26.09.2024
Don’t mention fake anti-Semitism
Thousands marched in Liverpool to protest against Labour’s complicity with Israel, but, writes Ian Spencer, Lindsey German did not come out of things with flying colours
Around 10,000 people - fewer than expected - assembled at Liverpool Lime Street on September 21 to demand a ceasefire and the end of arms sales to Israel. The demonstration consisted of a rather short march to the Pier Head; we were clearly not supposed to upset Sir Keir Starmer with noisy chants about ‘genocide’ and ‘war crimes’. The police kept us well away from the ACC arena, where Labour’s conference was happening.
So far, so predictable. It was the rally at the end, however, which did mix things up a bit - and unusually so. But then, Liverpool has always been a bit different. The left remains organised and vocal, as Kim Johnson, MP for Liverpool Riverside, found out to her disadvantage. She clearly wanted to use her appearance at the rally to whitewash her tarnished image - many in Liverpool have not forgiven her for not voting on the November 15 2023 parliamentary motion on a Gaza ceasefire. She released a mealy-mouthed statement afterwards, explaining that she was on a “pre-arranged Commonwealth Parliamentary Association overseas visit”, which really sounds super-important - much more important than genocide.
“Had I been present, I would have voted for any amendment calling for an immediate ceasefire on both sides,” she wrote. Hold on - both sides? Oh yes, Johnson very much apes the ‘bad apples’ storyline and in her statement following the parliamentary vote in November 2023 she draws an equals-sign between the October 7 attack by Hamas and the systematic violence doled out against Palestinians by the Israeli state: “I condemn the brutal killings of innocent Israeli men, women and children and the taking of hostages by Hamas. I echo the calls by the international community to release all hostages immediately. Equally, I condemn the killings of over 11,000 Palestinians in Gaza, 68% of whom are women and children, during the bombardment of the Gaza Strip in recent weeks.”1
No friend
Unlike her fellow Liverpool MP, Ian Byrne (who also spoke at the demo), and six other Labour parliamentarians who were subsequently suspended, she also did not have the guts, back in July, to vote in favour of scrapping the two-child benefit cap. And when it came to the winter fuel allowance, she once again chose to abstain - rather than vote in favour of keeping it, as Ian Byrne, Zarah Sultana and the other ‘rebel MPs’ did.
She is, understandably, deeply unpopular on the left and we must ask, who on earth thought it was a good idea to invite her to address the rally? She is no friend of the Palestinians. It was heartening to see her speech booed by the crowd almost right from the get-go. She was also met with shouts of, “Get out of the Labour Party”. But what really raised hackles was when she yet again started to compare October 7 with Israel’s violence. She also made a rather pathetic attempt to present the Parliamentary Labour Party in a positive light - and was booed some more.
She responded, “Yes you will boo me, but I am one of the few Labour MPs that has asked for a ceasefire and a return of humanitarian aid.” She went on, “I am a black, working class woman from Liverpool, and I have fought racism all my life” - as if this justified being an apologist for a party complicit in genocide.
Ian Byrne MP was the only other Labour MP to appear on the platform and he went down much better, though his speech was not exactly inspiring stuff. Gaza is a “moral test for the new government and I call on them today to stand up for the implementation of international law and be bold in confronting those who undermine it,” he demanded rather lamely.
Byrne should know better than put his trust in “international law” - it can be, and is being, pulled and bent to suit the agenda of the ruling class. The Labour government is fully on board with US support for what Israel is doing in Gaza, so it seems a touch optimistic to call on it to ‘confront’, well, itself. The UK is one of several countries which manufacture parts for F-35 fighters that are used by Israel, as well as home to companies such as Elbit Systems, which is a major supplier of attack drones for the Israel Defence Forces. The UK government revoking just 30 out of 350 export licenses for weapons to Israel is no more than a token gesture. As Mick Whelan, general secretary of train drivers’ union Aslef, told the rally: “We don’t want 30 arms licences for Israel cancelled, we want them all cancelled.”
Cats and pigeons
It was, however, the speech by Audrey White, secretary of Merseyside Pensioners Association, that really put the cat among the pigeons. She was expelled from the Labour Party in 2022 after denouncing Keir Starmer’s purge of the left, famously confronting him in a Liverpool restaurant. The video clip, in which he looks like a deer caught in the headlights, went viral within hours and has been viewed many millions of times.
Comrade White certainly was not shy about ‘speaking truth to power’ on Saturday either. She angrily attacked the
dirty, filthy weapon of fake anti-Semitism. It was used to destroy Jeremy Corbyn, it was used to silence us when they came for our comrades. Where do those lies come from? They come from the Labour Party and the pages of the Jewish Chronicle, which has a direct line to Netanyahu and the generals who are carrying out the genocide. This fake anti-Semitism has destroyed our movement. Do not accept the lies!2
It was passionate, strong stuff and not something we have ever heard from the platform on the 18 previous national demonstrations.
Her speech was enthusiastically cheered and clapped by the crowd - but went down like a lead balloon among the organisers. The Morning Star, for example, noticeably declined to report her remarks.
Comrade White has complained publicly that afterwards she received an angry text from Lindsey German, convenor of the Stop the War Coalition. Comrade German apparently blamed her for being responsible for an unnamed speaker withdrawing from the rally after her speech, because of the “possible reputational damage” to them and their organisation. Comrade German, true to form, has refused to tell Audrey White who the ‘shrinking violet’ was, unfortunately. But clearly, German’s message implies that White should have self-censored and not put VIPs into such an awkward position.
We have not been able to find a full list of advertised speakers that we could cross-reference with the speakers at the rally, but if any readers have more information, please let us have it - the person concerned deserves to be named and shamed. Clearly they are in the wrong, not comrade White.
The plot somewhat thickened when we heard that the Palestine Solidarity Campaign unsuccessfully tried to get hold of a copy of comrade White’s speech from cameraman Carlos Soto, who filmed the event on behalf of The Crispin Flintoff show (all speeches are now online anyway, for everybody to see). The PSC has been entirely useless during the witch-hunt and has tried its best not to criticise Zionism.3
Official sponsors
Just like the Stop the War Coalition, the PCS is chiefly concerned with not alienating its official sponsors or getting hammered in the pages of, yes, the Jewish Chronicle. This whole sorry episode really exposes the serious political limitations of these so-called ‘united fronts’. Lindsey German might have occasionally opposed the witch-hunt when speaking on behalf of her sect, Counterfire. But in the StWC, she kowtows to the witch-hunt by thoroughly disapproving of comrade White - albeit, in what was, to begin with, a private message.
It is absolutely incredible that some people still have not learned the lessons of the last nine years. The ‘anti-Semitism’ smear campaign was, yes, supposed to get rid of Jeremy Corbyn from the leadership of the Labour Party - but it was also the right’s weapon of choice to stop any criticism of what Israel is doing to the Palestinians today. Which is exactly what Saturday’s demonstration was supposed to be all about!
You really could not make it up.