Third Camp Marxism

Stourbridge BLM demo

Protests sweep the country: London, Newcastle, West Midlands, Edinburgh

London

By Jay Dawkey

There were maybe 2,000 people at the Central London demonstration in Hyde Park on Friday 12 June. About 60-40 black-white, overwhelmingly young.

Demands and chants were mostly “Black Lives Matter” and “No Justice No Peace”. Speakers included a pan-Africanist; an author and lecturer (booed when he talked about entrepreneurship and aspiring to be a multi-millionaire); a guy from the West Papua campaign.

Trans rights

Stand with trans people

The government has leaked plans to drop changes to the Gender Recognition Act to the Sunday Times (14 June).

Changes drawn up under Theresa May’s government would have streamlined the legal process of changing a birth certificate by removing some barriers like medical diagnosis and lengthy and intrusive evidence procedure. Consultation on the updated Gender Recognition Act closed in 2018, but the government has since dragged its feet on implementing it following a spectacular and well-organised backlash from opponents.

Labour Party democracy

CLP slammed for discussing politics

Since late March, the Labour Party has been effectively “locked down”, with no local constituency parties authorised to hold democratic decision-making meetings.

In early June, a letter from Labour’s London Region to a CLP [Constituency Labour Party] which had held an Executive Committee (EC) meeting online surfaced on social media.

In the letter, the regional official stated that the Party does not permit CLPs to hold meetings remotely and all regular meetings had been cancelled during the pandemic “to protect members”.

German coal-fired power station

New coal power in Germany

In the last days of May, 500 environmental protesters descended upon a new coal power plant, Datteln 4, in Germany.

The plant opened on 30 May despite the German government’s roadmap, announced this year, to have coal phased out by 2038 at the latest. And despite the average coal power plant globally having a 46 year — not 18 year — lifespan.

Electorally, Germany has one of the strongest “Green Parties” in the world. But if anything, they have contributed to coal power use in Germany today.

Kas Witana

Bringing crucial issues into Momentum election

I put myself forward in the Forward Momentum primaries, and one of the key lessons I learnt was about democracy. Forward Momentum talks a good talk, and clearly it is better than Momentum as currently constituted and better than Momentum Renewal. But at least some of the leading people’s approach to democracy has been to support it when it suits them.

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