alanjjohnstone
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hamas using some obscure islamic scriptural get-out clause has offered Israel a 30 year truce, that is renewable forever…But i think Robert Fisk concurs with your views http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/28/how-the-palestinians-won/
Quote:Right now, Egypt is bombing the Islamists of Libya, and the US is preparing to bomb the Islamists of Syria after bombing the Islamists of Iraq. But in Gaza, the Islamists have just won. This surely cannot last.I agree it certainly was fostered in the beginning by Mossad when at the time most of th Palistinian resistance groups were secular and self-styled Marxists so the Israelis hoped by the growth of a religious group those would be coutered…divide and rule…However like Frankenstein's monster, Hamas developed and their creators lost control of it, although it is still recognised that both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas are riddled with Mossad informers and spies hence why Hamas involvement in the abduction nd killing of the three Israeli youths is doubted as one Israeli source said…if Hamas planned it, we would have known about it
Quote:undermine cross-border trade union unityi wouldn't want to be too negative and say it would automatically lead to union splits. There already exists the STUC structure. The labour movement would adapt itself as the Irish trade unions did. Necessity as they say is mother of invention and cross border union activity would still take place, i believe, as it does on a case by case basis today such as inteachers union where duplication of effort is already standard due to separate education system. My own ex-union CWU is affiliated to the TUC, the STUC and the ICTU plus with the wider international union organisations.
And George Galloway adds his say NO voice criticising the Reds in Kilts..(i prefer the CP anti-John Maclean insult better "Claymore Communists" )http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/dundee/fiery-george-galloway-blasts-reds-in-kilts-1.543954
A better anti-Yes article by John Wighthttp://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/john-wight/scottish-independence-obscures-real-divide-_b_5714057.html
Isn't there a None of the Above option?No write in vote because i go for ALB's World Socialist Party (Britain)?Humphhh…same as any other election …trying to pigeon hole us
SP, i have a vague memory of one of the name options rejected in 1904 for the party being the Socialist Party of Great Britain and Ireland which i think was to satisfy the geographic description and perhaps counter Irish nationalists. Again someone will the books can confirm those choices.Brian, many thanks for explaining the possibility of Teamspeak (i am sure there will be other choices as well) As i keep saying we should approach things stage by stage building upon each step forward, and your idea of some sort of working party being formed to learn themselves and then share that knowledge is a good one, rather than somehow expect us all to overnight to become our own experts. Perhaps publishing a HOW TO MANUAL or even a video lesson specifically aimed in relation to our political purposes, rather than simply a neutral users guide.
Did you see the video, i think by ex-Class War activist.http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=894_A7WZ9pg
Bill Knox, ex-Edinburgh branch member and now prominent historian, has a new book outScottish History for DummiesChapter One is available online http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/57/11186761/1118676157-8.pdfSome extracts from it http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/57/11186761/1118676157-8.pdf
Quote:‘…we are, in a famous Scottish saying, ‘aw Jock Tamson’s bairns’. There is no such thing as a genetically pure native Scots: we are a hybrid people, and the better for it… …Identity is never fixed; it’s fluid and always in a state of forming and reforming itself. In that respect, Scotland is no different to any other country…. …as long as the British Empire stuffed the mouths of the middle class in Scotland with gold, the moaning was confined to a minority. Along came war in 1914, and the moaning became even quieter as the Scots respondedmore enthusiastically than any other part of Britain to fight for king and country…The cause of Nationalism didn’t really get going again until the late 1960s, in spite of the formation of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 1934. Scots were content with their dual identity – after all, they had fought another world war to defend it!… …The support for Nationalism declined, but it didn’t disappear. All it needed was another spark to ignite it. Step forward the best recruiting sergeant Nationalism ever had – Prime Minister Margaret Hilda Thatcher! … …Salmond did the unthinkable at the last general election and won a majority. Immediately, another referendum was on the cards. This time,the stakes were higher – independence would mean the breakup of Britain and an end to a union that had stood the test of time for 300 years.Whether it will come to pass, who knows? It’s still not clear whether the vote for the SNP is a protest vote against the failings of New Labour and the present coalition government, or whether it’s representative of a genuine wish of the Scottish people to regain their independence. Only time will tell.’Slightly disappointed by the detour the discussion has taken. For sure, any decision making will be made by members but input and experence of non-members and other organisations will go towards swaying peoples' opinions.When i mentioned internet democracy, i had hoped BrianJ with his extensive first hand knowledge of TZM would offer supportive practical suggestions that we in the WSM could build upon. Perhaps he is reluctant to cover old ground especially when little can be shown for his earlier enthusiasm. I recall TZM brought in processes to enhance communications and reach agreements that we may well appreciate ourselves and follow if we want closer co-operation and co-ordination with the component parts of the WSM in live real time terms. As i suggested we should try things out on trial bsis to see if they work, what snags arise and how those can be resolved.EC meetings have now been conducted via SKYPE so what is the conclusion and what is the next steps to be. I would like non-EC members to have the capability of first observing the proceedings and then with the chair's permission to occasionally enter the discussions when appropriate.If an idea has merit then repetition of it, until it is adopted, is of value …otherwise we would have all given up being socialists a long time ago.
You highlighted the point i made on the Edinburgh AF blog …why be reluctant to castigate those anarchists who will vote for what the article decribes as class enemies.
This one is good too and should be read as wellhttp://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2014-08-18/the-scottish-independence-referendum-the-great-diversion
I found this article on the Edinburgh AF blog very interesting and informative. Very much reflective of our own position on the referendum . It is well worth a read. http://scotlandaf.wordpress.com/2014/08/20/beyond-the-scottish-referendum/Not so sure Paul Mattick Snr would say to being used by AF though but it is a good quote…it will be cropping up on our own blogs in due course.
Quote:Also, I would like to know, maybe from Alan or SocialistPunk, if there is any evidence that use of 'Great Britain' in the party name is actually holding the movement back. Are you being told this? Is it putting people off joining?My personal anecdotal evidence is that it does raise preconceptions about the party. Nor is it rare for it to be mentioned. Several times in the referendum debate our name has been cast up as some sort of proof that we are indeed a unionist party. So, yes, i am being told this.It was from previous accusations of the jingoistic flavour that i checked and discovered the link between Great Britain and Lesser Britain, (France Brittany) which many of us use to justify the title but lets be honest, i doubt the 1904 founders were using Great Britain as geography but the politcal constitutional connotations for its use. Does it put people off joining. I don't know. What it may do is put people off investigating us further and it doesn't assist in giving it a wider reception internationally that the designation World Socialist Party may do. Gnome knows my feelings about spending money on HO so the facia stays until it flakes and splinters and needs replacing, then we can again decide a new design and personally i don't mind it at all… As i have said in my posts, it not simply a matter of re-naming ourselves. As Gnome and others said it didn't have any significant impact dropping the GB. In the past we may hve ben better known by our abbreviation …in the days of open air meetings…but workers (even informed workers) knowing of us but more importantly understanding what we stand for, i do not take as a given these days. A new generation has grown up…and the SPGB, the Socialist Party of Great Britain, doesn't exist for them and if by some fluke they have heard of us , it is for the wrong reasons, and also more likely they confuse Socialist Party with SPEW. As i suggested there is a easy way of ascertaining the reality …simply ask folk. We could do it ourselves or we could hire a professional pollster. There is absolutey no need to be working in the dark. No, a re-naming of ourselves is not suffice in itself to re-kindle our hopes. We need a new image, a re-branding of our content and ideas, and a new way of organising that goes beyond the parochial geography of whatever state we happen to be resident in and a movement that encapsulates the politics beyond borders that the internet has technologically offered an opportunity for us to utilise. The new WSM website is perhaps a spring board. The Blog committee too has raised the possiblity among ourselves of expanding and re-styling the SOYMB into a fully functioning WSM blog. As i said we can do things in stages , one step at a time, to see if they work or need tweaking and improving. Dropping our name may well be one of the last acts. Again, i like to ask about how the WSM structure arose and what sort of decision making process was involved in it being adopted.
