tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6093114275469628673.post4830581486038720136..comments2023-06-02T17:22:43.445+01:00Comments on Luna17: 10 arguments about the People's Assembly, the movement and the leftluna17http://www.blogger.com/profile/03754650933188634442noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6093114275469628673.post-4518745154850338022013-03-30T12:50:13.035+00:002013-03-30T12:50:13.035+00:00Thanks for your thoughts. Two quick things:
I thi...Thanks for your thoughts. Two quick things:<br /><br />I think there are 2 inter-related elements to the whole business of articulating economic alternatives. One of them is the kind of work James et al at nef are doing, which is thorough and extremely well-informed. The second element is expressing key ideas in a clear, accessible way, popularising an alternative 'narrative' (for want of a better word) to the dominant set of myths around austerity. We need to popularise such ideas, turn them into demands and use them to strengthen the movement. This is because there is constantly an ideological dimension to austerity and the fight against it. 'There is no alternative' is the constant refrain from the government, so we need to be able to demonstrate they are wrong. That should be a central element in the Assembly. <br /><br />On the trade unions: They are weak, but they still have great potential. They are especially weak when it comes to strike action, but their role in other ways - demonstrations, campaigns - can be considerable. They are especially effective when they look beyond sectional interests and connect with campaigns and communities. And such co-operation and campaigning can, in turn, increase thei capacity for taking co-ordinated strike action. It is for these reasons that the Assembly can be so vital and consequential, i.e. it plays to the unions' existing stregths while also pointing the way to a higher level of struggle.<br /><br />Alex Snowdonhttp://luna17activist.blogspot.co.uk/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6093114275469628673.post-7437381553262632952013-03-30T10:08:36.858+00:002013-03-30T10:08:36.858+00:00Thanks for another interesting and informative art...Thanks for another interesting and informative article.<br /><br />I have to admit that I am a sceptic although I wouldn't like to be thought of as a nay-sayer.<br /><br />You say that 'The trade unions have a central role to play in the anti-cuts movement and it would be absurd to not take seriously the participation of trade union general secretaries.'<br /><br />I believe that it is trade union general secretaries and the various official and unofficial hierarchies within the unions and the 'movement' who are the main examples of 'the ... caricatured version of the left' and I do not see how this can ever be transcended. They will do very little to provide 'the Assembly with credibility and authority in the eyes of many who have no or little connection with the organised left.'In fact the use of the term 'left' itself has been such a caricature since at least the 1970s. The image of the 'No Cuts' movement has merely stepped in to play a part in perpetuating this caricature. How could it have avoided this? Hierarchies are always going to form whether it be because of the length of time a person has been involved, or how close they are to the centres of power. This is why the left cannot escape the caricature because it always appears to be hypocritical: union leaders are very well paid by most people's standards, students attending elite universities playing at being revolutionaries on the donations of people facing the daily grind of work or unemployment are two sides of the same coin. In the so-called horizontal politics of the Occupy movement hierarchies formed very quickly too. Somewhat paradoxically the committed left-wingers who do their work in Parliament are less of a caricature ... I'm thinking of George Galloway in particular but he has made a caricature of himself in other ways unfortunately.<br /><br />The most important question for me is the same as yours and I can live with all of the above if we can come up with a good answer to it: 'Action needs to be guided by discussion and ideas, in particular by discussion of why austerity is wrong and what alternative demands we can put forward.' In this respect I think the NEF and James Meadway, the only member of that group with whose work I am familiar, have a big contribution to make. Their analysis is sound in my opinion and it is their message that could be most fruitful in attracting people. In many respects their views on the Euro are the same as those of Farage who has gained a lot of political kudos through his very public and remorseless critique of the ECB and their masters/cronies. It is similar to the basic critique of the Occupy movement. The very popular Max Keiser shares many of their views too.<br /><br />So if 'the urgent challenge is to link up everyone who wants to fight austerity in a mass movement' I think the economic critique needs to be disseminated in an easily understandable way. At the moment people continue to struggle to pay off so-called debts to banks that actually owe them money. People's houses are being illegally repossessed. Savers are being punished in exactly the same way has has just happened in Cyprus except it's being done mainly by stealth. My local council now charges full council tax to people on benefits with savings 0ver £5000. including the disabled. An incisive and clear statement of the critique and actions that respond to it appropriately are the key ... a self-declared debt jubilee and a vociferous campaign for the prosecution under existing laws of the financial terrorists in our banking system might be a good start.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09230851926890557930noreply@blogger.com