Brief Left Labour Summary of Labour Conference and Notice of Zoom Meeting about It on Thursday

I got this email today assessing the good and bad points of the Labour conference. This Thursday, 6th October 2022, there’s also going to be an online meeting about it from the good people at Arise: the Festival of Left-Wing Ideas.

‘Next Steps – A message from Rachel Garnham

SPREAD THE WORD: Retweet me here // register here

Hello David

This week’s Tory conference takes place to a backdrop of growing resistance. Saturday saw strikes from the RMT, ASLEF, TSSA, CWU and Unite; Don’t pay and Just Stop Oil direct action; and dozens of Enough is Enough events.

There was strong support for action from significant numbers of delegates at Labour’s Conference – and popular policies supported on a raft of issues,from rail public ownership, to a £15 an hour minimum wage, to real action on equal pay – but the importance of backing this resistance was not sufficiently central to the Conference or promoted by platform speakers, who appeared woefully out of touch with this growing resistance. Meanwhile, attacks on Party democracy continue, although not without big opposition, with many CLP and union delegates joining me in fighting for Jeremy Corbyn to be allowed to stand as a Labour candidate in the next election.

There is then much to review, and a need to plot out our next steps as the left. Join me, NEC member Gemma Bolton and Richard Burgon MP online Thursday (details below) for the discussion, and be part of the fightback.

Yours in solidarity,
Rachel Garnham, former NEC member on behalf of Arise & the Labour Assembly.

PS: Please spread the word by retweeting my message here.

Coming up:

1) ONLINE EVENT: Labour conference reportback & next steps discussion

Online Thursday, October 6, 7pm. Register here // Share & Invite friends here // Retweet here to spread the word.

With: Richard Burgon MP, Rachel Garnham, CLPD vice-chair & chair Gemma Bolton (NEC.) Join us online to assess Labour’s conference & discuss together next steps for Labour and the left.

Hosted by Arise – A Festival of Left Ideas.‘

I am honestly not surprised to read that the platform speakers are out of step with grassroots resistance against the Tories. They’re Blairites, who have an absolute contempt for the party base and who believe in very authoritarian, top-down management.

Left Labour Online Event Next Thursday Reporting Back from Conference

I also got this from the organisers of the Arise Festival of Left Wing Ideas:

‘ONLINE EVENT: Labour conference reportback & next steps discussion

Online Thursday, October 6, 7pm. Register here // Share & Invite friends here // Retweet here to spread the word.

With: Richard Burgon MP, Rachel Garnham, CLPD vice-chair & chair Gemma Bolton (NEC.) Join us online to assess Labour’s conference & discuss together next steps for Labour and the left.

Hosted by Arise – A Festival of Left Ideas.‘

Left-Wing Rally on Wednesday against the Conservatives and the Cost of Living Crisis

The Arise Festival of the Labour left is organising an online rally on the 8th against the cost of living crisis and, of course, this ‘hoary Tory government’ as Paul Weller memorably described them in one of his songs from the ’80s. I’ve received several messages about it – one from Gemma Bolton earlier this week, and another from Bell Ribeiro-Addy. Here’s her email about this rally, followed by the information about the rally itself, which is anticipation of a protest by the TUC on the 18th.

‘GET INVOLVED: Retweet me here // register for June 8 here

Hello David

What does it say about the Conservative Party that they can’t even muster 15% of their MPs to get rid of the most openly corrupt Prime Minister of our time? Frankly it tells us that they’re all as bad as him and we need to get the Tories Out.

Whilst the PM hangs on, the social emergency is growing. Poverty is spiralling, with over 2.6 million children live in households that skipped meals or struggled to afford food last month.

And we face continuous attempts to criminalise dissent – threatening everyone who wants to stand up for what they believe in and believes in building a better society. Enough is enough. Now is the time to build the fightback 

1. Join the Rally of the Left on June 8, to mobilise for the TUC demo (register here) – full details below.
2. Get on the streets and join the TUC demo on June 18.
3. Sign and share the #WorkersCantWait petition here

 
Yours in solidarity,
Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP (via Arise Festival & the Labour Assembly Against Austerity.)

PS: Make sure to join 1000s registering for the June 8 rally now here.

ONLINE RALLY: Enough is enough – time to demand better!

Wednesday June 8, 18.30-20.00. Register here // Share & invite here // Retweet here to spread the word.

John McDonnell MP // Zarah Sultana MP // Dave Ward, CWU General Secretary // Ian Byrne MP // Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP // Grace Blakeley // Matt Wrack, FBU GS & LRC // Zita Holbourne, Black Activists Rising Against Cuts // Mohammad Suhail, Chair of North West Young Labour // Ben Chacko, Morning Star editor // Dave Allan, TUC Disabled Workers’ Committee & Unite EC // Peoples Assembly // Gemma Bolton, Labour NEC & CLPD // Lord John Hendy QC, IER //  Nasrin Warsame, Migrants Organise // Matt Willgress, Labour Outlook Editor // Mish Rahman, Momentum // Sakina Sheikh, GLA member // Mick Rix, GMB National Organiser // Doina Cornell, Leader of Stroud Council // Ronan Burtenshaw, Tribune editor // Mark Serwotka, PCS GS // Beth Winter MP // Kim Johnson MP // Barry Gardiner MP // Ian Lavery MP  // RIchard Burgon MP.

Online rally of the Left to mobilise for the TUC June 18 demo – coming together to demand urgent action to tackle the cost-of-living crisis and build the fightback. Registration free, but solidarity contributions much appreciated!

Arise Festival is proud to host this event, bringing together MPs, union representatives, social movements, campaigns and different Labour left groups and publications to publicly mobilise for the vital TUC demo on June 18 (demo details & sign up at https://www.tuc.org.uk/DemandBetter )‘

Labour Votes to Support Palestine – Lisa Nandy Vows to Defy It

Last night I managed to catch half an hour of a Zoom meeting on Labour and Palestine, staged as part of the Arise Festival of left-wing ideas. The meeting featured a variety of speakers such as Grahame Morris and Gemma Bolton, as well as the Palestinian ambassador, H.E. Husain Zomlot. The speakers generally were delighted and encouraged that despite opposition from Keir Starmer’s racist, anti-Semitic leadership, conference had overwhelmingly passed a vote supporting the Palestinians. This vote had not only been backed by a number of MPs and the grassroots membership, but also by the trade unions. The MP Grahame Morris made some excellent points in his talk, stating that he knew the trolls were out there trying to find something they could twist so that it sounded anti-Semitic. He acknowledged that Israel had a right to exist, but so had Palestine, and looked forward to a time when Israelis and Palestinians could lived together in peace and harmony. The speakers also made the point that time was running out for the Palestinians as persecution was increasing along with the construction of Israeli settlements. The condemnation of these was in line with international law. The Palestinians knew that they were illegal. They didn’t need further condemnation. What they wanted was concrete steps to oppose them. Ambassador Zomlot also appeared to express his gratitude to the Labour party for passing this resolution.

A video of the meeting is available on YouTube. It’s about 3/4 of an hour long. Here it is, though I have to say that I have not seen all of it.

Unfortunately, there was one fly in the ointment at the passing of this motion. This was Lisa Nandy, one of the Blairite darlings of the media. Nandy immediately distanced herself from the motion and told its supporters that it wouldn’t be implemented. Which shows her absolutely contempt for conference, supposedly the sovereign organisation of the Labour party. Of course she did. She’s a Blairite and a supporter of Starmer, who declared himself to be ‘100 per cent Zionist’. But unfortunately, not the kind of Zionist as some Israelis who oppose the persecution of the Palestinians and the construction of the Illegal settlements.

Nandy has said that if Corbyn stands in the next election, she’ll campaign in his constituency for anyone that opposes him. As Mike has pointed out, if she does, she’ll be neglecting her own constituency so that she’ll probably lose her seat. Which, in my opinion, would be no bad thing.

I fully support the Labour party’s motion supporting the Palestinians and wholeheartedly condemn the contemptible attitude of Nandy and the leadership, which hope to ignore it and set it aside. The motion is in support of international law and justice. Starmer and Nandy stand for nothing but further Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing, while smearing their opponents as anti-Semites.

Laura Pidcock Urges Labour Members to Vote for Left Candidates for NEC

I go this email yesterday from Laura Pidcock. Despite the Labour party haemorrhaging members at the rate of 2,000 a day because of Starmer’s intolerance and determination to purge the party of socialists and members with real, traditional Labour views, there is a fightback going on within the party itself. It’s composed of groups like the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance and the Labour Assembly Against Austerity. They’re field six candidates for the elections to the NEC, Pidcock herself is one of them. Her messages reads

ALERT: Support Socialist Candidates for Labour’s NEC

📣 Show your support: Retweet here / Facebook share here – read more here and my article here 📣
The scale and intensity of the challenges facing working class people here and across the world needs to be treated with the seriousness and urgency it deserves. We are facing a prolonged jobs and workers’ rights crisis, an environmental emergency, a global health pandemic and a huge political crisis. This pandemic has also shone a spotlight on deep structural inequalities, and liberation for all must be at the heart of our agenda.

The need for mass resistance against the Tories and for socialist solutions to the crises we face is why I’m standing to be your representative on Labour’s NEC and to ask for your support for the six #GrassrootsVoice candidates supported by the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance and a range of groups including the Labour Assembly Against Austerity. Our platform calls for Labour to commit to “expanding democratic public ownership and universal provision of universal public services and to guaranteeing the building blocks of a high-quality life including education, housing, healthcare, social security and social care.”
 

📣 Show your support: Retweet here / Facebook share here – read more here and my article here 📣

We are standing to uphold these socialist principles and policies, to fight the Tories now and to insist that people and heath come before profit. We need to defend and push beyond the 2019 manifesto in order to achieve a transformative Labour government that can tackle the crises we face. And we must always remember that the membership is the Labour Party, which is why we must strongly defend democracy in our party.

To help us achieve a Labour Party that will fight the Tories and for a socialist Labour Government that will deliver the radical change we need, please support myself, Nadia Jama, Ann Henderson, Yasmine Dar, Mish Rahman and Gemma Bolton.

Best wishes,
Laura Pidcock, Labour NEC candidate.

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HELP THE TEAM WIN – CAMPAIGN CHECKLIST

When is your CLP deciding its nominations?

CLPs will be making nominations for the Party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) between now and midnight on Sunday 27 September (when nominations close).

CLP Section NEC election – Nominate the CLGA 6

We are supporting the six candidates backed by the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance for the CLP Section of the NEC. They are standing as #GrassrootsVoice and campaigning for a transformative Labour Government, socialist policies and party democracy. The candidates are: Gemma Bolton, Yasmine Dar, Ann Henderson, Nadia Jama, Laura Pidcock and Mish Rahman. You can read more here.

Whilst there are nine CLP Section NEC seats up for election, the CLGA is only supporting six candidates. If it supported more it could result in it winning fewer seats. This is because the Party is introducing an STV system into this election. Therefore the principal goal at each Nominations Meeting should be to get these six candidates nominated.

Youth and Disabled Members Reps

The Labour Assembly Against Austerity also urges you to support Lara McNeill for NEC Youth Representative and Ellen Morrison for NEC Disabled Members Representative.

I have absolutely no reservations about supporting these candidates. Forty years of Thatcherism, privatisation and the destruction of the welfare state has and is reducing the working people of this country to beggary. The right-wing members of the party bureaucracy put in place under Blair and Brown are intolerant, bullying and partisan, responsible for throwing the elections. They have also consistently lied, smeared and grossly maligned real, decent anti-racist women and men simply for being socialists and supporters of Jeremy Corbyn. It was someone on the NEC, for example, who smeared Mike as an anti-Semite and Holocaust denier. No doubt one of the nameless snakes now threatening to sue the authors of the suppressed report which showed how vile and racist the Blairite apparatchiks were.

I’m aware that Pidcock has said that they can’t field as many candidates as people would like for fear that more would lose. They’re obviously keen not to spread their resources too thinly. Nevertheless, this is an excellent start.

I feel that we have to mobilise our forces within the party against Starmer and the Blairites, because if we leave, we’re giving them what they want. A smaller, elite-dominated party centralised around a right-wing leadership, that represents corporate donors and the establishment rather than socialists and working people.

Supporting the Centre-Left candidates for the NEC elections is a great place to start.