Now -read the book!

Here is a link to my memoirs which, if you are a glutton for punishment, you can purchase online at https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/an-obscure-footnote-in-trade-union-history.
Men fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name. (William Morris - A Dream of John Ball)

Thursday, June 07, 2007

UNISON supports the Palestinians

DM Andy made a very fair point in a comment on an earlier post. UNISON’s position of support for the Palestinian people will be reaffirmed through support from the NEC for Motion 53 – which is timetabled for debate on the Wednesday afternoon of UNISON Conference. This motion demands concerted and sustained pressure upon Israel including an economic, cultural, academic and sporting boycott, in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The Enough! Coalition, of which UNISON is a member, is organising a national demonstration and rally in opposition to forty years of Israeli occupation of Palestine on Saturday 9 June in London. Meet at Lincoln's inn Fields at 1.30pm for the march to Trafalgar Square. I hope to be able to get along.

Since both motions 53 and 54 have been prioritised why has the possibility of a composite not been considered?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry but that motion is an absolute disgrace. Prentis needs to get a grip on the left in UNISON. This sort of thing wouldn't have happened when Bickerstaffe was in charge.

Boycotts are silly. The way towards peace is working together and negociation.

The reason Israel's apartheid wall has to stay up is because terrorists are murdering innocent civilians chucking rockets around.

Anonymous said...

But surely the way to get through this is by the palestinians working in solidarity with the Israeli TU movement?

Anyway enjoy conference.

Anonymous said...

I think Prentis' idea of getting a grip on the left is to hold their coglionis and squeeze hard! The Wall is the equivalent of the beginnings of the Warsaw ghetto. Petty, nasty and destined to destroy Palestinians and their communities and whatever rights they have left. Yes -there are activists in Israel/palestine who oppose the Wall and the Nazification ( and don't tell me it isn't - I lost family in Nazi Occupation and camps)of Israel -but they need support.

Cameron said...

"Much better, a positive labour movement campaign of solidarity with the Palestinians, with the Israeli peace movement, and with workers on both sides"

Very neat, but how will that work exactly?

We have to take action in the here and now in defence of the Palestinian people and make a principled stand against Israeli state agression. Hence I would argue in favour of motions 53 and 54.