@the_ssp_ #indyref Events in Kirkintilloch and Milton of Campsie

Plus Miners Strike commemoration...

Campsie SSP Branch AGM

Saturday 26th October 

Special guest speaker TBA.

For details please email eastdunbartonshiressp@hotmail.co.uk

This is our review/planning meeting for year ahead.  

If you are interested in helping/joining/becoming more involved - please come.  This meeting will also help us plan our engagement in the YES campaign locally as well as our own SSP independence campaigning.  

The SSP, like any union and organisation of the working class, only works with your involvement - we are not an organisation like the Labour Party/ Tories/ Lib Dems with huge resources at our disposal.  We can't afford to as these parties do, pay for huge media campaigns; PR firms or leafleting/canvassing teams.  The SSP is Your party - and needs you to commit to something - no matter how small - to ensure our message of fairness and socialism is heard.

At the meeting we will also be looking at how we engage in local issues as well as wider campaigns such as the bedroom tax etc. 

The SSP are one of the three parties who set up Yes Scotland - we are key to the campaign.  

To read our arguments for an independent Socialist Scotland - please buy our new pamphlet which clearly sets out our case. HERE 

And let the world know about us by buying a badge/ poster! - HERE

Yes Lennoxtown

The Yes campaign had a public meeting tonight in Lennoxtown. About 40 people turned out to question panel members who included an SNP councillor, an economist, a business leader and an SSP member Sonya Scott speaking on the dreadful welfare reforms meted out by the Westminster coalition.

Willie Telfer, SSP member and union official spoke eloquently from the floor on the effect the coalition and the Union are having on jobs and also our want for a Government who doesn't send its young, poor men and women out to other countries to become collatoral in a fight for resources. What was made very clear at the meeting was that Scotland has resources that are being untapped because of greed and avarice of a bloated London/SE England centric political and economic system.

If you are from the area and missed this, Yes Scotland will be having another public meeting this Saturday 9th March starting at 2pm in Milton of Campsie Village Hall.

East Dunbartonshire Schools closures/consultation

The Scottish Socialist Party in East Dunbartonshire welcomes the protests against school closures and the extremely flawed consultation process in East Dunbartonshire and offers it’s help in this important grassroots reaction to the policies of Westminster that are impacting negatively on our local community.

The reduced budget sent north by Danny Alexander, Jo Swinson, George Osborne, Clegg and Cameron et al, is now effecting the future of our children (in the face of increased and much higher amount of revenue sent south).  Policy in Scotland, of not just the Scottish Socialist Party, but the SNP and Greens, has been to reduce class sizes and increase the ratio of adults to children.  The reduction of budgets has meant that the Westminster and local councils are at times quoting spurious research that goes against all that the monied class believe, ie, that small classes make no difference.

Cameron and his pals, pay large amounts of their accrued millions for the education of their children in order to ensure their children’s time spent with the teacher is maximised. 

In private schools, class sizes are as low as 8. 

It doesn’t take a mathematician to work out that the amount of time a teacher can spend on children’s personal education is vastly different from a child thrown into new of the huge superschools. State schooling is being reduced to “controlling behaviour” with overcrowding the norm as soon as the new “minimum standard” superschool is opened.  It is a disgrace that the Liberal Democrats and Tories are telling working class/middle class families that their child deserves to be almost chained to a desk in the cramped conditions 32 in a class with one adult overseeing, creates.  Huge, impersonalised schools go against the spirit of the New Curriculum for Excellence – a curriculum designed to help give a child a love of learning, a freedom to explore and child centred/led education.

The present East Dunbartonshire Council, a coalition between vicious, uncaring Tories and New Labourites who have damned us to the thievery of PFI/PPP (which is ensuring our council is paying a huge chunk of your hard earned taxes, on an annual increasing basis, to private profiteers) have been determined to make our parents and children pay ever since the Save Our Schools campaign – a cross constituency united campaign – won their case within a week just over two years ago.  We knew this would come back sometime mid-term in the Council’s life.

The Scottish Socialist Party realise that the demographics of communities change, but at the same time, if that demographic has changed in such a way that ensures class sizes are not more than twenty, then the local schools and children benefitting from this change should be seen as the model for the future.  Not herding children across the constituency to be lost in schools of thousands of their peers.  The Tories, New Labour, and the Liberal Democrats seem to think we should always drive to the bottom, and this has become clear on the English NHS, pensions, welfare and painfully in England, education.

Twenty in a class is plenty – more than plenty. 

Twenty in a class ensures an average of 75 minutes a week of a teacher’s time is spent with your child.  The present 32 in a class means 46 minutes on average (compare this with the private school average of 187 minutes a week – over three hours – are we really “all in this together?”).

Large class sizes are detrimental to our children – and school closures rather than reinvestment in some of the smaller country and urban community schools, ensure our children struggle and have an unhappy school life isolated from their community. Current practise in replacing smaller schools with super-schools impair implementation of the New Curriculum for Excellence, so disadvantaging our children. The marketisation of Education has disadvantaged many low and middle income families.

Research on lower Primary Years (P1-3) gives us much more to think of (while being told that because of our tax money being frittered on Bankers debts we must tighten our belts):

http://www.classsizeresearch.org.uk/results1.html (Department of Psychology and Human Development at the Institute of Education, University of London, UK.)

We were heartened to see the schools campaigners on the streets this weekend, the same weekend the YES Scotland campaign were campaigning for a fairer Scotland.  In an independent fairer Scotland, our children’s future would be placed above the profits of the PPP/PFI companies and budgets would be decided by people closer to where they impact. 

We urge all parents and those concerned with education to unite and fight the Tory/New Labour coalition in East Dunbartonshire Council as it places paying the increasing PPP/PFI bill above the future of our children.  Budgets should ensure maximised child/teacher time and space for children to learn.

To sum up - considerations for East Dunbartonshire Council and it’s current Education policy:

• The rising population in the country, and indeed the rising birthrate in East Dunbartonshire.

• The impact of closures on Class size. The need for larger classrooms, more “schooling space” – ie. indoors and outdoors and smaller class sizes.

• The impact on special needs pupils if forced out of building.

• The impact on mainstream children’s mental health after separation from their peers and established community.

• The financial cost of refurbishment/clustering/ sharing resources rather than closure/ building schools with larger populations.

• The community cost of closure.

• The impact on parents/children regarding childcare.

• The impact on implementation of the New Curriculum for Excellence.

• The impact on children’s journey to schools. Child safety – children should not have to walk/travel far to school. This also affects children’s health, and road safety as those who have cars will tend to drive them.

• The impact on education workers. The diabolical numbers of newly qualified teachers in East Dunbartonshire, and indeed across Scotland, without work. The numbers of other educational workers who will lose work due to closures.

• The impact on receiving schools ability to ensure “McCrone” can be properly operated.

• The impact of the flawed consultations and subsequent 22 closures in Glasgow has already been proven to be catastrophic.

Of course, the Scottish Socialist Party feel that the only way to bring power to communities in Scotland over their budgets that impact our schools, hospitals, pensions and welfare, is to vote YES in 2014.

Reform? No - TORY DESTRUCTION morelike!

- from Ron Mackay

I welcome the new Holyrood committee set up to examine UK welfare reform 'destruction' as reported by Robbie Dinwoodie. Unlike Tory Alex Johnstone, I do hope it “drives a wedge between Scotland's two governments. 

The Westminster government, run by millionaires, is out to destroy the welfare state. Whatever their words their actions indicate their aims. Holyrood, on the other hand, “appreciates the severity of the concerns on welfare reform”. 

 Reform implies improvement -  the Tory policies do anything but. Destructive changes would better describe the Westminster policy on welfare.

Finally Getting Hip to the Capitalist Ruse! - SSP Campsie Podcast

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New Banner?

We are currently updating the look of the Campsie blog.  We want your suggestions as to how to change the banner/ background etc!

A comrade from the SSY has created this banner as an example of what we could do.  If you have any suggestions/ advice, please email us on eastdunbartonshiressp@hotmail.co.uk

SSP Campsie AGM

Left Banker - WILL THE EURO FALL APART? HERE

CLICK ON IMAGE TO SEE LARGER VERSION:

Campsie voice No.7

Click on image for larger copy...

A new decade... Welfare - not warfare.

Letter to the Glasgow Herald:

We start the decade 2010 – 2020 with elections. With this in mind the recently published book “Democracy Kills: What’s So Good About The Vote” by Humphrey Hawksley makes some telling points. There will be elections here and in the U.S. Whichever political group wins most of the power will remain with the military industrial complexes. The U.S. policy of perpetual war is a world war waged against the rest of humanity.

Lies and deception accompany all wars. Your columns have included many excellent letters ( Ruth Marr, Iain Mann, Ian St-Yves and others) condemning Blair and questioning the Chilcott inquiry. We should accept there were Lies ,and indeed still are ( re Afghanistan ) and concentrate on efforts to oppose the U.S. policy of perpetual war to which our main political parties are committed.

“There is a universality of what people want in any particular situation even ones with different ethnic and religious situations” - H. Hawksley. People want housing, health, education and welfare -not war.

Hawksley also exposes “the double standards of the rich West’s own – and largely still unwon — struggles for economic and social justice on home soil.

We’ll , shortly, be deluged with the double standards in the political manifestos. Politicians will endeavour to ignore or excuse their acquiescence of the policies of war, but even the rich man’s Wall Street Journal acknowledges you can’t have guns and butter i.e. war and welfare. Let’s make it clear to the politicians ordinary people want welfare not warfare and ordinary people are the overwhelming majority.

Ron Mackay,
Campsie SSP

Two new articles from Richie Venton and Raphie de Santos

Cuts in Services, Jobs, Wages and Pensions to Pay for Their Crisis by Raphie de Santos

Landslide for National Postal Strikes By Richie Venton SSP national workplace organiser

Campsie Branch Join march to save Diageo jobs in Kilmarnock

Campsie Branch SSP, along with SSP members from across Scotland, joined thousands in a march and rally for Diageo workers fighting to keep their jobs after the company announced 900 job cuts across plants in Scotland including the historic Johnnie Walker packaging plant in Kilmarnock.

Reports from the demonstration on the SSP main website www.scottishsocialistparty.org/

More on the BBC Website HERE

Green Left Weekly has reached it's 800th issue. Campsie ranch sent a message of solidarity (see HERE).

Newsletter, June - September 2009

Campsie branch SSP Newsletter, June - September 2009. Click on image below for larger version...

Campsie Branch Minutes 13 July 2009

Our strategy breakfast in the Kirkie Puffer was great - really positive and frank.

11 Campsie members came along.



Congratulations and thanks were expressed to Mark for standing in Bishopbriggs South and also to Brian Pollitt for placarding our branch area.

We had a long conversation about the positive aspects of the election. Our focussed campaign meant six people have asked for membership forms.

The branch is going to have a 10th anniversary of Campsie Branch BBQ in Mugdock on Saturday 1st August - all branches and members welcome (and bring friends!).

We also plan a 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution information/celebration morning in Kirkintilloch - and will hopefully have invited speakers etc.

Next Saturday, members of the branch will go along to the CND demo in George Square... the Campsie banner will be raised against Trident.

Also - in October there is a Suffragettes memorial march in Edinburgh and the branch hope to be represented at it.

Our branch AGM will be on Weds 23 September in Milton of Campsie Village Hall.

A Newsletter will be going out next weekend to ex and present members of the Campsie branch on all of the positive things we plan and have been involved in over the past few months.

The Puffer was a great venue for this meeting - it was free and it was quiet and we had a wee nook all to ourselves.

Next meeting Weds 24th June, Milton of Campsie Village Hall.

Neil Scott
Branch Organiser

The Scottish Socialist Party are the only socialist party organising in East Dunbartonshire

Campsie Branch SSP Meeting this Saturday

This Saturday we are changing venues (for this month only). Rather than going to Kirkintilloch Leisure Centre, we are having our "second Saturday of the month" meeting in Milton of Campsie Village Hall at 10am. The meeting will welcome Eddie Truman from Edinburgh SSP, who will be facilitating a discussion/educational on Palestine/Israel.

We will also be hoping to go on to Glasgow to help out with a "Save Our Schools" stall - helping build the demonstration on the 21st in Drumchapel (see below for details).

If you have any questions about any of thies, don't hesitate to email eastdunbartonshiressp@hotmail.co.uk

Campsie Branch meeting

Campsie Branch meeting, Wednesday 25th, 7.30pm Milton of Campsie Village Hall.

We will be discussing the upcoming SSP Arran Conference.

Branch Meeting!

Next Campsie meeting - Milton of Campsie Village Hall - Wednesday night (26th November) at 7.30pm. Meeting should be finished by 9pm. If you are interested in coming along - please do! Contact us on eastdunbartonshiressp@hotmail.co.uk.

Branch meeting - in Holland...

Thomas Swann on his recent move of branches from Campsie... to Nijmegen in Holland.

As the film began, I was reminded of the cold and wet Saturday mornings spent in Kirkintilloch leisure centre with other members of Campsie Branch probably watching a John Pilger documentary or something else as part of our educational activities. The five minutes into the film it stopped and someone had to monkey around with the laptop before it would start up. Again, I was reminded of the regular Campsie Branch film mornings. This was my first real experience of the Dutch Socialist Party.

The film was 'Turtles Can Fly', the first film to come out of Iraq since the US/UK invasion. I'd been meaning to get in touch with the local branch of the Socialist Party before I moved to the Netherlands and was encouraged by the warm welcome I received from the local organiser and the other members who were present at the screening. The Socialist Party began as a small left-wing grouping but through a process of community engagement and activism has grown from having one member of parliament in the early 90s to twenty-five today, plus a large number of elected local government officials. It's been held up as the success story of the Left in Europe, and it is largely thanks to its work in communities, on the ground, as it were, that this level of support has been achieved.

Focusing on a few areas, including Nijmegen, where I am now living (you might recognise the name from 'A Bridge to Far'), the party organised projects as ambitious as offering free medical care to members of the community, and now claims a number of 'strongholds' where it has a base of local support. In a number of areas, again including Nijmegen, the Socialist Party participates in the local government along with other Left parties such as the Green-Left.

In this blog, which will appear most likely irregularly on the campsiesocialists.com website, I will attempt to relate my experience of Left-wing politics and activism in the Netherlands, and specifically in Nijmegen, to similar situations in Scotland, as well as comparing the general social, political and economic contexts in which these are taking place. But my research and reporting will not be confined to the Socialist Party, though as an organised political party which stands in national and local elections this will obviously have a large relevance to a member of the SSP as I am. Nijmegen is also one of the centres of Anarchist activism in the Netherlands and has a number of collectively owned bars and cafés which have developed from squated buildings to legitimate enterprises supported through low rent conditions by the Left-wing council of the town.

So, hopefully my next entry in this blog will have something more concrete than a simple introduction and will perhaps provide information which will prove useful to Socialist and Anarchist activists in Scotland, and particularly in the Campsie/East Dunbartonshire area.