For my first post here I'd say a bit about my political background and some of experiences with Manchester left politics since 2000. The times we are living through clearly present a huge challenge to the broad left in how we build and disseminate our narrative to a public who are, as we know, constantly lied to through mainstream channels. I hope I can draw some lessons on the way forward in this blog.

Since being asked to start this blog a lot has happened that I will comment on in future posts. These include the expenses / allowances scandal and the election of 2 fascist MEPs. For now I will just stick to the original idea that can give readers a handle on where I'm coming from as they read future pieces. Prior to 2000 I aligned most to the left-ish of the Labour Party with some sympathy for green and communist politics. But it was all strictly "armchair" stuff. I've since realised how much politics, especially the non establishment kind, is very much a participation sport (even a contact sport on the streets sometimes).

I don't know how common it is, but my conversion to activism came through a "Damascus" moment. In the summer of 2000 I tagged along to an eco-activist camp, having no clue what to expect. It was a wonderful fortnight on a beautiful island with people from all over Europe. It was run on broadly anarchist / consensus decision making principles, the first time I had seen anything like it. I was easily won over. For those not familiar with CDM I strongly recommend you look into it and even consider introducing it to some of your decision making.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus_decision-making

This is that annual festival, Ecotopia, I think some of the money comes from the European Commission, which is quite funny.
http://ecotopiagathering.org/ecotopia-what-is-it.html

Anyway I arrived as a pub-rant leftie, and departed with far more anarchist and green outlooks. But chiefly, I was determined to get active. It would be an injustice to the profoundness of the experience not to. Also, from self interest I figured that to try and change things is less frustrating than shouting at the TV. In the 9 years since I've been involved in too wide a range of campaigns and actions to go into now, but one of the first things I did was to join The Green Party. I had always been interested in the party system and so thought a party would be an appropriate outlet for my efforts.

As a Green I'm always frustrated by left factionalism. We all know aspects of this are comic, the "Peoples Front of Judea" sketch is still too near the bone decades after it was written. Being in the Green Party has the bonus of insulating me from getting too involved.
Unity across the broad movement is one of my big interests. For ease, I break the broad progressive movement into three crude strands: socialist, anarchist, green. Obviously there is a large crossover of concerns and as well as fascinating differences in views and strategies.
But these times call for as much co-operation as much as possible. The attempts to build this in Manchester in recent years started for me with Riotous Assembly.

Then there was a Social Forum for at least a couple of years. But recently we have seen the rise of Convention of The Left and The Climate Forum. These are both vast improvements on organisation and inclusivity, which isn’t to denigrate former efforts but to celebrate the evolution. I'd be especially interested in responses analysing and detailing earlier groups, perhaps going back further than I can relate to.With the fascists in relative ascendancy we can no longer afford the luxury of bickering factionalism, even if we are in different groups and parties. The attempts to build a unified left party continue. I wish them luck and will save my thoughts and concerns about the process for now.

I have always considered that there is room enough on the broad left for two parties: Green and more orthodox socialist. Some may accuse Greens of being too "reformist" and "pro capitalist". Again, I won’t get into the detail here and it only backs up my assertion that there is room for two parties. This is the case in Scotland where the Scottish Greens and SSP were doing reasonably well under PR. The chief reason they lost many seats in the last election wasn't down to them as much as the strong desire for Scottish people to chuck out the Labour Party - our votes went to the SNP.Along with a growing number I am a member of Green Left, a group within the Green Partywho, in simplistic terms, aim to make greens redder and reds greener. It isn't always easy work whichever way you look at it.

Socialists have done a great deal to adapt to the agenda dictated by climate change, resource scarcity etc. Producerism was never a fundamentally necessary aspect of socialism, more of a historical habit produced from very different circumstances to those that prevail under modern capitalism.Although the Green Party of England and Wales is quite left wing compared to other green outfits internationally, we too often face the accusation of "selling out". It appears a function of power that sell-out becomes more likely with electoral success. I won't name my guilty brothers and sisters internationally for now. I'm sure comrades can fill in the gaps.That is precisely why we need a strong contingent of Greens to guard against sell-out if and when we achieve goals such as elected MPs in Westminster (most likely in Brighton Pavilion and Norwich South)

This is the homepage of Green Left
http://www.gptu.net/gleft/greenleft.shtml
And one for the Eco-socialist Manifesto from GL
http://gptu.net/gleft/glesoc.shtml

Anyhow, I'm sure that's enough intro and background to be going on with. I look to writing on specific topics over future months and moving on the discourse and action.
For Peace and socialism.
Steve.