One of the features of recent antisemitism claims about the Labour Party has been a tendency by mainstream media and Labour’s opponents to treat the number of complaints pending as if every one of them means a guilty member.
But of course, some complaints are found not to be justified.
The current ratio of complaints made to those upheld will not be known until the relatively small backlog is cleared shortly – but a relevant statistic can be found in the situation inherited by the newly-composed NEC (National Executive Committee) when it took over after Labour’s 2016 conference.
NEC members have told the SKWAWKBOX that at that point, Labour had a backlog of some nine thousand cases – mostly complaints about comments on social media – in the aftermath of the wave of suspensions imposed by the then right-dominated party apparatus in the run-up to the 2016 leadership contest.
Once those nine thousand were examined, fully half were found to have no merit at all and were dismissed immediately.
Of the half that were substantive enough to merit consideration, around two hundred were eventually upheld.
A ratio 44:1 of spurious to justified complaints.
There are, of course, no guarantees that a similar ratio will apply to the current backlog of cases – but the statistic serves to highlight another: the fact that antisemitism complaints have been made concerning under 0.1% of Labour members.
Based on current membership, that’s fewer than five hundred and fifty among a membership of over half a million.
Bet you won’t read/see those statistics in the ‘MSM’.
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Interesting and important facts.Well done Skwawkbox. In my view, 550 even if a small number relative to Labours size, is 550 too many complaints upheld, but we are imperfect. But Labour needs to try to be as responsible and pure as possible, There are bound to be ignorant as well as angry people in the Party upset by the MSM’s gross unfairness and the exaggerations for political gain by organisations like the CAA. But until we know what people actually did to warrant the cases being upheld, and also take into account the current atmosphere of suppression, where to even criticise Israel’s Policy with regard to Palestine in mild terms is now being called anti-Semitic, I feel that accusations will go on and on to divert attention away from socialist policies. Ex Rabbi Sacks and Netanyahu, Labour Friends of Israel and CAA will not stop until they have toppled not only Corbyn but any successor who wishes to bring in socialist policies. When will the MSM stop listening? Certainly The Times owned by Murdoch has made regular coverage, including fabrication and exaggeration on this, a top editorial priority. It is when the wider populace, the voters, stop listening and begin to believe that heh, this is indeed being whipped up for political reasons in order to stop a Labour Government under a socialist leader, that things will change for the better, so Skwawkboxes rebuttals and countering of lies and exaggerations is crucial. The rest of us must disseminate truth and not exaggerate ourselves.
I suspect even if a successor was pro-Israel but supported left wing economic policies, they’d still try and smear them.
Ed Miliband after all was accused of much of the same, despite being Jewish!
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ed-miliband/11198691/Labours-first-Jewish-leader-is-losing-the-Jewish-vote.html
Of course they will. We are attempting to bring some sort of fairness through socialist policies within a capitalist world where the establishment – Government,, the Blairites and newspaper owners are on the same side -=they will always find some angle to attack with. But the Zionist attacks will begin to pall eventually.
Given that it’s just coming up to three years since Jeremy was elected leader, it would be very interesting to ascertain how many complaints of antisemitism were made to the NEC in the three years BEFORE he became leader, and how many have been made in the three years SINCE. And ditto for sexual abuse, homophobia, misogyny and bullying.
Presumably ALL cases of these five categories in the three years PRIOR to JC becoming leader will have been dealt with, so it would be interesting to ascertain how many cases in each category were upheld, and also how many of those that were made in the past three years – that have so far been dealt with – were upheld.
Have I got this right……. So what skwawkbox is saying in actual fact is that there are about 550 cases of antisemitism pending, so going by the ratio of cases (for whatever) that were upheld BEFORE – ie 44 to 1 – then that would suggest that about twelve or thirteen cases on A/S will be upheld.
Being a social media expert I would say 500 complaints of comments on SM is a very small number. Don’t forget some of these complaints could represent the same person being report more than once for more than one event.
SM is still on a learning curve at the same time of a changing attitudes towards many things. Also one of the first people learn is they can report comments even if it was said to their face they would ignore it. The rise of offense via proxy is also well rooted now. One such thing that fills all 3 of the above is the “zionist irony” complaints. It’s never been a thing, everyone would ignore it in the street and it’s being reported by people who were not there & only go on selected info.
Is it known how many of the upheld complaints were against ‘rank & file’ members, and how many were functionaries?
For the record ITV’s Loose women got 3,000 complains within hours yesterday.
A ratio 44:1 of spurious to justified complaints…
Reading this, berger? ellman? hodge? mann? screeching? austin? …Anyone and everyone who I’ve missed out?
Complain 45 times and you MIGHT be right once – is that what it has to take, you sad bastards? FFS, even an ape, given a 45 option multiple choice questionnaire, will be right as many times as you shower o’ shite.
Try complaining (and actually DOING something) about toerag hypocrisy, greed and austerity – You’ll have an infinitely far better strike rate AND you might earn some kudos, appreciation and job satisfaction…
Yes, but the false accusers know of course that the vast majority of their accusations of anti-semitism are bogus, BUT they also know that the fascist-controlled media will never-ever point this out to their readers and viewers AND, as such, they give their readers and viewers the impression that anti-semitism is endemic in the LP – ie have them thinking and believing that it IS.
For me, Zionist used to mean a supporter of right wing Israeli nationalist policies, particularly with reference to expansionism. Apparently, it actually means ‘the Jewish people’.
I must need reeducation. Lucky for me, I’m not a Labour party member, only a voter.
They complain because they have a different definition of anti-Semitism in their heads to the one that normal people have.
Look at the manufactured, coordinated nonsense that erupts when Corbyn mildly criticises a specific group of disruptive Zionists. You get the increasingly ludicrous-looking former Chief Rabbi getting all hyperbolic about it.
When Tory MP, Ben Bradley, smeared Corbyn with a lie about him being a Russian spy, the Labour party threatened him with legal action and Bradley was forced to back down. I’d like to see the party using the law more forcefully to protect themselves and their leader from smears from outside the party. And I’d like to see them write effective rules to stop smears being made within the party, as well.
‘Lucky for me, I’m not a Labour party member, only a voter.’
Me and all…Safely out of reach of the JLC, BoD, LFI’s (And any other acronym I’ve omitted) ‘Thought police’.
Even if I was a party member, I’d still tell them to get bent. Clowns.
Let us not forget the sad decline of the ‘New Statesman’.
It used to be such a great magazine. I remember 2 articles in the 1980s written by conservative economist Samuel Brittan in which he challenged the claims that the arms industry was so important to the British economy.
It was such a great magazine. For the last three years, however, it could just as easily call itself ‘The Corbyn Hater’s Weekly’.
When Jeremy was elected, the employees at Labour Party HQ, the regional organisers , the New Statesman editor and funder and other journos on the mag, were all Blairites. Getting them to leave or praying they will resign, and then replacing them is going to be a long process because of employment rights. We are just so nice as principledpeople with socialist aims, that our behaviours and vvalues undermine our own objectives. We are dealing with extremely nasty people who are prepared to go to any lengths, fabricate any lies and belittle us to own the party machine..