Izquierda Marxista

Declaración del presidente de la Socialist Alliance sobre la coalición Respect

Autor: Nick Wrack

Fecha: 10/1/2004

Traductor: Alejandra Rios

Fuente: Socialist Alliance

Saturday January 10 2004
Statement from Nick Wrack, chair of the Socialist Alliance, on Respect - The Unity Coalition
09.12.03
Dear Comrades

As comrades will no doubt be aware, in line with the decision of the SA Annual Conference in May this year, the Socialist Alliance has been involved in a series of discussions and public meetings with the aim of participating in and building a new left-wing electoral coalition. A series of rallies and meetings under the title 'Britain at the Crossroads' has been addressed by an array of speakers including, at every meeting, a representative of the Socialist Alliance.

It has been quite clear at these meetings that there is an enornmous enthusiasm for such an electoral coalition to challenge New Labour from the left at the Euro and GLA elections in June 2004.

On Sunday 30th November 2003 a meeting of those who have been involved in speaking at these meetings met to discuss the steps needed to bring these discussions together with concrete proposals to establish this coalition.

This meeting was attended by George Galloway MP, Salma Yacoob, Lindsay German, John Rees, Linda Smith (London FBU) and Ken Loach. Unfortunately George Monbiot, Bob Crow and Mark Serwotka were unable to attend.

The meeting discussed

1) A draft declaration which would be used to launch the coalition and rally people to it.

2) A national convention of the left and other practical issues such as membership, finance, potential support and possible developments after the June elections.

Please find below the text of the declaration which has now been agreed by all those who attended Sunday's meeting. The text has subsequently been agreed by George Monbiot and we anticipate that it will be endorsed by Bob Crow and Mark Serwotka.

People will be able to join the coalition. Although no constitution has been discussed there was general agreement that it should also be open to affiliation. There was general agreement that the coalition membership would come together in a national conference after the June elections, possibly some time in the Autumn, to discuss a more formal constitution and a more detailed programme.

The Convention of the Left will discuss the Declaration and take amendments to it. It will also elect a steering committee to take the coalition through to the June elections and beyond until the conference later in 2004. It is envisaged that the coalition will have branches to carry out the activity of the coalition in the run up to June and to create a forum for debate and allow for the full participation in the running and decisions of the coalition. Of course all of this still needs to be worked out in detail.

Unfortunately it is inevitable, given that the initiative for the Coalition had to come from somewhere, that there is a certain element of it simply being presented as an accomplished fact. However, the Convention and the meetings both before and after it will give everyone who supports the project the opportunity to have their say in its development and direction.

The Socialist Alliance will hold a National Council on the 17th of January to discuss this initiative following a National Executive meeting on January 3rd. There will be a National Conference of the Socialist Alliance on March 13th to debate our participation in the coalition.

At the November 2003 National Executive the following resolution was passed with one vote against:

"The SA welcomes moves towards a left unity coalition to contest the EU elections. The SA will engage with this process and fight for it to adopt a working class and socialist platform in an open, democratic and transparent process"

At all times I have participated in the discussions surrounding this declaration and made contributions included in the final draft which have attempted to implement the decisions of the Conference, National Council and National Executive.

In my opinion these steps are fully within the spirit and the letter of the May 2003 SA Annual Conference decision. Of course, the SA Conference on March13 2004 will have to discuss this whole project and to decide its relationship to the coalition. However, I would argue strongly that members of the SA, individually and collectively, should enthusiastically and energetically put their efforts into building this coalition. I believe that the Declaration is an excellent document around which socialists can organise with others and, with the agreement of the National Executive Committee I have put my name to it on behalf of the Socialist Alliance.

There will be a series of local meetings to build for the Convention on the 25th and following the convention to build the local branches of the coalition. These events will give socialists the opportunity to put their ideas in front of a much broader audience than for many years and to put socialist ideas at the core of the coalition.

Attendance at the Convention will be open to those who fill in an application form and pay £10.

The current working title for the electoral coalition is RESPECT - The Unity Coalition. Where the word Respect is an Acronym standing for Respect, Equality, Socialism, Peace, Environmentalism, Community, Trade Unionism.

Yours in socialism

Nick Wrack

Draft declaration
The greatest mass movement of our age has brought us together. We have marched in unprecedented numbers against war, against racism and in defence of democracy and civil liberties. Our views are shared by millions, often a majority of the people in this country.

Yet no establishment politician, and very few elected representatives of any kind, will lend their voice to this movement. The two most important statistics in contemporary politics highlight the growing chasm between ordinary working people and the political establishment: on the one hand we have participated in the greatest political demonstrations in modern history, on the other hand the last general election saw the lowest turnout since universal suffrage was introduced.

This chasm is at its widest on the question of war and peace. Tony Blair's New Labour has taken us to war five times in the last six years, each time with calamitous consequences. The bloodshed, the waste of precious economic resources, the lying and hypocrisy that have accompanied the attack on Iraq have brought many to the conclusion that they must rethink their traditional political allegiance.

But the yearning for a political alternative is even wider than the anti-war movement. Pensioners, students, trade unionists, Muslims and other faith groups, socialists, ethnic minorities and many others have been deeply disappointed by the authoritarian social policies and profit-centred, neo-liberal economic strategy of the government.

There is a crisis of representation, a democratic deficit, at the heart of politics in Britain. We aim to offer a solution to this crisis.

We stand for:

An end to the war and occupation in Iraq. We will not join any further imperialist wars.

An end to all privatisation and the bringing back into democratic public ownership of the railways and other public services.

An education system that is not dependent on the ability to pay, that is comprehensive and gives an equal chance in life to every child no matter how wealthy or poor their parents, from nursery to university.

A fully funded, democratically controlled NHS free at the point of need.

Pensions that are linked to average earnings.

The repeal of the Tory anti-union laws.

Opposition to all forms of discrimination based on race, gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs (or lack of them), sexual orientation, disabilities, national origin or citizenship.

The right to self-determination of every individual in relation to their religious (or non-religious) beliefs, as well as sexual choices.

The defence of the rights of refugees and asylum seekers.

We will strongly oppose the anti-European xenophobic right wing in any Euro referendum. But we oppose the 'stability pact' that the European Union seeks to impose on all those who join the Euro. This pact would outlaw government deficit spending and reinforce the drive to privatise and deregulate the economy and we will therefore vote "No" in any referendum on this issue.

An end to the destruction of the environment by states and corporations for whom profit is more important than sustaining the natural world on which all life depends.

We want a world in which the democratic demands of the people are carried out; a world based on need not profit; a world where solidarity rather than self-interest is the spirit of the age.

Let this be the rebirth of hope for those who have become disillusioned.

Join us!