Assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail denies right-wing CAA influenced union’s decision to block showings of Corbyn film and readings of Winstanley book – but does not respond to question about correcting CAA’s claim that it did
Unite general secretary Gail Cartmail has attacked left-wing Jewish activist Tony Greenstein for criticising the union’s decision to ban showings of the film ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn/The Big Lie’ and Asa Winstanley’s forensic book ‘Weaponising Anti-Semitism: how the Israel Lobby brought down Jeremy Corbyn’.
Greenstein had written to the union in what he admits was a ‘forceful’ criticism of the union’s decision to cave in to the demands of the right-wing, reportedly Israel-funded, so-called ‘Campaign against Antisemitism’ (CAA). The CAA had boasted of bringing about the Unite ban, which the union’s management initially denied even existed, but an email from Cartmail on behalf of her boss Sharon Graham gave away the truth that the film and book had indeed been blocked.
In an email seen by Skwawkbox, Cartmail responded dismissing Greenstein’s complaint as a ‘falsehood’:
Mr Greenstein,
Your disagreeable attack is based on a falsehood. No one in Unite took advice from the Campaign Against Antisemitism, on ‘Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie’, nor indeed any other matter. I suggest you don’t believe everything you read on social media or elsewhere.
Unite as a union is outstanding in both our commitment to anti-racism and solidarity with the Palestinian cause, actions speak louder than words.
I suggest you fact-check before launching another ill-informed and blatantly untrue broadside.
Gail Cartmail
However, Greenstein has said that when he asked Cartmail whether Unite had contacted the CAA to ask it to delete its supposedly-false claim, he received no response.
Of Unite’s claim that the CAA had nothing to do with the union’s decision, Greenstein Tony Greenstein’s Blog: UPDATE ON UNITE & SHARON GRAHAM’S BAN ON ‘Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie’ & Asa Winstanley’s ‘Weaponising Anti-Semitism’ (azvsas.blogspot.com):
it is of course possible that the CAA are lying. The CAA are as obnoxious a bunch of Zionists as it is possible to find…
However I find it difficult to believe that even the CAA would deliberately lie about exchanging correspondence with Unite and having had contact with them.
Unite’s management has also, according to union insiders, attempted to justify the ban by claiming – entirely falsely – that the film contains a scene in which rabbis are shown along with a voiceover talking of ‘the enemy within’. As Skwawkbox revealed, the section of the film on the enemy within shows only a representation of anonymised right-wing party staff, with no rabbis in sight.
The ban has also been described as a symptom of Sharon Graham’s increasing cosiness with hard-right Labour leader Keir Starmer, whose faction is desperate – with the enthusiastic support of so-called ‘mainstream’ media – to prevent the spread of knowledge of the party’s sabotage of the Corbyn leadership and two general elections, and of awareness that the so-called ‘Labour antisemitism scandal’ was in fact a confected scam of smears and misrepresentations.
Either way, the Unite ban and other attempts to prevent people seeing the evidence have backfired: as so often happens, when people are told they are not supposed to see something, interest in seeing it rockets.
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And you thought bill morris sold out.
Toffee, funny that you should mention him. I was running through a list of treacherous Union tops, first thought, cricket loving avuncular Bill.
‘Hard Right Labour Labour Leader’ Keir Starmer…….I was watching Sky News ‘Press Review’ last night and there was Anna Soubry excitedly endorsing fellow barrister Der Sturmer! Says it all SteveH.
Steve – I forgive you for reminding me of Soubry’s existence.
apologies goldbach (& anyone else affected).
I resigned from Unite the Union I am politically homeless
What I find amazing is that the Charity Commission haven’t revoked the CAAs charity status a long time ago when it’s so blatantly obvious that it’s a black propaganda outfit.
Anyway, off topic, but I came across the following whilst doing some research just now in respect of Merkel. It’s from December last year, but well worth checking out, and the comments are quite interesting too:
‘Former German Chancellor Merkel admits the Minsk agreement was merely to buy time for Ukraine’s arms build-up’
Now, Merkel confirms that NATO wanted war from the start but needed time to prepare militarily……
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the US has pursued the goal of remaining the “sole world power.” To this end, Washington has waged numerous criminal wars and expanded NATO into Eastern Europe. Now it also wants to integrate Ukraine, Georgia and other former Soviet republics into NATO and subjugate Russia in order to plunder its resources and isolate China.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/12/22/ffci-d22.html
NB In June last year it was reported in the MSM all around the world that Merkel said the reason she opposed Ukraine becoming a member of Nato back in 2008 is because Putin/Russia would perceive it as a ‘declaration of war’ (by Nato), and she (and Sarkozy, who also opposed it) was absolutely right of course. And needless to say, the US and its Nato buddies were fully aware that THAT was the case, and that Russia would respond to prevent it from happening. Just as the US would if Mexico was planning to let Russia establish military bases there.
Unfortunately, Merkel was hot on posturing but would always cave in to the US. She was, however, quite adept at appearing to be a stateswoman. Scholz is less skilled, so it is always clear that he caves in. See this on Naked Capitalism:
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/09/europe-and-the-law-of-holes.html
Scholz is the eternal masochist. Polling suggests that the German citizenry are sick of him.
Goldbach, ” Scholtz is less skilled”. Mastery of understatement.
Notice how Unite and the CAA have to pass off their actions as moral: they are defending people from prejudice, upholding opposition to doctrines of supremacy. They have to do this because we are moral by nature. They get away with it because not enough people are well-informed enough to see through the phoney moral front. But this is our opportunity: push what they claim to stand for, universal equality, freedom of speech, individual autonomy and so on. If they are genuinely opposed to supremacism, why not permit the grassroots to decide?
‘Phoney Moral Front’, unofficial name of the new Labour Party.
JC can be wrapped in cotton wool, Jamie Driscoll would be the natural leader, bring back those who can give as good as they get
FPTP is ripe for the picking, both Tory parties are morally bankrupt, anything like a 2017 surge would sweep the board, you only have to get one more vote than the least detested party