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Resigned Haringey councillor claims she is “too Labour” for Labour

A meeting was held last week to discuss how the local community can support the Palestinian cause, reports Olivia Opara

A local trades union held a public meeting to discuss what more can be done locally and nationally to better support Palestinians in Gaza.

On Wednesday, 25th October, the Haringey Trades Union Council hosted a public meeting to discuss other ways in which trade unions, community groups and individuals can show support for Palestinian civilians in Gaza and urge the government to “call for an immediate cease fire”. The meeting came following the local protest against David Lammy MP for his stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict last Friday. 

In attendance was Cllr Lotte Collett, who resigned from the Labour party over its stance on Palestine. Cllr Collett spoke about her decision to resign as a “matter of personal conscience”, her family’s history of “exercising [their] solidarity with the Palestinians” and how she is “too Labour” for the Labour party. 

Cllr Collett said: “We are the voices calling for peace, for reconciliation, for the return of the occupied territories and the right for all Palestinians to return to their land.

“I am not a career politician, just a person who gives a damn and had rather hoped that I could do something for my community. I resigned from the Labour whip because I was prepared to stand up and be counted. I will not have my name associated with those who are complicit with the atrocities that we are seeing unfold in Gaza. 

“I felt gagged as a Labour councillor – the script was written for me. We were requested not to appear at pro-Palestine demonstrations, well that’s not me. To be silent is to be complicit.”

Cllr Collett was joined by her daughter, Buffy Collett Bell, a student activist who was involved in the direct action against the Runcorn weapons factory in 2021.

During the meeting there was an emphasis on local and national trade unions to call on their members to stand in “solidarity of the Palestinian people” and to respond to the Palestinian trade union’s ‘call to action’. On 16th October, the Palestinian trade unions issued a global call to action to “stop arming Israel” and asked trade unions around the world to refuse to build and transport weapons for Israel.

Speaking at the meeting, Marc Lancaster, assistant secretary of the Haringey Trades Union Council, said: “Let us push our own trade unions to answer the call of the Palestinian trade unions. [However], whilst we look to trade unions for leadership, it is important for us to demand for a cease fire. 

“What we are seeing in Palestine is what we, as trade unions, are fighting against.”

Calls for more community groups, trade unions and movements to collectively find “common thread” and work together as campaigners were made during the meeting with one attendee calling for pro-Palestine campaigners to “be clear” on their politics and to stop “being too respectable”.

Ceren Sagir, from Day-Mer community centre which hosted the meeting, said: “Here in Britain, we are facing a lot of attacks on our expression and how [the government is] criminalising those who are pro-Palestine. 

“[They] are trying to cause rifts between people. We also do not have an opposition party that we can rely on.It is very worrying to see what is happening here in Tottenham where people are divided.”


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