Compass meeting in Bristol

I went into Bristol last night to attend a meeting of the new Compass group setting up there.

"Compass enables people to go out, take action and make real change happen! We're the UK's most influential ideas and action based political pressure group with over 40,000 members and supporters across the country".

There were about 22 people there, mostly hideously white and male, as the saying goes. There were three of us Greens there, equally hideous &c.

Neal Lawson spoke well about the state the Left finds itself in after 13 years of a Labour Government that captured and substantially betrayed true Labour's ideals and aspirations. (I paraphrase)

Interestingly, discussion kicked off about the Green manifesto. Neal said the Green manifesto was clearly the best on offer at the last General Election, but pity we have only 1 (albeit excellent) MP.

I inserted the thing about the Vote for Policies poll, that put the Green policies well ahead of the field in a vote of 29,000. 

He mentioned an EU wide corporation tax, that would sidestep the objections of flight of capital if UK put in a corporation tax.  We must get global tax policies on the table for the G20 in November.

I suggested that on March 26th we should aim to press for an economic Plan B for if we get a DD recession. It is not just us calling for this: the IMF &c have said that Osborne should have a Plan B. Someone said that was "optimistic", which was a killer. Clearly, optimism is not a value for Compass.

I also suggested that the threat to the NHS might get people into the streets. There was a flicker of interest in this, but it slumped back down into the slough of despond and impotence.

I tend to speak rapidly, because of not wanting to drone on, and with animation. Which probably comes across as anger. It's just a feeling I have about my delivery. 

Basically, Compass is...well, I'll not burn my bridges here. Good luck to them in renewing Labour.

More about the Left and the youth revolution

Tunisia, Egypt &c. What to do?

 

^pic from Amnesty International

Bahrain Yemen and Libya are on the streets today.
People are being shot by live rounds.

This is not good.

In a rational world, any ruler that uses lethal force on peaceful assemblies should immediately, by law, have all his personal financial assets frozen.

Sadly, we do not live in a rational world, so in the absence of laws that apply to rulers, we have to fall back on reason.

The Arab world looks chaotic at the moment. But it is not chaos: there is a very clear process happening.

We are looking at the overthrow of an old, repressive, corrupt form of government by young people who are expressing the basic truth of democracy - the power of the people.

A new consensus is forming in the collective mind of the worlds youth, many of whom are unemployed due to a generic failure of the prevailing economic system.


The complexities of what is happening are immense, but at the same time, there is a very clear choice before the Governments and regimes that are faced with revolt.


Option 1

Repression. It worked in Iran, but not in Tunisia and Egypt.

Pay unemployed rural youth to come in and terrorise the protesters, kill them in their hundreds, arrest, torture and kill them until they are subdued for a few more years, unwilling subjects, cowed yet resentful, or choose to emigrate, joining the diaspora of professional people that have leached from your country over the decades. A people holding back their anger. Until the Next Time.

It is very probable that this condition will cause some to turn towards violent religious (and non-religious) extremism.This will frighten Middle America, and will have Consequences.

If you try repression and lose, you are going to have to go into exile, and may find that your financial assets are frozen.

Option 1 is not very attractive.


Option 2

Contact, meet with and talk with protesters.

Resign if that is what it takes to make them stop shouting and start talking.

Take early retirement, and pass into history as the last king or dictator of your country, who is known for his graceful and constructive concession to democracy. The country will recover, with much of the diaspora returning.


You, or your interim successor should hold elections as soon as possible.


Option 2 is very attractive.

The choice is very simple. What we do not know is what happens next in those countries. To a great extent it depends what happens with the economy of the liberated countries. If unemployment and poverty continues, the outlook is not good.

If the economy is transformed, democracy and good governance can prevail.

Tho most attractive option is to address unemployment and poverty directly by creating work in the infrastructure, especially water.

Egypt. This could be good.

 

As I write, Egypt is, hopefully, in transition from oppression to some kind of democracy.

Mubarak is not broadcasting, and is rumoured to be in Sharm el Shaikh. Big business cats are jetting out. The NDP party HQ is on fire. Police are joining with protestors in the praiseworthy task of protecting the Museum (coincidentally, on R4 we have Alain de Botton making some good points about the value of museums).



Interesting that they were chanting in the rhythm of

"The People 

United

Will never be Defeated".

Apparently they were saying something like it.

The people clearly want Mubarak to go.

This is what democracy looks like.

Democracy means that the will of the people is the ultimate authority in a country. Government exists to serve the people. When, like Ben Ali and Mubarak, they exist to serve themselves and their friends, they must go. The US is signalling frantically to this effect. 

We must all hoe that Mubarak leaves Egypt, his cronies leave power, a stable, democratic interim Government is set up, that free and fair elections are held in a few months.

The strength of these uprisings is that they are popular, of the people. Their strength is that they are not particulary political, nor Islamicist. The weakness is that they are not particuarly political.  The message is simply Mubarak Go!

Everything hinges now on the reaction of the Army. The sole valid raison d'etre for an army is to protect the people from invaders. Their role, irrational though it is, is to try to kill armed invaders who are trying to kill them. They are not there to kill unarmed civilians of their own nationality. This is why the Green Party has this policy (PD306): All serving personnel will be required to sign a pledge that they will not obey any order which would entail any breach of international law. In particular they will be able to disobey any order that required them to fire on unarmed civilians of their own or any other country.

When Murarak goes, the political problems begin.

What is The Plan for the next Government of Egypt? And of Tunisia? And of the domino row of other authoritarian regimes in the region.

What are the problems to be solved?

The causes of the Jasmine Revolution, and the revolution that is now taking place are many and various, but the chief causes are high unemployment, poverty, rising food prices, corruption, and authoritarianism.

This is no place to start being a policy wonk. I will just mention that unemployment is unneccessary in a Green Economy. And that there are jobs available in growing food. That's all.

Except to say  thanks to texarkanagazette.com and whoever took the picture above.

No, there's more.

Guardian liveblogging from Egypt.