Archive for the ‘United Left Alliance’ Category
ULA nonaligned election to Steering Committee: Joe Loughnane
On Saturday next, 28th April, the nonaligned members of the United Left Alliance will elect two of their number to the Steering Committee. There are three candidates: Alan Gibson (Cork), Joe Loughnane (Galway) and Therese Caherty (Dublin Central).
In three posts we bring you their election statements. The second is from Joe Loughnane. It is from his website at the following link:
Election Statement for Non-Aligned Member of ULA Steering Committee
Hi, my name is Joseph Loughnane, I am 25 years old and am active in the Galway branch of the ULA. I am running for a position on the steering committee of the ULA on April 28th.
I have been active in Galway, both on the ground and in the University (NUI Galway) on a wide range of issues affecting working class and marginalised people. I have lived in Galway all of my life, and have a Bachelor of Arts in law and philosophy, an LLB (postgraduate law degree) and a masters in International Human Rights Law. My mother is from Pakistan and my father is from Dublin.
From the age of 16 I have been involved in many different activist groups and I was a member of the SWP for a couple of years. I started the Free Education for Everyone initiative in Galway and have helped it build across the country. I am a member of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, serving for 2 years as the auditor of the Palestine Solidarity Society in NUIG and have been an active member of the Galway Alliance Against War. I have been involved in many anti-racism groups in Galway; having been involved in a report into racism in the Galway Taxi industry and arranging meetings to highlight the plight of asylum seekers in Galway’s prison-like residencies. I was one the founders of the ULA and the Campaign against the Household Charge & Water Tax in Galway and have pushed it as a political force both in NUI Galway (biggest and most active student branch of the ULA) and in Galway city – instrumental to this are the links I have forged with a number of single-issue groups in the area and uniting them under the banner of anti-austerity.
Perspective:
Being independents in the ULA puts us, at the moment, in both a strong and weak position, depending on the level of struggle. As the Alliance is not currently a party, and we have 2 parties in co-existence alongside us; we are constantly looked to as “another vote” in backing up the position of the SP or the SWP when sectarianism arises. This highlights 2 problems, first of all that we are seen as individuals rather than as a collective by the other 2 constituent organisations and secondly, the increasing levels of sectarianism that we need to be opposing at such a time like this.
I propose, whether elected or not, that those of us independents in the ULA who identify capitalism and imperialism as the main cause of Ireland’s problems; that we come together and start pushing for the ULA to take stronger positions on a number of different issues. The overwhelming majority of us are pro-Palestine, anti-war, pro-choice, anti-commercialisation, anti all forms of discrimination etc. – through these commonalities we should be pushing to strengthen our own position on economic issues and those that directly affect the working classes everyday. Only by acting as a collective with our goal of becoming a party in mind, can we truly bring everyone’s ideas to the table and make the ULA a real workers party.
On the issue of sectarianism, it is our duty to push for a one member-one vote style organisation, where all those elected off the back of the ULA are held to account for their actions. Now is not the time to be deciding which of either the SP or the SWP are better allies, we should look to their members and argue for a mass workers party that does not fall into the pits of left-sectarianism – something that is already beginning to take place in specific campaigns.
For a party for workers:
It is our duty to combat the divide and conquer tactics of the Government. One of the main reasons many workers are not engaged in struggle is because of low confidence and a concept I like to call ‘Horizontal Blame’ – where private sector workers blame all their ills on their supposedly better-paid public sector comrades. The time has come for the ULA to actively discourage such beliefs by remaining in constant contact with all workers in our respective areas, be it by leafleting, postering or by a more proactive approach in the unions.
We should be calling for strike-action from this day forth. So many stores where employees have been laid off with little or no fightback have been ignored; we need to push for direct action and see these struggles as focal points for community struggle. The workers of La Senza, Vite Cortex and Game are an inspiration to us all, however, we must now start to tell all workers that their actions are not just for basic rights such as redundancy pay etc – such action is necessary and builds confidence and is vital to oppose all wage decreases, lay-offs and any other measures that are designed to make the employee think that cutbacks are necessary and that “we all need to take a hit”.
The unemployed have to be engaged with a lot more, especially seeing as many of us activists are unemployed ourselves. We should have meetings targeted purely at those out of work and put the idea in their heads that their time is better spent working out why they were made redundant in the first place. Campaigns against JobsBridge and unpaid internships can create a narrative around the idea of working for a decent wage rather than “experience”, a narrative that aims to undermine the careerist nature of the promotion of internships and the exploitative competition based approach of the employment sector.
For a party against all forms of discrimination:
It is in times like the present that differences in appearance, culturally etc become exaggerated and seen as the primary reason for the misfortune of another victim of this crony-capitalist state. It is our duty in the ULA to oppose all forms of discrimination either in combined campaigns or in single-issue formats.
At all times, we should be fostering the idea that the only real difference is class, and that it is the capitalist class who the average worker should blame for their problems. Travellers need to be supported as has been seen in recent house-burnings and developments in the UK. All aspects of the asylum-seeker and refugee process should be questioned with an aim to expose the Government for the institutionalised racism it has fermented. Casualised racism has become acceptable in our discourse, this must be combated and a language of equality It is essential that we recruit those directly affected to the ULA and involve them in all aspects of any anti-discrimination campaigns. The LGBTQ community are being compartmentalised by the Government with issues surrounding gay marriage and adoption being avoided until legislation on the matters brings them into any sort of media spotlight. The need for grassroots activism against all levels of homophobia is urgent, the ULA has to have a strong message that combats the pervasive conservative and religious views that dominate our current hegemony. The disabled in our society are still only catered for as a last-minute policy decision. Having worked as an academic personal assistant to 4 different students with disabilities over the past year, I have begun to understand the deeper structural problems that disabled people face everyday, the ULA needs to be seen as the force to change that.
The current work being done by the ULA surrounding the X-case is crucial. Our pro-choice agenda has to be used as an initial sword into the patriarchal society we inhabit. From this we have to combat all aspects of sexism that pervade our consciousness. From the objectification of young women across University campuses to the casualisation of sexism in our daily discourse, the discrimination that women experience needs to be one that all male activists on the left understand fully and something that the ULA begins to highlight in a proactive manner.
For a 32-country Party:
As anti-imperialists, we must never forget why Ireland is currently a 26-country Republic. The austerity measures being imposed on those living in the occupied counties are no different to the ones we are facing, bar the parties imposing it. We must be aware of the current fostering of a Northern Irish culture, a culture built off the back of ignoring all of the fundamental problems that underlie society in the North, a culture that promotes tourism as an answer to improving the lives of workers, a culture that has as its core objective, the creation of a colony with a large body of workers willing to compete against workers in the South, uniting them only in their ability to further the aims of the capitalist system.
For us Independents, we must establish links with those like-minded individuals in the North. Many activists on the ground in that area have very few options for a real left alternative. For those who value their right to vote, for those who have used this right before to achieve equality for different religions in the North – the ULA can be a vehicle for them to foster proper working class solidarity, one which goes beyond religious sectarianism and one which doesn’t fall foul of the sectarianism that plights the left in the UK, something which is already beginning to spread to the North with the presence of certain organisations.
For a Party that creates a clear and distinct counter-hegemony:
The battle of ideas will only be won if we begin to challenge the dominant hegemony that our media, politicians and institutions of power propagate everyday. Leaflets and posters are not enough; there is a need for a much larger media presence, especially for the ULA, and this will begin to be realised by the creation of media outlets set up to focus on exposing the right-wing bias in the national media. Gramsci spoke of organic intellecuals – each and every one of us, as on-the-ground activists, must start spreading the ideas of real solidarity, real democracy, real equality via methods we usually ignored for fear of politicising our leisure time. We must highlight how people have very little time to question the acts of their Government, explain to them that their problems are being felt by 1000s of other people across the country, and from this build their confidence to help to organise also.
Music, art, all forms of entertainment are used by the capitalist class to further ”enrich” their bourgeois ideals. The ULA must begin to engage with such aspects of culture, especially at University level, and push any counter-cultural movements that promote a socialist message.
For a Party for young people:
Thousands of young Irish people have left these shores over the past few years. Our education system is designed to quell any critical thinking and foster “entrepreneurship” . The ULA must fight for a fully free education system, from primary to third level, opposing commercialisation and promoting the idea that you go to University to seek knowledge and not to become yet another employable product of an education factory. A proposal I believe will help young people to begin the fightback themselves is the replacing of the teaching of religion in secondary schools with the teaching of philosophy. This will serve to counter one of the most crippling forces of the education system, the Catholic church, and get young people thinking outside the parameters of the severely institutionalised Irish education system.
For a Party that recognises the importance of our Environment:
The presence of Shell and their robbing of our natural resources is something that the Left in Ireland has allowed to quieten down. There are so many different groups who organise for progressive reasons but fail to connect the destruction of our ecological surroundings with the rise of neo-liberalism. We in the ULA must present the party as an organisation that stands against the commodification of our scenic landscape, that argues for all our natural resources to be organised and used for the people of Ireland and by the people of Ireland and finally, as a party that has the ability to be understood despite rural and urban differences between the working class.
I would please ask you to vote for me on April 28th, and any help in my candidature would be appreciated. To contact me, you can find me on uniteblasian@gmail.com
ULA nonaligned election to Steering Committee: Alan Gibson
On Saturday next, 28th April, the nonaligned members of the United Left Alliance will elect two of their number to the Steering Committee. There are three candidates: Alan Gibson (Cork), Joe Loughnane (Galway) and Therese Caherty (Dublin Central).
In three posts we bring you their election statements. The first is from Alan Gibson. It is a PDF at the following link:
http://revolutionaryprogramme.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/alan-gibson-election-statement.pdf
X Case on the Political Agenda
“Anyway, enormous thanks are owed to the TDs who put this together. The fact that they forced a debate on the issue is a major achievement.” –
Stephanie Lord.
That is the key factor for activists. The Dáil debate was supported by Action on X, which mobilised support outside Leinster House and brought the issue to public attention. We can rely only on ourselves, the politics of mass mobilisation – and work harmoniously with the TD’s who introduced the bill – more power to them all.Plus Plus Plus to Ming Flanagan – as pointed out by EamonnCork on the Cedar Lounge discussion “By the way Ming Flanagan’s vote in favour of the bill perhaps gives the lie to people on here who persistently characterise him as some kind of rural conservative in disguise” –
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0420/1224314970161.html?via=mr
It almost seems petty to consider who voted and who didn’t on the Abortion Bill this week. But, it’s an exercise with some utility.
First up, consider that ten of the Technical Group, and four of the ULA (out of five), voted for the Bill. Nine of SF’s 14 voted (though Pearse Doherty was at the funeral of his father). Patrick Nulty, who appears to be becoming a one man tribune of a strand of Labour thinking that has now all but vanished also voted for it. I can’t divine any great rural/urban divide in SF, or pro-choice/anti-abortion divide either. TDs who might seem to fit in either camps voted for the Bill.
Of the Technical Group, Stephen Donnelly voted for the Bill, and that great social liberal, Shane Ross? And what of Thomas Pringle? Finian McGrath was missing in action too, as was Tom Fleming – perhaps less unexpectedly.
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Abortion Legislation Proposed in Ireland – Historic Days
Clare Daly, Joan Collins, Mick Wallace, Action on X, CONGRATULATIONS.
Labour Party pro choice campaigners, many of whom campaigned with courage on this issue since the infamous 1992 X Case, need to reflect on the price they are paying for coalition with Fine Gael.
Here’s a thought on foot of today and tomorrow’s events. The list of those voting will be most interesting, as will the names of those who don’t turn up in the Chamber. It will also be useful to match that against votes subsequent to any attempt to introduce legislation on foot of the report released later this year.
Of course the Labour Party has headed off some of the implications of the above by not allowing a free vote, though will any members of the LP break ranks. As interesting will be others from other parties.
RTÉ reports the following:
Speaking after a silent pro-life protest at the Dáil, Caroline Simons of the Pro-life movement said tonight’s private members bill is not about medical treatment for women but about providing for abortion throughout pregnancy.
She said doctors have practiced with no diffculty for the last 20 years since the ‘X-case’…
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ULA Public Meeting : NO To Austerity, Build a Radical Alternative – Tuesday April 24 @8.00pm, Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square
Dublin Central Branch
Public Meeting
NO To Austerity, Build a Radical Alternative
Tuesday April 24 @8.00pm, Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square
Speakers : Joe Higgins TD, Joan Collins TD,
Sheila Judge (DEIS campaigner)
Boycott the Household Tax
The Campaign to boycott payment of the Household Tax has won magnificent support. The anger expressed at meetings and protest shows people are prepared to face the government down.
The United Left Alliance (ULA) fully supports the Campaign. Our members, councillors and TDs support the boycott of the tax and stand with those resisting the charge.
Labour & Fine Gael Bail Out Bankers
Labour and Fine Gael promised to stand up to the EU-IMF. Labour even threatened to ‘burn the bondholders’. Now they have made a conscious decision to bailout bankers and speculators and every dirty trick in the book will be used to threaten people to force them to pay this unjust tax.
VOTE NO to Austerity Treaty on May 31
Austerity is being imposed to pay off the gambling debts of the banks. The government wants to enshrine these policies in the Constitution by signing up to a European Treaty that will restrict the ability of states to fund public investment to create jobs. The passing of this treaty will lead to ever more cuts in health and education and more misery for the majority of people. It must be opposed.
Wealth Tax Will Fund New Jobs
The ULA is opposed to all forms of austerity:
making ordinary people pay for a crisis that was not of their making. Ireland is not broke and austerity is not inevitable. The richest 5% have a combined wealth of €219 billion. A wealth tax on these resources and a refusal to pay bank debts could generate billions for a programme of job creation.
Build A Radical Political Alternative
The growing opposition to austerity must be linked. The ULA believes it is time to build a radical political alternative. The ULA stands for the creation of a new party for working people that stands for democratic public ownership of the resources of the economy that can guarantee a decent standard of living for all. It does not believe that there is a just or sustainable solution to the current crises based on the capitalist market and bowing to the power of speculators.
We believe there needs to be a wide debate, involving all those groups and individuals opposed to austerity, about the best way to build a new organisation to represent working people, the unemployed and the marginalised.
Come to the Public Meeting, join the debate and get involved in the fightback.
The ULA, formed in November 2010, is an Alliance of People Before Profit , the Socialist Party and the Tipperary Workers and Unemployed Action Group. It has five TDs, an MEP, and councillors throughout the country. It is now building branches in all areas to provide active opposition to the austerity policies of the government.
For more information contact Donal at 087 7552559 or Colm at 087 2947100
United Left Alliance at http://www.unitedleftalliance.org/
ULA members: aligned or nonaligned…?
The identification of the nonaligned, in the run up to the election of two nonaligned representatives to the Steering Committee of the United Left Alliance on 28th April, has led to some discussion at ULA Branch level.
The category of nonaligned is a little complicated. And may be even more complicated again if, for instance, somebody joined the Socialist Workers Party and then the ULA since the ULA was set up without ever joining the People Before Profit Alliance; indeed it would be difficult for someone recently joining the SWP in the Dublin Central area to join the PBPA before joining the ULA as the PBPA in Dublin Central has not been meeting or operating since the the establishment of the Dublin Central ULA.
The nonaligned category is a field trip for the political anorak already. Members of the PBPA who are not members of the SWP are not nonaligned because it is the PBPA, the Socialist Party and the South Tipperary Workers and Unemployed Action Group that are represented on the Steering Committee and to which you would or would not be aligned. So there are members in the ULA of long established political groups such as Socialist Democracy and the Irish Socialist Network who are nonaligned. ISN members have been welcomed into forums of the nonaligned. A looser but veteran political grouping such as Declan Bree’s group in Sligo (the Sligo/Leitrim Independent Socialist Organisation?*) are not represented on the Steering Committee and therefore are numbered among the nonaligned (if they are ULA members), as are a single supporter (or associate) each of two organised tendencies not otherwise represented in the country. One of the latter is running for one of the nonaligned positions.
The ULA Steering Committee, as I understand it, recognises all these as nonaligned because they do not belong to any of the three founding groups who make up the ULA Steering Committee. There is a great deal of political agreement among the nonaligned but it is a technical category and includes some who differ sharply with the general vision for the ULA of most nonaligned people.
A case could be made, if someone had the nerve to make it, that SWP members who are not PBPA members are nonaligned. The case against that would be that as SWP members they are represented on the ULA Steering Committee by the PBPA delegates, the SWP being represented on the PBPA Steering Committee. The nonaligned are being offered representation now because they have not been represented so far.
And how it fits into all this I’m not sure, but I believe that, until recently anyway, the South Tipperary Workers and Unemployed Action Group had no members in the ULA. There may have been a view that the whole of the STWUAG had joined the ULA en bloc and were represented on and participated through its membership of the ULA Steering Committee. And there is a certain logic to this as long as the ULA continues to be considered as an alliance or federation of three blocs. How new recruits directly to the ULA slot into this is being partly addressed through the nonaligned election of two reps to the Steering Committee.
To round off your enjoyment of this Friday pipeful I draw your attention to the obvious absence of some members of some, and maybe of all three, of the founding organisations from any meetings or activities of the ULA. It is reasonable to assume, and may be a good pluralist thing, that some members of some of the founding organisations are not, and do not see themselves as, members of the ULA.
But we’ll all be marching together tomorrow in Galway.
Won’t we?
Des Derwin
* Declan’s lively website (http://www.declanbree.com/news-currentissues/) mentions many affiliations but not the ULA.
ULA Galway: Counter Conference 13th -14th April
Invitation
______________________________________________________
Challenging the Sell-out of Labour
Building a real political and economic alternative
Counter-Conference
NUI Galway 13th – 14th April
________________________
___________________________
2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Irish Labour Party. To mark the occasion and to challenge them on their absolute betrayal of the working class, the Galway branch of the ULA is hosting a Counter-Conference to coincide with the National Conference of the Labour Conference. The Counter-Conference will be held in NUI Galway on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th April. Speakers will include opposition TDs, trade union leaders, campaigners, academics and former Labour members. ULA members and supporters, and indeed the general public, are invited to attend and to participate.
It is fitting for working people to commemorate the anniversary of the founding of the Labour Party. The organisation that Larkin and Connolly established in 1912 has been corrupted beyond recognition. The leadership of the Labour Party has turned its back on working people, on women, on the elderly and on the unemployed.
The Counter-Conference will provide a space for political activists, former Labour members and supporters, trade unionists, working people, campaigners and all those affected by unemployment and austerity to gather together to build a new movement for ordinary people.
Further details available from:
www.ulagalway.org/counterconference
085 8461013
ULA: Nuts and bolts of Nonaligned democracy – Brian Stafford
Nonaligned members of the United Left Alliance are – gradually – making their way to the formation of a nonaligned group in the organisation. Recently Brian Stafford, a nonaligned ULA activist, sent the following discussion piece, on nonaligned representation and organisation, to nonaligned members who are linking up through a newly created emailing group. We reprint it here as a guest post with Brian’s permission.
Another forum for the ULA nonaligned is the Left Unity Blogging facebook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Left-Unity-Blogging-Network/230558593642145
Comrades,
What follows below are only suggestions to get the discussion going in light of the fact that it looks like it will be difficult to meet before the ULA conference. I will probably be proposing tidied up versions of them after discussions here. Because of the lack of political basis to the non aligned group I believe it is most important to have effective democratic checks in place for our own representatives on the steering committee. I think it is fair to say that all non aligned ULA members want to see the ULA evolve as a democratic functioning party of the working class. I think we all agree that the founding parties are to be praised for taking the potential first steps towards a mass workers party but that the project has stalled somewhat. I believe that how we act as a non aligned grouping, with the building of the ULA as our primary goal, can go a long way to getting over the current stasis. One thing that strikes me is that other left unity projects have been very slow processes I am now very much of the opinion that barring massive social upheaval, which I don’t rule out, we are in for a long journey. So what do we need, technically to put in place, to make the non aligned grouping a dynamic force within the ULA.
1) The right to recall. I would envision that a non aligned vote on recall would come in one of two ways. A majority of the SC members decide to put it to a vote of the non aligned members and lay out their reasons for doing so, of course the right to respond should be extended through the same channels for the proposed non aligned member up for recall if they disagree with the recall, it may be necessitated by health or other commitments so no disagreement may arise. Secondly a percentage of non aligned members petition for a vote to recall. I think it would need to be around 30% of members at least considering recall should be confined to exceptional circumstances only and should not be open to one non aligned tendency or grouping to air a grievance and disrupt the functioning of the ULA.
2) Term limits. Fairly straight forward, I would propose one year terms up to a maximum of three years in a row followed by a break of a year for every year served when it is decided to not stand again or when the three year maximum term is up. So if somebody does two years on the SC and then decides not to run again then they are affectively barred for two more years from running for election to the steering group.
3) Substitute list. Whilst running for election to the SC it would be preferable but not a necessity to announce a substitute in case of failure to be able to make a SC meeting. This substitute can not be someone already running or barred from running through term limits and must be a member of the non aligned ULA group. I would see the role of the sub to fill in for a maximum of ten steering group meetings barring exceptional circumstances in that case no limit should apply up to the next yearly election. The substitute would have the same rights as the others members of the SC whilst filling in. If no substitute is announced at the time of election then no substitute can take the place of the elected member. This is why I believe it preferable to announce a sub at election time who can be on the ballot, however especially at this early stage it may not be practical for all interested in running to actually announce a sub.
4) Open tendencies. As the ULA progresses to a full party it will probably go through a stage were the original founding parties become open tendencies or platforms in an overall minority position (numerically) within the overall membership. At that stage we will need a framework for dealing with tendencies. This again is an area were the non aligned grouping can lead the way and be a testing ground for future progress of the ULA. I’m aware of one tendency within the non aligned group who are very open that they belong to an existing grouping. We need to formalise the registration of such groups to affiliate to the ULA. Depending on the membership size of the affiliating group it should seek its own rep or reps on the SC or if the group is small in number say less than 15% of the non aligned members it should seek representation through the non aligned structures.
5) Gender equality. It is not enough for us to state that we are for equality we have to show it in our actions. I would argue for a gender quota of 50% in the non aligned SC reps as I believe it is a fact that female representation on the current SC is zero even though we have excellent female public reps and members. I would also argue for a policy on gender balance on platforms, family friendly times for meetings and where possible crèche facilities at larger ULA meetings and conferences. It is still a fact that the vast bulk of unpaid work in the home and caring work is carried out by women and we need to be aware of this fact and organise accordingly.
6) Communication and political discussion. It has become noticeable that communications have become better since the two full timers were hired and it is worth noting. It is of the upmost importance that the members start to receive minutes of SC meetings. I think we all recognise that some issues discussed may be sensitive and should not be open to potential leaks to the media or other political forces. Finalised minutes should be agreed amongst the SC. I am ok with certain information being withheld for time periods but as far as possible the minutes should be detailed so we are all kept informed as to what our reps are doing. Finally political discussion. I think we again can lead the way as far as the original discussions on the ULA political program was designed. We should regularly (maybe quarterly) have discussions on a number of topics, seeking areas we agree on and then having that position mandated to our SC reps to bring to the rest of the SC. I’m under no illusion that this could be a slow torturous process. If we accept that we all agree on a lot more than we disagree on and that we can have comradely discussions were the decision is there is no decision then that alone is progress from what has happened in the past on the left.
This is by no means an exhaustive or totally detailed list of everything I am currently thinking about as it relates to the democratic structures of the non aligned group of the ULA but they are important areas beyond the obvious nomination and election process to the SC from the non aligned members. I think they are important because they have the potential to provide a template for the future of the ULA. I am open to discussion, correction or improvement on any part of this and look forward to any constructive feedback or downright poo pooing of my unworkable ideas. Finally we should take heart from the rise in support for avowedly anti capitalist parties in Greece but we have to recognise that those parties have been built over long periods of time and had the social force and structures that come with that. That is I believe the current goal of the left here. To lay the foundations for the potential to grow rapidly should social conditions change but to definitely grow steadily in the face of further onslaughts on our class.
In solidarity,
Brian Stafford.
22 March 2012
Tomás Ó Flatharta 