Category: Socialist Democracy July – August 2016

ERC Marks 40th Anniversary of June 16 Soweto Uprising with Public Meetings and Leafletting By H.T. Soweto 40 years ago, on the morning of 16 June 1976, thousands of high school students from the black township of Soweto began a protest against the Bantu education system and the decision of the South African Apartheid government to impose Afrikaans as a

A Community’s Struggle Against Ikeja Electric Over Power Cut and Crazy Bill “We will fight on despite Police Threat to Arrest us” Funmi Jolade, Agege, Lagos In Adikatu, a street in the Oko Oba Community of Agege Lagos, residents are campaigning against frequent power cuts and crazy bill. Since privatization of the power sector on November 1st 2013, access to

Anger Rises on Campuses over Declining Living and Studying Conditions Time for a One-day Nationwide Students’ Boycott and Mass Protest By Omole Ibukun Secretary, ERC, OAU Branch From all available indices, tertiary education in Nigeria is undergoing a major crisis as the combination of economic decline, fuel price hike, inflation and the collapse of electricity generation conspire to worsen the

LASU: ERC Calls For Reversal Of Admission Screening Exercise Fee By Dhikrullah Aasim (Bintinlaye) Coordinator, ERC, LASU Branch It is no news that the authorities of Lagos State University (LASU) have called for application from qualified applicants for her 2016/2017 admission. This is in spite of the directive of the Minister of education cancelling Post-UTME. To make matters worse, the

OAU: One Closure Too Many By Adabale Olamide and Omole Ibukun, Coordinator and Secretary, ERC, OAU Branch The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) OAU Branch strongly condemns the decision of the authorities of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) to close the campus following weeks of strikes and protests by workers unions. The announcement of the closure was made on the 21st of

UNILAG: Authorities Set to Victimize Students’ Union Leaders and Activists Over April 6 – 7 Protest By Julius Samuel (Prakash) Coordinator, ERC, UNILAG Branch The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) University of Lagos (UNILAG) condemns the on-going attempt to unjustly victimize student leaders and activists for participating in a peaceful protest against poor welfare conditions. Recently, the university management set up

Read, Sell and Support the Socialist Democracy (SD) In a class society dominated by the capitalist multi-billion naira media establishment, working class people and the youth can only rely on their own paper and publications (including the social media platforms of the revolutionary and mass organizations) to get reliable news about struggles breaking out as well as analysis and exposition

Socialist Democracy July-August 2016 Edition One Year of Buhari ‘Change’ Government: LIFE GETTING HARDER FOR WORKING PEOPLE By Kola Ibrahim The Nigerian voters that opted for change in the presidential election of March 28, 2015, could not have reckoned that their living conditions would be worse off just a year after. While many Nigerians knew that the country’s economic, social

ERC FREE HOLIDAY COACHING TO BEGIN ON 25TH JULY By Fidel Davy-Nedum This year’s edition of the ERC free holiday coaching for indigent secondary school students in Ajegunle is set to commence on Monday 25 July 2016. It will run for about six weeks and end on Friday 2nd September 2016. The coaching, the 11th of its kind since 2005,

NAIRA DEVALUATION: Not a Silver Bullet for Current Crisis of Capitalism By Peluola Adewale Nigeria’s economy is on a tailspin while Buhari/APC government has proved incapable of arresting the situation. Inflation as of May is 15.2%, hitting 6-year high. High unemployment rate is worsened by increasing job losses and collapse of businesses. The economy contracted in the first quarter (January

HERDSMEN MENACE: SPN Condemns Mass Killings of Nigerians For United Movement of Communities and Herdsmen to Resist and Disarm Criminal Herders By Segun Sango, National Chairperson, SPN The Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) joins the working people to condemn the heinous and continuous killings of Nigerians in the continuing, and increasing number of, conflicts breaking out in different parts of

TOMATO EBOLA: Poor Funding of Agriculture Responsible for Outbreak By Eko John Nicholas The recent scarcity of tomatoes across the country, and the consequent astronomical increment in the prices of the crop, due to the ravaging attacks of a pest, known as tomato leaf miner, was made possible by the neglects and poor funding of agriculture by successive governments at

BIAFRA: Is Secession an Automatic Solution? By H.T. Soweto Agitation for a Sovereign State of Biafra has brought to the fore once more the debate over whether or not secession of any of the constituent part that make up Nigeria can automatically guarantee a better life for the long-suffering people. Indeed it is not uncommon to hear, during an argument

Rising Homelessness Amidst Many Vacant Houses Government Must Massively Invest in Public Housing By Daniel Akande It is no news that homelessness in Nigeria has recently greatly increased to the extent that apart from the destitute children who roam about the streets of the northern part of the country, many are sleeping and living on the street with no shelter,

BUA AND DOCKWORKERS PROTEST: Force Management to Pay Part of the Full Entitlement Workers vow to sustain the struggle for full entitlement and other compensations By Moshood Oshunfunrewa Well over a thousand workers have been thrown into the streets in the face of harsh economic realities and mass unemployment by two companies in Lagos: BUA and ENL Consortium Ltd. Worse

US: Stop Trump and the Right Populist Threat By Patrick Ayers Socialist Alternative (CWI, USA) Donald Trump’s stunning victory in the Republican primaries has raised the stakes of the 2016 US election. Clinton is positioned to defeat him in November, but her corporate policies could fuel the next Trump. The key to stopping the racist right populist threat is the

BRITAIN: Referendum Revolt Capitalist Establishment Shattered By Peter Taaffe, General Secretary, Socialist Party, (CWI in England and Wales) The vote to leave the EU has rocked capitalist institutions – in Britain and internationally. It is yet another reflection of the anger at mass poverty and savage austerity – and of the growing anti-establishment mood. And now the political aftershocks are

CDWR CONDEMNS ATTACK ON STREET TRADERS No to Ban on Street Trading in Lagos The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) condemns in strong terms the decision by the Akinwumi Ambode-led APC government of Lagos state to ban and criminalize street trading and its patronage. This decision also negates the rights to life and dignity of the mass of