Support Apsana Begum!
JVL Introduction
The news from Poplar and Limehouse is upsetting, the national Labour party’s unwillingness to help sort it out disturbing.
Apsana Begum, a left-wing socialist and feminist, was elected as Labour MP there in 2019, faced racist, Islamophobic and misogynistic attacks during her election campaign.
And after.
She was subjected to allegations of fraud by the local Labour Council for failing to disclose information when applying for social housing.
She argued that she was a victim of domestic abuse, coercive control and financial abuse and was acquitted on all charges.
Now she faces a trigger ballot amid signs of smears and harassment of her and her supporters.
__________
See the G2 interview with Apsana Begum following her trial: ‘It felt like political persecution’: Labour’s Apsana Begum on the trauma of her criminal trial
This article was originally published by Labour Hub on Thu 16 Jun 2022. Read the original here.
Support Apsana Begum!
Loading article text…
What can we do? This sounds as though it could be
a police matter – ie harassment from an ex-partner
and his associates. The recent murder of an MP and
the fact that the murderer had a list of other MPs
as potential victims should surely act as a warning.
She – or one of her supporters should at least go
to the police with her fears. Having her address
circulated with a letter telling lies about her should
entitle her to redress – or any least some protection.
Does anyone have any ideas of how else to support her?
Sadly the current LP shows little sign of acting for those who are not in the “Chums of Starmer” (shrinking fast?) group,
The ruination of the labour party began, the day that red tory starmer was elected leader, and it will cary on until he and his blairite tory cohorts are kicked out.
Full support for an extraordinary woman.
Apsama needs to join Claudia Webbe and Jeremy Corbyn as an independent socialist MP and stand as that. She would probably win
The Tory Party is struggling to deal with its own moral corruption and is not dealing with it very well. It is low-hanging fruit waiting to be knocked out of the tree by a Labour Party which has been handed every tool it needs to do so by the Tories themselves.
The Labour Party however is itself descending into a form of insanity which is disturbing as the silliness of the Tories is not. Why?
Because the Tories are behaving like Tories: what else would you expect of them?
But the Labour Party leadership is laying around it like a soldier gone mad in battle, attacking friend and foe alike, with no sense of the damage it is doing or the hurt it is causing.
This is shocking, and, precisely because it is not what any-one should expect from the party that is making a claim to be the most democratic and compassionate of the two parties.
It is the worse for being so personal: lives are being wrecked by this awful campaign of attrition in which individuals are picked out as targets and being fired on in ways which makes it almost impossible to defend themselves.
This kind of cruelty cannot be allowed to go on: but having said that, what needs to happen for it to be stopped?
This is an appalling situation and solidarity to Apsana. There will be no fairness from the regional director, they are all in Starmer’s pocket, rules have meant nothing to staffers for some time now.
Rotten from the inside to promote/tolerate this abuse of an elected MP.
Retweet and support.
Like Margaret I would like to know what we can do to help.
The party is now run more like in N.Korea than a in a democracy. How do Starmer’s people sleep at night. Though to be fair KS seems half asleep most of the time.
Some of the actions of the present Labour Party members remind me of the 1930’s in certain European countries.
There appears to be a distinct lack of substance to substantiate any statement or accusations made in this article.
Well said Richard Snell & Eddie Dougall. Those of us who were in the Party 60 years ago became well versed in the political shenanigans that the “Tories in Labour clothing” at the top of the Party’s bureaucracy were capable of. Forty years ago when Michael Foot’s tenure as leader threatened their careerist postions, many of those political scoundrels scuttled off to join the Liberal Party and form the Liberal Democrats. Today their kind have come to the conclusion that was a dead end and thus are concentrating their efforts to kill off the fight for socialist policies within the Party by doubling down on their scurrilous efforts to denigrate leftist opponents with spurious claims of “anti-semitism” when they in fact mean opposition to the far right policies of the Likud Party of Israeli Zionist terrorism. And when they make false claims about opponent’s social housing claims it’s to act as a smokescreen for their own well documented antics of getting their noses into the monetary benefits of the parliamentary trough at every opportunity. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
Solidarity with Apsana. What a cruel, unjust world we live in.
I agree with comments about Labour Party.
I was watching a series of programs about Putin
– a repeat. The last one referred to the time
when the price of oil massively reduced and
the Russian Economy crashed. The “President”**
at the time decided that there was plenty of talent
among the Russian people and they ought to be
able to take advantage of it.*** However for Russia
to thrive it needed to be democratic and not
centrally dictated .. I thought hmmm.. how like
the Labour Party now – needless to say Putin
the then “Prime Minister” did not like this .
**The position was notional – for Putin, the Prime
Minister was really in charge.
*** The UK too could thrive – we are not taking
advantage of our young people but that would
take a lot longer to explain in detail ..
Goodness knows what it is like to have the lived experienced of fear and uncertainty of a court case. She is able and accountable . I feel proud to have an advocate in Parliament that actually represents my views on both domestic and international issues. The persecution of Assange as an example.