Absolutely. And I think most of the anarchists you'd meet in Cardiff would agree with you on that too. Most of us are what one might call 'social anarchists' who are commited to working class mass action. Just not to the exclusion of other forms of struggle.
Local council election candidates
- Thread starter niclas
- Start date
lewislewis
Lumumba Cymru
On a separate note, I just voted for myself! I am predicting a landslide victory as we paint the town red, white and green!
lewislewis
Lumumba Cymru
If you take a principled abstainance from voting, do you guys stay at home or turn up anyway and put a line through the ballot paper to still count as turnout?
Udo Erasmus
Well-Known Member
Well, the expected landslide for Respect in Wales didn't happen! Labour seem to have taken a hammering losing at least 4 Councils in once rock solid Labour territory - Merthyr, Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent and somewhere else. The Gwynedd Voice group seem to have gained a couple of seats, the People's Voice group ditto. I haer they have their first councillors - five in Blaenau Gwent.
The continued collapse of Labour as the natural party for working class voters continues apace, apparently overall in this election they are now third behind LibDems and Tories.
Does anyone know how the fascists did? (badly I hope)
The continued collapse of Labour as the natural party for working class voters continues apace, apparently overall in this election they are now third behind LibDems and Tories.
Does anyone know how the fascists did? (badly I hope)
Udo Erasmus
Well-Known Member
Plaid will probably be celebrating in Riverside, having gained an extra councillor in Cardiff.
Udo Erasmus
Well-Known Member
Former Forward Wales man, Neil "Jock" Greer seems to have been elected in Merthyr: "Neil “Jock” Greer, independent candidate for the Penydarren Ward, said: “I’m elated. This has opened a new chapter in a democratic society. I think we will see a good council coming out.
I think I’m the first councillor to wear a kilt, I’m breaking the mould!
Now I’m going to buy a Welsh kilt and I will be proud to wear it.”
I think I’m the first councillor to wear a kilt, I’m breaking the mould!
Now I’m going to buy a Welsh kilt and I will be proud to wear it.”
lewislewis
Lumumba Cymru
He sounds like a dude!
Mixed bag for Plaid, overall we've gone up but we have lost control of Gwynedd and Dafydd Iwan lost his seat to Llais Gwynedd, although the BBC report that he is leader of the council is not true. We just missed out on winning Ceredigion which is a shame.
Cardiff went well I heard, gained all 3 seats in Fairwater!
Mixed bag for Plaid, overall we've gone up but we have lost control of Gwynedd and Dafydd Iwan lost his seat to Llais Gwynedd, although the BBC report that he is leader of the council is not true. We just missed out on winning Ceredigion which is a shame.
Cardiff went well I heard, gained all 3 seats in Fairwater!
Udo Erasmus
Well-Known Member
I see Neil McEvoy, a supporter of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, is elected. While not having much time for Plaid, it might help to articulate an antiwar voice on the council. When I spoke to Gwenllian Lansdown from Plaid, she told me that Rodney Berman and the LibDems had consistently blocked international politics being discussed, for example, during the bombing of Lebanon!
lewislewis
Lumumba Cymru
Neil McEvoy is a legend.
Plaid have also made their first ever breakthrough on Wrexham, gaining 4 seats from 0!
Still waiting to hear about Caerphilly from the web as unfortunately I don't have any mates there.
Plaid have also made their first ever breakthrough on Wrexham, gaining 4 seats from 0!
Still waiting to hear about Caerphilly from the web as unfortunately I don't have any mates there.
Udo Erasmus
Well-Known Member
lewislewis
Lumumba Cymru
We've got our first ever councillors on Torfaen, 3 of them. Gwynedd will overshadow things for us but we have made loads of progress. Congratulations to urban poster Niclas who has been elected in Wrexham beating Labour by 3 votes! The BNP got stuffed in Wrexham as well.
lewislewis
Lumumba Cymru
Caerphilly went close, Lab 31, Plaid 28, independents 9.
Udo Erasmus
Well-Known Member
But don't forget, Lewislewis, the system cannot be patched up. Reformism is masochism
lewislewis
Lumumba Cymru
You are probably right, just a shame most voters don't agree.
The BBC site is now reading Lab and Plaid tied on 32 in Philly. Maybe there was a recount. Ron Davies' wife got in as well lol.
We lost 8 seats in Gwynedd overall though. Labour lost 4 of theirs and the Libs lost 1. Don't know what will happen there now.
I'm pleased overall though, we look set to increase our net share of seats,
The BBC site is now reading Lab and Plaid tied on 32 in Philly. Maybe there was a recount. Ron Davies' wife got in as well lol.
We lost 8 seats in Gwynedd overall though. Labour lost 4 of theirs and the Libs lost 1. Don't know what will happen there now.
I'm pleased overall though, we look set to increase our net share of seats,
BNP did v badly in its biggest target of Wrecsam - with the exception of 264 votes in Coedpoeth, which we'll have to watch.
Plaid stood 6 candidates and got 4 councillors, including two in Caia Park, which makes us the biggest party in the Park. This is an area where Labour has ruled (misruled) for donkey's years and taken the people for granted.
Just squeezed by 3 and 5 votes respectively but a miss is as good as a mile...
Plaid stood 6 candidates and got 4 councillors, including two in Caia Park, which makes us the biggest party in the Park. This is an area where Labour has ruled (misruled) for donkey's years and taken the people for granted.
Just squeezed by 3 and 5 votes respectively but a miss is as good as a mile...
Udo Erasmus
Well-Known Member
Does anyone have an overall picture of how the Nazis did in Wales? The really terrible news is that the BNP have won a seat on the London Assembly with Mayoral candidate, Richard Barnbrook now sitting there.
In Cardiff, it sounds like Plaid and LibDems could be forming a joint coalition, though the Echo also carried a picture of Rodney Berman and the leader of the Tories. I guess us ordinary people will hear the outcome of these backroom deals in due time.
In Cardiff, it sounds like Plaid and LibDems could be forming a joint coalition, though the Echo also carried a picture of Rodney Berman and the leader of the Tories. I guess us ordinary people will hear the outcome of these backroom deals in due time.
Not a peep on the BNP website about Wales... wonder why.
Their N W Wales organiser John Oddy (Oddy by name...) got a whopping 3% in Rhos on Sea, Colwyn Bay.
Karac
Mae Hen Wlad Fy Mamau
BNP did v badly in its biggest target of Wrecsam - with the exception of 264 votes in Coedpoeth, which we'll have to watch.
Plaid stood 6 candidates and got 4 councillors, including two in Caia Park, which makes us the biggest party in the Park. This is an area where Labour has ruled (misruled) for donkey's years and taken the people for granted.
Just squeezed by 3 and 5 votes respectively but a miss is as good as a mile...
Thats brilliant-id heard the BNP were targetting Caia Park but in the end didnt even have the bottle to stand a candidate-good to see Oddy getting a pasting as well
lewislewis
Lumumba Cymru
What an extraordinary election for Labour. I am so happy with the Plaid result though, up to 205 councillors- the most net gains in the UK after the Tories (that's right, even though we don't stand in England we got more net gains than the Lib Dems did in Eng & Wales combined).
We're up by 31 and are the largest party on 3 councils for the first time since 1999.
The Gwynedd hiccup is the only downer, but we did gain seats in the urban parts of the county so we can rebuild from that. We should still be in power there anyway but we'll wait and see.
The Tories also failed in their aim of taking seats in Plaid heartlands- none in Gwynedd or Ceredigion.
The good thing for Plaid is that we gained ground in the rural areas/heartlands (look at Carmarthenshire & Ynys Mon) and also gained in the urban areas (Wrexham, RCT, Torfaen, Cardiff, Caerphilly). Considering we're also in government with Labour this is a vote of confidence in what we have been doing.
After the Tories, we are the biggest winner in the whole of the UK.
What did we do right?
We're up by 31 and are the largest party on 3 councils for the first time since 1999.
The Gwynedd hiccup is the only downer, but we did gain seats in the urban parts of the county so we can rebuild from that. We should still be in power there anyway but we'll wait and see.
The Tories also failed in their aim of taking seats in Plaid heartlands- none in Gwynedd or Ceredigion.
The good thing for Plaid is that we gained ground in the rural areas/heartlands (look at Carmarthenshire & Ynys Mon) and also gained in the urban areas (Wrexham, RCT, Torfaen, Cardiff, Caerphilly). Considering we're also in government with Labour this is a vote of confidence in what we have been doing.
After the Tories, we are the biggest winner in the whole of the UK.
What did we do right?
Udo Erasmus
Well-Known Member
Gwynedd is significant. It was the only Plaid council, the only local council where Plaid held power in Wales. What did you do wrong? 
More seriously, It used to be the case in some areas of Wales that if you got a donkey and stuck a red rosette on it, then this Labour candidate would win. I think now if you are seen as the credible anti-Labour candidate you will win. Voters will pick whichever candidate is best positioned to punish Labour.
More seriously, It used to be the case in some areas of Wales that if you got a donkey and stuck a red rosette on it, then this Labour candidate would win. I think now if you are seen as the credible anti-Labour candidate you will win. Voters will pick whichever candidate is best positioned to punish Labour.
lewislewis
Lumumba Cymru
Gwynedd is significant. It was the only Plaid council, the only local council where Plaid held power in Wales. What did you do wrong?
More seriously, It used to be the case in some areas of Wales that if you got a donkey and stuck a red rosette on it, then this Labour candidate would win. I think now if you are seen as the credible anti-Labour candidate you will win. Voters will pick whichever candidate is best positioned to punish Labour.
What did we do wrong in Gwynedd? We planned to close a load of schools!
Nationally though, this is our joint best ever result at a time when we are in coalition with Labour and against a UK-wide Tory surge of epic proportions. So i'd like to think there's a bit more to it than us being an anti-Labour party
Karac
Mae Hen Wlad Fy Mamau
I suspect in working class areas of Wales-Blaenau Gwent,Torfaen etc theyre old Labour-but in places like Pembroke and Powys etc theyre probably Tories
A lot of the Tory gains in rural Wales were simply independents "coming out" as Tories.
A lot of urban indies are ex-Labour types.
One point with Gwynedd is that Labour failed to capitalise on Plaid's woes - it lost 4 there. Given the instability of LLais Gwynedd (it's only unifying force is hatred of Plaid), I reckon it'll implode within 4 yrs.
As well as Gwynedd Plaid is also the largest party (and probably going to head coalitions with indies) in Carmarthen, Caerffili and possibly Ceredigion.
And we're the biggest party in Caia Park, Wxm!
lewislewis
Lumumba Cymru
What's your national analysis of what we should do now before Rhodri Morgan retires?
Udo Erasmus
Well-Known Member
Pigs in the troughs of power: It's looking likely that Plaid Cymru will be propping up the cuts and privatisation LibDems at County Hall. (Though Rodney Berman may choose the Tories as his coalition partner of choice). In due time, the electorate may be informed of the result of these backroom deals between the different capitalist parties.
According to the Echo, the terms of the LibDem/Plaid deal are based on LibDems meeting Plaid's demands all related to West Cardiff such as keeping Cantonian High School open (ie. Plaid's condition for a coalition are not demanding ending ALL school closures in Cardiff, just one in the area where most of their voters live). It seems the nationalists are concerned, not with articulating any vision for the City of Cardiff, as a whole, to opposethe increased corporate takeover of the city, but rather with brokering a side-deal with the LibDems over their turf in West Cardiff.
The collapse of politics can only be bad for working class representation. We see the LibDems attack Labour over post office closures. But the LibDems are closing schools. We see Plaid in Cardiff attack the LibDems over closing schools, but Plaid in Gwynedd have been attempting the biggest school closure programme in Wales.
And in the event of a Tory government after the next general election, Adam Price MP has said he would be happy to prop them up, if it was in the "interests of Wales".
What can one say of the mainstream parties: Each is as bad as the other. Each is worse than the other.
The question is: How do we cut across the grain of the mainstream political establishment with an alternative movement to mobilise those at the base of society against the corporate takeover of society?
According to the Echo, the terms of the LibDem/Plaid deal are based on LibDems meeting Plaid's demands all related to West Cardiff such as keeping Cantonian High School open (ie. Plaid's condition for a coalition are not demanding ending ALL school closures in Cardiff, just one in the area where most of their voters live). It seems the nationalists are concerned, not with articulating any vision for the City of Cardiff, as a whole, to opposethe increased corporate takeover of the city, but rather with brokering a side-deal with the LibDems over their turf in West Cardiff.
The collapse of politics can only be bad for working class representation. We see the LibDems attack Labour over post office closures. But the LibDems are closing schools. We see Plaid in Cardiff attack the LibDems over closing schools, but Plaid in Gwynedd have been attempting the biggest school closure programme in Wales.
And in the event of a Tory government after the next general election, Adam Price MP has said he would be happy to prop them up, if it was in the "interests of Wales".
What can one say of the mainstream parties: Each is as bad as the other. Each is worse than the other.
The question is: How do we cut across the grain of the mainstream political establishment with an alternative movement to mobilise those at the base of society against the corporate takeover of society?
You've changed yer tune haven't you?
The question not so long ago was how can we mobilise enough voters for a reformist leftist party in coalition with a bunch of religious types to scramble together a couple of councillors and maybe hold onto an increasingly bonkers sounding MP?
Udo Erasmus
Well-Known Member
No, wrong on all counts. I always saw standing in elections as a tactic in a wider struggle, our elected representatives were intended to use their office to support these struggles and make propaganda against the system. It would be incorrect to characterise the kind of coalition that we were interested in building as reformist, it was rather a coalition between reformists, radicals and revolutionaries in which the question of reform/revolution was left open - evidently such a coalition is inherrently unstable. My belief has never been that getting politicians elected was a route to change, our aim was always to build grassroots movements.
Personally, I support standing socialist candidates in elections in some circumstances, because otherwise you leave the field open to the neoliberal parties. Such electoral work - if it doesn't get caught in the trap of electoralism - can be part of the the process of building an alternative movement to mobilise those at the base of society against the corporate takeover of society.
Llantwit, you seem to be the one vaciliating. At one time you insisted on Urban75 that you were basically a reformist and that you regarded direct action as only a tactic, presumably having no faith that working people could create alternate democratic forms to the current bourgeois state.
On one hand you embrace the liberal lifestyle politics of the Vote Nobody campaign, Buy Nothing Day's etc, then you say that you would support standing candidates (a la Bookchin) for local elections moving into a fluffy localism. Since the 1980s local councils have decreased powers, and it is hard to see what you could achieve in that forum on your terms.
Where did I ever say any of that? Or have you extrapolated all that other stuff from the three word you actually quote me saying ("only a tactic")?
Oh, yeah. That's what I belive. You got me. So obvious. Got me.
I wasn't advocating standing in elections, just saying I can see the merits of some of Bookchin's ideas, and can see the point behind the tactics of the Swedish group I mentioned. I'm not about to start standing in elections or moving into 'fluffy localism'.
I've never been involved with a buy nothing day... which in itself is clearly something COMPLETELY different from a Vote Nobody campaign. My point about the Vote Nobody campaign was that I see it as an excuse to engage with people about anarchist politics, and a good chance to create a load of good prop to do that.
Is the sun going to your head or something? Because that post makes even less sense than your usual.
