Young Master Smeet
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Just to add, I suspect Syriza will end up behaving much like our sotto voce Labour government did with its Keynsianism on the quiet. Also, the French Parti Socialist has already come to power on an anti-Austerity ticket and floundered.
Stuart, we've never said capitalism cannot be reformed, but that any reforms achieved:1) have to be compatible with the ongoing accumulation of capital;2) can be reversed easilly;3) do not necessarilly lead to socialism nor socialist consciousness;and that we think directly campaigning for socialism will be more effective, even as a short run measure.Syriza have managed to appear 'out of nowhere', largely through being a broad coalition. Given the horror of what has happened to Greece, I hope they at least manage to alleviate some of the suffering, but it's clear where the real power lies, and we would be remiss not to point it out.Indeed, as we see here, Syriza are aware that it will need to spread its reformution:http://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/23878
An example of the risks invovled:http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/noonan-new-greek-government-could-see-ireland-lose-out-on-350m-659671.html
Quote:The Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has said the Irish taxpayer could lose €350m if Greece defaults on its debts.OK, so necessary grovelling from the euqally indebted Irish (who have their own anti-austerity party waiting in the wings). But the point remains that a bold default could spread mayhem to otehr fragile economies. It will take a co-ordinated effort to abolish the market system, we can't leave that to competing economies.
This is the mob Syriza are lashed up with:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Greeks
Quote:In terms of society, they stand in opposition to immigration [13] and multiculturalism,[14][15] supporting the banning of squats and the development of a Christian Orthodox oriented education system.[16]Economically, the party is focused on the rejection of the loan agreement between Greece, the EU and the International Monetary Fund.[9] Kammenos calls for a committee standing above political parties and endowed with emergency powers and authorities to clear up the events that led into Greece's economic crisis. He proclaimed a "national awakening and uprising", and supposed that Greece had fallen victim to an "international conspiracy"Charming.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-4b6f-The-Greek-election-wont-end-the-fight#.VMIEethLdhcteh Greek communistb party put the boot in:
Quote:the president and leading officials of Syriza are feted in the mansions of the plutocracy, the IMF, in Texas, in the Bilderberg Group meeting at Lake Como in Italy, in the City of London.They loudly declare that Greece’s membership of the European Union and Nato is not disputed.Interesting comments in the annual report of the Ecology building society (from 2013) http://www.ecology.co.uk/pdf/about/Ecology-Annual-Report-2013-3.pdf
Quote:Total assets reached a record level at year end of £124.8m, a rise of 13.73% (2012: 6.10%). The growth level would have been higher were it not for measures that we took to restrict inflow of funds, necessary to ensure that the overall financial sustainability of the Society did not suffer. It is necessary to restrict liquidity to ensure that profits can be maintained, these profits being the mainsource of capital available to the Society. Despite the increase in overall lending, we ended the year with higher levels of liquid funds than our preferred level – another reason why we will continue to extend our reachto potential borrowers in 2014.The reason for this wa:
Quote:Over the course of the year, the Society has tried to maintain its rates for existing savers, while recognising that the difficulties at the Co-operative Bank have led new ethical savers to Ecology. The Society has deliberately operated with a very low margin between our saving and borrowing rates, in order to deliver value to both borrowers and savers.So the building society was suffering from people trying to lend it money!
Well, the point is it's a place where people can come for in depth discussion with party members (and where party members can discuss issues). That is, it's not a magaphone. The work of the forum is being promoted in our otehr literature, to draw people here for discussion.
Actually, our answer to W.B. of Upton Park could mean that a "left-wing" government may come to rely on our MP's votes to carry bits of their legislative progamme, so if they, say, made their Trade Union Act a matter of confidence, and we abstained, they could fall…
(Oh, p.s. the above assumes that socialist parties have a similar presence across Europe and a party at least tens of thousands strong is organised in the US).
I was going to invoke the Calderdale Commune, but decided that mole Valley had the more amusing name.So, lets imagine some scenarios: The UKIP scenario: we're riding high on 20% in the polls, we may have one or two MPs, and we're a minority on a few councils in the labour heartlands. The press are blasting us from all directions. At least one big union has a socialist party general secretary (but others stay loyally labour). The trots have folded up shop and are trying to organise within the socialist party, and the anarchists are on the streets, trying to 'out radical' us at all turns. A council that elects by thirds (they still do this in Bristol) hold an election, and we win a small majority of seat on a split vote plurality (something like 26% of the vote in each seat), and thus we take our first council.Obviously, a party meeting would follow, and we'd have a heated debate. Trot headbangers would demand that we form a revolutionary red guard, anarchists scream sell out, and labour union members start going in for sabotage.What would Jack Fitzgerald do?
I raised local councils because the situation is pretty much the same as national govenment (especially those in supranational organisations like the EU).Yes, there is the option of a revolt: say the Mole Valley Commune. The council could simply refuse to set any budget, 'occupy' local governmnt properties, work with campaign groups and unions to secure direct access to resources, and throw open democracy so that a mere change of personnel won't be enough to give power back to capitalist parties. These are actions short of revolution that can be effected by a technical local majority. That and, obviously, campaign to spread the revolution.
Ona related theme:http://brightonandhoveindependent.co.uk/green-party-says-cuts-motion-full/Socialism in one council? We would run into similar problems to the Greens in Brighton, and we'd have to think of a wy round them (hopefully we wouldn't clash with the unions, but then there might be Labour loyalists in position to try and sabotage). In specific circumstanxces, though, we'd be having to administer cuts.Obviously, any local socialist majority would seek to democratise processes. So a socialist Britain would see the monarchy and House of Lords (and all the honours system) dismantled, and the cabinet abolished and replaced with committees of the house, etc. i.e. political reforms without necessarily interfering in the market (save total support for the unions).
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/garda-considering-purchase-of-drones-to-aid-policing-1.2069157They are considering using drones in Ireland, but apparently, and this is the first I've heard of this, they are already being used for policing in Ulster. This is just for surveillance, not weapon strikes (a la Pakistan) but I imagine the next step will be to add 'non lethal' weaponry to the arsenal, and we'll see what use they can be put to in a riot. The point is, this technology reduces the manpower element of policing, which in turn increases the political reliability of the police.
http://www.irishpost.co.uk/news/tory-bid-deny-irish-britain-vote-general-election
Quote:Senior Conservative MPs who called for the right to vote to be removed from Irish members of the electorate have in fact given them more reason to head to the polls on May 7, says Matthew Doyle, Chair of the Labour Party Irish Society.OK, so there's some base shoring going on here, as Labour and the Irish post want to maintain an 'Irish vote', still, if the Tories want to help drive voteers towards Labour.Never mind Northern Ireland, where this could literally be explosive, London has a massive Irish contingent. The fact that British citizens can vote in ireland too is surely a part and parcel of the ongoing peace process (presumably, if there is some 'reunivficiation' the Ulster Scots will be able to keep their British citizenship, the same way Irish in Britain have retainde theirs.Hisorically, this sort of relationship has made it easier for Ireland to export unemployment through emigration (as happened in the recent crisis, one of the things that made their 'austerity' work), and has also provided Britain with an extra labour pool.
http://theconversation.com/media-coverage-of-charlie-hebdo-and-the-baga-massacre-a-study-in-contrasts-36225The above is an incisive analysis of the difference in reporting between what happened in France and what is (AFAIK) still happening in nigeria and Baka.
Quote:A study we conducted in April 2014 suggests that media outlets publish three to ten times as many stories about France than about Nigeria. This disparity is striking as Nigeria’s population (estimated at 173 million) is almost three times the size of France’s population (66 million).[…]We tend to read about countries like Nigeria only when they are in crisis, from terrorist attack or epidemics like Ebola. Despite the shocking magnitude of the attacks in Baga, the story can feel predictable, as the news we get from Nigeria is generally bad news.I think that last point is significant, Syria, Nigeria, Mexico: shrug, so what's new?
