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Right so, this is late as yesterday was a shitshow tbqhwy, but as promised -
Keith Starmer is a racist: the receipts edition. https://twitter.com/holski_beat/status/1278261435940974607
Keith Starmer is a racist: the receipts edition. https://twitter.com/holski_beat/status/1278261435940974607
So first off, we have his handling of the Labour leaks. He had the report and sat on it, which is why it was leaked in 1st place to force his hand. Despite overwhelming anti-black racism revealed - as well as sitting on AS complaints - not one word of solidarity was uttered.
Indeed, when 2 Black women MPs attended a Zoom meeting addressing racism in the Labour party in light of the leaked report, Keith publicly reprimanded them because it was also attended by suspended/expelled members.
No word of solidarity or support wrt the depth of upset and hurt among our members of colour that prompted the meeting in the first place OR for the fact that the zoom was crashed by far right racists brandishing weapons and issuing threats of violence. Nada.
Back to the report, there hasnt even been an acknowledgement that bullying fuelled by anti black racism is even an issue so far as Keith is concerned, which HQ has dismissed as private banter. What does that even mean? It's fine to be a racist bully in private? Make it make sense
The initial handling was slow and bad, with the main source of anger being aimed at the whistleblower rather than the shocking contents report revealed. He announces an inquiry - good - but appoints whitty, a known anti-black racist, onto the panel
https://twitter.com/malihaeza/status/1256223180173303811?s=20
https://twitter.com/malihaeza/status/1256223180173303811?s=20
Starmer rejects Dubs to be on the panel, citing bias because he supported him, yet other staunch supporters made it onto the panel, so. There is an anti-black racist and no jewish representation on a panel investigating a report that specifically details AS and anti-black racism
There were no immediate suspensions of staffers named in the report pending investigation as one would expect. While *some* were suspended about a month ago nothing was communicated to the membership, we only found out due to a court case. Not all have been suspended.
Then we have the issue of Kashmir. According to Keith, Kashmir is a bilateral issue, not a human rights issue that demands solidarity. It seems Keir has abandoned internationalism. https://twitter.com/NanoJuriste/status/1255816754644819970?s=20
While some may not see his abandonment of Kashmir as an example of racism, one has to place it in context. Very recently RLB was sacked for sharing an interview with Maxine Peake. In that interview Peake makes a wider point about police brutality and the militarization of police-
-of which the shared methods and training by military forces is absolutely a part, including training by Israeli special forces. The training of US police by Israeli forces has long been documented as a cause for concern. Peake in articulating this got the particulars wrong...
....suggesting that the 'neck/kneel' was taught by Israeli forces. Truth be told many forces use this method of restraint - including in Israel - and no one can be sure where it came from since no one is fessing up to it....
....So yes, she got the particulars wrong, but apparently this was enough for Keith to brand her words criticising the Israeli state and military training of police forces as an AS conspiracy theory, conflating criticism of the state w/criticism of Jewish ppl, which she didn't do
So, internationalism under Keith appears to reflect a hierarchy of racism in which the Israeli state can and must be protected from criticism under the guise of AS, yet Kashmiris - and Palestinians - who are facing horrendous human rights abuses can swivel, apparently.
Indeed, just today an ally of Keith has been quoted as saying trans rights and Palestinian rights are fringe issues that Keith is doing well to distance himself from....
...In many ways, this is emblematic of Keith as an establishment figure who, certainly in his role as DPP and now as LOTO, largely sees the protection of the state as his primary function, rather than standing up for the oppressed.
This has been clear in his approach to BLM.
This has been clear in his approach to BLM.
After the BLM protests in Bristol which resulted in the toppling of the Colston statue, Keith went on LBC and described the protest as descending into 'lawlessness', saying they should have gone through the proper channels to remove it.
Now. Not only does Keith know that every attempt to go through the proper channels was blocked, he also knows that 'lawlessness' is an anti black racist dog whistle, which was immediately followed up with Mandelson describing it as 'law of the jungle' https://twitter.com/holski_beat/status/1269932618935648257?s=20
Then just this last week, Keith went on TV and described BLM as a moment, wrongly seeing BLM as a reaction to a) the murder of George Floyd and b) as distinctly an American issue, like police brutality and institutional racism in the UK isn't even a thing.
That's one thing, but then in the same breath to dismiss decades of Black scholarship and activism as nonsense and to wilfully misrepresent what it argues for? Yeah, that's anti-black racism. And your constipated take a knee picture was nothing but a performance.
I mean, I just wonder how much of this could have been avoided? Keith's staff of course, is 100% white. Maybe if he had some people of colour on the payroll they could help? Oh, but i forgot! A white person conducted a diversity audit and concluded there wasn't a problem!
There's probably further examples that I've forgotten - feel free to add anything I've missed.
