“The voice of rank and file members will be heard”.
Welsh Labour Grassroots
By Welsh Labour Grassroots
In a hasty and heavy-handed intervention by UK Labour’s Governance and Legal Unit, delegates to Welsh Labour Women’s Conference were prevented from debating a motion on solidarity with Palestinian women last Saturday.
The decision went against that made by the Standing Orders Committee (SOC), the body elected to decide such matters. It also went against the wishes of Welsh Labour Women’s Committee, which had voted overwhelmingly to support the motion.
In a statement, Welsh Labour Grassroots (WLG) have said, “The justification that it was ‘outwith the purpose and purview of Welsh Women’s Conference’ does not ring true. On the same day at Scottish Labour Women’s Conference passed a similar motion with no interference from UK Labour.”
The motion which was disallowed the day before without the knowledge of the SOC or the delegate who was due to move it, was written and submitted by Cynon Valley Labour Women’s Branch before 7th October. In a bizarre twist, the original title had been changed from ‘Solidarity with Palestinian Women’ to ‘Israel-Palestine Conflict’ before it even reached the SOC for consideration.
A WLG spokesperson further commented, “This line about being ‘outwith the purview’ is a lot of nonsense. Welsh Labour Women’s Conference passed a motion on abortion decriminalisation which is not a devolved issue and Welsh Labour Conference previously passed a motion on Ukraine which, being international, is not strictly relevant. However, who else has the purview of expressing Welsh Labour women’s solidarity with women in Palestine, if not this Conference?”
The group asserted that, “The voice of rank and file members will be heard”.
This is the motion in full, as supported by the Welsh Labour Women’s Committee:-
Solidarity with Palestinian women
Conference notes that:
- the Israeli Government is in breach of international law in respect of the rights of the people of Palestine
- the actions of the Israeli Government particularly affect the lives of the women of Palestine
Palestinian women’s fight for equal rights is hampered by the Israeli occupation, which has led to fragmentation of territories and increasing economic hardships. Efforts to organise around a common agenda for gender equality are made more difficult by restrictions imposed on women’s movements by the Israeli occupation. Check points add to the difficulties faced by women travelling to meetings, to work, or for medical care, and are often humiliating and degrading experiences for them. No account is taken of any special needs such as pregnancy. Israeli Government policies such as punitive home demolitions have a devastating effect on women, and Palestinian women who resist can find themselves imprisoned in appalling circumstances without trial.
Conference therefore records its solidarity with the women of Palestine in their struggle for freedom from occupation and for gender equality.
Conference applauds the Welsh Government on its position on the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill and calls on Welsh Labour to redouble their efforts to support the Palestinian people in accordance with their wishes.
- Welsh Labour Grassroots are the the left and centre-left in the Welsh Labour Party, campaigning for socialist policies and greater party democracy.
- You can follow them on twitter and facebook.
