Left Sectarianism Splits the Vote in UNISON and Allows Starmer Candidate Christine McAnea To Win

 The Decision of the Socialist Party to Stand a Candidate, Knowing They Had no Chance of Winning was Sheer Madness

Useless right-winger Christine McAnea is narrowly elected thanks to the self-destructive sectarianism of the left

UNISON has been controlled by the right-wing ever since it was founded.  First Rodney Bickerstaffe and then the insipid Blairite clone Dave Prentis were General Secretary.  Under Prentis UNISON became a byword for political corruption when he was found to have cheated, enlisting paid union officials in London as part of his campaign.

A genuine working class activist who would have turned UNISON into the fighting union it should be

Christine McAnea, a former assistant general secretary, was narrowly backed by the National Executive polling 63,900 votes, 47.7 per cent of the vote. Paul Holmes, a genuine working class candidate who promised to do the job on a workers’ wage, received the nomination of both the South East and North West regions. Paul received 45,220 votes.

This useless lump of lard is the Regional official who investigated me - the only time I ever saw him before that was when Prentis sent him to our union meeting to argue in favour of calling off strike action

Roger McKenzie, the soft left candidate who was supported by Jeremy Corbyn, came third with 14,450 votes and Hugo Pierre of the Socialist Party was last with 10,382 votes.

It is clear that a single left candidate could have won. A combined left campaign could have made the difference. If Hugo Pierre had pulled out pressure could have been put on McKenzie to do the same. It was sheer sectarian madness, a classic case of building the party at the expense of the class, which led to Pierre to stubbornly refusing to quit despite having no chance whatsoever.

For 10 years, throughout the years of austerity of Cameron, May and Johnson, Prentis did all he could to damp down action against the Tories/Lib Dems savage cuts in local government. Workers in Southampton Council having been betrayed simply switched to Unite.

I was suspended for 3 years from UNISON for publicly criticising Steve Terry, a London regional official who scabbed on Stan Keable who was sacked when on a demonstration he argued, quite correctly, that the Zionists collaborated with the Nazis during the war. A clear case of free speech but Terry, being a right-wing  Progress councillor on Walthamstow Council, refused to give Stan any support and even acted to prevent me representing him at an appeal hearing at Fulham and Hammersmith Council.

Despite failing to give Stan any support he easily won his Employment Tribunal case, the appeal for which is currently being heard before the Employment Appeal Tribunal.

Dave Prentis - in a competition with Keir Starmer, its difficult to know who is the more charismatic - his only talent was for running the union like a mafia boss

UNISON is a rich union with at least £100 million in reserve. It is in an excellent position to mount a fightback against the cuts in local government yet its only achievements have been to feather the nest of its unelected, unaccountable officials. When disciplinary action was first taken against me who did I deal with but a Beth Bickerstaffe, the Executive Secretary. 

It was I thought a strange coincidence that she shared the same unusual surname with the first General Secretary, Rodney Bickerstaffe.  But having inquired of her, without success, whether she was any relation, I later learnt that she was his daughter-in-law! 

I am sure that her interview was one of those equal opportunities interviews, except that she seems to have been more equal than the rest!

Either way the General Secretary election was a golden opportunity to sweep the right-wing out of the union and transform UNISON into a fighting union. Careerism and left sectarianism have ensured that the right-wing narrowly retains their hold.

There will be fresh elections in 5 years time.  I just hope that the Socialist Party has learnt its lesson and doesn’t split the vote again for narrow sectarian party building purposes. The purpose of left groups it to increase the fighting capacity of the working class not to let the right-wing of the trade union movement retain their grip.

Tony Greenstein

See

Holmes streets ahead to win endorsement of another Unison region – this time union’s biggest – in general secretary contest

Christina McAnea elected as Unison's first female leader

Dear Peter Kyle, What a Sickening Racist You Are

Only Hove’s ‘Labour’ MP could attack the dead for having ‘provoked’ their killers

If Kyle is not reselected then, if Labour gains a majority, Kyle is likely to refuse to support a Labour government under Corbyn

Whatever else you can accuse Peter Kyle, Progress’s  Labour MP for Hove of, it isn’t a sense of humour failure.  Who else could blame the dead for having deliberately gone out of their way to get themselves killed whilst exonerating their killers of all blame? 

According to Kyle this 13 year old boy must have been a terrorist too

As most people will be aware, the situation in Gaza after 11 years of Israel’s siege is a humanitarian disaster. 95% of the water is unfit to drink, because Israel has stolen their water.  Food is in short supply since Israel took care to attack chicken farms and its navy regularly uses Gaza’s fishing boats as target practice.  Suffice to say exports of Gaza’s produce is forbidden and exit is made extremely difficult for medical patients, many of whom have died trying to leave Gaza.

Palestinian Return demonstrators

Suffice to say that the population being at the end of their tether resorted for the past 3 weeks to large ‘Return’ demonstrations near Israel’s security fence.  Their demand is quite simple – since Israel has made their living conditions unbearable and since they come from what is now Israel, having been expelled in 1947-8, they demand the right of return.  However according to Israel’s propagandists, of which Kyle is one, those demonstrating were forced to by Hamas, who like all groups Israel comes into conflict are demonised as genocidal Nazis.

Of course the idea of Palestinian refugees returning home to Palestine is unthinkable to Israel’s racist regime which only allows Jews to ‘return’ despite them never having lived there.

Peter Kyle in the House of Commons

As the ‘only democracy in the Middle East’ Israel could not tolerate peaceful demonstrations on its borders.  So it employed 100 army snipers to take pot shots at those who were demonstrating.  The result is at least 36 demonstrators shot dead and over a thousand wounded.

Unsurprisingly Peter Kyle’s constituents have contacted him to ask that their MP express their concern and fury over Israel’s war crimes.  Peter however had different ideas.  Not for nothing is Peter known as a walking  mouthpiece for whatever hasbara (propaganda) Israel has on offer.

Luke Akehurst - arms salesman and Israeli propagandist

After the shooting of the first batch of Gaza’s demonstrators on Good Friday Luke Akehurst, an employee of Stand by Israel and a stalwart of the Labour Right, went into overdrive.  He put out an ‘Urgent Call to Action - email your MP to ask them to condemn Hamas for provoking violence on the Gaza border’.  He titled this OPERATION DEFEND ISRAEL.

Turning things on their head is not unknown in politics see the above Express headline

Lukey also has a well developed sense of humour.  Who else would call the shooting dead of 19 unarmed Palestinians ‘Operation Defend Israel’.  If only Luke  had been around in the second world war then he could have termed the Nazi invasion of Poland ‘Operation Defend Germany’ or the establishment of concentration camps as ‘Operation Defend Jewry’.  Come to think of it the Daily Express did exactly this.  When Jews declared a boycott of Germany the Daily Express ran with a headline on 24^th March 1933 ‘Judea Declares War on Germany’. 

Thus when his constituents contacted Kyle they were treated to a long lecture about the evils of Hamas, the group that runs Gaza whereas he signally fails to utter even a single word of criticism of Israel for having murdered what is now 36 unarmed protestors.  

Kyle it is only fair to say is only taking his lead from  Akehurst who wrote that ‘On Good Friday the terror group HAMAS ordered men, women and children to provoke a dispute with Israel.’  You see, it wasn’t Israel’s fault at all.  It was all Hamas’s fault for having  ‘provoked’ a dispute with Israel.

Peter Kyle has adopted the above apologia for Israel's war crimes wholesale

One of the criticism that Zionists often make of their opponents is that we believe in conspiracy theories.  Could there be any bigger conspiracy theory than the idea that thousands of Palestinians were ordered to demonstrate and risk their lives because Hamas forced them to?  

Akehurst tells us how many ‘rioters’ were killed (Akehurst has no doubt that all those killed, including those shot in the back, were rioters).  Indeed they ‘were identified as Palestinian terrorists.’  And who did the identification?  Why of course their murderers.

I therefore decided to write to my dear friend Kyle 

Letter I sent to Peter Kyle 20.4.18.

Dear Peter Kyle,

In response to a constituent's concern regarding Israel's shooting dead of over 30 unarmed demonstrators  in Gaza over the past 3 weeks and the wounding of over one thousand more, you wrote a letter criticising Hamas but saying nothing about a state that shoots peaceful protestors.

Your sickening hypocrisy is best demonstrated by your sentence:

'We recognise the plight of the people of Gaza and the dire humanitarian situation they face.'

This is from someone who is on record as supporting the very siege of Gaza, now over 11 years old, that has led to this 'dire humanitarian situation'.

You 'condemn Hamas’ ongoing rearmament, tunnel construction and attempts to launch rocket and terrorist attacks.'  I can only presume you would have condemned the tunnel construction and the attempt to arm of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising? 

Since there have been no rocket attacks by Hamas in recent years, unlike the regular shootings, missile attacks and tank fire by Israel, you have to employ a form of weasel words as in 'attempts to...'

Perhaps you might inform us if you have an opinion on the regular shooting of Palestinian fishermen in Gaza's territorial waters, despite agreements to allow fishing up to 6 kilometers?

 You say that you 'deplore Hamas’ repeated violation of the human rights of the citizens of Gaza' presumably you don't consider the right to clean water, which is a direct consequences of Israeli action in depleting the water table and bombing water purification plants a violation of human rights?  Or the right to live with a roof over one's head, since Israel leveled thousands of homes in Operation Protective Edge? 

I also presume that you don't consider the shooting of unarmed demonstrators to be a breach of human rights either?

I would be interested to know what it is that prevents you ever condemning the actions of the aggressor.  Israel possesses an overwhelming military might.  It is a first world nuclear power, yet you condemn the puny and pathetic response of those living under Israel's daily occupation? 

Yes I know that there are no Israeli military forces in Gaza but when you control its borders, preventing access by sea, land and air in addition to controlling who goes in and out and the population register then you are in occupation.

Your concern for LGBT Palestinians is touching though I am not aware that Hamas is persecuting Palestinian gays in the same way that Israel's friends in Syria, al-Nusra, Jaish al Islam and other jihadist groups are doing. 

Or perhaps you believe that LGBT Palestinians don't drink water or eat food or want to work?  Your pinkwashing is nothing but a disgusting attempt to use the oppression of one group in order to justify Israel's racist and murderous policies which are directed at all Palestinians, gay and straight.

Perhaps you might be so kind as to inform me just what has caused a Labour politician to become such a despicable racist and an apologist for the only Apartheid state in the world.  On seconds thought don't bother.  I think I understand.

Tony Greenstein

This is the propaganda organisation that Luke Akehurst fronts

Dear XXX,

Thank you for your email.

I am absolutely horrified by this situation and fully support the calls by the UN Secretary General, and the EU’s Foreign Affairs representative for an independent international investigation.

The only solution is two states for two peoples and the only path to peace is through negotiation without preconditions. As Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry MP has said, we need “both sides – and the international community as a whole – to now come together as a matter of urgency, end the blockade and humanitarian crisis inside Gaza, end the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands, and end this senseless cycle of violence by working towards the two-state solution we all want to see, with a secure Israel living in peace alongside a secure and viable state of Palestine.”

As a Labour MP I am proud to have signed the Pledge for Gaza:

-           We recognise the plight of the people of Gaza and the dire humanitarian situation they face;

-           We condemn Hamas’ ongoing rearmament, tunnel construction and attempts to launch rocket and terrorist attacks in Israel and urge respect for the Oslo Accords which stipulate the demilitarisation of the Palestinian territories;

-           We deplore Hamas’ repeated violation of the human rights of the citizens of Gaza, in particular its treatment of women and LGBT Palestinians;

-           We call upon the international community to honour the reconstruction pledges made at the Cairo conference in 2014;

-           We urge the Israeli government to assist with the economic revitalisation of Gaza including supporting Labor MK Omer Bar-Lev’s plans for the construction of a seaport.

I will always do everything in my power to advocate for peace and to promote a negotiated two state solution for two peoples; with Israel safe, secure and recognised within its borders; living alongside a democratic, independent Palestinian state.

I hope this is helpful. Thank you once again for contacting me.

All the best,

Peter.

Peter Kyle MP 

As the Witch-hunt gathers momentum, Jon Lansman’s Momentum does nothing

Mike Paling and David Watson are just two of the casualties of McNicol’s war on free speech

 

Mike Paling's Expulsion letter

Draft Resolution on the Witch-hunt

This Branch/CLP

i.                Welcomes the reinstatement of Professor Emeritus Moshe Machover, who was expelled (‘auto excluded’) from the Labour Party on 3 October 2017. Professor Machover is Jewish, born in Tel Aviv in 1936,  and is the co-founder of Matzpen, the socialist organisation which from the 60s to the 80s brought together Arab and Jewish opposition to the illegal occupation of Palestine (see http://www.matzpen.org/arabic/ );

ii.             Notes that the Head of Disputes, Sam Matthews, accused Prof Machover of writing an “apparently antisemitic article” according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism, and further accused him of “membership or support for another political party, or a political organisation with incompatible aims to the Labour Party’ on the basis of having written articles for them and having spoken on their platforms.

iii.           By this criteria Jeremy Corbyn, who was a columnist for the Morning Star for 10 years should also be ‘auto-excluded’.

iv.           The witch-hunt that the Compliance Unit and the Disputes Committee are conducting is unacceptable.  It is an attack on supporters of Jeremy Corbyn under the guise of opposing anti-Semitism.  It is used almost exclusively against those on the Left, supporters of the Palestinians and opponents of Zionism.

v.             We note the comment of Jewish comedian, Alexei Sayle in a Sky TV interview in October 2017 that:  ‘most of the people who have been suspended from the Labour Party for anti-Semitism seem to have been Jewish.’

vi.           It is noticeable that anti-Muslim or anti-Roma racism doesn’t merit the same concern by the Party apparatus.

We demand:

vii.       No auto-exclusions or expulsions. Everyone has the right to a fair hearing.  All those who have been auto-excluded must be reinstated.

viii.      That the proposed expulsions of Tony Greenstein, Jackie Walker, Marc Wadsworth and Ken Livingstone should be halted.  It is noticeable that two of the above are Jewish and two are Black anti-racist activists.

ix.        We reject the 450 word IHRA definition of anti-Semitism whose sole purpose is to conflate criticism of Israel and Zionism with anti-Semitism.  We note the Opinion of Hugh Tomlinson QC that ‘It does not have the clarity which would be required from such a definition.’ http://freespeechonisrael.org.uk/ihra-opinion/#sthash.xHhUS24q.dpbs. 

x.         We prefer the simple 21 word definition of Professor Brian Klug of Oxford University:

‘antisemitism is a form of hostility to Jews as Jews, where Jews are perceived as something other than what they are.’

xi.        The Compliance Unit should be abolished. All disciplinary action against members should be undertaken by elected bodies not full time staff.

As the the case of Mike Paling below demonstrates, the Right is attempting to reverse the victories of the Left at Party conference by stepping up the witch hunt and ‘auto-excluding’ and suspending anyone who speaks out on Palestine or is associated with a left group they disagree with.

Labour Against the Witchhunt

Next Meeting

Calthorpe Arms, Grays Inn Road, Kings Cross

Saturday December 2^nd 12.00-3.00 p.m.

On the very same day that Moshe Machover was expelled so was Michael Paling.  As his email to Moshe explains, his ‘offence’ was sharing posts which included articles from Weekly Worker.  His timeline is full of posts he has shared, most of them have nothing to do with the CPGB or LPM.  He was obviously targeted as an active trade unionist.  They were amongst many such posts that he shared on Facebook.  We need to put an end to this McCarthyism.  

Why the hell are Labour Party staff, paid by us, spending their time poring over social media posts of people in the party and seeing what they are sharing?

David Watson, the Fundraising Officer in Walthamstow CLP has also been suspended for 18 months now.  Stella Creasy, his local MP, takes exception to anyone speaking out on Palestine in her constituency.  The constituency is by all accounts run by her family like a mafia town.

Labour General Secretary Iain McNicol - it is almost certain that he is working with Britain's secret state to help destabilise the Labour Party

Meanwhile Jon Lansman and Momentum’s leadership are like the 3 monkeys – they neither see, say or hear anything.  It is outrageous that Momentum have done absolutely nothing about the expulsions or suspensions even though they must know that their purpose has nothing to do with anti-Semitism and everything to do with weakening the Left.  The only point of these witch-hunts is to weaken the pro-Corbyn left.

Mike Paling has been expelled under Chapter 2.I.4.B of the Labour Party's rules which states:

“A member of the party who joins and/or supports a political organisation other than an official Labour Group or unit of the Party or supports any candidate who stands against an official Labour candidate, or publicly declares their intent to stand against a Labour candidate, shall automatically be ineligible to be or remain a party member, subject to the provisions of part 6.I.2 of the disciplinary rules”.

These posts were the 'evidence' Mike Paling was supplied with

This rule has to go.  As it stands it could be interpreted to debar any member or supporter of Progress or Labour or indeed any organisation deemed political but of course it is only being used to debar members of left-wing groups.   An anti-fracking or an anti-racist group could equally be deemed political.  The proscribed list of organisations, such as Militant, has been scrapped.  Now any member of the Compliance Group can take exception to any group they define as political and then auto-exclude someone, without them having any right of appeal, from the Labour Party.  This rule is  witch hunter’s charter.

It could of course and maybe in the future it will be used against members of Momentum.  However today it is being used solely against people on the Left.  Although I detest the Zionist politics of the Alliance for Workers Liberty for the reasons I gave in my post yesterday, they have a right to function and operate in the Labour Party like any other group.

Letter from Mike Paling to Moshe Machover

Dear Moshe,

                    No one was happier than myself when your expulsion was rescinded after the fantastic campaigning by members. Sadly the same cannot be said for myself regarding my expulsion at the same time, my crime was the sharing of 8 items from Labour Party Marxist and the weekly worker, (CPGB).

                     I would just like to make it clear from the off, I have never attended a LPM or CPGB meeting  let alone joined either of these organisations.

                     I regularly share political articles on Facebook, including some by your good self, but I've shown no bias towards LPM or WW. I've checked my Facebook timeline and counted 12 occasions when I've shared LPM and WW pieces during September, the month cited by Sam Matthews. However, there were over 200 political articles shared from other sources, such as Labour MPs, Unite the Union, the TUC, New Statesman, national newspapers, etc, during the same period. Of course, I will dispute the premise that LPM support is incompatible with membership, but even if that is accepted, there is no evidence that I've given any such support. Like yourself, I was offered no right of appeal but given 14 days to challenge the validity of the so called evidence attached to the expulsion letter, unlike you, however Sam Matthews has not seen fit to reply to, or even acknowledge, my communication.

                    During my time as a Labour Party activist I've participated in election campaigns Party actions regularly attending CLP, branch and Momentum meetings and supporting Labour  movement, antifascist and Palestinian solidarity actions. No doubt the latter has made me more susceptible to the attention of purge minded bureaucrats. 

Kind regards, M Paling.

Please sign this petition in support of David Watson, who has been suspended for 18 months by the Labour Party

Lift David Watson's suspension from the Labour Party!

David Watson and Jeremy Corbyn

Walthamstow Labour Party fundraiser suspended – who had it in for David Watson?

EXCLUSIVE:

David Watson, Labour Party fundraising coordinator for the Walthamstow constituency in northeast London, was suspended last week for unspecified “breaches of party rules.” The Jewish Chronicle – a Zionist weekly newspaper which has been a main cheerleader for the campaign branding Labour a hotbed of Jew-hatred – gave an “Exclusive” tag to its May 6 report alleging that Watson had been suspended because of antisemitic Facebook posts.

Both the JC and the local Waltham Forest Guardian newspaper quoted Labour MP Stella Creasy saying that “bigotry” is inconsistent with membership of “a party campaigning for social justice,” implying that this was relevant to Watson’s case.

Word in local Labour circles says it was the MP’s father Philip Creasy, Constituency Party secretary, who notified Watson of his suspension on May 9, three days after he was asked about it by a journalist from the Jewish Chronicle. How did they know?

Who has an interest in pillorying a secondary school teacher of modern languages with a long history of working with Greenpeace and the Campaign Against Arms Trade? David Watson is a man who prides himself on combating antisemitism among kids he teaches, getting them involved in projects run by organisations such as the Anne Frank Trust and Amnesty International. Might his friendship with Jewish anti-Zionists have played a role? Or his past visits to Israel and Palestine and association with Israeli and Palestinian anti-Occupation activists? Or was it merely the fact that when he was elected Walthamstow party fundraiser, he replaced Stella Creasy’s mother in the role? Witnesses present at the relevant Annual General Meeting say that the honourable member made no attempt to hide her displeasure at Watson’s election.

Some suspect the Conservatives may have had a hand in his victimisation, since pictures of Watson with Sadiq Khan, at that time vying with Tory Zac Goldsmith for election as London’s mayor, featured in the JC and alongside charges of antisemitism posted by the so-called Campaign Against Antisemitism on May 3.  Allegations had also appeared on the notorious Zionist blog, Harry’s Place.

Let’s have a look at Stella Creasy’s idea of what constitutes bigotry, remembering that this is taking place against the background of an ongoing witch hunt in the Labour Party – gleefully stoked by Conservatives joining hands with Labour opponents of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership making allegations of antisemitism, mostly distorted or even fabricated, against opponents of Israel’s colonial settlement of Palestine.

The CAA alleged that Watson believed “Israel is secretly behind ISIS.”

Reality: He had posted a picture of Israeli shells allegedly found in an ISIS camp and written over it “Mmmm”

He was charged with suggesting links between Israel and the Nazis.

Reality: He had posted a link to a Daily Mirror report, which was also carried in many other newspapers, about an SS officer who had been employed by the Israeli secret service to kill former Nazis working in Arab countries after the war. Watson wrote: “A moral army with a fine moral foundation.”

Other alleged crimes include calling Zionism a racist ideology and expressing sympathy for Palestinian “guerrillas”.

There is no hint of animosity towards Jews in any of these posts. Many Jews would agree that Zionism is a racist ideology, discriminating again Palestinians and stereotyping Jews as congenitally incapable of living alongside non-Jews in diverse societies. Many – including former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak – also empathise with Palestinians resisting the  occupation of their land.

These are subjects which we should be free to debate without being hounded out of any democratic political organisation – above all one that claims, as Stella Creasy says, to be “campaigning for social justice.