The Zionists Tried & Failed to Cancel Unite4Palestine’s Meeting at TUC Conference

 Instead of Implementing UNITE Policy on Palestine & Trying to Stop the Transfer of Weapons for Israel's Genocide, Sharon Graham attacked Activists Protesting Against the Arms Factories

UPDATE

This is the email  Fiona Sharpe sent to the venue. It consists of a series of lies and smears - two of the five speakers are Jews opposed to Israel's Genocide - that makes us 'anti-Jewish racist supporters'. The Zionists will stop at nothing to prevent free speech.

Since writing this blog the venue, Community Base, has confirmed that the meeting will go ahead as planned though we want as many people to come in case the Zionists decide to come and harass people outside

Fiona Sharpe, a well known racist and Zionist, who wears the hats of multiple organisations, instead of wearing her Labour Against Antisemitism hate wrote on behalf of the Sussex Jewish Representative Council, which is another name for Sussex Friends of Israel.

Jim Kelly – Chair of London & Eastern Region Criticises Sharon Graham’s Obstruction of Palestine solidarity 

Fiona Sharpe of Sussex Friends of Israel and Labour Against Anti-Semitism,[LAA] is trying to get our meeting cancelled on the grounds of ‘anti-Semitism’. This has not prevented SFI members in the past from demonstrating alongside the EDL. In 2014 SFI invited Israeli academic Mordechai Kedar to speak at a meeting they held. Kedar advocates raping Palestinian women in war.

LAA was involved in the anti-Semitism smear campaign against Corbyn. Its principal spokesperson is Euan Philips, a non-Jew who, as Al Jazeera exposed, uses a Jewish name ‘David Gordstein’ to pretend that he is Jewish when making complaints of ‘anti-Semitism’.

The reason why Unite4Palestine are holding a fringe meeting at TUC Conference is the refusal of General Secretary Sharon Graham to implement Unite policy on Palestine or support any solidarity action with the Palestinians. Graham has even refused to condemn Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Jewish American Doctor Mark Perlmutter saw Children in G۸Z۸ BEING SH۵T 2x by SN۱PERS

These are NOT Accidentspic.twitter.com/3WrzfQ42i2

— Ryan Rozbiani (@RyanRozbiani) September 4, 2024

Unite policy on Palestine is good – it supports BDS, opposes the settlements and Israeli Apartheid and calls on Unite to ‘support the Palestinian population in Gaza living under siege.’ It describes Israeli Palestinians as ‘second class citizens (and) subject to racist laws.’

There is only one problem. It is nowhere to be found on Unite’s own website. As far as Graham is concerned it doesn’t exist.

The first inkling that Graham was a Zionist and a supporter of Israeli Apartheid came on 8 June when she banned Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie from Unite premises and Asa Winstanley from speaking about his book,  The Weaponisation of Anti-Semitism at Unite’s Tony Benn house in Bristol.

SE Regional Secretary Sarah Carpenter, who has now been appointed as Graham’s bag carrier, informed Unite branch SE 6246, that she had asked for screenings of the film to be cancelled ‘whilst I seek further guidance.’

The reasons for the bans were explained in an email of 27.10.23. from Graham’s spokesperson, Gail Cartmail:

The General Secretary... is also clear that the Unite position must be that we do not stoke division through anti-semitism and anti-Muslim racism

What Cartmail was saying was that British Jews would offended by suggestions that supporters of Israel automatically cry ‘anti-Semitism’ whenever Israel is criticised. Except of course that they do!

 When the International Court of Justice called Israel’s war on Gaza ‘plausible genocide’ Israeli officials and ministers immediately described them as ‘anti-Semitic’. There are many, many other examples too numerous to count.

‘Anti-Semitism’ is the all-purpose smear of those who support Zionism and its ethnic cleansing settler colonial project in Palestine. What Graham was effectively saying was that all Jews support Israel’s war crimes. This is in itself anti-Semitic. It is the Suella Braverman/Sunak/Starmer line.

The far-right Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, an Israeli government cut out, campaigned strenuously to cancel Corbyn – The Big lie. They wrote asking Graham to ban the film from Unite premises and she was happy to oblige. Yet on 30 August 23 Cartmail sent me an email saying that:

Your disagreeable attack is based on a falsehood. No one in Unite took advice from the Campaign Against Antisemitism, on ‘Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie’, nor indeed any other matter.

Yet on 23 July, the CAA posted an article claiming that:

Following correspondence with Campaign Against Antisemitism, the Unite union has cancelled the screening of a propaganda film about the antisemitic former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn that was due to be shown alongside a book signing and talk from Asa Winstanley....

following contact from Campaign Against Antisemitism in which we pointed out that the scheduling of the event appeared to be contradictory to the reports that the film has been banned in all of Unite’s buildings, it was cancelled....

Campaign Against Antisemitism commends Unite for its swift and decisive action to cancel the screening as soon as we brought it to its attention.

I replied asking Cartmail if Unite had put out a statement denying the claims of the CAA. I received no response. Cartmail also wrote that:

Unite as a union is outstanding in both our commitment to anti-racism and solidarity with the Palestinian cause, actions speak louder than words.'

For once she was right. Actions do speak louder than words. Graham’s actions or rather inaction speak volumes.

Graham’s behaviour has been warmly welcomed by the Zionists. Writing in the Zionist Jewish News ‘Liar’ Lee Harpin described how,

In a further put down on far-left foreign policy dogma Graham also wrote “Similarly, we cannot be expected to affiliate to organisations that actively work against our members and their jobs.

“Examples include groups that look to build networks inside trade unions to undermine the defence industry or demand the disbandment of NATO and AUKUS.”

Under Graham’s leadership Unite has also taken great strides in attempting to combat antisemitism within the movement. Despite early claims that the left-wing leader would seek to move the union away from Labour and disaffiliate, Unite now appears to be opting to become a “critical friend” of the Starmer led Labour Party.

Similarly Labour Against Anti-Semitism, in the wake of Graham’s election issued a statement welcoming her election. Euan Philipps (Gordstein) wrote:

“LAAS congratulates Sharon Graham on her election as General Secretary of Unite the Union.

During her campaign Ms Graham was clear that as General Secretary of one of the UK’’s largest unions she would avoid interfering in the running of the Labour Party. We trust Ms Graham will be true to her word and allow Keir Starmer and the Labour Party leadership a free hand to undertake the large reforms required to effectively tackle antisemitism.

We also hope Ms Graham will look to the concerning evidence of widespread antisemitism in her own organisation and begin reforms to tackle anti-Jewish racism there.”

Despite her claims at the time of her election as General Secretary to be ‘non-political’ Zionist groups seem to have been well aware of Graham’s support for Israel and hostility to the Palestinians.

Graham has refused to take part in a single national Palestine demonstration. She has even refused to allow the national banner on the marches and has tried to prevent others giving solidarity.

According to Jim Kelly, Chair of London and Eastern Region, Graham’s representatives ‘advised’ Peter Kavanagh, the Regional Secretary, not to speak at a Palestine solidarity demonstration. Kelly described how activists on Palestine had had to work in ‘an environment of silence and obstruction’ by union officials, in particular Graham.

Graham attempted to prevent attempts to mobilise solidarity in support of the Palestinians. Kelly described an ‘expectation that employees will not speak alongside other General Secretaries’ at demonstrations.

Carpenter even threatened Peter Kavanagh, the union’s London regional secretary, with the loss of a discretionary pension bonus if he did not pull back from his support for Palestinians in Gaza.

Carpenter was appointed by Graham without the position being advertised and without the approval of Unite’s elected executive.

Israeli Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu:

“North Gaza is more beautiful than ever. Blowing up and flattening everything is amazing. Once we are finished, we will hand over the lands of Gaza to the fighting soldiers and settlers who lived in Gush Katif." pic.twitter.com/lTlOEwnIce

— S p r i n t e r (@SprinterFamily) November 2, 2023

On October 16 2023 Unite put out a statement which said it

 ‘unreservedly condemns and expresses its revulsion at the recent appalling acts of violence by Hamas against innocent civilians in Israel. We further deplore the subsequent suffering and loss of life being endured by civilians in Gaza’.

Although Graham ‘unreservedly condemned’ and expressed her ‘revulsion’ at the killing of ‘innocent’ Israeli civilians, she merely ‘deplored’ the suffering and murder of Palestinian civilians, who were presumably not innocent. This is BBC language.

By October 16 2,750 Palestinians had died and 9,700 were wounded. Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant had made clear Israel’s genocidal intent when he said, on October 9 that

I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.

ISRAELI KNESSET MEMBER: Israeli Knesset member Almog Cohen said that he received “excellent news” following the assassination of 3 of the sons of the head of Hamas' Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, and three of his grandchildren.
FOLLOW OUR LIVE BLOG: https://t.co/zltt11MY3B pic.twitter.com/OScP3HrIFX

— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) April 10, 2024

Israeli spokesman Daniel Hagari had said that “right now we’re focused on what causes maximum damage”. President Herzog said on October 14 that ‘There are no innocent civilians in Gaza".

Graham and Unite’s Executive refused, like Starmer, to call for an immediate ceasefire.

On 17 October Peter Kavanagh, the Regional Secretary of London and Eastern Region Unite, wrote a letter to Graham asking why there had been no Unite banner or speaker at the previous Palestine demonstration in London on October 7 and why Unite had done nothing to advertise the demonstration on its web site.

Kavanagh asked that Graham write to all branches urging members to attend the demonstration. No reply was ever received.

On November 1 I sent an Open Letter signed by 135 members of Unite to Graham demanding that the Union call for an immediate ceasefire and take part in and publicise the national demonstrations.

On November 3, having resisted calls for an immediate ceasefire up till then, Graham finally issued a statement calling for a ceasefire although it was pitifully weak, failing to mention still less condemn Israel’s genocide. The only good thing about the statement was its headline ‘Unite calls for an immediate ceasefire’.

On March 7 Israel bombed the headquarters of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions in Gaza City. The Federation’s five-story building had attached to it a kindergarten that served 380 children, as well as a large automatic bakery.

On March 25, over two weeks later, Graham penned a letter to the PGFTU General Secretary Shaher Saeed, in which she expressed her solidarity and boasted of Unite's record including a donation of £50,000 to Medicin Sans Frontiere. This is in the context of £500 million reserves and a report that Graham and Unite’s legal bill for defending itself against Brendan Ogle, their former Ireland Regional Secretary, is over £1m.

Between the November 3 statement and that letter she had done absolutely nothing. This letter was all that she had done. She had clearly written it in order to justify her previous inactivity.

The very next day Graham penned an undated letter to Unite Officers, Organisers and Staff. It was written, it said

to alert and inform you about a number of extremely troubling actions being undertaken by a tiny minority of individuals, inside and outside of our Union.

Some of these individuals are linked to the past leadership and a small number are linked to groups who want us to make decisions detrimental to our membership and their jobs.

It was written in the language of Joe McCarthy and its purpose was to witch-hunt Palestine solidarity and anti-war activists who Graham saw as a threat to jobs in the arms industry. What happens in wider society, with growing militarisation and the danger of nuclear war was irrelevant. The consequences of increased military expenditure, reduced spending on the NHS and the welfare state was irrelevant. According to Graham Unite must tie its fortunes to the military-industrial complex.

Graham could have told Unite workers that she would support them refusing to handle arms destined for Israel’s genocide in Gaza just as happened with Rolls Royce workers in East Kilbride in 1973 when they refused to service engines for Pinochet’s airforce.

According to Graham’s logic the right of workers at IG Farben to produce Zyklon B for the gas chambers trumped the rights of Jews not to be murdered.

Graham made a number of false claims in her letter such as that ‘Unite was the first major union to publicly ... call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza’. This was a silly lie. UNISON called for an immediate ceasefire on October 26. UNISON also condemned Israel for its attacks on civilians unlike Unite’s statement.

Rather than supporting the diversification of production and enabling arms factories to produce useful equipment like solar panels and wind turbines, on the lines of the Lucas Aerospace plan, Graham adopted the mentality of the most backward section of workers who believed that opposition to the British Empire spelt doom for British workers.

The USA today is seeking a confrontation with China. Graham’s support for NATO and AUKUS demonstrates that she supports the United States in its war plans. How will a nuclear war benefit Unite workers? International solidarity is not something Graham can even spell. She is an imperialist shill.

Unite should have been trying to persuade Unite workers and dockers not to handle arms shipments to Israel. When it came to Ukraine Graham gave her full support to dockers at Dungeness and Ellesmere Port refusing to unload Russian oil. Graham didn’t mince her words:

“There is overwhelming support being expressed throughout Unite to support the people of Ukraine.

But on Palestine there has only been silence.

Graham was happy to be seen with the Ukrainian flag backing NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine, which has armed various neo-Nazi militias, but she has not been seen anywhere near a Palestinian flag.

Getting Graham to condemn what Israel does is like drawing teeth. In her letter condemning the bombing of the PGFTU headquarters in Gaza City Graham failed to even to mention the word ‘Israel’. It is as if the bombing of the Trade union HQ happened by itself.

On March 11 we organised a demonstration outside Unite HQ to coincide with an Executive Committee meeting. About 50 Unite members attended from 3 regions.

Graham justified not discussing Gaza’s genocide because ‘Palestine is not a service we offer members.’ This one phrase sums up everything about Graham’s narrow minded, blinkered chauvinism.

Graham is wedded to capitalism. She simply wants workers to have a larger share of the imperialist cake. At previous TUC Conferences she has supported an increase in arms expenditure despite more military expenditure meaning less expenditure on the NHS, housing etc.

On December 19 166 Unite members sent another letter to Graham pointing out that in the statement of November 3

There was no mention of genocide or ethnic cleansing or war crimes ... the bombing of hospitals, the targeting and murder of journalists, academics and doctors...  or the murder of 8000 children....

You have done nothing to publicise all the previous national demonstrations.  Are you going to ignore the one on January 13 too? There has been no national Unite presence on the marches to date. 

The letter demanded that Graham

publicise all future demonstration, that you provide the resources necessary for Unite members to attend, that Unite nationally is present on the march together with its banner and that Unite has a speaker at the rally.

We quoted a report from Vatican News of 16 December as an example of Israel’s war crimes:

‘Israelis have opened fire on Gaza’s Christians ... around Holy Family Latin parish in Gaza City, dozens are reported dead… and reports continue to arrive that shooting by Israeli snipers continues during these hours.... A statement released by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem confirmed that an Israeli sniper murdered two Christian women inside the Holy Family Parish where the majority of Christian families have taken refuge since the start of the war.’

The letter referred to ‘an even more horrifying massacre’ on 17 December when Al Jazeera reported that Israeli bulldozers had crushed Palestinians who were taking shelter in tents outside Kamal Adwan Hospital.

Dozens of Palestinians are reported to have been buried alive. These are Nazi-style massacres and yet you have said nothing and done nothing since issuing your statement You were happy to wave the Ukrainian flag but you haven’t waved the Palestinian flag or expressed any sympathy with the thousands of murdered Palestinian civilians, not least children.

Resistance Street

In April of this year Sharon Graham banned On Resistance Street an anti-fascist/anti-racist film that looks at the role music has played in the fight against fascism and racism. The reasons for the ban were explained by Sarah Carpenter who said that it didn’t conform with Graham’s ‘industrial strategy’ or ‘existing Unite policies’.

One can only marvel at the tunnel vision of Graham. Her ‘industrial agenda’ poses no threat to British capitalism. Existing Unite policy is anti-racist. Graham is politically illiterate if she does not understand how racism has been used to divide and weaken, if not destroy the trade union and labour movements elsewhere. Carpenter wrote that:

In this context the Union should be especially careful to avoid appearing to endorse any material which causes unnecessary offence to members.’

In other words we should not give offence to racists.

On Resistance Street revisits the ‘Rock Against Racism’ movement of the late 70s, noting its influence on future waves of radical artists and political activists. The film also highlights the role played by punk rock in uniting young people in 1970s’ sectarian Belfast.

On Resistance Street tracks contemporary drifts to the right in the West, right wing musical cultural appropriation and the role of anti-racist social media groups today.  It looks at grime music and the historic role played by Black musicians in British music.

The decision to ban the film is shocking. For a trade union leader to ban an anti-fascist and anti-racist film is a sign of how politically degenerate the Sharon Graham leadership is.

Why Does the Sectarian Left Still Support Graham

To this day the SWP and the Socialist Party have given their full support to Graham and refused to critice her. Why? Because she has supported workers strikes in this country that means that her support for the murder of workers in Palestine is ok.

It is time for those on the left who placed their faith in Graham to realise they have backed the wrong horse. Graham is a narrow minded British nationalist, an imperialist, racist war monger and a Zionist who has nothing to offer the working class.

Industrial strikes do not by themselves challenge capitalism unless they are generalised and politicised. It is quite possible to combine industrial militancy with racist, imperialist attitudes. The White South African working class was militant as was the Protestant working class of Northern Ireland. Israel’s Jewish working class was militant but it fought like its South Africa counterparts for a color bar.

It is unfortunate that much of the left in Britain is unable to understand that racism and imperialism mean the working class allying with its bosses. Both Marx and Lenin understood these things unlike the SWP, SP and Counterfire.

This is why Unite4Palestine, a pressure group set up to campaign for Unite to implement its policy on Palestine is holding a meeting on Sunday night at 6 pm in Community Base, Queens Road Brighton, about 5 minutes from the railway station.

It is also why the Zionists want to prevent the meeting.

Tony Greenstein

Banning an Anti-Racist & Anti-Fascist Film is the Last Straw - Our Branch SE/6246 Has Just Passed a Motion of No Confidence in Unite’s Racist General Secretary Sharon Graham

 It’s time for the SWP, Socialist Party & Counterfire to break with Graham’s Social Imperialism & Stop Apologising for Her

ON RESISTANCE STREET (2023) Trailer

Unite 4 Palestine Activists Meeting

Wednesday 17 April 6.30 p.m.

Please register here

https://tinyurl.com/mpc6h77t

 

On Monday I learnt that Sharon Graham had banned On Resistance Street an anti-fascist and anti-racist  film that looks at the role music has played in the fight against fascism and racism.

The reasons for the ban were explained by Graham’s sycophantic bag carrier, Sarah Carpenter, who, as Regional Secretary for the South-East, banned another film, Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie. Carpenter quoted an Executive Committee resolution of September 2023 that:

‘Unite should not use its premises or resources to show or promote any external films or other content that does not relate to our industrial agenda to support the pay, terms and conditions of our members and/or support existing Unite policies.

Leave aside the ‘explanation’ of Carpenter, a bureaucrat without an original idea in her head, or the tunnel vision of Sharon Graham whose ‘industrial agenda’ poses no threat to British capitalism. Graham is either so politically illiterate that she does not understand that historically racism and fascism have been used to divide and weaken, if not destroy the trade union and socialist movement. Or else she does not care.

Carpenter’s suggestion that anti-racism and anti-fascism is not part of ‘existing Unite policies’ testifies to her stupidity. Even more worrying, Carpenter also wrote that:

In this context the Union should be especially careful to avoid appearing to endorse any material which causes unnecessary offence to members.’

Is she really saying that Unite should not offend racists and fascists? This is very similar to the ‘reason’ that Gail Cartmail gave for the banning of Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie when she said that:

The General Secretary... is also clear that the Unite position must be that we do not stoke division through anti-semitism and anti-Muslim racism

On Resistance Street was shot on location in England, Belfast and New York.  It carries an original soundtrack of 20 songs.

The film revisits the ‘Rock Against Racism’ movement of the late 70s, noting its influence on future waves of radical artists and political activists.  It also shines a light – for the very first time in a film – on a 1950s organisation, ‘The Stars Campaign For Inter-Racial Friendship’ which was founded by a group of famous British jazz musicians and entertainers in the wake of the 1958 Notting Hill riots. It provided venues in West London for black and white youth to socialise together.  The film also highlights the crucial role played by punk rock in uniting young people in 1970s’ sectarian Belfast.

On Resistance Street tracks contemporary drifts to the right in the West, the weaponization of Black grammatical history, right wing musical cultural appropriation and the role of anti-racist social media groups today.  It looks at grime music and the historic role played by Black musicians in British music.

This decision is nothing less than shocking. For a trade union to ban an anti-fascist and anti-racist film is a sign of how the Sharon Graham leadership has degenerated politically.

I therefore moved a resolution at my own branch last night ‘noting with dismay’ all the lies of Graham and her flunkeys. For the first time that I can remember I was criticised for my moderation! Another member promptly moved an amendment that said the branch had no confidence in Graham. Just 2 out of 11 members abstained, the rest voted in favour.

Graham is the most right-wing boss of Unite and its predecessor unions since Arthur Deakin in the 50s. Graham stood on a platform that rejected Len McCluskey’s support for the Corbyn Project. She passed herself off as apolitical but in reality she is firmly on the right. Her objection to anti-racist education is matched by her support for Zionism and the Israeli state.

It is no accident that Graham has done nothing to support Palestinians in Gaza besides writing a solitary letter to the PGFTU, nearly 3 weeks after its headquarters in Gaza were bombed. The very next day she made it clear that she favoured continuing to send arms to Israel to continue the bombing, the more the merrier since to her all that matters is British jobs.

Yet despite her appalling record when it comes to international solidarity, anti-racism and anti-imperialism, the ‘revolutionary’ sects of the British left, have supported her through thick and thin. Both the SWP and the Socialist Party supported Graham in the election for General Secretary and Counterfire welcomed her victory.

Richard Allday's rant on WhatsApp in defence of Graham

Richard Allday, a Counterfire supporter and member of Unite’s Executive only last Friday chose to attack me on the Unite 4 Palestine WhatsApp group for my ‘obsession with Sharon Graham’ and my ‘unsubstantiated abuse.’ i.e. criticism of Graham.

To support strikes whilst rejecting their political implications, as Graham does, is to reject class politics. It is to treat the state as neutral and capitalism as a fair and equitable system rather than one based on exploitation. This is called economism.

Unfortunately the ruling class is not so stupid as Graham. It knows that even if Unite wins a few individual strikes, they still have all the cards. The rich and powerful can easily adjust the rules of the game through their tame puppets in parliament. They have the Police to reign in workers who get unruly and of course, if the worst comes to the worst, they can make going on strike itself harder and harder.

The Establishment is more than capable of winning back through legislation that which they lose industrially. Being ‘apolitical’ means accepting privatisation of public services and austerity in order to fund increased expenditure on the military. Graham supports increasing ‘defence’ expenditure even though it means cutting the NHS, education and social services where Unite also has members.

Concentrating solely on strikes means abandoning the fight against racism, global warming, war and imperialism. It is to define class oppression as solely economic without seeing that capitalism doesn’t just oppress people in the workplace but during their lives outside the workplace. There is little advantage in gaining higher wages if the Welfare State is under attack, the NHS is in decline, schools are privatised as academies and housing becomes harder to get.

Graham is fighting for a larger share of the imperialist pie not its abolition. Graham is an avid supporter of NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine and supported dockers refusing to handle Russian oil. There is some solidarity action that Graham does support, the problem is that it doesn’t involve genocide against the Palestinians.

When it came to Ukraine Graham didn’t mince her words:

“There is overwhelming support being expressed throughout Unite to support the people of Ukraine. It is not only the struggle for democracy that concerns us but also the struggle for people’s rights to work and build their future in peace.”

Yet when it comes to Gaza, getting Graham to condemn anything Israel does is like drawing teeth. In her letter condemning the bombing of the PGFTU headquarters in Gaza City Graham fails even to mention the word ‘Israel’. It is as if the bombing of the Trade union HQ happened by itself. Likewise Graham did not once let the word ‘genocide’ slip from her lips.

These things have not gone unnoticed by the Zionists. Writing in the anti-Palestinian Jewish News ‘Liar’ Lee Harpin described how,

In a further put down on far-left foreign policy dogma Graham also wrote “Similarly, we cannot be expected to affiliate to organisations that actively work against our members and their jobs.

“Examples include groups that look to build networks inside trade unions to undermine the defence industry or demand the disbandment of NATO and AUKUS.”

Under Graham’s leadership Unite has also taken great strides in attempting to combat antisemitism within the movement. Despite early claims that the left-wing leader would seek to move the union away from Labour and disaffiliate, Unite now appears to be opting to become a “critical friend” of the Starmer led Labour Party.

Unfortunately Britain’s far-left sects are unable to see beyond their own noses. They are so pleased that a union leader supports strikes that they are unable to understand that you can support strikes and still be a racist, warmongering reactionary like Sharon Graham.

In an effusive pro-Graham article in Dissent Olly Haynes observed that Unite refused to support the Enough is Enough coalition with the RMT and CWU because

two of the coalition’s five demands—building affordable housing and imposing heavier taxes on the rich—could only be enacted directly through state power. ...

The first indication that Sharon Graham was a Zionist cuckoo in the trade union nest was when Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie was banned.

On 23 July 2023 the far-right Campaign Against Antisemitism claimed credit for the ban on Corbyn The Big Lie. They wrote:

Following correspondence with Campaign Against Antisemitism, the Unite union has cancelled the screening of a propaganda film about the antisemitic former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn....

However, following contact from Campaign Against Antisemitism in which we pointed out that the scheduling of the event appeared to be contradictory to the reports that the film has been banned in all of Unite’s buildings, it was cancelled....

Campaign Against Antisemitism commends Unite for its swift and decisive action to cancel the screening as soon as we brought it to its attention.

Graham’s apolitical election stance was a cover for very right-wing politics. To her capitalism and imperialism are perfectly normal and therefore not political. Is it any surprise that she refused to condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide? But if Britain’s far-left organisations displayed their typically blinkered approach, engaging in a bout of wishful thinking, then the Zionist organisations were not fooled. Indeed it is highly likely that Graham signalled to them that Len McCluskey’s support for the Palestinians would be jettisoned.

Euan Philips (David Gordstein) of Labour Against Antisemitism, welcomed the election of Graham as General Secretary.

The SWP, SP and Countefire simply refused to accept that the Skwawkbox’s allegations of Graham’s nepotism, turning a blind eye to racism and despotism amounted to anything. Despite Skawkbox being vilified at no time has Graham disputed their allegations.

At her first Executive Committee meeting as General Secretary (September 2021) Graham ‘Pledged to make our Union the most democratic and transparent it has ever been.’ Actions however speak louder than words as her banning of films demonstrates.

Graham promised to ‘Take the lead or provide practical support to other groups tackling wider societal issues such as; climate change, the housing crisis and racism.’ Under Len McCluskey Unite’s Community branches were established. It is no secret that Graham is hostile to them as she sees them as naturally political.

Graham pledged ‘there will be no blank cheques’ for the Labour Party. The cutting of affiliation fees by McLuskey, has been reversed without protest. Graham also promised to

·               Introduce a Member Hotline in my Office.

·               Make sure that my expenses are accessible to members online.

·               Introduce ‘General Secretary Live’ online Q&A

Below is a time line of Graham’s record as General Secretary:

i.              On the 8 June Sarah Carpenter banned Corbyn – The Big Lie from being shown at Unite’s premises in Portsmouth on Graham’s ‘advice’.

ii.            From 7 October to 3 November, Graham delayed calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

iii.         In her statement of 26 June to staff and officers Graham claimed that Unite ‘was the first major union to publicly and unambiguously call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.’ This was a lie. UNISON called for an immediate ceasefire on October 26 and it also condemned Israel for its attacks on civilians unlike the even handed Unite statement a week later.

iv.         Graham has not only refused to attend the national Palestinian demonstrations but she has refused to allow Unite’s national banner to be present.

v.            Graham tried to pressurise Unite official Simon Dubbins to calling off a Unite Palestinian event at Labour Party conference. She has now suspended him.

vi.         Graham also tried to persuade Pete Kavanagh, Regional Secretary for London & Eastern Region, from speaking at the Palestinian demonstration in London on January 13.

vii.       Graham’s Chief of Staff, Sarah Carpenter, appointed without any reference to the Executive, threatened Kavanagh with loss of a pension bonus if he continued to support the Palestinians.

viii.    Graham said nothing about genocide in Gaza until March 25,over two weeks after, when she wrote a letter of ‘solidarity’ to the Palestinian trade union PGFTU after the bombing of their HQ in Gaza City.

ix.         One day later, March 26, Graham issued a letter condemning attempts to stop the manufacture of arms for Israel. Graham attacked ‘groups that look to build networks inside trade unions to undermine the defence industry or demand the disbandment of NATO and AUKUS’.

In her letter Graham said ‘there is no contradiction for a trade union to hold a position of solidarity with Palestinian workers’ whilst making arms intended to murder those same workers. She held that ‘it is a core principle of Unite that as a trade union the 'first claim' on our priorities’ is to support the right of Unite members to produce arms to kill other workers.

Clearly the words ‘international solidarity’ are alien to Graham. It is shameful that the left sects have failed to call her so far. There are indications, judging by a letter critical of Graham in Socialist Worker that the SWP is revising its attitude. Let us hope that Counterfire and the Socialist Party do likewise.

Graham could have told Unite workers that she would support them refusing to handle arms destined for Israel’s murder machine in Gaza in the same way as happened with Rolls Royce workers in East Kilbride in 1973 when they refused to service engines destined for Pinochet’s airforce.

According to Graham’s logic the right of workers at IG Farben to produce Zyklon B for the gas chambers trumped the rights of Jews not to be murdered.

x.           On 11 April the Officers National Committee submitted a collective grievance concerning the flouting of grievance procedures and the victimisation of workers who challenged Graham’s repressive regime. They wrote:

The length of time that grievances and investigations are taking to reach a conclusion is not acceptable in a modern workplace... employees are waiting months after submitting a grievance due to a refusal of some to participate in the process, being banned from your workplace when not even suspended, and an application of “special measures

Using legal privilege to justify enforcing a refusal to allow an employee to present their grievance is disgraceful and anti-trade union... part of our role is to challenge power in the workplace where that power is used to suppress workers seeking transparency, expressing their genuinely held views or seeking protection from abuse.

Threats of legal action for raising a grievance... is... a denial of natural justice.... In seeking to declare a grievance invalid the employer has cited the issues of trust and confidence.... Loss of trust and confidence is a legitimate reason for dismissal by an employer so to reference it is to further intimidate the worker.’

The time has come for the left to stop making excuses for Graham. Richard Allday told me that ‘she has not spoken out on the current atrocity in Palestine’ but he failed to ask why this is. The time has come for the left groups to put clear red water between them and Graham.

Tony Greenstein