On November 27, a majority of an all-members’ meeting of Labour Against the Witchhunt decided to merge with Labour in Exile Network. We will publish the new communication channels and website here when they are up and running. Four members of the LAW steering committee resigned following that decision (Jackie Walker, Tina Werkmann, Stan Keable […]
Category: discussion & debate
Why we have resigned from the steering committee of Labour Against the Witchhunt
Join statement Following the vote at LAW’s all-members’ meeting on November 27 to merge with Labour In Exile Network (by a vote of 47-27 with 12 abstentions, all votes and motions here), we have decided to resign from LAW’s steering committee. We cannot support the view that the struggle against the Labour witch-hunt is over, […]
Response to 4 LAW SC members who resigned
This is the response of the LIEN Steering Committee to the resignation letter from 4 members of the LAW Steering Committee To the Resigned Comrades in LAW in response to your email to members dated 30th November 2021. As members of the LIEN Steering Committee, we would like to respond to your letter to LAW […]
Stay and fight: A strategy for the next few months
Contrary to a report in the gossip section of the Spectator, LAW does not pursue a strategy of calling on members to leave the Labour Party. As it states in our lead motion to our August 28 members’ meeting: “LAW remains committed to fighting against the witch-hunt and urging the left to stay and fight […]
Roger Silverman: My reply to the Labour Party’s “Governance and Legal Unit”…
I have received your communication, in which you demand that I “provide evidence that I am not a supporter” of a group that you arbitrarily proscribed three weeks ago. This is a classic technique practised in all such purges going right back to the original witch-hunts of the seventeenth century. It defies all norms of […]
Letter in the Guardian: Antisemitism definition is undermining free speech
Lawyers and retired judges argue that the IHRA working definition undermines freedom of expression, and Gavin Williamson is wrong to forcefully impose it on universities. Letter is online here. The legally entrenched right to free expression is being undermined by an internally incoherent “non-legally binding working definition” of antisemitism. Its promotion by public bodies is […]
Ronnie Kasrils: Against the witch-hunt!
Ronnie Kasrils, is a former ANC freedom fighter, and was Intelligence Minister in South Africa. This article is based on Ronnie’s address to the launch rally for the ‘Campaign for Free Speech’, December 12, 2020. The video from the second session (with Ronnie) is here , the first session can be watched here The assault […]
Watch the video: What is Zionism?
Freedom of speech: Open letter from Moshé Machover
I am a member of the Labour Party, Hampstead and Kilburn CLP. In early October 2017 I received a letter (dated 3 October) from Sam Matthews, then the Party’s Head of Disputes, expelling me from the Party. The letter contained an insinuation that I had published an ‘antisemitic article’. This smear was not only false, but […]
There is no ban on discussing IHRA and other issues!
Please note that Labour party members have NOT been banned from discussing the IHRA mis-definition of antisemitism! The phrase “not competent business”, contained in Labour Party general secretary David Evans’s latest email (full text below), is nothing but hot air. It means precisely nothing. Find below scathing response from left wing barrister Duncan Shipley Dalton. […]
Video: Campaign for Free Speech! with Norman Finkelstein, Tariq Ali, Jackie Walker, Chris Williamson & others
This important event discussed how we can fight back against McCarthyite attempts to stifle debate on the issue of Israel/Palestine – and label those unjustly expelled and suspended as ‘unpersons’ who we are not allowed to share platforms with. No to (self-)censorship! Discuss how we can fight back and mobilise for free speech in the […]
No, Rebecca Long-Bailey, you SHOULD NOT sign up to the 10 pledges by the ‘Board of Deputies’!
No, Rebecca Long-Bailey, you SHOULD NOT sign up to the 10 pledges by the ‘Board of Deputies’! These outrageous demands, pushed by a bunch of Tory-supporting, pro-capitalists, should not just be ignored by any candidate running for the leadership of the Labour Party – but rejected outright as inappropriate interference. Email Rebecca if you think […]
Witchhunt one of the key issues at Labour Party conference 2019
While the majority of CLP delegates reject fast-track expulsions and the anti-left smear campaign, the right has the backing of the capitalist media. That, together with a conciliating leadership, gives them the upper hand, writes Peter Manson (this article first appeared in the Weekly Worker of September 26). In the words of deputy leader Tom […]
Pete Willsman’s suspension: Part of the coup against Corbyn
This article first appeared in the Weekly Worker Pete Willsman is the victim of a well-timed sting – yet his own CLPD comrades will not stand in solidarity with him. Carla Roberts reports On May 31, Labour Party general secretary Jennie Formby informed other members of the national executive committee that she had put Pete […]