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RISE - The "Scottish Syriza"


DeeTillEhDeh

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On 13/08/2017 at 00:23, NotThePars said:

 

I didn't decide to vote Labour until the Sunday before the election. Reckon it was a late choice for a few people especially up here.

Aye, probably. For some though it was a very public 'hey! look at me' statement. Who knows if the likes of Boyd did or didn't. She changes tack so often.

This by Bisset btw. I think Corbyn's a good guy and good for England but he promises SFA for Scotland.

 

 

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Some alright points in that video offset by the equivalency being drawn (again) between Scotland and Palestine & Norn Ireland. Think there's a long historical context that influences people's support for those two cases regardless of their views on Scotland's independence.

 

Agree that Cat Boyd's was a look at me. There's a left wing Scottish Labour movement, miniscule in relative terms as it is, that doesn't seem to give a solitary shit about the RISE mob.

Edited by NotThePars
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Cat worked for DWP for a few years. Not sure what she does now but I think it's some kind of paid union job.


A paid union job is a license to print money. My sister in law and brother in law were both full time officials and it was staggering the amount of things which were paid for them or reimbursed at the end of the financial year. We were at a big birthday party which was attended by their union colleagues who were the richest, best dressed and most pretentious, as well as being obnoxious people I have met in my life. They liked their members going on strike, especially if there was a march cos it got them out of the office for a wee while. A Saturday march was the favourite, as supporting the strikers got them double time until 12 o'clock, then triple time after that, for having a walk through the streets
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 16/08/2017 at 12:11, bob the tank said:

 


A paid union job is a license to print money. My sister in law and brother in law were both full time officials and it was staggering the amount of things which were paid for them or reimbursed at the end of the financial year. We were at a big birthday party which was attended by their union colleagues who were the richest, best dressed and most pretentious, as well as being obnoxious people I have met in my life. They liked their members going on strike, especially if there was a march cos it got them out of the office for a wee while. A Saturday march was the favourite, as supporting the strikers got them double time until 12 o'clock, then triple time after that, for having a walk through the streets

 

Do you and your pals work a paper round?

Ordinary union officials get paid around 25K with regional organiser and managers making around 50-60K. All of which is consistent with similar jobs in public and third sector.

Double time at weekends was standard practice in many industries until modern capitalism decided everyone had to be available to work all the time. It would be s bit strange for a union to fight for workers rights but to strip them back for their own employees.

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27 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

Time and a half Saturdays, double time Sundays and triple time public holidays used to be standard in the good old days.

Or time and a half Saturday till 12pm double time after, double time Sunday, double time with a day in lieu public holidays. Ah they were the good old days.

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It was quite interesting watching the aftermath of the indyref and see which of the activists quickly manoeuvred themselves into "good" jobs as a result (Elected politician, SPAD's, etc) and which ones, despite the obvious self-publicising they had indulged in (the indyref was certainly good for a number of egos, on both sides), have ended up treading water ever since, desperately hoping for indyref2 or another cause to come along...

I think CB is in the latter group and from the outside, I have never found her to be very credible - she has seemed to be all over the place on a number of things...

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  • 3 months later...

The whole RISE coalition seems to be unraveling to the extent that activists are now running around empty buildings putting posters on them demanding councils use them for the homeless.

As a big supporter of RISE at the start and a member of the SSP, then it’s quite sad that the coalition which promised so much is reduced to this.

From the outside looking in, it would appear that RISE will fade away into the darkness, when really, it could have united the Left in Scottish politics.

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3 minutes ago, BB_Bino said:

The whole RISE coalition seems to be unraveling to the extent that activists are now running around empty buildings putting posters on them demanding councils use them for the homeless.

As a big supporter of RISE at the start and a member of the SSP, then it’s quite sad that the coalition which promised so much is reduced to this.

From the outside looking in, it would appear that RISE will fade away into the darkness, when really, it could have united the Left in Scottish politics.

Their problem was the core was rotten.

They never had the numbers to actually go and do door to door activism and had to rely on stunts.

When you dont have the numbers you have to, like the Greens and to an extent the SNP, spend years doing the hard stuff of standing in council elections you will never win building community bases in unglamorous local campaigns. Cat Boyd was happy to try and become an MSP but said from the outset she had no interest in standing in local elections. Admitting you didnt vote in the EU Ref abd then saying you voted for Labour in GE invites people to take you less than seriously.

The new RISE lot wanted to get in at the top via stunts and ironically using positions in mainstream media.

Why the SSP who were known, had a brand and at least one recognisable figure in Colin Fox threw their lot in with this lot I'll never know.

Lastly there are a lot of myths about the Radical Indy campaign  in 2014. Their mass canvasses were 80% SNP members and elected members as well as Greens and the old SSP/SWP lot in and about it too.

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Great post Invergowrie Arab and lots of interesting areas and ones that I totally agree with you on, especially the Cat Boyd part


Why the SSP who were known, had a brand and at least one recognisable figure in Colin Fox threw their lot in with this lot I'll never know.


I remember being at the National Conference when the topic was brought up and it really did split opinion in the room. However the decision was obviously made to run with it whilst keeping the parties own identity, pushing through this notion of a United left coalition.

I THiNK, or should I say, assume that the party regretted it early doors and all but a few pulled out and it was something that wasn’t really mentioned at last year’s conference, which was no surprise because RISE pretty much were inactive and had no intention of standing in the General Election or Council Elections.
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The thing is though, RISE are useful idiots for the unionists.

They are quite happy to cause division and anger amongst the independence movement just so long as it gives them the publicity they clearly crave, and the MSM will be more than happy to keep fueling that fire.  So I 've no doubt we will be seeing Cat Boyd, Loki, Angela Haggerty and their comrades  for a long time to come.

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MC Edgelord is a fucking imbecile who never has much to say about the extreme right wing views of his patrons like Daisley or centrist c***s like Harry Potter.

He also writes a load of sexist and racist pish and then has to climb down in the grimiest ways possible.

I don't mind Angela Haggertys politics, I think she is pretty fair across the board and if I ever send anything to common space it has been published. I just don't think she is a particularly good or insightful writer.

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They're all luvvies jockeying for a commentariat position in a post-indy Scotland. I don't think any of them are particularly insightful or offer anything groundbreaking. Then again, neither does the vast majority of the commentariat at a UK wide level.

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