{"id":59,"date":"2026-02-02T10:39:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T10:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/the-greens-defence-problem\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T10:39:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T10:39:00","slug":"the-greens-defence-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/the-greens-defence-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"The Greens\u2019 defence problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Until Zack Polanski\u2019s election the Greens rarely featured in mainstream political debate. They were stagnant in the polls and had two obscure co-leaders. Now, they average 15 per cent and could win a by-election for the first time in Gorton and Denton (where Andy Burnham was out campaigning for Labour yesterday).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But greater prominence has brought greater scrutiny. That\u2019s a lesson Polanski is learning fast. His interview with Channel 4 News<\/a> yesterday was perhaps the best example yet. Asked whether he still favoured abolishing Nato, Polanski replied that he instead wanted to \u201creform it from within\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would that look like? We didn\u2019t get the chance to find out because Polanski soon made it clear that he regards Nato as unreformable. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s possible because 86 per cent of our arms imports come from the United States,\u201d he said, while also chiding Donald Trump for being \u201cunpredictable\u201d and \u201cnot a reliable ally\u201d. He went on to advocate for an alternative security alliance comprising Europe, Mexico and Brazil to look at \u201chow we stop American imperialism, and also conversations about China and indeed Russia too\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If that seems incoherent that\u2019s because it is. Polanski found himself caught between the radical left argument that Nato is an agent of US imperialism and the liberal concern that Trump will abandon the alliance (the popularity of which has, unsurprisingly, surged in Europe since Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might ask whether this matters for an \u201ceco-populist\u201d party, but it does if the Greens are to achieve their ambition of replacing Labour as the country\u2019s main left-wing force. As the YouGov poll below shows, defence is by far the party\u2019s weakest issue: 57 per cent of voters do not trust the Greens, compared to just 17 per cent who do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Greens are facing a version of the same dilemma that confronted their German sister party. Having traditionally rejected Nato membership the latter eventually embraced it after entering government for the first time in 1998 and backing intervention in Kosovo. The SNP similarly voted in 2012 to abandon its 30-year opposition to Nato and now says an independent Scotland would be a \u201cnon-nuclear member\u201d, \u201cjust like Denmark and Norway\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So here\u2019s a prediction: if the Greens want to be taken seriously as a potential party of government they will need to make the same journey. If they don\u2019t, Polanski will only find that his incoherence on defence becomes an even bigger problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This piece first appeared in the Morning Call newsletter; receive it every morning by subscribing on Substack\u00a0here<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Further reading: Can the Greens win Gorton and Denton?<\/a>]<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\r\n
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