Thanks to All the Artists, Speakers and Organisers For Making our National Rally Such a Success.
Just a quick line to say thanks to all the artists, speakers and organisers for making today's national rally at the Shaw Theatre such an overwhelming success.
With just over 6 weeks of organisation the theatre was filled throughout the afternoon with over 400 activists coming to discuss the campaign and hear a fantastic range of music and witness some beautiful dance.
Representatives from trade unions, CLPs, MPs and numerous campaigns came along to voice support for our campaign.
The speeches were incredibly moving statements of commitment to the socialist ideals upon which our party was founded.
To listen to young people expressing their hopes and beliefs for the future and to hear the response of solidarity from speakers from the pensioners movement was just inspirational.
All this offered hope for the future.
Today we witnessed the birth of a new united progressive front within our movement.
Thanks once again to all the volunteers who organised to make this happen.
With just over 6 weeks of organisation the theatre was filled throughout the afternoon with over 400 activists coming to discuss the campaign and hear a fantastic range of music and witness some beautiful dance.
Representatives from trade unions, CLPs, MPs and numerous campaigns came along to voice support for our campaign.
The speeches were incredibly moving statements of commitment to the socialist ideals upon which our party was founded.
To listen to young people expressing their hopes and beliefs for the future and to hear the response of solidarity from speakers from the pensioners movement was just inspirational.
All this offered hope for the future.
Today we witnessed the birth of a new united progressive front within our movement.
Thanks once again to all the volunteers who organised to make this happen.
posted by John at 11:42 PM
24 Comments:
Such an inspiring event. Made me really feel part of a movement for the first time in as far as I can remember.
J4L
Wish I could have been there, glad it went well!
I've just joined the LP so I can vote for you.
Thanks for an excellent rally, John and all who contributed to it. Such a cross section of supporters is justification of the fear that the right in the party are expressing now. Let's take a deep breath as I am sure the reaction to this campaign will get dirtier, given that there are no political arguments left in their arsenal.
Had a quick glance at Chomsky's The Common Good last night, he speaks of the US where over 70% of people don't like the system but feel powerless to change it. He answers that government looks powerful, but it is still under public control to some extent. However, power is maintained by use of business propaganda breaking down the relations among people and their sense of support for one another i.e. use of marketing to persuade us the benefits of materialism, which Adam Curtis examined in his series The Plot - today's narrow idea of freedom.
There is no magic answer to change this gradual decline but Chomsky advocates making people aware of constructive alternatives so they have something to gravitate towards. Eventually we will win but it takes work and above all comradeship.
On a practical note he reminds us it is easier to defend a health system that to create one within a private system, likewise any sector under threat. He urges that we focus on democratising the basic structure of our institutions – in the US it is one big business party with two factions that runs things – this is where we will be very soon if we are not careful.
Quoting Dewey : "politics is the shadow cast on society by big business". Come on members of parliament I am calling on you to join us in the sunshine. Come out of the shadows!
Great rally John, and it was also good to meet you as well. The sppeches were all top notch, and like one of the previous people I only joint the Labour Party a couple of months ago as a result of your campaign. A jolly excellent rally, and I must say, a rather inspirational one too!
Just got back from London. Fantastic to see so many people there. Reminded me of how the Labour conferences used to be but let's not dwell on the past. It's clear the will is there now to re-claim the Party for socialist values. What was particulsrly heartening was seeing so many young people. And hearing them speak too.
But time is short and now,as Alice Mahon said, we all have to lobby MPs who might vote for John. And not just our own. Tomorrow (when I have got over my hangover!) I am going to start working my way through the anti-Trident MPs. I suggest to all of you do the same.
400 people at a socialist rally - would any of us have thought that possible a year ago???? Surely 44 MPs can rally round too.
It was a great afternoon! Some fantastic music, dance and comedy, and some really excellent speeches. And just a really good atmosphere as well. Well done to everyone involved, from choice of venue to passing round the buckets and all points in between!
If anybody wants the words to a few more verses of the Red Flag before the next such event, get in touch!
I really enjoyed the afternoon and was impressed at the turnout from such short notice. Well done to everyone involved in organising it.
Sorry to miss the event but it was the final hustings for the Manchester Withington Labour parliamentary selection.
The avowedly McDonnellite candidate finished second.
Details here.
On the sailors held by Iran :
According to Craig Murray - who was head of the Maritime Unit at the British Foreign office from 1989 to 1992
Craig Murray (head of the Maritime Unit of the Foreign Office 1989 – 1992) - http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/weblog - points out due to disputed sandbanks and islands and the irregular shape of coastlines the only way to decide the maritime boundaries between countries in practice is by negotiating them. Iraq and Iran negotiated boundaries in the Shatt Al Arab – but not in the disputed waters south of it where our sailors were taken captive.
Murray also notes Stars and Stripes Magazine 24th October 2006 quotes Commodore Peter Lockwood (a US task force commander in the Persian Gulf ) saying no maritime boundary has been negotiated in the Northern Persian Gulf. The same article quotes coalition officials saying “the lines between Iraqi and Iranian territorial water are blurred”. http://www.estripes.com/article.asp...08&archive=true
That makes both British and Iranian maps, GPS positions and claims about where the boundary is irrelevant in terms of international law.
As Murray says there’s no excuse for Iran’s government still to be holding our sailors – but if the British government admits the waters they were in are disputed and issue an apology of sorts (whether they're morally obliged to or not) there’d be a better chance of getting the sailors and marines back.
Has anyone seen this???
http://grayee.blogspot.com/2007/03/shameful-mcdonnell-slur-on-british-navy.html
I don´t usually use words as these in political debate, but someone from the campaign team ought to answer to this arsehole's abuse!
I've sent a reply. Wonder whether or not he'll approve it.
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i replied too - for one thing John McDonnell said 'detained' on this blog not 'arrested' as John Gray claims.
For another if all British politicians started saying British forces had been "kidnapped" it would neither make us more likely to get them back safely nor avoid the risk of the Bush admin using this incident as a pretext for war.
John Gray says John McDonnell said the British government had questions to answer. Apart from the fact that that seems reasonable in the circumstances (Bair has lied to take us to war before) what John actually wrote on this blog was that both sides had questions to answer.
John Gray rightly points out the Iranian government's shameful torture dissidents and execution people for the "crime" of being gay. However John McDonnell never defended this.
John Gray then makes the illogical assumption that any government that would torture people and execute them without fair trial must be in the wrong on everything.
Yet Saddam wasnt lying about Iraqi WMDs - Blair and Bush were ; and
Amnesty International say some of the US led multinational forces in Iraq continue to torture Iraqis and kill civilians as a result fo the excessive use of force.
That doesnt justify our sailors being taken captive but it does mean its right to be sceptical of both Iranian and British government claims.
So John McDonnell's position - that both sides had questions to answer -seems more balanced than John Gray's.
Still no sign of it on his site...
calling site administrator, you appear to have some, er, softporn spam!
Just wanted to say thanks both for a great rally on Saturday and also speaking at our Passport and MOD Strike Rally on Friday in London.
I believe my members in IPS were inspired by hearing someone from the Labour Party actually standing up and saying the current practice of pay imposition is simply unacceptable.
Obviously, my union is not affiliated but I am spreading the word in a personal capacity as much as possible about this campaign, when colleagues see your agenda they are very supportive.
Have also posted this John Gray bastard - don't usually swear either.People like him really ARE a disgrace to the labour movement.He may not agree but why be so unpleasant and vindictive.
he's approve all the comments now on his blog - fair play to him - i disagree with John Gray but he is posting our side of the argument too
If I am not wrong, Gray actually defected to the LibDem a while ago and came back to Labour only recently. If that is indeed the case, would it be entirely wrong for me to assume that he might be an agent of the right... or, perhaps, simply a fool with two bits of a brain - I mean who would ever defect toward the Libs in the hope of encountering something more "worker friendly", even the imbeciles down at the SWP* or the ISG* seem like more credible alternatives.
Sorry this rant was way out of line... I won't ever do it again! I mean Gray's most likely a fine human being altogether.
*Though they're just middle-class trendies too, aren't they?
*Ibid! :-) (used to be one of them)
"If I am not wrong, Gray actually defected to the LibDem a while ago and came back to Labour only recently."
That's correct. Gray quit the Lib Dems and joined Labour in 2003 because he supported the Iraq war.
I have to say was pretty appalled at his vile personal vitriol (which continues). The kind of rant I would expect from the hard right.
Scumbag is not a nice word but this guy thorughly deserves it. Why on earth was he accepted back into the Party.
I don't like the childish names he's called John either but hopefully we can raise the tone and make it a policy debate.
There's not much question that John's positions have the facts and the strongest arguments on their side.
Check out Luke the Nuke's blog:
lukeakehurst.blogspot.com
That's down to us folks - we're recruiting thousands of socialists into the Labour party.
John4Leader!
I was in a real hurry when I wrote my last comment... What I meant to say, in case it wasn't clear, is that when compared to the LibDems, even the ISG and SWP trendies look like viable left-wing alternatives - which, of course, they are not!
Has that slime-ball Gray thrust another insult at John... I don't believe it! Man... here goes my anti-Gray rant again. I really must try to stop it, but I sometimes find it really hard to remain civil when faced with some statements coming from the Party right.
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