I Stand in Blackburn

Former Ambassador, Human Rights Activist

I shall be standing for election to Parliament as the member for Blackburn. This unexpected turn of events requires an honest declaration.

1) I am standing because of the Genocide in Gaza
2) I am standing because of the appalling pro-Genocide stance of the Labour Party and Keir Starmer’s continued support of arms exports to Israel
3) I am standing because the Blackburn Independent Councillors and the Workers’ Party invited me to.

The political class, including both the Labour and Tory parties, has continued to offer wholehearted support for Israel. the Tories are a lost cause, irrelevant in Blackburn and I will not waste words upon them. The Labour Party is led by Keir Starmer, a man who has declared himself an unqualified zionist, is a member of Labour Friends of Israel, who refused to oppose Israel’s blockade of food and water to Gaza, refuses to acknowledge any war crimes committed by Israel, let alone the ongoing genocide, and strongly supports the continued sale of arms to Israel.

40% of Labour’s shadow cabinet, at least, are financed by the zionist lobby.

Starmer has also expelled more Jews from the Labour Party than every previous Labour leader combined – under the excuse of “anti-semitism”, but in reality because they are Jews who honestly oppose the murderous ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the schemes of the apartheid state of Israel.

The people of Blackburn. like all voters in the UK, deserve the chance to vote for a candidate who actually opposes the genocide. The Independent Councillors in Blackburn, who have resigned from the Labour Party over the issue, have chosen me to be that candidate. I have accepted.

Following George Galloway’s victory in nearby Rochdale under the banner of the Workers’ Party, I have also accepted the support of that party. I expect to fight the seat as a party candidate.

While Gaza motivated me to stand, it is by a long way not the only issue on which the voters of Blackburn deserve an alternative choice.

The Labour Party has abandoned working people. Last weekend Keir Starmer said Labour would increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP – a 25% increase. Yet the Labour Party has stated it will be bound by Tory fiscal rules and austerity, and there is no money for education or health and other public services.

The Labour Party has stated it will be harsher than the Tories on welfare payments and on immigration controls. Wes Streeting is itching to privatise the Health Service – and he and his frontbench colleagues are sponsored to do so. Plans to renationalise water and other public utilities have been abandoned. Starmer’s party is a Tory Party.

There is a vast disparity in wealth in society which is growing incredibly fast. The 1,000 wealthiest people in the UK are now worth an average of £750 million each, a figure which has doubled in under a decade. Yet we have millions of children living below the poverty line.

This does not happen by accident, nor is it a factor of a free market. It is the product of a system of law and regulation designed to produce this unnatural outcome. It can only be countered by fundamental reform of laws around the formation and ownership of capital. For that reason, I am happy to ally with the Workers’ Party, which recognises this truth.

The people of Blackburn deserve the opportunity to vote for fundamental social and economic change.

I am standing as part of a wider movement in England which is seeking to challenge the two party conservative duopoly. This alliance is coming together and will embrace Independent candidates and candidates from other small parties. Informal organisation is developing. I expect the Workers’ Party to have a slate of hundreds of candidates, while Andrew Feinstein spoke alongside me in Blackburn on Saturday and will be challenging Keir Starmer directly in the election. Jeremy Corbyn will romp back into parliament in Islington North.

In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the nationalist parties have been much better on the Gaza genocide, reflecting the experience of those peoples of ethnic cleansing and occupation. They are also notably more socialist than Labour. I need to explain to you, and particularly to my many Scottish readers, why I am not standing in Scotland.

Firstly, it is important to make clear my support for Scottish Independence is undiminished (which I sincerely believe would be good for the people of England too, including Blackburn, in allowing a modern country to emerge from the trappings of Imperial decay).
Secondly, I talked it over with Alex Salmond before I accepted to stand in Blackburn. I have not left the Alba Party. Alex and I mutually agreed that at this election it would be better for me not to stand for Alba in Scotland, as that would give the unionist press an opportunity to continue to muck-rake over the lawfare to which we had been subjected.
Thirdly, George Galloway has declared that he no longer will participate in the Independence debate in Scotland.

I have also seen it reported that the Workers’ Party will not stand candidates in Scotland. That will need to be worked through, but at the minimum I expect we can reach an agreement they will not stand anywhere against the Alba Party, which would render my own position impossible. As Alba is only planning to stand in up to 16 consitutencies this should not be difficult. Working relationships between the two parties in the Commons are amicable, and all of this will be resolved in the next few weeks.

Finally, I would say that the events of the last 48 hours have confirmed my decision. Israel’s murderous destruction of Iran’s Damascus consulate, crashing the Vienna Convention, was condemned by neither Labour nor Tories. George Galloway is the only MP to have even mentioned it in the House of Commons, one clear indication of why I am not just content but proud to stand besides George. Iran’s demonstration attack in response – which killed nobody – appears to have restored the shaken confidence in the entire political class in proclaiming their zionist credentials. They hope we have all now forgotten the genocide.

We shall prove them wrong.

From mid-May I shall be relocating my home to Blackburn. Three short visits to the UK seem to have confirmed there is no longer any current intention by the state to arrest me for my support for the Palestinians’ legal right to armed resistance as an occupied people.

I am going to need help – leafleting, canvassing, manning offices and the many myriad tasks of an election campaign. I am also (I am sorry) going yet again to call on readers of this blog to fund the campaign. I am buoyed by the solid start we have in support across all communities in Blackburn. There will be no shortage of space for volunteers to sleep. So start to look in your diaries. We are going to give Starner a roasting, we are going to take on the zionist monopoly of power, and it is going to be great fun!

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