The Organiser – Issue #20

Hello comrades,

In this latest issue, we bring you:

• our General Election strategy
• news from across the movement
• a scandal of epic proportions 
• the latest on the Julian Assange case

Campaigning in the General Election

Voters will head to the polls for a General Election on July 4th. After 14 years of austerity and privatisation, with our NHS and public services in the gutter, our water polluted, a housing system in crisis and the rich laughing their way to the bank, we have a chance to finally kick the Tories out!

In this election we stand with the trade union movement: the first priority is to get rid of the Tories who have relentlessly attacked our rights. Momentum’s role is clear: we are mobilising to elect socialist and trade unionist Labour candidates, from inspirational incumbents like Zarah Sultana, John McDonnell and Apsana Begum, to trade unionist Labour candidates like Chris Webb, Connor Naismith and Margaret Mullane. We’re encouraging all our members to sign up now to canvas with other like-minded socialists.

It was outrageous if unsurprising, however, to see the Labour Leadership turn its fire inwards, by embarking on a purge of left-wingers, including by undemocratically deselecting Faiza Shaheen in Chingford.

But after days of briefings that Diane Abbott would be blocked from restanding as a Labour MP, Keir Starmer finally relented. We’re proud to have stood with Diane from the start. We were on the airwaves and in the media constantly, defending Diane and calling out Starmer’s racist double standards, from the BBC to the Guardian, LBC to the Independent. Across the labour movement we made our voices known – and Starmer was forced to back down.

If you support our efforts to maximise socialist Labour voices in Parliament, we need your help. We want to raise as much as we can for our General Election campaign as we seek to mobilise across the country. Can you help? Donate today! 

Want to learn more about Momentum’s General Election campaign? Catch our Head of Organising & Political Strategy, Rachel Godfrey-Wood, on the latest episode of the Labour Left podcast. Rachel discusses our election mobilisation and the long-term prospects for the Left. Watch here!

• • Jeremy Corbyn: We are disgusted at Keir Starmer’s vindictive treatment of Jeremy Corbyn and have been calling it out in the media and across the airwaves, including on the BBC, LBC and more. Jeremy has loyally represented Islington North for over 40 years as a Labour MP, but has been blocked from standing as the Labour candidate in the upcoming election. It should be up to Party members to decide who represents them in Parliament, not Starmer’s Westminster clique. We will not allow Labour’s founding socialist principles to be driven out of the Party altogether.
  • By-elections/Referendum/FCP: Due to the General Election, by-elections to fill the vacant spots on our NCG have been postponed, alongside the referendum on two constitutional amendments and this year’s Future Councillors’ Programme.
  • Leo Panitch: This year’s Leo Panitch Leadership Programme will go ahead as planned, with two all-weekend training sessions in London this summer. Successful applicants to the programme will be notified by Friday 14th June. You can find out more about our Leo Panitch Leadership Programme here.
  • Goodbye, Hilary: We at Momentum were sad to see our Co-Chair Hilary Schan leave us recently, but we’d like to say a huge thank you Hilary for her tireless work over the past two years. Our work at Momentum carries on, however, campaigning for socialist Labour candidates in this election and standing up for real Labour values.
  • Media: As always, we’ve been standing up for real Labour values in the press, from reacting to Diane Abbott’s treatment to mobilising support for socialist and trade unionist Labour candidates. We have been quoted in BBC News, the Telegraph, the Guardian, Politico, and more!
  • Internal Labour elections: Due to the General Election, internal Labour Party elections that were set to take place this summer have been postponed.

International:

• Gaza: It’s welcome news that the International Criminal Court issued applications for arrest warrants of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister, along with Hamas Leaders. The UK Government has opposed the ICC, even though Israel has been found to have waged a long campaign of harassment towards the world-renowned court. The UK continues to actively arm Israel’s genocide in Gaza. So we need maximum pressure for an arms embargo on Israel – and we’re calling on Labour to back one unreservedly. Sign our petition here!
• European Elections: The EU elections were a sobering lesson for Germany and France – but also acted as a reminder for Labour to stand up for working-class people! As Farage rises in the Tories’ broken Britain, governments that fail to deliver real change only strengthen the far-right.
• Mexico: Left-wing climate scientist Claudia Sheinbaum won a historic victory as Mexico’s first-ever female president last week. This a huge triumph for the Left in Mexico and across Latin America. Solidarity! 

Trade unions: 

• Community Festival: The trade union movement in Hackney, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest has organised a community festival in Leyton on Sunday 30th June between 1-5pm. There will be a fantastic line-up of speakers, plus live performances of music and spoken word. Everyone’s welcome! Details here.

ICYMI: In March, the Telegraph published bombshell allegations of outright vote-rigging in Labour’s parliamentary selections. Allegations include the misuse of the party’s online voting system, Anonyvoter, in an attempt to undermine the democratic rights of local parties. Even Socialist Campaign Group MPs like Beth Winter and Sam Tarry seem to have been targeted.

This isn’t the first time the Labour Leadership has been accused of such brazen stitch-ups. From Hastings to Wolverhampton to Glasgow, popular local left-wingers have been blocked from standing, by Starmer’s right-wing Westminster clique.

And once the election was called, we saw the outrageous spectacle of Starmer’s NEC parachuting themselves and their mates into safe seats across the country, while even the Tories held selections.

But systematic vote rigging takes things to the next level. It’s clear that Labour’s Parliamentary selections have been wholly discredited. So we at Momentum launched a petition demanding:

1. An independent, KC-led investigation into Labour’s Parliamentary selections
2. The suspension of the use of Anonyvoter within Labour
3. Replacing the system with an independent, members-led process

At the time of writing this, over 4200 of our members and supporters have signed our petition demanding answers to Labour voter fraud! We’ve also been making the case for voters to take action in the media and across social media channels. And representative for Momentum’s National Coordinating Group (NCG), Martin Abrams, wrote an op-ed for Tribune sounding the alarm on a Starmerite machine rigging democracy.

If you haven’t done so already, sign our petition today to call for Labour’s General Secretary to commission an investigation into these damning allegations. You can also help us spread the word across social media.

Assange Wins Right to Appeal! 

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been granted the right to appeal by the High Court against his looming extradition to the US. 

This is an important victory and a small step forward for press freedom, but it does not go far enough. Assange has faced years of legal limbo and has been imprisoned in Belmarsh since April 2019. The US Justice Department called the leaks “one of the largest compromises of classified information in history.” If Assange is extradited to the US, his lawyers fear he will face up to 175 years in prison. 

Lest we forget that Assange was instrumental in holding corporations and governments to account. His legal persecution is an affront to press freedom and public scrutiny. We support the #FreeAssange movement in demanding his release! 

Housekeeping

• You can find the minutes of our National Coordinating Group Meetings here.

We hope you enjoyed our latest issue. Any feedback you have and ideas for how to make the newsletter better are much appreciated.

Don’t hesitate to send us an email at [email protected] with your thoughts.

In solidarity,

Team Momentum