The report ‘The work of the Labour Party’s Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014 – 2019’ (the Report), gives us irrefutable proof of the plotting and outright sabotage committed against Corbyn, and the hundreds of thousands who joined the party following his election in 2015, to fight for socialist and democratic change.
It is extremely unfortunate that the Report was only produced in the last days of Corbyn’s leadership. Drawing upon primary evidence it shows serious wrong-doing by senior party officials. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Left to radically transform the Labour Party and effect progressive change, was ruined by the Right in the party. At the same time, supporters of Corbyn were vilified and slandered, their voices silenced and their votes nullified.
Unfortunately, it appears that this was sometimes done with the knowledge, and occasionally even with the active participation of the Corbyn leadership, as in the case of the expulsion of Jackie Walker and the campaign against Chris Williamson.
Politically, the Report maps out an attack on Corbyn and his advisors, who had gained partial control of the NEC in April 2018 when Jennie Formby was appointed General Secretary, by a faction of their political predecessors appointed prior to Corbyn becoming leader. Our submission makes the case against the mistakes committed by both factions within the party machine. Continue Reading “Forde Enquiry: Submission by Labour Against the Witchhunt”→
As experienced activists in the Labour Party, we knew that the right in the party was plotting against Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters from day one. We knew, because we were the victims of their wrongful suspensions, their expulsions and their public smears and lies, all based on the flimsiest of evidence.
The report now gives us irrefutable proof of the plotting and outright sabotage committed against Corbyn and the hundreds of thousands who joined the party to fight for socialist and democratic change. It is a crying shame that this report was produced only in the last days of Corbyn’s leadership. It is based upon primary evidence showing serious wrong-doing by senior party officials. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the left to radically transform the Labour Party and achieve progressive change was ruined by the right in the party.
At the same time, supporters of Corbyn were vilified and slandered, their voices silenced and their votes reversed. Unfortunately, it appears that this was sometimes done with the knowledge and occasionally even with the participation of the Corbyn leadership, such as in the expulsions of Jackie Walker and Chris Williamson. Click here to read the full statement produced by the LLA and Labour Against the Witchhunt.
LAW and the Labour Left Alliance are collating and publishing witness statements, original documents, useful articles, statements and analyses on the report. It is important that the left learns some important lessons from the hugely successful campaign against Corbyn, orchestrated by the right inside and outside the Labour Party: Chiefly that attempts to appease the right are not only futile, they will inevitably lead to self-inflicted disaster and defeat.
Comrade Machover was briefly expelled himself – here is his first expulsion letter, which was followed by a second expulsion letter, before he was reinstated after an international outcry. Click here to read the full exchange between Moshe and the disgraced Sam Matthew, then head of ‘Disputes’.
“But the report does not reflect too well on its authors and on the political friends they champion. In fact, they broadly share with the scoundrels whom they denounce the same view of the validity of the accusations that the Labour Party has a serious anti-Semitism problem. They also wilfully ignore two of the three sources of hostility to the Corbyn leadership, which fuelled and motivated the campaign of alleged ‘anti-Semitism’ against this leadership and the party as a whole. I will deal with these two interconnected failures of the report in turn.” – Weekly Worker
Ken Livingstone
Moshe Machover’s brief expulsion was in fact based on this article defending Ken Livingstone (whose suspension and vilification were as absurd as his own):
“What did he [Ken Livingstone] say that got him suspended? Hitler came to power in 1932 and “supported Zionism until he went mad”. Of course, he got the date wrong, Hitler came to power in 1933. It was also wrong to personalise the shift in policy. But the point he was making about the Nazi regime and Zionism is basically correct, as I shall demonstrate.” – Labour Party Marxists
Craig Murray
“The report does conclusively refute the accusation that delays were occasioned by Jeremy Corbyn or his office, or that his office displayed any sympathy for anti-semitism. In fact, the opposite is the case. Corbyn’s office showed a proper hatred of anti-semitism, but also an alarming willingness to throw good people under the bus on very flimsy allegations of anti-semitism. pp306-7 The report shows a serious inability to distinguish between real, nasty anti-semitism and opposition to the policies of Israel. Furthermore, this is the attitude of the authors of the report themselves who in many scores of examples take for granted that the accusations of anti-semitism are sufficient to consider the case proven, and accept a number of specified opinions as proof of anti-semitism which are anything but.” – article
Anne Mitchell
Anne Mitchell is an activist in Brighton and Hove, a lifelong antiracist with strong feelings on the Israel-Palestine conflict in particular. She is a well-known local Palestine Solidarity activist. She was expelled from the Labour Party last October, without a hearing, solely on the “self-evident” basis of a small number of postings on social media. It was a bizarre process and an appalling judgment.
As Richard Kuper from Jewish Voice for Labour shows below, nothing in what Anne Mitchell posted justified a charge of antisemitism, let alone expulsion. – article
Asa Winstanley
Asa, a journalist for the respected Electronic Intifada, was suspended and then resigned before a hearing took place. He writes about the report that “…it reveals the extent to which Corbyn and his supporter, party general secretary Jennie Formby, conceded ground to the Israel lobby and the false narrative of rampant Labour anti-Semitism. After Corbyn, a lifelong Palestine solidarity campaigner, became leader in 2015, pro-Israel groups relentlessly attacked him and his supporters as anti-Semitic. This defamation campaign ultimately succeeded. The “crisis” was a top focus during the 2019 general election, and polling showed that Corbyn’s mishandling of it was one of the top five reasons for voters not supporting Labour. The Israel lobby declared victory, with one group claiming to have “slaughtered” Corbyn.” – Electronic Intifada
Chris Williamson
Chris is of course one of most famous victims of the witch-hunt and was sadly thrown to the wolves by Jeremy Corbyn and Jennie Formby who accused him in an email featured in the report of “a pattern of behaviour”. He has shown his own evidence to a small number of media outlets: “What emerges from his evidence is a picture of someone who, far from being antisemitic, is a principled anti-racist campaigner. Williamson’s support for Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, left-wing Jewish Labour supporters, and Palestinian rights is unwavering.” – Canary
Tony Greenstein
One of the first anti-racist campaigners to be expelled in the witch-hunt against Corbyn, Tony has written an excellent two-part analysis of the report – part 1 dealing with the racism and the sabotage of the right; part 2 dealing with the efforts of Corbyn’s office to throw anti-racist campaigners like Jackie Walker, Ken Livingstone and Marc Wadsworth to the wolves in a futile attempt to appease the right.
Greg is a well-known activist in Brighton and was elected secretary of Brighton, Hove and District Labour Party, but the votes annulled by NEC. He was suspended Oct 2016 and re-instated Feb 2019. He is publishing his evidence in installments – click here.
Jewish Voice For Labour
JVL has produced a detailed analysis of over 150 claims made by the Jewish Labour Movement in their late submission to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission in support of their charge that the Labour Party discriminates against its Jewish members when dealing with allegations of antisemitism. The executive summary of the analysis has been made available to the public.
This is how Chris Williamson has aptly summed up the High Court judgment, which was delivered at Birmingham’s Civil Justice Centre today, October 10 2019. The judge ruled that the Labour Party acted unlawfully in re-suspending Chris on 28 June, and “that there was no proper reason” for doing so.
The judge also confirmed that Chris’ ‘re-suspension’ must have been motivated by media hysteria. The judge said: “it is not … difficult to infer that the true reason for the decision in this case was that [NEC] members … were influenced by the ferocity of the outcry following the June decision.”
In fact, the party’s decision was so unfair as to be unlawful: Chris’ original suspension has been quashed, and all of the allegations presented in that suspension can no longer be pursued against him.
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 Watson, there is “a battle for the future of the Labour Party” going on. However, it is not about “factionalism”, as Watson claims, but the very nature of the party itself.
It goes without saying that as a key part of this battle the right has weaponised anti-Semitism – mainly by ludicrously equating anti-Zionism with “hostility to or prejudice against Jews”, but also by making numerous allegations of anti-Semitism that are just totally false. Take what happened at the Labour conference on September 22.
A suspended Labour member, Pete Gregson, had erected a banner, which featured a cartoon by Carlos Latuff. This portrayed Binyamin Netanyahu piloting a plane marked ‘The Lobby’, firing a “Defamation” missile and shouting “Anti-Semite!” at Jeremy Corbyn as he was speaking about “Palestinian rights”. Various pro-Zionists not only physically attacked the banner, but actually cut it in half – three times (after being quickly repaired), before the perpetrators were eventually apprehended. Even though two days earlier the police had said they could not see anything improper about it, eventually two officers removed the banner. Incredibly, Jeremy Corbyn tweeted soon after: “I’m disgusted that this banner was displayed near our … conference centre. We asked the police to remove it and I’m glad they did. This kind of anti-Semitic poison has no place whatsoever in our society.” Presumably Corbyn had been advised that it was bad PR.
The Guardian has refused to print this letter signed by almost 400 people within 48 hours of Jackie’s expulsion (including Noam Chomsky, Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell, Alexei Sayle and Ken Livingstone). It deems the issue “sensitive” and “controversial”. We believe the real controversy is that hundreds of good socialists and anti-Zionists like Jackie Walker have been investigated, suspended and expelled. This witch-hunt against Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters must stop!
Dear Sir/Madam,
The decision of the Labour Party to expel Jackie Walker for ‘“prejudicial and grossly detrimental behaviour” is both unfair and dishonest. Jackie was suspended over two years ago because of accusations of anti-Semitism yet her expulsion was for ‘misconduct’. [Labour expels Jackie Walker for leaked antisemitism remarks, March 27th]
Jackie’s original remarks, such as “not having heard a definition of anti-Semitism I can work with”, were obviously not anti-Semitic. Jackie’s real offence was being an anti-Zionist. Because of the difficulty of making a charge of anti-Semitism stick, Jackie’s alleged offence was changed to the subjective catch-all one of ‘misconduct’.
If anyone is guilty of misconduct it is those in Labour Friends of Israel who defended Israel’s murder of over 200 unarmed demonstrators in Gaza over the past year. False accusations of ‘anti-Semitism’ are the Zionists’ only method of defending the Israeli state.
Jackie’s expulsion is an attack on free speech. Rather than defend the world’s only apartheid state Israel’s supporters in the Labour Party cry ‘anti-Semitism’.
Over the past two years Jackie has been the victim of numerous attacks on social media which have questioned her Jewishness and talked about lynching and burning her. Not only has the Labour Party failed to defend her but it included some of this vile material within the dossier used to expel her, such as alleging she is “a white woman in dreadlocks”.
The expulsion of Jackie Walker is a matter of shame and we demand her immediate reinstatement.
Yours faithfully,
1. Noam Chomsky
2. Ken Livingstone
3. Miriam Margolyes
4. Alexei Sayle
5. Asa Winstanley
6. Steve Bell
7. Tony Greenstein
8. Jonathan Cook
9. Prof. Haim Bresheeth
10. Professor Dr Marco Chiesa
11. Prof. James Dickins
12. Prof. Yosefa Loshitzky
13. Prof. Wade Mansell
14. Prof. Dr. Willie van Peer
15. Prof Megan Povey
16. Prof. Chris Knight
17. Prof. Stephen Wagg
18. Kate Adams
19. Philip Adams
20. Alison Aiken
21. Salma Ali
22. Zulfqar Ali
23. Nadia Amara
24. Bonny Ambrose
25. Ian Ampleford
26. Sonya Andermahr
27. Alan Armstrong
28. Ben Armstrong
29. Zac Arnold
30. Shifa Askari
31. Susan Atkins
32. Cathy Augustine
33. David Avery
34. Clare Ayton-Edwards
35. Greg Axsel
36. David Bangs
37. Frances Bartram
38. Sid Bartram
39. Graham Bash
40. John Baxter
41. Janet Beale
42. Kevin Bean
43. John Beeching
44. Mark Bebbington
45. Jonathan Bellos
46. Karen Bett
47. Sonali Bhattacharyya
48. Peter Bloomer
49. Nigel Bowden
50. Lynda J Bowyer
51. Gary Boyle
52. Dr David Bramble
53. Peter Breingan
54. David Brown
55. Judith Brown
56. Theodore Brown
57. Tarin Brokenshire
58. Pam Bromley
59. John Burgess
60. Raymond Bush
61. Cllr Steve Bush
62. Robert Bunday
63. Neil Cameron
64. Sophie Cannivady
65. Andrew Carter
66. Avis Carter
67. Jonathan Chadwick
68. Phil Chetwynd
69. Cyril Chilson
70. Dr Tali Chilson
71. Dominic Chiverton
72. Rob Clarke
73. Ted Clement-Evans
74. Mike Clayton
75. Roger Coates
76. Matthew Collings
77. Christine Connolly
78. Marian Connollu
79. Steve Connor
80. Mariatu Conteh
81. Ruth Cooke
82. Andy Coombes
83. Jonathan Coulter
84. Maximilian Cowell
85. Fiona Crawford
86. Richard Crawford
87. Sandra Crawford
88. Lesley Crompton
89. Phil Crowe
90. Matthew Dale
91. Gerald Daly
92. Deborah Darnes
93. Deborah Darnes
94. Adrienne Davis
95. John Davies
96. Martyn Dawson
97. Ian Day
98. Richard Dixon-Payne
99. Tony Dodds
100. Catherine Doris
101. Cameron Dougherty
102. Clare Dove
103. Ian Dudley
104. Ty Ebright
105. Nancy Elan
106. Cathy Farnworth
107. Kamilia El-Farra
108. Jackie Fearnley
109. Jacqueline Finch
110. Deborah Fink
111. Dianne Fitzgibbons
112. Jeanette Fletcher
113. James Ian Fletcher
114. Flick Foreman
115. Nick Foster
116. Philip Foxe
117. Tom Foxe
118. Tommy Fowler
119. Ed Fredenburgh
120. Glynis Freeman
121. Helen Froggatt
122. Suzanne Gannon
123. Donna Gardner
124. Suzanne Gannon
125. Dr John Garrett
126. Dr Peter Gates
127. Chris Gaynor
128. Gloria George
129. John Gibson
130. Daphne Gilbert
131. John Gillespie
132. Helen Glazier
133. Deborah Good
134. Angie Graham
135. David Graham
136. Elleanne Green
137. Frankie Green
138. Pete Green
139. Sadie Green
140. Sharen Green
141. Peter Gregson
142. Roger Grenville
143. Helen Griffiths
144. Nell Griffiths
145. David Groom
146. John McGrory
147. Allan Grote
148. Andrew Gunton
149. Alex Gutteridge
150. Natalie Guy
151. Steve Hadden
152. Barbara Hainsworth
153. Paul Halas
154. Grace Halfpenny
155. Charlie Hall
156. Dr James Hall
157. Brigid Harbour
158. Jenny Hardacre
159. Emmet Haverty-Stacke
160. David Hawkes
161. David Hawkins
162. Trefor Harris
163. Alan Harrison
164. Maggie Hartley
165. Mervyn Hartwig
166. Joseph Held
167. Dorothy Hewitt Rimmer
168. Greg Hewitt
169. Ian Hickinbottom
170. Debbie Hicks
171. Mike Higgins
172. David Hillman
173. Simon Hindmarsh
174. Simon Hinds
175. Rebekah Hirsch
176. Dr. Abby Hoffmann
177. Diane Holland
178. Rachael Holliday
179. Doug Holton
180. Dee Howard
181. Mike Howard
182. Anna Hubbard
183. Alan Hubbard
184. Richard Hughes
185. David Humphrey
186. Neil Hunt
187. Jocelyn Hurndall
188. Linda Irvine
189. Diana Isserlis
190. Lisa Jacks
191. Andrew Jackson
192. Glyn Jackson
193. Maxine Jackson
194. Rob Jefferson
195. Glenn Jenkins
196. Alexander Jones
197. Barry Jones
198. Cath Jones
199. Cliff Jones
200. Carolyn Jordin
201. George Kambouroglou
202. Stan Keable
203. Afryl Kelly
204. Helen Kemp
205. Thea Khamis
206. Faraz Khan
207. Luqman Khan
208. Shaista Khan
209. Davy King
210. Jennifer King
211. Peter Kirker
212. Ruth Knight
213. Beverley Krell
214. Janet Lambrou
215. David Lancaster
216. Erica Lang
217. Diane Langford
218. Bernice Laschinger
219. Michelle Laufer
220. Paul Lawlor
221. Kay Lawrence
222. Helen Lee
223. Anna Lekay
224. David Letwin
225. Michael Letwin
226. Les Levidow
227. Bruce Levy
228. Mark Lewis
229. Nicholas Long
230. Jake Love Soper
231. Ian MacDonald
232. Duncan MacPherson
233. Dr Alan Maddisson
234. Neil Man
235. Sophia Mangera
236. Hal Mansfield
237. Helen Marks
238. Zoe Mars
239. Becky Matthews-Massey
240. Bruce Mattock
241. David Mattocks
242. Darren Maurice
243. Sandy McBurney
244. Terry McCarthy
245. Kathy McCubbing
246. Terence McGinity
247. Mike McGrath
248. Steve McKenzie
249. Fred McLean-Brown
250. Isobel McMillan
251. Ros Meadow
252. Laurraine de Melchor
253. Stephe Meloy
254. Paul Meaney
255. Michael Merritt
256. Steve Merriman
257. John Metson
258. Jay Millington
259. Simon Milner-Edwards
260. Angie Mindel
261. Anne Mitchell
262. Matthew Montagu-Pollock
263. Brendan Morgan
264. Dittany Morgan
265. Pauline Moriarty
266. Shosh Morris
267. Patricia Morrison
268. Elizabeth Morley
269. Sabah Al-Mukthar
270. Catherine Muller
271. Gareth Murphy
272. David Myles
273. Catherine Newall
274. Katie Nikiforou
275. Graham Noble
276. Dr Stephen Norrie
277. Eric Norris
278. Caroline Nunn
279. Steve Nunn
280. Sean O’Donoghue
281. Chris O’Donovan
282. Dennis O’Malley
283. Caroline O’Reilly
284. Edmond O’Reilly
285. Sheryl Odlum
286. Jackie Oversby
287. Tim Oxton
288. Gill Page
289. Pam Page
290. Jeremy Parker
291. Mieczysława Pascoe
292. Frances Patterson
293. Wendy Patterson
294. Robert Payn
295. Allan Pearson
296. Richard Peirce
297. Sarah Perrigo
298. Susan Phasey
299. Sasha Phillips
300. Andy Phipps
301. Lesley Phipps
302. Miranda Pinch
303. David Pinto
304. Brian Precious
305. David Prichard-Jones
306. Bern Price
307. Dipak Rajgor
308. Dr Anandi Ramamurthy
309. Scott Ramone
310. Roland Rance
311. Anthony Rawlinson
312. Gwynne Reddick
313. Nicola Redwood
314. Nigel Reigate
315. Peter Reilly
316. Iain Rendell
317. Dave Rendle
318. Jon de Rennes
319. Andy Richards
320. Steve Richards
321. Dorothy Rimmer
322. Geoff Roberts
323. Maria Roberts
324. Bryan Roe
325. Elke Rohn
326. Lee Rock
327. Ian Roddinson
328. David Roger
329. Vicky Russell
330. Michael Sackin
331. Kevin Safford
332. John Sanderson
333. Rob Sanderson
334. Pauline Sault
335. Nikki Scambler
336. Sarah Scott
337. Paul Scott
338. Reg Scott
339. David Selzer
340. Paul Simm
341. Andy Simons
342. Wendy Sindall
343. Mike Sivier
344. Michael Skiggs
345. Jane Smith
346. Peter Smith
347. John Smith
348. Tracey Smith
349. Wendy Smith
350. Darbiana Souza
351. Julie Speed
352. Linda Speight
353. David St Marthe
354. Dave Statham
355. Jan Steele
356. Mark Strawbridge
357. Paul Stygal
358. Tom Suárez
359. Sue Shaw
360. Catherine Tanner
361. Debbie Thompson
362. Steve Tiller
363. Paul Timperley
364. Cathy Toulet
365. Christine Tongue
366. Julian Townsend
367. David Travis
368. John Tymon
369. Mark Unsworth
370. Paula Varley
371. Barrie Vince
372. Terence Viney
373. Lorna Walker
374. Robert Walker
375. Adam Waterhouse
376. Daniel Waterman
377. David Watson
378. Martin Watson
379. Ian Wellens
380. Tina Werkman
381. Lee Whittaker
382. Bruce Whitehead
383. Stewart Whitehead
384. Michael Wilde
385. Stella Wilkinson-Maynard
386. Clare Louise Wilmott
387. Rita Williams
388. Stephen Williams
389. Norman Wood
390. Avril Wooster
391. Leonard Wright
392. Zoe Zero
393. Maciej Zurowski
Today’s expulsion of Jackie Walker from the Labour Party for “misconduct” – of which the Jewish Chronicle was informed before her solicitors – is a great injustice, though it does not come as a surprise. Although the panel took two days to come to their conclusion, the die had been cast long ago. The decision to charge her for a “pattern of behaviour” does not bode well for Chris Williamson MP, who has been accused of similar ‘offences’.
Jackie walked out on the first day of her hearing, because the panel did not allow her to read out a brief statement. This ruling once again emphasised the lack of fairness at the heart of the party’s disciplinary procedures: for example, the investigating officers added five new charges to their allegations a mere three working days before the hearing began, giving her no time to effectively challenge them and defend herself.
Click on the picture to watch a great little film of the protest produced by Jon Pullman.
Clearly, walking out made no difference to the eventual outcome – but she was able to expose the lack of natural justice at the heart of her case with a spirited party with the well over 100 people who came to the Deptford Lounge in South London to support her.
Please read Jackie’s statement, in which she takes apart the charges against her and outlines the lack of natural justice and due process in the party’s disciplinary procedures against her.
This decision is a massive set back in the fight for the soul of the Labour Party – the right has been able to claim yet another scalp.
LAW stand in unequivocal solidarity with Jackie Walker and all those who have unfairly brandished as anti-Semites on trumped up and nonsense charges and those who have been expelled because they are supporting left-wing groups in the Labour Party. It is those kind of politicised decisions, designed to appease the right, that are bringing “the party into disrepute” – not our comrades Jackie Walker, Tony Greenstein, Marc Wadsworth, Stan Keable and Chris Williamson.
Speakers included Ken Livingston, Jackie Walker and Graham Bash (Jewish Voice for Labour & Labour Representation Committee, personal capacity) and we read out messages of solidarity from Chris Williamson and Ken Loach. Video below
The Left has always stood in solidarity against racism and alongside its victims. That will never change.
But allegations have to be proved, and the accused are entitled to due process at disciplinary hearings. This means open tribunals, where the evidence is interrogated and judgements are available to all – justice must be seen to be done: equality before the rule book – no special treatment for anyone, however venerable; and accusations that are considered to be vexatious should attract appropriate sanctions.
A respected member of the Jewish Socialist Group said, way back in 2017: “accusations of antisemitism are being weaponised to attack the Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour Party”. That is the observation of a Jewish member of the Labour party.
The statistics that Jennie Formby has released are revealing. For example, of 1100 complaints received between April 2018 and January 2019, 433 related to people who were not Labour party members – nearly 40%.
200 complaints were submitted by one MP. They concerned 111 people. Of those, 91 were not Party members. 200 complaints – but only 20 party members.
And that is before evidence has been tested or defences made. The MP? None other than Margaret Hodge.
As a matter of urgency these figures should be re-examined and double checked. If it can be proved that 91 of those accused out of the 111 are not even Labour party members, why did Margaret Hodge submit the complaints? Was she careless, and did not carry out due diligence, or did she know they were not Labour party members? So what are her reasons? She too is entitled to a fair hearing, but we must demand answers given that mass allegations clearly bring the party into serious disrepute.
Calling the leader of the party a ‘f……g racist and antisemite’ also brings the party into disrepute. Why was Margaret Hodge not charged on that occasion? Equality before the law!
Chris Williamson has fought as hard as anyone to advance the party under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell. There is no way he is antisemitic. Read the speech in question, and it is obvious that he is talking about how we should respond to the present situation. Clearly there is no implication of antisemitism in what he has said.
Jackie Walker speaks with great honesty about how her own background demonstrates the history of racism. Again, there is no way Jackie is antisemitic.
And there are others who have been unfairly targeted.
Recent terrible events show the Far Right is on the march. They are the real racists. As ever, it is people like Chris and Jackie, and others in their situation, who will lead our fight back.
I want to thank grassroots members from the bottom of my heart for the extraordinary solidarity they’ve shown since my suspension.
It’s been incredibly heart-warming and humbling to be the recipient of such an outpouring of support, and to witness the vicarious indignation felt by thousands as result of this decision.
But this isn’t just about me, it’s about all of us.
I’m proud of Labour’s record in standing up to racism and bigotry in all its forms throughout our history.
Whether it was standing shoulder to shoulder with the Jewish community in Cable Street against Oswald Mosely’s fascists, or confronting the fascist National Front via the Anti-Nazi League in the 1970s, Labour Party members have always been at the forefront.
Let’s remember it was people like Ken Livingstone, when he was the leader of the GLC, who were dismissed and disparaged as “Looney Lefties” for challenging casual racism in the 1980s.
That’s one of the reasons why we owe Ken a debt of gratitude.
He was in the vanguard of those challenging all forms of bigotry at that time, he played a huge role in shifting public opinion.
And let’s also remember that Jackie Walker has spent her life fighting racism, as well as being a target of it.
She helped to spearhead the efforts to stop Nigel Farage obtaining a parliamentary platform for his bigoted credo, when he stood as a parliamentary candidate in South Thanet in 2015.
Thank you, Jackie, for your tenacity and your bravery.
But there is of course more to do, which is why we need to unite to stand up to bigotry that manifests itself in racism, Islamophobia, misogyny and anti-Semitism.
So, let’s stand together and keep our eyes on the prize of a Corbyn-led Labour Government.
A government that will transform our country.
A government that will implement an irreversible shift in the balance of power in the interests of working people.
And a government that will implement a genuine ethical foreign policy.
That’s why we’re being subjected to unjustified, and unjustifiable, smears and attacks.
And that’s why my motto is that solidarity is crucial when it’s difficult, not just when it’s easy.
We’re not just trying to win an election, we’re in the process of changing the course of history.
UPDATE: Jo Bird’s suspension was lifted on March 15, though apparently she was given a ‘warning’ – for telling jokes!
Labour Against the Witchhunt unreservedly condemns the suspension from the Labour Party of Jewish councillor for Bromborough Jo Bird. At a Justice4Marc meeting last year in Manchester (in solidarity with Marc Wadsworth) she made a light-hearted comment, stating: “Jewish Voice For Labour is calling for disciplinary hearings to be paused until a due process has been established, based on principles of natural justice. What I call Jew process”.
Clearly, the context of that quote shows that her joke was not anti-Semitic at all – but the exact opposite.
Coming so soon after the suspension of Chris Williamson MP on equally baseless grounds, we are concerned that the small positive reforms of the disciplinary process introduced by general secretary Jennie Formby have been rolled back. We are seeing the return of automatic suspensions, even before an investigation has started. And again, they are used almost exclusively against left-wing supporters of Corbyn. Tom Watson, Margaret Hodge, Joan Ryan and Louise Ellman on the other hand get away with insulting and undermining Jeremy Corbyn and the party without any consequence. This is clearly not a fair process.
We are also greatly concerned with the plan to appoint Lord Falconer to “re-investigate” cases of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. As an ally of Tony Blair, a member of his war cabinet and the lawyer whose legal advice helped to break up the National Union of Mineworkers, we believe he is most certainly not the right man for the job. His interview in the Sunday Times shows that he is also far from impartial on this issue: “The most frightening thing is the profound and almost universal sense within the Jewish community that the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn are anti-Semitic. They feel they are not safe … because the potential prime minister and the main opposition party are anti-Semitic.”
This is nonsense. Firstly, there is no hegemonic “Jewish community”. There are pro-Zionist Jews and there anti- or non-Zionist Jews – those like Jo Bird, Jackie Walker, Tony Greenstein and the thousands organised in groups like Jewish Voice for Labour, Jewish Socialist Group etc. They certainly do not feel “unsafe” in the Labour Party. It is a story spun by the right-wing in the Labour Party, in cahoots with non-Labour organisations like the Board of Deputies and the Israeli embassy – who are united in their desire to get rid of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party.
We believe these recent, bad decisions of the Labour leadership are the direct consequence of the formation of the so-called The Independent Group. Eager to stop any more right-wingers from splitting from the party, the leadership is bending over backwards once more. We are even hearing that the reformed trigger ballots are being put on hold to avoid any challenges to sitting MPs –despite the fact that this policy was agreed at Labour Party conference 2018. But the last three and a half years show: Appeasement does not work. Every time the leadership takes a step back, the right makes two steps forward.
As Ken Loach, one of LAW’s sponsors said: “If it looks like a witch hunt and behaves like a witch hunt – it may well be just that. This is intolerable and must end now.”
The world preview of this documentary by Jon Pullman in Liverpool had to be halted after a hoax bomb threat. There are forces that are clearly unhappy about the documentary’s exposure of the right-wing campaign that has led to Jackie’s suspension from the Labour Party. But they have only achieved the opposite: Plenty of people asked us at conference when and how they could see the film! We are therefore part of a major campaign bringing the film and its message to a wide audience:
– The preview will take place before an invited audience at a location in London. Please get in touch if you are interested in attending.
– More information will be widely circulated as part of publicity for a nationwide tour with director Jon Pullman, Jackie Walker and others. Dates and venues to be announced. Again, let us know if you are interested in putting on a showing locally.
– Following the tour, the film will be made available on DVD for use by CLPs, trade unions and other groups.
Last night’s film preview of the new documentary, ‘The political lynching of Jackie Walker’, had to be stopped a few minutes in. After an anonymous phone call (“there are two bombs in the building that will kill many people”), all 150 visitors had to evacu ate Blackburn House on police orders. Of course, no bomb was found. By the time the police gave the all-clear, the staff wanted to go home. This hoax is almost certainly part of the campaign by pro-Zionist forces to disrupt and intimidate the pro-Palestinian left. But, of course, this kind of cowardly behaviour will only increase the feeling of solidarity for Jackie Walker and all the other victims of the witch-hunt – and interest in the film.
Labour Against the Witchhunt organised a fantastic meeting in Sheffield yesterday, as part of the national ‘Justice4Marc’ speaking tour with Marc Wadsworth. The meeting was packed, with around 80 people cramming into the wonderful DINA arts venue – and the staff working there last night got very involved, too! We heard from:
Jewish author Paul Kelemen (who exposed the agenda of the pro-Israel lobby);
Scott Shaw (who was expelled because of his association with Socialist Appeal);
Martin Mayer (who shared fascinating stories from his time on the Labour Party NEC and the many “bogus” claims of anti-Semitism he witnessed first hand);
Jackie Walker (who focused on the need to develop a comradely, but critical attitude towards Jeremy Corbyn and the NEC for not standing up to the witch-hunt: “If our leadership does not lead, then we have to lead our leaders”);
and of course Marc Wadsworth, who was expelled on April 27 from the Labour Party.
Unfortunately, there was a bit of friction at the start of the event as Marc Wadsworth objected to the locally agreed chair Lee Rock (who runs Sheffield Left List, which organises the Labour left across all six Sheffield CLPs and had about 30 supporters at the meeting). Marc insisted on a particular black member of Momentum Sheffield chairing instead.
However, myself, Jackie Walker and others objected to her, as at the January AGM she had been one of the instigators of a motion to exclude from Momentum Sheffield all non-Labour members – including, explicitly, those who had been expelled from the Labour Party for unjust reasons. The AGM motion was carried by a very small margin and now affects about a dozen former members. They can attend some (not all) meetings of Sheffield Momentum, but are not allowed to vote or be elected to any positions – i.e., they have no membership rights.
Huge credit to Jackie Walker, national chair of LAW, who pointed out very patiently how this local decision – which is almost unique among local Momentum groups – was in fact an integral part of the witch-hunt against the Labour left and that she would not accept any chair who had voted in favour of it. As a compromise, Lee Rock agreed to vacate his position and Jackie chaired the meeting instead. Marc decided at that point to leave the top table and made his contribution from the floor.
It was very heartening to hear so many speakers get up and make the connection between the rightwing witch-hunt of Corbyn supporters and the agenda of the pro-Israel lobby, both of which want to stop the transformation of the Labour Party into a democratic, anti-war party. Speakers criticised the party leadership’s policy of trying to appease those forces: “With every step back that we take, there will be a void. And the right is filling this void”, as comrade Shaw put it.
My favourite contribution came from John Dunn (a leading member of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign) who, in a rousing speech, ripped into Momentum owner Jon Lansman for not standing up to the witch-hunt in the Labour Party, fostering the lie that there is a huge problem with anti-Semitism in the party. Instead of offering solidarity to the thousands suspended and expelled, Lansman has become complicit in the witch-hunt.
In my own contribution, I mentioned the need for socialists to stand up to injustice, particularly in our own organisations. “When we see a rule that is clearly unjust, as with Momentum’s constitution, surely we do not simply accept it. As socialists, we fight against it and refuse to implement it” – something, that of course, most Momentum branches have done. Jewish Voice for Labour, too, does not recognise as legimitate the expulsions and suspensions from the Labour Party for political reasons and admits those affected as full JVL members.
Another comrade reported the huge strain her suspension had put her under. Her ‘crime’: she had shared a meme of a DWP job centre sign, where the words had been replaced with ‘Arbeit macht frei’ (the slogan above the Auschwitz concentration camp). It takes some mental contortion to see how this could be described as anti-Semitic. Clearly, it is a pointed criticism of the Tory government’s hounding of disabled and vulnerable people.
But of course, in today’s poisonous police state atmosphere, anything is possible. For example, another comrade reported on the case of Stan Keable, who this week was sacked from his job, after a private discussion with a Zionist at the ‘Enough is Enough’ protest in March had been filmed and published online: He tried to defend as historically accurate Ken Livingstone’s claim that the early Nazi regime did indeed work with the Zionists in trying to transfer Jews to Palestine.
Many speakers naturally brought up the unfortunate resignation of Ken Livingstone from the Labour Party. Marc Wadsworth suggested that Ken might have resigned in order to support Marc’s own campaign for reinstatement, but I am uncertain he convinced many people in the room of this theory. It seems far more likely that Livingstone has indeed been pressured and persuaded by Jeremy Corbyn to resign. After all, Corbyn immediately congratulated him on this decision – a very unhelpful political move, as many in the room felt, and lacking in solidarity.
Jackie Walker reminded comrades that in the 1980s, during the purge of Militant, an earlier incarnation of ‘Labour Against the Witchhunt’ was chaired by no other than Jeremy Corbyn. “I think if he was not the party leader today, he would probably be sitting on this platform right now”, she said.
It was a boisterous meeting with a very healthy fighting spirit. At the end, Jackie encouraged everybody to not give up the fight. “I will not resign. I have had two years of shit being thrown at me, but it is hugely important that we all stay – or try to stay – in the party and fight.” She encouraged comrades to become conference delegates, stand for positions in their local branches and CLPs, get involved in Sheffield Labour Left List – and to join Labour Against the Witchhunt, of course.
It is clear from reports such as John Rentoul in The Independent that Ken Livingstone’s resignation was not voluntary but the result of pressure exerted by Jeremy Corbyn and his close associates. We refer in particular to Shami Chakrabarti’s disgraceful attack on Livingstone on BBC’s Sunday Politics (May 13),when she threatened she would quit the Labour front bench if Livingstone was not expelled. Chakrabarti has not only ignored her own recommendations on natural justice and due process but she has also destroyed her own reputation, as a former Director of Liberty, for a belief in freedom of expression.
Nothing Livingstone was alleged to have done could in any way be described as anti-Semitic. His remark that “Hitler supported Zionism” is confirmed by a host of Holocaust historians. If he gave offence to supporters of Israel and Zionism it is because of the appalling record historically of Zionism when it comes to fighting real anti-Semites. Continue Reading “LAW statement: Corbyn was wrong to pressurise Ken Livingstone into leaving the Labour Party”→
