Build an alternative for ordinary people, not the bosses.

In the recent council elections, TUSC (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition) stood an historic 561 candidates nationwide – this represents the biggest left-of-Labour challenge for 70 years. Despite this, we were largely ignored by the media, with only two interviews on the Daily Politics. Our candidates achieved some very good results, in spite of this lack of coverage, getting around 1000 votes in St Michaels ward in Coventry, and electing a councillor in Southampton. We also achieved excellent results in Doncaster, Sheffield and London. In total, TUSC’s candidates received over 65,000 votes.

In Ireland, there were elections at the same time, but with a completely different system of proportional representation, which tends to give smaller parties a fighting chance. We also faced, in the European Elections, a challenge to get our MEP, Paul Murphy re-elected for the Dublin constituency. With the Irish section of the SWP (as People Before Profit) standing against us in his seat, this meant that it was going to be even more of a difficult battle. With the resulting split in the Socialist vote, this meant that despite him getting nearly 30,000 first preference votes, it wasn’t quite enough. However, this is still a strong showing for us and we should be well-placed to regain the seat in the future. Elsewhere in Ireland, anger against austerity meant that it was a great night for the Anti Austerity Alliance, which the Socialist Party took part in – we won 14 councillors and Ruth Coppinger was elected as a TD in Dublin West (the Irish equivalent of an MP).

In the European elections in the UK, UKIP were the recipient of an anti-EU protest vote, winning votes from both Tories and Labour, while the Lib Dem vote collapsed. However, UKIP, a right-wing split from the Tories, will be exposed in the future, as their anti-working-class policies offer people no real alternative. Of course, the vast majority of the electorate simply stayed at home, seeing little point in voting in the European elections, reflecting a generalised anger at establishment politicians in general.

While in some countries, the far-right have made gains, this is not the case across Europe as a whole. In Greece, Syriza were the largest party, with a programme opposing austerity, and in Spain the United Left gained 10% of the vote, along with Podemos, a party which rose from the Indignados  movement. Podemos gained  five MEPs and 1.5million votes in the European elections. From  The Guardian: “Podemos’ lofty list of election promises includes doing away with tax havens, establishing a guaranteed minimum income and lowering the retirement age to 60.  “Voted in by Spaniards tired with persistent unemployment, austerity measures and corruption scandals, Iglesias said Podemos MEPs would act accordingly. Rather than the standard salary of more than €8,000 (£6,500) a month, “not one of our MEPs will earn more than €1,930, an amount that’s three times the minimum wage in Spain. The remainder would either go to the party or a chosen cause.” This is similar to what TUSC is putting forward in Britain. The need for an alternative is clear, as Milliband’s Labour has made clear that it “cannot afford” to roll back Con-Dem cuts.

While some countries looked for alternatives on the left, others, like voters in France, expressed their disappointment with the soft-left Francois Hollande, who is continuing with austerity measures, by voting for the far-right Front National. I think the most effective way to defeat the divisive and racist ideology of the far-right is to build a political alternative for ordinary people. UKIP has benefited from a protest vote against all the main parties, who are carrying out vicious cuts to public services. We say these cuts are not necessary – the resources are there in society to fund decent services for all, but the problem is the money is in the hands of bankers and speculators. To fight back, join the Socialist Party (which is part of TUSC, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition) — http://www.tusc.org.uk

The TUSC video the media wouldn’t show... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyG1KPeCAT0

In translation

Translations of “Whiteout” and “Slippage” for Pinngg…k! – “In TRANSlation” open mic poetry night, Leicester Dec ’13.

Pinggg…K! hosted its last (and in my opinion the best) poetry / music night of 2013, featuring a fantastic array of talent – from musicians Rishii Chowdhury (tabla), Akash Parekh (sitar), the wonderful bluesy voice of Mellow Baku and Marcus Joseph (tenor sax).

I participated in a poetry circle and open mic night around the theme of In TRANSlation, hosted by Bobba Cass, and featuring Carol Leeming. At the end, we were asked to contribute rhymes in different languages, perhaps from childhood – After rooting around in my memory, I came up with the Scottish lullabye “Ali Bali, Ali Bali Bee / Sittin’ an’ yer mammy’s knee / Greetin’ for a wee bawbee / Tae buy some coulter’s candy”. The result was a marvellous blend of different cultures and ideas.

Translating poetry is difficult. This is my first foray into this treacherous terrain. I found it needs close attention to the sound of the words in different languages, their meaning and connotations, and that is without even starting to consider rhyme, metre or rhythm. Therefore I chose two poems which were written in free verse, to make things easier for myself, but even then the process is complicated!

The first poem is about the difficulty in communicating – appropriately enough for an evening of poetry themed around translation.

Glissement

La langue n’est pas peut tenir à l’intérieur de nos cœurs.
Sentiment de s’infiltrer, non sollicitées.
Ce qui reste éclate non-dits dans une inondation
Engloutit les limites étroites de mon texte.
Insuffisante, je sais, mais tous nous avons.
Tâtonnant aveuglément dans l’obscurité de la vie,
D’achoppement pour simplement dire, «tu me manques».
Je suis reparti avec des souvenirs de la journée,
Abri dans une librairie poussiéreuse contre la pluie,
Les mots des autres infiltrés partir du pages imprimées.
Faillible, fragile frontières de familiarité s’effondre,
La langue n’est pas peut tenir à l’intérieur de nos cœurs.

Notes – “Glissement” translates as “sliding”, similar to “glissando” in Italian, with overtones of “gliding”.

The English poem starts with “Words”, but I preferred the French “La langue” – literally “the tongue”, meaning “language”. “Words cannot hold” in English, has overtones of Yeats’s “Things fall apart / the centre cannot hold” – this is lost in the French translation. Another problem is the Latinate derivation of French, with a completely different rhythm and pace to Anglo-Saxon words.

I like the sibilance in the French version in the second line in English “Unasked for feelings, seep between the gaps” – I removed “the gaps” as I could not find a suitable translation which would preserve this – so literally the line reads, “Feelings seep, unasked for”.

“What is left unsaid bursts out in a flood” – I like the caesura in this line, the pause between “unsaid” and “bursts”, echoing the sudden release of emotions – however, this is lost in the French, which reverses the word order, literally: “What is left bursts unsaid in a flood”.

The next line contains quite an effective alliteration in the French, which is lacking in the English “Engulfs the narrow confines of my text” becomes “Engloutit les limites etroites de mon texte”, “etroites” here corresponds to “straits”, which tends to be used in a geographical or nautical sense in English.

One other word on the translation – I attempted to preserve the alliterative “f” sounds in the second last line, but this involved straining the meaning of the words in French – “frontline” becomes “boundary”, “fall” is translated as “collapse”.

Which version do you prefer? Can you improve on my efforts?

Voile blanc

La Neige brouille les frontières, change notre perception,
Couvre les irrégularités, lisse d’un chemin.
Enterre de mauvaises nouvelles sous une avalanche
D’anecdotes ineptes de la météo.

La Neige mensonge lourde sur nos sens.
Engourdissement, réconforté dans son étreinte froid.
Doigts gelés de flocons nous enveloppent,
Nous nous enfonçons plus profondément dans la dérive.

La Neige. Nous régressons, glissons dans l’enfance.
Il est trop facile d’oublier dans le gel,
Perdre de vue vous-même,
Pour ignorer le coût enterré de l’hiver.

La Neige tapisse notre sens de la réalité,
Peut nous faire ignorer les coupures
Pour les maisons de retraite, et les refuges pour itinérants,
La charge des factures de chauffage en hiver.

La Neige – nous pouvons résister à son emprise glaciaire
Laissez la volonté du glissement puissant
Sans défense contre nous, si nous nous déplaçons comme un seul,
Pour aider ceux qui ne peuvent pas s’aider eux-mêmes.

La Neige. Nous avons besoin d’antigel
Pour briser cette torpeur glacée,
Le feu intérieur, la chaleur dans nos cœurs
Et le timbrage de pieds fâchés.

Notes – “Voile blanc” literally means “white sheet”, quite different from the English “Whiteout” – and the comparison with fabric continues in the French with “tapis”; “tapestry” would be the equivalent in English, where I similarly used “blankets” – to give the impression of comforting numbness. In the poem, I also tried to convey the childish, playful nature of snow and the sense of Nature being fearful and dangerous, which can put us into a state of “icy torpor”.

The poem is not simply a nature poem. It is also a call to arms, to fight back against government spending cuts, which are happening under Hollande’s so-called ‘socialist’ government in France, just as in England under Cameron. However, the militancy of the French working class scored an important victory on pensions by calling a general strike in 2010 when the then-premier Sarkozy threatened to raise the pension age from 60 to 62. Compare that to the betrayal of right-wing union leaders to carry on the fight after the magnificent one-day strike of 2011 with the result that in Britain, the pension age is rising to 68 and beyond.

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You can read some more of my poetry in ‘Little Red Poetry’. All proceeds go to build a new party for ordinary people, against cuts and privatisation.

Copies are also available from Left Books