Forward Wales in crisis

Sigh. The minute they chose to use the word "Forward" I had forebodings - down here in the south the name has echoes of the " Forward Movement " - a kind of pull yourself up by your own bootstraps evangelical nonconforming christianity born in south east Wales a century ago.

Re: Forward Wales in crisis
Judging from this report on seren.blogspirit.com, Forward Wales is in meltdown... shame because it had the potential to really shake things up on the left in Wales. Forward Wales heads for oblivion Forward Wales continues to implode after many of its leading activists including its sole councillor Dave Bithell, the National Secretary and International Organiser resigned. Now the trade union organiser has also quit. The party's website has been "under construction" for the past four months - i.e. since the website organiser resigned - and members have just received their first written communication since the Westminster elections. It includes the minutes of the June 19 National Committee, which decided to change the name of the party from Forward Wales, the Welsh Socialist Party back to Forward Wales. Not only is such a move against the party's rules - changes to the constitution can only be made at annual conference - but it took place without any prior consultation with the membership, who had no knowledge that such a step was even being considered. Those who quit are citing disagreements with the political direction of the party - specifically a secret deal party leader John Marek struck with the Tories to stand a spoiling candidate in marginal Cardiff North at the General Election - as well as the lack of internal democracy in the party. They are also disillusioned with Marek's performance in the Assembly, where he has put more emphasis on his role as deputy speaker than campaigning for his new party and winning affiliation from unions such as the RMT. More locally, there has also been dissatisfaction with Marek's handling of the crisis surrounding the planned redevelopment of Wrexham Football Club's stadium, in which he has openly aligned himself with disgraced former chairman Mark Guterman who is hated by fans. The activists who have left are re-grouping locally in the Wrexham Socialist Forum and include a quarter of the party's candidates in last year's council elections. Fewer than 100 members remain in the party throughout Wales and the number of activists has dwindled dramatically. One of the party's founder members told SEReN: "Forward Wales was born from an alliance of former Labourites and socialists who were united in wanting to challenge Labour's unhealthy grip on Welsh politics. Differences over the national question were fudged - a fatal mistake with hindsight - but it also emerged that revenge and spite was a more powerful driving force for some of the ex-Labourites than any real desire to build a radical political alternative for Wales." Forward Wales, which was almost exclusively concentrated in Wrexham and Clwyd South, managed impressive results in those areas in the council elections - standing candidates in more than half the borough's seats and gaining 23% of the vote. It also played a prominent role in campaigning against the sale of school playing fields and housing stock transfer, which Wrexham tenants rejected decisively. The ex-member said: "The party was a very real threat to Labour in the north-east and had the potential to win over disillusioned left-wingers throughout Wales. But the party's dependence for its finances on John Marek meant it was vulnerable to an undemocratic clique surrounding him. This led to decisions on candidates being pushed through with no real debate or discussion - what Marek wanted, he got. "There's no doubt Marek was very generous with his money - he stumped up many thousands personally to pay for the Assembly and the Westminster elections. But he failed to realise that real political change is based on building parties between elections - there was never any money forthcoming for that. The national secretary couldn't even get stamps to mail out to members at times!" A picture emerges of key members quitting and many more peripheral members drifting away disillusioned with the party's failure to build on its early promise. It's possible FW will limp on to the 2007 Assembly elections, partly because Marek can afford to fund another set of candidates and partly because Ron Davies wants a last crack at returning to political power. But a party that can't even stick to its own rules and keeps its few remaining members in the dark over key decisions does not have a credible future. Attempting to build a party round a rebel ex-Labour politician ultimately proved to be a quick-fix solution that came unstuck. Respect should take note. Forward Wales was never really anything more than Old Labour MK2. I think partly it was born of an attempt to create a Left alternative with a broader appeal than the Welsh Socialist Alliance, which was dominated by hardline Trotskyite sects like the SWP. Part of the problem is that the Left is dominated by egos and personality cults, the George Galloways and Ray Davieses of this world. These people are little more than media whores and they are living in the past. Building a movement around personalities is no substitute for doing the groundwork in the community and creating a real grassroots movement. In any case, political parties are a waste of fucking time, whether it's Backward Wales, Plaid, whatever. We're a colony and voting counts for nil. It's the 4 years in between that counts. :wink: And if Respect ever get into power, trust me, we'll all end up wearing Burkhas (well, the women anyway)...

Marek out!
I would be prepared to put a weeks wages on the fact that John Marek will not get reelected. He is hated around Wrexham now because of what he has done. His office windows were put through one weekend and he was even chased through the town centre. The bloke is an idiot.

WSRM, Cymru Goch, Welsh Socialist Alliance, Forward Wales - mostly always the same bunch of people at their cores here in the south east. I've always been bored by the nitpicking about orthodoxies and although I like a good argument I resent the idea that people feel the need to 'win', since there can only thus ultimately be one winner and everybody else leaves hoping to find a group that accepts their point of view, ie. in which they are the 'winner' and all the 'losers' are 'traitors' for 'deserting' the cause etc. I had high hopes for WSA, and since I had been advocating something like it for a long time I joined in and ended up as local press officer. I left after about six months, since it was a pointless duplication of effort when a certain person ( who aspired to be the local leader ) demanded to review everything that I wrote . This seemed ok to me since two minds can be better than one, but he insisted on rewriting everything that was in each release. It was bad enough that this meant that he claimed that his own opinions were the branch's, but he hadn't a clue how to write a press release. Hence nothing ever got into the papers. He could also be intensly bitchy and personal and evidently I am one more person marked down in his black book and destined for revenge. Frankly, I am bored by people who mistake their emotional hangups for political convictions. As for those who think that this site is just a talking shop, YES ! THAT'S JUST WHAT IT SAYS AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE - WELSHREPUBLICANDEBATE ! And talking things over is a good and useful thing, a precursor to making choices about taking action. A pleasure - and an addictive one at that !

As for those who think that this site is just a talking shop, YES ! THAT'S JUST WHAT IT SAYS AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE - WELSHREPUBLICANDEBATE ! Exactly! There's nothing else to do on a forum but talk.

a point i tried to make recently, perhaps not so eloquantly.

I'm very reclusive and domestic, by and large because I am ill and skint. It has to be admitted that being particularly active demands certain resources. I don't even own a computer, and access this discussion in various ways in various places. It is good to be back in touch with like minded people, who are few and far between. On the Action front, all I seem to do at present is write letters and send postcards ( albeit some are to political prisoners ).

In all honesty, I've only been in one language demo. I didn't go next time because I felt so unwelcome. To be honest I felt like smacking a few of the pariarchal wankers. Apart from that, I don't feel this is the place to be discussing activist 'credentials'. The forum is useful, stop knocking it people. What we do need however is a moderated forum. I myself run a non-political one, and it's a piece of piss. I shall give it a month. After that I'll start my own.

the only people who knock this forum are the people that constantly wish to change it like yourself kier. that doesnt change the fact that we need to more than just talk. and you went to one welsh language demo and from that you have surmised that all welsh speakers are twats. that sounds like gwaw's kind of empiricism and not the kind of logic you usually come out with. you gave up after one? youre a fighter then? and once and for all there is nothing wrong with this forum. if nothing else "guest" recently said he had been converted to republicanism after being on this forum, despite posting shit that no doubt would have got him banned at an earlier satge.

Sheer logic dictates that it need to be moderated. If people don't have to register, then anyone can come on and post divisive crap.

firstly it has nothing to do with logic, just opinion, although granted, sometimes with you they happen to be the same thing. secondly whilst i cant see why people shouldnt be able to come on here to post divisive crap (as in the case of "guest"), surely if you want to stop that surely its possible to force registration on posters without the need to moderate. i dont know a lot about computer technology, but if we can get a man on the moon (i said "if"), im pretty sure registration without moderation is not a leap into fantasy.

I didn't mean moderation, I meant that people should have to register.

I know, and that's the most annoying part. :evil:

OK this has gone too far now and I'm afraid I have to take action. Kier, you are now officially banned from posting again on this forum. And that's final.

I don't find that funny. It is definitely lacking some inventiveness, and it is totally lacking in wit. I was just beginning to feel that Kier was beginning to make sense - and this despite the fact that I have been taking my medication quite regularly.

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