[mobglob-discuss] "Who says the NDP cannot be competitive?"

[Alan Ward]

WHO SAYS THE NDP CANNOT BE COMPETITIVE?
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Our apologies for any duplicates -
by Alicia Barsallo

The taking back of our province, including the reversal of the tax
give-aways to the rich and the privatizing measures of the BC Liberals, will
be accomplished from below.

Only through widespread pressure from our neighbourhoods, before during and
after elections, will we make the meaning of the words “Fight back” clear to
our representatives in the union movement, the NDP, and the legislature.

Can it be done?  Of course it can.

It is true that most of our neighbours have only CTV and The Vancouver Sun
as sources of information; that most of them do not attend political forums
or rallies; and that we are suffering under an unprecedented offensive that
has hit most everybody at the same time.

But it is also true that dramatic losses can be turned into a powerful
political weapon.

Is it not the case that it is easier than ever before to explain why the
state must be the insurer of decent working conditions and of our children’s
education?  Is it not easier to explain the necessity of a fair tax system?
of strong regulations to protect our resources, benefits, and public
services?

Is it not the case that the collective imagination is readier than ever to
foresee how arid and desolate our communities are going to look when in
place of  the neighbourhood school, hospital, and grocery store a giant
WalMart rises up?  Is it not easier now to explain the nature of the global
forces that are taking away our livelihood?

Those who brought us the BC Liberals will pay a high political price if the
NDP’s grassroots choose to knock on doors to talk politics and organize
resistance.  Hundreds could enter the active political arena every day that
the BC Liberals are in power .  And the day when we achieve significant
social justice would not be far away.

Is it possible?

Think about it.  Bolivians stopped the privatizing of their water and
brought down the president though the arguing on the part of government
forces was being done with guns.  More recently in Argentina, a new
government, elected after numerous strikes and mass mobilizations, has
defied the IMF by refusing to pay the debt and reversing IMF-decreed
changes.

Door-to-door work with a clear plan of action turns us also, of course,
unwittingly or not, into direct participants in the age-old struggle that
silently takes place inside the NDP and union organizations:

Is it time to fight back or to adapt?

Our grassroots work places us with the more militant alternative.  We become
reshapers and rebuilders of the party.

So it’s up to you and me, but the NDP, with its 79 constituencies and its
currently about 14,000 members, CAN be “competitive.”  Join it and bring
with you the political freshness of a start or the experience of a life of
struggle.

_______________________________________________
Alicia Barsallo is a community activist and a member of the
Vancouver-Kingsway NDP Executive, currently seeking the
NDP nomination in Vancouver-Kingsway Provincial.
Contact the Alicia for Kingsway Campaign Cttee. at   604-879-3246
or at alicia_ at interchange.ubc.ca
Your ideas, help, and/or financial donations are greatly appreciated.
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- Jan 2004      Produced with volunteer labour-