On the failure of NAFTA so called free trade, what "we" have in common

This morning not many of us have slept well, who follow American politics.  So expletives and repetition of campaign messages are the first thing I've seen on twitter, and I saw a lot of things.

However what will remain in my mind is what Jo Cox MP would do if she had not been murdered by a man with links to far right American organisations.  Jo would focus on what "we" have in common.

"Don't mourn, organise"

As Greens one policy of Trumps we really like is his opposition to ISDS, a type of free trade deal which puts legal power in the hands of a handful of corporate lawyers.  Justin Tredeau (Liberal Party of Canada, elected under a similar system) and most of the mainstream media support these deals.  On most things the GOP stands for I disagree.  It's been said that UKIP only oppose these trade deals because they involve the European Union.  They would support it if it was the British state and the City of London behind the same ISDS type deal.  Ultimately this is a campaign we can win with the solid support of the left, greens, and possibly some UKIP, though UKIP members of European Parliament did not vote to oppose the deal last time.

What does this opposition to NAFTA mean?  For all of us it is about the world which we envision, that we wish to create.  This is a world for people working in manufacturing and skilled jobs, not a corporate elite.  When we win, we need to be talking about an Alternative Trade Mandate (ATM).  This clear plan is backed by many fair trade charities and non governmental organisations.  I would welcome a stripping of the language around this deal which is so technical and deliberately misleading.  However as we move towards Trump's style of rhetoric this must not mean a lowering of critical thinking standards and it must not mean a rejection of experts and academic study.  It is just that we have to connect with what what TPP, CETA and TTIP actually mean to you.  For me the agreements threaten things which should not be marketised: education for the young, the broadcast media for democracy, and continuing the National Health Service at a time that Medicare in the states is being attacked by misogynists and vested interests.  Here in Barnet it means the future shape of our Barnet Council services.

In his victory speech he called for America to put aside division get together.  As his fake anti establishment mate Alex Jones describes Clinton's ideology as globalism I am still trying to figure out what that means and how the world can get together.

We are Green!

my favorite volunteer

I got this email today from a new Barnet Greens volunteer in my constituency.
"I was a Labour voter, but to be honest Jeremy Corbyn's links with Sinn Fein  and Ken Livingston's Rabid Anti- semitism. I have been ecologically conscious since a child and I wish to stay true to my Beliefs."

Tube Challenge

At Dalston Kingsland with @sianberry @DirectionTravel & @filosofical_140 for #votegreenonorange overground trip pic.twitter.com/dPTifSrxV3

— Tilda Long (@tildalong) April 20, 2016

Yesterday I joined public transport Adham Fisher on the first half of his 10 hour quest to visit every stop on the London Overground.  My first barrier was at Hendon Station the machine refused to sell me a zones 1-9 (plus Watford) travelcard.  The Zone system and TravelCard would be abolished under Green Party's plans.
After lunch time we took the blue TfL rail line to Stratford and Sian Berry and her PA joined us at Stratford through to Highbury where of course we were met by transport geek Caroline Russell.
Caroline is not standing as a consitutency or Mayor candidate but you can make your vote go further by voting her for the Londonwide party list on the London Assembly.
Green Party - "Vote Green on Orange"
This morning I heard the soothing tones of Caroline Pidgeon, poor Caroline, begging Today listeners to vote Lib Dem on the orange ballot paper.  If she does copy our idea and tries to complete the Circle line she'd have some trouble at Earl's Court which is a building site, and she might face a few train delays due to the botched sub surface rail upgrade that she as chair of the London Assembly's Transport Committee is responsible for messing up.  However, there is probably no way of getting rid of her.  The good news is I've voted with my Yahoo mail spam filter, and marked her email about childcare as spam.  I never wrote to her about childcare, and on a technical note, if she is using Nationbuilder, she is literally paying for every email that is sent directly to my spam folder.

The other good news is that NUS have finally elected a president that represents students, not just the Labour Party.  You do not need me to tell you that the Telegraph article tweeted verbatim by Adam Langleben, and most of the stuff you get when you google her, is a load of rubbish.  I would encourage you not to click on any of these antisemitism smears; instead, twitter has some very favourable things, even from the horse's mouth.  I watched the video with my dad.  My remark was that if she hadn't talked so much about being black, she could pass off as Jewish.  My dad is confused about the student black liberation groups.  In this country the majority of black students are not Afro-Carribean, but they still call themselves black as an umbrella term for Asian, mixed race, and Arab.  The narrative of her speech, however, focused on the right to safety and to get education.  Safety is primarily from violence.  I don't think there's any other form of terror than violent terror.

A very satisfying 4/20, definitely worth skipping a bit of gardening work for.

TORY 'FACTS' ON ZAC ARE SO MISLEADING - letter printed in this weeks Jewish News

I question some of the Tory facts inserted into the full page advert last week, for "Zac Goldsmith: man of principle". The Tories have delivered, and will deliver, more air pollution not less, in City Hall. The Green Party candidate has received a rating of 10/10 from air pollution experts compared to Zac's negative rating. As for shechita and burial these are not under threat and they are just trying to scare you, especially as Mr Khan is of a faith that is committed to these traditions as well. I would question whether they are lying about police numbers. This election is not run by first-past-the-post so allowing the community to bounce out of our tactical voting habits and vote for what you believe in. Finally I'd like to thank the Jewish News for inviting a Green representative to speak the JW3 meeting. I understand because the time was moved later you will be hearing from Jonathan who is number 4 on the London-wide party list. (The leading candidate has Council duties that night). Ben Samuel, Hendon (The Jewish News editorial team kindly changed vote for what you believe in to vote for what they believe in, which does not make sense)

Why I'm IN

writing, as always, in a personal capacity! The story starts when I joined the Green Party a long time ago. I remember watching Caroline Lucas' speech at Glastonbury talking about what a difference Green MEPs make. Derek Wall came up and told me to join the Green Party and I said I've already joined. I made some compromises and followed the party line much of the time. I later found out I didn't have to be so cautious of having my own opinion. I first put my name on a motion to conference about 5 years in (against implementing local government cuts, it was amended by Darren Johnson and Green Councillors) and it took me a while to really throw my weight around. Now I am on policy committee and very high up in JfJfP so it's come full circle. On most things I try and adhere to the party line because it's just a lot easier to make changes by convincing people in the party to come around to my view. In turn I listen to others and are moved by what they come up with. It's my job on policy committee to make sure members have an equal say, including on this issue. When I first stood as a general election candidate I was asked all sorts of questions including about the EU referendum which had not been announced yet. Rather than state my party's opinion, and then my own, I responded that yes we want a referendum but unlike David Cameron the reforms we want from Europe are very different. That was my 10 seconds of fame, at Mill Hill residents association, but the truth can not be summed up in 10 seconds. My favorite hustings was actually MMK school, where the kids politely got a lot out of me and who could lie to or betray those sweet kids. But my favorite thing about all this is feeling I am making a difference, that my work is key to the democracy of the party. In some way my endless trawling through positions the Greens have taken on Europe means that whatever position we take collectively is the preferred one based on evidence from millions of conversations. In 2014, the year before the General election, I helped hold London Green Party's seat in the European Parliament. We also gained a seat in the South West of England. As far as I was concerned I did not really care who the candidate was or what they did in Europe. For Barnet Green Party it was a chance to do something and we actually ended up getting more votes accross Barnet for the Council, than in Barnet for re-electing our Euro seat. At the time you could call me Euroskeptic, not really in the "out" camp, I despise Nigel Farage's UKIP, as an anti-facist, but undecided or not taking a position. I do not think the EU is a top concern to voters like the NHS, affordable housing, or migration. What swung it for me was my trip to help elect German Green Party MEPs in 2014. I spent every day for the week that I toured with the German Green Youth and a French Green Youth, and spent every night campaigning. We had a few campaigns which we interchanged in the different towns we toured: -Asylum and Frontex -TTIP and GMO's -Democracy, Solidarity, Europe! -For people to vote for Terri for all these reasons and more (many had already voted) -Anti-facism opposing the extreme right wing parties. and finally -Same-sex hand-holding and the International Day Against Homophobia, followed by a trip to a gay bar Having a gorgeous dinner which I cooked myself from local ingredients at Effi's home, Effi asked how we could counteract UKIP in the UK and why the UK want to leave Europe. We talked about other things and German state politics, which the Greens were involved in a Green-Black coalition in the area. I learned so much during that trip about our shared European identity. I saw how our allies the pirate party campaigned to legalise weed (a personal stance more liberal than Barnet Green Party's) I have spoken to old members who remember the many years the Green Party opposed EU membership, and new members inspired by the "seeing green" and "young greens" leadership. In summary I like my new European identity much better than my old undemocratic British citizenship, if you could even call it citizenship. I would not go as far as to say I love it. But a vote to stay in Europe can make another Europe Possible; -one with an alternative trade mandate that learns from the mistakes of the Common Agricultural Policy and provides better environmental regs than being the 51st state of America would. -Solidarity. A union where I (we) could be part of something with my (our) peers from the Federation of Young European Greens after last year's climate mobilisation, we'll be mobilising at the COP22 in Marakesh next year. -Living in a democracy with free and fair elections, working with other democracies on citizens' initiatives such as re-thinking the prohibition of Cannabis. David Cameron says giving prisoners the vote makes him physically sick. Physically sick. -A so-called Brexit is what the rightwing newspapers have been campaigning for for all my life. Dictators such as Murdoch, Putin, and their far-right allies would be very happy with a "leave" vote. Even a narrow majority would give them a chance to further destabilise our institutions, our democracy, and return to nationalism and their very scary views on race and identity. The real scare tactics are coming from the far-right and always have been, to sow distrust with our neighbours, to make make neighbours hate each other, with stories about muslims and disabled people. I don't associate myself with everyone on this side of the debate, and I respect my 20% of Green friends who take the other position, but if there's one thing we learned from the Scottish Indy referendum, it's that if we play this right it can unite us as a party and lead to a surge in interest amongst a population turned-off politics before. Please head over to the website "another europe is possible" and give us your email address and postcode. We'll be in touch! Ben Samuel - Proud campaigner, Former General Election 2015 candidate for Hendon ________________________________ P.S. We've got a debate scheduled at Middlesex University, organised by Poppy 7pm March 21st. On the panel we have representatives from both sides of the debate. For more info contact Poppy or look on Barnet Green Party facebook. I won't be there because I have an other meeting, with London Green Party. However here are my views on the EU and the real reason I will be voting in the #EUref.

#limmud panel on theology, post -Shoa

We need to talk about one of the most difficult things, God.  Christian thought needs a radical new theology, 70 years after the holocaust.
One thing i have found quite shocking is the out moded idea that suffering and illness happen because they sinned and had it brought upon them.  We call this victim -blaming.
In Jewish thought, Emmanual Levinas is a useful philosopher who is shaped by the Nazi horror He lived 1906-1995
He said that the justification of suffering is at the heart of all immortality.
Dr Tamra Wright also brought a feminist response to the holocaust, Melissa Raphael - The Female Face of God in Auschwitz: A Feminist Theology of the Holocaust.
Someone quoted Whitney Houston "what's God got to do with it?" and doesn't see (the late Reform Judaism Chief Rabbi Hugo Gryn) "where was God?" are we asking the wrong question?
Could any of you envisage having this conversation in Poland? The conversations that follow are very depressing. In arts, should we remain silent about it or speak about it?
See also,
Zoe Waxman Writing the Holocaust
Olivia who works for Holocaust Memorial Day Trust says a significant proportion of events are based on rituals such as prayer.  We have seen genocides since them which add in to the discussion.

On Ken Loach's institutional antisemitism

I have not read the BDS letter in the Guardian but learning of it in Jewish News, I disagree with the move against the modern day equivalent of the Hebrew Bible. I supported Israeli film from the beginning. In my student years I saw "Turn Left" a film with the Union of Jewish Studies about a family Indian immigrants to Israel. On my last trip to Israel I discovered the subsidised film industry that made "Fla'ot" a film about gangsters that kidnap a Rabbi they believe to have magical powers. Students at Sussex continue to celebrate the feminist film focusing around a bizarre check-point mix up, Israel's answer to Hollywood's "trading places". Other anti-cuts activists make it impossible for many young people to have a proud Jewish Left-wing identity. I have not read Ken Loach's letter to the Guardian but I saw his film "The Spirit of '45" which of course ignores the pioneering work of socialists in Israel-Palestine under the British Mandate. If it were not for subsidies from the state of Israel to Hebrew film it would be as dead as Elstree's film industry. I am not a big film buff but I hope any up-coming London politicians will keep their promise to oppose divisive boycotts recognise how essential SERET film festival is to our culture.
Ben Samuel, via email

Meeting with London Jewish Forum last night.

"#Jazz is... a dialogue....a conversation Celebrate Intl #JazzDay April 30 @UNESCO @UN @herbiehancock" "We can not change the past. We can and must change our future." There was a full Sol Cohen Hall, with 5 candidates and Steven Rosenthal chairing. He gave us only 90 seconds introduction: The Tory went about 15 seconds over! Dr Offord called the election "important" and evoked the campaign poster of the road or path to recovery or as we like to point out ruin. He spoke about the "right to buy" (hallowed be thy name). Andrew Dismore said there is a clear choice, and that you know who you can trust. I followed the UKIP guys intro and showed him that I agree totally that I support a points based immigration system. I hope that will dispel some myths about the Green Party being for totally open borders in the short to medium term, because I am really shocked how UKIP seem to attract support in the local community given that everyone knows what they stand for / against. I spoke of my connection with the community, and one issue I hoped (in vain) the 2 main parties will touch on tonight, climate change, which I claimed is a bigger international threat than terrorism, that effects us all. I hoped that one of the party leaders might offer my generation hope as the 2015 climate talks loomed. The first question was on Mansion tax, from Charles who's new to Hendon, and Scotland. In a killer last minute twist Alisdair Hill (LD) revealed he's originally Scottish! boo! The question was aimed at Andrew Dinsmore. An other first question was on the NHS. I stated that we would raise lots of money from legalising cannabis and taxing it (I think that is the logical conclusion of the Green Party's actual policy, to have an evidenced-based review and decriminalisation, my party colleagues don't all agree with my very liberal view). The UKIP's line about TB went down quite badly, and an other Jewish doctor (God bless) refuted that this room would be empty if a 1945 government had taken that attitude. Sam an other Hendon first-timer, asked about defence & nukes. I answered first, pointing out the cost of something that will never be used, then re-iterating what I said in the Barnet Press a few weeks back, that the UK has to import its nuclear materials because none of it is under our soil. Andrew said we only have 2 aircraft down from 10 squadrons under Labour, and he therefore opposes the idea of spending such vast sums on Trident. Benji who works for a hedge fund but says he works for a housing association made a point about Ed Miliband being more left-wing than the previous incarnation. There was an other question from Colin Savoy "Please tell us about Israel" a lovely open question other than the fact it was aimed at Andrew, the questioner stating that voting for Ed Miliband this time would be obviously like turkeys voting for Christmas. Jay Stoll then followed up with a question on what I had quoted verbatim from the 2015 Green Party Manifesto. Matthew Offord muttered something about Universal Juristiction and Mike Frier resigning from the government over recognition of Palestine and got in to a bit of ping pong with his neo Labour opponent. I did a face-palm action. Jay wanted to know why Israel was listed next to Saudi Arabia as a human rights abuser. Mr Benjamin who is the Hendon deputy on the Board of Deputies asked about Kashmir in 1947 and the precedent that set for a 2 state solution. I responded that I know about Kashmir from the London Young Greens. There was a question about cuts and keeping the aid budget, from Richard at WJR. I said we support the SDG's and would aim for 1% "GDP". Matthew offered mentioned Justine Greening, the first time he has said anything good about a woman ever. Dina Jacobson asked something, and then Susan a homeowner asked why the Tories want to give away homes to council tenants when she worked hard and they didn't… I told her what we would do for home owners, cut VAT on refurbishment as recommended by the master builders. In 1 minute closing speech I re-iterated climate change (no other party mentioned it), and FGM and religious freedom, violence against women. I prayed for a clean campaign.