Leftwingers sign pledge to unite and fight back

by LOUISE NOUSRATPOUR in Manchester
Sunday September 21, 2008

Convention of the Left 2008: PROMINENT figures across the British left signed a historic "statement of intent" on Sunday vowing to work together to promote alternative strategies for an environmentally and socially just society.

The document, which was launched at the Convention of the Left, challenged "Labour's programme of warmongering, neoliberal privatisation and failure to tackle environmental destruction."

It admitted that "the left is weak and has been repeatedly forced on the defensive" but pledged to "start defining new ways of working" to co-ordinate a united fight for "peace, social and environmental justice, public ownership, workers' rights, civil liberties and equality."

The statement also resolved to hold a "recall event" in November to build on the work done in Manchester by seeking "agreement to ideas and demands emerging from the convention."

The long list of signatories to the document include socialist film-maker Ken Loach, Labour MP John McDonnell, Communist Party of Britain general secretary Rob Griffiths, Morning Star editor John Haylett, Derek Wall of the Green Party, Respect MP George Galloway, Socialist Worker editor Chris Bambery and Stop the War coalition convener Lindsey German, as well as figures from Permanent Revolution and Socialist Resistance.

The statement called for "the development of local left forums, where appropriate, in order to promote discussions and co-ordinate united action across the left, in an inclusive, participatory, pluralist, tolerant and democratic way."

The aim, it said, was to "encourage participation from below, not top-down platforms" in order to "join together in making policies, putting forward demands and campaigning in practice."