Zack Polanski hijacks Labour Conference to win over left wingers
Morning Star Editorial: The Morning Star take on Labour conference 2025
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/morning-star-take-labour-conference-2025
Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers his keynote speech to the Labour Party Conference at the ACC Liverpool, September 30, 2025…
The flag-waving and standing ovations point to a rigged conference — with many delegates “deluded,” as one speaker from the floor at the Morning Star’s packed fringe meeting put it. Labour has become a hostile environment for the left — many socialist MPs stayed away, and the defeats inflicted on the government — such as over Palestine — were down to affiliated unions, not constituency party representatives.
Inside the hall many seemed to think compulsory digital ID cards were a brilliant policy, though it is almost impossible to find anyone who supports it in the real world. On the streets of Liverpool few had anything good to say about the party, and the mood of the protests at the conference gates — both the far right’s sizeable Sunday rally and the demonstrations for worthwhile causes such as opposing cuts to disability benefits — was grimmer and angrier than in previous years. There is real hatred for the government from the right, from the left, and among people who do not consider themselves political.
The disconnect is a product of Starmer’s most consistent political attribute — authoritarianism. Here is a leader who, unable to persuade Labour members to support his march to the right, used suspensions and expulsions to force it on the party, banning constituency parties even from debating contentious issues. Rule by fear has been extended to the country now he is in power — with mass arrests of peaceful demonstrators and a bid to decapitate the peace movement by charging its most prominent leaders. His withdrawal of the Labour whip from MPs who dare to stand up for their principles shows an unprecedented intolerance for dissent.
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Only a small part of the article is quoted https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/morning-star-take-labour-conference-2025
Israeli naval forces board pro-Palestinian flotilla 75 miles from Gaza
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/01/israeli-military-vessels-pro-palestinian-flotilla-gaza
Greta Thunberg arrested and taken into custody after six of the flotilla’s boats were boarded
At least two boats from a pro-Palestinian flotilla have been boarded by Israeli forces roughly 75 miles off the coast of Gaza, as the vessels attempted to breach the maritime blockade of the war-torn territory and bring aid.
Several media outlets reported that other boats were also being intercepted.
The raid began with the flotilla’s leading vessel, Alma, whose crew were detained by Israeli soldiers on Wednesday.
The environmental activist Greta Thunberg was among those onboard the Alma.
In a video message posted on Instagram shortly before the interception, Thunberg said: “My name is Greta Thunberg. I am onboard the ship Alma. We are about to be intercepted by Israel.”
Thunberg, along with other activists on the Alma, was arrested and taken into custody at the Israeli port of Ashdod.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, which consists of more than 40 civilian boats carrying about 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and activists including Thunberg, was heading towards Gaza bringing humanitarian aid despite repeated warnings from Israel to turn back.
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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/01/israeli-military-vessels-pro-palestinian-flotilla-gaza
‘Stunning Reversal’: New York Times Poll Finds US Support for Israel Has Plummeted
Original article by Julia Conley republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
“Though this was utterly unthinkable even five years ago,” said one journalist, “it’s now reflected in poll after poll, and is so entrenched it’s hard to imagine it can be reversed.”
As Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and starvation policy in the exclave nears the beginning of its third year, the assault that has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians has driven US support for Israel “off a cliff,” suggested one commentator in response to a poll released Monday by The New York Times and Siena College.
The survey of 1,313 registered voters found that for the first time since the newspaper and university have polled Americans on their sympathies regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 1998, more respondents said they support Palestinians than Israelis.
Thirty-five percent expressed sympathy with the Palestinian side, while 34% said they support Israelis and 31% said they were unsure or had equal sympathy for both sides.
The poll did not show a majority of respondents backing Palestinians, who have demanded the right to self-determination and an end to Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies since Zionist forces ethnically cleansed hundreds of Palestinian towns and cities, killed 15,000 people, and expelled at least 750,000 Palestinians from their homes in order to establish the Jewish-majority state of Israel in the 1940s.
But the shift in support toward Palestinians was still viewed as seismic among political observers including journalist Krystal Ball, who said the poll showed that “Israel has lost the American people.”
Support for Israel and the United States’ policy of providing the country with more than $300 billion in aid—mostly military aid—since its founding have long appeared unbreakable among lawmakers from both major political parties, and the public has followed suit for decades.
In 2011, a Gallup poll found that US adults were more than four times as likely to express sympathy and support for Israelis than for Palestinians. Between 1988 and 2011, the survey never found more than 20% of Americans siding with Palestinians.
The Times/Siena poll has found similar results, with 47% of respondents telling survey-takers that they supported Israel in the aftermath of the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023 and just 20% expressing sympathy with Palestinians.
In December 2023, only 22% of Americans told the Times and Siena they believed Israel was intentionally killing Palestinian civilians—despite numerous statements by Israeli officials suggesting that their policy was to do so. In the first weeks of the war, then-Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the government as cutting off deliveries of water, food, and fuel to Gaza because Israel was “fighting human animals,” and President Isaac Herzog said Gaza’s population of more than 2 million Palestinians were all “responsible” for the Hamas attack, denying that there were civilians who were “not involved.”
Nearly two years later, Americans have changed their view, with 40% saying Israel is intentionally killing Palestinians. A quarter of respondents said Israel is doing enough to prevent civilian casualties, down from 30% in 2023, and 16% said Israel is unintentionally killing civilians, down from 21%.
The Times reported a “stunning reversal” in public opinion regarding the continuation of US aid to Israel since October 2023. More than half of registered voters now oppose providing Israel with military and economic aid. Opposition was the highest among voters under the age of 44; 62% of those aged 30-44 said the US should stop funding Israel, while 68% of voters aged 18-29 said the same.
Last month, a Quinnipiac University survey showed similar results, with 60% of voters from across the political spectrum saying they opposed more military aid for Israel—the most significant opposition level recorded by the university since it first asked the question in November 2023.
The Times survey displayed “absolutely staggering public opinion polling on Israel’s collapse among young Americans,” said journalist Glenn Greenwald.
“Though this was utterly unthinkable even five years ago,” said Greenwald, “it’s now reflected in poll after poll, and is so entrenched it’s hard to imagine it can be reversed.”
The poll was released as progressive commentator Hasan Piker said in a video posted on social media by Current Affairs that Democratic lawmakers must abandon the idea that supporting Israel is “pragmatic,” pointing out that New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani easily won the primary election in June after being outspoken in his criticism of Israel’s policies in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“It’s not an area that you will be punished for, no matter how fearful you are of corporate donors, no matter how fearful you are of lobbying interests,” said Piker. “The people will back you, as we have seen with the primary victory for Zohran.”
Continuing to support Israel is “not pragmatic,” he added. “It’s actually the opposite of pragmatism.”
Original article by Julia Conley republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Gaza Flotilla Enters ‘Danger Zone’ as Humanitarians Demand West Cut Ties With Israel
Original article by Brad Reed republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
“We are not sailing simply to deliver our cargo, but to pressure our countries to stop arming and funding Israel,” said one flotilla passenger.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, a fleet of dozens of ships heading toward Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, has entered the final stretch of its journey in which it could soon face strikes from the Israeli military.
As described by Middle East Eye, the flotilla on Tuesday ventured into the “danger zone” where organizers are likely to be intercepted by the Israeli military.
Middle East Eye also cited reporting from Reuters that “flight tracking websites showed multiple drones originating from Turkey’s Corlu airbase circling over the flotilla” as it entered the zone.
As the flotilla approached its final destination, many organizers reflected on the journey that they’ve made and the goals they are trying to achieve.
David Adler, the co-general coordinator of Progressive International, linked his Jewish faith to the flotilla’s mission to help end mass starvation in Gaza.
“I believe it is a blessing that we are approaching interception at the onset of Yom Kippur—our annual day of atonement—which calls on us to reflect on our sins, and what can be done to repair them in the spirit of tikkun olam,” he wrote. “How can we atone for what has been committed in our name? How can we seek forgiveness for sins that multiply by the hour, as bombs and bullets rain on Gaza?”
Mandla Mandela, the grandson of former South African President Nelson Mandela who is a passenger on the flotilla, told Democracy Now that he wanted to show Palestinians the same international solidarity that activists once displayed for his country when his grandfather was working to free it from apartheid.
“Those that rallied behind our cause and stood side by side in supporting the anti-apartheid movement ensured that we attained our freedom in our lifetime,” he explained. “This is why today we utilize our voice to support the oppressed and most vulnerable nations across the globe.”
Another flotilla passenger, Irish writer Naoise Dolan, wrote an editorial for The Guardian in which she acknowledged that her ship was unlikely to reach Gaza while emphasizing the importance of showing solidarity in the face of atrocities being committed against the Palestinians.
“We are not sailing simply to deliver our cargo, but to pressure our countries to stop arming and funding Israel,” she argued. “All of our governments—French, Danish, Irish—participate in the genocide through maintaining ties with its perpetrator. We’re not even protesting inaction, but the active sabotage of Palestinian self-determination.”
The flotilla set sail one month ago with the goal of breaking through the Israeli military blockade that has for months prevented aid from reaching Gaza, which has caused a famine in the exclave, and starving to death at least 440 people, including 147 children, so far.
In addition to Adler, Mandela, and Dolan, other passengers on the flotilla include Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, American actress Susan Sarandon, Irish actor Liam Cunningham, Portuguese politician Mariana Mortágua, and former Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau.
Original article by Brad Reed republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
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