Labour Party tries to intimidate The Electronic Intifada
JVL Introduction
On 25 June 2021 the Electronic Intifada published the story Labour bans Israel sanctions debate.
The motion whose discussion was banned in Hove and Portslade Constituency Labour Party (CLP) had been duly passed by a local branch.
It simply calling for Israel to “end its violation of the human rights of Palestinians” and for the UK government to “impose legal sanctions on Israel,” specifically an end to arms sales and “trade with illegal settlements”.
As the article related, the Labour’s South East regional officer ruled it out of order, and chair of the CLP agreed with with this ruling.
The grounds given? Such a discussion “would undermine the party’s ability to provide a safe and welcoming space for all members, in particular Jewish members…”
Apart from infantilising Jewish members it accords an extraordinary power to party officials to decide arbitrarily what may and what may not be legitimately debated.
It is utterly undemocratic.
Labour’s Governance and Legal Unit now wants Ali Abunimah, editor of the Electronic Intifada, to amend his report…
This article was originally published by the Electronic Intifada on Fri 2 Jul 2021. Read the original here.
Labour Party tries to intimidate The Electronic Intifada
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The fact that an unelected young bureaucrat like Scott Horner can decide what members of the Labour Party may or may not discuss is a measure of how little the present leadership cares about
the democratic process but also – and perhaps more important – how it no longer has the slightest respect for Article 10 of the European Convention: the right to freedom of speech.
Having been exposed by Tony Greenstein and the Electronic Intifada, the party machinery then has the brass neck (or was it sheer stupidity?) to make threats. Maybe they have been able to do that with the hacks from the Guardian and the BBC, but forgot that some journalists still have a backbone. Good for Asa Winstanley and the Electronic Intifada.
I don’t know what Keir Starmer means by “coming home” – but if it involves the continued suppression of dissent and discussion within the party, then I would rather stay away.
Great work thank you.
When the ‘anti-Semitism’ campaign started we were accused of being paranoid conspiracy theorists for suggesting that it was all about Israel. Perish the thought the JLM said.
Now where has it ended up? Any mention of Israel is likely to send Jews (not the ‘wrong sort’ of course!) into palpitations and fevers. These Zionists you understand are very sensitive and fragile, unlike Palestinians who are, to quote Katie Hopkins apropos refugees ‘built to survive a nuclear bomb. They are survivors”.
It is quite a heady brew of racism and dishonesty, all in the guise of opposing anti-Semitism.
In doesn’t surprise me that the Labour party employ these sorts of tactics to suppress ideas and debate that doesn’t meet their requirements, but it is chilling. This LP is the enemy of truth and so the enemy of the people.
For a prescient cartoon “The Thinkers’ Club” anticipating Keir Starmer’s primitive brand of totalitarianism by 200 years see the link below. The original refers to the Carlsbad Decrees drastically restricting freedom of speech, implemented in the states of the German Confederation at the behest of Prince von Metternich in 1819. The translated caption reads:
“Important question to be considered in today’s meeting: How long will we be allowed to think?”
https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Karikatur_Denkerclub.jpg#/media/File:Der-Denkerclub_1819.jpg
Bravo, I love the response from both the Electronic Interfada, and Tony Greenstein. This feeble and ugly use of calling anti semitism has worn far too thin to ever be taken seriously again. I’d love to see some sort of legal restriction or consequence for this bigotry. We must be allowed to speak out about Israel as we so easily do about everywhere else!
Far more likely that suppressing free speech and colluding with ugly right-wing policies in Israel will create an atmosphere of conspiracy theories and antisemitism. I wish countries would stand up to the UK and call us out for the same sort of thing. Does that make me anti-anything apart from anti-right-wing authoritarianism?
I attended the antisemitic awareness event organised by the Labour Party and JLM and distinctly remember being told that criticism of the Israeli government is not antisemitic. The LP officials need to be sent to these awareness sessions.
Well done. The Electronic Intifada is right to face down Labour Party intimidation. It is a Stalinist organisation which seeks to ban any criticism of the state of Israel. This is the thin end of a very thick wedge. If they ban any discussion about Israel, why not forbid discussion on nationalising, planning the economy, taxing the rich or any other socialist measure.
“would undermine the party’s ability to provide a safe and welcoming space for all members, in particular Jewish members…”. I’m particularly also concerned that the party provides a safe and welcoming space for Palestinian members (amongst others). I’m not a believer of hierarchies of racism
The Labour party stands for NO free speech when the General Secretary Say’s he can arbitrarily decide what can and cannot be discussed.
The NEC and therefore the GS has no authority in the rules to dictate what is ‘competent business’ for a CLP to discuss. The only authority is in Chap 1, VIII, 3.E-“The NEC shall from time to time, issue guidance and instructions on the conduct of meetings…” CONDUCT not CONTENT Conduct is a noun meaning ‘the manner in which an activity is managed or directed.’ That is not the same as the content or subject the meeting deals with. The NEC can issue guidance on how a meeting can be run/organised but not dictate what motions are competent business. In some ways I don’t blame the Labour Leadership, if they can get away with this blatant nonsense, I blame LP members who, if they do nothing about it, have no backbone or self respect.
Britain under the evil Johnson, Tories, Starmer, Blair, Mandelson, MSM, BBC and gullible voters has become a very frightening place, huge eroder of freedom of speech, human and civil rights, undemocratic, a terrible police and survellience state.
There is a long and disgraceful tradition of banning free speech in the Labour Party. One of my most treasured possessions is Michael Foots’ biography Nye Bevan. Arguably, Bevan has left a legacy unmatched by any other peace time politician. As we celebrate the 73rd anniversary of Nyes’ creation . Johnson should get down on his knees and thank Bevan for saving our country and his bacon. No other health system could have organised a vaccination programme in such an efficient way. The NHS is never described as what it is – a perfect example of socialism in action . It works. During his career Nye was continuously vilified by the Right Wing of the Labour Party. He was threatened with suspension and expulsion by the bureaucracy. Some on the Right like Herbert Morrison were less than enthusiastic about Bevans plan for NHS. At the end of WW2 some leading figures came under suspicion that they might continue with Churchills coalition. The list of Right Wing MPs who ,having made a good living from the Party and then gone on to stab it in the back is endless. Just five years before his tragic death Bevan came very close to being expelled. If that can happen to the Labour Partys greatest son then who is safe? Starmer and his colleagues have driven a dagger through the soul of the only institution that could rescue this country
What a pathetic attempt to justify shutting down. democratic debate in the Labour party. The party leadership is simply unprepared to entertain any idea of adopting policies in favour of the Palestinian struggle against Israeli settler colonialism.