Sexism/other issues in the Green party England & Wales - Discussion Thread 2

[fromorbit]

Zack Polanski is making things bigger again.

We need a new thread to discuss all his antics and the ongoing situation in the Green party which is getting more ever more bizarre. While it is getting ever strident in denying biology it also has Mothin Ali as deputy Leader who clearly doesn't believe in trans thinking, but cleverly sidesteps round talking about it.

The fight back from Green Women's Declaration,(https://www.greenwomensdeclaration.uk/ ) continues and the court cases against GPEW from Emma Bateman and Shahrar Ali are developing.

In Bristol the Women of Wessex are causing panic amongst the ruling Green council just by turning up and asking questions. This may result in another court case.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5455053-bristol-council-is-about-to-be-sued

With local elections in May and elections in Wales incoming lots more to discuss and call out.

First thread - where you can follow the rise of Hypno Boobs:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5328986-greens-internal-drama-warms-up

Note the Scottish Greens which are a separate party to the Green Party England/Wales have their own thread for all their drama. They split off because GPEW didn't hate biology enough at the time.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5313420-scottish-greens-being-sexist-again?page=1

Greens’ ‘Zionism is racism’ vote descends into chaos
Members of Zack Polanski’s party fail to make decision on proposal classifying Jewish self-determination
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/03/28/greens-to-vote-on-zionism-is-racism-motion-polanski/

Voting on the controversial “Zionism is Racism” motion has been delayed after the Green Party spring conference descended into chaos.

Technical failures, a row over misgendering, and six votes of no confidence in the party officials chairing the online event caused significant delays to the conference, leaving dozens of motions undebated and not subject to voting.

The highly contested “Zionism is Racism” motion – which could still pass at a future Green Party conference – was due to be voted on just days after the anti-Semitic firebombing of four Jewish ambulances, in an attack feared to be Iran-backed.

Among other things, the motion would have formally defined Zionism – the Jewish right to self-determination – as a “racist ideology”.

It also called for the abolition of the state of Israel and the establishment of a “single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital”.

Those who proposed it further backed “the right of the Palestinian people to resistance and liberation from Israeli occupation, domination and subjugation” including by “armed struggle”.

Zack Polanski, the leader of the Greens, and Mothim Ali, the deputy leader, were not present for the vote. The pair were otherwise engaged in central London at the Together Alliance march, protesting against the far-Right.

'Those who proposed it further backed “the right of the Palestinian people to resistance and liberation from Israeli occupation, domination and subjugation” including by “armed struggle”.'

😶

U wot M8? 🤔

Kind of dumb. Even if he was reacting to stuff about his family.

We have had a lot of Jewish political leaders obviously Disraeli one of the most successful PMs of all time, which any British Jew should know but also Ed Miliband, & Michael Howard.

Obviously though being a Jew or any background doesn't stop other people in your party being prejudiced. As people have been posting gleefully the motion reads like something the BNP was posting in the 70s or any right wing conspiracy type. The guys ranting about the conference sound absolutely rabid.

I think there is a good chance Zack secretly was endorsing those trying to block the motion. There were a lot of senior Greens involved apparently. Only he doesn't have the guts to say he was involved. He conveniently was away from conference.

Anyway the whole thing makes the Greens look bad. One one hand they have a lot of crazy anti Semites then on the other the opposition is having to resort to procedural tricks to block them.

Zack and Hannah Spencer didn't seem to have been at the online conference yesterday but were basking in the adulation at the anti racism Together Alliance march yesterday. It's remit was to fight anti migrant and anti islam and anti trans prejudice

nitter.net/ZackPolanski/status/2037966108930523410#m

There were some Jewish groups there but it didn't have anti semitism as a specific bad to protest against from the promotion that the union I'm familiar with were doing

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but the Together Alliance is yet another wheeze of the SWP. The group itself may be small, discredited and too unpopular to do anything in its own name, but for some reason all it has to do is say "hey, let's have a march against the nebulously defined far right", and the unions will bung it the necessary money, and lots of Labour and Green politicians and gormless celebrities will lend their names to it. This is pretty much the group's funding model nowadays.

It's not difficult to figure this out if the national secretary of the SWP is on stage with Zack and Hannah, even if he's described with false modesty as "Lewis from Stand Up To Racism".

I wonder if anyone will ask them about this, or if it will just be glossed over like the association with 5 Pillocks.

In some ways it feels like kabuki theatre. Almost everyone on the right assumes Tommy Robinson is some kind of state asset - there have been too many incidents where he marches his followers to the top of the hill, things kick off, lots of them get arrested, and nobody knows where Tommy is until he pops up in Ibiza a few days later. And the Trots have been heavily infiltrated at a high level for decades, as we've seen from the Spycops inquiry.

There's a whole "extremism and counter-extremism" business in Britain that looks suspiciously like that Spider-Man meme.

You can see Polanski's greatest hits playing out in real time.
His acting training theatrics.
His hypnotherapy comms techniques.
His LD activist energy.
And now his righteous ignominious "I may be a Jew, but I'm NO Zionist!" Omnicause positioning.

Also, Hope Not Hate just got a million quid donation from the National Lottery. This is the same HNH which has recently expanded its definition of "hate" to include scepticism of net zero policies, and which keeps an eye on us to see if we're saying extremist things like boys shouldn't join the Girl Guides.

The pundit class, even the right wing of the pundit class, seems to be extremely uninterested in this kind of thing.

Lots of coverage here is Mail article

Greens fail to pass controversial 'Zionism is racism' policy as infighting, dodgy tech and a misgendering row scupper conference - while leader Polanski dances at demo
The Green Party was forced to postpone a vote on a controversial policy equating Zionism with racism last night after its spring conference descended into farce.

The event, held online via Zoom, was marred by technical glitches as more than 1,000 people tried to take part, delaying proceedings by more than an hour and leading some to claim it was being targeted by a cyber attack.

There was then a row over a trans party member being 'misgendered' and a protracted factional fight over the hardline policy triggered by Israel's war in Gaza
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15688837/Greens-fail-pass-controversial-Zionism-racism-policy-Polanski-dances.html

That was the most painful process I’ve ever witnessed. Imagine if they had to actually get something important done. So many entitled and self absorbed people in one room.

Who else is in that photo?? Some guy in leather chaps with space for his pants to show? Someone else in the back wearing leopard print shorts showing off a bulge and the guy on the left in fetish-lite gear? With Hannah just thrilled to be stage and Sack looking a little uncomfortable. And these are meant to be serious politicians 🙈

Probably worth it for looks on the faces of Angry Gaza Bruvver marchers

https://nitter.net/Bounce_BackLoan/status/2037986618548580525#m

The Zionism thing was making me ask myself whether I'm a racist, and now I'm asking myself whether I'm a prude. Am I just experiencing middle-age?

No, you're holding onto your sanity while those like Zack are losing theirs.
I must say, despite being onboard with Polanski and his party for close to 0% of views and policies, I have to salute him sticking to his guns and deciding he'll campaign for meaningful power this way.
Thinking that a combination of Queer imagery AND the worst dad dancing, will propel him into political significance.

Can take the boy out of the Lib Dems but can't take the Lib Dems out of the boy

Maybe it's just a modern version of Tony Blair and Cool Britannia 🎸

Lots more crazy to come.

Shahrar Ali

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27m
Green Party Spring conference stats. Approx 800 out of 200,000+ members = less than 0.4%.

Hardly one member one vote. Delegate conferences likely to be far more representative.

Total membership figure probably includes Scottish Greens. Nobody is ever transparent about this.

Blair hanging out with Oasis was pretty cringe, but probably more for them than him.

Zack and Hannah dancing to a Right Said Fred tribute act, that's something else.

That’s so cringe. But will be interesting in the coming days how Zackie and Hannah reconcile quite different viewpoints in their Party.

It would be, but these people see no need for logical reasoning. They'll just spout some emotional claptrap about not letting the far right divide them 🙄

Is this the same Hannah that said the elites were "frightened to death of her"?
The Hannah here?
If they are, the elites just aren't what they used to be.

I apply the same standard to Hannah as I apply to all the other politicians and union officials and celebrities who are used to pull in the crowds at these events.

It doesn't take a massive amount of effort to not share a stage with rape defender Lewis Nielsen.

If Hannah doesn't know anything about the event organisers, I would be extremely happy to enlighten her.

Hannah didn't know anything about 5Pillars either before she agreed to be interviewed by them, did she?
You can get a long way in politics today knowing feck all.

Rupert Lowe is trying the same tactic when asked about white nationalists in his movement. "I don't know who he is."

It'll work for a while, I suppose, but eventually an interviewer will want to put you under scrutiny.