Diane Abbott Exposes Labour Injustice
Diane Abbott has published an open letter describing the injustice of her treatment by the Labour Party. JVL had some criticisms of a previous letter which the Party has used to hound her; unlike Labour however, which owes her a duty of care that they have totally failed to demonstrate, JVL recognised her full and fast apology and the context and background to that letter.
As Diane notes in her letter, MPs supportive of the current leadership who have either failed to apologise for worse lapses or had to have contrition dragged slowly out of them have had no action taken against them.
Diane has suffered constant racist abuse for which she has received little protection or understanding. The failure of the Party to act on these was a significant part of Martin Forde’s description of a hierarchy of racism. In return she has received wounding allegations of antisemitism and been denied any due process for rebutting them.
It is not only Diane herself who has been attacked. Her constituency party officers have been sacked for wanting to discuss the child protection implications of the conviction of a local councillor for pornographic paedophilia offences. The local parties are being forced to give the appearance of colluding in child pornography by not being allowed to distance themselves from the crimes. Such a risk of serious reputational damage is of less interest to the party leadership than ensuring that members supportive of Abbott have no say in determining who will be the Labour candidate in the forthcoming general election.
MC
Diane Abbott has overwhelming support in her CLP. In the reselection process, in summer 2022, there was no opposition to her being re-adopted as the Hackney North candidate. Every single Branch Labour Party in the CLP supported her, as did every affiliate that voted (there was one abstention). Diane is very popular in Hackney.
The Labour Party is no longer a progressive party – and worse, Keir Starmer and his associates (I was tempted to say ‘henchmen’) have ‘left-proofed’ the party for the foreseeable future.
Time for progressives to find another home? Jo Bird, falsely accused of antisemitism (despite – or because of? – being Jewish) by the Labour Party, certainly thinks so. Jo recently joined the Greens, was warmly welcomed by Jewish Greens, and is now the Green Party parliamentary candidate for the Wirral.
Utterly shocking and completely unjust treatment of Diane Abbott who has suffered so much misogynistic and racist treatment. She has been an inspirational, courageous antiracist for decades.
The treatment of Diane is nothing short of disgraceful, it’s clear this current group of folks around Starmer have no interest in fairness. They are stripping out all last of the left MPs, and lefties in the Party so that Starmer can surround himself with nodding donkeys. Long term it will destroy the Party as we know it, then perhaps that’s their real intention. We need to stand firm with Diane and all the other members caught up in these attacks.
Makes very sad reading. Diane Abbot has served her constituents and the Labour Party faithfully for years. There is something deeply rotten at the centre of Labour. As an ex-Labour Councillor, not ‘Hard Left’ so-called, I find it very hard to believe what I am seeing. The attacks on the Left of the Party is nothing more than the brutal silencing of alternative voices. Democracy demands the existence of, and respect for, alternative voices which are often the deep conscience of any political grouping. Kier Starmer and his associates, sadly not opposed by many local constituencies, is following an unethical strategy in the interests of power accretion.
Strangely, it seems more akin to Stalin’s approach to party solidarity than that of democratic socialism.
It will not end well for anyone, Labour, the country, MPs or members. Who truly is the ‘nasty party’ now?
My thanks to Diane for all that she has done over many years.
I resigned previously over the same issue with regards to Jeremy Corbyn’s treatment and cannot vote labour again. I hope a new left-orientated party evolves out of this tragic mess. I would join such a party immediately. I certainly cannot vote Labour again. There truly is no other way forward in the interests of ethical socialism.
Thanks again Diane, and rest assured you have a lot more friends than you might think.
John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn responded on twitter (sorry “X”) https://twitter.com/johnmcdonnellMP/status/1704205730826355192 https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn/status/1704180403227983913?s=58&t=jPwg5aqCOILq_mvL_6M_CQ
Thank you for this excellent message. And so Starmer continues his wreckage of the LP -for the present! This may well play out to Diane’s advantage. I have tried elsewhere to gain support for opposing Starmer in the general Election and I include my effort herewith
“Stop Starmer
It is becoming clear that irreparable harm could be done to progressive causes if Starmer becomes the next Prime Minister. Hopefully, he will lose the LP leadership before the next General Election ; preferably by court action against his improper use of LP funds to buy the silence of the traitorous staff of the LP; but possibly by outrage against his overt racism, misogyny and leniency towards those suspected of paedophilia.
IF he is still leader by the time of the G. E., it is imperative that he loses his seat. This should be possible if there is a strong challenge from a wide based, environment/socialist coalition candidate, that exposes his dishonesty, ruthlessness and contempt for election rules, Labour Party rules and common decency.
The Al Jazeera films about his Israeli –arranged coup, along with the constant showing of “OH Jeremy Corbyn! “ etc., could be exhibited every day of the campaign. Full blanket publicity about his deliberately deceiving leadership campaign (with all Ten Broken Promises leaflets distributed everywhere) would all provide a convincing exposure of his outrageous actions. It would be intriguing to have the dozens of Jewish LP members, that he has expelled since gaining power, gathered all together accusing HIM directly of Anti-Semitism and Apartheid. There was no Jew expelled under Corbyn. Each day of the election a new accusation of his unfitness to govern could be highlighted. I hesitate to suggest the identity of the socialist rival candidate, but there would be no shortage of volunteers. I hope Dianne Abbott will be fighting her usual seat but if she has been prevented, then she would make the ideal candidate.”
If we don’t speak out about what Starmer’s doing we become complicit. It really matters that we challenge his lies and duplicity. No matter how bad we thought we thought Starmer might be …. he’s worse than any of us imagined
Good though the comments so far are, they do not emphasise enough the racism involved in the treatment of Diane. Not just in her suspension (and effectively removing her as a Labour MP) but in the refusal to do anything about the racism revealed in the leaked report and about the continuous racism and misogyny directed at her on social and printed media. This is part of a general anti-Black racism in policy and in sidelining Black people who do not tow the Starmer line. We need to fight back – on the street, in writing and speaking, and legally.
Why do we express “shock” or moral outrage at Diane`s treatment. Havent we enough experience of the Labour Party to know exactly what it is. It is tank trap in the way of progressive forces – including Trades Unions, local community activists and other campaigns. It doesnt deserve the time or attention it gets. Maybe we have become so entwined with this illusion that politics can only be served by playing along with the Parliamentary pantomime? Diane, like Jeremy and others, deserve our full support if they decide to stand in the next election. Lets use our time constructively on supporting and building alternatives. The Labour Party as a vehicle for radical working class change is dead.
The treatment of long serving Labour MPs in the party is an Utter disgrace
Sir Utter Useless is not fit to lead a horse to water never mind leading the labour party
While this man is leader it will get worse not better
The way he treated JVL members was appalling along with other left members who were expelled with false allagations of antisemitism against them
We all know antisemitism and any form of racism is disgraceful and should be eradicated
But the way he weaponised antisemitism against members He has shown that the country does not need a person like him to be the next Prime Minister
The disrespect that the Labour Party shows Diane Abbott is a stark contrast to the respect in which she is held by all socialists. But her account of her mistreatment by the Party adds little to what we already know about the its underlying nature. It is an overt enemy of the working class. And beyond reform. There should be no longer any pretence that progress can be made from within the Labour Party, and to do so has now become a strategy that is now actually harmful to the struggle for emancipation of the oppressed, as it is a meaningless diversion. Diane Abbott should resign the Labour Whip before it is withdrawn and announce her intention to stand against Labour at the next election. (Indeed, she should have done this long ago, when the Whip was withdrawn from Corbyn). Anything les than this is now – as just outlined – actually, even if unintentionally, serving the cause of the ruling class.
Diane deserves our support. The Forde report needs to be published as a pamphlet and fully discussed throughout the labour movement which includes some parts of the Labour Party.
She needs to stand as an independent next time.
Starmer’s quite likely to kill off the Labour party soon, retaining the “brand” label because it’s useful but ditching the party’s centre-left political role, placing it under the control of his apparatchiks and the unaccountable donors who fund them. Those who don’t want this future for Labour have now to take much more decisive action to try to prevent it.
What weapons do we the powerless actually have against the autocrats currently holding formal authority within the party?
I think we need to think harder about HOW to change the balance of power power by increasing our own and limiting the ability of those with formal control to act against what we want.
An essential part of changing the balance of power is to build up a community which can “talk” to itself OUTSIDE OF LABOUR PARTY CONTROLLED COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS AND MACHINERY. One person on their own has little power, a network of like-minded people who have shared their phone numbers and email addresses with trusted others and who meet often enough to plan joint action MAY have the muscle needed to achieve some (often small) gains.
At this stage, what is there to lose? Many loyal Labour members have ALREADY been excluded or are in limbo within the disciplinary process … they’ve no party relationships left to damage.
This has happened all over the country and I don’t accept the current Labour leadership and it’s offices and will be looking for a new party to support