joe 91
5th April 2007, 15:02
The IWCA (Independent Working Class Association) are a small English political party with a few local branches and councillors at a local level in Oxford. To me it seems of all the left wing groups operating in Britain they're the most on the ball, working mainly at grass roots level and addressing local communities concerns, fighting for better council housing and for better facilities and provisions in local areas, while at the same time working on the ground to make communities safer (e.g. by putting pressure on known drug dealers, vandals and troublemakers, and 'crackhouses' to clean up their acts or get out.)
This seems in contrast to the usual UK left wing tactics of preaching from on high while doing precious little to make working class peoples lives any better. Indeed, The IWCA is almost entirely composed of working class activists who live on the estates they are trying to improve, and are not middle class/ student dominated like much of the rest of the UK left.
One of the IWCA's controversial areas of difference with the Orthodox left is their rejection of state sponsored multiculturalism, meaning they oppose any funding allocated among racial or religious lines, e.g. muslim or christian festivals or facilties. Although condemned by many as racist, IMO this makes them uniquely non-racist, as they reject any idea that different communities and ethnicities should have to compete for resources, and therefore generate tension.
Has anyone come across this group before and can add things i havent?
Links:
Home Page (http://www.iwca.info/index.shtml)
Background and Founding Statement (http://www.iwca.info/about.htm#backgr#)
Party Manifesto (http://www.iwca.info/manifest.htm)
This seems in contrast to the usual UK left wing tactics of preaching from on high while doing precious little to make working class peoples lives any better. Indeed, The IWCA is almost entirely composed of working class activists who live on the estates they are trying to improve, and are not middle class/ student dominated like much of the rest of the UK left.
One of the IWCA's controversial areas of difference with the Orthodox left is their rejection of state sponsored multiculturalism, meaning they oppose any funding allocated among racial or religious lines, e.g. muslim or christian festivals or facilties. Although condemned by many as racist, IMO this makes them uniquely non-racist, as they reject any idea that different communities and ethnicities should have to compete for resources, and therefore generate tension.
Has anyone come across this group before and can add things i havent?
Links:
Home Page (http://www.iwca.info/index.shtml)
Background and Founding Statement (http://www.iwca.info/about.htm#backgr#)
Party Manifesto (http://www.iwca.info/manifest.htm)