James Ivens, London Socialist Party
Who stands for us?
The three-quarters of us who oppose the massacre in Gaza. The two-thirds of us more worried about our household finances than a year ago.
The Tories back the Israeli state’s onslaughts – but so does Labour. The Tories refuse to restore funding for wages, homes and public services – but so does Labour. In this general election year, who stands for us?
A global movement is crying out in horror against the Israeli state’s onslaught on Palestinians. The power of mass action shone through when the outgoing Tory prime minister, ‘Sinking Sunak’, had no choice but to sack hated home secretary Suella Braverman.
The anti-war movement’s furious calls have even reached the ears of the International Court of Justice in the Hague. Its judges felt obliged to admit there is reason to consider whether this could be a genocide. Millions whose voices are cut out from the mass media and establishment politics will have felt vindicated.
But what now? The Hague previously ordered Russia’s government to stop military action in Ukraine without delay. Nothing happened.
And it can’t even muster a call on Israel’s government for a meaningful ceasefire – just like the Tories and Keir Starmer’s Labour. Even ITN’s footage of a Palestinian civilian shot dead while flying the white flag couldn’t get condemnation out of ‘Slippery Starmer’.
Starmer’s “case-by-case” support for Tory collaboration with US air strikes on Yemen has accepted every case so far. The atrocity in Gaza risks spiralling into a regional inferno – yet when the warmongering capitalists say ‘jump’, Sir Keir asks: ‘in this case, how high?’
Polls show the Tories on a collision course with 13 years of stored-up anger at austerity, inflation and war. None of us can wait to see the back of them. But Starmer’s Labour wants to carry it all on! If none of them stand for the working-class majority, we have to stand up for ourselves.
In the mass Gaza protests and months of strikes we’ve seen some of the power of working-class struggle. Imagine the extra pressure if the anti-war movement and strike wave put up a challenge at the ballot box too.
The working class needs a new, mass party of its own. A workers’ list of candidates in the general election would be a big step towards it. Let’s not leave it to the warmongers: help us stand candidates against war and the cost-of-living crisis.
