Why I Am Supporting Two British‑Palestinian Candidates Samar Ammar & Tanushka Mara
In the current election there are some
excellent candidates such as Andrew Feinstein in
Holborn and St. Pancras, who is standing against Starmer and Leanne Mohamad who is going up against Wes Streeting in Ilford North. I want to focus on two
excellent British Palestinian candidates.
Tanuksha
Mara is standing as an Independent Socialist candidate in Hove, which used
to be the posher part of Brighton.
Currently it is represented by ‘Killer Kyle’ the Vice
Chair of Labour Friends of Israel. Kyle is a hard-line supporter of Starmer, an
open Zionist and someone almost devoid of charisma or personality.
Picket of Kyle's Offices in Hove
Tanuksha is an award winning theatre
director of Jordanian-Palestinian origin. Her family now lives in Jordan. She
also writes
for Middle East International
Samar Ammar was until recently the Chair
of Bromsgrove Labour Party and a local councillor as well as a member of Unite.
She had been put forward by her local party, with unanimous support, to become
the MP for Bromsgrove.
She had only one disadvantage. She was
of Palestinian origin and in Starmer’s Labour Party having any connection with
the Palestinians automatically rules someone out of the running.
When Starmer parachuted in one of his
clones, Samar resigned.
Being an overt Zionist and racist
however is a distinct advantage which is why genocide supporter and
professional Zionist Luke Akehurst was parachuted into the North Durham seat.
Akehurst supported in 2018 Israel shooting
some 300 unarmed demonstrators at the Gaza fence dead and wounding
thousands. Amongst the dead were over 50
children but according to Akehurst they were all ‘Hamas terrorists’.
However in the eyes of Starmer and his
racist supporters, support for the cold-blooded murder of Palestinians is seen
as an advantage. Which is why Samar didn’t stand a chance of being selected.
She has therefore decided to stand as an Independent candidate. Please contribute to her Crowdfunder
as she is fighting the campaign on a shoe-string.
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/sam-ammar-for-bromsgrove
My
Own View on the Likely Outcome of the Most Boring Election on Record
This is a strange election. Not since
1997 has it been clear that one party is going to win overwhelmingly. The Tory
Party is in a state of collapse with some even predicting that Sunak could lose
his seat.
More worrying is the rise of the Reform
Party who are tipped by some polls to get 3‑5 seats. What is difficult to
predict is what is going to happen to the Independent Socialist candidates, not
least Jeremy Corbyn.
I hope very much that Corbyn and George
Galloway win their respective contests but I fear that a depoliticised and
defeated working class may well reject them.
Likewise my fear is that the independent socialist candidates may also
not fare as well as we hope. I suspect we are going to have a mixed bag of
results.
It is a great pity that instead of
Galloway announcing a fait accompli of
500 Workers Party candidates standing (which became 150) that he didn’t call
for a convention of the left to decide these things. This is leaving aside such
his appalling concession to Farage and the racists by calling for the British navy
to be used in the Channel to repel asylum seekers. Instead of calling out the demonisation
and scapegoating of refugees by the Tories/Farage and Starmer Galloway went
along with it.
At a time of increased privatisation of
the NHS, the scandal of water companies pouring sewerage into the sea whilst
paying their shareholders millions in dividends, Galloway chose cheap populist
rhetoric. He could have pointed to the billions of pounds paid to the Tories
through fraudulent COVID contracts or even the fact that refugees come here
because we went to their countries and started wars.
Corbyn once again has demonstrated that
he has the tactical nous of a lemming. If he was going to stand why wait till
the last minute to announce it? Why not
declare early on that he was standing, throw down the gauntlet to Starmer and
call for the formation of an alternative socialist party based around the
manifesto he stood on in 2017?
The Canary has published a useful list
of 17 independent candidates but there are many more.
There are also some on the left who
still have illusions in the Green Party. They should stop their wishful thinking.
In Brighton Kemptown the local candidate
in my constituency, Elaine Hills, has put out a leaflet
that is entirely parochial. It doesn’t even mention Gaza or genocide. There is
no mention of NATO, any conflict internationally or racism. It really sums up
the Greens. Kitchen-table politics.
My own recommendation is to only vote
for the Green Party as a very last resort. Where a socialist candidate is
standing you should vote for them.
The Green Party is a pro-capitalist
party. It seeks to green capitalism. It has adopted
the Zionists’ IHRA misdefinition of anti-Semitism which was designed with no
other purpose than to conflate anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. We see it being
used constantly to defame student encampments and protests against genocide, despite
the fact that those taking part include many Jews.
Recently I learnt from a statement
posted by Jewish Greens, which is on the Green Party website, that the Green
Party leadership has been meeting with ex-Labour MP John Mann,
now Lord Mann, ‘to discuss the important
issue of antisemitism’.
In
fact anti-Semitism is extremely unimportant. If it was a problem does anyone
think that a bigot like Suella Braverman would be concerned
about it?
The
only reference
to Gaza by Jewish Greens is a statement referring to the ‘atrocious attacks on Israel by Hamas’. No mention of the genocidal
attacks on the Palestinians of Gaza for over half a century. Quite what Jo Bird
is doing in such an outfit beggars belief.
Lord
Mann is best remembered for his hectoring and bullying attack
on Ken Livingstone for having dared to mention the pro-Zionist policy of the
Nazi state which resulted in the Ha'avara
trading agreement which broke the Jewish Boycott of Nazi Germany.
Mann
has a lengthy past record of racism, whether it is supporting
Phil Woolas MP when the High Court removed him from Parliament after having run
a nakedly racist campaign designed to ‘make
the White folks angry’ with Muslims in his constituency of Oldham East
& Saddleworth. In 2007 he produced a handbook
on anti-social behaviour which targeted
Gypsies and Roma as an example of anti-social behaviour.
I have correctly predicted the outcomes of the last
3 elections. I had no doubt that Miliband would
fail in 2015 and Corbyn
in 2019 and almost alone, I predicted
that Corbyn could win in 2017 would do very well if not. But today it is
difficult to hazard a guess, not only because of the volatility of the polls
but because it is next to impossible to forecast how the Independent Socialists
will do.
It
is clear that Starmer’s Labour Party will win. The toxic Tories are in a state
of collapse having presided over rampant corruption, undemocratic legislation,
bribes to their friends in high offices and racist attacks on migrants and
asylum seekers for the past years.
However
there is no enthusiasm for Starmer. I predict a low turnout as people see no
reason for having to choose between two sets of Tories. I imagine that many Tories will turn to the
Lib Dems, who are a thoroughly pro-capitalist party. Whether they get more than
50 seats is anyone’s guess. Likewise it is unlikely that the Tories will get much
more than 120 seats.
The
unknown factor is the far-right Reform Party which has come out of nowhere.
Farage is predicted to win the seat of Clacton. I hope not.
The
SNP is predicted at the moment, after the fall-out from the corruption
surrounding its former leader, Nicola Sturgeon, to do badly against the Labour
Party. Not living in Scotland I have no idea if this will turn out to be true
given that the Labour Party is a unionist party. But if they do badly it will
be a self-inflicted defeat.
I
also predict that overall the socialist independents are not going to fare very
well because of a lack of any unified impact, although there may be exceptions.
Although I support Galloway and the Workers Party where they are not standing
against other socialist candidates, I fear that even Galloway may lose. I hope
not because we need his oratory in Parliament, not least over Gaza.
I
also hope that Chris Williamson, who is a thoroughly decent and principled
socialist, wins in Derby North but I fear that this won’t happen.
What
is clear is that after the dust has settled, after July 4, the Left seriously
needs to get its act together like the Left in France. There is no reason for
different left sects and parties to compete with each other. Unity around a
minimum set of demands should be the order of the day. Otherwise we will let the bigots and racists
around Farage win by default.
I
urge people in Hove and Bromsgrove in particular to support two British
Palestinian candidates – Tanuksha Mara and Samar Ammar.
Tony
Greenstein
The goal of socialists should be the overthrow of capitalism, not a personnel change, which is all a vote for Labour is, and as an aside, Starmers the continuity candidate, nothing Tory about him, other than his admiration of Thatcher. Thinking that Starmer/New Labour = bad and Corbyn/Old Labour = good is just the sort of myth people need to get rid of. Labour is the problem, regardless of leader.
ReplyDeleteNo vote from me for Galloway or his party. He wants to set the Navy on refugees!
ReplyDeleteYes it was a disgraceful comment and is not a surprise. Galloway is opposed to free movement of labour, supported Brexit partly for that reason etc. The question is how his defeat would be interpreted. It wouldn't be that supporters of refugees had won. it would be that support for Gaza was a blip. So I would vote despite what he said. It's not as if his Labour opponent would disagree on what he said!
DeleteNot that I agree with him, but I bet he's trying to attract would be Reform voters. Tony is of course correct, it's not like Labour would disagree, and at least Galloway and the WPB can tell us what a woman is. Let that sink in.
DeleteTony, normally I wouldn't bother to comment about spelling mistakes, but you really should spell the name of the candidate you support correctly. Not a good look.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise I agree with the overall thrust of your argument, esp re Galloway. Thank you for all your work.
Hi Neil, yes you're right. I've corrected the heading but otherwise I spelt it correctly. Bizarre!
DeleteWhat do you make of Labour front, Hope Not Hates, recent hit piece in Galloway ?
ReplyDeleteIt demonstrates that Hate not Hope is not a genuine anti-fascist organisation. Socialists and supporters of the Palestinians should have nothing to do with it. It supports Apartheid Israel. Ruth Smeeth was its Deputy Director.
DeleteGalloway can be criticised for many things but he's not a fascist or racist. Presumably HnH thought that targeting Galloway made more sense than attacking Nigel Farage.
True.
DeleteForgot to add, aren't they supposed to stay hush about politics because of being a charity or something ?
DeleteAlso, what are your thoughts on JVL's silence about all of this - to date, they've not once talked about WPB, yet seem to be wetting themselves about the Greens.
Yes I was surprised by the JVL post on the Green Party. It's wishful thinking and I shall also be having something to say on it!!
DeleteJVL haven't given any coverage of WPB/Galloway, despite him being a massive Palestine advocate. I don't agree with him on everything, but its odd that a group that purports to be pro-Palestinian and left leaning doesn't talk about him or his project. Seems like they also suffer from loyalty to Labour, and are stuck thinking that the problems Starmer, rather than the actual party.
DeleteAnd no mention on their piece about independent candidates about Halima Khan. Can't help but think their not really serious.
DeleteThe problem is not that the "left" is divided. The problem is that there is no left. What the working class needs is a real socialist party, and that is neither the workers party of Britain, or any other pseudo-left party.
ReplyDeleteCPGB-ML are the way to go.
DeleteNot sure, apparently their transphobes. Maybe Tony can give some insight into it..
DeleteTony, apologies for the rather long comment.
ReplyDeleteI agree, It would be good for democracy if George and Chris were elected. Parliament already has far too many right wingers.
However, George Galloway lets two obsessions override his thinking. The first is religion, which most open minded non-indoctrinated people see as guidance to be accepted or rejected as they see fit, rather than as a strict way of life. The second, is George’s hatred of the USA. Not without some cause, but not to the extent of rejecting everything the US gets involved in. For example, Socialists value solidarity as a way to defend each other and our ideals. Why therefore should countries not engage in solidarity, as in NATO, to protect each other from an existential threat such as Putin, despite the USA being a member and having bases all over the place. If there is anyone who does not recognise Putin as a threat after he’s been responsible for more than half a million deaths on both sides, they must be a little bit crazy. Putin invaded a sovereign State and is attempting to colonise land which he sees as Russia’s in exactly the same way as Netanyahu and the Zionists have colonised Palestine.
George recently patted himself on the back for assisting Farage, the racist obsessed right winger, in getting us pulled from the EU. Brexit, driven by right wing racism, is and was always going to be, a failure. George and some others focus their dislike of the EU on some of the shady characters who live and work there, instead of on the benefits, both socially and economically, which countries working and cooperating together can share. Our young people have lost a tremendous resource by not being able to move freely within the EU. Britain must be one the few, if not the only nation, to have imposed sanctions upon itself. Thanks for nothing George, I thought you had more sense!
If you believe in the western narrative that Putin is a threat, then you have clearly been brainwashed by the mainstream media. To equate the entirely provoked defensive war that Putin is waging in Ukraine with the genocide in Gaza, is completely absurd.
DeleteAre you saying nato is a good thing ?
Delete