I watched the BBC Welsh Leaders debate last night. There were only two parties who were different.. One was the Green party the other UKIP. Both parties spoke outside the debate. The Greens spoke from a wider perspective, Alice Hooker-Stroud raised the bigger issues, she asked why could there not be alternative options for ownership of Port Talbot Steel, why could there not be ownership by the workers, why could we not nationalise? She asked wider questions about Health, about Education about how we live.
I saw growing incomprehension about these issues on the faces of the other 5. I was reminded of Francis Bacon's comments about the ant. The ant collects minute bits of information but never puts them together as a collective whole until told to do so.. Kirsty Williams must take the prize for being the busiest Ant with a vast range of leaves and berries but she never took them anywhere apart from saying she was sorry for what the Lib Dems had done and that she understood that they had learnt a great deal.
I should be fair to Leanne wood she was Francis Bacon's spider she constructed a a coherent policy that was interesting. Yet she did not take it further she merely constructed a rational arrangement of Plaids' policies and weaved together a garment that combined the outlook of the culturalists with a thin layer of the Ecosocialists. But it was a sadly thin gruel.
UKIP and Nathan Gill appals me, but I am afraid that will not stop people voting for them. Everything was down to the matter of immigration, of the EU. Gill was able to touch all the buttons to maximise his support. He was able to link all of the emotional points to achieve his ends. I loathe him, his simplicity and the hatred and fear he uses. But that will not be enough to stop UKIP bursting in to the Assembly. It will be only in the glare of publicity that they will be seen for what they are..but that will be after the election next Thursday.
Francis Bacon's last character was the Honey Bee it collects information, it analyses and it transforms what it discovers. Alice Hooker Stoud gave us the meta model of what must be done. Activists like Emma Knight a formidable campaigner in the Melin area of Neath and Lisa Rapado the Constituency Candidate for Neath will provide an active campaigning presence on the ground that will lead to a longer lasting, radical community based force. There may well be enough luck, opportunity and savvy knowledge to break through next Thursday. Alice raised the Regional vote Vote issue in her opening statement it may well be enough. However had we begun the Regional Vote argument earlier I would be more confident. Lisa Rapado`s leaflet begins “I'm Lisa, a working class, Welsh speaking mum of two. As a trade unionist and a seasoned campaigner campaigner I care deeply about the disadvantaged.” We have enough middle class ecosocialists like myself we need to spread out in the communities. We have won the Social media element of the debate, raised the big issues but we must work in the communities of Wales now.
Long after UKIP has been sent to the dustbin of History we will be here. The important future is to combine a meta critique of Society with a community campaigning base. But that base must be part of a clear Welsh Identity and an Independent Welsh Green party with the aim of an independent Wales.
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