A desperate plea to Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana over Your Party

Jeremy and Zarah, I hope you’re reading this, as this message is addressed to you both about Your Party.

For so many years, the left has been utterly lost. Since the Labour Party sabotaged Corbyn’s leadership, shit on all of our hard work, we have been crushed and lost. Then out of nowhere, when so many people had all but given up, Your Party was announced, and all of a sudden, so many of us felt a flicker of hope again. That fire in our bellies which had been stomped out, flared back to life, and over 800k people signed up as the politics of hope was resurrected. It felt like a new dawn was breaking, that a movement for the people could finally be built.

But now, that hope has all but been crushed with public infighting. Please, for the love of the movement, listen to the thousands of people who support you now.

We are begging you to stop this.

Time is a vital factor now; the clock is ticking. A Farage government is looming over Britain, a rise in fascism heralded by flags in our streets, and a massive surge in racist rhetoric.

History will judge this moment harshly. Unity isn’t an option anymore; it’s a fucking necessity, and we need to rise above this internal struggle.

Is this divide in Your Party old guard vs new energy?

Your current struggle mirrors our movement’s deepest conflicts. Your Party reflects two powerful demographics, both of which we need to succeed politically. And right now, we need them to fucking coexist.

Jeremy, you represent our past strengths and victories. When I think of the left in the UK, I think of you and how you awoke so many people, myself included, to the world of politics. You’ve always championed the NHS, working-class solidarity, you’ve stood against racism and championed human rights. You are the older generation’s voice for change and it’s so vital for stability. It gives us historical grounding and this movement owes you so much.

Zarah, you are a political whirlwind. You connect deeply with a new, diverse generation. Your face is all over social media, your speeches encouraging the direct action we so desperately need. You understand how the young feel, how they organise and this is so important for growth. Without it the party will wither away and fail to bring in new activists. The future of the movement, our movement, depends on that energy. You are the future of the left.

Can you not see the party needs both of you? We need the history of you both. We need both of your voices and the strength you bring to truly make this movement work for all. We need the wisdom of experience but also the fire of youth to truly build something effective.

You are both two sides of the same essential coin.

The betrayal of exclusion risks ostracising so many

The recent sniping online isn’t just betraying each other, it is betraying us all. This division is structural, not just personal and it is burning the foundations of this party before we have even built them.

Jeremy, you speak reassuringly of the process, but it has scared so many. Sortition and structuring, people already in place who have not been elected is reminiscent of Labour Party structuring that so many fear. You speak of a party welcoming to all, you pledge to “make sure Your Party gets through” this current mess and you sound optimistic and determined.

Yet when I saw Zarah speak last Saturday at the Durham Your Party launch, she told a completely different and shocking story. She says she has been systematically shut out of the conference.

I have been excluded from the process. I have had nothing to do with the founding documents, I have had nothing to do with the regional assemblies, I have had nothing to do with the conference itself.

Can you not see why so many of us are afraid? Why is one of the key figures of our movement been pushed away? Why are you marginalising the very face of the young left? Why is the one woman spearheading this being ganged up on? Can you see why we cannot claim Your Party is inclusive when it freezes out a voice like Zarah’s? This exclusion undermines any promise of welcome.

The fight for control

The financial dispute involving MOU just seems to highlight a pathetic power struggle from those who are looking in. It looks like this isn’t an administrative technicality, but about who controls our party’s future. It’s all veiled in secrecy, no one is telling us what the fuck is going on.

Zarah stepped up where others failed completely. When the previous directors of MOU Jamie Driscoll, Andrew Feinstein and Beth Winter said the organisation would be liquidated Zarah says she took action. She claims the directorship was offered to all of you, but no one would take it, so to ensure our money did not disappear, she took a massive legal risk alone. She took the fight for the finances.

And what was the response from the independent MPs steering Your Party? They ganged up on her unfairly and released a critical public statement. Five fucking men vs one woman? Just as Zarah is about to go on BBC Question Time? Who fucking allowed that? Rumour is your name was added to it without your permission Jeremy, but can it be clarified? Because this looks like nothing short of public sabotage aimed at undermining her credibility.

The Independent Alliance must answer for this. If you are not above us as you claim, why does it seem we are being told half truths? Why try to sabotage a colleague? To those of us on the outside, looking in, this looks like a power grab. This exclusion must stop immediately. We are ruining this before it’s even begun.

We need clarity on rights within Your Party

The political stakes are too fucking high for this internal ambiguity.

The fascist threat under Nigel Farage is growing. They thrive politically on dividing the working class, we know this. So why the hell are we playing directly into their hands? The delicate issue of trans rights is their most potent weapon, and you just handed them the sword to spear us on. They use it to sow chaos and hatred, and apparently now the left does too. Is it not that none of us are free until we all are?

Zarah has always been crystal clear on this issue, and she speaks so eloquently for all marginalised communities. She stands unequivocally with our trans comrades. She knows that a socialist party cannot be what it claims without standing firmly for everyone.

That is socialism, isn’t it? Or at least that’s what so many of us believe it to be.

Jeremy, your own stance must be clear too. Your historic support for the LGBTQ+ community has helped to shape the rights we enjoy today. You’ve always fought for us and your record is so valued. But you must speak up now on this specific issue. You cannot play the middle man anymore and you must address the trans issue directly and fully. Ambiguity is fueling this fight. It gives dangerous cover to those who want division and you must be an ally to some of the party’s most vulnerable members.

The left cannot allow itself to be pulled backwards now and we must move forward with our main mission. Equality for all people. This includes gender self-identification rights and a failure to be clear is a failure of leadership. It is a surrender of our socialist values.

The vision vs the reality of Your Party

On Sunday, at the Newcastle Your Party launch Jeremy laid out a determined vision for the future. He spoke of ‘getting past debating points we are stuck on,’ and dismissed social media as a bad place.

He said:

We are going to have conference going well… we’re all going to be there, supporting each other.

This is an admirable, strong sentiment, but the words seem meaningless. They are hollow if Zarah is not fully included. Empty if this destructive infighting continues..

The “complicated issues” Corbyn mentioned are not simply administrative hurdles. They are massive political differences and they are about power, control and ideology. They must be resolved through honest discussions and they cannot be solved through exclusion.

If the youth structure issue is so crucial and thinks in terms of immediacy of communication and not delegate structures, as Jeremy stated in his own speech, why are we excluding Zarah? She is that immediacy. She is the social media presence which galvanises that energy. To exclude her is to exclude the youth. Please, fucking stop it.

A final call for unity

Please listen. You both represent two absolute necessary parts of this movement. We need the deep wisdom of you, Jeremy. And we need the unshakeable fire of the youth from you, Zarah. We need you both. We don’t give a shit who is whispering to you behind the scenes, we don’t care who is sniping at who on social media. For the love of the movement, and for the people you claim to champion, please drop this.

We are begging you.

The time for petty, structural disputes is long gone. End the exclusion of Sultana and do us all a favour. Sit down with each other, hash it the fuck out and negotiate. Heal the rift. Unite on a clear, socialist and inclusive platform and unite the movement.

We are on the precipice of fascism. Every one of us is petrified of Farage and all he represents. Please, do not allow him to take power.

Do not allow this to happen because we were too fucking busy fighting each other.

The consequences are too dire to even think about and so many of us are resting our hope on the unification of Your Party.

Featured image via the Canary