Resistance is Fertile

Liverpool Resistance Street! Make some noise! 

Lets have a cheer if you are a Trade Union member.

Cheer if you support Justice for the 97 and don't buy the Scum.

Cheer if you support Black Lives Matter.

And cheer if you don’t want another war based on oil and gas.

And most of all, make some noise for creatives. For the people write songs, make music, post blogs, make videos, write poetry or make us laugh. We love you! You keep us going. Thank you, all our creatives! 

All of us, we are the resistance!

And the resistance is fertile! 

Resistance is everywhere!

Resistance is on our streets, in our classrooms, in our workplaces, in our homes and in our hearts and in our minds. 

Resistance is every time we:

• say Yes We Can

• say something to challenge bullying

• when we show love and solidarity without borders

• every time we speak up for justice

• every time we refuse to do the dirty work for the establishment

• and we refuse to fight in the establishment wars

• and every single time we vote for a better future

Who here supported the Labour Party while Jeremy Corbyn was leader? 

Yes, millions of us. Thank you Jeremy. Thank you for mobilising us For The Many, Not the Few. 

We all went mass trespassing up to the mountain top. We saw that Another World was Possible. And no-one, no-one can take that away from us. 

And we are still devastated that we did not win the last General Election. We were betrayed by Tories within the Labour Party.  

We are heartbroken by what the Labour Party has become. Divisive, racist and dead as a vehicle for social justice. Labour Councils are voting for cuts to frontline services, when they don’t have to. 

A year ago, I was honoured to be re-elected to represent Bromborough on the Wirral, by over 60% of voters. I’m still a local councillor.  

But meanwhile, the Labour Party had turned to crap and thousands of members were pushed out. 

Then I was like “Oooooooh!    Sssssssshugar!    What the fffffffffeck have I got myself into?”

The Labour Party suspended me twice, smeared me in the media, investigated me a dozen times, told us to shut up - for speaking about the racism that Jews like me face. I won every case. 

And then the Labour Party changed the Rules, applied them retrospectively, expelled me for something I did [three years ago] when the rules said it was perfectly fine to do it. That was 5 months ago and I still wake up every day saying ‘Hooray! I’m out of that hostile environment.’ 

It’s a kind of creeping fascism to say ‘no you can’t debate antisemitism or racism. No you can’t discuss what’s going on in front of your face, in your Party, in your communities. We have to have the freedom to express ourselves, to talk, to debate. That’s how we make progress.

We’ve been waiting 18 months now for Jeremy Corbyn to start a new political party. 

Or we are waiting for Unite or Unison to decide that they’re not going to carry on paying money to the Labour Party. I’ve come to realise this isn’t going to happen anytime soon. 

Because while we wait, people are suffering from a corporate greed crisis. COP 26 shows our planet can’t wait any more. Every community has at least one honest person who can mobilise people for good. But its very difficult to stand for election as an Independent or to stand without backing from an election machine.

Personally, I looked again at the Green Party. Wirral Green Party councillors voted to save Bromborough library and other local services - and they treat people fairly. We share a commitment to social and environmental justice. The Green Party is not perfect. But it supports boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel’s human rights abuses. 

I joined the Green Party one month ago, and its going very well. 

I realised, our past may be Red, but our future is Green! 

I’d like to thank the fantastic organisers of Resistance Street - for bringing together people from different political parties and none. 

I’d like to end with a poem.

Another Merseyside Is Possible

Where arms are for hugging and fairs are for fun rides. 

Where we invest our pensions for good, no war planes in our skies. 

We can have: 

• Public services for everybody,

• Workers paid the Real Living wage,

• Warm homes, good schools,

• Decent jobs, and swimming pools,

• Adult care, clean air,

• Refugees welcome here.

• We can have a publicly delivered National Health Service.

We need to keep resisting, keep going, keep voting for it and let’s get rid of the Tories.

Resistance is fertile!