Green Surge!

This is an exciting time to be a member of the Greens in the UK.  Starting with the upsurge in political debate around the Scottish Referendum this summer and leading into autumn and the major parties' panic over the rise of UKIP there has been a marked surge in Green Party membership and support on both sides of the border.

This has been recently assisted by the massively supported online campaign for Greens to be represented in forthcoming UK election debates on TV and radio.  The desire of the Tories and Labour to ape UKIP (to - so far unsuccessfully - win over some of their support) and the continuing decline of the Lib Dems as the coalition "mudguard" have played a part in this.  Another factor is the increasing move amongst left of centre younger people to see the Greens as a viable expression of many of their progresssive and egalitarian views.  The unfortunate floundering of the "Left Unity" project (sadly locally now tagged "Left Disunity" due to ongoing quarrels) has led some towards, or back towards, the Greens as a relatively well established and internally democratic option  that can actually have some success in local politics.  It is my opinion that Leninism is a long term brake on the development of left and progressive politics in the UK and all projects that allow Leninists of whatever stripe to take a dominant role are doomed to failure.  The Greens do not have this baggage and the main left currents in the Greens are eco-socialist and libertarian socialist - currents that are far more in tune with the online, connected and eclectic activist world of today than the centralism and sectarianism of UK Leninists.

Whilst problems remain in the Greens in England and Wales (lack of political education, a shoestring organisational budget, off message councillors and the odd careerist,  and some infuriating administrative and financial communication barriers would be my personal bugbears) the Party remains the best short term option for anyone wishing to make a noticeable impact on British politics and create a space for dissemination and discussion of ideas outside the neo-liberal consensus.

The Greens face a major struggle to keep Caroline Lucas MP in Parliament (largely due to Labour now openly targeting the Greens for "elimination" - perhaps resenting us as an unwelcome reminder of the Labour Party's increasing inadequacy as a Party of the Left - and also some of the aforementioned "off message councillors"in Brighton).  But it should be possible to retain her seat and possibly even gain more next year if the current momentum can be maintained or improved upon, and particularly if we can get Natalie and/or Caroline onto televised and radio debates.

Austerity, fracking, attacks on civil liberties and sucking up to corporate and financial interests remain very unpopular despite the efforts of all the recent "governmental" parties to support them.  The reservoir of Green support is there for tapping into and articulating.  A key aim should be to strengthen all the movements fighting these things regardless of the election result next year.  So the Greens can play a key role in both building the fightback and putting forward positive alternatives.   Come and join us....

Green Left Statement on Local Authority Cuts

Green Left Statement on Cuts to Local Authority Services

The following statement was agreed and issued by Green Left, the ecosocialist platform in the Green Party of England and Wales, on 8th December 2013:

The Green party of England and Wales fought the 2010 general election in opposition to the savage public service cuts supported by the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties. The Green party offered a different approach to reducing the country’s debts, which included making the wealthy (people and corporations) pay their fair share of tax, investing in the economy to produce sustainable growth through the Green New Deal, some cuts for example to Trident and pledging to protect public services particularly for the most vulnerable in our society.

Unfortunately, we did not win the general election and so are unable to put these policies into practice, although Caroline Lucas has almost single handedly taken the opposition to the Coalition government cuts agenda. The ideologically driven shrink the state policies of the Coalition government aim to reduce public spending and turn most of the public services over to private corporations. Our elected representatives in local government are on the front line in the assault on public spending, with local authorities having their funding from central government cut by around a third since 2010. Councils of all political stripes are hurting and they worry about whether they will even be able to fund their statutory duties in the future. Local government is under serious threat and everyone involved in it knows this to be true, despite the blithe statements about local authorities making efficiency savings and encouraging local business growth to pay for services, trumpeted by the Coalition central government. All the easy savings and many not so easy have been made now, and a future of even more of the same is daunting.

We in Green Left say enough is enough, and call on all of our existing elected Green party local councillors and any that are elected in the 2014 local elections, to firmly refuse to implement these Coalition government cuts to essential public services. If the government sends civil servants to carry out their dirty work then the responsibility for the cuts will be firmly in the public view, and our elected representatives can be in the forefront of a popular campaign against them. The time has surely come to make a stand, in solidarity with our communities that depend so heavily on the services provided and with the local authority workforce who have endured cuts in wages if not redundancy.

New Version of Green Left Website

Green Left  (The anticapitalist current in the Green Party of England and Wales) have an excellent new Website up and running that can be found here - Green Left
Meanwhile the elections are on for the leader and deputy leader of the Green Party with some very good candidates such as Peter, Romayne, Will, Richard and Alex.  Good luck to all of them.

Hats Off To Howard

A link here to Howard Thorp's very good blog from the left of the Green Party of England and Wales - Capitalism Creates Poverty

Howard has posted interesting recent articles on the Green Party's direction after Caroline Lucas steps down as leader and on the situation in Greece.

http://capitalism-creates-poverty.blogspot.co.uk/

Brighton on rocky ground?

The Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW) took control of a local Council recently amidst much euphoria. However, after the councillors tried to deal with the central government cuts onslaught through a 1980s-labour soft left style "dented shield" policy things went a bit pear shaped. Labour and the Tories united to vote down the rise in Council Tax proposed and counter-proposed that the Green group accept Eric Pickles (Local Government Minister) Council Tax Freeze bribe. Whilst some voices argue that the Greens should now step down and allow Labour and the Tories to embarrass themselves in their de-facto establishment coalition the Councillors (with an honourable exception Alex Phillips) decided to go ahead with an "even more dented shield" policy which will likely lead to even more cuts being forced on them next year.

A bit disappointing that people have left the GPEW and internal ecosocialist grouping Green Left over the Brighton situation - while I think what has happened there is unfortunate and damaging to the Party I have always been sceptical about what can be achieved through conventional political channels anyway! For me the GPEW is simply the most convenient political bench to park my political butt on where I can link up with others and actually get people to listen to quite radical arguments that they might dismiss if coming from someone from a group they dismissed as "extremist". Where will those leaving the Party go? Labour? Now that really would be jumping from the frying pan into the fire. The Trotskyist groups (or their political/campaigning fronts?) Though working happily with them in anti-cuts group etc, I can't stomach their methods and attitudes tbh, coming from a libertarian left/syndicalist background, but each to their own. The Communists? Nah! The only group/party even worth considering in England for someone retaining most of the views they had in the Green Party or Green Left would be the Alliance For Green Socialism - and unfortunately they are tiny and appear almost moribund, so in most parts of the country you we be starting from scratch trying to build a Party with almost no public recognition.

So I will be staying with the GPEW for the time being. IMO the most interesting things happening at the moment on the left are not to do with parties but movements and the beginnings of a much needed turn to the workplaces and communities. We will see how it all develops. Anything could happen this year with the situation in the Middle East/Iran and the continuing banking/Sovereign Debt/Euro etc crisis. Small developments could become very big in a short period of time. Interesting times.

Peter Allen Presents The Green Challenge In Oldham East And Saddleworth

Peter Allen is the Green candidate in Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election on 13th January and is standing on a radical Green platform opposing cuts and redundancies and for left of centre unity. Peter is gaining support from many traditional Labour and Lib Dem supporters in the face of the scandal which led to the by-election and the craven surrender to Toryism of the Orange Bookers in the "Coalition". In addition, various campaigns and parties of the left who are not standing in the by-election are giving their support to Peter.
This is all very welcome, and Greenman sends his best wishes and support to Peter's campaign.
More from the local Party website for Oldham Green Party here:
http://www.oldhamgreens.org.uk/#/about-peter-allen/4546565953
Vote Green - The real alternative!

The new political landscape

This is written shortly after the final non-postponed result from the British general election came through, so is a first response, things may change and develop over the next days and weeks.

The Green Party of England and Wales have made a truly historic breakthrough. On a night where all left and progressive forces suffered dramatic setbacks and most minor parties of any complexion failed to make much progress, GPEW saw the election of the first Green MP - Caroline Lucas, the new MP for Brighton Pavilion. I pay tribute to the hard work and determination of Caroline and my fellow Greens in achieving this. We were forced by the unfair electoral system to focus massively on just three seats. The relatively poor results of many of the other Green candidates are probably related to this (along with "Cleggmania", tactical voting and the higher turnout for the main parties). Nevertheless, it paid off and the Green Party now has an unprecedented platform for growth and political advance as well as Caroline having the opportunity to offer real help to the people of Brighton.

Another reason for celebration on the night was the wreck of the hopes of the fascists in Barking and Dagenham - not only failing to take a seat, but losing all their council seats in the concurrent local election as well!
The broader picture is still uncertain, (though we can be certain that whichever combination of the establishment parties takes power, we - the ordinary working people, students, disabled, pensioners etc are going to be asked to pay for the banker's and governments errors and greed). But the hung parliament situation opens up a vista of opportunities and threats.

There is the potential, perhaps, for the rise of a broad based movement to demand political change encompassing at the very least electoral reform and an elected second chamber. We will see over the coming days whether existing large internet based campaigns can begin to be translated into street protest.

The position of the Liberal Democrats means that they are asked to bring about electoral reform or suffer the consequences - whoever they ally with, the exposed and compromised position this will put them in may lead to them getting battered at the next election (that may be sooner rather than later). Any alliance with the Tories will be a great driver of Lib Dem voters and supporters into the arms of the Greens, the Welsh and Scottish Parties and/or Labour. An alliance with Labour will likely split off part of the Lib Dems' suppport to the right.

Meanwhile the international sovereign debt crisis rumbles on accompanied by calls from various representatives of the global elite for governments to make the workers pay. The most extreme example of this is currently in Greece. The resolution and even trajectory of that conflict remains in the balance.

Those on the green and progressive left in Britain must keep their wits about them and seek to rally all the defensive potential of workplace and community organisations - unions and associations - for the inevitable coming stuggles. In comparable situations in the 1970s there was significant risk of covert or even overt action by the secret state and more extreme elements of the ruling class (the Wilson plot, private armies etc etc) Though the risk of this may be less in the absence of them facing or fearing any comparable major organised threats from the left or workers organisation, we still need to be on our guard and remember that in mobilising and organising for the inevitably necessary defence of jobs, services and pensions we are also drawing together those forms and forces (trades councils, workplace organisation, local networks) that will be essential defensive and offensive bodies if elements of the ruling class begin to reach for more repressive and "permanent" solutions to the problems of their system. We do not know how severe the economic crisis may become and into what startegies and tactics this may drive some of those who seek to maintain or build their power over the rest of us.

In the short term we must give practical solidarity to those workers and others already moving into dispute and conflict with the employers and the state.

Good luck to that small band of radicals and progressives that have managed to get elected to Parliament - Caroline Lucas, John McDonnell and a few others - let us hope they can cooperate to give a Parliamentary voice to the opposition to the neo-liberal consensus on who is going to be made to pay for the crisis and the best ways to approach the Climate Emergency.

There is much work to be done!

Matt Sellwood For Hackney North and Stoke Newington

A very good interview by my fellow ecosocialist and blogger Matt Sellwood on the Red Pepper site.

From the interview:

What are the issues that you are particularly interested in as a candidate?

My personal focus is on issues of economic equality, particularly given the appalling levels of inequality within Hackney North. I have worked particularly with the local Keep Our NHS public group, to oppose the egregious and continuing privatisation of our health service. I am also national spokesperson on housing for the Green Party, and do a lot of work on supporting investment in housing to create local employment, improve conditions and move modes of housing provision towards more cooperative models.

I am also passionate about withdrawal from Afghanistan. During the Iraq War I broke into RAF Fairford and sat on the runway to stop B-52 bombers taking off, and I’m only sorry that we couldn’t build a bigger movement of direct action at that time. The foreign policy of the Labour government over the last decade should, alone, be enough reason for socialists to abandon it immediately. It makes my blood boil.

More here

Good Luck Matt!

Meeting in London on Inequality

The event detailed below, scheduled for Wednesday 2nd December, is hosted by Hackney Green Party and should be quite interesting for anyone within travelling distance sympathetic to left green ideas.

INEQUALITY IN THE UK - Effects and solutions

Wednesday December 2nd, 7.30 - 9.30 pm

Abney Public Hall, Stoke Newington Church Street

Join Bill Kerry, Secretary of The Equality Trust, as he presents the findings of the bestselling book, 'The Spirit Level'. Inequality is having a massive negative influence on our society - hear the details of new research into how it impacts on everybody, and what we can do about it.

All welcome, with plenty of time for questions, answers, and discussion from the floor!

Hosted by Hackney Green Party, free entry.

Birmingham Greens Demonstrate Left Unity In Action

The Green Party in Birmingham has voted to stand aside for Salma Yaqoob in the coming Parliamentary elections, the Steering Group of Green Left has agreed the release of the following statement:

Green Left welcomes the decision of Birmingham Green Party to stand aside in the parliamentary constituency of Hall Green to let Salma Yaqoob of Respect contest the general election there. The decision, which was endorsed by 86% of Green Party members in the area, is another step in forming an alliance between those forces on the Left of British politics campaigning against war, privatisation, the ongoing march to environmental disaster and Fascism. We regard this as an historic step in the campaign for the next general election and for progressive politics in this country.


Joseph Healy

Sue Tibbles

Co-Convenors

Green Left

More from Joseph, Derek on Socialist Unity site and Jim at Daily (Maybe).

Support The SOAS Occupation!

An occupation is ongoing at the SOAS in London, following a chain of events that led from bad treatment of migrant workers to official collaboration with deportation arrests.

BBC Report here.

Greens in London have been heavily involved in the campaign to support the workers and students in their struggle. More from London Green MEP Jean Lambert here.

You Tube video here.

New(-ish) Green Left Blogger

I was pleased to be alerted to another Green Left colleague who has now been blogging for a while - Nick. His blog is Rosso-Verde.

Meanwhile, some more interesting political food for thought here.

Weekly Links 07/04/2009

Another busy week and little time to post links, but nevertheless a few that might be interesting to some of my readers.

Green Politics
Monday was National Pensions Action Day and the Green Party in England and Wales announced its key election pledge for pensioners - a £165 a week non-means-tested citizens' pension for every pensioner in the UK.
Much of the green focus in the protests last week was on the climate camp in the city - a blog on this here. The Green Party also spoke out about the provocative policing on the G20 demos.

British Politics
Here is a You Tube video of the whole of the Put People First March passing on the 28th March in London.
Here is film of a Police attack on the Climate Camp later in the week - the mass media preferred to focus on a bit of minority window smashing at a city bank rather than police brutalisation of peaceful protesters.
I had a fine pint of Leveller ale from the Newark brewery this evening - a reminder of the Leveller legacy kept alive by the annual Levellers Day festival in Burford, Oxfordshire - more info on this years' event here. The theme this year being the energy crisis.
Speaking of British republicans, tickets for the annual conference of the main umbrella republican organisation, Republic, to be held on the 20th June in London, are now on sale.

Unions and Workers
More on the inspiring Visteon occupations here.

As people are probably aware, workers are currently occupying Visteon Car Plant in Enfield against redundancies. But in an exciting move, workers have also raised the idea of transfering from producing cars to more environmentally useful things. This is from the text of their leaflet:

'As well as proper redundancy payments, some are suggesting that the skills of the workers who can make anything in plastic, should be used to make increasingly needed parts for green products - bike and trailer parts, solar panels, turbines, etc. Government investment in this rather than throwing money at bankers could be profitable & save jobs in the long term.'

The example of the Lucas Aerospace Plan continues as an inspiration to new generations of workers.

Quick Weekly Links

A very busy week this week, so just time for a few links that might be of interest.

Matt Sellwood has put a draft of his forthcoming pamphlet on Greens and The Left in Britain on his blog and is requesting comments - read it here.
Matt also has video of Mark Thomas' contribution to the Put People First Rally that I mentioned in my last blog entry - good rabble rousing stuff, with humour. A report and pics from the march and rally on the Lenin's Tomb blog here. Joseph Healy's reflections here.

Meanwhile, some interesting links from Jim's Daily (Maybe) blog here.

In other news this week (as the Two Ronnies used to say!)a big victory for the anti-incineration movement in Cornwall.

The RMT are balloting for strike action on the London Underground in a battle against job cuts, a pay freeze and management bullying.

Information here on another story I have covered previously - latest developments in the battle to defend the William Morris gallery in Walthamstow.

Finally, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) issued a report on "The Financial and Economic Crisis: A Decent Work Response," which examines current rescue efforts in 32 countries, including all members of the G20, and notes that demographic projections suggest that nearly 90 million net new jobs would be needed over 2009-2010 to absorb new entrants in the labor market and avoid a prolonged jobs gap. The study calls for enhanced cooperation among key international organizations and a reprioritization between these goals, to, inter alia: pave the way for a green economy; and enhance the Green Jobs agenda, considering that green technologies tend to be more job-rich than their carbon-intensive counterparts. A more sceptical view on likely "green bailout plans" from India here.

Good News for Left Greens!

Some links below to reports and news from the Green Party of England and Wales Spring Conference that was held in Blackpool last weekend.

Here is the official Green Party Web Page.

Here is the speech delivered by Caroline Lucas, and here is that of her Deputy, Adrian Ramsay.

Here is a report from Joseph Healy.

The Green Left were very pleased with the success of left motions and candidates at the conference.

The latest good news is that Green dissidents in the Czech Republic have been instrumental in bringing down the Centre Right Atlanticist government and its' right-green little helpers as reported by Derek, here. Irish left greens take note!

Green Work And The Recession - Meeting in London

Green Work and the Recession

Public Meeting

Called by Haringey Green Party

Thursday March 19th, 7pm

Kurdish Cultural Centre, Portland Gardens, N.8 (rear of Haringey Green Lanes overground station, approached via Green Lanes and Stanhope Gardens

* The Green New Deal, a plan to help us find a way out of the triple crisis of financial crunch, rising oil prices and climate change.

* Limit working hours to share work and make time for living!

* Oppose workfare and benefit cuts!

With
JEAN LAMBERT,
London's Green Member of the European Parliament

and

SEAN THOMPSON,
Critical writer on political economy and Green Party activist

* The Green New Deal would:

create thousands of green-collar jobs
provide free insulation to every home
build safer ways of investing
raise finance for green energy
renew small and local businesses
increase food production in cities
invest in public transport
Greens who have been elected to local councils, the London Assembly and the European Parliament are already pushing through these ideas.

* Green work should be secure work. Jean Lambert has consistently pushed for employment rights for temporary agency staff.

* Green work must be well paid. Greens in the Greater London Assembly have pushed for a minimum ‘living wage’ of £7.45 per hour, in place of the pathetic national minimum wage of £5.73.

* Shorter working time can reduce layoffs; Jean has consistently challenged the UK Government's opt-out of the Working Time Directive and worked against it in the European Parlaiment. She recently backed the TUC’s Work Your Proper Hours Day on 27 February, the annual event which aims to ensure employees remember - and claim - their rights in the workplace. Over five million people in the UK regularly work unpaid overtime, handing their employers £26.9 billion in free work.

* Greens oppose the government’s Welfare Reform Bill, and supported the lobby of Parliament against it on March 3. Greens say no to benefit cuts, to forcing the disabled and parents of young children back to work, to workfare for the long-term unemployed, to privatisation of job centres and of back-to-work schemes .

Weekly Links 2/3/2009

Very busy this week, so just time for a few interesting links.

Last week an in depth report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation delivered a damning report on New Labour's record as regards their promise of delivering a more equal society. The report is mixed to say the least. There is a marked contrast between the few modest but welcome reforms associated with New Labour's first term and the gradually deteriotating situation since -

Commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the study, by a team led by LSE’s Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, shows sharp contrasts between different policy areas.
Notable success stories include reductions in child and pensioner poverty, improved education outcomes for the poorest children and schools, and narrowing economic and other divides between deprived and other areas.

But health inequalities continued to widen, gaps in incomes between the very top and very bottom grew, and poverty increased for working-age people without children. In several policy areas there was a marked contrast between the first half of the New Labour period and the second half, when progress has slowed or even stalled.

More here. The Child Poverty Action Group respond here.

The Green Party Trade Union Group have posted video clips on their blog of the recent meeting on work-life balance addressed by Green MEP Jean Lambert and representatives of several unions.

Two new articles by co-author of the first ecosocialist manifesto Michael Lowy have been posted on the Ecosocialist International Network website, these are Ecosocialism and Democratic Planning (reprinted from the Socialist Register) and What is Ecosocialism? (Reprinted from Capitalism, Nature, Socialism.)

The climate change film, The Age Of Stupid is about to premiere on 15th March and has a new website. It is being launched at a "People's Premiere" at 64 cinemas across Britain.

Defend a Universal Public Postal Service!

The demonstration this week by Postal workers against the proposed privatisation of parts of Britain's postal services was fully supported by the Green Party Trade Union Group and Green Left. The comments of Peter Mandelson, which postal trade unionists have described as blackmail, served to enflame feeling even more - a major revolt is in the offing on this issue, stretching even as far as my own (normally timid on most contentious issues) Labour MP.
Here is Green Lefts' Joseph Healy on the demo and rally.

The public is opposed to it and the mess which other privatisations such as rail have created stand as a grim warning. As a rebel Labour MP said today: "Privatisation is going out of fashion." It was MacMillan, the former Tory Prime Minister who warned during the Thatcher privatisations that the government was "selling off the family silver". Once again New Labour demonstrate that if necessary they will use Cameron's Tories to vote through this disastrous policy with the consequent loss of jobs and decrease in service. The public are opposed to it, as are the Green Party. Will the Lib Dems find their consciences or will they troop into the pro-privatisation lobby with Mandelson and Cameron?

The following informative e-mail has been distributed by a CWU branch secretary:

To all the owners of the Royal Mail,

(this means you, as it’s a publicly owned industry).

Do you realise what the government is trying to do to your Postal service and the effect it will have on your service?

In the 1980’s and early 90’s the Thatcher Government pulled off the greatest national con in history, they used Public money to advertise shares to the Public in nearly all the service industries that the Public already owned.
They justified this on the grounds that competition was good, would force the prices down while using shareholders money to improve the services concerned.

Well that worked didn’t it? We the taxpayers are still subsidising the “Private” Railway industry (while the shareholders still get a dividend), and I for one cannot think of any of the privatised industries that are cheaper or better than when they were Nationalised industries. In fact most of them have been allowed to put their prices up, way above the rate of inflation year on year ever since privatisation.

But in 1994 the Thatcher Government were soundly defeated in their attempt to privatise our Postal Service, the general consensus being, that it would not be in the Public interest.

In 1997 we voted in a new Government “New Labour” and although one of their Manifesto commitments was that they had “No plans to privatise the Postal Industry”

It seems that was exactly what they set out to do.

First step;-
The previous Government had allowed the Post Office to take a 13 year Pensions holiday ( because the pension fund was in surplus).

When New Labour got in one of the first things they did was to Tax pension funds.

Result — now a £5.9 Billion pension deficit, and climbing.

Second step;-
Open our Postal service to competition from the European Union, 3 years before they were supposed to, and by the way the rest of Europe baulked at doing it themselves, the new “target” for them is 2011.

Result - Now TNT, DHL, etc; are all over here taking our profit. But we cannot compete over there.

Third step;-
Appoint Alan Leighton as Chairman (a known privatiser, who lives in Canada and pays no tax on his salary or bonuses), who in turn appointed Crozier who came from messing up the F.A. and knows exactly that much about the Postal industry, but takes £2-3 million in salary and bonus per year out of the industry.

Result - Much later deliveries, thousands of town and rural sub offices closed, many Crown offices sold off to W.H.Smiths, (privatisation by any other name). Going from putting £500 million a year into the exchequer – to making a loss.



Fourth step;-
When the Postal staff went on strike because they had their Pension and attendance times changed by executive action, stand to lose 40-50 thousand jobs, their canteens have been closed, their Union ignored, their jobs made harder, are bullied and treated with contempt by managers.

The Government promise a Postal review, John Hutton M.P. oversees the Hooper review, the interim report looks favourable to the Unions viewpoint, the review is due to be published in October 2008, is not, John Hutton is moved sideways and Mandleson (a known privatiser) is made a lord and put in charge.

Result - The Hooper review reappears, much changed and recommending, …………partial privatisation, Mandleson says 49% sell off (mooted as probably TNT one of our European competitors, who we are not allowed to compete within their own market).

49% exactly what they sold off of B.T. (to start with)……But was soon fully private.

He has backed off a tad and now says a 30% sell off, after getting a drubbing on National television. But it’s a safe bet that the end game will be total privatisation.

Unlike Thatcher you may notice that New Labour have cut out the middle man (you), they do not intend to give the owners of the Post Office (you) the chance to have a say in how it is run, by holding shares.

What will this mean to your Postal Service?

Leighton, his cohorts and successor favour the Dutch system.

Which is, only handling letters which can be machine sorted down to walk order, can be packed into pouches which will then be delivered by part time workers (they envisage 84% of Postal delivery staff being part time by 2011).

The part time workers in Holland are mostly women who drop their children at school, pick up a pouch or so from the school and deliver the letters. (Royal Mail has already been talking to schools).

Other part time staff will collect the pouches from lock up garages etc; which means Royal Mail can also sell of the majority of Delivery offices.

So how far away will the new Delivery Processing office be from you if you have to collect something?, because you have the effrontery to be at work when delivery is attempted.

You may have noticed that there is no mention of packets, recorded, registered or any other special delivery service! Now what, I wonder will the 30 or 49% sell off consist of?

Surely not all the profit making products? And how much will they then go up by?

The hijacked Hooper report says that we are a loss making industry, compared to those of Europe!

It does not take into account that they are over here now taking our profit, nor does it stress that it may be because the European Postal industries charge up to three times the amount that we do, in their own countries!

So instead of the best and cheapest Postal service in the world (as it was a few short years ago), serviced by mostly friendly, honest, caring and helpful staff, which cost you the same to send an item 800 miles as it does to send it next door -

YOU WILL GET A SERVICE RUN FOR PRIVATE (FOREIGN) PROFIT.

(Zoned pricing has been mentioned)!

Your Posties will most likely lose their livelihood as well as getting a
reduced pension.

Who pays for poor pensioners or those out of work? YOU DO, THE TAX PAYER.

Pass the word.

Write to your M.P. Demand the Postal service that you deserve (because you
own it).

Also sign this <http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Royal-Mail-Sale/> petition - only 5900 have signed, it should be all voters.

We can give you the service you want and deserve !

Unless of course, Mandelson gets his way.

I apologise in advance if we have to go on strike to protect our jobs and your service, we don’t want to (it costs us money), but it is after all the only weapon we have left.

KEEP THE POST PUBLIC !

Please send this to all your e-mail contacts, - Friends and family.

Clive Marshall,

CWU, A.D.R. (T.W.)

There is a national march planned for March 14th in Wolverhampton in the West Midlands which I mentioned in my posting last week.

Defend Joel Kovel - Support Free Speech!

Just back from a short break in York (a great place for a visit and a hive of Green activity, home to my old friend from Sheffield and now Green Councillor and blogger Andy D'Agorne)

The big news in the ecosocialist community is the victimisation of leading ecosocialist thinker and writer Joel Kovel. It seems Joel has fallen victim to the increasingly vicious Zionist backlash against anti-Zionist Jews and other anti-racist leftists who dare to speak out about the crimes and malevolence of the Israeli regime and the IDF. More from Derek Wall on his blog here, including contact details for Joel's former employer.

This comes in a week where on this side of the pond an appalling article by author and journalist Howard Jacobson took up two pages of the mainstream "intellectual" broadsheet The Independent, casting aspersions of anti-semitism left, right and centre at just about anyone who dares to voice any negative opinion about the actions of Israel and its military. Needless to say this has ignited one of the fiercest flame wars ever seen on the website and pages of that normally reserved organ!

There are real anti-semites out there, and some of them have posted comments on Jacobson's article and need opposing, but attempts to silence criticism of the actions of the state of Israel by smear and innuendo against brave people with good anti-racist credentials and histories is really contemptible and should not be allowed to succeed.

Links and Events

Many upcoming events in the UK and elsewhere that might interest those of a green/left persuasion, so a section on these as well as some other links this week.

Coming Events
Keep The Post Public National March and Rally
CWU Midlands region proudly hosts a national march and rally on Saturday 14th March 2009.
To be held in the constituency of the minister for postal services Pat Mc
Fadden MP.

Assemble 11.30am at the SIKH TEMPLE, corner of Greencroft & Arthur Street, Bilston, Wolverhampton

Speakers include

Billy Hayes GS CWU

Dave Ward DGS(P) CWU

Geraldine Smith and John Grogan CWU supported MP'S

Roger McKenzie TUC

Gerard Coyne UNITE

Chaired by Jane Loftus CWU Vice President.

The CWU also have a National Rally and Lobby planned for 24th February in London.

Anti-Heathrow Expansion Demo 19th Feb - Beat the counter-demo !

A message from the Campaign Against Climate Change -

Urgent - now is the time to fight on Heathrow !
Demonstrate against Heathrow Expansion, Downing Street,
London from 5.30 pm this Thursday 19th February
www.campaigncc.org www.campaigncc.org/heathrow.shtml
This is a demonstration against the crass decision to expand Heathrow – 5.30 pm to 7.00 pm opposite Downing Street.
Speakers to include John McDonnell MP, Susan Kramer MP, Jean Lambert MEP.
Pre-demo photo-op 1.00 pm, see below.
However, a counter-demonstration in favour of expanding Heathrow is happening at the same time in Parliament Square. See here –
http://www.climate-resistance.org/2009/02/the-modern-movement-vs.-the-miserable-moment.html
We need maximum number of people to make sure their effort is dwarfed. Please make it if you can – its only an hour or so after work. No doubt there’s aviation money behind the counter-demo (it also looks to have links with the whole sceptic backlash network..) …we have to beat them with people-power !
If you can make it lunchtime – 1.00 pm – for our photo op outside the Dept of Transport, Horseferry Road (St James Park or Westminster tube) that would be really helpful. This is for media for whom the demo is too late in the day, and is our chance to get our message across in advance.
The theme is Green Future versus the BROWN past – please come dressed/equipped appropriately for either of these – on one side, the colour Green - windmills – solar panels – placards saying ‘low carbon economy’ ‘Green jobs’ ‘renewable revolution’ etc…and on the other side the colour Brown, aeroplanes, smoking chimneys, coal, placards saying ‘business as usual’, ‘carbon-intensive growth as usual’ ‘climate suicide’ etc..etc…(note we have Gordon Brown masks – we need appropriate placards for Brown to be holding – and props to go with them)
You can also bring the themes, as described above, to the demo itself. Or your own brilliant ideas and creativity. (We will be there from 4.30 pm if you want to help us get set up)
Finally - they will never build the 3rd runway but this decision shows that Brown is happy to continue in ‘carbon-intensive-growth-as-usual’ mode just when we should be sending out a strong signal that we are making climate change priority number one, in advance of the critical Copenhagen Climate Talks coming up in December …….. Another reason this decision has to be challenged ….to the maximum degree possible !
PLEASE PASS THIS NOTICE AROUND !!

March for Jobs, Justice And Climate - 28th March
I have mentioned this before, and it looks to be shaping up to be a biggie. Now is the time to pull together our local networks of activists to mobilise and organise transport for this and the other events around the G20. Despite the usual, predictable, soggy centrist pleading to the ruling class of the union and NGO leaders these events will offer an opportunity to raise more radical demands and strategies and connect with broad swathes of the population coming into socio-political activity and conflict with the status quo. This is the press release that went out last week -

A huge new platform of unions, development agencies, faith and environmental groups plans to tell world leaders attending the G20 summit in April that only just, fair and sustainable policies can lead the world out of recession.

The alliance, which includes the TUC, Oxfam, ActionAid, Friends of the Earth and CAFOD, is calling on people to join a major demonstration for jobs, justice and climate in London on Saturday 28 March, five days before the summit.

Under the banner Put People First - March for Jobs, Justice and Climate, the groups will demand decent jobs and public services for all, an end to global poverty and inequality, and a green economy.

The march will assemble on the Embankment en route to Hyde Park for a rally to be addressed by speakers and celebrities from the UK and around the world.
The organisations backing Put People First say: “Recession must not be an excuse for putting off action for global justice or to stop climate chaos. The only sustainable way to rebuild the global economy is to create a fair distribution of wealth that provides decent jobs and public services for all, ends global inequality and builds a low carbon future.”

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “People are angry at the job losses caused by this recession made in the world’s banks and at the slow response of world leaders to the challenges of poverty and climate change.

“But while these are going to be desperately tough times, the collapse of free market fundamentalism and the big changes already brought about by President Obama provide the hope that world leaders can change course and start to build a fair and sustainable world.”

Director of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition Ashok Sinha said: “We can and must tackle climate change and the economic downturn together. Only by investing in green jobs and thriving low carbon economies will a sustainable way of life be secured for generations to come.

“The lives and livelihoods of millions of poor and vulnerable people across all countries are at stake. The leaders of the G20 owe it to those most at risk yet least responsible for both the economic crisis and the threat of climate chaos to help create a global Green New Deal to tackle both.”

ActionAid Head of Policy Dr Claire Melamed said: “The crisis is more than a banking failure - it is a crisis of the whole system, but also a huge chance to put the economic system on a new and fairer path.

“With rising inequality and poverty made more desperate by the impact of the financial crisis, world leaders have to step up to the challenge - and the world is watching. The time is now: to make finance transparent and accountable, to share wealth more fairly, and to make markets work for everyone.”

People can keep in touch with the campaign via the website www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk

Text of the statement endorsed by organisations backing the march: On Thursday 2 April the leaders of 20 of the world’s biggest economies meet in London to tackle the recession and global financial crisis. Even before the banking collapse caused recession, the world suffered vast poverty and inequality and faced the looming threat of climate chaos. Governments, business and international institutions have followed a model of financial deregulation that has encouraged short-term profits, instability and an economy fuelled by ever-increasing debt, both financial and environmental. There can be no going back to business as usual. The only sustainable way to rebuild the global economy is to create a fair distribution of wealth that provides decent jobs and public services for all, ends global inequality and builds a low carbon future. Recession must not be an excuse for putting off action for global justice or to stop climate chaos. Creating a just, fair and sustainable world is the only lasting way out of recession.On Saturday 28 March thousands of people will march through London as part of a global campaign to challenge the G20 leaders.
Our message is clear.
We must put people first.
Put People First: Decent jobs and public services for all.
Put People First: End global poverty and inequality.
Put People First: Build a green economy

Initial list of organisations backing the march: ActionAid, Action for Global Climate Community, ACTSA (Action for Southern Africa), Advocacy International, Akina Mama Wa Africa , BECTU, BOND (British Overseas NGOs for Development), Bretton Woods Project, CAFOD, Centre for Democracy and Development, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, CHIC (Change is Coming), Christian Aid, Equity, Everychild, Fairtrade Foundation, Fatima Women’s Network, Friends of the Earth, Global Call to Action Against Poverty, GMB, Jubilee Debt Campaign, MRDF (Methodist Relief and Development Fund), Musicians Union, Muslim Council of Britain, National Union of Journalists, National Union of Teachers, New Internationalist, One World Action, Oxfam, Pants to Poverty, PCS, People and Planet, Progressio, Salvation Army, Save the Children, Stamp Out Poverty, Stop AIDS Campaign, Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, Tax Justice Network, Teach a Man to Fish, Tearfund, Trade Justice Movement, Trades Union Congress, Trading Visions, Traidcraft, UCU (Universities and Colleges Union), UK Aid Network, UNISON, UNITE, War on Want, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, World Development Movement, World Vision, WWF.

Jim, at Daily Maybe has info and links on a whole lot of other events coming up, including the Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union conference and a Hands Off the People Of Iran benefit and Pete Postlethwaite talking about his climate change themed film - Age of Stupid.

Tyne and Wear Working Class Bookfair
Tyne and Wear GMB of the IWW are organising a Working Class Bookfair in March -
Saturday 14th March between 11 and 4.00 at the Linskill Community Centre, North Shields, Tyne and Wear.

During the bookfair we also have 3 meetings on site:-

Dave Hopper, Gen Sec, Durham Miners Association
(NE Area NUM) and Davie Guy, President North East Area of NUM (and DMA) are speaking at 12.30 on the Miner's Strike 25 Years on, and the NUM today.

Tyne and Wear IWW on organising at work.

Trevor Bark (WEA) on the Credit Crunch.

Printed publicity available.

Web site:-

http://workingclassbookfair.vpweb.com (comments welcome!)

Unions and Work

A message from the (UK) Labour Research Department
The TUC and its affiliated unions have asked the Labour Research Department (LRD) to carry out a survey on climate change and the workplace. We hope to find examples of union workplace action on global warming and to identify the problems faced by union reps and activists in this area. The survey will contribute to union campaigning and publications on the environment.

The survey is on LRD's website:

http://www.lrd.org.uk/surveys/climate/

Please spend a few minutes completing the questionnaire as soon as
possible.

The campaign of Jerry Hicks in the Unite union election continues to be supported by various left bloggers including Green Left's own Derek Wall.

Meanwhile, Dave Osler blogged this week on the dispute at the Morning Star newspaper.

British Politics
Surprise, Surprise! the architect of New Labour's Draconian Welfare "Reforms" has defected to the Tories. I'm surprised he bothered really, but I suppose he is trying to get in with the likely new regime - looking after number one, no change of personal politics and prejudices required! Says it all really.

International
The crisis rumbles on. The question is now being seriously asked as to which country in the EU will be the first to default on its debts. One contender for this dubious honour is currently Ireland. We are on the verge of completely new political and economic territory internationally - the ancient Chinese curse of "living in interesting times"!
Derek has blogged this week on death threats and harassment of journalists, peasants and environmentalists in Peru.

Blogging
Finally this week, a good post on the Socialist Unity Blog from Phil BC, where he links a selection of lefty blogs, some new, some old friends. Plenty of good reading!