A stall run by the Socialist Worker’s Party (UK) held in the southern part of Trafalgar Square, central London, during the 2011 anti-cuts protest in London.
A recent busy week has meant that a number of interesting stories have passed by without comment. From me at least.
Long, long ago in a country far, far away a young Irishman had an encounter with several members of a highly secretive rebel alliance called the Socialist Workers Party or SWP, a tiny if influential left-wing British political grouping. These guys fancied themselves as Marxist-Trotskyite revolutionaries eager to proselytise amongst the unconverted (or uneducated, as they saw it). I was neither a follower of Marx or Trotsky nor was I particularly willing to subject myself to a lecture on Irish history from patronising English students whose self-evident belief in their racial superiority was smugly wrapped up in an assumed air of ideological superiority. Thus began my lifelong disdain for the British Left that the years have done little to abate.
“How do we deal with sexual violence on the left? Here’s a case study.
The Socialist Workers’ Party, for those who aren’t familiar with it already, is a political organisation of several thousand members which has been a prominent force on the British left for more than 30 years. They are at the forefront of the fight against street fascism in Britain, were a large organising presence in the student and trade union movement over the past several years, and are affiliated with large, active parties in other countries, like Germany’s Die Linke. Many of the UK’s most important thinkers and writers are members, or former members.
Like many others on the left in Britain I’ve had my disagreements with the SWP but I’ve also spoken at their conferences, drunk their tea, and have a lot of respect for the work they do. They are not a fringe group: they matter. And it matters that right now, the party is exploding in messy shards because of a debate about sexism, sexual violence and wider issues of accountability.
This week, it came to light that when allegations of rape and sexual assault were made against a senior party member, the matter was not reported to the police, but dealt with ‘internally’ before being dismissed. According to a transcript from the party’s annual conference earlier this month, not only were friends of the alleged rapist allowed to investigate the complaint, the alleged victims were subject to further harassment. Their drinking habits and former relationships were called into question, and those who stood by them were subject to expulsion and exclusion.”
Meanwhile the protests by the Native American indigenous rights organisation “Idle No More”, which have swept Canada in recent weeks, continue despite the so-called revelations about the limited nature of the hunger strike entered upon by Theresa Spence, leader of the Attawapiskat First Nation (one of the recognised aboriginal peoples of Canada). Chief Spence’s month of fasting seems to have done little to alter the perceptions, or prejudices, of the citizens of European or White Canada which according to recent polls have grown even more intolerant As anyone who has read or viewed the anglophone media in Canada over the last five weeks will have noticed the level of hatred towards aboriginal Canadians, even from professional journalists, is really quite astonishing. In contrast the Francophone media has been considerably more sympathetic to the desperate plight of the indigenous peoples (with a few notable exceptions).
“You’re in the Basque Country, not in Spain”. A notice directed at tourists in a lamp post in Bilbao old town.
Finally a huge demonstration in the Basque Country drew tens of thousands of marchers demanding the release or repatriation of Basque political prisoners incarcerated across Spain and France. From EITB:
“Tens of thousands of Basques marched in downtown Bilbao on Saturday calling for an amnesty that would allow ETA prisoners to serve out the remainder of their sentences in the Basque Country rather than in jails further afield.
Protesters marched to the city’s town hall behind banners saying “Human rights, resolution, peace. Basque prisoners back home.”
Some protesters waved Catalan flags in solidarity with another northern Spanish region with an important pro-independence movement. One large banner included a slogan in English, saying “Repatriate all Basque prisoners.”
Spain has for more than two decades dispersed ETA prisoners under an amendment to the country’s 1975 anti-terrorism law. One of the purposes of the law was to stop convicted Basque militants from communicating easily among themselves to plan subversive strategies.
There are an estimated 700 ETA prisoners held in jails dotted around Spain and France, and only around two dozen are believed to be in Basque region prisons.”
AN SIONNACH FIONN 
A recent busy week has meant that a number of interesting stories have passed by without comment. From me at least.
Long, long ago in a country far, far away a young Irishman had an encounter with several members of a highly secretive rebel alliance called the Socialist Workers Party or SWP, a tiny if influential left-wing British political grouping. These guys fancied themselves as Marxist-Trotskyite revolutionaries eager to proselytise amongst the unconverted (or uneducated, as they saw it). I was neither a follower of Marx or Trotsky nor was I particularly willing to subject myself to a lecture on Irish history from patronising English students whose self-evident belief in their racial superiority was smugly wrapped up in an assumed air of ideological superiority. Thus began my lifelong disdain for the British Left that the years have done little to abate.
So it is with interest that I have watched the SWP in Britain tear itself apart in recriminations following events detailed by Laurie Penny in the New Statesman:
There is more about this unfolding scandal over on the Cedar Lounge Revolution and Lenin’s Tomb, not to mention the personal blog of sci-fi author and long-time SWP-supporter Ken McLeod.
Meanwhile the protests by the Native American indigenous rights organisation “Idle No More”, which have swept Canada in recent weeks, continue despite the so-called revelations about the limited nature of the hunger strike entered upon by Theresa Spence, leader of the Attawapiskat First Nation (one of the recognised aboriginal peoples of Canada). Chief Spence’s month of fasting seems to have done little to alter the perceptions, or prejudices, of the citizens of European or White Canada which according to recent polls have grown even more intolerant As anyone who has read or viewed the anglophone media in Canada over the last five weeks will have noticed the level of hatred towards aboriginal Canadians, even from professional journalists, is really quite astonishing. In contrast the Francophone media has been considerably more sympathetic to the desperate plight of the indigenous peoples (with a few notable exceptions).
Finally a huge demonstration in the Basque Country drew tens of thousands of marchers demanding the release or repatriation of Basque political prisoners incarcerated across Spain and France. From EITB:
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