Solidarity Conference Elects Co-Convenors, Tommy Sheridan and Rosemary Byrne
Saturday, 04 November 2006
Solidarity members from across Scotland came together today for the first in a series of national all-members conferences. Our party, launched in early September met to discuss a proposed constitution, a name for the party and to appoint office bearers.
More importantly, it was a chance for members to come together for the first time since the launch rally to debate what Solidarity means to them and how we should move forward in the future. The interim steering group, appointed by regions and political platforms, had drawn up a draft constitution which was discussed in a very spirited political debate.
Several members expressed their belief that Solidarity could be more than just a socialist party and could develop into a natural home for all anti-establishment protest movements. The importance of linking up with growing movements against Islamophobia and reaching out to our muslim communities was highlighted, as was the need for socialism to be at the forefront of our campaigns.
Eventually, after an excellent exchange of views the party's draft constitution was adopted by a unanimous vote. The nature of the debate highlighted that Solidarity will grow from the members and that the party is packed with comrades with a huge contribution to make to that development.
In a close vote, the interim title of "Solidarity - Scotland's Socialist Movement" was adopted as the name of the party. Rosemary Byrne and Tommy Sheridan, the party's two MSPs, were unanimously endorsed as Co-Convenors. Rosemary said:
"This party will be a party of members, branches and regions and Tommy and I are delighted to be asked to lead Solidarity into next years Scottish elections. I fully endorse the constitution as a document that allows the grass roots of the party to decide on how we build and organise in the future. I would hope that members will play a full and active part in what will be a genuine, bottom up movement."
The conference also appointed Graeme McIver as National Secretary, Gordon Morgan as National Treasurer and Jim Monaghan as National Press and Media coordinator. Another all-members party conference will take place in Februaray.
Eight dead as Israel Launch Attack on Gaza
Thursday, 02 November 2006
In light of their latest military incursion into Gaza, resulting in the deaths of 8 Palestinians and the wounding of a further 60, Solidarity reaffirms its condemnation of Israel's brutal and barbaric treatment of the Palestinian people.
The state of Israel, founded upon the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, and existing since at their negation, has violated UN resolution after UN resolution with regard to its continued, illegal occupation of Palestinian territory, has invaded its neighbours with impunity, and yet continues to receive the unquestioning support of the British government and the active sponsorship of successive US administrations.
People all over the world are now campaigning for Palestinian human rights, and Solidarity pays tribute to all those who attended a demonstration against the Israeli football team, Maccabi Haifa, in Glasgow last night.
Mick Napier, Chairman of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC), was at the demonstration:
"One of the main elements in ending apartheid in South Africa was the international campaign to boycott and isolate it economically and culturally. Most of these football players are also serving soldiers in the IDF, and when they're not on tour playing football they are brutalising Palestinian civilians at Israeli checkpoints all over the occupied territories."
Solidarity MSP, Tommy Sheridan, recently travelled to Lebanon as part of a delegation to view firsthand the damage wrought by Israeli aggression there.
"The scale of the destruction I saw in Lebanon, and the heartrending accounts of the people we met, has left me in no doubt that Israel is intent on terrorising its neighbours using weapons supplied by the US and our own government. The Palestinians and the Lebanese cannot be allowed to stand alone in the face of this terror any longer."
Solidarity demands that Israel abide by UN resolution 242, passed in 1967, demanding that it withdraw from the occupied territories of Palestine and from the Golan Heights. We also take this opportunity to applaud the continued fortitude and resilience of the Palestinians, who refuse to be ethnically cleansed from their land.
Byrne and Sheridan End "Tour" in Dumfries
Wednesday, 01 November 2006
Rosemary Byrne and Tommy Sheridan, the Solidarity MSPs will speak tonight at a rally in Dumfries at the end of a tour of meetings and rallies across the country. The tour, billed “Red October”, which started in Edinburgh at the end of September, has seen speakers from a wide range of protest movements join the MSPs on the Solidarity platform.
They have also taken part in mass rallies and demos during this time including the “Time to Go” rally in Manchester, the “Independence First” march in Edinburgh and, this Saturday, Byrne joined marchers in Greenock.
Amazingly, in between all of this they have both managed to launch parliamentary bills and Tommy Sheridan even managed to take part in a Scottish delegation to Lebanon.
Solidarity Rallies have been held in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Inverness, Paisley, Hamilton, Cumnock and Dunfermline. This week was the final leg of the tour with Aberdeen on Monday and the final rally at The Minerva Hall of Dumfries Academy at 7.30 p.m.
Rosemary Byrne said:
“It has been tiring but very uplifting as we have met and been inspired by so many people across Scotland and beyond. It doesn’t end here though as we have our first Solidarity National Conference in Glasgow on Saturday and as soon as that is over we will be back out on the campaign trail, offering Solidarity to trades unionists, anti-war campaigners and activists.”
Tomorrow night Rosemary Byrne will speak at a Solidarity branch meeting in Kilmarnock, next week the MSPs will join hundreds of Solidarity members for a 24 hour protest at Faslane as part of the Faslane 365 campaign and Tommy Sheridan will be in Dundee on Monday with Osama Saeed and Aamer Anwar, speaking at a meeting for civil liberties addressing the targeting of Muslim students by Special Branch.
Solidarity Call for a Criminal Inquiry on Iraq
Wednesday, 01 November 2006
The first Commons debate on Iraq since the war began in 2003, culminating in a vote to determine if a public inquiry should be held, was last night defeated by the government. Disappointingly, the news headlines greeting this result have focused on the extent to which the government's majority was slashed, down to 25.
Regardless of the extent to which the motion was defeated, Solidarity views the entire debate and vote on a public inquiry as an insult to the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in Iraq, to the many hundreds of thousands more injured and maimed for life, and to an entire generation of Iraqi children whose lives have been blighted by the carnage and chaos resulting from this illegal and immoral occupation.
In so doing we stand with the millions and not the millionaires in proclaiming that the issue to be determined is not whether there should be a public inquiry on Iraq, but where and when there will be a criminal inquiry.
Pat Smith is an Edinburgh-based campaigner with the Stop the War Coalition:
"This result illustrates once again how divorced the government is from the vast majority of people not only in this country but all over the world. At mass demonstration after mass demonstration over the last three years, people have turned out in their tens of thousands to voice their opposition to the war, and yet our politicians are still debating whether or not there should be a public inquiry."
Thus far 655,000 Iraqis have been killed in this conflict, as have 2,800 US and 120 British servicemen. The cost to the US taxpayer has been $338 billion, with the British taxpayer out of pocket to the tune of £1.6 billion.
Recent events in Iraq prove that the Neocon Project for a New American Century (PNAC) is unravelling. This imperialist project, designed and embarked upon to ensure US global hegemony through the control of the world's energy reserves, is now being defeated. Here at home the evidence of the extent to which it is being defeated lies in a concerted campaign, initiated by the government, to target Muslims in a blatant attempt to deflect attention away from their role in the continuing carnage.
Solidarity MSP, Tommy Sheridan, had this to say:
"Such is Tony Blair's arrogance and contempt, he didn't even attend last night's debate over the chaos that he's unleashed in the Middle East. Not only is he a disreputable Prime Minister, he's a disreputable human being, and I look forward to the day when he answers for his lies and his crimes in an international criminal court."
Solidarity remains committed to campaigning against all imperialist wars and occupations, both inside and outside the Parliament. Moreover, we remain committed to ending the economic system that lies at the root of such wars, as well as at the root of the devastation of working class communities the length and breadth of Scotland.
Solidarity Condemns Illegal Nuclear Weapons
Tuesday, 31 October 2006
Solidarity today confirmed their participation in the Faslane 365 protest next week, taking up the baton of the year long protest from 09 November for 24 hours.
Solidarity MSPs, Tommy Sheridan and Rosemary Byrne, today joined forces to condemn the illegal arsenal on the Clyde while calling for an end to the criminalisation of anti-nuclear protestors such as SSP MSP, Rosie Kane.
Sheridan, himself once imprisoned for campaigning against nuclear weapons, said:
"Nuclear weapons are not only immoral, they are illegal, having already been outlawed by the International Court of Justice. Those protesting against them should be applauded not criminalised."
Rosemary Byrne also condemned the jailing of Kane.
"From any point of view nuclear weapons must be opposed. They are immoral, illegal and financially a waste of precious resources. It is nuclear weapons that must be criminalised not the anti-nuclear protestors. Tommy and I will be part of the Solidarity 24 hour opposition next Thursday, 9th November as part of the 365 Faslane protest."
Both Solidarity MSPs are currently touring the length and breadth of Scotland, attracting packed houses with Solidarity's vision of a nuclear-free Scotland in which social and economic justice replaces profit and inequality. The tour ends tomorrow night in Dumfries, following which the party's first Conference takes place in Glasgow on Saturday, November 4th.
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