New Politics Initiative goes public

Can we build a new left?

And while the party brass, like Alexa McDonough, are stiffly welcoming the new initiative as part of the NDP ‘renewal’ process, there is no doubt that the New Politics Initiative has shaken the Party’s old guard.

Longtime NDP Member of Parliament Lorne Nystrom openly worries about alienating the ‘centre’ of the NDP by appealing to the new anti-globalization movement.

McDonough was more explicit when she said that while many young people have been drawn into the new movement against global trade deals, many more youth are altogether disenfranchised from the political process and that the party should be cautious about appealing to the young radicals at the expense of the rest.

Libby Davies joined Judy Rebick and Svend Robinson in a press conference on July 26 to publicly lend her support to the New Politics Initiative.

The news conference generated much debate and editorial space in the pages of the mainstream press.

James Laxer, himself a veteran of the NDP-Waffle of the early 1970s, wrote in an editorial that the NPI has little vision in the area of social class, the state and the United States.

It is true that the NPI is grappling with concepts like class and the state (indeed, in response to the Laxer editorial, there were dozens of discussion postings to the NPI list serve arguing about the meaning of class).

But Laxer’s conception of the need for Canadian nationalism against the US is wrong. In fact, for the NPI to appeal to the new anti-globalization activists, it would be disastrous to adopt the notion that "Canadian" is better.

Too many in the anti-globalization movement now thoroughly understand that Canadian capitalism is as much the enemy as American capitalism and have taken to the streets to demonstrate against both.

Whether the issue is Canadian-based Talisman’s role in the Sudan or Colombia, Canadian forest companies, or Canada’s refusal to outright forgive the debt of developing countries — anti-globalization activists oppose the corporate agenda regardless of its national colouration.

Desmond Morton’s editorial in response to the NPI was even more cynical and pessimistic. He noted the dismal showing of the NDP, especially in the wake of the NDP forming three provincial governments, but could only criticize the NPI for failing to have a strong sense of Canadian nationalism and develop a base of support, dismissing the support of Svend Robinson and Paul Cliche.

The success of Cliche in the Mercier by-election in Quebec represents a critical development within Quebec. It is to the credit of Svend Robinson that he recognizes the significance of that election in demonstrating the possibility of workers breaking from the Bloc Québécois and the Parti Québécois to support a left-wing electoral alternative.

Morton forgets that when Svend Robinson ran for the federal leadership of the NDP, literally thousands of people joined the NDP to support his campaign and, they thought, a new vision for the party. Unfortunately, when Svend threw his support behind Alexa without a final vote, many of those activists left the party feeling betrayed and cynical.

But it is exactly that sense of cynicism that the NPI is going to have to overcome if it wants to capture the spirit of anti-globalization activists.

There is a wait-and-see attitude that exists among layers of people, especially in the social movements.

And the anti-globalization movement has a right to be cynical.

Too many young people have watched NDP politicians change their tune on important issues.

Too many young people have watched the NDP attack welfare recipients, close hospitals and cut education funding while in government.

For the NPI to get a hearing, long-time NDP supporters will have to come clean and acknowledge those errors. Nothing short will do.

But if the cynicism is understandable, it would be wrong for the anti-globalization movement to abstain from the NPI.

Despite the ability of the anti-globalization movement to mobilize thousands, the movement cannot be satisfied with these numbers.

We are still a minority. We have to find a way to reach the millions inside the working class who, while sympathetic to many of the issues raised in the anti-capitalist protests, are not yet ready to become actively involved.

The movement must reach out to those who currently only vote for change and win them to a more activist orientation. An electoral party which understands that change does not come from voting in elections, but from mobilizing and connecting with working class people, would be an important means of pulling new layers into the anti-globalization movement.

Many eyes are focusing on the NDP federal convention scheduled for November. The debate at this convention will be important. But it is not the key thing for the NPI.

It will be extremely difficult to shake the hold of the old guard which currently controls the NDP. And that old guard will do its best to co-opt the NPI into focusing exclusively on a long process of "reforming" the party.

There is no guarantee that the NPI on its own will be able to make the kind of breakthrough that would pose a serious challenge for the NDP brass. For the NPI to build a real base requires activists to join the NPI now, to ensure that it is on a campaign footing right from the start.

The key to forging a new left in this country will not be determined by the November convention, not by a series of resolutions, but by the activity and campaigns of the NPI in the days and weeks ahead.

To endorse the NPI see: www.newpolitics.ca