Conference time

Unfortunately I am not going to be able to make conference this time. I would ask you to look out for the following fringe meetings organised by Green Left:

The first on the Afghan War will be on Thursday at 7pm with Jeremy Corbyn MP of Stop the War Coalition and our own Farid Bakht, Parliamentary Candidate for Bethnal Green and Bow.

The second on ‘Greens in Coalition – the Irish Experience’ will be on Saturday at 1pm with former Green Party councillor Bronwen Maher from Dublin and Joseph Healy, Parliamentary Candidate for Vauxhall.

There will also been a Green Party Trade Union Group fringe meeting on Saturday 7..00pm "Welfare Reform & Low paid Workers " with Anne Gray, Alan Wheatley and Peter Allan.

I have also put my name to two important motions which I would ask you to support:

C05 on Afghanistan and D01 on GPEx Standing Orders.

Class snobbery over Afghanistan deaths

Today the news that Lt Col Rupert Thorneloe has died in Afghanistan has been given much coverage because he is the highest ranking officer to die since the Falkland conflict.

It is of course very sad that he has died in battle, but why should his death be treated any differently than the other 170 deaths of UK soldiers in Afghanistan since 2001. Each death in Afghanistan is a tragedy and another reason why we should leave now. We have been bogged down in there for nearly 8 years now, with no sign of an end to the conflict.

I urge Green party members to support the following motion at autumn conference:

C27 Afghanistan
Synopsis (edited) In 2006 the party passed a motion calling for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and their replacement by UN forces within months (RPD06.1 The Middle East). However, no further policy details were listed.

Motion The war being conducted by the UK and NATO forces in Afghanistan is according to all informed military sources an unwinnable one. Furthermore, it has had the effect of destabilising the entire Afghanistan and Pakistan region, with the consequent danger of the collapse of the Pakistani state itself. It is taking the lives of countless UK troops and diverting resources at a time when the government should be concentrating resources into job creation, health and the educational sector among others. Furthermore, the government supported by NATO and backed by the military forces is widely discredited and corrupt and has lost the trust of the Afghan people. The continuation of the current military intervention increases the risk significantly of a terrorist attack on the UK and a massive increase in refugees fleeing from war and oppression

Since that time the war has escalated and claimed the lives of many more Afghan civilians, UK and other NATO troops, as well as those of civilians working for NGOs. There is now a need to reiterate this call as the war is now being stepped up by the new US administration and there is widely recognised to be a need for a new regional peace agreement, as without the co‐operation of the regional powers, any secure peace and administration will be impossible to secure in Afghanistan.

We therefore call upon GPEx and our elected representatives in the European Parliament to campaign for:

(1) An immediate withdrawal of all UK forces from Afghanistan.
(2) The withdrawal of all NATO forces from Afghanistan .
(3) An regional agreement with the powers bordering Afghanistan – Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, together with Russia and China, to hold a peace conference as soon as possible with the aim of establishing a new Afghan government which will have the support of all the Afghan people.
(4) Continued support from the EU, UN and other international bodies to support the rebuilding of Afghanistan and the provision of international aid.
(5) The protection all women and minorities in Afghanistan and the upholding of human rights to be an essential part of any peace agreement reached with the regional powers, the UN and the people of Afghanistan.
(6) The issue of Afghan refugees in neighbouring states and elsewhere, and their long term settlement and humanitarian support to be a central feature of any peace agreement.
(7) And to amend ROPS (Record of Policy Statements) accordingly.

Proposed by: Joseph Healy (**), Andrew Collingwood, Martin Deane, Noel Lynch and two others.

Conference passes motion on Gaza

The following emergency motion was passed on the last day of conference:

5. Support for students

Item 4 of the Green Party Core Values states: "Electoral politics is not the only way to achieve change in society, and we will use a variety of methods to help effect change, providing these methods do not conflict with our other core principles."

In this spirit, and in recognition of the value of Non-Violent Direct Action, conference pledges its support to the students occupying University buildings across the country, and fully endorses their campaign to demand that universities divest both from the arms trade and other organisations which directly or indirectly have financially contributed to the military and economic oppression of the people of Gaza. Furthermore, conference condemns any universities taking disciplinary action against the occupying students who are exercising their right to protest; these students, as stakeholders in their University, have a valid right to demand that their university is investing funds ethically.

Conference thus calls for the following action to be taken: International committee and the International Coordinator to pledge support for the student campaign, and also to back our MEPs' call for an investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza, in particular in light of recent revelations in the press about Israeli actions in Gaza.

Back from conference

Finally back in York after a couple of days in Blackpool at conference. It was good to see the party taking a strong stand against the BNP and racism.

Peter Cranie's opening speech was inspiring and took a strong stand against the BNP. It is important that the Green Party strongly condemn the policies of the BNP, which is something we can do as we have the policies which are radically different than other parties who try and out do each other on who is willing to take the toughest line on immigration. By using slogans like 'British jobs for British workers' and agreeing that there is a problem with immigration is only adding fuel to xenophobia and racism.

I was also pleased to see Joseph Healy's migration motion passed bringing us in line with the European Green party policy.

I attended 3 fringes, the LGBT group's 'Homophobia in Easter Europe and the Green Response, Green Left's 'Expansion of NATO and the danger of a new Cold War in Europe' and the Trade Union group's 'Welfare rights and advice'. All three fringes had excellent speakers and promoted interesting debate.

Finally, thank you to everyone who voted for me in the SOC elections.

Green Left fringe at conference

Andrew Murray, Chair of the Stop the War Coalition, will be speaking at a fringe meeting organised by Green Left at conference this Saturday.

The fringe which is at 1pm will be on ‘NATO Expansion to the East. A new Cold War in Europe?’ and is particularly timely as the NATO 60TH anniversary summit is taking place in Strasbourg on April 4th , at which President Obama is expected to announce new US policy in relation to NATO, missile defence, relations with Russia and the war in Afghanistan.

Conference

I've decided to go to GP conference, despite the high fees on top of accommodation and travel. The registration fees are on a sliding scale based on income, which is fare enough, but perhaps there should also be consideration to the distance traveled and whether you require accommodation. I am only going for a couple of days, but with everything thrown in it likely to cost me about £200.

I have never been to conference before but feel the GP is at a turning point and it is important that as many grass roots members as possible turn up and get involved.

Weather: Yesterday and today rain, clouds and a little sun.
Listening to: Planet Rock, okay now I'm not Status Quo has come on, so instead I'll pop on 2 Many DJs