SWP expulsions and squabbles
- Thread starter Nigel Irritable
- Start date
J Ed
Follow Back Pro Expropriation
I've actually been thinking about this recently, and what relationship people on the left should have with food banks. Obviously they should be completely unnecessary, but while they are necessary wouldn't it be better for socialists to be involved? Currently food banks seem to be run by mostly right-wing evangelical Christian groups and 'charities' which are a trojan horse for the private sector dismantlement of the welfare state (or a combination of the two), should socialists set up an alternative? Has this been done elsewhere? I know that the National Front in France has done it for some time, and Golden Dawn does it in Greece but I had never heard of left-wing equivalents until I read this article.
It strikes me as a good idea, although I am sure I am missing some downsides.
Surely it then 'normalises' F/B, Smith released funds to the F/B's last years, he knew what was coming, they see them as a key part of a residual welfare state, I say no...*
btw, Matthew Paris in the Times interviewed around 30 Tory M.P's with slim majorities, most of them did not want any more welfare changes this side of an election..
*maybe other things though, skill shares, etc..
btw, Matthew Paris in the Times interviewed around 30 Tory M.P's with slim majorities, most of them did not want any more welfare changes this side of an election..
*maybe other things though, skill shares, etc..
SpineyNorman
Inappropriate content removed
It's something we're seriously considering within Unite - and if we did it it would be piloted in the NUM/Unite social centre that the article identifies as being serious but not wadical enough. BB's dismissal of this as 'firebox with handouts' shows why he and the SWP (along with much of the rest of the left) remain irrelevant to the lives of the working class.
It may be quite heavily flawed in various ways but that piece is the first indication that they're seriously looking at the kind of issues the left needs to grapple with if it's to become relevant again.
Mr.Bishie
pickled egg
If this is true -
calling someone a rape apologist is pretty heavy going, but threatening to stab someone, wtf!
weepiper
I fix the machines that fight climate change
Reminds me of gladly losing a bet that my own union would have a Burial Fund by the turn of the century...
Mr.Bishie
pickled egg
they should stop being rape apologists if they don't like it.
"Part of what we’ve found useful with the category of social reproduction is that is it can help us change our perspective on the crisis. We’re used to interpreting the crisis from the perspective of capital. A recession is two quarters of negative growth, etc. So the crisis is a crisis of capital accumulation. But that’s not how we experience the crisis. We experience it as a collapse in living standards, an inability to pay the bills, pay the rent/mortgage, etc. An inability to continue to reproduce ourselves as full participants in 21st century society. In other words, we experience the crisis as a crisis of social reproduction."
comments btl..
they needed to theorise that, that people are in the shit!
barney_pig
Po-cha-na-quar-hip
A friend of mine has been involved with food not bombs, distibuting food in stoke newington area for years. I am not sure whether they are still active.
chilango
Hypothetical Wanker
It was good enough for the Panthers....
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Where the food that fills peoples' bellies comes from appears to matter to you more than that people that would otherwise go underfed or unfed, get some food down them.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
As long as the food doesn't come with a lecture, I'm not sure many people will care beyond that, at least at first.
As for left-wing soup kitchens and food banks, they have a long and proud history from the east end of London (Sylvia and her women) to the southern continent of the Americas.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Hard to use newly-learned skills if the only sound you can hear is your stomach growling.
You do what the fuck you have to for you and yours. If that means using a foodbank which in turn allows people like IDS to feel that the privatisation of welfare is permissible, then most people are going to say "fuck your principles, treelover. There's kids to feed". Saying no means saying "sorry, no dinner tonight, no breakfast tomorrow". Fine if your a sole tenant/occupant, not so good if you're condemning your whole family by your principles.
Fedayn
Well-Known Member
Well the individual in question was/is Dave Sherry, SWP hack and member of the disputes committee at the centre of the issue.
Fedayn
Well-Known Member
Nigel Irritable
Five, Ten, Fifteen Years
I suspect that the shouting match in Glasgow is only a taste of things to come.
Does anyone know to what degree the protest against Sherry was preplanned?
Does anyone know to what degree the protest against Sherry was preplanned?
Fedayn
Well-Known Member
Fedayn
Well-Known Member
It may start to include the CWI too given one of the stewards is, I believe, a CWI member and others are Solidarity.
yep. if i was involved in organising any protest atm, i'd think long and hard before allowing any SWP speakers.
actually, i wouldn't think long and hard about it at all.
chilango
Hypothetical Wanker
Fedayn
Well-Known Member
It's not the most edifying video no, though I suppose having someone like Sherry on a platform after his involvement in the debacle might have raised a few hackles....
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