Labour anti-Semitism, resistance from the left

The crisis inside the Labour Party took new twists and turns tonight as Chris Williamson faced suspension for his comments about Labour being "too apologetic" about anti-Semitism. Even Owen Jones the faux journalist tweeted his support for the move.

Meanwhile a variety of Corbyn supporters are sending a letter to "the top" protesting about the anti-Semitism in Labour but of course they just have to say the accusation against prop-Palestinians is flawed. So make of that what you will. Here's their letter still available for people to sign apparently:

Antisemitism Open Letter

We are Labour members who support Jeremy Corbyn in his leadership and the progressive, socialist programme and anti-racist principles of the Labour Party.
We have seen antisemitism from Labour members and supporters, online or offline. We recognise that as a movement we have been too slow to acknowledge this problem, too tolerant of the existence of antisemitic views within our ranks, too defensive and too eager to downplay it.

We sincerely apologise to the Jewish community, and our Jewish comrades in the party, for our collective failure on this issue to date.

We believe that a small minority of antisemites are wreaking havoc in the Labour movement, alienating Jewish people, and sabotaging the Labour project. Some of these people are already expelled or otherwise suspended by the party, but remain active on social media. Moreover, there is a much wider problem of denial about the problem, including shouting down those who raise it or take action. 

We are acutely aware that confidence in the left is at an all time low within Jewish communities. It is our goal to rebuild trust and relationships with our Jewish compatriots. 

In addition, we understand our obligation to be sensitive to the concerns that have already been widely expressed. A particular issue is that many people, due to a general lack of education about antisemitism, are not recognising antisemitic tropes, and as a result often react defensively. We recognise that rising antisemitism in society at large, and in other parties, isn’t a reason to fall short here in the Labour Party. It is our party that has always led the fight against racism, which is why our failures are bitterly disappointing for Jewish members, and as such we affirm that there is no space for anti-Jewish prejudice and bigotry in our movement. We must be at the forefront of eradicating antisemitism from our own spaces and movement, which is where we have the power to hold ourselves to the highest standard in order to make a real difference.

Part of the difficulty is that when speaking out about the injustices of the Israel-Palestine conflict, progressive and radical activists have faced allegations of antisemitism when they have either not been antisemitic or when they did not intend to be antisemitic and took care to ensure they were not using antisemitic tropes or rhetoric. At the same time, we acknowledge that we face real currents of unchallenged and somewhat normalised anti-Jewish oppression in our movements and society at large including at times alongside criticism of Israel. In order to resolve this we call on all members of the Labour movement to seek an end to bunker mentality, demonstrate maturity and prove why, as a party awaiting government, we can be trusted to face up to the challenges we encounter in bringing about significant change both within and outside of the movement.

It is our ambition to arrive at a place where we can hold ourselves accountable, continuing to address important challenges and having meaningful discussions about topics including the Israel-Palestine conflict. All of this whilst being true and committed allies to our Jewish compatriots in the fight against antisemitism.

We are committed to proactively opposing antisemitism and antisemitic tropes wherever they occur and countering efforts to downplay concerns raised. We want to work with the party to urgently assign resources, in consultation with the Jewish community, to expose and isolate antisemites active online purporting to support Labour; to create and develop political education materials to assist in educating those who are ignorant of this subject and unaware of the nuances of antisemitism; to publish a dedicated page on the Labour Party website addressing antisemitism; to address both new and outstanding cases in a timely manner; and to raise up Jewish voices speaking out about their experiences; and to reiterate publicly and privately that dismissive attitudes and denial are part of the problem.

We understand that many Jewish members feel uncertain and have reservations, but we hope that you will stay in the Labour Party, so we can work with you and together eradicate antisemitism from our movement and society as a whole.

This has been signed so far by the following,

Owen George Emmerson - Wealden CLP
Ciaran McGurdy - Manchester Withington CLP
Iwan Doherty- Warwick and Leamington CLP
Danny Cheetham - Denton and Reddish CLP
Eamon Rooke - Islington South
Jack Turner – Hartlepool CLP & Durham University Labour (DULC)
Simon Foster - Hampstead & Kilburn CLP
Steve H. - Richmond (Yorks) CLP
Maxim Lundlack-Orr - Ealing and Southall CLP
Steve Lapsley - Nottingham East CLP
David Plant - Holborn and St Pancras CLP
Eli Edwards - Cities of London and Westminster CLP
Jeremy Green - Stroud CLP
David Hooke - Islington South & Finsbury CLP
Chris Spence - Newcastle-under-Lyme CLP & West Midlands Regional Board
Matt Steven - Chipping Barnet CLP
Natalie Faulkner - Sheffield Heeley CLP
Jane Heybroek - East Surrey CLP
Matt Wainman - Liverpool Walton CLP
Donach Malachy Wells CLP
Glyn Harries - Hackney South and Shoreditch CLP
Andrew Jeffery - Hackney South and Shoreditch CLP
William Sorenson - Henley CLP (Youth Officer)
Alex Blenkhorn - Denton and Reddish CLP
Barnaby Marder - Richmond Park CLP. Founder, Socialists Against Antisemitism
Gary Spedding - Tynemouth CLP
Kenny Love - Hackney South and Shoreditch CLP
David Clarke - Bootle CLP
Sean Smyth, Bristol West CLP
Ed Poole - Enfield North CLP
Charlotte Faulkner - Sheffield Heeley CLP
Tania Shew - Holborn and St Pancras CLP
Daniel Vulkan - Hornsey and Wood Green CLP
Henry Mendoza - Tooting CLP
Michael A. Rowan - Islington North CLP
Darren Mansell - Bromsgrove CLP
Freddie Bailey - North Preston & Wyre
Ali Dogan - Hackney South and Shoreditch CLP
Michael Shew - Holborn and St Pancras CLP
George Aylett - Hull North CLP
Patricia Neira - Tynemouth CLP
Hattie Mann-Peet - Holborn and St Pancras CLP
Gareth Anker Hamsptead and Kilburn CLP
Jacob Richardson - Haltemprice and Howden CLP
Christopher Whittaker - Nottingham South CLP
Mark Anderson - Almond Valley CLP
Morgan Paulett - Caerphilly CLP
Mike Hind - Labour International
Jennifer Thorburn - Brent North CLP
Jack Pearce - Stafford CLP
Steve Cooke - Stockton North CLP
Alison Whyte - Hackney North
Joe B - Norwich South CLP
Joel McKevitt - Blackpool North & Cleveleys CLP
Phil Jeffrey - Stockton South CLP
Connor Slomski - Newcastle Upon Tyne Central CLP
David Mazzocchi-Jones - Newcastle-under-Lyme CLP and former PPC for Staffordshire Moorlands
Matthew Green - Sheffield South East CLP
Ellie Mae O'Hagan - Hackney South and Shoreditch CLP
Jon Narcross - Hackney South and Shoreditch CLP
Daniel Round - Hornsey and Wood Green CLP
Paul Hilder - Lewisham Deptford
Kate Evans - Wells CLP
Jack Duncan - Putney CLP
Kirsty Warren - Buckingham CLP
Peter McCulloch - Stockton North
James Dudley, Darlington CLP
Joseph Robinson - Bournemouth West CLP
Ross Patrick Clark. Melton and Rutland
Muzakir Ahmed- Ilford South CLP
Rose Francis, North Cardiff CLP
Lewis Michael Waddingham - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough CLP
Timothy Christian - Fylde CLP
Ewan Jobe - North Tyneside CLP
Emma Jones - Oxford West & Abingdon CLP
Jacqueline Gittens Norwich North CLP
Daniel Rayner - Carshalton & Wallington CLP
Barney Carroll - Reading East CLP
David Miles Islington South CLP
Ross Clark - Glasgow Kelvin CLP
Moshe Mankoff, Gateshead CLP
George Miller - Sleaford and North Hykeham CLP
Aled Iestyn Lewis - Runnymede and Weybridge CLP
Lynton North - Torridge & West Devon CLP
Charles Smith - York Outer CLP
Ann Pugh - Mitcham & Morden CLP
Julie Franklin Blackley and Broughton CLP
Nikola Stojsavljevic - Amersham & Chesham CLP
Aliy Faisal - Cambridge CLP
Harriet Hey - Selby and Ainsty CLP
Dion Saunders - Bristol East CLP
Adam Ageli - Blackpool South CLP
Harry McCarthy - Colne Valley CLP
Finchley and Golders Green CLP
Daniel Rayner - Carshalton & Wallington
Robin Arnold - Wolverhampton North East CLP
Daniel Nichols - Romford CLP
Syed Kirmani - Edinburgh Southern CLP
Lawrence Matthews - Manchester Central CLP
Sophie Stephenson - Midlothian CLP
Jaki Whyte - Colchester CLP
Nigel Spencer - Manchester Withington CLP
Nadia Whittome - Rushcliffe CLP
Thomas Kirkwood - Bradford South CLP
Theo Freedman - Bethnal Green and Bow CLP
Tim Phillips-White - Wyre Forest CLP
Phill brocklehurst -yeovil clp
Allan Callister - Salford and Eccles CLP
Adam Smith - Huntingdon CLP
Jamil Ismaili - Cardiff South and Penarth CLP
Martin Sellers - Stretford & Urmston CLP
Joy Coughlan - Cardiff North CLP
Fabian Newton-Edgar - Leeds North East CLP
Robert Broad - Portsmouth CLP
Chris Mears - Cardiff North CLP
Mick McAteer Hackney North and Stoke Newington CLP
Rebecca Fewtrell - York CLP
Stuart Nimmo - South Dorset CLP
Geraint James - Anniesland CLP
Neville Hutchinson - Canterbury CLP
Sandra Smith Warrington North CLP

Socialist Workers Party backs Shamima Begum

The extremist Socialist Workers Party has launched a campaign to bring Shaimima Begum home under the auspices of being a refugee. Posters supporting her return have been appearing around East London attacking so-called Islamaphobia (sic) in an appeal to the more extreme elements of the Muslim community since they burn't their bridges with the others following their bust up with George Galloway in the now defunct and disbanded Respect Party.

The organisation Stand Up to Racism is nothing more than a front for the SWP with the support of a few useful fools like Diane Abbott.

The latest issue of Socialist Worker rants:

Right wingers see the Shamima Begum case as an opportunity to bolster racism and the state’s powers over Muslim people in Britain.

Nothing could be further from the truth. This has nothing to do with racism, in fact even the majority of the Muslim community do not consider it anything to do with Islam either. Begum not only joined ISIS but has to the horror of her neighbours and local Imam not even repented her actions or those of ISIS.

Begum thought beheading was part of Islam. Recently the severed heads of 50 Yazidi sex slaves were found by the SAS in ISIS tunnels. Briton's af all faiths and none have been shocked by the evil of this organisation and do not want these people back in this country or their communities. 

Socialist Worker goes on to defend the others whose citizenship has been stripped:

The withdrawal of citizenship is a huge punishment, delivered without trial. Shamima Begum is now stateless and with no rights or home.

But such measures have become almost routine.

In 2017 the Sunday Times reported that “More than 150 suspected jihadists and criminals have been stripped of their citizenship and banned from returning to the UK”.

Another 100 suffered the same fate last year.

Most of us do not have a problem with that. 

One question the SWP and their ilk ought to ask themselves is where where they when we were campaigning for the release and saving of the totally innocent Asia Bibi falsely accused of Blasphemy. 

The so-called Socialist Workers don't care about people. They just use issues for their own gain. The SWP are part of the problem not the solution.

Join our campaign against the smears of Israel Apartheid Week

Our new campaign with the Israel Britain Alliance stands against the smears of Israel Apartheid Week (IAW).

During March, university campuses across the UK will see Israel smeared by IAW events, falsely comparing Israel to the racist South African Apartheid regime.

If you want to understand more about why this comparison is so wrong, read Chapter 4 of Professor Alan Johnson’s “Israel and the Palestinians: A Guide to the Debate”: click here.

The UK Government has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which states that “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour” is antisemitic.

If IAW is saying that the actual existence of Israel as a Jewish state is intrinsically racist in the same way as apartheid was, that’s a breach of the IHRA definition and is therefore antisemitic.

We would like you to email your MP and ask them to confirm their support for the IHRA definition, and to ask them to write to the Prime Minister asking how any breaches of the IHRA definition in universities during IAW will be tackled.

Please take part in the campaign https://www.israelbritain.org.uk/wb/?referral=wb

If you haven’t used the IBA (Israel Britain Alliance) system before you need to add your first name, surname and email address on the first page.

On the next page, add your postcode and click “search” and the system will find the addresses associated with that postcode.

Click on your address and the system will automatically find your MP. You can't enter your MP's details manually. You can view and alter the text of the email.

Press “submit” and you’ll send the email to them.

Please send any responses you receive to luke@webelieveinisrael.org.uk

Every email counts so please join the campaign and forward it to your friends and family as well as sharing it on Facebook and Twitter.

https://www.israelbritain.org.uk/wb/?referral=wb

Best wishes,

Luke Akehurst,

Director, We Believe in Israel

Labour the undead

Sky News has just reported that Labour is to back a second referendum on the EU:

Jeremy Corbyn will tell a meeting of Labour MPs that the party will support or put forward an amendment in favour of a public vote to "prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country".

"The prime minister is recklessly running down the clock, in an attempt to force MPs to choose between her botched deal and a disastrous no-deal," he is due to tell them.

The man who spent years campaigning against the capitalist club of Europe has been forced by the recent split in his party and the pressure of all the young political things that flocked to Magic Grandpa (as Julie Birchell calls him) to take a pro-European line

At the same time the leader of his Momentum flock Jon Lansman is reportedly trying to deal with the anti-Semitism that is so widepread amongst Corbyn's suppporters. The Evening Standard reports: 

Jon Lansman, the founder of Left-wing group Momentum who sits on Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, said the party had a “major problem” with anti-Semitism with the “poison” spreading on social media.

He also told of his feeling of “enormous regret, sadness and some shame” over Labour members such as Luciana Berger MP leaving the party.

Mr Lansman, who is himself Jewish, spoke out amid reports that more MPs are poised to quit Labour over the failure to tackle anti-Semitism within its ranks....

Large numbers of Jewish members have abandoned Labour since Corbyn came to power and the scale of abuse led by the far left in Liverpool was exposed by The Jewish Chronicle

The hard-left plot to oust Jewish Labour MP Dame Louise Ellman from the Liverpool Riverside constituency is being spearheaded by a former member of the Trotskyist Militant Tendency group who has repeatedly denied allegations of antisemitism in Jeremy Corbyn’s Party.

The report also contains a copy of the unpublished report into the bullying and racism from the far left.

Members and MP's should not be taken in by these unprincipled manoeuvres by Corbyn and l

Lansman. These two men are responsible for what has happened to the Labour Party. Corbyn and Lansman have worked together for some 30 years. Even now they both refuse to accept that Labour has become institutionally anti-Semitic.

Anti-Semitism is racism. Anti-Zionism has become Anti-Semitism. Not that Corbyn cares. Lansman probably does since he's Jewish and guess what? Lansman's enemies on the left are already fingering him as a Zionist. The shame.

Labour cannot be reformed. 

The message must go out: support a new party the old one is undead .

Sunday Roundup - Time for change

Photo:By Chris McAndrew

Breakaway MP's bring new hope to broken politics

The decision of 8 Labour and 3 Conservative MP's to leave their respective parties to become an "Independent Group" on the backbenches was not just a brave decision but the right one. For too long the main political parties have been dominated by their extreme wings the Corbynistas a narrow minded mixture of old Trots, those that spend their lives going to demonstrations and the politically naive sprinkled liberally with anti-Semites.

Meanwhile the Conservative Party has been held to ransom by the ERG and the like of Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees Mogg, the latter being the MP for the 17th Century taking us backwards.

In a an interview with The Times newspaper (no link £) with Chuka Umunna explains the situation further:

The Independent Group is, he argues, different to the failed attempt to break the mould of politics in the 1980s. “The SDP was basically Labour 2.0, whereas this is a genuine coming together of people from different political traditions.” Those involved are nothing like the Gang of Four, he says. “We are a diverse group of people, of different generations, backgrounds and political traditions. We are two-thirds women and I suppose I provide a bit of ethnic diversity. We’re not grandees.” The political landscape has also been transformed, he says. “In the past people tended to vote along class lines but now other cultural issues play more strongly. It’s about whether you have an open, more global view of the world or whether you have a more closed nationalistic view.”

Westminster, he argues, is stuck in a previous age. “We’ve still got a politics that’s operating like it’s in the 20th century, with two old parties which have coalitions within them that are fighting each other and have fragmented.” More than two thirds of the electorate say they don’t feel represented by the existing system. “You’ve got a huge number of people voting for parties to keep the other lot out, or because it’s the least worst option. That’s just not sustainable.”

It's well known that the Labour Party has developed a toxic internal atmosphere with anti-Semitism (thinly disguised as anti-Zionism) which is why Jewish MP luciana Berger was forced to leave follwoing a witch hunt led by an adbmirer of mad conspiracy theorist David Ike.

The MP's are not alone.

Councillors leave the Labour Party

Three local councillors made the local news on Tuesday starting with Brighton & Hove Council.  Anti-Semitism UK reported:

The Labour Party is set to lose control over Brighton and Hove City Council as one of its councillors, Anne Meadows, has told the BBC that she is leaving the Labour Party and joining the Conservative Party after what she described as “18 months of antisemitism and abuse”. Her defection means that the Conservative grouping on the Council is now larger than the Labour one. The Council has been led by the Labour Party since 2015.A shame she went straight to the Tories but at the moment there is nowhere to go, though the following day a further resignation came from fellow councillor.


The Argus reported:

Cllr Morgan said: “This morning, after more than 27 years as a member, I have submitted my resignation from the Labour Party to the General Secretary Jennie Formby, citing Brexit, anti-Semitism and the toxic culture of aggression and bullying within the Party and the broader Corbyn-supporting base.

Warren Morgan has been standing up to Momentum bullies for a long time.

Finally The Derby Telegraph reports:

A Derby councillor has decided to leave the Labour Party because he feels its views and values at national level no longer mirror his own, especially with regards anti-semitism.

Councillor Dom Anderson, who was elected to represent Boulton ward in 2016, will continue to do so as an independent councillor on Derby City Council.

Mr Anderson was loathe to give many details about his decision but indicated that widely-publicised claims of anti-Semetic views in the Labour Party had helped to make up his mind.

He issued an official statement which said: "I took the difficult decision to leave the Labour Party but will continue to represent the people of Boulton as an independent councillor and vote with the values I have always held, in mind."

This morning The Sunday Times Reports:

Labour councillors in more than a dozen local authorities have resigned to become independents because of anti-semitism and bullying.

The news comes after eight Labour MPs defected to a new centrist grouping, the Independent Group (TIG), last week.

In Brighton and Hove, three independents intend to align formally with TIG as soon as this week. Warren Morgan, the former Labour leader of the council, is leading a plan that would see TIG hold the balance of power ahead of local elections this spring.

Labour representatives from 10 councils wrote a joint letter to The Sunday Times last night declaring they had defected. “Having witnessed the hard-left takeover of Labour, we believe that their harsh, uncompromising and dogmatic approach to politics poses a genuine threat,” their letter read.

“The Labour Party has changed beyond all recognition. A culture of bullying, intimidation and hostility towards Jewish people is becoming common-place. We therefore welcome the new Independent Group.”

Members leave in droves

The website of The Independent Group went down as 700,000 people attempted to access it at once. Thousands of ordinary people have been making donations. I have watched as people on one of the Labour Facebook groups I belong to have resigned cancelling their standing orders posting pictures of cut up membership cards.

One letter of resignation from academic David Hirsh read:

This is my resignation from the Labour Party, my political home since I was 18 years old.

Personally, I have had enough of being humiliated by antisemitism in the Labour movement. I have fought it for years, in the student movement in the academic unions and in the Labour Party. I won't subject myself to it any longer.

Politically, the most important thing to me at the moment is democracy. I mean by that our democratic states in which we look after each other and our civil society in which we are free to do what we choose.

I mean the principle that human beings are in a fundamental sense of equal value, and so opposition to discrimination against people on the basis of their designated race, gender, sexuality, religion or nation is a fundamental principle......

...I do not want Jeremy Corbyn to be the next Prime Minister; he is so wedded to antisemitic politics that he has been quite unable to address the antisemitic culture which he imported into the Labour mainstream. And that is linked to his anti-democratic worldview. While Corbyn himself may not be around for very long as leader, his politics and his culture will be, in my judgement.

Adam Langleben wrote his letter of resignation directly to Jeremy Corbyn in which he stated:

There can be no racial, social or economic justice whilst antisemites have completed a hostile takeover of the greatest force for achieving those aims. Antisemitism is a corrosive conspiracy theory that blocks the achievement of all justices. You represent the ultimate betrayal of Labour values. I thought naively that it and you could be changed. That very naivety or belief in the good in people is why I and so many others are part of the Labour Party. You have abused and manipulated the idealism of hundreds of thousands of good people, whilst allowing the antisemites to become evangelists for hate.

The time for the old Labour Party is at an end and the one nation conservatives need a new home. A new party is promised by the end of the year. Vince Cable seems exited but his party has lost all credibility so any Liberals wanting real change should be ready to defect.

It's time to build a new politics a radical party of the centre to change politics rejecting the outdated ideologies of centuries past.

The manifesto is yet to be written but there is now a glimmer of hope.....

And the usual piece of music on a Sunday to end this post with the latest single from Italian metal band Walk in Darkness:

New Music from Alien Weaponry & Test Department

It's Friday night and time for everyone to chill for the weekend. Time for some music. The first piece up is from a band I only came across as it came 9th in an open vote for best new band on Planet Rock radio. The name amused me so I decided to check it out.

Alien Weaponry is a metal trio from New Zealand and are rather good as this Maori influenced track illustrates nicely.



A reviewer from Overdrive Magazine writes:

Nothing makes me happier than seeing a group of young guns carrying the torch for heavy metal. It is clear that the sounds of metal are continuing down the bloodlines to the younger generations and should remain doing so for quite some time. In some weird sense, this allows me to actually sleep at night, knowing that the music me and so many others cherish is in good hands. Yet when I mention carrying the torch, Alien Weaponry are not only carrying it, but they are raising it damn high. The trio out of New Zealand is comprised of fifteen year old Lewis de Jong (guitar and vocals), fifteen year old Ethan Trembath (bass guitar), and seventeen year old Henry de Jong (drums). They are gearing up to release their savage debut album entitled Tū, which is set to be released June 1st, 2018 via Napalm Records.

For more info: alienweaponry.com




Meanwhile an old band, Test Department have released their first new album in twenty years which was proceeded by the single Landlord released in November last year. Missed that but much prefer albums in any case!

I saw them live, a long time ago somewhere in South London. They were banging an aircraft wing, hitting a septic tank, had bagpipes with Jimmy Somerville singing the high notes and Sarah Jane Morris singing the low. Amazing performance.

Here's a track off Disturbance due for release on March 1st  but my (vinyl) copy arrived today!



For more info: testdept.org.uk

Red and Purple momentums threaten democracy

Photo: By UK Parliament

The latest MP to quit Labour is Ian Austin, a Brexiteer who has not joined The Independent Group for probably that reason. Meanwhile there are reports that dozens of Labour MP's are are preparing to quit over Corbyn's Brexit shenanigans. At least there is somewhere they can go, however it is essential they act together outside the Labour Party as Austin with a majority of just 22 is unlikely to survive as an Independent.

Meanwhile Theresa may has written to the three departed Tory MP's admitting there has been a problem of entryism by a "purple momentum" which frankly was obvious to anyone who uses social media for political discussion. People have been chattering about this for a long time encouraging UKIP members and supporters to join the Tories to fight for Brexit and erm deselect remainers.

Both major political parties have been plagues by parasites seeking to end the broad coalitions that have stabilised and created  a healthy democracy in the UK. These red and purple extremists share so many traits. Intolerance, misogyny and racism. They need to be pushed back to the fringes. It's likely the Tories will be far more able to purge the "cuckoos in their nest" than Labour.

It's too late for the Labour Party which is why Labour MP's and hopefully MP's from other parties can be encouraged to join The Independent Group and form a new party of the political centre and rally a defence of democracy from the the political extremists undermine the countries body politic.

Meanwhile a campaign has been launched to keep the odious George Galloway out of the Labour Party......

Far-Left call for Blairites to be kicked out!

The old Militant Tendency was in the news again it was announced that Derek Hatton, he of the redundancy notices sent to workers by taxi fame was re-admitted to the Labour Party. It wasn't long before he was suspended and out again when a tweet that intimated anti-Semitism was discovered from 2012.  I'd almost feel sorry for him but the spiv doesn't deserve it.

Meanwhile his old buddies in the Socialist Party, the larger of the two groups that came out of a split in Militant is calling for the expulsion of all "Blairites" as they attack the seven MP's who quit the party this week.

Their rag The Socialist rants:

...the announcement of a Blairite breakaway should come as no surprise.

Since Jeremy Corbyn's election as leader, the Socialist Party has argued that the potential exists for the formation of a mass workers' party, with a socialist programme, around him. But we have also warned consistently that this exists alongside a pro-cuts, pro-capitalist Labour party. It is this pro-capitalist wing that remains dominant in parliament, local council chambers, and Labour's bureaucratic machinery.

The ultra-Blairites who make up the Gang of Seven should have long ago faced replacement, via a democratic process of mandatory reselection, with working-class fighters and socialists.

Indeed, so should all the MPs, most of who remain on Labour's benches, who have acted to undermine Corbyn's anti-austerity, anti-war stand. After all, a whole number of them, including deputy leader Tom Watson, are now using this betrayal as an opportunity to attack not those who have split from the party, but Jeremy Corbyn.

They forget themselves. Even Corbyn's Labour spurned their laughable proposal for an !alliance" or affiliation". However what they write is the view of many Corbynistas including the PCS General Secretary a former ally turned enemy having dumped the Socialist Party in his union.

Meanwhile the smaller remnant of Militant the Socialist Appeal group (who actually still are in the Labour Party write on their :

Good riddance. This will be the sentiment amongst grassroots Labour members towards today’s news that a group of seven Blairites are splitting from the party. Delight at their departure will be mixed with immense anger towards the treacherous role that these right-wingers have been allowed to play over the past few years. The task now is to kick out the rest of the saboteurs who remain at large inside the Parliamentary Labour Party. This is why we need mandatory reselection.

Never mind the need for a broad based party that might actually get elected and be able to achieve something. Just ideological purity imposed and as we all know dissent suppressed by bullying and intimidation....

According to paper of the Alliance for Workers Liberty a smaller grouping of Trotskists within the Labour the complaints of Luciana Berger were real:

Here was an an MP subject to vile antisemitic abuse from fascists and others. She was also highly critical of many aspects of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and policies, from a right-wing angle: she has now left the Labour Party. Every Labour Party has the right to table no-confidence motions if it disagrees with the stance its MP is taking. But the ground was cut under the movers when a glance at the Facebook page of one of the movers, Ken Campbell, revealed it contained posts promoting “Zionist” conspiracy theories. Campbell turned up at the CLP meeting proudly brandishing a letter informing him he was subject to investigation as if it were something to be proud of. 

It seems attempts in the Wavertree constituency to get a motion supporting a Two-State solution to the Middle East was rejected by an unholy alliance of Socialist Appeal and Lexiteers. Socialist Appeal seems to have also been involved in the push to oust the Jewsih MP but make no mention of the anti-Semitism problem when they write:

Berger was due to be next in line, with members in her Liverpool Wavertree constituency only withdrawing a motion of confidence at the last minute due to pressure from Labour HQ.

Anti-Semitism is so inconvenient for most of the left, the AWL excepted.

Will May & Corbyn combine to strangle new force in politics?

  
Photos: By Chris McAndrew

This morning Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry & Sarah Wollaston quit the Tories to join The Independent Group which with Joan Ryan's defection last night means there are now 11 in the group. There are suggestions that more Labour MP's are on the way and even Ken Clark has gone on record to say another 6 may join them.

British politics has been broke for a long time. A far-left dominated opposition party that has become institutionally anti-Semitic, let alone widespread bullying and intimidation with a weak Governmental ruling party that has become the prisoner of hard-line right-wing Brexiteers and has it's own "Militant Tendency made up of ex-UKIP members in many of it's constituencies. Then there were the Liberal-Democrats, discredited and ignored.

Neither Labour, the Conservatives or the Lib-Dems have anything to offer but the same old platitudes that we have heard these last few years. Ordinary people have had enough.

It seems that some politicians have risked their careers to try and create a new political movement. It's early days but there has been enormous interest. Hopefully before the year is out there will be a new party, a real third force in politics. If enough Labour MPs can be persuaded to take the plunge Corbyn could be thrown to the backbenches where he belongs.

The only danger is that the establishment parties will seek to strangle this new movement by calling for an early election before The Independent Group is ready. Both Corbyn and May need to strangle this new force at birth so their interest merge.

We need to be ready to face this challenge. Sign up now!

Please go to: theindependent.group

New group grows and left-wing hate exposed

Photo: By Chris McAndrew

The announcement by seven MP's that they were leaving Labour was bound to cause both interest and well hate from those who drove these good men and women out of the party in the first place. McDonnell like the good little poodle he is for the Dear leader he is hoping to replace trotted out the usual platitudes they should have stayed we'd have talked. I condemn anti-Semitism and all that crap he usually says with straight face to the media.

Trouble is behind the scenes McDonnell is President of the now widely considered coalition of anti-Semites the Labour Representation Committee. This contains the real dregs of the left ranging from the appalling Gerry Downing of "Socialist Fight" Jackie Walker. Perhaps McDonnell should resign and stop supporting these schmucks but like that's eve going to happen.

Corbyn issued some mealy mouthed statement about how sad he is whilst one of his supporters Ruth George has suggested that Israel is fin acing the split. Oh dear its that ugly anti-Semitism Zionism raising it's head again. Only been a day. No wonder Mike Gapes was appalled.



Photo: By Chris McAndrew

As for Luciana Berger, guess what her bullies are all claiming it's a Zionist plot, bloody Israel this, Jewish that. No wonder she left. These people should have been kicked out of the party years ago but Corbyn just doesn't care. Nor does the bulk of the left. That's why the Labour Party cannot be considered anything but institutionally anti-Semitic.

Meanwhile support for The Independent Group grows. Just 12 hours after their formation was announced the idea got 8% in a poll. Their Twitter account in just over a day has attracted over 84,000 followers and is still growing. Thousands a re signing up at the new website to get e-mails or volunteer. More Labour MP's including some Tories are believed to be considering joining the group.

Although The Independent Group is not a party and some idiots have been making much of the company status of the group probably necessitated by a need for secrecy and confidentially prior to the split forget that Momentum is the same and owned by one person Jon Lansman who also owned the Corbyn for Leader Campaign.

Meanwhile a recent poll looks very hopeful:

Support The Independent Group!

The Mail speculated last night that a group of MP's were about to break from Labour and when I posted the story on Facebook most people immediately dismissed it. There was I agree some speculation that went too far but it felt right. Perhaps because that's what I've been waiting for,

This morning I woke to see Luciana Berger & Mike Gapes speaking on the news along with 5 other Labour MP's explaining why they left. It finally brought a smile to my face as politics in this country has become so broken, so divided. There was and is for now a ray of hope.

Lots of people have been quitting the Labour Party and the interest in their website (purchased two weeks ago!) and arguments have broken out all over social media. Lots of support, some fence sitting opposition and the baying of the Corbynistas who think we're all Tories anyway. I have already been kicked out of one of the last Labour Facebook groups I belonged to and remain in just the one.

I think promoting the new group was the reason but there are so many showing interest and they have published a set of values with which I fully agree that the time has come for me to stop just commentating and get stuck in.

This blog will now support The Independent Group and I have already signed up for their e-mail list and volunteered to help:

For further info please go to: www.theindependent.group

Sunday Supplement at Howie's Corner

New Look Howie's Corner!

First of all a quick note to readers to explain the new look Howie's Corner which whilst remaining a mainly politics orientated blog is diversifying in content which has been happening for a while now. Posts on Music, Nostalgia and other issues will be more frequent from now on.

I will be coordinating some of the campaigns I support across this blog, Facebook and my new Twitter facility though the latter is very much in it's infancy. The first two of these cross social media campaigns will be a build up to the Free Tibet demo in March. The second will lead to the very first International Atheist Day.

Like I said politics will remain at the forefront but having faced my own mortality life is too short and needs to be enjoyed!

So far feedback on the new look has been positive so I hope you choose to dip in occasionally or even subscribe!

If old & new British or American comics are your thing please try out my other blog: Howie's World of Comics now daily!



Date for your Diary: Free Tibet March & Demo

Eleanor Byrne-Rosengren (Director Free Tibet) writes:

On the 10th of March 1959, after nearly a decade of repression by the occupying Chinese army, Tibetans in their thousands rose up in protest. They gathered in the streets of their capital Lhasa and surrounded the Potala Palace to protect the Dalai Lama, who they feared was in danger of assassination.

The protests were followed by a brutal crackdown, both in the city and across Tibet, claiming tens of thousands of lives. The Dalai Lama was also forced to flee into exile, where he has remained ever since.

Since then, the tragedy and the defiance of the Tibetan 1959 Uprising has been marked with events around the world every March 10th.

10th of March Tibetan Uprising Day - London

Public

 · Hosted by Free Tibet

New Music from Avril Lavigne

The new Album, Head Above Water from Avril Lavigne has now been released and certainly hits the mark as far as the two tracks I've heard thus far. I've been a fan of hers since she first appeared on the scene having purchased several CD's though have chosen to order a vinyl edition of this album.

So to end this post for the day here's a live version of her lead song from the Album:

Website: avrillavigne.com

2019: The return of British comics?

Last year the publishers of Britain's sole remaining weekly adventure comic 2000AD purchased the right to a huge catalogue of old British comics and character rights. Prior to this Rebellion had already made some purchases allowing it to publish a Scream & Misty Halloween Special that was commercially successful enough to spawn another last year.

 

Scream was a boys horror comic that lasted a mere 14 issues in 1984 but was fondly remembered by fans from the eighties and two of it's strips subsequently appeared in the pages of the second volume of Eagle itself home to Dan Dare!

Misty was a girls horror comic that ran for 101 issues from 1978 to 1980 and  and was well received by some boys as well. Not that one admitted it in those days. 

Rebellion have so far published three volumes of stories from Misty and are now well into a programme of reprinting material in their Treasury of British Comics series.

  

Over the coming year there are going to be no less than seven specials on sale in major newsagents around the UK.   Cor!! & Buster Special, 2000 AD Regened, 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special, Tammy & Jinty Special, The Vigilant, Roy of the Rovers 65th Anniversary Special, and Scream & Misty Presents The Thirteenth Floor. Plus a 2000 AD Villains Takeover Special though this one will be in the US comics format.

 

All these specials will contain all-new material. Buster and Cor! were among my favourites back in the sixties and seventies and like many of my generation hold a special place in my memories. There were lots of other comics such as Lion, Valiant, Victor and the Hotspur!

 

The latter two reminding me that there is one other publisher still going out there. DC Thomson, a Scottish firm who produce The Beano and those little pocket book comics Commando! You'll find those in most main newsagents. Perhaps the British DC will be persuaded to utilise their enormous back catalogue for this growing market.

  

The latest issues of the weekly 2000AD and it's companion Judge Dredd Megazine are on sale now.

For further info go to: 2000ad.com

 

Further info: www.commandocomics.com

For regular coverage of both British and American comics both old and new please try my other blog: Howie's World of Comics

New Music: Whitesnake!

Whitesnake led by former Deep Purple vocalist David Coverdale have announced they are releasing their first all-new material album since Forevermore back in 2011.

Flesh & Blood, a 2 CD/LP set will be released on Friday May 10th

This is the new single Shut Up and Kiss Me. Enjoy



Official Website: fleshandblood.whitesnake.com

It's Friday, It's Crackerjack! On it's way back?

Photo: By Source, Fair use

There were several programmes that we all used to sit down and watch as a family at tea time. Blue Peter, Doctor Who, a now unmentionable programme with a disgraced artist and Crackerjack! Those were very different days with just three channels and children's TV being broadcast after school, no internet and the height of technology for us children was Scalectric or Triang trains.

Of course these days children have their own channel's. CBBC and CITV being the main ones (I only have access to Freeview) provide similar programming, though only the anniversary edition of Blue Peter found me tuning in to see ll the memories of my pasr childhood.

Now it seems Carackerjack is to be revived, though the hosts of yesteryear like Leslie Crowther, Peter Glaze and Stewpot are all long gone.

Whether it will have the appeal of the past remains to be seen. As much as I would like a Crackerjack pencil would the kids of today?

Will they really still give cabbages as booby prizes?

I might tune in to see what they have done with one of my old childhood favourites.

Here's a clip which combines two of our favourite shows kids!

Act Now! Free Iranian Trade Unionists!

Cross-Post from the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF)


Image: IUF

UK and international trade unions joined Amnesty International UK for a demonstration at the Iranian embassy in London on January 29 to demand freedom for two imprisoned labour rights activists. Esmail Bakhshi, who works at the Haft Tapeh sugar complex in Shush, and Sepideh Gholian were arrested in November after having taken part in protests to demand payment of wage arrears owed the Haft Tapeh workers over many months.

After being released on bail in December, both publicly denounced their severe physical and psychological abuse at the hands of security police and ministry of intelligence officials. The two were arrested again on January 20, one day after their alleged "confessions" to having conspired against national security were broadcast on state television, confessions which they have stated were obtained under duress.

Retired Haft Tapeh worker Ali Nejati, who has served time in prison for his militant activism, was also arrested in November and has been similarly charged with conspiring with groups abroad to undermine national security.


Image: Fair use

On January 24, the IUF wrote the Iranian government to demand their unconditional release and respect for the right of the Haft Tapeh workers to choose their workplace representatives free of management and government interference, reminding the regime that "If the Haft Tapeh workers have, over many years now, been compelled to hold strikes and protests to demand their wages and effective representation at the workplace, and if their struggle has attracted attention at home and abroad, it has nothing to do with political machinations in Iran or outside the country. It is entirely due to the fact that the workers and their families are chronically hungry and that management and the political authorities consistently violate their access to fundamental rights. Workers have, again, not received their wages in recent months and the many contract workers at Haft Tapeh suffer severe discrimination in the terms and conditions of their employment and chronic insecurity."

CLICK HERE to sign the Amnesty International petition.

The repression continues. On January 29, long-time worker rights defenders Parvin Mohammadi and Jafar Azimzadeh of the Free Trade Union of Iranian Workers were arrested when security agents stormed their homes and confiscated their laptops and personal belongings. Mohammadi, a former metal worker, had published an open letter condemning the arrests of striking metal workers in Ahvaz demanding payment of wage and social security arrears. Azimzadeh has been repeatedly jailed and in 2016 conducted a 63-day hunger strike to gain release from a 6-year prison sentence for crimes against 'national security'.

Why we defended Rushdie and why it is still important today: 30 Years After”

Public Meeting

Conway Hall

14 February, 18:30-21:00, 

Speakers:

• Centre for Secular Space Founder Gita Sahgal,
• CEMB Spokesperson Maryam Namazie, 
• English PEN Chair Maureen Freely, 
• Southall Black Sisters Director Pragna Patel,
• Writer Salil Tripathi

On this Valentine’s Day, the 30th anniversary of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, join Feminist Dissent to defend the right to apostasy, to love, to flee persecution and seek asylum/Oppose blasphemy laws, the threat to free speech and the deportation of apostates. 

With food and drinks.

Get free tickets here. Even though tickets are free, those who wish to attend must get a ticket to be given entry into event.

Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft

Since I've been to the hospital to have a vacuum dressing fitted (which is pretty cool technology) and I'm now suffering from the onset of a cold, I've abandoned the idea of writing a blog tonight in favour of an early night.

However as I head off to count sheep in an attempt to get at least some sleep here's a song that most of you will have heard by The Carpenters. Their version with Karen's voice is terrific but this is the equally superb original by Klaatu a Canadian group. No prizes for guessing the origin of their name. A sci-fi classic.

This song was written by Terry Draper & John Woloschuk released in 1977. The Carpenters followed a year later.

Still that's the background this is their song:

Sunday Supplement at Howie's Corner

Countdown to a new party?


Photo:By Ed Clifton -CC

According to the Daily Mail Rachel Riley who stood up to the anti-Semites who attempted to bully her:

Countdown star Rachel Riley and Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling’s agent are teaming up with advisers from Tony Blair’s Government to launch a breakaway Labour Party within weeks.

The plotters, led by Blair’s former Chief of Staff, Jonathan Powell, addressed about 50 ‘potential supporters of a new political movement’ to stop Jeremy Corbyn getting the keys to No 10, The Mail on Sunday can reveal....

The pair also raised the running sore of anti-Semitism in Labour, which was cited as a key reason behind the planned breakaway.

I have been calling for a new party on this blog for some time. Labour despite having decent people still in it has degenerated to the level of hate politics and in particular racism against Jews. It was on the fringes and under control before Corbyn took over and his disciples flocked in with not just anti-Semitic prejudices but the politics of misogynistic bullying.

Labour has become a party unfit for power. The MPs, councillors and local party officials and members who remain committed to a broad church and tolerant party should be prepared to walk and build a new organisation to isolate the rump Corbyn movement. 

If the MPs act en mass Corbyn will be back on the back benches were he and his Stalinist lieutenants belong. 

The men and women of reason remaining in Labour must act soon.

Save Japans Whales

Petition by Laura Langston York, ENG, United Kingdom

Photo: Australian Customs and Border Protection Service.

Japan has announced that it will withdraw from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in order to restart commercial whaling in July. This means that in just a few months time, more whales will start being killed and it may drive some species to extinction - our Government must negotiate with Japan to stop this happening.

When Japan leaves the IWC, they will be able to freely hunt species of this incredible animal that are currently under protection. Japan has tried to justify this decision by saying that some whale populations, such as Minke whales, have recovered. But the population of the Minke whale is still not large enough to survive increased whaling, and most whale populations have not yet recovered, such as the Blue whale and Fin whale.

Despite the IWC ban, Japan has continued to catch between 200 and 1,200 wales every year for what they call “scientific reasons”. If Japan does not change its decision to withdraw then we won’t know how many more whales they are catching, and we wouldn’t know how many of these beautiful animals we’d be losing.

Please sign my petition to tell the UK Government to pressure the Japanese authorities to stop the unnecessary slaughter of whales and to remain members of the IWC.

Sign now with a click

Josie And The Pussycats

From comic to cartoon to movie in 2001 the music for this movie only band was actually quite good. Based on the Archie comic characters of the same name the girls were given the same type of "bubblegum pop" for the kids cartoon, just like their more famous predecessors the Archies who had a big hit with Sugar Sugar.

There's more over my other blog this morning: Howie's World of Comics

The degeneration of the Weekly Worker

The Weekly Worker newspaper of the tiny Communist Party of Great Britain was once considered a "publishing sensation" on the far-left as it claimed up to 22,000 individual hits a week on the Internet. Considering the print run is a mere 500 you'd think the Weekly Worker was punching above it's weight as they say.

However what the over-exited comrades of the CPGB (not to be confused with the "official Communist Party of Britain that publishes the Morning Star) failed to realise (or at least they said they did) and tried to deny was that everyone read it to find out what all the gossip was on the left of politics.

If there was an argument or dispute either inside or between the various sects then the place to read all about it was in the Weekly Worker whose network of informants managed to nick all the relevant internal documents for reference or publication. The SWP still rages that despite all their "security" precautions (not to be given to or read by outsiders) their internal documents ended up on-line courtesy of the WW!




Today it's readership has shrunk considerably and the comrades seem to no no longer boast about their "hits" on the papers website (though the annual publication of SWP internal documents on their now separate party website leads to a spike) and the print run remains the same. Their influence or presence has shrunk since the days when the antics of Southend Socialist Alliance branch would lead to a massive essay on their pages.

 After a totally wasted effort in the virtually now defunct Lefty Unity Party set up by Ken Loach (where they reconstituted themselves as the "Communist Platform") which nobody was remotely interested and LU itself became a laughing stock until the Corbyn phenomenon made their efforts irrelevant the CPGB hide behind two front organisations.





The first being the Labour Party Marxists who intervene at Labour conference with a daily bulletin and a free broadsheet demanding the expulsion of "Blairite traitors" from their parliamentary seats and the mass conversion of members to the communist programme. A tiny group they are probably ignored by most. It is their second front group that grabs the headlines.

Labour Against the Witch Hunt was formed to fight the expulsions of the likes of the vile Tony Greenstein and Jackie Walker over allegations of anti-Semitism. In fact they have suddenly become obsessed to the extreme with anti-Zionism.



According to LAW/CPGB anti-Semitism has been "weaponised" by the Zionists and Labour Right against Corbyn. They deny there is a problem. In fact Greenstein a total obsessive when it comes to Zionism and Israel is alleged to have stated he would not report a real anti-Semite in the party. That alone shows how dangerous both he as individual and LAW itself is.

Labour Against the Witch Hunt attracts far more attention than it deserves as anti-Semitism has become so prevalent in the party. The Daily Mail reports that Labour Against Anti-Semitism alone has sent 4,000 examples from 1,000 people for investigation.

The CPGB once expelled Ian Donovan for his theories:

The September 14 meeting of Left Unity’s Communist Platform saw a parting of the ways with a member of its steering committee, Ian Donovan. This followed comrade Donovan’s espousal of views that can only be described as anti-Semitic: in his opinion, there is a Jewish “pan-national bourgeoisie”, which has constituted itself as ruling class “vanguard” in key imperialist countries, and it is this that accounts for US support for Israel. Donovan says he intends to write a book laying out this ‘theory’ in detail.

Once this line of thinking had been fully revealed to other members of the steering committee, they urged him to step down from the CP. When he refused, the September 14 members’ meeting was called, which had before it a motion from comrades Jack Conrad and Moshé Machover stating that anti-Semitism is “incompatible with membership of the Communist Platform” 

(Weekly Worker 18/9/2014)

Yet despite this and excluding the even smaller Socialist Fight organisation that Donovan subsequently joined from LAW itself the WW quite happily ally themselves with the dregs of the left in the Labour Representation Committee to pass the absurd motion at the LRC AGM today:

The war of attrition against Corbyn as Labour leader, carried out by an alliance of the majority of the Parliamentary Labour Party, the Party bureaucracy, the Israeli state, the pro-Israel lobby and the mainstream media, began even before he was elected. Corbyn was portrayed as a terrorist sympathiser, a security risk and an all-round danger to society.

(Tendance Coatsey 9/2/19)

The CPGB/Weekly Worker/LPM tendency has allied itself with the worst the Left has to offer. Socialist Fight, the pro-North Korean New Communist Party and Tony Greenstein and should be shunned for the enemy of reason it is.