| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Mandy
Joined: 07 Feb 2007
|
 Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 8:29 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
|
|
I am a fully paid Respect party member .. such a shame to see what is happening there.
Faceless, you wrote yesterday on another thread http://couchtripper.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=5900 :
"The most controlled speech by Galloway in a long while. I'm not surprised the rift between Respect and the Socialist Worker affiliates has been mended... well done Galloway."
Did you mean "mended" ? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Salim201
Joined: 12 Jan 2007
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 11:05 pm Post subject: Re: Rivalries on the left |
|
|
|
|
| faceless wrote: |
Arses to them all - I'm off to get drunk. |
good point, well made..
beer first business later |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
faceless
admin
Joined: 25 Apr 2006
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 11:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
Mandy, I wish you'd not make a post and then edit it later on to add whole big extra bits. But to answer, what I said the other day was based on an error I made. Today my opinion is that they're all a bunch of arseholes.
Boy, this cider's nice. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
luke
Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Location: by the sea
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 11:39 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
cider?!  i have bad bad memorys of cider 
its a real shame all this division in the left, the right and media couldn't have planned it any better ... 
i've never been a member of any party, but i've only really got into politics since 9/11 and the invasions of afghanistan and then iraq. i was thinking of joining respect, but they don't have anyone here and now they seem to be falling apart |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
faceless
admin
Joined: 25 Apr 2006
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 4:24 pm Post subject: Mark Steel on Respect split |
|
|
|
|
That's pretty shite that he offered free tickets to Respect members for his tour and yet not one turned up to any of the 40 gigs. Did anyone who was |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
luke
Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Location: by the sea
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 6:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
| is the end of your sentence missing faceless? 'Did anyone who was' ... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
faceless
admin
Joined: 25 Apr 2006
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 6:56 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
ahh, cheers
I meant to say 'Did anyone who was a member of Respect at the time know about it?' |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mandy
Joined: 07 Feb 2007
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 9:55 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
| I don't recollect receiving anything - though that was likely to be a result of budget constraints (e.g. for posting, or to collect and enter e-mails) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
faceless
admin
Joined: 25 Apr 2006
|
| Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 11:49 pm Post subject: Red Pepper on Respect Split |
|
|
|
|
A good read I thought - proper journalism even! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
faceless
admin
Joined: 25 Apr 2006
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:07 am Post subject: more tat on the Respect split |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
faceless
admin
Joined: 25 Apr 2006
|
| Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:04 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
| Quote: | 18 December 2007
Dear,
I have been sent a copy of a letter to you from John Rees, distributed by email to SWP members, along with an apology from the SWP Central Committee concerning the donation to OFFU of £5,000 from Dubai.
I think it would be appropriate for me to give you my side of this unfortunate story as John Rees’s letter is misleading. When a cheque arrived in January at the Respect Office made out to Respect from a person I did not know but who was clearly a foreign national who said he admired and supported me, I took the position obvious to everyone involved in these things, except perhaps the Labour Party’s former General Secretary, that we were grateful for the offer but we had to refuse it on legal grounds.
When John Rees suggested an alternative organisation for the money to be donated to, my assistant Kevin Ovenden had a discussion with him and with Elaine Graham-Leigh saying this might be potentially difficult with the Electoral Commission but that, if such a proposal were to be made, an obvious organisation to suggest was the Stop the War Coalition. This organisation had no formal links with Respect, pre-existed Respect and was an organisation, given the likely nature of the support of the individual concerned, which he might be happy to donate to. The Stop the War Coalition also has robust structures and would have been able to come to a collective decision over whether it might accept such a donation. Kevin, on my behalf, categorically argued against the suggestion by John Rees and Elaine Graham-Leigh that the cheque be reissued payable to OFFU.
There was no further communication between me or my staff and John Rees about this matter until the end of August. In particular, I and my office were unaware that John Rees had written back soliciting the donation for OFFU. He did not circulate that letter to me, to the officers of Respect, or, it seems, to the OFFU committee.
It is utterly disingenuous therefore to say that neither I nor John Rees knew of the company connections of the individual concerned when the donation was made to OFFU in June. I did not know the donation had been made to OFFU. It also seems to be the case that the committee and officers of OFFU were not told that a £5,000 donation from Dubai had been accepted in their name. A Google search after I did learn of the donation, in late August, established the unfortunate links which have caused so much embarrassment.
I did not include this issue in my letter to the Respect National Council in late August as I wanted to resolve matters concerning this donation as quickly as possible and without any possibility of it embarrassing either Respect or OFFU. It was however part of the my opening remarks at a meeting with SWP Central Committee members John Rees, Lindsey German, Chris Bambery and Alex Callinicos on 4 September. These remarks were made in the context of my accusation against John Rees of his lack of accountability and his recklessness on this and another matter. However, they were dismissed by John Rees as being a cover for a right wing attack on the left in Respect. At a meeting of 250 London SWP members later that week, Alex Callinicos referred to my having spent 25 minutes going on about an obscure cheque.
Despite this, I continued to deal with John Rees and Elaine Graham-Leigh on a confidential basis with regard to this cheque. I insisted on referring the matter to the Electoral Commission on the grounds that the donation might still have been illegal and, in any case, to demonstrate that we were complying with our obligations of transparency. However, my best efforts met with resistance and obfuscation all the way down the line by both Rees and Graham-Leigh.
I raised the connection between the Dubai donation and the Interserve privateers in an email to John Rees, Elaine Graham-Leigh, Alex Callinicos, Lindsey German and Chris Bambery three months ago – on 10 September.
John Rees breezily dismissed these concerns in an emailed response on 13 September. He wrote:
“…this was an individual donation not a corporate donatation (sic). Many people work for firms that do bad things~but accepting money from them as individuals does not imply either that they endorse the actions of their employers or that we endorse the actions of the firms. Consequently, the whole ‘anything in the world can be connected by six degrees of separation’ argument falls at the first hurdle.
“More broadly, why should any labour movement body not accept a bit of the profit coming back to the workers so long as there are no strings attached.”
I continued to press John Rees and Elaine Graham-Leigh to refer this to the Electoral Commission until finally I felt obliged, not least for my own reputation, having been the victim of a genuine witch-hunt over donations from the Middle East to the Mariam Appeal, to refer the matter myself. The Electoral Commission are currently looking into the matter.
Given how widely the SWP leadership raised this issue in their own organisation, it was only going to be a matter of time before the issue got into the press, and so it has proved. I am sorry that it has taken press exposure to bring the necessary action to bear on this issue, although I note that John Rees’s letter does not actually suggest the return of the donation, which is the recommendation of the SWP Central Committee.
It would certainly be my view that the cheque should never have been solicited for OFFU for two reasons. Firstly, OFFU was set up as a result of a decision by the Respect Officers’ Committee, its National Council and resolution of the Respect Annual Conference. Its leading officers were members of Respect and one of the signatories to the bank account was an employee of Respect. Respect employees were engaged more or less full time in arranging OFFU’s only conference thus far, a conference which lost £5,000. These are connections to Respect which made the donation to OFFU potentially illegal and certainly potentially politically embarrassing. The second reason is, of course, the fact that the major shareholder in the Dubai company is leading PFI privateer Interserve – a connection which is far from “tenuous”. The Stop the War Coalition might have felt able to accept that money – I cannot see how a body of trade union militants would.
I am very sorry that this embarrassment has occurred for all who are involved in OFFU in good faith, but it entirely vindicates my criticisms of the way in which John Rees has operated both with respect to Respect and OFFU.
With best wishes,
George Galloway MP |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mandy
Joined: 07 Feb 2007
|
| Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
What do you make of the photo in the first article above whose file name is
ice+pick+used+to+murder+trot.jpg ? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
faceless
admin
Joined: 25 Apr 2006
|
| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 8:35 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
Galloway's Respect councillors squabble over party name
By Ted Jeory
ted.jeory@archant.co.uk
15 January 2008
www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk
THE battle for the soul of MP George Galloway's Respect party has entered a new phase with the warring factions squabbling over their names. The four councillors who split from their seven Respect colleagues on Tower Hamlets council to become Respect Independent in October have now changed their name again. From today (Jan-14), the defecting group is known as Respect - the Unity Coalition.
The first shots in the opening battle were fired today by Cllr Abjol Miah, leader of the larger rump group which is still known as Respect. He is lodging an official objection at the Town Hall because he says the name is the 'official' party title, registered with the Electoral Commission. But Tower Hamlets council told the Advertiser that any objection would not be upheld because "the name change is entirely valid for purpose of council business."
The move by the four defecting SWP-sympathetic councillors, Oli Rahman, Ahmed Hussain, Rania Khan and Lutfa Begum, is the first shot in what promises to be a bitter fight over who can stand as Respect candidates in May's London Assembly elections. But the longer the 'farce' continues, as observers describe it, the more both factions risk losing credibility with mainstream voters.
-----------------
load of nonsense... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mandy
Joined: 07 Feb 2007
|
| Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 3:44 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
A hot letter from Carole Swords :
http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=1574
Dear Jackie,
carole-swords.jpgAs a Respect member, and previously wanting to be selected for the GLA, I was really concerned at the way the last selection was undertaken as we all know it was a farce, just like this selection will be. It will be no different to they tried to pull with the Tower Hamlets delegates going to conference.
As to why this list is to be redone, I can only look at it as a waste of time. The section of Respect that you still continue to call Respect Tower Hamlets no longer represents me and my friends and family who have joined Respect. You have taken our subscriptions and used the money for your splinter group of SWP members. People have had the wool pulled over their eyes with the “lets pretend to be Respect” party. I feel conned by your splinter group.
I should have realised what was going on when I saw what was happening with the Fighting Unions Conference, This I found very underhand from start to finish. The organisers did not listen to any advice on several occasions. I tried to tell them that I had experience in fundraising having done far too many fundraisers to count over the years. I was not taken seriously on anything. I was told on several occasions that they have always done these things and they knew what they were doing. I tried to pass on advice as to how many things to order and not to date things if you don’t need to.
All this fell on deaf ears as all I was ever seen as in the SWP section of the party was someone to clean and cover when they were late and had constant days off. These people still believed that the fairies emptied their bins and washed their cups. Whenever there was anything that went wrong the blame was always put on Tanzy and the unprofessional way she did things. There was a day when Dennis went to the bank and when he came back the money belt that he was given to take the money in had hundreds of pounds tucked into the back zip. This was blamed on Tanzy. I was told that cheques amounting to hundreds of pounds were filed by Tanzy and the Respect lost all that money. It’s a good job that Dennis is honest or that money could have gone and no-one would be any the wiser.
So I don’t know why I was so shocked at the way money was collected by different members at the FUC and there was never any open and honest discussions about how much was raised. But certain things that went on there. I was told that the food and drinks that I organised during the day lost money. This left me totally shocked as I spent over two hundred pounds of my own money trying to make it a success, and selling over two thousand drinks at 50p a go left me reeling as to how it could have lost money. That is not taking into account the food and snacks that I spent the whole week before organising.
I have done many events and have never ever made a loss. In fact the food always got any event out of trouble. This I found unexplainable. The stark difference was when I attended the real Respect Renewal Conference. Everything was a so above board and we made healthy profits with less than half the people that attended the ‘Fighting Union Con’.
Also I should have questioned the large cheque that arrived in the post and a stage show was acted out and the way that I was taken downstairs in the office and sworn to secrecy as to its content. I hope that I am not linked with anything that was dishonest as believe me heads will roll.
I have a meeting with the police next week about fraud and other things as I cannot be linked with any underhand things. Its time now that I think that we should stop playing lets pretend and burying your heads in the sand. Just look at yourselves and see how juvenile the way you act. The way that the stupid little photographer would not let me get into a picture in front of the Respect Banner I found quite disgusting as he is not even a member of Respect but gets paid by the SWP. This was in front of staff members of Respect. People like me still pay their salaries but they chose to laugh at this disgusting event.
There are other incidents, like when Lutfa tried to push me away from the banner at the NHS march with Oli having to intervene to stop her being so rude. This I put down to her ignorance and chose to overlook it but you all must realise that I am a Respect member. I did not leave the party. I am still a constituent and still look upon George Galloway as my Respect MP. He is the only one who represents me.
I would like to point out that I have never been nor wanted to be a member of the SWP party and really think that you should stop now calling yourselves The Respect Party. You are NOT. You are the SWP. Call yourselves what you are and stand in the GLA as what you really are if you are such a great party with all the right policies. Why on earth would you want to be called by any other name but your own, unless you know what we all know - that the SWP are unelectable.
That is why you are hanging on to the good name of Respect. It’s time for you to let go and move on to someone else that you can try to clone as I am not for cloning. Also I would like to bring to your attention that there is £500 outstanding that was left in the cash box at the office in Club Row. This money was borrowed and need to be repaid to me as soon as possible. It is not Respect’s money. So could you make arrangements to have it returned to me?
Thank you.
Carole Swords
a member of Respect |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
faceless
admin
Joined: 25 Apr 2006
|
| Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 1:13 am Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
| a great letter there from someone who sounds like a valuable and decent person. Nice one Carole Swords - more strength to you. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum
|
Couchtripper - 2005-2015
|
