UAF Conference: A rant

[Luciona]

Peter Hain was speaking at this on Saturday.

IMHO allowing him the ‘kudos’ of speaking at UAF conference when he has shown himself in the last five years or more to be one of the staunchest pro-war Blairite drones is a disgrace. No one would utter a word of complaint about a New Labour MP being allowed to speak, as with Jeremy Corbin: no problem at all, his lefty credentials are beyond reproach. **awaits barrage of posts proving otherwise??!** But Peter Hain??? He is in same category as Jack Straw, whose plaque was removed from Leeds university; he is no longer welcome there. How dare Peter Hain come and get the glow of being associated with anti fascist organisations when he is complicit in the illegal war that is part of the global war on terror and capitalist scum cycle that has resulted in labour becoming New Labour and there being no working class party for people to vote for, hence they vote BNP!

I think it is more than a bit farcical and hypocritical for him to be standing up there giving a rousing speeah yet not telling the full story or talking about the real causes of people voting BNP. He and the vast majority of the conference speakers and organisers seem to be all too willing to offer up ‘’vote labour’’ as a solution ie. encourage the people of Barking and Dagenham to vote for a mainstream party that doesn’t give a shit about them rather than a fascist party that doesn’t give a shit about them - but which is telling them, evidently quite convincingly, that they do care.. while labour stays silent and complacent in such constituencies.


I hate the way that conferences like UAF on Saturday, just like the Make Poverty History ridiculousness, make a mockery of the goals they claim to want to achieve by being politically naïve and allowing sticky neo liberal paws to get hold of it and use it for their own ends - namely to get re-elected by raising their profile with duppy, middle class tosser section of the Guardian readership and fancying themselves as the next PM.

 

[treelover]

largely a good post

 

[the button]

UAF & Peter Hain deserve each other IMO.

 

[durruti02]

I hate the way that conferences like UAF on Saturday, just like the Make Poverty History ridiculousness, make a mockery of the goals they claim to want to achieve by being and allowing sticky neo liberal paws to get hold of it and use it for their own ends - namely to get re-elected by raising their profile with duppy, middle class tosser section of the Guardian readership and fancying themselves as the next PM.

good post altogether BUT .. the thing is they are NOT "politically naïve" .. they are what they say on the tin .. as you describe

 

[Luciona]

good post altogether BUT .. the thing is they are NOT "politically naïve" .. they are what they say on the tin .. as you describe

It's a bit of a piss take though dragging so many trade union acitivists like me to spend their saturday at a top-heavy conference that is a waste of everyone's time. Silly of me to expect anything more from it though....

I agree that the organisers are not necessarily politically naive, but know exactly what they are doing. However I do believe that some of the people involved are naive. They are NOT aware of what a sham it all is and genuinely believe that supressing voices that criticise their choice of speakers - or criticise New Labour - as the chair of one seminar did - is the right thing to do because (and I quote) ''Well we are here to talk about fascism today and a united front against it, whether people supported the war in Iraq or not, that is a separate issue...'
Which is a shame cos so much passion and time devoted to a cause and yet no idea that they are feeding the New Labour machine.

 

[kyser_soze]

that has resulted in labour becoming New Labour and there being no working class party for people to vote for, hence they vote BNP!

You keep telling yourselves that and it'll all be well.

Maybe if the left had maintained a basic interest in the welfare of the white w/c and included them in concepts like prioritising services on basis of need' instead of switching to identity politics so many wouldn't be voting BNP...but no, go for the easy solution and blame NL...

 

[Fruitloop]

There is no Left in Britain.

 

[kyser_soze]

Aside from here, TTG and Turbo Island anyway...

 

[Frank Drebben]

A person can be anti fascist and pro the Iraq war though can't they? My Uncle Kenny served time for fighting the NF but he thought invading Iraq was long overdue.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Aside from here, TTG and Turbo Island anyway...

LOL!

 

[Spion]

Peter Hain was speaking at this on Saturday.

IMHO allowing him the ‘kudos’ of speaking at UAF conference when he has shown himself in the last five years or more to be one of the staunchest pro-war Blairite drones is a disgrace. No one would utter a word of complaint about a New Labour MP being allowed to speak, as with Jeremy Corbin: no problem at all, his lefty credentials are beyond reproach. **awaits barrage of posts proving otherwise??!** But Peter Hain??? He is in same category as Jack Straw, whose plaque was removed from Leeds university; he is no longer welcome there. How dare Peter Hain come and get the glow of being associated with anti fascist organisations when he is complicit in the illegal war that is part of the global war on terror and capitalist scum cycle that has resulted in labour becoming New Labour and there being no working class party for people to vote for, hence they vote BNP!

Err, if you're campaigning against fascists what has a person's stance on the war to do with it? Criticise the guy on things to do with the rise of the BNP, sure, but it seems stupid to exclude someone from one campaign on the basis of their stance in another. In my day that used to be called sectarianism.

 

[Luciona]

You keep telling yourselves that and it'll all be well.

Maybe if the left had maintained a basic interest in the welfare of the white w/c and included them in concepts like prioritising services on basis of need' instead of switching to identity politics so many wouldn't be voting BNP...but no, go for the easy solution and blame NL...

Point taken. The lack of viable alternative Left party is a ridiculously big problem. But I was objecting to Peter Hain as Blairite crusader being given a platform as a particularly nauseating aspect of the day. When i said "...capitalist scum cycle that has resulted in labour becoming New Labour and there being no working class party for people to vote for, hence they vote BNP!" that was a bit flippant and simplistic. I dont lay the blame squarely at the door of the moronic New Labour government.

The main point I wanted to make is that the UAF people, along with all the mugs they had dragged to the TUC conference on Saturday, would be better off putting their efforts into becoming active members of existing parties that are attempting to offer a viable Left alternative. Instead of deluding themselves and patting themselves on the back for a job well done for a conference which did fuck all for the fight against fascism.

 

[JimPage]

Hain has solid antifascist credentials going way back to the ANL 1977 and before- and has a good appreciation of the needs to take on the Nazis by militant means if needs be. UAF are trying to create a united front- although heavily lead bythe SWP

A vote of 35.6% for the BNP Yesterday in Calderdale- (but failing to win the ward with that vote.) When are people going to stop this sectarian nonsence, unite and stop the BNP? With the number of wards the BNP are standing in now getting beyond control, with their organisation continuing to grow, cant people but their differences aside and do whatever is neccsary to stop the BNP?

 

[Pigeon]

A vote of 35.6% for the BNP Yesterday in Calderdale- (but failing to win the ward with that vote.) When are people going to stop this sectarian nonsence, unite and stop the BNP? With the number of wards the BNP are standing in now getting beyond control, with their organisation continuing to grow, cant people but their differences aside and do whatever is neccsary to stop the BNP?

It's not a matter of "putting our differences aside"; it's a matter of recognising that Hain's mob are directly responsible for the conditions in which the BNP is thriving.

 

[KeyboardJockey]

Hain has solid antifascist credentials going way back to the ANL 1977 and before- and has a good appreciation of the needs to take on the Nazis by militant means if needs be. UAF are trying to create a united front- although heavily lead bythe SWP

A vote of 35.6% for the BNP Yesterday in Calderdale- (but failing to win the ward with that vote.) When are people going to stop this sectarian nonsence, unite and stop the BNP? With the number of wards the BNP are standing in now getting beyond control, with their organisation continuing to grow, cant people but their differences aside and do whatever is neccsary to stop the BNP?

Translation - UAF and its activities are 'great, fabulous, solid support' etc etc etc repeat until sleepy.

JimPage what you don't understand is that the UAF is encouraging the bnp by its piss poor campaigning methods.

Don't just buy the UAF line look at the effect of it's activities on the ground.

 

[kyser_soze]

It's not a matter of "putting our differences aside"; it's a matter of recognising that Hain's mob are directly responsible for the conditions in which the BNP is thriving.

See my post above.

It's the moronic 'anyone not with us is against us' campaigning style of much anti-facism, as well as the effective abandonment of poorer white communities (which has been going on since the 1970s) by those who shout loudest about being anti-racist.

 

[likesfish]

er who or what are the UAF and why should I care?

 

[Pigeon]

Maybe if the left had maintained a basic interest in the welfare of the white w/c and included them in concepts like prioritising services on basis of need' instead of switching to identity politics so many wouldn't be voting BNP...but no, go for the easy solution and blame NL...

You're excluding the Labour Party from your critique of the Left, then?

 

[Pigeon]

er who or what are the UAF and why should I care?

Similarly, who or what are you and why should we etc etc etc...?

 

[Luciona]

You're excluding the Labour Party from your critique of the Left, then?

Yes, it seems to me that he is...
....which is exactly what annoyed me about UAF conference, typified the chair of our seminar, who got jumpy and cut short the handful of people who pointed out that New Labour's neo-liberal agenda has a lot to answer for.

 

[Luciona]

Translation - UAF and its activities are 'great, fabulous, solid support' etc etc etc repeat until sleepy.

JimPage what you don't understand is that the UAF is encouraging the bnp by its piss poor campaigning methods.

Don't just buy the UAF line look at the effect of it's activities on the ground.

And, disturbingly, UAF is acting as a campaigning agent for New Labour by leaving the less politically aware delegates a bit lost and baffled; resigned to the non-strategy that is ''vote New Labour'' (hold your noses and do it cos at least that'll keep the fascists out)...

 

[kyser_soze]

You're excluding the Labour Party from your critique of the Left, then?

Not really - it was often labour councils that led the switch to identity politics way back in the 70s that started a progressive alienation of the white w/c in their own communities; all NuLab has done is continue the ludicrous policies of multiculturalism started in the 80s and turned into some kind of mantra.

I don't doubt that NuLabs 'neo-liberal' policies have had some impact, especially at the sharp end of housing provision and service delivery to poor communities, but it's not just poor areas where the BNP are making inroads, it's in many places that the AR/AF movements have never really bothered looking, places that are slightly more affluent, but have never had the idea that 'them' are coming, and in greater numbers, dispelled in any systematic way.

The re-emergence of the BNP is a failure of the left (or indeed any anti-racists) at the local level to be inclusive of the indigenous population, and a failure to engage with people who feel that wave after wave of immigrants IS scary, and DOES mean that they'll be getting less.

 

[Luciona]

You keep telling yourselves that and it'll all be well.

Maybe if the left had maintained a basic interest in the welfare of the white w/c and included them in concepts like prioritising services on basis of need' instead of switching to identity politics so many wouldn't be voting BNP...but no, go for the easy solution and blame NL...

With all this defending of NL or at least diverting blame away from them, I thought you might be interested in the following, and that it would be of interest to anyone else who believes the best way forward for the Left is to claw Labour back from the Blair drones.

John4Leader

National Rally

Saturday 31st March

12:30pm-4pm

Shaw Theatre, Euston Road, London

Speakers confirmed to date: Tony Benn, Jeremy Dear (NUJ), Alice Mahon, John McDonnell MP, Matt Wrack (FBU) Suresh Grover (Monitoring Group), Doug Nicholls(CYMU.pc), Mark Serwotka (PCS),

Plus entertainment from Punjabi collective Jago, Steve Gribbin, Dave Rogers, and more

Check www.l-r-c.org.uk/news/events.asp for updated list of speakers



Support grows for John4Leader

John's campaign for the Labour leadership has been backed right across the labour movement: ASLEF recently became the first affiliated union to back the campaign, and the RMT has also backed John4Leader, as have the broad lefts in Amicus, CWU, TGWU and Unison. In addition, numerous trade union branches and CLPs have also endorsed John.

Rank-and-file organisations like the LRC, Welsh Labour Grassroots, the Scottish Campaign for Socialism, the Network of Socialist Campaign Groups and the LRC's Socialist Youth Network. A number of activist groups have also been established to mobilise support including Tradeunionists4John, Feminists4John and Pensioners4John.

For more information, see:
http://www.john4leader.org.uk/
http://feminists4john.blogspot.com/
http://tradeunionists4john.blogspot.com/
http://pensioners4john.blogspot.com/

Contact the campaign:
Email: info@john4leader.org.uk
Phone: 020 7529 8296
Post: John4Leader, PO Box 2378, London, E5 9QU - Please make cheques payable to 'John4Leader'

 

[kyser_soze]

Ummm...not defending NL in the slightest...the labour party is no different from any other organisation that actively seeks power - same goes for the unions.

 

[Belushi]

Not really - it was often labour councils that led the switch to identity politics way back in the 70s that started a progressive alienation of the white w/c in their own communities; all NuLab has done is continue the ludicrous policies of multiculturalism started in the 80s and turned into some kind of mantra.

I don't doubt that NuLabs 'neo-liberal' policies have had some impact, especially at the sharp end of housing provision and service delivery to poor communities, but it's not just poor areas where the BNP are making inroads, it's in many places that the AR/AF movements have never really bothered looking, places that are slightly more affluent, but have never had the idea that 'them' are coming, and in greater numbers, dispelled in any systematic way.

The re-emergence of the BNP is a failure of the left (or indeed any anti-racists) at the local level to be inclusive of the indigenous population, and a failure to engage with people who feel that wave after wave of immigrants IS scary, and DOES mean that they'll be getting less.

Excellent post, exactly my experience.

 

[Luciona]

The re-emergence of the BNP is a failure of the left (or indeed any anti-racists) at the local level to be inclusive of the indigenous population, and a failure to engage with people who feel that wave after wave of immigrants IS scary, and DOES mean that they'll be getting less.

Yes. And the inherently racist establishment career politicians that make up NL combined with the dippy lot at the UAF are the least likely to engage at this level or offer solutions...
which is why i left the conference feeling so frustrated and particularly annoyed about Hain popping up, hence my initial rant.

 

[kyser_soze]

...inherently racist establishment career politicians that make up NL...

Sorry, exactly WHICH MPs in the Labour party are you accusing of being racist here? That's a fairly strong accusation to level - do you have proof? How are they 'inherently' racist?

 

[Luciona]

Sorry, exactly WHICH MPs in the Labour party are you accusing of being racist here? That's a fairly strong accusation to level - do you have proof? How are they 'inherently' racist?

Ok ok, inherently racist was a bad way of putting it. ‘Complicit in the current crisis whereby there is a false consensus that Islamaphobia is acceptable’ is what I should have said.

I include in that all the NL MPs who voted for the war and have continued to come out in support of it, voting against an inquiry, propping up the Government’s consistent promotion of Islamophobia (despite their bollocks ‘we are for multicultural Britain spin’). Peter Hain is one of these. And that has all helped the BNP’s campaigns.

To those who have said it is sectarian to protest about Hain speaking at United Against Fascism, I do accept that Hain has an excellent record of fighting racism going back to anti-apartheid in late ‘60s, but your only as lefty and anti racist as your last campaign surely! All I recall him doing for the last five years is appearing on any broadcast going drumming up support for bombing the shit out of the Middle East and being part of the false consensus that the BBC etc all bolster ad nauseum. And you have to look at the man’s motives for appearing at UAF, as I said in my initial post, he was given the opportunity to talk around issues, there was no debate or time for questions so he could leave untarnished and gleaming with anti-fascist credentials, ready for promotion, Pm candidacy, whatever…

 

[kyser_soze]

Since when has Islam been a race, exactly? I'm theophobic to a degree - not fearful of anyone who is religious, but certainly circumspect in my dealings with them and aware of the limitations of the religious mind.

But irrespective of that, if it were Christians who had bombed the WTC and the tube network and we were persecuting Methodists, would the UAF be talking about it as tho it were a racial issue?

It's VERY dangerous to conflate the two things - because most muslims in the UK happen to be Asian or African means that EXISTING racial tensions have been sublimated INTO 'Islamophbia'. But Islamophobia isn't racism, it's fear of a religion. Bigotry yes, but a very different kind of bigotry (which is why I've always wanted to see a BNP supporter confronted by a white convert to Islam...)

 

[Luciona]

Since when has Islam been a race, exactly? I'm theophobic to a degree - not fearful of anyone who is religious, but certainly circumspect in my dealings with them and aware of the limitations of the religious mind.

But irrespective of that, if it were Christians who had bombed the WTC and the tube network and we were persecuting Methodists, would the UAF be talking about it as tho it were a racial issue?

It's VERY dangerous to conflate the two things - because most muslims in the UK happen to be Asian or African means that EXISTING racial tensions have been sublimated INTO 'Islamophbia'. But Islamophobia isn't racism, it's fear of a religion. Bigotry yes, but a very different kind of bigotry (which is why I've always wanted to see a BNP supporter confronted by a white convert to Islam...)

Ok, so having established that Islamophobia is 'fear of religion and a kind of bigotry', do you accept my statement that spineless NL career politicians are ‘Complicit in the current crisis whereby there is a false consensus that Islamaphobia is acceptable’?... as well as the fact that this has aided the BNP's 'cause' in a big way!

I do not group all NL politicians together in this regard. As said in my first post, I dont object to the fact Jeremy Corbin was speaking and the Chair of UAF Ken Livingstone says himself: http://www.uaf.org.uk/news.asp?choice=70219

The daily diet of attacks on Muslims based on lurid headlines and without thought to the impact on community relations is dangerous and counterproductive and feeds the BNP. The stigmatisation of legitimate political engagement by Muslims and their community organisations such as the Muslim Council of Britain, the hysterical debate on the veil, and so on, are doing the BNP's work for them. Muslims are being singled out for attack.

....though he should add: "and im ashamed to say that some of the worst culprits are the PM and his close circle and the silent, thus complicit, majority of NL career politicians!!"