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To achieve food self-sufficiency, sovereignty & sustainability we must Buy British!

HAVE YOU ATTEMPTED to do a full weekly supermarket shop recently?  If so, you’ve probably nearly gave up in despair trying to get hold of fruit & veg. For some bizarre reason, tomatoes in particular, appear to be as scarce as hen’s teeth.

But why is this?

There are many, many theories doing the rounds.

Some people are quick to blame it on Brexit.  We understand that many tomatoes originate from the Mediterranean.  However, as this BBC News article – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51333314 – notes, the UK physically left the EU in 2020.   If there was going to be a shortage why is it happening three years later?

Others believe that the lack of fruit & veg is some form of artificial crisis manufactured by the supermarkets.  (To justify this claim, they point out that whilst the likes of Tesco have gaping holes in its displays, local shop and market stalls are groaning with products.)  They feel that some shoppers are so wedded to the supermarkets they’ll not even think of going elsewhere.  Therefore, these same shoppers will be so delighted to see tomatoes and the like back on the shelves, they’ll be prepared to pay anything for them.  This is obviously good for profits & for shareholders!

We’ve even read that it’s some of sinister government plot designed to keep people frightened – as frightened people are more pliable & far easier to control.

Whatever the truth is, the National Liberal Party feels that much of boils down to a lack of long term & strategic thinking.

We feel that successive UK governments – no matter of what political hue – have been more interested in positive headlines & ‘optics’ generated by a short-term policy of importing cheap foodstuffs.  

This is because these governments are ultimately at the beck & call of the Money Power.  (If you think that any government represents the will of – and acts on behalf of – its people, think again.  Real power rests with the elites – the likes of banks, the media & multinational corporations.

The Money Power is internationalist in character.  It has absolutely no interest in any form of real sovereignty – in this case food sovereignty.  It also pays lip service to ideas such as sustainability.

The way to overcome food shortages is to work toward self-sufficiency, sovereignty & sustainability.  And the only way we can do this is by promoting a long-term ‘Buy British’ policy.

We believe in a managed move back to the land (for those who want to).  This should be combined with a return to smaller mixed farms in order to get away from what appear to be vast prairies growing just one item.

Growing (and consumption of) seasonal products should be encouraged.  In order to promote organic products, we may have to introduce some form of subsidy.  Any subsidy will be more than paid back in terms of the health of our nation.

We acknowledge that we can’t achieve self-sufficiency, sovereignty & sustainability overnight.  It will be a very long-term process, but we have to start somewhere.  Buying British fruit & veg from a local shop or market stall is as good as place as anywhere to start this process.  

Workers from many trades & professions are – or will be – taking industrial action.

WORKERS in general & Trade Unionists in particular will be aware of the recent upsurge in industrial action.  Indeed, it seems that over the past few months, virtually every UK-based trade & profession has – or will be – will be out on strike.  

Reacting to this wave of unrest, some Tories seem to be genuinely baffled as to why people feel the need to go on strike.  These Tories, with their offshore accounts, trust funds & the like are living the life of Riley.  They’re completely out of touch with ordinary working families.  So much so, that one has to wonder if they actually live on the same planet as the rest of us?  

There’s hardly a fag paper’s worth of a difference between the ‘left’ of the Conservative Party & the ‘right’ of the Labour Party.  And Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is firmly to the ‘right’.  In fact, he’s effectively Tony Blair in disguise.  This means that Labour – ‘the party of the working class’ – are simply interested in ‘optics’ as opposed to solutions.  

If nothing is done to satisfy the genuine concerns of workers – over pay, terms & conditions of work, health & safety issues & redundancies – the strikes will intensify.  There are already calls for a General Strike and these demands will get louder.   

With the above in mind, the National Liberal Trade Unionists – NLTU – feel that the forthcoming May Day celebrations will be the largest for many years.  They will be used – rightly – to send a message to the Establishment.   

The NLTU promotes a non-socialist form of trade unionism.  We’re about building employee protections rather than class revolution.  We support the principles of liberty which includes the protection of all individual employees.  And whilst we favour consultation over confrontation, the NLTU supports the right to strike. To find out more, simply check out https://www.facebook.com/groups/277840098977231

WELCOME TO THE third and final instalment of our mini-series of articles which has looked at the various forms of Self-Determination.   

Whilst the whole raison d’etre of the National Liberal Party is Self-Determination, this mini-series was specifically written with the last Greater London Authority – GLA – elections in mind.  Here the National Liberal Party (NLP) had intended to stand up to 25 candidates (who’d represent the various diaspora now living in London) on a ticket of Self-Determination For All!  

Our election campaign mainly concentrated on National Self-Determination.  However, we also looked at matters relating to Economic Self-Determinationand Political Self-Determination.  

To date, this mini-series has examined Economic Self-Determination – http://nationalliberal.org/for-economic-self-determination – and Political Self-Determination – https://nationalliberal.org/a-referendum-is-an-act-of-self-determination  

Therefore, we now look at the major issue of National Self-Determination.  

So what do we mean by National Self-Determination?  

The NLP succinctly defines National Self-Determination as a system which ‘seeks to ensure decisions affecting the collective future of a nation are taken by ALL the people via referendum. This may be ‘External’, for example: the creation or maintenance of a nation state, or ‘Internal’ – framing/updating a constitution to reflect how a people should rule themselves. (We favour independent nations and liberal, democratic, states).’

Our friends & comrades of the pressure group Nations without States – NwS – aim to highlight the plight of peoples who aspire to nationhood.  Their Facebook site – https://www.facebook.com/groups/184919468292372 – provides more in-depth information relating to the meaning of National Self-Determination. 

For NwS, it ‘might be based on peoples or tribes based within a state or even across borders that may or may not have been independently organised in the past. They might have a linguistic or historical separateness from their neighbours or fellow citizens. All will aspire to recognition, autonomy or independence.

As Self-determinists the group NwS will support the right of all such peoples to determine their future whatever they wish that to be. This includes for example the Kurds, Flemish, Sikhs and Tamils. A genuine Self-determinist supports the right of self-determination globally where it is based upon a sound and just position and is supported by the majority of its ‘national’ community. The slogan ‘what is right for me is right for you’ simplifies why genuine nationalism is actually an inter-nationalist creed, quite separate to chauvinism which seeks advantage for one nation at the expense of others.’

It’s with the above in mind that the National Liberal Party contested the GLA elections.  The delay in the election helped us reach out to activists who represented the many different people now living in London who desire Self-Determination for their respective homelands.   

Our GLA election campaign was fought largely on-line (although there was some targeted leafletting).  Here we produced posters, a manifesto & videos for distribution via social media.  And, although our candidates specifically representing their various national communities, they spoke up for ALL self-determination communities and causes. They obtained 2,860 votes but the main purpose was to promote self-determinist ideas. 

For more information about Self-Determination, check out the following Facebook sites:  

•  Facebook/National Liberals  https://www.facebook.com/groups/52739504313  

• Facebook/National Liberal Party  https://www.facebook.com/NationalLiberalParty  

• Facebook/Nations without States  https://www.facebook.com/groups/184919 468292372

AS WE’VE NOTED many times, the National Liberal Party is passionately in favour of free thought & free speech.  And, in particular, we feel that people should be taught the art of critical thinking from a very early age.  We’re happy to note that many of our NLP Asks posters are now generating healthy & thoughtful debate.

Like many people, we despair of what passes for ‘debate’ these days.  It seems to us that MSM is more interested in sensationalism, audience figures (& in some cases advertising revenue) than a true & reasoned debate.  How else can we explain how TV & radio debates end up with the interviewer constantly interrupting the interviewees?

Participants constantly talk over each other, make allegations & read extra meanings into what someone has said.  It appears that ‘optics’ & likes on social media are driving factors.  Truth & honesty are out of the window!

In contrast, the National Liberal Party are firm believers in respectful debate.  Although we may fundamentally disagree with different points of view, we feel that everyone has the right to hold & promote their beliefs.  Honest & open debate is the way forward – not screaming, shouting & censorship.

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MAJOR Clifford Hugh ‘C. H.’ Douglas (1879 – 1952) was a British engineer & economist.  Whilst working at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, in 1916 he noticed that workers were paid (via wages, salaries & dividends) less than the factory was generating costs.  In layman’s terms it meant that people didn’t have enough money to buy the goods they needed.  

To avoid the endless economic cycles of boom & bust, Douglas proposed a that the government should make purchasing power (‘money’) available to the public to match the goods & services available to them.   

The money to be issued would take the form of a ‘National Dividend’ – distributed equally to everyone over & above their earnings.  He also advocated a price adjustment – known as the Just Price – which would reduce retail prices & stop inflation.  The overall idea became known as ‘Social Credit’.  

One man who became attracted to his ideas was the charismatic John Hargrave.  Douglas opposed the entry of the Social Credit movement into parliamentary politics.  But Hargrave didn’t.  In 1935 he formed the Social Credit Party of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – SCP – to fight the forthcoming General Election.  

Four years later Hargrave’s SCP produced The Fighting Programme Of The Social Credit Party.  We’ll be reproducing it over the next few months as we think that Social Credit offers an exciting alternative to the tired old dogmas of capitalism & socialism.  Over 80 years since it was published, we feel that it offers much food for thought  

This Introduction gives a rough idea of what’s to follow.  We find the use of some phrases like liberation ‘from the Dead Hand of Finance’ & the ‘Hidden Government of Finance’ intriguing.   They provide some clue as to whom Hargrave thought was the real enemy of progress.  

It is also important to note that the National Liberal Party is not a Social Credit party per se.  As always, our intention is to promote lively but mature debate.   

Let us know what you think (of Hargrave’s SCP ideas) in the comments section when you see this article on the National Liberal Party’s Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/NationalLiberalParty – or our National Liberals Facebook page –   https://www.facebook.com/groups/52739504313  

The NLP would be interested to hear from both supporters & opponents of Social Credit.  We’d particularly like to know from readers if they think that there’s anything in this Fighting Programme that might be useful today.     

 

The Fighting Programme Of The Social Credit Party – Introduction  

Front cover of John Hargrave’s The Fighting Programme Of The Social Credit Party. First published in August 1939, it still offers a radical alternative forward. The Social Credit ideas here offer an exciting alternative to the tired old dogmas of capitalism & socialism.
We regard John Hargrave as a ‘point of reference’ in that he said or did things that we find of great interest. As we’ve mentioned previously (in other articles) that doesn’t mean that we place him, or any other ‘point of reference’ on a pedestal, so to speak.
It is also important to note that the National Liberal Party is not a Social Credit party per se. Our intention here is to provoke a debate as to whether there is anything in this Fighting Programme that might be useful today.

The Fighting Programme Of The Social Credit Party was first produced by the Social Credit Party of Great Britain & Northern Ireland in August 1939 – a month before World War II started in Europe.  A second edition was issued in 1941.  

According to the SCP leader, John Hargave, the programme was ‘proclaimed the basis for action throughout the British Isles at the National Assembly of the Social Credit Party, held in Wynch Bottom, Buckinghamshire, May 28th, 1939.  

However difficult or dangerous the task may be, the Party is determined to fight its way forward, step by step, towards the fulfilment of the 12 Points of this programme – and the leaders of the party themselves never to swerve from this objective’.  

The 12 Points that Hargrave referred to were:  

1.  Finance:  Establish a Sane Economic System  

2.  Government:  Make the Will of the People Effective  

3.  Work:  Abolish Unemployment And Wage Slavery  

4.  Defence:  Create Effective Defence Forces  

5.  Food Supply:  Regenerate the Soil  

6.  Health:  Regenerate the People  

7.  Industry:  Increase Mechanisation  

8.  Building:  Demolish the Slums: Build New Towns and Cities  

9.  Transport:  Reorganise the Transport System  

10.  Education:  Provide Equal Opportunity for All  

11.  Culture:  Make Leisure Available to All  

12.  Foreign Policy:  Abolish War  

The publication was debated, written & produced prior to World War II.  But it must have been absolutely clear was on the horizon, as in another introductory section,  we read that ‘War Demands A Debt-Free Britain!’  

This is followed by a declaration that ‘The British People must have direction and leadership in order to:-  

1.  Break The Stranglehold Of Finance.  

2.  Free The Individual By Establishing A Sane Economic System.  

3.  Regenerate The Nation By Implementing A Definite Programme Of Reconstruction.   

Words are not enough.  We must gather the most vigorous intellects and the most energetic fearless, and unrelenting types from all classes and sections of the community to build up, consolidate, and direct the determination of the British People to liberate themselves from the Dead Hand of Finance, by developing a National Movement which shall bring pressure to bear:-  

1.  Inside Parliament.  

2.  Outside Parliament.  

The Social Credit Party has formulated, and is pledged to put into effect, this Programme of Social Economic Regeneration, immediately power has been wrested from the Hidden Government of Finance.’  

•  IN THE next part of our series we’ll take a look at how Hargrave would have established an economic system.