Candidate(s):

Felicity Dowling – Nominated by Crouch End, Cardiff , Liverpool LU, West London, Wigan
Pete Green – Nominated by Crouch End, Hackney
Salman Shaheen – Nominated by Crouch End, Liverpool, Wandsworth, West London
Bianca Todd – Nominated by Crouch End, Liverpool, Northampton, West London

Statement(s):

 
Felicity Dowling
Nominated by Crouch End, Cardiff , Liverpool LU, West London, Wigan

As one of the 10 elected at the first national meeting, I have worked to build Left Unity. We have worked together from many different traditions and with people new to any struggle; learning, discussing (and laughing) together. We need each new member.

Thatcher pales against the enemy today, who steals the NHS, marketises our schools, restricts what is taught, drives down living standards, takes our pensions, pauperises those who cannot  work, strips away union representation and burns fossil fuel as though climate change was a myth. There is hope though. The bedroom tax, ATOS/DPAC and benefit sanctions and anti-fracking campaigns show the power of self-organisation and answer the lie “There’s nothing you can do about it anyway”.

I am proud to call myself  a socialist,  an internationalist,  a fighter for the rights of women and children, a teacher trade unionist,  an anti-fascist, and  an environmentalist. In the 80s, I was one of the Liverpool 47 surcharged councillors whose slogan was “better to break the law than to break the poor”.

Internationalism has to be real and practical. The new global working class is huge and potentially powerful, with women workers there in huge numbers. Women across the world defend land and common goods. I campaign whenever I can against violence against women, and against sexual violence nationally and internationally. With  others, I have worked to produce our Safe Spaces policy.

I firmly believe that every human should have an income as a right. No-one’s income should depend on a sexual relationship as in today’s benefits system.

The earth is rich enough for all of us to eat, to be educated, to have work, and to have medical care; its  the inequalities and iniquities of capitalism that stand in our way. A better world is possible.

Pete Green
Nominated by Crouch End, Hackney

I have accepted nomination for one of the 4 principal speaker positions, a role I will be pleased to share with the other nominees who have been in acting officer roles since January.  I would prefer a contested election but am pleased members  retain the option  to reopen nominations if they dislike what they read.

I am 63 years old, male, white and recently retired from working   in further education, teaching Economics and History at a large  inner city college, Westminster-Kingsway.  I have a long history of experience as both a trade union activist ( consistently as branch secretary, negotiator etc  in one of the best organised   Natfhe/ UCU FE  branches in the country, from 1995 until 2012) and as a political campaigner (my union branch was  active in Stop the War demonstrations including a walkout with students  in 2003, and  supported Palestinian rights, the BDS campaign and twinning between Camden and Abu Dis in the West Bank)

As a retired worker I have, for the moment,  the  energy, time  and hopefully the political vision to meet the demands of a principal speaker role, including visiting branches across the country.  Since the Ken Loach appeal I have worked for this project, both locally (in Hackney  I was group organiser from its formation until last December) and nationally ( attending  National Councils and  with Salman Shaheen acting as joint convenor of the Economic Policy Commission – the  draft  now on the website is  a document I  helped to write as  a radical  alternative both to Labour’s capitulation to the interests of private corporations and finance, and to the belief of others on the left that we can achieve nothing short of the state  taking over the whole economy).

I did not sign up to any of the platforms prior to the conference but was a contributor to, and spokesman for, the East London statement which,  at the founding conference, successfully called for a party drawing on the best of the  cooperative, radical democratic,  environmentalist, feminist and socialist traditions. I also voted for the revised version of the Left Platform statement.

Salman Shaheen
Nominated by Crouch End, Liverpool, Wandsworth, West London

I have been an active member of Left Unity since its inception and was elected to the National Coordinating Group in May 2013 on the promise of expanding Left Unity’s media coverage. Having gained Left Unity coverage from the Guardian, Sky News, LBC radio, Huffington Post, RT News, BBC Radio 4, New Statesman, Financial Times, Evening Standard and Left Foot Forward, I believe I have fulfilled that promise. I have served as an Acting Principal Speaker on the Transitional National Council since January and I am standing for re-election for one of the two male Principal Speaker positions to continue to represent Left Unity in an effort to spread our vital message in the fight-back against austerity. As the co-convenor of the Economic Policy Commission, I am also helping to facilitate the discussion to formulate Left Unity’s economic policy.

I am part of the Wandsworth branch of Left Unity and I am committed to helping build Left Unity as a broad socialist, environmentalist and feminist party that will provide a home for thousands of homeless lefties who do not feel represented in the current political system and believe a more equal Britain is possible. I am not a member of any other political parties, groups or tendencies.

By day I am a journalist and blogger who writes for the New Statesman, Huffington Post and Left Foot Forward. As the editor of an economics magazine, I often rant about tax avoidance, austerity and inequality on TV and radio, but I also like to write about other terrible injustices such as environmental destruction, imperialism and the continued existence of the Conservative Party.

Bianca Todd
Nominated by Crouch End, Liverpool, Northampton, West London

Best described as enthusiastic and energetic, I understand the importance of grassroots engagement and collective action. I am committed to the principles of social justice, equality and fairness which are intrinsic to the values that underpin Left Unity, the trade union movement and the wider movement of the left.

My skills lie around using a co-creative approach to collective solutions to weld communities together, securing social change with a grassroots, action and words approach. I currently head up Community Court Yard and through this social enterprise I work closely with those who are disenfranchised with society to reconnect with the trade union movement, where I am also a local Unite the Union activist.

I am passionate about Left Unity, as I believe that there has never been a more important time to be politically pro-active. I particularly enjoy public speaking and would welcome the opportunity to be able to use the skills that I have developed to take on this role