tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46519293346674597442024-03-14T08:41:02.639+00:00Everyone's Favourite ComradeA blog returnedEFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-9208925042639304482021-10-29T12:00:00.002+01:002022-10-23T15:27:19.632+01:00The battle of cable street<p>The following article was originally written for the <a href="https://net.xekinima.org/85-years-since-the-battle-of-cable-street/">Xekinima website</a></p><p>Today marks the 85th anniversary of what became known as the “Battle of Cable Street”, and is a very apt time to revisit the history and learn the vital lessons from this. Britain first, the far-right organisation have recently re-registered as a political party. Throughout much of the world we have seen both fascist and far right populist organisations emboldened and confident to act often with violence.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Zi01zBA9rFaSkO8i3PQoJrKeLaWLSAaTXvbk-ZS4U0P6JU9KxD4rF64Tww5HOQBoYgLKwajpXHJ-2EAkgwTMrbuX63bx48b-8tYL55x3YxtFcOJmCU7UkZAAet6HfXPSJ2FHd_O8e84/s600/Cable-Street.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: red; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="600" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Zi01zBA9rFaSkO8i3PQoJrKeLaWLSAaTXvbk-ZS4U0P6JU9KxD4rF64Tww5HOQBoYgLKwajpXHJ-2EAkgwTMrbuX63bx48b-8tYL55x3YxtFcOJmCU7UkZAAet6HfXPSJ2FHd_O8e84/s320/Cable-Street.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="background-color: red;"><br /></span><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px auto 1em;"><br /></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Open Sans, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">[ 23 October 2021 09:28 ] Glyn Matthews: What became known as the Battle of Cable Street was an attempt by Oswald Mosely and his British Union of Fascists (BUF) to solidify their position by marching through the east end of London in full fascist uniform (the British fascists were known as the blackshirts). This was also a deliberate act of provocation and intimidation. It was estimated that there were 350,000 Jewish people living in Britain at the time with roughly half living in the east end of London. Yiddish was often the lingua franca in many east end communities.</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Open Sans, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">This was in 1936, a time when Hitler was already in power in Germany and where it was already official policy to persecute Jews. Mussolini was in power in Italy and the Spanish Civil war was underway. It was only a few years prior to the outbreak of World War two.</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Open Sans, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">***</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Open Sans, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">At the time the Blackshirts had been gaining significant momentum. Two years prior they held a notorious rally in London Olympia with 12,000 in attendance including 2,000 in full uniform ready to attack any opposition which dared to turn up. They claimed to have 40,000 members and had the active support of the Daily Mail, a national daily newspaper.</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Open Sans, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Had they been able to successfully march through the east end of London unopposed it would have been disastrous for the Jewish community in the east end as well as many other ethnic or religious groups, and also all socialists and trade unionists.</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">In the lead up to the march the BUF held a series of meetings throughout the east end to whip up hatred towards the Jewish community. There was an immediate response from the community the Jewish Peoples’ Council which started a petition to ban the march, which gained over 100,000 signatures within only two days.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">***</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">However, the feeling of the community and rank and file activists was not matched by the leadership. The Jewish hierarchy organised sports day events to try an ensure that Jewish youth were out of the east end on the day of the march. The Labour Party’s George Lansbury, the hero of Poplar council who was jailed for resisting cuts to the poor, wrote: </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Open Sans, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">“What I want is to maintain peace and order, and I advise people who are opposed to fascism to keep away from the demonstration.”</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">The Communist Party leadership played an incredibly cynical role. They were in an very powerful position, having a very strong base of support and membership within the east end. Phil Piratin, who later became a CP member of parliament said: </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">“If Mosley decides to march, let him. Don’t attempt disorder”. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">The Young Communist League had organised on the same day a rally in Trafalgar Square (central London) in solidarity with the Spanish republic, without the sense of irony that the best possible support for the Spanish republic in the civil war against the fascists was to oppose the fascists on their doorstep.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">***</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Fortunately, opposition from below grew from within the rank and file of the CP, Jewish groups and others like the Independent Labour Party. As a result, on the day of the march 300,000 emptied onto the streets to confront the blackshirts and the police who attempted to escort them. It was a real show of working-class defiance from all sections of the working class. Barricades were erected by Irish Catholic dockers around Commercial Road and Cable Street. Children were seen throwing marbles, preventing the advance of police horses, who were unable to navigate their hooves around the marbles. Chamber pots emptied overhead of the fascists, the streets erupted with Communists, trade unionists, Jews, Irish and all nationalities of all ages and genders. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">It was an embarrassing defeat for Mosely and the BUF. They were forced to retreat, even with the police attempting to aid them. The working-class communities had shown that not only were they not welcomed, but they would be prevented from being there at all. The BUF never recovered from this and every time far right groups like this have attempted to march throughout Britain, the spectre of Cable Street hangs over them and they always meet resistance.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">***</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Had many particularly in the CP listened to the leadership instead of organising a united front campaign of all sections of the working class in their communities to build mass resistance to ensure the fascists could not pass, then events could had turned out very differently than they had. That is the real legacy of the heroes of Cable Street.</span></p>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-70689649822158291272021-10-23T09:20:00.005+01:002021-10-23T09:20:59.201+01:00Letter of resignation from Socialist Alternative<p> Below is a copy of the resignation letter I co-signed from Socialist Alternative which should be read in conjunction with the <a href="https://net.xekinima.org/why-we-disaffiliate-from-the-isa-open-letter-by-the-isa-sections-in-greece-turkey-and-cyprus/">announcement of disaffiliation</a> by the Greek, Cypriot and Turkish sections from International Socialist Alternative. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwRrcwpxod-jEvk2RBQ___RNNLlqWRgc0bRe6bFzUzsfLHbZCRdDfwU6335FmlYlV6Mrzyw1h6r0Zaph5nzlVRKQEakn12GYix4Jw3c4TQ2zT4TCb4ewpEwUjHYDsr4lSmKmOAbdOnRpY/s330/330px-International_Socialist_Alternative_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="165" data-original-width="330" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwRrcwpxod-jEvk2RBQ___RNNLlqWRgc0bRe6bFzUzsfLHbZCRdDfwU6335FmlYlV6Mrzyw1h6r0Zaph5nzlVRKQEakn12GYix4Jw3c4TQ2zT4TCb4ewpEwUjHYDsr4lSmKmOAbdOnRpY/s320/330px-International_Socialist_Alternative_logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Comrades,</p><p>The signatories to this letter are clear in their commitment to building a revolutionary Marxist international organisation, but have lost confidence that ISA and the sections in EWS can play a correctly orientated role in that struggle. </p><p>Our reasons for leaving Socialist Alternative (EWS) and ISA can be summarised as follows.</p><p>A misguided approach from SA / ISA to democratic centralism, which has produced a top-down approach to decision making and political perspectives. </p><p>A lack of communication with and support for comrades. </p><p>Communication with branch comrades who challenge the orthodoxy of the leadership being conducted in formal and bureaucratic ways eg, the PC, as a body, emailing individual comrades demanding a written response to issues raised, rather than by a personal telephone contact in the first instance.</p><p>Institutional bullying of comrades eg, a comrade being criticised in a PC meeting, without the comrade’s knowledge or the right to reply. The criticisms were later to be proved to be completely fabricated.</p><p>Repeated mis-characterisation and distortion of TIDU comrades’ ideas. </p><p>Repeated misrepresentation, or even concealing of events concerning international sections, especially relating to Australia and Taiwan. </p><p>The adoption by SA of ISA policies on neoliberalism, deglobilisation, decoupling, China etc without any involvement of branch comrades.</p><p>A low level of debate and scrutiny by the NC of the PC even in instances where their actions have been proven to be wrong.</p><p>Totally inadequate minute taking of NC and PC meetings where branch comrades would have no way of knowing which comrades were making different points. This hinders branch comrades’ ability to see where new ideas and insights are coming from.</p><p>Re-writing history. Describing the reasons for the collapse of the old CWI as around political differences, rather than as a product of over-centralised authoritarian leadership. The emphasis on political differences was clearly the CWIs position and the minority comrades in EWS, generally denied significant political differences and pointed to structural problems and the authoritarian approach of the CWI leadership in particular. </p><p>A mis-use of power in the organisation eg, a blocking of material from publication on the website. For example, comrade Vlad Bortun from the Spanish state was denied access to the international website for articles on neoliberalism, there are many other examples of individuals or sections being denied access to the website and this has also happened with the SA EWS website.</p><p>All content on the ISA website being decided on by a small editorial team. No place on the website for discussion of different perspectives. </p><p>Leading comrades closing down discussions on Facebook without the authority to do so.</p><p>A leading comrade claiming to speak for the International Executive when having no authority to do so, as comrade EB did in the debate over Taiwan.</p><p>The inability to admit any mistakes or to listen in a constructive way to criticism.</p><p>An emphasis on training, rather than education in the development of cadre. </p><p>An inflated view of ideas coming from the leadership and an assumption that they are correct on all matters.</p><p>Senior comrades behaving as managers, rather than leaders. Leadership is about a fluid dialectical dialogue with the comrades. </p><p>A lack of understanding that many of our methods around structures and building are adopted from a neo-liberal / Stalinist framework, rather than a Marxist framework.</p><p>Some of the differences between the comrades who belong to TIDU and the majority comrades have been debated within the EWS section as well as internationally. What has been lacking from all of them is any attempt from the majority comrades to find a way to really consider the ideas of the minority comrades in a way that would avoid polarisation. This debate method, rather than a more discursive approach, is a method inherited from the CWI. It was not successful in avoiding polarisation under the CWI and has proved to be equally ineffective in avoiding polarisation under the ISA. </p><p>We believe that there has been a complete failure to learn the lessons of the CWI, a failure to learn these lessons has resulted in a repetition of the same mistakes with regards to democratic accountability and henceforth perspectives, we reject the idea that a higher quantity of meetings translates to a higher quality of democracy, it’s how you control the apparatus that counts.</p><p>We have deliberately kept this letter of resignation brief because we have become increasingly aware that the differences between us and the majority have become too great to reconcile. We had hoped that this would not be the case. It is our view that the current structures of Socialist Alternative and ISA produce loyal members rather than revolutionary cadre as was also the case in the Socialist Party.</p><p>We stand in solidarity with the comrades from the Greek, Turkish, Cyprus and Spanish sections as well as many other comrades internationally who are leaving ISA in order to build an organisation that is Marxist, reflective and democratic. An organisation that agrees with the principles of democratic centralism, but finds a balance between democracy with centralism, rather than an organisation where most of the politics come from a small centralised grouping.</p><p>If any comrade would like greater detail, please feel free to contact us at our temporary email address. </p>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-27721609185135640062021-01-25T11:44:00.007+00:002021-01-25T11:45:45.865+00:00The national question in Wales – interview Glyn Matthews<p><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></p><h6 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">National antagonisms are on the rise in general in the epoch that we are going through. This has been the case for the past few decades but these processes intensify rather than subsid, reflecting the general and deepening crisis of capitalism and engulfing also “developed” industrially, rich countries. One of them is Britain which has been facing not only the Irish question, but in the past couple of decades the Scottish question and, more recently, the rise of “Welsh nationalism”.</em></strong></h6><h6 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">“Xekinima” spoke with comrade Glyn Matthews from Socialist Alternative (ISA section) in Wales about recent developments there.</em></strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></h6><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwxWFdWi3kgCa2guTIOq5dnFKJotIcf6RypHb3L5713rz8tloQYlEHEJ-wnfRFmC12b3WNd3bBRmXJ2AqV4LASFV-54A_8UiKiA7p3p2rAoWgakUv_oGWSX-sqwsslSvTlzfyazSU7Ypw/s600/wales.jpg" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwxWFdWi3kgCa2guTIOq5dnFKJotIcf6RypHb3L5713rz8tloQYlEHEJ-wnfRFmC12b3WNd3bBRmXJ2AqV4LASFV-54A_8UiKiA7p3p2rAoWgakUv_oGWSX-sqwsslSvTlzfyazSU7Ypw/s320/wales.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized is-style-default" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></figure><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; list-style: outside none; margin: 0px 0px 20px 26px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: circle; margin-bottom: 10px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">Hi Glyn. It is well known that there is section of the population in Wales which is raising the demand for independence or greater autonomy within the UK. How extensive is this feeling?</em></strong></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">The first thing to say is that, at present it is only a minority of the population who currently support independence. However, support has been rising to historically high levels, a recent opinion poll conducted by You Gov showed a third in support. In fact, <em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">33% said they would vote for independence</em> if a referendum were held the next day, with higher numbers stating they would support greater autonomy.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Whilst this is of course a minority of the population and a much lower level of support than for example Scotland where support for independence currently stands at 55%, it is still high, very significant and rising. One year ago, support stood at 22% and prior to that support for independence has wavered between 8-10% historically. <em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">Support for independence has more than trebled over the past few years.</em></span></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; list-style: outside none; margin: 0px 0px 20px 26px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: circle; margin-bottom: 10px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">Has it taken the form of mobilisations, demonstrations, etc? What were the main demands behind them?</em></strong></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">There have been quite a lot of demonstrations though not recently since the beginning of the pandemic, but prior to this there were some significant demonstrations. There were notable demonstrations in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, as well as demonstrations in Caernarfon in North Wales of 7,000 and Merthyr in South Wales of 5,000. These are towns with a population of 9,900 and 43,000 respectively – although it must be said, particularly with the demonstration in North Wales, this did involve wider mobilisations based of the population of North Wales.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">The likelihood is once the pandemic eases and/or a vaccine is rolled out, that there will be many more demonstrations particularly as there are Welsh Parliament elections next year.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">The main demands have been, in my view deliberately vague. Simply slogans such as ‘Yes Cymru’ or “A fair deal for Wales” (Cymru being Welsh for Wales)</span></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; list-style: outside none; margin: 0px 0px 20px 26px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: circle; margin-bottom: 10px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">What are the roots of it, historically?</em></strong></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">I hope you are sitting comfortably! I will try and give just a brief overview. Wales was taken over by England much earlier than either Scotland or Ireland. As a result, it is much more integrated into Britain or rather England than compared to Scotland. Just to give one significant example there is an England and Wales legal system and a separate Scottish legal system, similar examples could be given in other spheres. This explains why generally support for independence is lower, Wales is much more intertwined with England than Scotland is and without the North Sea oil which is held up as an example of how an independent Scotland could be economically viable.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">That does not mean that there has always been a happy relationship, there were <em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">serious attempts by the ruling class, almost all of English descent, to wipe out the Welsh language.</em> For example, in the past <em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">children were beaten in schools for speaking Welsh</em>. In north Wales quarries workers would organise in the median of Welsh, much to the annoyance of the quarry owners and management, all of English origin, who could not understand a word being said!</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Over the years there have been battles which are brought to the fore and highlight the rights of Welsh people to their identity and culture. In the 1960s a Welsh village was completed flooded to create a reservoir for the use of industry in the North West of England, in the 1980s there were successful campaigns for a Welsh language television channel and continuous battles in different local areas over Welsh median schools as well as many other issues.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">The industrial decline in the UK throughout the 1980s had a devastating effect on South Wales in particular and this is where the majority of the Welsh population are located. As a result, wider political issues in the UK have an increasing impact on the national consciousness within Wales.</span></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; list-style: outside none; margin: 0px 0px 20px 26px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: circle; margin-bottom: 10px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">To what extend is it related to the economic and political developments of the recent period?</em></strong></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">I think this is an important question, really this is the answer to the recent rise in support of independence. Since the inception of devolved government in Wales, <em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">it has always been led by Labour</em>, either alone or in a coalition, but never by the Conservatives. Of course, in Britain we have had a Conservative government for the last decade, and that decade has been marked by huge austerity measures stemming from the last financial crash in 2008. Whilst the Conservatives at present do have many elected representatives throughout Wales, there have been times where there has not been a single conservative MP sent to London from Wales, and there would certainly be no possibility of a Conservative government of any kind being formed within Wales.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Hatred for the Conservatives and the policies they have implemented over the last decade, and the legacy of what they had done in power previously, presiding of the industrial decline of South Wales and with it, well-paying jobs, definitely plays a significant role in increased support for Welsh autonomy. Though it is not the only factor involved. <em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">Brexit has also played a large role in this</em>, and it is no coincidence that support for Welsh independence has sky rocketed since Britain withdrew from the EU.</span></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; list-style: outside none; margin: 0px 0px 20px 26px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: circle; margin-bottom: 10px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">How would you describe the political characteristics of the “independence movement”? What is the impact of left ideas on this? Are there Welsh political organisations? Is there a Welsh Left?</em></strong></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">It is hard to define, the issue has largely been boiled down to a call for Wales to have its say and to choose our own destiny, without a lot behind that. At the same time there is certainly the use of left leaning rhetoric, “Wales has been given a raw deal” in the context of the industrial decline and without the replacement of equally well-paying jobs – before the expansion of the EU in eastern Europe, Wales received category 1 funding because it was one of the most disadvantaged areas of the EU. There are certainly many politicians talking left on the issue, attacking the right-wing Westminster government and the cuts and austerity by the Labour led Welsh parliament as examples.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">Plaid Cymru</em> –The Party of Wales– is the main nationalist party within Wales. It had previously ruled out the idea of independence at all, but now many within, including the leader Adam Price call openly for a referendum. In recent years they have used slogans like “Don’t vote labour for your fathers, vote Plaid for your children”. The intent behind it is to say that they represent the social democratic values that Labour used to but no longer ring true. There is truth in that assertion.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">We could talk for hours about the nature of <em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">Plaid Cymru</em>, but to summarise it is a broad-based party which has members and representatives which range from centre-right to fairly left. Some of whom we have in the past worked closely with. Leanne Wood, the previous leader for example, took a worker’s wage, though the exact details of this are unknown. The workers’ representatives on a worker’s wage, of course is something which ISA has always prided itself on. Though she herself, whilst not smeared in the same way Corbyn was, still suffered the fate of attempting to appease the right of the party, not anyway near to the extent of Labour, but certainly diluted her socialist policies as leader of the party.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">There is also a geographic divide to a certain extend where the more rural areas of Wales see a more right-wing version of the party where the more urban areas are more left.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">There is not really a Welsh left as such, there certainly is a left-wing of Plaid Cymru and the same is true of Welsh Labour. There is also a much smaller <em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">Welsh Nationalist Party</em> set up by Neil McEvoy a maverick politician, hated by activists as a breakaway from Plaid Cymru, which currently has elected McEvoy as a member of the Welsh Parliament, often talking left.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Labour left, and the Labour party more generally do not support independence, but polls also indicated that amongst those who do support independence, a higher proportion are Labour voters. More recently the Green Party of England and Wales announced a policy change, stating that in the event of a referendum they would campaign for an Independent Wales.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Of course, aside from this you also have organisations like Socialist Alternative active in Wales which would form part of a Welsh left.</span></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; list-style: outside none; margin: 0px 0px 20px 26px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: circle; margin-bottom: 10px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">Has the phenomenon of Corbynism had an effect on the Welsh independence movement?</em></strong></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">This is an interesting question, I don’t think Corbyn had much effect on this to be honest.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">One of Corbyn’s weaknesses was his support for the continued union and <em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">not openly supporting Scottish independence and remained totally silent on the issue of Wales</em>. I think what is likely to happen is that since the attacks on Corbyn by the Labour leadership, support for Welsh independence will rise further from an already historically high point, as disenfranchised Corbynistas, particularly young people, will be looking for an outlet to fight back against the Westminster government.</span></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; list-style: outside none; margin: 0px 0px 20px 26px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: circle; margin-bottom: 10px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">Would you describe the movement for independence as left-progressive, or as right-wing nationalist?</em></strong></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">I certainly would not describe it as right-wing nationalist, anyone who would fit that mould is likely to be a British nationalist and ardently opposed to the breakup of the union including any form of Welsh devolution or independence.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">I would describe it as generally left or progressive. Much of the intention behind it can often be attributed to avoiding Conservative rule from London – that’s obviously an over-simplification of the issue but it certainly plays a big part on the rising movement. Though equally, there are many on the left (the Labour left being the most notable but others too) who would oppose independence, with some sections of the welsh working class seeing the Welsh parliament as useless and ineffective, because they have been completely ineffective in their opposition to austerity measures.</span></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; list-style: outside none; margin: 0px 0px 20px 26px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: circle; margin-bottom: 10px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">How do the Welsh workers and youth see the EU and Brexit?</em></strong></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">A complex question to answer really, I think that workers and youth in Wales, like the rest of Britain, see the EU in a very mixed way. The EU of course is a neoliberal institution which only operates in the interests of big business. I think that was very clear in the Greek movement against the EU, however that was not clear in the Brexit referendum in the way it was understood by many, particularly many radical young people who saw maintaining membership of the EU as a kind of internationalism. As Marxists of course we would argue that internationalism is for workers organisations and not for capitalist governments, but that does not stop many from viewing it that way.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">In many ways, this has probably played a part in the rise in the support for Welsh independence, the idea of an Independent Wales staying in the EU. <em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">Plaid Cymru</em> have always been big supporters of the EU and this is the kind of thing being advocated by the Scottish National Party in Scotland (not to mention the problems created in Northern Ireland with either a north/south or east/west border after withdrawal from the EU).</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Other movements across Europe undoubtedly have played a part in influencing the rise of Welsh independence as well, the movements in Catalunya to give just one example.</span></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; list-style: outside none; margin: 0px 0px 20px 26px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: circle; margin-bottom: 10px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">Last but not least, what in your opinion is the way forward for this movement?</em></strong></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">I am glad you asked, this of course is the most relevant question. I think the most important aspect is to look at what type of Wales we are trying to build. We only have to look at the history of the Welsh Assembly, which earlier this year changed its name to Welsh Parliament to reflect its increased powers. <em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">Since its establishment in 1999 it has presided over cuts in many areas, health and education</em>, whilst always presenting themselves as better than London, the results were either the same or nor far off.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">On this basis an independent Wales run by either Labour or Plaid Cymru would simply show us more of the same with no real change. More important than independence, would be the policies put forward – whether they are in the interests of working class people or the interests of the rich.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;">The key has to be forging a new left workers’ party in Wales to put forward a genuine Socialist Alternative for Wales, to hold the Welsh politicians particularly Labour and Plaid Cymru to account, and to aim to build and campaign on policies in the interests of ordinary workers and young people throughout Wales, for a Socialist Wales as part of a voluntary federation alongside England, Scotland & Ireland as a step towards building a Socialist Europe</span></p><h1 itemprop="headline" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><br /></h1>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-19588912209539295492020-12-18T12:00:00.000+00:002020-12-18T12:00:09.170+00:00The death agony of the Fourth International<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ULBnkIDiBm0FlZWPdXzL153uquRizW35ENfmiIxDBXVOuAYtTgL8DL_wkVeXQW-5T9HBu3sB3_diFmk2Ct68H8VWX-MtN2TPpjHPQJMSt48B6fSMIPiOXkmgItjO3b_5vAgsJvL1EVQ/s334/Logo_of_the_Fourth_International.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="270" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ULBnkIDiBm0FlZWPdXzL153uquRizW35ENfmiIxDBXVOuAYtTgL8DL_wkVeXQW-5T9HBu3sB3_diFmk2Ct68H8VWX-MtN2TPpjHPQJMSt48B6fSMIPiOXkmgItjO3b_5vAgsJvL1EVQ/s320/Logo_of_the_Fourth_International.svg.png" /></a></div><br /> I have recently read 'The death agony of the Fourth International - and the tasks of Trotskyists today' A wordy title for a book to say the least. For those familiar it is an obvious play on the full title of the transitional program by Leon Trotsky - The death agony of capitalism and the tasks of the Fourth International.<p></p><p>Written by Workers Power - now known as Red Flag in 1983 it is a very good explanation of the demise of the Fourth Internationals origins and its ultimate demise. I do not agree with their conclusions in the book which led of course to them renaming their international the League for a Fifth International, however their insights into the Fourth International itself are illuminating and something that all Trotskyists need to back to and tackle today as the issues have not been resolved.</p><p>They start quite correctly by looking at how the Fourth International came to exist in the first place. initially a tendency within the Communist International and therefore the mass communist parties that had developed after the Russian revolution of 1917, arguing correctly at the time to reform the International and only after the huge betrayals of Stalin and by extension the International is the rise of Hitler and the Nazis in Germany was a break and a new international required.</p><p>This historical juncture though was marked by both mass social democratic parties and mass or semi mass communist parties throughout the world and with a few notable exceptions, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Bolivia which much smaller agitational groups around the new international, struggling with perspectives and orientation, with groups of varying characteristics involved initially, including many centrist groups which later parted ways.</p><p> This was a necessary break and with a figure like Trotsky to coalesce around able to give it a theoretical backbone the international was able to develop its own identity, but with both the assisation of Trotsky and a changed world post war in which his perspectives were not borne out. The post war boom of capitalism in the west and the expansion of Stalinism, meant that the fourth international began very quickly to loose its way. in essence, it forgot why it existed!</p><p>It became a power struggle of various factions, no figure had the political authority to carry it, so organisational maneuvers became the order of the day, from the antics of Cannon and his interference in the British section, even before the founding congress in 1938 to the split and subsequent reunification of the International secretariat and the International committee. </p><p>This has been the legacy of not just those organisations directly descended from the fourth international but has been inbedded in the trotskyist movement throughout its history. Most recently seen in the most obvious way by the moves of the refounded CWI.</p><p> A movement specifically set up to inject democracy back into the workers movement has been severely lacking in democracy from the offset. The Bolsheviks of which all Trotskyists would agree is the basis for their organisation, prior to the rise of Stalinism was an open and democratic organisation with a thriving and living internal life with open disucssion and differences, which helped the organisation truly become the revolutionary and democratic force it was, a lesson that the Trotskyist movement is sorely lacking and strongly needs to relearn in order to build a dynamic international capable of the task of transforming society.<br /></p>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-32168883634850843782020-12-11T12:00:00.001+00:002020-12-11T12:00:10.567+00:00Thoughts on AEW Full Gear<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirBYzqrrZ_YDi3-B3BNR6YnYFbIhyomqjM3Miq2AMVaYU-4TMQ4XOJopfaQtW4SMJhyphenhyphenMzoX1ldtyHyzS9nmaDecLD433F19WUIaqQ7tI7amrn-hx5vWwfuzA9X5fig4TG8bWj03GHI09E/s495/330px-AEW_Full_Gear_PPV_Poster.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="330" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirBYzqrrZ_YDi3-B3BNR6YnYFbIhyomqjM3Miq2AMVaYU-4TMQ4XOJopfaQtW4SMJhyphenhyphenMzoX1ldtyHyzS9nmaDecLD433F19WUIaqQ7tI7amrn-hx5vWwfuzA9X5fig4TG8bWj03GHI09E/s320/330px-AEW_Full_Gear_PPV_Poster.jpg" /></a></div><br />This review is a bit late, better late than never. But AEW recently held its Full Gear event, which was a fantastic show. <br /><p></p><p>The buy in match was an unusual one. Simply because the window to the show proper was an NWA women's title match with Serena Deeb defending against Alison Kay, it was a decent opener with Deeb coming out on top only to be confronted by Thunder Rosa at the end who recently lost the title to Deeb. Whilst this all centred on the NWA Women's championship it does suggest that all three of them are not done with AEW yet, and perhaps a deepening of a working relationship between AEW and NWA.</p><div><br /></div><div>Those show proper opened with a bang. The tournament final for the #1 contednership of the AEW World championship. Kenny Omega vs. Adam Page.</div><div><br /></div><div>This match could have easily main evented the card and did not fail to deliver. A real back and forth of equals with a fantastic ending. Both were still in the fight Page was desperately attempting to counter Omega's One Winged Angel, however as soon as it was hit, the match was over. Great in so many ways. Omega, was the right person to win, Page was kept strong and needs to be, he is positioned as the future of AEW and also the One Winged Angel is still that most rare thing in wrestling. A protected finisher.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next up we saw the Dark Order's John Silver taking on Orange Cassidy. Silver is absolutely gold as a personality, this his by far his biggest singles match to date so it is interesting to see what he can do. This was the match i didn't realise I wanted. The match started off playing on the comedy strength of both competitors and was brilliant but when the match got going, it got going and both could really go, a fantastic match over all with Cassidy coming out with the win. </div><div><br /></div><div>Next up Cody <b>Rhodes </b>defended the TNT championship against Darby Allin. It was a fantastic match with an old school mentality to the match, Cody just keeps getting better an better as a character and in ring worker. In a very solid match up a very surprising victory for Darby Allin and Cody graciously handed over the title to a very emotional Allin. </div><div><br /></div><div>This led to Taz coming out to cut a promo on both before Brian Cage and Ricky Starks attacked both from behind. A great use of two top performers who did not feature on the card. Setting up a future angle.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next up was the AEW World women's championship match with Hikaru Shida defending against Nyla Rose. A solid match with Shida coming out victorious, disappointing simply because I believe that Nyla Rose should completely dominate the division for a long time.</div><div><br /></div><div>The tag team championship match was up next with FTR defending against the Young Bucks with the stipulation that if the Young Bucks do not win they will never challenge for the tag titles again. This is not the same as when Cody won did the same, there is no likely to be a secondary tag title so I cannot see them loosing, likely to be a count out of disqualification win as I don't see them picking up the titles either. </div><div><br /></div><div>This was a great show case of tag team wrestling throughout. A great match with the urgency of the stakes showing through. Battling through injury the Young Bucks picked up the victory in dramatic fashion, there will clearly be a further match between the bucks and FTR and this is not a bad thing at all.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next up was a cinematic match involving the originator of the cinematic match. Matt Hardy vs Sammy Guevara in an Elite Deletion match. Cinematic matches are obviously very different. This one did not fail to deliver, with cameos from Private Party, Santana and Ortiz, Hurricane Helms and Gangrel. The closing moments had references to recent botches, Sammy went through a table and cut the back off his head, then Hardy to him in the face with a chair a reverse of what had happened recently. A great addition to the cinematic match catalogue.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next up was Jericho vs MJF for the rights to join the Inner Circle. This had to end in a win for MJF it is the only logical ending with MJF joining the Inner Circle to see what happens next. There was an ingenious finish, Jericho caught using a baseball bat, though he didn't and actually was setup by MJF who then used the distraction to role Jericho up for the win, which was the perfect finish for this match.</div><div><br /></div><div>Jericho then announced that both MJF and Wardlow had joined the Inner Circle. It was disappointing to see Wardlow join as well, I thought it would have been better for MJF TO Beat him down along with Jericho and Hager and for him to subsequently break out on his own, maybe they are playing to long game with this one though.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now it was time for the main event. Jon Moxley defending the AEW World championship against Eddie Kingston. Kingston is a veteran who up until now has not had a run in a major promotion befitting his talents. With this taking place as as no dq submission match and knowing the history of both in such stipulations I was looking forward to this match. Brutal is the only word you could use to describe this hard-core affair. It ended when Kingston quit whilst in a choke hold utilising barbed wired. This raised both competitors, Morley has not been top dog as champion and Kingston relatively new to the promotion both had their stocks raised by the end of the night.</div><div><br /></div><div>Overall a fantastic show, I think it really is a question of quality over quantity. AEW only have 4 ppvs per year and as a result they can build storyline and put everything into them. A great show for sure.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-67781536215095173802020-12-04T12:00:00.001+00:002020-12-04T12:00:07.175+00:00Old Tin Works Road<p> I had planned to publish the essays I had written here, however the first piece of work I have submitted would not make any sense to a reader without the background information and reading materials so there is little point. However one part of the work. A description of a street I am familiar with can stand on its own.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSx9-ryEBQ-gqwUx11lfAzQImC6cI7-h846cfD7zvyK-RAMq9PRmNU57reOI4pzTzL7a4AiTztprQwu-ALgFUHllxcrWJ7DRBZb0w2YyToYD4kPlPY_OQqV88PLtMb-04pO_7HxUweiXg/s256/21768.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSx9-ryEBQ-gqwUx11lfAzQImC6cI7-h846cfD7zvyK-RAMq9PRmNU57reOI4pzTzL7a4AiTztprQwu-ALgFUHllxcrWJ7DRBZb0w2YyToYD4kPlPY_OQqV88PLtMb-04pO_7HxUweiXg/s0/21768.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Old Tin Works Road, connecting Treforest to Rhydyfelin
in South Wales, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>also connects people. As
the name suggests it is the site of a former tin works long since gone
representing the industrial decline. It has no houses or shops simply an
allotment and a noticeably quiet scrap yard. The street runs parallel with the
main road, it is predominantly pedestrianised, the people found here are generally
either dog walkers, older people or families out for a walk or younger
individuals traveling between the connected areas avoiding the busy main road.
What connects everyone is the isolation and quiet they have sought, they have
this in common.</span></p>
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<![endif]--></p>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-34255531368625759352020-11-27T12:00:00.003+00:002020-11-27T12:00:04.127+00:00Thoughts on NJPW Power Struggle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIQGzBnN6G0onPgETjiBLJkwkkKPrzvHYqVU8y8GXAYQVbz14mDR4dsRheSOO_7SkbO3RqDlWOp47MNq7psOte2Z3CZQcEX7Krr6YV6vHn1BJxMI9Q2a59spcX9o8h3H_5fzr8Q-m2xMw/s329/NJPW_Power_Struggle.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="158" data-original-width="329" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIQGzBnN6G0onPgETjiBLJkwkkKPrzvHYqVU8y8GXAYQVbz14mDR4dsRheSOO_7SkbO3RqDlWOp47MNq7psOte2Z3CZQcEX7Krr6YV6vHn1BJxMI9Q2a59spcX9o8h3H_5fzr8Q-m2xMw/s320/NJPW_Power_Struggle.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Recently NJPW held its Power Struggle event on the 7th November.<div><br /></div><div>The first match up saw 'provisional champion' for the KOPW 2020 Toru Yank defend against Zack Sabre Jr. The KOPW is an interesting concept as it features non-standard matches which generally do not feature in NJPW, however rather than it being a division where we would see things like ladder matches, table matches or cage matches, we instead get some weird and minor stipulations. This match bring no exception, being contested as a 'no corner pads' match. This could have been a very interesting stipulation, though it did not really come into play.<div><br /></div><div>The match itself highlighted the technical style of Zack and the comedy styling of Yano equally and was a very decent opener match, in the end Toru Yano picked up the victory after tying ZSJ's shoe laces together around the guide rail after he had Yano in a leg lock around the rail.</div><div><br /></div><div>The second match up was Shingo Takagi challenging Minoru Suzuki for the NEVER openweight championship. We have seen this particular match up several times recently. A hard hitting strong style affair, this time with Takagi coming out on top as the new NEVER openweight champion.</div><div><br /></div><div>The third match up on the card saw Obama take in the Great O Khan, a match really as a placeholder toward Obama vs Osprey. Which was set up for Wrestle Kingdom after the match. The match itself was OK, there is not a lot more to say about it other than that. Okada took the victory.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next up was Kenta defending his briefcase for a shot at the IWGP United States championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi. A solid match with Kenya coming out of top retaining the title shot. The only question really is when will the title shot be? John Morley is unlikely to travel to Japan anytime soon to defend the title, hopefully at Wrestle Kingdom, but with travel restrictions still likely to be in effect it is unlikely.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the semi main event, in another defence of a briefcase, Kota Ibushi defended his shot at the IWGP heavyweight championship. For the first time in history the briefcase changed hands. A completely unexpected twist i was absolutely convinced that this would have been an Ibushi retention!</div><div><br /></div><div>In the main event Tetsyu Naito defended both IWGP heavyweight and intercontinental championship against Evil, to determine who the other participant would be in the Wrestle Kingdom 15 main event.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /></div></div></div>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-28637832721908051982020-11-20T12:00:00.006+00:002020-11-20T12:00:03.033+00:00Transport for Wales nationalised - Kick privateers out of the rail industry!<p> </p><div class="salt-articlebody">
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-o8pE2DqfC8SJZEpCceIiQpVyFJsg8kJqUozqcWg9Z-nhg3Ub2RkSjoix83npPar5qywoMRLdSG1Oh9dPDz9_VyXLCVQbqWtSNJUhrjLrKos94jlPD4mJdPm7SwmFMDwRe7uGQkgAXo/s2048/26003736732_b32bf35be1_o-2048x1365.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-o8pE2DqfC8SJZEpCceIiQpVyFJsg8kJqUozqcWg9Z-nhg3Ub2RkSjoix83npPar5qywoMRLdSG1Oh9dPDz9_VyXLCVQbqWtSNJUhrjLrKos94jlPD4mJdPm7SwmFMDwRe7uGQkgAXo/s320/26003736732_b32bf35be1_o-2048x1365.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />This article was originally published on the website of <a href="https://www.socialistalternative.net/2020/11/04/transport-for-wales-nationalised-kick-privateers-out-of-the-rail-industry/">Socialist Alternative</a>. Transport for Wales is to be nationalised as of February. This
unfortunately was not a deliberate act by the Senydd (Welsh parliament)
but rather was a result of the break down of bailout talks with Keolis
Amey who have decided to walk away despite having received £267m in
subsidies from the Senydd in just 2 years in which they held the
franchise.<p></p>
<p>The Welsh government does not have the power to nationalise
industries and rail unions have also stated that under current UK law it
is not possible for governments to step in permanently. What we have
instead is that the Welsh government will only take control for the
remainder of the current franchise term,still a significant 13 years to
go. </p>
<p>The crisis erupted during the covid-19 pandemic, with falling
passenger numbers the logic of capitalism began to unravel the franchise
as it became unprofitable and the bailouts offered were not enough to
satisfy Keolis Amey as they decided to walk away. Scandalously though,
they have not walked away completely, they have walked away only from
passenger services which have become loss making. However, as part of
the original franchise deal which began in 2018, the ownership of the
tracks and infrastructure of the valley lines (the main commuter lines
into Cardiff from surrounding towns,) previously owned by the Welsh
government, was handed over to Keolis Amey. They have decided and been
allowed to retain ownership of the valley lines tracks as they still see
a profit to be made. With big infrastructure projects still to be
completed as part of the ‘South Wales Metro’ this side of the business
will certainly remain a profitable asset for them.</p>
<p>This is a continuation of the neoliberal ‘privatise the profits,
nationalise the losses’ policy that bailed the bankers out while the
rest of us were made to live with austerity. The scraps are handed back
to governments to pick up the bill and provide the necessary
investment.</p>
<p>Keolis Amey took over the franchise with huge fanfare The previous
franchise holders Arriva had become hated due to poor services, late
running trains and cancellations with rising fares. However Keolis Amey
were able to achieve what many people had thought impossible: more late
trains and cancellations than had happened previously, in some cases
several trains in the same route concurrently meaning half hourly
services became 2 hourly services! As a regular passenger myself I
witnessed chaotic scenes of rail staff themselves unable to find out if
services were running or not!</p>
<p>As things stand nationalisation was only able to take place under the
creations of ‘operators of last resort’. This means that with no
provider company willing to run a loss making service, the Welsh
government was able to step in. The implication of this is that as soon
as passenger numbers begin to rise back to previous levels, the service
will once again be privatised to be run by a parasitic multinational
once again.</p>
<p>The time is now for the Labour government in Cardiff Bay to carry out
permanent nationalisation of the rail franchise along with all other
public services – but it shouldn’t be the current ineffective management
which are left in charge. It should be under the control of workers in
the rail industry, and people who use the service, who make decisions.
If the Westminster government tries to block this, there should be a
campaign linking both unions like the RMT, ASLEF AND TSSA in the rail
industry service users in the wider community to demand not only
nationalisation on a permanent basis but a service which can allow for
increased wages, lower fares and better investment in trains and
infrastructure. Wales is in desperate need of this, it has 10% of all
rail lines in the UK, but currently only 3% of investment. If you remove
the need to pay out dividends and profits to shareholders, then It is
perfectly possible to do all of this and highlights why private
companies have no place in public services. </p>
</div>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-5927905001817693962020-11-13T12:00:00.001+00:002020-11-13T12:00:06.729+00:00Thoughts of WWE Hell in a Cell<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguNkH6ngfymlj3zSS24DCoOh6BL7L9jPIB7ACDZOjnf9XsEqpmOOfy99actAAL5Cx_w9H72GA8p7iqPc8skivTmwc1dRmUKdCKXxSaln0zY_jSINn13TR0yNhfya1z3Q-O4cbYRqA-pz4/s600/Hell_in_a_Cell_2020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguNkH6ngfymlj3zSS24DCoOh6BL7L9jPIB7ACDZOjnf9XsEqpmOOfy99actAAL5Cx_w9H72GA8p7iqPc8skivTmwc1dRmUKdCKXxSaln0zY_jSINn13TR0yNhfya1z3Q-O4cbYRqA-pz4/w100-h200/Hell_in_a_Cell_2020.jpg" width="100" /></a></div>Recently WWE Hell in a Cell took place, with several high profile cell matches in the card it was <br />definitely one to watch. <br /><p></p><p>The pre-show match up saw R-Truth take on Drew Gulak, R-Truth's gimmick and possession of the 24/7 championship has become very stale, though in ring he can still go and the match itself was decent. The only downside to it was the R-Truth retained the title and then fled the ring as everyone chased him down for the 24/7 championship.</p><div><br /></div><div>The first match on the main card was a surprising match up. I had assumed that Roman Reigns vs Jay USA would have been the main event. The first ever Hell in a Cell I quit match. For the Universal Championship and the rights to be the 'tribal chief'. Annoyingly it was the red version of the cell in use tonight.</div><div><br /></div><div>A hard hitting brutal match, this time around Us got a lot more offense in that their last encounter whilst still dominated by Reigns. There was an interested finish where Jimmy Uso came to the bring to plead for mercy and when Reigns turned on him, this is where Jay Uso quit, to save his twin brother not himself. It seems like as they have to follow Reigns as the tribal chief we are now set for a new Heel faction.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next up was Elias vs Jeff Hardy in a regular match. A nonsensical story line if ever there was one. Ella's blames Hardy for running him over, but in his absence it had been proved that Hardy had been setup by Sheamus, so why isn't Ella's going after Sheamus?</div><div><br /></div><div>A short match which ended with Hardy being disqualified after a guitar shot to Elias revenge for the guitar shot from Elias on the previous Raw. This story line is obviously to be continued.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next up we saw Otis defend his Money in the Bank contract against The Miz. I never thought that Otis should have one the MITB ladder match to begin with, so was hoping to The Mix, who is under utilised in the main event would pick up the victory. </div><div> </div><div>Next up was the Smackdown women's title with Bayley defending against Sasha Banks. This was easily the best match on the card. A hard hitting cell match with the inclusion of kendo sticks. Sasha came out on top which was the right way to go with this, a lot to be made out of this story line going forward. Sasha has never successfully defended a title and this is perfect fodder for Bayley to use.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next was an impromptu match after a challenge was laid down on the preshow for a member of the Hurt Business to face a member of retribution which saw Bobby Lashley taking on slapjack. There is not a lot to say about this, so I won't.</div><div> </div><div>This took us to the main event, Randy Orton took on Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship. Another great match between the two which saw Orton come out as a 14 champion at the end of the night. I would have preferred for Drew to retain cementing his position in the main event and moving on to other challenges. Drew vs AJ Styles would be a fantastic feud. With Orton taking the title it looks as if the feud is due to continue this time with McIntyre chasing. <br /></div>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-71315259885459027532020-11-06T09:53:00.002+00:002020-11-06T09:53:00.309+00:00Wales in further lockdown<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwBqttAZW1h9kwmTx9JTHfaBPSCVoeLPo03pvayJjj35eAsQlykVPPfN55Dn8grk4k92Y6MSvnwdXYCdrVyOLD2lLbhpUHqVvJUAFrRtdqaq0-31-eNL_vtS4b9vCauu-gKPzz27aw0XE/s1754/mark-drakeford.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1240" data-original-width="1754" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwBqttAZW1h9kwmTx9JTHfaBPSCVoeLPo03pvayJjj35eAsQlykVPPfN55Dn8grk4k92Y6MSvnwdXYCdrVyOLD2lLbhpUHqVvJUAFrRtdqaq0-31-eNL_vtS4b9vCauu-gKPzz27aw0XE/s320/mark-drakeford.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />This article was originally published on the website of <a href="https://www.socialistalternative.net/2020/10/22/wales-in-further-lockdown/">Socialist Alternative</a> <br /><p></p><p>Wales is about to go into its second national lockdown known as a
‘firebreak lockdown’ which has come after local lockdowns throughout
large parts of both North and South Wales.</p>
<p>The intention is to ensure that we stem the tide now, and ensure that
Christmas is ‘saved for everyone’. Immediately the actions of the Welsh
government fail at this on the first hurdle as workers who are unable
to work in areas of the economy who face temporary closure will
potentially only receive a percentage of their pay, perfect timing to
ensure a bleak financial Christmas!</p>
<p>The new lockdown measures are nonsensical and ineffective by the very
nature of the exemptions. Mark Drakeford, Labour First Minister of
Wales announced As of Friday 23<sup>rd</sup> at 6pm the following rules will be in force until Monday until Monday 9<sup>th</sup> November.</p>
<ul><li>All non-essential shops, café’s pubs’ restaurants, gyms,
community centres, libraries and places of worship along with other
similar venues must close.</li><li> Everyone must work from home if they can</li><li>All indoor and outdoor gatherings with people you do not live with are banned</li><li>You
can only leave your house for a limited number of reasons such as for
exercise, for essential shopping or to provide care or support for
someone.</li><li>You cannot enter or leave Wales during this time without a reasonable excuse</li></ul>
<p>Fixed penalty fines of £60 rising to £120 will also be in force for anyone caught breaching the rules.</p>
<p><strong>Covid cases on the rise </strong></p>
<p>However despite these tighter restrictions, schools will reopen after the half-term break from the 2<sup>nd</sup>
of November, though only those in year 8 and under, who otherwise would
need child care. Universities will also remain open continuing to offer
a mix of online and in-person education. A bizarre situation as these
are the two areas in which the virus has been spreading the most.</p>
<p>Wales currently has 1,091.1 cases per 100,000 of the population with
Merthyr and Rhondda Cynon Taf local authorities rising to 2,120.1 and
1,822.5, respectively. Both these local authorities combined make up
much of the Cwm Taf health board. Comparing to Manchester, which has
been at the height of the tensions across England with a rate of
424/100,000 shows the dire need to get a grip on the virus. Cases are on
the rise, on October the 20<sup>th</sup> Wales recorded more than 1,000 new cases on a single day.</p>
<p>There is no clear reporting on cases within schools in Wales, which
begs the question, without adequate reporting, how can you determine it
is ok for schools to stay open? Some local authorities have not been
willing to comment on cases within schools (Merthyr, for example, has
not) but those that have beenshow a dire picture. Rhondda Cynon Taf
local authority revealed that there were confirmed cases in 53 schools,
but this was announced on the 5<sup>th</sup> October with no update to this since.</p>
<p>Outbreaks of the virus within hospitals have severely impacted the
ability to function. Royal Glamorgan saw an outbreak with 127 cases
recorded within the hospital itself. The firebreak lockdown is being
implemented partly because the NHS can no longer cope with the strain.
The ability to handle the pandemic has been exacerbated by decades of
underfunding and cuts from the Labour-led Welsh government – just prior
to the outbreak they had attempted to close the A&E department at
the Royal Glamorgan hospital!</p>
<p><strong>Lessons not learned</strong></p>
<p>Lessons have not been learnt from the first national lockdown down or
the localised lockdowns which followed. This will only temporarily
alleviate the virus. Just like previous lockdowns, no measures have been
put in place to care for the vulnerable suffering from isolation either
due to mental or physical health. Workers will suffer further through
loss of pay. The instruction of “work from home if you can”, is not a
decision that workers can make for themselves, but a decision left with
employers without any oversight, and there are already cases of workers
forced to work in unsafe conditions. Even though the majority of parents
will want their children in school, of course with the proper safety
measures in place, it’s significant that it is only children in Year 8
and below who will remain in school. This is done with the economy in
mind – so that parents of younger children can go to work – instead of
what is most safe. Meanwhile, those who are facing GCSE exams next year
will suffer by not being in school. </p>
<p><strong>What is the answer?</strong></p>
<p>Despite all the announcements by Mark Drakeford, the one thing that
was noticeable by its absence was any reference to track and trace. This
temporary lockdown should be used as an opportunity to bring track and
trace up to scratch to avoid further cycles of lockdowns by effectively
tracking the spread of the virus so that outbreaks can be isolated.</p>
<p>The labour movement must develop a programme which will genuinely
find a route out of the current pandemic as it is clear that
politicians, whose main aim is to keep the economy open as much as
possible, are incapable of doing so. This must include democratic
workers’ control over what measures are taken, including at a local
level. This must include demands for real and meaningful track and
trace, not farmed off to private companies more interested in making a
profit, but dealt with directly by the NHS, given all the resources
needed to develop this as quickly and as extensively as necessary.
Unions within schools should have oversight on the safety measures in
place to ensure that schools are organised in a safe way without
putting students and staff at risk.</p>
<p>It should be workers themselves who decide what work is essential and
what work is not, who can work from home and who cannot, rather than
employers without any democratic accountability. Where it is deemed that
a section of workers are not essential, they should be guaranteed their
full wages and should not be forced to pay the cost of the mishandling
of the pandemic by politicians. </p>
<p>The pandemic, it is clear, may be with us for some time. It is
equally clear that it can be handled very differently, in the interests
of ordinary people and not the interests of the bank balances of the
rich. The above steps, not only would ensure that we deal with the
ongoing pandemic in a more effective way, but also pose the question of
how society could actually be run in the future, who actually keeps the
world running, the employers or the essential workers, and do we
actually need the employers at the top or could ordinary people run
society in our own interest and the interest of the planet?</p>
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<a class="salt-footerhome" href="https://www.socialistalternative.net">
</a>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-21416001775807192702020-10-30T10:18:00.001+00:002020-10-30T10:18:01.821+00:00Thoughts on Impact Wrestling Bound for Glory<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFSkD8mKZYNbB-8otgKlVHv7zjcdvEpg8PMbONF6wtxpZZmWRFxi920FDrlnQBu9ZtaIiwwEGHpBKjjTKMNRMhZsX0zKp4jJ_CbZZC5stLBVPQ5_HwU1I-Pj6JB1GML_hB51THApnpptI/s540/Impact_BFG_2020_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="360" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFSkD8mKZYNbB-8otgKlVHv7zjcdvEpg8PMbONF6wtxpZZmWRFxi920FDrlnQBu9ZtaIiwwEGHpBKjjTKMNRMhZsX0zKp4jJ_CbZZC5stLBVPQ5_HwU1I-Pj6JB1GML_hB51THApnpptI/s320/Impact_BFG_2020_poster.jpg" /></a></div><p>Impact Wrestling Bound for Glory took place recently, the biggest event of the year for Impact. The card was as follows.</p><p><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Rohit Raju vs Chris Bey vs Jordaynne Grace vs TJP vs Trey vs Willie Mack</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">20 man Gauntlet match</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Moose vs. EC3 in a cinematic match</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ken Shamrock vs Eddie Edwards</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">The North vs Motor City Machine Guns vs The Good Brothers vs Ace Austin & Madman Fulton</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Su Yung vs. Deonna Purrazzo</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Eric Young vs Rich Swann</span><br /></div><p> </p><p>First
up was the X Division match, with 6 competitors this was perfect for an
Ultimate X match which unfortunately it was not so immediately I was
disappointed before the match even took place. This was a missed
opportunity for Impact to return to their unique selling points.</p><div>As
a result I struggled to even be interested in the match, there was
nothing special to it, no particularly big spots that you would expect
from the X division, the only thing of note was the cowardly heel antics
of Rohit Raju who left the ring for the others to fight it out and
eventually stole a win after TJP hit his finisher to retain the title.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next
up was the gauntlet match, this one I was interested in. The winner
getting a title match of their choosing and with the added stakes that
if Heath or Rhino win Heath gets a contract but if they don't Rhino is
fired. Only half of the 20 participants were announced beforehand so
surprise appearances to be expected. The biggest of which was a
returning James Storm.</div><div><br /></div><div>You had some bizarre
spots like the farcical self elimination of Hernandez who went after
Fallah Bah, who could just as easily gone under the ropes. The final
came down to Rhino and Sami Callihan, with Rhino picking up the win
which secured both his job and a contract for Heath and earning a title
shot, you would imagine you would see the duo challenge for the tag
titles.</div><div><br /></div><div>The third match was a cinematic match,
Impact Wrestling being the originator of the cinematic match, but of
course the brains behind it, Matt Hardy and Jeremy Borash are no longer
with the company so it would be interesting to see what they could
produce. Moose took on EC3.</div><div><br /></div><div>This story line did
seem suited to a cinematic match l, with flashbacks to EC3's past which
he is trying to escape preventing him from picking up the win and Moose
leaving victorious.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ken Shamrock took on Eddie
Edwards next. The match was a hard hitting affair which saw Shamrock
pick up a submission win after interference from Sami Callihan, overall a
decent match.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next was the match which I was
most interested in a fatal four way for the tag team titles. However
before the match started Alex Shelley of the Motor City Machine Guns was
taken out meaning Chris Sabin had to go solo. The match was good with a
good back and forth pace with all teams. However I kept waiting for
Shelley to return to the ring which did not happen and The North picked
up the victory at a surprise moment to regain the titles.</div><div><br /></div><div>In
the semi main event we saw Donna Parazzo defend the knockouts
championship against Su Young this match definitely exceeded my
expectations it was a good match which ultimately saw Yung becoming the
new knockouts champion.</div><div><br /></div><div>The main event saw
world champion Eric Young defending against Rich Swann. Young was
criminally under utilised or should I say not utilised during his run in
WWE. His character work is second to none and could easily had a great
run in some mid card feuds and him now being a main event in Impact
Wrestling is certainly not out of place, particularly with him being a
TNA original.</div><div><br /></div><div>The match itself was good and
certainly played to the in ring strengths of Young as opposed to Swann
which better suits a main event spot anyway.</div><div><br /></div><div>Rich
Swann came out on top becoming the new Impact Wrestling world
champion with a Phoenix splash. A good match overall with the exception
of the ending. I don't think Eric Young should have lost the title any
time soon.</div><div><br /></div><div>Overall a good show from Impact, but
generally I have a disconnect with what they are putting out, something
I feel that slot of people suffer with, I think it is a combination of a
variety of factors, the lack of invested fans, which although as a
result of the Covid19 pandemic is certainly not new. The loss of known
stars, which is beginning to change with returns, debuts and building up
the wrestlers they do have, but I think the biggest issue is the
commentary. Without commentators like Mike Tenay and Jeremy Borash or
even Don West and Tazz there is a problem, even fresh faces might
brighten things up but I struggle with Don Callis and Josh Matthews, I
just find they miss the mark.</div>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-64818334770417258112020-10-23T12:00:00.001+01:002020-10-23T12:00:04.143+01:00Thoughts of NJPW G1 Climax Final<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_T6JrA9eTyoB0x11lMOFazxLmifdUv92Rqvo1yX2tWs8xn0qBbea2HDED_wNsLngFrDpBF3wxklyB_bHBz4cCh428WpT4ci5x9-pkmxkFbAyzUbLC-suNJCWoxfhtsS_42vrCN7nhDd8/s527/Logo_pc.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="241" data-original-width="527" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_T6JrA9eTyoB0x11lMOFazxLmifdUv92Rqvo1yX2tWs8xn0qBbea2HDED_wNsLngFrDpBF3wxklyB_bHBz4cCh428WpT4ci5x9-pkmxkFbAyzUbLC-suNJCWoxfhtsS_42vrCN7nhDd8/s320/Logo_pc.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />This years G1 Climax tournament from New Japan Pro Wrestling has just concluded. The round robin tournament split into two blocks, with the winner of each block meeting in the final.<p></p><p>The tournament itself was adapted from recent due directly as a result of covid29 restrictions and was better as a result! With Less matches taking place each night, with only one preliminary match prior to the tournament matches, considering that there are 19 nights of the tournament, this slimming down of the tournament and eliminating the multi-man prelimiary matches was a welcome change.</p><p>The tournament has some great matches, it also had some not so great matches as well, it struggled as it has in recent years with too many entrants who you know have no chance of winning or even coming close to winning being involved. </p><p>The final night, prelimary matches and the final itself set up future story lines, interestingly the prelimary matches, in my view were more interesting than the final. The card was as follows</p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">1. Chaos (Toru Yano, Yoshi-Hashi, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto) vs. Suzuki-gun (Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., Douki & El Desperado)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">2. LIJ (Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi) vs. Suzuki-gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Sukuki)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">3. Taguchi Japan (Master Wato, Jeff Cobb, Juice Robinson & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bullet Club (Gedo, Taiji Ishimori, Kenta & Jay White)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">4. Chaos (Sho and Kazuchika Okada) vs. Great-O-Khan and Will Ospreay</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">5. LIJ (Bushi and Tetsuya Naito) vs. Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi and Evil</span>)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">6. G1 Climax Final Sanada vs. Kota Ibushi </span><br /></div><p>This was a standard multi-man match under card from New Japan. The first match up pitting Chaos up against Suzuki-gun epitomised this, but it did also include some story line development, Suzuki-gun picked up the win but at the end Douki held up the 6-man tag titles indicated that there will be a challenge from him and Suzuki-gun against Chaos for the titles, a much needed focus on the 6-man titles which have completed dropped off the radar.</p><p>The second match was a hard hitting brawl, although a tag team match it centred around the rivalry between Shingo and Suzuki and seemingly set up a future match the Suzuki's Never Open weight Championship. The third match was just a classic multi-man match from New Japan and there is very little to say about it, other than it did seem to show case Master Wato a little, which seems to be perfectly timed for the upcoming Best of the Super Juniors.</p><p>The next match was the most interesting, not the match itself, but what it represented With a The Great-O-Khan returning from excursion in the UK and teaming with Ospreay who had turned on Okada, in process looking to setup a new faction. Hopefully something more comes from this. The Chaos stable has been around for years and is completely stale and something new needs to arise in its place.</p><p>Next up was a tag team match the Bullet Club up against LIJ, continuing the feud between Naito and Evil, this was run of the mill, but Evil stood tall and the end, likely to be setting up a title match between the two at Power Struggle.</p><p>The final was a break back and forth match between Ibushi and Sanada, the only thing that it suffered from was that it was completely predictable. It was obvious that Ibushi was always going to be the winner as as good as Sanada is, he has not been positioned to main event Wrestle Kingdom and that did take away from the match, knowing who the winner would be. <br /></p>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-61231457393588947142020-10-16T12:00:00.006+01:002020-10-16T12:00:05.043+01:00The rise of Welsh nationalism<p> This article was original written in October 2019 but has been unpublished until now.</p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">In the last 6 months there has now been three
sizeable demonstrations calling for an independent Wales, first in Cardiff,
then Caernarfon and most recently we saw over 5,000 march through Merthyr. The
motivations of those involved are quite mixed, this of course though is
happening with the backdrop of a crisis in British politics after years of
seemingly endless austerity. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Large areas of Wales had not managed yet to recover
from large scale deindustrialisation and privatisation from the 1980’s and
early 1990’s leading to the loss of many large industrial and manufacturing
work places. This even before the austerity measures of the financial crisis starting
in 2008 has led to a feeling that Wales is getting a raw deal, as with many
other working class areas throughout the UK this is very true. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The crisis in Westminster politics, the austerity
measures and the prospect of a No deal Brexit which will hit working class
people particularly hard. There is also a disconnect between Corbyn and Welsh
Labour with many Labour politicians distancing themselves in words and actions
from the policies of Corbyn. Corbyn’s main challenger who failed to topple in
him Owen Smith is of course the MP for the Pontypridd constituency in Wales and
the led Labour led Welsh Assembly and Labour controlled Welsh councils have
been more than happy unfortunately to pass on austerity measures. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">These factors combined has brought about a huge rise
in the idea on an independent Wales. Previously support for independence has
typically hovered around the 10%, recent opinion polls have shown that 41%
either support Welsh independence or to some extent further autonomy for
Wales.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since then three sizeable
demonstrations have taken place and recent reports from the Office of National
Statistics show that the Welsh economy is growing 0.1% faster that the UK
economy as a whole. Albeit starting from a lower base rate. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The question that we must ask as socialists is what
type of Wales do we want. The demonstrations for example have been called under
the name ‘All under one banner’ which has taken its name from the organisation
in Scotland. This is a mistaken road that many will be taken down. If we talk
about independence for Wales in and of itself in isolation of politics then it
will mean more of the same. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">The Welsh Assembly has now existed for 20 years
throughout that time Labour has been in power including one term in coalition
with Plaid Cymru. In many respects though this has not helped improve the lives
of ordinary Welsh people as the assembly have presided over hospital closures
and funding cuts to education, as well as mergers in further and higher
education resulting in job cuts and lowering educational standards. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">This is symptomatic of the problems of the movement
and the official wing in the form of Yes Cymru, the would-be leaders of an
independent Wales would be those either from Labour or Plaid Cymru who cannot
not see past the capitalist system and therefore will offer little in the way
of real change for ordinary people. whilst it is clear that many involved in
the movement are actively looking for a working class alternative for Wales.
Former Wales rugby International Eddie Butler said at the demonstration in
Merthyr <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“This today is not entirely
political – not yet”</i> indicating the need to go further than a simple call
for independence Neville Southall the famous ex-footballer for Wales went a lot
further when he said: <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“There is no
point having a dragon if you cannot roar, and at the moment we cannot roar because
we do not have the money. We need to build up a country that looks after the
lowest of the low We need to treat them the same. There should be o class
system in Wales. Everyone should be the same.” <br /></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Essentially Eddie Butler asks the question what next
and Neville Southall provides the answer, whilst not explicitly saying as such
Southall, in reality, is calling for a Socialist Wales. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Welsh people have a proud working class tradition, it
should not be lost on anyone that the march in Merthyr started in Penderyn
Sqaure, named of Dic Penderyn one of the Martyrs of Welsh working class
history, executed for his role in the Merthyr rising which also saw the birth
of the red flag. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Questions need to be asked within the independence
movement, what type of independence should we have? Independence based on the
capitalist economic system will not give us any freedom! A decisive break needs
to come within the independence movement amongst those who both want an
independent Wales and who oppose the ongoing austerity blighting all our lives. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">This needs to be put into practice. Socialist
Alternative calls on the Welsh Assembly to stop all cuts to devolved public
services in Wales. All cuts already made with the NHS and education must be
reversed. The Welsh assembly are also known for using zero hour contract
themselves, we call for an immediate end to this and for decent employment with
guaranteed hours available for all those currently on zero hour contracts. All
public services such as utilities and public transport should be brought back
into public ownership and run democratically buy those working in the
industries and the communities which rely on them. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">This measures would be a prerequisite for a Wales in
which as Southall described, there would be no class system. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Socialist Alternative calls for a Socialist Wales,
linking up on a voluntary basis in a Socialist confederation of England,
Scotland and Ireland as part of a wider Socialist Europe in the interests of
ordinary working class people unlike the bosses European Union</p>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
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<![endif]--></p>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-85589728353169352822020-10-09T12:00:00.003+01:002020-10-09T12:00:04.481+01:00Leaving the Socialist Party behind<p> This was posted to my facebook profile in July 2019. It is only a short statement by myself followed by the statement of at the time the CWI but now renamed to ISA - <a href="internationalsocialist.net">International Socialist Alternative. </a><br /></p><div class="" dir="auto"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc ihqw7lf3 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_pw"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql rrkovp55 a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Whilst only a short extract of this is my writing whilst the rest is the statement released at the time. I have included in because it had a big impact on the way I thought after my 17 years of membership of the organisation which had guided me politically since the age of 17. I will certainly return to this topic in future posts. The picture below was also featured alongside the statement when I posted it with my own words and yes, it is my own membership card.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-VnuSYWUSkWC3olHp9-rL6aMsX4-meE2qqmnRWt3eEgKB2mfHkxgj96xKkoZreRSaQghlhTJcBkfCa9YpesdO7vzgWq_ddmLbKCcvea33wcQsRwx9eaUxFESfuJkbNUfFwLvlfTNloHo/s1440/67295350_10157381495734805_6696830428034105344_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1072" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-VnuSYWUSkWC3olHp9-rL6aMsX4-meE2qqmnRWt3eEgKB2mfHkxgj96xKkoZreRSaQghlhTJcBkfCa9YpesdO7vzgWq_ddmLbKCcvea33wcQsRwx9eaUxFESfuJkbNUfFwLvlfTNloHo/s320/67295350_10157381495734805_6696830428034105344_o.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br />
</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>After 17 years of membership, I thought this day would never come. I was a proud member of the Socialist Party and our international organisation, the CWI. It seems not everyone views it the same way and those of us who support the building of that international organisation and its democratic structures have been forced out. We are told we can stay but only of we abandon all our members throughout the world with any democratic vote within the international. <br /></b><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b> </b></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>I was with 100+ others who met in London yesterday and who will now work to build a real International.</b></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b> </b></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Here's our statement: </div></div><div class="" dir="auto"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc ihqw7lf3 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_pw"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql rrkovp55 a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><br /><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">The Socialist Party, and before it the Militant tendency, has been a section of the Committee for a Workers International (CWI) in England and Wales since 1974. The CWI is an international organisation based on the ideas and methods of democratic socialism, Marxism and Trotskyism, and further developed by the hard work and sacrifices of comrades across the world.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">This includes 3 TDs (MPs) in Ireland, an elected councilmember in Seattle, and members fighting in the revolutionary movements in Sudan, Hong Kong and elsewhere. Sadly, after 45 years, the majority of the leadership of the CWI and England and Wales section have chosen to abandon the CWI and the bold ideas it was founded upon.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">On Sunday 21st July, a Special Congress in London passed a resolution stating that the many members of the Socialist Party who still support the CWI, "will have to do so outside of the Socialist Party". In reality, the resolution is a cowardly method of expulsion from the party, following a campaign of witch-hunts, bullying and lies against the majority of CWI sections.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">This was all but confirmed when the SP's former Wales Secretary and current NC member said from the platform "goodbye and good riddance" to CWI supporters - a remark the leadership has refused to retract. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">The majority of the SP leadership are running scared from a debate about socialist programme and tactics, only half way through an agreed one-year process of debate. Instead of having a discussion in the democratically convened leadership bodies of the CWI – the International Executive Committee and the World Congress (which all sides had agreed to) and risking losing a vote, they have chosen to expel the majority of the organisation and walk away with the resources, including hundreds of thousands of pounds, against the will of the majority of its members. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">They have, in effect, attempted to enact the bureaucratic expulsion of the majority of the CWI: entire organisations and groups in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Hong Kong, Israel/Palestine, Ireland, Italy, Ivory Coast, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Quebec, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, Tunisia, and the USA from the CWI, as well as a majority of members in Germany and South Africa who oppose their plans. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Over 100 comrades in England & Wales, including a majority of active members in over a dozen key cities, stand together with the CWI majority in opposing this course of action. A meeting on 22nd July voted unanimously to refound the CWI in England and Wales, rejecting these bureaucratic expulsions and continuing to organise in the proud tradition of Militant in Britain - the traditions of socialist democracy and Marxism. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Further explanation and analysis will follow. We call on all Socialist Party members, and in the wider workers and social movements to join us in fighting for a socialist world!</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Contact us at revolutionaryinternationalism@gmail.com</div></div></span></div></div></div></div><div><div class="stjgntxs ni8dbmo4 l82x9zwi uo3d90p7 h905i5nu monazrh9" data-visualcompletion="ignore-dynamic"><div><div><div><div class="l9j0dhe7"><div class="bp9cbjyn m9osqain j83agx80 jq4qci2q bkfpd7mw a3bd9o3v kvgmc6g5 wkznzc2l oygrvhab dhix69tm jktsbyx5 rz4wbd8a osnr6wyh a8nywdso s1tcr66n"><div class="bp9cbjyn j83agx80 buofh1pr ni8dbmo4 stjgntxs"><span aria-label="See who reacted to this" role="toolbar"><span class="bp9cbjyn j83agx80 b3onmgus" id="jsc_c_pz"><span class="np69z8it et4y5ytx j7g94pet b74d5cxt qw6c0r16 kb8x4rkr ed597pkb omcyoz59 goun2846 ccm00jje s44p3ltw mk2mc5f4 qxh1up0x qtyiw8t4 tpcyxxvw k0bpgpbk hm271qws rl04r1d5 l9j0dhe7 ov9facns kavbgo14"><span class="t0qjyqq4 jos75b7i j6sty90h kv0toi1t q9uorilb hm271qws ov9facns"><span class="tojvnm2t a6sixzi8 abs2jz4q a8s20v7p t1p8iaqh k5wvi7nf q3lfd5jv pk4s997a bipmatt0 cebpdrjk qowsmv63 owwhemhu dp1hu0rb dhp61c6y iyyx5f41"></span></span></span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><span aria-label="See who reacted to this" role="toolbar"><span class="bp9cbjyn j83agx80 b3onmgus" id="jsc_c_pz"><span class="np69z8it et4y5ytx j7g94pet b74d5cxt qw6c0r16 kb8x4rkr ed597pkb omcyoz59 goun2846 ccm00jje s44p3ltw mk2mc5f4 qxh1up0x qtyiw8t4 tpcyxxvw k0bpgpbk hm271qws rl04r1d5 l9j0dhe7 ov9facns tkr6xdv7"><span class="t0qjyqq4 jos75b7i j6sty90h kv0toi1t q9uorilb hm271qws ov9facns"><span class="tojvnm2t a6sixzi8 abs2jz4q a8s20v7p t1p8iaqh k5wvi7nf q3lfd5jv pk4s997a bipmatt0 cebpdrjk qowsmv63 owwhemhu dp1hu0rb dhp61c6y iyyx5f41"></span></span></span></span></span><span aria-label="See who reacted to this" role="toolbar"><span class="bp9cbjyn j83agx80 b3onmgus" id="jsc_c_pz"><span class="np69z8it et4y5ytx j7g94pet b74d5cxt qw6c0r16 kb8x4rkr ed597pkb omcyoz59 goun2846 ccm00jje s44p3ltw mk2mc5f4 qxh1up0x qtyiw8t4 tpcyxxvw k0bpgpbk hm271qws rl04r1d5 l9j0dhe7 ov9facns du4w35lb"><span class="t0qjyqq4 jos75b7i j6sty90h kv0toi1t q9uorilb hm271qws ov9facns"><span class="tojvnm2t a6sixzi8 abs2jz4q a8s20v7p t1p8iaqh k5wvi7nf q3lfd5jv pk4s997a bipmatt0 cebpdrjk qowsmv63 owwhemhu dp1hu0rb dhp61c6y iyyx5f41"></span></span></span></span></span><div class=""><span class="tojvnm2t a6sixzi8 abs2jz4q a8s20v7p t1p8iaqh k5wvi7nf q3lfd5jv pk4s997a bipmatt0 cebpdrjk qowsmv63 owwhemhu dp1hu0rb dhp61c6y iyyx5f41"><br /></span></div></div></div></span></div></div></div></div><br />EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-70862421915866081582020-10-02T12:00:00.005+01:002020-10-02T12:00:01.091+01:00Thoughts on WWE Clash of Champions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTzMEbW_cd5I7Ft9lWKFbdxvZvo7sl1nl_dTm-sgw7PcPg3QjaUtnOaIvxa1lJwMN5qIL-M_eCptxMEhtySfwLVezJcbJSONxkm20iOzJIiPmFFdmJXKPL4y-pMTdmaHLzf_kV5zApfQ4/s447/WWE_COC_GOLD_RUSH_2929.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="447" data-original-width="223" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTzMEbW_cd5I7Ft9lWKFbdxvZvo7sl1nl_dTm-sgw7PcPg3QjaUtnOaIvxa1lJwMN5qIL-M_eCptxMEhtySfwLVezJcbJSONxkm20iOzJIiPmFFdmJXKPL4y-pMTdmaHLzf_kV5zApfQ4/s320/WWE_COC_GOLD_RUSH_2929.jpg" /></a></div><p><br />Last Sunday WWE Clash of Champions took place. The card had huge potential and I was looking forward to several of the matches on the card which was as follows.</p><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">1.Smackdown tag team championship natch</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesero (c) vs. Lucha House Party</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">2. Intercontinental championship ladder match</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jeff hardy (c) vs. AJ Styles vs. Sami Zayn </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">3. Raw women's championship match<br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Asuka (c) vs. Zelina Vega</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">4. United States championship match</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Apollo Crews</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">5. Raw tag team championship</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Street Profits (c) vs. Andrade & Angel Garza</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">6. Smackdown women's championship</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Bayley (c) vs Asuka</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">7. WWE Championship Ambulance match</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Randy Orton</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">8. WWE universal championship</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Roman Reigns (c) vs. Jey Uso</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b> </b></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">*there were also two segments between R-truth and Drew Gulak which could be considered matches for the 24/7 championship</span> </span></b><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The kickoff show had one match before the main show started. Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesero defended the Smackdown tag team championships against the Lucha House Party (Kalisto & Lince Dorado) with Gran Metalik. It was a solid tag team match and a good showing for both teams, nothing special but a fitting kickoff match. Nakamura & Cesero picked up the win with the Cesero swing into a knee from Nakamura.</div><div><br /></div><div>I would have preferred the Lucha House Party to pick up the win, largely because I think that both Nakamura and Cesero would be fantastic as singles wrestlers, but I have always much preferred a solid tag team as opposed to a throw together team.</div><div><br /></div><div>The main show started explosively with a triple threat ladder match for the intercontinental championship featuring the champion Jeff Hardy, the self proclaimed champion Sami Zayn (he was stripped of the belt as he did not appear for some time due to restrictions entering the US because of covid19) and challenger AJ Styles.</div><div><br /></div><div>This was always going to be a good match, AJ Styles, in my opinion is one of the greatest of all time, Jeff Hardy has huge experience in multiple ladder matches and Sami Zayn does not look out of place tangling with these two. This ladder match was instantly better than both the ladder matches at Money in the Bank and Wrestlemania. The absence of the crowd has a huge impact and is much more noticeable in high spot matches like this, but the introduction of the thunderdome has brought an atmosphere back which was much needed and certainly adds to the match.</div><div><br /></div><div>The match started a little slow, as you would expect for a decent ladder match, there was an usual spot where Hardy dived towards Styles who moved out of the way, only for Hardy to dive on an up turned ladder, these seemed unnecessary, a low impact looking move that in reality was probably quite painful.</div><div><br /></div><div>There were some great spots too. Styles pulled out his moonsault into an inverted DDT, a move which used to be a part of his regular move set, but one that I can't remember seeing for sometime, certainly not since he has been in WWE. Hardy also, from atop the ladder hit a Swanton bomb on Sami Zayn who himself was draped across a ladder. At this point I thought this was the end of Zayn and we would not see him again.</div><div><br /></div><div>However, we did see him again with quite an innovative finish. First Zayn handcuffed Jeff Hardy to a ladder, although he could move still the handcuff was through his earlobe severely limiting his ability to move in any meaningful way and ultimately took him out of the action, next Zayn handcuffed himself to Styles, seemingly a bizarre thing to as it limited himself and much as it did Styles. However as they climbed the ladder he switched the cuffs and handcuffed Styles to the supporting strut of the ladder meaning he could not get to the top of the ladder allowing Zayn to reach the top and become the undisputed Intercontinental champion. Although I could not help from feeling that Styles could have simply tipped the ladder st this point, overall it was a great match.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next up after a few backstage segments Drew Gulak rolled up R-Truth to win the 24/7 championship. It was good to see the title move onto someone other than R-Truth or Akira Tozawa who have been exchanging the title back and forth for sometime now. There is huge potential with the 24/7 title but it seems laziness has resulted in it becoming R-Truth's personal title. He is great with it, but this is definitely a case of over doing it.</div><div><br /></div><div>The next match was a demonstration of how the women's division is not treated with the seriousness which it is claimed. Zelina Vega challenged Asuka for the Raw women's championship. Zelina Vega is definitely a worthy challenger who can go in the ring, however Vega rarely wrestles and has been used primarily as a manager, a role she also excels in. Whilst she is a great in ring talent, going simply into a title shot without having wrestled much shows how little the division is regarded. </div><div><br /></div><div>The match itself had some great spots, Vega held Asuka in what I can only describe as a bridging hammer lock, a very innovative move. The match seemed to suffer a bit and was stop - start at several points, inevitable really with Vega wrestling so infrequently. The match ended with Vega tapping out to the Asuka lock.</div><div><br /></div><div>The next match I was thoroughly uninterested in. Bobby Lashley defended the United States championship against Apollo Crews. Uninterested because this fued has had the same match up repeatedly. Two great competitors with very different styles, however both need to move on from this fued. Lastly picked up the win with the hurt lock, so hopefully this signifies the end of this story line.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next up Andrade & Angel Garza challenged the Street Profits for the Raw tag team championships. This was a solid match up, with some great team work from Andrade & Garza. The Street Profits came out on top in what seemed to be a botched finish. The commentators announced that Andrade had kicked out, it certainly looked that way, but the bell rang and the Street Profits where declared winners, the referee did not seem decisive either way so it seemed like a botch of some kind.</div><div><br /></div><div>Unfortunately another backstage segment led to R-Truth regaining the 24/7 championship from Drew Gulak.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next Bayley came out to announce that Nikki Cross was unable to compete, (possibly due to self isolating) and after cutting a promo gave an open challenge for the Smackdown women's championship which was answered by the raw women's champion Asuka. This again demonstrated the unseriousness in which the division is treated, the depth the division has and yet it is the same women over and over including one who had already competed earlier in the night.</div><div><br /></div><div>This, however was not the main story. After a brief match in which Bayley was disqualified for using a chair outside the ring, therefore retaining the title she was the attacked from behind with a chair by Sasha Banks, setting up a match between the two at a later date, this is a match which has been in the making for sometime and is something fresh to look forward to.</div><div><br /></div><div>The next match up pitted the current WWE champion Drew McIntyre up against Randy Orton in an ambulance match. McIntyre's rise to the main event was organic and he certainly belongs and still has a lot to give. Orton is currently undergoing a character revival and is currently at the top of his game so I was certainly looking forward to this match.</div><div><br /></div><div>It was a slow, methodical and brutal affair exactly what you would expect from these two in a no disqualification match. Throughout the match you seemed to have a 'ghost of Christmas past vibe with Orton being attacked first by The Big Show, later by Christain and towards the end by Shawn Michaels and then with Ric Flair driving off the ambulance at the end. All the people that Orton had crossed in recent months. Drew came out on top and won the match to retain the WWE championship, however due to the interference at multiple times throughout, what was missing was that decisive victory that Drew McIntyre needs to solidify his position at the top of the card.</div><div><br /></div><div>The main event saw the Paul Heyman guy, Roman Reigns take on his cousin Jey Uso, usually a solid tag wrestler, in his biggest singles match to date, with Reigns defending the WWE Universal championship against Uso.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>This was a great match, firstly Reigns supporting a new in ring look sans the vest was dominant throughout as he should have been Uso had moments a brilliance and the facial expressions of Paul Heyman were second to none showing real doubt over who would win.</div><div><br /></div><div>The dominance of Reigns came to a head but he would not pin Jey Uso instead continued to ruthlessly beat him down until he would acknowledge him as the tribal chief which he would not. This led to an injured Jimmy Uso coming down to the ring an eventually throwing in the towel on behalf of Jey Uso. Usually finishes like this can be hit and miss, especially in the main event. This time is was definitely a hit. Reigns is solidified as a monster heel will to punish his own family, but Jey's stock is also raised, he was beaten nor did he give up. </div><div><br /></div><div>Overall this was a great ppv but with a stacked card how could it not be, stacked it was you didn't even notice that so many top talents were not on the card. Set Rollins, Kevin Owens, Big E, Matt Riddle, Sheamus, Lacey Evans, Naomi, Bruan Strauman, Bray Wyatt and many more were missing. One notable absence though particularly on a show called clash of champions was that every main roster title was defended with one exception. The women's tag team championships were the only title not to appear, again showing how the women's roster is treated.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-11002593452103032982020-09-25T12:00:00.002+01:002020-09-28T12:53:31.393+01:00Caerphilly County lockdown: We're not all in this together<p> This article was originally published on the website of <a href="https://www.socialistalternative.net/2020/09/10/caerphilly-county-lockdown-were-not-all-in-this-together/">Socialist Alternative</a> on the 10th September this year.</p><p> </p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgstlBD3J3sRTEFBSpGBZEei_8DjJFIx_saCvCfQT26VTL4bV4nbOtGcSb8GP9b76wpmGnHos-El9IP4dQnB_76NuwvO8gWAbuanPzXuc_7whJF2yNcxToUr0ETuZqf03LNKugkGFyp7bw/s474/OIP6O78OZSW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="296" data-original-width="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgstlBD3J3sRTEFBSpGBZEei_8DjJFIx_saCvCfQT26VTL4bV4nbOtGcSb8GP9b76wpmGnHos-El9IP4dQnB_76NuwvO8gWAbuanPzXuc_7whJF2yNcxToUr0ETuZqf03LNKugkGFyp7bw/s320/OIP6O78OZSW.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>New lockdown measures started in Caerphilly County at 6pm on 9
September. The reasons for it, and the nature of the new lockdown
measures reveal quite starkly the priorities of the Senedd (Welsh
Government).</p>
<p>The background to these new measures is a rise in cases with 133
confirmed cases in the last week alone, equivalent to 55.4 cases per
100,000 people (one of the highest in Wales). Wales currently has the
highest density of confirmed cases of any nation in the UK (6,000 per
million compared to England at 5,272 and Scotland at 4,041).</p>
<p>Vaughan Gething, the Labour health minister for Wales, has attributed
this to people (particularly young people) meeting indoors and not
following social distancing guidelines, and to overseas summer holidays.
He ignores the fact that pubs are open, public transport is crowded and
schools have been open, often in a far-from safe manner, with
whole-class bubbles of 30 or more. At the time of writing several
schools throughout Wales have already been forced to close due to recent
outbreaks, including several schools within Caerphilly County itself.
Non-essential businesses have reopened. With the furlough scheme coming
to an end, many small businesses face a bleak choice of bankruptcy or
unsafe working. Recent pictures on social media have shown social
distancing not being enforced, perhaps partly because businesses are
desperate to get more customers in to attempt to recover from lost
earnings of previous months.</p>
<p>Meeting indoors with a lack of social distancing can contribute to
outbreaks. But the messages from both the UK government at Westminster
and from Cardiff Bay have been very confusing at best, which has
contributed to this. Travel abroad may increase the risk. But overseas
travel at the moment falls mainly into two general categories – those
who travel to visit family members they have not been able to visit for
some time due to lockdown measures, and those who have pre-booked
holidays who have no option to cancel with a full refund.</p>
<p>The new lockdown measures in Caerphilly Country include facemasks
being mandatory for everyone over eleven inside shops (this had not
previously been mandatory in Wales) and all gatherings in the home being
forbidden. You are also not allowed to leave the county without good
reason, such as to attend work or to care for others, but as Caerphilly
has transformed increasingly into a commuter town for Cardiff this is
largely an ineffective measure and is more for show. Indeed, the very
fact that areas of Caerphilly County have become commuter towns is
likely a large part of the reason for a spike in cases as many people
will be crammed together on buses and trains during rush hour.</p>
<p>Questioned on why pubs would remain open, the health minister stated
with certainty that the virus is not being transmitted in pubs but only
in gatherings within the home. You now have the farcical situation that
you cannot visit a family member (unless you care for them) or simply
cycle for exercise from Caerphilly to Cardiff (12 miles) but you can go
from Ystryd Mynach to Caerphilly town to go to the pub (also 12 miles).
You can’t go to a friend’s house, but depending on your age, you can sit
next to them in class or go to the pub with them. The only measures
brought in are designed to have zero impact on any economic activity.</p>
<p>The coronavirus pandemic has made 2020 a difficult year for everyone,
having to find new ways of communicating, working and socialising.
Lockdown measures have been necessary to attempt to stem the spread of
the virus. But these new measures are a lockdown for people, not for the
economy. The social isolation, which has affected mental health and led
to a crisis in domestic violence, will continue. The most vulnerable
will be hit hardest through a lack of planning for those who need any
type of support with day-to-day activities.</p>
<p>We cannot return to normal and risk overwhelming our already
overworked health workers, plus a big rise in the death toll. But
neither can we stay in a perpetual state of lockdown which is taking its
toll of the wellbeing of everyone. We need a strategy which puts
ordinary working-class people and their needs at the heart of solving
this crisis.</p>
<p>This will cost money, but they money does exist in society. Jeff
Bezos, who runs Amazon, is set to become the worlds first trillionaire,
profiting greatly from the pandemic. But Amazon famously uses various
loopholes to avoid paying the correct rate of tax. Estimates suggest the
shortfall is in the £100’s of millions. The cost of replacing trident
nuclear weapons is estimated to be £205 billion! But capitalism is based
on the pursuit of profit and not the needs of working-class people like
us, and therefore cannot deal with a crisis of this magnitude.</p>
<p>The labour movement must develop a programme is developed which will
genuinely find a route out of the current pandemic. This must include
democratic workers control over what measures are taken, including at a
local level. Is it safe for schools to open, what measures need to be
put in place and what resources are needed for this to happen? If it is
not possible to open safely then funds must be made available to ensure
parents have all the necessary learning tools available at home, if
wanted. No one must suffer any loss of income through time taken off
work. These decisions should be made by democratically elected
representatives of teachers, parents and the community. Is it safe for
non-essential businesses to open? If not, there must be funds to ensure
full pay to any workers affected by a closure of their workplace,
including those who are self employed. We need a huge increase in
funding for services for victims of domestic violence, and a dramatic
expansion of social care services.</p>
<p>We must fight for the necessary measures to tackle to pandemic. But
doing so also presents an opportunity to start a discussion about the
type of society we need – one not based on the needs of the economy but
based on the needs of ordinary people. The Covid-19 pandemic affects us
all, but we are not all in this together. Working class people have lost
jobs; become teachers to their children, whilst working or taking huge
cuts in pay; been forced to continue in unsafe working environments.
Meanwhile the billionaires have increased their wealth even further by
taking advantage of the pandemic. We need to fight back against the
Covid-19 virus and the virus of capitalism, which can only serve to
worsen the pandemic.</p>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-34070116502690124902020-09-25T12:00:00.001+01:002020-09-25T12:00:06.345+01:00Back, but not like beforeI guess the two things go hand in hand. I originally started the blog as I returned to higher education, not because of this but the two projects seemed to go together perfectly.<div>I am no back and coincidentally have also returned to higher education.</div><div><br /></div><div>The two things are certainly coincidental, there is of course an overlap in the thought process. A blog of the nature this has been, based primarily on politics in some form or another has a particular overlap if someone (myself) has been studying social science of some variety at the same time. I think though the coicidence is more about my mindset and the willingness to write.</div><div><br /></div><div>This blog has laid dormant for some time now. My last blog post was over 5 years ago, and that was a one off. Prior to that it had been approaching a decade since regular blogging. Incidentally I no longer think I agree with the content of my last post. However I have chosen to leave it as it certainly was what I thought at the time. Perhaps in the future I will write a reply on the same subject outlining what I now think.</div><div><br /></div><div>So going forward what will this blog be, at times the blog was good. There are some widely read and engaging articles for the correct reasons, there were also some widely read for the wrong reasons. The blog despite the time and effort I had put into suffered for several reasons which I will attempt to address going forward.</div><div><br /></div><div>Firstly there was a lack of seriousness, not that a blog, without advertisement, and therefore an unpaid endeavor produced as a hobby rather than any other reason should be taken seriously. What I mean by this is that the content was not taken seriously, or rather the quality of the content was not. It was a serious case of quantity over quality. I felt that the way to be a successful blogger was to pump out content. I felt the need to create a post daily. I have no idea why, some of the bloggers I followed did, but even some of the most regular were only posting 2-3 times a week. This meant the quality suffered and also keeping up the regularity became a chore rather than enjoyable. </div><div><br /></div><div>That was not the only problem, the blog also suffered from the arrogance and bravado I held in youth, there was present in many a post and was further exacerbated but the drive to churn out articles. </div><div><br /></div><div>I was also obsessed with getting hits, I spent more time promoting the posts than actually writing them. Don't get me wrong. I of course want people to read it no one puts their writings online if they have no interest in being read widely. This time around whilst I still want the hits. I want it to be more organic than before. Initially I have no plans to link blog posts anywhere on social media instead will focus on writing and publishing and for the blog to regain an Identity at first.</div><div><br /></div><div>So what is the blogs new identity. In short, at this stage I do not fully know. Previously, despite the flaws, significant as they were the blog had a very clear identity of politics and sociology. It certainly will contain this, but I also feel there will be other subjects covered which have not been previously. I have several ideas for topics to blog about. I won't list them now as it would feel like a commitment to write which I do not want to make.</div><div><br /></div><div>That brings me on to the other big change which I think would reverse the trend. That being quality over quantity. I plan have no plans to set myself any kind of limit of minimum blog posts and instead simply having a mindset that I will post regularly (whatever regularly becomes to mean. In fact initially and perhaps for some time. I will limit myself to publishing one article per week. I would only deviate from this for two reasons, either by creating a backlog of unpublished articles or if something I had written was particularly useful at the time of writing. As time goes on this pattern could change. The crucial thing is there will be no unrealistic timetable for publication. This will be done deliberately so that there is so pre-determined regularity without the need to force articles.</div><div><br /></div><div>Although, as I have stated the articles will have a more serious character, it does not mean that every article will be some masterpiece or a fully worked out essay, there will be some essay or at least essay style posts, but by serious, I simply mean that the post will be more thought out, rather than rushed out.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The next few articles which will be published over the coming weeks have already been written at varying times over the last year, but as I have not been blogging never made it here before.</div><div><br /></div><div>To future blogging.</div>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-37666167210566162552015-06-14T19:48:00.001+01:002015-06-14T20:11:09.048+01:00Why does transethnicity bring out the bigot in people?<p dir="ltr">Who would normally be the 'anti-bigots'<br></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Anyone who used to read my blog is obviously aware that I have not written any blog post for a few years now. Work and family life have just gotten in the way. I honestly did not think that  I would write a blog post anytime soon. However I have become so frustrated over this issue I just felt compelled to do so. I might be the one in the wrong but until a full discussion is had on the topic it is impossible to say so really I am just searching for a serious response.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>The issue I am talking about is the recent internet sensation of Rachel Dolezal or more broadly transethnicity and the responses to it.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>The issue for anyone not already familiar with it surrounds Rachel Dolezal who was born white but for the last 10-15 years has lived as a black women, from the picture it is clear you would not be able to tell at all. She simply looks like a young black women. Another part of the story was that she held a prominent position within the NAACP. </b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Many people rushed to her defence to say that if it is okay to change gender then it is okay also to change ethnicity.  I agree with that but apparently so many people do not and here comes the controversy. </b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>It is not uncommon for there to be the most absurd responses thrown out on the internet to all manner of issues. However what I have found to be unusual in this instance is that the people making those ridiculous statements are in most cases people I had expected a lot more from. Either because I know them or at the very least know at least partly when they stand ideologically.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Several argumemts have been used against transethnicity however I am very disappointed to say that I have responded to each and every point made in full on various facebook discussions but not a single person has replied to a single point I have made up to this point.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>I am going to list each point I have seen raised on the issue and respond to each individually. I would askes anyone who is willing to have a serious discussion to reply to each point. However as my points are not directed at one particular person its possible for you to agree with me on certain points and not others. That is obviously fine, but for the sake of clarity can you also state that you agree with those certain points so i actually know what points are being disputed.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr">All my points here are on the basis thst everyone supports transgender rights but not all transethnic <u>rights</u></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>1. You cannot change your ethnicity because you cannot immerse yourself in the culture fully (or at least only rich people can)</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Firstly it is important to state that ethnicity and culture are in no way the same thing and if you also think that then the rest of point 1 is not for you.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>If you are to assume they are the same thing then it is possible to immerse yourself in a culure without moving across the globe. This argument is even more ridicilous as the example case is of a black women in America where there is a distinct black culture where blacks and whites live side by side if not completely mixed. I could go on with examples of immigrant communities who have moved on mass. I coule go 10 miles down the road and immerse myself in Somali culture for example.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>2. Ethncity is something which has been codified over millenia.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Firstly I do not see why that is a rational reason for not to be able to change their ethnicity,  but secondly it is not even true. Ethnicity is not solidly codified it is full of shades of grey exasperated but more and more population shifts and inter ethnic procrestion. Certainly anything other than codified and less so than gender is.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>3. Only priveledged white people support it. </b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>This is bizarre because it doesn't actually address the issue it just employs guilt by association. This was the same argument used for a time against gay rights, they used to say it was bourgoise deviation. </b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>4. Priveledged white people invading the space of black people.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>This is exactly what the discredited radical feminists have said about privileged mem transitioning to become women and invade their space.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>This of course though is incredibly ethnocentric in and of itself. Whilst white people do hold privilege in the western world I do not see what white priveledge exists in say China or Saudi Arabia for </b><b>example</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>5. It is a result of deep psychological issues. </b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>I am yet to see anyone provide any evidence for this assertion and i think the onus is on people to provide evidence thst it is because the same argument of deep psychological issues has been used against homosexuality and teansgenderism in the past (and even by some people today)</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Though a</b><b>n important point to make for anyone who does believe this and has then mocked Rachel Dolezal.  Do you think it is ok to ma</b><b>ke fun of people with serious mental health problems?</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>6. It only effects white people because only white people can make their skin darker.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Again this is just bizarre, there are many cases of skin bleaching to make it lighter or whiter. It often ends badly but thst doesnt mean that the desire is not there or that with the right technology in medicine it would not be possible to do safely in the future much like changing gender is now.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>It also ignores the glaringly obvious point that there are far more ethnicities beyond simply black and white so it there would be far more other ways to change ethnicity anyway.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>7. The role of intersectionalism.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>I had not heard the term intersectionslism until a few months ago but it has to be said that these ideas and what is wrong with everything here. The idea that transethnicity is not the same as transgender comes down to we are more oppressed than you and nothing more.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr">When people came to her defence some transgender intersectionalists pleaded it wasnt the same and if you werent transgender you have to accept that and cannot criticise it because you would never understand their section. Like wise some black intersectionalist lambasted her because gosh this could be a slippery slope to allowing all sections to oppose racism and remove the intersectionalist tinge.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The most worrying thing at all is where is the class perspective gone? How in anyway is this anaylsis classed based, in seems so manu are drinking the jntersectionalist coolaid at the moment that they have been allowed to set the terms and gone are the days of solidarity and independant analysis.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Maybe Rachel Dolezal changed her appearance from white to black because she could not be involved in anti racism campaigns as white because the intersectionalists had previously excluded her for not being the right ethnicity</b> (just a thought)</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>8. Self determination</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Many of the people who have commented on this issue would openly support the right of a nation to self determination all culutural or ethnic lines. Surely that can only truly exist if it includes the right to determine their own ethnicity.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>9. Where will this road end?</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>If you oppose the right for somebody to change or modify </b><br>
<b>their ethnicity then inevitability this will mean policing ethnicity which is bizarre at best. Many people will identify with more than one ethnic grouping already. Ethnicities in Portugal is quite fluid largely as a result of its history of colonialism which differs from Britains as it involved a lot more inter marriage with the colonised. Also though because the climate changes peoples appearance throughout the year. My mother in law for example who is portuguese and lives in portugal looks white in the white and black in the summer. </b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Many portuguese people who are considered white in Portugal who come to Britain are then informed they are actually black.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>So it is important to allow people to define their own ethnicity because if you attempt to control it surely you have to also control sexuality or disability in the same way snd remove the option of self definition in the same way.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>10. You cannot actually change your ethnicity.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Some people have claimed thst whilst you can change your skin colour you cannot change the meletonin levels which is what drtermines skin colour anyway.  To this I say so what it doesn't actually mean anything at all. A trans women would still have both XY chromosomes but it doesn't mean they cannot be a women</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>11. Transgender is different from transethnic</b><b>. </b></p>
<p dir="ltr">One person made the argument that birth you are assigned a gender and expected to act is a certain gender role but not assigned an ethnicity at birth - factually incorrect - and not expected to act within a certain ethnicity - again wrong and well simply an enthnocentric view.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>12. Rachel Dolezal infiltrated the NAACP</b></p>
<p dir="ltr">Firstly she was an activist of the NAACP and did nothing to damage it even if a story breaks to the contrary of this, your argument is not based on this. Would you also oppose a trans women joining the Womens Institute or using a female changing room. I suspect not.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Incidentally would the NCAAP was founded by three white people!</p>
<p dir="ltr">Secondly though you are not opposing Rachel Dolezal you are opposing transethnicity in general yet you would not accept anyone else basing thier opinion of immigrants or homosexuality on the basis on one individual.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>12. Why are we even having this conversation?</b></p>
<p dir="ltr">What puzzles me the most is why is this conversation. Why does it matter what someone else does to there own body in a way that effects no one else.</p>
<p dir="ltr">There is a guy who has mutiple tattoos and facial modifications to make himself more feline. It doesnt effect me so i have no problen with it and would defend his right to do so.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Lets me clear if I wanted to turn myself into a goose, and had a way of doing it then i should have ever right to do it. If i then wanted to go for a paddle in the lake with all the other geese i should have the right to do so. Its my body my choice.</p>
<p dir="ltr">But all im seeing is emotive language like 'permanently blacking up' (akin to saying that a trans man is a chick with a permanent strap on) or pseudo scientific theories all in attempt to demonise it in the exact same way  as was used to justify racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia at some point or other.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Bonus question:</b></p>
<p dir="ltr">I have never liked it when people say that "well Marx said" or "Lenin wrote" etc as the argument in and of it self but i would like to ask that as many of the people exposing this transethnobia bigotry claim to be marxists how does that square with a materialist approach and a dialectical analysis?</p>
<p dir="ltr">I would like to think there could be a serious disucssion on the subject as sadly that seems lacking. I have made it clear where I stand.  I would appreciate if others did by agreeing/dissgreeing with each point individually and adding any additional points if necessary. </p>
<p dir="ltr"><u>Comradely</u></p>
EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-45346612674188006332011-03-20T21:26:00.000+00:002011-03-20T21:26:48.287+00:00Outrage at the council revelations<h3 class="post-title entry-title"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Originally written for the <a href="http://rctsocialist.blogspot.com/">Socialism in RCT</a> blog</span></span><br />
</h3><div class="post-header"> </div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-HY5tMDs7ztc/TYZgFoxr65I/AAAAAAAAADg/WauiAdFMIBo/s1600/cuts.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-HY5tMDs7ztc/TYZgFoxr65I/AAAAAAAAADg/WauiAdFMIBo/s320/cuts.jpg" width="205" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SP member of the ponty anti-cuts demo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>On March 17th an <a href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/south-wales-news/rhondda/2011/03/17/outrage-over-council-s-2m-surplus-after-staff-told-to-make-sacrifices-91466-28340751/">article appeared on the WalesOnline website</a> explaining that far from being in huge debts Rhondda Cynon Taff council actually had a £2 million surplus. This is the same council who only weeks ago, threatened the entire workforce with dismissal unless the excepted worse pay and conditions, the council claimed they had no other choice but to do this in order to balance the budget and many workers have signed the new contracts through fear of loosing their jobs.<br />
<br />
The fact that this Labour council has forced through these savage cuts to the pay and employment conditions of its 10,000 strong work force whilst maintaining a surplus of £2 million shows exactly how sincere the Labour Party is to opposing cut backs!<br />
<br />
The revelation of this surplus highlights the betrayal of the Labour councillors, who shed crocodile tears over the cuts they voted for whilst all along leaving the council with an incredible surplus. In reality it just confirms what we already knew - Labour don't represent us anymore!<br />
<br />
It is true that whilst there is a surplus currently of £2m but cuts in wages have 'saved' the council £5.6m leaving an obvious gap of £3.6m. This does not mean that cuts have to be made, rather on the contrary this presents a real alternative to fight and defeat the austerity measures driven by central government.<br />
<br />
The council could use the current surplus as a temporary measure in order to avoid the cuts for now. This would make the council extremely popular amongst the workers and the community in general. (A far cry from the harsh reality of the feelings towards the council at the moment) The council could then use this popularity to build a mass campaign throughout the county to defend the council against any attack from the Assembly or Westminster and to demand the money necessary for all the jobs and services needed within the area.<br />
<br />
If the council was willing to set a 'needs budget' - a budget based on the needs of the area, rather than based on the forced cuts budgets of central government, then they would easily gain mass support - and rightfully so from whole sections of working class people in the area. This is exactly what happened when the Liverpool council did this in the 1980s. If the council was to do this then the Socialist Party would through it full weight behind the councillors to defend them and the budget from attack.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, we feel that this scenario is extremely unlikely. We saw 13 years of a Labour government committed cuts and privatisation of public services and where they are still in power, in the Assembly and in councils they are willingly carrying out cuts today. In Cumbria the Labour councillors are even in a formal coalition with the tories! If that doesn't demonstrate whose side they are really on then nothing will. The Labour Party has shown itself to be a party fully committed to rolling back the welfare state.<br />
<br />
This is why the <a href="http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/main/Home">Socialist Party</a> will be standing in the Welsh Assembly elections and next years council elections as part of the <a href="http://www.tusc.org.uk/">Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition</a>, standing on a platform of opposition to ALL cuts and for a united fight back to defeat this government. If you are interested in getting involved with the election campaign in RCT then you can contact us <a href="mailto:glyn.matthews.rct@gmail.com">here</a>.EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-37909670461411363392011-03-09T22:38:00.002+00:002011-03-09T22:47:33.634+00:00RCT Socialist Party launches a blogEarlier today Rhonndda Cynon Taf Socialist Party Launched a blog called <a href="http://rctsocialist.blogspot.com/">Socialism in RCT</a>. Below I reproduce the statement relased by RCT Socialist Party regarding the blog.<br /><br /><br /><h3 class="post-title entry-title"> <a href="http://rctsocialist.blogspot.com/2011/03/why-we-have-launched-this-blog.html">Why we have launched this blog</a> </h3> <div class="post-header"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-LIVTRMZifTA/TXeLA3p91UI/AAAAAAAAABs/WkQ622SF-GY/s1600/cardiffanticutsdemo1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-LIVTRMZifTA/TXeLA3p91UI/AAAAAAAAABs/WkQ622SF-GY/s400/cardiffanticutsdemo1.jpg" border="0" width="400" height="266" /></a></div>As the economic crisis continues for millions of ordinary people around the country and internationally, the rich get richer and ordinary working class people are made to pay the price shown by the obscene profits and bonuses paid to bankers and other corporations.<br /><br />The media, government and all the major political parties are constantly telling us about Tina - There is no alternative.We are told that this was all unavoidable, that it was the international markets and governments who had no control over this. We are told that this could not have been predicted, but these are all the lies which are constantly fed to us..<br /><br />None of this was inevitable, Karl Marx pointed out over 150 years ago the inherent contradictions of capitalism, the constant and unavoidable cycle of boom and bust. It was not just the capitalist markets which caused this either. The deregulation of the banking sector around the world by governments, in the case of Britain by the Thatcher government, and maintained by New Labour over their 13 years in office made it possible for the 'elastic' to be stretched further to create an ever growing credit bubble. As with an elastic band the more it is stretched the harder it will snap and this has all been made worse by the de-industrialisation of Britain, the loss of manufacturing jobs and the replacement by service sector jobs has meant the British economy is extremely dependant on the finance sector which has plunged us further into crisis.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-7LrmsO6-2JI/TXeUFyGnXsI/AAAAAAAAABw/d9uLTO_BVFM/s1600/nhsdemo.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-7LrmsO6-2JI/TXeUFyGnXsI/AAAAAAAAABw/d9uLTO_BVFM/s400/nhsdemo.jpg" border="0" width="400" height="300" /></a></div>When they tell us there is no alternative this is just a big con trick. Whilst £billions have been given to the banks in a bailout, huge bonuses have been paid out, huge profits have been made and ordinary people like us have been forced to pay the price with job cuts, wage cuts and freezes, cuts in pensions, higher tuition fees and cuts in pretty much all public services and benefits. On top of this council tax is set to rise as is the cost of living.<br /><br />With high levels of unemployment there are nearly 1 million unemployed young people who are also having the door to higher education closed in their face.<br /><br />We should not have to and we will not accept this. The banks should be fully nationalised and run democratically in a way where the profits can go into funding the NHS, education and other public services and not the other way around as the government is currently doing. We could scrap the war in Afghanistan, the replacement of the trident nuclear weapons systems and end the financial scam of Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) which allows private companies to make huge amounts of money out of providing public services at a lower standard.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-wwDyVsOI-lM/TXeYbWRBEFI/AAAAAAAAAB0/GpU4g-otuuQ/s1600/untitled.bmp" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-wwDyVsOI-lM/TXeYbWRBEFI/AAAAAAAAAB0/GpU4g-otuuQ/s400/untitled.bmp" border="0" width="400" height="277" /></a></div>The government could also start collecting the £120 billion tax per year which is avoided or evaded by the rich every year but instead the government is proposing to cut staffing numbers in HM revenues & customs making it almost impossible to close the tax gap. These are public sector workers who actually bring in revenue which shows that this is definitely an ideological attack on the public sector are the services working class people rely on.<br /><br />Many people both in Britain and around the world are beginning to wake up to this reality and have begun to fightback in various ways, be it the recent student demonstrations and university occupations in Britain, the mass demonstrations and revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East or the mass movements developing in Wisconsin in the United States just to give a few examples. There are of course already some fantastic websites already covering these events which we fully support such as the <a href="http://www.socialistworld.net/">Committee for a Workers' International</a> (CWI - International organisation of which the Socialist Party is affiliated) website and of course both the <a href="http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/main/Home">Socialist Party</a> and the <a href="http://www.socialistpartywales.org.uk/home.shtml">Socialist Party Wales</a> websites.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-DklyphmDGBY/TXef3qP_myI/AAAAAAAAAB4/3S1eEGlAVGw/s1600/untitled2.bmp" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-DklyphmDGBY/TXef3qP_myI/AAAAAAAAAB4/3S1eEGlAVGw/s400/untitled2.bmp" border="0" width="262" height="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">We are also facing attacks on our communities. The Labour led Rhondda Cynon Taf council recently sent out section 188 notices to its 10,000 strong workforce, which threatened them with the sack if they did not sign new contracts which would ensure that the workers loose on average between £2,000-4,000 per year! On top of this the council has proposed a rise in council tax by nearly 3%!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Labour council say they have no choice because their budget has been cut, but they do have a choice. The council should refuse to implement the cuts and instead set a needs budget (a budget which meets the real needs of people in the area) and follow the heroic example set by the Liverpool council in the 1980s. They could do this by using the council reserves for now, whilst building a mass campaign amongst trade unionists, community campaigners, students and young people to support the council and demand the necessary funding from central government. This is exactly what they did in Liverpool and they won! If every Labour council in the country did this then it would bring this ConDem government crashing down.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There is a real choice for the council, they can either implement the tory cuts or the can stand by working class people and refuse to make us pay for the crisis. If they did this then RCT Socialist Party would give our full support to the council. Unfortunately we think that this is unlikely to happen so we should stand anti-cuts candidates at next years council elections.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Since its inception Socialist Party members have participated in and helped to build <a href="http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#%21/home.php?sk=group_183017801736728">RCT Against the Cuts</a> and bring along to it a strategy to defeat the cuts and we will continue to do so. There is a real need for a political alternative to workers and youth, who will people in RCT vote for when the Welsh Assembly elections come around this May? The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are attacking us from Westminster and the Labour Party is attacking us from the council chambers. Plaid Cymru are attempting to present themselves as an alternative but where they are in power they are making huge cuts themselves, such as in Cardiff council.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-24J9ZCWAIpI/TXembXrl_yI/AAAAAAAAAB8/bp1Jx4nokcE/s1600/183406_10150101034115683_725280682_6818019_6536523_n.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-24J9ZCWAIpI/TXembXrl_yI/AAAAAAAAAB8/bp1Jx4nokcE/s400/183406_10150101034115683_725280682_6818019_6536523_n.jpg" border="0" width="400" height="263" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">We need a real alternative and that is why RCT Socialist Party will be standing in the forthcoming Welsh Assembly elections in the South Wales Central regional list as part of the <a href="http://www.tusc.org.uk/">Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition</a> (TUSC), which is committed to opposing all cuts.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It is for all these reasons that we have made the decision to launch this blog. In order to comment and analyse events and to offer a strategy and tactics for the way forward for workers and youth in RCT. Look out for regular updates here. It doesn't stop there, we have also launched a facebook page <a href="http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#%21/pages/RCT-Socialists/198489940176177">RCT Socialists</a> and you can follow us on twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/RCTSocialists">@RCTSocialists</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Don't stop there <a href="http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/main/join">join the Socialist Party</a> and help us fight for our future. </div>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-6193493079996454642011-02-22T01:04:00.003+00:002011-02-22T01:13:43.932+00:00Rhondda Cynon Taff marches against the cuts<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi15vKqw4p1Hl7V5BhAc3J-aZNso0e2amDQ2gEI2QVh134KTyJw82GEBHhRxsvf9ycWj1Eu6Q3eqPaapuGayzo1r6RltwhfcvDGCNgTo-NY18mIub75aWxHydiYa3HA61KUGYKzpwtFBq0/s1600/rctdemo.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 222px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi15vKqw4p1Hl7V5BhAc3J-aZNso0e2amDQ2gEI2QVh134KTyJw82GEBHhRxsvf9ycWj1Eu6Q3eqPaapuGayzo1r6RltwhfcvDGCNgTo-NY18mIub75aWxHydiYa3HA61KUGYKzpwtFBq0/s320/rctdemo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576315265702578946" border="0" /></a><br />This article was orginally posted on the <a href="http://www.socialistpartywales.org.uk/home.shtml">Socialist Party Wales</a> website.<br /><br /><br /><br /><p>Over 400 trade unionists, community campaigners and young people marched against cutbacks in a demonstration organised by UNISON. Also in attendance was a sizeable contingent from GMB, PCS NASUWT and other trade unionists. The demonstration was loud and angry as we marched through the town centre with the Youth Fight For Jobs contingent especially loud.</p> <p>Many council workers are angry at the labour run Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) council for the blackmailing of staff, threatening them with the sack unless they except worse pay and conditions, which will affect their pay home pay for most workers of between £2-£4000, and in some cases even more!</p> <p>The anger of the workforce was noticeable at the rally in the Muni at the end of the march, which was reflected in the speeches UNISON leaders in Wales were made even if up until now this has not been matched by their actions. It is clear that the weight of their members’ anger is pressing up against them.</p> <p>Hundreds of RCT Against The Cuts leaflets were distributed on the day, both to those on the demonstration and passers-by. After the rally Socialist Party Wales held a very successful public meeting with about 50 in attendance. At the meeting several council workers expressed their anger towards the trade union branch leaderships, who they say had not really gone out of their way to inform the workforce that the demonstration had taken place, one worker went on to add “I only found out about the demo today, but most of the people I work with probably still don’t know after it has happened”.</p> <p>In reply one of the organisers of RCT Against The Cuts said that this shows the importance of building this anti-cuts alliance which can communicate to all trade unionists and other campaigners in the area about the events coming up and to build a network of activists throughout all trade unions in the area to act as a lever on the leaderships to make sure they are doing what we elected them to do as represent their members interests.</p> <p>On the day dozens of people said they would come to the next meeting of RCT Against The Cuts on February 24th in Pontypridd Museum and are going to help build the campaign. Two people joined the Socialist Party and many more expressed an interest in finding out more and joining as well.</p>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-31347243185836394042010-10-04T15:30:00.007+01:002010-10-04T16:48:29.352+01:00A day trip to Birmingham, but for what?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeaaJKJZxT_7hJJrkZ8HaLQqpOigEOW9viNWew_BpFMngZ88H2CwpXY0AaGM4lDup3QYc1LqwZNi4kDdABtAOFv_3ozjDDMuIPRwQTLmQRVA9LRBZdnP7r-jiMh7VeToc3VqQnXeZQ6KA/s1600/rtw.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 250px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 187px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5524218210472046114" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeaaJKJZxT_7hJJrkZ8HaLQqpOigEOW9viNWew_BpFMngZ88H2CwpXY0AaGM4lDup3QYc1LqwZNi4kDdABtAOFv_3ozjDDMuIPRwQTLmQRVA9LRBZdnP7r-jiMh7VeToc3VqQnXeZQ6KA/s320/rtw.jpg" /></a><br /><div>Last Sunday saw a demonstration of somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 people in Birmingham to protest outside the tory party conference. An impressive turn out with all things considered, the rain probably damaged the turn out and the governments spending review has not taken place yet. The demonstration also displayed a great cross section of working class society with banners displaying various campaigns to stop cuts in services, with various trade union banners, student groups, political organisations and a sizable amount of disabled people in attendance as well, fearful of the cuts in Disability Living allowance. All of this shows the potential is there for a united campaign against cutbacks but it wasn't all positive and I am not just referring to the rain.<br /><br /><br />Despite such anger against the cuts you would be forgiven for not realising this demonstration was against cuts, in fact I am not entirely sure myself if it was or if it was simply against tory cuts! The Right to Work posters read 'Protest against Tory cuts' and there was nothing said about anyone else but the tories. Whilst some may say this is pedantic it is not at all. Travelling on a coach from Cardiff we were well aware that the Welsh Assembly government is run by Labour and Plaid Cymru whilst Cardiff Council is run by the Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru. Do the cuts they will carry out not matter? With any of the 3 main parties and a 4th in Wales in power they have all committed themselves to huge public sector cuts. But there was no mention of this throughout the demonstration simply stating that 'tories are scum' whilst I completely agree lets have some clarity and make it clear that all the main parties are committed to making to working class pay for the capitalist crisis.<br /><br /><br />This is a very important point because it is no good to simply direct the anger at tories (and liberals) when it will be labour/Plaid Cymru/SNP councils as well as the Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Parliament carrying out the cuts as well. It seems that the 'keep is so broad it is ineffective' strategy is still in full effect though. I am not opposed to members of those parties being involved in campaigns against cuts, but only if they refuse to vote for cuts and condemn those in their parties who do. Where there are council that refuse to carry out cuts they should receive the full and active support of anti-cuts campaigners but where there is not, then anti-cuts candidates should stand for election, unfortunately this did not feature at all in the Right to Work organised demonstration whatsoever.<br /><br /><br />Fortunately however Dave Nellist former Labour MP and currently a Socialist Party councillor in Coventry spoke from the platform at both rallies, he made the points which I have made in this article and pointed out that anti-cuts campaigners have had electoral success, in Kidderminster twice winning an MP as well as councillors and councillors won by anti-cuts campaigners in Huddersfield, Wigan, Wallsall and many other places and there is a need to build on this in the next election. This was also made clear in a very good Socialist Party leaflet which to my knowledge was the only material on the day highlighting a real strategy to defeat the cuts which was very will received, after all that was the point of the demonstration was it not?<br /><br /><br />There were other problems with the demonstration with between 50-100 pseudo-anarchist youth attempted to breach the fence and get into the conference centre, which then led to a long confrontation with the police which was eventually separated off from the main demonstration. This clearly resulted from the frustration at the relative inaction from the demonstration organisers in my view and will only continue and the trend will increase unless a clear strategy to defeat the cuts is put forward.<br /><br /><br />It is also worth noting that despite all this talk of the Coalition of Resistance on the Internet, I did not see any sign of them existing on this demonstration, which would have been the experience of many others, if they were actually there at all, or does this 'coalition only exist on the Internet? That has been my sole experience with it.<br /><br /><br />On the day Right to Work gave out a leaflet calling for 'unity talks' on the 5th December, but if they actually wanted unity then two things would have happened differently at least. Firstly when the chair of Right to Work attended the steering committee of the National Shop Stewards Network the day before he would have raised this at the time and secondly they would not have organised a 'unity event' the same time as the already publicised Youth Fight for Jobs national conference. It seems that based on this the 'unity project' is just for show, especially considering Right To Work was set up when the NSSN and YFJ already existed in the first place! Nevertheless unity against cuts is welcome but at the moment I am dubious that Right to Work actually want unity with others, and who could argue otherwise based on the facts.<br /><br /><br />After this demonstration it seems clear to me that nothing has changed and that if we wish to stop the cuts that the tasks remain the same, to build local campaigns against the cuts!<br /><br /></div>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-19741224795327210552010-10-02T18:28:00.005+01:002010-10-02T19:05:30.439+01:00Nick Clegg 'answers' questions in CardiffLast Thursday I had the dubious honour of attending a question and answer session with Nick Clegg in Cardiff City Hall. It was meant to be invitation only, probably due to the grilling he got last time he visited the city, but despite that and despite not being on the guest list I was able to get in.<br /><br />What did I get for managing to blag my way in? Well I managed to waste 45 minutes of my life which I will never be able to get back! Clegg was indeed his usual self, that of a despicable liar, I did not expect anything else but the levels to which he was willing to go to lie would have been amusing if not true.<br /><br />The first question from the floor started off well with the speaker ironically offering greetings from his mother who had voted for the liberals to keep the tories out. However the questions were not all that great in my opinion and there was only to be a handful of them as Clegg only stuck around for 45 minutes, i think in reality it was probably less than that. Whilst it seemed obvious that the majority of people in attendance were angry at Clegg, noticed by the whispers amongst the audience this didn't really translate into the questions.<br /><br />Those able to ask questions (many included myself despite having are hands up the whole time were not brought in to ask a question) generally asked about services they used or sectors they worked in to seek assurances that this services wouldn't suffer from the cuts. Naturally Clegg was able to worm his way out, particularly as this meeting didn't grant the questioner the right to reply. One example was when a teacher asked about the situation in schools where funding restrictions have already seen cuts to learning support staff which allows children with learning difficulties to remain in mainstream schools, she asked how this would be prevented. Clegg's reply utterly appalled me! He said that it was because there was too much bureaucracy in the system, that although funding would be cut giving schools and teachers the freedom to decide how the money would be spent would prevent this from happening. He gave the example of academies to exlain why this gives the freedom to choose! Quite disingenious as this doesn't give the teachers or any other educational specialists the choice of how resources are spent, it gives private companies, rather than accoutable public authorities th choice. In any case if the budget is cut some services will have to go but when this is coupled with a private company taking a profit out then the end result can only ever be cuts.<br /><br /><br />Clegg was caught out at one point though when he stated that future genrations should not be made to pay for 'our' mistakes, so he was questioned by a student on why the government was proposing to raise tution fees, Clegg responded by acknowledging it was a problem and went on about the difficulties that students face but generally avoided actually answering the question as you would expect from a politician.<br /><br />Throughout the whole time Clegg managed to get in lie after lie, I presented it as a fact that there is no other choice but to cut public services, such a blatant lie, what he should have said is that according to his political philisphy there is no other choice! In reality there is definately anothr choice, reading through the last few entries of my blog will be able to see that. He also stated that NHS funding would increase, and whilst this technically is not a lie it is very disingenious as the funding will be below inflation rates in the health sector and therefore in real terms is a cut to health expenditure. He also stated that over all public expenditure would increase, this to me seems like it must be an out right lie, but if there is some truth in it then it can only be on the basis of bailouts for the rich and trident nuclear weapons, hardly the public services that come to mind when people think of public expenditure.<br /><br />Over all the 45 minutes was a complete waste of time, though it would have been well worth it if I was able to get into the discussion and put these points and the alternative to cuts to Clegg, such a grilling would have changed the whole mood of any following questions and th general atmosphere in the room.EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-75935291093618624632010-09-29T13:52:00.005+01:002010-09-29T14:08:39.677+01:00Campaigning against cutbacks<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHBFQw7EZh_-pW95NQ5KFTTDrF28c6uCnjLZV194YXHosrnwK_Q3gNUefWHW3At_5uXyXP_cExEJaP8J2vRsQjOmMgRwUszYlKhFcxc1N8cv7cA9VkxSC8ry3okLz5zYKG5gDf_QgEdes/s1600/untitled.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522320168337454418" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 220px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHBFQw7EZh_-pW95NQ5KFTTDrF28c6uCnjLZV194YXHosrnwK_Q3gNUefWHW3At_5uXyXP_cExEJaP8J2vRsQjOmMgRwUszYlKhFcxc1N8cv7cA9VkxSC8ry3okLz5zYKG5gDf_QgEdes/s400/untitled.bmp" border="0" /></a><br /><div>This article was orginally posted on the <a href="http://www.glamsu.com/news/index.php?page=article&news_id=173073">GlamSU website</a>, However since publishing some details have changed. The demonstration reffered to October 23rd in Pontypridd is no longer taking place, however there will be a demonstration against cuts in Cardiff on that day organised by the <a href="http://www.shopstewards.net/">Wales Shop Stewards Network</a>. Below is the article</div><br /><p></p><p>On the 20th of October the ‘ConDem’ government as it has come too referred as will announce its spending review. In Orwellian fashion this spending review will only review how to spend much less across the entire public sector. In reality this will equate to huge job losses, particularly in Wales where a third of the workforce is in the public sector, along with the jobs cuts will come the inevitable slashing of public service provisions, including provisions in the education system.</p><p><br />In light of this there has been resistance emerging from trade unions, student groups and community campaigners alike. Already several joint initiatives have been announced. The National Union of Students (NUS) and the University and College Union (UCU) (the trade union for lecturers and other academic staff) have announced a joint campaign called ‘Fund of Future’ and have planned a joint demonstration for November the 20th against cuts in university funding.</p><p><br />There have also been moves for a national demonstration against all cut backs. The National Shop Stewards Network organised a demonstration of over a thousand people outside the Trades Union Council (TUC) Conference to put pressure on the TUC to call a national demonstration against cuts. Such a demonstration organised by the TUC which has over 6 million members in Britain could be a huge rallying cry for a campaign to defeat the cuts!</p><p><br />On a more local level in the last week a meeting organised by Cardiff Trade Union Council agreed to set up a campaign against all cut backs. The meeting was well attended by members of a variety of public sector trade unions as well as those working in the private sector. Of note to us as students is that in attendance at this meeting there were staff and students present from both the University of Glamorgan and Cardiff University. At the meeting the need to unite campaigns together soA all the variety of campaigns against these cutbacks was stressed heavily. A sentiment I completely agree with, if we let ourselves get divided into saving our own services and our own jobs then we will all loose out in the end. This was something that Cardiff Council attempted to do a few years ago, when they attempted to divide individual campaigns against school closures. This was done in an attempt to get some campaigners to support the closure programme but campaign solely for their school to remain open. This would have led to smaller sectional and therefore weaker campaigns.</p><p><br />It is therefore important that we as students wishing to defend education cuts should support any campaigns in the area against public sector cuts. There is a demonstration on the 23rd of October in Pontypridd against public sector cuts organised by the Wales TUC. All students at the University should attend that demonstration and campaign alongside public sector workers, but we should also appeal for those on that demonstration to come along with us to the demonstration in London against cuts in University funding.</p><p><br />We have been constantly told there is no alternative to the cuts by the government and the media, and the old saying that “If a lie is told long and loud enough then it will become the truth” is very appropriate in this situation as there is no basis for this assertion whatsoever. The only reason that we have a deficit is because all the money was given to the banks, yet the banks are still able to make millions in profits and still give out millions in bonuses to the top city bankers. So why not demand that the bankers pay for the crisis instead, why not demand that the government nationalises the banks and put the profits into the education system and other public services.</p><p><br />Even if we accept this debt from the bankers it is not true that we need to cut public sector spending at this rate, in fact we do not need to cut spending at all. After World War 2 when the British government was racked by debts much bigger in fact than the current debt crisis it was still possible to invest heavily in public services including the introduction of the NHS as well investment in many other public services, which led to a period of economic boom. Contrast that to the response of governments after the Wall Street crash which was to drastically reduce public spending which led to the great depression, showing that making public sector cuts on this scale can only make things worse!</p>EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651929334667459744.post-18480181226342025392010-09-22T17:39:00.004+01:002010-09-22T17:45:09.792+01:00Cardiff anti-cuts alliance<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg85QJ6ZOcrC2YO0mCjJVQonflrPEh7Uiwp9I9o4kBJZICMuPyifvw1EIF_fYNGP5QdFSQr5q4CRRc7D5c5B5DLcrDEFzhTLKxTTb57j-mkz3o3AM_kHaQzSsrJH9S8-o2XS9K55zA1xks/s1600/61277_441968469804_511194804_5077824_650016_n.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519778686537253058" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg85QJ6ZOcrC2YO0mCjJVQonflrPEh7Uiwp9I9o4kBJZICMuPyifvw1EIF_fYNGP5QdFSQr5q4CRRc7D5c5B5DLcrDEFzhTLKxTTb57j-mkz3o3AM_kHaQzSsrJH9S8-o2XS9K55zA1xks/s400/61277_441968469804_511194804_5077824_650016_n.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This Tuesday just gone (21/09/10) Cardiff County Trades Council held a public meeting. The purpose of which was to discuss the impending public sector cuts, those which have already been announced, some of which have already been carried out and those cuts expected to be announced next month as part of the government’s spending review on October 20th.<br /><br />The meeting was well attended with n seats left over for any late comers. A definite sign of the mood to fight back against the public sector cuts. There were platform speakers from a variety of trade unions including the PCS, RMT, CWU and Unison and speakers from the floor representing a variety of other trade unions, student groups, community campaigners and many others. This alone should reflect the scale and the desire to fight back against these cuts.<br /><br />Speaker after speaker explained how the cuts will affect them; CWU members spoke about postal privatisation and the need for the whole community to campaign to stop this from happening. Pensioners explained the change that moving pensions from the retail price index to the consumer price index pointed out that this will reduce the living standards of pensioners and stressed the need for trade unionists to fight for pensioners rights. Youth fight for jobs activists stressed the need for all workers to help them fight against rising youth employment which is clearly linked to the fight to stop jobs cuts. The list went on and on.<br /><br />Throughout the evening it became more and more clear that there was a desperate need to link up the struggle to save jobs and services with other campaigns. Some campaigners pointed out the lessons learned in recent years in Cardiff, when the council proposed to close 22 schools in the city and then attempted to play campaign off against each other, in an attempt to get campaigners arguing for some schools to be closed in order to save their own. It was pointed out that if this did happen and different campaigns were divided then we would all loose out.<br /><br />More and more speakers were making it clear that there was a need to set up a campaigning body which included all sections of the community to oppose all cuts. Other speakers disagreed, pointing out that we should support cuts to the banks, the politicians, to the replacement of trident nuclear weapons and to the military funding which allows young working class people to be sent to fight a rich man’s war in Afghanistan.<br /><br />It was agreed at the end of the meeting to setup Cardiff anti-cuts Alliance which will start its campaigning activity very shortly and will aim to unite all campaigns that spring up against cut backs in the area into a united campaign to oppose all cuts to public services. Towards the end of the meeting one speaker from the floor said, I want to see council staff on demonstrations to oppose postal privatisation I want to see postal workers on demonstrations to oppose cuts in education; I want to see students standing side by side with striking workers. Only by standing together and supporting our individual struggles will we be able to stop these cuts.<br /><br />This is clearly a big step forward for anti-cuts campaigning in South Wales, particularly as this initiative as followed in the footsteps of a recent initiative by Swansea Trades Council.EFComradehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448737785635608861noreply@blogger.com0