Join us at the March and Rally for Palestine on Saturday 4th November

National March and Rally

Saturday 4 November 2017

Justice Now: Make it right for Palestine

#Balfour100

Assemble 12noon Grosvenor Square W1K 6LF London

For the past 100 years Palestinian rights have been disregarded. As we approach the centenary of the Balfour Declaration – on the 2nd November – which built the path for their dispossession, we are demanding justice and equal rights for Palestinians now.

Join us on Saturday 4 November to make it right for Palestine!

Speakers at the rally will include:

Dr Mustafa Barghouti / Ken Loach / Andy Slaughter MP / Mick Whelan  General Secretary ASLEF / Gail Cartmail TUC /  Matt Wrack   General Secretary FBU /  Margaret McKee  President Unison /  John Pilger  / Senator Paul Gavan Sinn Fein / Leanne Mohamad / Hugh Lanning PSC / Asad Rehman, War on Want / Reem Kelani / Philipa Harvey NEU-NUT Section / Daoud Abdalah BMI / Ajmal Masrour Imam & broadcaster / Prof Manuel Hassassian / Tariq Ali / Salma Yacoub / Dave Randall /  Hawiyya Dance Company / John Nicolson SNP – And many more to be announced.

Organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB), Friends of Al Aqsa (FOA), Stop the War Coalition (STW), Muslim Association of Britain (MAB).
Supported by Unite the Union, UNISON, National Education Union- NUT Section, GMB, ASLEF, RMT, FBU, UCU, PCS, CWU, Europal Forum, CND, Pax Christi, APCUK, Kairos UK, Friends of Sabeel UK, ICAHD UK, Amos Trust, APCUK.

 

Make it right for Palestine - November 4th

Balfour 100 years on - video commentaries

Monday's Brent and Harrow PSC/Brent Stop the War meeting on '100 Years on from Balfour - What now for Palestine and Israel?' was well attended and provoked a lively discussion. The meeting, attended by people from several political parties and none, voted to send a message of solidarity to Moshe Machover, recently expelled from the Labour Party.

For those who missed the meeting we post a video below of one of the speakers, Bernard Regan, speaking at a similar meeting on Balfour.  Bernard is the author of  The Balfour Declaration : Empire, the Mandate and Resistance in Palestine

Beneath this we post a film on Balfour  made by Independent Jewish Voices.

--> 100 Years After Balfour is a new talking heads film made by Independent Jewish Voices. The film spells out the troubling legacy of the Balfour Declaration, challenging the notion that this year’s centenary is cause for celebration, given the grave consequences of the document for Palestinians above all.

The film goes on to explain how the decisions of the British government in 1917 are linked to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, its fifty year occupation of the West Bank since 1967, and today’s political gridlock. 100 Years After Balfour features seven experts and activists: Professor Avi Shlaim, Professor Jacqueline Rose, Rabbi Howard Cooper, Professor Brian Klug, Antony Lerman, Barnaby Raine and Miri Weingarten.

Jewish Socialists’ Group statement in support of Dr Moshe Machover

Statement on the Jewish Socialists' Group website:

Dr Moshe Machover – a lifelong Israeli socialist, anti-racist and anti-imperialist, who has lived in Britain since 1968 – has been expelled from the Labour Party.

Dr Moshe Machover – a lifelong Israeli socialist, anti-racist and anti-imperialist, who has lived in Britain since 1968 – has been expelled from the Labour Party accused of writing “an apparently antisemitic article” and accused of “involvement and support for” two organisations, the Labour Party Marxists and the Communist Party of Great Britain.

The accusation regarding the “antisemitic” article references the controversial, flawed definition of antisemitism, which the JSG and many others on the left have challenged: http://www.jewishsocialist.org.uk/news/item/fight-antisemitism-and-defend-free-speech

Moshe Machover has been a friend of the Jewish Socialists’ Group for more than 30 years. He has spoken at JSG meetings, written for Jewish Socialist magazine, and participated in campaigns for social justice with us. We know him as an outstanding and sophisticated thinker and analyst, a fighter for human rights and social justice, and a consistent opponent of all reactionary ideologies and actions.

The JSG is not affiliated to the Labour Party but we have strongly criticised the right wing-led campaign to smear left wing activists as antisemites http://www.jewishsocialist.org.uk/news/item/statement-on-labours-problem-with-antisemitism-from-the-jewish-socialists-g

The Labour Party has a duty to take action against genuine examples of antisemitism and other forms of racism and bigotry. In line with the Chakrabarti Inquiry, however, we:

• favour education rather than heavy-handed disciplinary measures
• expect transparent, fair and just process with regard to complaints against members
• support Shami Chakrabarti’s desire to encourage respectful free speech within the Party.

The JSG chooses to support individuals suspended or expelled from the party on a case by case basis. In this case we fully support Moshe Machover and call for his expulsion to be rescinded and for his immediate reinstatement as a member of the Labour Party.

The JSG recognises the article by Moshe Machover, that has been cited, as a critique of the political ideology of Zionism, not of Jews. Indeed the article exposes antisemitic ideas.

The JSG rejects any McCarthyite-style attempt to expel members for alleged “involvement and support for” other left groups on the basis of writing articles and attending and participating in meetings. It is common practice for Labour members of all levels to speak and participate in events of other groups, and have articles published, representing their individual viewpoints, in a range of publications.

Solidarity with Moshe Machover!

100 years on from Balfour: What now for Palestine and Israel?

100 years on from Balfour: What now for Palestine and Israel?

Joint Brent Stop the War/Brent Palestine Solidarity Campaign Public Meeting

                                       Monday, October 9^th  7.30pm

Brent Mencap, 379-381 Willesden High Rd, London NW10 2JR

Bernard Regan  (author of The Balfour Declaration: Empire, Mandate and Resistance in Palestine’& Executive member of Palestine Solidarity Campaign)

Sahbi Benzid  (Hertfordshire NUT Membership Secretary and a recent visitor to Palestine)

A hundred years after its signing, Bernard Regan recasts the history of the Balfour Declaration as one of the major events in the story of the Middle East, which have polarised the region and the entire world. How can we help bring peace and justice to Palestine?

Israel is the only country in the world that systematically prosecutes children in military courts – between 500 and 700 each year.

Sahbi Benzid will report back on his recent visit, during which he visited several schools in Palestine and saw first-hand the effects of Israeli policies.

http://www.brentpsc.blogspot.co.uk/

brent2harrowpsc@outlook.com

Brent Mencap:  https://brentmencap.org.uk/about-us/how-to-find-us