To defend Puerto Rico’s right to peace is to defend Venezuela’s right to exist, argues MICHELLE ELLNER
Matt Wrack: How to rebuild the fire and rescue service
The FBU general secretary, currently running for another term, speaks to Ben Chacko about what's needed to reverse 14 years of cuts – and decades of neoliberal deregulation
Matt Wrack, General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, speaks to the media, next to the Grenfell Memorial Wall in west London
Despite the apocalyptic destruction RAMZY BAROUD points to Gaza’s triumph of spirit against the architecture of genocide
We are demanding action from our politicians to deliver justice, fairness and decency throughout our communities – join us, says ROZ FOYER
After NGOs and the EU, UN condemns Germany’s crackdown on Palestine Solidarity, writes LEON WYSTRYCHOWSKI
It’s not just the Starmer regime: the workers of Britain have always faced legal affronts on their right to assemble and dissent, and the Labour Party especially has meddled with our freedoms from its earliest days, writes KEITH FLETT
Once again Tower Hamlets is being targeted by anti-Islam campaigners, this time a revamped and radicalised version of Ukip — the far-right event is now banned by the police, but we’ll be assembling this Saturday to make sure they stay away, says JAYDEE SEAFORTH
MATT WRACK is running for re-election as general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union. First elected in 2005, when Tony Blair was PM, he’s now on his eighth prime minister and recently completed a year as president of the TUC. But he’s still up for the fight.
“There’s still a lot to do,” he tells the Morning Star as ballots begin to land on firefighters’ doormats. “We’ve been through some tough times under all those prime ministers, we’ve come through it in one piece, and we have plans to try to rebuild the fire service, make Labour deliver on workers’ rights and repeal anti-union legislation. I think I’m the best person to see that through.”
Fourteen years of Tory cuts have hit the fire and rescue service hard. Response times are at their highest in 30 years. There are 12,000 fewer firefighters than in 2010 — a decline of a fifth.
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