Need help with a new movement.

[Sir Aunty Christ]

Peter Hain, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has recently made implicit plans to privatise practically everything in the place. There needs to be a mass (not just socialist) movement against this.

How would you go about organising something like that?

[ComradeOm]

I suppose you could always contact the good folks at Sinn Fein. They seem to be able to turn riots on and off at will ;)

[The Feral Underclass]

Originally posted by Sir Aunty [email protected] 1 2005, 08:16 PM
Peter Hain, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has recently made implicit plans to privatise practically everything in the place. There needs to be a mass (not just socialist) movement against this.

How would you go about organising something like that?
I'm not sure how you'd start a "movement" but I think it's perfectly plausable to start a "group" of people at your college, university or in your community.

The best way to do it is get onto email lists of local activist groups or parties and put out a 'Call Out' for an open meeting to discuss the problem and work out strategies to fight it.

This is what a friend of mine has done to oppose the widening of the M1 and it is going quite well.

[The Feral Underclass]

Originally posted by [email protected] 3 2005, 04:16 AM
I suppose you could always contact the good folks at Sinn Fein. They seem to be able to turn riots on and off at will ;)
They're also a bourgeois political organisation who want to maintain capitalism.

[ComradeOm]

Originally posted by The Anarchist [email protected] 5 2005, 02:13 PM
They're also a bourgeois political organisation who want to maintain capitalism.
And I said they weren't?

Not everyone who opposes rampant privatisation is a communist.

[drain.you]

And I said they weren't?

Not everyone who opposes rampant privatisation is a communist.


But most people who want to maintain capitalism also want privatisation :P
I dont think Sinn Fein would help you at all unless you were giving them something fairly decent in return.
I would go with comrade TAT's advise :)

[Sir Aunty Christ]

The problem's not with Sinn Fein per se, it's with the leadership which talks leftist but acts capitalist. I know that Sinn Fein are against water charges (which is the issue most people here are familiar with) as do all the main parties but I don't trust them on the wider privatisation issue.

As far as I'm aware it's only the SWP, the Socialist Party and the Green Party that are talking about it. But as I said, it can't be a socialist thing - because the majority of people will walk away (it's an unfortunate fact, especially in Northern Ireland).

But thanks for the advice. I'll look into it TAT.

:)

[The Feral Underclass]

Originally posted by ComradeOm+Dec 5 2005, 03:25 PM--> (ComradeOm @ Dec 5 2005, 03:25 PM)
The Anarchist [email protected] 5 2005, 02:13 PM
They're also a bourgeois political organisation who want to maintain capitalism.
And I said they weren't?

Not everyone who opposes rampant privatisation is a communist. [/b]
But in terms of supporting or working with a political party like Sinn Fein, what do you expect to achieve?

[ComradeOm]

Originally posted by The Anarchist [email protected] 5 2005, 03:56 PM
But in terms of supporting or working with a political party like Sinn Fein, what do you expect to achieve?
Sinn Fein has often taken a stance on populist issues. Unless their leadership has openly endorsed any privatisation drive I fail to see why their local offices wouldn't be supportive of efforts to combat mass privatisation. And while I can't speak of the leadership, who I suspect would sell their grandmothers for votes, on a grassroots level Sinn Fein tend to be both active and anti-capitalist. At the least I'd sound out your local office.

On the wider issue I see nothing wrong with working with bourgeois parties to forward our immediate aims. Once its clear that such co-operation extends only to those aims. Suppose Sinn Fein proved supportive of an anti-privatisation campaign, would you refuse to act alongside them simply because they weren't "radical enough"?

[The Feral Underclass]

Originally posted by [email protected] 5 2005, 05:11 PM
I see nothing wrong with working with bourgeois parties to forward our immediate aims.
Why?

[ComradeOm]

Ummm... because occasionally our short term goals intersect. This is a good example of that as I'm sure there are some social democrats who oppose mass privatisation. If you want to stop it then co-operating with those politicians is a sound move.

[The Grey Blur]

Well Aunty Christ & Comrade Om I have to say you've got the right line on this; Sinn Féin would be the first stop if you're organizing any mass movement and the SWP don't seem to be averse to Sinn Féin's populist socialism.

Certainly, if the issue can be popularized as something the working-class of both comunities should fight that would be a big step for Socialism and the breaking down of sectarian barriers in the North (plus all those super-imaginative men in the IRA are just itching for a cause to throw their weight behind ;) .)

TAT, as ComradeOm said the SWP or other far-left groups should always be willing to cooperate with Sinn Féin, any other approach is unrealistic. - The grass-roots of Sinn Féin is extremely active in anti-Imperialist/ Socialist activities; they organize the boycott of Coca-Cola along with the IRSP, they cooperate with The Socialist Party down South in protesting the American planes landing at Shannon airport and their Youth Group (Ógra Sinn Féin) regularly protest the prescence of Army/ Police recruiters on school campuses in the North. Not to mention the hundreds of other activities Sinn Féin endorse or created.

BTW - AuntyChrist have you ever met Eamonn McCann personally? I find his work some of the best since Costello on Irish Socialism. The book 'War And An Irish Town' is quite simply magnificent.

P.S - Why do you think this extreme privitazation is coming? I must say I can't see anything major (ie healthcare, schools) being privatized without the same happening in England, maybe I'm just being naive. :rolleyes:

[Sir Aunty Christ]

No I've never met him RATM but I know people who have met him several times. I've never read anything by him either, bar his Socialist Worker column and the odd Belfast Telegraph column but he and Kieran Allan (another SWP bloke, and who I have met) are the closest the Irish left have to intellectuals.

You're right that we don't have a problem working with parties such as Sinn Fein despite differences on certain issues.

[Guest]

Originally posted by Sir Aunty [email protected] 1 2005, 07:16 PM
Peter Hain, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has recently made implicit plans to privatise practically everything in the place. There needs to be a mass (not just socialist) movement against this.

How would you go about organising something like that?
Good luck in your efforts. I'd recommend also contacting the IRSP and the youth wing. I know some party members recently attended meetings regarding these issues.

You could stop by or call:
028 90 321024
392 Falls Road

Here's a few email addresses:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

Also, if you contact the Starry Plough, they might put a notice about your activities in their paper: [email protected]