alanjjohnstone
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Miliband brown-nosing at the CBI Conference 2010http://www2.labour.org.uk/leader-of-the-labour-party-ed-milibands-speech-to-the-cbiChucku Ummuna brown-nosing business at the TUC conference http://www.labourbisteam.org.uk/pro-worker-pro-business—chuka-umunna-speech-to-tuc-congress2005 Big Business support for Labourhttp://www.spinwatch.org/index.php/pete-roche/item/4265-vote-big-business-vote-labourBit off topic http://www.whale.to/a/lord_david_sainsbury.html
Quote:Rugby Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition launches its camapigns for the 2015 general and council elections this Saturday, March 14 – but not with traditional speeches. We are not a traditional party, and we have no intention of doing things purely in traditional political ways. This is why we are launching our campaign with a rock music event – a benefit gig.http://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1049/letters/Can i suggest that TUSC are making a big song and dance over their pitiful menu of palliatives.
Quote:we've got to rely on arguments based on fair play and the democratic principle that all the candidates in an election should have equal time.That begs the question…How do we present our arguments if we cannot rely upon the Electoral Commission's guidelines which do little to prevent discrimination?I suggest we (or rather the Outreach or the Election Committee) draft a leaflet explaining our grievance to distribute at these selective hustings. That the leaflet's text is used as the basis of the press release and circulated by the Media Committee to all the newspaper addresses it holds on file. And if a suitable opportunity arises we do stage a physical protest or picket. I hesitate to suggest we invite the other non-represented candidate's parties to participate but i don't exclude it as such but if we can rope in non-aligned activists (as i proposed) all the better. By making a stand we do show we are as much concerned about contemporary issues of freedom of political expression about demanding socialism. If we are committed to using Parliament we must also be determined to ensure we support certain democratic principles. i don't think it is the start of the slippery slope into reformism, but perhaps other members may interpret it as that, rather than simply object on the grounds of the Party's lack of capability to mount such a protest, which i can sympathise with. Too much is placed upon too few shoulders but that cannot be helped in a voluntarist organisation as ourselves. We got to live with it and adapt where we can.i have been on my own for union pickets and turned back lorries…i have been on mail deliveries and been confronted by a solitary picket and have returned to the office with the mail. A token protest can become symbolic (Rosa Parks?)Anyway, i'd like to hear what others think…
An article going further into the political rather than religious or vegetarian reasons for the ban on slaughtering cows in the Mumbai region of Indiahttp://www.countercurrents.org/puniyani120315.htm
Quote:The hope is that the society overcomes such abuse of ‘identity issues’ for political goals and lets the people have their own choices in matters of food habits, and let those who are making their living from this trade do so peacefully.As some know i tend to suggest theatrics to hopefully draw attention to ourselves and i wonder if we could actually stage a picket/protest at one of those hustings we are excluded from. We should choose a high profile hustings that is blatantly ignoring guidelines and organise transport so we get a substantial number of members present and provide placards for participants…Inform the media of our intended actions and have a press release issued justifying the protest. Make our own video clip to upload to You Tube. We are often criticised for just being interested in socialism and nothing else BUT we are equally concerned on the means of achieving socialism…democracy, fair access to a public hearing for the free access casePerhaps the tactic should be an open-air public meeting at the entrance of the venue to make the point that we will not be silenced. "We will NOT be No-Platformed"…not very catchy slogan..i am sure someone can raise a better one…Shouldn't we have a general leaflet to distribute at these no-minority party hustings even if you think i'm OTT with the protest idea. This can all be tied into my earlier suggestion of press releases on possible legal action.I know the problem…hard enough to get volunteers to turn up at a hustings …so that why i suggest we address logistics and draft them them in …and perhaps pick a hustings which has refused us in a place where we have sympathisers…Oxford Corresponding Society?
Probably escape the national news but the Scottish Green Party are a little bit peeved that they have been excluded from Scottish Television's debate even though they have two Scottish Parliament MPs and had had European Parliament MPs and have a number of town councillors. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-31858913
Again, it should be pointed out to those selective hustings that some on the platform would not have been invited a few years according to the organisers guidelines and that it is a policy which discourages new-comers to the political scene….an example would be the present Greek government Syriza …or the party currently heading opinion polls in Spain…Podemos…would likewise be excluded from the hustings. This is particularly shocking in the case of mock school election…just what sort of example of democracy are we presenting to young people today. I also suggest that the within a reasonable time and in advance of any official protest to the Electoral Commission…we issue a press release announcing our intention to seek legal advice for possible future legal action against those hustings that have excluded ourselves. (note my phrase of intention and possible…i'm not saying we will make a legal challenge. just use the threat as a frightener) I think perhaps concerning the tv debate issue, some media may well pick up on it This should be in concert with broader more political statement press release concerning what has been discussed here…the suppression of democratic expression …a policy of exclusion… etc etc etc..Let us reclaim the mantle of Social Democracy
Since i posted the original message i came across this which reflects the cynicism growing in some parts of Scotland about Labourhttp://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2015/03/09/what-if-were-not-stupid/I also recall that past hung parliaments relied on the agreement with the Ulster Unionists.And so far i have not heard anyone demand that Cameron places any alliance with UKIP out of the question
Just to bring it up to date, Labour's Hypocrit-in-Chief, Mandelson in todays Guardian
Quote:believes that it should not abandon some central truths from the former prime minister’s three general election wins, such as championing aspirational voters in middle England and showing that Labour is on the side of business.my emphasis
A couple of hours ago, I took the liberty of contacting Chamsy by e-mail and informing him of this thread and inviting him to contribute. This is his surprisingly swift reply
Quote:Really nice to get your message. I have super-fond memories of the spgb and the companion party here. I met a bunch of the wonderful spgb folk around the time of the gulf war of 1991, and always loved the paper.I would like to contribute – and have probably altered my positions on a bunch of things in the intervening period. I might need a few weeks, though, as I’ve been suffering some pretty heavy duty grief over events in my life over the past few weeks. I’m hoping things are settling, and once I’ve caught up with the pile of neglected work in front of me, I’d be honoured to offer some thoughts (though knowing the high calibre of the spgb people I’m not sure I’ll have anything terribly interesting or surprising to say).Yours for socialismChamsySo it is a matter of watching this space and perhaps having your questions and observations ready for his responses.
The encirclement of Russiahttp://rt.com/news/239021-us-tanks-latvia-arrive/120 taks and armoured vehicles arrive in Latvia. Didn't see the news footage of those being off-loaded from ships by the BBC.
Quote:"So by the end of the summer, you could very well see an operation that stretches from the Baltics all the way down to the Black Sea," said Colonel Michael Foster, of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, "As you connect countries, there is almost a line of US troops," as cited by Defense News on March 2.Just who is doing the sabre rattling?
ALB , i pretty sure you will be in attendance at the hustings which refused our attendance and you no doubt will raise as your very first question the dishonesty and hypocrisy of the policy the Fawcett Society has followed by this rejection of full participation that is tantamount to censorship of minority views. Simply to add that in this question you will make it clear to the chair that you expect the prospective candidates (or representatives) and not just ours will be given the floor to pose questions or respond to answers more than just a token one time, that he or she will be provided opportunities for several interventions to compensate for this lapse of commitment to full democracy by them.
Quote:"Analysing the different parties’ manifestos, examining what their policies would mean for women and women’s rights – and publicising our findings"This from their own website. http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/our-work/campaigns/general-election-2015-fawcetts-plans/
My increasing experience of those describing themselves as eco-socialists seems that they are not too different from the usual Trotskyist Left…they seek a mixture of reforms of which some are not deliverable except with the destruction of capitalism along with other reforms that are possible to achieve within the constraints of capitalism…Socialism itself is vaguely referred to as the ultimate goal…but first let us save the Earth…then demand socialism…and perhaps the campaign for achieving the reforms will speed the day…But they appear blind to the constradictions…the reforms that are possible…reinforces the capitalist system ….and those reforms that are not achievable brings disillusionment or at most keep the movement on the perpetual treadmill of protest endeavouring to obtain them and distracts from the socialist objective…….Our campaign must be stark …It is either socialism or extinction…No other choice exists…reforms will fail to succeed and at best will simply postpone the inevitable by a decade or two…I know some say it is negativism based on fear but i always suggest that we should be laying down more of a blueprint of socialism and making it a positive immediate scenario(Although it is theoretically conceivable that capitalism can avoid planetary suicide it is extremely unlikely it will take the necessary acts before global disasters and catastrophes have become daily events.) Regards to the Green Party we have precedents of when they have had electoral success and gained political power in other countries …they have regressed to your usual run of the mill social democratic liberal party, full of compromise and concessions. There is no reason to assume that the Greens in the UK would also follow suit. As for its democracy we have seen how its rehabiltation to normal politics led to the abandnment of their twin-spokespersons and adoption of the standard party leader model.
This review of Ynval Harari’s of his new book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind may be useful for those following this thread.http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/searle20150308
Quote:“Money is the only trust system created by humans that can bridge almost any cultural gap, and does not discriminate on the basis of religion, gender, race, age or sexual orientation…For although money builds universal trust between strangers, this trust is invested not in humans, communities or sacred values, but in money itself and the impersonal systems that back it. We do not trust the stranger or the next store neighbor- we trust the coins they hold. If they run out of coins, we run out of trust.""…Harari, also throws doubt on the argument that has been made most recently by Steven Piker, that the era before states was one of constant tribal warfare and violence, suggesting that it’s impossible to get an overall impression for levels of violence based on what end up being a narrow range of human skeletal remains. The most likely scenario, he thinks, is that some human societies before agriculture were violent, and some were not, and that even the issue of which societies were violent varied over time rising and falling in respect to circumstances…."
