New Green Party leader Zack Polanski spoke to the Canary this week. And he addressed a question some critics have raised about the challenge of bringing together members with different social views, saying:

I just won with 85% of the vote. I don’t think it’s gonna be tricky.

Zack Polanski: zero tolerance for transphobia

The big societal issue in Britain is inequality, and that’s where Polanski believes the focus should be. As he insisted:

no matter where you live, inequality hurts you everywhere.

He added that:

relentlessly focusing on inequality, lowering bills, nationalising our water companies, protecting nature, and tackling the climate crisis are unifying issues of the 99%.

He knows there’ll be moments where bigots will disagree with him. But he stressed:

I’m never gonna change my solidarity to minority communities. Left-wing politics, progressive politics, at its heart, if nothing else, is about solidarity.

Regarding trans rights in particular, Polanski asserted that:

transphobia will absolutely not be tolerated under my leadership, and it will never be acceptable in the Green Party.

He made it clear that he doesn’t expect people to have exactly the same opinions on every issue. Instead, what he wants to remind people consistently is that “we have common cause”.

Both city and countryside face the “same power dynamic” of inequality

Explaining how inequality is a massive issue for people both in urban and rural areas, Zack Polanski said:

I’m an assembly member [in London]. I wanna see rent controls for the broken housing market. And that’s because of a power dynamic between young renters in particular – but actually not just young renters, anyone who doesn’t own their own home – and an unscrupulous landlord. But the same thing is for farmers. 80% of farming subsidies go to the wealthiest 20% of farmers. Meanwhile, most farmers who are vital for our food security are being screwed over by the supermarkets and agricultural capital. Same power dynamic.

We’ll be releasing the rest of our interview with Zack Polanski over the coming days.

Featured image via the Canary

By Ed Sykes

This post was originally published on Canary.