PO
Box 54631, London N16 8YE
W:
)
Clutching at straws, he then proceeds
to attack us for our apparent attempts to split “the Stop the
War movement in Britain.” Those with a slightly longer memory
will remember how Hopi actually sought affiliation to the Stop the
War Coalition last year but were refused on the most spurious of
grounds. Sadly, the anti-war movement was split. But not through our
actions.
Whereas the stooges and apologists of
the Iranian regime like Abbas Eddalat and Somaye Zadeh are welcomed
with open arms into the coalition, Iranian socialists and their
comrades are not welcome.
He claims that Hopi is a front for the
“misnamed CPGB micro-sect”. This will come as news to the
substantial working class and socialist organisations from Iran who
form the core of Hopi’s support alongside Green Party comrade Peter
Tatchell and the leader of the Labour Left, John Mc.Donnell. Comrade
Gamble is inconsistent anyway: the CPGB is an official affiliate of
the Stop the War Coalition. Yet organisations that are damned as its
fronts are disqualified! Where is the logic?
Hopi is clear that the main enemy is
imperialism. The theocratic regime of Iran – which implements a
neo-liberal capitalist agenda against its working people – is also
an enemy. We can walk and chew gum. We can oppose any imperialist
intervention and support democratic, secular and socialist
movements fighting to overthrow the theocracy and thereby create a
genuinely anti-imperialist Iran. This is not “sectarian”.
This is not Nick Cohen ‘lite’ politics. This is genuine
internationalism.
That the PCS has taken a lead in the
fight for genuine politics of solidarity is to be welcomed. Some
comrades ought to follow the principled lead of PCS delegates and
recognise Hopi as a legitimate and valuable part of the anti-war
movement. This was no “con trick” but a decision made by
comrades who, unlike Jon, have a sense of their internationalist duty
in the struggle against war and oppression. If the PCS wish to
discuss the politics of Hopi and the issues involved then we are more
than happy to speak to them at every level of the union and also
debate our opponents.
Ben Lewis, Communist Party of Great
Britain
Yassamine Mather, Workers Left Unity
Iran
Tami Peterson, Labour Representation
Committee (personal capacity)
