Reports that Momentum preparing separate slate appear confirmed
After a long delay that also held up the naming of a left ‘slate’ of candidates for the vital National Executive Committee (NEC) by-elections, it seems that Momentum has made up its mind about the candidates it will back – and that the expectation of other left groups that Momentum would ‘do its own thing’ was correct.
The SKWAWKBOX understands that the ‘secret Momentum slate’ for the two positions to be elected directly by Labour members will be Tameside’s civic mayor and Momentum steering group member Leigh Drennan and Sheffield’s Nadia Jama, with Stockport MP and close Jon Lansman ally Nav Mishra for the NEC’s BAME seat.
If Momentum does confirm its own slate after well over two hundred local Labour parties (CLPs) have already voted and various left organisations have endorsed other candidates in an effort to minimise confusion and delay, the left vote is almost certain to be split.
Right-wing candidates roundly rejected in previous NEC elections under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and endorsed again by right-wing pressure groups Labour First and Progress are very likely to profit.
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Did those on the Left Slate refuse to swear allegiance to Lansman and join his power-base..
I posted this on here a few days ago, but in case you didn’t see it I’m posting it again. It’s an article posted on the JVL website recently which includes a video clip of an interview with Marie van der Zyl (the president of the BoD) from August 2018, and in the interview she says that Jeremy Corbyn has been “spending more and more time with terrorists and extremists” and “with people who threaten the security of Britain”. And she repeats it THREE times in less than four minutes, twice in the first minute or so, then again at the end of the interview (just to be sure that viewers don’t forget it!). Needless to say it’s Big Black Lie and a total falsehood.
The thing is that the news channel is based in Israel and most people who watched the interview wouldn’t have known any different, and Van der Zyl knows it, and needless to say the reason she didn’t elaborate is precisely because she’s lying through her teeth, and the reason the interviewer didn’t ask her who these ‘terrorists’ and ‘extremists’ are is because they KNEW it was a falsehood:
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/expose-who-are-the-board-of-deputies-of-british-jews/
Please share far and wide so as to expose HER for the lying propagandist she is AND the anti-semitism smear campaign for what it is, and especially with anyone you know who believes it’s real.
What she actually says (more-or-less at the beginning of the clip) is: “….we’re learning that he’s spending more and more time with terrorists, with extremists…..”. Take note of the “we”! I wonder who the ‘we’ is, and who it is they are “learning” it from?!
Funny how the WHOLE of the British media was unaware that Jeremy was doing so, and missed out on such a big story! If only Van der Zyl had let them know!
ITs clear now that we of the left are not batting for the same team,and long Bailey whom appears to be the only candidate to stop Sir Knightly starter has made a serious mistake with batting for the Lansman fiefdom..I really fear for the future of socialism in the Labour party.
It seems that former Momentum coordinator, Laura Parker, has joined Paul Mason and other eurocommunists, in backing Keir Starmer.
“we of the left are not batting for the same team”
‘Twas largely always thus. Partly because there is no such entity as ‘THE’ Left; there’s ‘Lefts’ of various hues.
As to the Lansman problem: I agree it is a real problem for RLB’s credibility.
Are we sure that the captions correct and not weightwatchers monthly star 🌟 performance?
Tsk, tsk……..
What are the CRITERIA for anyone to get on any Left slate?
The only genuine and credible way of constructing a Left slate is to compose a joint statement centring on a list of demands which the candidates will, if elected, propose and vote for at NEC meetings. The candidates should sign up to that statement as a precondition for securing Left support.
Without that, who the hell knows what anyone (the people above, or even Skwarkie’s heros and heroines) stands for?
The membership card should be the starting point,but has been ignored and ridiculed…. “We are a Democratic socialist party” and the rest of working together for a socialist society.How does anyone legislate for pathological liar misfits.How can a knight or a Lord be a socialist.How can a parent send their children to a private school and claim to be a Socialist ?.The Labour party his overrun with neoliberals and hypocrits.
I agree with Danny – a specific set of core beliefs that identify us – which we sign up for and on which there can be no compromise.
Support them or fuck off.
Joseph, the membership card leaves too much wiggle room for the careerists.
No – just like the BoD trying to impose their demands, any such totalitarian attempt should be told to ‘Fuck Off’.
On principle.
If Momentum did only one thing and concentrated on it, it would be worthwhile and that is to campaign for democracy within the Party. However it is not democratic itself, therefore even this task is beyond it.
Almost from the start, Lansman started to weed out genuine left wingers from Momentum to make it what appears to be today, a tool to ‘Lansmanite’ the Labour Party.
Looks like a decision to spoil has been made. Momentum are finished.
I hope so. But it may the Left that’s finished 🙁
It may be Lansman who is finished.
Who do the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance exclude?
There are Tory and Labour MPs who claim to be centrists and have much in common.
“Centre/Left” would imply there’s a Left, Centre and Right.
“Centre-Left” implies Left, Centre-Left, Centre, Centre-Right and Right, a bit like this:
https://labourlist.org/2016/03/leaked-list-ranks-labour-mps-by-hostility-to-corbyn/
I’ve never heard anyone in Labour describe themselves as being from the right, always they claim the mythical “centre” in hopes of not alienating the left, right or anyone else – they’re the careerist wing of both parties.
There really are only two useful descriptors, left and right.
EVERYONE who identifies as centrist is a Tory-enabling dupe.
Isn’t it time to call a spade a spade?
‘Left Slate?’ Speaking as a white; straight; catholic; geriatric; baby-boomer who hates political correctness & identity politics; voted ‘Leave’ in the referendum & refuses to read the Guardian, I wonder if I still qualify as ‘left wing’?
I am everything the BBC & Channel 4 despises; ‘Stale; Male & Pale’, but my biggest fault is identifying with the working class & not the bourgeoisie.
I have a serious problem with anyone who describes themselves as a progressive & then embraces nationalism. I used to think I was ‘left-wing’, but now I am not so sure.
“I have a serious problem with anyone who describes themselves as a progressive & then embraces nationalism””
… but you voted ‘Leave’?
I’m not intending to get into an argument over the Brexit mess – but it is an interesting example of a classic contradiction regarding the concept of ‘Left’.
I’ve felt for a while theres a need for Left-slate that doesn’t include Candidates selected by Lansman,a true grassroots left Slate
As to NEC candidates, the issue is quite clear for me : Jo Bird and who else?
“After a long delay that also held up the naming of a left ‘slate’ of candidates for the vital National Executive Committee (NEC) by-elections”
You can’t blame Lansman for that. If the Labour Representation Committee chose to dither and delay a ‘vital decision’ to appease Momentum, why blame Momentum?
The Labour Representation Committee Group had one job to do, and no mandate to allow one group to hold up that process. They let us down.
As I’m sure they’ll be happy to admit if/when it turns out that their delay has assisted the right.
It’s high time the Left stopped allowing Momentum to push them around. Momentum is an undemocratic organisation that might well include large numbers of non-members; no one checks Labour membership.