The Scottish Socialist Party have announced that they will contest the following ten seats (with the following candidates) in this years general elections: -
Aberdeen North - Ewan Robertson
Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintiloch East - Willie O'Neill
Dundee East - Angela Gorrie
Edinburgh South West - Colin Fox
Glasgow Central - James Nesbitt
Glasgow East - Frances Curran
Glasgow North East - Kevin McVey
Livingston - Ally Hendry
Paisley and Renfrewshire North - Chris Rollo
Paisley and Renfrewshire South - Jimmy Kerr
The Party's manifesto is as follows (Source scottishsocialistparty.org): -
For an independent socialist Scotland
No cuts, no wars, for an end to corruption
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On May 6th voters will be offered a dismal choice of cuts, sackings and wars by politicians tainted by corruption, duck houses and other expenses fiddling.
All three Westminster parties are in a race to see who can make the deepest cuts while the SNP wring their hands and blame London.
They all recommend cuts to vital public services which will hit the most vulnerable hardest and directly threaten the jobs of 100,000 Scottish workers.
In contrast the unequivocal message from the Scottish Socialist Party is that there is an alternative which avoids cuts and insists instead that the greedy pay for the disaster they created, that also ends our involvement in the Afghan war and offers jobs and justice not misery and war.
This belief is reflected in our programme for a Scotland which aims to meet peoples’ needs, not pander to the rich, for people not profit.
100,000 jobs Are directly threatened by the cuts promised by the Westminster parties and vital services for our most vulnerable citizens will go.
We say that faced with such a threat words are not enough—action is needed. Scotland needs nothing less than a resistance movement of mass peaceful protest on the scale of that which defeated the poll tax. We will bring all the experience of the SSP to build such a movement.
Jobs for youth
The spectre of mass unemployment has returned twenty years after Margaret Thatcher was ejected from office. Many communities in Scotland are still suffering from the legacy of the 1980s with the poverty, heroin addiction, alcohol abuse and crime that goes with this chronic joblessness.
Today the SSP says: 'Mass unemployment No More'. Instead of slashing Scotland's budget, the SSP will fight for emergency funding to protect our young people from becoming another wasted generation.
Let's Get Out of Afghanistan
This is a senseless military occupation which damages Britain's international reputation and does nothing to make the world a safer place. We are occupying a country that doesn't want us to be there. More than 50,000 innocent Afghan civilians have been killed. Some 280 British soldiers have also died. All the polling evidence suggests that 70% of the population here want our armed services withdrawn. The Scottish Socialist Party gives voice to that majority.
Clean up the Westminster 'midden'
In just 12 months Westminster has gone from 'the mother of parliaments' to 'the mother of all corruption'.
The public has watched open mouthed as MPs attempt to justify obscene expenses claims which would get an ordinary worker sacked. MP's have repeatedly shown how they are all out of touch with the people they pretend to represent.
For the SSP the answer is simple and it is to end the circumstances where becoming an MP brings a huge salary and expenses. We have long argued that MP's should live on the wage of those they represent. Our MSPs did just that at Holyrood thus keeping them in touch with the real lives of voters.
For a Green, Socialist Republic
The Scottish Socialist Party is a pro-independence party - no ifs, buts or maybes. We say Yes to an independence referendum and Yes to independence
We will work with other pro-independence parties to deliver a resounding referendum YES vote.
Beyond that, we stand for an independent socialist republic where the wealth is fairly distributed; where protection of the environment is paramount.
Such a republic would prioritise the needs of people over profit and our environment over the greed of profiteers.
The development of our colossal natural resources would be publicly owned to ensure the skilled jobs required are based in Scotland and the profits generated used to provide services not multinational profit
All citizens would be equal irrespective of gender, race, religion or sexuality in a country where the economy is no longer driven by greed and profit.
Sunday, 18 April 2010
Monday, 22 March 2010
Green protestors set up camp near Oakley - Dunfermline Press
A GROUP of activists have climbed trees and started a protest camp on the Blair House open cast coal site near Oakley.
Around 20 campaigners are involved in the protest and say they are acting in solidarity with local opponents of the development.
UK Coal were given permission to mine 720,000 tonnes of fuel on the site despite 150 objections.
The activists say trees have been chopped down as part of preparatory work and they are acting to prevent any more being lost.
Fiona Richards, one of the protestors, said, "This new coal mine is only one of 20 such others to have recently been given planning permission in Scotland.
"If we are to have any chance of limting dangerous climate change and protecting communities from carbon intensive industries direct action must be taken as councillors, mining companies and the Government have shown their unwillingness to solve the problems we face."
West Fife villages councillor Gerry McMullan was planning to visit the protestors this afternoon (Monday).
He said, "I was one of the few councillors to vote against this development especially given the site's close proximity to homes in the area.
"However, during that democratic decision making process we heard nothing from this group who are Johnny Come Latelys on this issue.
"They're not interested in health or the environment. All they're interested in is causing disruption."
For Fife police, Chief Superintendant Brian Plastow said, "This appears to be a peaceful protest and there has been no impact on the local roads or public, We will continue to liaise with the protestors and monitor their actions."
Around 20 campaigners are involved in the protest and say they are acting in solidarity with local opponents of the development.
UK Coal were given permission to mine 720,000 tonnes of fuel on the site despite 150 objections.
The activists say trees have been chopped down as part of preparatory work and they are acting to prevent any more being lost.
Fiona Richards, one of the protestors, said, "This new coal mine is only one of 20 such others to have recently been given planning permission in Scotland.
"If we are to have any chance of limting dangerous climate change and protecting communities from carbon intensive industries direct action must be taken as councillors, mining companies and the Government have shown their unwillingness to solve the problems we face."
West Fife villages councillor Gerry McMullan was planning to visit the protestors this afternoon (Monday).
He said, "I was one of the few councillors to vote against this development especially given the site's close proximity to homes in the area.
"However, during that democratic decision making process we heard nothing from this group who are Johnny Come Latelys on this issue.
"They're not interested in health or the environment. All they're interested in is causing disruption."
For Fife police, Chief Superintendant Brian Plastow said, "This appears to be a peaceful protest and there has been no impact on the local roads or public, We will continue to liaise with the protestors and monitor their actions."
Saturday, 20 March 2010
Radicals Fail to Gain Seats in St Andrews Student Union
19th of March saw the St Andrews Student Union Elections, with great disappointment for the Radical Candidates standing.
Terry Fulton stood for Director of Representation, on a platform of affordable accommodation and rebuilding the Union into a functioning body. Losing to the three other candidates.
Ben Bridgman lost to Becca Ladley for the position of Association Chair.
And James Morris running for SRC Accommodation Officer on a platform of Structural Change, Affordability and Transparency, lost to Conservative candidate Sunny Moodie whom wished to "Preserve St Andrews Architecture" with the results 844 votes to 1016 votes.
Terry Fulton stood for Director of Representation, on a platform of affordable accommodation and rebuilding the Union into a functioning body. Losing to the three other candidates.
Ben Bridgman lost to Becca Ladley for the position of Association Chair.
And James Morris running for SRC Accommodation Officer on a platform of Structural Change, Affordability and Transparency, lost to Conservative candidate Sunny Moodie whom wished to "Preserve St Andrews Architecture" with the results 844 votes to 1016 votes.
Saturday, 13 March 2010
St Andrews "Radicals" run for positions in the Student Union
St Andrews Socialists, Greens and Anarchists run again this year for positions in the St Andrews Student Union in an attempt to change the policy and structure of the University.
Terry Fulton is running for Director of Representation, Benjamin Bridgman is running for Asscoiation Chair and James Morris for SRC Accommodation Officer.
Results will be posted here after the election on Friday 19th.
Terry Fulton is running for Director of Representation, Benjamin Bridgman is running for Asscoiation Chair and James Morris for SRC Accommodation Officer.
Results will be posted here after the election on Friday 19th.
Friday, 5 March 2010
The Yes Men Fix The World, Plus a Discussion with Mike Bonanno!
Tuesday, 9 March, the Centre for Film Studies (the University of St Andrews) will host a screening of THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD, a documentary by political pranksters and culture jammers, Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno-- possibly best known for their recent hijacking of the BBC when they pretended to be Dow Chemical and took responsibility for the industrial tragedy in Bhopal.
The screening will be followed by a discussion with Yes Man and co-director,
Mike Bonanno.
Date and Time: Tuesday, 9 March starting at 5.15pm
Place: School V (North Street)
The screening will be followed by a discussion with Yes Man and co-director,
Mike Bonanno.
Date and Time: Tuesday, 9 March starting at 5.15pm
Place: School V (North Street)
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Independence and Socialism
By John McAllion
THE class struggle in Scotland has always been both nationalist and socialist.
The 1787 massacre of striking Calton weavers by British soldiers near what was then Glasgow is generally recognised as marking the beginning of an organised, effective Scottish labour movement.
The weavers’ banner on that day, and subsequently on many other days up to its seizure by Tory magistrates in 1819, showed Scotland’s national hero William Wallace striking down the beast of tyranny.
Scots Wha Hae, Scotland’s unofficial national anthem penned by Robert Burns in 1793, deliberately sided with early working class struggles against the reactionary Pitt government in London and its despotic manager in Scotland
Henry Dundas.
The Scottish radical uprising and general strike of 1820 united behind the slogan “Scotland Free or a Desert”. So, from the very beginnings of the labour movement in Scotland, there has existed a radical tradition that consistently connected the struggles for workers’ rights with the demand for Scottish independence.
That tradition was carried into the 20th century by the likes of Keir Hardie who throughout a parliamentary career in which he represented only English constituencies remained a passionate believer in the cause of Scottish home rule.
Most notably, of course, it was upheld by the great internationalist John Maclean who was calling for an independent Scottish Socialist Workers’ Republic at a time when Ramsay MacDonald was priming the British Labour Party for its historic role as a safe and respectable alternative to Tory government trapped within a capitalist, imperialist and constitutional monarchy.
Today Scottish socialists like Jimmy Reid, one of the leaders of the 1970’s UCS workers’ struggle, continue to campaign for socialist change from within the SNP, while the bulk of the Scottish nationalist Left carry on the fight for Maclean’s socialist republic as part of the SSP.
They represent a continuing tradition of libertarian and democratic struggle from below that stands in stark contrast to the Westminster model of a parliamentary elite making change happen from above.
Breaking free from the stranglehold of that Westminster model remains one of the key challenges facing the Left across Britain today.
Genuine popular control over state institutions and the economic levers of power cannot happen in a British state in which the people are designated as subjects and political sovereignty rests with the Crown-in-Parliament.
The radical participatory politics that characterise revolutions in Venezuela and other Latin American countries are ruled out here by a British two-party electoral system that effectively blocks radical change and restricts political choice to voting for either of the two big pro-business parties committed to defending the neo-liberal status quo.
A democratic revolution cannot happen in a Britain in which an hereditary monarchy and an unelected House of Lords keep a tight political rein on a Commons majority elected last time with the support of less than a quarter of those entitled to vote.
It cannot happen either in a Britain without a Bill of Rights and where citizens can be arrested and held without hard evidence or charge for up to 6 weeks.
It is time to recognise that the breakup of the authoritarian British state is now a precondition of securing progressive socialist change for the peoples of this island.
The national struggles that will follow the break-up of Britain open up opportunities for the Left to force a radical political agenda that otherwise remains excluded from mainstream politics and forever stymied under the ancient regime of the British constitution.
The ending of the British warfare state, constitutional guarantees of civil liberties, republican citizenship, participatory democracy, genuinely popular control of public services, an economy run for the people rather than for profit - these and many other important areas of policy will be thrown into the melting pot from which people’s republics in Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland will emerge.
The alternative is to remain ensnared within the carefully contrived limits of a constitution that for more than 300 years has been successfully blocking all threats of radical change in order to preserve the stability of the oldest capitalist state form in the world. Socialists owe no kind of loyalty to that Britain.
We do have a responsibility to help its peoples escape from the chains of British history.
THE class struggle in Scotland has always been both nationalist and socialist.
The 1787 massacre of striking Calton weavers by British soldiers near what was then Glasgow is generally recognised as marking the beginning of an organised, effective Scottish labour movement.
The weavers’ banner on that day, and subsequently on many other days up to its seizure by Tory magistrates in 1819, showed Scotland’s national hero William Wallace striking down the beast of tyranny.
Scots Wha Hae, Scotland’s unofficial national anthem penned by Robert Burns in 1793, deliberately sided with early working class struggles against the reactionary Pitt government in London and its despotic manager in Scotland
Henry Dundas.
The Scottish radical uprising and general strike of 1820 united behind the slogan “Scotland Free or a Desert”. So, from the very beginnings of the labour movement in Scotland, there has existed a radical tradition that consistently connected the struggles for workers’ rights with the demand for Scottish independence.
That tradition was carried into the 20th century by the likes of Keir Hardie who throughout a parliamentary career in which he represented only English constituencies remained a passionate believer in the cause of Scottish home rule.
Most notably, of course, it was upheld by the great internationalist John Maclean who was calling for an independent Scottish Socialist Workers’ Republic at a time when Ramsay MacDonald was priming the British Labour Party for its historic role as a safe and respectable alternative to Tory government trapped within a capitalist, imperialist and constitutional monarchy.
Today Scottish socialists like Jimmy Reid, one of the leaders of the 1970’s UCS workers’ struggle, continue to campaign for socialist change from within the SNP, while the bulk of the Scottish nationalist Left carry on the fight for Maclean’s socialist republic as part of the SSP.
They represent a continuing tradition of libertarian and democratic struggle from below that stands in stark contrast to the Westminster model of a parliamentary elite making change happen from above.
Breaking free from the stranglehold of that Westminster model remains one of the key challenges facing the Left across Britain today.
Genuine popular control over state institutions and the economic levers of power cannot happen in a British state in which the people are designated as subjects and political sovereignty rests with the Crown-in-Parliament.
The radical participatory politics that characterise revolutions in Venezuela and other Latin American countries are ruled out here by a British two-party electoral system that effectively blocks radical change and restricts political choice to voting for either of the two big pro-business parties committed to defending the neo-liberal status quo.
A democratic revolution cannot happen in a Britain in which an hereditary monarchy and an unelected House of Lords keep a tight political rein on a Commons majority elected last time with the support of less than a quarter of those entitled to vote.
It cannot happen either in a Britain without a Bill of Rights and where citizens can be arrested and held without hard evidence or charge for up to 6 weeks.
It is time to recognise that the breakup of the authoritarian British state is now a precondition of securing progressive socialist change for the peoples of this island.
The national struggles that will follow the break-up of Britain open up opportunities for the Left to force a radical political agenda that otherwise remains excluded from mainstream politics and forever stymied under the ancient regime of the British constitution.
The ending of the British warfare state, constitutional guarantees of civil liberties, republican citizenship, participatory democracy, genuinely popular control of public services, an economy run for the people rather than for profit - these and many other important areas of policy will be thrown into the melting pot from which people’s republics in Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland will emerge.
The alternative is to remain ensnared within the carefully contrived limits of a constitution that for more than 300 years has been successfully blocking all threats of radical change in order to preserve the stability of the oldest capitalist state form in the world. Socialists owe no kind of loyalty to that Britain.
We do have a responsibility to help its peoples escape from the chains of British history.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Colin Fox takes on Chancellor Darling in General Election Challenge
Colin Fox takes on Chancellor Darling in General Election challenge - Source www.scottishsocialistparty.org
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SSP joint national spokesman Colin Fox will challenge Chancellor Alistair Darling in the General Election and the party will look to target 10 key seats across Scotland in the poll.
Colin Fox said :
"The SSP will fight the General Election on two key battlegrounds, the economy and Afghanistan.
"We will take the fight to Alastair Darling in his own constituency on his stewardship of the economy, the fact that he took this country into the deepest and worst recession in 80 years and because he now intends to slaughter the jobs and services of working people to pay for his incompetence and his banker’s greed.
"Equally, we will be the only party in this election opposed to the ongoing occupation of Afghanistan and calling for an immediete withdrawal of British troops.
“Despite the undemocratic voting system and exorbitant cost of standing candidates the Scottish Socialist Party will offer a bright alternative to the 4 neo-liberal, warmongering parties in Scotland—Labour, Lib Dem, Tories and SNP—who are shamefully trying to outdo one another to see who can make the most savage cuts in jobs and essential services.
“Our message is clear therefore—those who caused the banking crisis should pay for it. That means higher taxes and sacrifices by those enjoying their luxury lifestyles. Working people like nurses, teachers, firefighters and postalworkers didn’t cause the crisis and they shouldn’t be expected to pick up the bill for it with pay cuts and sackings. That's the social justice we believe millions of Scots expect to see.
“In what will be an unsavoury 'doom and gloom' election contest about which party can best satisfy the City of London's demands for slashed public services and cuts jobs the SSP will stand out as a bright alternative, a welcome light of optimism, with our message that there is no way we will accept cuts and hardship for working people. There is an alternative, the SSP say another way is possible.”
“I particularly relish the prospect of challenging Alastair Darling the former revolutionary socialist and now arch conservative neo-liberal Chancellor justifying his plans for feather bedding the rich and assaulting the pay and conditions of those who used to be Labour’s key supporters in Edinburgh South West.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SSP joint national spokesman Colin Fox will challenge Chancellor Alistair Darling in the General Election and the party will look to target 10 key seats across Scotland in the poll.
Colin Fox said :
"The SSP will fight the General Election on two key battlegrounds, the economy and Afghanistan.
"We will take the fight to Alastair Darling in his own constituency on his stewardship of the economy, the fact that he took this country into the deepest and worst recession in 80 years and because he now intends to slaughter the jobs and services of working people to pay for his incompetence and his banker’s greed.
"Equally, we will be the only party in this election opposed to the ongoing occupation of Afghanistan and calling for an immediete withdrawal of British troops.
“Despite the undemocratic voting system and exorbitant cost of standing candidates the Scottish Socialist Party will offer a bright alternative to the 4 neo-liberal, warmongering parties in Scotland—Labour, Lib Dem, Tories and SNP—who are shamefully trying to outdo one another to see who can make the most savage cuts in jobs and essential services.
“Our message is clear therefore—those who caused the banking crisis should pay for it. That means higher taxes and sacrifices by those enjoying their luxury lifestyles. Working people like nurses, teachers, firefighters and postalworkers didn’t cause the crisis and they shouldn’t be expected to pick up the bill for it with pay cuts and sackings. That's the social justice we believe millions of Scots expect to see.
“In what will be an unsavoury 'doom and gloom' election contest about which party can best satisfy the City of London's demands for slashed public services and cuts jobs the SSP will stand out as a bright alternative, a welcome light of optimism, with our message that there is no way we will accept cuts and hardship for working people. There is an alternative, the SSP say another way is possible.”
“I particularly relish the prospect of challenging Alastair Darling the former revolutionary socialist and now arch conservative neo-liberal Chancellor justifying his plans for feather bedding the rich and assaulting the pay and conditions of those who used to be Labour’s key supporters in Edinburgh South West.”
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