LAW, IHRA and Me

Some of you might be interested in hearing how I fared with Labour Against the Witch-hunt (LAW)  on Saturday 1st Dec. My main motion, seeking support for our petition, fell. Nobody supported it. Read all about it here. I was upset, but am used to losing motions.

On the plus side, my second motion, proposing a model anti-IHRA motion that any CLP or union branch can use, which you can view at www.tinyurl.com/unionihra was passed without challenge. It has now been put on the LAW website - see it here

This is a mechanism for anyone and everyone to get involved. If you want to help stir grassroots support for getting rid of the pernicious IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, please use the model motion and add your CLP or union branch’s name where suggested. You’ll need to find someone to second your motion, but once you’ve done so, submit it to the Chairperson and Secretary of your CLP/union branch and try and gain support from others who will attend in advance of the meeting. That will really help - this is a complex, emotive subject that leaves most people stratching their heads.

The unions that have signed up to the IHRA definition are the GMB, Unison, Unite and USDAW and if you are a member of one of these, you can really make a difference. If your motion gets passed, please send a copy of it to me at postmaster@roseburn32.plus.com and I’ll publish when a branch/CLP has adopted it- in these updates.

Sewage Sunday

On the 2nd Dec, the event at the TUC did not draw the hordes I’d expected; there were but 5 of us. I decided to make a virtue of this; we filmed the event, but were hampered by technical challenges (in my excitement to get the event rolling, I forgot to shake the can of artificial shit before hitting the plunger – the result was an enormous fart that nobody could see, as the gas in the (only) canister I’d brought shot down the long pipe I’d constructed and out the front doors of the school). Eventually I managed to partly salvage the situation, but even though I’d had a dry run at home which led to numerous technical improvements (I’m one of B&Q’s best customers) it just shows how hard it is to get by without a special effects team.  I have prepared a script and will cut a 10- minute film together over the next few days. Thanks to Gerry, Paul, Patricia and Georgie for their help on the day.

Issa Amro

What was amazing was that I was able to get a statement from Issa Amro which I read out at the event. Issa is a Palestinian activist based in Hebron who features on the flip side of my promotional flyers. My friend in Sefton had arranged for Issa to come to Labour Conference to address a fringe meeting with Israeli campaigner Miko Peled on how best to secure peace in the Middle East. The double act of these two remarkable men of peace was ruined because Israel did not let leave Issa leave the country, knowing the purpose of his trip to the UK. Thus are the Palestinians kept prisoners in their own land.

Issa faces problems of his own – he has been the victim of trumped-up charges for his human rights work and will have his final prosecution hearing on the 17th December. The trial takes place in a military court (all Palestinians in the occupied territory are tried in military, rather than civil courts). I am trying to get Amnesty to resurrect Issa’s “Urgent Action” file – read it here. In the next week I would like to call upon you to write a letter to help secure his freedom from prosecution.

GMB News

On Saturday 8th Dec we had the chance to try out the model motion  at www.tinyurl.com/unionihra where we substituted in the words “Edinburgh & Lothian GMB Branch”. The motion was lodged by my GMB chums Kev and Gary who had also asked for all charges to be dropped against me. I was very nervous going into the GMB meeting on Saturday; I had a motion on whistleblowing in the NHS to present as well – and I fully expected both to be booted into touch. Remember, I am entering a meeting in a GMB building with other Branch workplace reps from other public authorities, most of whom I don't know; I alone have been suspended as a rep, but was entitled to attend as an ordinary GMB member. In the event, both the IHRA and the whistleblowing motions had been copied and distributed in advance of the meeting (these were the only motions) so there was no refusal to allow debate. The big problem was that neither sponsor Kev nor Gary made it to the meeting; both had pressing domestic issues to attend to.

The full-time GMB Regional Officer present at the meeting suggested to the Chair that the IHRA motion be withdrawn because neither the Proposer nor the Seconder were present. Everyone present understood that I featured in the motion and I suggesed that the bit about me be excised and that I might then propose the motion afresh. That suggestion fell on deaf ears. A proposal was then put to the meeting by the Officer that the motion be withdrawn and most of those present (there were 10 of us) concurred. I was upset, but I am used to losing motions (see above!). The next Branch meeting is not till March..

On the plus side, the NHS whistleblowing motion was waved through with no debate and that one will hopefully go to GMB National conference in Brighton in June 2019. If it’s adopted and becomes GMB Policy, it will have significant ramifications – the GMB would be the only union in the UK working in the health sector advocating better whistleblowing arrangements in the NHS. That should get them a few new members. It all relates to the Parliamentary Petition I lodged in April 2016 – see it at PE01605: Whistleblowing in the NHS - a safer way to report mismanagement and bullying

So you win some, you lose some.

The date for my GMB hearing has been postponed from last Thursday, but I think it will be held before Xmas. I need legal advice and have gone on this Pro-Bono website to find a solicitor and barrister. Tony Greenstein (Vice-chair of LAW and the socialist, anti-Zionist and anti-racist who writes this excellent blog) has been most helpful.

To read previous updates, look below and click left.

Best wishes

Pete Gregson, Edinburgh