Laura Parker: Why I’m backing Keir Starmer for Labour leader

This is a really positive endorsement from the Momentum's national coordinator until 2019, and who had previously worked as private secretary to Jeremy Corbyn. This shows the breath of support for Keir and he is the one who is best placed to unite all wings of the Party and win a future General Election. We must ignore the haters and unite. 

"The Labour Party can and must win the next election. For that to happen, we need to recognise the inherent paradox of our first-past-the-post system. In theory not producing coalitions, in practice it just anticipates them. In many other countries, Labour would be two, three, four separate parties, coming together to form electoral coalitions. We form our coalition in advance.

Do we want now to become a unified, strong internal coalition that can go out with confidence to the country and create the other alliances necessary to win? Or do we think that the political differences between so many of us are so great as to be unsustainable?

If it is the latter, we will consign our party to permanent internal strife and could break under the pressure, destroying the chances of a progressive government in the next decade. We cannot let that happen. Our task is to elect a leader with whom we can build upon our 580,000 membership. We must become a force of one million plus – in order to then reach out far beyond the party and into communities where Labour currently has little presence. There is no other path to power.

Our purpose once in power is to empower others and transform the country. There has been a shift in the political centre of gravity of our party: Labour is no longer intensely relaxed about the filthy rich. The fight against inequality and for economic, social and climate justice are not our nice-to-have but our must-have reasons for being in the Labour Party.

All of the leadership candidates have recognised that it was the ‘how and when’ as much as the ‘what’ of our manifesto that did not persuade the public. When Labour’s individual policies – on taxation, the minimum wage, public ownership, free personal care, the green new deal – are polled, they have significant support from the public. Our challenge is to build a cohesive party that finds compelling ways of engaging with people across the country.

I am backing Keir Starmer because he has placed unifying the party at the heart of his mission and made an unequivocal commitment to preserving our core policies. In defending the transformative economic agenda upon which he stood as a shadow cabinet member in 2019, I trust that Keir means what he has written in his ten pledges to us. It would be self-defeating for him to say one thing then act otherwise. One of the lessons we all – leadership candidates, MPs and members – have just learnt the hardest way is that a perceived lack of authenticity is fatal. I am confident that under his leadership, we can build an enduring coalition.

Keir has made clear that he understands the imperative for a fundamental redistribution of power as well as wealth. This must include restoring dignity to local government and addressing the inequities of our voting system, to both of which he has committed. It further means, as Keir has set out, a commitment to creating a federal UK. That is not simply to give Labour a hope of winning in Scotland. It is critical to help stem the tide of nationalism whose north-of-the-border manifestation may not alarm many but whose English version is underpinned by xenophobia and racism, which Labour must resist at every turn.

These same forces of xenophobia and racism now propel the deportation from the UK of people for whom this country has been their only home. Labour needs a leadership that will put the defence of human rights not only at the heart of its foreign policy but at the core of its opposition to the rights-trashing government of Boris Johnson. From consistently championing the rights of EU citizens to defending people facing the death penalty and activists taking on a planet-destroying multinational, Keir will bring a lifetime of experience defending human rights to the despatch box.

With a drive to unify our party around a radical programme, the experience to oversee the rebuilding and management of our complex party machine and the skills and determination to take on the Tories, Keir Starmer can become a great party leader. If we – over half a million members – accept and rise to the challenge of supporting him in this endeavour, then we will become more than the sum of our individual parts and also a great party".

Hat tip LabourList 

Rothschild Conspiracy Theory Exposed & "Antisemitism Open Letter"

An excellent video by Momentum. We need more of this stuff to combat anti-semitism in the Labour Movement (nevermind the Labour Party)

also Hat tip Momentum. I have signed below "Antisemitism Open Letter"

"We are Labour members who support Jeremy Corbyn in his leadership and the progressive, socialist programme and anti-racist principles of the Labour Party.

We have seen antisemitism from Labour members and supporters, online or offline. We recognise that as a movement we have been too slow to acknowledge this problem, too tolerant of the existence of antisemitic views within our ranks, too defensive and too eager to downplay it.

We sincerely apologise to the Jewish community, and our Jewish comrades in the party, for our collective failure on this issue to date.

We believe that a small minority of antisemites are wreaking havoc in the Labour movement, alienating Jewish people, and sabotaging the Labour project. Some of these people are already expelled or otherwise suspended by the party, but remain active on social media. Moreover, there is a much wider problem of denial about the problem, including shouting down those who raise it or take action.

We are acutely aware that confidence in the left is at an all time low within Jewish communities. It is our goal to rebuild trust and relationships with our Jewish compatriots.

In addition, we understand our obligation to be sensitive to the concerns that have already been widely expressed. A particular issue is that many people, due to a general lack of education about antisemitism, are not recognising antisemitic tropes, and as a result often react defensively. We recognise that rising antisemitism in society at large, and in other parties, isn’t a reason to fall short here in the Labour Party. It is our party that has always led the fight against racism, which is why our failures are bitterly disappointing for Jewish members, and as such we affirm that there is no space for anti-Jewish prejudice and bigotry in our movement. We must be at the forefront of eradicating antisemitism from our own spaces and movement, which is where we have the power to hold ourselves to the highest standard in order to make a real difference.

Part of the difficulty is that when speaking out about the injustices of the Israel-Palestine conflict, progressive and radical activists have faced allegations of antisemitism when they have either not been antisemitic or when they did not intend to be antisemitic and took care to ensure they were not using antisemitic tropes or rhetoric. At the same time, we acknowledge that we face real currents of unchallenged and somewhat normalised anti-Jewish oppression in our movements and society at large including at times alongside criticism of Israel. In order to resolve this we call on all members of the Labour movement to seek an end to bunker mentality, demonstrate maturity and prove why, as a party awaiting government, we can be trusted to face up to the challenges we encounter in bringing about significant change both within and outside of the movement.

It is our ambition to arrive at a place where we can hold ourselves accountable, continuing to address important challenges and having meaningful discussions about topics including the Israel-Palestine conflict. All of this whilst being true and committed allies to our Jewish compatriots in the fight against antisemitism.

We are committed to proactively opposing antisemitism and antisemitic tropes wherever they occur and countering efforts to downplay concerns raised. We want to work with the party to urgently assign resources, in consultation with the Jewish community, to expose and isolate antisemites active online purporting to support Labour; to create and develop political education materials to assist in educating those who are ignorant of this subject and unaware of the nuances of antisemitism; to publish a dedicated page on the Labour Party website addressing antisemitism; to address both new and outstanding cases in a timely manner; and to raise up Jewish voices speaking out about their experiences; and to reiterate publicly and privately that dismissive attitudes and denial are part of the problem.

We understand that many Jewish members feel uncertain and have reservations, but we hope that you will stay in the Labour Party, so we can work with you and together eradicate antisemitism from our movement and society as a whole.

PLEASE NOTE THAT SIGNATURES ARE BEING VETTED AS BEST POSSIBLE TO AVOID TROLLING AND PROBLEMATIC PEOPLE FROM SIGNING SO IT MAY TAKE TIME FOR YOUR NAME TO APPEAR AFTER SIGNING.

"Antisemitism on the left"

This welcome post is by my fellow West Ham Labour Vice Chair, Josephine Grail on her personal blog.

"I have been troubled recently by a lot of the responses I have seen in my social media timelines to the antisemitism issues in the Labour party.

First of all: antisemitism exists on the left and in the Labour party; if you believe it doesn’t you’re not looking hard enough, or you’re choosing not to see it. (I’m reminded of the several cis men who, during our CLP’s debate on a motion opposing transphobia, got up to say that they had never witnessed any transphobia in the party. Well…)

Secondly: the mural that was the subject of the recent scandal undoubtedly contained clearly antisemitic imagery. I am surprised that anyone would choose to deny or question this.

Thirdly: the original response by the leaders’ office to the mural was inadequate, although I think Corbyn’s second response was reasonable. (“I sincerely regret that I did not look more closely at the image I was commenting on, the contents of which are deeply disturbing and antisemitic. The defence of free speech cannot be used as a justification for the promotion of antisemitism in any form. That is a view I’ve always held.”) However, it’s clear that in general Corbyn’s office and the Labour party more widely have failed to respond adequately to allegations of antisemitism and that there needs to be a great deal of political education within the Labour party about how to address and challenge antisemitic attitudes.

Left antisemitism has long been an intransigent issue and one which is difficult to tackle at least in part because of the dual bad faith which has existed in parts of the discourse about Israel and Palestine: that is, on one side antisemites who use the cause of Palestinian rights as a cover for their prejudice against Jewish people; and on the other side, those who allege antisemitism in bad faith in order to discredit legitimate criticism of Israel.

This is not to justify the existence of left antisemitism, but one reason why it has historically been difficult to address – although actually it’s straightforward to criticise Israel without being antisemitic: the Jewdas guide is very helpful. Those of my age or older who were involved in Palestinian rights politics at the beginning of the 2000s will remember this ‘debate’ dragging on – and may also remember that antisemitism was a recurrent issue which (in my opinion) much pro-Palestinian politics never adequately addressed.

However, it’s noticeable that the recent antisemitism issues have not been about criticism of Israel or Palestinian rights, but straightforward hatred of Jews: Holocaust denial, images of hook-nosed financiers, the far-right myth that Jewish people were responsible for the slave trade, conspiracy theories about ‘powerful special interest groups’. All of this is appalling, and there is no debate to be had about it; it’s wrong. It shouldn’t happen. And if Jewish people are criticising it, others should listen.

Yes, I understand the impulse to dismiss this as yet another way of attacking Jeremy Corbyn; and I share Rhea Wolfson’s opinion of the Labour MPs who are taking up this cause opportunistically. There have been so many bad faith scandals that it is tempting to dismiss this as a further one. I don’t agree that it is.

It’s fair to note that some of the behaviour uncovered by the press predates Corbyn being elected and that it’s unreasonable to view this as purely a Corbyn problem; antisemitism existed in the Labour party before Corbyn became leader. One of the reasons why this has come to head now is because a) there are many more Labour party members and b) the media are looking for antisemitism in a way that they were not before. Neither of those points lessens the need actively to address left antisemitism. It is possible for something both to exist as a genuine problem and for it to be dishonestly instrumentalised by those trying to use it as an attack line.

Finally: I have been trying to put together some of my thoughts on this issue for a while but haven’t had the time to write something coherent until now. I wish I had written something earlier as I think the criticism of those who “remain silent” from a Jewish comrade who has just resigned from the local Momentum group is relevant and important.

Some things I found helpful to read on the topic:

• This twitter thread; 
• This New Statesman article (I don’t agree with all of it, but I do agree with the analysis that the perception of capitalism as something which is bad because it is done by bad people leads easily to the kind of antisemitism described as the ‘socialism of fools’); 
• I thought the Jewdas piece on Enough is enough! was great, and the criticism of Corbyn attending their seder was ridiculous; 
• Rachel Shabi’s piece in the Guardian; 
• I thought the national Momentum statement was very good" 

(photo of Holocaust Memorial Day poster defaced in Newham in 2015 added by grayee))

BBC1 Sunday Politics London report on Newham Mayoral Trigger rerun after "decades and decades" of one person in power...

A somewhat neutral and balanced report by BBC London on the Newham Mayoral Trigger ballot rerun to decide our next Labour Candidate in the local elections in May.

The clip features Cllr Conor McAuley, a former Newham Cabinet member, who strongly criticises the current mayor, Robin Wales, over his housing policy citing 389 homes in the Stratford Carpenter Estate being left empty since 2005, while only the day before, homeless people were being evicted a short walk way by the Council and issued with CPNs (Community Protection Notices).

I will admit that I have not always seen eye to eye with Conor over the years but I am mystified that some people have been given all the credit for the 2012 Olympic bid and for the regeneration in Newham, when in fact it was Conor, as the Chair of the Council's main planning Committee for many years, who was as much as anyone responsible for facilitating the construction of the Westfields Shopping centre, which then made possible the successful Olympic Stadium bid.

There were some errors in the clip. I am not sure what "Centralist Labour" actually means? and why Conor is definitely not a supporter of Momentum, there is a very widespread coalition of Labour Party members across the entire Labour political spectrum who have supported the call for an open selection, which includes Momentum, Fabians, CLPD, Progress, Co-Op Party, Labour First, Compass and a number of trade union affiliates.

So far 8 branches have voted overwhelmingly for an open selection. There are 12 more to cast their votes as well as trade union and socialist society affiliates.

On Friday Cllr John Whitworth withdrew his challenge to the Mayoral position in favour of Cllr Rokhsana Fiaz.

Newham born and bred, Chair of Scrutiny and Custom House Councillor, Rokhsana Fiaz has made it clear that she would stand as a Mayoral candidate if there was a contest. 

"Don’t cat-call, comrades. Support common sense". As controversy continues over defining Jew-hate, read a Marxist view

On Friday the Jewish Chronicle published this article by my libel blogging mate David Osler (aka other names).

By coincidence that day I met with Dave and his partner Stroppy in a Hackney restaurant for a prearranged "put the world to rights" meal, gossip and drink.

This is what was published in the JC:-

"Appealing for an outbreak of sweet reason between Zionists and anti-Zionists is never easy, especially when undertaken by a veteran Marxist with political views a long way from those of the average JC reader.

But, at the risk of displeasing both sides, I want to urge the hard-left to back the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism. Then let me double down, and urge Jewish organisations to commit to using this reasonable instrument in a reasonable way.

The issue hit the headlines after Haringey last week became the latest local authority to adopt the document, despite opposition from sections of the left.

I say “sections of the left” deliberately. Both Jeremy Corbyn himself and Labour left umbrella group Momentum have explicitly made clear they see no problem here.

Lining up against are primarily those socialists who maintain the IHRA definition somehow outlaws legitimate criticisms of the Israeli state, to the detriment of work for Palestinian rights.

And legitimate criticisms aplenty can be levelled at the actions of Israel’s government. But illegitimate criticisms inspired by traditional Protocols-style antisemitism are sadly in circulation, too, and those are the ones on which the IHRA concentrates.

Its two-sentence formal definition of antisemitism is worded so broadly that no anti-racist could object. The same goes for much of the rest of the document.

Disagreement centres on just one or two lines, in particular the stipulation against “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination”.

Much hinges on the interpretation of this passage.

Here, Zionists and anti-Zionists alike are going to have to display common sense.

Fairly read, the clause does not preclude advocacy of any standard radical formula.

The status quo, the two state solution, a bi-national democratic secular state, a democratic socialist federation of the Middle East, or even the anarchist “no state” stance are all proper propositions for discussion.

After all, any settlement actually agreed by those that live in the region exemplifies, on any reasonable construal, self-determination in action.

Anything less is resolutely contrary to that principle. That is the politics of the fascist right and revanchist nationalism, not the politics of the left.

And it goes without saying that accurate reportage is always valid, even where it shows the Israel Defence Forces or Jewish politicians anywhere in a poor light.

Meanwhile, if the unnecessarily parlous state of relations between the left and the Jewish community — which likely cost Labour seats in June — is to be overcome, the first step should be to rebuild bridges.

So don’t cat-call from the public gallery next time IHRA comes up for debate, comrade. Urge your Labour councillor to support it".

David Osler is a journalist and long-standing left wing Labour activist

Greece Solidarty Campaign delegation visit March 2016: Day One "Refugees Welcome to Piraeus".

This is a  late post on a 3 day delegation visit I went in March to Athens with the Greece Solidarity Campaign (GSC). The GSC is an independent campaign and non-party political organisation, established in response to an appeal by Tony Benn in February 2012 for solidarity with the people resisting ‘austerity’ in Greece. It is supported by the TUC and has a number of affiliated organisations and individual members. The GSC have run various delegation visits to Greece in recent years but the theme of this visit was about "Local Government". I was interested in this as both a local Councillor and also a public service trade union activist.

All members of the delegation arranged independent travel and accommodation and we met for the first time on the Sunday in a hotel in the centre of Athens. The delegation included trade unionists, Councillors, supporters and Jon Lansman, the National secretary for Momentum. David Lammy MP arrived the following day.

Our first visit and tour was to a Solidarity Centre, which was set up for and run by unemployed Greeks. It began in 2012 and now supported 200 families. It helps with food, legal advice, chemists, education and training. It is not a "charity" and all members have to volunteer for at least 4 hours and have to attend monthly meetings. Focus is on the out of work. 60% are unemployed. 30% have inadequate pensions and the remaining 10% inadequate income for other reasons.

As well as supporting Greeks hit by austerity they are also now collecting food for  refugees. "Solidarity for all" is their slogan. Their motto is the best way to show solidarity - is to do it. 

The kitchen in the back feeds refugees. But the refugees do not want to stay in Greece and tend to head out for "Macedonia and Germany".  Due to the border restrictions more people are staying longer (the restrictions have since become far worse). Greece is in danger of becoming a "deposit of lost souls". 75% of Greeks are supportive of refugees and show solidarity but this could change very quickly. See the rise of the fascist and racist Party "Golden Dawn".

Next we went to the Commercial Port and the E1 passenger terminal.  The terminal was a make shift refugee camp. Despite the efforts of volunteers the conditions were pretty shocking. Families and young children were sleeping on blankets over concrete floors. The children were making the best of it and playing games while their parents looked desperate and exhausted. Some of us also visited a former warehouse across the road which was also being used to house refugees. The conditions were even more appalling here being overcrowded, dark and dank. Many of our delegation were openly upset at what they witnessed. I for one never thought that I would ever see scenes like this in modern day Europe.

We met some of the young volunteers who included refugees themselves from Syria and Yemen and a British student helping out during her gap year. The volunteers worked 6am to 6pm shifts, 2 days on and 1 day off. Other volunteers handed out clothing and food while off duty Greek hospital doctors and nurses ran an emergency medical clinic.

The refugees wanted to tell us their stories. Horrific tales about suicide bombings and killings, the fear of drowning when crossing the sea, the uncertainty and worry about their future.

One of our guides explained that despite the poverty and economic hardship in Greece, ordinary Greeks still supported the refugees because so many of them were once refugees themselves because of past war and conflicts. He asked the British people to think that who knows, one day they might well be refugees and need help and support.

I will post on the other 2 days later.

On Sunday 17 July I will be attempting to complete a Olympic distance triathlon to raise funds for the GSC and for UNISON Charity "there for you".

You can donate to the GSC here (drop me an email to let me know) and/or to There For You on the "Just Giving" page I have set up.