THE GREEK GENERAL ELECTION, SYRIZA and ME

I am delighted to have accepted an invitation from 'Syriza' [The Coalition of the Radical Left] to fly to Athens for a week to observe the Greek General election first hand. The eyes of the world will be on Greece on Sunday 25th January and I will be there. There is a strong chance Syriza will win the vote and form the next government. They are ahead in all the polls and have given a clear manifesto commitment to halve Greece's debts to the 'Troika' [The International Monetary Fund/ European Union/ European Central Bank]. They have also made it clear they do not intend to leave the EU or exit the Eurozone. Although the final result is uncertain - elections in Greece are conducted under a proportional voting system - and Syriza may have to rely on additional support from smaller independent parties, they are the favourites to win at this stage. Greek society is in crisis. The country's enormous debt, the bail-out terms imposed by the 'Troika' and the crippling austerity programme implemented by the previous conservative Government have left Greece teetering on the abyss. The country has endured a crippling economic depression that lasted 6 years. Working class people have suffered an appalling decline in their living standards and devastating cuts in public services like health, education and welfare. Greek society is heavily polarised between the left and the right. The right, represented by the conservative New Democracy, PASOK [the UK Labour Party's equivalent in Greece] and the openly fascist 'Golden Dawn', have all lost support in recent times. Meanwhile Syriza, leading the left, has seen its support grow and grow. There are smaller independent socialist groups too and the Greek Communist Party [KKE] although the latter are no admirers of Syriza. Syriza won most seats in the European elections in May. If they do win on January 25th it will be the first time a radical left-wing party has been elected to government anywhere in Europe since WW2. It will also precipitate a huge clash between the money markets and the new Greek Government. The bankers will want assurances their money will be paid back in full and will threaten Greece with all kinds of sanctions if it does not. On the other hand Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza, has made it clear he will use the democratic mandate the people of Greece has given his party to pay nothing until he receives assurances most of the existing debt is written off. The scene is set for fireworks and the ramifications will be felt far beyond Greek borders. I will be filing regular reports to this blog and elsewhere whilst I'm over in Greece.

EDINBURGH CITY COUNCIL TO SACK 1,200

Do you ever despair at the way corporate organisations dress up bad news for working class people as if it was good? Take yesterday’s announcement by the City of Edinburgh Council that it intends to sack 1,200 people and cut £67m from front line services. In true Orwellian tradition the Labour /SNP Council declared their decision would make the Council ‘more efficient’ and ‘improve customer services’. That will be right! Lets speak plainly. Edinburgh City Council services are already woefully inadequate. They cannot provide the basic levels of service presently demanded of them. Taking a further £67m out of the budget will not make that service better. It will make it worse, plainly. There was a time when politicians were honest and such cuts passed down from the Government were fought. It was a time many will believe never existed. But it did, really, Councillors were honest and courageous. They stood up for their constituents and reminded Governments of the promises they made at elections to improve services and improve the quality of life for citizens. Now they would rather lie and spin than take a stand. Everyone of Edinburgh’s 56 Councillors know full well the services they provide are inadequate and have been for many years. These cuts will not result in a ‘more efficient service and better customer satisfaction’. That is a fiction even they do not believe. There was also a time when the unions would mobilise their members and the wider community to oppose such cuts to jobs and services. But now they meekly settle for assurances there will be ‘no compulsory redundancies’. That is not good enough. The unions need to acquaint those members tempted to ‘take the money and run' what awaits them when they leave. When their redundancy money is long gone chances are they will end up in insecure jobs on zero hour contracts, earning poverty wages less than the living wage with no job satisfaction and no union protection. The Labour/ SNP coalition that runs Edinburgh Council should fight these cuts, but they won't. Edinburgh is the second richest city in Britain and yet the inequalities here are as bad as anywhere. The impact of another £67m of cuts and 1,200 more redundancies will be to widen that gap between the rich minority who barely ever use Council service and the working class majority who depend on them. This issue will, I’m sure, be an important feature of the forthcoming General election campaign in the city in May.

Greece: Building a successful Left Coalition fit for the challenges of Government

A disgruntled Labour Party member I spoke to this week depressed that his party had elected Jim Murphy as its Scottish leader told me when I suggested the place for socialists was in a socialist party ‘Yes, I’d like to join you guys but the Left are never going to be in power are you? I mean it’s hard enough for social democrats like Labour to get elected, socialists have no chance.’ You come across that view a lot as a socialist. I suggested he might consider the General election campaign now under way in Greece and reconsider. The Greeks go to the polls to elect a new Government on January 25th after their Parliaments failure to elect a new Head of State [now there’s a novel idea] but the election is actually all about the country’s crippling economic problems, it’s mountainous debt and the tortuous terms set down by the European Union for its repayment. Greece’s $254bn debt is bigger than its entire economy at 175% of its annual GDP. Everyone knows they cannot pay it back. The country has just been through a devastating economic depression over the past 6 years and the consequences for working class people have been vicious. There has been an exodus of young people leaving the country. In many ways they are the lucky ones for unemployment, poverty and deprivation for those left behind are at appalling levels. The elderly have been badly hit as one might anticipate. First they lost their jobs, then their pensions and welfare benefits and finally their dignity. Amidst the gloom however has emerged hope in the shape of the ‘Coalition of the Radical Left’, or ‘Syriza’ as it is known. Led by Alexis Tsipras Syriza won the European Parliament elections in June and are now expected to win most seats on January 25th. Whether they can form a government is more uncertain. Greece has a complex system of proportional representation and Syriza will have to work with other parties in order to govern. The Greek state is pulling out all the stops to prevent that from happening by running scare stories about the economic disaster that would ensue and smears about Syriza’s leaders. But the Greek people have suffered such hardship at the hands of the right-wing ‘New Democracy’ /PASOK Government in recent years they appear to be in no mood to put up with them any longer. In the circumstances however many feel victory could be something of a ‘poisoned chalice’ for Syriza as it would inherit a dreadful financial position. If it decides not to repay the ECB/IMF loans and default on its obligations it will be kicked out of the Euro zone. Some even argue in favour of this approach as it would mean they could write off their debts and revert to using the Drachma or some new currency. But it is not that simple. The consequences of such a move could be equally disastrous. Who on earth is going to lend them a penny piece in such circumstances? Who would trade with them or risk taking their new currency? The money markets would seek revenge for their losses by speculating against the new currency and Greece would be unable to rebuild its crippled economy. Alexis Tsipras has rejected such an approach. He insists Greece will stay inside the Euro zone and 're-negotiate’ the terms of the existing ECB/IMF loans to urge that large parts of it are written off. Syriza also advocates the reversal of public spending cuts and supports economic reflation in its manifesto. But even if the IMF ‘takes a haircut’ as they say and writes off some of the debt – and this is by no means certain - the challenges facing a Syriza led Government are still considerable. The Greek people will continue to suffer terrible hardship for many years to come even after any renegotiated terms. Syriza will then be forced to defend the agreement it has reached. It is difficult to see how they can maintain popular support in such circumstances. And yet what is the alternative? Do nothing? Their challenges remain considerable. No wonder the eyes of the world are today on Greece, not least those of us trying to build an effective radical left alliance fit for Government here in Scotland.

An Honour Your Majesty

Dear Queen, Before you post my New Year’s Honour I must tell you I don’t want it. It’s not that I’m against honours you understand, far from it. Recognising someone’s unique contribution and dedication, their sacrifice and lifetime commitment to a cause is fine by me. Indeed a friend of mine who follows these things as closely as you do recently pointed out that as National Convenor and joint spokesman of the SSP for the past 10 years I’m now Scotland’s longest serving party leader. Modesty prevents me from ‘carrying my own banner’ as it were but as you know I have served ‘my socialist community’ loyally now for 35 years. I am sure observers, regardless of their own political views, will admire such an record and accept the socialist movement has faced many stiff challenges since 1980. And no one interested in Scottish politics as you are will have failed to notice the considerable demands I have faced in the past decade as SSP national spokesman. But before you send me my well-deserved ‘gong’ I want you to know I will not accept it. For it is not your recognition I have sought throughout the past three decades or that of the British establishment you lead. I favour, as you know, a modern, democratic republic for Britain. As far as I’m concerned the British monarchy has no honour to it. The recognition of an un-elected, unrepresentative and unaccountable monarch would affront and negate all I believe in. I seek the recognition of the majority, the working class. I have nothing but contempt for ‘Commanders of the British Empire’, feudal Knights and Dames. I realise there are many who began as socialist supporters of a modern, democratic republic who subsequently accepted your ‘bauble’. My former comrade Lord Reid of Celtic Park is one who springs readily to mind. But his is not the example I respect. Rather I favour the approach dear old Hamish Henderson took when offered your OBE for his services to folk music. You will recall how he convened a press conference to publicly turn it down as an anti-imperialist supporter of a modern, democratic republic. So please Your Majesty put the ‘gong’ you were going to give me back in its cupboard ready for the next establishment lackey on your list who so yearns for it. I remain your reluctant ‘subject’ Colin Fox

US TORTURE SHAME

The US Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence report into the interrogation techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] was published this week and makes grim reading for anyone who believes the US [and Britain] are the ‘good guys’ upholding the law and bringing felons to justice. It is so bad that the normally bi-partisan Barack Obama and US Democrats have condemned the CIA and former Republican President George Bush for sanctioning the use of inhumane and illegal practices to extract confessions from prisoners in their custody across the world. ‘Water boarding’, where suspects are repeatedly held under water until they are all but drowned and pass out is just one of many macabre portfolio of tortures widely used. Sexual humiliation, rape, ‘rectal hydration’, stress positioning, applying electric shocks to the genitals, extracting fingernails and toenails, sleep deprivation, all these punishments and more too blood curdling to describe here are outlined in the Senate report and all are completely illegal under international law. When you might ask then is George Bush to be brought to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to stand trial? And where do the tortured find justice after such criminal violations? UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism Ben Emmerson has demanded US officials responsible for using such torture should be handed over for prosecution. That of course will never happen. Even Obama is not calling for that because he too believes the US is above international law. Laws they nonetheless expect everyone else in the world to live under. The Senate report chronicles the CIA’s activities in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt and dozens of other locations. Notwithstanding such double standards this Senate report will be widely circulated around the world. The CIA will of course get off scot-free and continue to use such methods of torture claiming they secure information vital to the ‘War on Terror’. The truth is they are the best recruiting sergeants the so called ‘terrorists’ could wish for. And the United States’ enemies will use this report to radicalise another generation of suicide bombers and ‘jihadists’. Such terror techniques do not end the ‘war on terror’ they perpetuate it.

Article I sent to The Glasgow Herald for their 'Agenda' slot - as yet unpublished

Independence deferred say 2,500 who join Scottish Socialist Party Now that the dust has settled on the referendum I thought I might reflect on the new Scotland that has emerged and the reasons 2,500 people have given for joining the Scottish Socialist Party. Scotland is a country like no other today. The level of political engagement here has been extraordinary. It is surely worth reminding ourselves that 97% are now registered to vote and in some areas 90% participated in the referendum. I suspect such levels of political engagement will not be seen again for a long time. History may well record that ‘Yes Scotland’s’ greatest legacy was not winning 45% of the vote [10% higher than Independence has ever enjoyed before] but building the biggest grassroots political movement Scotland has ever seen. ‘Better Together’ were simply not at the races when it came to the numbers of activists, their energy, enthusiasm and organisation on the ground. Scotland’s progress towards self-determination is not halted, as far as ‘Yes’ voters are concerned, merely delayed. Tens of thousands of people are not despondent, far from it, they refuse to be demobilised. Their resolve is extraordinary and seen in the fact that 50,000 people have applied to join the three independence parties in the referendum’s immediate aftermath. Many are former Labour voters angry at the role that party played as the linchpin of the No coalition. Standing alongside the Tories, Liberals and UKIP the Labour Party abandoned even the social democratic values they once advocated [having of course long since abandoned their founding socialist principles]. Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls’ promise for example to cut child benefit if they triumph in next years General Election and Johan Lamont’s infamous evaluation of those who advocate universal benefits as representing ‘the something for nothing culture’ show us precisely why so many former Labour voters stood alongside the three Yes parties last month. The Scottish Socialist Party’s 2,500 new applications reflect an unprecedented level of interest in our ideas. That figure is greater than any ever recorded by any socialist party in these isles before. Those applications have come from former Labour voters and from many Yes activists who, as one woman in Dunfermline put it to me this week, she ‘refuses to go back in the box after this’. So, who are these people joining Scotland’s socialist party? They are young like 15-year-old Lewis from Dunfermline and the ‘young at heart’ like Nan, 88, from Glasgow. They are people often at the brunt of the worst exploitation but who refuse to give up on the belief that a better world is possible, one where working class people can maximise their full potential free from exploitation, injustice and poverty. They also understand that socialists in Scotland should join a socialist party not build illusions in other ones. They applied to join the SSP because they admire our party’s fortitude in supporting an Independent socialist Scotland, a modern democratic republic, for the past 16 years. Others admire the way we carry the socialist standard for a radical, left wing vision of Scotland. We have also won many new admirers for the tireless work we did in the schemes and workplaces of Scotland advocating a Yes vote. We proved it is possible to work with others who had another vision of Scotland. All these new recruits are keen to help build an independent socialist Scotland. So where does the independence movement and the left go from here? That is the question on the lips of all these new members keen to know what tactics the movement must now employ in pursuit of Independence and socialism. In my view, we must first accept the result on September 18th. As democrats we respect the will of the Scottish people. We can also concede there will not be another Referendum for the foreseeable future. However, that does not mean Independence cannot be raised again in other ways. Jim Sillars, for example, argues that we should declare the 2016 Holyrood contest ‘the Independence elections’ and insist that if the SNP, the SSP and the Greens win an overall majority then that result is seen as a legitimate mandate for Independence. And those elections may well take place against a completely new backdrop with three dramatic changes to the most recent debate; the complete absence of any meaningful extra powers for Holyrood, another Tory Government elected at Westminster [despite again being overwhelmingly rejected here in Scotland] and that Government then embarking on an ‘IN/OUT’ referendum on Europe. Such circumstances would ignite the Independence debate anew. By Colin Fox, www.scottishsocialistparty.org

SSP protests our exclusion from Lord Smith's Devolution Commission

Dear Lord Smith, As you know the Scottish Socialist Party was one of three political parties to establish and lead the ‘Yes’ campaign. Six parties in total were formally engaged in the Independence Referendum over the past two years, three on the Yes side – the SNP, Greens and the SSP - and three on the No side – Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. I am therefore disappointed that your Commission has decided to uniquely exclude one party, ours, from the process now under way to consider what further powers might be devolved to Holyrood following the referendum. This approach does not in my opinion reflect well on your Commission’s integrity nor suggest the process is as democratic and inclusive as it ought to be. In the instructions laid down for your Commission by Prime Minister David Cameron asks you ‘To convene cross-party talks and facilitate an inclusive engagement process across Scotland to produce, by 30th November 2014, Heads of Agreement with recommendations for further devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament. This process will be informed by a Command paper, to be published by 31 October and will result in the publication of draft clauses by 25 January. The recommendations will deliver more financial, welfare and tax raising powers, strengthening the Scottish Parliament within the United Kingdom.’ The Prime Minister’s explicit instructions are therefore not reflected in your decision to exclude our party from this process. It is surely self-evident that excluding the Scottish Socialist Party from ‘cross-party talks’ is not exercising ‘an inclusive engagement’. The argument some use to justify our exclusion on the grounds that we currently have no ‘Parliamentary representation’ fails to appreciate that the referendum was not a Parliamentary process but an unprecedented public debate that resulted in an extraordinary level of engagement from all sections of society. To exclude the SSP is to exclude an important constituency of opinion in Scottish society. I therefore ask you to reconsider your decision to exclude the Scottish Socialist Party and extend to us the same rights offered to the 5 other parties formally engaged in this debate. I look forward to your earliest reply. Yours sincerely Colin Fox, Joint national spokesperson, Scottish Socialist Party