By Julie Ward for North East Bylines

‘Body, Mind, Spirit’ is the theme of this year’s annual LGBT+ History Month which runs throughout February. First initiated by the education charity Schools Out to mark the second anniversary of the 2003 abolition of Section 28, LGBT+ History Month aims to teach young people the history of the Gay Rights movement and promote respect for a diverse inclusive society.

Section 28 was a piece of repressive homophobic legislation written into the 1988 Local Government Act that banned the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ or ‘pretended family relationships’ by local authorities and prohibited councils from funding educational materials and projects perceived to ‘promote homosexuality’. The legislation prevented the discussion of LGBT issues and stopped pupils getting the support they needed, resulting in untold misery for a generation of LGBT+ people.

This was the era of Thatcher’s Britain and the Iron Lady herself had said at the 1987 Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool, “Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay. All of those children are being cheated of a sound start in life.”

These children presumably included many bright young students who felt at odds with a narrow definition of gender identity. Some of them would grow up to be politicians like Thatcher, some of them would even be Conservative MPs and Ministers. Others would become famous artists and fashion designers, musicians and actors, scientists, inventors and business entrepreneurs. What conservative society would not let them be, however, was themselves. LGBT+ History Month attempts to uncover these erased and hidden histories, shining a light on the achievements and struggles of the Queer community at large.

Alan Turing, the eminent mathematician and Enigma code-breaker, is now one of the most iconic figures of the 20^th century. His image is depicted on the £50 note, yet his story was largely unknown due to the Victorian values that continued to prevail long after his death. Turing was a key figure in the fight against the Nazis but was later convicted of “gross indecency” for having a relationship with a man, and was forced to choose between prison or chemical castration. Turing chose the latter and two years following his conviction he was found dead, poisoned by cyanide, having apparently taken his own life. He was 42. Gordon Brown later made an official Public Apology on behalf of the Government and this was followed by a Royal Pardon. In 2009 David Cameron apologised for Section 28, saying it was “a mistake”. A 2017 law that retroactively pardoned men cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts became known as ‘The Alan Turing Law’. Turing is honoured in Manchester with a memorial statue in a park in the Gay Village.

LGBT+ History Month in association with The Proud Trust, the National Education Union and other trade unions and civil society organisations, produces an excellent range of downloadable resources for teachers and home educators across all age ranges, enabling them to deliver informative lessons inspired by people like Alan Turing. This year’s theme is particularly relevant in the light of the health pandemic which has impacted disproportionately on minorities including the LGBT+ community. Young people identifying as non-binary are especially at risk as the spaces and projects they used for social interaction, peer support and pastoral care have been closed in successive lockdowns, contributing to a growing mental health crisis. County Durham arts organisation Jack Drum Arts are now working with researchers from Kings College London as part of a transdisciplinary project aimed at better equipping school staff to support LGBTQ+ youth.

Thanks to projects such as these and the heroic efforts of the teachers who founded LGBT+ History Month in 2005, the untold misery of LGBT+ people forced to hide their sexual identity will remain a thing of the past even when we emerge into a post-Covid world, where being kind to each other must surely be the watchword and where the rainbows created by children in lockdown merge with the rainbow flag of the LGBT+ community to create a truly inclusive society.

By Pat Markey for the Education Solidarity Network

When trying to keep your workplace safe during the pandemic, when what you do could save lives, how would you expect your boss to respond? Maybe with some appreciation or a grudging “thank you”?
Unfortunately, in far too many cases is that union reps are facing bullying and harassment for trade union activity during the pandemic. Louise Lewis of Kirklees National Education Union [NEU], John Boken of Shropshire NEU, Tracy McGuire of Darlington NEU, and Kirstie Paton of Greenwich NEU are just four activists who are currently facing victimisation for supporting staff and raising safety issues during the pandemic.

The NEU needs to act urgently in defence of these union activists, supporting local defence campaigns, helping to link up the campaigns so we can provide mutual support, and seeking to rouse the membership to take whatever action is necessary to force the employer to back off.
We might not expect the boss to thank us for saving lives, but neither should we put up with bullying and victimisation.

• Pat Markey is secretary of Northampton District NEU, writing here in a personal capacity

Safe and Equal is an organisation of keyworkers and trade unionists that
has been campaigning for full sick pay for all since the beginning of
the pandemic. We have agitated for and taken action at workplace level,
lobbied local and national government and used mainstream and social
media to make the argument for full sick and isolation pay for all.

Workers, including our own activists, have won deals for full sick and
isolation pay in the NHS, social care, the civil service, public
transport, in food manufacturing and elsewhere. The erosion of basic
workers rights, outsourcing and union-busting have hampered efforts to
slow the spread of the pandemic. We need a levelling up so all workers
enjoy the same rights at work as workers in well-unionised sectors.

We wish to join with other organisations have been campaigning for full
sick and isolation pay for all workers and for permanent improvements in
workers rights at work.

Together we can organise public meetings, share and amplify our campaign initiatives, and potentially reach a greater number of workers, and achieve greater success in engaging unions, politicians and journalists.

By Ruth Cashman

A BBC survey has found nine out of ten major local authorities in England with not enough cash to cover their spending plans in the financial year 2021-2. Coronavirus could lead to them going £1.7bn over budget. To keep services going, say council leaders, billions cut from central government funding to councils over the last ten years must be restored.

Although higher than previous settlements under Tory governments since 2010, the council funding settlement for 2021-22 is radically insufficient. Already one in six children’s centres and nearly a thousand libraries have closed. Councils have lost large and widely-varying chunks of their revenue through the pandemic, and have spent heavily for the same reason, with central government covering only part of the extra spending.

Council tax will increase again in real terms in 2021-2, taking it to 60% of council income. The government has eased its curbs on councils raising council tax, and allowed them to make an additional increase via adult social care precept.

Over the years since 2010, there has been a shift from central grants to local funding, which is often unstable as businesses close and residents lose their jobs and cannot pay.

Those factors will affect councils unevenly depending on local economies and balance of tax bases. Revenue losses due to Covid-19 are unevenly distributed, and so are losses due to pandemic-caused falls in property prices.

Councils have taken on what the Public Accounts Committee calls “extremely risky levels of debt in recent years” by investing in commercial ventures “in an effort to shore up dwindling finances”. With lockdown closures and an economic crisis, those commercial investments done as ploys to make up lost grant money will bring huge budget pressures.

In Nottingham, the collapse of the council’s Robin Hood Energy company is projected to have lost it £38m. The council will be putting up bills by 5%, as well as making cuts, which means axing 272 jobs, reducing services and charging more for other things it provides.

Manchester Airport was built by the city council, and it has owned a large chunk of it ever since. The pandemic has brought a loss of airport income that will affect budgets for years to come.

In the past 20 years the Manchester Airport Group has bought Stansted and East Midlands airports and, in 2011, created Airport City, one of the government’s low tax Enterprise Zones. Manchester City Council holds the largest stake with 35.5%, while the region’s nine other councils share a further 29% between them. In 2018 they received more than £110m between them, with nearly £60m going to the City Council. And now?

Labour-run Luton Borough Council has also lost expected airport revenue. It has passed an Emergency Budget to cut spending and avoid a financial shortfall of £49 million. The council is the major share holder in Luton airport. The council’s emergency response threatens 365 jobs as well as key services.

Bath and North East Somerset Council owns over 1000 commercial properties, and the council relies on rent from those to make up losses in central government grant money. The council announced a wholesale “review” in December, after losing millions in rent payments.

Social care provision is a big chunk of local government spending, and so is likely to see cuts where councils have lost revenue. The Coronavirus Act allows for “easements” to the Care Act, meaning that councils have been allowed to evade their previous statutory obligations to assess and meet the needs of sick and disabled people and their carers.

The impacts will be far more acute in some areas than others. Neither the local government unions nor Labour has yet initiated any across-the-board anti-cuts strategy, so action will probably start in particular councils or group of workers, and with resistance to particular local cuts in particular services.

We must extend solidarity to all those local government fight backs, rather than allowing them to be isolated.

The Labour left and Momentum should build a national strategy for fighting for an increase in local government grant funding as well as supporting the campaigns.

The Lambeth branch of the public services union Unison has called a meeting to bring together activists across local government unions, community campaigns and the Labour Party to discuss stopping local government cuts looming in the 2021-2 budget year. Tuesday 23 February 2021, 19:00, on Zoom; more details here.

Speakers:
Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP; Sean Fox, Unison Chair of the National Joint Council Committee; Susan Matthews, Unite Branch Secretary and Executive Council member; Andy Prendergast, GMB Southern Region Lead Officer for Public Services; Duncan Morrison, Lewisham NEU; Councillor James McAsh (Southwark). Chaired by Ruth Cashman, Lambeth Unison.

By Ralph Peters

On 16 February, Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions general secretary Lee Cheuk-yan went into court for his trial for alleged “unauthorised assembly” on 18 August 2019. He said: “Let’s uphold the fundamental rights, freedoms and democracy. As 2021 is the year of the Ox, I wish everyone to be as strong as an ox and persistence for democracy…

“It should be the police, the Department of Justice and the Hong Kong government to be put on trial, because they deprived us of the right to assembly and demonstration, which is protected constitutionally”.

The 18 August 2019 protest, against police brutality and for the “five demands” of the democracy movement, was joined by maybe 1.7 million people.

Nine pro-democrats are on trial alongside Lee Cheuk-Yan, and the case is expected to take 10 days

The others include 81 year old moderate Martin Lee. Also on trial is maverick billionaire Jimmy Lai who both hates Xi Jinping and is hated by him.

International solidarity with Lee has been called for by the International Trade Union Confederation [ITUC] and backed up by the UK-based solidarity campaign. 38 MPs and peers and many trade unionists have signed a statement of solidarity.

Charges are expected soon of the 55 arrested for taking part in the democratic primaries, and to be under the National Security Law. It was announced last week that trials under the NSL will not have juries. Anyone being convicted will face ten years’ jail or more.

International solidarity will be vital.

• See campaign video here

By Pete Boggs

The protests at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul have continued: at the beginning of this year, President Erdoğan appointed a puppet rector against the wishes of students and university workers.

Much of the recent “culture war” around the protests has focused on LGBTI+ people. During an art show at the university, a piece of art showed the Kaaba (the large black cube in Mecca which is the final destination of the Hajj) alongside a rainbow flag. Students involved in this were arrested, and the Minister of the Interior Süleyman Soylu called them “four LGBT perverts” on Twitter. The state also shut down Boğaziçi University’s LGBTI+ Studies Club (Turkish LGBTI+ organisations have issued a statement).

Although homophobia has not been as foundational to Turkish right-wing populism as it has to similar movements elsewhere, the illiberal turn of the AKP in power has seen attacks on Turkey’s LGBTI+ people. The Istanbul Pride parade has been banned since 2016, and attempts to hold it have been faced with police violence.

The Turkish government has a strategy against things it finds culturally or politically unpalatable that will be familiar to people in Britain: to present it as part of a broader conflict between “our” Turkey and “theirs”. There is every chance that students who put up this poster intended to be provocative (and good for them if they did!), but the way in which this has been seized on is the action of a government in a much weaker position than it has been previously.

This last-ditch reliance on cultural touchstones was central to the reversion of the Hagia Sophia to a mosque last year, which the AKP had often hinted at but saved up for a rainy day. The Hagia Sophia is admittedly somewhat of a grander spectacle than our own farces about “Fairytale of New York” or the Last Night of the Proms.

Alongside the LGBTI+ community, the professor Ayşe Buğra has also been a favourite target of Erdoğan’s at Boğaziçi University. In a speech attacking protesters where he said LGBT did not exist in Turkey, he invoked another familiar trope, calling Buğra the “representative of [George] Soros”.

Buğra’s husband, a Turkish capitalist who is in jail for his liberal activism, had previously worked for Soros’s Open Society Foundation before it was driven out of Turkey, but Soros’s name is used by Erdoğan as a symbolic stand-in for encroaching foreign liberalism as it has all over the world.

By Abel Harvie-Clark

Around the world, young people are standing up and calling for greater solidarity with the ethnic minorities facing genocide in East Turkestan, occupied by the Chinese state as “Xinjiang”. The issue has been twisted in some ways by right-wingers looking to stoke up anti-Chinese sentiment, whilst some on the left are shamefully quiet due to a lingering softness for Chinese Stalinism. Both groups thus fall into the Cold War narrative that does not account for the catastrophic oppression that Uyghurs and other groups in the region are facing. Beyond the modern imperialisms that Washington and Beijing are both promoting, young people are leading the way with activism focussed on the reality of Uyghur experiences, and the direct connections we have to the region in order to take action in support of them.

Awareness of the issue has been raised successfully in recent years on social media, and by the end of 2020 this had amounted to concrete protests taking place. Last September, over 100 young people joined a protest outside the Chinese embassy in London at only a few days’ notice, to demand freedom for Uyghurs. The Uyghur Solidarity Campaign has continued regular protests, targeting the high street brands that are complicit in profiting from Uyghur forced labour. These corporations epitomise the hypocrisy of right-wing liberals who attack the Chinese government whilst remaining committed to an international economic system that encourages such extreme labour exploitation to the point of genocide. 

Independent and internationalist solidarity is now successfully taking root on university campuses, with exciting prospects for cross-border organising. Collaboration between students at SOAS in London and SoCal Students For Uyghur Justice, a group of students in Southern California has led to an upcoming series of webinars to raise awareness, educate, and champion Uyghur culture. Further, both university student bodies are presenting radical motions to their student unions, and encouraging other universities to do the same. These motions demand an end to institutional investments in the repressive apparatus in East Turkestan, a strong public stance against Chinese repression and Western Cold War narratives, and calling all students out into the streets in support of the Uyghur struggle.

This work is strengthened by its international organisation: a discord channel has been set up to unite young activists all over the world working on this. The international reality of the crisis through multinational supply chains requires such a response, and continued dialogue at this level will help to increase the power of our action. The student union motion resolutions seek to emphasise and deepen cross-border exchange in academic studies especially. Whilst Confucius Institutes have been shown to prop up CCP surveillance of international students, it is important that we don’t confuse this with cutting ties with China studies. Instead, academic exchanges with all parts of the world should be encouraged, and seen as important spaces within which to raise the profile of ‘frontier studies’, particularly narratives around Uyghur, Tibetan and Hong Kong struggles that counter the CCP’s denial of repression.

Remaining concentrated on human stories rather than superpower narratives reminds us how connected we in the West are to this seemingly distant crisis. It is practically impossible to guarantee avoiding wearing cotton that has been processed through the forced labour camps, whilst many young people rely on low-paid jobs in the retail companies connected to the work camps. The enormous profits of these companies rest on the denial of Uyghur rights, as well as poor wages and insecure contracts of other Chinese workers and retail workers in the West. Retail workers and Uyghur campaigners share a common enemy in the exploitation of multinational capitalism, backed up by authoritarian nationalist states. In this common struggle there is great opportunity for effective solidarity action: as forced labour camps rely on the unchallenged sale of cheap clothes, workplace organisation in the retail sector and a refusal to sell products of forced labour could fundamentally disrupt the supply chain. 

The fact that many of the students talking about Uyghur rights work in retail should be seen as an opportunity to take this campaigning forward.  For now, it is important to pass the motion  through as many student unions as possible, build support in the rank-and-file of retail trade unions, get back out on the streets once it is safe to do so, and have these conversations with young exploited retail workers.

Read more. SOAS students propose their union supports Uyghur solidarity

Click here for more info and to attend the event

Internationalists, democrats and socialists owe our solidarity and support to the Uyghur Muslims of western China, who are being targeted by the Beijing government with mass internment, abuse, torture and denial of their rights.

We must also support the workers’ movement in Hong Kong, which is fighting off a draconian security law and facing increasingly stiff repression.

But at the same time, the Labour Party and the left should resist boosting the US government’s anti-Chinese “new Cold War” rhetoric. We have to be independent – but how?

Momentum Internationalists are organising this forum to discuss Labour, the left and our attitude to social struggles in China.

Speakers invited from: Labour Movement Solidarity with Hong Kong

Uyghur Solidarity Campaign