Green Party votes for ‘Zionism is racism’ motion

Members of the Green Party of England and Wales have voted to brand Zionism a racist ideology following a heated debate at the party’s autumn conference in Brighton. The motion was carried with a relatively narrow margin – 1,022 votes in favour and 813 votes against. That’s 55 per cent of votes in favour, and 45 per cent against.

The motion begins with a definition of Zionism: “a political ideology which called for the creation – and, now it exists, the continuity – of an ethnonationalist Jewish State in historic Palestine to the exclusion and/or domination of the non-Jewish population.”

It then continues by arguing: “The real, material manifestation of Zionism has been the historic and ongoing dehumanisation, displacement, dispossession, disenfranchisement and destruction of Palestinians. This is based upon European settler-colonial systems of domination and oppression, which has also created racial hierarchies between Jews of different ethnicities in Palestine.”

Alongside this, the motion commits the Green Party to supporting a ‘one-state solution’. The motion will see the Greens support: “the establishment of a single democratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital, equal rights for all, and the right of return for Palestinians and their descendants.”

In advance of the conference, the motion’s proposer Lubna Speitan told LFF: “This motion is merely a means of identifying the root cause of the problem, which is the racist ideology of Zionism – a settler colonial ideology – and its practice, which is resulting now in our erasure. Under Israel, Palestinians do not have rights. There is no such thing as equal rights under Israel’s boot. What we are asking for is for our mere basic human rights to be acknowledged.”

The motion has been highly contentious within the Green Party. In advance of the motion being debated, three Green MPs released public statements seeking to stop it from passing.

The party’s leadership were divided on the motion, with deputy leader Mothin Ali supporting it, but the party’s other deputy leader Rachel Millward, alongside leader Zack Polanski publicly calling for the motion to be amended in order to protect Jewish members from facing disciplinary action for being members of synagogues that are affiliated to Zionist denominations and to remove the commitment to a one-state solution.

The main amendment to remove the commitment to a one-state solution was rejected with 742 votes against and 695 in favour of those attending the conference either in person or remotely. However, the amendment went to a ‘card vote’ which means that members who aren’t able to attend conference and have given their proxy vote to another member who is able to attend are also able to participate in the vote. On the card vote, there were 920 votes against, and 821 in favour.

The amendment designed to explicitly state that the motion would be used to to take disciplinary action for membership of Jewish organisations that describe themselves as Zionist was defeated by 1,026 votes to 684 on a card vote. That amendment sought to add text into the motion which read: “This motion shall not be used to pressure, proscribe or discipline members based on affiliation with Jewish community institutions, such as synagogues, community centres or denominational groups, that describe themselves as Zionist or used to discipline or sanction Jewish members for expressing views that would be non sanctionable if expressed by non Jewish members such as (such as support for a binational state, or two state solution).”

Opponents of the amendment argued that it was unnecessary, as the motion did not relate to disciplinary processes, and therefore could not be used to discipline members.

Green Party MP Ellie Chowns – who is the party’s foreign affairs spokesperson in the House of Commons – spoke against the motion in the debate, as did the anti-Brexit campaigner Femi Oluwole and the former Green Party MP Caroline Lucas.

Mothin Ali was the most high profile person within the party to speak in favour of the motion.

Speaking following the motion passing, a Green Party spokesperson said: “This has been a serious and deeply felt debate within our membership. Our members value the ability to bring forward and decide party policy, and conference has now made its decision.

“The Green Party is an anti-racist party and has consistently opposed the illegal occupation of both Palestinian and Syrian land, called for an end to arms sales to the Israeli government and spoken out fearlessly about the devastating situation in Gaza and the West Bank. Those positions remain central to our approach. So too does our deeply held commitment to equality, justice and human rights for all and opposition to racism in all its forms.”

Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward