First a possible minor correction. I don't think that Ghada is a member of the SWP, I could be wrong though.

The important thing is that this list contains a hugely disproportionate number of SWPers and their water carriers, particularly the Stalinist organisations (CPB and Socialist Action).

What a huge surprise.

Andy Bain is from the TSSA (Transport Salaried Staff Association), white-collar rail union

Jim Brann is from the CND national council & CND London regional. He's chummy with the New Communist Party (a tiny Stalinist sect):
 http://www.londoncommunists.org/61615/64907.html

Simon Deville is formerly with Socialist Outlook, and now writes for Red Pepper.

Betty Hunter is National Secretary of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and active in STWC

Sabah Jawad is Secretary of the Iraqi Democrats Againt Occupation, which is affiliated to STWC

Fred LePlat is from Unison. He runs Unison United Left (trot political tendency inside Unison, very SWP-friendly group) and is also convenor of the STWC Trade Union Group.

I've no idea who Mick Ryan is, or Walter Wolfgang, or Shaheed Salem (which means "peace martyr" I think).

Niall Sookoo is a film producer: don't know his political affiliations.

I think they meant Wolf Wayne, not "Walter Wolfgang".
Wolf is in the Green Socialist Network and the Socialist Alliance (yeah, remember them?)

Should there be a resolution passed that limited the left wing sects to one member each, currently i count 21 members of left wing sects in that steering commitee and if it were just one member per sect then there would be half that amount and it would be far more democractic.
The Green party have councilors and MEPs and yet they only have one seat compared to the SA and SWP who have one or two councilers and have more than ten times as many people! What this does is limit the credibility of the StWC in the wider world.

just a few points

Surely the STW conference has not happened yet so it is up to those who attend the conference to nominate others or propose new ways of electing a steering committee.

Could there not be a way of having representation from the rest of the country not just London?

Missing from this list are representatives from peace organisations such as CND,Reclaim the Bases etc.If those organisations dont nominate people then why not?

I feel it is wrong for Lindsey German and possibly others to also be on the Steering Committee of Respect as well Why cant some of these people step down and let some new and possibly younger people in.A movement cannot grow if there are always the same people running it.

There are too many people from parties on this list.If they were only a minor party member it would not matter so much but I see the same power politics in the antiwar movement as in Parliament and Local Government.

The SWP has some good people in it but they are doing themselves no favours by promoting their own leading Party members all the time.One wonders what their own internal organisation is like.

Just out of Curiousity who pays Lindsey Germans wages?
Is it STW
Or REspect
Or the SWP
or has she a private income?
I do not know her, I am just interested because I am concerned about a conflict of interests and I feel this is a valid question to ask if people are being expected to vote for her.

It is according to the STW site too late to register for the conference.

why aren't there any representatives from the various local groups on the national steering committee, or to put it another way, how far away is London from anywhere? True story alert ....
my friend, ros, was elected as "A.N.Other", at the first elections at the beginning of the STWC, for these posts. She stood, on purpose, as a person from the manchester peace movement because she said there was no representation of local groups outside London and its immediate area. She won. She soon realised that all the meetings were held in the early evening, on weekdays - which is fine if all you have to do is catch a tube but not so funny if you have to travel for hours from Manc and then travel back. So she emailed Lyndsey German and assorted friends on the steering committee, not once, not twice, but three times asking for these meetings to be held sometimes outside London where other people could feasibly get there. and guess what, she never got an answer...
How democratically inclusive is that? NOt just of Ros, but by default, all the people who voted for her..
and then, the final twist is that in a recent meeting in Manchester to decide whether to adopt the new formalised centralised structure for STWC, Ros spoke up against it, (as we've been fine in Manc so far, thank you very much, and don't need power games and instructions from above - although its all over now we've been centralised - so we'll do something else instead) .... and Lynsey German said "oh thats, ros, she never even bothered to come to a meeting.." in a little aside to someone. So there you go, history rewritten before your very eyes..

Pretty certain Jane Shallice is a member of the Labour Party. Carol Turner is also pretty high up in CND. Sabah jawad is President of the Iraqi Democrats against Occupation.

As to the high number of SWPers isn't it a fact that the SWP do more work than anyone else in the antiwar movement. In my own antiwar group anarchists constantly complain about the SWP but don't do shit themselves.

this is the proposed list. if u want u can put your name forward, nothing stopping u.

over the past 2 years the stwc and done some amazing things, but like any movement it needs to re=evaluated its position and direction. personally i think we need more trade unionist on board, the most effective way to stop the occupation is for a general strike.

as we can see iraq is a potential kinder box, who knows what tomoorrow will bring ,resiatance in iraq is proving a major headache for the pro=war people. maybe the iraq people will force the soliders home, but given the military power of the us&uk this is unlikely.

if we look at history the final sraw in vietnam was actually the us soliders themselves who put the pressure on the us govt with the fragging and muntinty. perhaps stwc needs to inflitrate the occupping army by encouraging them to muntinty ect. this may be some time but there are alot of pissed off soldiers out there at the moment.

practicaly at home we can continue the build the opposition and expose the lies of bush?blair co

cu there

join the demo on 20 march and go to the conference

ps lynsdey german . swp pay the rent

Ghada Razuki is an SWP member, and its SWP who pay Lindsey German's wages. Is it the case that Asad Rehman and Omar Waraich (both recent GR resignees) have been knocked off the SC? Jane Shallice is not a Labour Party member, definitely ex-SA. Does anyone else find it weird that the Steering Committee elects the Steering Committee?

That's fairly standard practice for any SWP-run group. Eventually the same thing will happen in "Respect", and the non-SWP will lose interest and leave.

And yet another opportunity to build a REAL alternative to Labour will have been lost.

Sometimes I think that's what the SWP exist for. But that would be a conspiracy theory, so it can't possibly be true.