Socialism - Independence - Internationalism
The SSP is Scotland’s socialist party that stands for the transformation of society. We fight to replace capitalism with socialism; an economic system based on social need and environmental protection rather than private profit and ecological destruction.
The SSP supports the Scottish Independence Convention petition for a referendum on independence for Scotland.
"Petition calling for the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to conduct a referendum on whether Scotland should again become a sovereign, independent state."
You can sign the petition online or print one out and circulate it amongst work colleagues, friends and family.
Check out the Independence Convention website for more information.
End the violence against Scotland's women and children
Women have the right to live free from harm, violence and terror. We need
to challenge those men who abuse, and encourage them to take responsibility
for their actions and to stop the violence.
The SSP has campaigned against domestic abuse and calls for many more services
for women who experience domestic abuse day in and day out. We recognise
that ending a relationship in itself does not protect women - out of the
110 women killed last year by their partner, a third had separated from him.
Scotland needs services that support women when they are living with their partner,
when they are choosing to leave, and when the relationship has ended.
We want children to be safe from abusive fathers and even when the father has
not been abusive to the children, the mother has a right to safety.
We support the setting up of accountable domestic abuse perpetrator programmes
throughout Scotland, with attached services for women and their children.
Rosie Kane, Socialist Women's Network
Socialist Women's Network pages >>
Read Rosie Kane on life in Scotland's only womens prison>>
Men speak out: end the violence !
The Scottish Socialist Party backs the White Ribbon Campaign
What is the White Ribbon Campaign (WRC)?
The WRC is the largest effort in the world of men working to end men's violence against women. It relies on volunteer support and financial contributions from individuals and organizations.
How did the WRC get started?
In 1991, a handful of men in Canada decided they had a responsibility to urge men to speak out against violence against women. They decided that wearing a white ribbon would be a symbol of men's opposition to men's violence against women. After only six weeks preparation, as many as one hundred thousand men across Canada wore a white ribbon. Many others were drawn into discussion and debate on the issue of men's violence. There are now White Ribbon Campaigns operating in many countries around the world. The UK Branch of WRC was started in 2004.
Basic Philosophy: Is our only concern men's violence against women?
We are concerned about all forms of violence.
Our central focus is on men's violence against women. Comparing violence committed by women and by men, the British Crime Survey notes that the result of men's violence is five times as likely to require medical attention. Women are four times as likely as men to fear for their lives, and three and a half times as likely to be murdered by a male spouse than vice versa.
We are deeply concerned about violence against children, which is committed by both women and men (although men commit most acts of sexual violence against children.) We are concerned about the many forms of men's violence against other men, whether it's in a bar, on a playground, or in a sports arena, and whether it's because of someone's skin colour, sexual orientation, culture, or simply because they looked the wrong way. We are also concerned by the comparatively rare acts of violence by women against men.
UK White Ribbon Campaign website>>
Scottish Traveller Community Faces Hatred & Victimisation
It seems beyond belief but the Labour MP for Central Ayrshire, Brian Donohoe, stood up in the House of Commons and said; "Those people have become a threat to the community">>
SSP member Colin Turbett has written a series of articles for Scottish Socialist Voice taking up the demonisation and marginalisation of Scotland's Traveller community.
Read 'Labour MP targets Scottish Travellers'>>
Read 'Scottish Traveller community marginalised'>>
Read 'Employment Tribunal Setback for Scottish Gypsy Travellers'>
Global Financial Crisis
A financial crisis which many comentators are predicting will develop into the worst since the Second World War and possibly the great crash of 1929 is sending shock waves through the world's money markets. Here we bring together articles that have appeared in the SSP's newspaper Scottish Socialist Voice explaining the roots of the crisis.
What do Wall Street and the City have to do with me ?>>
Between Northern Rock and a financial crisis>>
SSP Conference Success
The Scottish Socialist Party held a highly successful Special Conference
over the weekend of 29/30th March to discuss changes to our constitution
and elected positions.
This was the culmination of 12 month long consultation process following
a Commission established to look at the SSP’s structures and constitution.
Article by Indra Adnan on Guardian website>>
Scottish World Against War demonstration
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5 years of war in Iraq
"As this Parliament well knows, the Scottish Socialist Party opposed the
indefensible, illegal military aggression in Iraq from the beginning. We
did not accept the opinion that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11;
that was bogus. We did not accept that weapons of mass destruction existed
in Iraq; that was bogus. They exist on the Clyde—that is a fact—but
they did not exist in Iraq."
Colin Fox speaking in the Scottish Parliament, October 2006>>
Scottish Socialist Voice editorial, June 2003
"Several
months after George Bush proclaimed military victory, there continues to
rage a low level guerrilla war, which is escalating by the day.
In a vicious cycle of repression and resistance, dozens of American and British
troops have died in the period since the war was declared over, while hundreds
of Iraqi civilians have been killed and thousands more arrested.
For the US and the UK, the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’athist
regime was the easy part of the project of seizing control of Iraq and its
resources. The difficult part has only just begun.
Iraq may not be about to become another Vietnam or Afghanistan, but it is
likely to turn into a never-ending quagmire of violence and terror with corpses
of American and British soldiers and Iraqi civilians piling higher and higher
with every month that passes."
The Great Power Rip Off
WHAT
a difference a month makes in the world of British Gas.
On 18 January they announce that gas prices are set to rise by 15 per cent
for 9.7 million of their customers, and then on 21 February they unveil they’ve
made a massive profit of £571million .
That translates as the energy giant making £1,086 in profit every minute
throughout 2007, with profit per customer increasing sixfold from £5.93
to £36.
If ever there was an example of how companies like British Gas don't care about
their customers it’s this.
Who cares if a quarter of Scottish households are suffering from fuel poverty,
as long as the shareholders get a good dividend? This won’t be the last
price hike we see from British Gas.
They recently indicated that they’re considering introducing regional
pricing for gas - a ‘postcode lottery’ policy which will see consumers
paying different prices for gas based on where they live in the country.
The greed of these people knows no bounds, pensioners can freeze to death,
but it doesn’t matter because they don’t show up on their balance
sheet.
The Scottish Socialist Party stands for a Scotland where profiteering is taken
out of our homes - a Scotland where people come before profits.
Read Ken Ferguson on the latest round of power price rises here>>
Read Rising Energy Prices briefing paper here (PDF file)>>
People Not Profit
For public services, not corporate greed and profit
Scotland’s
four mainstream parties are fanatically pro-profit and pro-big business.
Their remedy for all of Scotland’s ailments is to encourage the private
sector to pile up even bigger profit margins.
The SSP’s
People Not Profit campaign challenges the politics, the
economics and the morality of free market ideology. It aims to shatter the
cosy consensus that accepts
poverty, inequality, greed and exploitation as a natural state of affairs
The SSP argues that big business is not the solution but the problem and that
rising corporate profits do not signify progress, but symbolise plunder.
People Not Profit campaign material>>
In Pictures
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Join and Support the SSP
We
are the SSP, and we fight in hope>>
"We cut against the grain of the political consensus, refusing to accept
that 'in the real world', millions must live in poverty for a few to live in
unimaginable wealth, that weapons of mass destruction must be moored in the Clyde
to keep us safe from weapons of mass destruction, that wars mean peace, and a
diminishing democracy delivers us greater security.
We fight in hope, for people everywhere.
"Our Ex-MSPs took only a workers' wage, donating the rest to the party; we have no career politicians in our ranks.
"Our focus is always at street-level, our aim being to build a mass movement to promote and develop the ideas of socialism. To put the idea of real equality, real social justice, back on the agenda. To make this a better world for the upcoming generation. Join us in the only war worth fighting - against poverty and greed, and for humanity and peace. People, not profit."
Find out how you can join and donate to the SSP here>>
Quick links: SSP membership form>> | SSP Donation form
The SSP's national office:
Suite 308/310,
4th Floor Central Chambers
93 Hope St, Glasgow G2 6LD
0141 221 7470
The Red Bookshop
137 London Road, Glasgow
Open Thursday, Friday, Saturday
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