Lindsey German
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Lindsey Ann German
''Evening Standard'' (This is London), 14 May 2004
(born 1951) is a British
left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some ...
. A founding member and convenor of the British
anti-war An anti-war movement is a social movement in opposition to one or more nations' decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term ''anti-war'' can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conf ...
organisation
Stop the War Coalition The Stop the War Coalition (StWC), informally known simply as Stop the War, is a British group that campaigns against the United Kingdom's involvement in military conflicts. It was established on 21 September 2001 to campaign against the impe ...
, she was formerly a member of the Socialist Workers Party, sitting on its central committee and being editor of its magazine, '' Socialist Review''. German has twice stood as a
left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
candidate for
Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current ...
, coming fifth in 2004, and as the Left List mayoral candidate in the May 2008 elections. In February 2010, following "increasing disenchantment" with the leadership, she resigned from the SWP, after 37 years' membership.


Early life and activities

Lindsey German was born in London in 1951 and educated in
Hillingdon Hillingdon is an area of Uxbridge within the London Borough of Hillingdon, centred 14.2 miles (22.8 km) west of Charing Cross. It was an ancient parish in Middlesex that included the market town of Uxbridge. During the 1920s the civil pari ...
at Vyners, then a state grammar school.Emma Griffith
"Anti-war hopeful's inequality focus"
BBC News, 9 April 2008
In 1970 she attended the "Stop the '70 Tour" demonstration organised by
Peter Hain Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain, (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of State ...
against the tour of the all-white
South African cricket team The South Africa men's national cricket team, also known as the Proteas, represents South Africa in men's international cricket and is administered by Cricket South Africa. South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council. T ...
. German joined the International Socialists (later the Socialist Workers Party) in 1972, the same year she began to read law at the
London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...
."Candidates & Parties – Profile: "Lindsey German"
BBC News London, May 2008
She was active in the original National Abortion Campaign in April 1975, then responding to a parliamentary
private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in wh ...
put forward by Glasgow Labour MP James White, and was involved in campaigns to achieve equal pay for women. German had become a full-time official by 1977 for what was now the Socialist Workers Party and a member of the party's central committee.


Stop the War and Respect

German was involved in setting up the
Stop the War Coalition The Stop the War Coalition (StWC), informally known simply as Stop the War, is a British group that campaigns against the United Kingdom's involvement in military conflicts. It was established on 21 September 2001 to campaign against the impe ...
in September 2001. It was established to oppose the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq. German became convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, speaking at meetings and demonstrations. In January 2004, German supported the move to form Respect – The Unity Coalition, which included the SWP and other opponents of the war in Iraq, including Muslim groups and which stood as a left alternative to the Labour Party in elections. At the SWP's Marxism 2003 event she commented: "I'm in favour of defending gay rights, ..but I am not prepared to have it as a
shibboleth A shibboleth ( ; ) is any custom or tradition—usually a choice of phrasing or single word—that distinguishes one group of people from another. Historically, shibboleths have been used as passwords, ways of self-identification, signals of l ...
, reated bypeople who . . . regard the state of Israel as somehow a viable presence." She was Respect's candidate for the London Mayoral election in June 2004, in addition to being first in the list for election to the
London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject t ...
. She came 5th in the mayoral election with 63,294 first and second preference votes (3.3% of the total) and in the assembly election came just below the 5% threshold in the top-up section (the assembly election followed the
Additional Member System The additional-member system (AMS) is a two-vote seat-linkage-based mixed electoral system used in the United Kingdom in which most legislator, representatives are elected in single-member districts (SMDs), and a fixed number of other "addition ...
) which would have gained her a seat on the assembly. In the 2005 general election she was the Respect candidate for the
West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...
, London, constituency and came second with 19.5% of the vote.


Departure from SWP

On 18 April 2007 she was selected as Respect's candidate for the
2008 London Mayoral election The 2008 London mayoral election for the office of Mayor of London, England, was held on 1 May 2008. Conservative Party (UK), Conservative candidate Boris Johnson defeated incumbent Labour Party (UK), Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone. It was the t ...
. However, a subsequent split within the organisation meant that German was not able to use the party's name in the election. Instead German stood as the candidate for Mayor and the assembly under the Left List name, the SWP part of Respect, finishing in eighth place in the election to be mayor with 16,796 votes on first preference. According to journalist John Anderson, German was a leading figure promoting further ties between the SWP and various organizations such as the Muslim Association of Britain and the British Muslim Initiative. German's employment by the SWP lasted until the January 2009 SWP party conference. At that conference the proposed slate did not include John Rees, German's partner and another long-standing member of the Central Committee (CC). German proposed an alternative slate which did include Rees. When it became clear this would be overwhelmingly defeated, German and Chris Nineham withdrew their names from the election and were not selected. As the Central Committee slate was the only proposed slate that went to the vote at conference she was not re-elected to the SWP's Central Committee in 2009. In 2010, German resigned from the SWP. German was the editor of the party's monthly magazine, '' Socialist Review'', from 1984 until April 2004.


Post-SWP

She has written several books, including two on women's rights and ''A People's History of London'', co-written with her partner, John Rees.Jo LoDici
"A People's History of London, By John Rees & Lindsey German"
''The Independent'', 29 March 2012.
In August 2015, German endorsed
Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...
's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election. In 2019, German wrote that there was little evidence for an epidemic of antisemitism within the Labour Party, with a "very small number of cases proved, and a small number of accusations made". She wrote that such allegations were "political attacks - against Corbyn and his left wing politics, and against all those who criticise the
state of Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
for its treatment of the
Palestinians Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenou ...
. These are the real reasons for their scale and ferocity, and why they are taken up with such enthusiasm by the BBC and the rest of the media." In 2022, in response to the
prelude to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine In March and April 2021, prior to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Armed Forces began massing thousands of personnel and military equipment near Russia–Ukraine border, Russia's border with Ukraine and in Crimea, repres ...
, German wrote an opinion piece in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' criticising Labour Party Leader
Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously ...
's support of the
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
alliance.


Selected books

* * * * * * * *


Selected articles


"Frederick Engels"
''International Socialism'', 2:65, 1994
"Theories of Patriarchy"
''International Socialism'', 2:12, 1981

''International Socialism'', 2:79, 1998


References


External links


Lindsey German's writings for the Stop the War Coalition

Lindsey German speaking at Don't Attack Iran protest - 26 June 2019
Published/uploaded on YouTube on 28 June 2019, by Stop the War Coalition.


On Campaign Trail
German's blog of her May 2005 election campaign {{DEFAULTSORT:German, Lindsey 1951 births Living people English anti-war activists English women journalists English political writers Politicians from London Respect Party parliamentary candidates Socialist Workers Party (UK) members British socialist feminists Writers from London British political party founders English political journalists