For Struggle, Solidarity and Socialism in Nigeria
STATE OF REFINERIES A Ruling Class Sabotage (By Chinedu Bosah) Refineries can never work! That was the slogan repeatedly said by Obasanjo and his gang. Why? They said the government could not manage refineries. But they should be reminded that Venezuela government runs over 8 refineries such that it does not only export crude oil, it also exports refined products
YAR’ADUA ADMINISTRATION The Dawn Of Zero Tolerance For Corruption? (By Demola Yaya) The former Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseiagha, was sentenced to two-year jail term on July 26, 2007 after pleading guilty of stealing public wealth entrusted in him. In addition, as of the last count, five ex-governors are being prosecuted by the EFCC over serious allegation of stealing public
SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY MAY DAY SPECIAL EDITION The Type Of Labour Leadership Needed In Post 2007 Elections The two trade union federations in the country, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), have recently elected new leaderships. However, a more significant development is the resolve of the new leaderships of the two labour centers to establish a
SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY MAY DAY SPECIAL EDITION 2007 Elections Farce: Working Class Should Lead A Fight Back The farce called 2007 general elections climaxed with what was supposed to be Presidential and National Assembly elections of Saturday April 21, 2007. According to official results, Umar Musa Yar’Adua, the ruling PDP’s presidential candidate scored 70% of the total votes. To millions of
VOTE ADAMS OSHIOMHOLE, BUT….. By Segun Sango Against general rejection/opposition to all persons running on the platform of bourgeois parties, we in the DSM call on the working masses and youths of Edo state to vote massively for Adams Oshiomhole in the forthcoming April 2007 governorship election, notwithstanding the fact that, he is running as the candidate of the Action
Reject Money Bags, Capitalist Politicians Join Campaign to Build a True Working Peoples’ Party The general elections to elect another set of governments, which, under the 1999 constitution, will rule till May 2011, at the central and state levels, have been fixed for April 2007. Expectedly, many politicians and political godfathers are out again canvassing votes for themselves and or
Vote Lanre Arogundade as Lagos State Governor By Demola Yaya Of all contestants to the political offices in the forthcoming 2007 general elections, Lanre Arogundade is the only untainted candidate with a genuine socialist and working class background. In sharp contrast to the private sector oriented economy programmes being advocated by virtually all the candidates for the elections, Lanre is
And Vote other NCP Candidates In addition to Lanre Arogundade for Governor in Lagos State, we call on every eligible voters in Lagos to vote all other NCP candidates like Comrade Ayodele Akele, the victimised and persecuted former Chairman of Council of Industrial Unions (COIU) in the state contesting for Lagos West Senatorial district; Yaya Ademola, Lagos NCP Director of
The Niger Delta Quagmire: What We Think The capitalist ruling class internationally and nationally is willy-nilly dragging the country into quagmire, a no-win war over the oil wealth of the Niger-Delta. A few days before publication, the estranged Vice President Abubakar Atiku disclosed the fact that the President Obasanjo government had approved the sum of $2 billion for arms to
Mass Struggle Pays By Toyin Raheem Chairman NCP Agege The National Conscience Party (NCP), Agege Local Government chapter in conjunction with Agege Community Movement (ACOM) once again demonstrated the power in collective struggle. The people of Kareem Babatunde Street in Papa-Ashafa, Agege, shall forever remain grateful to the National Conscience Party and Agege Community Movement for the pressure jointly put
Downsizing and Obasanjo’s Reform Agenda By Niran Okewole Nigerian workers have watched with dismay and anger as the Federal Government unfolded its plans to “downsize” the public service. By this arrangement, the heads of 33,000 workers are to be placed on the guillotine. Former NLC President, Adams Oshiomhole, has criticised this initiative, stating that it would deprive not just the
ATTACKS ON POLITICAL OPPOSITION IN SRI LANKA Mahinda Rajapakse is Culpable The protest letter by the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) to the President of Sri Lanka in line with the international campaign organised by the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) to protest the state organised terror against opposition including members of United Socialist Party (USP), the Sri Lanka section
Behold the State of Health Care Adequate Health Service: Not for the Vast Majority of Nigerians By Chinedu Bosah Health, like all other social services has been relegated to the background by all tiers of government, thereby leaving the vast majority of Nigerians to health hazard situation. Many Nigerians are dying because of inadequate medical care and incapacity to afford
BEHOLD THE STATE OF EDUCATION Student and Workers Must Organise and Struggle to Defeat Neo-liberal Attacks on Education By Kola Ibrahim The rot in the Nigeria education sector is phenomenal! Fifty percent (50%) of the 140 million population are aged below 18 years; however, less than ten percent of this population have access to any form of education; a gloomy
DSM, ERC Flag off Save Education Campaign It was a colourful event at Awolowo Hall café of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife on 8th February, 2007 when student activists gathered to kick start a campaign to save education from total collapse from the anti-poor, neo-liberal economic policy of the government of the day. The symposium had in attendance, the General
Workers’ Power on Display in University of Ibadan Ebike Iseru Secretary DSM University of Ibadan Branch Striking workers comprising teaching and non-teaching staffs organised as ASUU, SSANU and NASU embarked on joint strike action that paralysed all activities within the University of Ibadan. The strike action which started on February 13 was to protest the continual deduction of a certain
China: A New Partner for Africa’s Development? Peluola Adewale “The need for a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, and establish connections everywhere.” With these words, Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifesto capture the basis for the expansionist instinct of capitalism. Perhaps, so far
SITUATION IN BRAZIL AND VENEZUELA: INTERVIEWS WITH CWI MEMBERS At the 9th World Congress of the Committee for a Workers International (CWI) in Belgium in January 2007, Socialist Democracy conducted interviews with Mariana Campos, member of Womens Commission in PSOL and of SR, the Brazilian section of the CWI, and Johan Rivas, a CWI from Venezuela. BRAZIL Socialist Democracy (SD):
DARFUR CONFLICT KILLS 100,000: IMPERIALISM MEDDLES AS CONFLICT WIDENS By Niall Mulholland, CWI Over the last three years, between 200,000 and 400,000 people died in the Darfur conflict, in western Sudan. More than 2 million civilians fled their homes and more than 3 million people rely on aid for survival. The Sudanese government’s troops and its ‘Janjaweed’ militia allies attack
Guinea General Strike A Revolutionary Working People Party is Imperative By Dagga Tolar The working masses of Guinea (Conakry) have gone back to the street after suspending the last general and mass protest that lasted 18 days, and the third one in a year. They are demanding the resignation of President Lansana Conte and rejecting his appointed prime minister, Eugene