Ten ways to pressure on the Coalition and defeat it

The hundreds of thousands of people who marched through London on 26th March were a powerful testimony to the strength of opposition to the coalition government’s cuts agenda.

Afterwards, the differences between those involved in parliamentary politics and those involved in direct action could lead both groups to think ‘these are the times that try men’s souls.’ Such tensions are inevitable. The important lesson I think should be drawn is that this must not distract from the pressure on the coalition.

Here are ten ways to put pressure on the Coalition.
continue reading… »

Will any Libdems rebel on tuition fees vote? Here’s a list

I have been taking a look at how individual Lib Dem MPs are likely to vote on tuition fees next Thursday.

Looking at all the indications available, I concluded that the MPs fell into four loose categories. I have listed 14 likely rebels, 14 waverers, 8 of no stated position, and 3 backbenchers who are likely to support the Government.

The best source on this is the blog of Tim Starkey, a Lib Dem councillor who is co-ordinating the rebels.
continue reading… »

Irish Unity conference shows why it’s good to talk

Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Ken Livingstone will be among the key speakers at TUC Congress House on Saturday, where Sinn Féin is organising a conference on Irish unity.

Both Adams and Livingstone have alluded to the roots of the event in the dialogue which began back in 1982, shortly after Sinn Féin won its first seats in that year’s Assembly elections.

As GLC leader, Livingstone invited the party’s leaders to London only for them to be banned by Home Secretary Willie Whitelaw under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

That invitation has played a central role in the right’s charge sheet against Livingstone ever since, but it is often forgotten that on his subsequent visit to Belfast in February 1983, he told republicans that “every time a bomb goes off in London or innocent civilians are killed in Northern Ireland it visibly puts back the cause of a united Ireland.”

The contacts established then went on to play a significant role in the peace process, with Livingstone acting as a key intermediary between Sinn Fein and Mo Mowlam in the mid-1990s.

The debates about Ireland in the 1980s raised issues that have resonated in more recent conflicts.
continue reading… »

Propaganda and the media: Counter-Jihad and the ‘Decent’ Left

Over at the Yorkshire Ranter, Alex Harrowell comments on the ongoing story of Glen Jenvey, who featured as an anti-terrorist ‘expert’ in a Sun story about threats, which it now appears he posted himself, against public figures on a Muslim web forum.

It’s a very good question just how many terrorism stories (especially ones that have the “Internet” flag set – it means “stuff I don’t understand” to a lot of editors) are the work of these people, whether the upscale, Decent version or Jenvey’s Comedy Gladio.

There are indeed some interesting connections between the kind of right-wing “CounterJihad” networks represented by Jenvey and the so-called “decent left“.
continue reading… »