Julian Coppens, London
Four hundred people attended the second annual conference of the anti-war Respect coalition in London on November 19-20, including 350 delegates.
The conference followed a year of unprecedented successes. The left gained its highest vote since 1945, leading to George Galloway's election as MP for Bethnal Green and Bow. Respect came second in three seats and third in another. These successes built on Respect's huge vote in the European and local elections in 2004.
Respect has a good chance of winning large numbers of council seats and control of at least one inner-east London council in elections next May. Some Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors in East London have already realised that a credible new left-wing force has been born and have defected to Respect.
Guest speakers at the conference included Helena Cristina Perugia from the Party of Communist Refoundation in Italy, Christian Rialto from France's Revolutionary Communist League, Tomas Handel from Germany's WASG (Electoral Alternative for Jobs and Social Justice), and Colin Fox of the Scottish Socialist Party.
Renato Soeiro gave greetings from Portugal's Left Bloc, noting: "The left in Europe needs the left in Britain. Thatcher and Blair have played a major role in pushing capitalism in Europe. We are now in a troubled but quite exciting period of reorganising the left."
The conference passed resolutions against the occupation of Iraq, opposing attacks on civil liberties and Muslims since July 7 and the London Met shoot-to-kill policy, demanding the closure of the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, calling for an end to forced deportations and pledging support for Iraqi trade unionists and feminists. The session on youth called for an end to ASBOs ("anti-social behaviour orders"), for raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 16 and for fully-funded youth projects. The conference also called for the repeal of all anti-trade union laws.
A session on social policy agreed to campaign for the defence of a free, publicly owned National Health Service, for public housing, and against institutionalised racism in education. Resolutions and amendments calling for Respect to oppose the Incitement to Religious Hatred Bill were defeated. A resolution was passed condemning all forms of homophobia and attempts by some campaigners to disproportionately highlight homophobia in Afro-Caribbean and Muslim communities. Conference also noted with disappointment that the defence of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights was not mentioned in Respect's election manifesto, despite this being in the coalition's founding statement, and that in future this should feature in all manifestos and principal election material.
Resolutions were also passed calling for long-term public investment in renewable energy sources and public transport — including the re-nationalisation of the railways, for the taxation of airline fuel and an end to airport expansion, for sustainable urban planning, construction and freight networks, for an end to the £30 billion road building program and for nationalisation of failing manufacturing firms. The conference also declared Respect's opposition to nuclear power as a solution to global warming and confirmed support for the Climate Change Campaign. An environmental commission was established to look into policies, publicity materials and immediate campaigning priorities.
A resolution on world development was passed, calling for the cancellation of all Third World debt, a development tax on international currency transactions, increased unconditional foreign aid and assistance to poor countries to help them abandon neoliberal policies, and for an end to all arms sales.
During the final session of the conference, on building Respect, several motions were passed calling for more publicity material; strong, campaigning local branches with their own political life and culture; and regular communication between the national council and the branches.
The leadership supported many of the motions put in this session, but both Galloway and national secretary John Rees made it clear they thought building Respect required effective leaders that make correct decisions as required, rather than a "national secretary behind a desk writing emails". George Galloway used his closing speech, usually a positive summary of the conference and motivation for the tasks that lay ahead, to criticise one of the affiliate groups — Socialist Resistance — and in particular Alan Thornett, a member of the Respect national executive. Socialist Resistance moved one of the building Respect resolutions and the resolution on LGBT rights.
The hostile reaction of the leadership to Respect activists whom they politically disagree with is not conducive to building an open, pluralistic organisation where all anti-imperialist and anti-neoliberal activists feel they can contribute to a constructive debate. Despite the many excellent motions passed and some real debates on important issues, the hostile attitude of the leadership towards political disagreement and discussion marred the conference. Respect needs a democratic culture, not demagogy. This will ensure the successes of the last year and those to come can be defended and built upon.
From Green Left Weekly, December 7, 2005.
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