Showing posts with label Zara Sultana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zara Sultana. Show all posts

4 July 2025

High Court Predictably Refuses to Delay the Coming into Effect of The Proscription of Palestine Action As A Terrorist Organisation

Large Demonstration Outside the Royal Courts of Injustice Today Declares 

We Support Palestine Action’

We Support Palestine Action Demonstration Outside the Royal Courts of Injustice Today 4 July 2025

At midnight tonight the proscription of Palestine Action as a ‘terrorist’ group comes into effect, the High Court having turned down an application to delay its implementation.

This so-called Labour government has driven a nail through our democratic right to protest by proscribing a protest group, Palestine Action as a terrorist group. In the process it has made the term ‘terrorist’ meaningless.

Instead of terrorism being acts of violence against a civilian population, which is what the Israeli state is, any group which interferes with Police State Starmer’s right to support genocide is liable to also be proscribed.

The old saying that ‘one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter’ has been proven correct. Most people see the Israeli state as a terrorist state but to the war criminals who head our government, murdering hundreds of thousands of people, executing Red Crescent and humanitarian aid workers, bombing hospitals and murdering journalists is merely collateral damage.

In the House of Lords yesterday peers defeated a ‘regret’ motion from the Green Party’s Baroness Jenny Jones by 144-16 though as in the Commons it was the opponents of Starmer’s police state legislation that had the better arguments.

Peter Hain, who in 1970 organised the Stop the Tour Committee against the proposed tour of the Apartheid Cricket Team and the previous Springbok Rugby Tour, told the Lords that if these powers had been in force then they would have been used against campaigners against Apartheid in South Africa.

Hain also drew attention to the fact that the Suffragettes had been branded extremists and terrorists in their time. They had even planned to plant bombs in Lloyd George’s new house.

It is a mark of the degeneracy of Starmer’s Labour Party  that they could introduce a proscription order whose effect is to defend a genocide in Gaza happening before our eyes. There is no principle that this so-called human rights lawyer is not prepared to break in order to appease the United States and the Israel lobby.

What of Palestine Action?  There was a large demonstration of over a thousand people today outside the Palaces of Injustice in The Strand with their mock gothic architecture. For once the Met didn’t try attacking any demonstrators, at least not while I was there.

Predictably enough the High Court turned down the application to delay the implementation of the legislation although it is due to go to the Court of Appeal. However I don’t hold out much hope that this reactionary court will overturn the lower court’s decision.

What next?  Well Palestine Action held a packed 1,000 strong Zoom meeting tonight under the title of The Plan but there was little evidence of such a plan although I was told that this was because of the presence of police and other spies. The meeting itself lasted less than an hour.

It remains to be seen whether or not there will be deliberate attempts to make the legislation unworkable by simply flouting it or whether Palestine Action will continue its work of attacking Elbit factories but not in the name of Palestine Action. One name that has been proposed is Yvette Cooper, the trollope who, as Home Secretary, brought the order forward.

What is certain is that the proscription of a direct action protest group marks a new low for a government led by an empty suit which has attacked claimants, the disabled, parents with more than two children and protesters. It is laying the basis for Farage’s Reform party at the next election which is why the decision of Zara Sultana to resign from the Labour Party is so welcome.

It is to be hoped that Jeremy Corbyn abandons his usual indecisiveness and hesitation and comes out in support of Sultana’s decision. It is also to be hoped that other left-Labour MPs like John McDonnell follow suit.

What is needed however is a broad based campaign to roll back the ongoing attack on democratic rights, not just by Starmer but the previous Tory government too.  It is no surprise that those who are supporting genocide in Gaza are eager to clamp down on democracy at home.

Tony Greenstein




7 July 2023

Lloyd Russell-Moyle is a Synonym for Lies, Deception, Treachery and Back Stabbing

The MP for Brighton Kemptown, Who Supported Palestine When It Suited Him, Abstained on the Anti-Boycott Bill - As Did Dianne Abbot and Richard Burgon

I have amended this article to take out my criticism of Zara Sultana, who had a legitimate reason for being absent

Corbyn, McDonnell and Crispin Blunt Speeches Opposing the Tory’s Anti-Boycott Bill

Whenever I think of Lloyd Russell-Moyle I think of his exact opposite, Divina Levrini. One is an opportunist for whom everything is a tactical game designed to advance his career. The other is or rather was a 30 year old Swedish mother who, despite a serious illness, went on the 2018 Gaza Freedom Flotilla in order to fight for justice and freedom for others regardless of the cost to herself. Divina was beaten up and denied her medication by the savages who run Israeli detention facilities. Divina died 9 months after returning from detention in Israel.

Divina Levrini holding the Gaza Freedom Flotilla banner at Brighton's Old Steine

Moyle and Divina could not be more different. One sacrificed her life for the freedom of the Palestinians, the other used the Palestinians to help his career, making fine speeches full of sound and fury but literally signifying nothing.

When in 2018 the Gaza Freedom Flotilla came to Brighton and Hove Russell-Moyle was happy to come to the party in their honour at the Verdict, a Brighton jazz club and be pictured alongside these heroes who put their lives on the line, literally. But when it came to standing up for the Palestinians in parliament this week, despite making a short intervention in the debate, Moyle was conspicuous by his absence.

The national conference of Woodcraft Folk, which Moyle chaired, which voted overwhelmingly for Boycott - at that time he had no problems with BDS

This is especially the case since Moyle chaired the national conference of the Woodcraft Folk which voted in July 2010 to support a full boycott of Israel. Moyle knows the arguments, he knows that Israel is an Apartheid State yet when push comes to shove he bottled out and abstained.

No greater cowardice can there be than someone who is happy to stand in the limelight  but afraid to stand up and be counted when it matters.

The late Divina Levrini

See Divina Levrini – A Star that will forever burn brightly in our memories

People may think that I’m being hard on Russell-Moyle. After all he is little or no different from all the other cowards and traitors who sneer and bray from Labour’s backbenches. Moyle was a member of the ‘Socialist’ Campaign Group who make fiery speeches once a year at Labour Party Conference, posturing and preening themselves and spend the rest of the time cowering in the shadows. In a way I am being harsh on Moyle because he is no different from the rest of the parliamentary traitors.

LRM grabs the mace

For all I know Moyle may still consider himself a socialist but thinks that it is best to bide his time. The problem with this is that by continually making concessions to the right one becomes part of them. The will to do good will have atrophied through lack of use.

Moyle is fond of making firebrand speeches, even if he finds it hard to live up to them. There was his speech at the election count, where he accused Tories of killing people. That didn’t last long.

fiery speech at count

Then there was the speech at the 2021 Labour Party conference where he said that Starmer is “not a politician for the Labour Party”. Well that lasted all of 5 minutes.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle - Starmer was "not a politician for the Labour Party".

Then there was his promise to put his arms around all those who had been unfairly purged, which is about 99.99%. That too didn’t last longer than the first hostile headline. Moyle said:

“I want to apologise from all of us but me in particular. Because if we have made you feel like you are alone, if we have not reached our arm around you enough in these tough times when you are being purged or set up with false allegations, I not only apologise, I will endeavour to do better because we have to support each other.”

The spiritual mentor of Israel's Police & Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir is on record as saying that one Jewish fingernail is worth a thousand non-Jewish lives

I have to confess that I never asked Moyle to put his arms round me but I would have appreciated it if he hadn’t written to Iain McNicol urging that my expulsion be sped up! Especially since at that time he was Chair of Brighton and Hove Labour Party which had just passed policy deploring my suspension.

A few more photos from the time when Moyle found it useful to be seen to support the Palestinians

According to the local Argus, Sussex Friends of Israel’s Fiona Sharpe, a racist who doubles as Labour Against Anti-Semitism said:

“Keir Starmer has taken some positive steps to remove anti-Semitism from the party, and we urge him to take immediate action and remove the whip.”

No sooner had he spoken than Moyle was backtracking. On Twitter he began the retreat:

 “there are anti-Semites that have rightly been expelled from party” but there was also people “who have been threatened with expulsion or investigation for no reason."

"No arm should be put around people legitimately removed from Labour", he added in another tweet, "but those wrongly threatened for supporting trans rights or supporting Labour MPs has created a chilling effect which has made activist feel vulnerable and not respected. It’s to those we should show solidarity."

Guido Fawkes, the Tory libel site, ran with the headlineMoyle for the chop”.  Guido suggested that

“if Starmer is serious about detaching Labour from the hard-left, his outriders think Russell-Moyle’s now ripe for the picking”.

LAAS posted on Twitter to say that a letter had been sent to Starmer to “urge him to remove the whip” from Moyle.

Lloyd promises to ‘put his arms round’ all the victims of false anti-Semitism accusations.

Moyle's promise to hug and put his arms round the hundreds of victims of false antisemitism accusations lasted as long as his speech. As soon as the Zionist backlash began LRM retreated and he has been doing so ever since. In 2017 he was attacked for supporting Melanie Melvin, Brighton Labour Party’s Women’s Officer after she came under attack. Again he retreated. Moyle’s record ever since the ‘anti-Semitism’ campaign began is one of retreating under pressure.

This is the Israel that Moyle says is not an Apartheid State

Lloyd Russell-Moyle Supported the Tory Anti-Boycott  Bill

But none of this can justify the fact that last Monday 3 July, when the second reading of the Tory Anti-Boycott Bill was held, Moyle abstained. This is truly unforgiveable. If this Bill had been in force in 1933 it would have made the Jewish anti-Nazi Boycott illegal. It would have made the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against South African Apartheid illegal. It would also have made the Boycott of Slave Grown Sugar in the Caribbean illegal.

Now just imagine if the White Slave Owners had protested that Boycotting their sugar was discrimination against them on the grounds of colour! This lity is what the Zionists are saying. That we are discriminating against them, not because they murder Palestinian children, not because they demolish their homes and confiscate their land. Perish the thought. It’s because they are Jewish!

This is what the anti-BDS campaign is about and Moyle has joined hands with the most reactionary racists, Zionists and imperialists. Because when an Opposition abstains on a government measure it is tantamount to supporting it. Keir Starmer we know is a Zionist ‘without qualification’. Starmer is a proud and unashamed racist and this is who Moyle has joined hands with.

Israel's new government is stuffed with people proud to be fascists and homophobes

The best that can be said of the vote last Monday is that at least 10 Labour MPs defied Starmer to vote against this racist measure. They were Apsama Begum, Dawn Butler, Barry Gardiner (surprisingly since he is down as a Labour Friends of Israel sponsor), Ian Lavery, Andy McDonald, John McDonnell, Ian Mearns, Grahame Morris, Mick Whitley and Beth Winter. This is in addition to Jeremy Corbyn and Claudia Webbe who have had the Whip removed.

Moyle also provided a testimonial to anti-Roma, harasser of women and anti-Palestinian hate activist Luke Stanger

But where were Dianne Abbot, Clive Lewis, Nadia Whithome (the AWL MP), Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Dan Carden, Kim Johnson who only recently called Israel a fascist and apartheid state, Rebecca Long Bailey, Kate Osamor, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Sam Tarry and Jon Trickett?

Despite having been a Corbyn supporter when it benefited his career, Moyle refused to sign a petition calling for the whip to be restored to Jeremy Corbyn

On paper the SCG has 35 members, but in practice it is in a state of political collapse. To put things into perspective 10 members of the Liberal Democrats, Zionists to a man and woman, also voted against this Bill on civil liberties grounds. Even 2 Tories did. The refusal of Moyle, Burgon and co. to join them is nothing less than shameful.

Tony Greenstein