27 May 2018

Abortion: fight for the right in Northern Ireland

The Irish referendum result is a victory for women in the Republic, but it also highlights the power of Unionist bigotry in the North.

The resounding yes vote in the referendum to repeal the eighth amendment to the Irish constitution (banning abortion) is a major victory - mainly, of course, for women in the Republic who have been denied control over their own bodies with horrendous results: forced to travel abroad for abortions, unwanted pregnancies and even in some cases death. Abolition of the ban is long overdue.

One irony is that change in the Republic will leave women in Northern Ireland almost alone in Europe (except for those in Poland, Malta, Cyprus and the British colony of Gibralter) in being denied control over their bodies. For how long has the Unionist establishment in the North pumped out the prejudice that the Republic was poor, backward and religion-ridden? Yet now those insults apply to the Unionists. It is the DUP, which blocks progress not just on abortion, but on gay marriage, too. Religious-based bigotry now resides firmly in Unionism.

An obvious step forward would be for Westminster to change abortion law in Northern Ireland directly from London. But it would be even better to legislate for a referendum on the issue in the North. The result, almost certainly a yes for change, would humiliate the DUP, which, of course, is exactly why Theresa May, who depends on DUP votes to keep her government in office, would oppose the democratic option. And that is one reason why the Left support it.

22 May 2018

Ken Livingstone resigns from the Labour Party

Jeremy Corbyn has sacrificed Ken Livingstone to appease those making fake antisemitism allegations.

On 21 May 2018, the twice elected Mayor of London, former leader of the GLC and former Labour MP, Ken Livingstone resigned from the Labour Party. From 1981 onwards no elected-into-office Labour politician has done more to advance progressive politics.

In 2016 Livingstone was accused of antisemitism on account of his remark on television that Adolf Hitler "was supporting Zionism before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews.”

This comment was indeed disastrously ill-expressed. It is true that there was a temporary alignment of purpose between some Zionists and the Third Reich in the pre-war years, both parties seeking the departure of Jews from Germany. And as regards the other part of his remark, for Ken Livingstone to dismiss the holocaust as merely the result of the mental state of Hitler is cruelly inadequate.

Livingstone can certainly be 'accused' of pointing to a concealed aspect of historical Zionism, of opposing the Zionist project, of supporting Palestinian rights and of criticism of Israeli government policy. But so what? The whole case against Livingstone only blew up because of an anti-Corbyn alliance comprising the Blairite right of the Labour Party on the one hand, and by organisations representing the Israeli government on the other.

Ken Livingstone is no antisemite and he was wrongly accused. It is therefore a betrayal of him and of principle that Jeremy Corbyn should welcome the departure of his former ally from the Labour Party. In sacrificing his old ally Corbyn may hope that he has appeased his critics so the fake antisemitism allegations will stop, but there is the likely danger that all he has done is to embolden their attacks.

12 May 2018

Fight racists without trashing civil liberties

Fight racists and racism, but taking away their civil and human rights is no solution.

A number of instances have come to light in which people in private online conversations have had their comments used to justify public sanctions against them. The illicit remarks have become public because a bone fide recipient has betrayed the privacy - or in a few cases the user’s device or account has been hacked

The bulk of existing cases involve instances of racism.

I am in two minds about this. On the one hand, I don’t want racists in positions of power in society - and certainly not as members of the Labour Party and other progressive organisations. Yet, I feel that participants in private conversations have the right to privacy, however vile their opinions and comments, and that right is something that the Left would do well to protect, if only in its own interests. In addition, while we rightly struggle to prevent racists wielding social influence, I would not deny them the right to make a living merely on account of their private opinions (or ‘jokes’).