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    A Reply to Momentum's Pathetically Inadequate Statement Today on Starmer's Proposals to Extend the W 📂 Archived Message

    Posted by Keith-264 on July 20, 2021, 10:21 am

    A Reply to Momentum's Pathetically Inadequate Statement Today on Starmer's Proposals to Extend the Witchhunt of Socialists

    Today the Labour Party headquarters in London will be the subject of a large picket by supporters of a range of different groups in the Labour Party from Labour Against the Witchhunt and Labour in Exile Network to the Labour Representation Committee and Jewish Voice for Labour. Conspicuous by their absence will be Momentum, the largest group on the left. Momentum claims to have 20,000 members but in reality it has a few hundred activists left after Jon Lansman turned it into an election machine and destroyed its democracy.

    Momentum Forward won all the places on its National Coordinating Group at the elections last year and some of us hoped that this would mark a break from Jon Lansman having signed up to an 'anti-Semitism' campaign whose goal was not fighting anti-semitism or any form of racism but removing Jeremy Corbyn as leader.

    As Keir Starmer attempts to finish what Tony Blair began, Momentum issued the above anodyne statement today that failed to provide even an ounce of solidarity. It failed to mention the lobby of the NEC still less to support it. I have penned a response which I attach or which can be downloaded from here.
    ​
    Tony Greenstein

    As the Labour Right Goes Onto the Offensive Momentum Ducks the Challenge to Lead the Left

    In the wake of Starmer’s latest offensive against the Left, the proscribing of 4 socialist organisations, Momentum issued a statement. It would be an act of kindness to describe it as pathetically weak. Momentum appears to have no grip on the situation facing the left inside the Labour Party. It begs the question – What is Momentum for?

    When Jeremy Corbyn was first suspended Momentum’s co-chairs, Andrew Scattergood and Gaya Sriskanthan, issued a statement which said that Starmer and Evans were ‘undermining the fight against anti-Semitism’. Buying into your opponent’s narrative is never a good way of conducting a fight.

    70% of Labour Party members refuse to beiieve the lies of the press and the Israel lobby that Labour had an anti-Semitism problem. Why? Because there has never been any evidence for it. Every example of ‘anti-Semitism’ when examined proved to be false. That was why Starmer bought off the staff ‘whistleblowers’. He could afford to have the Labour Party win in the courts. Likewise he has buried the Forde Report.

    Momentum’s statement preaches unity with those who spent 5 years waging war against Corbyn. It has nothing to say about why Starmer considers it his most important task to attack socialists at a time when Boris Johnson is allowing COVID to rip through the population and going ahead with the privatisation of the NHS.

    Momentum needs to wake up to a simple fact. Starmer sees as his main task to continue what Blair started, which is the complete marginalisation of the left in the Labour Party. He and Peter Mandelson are intent on making Labour a safe party of capitalism. That is why Starmer is incapable of landing a glove on Johnson. They both share too much in common. On all the main issues from COVID, the NHS, Civil Liberties and Racism it is difficult to put a piece of paper between Starmer and Johnson.

    This should be no surprise given Starmer’s record as Director of Public Prosecutions when he began the persecution of Julian Assange and sought to provide immunity for police who murdered members of the public. There is nothing progressive about this member of the Trilateral Commission, sitting alongside war criminal Henry Kissinger.

    Momentum’s statement says it has ‘serious doubt on claims that these proscriptions are being done only in the name of anti-racism’. Really? Serious doubt? You only need to take one look at the record of those motivating these attacks to know that anti-racism is the last thing they are concerned about.

    Luke Akehurst of Labour First works for the Israel Lobby group We Believe in Israel. He is a racist. When Israeli snipers were picking off unarmed demonstrators in Gaza, children and medics included, he propagandised for the murderers. Whilst Howard Beckett has been suspended for criticising Priti Patel this reptile is on Labour’s NEC. Whilst Akehurst is left undisturbed it is laughable that anyone can claim that the Labour Party is an anti-racist party. It is an anti-Palestinian party.

    The claim that ‘our Party is an anti-racist party’ is a lie. Historically Labour signed up to the British Empire and its ‘civilising mission’ every bit as much as the Tories. It supported the colonisation of Palestine and allowed the affiliation of Poale Zion (JLM) at a time when Zionism was a tiny minority amongst Jews in Britain.

    The timidity and cowardice of Momentum on the ‘anti-Semitism’ campaign that helped destroy Corbyn are well known. Jon Lansman gave it legs. It is no surprise that this ‘anti-Semitism’ ended up with a redefinition of anti-Semitism, 7 of whose 11 examples were about Israel.

    If anti-Semitism had been a genuine problem in the Labour Party then the Sun, Mail and Express, would not have been concerned in the least.

    The fact that Trevor Phillips, an overt Islamaphobe, who called Muslims a ‘nation within a nation’ was quietly allowed back by Starmer should speak volumes.

    The most glaring omission in Momentum’s statement is a complete lack of any expression of solidarity with those who are under attack now. Hundreds have been suspended and expelled for supporting Corbyn and passing motions of censure on Starmer. Free speech has been abolished in the party. Elections to conference are rigged by the regional staff, completely disregarding the most basic norms of democracy in order to provide Starmer with a rigged majority at Party conference.

    And why is this happening? In order to ensure that there can be no repeat of Corbyn’s 2015 leadership election victory. There isn’t even any mention of Corbyn’s own loss of the whip. Momentum does not even offer a crumb in the way of solidarity.

    We were told that Momentum were under new management with Forward Momentum. The truth is that they are a continuation of Jon Lansman by other means.

    It is very clear that the 4 proscriptions are the start of a process. There have already been calls to extend the bans to Jewish Voices for Labour. Momentum will also find itself in the firing line yet there will be no one left to defend it because of its abject cowardice today. This weak and anodyne statement is more remarkable for what it doesn’t say than what it does say.

    Tony Greenstein (Labour Against the Witchhunt in a personal capacity)

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