ANOTHER WORLD IS NECESSARY

RMTnews :: july/august 2005 34 ‘N o one likes us we don’t care’. RMT General Secretary Bob Crow is fond of his belligerent Millwall chant, using it when employers or tabloid press attack the union for defending members interests. I found myself thinking of it the other day. Three of my Scottish Socialist Party colleagues in the Holyrood Parliament and I were suspended from the chamber after defending the democratic right to protest against the G8 leaders gathered at Gleneagles. Not a single other member dissented when we faced our outrageous punishment. Our short, peaceful protest resulted first in a two-day suspension which was then extended to a month, then the month without pay, then a month without pay for us and all our parliamentary staff and finally a ban from the entire parliamentary complex and our constituency offices. When I heard the extent of the final penalty, I quipped ‘By four o’clock I thought they were going to invade Poland!’ The Westminster parliament has a maximum penalty of five days, suspension without loss of wages. Isn’t it ironic that full blown parliaments around Europe have lighter penalties whereas our wee ‘kiddie on parliament’ with very few real powers can almost bring back hanging if it wants to? But you know this Parliamentary skirmish was put into proportion within 48 hours. On Saturday I was taking part in the biggest political demonstration Scotland has ever seen. Edinburgh didn’t know what had hit it. More than 250,000 people arrived on the Meadows determined to Make Poverty History. Patience with the G8 leaders on poverty in Africa and the third world has clearly run out. And of course we are all entirely right to be sceptical. The G8’s record in fighting poverty in the third world is damnable. Like most people I have given up hope that they will be part of the solution. Charles Dickens began ‘A Tale of Two Cities with the words ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…’ It still is. On the one hand there is the pessimism which rational human beings looking at the G8 leader’s record and their vested interests must hold. No-one expects the G8 leaders to do a damn thing about poverty in Africa and the third world. And they will not. A clear and profound change of direction is needed. Conversely, there is the boundless optimistics in the movement for change. It is a potentially powerful force. Yes it is naive, yes it is badly led, but its democratic spirit is unquenchable. It is the democratic spirit of the peoples of the world. The billionaires have had their say, now it’s the time for the billions to have theirs. Colin Fox, Scottish Socialist Party Convener ANOTHER WORLD IS NECESSARY