There has probably never been a time in the entire history of the Labour Party, when political debate and discussion has been so bureaucratically and arbitrarily stifled from the top. The Labour conference two weeks ago was more stage-managed than any in living memory, with a long succession of PPCs and Labour councillors getting to the rostrum, apparently ‘randomly’ and important resolutions, like that from the Socialist Health Association, simply manoeuvred off the agenda.
There is no trade union or labour movement conference where an elected conference arrangementss committee can be overruled by the National Executive Committee, but that is what happens now at Labour conference.
Up and down the country, CLPs have been suspended and members expelled for a variety of manufactured reasons and regional officials more or less openly work with the right wing to keep local candidates away from parliamentary selections, in favour of careerists parachuted in at the behest of the leadership.
But it is in relation to discussions about Palestine and Israel that an iron curtain has been thrown over Labour meetings. Labour’s right wing received a shock at the support and sympathy expressed for Palestinian rights at the Labour conference in 2018. On that occasion, conference saw dozens of the red, black, green and white flags of Palestine being waved.
“International law” is meaningless
Allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party were already being made then, chiefly as a means of undermining Corbyn’s leadership. And given the horrific history of the Jewish people in Europe in the last century, there are few worse charges to throw at a left leader than antisemitism. Even the Forde Report, quietly dropped by the Labour leadership, noted that “some opponents of Jeremy Corbyn saw the issue of antisemitism as a means of attacking him.”
But given the support for Palestinian rights, the campaign on antisemitism was booster-charged. The adoption of the IHRA defininition of antisemitism by the Labour Party – and there are far better, like the Jerusalem Declaration – was not intended as a way of ‘rooting out’ antisemitism, but to stifle criticism of Israel. Seven out of the eleven ‘examples’ in the IHRA definition relate to the state of Israel and as a result it has been used to stifle criticism of Israel or any debate on the issue in the Party.
We shouldn’t be surprised at this. As the Al Jazeera revelations have shown, the pro-Israel lobby is well resourced and powerful, extending even to the NEC of the Party. The Labour Friends of Israel – which should be re-named the Labour Friends of Netanyahu – has a widespread membership, and therefore influence, in the Parliamentary Labour Party.
In the current crisis, Keir Starmer has been vociferous in his support for Israel. Like Biden, he appears to see the entire Israeli operation in Gaza – the bombardment, the ‘total siege’ and the deaths of thousands of civilians – only as a function of Israel’s “right to defend itself” from Hamas.
Starmer emphasised this when he was interviewed by LBC’s Nick Ferrari on October 11. When asked by Ferrari, “A siege is appropriate? Cutting off power, cutting off water?”, Starmer replied, “I think that Israel has that right”. He later added, and has repeated since, that Israeli actions should be carried out “within interantional law”, but that is a meaningless expression, given that Israel has over many decades ignored UN resolutions and what passes for international ‘law’ in its treatment of Palestinians.
Collective punishment of Gaza population
So the position we have is this: even faced with the pressure of public opinion, with the relentless bombing and the bloody collective punishment meted out to the residents of Gaza, Keir Starmer has to be dragged kicking and screaming – but only as far as leaning on a hypothetical (and in the real world non-existent) “international law”.
“My country, right or wrong” was an old saying that summarised the lack of morality inherent in chauvinism and patriotism. Starmer doesn’t seem to be very far off that in relation to Israel. But in refusing to condemn the siege, refusing to support the call for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza, refusing to condemn the incessant deadly bombing, he will be out of step not only with the labour movement grass roots, but increasingly, with public opinion.
When the bombing of Gaza began, it quickly took on the scale and scope of similar bombardments in the past, when thousands of Palestinian lives were lost, including hundreds of children. Anticipating protests, Tory Home Secretary called for expressions of support for Palestine, such as flying Palestinian flags, to be ‘criminalised’.
David Evans, Labour’s General Secretary, also sought to ‘criminalise’ protests in his own way. He sent out a circular to Labour MPs and councillors urging them not to attend any rallies or demonstrations. He followed this up with a letter to CLPs. “Elected representatives”, he wrote, “have been given strong advice not to attend any of these events, and I would urge you to exercise similar caution”.
“no Labour Party banners please…”
Evans’ rationale for this was the danger of being photographed alongside or – heaven forbid – sharing a platform with “individuals that threaten to undermine the values and principles of the Labour Party”. In the event that individual members are in attendance at these protests and demonstration, he wrote, “I ask that no Labour Party banners are taken along”.
Last but not least, the missive included a threat of expulsion if his advice were not followed. As for resolutions, these might, he said, “undermine the Labour Party’s ability to provide a safe and welcoming space for all its members” and therefore would all be ruled out of order. So here we have the Labour Party, a political party, forbidden from discussing the most important political issue of the moment.
Gaza picture
It is not pro-Palestinian protesters, but Evans and Starmer who have trampled and trashed all the “values” of the Labour Party. When it takes a Tory peer, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, to urge Keir Starmer to show “sympathy to the plight of Palestinians”, then there is clearly something seriously amiss.
People like Starmer have enabled the policies of Israel which are the root cause of the conflict. Hamas represents only the extreme end of a spectrum of anger, resentment and hate, but we need to look at how that ‘spectrum’ arose in Gaza in the first place. It arose from living in the biggest open prison in the world, from being drip-fed all the necessities of life: water, food, energy, because of the decades-long Israeli blockade. It arose from 50% unemployment and an Israeli policy that offers the Palestinian people no future whatsoever.
The anger, resentment and hatred come from apartheid policies enabled by Western politicians, including Keir Starmer. In that sense, people like Starmer “own” the war, every bit as much as the Israeli government, to whose policies they have given a nod and a wink for years.
For our part, we stand with the big majorithy of the rank and file of the labour movement who support of the rights of Palestinians, The longer and more savage the bombing of Gaza, the greater will be the isolation of Starmer from public opinion.
Starmer’s personal ratings in opinion polls are barely better than Sunak’s. But fortunately for him, the Party he leads is well ahead in the polls and, as the by-elections in Mid-Bedfordshire and Tamworth show, is on course to win the next election. Starmer may be catapulted into office on a wave of revulsion against the Tories, but within the Party and the labour movement, he is already the seen as the worst Labour leader we’ve every had. That will not bode well for a ‘honeymoon’ period when he becomes Prime Minister.
[Picture top: protesters outside Labour HQ]
