Some meetings give you hope that things really could get better.  Last Saturday, 24th January, saw the launch of the Hackney Community Alliance, which will contest the upcoming council and mayoral elections in Hackney. Around one hundred activists turned out for an afternoon meeting. This was not the usual top-down rally with an endless platform of worthy speakers. There was plenty of time for a small-group discussion and feedback on what should be the key issues for the new coalition.

A Turkish meal followed, allowing people to continue the discussion in a convivial atmosphere.  An adjacent space allowed political groups and campaigns to display their publications, campaigning material,s and merchandise. No need to get hassled by five different groups of paper sellers on entry and exit. 

Both politically and organisationally, I think it is a potential model of what we should be doing to provide an eco-socialist alternative to this Labour government. A government that is failing to challenge inequality, that is complicit in Israel’s genocide, and is trampling on our democratic rights.

Jordan Rivera, a Unison activist and occupational therapist from Homerton hospital, kicked off the event with a speech explaining that Labour is a long way from resolving the NHS crisis.  Cutbacks over the decades have meant the NHS is operating at 100% capacity. The ratio of hospital beds to population is one of the worst in Europe. I saw this problem personally when my daughter gave birth a year ago and was discharged on the same day, despite not feeling too great.

Jordan explained how people could win if they fought back against wage and service cuts.  Workers at Homerton Hospital had made some gains after balloting and forcing management to retreat.

Other local issues directly affecting Jordan were the closure of local primary schools due to the fall in demand, mainly caused by the cost of housing forcing young families out of the borough. As a mother of two children, Jordan asked why we could not better use this spare capacity rather than just close the facilities.  The rise in racism and the failure of the local council to divest funds from the genocidal Israeli regime were two other reasons Jordan gave for working with the new coalition.

Jordan Rivera

You can read an interview Jordan recently gave to the BBC here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgqenw54p1xo

Hackney Independent Socialist Collective (HISC)

For many years, the local Greens have provided a progressive alternative to the Labour Council, which controls a big majority of the seats.  They already operated along the political lines now represented by Zack Polanski’s new left leadership.  The three sitting Green councillors have consistently opposed council cuts and are playing a leading role in local Palestine solidarity.

Labour’s complicity in the Gaza genocide and general dumping of any of Corbyn’s progressive agenda pushed three Labour councillors to resign from Labour and continue as independent socialists.  All three have played an exemplary role in making Palestine a big issue in local politics. A focus has been on trying to get the Council to remove its funds from investments connected to the Israeli apartheid regime and to end the twinning link with Haifa.

The HISC is now registered as a political party with individual membership. Clearly, the huge teething problems besetting the Corbyn/Sultana Your Party have pushed the group in this direction.  Locally, there is significant overlap among Your Party members, the HISC, and the Community Alliance.

At the meeting, Penny Wrout, a HISC councillor, was enthusiastic about the new grouping. Its watchwords were collaborative, consensual, and ground up. As she said, grand visions are okay, but we also need to show our neighbours that we are relevant.

She remarked how you can achieve some gains even in opposition. A party that has always been in power can get very complacent. For example, the landlord licensing scheme had been part of the local Labour Party manifesto but had been cast aside. Under pressure from the HISC there were pushed into implementing it. This scheme not only helps protect tenants but also provides resources for council services. HISC councillors also got the council to take measures to welcome migrants, to review the negative learning environment at Mossbourne Academy, and to reduce stall fees at Ridley Road market.   

If socialists manage to win seats against Labour, you need to show you can be effective fighters for local people’s needs, not just have nice ideas on paper. Alan Gibbons, a Your Party leader and councillor in Liverpool, organises regular litter picks in his area.

An Inclusive coalition

Alongside the HISC and Greens, we also heard from Taylan Sahbaz of the Turkish and Kurdish Electoral Alliance, who will have candidates on the slate as well. He spoke about how communities are being let down. Labour is selling out to property developers rather than building social housing. Migrant groups, communities, and trade unions need to stand together; we need connected care, not hate.

A very positive feature of the Community Alliance electoral alliance is that all the local left political groups are supporting it.  There is a debate between HISC and, particularly, the Socialist Party (but to some degree the Socialist Workers Party) about whether you have a line of total opposition to all cuts.  The HISC group argues that a ‘purist’ position inevitably leads to administrative takeover, possible legal action, and defeat. A response from the left is to say you have to rely on militant action from local trades unions and the community to defend a complete no-cuts position. Clearly, more debate is needed on this issue.

Key issues

During the small group discussion in the afternoon, several key themes emerged:

• The alliance is not just an electoral movement, but is a movement campaigning in the communities and local trade unions
• Housing is a massive concern for residents and particularly young people – the council should be looking at radical measures like rent controls, ending the right to buy, and taking over spaces for the homeless
• A real left council has to have a totally transparent and honest way of relating to local residents – no more fake consultations where the questions are framed in only one direction, no more endlessly queuing to get an answer from the administration
• School closure to end, and a new democratic schools forum to be set up
• A left council needs to be a campaigning council working with others to force changes in government policy
• Accessibility for all – you cannot even build the movement if disabled people cannot access meetings and places
• Disinvest from Israel and end the link with Haifa

A model?

Zoe Garbett, the Green candidate for Mayor of Hackney, wound up the meeting.  She emphasized that we needed a different way of doing politics partially shown by today’s launch. Zoe was hopeful that the campaigns and movements on Palestine and the two-child benefits show that Labour can be put on the back foot. We need to push back on Labour’s retreat on environmental issues, such as caving in to building developers on green regulations.

Let’s be honest, the debacle over the establishment of Your Party has been demoralising. We left this meeting with a little more hope. A democratic, inclusive political organisation is key. Working constructively with Green activists based not on endless denunciation of what happened with Brighton council, but on what people are concretely doing here on the ground.  Yes, we are not silent when a Green Council lets working people down, or when a future coalition with Labour does the same.

The Lions Rugby team that won a tour down in South Africa had a slogan: “Get your retaliation in first.” Sometimes you get the impression that some people on the left want to get their denunciation of leadership betrayal long before it ever happens. Potential future villainy is invoked to prevent useful joint work now. We need to win the argument inside Your Party about the central importance of the green question and for a non-sectarian attitude to working with the Greens.

We also reject simplistic definitions of the Green Party as ‘middle class’. It is certainly not true in sociological terms today, as recent surveys have shown. For certain demographics (18-34), the Greens have a higher percentage of ‘routine’ workers in membership than the Labour Party. The Labour Party has only a 2% lead among the 34-49 group (see YouGov Dec 25/Jan 26). The continued influx of new members will surely continue this trend.

Labour nationally is rightly worried about the May election results in Hackney. The Hackney Community Alliance could serve as a template to be repeated and developed elsewhere.

More information on Hackney Greens: https://www.hackneygreens.org.uk/

More information on Hackney Independent Socialist Collective: https://hisg.uk/

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