Soldier arrested for speaking out against the war

Attended Stop the War activists meeting last night. Corporal Joe Glenton, the soldier who spoke at the STWC Afghan war demo three weeks ago, has been arrested for speaking at the demo. There is a possibility of a demo outside the MOD in London on Thursday at 5pm about this. This has been called at obviously short notice. Demo is inside exclusion zone, so police permission supposed to be applied for. Many students and young people at the meeting and strong support for an action. Seems a lot of new activists against the war. Please monitor STWC website for further info.

http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/1593/1/

Article in US magazine on Ireland

I was contacted last week by the US magazine /Synthesis/Regeneration: A Magazine of Green Social Thought/ (S/R) published for members of the Greens/Green Party USA. The S/R Editorial
Board is interested in printing my essay, "The rise and fall of the Irish Greens." Rather appropriate as there are many Irish Americans and Irish emigrants in the US. Their website is here www.greens.org/s-r/

The news from Ireland of splits (Donegal) and disbandment (West Cork) does not surprise me. As someone who travels to Ireland regularly to see family and friends (just had another friend from Dublin to dinner last night) anger and disillusionment with the Irish Greens in this Fianna Fail dominated government is rampant. The signing up to the NAMA toxic banks deal is the last straw as far as many Green members and voters are concerned.

Friday saw a massive trade union march through Dublin of public sector workers determined to fight the cuts of the present government which seem targeted at the poor and public sector workers. There is also talk of a general strike later this month. Rough times ahead and the cuts agenda being implemented by the present government in Dublin gives a taste of what may lie ahead here under a Tory administration.

The Empty bleatings of the warmongers

As the warmongers gather at the Cenotaph today to mourn those who have died in past wars and those who have died in current ones, many of their comments ring hollow. The true voice of those trying to stop this war, such as Corporal Joe Glenton, currently being court martialed for refusing to serve in Afghanistan, and the families of those killed in the war, one of whom appeared on Newsnight this week

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8344393.stm

are being marginalised. Exactly the same happened, of course, in the First World War, when the war poets were marginalised and some of them declared 'insane'. It is clear that this war is useless and only leading to the deaths of Afghans and those sent to fight for NATO's war aims -which nobody understands. There is an excellent article in today's Observer by the Defence Correspondent, on why we need to get out now http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/08/observer-debate-afghanistan

I will be going to the meeting below on Tuesday, as the Green Party's delegate to Stop the War Coalition, together with our International Coordinator, Farid Bakht. While the Lib Dems continue to dissemble and opinion polls show mounting opposition to the war - we must keep up the pressure on the war machine to stop it. My bet is that the Lib Dems will come out against the war before the general election - but only if mounting casualties and opinion polls convince them that it is safe to do so. The Green Party and Stop the War Coalition, together with some brave left Labour MPs such as Jeremy Corbyn, have been against the war from the beginning. Now is the time to speak up and to end this madness. I will be going along to speak to those such as Lambeth Stop the War who have been the resistance to this mad and dangerously wrong war.

StWC London Activists' Meeting: Open to all

Tuesday 10 November 6 to 8pm, The Indian YMCA41 Fitzroy Square London W1T 6AQ (Nearest tube: Warren Street)

NATO's Afghan strategy is in tatters, the comically fraudulent election has been abandoned, with the fraudster declared the winner. The death toll on all sides is rising, as Obama gets ready to announce tens of thousands more troops to fight an unwinnable war.

Following Stop the War's excellent Bring the Troops Home demonstration on Saturday 24 October, we are calling a London Activists Meeting for Tuesday 10 November.
We'll be discussing how to bring about a national debate on Afghanistan, our strategy for ensuring that the Afghan War is a prominent issue in Britain's general election, likely to take place in Spring 2010, how to strengthen local Stop the War groups, the student anti-war movement, the Iraq Inquiry, the international anti-war strategy, future demonstrations, etc.
The meeting is open to all. Please bring any ideas you have for future Stop the War activities. In particular we would like to invite people who are new to Stop the War, who have just set up a Stop the War group or who have experiences to share of developing a local group.
If you require futher information please contact Stop the War's national office:Email

office@stopwar.org.uk


This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it


Tel 020 7801 2768

Duckhouses, Power and pullouts

Last night, together with thousands of Lambeth and Southwark residents, I celebrated November 5th by attending one of the three fireworks displays provided by Lambeth Council in Brockwell Park. It was more difficult than ever to enter the park because of the new traffic intersection being built at the front gates which meant that people were funneled through a narrow entrace in the middle of the road works, but we got there just as the fireworks were starting. Luckily the rain held off and the display was well worth seeing as usual.

However, it is worth considering the history of the Guy Fawkes event and its modern relevance. Clearly as every school child knows, it was an attempt to blow up James I and his parliament by a group of conspirators deeply worried about the persecution of Roman Catholics in England and the succession of a new king who was seen as even more extreme in this regard than his predecessor, Elizabeth I. This history has been used very effectively in recent years in the film V where the hero, a latter day Guy Fawkes, is battling against a totalitarian state and a parliament which has become a rubber stamp. Which brings us back to today.

Dissatisfaction with our electoral system is at boiling point. The MPs expenses row has brought things to a halt but it has also brought to the fore the issue of our broken electoral system, which the Green Party has been arguing about for years. More and more people are coming around to the view that the fall in turnout for elections and many of the problems emanating from our legislature is due to the fact that most MPs have merely become lobby fodder and that the current electoral system ensures that all the major parties need only address a handful of voters in some key marginals. while leaving the concerns of much of the electorate unaddressed. This is proving to be truly corrosive and there is a growing movement for change spearheaded by Make My Vote Count. Yesterday to mark Guy Fawkes Day they held a publicity stunt on the Thames outside parliament where they floated a raft disguised as a duck house down the river. The duck house, of course, having featured in the recent expenses expose carried out by the Daily Telegraph.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDhC9zUh6AI

There is real and crying need for change. Just how far removed the politicians and some of their civil servants are from reality was revealed last week when the Justice Dept put forward proposals for cutting the costs of the general election by limiting the number of polling stations and also possibly increasing the cost of a candidate's deposit, thus ensuring that less smaller parties would be eligible to stand. And this at a time when turnout is at an all time low. The story was carried in the The Times

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6897013.ece where it was reported that Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, was distancing himself from his own officials findings. However, who knows what this government has up its sleeve next?

In the meantime there is an appeal below from Make My Vote Count and I hope that as many people as possible will sign up to it. Unfortunately time is running out before the next general election and the Labour Party and the government need as much pressure as possible brought to bear on them from the public.

Remember, Remember the 5th of November ... duckhouses, Power and pullouts.

http://VoteForAChange.co.uk/10000

This afternoon the Vote for a Change campaign have floated a model of a duck house down the River Thames to Westminster. For those inside Parliament, the message is simple: 'you can't duck change'. There is no possibility of effective self regulation at Westminster. The fundamental questions - like how we hire and fire our MPs - can't be left to politicians. But it can be left to the voters on Election Day with a referendum on the voting system.

Today's action is one of a series of campaign activities piling up the pressure on MPs in the run up to the Queen's Speech on 18 November. Our activities range right the way from a meeting next week with Gordon Brown and one-to-one lobbying of Labour MPs; to supporter emails to a "rogue's gallery" of high profile electoral reform opponents; taking the Gravy Train to MPs of all parties who are roadblocks to reform; and getting 60 young people together outside Parliament dressed as zombie politicians for a Halloween stunt.

http://www.voteforachange.co.uk/blog

Adding another notch to our lobbying of Labour MPs and decision-makers, this coming week's edition of the New Statesman magazine contains a 32-page pullout section on electoral reform. You can pick up a copy of the New Statesman from your local news stand.

We've also set an ambitious goal: 10,000 letters to those MPs who are resisting reform and propping up our rotten political system for their own benefit. Can you help us reach 10,000 today by sending a letter now?

http://VoteForAChange.co.uk/10000

We want voters to be in the driving seat of shaping a new politics. We are excited that a new campaign - POWER2010 - is offering people exactly that chance.

POWER2010 are seeking your ideas for changing the way we run our country. Those ideas with most support will become the POWER2010 Pledge - and form the basis of major campaign activity both immediately before and during the General Election.

To add your idea - for instance on electoral reform - go onto the POWER2010 site:

http://www.power2010.org.uk/page/s/yourideas

Like I've just done, you can also sign this letter from Power2010 to the three main Party leaders telling them that the Kelly review (on expenses) was not enough ... it's now time for the people to be given a genuine say in how our democracy is run.

http://www.power2010.org.uk/notenough

Together we will change politics. For good.

Thank you,

Malcolm

Director, Make Votes Count

6 Chancel Street
London SE1 0UU
(t) 020 7928 2076
(f) 020 7401 7789
(m) 07733322148
http://www.makemyvotecount.org.uk/activismhub
http://www.voteforachange.co.uk/

False promises

So now we know. David Cameron's promise to run a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty was not worth the piece of paper it was written on. Almost as good a promise as Tony Blair's to give the people of the UK a referendum on the treaty (err Constitution actually). This will further deeply corrode people's trust in the promises of politicians. But it also brings to the fore the question of what the Tories are actually concerned about regarding the Lisbon Treaty. The defence provisions which require states to continually upgrade their military hardware? No. The provisions on the privatisation of public services and the neo-liberal economic agenda? No.

No the Tories main concerns are about workers rights, more holidays and giving paternity leave. With the longest hours in Europe and the least holidays the 'mine's a duck pond' Tories want us to work longer and have less time off, with the resulting increase in stress and impact on family life, children left alone etc. Seamus Milne puts the point well in today's Guardian:

"The truth is that dogma is, if anything, clung to even more tightly in London than in Brussels, and its grip has to be broken in both. Criticism of the European Union has for too long been dominated by a phoney chauvinistic Euroscepticism that ignores the real interests that have driven its development. Cameron's posturing yesterday about "referendum locks" and a bill to prevent the transfer of further powers to the EU does nothing to challenge that. Like New Labour, the Tories positively embrace loss of democratic or national sovereignty when it comes to corporate, or US, power."

I share concerns about the increasing loss of power to the EU elite but the Tories would just like us to be more like the good ol USA. And David Cameron has also promised that the NHS will be safe from spending cuts under a Tory government. Well I think we all know what will happen with that promise as well.

A jab in time saves...

Last week I attended the Clinical Governance Committee of the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust in my capacity as Vice Chair of the Patients Forum. I was quite surprised to hear the Medical Director, Dr Fiona Moore, tell the meeting that she had not yet recommended LAS staff to avail of the swine flu vaccine. I questioned her on this and asked her was it not NHS and Dept of Health policy for all frontline health staff to take the vaccine. She confirmed that it was but that she had not yet received sufficient assurances regarding its safety. Rather disconcerted by this reply, as I was aware that my local GP was having a swine flu vaccination clinic on Saturday, I contacted the Chair of the Forum, the nationally known health activist and National Association of LINks Members Chair, Malcolm Alexander. Malcolm wrote to Dr Moore and surprisingly within days she had reversed her decision, stating that she was recommending vaccination of all LAS staff. This rather surprised me but is indicative of the confusion surrounding this issue.

The voluntary sector organisation where I work, which deals with many vulnerable older and disabled people, many of whom are in poor health, was contacted regarding vaccination by Lambeth Council last week. As many of our staff are frontline staff visiting people in their homes, Lambeth Council offered to provide vaccination sessions for the voluntary sector in the borough. This, I thought, was a responsible and correct step. Imagine my surprise and disappointment then when the Director told me that almost nobody had taken up the offer and that two members of staff had stated that under no circumstances would they take the vaccine. He pointed out that vaccination was voluntary and that he could not do anything more. The ironic thing about this is that one member of staff is currently very ill with swine flu and I would have thought that this would have spurred people on. Unfortunately many people have been taken in by hysteria and disinformation about vaccination and I fear that the consequences may be serious for both workers and patients in the health and social care fields. One need only see what is happening in Ukraine at present to be worried.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8338835.stm

I was vaccinated on Saturday, together with my partner. We have had no problems whatsoever other than some swelling in the area which was injected. As someone who has been active in anti-flu campaigns and has been pushing hard on the issue in the NHS over the last few years, I am very disconcerted by the anti-science and frankly absurd position adopted by some people, many of whom should know better. My great grandfather and grand uncle were both carried away by the 1918 pandemic within the course of 24 hours and I have always taken this illness very seriously. It only right that frontline health and social care staff be vaccinated now, along with all those in the high risk groups. I fear that a busy winter lies ahead for our hospitals and GPs and they need all the help they can get.

Standing up for LGBT rights against hate crime

Went on Friday night to the inspirational and moving event held in Trafalgar Square against homophobic hate crime hosted by Sandy Toksvig. Images here on You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2je-T-4vHVM

Speakers included Chris Bryan MP and Maria Eagle MP from the Labour Party, Richard Barnes the Deputy Mayor of London for the Tories and our own Darren Johnson, Chair of the London Assembly for the Greens. Letters were also read out from Gordon Brown and David Cameron. LGBT choir and orchestra were in attendance. I was present with members of the Green Party LGBTIQ Group and Green Left. We held candles in the darkness and listened to some very moving speeches and pieces of music. St Martin in the Fields church flew the rainbow flag.

I was very proud to see thousands of LGBT people and their straight friends demonstrating against hatred and intolerance. Appropriate also that a message from Harvey Milk's gay nephew was also read out. Inspiring also that last night on my way home from a meeting of the London Ambulance Service Patients Forum I spotted two gay men holding hands near Waterloo station. We will not be terrorised or driven from the streets of London.