‘Labour Friends of Palestine’? - time to reform or step aside

Who on earth are Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East (LFPME), you may ask. And you’d be forgiven for doing so.
In our Labour Party, we have tens of thousands of members for whom international justice, and specifically Palestinian freedom - equal human rights, right to self-determination, right of return, and an end to the illegal blockade and occupation - are matters that are not up for debate, concession or compromise. Many like myself are of a generation politicised by the ongoing injustice against the Palestinians in terms of settler-colonialism, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, much like generations of Labour Party and Trade Union activists were initially driven into political organising through the horrors of South African apartheid not so long ago.
Whilst our party is one whose members and activists have a rich tradition of anti-apartheid campaigning, and for whom aiding the struggle for Palestinian liberation is a non-negotiable clause in any future Labour government programme, there has been one noticeable and recurring cause for concern - frankly speaking, that of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East’s shear inaction, ineptitude and outdatedness.
How is it that, in the context of Israel’s latest round of civilian killing in Gaza, land dispossession and settlement construction in the West Bank, belligerence in Jerusalem, the passing of the racist and widely condemned ‘Nation-State Law’ and the recent escalated attacks on UNRWA, that LFPME has failed to champion and uphold Palestinian voices within and through the Party when the establishment seems to be hell-bent on silencing them? It has failed to argue for the political strategies Palestinian civil society has for so long pleaded for to bring about an end to the injustice they face, it has failed to defend Palestinians and solidarity activists from unprecedented attacks during the IHRA debate - failing to present the case for a resolution that is more holistically anti-racist and yet does not undermine the Palestinian struggle.
When the Party leadership, attempting to take a principled anti-racist stance to protect Palestinian voices and the activism of solidarity campaigners while facing baseless attacks and relentless pressure from outside and in, cannot even count on ‘Labour Friends of Palestine’ to build a viable and uncompromising case for the defence, it is a disaster - a complete and utter failure. Let me be clear, the adoption of the IHRA definition with the widely contested and contradictory examples and guidelines, in complete disregard of statement after statement by Palestinian and BAME groups, human rights organisations and legal experts, is nothing but an abdication by the Party of any role in the Palestinian struggle, and a panic-driven capitulation. We haven’t just put Palestine activism into disrepute, we have betrayed the entire cause, its people and their voices. And my question is, where on earth have LFPME been?
LFPME, when push comes to shove, has continuously outed itself as a tick-box organisation. An organisation that provides its long list of Members of Parliament supporters with international justice credentials and possibly a handy photo in a decrepit West Bank village, if they have time in their busy schedules for one of the annual trips. An organisation without any genuine desire for building or supporting Palestine activism; an activism that is radical and brave in both narrative building and policy feeding, and willing to challenge the status quo in an attempt to help end the horrors and injustice of apartheid, occupation and blockade that Palestinians face on a daily basis.
One thing’s for certain: enough is enough. The Palestinians have suffered for too long, and for all this time we’ve been busy on the back-foot and on the defence as solidarity activists within the Party. What we need is a proactive grassroots campaign - one that is built from branches, CLP’s and councils. Our members need education and reminders of the realities of the injustice the Palestinians face, the profound need to end it, and the methods for that to be achieved. If key figures in LFPME continue to be disdainful towards any idea of change, reform and wider engagement, if MPs signed up as supporters of the organisation hold it back from taking any transformative positions beyond its current mute tokenism, then much like during South African apartheid when CLPs affiliated directly to the Anti-Apartheid Movement - and Labour groups such as Local Authority Resource Unit against Apartheid (LARUA) and Local Authority Action against Apartheid (LAAA) were founded - we members and activists must take the initiative. There are more than enough of us who care, who are capable and who understand that the cause demands urgent action now.
If you are a Labour member, and are interested in organising around Palestine within the Party, then please do fill in this google form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdMhQzAUcHPcS2e2LPbGSSjPG1_uyYv9pCJhn2mi3TB3QmQ_Q/viewform
Mohammed Bux
@bux_m97