NOW is the Time to Drop All the Suspensions and Reinstate those who were Auto-Excluded
Well no one can say it hasn’t been a good day for democracy. The witch-hunting of socialists under the bogus pretext of anti-Semitism, i.e. opponents of the world’s only Apartheid state, Israel, is coming to an end in the Labour Party.
Christine Shawcroft is a good socialist and she has stuck up for her principles in the past, notably over her support for Lutfur Rahman, the Mayor of Tower Hamlets was was deposed, the victim of despicable racism from Sir Eric Pickles, the Tory Chair of Conservative Friends of Israel and the Labour Right. He was also the victim of judicial racism in the form of Judge Richard Mawry.
Of course no-one objects to genuine racists, including anti-Semites, being expelled or disciplined where there is clear evidence unrelated to Israel. I mean ‘old-fashioned’ anti-Semitism that means hatred or hostility to Jews as Jews. Hostility to Zionism is not anti-Semitism, it is anti-racism.
If the anti-Semitism witch-hunt had been about racism then why, when Islamaphobia is 4 times worse than anti-Semitism have there been no prominent cases?
Why when anti-Roma racism in Britain is 6.5 times as bad as anti-Semitism do we have nothing said about it? We have Labour Councils still driving gypsies from pillar to post and evicting them and making them homseless yet nothing is said. Why? Because unlike anti-Semitism, anti-Roma racism doesn’t accord with the foreign policy objectives of the Labour Right.
The rightwing press and media went to town on today’s events. The absurd Tory blogger, Guido Fawkes headed his story Red Terror before going on to call me a ‘nutjob’ for calling for Black’s removal the night before.
Jasmine Beckett, whose own seat was only gained by 1 vote, having conducted a disgraceful smear campaign against her opponent, cites Ben Kentish's quotes from me on Ann Black
The Independent, which has secured the services of a mole inside the Labour Against the Witchhunt Facebook page, eavesdropped on a conversation between Jackie Walker and myself. I had called for the picket of the National Executive Committee next Tuesdayand to have posters saying ‘Sack Black’. Jackie, being of a somewhat more conservative political temperament than me, opposed this. Our conversation was good natured but it was private to members of a closed Facebook page. Nonetheless it was splashed over the Internet today, Twitter included. Other media organisations to reprint the LAW Facebook post included the Huffington Post.
The Jewish Chronicle’s Political Director, Marcus Dysch, was particularly busy on Twitter. Dysch whose trademark is to see how many mistakes he can get into one article seems obsessed with me at the moment. Dysch went apoplectic. Apparently I am ‘calling the shots’ in the Labour Party at the moment. In pursuit of his favourite hobby Dysch makes a few more mistakes including saying that my disciplinary hearing is next week. Sorry Dysch but your informant has obviously not leaked the latest news to you. No it isn’t!
Despite saying that 'you almost couldn't make it up' that is exactly what the idiot Dysch has done
Dysch is reassured that Labour will only be seen to take anti-semitism seriously if it expels a Jewish anti-racist!
Dysch had to be reassured by the paid perjurer and taxi fare dodger himself, the Jewish Labour Movement’s Chair Jeremy Newmark that the NCC hearings to try Jackie Walker and me will be unaffected by what has happened today. Dysch, whose extreme stupidity is quite amazing, even for Jewish Chronicle journalists, suggests that I am ‘orchestrating oversight of the procedures.’
Let’s break this down – Jon Lansman and others on Labour’s National Executive Committee decide to get rid of that old hatchet-woman Ann Black and put in as Chair of the Disputes Committee the much more sensible socialist Christine Shawcroft. At the same time I call, in a closed Facebook page for the removal of Black. This coincidence has now become, in the morbid mind of Dysch me orchestrating what happened.
Sad to say, when Lansman decided that Ann Black had to go, he didn’t consult me! Of course that is both wrong and foolish and I have told him so to his face. However I can live with this slight. Dysch is an excellent example of how mediocre the Jewish Chronicle’s journalists have become when you think of people like Bernard Josephs , or T.R. Fyvel or Chaim Bermant. If Dysch seriously thinks that my expression of an opinion had had a decisive effect on what happened he needs to see the men in white coats.
The letter of suspension that Ann Black sent to Brighton & Hove Labour Party
Of course what I was doing was expressing a widespread sentiment, not least in Brighton and Hove Labour Parties that Ann Black, being a vicious liar and witch hunter, who suspended a party for the crime of voting for the wrong people, had to go. She was hostile to democracy and a relic of the Blair days. It is a wonder how she ever managed to crawl onto the Left slate.
However the witch hunt has not gone away. Much as I hate to admit it, Jeremy Newmark is correct, at least so far. The decisions of the Disputes Committee today have no effect on cases that have already gone to the Disputes Committee, of which there are a large number. It is imperative that we now demand a freeze on all such cases until the recommendations of the Chakrabarti Report on natural justice, due process and transparency are introduced. The previous procedures of the Compliance Unit which has led to the presentation of the cases before it, coupled with the right-wing bias of the NCC, has led to injustice in scores of cases.
That is why we call on people to support Labour Against the Witchhunt’s picket of the National Executive Committee next Tuesday and above all Join Labour Against the Witchhunt.
NOW is the Time to Drop All the Suspensions and Reinstate those
who were Auto-Excluded
Well no one can say it hasn’t
been a good day for democracy. The
witch-hunting of socialists under the bogus pretext of anti-Semitism, i.e.
opponents of the world’s only Apartheid state, Israel, is coming to an end in
the Labour Party.
Christine Shawcroft is a good
socialist and she has stuck up for her principles in the past, notably over her
support for Lutfur Rahman, the Mayor of Tower Hamlets was was deposed, the
victim of despicable racism from Sir Eric Pickles, the Tory Chair of
Conservative Friends of Israel and the Labour Right. He was also the victim of judicial
racism in the form of Judge Richard Mawry.
Of course no-one objects to
genuine racists, including anti-Semites, being expelled or disciplined where
there is clear evidence unrelated to Israel.
I mean ‘old-fashioned’ anti-Semitism that means hatred or hostility to Jews
as Jews. Hostility to Zionism is not anti-Semitism,
it is anti-racism.
If the anti-Semitism witch-hunt
had been about racism then why, when Islamaphobia is 4 times worse than anti-Semitism
have there been no prominent cases?
Why when anti-Roma racism in
Britain is 6.5 times as bad as anti-Semitism do we have nothing said about
it? We have Labour Councils still
driving gypsies from pillar to post and evicting them and making them homseless
yet nothing is said. Why? Because unlike anti-Semitism, anti-Roma
racism doesn’t accord with the foreign policy objectives of the Labour Right.
The rightwing press and media
went to town on today’s events. The absurd Tory blogger, Guido Fawkes headed
his story Red
Terror before going on to call me a ‘nutjob’ for calling for Black’s removal
the night before.
Jasmine Beckett, whose own seat was only gained by 1 vote, having conducted a disgraceful smear campaign against her opponent, cites Ben Kentish's quotes from me on Ann Black
The
Independent, which has secured the services of a mole inside the Labour Against the Witchhunt Facebook
page, eavesdropped on a conversation between Jackie Walker and myself. I had called for the picket of the National
Executive Committee next Tuesdayand to
have posters saying ‘Sack Black’. Jackie, being of a somewhat more conservative
political temperament than me, opposed this.
Our conversation was good natured but it was private to members of a
closed Facebook page. Nonetheless it was
splashed over the Internet today, Twitter included. Other media organisations to reprint the LAW Facebook post included the Huffington Post.
The Jewish Chronicle’s Political
Director, Marcus Dysch, was particularly busy on Twitter. Dysch whose trademark is to see how many
mistakes he can get into one article seems obsessed with me at the moment. Dysch went
apoplectic. Apparently I am ‘calling the
shots’ in the Labour Party at the moment. In pursuit of his favourite hobby Dysch makes
a few more mistakes including saying that my disciplinary hearing is next
week. Sorry Dysch but your informant has
obviously not leaked the latest news to you.
No it isn’t!
Despite saying that 'you almost couldn't make it up' that is exactly what the idiot Dysch has done
Dysch is reassured that Labour will only be seen to take anti-semitism seriously if it expels a Jewish anti-racist!
Dysch had to be reassured
by the paid perjurer and taxi fare dodger himself, the Jewish Labour Movement’s
Chair Jeremy Newmark that the NCC hearings to try Jackie Walker and me will be
unaffected by what has happened today.
Dysch, whose extreme stupidity is quite amazing, even for Jewish Chronicle journalists, suggests
that I am ‘orchestrating oversight of the
procedures.’
Let’s break this down –
Jon Lansman and others on Labour’s National Executive Committee decide to get
rid of that old hatchet-woman Ann Black and put in as Chair of the Disputes Committee
the much more sensible socialist Christine Shawcroft. At the same time I call, in a closed Facebook
page for the removal of Black. This
coincidence has now become, in the morbid mind of Dysch me orchestrating what
happened.
Sad to say, when Lansman decided
that Ann Black had to go, he didn’t consult me! Of course that is both wrong and
foolish and I have told him so to his face. However I can live with this slight. Dysch is an excellent example of how mediocre
the Jewish Chronicle’s journalists have become when you think of people like
Bernard Josephs , or T.R. Fyvel
or Chaim
Bermant. If Dysch seriously thinks
that my expression of an opinion had had a decisive effect on what happened he
needs to see the men in white coats.
The letter of suspension that Ann Black sent to Brighton & Hove Labour Party
Of course what I was doing was
expressing a widespread sentiment, not least in Brighton and Hove Labour Parties
that Ann Black, being a vicious liar and witch hunter, who suspended a party for
the crime of voting for the wrong people, had to go.
She was hostile to democracy and a relic of the Blair days. It is a wonder how she ever managed to crawl
onto the Left slate.
However the witch hunt has not
gone away. Much as I hate to admit it, Jeremy Newmark is correct, at least so
far. The decisions of the Disputes Committee
today have no effect on cases that have already gone to the Disputes Committee,
of which there are a large number. It is
imperative that we now demand a freeze on all such cases until the
recommendations of the Chakrabarti Report on natural justice, due process and
transparency are introduced. The
previous procedures of the Compliance Unit which has led to the presentation of
the cases before it, coupled with the right-wing bias of the NCC, has led to
injustice in scores of cases.
That is why we call on people to
support Labour Against the Witchhunt’s picket of the National Executive Committee
next Tuesday and above all Join Labour Against the Witchhunt.
Elected Leader of Tower Hamlet’s Council Lutfur Rahman is Overthrown as
Electoral Judge Substitutes Himself for the Electorate
I have a letter in today’s Guardian condemning the removal
of the leader. In the same issue there
is a typical Guardian handwringing leader which fails to grasp the serious
constitutional and democratic issues involved.
Letter in Guardian today
I don’t know whether or not Mr Rahman was corrupt (or more
corrupt than other local authority leaders).
What I do know is that he was, despite the allegations re-elected and singled out by both major political
parties - Tory and Labour for abuse. Labour, whom Mr Rahman left,
after the usual ‘democratic’ expulsion procedures and the Tories, who have
virtually no support in the Wardleft it to the far-right Eric Pickles. Pickes, a Zionist
neo-con to the tip of his belly, did the dirty work and sent in the
Commissioners.
Sacked by New Labour he Successfully Won the Elections
Lutfur was singled out for attacks by both political parties
and the subject of a witchunt by Panorama.
When you think of the major corruption in the City and among Defence
Contractors Panorama of course picks on one of the poorest local authorities in
Britain for an 'investigation'. I watched it. 'Piss poor' is one of the milder accusations. It proved nothing and was heavy on innuendo. Real journalistic investigation as per Wiki Leaks or Edward Snowden is beyond it.
What is known is that the Police refused to take action on
this ‘corruption’. Mr Rahman was accused
of using the race card (unlike the largely White Labour and Conservative
Parties) or indeed unlike UKIP. It
beggars belief.
Lutfur & Supporters
Mr Rahman was accused of using unlawful religious
influence. Presumably unlike Protestant
Unionist candidates in Scotland and Ireland or Catholic anti-abortionist priests in
Liverpool or Jewish Zionist rabbis in Hendon and Finchley. The whole issue stinks and it is British racism
which is putrefying.
Now, claims of intimidation at
polling stations have been made, by two local councillors hostile to Rahman.
Given that there was a policeman stationed at each polling station throughout
the election, such intimidation would be particularly brazen. Oddly, no
complaint was received on the day, and no such allegations have been
reported to police.
Ken Livinstone - one of the few major politicians who express his unease at what has happened
Let's consider the specific claims made. Mile End Labour
councillor Rachael Saunders described "huge crowds" outside some
polling stations, "shouting at people or encouraging them to vote in a
particular way". Tower Hamlets Tory councillor Peter Golds also
claims that at one polling station he visited, 11 supporters of Rahman were
stationed inside the grounds and could be seen thrusting leaflets into the
hands of Bengali voters and escorting them to the door of the polling station.
Handing out leaflets and even encouraging people to vote
in a particular way is not a breach of electoral law. But whatever the truth of
these claims, it is unclear that any voter was actually intimidated into
changing their vote. The US-based rightwing website Breitbart, which
investigated Rahman's "intimidation", found that there were also, in
fact, Labour party volunteers who
were crowding polling sites.
We've seen this before. In 2010, in Rahman's first run
for mayor, the Labour party debarred him owing to accusations of electoral fraud,
after he'd been chosen to be Labour's candidate. Rahman won as an independent
and a subsequent investigation by the Electoral Commission found "no
evidence" of membership abuse. However, while the accusations were widely
reported, the commission's findings remained absent from the popular press.
Eric Pickles - who hates local democracy - has willingly done New Labour's work - a Zionist neo-con
Likewise, in 2012, there were accusations of electoral
fraud against Rahman in two Tower Hamlets byelections. Of 154 allegations, the
Electoral Commission found 151 to be without merit, but probed three. What
followed was a wide-ranging investigation by
the Metropolitan police and the Electoral Commission. A year later, the report
found that "the vast majority" of complaints "were reported by
local councillors" and that there was "insufficient evidence to prove
an offence". While the accusations were reported by every major news
source, the outcome of the investigation into them was not.
These claims can be seen as part of a wider political
attack, intended not just to delegitimise the outcome of this vote, but to
stigmatise Rahman's supporters. One of Golds' claims, for instance, is that in
2010 every Bangladeshi voter in the ward he was standing was stopped and told
that he was gay and Jewish. It seems unlikely that Golds both speaks Bengali
and was able to hear every conversation that took place. But Golds also
implicitly assumes that Bangladeshi voters are homophobic and antisemitic. If
this is true then Rahman is plainly not the mayor for them. Rahman has never
hesitated to repudiate instances
of antisemitism in the borough and has committed to restoring the East London
Central synagogue. When the Old Ship, a local gay bar in Limehouse, was faced
with the prospect of being unable to renew its licence, Rahman intervened to
back a vibrant local campaign, ensuring it could continue to operate with a new
15-year licence.
Indeed, the attacks on Rahman often imply that his
supporters are the bearers of ideas not fit for a "mature democracy",
as Nick Clegg put it. In recent days, several media outlets have alleged that
Rahman's former adviser Kazim Zaidi is threatening street violence unless the
outcome of the election is accepted. In fact, Zaidi's actual statement
makes no mention of violence, but of a political battle between a grassroots
old Labour politics and a machine-driven New Labour spilling "onto the
streets". Surely a mature democracy is used to the idea of people taking
their grievances to the streets?
The thrust of all this is quite plain. It is to depict a
democratically elected politician as a sort of Asiatic despot whose supporters,
far from being an energised democratic populace, are stigmatised as
intimidating by sheer dint of their number and enthusiasm. There is a deep
substrate of racism informing this.
Absent in this type of invective is any consideration of
why, in spite of the frenzied mobilisation against Rahman, his own base
mobilised even more ardently, putting him back in power with about 12,000 more
votes than he received in 2010. The fact that his administration, with its
modest means, has built more affordable social housing
than anywhere else in the country, may not matter to Rahman's
opponents, but it seems to matter to his voters. Tower Hamlets replaced the
full education maintenance allowance after the government abolished it,
expanded a living wage requirement for all contractors, and allocates a £1,500
grant to every university student. It was the first council in the country to ban contracts with firms that
blacklist trade unionists, absorbed all cuts to council tax benefit,
refuses to enforce the bedroom tax, and has avoided many of the cuts to vital
services, such as libraries and youth clubs.
The story of Lutfur Rahman is a democratic success
story. The fact that it seems dodgy to the political and media classes is
indicative of how long they've been insulated from anything resembling real
democracy.
Met considers criminal inquiry into Tower Hamlets mayor
Lutfur Rahman
Rahman is told to vacate post immediately after election court judge finds
him guilty of widespread corruption in seeking office last May
Police are considering whether to launch a criminal inquiry relating to the
former mayor of Tower Hamlets after he was found guilty of multiple corruption
allegations by the high court and kicked out of office.
The mayoral election in the east London borough will be rerun after Lutfur Rahman and his
supporters were found to have used religious intimidation through local imams,
vote-rigging and wrongly branding his Labour rival a racist to gain power.
Rahman, who has been banned from seeking office again, was also found to
have allocated local grants to buy votes. He was ordered to pay immediate costs
of £250,000 from a bill expected to reach £1m.
Summing up, Judge Richard Mawrey said Rahman had sought to play the “race
and Islamophobia card” throughout the election and would no doubt do so after
this judgment. “He was an evasive witness – Rahman was no doubt behind illegal
and corrupt practices,” Mawrey said.
He also faces being stripped of his profession as a lawyer after the judge
claimed he told “a pack of lies” in the witness box.
The ferocity of the judge’s verdict provoked gasps in court. Friends of
Rahman claimed he had been unfairly treated.
Police on Thursday struggled to react to the judgment, based mainly on
evidence put together by local voters. Last April, detectives examined
allegations of electoral fraud and corruption against Rahman but found no
evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
A Met statement last night said the force has noted the judgment and will
consider the 200-page report.
Rahman, who is no longer mayor and will be removed from the
electoral roll, expressed shock at the judgment and said he was considering
launching a judicial review – his only possible course of legal action.
A statement on his website said: “Today’s judgment has come as a shock – the
mayor strongly denies any wrongdoing and had full confidence in the justice
system, and so this result has been surprising to say the least.”
Even if he does challenge the ruling, he will not stop a new mayoral
election, which is expected to be held in mid-June. Rahman is barred from
standing again.
politics”.
However, Ken Livingstone, the former London mayor, said he was “distinctly
uncomfortable” with a court’s ability to remove an elected mayor. “If there is
any illegality, then surely that’s a matter for the police.
“I’m uneasy that a mayor who has taken on the political powers in a borough
can be removed by someone who is essentially a bureaucrat. What I don’t
understand is why he [Mawrey] found evidence of corruption that the police have
so far failed to identify,” he said.
The judge handed down his verdict on Thursday after a 10-week hearing at the
Royal Courts of Justice.
A group of four residents – defined as petitioners by the election court –
had called for last year’s mayoral election, in which Rahman triumphed over Labour
rival John Biggs, to be declared void.
Mawrey said: “The evidence laid before this court, limited though it
necessarily was to the issues raised in the petition, has disclosed an alarming
state of affairs in Tower Hamlets.
“This is not the consequence of the racial and religious mix of the
population, nor is it linked to any ascertainable pattern of social or other
deprivation. It is the result of the ruthless ambition of one man. The real
losers in this case are the citizens of Tower Hamlets.”
Mawrey said the effect of his ruling was that “Mr Rahman’s election as mayor
on 22 May 2014 was void – that is to say, it is as if it had never taken
place”.
Rahman’s election agent, Alibor Choudhary, was also banned as a councillor
with immediate effect.
The petitioners were praised by the judge for their courage and told that
they had been fully vindicated.
They called for a criminal inquiry into Rahman but questioned whether it
could be carried out by local police because of their “connections” to Rahman.
Azmal Hussain, a petitioner who said he would have lost his Brick Lane
businesses if they had lost the case, dismissed concerns that the judgment
would be seen as racist.
