10,000 Join RESPECT

[Wilf]

So, <snigger> its being claimed that Respect now has 12,160 members? Yes?

And when Student Respect holds its 2007 Annual Conference they are presumably <tee hee> going to need somewhere like the Blackpool Winter Gardens or the Albert Hall - maybe even the Dome? Yes?

 

[audiotech]

'Salt and pepper with yer trews?'

OK, I don't *know* that this is a lie - but I am basing it on five years
experience organising,

A novice then.

 

[jackdoor]

Did you actually write that Jackdoor? Pure hackery. Have you and Rebel Warrior ever been seen in a room together?

Its from the Respect web site and I believe its utter shite.

 

[treelover]

Well Jackdoor if thats the case might have been better to put an exclamation mark after '10'000 join RESPECT'

ts from the Respect web site and I believe its utter shite.

 

[Matt S]

MC5,

Care to lay a bet about the veracity of all of this?

Matt

 

[Roadkill]

10,000 students means that they must have had lots of stalls at fresher's fairs. That equates to 90,900 18 year olds thinking "ooh, I'll be a politically active student, yes that sounds fun and important" before spending the rest of the semester drinking. The other 100 will give it a sincere go. Of those, 50 will be disillusioned within half a year, 30 will join the SWP and be lost to humanity, 10 will truly believe and waste years of their life propping up galloway's career, 5 will truly believe but will be useless at anything except stuffing envelopes, 3 will die of natural causes, 1 will be an undercover policeman and 1 will be an undercover terrorist.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Seconded.

 

[mutley]

So how are other organisations getting on in the colleges then?

 

[Kenny Vermouth]

10,000 students have joined Respect over the last few weeks.

If true, I'm impressed.

It's encouraging to see that a swathe of young people have committed themselves to political involvement with an organisation that's serious in building an alternative to Nu Lab.

Will they be able to tear themselves away from their beds, Countdown and spliffs to go and vote for the party come election time?

 

[Groucho]

Its from the Respect web site and I believe its utter shite.

The Respect website refers to 'thousands' not '10,000'. Perhaps it has been amended since you quoted it?

Respect have done extremely well in the colleges in the last few months - but not that well.

 

[Random]

Indeed - so either jackdaw had edited the report, or the Respect website has been hastily amended.

On another note, interesting to see that Respect has welcomed General Dunnatt as a 'recruit to the antiwar movement'.

Let's remember that, as well as his military comments, the general also said

"When I see the Islamist threat in this country I hope it doesn’t make undue progress because there is a moral and spiritual vacuum in this country."

"Our society has always been embedded in Christian values; once you have pulled the anchor up there is a danger that our society moves with the prevailing wind."

"There is an element of the moral compass spinning. I think it is up to society to realise that is the situation we are in."

"We need to face up to the Islamist threat, to those who act in the name of Islam and in a perverted way try to impose Islam by force on societies that do not wish it."

"It is said that we live in a post Christian society. I think that is a great shame. The broader Judaic-Christian tradition has underpinned British society. It underpins the British army."

Maybe Dunnat will be approached some time soon to stand as a Respect candidate, possibly complimenting Selma in Birmingham?

 

[Groucho]

Maybe Dunnat will be approached some time soon to stand as a Respect candidate, possibly complimenting Selma in Birmingham?

No, he won't. His comments on the war are welcome in so far as the headlines will be that the General has recognised publically that the occupation has failed and has called for troops out. Good. That is a vindication of the anti-war movement and should be trumpeted.

The fact that he may be a reactionary racist old git should be of no surprise. In my view it shouldn't be glossed over either, but it isn't the main point to be made. The Respect website updates are necessarily punchy headline stuff.

 

[Random]

The fact that he may be a reactionary racist old git should be of no surprise.

Because the anti-war movement already contains plenty of those?

In my view it shouldn't be glossed over either

Indeed, which is why I was surprised to see it glossed on the Respect website. TBH pretending that racists, etc. are supporters of STWC, simply because they advocate a slightly different imperialism does us no favours when we try to talk about the anti-war feeling as a 'movement'.

Likewise, generals and the rest of the establishment are quite powerful enough without lefties uncritically supporting them. Dunnat's outburst does indeed support the points we've been making, but that doesn't mean that my enemy's enemy is my friend.

I take your poit about the headline stuff, though, but would say that consistent muddying of the truth in search of upbeat spin - when a good story already exists - isn't helpful.

 

[Groucho]

It's not the way I would have written it, but hey.

 

[Random]

hey indeed

 

[treelover]

But thats the SWP's Modus Operandi!

I take your poit about the headline stuff, though, but would say that consistent muddying of the truth in search of upbeat spin - when a good story already exists - isn't helpful.

 

[jackdoor]

Respect have done extremely well in the colleges in the last few months - but not that well.[/QUOTE]

All references to the stagering numbers of students recruited has now been airbrushed out.

 

[mutley]

Look loads of students have joined and we're shit at membership stuff ok? end of.. (honestly, we really are shit..)

 

[audiotech]

On another note, interesting to see that Respect has welcomed General Dunnatt as a 'recruit to the antiwar movement'.

I thought it was a piss-take.

This is the important bit:

Commenting on the General's statements, George Galloway MP said:
"Mutiny in the ranks is one thing, but this is a declaration of mutiny by the very shiniest of the top brass. Britain's top soldier says that this war is at best naive and at worst a disaster, and that it is certainly untenable - in which case why should British soldiers risk leaving their bones in Iraq? If they listen to their Commanding Officer, they must surely conclude that now is the time to collectively demand that they return home."

Galloway on the veil:

Harriet and Jack, the Trinny and Susannah of the New Labour telling people how to dress

.

http://www.respectcoalition.org/index.php?ite=1196

 

[audiotech]

Will they be able to tear themselves away from their beds, Countdown and spliffs to go and vote for the party come election time?

 

[lostexpectation]

do these 10,00 people know what they've joined, I bet if you sent them a questionaire they fail to identify the majority of respects policies.

 

[audiotech]

MC5,

Care to lay a bet about the veracity of all of this?

I don't bet. It's against my bank balance - I'm brassic.

 

[audiotech]

do these 10,00 people know what they've joined, I bet if you sent them a questionaire they fail to identify the majority of respects policies.

Talk to Matt S, he's the betting man on here.

 

[Fisher_Gate]

The Respect website refers to 'thousands' not '10,000'. Perhaps it has been amended since you quoted it?

....

The original said:

George also hinted that a number of councillors in the
North of England are in the process of severing their
links with mainstream parties to join Respect, and
reported that a staggering 10,000 students had joined
Respect over the last few weeks.

While the latest version on the Respect website says:

George also hinted that a number of councillors in the North of England are in the process of severing their links with mainstream parties to join Respect, and reported that many thousands of students had joined Respect over the last few weeks.


It's like Stalin never died.

 

[mk12]

 

[audiotech]

It's like Stalin never died.

Stalin wouldn't have amended the figures. He would have inflated them even further.

Maybe it's just a communication problem. There's a lot about these days apparently.

 

[jackdoor]

Airbrushed out of History Latest rewrite

While the latest version on the Respect website says:

George also hinted that a number of councillors in the North of England are in the process of severing their links with mainstream parties to join Respect, and reported that many thousands of students had joined Respect over the last few weeks.


It's like Stalin never died.[/QUOTE]
3rd Annual Respect conference silences the doubters

14/10/2006
Hundreds of delegates to Respect's 3rd Annual Conference reflected on the party's astounding victories since its founding just 3 years ago.

These include the election of George Galloway as Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow, the rise to official opposition on the Council of Tower Hamlets where Respect now has 12 councillors, a further 3 councillors in Newham and 2 in Preston, and the massive vote that elected Salma Yaqoob as a councillor in Birmingham.

George Galloway set the mood referring to one of Blair's favourite journalists, the rabidly pro-war Dave Aaronovitch, who said on the founding of Respect: 'I give them 12 months." He and many like him are have now fallen silent on the future for Respect.

George also hinted that a number of councillors in the North of England are in the process of severing their links with mainstream parties to join Respect, and reported that many thousands of students had joined Respect over the last few weeks.

This, combined with the real prospect of Respect wiping out New Labour's majority on Tower Hamlets Council if election re-runs are forced in 2 boroughs where they are charged with electoral fraud, paints a rosy picture for the future of the organisation.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

many thousands of students had joined Respect over the last few weeks.

It is obviously untrue that 10,000 or many thousand or anything similar have joined Respect as a political party. It is however reasonably likely that a few thousand have signed up to Respect Student Societies.

I know for instance that a very large number signed up to Socialist Students societies this year, and there are probably more Respect societies out there. Take twenty societies, getting fifty signatures each... that's a thousand already. Whether such figures are at all significant is another question.

 

[Wilf]

The original said:

George also hinted that a number of councillors in the
North of England are in the process of severing their
links with mainstream parties to join Respect, and
reported that a staggering 10,000 students had joined
Respect over the last few weeks.

While the latest version on the Respect website says:

George also hinted that a number of councillors in the North of England are in the process of severing their links with mainstream parties to join Respect, and reported that many thousands of students had joined Respect over the last few weeks.


It's like Stalin never died.

However you may have this wrong. Might not be a backpedal - 'many' is a slippery term:

Thousands = more than 1,999
A few thousand - counjers up 3, 4 possibly 5,000
several thousand - suggests 7,8 thousand or so
Ten Thousand - does what it says on the tin
Many thousands - 15,000? 20,000?

 

[Fisher_Gate]

It is obviously untrue that 10,000 or many thousand or anything similar have joined Respect as a political party. It is however reasonably likely that a few thousand have signed up to Respect Student Societies.

I know for instance that a very large number signed up to Socialist Students societies this year, and there are probably more Respect societies out there. Take twenty societies, getting fifty signatures each... that's a thousand already. Whether such figures are at all significant is another question.

The issue is why the original and very precise 10,000 joining Respect was then airbrushed to "many thousands". Apart from that change, the two reports were identical.