Left Unity Online
A proposal for a Left Unity branch of a non-geographic nature
By Garry Macdonald
This proposal is to establish a Left Unity branch for individuals who are the only members in their local area or who have a local group which is currently inactive. At present there are a significant number of Left Unity members who have no voice in the National Coordinating Group (NCG) as a result of this. As a progressive party we shouldn’t solely base our branch structure on geographic location. People at opposite ends of the country may have similar political views yet not find local representation. The internet allows such people to transgress geographic boundaries. This proposal aims to establish a branch, hereafter tentatively referred to as Left Unity Online, with all the same ‘powers’ as a local branch so that disparate members, who may only communicate online, can elect a representative to the NCG to have a voice in meetings and table motions.
This proposal recognises and advocates the following:
- Left Unity Online will require at least ten members to be able to field a representative to the NCG.
- Left Unity Online will be open to any member of Left Unity regardless of their geographic location within the UK.
- Left Unity Online will only be open to members who are not already a member of an active group so as to avoid double-voting and overrepresentation.
- Left Unity Online, due to its distributed nature, will investigate its capacity to provide assistance to geographic local groups in activities such as canvassing or campaigning by putting its members in touch with their nearest groups.
- Left Unity Online will investigate the feasibility of asking other representatives of local groups to table its motions at NCG meetings in the event that its elected representative is unable to travel to these meetings.
- Left Unity Online will push for online transparency and participation for all NCG or working group meetings including using readily-available methods for live streaming (audio and/or video) and voting.
If this proposal is accepted by at least ten members (through the temporary forum on the policy commission site) and a representative elected then I would move that we make an appeal to the NCG and LUAdmin to action the following:
- Add a Left Unity Online group forum on the board index next to regional groupings
- Create a Left Unity Online contact email address for use by the elected representative
- Add Left Unity Online with contact details to the Left Unity Groups page on the main website along with a blurb on who should and shouldn’t sign up to this group according to the criteria above.
4 comments
4 responses to “Left Unity Online”
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This is good. Potentially, however, it could be a very big branch and steps would need to be taken to ensure it did have real structures- including a chair, secretary, treasurer as appropriate- and accountability.
It’s an excellent proposal. For others wishing to sign up but not clear where exactly it is (like me), you follow the menu underneath the banner, going to Get Involved: then Discussion Forum: Policy Commissions: General
Rob – I would agree this branch could get quite large however I would hope that as it grows it allows members to connect and bud off to form local groupings. At this stage I see it as a means to give voice to those members of Left Unity who are otherwise unrepresented at the NCG. Discussions on internal structure would take place after we get the necessary numbers to elect a representative and formalize the branch.
Tim – good point on the ease of accessibility. I’ll look to set up a seperate branch forum instead of using the policy commissions forum once we acquire enough people.
Left Unity online now has its own forum at
http://forum.leftunity.org/main/viewforum.php?f=76