Labour’s “investigations” plumb new depths
JVL Introduction
Skwawkbox tells the story of Liverpool film-maker Phil Maxwell, under investigation by the Party.
For what?
The evidence includes a a picture of him and his partner and fellow film-maker Hazuan Hashim standing with Ken Loach!
And – shock, horror – Maxwell is also accused of saying the Jewish Chronicle was out to get Corbyn’s Labour Party – despite the JC boasting of the paper’s ‘relentless pursuit’ of Corbyn.
Or of retweeting David Rosenberg for saying he stood with Corbyn against the tukhes-leckers (arse-lickers) of the wealthy.
But you have to read the article to see the absurdity of the 35 pages of it all.
As the standfirst below says, Orwell would have been impressed!
This article was originally published by Skwawkbox on Sat 4 Sep 2021. Read the original here.
Exclusive; Labour briefs hostile journalist as party investigates film-maker for being seen with Ken Loach – and for stating the obvious
Dissection of Labour’s mind-numbing, logic-defying accusations in fact shows Starmer’s party incriminating itself. Orwell would be impressed
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Dancing on the head of a pin to justify your antisemitism
JVL web says: Tony R sends us regular contributions which are usually simply binned. We’re approving this one as it is better argued than most…
Labour is a racist endeavour.
yes – an attack on Solidarity itself (winston in ‘1984’ was NOT obliterated he was made to renounce his love – evil beyond evil)
So this is what a modern comedy of errors reads like! The absurdities in places actually did make me laugh out loud, but sadly, the serious side to it all is that people are being subjected to undue stress and interruption of normal daily life. All this while this country is being run by a thoroughly disreputable government with virtually no competent opposition. The latter in fact is well illustrated by this piece which shows yet more evidence of unbelievably stupid self incriminating and discriminatory behaviour.
Coincidentally today I had a conversation with a neighbour, who practices as an employment solicitor, and of whom I enquired about socialist belief as a protected characteristic, as mentioned by Dave Putson https://jewishvoiceforliberation.org.uk/article/cllr-dave-putson-refuses-his-offer-of-auto-exclusion/ She is certainly no Tory, but was scathing of Starmer, especially because she expected much different from him as a lawyer. It really does seem that there are grounds for legal action.
Starmer’s ignorance is astounding, in fact he is behaving as a simpleton, who will rid us of this fool.
Excellent article, though it makes one feel powerless against the party machine. Small quibble: the phrase is “plumb the depths” – not “plunge”.
[JVL web replies: When you are right, you are right. Have changed the title, though the earlier error will remain encapsulated in the url!]
Thank you for this update.
All very shocking indeed. My view is that taken more broadly, stuff like what is being reported here, is one aspect of the decline of the British Labour Party as it cuts itself adrift from basic notions of democratic values and purposes. The treatment of Jeremy Corbyn is a stain on the Labour Party. I’ll be voting for the Green Party next time after having been involved with Labour for over 50 years.
I prefer to read what people themselves have to say. So I searched for something Phil Maxwell himself posted online. There’s a treasure trove. Blogs especially with photos and a few videos. So far I haven’t had time to do more than glimpse into this rich archive.
The notion that the current Labour Party has no place for Phil Maxwell and people like him is a tragedy not just for the Labour Party but for all Democratic Socialists.
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Phil, If you read this, please give us your personal choice of links where you’d like people to start. (My occasional peeks in the Skwawkbox suggest is sometimes has its own unhelpful biases.)
So bad is this, that if I were an addict of conspiracy theories then I would argue that Labour’s head office had been infiltrated by ‘lefties’ intent in doing damage to the Starmer-Evans project. But I know better than to indulge in such fantasies: it’s just ‘badder still and badder shall they values go’ (with apologies to ‘Land of Hope and Glory’!).
There can be no finding of guilt unless innocence is presumed in every case until guilt is proved in every case. But even before that, you have to establish the charge. What is the charge here? If it is antisemitism then define it legally IHRA was a working document that was never worked on and has no legal precedence. Is having a picture with you and someone Starmevans says is antisemitic enough for evidence of your antisemitism? Can you charge people with breaking the rules if the law or statute you are applying did not start until years after you did something that was not breaking the rules when you did it? Can you be guilty in retrospect? The legal term Ex post facto is seen in most legal systems to be wrong. The US Constitution forbids and it is illegal under the European Convention of human rights. In the UK it is up to Sovereign Parliament to decide. I was a party member in the 1980s the Militant purge years they were hideous and aggressive times and many comrades mostly young and of the left were abused for wanting to discuss racism and the need for Black Sections in the party. I was once screamed at by a male member in his 50’s that “we don’t have none of them, queers, in here we don’t fuckin want ’em” to which I replied, “well I can see at least 6 that I know of in this room”. I was not a member of Militant but I appreciated the contribution they made to Trade Union work and running branches. What happened in those years was ugly and a very bad look for the party. Now however we have the perfect example of how to remove the Labour Party from history and it amazes me how involved with it all the right in local CLPs and branches is. There appears to be no one there to say this is anti-democratic and anti-socialist wrecking of the party. I hope the conference will open delegates eyes to how bad this is as I am certain there will be many moments of chaos whilst Starmevans try to get around properly made points and motions they don’t like and making mistakes about who will be speaking to motions etc.
I was in Tower Hamlets CLP with Phil Maxwell, Christine Shawcroft & Matt Wrack and I can personally say that any accusations made against them are ridiculous lies. The people making those accusations know it.