As Israel’s war on Gaza rages on, and the death toll rises, the class divide over this burning issue is becoming ever-clearer.
On the one side are the majority of ordinary people – two thirds of Britons – who wish to see an end to the conflict. On the other are the bourgeois politicians busy distracting themselves with debates about the semantics of ‘humanitarian pauses’ and parliamentary procedure.
One-million-strong marches on the streets of central London have barely made a dent when it comes to stopping the government’s support for Netanyahu’s genocidal crimes.
Yet when the capitalists profits are threatened, as with the Houthi’s attacks on Red Sea shipping vessels, then it seems that those in power have the ability to act very decisively indeed!
No wonder then that workers and youth are taking matters into their own hands, and are confronting their elected ‘representatives’ over their failure to act.
Recently, for example, more than 60 protesters surrounded the home of Tory MP Tobias Ellwood for three hours, calling for “an immediate and unconditional ceasefire” in Gaza.
In Chorley, meanwhile, a local council meeting ended in the arrest of a Conservative councillor for verbally assaulting a protester who was chanting for a ceasefire (read more below).
“THIS IS CHORLEY, NOT GAZA”
Tory councillor, Craige Southern, ASSAULTS me when we challenge Chorley council on why they have not passed a motion for ceasefire in Gaza during the horrific genocide.
First Hoyle stops our voice, now this!
Chorley will be heard! pic.twitter.com/JWIKQXoNko— Jenny Hurley (@niffhurley) February 27, 2024
And on the political front, the electorate of Rochdale delivered George Galloway a thumping victory in the constituency’s by-election last week, on the basis of his pro-Palestine platform – in spite of all manner of righteous lecturing from arrogant politicians and the liberal commentariat.
Arsenal of repression
These heightening tensions between working-class voters and capitalist politicians have clearly frightened the establishment.
These respectable ladies and gentlemen can feel their grip on society loosening by the day, as they and their system are increasingly brought into disrepute. They can sense the immense anger towards them from the public. And they are filled with dread at the prospect of losing their positions and privileges.
Luckily, however, Rishi Sunak has come to their rescue.
Last Friday, alarmed by Galloway’s Rochdale win, and by the overt hostility towards out-of-touch MPs, the Prime Minister came out onto the steps of Downing Street to give a hypocritical sermon on the dangers threatening Britain’s “democracy”.
WATCH: Protecting our democracy. pic.twitter.com/75LVLmFmfS
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) March 1, 2024
Speaking to the television cameras, but performing for his party’s rabid ranks, the Tory leader promised to crack down on “extremists” who “hijack protests” or cause a stir on UK campuses, and to revoke visas from migrants who “spew hate”.
These pledges came on top of a new “democratic policing protocol” announced by the PM earlier last week. This gives police greater powers to disperse protests outside MPs’ homes and offices, as well as outside public buildings such as Parliament and town halls, to prevent demonstrators from causing “distress” to the country’s lawmakers and local authorities.
Furthermore, Tory ministers have promised to utilise an ample arsenal of repressive measures – including the government’s ‘anti-radicalisation’ Prevent programme – against those who dare to oppose their reactionary policies.
The government’s adviser on political violence, Blairite John Woodcock, meanwhile, has put forward proposals to ban MPs and councillors from engaging with supposedly “hateful” organisations such as the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Extinction Rebellion, and Just Stop Oil.
If brought in, this would stop left-wing MPs such as Jeremy Corbyn from speaking on the same platform as these activist groups at rallies and events – a major attack on freedom of speech.
The message is loud and clear: the full force of the British state will be used to intimidate and silence anyone looking to fight back against the capitalist warmongers and their system.
‘Mob rule’
In a Number 10 meeting with police chiefs last week, Sunak alleged that “mob rule” has been allowed to reign in place of “democratic rule”.
On this point, we fully agree: there is an unelected, undemocratic mob of ‘extremists’ in charge of the country.
Sunak was not elected by anyone – neither by UK voters, nor by his own party. And he seems content with letting deranged Tory MPs and ministers whip up racism against Muslims and migrants.
If he wants to crackdown on unruly antics, he should look to the Conservative benches, not to the UK’s streets.
And indeed, some reactionary culture warriors in the Tory Party have subsequently protested against their leader’s latest repressive proposals, fearing that such ‘anti-extremism’ measures could one day be turned against them!
The rest of Britain’s political establishment is no better. ‘Sir’ Keir Starmer has broken every pledge he’s ever made since becoming Labour leader. And Speaker of the Commons Lindsay Hoyle is seemingly happy to ride roughshod over democratic tradition in order to give his fellow knight of the realm a helping hand.
Stripping away all this cynicism and hypocrisy, the subtext of Sunak’s recent statements is this: capitalist politicians, acting in the interests of the ruling class, wish to vote through imperialist policies in peace and quiet, without any accountability from the masses – for whom they hold nothing but contempt and disdain.
Rotten police
In a further attempt to placate the headbangers in his own party, Sunak explained that a harsher clampdown on protests is needed in order to “maintain public confidence in the police”.
What the Tory leader failed to mention, however, is that it is not the lack of a ‘tough’ stance on law and order that is undermining public trust in the police, but the fact that this rotten, racist, sexist institution is stuffed full of abusers.
Last week, for example, the Angiolini Inquiry concluded that Sarah Everard’s killer and rapist Wayne Couzens should never have been a police officer, due to his long history of alleged sexual offences.
And Couzens is just one of the many ‘bad apples’ that have emerged with the otherwise ‘exemplary’ British police force.
None of this matters to Sunak and his chums though. Their only concern is that the police fulfil their repressive role: to maintain ‘order’ on behalf of the ruling class; to protect the interests of the capitalists and their representatives.
Sharpening their weapons
The ruling class can feel the volatility and instability in society. And they will use all the repressive instruments of the capitalist state available to them in order to neuter any threat to their system.
The Tories huff and puff about the need to protect ‘British values’ such as ‘liberty’ and ‘democracy’. Yet they have no problem passing a myriad of legislation that restricts basic democratic freedoms, such as the right to protest and the right to strike.
The Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Act, for example, was introduced in 2022 in response to increased protests against the establishment, including demonstrations over the death of Sarah Everard, Black Lives Matter, and the climate crisis.
Adding to this was the Public Order Act of 2023, further beefing up the police’s powers, and lowering the threshold of what can be considered a ‘disruptive’ protest.
And following months and months of intense industrial action, last year, the Tory government brought in new minimum service levels laws to curb the trade unions’ ability to strike.
All of this has clearly emboldened the police, giving them free reign to act as they please against protestors. Activists are now being arrested for the most innocuous offences – including one of our comrades for the ‘crime’ of holding a placard with the slogan ‘intifada until victory’ on a recent Palestine demonstration.
The intention of all this is evident. The ruling class can feel the class struggle intensifying. And they are sharpening their weapons in preparation for war.
Revolutionary struggle
None of these repressive threats will stop workers and youth from making their voices heard, however. The Tories might be tough on protests. But all the while, their vicious policies will continue to propel people into taking action
Further Palestine solidarity marches are planned to go ahead this weekend, for example. And as Aaron Bushnell’s courageous protest shows, those fuming over the nightmare playing out in Gaza will go to desperate lengths to try and stop the slaughter and suffering.
We should take no lectures from establishment politicians about protecting ‘democracy’. What they really mean is ‘democracy’ for the rich; freedom for the bosses.
As Lenin explained: “As long as different classes exist, we can only speak of class democracy.”
It is therefore up to the organised working class to mobilise in defence of democratic rights.
But we must wage this battle on the basis of our own class interests, and with our own class-struggle methods – not by appealing to bourgeois institutions like Parliament, by relying on the capitalist courts, or waiting and hoping for any improvements under a Starmer government.
Instead, this stinking setup must be done away with entirely, and replaced with workers’ democracy and control, as part of the revolutionary transformation of society.
What’s needed is a determined political force that can link all these questions together – from the attacks on the right to protest, to the war in Gaza, to the plethora of issues that the working class faces under capitalism – and connect this to the fight for revolution, in order to sweep away the real criminals: the bosses, the bankers, and their political representatives.
That is the role that the Revolutionary Communist Party will play. And this is what we must urgently build.
Letter from a reader: Chorley council meeting erupts into chaos
Dear comrades,
Local council meetings are not known for their effectiveness nor excitement. At best they can be compared to the humdrum of the shipping forecast.
The councillors of Chorley, Lancashire, however, recently received quite a rude awakening from a local Palestine solidarity group. Instead of discussing finances, or the lack thereof, the council meeting descended into chaos, as one protester, instead of raising the scheduled question on bus shelters and garden waste, spoke up about the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Throughout this speech on the horrors committed by Israel, backed by British imperialism, a Labour councillor proceeded to sing “lalala” to drown out the protester’s comments.
When the protesters asked why no motion on Palestine had been put to the council, a Tory councillor couldn’t take this insubordination anymore, and shouted “because it’s Chorley, not bloody Gaza! Get out, go on!”, before physically pushing the protester out of the room.
Clearly, the pantomime that we have come to expect from Parliament, seen with the recent debacle surrounding the Speaker of the Commons and Chorley MP Sir Lindsay Hoyle, is being imitated by his councillors.
The ‘democracy’ offered by the British establishment has become a farce, unable to represent the interests of the working class in Britain, let alone take action against imperialism abroad. What we need is a workers’ democracy. We must sweep aside this rotten system.
Will Gedling, Lancashire Communists
