It is now three weeks since returning from the visit to the Midlands and with the return to school after the Easter holidays the weather has changed for the better. I have finished reading and writing about the Cruel Sea, participated in a NHS Patient Led Assessment of a Hospital facility despite misgivings about the process and purpose, voted to elect the new Labour Member of Parliament for the constituency of South Shields and spent the past four days delivering leaflets for the successful candidate moving on to Postal Vote reminders yesterday. I had planned to be out again today Sunday 21st April 2013 but on waking after a good long sleep decided I should rest and undertake some writing as well as some TV shows.
There have been two distant developments which potentially affect the people where I live, my family and others that I care about and which could affect their lives long after I have ended my self awareness.
The first event has been in the Far East and the position of North Korea and its comparatively young Stalinist type of totalitarian dictator although there is no pretence of socialism or communism with the state organised as a military dictatorship where political dissent is not tolerated and those who cannot be re-educated sent with all members of their families irrespective of their ages to large zones of hard labour and executed if they attempt to escape.
Three things appear to govern this country with resources to develop for the benefit of all its people on similar lines to the position of South Korea- the division between North and South and where the two countries remain officially at war since the ending of the hot war in 1953; the hatred of Japan which occupied the whole country between 1910 and Japan’s defeat in the Second World War; and the poverty of the majority of its people with starvation conditions when the harvest fails.
North Korea has one of the biggest standing armies in the world and is the country where all adults are required to undergo military training and remain reservists. The development of military weapons is the country’s first priority and they have nuclear weapons, presumably with the help of China and they are developing rocket technology, presumable again with Chinese help and possibly Russian technical assistance in the past.
Under their first dictator there was some progress in achieving comparative stable political relations with eh South through the creation of a industrial and manufacturing zone at the border run on a commercial basis employing some 50000 North Koreans and about 1000 others from South Korea with the products exported and bringing in substantial funds although the North Korean employees continued to received the standard state wages.
When their dictator died he was in effect deified and his grandson appointed the successor. Since then the West, presumably through the USA and South Korea and the workers allowed over the border, plus students and others allowed to travel outside the country have become the targets and possibly agents for regime destabilizing and regime change. China, Russia in particular and possibly Japan through cross cultural family links may also be participating in the attempt to bring the kind of changes we have seen in the former leaders of the Communist dictatorships. This is all speculation
Whatever the actual reasons for the belligerent talk and actions coming from North Korea, the consequence is that the leadership of North Korea has sealed its border, placed its army on alert at the border, commenced to test long distance rockets and commenced a war of words with what appears two intentions. The first to stop all attempts to change the regime and the second to get financial assistance to enable economic development on the basis of the present military and political totalitarian dictatorship.
The USA and South Korea having indicated a willingness to engage in meaningful talks which the South Koreans want to be approached with respect and acceptance of their regime. In reality we are now all in the hands of China and its influence although until stability is achieved the risk of some incident escalating remains the greatest threat and concern to the rest of the world. It cannot be assumed that because America has Obama as its President it would not sanction the use of nuclear weapons if South Korea, Japan or other countries suffer nuclear attacks however unintended or if small incidents lead to a hot war with an escalation leading to the use of weapons of mass destruction by both sides.
There has been less media attention over the past week which suggests the belligerent talk has had the effect of getting China and the USA to engage in meaningful discussions about the future of the North Korea and its need for modernization without regime change. It is to be hoped the latest crisis is over, but I fear the new leader and those who advise him pose a threat to the future of everyone.
The second development occurred in the United States and it is still too early to come to any judgement about its potential significance. Two bombs were exploded among spectators as Boston Marathon was underway killing an 8 year old boy and severely wounding his mother and sister as they moved away from the area of first explosion by the father who was finishing the race. Over one hundred people were injured in addition to those killed. One of the greatest man hunts in the USA history took place as the perimeters of Boston were sealed with mobility in the city curtailed and then halted after the photos of the two brothers were released seen with back packs close to where the bombs went off. The city was brought to a standstill after one brother, the elder, was shot dead in an exchange of fire, with one policeman killed and others wounded. Eventually the other brother aged only 19 and who had been raised in the USA for 10 years from Russia, although wounded from gun shots was captured alive and is under guard at the same hospital with other victims with the rest of the world wanting to know why and if they had help and from whom. Until these questions are unanswered we do not know if this is another example of how individuals in the USA can get hold of the materials to create death and injuries to many or something more sinister.
Within hours of the bombing a Fertilizer plant close to a school, a care home and family homes and businesses exploded after the plant caught fire bringing a greater number of deaths, injuries and greater destruction to a community close to the WACO horror of some two decades ago, another reminder that this is a violent and troubled and divided country with rampant capitalism, vast criminal networks, corrupt officials, racial prejudice and without an effective social and health care system.
And then I come to the local politics and the future of South Shields the community where I live and its neighbouring communities that comprise the Parliamentary constituencies of South Shields and of Jarrow.
Only a matter of weeks ago, David Miliband, the former Labour Foreign Secretary, and favoured candidate among Labour Members of Parliament to become the next Labour leader and Prime Minister resigned his seat in Parliament to become President and Chief Executive officer of the International Rescue Committee which is based in New York.
He has a USA born wife who is a professional violinist with the London Symphony Orchestra and his two children were adopted new born from the USA so his family will feel “at home“ in the USA as he came to do so in South Shields and London where his family first came as refugees from Nazism from Poland via Belgium and he and his brother, now the official Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons are among the half million British citizens with polish ancestry and in his instance also Jewish ancestry although he is reported as no longer being religious.
His father was a well known Marxist whose work Parliamentary Democracy was one of the first political books I purchased soon after going to Ruskin College with money donated by the Mitcham Constituency Labour party where the Wallington and Beddington (also Carshalton Executive Committee) supported my application.
David became an important world statesmen and his experience will be invaluable in his new role, but a significant loss to the UK and to the Labour party nationally and here in South Shields. Although until now I have made a point of not becoming involved in local Labour politics and only have had limited communication with the Member of Parliament where I found myself agreeing with almost everything which he is reported to have said and done.
David Miliband is known for his commitment to Britain’s active participation in Europe and I strongly suspect that along with Nick Clegg the Leader of the Liberal Democrats and presently Deputy Prime Minister, they would be in favour in a full economic and political union if opinion in the UK had not become so hardened against as one of the many disastrous legacies of former Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher who recently death and state funeral in all but name will have given a boost to right in the UK and to some extent to the Tory Party under David Cameron..
David Miliband alienated some opinion when during one BBC Radio Four programme he admitted that there are instances where terrorism is justifiable and it can be effective, but it is never effective on its own. I am not aware if he elaborated or was asked to explain what he meant by terrorism. I cannot support action by anyone against anyone who is not a non combatant, although in a war situation I am not against the official assassination or taking prisoner by a state against those who might not wear a uniform but who are key to the war effort by an enemy. If I do not object to my government using its power in this way, I cannot object in principle to my government’s enemy doing likewise.
I am only in favour of individuals using Satyagraha, non violent direct action against their own governments and who are willing to accept the inevitable action taken against them by their government. To take violent action in such a circumstance usually causes greater harm to others, including family members. Thus are the dilemmas of those who try and balance the idealism of youth with the realism of age.
Mr Miliband is reported to have been part of a group of influential labour Members of Parliament who were determined to ensure the Party moved on from the divisive conflicts between those supporting Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and who included the admirable Any Burnham in addition to his brother Ed and Jim Murphy.
Given his important behind the scenes role in policy formulation for the Party as well as the holding of several important Ministerial offices I remain puzzled by the failure of him and his brother to work out the best way in which he could contribute to defeating the Coalition Parties at the 2015 General Election. However I am not one of those who felt that because of his Internationalism, his Ministerial and other political roles he failed to work hard for the constituency or for the problems of individual constituents as well as for local businesses and interest groups. A feature of recent years has been the expansion and modernisation of local health and education facilities together with transforming the sea front and ambitious plans for the regeneration of the riverside and the town centre. This development has been borough wide and therefore praise has to be shared with the Member of Parliament for Jarrow whose constituency also covers the separate communities of Hebburn, Whitburn and the Boldens.
Last Wednesday week I attended my first ever selection meeting for a new Parliamentary candidate and it was an impressive event. First every step was taken to ensure that participating Party members were eligible to vote hat they were paid up members and could also prove their identity. Only individual members were eligible to vote so there was no attempt by interests providing funds or seeking influence to affect the outcome. The candidates were given the opportunity to speak for a few minutes and then answer questions which came from individual members and the Party and candidates were all asked the same questions. The ballot was a preference vote so on the basis that no one achieved over 50% majority on the first count the second preferences of the candidates who came last were then allocated to the remaining candidate and so on until someone achieved the 50% majority.
The successful candidate is Emma Lewell- Buck, a local councillor representing a ward in the neighbouring constituency of Jarrow and who in addition to working as a asocial worker, is the lead member in the Cabinet for adult social services. She is therefore in an excellent position to represent the majority of constituency, especially those who are being most hit be the recession and Coalition polices on public services and welfare benefit provision. Born in Shields she is descended from the man who created the first Lifeboat. I commenced work in support on Wednesday in the afternoon after the funeral of Margaret Thatcher.
Ed and the rest of the leadership had to tread a difficult path to avoid the trap set by Cameron had they refused to recognise the funeral attended by the Queen and her partner, quirkily former Princess, the Duchess of York among the guests of the so called great and the good as well as those who had done service for the former Prime Minister
I only have two personal experiences of Thatcher. The first as she was being escorted by the leadership of the Association of Director of Social Service before addressing conference and afterwards hearing their comments of how she was deaf to the role of social work and social services in society.
The second was when with the help of the then Member of Parliament for Jarrow and Deputy Chief Whip in the Commons for the Labour party, Don Dixon, now Lord Dixon, I attended a debate on the extent to which Cleveland Council acting on the advice of a paediatrician had been removing children from their parents into care under Child Protection Legislation.
Don arranged for to be almost inside the chamber where visiting Peers and other notables sometimes are allowed to sit and where he sat with me but inside the Chamber. Margaret Thatcher stayed to listen to the opening parts of the debate and I felt her eyes focus on me and ask someone close to her who I was, presuming I might be the Director of Social Service for Cleveland I speculated.
There are so many myths about her that I do not know where to begin. I was always with Lord Carrington who resigned from her Government because of the decision to go to war with Argentina over that miserable lump of rock and less than 3000 people. 255 British individuals died and close to 800 were injured without justification as well as 650 Argentinean deaths and over 1600 wounded in the war she chose to make rather that reach an amicable settlement.
It can also be argued that Neil Kinnock and Tony Blair did more to create modern trade unionism that her punitive trade union measures. The loss of the coal fields, ship building and steel workings was the product of changes in international trade and the general imbalance between wages, standards of living in the UK and the emerging economies and her failure and that of her government was the she did not help and protect those and their families who lost their jobs However my main opposition to her role was on the controls placed on local government and the attacks on public sector services although these were nothing like as severe in their impact as those of the present Coalition. She was an excellent actress rivalling the performances of Arthur Scargill. However the lady is dead and the important thing is to concentrate on ensuring the Coalition is replaced by a Labour Government in 2015. More on the candidates and electioneering if I can make the time.
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