'petty bourgeois' national liberation movements

[Nigel Irritable]

Want to send someone on a delegation to the earthquake hit area, and out branch to pay for her to go.

Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't the obvious point here that instead of paying for somebody from Sheffield to go out and gawp at the ruins, the money could be much more usefully spent as a donation to one of the labour movement based relief efforts?

The Trade Union Rights Campaign Pakistan has a sister organisation / affiliate in Kashmir and the two organisations have been working together on relief efforts. Here is a link to their appeal letter with an explanation of how to go about donating money;

http://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2005/10/11earthquake.doc

There are also a number of other labour movement based appeals and frankly giving to any of them sounds like a better idea than sending an SWP member there.

Were it a permanent move, then I am sure it would pass unanimously, but as it isn't.......

Like an SWP version of the "send a Spart to Afghanistan" campaign which brought near total unity to the left a couple of decades ago...

 

[sihhi]

Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't the obvious point here that instead of paying for somebody from Sheffield to go out and gawp at the ruins, the money could be much more usefully spent as a donation to one of the labour movement based relief efforts?

You're absolutely right of course- but what I want to know is how RESPECT's new pro-independence line Re Kashmir fits in with Galloway's support of Pervez Musharaf back in 1999.

 

[belboid]

Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't the obvious point here that instead of paying for somebody from Sheffield to go out and gawp at the ruins, the money could be much more usefully spent as a donation to one of the labour movement based relief efforts?

The Trade Union Rights Campaign Pakistan has a sister organisation / affiliate in Kashmir and the two organisations have been working together on relief efforts. Here is a link to their appeal letter with an explanation of how to go about donating money;

http://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2005/10/11earthquake.doc

There are also a number of other labour movement based appeals and frankly giving to any of them sounds like a better idea than sending an SWP member there.

there is a wider delegation going over to establish long-term links with organisations there (there being a substantial number of ex-Kashmiri people living locally) and to help decide what mid to long-term projects are best needed, and should be supported. It will be led by a number of people with strong links to Kashmir who do actualy know what they are doing. Sending a white English person along with them will reap practical rewards in that later fundraising would be less likely to simply be the 'usual suspects' as it were. It's not, in essence, a bad idea, it's just not one a fairly small union branch should pay for in its entirety. As you say, giving money for actual relief should be a far larger priority.

Like an SWP version of the "send a Spart to Afghanistan" campaign which brought near total unity to the left a couple of decades ago...