mandela
Starmer challenger calls for new left mass movement outside Labour Party
Former ANC MP and arms trade campaigner will address activists from around UK tomorrow at Collective launch – and poses real threat to friend-of-genocide ‘Labour’ leader
Andrew Feinstein, former ANC MP under Nelson Mandela and leading critic of the global arms trade, will use a speech this weekend to endorse a new political alliance billed as the foundation of the first organised mass movement of the left outside of the Labour Party.
Feinstein’s speech will be the centrepiece of a conference called by dozens of former Labour councillors and other independent candidates. The event will take place in ‘Labour’ leader Keir Starmer’s home constituency of Holborn and St Pancras in London.
Feinstein, who has lived in the constituency for more than two decades since moving to the UK, has already signalled his willingness to stand against Starmer as an independent candidate and has been selected as candidate by the OCISA anti-Starmer group, attracting a groundswell of support both locally and nationally.
Local campaigners say there is real vulnerability in Starmer’s majority, established under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the party, especially given the controversies embroiling Labour over the war in Gaza. Starmer looks even more vulnerable after yesterday’s landslide victory for Workers Party GB leader George Galloway in Rochdale and the collapse of Labour’s vote from over 50% to less than 8%, with Starmer’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza a major driver.
The new movement – dubbed ‘Collective’ – has been established following months of deliberation amongst grassroots campaign groups and prospective independent candidates for both council and parliamentary elections. Though it is not establishing a new party in time to contest this year’s election, it intends to do so onceit has grown a mass membership base.
Feinstein said:
It’s not just Labour Party members who were the victims of Starmer’s entirely fictitious campaign for leadership of the party. The people of Holborn and St Pancras also elected him twice on a socialist platform under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. Having lived in the constituency for over 20 years, I’ve been overwhelmed by the support and strength of feeling amongst local communities – and across the country – who are crying out for a response to the deeply corrupt, anti-democratic and out of touch Labour Party under Starmer. Under his leadership, the party has now completely abandoned working people and marginalised communities in an escalating effort to out-Tory the Tories.
But this election must do more than just provide an alternative to the pro-genocide, pro-austerity Sunak-Starmer circus. It must also mark the beginnings of a new mass movement of working people that can challenge the Westminster bubble once and for all. That’s why I’m proud to be joining Collective which is uniting sections of the left and will eventually transform into a new political party backed by an organised and democratic movement.
Feinstein also clarified regarding his parliamentary candidacy;
I have not declared that I am definitely standing. I’ve indicated my willingness to do so but am still consulting widely inside and outside the constituency.
Second, I believe that a new grassroots movement, built out of the extraordinary solidarity for Gaza, a rejection of permanent austerity, and the sclerotic, corrupt and elitist nature of establishment politics, is essential. The form that takes will be decided amongst people at the grassroots – a movement for the people, of the people and by the people.
Saturday’s event is about the councillors who have taken a stand against the indefensible role that the UK government and the Labour Party have taken in support of the genocide in Gaza.
Collective spokesperson Pamela Fitzpatrick, independent candidate for Harrow West:
Our political system – and now the Labour Party itself – is fundamentally anti-democratic and rigged against new parties, especially on the left. The only way to address this is to build a mass movement outside of the Labour Party as a foundation for a new political party that is truly free of vested interests and which can offer a real alternative to the pro-austerity and pro-war two party system. All around the country, independent candidates have and are coming forward to fight this election on a common platform calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, a real pay rise and decent housing for all, higher taxes for the rich, an end to privatisation of the NHS, and an end to unnecessary and unjust war. That is the foundation which Collective will build on, and eventually transform into a political party that will change the face of British politics.
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Panicked by Feinstein, Starmer and Lammy issue near-IDENTICAL Gaza statements
Candidacy of Jewish left-winger in Starmer’s seat prompts pair to issue statements trying to con pro-Palestinian voters – but they don’t even bother to tweak the wording significantly
Keir Starmer is rattled – and reportedly ‘raging’ – at the announcement that left-wing Jewish heavyweight Andrew Feinstein, a former ANC MP who fought apartheid under Mandela, is going to contest Starmer’s Holborn and St Pancras constituency at the next parliamentary election. Rightly so: Feinstein’s substance, integrity and principle cast a cold light on Starmer’s lack.
But the incompetence and arrogance of the Labour right can’t help showing through. Clearly someone among Starmer’s advisers has decided it’d be a good idea to finally issue a statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza to try to mollify the huge numbers of voters who are outraged at Starmer’s sabotage of earlier parliamentary motions calling for one and his support for Israel’s ‘right’ to commit war crimes.
So he and Lammy duly issued statements – or, to be more precise, one statement with hardly any modification and with most of the relevant portions identical, word for word, including the final sentence:
Nobody’s buying what this pair are selling
Shoddiness, incompetence, panic, or just the basic inability in that essential Establishment skill of faking sincerity – whatever the mix, Starmer and his acolytes are just not very good. That may be fly in an interview with media giving them the usual easy ride, but it won’t fool voters furious at their complicity in Israel’s mass slaughter of Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, in Gaza.
Instead, it just shows how scared Labour is of a challenge by someone of substance, even in seats where they held a big majority last time round.
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Jewish former S African MP Feinstein will stand against Starmer in Holborn St Pancras
OCISA selects candidate to fight for ‘Labour leader’s seat at next parliamentary election
Andrew Feinstein speaking at the ‘Stop Starmer’ initiative in London’s Conway Hall last year
The OCISA group formed with the aim of ousting so-called ‘Labour leader’ Keir Starmer has selected Corruption Watch UK director Andrew Feinstein, a Jewish former South African MP and adviser to Nelson Mandela, to stand against Starmer in Holborn and St Pancras in the next general election. Feinstein now lives in the seat.
Feinstein. the son of Holocaust survivors, has a long record of substance and principle that stands in stark contrast to his ‘broken every promise’ opponent, who is known as a ‘long-time servant of the security state’ and became known as the ‘kid starver’ after breaking promises to end the hated ‘universal credit’ benefit system and saying he would not end Tory benefit cuts that have put hundreds of thousands of children into poverty and hunger.
Feinstein has also consistently stood against Israel’s apartheid and genocide in Gaza, arguing that the same tactics his ANC party in South Africa used to bring down apartheid there must be used against Israel and pointing his social media followers to information about Israel’s slaughter of innocents. Starmer, in contrast, has said Israel has the ‘right’ even to impose the blockade on Gaza that is causing horrific starvation and disease.
Despite Labour’s significant majority in previous elections in the seat, the candidacy of someone with such substance and track record must be seen as a threat to Starmer’s position, particularly in a seat where one in six voters are Muslims and even more so in the light of South Africa’s leading role in the fight against the Gaza genocide – and soon against the UK’s complicity. The campaign is likely to be supported by large numbers of people from the constituency and around the UK, who are outraged at Starmer’s complicity in genocide and his abetting of the Tories’ assault on our rights and freedoms in the UK.
Starmer and his team are said to be ‘raging’ at the news and deeply concerned:
Those who wish to donate to Feinstein’s campaign fund can do so here.
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Webbe salutes South Africa for ‘walking in the steps of Mandela and Tutu’ for Gaza
‘Huge’ ICJ victory means Israel is now on trial for genocide, says Leicester East MP
Leicester East MP Claudia Webbe had said that South Africa’s success in invoking the genocide convention against Israel at the International Court for Justice is a huge advance gor justice and the protection of Palestinian civilians.
Ms Webbe for following the footsteps of South African giants Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Adding that the UK is shamed by it’s support for Israel’s war crimes, she said:
South Africa’s success in winning an order for Israel to comply with provisional measures to end its genocidal assault on Gaza is a huge advance for justice and protection for two million Palestinians in Gaza facing death not only from bombs, missiles and bullets but also from burgeoning hunger and disease.
When many of the world’s so-called ‘leading’ nations either sat on their hands whilst civilians, mostly women and children, were slaughtered, or – worse still – actively participated or supported Israel’s actions – South Africa stood up and walked in the steps of Mandela and Tutu.
Tutu called for a global boycott of Israel while it perpetrated crimes against the Palestinians, but he also exhorted Palestinians and Israelis to look beyond their leaders and see each other’s common humanity. Israel’s leaders are now dehumanising Palestinians as an excuse to slaughter them.
Mandela famously said that none of us are free until Palestinians are free – and he fearlessly pointed out the terrorism of the Israeli regime.”
Now his successors have won a massive victory, for the people of Palestine and for justice. Even if Israel ignores the court and its allies veto enforcement, they will now clearly be flouting the international ‘rules-based order’ they claim to stand for. In order to comply an immediate ceasefire is necessary. I salute South Africa and the other nations who backed its case and look forward to the ICJ’s final judgment on the merit of the genocide accusation.
It is to the UK’s eternal shame that we were not among those who stood on the side of justice.”
As the International Court for Justice has ruled, South Africa has a plausible case, Israel is now officially on trial for genocide and it’s time for the UK and others to stop arming Israel and call for an immediate ceasefire.
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Ceasefire now: the speech and video you need to read and watch
Jersey peace activist Natalie Strecker’s has turned her powerful speech at last weekend’s pro-Gaza rally into an article that exposes many of the horrors of apartheid Israel and its genocide – accompanied by an original animated video by Italian artist Luca Soci. It is important reading and viewing:
Ceasefire now – a speech by Natalie Strecker (reposted with permission)
7th November, Royal Square Jersey
Thank you for coming here today as people of conscience on our island. We are joining our voices with millions around the world for the sake of humanity at this incredibly dark time in our history.
A time when the rule book appears to have been thrown out the window, when a civilian population, over HALF of which is made up of children, is being pulverised! We have all seen the footage, the evidence: hospitals, convoys of ambulances, schools, universities, refugee camps, beach camps, churches, mosques, bakeries, water tanks, carpet bombed, journalists deliberately targeted, fishing boats burned, and the majority of the Western world and its allies have refused to call for a ceasefire, including our local government here in Jersey. Worse than that, the US, who already funds Israel to the sum of $3.8billion a year, has just agreed another $14.3 billion in military aid…let that sink in! They have no money for healthcare, for the homeless, for the poor, but they always have money for the war machine that feeds on the lives of ordinary people, people just like us! Additionally, reports are suggesting not only that, but that the US, the UK, and others are supplying intelligence and other military support to Israel as it commits its war crimes, making our national government actively complicit!
As we continue down this road, we need to fully appreciate that the international community, including our local government, has failed NOT just the Palestinian people, who after already suffering 8 decades of brutality, ethnic cleansing, occupation and apartheid, are now subject to what has been described, by legal expert and former UN official, Craig Mokhiber, as “a text-book case of genocide”.
Israel Frey, an Israeli journalist who went into hiding after his house was attacked by a mob over expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza last week, recorded a video message that was shared by his friends and colleagues on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/VXhRNEOokM
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) October 19, 2023
The international community has failed Israelis, whose society is being torn apart. Israelis who are being arrested, losing their jobs, receiving death threats and being beaten by violent mobs, because of showing empathy and compassion to the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank, where ethnic cleansing has increased, Israelis who understand and have publicly stated the truth, that this did NOT start on the 7th October, contrary to the narrative the media and our ruling classes have been spinning, and let us not forget that we can be sure now that most of their hostages will likely have suffered the same fate as Palestinian civilians in this bombardment.
Israeli police raided the anti-Zionist Jewish neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem to take down Palestinian flags.
When anti-Zionist Jews resisted, they brutally beat them; knocking them down on the road, hitting, and punching them #Bild #Spiegel #USA #NTV #Israel pic.twitter.com/IlDheJA3m1— Hakan D (@Xxmanxx40D) November 1, 2023
The International Community has also failed us as a global society, the human family, because whether we like it or not, our lives are inextricably linked for good or bad… the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the destruction of the environment around the globe and the violent weather it brings, which we witnessed just last week in our own island demonstrates the truth of this. We are all connected and what we do to others, we do to ourselves, we all need to wake up to this fact!
We need to understand the long reaching implications this has if we do not turn this around, I have argued many, many times of what will happen if we allow international law to become irrelevant, because it allows the establishment of new norms, it may start there in the Middle East, but let us be under no illusions, it will not end there, and it endangers us all!
So, when our Chief Minister issues a letter stated to be on behalf of us islanders, asking not for a ceasefire, but “humanitarian pauses”, let’s be clear what it is that she is asking for… it is punctuated genocide, and we say NOT IN OUR NAME! Israel as the occupying power cannot argue defence, that is a matter of legal fact under International Law, they can hold individuals to account for crimes and they should, but there can be no moral argument for the attempt to erase or forcibly transfer the indigenous population, crimes we had hoped we had left in the 20th Century!
This is a stain on our collective conscience, and we must do everything within our power to stop it!
After the israeli massacre of the hospital in Gaza, this is all this man has left of his son — two plastic bags: rise up world & end this evil genocide pic.twitter.com/beJCOwl6Vd
— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) October 17, 2023
I know how helpless and desperate many of you will be feeling, because I feel it! How your soul and body aches, some of you no doubt are holding your precious children closer each night, grateful that it is not your babies being wrapped in blankets or collected in plastic bags. So, let’s work every moment of every day to say that this stops here, that it must stop right now, not a moment later! That we will not allow the world to continue down this path, which none of us will ultimately benefit from, it debases us as a human collective. It is going to mean that we need to be brave, to recognise that some people because they are ignorant, because they are fearful, or because they hold on to ideologies that they think will keep them safe, may make false claims, but we need to stand firm, to be courageous to raise and unite our voices, otherwise how will we ever be able to look at children again knowing the world that we allowed to be created? We owe them so much more than this.
“We want to live as other children live.”
Palestinian children in Gaza held a press conference outside al-Shifa Hospital to plead with the world to end Israel’s bombardment. Children make up nearly half of the victims killed in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/ex8Zpka9m7— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) November 8, 2023
Never underestimate the power we have as individuals, the impact of our accumulative actions can and will bring change! Take a moment right now to look at each other, look around yourselves, look at who is standing with you today this is what hope looks like! We may only be a small gathering, but each one of us is mighty, we are holding the light in our island and by doing so, we join millions of fellow light bearers around the world. and we will keep shining our light until the darkness is overcome.
So, I will finish with the words of the legend that was Nelson Mandela: “it always seems impossible until its done” So friends, my brother and sisters, let us get on with it!
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