Unlike Yves, Avi sees himself and is seen as a serious contender for the leadership. Most social democrats, including in the NDP, strongly support Ukraine and favour continued NATO arms shipments to the Zelensky government to continue the war rather than cede territory to Russia as part of a negotiated settlement. I can’t say whether Lewis has endorsed that position from genuine conviction or opportunistically in the interest of his campaign. I do recall that his partner, Naomi Klein, early on described the conflict as a NATO proxy war and AFAIK she has since been silent on the issue, as I believe Avi was until he was compelled to declare his position when he entered the race.
Meanwhile, Yves was nominated by old comrade Barry Weisleder’s Socialist Caucus which shares the view that Ukrane is a NATO proxy war. I’m not around the NDP and have not closely followed the leadership contest, but I would expect that Engler’s status as an outsider, the leading role played in his campaign by the Socialist Caucus which has been a thorn in the party for nearly three decades, and their position on Ukraine did not endear his candidacy to the NDP base even though it would seem many party regulars are upset by the undemocratic way he was not allowed to partcipate. Though I agree with their position on Ukraine, I also think calling Avi a “warmonger” is over the top. Apart from Ukraine, together with Naomi, he’s been a consistent supporter of the Progressive International, opposes the Carney government’s pledge to substantially boost its share of NATO military spending, and has run an affordability and climate justice campaign echoing that of Mamdani and others disgruntled with the program, direction, and established leadership of their left-centre parties. Speaking of Mamdani, I understand Barry is planning to merge the Socialist Caucus with Yves and his supporters on the outside to form a new Socialist Movement organization which sounds to me like it might be aiming to become a Canadian version of the DSA. If so, I wouldn't expect it to enjoy anything near the success the DSA has had in the US's more highly polarized environment, but I think it's a model more suited to contemporary left-wing politics than the strict entryism which was more relevant when the NDP had a more lively internal life, at least a nominal commitment to socialism, and strong ties to a more powerful trade union movement. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#40690): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/40690 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/117825923/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
