RESPECT Conference Roundup (The SWP dominted, nuff said)
General Gar-Gar | 01.11.2004 00:38 | London
In a venue once used by Indymedia for slightly more noble actions, Camden saw the return of the left this weekend. Delegates heard pulpit speeches and mostly voted with the crew of the merry Ship (read: Destroyer?) SWP.
Motions voted against were either targetted for having too much detail (read, too little room for SWP interpretation) or for setting up focus groups (too cumbersome, read, too difficult to find enough SWP cronies to fill). SWP control freakery was ever present throughout.
The lone member of National Committee from the loony party that is the CPGB was voted off and seemed to imply he was off to found an english versio of the Scottish Socialist Party. Good luck to him, but I doubt he's the person for the job considering what a prat he looked like throughout.
One motion which might have caught Indymedia readers eyes was a motion to include and open-borders policy in the manifesto. Apparently this one motion would have been seized upon by the mainstream media and used to prove RESPECT was unelectable. This in turn, given the opposing speakers response, would have led to a BNP goverment. Or simply, to more blackmail from above, perhaps? Also, apparently this would have been a banner statement and not something we would ever be able to carry out, purely because
The conference rightly welcomed speeches from Moslems (soceities new Jews?) and Kurds and even saw George Galloway stand up for the British aid worker being held on the basis that she is "one of their kind and not Blair's kind". The only vaguely mainstream press in the building were Arab News Network and Al-Jazeera, who seemed delighted to tape Galloway's statements. According to him, the whole of the middle east was looking to RESPECT. They're obviously desparate.
The lone member of National Committee from the loony party that is the CPGB was voted off and seemed to imply he was off to found an english versio of the Scottish Socialist Party. Good luck to him, but I doubt he's the person for the job considering what a prat he looked like throughout.
One motion which might have caught Indymedia readers eyes was a motion to include and open-borders policy in the manifesto. Apparently this one motion would have been seized upon by the mainstream media and used to prove RESPECT was unelectable. This in turn, given the opposing speakers response, would have led to a BNP goverment. Or simply, to more blackmail from above, perhaps? Also, apparently this would have been a banner statement and not something we would ever be able to carry out, purely because
The conference rightly welcomed speeches from Moslems (soceities new Jews?) and Kurds and even saw George Galloway stand up for the British aid worker being held on the basis that she is "one of their kind and not Blair's kind". The only vaguely mainstream press in the building were Arab News Network and Al-Jazeera, who seemed delighted to tape Galloway's statements. According to him, the whole of the middle east was looking to RESPECT. They're obviously desparate.
General Gar-Gar
Comments
Hide the following 6 comments
Sadly -It's All Down Hill
01.11.2004 01:25
If respect had been set up a year earlier, it may have had time to build into something more substantial before the Euro and GLA elections and thus had more significant success, but at that time the SWP was intent on using the Socialist Alliance in By-elections. When it failed to capitalise on the anti-war vote, and Galloway way expelled from the Labour Party, Respect was formed.
However, what has been impressive is the brilliant way the SWP has unnecessarily alienated potential allies and supporters - it has few troops to do campaigning.
But where one flower dies another comes into to bloom; so they'll be back, after the general election, maybe as themselves this time, if they can rediscover their identity - the SWP.
HH
Shocking developments in North London
01.11.2004 02:31
agree with me or I will shout you down
Always nice to see
01.11.2004 02:46
end sarcasm
Any chance of some actual information, how many people were there? what motions got passed, were there any union delegations etc etc etc.
Or perhaps our resident Cassandra HH could help out, who seems to know everything about the SWP.
Sonic
Sonic
01.11.2004 10:22
John Clarke
...
01.11.2004 10:24
LDT
C´mon SWappies!
01.11.2004 11:31
Continental