Episode notes
Right, so finally the Greens have gone and done it. Sound the alarm, hide the children, and brace yourself for the tabloid conniption fits, because we all know they’re coming, but so bit it. Bring it on.
Zionism is Racism has been passed at Green party Autumn Conference with a majority of 209 votes; 1,022 to 813. Ten votes spoilt. Three amendments that would have weakened the resolution or wrapped it in cotton wool were rejected; the only amendment accepted was the one needed to remove the party's former, incompatible stance on the two-state solution.
So this is the way things stand now. The Greens are now officially anti-Zionist. The first major Western political party to be explicitly anti-Zionist. Zionism very much has its own special place in the world of racisms. Now the Green party has taken a lead on this, so that now their right of entry is withdrawn at the door.
Now as a Green Party member, I sat through this morning's debate and this afternoons and took part in the votes throughout; it was very emotional, sometimes thoughtful, at times frustratingly bureaucratic.
Amongst the debate there were real fears that demanded a real answer and then, of course, there were the usual warnings: lawyers, newspapers, elections, and when that did utterly fail, the old "If you go to a synagogue, better start packing" routine.
Members heard the lot.
They passed it anyway and decisively.
So lets pick the days events apart, because no doubt fearmongering is currently taking over in the usual circles of the Spectator, the Torygraph and those reaching for the tissues around Jonathan Freedland’s desk at the Guardian.