Feinstein is a lifelong anti-war and anti-racism activist who served in Nelson Mandela’s government as an MP, leading the ANC’s public accounts committee. He became an anti-corruption investigator after serving on trade and finance committees and founded an organisation investigating the global arms trade, which he says is responsible for around 40% of all corruption worldwide.
Having lived in Camden for many years, he sees that the problems faced by ordinary people there will not be addressed by local MP Keir Starmer or by the direction Starmer has taken the Labour Party. He is standing as an independent against Starmer to work with and for local people, not billionaires, and explicitly to fight the political support for genocide on which both parties currently stand.
Gaza Week is a small encampment set up next to Kentish Town station and organised or supported by a collaboration of groups including Camden Friends of Palestine, Camden Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the local Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association. They’re holding a daily presence from 8am to 8pm, with main themed events and speakers around 5.30 each evening. Full details on their website.
Last night’s event was interrupted by a small group of Zionist supporters intent on disrupting and intimidating people there, shouting out the carefully curated memes of Israel’s propaganda machine – “What about the hostages?”, “Terrorist Sympathisers” and so on. A small police presence kept them in check and Feinstein offered to speak with them about his own view of how ALL hostages could be freed – an offer they did not take up.
In his speech, Feinstein spoke about the billions spent on arms subsidies (often to the very companies still supplying weaponry for genocide) rather than on the needs of local people, protecting the NHS, bringing in rent caps, and providing social housing and better public services. Having experienced how crucially important BDS was in working towards and end to apartheid in South Africa, he calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, and urges Camden Council to engage with local people on their own pension investments and other ties to Israel, instead of holding closed meetings and refusing information requests.
Passionate about representative democracy and not affiliated to any party, he has set up a series of People’s Forums where together they will build a community manifesto for his constituency of Holborn and St Pancras.
