End British Support for Zionism: Isolate the Israeli State a pamphlet by Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!, Larkin Publications, 96pp, £3.95.
For many years, the Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG) has supported the liberation struggle in Palestine by fighting against British imperialism, a source of oppression for both the Palestinians and the working class in Britain. It sees a direct line of causation between the establishment of the Zionist state in 1948 and the genocidal siege occurring now. Palestinians have long resisted the occupation, a struggle that RCG has recognized and supported from the start. Drawing on this experience, Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! (FRFI) has gathered a collection of articles that illustrate the group’s long-held support for the Palestinian people. Established by Britain as a foothold for imperialist ventures in the Middle East, the Zionist state has the full support of its lobby around the world, with Britain at the forefront of backing its occupation.
Given this situation, FRFI explains that its strategy is two-pronged: opposition to Britain’s imperialist support for Zionism and isolation of the Israeli state. To achieve this end, its main goal is to break the Zionist alliance with the British state. Thus, the group expresses their ongoing solidarity with the Palestinian people and their resistance, a significant point when so many in the solidarity movement are calling for a ceasefire, with no demands about what will happen next.
To make its case, FRFI traces the history of British Labour Party alignment with imperialist projects, particularly its enabling of and support for the establishment of the Zionist state. Beginning with the Balfour declaration of 1917, Britain has assisted in carving a national home for the Jewish people on land already occupied by Palestinians. Though it was supported by the Tories, the document benefited from support by the Labour Party too.
This latter point is significant because liberal parties in Britain and elsewhere are usually accredited with being on the right side of history, an attribute which FRFI says is often not the case. Indeed, Labour has used the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism to discredit anti-imperialist activists. This held true for Jeremy Corbyn, former leader of the Labour Party, who betrayed the Palestinians and their allies to retain his political position. Corbyn’s capitulation enabled new opportunities to suppress Palestine solidarity which continue to this day. Indeed, current Labour leader Keir Starmer has enabled the current genocide by supporting Israel’s ‘right to defend itself’ and refusing to put the 7 October resistance into a historical context.
On the one hand, many in Britain have led massive rallies opposing their country’s policies. On the other, Labour members who voted for a ceasefire couched their support by condemning Hamas instead of the Zionist aggressors. Moreover, opportunists in the British Left, including the Socialist Workers Party and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, have attempted to control the movement.
Since the imposition of British interests in the region, Palestinians have resisted Zionist efforts to ethnically cleanse the land. This history is important, because with it FRFI counters the idea that the so-called ‘conflict’ began on 7 October. Indeed, genocide has long been the Zionist intent. In fact, the 1993 Oslo accords marked a victory for Zionism, imperialism, and the Arab middle class.
During the Al Aqsa Intifada in September 2000, the Labour government, along with other Western imperialist powers, backed Israel’s response to the uprising, giving further cause for FRFI’s opposition to imperialism and the Labour Party. In a following chapter, the FRFI credits the electoral victory of Hamas in 2006 with thoroughly discrediting former US President Bush’s 2002 roadmap to peace. By electing Hamas, the pamphlet claims, the Palestinian people showed their continued resilience and sumud (steadfastness), leaving imperialists with little option but to impose a blockade on Palestinians in Gaza, thereby attempting to starve them into submission, a strategy that continues to this day.
The pamphlet ends with a call to build an internationalist, anti-racist and anti-imperialist socialist opposition to Britain’s support for the Zionist occupation. In doing so, it cuts through many of the myths that are propagated by Western media, including liberal sources such as The Guardian, all of which attempt to justify the war crimes committed by the Zionist regime. Western media has attempted, for example, to convince the public that this is a conflict between Israel and Hamas rather than a genocide of Palestinian people. In fact, as the pamphlet states, Israeli officials have termed it a second Nakba, though they do not admit to the daily Nakbas that have occurred since the original catastrophe in 1948.
The information provided remains as relevant today as when many of the articles were written. The imperialist agenda of the Labour party can be seen in other countries too. In the US, the Democratic Party is perhaps more tied to Zionism than its Republican opposition, a fact made clear during the presidency of Joe Biden. Moreover, there, as in Britain, elements of the left have historically tried to water down the messaging of its more radical wing, these days by lobbying the government to support a ceasefire but leaving the path wide open for imperialist powers to impose their own interests on post-ceasefire Palestine.
Opposing the imperialist Labour Party, FRFI places itself firmly within its communities and in the streets. Taken together, the pamphlet highlights several points that are relevant today. The initial articles are contemporary, while the later chapters provide context for Labour support of Zionism. To break this bond, FRFI calls for a constant presence on the streets and in communities where the masses can see through the government’s agenda as well as the media which promote it.
Benay Blend
Benay Blend is an anti-imperialist academic and journalist based in the United States and regular contributor to the Palestine Chronicle.
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 299 April/May 2024
