Should Conference be postponed?
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This question has come up on Coronavirus thread:
“On a serious note I do think we need to consider postponing annual conference, we have a number of members who have health vulnerabilities and we don’t want to endanger any members.”
This would be unprecedented and would involve going against the rulebook but could be a case if force majeure.
Or the motions could be put directly to the members by post.
I think it would be a good idea to postpone conference under the circumstances or at least investigate the possibility of a live video conference. This should be the number 1 item for discussion at the next EC meeting and we need to act quickly as things are only going to get worse. Much worse.
The entire membership needs to be contacted on individual basis and informed of the situation and asked to give their opinion (and at the same time be encouraged to join SPINTCOM, SPOPEN and this forum)
We need to establish a centralised decision-making procedure along the lines of what WSPUS has successfully done as a way of countering the isolation of scattered members – bad enough at the best of times and now threatening to become much worse with the onset of this pandemic.
In Spain we are a little ahead of the UK in terms of the severity of measures adopted such as regional lockdowns e.g. in Catalunya introduced just yesterday . In other words no traffic in or out of the region except essentials. No trains, no cars, no flights , no buses. This is only the start. The same is going to happen in the UK and because the UK is much more densely populated the lockdowns will affect much small areas in all probability. Branch meetings, public meetings and the like will in time become all but impossible
We have to adapt as a matter or urgency – NOW
“…or at least investigate the possibility of a live video conference.”
What do you mean by this?
The Conference would have to take place in order to have/enable the live video conference also.
Hi Matt. I mean teleconferencing which is live in that sense but where the participants are not in physical contact with each other
For instance
It’s a no-brainer. With the date of conference coinciding with the period during which the government is planning the epidemic should reach its peak, with people falling sick in droves, it cannot take place then. It has to be postponed.
South West Branch of the SPGB have suspended their meetings until further notice.
Considering the number of older comrades and those who have health problems, it would be lunacy to go ahead with conference. If we did go ahead it would mean exclusion to those members who did not feel able to attend because of their health and or age, which would hardly be democratic.
South West Branch of the SPGB have suspended their meetings until further notice.
Useful to know but, alongside this, I hope this branch as well as all other branches make a determined effort to get all members and sympathisers electronically linked up on this (and other) forum. The “regional branches sub forum” on this forum should really take off as a locus of branch decision-making. It hasn’t really done so hitherto but then we never anticipated something like this pandemic coming along to mess things up
As well as that, I hope Head Office reinforces the efforts of branches by sending out individual emails/letters to all members of the Party.
We need a strategy of maintaining party organisation and activity if this scenario is accurate
“The coronavirus epidemic in the UK will last until next spring”
Once more, the importance of armchair at home self-isolated internet online advocacy of the socialist case becomes very evident and Robbo’s 10 minutes a month recommended campaign has to be 10 minutes a week, and, ideally, ten minutes a day.
As mentioned earlier, a few of us had been suggesting interactive videoing of conference (and even EC meetings) – A lost opportunity. If we had acted sooner on the issue, we would be in a better place today…yes I know hindsight is 20/20 vision and nobody ever had the foresight to imagine a pandemic and possible lock-down restrictions on gatherings.
Just saying because this offers an opportunity to spur the party into investigating virtual meetings, particularly if this epidemic does last a year and perhaps become a recurring event in future years as it mutates like ordinary flu does.
I know a few EC meetings had one or two members participate via Skype. Now to fully roll it out and see if it suffices or an alternative video-conferencing download might be better.
Matt reported the disappointing result of Edinburgh branch’s attempt at conducting an online meeting. I hope he perseveres. If it is the quality of computers, then we should perhaps identify better equipment or better software and provide for the use of branches.
NE Regional Branch have had a number of attempts but never with very much success.
Hopefully we can resolve these outstanding issues.
If this is a prolonged epidemic which will affect Summer School, ADM, and next year’s Annual Conference, the time is now to begin experimenting with internet tools.
Summer School speakers on Skype.
Questions and feedback by some form email.
ADM could be a trial of all members with access to the internet getting involved in exchanges.
Once more, the importance of armchair at home self-isolated internet online advocacy of the socialist case becomes very evident and Robbo’s 10 minutes a month recommended campaign has to be 10 minutes a week, and, ideally, ten minutes a day.
Yes indeed – if we work on the assumption that the coronavirus pandemic is going to last for at least a year then it is likely that there will be little to no physical activity being carried out by the Party in this period . How is the Party going to survive as a political organisation, let alone grow, with no means of growing? Seriously.
Of course, there is a means and I believe a very effective means , via the internet viz.,
http://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/search?q=ten+minutes
However, we need to take steps to encourage all members and sympathisers to get involved. Can this be discussed at the next meeting of the EC as a matter of urgency?
“NE Regional Branch have had a number of attempts but never with very much success”.
I wouldn’t say the online branch meetings were a complete wash out, they did work to an extent, the issue was the amount of time involved and that they became quite disjointed, you ended up giving replies to answers out of sequence, which caused difficulty in understanding the debate. Some branch meetings went on for a full weekend because of the difficulties.
I am sure though, with a bit of fine tuning it could be quite effective. One thought I had was to have a chair who would grant the floor to a contributor, and then set a time, for example five minutes, for the contributor to contribute, before moving on to the next speaker.
Well – looks like I picked a great time to join! I’m obviously unfamiliar with the internal workings of the Party, but is this forum and SPINTCOM the mains means by which members keep up with each other?
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