Ok, enough is enough. Let me strap myself in for any fellow Labour member who thinks it is defendable or in any remote way justifiable for Labour to be potentially supporting a 10 year jail sentence for bringing down racist statues (which is exactly what our Shadow Home Secretary is suggesting when you look at the headline detail of what Johnson & the Tories are mooting); a sentence TWICE that of the 5 year sentence for rape (if you want a startling comparison).
Because, to me, this potential support is abhorrent for so many, hopefully, obvious reasons. IF it is a clumsy, attempt to appeal to racists, or those who don’t class themselves as racists, but are in some bizarre misguided attempt to appeal to what they misguidedly assume is the lost ‘red wall’ seats or mythical ‘middle England’, then it is a spectacular failure. If the Labour hierarchy think this is a good idea, then I would be confident enough to say they are absolutely not on the same page as the majority of the membership.
A far more serious issue than that, is that it also shows a total and complete misunderstanding of the endemic, structural racist, sexist, classist issues; or even worse, that this is a sacrifice they are willing to make. Whatever the reasoning, it again demonstrates a shocking, and genuinely VERY worrying abandonment of BAME people in order to support the most right wing, overtly racist government in modern times. It is like Labour are making life-affecting decisions based on their judgement call re what will bring the best PR in a structurally broken, endemically racist media environment. I.e. Both condoning said environment by pandering to, and actually helping to solidify it.
An identity/culture war is raging globally. Currently, despite trying to pretend otherwise with token-gesture, PR-heavy, empty announcements of solidarity with BAME people (empty because if what is not being taken seriously internally), OUR party is deciding to stand on the wrong side of a line being drawn by racists. Because when the time of reckoning comes, be it the appalling (lack of) response in defence if our own BAME comrades internally re Labour Leaks report even prior to the investigation being published, acknowledging & apologising to the BAME & Kashmiri members who have left in disgust, or this latest example, our Party & its leadership is failing people. Big time.
If the response to this from other Labour members is to show a poll where Starmer is very popular, or a voting intention poll which shows us BEHIND the worst government & PM in history, with the worst drop in approval ratings in history of said government, AND with approximately 70,000 combined Coronavirus-related deaths as a direct result of ideology, AND the PLP not stabbing the leadership in the front & back, AND the media massively more onside, AND with the commentariat massively onside, AND with no internal factions allegedly trying to lose to the Tories, AND still being in the honeymoon period, AND despite lots of same people saying “if only Keir Starmer or someone like him was leader, we’d be 20 points ahead in the Party polls” etc…then you are absolutely part of the current problem with
Labour’s stance. Because if you are someone who responds to this with polling etc, you are either in denial because you consider yourself a good egg & therefore defend the indefensible, or you are very aware of the dangerous hypocrisy & terrible judgement but think polling etc matters more.
But, don’t just take my word for it. Here is the usually Keir Starmer-supportive, James O’Brien etc approved Secret Barrister – @BarristerSecret:
“Oh good. The Opposition are jumping on the bandwagon. I give up. You’re all beyond belief. People – real human beings – are failed daily by our broken criminal justice system. And this – the hurt feelings of a statue – is where you all decide to speak out.
For shame.”
Or, perhaps, Daniel Finn – @DanFinn95:
“Anyone could see that Corbyn was the most liberal leader the Labour Party has had in a generation, perhaps ever, with the best record of defending civil liberties. The fact that he faced unrelenting hostility from British liberals speaks volumes about their actual “liberalism”.”
Please, Labour, sort it out ASAP. Stop this alienation. Today alone I have seen more BAME and non-BAME members resign because of it. Enough is enough. If we actually want to show solidarity with BAME people, then you have to actually demonstrate it in real, tangible, non-hypocritical ways.
Solidarity with BAME people everywhere.
Adam Samuels
