Meanwhile in Israel March 16, 2015
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Uncategorized.3 comments
Whatever else about Israel, and as one who’s been there many years ago there are many other things about Israel worth considering, there’s no question but that it’s politics is fascinating. So the election on St. Patrick’s Day, tomorrow, means there’s another chance for all the cards to be thrown in the air and – dependent upon how they fall for matters to go any number of ways. As seen from the link above, polls are looking good for the – ahem, centre left, Zionist Union (though in fairness Israel has always seemed to cleave to a welfare state like approach more than many other states in the contemporary period, even after the depredations of its right).
No Arab parties have been invited to join an Israeli government in the history of the state – nor have they expressed a wish to do so – but unity between them, at least electoral unity, as the Joint List is reaping dividends as they are likely to be the third largest bloc in the Knesset (by the way, if one wants a measure of one aspect of Israeli politics well worth catching the comments the leader of the far right Yisrael Beiteinu party made during a debate to the leader of Joint List). I’m always intrigued by Tzipi Livni’s career, she has brought her latest party Hatnuah, having left Kadima which appears all but defunct, into the Zionist Union with Labor, as noted above with no negative effect for the latter.
By contrast despite his speech to Congress Netanyahu has fallen behind in the polls with the Zionist Union doing particularly well. No doubt that seemed like a stroke of genius before hand. Less so now, and ironically Likud and others on the Israeli right have been complaining about US administration intervention in the Israeli election. How matters have changed.
The ‘centrist’ economically oriented (or so they present themselves) parties, Yesh Atid and the newly formed Kalanu are also doing well. The Israeli media notes a steady trickle of voters away from Likud to those parties.
As well as his perceived shortcomings on the domestic front, he has brought Israel’s key relationship – with Washington – to a historic low point and increased the country’s isolation on the international stage.
All the rhetoric in the world doesn’t cover up the real power relations and the fact that – visits to Congress not withstanding – the United States cannot be expected to offer unquestioning support regardless of all else, particularly the rhetoric emanating from whatever government is in power in Israel. Which is not to suggest for a moment that the election tomorrow, even if Labor ‘wins’, is likely to see great changes. Perhaps we’re not yet beyond a point where the sort of agreements can be made between Palestine and Israel that would lead to the sort of outcomes that would provide for a genuine end of conflict. Or perhaps we are. If the latter then all that seems to beckon is increasing isolation, a self-defeating Fortress Israel approach and yet more potential for local and regional conflict.
I’d still put money on a Likud/Yisrael Beiteinu coalition in the aftermath of the election, but… not quite as much money as I would have three weeks ago.
Renua Ireland and party democracy… a work in progress? March 16, 2015
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Economy, Irish Politics.15 comments
It’s amazing to me how little notice has been given to one aspect of Renua Ireland, and that is its structure and democratic mechanisms. Indeed for all the much vaunted claims of transparency one will have to go quite some distance to discover what how precisely matters are organised in relation to party structure. In fairness the Journal had a good run through of their policy document. But although it mentions candidate selection we don’t get much of a sense about just how the party is structured.
One can wonder at this:
What makes this party different?
This is a party with a new way of thinking, a new way of doing politics.
• We are focused on building a better future for all of our citizens through growing our economy, radically reforming our public sector, changing the way we govern and making our society more inclusive.
• As part of our commitment to open government we will abolish cabinet confidentiality on all matters but a narrowly defined set of vital national security interests (e.g. high category security threats to the state).
• Free thinking and free speech will be encouraged to such an extent the party whip will only be imposed on f issues, allocation of resources and motions of confidence.
• Transformation will also be applied to local government which will be reformed to make governing more inclusive.
• This party will focus on supporting indigenous small and medium sized businesses.
• Promotion of an entrepreneurial culture and free thinking in education.
• An ‘open book’ approach to party finances.
• Volunteerism is central to the party.
• This party will create a more inclusive society that celebrates diversity and gives priority to the most vulnerable.
‘f issues?’ in ‘• Free thinking and free speech will be encouraged to such an extent the party whip will only be imposed on f issues, allocation of resources and motions of confidence.’ Hmmm… But, anyway… what of this: “• Volunteerism is central to the party. “
There is this:
If you believe you have what it takes to represent your constituents and the people of Ireland in delivering an open politics rooted in ethical commitment, we encourage you to put yourself forward.
All candidates will be nominated by an Independent Panel and shall require the support of the national membership. A total of 175 , have completed a written survey indicating their intent to seek the Party nomination.
And:
What’s involved?
1. All members may apply to be candidates.
2. When members sign the ‘Code of Ethics’ and complete an application process they become Declared Candidates.
3. All Declared Candidates will then undergo a ‘Fitness & Probity’ test and shall be interviewed and evaluated under clear criteria. The top candidate from each constituency are selected and they become the Nominated Candidates.
4. Nominated Candidates are voted on by the national membership, and if accepted they become the ‘Party Candidate’.
So, there’s an ‘Independent’ Panel, presumably composed of party members (though the Journal piece above suggests not necessarily just party members – how by the way does that work, doesn’t anyone wonder about potential conflicts of interest between members and non-members, etc, etc?), and anyone who wants to become a candidate is then ‘selected’ or is that ‘nominated’? Who does which, or is it the same thing – i.e. does the Independent Panel select/nominate the candidates. Can more than one person be selected from a constituency, i.e. is there any competitive aspect to this at the voting side?
And that, on the Renua Ireland website is that in relation to just how RI is organised. See what I mean, it’s all remarkably opaque – despite the much vaunted talk of ‘openess’.
And note how it’s all about elections and candidates. What is involved in just being an ‘ordinary’ member? There’s nothing in outline about what it is to be just member, what expectations, responsibility or rights there are. Is there an Annual Conference? We are not told. According to the Irish Times report here
The party will be organised into seven regional branches.
But almost in the same breath it’s back into the stuff about candidates:
It has had advanced discussions, it said, with 180 people so far identified as potential candidates for the party.
RTÉ told us before the launch that:
The seven regional leaders will select small committees to build constituency organisations.
Each region will have its own fundraiser.
And we know there is a Deputy Leader and a Leader. Are they acting up, as it were? Will there be a vote to legitimate those in those positions?
And just on elections. Will this Independent Panel be in place before Election 2015/16? The confusion as to whether Eddie Hobbs is a candidate doesn’t offer any insight into that.
There’s a lot of talk about the’collaborative manner’ of the party. As with the following:
We will succeed by building trust.
Our code of conduct for members and code of ethics for candidates sets us apart. We will build a new minimum standard of what is acceptable practice in politics. We will be open and transparent in all our dealings.
We will succeed by being collaborative
This party was founded in the most collaborative manner. It embraced expert volunteers, supporters, and civil society in building a party that is in tune with the needs of our modern society. RENUA will continue to work collaboratively in co-creating a better society.
We will succeed by being inventive
Our policies are the manifestation of ideas that are ready for implementation.
We have a comprehensive and collaborative process of developing inventive policy and implementation programmes that will work
We will engage the citizens of Ireland in a new conversation.
We are a party in its infancy. Our electoral manifesto and policy document is currently being developed collaboratively and comprehensively. We encourage you to engage with us via the ‘get involved’ section of our website to suggest ideas, offer support, or to voice your opinions.
And that’s all very nice, but who is collaborating? What are the structures within which these collaborations are occurring? Why isn’t this being raised in the media?
Finally, you’ll find this on the renuaireland website.
How’s Terence?
Terence was mentally and physically exhausted, after a week that included hours of late nights leading up to the launch day.
The mental and physical exhaustion of the thousands of hours that go into starting a new political party just got to him.
The type of Open Politics we are trying to generate means broadening our reach to new voices and new faces. Some will be building this on the national stage, and others will be selling our message direct in their own communities.
Getting that balance right every time will always be challenging for a party that puts Openness and new voices at the core of what we are about.
Left Archive: “Crisis in the “Tiger”?”: Building the Socialist Party – Statement on Southern Ireland, October 1999 March 16, 2015
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Left Online Document Archive, Socialist Party.2 comments
To download the above please click on the following link. SP1999
Please click here to go the Left Archive.
Many thanks to the person who forwarded this to the Archive.
This is another addition to the collection of Socialist Party documents in the Left Archive. Published for the Socialist Party Conference in 1999 it notes in the Introduction that:
This statement will attempt to deal with the main developments in southern society over the last year. There will also be statements on trade union and youth perspectives and tasks. All should be red in conduction with each other.
It continues that:
The discussion at this year’s conference is one of the most important in the history of the party in the south. It is taking place amid indications on the one hand of a growing offensive movement of workers on pay as well as signs that we are witnessing the beginning of the end of the ‘Celtic Tiger’.
These developments will dramatically change the political situation over the next period. Along the way there can be ebbs and flows. For instance the first nurse’s strike in the history of the state is due to place on October 19th. While it seems very unlikely, it couldn’t be ruled out that something could happen at the last minute to suspect the action. However, given the breadth of unrest and the depth of anger that exists, a suspension of the nurse’s action won’t itself cut across the real possibly of a more generalised movement of workers developing over the next year.
It suggests that:
In fact the party should be prepared that dramatic changes can erupt immediately.
And it further suggests that:
Members should not underestimate the significance and impact of the Ansbacher revelations. This is not just another scandal that will go over the heads of a public already weary of tales of corruption. It comes at a terrible time for the government and undermines the establishment’s ability to wage an ideological offensive to dampen down worker’s expectations.
It warns that:
At the same time we are facing into a new period of radicalisation, we need to register that there has been a qualitative change in how our party is seen by a key section of activists and youth. More and more people are concluding that there is a real prospect that a new development on the left is taking shape around the Socialist Party.
It notes that:
The NEC believes that there is not enough understanding in the party of the real potential exits. That is why our conference discussion is so important.
And it concludes:
Doubling, trebling and quadrupling our size and influence over the next two to three years is entirely. The idea that growth will inevitably be slow, in just ones and twos needs to be challenged. In the context of a good discussion on perspectives the party and every member needs to completely review our approach to recruitment and building. The key task of the conference is to help establish better attitudes on these issues, a clear understanding of our priorities, how we propose to achieve them and crucially the role that each member can play.
There are a number of sections including ‘the delay in the international recession’, ‘Prospects for the ‘Celtic Tiger’’, ‘Inequality, political consciousness and the vacuum on the left’, ‘The result of this June’s Elections’, ‘Members underestimate the potential for growth’ and considerable detail in the analysis of all those and others.
Some quotes give a sense of this:
Despite their attempts to portray it as an historic re-alignment of the left, the merger of DL into Labour created no enthusiasm whatsoever. Tensions may have intensified inside Labour as a result but they do not flow from a conflict between more left-wing DL types and the Labour establishment. It is a jockeying for positions and careers.
The Greens held on to their MEP seats in Dublin and Leinster showing there is a basis for small parties to build on gains already achieved. The fact that they suffered reverser in the locals, however, confirms our perspective that this party will not play a significant role in filing the vacuum on the left.
The document concludes under the heading ‘Building a small mass revolutionary party’.
The Socialist Party can become a small mass revolutionary partying in the South over the next years. A party with one thousand activists, with workers and community leaders, a parliamentary fraction in the Dáil and a vibrant young wing would in Irish sterns constitute such a party.
Such a force would be able to influence developments in the workers movements as well as lead semi-mass and mass movements like the water charges campaign but on a national level.
…
We have positioned ourselves firmly on this road by our work over the last year. Now we need to imbue the whole party with a sense of the historic opportunities that are about to open up.
A senator gained… then lost March 15, 2015
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics.15 comments
Curious, the Sunday Times is reporting that Senator Mary Ann O’Brien, who according to some reports had joined Renua has said that said reports are incorrect. Remarkable.
An Antidote to the Sunday Papers March 15, 2015
Posted by Tomboktu in Class, Class/Class politics, Economics.6 comments
As an antidote to the Sunday papers, I thought I would offer two items that I have read recently that might be of interest to CLR followers.
In some ways, the concept of inequality is unhelpful here. There has rarely been a political or business leader who has stood up and publicly said, “society needs more inequality”. And yet, most of the policies and regulations which have driven inequality since the 1970s have been publicly known. Although it is tempting to look back and feel duped by the pre-2008 era, it was relatively clear what was going on, and how it was being justified. But rather than speak in terms of generating more inequality, policy-makers have always favoured another term, which effectively comes to the same thing: competitiveness.
My new book, The Limits of Neoliberalism: Sovereignty, Authority & The Logic of Competition, is an attempt to understand the ways in which political authority has been reconfigured in terms of the promotion of competitiveness. Competitiveness is an interesting concept, and an interesting principle on which to base social and economic institutions. When we view situations as ‘competitions’, we are assuming that participants have some vaguely equal opportunity at the outset. But we are also assuming that they are striving for maximum inequality at the conclusion. To demand ‘competitiveness’ is to demand that people prove themselves relative to one other.
From How ‘competitiveness’ became one of the great unquestioned virtues of contemporary culture by William Davies (a 1,522-word blog post) http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-cult-of-competitiveness/
=====================
Right-wing commentators are largely in agreement with the dominant neoclassical conception of a subject whose ‘bad choices’ and ‘anti-social values and norms’ ensure continued poverty and marginality. The liberal-left, often drawing upon symbolic interactionism and post-structuralism, counter this by claiming that the powerful demonise and stigmatise the economically excluded and label them with a broad range of negative characteristics. At its most extreme this becomes a process of ‘othering’, where the forbidding image of an uncivilised, feckless, dangerous and criminal other is projected upon the excluded subject, making its inclusion appear impossible. Whilst avoiding the right’s dogmatic voluntarism and moralism, however, we are also keen to move beyond the liberal-left’s equally doctrinaire notion that this symbolic ‘othering’ is the primary cause of social exclusion or indeed the issue that demands political attention.
[…]
At the risk of antagonising some of our peers, we should perhaps also consider the possibility that many in the social democratic mainstream who issue their call for ‘real jobs’ and the return of a comprehensive welfare system are secretly aware that their demands can no longer be met. Perhaps the most striking gap in social democratic thinking about social exclusion is that, in seeking to reintroduce the ‘excluded’ back into the civic mainstream, they are arguing for the reintroduction of resource-poor workers back into the very system of relentless socio-symbolic competition that expelled them in the first place. Social democratic discourses of inclusion are always shot through with the idea that expanding opportunities is the way back to an inclusive society. Are they not essentially arguing that the poor be given another shot at ‘making it’ within the system as it currently exists, rather than arguing for a fundamental reappraisal of the conditions under which social and economic justice can actually take place? Our goal here is to side-step this debate about the reintroduction of ‘real jobs’ and the intellectual injunction that we up-skill the poor and equip them with the drive to compete. Instead, we want to ask searching questions about the drivers that lead to the expulsion or marginalisation of the poor, and, more fundamentally, whether inclusion is possible at all in a capitalist economy currently experiencing a permanent reduction in its growth-rate and a seismic shift in the balance of global economic power.
[…]
In terms of actual policy, there is very little difference between mainstream politicians; in essence, the cynic’s cliché that ‘they’re all the bloody same’ has become a reality. The general electorate must choose a candidate on the basis of some vague sense of who will benefit them personally. Political opposition to neoliberal excess and the brutal reallocation of money and assets from working populations to the super-rich – upwards of £13 trillion currently hidden away in global tax havens (Stewart, 2012b; see also Shaxson, 2012) – is expressed in the most attenuated and apologetic manner only by the political opponents that liberal capitalism itself appoints. Because there is no longer an organised political opposition, because the left has abandoned any conception of class struggle or an egalitarian future – or even a social democracy in which the huge gap in wealth and power can be seriously truncated – to focus exclusively on defending the human rights and arranging the piecemeal ‘social inclusion’ of marginalised identity groups, capitalism itself exists for ordinary voters as pure doxa, the common belief of what is and always will be. Indeed, such is the certainty of its permanent reign, even the word ‘capitalism’ had largely fallen out of use in political and academic circles. For the liberal-postmodern subject, existing in the absence of a politics that seeks to offer an account of subjective hardships, injustices, anxieties and rage, the social field of ceaseless struggle for symbolic and cultural capital becomes naturalised and the subject accepts – and then embraces and clings to – the myth of meritocracy. Their own inner torment, their enduring sense of lack and their fear of economic and cultural irrelevance compels them to throw themselves anew into capitalism’s competitive struggle for social distinction. Until real politics returns, the very idea of transforming the other into a true neighbour, cleansing the realm of politics of its corruption or creating a new reality built upon social justice seems impossible, even ridiculous. The compensation, the safety barrier that prevents the plunge over the edge into total nihilism and despair, is the hope that the self might one day make the journey from exploited to exploiter. Such hope is presented daily by the mass media as liberal capitalism’s great attraction, and today’s subjects plot their journeys to ‘inclusion’ and eventual safety up the league table of contemporary consumer culture.
From ‘Introduction: Post-crash Social Exclusion’, chapter in of Rethinking Social Exclusion — The End of the Social? by Simon Winlow and Steve Hall (20-page PDF) http://www.uk.sagepub.com/upm-data/57537_Winlow__Rethinking_Social_exclusion.pdf
Sunday Independent Stupid Statement of the Week March 15, 2015
Posted by Garibaldy in Sunday Independent Stupid Statement of the Week.61 comments
The Sunday Independent’s running theme today that the current crisis in Stormont that will see Martin McGuinness miss his trip to the US for St Paddy’s Day has been manufactured in order to distract attention from the latest instances of shameful behaviour surrounding rape by members of the Provisionals. One wonders if it isn’t much more about protecting against accusations of implementing austerity in the north that could prove very damaging when running for government on an anti-austerity ticket in the south. Anyway, this week’s winner for displaying so many levels of stupidity simultaneously is from the editorial
The pragmatism of social partnership rotted Irish governance from the head down, while the same ideology stayed the hand of the self-interested Ahern administration from moving earlier to save the Celtic Tiger.
Jaw-dropping.
Lose half your seats and still retain power..? How about three quarters? Four fifths? March 15, 2015
Posted by WorldbyStorm in British Politics, Irish Politics.add a comment
Nick Clegg’s cold comfort for his parliamentary – or at least a statement ‘attributed’ to his people, as reported in the Guardian today that ‘The Liberal Democrats could lose nearly half their seats and still remain a party of government, most probably in coalition with the Conservatives’ is something that might ring a bell with certain TDs this side of the Irish Sea given the state of polling. And, oddly, one could see how such a message might resonate with those likely to keep their seats while plunging those who aren’t into despair. Granted the polls have firmed up very slightly for the Labour Party, but… Adrian Kavanagh’s projection of 8 seats on 9 per cent support for Labour tells its own story. Think of the rest of the sitting LP cohort. And then consider whether this uptick can be sustained. Perhaps it can. That – no question about it – is what all LP TDs will be told. Next week’s march will be important both in taking the temperature of the protests against water and austerity but also in giving a sense of the level of opposition more broadly to the government.
The world of work… March 15, 2015
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Uncategorized.add a comment
Reading The Gaping Silence the other day I was struck by this post from the start of the year. I’d flicked through it then but it hadn’t struck home, but re-reading it it struck me that the dynamic it describes in respect of access to legal redress for workers is ever more constrained. But more than that there’s simply an indifference as to whether workers can afford legal redress. Indeed the institutions are structured in order to actually dissuade workers from seeking redress. That’s what political power means.
And a projection… March 14, 2015
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics.add a comment
…from Adrian Kavanagh – he works fast! – on foot of the latest poll:
Fianna Fail 32, Fine Gael 51, Sinn Fein 27, Labour Party 8, Independents and Others 40.
80 is the crucial number in a 158 member Dáil. No one there or nearly there yet. But not entirely difficult to see some cobbling together of numbers from Ind/Others and FG to get the next government going. Though it would be fairly unstable and FF/FG would remain the most obvious configuration. Or an FG minority government. Here’s a question an intrepid reporter might put to the LP. Would they serve with FG in an FG led coalition with Renua Ireland in it?
Sunday Times/B&A Poll March 14, 2015
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics.8 comments
From RTÉ this evening, some similarity with the RedC/Paddy Power poll during the week.
Fine Gael 27% [+3], Labour 9% [+4], SF 19% [-3], FF 18% [NC], Ind/Others/Smaller parties 27% [-3%]
Further analysis soon but wouldn’t those changes be in or on the MOE? Interesting that FG and LP are gaining some support. Hardly a surprise SF might have shed some. Telling that FF cannot lift itself from 18% and not entirely remarkable that the Ind/Other/Smaller Party vote is decaying somewhat. How will Renua Ireland do in the next poll, for no doubt they’ll be included in the tally. And what of the Ross Brigade?
Meanwhile, isn’t it something that the marriage equality referendum shows less difference of opinion than that over lowering the age for Presidential candidates?
Some 73% of voters surveyed said they would vote yes in the same-sex marriage referendum, 22% are against the proposal and 5% are classed as ‘don’t knows’.
In the second referendum planned for 22 May – 55% of those surveyed were opposed to lowering the age of presidential candidates, 40% were in favour and 5% were in the ‘don’t know’ category.
Different times.
