The Zionist offensive against pro-Palestinian activists within the Labour Party has been met with continuous capitulation over the last four years since the first spurious allegations were made. Yet what is shocking is that those outside the Labour Party who proclaim their opposition to Zionism have demonstrated equal cowardice. Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) and Unite Against Fascism (UAF), alliances led by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) with an interchangeable set of supporters from leaders of the Labour Party, trade unions and BAME organisations (both have Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott as president and SWP leader Weyman Bennett as co-organiser) have joined Labour leaders in running away from the Zionists.
In Scotland, SWP/SUTR organisers have refused to exclude the Zionist Confederation of Friends of Israel in Scotland from joining the organisation’s annual demonstration against racism in both 2018 and 2019 and condemned Glasgow FRFI for joining with others in protesting against this concession to racists. Following a SUTR event against anti-Semitic graffiti in north London in December 2019, Bennett told the Jewish Chronicle: ‘Anyone who is opposed to anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and all forms of racism is welcome to attend Stand Up To Racism events whether they are Zionist and non-Zionist.’
SUTR Merseyside denied Liverpool Friends of Palestine (LFOP) speaking rights at its protest against President Trump’s visit to Britain in February 2019. SUTR said it could not allow LFOP to speak as SUTR had no position on Palestine, ignoring the fact that Trump had given explicitly unconditional support to the Zionist state against the Palestinian people. On 23 January, dressed as UAF Merseyside, SUTR allowed several Zionists to contribute to its Holocaust Memorial event – an indication that it does have a position on Palestine, even if unspoken.
The proliferation of Holocaust memorial events under the aegis of SWP/SUTR/UAF has to be seen in the context of the four-year-long Zionist campaign against Palestinian solidarity. It has become essential to legitimising the existence of the Israeli colonial-setter state where a racist standpoint is presented as its opposite.
Having committed to these Holocaust events, SWP/SUTR have now discovered they are riding a tiger. Tower Hamlets SUTR wanted its Holocaust memorial event to include the pro-Corbyn Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) national secretary Glyn Secker. But the Board of Deputies of British Jews was having none of it, and demanded that the JVL be banned. SWP/SUTR immediately capitulated; JVL responded that the ‘justification was that they didn’t want to be in conflict with the Board of Deputies of British Jews. This is a retreat before the forces that confuse anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism and we unreservedly condemn this decision.’ In a disgracefully dishonest statement cancelling the event, SWP/SUTR said ‘unfortunately the meeting has become a focus for wider political forces seeking to raise and debate other issues…SUTR does not want the seriousness and importance of Holocaust Memorial Day to be overshadowed by disagreements about other issues.’ Unnamed ‘wider political forces’? Zionism and Palestine dismissed as ‘other issues’? What craven cowardice!
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! No 274, February/March 2020
