Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham Must Stop Obstructing Solidarity with the Palestinians
Lobby Unite’s National Executive Monday March 11th @ 12.00 p.m
Unite House, 128 Theobalds Road, London WC1X 8TN (nearest tube Holborn)
On Monday at 12.00 p.m Unite members will lobby Unite’s Executive Committee in solidarity with those experiencing genocide in Gaza and for an end to the obstruction of General Secretary Sharon Graham.
Unite has perhaps the best policy of any trade union on Palestine. Yet you would have to go to the United Left website to find it. It is nowhere to be seen on Unite’s own website.
On 16 October Unite put out a statement which
‘unreservedly condemned and expressed its revulsion at the recent appalling acts of violence by Hamas against innocent civilians in Israel’
But it could only ‘deplore the subsequent suffering and loss of life being endured by civilians in Gaza.’
The difference in tone between ‘revulsion’ at the loss of Israeli compared to ‘deploring’ the loss of Palestinian lives was no accident. Clearly Palestinian lives don’t matter.
Large numbers of injured people are brought into Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after an Israeli attack on the courtyard of al-Ahli Arab Hospital. [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
This despite 2,750 Palestinians having been killed by October 16, the day when Israel bombed Al Ahli hospital killing a further 500 Palestinians.
Since then Israel has bombed every single hospital and health facility in Gaza, murdering patients and doctors alike.
On November 3rd after considerable pressure from activists including an online petition Unite issued a second statement which this time called for an immediate ceasefire. The statement was however pitiably weak calling on ‘all parties to respect international law’ as if the Palestinians experiencing genocide were equally culpable as the murderers. Nowhere did the statement mention genocide.
Nor did the statement mention the fact that Israel had imposed a Nazi style food, water and fuel blockade on the Gaza strip resulting in starvation according to the United Nations.
A letter on December 19 to Sharon Graham said:
You have done nothing to publicise all the previous national demonstrations.Are you going to ignore the one on January 13 too? There has been no national Unite presence on the marches to date.
In fact it subsequently turned out that Graham had actually prevented the national Unite banner being taken on demonstrations. The letter demanded that Graham
publicise all future demonstration, that you provide the resources necessary for Unite members to attend, that Unite nationally is present on the march together with its banner and that Unite has a speaker at the rally.
Jim Kelly, Chair of London & Eastern Region Unite Speaking to a Palestine Trade union Rally
Not only were none of these things done but according to Jim Kelly, Chair of London and Eastern Region, Graham’s representatives had ‘advised’ Peter Kavanagh, the Regional Secretary, not to speak at a Palestine solidarity demonstration. Kelly described how activists on Palestine had had to work in ‘an environment of silence and obstruction’ by union officials, in particular Graham.
Kelly described how Graham had attempted to suppress attempts to mobilise solidarity in support of the Palestinians. He described an ‘expectation that employees will not speak alongside other General Secretaries’ at demonstrations.
Unite has had no national presence at the London demonstrations calling for an End to Genocide and solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. Nor has Unite done anything to publicise thee demonstrations.
Kelly highlighted the activity of Unite branches despite Graham’s attempts to stop solidarity. He mentioned St Mungo’s and Doctors in Unite in particular. Kelly highlighted Graham’s ‘excellent’ speech at the trade union rally in Cheltenham against the government’s anti-union laws but pointed out that fighting racism and international solidarity were equally important for socialists.
Since October 7 over 30,000 Palestinians have been murdered in Gaza including at least 13,000 children. Over 70,000 have been injured. Hospitals, ambulances, homes have been bombed in an attempt to ethnically cleanse Gaza. Israeli Ministers such as Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu have openly called for the annihilation of Palestinians suggesting dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza as well as wiping out the month of Ramadan.
There is a database of 500 genocidal statements by Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Netanyahu who called on soldiers to ‘remember Amalek’ the mythical biblical tribe whose extermination god ordered.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the Gauleiter of the West Bank, has described 2 million Palestinians in the West Bank as Nazis. This is a recipe for extermination. This was after calling for the Palestinian town of Huwara to be ‘wiped out’.
The description of poor, homeless and starving Palestinians as ‘Nazis’ by those in full combat gear armed to the teeth shows not only a complete disconnect from reality but a fascist mentality.
Sharon Graham and the National Executive have openly ignored Unite policy in support of the Palestinians which states that
‘The time has now come to stop the Israeli ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people and for Unite to take a lead in taking bolder steps like those that were taken against the South African apartheid regime.’
Unite should have been trying to persuade Unite workers not to handle arms shipments to Israel. When it came to Ukraine Graham gave her full support to dockers refusing to unload Russian oil. The Guardian quoted Graham as saying that Essar, the owner of the Stanlow oil refinery
may believe that it is justifiable to transport Russian oil under a flag of convenience but Unite does not. Unite urges the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, to close this loophole immediately.
This comes on top of Graham’s banning of the film ‘Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie’ which showed how anti-Semitism had been weaponised in the Labour Party against Jeremy Corbyn.
Former South-East Regional Secretary Sarah Carpenter, who banned Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie from Unite premises in Portsmouth with a series of lies, has just been appointed Graham’s new Chief of Staff.
Carpenter got off to a flying start when she threatened Peter Cavanagh, the union’s London regional secretary, with the loss of a discretionary pension bonus if he did not pull back from his support for Palestinians in Gaza.
Carpenter, according to Skwawkbox was appointed by Graham without the position being advertised and without the approval of Unite’s elected executive. See new Unite chief of staff ‘threatens London sec with loss of pension bonus’ for Gaza support
We demand that the National Executive instructs Graham to actively work for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, that she be present with the national banner on future demonstrations, that she should speak at them and above all that she should stop obstructing the work of others.
At a time when Israel is massacring Palestinians waiting for the delivery of food and executing prisoners and torturing captives it is outrageous that our General Secretary, by her silence and obstruction, is effectively giving support to the genocidal war mongers in Tel Aviv.
Unite and its predecessor union have a proud record of giving support to the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa. We expect it to do the same against Apartheid in Israel.
The Shameful Support of the Left Sects for Sharon Graham’s Refusal to Support the Palestinians
All the ‘revolutionary’ left sects – from the SWP to the Socialist Party – even Counterfire – are making excuses for Sharon Graham, complaining it’s not her but the United Left on the Executive that is blocking her. This is clearly and obviously not true. It is Graham and Graham alone who has taken the decision not to have a National Unite presence on the demonstrations.
I have to confess I was surprised by the reaction on a Unite Palestine Discussion group by the opposition of Counterfire’s Richard Allday, a member of Unite’s National Executive, to the lobby. I accused him of being a member of the SWP until he corrected me. Supporters of the SWP had also made it clear on the group that they didn’t support the lobby.
Because of her limited support for strikes, on a wholly non-political basis, whilst at the same time supporting Starmer against the left, the left sects have given their unqualified support to Sharon Graham’s racism, British nationalism and support for imperialism. Karl Marx, who supported the Fenians and the Irish struggle for liberation, would turn in his grave if he saw who it was who were claiming to act in his name today. As Marx once said:
‘a nation that oppresses another nation cannot itself be free’
karl marx
