Brighton and Hove Green Party Draw Welcome Red Lines

Encouraging news from Brighton, where the local Green Party have passed a number of resolutions to guide their councillors in ongoing negotiations with staff, including this one:


*The Brighton and Hove Green Party wishes to make clear that under no
circumstances whatsoever will it agree with or support dismissing and
rehiring staff, who on the advice of their union negotiators, reject new
pay and conditions unilaterally imposed on staff by the Council
management side. The party therefore asks the Green Group to make it
unequivocally clear to the CE and other officers leading the
negotiations on "Pay Modernisation" that both the activation and/or the
threat of the activation to dismiss/rehire is completely unacceptable,
and should this  nevertheless proceed the party will publicly dissociate
itself from such an action and will actively campaign against it.

This is in relation to the argument over the ongoing "revenue neutral" pay modernisation negotiations in Brighton which had the potential to be very difficult, as "Single Status" agreements have been for many Labour Councils and Labour linked unions around the country.

It is very important that local Green Parties maintain strict scrutiny and regular contact with their elected Councillors to guard against the temptations and incentives to "go native" in the Council chamber.  The Green Party in England And Wales has a very good policy platform, and now, following last conference, a good Philosophical Basis statement favouring social justice.  Members should not allow the desires of individuals to appear "pragmatic" or "reasonable" to establishment politicians and media to damage our public image as a party firmly on the side of workers and their families.

Chris Hedges on The BP Oil Disaster

The continuingly interesting and intelligent writer and observer Chris Hedges has written a very good article for Truth Dig entitled BP and The Little Eichmanns

The corporations, and those who run them, consume, pollute, oppress and kill. The little Eichmanns who manage them reside in a parallel universe of staggering wealth, luxury and splendid isolation that rivals that of the closed court of Versailles. The elite, sheltered and enriched, continue to prosper even as the rest of us and the natural world start to die. They are numb. They will drain the last drop of profit from us until there is nothing left. And our business schools and elite universities churn out tens of thousands of these deaf, dumb and blind systems managers who are endowed with sophisticated skills of management and the incapacity for common sense, compassion or remorse. These technocrats mistake the art of manipulation with knowledge.

More Here

Hedges also quotes The Great Transformation by Karl Polanyi - a work that speaks to us across the years about the neo-liberal nightmare we find ourselves living in the later stages of, and points out some of the exit routes.

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.

The British Zeitgeist: Conservative Anarchism

There has been a lot of talk recently of the ideology of the Tory Party leadership in Britain around David Cameron and how they are influenced by the "Red Toryism" of Philip Blond. With Cameron increasingly presented by the MSM as Prime Minister in waiting we might be forgiven for supposing that this "Red Toryism" was something of a popular current, a spirit of the age. In fact, Blond's ideology, (which despite the title and the eagerness of some politically illiterate journalists to describe it as some kind of reborn social democracy has some unnerving parallels with the far right reactionary currents of Traditionalism and Synarchism) is only embraced in a watered down and qualified form by Cameron and is hardly embraced at all by some of his camp who are still thinly disguised Thatcherite Monetarists. Any putative Cameronian government will most probably swing between a pragmatic centrism demanded by the economic mess it inherits and vicious Thatcherite attacks in selected areas of society to feed red meat to the backbenchers and finance capitalists to whom both major parties still feel they have no option but to bow to.

So if red Toryism (social traditionalism and crypto-corporatism)does not seem to have a real social base amongst those likely to put the Tories into power, what kind of ideological position can be said to characterise wide swathes of the now rightwardly inclined electorate? My guess is what I would call Conservative Anarchism akin, though not identical to the movement in America known as Paleolibertarianism. The poster boy of this tendency in Britain is Jeremy Clarkson. Its most extreme examples are found among the support bases of UKIP and the English Democrats, but I would suggest that the attitudes and views are common across wide sections of the population, including many, if not most of those about to vote Tory. We are talking about not so much an organised movement as a viral set of attitudes. The massive sales of Clarkson's books attest to the appeal of his stance. And what is this stance? - It is contrarian, individualist, aggressively self assertive and, well, not just anti-socialist, but anti-social. It is a stance that says I will do what I like, eat what I like, drive where I like, say what I like, buy what I like and treat others however I like and woe betide anyone who tries to stop me (and "trying to stop me" is the interpretation put on even the mildest criticism of anti-social and selfish behaviour.) In short it is the attitude of generations of teenagers writ large to people of all ages and classes. Teenagers used to grow out of this phase into responsibility and reasonableness in most cases. Now a whole media, advertising and cultural industry encourages people to behave like spoilt brats for the whole of their lives. Bureaucratic hamfisted attempts to impose civility from above become weapons of a culture war in the hands of conservative anarchists - where everywhere "free spirits" are fighting "PC gone mad".

The Conservative Anarchist is disdainful of everything that teenagers have always hated in large numbers - authority, often religion (of which more later), intellectuallism, high culture and complicated ideas. Hence no professional is safe - the bureaucratisation of professional careers in Britain has proceeded apace (every action of a professional must now be recorded, assessed, analysed, prescribed to death) at the same time as public contempt and lack of respect for professionals has grown. Every Conservative Anarchist feels that he or she knows better than those namby-pamby liberal teachers, doctors, clergy, climate scientists and criminologists. Every slip up of a professional or learned body is now elevated by a deeply anti-intellectual media as a condemnation of a whole body of workers and a whole library of thought.

Anti-intellectualism has easily grown to ridiculous proportions as it has long been a feature of British life compared to other parts of Europe. The "left" wing of conservative anarchism, (the ex-Living Marxists and the failed labourites, the ex-feminists and ex-punks, the O'Neills and Burchills of this world) dress their anti-intellectualism in class terms for added hate value, and of course the fetid British class system makes this easy for them. Thus sometimes Mockney and Estuary English accents attack anything demanding or requiring self control or reflection as "Booorjwah".

Religion is the ultimate hate target of many of the more consistent conservative anarchists found on comment pages as it stands in many cases on a claim of ultimate truth, reality and authority - things which the conservative anarchist sees as his or her sacred right to define personally. The "your politics/views/worldview is religious" or a "new religion" is the coup de grace of the conservative anarchist's armoury of argument. The existence of liberal religions and religious liberals is avoided as an inconvenience, or derided as weak liberal intellectualism - to the macho conservative anarchist all philosophical systems that are not purely centred on the individual and his or her desires are wicked and must be destroyed. To them, Humanism and Socialism, Christianity or Islam, Unitarianism or Agnosticism, Feminism and Animal Rights are all evil creeds not just because of their inevitable human failings but because they are social or universal - they appeal to and try to build a reality beyond the atomised individual and his or her prejudices and bigotries.

The rise of conservative anarchism in Britain has social roots in the vast destruction of community and social organisation that was commenced with a vengeance by the Thatcher government and has continued since. Remember "There is no such thing as society,just families and individuals"?

Additionally, the rise of conservative anarchism has material roots in the technological development of the last 20 years. The e-mail, the text, the social network, the blog comment section all both give a platform for the macho new breed to propagandise and smite his or her wet opponents, and facilitate a form of communication that is harsher, less nuanced and more aggressive than face to face discussion or the more regulated environment of the old newspaper letters pages. Ad Hominem, misrepresentation and casting aspersions about someone's underlying aims, objectives or trajectory are the preferred tools of online warfare. It is not surprising that many conservative anarchists seem to fall into a lazy conspiracist worldview. Non verbal communication, courtesy and even safety consciousness are lost in this world - things are written that might result in a physical fight if said face to face. But bit by bit this mode of communication has leaked into the offline world, into newspaper commentary and into real face to face transactions. I feel it likely that an incoming Tory government will find it gets as much flak from those trapped into this mindset as the beleaguered current Labour Government does. As an ecological, political and social campaigner I find the street and doorstep and street campaigning reaction you now get is in line with this coarsened and violently charged mindset on an alarmingly increasing number of occasions.

The time has come when this trend has to be faced by all those who seek a better world, or even to preserve and defend the social, political and environmental advances that have been made in this country. Because, make no mistake (and the evidence is there in the decline of the very voluntary, community and social clubs and initiatives that the so-called Red Tories would like to substitute for democratically run services - and in the impoverished and spirit-sapping content of what passes for debate on online newspaper comment pages invaded by the conservative anarchist hordes) from where I am sitting, conservative anarchism is corrosive of society, civility and even rational and non-violent debate.

The Entirely Predictable Rise -and Fall? - of The British Far Right

Never have so many column inches and so much bandwidth been expended on a soundbite level chat show. I'm talking about, of course, this week's media coverage of the appearance of the leader of Britain's largest Far Right Party on BBC's Question Time. But the key questions seem to have escaped most of the commentators (with the possible exception of the Guardian's Gary Younge who seems to have a glimmer of the dynamic that is behind all this). These are the usual questions - what forces are intentionally or otherwise chiefly responsible for the recent rise of the odious right, and (hopefully assuming the prevention of a New British Reich)"Cui Bono?".

I think there is a case to be made that BNP in their current incarnation are actually the creation of the establishment - in particular the right-wing propaganda arm of the mass media. Griffin and pals were happily marginalised for much of the 80s and 90s. Their spectacular growth has come in the wake of two things - the so called war on terror and the cranking up of a concerted mass media hate campaign targetted at two or three main targets - Islam and Muslims in general, migrants from the New European entrants and the "undeserving poor". These campaigns all serve and are motivated by the interests of the ruling class in Britain. Griffin has been able to gear his "New Right" master plan (cribbed from Le Pen) to the narrative written and mass-propagandised by the British ruling class for their own ends. It is no surprise that he has moved from a friend of Gadaffi and anti-semitic elements of the Islamic world to a "hammerer of Islam", from European new right rhetoric to Little Englanderism and from Chestertonian ruralist elitism to embracing "the honest white working class" of places like Barnsley. These moves parasitize the zeitgeist created by ruling class mass propaganda.

1. The demonisation of Muslims is necessary to create support for the resource wars on behalf of Western Capital, led by the US Military industrial complex. This also works to aid recruitment of cannon fodder for the imperial wars and eases through the raft of security state measures that would have been desired by the ruling class (even if 9-11 had never occurred) in the face of the coming desperate, brutal, even semi-apocalyptic resource conflicts and environmental destruction that is the culmination and possible finale of capitalist accumulation. Even most radical Greens have not grasped the sheer scale and nature of what is likely to be coming.

2. The constant attacks on New European migrants are classic divide and rule designed to make union organisation more difficult, to attack those elements of the EU which the British ruling class find useful to scapegoat to distract attention from the aims they hold in common with other parts of the European ruling class and to obliquely label the British working class as lazy and greedy - see 3 below.

3. As ever, in an economic crisis the ruling class have very basic objectives, reduce the cost of labour, divide opposition to reducing the cost of labour and take back as much as possible of state property into private hands to recoup lost profits and expand the zone of operation of private capital which recession has shrunk (something which requires the attacks on TU organisation that the attacks on scapegoats one and two are being utilised for). To reduce the cost of labour the "reserve army of the unemployed" must be both increased and battered into a servile state through attacks on welfare. If these are to come about the unemployed and sick must be isolated and alienated from the rest of their class - hence constant "scrounger" stories in the tabloids to break up the diet of "millions of migrants" and "all muslims are potential terrorists" type front pages. Claimants are presented as largely criminal and fraudulent (see hype of recent transparently self interested figures released by the firms contracted to "test" those previously on Incapacity). This association with criminality is indispensible for any really serious scapegoating (and an element of it as old as the hills) and so is deployed against all three groups we are talking about.

It is no surprise that the concentrations of BNP membership shown by the recently leaked lists are not predominantly in ethnically mixed areas - they are largely in white dominated, even what some might uncharitably term "white ghetto" areas. It is not coincidental that these are the areas most isolated from the reality of life in much of modern Britain and Europe, and where the main source of information for the alienated elements recruited by the fascists is not the TV news, broadsheets or contact with a varied group of people, but tabloid hate stories constantly reinforced by social circulation in a limited parochial group. This is the depressing case for example in Ashfield, or Amber Valley.

What we see at the moment is the capitalist class (in the shape of Tories, the right wing media and other elements of the establishment like military figures and New Labour Ministers) attempting to do a bit of "house cleaning" by belatedly attacking - constantly this week - the BNP, by-product of their own strategies. This could tell us various things - 1. that the limits of growth of the far right are set by the ruling class - to a certain level they are useful, beyond that they become threatening as loose cannons that could provoke resistance to the whole shooting match. 2. That the establishment right would now like to claim back the territory ceded to the far right - in coded language they talk about the mainstream needing to address "the issues" that motivate BNP support - whilst claiming to be centrist they move the whole political spectrum further rightwards as "defence" against the "threat" of fascism that they created. Job done.
If this is the picture, then those of us on the green left, those of us who seek workers' unity and those of us who defend the social gains of the last Century have a hard fight ahead. If the ruling class has miscalculated, as it did in pandering to far right demagogues in several countries in the 1920s and 30s, the situation may be even more serious.....

Interesting New Stuff From The Corner House

The people at Corner House have a lot of interesting and useful new material available on climate change strategies and economics, (no apologies for the cut'n paste!). Much of this is a valuable contribution to the radical critique of the likely "solutions" touted by the big powers, corporations and politicians this week and likely to be continually pushed over the coming months:

NEW PUBLICATIONS ON CLIMATE AND FINANCE FROM THE CORNER HOUSE AND FRIENDS

The climate crisis and the financial crisis highlight the need to organise for social change -- and also open unprecedented opportunities for doing so. But to prevent a destructive return to business as usual, the roots of both crises need to be understood, together with the nature and limitations of elite responses to them. As a contribution to this discussion, 10 new documents have recently been added to The Corner House's extensive collection of free books and articles on climate
change and finance at

http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/subject/climate

and

http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/subject/economics.

(1)
Corner House Briefing Paper No. 40
When Markets are Poison:
Learning about Climate Policy from the Financial Crisis

http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/briefing/40poisonmarkets.pdf

Around the world, progressive groups have linked the unfolding financial crisis with concurrent crises of climate, food, energy, health care and militarism, and have called for integrated popular movements to assert greater democratic control over financial and economic institutions so that economic recession and global warming can be tackled together.

But governments and business elites also claim to be tackling global warming and economic reversal. Talk of 'Green New Deals' is constantly in the air; investments are being made in agrofuels, geoengineering, carbon sequestration and synthetic biology; and Wall Street is looking forward to seeing global carbon markets expand to a multi-trillion dollar scale following the Copenhagen climate conference in December and promised new US legislation.

This briefing paper critiques one of these elite responses by detailing the close parallels between the financial innovations behind the current financial crisis and the marketing innovations associated with carbon trading -- the dominant official approach to climate change.

Both the new financial markets and the new carbon markets involve the construction of similar abstract commodities. Both heighten systemic dangers, necessitating movements of societal self-protection. Both involve regressive redistribution and the erosion of crucial knowledge. Both are vulnerable to bubbles and crashes. Both erode notions of transparency and conflict of interest. And both call into question the easy assumption that all markets can be successfully regulated, no matter what type.

Drawing on the insights of grassroots communities on the receiving end of the new trade arrangements as well as financial and carbon market practitioners and theorists, the paper urges that failures of both markets need to be investigated and understood before a coherent and effective response can be formulated to the problems that both were supposed to have tackled.

A first section describes the enormous growth in financial derivatives markets since the 1970s -- a process involving the increased commodification of certainty and uncertainty, security and risk, safety and danger, determinacy and indeterminacy -- and the associated huge expansion of credit. It is highly misleading, the paper argues, to describe the new financial practices as 'casino capitalism': they were so hazardous that no casino could have followed them and stayed in business.

A second section analyses the concurrent invention of carbon markets, which involved the increased commodification of the earth's carbon-cycling capacity. Some of the same theorists and practitioners responsible for the new financial markets helped create the carbon markets and, unsurprisingly, carbon markets rely on the same sort of abstractions and faith in quantification that brought down the financial markets. In particular, carbon markets abstract fatally from the question of how industrialised countries can eliminate their dependence on fossil fuels.

With all its acronyms, calculations, credits, monitoring and legal requirements, carbon trading rivals the trade in financial derivatives in its obscurity -- and in its dangers. As one carbon trader has said, 'I guess in many ways it's akin to sub-prime. You keep layering on crap until you say, 'We can't do this anymore'.' This briefing paper attempts to bring into the open the ways in which the complexity of both carbon and uncertainty markets have hidden their hazards, both from many market players and from the general public.

(2) Climate as Investment

http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/Climate%20as%20Investment.pdf

Proposals for Green New Deals aimed at tackling both global warming and global recession are streaming forth worldwide. Yet, as this article forthcoming in the journal /Development & Change/ argues, many such proposals are incoherent in that they overlook the need for an immediate start to a programme of phasing out both fossil fuels and purported fossil fuel substitutes such as nuclear power and industrial-scale agrofuels. They also tend to rely on Northern-biased conceptions of
technology transfer and intellectual property that the climate crisis has helped make obsolete. To overcome these problems, future climate movements will have to focus increasingly on the democratization of research, planning and finance.

(3) Neoliberalism and the Calculable World: The Rise of Carbon Trading

http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/Neolib&Calc.pdf

Carbon permit prices flashing on electronic screens in Wall Street trading rooms reflect a complex political movement to reorganize and redistribute power and knowledge. The carbon markets associated with the Kyoto Protocol, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and the US's Waxman-Markey Act constitute perhaps the last great class project of a waning neoliberal regime -- the ill-fated attempt to privatize the climate itself.

Carbon trading resembles other neoliberal movements of recent decades that have invented new possibilities of accumulation through the creation of fresh objects of calculation and intensified commodification. Such movements include the hugely expanded derivatives markets responsible for the financial crisis, global intellectual property rights regimes, and attempts to transform health, health care
and even biological species into measurable, tradeable commodities.
Generating both profits and crisis, the ambitious abstraction and commensuration that are vital to such schemes can never be completed. This draft chapter for a forthcoming book on the rise and fall of neoliberalism outlines the contradictions inherent in the attempt to form a viable climate commodity.

(4) Unregulatability in Financial and Carbon Markets

http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/Unregulatability.pdf

Can the financial derivatives markets be regulated? Can the carbon markets be regulated? The questions are parallel, according to this article from the June 2009 issue of /Carbon & Climate Law Review/. Both markets have involved new attempts at commodification: in the case of the financial markets, commodification of an unprecedented range of uncertainties, and in the case of the carbon markets, commodification of climate benefits or the earth's carbon-cycling capacity. Regulatory responses inspired by neoclassical economics, which assume that any problems can be handled by 'internalizing externalities', are unlikely to succeed. A more pragmatic approach looks to decommodification in both markets. Both approaches, interestingly, have attracted supporters from wide ranges of the political spectrum.

(5) Regulation as Corruption in the Carbon Offset Markets: Cowboys and
Choirboys United

http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/Athens%2010.pdf

The civics-class formula 'no matter what the market, it will always be possible to regulate it' is not a useful principle for constructive social action in the real world. In markets that cannot distinguish between fraud and non-fraud, that undermine the rule of law, and that are based on conflict of interest, attempts at regulation can be worse than useless. 'Governance' itself becomes part of corruption.

The carbon offset market is one such market; the market for certain complex credit derivatives is another. Both these markets, argues this draft chapter for a forthcoming book on carbon trading in Africa, should teach us the need for new, more nuanced and practical approaches to issues of corruption and regulation.

(6) /Mausam/: Issues 2-5 of the Indian Climate Change Magazine

http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/Mausam2-5.pdf

This is the long-awaited latest issue of a magazine aimed at returning the dialogue about climate change and its solutions to the 'public space.' Featured are pathbreaking articles uncovering the reality of UN-sanctioned 'carbon saving' projects in the metals, hydroelectric, wind power, chemicals, waste management and electricity generating sectors, as well as analyses of the political economy of the scientific controversies over the monsoon and over Asia's so-called 'brown cloud'
of pollution.

(7) Uncertainty Markets and Carbon Markets: Variations on Polanyian Themes

http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/NPE2high.pdf

New markets in uncertainty and in carbon are advertised as making both finance and climate action more cost-effective. Both fail to do so, argues this article forthcoming in the journal /New Political Economy/. Creating the commodity framework necessary to make sense of the notion of 'cost-effectiveness' causes both markets to lose touch with what was supposedly being costed. One consequence is systemic crisis.

The new financial markets expanded credit and multiplied leverage by isolating, quantifying, slicing, dicing and circulating diverse types of uncertainty; an unchecked pursuit of liquidity led to a catastrophic drying up of liquidity. The carbon markets, meanwhile, by identifying global warming solutions with reductions in an abstract pool of tradable emission rights and commensurating them with 'offsets' manufactured by 'quants', ended up blocking prospective historical pathways toward less fossil fuel dependence and thus exacerbated the climate problem. Unsurprisingly, both markets have provoked strong, if diverse and confused, movements of societal self-defence. This pattern of action and reaction is similar to the one seen in movements to commodify land and labour.

(8) Imagining Climate Solutions

http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/CanDimension.pdf

These days, being a climate activist can easily get you arrested -- or worse. But the bigger danger -- especially for activists in industrialised countries -- may be that of being seduced into expending your imagination on 'solutions' that turn out to be bogus.

(9) The Trouble with Carbon Trading: A Short Debate

http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/MerrillLynchvsCH.pdf

In this brief exchange from ClimateChangeCorp's website, The Corner House rebuts claims from a Wall Street carbon trader that: (a) the climate problem is a problem of quantity of emissions; (b) carbon trading lowers costs; (c) putting a price on carbon in Europe helps Southern countries reduce emissions; and (d) carbon markets can work in concert with other policies and measures.

(10) Hold the Applause: A Critical Look at Recent EU Climate Claims

http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/HoldtheApplause.pdf

The European Union has recently congratulated itself for being 'on track' to meet its Kyoto Protocol emissions targets. But is it? And, more importantly, is the EU 'on track' in the effort to wean itself off fossil fuels -- which is the point of the Kyoto Protocol and other climate change mitigation efforts? The answer to both questions is no. Misleading accounting has produced an illusion of effective action; the reality, as a careful examination of the figures shows, is more complicated and disturbing.

Food First

I have recently completed reading Food First, the influential book by Frances Moore Lappe and Joseph Collins of the Institute for Food and Development Policy that was first published in the 1970s. The book has lost little of its's power and if anything, the tragedy of the wasted opportunities of the last 30 years make it even more relevant.

The central message, that poverty and hunger are not chiefly about "over-population" or "primitiveness" or "resistance to change", still less about lack of "free trade" or access for Western multinationals. We still read these excuses wheeled out in the daily mass media. The chief causes behind poverty and hunger are the political and economic systems of both the developed and developing worlds that chain the vast majority to the route most favouring the ruling oligarchy. Corrupt local elites and global capitalism work in concert. The continued existence of this state of affairs rests to a large extent on the continued acceptance of a cynical and fatalistic attitude to human nature which is peddled by the mouthpieces of the ruling elites. But Moore Lappe's and Collins' book was a positive intervention by people who believed that ordinary people could, and should, make a difference.

In their postcript they wrote:

We want you to join us, not simply because of the urgent struggle to construct a just and life-giving society, but because through our own experience we have become certain that none of us can live fully today as long as we are overwhelmed by a false view of the world and a false view of human nature to buttress it. Learning how a system can cause hunger then becomes , not a lesson in misery and deprivation, but a vehicle for a great awakening in our lives.

I recommend the book and further reading from the works of the authors and the IFDP.

Left of Labour electoral prospects and strategies in Britain

It seems that elements around the RMT, Communist and Socialist Parties that put together the last-minute NO2EU alliance for the recent Euro elections are now looking at putting together a coalition for the next general election in Britain.

Aside from concerns about the democratic credentials and principles of some of those involved in this project (in light of the way that NO2EU was put together over the heads of much of the RMT rank-and-file), I would say that a much broader discussion is needed on left electoralism. Going once "more unto the breach" with another coalition after the varied degrees of failure of the Socialist Alliance and Respect and split of the SSP without confronting the reasons for the failure of these projects would seem a self defeating exercise for those involved. The current and likely political situation should also be honestly looked at, along with the lack of time for putting together anything beyond local agreements not to have inter-left contests on the electoral field.

As far as I can see at this time, with the possible exception of the Greens and Scots and Welsh Nats (and whilst there are socialist elements/currents in these parties the leaderships are often more social democratic/left liberal) the Left in Britain are likely, in most cases, to go down and go down hard at the next general election, tactical and electoral agreements or not. (Tactical agreements might soften the blow). This is an inevitable result of the British Left's attachment to the Labour Party as internal or external tendencies through repeated deference to the shibboleth of the "organic" Trade Union link.

Once this likelihood is faced then a realistic appraisal of what can be salvaged in the short term and what the longer term strategic tasks should be can be addressed. I think that effort should be put into getting some electable tribunes elected - Salma, Caroline, some of the left Scots and Welsh Civic Nationalists and the handful of electable Labour Lefts behind McDonnell's "change candidates" idea. Such a grouping of MPS should present themselves as a left opposition in Parliament, separate and distinct from the rump Labour Party (which is likely, after defeat, to fall into civil war between different rightist factions). But beyond that the emphasis should be on the work that the Convention of the Left sensibly concluded was necessary - basic grassroots bread and butter coalition working. (Which will become even more vital in the face of the already telegraphed Tory onslaught on the British working class) Much of the left nodded in agreement to this and then went away and continued with the same old sterile sect politics, student recruitment and foreign policy fetishisation.....there is still time.

Interesting Discussions

There are a variety of interesting articles and discussions across the British left blogosphere at the moment on the future of the left in this part of the world and more generally the state of union and community level activity.

Left Luggage cover much of this in their latest round up.

An article that has got a lot of attention in certain circles has been the post election analysis on the Independent Working Class Association site.

There is a new entry on the infrequent Stargrave1 blog that sketches out the obstacles presented by Labourism and Leninism to left wing progress in Britain.

Elsewhere, the attention of Greens is turning to the forthcoming Norwich North By-election, as noted by Derek Wall on the Socialist Unity Blog.

Peter Cranie Article

Peter Cranie had an article on reasons for voting Green in the North West region on Guardian Comment Is Free that gathered a lot of comments:

Vote Greens in to keep the BNP out

It's votes for the Green party, not Labour, that will stop Nick Griffin gaining a seat in the European elections

* Peter Cranie

As 4 June approaches, a serious threat hangs over British politics. BNP leader Nick Griffin is a candidate in the North West England Euro election. If he is elected, this will be the biggest step forward for the far right in British history.

Anti-racist votes in the North West region for Labour, the Liberal Democrats or the Conservatives will certainly count. No one can dispute this, as those parties will claim seven out of the eight regional seats. But it's the eighth seat that Griffin is aiming for. Calling on everyone to once again get out and vote for red/yellow/blue simply won't work on voters already disillusioned with the Westminster parties. But those few extra thousand votes could keep the Greens ahead of the BNP – and that is the scenario with the best chance of keeping Griffin out.

The Green party is taking this responsibility seriously. In fact the Greens have one clear tactical aim in the North West Euro election: to finish fourth ahead of the BNP and keep Griffin out of the European parliament. We put the Green anti-BNP case in detail at www.stopnickgriffin.org.uk. In contrast, Labour is claiming on its leaflets that "only Labour can stop the BNP". This isn't just factually wrong, it is actually counterproductive, given that many former Labour supporters simply can't stomach another forced vote for the government.

The North West Greens have already built a broad coalition of anti-racist support to enable us to play this key role in keeping the BNP out. Former Lib Dem and Labour councillors around the region are backing us. The Respect party in the North West has stood down from the election and is urging its members and supporters to vote tactically for the Greens to keep out the BNP. In 2004 our combined electoral support here was 6.8%, ahead of the 6.4% gained by the BNP.

Jon Cruddas has warned that the BNP may need just a 7.5% share of the vote for Griffin to win the last of the eight Euro seats in the North West region. Cruddas is right – but his nightmare scenario can only happen if the BNP finish as the fourth largest party.

Green party membership is up by more than a third since the last European elections. Our councillor numbers have doubled. There is heightened media and public interest in issues such as climate change and the Green New Deal – issues where the big three parties are way behind the Greens – and the party has benefited from the decline of Labour and the Lib Dems in the polls since 2004.

Voting to ensure the Greens finish fourth will be the best way to prevent Griffin sneaking in through the back door. It will also mean one more Green party MEP to fight in the European parliament for social and economic justice, for greater openness and accountability, for stronger action on climate change and for a massive push for jobs in the new Green industries.

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 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.

Weekly Links 10/02/2009

British Politics
One of the least popular New Labour Ministers, uncritical Blair-bot Hazel Blears, has this week been getting a proper thrashing on the Guardian Comment Is Free pages after her attack on posh environmental lefty George Monbiot.
Monbiot's apparent crime in Blears eyes was to dare to criticize her government, assert that their "consultations" are meaningless and sometimes corrupt and to speak the truth about politics in Britain (that it has become a game for corporate interests, lobbyists and professional politicians whilst the public are systematically shut out, marginalized and patronized.)
Blears voting record on key issues is recorded as follows -

* Voted for introducing government registers on everyone in Britain backed up by ID cards.
* Voted for introducing foundation hospitals.
* Voted for introducing student top-up fees.
* Voted for the Iraq War
* Voted against investigating the Iraq war.
* Voted for replacing Trident.

Monbiot's response to Blears was majestic and devastating, uniting even some of his usual harshest critics against the pompous arrogance displayed by the Labour Minister and topping the table of comment replies, the vast majority backing Monbiot and laying into his opponent. I do not always agree with Monbiot, but he has done a great service to all friends of freedom, equality and honesty here.

Green and Green Left Politics
It is good to see serious Green political education getting under way in London with a series of meetings and an interesting book list of ten key Books to read and critique.
Long time left activist and Green Left supporter Sean Thompson recently produced an analysis of the current political situation for Green Left, published here.

Unions and Workers
The Socialist Party and Respect have come together in a welcome show of left unity to put on a meeting this Friday in London with a member of the recent Lindsey Strike Committee and Jerry Hicks, the candidate backed by most of the left (the Morning Star/CPB are cringeworthily backing the incumbent Labourist Simpson) in the Unite (Amicus) union election.

Weekly Links 18/01/2009

The "Crunch"
News this week that Ireland has nationalised the Anglo Irish Bank.

At a press conference held at Government Buildings, the finance minister Brian Lenihan said that the admission last month by former chairman Sean FitzPatrick that he had taken secret loans of over €87 million over a period of eight years had caused "serious reputational damage" to the bank.

The Irish economy is in serious trouble - we will see whether the obvious culpability of Ireland's politicians and capitalists for the severity of the difficulties to be faced by Irish workers results in good left conclusions being drawn.

Meanwhile, in Britain, all the signs are that unemployment will continue to grow rapidly for some time.

Climate Change
NASA scientist Jim Hansen has warned Barack Obama ahead of his inauguration as President later this week that there are as little as four years left to make the major changes in economic, energy and transport policies necessary to have a chance of averting catastrophic climate change - i.e dramatic action needs to take place during Obama's first term.

As a result of his fears about sea-level rise, Hansen said he had pressed both Britain's Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences to carry out an urgent investigation of the state of the planet's ice-caps. However, nothing had come of his proposals. The first task of Obama's new climate office should therefore be to order such a probe "as a matter of urgency", Hansen added.

Unions
IWW IU 530 emergency appeal
EMERGENCY APPEAL – FUNDS NEEDED IMMEDIATELY

The IWW has been organizing Truck Drivers in Eastern North Carolina and Virginia for much of the past year. In response to our growing power and planned founding convention this upcoming weekend, the bosses have begun firing the union's leadership.

Two log drivers and five container haulers have lost their job over the past two days. The union is already discussing legal and direct action means to fight these unjust firing, but right now we need funds to support our fired drivers.

These drivers have families to support and this is a part of the country where economic opportunities are very limited. Please offer whatever you can, drivers are counting on you.

Checks can be sent to the Freight Truckers Organizing Committee at PO Box 274, Waukegan, IL 60079. Please include "emergency relief" in the memo line.

We are in the process of setting a PayPal Acct for online donations.
Thank you and please be generous.

In Britain, organised teachers and campaigners have scored a victory in the fight against the government's attempts to break up and part-privatise more of the education system - this is form the Anti Academies Alliance :

UNIONS at WORK ! from the Anti Academies Alliance

Derby Council cabinet voted to abandon their plans for an Academy to replace Sinfin Community school last night (Tuesday 13th January). This is a significant victory for the determined campaign run by teachers and parents.

The campaign has involved 7 days of strike action by NASUWT members, one of those a joint strike day with the NUT.

It involved a public meeting of 100 parents and teacher.

883 people returned the consultation document, including 150 pupils, 793 rejecting the proposal.

The campaign managed to shift the Headteacher from supporting the academy proposal to opposing it.

The campaign persuaded the governors that the academy would not be good for local children.

At the cabinet meeting councillor Allen said "There is an overwhelming objection to Sinfin school becoming an academy. We have an obligation to listen to the people of Sinfin".

Dave Wilkinson, NASUWT secretary sent us this comment:

"The decision by Derby City Council to abandon its academy plans really is a historic victory in the battle against the privatisation of our schools brought about by the Government's academy programme. Eighteen months ago, opposition to academies in Derby was confined to a handful of trade union officials from the Education unions. Last night was the culmination of a campaign where literally thousands of Derby residents have shown their opposition to the closure of a school which has served working people in Derby since it was established. A coalition of organisations and trade unions has brought about this victory, but I do want to pay particular tribute to the two teacher unions in the school, NASUWT and NUT, who took eight days of strike action against the academy plans. NASUWT members have also maintained action short of strike action from May 2008 onwards."

Meanwhile, following the craven apologetics for government and big business from the TUC and some Labour-affiliated unions over the Heathrow expansion announcement it was good to see that the main rail and civil service unions in Britain proposed a more progressive and environmentally sensitive option.

High-speed rail would create tens of thousands of jobs – including at Heathrow – and would provide a cleaner option than airport expansion, say RMT, ASLEF and PCS.

Welcoming positive government statements on the benefits of high-speed rail and electrification and the accelerated provision of new passenger rolling stock, the unions point out that the emphasis should be on modal shift that will help meet the carbon challenge

I can also report on success for left candidates, including Green Left's James Caspell in Unison elections in Lambeth, London. They showed that united, and fighting on a radical programme, the left can win union elections against Labour timeservers and those on the left who adopt a more sectarian approach.

Ecosocialist Theory
An interesting contribution to the discussion on individual versus social solutions to the ongoing ecological crisis by Don Fitz, the editor of Synthesis/Regeneration has been published on the excellent Climate and Capitalism blog.

Weekly Links 05/01/09

Gaza
Lots of coverage of the situation in Gaza and the demonstrations against the continuing Israeli assault from my regularly linked bloggers this week including Derek, Jim (who has a helpful selection of links), Dave Osler and Matt S.
There is another demonstration arranged for this Saturday in London.


The latest eco-catastrophe
The latest eco-catastrophe in the US has not had much coverage on this side of the Atlantic - a huge coal slurry retention pond has broken its banks in Tennessee and flooded some 400 acres of 6' deep slurry (over 1.1 billion gallons) into the Tennessee Valley. It's meant evacuating people, warning others to boil water, and is dumping a huge amount of toxins into the Tennessee River, used as a drinking water source by many communities downstream. A number of people are reporting vomiting after drinking water.
Reports here and here from the regional media.
More info from United Mountain Defense

Activism and Repression
Hot on the heels of their recent attempts to spread security services propaganda about the threat of "ecoterrorism" in the UK (a story based on exaggeration, guilt by association and innuendo and very quickly demolished so that they had to issue a sheepish apology through their "readers editor") the Guardian/Observer and other sections of the media are now busy retailing the exaggerated fairy tales of the French and other security services about the threat of a new wave of "home grown leftist terror" about to sweep Europe.

The Guardian/Observer group, (in addition to continuing a stream of biased knocking copy on the South and Central American left) are fast becoming the conduit of choice for psy-ops and disinformation aimed at radical activists in the UK and Europe. This is nothing new really, some of us remember some "freelance" journalists from the 80's who were very keen to fit up parts of the British anarchist movement on behalf of elements of the secret state.

The texts that seem to have got the French state machine in a tizzy (and it seems to be these that are more the target than the small acts of sabotage that were the pretext for the paramilitary police action) are rather disappointing really, for an old leftist like myself - rehashed Situationist and Autonomist theses with an anti-globalisation flavour and some unpalatable (for me, but it takes all sorts) elements of nihilism and primitivism. Nevertheless, I am never one to avoid an opportunity to offend the powers that be, so here are some links to English Translations of two of the offending documents and you can judge for yourself -

The Coming Insurrection

20 Theses On The Subversion Of the Metropolis

For me, Kovel's analysis and programme in the last chapter of The Enemy of Nature is nearer the spot - I will post some more on this in the near future.

Nevertheless, the fact that states in Europe are "upping the ante" against even potential opposition is interesting, as is their apparent concern that the current crisis will grow so severe that currently marginalised and tiny groups and ideas might gain a larger and more effective following.

The Belem Ecosocialist Declaration

The Belem Ecosocialist Declaration

“The world is suffering from a fever due to climate change,
and the disease is the capitalist development model.”
— Evo Morales, President of Bolivia, September 2007

Humanity’s Choice

Humanity today faces a stark choice: ecosocialism or barbarism.

We need no more proof of the barbarity of capitalism, the parasitical system that exploits humanity and nature alike. Its sole motor is the imperative toward profit and thus the need for constant growth. It wastefully creates unnecessary products, squandering the environment’s limited resources and returning to it only toxins and pollutants. Under capitalism, the only measure of success is how much more is sold every day, every week, every year – involving the creation of vast quantities of products that are directly harmful to both humans and nature, commodities that cannot be produced without spreading disease, destroying the forests that produce the oxygen we breathe, demolishing ecosystems, and treating our water, air and soil like sewers for the disposal of industrial waste.

Capitalism’s need for growth exists on every level, from the individual enterprise to the system as a whole. The insatiable hunger of corporations is facilitated by imperialist expansion in search of ever greater access to natural resources, cheap labor and new markets. Capitalism has always been ecologically destructive, but in our lifetimes these assaults on the earth have accelerated. Quantitative change is giving way to qualitative transformation, bringing the world to a tipping point, to the edge of disaster. A growing body of scientific research has identified many ways in which small temperature increases could trigger irreversible, runaway effects – such as rapid melting of the Greenland ice sheet or the release of methane buried in permafrost and beneath the ocean – that would make catastrophic climate change inevitable.

Left unchecked, global warming will have devastating effects on human, animal and plant life. Crop yields will drop drastically, leading to famine on a broad scale. Hundreds of millions of people will be displaced by droughts in some areas and by rising ocean levels in others. Chaotic, unpredictable weather will become the norm. Air, water and soil will be poisoned. Epidemics of malaria, cholera and even deadlier diseases will hit the poorest and most vulnerable members of every society.

The impact of the ecological crisis is felt most severely by those whose lives have already been ravaged by imperialism in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and indigenous peoples everywhere are especially vulnerable. Environmental destruction and climate change constitute an act of aggression by the rich against the poor.

Ecological devastation, resulting from the insatiable need to increase profits, is not an accidental feature of capitalism: it is built into the system’s DNA and cannot be reformed away. Profit-oriented production only considers a short-term horizon in its investment decisions, and cannot take into account the long-term health and stability of the environment. Infinite economic expansion is incompatible with finite and fragile ecosystems, but the capitalist economic system cannot tolerate limits on growth; its constant need to expand will subvert any limits that might be imposed in the name of “sustainable development.” Thus the inherently unstable capitalist system cannot regulate its own activity, much less overcome the crises caused by its chaotic and parasitical growth, because to do so would require setting limits upon accumulation – an unacceptable option for a system predicated upon the rule: Grow or Die!

If capitalism remains the dominant social order, the best we can expect is unbearable climate conditions, an intensification of social crises and the spread of the most barbaric forms of class rule, as the imperialist powers fight among themselves and with the global south for continued control of the world’s diminishing resources.

At worst, human life may not survive.

Capitalist Strategies for Change

There is no lack of proposed strategies for contending with ecological ruin, including the crisis of global warming looming as a result of the reckless increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The great majority of these strategies share one common feature: they are devised by and on behalf of the dominant global system, capitalism.

It is no surprise that the dominant global system which is responsible for the ecological crisis also sets the terms of the debate about this crisis, for capital commands the means of production of knowledge, as much as that of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Accordingly, its politicians, bureaucrats, economists and professors send forth an endless stream of proposals, all variations on the theme that the world’s ecological damage can be repaired without disruption of market mechanisms and of the system of accumulation that commands the world economy.

But a person cannot serve two masters – the integrity of the earth and the profitability of capitalism. One must be abandoned, and history leaves little question about the allegiances of the vast majority of policy-makers. There is every reason, therefore, to radically doubt the capacity of established measures to check the slide to ecological catastrophe.

And indeed, beyond a cosmetic veneer, the reforms over the past thirty-five years have been a monstrous failure. Isolated improvements do of course occur, but they are inevitably overwhelmed and swept away by the ruthless expansion of the system and the chaotic character of its production.

One example demonstrates the failure: in the first four years of the 21st Century, global carbon emissions were nearly three times as great per annum as those of the decade of the 1990s, despite the appearance of the Kyoto Protocols in 1997.

Kyoto employs two devices: the “Cap and Trade” system of trading pollution credits to achieve certain reductions in emissions, and projects in the global south – the so-called “Clean Development Mechanisms” – to offset emissions in the highly industrialized nations. These instruments all rely upon market mechanisms, which means, first of all, that atmospheric carbon dioxide becomes a commodity under the control of the same interests that created global warming. Polluters are not compelled to reduce their carbon emissions, but allowed to use their power over money to control the carbon market for their own ends, which include the devastating exploration for yet more carbon-based fuels. Nor is there a limit to the amount of emission credits which can be issued by compliant governments.

Since verification and evaluation of results are impossible, the Kyoto regime is not only incapable of controlling emissions, it also provides ample opportunities for evasion and fraud of all kinds. As even the Wall Street Journal put it in March, 2007, emissions trading "would make money for some very large corporations, but don’t believe for a minute that this charade would do much about global warming."

The Bali climate meetings in 2007 opened the way for even greater abuses in the period ahead. Bali avoided any mention of the goals for drastic carbon reduction put forth by the best climate science (90% by 2050); it abandoned the peoples of the global south to the mercy of capital by giving jurisdiction over the process to the World Bank; and made offsetting of carbon pollution even easier.

In order to affirm and sustain our human future, a revolutionary transformation is needed, where all particular struggles take part in a greater struggle against capital itself. This larger struggle cannot remain merely negative and anti-capitalist. It must announce and build a different kind of society, and this is ecosocialism.

The Ecosocialist Alternative

The ecosocialist movement aims to stop and to reverse the disastrous process of global warming in particular and of capitalist ecocide in general, and to construct a radical and practical alternative to the capitalist system. Ecosocialism is grounded in a transformed economy founded on the non-monetary values of social justice and ecological balance. It criticizes both capitalist “market ecology” and productivist socialism, which ignored the earth’s equilibrium and limits. It redefines the path and goal of socialism within an ecological and democratic framework.

Ecosocialism involves a revolutionary social transformation, which will imply the limitation of growth and the transformation of needs by a profound shift away from quantitative and toward qualitative economic criteria, an emphasis on use-value instead of exchange-value.

These aims require both democratic decision-making in the economic sphere, enabling society to collectively define its goals of investment and production, and the collectivization of the means of production. Only collective decision-making and ownership of production can offer the longer-term perspective that is necessary for the balance and sustainability of our social and natural systems.

The rejection of productivism and the shift away from quantitative and toward qualitative economic criteria involve rethinking the nature and goals of production and economic activity in general. Essential creative, non-productive and reproductive human activities, such as householding, child-rearing, care, child and adult education, and the arts, will be key values in an ecosocialist economy.

Clean air and water and fertile soil, as well as universal access to chemical-free food and renewable, non-polluting energy sources, are basic human and natural rights defended by ecosocialism. Far from being “despotic,” collective policy-making on the local, regional, national and international levels amounts to society’s exercise of communal freedom and responsibility. This freedom of decision constitutes a liberation from the alienating economic “laws” of the growth-oriented capitalist system.

To avoid global warming and other dangers threatening human and ecological survival, entire sectors of industry and agriculture must be suppressed, reduced, or restructured and others must be developed, while providing full employment for all. Such a radical transformation is impossible without collective control of the means of production and democratic planning of production and exchange. Democratic decisions on investment and technological development must replace control by capitalist enterprises, investors and banks, in order to serve the long-term horizon of society’s and nature’s common good.

The most oppressed elements of human society, the poor and indigenous peoples, must take full part in the ecosocialist revolution, in order to revitalize ecologically sustainable traditions and give voice to those whom the capitalist system cannot hear. Because the peoples of the global south and the poor in general are the first victims of capitalist destruction, their struggles and demands will help define the contours of the ecologically and economically sustainable society in creation. Similarly, gender equality is integral to ecosocialism, and women’s movements have been among the most active and vocal opponents of capitalist oppression. Other potential agents of ecosocialist revolutionary change exist in all societies.

Such a process cannot begin without a revolutionary transformation of social and political structures based on the active support, by the majority of the population, of an ecosocialist program. The struggle of labour – workers, farmers, the landless and the unemployed – for social justice is inseparable from the struggle for environmental justice. Capitalism, socially and ecologically exploitative and polluting, is the enemy of nature and of labour alike.

Ecosocialism proposes radical transformations in:

1.

the energy system, by replacing carbon-based fuels and biofuels with clean sources of power under community control: wind, geothermal, wave, and above all, solar power.
2.

the transportation system, by drastically reducing the use of private trucks and cars, replacing them with free and efficient public transportation;
3.

present patterns of production, consumption, and building, which are based on waste, inbuilt obsolescence, competition and pollution, by producing only sustainable and recyclable goods and developing green architecture;
4.

food production and distribution, by defending local food sovereignty as far as this is possible, eliminating polluting industrial agribusinesses, creating sustainable agro-ecosystems and working actively to renew soil fertility.

To theorize and to work toward realizing the goal of green socialism does not mean that we should not also fight for concrete and urgent reforms right now. Without any illusions about “clean capitalism,” we must work to impose on the powers that be – governments, corporations, international institutions – some elementary but essential immediate changes:

*

drastic and enforceable reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases,
*

development of clean energy sources,
*

provision of an extensive free public transportation system,
*

progressive replacement of trucks by trains,
*

creation of pollution clean-up programs,
*

elimination of nuclear energy, and war spending.

These and similar demands are at the heart of the agenda of the Global Justice movement and the World Social Forums, which have promoted, since Seattle in 1999, the convergence of social and environmental movements in a common struggle against the capitalist system.

Environmental devastation will not be stopped in conference rooms and treaty negotiations: only mass action can make a difference. Urban and rural workers, peoples of the global south and indigenous peoples everywhere are at the forefront of this struggle against environmental and social injustice, fighting exploitative and polluting multinationals, poisonous and disenfranchising agribusinesses, invasive genetically modified seeds, biofuels that only aggravate the current food crisis. We must further these social-environmental movements and build solidarity between anticapitalist ecological mobilizations in the North and the South.

This Ecosocialist Declaration is a call to action. The entrenched ruling classes are powerful, yet the capitalist system reveals itself every day more financially and ideologically bankrupt, unable to overcome the economic, ecological, social, food and other crises it engenders. And the forces of radical opposition are alive and vital. On all levels, local, regional and international, we are fighting to create an alternative system based in social and ecological justice.

(To add your name to the list of signatories, email your name and country of residence to ecosocialism@gmail.com)

My comments later.

The Crisis And Social Change - January Meeting In London

The following is an initiative of comrades from the Radical Activist Network:

Financial crisis: What does it mean for social change?
January Activist Forum

When? 7pm, Monday 12th January

Where? The studio at 22 Betterton Street, London WC2 (through the blue door and upstairs)

What? Economist Paulo dos Santos (SOAS) will kick us off with some thoughts on the economic crisis and radical social change. Then we'll all discuss it. Come to join in, or just to listen.

Why? This is the first in our series of monthly activist forums, a regular space where we can discuss the politics of social and ecological justice, make links between issues we're involved in as activists, and help strengthen radical politics in London.

January's Activist Forum

A major economic crisis is hitting the world again, and this time rich countries will be severely effected. Neoliberal free market dogma and corporate welfare, which have represented the status quo for thirty years, are being questioned a new. For progressives this is not just a crisis, but an opportunity. Proposals such as the 'Green New Deal' promise to resurrect the idea of state intervention for the social good. But is a new wave of Keynesianism just a way of propping up a system which needs more fundamental change? Or could it be a first step towards that change?

Paulo L dos Santos is a lecturer in Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies. His recent work focuses on the contribution to the current financial crisis of rising inequality and increased lending to ordinary wage earners by the financial system.
While Paulo will be giving us an introduction, the emphasis is very much on the discussion, including what the implications are for how radicals should organise.

Find background articles to read on our website

Activist Forums: The general idea

Activist Forums will take place on the second Monday of every month in 2009. They're initially organised by folks involved in the Radical Activist Network, but are open to everyone. They're not just about discussing politics, but about organising and networking.

Our February Activist Forum (on 9 February) will focus on the politics of the movement(s) to stop climate change - more details to follow next month.

Reports from conference on class, coal and climate change in Newcastle

Here are two contrasting accounts of the conference in Newcastle at the weekend looking at the controversy around coal, energy workers and climate change.

Here is the positive view from a trade unionist and supporter of Workers Climate Action -

Ed is Red blog


And here is the view from North Eastern climate activists-

Toon Climate Camp

Weekly Links 02/11/08

Green Issues
There is to be a meeting on Thursday 27th November 2008, where The Public Interest Research Centre will launch the report "Climate Safety" at Friends Meeting House, Euston, London. Speakers Caroline Lucas, George Monbiot, Kevin Anderson, Jeremy Leggett and Tim Helweg-Larsen will be discussing the question 'How do we get back to climate safety?'

An ecosocialist view on climate change from writer John Bellamy Foster here.

Unions and Work
Labourstart this week linked to a variety of interesting stories - a mass teacher's strike looming in Romania, conflict brewing between local government workers and the state in Nigeria, a series of strikes in motor vehicle and electronics plants in Germany and news on the struggle of workers employed by transport companies subcontracted by Unilever in Turkey.

Closer to home Scottish Water workers are being balloted on industrial action.

The IWW British Isles Regional Organising Committee now have a website created by members in Wales -
In Welsh -> http://union-wales.org/
And English -> http://union-wales.org/intro.html

A fellow worker alerted me to an article by US journalist Frank Joyce that has provoked debate on Alternet - Union Card or Mastercard - How a nation of workers became a nation of debtors

Italy
The dispute between teachers, pupils, lecturers and students and the right-wing Italian regime continues. Interesting stories and links on UK Indymedia about this - here, and here (with an account of protesting students clashing with far rightist students - some of the far right seem to want to attack the movement, others to infiltrate it)
Another report here from Libcom.

Meanwhile, the Italian Airline Alitalia is still in a state of crisis - Reuters report this weekend. The BBC has further news on this.

US Politics
The big media event of the week of course, barring any unexpected drama, should be the US election. Looking at the possible election of Obama from the left a range of positions are possible - here are the views of Howard Zinn, Todd Chretien and Mike Davis

Polemic
Ecosocialist writer John Bellamy Foster has written a Postscript to "The Financialization of Capital and the Crisis" which is available here.

Economic Transformation - A Preliminary Programme

Below is a statement agreed at a recent meeting of various individuals and organisations associated with the Global Justice Movement at a meeting convened by the Transnational Institute and Focus on The Global South. The text can be found in full at the interesting website Casino Crash which has been set up by the TNI and Institute of Policy Studies for discussion of the current crisis from a radical social justice perspective. Individuals and organisations can sign up to or comment on the statement here.

I am not sure about all of these proposals, even as "transitional demands", and I am sure most of us can find something to disagree with somewhere in the document, but nevertheless there is much of value here for those interested in pushing forward rather than falling back into a purely defensive posture as the rich try to make the rest of us pay for their crisis.

The global economic crisis: An historic opportunity for transformation


An initial response from individuals, social movements and non-governmental organisations in support of a transitional programme for radical economic transformation Beijing, 15 October 2008

Preamble

Taking advantage of the opportunity of so many people from movements gathering in Beijing during the Asia-Europe People’s Forum, the Transnational Institute and Focus on the Global South convened informal nightly meetings between 13 and 15 October 2008. We took stock of the meaning of the unfolding global economic crisis and the opportunity it presents for us to put into the public domain some of the inspiring and feasible alternatives many of us have been working on for decades. This statement represents the collective outcome of our Beijing nights. We, the initial signatories, mean this to be a contribution towards efforts to formulate proposals around which our movements can organise as the basis for a radically different kind of political and economic order. Please sign on to this statement by adding your name in the comments section.


The Crisis

The global financial system is unravelling at great speed. This is happening in the midst of a multiplicity of crises in relation to food, climate and energy. It severely weakens the power of the US and the EU, and the global institutions they dominate, particularly the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation. Not only is the legitimacy of the neo-liberal paradigm in question, but the very future of capitalism itself.

Such is the chaos in the global financial system that Northern governments have resorted to measures progressive movements have advocated for years, such as nationalisation of banks. These moves are intended, however, as short-term stabilisation measures and once the storm clears, they are likely to return the banks to the private sector. We have a short window of opportunity to mobilise so that they are not.

The challenge and the opportunity

We are entering uncharted terrain with this conjuncture of profound crises – the fall out from the financial crisis will be severe. People are being thrown into a deep sense of insecurity; misery and hardship will increase for many poorer people everywhere. We should not cede this moment to fascist, right wing populist, xenophobic groups, who will surely try to take advantage of people’s fear and anger for reactionary ends.

Powerful movements against neo-liberalism have been built over many decades. This will grow as critical coverage of the crisis enlightens more people, who are already angry at public funds being diverted to pay for problems they are not responsible for creating, and already concerned about the ecological crisis and rising prices – especially of food and energy. The movements will grow further as recession starts to bite and economies start sinking into depression.

There is a new openness to alternatives. To capture people’s attention and support, they must be practical and immediately feasible. We have convincing alternatives that are already underway, and we have many other good ideas attempted in the past, but defeated. Our alternatives put the well-being of people and the planet at their centre. For this, democratic control over financial and economic institutions are required. This is the “red thread” connecting up the proposals presented below.

Proposals for debate, elaboration and action

Finance

* Introduce full-scale socialisation of banks, not just nationalisation of bad assets.
* Create people-based banking institutions and strengthen existing popular forms of lending based on mutuality and solidarity.
* Institutionalise full transparency within the financial system through the opening of the books to the public, to be facilitated by citizen and worker organisations.
* Introduce parliamentary and citizens’ oversight of the existing banking system
* Apply social ( including labour conditions) and environmental criteria to all lending, including for business purposes
* Prioritise lending, at minimum rates of interest, to meet social and environmental needs and to expand the already growing social economy
* Overhaul central banks in line with democratically determined social, environmental and expansionary (to counter the recession) objectives, and make them publicly accountable institutions.
* Safeguard migrant remittances to their families and introduce legislation to restrict charges and taxes on transfers

Taxation

* Close all tax havens
* End tax breaks for fossil fuel and nuclear energy companies
* Apply stringent progressive tax systems
* Introduce a global taxation system to prevent transfer pricing and tax evasion
* Introduce a levy on nationalised bank profits with which to establish citizen investment funds (see below)
* Impose stringent progressive carbon taxes on those with the biggest carbon footprints
* Adopt controls, such as Tobin taxes, on the movements of speculative capital
* Re-introduce tariffs and duties on imports of luxury goods and other goods already produced locally as a means of increasing the state’s fiscal base, as well as a means to support local production and thereby reduce carbon emissions globally

Public Spending and Investment

* Radically reduce military spending
* Redirect government spending from bailing out bankers to guaranteeing basic incomes and social security, and providing universally accessible basic social services such as housing, water, electricity, health, education, child care, and access to the internet and other public communications facilities.
* Use citizen funds (see above) to support very poor communities
* Ensure that people at risk of losing their homes due to defaults on mortgages caused by the crisis are offered renegotiated terms of payment
* Stop privatisations of public services
* Establish public enterprises under the control of parliaments, local communities and/or workers to increase employment
* Improve the performance of public enterprises through democratising management - encourage public service managers, staff, unions and consumer organisations to collaborate to this end
* Introduce participatory budgeting over public finances at all feasible levels
* Invest massively in improved energy efficiency, low carbon emitting public transport, renewable energy and environmental repair
* Control or subsidise the prices of basic commodities

International Trade and Finance

* Introduce a permanent global ban on short-selling of stock and shares
* Ban on trade in derivatives
* Ban all speculation on staple food commodities
* Cancel the debt of all developing countries – debt is mounting as the crisis causes the value of Southern currencies to fall
* Support the United Nations call to be involved in discussions about how the to resolve the crisis, which is going to have a much bigger impact on Southern economies than is currently being acknowledged
* Phase out the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organisation
* Phase out the US dollar as the international reserve currency
* Establish a people’s inquiry into the mechanisms necessary for a just international monetary system.
* Ensure aid transfers do not fall as a result of the crisis
* Abolish tied aid
* Abolish neo-liberal aid conditionalities
* Phase out the paradigm of export-led development, and refocus sustainable development on production for the local and regional market
* Introduce incentives for products produced for sale closest to the local market
* Cancel all negotiations for bilateral free trade and economic partnership agreements
* Promote regional economic co-operation arrangements, such as UNASUR, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), the Trade Treaty of the Peoples and others, that encourage genuine development and an end to poverty.

Environment

* Introduce a global system of compensation for countries which do not exploit fossil fuel reserves in the global interests of limiting effects on the climate, such as Ecuador has proposed.
* Pay reparations to Southern countries for the ecological destruction wrought by the North to assist peoples of the South to deal with climate change and other environmental crises.
* Strictly implement the “precautionary principle” of the UN Declaration on the Right to Development as a condition for all developmental and environmental projects.
* End lending for projects under the Kyoto Protocol’s “Clean Development Mechanism” that are environmentally destructive, such as monoculture plantations of eucalyptus, soya and palm oil.
* Stop the development of carbon trading and other environmentally counter-productive techno-fixes, such as carbon capture and sequestration, agrofuels, nuclear power and ‘clean coal’ technology.
* Adopt strategies to radically reduce consumption in the rich countries, while promoting sustainable development in poorer countries
* Introduce democratic management of all international funding mechanisms for climate change mitigation, with strong participation from Southern countries and civil society.

Agriculture and Industry

* Phase out the pernicious paradigm of industry-led development, where the rural sector is squeezed to provide the resources necessary to support industrialisation and urbanisation
* Promote agricultural strategies aimed at achieving food security, food sovereignty and sustainable farming.
* Promote land reforms and other measures which support small holder agriculture and sustain peasant and indigenous communities
* Stop the spread of socially and environmentally destructive mono-cultural enterprises.
* Stop labour law reforms aimed at extending hours of work and making it easier for employers to fire or retrench workers
* Secure jobs through outlawing precarious low paid work
* Guarantee equal pay for equal work for women – as a basic principle and to help counter the coming recession by increasing workers’ capacity to consume.
* Protect the rights of migrant workers in the event of job losses, ensuring their safe return to and reintegration into their home countries. For those who cannot return, there should be no forced return, their security should be guaranteed, and they should be provided with employment or a basic minimum income.

Conclusion

These are all practical, common sense proposals. Some are initiatives already underway and demonstrably feasible. Their successes need to be publicised and popularised so as to inspire reproduction. Others are unlikely to be implemented on their objective merits alone. Political will is required. By implication, therefore, every proposal is a call to action.

We have written what we see as a living document to be developed and enriched by us all. Please sign on to this statement here.

A future occasion to come together to work on the actions needed to make these ideas and others a reality will be the World Social Forum in Belem, Brazil at the end of January 2009.

We have the experience and the ideas - let’s meet the challenge of the present ruling disorder and keep the momentum towards an alternative rolling!!

Add your name and/or organisation by leaving a comment here.

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Signatories

Organisations:

Transnational Institute, Netherlands
Focus on the Global South
Red Pepper magazine, United Kingdom
Institute for Global Research and Social Movements, Russia
Ecologistas en Acción, Spain
JS - Asia/Pacific Movement on Debt and Development (JS APMDD), Asia
RESPECT Network Europe, Europe
Commission for Filipino Migrant Workers (CFMW), Netherlands
The Movement for a Just World, Malaysia
Nord-Sud XXI, Switzerland
Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières (ESSF), France
Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF), Inadi
Movimiento Madre Tierra, Honduras
Asian Bridge, South Korea/ Philippines
Center for Encounter and Active Non-Violence, Austria
The Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)
Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), Pakistan
Pambansang Katipunan ng Makabayang Magbubukid-PKMM (National Federation of Patriotic Peasant), Phillipines
Proresibong Alyansa ng mga Mangingisda-PANGISDA (Progresive Alliance of Fisher), Philippines
WomanHealth, Philippines
Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KPD), Philippines
Fisherfolk Movement Philippines
Democratic Socialist Perspective, Australia
Resistance & Alternative, Mauritius
Observatori del Deute en la Globalització, Spain
African Journalists on Trade and Development
Centre for Education and Communication (CEC), India
EQUATIONS, India
ESK-Basque Land, Basque Country
Common Frontiers, Canada
Alab-Katipunan, Philippines
Finnish Asiatic Society, Finland
Alab-Katipunan, Philippines
Finnish Asiatic Society, Finland
Red Constantino, Philippines
Intercultural Resources, India
Women’s March Against Poverty and Globalization (WELGA)
FDC Women’s Committee
Bharatiya Krishak Samaj (Indian farmers organization)
Peace for All International Development Organization, Canada/Uganda
Foundation for Media Alternatives, Philippines
The Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement , Philippines
The Freedom from Debt Coalition-Iloilo, Philippines
Jubilee Eastern Cape, South Africa
SdL intercategoriale, Italy
Foro Ciudadano de Participación por la Justicia y los Derechos Humanos, Argentina
APRODEH (Asociacion Pro Derechos Humanos), Peru
Attac Spain, Spain
HealthWrights, Workgroup for People’s Health and Rights, US
Ander Europa, Netherlands
Enlightening Indonesia, Indonesia
SolidaritéS, Switzerland
ATTAC Hungary
AITEC (Association Internationale de Techniciens, Experts et Chercheurs), France
Red Venezolana Contra la Deuda/CADTM Venezuela
Movimiento Unido Socialista Haitiano por el ALBA (MOUSHA), Venezuela
IPIAT (Instituto para la Investigación de la Agricultura Tropical), Venezuela
ECOPEACE Party South Africa
Jubilee Kansai Network, Japan
Ecuador Decide, Ecuador
ATTAC Japan
Transnationals Information Exchange (TIE) – Netherlands
Popular Education for Peoples’ Empowerment, Philipines
International Gender and Trade Network, Brazil
Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt (CADTM), Begium
ATTAC Morocco
ATTAC-Denmark
Friends of the Earth Finland
European Left Party Network, UK
Center for the Study of Democratic Societies, USA
European SocialForum Activists News Agency.
Cymru Europa Press (Social Forum Cymru/Wales), UK
Initiative Colibri/Germany
Sudptt (SOLIDAIRES) Attac 44 France
International Debt Observatory, Belgium
Ligue communiste révolutionnaire (LCR), France

Individuals:

Fiona Dove, South Africa
Walden Bello, Philippines/Thailand
Hilary Wainwright, United Kingdom
Boris Kagarlitsky, Russia
Achin Vanaik, India
Dot Keet, South Africa
Brid Brennan, Ireland
Pietje Vervest, Netherlands
Cecilia Olivet, Uruguay
Ramon Fernandez, Spain
Pierre Rousset, France
Rodney Bickerstaffe, United Kingdom
Von Francis C Mesina, Philippines
Al D. Senturias, Jr., Philippines
Sammy Gamboa, Philippines
Fe Jusay, Philippines
Nonoi Hacbang, Philippines
Lidy Nacpil, Philippines
Tom Kucharz, Spain
Herbert Docena, Philippines
Seema Mustafa, India
Kenneth Haar, Denmark
Wolfram Schaffar, Germany
Christa Wichterich, Germany
Isabelle Duquesne, France
Adhemar Mineiro, Brazil
Benny Kuruvilla, India
Aehwa Kim, South Korea
Manjette Lopez, Philippines
Bonn Juego, Philippines
Rasti Delizo, Philippines
James Miraflor, Philippines
Miquel Ortega Cerda, Spain
David Llistar, Spain
Alpo Ratia, Finland
Mira Kakonen, Finland
Hilary Chiew, Malaysia
Celeste Fong, Malaysia
Tatcee Macabuag, Philippines
Teodoro M. de Mesa, Philippines
Uwe Hoering, Germany
Asad Rehman, UK
Andy Rutherford, UK
Debbie Valencia, Greece
Petra Snelders, Netherlands
Etta P. Rosales, Philippines
Pete Pinlac, Philippines
Ute Hausrnann, Germany
Alain Baron, France
Hanneke van Eldik Thieme, Netherlands
Dorothy Guerrero, Philippines
Ric Reyes, Philippines
Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, Malaysia
Ahmad Soueissi, Switzerland
Elias Davidsson, Germany
Juan Almendares, Honduras
Carlos Ruiz
Alexis Passadakis
Sally Rousset, France
D.W.Karuna
Hyowoo Na, South Korea
Sung-Hee Choi, Korea
Marko Ulvila, Finland
Matthias Reichl, Austria
Orsan Senalp, Turkey/The Netherlans
Tamra Gilbertson, Unites States
Prof. Kamal Mitra Chenoy, India
Prof Anuradha Chenoy, India
Gilbert Achcar, UK
Richel “Ching” M. Borres, Philippines
Helen Mendoza, Philippines
Sukla Sen, India
Olli-Pekka Haavisto, Finland
Amira Armenta, Colombia
William K. Carroll, United States
Gigi Francisco, Philippines
Sylvia Estrada Claudio, Philippines
Pablo Rosales, Philippines
Alice Raymundo, Philippines
Maris dela Cruz, Philippines
Terry Townsend, Australia
Ashok Subron, Mauritius
Ko Ko Thett
Einar Ólafsson, Iceland
Anjani Abella, Philippines
Gianni Alioti, Italy
Dr Michael Williams
Peter Lavina, Philippines
Gina Cantano-Dela Cruz, Philippines
Cecilia Jimenez, Philippines/Switzerland
Thierry De Coster
Sushovan Dhar, India
Krishan Bir Chaudhary, India
Dave Tucker
Bruno Ciccaglione, Italy/Austria
Haydi Zulfei , Asia
Adam Davidson-Harden, Canada
Al Alegre, Philippines
Tom Mertes
Elâabadila Chbihna, Morocco
John A. Fitzpatrick
Matyas Benyik
Roger Keyes
Ted Aldwin Ong, Philippines
Romero P. Gerochi, Philippines
C.P. Vinod, India
Laurence Schechtman
Berend Schuitema, South Africa
Francesco Martone, Italy
Asbjørn Wahl, Norway
Teodolita S. Lopez-Suano, Philippines
Hans Schäppi, Switzerland
Rasigan Maharajh
Anna Camposampiero, Italy
Lorenzo Pellegrini, Italy/Netherlands
Rashmi Shetty, India
Wahyu Susilo, Malaysia
Fabrizio Tomaselli, Italy
Rayhan Rashid, Bangladesh
Saskia Poldervaart, Netherlands
Pierluigi Tedeschi, Italy
Gladys Baldew, Netherlands
Francisco Soberon, Peru
Erik Eriksson, Sweden
Marco Cuevas-Hewitt
Luigia Pasi - Italy
Maximo Kinast Aviles
Paul R. Woods
Antonio Carlos Diegues, Brazil
Luis David Saraiva Grivol, Brazil
Nick Dearden, UK
David Werner, US
Håkan Danielsson, Sweden
Wouter F.A.Snip, Netherlands
Valdimar Jóhannsson, Iceland
Vida Viktor, Hungary
Edgardo Lander, Venezuela
Yvon Thea Young-Ang, Philippines
Khristine Alvarez, Philippines
Hayri Kozanoglu, Turkey
Manfred Schiess, Germany
Antonio Gomez Movellan, Spain
Enrique Baigorri Remirez, Spain
Gunilla Andersson, Sweden
Matyas Benyik, Hungary
Kathia Ridore, France
Willem Bos, Netherlands
Irendra Radjawali, Indonesia
Jean Batou, Switzerland
Hector de la Cueva, Mexico
Maurizio Casetta, Italy
Adriana Nicoleta Filip, Italy
Kathia Ridore, France
Susana Barria, Suiza
Julia de Souza, Brazil
Paulino Núñez, Venezuela
Borsos Dóra, Hungary
Geraldine McDonald,
Fco. Javier Benítez Morales, Spain
Diego Luís Castellanos
Daniel Kollmer, Netherlanda
Daniel Chavez, Uruguay
Jayatilleke de Silva, Sri Lanka
Ruben Joseph
Carolina Parada, Sweden
Filippo Incorvaia, Italy
Lilia Claudia Jaramillo-Guerra, Austria
Miguel Gamboa
Bram Büscher, The Netherlands
Luis Gonzalez
Ikrame Moucharik, Morocco
Oscar Revilla Alguacil, Spain
Adriano Garassino, Italy
Brissaud Jean-Bernard, Morocco
Franny Parren, The Netherlands
Lisa Clark, Italy
Donatella Biancardi, Italy
Davide Buoncristiani, Italy
Martin Pigeon, Brussels, Belgium
Jo Versteijnen, Netherands
Eric Toussaint, Belgium
Murray Smith
Daniel Gomez, Netherlands/Argentina
Panos Vlachakis, Greece
Natalia Sansón Moreno, Spain
Moustakbal Jawad , Morocco
Pablo Peredo
Albert Capella
Kristof Gal
Dr. Magdolna Csath, Hungary
Piero Stella, Italy
Ibarrola Aitor
Tamara Pearson, Venezuela
Mark Barrett, USA
Kenneth Haar, Denmark
Fred Moseley, USA
Bo Jansson, Sweden
Ingegerd Jansson / Sweden
Charles Quist-Adade, Canada
Marko Ulvila, Finland
Andrew Stevens, UK
Edlira Xhafa, Albania
Robley E. George, USA
Cristina Civale, Argentina
Sebastian Job .
Al Campbell, USA
Mirjana Joksimovic Bohlin, Serbia
Johannes Lauterbach, Germany
Carol Bergin, Germany
Alain Mouetaux, France
Gábor Vinnai, Hungary
Jorge Marchini, Argentina
Johannes Dragsbaek Schmidt, Denmark
Federico Lucero
Etienne Funck, France
Urantsooj Gombosuren, Mongolia
Erich Seifert
Jaume Francesch Subirana
Bernadette Huger
Djilali Benamrane, France
Eric Goujot, France
Brigitte Queck, Germany