watermelon
Conference Newsletter of Green Left Spring 2022
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Green Left is an anti-capitalist, ecosocialist group
within the Green Party of England & Wales. Membership is open to all GPEW members, (see back page for
details). All
views expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily of Green
Left. |
CONTENTS |
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the
cost of living crisis must be a green issue |
Page 3 |
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defend our nhs |
Page 4 |
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a rambling introduction to the corporate demolition of the welfare
state and my transition from victim to nerd on such matters |
Page 6 |
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Climate
Jobs: Building a workforce for the climate emergency.
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Page 8 |
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Ecosocialist Alliance |
Page 9 |
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It's not over for COP26 as the Coalition
builds for the future |
Page 10 |
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boycott |
Page 12 |
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the
eu, italy, gas and nuclear |
Page .13 |
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Spokespersons: Green Left statement |
Page 16 |
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Democracy and accountability are the key need to move
the GPEW forward |
Page 17 |
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How
would a more representative voting system benefit Ecosocialism? |
Page 18 |
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bloody sunday – 50 years of british injustice in ireland |
Page 21 |
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from spain to syria - a green revolution against
fascism today |
Page 28 |
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No
to war - Russia hands off Ukraine! |
Page 30 |
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We are the Green Party Trade Union Group |
Page 31 |
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My toothpaste comes from Romania, |
Page 32 |
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JOIN GREEN LEFT and GPTU |
Page 32 |
THE COST OF LIVING CRISIS MUST BE A GREEN ISSUE
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Consumer
prices rose by 5.5% in the 12 months to January.
Inflation, now at a 30-year high and expected to climb above 7% this year, is
outpacing wages as energy, fuel and food costs continue to rise. A
million adults in the UK went an entire day without food in January. Some
4.7 million adults, or 8.8% of households, experienced food insecurity in the
last month, according to The Food Foundation. (Green Party
Morning Briefing - Wed 16 February) |
Caroline
Lucas has pointed out how this crisis is being seized on by groups such as The
Net Zero Scrutiny Group of Tory MP’s as a pretext for advocating a
retreat from carbon reduction pledges
and other measures aimed to combat climate change, even though they are supported
by majority scientific opinion, However few people place much trust in any
utterance of the current British government or its likely successors. It
wouldn’t take much to precipitate a real U-turn on climate whilst plausible
sounding rhetoric continues to be uttered.
There
are many parallels between the need for Greens to campaign on the cost-of-living crisis and the need for them to
campaign for just transition. To win widespread political support Greens must
show support for the large numbers of people who are now having poverty
inflicted on them. that is why we should support these demonstrations and the
wider movement that is developing behind them.
· On March 19 the Conservative party hold their spring
conference in Blackpool. Union members from around the country will come
together for a march and rally https://actionnetwork.org/events/britain-needs-a-pay-rise?
· Peoples’
assembly protests 5th March 2nd April https://thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/
Caroline Lucas https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/16/tory-mps-high-energy-bills-net-zero-scrutiny-group
AND https://metro.co.uk/2022/02/09/we-cannot-let-our-planet-be-hijacked-by-climate-change-inaction-16071873
DEFEND OUR NHS!
Support the motion at
GPEW Conference!
The
Ecosocialist Group Green Left spoke to Lois Davis from Wandsworth Green Party
on why it is important for Greens to oppose the pending Health and Care Act
proposed by the Tory Government. This after the massive sacrifices of Health
and Care workers in protecting the community during Covid Pandemic.
Q.
Hi Lois, you and fellow NHS Campaigners, including Green Left members have
pulled together a motion for debate at the forthcoming Green Party Conference.
Why?
A.
Because there's a horrendous Bill going through parliament right now that will
pretty much be the final nail in the coffin of the NHS as we know it. It's
called the Health and Care Bill (soon to be an Act) but it would be more
accurate to call it the Corporate Takeover Bill.
It
will bring more reductions and closures, pushing those who can afford it into
paying for their health care and leaving those who can't without the care they
desperately need; it will bring more leakage of public money to private
shareholders and lay the foundation for outsourcing the provision of health
services to giant multinationals; it will undermine pay and conditions for an
already appallingly ill-treated workforce and exacerbate already critical staff
shortages. It's frightening!
Q.
Could you explain the main points of the motion?
A.
It's a really simple motion designed to update our health policies in the light
of this onslaught. It states our
intention to repeal the 2022 Health & Care Act and any remaining provisions
of the 2012 Act and to reinstate the NHS as a public service free at the point
of use and devoid of free market mechanisms.
It
also seeks to ensure health rights post Brexit because we are no longer covered by the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and
to explicitly exclude all health and care from international trade agreements.
Q.
Greens have strong policies about Reinstatement of the NHS, Ending
Privatisation and giving mental health more resources, not least the excellent
motion passed at the last conference that committed the party to free social
care for all adults to the highest standards and involvement in England (https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/greens-set-to-embarrass-other-parties-after-backing-free-social-care/). How does your motion
enhance our position?
A.
Passing this motion will help galvanise our efforts to safeguard what is
probably the most precious asset we have apart from the environment itself.
Q. As we speak, local campaigns are taking
action to oppose the Health and Care Bill/Act. Could Greens be doing more?
A. It's been great to see the Green Party Trade
Union group being really active on publicising and supporting the actions of
hospital workers in unions like GMB and Unite who are standing up for pay and
conditions and just about every Green I know will be out locally on the big SOS
NHS day of action on the 26 February.
But
yes. Absolutely! there is always more we could be doing. I'm hoping Green
councillors will get involved in resisting the bid to allow private companies
to make decisions about NHS spending in their local areas, which is something
that is happening even before the bill has been passed.
And
we also need to do more to expose what lies behind this dangerous bill. Those
growing waiting lists causing pain and misery, those workers reaching breaking
point because there just aren't enough staff and resources to go round, those
failures to reach the people who need care the most are not because the
government can't afford a public health system that is fit for purpose.
They
are part of what Chomsky identifies as "the
standard technique of privatization: defund, make sure things don’t work,
people get angry, you hand it over to private capital.” We need to claw
our NHS back from Serco, Virgin, G4S et all and send the message loud and clear
"OUR NHS IS NOT FOR SALE"
Thank
you, Lois, for proposing such an important motion.
End
DEFEND THE NHS MOTION
SYNOPSIS
We need to update our existing Health
policy to reflect our opposition to the 2022 Health and Care Act and to
escalating privatisation of health and social care provision in England and
Wales.
MOTION
In HE105, delete all after “will repeal
the” and insert “the Health and Care Act 2022 in its entirety and the remaining
provisions of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.” HE105 would then read: “The
Green Party will repeal the Health and Care Act 2022 in its entirety and the
remaining provisions of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.”
Add new HE106: “The Green Party will legislate
to guarantee health rights previously covered by the European Charter of
Fundamental Rights, notably the right of access to preventive health care and
the right to benefit from medical treatment.”
Add new HE1305, as follows: “The NHS and
all policies linked to health care and the pricing of medicines will be
explicitly excluded from all international trade agreements.”
Add new HE1504, as follows: “Measures
will be introduced to protect whistle-blowers in order that speaking out is
safeguarded, not least when workers alert the media and others to areas of
concern in the NHS.”
A RAMBLING INTRODUCTION TO THE
‘CORPORATE DEMOLITION OF THE WELFARE STATE’, AND MY TRANSITION FROM VICTIM TO
NERD ON SUCH MATTERS by Alan Wheatley
Unlike the mythical Pandora’s Box, the
nastinesses unleashed on economically vulnerable people under neo-liberal
government did not happen with the turning of a key such as a Tory General
Election victory – or stitch up between Tories and ‘private-public partnership’
‘Orange Book’ Liberal Democrats in 2010. The seeds were being cultivated
through the Thatcher years and into the Blair years, as has been revealed by
retired RAF medical veteran and Ministry of Defence Disability Pensioner Mo
Stewart.
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/disabled-researchers-book-exposes-corporate-demolition-of-welfare-state/
Mo Stewart’s research helps expose the
influence of dodgy American ‘Health Insurer’ Unum in ‘the corporate demolition
of the welfare state’ toward developing a UK market for its products
Mo Stewart’s research was cued by the
downgrading of her Ministry of Defence Disability Pension by Atos Healthcare
after they had downgraded disabled people’s working age benefits entitlements
through the ‘Work Capability Assessment’ matriculation of Employment &
Support Allowance that superseded Incapacity Benefit (IB) in 2008
“The Green Party is ... very
concerned about the strong role of one or two private companies in advising the
government about the development of welfare to work proposals, particularly in
relation to the restructuring of incapacity-related benefits. It seems extraordinary that so
much attention has been given to the views of a company which is on record as
saying that it sees the UK benefits system as one of its major markets for the
future; one would expect advice to have been taken from a wider and more
balanced range of sources. As Rutherford’s paper shows, the credibility of Unum
— formerly Unum Provident — has been badly damaged by having been prosecuted
for fraudulent business in the USA.” (Jonathan Rutherford. Anne Gray in ‘Writing off Workfare: for a
Green New Deal, not the Flexible New Deal’ (Green Party of England & Wales,
2008))
Since 2008, as Mo Stewart subsequently
discovered, the BBC has done its best to hide references to secret DWP/Unum
meetings from public exposure. https://www.mostewartresearch.co.uk/?s=bbc+unum+dwp
But as far back as 2004 I witnessed the
presence of G4S security personnel at jobcentres as part of measures that made
a hostile environment toward claimants of working age-related benefits and
reported such findings to one of my social groupings, but I was accused of
‘only ever talking about myself’ narcissism.
Between 2004 and 2011, however, I had
joined Green Party of England & Wales, especially having heard of Green
Party ‘Citizens Income’ policy as an alternative to means-tested benefits. I
also became a Green Party spokesperson on such matters between 2007 and 2010,
providing some research for ‘Writing off Workfare’ while Blair/Brown Labour was
vying with the Tories as to how nasty they could be to benefit claimants. My
experience gave me rapport with parents of disabled teenagers, and they in turn
gave me mutual recognition. I also transited painfully from disabled and very
long-term disabled jobseeker to Employment & Support Allowance (Support
Group) claimant by way of successful ESA Tribunal in 2009.
Yet Green Party failings on disability
equality for its volunteers was an internal weakness, and I eventually stood
down from my spokesperson roles within the Green Party on account of burnout
around 2010, transferring my campaigning focus to Social Work Action Network
London involvements https://socialworkfuture.org/
and later Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group self-help campaigning for
claimants of working-age benefits. There, I was blog publisher ‘Dude
Swheatie’ from 2013 to 2017, and much of my output still remains at http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.com/
‘Bread and roses all the way for the
chosen few’
Under post-2010 UK governments ‘low
taxation’ has meant removal of taxing the wealthy the most. More than that, a
few spare millions to invest in UK government bonds now allows foreign
investors UK citizenship rights and substantial tracts of land, adding to
property market pressures while refugees are scapegoated. “A decision on a
golden visa application is made within 3 weeks, for asylum applications it is 6
months” and asylum applications are rejected far more than golden visa
applications. (https://www.spotlightcorruption.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Golden-Visa-Briefing.-Final1.pdf
)
Meanwhile, Universal Credit claimants are to be spied upon by the State and
identified as prospective fraudsters rather than supported.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/dwp-could-monitoring-your-private-22960567
December 2006 to January 2007 edition
of Disability Now! focused on Incapacity Benefit claimants below the age of 60
with no Winter Fuel Payments, while even Cabinet Ministers in plush offices
aged 60+ were entitled on grounds of mere age. Rresearch using DWP figures of
IB claim closures due to claimant death, revealing a consistent seasonal peak
of winter deaths.
By 2022, ITV Central News has reported
that cancer patients stripped of the insulating power of body hair by
chemotherapy are made especially vulnerable by the energy price hike that can
contribute to wide scale destitution.https://www.itv.com/news/central/2022-02-18/woman-battling-cancer-says-choosing-between-heating-and-eating-horrendous
In closing, as well as highly
recommending the Disability News Service and Benefits & Work Publishing Ltd
website as news portals, I flag up two crucial keywords or phrases: ‘algorithm’
and ‘statutory instrument’ as principal means by which our welfare state has
been eroded.
Alan Wheatley now lives in
Herefordshire as a State Pensioner and is active with Unite the Union Community
Section
Further Reading
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/
https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news
NB: Benefits & Work’s expert guides
to claiming benefits are excellent
Climate Jobs: Building a workforce for the climate emergency.
New publication from the Campaign Against Climate Change
Climate Jobs: Building a
workforce for the climate emergency provides a detailed and in-depth update
of the One Million Climate Jobs report, demonstrating that there are many more
than a million good, well paid, skilled jobs that could be created if we get
serious and urgently tackle the climate emergency, as the science demands.
But to do this requires us to break from the
failed reliance on the market and instead to invest in a huge expansion of
public sector jobs across all sectors from transport, energy and food to homes,
education and more, which are essential to tackling the climate crisis.
At the heart of this, we argue, needs to be a
National Climate Service which can organise, plan, train workers and deliver
the jobs so urgently needed. The changes needed are ones which will improve our
lives, ensuring among other things we have warm homes, a fully integrated
public transport system and most importantly a safe climate and ecology now and
in the future.
Email orders to climatetradeunion@gmail.com
Download
a free copy to read online
Climate Jobs: Building a workforce for the climate emergency pdf
(6MB)
Report
references and further information
To follow up references numbered in the
report text, click on the technical companion below for each chapter. These
also contain more detailed information. The printed report contains reference
numbers which refer to these companion reports.
References for Chapter 1: Why
we need to act – the urgency of now
References for Chapter 3: Warm
homes, healthy workplaces: climate jobs in buildings
References for Chapter 5:
Decarbonising processes and materials: climate jobs in industry
References for Chapter 6:
Working the land: climate jobs in food, agriculture and nature
References for Chapter 7:
Towards Zero Waste: climate jobs in the circular economy
[Note: some of these are complete as of
28.10.21, others will be updated with additional information and further
reading exploring the issues... after COP26]
Additional
resources
These slides summarise the
key issues in the report.
One
Million Climate Jobs (2014)
Click here for
information about the third
edition of One Million Climate Jobs including free
download.
Ecosocialist Alliance is organised by Green Left, Left Unity and Anti-Capitalist Resistance in the UK. It is a campaigning group, which promotes ecosocialist and ecofeminist solutions to our ecological and social ills. We are internationalist by instinct, but also out of necessity, as the climate crisis will not be solved by any one country, but by the collective action of all nations of the world. We stand firmly with the global south in seeking ecological and social justice. We reject green capitalist solutions, which are unworkable under a capitalist system of infinite growth and accumulation. The planet will only be saved by disposing of this system and replacing it with Ecosocialism.
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/675673093616782
It's not over for COP26 as the Coalition builds for the future.
by Skye P
The COP26 Coalition has continued to meet
since the Glasgow Summit in November last year, and on 19th February there was
a whole day of discussion about the future of the movement. The framing for the
discussion was that Glasgow last year was just the start of the network’s
activity, and that the work needed to build an effective climate movement on
these islands should be continued and enhanced.
There was a tremendous enthusiasm about the action and work that
is being undertaken by the Coalition, despite the recognition that the COP26
summit was a failure and did not bring the action on climate change needed from
our so-called world leaders. People from all corners of Britain, and the world,
including
the Caribbean and Africa participated in the COP26 Coalition
meetings.
Despite similar attempts of network building by Green Left,
however, including its involvement of the Eco-Socialist Alliance, there was a
noticeable absence in the COP26 Coalition meetings, of anyone involved in Green
parties, of either Scotland, or England and Wales. This doesn't necessarily
mean that there weren't Green Party members present - but it was difficult to
discover the presence of fellow Green Party members.
After a brief introduction to the COP26 Coalition, there were discussions
around the difference between organising and mobilising a diversity of tactics,
as well as regional exercises to build up COP26 local hubs and the wider
climate justice movement.
The day then
closed with an online rally for the year ahead, titled 'Movement Building &
Collective Strategies', with speakers from Fridays for Future Scotland,
Campaign Against Climate Change, Landworkers Alliance, as well as youth
activist Aoife Mercedes Rodriguez-Uruchurtu from YouthStrike4Climate Manchester
and Breathe.
Each speaker
was able to say something quite different to the others, but without
disagreement of any kind, which was a sign of the diversity of the COP26
Coalition movement, and arguably, also its strength.
So, what is next for the COP26 Coalition? As the UK holds the
presidency of COP26 until the start of COP27, it is still important to keep
climate change on the agenda, just as it always has, but especially if we want
to see continued action while the UK is in its current global position on it.
There is also the matter of building towards COP27, despite it being in Egypt,
where post-Arab Spring oppression has been brutal.
The strategy for the COP26 Coalition covers the following areas:
1. Building
local capacity by supporting the 'local hubs' to continue to organise locally
and to aim to bring other climate campaigns and campaigners together through
taking action and the target mapping.
2. Continue
to hold events, such as mass gatherings, to build up, and share, useful skills
and to learn more from each other e.g., on tactics and other ideas.
3. To
continue to put pressure, where possible, on our leaders, for meaningful action
on climate justice.
4. To share
relevant experience of organising together as the baton for the summit itself
is now being passed to Egyptian climate organisers.
While many
of us in the Green Party will now be looking to the local elections in May, it
might be worth also reaching out to COP26 Coalition groups in our areas, to see
how it might be possible to work together for an opportunity to strengthen the
climate movement.
The politics
of the participants in the meetings of the 19th February feel like a good fit
to those that I have already found among Green Left activists (despite being
involved for a relatively short amount of time), so there should be no real
practical or ideological barriers to connecting our movements more, and I would
argue that Green Left is in a fairly unique position to be able to bridge what
seems to be a divide between the Green Party of England and Wales, and the
broader climate movement, of which the COP26 Coalition is arguably closest to
us at the present moment.
Even if our
personal capacity is an obstacle to involvement in the run-up to the local
elections, let us somehow at least make a resolve now to connect these
struggles once the elections are over.
The COP26
Coalition Trade Union Caucus also meets online on the 3rd Tuesday of the month
and is well worth being explored by any rank and file trade union organisers.
To find out
more about the COP26 Coalition you can visit their website at https://cop26coalition.org/
‘UK Premiere at
the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in London on March 20.
Green
Party BDS (Boycott,
Divestment, Sanctions) newsletter for February
2022
BDS fringe workshop at conference, 9.00 on March
5th.and facebook
https://www.facebook.com/greenpartybds/groups
THE EU, ITALY, GAS AND NUCLEAR
Abridged article by Tobias Abse originally for GREEN SOCIALIST
The reason that a decision, which goes against all the
rhetoric of a ‘European Green Deal’, was made had nothing to do with science, it
was a reflection of the power politics of the EU. France is largely dependent
upon nuclear power for its electricity, and Germany is increasingly reliant on
gas. The Eastern European countries are by and large quite comfortable with
their outdated Soviet era nuclear power stations, and their right-wing
nationalist/populist leaders are not very keen on any ‘Green Deal’ and often resist
phasing out coal.
The ‘taxonomy’ may not be designed to influence the
choices of private investors, but ecological transition, can never be
accomplished without state intervention. For example, BlackRock, the biggest of
all investment funds, which administers around 9,500 billion dollars, decided a
year ago to take the ‘Green Road’, so that ‘green bonds will get priority over
any other shares or bonds. Therefore, EU legitimation will mean they can invest
in gas or nuclear.
This ‘taxonomy’ decision coincided with a crisis in
gas supplies to the EU., in part the result of the uneven recovery from the
COVID epidemic, which led the Chinese to buy up a large proportion of the
available reserves. Moreover, the failure of the EU27 to work together in
securing gas supplies and reserves allowed suppliers to benefit from bidding wars.
The rise in gas prices, and the knock-on impact on
electricity prices, poses a political problem for governments since angry
consumers are likely to vote them out at the net election.
In Italy, the man who takes most delight in the
current situation is Roberto Cingolani, Minister for Ecological Transition or
as Italian environmentalists now dub him, ‘The Minister for Ecological
Fiction’. Cingolani has argued that too rapid a shift towards a more ecological
economy would be ‘a bloodbath’. He has always been an enthusiast for both
methane and nuclear power advocating ‘fourth generation’ of mini nuclear
reactors, which would allegedly produce little radioactive waste.
Cingolani has also just removed the restrictions on
drilling for gas both on land and under the sea. Mario Draghi’s government has
now announced a plan to double Italy’s gas production as soon as possible.
* (aka SMR’S
see TECHNO-FIX CAPITALISM: by Malcolm Bailey WATERMELON https://greenleftblog.blogspot.com/p/w-t-e-r-m-e-l-o-n-conferencenewsletter_10.html )
The Green Party of England and Wales Executive (GPEX) has
removed Shahrar Ali from his role as party spokesperson Liz Reason (GPEX Chair)
stated: ‘The Green Party Executive has removed Shahrar Ali from his role as
party spokesperson for breaches of the Speakers’ Code of Conduct. This decision
has no impact on Dr Ali’s membership of the party”
This is the Green Left
statement sent to GPEX prior to it making the decision re Shahrar Ali. “
The Green Party of England and Wales has a vital political
purpose which is to advocate effective and urgent action to combat climate
change together with the radical policies necessary to achieve this. Green Left
supports this, but many Green Left members are concerned that the unity of GPEW
is threatened by proposals to remove Shahrar Ali as a party spokesperson. We
urge the governing bodies of GPEW to defer any proposal to remove Shahrar Ali
in order to consider alternative ways of resolving the issue with a view to
maintaining the unity of GPEW members in supporting its central aims”.
Democracy and accountability are the key need to move the
GPEW forward.
We as Green Party members
have a proud record rightly calling for the maximisation of democracy in
society and that has gained an echo amongst environmentalists like Extinction
Rebellion activists and Ecosocialists outside our party.
But we do need to apply
this internally in our party democratic practices.
Those members who hold important
public facing posts (like spokespersons) need to directly echo the views of
members and show how they intend to promote the party in respect of our
policies and values.
I believe the emergency
motion (below) is a logical need if we Greens want to be following the best
democratic practice that we tell others to do.
Please visit the Members
Site to support.
Roy Sandison
Emergency
Motion
Spokespeople
should be elected, not appointed.
Conference notes that GPEX
removed a GPEW spokesperson mid-term on the 5th February 2022
Conference
notes concerns in the GPEW about the method of appointing Spokespersons to
speak and represent members of the GPEW on policy to the general public
and media.
Our
party is at the forefront of calls for democratic reform. Greens have a
proud record in promoting the concept of citizens' assemblies, Greens also
promote direct accountability to the electorate and the right of recall.
So
it is concerning that the GPEW still has a disconnect between its public
position on democratic reform and what happens in respect of the appointment of
spokespersons.
Conference
believes the very important positions of Spokespersons need to be directly
elected by members,
Therefore, the Conference
instructs GPEx to ensure that the options put forward by the Party Structure
Working Group include one for electing spokespeople through an annual ballot.
How would a more representative voting
system benefit Ecosocialism?
“If
you have proportional representation, you just give the far-right a
parliamentary platform!”
Never
mind that such a platform already exists due to the hijacking of the main
conservative party by influential forces and that party’s unprincipled adoption
of populist policies. One reason for this is the diffuse and, at most, moderate
majority of voters in some parts of the country are inclined to choose that
party and the fear such small majorities might be lost if the far right gains a
relatively small number of votes.
On
the other hand, a progressive party in industrialised and metropolitan areas
might have such an excess of votes that most of them are wasted and actually
result in fewer MPs than those conservative areas. Simple maths will indicate
that 10 Labour MPs on 70% will have had more votes than 15 conservative MPs on
40% in the current FPTP format, but will be outnumbered in parliament. The
‘lost Red Wall’ seats are no contradiction to this point – large number of
voters still did not chose the winning conservative MP and while numbers
proportionally would have modestly changed, the ‘losing’ progressive parties
would still have had some significant representation in those constituencies.
When
a progressive party with an ecosocialist agenda gains parliamentary
representation, this vastly improves their ability to influence and participate
in decision making; our single tireless MP is a case in point. Now imagine how
much 30, 40, 80 MPs could achieve! These are not unrealistic numbers, given the
overall inclination amongst voters to choose Green if their vote actually
counts.
So,
we let the far right have similar numbers of MPs, then?
Perhaps
it’s the best way for the more progressive parties, and certainly one standing
on an ecosocialist platform, to point out the unethical, idiotic and shallow
proposals coming from that corner? And to show a wounded society why their
populist choice won’t heal any suffering.
Granted,
a fairer voting system, in itself, is no panacea for capitalist-inflicted
problems – and if a populist party was to get anywhere near power or at least
some controlling stake, then that’s simply a symptom of severe failings at
large. But may it just be pointed out that a populist party is actually in
power right now?
Another
point in need of further elaboration concerns the integrity of party policies.
Being on the verge of gaining access to the table of governmental power is a
very strong incentive to moderate, soften and ‘main-stream’ previously held
strong convictions. Evidence exists in countries where a Green party has
succeeded in being part of government and has lost some of their
progressiveness in the process. I do not regard this as a counterargument
against a fairer representation system; it is something to be clear about
though. And it can be seen that other parties, with more progressive fervour,
will then act as critical voices.
In
my personal opinion, if the aim is to use what is called ‘democratic processes’
to install progressive and ideally eco-socialist policies, the replacement of
the current antiquated FPTP system with a fair representation format is
compelling. Unsurprisingly, some in the Green Party work closely with pressure
groups such as Make Votes Matter.
A
fair vote is not, in itself, eco-socialism. But it is an essential step towards
that goal.
(Erwin
Schaefer, West Central London Green Party)
bloody sunday – 50 years of
british injustice in ireland
On the 50th anniversary of the massacre of innocent civil rights
protestors in Derry, joseph healy remembers 50 years of British injustice in Ireland.
I went with Anger at my
heel
Through Bogside of the
bitter zeal
- Jesus pity! - on a day
Of cold and drizzle and decay.
A month had passed. Yet
there remained
A murder smell that stung
and stained.
On flats and alleys-over
all-
It hung; on battered roof
and wall,
On wreck and rubbish
scattered thick,
On sullen steps and
pitted brick.
And when I came where
thirteen died
It shrivelled up my
heart. I sighed
And looked about that
brutal place
Of rage and terror and
disgrace.
Then my moistened lips
grew dry.
I had heard an answering
sigh!
There in a ghostly pool
of blood
A crumpled phantom hugged
the mud:
"Once there lived a
hooligan.
A pig came up, and away
he ran.
Here lies one in blood
and bones,
Who lost his life for
throwing stones.”?
Butcher’s Dozen by Thomas
Kinsella
When Thomas Kinsella penned these lines, he spoke for most of Ireland
and for those outside who witnessed the appalling murder of innocent, unarmed
Irish protesters by the forces of British imperialism in Ireland. My
first encounter with that terrible day, apart from seeing it reported on Irish
television news, was when, as a 15 year old Dublin lad, I watched a furious
crowd of 20,000 people burn the British embassy there to the ground, two days
after the massacre. Feelings were running so high that there was talk of the
Irish army marching over the border and several British businesses were
attacked. For many it was the latest in a long, long line of British atrocities
in Ireland, which we had all learned about in school.
Bloody Sunday effectively ended the first phase of the struggle of the
Irish nationalist population in the North of Ireland against the blatant
injustices and apartheid like state which had been established with the
partition of Ireland in 1921. It had been a gerrymandered statelet from the
first, carved out from the 9 nine counties of Ulster, into a smaller unit of 6,
to ensure a Protestant and Unionist majority. James Craig, its first Prime
Minister, described it as “A Protestant state for a Protestant people”. The
British state hived it off effectively and not for nothing did contemporary
observers in the 1920s compare the police powers there as akin to those of
Mussolini’s Italy. It was left to the Unionist elite (mostly landowners and
large industrialists) to run it as they wished and as late as the 1960s MPs in
the British Parliament were unable to put questions about what went on there as
it was legally within the remit of the government of Northern Ireland and that
regime was given carte blanche to run it as they saw fit. With a gerrymandered
voting system and an almost caste system when it came to the allocation of
housing, education and jobs, the only recourse for Nationalists who didn’t like
it was to emigrate. For those who spoke out the brutal Protestant only police
force (the Royal Ulster Constabulary) and their even more brutal reservists,
the B Specials would see to it that they were silenced.
The wind of change stirred in 1969 with the rise of the Civil Rights
Movement, inspired by the Civil Rights Movement in the US and the student
revolts in Paris etc. Most of the leaders were moderate Nationalists, many from
a Social Democrat background, like John Hume and Austin Currie. They sought to
challenge the status quo through peaceful means and via demonstrations and
protests. This was seen as an existential challenge to the sectarian Northern
Ireland state and the police and B Specials were unleashed on the
demonstrators. Several brutal attacks on the demonstrations followed, along
with attacks on Nationalists by Loyalist mobs, as had happened in the 1920s
following partition, when pogroms occurred in parts of Belfast and Catholic
workers had been driven from the shipyards.
The British government felt forced to act as the scenes of violence in
the North of Ireland proved deeply damaging for the UK state, particularly when
viewed from the USA, where there was a large Irish population. British troops
were dispatched to Ireland, supposedly to support the police and civil powers
and to restore order. The British army was supposedly impartial and would act
as a buffer between the two communities but in fact Britain was maintaining its
old imperial interests in Ireland and many of the regiments sent had deeply
sectarian backgrounds and a strong anti-Nationalist and pro-colonial feeling.
Some of these troops had been used a few years before to try and suppress
anti-colonial struggles elsewhere in Britain’s empire. Ironically looking back
at the centenary of the Irish War of Independence the Black and Tans and
Auxiliaries had also been sent to Ireland in 1920 to support the police and end
disorder.
Unionism was in a state of crisis, as it saw the pillars of its
sectarian state shaken and called on Britain for support, while allowing its
own sectarian police forces full leeway to crush the Civil Rights Movement.
The march and rally in Derry in January 1972 was due to be one of the
largest demonstrations yet by the Civil Rights Movement. Many young
Nationalists and Catholics had been encouraged by the rise of the movement and
also by the fact that the world was now watching the North of Ireland in a way
which it had not been for the preceding 60 years. There was also real hope and
a sense that change was in the air. The Civil Rights Movement had been
modelling itself on the one in the US and using anthems such as “We shall
overcome” borrowed from that movement.
The Irish Republican Army, which believed in the use of armed force to
drive the British out of the North of Ireland, had been in existence since 1921
but had been a marginal force, sometimes almost disappearing but it re-emerged
in 1969 and carried out some small attacks on British forces and police. It had
a limited role beside the much larger peaceful Civil Rights Movement, which had
the support of the Catholic Church and much of the Catholic bourgeoise.
Britain had introduced internment without trial in an attempt to arrest
and detain those Nationalists believed to be in the IRA without access to civil
trials, via the Diplock Courts, which were judge only courts, which gave no
real voice to those accused. This led to huge resentment in the Nationalist
communities and many now turned against the British Army, which some of them
had regarded as neutral referees in 1969 when they first arrived. Egged on by
the Unionists and Heath’s Conservative and Unionist Party government, with all
of their ties to the Unionist elite, the British army was turned into an
instrument of oppression against the Catholic community.
The march in Derry was to protest against Internment and large numbers
were expected. Whole families took part in the protest which was centred in the
traditionally Nationalist Bogside area of the city. The notorious Parachute
regiment, which we now know had carried out a massacre in Belfast’s Ballymurphy
a year before and had escaped with impunity, were brought in to support the
police and to supposedly ensure that the IRA did not infiltrate the protest and
carry out attacks. When the demonstrators being held back by police started to
throw stones and petrol bombs the troops were let off the leash and murdered 13
innocent demonstrators in cold blood. The fiction was that those who died had
been in the IRA and that the troops had been protecting themselves against IRA
fire. This is the line held to this day by the elderly commanding officer of
the regiment at the time and some sections of the Unionist community, some of
whom flew the flag of the Parachute regiment on flagpoles in Derry this week.
The global outcry after the massacre was immense and the British state had to cover its tracks. It did this, as it had done many times before in its imperial history, by establishing a seemingly impartial legal inquiry which would investigate the incident and acquit British troops of any guilt. This was the Widgery Inquiry which was a farce. Widgery, as expected, cleared the troops of any guilt and claimed that they had been acting in self defence but was unable to find any evidence of the weapons which the victims had been allegedly carrying. Naturally it was denounced as a kangaroo court.
The Civil Rights Movement had achieved one of its main aims, as the
Irish journalist, Fintan O’Toole wrote recently in the Irish Times: “The truth
is that those methods were in fact successful; by the end of 1972, the Orange
State was gone. The unionist monolith would never return to power.”
The anger and resentment produced by both the massacre and the cover up
moved the Troubles into a new phase – that of armed conflict. Many of those
killed in Derry had been young men and many of their friends who has witnessed
the massacre now joined the IRA. In an interview held in 1992 one of the
friends of a victim, who had himself been on the march, described how he and
six of his friends had joined the IRA as a result and as he had witnessed “how
British rule in Ireland will always result in oppression and bloodshed.” He had
learned the lesson that generations of Irish nationalists had learned before
him, that there was no reasoning with British imperialism in Ireland.
Many historians now argue that Bloody Sunday was the central turning point in
the Troubles and convinced many young nationalists that peaceful protest
against Unionism and the British was ineffective.
Decades later the Saville Inquiry which took 12 years and interviewed
hundreds of witnesses overturned the Widgery Inquiry and pronounced all those
killed innocent and found that the troops had deliberately killed them and that
there had been no involvement by the IRA in the march and no attacks on the
troops. David Cameron later apologised to the victims’ families on behalf of
the British state. The sting in the tail was that the Saville Inquiry had
promised those giving evidence that no prosecutions would follow.
The families of the Bloody Sunday victims still believe that those
responsible should be brought to trial, as should all of those state forces who
carried out atrocities in the North of Ireland. The current British government
is currently wanting to push through legislation which would ensure that this
never happens. They want to close the book on the crimes carried out by British
forces and their Loyalist paramilitary allies in Ireland.
Only two years ago in Dublin a theatrical event was held to commemorate
another Bloody Sunday, that of the massacre of Irish civilians at a football
match by British troops on the rampage in 1920. The event recreated the scene
and gave voices to the characters of those who had been murdered. The play “The
White Handkerchief” named after the infamous white handkerchief which the
Catholic priest, Father Edward Daly, held before him as wounded victims of
Bloody Sunday were carried behind him, is being performed both physically and
online by the Derry Playhouse, in the city in which the massacre took place.
Two events separated by 50 years in the long line of murderous actions
by the agents of British imperialism and colonialism in Ireland. The events of
Bloody Sunday are a reminder that there will never be justice for the victims
of British violence in Ireland, but they also revealed the true nature of the
Northern state and Britain’s murderous role there.
https://anticapitalistresistance.org/bloody-sunday-50-years-of-british-injustice-in-ireland/
FROM SPAIN TO SYRIA - A GREEN REVOLUTION AGAINST FASCISM TODAY
By Skye P
The Spanish civil war (1936 to 1939) and
the fight against Franco there by anti-fascists, is part of our own
movement's history also. Many British workers, mostly from the connections made
via the strong trade union movement of the time, as well as other
anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist organisers, made the difficult journey to
Spain, then into a war-zone, to fight alongside Spanish compas (comrades).
If the same thing was happening in the world today, you might
imagine that it would be being talked about by organisers resembling those of
the late 1930's.
Yet something almost identical is happening today, though
geographically further from this island. A struggle that is almost 10 years
old, continues in the face of often advancing fascist oppressors, in the
northern part of Syria, after the Syrian Civil War broke out of Arab Spring
uprisings in the country.
The Kurds in northern Syria have long been oppressed by both the
Syrian state, and Turkey to the north, which has been in a war of its own with
the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Kurds have been denied their own state after
colonial European countries divided up the Middle-East in their own interests.
And so as the Syrian government's forces were concentrating on repressing the
uprisings of citizens such as those in Aleppo, and other major Syrian cities,
the Kurdish people of Rojava (the West) - one of
the four parts of 'Greater Kurdistan' began to use the freedom that this brought to
create an autonomous region, administering their own affairs separate from
existing states. With the added significance that this was also founded on the
3 principles of Direct Democracy (Democratic Confederalism), women's liberation
and ecology - Jin, Jiyan, Azadi (Women, Life and Freedom).
At the same time, the fascist Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), or more
frequently now known as Daesh, was growing its own territory in Syria, and
where it was close to the Kurdish areas, it was brutally attacking Kurds and
kidnapping Kurdish and Yazidi young women, among other horrendous war-crimes.
While reports on Daesh were very frequent
in Western and British mainstream media, less commonly reported has been the
movement in Rojava itself, to establish a distinct area on principles that most
people wouldn't expect to find in the so-called Middle-East. Perhaps the very
idea of this area existing at all, now named 'Autonomous Administration of
North and East Syria' is sufficiently alarming for the powers-that-be, that
they might prefer if people didn't notice its existence in any substantial way.
Anna Campbell, an intersectional feminist from Lewes, Sussex,
who was active in movements such as anti-austerity, and various climate
movements in the south of England was one person who took action into her own
hands, to not only raise awareness of the existence of the growing
anti-fascist resistance there, and associated movement for a free community,
but to go and take part in the fight for its survival, just as trade unionists
and organisers did in the 1930's. Tragically Anna, also known as
Hêlîn Qereçox, was killed by a Turkish air-strike while fighting to defend
Afrin from a Turkish military invasion.
Many Kurdish activists argue that there is substantial evidence
that Turkey and Daesh have, in the least, some kind of military alliance in the
region, and at most, a more explicit relationship or association.
One major ongoing controversy between the Kurds and the Turkish
state, is the continued imprisonment of Abdulah Öcalan, the Kurdish 'father',
or spiritual/philosophical leader, who has been in prison on a small Turkish
island since 1999, mostly in solidarity confinement. Many have compared him to
Nelson Mandela, and have called for fairer access to his lawyers and other
visitors.
Abdulah Öcalan had managed to read some of the writings of
American social theorist Murray Bookchin, and was inspired by his writings
about social ecology to write about Democratic Conferdalism as a way forward
for the Kurdish struggle. Öcalan is credited for the founding principles of the
'Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria' (Rojava).
But why isn't more of this known about by left activists in the
West? Why don't we mobile for the release of Abdulah Öcalan in the same
way that activists in the 1980's, famously including Jeremy Corbyn MP,
mobilised again and again against apartheid and for the release of
Mandela.
What has stopped this being as significant as the fight in Spain
was for our movements? Is it just that it is further away? I would hope that
there wouldn't be an unconscious distinction between comrades in such need in
the West, and non-European comrades. Perhaps the most likely scenario is that
our alternative news sources are just not on the level of influence that
left-leaning newspapers had in the 1930's.
Perhaps for Green Party activists there might be a fear that
taking sides in such a 'far-away' conflict risks alienating diaspora voters of
one side or another. But it also shouldn't be about votes - our actions and
responsibility should be about doing what is best for our planet. If a call for
solidarity for a society based on principles that include ecology is made, that
should be weighed on its own merits. Votes should come after principles.
Many Green Party activists have declared support for the
Extinction Rebellion demand for citizens assemblies. We should also explore
support for Kurdish Assemblies in our neighbourhoods where they are active.
I also propose to explore the potential for a 'Friends of
Rojava' group for the Green Party of England and Wales - such as the Greens and
other UK parties have, for example 'Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions(BDS)' or
'Friends of Palestine' groups, and other associated organisations and interest
groups.
Please email greenfriendsofrojava@gmail.com to
declare an interest or find out more.
Now in its 10th year of existence, it's time to support the
Kurdish ecological movement, for a model of Municipalism that can and should
inspire more people to build a world based on principles that we should be
proud to promote, advocate and champion.
No to war - Russia hands off Ukraine!
We, socialists, trade unionists,
scholars, activists for human rights, social justice and peace, stand in
solidarity with the people of Ukraine against Russian imperialism.
The international left and labour movement must vigorously oppose Russia’s
threats against Ukraine.
We say neither Washington nor Moscow. We oppose the policy and manoeuvrings of
the big Western powers and NATO.
But currently it is Russia that is threatening the Ukrainian people’s right to
self-determination and challenging their legitimacy as an independent nation.
It is Russia that has massed troops on Ukraine’s borders; Russia that has
annexed Crimea and persecuted the Crimean Tatars; and Russia that has organised
an eight-year war in eastern Ukraine leading to 14,000 deaths, 30,000 wounded
and 1.9 million displaced people on the Ukrainian side alone.
Subjugated by Russian Tsarist and Stalinist rulers, for centuries Ukraine was
the object of exploitation and national oppression, its culture and language
subject to discrimination. Millions perished at the hands of the Kremlin.
We call for peace through self-determination of the Ukrainian people. That does
not mean support for the current government of Ukraine or the capitalist
oligarchs it serves.
Despite its rhetoric, self-evidently the Russian government is interested in
neither democracy nor opposing fascism. The Russian government actively
promotes pro-Russian sections of the far right in occupied eastern Ukraine and
other parts of Europe; and its anti-Ukrainian policy strengthens the hand of
far-right Ukrainian nationalists too.
We hail the brave internationalists in Russia protesting against Putin’s war
politics. We demand the release of Russian political prisoners.
We stand in solidarity with socialists, trade unionists and activists for
democratic and human rights who, who can bring real progress – in Ukraine and
in Russia.
We demand the withdrawal of Russia’s troops from the Ukrainian borders and
occupied territories, and an end to Russian interference in Ukraine.
Statement circulated
by Another Europe is Possible
GREEN
LEFT is a supporter of this statement.
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My toothpaste comes from Romania, My bed comes from Vietnam, My coffee was packed in
Spain, My hand sanitizer originates from Utrecht, But my headache pills are British, Handpicked in the
paracetamol orchards of Devon. I am about to eat a Dutch tomato, I have just eaten some French jam, And sadly, my international
consumption Could be threatened by a
container ship, Which is as long as my
street, Loaded with containers that
are full of containers. And is jammed in the Suez
Canal. I need more vaccine from
Belgium, To ward off infection by a
virus, Allegedly originating in
Chinese bats. In fact, I am so globalised that, I am becoming spherical in
shape. Nonetheless I remain almost
monolingual And
forced to inhabit a xenophobic island. |
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