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SWooPees Are Everywhere

steve | 27.10.2003 00:04 | Culture | Sheffield

The SWP are now behind another new party according to this Green Party report.

The Green Party today revealed that the "electoral coalition" proposed by George Galloway for next year's Euro-elections is a front for the loony-left Socialist Workers Party.

Galloway has been portrayed in Sunday's papers (1) as the new leader of a proposed coalition of anti-war, Muslim and Left groups.

But the Green Party has revealed that the Galloway plan is being driven by the Socialist Workers Party.

Leading Green Party spokesperson Prof John Whitelegg explained today: "Even before Galloway was kicked out of the Labour Party he seems to have been planning a new party - and it looks like that party is a front for the hard-left revolutionary SWP."

The Greens have discovered that Galloway has been billed to speak at a series of public meetings calling for a new electoral coalition. Others on the platform are Lindsay German, the Stop the War chief and also an SWP leader, and Nick Wrack of the Socialist Alliance, which is increasingly seen as the electoral wing of the SWP.

But the plot thickens. Recently George Monbiot, leading anti-globalisation campaigner and Guardian columnist, approached leading Greens and others, asking them to help put together a manifesto for the proposed coalition (2).

Mr Monbiot had been approached by a Stop the War activist from Birmingham, called Salma Yaqoob. Ms Yaqoob has been distributing an article called "British Politics at the Crossroads", advancing this idea of a new electoral coalition arising from the anti-war movement. The title of the public meetings featuring George Galloway and SWP leaders is also "British Politics at the Crossroads".

John Whitelegg commented: "It seems abundantly clear that the coalition George Galloway seems to want to lead is the coalition proposed by the SWP."

The Greens point out that in fact there could be no such coalition - under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act it would have to be a formal political party. The Greens believe the "new" party will turn out to be the Socialist Alliance, a registered party already dominated by the SWP.

Professor Whitelegg concluded:

"There is already an anti-war party contesting next year's Euro-elections -the Greens - and the Green MEP for London, Jean Lambert, has been a prominent anti-war campaigner. London will want to re-elect Jean Lambert next year, not a maverick representing the Socialist Workers Party."

1. The Sunday Herald describes him as "the figurehead of the broad coalition of the Left, muslim organisations and peace groups that organised the two million-strong march against the Iraq war in February..." The prominent Scottish newspaper says Galloway is "planning to top a slate of candidates being put forward by the Stop the War coalition during next year's European parliament elections." "Galloway to stand as Euro MP",  http://www.sundayherald.com/37699 2. John Whitelegg was approached to write the transport section of the manifesto. He is a well-known transport and environment consultant, Professor of Sustsianable Transport at Liverpool John Moores University and Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of York. He is also the Green Party's spoksperson on sustainable development and shadow to the ODPM, and as Leader of North West Green Party is confident of election to the European Parliament in June 2004.

ENDS

Galloway to stand as Euro MP

 http://www.sundayherald.com/37699


Ousted rebel MP rules out by-election challenge By Torcuil Crichton



GEORGE Galloway is to challenge Labour on an anti-war ticket in the European parliament elections in London next June, having abandoned the idea of forcing a by-election in his Glasgow Kelvin constituency. Galloway, who was expelled by Labour last week for bringing the party into disrepute over comments he made on the Iraq war, returned to Glasgow yesterday to confront the reality that many of his loyal supporters in Kelvin would not follow him into the wilderness.

Speaking outside his constituency office Galloway said he would take soundings among colleagues and voters before coming to a decision this week but he acknowledged that he could not push loyalty to the limits.

He said: "Were there to be a by-election then I would be immediately forcing all my friends to choose between their Labour party membership and helping me because Mr Blair would expel them in those circumstances."

Instead the veteran anti-war campaigner is planning to top a slate of candidates being put forward by the Stop the War coalition during next year' s European parliament elections.

Martyred for his anti-war stance Galloway has spent the last year speaking at rallys and public meetings up and down the country. He is now seen as the figurehead of the broad coalition of the Left, muslim organisations and peace groups that organised the two million-strong march against the Iraq war in February.

The coalition is now planning an electoral challenge to Blair next year which will offer Galloway an opportunity to take his vengance against the Prime Minister. He has vowed that Labour would rue the day it ejected him and that he would out-do Blair.

With the situation in Iraq still highly unstable and the Hutton Inquiry due to report in November, the government is still expected to be vulnerable to the fallout from the Iraq war well into next year.

Galloway's chances in a London Euro vote are considerably better than his prospects in what would be a bitter Glasgow by-election which could result in him committing the unpardonable Labour crime of splitting the vote and ushering in an SNP victory.

The SNP came second in Glasgow Kelvin in the Scottish parliamentary election and were a close third behind the Lib Dems in the last UK election.

Happily for Galloway, the European parliament vote on June 10 2004 coincides with the London mayoral elections in which many normally loyal Labour voters are expected to re-elect Ken Livingstone, another renegade ex-Labour MP who manages to draw support across social classes and political labels.

In the 2000 London mayoral election Livingstone, standing as an independent, beat the Conservative candidate Steve Norris after second preferences were calculated. But even in the first round Livingstone received 667,877 votes, 39% of the vote, on a turnout of 35%. Labour's official candidate Frank Dobson received just 13% of first preference votes.

In the 1999 European elections the 10th-placed MEP, Jean Lambert of the Green party, was elected with 87,545 votes, just over 7% of the vote.

Galloway's supporters reckon that with him at the top, an anti-war coalition can achieve 100,000 votes in the capital next summer when London is expected to elect nine Euro MPs by a proportional representation list system using the d'Hondt formula.

The Labour party and Galloway have been a long time leaving each other. Galloway was suspended from Labour in May following an interview he gave to Abu Dhabi TV. Always a thorn to the party establishment, the left-wing MP was charged with urging British troops to defy orders, calling on Arabs to attack British troops, telling voters not to support Labour candidates who backed the war, congratulating an anti-war candidate who defeated Labour in Preston and threatening to stand against Labour himself.

26 October 2003

steve


Comments

Hide the following 22 comments

The swappies at every turn

27.10.2003 10:28

Oh no another swappie paranoid posting! everywhere we turn we see swappies when
i go to bed they are there in my head drumming for ever drumming buy the socialist worker
buy the socialist worker,Every organisation seems to be run by the swp ,My bank ,my local bus service must be run by the swp i think the driver is anyway.
If galloway and the swp and many others want to stand at any election in this country they are free to do so if the socialist alliance does evolve into a democratic open movement rather than a closed puritanical abolishion of the wages party all the better.
More paranoid news and replies expected by the proff.

proffessor splinter


naive post

27.10.2003 11:25

Steve reposting this shows his somewhat political immaturity: while I am no fan of the SWP and other 19th century ideologies, the use of terms like 'Loony Left' shows the naivety and perhaps ultimately conservatism of the critic who wrote this. The term Loony Left was a stick created by tabloids in the 80's to beat the left with: they derided such 'insane' policies as equal opportunities, cheap bus/rail fares, etc. Further, they created media storms like claiming the nursery rhyme Ba Ba Black Sheep was to banned in London Schools which simply was not true.

While i have a lot of time for the Green Party, they need to stop throwing the rattle out of the pram on this one. Like many I have grave doubts about the merits of a Socialist Alliance Lite MK2 (covertly run by the SWP.) However, whatever it merits of a new party, if Galloway or anyone else wants to stand/create a new party, thye have every right to do so. The Greens, etc should look to dialogue not confrontation with outside forces.

sheff-man


get on with it

27.10.2003 14:28


---

--


why its here

27.10.2003 15:22

I reposted it because I thought it interesting - not because I agreed with every term in it.

Also I think it's an interesting an important debate right now. The SWP are currently very unpopular with the mass of activists in this country but working hard and in a big way (STWC, GR, ESF and now this) to recruit the thousands who have been radicalized by the blatent shift to right wing neo-liberal politics in the UK and abroad.

steve


FUCK THE GREENS!

27.10.2003 16:30

Basically there have been rumours that Monbiot et al are proposing a new electoral Left wing electoral alternative and the greens are shitting themselves as this will effectively marginalise this woolly "middle class with a conscience" bunch of liberals.

Because of this they are engaging in sectarian smear tactics.

The Socialist Alliance project was a failure, if we can translate the massive anti-war movement into a political party that can unite the left this will be a tremendous achievement.

THE INCREDIBLE HULK


er

27.10.2003 17:17

"The SWP are currently very unpopular with the mass of activists in this country"

The mass of activists being?

Sonic


Don't let the loony left SWP stifle real action!

27.10.2003 18:28

er, maybe Steves referring to all anti-war activists who were/are actually prepared to take direct action against bush and blairs filthy wars whilst receiving 'no support at all' from the SWP run STWC where direct action is concerned.

Placard waving is one thing along with listening to trots, politicians and celebs in parks .. Did it help stop the war? No . . .

Direct action! You know it makes sense.

Kropotkins Urchins


No-one is stopping you

27.10.2003 23:06

Kropotkins Urchins, it pains me as much as you that we dont get mass direct action, if you think it's on go for it, no-one is going to try and stop you (except the cops of course)

Or is it that you would rather sit sround making excuses?

Sonic


A Continental Remark: Green Fudge or European Anticapitalist Left?

28.10.2003 12:44

Steve presents the planning for a left slate, including the SWP, standing at the European election as if he has geniously discovered another plot by some scheming little bespectacled trots. He uses vocabulary the nazis and stalinists used when they "uncovered" "yewish conspiracies" or "provocations and sabotage by trotskyite agents". Steve, you´re a nasty demagogue!

But the real point is: There is no plot! There is nothing new about a new formation left of Labour which includes the SWP! Browse the internet! Talks have been going on for months now on a European level between various parties of the European anticapitalist left, from Italian Rifundazione to french Trots parties. From Sicily to Scotland a new left is emerging. And it´s not some devious "plan". No secret about it! It´s a bloody necessety to form a new european left!

Are the Greens the alternative?

No! Because (here comes another one!), a British Green-anti-war-Monbiout-electoral list would form a parliamentary group together with the Continental Greens. These are agressive neoliberals, they are for military intervention to aide the interest of (franco-german) European imperialism all over the world. The French Greens, when they were in a coalition-government helped to push through cuts, cuts, cuts! The German Greens currently ruling with the Socialdemocrats are pushing through the most horrendous cuts for four decades. Never have we seen in Germany such a massive attack on everything generations of workers have fought for. All under the name of "realpolitik".

I used to be a member of the Green party from the start on, before I became a socialist. The Greens in Germany started as a radical formation. But they came from a petty-bourgois tradition. They dispised the worker´s movement. In government they delivered policies to benefit their urban middle-class clientele. Once they were in power the Greens transformed into reactionaries. Some leading Green politicians are now openly discussing to form a new coalition with the German Tories. On a local level they already have. And mind you, the Green´s politics over here is just as agressively neoliberal and openly imperialist! They are only anti-war once the US threaten franco-german interests.

British Greens did not transform into such machiavalian realpolitik party machine as their German counterpart. Because they never had the chance to! But the iron laws of oligarchy applies to them too. A Green party-Monbiot slate would be a fudge! Only a European anticapitalist party in the worker´s movement tradition can represent our interests.

Volker


Try reading before going off on one

28.10.2003 14:55

Volker says: "Steve, you´re a nasty demagogue!"

Volker you're a complete idiot. If you had managed to comprehend even the first sentence of my post you might have figured out that I didn't write this. Failing that you might have read my second comment where I said it was repost.

So for the third time IT WAS A REPORT FROM THE GREEN PARTY. I posted because I thought it might be of interest to some Indymedia users. In that I was obviously right coz it has sparked a lot of debate - most of which is from you.

So next time try reading what others write, quit whinging and as -- says: Get on with it.



Sonic asks:

re: 'The SWP are currently very unpopular with the mass of activists in this country'

"The mass of activists being?"

From my perspective pretty much everyone who is not SWP and does stuff. You can see this at meetings, down the pub, on email lists and here. But if you have a different view then it would be interesting to hear what it is.

steve


catch 22 when taking direct action against the war

28.10.2003 15:18

Direct action that is succesfull apparently the SWP support (although argue against it before hand). Direct action that doesnt work is of course carried out by sectarian yobs that the SWP oppose.
I was at the anti-war demos and there were many people willing to take direct action to stop the war, the only people holding us back were the 'leaders'. When the 'leaders' turned their backs some action did happen only to not be given any support by these 'leaders' other than of course maybe a collum inch in their paper when of course we found out that the entire thing was done by the SWP for 'world socialism'.
bloody trots,
bloody leninists,
bloody communists,
bloody marxists,
when are these bloody parasites going to leave us alone?

agitator


Leadership

28.10.2003 19:05

"was at the anti-war demos and there were many people willing to take direct action to stop the war, the only people holding us back were the 'leaders'

I have to ask again, how did they hold you back exactly? physically? with mind control.

As i've already said, I belive only mass direct action (including strike action) could have stopped the war commencing, we will still need it IMHO to stop the war, it's not over.

I dont think though that this is yet the position of enough people to pull it off, but hopefully the Bush visit will prove me wrong!

Sonic


'leaders' = organisers

29.10.2003 09:45

maybe i should have called them 'organisers' and by them being called that they had soooo much more authority than us toiling masses. For example when there would be an adhoc decision to cause as much trouble as possible by changing route the 'organisers' would be able to stop it because they had a florescant bib. Also before hand they would organise the route and the other actions (if any?) so they could sell as many papers as possible.

agitator


One Bib To Rule Them All

29.10.2003 11:38

Ah yes, those sinister flourescent bibs.. that's how fascism started you know..

;-)


i was there

29.10.2003 14:22

i didnt fukin dream it, we had the funeral procession going at 2 miles an hour and whenever *anyone* went in front to try and get it going faster so that the police had less time to divert traffic etc... someone (probably from one of those fukin political parties) told them to walk slower and often would stand in front of people to keep them back.
I can't speak for anyone else but they took megaphones when ever they wanted them and so was able to use them as well. It is all abit academic now but those that are now trying to get an 'anti-war' party were the ones not prepared to go the extra mile to stop the war. This includes the unions the SWP the libdems and all the rest of them (but of course respect to those in unions and swp who did walk out when trying to stop the war.)
The best marches i went on was the one that had no 'organisers' or 'leaders' and those were the student walkouts that were fukin amazing. With those ones we actually went into schools and colleges to try to get more people to walkout from those that opposed the war but listened to the headteachers threats about exclusion etc...

agitator


konfused now

29.10.2003 14:45

So the SWP are both 'Loony Left' and too moderate?

kurious


Lets hope the coppers never find out the bib secret!

29.10.2003 20:37

Or we will all be screwed!



I appreciate wanting to rip the head off the system, but if the mass of people on that demo wanted to go down the disobidienti route they would have. At the poll tax demo in Trafalgar Square in 1990 (ok I'm old I admit it) the orange bib brigade did everything they could to avoid any bother, but the demo was up for it.

That's the key, not where we wish people were at, but where they are at.

Sonic


if action is radical then they are not radical enough

30.10.2003 13:53

Have you ever seen an SWP meeting? or even the socialist worker?
!!SWP NEWS!!
tony blair is a tory
george galloway - the real story

they are only here to sell newspapers they very rarly get their hands dirty and take part in some of the direct action to defend their community. Or even non-direct action to defend their community.
they only have one seat in the entire country!!!
compared to the IWCA who have a handfull and are a tiny operation:  http://www.iwca.info/
I am not here to canvass for the IWCA but they have seats because they take part in community action, the SA dont roll their sleaves up and end up boycotting any organisation that involves the toiling masses because it is 'reactionary'.

I was once told that the SWP is a neo-facist organisation, the guy that told me wasnt joking, i took it with a pinch of salt but now i see why some people can get so pissed off with them.

The difference with them and the greens is that the greens i know get involved in community action elected or not.

agitator


Poll Tax Riots

30.10.2003 16:50

Sonic: "At the poll tax demo in Trafalgar Square in 1990 (ok I'm old I admit it) the orange bib brigade did everything they could to avoid any bother, but the demo was up for it."


FYI the Poll Tax riots were kicked off by the cops. When you attack people for no reason they tend to get mad and fight back. If the cops had done the same at any of the antiwar demos the same would probably have happened.

steve


Red baiting

04.11.2003 12:52

This is a disgusting piece of redbaiting and exposes the Green Party for what they really are. They's rather go running to their capitalist buddies in the media (this is a press release for those that didn't know) to spread lies and distortions about our movement rather than engaging in an open and honest debate within the movement itself.

For the record I have loads of problems with the SWP and this project, but think it's well out of order to try to use the capitalist media and such histerical language as this. The Green Party should be ashamed and it's members should be condeming it rather than spreading this crap

sly


what movement?

04.11.2003 16:39

"our movement" what movement were you refering to?

anarcho-syndicalist-communist-socialist-libertarian-enviromentalist


what have the bolsheviks ever done for us?

04.11.2003 16:50

Green party are effectivly capitalist and of course that is a bad thing...
but in the mean time they (the green party and enviromentalists in general) have done alot of good for sheffield. T
They opposed a walmart in hilsburough (which has been paid for with someones life).
although they failed to stop the incinerator they have put up alot of opposition so the government will think twice before putting one near manchester, leeds or anywhere else.
they have reclaimed some community buildings near where i live
but above all they have put the enviroment back on the agenda in sheffield, woodside is being pulled down right now and people are disscussing enviromentally friendly development.
Gm crops have been stoped!!
I know when you have your revolution (yawn - if it ever happens) then of course the enviroment will be perfect (although i doubt it because communism has a worse enviroment record than parlamentary democracy capitalism).

agitator


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