I'm being investigated by Labour for action that "undermines the Party’s ability to campaign against racism" and "may reasonably be seen to involve antisemitic actions, stereotypes and sentiments". Summary charges are below with links to the 14 items in the rest of the thread.
EXHIBIT 1
This article that @abbyhoffmann and I wrote on Jewish identity, specifically this sentence: "The weaponisation of anti-semitism against the left and how it is used to silence criticism of Israel are well-rehearsed." morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/how-…
A weird thing is that the letter contains screen grabs of all these tweets with my Twitter icon of TV's Betty, a character who faces lies, abuse and sabotage from many of her colleagues with a generosity of spirit that is similar to Corbyn's and that I admire but do not share.
Thanks for reading to the end, I'm going to try to shamelessly leverage this thread by asking you to sign & share a petition. You don't need to be from Hackney to sign, you just need to care about public housing and development for people not profit. you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/morn…
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1/5: The Labour Party bullied, intimidated & abused its left wing members for years. Labour politicians who said nothing about that, and in some cases participated in it, are now accusing lefties of bullying, intimidating & abusing them.
Examples from my YouTube channel follow.
2/5: The lovely Stephen Marks who was a long time Labour member and former county councillor was abused by Labour's disciplinary processes and bullied out of the Party.
3/5: My friend Jonathan Rosenhead who made a huge contribution to our local party was also abused by Labour who suspended him and demanded he take antisemitism training despite his deep understanding and experience of antisemitism as a British Jew.
1/6: This University of Warwick report on antisemitism is helpful.
On definitions of antisemitism such as the IHRA, the authors write: "incorporating these definitions into the contractual obligations of members of the Universities is legally unsafe". jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/app/uploads/20…
2/6: They are clear on the law: "It is illegal to treat a definition of antisemitism as a legal code that applies to conduct directly, and it is illegal to fail properly to account for free speech obligations in assessing whether speech or academic work violates the law."
3/6: "It is unclear what it means for a university to adopt a definition. If it implies that a definition should be applied uncritically either in the educative or disciplinary setting, we reject the whole idea that Universities should adopt definitions of antisemitism."
*Important thread*
Labour right factionalism in Hackney has led to a crisis
The leadership of Hackney North have been removed by Party staff for asking questions about safeguarding after a candidate arrested for possessing images of child abuse was elected as a councillor
(1/6)
The statements in the tweets above come from left wing members of Hackney Labour Party who have tried to raise concerns internally and been aggressively shutdown both by right wing members locally, including councillors, and by Party staff.
Some key points follow.
(2/6)
The Labour left join calls from campaigners outside Labour for @PhilipGlanville to resign *now* : "Philip Glanville's position as Mayor is untenable after a fundamental breach of trust with Party members and the Hackney electorate. He should resign with immediate effect."
(3/6)
I tell her I am Jewish & that I agree with a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism, but the party is so gung-ho that it is now labelling people antisemitic who simply aren’t – & there is a danger of destroying lives in the process.
“I don’t know the details of that case. But...
“it is so important that we are seen to – and we do – tackle antisemitism. Ken Loach, you might like his films, but his views … certainly, they are not ones I share.”
That doesn’t make him antisemitic, I say.
“You don’t think Ken Loach is antisemitic? ... I think we might have..
“to agree to differ.”
Why does she think he is antisemitic? “I’m not on the bodies that make these decisions, but I think it’s right we have a zero-tolerance approach.”
You can’t make such an accusation without supporting it, I say.
“Well, look, I’m not on the body who makes...”
(1/11) It has become commonsense to compare the UK left to the Nazis. Such comparisons get no significant pushback. This thread gives 10 examples. I discuss these and their impact in my most recent video.
(2/10) August 2016: Michael Foster, writing in the Daily Mail, compared Corbyn supporters to the Sturmabteilung or Nazi stormtroopers dailymail.co.uk/debate/article…
(3/10) September 2016: Images like this were shared across social media and the idea of providing creches at Momentum events was compared to the Hitler Youth.
(1/7) David Baddiel says that he doesn't care about Israel and feels no connection to it. But his indifference does not mean that #jewsdontcount and antisemtism have nothing to do with Israel. A thread...
(2/7) Baddiel holds 'progressives' responsible for contemporary antisemtism, even that coming from the far right, on the grounds that they treat other forms of racism differently and largely ignore anti-Jewish racism.
(3/7) It is deeply ironic to make this argument in a prime time show on the most progressive of the UK's main TV channels, and citing the Royal Court as evidence given they've just staged 'Jews in their own words', and demonstrating culpability by focusing on two black women.