Support Barred Steering Committee Members
national |
anti-war / imperialism |
news report 
Saturday February 21, 2004 18:47
by Laurence Vize - Fairview Against The War
2 Members ousted in crude takeover
Please help in supporting 2 elected representatives of the members of the Irish
Antiwar Movement Michael O Sullivan and Laurence Vize who according to 6 members
of the 16 member steering committee who voted in favour have no further right
to attend steering committee meetings to which they were elected.
This action was taken in stealth without being placed on the placed on the agenda
of the meeting.. A motion to expel 2 members was taken under “items arising
from the agenda”
This motion was proposed by the chairman who as on 31st January exploited his
role of Chairman to achieve the objective of removing any opposition to his
party in the movement.
8 steering committee members were not even informed of Richard Boyd Barrett
s intention to move this motion. 3 opposition group members could not attend.
Both members are part of a group of 5 committed and working activists who sought
to build the movement and work to democratise it. They exposed the utter
ruthlessness
of the SWP members to control the movement at any cost.
This action attacks your right as members the IAWM to elect representatives
of your choice.
This action is a travesty of justice. No complaints were made in advance and
no chance was given to organise a proper defence.
It was done in secret, no minutes will be published, One of the ousted representatives
was the only person to ever publish minutes of SC meetings to the members
No democratically elected representative can be removed without an election.
In fact the steering committee has now no authority to meet or carry out any
business because 2 members will be refused attendance. It cannot be convened
as a representative body.
On the agenda of this meeting was
· A demand for to see the books of the organisation which have never been shown
to members
· A proposal for an enquiry into allegations of misconduct against SWP member
Aoife Ni Fhearghil
The same group has now said that there was “no complaints to answer” on this
compliant despite never even viewing the supporting evidence or even listening
to the complainant Mr Vize The IAWM belongs only to its members
Nobody at the meeting was told of the press conference organised by Richard
in a few hours time to publicise the March 20 Demo. Not even the elected PRO
obstructed in his role (he has now resigned ). Such is Mr Barretts respect
for democray! Please send messages of support to
Laurence Vize vizel@utvinternet.com Micheal O Sullivan druidmicko@eircom.net
The individuals who voted for this travesty
Raymond Deane ( Ireland Palestine Solidarity Committee)
Aoife Ni Fheargil(SWP) Richard Barrett (SWP) Colm Stephens (SWP)
Kieran Allen (SWP) Michael O Brien (Socialist Party)
Comments (21 of 21)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21Nothing about the SWP should shock anyone but what is Michael O'Brirn up to? Why is he going along with this sham, surely the SP as an organisation do not suport this trampling on democracy?
I'm a bit confused by this statement. Do you want to be reinstated? If so, why? Fintan Lane has resigned and Tim Hourigan has also resigned, word has it. Kirsten Foy has resigned. Other resignations are also expected. All those opposed to what the SWP are doing are resigning. So do Lawerence and Michael intend to do likewise or do they really expect to be reinstated on the steering committee?
What are they looking for support for? The IAWM is just an SWP front now and has been conclusively exposed as such. Everybody should just move on and leave the SWP to its wreckage. Why fight over the ruins?
The SWP are the only IAWM members left, bar a few idiots like Ray Deane who don't mind being used. No mention of Palestine on the March 20th poster though, Deane.
Answer: they want to wreck the IAWM before leaving it coz they're so pissed off with the SWPs behaviour. Understandable but also sort of a waste of energy and time. Help build something new instead.
Just ignore the IAWM which by now has been shown for what it is an SWP front.
RBB and his cronies are up to the usual tricks.
why where you barred?
Let's start now. I propose we call it the Democratic Anti War Network (DAWN). It has finally dawned on some people that the SWP are only involved in order to recruit people into their quasi-political cult.
I'm posting this anonymously because I want it to be a totally non-hierarchical anti-war movement and I'm not putting myself down for a leadership position and repeating the mistakes of IAWM.
So... anybody agree with DAWN?
I go with that. Structured from the bottom up. Wide open all encompassing membership, Afew to delegate who will rotate and act in service to the movement /group(s) and not masters / leaders or chairpersons or whatever. Have it focused on ANTI-WAR for a change....mabey ?
Were there any reasons given for throwing these people off the steering committee?
Ridiculous.
So much for the IAWM or any far left umbrella movement for that matter.
First item on the DAWN agenda - when will the split happen?
Let then know that you object to their undemocratic behaviour. Do the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Committee agree with the way Deane voted?
The individuals who voted for this travesty (can someone provide email adds for Allen & RBB?)
Raymond Deane ( Ireland Palestine Solidarity Committee) rmdeane@eircom.net
Aoife Ni Fheargil(SWP) aoifenf@yahoo.co.uk
Richard Barrett (SWP)
Colm Stephens (SWP) info@irishantiwar.org
Kieran Allen (SWP)
Michael O Brien (Socialist Party) michael.obrien at valoff.ie
Here are some more e-maill addresses. I have combined them with the ones above.
Please email them to express your concern at the undemoctratic way these 2 people have been expelled - And WHY were they expelled in the first place. And also WHY have 2 people of the high calibre of Dr. Fintan Lane and Tim Hourigan who have done trojan and noble work for the anti-war movment felt that they had to resign from the IAWM.
There are thousands of innocent lives being slaughtered out there. If we become as divided and as self-interested as this we do not have a hope of helping these innocent lives being lost. Rather we carry their blood around with us and into our own graves.
Please express your grave concern but
BE POLITE!!!!
Richard Boyd Barrett (SWP) (& chairperson of IAWM - rboydbarrett@hotmail.com
Kieran Allen (SWP) - kallen@iol.ie
Aoife Ni Fheargil (SWP) aoifenf@yahoo.co.uk & aoifenf@hotmail.com
Raymond Deane ( Ireland Palestine Solidarity Committee) rmdeane@eircom.net
Colm Stephens (SWP)
Michael O Brien (Socialist Party) michael.obrien at valoff.ie
info@irishantiwar.org
Swp head office: swp@clubi.ie
Other Swp members to express your concern to:-
Joe Carolan - joseph_trotsky@yahoo.com
Brid Smith - smithbrid@hotmail.com
Shay Ryan - drcmount@iwa.ie
still hasn't been said
Swearing at the SWP and their mates (no I'm not joking).
was it in a meeting? like expand
I wasn't at the meeting so I can't expand further, but there was a thread on indymedia at the time so do a bit of research and you should find it. In any case a rather transparent ploy by the SWP/SP to get control of the committee back after they misjudged the ratio of loyal party hacks to indos that was needed to keep control.
What do you want anyone to do laurance? Basically you were kicked out of an empty front. Personally i don't see the point of trying to get back into it, much less try to somehow 'capture' it. Face it the IAWM is the swp's baby, its their ball and they'll take it home with them rather than lose it. I don't even see any point in trying to fight this battle. At best the IAWM is a logo, a brandname, its got no real links to any actual groups around the country. If you want to set u activity agianst the war you have to iniatiate local activity and then try to co-ordinate it. You do this from the ground up, not by capturing the IAWM or starting another fantasy network
They were suspended from the steering committee because they were doing their best to make the steering committee unworkable.
That doesn't mean that they were expressing their point of view. It means that they were spending entire meetings heckling every speaker they disagree with and shouting abuse at all and sundry. This meant that business couldn't be dealt with.
They absolutely refused to desist from this behaviour and so left the rest of the steering committee with no choice but to suspend them. It isn't surprising that various people who were in any case hostile to the IAWM are now trying to use the two as a stick to beat the organisation with. It isn't surprising but it is disappointing.
Were you present at these meetings? If not then please reveal the source of your information.
So why did Fintan leave? Somehow I don't think that it is was Laurence's and Mick's fault. Do you?
Mr Vise is not all he seems....do not be fooled by his protestations of innocence.....everyone in this mess has an agenda
That might be so. There is no getting away from the fact that Mr. Vise and Mr. O'Sullivan were utterly stupid in allowing themselves to be sucked in by the SWP and venting their frustration in a public way.
But that said there is no getting away from the undemocratic manoeuvers carried out by the SWP and to all intensive purposes supported by both the SP and IPSC.
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