Every political revolution, big or small, enjoys projecting a certain air of clandestinity in its early stages. Zack Polanski’s team (Salford, 43 years old), the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, meets a small group of foreign correspondents at the mouth of an access tunnel to Stonebridge Park, known as Snake Park for the enormous blue mosaic snake that decorates its children’s area. It is in the Hackney neighborhood, northeast of London. It is an area with a strong left-wing tradition, a base for squatter and anti-fascist movements. Labour Party territory. Like other areas of the metropolis, today repopulated by young urbanites who in 2016 voted massively (79%) against Brexit.
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Polanski, an actor, gay, Jewish, occasional hypnotherapist, and political activist (he embraces all these definitions without remorse), has revolutionized the British political scene in just eight months. Last September, he was elected, by an overwhelming majority, the new leader of the Greens. His discourse is energetic and agile. At first, he defined his political proposal as “eco-populism,” but it soon became clear that his goal was to outflank a lethargic Labour Party, under the shadow of Keir Starmer, from the left.
It was necessary, he explains, to first denounce economic inequality, housing shortages, tax evasion by the powerful, or the genocide in Gaza before talking about the climate change emergency.
“If people are worried about food on their table or heating in their homes, it’s very difficult to get them to worry about other things like climate change,” Polanski explains to the impromptu huddle at the park entrance, under the shade of a tree. “When they ask me if the Green Party has stopped talking about the environment, I always ask them to take a look at the polls. 80% of respondents say that, when it comes to these issues, the Greens are the party they trust the most. I’m not going to talk all the time, although I’d be delighted to, about an issue where citizens already trust us. I want to make sure we gain their trust on other issues, such as defense policy,” he points out.
In just one year, the Green Party has tripled its membership to 190,000, a notable figure considering that the Labour Party is currently in decline, with barely a quarter of a million members. All polls place the Greens just three or four points in voting intention behind what was until today the main progressive party in the United Kingdom, which held an exclusive duopoly alongside the Conservative Party.
In politics, impactful gestures can be more striking than reality itself. Polanski knows that if he achieves a good result in the upcoming municipal elections in England and regional elections in Scotland and Wales, to be held on May 7, his influence on national politics could be overwhelming.
Criticism from the Jewish community
All polls today indicate that both the far-right Reform UK and the Greens could be the big winners of those elections. In London (and especially in Hackney), polls like the latest from Ipsos predict a green wave that would put Starmer’s Labour Party between a rock and a hard place.
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Polanski is very careful about who he targets in his speech. He spares the Labour grassroots, condemns its leader. Especially these days when the scandal involving Peter Mandelson and his turbulent relationship with American billionaire Jeffrey Epstein has caused a serious crisis in Downing Street.
“I believe Starmer must resign. He has made a huge error of judgment in his decisions. And we have seen how he consistently refuses to take responsibility,” accuses Polanski, who has a whole list of grievances against the Prime Minister. “Faced with the genocide in Gaza, for example, he refuses to stop selling weapons to Israel, and to say no to Trump. Starmer has tried to sell us the idea that the UK has not participated in the war in the Middle East, but while Pedro Sánchez has been very clear in his refusal to allow the US army to use Spanish airspace, the British government has not shown the same firmness. There are bombers taking off from our territory to participate in the atrocities we see in Lebanon.”
The Jewish community in the United Kingdom and the Government of Israel harshly criticize Polanski. They accuse his party of antisemitic practices, and Labour has joined the accusation. Starmer has reproached the Green leader for both drug use (he neither drinks, smokes, nor, according to him, has taken any drugs), and for being weak on defense and wanting to take the UK out of NATO (yes, but with nuances). Polanski defends himself with bomb-proof eloquence.
“I am one of only five Jews who have held a leadership position in UK politics. I take everything related to antisemitism very seriously, because for me it is also something very personal,” he asserts, referring to the 15 cases of antisemitism of which a respective number of his party’s candidates are accused. “Being Jewish and being for or against the Israeli government are two completely different issues. And what I see is a government committing genocide, as many experts have defined it. And even if it weren’t a genocide, thousands of innocent people being killed every day is not acceptable. That is why I believe the UK Government should do everything in its power to force Israel to answer for its actions,” he argues.
Polanski faces a whole battalion of conservative media outlets that seek to present him as a lunatic extremist, as they did with the former Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn. And everything indicates that they have fallen into the same error, because support for the Greens, especially among young people, has increased in the same proportion as the attacks.
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