Pickman's model
sunset spires and twilight woods
i'm not convinced he's attended "more than 20" surgeries.
Galloway's constituency report
- Thread starter Kid_Eternity
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Donna Ferentes
jubliado
Can you not give us an exact count then? I'm disappointed in you sir.
Pickman's model
sunset spires and twilight woods
i'm not exactly certain when he started these bizarre surgeries - whether it would be 6/5/05 or 13/05/05 or whatnot. but one thing i'm certain of is that he's missed a lot through his repeated fleeing the country.Donna Ferentes said:
Udo Erasmus
Well-Known Member
Interestingly, despite his sojourns around the country, Galloway has actually done more public meetings (mainly Defend Council Housing and Tenants meetings) in his constituency in the last month than Oona King managed in the whole of last year!!!
lewislewis
Lumumba Cymru
Is Bethnal Green and Bow more than 50% Muslim?
belboid said:
What would be the point of comparing Abbott with Galloway? IIRC Respect /SWP supported Abbott in the General Election. It will be interesting to see whether Respect make much of an attempt to win council seats in next Mays election. After their trouncing in the Hoxton by election I wouldent bet on them winning any seats. There are quite a few Respect/SWP members living in my ward (Leabridge) but they do sod all locally.
BarryB
cogg said:
What meaningless rubbish is this? Did anyone claim it was democracy, or was they simply pointing out that he actually turns up when oona king doesn't?
Whats your next statement?
So he cares about his constituents, not exactly brain surgery is it?
Lets keep making meaningless statements that don't mean anything to knock the guy, not like we don't have enough material to knock the twat with, lets make up some bullshit stuff that doesn't make any sense.
Oona King was a bitch and good riddance to MPs too busy sucking party cock to give a fuck about their constituents.
Nigel Irritable
Five, Ten, Fifteen Years
cogg said:
Is this a real question? Why is the fact that he's been involved in pushing the council housing and tenants campaigns locally important? Isn't that a bit bleeding obvious for those of us who are on the left?
The need some people seem to have to find fault with every single thing someone like Galloway does gets a bit tiresome after a while (not specifically aimed at you cogg, this is a broader point). If you dismiss or attack everything the man does, almost regardless of its merits then any important, real criticisms you raise will be both lost amongst the petty sniping and easier for his fans to ignore.
I'm not sure that I'd take Udo's word for it, but if Galloway is speaking at a load of tenants meetings or council housing campaigns then that's a good thing. Fair play to him.
The Labour Party in Tower Hamlets has now completed its selection process for next Mays elections. Out of 51 candidates in 17 wards 24 are Bengalis, 1 Afro-Caribbean, 2 South-East Asian, 1 Somali and 23 are white. Unfortunately Labours aim of having at least 1 female candiate in each ward wasant possible. But there will be female candidates in 14 wards.
How is the Respect selection process in Tower Hamlets going?
BarryB
How is the Respect selection process in Tower Hamlets going?
BarryB
Fisher_Gate
Active Member
BarryB said:
Another failure to not tell the truth.
Fisher_Gate said:
Nonsense. It wasant possible to field at least one candiate in each ward. Sometimes its not possible to do exactly what you would like to do. Regretable but thats all. But anyway perhaps you can tell us what is happening to the Respect selection process in Tower Hamlets?
BarryB
Fisher_Gate
Active Member
BarryB said:
You did not say the Labour Party "would like" to field a woman candidate in each ward - you said they "were going to" - quite categorical and unambiguous (and as it turned out, completely untrue!).
I've no idea what's happening about the selection of candidates in Tower Hamlets - I only know about the selection of candidates in Preston where I live and where we are proud of our record of standing women candidates.
In the last locals here (Lancashire County Council 2005), Respect contested six Preston divisions and three of its candates (50%) were women, by contrast to the Labour Party which fielded just one woman candidate in those six seats, and indeed only two women candidates of the 11 seats in Preston (one as a token candidate in a 'hopeless' seat).
In the previous locals (Preston City Council 2004), Respect contested five wards and three of its candidates (60%) were women, by contrast to the Labour Party which (again) fielded just one woman candidate in those five seats, and indeed only four women candidates of the 19 seats in Preston (three were token candidates in 'hopeless' seats).
I think people can judge who has the better record of involving women ...
Fisher_Gate said:
Labour tried to select at least one woman in each ward in Tower Hamlets but failed. I could have ignored this failure but instead I thought it only right to report this. But when I ask about what is happening with the Tower Hamlets Respect selection process I meet with stoney silence from you and other Respect members. And this is the borough which you boast you will capture from Labour!
But do come back to us when you actually have some information about Respect in Tower Hamlets.
BarryB
Today in the Observer colour magazine there is a rather gushing appreciation of the late Solly Kaye by George Galloway. Kaye was of course a Communist Party councillor in Stepney in what is now Tower Hamlets. In the time he was councillor he was condemned by the Trotskytists and anarchists in east London as a Stalinist. Galloway says Kaye was an "incorrigible campaigner for human rights". Go tell that to the relatives of those who died in Stalins purges! Now the main ally of the so called Trotskyists in Respect praises a Stalinist. What do Respect members think of this?
BarryB
BarryB
Fisher_Gate
Active Member
BarryB said:
Feel free to comment on the situation concerning women candidates in Preston ... after all, it is the only other place in the country where Respect has a councillor not elected under the Labour flag, and therefore rather important ... or have you no view on anything north of Watford Gap?
rebel warrior
Soca Warrior
BarryB said:
Could you post up the tribute in full - or link to it if online?
I don't think that individual CP members in Britain can be held responsible for Stalins terror in the USSR by the way - though undoubtedly they covered it up.
rebel warrior said:
Sorry ive had a bit of trouble with the link. But if you go to the Observer website and type in Solly Kaye in the search function it will take you to the article.
I think you are being a bit soft on Solly Kaye. He joined the Communist Party in 1934. And as far as i know was in the CP to the bitter end. He put up with the Moscow Show Trials, Hungary, Czechoslovakia etc. Did he show any remorse late in life? I dont know the answer to that. But I knew comrades who were in the Trotskyist movement in the East End in the 1930s and 1940s and right up to the end of their lives in the 1990s they had utter contempt for Kaye for his defence of Stalinism. Im sure the same will be true for any Anarchists who knew him. That Galloway applauds him dosent come exactly as a surprise. But the SWP should know better. Or do I have illusions in the SWP?
BarryB
Meanwhile, can anyone confirm where these mythical surgeries are held?
www.respectcoalition.com gives not a clue, still
Bizarrely, google still preserves those phantom pages in its cache, though they are nowhere to be found on the site itself. After very nearly three months.
www.respectcoalition.com gives not a clue, still
Bizarrely, google still preserves those phantom pages in its cache, though they are nowhere to be found on the site itself. After very nearly three months.
Fisher_Gate
Active Member
BarryB said:
I'm in favour of a broad coalition to the left of New Labour, which I accept will involve those from the stalinist and social democratic traditions, no matter how unpalatable their background. In Italy and Germany, the trotskyists are working in large coalitions or parties involving both these traditions. No problem with that at all - it's called the "United Front" and it is a lot better than being called "fascists", as was once the case.
I'm also in favour of freedom of expression within the workers movement. If Galloway wants to write an article applauding a stalinist, he has the right to do it. Personally, I would not endorse such an article. (Indeed I have already made the point in other posts that I don't go along with the left's uncritical adulation of stalinist Paul Robeson).
I do not live in or anywhere near Tower Hamlets, so I am not aware of the details of selection for their candidates. I may know more after I attend my next Respect meeting, the week after next. At these meetings we get a very informative reportback from the National Council.
Now any chance of a comment on the Labour Party's approach to selecting women candidates in Preston compared to Respect?
I realise that for the metropolitan political elite, it is a very long way from the centre of the universe, but given that it is the only place to date where Respect has stood more than individual candidates, it could be rather important to the point you are trying to make. Presumably you are trying to claim that the Labour Party has a better approach to standing women candidates in council elections than Respect. In the only area to date where it is possible to make the comparison, I think I have shown that this is not so and I think you at least ought to recognise that fact.
Fisher_Gate said:
I always thought that a United Front would involve the Social Democratics not just those come from a Social Democratic or Stalinist tradition.
Of course I never said that Galloway hadnt the right to write an article applauding a Stalinist. But I do condemn for what he says in the article- and what he dosent say about the treacherous nature of the Communist Party. All you can say is that you dont "endorse" his article. How mealy mouthed can you get.
Concerning women in Preston and Tower Hamlets. Preston isnt exactly central to the Labour Party. Thats not to belittle the good citizens of Preston. But its just one of many towns. But Tower Hamlets is central to Respect making any advance. Its the only place in Britain where you have an MP. And its the place where you boast you will take over the council next year. So its only right that the spotlight should firmly be on Tower Hamlets. I appreciate that Preston Respect has a good record of selecting women as candiates. Not that it done you much good in the elections. As for your remark about the "metropolitan political elite" well we can all make silly remarks.
BarryB
Fisher_Gate
Active Member
BarryB said:
You've rather missed the point - Preston is the only place where Respect has stood more than a single council candidate in a local government election, in fact on two seperate occasions. Therefore it is the only place where you can judge Respect's actions based on concrete evidence, as opposed to alleged good intentions.
You told us, by implication, that the Labour Party was so good on selecting local government women candidates, that it was going to stand a woman candidate in every ward in TH. Now you tell us this just was not possible - though for what reason it was not possible, you decline to explain
. The close of nominations is nearly four months away - why should we believe that they will even stand the number of women candidates you allege? Meanwhile, you steadfastedly tried to ignore the only evidence that, on the ground, Respect has had a far superior record of choosing women candidates to the Labour Party, impugning that in some hypothetical future situation this will not be so. The only thing that I regret about my comment is that I did not put the word "blinkered" in front of "metropolitan political elite".
Fisher_Gate said:
You've rather missed the point - Preston is the only place where Respect has stood more than a single council candidate in a local government election, in fact on two seperate occasions. Therefore it is the only place where you can judge Respect's actions based on concrete evidence, as opposed to alleged good intentions.
You told us, by implication, that the Labour Party was so good on selecting local government women candidates, that it was going to stand a woman candidate in every ward in TH. Now you tell us this just was not possible - though for what reason it was not possible, you decline to explain
The only thing that I regret about my comment is that I did not put the word "blinkered" in front of "metropolitan political elite".
I said Preston Respect had a good record concerning women candidates. You ask whether Tower Hamlets Labour Party will actually stand women in 14 wards next May. Well why dont we just wait and see. At least they have made their selection. We still dont know what is happening in Tower Hamlets. Perhaps you will good enough to let us know some time in the future.
BarryB
I recently commented that since this years General Election Respect has stood in only one council by election (in Waltham Forest, east London). It has been pointed out to me that whilst this statement is strictly correct a Respect member has recently stood in another by election. As I dont recall this vote being mentioned in this forum I give it below:
Guildford Borough Council- Friary and St Nicolas
Lib Dem 1123 61.0 %
Con 602 32.7%
Lab 74 4.0%
Independent Respect 43 2.3% (Tom May was the candidate)
Maj 521 Lib Dem hold 29.0% turnout
43 votes for socialism in Guildford isnt bad. They may even overtake Labour in the next local election.
BarryB
Guildford Borough Council- Friary and St Nicolas
Lib Dem 1123 61.0 %
Con 602 32.7%
Lab 74 4.0%
Independent Respect 43 2.3% (Tom May was the candidate)
Maj 521 Lib Dem hold 29.0% turnout
43 votes for socialism in Guildford isnt bad. They may even overtake Labour in the next local election.
BarryB
Pickman's model
sunset spires and twilight woods
you seem to be assuming that this iruc is socialist, probably against all the evidence.BarryB said:
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