I was a Green Party officer once. I was a trade union officer, and a member of a regional activist group in my union, and I have been a Labour Party officer. Every single time, I stood down from the roles I had because there was some politics that needed doing, and I couldn’t do it in role.
What are official political roles for? Or even unofficial, supposedly ‘activist’ roles in political parties, what are they for? Organizations that start out very useful and progressive tend to atrophy over time, and if you want to change the world for the better, you have to be aware of when it’s time to jump ship.
Recently, a video from a moment on the street in my town went viral across the country. Local activists were getting frustrated because they couldn’t get any sense out of the Labour Party on the need to call for a Ceasefire in Gaza, so they filmed an encounter with party ‘activists’. This is Hastings and Rye Labour, which was once a large, dynamic, lefty CLP, significant nationally in the battle to end apartheid. I was proud and happy to be a part of it. But now well, this happened…
…between them, the Labour canvassers say that they aren’t representing the Labour Party, don’t necessarily agree with its policies, and have nothing to do with the creation of policy. In other words, the Party is entirely pointless to a democratic society.
At one point, the man says to the activist questioning him, ‘and what are you doing for Gaza?’
She really was the wrong person to throw that question at, if he wanted to prove his case (which, apparently was that activism equals pointless posturing).
A few days later, a local Labour councillor (who has said and done nothing for Gaza) told me that ‘Hastings isn’t going to have any effect’. In case anyone is believing that, here I am reminding everyone that whilst you can’t usually prove that the actions of one person or one group have made sea-changes in politics, a build up of collective action can, and in fact is usually the instigator of major changes in our politics and our law.
I was at a talk by Andrew Feinstein in Hastings this week, and one topic much discussed was the efficacy of genuine activism. Feinstein pointed out that this week, for the first time, the USA managed not to veto a ceasefire call. This is very obviously because the public in the USA and elsewhere have made their feelings known. The message is, we don’t care about your ‘it’s complicated’ – stop Israel killing kids! In the run-up to the US elections, candidates can’t afford to stand there trying to justify their support of mass murder.
As it happens, at the start of that Feinstein talk, the local PSC officer (the ‘elderly gentleman’ who was filmed being dragged across a car park by the police a week or so back) gave the audience a summary of recent activities by Palestine support organizations in Hastings and I scribbled it all down, so we have a full answer to any other politicians who doubt that we’re contributing tangibly to that global movement and, more importantly perhaps, for any hesitant activist who might believe politicians who tell them their actions are meaningless.
The ‘three wise monkeys’ pic below celebrates the huge audience for Feinstein’s talk, which ranged in age from 16 to 95.
Here’s what Hastings is doing about Gaza…
Hastings and Rye PSC
Membership of our local Palestine Solidarity Campaign group is booming! They have regular stalls in town, where people can and do come and ask questions and find out what’s going on, and where they can donate to, or sign up to be part of, the various campaign projects in town.
BDS
Recently, they’ve also been filming visits to local businesses such as supermarkets selling Israeli products, banks such as Barclays that facilitate the arms trade to Israel, and General Dynamics, a company with two local factories making parts for those weapons. This is BDS (boycott, divest, sanction) a strategy that has been proven to be an effective weapon against rogue states. It was key to forcing change in apartheid South Africa, and indeed in forcing change in our politicians who at the start were still calling Nelson Mandela a terrorist.
Moon tell me truth
They have also run various events to raise awareness of the experience of people in Palestine. This was my favourite…
Twins and friends
The Friends of al-Mawasi group are building relationships between the people of Hastings and Al-Mawasi, a coastal town that, like Hastings, once centred around its fishing beach. Local people have donated to the Friends’ fund which has now bought solar panels for Al-Mawasi – desperately needed as electricity in the town had been cut off, and the Friends are building a campaign for a twinning with the town (currently stalled by the borough council’s refusal to talk about anything Gaza-related – see below).
Local politics
Local activists sat in on a council meeting that never happened last week, to raise awareness in the town of the council’s refusal of the topic. That’s another video that’s now sailing around the country via social media – big question: did a nasty rude man stop a meeting or did the (Labour) mayor stop it? Or was some all-powerful council official to blame? The official line is that activists were asked to leave and refused, which made the meeting impossible – but I’ve yet to find anyone who heard the activists being asked to leave. In fact, they left after a bit and sent a message to councillors – ‘you can come out now, we’re leaving’. The councillors didn’t come back.
And that’s it until after the elections but the thing is, because the activists were there, the town KNOWS that quite a lot of our councillors are trying to talk about Gaza, but that the mayor and council officers have so far managed to thwart them. Hopefully, that will make a difference in the local elections in May. Hastings – the first question to candidates on the doorstep is ‘what have you done to help the people of Gaza?’ No ceasefire call, no vote.
Palestine Action and marches
Palestine action have successfully shut down two Elbit arms factories, and caused the company to lose a substantial contract. Companies are all about profit – they do change their ways, if the public successfully interfere in their profiteering. Oh as you were – it’s three now!
If you’re unsure how to get involved, to do things like this, Palestine Action are currently running activist training workshops – google ‘em!
And then of course there are the marches. As well as providing a regular reminder to politicians that we know what we want and we aren’t going away, they are a great opportunity to meet and learn from other activists. And remember, a march of hundreds of thousands is made up of single people like you or I who made the decision ‘yes, I will shift myself and go to this’. If you’re nervous of going alone, no problem – invite your friends, invite your family – then you’ve made the march even bigger!
Next march in Hastings…
Next national march…
It is always the people who don’t want change who say activism doesn’t work, who call it ‘disorder’ or ‘bullying’ or ‘extremism’
So, Hastings councillors; so, Madam Mayor; so, canvassers on the streets of our town – THIS is what we, the people of Hastings are doing. If you think it’s not any use, ask yourself how gay liberation and civil marriage were won, ask yourself what forced the end of apartheid in South Africa, ask yourself how the unions won us our basic workplace rights, why women, and other oppressed groups have any rights at all. Activism works, it is THE most efficient way of bringing about people-friendly change and it’s fun – once you know how it all works, you can see what’s risky and what’s not, and decide what you are or are not happy to do. There are lots of options – give it a go!
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Dear Reader,
Times are hard, and so the articles on this site are freely available but if you are able to support my work by making a donation, I am very grateful.
Cheers,
Kay
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Kay Green 