[mobglob-discuss] BC NDP: "Loyal Enough to Fight for Change"

[Alan Ward]

BC NDP:

Loyal Enough to Fight for Change

    - by Alicia Barsallo, 
      2001 candidate NDP Vancouver-Kingsway

Efforts are being made to form an electoral coalition
to fill the political vacuum left by the defeat of the NDP
in the 2001 provincial elections.  It is not yet clear whether
such a coalition will be able to really serve the 
grassroots movements of this province.  But whether the
coalition does or not, the big player here is the NDP, 
still the party of most of organized labour and
of a sizeable number of community people.

What the NDP does or does not do will to a great extent 
decide in 2005 the fate of the people of this province.  
This presents us with an enormous responsibility.  

Will the NDP revive itself as a fully renewed and credible
alternative that can conquer the spirits of most voters in
the province?

Let's hope so, as it is only through an NDP majority government 
that we will stop the BC Liberals, and, as a province, we cannot 
afford another five years of BC Liberal pillage. 

Becoming a fully renewed and credible electoral option 
requires renewed politics and more open structures.  We need 
to show that we are once again the right party to fight for 
justice and community, in the face of corporate globalization.  

Becoming a fully renewed and credible electoral option
requires hanging on less tightly to our traditional
centrist stance to open the way for some badly-needed
linkage to community activists.  After all, is this not what makes
the idea of a coalition attractive -- the prospect of freedom to
construct and to boldly move towards the goal of defeating
the corporate right?

The BC NDP, with its solid government record in the 
areas of public ownership, health care and education, can 
give now what it would take a new coalition years to give:  
a down-to-earth perspective to appeal to the more conservative BC public 
combined with an approach bold enough to forge active links with
the myriad activists who have been saying NO to the BC Liberals 
in dozens of rallies, through recall campaigns, and on the picket line.

The BC NDP is right to raise its voice in protest when schools
are closed and hospital services are privatized, but unless its voice 
is also heard when a union fights on, nearly alone, or when the civil rights 
of residents of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside are violated by police... 
there will be the feeling that we need something else.

A new coalition seems attractive because of the promise that it will
stand with the people on the ground at every level without the stiffling
pressures associated with organized political parties.  Whether or not 
this would be the case, 
the NDP needs to become a model of openness and inclusion.  

We need to respect and empower our own grassroots to 
ensure our survival as a true mass electoral alternative to
pro-corporate government.  

We need to enhance the semi-autonomy of 
our NDP constituencies to become relevant to our communities' struggles.

We need to regain lost trust through significantly increased internal
democracy.  

We need to remove obstacles to recruitment.  

We need to respect our NDP constituencies and allow them
to take care of their own money and their own books.

We need to realize that "HOW we elect the leader" could be as
important as "WHO becomes the leader."  A party like the NDP, with roots 
in BC's rich history of struggle for rights and equality, 
must recognize the place that one member one vote has earned
for itself at this point in the public imagination.  

We must elect our leader in a way that stirs those politically involved 
and in a way that involves the house spouse isolated in his kitchen 
and the immigrant who hesitates to participate.    

There is no better loyalty to the NDP right now than to take seriously 
the questions that face yet another important meeting of Provincial Council 
this Saturday May 24th.  How these questions are dealt with 
may affect our very survival. 

There is no better service to the NDP by those serving it as members of
its governing bodies than to promote and enable the passionate and
enlightened discussion of a clear vision.


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