Re: Paul Foot on New Labour

["Richard Fidler" <rfidler@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Not to differ with Paul Foot's argument, but I wonder if the low voter
participation in the elections for the Scottish Parliament (49%) and the
Welsh Assembly (38%) is also a reflection of the essential powerlessness
of these assemblies, their budgets controlled by Westminster and their
jurisdiction limited to matters of merely local administration.
Arguably, in Scotland the voters did have a radical alternative in the
Scottish Socialist Party, but voter participation still declined sharply
from the previous election. And without a form of proportional
representation the SSP, which elected 6 MSPs, would have been shut out;
its largest plurality was Tommy Sheridan's 27% in a Glasgow riding.

Contrast that with the 95% participation rate of the electorate in
Quebec's 1995 referendum on sovereignty (secession from Canada followed
by a new association). The Quebec voters clearly felt a lot was at stake
for them, and took the election seriously. Meanwhile, voter
participation in the last Quebec general election (for the province's
government) was the lowest since the 1920s, around 60%, and similar
declines are being registered in all the other Canadian provinces as
well as federally.

The corollary of the lack of distinguishability between the political
parties is the electorate's cynical but largely correct perception that
a chance to vote for or against the governing party every four or five
years doesn't have a hell of a lot of significance in terms of one's own
personal situation. This perception is reinforced by the seeming
inability of governments to counter the ravages of capitalist
globalization, and the recognition that the anticapitalist forces are
simply too weak and dispersed to offer a credible alternative.

Richard Fidler

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>
To: <marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <a-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 6:42 AM
Subject: Paul Foot on New Labour


> Bribery, forgery and tyranny
>
> Paul Foot
> Wednesday June 25, 2003
> The Guardian
>
> One of the most pathetic noises in British politics today is the
perpetual
> whine of elected politicians complaining about low turnouts at
elections.

[snip]