Of strikes and other activism
On the 30th of June I will be on strike. Its a funny thing, I've never, not one in my life, been on strike before. I've taken a company to the labour Courts, and won - twice. I've been physically expelled from a Trade Union headquarters building and threatened with expulsion from the union for consistently bringing up the conditions of the highly exploited 'bag packers' who weren't allowed join the union because their wages were so low they couldn't afford to pay subs. (This still remains one of the worst excuses from a union for not defending exploited workers I have ever heard). I've been interviewed and featured in all the Irish national daily papers and the 9 o'clock news for my union activities. I've been blacklisted by employers for trade union activities - But I have never been on strike. Even our UCU strike earlier this year, I was on sick leave, and therefore not actually on strike. I'm looking forward to 30th June.
Meanwhile, ever since Miliband’s attack on 'welfare scroungers' and disabled people in particular I've been in a tail spin about whether or not I should resign from the labour party. It's a very big decision. On the one hand, I believe in party-politics. It's an unpleasant job, but somebody has to do it. If the ordinary, everyday people, caring for their children, struggling to hold down thier jobs don't head down to the party meetings, bring their voices to the system, impact on party policy as it evolves, and do the grunt work handing out fliers and canvassing door to door when it matters, then the party-political democracy that we have, which is all we've got, breaks down. It's not that I don't believe in other forms of political organising and campaigning. I give most of my time to Queer Resistance, after all, and have only ever been to a couple of labour Party events, but at the end of the day, its only the Labour party that has any chance of actually ousting the ConDems, and bringing Torygeddon to an end.
However, the UK Labour Party is not as the Irish Labour Party was. Over there, I wasn't exactly overly-involved either, but I did what little I could with family, health and everything else. So, turning up for about one meeting a year, to be honest. And if there was one thing I associated the Santry branch with, it was ethics. You establish a policy. You take your time, and take the voices of your members, and then develop policy, with full regard for the big picture, and big policy aims, and then stand by it. Even if its unpopular. because treating the electorate with respect and presuming that they are intelligent is just the right thing to do. Presuming that they are stupid, and manipulating them is just plain wrong. I sat through some vicious fights about bin charges. The bin charges were going to go through the local council vote either which way. Whether the labour Party candidates should turn up on the day and actually cast their vote was almost immaterial. The loony-left and Sinn Fein had the entire area whipped up against bin charges and were refusing to see the bigger picture. if our local councillors had not turned up on the day to cast their vote a lot of bad press could have been avoided - but they did, because it was the right thing to do. And because honesty and integrity in politics are important.
Over hear its all different. Milliband can't, for one second, think that dumping on welfare scroungers, and in particular promoting urban myths about disabled people all being work-shy scroungers is the right thing to do. But he seems to think its a good way to get the Daily Hate readers to vote for him, so what’s a little thing like truth or integrity got to do with anything? I can not understand how I ended up a member of this party. I've been pondering for a week what to do. I could just use my membership to get some strongly worded opinions in there, or I could use it to do so, and then resign. And I'm doing nothing because I can't decide, but a week is a long time in politics, so I should really make up my mind.
meanwhile a little serious inspiration can be taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13828800 Brian Haw, who died this week, and some slightly more light-hearted inspiration can also be gained from Loukanikos the Greek riot dog. Google this guy, and you will find endless other videos and photos of him. He's a lovely doggy. www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13802940
Meanwhile, ever since Miliband’s attack on 'welfare scroungers' and disabled people in particular I've been in a tail spin about whether or not I should resign from the labour party. It's a very big decision. On the one hand, I believe in party-politics. It's an unpleasant job, but somebody has to do it. If the ordinary, everyday people, caring for their children, struggling to hold down thier jobs don't head down to the party meetings, bring their voices to the system, impact on party policy as it evolves, and do the grunt work handing out fliers and canvassing door to door when it matters, then the party-political democracy that we have, which is all we've got, breaks down. It's not that I don't believe in other forms of political organising and campaigning. I give most of my time to Queer Resistance, after all, and have only ever been to a couple of labour Party events, but at the end of the day, its only the Labour party that has any chance of actually ousting the ConDems, and bringing Torygeddon to an end.
However, the UK Labour Party is not as the Irish Labour Party was. Over there, I wasn't exactly overly-involved either, but I did what little I could with family, health and everything else. So, turning up for about one meeting a year, to be honest. And if there was one thing I associated the Santry branch with, it was ethics. You establish a policy. You take your time, and take the voices of your members, and then develop policy, with full regard for the big picture, and big policy aims, and then stand by it. Even if its unpopular. because treating the electorate with respect and presuming that they are intelligent is just the right thing to do. Presuming that they are stupid, and manipulating them is just plain wrong. I sat through some vicious fights about bin charges. The bin charges were going to go through the local council vote either which way. Whether the labour Party candidates should turn up on the day and actually cast their vote was almost immaterial. The loony-left and Sinn Fein had the entire area whipped up against bin charges and were refusing to see the bigger picture. if our local councillors had not turned up on the day to cast their vote a lot of bad press could have been avoided - but they did, because it was the right thing to do. And because honesty and integrity in politics are important.
Over hear its all different. Milliband can't, for one second, think that dumping on welfare scroungers, and in particular promoting urban myths about disabled people all being work-shy scroungers is the right thing to do. But he seems to think its a good way to get the Daily Hate readers to vote for him, so what’s a little thing like truth or integrity got to do with anything? I can not understand how I ended up a member of this party. I've been pondering for a week what to do. I could just use my membership to get some strongly worded opinions in there, or I could use it to do so, and then resign. And I'm doing nothing because I can't decide, but a week is a long time in politics, so I should really make up my mind.
meanwhile a little serious inspiration can be taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13828800 Brian Haw, who died this week, and some slightly more light-hearted inspiration can also be gained from Loukanikos the Greek riot dog. Google this guy, and you will find endless other videos and photos of him. He's a lovely doggy. www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13802940