bigup LT for the design

I’ve recently received the honour of being selected as the Scottish Socialist Party candidate for Glasgow Central. As a Yoof I’ll be keeping Leftfield updated with all the juicy goss and scandal from the campaign trail.

The constituency is pretty big and covers areas with widely varying demographics, including Pollokshields, Govanhill and the Gorbals in the area south of the river, Calton to the east and my old stomping ground of Anderston and Finnieston in the west. Some sources describe it as the wealthiest seat in Glasgow, which to me simply means it is the most unequal ward, as the riches never seem to have trickled down to many of the people I know

I’ll be standing on the following platform:

• Say no to cuts, invest in public services
• Troops Out of Afghanistan NOW
• Give Youth a future – create new green jobs and end unemployment
• Defend asylum seekers and refugees
• For an independent socialist republic
• Free public transport for all
• Re-introduce student grants, abolish the loan system
• Tax the rich, make them pay for their crisis
• Start a massive program of building homes that are good quality and affordable for all
• Nationalise the banks and all previously privatised industries

The contest itself is looking like being a big battle between Labour and the SNP, with both standing fairly high-profile candidates. Labour have selected Anas Sarwar, son of the current MP, Mohammed Sarwar. Nothing dodgy about that, eh!? I cursed the (un-)democratic culture within the Glasgow Labour Party when Paul Martin was being lined up to replace his corrupt dad Michael (you know, that idiot who was the Speaker of the House of Commons for a while) and I am equally contemptuous about the Sarwar succession. It reeks. My only previous experience with Sarwar Junior was when I attended a 2007 event at the Carling Academy, entitled Y*Vote. Itwasn’t advertised who was organising it, but whoever it was got a couple of crap bands along – the McDonald bros were the main event and the Zutons did a DJ set, zzzzz – and they banned all parties from handing out literature. Then up pops Anas, revealing it was a Labour front, looking every bit the polished career politician-in-waiting, pleading for our vote. Well he never got mine.

appealing for your vote, totally no nepotism here

In the yellow and black corner (eh, the SNP one) is Osama Saeed, who is nowhere near as bad as the Labour guy, but is unfortunately still standing for a party committed to protecting the interests of their millionaire benefactors. I’ve encountered him a few times recently, as we were both organising protests against the fascist Scottish Defence League, a nasty wee group who tried to take to the streets of Edinburgh and Glasgow. In the end the good guys won (i.e. the SDL got chased away) but I had a big problem with Osama instructing people that all they should do is stand in a park and listen to speeches by establishment politicians, because the polis would deal with the fash. That’s woeful logic in my book and not a reliable way of stopping the rise of 21^st century Nazism.  But I still have a fair bit of respect for him, which I wouldnae really say about the Labour guy. Although the recent scandal about the charity he was running has had me scratching my head a bit.

saeed and salmond: thick as thieves

Despite any reservations I may have about Sarwar and Saeed, they would surely be in full agreement with me that the British National Party represent something more than just a wee misguided party who we disagree with. The BNP are the latest form of a long and shameful tradition of British fascism. They are yet to announce a candidate for Glasgow Central, but there is a distinct possibility that they will. They stood here in 2005 and may try to cause tensions in a multi-ethnic constituency with 2 prominent Muslim candidates. Their recent relative success should send a chill down people’s spines. They are a threat not only to ethnic minorities, homosexuals and trade-unionists, but to anyone who values free speech and democracy.

I do not believe that the BNP should be treated in the same way as any normal, democratic political party. If they ever came to power they would install a violent, authoritarian state, and people like me would probably end up in concentration camps. As Anas and Osama will surely know, the BNP are Islamophobic to the core and wherever they make progress, the number of attacks on Muslims and all non-white people increases greatly. I do not think that any democrat should treat them as a legitimate party.  In fact I will stick my neck out here… I do not believe that any of the other parties – socialist or capitalist, revolutionary or moderate – should sit on a platform alongside them and allow them to spread their bile.

There are things we can do to stop them being given an audience.  If the Labour and SNP candidates make it clear that they will not share a platform with the BNP, then organisers of debates/hustings will not invite them. I will be writing to the 2 main candidates to ask them to stand up and make a brave commitment – to pledge not to share a platform with the BNP. None of us should passively allow the fascists to spread their propaganda and build up support. The future is too important, let’s take action to stop them now.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 11:12 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.