Israel/Palestine

GUADELOUPE: The French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe has been rocked by a general strike — a total shut-down of shops, supermarkets, schools and public services. A demonstration on 24 January saw 25,000 workers take to the streets; an equivalent demonstration in Britain would comprise over 3,000,000 protestors. The UGTG (General Union of Guadeloupean Workers) has led the strike, along with nearly fifty other working-class organisations which have cohered into “The Committee Against Extreme Exploitation”. Guadeloupe is officially an overseas territory of the French Republic, although it...

As we go to press, both of Israel’s main centre-right parties — Likud and Kadimah — were claiming victory in the general election. Most exit polls gave 30 seats to Kadimah and 29 to Likud. Neither have enough seats to win outright, meaning the huge gains made by Avigdor Lieberman’s Israel Beiteinu party place this grotesque far-right formation in a position of enormous influence and power when it comes to forming a government. Ehud Barak’s Labour Party — right-wing social democrats on social issues and hawkish on the national question – have been relegated to fourth place. As placards on...

As Solidarity went to press, students at the University of East Anglia, Edinburgh University and Goldsmiths College in London had just gone into occupation in solidarity with Gaza — bringing the total number of colleges that have now occupied to 29. Koos Couvée reports from the meeting to coordinate the occupations called by the Stop the War Coalition on 7 February. The meeting started with a number of high profile speakers. Jeremy Corbyn praised the student movement rising again after years of apathy. Students involved in the LSE and Manchester occupations spoke about the disgraceful attitude...

Editorial from Solidarity 3/145, 29 January 2009 The story of what happened on 17 January 2009, with photos Another account, with photos Comment from Sheffield AWL Open letter from Sheffield AWL .

On Saturday 17 January, a contingent of Workers’ Liberty members in Sheffield attended a demonstration to oppose the Israeli assault on Gaza, as we had done for the previous two Saturdays. Other items: The story of what happened, with photos Another account, with photos Comment from Sheffield AWL Open letter from Sheffield AWL . One of our placards bore, on one side, the slogan “no to the IDF, no to Hamas” because we wanted to make clear our position that supporting the Palestinian people’s struggle for independence does not mean endorsing the deeply reactionary politics of Hamas. The placard...

In the last issue of Solidarity, we called for a campaign to make solidarity with the Palestinians on a rational, internationalist basis, fighting for a two-state settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and making solidarity with working-class and democratic forces against political Islam as well as the Israeli ruling class. We want a rank-and-file committee of those committed to two states, peace and workers’ unity across the borders. Such a movement could provide a pole of attraction for all those who rightly identify with the Palestinians but are alarmed by the Arab and Islamic...

Click here to download as pdf . Among those who criticise AWL for openly proclaiming our policy on the Middle East — Israel out of the Occupied Territories; two states, i.e. a Palestinian state alongside Israel; hostility to political Islam and Islamic clerical fascism — on the Gaza demonstrations have been members of the Socialist Party. This is of interest because the Socialist Party agrees with Israel’s right to exist, or used to anyway; and because the SP’s own behaviour on the Gaza demonstrations offers an object lesson in how socialists should not behave. On both the 3 January and the 10...

Comparisons between Israel and apartheid South Africa are increasingly common, both on the far left and in parts of the liberal mainstream. (Incoherently, in the latter case, since most of those making the comparison simultaneously support two states!) The AWL rejects the analogy because of the different class structures in these two states. The article below, written more than two decades ago by Clive Bradley, explains this in detail; though it obviously doesn't take into account more recent developments, we believe its basic analysis stands up well. Some notes on our attitude to South...

The leaflet distributed by the Socialist Party on the 3 January and 10 January 2009 Gaza demonstrations. Click here for a critical discussion of the leaflet .

The story in photos by Camila Bassi. Workers' Liberty on the demonstration The banner is disagreeable to members of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and the SWP, so it is soon blocked in an attempt to homogenise the ‘politics’ of the rally, i.e. to silence the demand “Two Nations, Two States”. Workers' Liberty member Louise Gold turns up with the placard. On one side: 'No to IDF, No to Hamas'. On the other side: 'Solidarity with Women, Workers and the Left! The placard is torn up. Members of Permanent Revolution gather around my younger comrades shouting that they are disgusting...