Personal insults, misinformation and fearmongering about protesters by some, but the motion for a ceasefire is carried

Yesterday (22.02.24) the Green Party put a motion to Thanet District Council for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The original motion can be read here, and heard on the full recording of the meeting, at 44 minutes in.

The Green Party’s motion was amended by the Labour Party, who insisted on certain changes:

• That the word ‘humanitarian’ be added before ‘ceasefire’.
• Labour’s version called for the hostages held by Hamas be returned, but not the captives held in arbitrary detention by Israel.
• That the words ‘two-state’ be added before ‘solution’.
• That a whole clause asking for an arms embargo be deleted.
• The Green Party motion called for the council submit the motion to the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition, but Labour deleted the requirement for it to go to the Labour leader.

The Green Party motion specifically called for ‘the release of all hostages and all Palestinians held in arbitrary detention’, but that was removed by the Labour amendment. The motion with Labour’s changes was heard and carried.

Many issues arose from the meeting, but I want to focus on the behaviour and comments from two councillors at the meeting last night: Conservative Cllr Reece Pugh and Labour Cllr Kristian Bright.

Cllr Reece Pugh

Tory Cllr Reece Pugh spoke at length, and see-sawed between trying to appear genuinely concerned about the fate of Gazans and trying to land points against the Green Party, for whom he seemed to have a strong dislike. Whilst friendly and deferential towards Labour, he dedicated much of his contribution to denigrating the Green Party, the councillor involved in bringing the motion, and defaming the protesters who had been outside the building prior to the meeting.

Reece Pugh’s words to the council included:

• Insinuations about Cllr Becky Wing’s competence, in a lengthy criticism accusing her of a ‘due lack of care and consideration’. Cllr Becky Wing (Green Party) is the councillor who brought the motion to council.
• A false claim that Cllr Becky Wing and/or the Green Party was “pressured or pushed” into the motion by a local protest group, rather than taking steps of their own volition (it is Green Party policy to support an immediate ceasefire).
• A spurious ahistorical claim that “this war has been going on for decades and it is not something Israel started.” This implies blamelessness on Israel’s part, which flies in the face of historical facts. Israel’s extreme violence in 1948, the Nakba, the massacres at Sabra and Shatila, occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, and decades of oppression and apartheid are all swept away in this shameful comment.
• The claim, presented as fact, that Hamas “beheaded babies in their car seats”. This is controversial because no evidence was ever provided that any babies were beheaded, and although the allegation was widely circulated at the time, it is now largely viewed to be a false claim. Israeli officials declined to confirm it, and after Joe Biden repeated it, the White House acknowledged it had seen no independent corroboration of it. It is inflammatory and irresponsible to repeat this claim which has been used again and again to justify mass slaughter (and plausibly genocide) of Palestinians. Pugh was using it to justify Israel’s violence.
• An amendment to the Green Party motion that required a new Palestinian government to be installed, among other changes. His motion failed.
• Comments demonising protesters for standing with Palestinians. His accusations against the protesters included “shouting with a megaphone”, “waving Palestinian flags but not Israeli flags”* and “chanting from the river to the sea’”. He said “the fact that they are now sitting in this chamber” is “actually disgraceful”.

Cllr Kristian Bright

Labour councillor Kristian Bright began his contribution by saying “I’m a local councillor, I don’t come here to talk about foreign affairs”. He made it clear he saw no point in the motion being discussed or voted on. He did forcefully, and with derision, criticise the wording of the motion and call out Becky Wing as being responsible for this, despite her having told the council that she is dyslexic. He went on to issue what sounded like a warning to the members of the public seated in the gallery:

“Any member who wishes to vote against or abstain … should feel safe to do so. I will be voting against any calls for a recorded vote, and would remind all those present tonight – all those present tonight [repeated with emphasis] – that democracy matters, and that coercive compassion is no compassion at all.“

Again, a councillor appeared to be suggesting that councillors are being made to feel ‘unsafe’, or are being ‘coerced’. This is similar to Reece Pugh, who refers to ‘intimidation’ of councillors. He is also against the vote being recorded, meaning that the voting public should not know how each councillor voted on this matter.

The tendency by some in politics to conveniently misconstrue being held to account as automatically unfair and abusive is something we need to be very wary of.

While genuine threats and intimidation are unacceptable, it has been a recent trend for many politicians to cover their shame or deflect attention by claiming to have been subjected to abuse and threats, when in reality what they were facing was reasonable challenges and pointed questions that they were unwilling to answer. In addition, vague insinuations of intimidation or coercion without any specific incidents being outlined serve to create fear and cast the public and/or protest groups as guilty without allowing them the chance to defend themselves, and without any specific allegations being detailed.

What is far more likely to affect Tory and Labour councillors’ voting choices are the whips in their own parties. The whipping process is more akin to what most of us would call a threat than anything coming from impassioned and noisy, but peaceful protesters.

To Cllr Kristian Bright I would say, yes, democracy does matter, and it is not served by concealing votes from the public. Also, the tendency by many in politics to conveniently misconstrue being held to account as automatically unfair and abusive is something we need to be very wary of.

An email has been sent to Kristian Bright asking if any threats were made to Thanet councillors in regard to this vote, and if the police were involved.

Bright’s career is in advertising, and he currently works for Mediacom on a team dedicated to one client – Coca Cola. Coca Cola are currently a target for Israel-related boycotts for doing business in illegal Israeli settlements.

Contrasting approaches

*Pugh’s odd assertion that flying the flag of ‘only one side’ is indicative of something evil (but unspecified) was echoed by another Tory councillor, Matthew Scott. Have neither of these two councillors looked up when entering the council buildings, and seen the Ukrainian flag flying there for almost two years? Siding with the weaker partner in a conflict, the wronged party, the oppressed and not the oppressor, is not questioned when it comes to Ukraine.

A few councillors outside the Green Party showed themselves capable of acting compassionately and without prioritising party interests. Cllr Emma Dawson (Conservative) said “I agree with this motion for an immediate ceasefire… some argue this motion won’t change a thing… but I see this as a call for humanity, by humanity”. Comments from Cllr Raushan Ara (Labour) will resonate with many: “Gaza is becoming a graveyard … I watch the news every night and wake up in the morning thinking what will happen today? It mentally affects me, so imagine the torture, the trauma felt by people living in Palestine, and how they are going to live the rest of their lives.”

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A full recording of the meeting can be viewed here.

The motion that passed last night will be made available on TDC’s website when the minutes of the meeting are available.

Thanet District Council currently has 6 Green, 30 Labour, 3 Thanet Independents (ex-UKIP) and 16 Conservative councillors.

EDIT: Cllr Reece Pugh did not reply to my email, but Cllr Bright did. Our conversation can be viewed here.