SA Office bulletin
Tuesday 2 July
Trade union activists' meeting
A very successful trade union activists' meeting was organised by the Socialist Alliance in London last Saturday with around 100 trade unionists attending. There was a wide-ranging discussion about the attempts to mount a right wing offensive, its successes and limitations. There was a general feeling that, with some exceptions, the left has made advances around the union conferences and that the Socialist Alliance has generally done well. Comrades broke up into union or industry caucuses and came back to discuss the strategy for the Socialist Alliance over the next year. A full report from our trade union officer Mark Hoskisson is attached together with the (slightly modified) statement overwhelmingly endorsed by the meeting. You will also find some key dates which emerged out of the conference in the attachment.
For example:
3rd July from 10am firefighters are lobbying a pay meeting in Bournemouth
8th July from 6.30pm Westminster local government workers are lobbying a key council committee which is proposing to authorise the privatisation of the ENTIRE workforce from outside Westminster City Hall, Victoria Street. And probably from 9th July Westminster local govt workers will be on strike (more on this in a separate special bulletin shortly).
17th July London-wide strike of public sector workers (again more on this shortly).
Conference on Europe
Motions for the national conference on Europe have begun to come in. You will find two motions in the attached file. Local SAs have already begun to book speakers and to have debates. The principal differences that seem to be emerging are between those who support a position of abstention in the referendum and those who would support a 'no' vote. These are the two positions expressed in the attached motions. The National Executive continues to urge local Socialist Alliances to make arrangements to debate this issue and to ensure that both sides of the debate are represented. If you wish to get help with speakers in the debate, please contact the national office on 020 7609 2999. Date and venue details have now been confirmed for the national conference on Europe. The date is Saturday 12th October. The venue is the South Camden Community School, Charrington Street, London NW1, nearest tube Euston. The Conference Arrangements Committee had confirmed the following details for the conference.
Registration on the day will open at 10am. The conference will start promptly at 11am with the first session debating the Socialist Alliance's position on the Euro until 1.30pm. We will be inviting a number of guest speakers. The cost of the conference will be £10 waged and £6 unwaged. Leaflets for the conference with a booking form will be available in the next couple of weeks. There will be a creche but in order to plan creche provision we have a closing date for the creche of 28th September, two weeks before the conference. Again more details will be out shortly including an email address for creche bookings.
The closing date for motions for conference passed by branches or moved by individual members is 31st August. They must be submitted by email to the office at office@socialistalliance.net and will then be circulated on the information list and posted on the website. Motions will preferably be no longer than one side of A4 in ten point but definitely no longer than two sides of A4. Following close of motions there will be a compositing process and then the further opportunity for local Socialist Alliances to debate amendments.
The European Social Forum and the New Imperialism, New Internationalism conference
The National Executive wants to make building for the ESF in Florence from the 7th to the 10th November a national priority. A leaflet about the ESF will be coming out shortly together with a dedicated web page. In particular we want to build strongly in the colleges now and when they come back in September and amongst trade unionists. We intend to follow this up with a major open conference on the subject of 'new imperialism, new internationalism'. Date and venue tba but will probably be Saturday 30th November or Saturday 7th December.
Appeal for Carlo Giuliani
Comrades will remember that Carlo Giuliani that murdered in cold blood by Berlusconi's police at the Genoa protests against the G8. Below is an appeal for signatures for a petition on behalf of Carlo. The petition can be downloaded from an attached file [MSWord file 20Kb].
'Dear friends,
I am sending you this petition. We are going to collect signatures which will be taken to Genoa on the 20th of July during the demo for Carlo Giuliani. Please print out the petition and collect signatures. You can post them or send me the list of people with their addresses by email (maciacia50@hotmail.com). Petitions must arrive in Manchester before the 18th of July. Thank you for your help.
Mariangela Casalucci
40 Egerton Road South
Manchester M21 0YN'
Other dates for the diary
(if you can help leaflet at any of these events, please contact the national office)
5 July to 12 July: Marxism 2002, central London. This will be a gathering of thousands of socialists, most of whom support the Socialist Alliance. The Socialist Alliance will be having a stall at Marxism and particularly over the weekend we need Socialist Alliance members to go round systematically signing up for membership those who are not members already. This is an opportunity to increase our membership enormously. Please contact the national office if you can help.
A full list of all Summer educational events being organised by supporting organisations in the Socialist Alliance is in an attached file. Assistance in promoting and recruiting to the Socialist Alliance will be welcomed at all of these events.
6 July: Pride festival and demo, London. We are hoping to have leaflets and a stall at Pride this year. If you can help please contact the office immediately.
13 July: National Executive meeting, London
20 July: Respect Festival in Victoria Park, East London. At least 60,000 people are expected at this important festival. The Socialist Alliance will be having a stall and leafleting the festival extensively. Please let the national office know if you can help.
7 Sept: SA National Council, one delegate per affiliated local SA, 11am, Birmingham, venue tba.
28 Sept: National Stop the War demo, London
12 October: SA national conference on Europe, open to all members. South Camden Community School, Charrington Street, London NW1, nearest tube Euston. Registration opens 10am, conference begins 11am sharp. Price is £10 waged, £6 unwaged.
7/10 November: European Social Forum, Florence.
30 November or 7 December: New Imperialism, New Internationalism conference, venue tba
Rob Hoveman, National Secretary
previous bulletins
Mini-bulletin - 27 June 2002
Perspectives for the next two years - 17 June 2002
Taking the long view - 12 June 2002
Capitalising on our election success - 6 June 2002
local bulletins
click here
Contact the SA office by phone on 020 7609 2999 or by email
