ALB
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If we were a centralist top-down party with a leadership that could tell branches what to do, we could have contested dozens of seats across the country. But — fortunately — we are not and if the branches in the North, the Midlands and the West Country don’t want or don’t feel up to contesting elections so be it. Personally I think that’s a pity.
Admittedly SPEW is bigger than us but they have greater expectations from contesting elections at the moment than we do. For us it’s mainly a chance to get our views across. They want to build a “new workers party” and influence the policy of the capitalist state. By that standard they fail more than we do.
I don’t think we have ever done as badly as TUSC here:
https://www.kingstonlibdems.org/210508_lib_dems_win_by_election
In fact most of their results were in the same league as us.
I wonder how long they will keep this up.
And takes into account what has happened since. At one time Arab workers in Israel we’re just a reserve army of labour. But now he says, in the meantime they have become as an essential, integral part of the Israeli economy without which it would collapse. That’s the main point he brings out in the interview and why he concludes that it gives them some leverage to demand, with the prospect of some success eventually, full civil rights.
Of course this won’t be easy as it would amount to the Zionists having to abandon their ideology of Judaisizing Palestine. But the Boers in South Africa thought they could rule for ever but in the end were undermined by the capitalist economy. Farjoun expects the Zionists to be too.
You should listen to it.
Praying won’t make any difference but I don’t think what this other Burmese beauty queen is proposing is any good either. In fact it could be dangerous and counter-productive.
The fact is that the military are in control and have won this round.
I wouldn’t normally listen to an-hour-and-a-half recording but that interview with Emmanuel Farjoun was fascinating and I listened to the end in one go.
I hadn’t realised before how dependent on non-Jewish labour state of Israel was. Apparently most work that has no military significance is dominated by them not just construction but health, supermarkets, transport and other services (including even the prisons though these are run by Druze, a special minority, who also serve in the armed forces). And it’s not just cleaners but top managers; most doctors and hospital management are not Jews.
Farjoun’s argument is that this puts the non-Jews in a strong position not just in Israel but in the “Greater Israel” that already exists de facto as a state. He sees the way forward as the 50% non-Jewish subjects of the state of “Greater Israel” bringing pressure to get equal civil rights with its Jewish subjects, and that this will have some success because their of economic importance.
He is in effect saying that the non-Jews of Palestine (which includes Lesser Israel) should go for this rather than for an independent state; and this is what he expects will eventually happen however slowly as it’s what economic trends favour.
He also pointed out that half the Jewish population are in a sense themselves Arabs in that they came from Arab countries where they were Arabs — and Arab-speakers — whose religion happened to be Judaism just as for others it happened to be Christianity. Farjoun points out that in Israel you can’t tell the difference between a Jew and an Arab as they both look and dress the same.
In Brussels they have instituted something akin to Otto Bauer’s proposal. Belgian citizens living there choose which language community they want to identify with (Dutch or French). They then have a vote for a community council which controls education and cultural activities such as theatres. So you have people in the same geographical area electing councils based not on geography but in language. It seems to work. I don’t see why it couldn’t continue into socialism.
I think the old Ottoman Empire had something similar where it allowed different religious communities to run their internal affairs as long as they collectively paid taxes. Maybe if it had survived this would have solved the problem in Palestine. Mind you, I should be careful what I might be interpreted as wishing for, as that nutcase Erdogan may well have the ambition of reviving the Ottoman Empire.
I think (but am not sure) that Israeli State identity cards identify its subjects into groups not just Jews and Arabs but Arabs into subgroups such as Muslims, Christians, Druze and Bedouin as well as non-Arab Muslims such as Circassians. This will have been inherited from Ottoman times. But as I said I’m not sure. Perhaps somebody knows.
You and me might agree that this would be a sensible strategy but it’s up to any socialists in the area to decide. In any event we can’t commit the Party to it. It might even be less difficult to get workers there to unite for socialism than for a secular democratic state (which would still be capitalist even if, politically, a vast improvement on current situation).
In today’s i paper Patrick Cockburn makes an interesting points. After pointing out that the old Ottoman province of Palestine has a population today of 14 million, 7 million of whom are “Jews” and 7 million are “Arabs”, he suggests that:
“The best strategy for the Palestinians should be to use their great numbers in a peaceful mass campaign demanding civil rights and an end to discriminatory restrictions.”
That makes some sense but is unlikely to happen but one thing is clear that the Zionists won’t be able to hold down by force half the population for ever.
There is a talk this evening by a Socialist Party member denouncing “identity politics” as a dangerous diversion.
Identity politics: the new communalism
7:30pm, Thursday 13 MayYou can listen by going to
http://www.communistcorrespondingsociety.org/audio.html
The talk will be posted there at 7.30 BST (GMT + 1) and remain there for seven days.
The whole of the contents of the Socialist Standards of the 1920s are now online on this site, here:
This is the decade of the post-WW1 industrial discontent, the first Labour government and the Geneal Strike. Also, the developmen of state capitalism in Russia and the antics of the early “Communist” Party. Fascinating.
No-one reading these can conclude that the Party is against trade union action. There are many detailed articles urging wokers to resist and not trust union leaders. That lie/myth must date from a later decade.
How about tweeting the link to this article, James?
I see Biden has followed the tradition of previous US Presidents in declaring 1 May “Loyalty Day”.
It enrages us too that the day of international working class solidarity should be hi-jacked in the name of anti-socialism as:
“A day set aside for the reaffirmation of loyalty to the United States and for the recognition of the heritage of American freedom.”
Report from Kent & Sussex Branch:
Results and Activity
We have substantially increased our vote compared to the last (first!) time we contested the same County Council seats:
Folkestone East = 89 (2017 = 48)
Folkestone West = 55 (2017 = 23)We also stood in a town council by-election in Folkestone Central (which covers just over half of Folkestone West) and got 61 votes, which suggests some tactical voting may have taken place. And we didn’t come last.
In total this means that at least 150 people voted for an SPGB candidate in these two county divisions that cover one third of Folkestone & Hythe. In absolute terms, this is the best we have done since we started standing in 2014… including when we have contested the whole area such as for the UK or EU parliaments.
As previously reported two separate leaflets were printed for distribution during the campaign, delivered using a mixture of commercial and membership distribution.
The first was distributed across the whole of both County divisions (approximately 17,500 dwellings), before the postal votes were issued.
A second reminder leaflet was distributed in the last few days of the campaign. About 9,000 were delivered, mainly in the Harbour and some other areas of Folkestone East and in Central ward in Folkestone West.
Both leaflets contained local contact details and the first an ad for the Socialist Standard with a QR code. At least 3 people replied so far ordering a free trial sub.
Just noticed that the link to the Cardiff candidates’ photos has a link to our website via this (as well as to Brian’s class war record):
