Rosie Kane

Infobox_Politician


name =Rosie Kane
width=
caption =
birth_date =Birth date and age|1961|6|5|mf=y
birth_place = Glasgow
residence = Glasgow
death_date =
death_place =
office = MSP
salary =
term_start = 2003
term_end = 2007
predecessor =
successor =
party = Scottish Socialist Party
religion =
constituency = Glasgow region
majority =
spouse = none (divorced)
children = 2 daughters
website =
footnotes =

Rosie Kane (born on June 5, 1961 in Glasgow) is a Scottish Socialist Party politician, and former Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Glasgow Region.

Kane became an MSP in the second elections to the Scottish Parliament in 2003, losing her seat in the 2007 election. She is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies).

Background

Kane entered politics after becoming involved in a campaign against the extension of the M77 motorway.

In 1996 she was the first ever candidate of the newly formed Scottish Socialist Alliance when she contested a Glasgow City Council by-election in the Toryglen ward, an area threatened by the M74 extension plan, and came third with 18%.

After this she was an election candidate a number of times for the Scottish Socialist Alliance and its successor the Scottish Socialist Party.

She served on the National Executive committee of the party for a number of years and as the party's environmental spokesperson, writing a column "One World" for the "Scottish Socialist Voice".

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Kane stood for election to the Scottish Parliament in 2003, and was placed second on the party's list in Glasgow region. She was elected alongside Tommy Sheridan, who was first on the list. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2990447.stm "New faces gain as Labour lose seats"] BBC News] In her victory speech, she stated how she planned to shake up the Parliament, stating "They're going to be amazed at all the madness and craziness that's going to happen in there". [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2996771.stm "Holyrood set for 'craziness'"] BBC News]

MSPs are required to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen before they can take their seat in Parliament. As the Scottish Socialist Party is a republican party, their MSPs held various protests during the oath ceremony, during which Kane took her oath with her hand raised which had the words "My oath is to the people" written on it. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3006175.stm "Oath protest as MSPs start work"] BBC News]

In December 2006 she was selected as the top candidate for her party on the Glasgow regional list for the Scottish Parliament election, 2007. The SSP polled 2,579 votes in the Glasgow region and failed to gain re-election.

Campaigning

Kane is active in the fight to end the detention of children at Dungavel asylum detention centre, as well as campaigns for migrants rights and against dawn raids. She personally paid the bail for a Cameroonian woman called Mercy Ikolo and her Ireland-born 18 month old baby to allow them to leave the centre, inviting them to stay with her and her daughters in their tenement flat until their visa issues were resolved.

In 2005 Kane accepted an invitation to meet Fidel Castro at a conference in Cuba. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4590953.stm "Kane expresses Cuban solidarity"] BBC News] Later that year she caused controversy when she took part in an anti-nuclear protest, locking herself to a model nuclear submarine outside the Scottish parliament. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4336221.stm "MSP arrested in anti-nuclear demo"] BBC News] . She was fined £150 for the demonstration, and was imprisoned in Cornton Vale for 14 days in October 2006 for refusing to pay the fine. In January 2007 she was arrested but not charged for taking part in a peaceful anti-nuclear demonstration at Faslane, as part of the Faslane 365 campaign.

In June 2005, along with fellow socialist MSPs Carolyn Leckie, Frances Curran and Colin Fox, she was suspended from the Scottish Parliament for the month of September for disrupting parliamentary proceedings in a peaceful protest in the chamber. They were highlighting the issue of the right to protest outside the Gleneagles Hotel, the site of the 31st G8 summit.

She has also campaigned against the treatment of toxic waste in South East Glasgow, against water fluoridation and against GM crops.

Other information

In late 2003 she announced that she was taking a short break from politics to deal with clinical depression. She returned to work early in 2004.

She had a regular column "Rosie Kane" in the "Sunday Mail" until 6 May 2007.

She was one of several SSP members who were witnesses in "Sheridan v News International".

References