[Individual-members-EL] EL Individual Members

[Stephen Spence]

Dear Comrades,

 

'No To EU' is everything you say it is although Respect are split on their
attitude because I think Galloway wants to run in London.  The problem with
the left taking a 'No To EU' position is the anti-EU politics in Britain is
reactionary.  The 'Another Europe Is Possible' position is the correct one
as far as I'm concerned but there is nothing to organise this around.  The
ELP Executive Board has proposed nothing in relation to assisting us in UK
to advance this agenda despite an attempt by us to engage through the
bureaucracy, and our own network has no traction without assistance which is
not forthcoming.

 

I have come to the view that individual members will only work if an
individual members network gets recognition from the Executive Board on a
pan-European level rather than a 'national friendship circle' level and I
think we have to think some how we can make this happen.

 

Best

 

Stephen

 

  _____  

From: pablo sanchez centellas [mailto:superpablo3 at hotmail.com] 
Sent: 02 May 2009 19:00
To: stephen_spence at btinternet.com; individual-members-el at listi.jpberlin.de
Subject: RE: [Individual-members-EL] EL Individual Members

 

Dear comrades,
 
Well, the point is that the different parties that run for the coming
European elections do not even take individual members into account.
 
It is a pity that there is not a website or a blog but I think that the hard
reality does not encourage people to work towards something that you do not
even know if it is going to be acknowledged.
The Cercle in Brussels has gone trhough a similar period, people do wonder
what is the point of meeting if we are a talking shop.
Apparently the italians are going together with the communist list but I
wonder how much life does Sinistra Europea does have?
I am very pessimistic about the future of the individual members, on the
other hand there have been some changes such as the depart of the hungarian
partner if the ELP had had a hungarian group of individual members they
could establish a base to the left of the current government so there is
some room for us to exist.
 
Just some thoughts.
 
About the No2EU campaign in the UK, i think this is the same people that
tried to create RESPECT, the Socialist Alliance, the old CPB and some trade
unionists that have attempted to build a left alternative for the last 10
years. I fear that this will be another fiasco. The ELP should debate the
situation in the UK as far as the left is concerned.
 
I would like to see the ELP taking more seriously both the individual
members and people who are trying to build a left alternative in difficult
conditions. I hope that after the elections they realise the need to develop
a wider base of support.
 
Yours

Pablo
 

  _____  

From: stephen_spence at btinternet.com
To: individual-members-el at listi.jpberlin.de
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:27:56 +0100
Subject: [Individual-members-EL] EL Individual Members

Dear Comrades,

 

I have not seen any discussion between individual members on this list for
many months.

 

In the UK individual members still do not have any status within EL despite
asking Helmut Scholz on several occasions to ask the Executive Board to
grant observer status to our network.  The network here has now taken down
its website and its blog as the lack of status within EL has resulted in
very little activity from the members we do have.  So far we have built the
network up twice only to see it dwindle again.

 

The majority of the UK Left remains anti-EU as demonstrated by an electoral
platform 'No to EU, Yes to Democracy' being run in the European Elections by
the RMT union, Communist Party of Britain and the Socialist Party of England
and Wales, which I certainly do not support.  I am not part of the
anti-Europe left.

 

Those of us who support EU solidarity within the Left do not have a UK party
and the EL appears to have little interest in us.  I think all of us are
considering what future we have with the EL.

 

In solidarity

 

Stephen Spence

 

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