Palestinian Flag Raised at Newham Town Hall

 

On Tuesday, I attended a moving and significant flag-raising ceremony outside Newham Town Hall, marking Newham's solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The event was attended by the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, His Excellency Husam Zomlot (حسام زملط), who was warmly welcomed by Newham's Executive Mayor, Forhad Hussain. Local MP James Asser, co-chair of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East, was also present alongside members of the Newham Cabinet, community representatives and local supporters.

Following the formal flag raising, there were speeches reflecting on the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the importance of working towards peace, justice and recognition for the Palestinian people. After the inevitable photos with supporters, councillors and guests, attendees gathered in the Lister Room for a buffet lunch featuring a variety of traditional Palestinian dishes.

For many present, this was an emotional and proud occasion. The raising of the Palestinian flag above Newham Town Hall was a visible expression of solidarity and a reminder that local communities can play an important role in keeping international issues in the public eye.

Recent political developments have given renewed hope to many who have been disappointed or frustrated by aspects of Labour's approach to the conflict. More importantly, there remains a widespread desire to see meaningful progress towards a lasting, just and peaceful resolution for both Palestinians and Israelis.

While a flag-raising ceremony cannot change events on the ground, it can send a powerful message of support, compassion and international friendship. Judging by the mood of those attending, that message was received loud and clear.

Check out for further details 

Renters Rights Act is now law - the "biggest upgrade to renter's protection in more than a generation"

 

Great news that Labour has delivered for 11 million private renters in England. My dad, who has sadly passed away, would have been so proud. Back in the 1950s, he helped form a private renters’ tenants association in Buckley, North Wales, to stand against Tory attacks on their rights. He was already active in the trade union movement, worked as an electrician in what is now Airbus, later became a local Labour councillor, and remained a lifelong supporter of the Party.

Alongside the Employment Rights Act—another once-in-a-generation, 50-year boost to workers’ rights—Labour has delivered fair funding for councils to prevent bankruptcies, scrapped the two-child benefit cap, massively increased affordable housing, and brought the railways back into public ownership, showing real commitment to working-class people.

Of course, we want more, and there have been mistakes, but they’ve largely owned up to them and worked to fix issues like restoring fuel grants for low-income pensioners and recognising the state of Palestine.

If you want more of this—vote Labour.  

Update: 

Mark Thomas: Showtime from the Frontline - Theatre Royal Stratford

 After a quick canvass in my ward a far too rare night out to the theatre yesterday evening to watch the alternative comedian, Mark Thomas.

The performance was about "Dodging cultural and literal bullets, Israeli incursions and religion, Mark and his team set out to run a comedy club and put on two nights in the Palestinian city of Jenin. 

Only to find that it is not so simple to celebrate freedom of speech in a place with so little freedom".

It was politically educative but also at times very funny. Which of course is Mark Thomas's gift even if you don't agree with everything in the performance.

It was great to meet up by sheer coincidence with Sarah, a lovely lady and former resident from the Malmesbury estate in Bow, Tower Hamlets, who I have not seen for 20 odd years.

Even more weird, I have in the years since met both of her sisters in very different circumstances without being aware of the family connection.

"Antisemitism on the left"

This welcome post is by my fellow West Ham Labour Vice Chair, Josephine Grail on her personal blog.

"I have been troubled recently by a lot of the responses I have seen in my social media timelines to the antisemitism issues in the Labour party.

First of all: antisemitism exists on the left and in the Labour party; if you believe it doesn’t you’re not looking hard enough, or you’re choosing not to see it. (I’m reminded of the several cis men who, during our CLP’s debate on a motion opposing transphobia, got up to say that they had never witnessed any transphobia in the party. Well…)

Secondly: the mural that was the subject of the recent scandal undoubtedly contained clearly antisemitic imagery. I am surprised that anyone would choose to deny or question this.

Thirdly: the original response by the leaders’ office to the mural was inadequate, although I think Corbyn’s second response was reasonable. (“I sincerely regret that I did not look more closely at the image I was commenting on, the contents of which are deeply disturbing and antisemitic. The defence of free speech cannot be used as a justification for the promotion of antisemitism in any form. That is a view I’ve always held.”) However, it’s clear that in general Corbyn’s office and the Labour party more widely have failed to respond adequately to allegations of antisemitism and that there needs to be a great deal of political education within the Labour party about how to address and challenge antisemitic attitudes.

Left antisemitism has long been an intransigent issue and one which is difficult to tackle at least in part because of the dual bad faith which has existed in parts of the discourse about Israel and Palestine: that is, on one side antisemites who use the cause of Palestinian rights as a cover for their prejudice against Jewish people; and on the other side, those who allege antisemitism in bad faith in order to discredit legitimate criticism of Israel.

This is not to justify the existence of left antisemitism, but one reason why it has historically been difficult to address – although actually it’s straightforward to criticise Israel without being antisemitic: the Jewdas guide is very helpful. Those of my age or older who were involved in Palestinian rights politics at the beginning of the 2000s will remember this ‘debate’ dragging on – and may also remember that antisemitism was a recurrent issue which (in my opinion) much pro-Palestinian politics never adequately addressed.

However, it’s noticeable that the recent antisemitism issues have not been about criticism of Israel or Palestinian rights, but straightforward hatred of Jews: Holocaust denial, images of hook-nosed financiers, the far-right myth that Jewish people were responsible for the slave trade, conspiracy theories about ‘powerful special interest groups’. All of this is appalling, and there is no debate to be had about it; it’s wrong. It shouldn’t happen. And if Jewish people are criticising it, others should listen.

Yes, I understand the impulse to dismiss this as yet another way of attacking Jeremy Corbyn; and I share Rhea Wolfson’s opinion of the Labour MPs who are taking up this cause opportunistically. There have been so many bad faith scandals that it is tempting to dismiss this as a further one. I don’t agree that it is.

It’s fair to note that some of the behaviour uncovered by the press predates Corbyn being elected and that it’s unreasonable to view this as purely a Corbyn problem; antisemitism existed in the Labour party before Corbyn became leader. One of the reasons why this has come to head now is because a) there are many more Labour party members and b) the media are looking for antisemitism in a way that they were not before. Neither of those points lessens the need actively to address left antisemitism. It is possible for something both to exist as a genuine problem and for it to be dishonestly instrumentalised by those trying to use it as an attack line.

Finally: I have been trying to put together some of my thoughts on this issue for a while but haven’t had the time to write something coherent until now. I wish I had written something earlier as I think the criticism of those who “remain silent” from a Jewish comrade who has just resigned from the local Momentum group is relevant and important.

Some things I found helpful to read on the topic:

• This twitter thread; 
• This New Statesman article (I don’t agree with all of it, but I do agree with the analysis that the perception of capitalism as something which is bad because it is done by bad people leads easily to the kind of antisemitism described as the ‘socialism of fools’); 
• I thought the Jewdas piece on Enough is enough! was great, and the criticism of Corbyn attending their seder was ridiculous; 
• Rachel Shabi’s piece in the Guardian; 
• I thought the national Momentum statement was very good" 

(photo of Holocaust Memorial Day poster defaced in Newham in 2015 added by grayee))

An Evening of Palestine Solidarity - Wanstead Tap E7 Tuesday 21st March

This looks interesting and just around the corner from where I live but clashes with my UNISON branch AGM.

"Join us for an evening of solidarity with Palestine.

Guest speakers: Hamed Qawasmeh, of the Hebron International Resources Network and Leanne Mohamed, winner of the Jack Petchey "Speak Out" Challenge.

Followed by Q&A and discussion

Donations at the door to Independent Youth Forum (Palestine) are welcome

Register here"

Reminder: "This is Palestine" UNISON event tomorrow Wednesday 25 January

I must visit Palestine but in the meanwhile I will listen, learn and enquire from those who have. Email Phil if you are going so he can order refreshments

"This is Palestine" meeting for UNISON Members about solidarity with and current situation in Palestine at our National Headquarters in Euston, London 6.30pm Wednesday 25 January 2017

Looking forward to chairing this meeting. Please make sure you email Phil (p.thompson@unison.co.uk) if you want to attend. 

Conflict in Gaza - West Ham CLP motion

This was the second motion that was supported by West Ham Labour Party Executive Committee on Wednesday.

It narrowly missed out as being our contemporary motion to Labour’s party conference (which has to refer to events post 31 Julynot already be on agenda and have a 250 word limit).

"Conference notes the fact that on 3 August 2014 an Israeli missile hit a UN school that was being used as a recognised civilian shelter and this resulted in the deaths of 9 Palestinians and at least 27 injured.

Conference believes that the recent Israeli actions in Gaza are disproportionate and illegal under international law. The UN, EU and UK government must act now to prevent further outbreaks of bloodshed.

The death toll of innocent civilians cannot be justified. Israel has a responsibility to respond to rocket attacks judiciously – it has not done so, and the latest bombing of the UN school is beyond comprehension.

Conference believes in the policy of a two-state solution. We recognise the right of Palestinians to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza strip with its capital in Jerusalem. To have a viable Palestinian state Israel must comply with international law and withdraw to the 1967 borders.

The illegal settlements continue to dispossess, humiliate and terrorise the people who are the rightful owners of the land that has been occupied.

Conference calls on both sides to reach a permanent cease fire. The only viable alternative to the current conflict in the region is a political arrangement: the principles of which are embedded in the long-existing UN resolutions.

No more lives must be lost. It is time for international law to be upheld. It is time for the safety, dignity and rights of the people of Gaza to be restored".

(Photo of Street Art Protest in Dublin)

Gaza PSC Protest and March - London 26 July

Today I spoke on behalf of UNISON at the protest outside the Israeli Embassy in London. I then joined the well supported march with West Ham Labour Party colleagues which went around Hyde Park, Whitehall and past Parliament.

This was my speech. "I bring solidarity and greetings on behalf of my trade union UNISON. My name is John Gray and I am the UNISON Vice Chair of the London International Committee and a National Executive member.

The actions in Gaza are disproportionate and illegal. The UN must act now. The EU must act. The UK government must act. The evidence shows that the actions of the Israeli Defence Force are illegal in international law so why is the international community dragging its feet?

The rising death toll of innocent civilians cannot be justified. Israel has a responsibility to respond to the rocket attacks judiciously – it has not done so, and the latest bombing of the UN school is disgraceful and beyond comprehension.

 UNISON has always supported the policy of a two-state solution. We recognise the right of Palestinians to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza strip with its capital in Jerusalem. To have a viable Palestinian state Israel must comply with international law and withdraw to the 1967 borders.

The illegal settlements continue to dispossess, humiliate and terrorise the people who are the rightful owners of the land that has been occupied. We will continue to campaign against the illegal settlements.

Our links with Palestine have been established over many years. As a trade union we support workers in Palestine, in Israel and in the occupied territories to achieve their rights. We do this through delegations, projects and campaigns to support the rights of Palestinians and of Arabs within Israel who are often treated as 2nd class citizens.

We support the Workers’ Advice Centre WAC-MAAN who organise workers inside Israel. Their director, Assaf Adiv, and another WAC-MAAN activist Yoav Tamir were arrested this week on a picket line outside a garage, that was refusing to enter into negotiations with their workers. The fact that it was they who called the police because of thugs who were trying to break up the strike gives an indication of how victims are being portrayed as aggressors, and how basic rights are being violated.

We call on both sides to reach a cease fire. The only viable alternative to the current conflict in the region is a political arrangement: the principles of which are embedded in the long-existing UN resolutions.

No more lives must be lost. It is time to call a cease fire. It is time for international law to be upheld. It is time for the safety, dignity and rights of the people of Gaza to be restored.

The horror must end".

Update: I have been sent a link to a video of speech. Hat tip Simon Carr.

Israel Palestine 2012

I've been following the blog here of 9 friends who for the past 10 days have been touring Israel and Palestine. Three of them are from Newham. David & Louise Christie and Ellie Robinson.

David and Ellie are fellow first time Newham Labour Councillors. This was a self funded trip and in a strictly personal capacity only.

The blog records their journey and experiences. They have tried I think to be as fair and open minded as humanly possible.

It must have been fascinating. Pictures are from their blog of the Security Wall and Yad Vashem, the Jewish Memorial centre. I recommend you check out the blog.

#Uint11 UNISON International Seminar 2011: Haneen Maikey "Al Qaws"

Friday evening saw the start of the 2011 UNISON International Seminar at the UNISON centre in Euston, London.  There are about 80 registered BIROS (jargin for Branch International Officers which use to puzzle me before I found out what it meant), Regional and National International Committee delegates.

First Speaker was UNISON Head of Pensions, Glyn Jenkins, who used the opportunity to gave everyone an update on the dispute.

The keynote speaker was Haneen Maikey, Director of Al Qaws, the Palestinian NGO for LGBT rights.  This report is based on tweets that I did during her speech and the Q&A. See #unisonint11 (UNISON Young member @Graham_NEC suggests that I should use #Uint11 instead - so from now on I will use this one).

Usual warning about the complete accuracy of my hurried notes especially via fumbled tweeting - on such a sensitive subject. 

"Sexuality in Palestinian context is very complicated. What makes Queer Politics relevant to the Palestinian struggle? Pinkwashing is used by Israel to try and divide us.There is a taboo in Palestine about all forms of sexuality both in public and in private spaces.  Her father would prefer for her to marry a man and express her lesbianism in another way. 

In West Bank homosexuality is legal. Al Qaws does not operate in Gaza (for reasons unclear) The price of "coming out" is very high. It must be a personal decision.  80% of their funding comes from America and Europe.  They were able to persuade a Western based LGBT group not to open a gesture office in Beirut which would have caused conflict.  The 1948 Nakba 'Catastrophe' is the real issue. 711,000 Palestine refugees in 1949 there are now 4.7 million 2010. 20% of Israeli are Palestinian.  Israel tries to divert attention from colonialism, war crimes and occupation.

Resist pinkwashing and the attempt by Israel to promote its policy of victimisation by using pictures of Palestine gays being beaten up. They use these image to try and rebrand Israel.  They attempt to show Palestine as primitive.  Not just the government but well funded privates groups who are Islamophobic.  There is little solidarity with Israeli Queer groups since we are concerned with struggle while they are about equality.  While the main Israeli gay youth society promotes militarism and support the IDF.  They support gay individuals in Gaza but cannot enter.  Most human right groups cannot enter Gaza either. There are some links with Palestine trade unions but they are not close and this is an aspect to explore in the future".  Finally Haneen urged us to look at and support their new web site http://www.pinkwashingisrael.com/

UNISON NDC 2011: Motion 89 Palestine

On Wednesday afternoon I spoke in favour of this important and controversial motion. In the past UNISON conference had voted to break links with Histadrut, the Israeli trade union organisation over its support of Israeli state policy towards Palestine.

Last year Conference voted for its NEC to review this policy. The NEC did so and carried out a fact finding mission to Palestine, including meeting up with representatives of its major union, the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU).

During this visit UNISON representatives believe that they were clearly told that the PGFTU wanted them to not break off all links with Histadrut since there were advantages to the Palestine cause  from us having a "critical engagement" policy. 

However, the motion was defeated when a number of speakers claimed that the PGFTU wanted us to continue to boycott and made reference to statements made by its leadership which appeared to clearly support that view.  This I think caused widespread confusion amongst delegates and led to the motion being lost. 

I have never been to Palestine (or Israel for that matter) and I am not in anyway an "expert" in these things but I suspect that the PGFTU do see tactical advantages for them if UNISON had links with Histadrut but they do not wish to do so publicly.

See what happens next year.

UNISON NDC 2011: End of Conference

I’m on the crowded 5.15pm train back to London after the close of UNISON conference. Yet again I am amazed to discover there is life outside the conference bubble.

I was chatting to my fellow passengers - an Easy Jet pilot and a Northern Irish tyre production manager, who unbelievably have no interest, what-so-ever, in standing order committee reports, points of order, the two tier code or even the infamous UNISON Friday afternoon snake. What strange people?

I have a touch of the “conference lergie”, which I hope I can shake off when I get some sleep and fresh air.

On the whole, I thought it was a good conference. The union is very united when it comes to opposing the cuts, especially over Pensions. This is despite the best efforts of a small but vocal minority who constantly attack the union and want to divide us. There was a bit of a row over policy towards Palestine and a finance rule change. Which was a shame, but there was genuine concerns. I hope these issues are sorted by next year.

I didn’t have time to post that often during conference but will catch up over the next few days. These posts will be well out of sequence but bear with me.

In the morning there was a good debate on the stupidity of Police civilian administration staff being made redundant to “save money” then giving their jobs to uniformed Police officers who cost twice as much as them to employ.

The Chair of Standing Orders Clytus Williams gave his traditional end of conference final report. A Karaoke style musical finale - to loud applause.

There was a motion on supporting members in the private and community sectors followed by another one on campaigning with the community and voluntary sector to fight the cuts. I tried to speak on the 2nd one but the motion was closed down before it was my turn. I’ll post my speech anyway later. In the afternoon we (Housing Association branch delegates) were disappointed that we just ran out of conference time to move and debate branch our motion on “The Death and Rebirth of Public Housing”. But these things happen. But I can always post that speech as well!

The closing session is a vote of thanks to this years’ President, the no nonsense, Angela Lynes, for her term of office and past service to the Union. It is half humorous and half serious. The President is gently teased with pictures of her as a toddler flashed on the main screen while also recounting her time as President and her past service as the branch secretary of Glasgow City.

Straight after conference I went to my first meeting as a member of the UNISON National Executive Council. Which, when I catch up on my sleep (next month?) I will probably blog about.

So – a good conference. The forces of light and reason largely triumphed. UNISON is in very good shape to protect members and public services from this Tory led government and its ideologically driven hatred of public service workers and any form of collective provision.

Next year - Bournemouth.

(Caption shows Scottish newspaper “The Daily Record” in 1999 attacking Angela as being “hard left”.)

Saturday: International Seminar - Palestine

First seminar session was “Justice for Palestinians”. Sarah Colborne spoke of behalf of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PCS). While from another perspective Paul Ussiskin (picture) was a speaker from “Peace Now”. Paul is a British Jew and former member of the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) who had actually served in the West Bank.

Paul agrees with the recent UNISON conference composite that there should be a boycott of goods and services produced in the occupied West Bank. He does not support the PCS view that there should be a total boycott of Israeli. He believes that such a total boycott will just serve right wing nationalist interests and encourage a “Fortress Israel” mentality. Paul has been attacked by other Jews because of his support for an independent Palestine. He also understands people who hate Israel and while he believes that is their right: if people hate he cannot have any dialogue with them. Change can only come about by dialogue. He explained that USA Jews are very influential in Israel while those in Europe are not. Many Israeli simply don’t understand why Jews still choose to live in Europe. However, there is now a new generation of American Jews who question the traditional Jewish lobby position of supporting “Israel right or wrong”. He is more optimistic for the future.

In the Q&A Sarah pointed out that while PCS was very disappointed with the current Labour government they had done research with Tories candidates and found them even more hostile towards Palestine than even previous Tory Parliamentary candidates.

UNISON International Officer Nick Crook spoke next on Palestine – the trade union perspective. He spoke about implementing the UNISON conference decision on Palestine and the partial boycott. UNISON is to issue advice about what pension funds can or cannot legally do. As a member nominated representative in the Local Government Pension Scheme I look forward to this advice. However, I am pretty sure that it will fall short of what some people want. The key issue will be the “threat” to a fund from having investments in the “illegal” occupied settlements in the West Bank.

(I try and post on other sessions during the week)

Navigating the Compass conference

Sorry, I can’t resist a pun, however, I was in fact recommended to become a “navigator” by one of the workshop speakers, so perhaps it is actually quite apt. The 4th annual conference of “Compass” took place yesterday at Central Hall, Westminster. The web site claims “Compass is the democratic left pressure group, whose goal is to debate and develop the ideas for a more equal and democratic world, then campaign and organise to help ensure they become reality”.

The journey to Westminster was a bit confusing. The district and circle lines where closed due to engineer works (which caused the conference to start very late). A practice of the “Trooping of the Colour” was also taking place close by at Horseguards. The conference went on all day. I will break this up into 2 posts, morning speeches and them post something later on work shops and closing session.

Neal Lawson, chair of Compass, was the first keynote speaker. I think he was trying to attack the current labour government while at the same time saying he was giving Brown the benefit of the doubt. He was “optimistic” over Brown and wanted to move beyond the “politics of betrayal”. However, the left must offer Brown support when he gets things “right” and constructive but friendly criticism when he gets things wrong. I bet Brown can’t wait for the constructive stuff. He ended by reminding people that it was Margaret Thatcher (of all people) who said “socialism is never defeated”.

Dave Prentis, the general secretary of UNISON (who had sponsored the conference) spoke next and gave a well received speech. He spoke about a new political landscape that is taking place “another world is possible”. A “new course for our country”. “Gordon says he is listening, our job is to make sure he is”.

Then Deputy Leader of the TUC Frances O’Grady, who was introduced by the great “hope” of the trade union movement! More good stuff on managing globalisation (see previous posts).

An extra speaker was Mustafa Barghouti, Palestine information minister (a former Presidential candidate and not Hamas – seen as a “moderate”) who gave a tub thumping speech on Palestine. While it went down well with the audience, I don’t think simply blaming Israel for all the ills in the region is going to change things. In fact I think that such rhetoric lets Israel off the hock, since most people would accept that in this complex conflict there is more than one party to blame (including the British) and will dismiss his views as mere propaganda. Which just plays into Israeli’s hands and enable them to successfully paint all their opponents as extremists and terrorists who they can’t do business with? I think that Mustafa knows this.

Final speaker was Ken Livingston. Another Bravo performance. Part “cheeky chappie” part Left intellectual and free thinker. He admitted that in the past the Left has been wrong about how to respond to globalisation. Giving subsidies to London manufacturing industries had completely failed to do anything to protect them. Instead he has now gone on the offensive for social progress by acting globally. London was part of an international consortium made up of the 40 biggest cities in the world. Which had combined to use their purchasing power to arrange multi-billion loans to retro fit for energy efficient, purposes every public building in London? Nothing to do with central government. Ken said “this is globalisation” not just leaders going to international conferences held in nice hotels. He finished by talking about local income taxes which if he could set at 2% in London would solve practically all its social problems. He recognised that you need to set taxes at a point which is a bit painful but not so painful that they (City financial services) would “bugger off”.

Picture of Tower Hamlets Labour Party activists Cllr Anwara Ali (and local GP), Cllr Bill Turner (UNISON member) and Law centre worker Amina Ali (who has been short listed as a PPC in Bristol)

I'll post the report on the workshops and closing sessions later