Difference between revisions of "Compass"

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Compass is described on its website as "the influential left of centre pressure group".<ref>[http://www.compassonline.org.uk/ Home page], Compass website, accessed 19 April 2009</ref> The website states, "The organisation is run by an annually elected Management Committee and relevant officers to oversee the actions of Compass".<ref>[http://www.compassonline.org.uk/about/index.asp About Compass], Compass website, accessed 19 April 2009</ref>  
 
Compass is described on its website as "the influential left of centre pressure group".<ref>[http://www.compassonline.org.uk/ Home page], Compass website, accessed 19 April 2009</ref> The website states, "The organisation is run by an annually elected Management Committee and relevant officers to oversee the actions of Compass".<ref>[http://www.compassonline.org.uk/about/index.asp About Compass], Compass website, accessed 19 April 2009</ref>  
  
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==People==
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==People 2006-2007==
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The officers elected for the year 2006/2007 were:
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[[Neal Lawson]], Chair | [[Meg Russell]], Vice Chair | [[Mark Cooke]], Treasurer | [[Gavin Hayes]], National Organiser | [[Zoe Williams]], Campaigns Officer (joined July 2006) | [[Jon Trickett]], Campaign Manager for the 'Choose Change'<ref>Compass email 30 October 2007</ref> | [[Jon Cruddas]] MP <ref>Compass email 30 October 2007 states Cruddas will run on Compass campaign in Parliament and that he has co-authored an article with Neal Lawson.</ref> | [[Helen Jackson]] | [[Colin Crouch]] | [[Miranda Grell]] | [[Willie Sullivan]] Compass Scotland | [[Alan Finlayson]] Compass Wales | [[Dan Hodges]] (co-opted)  | [[Chuka Umunna]] (co-opted)
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*[[Neal Lawson]] &ndash; Chair
+
==People 2010==
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*[[Meg Russell]] &ndash; Vice Chair  
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[[Neal Lawson]] (Chair) |  [[Sue Goss]] (Vice Chair) | [[Mark Cooke]] (Treasurer) | [[ Meg Russell]] |  [[Chuka Umunna]] | [[Sam Tarry]] |  [[Jenna Khalfan]] | [[Willie Sullivan]] (Scottish Rep) |  [[Ben Folley]] | Gemma Tumelty (co-opted) |  [[Joy Johnson]] (co-opted) | [[Jon Cruddas]] MP (Parliamentary Rep);[[ Andy Howell]] (co-opted) | [[Noel Hatch]] (Compass Youth) | [[Matthew Hall]] (Welsh Rep) | [[David Ritter]] (co-opted) |  [[Gavin Hayes]] is the General Secretary of Compass, he also serves the committee as its Secretary but as a full-time member of staff does not have voting rights.<ref>Compass, [http://www.compassonline.org.uk/about/index.asp About Compass], Compass, Accessed 17-July-2010</ref>
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*[[Mark Cooke]] &ndash; Treasurer
 
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*[[Gavin Hayes]] &ndash; National Organiser
 
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*[[Zoe Williams]] &ndash; Campaigns Officer (joined July 2006)
 
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*[[Jon Trickett]], MP &ndash; Campaign Manager for the 'Choose Change'<ref>Compass email 30 October 2007</ref>
 
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*[[Jon Cruddas]] MP <ref>Compass email 30 October 2007 states Cruddas will run on Compass campaign in Parliament and that he has co-authored an article with Neal Lawson.</ref>
 
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*[[Helen Jackson]]  
 
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*[[Colin Crouch]]  
 
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*[[Miranda Grell]]
 
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*[[Willie Sullivan]] Compass Scotland  
 
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*[[Alan Finlayson]] Compass Wales  
 
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*[[Dan Hodges]] (co-opted)  
 
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*[[Chuka Umunna]] (co-opted)
 
−
 
 
 
==Analysts or policy researchers==
 
==Analysts or policy researchers==
 
*[[Robert Jupe]] (author of ThinkPiece 9)<ref> Compass, [http://clients.squareeye.com/uploads/compass/ctp9railrobertjupe.pdf ThinkPiece 9], Accessed 27-March-2009</ref>
 
*[[Robert Jupe]] (author of ThinkPiece 9)<ref> Compass, [http://clients.squareeye.com/uploads/compass/ctp9railrobertjupe.pdf ThinkPiece 9], Accessed 27-March-2009</ref>
 
*[[Martin Yarnit]] (author of ThinkPiece 10) <ref>Compass,[http://clients.squareeye.com/uploads/compass/ctp10educationmartinyarnit.pdf ThinkPiece 10], Accessed 27-March-2009</ref>
 
*[[Martin Yarnit]] (author of ThinkPiece 10) <ref>Compass,[http://clients.squareeye.com/uploads/compass/ctp10educationmartinyarnit.pdf ThinkPiece 10], Accessed 27-March-2009</ref>
 +
==History==
 +
[[Jonathon Rutherford]] describes the formation of Compass in 2005:
 +
: Shortly after the 2005 general election, the pressure group Compass assembled more than 100 academics and policymakers as part of its programme for renewal. It drew on think-tanks, its own membership and networks of scholars including many associated with the journals Renewal and Soundings . It has been one of the most systematic and rigorous attempts in recent decades to rethink and renew a democratic Left politics of freedom, equality and solidarity.<ref>Jonathon Rutherford, [http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=205530&sectioncode=26 Labour's lost love], Time Higher Education, 22-September-2006, Accessed 17-July-2010</ref>
  
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==Compass Conference 2006 -- some impressions==
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==Compass Conference 2006 ==
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===The organizers===
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According to a report from Paul de Rooij the Compass 2006 conference was designed to discuss ways to reinvigorate a Labour Party who did not expect to win the next election. The conference began with speeches from [[Neal Lawson]], [[Derek Simpson]] and [[Ed Balls]]. According to the report “Participants were then given Participants were given a form wherein they could enter their three main concerns, and a compilation of these would be the basis for the impending Compass manifesto”. A debate about nuclear power followed and De Rooij argues that “the reaction from some of the participants was that the conference felt like a "top-down" exercise organized by people who had been responsible for alienating them from politics early in the new Labour government after the 1997 election”.<ref>Paul De Rooij, [http://www.spinwatch.org/-articles-by-category-mainmenu-8/48-lobbying/256-compass-new-labour-morphs-into-new-new-labour Compass - New Labour morphs into new New Labour], Spinwatch, 20-June-2006</ref>
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The attraction of the [[Compass]] conference was that a range of issues pertaining the left would be discussed, and a "way forward" would be outlined to stem the rot of the Labour party which even the conference organizers saw as heading to a major defeat in the next election. [[Neal Lawson]], Compass director, kicked off the conference by talking in terms of a left perspective, and directions the left should take. [[Derek Simpson]], from [[Amicus]], provided some useful commentary about the state of the left in the UK, and the role of the unions in Labour's future. The introduction was then wrapped up by [[Ed Balls]], MP, who delivered a speech one would have expected to hear at a Labour party conference. What was disconcerting about the crowd was their penchant to applaud when key phrases were expressed by speakers at the plenary meeting; it wasn’t too difficult to jerk them around.
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Amongst the think tanks attending the conference were [[Democratiya]], [[Engage]], and the [[Euston Manifesto]] who according to De Rooij had a single issue focus, the issue being “defence of Israel”. Seminars included “The UN's responsibility to protect - how can we prevent another Rwanda?" and "Human Security: A new approach to Foreign Policy". The original Compass manifesto was comprised of the results of the 2006 conference. <ref>Paul De Rooij, [http://www.spinwatch.org/-articles-by-category-mainmenu-8/48-lobbying/256-compass-new-labour-morphs-into-new-new-labour Compass - New Labour morphs into new New Labour], Spinwatch, 20-June-2006</ref>
 +
==Compass Conference 2009==
 +
The Compass 2009 conference was entitled “No Turning Back: Visions, policies and campaigns for the good society,”. According to Paul Mitchell “Speaker after speaker described how deep the economic crisis has become and how far support for the Labour Party had collapsed”. Mitchell’s account of the conference showed that the participants argued that there could be no “turning back” to neo-liberal free market policies. Mitchell describes how this acted as “a preamble to insisting that there was no possible socialist alternative”. He demonstrated this by pointing to the title of a seminar sponsored by the [[Tribune group]], which was entitled, “What type of capitalism do we want now?”
 +
John Hilary of War on Want argued that:
 +
:”Britain had been in the forefront of trade liberalisation and deregulation, which had given more power to corporations and it, more than any other country, had pushed for privatisation and used aid money to force it on the world’s poor. Labour had sided with oppressors against the oppressed, particularly in Palestine where the government had “rewarded” Israeli governments “every step of the way” with arms deals and preferential trade arrangements”.
 +
The conference included speeches by [[Harriet Harman]], [[Caroline Lucas]] and [[Neal Lawson]]. Lawson told the conference, “We’re in a mess. It’s the end of the road for New Labour.” Mitchell concluded that:
 +
:”The miserable response by Compass confirms that that there is no possibility of a left-wing opposition developing within Labour’s ranks that in any way sets out to defend the interests of working people”.<ref>Paul Mitchell, [http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jun2009/comp-j18.shtml Britain: Labour’s Compass group plans its efforts to save capitalism], World Socialist Website, 18-June-2009</ref>
  
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Neal Lawson returned to the podium and stated that the conference was meant to spark a "debate" about where the left in Britain would go, and that the interaction of the members would generate recommendations that would be entered in Compass's manifesto that will be produced after the conference.  Participants were given a form wherein they could enter their three main concerns, and a compilation of these would be the basis for the impending Compass manifesto.
 
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The plenary meeting was concluded with a "debate" about renewable energy vs. nuclear power, and the conference attendees could submit a form "for or against the motion".  Ten minutes of this "debate" were meant to set the stage for the remainder of the conference.
 
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The reaction from some of the participants was that the conference felt like a "top-down" exercise organized by people who had been responsible for alienating them from politics early in the new Labour government after the 1997 election.  The conference seemed like a jamboree for several think tanks to present their mini-agendas with the hope of adding their positions into an overall new-New-Labour platform (seen as a [[Gordon Brown]] agenda).  The conference organizers will compile the views of several of the participating organizations' positions and incorporate them into a forthcoming joint position in the Compass manifesto.
 
  
 
===Opening Plenary speeches===
 
===Opening Plenary speeches===
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*[http://www.compassonline.org.uk/uploads/documents/NealLawsonCompassNC06Speech.doc Neal Lawson Speech]
 
*[http://www.compassonline.org.uk/uploads/documents/NealLawsonCompassNC06Speech.doc Neal Lawson Speech]
  
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==The seminars==
 
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There were many seminars organized by participating organizations, and a list of the events can be found in the [[Compass Conference Program]].  Of course, one couldn’t participate in all events, but it was evident that some had overflow crowds while others were barely attended.  I attended the seminar organized by the [[Foreign Policy Centre]] on "The UN's responsibility to protect - how can we prevent another Rwanda?" or what role Britain should play multilaterally (via the UN) in the prevention of the next Rwanda.  Mike Gapes, MP, who is a member of the Foreign Policy Committee, discussed at length how the committee had been wringing its hands on what to do about Darfur, and suggested that this was clearly a case where Britain should be pushing for multilateral intervention.  He argued for more enlightened interventions and warned against those who wanted to take an isolationist position.  [[James Smith]] of the [[Aegis Trust]] (a think tank/political action group connected to a Holocaust Studies Centre) pontificated about genocide and why Darfur should be at the top of the list of candidates for an humanitarian intervention.  Oona King described the mass killings in Congo, about the mass rapes, and how the country had been devastated.  She suggested that Congo should be a priority case for intervention.  John Kampfner, the editor the New Statesman, weighed in with an account of his experience in Rwanda and why there was a need for more enlightened interventions around the world.  The Q&A section included several statements by members of the Foreign Policy Centre who emphasized the point that had been repeated several times during the main presentation: intervention in Darfur should be a priority.  A member of the Euston Manifesto was present, and his main point was that Labour needed to accept an interventionist role for Britain, and urged supporting interventions in Darfur and Iran.  After the participants who were familiar to the chairman had had their say, I finally managed to make the simple point that it is rather hypocritical to harp on what to do about "genocide" when it comes to "unfriendly regimes", yet to be a full participant in a war of aggression and the implementation of trade sanctions that have resulted in about 1.5 million Iraqis killed or dying from malnutrition/preventable diseases, etc.  I also pointed out that Israeli policies which aim to put the Palestinian population "on a diet" are also genocidal, and Britain could easily do something to oppose Israeli actions.  This elicited a uniform aggressive response, especially from Mike Gapes, who rejected out of hand that the US was responsible for genocide in Iraq -- it had been Saddam Hussein who had been responsible for genocide to which the US responded, etc.
 
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Another curious seminar was "Human Security: A new approach to Foreign Policy" organized by the LSE Centre for Global Governance.  [[Mary Kaldor]], the founder of the LSE group, suggested that their policy recommendation was to make ethics an integral part of British/European foreign policy, and that a cornerstone of such a policy would be a better guarantor for the "security" of the individual in the EU.  Their group produced a document ("A Human Security Doctrine for Europe") expanding on this concept for Javier Solana -- a document that was purportedly solicited by him, and he seems to have uttered glowing comments about it.  A policy group has been formed at LSE to push this concept of "human security" into European and British policy.  Anthony Giddens, Mary Kaldor, and a few other LSE faculty specialize in recasting all the world's woes and possible solutions into the "human security" framework.  Most of the participants of the seminar were women, and since there were several references to protecting the human security of women, the crowd seemed to be very pleased and applauded when the term "safeguarding women's security" was uttered.  Again, the Euston Manifesto folks were present making a case for intervention to safeguard the human security in Iran and Darfur.
 
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==The Participants==
 
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Most of the conference attendees were white, a large proportion of women and with an average age in the late 50s.  There were very few young participants.  There were virtually no black or Asian participants, and if the staff/organizer members were removed from a tally, then it is safe to suggest that there were '''no''' minority groups in evidence at all.  Some of the young alienated conference participants who left early referred to the crowd as the "quiche eaters brigade".
 
  
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==Conclusion==
 
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Compass intends to publish its manifesto within the next few weeks incorporating the results from this conference, and this will be incorporated to this article as soon as it becomes available.  It is difficult to imagine that this top-down exercise could result in meaningful policy recommendations, or that it would invigorate Labour's core supporters to become politically active again.  As such, there are many questions about what the conference organizers aimed to achieve, but it seems that the provision for a stage for the constituent groups may have been at the center of this exercise.  Furthermore, it could also provide the foundation for re-launching/re-branding the discredited "New Labour" into a party platform for Gordon Brown.  One should expect Compass to launch a "new-New-Labour".
 
  
 
==Contact==
 
==Contact==
Line 63: Line 45:
 
==Compass Materials==
 
==Compass Materials==
 
*[[Compass Newsletter 19 July 2006]]
 
*[[Compass Newsletter 19 July 2006]]
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*[[Compass Newsletter 23 August 2006]].
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*[[Compass Newsletter 23 August 2006]]
  
 
==Resources==
 
==Resources==
 
*Chris Marsden and Julie Hyland [http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/may2006/comp-m17.shtml Britain’s Compass group: Former Blair acolytes seek to rescue New Labour] ''World Socialist Website'', 17 May 2006
 
*Chris Marsden and Julie Hyland [http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/may2006/comp-m17.shtml Britain’s Compass group: Former Blair acolytes seek to rescue New Labour] ''World Socialist Website'', 17 May 2006
 +
* Jonathon Rutherford, [http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=205530&sectioncode=26 Labour's lost love], Time Higher Education, 22-September-2006, Accessed 17-July-2010
 +
* Paul De Rooij, [http://www.spinwatch.org/-articles-by-category-mainmenu-8/48-lobbying/256-compass-new-labour-morphs-into-new-new-labour Compass - New Labour morphs into new New Labour], Spinwatch, 20-June-2006
 +
* Paul Mitchell, [http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jun2009/comp-j18.shtml Britain: Labour’s Compass group plans its efforts to save capitalism], World Socialist Website, 18-June-2009</ref>
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
 
<references/>
 
<references/>
 +
[[Category:Think Tanks]]

Revision as of 15:48, 18 July 2010

Compass is described on its website as "the influential left of centre pressure group".[1] The website states, "The organisation is run by an annually elected Management Committee and relevant officers to oversee the actions of Compass".[2]

People 2006-2007

Neal Lawson, Chair | Meg Russell, Vice Chair | Mark Cooke, Treasurer | Gavin Hayes, National Organiser | Zoe Williams, Campaigns Officer (joined July 2006) | Jon Trickett, Campaign Manager for the 'Choose Change'[3] | Jon Cruddas MP [4] | Helen Jackson | Colin Crouch | Miranda Grell | Willie Sullivan Compass Scotland | Alan Finlayson Compass Wales | Dan Hodges (co-opted) | Chuka Umunna (co-opted)

People 2010

Neal Lawson (Chair) | Sue Goss (Vice Chair) | Mark Cooke (Treasurer) | Meg Russell | Chuka Umunna | Sam Tarry | Jenna Khalfan | Willie Sullivan (Scottish Rep) | Ben Folley | Gemma Tumelty (co-opted) | Joy Johnson (co-opted) | Jon Cruddas MP (Parliamentary Rep);Andy Howell (co-opted) | Noel Hatch (Compass Youth) | Matthew Hall (Welsh Rep) | David Ritter (co-opted) | Gavin Hayes is the General Secretary of Compass, he also serves the committee as its Secretary but as a full-time member of staff does not have voting rights.[5]

Analysts or policy researchers

History

Jonathon Rutherford describes the formation of Compass in 2005:

Shortly after the 2005 general election, the pressure group Compass assembled more than 100 academics and policymakers as part of its programme for renewal. It drew on think-tanks, its own membership and networks of scholars including many associated with the journals Renewal and Soundings . It has been one of the most systematic and rigorous attempts in recent decades to rethink and renew a democratic Left politics of freedom, equality and solidarity.[8]

Compass Conference 2006

According to a report from Paul de Rooij the Compass 2006 conference was designed to discuss ways to reinvigorate a Labour Party who did not expect to win the next election. The conference began with speeches from Neal Lawson, Derek Simpson and Ed Balls. According to the report “Participants were then given Participants were given a form wherein they could enter their three main concerns, and a compilation of these would be the basis for the impending Compass manifesto”. A debate about nuclear power followed and De Rooij argues that “the reaction from some of the participants was that the conference felt like a "top-down" exercise organized by people who had been responsible for alienating them from politics early in the new Labour government after the 1997 election”.[9] Amongst the think tanks attending the conference were Democratiya, Engage, and the Euston Manifesto who according to De Rooij had a single issue focus, the issue being “defence of Israel”. Seminars included “The UN's responsibility to protect - how can we prevent another Rwanda?" and "Human Security: A new approach to Foreign Policy". The original Compass manifesto was comprised of the results of the 2006 conference. [10]

Compass Conference 2009

The Compass 2009 conference was entitled “No Turning Back: Visions, policies and campaigns for the good society,”. According to Paul Mitchell “Speaker after speaker described how deep the economic crisis has become and how far support for the Labour Party had collapsed”. Mitchell’s account of the conference showed that the participants argued that there could be no “turning back” to neo-liberal free market policies. Mitchell describes how this acted as “a preamble to insisting that there was no possible socialist alternative”. He demonstrated this by pointing to the title of a seminar sponsored by the Tribune group, which was entitled, “What type of capitalism do we want now?” John Hilary of War on Want argued that:

”Britain had been in the forefront of trade liberalisation and deregulation, which had given more power to corporations and it, more than any other country, had pushed for privatisation and used aid money to force it on the world’s poor. Labour had sided with oppressors against the oppressed, particularly in Palestine where the government had “rewarded” Israeli governments “every step of the way” with arms deals and preferential trade arrangements”.

The conference included speeches by Harriet Harman, Caroline Lucas and Neal Lawson. Lawson told the conference, “We’re in a mess. It’s the end of the road for New Labour.” Mitchell concluded that:

”The miserable response by Compass confirms that that there is no possibility of a left-wing opposition developing within Labour’s ranks that in any way sets out to defend the interests of working people”.[11]


Opening Plenary speeches


Contact

Compass - direction for the democratic left
Southbank House
Black Prince Road
London SE1 7SJ
t: +44 (0)20 7463 0633
m: +44 (0)7900 195591
Contact: Gavin Hayes gavin@compassonline.org.uk
Website www.compassonline.org.uk

London Compass Conference

Compass Conference Program (17 June 2006)
Compass Conference 2006 -- some impressions

Compass Materials

Resources

Notes

  1. ↑ Home page, Compass website, accessed 19 April 2009
  2. ↑ About Compass, Compass website, accessed 19 April 2009
  3. ↑ Compass email 30 October 2007
  4. ↑ Compass email 30 October 2007 states Cruddas will run on Compass campaign in Parliament and that he has co-authored an article with Neal Lawson.
  5. ↑ Compass, About Compass, Compass, Accessed 17-July-2010
  6. ↑ Compass, ThinkPiece 9, Accessed 27-March-2009
  7. ↑ Compass,ThinkPiece 10, Accessed 27-March-2009
  8. ↑ Jonathon Rutherford, Labour's lost love, Time Higher Education, 22-September-2006, Accessed 17-July-2010
  9. ↑ Paul De Rooij, Compass - New Labour morphs into new New Labour, Spinwatch, 20-June-2006
  10. ↑ Paul De Rooij, Compass - New Labour morphs into new New Labour, Spinwatch, 20-June-2006
  11. ↑ Paul Mitchell, Britain: Labour’s Compass group plans its efforts to save capitalism, World Socialist Website, 18-June-2009
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