Newsletter 4
Welcome to our fourth newsletter. Support for Left Unity continues to grow, amid popular outrage at the scale of spending on Thatcher’s funeral and the failure of the Labour leadership to properly criticise the devastation that her ruthless policies wreaked on our communities. Our website has been a focus for debate on the subject. 8,000 people have now signed the Left Unity appeal and more than 80 local groups have been established up and down the country.
First National Meeting: There will be an initial national meeting of representatives from Left Unity local groups on 11th May in central London. We are asking groups to send a maximum of two representatives, of which at least one person should be a woman. The meeting will hear reports from groups and consider a number of proposals for future activity from the groups themselves and the organising group. A pooled fare system will be operated so everyone pays the same amount towards transport.
Our origins: Left Unity was first initiated by Kate Hudson and Andrew Burgin in November last year following the European Day of Action against austerity on 14th November, which saw the first ever coordinated strike action across the continent. They issued an initial unity appeal, which is on the website, and people gradually began to get in touch to discuss the project. Following Ken Loach’s appeal, which was hosted on the site, the number of people interested in a new party of the left grew dramatically and an organising group was established to help bring people together to decide next steps. As we have asked people who are getting involved to say a little bit about themselves it is only right that we list ourselves and do the same. The website will have a piece about the group put up over the weekend.
Organising group: The ‘day-to-day’ organising group consists of the following people:
Kate Hudson, Andrew Burgin, Terry Conway, Suzy Gillett, Guy Harper, James Youd, Babs Segal, Nick Wrack, Simon Hardy, Moutassim Elharith, Gioia Coppola, Nathan Rogers, Tom Walker, Chris Hurley, Merry Cross, Soraya Lawrence, Will McMahon, Salman Shaheen and Jim Jepps. The remit of this group is to help us prepare for the meeting on 11th May – at which time it will be dissolved and the meeting will elect its replacement.
New flyers: We have new A6 sized postcard flyers available for you to use in your group – or individually. They include the Left Unity Appeal and contact details. They are free but please send a donation for postage if you can.
Please order via the website.
Local groups: An account of some local group meetings is on our website at http://leftunity.org/some-
Please get involved by linking up with your local group – and contact us if there is not one in your area and you wish to start one: content@leftunity.org.
The Left Unity team
3 comments
3 responses to “Newsletter 4”
Left Unity is active in movements and campaigns across the left, working to create an alternative to the main political parties.
About Left Unity
Read our manifesto
Left Unity is a member of the European Left Party. 
Read the European Left Manifesto
ACTIVIST CALENDAR
Events and protests from around the movement, and local Left Unity meetings.
Saturday 21st June: End the Genocide – national march for Palestine
Join us to tell the government to end the genocide; stop arming Israel; and stop starving Gaza!
More details here
Summer University, 11-13 July, in Paris
Peace, planet, people: our common struggle
The EL’s annual summer university is taking place in Paris.
More events »
GET UPDATES
Sign up to the Left Unity email newsletter.
CAMPAIGNING MATERIALS
Get the latest Left Unity resources.
“We are asking groups to send a maximum of two representatives, of which at least one person should be a woman”
So one or two women, or one woman and one man, but not one or two men. Are we trying to find a way to divide the party we haven’t formed yet. This sentence is very heavy handed and unneccessary, we are all of the left and do not need to be told of equality. If this is a portence of the future then we should quit now because if we don’t keep it general and inclusive we will just scare off the voters.
Ed, the reason this has been suggested is because women are an oppressed group and it is important they are represented fairly. It is common practice in society for women to have less of a say than men despite making up 51% of the population – unfortunately despite the left’s attitude towards equality this is often reproduced in left wing groups, which are almost always dominated by men. This issue in particular has been highlighted recently with the scandals in the SWP and SP which you can read about at length on the International Socialist Network website amongst various others. There is already an imbalance in the number of men both in the day-to-day organising group for Left Unity and the local group contacts which I hope will be addressed as soon as possible.
If we are to create a political organisation that fights against oppression and for equality this has to be reflected in our practices, with regard not only to gender but ethnicity, sexuality and many other characteristics that are discriminated against. This means we have to actively encourage participation from these groups of people and whilst the methods of inclusion can be controversial – and sometimes even patronising when the principle applied insensitively – it is nevertheless an important issue to address.
I just ‘tried’ to unsubscribe but it seems it failed. Anyways I will have nothing to do with a party that either discriminates against men or accepts the doctrine of feminists.
Guy Harper – You cannot promote one gender above another in order to reach equality – that is nonsense.
I’m out.