12 NEC members protest at retrospective “justice”
JVL Introduction
Labour’s decision at the July NEC meeting to proscribe four groups has aroused deep concern, especially as the criteria being applied to “auto exclude” members bear scant relationship to those described in the relevant papers at the time the decision was taken.
Retrospective application of “auto exclusion” seems to be the norm, and members who did things that were perfectly “legal” at the time are now being hounded.
Twelve members of the NEC have now spoken out against the sheer injustice of decisions being implemented retrospectively.
Update, September 9th: LabourList understands that Ann Black, thought of as a ‘soft left’ NEC member and not one who was backed by Momentum as a candidate, has now also signed the joint letter. There are now 13 signatories.
This article was originally published by LabourList on Tue 7 Sep 2021. Read the original here.
Labour implementing ban on groups in “unfair” way, say 12 NEC members
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Some or all,of these reasonable arguments were used when Stalin was boss in USSR. What happened to HIS purgees?
The ‘auto-exclusion’ process seems to be part of a much bigger tech-driven undertaking to limit participation by members. Without any discussion our CLP and branch have singed up for the LabourOrganise software which means that members are no longer informed about upcoming meetings and policy discussions. Instead they have to opt-in specifically to get that information, and register each time. This is an even more effective way of excluding people than outright expulsion. I’d like to hear from other CLPs and branches if this has also gone by the nod everywhere else.
Thank goodness for a modicum of goodsence and decency from the NEC.
We have Jewish members being harassed by this misuse of power alongside other socialists.
WOW, WHAT A LETTER!
At last, out of control officials and their supporters are being held to account. Thank goodness!
This whole campaign against politically left Labour thinkers is extremely suspect.
This attitude smacks of discrimination, racism, antisemitism. Everything the extreme RIGHT of Labour accused Mr.Corbyn of, which I state he was falsely accused & still remains a fighter for justice & transparency!
I will NEVER VOTE LABOUR NOW, Starmer & Evans & the extreme right who seem to protect Zionism with such power makes me realise this is ALL to do with what Israel demands & the BoD, Friends of Israel etc are hell bent on Destroying the Labour Party, which was founded BY politically Left thinkers from all the working classes, immigrants post war all religions, races & colours. The Jewish especially fought hard & long for justice, but now Zionism takes them over & silences & gags THEIR opinions.
I am disgusted by this coup, this corrupt & facist thing the Labour Leader has created has desecrated a wonderful Party & even welcomed back the backstabbing Blairites…& change its precious moto
To help the OPPRESSED AGAINST THEIR OPPRESSORS…
STARMER IS NOT A LABOUR LEADER but he is a puppet of another country… guess who that is???
Ann Black has not signed.
The NEC is pathetic. It would appear that the concern is of retrospective auto exclusion not the auto exclusion of Socialist groups. If anyone should be excluded it should be right wing groups such as the JLM and LFoI.
Here we are combating the Conservative Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill, inter alia, to protect the right to protest, and the Labour Party is eliminating any discussion. Sad days. Labour is lost. Unions shd withdraw their funding and leave Starmer with his multi-millionaires and corporate sponsors.
Note that Lara McNeill voted to proscribe three of the four groups (not Socialist Appeal). Rather naive not to see what was coming given what came before. Ann Black, not on the letter, also voted to proscribe these three and abstained on Socialist Appeal.
If I remember correctly, I believe there are thirty-nine members of the NEC, so it would appear that twenty-seven of them don’t have a problem with members being auto-expelled retrospectively.
That said, do the other twenty-seven NEC members even know that that is happening. Did Laura and Ian invite ALL committee members to sign the letter? If they did, then they must all know. If they didn’t, then……
Obviously at no point in what I believe was a lengthy meeting of the NEC was it explicitly stated that ‘support’ for the four groups would be applied retrospectively, so it would be more than a little interesting to ascertain if any or all of the twenty seven members came away from the meeting believing that ‘support’ for one or more of the groups WOULD be applied retrospectively. Perhaps JVL could inquire, or if one of them happens to be your MP, you could contact them and ask them and then get back to JVL.
Needless to say, it’s totally outrageous that the groups were proscribed anyway, and it is rather odd, to say the least, that Starmer and Co left it for fifteen months before doing so given that members of these groups had ‘poisonous beliefs’ and ‘warped world views’ according to a ‘Party source’.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1464128/labour-party-news-latest-keir-starmer-ban-corbynites-nec-meeting-antisemitism
And here’s a link to the list of NEC members:
https://labour.org.uk/about/how-we-work/national-executive-committee/whos-on-the-nec/
Jack, knowing you well from skwawkbox as I do, I know you are ALWAYS looking for ‘ways’ to discredit the left, and you have posted literally hundreds of posts to THAT effect, time and time again repeating the same slurs – ie the same falsehoods.
As you will know from the above article, most of the twelve left-wing members voted AGAINST proscribing the groups. Just to remind you:
‘Nine voted against banning Resist, ten opposed the banning of LIEN and LATW, and 12 voted against the Socialist Appeal ban.’
You begin by stating that the NEC is pathetic, but then immediately go on to criticise the left-wing members for only being concerned about the retrospective auto exclusion aspect (in their letter), and NOT the auto exclusion of the groups themselves. And you do so knowing that most of them voted AGAINST proscribing the groups on the one hand, and knowing full well that it would be completely pointless to write a letter complaining about the four groups having been proscribed when the NEC just voted by a large majority to do so.
It must REALLY take a lot of working out to arrive at a way of not only fraudulently trying to discredit the left-wing members and blacken their character, BUT **also** try and dupe and deceive readers of this site!
Well – good for those 12 at least .. but where are the rest?
Not only that but we never heard even a small sample of the
hard evidence which was supposed to justify the proscribing.
Apparently – but this is not certain – it was supposed consist
of incidents at CLP meetings – but I ask again:
Where ?
What ?
Who ?
When ?
and most importantly
WHY have we not heard a redacted version of these incidents?
The whole “edifice” of justice rests on sand and is redolent of the
show trials beloved of Stalin.
Retrospective legislation is wrong, just as retrospective rule changes can never be defended and must be changed, however Anti Semitism as a recurring theme within the Labour party is something the party can never live down because it is inherent in the party, particularly members on the left and Jewish Voice for Peace in particular who seem to specialize in this form of hatred /S
Let me explain, when I talk of hatred I of course mean criticism of Israeli Government polices, criticism which is immediately conflated with the views of ‘all Jewish people’ wherever they may live or think, therefore ‘all’ criticism of Israeli policies are ipso facto antisemitic, this is the viewpoint of groups like Jewish Labour Movement [JLM] and the Jewish Board of Deputies et al, it is also shared by the leadership of the Labour party including Keir [I am a Zionist without exception] Starmer and by Nandy.
Who can forget the exchange between Robert Peston and RL Bailey at the leadership hustings…
Peston…. “Is it anti-Semitic to describe Israel, its policies or the circumstances around its foundation as racist because of their discriminatory impact” on Palestinians.” R L Baily…”Yes”
There you have it, RLB a lawyer not contradicted by another so called lawyer Starmer telling the world that to criticize Israeli Government policy is Anti Semitic.
I have no doubt Israeli supporters in the county and the Israeli government in particular could not believe their luck at the foolishness of the Labour leadership it is the reason the party is in such a mess and the reason there are so many “Anti Semites” i.e Labour members against Israeli government policies including its well documented war crimes.
Auto-exclusion retrospectively is yet another ploy to frustrate and anger us and make those they don’t want to stay in the party leave voluntarily by unjustly excluding some high-profile members. They are very nearly succeeding with me. I just don’t know how long I can continue to be associated with such nonsense. Great about the stand that is being made in this letter, though.
Concerning Damascene events –
I was pleased to read that some at least of those who signed the
letter had originally voted for the proscriptions. A late conversion
is fine by me – even if it really indicates regret at their original decision(s).
Am not at all clear either as to how these voting decision(s)
was arrived at. From what I can gather (news items in Labour List)
there was a star chamber first which produced a report and
then the NEC ratified – or not – the result(s). However from the
following account of the NEC meeting reports were oral so how
could serious evidence possibly have been presented to the
meeting?
See
https://labourlist.org/2021/07/forde-finances-members-complaints-proscriptions-labour-nec-report/
As can be seen the whole meeting ran for 9 hours and it
seems that the item concerning proscriptions came near
the end. How come then that so serious a matter was ratified
in a meeting so packed with items ? (Well – silly question I think!)
It is perfectly possible that people regretted their voting afterwards
and seized on this device to oppose.
I just did a search re >labour party members being expelled retrospectively for supporting banned groups< so as to try and ascertain if any of the MSM are covering the issue and, as I expected, there was nothing. Not even the Guardian or the Independent or, for that matter, the Mirror. In other words the general public are deliberately being kept in the dark about the matter.
When the WHOLE of the MSM conspire – one way or the other – in a black op against the left, as they have for the past six years, then we are, in effect, living in a fascist state, but one in which the vast majority of people are oblivious to the fact 'thanks' to the MSM.
And as I've said before, but for Jeremy acquiring enough nominations to stand for the leadership and then being elected leader, and hundreds of thousands of socialist-minded people joining the party as a consequence, then none of what's been happening during the past six years – and what's presently happening – would have happened, or BE happening. How very fortuitous for the dark fascist forces that run the show!
It's as if the Psychopaths thought it would be SOooo much fun to 'transform' the Empaths into the very opposite of what they are, and paint them as Jew-hating anti-semites and thugs and bullies and homophobes etc, etc, and they had NO problem whatsoever (in respect of smearing Jeremy and the left as anti-semites) in causing concern and consternation amongst many Jews in their quest to crush the left. And who but people completely devoid of a conscience could do such things!
PS Please omit the last paragraph if you would rather
Just imagine what the currently silent BBC would be making of this if Corbyn had even hinted at behaving in such a manner. Good ol’ BBC!
Margaret West – You are so right
“Not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done.”
Methinks
Temporary Embarrassment and his oily rag are the opposite of everything the Labour party stands for
Keep it simple Red Tories are in the wrong party and off they must go
Needless to say Martin it wouldn’t have been just the BBC, and the whole of the MSM et al would have piled in to condemn and vilify and demonise him.
Anyway, I was just checking something out in relation to ‘anti-semitism’ in the Green Party and, as such, came across the following on the alleged Campaign Against Antisemitism website, in which JVL get a mention:
On 10th October 2018, Dr Ali shared an article on Twitter, relating to a definition of anti-Palestinian racism promoted by Jewish Voice for Labour, a group whose purpose is to provide an ostensibly Jewish voice in support of the most extreme elements on the Labour left, which camouflage themselves as ‘anti-Zionists’, partly in order to deflect accusations of antisemitism in the Labour Party.
https://antisemitism.org/politics/greens/shahrar-ali/
I also came across the following ‘article’, posted on their website a week ago:
https://antisemitism.org/caa-deeply-troubled-by-policies-of-scottish-greens-now-in-scottish-government-who-believe-zionism-is-a-racist-ideology-oppose-aliyah-and-want-hamas-taken-off-lis/
The second thing the CAA posted on its website at the beginning of 2015 – four days after the FIRST thing – was their Annual Antisemitism Barometer (they omitted to mention that it was the first one!), and this is what they said about it:
The Annual Antisemitism Barometer is the largest study of its kind. It reveals both the scale of antisemitic sentiment in Britain, and its effect on the increasingly-threatened British Jewish population.
Yes, the largest study of its kind ever concocted and contrived on the back of a fag packet!
https://antisemitism.org/annual-antisemitism-barometer-published/
NB And it is rather strange that despite the Paris attacks (Charlie Hebdo and the Kosher supermarket) happening just three days before they posted their FIRST article, they say nothing whatsoever about it – ie didn’t post an article about it. But perish the thought that ‘they’ quickly got a website together in the wake of the Paris attacks so that they could exploit them – ie exploit the fear and consternation the attacks would have generated amongst Britain’s Jewish population.