Seven police officers outside Labour Party AGM

Report by Bexley Labour Left

Seven police officers initially stationed outside the Erith and Thamesmead Constituency Labour Party’s AGM on late afternoon Saturday reflects how local politics is changing. Such a step was previously unheard of and wouldn’t even have been fleetingly considered by the CLP in years gone by. 

As the constituency MP and a number of councillors were among the 40-odd people who attended the meeting at St Michael and All Angels Church in Abbey Wood, it seems clear where the request for police officers to be present came from. Set against a national backdrop of two MPs being murdered over the past decade and the increasingly strained nature of today’s politics, some nervousness is perhaps understandable. 

But Bexley Labour Left (BLL) would like to unequivocally state that no such threat comes from or will ever come from this group or anybody connected to it. Its members are only interested in intellectual debate and policies to create a better society, and not intimidation of any kind or acts of violence. 

Leaflets, with a proposed motion printed on them calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, Israel and the West Bank to stop mass death, suffering and destruction, were handed to party members as they made their way into the church. For the most part, they were well received with a bit of conversation in some cases, in what was a jovial atmosphere. 

BLL learned that despite one particularly principled and praiseworthy plea from the floor, the newly-elected chair at the meeting dismissed any suggestion of hearing the motion on an emergency basis, with limited overt support from others. His reasoning was the motion is complex and would take too long to discuss, and AGMs are traditionally only to elect officers. 

But there is a recognition by some party members, privately at least, that the conflict in the Middle East is an urgent matter that needs to be debated, and the motion will now hopefully work its way to the CLP via one or more of its branches. The motion and the preamble to it that was widely circulated prior to the meeting is reproduced below. 

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Over 1,000 Israeli civilians were killed in southern Israel on October 7th by Hamas with hundreds taken hostage, while Israeli military forces have subsequently killed more than 15,000 Palestinian civilians in Gaza alone. Only a total ceasefire, to enable a political solution to be negotiated, will bring an end to the bloodshed, destruction and mass deaths of innocent men, women and children.

The Erith and Thamesmead CLP (and its branches) should pass the motion below at the earliest possible opportunity. 

MOTION

This CLP calls for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, Israel and the West Bank as the only way to stop the deaths of more innocent men, women and children further to the thousands of Israeli and Palestinian civilians who’ve already lost their lives. 

The current conflict is also leaving many more people injured or maimed, laying waste to whole neighbourhoods and has displaced over a million people. 

No matter how long it takes or hard it is to achieve, only a negotiated political settlement can provide any kind of solution.

This CLP also notes: 

1. No military solution is possible in this conflict.
2. Escalating levels of violence will not achieve a lasting peace. 
3. The sanctity of all human life should be recognised and respected.
4. Humanitarian pauses will only possibly provide temporary respite, and cannot, by definition, bring a permanent end to the killing.
5. Unless the fighting stops, many civilians will be unable to access food, water, medical supplies and fuel – or adequate levels of such. 
6. War crimes and breaches of international law, as a matter of legal principle, do not justify greater breaches of international law and war crimes. 
7. Families, particularly with young children, left homeless by the conflict have no prospect of rebuilding their lives while it continues. 
8. Calling for a ceasefire is an important first step in ending the horrifying scale of bloodshed. Politicians, political parties and governments cannot ignore overwhelming public calls for a cessation in hostilities. And the countries who are the diplomatic, economic and military backers or enablers of the warring parties, have the power to make them stop immediately.
9. All hostages and political prisoners should be released. 

[Picture top: from Erith and Thamesmead FB page]