Labour’s cowardice on show when Corbyn was suspended comes into play again
Wimbledon Labour members were unceremoniously shut down by the acting ‘CLP’ chair last Friday when they tried to discuss the party’s treatment of members – with the chair allegedly claiming it was done ‘on the direct orders’ of Keir Starmer’s general secretary, David Evans.
In a Facebook post to the Wimbledon Momentum Facebook page, Gill McCall – a Jewish woman who grew up amid the evils of South African apartheid – wrote:
FIRST THEY CAME By Martin Niemöller
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.At the AMM of Wimbledon CLP last night, at least 5 people of the 33 people on the Zoom call wanted to raise the serious issue of the tsunami of suspensions and expulsions of dozens of hard-working, dedicated Labour Party members: some of us have been members for most of a life time, and some of us (like me) joined the Party because of the HOPE that Jeremy Corbyn offered, as the twice-elected Leader of the Labour Party.
One by one, these earnest, experienced, articulate Comrades were shut down by the Chair. Apparently he was working to the direct orders of Evans himself! No motions critical of the Leadership; no discussions about why so many good people, including High Profile people like Ken Loach, have been expelled; no discussion about the impact of the loss of at least 150,000 members and their subs, has had and will continue to have, on the financial viability of the Party; no discussion about the lack of POLICY or OPPOSITION from a lacklustre Starmer. The CLP has lost its sparkle: even with Rosenna Allen-Khan MP as the Guest Speaker, talking about the plight of the NHS, they only drew 30 members (plus the Chair & Secretary) to a Zoom meeting.
Gone are the days (when JC was Leader, and I was the CLP Secretary), where we could no longer fit into our meeting room at William Morris House; month by month, we were attracting over 80 people to our AMMs. When one of the Comrades mentioned this, there was a sotto voce comment about “opinions being divided”. Surely, that in itself, is a topic for proper debate?
But what I really want people to think about, what the serious message is here, is what My Dave managed to blurt out before the Chair unceremoniously gagged him, is for people to recall the words of Pastor Neimoller quoted above:
I have already been labelled as Antisemitic by local members; “the wrong kind of Jew,” because I support the cause of the Palestinians; I have had threatening letters of suspension and /or expulsion from the GLU over two years; I chose to protest the recent rash of Proscriptions, seeing this as a seriously antidemocratic move, and for that, I was auto-expelled. I call this succession of events INTIMIDATION.
Not a single member of the CLP Executive has ever approached me for my side of the story. The GLU [Labour’s ‘governance and legal unit’] expected me to self-incriminate. I cut my political teeth as a Jewish child living in Apartheid South Africa: I have learned a lot about Anti-Semitism, about intimidation, about fear of persecution; and arriving in UK as a young adult, the child of refugees from South Africa, I knew then that I would ALWAY STAND UP AND BE COUNTED whenever I saw RACISM IN ANY GUISE, INTIMIDATION, ANTIDEMOCRATIC POLICY.
The English writer, John Heywood wrote in 1546, “ there are none so blind as those who will not see.” On the night of the Holocaust Memorial, when people still ask themselves WHY and HOW the Holocaust in Europe could ever have happened, these words, along with those of Pastor Neimoller, seemed rather apposite.
I would like to thank those 5 people who spoke out last night, my heartfelt thanks and respect: We need more people like you.
Ms McCall also alleges that the CLP secretary claimed to have his ‘own membership database’, which she believes is a breach of GDPR data protection laws.
In late 2020, David Evans tried to ban CLPs from debating motions of no-confidence in Keir Starmer to protect his patron – and also banned motions of no confidence in himself.
Amnesty International has today published a report declaring Israel an apartheid state for its treatment of Palestinians – and went further to call for the International Criminal Court to take action against perpetrators, triggering panic among Starmer’s right-wing faction after Young Labour shared and supported the report’s conclusions.
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Yes I’m afraid, another example of Right wing Labour crushing argument because they are devoid of ideas, are frightened of being radical, and see themselves (as paternalists) as ‘The Great Men and Women of History’ (without an original idea in their heads?)
And when it comes to policy it is mediocrity and crumbs from the Neo-Liberal capitalist’s table when us left wing democratic socialists want the bloody table!
Are Right Wing Labour now totally under the thumb of the Trilateral Commission?
Right Wing Labour won’t win but if by a miracle it did it would be Right Wing Labour in Government but NOT in power!
Some of us are working on a new left wing democratic socialist party to offer REAL CHOICE otherwise it’s Blue, Pink or Yellow Pro-Neo Liberal capitalist parties at the next GE!
Can’t find McCall’s post on Facebook. Could we have a link?
Well thats her for the fit up “treatment.Soul destroying .. sympathy and warm words will not help her with fascists…
left the party over a year ago but still waiting for my red triangle
I’ll post SteveH’s response so he can take the day off at his Caribbean spendour palace: “Why Didn’t Corbyn do something about this when he was leader? Starmer wrote for a socialist magazine in 1573! Have you looked at the policies yet? There’s no support for a Left alternative if you haven’t personally worked to build one yet!”.
Did I miss any of his tropes yet?
He’d cerainly have built-in something against Jennie Formby, but otherwise perfect, kenburch.
Spookily accurate KenBurch. But let’s be careful. This could be like saying Candyman 3 times, and we might invoke the monster into appearing!!!
Let’s face it…if Starmer does somehow scrape in, he’ll be “National Government 2.0”. He’s probably already decided which Tories will be most of the Cabinet.
The Liberal box, has spoken.
Could you lot be more centrist?
This blog is as bad as the coffee addict’s one. Rachael Swindon’s, piss poor one.
Liberal central.
Not even vaguely left wing.
You call Damien from Brighton an activist, I call him a racist, who blocks black people, who have endured a year of abuse.
Bit of a change of subject but feel that we need to bust the myth that Social Democrat Mayor Burnham’s Manchester will be in complete control of the buses?
They are basically picking the public’s’ brains to plan better services which should lead to improvements but we essentially do the work and private bus companies hoover up the profits from our efforts!
And as far as I have read council ownership of the buses is NOT allowed by the Tory Govt as they treat the citizens of the North like political children!
An example of Lightweight Labour offering crumbs when we want the table?
But perhaps the Labour Mayors can’t see the Centralised Tory Wood because of a few progressive trees?
What we have with Mayors, I would argue, is FAKE LOCALISM (they have tiny budgets) as A FIG LEAF for TORY TOP DOWN TRANSPORT CENTRALISATION!
Well I don’t know the rules about public ownership of
buses – but I expect Mayor Burnham is doing his best
given the restrictions!
Up and down the Country Labour Councils, Councillors, PCC’s and Mayors are acting as human shields for Tory cuts and policies which impoverish the communities they are supposed to serve and protect.
The Tory Government make the cuts and the Labour representatives impose them and get the blame, Leaving the Government Teflon coated.
What a scam.
WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his fight for human rights, democracy and press freedom, it was confirmed today.
German MEP Martin Sonnenborn responded to an appeal by Mr Assange’s partner Stella Moris ahead of today’s deadline for nominations.
“Julian Assange has made unique and undeniable contributions to peace by lifting the fog of war,” Ms Moris said urging support for the journalist who remains locked up in Belmarsh high-security prison.
Mr Sonnenborn said that he nominated Mr Assange “for his fight for human rights, democracy and press freedom.”
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/julian-assange-nominaated-nbel-peace-prize-his-fight-democracy?fbclid=IwAR0wAeh4H7kgDLp05fNRZkkj7RUpW8NHl9vWxA5Rm0qb3YROaHVqhMSRy2U
Yes, it is a “politically driven prosecution” for publishing details exposing the world’s rich and powerful elites.
As Ken Loach asked,“Starmer should be challenged, what does he know?”
qwertboi – You know full well (or at least you should do) that this is for the courts to decide.
Keir “10-Pleges” Starmer’s actions in the pollitically driven persecution of a fine and courageous journalist is not a matter for the courts – for heaven’s sake, Starmer was DPP when he undertook them.
No, Stevieh, the voters have more authority and power on this than any court, and signs are that they’ll exercise both.
qwertboi – It is unfortunate that you have so little understanding of the roles of the various parties involved in extradition proceedings.
“It is unfortunate that you have so little understanding of the roles of the various parties involved in extradition proceedings.
It is unfortunate that you have so little understanding of the role of DPP Keir Rodney Starmer in setting up Julian Assange and facilitating totally unwarranted (but politically driven) extradition proceedings against him.
Or maybe you do.
qwertboi – Perhaps you should familiarise yourselves with how little latitude the CPS has in extradition cases. Their actions are governed by the extradition treaties in place and it is the courts that make all the decisions not the CPS.
https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/joint-committees/human-rights/Extradition/JCHR29032011.pdf
It is a long document but it is comprehensive and informative.
We must start a new party. This is a form of fascism, and we need to break it quickly, or it will break us.
Apart from a general lack of support what is stopping you?
Test the market
Is there a CLP out there with a hugely popular MP who is prepared to stand up and stand against the party
Or
Is there a CLP who could trigger their RW MP
Or
Get 100’s of CLP’s to endorse the Amnesty report
For the love of God just do something to knock the fuckers back on their feet and remind them they are 5 steps from a pitchfork ectomy
Doug – How did the TUSC get on the last time they contested a parliamentary seat?
SteveH
Pressure cooker politics always ends in tears for the fuckers sitting on the lid
Doug – I’ve no idea what you are on about.
Voting.
How quaint, that you think it means something.
Same Old Frank – Is that what passes for a profound thought in your small circle. 🙄
A distinct independent political movement or movements yes – but a political party is a while scale different ambition. It us not 1900 and the scale of the task with so many Demands is a quite different proposition.
Our CLP zoom meetings aren’t happening, not enough people can be bothered to attend so they aren’t quorate. We weren’t allowed to discuss freely things that were important to us, so no point in attending.
A state of affairs which is replicated in CLP’s & Ward Branches across the Country.
And which will also impact equally negatively in getting campaigning boots on the ground in the forthcoming local election season with dire effects.
I see Smarmarite as run with a U turn on manda.tory vaccinations for NHS workers by the government.Yes the damage as already been done and my neice a specialist of twenty years in end of life care was forced to look for another job outside the NHS after being told that she must have the full course of jabs.How many more have left if you consider a Town(not city)of Bolton were down to loose 500NHS employees at the Bolton hospital.?So the repercussions for the public in the loss of trained people will make a NHS crumbling infrastructure even more liable to the private sector Carpetbaggers to destroy the concept of a free at the point of delivery safegaurd for the people.Another combined assault by the combined forces of the conservative and unionist party and the Labour tribute band….shame on you that support them..!
I see our very own “Mike Nelson” of plastic bag snorkling has arrived from the depths of the Caribbean bolt hole….Youve got to admire the beating your head against the wall persistence.I still don’t believe that even the knight clown would pay for Stevie wonder boy 👦H amateur hour..I don’t see how taking the pi..can achieve anything but maybe thats the answers to just what the end game plan is.for the knight and the rabble….bankruptcy?
I am sure that the real Labour party leader is on the front page of anphoblact denouncing the murder of fourteen cival rights protesters on the streets of Derry fifty years ago yesterday.Many forget the injured and crippled on that bloody massacre,but Jeremy mentioned them and the reason why they were gunned down for protesting against the internment of young catholics without any trial or charges other than being a Catholic nationalist.The youngest fourteen and the oldest fifty and Jeremy explaining in their thousands catholics were lifted from the streets,works and even school and banged up behind the wire for years.Them ordinary civilians were murdered and maimed by the parachute regiment recruited from the back streets of Glasgow many brought up on religious hatred and violence.and were released on ordinary civilians.in Derry and every town in partitioned Ireland were catholics were in the majority..The brutal murder of civilians carried on because not one mp other than Bernadette Devlin showed that we are not second class citizens.and she did it in style when she delivered and crossed the floor of the house and punched the home Secretary in the face….to stunned silence..!
fifty years later a true Labour leader and peacemaker shows that the Labour party are not all bigots and stand shoulder to shoulder and demand justice for the innocent!…we will not forget them..!God bless Jeremy Corbyn