Family protest over giving the Del Singh Memorial award to Lousie Ellman MP & the JLM

Official statement from our family about the LP awarding the Del Singh Memorial award to Louise Ellman MP & JLM

[And see the Jewish News report glorying in this “best practice” award : Jewish Labour Movement receives campaigning award at conference]

Apologies for the quality of the image below. For those who find the image below difficult to read, you will find it in plain text here:


And here, in plain text:

My brother Delwas Singh was a tireless campaigner for human rights, justice and equality —-for all people, no matter who you were and where you came from —and he lost his life defending these very principles.

The cause of Palestinian human rights remained close to Del’s heart for much of his life, as an activist, as a DFiD consultant in the occupied Palestinian territory and as a Board Member of the Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East.

So imagine my shock and disbelief when last night’s the Labour Party awarded Louise Ellman MP and other members of the JLM the Del Singh Memorial Award. Images and social media posts celebrating those who opposed much of what Del stood for during his life were not easy to stomach. Those that have tirelessly defended the human rights abuses of the Israeli occupation, which Del spoke so passionately against. Those that have defended the illegal blockade of Gaza and the consecutive wars against the trapped population which Del categorically believed to be nothing short of collective punishment and war crimes. Those that attacked the very work and positions that Del advocated as part of the LPFME, for example recognition of a Palestinian state.

The Jewish News points out the irony of the award being given to the JLM but only because Del was a member of the Labour Friends of Palestine, not because of the marked differences in Del’s beliefs and principles with the recipients of the award.

If the award was intended to recongise and celebrate those causes that were important to Del, there were many to choose from. Del worked in conflict zones, poverty and employment opportunities at home; had we been asked, we would gladly have shared the information.

Given that the award is in the name of my brother, my family and I have the right to know who decides the eligibility for the award and why we, as his family, have never been consulted or informed about anything related to the award.

Since the tragic events of January 2014, when my brother’s life was taken by terrorists in Kabul, our family has received a lot of love and support from all over the world, from those who knew Del or just knew of his work. We are extremely proud of my brother and it is our responsibility to protect his legacy and his memory. I would go so far as to say it is our right.

No-one, including the Labour Party, has the right to exploit Del’s name or memory for their own political ends. It saddens me to think what Del would have thought of this, from a party that he actively campaigned for from his early teenage years.

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Comments (1)

  • Glenn Bowman says:

    This is an appalling desecration of Del Singh’s memory as well as a scandalous testimony to the depths to which the Labour Party is being dragged by Louise Ellman, Ella Rose, Labour Friends of Israel and the Jewish Labour Movement. If this – and the current and impending expulsions – continue the Labour Party will be rendered unrecognisable to those of us who joined what we thought was a progressive party.

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