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| Sam Russell obituary Communist journalist and veteran of the Spanish civil warHis mother thought he was heading to Egypt for an archaeological dig, but instead Sam Russell was on his way to Spain as one of the earliest British volunteers to fight fascism. Russell first saw action at the Madrid university campus in November 1936, when only a few of his unit survived. Despite a shrapnel head wound, he joined a new unit of the International Brigades, which was rushed south to the Córdoba front, where he was wounded again and was unable to resume fighting. His war did not end, however. Russell became a radio reporter for the Republicans and then the correspondent in Spain for the British communist paper the Daily Worker. Thus began his career as a prominent communist journalist.He worked for the paper and its successor, the Morning Star, until he retired in 1984. He served as a home reporter, diplomatic correspondent, Moscow correspondent and foreign editor. His long career was outlasted by an even longer association with Spain, which continued after the defeat of the Republic – reported firsthand by him – through his accounts of opposition to General Francisco Franco and the beginnings of a new democracy after the dictator's death in 1975.Russell, who has died aged 95, also worked for the International Brigade Association and its successor, the International Brigade Memorial Trust, of which he was chair. In 2009 he was awarded Spanish citizenship. He spoke at the ceremony in Spanish, connecting the struggle of the 1930s with that against the far right in Britain today.The eldest of eight children, he was born Mannassah Lesser in Hackney, east London, to Orthodox Jewish parents who had fled persecution in Poland and had met in the East End where they ran a grocery shop. In 1934, he went to University College London to study Egyptology, having attended South Hackney Central and George Green schools. He was politicised by the antisemitic blackshirt presence in his neighbourhood and joined the Communist party because of its anti-fascist stance. He was starting his third year at UCL when he decided to go to Spain, where he took the name Sam and reversed Lesser to become Russell, the name he used as a journalist.During the war, Russell found work as an inspector in the west London Napiers aircraft factory, where he became a shop steward, before returning to the Daily Worker after the government ban on it was lifted. As a home reporter, he flew with Lancaster bombers in early 1945, dropping food to the Dutch.In 1943, he had married Nell Jones, 20 years his senior and a Daily Worker switchboard operator. Nevertheless, he soon renewed his acquaintance with Margaret Powell, whom he had first met in Barcelona as a volunteer nurse working at the front. He divorced Nell in 1950 and married Margaret the same year.As the paper's diplomatic correspondent, Russell covered "show" trials in central and eastern Europe, which he accepted as genuine. He began to have doubts later, and they hardened after the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, which he, like the British party, opposed. He was Moscow correspondent from 1955 to 1959, and those years – during which he became a close friend of Donald Maclean, the spy who left Britain in 1951 and who was also a communist critical of the Soviet system – only added to his disenchantment. Russell found his attempts to report the experience of everyday life an irritant both to the Soviet authorities and his editor in London. The Soviet Communist party even asked for Russell to be withdrawn, but the British Communist party refused.His biggest regret came when he was tipped off about the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's "secret" speech on Stalin's crimes. Being a good communist, Russell sought verification from the Soviet party and warned them that a Reuters journalist about to leave Moscow would file the story once abroad. Surely it would be better, argued Russell, for comrades to tell the story rather than the capitalist press. He was upbraided: "Just because you are a friend doesn't mean you can look in our cupboard." Reuters duly broke the story, Russell missed a scoop, and his own version of the speech was cut to shreds by the Daily Worker.Russell reported from many other countries during crucial periods: France, Belgium, Hungary, Vietnam, Yugoslavia and China among them. In Cuba during the missile crisis, he interviewed Che Guevara, but the editor removed Che's declaration that the Cubans would have fired the missiles if they had been in control of them. Most dramatically, he witnessed the 1973 coup in Chile from his hotel bedroom. His account was headlined: "I saw democracy murdered."Through his reporting, book reviews, articles and an unpublished autobiography, Russell sought to make amends for accepting Stalinism for as long as he did, but without losing the integrity of the ideals which had inspired him to fight in Spain. Inimitably cantankerous to the end, he never lost his sparkle, and remained a splendid raconteur.Sam was predeceased by Margaret in 1990 and is survived by their daughter Ruth. • Sam Russell (Mannassah Lesser), journalist, born 19 March 1915; died 2 October 2010SpainMorning StarCommunismFrancisco FrancoSecond world warguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Ireland's homeless horses face mass cull Horses bought as pets during the boom years have now been abandoned in their thousands by recession-hit ownersThey are the four-legged victims of Ireland's recession whose plight animal welfare organisations say can only be solved now by a mass national cull.Bought as trophy-pets during the Celtic Tiger boom years, homeless horses now run wild in their thousands across the Republic, most abandoned by owners who have no money for their upkeep.Ireland has the highest horse population per capita in the whole of Europe. Although there are no official figures, animal charities estimate that up to 20,000 horses could be owner-less and fending for themselves.And with the prospect of a harsh winter and no let up in the economic gloom, the Dublin Society for the Protection of Animals now says the only solution to the problem is to cull those animals left to forage for themselves.In Ballymun – close to Ireland's main airport in north Dublin – Lisa Kemp, a DSPCA welfare officer, comes across a thin horse tied to a wall outside a block of flats. The animal has circular lesions on its and Kemp suspects that it has ringworm. A small crowd of children are trying to tend to the horse by putting sugar and vinegar on its body.Kemp points out that, last winter, 14 horses starved to death in Clondalkin on the other side of the city. She predicts that figure will be far higher throughout the Republic this year."The owners of horses with injuries are just leaving them out to die because it costs too much to get a vet to fix the animal. DSPCA used to get little in way of horse calls and now it's the most common of the calls they get," she says.In 2008, the DSPCA took in 26 horses into care; in 2009, 106, and they have already handled 105 so far this year.Orla Aungier, the DSPCA operations manager, says that they have had to put down half of those horses taken into their shelter so far this year. Aungier points out that at the height of the boom a non-thoroughbred horse bought as a pet could cost up to €4,000; today, that price can be as low as €50. Three-quarter thoroughbred horses are also at risk and the DSPCA this year even had to deal with two cases of abandoned fully thoroughbred horses their owners no longer can afford."It's all down to the recession because the first thing to go in a family budget are luxury items and, sadly, horses were luxury pets when the good times were rolling. Every animal welfare charity in the country will tell that Ireland is unique in terms of the volume of abandoned horses all over the state."They face a winter of starvation and in those circumstances sadly the only humane solution is to put those animals down. It is better that they are culled than left to starve to death which is shameful given Ireland's reputation for breeding and loving horses," Aungier adds.At the Dunsink dump in north county Dublin more than 100 abandoned horses roam wild many with matted manes surviving on grass.Dessie Ellis, a Dublin city councillor, and representative for the Finglas area where the dump is, says: "The only long term solution to this problem is to have a proper passport and chipping system for horses. There are plenty of responsible horse owners in places like Finglas where I represent. But there are irresponsible owners too who just abandon the horses once they can't afford them any more."If nothing is done, he adds, the plight of Ireland's homeless horses is going to get worse once winter bites.IrelandAnimal welfareHenry McDonaldguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Uganda's opposition party wins moral ground in primaries In the run-up to Uganda's general election early next year, the opposition party, Forum for Democratic Change, is already claiming the moral high ground after its primary elections were generally reported to be fair and freeA contest between a "fair man and the devil" is how a spokesman for the main opposition party, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), describes the forthcoming general election in Uganda.Recent primary elections for the FDC in Katine sub-county passed by with no malpractices reported, which was in stark contrast to earlier primaries held by the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), which were linked with reports of widespread vote-rigging. The FDC has been holding national primaries to elect the party's candidates to stand in constitutencies across Uganda. Most were either elected in a fair and free contest or went unopposed.In Soroti district, which includes Katine, voting was peaceful with most of the losers accepting results."This has been a free and fair election," said Daniel Ewadu, vice-chair of Soroti district local council, who won the FDC ticket to contest the council seat. "We did not have issues of voter bribery and rigging, unlike our counterpart, NRM. This is an indication that the 2011 general election will be a contest between a fair man and the 'devil'." According to Ewadu, the FDC elections succeeded because there were clear rules disqualifiying anyone caught trying to bribe voters. Unlike the NRM, which used adult suffrage to elect its candidates, the FDC used an electoral college that was easy to manage. (Adult suffrage permits all registered members of a party to vote, whereas a electoral college system only allows specific members who are in party leadership positions to vote."Our electoral commission was also trained to handle the elections ─ that is why we were able to register good results," said Ewadu. He beat his close rival, John Enomu, a councillor representing Katine at the district council to win the position. Enomu got 83 votes against Ewadu's 109 votes.For the Soroti district woman MP's seat, Angeline Osege narrowly beat her opponent, Ruth Ikuna, by 85 votes to 80 . The third candidate, Immaculate Atayo, got no votes.Osege said she had entered politics to bring a much needed social change in the country by advocating a free and fair society where all individuals could enjoy equal rights to the country's resources. "We want good policies," she told the Guardian. "We need room for everyone to qualify for jobs. This is not [a priority] in the current government."Peter Omolo, current Soroti county MP (whose constituency includes Katine), heavily beat his opponent, Moses Etalu, by 466 votes to 41.Meanwhile, the municipality MP, Willy Ekemu, was beaten into second place by Moses Attan by 133 votes to 74. The other contestants Anthony Ayabu and Geoffrey Okoto hardly troubled the count with two and seven votes respectively.Attan's main opponent in the general election will be the NRM's former junior minister, Mike Mukula, a former high-profile official in the Ugandan programme promoting the UN's Global Fund to fight Aids, TB and Malaria. Attan said the general election ought to focus on issues that affect the community. "This government has failed to provide health services, there is hunger, and service delivery has completely died. Even if it means us surrendering our lives, for as long as our children benefit, we shall not waver from the truth," he vowed. Paul Aruo held on to his Soroti municipality mayoral seat, retaining his ticket to vie as a mayor with 104 votes against James Peter Olupot's 66 votes. The FDC's Soroti district registrar, James Okello, said he was happy the exercise had been free and fair and appealed to the condidates to maintain the spirit in the general election next year.Politics and historyUgandaNewsKatine amrefAid and developmentguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Former GB rowing star Holmes dies Great Britain's double Olympic champion rower Andy Holmes MBE dies at the age of 51. news.bbc.co.uk |
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