The Green Party is facing further divisions within its ranks over the leadership’s handling of the fallout from its ‘zionism is racism’ conference motion, reports BritPanorama.
Senior members of the party, including former leader Caroline Lucas, have expressed criticism of the motion, while leader Zack Polanski stated he would not have voted for it had he been present.
As tensions rise, calls for senior party members to apologise for comments made following the vote have intensified.
Hamza Egal, convenor of the Greens’ racism policy working group, addressed the party’s CEO and Mr Polanski in a letter, warning that the leadership has “badly misjudged the membership” of the party.
He emphasised that the leadership “owes members an apology,” stating, “Disagreement is part of democracy. Treating members as political suspects is not. We are not peasants waiting for an audience with political superiors.”
The letter specifically challenges the assertion that the party has been “infiltrated” by pro-Palestine members. It references comments made by Ellie Chowns, who indicated her desire to protect the party from being “vulnerable to capture by extremists and racists,” and Caroline Lucas, who suggested there had been “entryism” from activists who joined solely to support the motion.
“The leadership owes members an apology,” the letter states. “Members who exercised their democratic rights, Palestinian, Muslim and Global Majority members above all, have been cast as entryists and extremists in the national press by people who hold positions of trust in this Party.”
Notably, the letter argues that an apology would not resolve the disagreement over the motion, but would signify that disagreement should not be interpreted as disloyalty, and that racialised members are not suspects within their own party.
In response to Mr Polanski’s suggestion that he could grant more power to leaders to shape party direction post-vote, Mr Egal insisted, “A leadership that failed to resolve a known dispute, publicly criticised the result and now seeks more authority should expect serious resistance.”
The letter continues: “Disagreement is part of democracy. Treating members as political suspects is not. We are not peasants waiting for an audience with political superiors. We are here to free ourselves from the establishment, not to fight for a seat at its table.”
“Our members are not infiltrators. They are the Green Party. And anyone who believes the future of this Party can be decided over their heads has badly misunderstood its membership.”
Amid this internal conflict, Mr Polanski maintained that the Green Party’s motion declaring zionism as racism “isn’t controversial,” committing to not attempt any amendments until 2028.
His leadership has faced both internal and external scrutiny after the party’s conference in Brighton overwhelmingly supported the motion, with approximately 1,000 members voting in favour and around 800 against, despite Mr Polanski’s pre-vote call for amendments that were rejected.
The Green Party has yet to respond to inquiries from The Independent regarding this matter.
