As the Green Party seem to be gaining in popularity many people have taken a look at the parties policies and in the past some people have questioned if the parties more high-profile members are really practicing what they preach. Today though neither of those things really concerns me, instead I want to ask those that support the green party or are thinking of joining the party a question. I’ve already asked this question of the Green supporters amongst my friends and not really got much of an answer. The question I have is are you comfortable with the Green Parties really quite shoddy track record on anti-Semitism?
Now if you’re like my friends you may not be aware that there was anything to be concerned about on that front, even though you’ve obviously researched the party and it’s policies thoroughly before deciding to support them. That’s ok it hasn’t got much press coverage and was news to me as well – after all it’s not really the sort of thing they’re going to want to advertise. I would suggest you do your own research, Google “Green party antisemitism” as a start. To save you a bit of time here’s a few things you’re going to come across (but do check for yourself):
- Pippa Bartolotti holding the flag of the Syrian neo-Nazi group, the SSNP at a demo
It has been claimed she was unaware of what it was, but if you’re a senior politician it might be considered prudent to check what a flag is before waving it around - On the same trip she made some rather “impolite” comments about the Jewish ambassador to Israel
- Caroline Lucas seems to be a rather keen supporter of Hamas
- Ex senior members have talked about the problem when resigning from the party
- Other members have also resigned over the problem
Finally to apply what appears to be the standard test for most radical parties these days – given that they have a long list of Responsibilities & Rights covering racism and all sorts of other things why do they need a seperate policy tackling anti-Semitism explicitly? I believe the received wisdom is that a political party only needs such explicit statements if they have a problem.
So I ask again if you currently support the Green party or are thinking of doing so – what’s your take on the apparent anti-Semitism within the party? Is it a non-issue? Are you happy with what the party leaders have done? Are the policies they support so important that the problem of antisemitism doesn’t matter?
