Skip to main content
The Morning Star Shop
Against the witch-hunt
Veteran of the fight against Apartheid RONNIE KASRILS warns that the IHRA is being used to suppress left-wing supporters of Palestine, just as anti-communist hysteria was used against the national-liberation movement in South Africa

THE assault on free speech within Britain’s Labour Party speaks like a ghost from my past. I was banned from public speaking in apartheid South Africa almost 60 years ago. My crime, aged 23, was advocating votes for all. The apartheid government accused those like me of undermining the safety of whites.

When all avenues of peaceful change were blocked, we had no option but to turn to armed struggle. We argued that there was no equivalence between the state violence of the oppressor and the resistance of the oppressed. International solidarity helped bring about the demise of the apartheid system.

We empathise with those in the Labour Party today, who are being victimised by a double agenda: for their socialism and for defending Palestinian rights. It is astonishing and deplorable that a witch hunt is underway within those ranks — as elsewhere.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
first
Book Review / 11 July 2025
11 July 2025

SALEEM BADAT and VASU REDDY introduce a new book about an outstanding interpreter of the world, and an activist scholar committed to changing society

INALIENABLE RIGHT: Jews at the national march for Palestine
Features / 13 February 2025
13 February 2025
A few thoughts on the dangers of conflating of Jews with Israel and anti-zionism with anti-semitism
Film premiere / 3 December 2024
3 December 2024
CHLOE MANSOLA reports on the Brixton premiere of London Recruits
EXPULSION: The expulsion of Palestinian women and children f
Features / 7 November 2024
7 November 2024
From Israel’s creation in 1948 to today, views on the nature of the Jewish state have passed through several stages – but what remains constant is the projection of imperial power in the region, which is the barrier to peace and Palestinian self-determination, writes NICK WRIGHT