minimalist and
localist politics
and a narrow frame of reference
at national level. ship potential which with around 4,000 members is a long way below what it should be.
Opposition to becoming a party - whether explicitly, or simply as an organisation which builds and seeks to act as a party (in the end it is not the name which is important) - puts a pretty comprehensive block on the development of Respect in the medium term.
It locks Respect into a framework of minimalist and localist politics and a narrow frame of reference at national level.
It also gives some answers as to why, given its recent successes, Respect has failed to win any new sections of the existing left and the trade unions to its banner. If it can't win such people now, immediately after the recent Respect have not functioned effectively since the conference last October - particularly the officers committee. In fact they have played no more than a token role in the running and direction of Respect, and Respect has yet to develop a democratic structure which works effectively on a day-to-day basis.
Without this it is difficult to see how Respect can be built into the "mass membership party" that Rees and others argue for.
George Galloway's argument that having a paper would be politically divisive points to a wider problem as well - the development of an inclusive culture in Respect where discussion is seen as a good thing rather than a problem.
There are wide differences in Respect on a number of crucial issues and there has to be a way of discussing them - at the moment they are festering in the corner. In our view such differences are only containable within an organisation like Respect if there is an inclusive framework and they are Shelia Malone The catastrophe of hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast of America ought to be the world's wake-up call over climate change. That is why it was extremely timely that a meeting of Respect members was held on September 3 to discuss ensuring Respect plays a central role in building the vital international day of action on climate change on December 3.
Just as our world's governments and tame media told us a pack of lies over Iraq, they are once more concealing the truth from us.
We keep being told that this was an unprecedented and unavoidable "natural disaster'. Some voices, and hopefully more in the future have spelt out the truth.
These include Sir David King, the UK goverment's chief scientific advisor. In an interview on Channel 4 news on the day the disaster struck, he talked about increase in temperature due to Co2 emissions. He pointed out that the fierceness of hurricanes is related to surface sea temperature - which has risen by .5 degrees in the region in the last 15-20 years.
As a consequence their destructive power has doubled in the last 30 years. Hurricane Katrina was simply the culmination of this process.
Add to this the relentless destruction of the wetlands in the region and you have the recipe for the disaster which occurred.
Shockingly, but predictably, the response of the Bush administration has been to worry more about disruption to oil supplies than harm to people. All the oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico were knocked out of action by the storm, cutting off around one quarter of the US supplies.
However, economist Alan Greenspan has promised that when soon repaired, the USA economy would be "back to normal' i.e. presumably gas-guzzling away like there was no such thing as global warming.
This is a twofold version of fiddling while Rome burns' -ignorance, callousness and incompetence in dealing with the human suffering resulting from the disaster at the same time as an expressed intention to carry on with exactly the same policies as caused it in the first place.
However, despite attempts at denial very many people are quite aware of what climate change is about.
Many are also involved in various activities and campaigns to stop it, including Respect members.
This is increasing, as are discussions of the issue in local branches.
Some of our experiences and ideas were shared at the meeting in London this month to discuss ways to build for the December 3 central London demonstration. It is vital we make this the biggest protest ever in Britain and internationally.
National Planning meeting Oxford, October 1 (see diary, P 22 for detalls).