Act On Forde: Abuse & Sabotage – Diana Neslen’s Testimony
JVL Introduction
Act On Forde: Sabotage & Abuse was the title of a Peace & Justice Project fringe event at The World Transformed at the Labour Party Conference on 24th September
Advance notice of the meeting described it in these terms:
The Forde Report confirmed that senior Labour officials obstructed and undermined the elected leadership during the Corbyn years, even secretly diverting funds in the 2017 election. Forde highlighted a hierarchy of racism under Keir Starmer and criticised the factional abuse of the disciplinary system. The response of the current administration? Silence. So what action should Labour members and affiliates demand after Forde?
How can those responsible for these abuses be held to account?
One of those invited to speak was Diana Neslen of Jewish Voice for Labour.
Here is a video of her contribution.
Act On Forde: Abuse & Sabotage – Diana’s Testimony
Diana you have clearly stated the absurdity of the treatment you have received and the resultant hurt you have suffered. Congratulations on your dignified speech. In solidarity and with love.
I am concerned about up-and-coming candidates for MP of the LP. Are they being asked to subscribe unequivocally to the accepted definition of antisemitism? Or is it tucked away in the various protocols in the selection process
What a perfect speech, every point was spot on, thank you Diana.
Starmer has not mentioned the Forde report once, it’s as if it didn’t exist.
All we can do is keep highlighting these attacks on those that criticise Israel and support the Palestinians.
The Forde Report as well as the Al Jazeera “Labour Files”, 3 episodes, won’t be debated or even mentioned by the junta running the party. They are too damning of the culture now prevalent so will be ignored. The MSM also has/will also follow this line. I led discussion on Forde at our CLP last Thursday and a fairly subdued meeting in general wanted to move on and win the next election. Everything else had to be put on hold. Sadly I have no confidence that once in power the leopard will change its spots. My argument (one of many) was that the non-reaction to Forde, and not returning the whip to JC, was shameful and undemocratic and was destroying the idealism and decency we once expected of Labour. After 40 or so years of membership this is the second period in which I am unable to proudly tramp the streets in the party’s cause. But in response to the advocacy of JC, John McDonnell and others I am still here gritting my teeth.
What a brave lady. Beautifully stated what she has endured and the rationale of her position. Where are the apologies from the hierarchy?
When we socialists speak about the many not the few we didn’t believe that it referred to our Jewish socialist members who had FALSE accusations of antisemitic behaviour
The refusal to address Forde, the Labour Files, the persecution of Jewish members of the left by way of silence is only possible if no major media outlet is brave enough to break the omerta. So far the honorable exception has been old-school Tory Peter Oborne, although various others such as Peter Hitchens in the Mail and Nesrine Malik in the Guardian have slipped in a mention of the Labour Files in passing.
Speaking of the Guardian, I note that recent editions have featured articles by Palestinians describing their dispossession, though without any focus on the state that is the cause of their dispossession. This is the Guardian up to its old tricks of offering a token crumb of comfort to the Palestinian supporting left without being prepared to campaign in its columns for Palestinian freedom. In particular the G is not prepared to examine the issue of the antisemitism moral panic in Labour which it was instrumental in whipping up. Nonetheless these examples do I think denote a shift in the MSM narrative which has not yet been absorbed into the political mainstream. Keir Starmer remains “100% Zionist ‘without qualification’”, Liz Truss also declares herself a ’huge Zionist’; and expenses paid junkets to Israel are still on offer to consensus politicians on both sides. As yet no penalties will be attached to these public avowals of support for an apartheid state, but they are going to look pretty disgraceful in a few years’ time. Hard to remember that back in 2017 recognition of a Palestinian state was a lead item in the Labour manifesto; but it will happen, and possibly sooner than we imagine.