Two non-slate candidates both well over the nomination threshold when suspended
Popular NEC (National Executive Committee) by-election candidates Jo Bird and Mo Azam are the two candidates suspended last night by the Labour Party as the SKWAWKBOX reported exclusively last night.
The SKWAWKBOX understands that Birkenhead councillor Bird was leading in nominations by constituency Labour parties (CLPs) and that Azam’s nominations were well into the twenties – both well beyond the five-nomination qualification requirement. Further nominations were made in their favour at CLP meetings last night.
The suspensions, on the same evening that Momentum announced its slate of two white candidates to replace two BAME NEC members, have caused widespread anger and outrage among Labour members as awareness of the identity of the suspended hopefuls began to circulate.
While suspended, the pair are ineligible to stand for election. However, the SKWAWKBOX understands that both intend to fight the suspension and are asking CLPs to continue to nominate them as usual until secretaries are formally notified of the suspension.
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What are they alleged to have done that merits suspension?
What is the reason given for their suspension?
Might we soon learn what the complaints are and who made them?
NO
The Party is being turned into a joke because of its failure to face down the Israel Lobby.
The exploitation of the ‘antisemitism’ shout is now so blatant that only an idiot could miss what is actually happening.
Note, that once again in Jo Bird, it is someone who is Jewish being victimized by the exploiters of Jewish identity and Holocaust victims for sectarian political ends.
A sickening desecration of Memory.
As a PS – I think that members should now refuse to recognize the legitimacy of anything coming out of the NEC or central administration since both have rendered themselves illegitimate.
We need to know exactly what are the grounds for their suspensions.
In the meantime I am sure that it would be skeletons to discover on the two candidates promoted by Labour First.
Crackingly well said. Jo’s lovely personality comes across in spades in the videos on Twitter & FB. Indeed sickening.
Indeed. The only mistake that she has made is in apologising to sectarian fakers for truth-telling about ‘antisemitism’ lies.
‘The Party is being turned into a joke because of its failure to face down the Israel Lobby.’
And the Blairites and the Tories and the Libdems and the Establishment and the WHOLE of the corporate media AND the semi-corporate BBC!
The following is just ONE example out of around 12,000 such articles (never mind all the thousands of hours on news channels etc) during the past four years or more which ‘illustrates’ the reality of the situation AND why it is impossible to counter the black op A/S smear campaign:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8558093/countdowns-rachel-riley-hits-out-at-fresh-labour-anti-semitism-storm-as-councillor-jokes-about-jew-process/
If you control the MSM you control the narrative.
When Ken Livingstone said in the radio interview that Hitler was supporting Zionism he was alluding to The Haavara Agreement, an historical fact, and you can be 150% certain that the whole of the MSM knew that he was, but they ALL went along with the phony attacks and vilification and faux outrage.
As I said, if you control the MSM you control the narrative.
NB I had never heard of The Haavara Agreement, but it took me about two minutes flat to do a search re ‘hitler supported zionism’ to find out that THAT was obviously what Ken was referring to. And needless to say, the saboteurs were well aware that 99.999% of the population were not familiar with it, so they could get away with condemning him and smearing him as an anti-semite (and it was of course no coincidence that John Mann was there at party HQ – or wherever it was – with a film crew when Ken turned up there about three hours after the radio interview!).
Allan – We all know about the insidious media blanket campaign – and its protagonists within the Party.
But that’s not the issue – which is the actual *collusion* of the Party structures with that narrative.
The collusion has two strands : (a) the failure to contradict the false narrative and (b) the active work of the disciplinary procedures in helping to create that false narrative.
Note how Warwick University has recently told the Israel Lobby to sod off, and has refused to adopt the IHRA mess of pottage. The Vice-Chancellor, unlike many, has issued a forensic demolition of the Lobby’s case. The move has been backed by academics.
Labour should have done similarly.
(See the JVL website)
In the case of the LP adopting the definition, the affair went on for several months, during which time literally HUNDREDS of negative and critical articles were published in the main-stream press and the Jewish newspapers (never mind the hundreds of TV and radio news items on the matter), pressurising the LP to adopt the definition and all its examples. Needless to say, no such thing happened in relation to Warwick University.
And WU did NOT tell ANYONE to ‘sod off’, and they did NOT ‘refuse’ to adopt it, but made a decision not to for a variety of reasons. I wonder why you didn’t use such hyperbole when you posted a comment on JVLs website! Oh, and I couldn’t help but notice how you got your post in FIRST on there (not just monitoring skwawkbox 14/15 hours a day every day then?!).
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/on-warwick-universitys-refusal-to-adopt-the-ihra-definition/
RH said:
We all know about the insidious media blanket campaign – and its protagonists within the Party.
But that’s not the issue……..
Yes it IS! JC and the LP were being blackmailed into adopting the definition and all the examples, and YOU know it!
The rhetoric of the MSM and the ‘protagonists’ was that to NOT adopt it all – ie the definition AND all the examples – would just be further proof that the LP was institutionally anti-semitic, and YOU know it.
Allan – Did we achieve a positive outcome by accepting IHRA. What sort of future does the Labour Party have if it continues to capitulate to ‘the Lobby’. Does it have a future?
Allan – That’s quite a change in direction, I thought you were dead against anyone pointing out the obvious that the BoD are talking bollocks.
Just came across the following article on JVLs website:
Board overboard?
Richard Kuper points out curious discrepancies in the position of the Board of Deputies of British Jews as it offers various definitions of antisemitism
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/board-overboard/
my comment above at 10:44pm should have been here
As I’ve said on more than a few occasions, the shills on here monitor the site 24/7, and needless to say, SteveH is lying through his teeth like the good little black propagandist he is.
Funny, isn’t it Steve, how just recently I posted a link to an article on JVLs website about the BoD which included a video clip of an interview with Marie Van der Zyl from 2018 in which she says that Jeremy Corbyn ‘is spending more and more time with terrorists and extremists’ AND repeated it three times in the space of less than four minutes, what with her being a good little propagandist, just like yourself. And I ended up posting three comments on their website in relation to van der Zyl – to the article. But I have little doubt that you are well aware of THAT!
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/expose-who-are-the-board-of-deputies-of-british-jews/
And the LP (the left, that is) is NOT capitulating. When the media is totally controlled by your enemies it’s a no-win situation, and as I’ve said on more than a few occasions before, it’s up to those of us on the left to get the truth out there by producing leaflets which expose the lies – the Van der Zyl falsehood being a good example – and print off as many copies as possible and put them through peoples front doors.
Allan – What the F are you prattling on about. Are you intoxicated or just overtired.
No, just retarded.
Timfrom, I’m going to have to block you from posting comments. I don’t have the time to keep up with every comment posted but too many of yours are problematic.
Allan – Your illogicality is a wonder to behold, as is your ability to fantasize about others’ motives and frequency of posing (actually – the irony of the latter is quite amusing).
The whole plank of your ‘argument’ seems to be that the Labour Party took the only possible effective position in response to the media.
Two simple points :
(1) As the Warwick response shows – of course there was an alternative … and there was a massive body of evidence that spokespersons could have used. Even if it didn’t stop the media campaign (which was an impossibility), some might have cut through. Endorsing the myths was entirely counter-productive.
and
(2) The strategy wasn’t effective – simply leading to more and more egregious assaults.
Now. Can we argue about things that aren’t simply incontravertible?
And do stop these silly stalker fantasies that you constantly rehearse.
RH: In the first place it WASN’T a ‘strategy’. If you know that your enemies will just double down (precisely because that’s what they have done repeatedly), then you know that you are just inviting more condemnation and vilification and smears whenever you attempt to ‘fight back’.
And just HOW would some of it have got through? The ONLY thing that would have got through – ie the only ‘response’ to any attempts to do so – is that JC and the Labour Party are in denial AND that THAT’s part of the problem, which is PRECISELY what the MSM and the the ‘collaborators’ DID on numerous occasions. In a Daily Mail ‘article’ from November 2017, for example, it said the following:
The Jewish Labour Movement held a training session at September’s Labour conference……
The event said that among elected Labour representatives ‘denial of anti-semitism is particularly common’……..
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5048787/Scale-anti-semitism-Labour-party-revealed.html
I’ve come across it being said in numerous articles during the past three years or more, usually quoting someone or other, or the JLM or the CAA or LAA etc.
Further on in the article it also says the following, with it ‘expanded’ just to the side of it:
‘Holocaust denial and revisionism now also being seen on the Left
And what isn’t condemned as ‘denial’ is condemned as ‘conspiracy theories’!’
And here’s another example from September 2017 (probably during the LP conference):
Labour’s denial of antisemitism in its ranks leaves the party in a dark place
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/27/labour-denial-antisemitism-party-dark-place
RH said:
‘And do stop these silly stalker fantasies that you constantly rehearse.’
So WHAT specifically have *I* said that prompted *YOU* to say such a thing? In other words, can you give a few examples of these ‘stalker fantasies’ that you claim I ‘constantly rehearse’.
I await your response with baited breath.
PS And my apologies SteveH, but I forgot to thank you for your prompt reply to my 10.38pm post just six minutes after I posted it, albeit a complete falsehood. AND also for your prompt reply to my 12.32am post just seven minutes after I posted it, and to timfrom for his 1.13am post (whose previous and ONLY comment in this thread had been some 32/33 hours earlier) AND *your* post the next morning RH at 10.57am. Thankyou all kindly, I appreciate the feedback.
Yet another attempt at self aggrandisement, your narcissistic traits are on display again.
Do you think something like Jo Bird’s “joke” about “Jew Process” would have been tolerated about any other minority group? The fact that she is Jewish is irrelevant: would we tolerate anti-black “jokes” simply because some black uncle Tom came out with them?
Jim, she was of course alluding to the part that the Jewish newspapers and the JLM and the CAA and the BoD et al have played in the A/S smear campaign against Jeremy and the left. Funny, isn’t it, how the same people attacking Jo Bird had no problem with changing the LP motto from ‘ For the many, not the few’ to ‘For the many, not the Jew’, which was of course not only a Big Lie, but a malicious black propaganda platitude, based on a Big Falsehood, as was the so-called demo – ie the propagandists transforming what Jeremy said years before in relation to two Zionist trouble-makers – ie the English Irony episode – into him supposedly having said it about Jewish people in general. The following Sun article gives every indication that Jeremy was referring to Jews in general. Here’s a couple of clips:
JEREMY Corbyn faces an official investigation into his claim British Zionists do not understand “English irony” after a complaint was made to the Labour party.
It comes after comments made by the Labour leader back in in 2013 were unearthed last week.
In the latest chapter of an ongoing crisis he told a conference in London promoted by Hamas’ propaganda website, he said British “Zionists” – Jews who are strongly pro-Israel – did not want to study history or understand irony “despite having lived in this country all their lives”.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7103946/jeremy-corbyn-faces-official-investigation-into-claim-british-zionists-do-not-understand-english-irony-after-complaint-made-to-labour/
_______________
And obviously the Sun doesn’t mention the fact that he said what he said in respect of a couple of Zionist trouble-makers who were going around disrupting pro-Palestinian meetings/events.
As for the ‘comments’ being ‘unearther last week’, yeah, sure they were! You can be 150% certain that they were ‘unearthed’ within weeks of Jeremy becoming leader of the LP! Probably even BEFORE he became leader, once it became clear he was the hot favourite to win the leadership election.
Why bother with campaigning when it’s so much easier to just eliminate your competition’s front runners by simply makeing a complaint against them.
It’s eerie how this echoes the dodgy tactics being used right now across the pond to scupper socialists with popular appeal…
It’s clear evidence that governments are not the ultimate power. Someone is giving them directions.
Not that I trust Sanders and his brand of socialism. Strikes me a sheepdog. Actions confirm this.
“The executive of the modern state is nothing but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie”
Now who identified that?
Being honest, if it wasn’t for the internet I wouldn’t know it was Marx.
Guess I have some reading to do. Cheers.
@timfrom “Someone is giving them directions.”
Yes absolutely and imo that someone is ” the Corporate Elites” . since Globalisation there is now a Global hegemony of the Corps/Financial elites that in effect seem to be completing the plan to rule the world , all empires fall eventually !
fuck it time for a new party
Yep.
Had been thinking of rejoining lab..Glad I didn’t. What a shambles they are.
Is that a novel way of getting rid of unwanted candidates?
Jo is named as one of the NEC members, who adjudicated to overturn the decision of our CLP not to nominate a leadership candidate, in favour of Rebecca Long-Bailey, just the other day. Surely it cannot be part of the ongoing faux-antisemitism nonsense as Jo is herself Jewish.
Dirty dealings afoot?
“Wrong sort of Jew” maybe?
Is that a novel way to get rid of unwanted candidates?
Given Lansman, Progress and Labour First are all in the mix, the answer is yes. And, for anyone believing our Party has changed after more than four years of Corbyn as leader, please think again, Johanna Baxter was running equal with Jo Bird in terms of CLP nominations and low and behold all of a sudden the genuine Leftist is removed from the mix via vile and faux Antisemitism charges, her real crime, defending Palestinian Human Rights.
“…..here is where it has become even more complicated. Azam and Bird have now been suspended from the Labour Party by the NEC. As Momentum chair Jon Lansman sits on the ruling body as a CLP rep, this has given rise to claims of a “stitch up” from those on the left who have defended Bird – a Jewish member, supported by Jewish Voice for Labour – from accusations of antisemitism and consistently oppose Lansman from the Momentum grassroots, which is often at odds with the organisation’s leadership.
The Labour Party will not comment on the specifics of disciplinary cases and there is no certainty over the subject of the complaints against Azam and Bird. A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”
https://labourlist.org/2020/02/labours-nec-by-elections-just-got-even-more-complicated/
Steve H “The Labour Party takes all complaints seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”
Patently untrue. The Labour party only take seriously the complaints made by the right against the left. I have complained to the party about the lies and the spread of my personal data to a wide section of the Weaver Vale Labour party. This is a blatant breach of General Data Protection Requirements and was done by the secretary with malicious intent. I’m still waiting for an acknowledgement to my complaint.
I also brought to the attention of the NW Regional Office, a nasty bullying incident, just after the 2017 general election. A young member of the WV CLP executive left the meeting in tears after being “piled on”, by a group of councillors and their acolytes, who really should have known better. It was no coincidence that shortly after that incident, complaints to the NWRO were made about me. I was in a period of depression at that time and I left the party, as I could no longer tolerate the intimidation.
In my humble opinion, the General Secretary is unfit to do the job. She is either inept or as corrupt as the rest of the NEC and most of the PLP. She has expanded the Legal and Governance unit to cope with the number of complaints. But has anybody noticed any rebuttal of false allegations? Or has anybody been disciplined for making false allegations?
Answers on a postcard.
“The Labour party only take seriously the complaints made by the right against the left.”
Sadly, Nemtona, you are absolutely correct.
The disciplinary process is without ‘due process’ and transparency, and is an utter shambles and, at best, run by a bunch of know-nothings. At worst, it is run by a gang who have malicious intent.
In quasi-judicial terms it is without any credibility and is a shaming indictment of the Party.
The new game in town as endorsed byJennie Formby? Anonymous accusations & accused unaware of the nature or any specifics of the accusation. Why is it tolerated? Why does a dog lick its b……….? Who is ultimately responsible & when will we be allowed to criticise her?
If you jump to conclusions, you’re liable to end up at the wrong destination – as you have here.
An assertion . Now justify it – Elaborate.
Anyone can make assertions – or allegations, as we well know.
I have jumped to NO conclusions & made NO accusations. I have asked a question……as Gen.Sec. is she responsible for actions taken in suspending members on spurious & anonymous accusations?
I ask who is responsible & use a feminine pronoun in my enquiry……..you have joined up the dots.
I’m afraid that Jennie Formby has turned out to be a chocolate fireguard – at best.
I have the utmost sympathy for what she’s been going through at a personal level, but that can’t obviate the judgment: in essence, she has been complicit in allowing the Party to be dictated to by the venal Israel lobby.
The real evidence is that the core antisemitism is being shown by this lobby, which has attacked more Jews than any other Labour Party faction.
There is something truly disgusting about the way these people, like Hodge, are traducing the memory of Holocaust victims.
Labour’s rule book has apparently been drafted with deliberate imprecision to make it acceptable to opposing factions, creating the opportunities that are now being exploited by the right.
Blame Conference, unions, delegates, leadership, GenSec or whoever, entryists from the right always trying to water down socialism are the problem.
The right, constantly having to conceal their Toryness in what without them would be an unashamedly left wing party, are simply far more practised in deceit.
I put a complaint in on report of one third of complaints coming from one individual
I asked what is policy on vexatious claims of anti semitism, would they consider it a hate crime and prosecute or at very least bringing the party into disrepute and suspend, pending expulsion
This comes under that flag
My suggestion is to get every member we can reach to do the same to force the party to confront and deal with the fuckers
Regards
What Jennie actually said is NOT ‘one individual’, but one ‘complainant’, which could of course be either an individual OR a group, and I have little doubt that it’s the latter. Most likely the CAA. And both the CAA and LAAS (Labour Against Anti-Semitism) have no direct connection with the LP, so they can’t be charged with bringing the party into disrepute or suspended of course.
As for those within the party making vexatious claims, when Margaret Hodge submitted 200 claims of ‘vile anti-semitism’ to the LP, for example, it was of course widely reported in the MSM, but when it transpired that out of the 111 individuals that the claims involved only 20 were LP members, it received practically no coverage in the MSM. And when she ‘confronted’ Jeremy and called him a ‘fucking anti-semite’ AND the party was planning to take disciplinary action against her, the LP was condemned right across the MSM. And THAT is what we’re up against, and have been for over four years.
As I said further up the page (and on more than a few occasions during the past year or two), if you control the MSM then you control the narrative.
The following was typical of the ‘reaction’ to the LP proposing to take disciplinary action against Hodge:
Labour crisis: Hodge faces disciplinary action ‘for calling Corbyn an anti-semite’
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/990711/labour-margaret-hodge-jeremy-corbyn-anti-semitism-comments-latest
Allan Howard
Vexatious claimants are recognised in law and dealt with accordingly,
I cannot for the life of me see why vexatious claims of anti semitism are not hate crimes and prosecuted
How hard is it to establish the narrative in the MSM and toilet papers
Perfect opportunity to bring Pantomime Dame to book and let her sue us
Good luck with what you are trying to do. Unfortunately, even complaints made with evidence to support them, do not get investigated by the party.
I know. I’ve tried.
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse.
However, those who are inclined to jump ship should wait at least until the leadership and NEC elections are completed. Thereafter, not far away from the frying pans waits the fire. Whatever we all do it must still consist of a front around the alternative media, Morning Star, Canary, Skwawkbox etc., the Communist Party, Counterfire. Stop the War, Peoples’ Assemblies etc. and reject sectarianism (SWP, AWL etc) and if Galloway and Scargill want to bring their fan clubs along, and most importantly continue to work with those, like Corbyn and probably a few of the new PLP intake plus those on the left who remain inside Labour, who understand that politics is not about elections, machine politics and sectarian point-scoring. i.e. a front that rejects capitalism and environmental disaster, is avowedly socialist and committed to street politics innovative ways of campaigning and can educate new generations in Marxist-Leninist ways of thinking. This is the only way we can change Labour and change Britain in tandem.
All of the above and dont stop until vexatious claims of anti semitism are automatic expulsions
How many Labour members can we reach through the channels you list
How do we get every candidate for leader and deputy to address the issue and respond
The f7ckers have trawled every social media channel going back donkies to bring charges,
We can do the same once we get party to accept it is an equally serious offence
Then we can have a proper clear out,
In good omens the other night the chief angel stated “it’s not for us to stop the war, it is for us to win the war’
P.S.
Make sure your complaints are headed ‘Anti Semitism ‘
Trying to get beyond anger at the betrayal of Labour by compliance with the antisemitic (in the true sense) neo-colonialist racism of the Israel lobby and its infiltration of the Party, is there need for a new grouping to concentrate on bringing the Party back to fundamental principles of anti-racism, justice and transparency? A grouping that ignores other issues beyond those of pursuing human rights, natural justice and open procedures?
The starting point has to be at Branch/Constituency level to put backbone into the wilting flowers of MPs that seem to have forgotten the basic principles of Labour above and beyond policy conflicts.
What we are seeing is a basic corruption of the fundamentals that underpin any other policy debate. The Israel lobby and its allies is currently the most corrupting influence in the political and civil life of the UK – and that’s no overstatement.
… and one thing’s for sure : whatever the alternatives – vote for RLB and you are handing the devious Lansman a gift.
Don’t do it.
So you gonna vote for one of the other even more zionist candidates? That doesn’t make sense to me.
You can’t get more pro-Israel than Lansman. And he’s running RLB’s campaign. If she had judgment, she wouldn’t go anywhere near his pretend ‘leftism’.
You’ll note my despair at the quality of *all* candidates in terms of this crucial criterion.
What a pity,you spoil some good comment with an asinine comment about RLB,as though there is any sort of alternative,when we all know the other candidates are by varying degrees worse.
Knee-jerk ‘leftism’ personified.
Never mind the reality – just concentrate on the rhetoric.
So who would you recommend RH….. Keir Starmer?, like your former Communist Party of GB chum who you told us about several weeks ago?
And you certainly didn’t waste any time getting your initial comment in did you! Typed out and posted within EIGHT minutes of skwawkbox emailing the notification of the article to subscribers at 3.56pm! Yes, it’s always good to get yer comment – such comments – in near the top of the comments section, isn’t it!
🥱
Keep taking the tablets, Allan.
I wrote this to Lansman yesterday before I’d seen that Jo Bird was suspended.
“I find it extraordinary that you are not supporting Jo Bird, but then I find it extraordinary that you are not supporting Richard Burgon.
Momentum, schmomentum!”
As for trawling social media, I was chucked out of Labour in 2016 by young Sam Matthews “for supporting the communist party.” He didn’t say which communist party, although I had explicitly resigned from the French Communist Party in order to be able to join Labour and support Corbyn. Matthews then spilled his guts out on John Ware’s Panorama hatchet job, despite having taken a (presumably) hefty amount of members’ money to keep his mouth shut after he was sacked.
I was furious. Until then he’d been an anonymous, treacherous bureaucrat but now he had a face. I posted this turncoat’s picture on FB with a tongue in cheek remark saying he should be treated like we treat all scabs, “if any of me marras spot him, chin him or nut him.”
That was enough to get my post removed from Facebook for breaching community standards – fair enough, I might have gone over the top.
However I was then dogpiled by Richel Riley and her squad of zionist trolls who reported me to the Met Police and my local police in France for “threats to kill/hate crimes.”
Not a word was said about jews, antisemitism, israel, zionism etc. – my crime was to be a socialist/communist and most of all, a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn.
The hasbara trolls are working overtime, presumably with the help of sophisticated technology, trawling the internet for thought-crime. The 5 minutes hate follows swiftly behind as Jo Bird has just discovered.
Lansman
https://bookburnersrus.wordpress.com/2018/08/20/would-you-buy-a-used-car-off-jon-lansman-2/
An interesting read.
“Let us be clear here. Lansman was willing to undermine left wing influence within the NEC by splitting the left wing vote to appease the Israelist lobby whose prejudices on certain matters he shares.”
Indeed. Bluntly – Lansman is a shill for the Right – closely aligned, with the JLM, LFI and intent on currying favour with the right-wing Jewish organisations such as Pollards ‘Jewish Chronicle’, the CST and the BoD.
Please use this address: safeguarding@labour.org.uk or this number 0207 783 1134 to complain.
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/statement/jo-bird-leading-left-candidate-for-the-nec-has-been-suspended/
Jo is the leading left candidate running for the NEC so the timing of this suspension is deeply suspicious and has the hallmarks of a deliberate attempt to undermine members’ wishes and Party democracy.
We urge all Labour Party members to argue for Jo’s candidature to be considered at CLP nominating meetings. If this is prevented members should consider the option of calling an emergency AMM/GC as soon as possible after the nominating meeting to discuss and condemn threats to the Party’s democracy from the misuse of our disciplinary processes to secure partisan advantage in internal elections.
If the suspension is for antisemitism we can say we have known Jo for a long period and worked closely with her. We know she is a proud Jew and opposed to antisemitism just as she is has shown over the years to be an active opponent of all racism.
Suspension before investigation is an extreme measure and the Party must show to all members why they have taken such a step in the middle of an election process.
As usual, JVL coming up with sanity and a measured response.
… which puts the BoD nexus into context for the rabid Right wing partisan outfit that it is.
I tried to include Jo Bird as nominee in our CLP meeting last night. Our chairperson was prepared to do so until it was pointed out that Jo had been suspended. CLP secretary had not been informed. If an accusation is made, you are immediately suspended & removed as a candidate; how convenient.
Why was Jo Bird suspended, yet again? Who made the accusation & on what grounds? Stunning silence from General Secretary who failed to inform CLPs. Guilt by accusation is Orwellian but a useful tool to silence & remove opposition permanently.
No openness; no transparency; no defence. Is the Labour Party heading in the right direction?
SteveH What do the union reps on the NEC do? They have over the last five years sat on their hands and done nothing, while the members they are supposed to represent have been systematically abused by the right wing factions in the party.
I am a Unite member. Unite offer legal advice for their members. When I was expelled they told me they could not help me because it was a conflict of interest. (technically, I was not readmitted to the party, but the CLP hate me saying I was expelled. They would rather I said I was bullied out of the party and the same cabal refused my readmission, because that’s a much better reflection on them). Many of that same cabal were Unite members.
So, if you have the right union connections, you can do and say what you like with impunity. All members pay their union subs so must be entitled to the same level of representation, but that isn’t happening.
If the same abuse towards members happened in a work place setting, the union would be outraged. So, why are they accepting this the Labour party? Why do they accept abuse from one union member against another, then refuse to investigate?
I think the answer is simple, certainly in the case of Unite. They are part of the corruption.
Newtona – I was a member of Unite.
Nick Davies’s ‘Flat Earth News’ was published in 2008 – way before the Corbyn era.
His examination of the work of the Israel Lobby and the Hasbara initiative is fascinating context. I won’t quote extensively, but note :
“Journalists who write stories which offend the politics of Israeli lobby are subjected to a campaign of formal complaints and pressure on their editors …”
He goes on to detail particular examples, and the resulting exclusion of the Palestinian case.. This is the background – not so much conspiracy on the part of journalists, but cowardice in the face of the enemy. Familiar?
Fucking joke of a party.
I have tried to contact Jo Bird, but as part of the terms of her suspension by the NEC, she is not allowed to talk about, nor even confirm that she has been suspended. Arriving @ the wrong destination yet again?
Asa Winstanley has resigned from the Party. Those who keep tabs will know him as a pro-Human Rights journalist who is an advocate for the Palestinian cause.
He was – like other good anti-racists – suspended through the farcical disciplinary procedures ‘pending investigation’ at the behest of the racist and amorphous Israel Lobby. His problem was the usual one : truth telling.
His article can be read here :
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/why-i-just-quit-labour-party
Another exposure of the attacks being made on anti-racists.
Much as I hate to distract you from the injustice perpetrated against Jo Bird, there is a contest for Leader of the Labour Party.
If we get Sir Keir Starmer, Labour will shift to the right and will appeal only to a narrow section of the liberal metropolitan middle class – with consequent loss of even more “heartland” seats.
http://statsforlefties.blogspot.com/2020/02/why-long-bailey-is-most-electable.html
If we get RLB, we get someone who is Lansman’s glove puppet – a captive of the Israel Lobby – and you don’t get much more ‘right’ than that in the meaningful sense of the term.
RH who pretends a radical position,but is actually of the right,and is very careful when criticising RLB to avoid telling us who he thinks should get the gig.Come on RH,be brave,you can tell us you support “Woodentop” Starmer,we won’t tell anybody.
john thatcher 08/02 at 7:31 pm.
What is ‘radical’ about supporting RLB?
“What is ‘radical’ about supporting RLB?”
It’s a disease of the knee – it jerks …
… and the mouth : it shouts ‘RIGHT!’ when contradicted.
Sort of related to Foot and Mouth disease.
(For the record – my current instinct is to chicken out of voting, but certainly I won’t be endorsing anyone close to Lansman)
That’s a very interesting article. Thanks for sharing.
Whatever the Labour party are selling I am not buying it,and life goes on beyond the Labour party.But does the Labour party go on with this AS scam they are selling?,…The party ditchs the scam or the membership or the party will disappear into its own “Arshole” .
Nothing new cmds. Look at the history of the LP. We don’t live in a democracy. If we want democracy then we have to argue and campaign for it, within the LP and outside of it.
It seems reasonable to argue that Labour Parties across the world have failed abysmally, as the voters have got onto their game of smart suits, suntans, public school accents, lies and betrayal. And of course military coups when the Left have remained true to their word.
At least the LP haven’t started murdering their own members as the SDP did in Germany in the 1920’s. The ruling class will ensure that the LP never becomes a vehicle for socialism, but most voters don’t seem aware of that; most think we live in a democracy.
Maybe we should start the discussion about the future. It doesn’t matter how much the Left abides by the rules, the other side don’t. The Right can’t abide democracy if that means losing control. And what do we call people who don’t believe in democracy?
“The Right can’t abide democracy” … and nor can the Tooting left!
We are up the creek.
“and nor can the Tooting left”
, that maybe so RH but there are many of us ,( the majority I would conjecture of the 300K plus people who joined as new members under Corbyn ) , who are not of the Tooting Left , but more of the sane Socialism persuasion.
I suspect that this majority indeed want a Labour Party or an-other Party that so represents that position . We came close with JC and his attempts to democratise the party.That at present looks stymied by the RW in the PLP et al .
It may take another one or two defeats before Labour changes into something more like that IMO , or it splits.
Thus , leaving a majority of presently elected PLP MPs of the Tory lite / pseudo Libdem remaining as the rump of Labour (Nu Labour revived ? ) , and a majority of the membership moving to support the new Socialist Party .
Either way I am of the mind that it will be a long haul now before the UK (if indeed it is still a UK by then ) is be offered the chance again of something better .
rob – “That at present looks stymied by the RW in the PLP”
I was under the impression that it was Unite and other union vested interests that thwarted the moves to democratise the party. It was also rather telling that even when they given a golden opportunity the ‘left’ couldn’t get their act together to get rid of Hodge.
“ut there are many of us ,( the majority I would conjecture of the 300K plus people who joined as new members under Corbyn ) , who are not of the Tooting Left ”
You are absolutely right, rob – and precisely my point : that umbrella descriptions of ‘left’ (and ‘right’) don’t reflect the actual heterogeneous nature of the Labour Party membership.
For clarity : when I use the disparaging term ‘Tooting Left’, I am not describing the majority of those who would self-describe as ‘left’.
SteveH ref Unite , I hope ( ha ! ) that McCluskey now can see the error of his ways , getting rid of Hodge I am not sure of the make up or dynamics of her CLP , it maybe riddled with corruption , i.e placemen on the committee , that would make attempts to remove her very tough, hence the positives of “some leadership candidates ” supporting open selection , & RH agreed re terms but so long as one is aware of those terms not morphing/hijacking into centrist Socialism aka Nu Labour crap
rob – Reference getting rid of Hodge, Hodge’s CLP triggered her so a OMOV ballot was held. Considering the numbers involved it is surprising that the ‘left’ couldn’t muster enough like minded members to make a one time visit just to cast their vote against Hodge.
Hodge secured 233 votes out of almost 400 cast, winning the eliminating ballot on the first round. She secured more than 50% of first preference votes.
The comments on here reflects the broad church ideology and because of this socialism and will sink into oblivion unless we get a leader who acts like a leader.None of the candidates for the leadership qualify has socialist or true leaders…. Very sad really but we have done all we can within the “staight jacket” that we are trapped in by the Labour party .and those that govern..if thats the word for a stitch up..
True to some point Joseph , the candidates are imo a very poor bunch as I have said previously , Piddock may have been potentially good , Lavery the same , but neither are standing,( not sure where in the rules it says the Leader must be a MP ? ) Then there was Chris Williamson again nicley neutralised by the Twatson twat , so it’s a hobsons choice , in any case not sure it matters too much as imo the party long term is not sustainable in its present form and needs to radically change ( fight back on false AS BS ) or split
Had Clive Lewis got through, we might have had a choice.
RH – Couldn’t agree more, unfortunately Clive Lewis made a tactical mistake by making party democracy a central plank of his campaign before securing enough PLP nominations.
The hard reality is that an indisputably left-wing leader was recently massively defeated.
Don’t mistake – I know the reasons why. But the idea that some paragon of a narrowly-based so-called ‘socialism’ is simply going to win the day and convert the block of Tory votes, and win over the key wobbling vote is just pie in the sky.
Let’s start from a realistic base.
Sir keir Starmer…..mr moderate has been reported to the watchdog for hacking into membership data and other info by the Labour party.The dirty tricks by the right have started and will he be allowed to continue? The NEC were Quick to suspend Chris Williamson ,I wonder how they will deal with Starmer ?
Joseph – Sir Keir Starmer…..mr moderate has been reported to the watchdog for hacking into membership data and other info by the Labour party
But that is not really the truth. I suggest that other readers read the full report here.
https://labourlist.org/2020/02/row-explodes-over-data-breach-claims-in-labour-leadership-election/
Try the canary for the Truth,Labour list is a moderate one girl band rag Trust SH to plug the right wing moderates,and knightly starmer of course!No then again Squawkbox beats them all on capturing the sense of morality or lack of in our society.!
Joseph – Where does the report in The Canary contradict the report from LabourList. The only real difference I can see is that my link has reported the response by KS’s team in full rather than the partial quote given in The Canary.
As we know, we’re in the era of Fake Nooz. It works right throughout the political spectrum, and this story is another one pushed by a paricular faction – this time anti-Starmer.
As to the veracity – or the significance – best to just wait and see. I just note that it comes soon after the sudden appearance non-story about Naz Shah’s bankruptcy.
But, as we know from the £75000 bill accrued by Skwawkbox, Fake Nooz isn’t just confined to the Israel Lobby.
My scepticism is tending more and more towards cynicism when reading anything. ‘Twas always thus, to some extent, but one of the side-effects of the success of the rubbishing of Corbyn is that it has produced a green light for such capers, pioneered by the MSM.
Do we think something like Jo Bird’s “joke” about “Jew Process” would have been tolerated about any other minority group? The fact that she is Jewish is irrelevant: would we tolerate anti-black “jokes” simply because some black uncle Tom came out with them?
Re ‘Tooting Left’. I don’t consider anyone to be Left if they can’t abide democracy, better to judge people on actions rather than their words I think. Socialism and democracy are inseparable.
The same creatures have got themselves into LP positions by pretending to be ‘Left’, then forming cosy relationships with the ‘old right’. They appear to think their role in the LP is to manage us, as many of them appear to have had that role, or still do, in their day-time jobs.
Fancy the ordinary members having the temerity to think they can expect the rules to be abided by!! The ‘managers’ hate the Left more than the Right; lessons from history to be considered cmds. I’ve noticed that very few of these creatures have ever held elected positions in the trade union movement, though hardly likely given their managerial roles.
I’m not sure how they think they’ll attract ordinary working class voters with those attitudes and actions. But then they don’t need to. Being a well heeled oppositionist isn’t a bad little No, and one for life if they succeed in removing socialist policies from the LP. Job’s a gudn!
They can afford to have reactionary Govts hell bent on unrestricted capitalism. Dangerous though, it’s why millions are turning to fascist organisations across the world as they see the LP ‘suits’ being no different to the rest, with nothing to offer politically except more of the same.
I stopped watching Question Time years ago as unless you heard the introductions, it was difficult to tell which political party the ‘contestants’ belonged to. One of the reasons we got battered in the GE I think, certainly judging by comments on the doorstep while canvassing working class estates in recent elections.
Strange isn’t it, how us working people don’t like being treated with contempt, with many voting Tory, probably holding their noses, rather than for a pale blue imitation. JC never had a chance with these treacherous individuals.
Jo Bird is named in this great and challenging letter to Formby that has been made public. Nat Sims accusing herself of ‘antisemitism’ via Jackie Walker FB account.
https://www.facebook.com/547534911/posts/10157333836679912/?d=n
I agree with every word and take this opportunity to say that the LP bureaucracy and self-serving political culture disgusts me beyond words. The hope of change under Corbyn folded in a cowardly whimper of ‘what can we do for you next to appease you’.
When the members backed Corbyn he didn’t take the opportunity to engage them as troops to support him in fighting the rot in the party.
Years wasted and back to business as usual. I feel for those who still believe LP is worth fighting for… I see it very differently and wouldn’t waste time or effort if I was a member. Parliamentary politics is plainly not currently a vehicle to deliver or fight for social and economic justice and perhaps for years ahead. Most parties are fundamentally embedded in neoliberal financial capitalism, western hegemony/militarism and politicians largely self-serving in a revolving door, lobbyist system that draws most into serving it.
Apology to Nat Sims who accuses ‘himself’.