Today, nothing is more important than to say that we will not be silent on the dreadful oppression of the Palestinian people; the daily beatings, killings, humiliations, demolitions, expropriations and destruction of groves that are the concomitant of Israeli illegal occupation.
We will never be browbeaten into silence on the slow genocide of the Palestinian people.
Nobody with any grasp on the location of their right mind believes Jeremy Corbyn to be an anti-Semite. Nobody with any grasp on their right mind believes the Labour Party is now anything but the substitutes’ bench for the Neoconservative team. Under Keir Starmer, the Labour Party has failed to oppose the granting of legal powers to the security services to kill, torture, entrap, forge and fake with impunity. It has failed to oppose the limitation of prosecution of British soldiers for war crimes. The Labour Party now seeks to erase all trace that it might once have been a party that offered an alternative to the right wing security state.
As Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer pressurised Swedish prosecutors who wished to drop the case against Julian Assange, to persist in order that he might be rendered to the USA. He further persuaded them not to interview Julian here, which is standard practice when he was never charged but only wanted for questioning, and which would have reduced Julian’s ordeal by four years.
Starmer received £50,000 in personal donations from lobbyist Sir Trevor Chinn to fund his leadership bid.
It is perfectly plain that Starmer’s aim in suspending Corbyn is to drive the mass membership that Corbyn attracted out of the Labour Party, and make it a reliable arm of the right wing security state. He wants the Labour Party to be financially dependent not on its members, who have annoying principles, but on donors like Chinn.
The media and political elite have attained their aim; there is no longer any point in voting in Westminster elections. A right wing government supporting the neo-con status quo and the ever tightening security state is now firmly guaranteed and cannot be influenced by a Westminster election.
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Western liberals on their antique hobby horse: Palestine. Most Arabs have given up on that particular plot: UEA, Bahrain and Sudan have joined Egypt and Jordan.
You’ll never hear Western liberals about Xinjiang, Hong Kong or Taiwan because PR China has ma$$ive influence in London.
“You’ll never hear Western liberals about Xinjiang, Hong Kong or Taiwan because PR China has ma$$ive influence in London.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
NONSENSE (of course).
If, like me, you are a member of Amnesty International, you are every week engaged in letter writing, petition signing and MP contacting, to challenge China’s human rights abuses.
Classic new cold war liberal.
Most of prominent western liberals are apartheid apologists and neocons like you. The shadow cabinet is largely composed of members of Labour Friends of Israel and as you have read above the leader himself is bankrolled by the Israel lobby.
It is simply a fact that Trevor Chinn, a senior Israel lobby figure, gave Keir Starmer £50,000 for his Labour leadership campaign – money Starmer did not declare until the campaign was over:
https://powerbase.info/index.php/Trevor_Chinn
https://www.thecanary.co/exclusive/2020/04/17/keir-starmer-received-50000-donation-from-pro-israel-lobbyist-in-leadership-bid/.
Cinna man, where you gonna run to?
but this is a “well-founded, well thought-out and profound refutation…”
The truth about Xinjang is not to be found in our media, which is dedicated to the imperialist cause, and long has been.
This link might assist those who want to put the matter in some real perspective.
https://www.thecanadafiles.com/articles/dfsea?fbclid=IwAR0vpE6IjPwU6r9OAVBSarjRpkpqZNNqr32Hv-hmXZRnJkSb5oNqqtF81Wg
It will be noted that most of the “information” about Xinjang comes from a right wing German evangelical; who has never actually been there but whose unfounded estimates of the numbers involved in ‘re-education’ serve his employers’ cause.
The truth is that the Chinese are trying a different approach to dealing with their hardline jihadist extremist terrorists. What did the West do with theirs? Carpet bombed them, around 2 million of them and in Syria we co-opted them and armed and trained them using our special forces. 37 million displaced people in the middle east in the last 20 years thanks to the Wests bloody imperialist plundering wars and regime change obsessions, and remember all of the blow back it has (and still is) causing. What do you know eh, the truth is much much stranger than the fiction constantly pushed out by the bought and paid for media, lap dogs for the security services and the military. The Chinese aren’t bombing or killing anyone, the West has never stopped.
“What did the West do with theirs? Carpet bombed them, around 2 million of them”
Could help correct you there. The west never bombed 2 million Jihadis, they bombed Saddam’s Iraq and Afghanistan’s Taliban, and Libya’s government, none of whom were jihadis. They facilitated the strengthening of the jihadis by removing some regimes they did not like, with chaos.
“The Chinese aren’t bombing or killing anyone, the West has never stopped.”
A very accurate observation.
Sure they do. Here is a link to a number of such articles:
https://thegrayzone.com/tag/uyghurs/
They do a good job of debunking the pro-war propaganda you seem to have accepted without question.
Antonym,
Nicely done… Diverting attention away from the Palestinian cause and the role of the Israeli lobby.
Or is that anti-Semitic to say that?
You forgot Tibet – https://www.freetibet.org/
That Keir Starmer is a “safe pair of hands” is surely no surprise. He is the establishment’s man and, remarkably, is still openly a member of the Atlanticist, Rockefeller-founded Trilateral Commission.
When the time is right, the media will gin up a scandal, like they did with John Major, turn on the Tories and point the electorate towards Starmer and crew. It’s all so predictable.
Ay, another collection of red torys that has nothing at all to do with being a party of the worker. Starmer is the establishment vetted and approved ‘Bernie’ of the UK. A bit of fluff round the edges about healthcare and green issues but with the same neoliberal neocon policies as all the rest. I have voted labour since 1983, every local and national election and I won’t be again but it appears thats the plan, get rid of the left wing and persue banker dictated neoliberalism until we run off the cliff.
«Starmer is the establishment vetted and approved ‘Bernie’ of the UK.»
He is the Obama of the UK (as Blair was the Clinton).
I suspect their intention is to do a lot more than simply silence support for Palestinians. It is to discredit sociali-democratic politics and anti-imperialist politics in general. Any opposition to endless austerity and war, to rule by and for the richest, is to be firmly equated in the public mind with Nazism.
Jewish Chronicle leader today, noting Starmer has “done nothing” yet, and promising that this is the beginning, not the end.
As we who have opposed this destruction of the Labour left every step of the way have always known, always insisted, this issue can never be finally resolved, because no amount of control, even total control, will ever be enough for these Zionist Jews and their fellow travelers.
Seeing Margaret Hodge parade herself as a victim in The Mail today, a woman with the hide of a rhinoceros and the mouth of a sailor, is truly sickening.
https://www.thejc.com/comment/leaders/this-is-the-beginning-not-the-end-1.507980
“Seeing Margaret Hodge parade herself as a victim in The Mail today”
That’s all she ever does. Excellent response from Norman Finkelstein. Both text and video here:
https://wallofcontroversy.wordpress.com/2018/08/23/norman-finkelstein-calls-out-dame-hodge-and-speaks-to-the-crucifixion-of-corbyn/
Excerpt:
“You felt it was like 1930s, when you got a letter from the disciplinary committee. I wonder Dame Hodge when you were in sixth grade and your principal called you down to his office, did it bring back memories of the Holocaust? Or maybe you got a letter from the tax office, and they called you down, did that remind you of the Holocaust? What’s the point… What’s the relevance… What’s the pertinence of dragging in the suffering, the death, the martyrdom of what Jews endured during World War II in this context, except to cheapen and exploit the memory of Jewish suffering, as you carry on a blackmail and extortion racket against Jeremy Corbyn.”
Norman’s the man, so to speak! Has a way with words, he does…and the way he tells ’em.
This is just another predictable stitch up job, willingly tolerated and egged on by for example Radio 4 and almost all broadcast media who interview without proper scrutiny the usual queue of “Jeremy did nothing” commentators and Labour executives who are either taken in by their own party or are too frightened to say anything in Corbyn’s defense for fear they will be next. The enforced group think at Labour headquarters is sickening to witness. No-one dares say anything that is not consistent with the stitch up.
Starmer was always going to disown Corbyn and destroy him as a method by which he believes his “leadership” will be enhanced. There are many Labour supporters who will now leave the party for good and never return. It’s finished. Corbyn was a breath of honest air and Starmer is just another Blair clone. A sad end to a great party that invented the NHS, free education, the welfare state and a hundred things we take for granted.
Time for Jeremy Corbyn to start a new ‘Labour’ party.
Corbyn has a large following. I’m sure current Labour members will join his new party. He must be open and outspoken on his policies. No beating around the bush, no wishy-washy about anything. He must tell anyone that accuses him of racism to get lost. He should not spend time trying to prove the opposite. He’d be wasting his time – they don’t want to know. They just want to smear and destroy him. They’ve done it once, don’t let them do it again! Go Jeremy!
The trouble is, it won’t work. Even ukip hardly got any MPs, they caused some pressure but only because it was a single issue.
On top of this, a new party _would_ quickly attract conspiracy theorists etc, and then the media would have a field day.
What is tragic for democracy is that both conservatives and labour don’t try to keep it together. It was tragic when so many conservative MPs left the party, and it will be tragic if the same happens to labour. Tragic because compromise and discussion and perspective are lost.
Wouldn’t matter how often a truly discredited London media set called them ‘cranks’, ‘racists’ etc. Corbyn and members suffered all that and he was still more popular than Starmer favourites: Streeting, Hodge, Watson; Austin, Woodcock., Phillips et al.
The thing that would be interesting about a new party is how it could potentially rob Starmer’s Labour of supporters. Say it attracted a hundred thousand more members than Starmer’s Labour, well, that wouldn’t exactly be a good look for Starmer after inheriting a party of 580,000 members. And no amount of friendly Tory media bleating could hide the fact. It would also force Starmer to keep his pledges lest see more drift away.
The main problem any new ‘True Socialist party’ would face in establishing itself is the tech giants’ manipulation – their algorithms and suppression techniques – ‘something went wrong’ searching for twitter links.
Surely better if true Labour/anti-Starmer voters decamped en masse to an existing party (even the Greens?) than to be seen to fail in launching in a new party? Barring an unexpected and unlikely massive resurgence in Scotland, Labour has no route to government without the so-called ‘Red Wall’ voters who are largely pro-Brexit and comprehensively rejected the Brexit policy (new referendum) that Starmer advocated at the last election. I can’t see why they would ever trust Starmer. If all the hundreds of thousands of members Corbyn brought were to reject Labour also, Starmer could potentially lead Labour to fewer seats than the last election.
S that defeatist ‘it won’t work’ attitude isn’t helpful. We have to try whatever. We cannot allow the Israeli Government to control this country’s Government any more. If you don’t try you will never know. There’s nothing wrong with trying and failing. Saunders in the USA changed the public debate in the States. So he lost. But we can’t slide into ‘nothing will work mode’. We must try, try harder, try smarter and try with conviction.
Whilst I agree that Corbyn should start an alternative true Labour/Socialist party (similar for the SNP); However, he would need to move away from the failed approach of trying to please everyone.
Personally, I thought Starmer’s suspension of Corbyn was a massive error. Both left and right have their place in the Labour Party. But the one without the other is not going to win an election. Johnson’s cabal may have succeeded in seizing control of the Tories, and pushing out the One Nation Tories, but they are in power already. Labour is not. Perhaps it is the manouvres of the Tories which convinced Starmer to do the same, but in the Labour case, I don’t see it working. Labour MPs don’t have the same slavish tendency to stick together to hold onto power.
But I don’t see the problem as really a left-right one within the Labour. It is rather one of Starmer’s unfortunate and naive exposure to the projects of the Lobby. Jews used to be solidly pro-Labour, now they are not, and many organisations are very Tory, though of course not all. It is this alliance between Tory interests and some Jewish organisations (with the Lobby engaged) which is the problem. Starmer seems to be happy to betray his own party, simply because he is pro-Israel. I was surprised to see the problem (which was already visible) coming to the surface in such a dramatic fashion. It was very foolish of Starmer to allow it to do so.
Nothing to do with foolishness. Everything to do with cynical calculation.
IThe AS “crisis” was invented and stoked by liberals – in collusion with conservatives – in order to destroy the left,. It was the only means the liberals could think of that would make them appear more attractive, because they know they can no longer compete when it comes to attractive policies.
It was. Entirely manufactured by the media and PLP, the fact that 2012 mural ‘like’ keeps being cited as ‘proof’ of Corbyn’s antisemitism shows how flimsy the foundational base of these claims is.
Someone with the resources to do it, scoured the archives for any incriminating old TV clips; searching for Corbyn saying anything that could be construed as vaguely antisemitic. The lie that certain Labour MPs were ‘hounded out of the party by members’ is often repeated without any evidential basis. One internet troll was convicted of making a string of anti-Jewish rants against Luciana Berger, but he was on the political far right – his political inclination is never mentioned however by Berger and her supporters, no wonder the general public think Labour’s membership was rancid when there is such obfuscation like that. It’s fair to say the Blairite, former Liverpool Wavertree MP wasn’t popular with her CLP , but that dislike had nothing to do with the fact she was Jewish.
Yes, it is powered entirely by dishonestty and industrial scale gaslighting by the political and media establishment, liberal and conservative. The number of miscreants identified in this shocking report is actually 2.
You should rein in the conspiracy theories. A massive conspiracy where they’re all in it together, is rarely the case.
It’s not an organised ‘conspiracy’ per se, but saying there are like-minded, Oxbridge fellow travellers, in PLP and media pushing domestic neoliberalism and neoconservative foreign policy is perfectly valid and plausible. Look at the interchangeability of New Labour figures and the BBC.
Witness Newsnight’s deference for the likes of Margaret Hodge and Louise Ellman – what they say is never challenged ; Emily Maitlis’ cosy respectful fireside chats with Blair when he has something to say vs the aggressive hectoring and interruptions Corbyn supportive figures received. Former New Labour minister James Purnell – Director of BBC Radio. So no overarching conspiracy, but lots of links.
“Look at the interchangeability of New Labour figures and the BBC. Witness Newsnight’s deference for the likes of Margaret Hodge and Louise Ellman – what they say is never challenged ; “
You’re conflating a lot there. The people you mention are spokespeople for the Jewish faction in Labour, not for “New Labour” or that rather different beast the old right wing of the Labour party.
@laguerre
You’re conflating a lot there.
The PLP are the worst for that. Look how they conflate criticism of capitalism, bankers and excessive wealth with antisemitism. That mural was held up as the definition of antisemitism, despite it carrying what would be a perfectly point about super concentrated wealth built on the back of poverty wages. I think Corbyn should had defended the mural
Not a conspiracy theory, just very basic observable reality every day for the last five years, continuing now and probably indefinitely.
@laguerre “You should rein in the conspiracy theories.”
Oh, please. If someone called it a hidden agenda, would that be more acceptable to you? Hidden agendas are everywhere you might care to look. Sometimes they’re exposed, such as with Alex Salmond’s recent troubles, and all too often they remain hidden. By using the scare term “conspiracy theory” you’re implicitly dismissing something as not being worthy of further discussion, which is far from the case here. And what’s the point of your qualifier about it needing to be “massive”? It doesn’t though it probably is in this case.
You do recall the case of Shai Masot, the Israeli “diplomat” who was caught red-handed plotting to “take down” Labour MPs, don’t you? I doubt that he was freelancing in his spare time, so he would have been working to further an Israeli agenda. And given Corbyn’s stance on Palestine, do you really believe that nothing more happened after Mr Masot’s unmasking? Look no further than the “Labour Friends of Israel” for accomplices within the PLP willing to help further the (now exposed) Israeli agenda. And, as Craig mentions, Starmer received £50,000 from the multi-millionaire Israel-lobbyist, Trevor Chinn. So, yes, plenty of scope for hidden agendas galore, I would say.
What Stalin isn’t understanding is that the public really don’t give a damn about the AS issue. That’s something that’s personal to him. After all, they bankrolled him to the Leadership of the Labour Party and that must have come with conditions after all. We are seeing that now. He is a liar, two-faced and has no moral fibre whatsoever. He is labouring under the delusion that just because the public voted against Corbyn but loved the Labour Manifesto and voted Tory (all on the back of the most sustained, vitriolic, vicious, malicious campaign by the MSM, the BOD, the right wing of the Labour unprecedented against any MP in UK Parliamentary history) that the public want Labour to become the Tory Party Mark Two. They definitely don’t, as he is finding out. Yes, the MSM might love him for suspending Corbyn on entirely fabricated pretences. But the public don’t. It is, if you look at it objectively, absolutely scandalous that, an honest MP with a great deal of personal integrity, who has served this country for nearly 40 years as an MP diligently and well, is summarily suspended for nothing by a rank Zionist who is acting on the instructions of his paymasters, the BOD and various Israeli organisations. I don’t think people appreciate how scandalous this really is.
I have read some European newspaper coverage of this (and Corbyn is very popular in Europe) and the reporting is far more objective. They are reporting it as a national scandal. And it is.
Yes, Starmer’s enthusiasm for Israel, due no doubt to his family connections, was a big mistake. The Labour party don’t care. Is it fatal? Could be.
Actually Jews haven’t been “solidly pro-Labour” for a very long time. Why should they be? They’re mainly older, well-off suburban voters – the sort of people who vote Tory. Back in 2015 (when Labour actually had a leader who was Jewish) according to the Jewish Chronicle: 69 per cent of Jewish voters said they would support the Tories. Only 22 per cent said they would vote Labour.
It’s less than 20,000 votes across the whole UK on the most recent polling (2019) I’ve seen. Important, yes, but some perspective is needed.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews certainly should have no role policing what is and isn’t ‘fair comment’ in a UK political party vis-à-vis Israel.
“Actually Jews haven’t been “solidly pro-Labour” for a very long time”
Actually “for a very long time” may mean something different for you than for me.
Before the 2015 General Election, Jonathan Arkush (then the President of the BoD), told British Jews not to vote Labour because Ed Miliband had expressed support for the Palestinians.
«Both left and right have their place in the Labour Party. But the one without the other is not going to win an election.»
Which party wins the election does not matter, as long as the right side wins the election. For New, New Labour politicians and their sponsors all that matters is to make sure that the “wrong” side never wins. If someone like Corbyn wins it is much worse for then then when Johnson wins.
Any portrayal of Starmer, as some sort of tactical genius, will soon hit the rocks when the Zionist lobby turn their attention to him and his followers. Already, this morning, the BBC’s slimy Nick Robinson introduced a spot asking Elgot from the Guardian and Bush from the New Statement about Corbyn’s suspension, by playing a recording of Starmer’s following his becoming leader. The recording was Starmer saying how good Corbyn had been for the Party, how he’d energised it and what a friend he remained of Corbyn.
Did Starmer not realise that, as the Zionist lobby has openly stated, this is just the start and not the beginning?
He shows the same lack of intelligence he exhibited as DPP where he acted for his masters without thought of consequences. His time will come.
Going to love it when they start on him, Raynor and the others.
Damned autocorrect-“New Statesman” not new Statement!
Mibbees aye – mibbees naw!
Starmer’s wife is a paid-up Zionist and his kids are brought up in the Jewish faith.
My guess is that the elders will give him a free pass – so long as he keep toeing the line.
“Going to love it when they start on him, Raynor and the others.”
___________________________________________________
The so-called Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) has already called for Rayner’s head – only hours after the publication of the EHRC report:
https://skwawkbox.org/2020/10/29/within-hours-of-ehrc-report-caa-sends-starmer-72-page-complaint-targeting-rayner-abbott-osamor-rlb-and-others/
The progressive Jewish group Jewish Voice for Labour has called for the CAA’s charitable status to be revoked:
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/statement/jvl-complaint-to-the-charities-commission-about-the-campaign-against-antisemitism/
That’s the Nick Robinson who once said in a Lords Test Match interval that he took his young son to Israel, etc .and what a wonderful country it is.
I always love that clip when somebody held up a poster behind him and when he noticed it and what it said, he got hold of it and tore it up.
A silly man but dangerous as he seems to have a foothold at the state broadcasting channel to spread his poison.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Robinson_(journalist)
A nice illustration of his real opinion about freedom of speech, and his employer’s.
Are you Habbakuk?
No. Were you Sharp Ears?
Whilst waiting for our host’s next eloquent piece, can I heartily endorse this short article in Counterpunch? I try to avoid posting links but the sheer journalistic punch of this piece speaks volumes.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/10/30/the-orwellian-ironies-of-the-so-called-labour-party/
Brilliant link.
I particularly love this bit: “in 1987, when Islington Council gave planning permission to destroy and build over a historic Jewish cemetery. Jeremy Corbyn campaigned against this move, and eventually it was defeated. The leader of the council who had initiated such a plan was someone named Margaret Hodge.”
Here’s a thought. . . . Start a new party. . .
A suggestion for it’s name . . . . O l d. L a b o u r ”
De-fund Starmers party
How about ‘True Labour’?
Don’t think any name using ‘Labour’ would be permitted.
Parliament passed a law to prevent such things. The Registration of Political Parties Act passed in 1998 and amended in 2000. It bans soundalike or confusing names. This after someone ran as a Conversative Party candidate and a Literal Democrat.
Maybe just ‘The left’ as this is common throughout Europe : The Left Front (French: Front de gauche, FG or FDG) Unitarian Left (Gauche Unitaire), and in Germany , The Left (Die Linke).
How about The People’s Socialist Alliance?
Perfect! Old Labour….somebody grab the domain, quick. Easy enough for an electorate to segue from discredited ‘New’ back to reliable ‘Old’, or words to that effect.
As expected, a superb article indeed. The Labour Party should be split between those who wish to be complicit in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians and others who are unwilling to behave like the three wise monkeys.
As for the current leader of the Party, I find his seemingly unwillingness to challenge and hold the government accountable on several very damaging issues such as taking away personal freedoms etc… In a true democracy, responsible governments recommend to the people and not impose ill-judged whims. The country now looks like a police state.
Below the line in the guardian always used to be a voice of reason. Today there is a comment article by Keith Kahn-Harris, which is probably as balanced as the guardian will allow, and even calls for us to hear the voice of the victims who suffered the antisemitic abuse.
But below the line, in a major change from how it used to be, the most up-voted comments are full-on anti-Corbyn. So it seems the left are finally driven away from the guardian. (Or maybe bots have been brought in for the up-votes.) I will admit I myself read it in private browsing.
You won’t see pro Corbyn or pro Assange comment BTL they are quickly removed regardless of breaking any guidelines.
Best of times, worst of times. Yet nobody seems very interested in the biggest gorilla in the room.
The Coronavirus Act 2020 has, with the “Postponement of elections, referendums, recall petitions and canvass” banned democracy……..and that includes voting for Parish Councils!
Ballot boxes are deemed as dangerous as bullet boxes now.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2020/7/pdfs/ukpga_20200007_en.pdf
The elections to the Labour Party NEC are currently going ahead though, can comrades check their inboxes and vote…_
Digger
It is an important election. I feel that those of us who believe in Corbyn’s message should remain within the party and fight. Who knows, the time may come when Starmer is challenged and hopefully ousted and we would then be needed. It only helps the current regime to purge the left wing of the party.
Starmer was elected leader largely by erstwhile Corbyn supporters. He is their man, king of the Remain resistance.
Well, Stalin stood on a Uniting the Party ticket didn’t he. Well, Jeremy Corbyn’s government was much more inclusive of all members of the party, left or right. Unite the party? Hell. That was a whopping big lie wasn’t it. He is acting on the instructions of the MSM and the BOD to eject anybody who is remotely leftist, socialist or critical not just of Israel but of anything that isn’t the establishment narrative. They should have seen that coming those who voted for him. His idea of unity has just majorly backfired on him hasn’t it.
Yes, comrades should remain in the party. But what’s the plan Stan?
Everybody is running around in a democracy which has a complete vacuum of democratic procedures taking place…..all party members have had one Constituency Labour Party meeting in the last year and the national ballot boxes have been denied to all citizens.
There is a dictatorship in our national, local and political governance which seems to have gone straight over everyone’s heads…_
Disagree. Comrades should not remain in the Party but split away and form a new Party. Starmer is on course to single handedly destroy the Labour Party which is his wish. Well, it’s now time Unions removed their funding and started a Party true to the Labour Party who transformed the lives of poor people by starting the NHS, free education, employment rights, council housing, the welfare state. We need that more than ever now. Stalin isn’t going to deliver that is he? He wants the Unions out, he wants problematic members out, he wants only right wing Tories in the Party.
Solidarity Comrades. Leave and fight the good fight for a new, better, Socialist Party with no Friends of Israel, no vested interests, just proper MPs who will serve their constituents and not themselves, who won’t fiddle their expenses and so on and so forth.
Step up to the mark Comrades. Step up.
I let my membership lapse after New Labour was elected. Huge mistake. I had no position or equity to use when the tide turned….when comrades who remained asked, OK Digger, whilst we stayed and fought on, what were you doing? it became difficult to regain a position of respect.
I now find myself asking here for the third time, how are we to restore our freeborn rights. In case you haven’t noticed we are living in an autocratic state….no elections and no political parties meeting.
Your position is wrong comrade…_
Starmer’s whole background is whiffy, Matt kennard has posed five questions that would almost certainly be asked were we to live in a country with a truly free press.
Despite posing as Corbyn’s true heir to win the leadership. Starmer’s almost certainly on the authoritarian, neoliberal right politically. Given this, why did he even become a Labour MP in 2015 under the leftish, dovish Ed Miliband? Was he urged by friend Jonathan Evans to steer the party back to a more hawkish position after Ed Miliband led successful opposition to Syrian intervention in 2013? Starmer resigned in 2016 as part of the attempted coup and supported the truly wretched Owen Smith leadership bid- a man who “Despite rubbishing his links to big pharma in the leadership campaign [has] now gone back to working in the interests of corporations that sell drugs to our NHS” –
A great post. To do something to stop Israel’s relentless dispossession and degradation of the Palestinians, join the Palestine Solidarity Campaign:
https://www.palestinecampaign.org/
Month old poll just released puts support for Scottish independence among Labour voters (that state an intention to vote) at 42%.
Just sayin’ Neil Findlay, make the leap to RISE or Solidarity and use your profile to gain a seat in the Lothians list, 2021.
Craig, I find myself 100% in agreement with your views in this matter. We now have an opposition party that essentially holds the same views as the party in power.
Luckily Starmer presents such a poor figure as a leader it seems incredible he might ever be PM. This shambles reminds us that the present political system is grossly unfair. Without proportional representation it will never be fair, I can’t see that anything short of a revolution will change matters. The two party system is so hide bound and holds so many benefits to those that join the gravy train it seems unlikely that will come about without some really radical movement.
“Starmer presents such a poor figure as a leader it seems incredible he might ever be PM.” Surely the same was said about that outcast from the Clowns department at Billy Smarts Circus: BoJo Johnson ?
@pete
The media can make anyone look like Superman. The press esp. guardian, are covering for his deficiencies, with puff pieces. Starmer himself looks like a nervous man, who is trapped in a lie (i.e., he’s no socialist).
If the press want him to become PM , he’ll become PM.
What people have failed to understand is there is a subtle difference between antisematism and recognition of the the suffering and oppression of the Palestinians
The Palestinians are semites, the Israelis descended from European converts to Judaism are not semites.
If “antisemitism” does not cover Israels actions against the Palestinians then it is a crooked dishonest word made for use in lies, like “terrorist”.
Racism and accusations of racism are a smear merchant’s perfect weapon. Insomuch as they’re so difficult to refute; it’s impossible to prove you’re not a racist.
The way Jewish people were leveraged to buttress and amplify this anti-Corbyn message , by people who should know better was a sickening display, one we’ve never before seen deployed in UK politics. Probably the dirtiest campaign ever mounted. The consequences for everyone involved will probably ,rightfully be terrible. Such injustice can’t stand.
Starmer is, I’m afraid, a fairly obvious wrong-un. He’s Troy McClure: a man with a secret.
I begin to suspect that some people have a facility for recognizing wrong-uns. Starmer has, for several years, come up on my radar as a fairly blatant example, to the point where I am actually mystified that people don’t see it. I concede I initially entirely missed Blair, but he’s a psychopath, which is harder to spot.
Nevermind. Israel is pushing it’s luck, and people are beginning to observe it. And Israel does not equal Jew. You can’t hardly blame a people for their leaders, over whom they have no control. Interesting times.
The zionist founders of apartheid Israel were not adverse to killing jews who were the ‘wrong sort’ or anyone who stood in their way (eg. USS Liberty, King David Hotel).
It is cited that most Jews (reached by polls of major Jewish organizations) support Israel, abhor condemnations of Israel etc, and THUS any antipathy to Eretz Israel is anti-Semitic. And if you object, you oppose the new, updated definition of anti-Semitism. I guess the next update — so far not written down, but de facto operational — is that objecting to the new definition is anti-Semitic, and liable to be excommunicated, not allowed to call oneself a journalist, perhaps banned from some other professions too, purged from all “respectable” parties like Tory, Labour, SNP.
IMHO, it raises the question what is wrong with anti-Semitism that does not fall into old (obsolete?) definitions.
«It is cited that most Jews (reached by polls of major Jewish organizations) support Israel, abhor condemnations of Israel etc, and THUS any antipathy to Eretz Israel is anti-Semitic.»
Stephen Kinnock recently said the following and has not yet been expelled from Labour, which perhaps shows that there is a double standard for “friends of the services”:
https://labourlist.org/2020/09/act-now-on-the-illegal-israeli-settlements-kinnock-urges-uk-government/
“we condemn violence in all its forms. Whether it is Hamas launching rockets, or the IDF bombarding Gaza or bulldozing Bedouin villages to make way for illegal settlements, we oppose any and all actions that lead to the death and destruction that have so tragically come to define this conflict. […] But Israel’s consistent flouting of UN resolutions and the Fourth Geneva Convention has undermined the rules-based order for decades, and the international community can no longer look the other way.”
@Ciaris. IMO, like Blair, Starmer is a protégé of an influential individual or group. His elevation to the Trilateral Commission provides a clue to the nature of his true backers: right-wing and Atlanticist. I’d say he’s a wrong-un in the sense that he’s a Trojan horse politician who has been manoeuvred into place to represent the interests of others.
It is perfectly clear that Starmer was just keeping his mouth shut while his was in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet so that he could get some of the Corbyn supporters to vote for him in the leadership campaign. I hope Jeremy is not given a fair hearing and he uses it to start a new Workers party. Hopefully he will be able to take a large number of MP’s and the unions with him. No establishment Zionist traitors.
Workers Party? Jeez-O that is so 70s in false hopes. Thatcher got rid of the workers.
The Labour Antisemitism Report Has Always Been a Politically Motivated Travesty
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/10/labour-antisemitism-report-ehrc-corbyn-commission
According to C.W..
“Chris Williamson
@DerbyChrisW
·18h
Despite cries about ‘institutional anti-Semitism’ and an ‘existential threat to British Jews’, the EHRC based its report on a tiny sample of 70 complaints made over a three-year period.
It only found two examples of supposed ‘unlawful harassment’ – out of half a million members.”
https://twitter.com/DerbyChrisW/status/1321869416393572353?s=20
Hence Corbyn is entirely correct in stating it was hugely exaggerated for political impact by the MSM.
Let’s face it though, he’s not the most famous JC in history to face persecution from a bunch of ruthless, evil bastards.
Corbyn must also admit that he was fooled into thinking that those campaigning against left wing antisemitism were acting in good faith. Some of them were not and he made a strategic error of colossal effect in accepting or pretending to accept that they were. He will need to do a lot of backtracking.
I advise Corbyn not to resign, wait until the party uses its “antisemitism” procedures to chuck him out and then sue the party. Admittedly one cannot now be confident that his case would be treated in an unbiased manner but I am sure many will contribute to any legal defense fund he sets up.
I advise those left wingers who followed Corbyn don’t resign unless it is to move to a new party espousing the principles that Corbyn was trying to get Labour to espouse.
Labour is now an anti-Palestinian party but aren’t the Palestinians semites, descendants of the semites who occupied Palestine in Roman times and hence the descendants of Jews who have been residing there for 2000 years. “Antisemite” and “antisemitism” are dishonest words as they do not cover what European descended Jews who are not descended from inhabitants of Palestine and therefore are not semites are doing to the Palestinians who are semites.
Starmer’s only option may be expulsion. But that holds risks a plenty for him too.
Aaron Bastani tweeted this :
A Labour source: “This is real legal trouble, so many procedural errors already. I think Jeremy will win in court.”
Starmer will have to go for expulsion in my view, otherwise he looks weak. & if this goes through legal channels & Labour lose? What a gift to the Tories.
——
If, quite outrageously, he’s kicked out while compensation is being paid to people who allegedly undermined the party from within by delaying resolution of disciplinary cases, then Corbyn should start a new party. It’d be travesty piled upon travesty. If Starmer wants to be that blinkered, numb and politically slow-witted, the Labour party may as well fall to pieces.
Johnson and his cohort must be loving what’s happening in the Labour party.
Generally, I think those who are trying to silence discussion online – using variations of the argument ‘it only aids the Tories’ are completely missing the point. There’s at least 4 years until the next election and these rows need to be had now, in the open. Day to day polling, four years out from an election, matters not one jot in the final analysis. And what Labour party will stand in that 2024 election with this current Labour leadership? Will Labour, under Starmer, be to the right of the Tories under say Rishi Sunak? Serious question.
Craig is right. Glen Greenwald resigned from the Intercept after editors censored him. He explains in interview with Tucker Carlson, if someone can post link. He stood up, time Jeremy stood up and stopped pussyfooting around. Chris Williamson is forthright.
If Corbyn had had Chris Williamson’s backbone then the party’s right-wing ‘Labour fakes’ would’ve been sat on the sidelines themselves.
Chris was demonised because he led a campaign for open selection within the party; he wanted to empower CLP’s so they could select and deselect candidates – as it should be and is in most democratic countries. This made him sworn enemies among the unrepresentative Blairite PLP, they knew open selection would see them removed democratically and in a fair process. The BBC ‘antisemitism’ clandestine report that led the news all day was a big nothing burger. Echoes of Gordon Jackson QC being recorded on the train tbh.
One thing I don’t understand about Corbyn’s time is Seumas Milne’s role. As a guardian columnist he was very forthright and assertive, known for being confrontational in fact. And yet he’s been the invisible man throughout Corbyn’s tenure as leader and ever since. Don’t think I’ve read a word by him. Why?
Ask, and you shall receive 😉 :
Glenn Greenwald on resigning from his own publication due to censorship
Ort. Thanks again.
I am sure many will contribute to any legal defense fund he sets up.
Fortunately,such a fund already exists, and it is doing quite well:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/47gyy-jeremy039s-legal-fund
Fundraiser by Carole Morgan : Jeremy’s Legal Fund
£365,403 raised of £20,000 target
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your patience while we worked to find the safest way to protect Jeremy’s Legal Fund. We’ve been busy setting up a company, as you know, and I’m now in a position to share some good news. The company has been established and is called JBC Defence Ltd, with Liz Davies, Andy Gregg and myself as the directors. (JBC, by the way, stands for Jeremy Bernard Corbyn.) Basically, the company is authorised to use the money you’ve so generously donated to pay Jeremy’s legal costs if and when he is sued for defamation as a result of standing up for the values and beliefs to which he has devoted his life. The directors will also, in certain cases, be authorised to support people threatened with defamation suits as a result of coming to Jeremy’s defence. […] I’d like to make a couple of points clear: None of the three directors of the company will be paid. All of us will work pro bono. Any money left over after the threat of court proceedings has gone away will be transferred to a fund or foundation nominated by Jeremy to support the causes he has championed and will continue to champion.”
Unfortunately …
Updates (9)
Today by Carole Morgan, Organiser
Hello my dear Friends, Comrades, Allies,
Yesterday we learned that Jeremy Corbyn had been suspended from the Labour Party and since then donations to support him have been pouring in.
When I set up Jeremy’s Legal Fund back in July, it was to help Jeremy to fight legal cases brought against him for defamation. The Fund took off beyond my wildest imaginings and that is how JBC Defence Ltd. came about.
I understand that recent donations have in all likelihood, been made specifically because of Jeremy’s suspension. There are legal restrictions that we cannot put aside however. The first being that Jeremy’s Legal Fund was set up to help defray legal costs for defamation cases, and that is locked within our Articles of Association.
Many of you have also asked that we act without delay to commit the Funds resources for Jeremy’s support following his suspension. We legally cannot do this as the fundraiser was not set up for this purpose.
Go Fund Me also has a legal obligation to ensure that the purposes for which the funds were raised are adhered to.
I regret that for the above reasons, JBC Defence Ltd cannot deviate from the original purposes of Jeremy’s Legal Fund as set out in the Articles of Incorporation that I shared with you in my last update.
Please be assured that you can request a refund of your donation by contacting GoFundMe’s team here, and they will issue a refund for you: https://support.gofundme.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360000288632 . I will now be offering refunds until November 14th, at which point we will withdraw the money from the account to use as outlined above.
Thankyou for the go fund me link Twirlip , have already put in 10 British Pounds.
True, but we shouldn’t necessarily assume the hounding of Corbyn has anything to do with Israel, never mind ‘anti-semitism’, simply because that is the official excuse.
With the coronavirus we have seen how the far-right in Washington hide behind liberal sensitivities regarding public health to attempt to introduce fascist dictatorships around the world and enrich their crony billionaires. So in the Corbyn situation they hide behind Israel to try to destroy social democrats and socialists, so that their far-right stooges like Boris Johnson have no meaningful opposition. This is how the US has operated around the world for decades.
Corbyn was the last hope for democracy in this country in its present form, and his alleged – but inevitable – ‘defeat’ last year after an election campaign worthy of Mugabe’s Zimbabwe doomed the country to Johnson’s right-wing junta.
That Johnson and his bosses are still plainly so worried about Corbyn suggests that their position and credibility are not nearly as strong as their media propaganda would have us believe. That in itself should give us all hope.
Just watched Starmer being interviewed on BBC news. He really is the ultimate groveller before the pro-israel lobby, isn’t he.
You’d literally have to be a masochist to enjoy belonging to such a pathetic party, unquestioningly accepting a false media narrative like this:
News presenter: you’e been a very bad boy in haven’t you in a very, very naughty party!
Starmer : yes, very bad, very bad indeed.
News presenter : A party rife with hateful Anti-Semites, yes.
Starmer : yes , yes absolutely rife, guilty as charged, bang to rights. Punish us, punish us!
“He really is the ultimate groveller before the pro-israel lobby, isn’t he.”
That is the real point, isn’t it. His pro-Israelism is irrational in Labour party terms, but he’s allowed it to come out and dominate his policy, when he should have held it in check, as it doesn’t help him to win either Labour party supporters, or voters for Labour.
PS I.e. I don’t think many Labour supporters are that bothered when some of the most highly privileged members of British society claim to be suffering victims. That’s not the way Labour people think.
He wants to win simply by converting Tories, he’s of the Clinton-esque/Mandelson mindset that holds leftish voters will simply have ‘nowhere else to go’ come an election, that isn’t true of course, as they can simply not vote.
Wouldn’t be surprised if at some point he seeks Murdoch’s endorsement too, he’s written for the Times after all. He’ll make the seemingly now mandatory(for Anglo leaders) trip to Israel to lavish praise on Netanyahu.
You’re going for unelectable socialist purity there.
Purity isn’t an issue.
Labour got 40% (12.87m votes) under Corbyn in 2017. And 32% and over 10m votes in the weird December Brexit election of 2019, an election which featured a suspiciously large postal vote (38% of all votes cast).
The Corbynite policies poll well, even if Corbyn himself was demonised over years and years by media and PLP, until he became toxic on the doorstep.
Starmer pushing the 2017 manifesto could easily win: scrap tuition fees etc., but I doubt the Labour right, of which he’s a part ,would want to win on such a manifesto, so they’ll turn right and end up losing.
Members have elected an unctuous Uriah Heep figure.
He states he’s going to drive out anti-Semites with renewed gusto…’Dance faster, harder’ the smirking media shout. Regardless of the fact the problem insomuch it exists at all , is minuscule and less than that of rival parties not subject to EHRC investigations – Why doesn’t Starmer call for the Tories to face a similar investigation?
He doesn’t seem to get the idea whole problem is largely London based media smoke and mirrors, or worse does get it, and is using it in his own baseless purge of the left.
Its a terrible reflection on todays working folk, that while they care little about whats going on at home or abroad our predesessors traveled to hear The Mighty Paul Robeson talk and sing about beauty and truth.
In the poll released this morning, Scottish Labour were polling at 13% for Holyrood 2021. Excluding DKs, 58% of Scottish Labour voters would consider voting SNP (24% fair to good chance, 32% slight chance, 40% no chance). Internal strife from Starmer’s play for total power will turn an already dire situation for Scottish Labour into an existential threat.
Under D’Hondt, the Scottish Tories are depending on Scottish Labour making a strong showing in the Regional lists.
Holyrood 2021 could see a voting chamber with a two thirds, nationalist majority.
That’s why trying to rocking the SNP boat now is so foolishly indulgent.
Let Sturgeon sweep the electoral board and she’ll run out of excuses.
Rockin the SNP boat, is a Westminster dream come true.
Let Nicola Sturgeon’s popularity gain a big win. Popularity gained by events that come round every 100 years.
The sad thing is that the Tories got into power in 2019 because traditional Labour voters in England, Scotland and Wales voted them in. And that was because Boris played them by promising Brexit whereas Corbyn sat on the fence. Will they do the same in four years time when the reality of Boris’s ‘oven ready deal’ has been digested ? Will it be too late in 2024 when the USA will have a stronger grip on our country ?
After voting Labour my entire life at every opportunity, I’ve now given up on the party after seeing that they only serve as the other side of the slow pendulum swing between two different kinds of mediocrity and cronyism. Corbyn was an anomaly of integrity and diplomacy which was sabotaged from within and without.
I don’t expect this to change within the Labour party, so I’ll be voting Green from hence forth and trying to encourage others to make them a credible choice.
The cynic in me says they’ll probably get more corrupt as they grow in influence too, but Labour are definitely, absolutely dead to me.
German Greens seem to joined establishment, “warts and all”.
At least Germany has Die Linke.
The funny thing is how it’s so evident Starmer simply doesn’t know how to oppose the Tories.
He looks as uncomfortable as a Tory MP would if you plucked him from their benches and suddenly made him lead the Labour opposition. Maybe Starmer should return to Jonathan Evans and ask him further instruction on what to do now, now he’s made it to the summit?
I’d suggest you need to first check the Greens attitudes with regards to Venezuela, Israel and Assange. The establishment just in another colour ? Green Tories …
Yes, correct Steve, the Greens have had all their radicalism removed, they’ve been defanged. Much as Swinson (who?) further watered down the 2017 Lib Dem policies in the 2019 manifesto. Some clearly want a level of political conformity that is oppressive.
The Greens were once the most radical players in UK politics.
yep? and now that they are into placating the media to gain 1 MP, rather than realising that they are played like fiddles, they lost their teeth.
That does not mean we must abandon green policies. It beats polarisation and wars for rare earth or profits as usual, free speech must be allowed to exist or we will become kept, slaves.
Oh dear… Lord Buckethead it is, then.
“The media and political elite have attained their aim; there is no longer any point in voting in Westminster elections. A right wing government supporting the neo-con status quo and the ever tightening security state is now firmly guaranteed and cannot be influenced by a Westminster election.”
I was wondering what turnout will be like in GE 2024 only last night.
No point watching the MSM either. Scrap the BBC tax.
I only watch local news now.
How these Sky, BBC and even Channel 4 + various radio presenters can sit there parroting their deceitful crap and hosting liars – and they must know it’s complete crap, drives me to despair. Is Britain – London-based media so warped that the media are proud of destroying a good man, a man who has spent a lifetime campaigning against poverty and racism, with lies?