, to urge shoppers to boycott Israeli goods. Most such activists have varied which shops they have picketed, but a small group called the "Revolutionary Communist Group" (who sell the paper "Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!") have been concentrating on picketing Marks & Spencer (M&S). The reason for this is a claim that M&S not only sell Israeli goods but donate to the Israeli regime. Some information about the dedication of M&S in the past to aid the economic development of Israel is provided at the following web page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marks_&_Spencer.

Despite its history, M&S is a more ethical company than most nowadays (perhaps due to the pressure of protestors and consumers):

• It was discovered that all supermarkets' own-brand milk and other dairy products came from cows given partly genetically modified feed - without customers being aware of it - with the sole exceptions of the Co-op and M&S. Direct action activists got organised and blockaded every Sainsbury's depot in the early hours of one morning, attaching themselves to each other with long metal bars which the police could not shift. No Sainsbury's milk appeared that morning, and as a result, you can buy Cravendale millk, which lasts seven days and tastes nicer.
• M&S sell 100% fair-trade coffee in their coffee shop and advertise the fact prominently. Considering the extortionate prices coffee houses in city centres sell their coffee for, there is no excuse for not using fair-trade coffee - which gives poor farmers a reasonable reward for their hard work.
• I also read a Guardian article recently which said that "Just last week, the picture in the FTSE 100 worsened after the most female-friendly board in the Guardian survey - Marks& Spencer, with four women - lost its women executives after a shake-up." See http://money.guardian.co.uk/work/story/0,1456,1351578,00.html.

Israeli troops shot 13-year old Palestinian schoolgirl 20 times

Israeli soldiers recently murdered a Palestinian schoolgirl, Iman al-Hams, in the Southern Gaza Strip, causing outrage in Israel. The soldiers didn't even think she was male or older - they thought that she was a 10-year old girl!

Israeli nuclear weapons whistleblower Vanunu rearrested

Mordechai Vanunu spent about seventeen and a half years in an Israeli jail (with almost all of the first twelve kept in solitary confinement) for revealing details about Israel's secret nuclear weapons programme. He had told all the details he knew by the time he was arrested the first time, yet he has been prevented from leaving Israel or talking to the press. However, Mordechai has been defiant and given some interviews. The Israeli state is not concerned about secrets, merely being further embarrassed in the eyes of the world. On the day that Yasser Arafat died, the 11^th of November, the Israeli state rearrested him, confiscating his computer, and letting him out later on house arrest.

Police ban demonstrations outside M&S

- Manchester ISM's Convenor arrested for handing out a leaflet similar to this one

Manchester Chief Constable Michael Todd banned pickets of M&S over the Christmas period, and it could be extended at the earliest opportunity. Steve Wallis, the Convenor of Manchester International Socialist Movement (ISM), who is in the process of setting up a North West ISM, was one of 12 people arrested on the 4th of December. If you want to read a message he wrote about his arrest, as well as a lot of additional political information such as his plans to set up a revolutionary socialist band called Galaxia and tour South Africa, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/manchesterism/message/151.

Demand the right to protest - assemble Peace Gardens, St. Peter's Square, next to the Town Hall, all,Ha12 noon, Saturday 11^th of December

Protest against army recruitment at GMEX, 2pm, the same day

Ø Back to Steve Wallis' Palestine page

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