I have received a number of really positive reports from delegates to UNISON Black members conference which took place last weekend in Bristol.Apparently it was an extremely upbeat conference with many people talking about how proud they were to be UNISON members and what the union had done for them, and a lot of people speaking about how inspired they are by the example of Barack Obama's rise to power.
Conference concluded with a show of unity as extracts from speeches by Martin Luther King and Barack Obama were read to conference by National Committee members and there was a moving communal rendition of Bob Marley's 'Redemption Song'.
Interestingly, unlike past years, there was not a single SWP or SP intervention in debates and it was refreshingly free of such malign influences.
Apparently three SWP members tried to leaflet the delegates in the hotel foyer as they entered conference on Friday. The hotel called the police and escorted the comrades from the premises, leaving them to stand out in the street away from the hotel's entrance, where they were completely ignored.
I think that black members are showing the way to the rest of UNISON in rising to the challenge of Barack's example and also excising madcap Trotskyist interference from their self-organised group.
A leading member of the London delegation has promised to write a guest post on the conference for me. At this moment he will be heading for a TV screen like the rest of us.
