Who is Zack Polanski, UK Greens leader and rising political star? | | Election News

The leader of the Green Party in the United Kingdom Zack Polanski, a 43-year-old self-proclaimed “eco-populist” is presenting himself as a progressive. on behalf of Keir Starmer’s Governing Labor Partyis taking a political stance on this week’s British general election.

More than 5,000 council seats will be up for grabs on Thursday as voters in 136 boroughs go to the polls, including London and other major UK cities.

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According to polling group YouGov, the Green Party looks set to make significant gains in the capital and could come first in eight of London’s 32 councils.

The party’s opinion has been steadily rising since Polanski was elected leader in a landslide victory in September last year. In February, the Green Party won its first parliamentary elections, taking Gorton and Denton, a constituency in Greater Manchester that had been held by the ruling Labor party for nearly a century.

Polanski is seen by political observers in the UK as a media-savvy representative of the green socialist movement that wants to inspire the younger generations to change, along the lines of Zohran Mamdani from New York.

To achieve this, the Green Party has expanded beyond its primary environmental goal, experts say. Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University in London, said that under Polanski’s leadership, the Greens had become “more liberal and pro-Gaza than environmentalists”.

“The reason why the party’s leadership is increasing lies in seeing its communication skills given to them, in part by Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and the deep frustration among the left-wing voters at the Starmer government’s hard line on immigration,” Bale told Al Jazeera.

“The Greens have chosen a leader who will have their heads straight as they face a Prime Minister and a government that has disappointed many of their allies in 2024.”

If the polls are correct, the local vote could include a Green Party position as a replacement for Starmer’s Labor party – traditionally allied with UK workers.

Who is Zack Polanski?

The Green Party leader grew up as David Paulden in a Jewish community in Salford, Greater Manchester. At 18, he changed his English name to his original family name to recognize his Jewish heritage, he said.

He studied drama at Aberystwyth University in Wales and began working in community theatre, before switching to hypnotherapist and health counsellor.

Polanski, who is gay and “very proud”, began his political career with the Liberal Democrats, representing the party as an MP for North London in 2015 and as a member of the London Assembly in 2016.

He joined the Green Party the following year and was elected to the London Assembly in 2021 and as deputy leader of the Green Party in 2022.

He was elected party leader in September last year, winning 20,411 votes against 3,705 votes for his rivals Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns, who ran on a joint ticket.

What are some of Polanski’s key points?

After being elected party leader, Polanski promised to “work every day to deliver environmental, social, racial and economic justice”.

It is known as an “eco-populism” that combines environmental policies with social norms, including a wealth tax for billionaires, the rights of strong workers in cases of unfair dismissal and 15-pounds ($20.41) per hour minimum wage for workers of all ages.

In an interview with the podcast The Rest Is Politics, led by former Labor spin doctor Alastair Campbell and former Conservative leader Rory Stewart in November last year, Polanski said it is important to restore the word “populism”, saying that it should represent those who support the interests of 99 percent of people and not the rich.

In the UK, as in other Western countries, the word “populism” has become associated with people who are far away, due to concerns about immigration and a decrease in trust in the authorities such as political parties such as Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage.

Reflecting on that, Polanski told the podcast, “I’m famous, Farage is not.”

Why is the Green Party facing anti-Semitic charges?

Polanski has called on the Starmer government to do something about Israel the massacre in Gaza. “We have to say it loud and clear – our government is not just participating, it is participating in the protests,” he told a group of protesters gathered at a Palestinian march in London last year.

“This is not self-defence (by Israel), this is collective punishment. The UK must immediately end arms sales to Israel, support a swift and permanent end to the war, and bring back an international investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

But Polanski’s popularity has taken a turn for the worse in the run-up to this week’s local elections after a row with the Metropolitan police chief over two Jewish men. was stabbed at Golders Greena residential area in north London with a large Jewish population, on April 29.

Both victims were seriously injured in the attack, which the Metropolitan Police declared a terrorist attack. Polanski later apologized for sharing the “mistake” on social media as he accused the police of “severely beating a mentally ill person in the head” by intervening.

He said he found the incident “very sad, especially as a Jew”.

Despite his heritage, Polanski and other Green Party candidates have also faced accusations of anti-Semitism on several social media sites.

Philip Brookes, a Green representative on Newcastle City Council, described Israel as “a group of Polish, Russian, Hungarian terrorists who have been killing Palestinians for 76 years”. Brookes also posted a photo of an Israeli flag being torn to reveal a Nazi flag on his Facebook page, and wrote that it “takes a bit of effort not to be a little negative” considering the situation in Gaza.

Mohammed Suleman, a candidate for the same council elections, also posted a TikTok video claiming that Jewish prisoners of war were willing to follow Nazi instructions to bury Soviet prisoners alive during World War II.

Although Polanski assured voters that “antisemitism, Islamophobia, any form of hatred or hate crime, is not welcome in the Green Party”, a last-minute survey shows that these charges could lose votes on the day.

Bale, of Queen Mary University of London, said support for the party should remain strong ahead of Thursday’s vote in many London boroughs and “other artsy towns”.

“The Greens have won a majority of councilors from Labour, although this will not give them control of the majority of councils – if any -,” he said.