Red Pepper's Election Blues

La Hain(e)

Tariq Ali’s recent advice to Red Pepper readers and disillusioned Labour supporters – Punish the Warmongers: Vote Lib Dem - has drawn a response from Peter Hain, Vote for the Lib Dems and you will risk a Tory victory, and triggered further debate in The Guardian letters pages. Hain's article laments the disillusionment of Guardian readers (a sociological category, in NewLabourSpeak) with the Government, and attempts to set out the Party's radical stall.

This is not the first time that the former anti-apartheid campaigner has been wheeled out as a token establishment radical. But it is a role that fits uneasily with his staunch defence of draconian new 'anti-terror' laws, which Hain (as Leader of the Commons) tried to rush through Parliament recently. The Government’s new ‘control orders’ resemble nothing more than the banning orders of apartheid South Africa, which affected Hain’s own family and countless others.

Hain now talks of a ‘balance’ between liberty and security, as though the sacrifice of freedom is a price we must pay for community safety. "If we are tough on crime and terrorism," he claimed last November, "Britain will be safer under New Labour." But who is really safer? Within the UK, the likely outcome of anti-terror legislation is to criminalise whole communities. The arbitrary use of detention tramples on individual civil liberties but also has a wider social purpose: to discipline the whole population through the spread of a climate of uncertainty and fear.

UK government support for the War in Iraq, which Hain euphemistically describes as an act of "good faith", can hardly have helped much either. The Iraqi threat to British national security was non-existent, as even the Government now admits, but the UK's war effort can scarcely have gone unnoticed in the caves of Tora Bora.  OR

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Memories of Discontent

The death of former Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan (RIP) means that the Winter of Discontent (WOD) is back in the news – as are the ubiquitous images of binbags in the streets, symptomatic of the bad old days of trade union profligacy. While the mainstream media replays this story, it is worth remembering that the industrial militancy of the period was relatively restrained. Fewer days were lost in strikes in the 1978/9 period than in an average year under the previous Conservative government, and the level of strike action in Britain during the WOD was on a par with instances of industrial militancy elsewhere in Western Europe. The backdrop to all of this was a period of almost unprecedented wage restraint, euphemistically packaged as a Social Contract between the government and trade unions. If anything, it is remarkable that there was not more strike action since, by the autumn of 1978, the average worker’s wage was decreasing in real terms – a situation not seen since the Depression of 1931.

This is a story that will probably not be heard in the tributes to Callaghan, however, which tells us something about the lasting effects of that period on today’s politics. The WOD worked far better as a narrative construction, signalling a ‘crisis’ of the post-war settlement, than it did as a description of industrial relations in the late 1970s. It provided a backdrop against which Thatcherism could ‘make sense’, the ideological accompaniment to an economic shift achieved with the help of Callaghan's government , which accepted an IMF loan and the accompanying condition of public expenditure cuts in 1976.

Callaghan's reaction to the WOD ('what crisis?', as he never said) is remembered as folly, whilst his response to the IMF crisis (if it is remarked upon at all) is recalled as inevitable. In these memories we can hear the echoes of an old Thatcherite story, as it works its way into the pre-election campaign rhetoric of the present.  OR

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Tories making news

A new newspaper for New Cross? That's what I thought when I got onto the Tube in South East London today, picking up a copy of the "Lewisham & Southwark Independent" from a news stand usually reserved for The Metro, the free London daily distributed by the Daily Mail's Associated Newspaper group. But a closer look revealed a publication distinctly less independent than its title announced: "Lewisham's Conservative Candidates: Local People Highlighting Local Crime." "Solving Britain's pension crisis is a top priority for the Conservatives." "Consevatives are pledging 40,00 extra bobbies on the beat". And so on. Looks like they've learnt from the old activist trick of producing spoof newspapers like The Spun, Ignite or the Evading Standard - only without the sense of humour.

What are your local newspapers saying? We want to know.  OR

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Why I'll vote Lib Dem, by Tariq Ali

60s radical... anti-imperialist... revolutionary... Lib Dem voter? Tariq Ali explains the logic of his electoral choice in this month's Red Pepper: "Treat this election as special and take the politics of the anti-war front into the electoral arena. Vote Lib Dem. A hung parliament or a tiny Blair majority will be seen as a victory for our side." Ali also warns that "it is possible that in some constituencies the Green/Respect vote could ensure the return of a warmonger." OR

Read the whole article on the Red Pepper website

New Labour, New Torture

In this month's Red Pepper, the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray explains his decision to stand for election against Jack Straw in Blackburn. Britain routinely uses 'intelligence' extracted from torture victims, he says. When he drew attention to this practice in Uzbekistan he was summoned back to Whitehall. "I was told that the British security services valued it as contributing greatly to their overall picture of the war on terror. I was also told that Britain would continue to receive such material. The decision had been taken in person by Straw." Murray was sacked for rocking the boat. Jack Straw is still the Foreign Secretary.

The new issue is in the shops now or you can subscribe to read the full article. OR

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Down with the kids?

Jamie Oliver vs. Bernard Matthews KO. Today Labour launches its Children’s Manifesto and the headlines are promising healthy and appetising school meals. A victory for the TV chef over the turkey farmer, then, whose ‘bootiful’ Turkey Twizzlers were condemned as ‘cheap, processed junk’ by Oliver in his recent hit TV show Jamie’s School Dinners. A very welcome move (there, I said it!) but the Manifesto is characteristically unspecific about whether more money will be spent on achieving a healthy new diet. At the moment, the budget for school meals can fall as low as 37p per meal in England,compared to almost £1 in Scotland.

It's not all good news for children though. The Woodcraft Folk recently had its funding cut by the government, in what appears to be retribution for its role in the anti-war movement. The organisation, which was set up 80 years ago by Labour supporters who thought the Scouts and Guides were too militaristic, is now threatened with cuts to its widely respected educational and outdoor activities programmes. OR

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Election Blues

Welcome to Red Pepper's 2005 election blog. Sit tight, strap in, and hold on: it's going to be a bumpy ride. Over the next few weeks we'll bring you non-partisan coverage from an environmentalist and left perspective from across the country. But we need your help:

* Take the Red Pepper Doorstep Challenge. What election promises have been dropped through your door? Who's canvassing in your local area? Or maybe you're on the campaign trail yourself - what have people been saying? Let us know.

* The alternative election debate. From the arms trade to media ownership, there's a serious policy agenda that's not being debated. We'll draw attention to some of the missing issues. We also want your comments

* Media watch. What have your local papers been saying? Let us know. We'll also be watching the telly, reading the national papers and commenting on stories that you might've missed... as well as some that are impossible to ignore.

* Election Night Live. We'll have through the night coverage, with exclusive updates from across the country. If you're an activist or a candidate then we want to hear from you.

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