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UK Green motion on Zionism: Why we need to change the conversation (www.middleeasteye.net)
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By equating Zionism with racism, the party has sparked a predictable wave of outrage. But are we debating the right questions?

16 October 2026

At the same time, the discourse around the motion has centred on how people define themselves, rather than on the realities of the racist oppression Palestinians face.

Some within the movement are comfortable with that focus. A year ago, I was asked at a conference whether I agreed that the problem with Zionism was not its impact upon Palestinians, but its essential character as a racist ideology. In response, I paraphrased civil rights leader Kwame Ture (formerly Stokely Carmichael): “If a man wants to lynch me, that’s his problem. If he’s got the power to lynch me, that’s my problem.”

This does not mean that we compromise on our understanding of Zionism and the realities of the oppression of Palestinians. It does mean that we avoid building roadblocks to people becoming part of the mass movement for change.

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[–] 0 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

So a party finally takes a stand, and the reaction is tone policing. I'm sure it would have been a more effective strategy to have instead approved a 300-page, highly nuanced policy analysis.

Any exclusive chauvinist nationalist, colonialist ideology is inherently racist. Zionism concerns itself with a single ethno-religious group, so it meets the first criterion. And its goal has been to colonize Palestine, so it meets the second as well. Even the less murderous forms of zionism differ from the bloodthirsty mainstream largely on the issue of how well or badly to treat the indigenous underclass.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    You're saying "tone policing" to ridicule it, but as a political party that needs to attract the general public to get elected - yeah, policing tone is actually kinda important. Not saying everything should be bland or a 300-page nuanced policy analysis, but you need to bring people with you, not alienate them.

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