NUJ Left is an inclusive coalition of activists in the NUJ who work together to improve conditions for members and advance socialist principles within the union, the labour movement and society at large. We are not affiliated to any political party and membership is open to all members of the NUJ and its staff. More...
The phone-tapping scandal is the beginning of a popular movement for a free Press, Labour veteran Tony Benn told a packed public meeting last week in London (see previous post), writes Chris Youett.
Speaking at a meeting organised by the NUJ and pressure group Defend the Right to Protest at Conway Hall, former BBC current affairs journalist Benn added: “The influence of Rupert Murdoch is so baleful. He has been a very negative force in British politics. He is the most powerful man in the world.
“Governments don’t want us to know anything about what they did for 30 years – and the phone-tapping scandal is the beginning of a movement for a free Press.”
NUJ members and Defend the Right To Protest are holding a public meeting next week on fighting back against Murdoch’s grip on UK politics.
The hacking scandal has revealed News International’s influence at the top of British politics, its corruption of police and illegal pursuit of stories that harm ordinary people. The Murdochs have enriched themselves at the expense of others’ misery and used their powerful media empire to attack trade unionists; support illegal wars; fuel racism, sexism and homophobia and demand that governments carry out free market policies at the expense of our welfare services.
Tony Benn, NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet, campaigning lawyer Matt Foot, and Merlin Emmanuel from the Justice for Smiley Culture (who was killed in police custody), will address the meeting with plenty of time for contributions from the floor about how to reveal and fight the corruption of the press, politicians and police and what sort of media we want.
All welcome.
Tuesday 26 July at 7pm, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1R (nearest tube Holborn).
The fresh revelations about News of the World phone hacking will have horrified anyone with even the remotest shred of human decency.
That private investigators employed by the News International-owned tabloid could hack the phone of a murdered teenager (giving her parents false hope that she might still be alive and potentially obstructing a criminal investigation), and do likewise to victims of the July 7 bombings, to the parents of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, and to the families of soldiers killed in action almost beggars belief.
But this is more than a story about bad journalistic practice, it is an example of corporate power unchecked, of where rampant profiteering, vicious union-bashing and political manipulation leads.
The NUJ Left will be holding an annual general meeting on Saturday 4 June at the St Aloysius social club, 20 Phoenix Road, London NW1 1TA. The meeting will start at noon and finish at 4pm.
Leaflet for meeting
The provisional agenda is:
1) NUJ disputes.
2) 30 June, the day the civil service union, PCS, and education unions have proposed for co-ordinated strike action over cuts and pensions.
3) Union matters.
4) Election for post of deputy general secretary of the NUJ. We will hopefully be running a hustings for this post. If any prospective candidate would like to address the meeting them please contact the NUJ Left.
5) AOB, elections for NUJ committee.
There will be a pooled fare where people in London help subsidise travel costs of those from outside London. NUJ members wanting to attend the meeting can join on the door (Joining fee £6, equivalent to six months subs for the NUJ Left).
The National Union of Journalists has appointed its first women general secretary, Michelle Stanistreet. Michelle is currently the deputy general secretary and was one of only two nominations for the post of union leader. The other candidate, Chris Youett, withdraw his candidancy following the closure of the nomination period leaving Michelle the only runner for the post.
She will take up the position on 1 July after the retirement of Jeremy Dear, who has been General Secretary for two five-year terms.
Michelle will be speaking at an NUJ Left meeting at the union’s delegate meeting this week in Southport.
The meeting is on Friday in the main conference hall after the close of business in the evening. So if you want to hear her views about the union and question her on her policies then please come along.
There will also be an NUJ Left meeting on Thursday 7pm at the Lakeside suite.
The NUJ will be joining other unions this Saturday in what promises to be the biggest march since the anti-war demonstration in February 2003. The TUC March for jobs and growth follows this week’s Budget from Chancellor George Osborne, which had to revise downward projected growth figures.
Osborne however is continuing with the ConDems fiscal tightening, which will lead to more job losses and cuts. Hundred of thousands of people will join the TUC demonstration and march for an alternative to cuts and job losses.
The NUJ will be assembling at the Embankment with other trade unionists from 11.00am onwards. Come along on Saturday and march with your union.
South London’s Lorraine is building for the TUC demonstration against the cuts on 26 March. Watch it, get inspired, convince your friends and march with her on the 26.
Peppiatt wrote a letter to the Star’s proprietor Richard Desmond pointing a finger at the newspaper’s lying coverage as a factor in racist violence. “You may have heard the phrase, ‘The flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil sets off a tornado in Texas.’ Well, try this: ‘The lies of a newspaper in London can get a bloke’s head caved in down an alley in Bradford.’
