Labour Left Proposed Motions for the Labour Party Conference

The Labour party conference is looming and Arise, the Labour festival of left-wing ideas, has sent these suggested motions out to their supporters so they can propose them to their local constituency parties, in the hope that they’ll accept them and propose them at conference. The email I had and the proposed motions run:

‘Model Motions Recommended for Labour Party Conference 2022

Hello David

Please find below and online here suggested model motions for Labour Party Conference. The deadline for submissions is Thursday 15 September 2022 at 5pm and the word limit is 250 words. They are on supporting public ownership, defending asylum seekers, supporting a pay rise for workers plus those unions taking industrial action to this end. and speaking up for Palestine.

Best wishes,
The Arise – a Festival of Left Ideas Volunteer Team.

1) Public ownership Motion from the Labour Assembly Against Austerity

Public Ownership is Necessary and Popular
 
Conference notes:
That public ownership is popular with voters, with polling indicating these levels of support:

• Energy – 66% (Survation, 2022)
• Water – 69% (Survation, 2022)
• Royal Mail – 68% (Survation, 2022)
• Railways – 67% (Survation, 2022)
• Buses – 65% (Survation, 2022)
• Social Care – 64% (Survation, 2020)
• NHS – 84% (YouGov, 2017)

Additionally, 61% of the public think local and central government should try to run services in-house first, before outsourcing (Survation, 2015,) 82% want schools to mostly be run in the public sector (Survation, 2020;) and 63% want utilities to mostly be run in the public sector (Survation, 2020.)

Conference believes:

• The crisis caused by soaring energy bills and the scandal of raw sewage being dumped into rivers this Summer have highlighted the failures of privatisation in Britain.
• Private companies are making mega-profits from public services – these vast sums should instead be invested to improve services, to give their workers a pay increase and to lower costs for consumers.
• That the Tory corruption and outsourcing crises during the pandemic have further illustrated the need for public ownership and democratic control.
• A clear commitment to extending public ownership of key utilities and public services can be a big vote winner for Labour.

Conference resolves:

• To oppose further Tory privatisation and outsourcing, including of the NHS, education and council services.
• To support public ownership of key services and utilities including energy, water, railways, buses, social care, the royal mail and the NHS.

2) Motion on asylum seekers & Rwanda from the Arise Volunteer Team:

Labour should oppose the sending of asylum seekers to Rwanda

Conference notes:

• the commitment of both candidates in the recent Tory leadership to the unethical, inhumane and racist Tory policy of forcibly sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, and the widely-condemned Nationality and Borders Act (NABA,) with its two tier system of ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ refugees that would prevent some 99 percent of refugees from seeking asylum and its threat to the citizenship of 6 million people in Britain. UNHCR said the Nationality and Borders Bill would “penalise most refugees seeking asylum”.
• the scale of opposition to the Government’s inhumane treatment of refugees who just want to rebuild their lives here in safety.
• the decision of the European Court of Human Rights which forced the cancellation of the first scheduled flight on 14 June 2022.
• Public polling shows increasing support for asylum seekers’ rights, including their right to work.
• Other disastrous aspects of the ‘hostile environment’ policy over recent years including the Windrush Scandal and the notorious ‘Go Home’ vans.

Conference resolves:

• For the Labour party to clearly oppose this obscene Tory policy in its entirety as part of campaigning for an end to the ‘hostile environment’ and against racist anti-immigrant narratives, including through a commitment that the next Labour Government will immediately cancel the Rwanda Asylum Scheme.
• To oppose “no recourse to public funds”, NHS access restrictions and other ‘Hostile Environment’ policies.

3) Pay and backing trade union action motion from the Labour Assembly Against Austerity:

Britain Needs A Pay rise

Conference notes:

Twelve years of the Conservative Government’s low-pay agenda has significantly diminished the real value of people’s incomes with average real wages still below 2008 levels;

The situation is getting worse. Real pay dropped by 4.1% in June compared to the same period last year, with record falls of 3.4% in the private sector and 6.7% in the public sector;

The imposition of significantly below-inflation pay awards which amount to real terms pay cuts;

An increase in trade union campaigning for improved pay awards, from protests to strike ballots and industrial action;

That 76% of people support the view that pay should rise in line with the cost of living (Survation August 2022)

Conference believes:

Below-inflation pay offers will increase poverty and hardship;

That the Government should not impose real terms pay cuts on public sector workers;

It is wrong that many private firms are imposing real terms pay cuts while making big profits, awarding bonuses and large dividend payments;

Recent trade union campaigns, including strike action, have led to numerous enhanced pay awards.

Conference resolves:

To oppose the Conservative Government’s imposition of real terms pay cuts;

To support inflation-proofed increases in pay in both public and private sectors and urgent measures to restore the real value of pay lost under successive Conservative Governments since 2010;

To support a National Minimum Wage of at least £15 an hour.

To support trade union campaigning, including through backing workers taking industrial action, to achieve these aims.

4) Palestine motion from Labour & Palestine / Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Justice for Palestine

Conference strongly condemns:

• Israel’s renewed bombing of Gaza in August 2022 killing 44 Palestinians, including 15 children, and notes the UN Special rapporteur description of it as an  act contrary to International law. 
• the Israeli army’s killing of the Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and beating of her coffin bearers by Israeli police.
• the outlawing of 7 NGOs including Addameer; the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees and Defence for Children International – Palestine.

Conference recognises that these events are illustrative of the conclusions of leading human rights organisations including B’tselem, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people, and further erode any possibility of a just solution.

Conference notes policy passed at Labour Party Annual Conferences 2018 ,2019 and 2021 in solidarity with the Palestinian people and against Israel’s ongoing violations of their rights and of international law.

Conference Resolves:

• To support the application made in April to the International Criminal Court (ICC), calling for an investigation into the Israeli government’s systematic targeting of journalists.
• To stand in solidarity with all human rights defenders and fully oppose the Israeli government’s attempts to silence them
• To adhere to an ethical policy on all UK trade with Israel in line with policy passed at previous Conferences, including banning trade with illegal settlements and ending the ongoing arms trade.
• To oppose fully any UK legislation aimed at preventing legitimate and democratic solidarity actions in support of the Palestinian people.’

These policies are popular and necessary. Among the polls showing public support for renationalising the utilities, I’m massively impressed that 82 per cent want schools to be in public hands. As for the motion on Palestine, it really amazes me how anyone in a genuinely left-wing party could support the closure of quangos devoted to protecting women and children. If ‘100 per cent Zionist’ Starmer supports this, then he’s a depraved monster, utterly unfit to govern any country devoted to humanity and the rule of law. This shows that hardly anybody wants academies or a return to grammar schools, despite the Tories constantly pushing them. I’m going to check with my local constituency party to see if these or similar are among the motions they are going to discuss this Thursday prior to conference. If they aren’t, I will propose them.

This will undoubtedly annoy the Blairites, especially the motion on Palestine. I’ll let you know if they start throwing around any fake accusations of anti-Semitism again.

Arise Event on Monday Supporting Palestine

Tomorrow the Arise Festival are staging another online event to stand up for Palestine, thus defying the attempts by the Labour party’s leadership and apparatchiks to clamp down on any support for Israel’s indigenous Arabs. The notice for this events runs as follows

‘Time to Speak Up for Palestine.

Online, Monday July 18, 19.00.Register here // Retweet here // Get ticket for the whole festival here.

Rally with special guests from Palestine including H.E Ambassador Husam Zomlot, plus: Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP // Kim Johnson MP // Yasmin Dar, Labour NEC // Louise Regan. National Education Union // Hugh Lanning, Labour & Palestine // Ryvka Barnard, PSC // & more tba.

An online event as part of Arise 2022 – A Festival of Left Ideas in association with Labour & Palestine.‘

Labour & Palestine March in London in May

Here’s another email I got yesterday, this time from Labour & Palestine, who are planning a march in London on the 14th of May. This is bound to annoy ‘100 per cent Zionist’ Starmer, who is determined to purge the party of anyone criticising Israel on spurious and mendacious accusations of anti-Semitism. Which is possibly all the more reason to attend. The email runs

‘National March for Palestine – Labour & trade union bloc. 14 May, 12 Noon, Portland Place, London.

RSVP, share & invite here – retweet here to spread the word

Hello David

Now, with ever more settlements being built, 74 years after the catastrophe of the Nakba when over 750,000 Palestinians were driven from their land and homes, we need to speak up for a free Palestine.

In line with Labour Party Conference and TUC Congress policy, on May 14 we will be on the streets calling for real action and sanctions from the international community and UK Government against Israel’s continuing illegal occupation and human rights abuses in breach of international law.

March to call for an end to Israel’s oppression and to assert the right of the Palestinian people to live in freedom with justice and equality. Join us on the Labour and trade union bloc – called by Labour & Palestine and supported by a broad range of trade unions – bring along your CLP & union banners and loudly say Free Palestine!

Best wishes,
The Labour & Palestine Team.

PS: Thanks to over 500 people who joined our recent Labour Women Speak up for Palestine event – you can read Beth Winter MP’s speech here and Kim Johnson MP’s speech here.’

This is another event that I won’t be able to attend, but I’m pasting this up for everyone who is interested and can.

Statement by Labour & Palestine on Amnesty International Report Condemning Israeli Apartheid

A few days ago Amnesty International released a report stating what anti-racist and pro-Palestinian activists had known for a long time: that Israel was an apartheid state that oppressed and persecuted its indigenous Arab population. I got the impression that it’s upset Israel and its mouthpieces over here, because Israel has been furiously denying that for decades. It’s the real reason Jeremy Corbyn and his genuinely anti-racist supporters were smeared as anti-Semites. They weren’t, and four-fifths of those smeared are decent, self-respecting Jews. But smearing their critics as Jew-haters is just about the only way the Israel lobby can defend the indefensible. I got this email yesterday from Labour & Palestine welcoming the report.

“Spread the word – major Amnesty International report: Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: a cruel system of domination & a crime against humanity

Read the report & AI press release here // share our FB status here // retweet here

Amnesty International have this week released a report arguing that “Israeli authorities must be held accountable for committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians.”

The comprehensive report, Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime against Humanity, sets out how “massive seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcible transfer, drastic movement restrictions, and the denial of nationality and citizenship to Palestinians are all components of a system which amounts to apartheid under international law,” adding that “this system is maintained by violations which Amnesty International found to constitute apartheid as a crime against humanity, as defined in the Rome Statute and Apartheid Convention.”

In response to the report, Hugh Lanning of Labour & Palestine said, “This is a very welcome report from Amnesty reinforcing the growing number of organisations and bodies recognising that Israel is guilty of the crime of Apartheid.

It is time for the UN to investigate officially and the international community to recognise the reality the Palestinians face – not because of history or religion, but because the Israeli state chooses to operate a racist and discriminatory system in the land it controls and occupies between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan.

End the occupation, give Palestinians back their stolen land.”

The report reinforces the importance of the motion in solidarity with Palestine passed at Labour Conference last year and why we must continue to speak up for Palestine.

• You can read the report & AI press release here plus share our FB status here & retweet here
• Please reply to this email if you’d like us to speak on the report at your CLP or other meeting.“

I am very pleased that Amnesty International has published this report and hope that it leads to justice and the restoration of the Palestinian people’s land and dignity. But I doubt that it will, because I think the reaction of right-wing politicians across the West will be instead either to dismiss the report or decry it as anti-Semitic. This includes Keir Starmer, the Thatcherite nonentity who now leads the Labour party, who has declared himself to be ‘100 per cent Zionist’. There are many Zionists, who nevertheless despise Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. But Starmer and the rest of the Blairites in Labour aren’t among them.

Petition from Labour & Palestine Calling for Increasing Support for Palestinians

Yesterday I got this email from Labour & Palestine inviting people to sign a statement calling on the Labour party to build on its motions in support of Palestine and its people. This has acquired a new urgency through Israel’s flagrant breaches of international law, such as the clearance of Palestinian areas for the construction of Jewish settlements.

“Today we have launched the important statement below, with the support of numerous MPs and trade unions, on why Labour must build on – not step back from – its commitments to immediate recognition of the state of Palestine and an end to the blockade, occupation and settlements as outlined in the 2017 and 2019 manifestos, and in the motions passed by the Party’s annual conferences in 2018 and 2019.

Please take 30 seconds to show your support in the run up to Labour Conference 2021 by adding your name here, sharing here and retweeting here.

Best wishes,

Hugh Lanning, Labour & Palestine.

---

STATEMENT: Labour Must #SpeakupforPalestine

“As an internationalist and democratic socialist party, it is the responsibility of the Labour Party to speak up for Palestine and stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their fundamental rights, including to self-determination.

Earlier this year, the international community and labour movement widely condemned Israel’s militarised violence against the Palestinian people, including the attacking of the Al Aqsa mosque, the forced displacements from Sheikh Jarrah and the deadly assault on Gaza.

The seriousness of the situation facing the people of Palestine is confirmed by the fact the International Criminal Court is holding an inquiry into abuses committed in the occupied Palestinian Territories since 2014.

The continuing de facto annexation of Palestinian land by accelerated settlement building alongside statements of Israel’s continuing intention to proceed with annexation, show it is clearer than ever that the Israeli State is intent on eliminating any prospects of Palestinian self-determination.

Major reports by Human Rights Watch and the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem have added weight to the TUC’s warning that Israel taking these steps would represent ‘another significant step’ towards the UN Crime of Apartheid and strengthen the Palestinian call for the ICC to investigate.

Labour must build on – not step back from – its commitments to immediate recognition of the state of Palestine and an end to the blockade, occupation and settlements as outlined in the 2017 and 2019 manifestos, and in the motions passed by the Party’s annual conferences in 2018 and 2019.

We must support “effective measures” including sanctions, as called for by Palestinian civil society, against actions by the Israeli state that are illegal according to international law. This must include action to ensure that Israel stops the building of settlements, reverses any annexation, ends the occupation of the West Bank, ceases the blockade of Gaza, brings down the Wall and respects the right of refugees to return to their homes under international law.”

• Add your name here / Share here / Retweet here & spread the word“

I’ve signed the statement because Israel’s treatment of its indigenous Arab population has been based on their ethnic cleansing from the very start. Any form of this has to be opposed, whether it comes from European Fascist regimes persecuting Jews, Gypsies and Slavs, China and its genocide against the Uighurs, or in this case, by Israel. I’ve no doubt that this may well be used as evidence by the ultra-Zionist witch-hunters that I’m an evil anti-Semite. I am not, I have nothing but contempt for real anti-Semitism and Nazis. I understand from Tony Greenstein, a Jewish anti-Fascist, anti-Zionist activist who has long been involved with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, that at least in the latter organisation real anti-Semites are very definitely not eligible for membership. I don’t doubt that the same is true of Labour & Palestine. I note that one of the groups cited in the above message is the Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem. They, like JVL in the Labour Party, and a number of other Israeli human rights organisations, such as the courageous Breaking the Silence, are ‘the wrong kind of Jews’. B’tselem, Breaking the Silence and other, similar organisations were denounced by Netanyahu as anti-Jewish, enemies of the state or some other ultra-nationalist nonsense. I also understand that the pro-Palestinian organisations aren’t demanding the destruction of the state of Israel. What they went is the abolition of Israeli apartheid, so that Palestinians can live as de facto, de jure equals with the Israelis in their own state.

If you also feel strongly about this issue and aren’t afraid of being smeared and purged by Starmer and his inquisitors, please feel free to sign it.

Palestinian Attacks – Israel’s Retaliations Are Always Massively Disproportionate

Mike’s written an excellent piece over at Vox Political on the current escalating clashes between Palestinians and Israelis at al-Aqsa Mosque. The clashes began with protests after Friday prayers last week against the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from a district of Jerusalem in order to make way for Israeli settlers. Mike’s piece includes a tweet showing a very entitled Israeli settler who makes it clear he believes he has every right to evict a Palestinian family from their home and have it instead. The Israeli police have shot people with rubber bullets and tear gas inside the mosque. This is horrendous sacrilege. It is the Islam’s third holiest shrine, and as a holy place it should be immune from violence. The Palestinians have launched rocket attacks, which have been met with even further violence and repression by the Israelis.

In an earlier piece about these clashes, Mike challenged Israel’s zealous defenders to justify the country’s actions. They have been unable to do so, except to point to the Palestinian attacks. As Mike says, they miss the point that he doesn’t approve of those either.

But it also needs to be said that Israel’s response to Palestinian violence is never proportionate. It is always massively excessive. The Israeli historian and pro-Palestinian activist Ilan Pappe has made this point in his book, Ten Myths About Israel. He specifically talks about Operation Cast Lead, launched by the man I’ve heard one Jewish academic call ‘that bastard Netanyahu’ in response to attacks from Gaza. He also discusses other incidents when the Israelis have contrived to provoke violence from the Palestinians so that they could respond with even greater force. This is all part of the decades-long campaign to grind down and expel the Palestinians from eretz Israel.

This ethnic cleansing is opposed by many sincerely liberal Jews and Israelis. The Israeli human rights organisation, B’Tselem has been very active denouncing it and educating people about Israel’s oppression of the indigenous Arab population. There is also the veterans’ group, Breaking the Silence, of former servicemen speaking out about the atrocities they committed and witnessed as part of the IDF. These good people are hated by Netanyahu and his supporters. There have been rants demanding that any Israeli, who assists the Palestinians should be stripped of their vote. Ilan Pappe was forced out of his post at an Israeli university and his home because of his determination to expose what was happening.

And now apparently Boris Johnson is following the scumbag American right in wishing to pass laws to ban the Boycott, Divest and Sanction campaign as ‘anti-Semitic’. No, it’s really not. BDS does not call for the boycott of Jewish goods, nor even that of goods and businesses located in Israel. It only calls for a boycott of Israeli goods and businesses located in the Occupied Territories, on land that rightfully belongs to the Palestinians. It has the support of many self-respecting, Torah-observant and secular Jews, who are smeared and reviled by Netanyahu’s supporters as self-hating anti-Semites. And as Mike has also pointed out, Jewry and the state of Israel are certainly not synonymous, whatever laws Netanyahu passes to say so. There are ‘True Torah’, ultra-Orthodox Jews who object to the state of Israel as a blasphemy, because in their theology Israel can only be restored by divine power through the Messiah. And there are other Jews, who strongly believe that Netanyahu’s actions against the Palestinians are a form of Fascism. One Israeli chemist and philosopher coined the term ‘Judeonazism to describe it. For them, Jews should always take the side of the oppressed, never the oppressor.

I had an email from Labour & Palestine stating that a demonstration has been organised for this Saturday. The email runs:

‘THIS SATURDAY – March to the Israeli Embassy, 12 noon, Marble Arch
#SaveSheikhJarrah #FreePalestine

GET INVOLVED: RSVP & share the demo here – check local events here

Hello,

We are writing to urge you to join the above London demonstration and local actions this Saturday taking place under the vital slogans  #SaveSheikhJarrah #FreePalestine – as well as going yourself, please tell friends and try and get your local Labour Party and other banners along!

In order to support these protests, we have also rescheduled our workshop for our supporters only on building support for Palestine in your CLP for 6.30pm-8.00pm on Thursday May 27. This event will include a briefing on current developments in Palestine and presentation of our model/Conference motion on Palestine, which we are currently updating to include the latest developments. You can RSVP here.‘

I am not intending to go, but I have put news of it up in case anyone else is interested.

Israel’s actions are deplorable and Boris’ attempts to try to ban BDS is another attack on British freedom of belief.