Source: Counterfire

The price for Zionism is paid in the lives and basic freedoms of the Palestinian people and the brutal military occupation they live under today.

In the first decade of the Zionist movement, there were territorialist and socialist strands that supported the creation of a Jewish state outside of Palestine and even backed Britain’s offer of the Mau Plateau in East Africa.

But Zionist leaders and the World Zionist Organisation made the creation of a state for Jewish people in Palestine and not anywhere else a fundamental part of Zionism. This was with full knowledge that “the bride is beautiful but she’s married to another man”. This phrase which was reported by a delegation that visited Palestine meant that the land of Palestine would be ideal, except that it was already populated.

They therefore acknowledged – as did a host of British politicians during discussion of Balfour’s infamous declaration and then facilitation of Jewish mass migration to British-occupied Palestine – that the settlement of European Jews and creation of a Jewish state in Palestine would necessitate colonisation and the dispossession of Palestinians.

The founding of Israel was indeed inherently based on the colonisation of Palestine, with the displacement, murder and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. The creation of the State of Israel was a racist endeavour and tied to Britain’s, and later the US’, imperialist aims in the Middle East. In the words of Ronald Storrs, the first British military governor of Jerusalem, the aim was to create “a loyal Jewish Ulster” which could protect Britain’s interests in the Suez Canal and provide a connection to the Persian Gulf via Iraq and Jordan.

The occupation and the apartheid policies that Israel practices today were not borne of unforeseen circumstances or ‘Arab hostility’; they are the necessary development of an ethnocratic state that doesn’t recognise the right of self-determination of the indigenous population.

The land usurped by the Israeli State, the refusal of the right to return for Palestinians, the formation of an economy that was exclusive to Jewish labour and the domination of natural resources were very much planned, deliberately institutionalised in the Oslo peace process and are the inherent features of Israel that make it the apartheid state it is today.

The Histadrut, for example, which is the Israeli equivalent of the TUC, was founded as an exclusively Jewish organisation that campaigned for the exclusion of Arab workers and began by providing strikebreakers to help defeat Palestinian workers’ strikes in the 20s and 30s. It was former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir who described it as not “just a trade union organization. It was a great colonizing agency”.

This is what Zionism is. It isn’t an abstract political debate on Jewish self-determination – it is what Israel is. The realisation of Zionism is at the expense of the lives and the basic freedoms of Palestinian people and the brutal military occupation they live in today.

So yes, Zionism is racist. Those who describe themselves as Zionist, even liberal Zionists and post-Zionists, accept the Nakba as legitimate.

Zionism is also not limited to Jewish people. The British politicians who backed the creation of Israel, the American politicians that pushed the UN to partition Palestine, the Evangelical Christians who proudly call themselves Zionist are not Jewish.

It’s what makes the recent accusations that Corbyn referring to a specific group of Zionists was actually code for Jewish people so crass. While there are obviously a small number of pro-Palestinian people who have used “Zionist” to describe Jewish people and as a term of abuse, which is completely unacceptable, it is often pro-Israelis and those on the right (like Sajid Javid) who conflate the two and use them as if they are interchangeable.

Furthermore, there is a growing discord between British and American Jews and Israel. A 2015 survey found that 59% of British Jews call themselves Zionist, down from 72% in a 2010 survey. 71% support Palestinian self-determination, 75% oppose settlement expansion, 42% support negotiations with Hamas and 24% support sanctions on Israel. It’s a similar picture in the US, accelerated by Trump and the clarity with which he has been vehemently pro-Israel and the best friend of Netanyahu whilst at the same time giving a platform to antisemites from his alt-right core support base.

While there might be people who consider themselves both Zionist and anti-racist, those of us who support Palestine should aim to point out this contradiction. The reality is that supporting the Palestinian struggle is very much an anti-racist, anti-colonial struggle: it means supporting the right to self-determination, freedom and equality for both the Palestinian and Jewish peoples.

This is a slightly shortened version of the original article, which can be read in full here.

Source: Counterfire

Thousands of people marched in silence on the anniversary of the Grenfell Tower Fire in a powerful show of solidarity

The front of the march was led by survivors and families of the victims of the fire. Most people at the march were wearing green for Grenfell and there were placards calling for justice and for the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and the Tenant Management Organisation to be held accountable. The final rally was compèred by Lowkey, who released a second song about Grenfell to mark the anniversary.

A year ago, the fire was a shock to the whole country – except to tenants of Grenfell Tower themselves who warned the council that something exactly like this would happen if they didn’t take their concerns seriously. But this fell on deaf ears. Worse, some of the tenants were threatened with legal action for campaigning for fire safety. The chilling words of the Grenfell Action Group, who raised the alarm on the lack of fire safety at the Tower years before the fire, should never be forgotten:

It is a truly terrifying thought but the Grenfell Action Group firmly believe that only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord, the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO)

The government’s response to the tragedy was abhorrent. Theresa May refused to meet the survivors. Instead, she paid a quick visit to the emergency services personnel – the same people that her government has kept under a 1% pay cap and who her government are now trying to shift the blame of the fire onto.

And the relief efforts were just as shoddy. There was no centrally organised relief operation, it was down to the resilience of the community and the thousands of volunteers who flocked in to organise shelter, food and clothes for those who had lost everything in the fire.

A year on not much has changed. Only 82 of the households from Grenfell Tower have been given permanent accommodation. Dozens of families are still living in hotel rooms, often sharing one room between a family, and over 100 families are living in temporary accommodation. The 68 flats bought by the council in 375 High Street Kensington that were reported to be fast-tracked for completion and house survivors, hasn’t materialised.

A number of council leaders that were involved directly in the decisions that resulted in the fire resigned, but not an ounce of justice has been done. People like Rock Fielding-Mellen, responsible for the regeneration of Grenfell Tower and who the contractors said they opted to use the cheaper, flammable cladding for, should be behind bars for murder – not lounging in his multi-million-pound mansion.

In the aftermath of the fire, tests on the cladding of tower blocks around the country revealed that hundreds of buildings had the same flammable materials making up their facades. The government have yet to provide funding for a number of austerity-hit councils that have said they can’t afford to replace the cladding of over 250 buildings without central government funds. A year later, thousands of Britons continue to live in buildings that are at risk of spreading fire like Grenfell, and private landlords like Vincent Tchenguiz have told their residents that cladding will only be changed if they pay for it.

And the public inquiry that has now begun has already faced a number of issues from the onset. The presiding judge is one that has ruled in favour of social cleansing, the terms of reference are limited and despite some concessions, it’s clear that the inquiry will not be likely to direct blame at the government or any individuals – much like Chilcot.

Most shamefully still, is the recent government-media-police coordinated attack on the firefighters that bravely risked their lives to rescue people from Grenfell Tower, some even disobeying orders and going above the line of duty. But at the silent march, as has been the case with all the marches that have taken place every month since the fire, the heroic firefighters that helped in Grenfell lined up outside Ladbroke Grove Station – and people on the march stopped to thank them. It was a clear testament to the fact that the media spin is not working in the community, who recognise who it is that’s really responsible for the tragedy they have faced.

Days after the fire, when residents of the area demonstrated and stormed the Council, there was a strong sense of anger and clearly directed at the council and the government. After being at the march, it’s clear that that anger is still there and it’s still aimed at the Council and Theresa May. The Tower is now covered in white sheets, but it will forever remain a symbol of Tory austerity, a melting pot of all the ways this government has attacked the working class.

The silent march was powerful and incredibly moving; it served as a way for the community to come out in force together, and as Jeremy Corbyn said, to mourn together and overcome together. The sheer number of people that turned up, and the strong messages on some of the placards and banners are reminders that the anger hasn’t gone away. The Tories can’t be let off the hook. And for that, we also need to be bold in challenging the government directly and we need to do so as the wider movement united with the Grenfell community.

It’s why the demonstration on Saturday assembling outside Downing Street at 12pm, is so important. Theresa May needs to be given the message, loud and clear, that Grenfell has not been forgotten and that as well as mourning, we’re angry, we want justice and we won’t just sit back until real justice has been done. The march is co-organised by the Fire Brigades Union, which again is extremely important politically to rebuke the attempts to put the blame on them.

Shabbir Lakha is an officer of Stop the War Coalition, a People’s Assembly activist and a member of Counterfire.

Lowkey ft. Kaia – Ghosts of Grenfell 2

Source: Counterfire

After the big Free Tommy Robinson rally in London, the entire left need to get serious about organising against the far right.

The sight of thousands of people, young and old, from all around the country, decked in Union Jacks and England flags, doing Nazi salutes and shouting racist chants should be frightening for everyone. It is said to be one of the biggest far-right mobilisations in Britain in decades.

When the FLA first appeared, there was a lot of confusion around what they actually stood for and how serious of a threat they were. But there can be no doubt any more that they are a far-right grouping with a core of fascists including older National Front, BNP and EDL members. The threat is real and the left urgently need a strategy to deal with it.

There is immense and growing discontent in society. Austerity has meant that four million adults are reliant on food-banks; meaningful employment is being replaced by precarious conditions; real term wages are declining, affordable housing is practically non-existent and cash-stripped public services are failing.

The Tories have consistently blamed migrants for the fallout of their policies. Not the richest 1% of society that claimed 82% of the wealth generated last year or the massive multinational corporations paying no tax, and certainly not themselves. For two decades, successive governments have used Muslims as a scapegoat for their disastrous military interventions in the Middle East. The mainstream media have been a largely uncritical transmission belt, happily presenting these ideas as facts.

These are the ideas that form the bedrock of far-right rhetoric – it’s how the far-right can co-opt and mobilise the legitimate anger against the government and deteriorating living standards. As the neoliberal centre ground continues to collapse, politics continues to be polarised to the right and to the left. On the left this has been articulated through the Corbyn surge. On the right, faced with the demise of UKIP and a crisis-ridden Tory party unable to govern, it is manifesting itself in far-right street movements.

It is the same mechanism that gave Donald Trump his victory in the US and the far right in Europe. Eight years of austerity under Obama followed by the sabotage of Bernie Sanders by the Democrats resulted directly in the strengthening of the so-called “alt-right” and Trump gaining the presidency. Similarly, the harsh austerity and anti-democratic measures of the European Union have boosted the far right across Europe – France’s National Front, Germany’s AfD, Italy’s League and the far-right parties that have actually taken power in Poland, Austria and Hungary.

Just a few months ago Donald Trump retweeted Britain First, giving them a huge platform and filling their supporters with glee. Saturday’s rally was addressed by Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders who proclaimed that “Tommy Robinson is the greatest freedom fighter of Britain today” and that “our governments sold us out with mass immigration, with Islamisation, with open borders – we are almost foreigners in our own lands”.

This growing pan-European and transatlantic networking by far-right groups is extremely dangerous. It means we need to be honest about the role the EU has been and is playing in creating the conditions that are worsening the living standards and collective power of the working class, as well as for the far right to thrive. It also means we really need to tackle the issues head on.

The rise of Jeremy Corbyn has proved that there is an appetite for radical left wing ideas and his performance in the general election last year proved that a left wing Labour Party can win electorally. Around half of UKIP’s lost votes in the 2017 election went to Labour, showing that a large part of their previous electoral success was down to a lack of a credible alternative to the Tories.

The recent outrage at the treatment of the Windrush generation and the hostile environment Theresa May created for immigrants shows that this government has misjudged public opinion and that the ideas of the far-right don’t have popular purchase.

The left has so far benefited more from polarisation than the right has, but this is not a given and won’t necessarily last unless we actively make it so. We can only undermine the far right and make it clear that they don’t have as much support as they think they do when we control the streets.

Since the election, the Labour leadership hasn’t been as combative as some of us might have hoped. The movements here have an important role in pressuring the leadership to stay radical and to remain connected to the streets. A week ago, Jeremy Corbyn issued a strong statement condemning the massacre in Gaza and in solidarity with Palestinians – but that statement was only issued to be read at a Palestine demonstration. Had the demonstration not been called, that statement would not have been delivered.

So we have a critical role in mobilising on the streets and showing both that we have the real solutions for tackling inequality and that we are serious about fighting for radical change, leaving no room for the far right to claim they have popular grassroots support and showing up their arguments for the shallow nonsense that they are.

But we cannot do that when we are as massively outnumbered as we were on Saturday and at a number of previous FLA rallies around the country. The entire movement needs to be brought out to confront fascists and that means building a serious united front and organising proactively with trade unions, the widest possible range of social campaign groups and religious and ethnic minority communities.

In the immediate term, we have two big opportunities to shape the political landscape and push back against the far-right in the months to come. They are the NHS demonstration on 30 June and the demonstration against Donald Trump on 13 July. Both give us the opportunity to bring big numbers of people onto the streets and to reclaim the narrative on austerity, war and racism. Particularly at the Trump demo, where we can put forward a direct challenge to the racists and undermine them, especially since the DFLA are organising a “Welcome Trump” march.

In the next month, we have to do everything we can to get as many people as we can to the demonstrations, and we urgently need to build serious organisation on the ground. The far right are organising and we simply cannot afford to be complacent.