Jewish Voice for Labour
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Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) is a network for Jewish members of the Labour Party that was launched on Monday 25 September 2017 at Labour's conference in Brighton.[1][2]
Statement of Principles
JVL's political priorities are universal human rights and dignity; justice for all; freedom of expression; and democracy in the Labour Party.
Our mission is to contribute to making the Labour Party an open, democratic and inclusive party, encouraging all ethnic groups and cultures to join and participate freely. As such we aim to strengthen the party in its opposition to all forms of racism including antisemitism, broadening the party’s appeal to all sections of British society. We take inspiration from the long history of Jewish involvement in the socialist and trade-union movements and in antiracist and antifascist struggles, including the anti-apartheid and civil-rights movements.
We stand for rights and justice for Jewish people everywhere, and against wrongs and injustice to Palestinians and other oppressed people anywhere. We uphold the right of supporters of justice for Palestinians to engage in solidarity activities, such as Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. We oppose attempts to widen the definition of antisemitism beyond its meaning of hostility towards or discrimination against Jews as Jews.
At a time of profound divisions in Jewish communities, JVL offers a space to explore and debate the many questions (personal, social, cultural, political) that are important to us as progressive Labour Jews.
We will work where appropriate with existing groups involved with issues of common concern from an internationalist and anti-racist perspective.[3]
Inaugural meeting
In the evening there was a large, overflowing meeting of the new Jewish Voice for Labour, writes activist Tony Greenstein. I have been a critic of the organisation in terms of its reluctance to openly embrace an openly Palestinian stance and the "Right of Return", as well as opposition to the witch hunt but there is no doubt that they had organised a very successful meeting. But as Graham Bash of Labour Briefing put it, it was a historic meeting in terms of the Labour Party. I would estimate over 300 people attended the meeting.
There were a number of speakers including Sir Stephen Sedley, the former Court of Appeal Judge, who is himself Jewish, Avi Shlaim, the Israeli Professor of International Relations at Oxford University and a renowned historian, David Rosenberg of the Jewish Socialist Group and Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi again with Jenny Manson chairing the meeting.
I thought Sedley and Avi Shlaim were somewhat disappointing and Avi Shlaim’s suggestion that Zionism was both a settler colonial movement and a movement of Jewish national liberation was bizarre. Sedley’s speech was disappointing given his excellent article on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition on anti-Semitism in London Review of Books. Rosenberg’s speech was solid and factual harking back to the days of the Bund in Poland when there was a socialist working class Jewish organisation which was anti-Zionist. His point that the essence of being Jewish was to oppose oppression was well taken.
Union affiliation
A number of us including Stephen Marks and myself spoke from the floor. Ken Loach came to the meeting and was immediately co-opted onto the platform where he made an impromptu speech. Ken has been a long standing supporter of Palestine and produced the play "Perdition", which dealt with the collaboration of the Zionists with the Nazis in Hungary a quarter of a century ago. What was most remarkable about the meeting was not only the consensus among people that the anti-Semitism witch hunt and smearing of people by Zionists in the Labour Party had to stop but the attendance of two union leaders, Len McCluskey of UNITE and Tosh MacDonald of ASLEF. Both union leaders spoke and both promised to recommend to their unions that they affiliate to the JVL. This is quite remarkable as this means recognition by a significant section of the labour movement that they are no longer prepared to put up with the snide smearing attacks by the Zionists on ordinary members of the Labour Party as ‘anti-Semitic’ for having the temerity to support the Palestinians.[4]