Labour right’s Islamophobia leads to chaos in London borough
The Labour right’s mass purge of Muslim councillors and applicants in the London borough of Waltham Forest, which Skwawkbox exclusively reported in December, has led to a ‘meltdown’ in the party’s local election preparations, according to local press. The Waltham Forest Echo has noted that, with just three months to go until polling day, Labour has still not finalised its candidate selections and is mired in appeals as councillors try to fight their deselection.
The Tories are also struggling.
The anti-Muslim purge took place just before Christmas when overwhelmingly-white selection panels deselected no fewer than 13 out of 14 Muslim applicants to become candidates – including all 10 Pakistanis and Kashmiris.
Of forty existing councillors seeking to stand again, four were blocked: a Pakistani cabinet member who has been a councillor for 27 years and came within two votes of winning the council leadership only a few months earlier; two other Pakistanis and the most senior black Cllr, who had been elected deputy group leader just in September.
Local mosques are demanding an investigation into what they consider clear anti-Muslim discrimination. The local Tories are also struggling to complete their selections.
Islamophobia is rife among the Labour right, as highlighted by a damning report by the Labour Muslim Network (LMN) in 2020. Keir Starmer and his sidekick David Evans promised to implement the report’s recommendations immediately and in full, but no action was taken and the LMN was forced to speak out again after Starmer brought in a centrist journalist to help write his conference speech last autumn who had defended Tories over the ‘Muslim question’. Purges of Muslim councillors and candidates have taken place in other areas and several Labour officers in nearby Newham resigned from the party last week in protest at the regime’s racism.
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Meanwhile TUSC is standing Dave Nellist in the Birmingham Erdington bye-election on 3 March,
against the Tories and the right wing Labour candidate.
https://www.facebook.com/nellistforerdington
Will Skwawkbox carry an article on the campaign?
amnonbc…..I hope squawky do carry a piece on a true socialist Dave Nellist whos name on honesty and integrity second to none..He will stand up for the invisible working-class people who are asked to carry the can for successive conservative \libs and labour who only represent a narrow minority of greedy self obsessed politician’s and old school chums.They know nothing about the people and even less about morality.
The Spectator’s parliamentarian of the year, on one occasion, if my memory serves me well.
If Labour can’t even get enough candidates it begs the next question.. “At the election will it get any votes”
and it begs the question: what is the alternative?
Sadly for the first time in 40+ years of voting Labour it will have to be void my ballot with ‘None of the Above’ on it. I will alwase vote we fought wars to keep that last remain right it seams we have left in this awfully Tory land. I have to much respect for my socialist parents and grand-parents to not come out and vote!
But if PAL or a real socialist party isn’t standing a candidate here for me to vote for. Sadly I live in deep dark Tory south east coast and there is a zero chance of not returning a damn Tory here.
Disabled granddad….I personally always enjoyed reading the so called spoilt votes which can be extremely enlightning and entertaining if you are a candidate having to wait through a long night somtimes….A few suggestions I enjoyed “f.off youre all the same” F.the tory scum “a tick against my name and” I wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire “….
I always thought that it would be nice to reply that I will leave the pissing to my so called comrades who would agree with you..regards.comrade.!
At this time a Tory Muslim woman has claimed that she lost her front bench job because of Islamophobia. Johnson is allegedly having her claims investigated but the issue has been largely ignored by the BBC and the MSM.
In Starmer’s Labour support for Palestinians (the vast majority of whom are Muslim) has been outlawed and anyone who makes even the mildest criticism of Israel for its treatment of them has the accusation Anti Semite hurled at them prior to their expulsion from the party. Can we even begin to imagine the hurt that causes our members who are Arab or Muslim? The purge of Muslims in Waltham Forest is just more of the same.
It also goes beyond political parties – look at the treatment of the actress Emma Watson at the hands of a Zionist bully for showing Solidarity with Palestinians. Nobody dared to say she was right and was being bullied in case the “antisemite” label was attached to them too. Disgusting.
The bottom line as far as I can see is that most Muslims are not well off, in fact many are poor and as a consequence they are powerless and they don’t count as far both the MSM Tories and Starmers Labour are concerned.
However while they may lack money and power one thing our Muslim brothers and sisters do have is approx 2million votes . Therefore I would urge all our Muslim members and supporters to withhold their votes – just stay at home – at election time or else vote for a known non- racist if one is standing. If they organise and do this as a group it will have a massive impact on the outcome of any elections and I think they would see a swift change in attitudes towards them.
Regarding Waltham Forest specifically the Muslim candidates concerned should go public locally, expose the Labour bigots and Islamophobes who discriminated against them and stand on an anti-racist ticket. If the local electorate knew half of what has gone on I have no doubt whatsoever that every single one of the Muslim candidates would be elected which would leave Starmer and his racist colleagues with egg all over their faces.
Re Emily Watson, take a look at the website of Jewish Voice for Labour.
Thanks for this Paul. I am delighted to see that the vilification of Emma Watson seems to have backfired on the despicable bully who maligned and sought to silence her.
The lack of candidates will be seen as an opportunity rather than a problem as it will mask the distinct absence of campaigning boots on the ground during the coming local elections season.
Surely they can’r have run out of the cardboard cutouts.
I wonder if we are entering into “the wrong type of party” were Johnson is seen holding a drink in the downing street party and the fascists leader of the Labour party is seen slurpping out of the neck of a beer bottle inside offices.of the partytime dictator…..difficult to see the difference except ones in the open air and no masks and ones in a confined space inside and no masks…..are they brave,reckless or do they know somthing you don’t?