The Bains Agenda

If you’re left wing, as I am, your goal should be clear: elect a left-wing government to enact meaningful policies or at least build popular support to influence the current government.

If you support Palestine, like I do, your aim is to raise awareness and persuade pro-Israel supporters to join the cause – to grow the numbers and build pressure.

If you’re anti-racist, your goal must be to win over racists, not just preach to the converted.

Meanwhile, figures like Reform UK and Nigel Farage are quietly toning down their language to broaden their appeal, moving away from far-right fringe groups so that people of colour and more liberal voters feel included.

The left, for reasons I struggle to understand, is doing the opposite.

By “the left” I mean the Guardian reading, pro Palestine, pro Corbyn (pictured with Kneecap multiple times), online left as opposed to the Starmer left.

The recent antics at Glastonbury thrilled many on the left but will do nothing to gain new support — in fact, they hand victories to the right.

Take the BBC’s decision not to broadcast Kneecap. Instead, Bob Vylan replaced them and shouted “Death to the IDF.”

Many on the left immediately cried censorship of Palestine but that is simply not the case. The BBC has indeed been biased but on this one, I’m firmly against the online left.

The BBC censored Kneecap because they gave them all the ammunition they wanted. They aren’t victims and I don’t care if that opinion kicks me out of the popular online left blob.

Videos circulating show them supporting Hamas and Hezbollah, proscribed terrorist organisations, and urging violence against Tory MPs. The families of murdered MPs condemned this. These are actual facts, not opinions or Israeli propaganda.

In my view, Kneecap are attention seekers who pose as pro-Palestinian activists but spread lies, posting pictures of themselves holding pro-Hezbollah books and later playing the victim.

They are not truly pro-Palestine or pro-humanity but just want maximum notoriety and I still don’t really understand why the British left has such an obsession with them but then again I don’t understand much of anything about what the British left has done for the last 10 years.

*Edit: To be fair to Kneecap, they have since backtracked and said they do not support murder … but failed to take responsibility or even admit what they actually said.*

There are better examples of Palestinian activists, such as Ihab Hassan, who comes from Palestine and advocates with real credibility.

Bringing people onside matters.

I support Palestinian self-determination. Israel is committing war crimes, and Netanyahu belongs in The Hague. I want sanctions on Israel, an arms embargo, and an end to the killings.

I also want less racial tension and no support, even four years before the next election, for far-right ethnonationalist or racist factions.

Bob Vylan’s “I heard you want your country back? Ha! Shut the f*** up!” is counterproductive. I believe in left-wing patriotism for a reason.

Now, the right paints the left, young people, minorities, and pro-Palestine groups as crazy, antisemitic, Britain-hating lunatics. Why give them that ammunition and satisfaction?

Some argue controversy raises awareness. I love music. Musicians like Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder inspired me — their songs about racial justice were powerful without hateful slogans. Live Aid sent a positive message that gained widespread support.

Did Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, or my hero Akala need to shout hateful things to gain backing? No.

How will shouting hateful slogans at Glastonbury help race relations or repair fences? The media already portrays people who look like me as anti-British. When people of colour give them reasons to believe it, it only deepens divisions.

What the left needs to understand is that actual wins matter more than moral victories. Right-leaning people do not consume the same news or social media as you do.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m a useless out of touch centrist/liberal. But to me, this will only worsen tensions — pitting left against right, white against non-white, pro-Palestine against pro-Israel.