add
your name to the sponsors - send email to john (at) conventionof theleft.org
Organisations
and publications supporting the Convention (in alphabetical
order):
Alliance
for Green Socialism
a
world to win
Communist
Students
Communist
Party of Britain
Communist Party
of Great Britain
Education
for Tomorrow
Greater Manchester Associations of Trades Councils
Greater Manchester
Respect
Green
Left
Labour
Briefing
Labour
Representation Committee
Left
Economics Advisory Panel (LEAP)
Left
Women's Network
Liverpool
Trades Council
Manchester
Green Party
Manchester
No Borders
Manchester
TUC
Morning
Star
Newrad
Communist Collective
North
West Shop Stewards Network
Permanent
Revolution
Red
Pepper
Respect
Scottish
Socialist Party
Socialist
Resistance
Socialist
Workers Party
Solidarity:
Scotland's Socialist Movement
Tameside
TUC
Workers
Power
|
INDIVIDUAL
SPONSORS
include Tariq Ali, Tony Benn, Ken
Coates (Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation), Jeremy Corbyn MP, Jeremy
Dear (NUJ), Colin Fox (SSP), George Galloway MP, Bill Greenshields
(NUT) Robert Griffiths (CPB), Rahila Gupta, Jenny Jones (Green Party),
Ken Loach, Alice Mahon, Cllr Abjol Miah (Respect), John McDonnell
MP, Mark Serwotka (PCS), Hilary Wainwright, DereK Wall (Green Party),
Matt Wrack (FBU), Cllr. Salma Yacoob.
(all in personal capacity unless listed in sponsoring
organisations)
add your name send email to john
(at) conventionof theleft.org
Joan
Abrams, vice-chair
Greater Manchester CND, CND National Council, Labour party
member
"Political policies will not change towards the left
until a socialist left is seen as an important political constituency.
Only by giving a voice to a strong and convincing movement
towards socialist policies may we turn the tide against the
currrent assumed acceptance of a right wing consensus."
|
Tariq
Ali, New Left Review
“The New Labour cancer is now in terminal
mode. The Blair and Brown gangs are fighting and blaming each
other. Supposedly progressive Labour MPs voted to support the
42 day detention laws putting themselves to the right of the
Tories. More radical Labour MPs appear to be stuck in a coital
lock with a party that is an open and unashamed defender of
a rapacious capitalism, is backing two colonial wars and is
waging war on civil liberties.
Tragically the condition of groups to the left of Labour is
also grave. The implosion of Respect and the Scottish Socialist
Party are symptoms of the crisis. There is a vacuum now in English
politics and rarely have we needed an organisation that can
united all those hostile to capital and its wars.
The Convention of the Left needs to register
the crisis of the Left if it is going to move forward again.” |
Patrick
Baker, UCU Left and Visiting Lecturer in European Politics,
Goldsmiths, University of London
'The historic defest for the Left in the London mayoral elections
and declining attendance at anti-war demos are just a couple
of the obvious warning signs: unless the progressive left unites
through debate and action, we risk a return to a brand of Conservatism
that could make the Blair years look relatively progressive.
The time for non-sectarian discussion & unity is long overdue.' |
George
Binette,
Camden UNISON convenor (personal capacity)
"The Convention of the Left offers an
important opportunity for socialist forces to take stock and
examine the stark failure to build an effective alternative
to New Labour even as the latter clings to its neo-liberal
agenda and courts electoral disaster. As a trade unionist
in the biggest public sector union, UNISON, I know that an
ever larger proportion of members feel deprived of any political
voice and it is vital that we discuss both what that voice
should be and what it needs to be saying in a democratic,
non-sectarian atmosphere that I hope the Convention
will offer." |
Linda
Clair- on behalf
of NEWRAD Communist Collective
"We are a group of communists who share
a common view of the world and a common history forged in
the struggle against revisionism.
"We are active in the broad labour movement and meet
regularly to analyse political developments and to support
and give guidance to one another in our work.
We believe that capitalism is doomed. In its latest manifestation-
globalisation, it has nothing left to offer humanity but exploitation
and plunder and the destruction of the planet.
"We wish to work with other socialists and communists,
to have some unity in action. With this in mind we are happy
to sponsor and participate in the Convention of the
Left. " |
George
Galloway, Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow
“An
old politics is dying and a new one’s struggling to
be born in Manchester this September.
“The old politics is the now misnamed
New Labour. It stands now as a monumental failure –
Gordon Brown is seemingly marking time until the Tories return.
“The new politics will be discussed
at the Convention of the Left. Its aim is
to bring together many strands of progressive thinking and
seek to outline areas where people feel they can concert their
efforts and inject radical policies back into the political
mainstream.
“As economic distress mounts and we
as a country become more and more mired in wars of occupation
such as Afghanistan, there’s a crying need for just
such an initiative.
“One
thing’s for sure – it will be more in tune with
working people, and with Labour people, than the Labour party
conference which is happening at the same time.”
|
Mick
Hall, radical blogger, Organized Rage
"The Convention of the Left gives us an
opportunity to put aside our political differences, which policy
wise do not amount to a row of beans; and attempt to search
out a new way forward. John McDonnell said 'Another World is
Possible." Our task is to help make that a reality by debating
through all of the left options, including whether New Labour
has irreparably damaged the British Labour Party to such an
extent that it has out lasted its usefulness as a vehicle for
progressive change."
"Working class people are crying out for a viable political
alternative to neo liberal economics, globalization and military
adventures abroad. The question we on the left must face is
are we equal to the
task of providing a left alternative." |
Mark
Hoskisson, Secretary of Liverpool Trades Union Council
(personal capacity)
"Socialism, as either an idea or guide to action in the
minds of the mass of people in Britain, has become very weak
over the past few decades. We have Thatcher's victories and
New Labour's continuation of her attacks to thank for that.
For anyone interested in reviving the idea of socialism the
Convention of the Left presents us with an
excellent oportunity to begin to change that. By uniting the
left in struggle and demonstrating that the ideas that divide
us can be debated in a spirit of democracy and mutual respect
we can begin to show that socialism not only still lives but
is determined to make itself the ideology of choice for working
class activists." |
Bill
Jeffries, Permanent Revolution
"Inflation and unemployment, climate change, immigration
controls, war, oppression and want. Capitalism is as cruel as
ever. Together we can put working class answers onto the agenda
and show how to fight for them together. The Convention
of the Left gives us an excellent opportunity to do
just that. Come along and see for yourself." |
Joseph
Kisolo, mental health
worker and lefty activist, Manchester
"In 2003 millions of us marched against the war, part of
a tidal wave of anger. It felt like this could generalise. It
felt like this feeling could channel into a mass national anti-capitalist
force that could start to threaten the foundations of the power
of our politically stagnant clique of rulers. Looking back,
those heady days seem almost like a dream. Where did all of
this energy go?
"I
am supporting the Convention of the Left
because it is an opportunity for us to reflect on what happened
but (more importantly) because I hope it will help
us, together, to move a step closer to building a mass radical
unity. A unity that will bring the diverse struggles together
and that will allow socialism to become a vital force in our
political landscape."
|
Dr
John Lister, author, The NHS After 60: for patients
or profits?
"In this 60th Anniversary Year of the NHS
it is vital for socialists to recognise what a massive asset
we still have to defend in the NHS, a public service that reaches
parts the private sector cannot or will not reach – because
they do not offer the prospect of profits." |
Ken
Loach, film director
"We should all welcome this Convention.
The fragmentation of the Left benefits the warmongers, privatisers
and polluters. This meeting should help to affirm a Socialist
alternative and to discuss how we can move forward. There
is a mood throughout Europe to develop the anti-capitalist
Left - we need to be part of that."
|
John
Nicholson, former
Labour Deputy Leader Manchester Council and Convenor of the
Socialist Alliance.
"We need to start defining a new way of working (even to
reclaim that word “new”), so that we can come together
in practical campaigns, regardless of the organisations we may
belong to, so that we can stop the war and nuclear proliferation,
the cuts and privatisation, the racism and environmental destruction." |
Kirstie
Paton, President,
Greenwich NUT (personal capacity)
"In the struggle against every one of Labour's neo-liberal
attacks, we must remind ourselves that it isn't enough to unite
around what we are against, we must also unite around we are
for - what alternative we have to offer. If we are to convince
a new generation of class fighters that socialism offers immediate
solutions to the periodic crises that global capitalism inflicts
on the world, we need to discuss what socialism means in 21st
century. I hope the Convention of the Left will
be a useful starting point in bringing trade unionists, anti-capitalists,
community campaigners and organisations of resistance together
so that we can meet, discuss and organise." |
Councillor
Susan Press, Calder Valley CLP, Chair Calderdale
NUJ
"The Convention Of The Left is a serious
opportunity for those of us who feel disillusioned by New
Labour's neo-liberalism to discuss the way forward . As a
member of the LRC, I wish to carry on the fight for socialist
values within the Labour Party. supporting left MPs like John
McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn. But I am also keen to campaign
on issues like globalisation, peace and climate change with
comrades from across the political spectrum . I look forward
to taking part in the Convention."
|
Raphie
de Santos, Scottish Socialist Voice editorial board
member
" I whole heartedly support the Convention
of the Left. We need more developments like this that
can bring together all those who are looking to build a left
socialist alternative to New Labour's failed neo-liberalism.
Many comrades from the Scottish Socialist Party will coming
down to Manchester to support and join in the discussions and
share our experiences of left unity in Scotland." |
Clive
Searle, on behalf of Greater
Manchester Respect Renewal
"For too long we have been told by New Labour, and the
Tories before them, that there 'is no alternative' to the free
market and the wars that support it. This convention gives the
Left, in all its variety, the chance to show that there is an
alternative, to clarify what it looks like and discuss how we
can work together to achieve it." |
Mark
Serwotka, General Secretary,
PCS civil servants' union
"When I speak at rallies of trade unionists many of them
– lecturers, health workers, teachers, civil servants,
local government workers or fire-fighters from across the range
of unions – say to me that if the government attacks us
all, for example over public sector pay, we should collectively
stand up and defend ourselves together. "But
united industrial resistance, though critically important,
is not enough. We need to break the stranglehold of the pro-business,
anti-welfare state consensus in British politics today. Without
ending that consensus we may win industrial victories but
that won’t stop employers coming back the year after
that and the year after that. The Convention of the
Left is a good opportunity to debate the way forward."
|
Chris
Strafford, Communist Students Executive
"We should look forward to the Convention
as an opportunity to learn from our mistakes and have a good
honest debate on the key issues in society, and the key dividing
lines amongst the left. We should see the Convention
as an opportunity for the Left to try and sort out
some of its problems and look to build confidence to work together.
The Convention should be a space and opportunity
for Marxism to reassert itself as the guiding light of our movement,
against opportunism and narrow sectarianism. I support the Convention
because it can be the start of the Left moving beyond the mistakes
of recent times." |
Jason
Travis, Bolton NUT (personal
capacity)
"The Convention of the Left is an opportunity
for different community and workplace campaigns to begin to
co-ordinate a united fight-back against New Labour’s agenda
of privatisation, pay cuts, poverty, welfare attacks, catastrophic
climate change and war. Through creative discussion and fraternal
debate we can begin planning the socialist alternative of working
class communities controlling our own struggles, services, jobs,
lives and world." |
Norma
Turner, health visitor and Unison steward, stockport
Global capital is out of control of any individual or state.
The corporate companies dicate the agenda which is based on
short term greed, to gain as much money and power in the shortest
time - by any means necessary - and not caring about the resulting
misery to the vast majority of people or to the fact that they
are destroying the planet like locusts.
There
is very little resistance to this madness, in fact in this country
the Labour Party is fuelling the corporate machine by throwing
everything owned publicly into the private pot.
Lots of people care about what is happening. But we are not
united and have not got a clear strategy which will result in
unity in action, locally, nationally, globally.
The Convention of The Left is an opportunity
to have the debates needed to unite us and, by developing an
alternative, to build unity amongst socialists.
I am supporting the Convention of The Left
because I believe another world is possible. |
Hilary
Wainwright, co-editor, red pepper
At a time when the unregulated market is causing misery for
millions but when the traditional instruments of socialist
change, the party and the state, have failed - well, failed
in their traditional form - all those who share socialist
principles are engaged in a common search for new forms of
collective agency. In the UK, the Convention of the
Left is a very welcome contribution to that international
process of inquiry and experiment. Hopefully, we can work
together in an atmosphere where uncertainty is acceptable
and we can simultaneously learn from each other, honestly
debate our differences and act together with discipline.
|
Derek
Wall, Green Party principal speaker and Green Left
member
"We need to tackle the ecological crisis, war, the assault
on liberty and inequality. I describe my self as an ecosocialist
but I am keen to work with others to promote necessary change.
Radicals in Britain are divided and no one can add water and
magically create a united left. Yet on 90% of the issues we
agree on for 90% of the time, all of us on the diverse left
can come together and campaign. Manchester as Engels' home helped
give birth to 19th century socialism I believe it can contribute
to the 21st century socialism we need so much." |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
Jeremy
Corbyn MP
"Worldwide
recession is ensuring significant price rises in food, energy,
and now rising unemployment in Western Europe and the US, with
the impoverishment of the poorest people in poorest part of the
world. This is not a time for renewal of traditional market solutions
to economic crisis, but a time to reiterate our socialist values.
The Convention of the Left must provide us with
the opportunities to have these discussions, and mount these campaigns
for people seeking to defend and improve their living standards
all around the world."
Jenny Jones,
member of the London Assembly and a Councillor in Southwark
John McDonnell MP
|
