Britain Anti-racist conference In the largest and most representative assembly of its kind in years, 750 anti-racists gathered in London in March to launch the National Civil Rights Movement (N.C.R.M.).
The initiative emerges out of the widespread outrage over the police mis-) handling of the Stephen Lawrence case and heightened awareness in the white community of state racism in all its institutionaised forms.
"This is the beginning of a movement not only to link one family with another but also different groups of anti-racists and to set the anti-racist agenda for the next decade" said Suresh Grover from 'The Monitoring Group'.
In attendance were families of victims of racist killings and violence, grassroots community groups, advice workers and radical lawyers including Louise Christian, Mike Mansfield, Imran Khan and Gareth Pierce as well as individuals like Liz Davies (Labour Party NEC), Jeremy Hardy (comedian and Guardian columnist) and Hilary Wainwright meeting began with a minute's silence in memory of murdered Belfast lawyer Rosemary police and criminal justice system and without support and resources in their campaigns.
Many of the families are on the interim steering committee that will guide the organisation until its next conference in September in the north of England.
Meanwhile, says Grover, there is much work to be done in creating a national race and policing telephone help-line, holding local and national protests in support of family campaigns and building the National Civil Rights Movement as an inclusive and broad-based orga To join the N.C.R.M. and for details on various family campaigns contact: N.C.R.M. 14 Featherstone Road Southall Middlesex UB2 SAA England Tel: 0181 574 0818/0181 843 2333 Fax: 0181 813 9734 Source: Voice, the newspaper of the Scottish Socialist Party, 73 Robertson Street, Glasgow G2 8QD. Tel: +44 (0)141 221 7714. E. Mail: ssv@mail.ndirect.co.uk Internet www.scotsocialistparty.org
International Viewpoint #312 June 1999 17
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was now unable to fulfil. "It's time to
7.start governing!" screams the graffiti.
According to Luis Felipe Nelsis of the vice-governor's office, this criticism
"The right want us to do is unreasonable.
in three months what they didn't do in 45 months in power!"
"Our main electoral promises were to prioritise health, education, and to house landless peasants. We have started our programme, and are more or less on target in all areas.
ORÇAMENTO
Like all of Brazil's state governments, Rio Grande do Sul is short of
PARTICIPATIVO money. According to Nelsis, the solution partially lies in better tax collection. "Tax evasion is chronic, and there are a mass
VOCÊ É QUEM FAZ UMA CIDADE DE VERDADE of tax exceptions introduced by the previous administration. None of the major companies in RS pay any tax at all!" These exceptions are now being reviewed.
In his election campaign. Olivio it
Dutra promised that he would only tie respect contracts which were "juridically th perfect and socially just." The new administration has identified a number of loopholes in the tax exemptions that
Nelsis expects will lead to the abolition of "a considerable number" of exceptions.
The Dutra administration is also examining each inherited tax break and investment incentive in terms of its social impact. The PT municipal government in the state capital, Porto Allegre, recently approved an application to build Latin
America's largest hypermarket in the town, but only after investors rehoused homeless squatters who had occupied and built a shantytown on the site.
In March, Dutra suspended the investment incentives which his predecessor had promised General Motors and
Ford, who planned to build large car th assembly plants in the state.
The resources will be used for health
In and education, the government's main