Policy Motions passed at Conference

Motions agreed at the Respect conference October 25th 2008

Constitutional Amendment


  1. Amendment to clause 4.3 on elections

    Delete "by alternative slates" from the first sentence and delete the rest of the paragraph. The clause would then read: The NC will be elected by annual conference and will meet at least six times a year.
  2. Amendment to clause 4.6

    Delete "at least 20 members" and insert "at least 6 members"

Proposed by Alan Thornett (Southwark), Nick Wrack (Southwark), Ian Donovan (Southwark), Alastair Stephens (Southwark), Will McMahon (Hackney), Terry Conway (Islington)

Defending Working People

Conference agrees that Respect has to take a leadership role in defending working people, the poor and vulnerable in the current economic climate. Our elected representatives, candidates in future elections and branches have to start agitating around issues which will directly appeal to the people who will be most severely affected.

Conference therefore agrees that we will start publicly calling for the following demands and that Respect will seek to play a major part in initiating campaigns to achieve them:

  • A freeze on council rents for the coming financial year.
  • A freeze on leaseholder service charges for the coming financial year.
  • A freeze on council tax, parking fees and other charges for the coming financial year.
  • Pay increases to at least match inflation for all local government employees.
  • Maintenance of current levels of local government service and employment.
  • Demand that central government meets any funding gap. Money currently spent on the wars and socially harmful programmes can be diverted for this purpose.
  • Investment in a programme of council house building.

Proposed by: Abdul Kahar Chowdhury, Abdulla Almamun, Councillor Abjol Miah, Carole Swords, Jahid Ahmed, Rob Hoveman (all members of Tower Hamlets Respect. Also endorsed unanimously by Tower Hamlets branch committee.

Respect and the economy

Conference notes:

  1. That the current credit-crunch/economic crisis is a classic indicator that capitalism is a system that goes through a series of recurrent cycle of booms and slumps. Working people in this system therefore live in a permanent state of insecurity regarding their jobs and living st andards. Even in times of boom, recession and slump is an ever-present possibility and ultimately inevitable.
  2. That as part of its pitch for the support of big capital, New Labour propagated the idea that under its kind of enlightened governance, capitalism had done away with the boom-slump cycle forever. This is a fraud, and has now been exposed as such in real life. Hence the Labour government's terminal unpopularity.
  3. This has now led to a major crash and the nationalisation of large chunks of the financial system, in the UK, US and elsewhere. This desperation by right-wing, pro-market governments to save their system from bankruptcy by methods borrowed (in a distorted way) from the left is a major defeat for neo-liberalism and opens up a huge political space to argue for rational planning and social ownership and for ownership of the commanding heights of the economy.

Conference resolves:

  1. In order to maximise our potential in this regard, we need to play a leading role in opening up discussions with others in the left, the trade-unions, the anti-war movement and the environmental movement as to the nature of the ideological alternative we all need. We should stress the 'socialism' in RESPECT, and initiate public discussions of alternative policies, seeking to set up a broad-based think-tank body, a forum drawing in others on the left to elaborate popular, socialist solutions to the problems facing ordinary people today.
  2. Notwithstanding the precise electoral tactics we adopt for the coming round of European, local and General Elections, the content of our material must include demands for protecting ordinary working people from the effects of the current economic downturn, as well as more generalised material about the systemic causes of the downturn. We should be demanding g overnment action to protect jobs through nationalisation, wage rises to offset inflation, state controls on utility prices/nationalisation of utility companies, and support for all industrial action against the effects of the crisis. And whatever else is necessary based on the same approach. The content of our material should be: it must be the fat cats that pay for the crisis, not ordinary people.
  3. That this kind of issue should be as important in our material as issues like racism and Islamophobia, opposition to imperialism and the war on terror, the environment, etc. There needs to be discussion about how all these issues fit together, for which a broad-based left forum/think tank would be suited. But in any case, campaigning around these kinds of issues will lay the basis for future advances of the left, and the emergence of a real broad party, in a period that may be difficult in the short term with disillusionment with New Labour taking the form of a shallow20but broadly-based drift to the Tories. This is a passing phase: we as the most electorally prominent organisation on the left need to position ourselves to take advantage of what comes afterwards.



Proposed by Southwark Respect

(as amended)

Response to the crisis

Conference notes:


  1. That we are now in the grip of the biggest economic crisis since the 1930s. That this is the direct result of many years of neoliberalism, market deregulation, wild speculation and corporate and individual greed - as reflected in the obscene city bonuses. Government intervention into such a situation is absolutely essential. But the handing over vast unprotected sums of money to the very people who have caused the problem in the first place, as in the Brown/Darling proposals makes no sense. It was right to nationalise debt ridden and bankrupt financial institutions such as Northern Rock and Bradford and Bingley but it is not the answer the crisis. But control comes with ownership and the precondition for stabilising the financial sector is to bring it into public ownership and under public control -- including the Bank of England which was given the right to set interest rates by Gordon Brown in his first days as Chancellor. Democratic control over the economy through Parliament is essential if a further plunge into crisis is to be avoided.
  2. That it will be the working class and the poorest in society who will be made to pay the price for this situation though mass unemployment, continued wage freeze, cuts in the standard of living, attacks on the public services, loss of pension rights and house repossessions.



Conference therefore resolves:


  1. To campaign for the public ownership of the financial institutions.
  2. To support campaigns launched in defence of wages, pensions and jobs. To support the campaign against fuel poverty. To call for a halt repossessions on mortgage defaults and for the requisition of empty housing. To call for a halt to all further privatisations.
  3. To call for an immediate programme of house building, free home insulation, and investment in renewable energy to preserve jobs. We call for new and extensive investment in public transport.
  4. To organise a series of public rallies around the country to present this alternative.



Proposed by Alan Thornett (Southwark), Dave Packer (Southwark), Jane Kelly (Southwark), Liam Mac Uaid (Tower Hamlets), Duncan Chapple (Southwark), Terry Conway (Islington)

The Economic Situation and Climate Change

Britain's current economic woes (rising prices, unemployment and related financial turmoil) are inseparable from the dire ecological and social crisis now facing us.

Capitalism's profit-driven expansion has always treated our planet as an unlimited resource tap and a free sink. Under conditions of unfettered neo-liberalism this has led to unprecedented rates of depletion and pollution.

We are now reaping the whirlwind in the form of dangerous, potentially disastrous climate change.

Unregulated markets and employment conditions have also meant widespread super-exploitation of the workforces in resource industries, but huge profits for the bosses. The energy giant Exxon Mobil has just notched up the highest quarterly profits ever ($ 11.7bn).

We are also seeing increased wars by the richest countries against the poorest for the division of diminishing spoils.

Despite warning signals of catastrophe, such as peak oil, devastating droughts, floods, hurricanes and so on, corporate capitalism is unlikely to be changing its spots. In particular, it still has plenty of profitable (albeit potentially dangerous and unproven) techno-fixes up its sleeve to enable more or less business as usual. So Respect should be helping alleviate immediate social distress through campaigns such as against fuel poverty.

So Respect needs to work out alternative policies to the present unsustainable and inequitable juggernaut of capitalist expansion.

This would include measures to radically reduce fossil fuel dependency, such as:


  1. Huge investment, subsidy and job creation in the areas of renewable energy efficiency and conservation, waste reduction and more and better recycling.
  2. Organic farming
  3. Sustainable and cheap public inter-city and free local transport, and promoting a massive shift of freight onto rail.
  4. Curtailment and contraction of carbon-intensive industries and services, such as a moratorium on coal-fired power stations (without a thorough debate on as yet unproven and
    very expensive carbon capture technology) and
    on nuclear power stations, a halt to motorway and airport expansion, biofuels, over-use of oil-based fertilisers in agriculture, and reductions in meat production and consumption.



Respect members also need to be actively involved in the many protests and movements around such issues, such as the Campaign against Climate Change and the Climate Camp.

At the same time, the scale of investment and planning needed to turn the economy round points to the need to return the utilities and transport into public ownership and to nationalise the banks - enabling them to be run in the interests of co-operative ecology and human well-being, rather than competitive private gain.

Social ownership and control should also allow us to integrate our own personal efforts to 'reduce, reuse, recycle' which are important and do make a difference) with those of others. These need not then be cancelled out by the profit-mongers or the profligate.

Proposed by Islington Respect

Respect perspectives (elections)


  1. Respect was established to provide a left-wing alternative to the parties of war and privatisation; to represent those millions of voters whose needs are ignored by the established political parties.
  2. Respect's election successes so far demonstrate that, even with the unfavourable 'first past the post' electoral system, it is possible for the left to win elections.
  3. Conference agrees that it the priority for Respect at the next general election will be the campaigns in east London and Birmingham.
  4. Conference agrees that Respect should contest elections in other areas where20possible taking into account local and national circumstances.
  5. Conference recognises that Respect cannot, at this stage, present an alternative at elections except in a few places.
  6. Conference therefore agrees that Respect will seek to work with other organisations and individuals who also want to build a left-wing alternative, wit h a view to presenting the broadest possible left-wing challenge at elections. This could include electoral alliances, non-aggression pacts, joint lists and other such methods of collaboration.
  7. To this end, conference instructs the incoming National Council to make approaches to other individuals and organisations with a view to developing as much left unity as possible at elections and in between.


Proposed by Southwark Respect

Elected councils in large cities

This conference notes that:


  • That the governance of Greater London should be drastically changed.
  • The Mayor ought not to have semi-monarchical powers.
  • The Assembly should be made much larger and exercise the powers currently in the hands of the Mayor and his office.



This conference agrees to initiate a debate in the Respect on the form of elected councils in large cities with a view to having a policy well in advance of the next GLA elections. Such a policy should include the role of city-wide councils and local boroughs

Proposed by Islington Respect

Education

This conference recognises that the decades of educational "reform" by the Tories and New Labour have been nothing of the sort. They have been retrograde measures that have increasingly brought the market into education and have led to increased inequality and decreased democratic accountability. SATs, league tables, private Academies and the maintenance of selection are some examples of how the principle of a comprehensive education system has been attacked and undermined. A business-friendly curriculum is constantly being advocated and implemented. PFI and contracting out have featured as part of the move away from public provision.

Respect rejects this approach and supports the principle of "education for equality".

To this end, it recognises that the huge and growing disparity of income in the UK, (3.9 million pupils now living in poverty, up 100,000 over the last year) which is the main cause of varying educational achievement must rapidly be eroded.

Allied to this, there needs to be an end to the oppressive and divisive measures that characterize the education system.


  1. End SATs. To be replaced by teacher assessment within a framework of dialogue with the local community.
  2. All schools, including the independent schools, to be owned by local authorities. Such democratic control over schools should be complemented by a large input from local parents and the local community as well as by the school staff itself.
  3. A reduction of class size towards the level en joyed by the independent schools.
  4. An opened up and flexible national curriculum; open to innovation and experimentation to suit local communities.
  5. No to selection, an end to the vocational and academic divide, and an end to streaming and setting.


Proposed by Moseley and Kings Heath Respect

Climate Change

Conference recognises that catastrophic and abrupt climate change is a serious and imminent threat to the survival of human civilisation. Urgent action is needed at the international, national and local levels in order to counter this threat.

Conference further notes that, to be both effective and fair, measures to counteract climate change need to move away from market oriented solutions that penalise the working class. Climate change can only be challenged on the basis of collective measures that have the potential to benefit working class people.

Conference therefore instructs the incoming National Council to:


  1. Inaugurate discussions with other left parties in Europe with a view to developing a coordinated response to climate change, and in particular to support the campaign for the immediate construction of a pan-European High Voltage DC Grid.
  2. Campaign vigorously for the following necessary and achievable measures to be implemented within 5 years:



    1. The annual construction and installation of sufficient wind, wave and tidal turbines to add at least 5 gigawatts each year to the UK's capacity for generating renewable electricity.
    2. A program of useful public works to include

      1. The construction of at least half a million zero carbon high quality council houses per year.
      2. An additional half a million homes per year to be fully insulated at the public expense.
      3. One million solar roofs per year to be installed at the public expense.


    3. The development of a public transport system that is fully integrated, publicly owned and free at the point of use.
    4. Work to have begun on building the high speed rail link as proposed by the RMT.
    5. A majority of town and city centres to be car free.


  3. Encourage and actively assist all branches in building local campaigns for free public transport in alliance with members of the Green Party and others.



Proposed by Manchester Respect

Nuclear Power

Conference notes the British Government' s decision to give the go ahead to the construction of a new generation of nuclear power stations which will be built by private companies.

The government's arguments that this policy will achieve the objectives of guaranteeing energy supplies and tackling climate change are unsustainable. Nuclear power is neither carbon emission free nor could new power stations be built in less than 10 years, let alone produce electricity. Wind farms can be up and running in less than a year. The whole nuclear cycle from uranium mining onwards produces more greenhouse gases than most renewable energy sources, with up to 50% more emissions than wind power.

Nuclear power threatens the environment and people's health, producing enormous amounts of carcinogenic waste, which is dangerous and for which there is no safe storage solution. There is evidence of clusters of cancer cases linked to nuclear power production. The risk of devastating nuclear accidents like Chernobyl is ever present.

The government continues to pursue a nuclear energy policy knowing full well that this facilitates the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the grave threat which it poses to humanity's existence.

The nuclear industry is massively subsidised by the British taxpayer.

Decommissioning the current nuclear sites will cost more than £70 billion. The agreement the government reached with the private firms includes a get out clause for them which states they will pay "their full share of waste management costs" and "not the full cost of waste disposal". The government will in due course pass on the huge cost for waste disposal to the taxpayer.

Conference opposes the government's commitment to nuclear energy which will divert skills and resources away from areas that can have a much more significant impact on cutting carbon emissions, such as large scale renewable projects.

Conference demands that the government must instead seek a safe, sustainable, global and green solution to our energy needs. A combination of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency measures, which are safe and effective with proven technologies are available now.

Our policies on nuclear energy and renewable energy should feature prominently in our election material and leaflets to the public.

Proposed by Ruth Chapman, Jasmine Herniman, Percy Chapman, Marian Traub, Bob Chapman and Norman Traub, all of South-East Essex Respect.

Building Respect outwards

New Labour has seen electoral meltdown in recent by-elections and faces heavy defeat in a general election whenever it comes. The biggest factor in this is the economic crisis, which is set to get worse, and for which the poorest sections of society will be made to pay. Unemployment is rising fast, as are gas and electricity bills and food prices.

Building Respect has never been more important. Respect must reach outwards, seeking to develop a wider framework for united action with others on both the electoral and campaigning fronts.

Conference reiterates its commitment to work with all who seek to bring together a wide range of organisations, campaigns, tendencies and movements - including those who are not members of anything. Respect has sought to build relationships with key figures of the trade union left and should continue to do so.

The other key constituency for Respect is those working class communities hit hardest by the economic crisis and its consequences. Respect has to address their concerns and be a voice for them.

Conference therefore resolves:


  1. To build relationships with others on the left. This includes include left organisations, the trade union left, and activists campaigning on environmental and other issues.
  2. To campaign in local communities and in the unions and with others on the left on the issue of price rises, the cost of living, wages and in defence of jobs with the following demands:
  3. Full support for any trade union action to raise wages in response to price inflation or in defence of jobs. Increase the minimum wage to at least the European decency threshold. End the public sector pay freeze.
  4. Stop all further privatisations. For an NHS free at the point of use. No tuition fees for students.
  5. For a windfall tax on the oil companies. Bring the oil industry into the public sector.
  6. A big increase in corporation tax to fund a restoration of the value of the pensions and the restoration of the link with earnings. A doubling of the winter fuel allowance.
  7. For a major new programme of council house building. Halt repossessions on mortgage defaults and requisition empty housing. Bring the major banks into public ownership.
  8. Bring rail, buses, and the utilities back into public ownership.
  9. Stop the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the divert resources to public services.
  10. To join with others to say no to the fascist BNP; for an end to racism, Islamophobia, and all forms of discrimination.



Proposed by Southwark Respect

Trade Unions and Respect members

The conference notes:

That Respect policy holds that 'trade unions, democratically controlled by their members, are crucial to a just society. They are the essential bulwark against exploitation and abuse'.

That although there are still millions of working people who look to unions to protect their rights, trade union membership has been declining.

Conference believes that:

An increase in Trade Union membership and activity can not happen merely through initiatives from trade union leaders but needs to be built by grass roots members.

Many people who are new to left wing politics, especially young people, are not necessarily connected to the tradition of labour organisation.

Conference resolves:

That Respect should produce a booklet promoting the benefits of union membership and the practicalities of union organisation for distribution.

That accurate records should be kept of Respect members union membership, and that these should be used to coordinate Trade Union activity.

That members of Respect who are not members of a union should be encouraged and supported to become members and that Respect union members should be encouraged and supported to become workplace representatives.

That Respect should hold a day school for its members and supporters, with the possibility of broadening this is interest arises, where the politics and practicalities of Trade Union membership can be discussed.

That Respect should seek to organize on a fraction basis in unions where big enough and where not to align/engage with other left groupings to maximize the influence of the progressive left in the trade union movement.

That Respect conference will appoint a working group to start this process. Its role will be to coordinate relations with trade unions and those involved in industrial action, to link members in the same union or industry and to prepare for Respect stalls and fringe meetings at forthcoming trade union conferences.

Proposed by Manchester Respect

Convention of the Left

That conference endorses the following statement adopted by the Convention of the Left:

"We explicitly challenge Labour's programme of warmongering, neo-liberal privatisation and failure to tackle environmental destruction.

"We believe that there is an alternative. The wealth exists in the world to abolish famine and poverty and to pay for our essential needs; the debt-fuelled culture of conspicuous consumption does not produce a fairer or happier society - and is anyway unsustainable; and peaceful collective public enterprise is preferable to the private profit-making of the unregulated market and its escalating competition for scarce resources. The problem is capitalism, which produces only for profit not need, which destroys the environment and carries out endless warfare in pursuit of market domination.

"But we also believe that we must win these arguments. The Left is weak and has been repeatedly forced on the defensive. We must find ways to develop and promote alternative positive policies and demands - of peace, social and environmental justice, public ownership, workers' rights, civil liberties and equality.

"We must join together with all those seeking a better society, as an anti-capitalist left fighting for an alternative socialist society.

"Question Time For The Left

"The Convention of The Left therefore aims to debate alternative strategies that are critical of capitalism - environmentally and socially just, inclusive and peaceful, pluralist, tolerant - in pursuit of a greater common objective that benefits the many and not the few. We aim to ask ourselves the essential questions - the whole Convention is a kind of "Question Time For The Left" - and we hope to arrive at some of the answers.

"We also aim to encourage participation from below, not top-down platforms. We want to start defining new ways of working - so that we can join together in making policies, putting forward demands and campaigning in practice - regardless of the organisations (or none) that we may belong to or support.

"Participation in Debate - Unity in Action

"We are not saying that this means the construction of another political party. But we do resolve to find ways that the Left as a whole can co-ordinate action both nationally and locally wherever we can. We are not aiming to displace existing united campaigns, but to strengthen these and to encourage working together across the widest range of organisations and individuals.

"We therefore resolve to encourage the development of local left forums, where appropriate, and to support those already in existence, in order to promote discussion and co-ordinate united action across the Left, in an inclusive, participatory, pluralist, tolerant and democratic way.

"We also resolve to hold a "Recall Event" on Saturday November 29th at which we will seek agreement to ideas and demands emerging from the Convention."

Proposed by Manchester Respect

Campaigning against the war on terror

This conference notes that 7 years after the invasion of Afghanistan and 5 years after that of Iraq, the USA, Britain and other occupation forces have no prospect of a military victory or of achieving a political settlement satisfactory to them.

The current "quieter" situation in Iraq has only been achieved through a greater military presence known as "the surge" and erecting security walls that have reinforced sectarian divisions. This tactic is now being repeated in Afghanistan with the transfer of troops, incre ased aerial bombardments, and incursions into Pakistan.

The "unending war against terror", launched after the terrorist attacks of the 11 September 2001 is now even more clearly now seen to be un-winable, and designed to realign the world behind the political and economic priorities USA. This war has been callously pursued by Britain, the USA, and with the NATO in Afghanistan, at great cost in civilians lives (over on million in Iraq alone), the trampling of the right of people to determine the future of their country. The pursuit of this war has also allowed racism and islamophbia to flourish and been used to clamp down dramatically on civil liberties.

This conference believes that "the war on terror" remains one of the key political issues facing our movement for the foreseeable future. We theref ore commit ourselves to continue campaigning against this war by:


  1. Calling for the immediate withdrawal of British, US and other foreign troops from Iraq and Afghanistan;
  2. Demanding the immediate cessation of military incursions into Pakistan;
  3. Campaigning against further attacks on so called "rogue states" such as Iran;
  4. Opposing racism and islamophobia;
  5. Defending civil liberties;


This conference congratulates the Stop the war Coalition for its role over the last 7 years to build the broadest possible movement against the war. We resolve to continue supporting the StWC as well as working with other campaigns focussing on specific aspects of the war such as Iraq Occupation Focus, Hands Off Iraqi Oil, or the Coalition to Stop Deportations to Iraq.

Finally, this conference resolves to support the demonstration in protest at the 60th anniversary of NATO in Strasbourg on the 4&5 April 2009.

Proposed by Islington Respect

Communications Committee

This conference notes:


  1. Respect needs to reach as wide an audience as possible and that publications such as The Respect Paper, the website and pamphlets are vital to do this.
  2. These publications have continued to develop and are a great asset to Respect, bringing in members, funds and raising our profile.
  3. The Respect members who work to create our publications and publicity material often work together but there are no formal structures in place to make this process easier.



Conference resolves:


  1. These publications should continue to be produced and developed as an effective means of promoting Respect and the politics of Respect.
  2. To mandate the incoming National Council to establish a "Communications Committee" made up of the Editorial Board of The Respect Paper, the development team of the Respect Website (as appointed by the National Council), representatives of the Unity Publishing project (as appointed to the commit tee by the National Council) and a delegated member of the National Council. The purpose of the committee is to: coordinate Respect publications and publicity across the spectrum of print and the internet; To enable useful resources such as photos, logos and text to be shared more effectively; and to give Respect publicity a consistent look and thereby make us more recognisable to those outside the organisation.
  3. The Communications Committee will be able to co-opt members with the necessary skills and interests, drawing on the full range of talent within Respect. If a member has an interest in producing print or web materials for Respect, but does not have the skills, the committee will offer training (where possible).



Proposed by: Mark Butcher (Southwark), Jamie Chalmers (Milton Keynes), Richard Searle (Manchester), John Lister (Oxford), Terry Conway (Islington), Nick Wrack (Southwark)

Human Rights not oil rights

We request that Respect Conference 2008 re-confirms its support of Resolution 24 on the Respect 3rd Annual Conference in 2006 which states that the Respect is affiliated to the British Libyan Solidarity Campaign and supports its aims and objectives as laid out in the BLSC Constitution.

Since the passing of Resolution 24 of the 2006 Conference there have been significant developments between the United States of America, Europe and Libya under Gaddafi's regime. In 2006 there began the process of rapprochement between the West and Libya. Gaddafi renounced his weapons of mass destruction program and the US declared Libya was no longer a "Rogue State", Condoleeza Rice rescinded the US designation of Libya as a State Sponsor of Terrorism. Since then Gaddafi has made official visits to European Heads of States and has been visited in Libya resulting in the opening up of Trade Agreements, the signing of Memorandum of Understandings and arms deals with the UK and France.

However, we note that this has not lead to any improvements in the Human Rights situation in Libya and that torture, imprisonment without fair trial, disappearances of political oppositionists, and murder of individuals by the Security Forces still occurs. Libya's co-operation with the US and UK on the "War on Terror" has resulted in the Libyan regime sending delegations to interrogate prisoners in Guantanamo Bay using brutal torture including clubbing, applying electric shock, applying corkscrews to the back, and breaking bones.

The United States has allowed Libyan security forces to transfer two men to Libya where their fate is unknown, and Tripoli has been used in extraordinary rendition flights. It is also noted that while Gaddafi and his family live like Oil Tycoons, the standard of living for the Masses has deteriorated and poverty is widespread. The latest development between the UK and Libya was in September 2008 when Gordon Brown extended an invitation to Gaddafi to attend the proposed Oil Summit Meeting in the UK in December 2008. We call on Conference to support the campaign against the visit until the following demands have been met to the satisfaction of external Human Rights organisations recognised by the International Community and to benefit the Libyan People:

All torture to stop immediately, political prisoners held without trial to be released immediately and political prisoners tried and sentenced by the infamous People's Courts to be reviewed by International Courts, the abolition of Law 71 that criminalises anyone who forms a social or political party.

Respect also calls for the Regime to allow independent press and media and unrestricted access to the internet, and to allow Libyan citizens the right to assemble in peaceful protest.

Respect supports calls to organise a National demonstration against Gaddafi's regime in the event of his visit to the UK in December 2008.

We believe that human rights of the Libyan people come before the oil rights of the Gaddifi regime, western governments and oil companies.

Proposed by: Azeldin El Sharif, Lucinda Lavelle, Richard Searle, Abdullah Gawaan, Chris Chilvers, Kareem Ahmed (all members of Manchester Respect)

Students and Respect

The conference notes:

There is a generation of young people who have grown up during the anti-war movement, who have come across anti-capitalist ideas and been part of social justice movements such as "Make Poverty History". Many of them are open to socialist ideas but do not currently see themselves as belonging to any particular tradition and are not members of any organisation.

Whilst more students are being forced into part-time work by neoliberal changes in the education system, students still exist in a different political environment to workers in full time employment. This environment allows, and perhaps demands, a level of activism that is higher then in the non-academic world.

Conference believes that:

Students should organise primarily within University branches however they should not be considered as separate from the national organisation and must hold membership of the national Respect organisation in order to be considered full members of Respect.

There will be individuals who will participate in Respect University branches having joined Respect student societies but not the national organisation; they may well make a large contribution to Respect and will be encouraged to participate in Respect and become full members.

Student unions and the national students union (NUS) offer very realistic possibilities of winning elected positions.

Currently Respects implementation in the Universities and FE collages is low and that all Respect branches must take responsibility for helping Respect to grow in the universities. As respect has no regional full-time workers, members who do not work or who work part-time will be key in going into the universities to build groups.

As well as looking to set up Respect branches within universities, Respect members should be looking to follow the initiative set by the convention of the left and set up Student Left Forums to bring together the left on campus.

Conference resolves:

That each branches should adopt particular Universities or FE collages to target and help set up independent student branches within them.

Respect University Student Societies should be seen as constituting separate Respect branches as long as they contain within them a minimum of 2 full Respect members.

To instruct the National Council to set up a working group concentrating on developing student work.

This working group will have as its primary objectives;


  1. Setting up a database of student members.
  2. Mapping out those unis and FE collages where there are the strongest opportunities.
  3. Looking to produce materials and publicity aimed at recruiting University and FE college members.
  4. Looking at the possibilities of alliances with other progressive groups in universities, particularly with a view to winning Student Union and NUS elected positions.
  5. Consider setting up a national student Respect conference in the future.



That in the absence of student branches, local branches should aim to encourage attendance by student members at their branch meetings.

Proposed by: Chris Chavers, Kay Philips, Richard Searle, Joseph Kisolo-Ssonko, Roy Wilkes, John Nicholson (All members of Manchester Respect)

Venezuela

Since the election of Hugo Chavez as President in 1999. Venezuela has charted a course towards a 'Socialism of the 21st Century'. Winning 11 elections and surviving a US backed coup, the Bolivarian Revolution has produced tremendous improvements in the living conditions of the poorest sections of society. International solidarity has saved the sight of hundreds of thousands of the poorest in Latin America.

Having survived a US backed coup attempt in 2002, Venezuela has faced ferocious opposition from the US and a barrage of lies from the US European press. It has faced sustained political intervention from US backed political organisations and attempts to break it up. Despite the claims of dictatorship, opposition parties are not banned and the press which is largely virulently anti Chavez, remains free.

Despite this, Venezuela has stood squarely with the poor and oppressed of the World and against the attempts of the US to remake the World to s uit itself.

Respect supports the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela.

Respects calls on its members and supporters to support the solidarity work of organizations in support of the Revolution eg the Venezuela Information Centre.

Proposed by Moseley and Kings Heath Respect

Iran

Conference notes:

  • the continued threat of a US/Israeli attack on Iran under the pretext that the Iranian regime is developing nuclear weapons. The real reasons are related to the needs of US imperialism, not least its desire to reassert its global hegemony.
  • the reactionary nature of the Tehran theocracy, which is responsible for the slaughter of thousands of socialists and communists. It is using the imperialist threats to justify its clampdown on the struggles of workers, women, students, gays and oppressed nationalities.

Conference resolves:

  • to utterly condemn and campaign vigorously against the threat of war posed by US imperialism in collaboration with its regional ally, Israel, and to demand the immediate end of all sanctions and imperialist efforts to achieve 'regime change' in Iran.
  • to support the struggles for democratic rights of workers,women, students, gays, religious minorities and oppressed nationalities against the theocratic regime.
  • to support initiatives of campaigns such as Hands of the People of Iran and the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military intervention.

Supported by: Mark Fischer, John Bridge, Tina Becker, Simon Wells, Mike Macnair, Peter Pierce
(as amended)

Motions remitted to the National Council


Labour Government

This conference believes that despite the many failings of the Labour Party, it would still be preferable for Labour, rather than the Conservatives, to win the next general election.

Proposed by Swindon Respect

Fundraising

Given the pressing need to develop a fully-functioning full-time head office for Respect, including a full-time publicity officer, and the lack of resources that has ruled this out hitherto, Conference mandates the incoming National Council to initiate, as an absolute priority, a professional-standard fund-raising programme. Initially, if necessary, by systematically coordinating the work of a body of volunteer fund-raisers and subsequently, when resources permit, by recruiting a full-time professional fund-raiser.

Supported by: Patrick Reynolds (Tooting), Ian Donovan (Southwark), Duncan Chapple (Southwark), Margot Lindsay (Southwark), Mark Butcher (Southwark), Alastair Stephens (Southwark)

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