“This issue is going to haunt Labour before, during & after the next election”
Hugh Lanning, Labour & Palestine
Reporting by the Labour Outlook team
A notable feature of this Saturday’s demonstration for Palestine was a “Labour Members for Palestine” bloc on the march. Gathering behind a new banner hundreds heard John McDonnell and Bell Ribeiro-Addy welcoming the organisation of the bloc, (later joined by Diane Abbott amongst others on the demo’s route), whilst also denouncing the latest war-mongering masquerading as ‘self-defence’ with the bombing of Yemen.
In particular, John McDonnell recalled Keir Starmer’s pledge to seek parliamentary approval before going to war and Bell Ribeiro-Addy highlighted the need for an immediate ceasefire.
The bloc was organised by Labour and Palestine, CLPD, Arise and Momentum amongst others. Hopefully it represents a new willingness by Labour Party members to be identified as supporters of Palestine and a ceasefire. Apart from the supporting organisations there were constituency and councillor banners. The intention will be to organise the bloc again on future national marches.
Speaking at the rally, alongside Jess Barnard from Labour’s NEC, Hugh Lanning stressed the need to translate the support on the marches into political organisation – and to make Palestine a ballot box issue. Before that, against the backdrop of the ‘Labour Members for Palestine’ banner, Jess had focussed on the latest developments in Yemen, saying something along these lines:
“I wish even a tenth of the humanity on show today was reflected in the people who make up our government.
The UK this week faced a choice between calling on Israel to stop their genocide against the Palestinian people and wreaking more havoc, sowing more destruction on the already besieged people of Yemen. Our leaders in the US and UK to their shame. have chosen the latter.
The air strikes on Yemen and continued support for Israel has received the backing of my own party’s leader, Keir Starmer. The same Sir Keir Starmer who when seeking election as Labour leader in January 2020 he made the members a series of promises:
1. He said he would pass legislation that said military action could only be taken with the consent of the House of Commons.
2. He promised to put human rights at the heart of foreign policy.
3. He promised to review all UK arms sales to make Britain a force for international peace.
4. He said he would halt the sales to Saudi Arabia that are creating the horrifying humanitarian suffering in Yemen.
He lied.
Starmer is on the brink repeating the bloody history of Tony Blair, marching hand in hand with the US into another disastrous war in the Middle East while we the people are demanding a ceasefire.
That is why we need to build a resistance to war mongering within the labour movement. Because the Labour movement does not stand by while 20,000 Palestinians are murdered and millions forcibly displaced, starved and threatened. We stand against these leaders’ illegal wars – we organise for freedom and for peace.
This week for the first time the ‘Red bloc’, a coalition of groups active against Starmer’s line in the Labour Party have joined us to march for Palestine despite attempts to restrict us from attending. Labour members join together, join the bloc and remember we have power in our numbers.”
Hugh Lanning of Labour and Palestine then quoted Desmond Tutu: “There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in”.
He went on to explain how instead, “Labour’s leadership has watched the bodies float by, endorsing Israel’s war objectives.” In his opinion, “with over 20,000 dead, Labour’s leadership has effectively gone to war on Palestine – just as it has in the Yemen.”
In so doing, he felt that Labour has morally ‘lost the plot’ with hundreds of thousands of marchers – a whole generation of people now committed to supporting Palestine. He said, “This issue is going to haunt Labour before, during and after the next election. It will not go away with the election of a Labour Government – those marching today, the organisations supporting the bloc will make sure that doesn’t happen.”
He added that, “We have seen where the arms and money the West gives Israel are going – we see it every night on the television. They are going to kill Palestinians – whether the ICJ concurs that this is genocide or not, the reality is Israel is trying to literally demolish any serious prospect of a Palestinian state.
This will require Labour to commit to global pressure on Israel to comply with international law. This will not be easy – but Netanyahu gives us the clue in saying he needs 3 things:” munitions, munitions, munitions”. As with South Africa, sanctions will be the key – Labour needs to call for an arms embargo and commit to immediate recognition – not backtrack from its established policy. It also should publicly state it will repeal the anti-boycott bill should it become law.
He concluded that, “A ceasefire will not be enough to create peace, it will only be a beginning. To establish the conditions for peace it will be necessary to dismantle the Israeli apartheid regime from Gaza to Jericho – that means bringing down the Wall ‘brick by brick’, removing the settlements and settlers, getting the troops out – it means ending the illegal military occupation.”
Organisers of the bloc on the day agreed that Palestine needs a permanent Labour bloc for Palestine at every level inside and outside the party making sure that the Palestinian voice is heard, and bringing together the calls of hundreds of thousands of Labour Party supporters who are uniting in action for a “ceasefire now” and a Free Palestine.
- Note: Quotes are based on notes taken by a volunteer reporter at the March.
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