Tom Watson and Hilary Benn have taken advantage of Trump’s missile attack on Syria’s Shayrat airbase to launch their own attack on Jeremy Corbyn. This is the latest salvo in their war of attrition which they intend to wage until they finally remove him as the Leader of the Labour Party.
Tom Watson, Deputy Leader and not entitled to make up policy, got in first and told the Birmingham Mail: “These US strikes appear to be a direct and proportionate response to a clear violation of international law by the Syrian regime.” Hilary Benn, chair of the Commons’ Brexit committee and former shadow foreign secretary, said: “Let’s hope Syria will now think twice before deciding to gas its own people again.” He was backed up by Angela Eagle who added that the attack was, “… morally justifiable in response to a crime against humanity and compliant with our Responsibility to Protect.”
Not to be outdone, John Woodcock, chair of the PLP backbench defence committee, tried to out-patriot the Tories by adding, “It is disappointing that the UK government sat on its hands until the US acted, 24 hours ago, Theresa May was insisting no one was contemplating a military response.”
Their immediate target, of course, was Corbyn who, correctly, refused to support the US attack, but in the longer term their purpose was to display their credentials as reliable potential members of a British government who can be depended upon to do whatever the western imperialist powers, led by the US, require.
Neither the US nor Russia, nor any of the regional powers like Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, Turkey or Iran, have the interest of the Syrian people anywhere on their agenda. Each is prepared to prolong the war until their actual strategic aims; dominance of the region, causing their rivals maximum damage and crushing independent revolutionary forces, have been achieved. That is why they intervened in the Syrian conflict in the first place.
Ken Livingstone
The decision by Labour’s National Constitutional Committee, NCC, to suspend Ken Livingstone for a further year for “bringing the party into disrepute” is a victory for the Labour right and the Zionist movement.
It is a victory for the right, who have cynically manufactured claims of antisemitism against leftwing party members in order to undermine Jeremy Corbyn and to sow division amongst his supporters.
It is a victory for the Zionists in the Jewish Labour Movement, and outside the party, who claim a monopoly on the definition of antisemitism, seek to speak on behalf of all Jewish people, and wish to ensure that Labour never again elects a leader with a principled record of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Despite the fact that the NCC did not find Ken Livingstone guilty of antisemitism, the Labour right and Zionists called for his case to be referred to the National Executive Committee (NEC). This proves they are not concerned with challenging antisemitism, but are conducting a witch-hunt in which expulsion is used to claim a high profile scalp and legitimise the Zionists’ attempt to equate criticism of Israel or Zionism with antisemitism.
The attack on Livingstone is an attack on the members’ right to free speech, it is an attack on the Palestinian solidarity movement, it is an attack on anti-Zionist Jews who are undifferentiated from the “British Jewish population”. It trivialises and undermines genuine struggles against antisemitism and, despite his shameful capitulation, it is an attack on Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and the millions of workers who look to the party to provide a genuine alternative to Tory austerity.
For all these reasons we oppose Ken Livingstone’s suspension, we defend the right to criticise Israel and Zionism, and we urge all socialists and left wing groups in Labour to reject this witch-hunt and step up the struggle to kick out the right wing and fight for socialist policies.
Article 50 triggered
Theresa May has triggered Article 50, starting the process of the UK leaving the European Union. With a few exceptions the Labour Party voted for Article 50, which will make it more difficult for them to lead the opposition once the negative consequences of Brexit become clear.
This issue of Red Flag features extensive coverage of the Brexit process, political developments in Europe and makes a contribution to the debate on the left and in the labour movement about creating a radical alternative resistance.