Lambeth Greens have launched a petition calling on Labour-run Lambeth council to cancel plans to award US-tech firm Oracle a contract worth £8m. This is due to the company’s financial and political ties to Israel and Donald Trump.
A decision report published last Friday shows Lambeth council is preparing to renew its contract with Oracle. The deal offers £8.1m over five years for provision of digital HR and finance services. The council confirmed the decision on 16 February and it will come into effect on 23 February.
Lambeth Greens are calling on the council not to award the contract due to Oracle’s support for the Israeli government and the current Trump US administration.
Lambeth residents can support this campaign through a new petition launched by the Greens.
Oracle – ‘you must love Israel to work here’
Oracle works directly with the Israeli government and military, providing technology that facilitates Israel’s ongoing genocide and war crime against the Palestinian people.
The company has also attempted to silence pro-Palestinian voices internally, effectively telling employees to ‘love Israel’ or find a new job.
Founder Larry Ellison has personally donated over $16m to supporting the Israeli armed forces and former CEO Safra Catz donated directly to Trump’s re-election campaign.
Ellison recently took over the US operations of social media platform TikTok in a move which Israeli president Benjamin Nethanyahu welcomed. Since the takeover, creators on the platform have accused it of censoring content relating to Palestine.
Greens challenging the council deal
The Lambeth Greens, with the support of cllr Matthew Bryant, are preparing to ‘call-in’ the decision. A successful call-in would delay the decision for it to be discussed at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, giving councillors a chance to highlight Oracle’s complicity in Israeli genocide and ask the council to seek an alternative provider.
The call-in will also highlight Oracle’s poor performance both locally, where their software has left £62.8m of invoices unpaid, and with other local authorities like Birmingham, where problems with their system contributed to the council having to declare bankruptcy.
Lambeth council has stated that it has a ‘neutral position on the conflict’ in Gaza. The Greens have demanded it changes this position to reflect the strong feelings of the community on this issue and to uphold Lambeth’s proud tradition of international solidarity.
A number of other London boroughs use Oracle’s services, including Labour run councils Croydon, Waltham Forest and Barnet.
Cllr Martin Abrams , Green Party councillor for Streatham St Leonard’s, said:
Lambeth must stand with Palestine and end its financial complicity in Israeli genocide, war crimes and ethnic cleaning. A petition signed by more than 5,000 Lambeth residents clearly shows that this issue is hugely important to the community.
Oracle is unashamed in its support for Israel, proudly providing services to the government and military despite the horrors we have all seen for the past three years and before. The company’s founders have donated millions to the IDF and are in bed with the morally reprehensible Trump administration.
By awarding this contract, Labour will be using residents’ money to enrich an organisation and its billionaire owners who use their influence to support and sustain the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people by Israel.
This is the definition of complicity. Labour needs to change its unconscionable ‘neutral position’ on Israel’s genocide, reject Oracle and get on the right side of history.
Featured image via the Canary
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