Scottish Referendum
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ALB wrote:Actually, Glasgow branch weren't really expected to distrubute our press statement on the referendum. This was done by the election committee which sent it to all the daily papers in Scotland.
That wasn't really my point though. The branch had ample opportunity to undertake other referendum activity long before our press statement saw light of day, which, in any event, should have been released by the Media Committee.
And of those 3261 rejected ballots how many would have been down to the SPGB? 50? 100? The party misses every opportunity because it is almost invisible and the bulk of the membership (about 500 worldwide?) are elderly. Most of Glasgow Branch will be dead in 10-15 years. It's not the party's fault. It's the fault of the "Working Class". What depresses me utterly is the nationalism that workers are full of up here. On George Sq tonight you've got teenagers draped in Union Jacks (giving Nazi salutes) facing the "enemy" who are wearing Saltire flags. I listened to Adam Buick's fantastic debating skills on the African Radio Show and the same sinking feeling came when listening to how the SPGB argument completely passed over the heads of his opponents. It's the same with my cousins and friends up here. It doesn't even get to the stage where I'm getting looks of utter incomprehension anymore, they just can't hear it no matter how many times it is explained to them. They just don't want to see. They just don't listen. I read this really excellent article http://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2014-08-18/the-scottish-independence-referendum-the-great-diversion# from the "Internationalist Communist Tendency" that was posted up earlier. But the sinking feeling came again when reading through the comments section cos the dude who wrote it (someone called Shug) clearly has little time for the SPGB if his remark that "As always, the SPGB swallows the myth of the primacy of parliament" is anything to go by. How frustrating that it's "so near and yet so far" with a lot of these groups (incl TZM). Yesterday I dithered between actually voting no (!) or spoiling my ballot. Realising a no vote was effectively a yes vote for Capitalism it felt good to attach my wee SPGB sticker onto my ballot paper. But beyond that drop in the ocean I actually felt major relief this morning that workers had rejected secession. I think it would have been a disaster. I can't say I'm impressed though with the highest turnout since universal suffrage was granted to us in 19 canteen because over 3.6 Million workers were utterly hoodwinked with lies from both yes and no camps. This is cause for further depression. I'm trying not to give into my usual "we're fucked because workers are so fuckin stupid so let's just give up and die" position because I know there is still hope. In the past ten years we've had mass rallies against the Iraq war, Wikileaks, Edward Snowden, Occupy, Bradley Manning, Arab Spring and the emergence of TZM as well as more voices similar WSM popping out of the woodwork online. This week Naomi Klein publishes a new book about Capitalism v The Climate and even though she will probably diagnose more Capitalism as a solution to Capitalism (like Piketty) I guess at least Capitalism is a topic for debate now in the media. You hardly ever saw the word written about or mentioned even 10 years ago. A few days ago I received an email from "Occupy Wall Street" alerting people about a new futile march they are planning to coincide with another useless climate summit in New York next week. A few sentences from the bulletin immediately gave me hope…"Together we will confront the 1% economic system of capitalism that is causing and profiting from the climate crisis – an economy fundamentally based on inequality and exploitation."" We expect thousands to join us in a collective sit-in to confront capitalism and climate change.""…helps us to serve on the front lines of the class war to end the capitalist system that injures everyone in its path." They also reproduced a photo of one of their banners… I just wish the whole thing wouldn't take so fuckin long…like hundreds of years long!
Forgot to ask if anyone can tell me who the "Internationalist Communist Tendency" are. I've never heard of them but they look like Trots.
Ozymandias wrote:Forgot to ask if anyone can tell me who the "Internationalist Communist Tendency" are. I've never heard of them but they look like Trots.Left Communists. Probably better known in the UK as the Communist Workers Organisation.
Todays New York climate change march is reported on our blog. http://www.socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/change-everything-time-for-fresh-greens.htmlThere are no demands, nor will there be any official speeches and some of the sponsors of it will be the fossil fuel industry and the banks. But Ozy is correct…the environmentalist activists are perhaps the few that are making any attempt to identify and tackle the culprit…capitalism. For sure, they have often been off-target but just how effective have we been in discussing the issues. As a party we do need a campaign strategy for getting our message across.Our resources are insufficient for a full scale attack on cpitalism across the board so we should try and concentrate on those areas where we have a strong case to make and which can be narrowed down so we can focus our resources on it. We have to be associated with eco-socialism, even if some members think the term is superfluous…First, we can get our ecology pamphlet and video a wider circulation… by linking and promoting them on appropriate websites where members can contribute in a comradely manner to online debates, even commercial dvertising on the green media. I have a feeling we are just as invisible on those as we were in the referendum debate. i see no reason whatsoever why we cannot duplicate our socialist case on ecology with further pamphlets and videos on the topic coming to the problem from differnt angles or highlighting different aspects. Along with the environmentalist movement I suggest and its only a suggestion …the so-called "new economics" field is another area where we can offer constructive criticism. Our economic experts should form a working group amongst themselves to challenge academically and theoretically many of the mistaken views of the so-called radical economists and their supposed solutions from monetary and banking reform to co-operatives. This area is even easier to get across our message since it is less websites to aim at, although their influence is far wider. But i fear without PhD and other initials to your name, it will not be received with any real seriousness.or respect. We could sponsor a weekend-long forum for London based supporters of "new" economics, inviting them all to place their case for us to confront, as we did with Positive Money.I keep saying it…we have an unusual window of opportunity because we have sufficient funds to spend on publicity.
Guardian review of Klein's bookhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/19/this-changes-everything-capitalism-vs-climate-naomi-klein-review
alanjjohnstone wrote:Todays New York climate change march is reported on our blog. http://www.socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/change-everything-time-for-fresh-greens.htmlThere are no demands, nor will there be any official speeches and some of the sponsors of it will be the fossil fuel industry and the banks. But Ozy is correct…the environmentalist activists are perhaps the few that are making any attempt to identify and tackle the culprit…capitalism. For sure, they have often been off-target but just how effective have we been in discussing the issues. As a party we do need a campaign strategy for getting our message across.Forget about New York. There's a climate march too in Edinburgh on Sunday if youse are free:http://www.stopclimatechaos.org/events/peoples-climate-march-edinburghAlso in Glasgow and London.
Ozymandias wrote:Yesterday I dithered between actually voting no (!) or spoiling my ballot. Realising a no vote was effectively a yes vote for Capitalism it felt good to attach my wee SPGB sticker onto my ballot paper. But beyond that drop in the ocean I actually felt major relief this morning that workers had rejected secession. I think it would have been a disaster.That confirms what I suspected (and my own view) — that most socialists would have seen No as the lesser evil (or, as Steve Coleman might have put it, Yes as the evil of two lessers). Anyway, one good result is the demise of that unsufferable nationalist demagogue Salmond to be followed perhaps by the decline of the SNP.
Never knew about that environment protest…another missed opportunity for ourselves but only myself to blame. And got nothing to give out even if i could get to it which i can't because i got persoanl commitments for my last weekend.But such events is exactly where we are missing. We should be at those gatherings with full table of ecology-related lit. It is another example of how we are failing to make connection with a potential receptive audience. All i am saying is that we should first have a limited objective of getting our presence and our concern noticed then build upon that.
I found this referendum post-mortem article by Edinburgh Anarchist member a good read. S/he also discusses widening our next challenge to the environmental issue. http://libcom.org/library/dont-mourn-organise
Quote:Too much time has been spent on bourgeois constitutional questions while the rich consolidate their wealth and power, impose austerity and hardship and leave the planet to burn…A playwright's take on anarchism and the Scottish referendumhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/20/angry-brigade-social-unrest-james-graham
Quote:There is/was a genuine belief in the possibility of change; a genuine belief that your participation means something and matters; that there is a choice about the direction of travel, and nothing can be taken for granted
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