Tag: Europe

Marxism 2015 5: The Middle Part of Saturday

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest installment in my series of posts on Marxism 2015, the five-day politcal festival in central London organized by the Socialist Workers Party. Previous posts in the series can be viewed here.

RODDY SLORACH ON DISABILITY

In my last post I gave an account of the first meeting I attended on Saturday, in Nunn Hall. My second meeting was in the same venue, and the title was “Has There Always Been Disabaility?”

Two books on display at the front of the room.
Two books on display at the front of the room.
Speaker Roddy and chair Gabby before the meeting.
Speaker Roddy and chair Gabby before the meeting.

After this meeting, it was time for lunch, and I attended the Norwich SWP picnic (London food prices being well beyond my reach!).

WHERE WILL WE LIVE?

After lunch, my first port of call was the Drama Studio for a meeting on housing…

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Speaker and chair before the meeting.
Speaker and chair before the meeting.

The speaker’s main focus was on the US, which he had recently visited, and where the housing situation is worse than in this country because there is even less social housing available. The meeting was structured around a slide presentation. I have experienced a large number of such presentations but only a very few good presentations – of which this was one. I will settle for displaying those of the slides I was able to capture…

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Yes - even the USA genuinely radical cnadidates can get elected (she did).
Yes – even the USA genuinely radical candidates can get elected (she did).

A lively discussion followed. Having had an English born speaker talk at length about the USA we had a contribution from the floor from an American born Londoner talking about England…

Emma, who chaired the opening rally contributing to the floor at the meeting on housing (she is the American born Londoner referred to in the body text)
Emma, who chaired the opening rally contributing to the floor at the meeting on housing (she is the American born Londoner referred to in the body text)

HOW SHOULD SOCIALISTS VOTE IN THE EU REFERENDUM?

This meeting took place in Galleon room A in the Royal National Hotel (the suite which can be one, two or three rooms according to choice was divided into three, with rooms A and C being used for meetings and room B for entry and exit to prevent the two meetings from impinging on each other).

This was one of the most interesting meetings I attended. The debate on the EU referendum as currently framed is between two groups of right wing b**t**ds, one of whom want to stay in and the other whom want to leave for entirely nationalistic reasons. The task for socialists is to change to the terms of the debate by building a left wing campaign for a vote to leave the EU, offering no support to the racists of UKIP. A vote to stay in will leave an even bigger, even smugger smile on the face of David Cameron. A vote in favour of the EU would also be a vote in favour of what is being done to Greece and a vote in favour of desperate people being left to drown in the Mediterrenean.

To finish this post, my second of an eventual three about the Saturday, here are some more pictures…

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Francesca, chair for this meeting, introduces main speaker Paul McGarr
Francesca, chair for this meeting, introduces main speaker Paul McGarr
Paul McGarr during his opening speech.
Paul McGarr during his opening speech.
Speaker slips were used for this meeting, in spite of which the discussion at one point resembled a Hackney branch meeting, so many speakers from that area contributing.
Speaker slips were used for this meeting, in spite of which the discussion at one point resembled a Hackney branch meeting, so many speakers from that area contributing.