alanjjohnstone
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I spotted this bit of info. John Mann, a Labour member of the Treasury Select Committee, wrote to Mr Cameron demanding that the Conservatives give Mr Spencer’s money to forces’ charities. All Libor fines levied by British authorities on banks including Barclays, RBS and Lloyds have been given to the Armed Forces Covenant Fund. “Michael Spencer’s donations to the Conservative Party got him access to the Prime Minister at Chequers,” he said. “Now his firm Icap has been fined for fixing the Libor rates. I have called on [the Prime Minister] to confirm that he will ensure that [these] donations go to armed forces charities.”http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/lets-discuss-kickbacks-over-lunch-tory-donors-firm-fined-55m-over-libor-fixing-8839198.html Now who deems a military charity more deserving for bankers money than say a childs or old persons charity, why not the homeless, after all they were the ones suffering directly from bank interest rates.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/u2-frontman-chased-down-street-by-german-anarchists-shouting-make-bono-history-8836244.html Chased in the street by German anarchists chanting , Make Bono History
Apologies for the tardy reply , Edmund. I thought others would have appraised you of further developments.Both Adam and myself wrote to WEEKLY WORKER as individuals but now our EC, in the name of the party, has formally issued a statement inviting unity discussions. Message from the Assistant Secretary (3 September) re Left Unity:Left Unity is a new political party. Three competing platforms have been drafted and circulated in advance of its founding conference, scheduled for 30 November 2013. Of particular interest to us is the so-called “Socialist Platform". Participants of our Party’s web forum and spintcom have observed that this platform has many similarities to our own Object and Declaration of Principles, and there has been discussion about whether or not we should officially approach Left Unity to propose a meeting to discuss their statement and ours. Cde Buick has drafted a letter which the EC may wish to consider:"We have read your Statement of Aims and Principles for the proposed “Left Unity Party” and have noticed many similarities with our Object and Declaration of Principles and the positions we have developed and propagated over the years. We have in mind in particular the need for a principled, explicitly socialist party that concentrates on campaigning for socialism as “capitalism does not and cannot be made to work in the interests of the majority” and which holds that “the socialist transformation of society. . . can only be accomplished by the working class itself acting democratically as the majority in society” using “both parliamentary and extra-parliamentary means”. As there can be no point in two socialist parties in one country we should like to propose a meeting to discuss the principle of a single socialist party, based on sound socialist principles, as opposed to forming yet another leftwing reformist party. It was generally agreed to send a letter to the "Socialist Platform". Cde Cox suggested if they turn us down, we can send an open letter.Motion 30 – Shannon and Cragg moved the Party sends a letter to Socialist Platform proposing a meeting to discuss the principle of a single socialist party. Carried (5-0-0) As you can see we do not seek to have talks with the various other platforms who we recognise have irreconcilable differences with our position, and you may also be aware of our critical attitude to the CPGB amendments to the original Socialist Platform statement. As posted on our blog, Unity based on the principles of socialism and achieved, through free discussion will be the goal of the Socialist Party. We need unity but do not fear dissension. The Socialist Party does not shy away from mergers with groups where there is a common identity of interests. The aim must be to effect a genuine unification on a firm and long-lasting basis. We, for our part, believe that unity would be a good thing if it is firmly based and leads to the strengthening of the socialist movement. On the other hand, a unification followed by sharp factional fights and another split would be highly injurious to the movement. We must all ask ourselves when is it sectarianism and when is it political principle? We cannot accept the “lowest common denominator” approach. A socialist movement which places greater value on tactics of political expediency than on principle has abandoned the policy of the class struggle for one of class collaboration. I suggest rather than engage in debate here, it will be more fruitful to contact our General Secretary to establish a means where we can engage in an exchange of information with the signatories of the Socialist Platform and how we can move forward to discussing the Socialist Platform and our own Declaration of Principles in the hope of reaching an agreed position.
I think it was Paddy back in 2005 during the make poverty history march when everybody was supposed to wear white remarked that black was the predominant colour for us socialists. I think we will all be wearing Mao suits or uni-sex dungarees and Lenin-style caps. A certain Brooklyn comrade will insist upon the option of green hoops.
The families of 185 men, women and children killed by British forces actions, have been paid “barely £3,000 each.” However, where there are those “accidentally injured by British forces” — which can and does include the “accidental” loss of both legs, or arms, the average payment is: “at an average of £1,750 a time.” The Ministry of Defence told the Independent that all claims were regarded as having: “no lower priority than UK Armed Forces personnel.” For injured UK service personnel, pressure groups point out that the average payment was £73,000. So much for Afghan lives having “no lower priority …” http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/09/now-official-for-the-british-ministry-of-defence-afghan-lives-are-cheap/
The latest video on SOYMB blog is relevant to Goldacre and this thread too. http://www.socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2013/09/science-video.html
http://libcom.org/library/how-overthrow-illuminati On the Illuminati and a bit about freemasons If i understand my masonry, SPGBers cannot join the British masons due to the necessary belief in the Supreme Being, the Grand Architect in the Sky , but could join the atheistic French masons. i recall reading about them parading in full regalia during the Paris Commune.
Yet another twist in the tale of the gas attackhttp://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/gas-missiles-were-not-sold-to-syria-8831792.html Russia may have identified the rockets used in the gas attack were not Syrian but instead ones that they supplied to Libya.
The non-profit organisation,ONE, set up by the U2 frontman received almost £9.6million in donations in 2008 but handed out only £118,000 to good causes (1.2 per cent).The figures published by the New York Post also show that £5.1million went towards paying salaries."From the comments above article
The cranky left – Bono reveals his colours – true bluehttp://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/bono-defends-u2s-tax-arrangement-we-are-in-total-harmony-with-irish-governments-philosophy-8833065.html
As i said, it no longer matters to me if he is correct or not about racial differences. I don’t actually care since it is all relatively academic since we live in a real world where "European" (used as euphemism for white), African and Asian “tribes" do mingle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interracial_marriage Unless, of course, he wants government policy determined upon that criteria then it is no longer just his personal inclinations on who he wishes to associate with. What is it to be? If they are black, send them all back (to where exactly). Ghettoisation and the creation of apartheid-style bantustans in major cities. Fences and walls erected to keep us apart and separated. Segregated work-places, schools and hospitals. Laws on where we can live, who we can talk to. Just as we are slowly ending the policeman in our bedroom, it is a return to who you can sleep with, who you can marry. A return to the anti-miscegenation laws of the KKK South and lynchings for transgressors . Will it be the enforced sterilisation of the off-spring of such inter-race relationships to maintain the racially pure "tribe"? Compulsory abortions?
""You really are disgusting, aren't you, " If I am, it is because I am holding up a mirror showing you your own reflection. Very early in this thread I stopped being serious, not even half serious. It matters not a whit to me whether you can scientifically prove race. I care not a jot if someone is AB rhesus positive or lactose intolerant. Unlike yourself I have not led a homogeneous life.
Gnome asks why would they want to infiltrate us? What would be in it, literally, for them? I can think of two reasons , the control of a healthy bank balance and prestigious premises.
We are assured by the US/UK that the moderates in the Syrian Free Army are in charge. The Free Syrian Army is driven out of Aziz, a town on the Turkish border. Several of their men are killed, perhaps as many as 100 captured by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, the most hardline group linked to al-Qaeda on the rebel side. We are assured that the resistance is home-spun. It's claimed that two Muhajireen fighters were killed a Tunisian and a Libyan, the senior jihadi commander in the area, said to be a Kuwaiti – ordered the attack. We are assured it is about democracy. The most extreme jihadi groups have taken a position that Western journalists are spies to acquire new targeting information for drone and missile strikes against them. A jihadist forum announced that "journalists are the enemy to the mujahideen in Syria and globally". Any Western journalists should be arrested and punished according to Sharia. The border crossings into Turkey provide a lucrative income from smuggling and stealing from aid shipments. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24160189
Further to an earlier link to Debs, here is another from 1910. http://www.marxists.org/archive/debs/works/1910/immigration.htm "Let those desert us who will because we refuse to shut the international door in the faces of their own brethren; we will be none the weaker but all the stronger for their going, for they evidently have no clear conception of the international solidarity, are wholly lacking in the revolutionary spirit, and have no proper place in the Socialist movement while they entertain such aristocratic notions of their own assumed superiority."
