some of you in nottingham will be aware of this Statement, recently circulated amongst anti-war activists in an attempt to build solidarity with iraqi and iranian workers. the initiative was started by a local member of the alliance for workers' liberty (awl), a small trotskyist group, as was clear to me from both knowledge of who the sender was, and the other people who'd signed it. i had a look and it seemed reasonable enough. i put my name to it, hoping that it might bring together some of the disparate elements of the anti-war movement in nottingham.

ho ho ho. you can't overcome the left's myopic sectarianism that easily! today i received this email from someone who i will only describe as nottingham's only maoist (i hope):-

People should be aware that this statement originates from the Alliance for Wokers' Liberty, a small Trotskyite sect. Most of the local signatories are AWL members or fellow travellers. They claim to call for an "end to the occupation" (of Iraq) but in fact the AWL supports the American and British imperialist occupation of Iraq. They are in fact opposed to the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq at present.
Also they condemn the armed struggle being waged by various sections of the Iraqi resistance. Don't sign it.

the line appears to be "it doesn't matter how reasonable the statement is, the people who wrote it are from the wrong place, so don't sign it". i'm not an ardent leftist sect watcher, so i have to admit, i'm not that up on the latest line from awl hq on "what to think about the occupation". however, from having read one of their pamphlets on iraq, they seem to have a reasonable guiding principle of: occupation = bad, islamic fundamentalists = bad, no matter who they're fighting. they argue for support for democratic secularists, which doesn't seem like such a bad idea. i'm sure this becomes problematic when they come down to defining who those democratic secularists are, but that doesn't come into the statement. there is nothing in the statement to suggest that it is in favour of keeping occupying troops in iraq.

not being one to be told what to think i felt it necessary to reply:-

Dear [Nottingham's Only Maoist],

I am unable to see any pro-occupation sentiment in the statement. I'm aware of the AWL's rather muddled position, however, I would be equally suspicious of those giving uncritical support to the resistance. Certain sections of this resistance are religious fundamentalists who would crush any genuine egalitarian democracy as readily as the occupiers. This is surely insupportable.

I signed the statement as an individual on the basis of what was written within it, at the request of another individual. I am not, nor will I ever be, a member of the AWL. I would advise others who have received the statement to sign or not sign on a similar basis, not on the basis of sectarian politics.

Sincerely,

[Dan R, who is Not a Maoist]

moral of the story - stay independent, and use your common sense not the party line (especially if you don't belong to any party!)