Politics

Paul Mason’s Bizarre Attack on Jeremy Corbyn

~ Urban Dandy London ~ 3 Comments
L-R Paul Mason, Kevin Courtney, Melissa Benn & Emma Dent Coad in Kilburn, March 25th

A fortnight ago we published the transcript of famed British journalist and broadcaster Paul Mason publicly abusing a local anti-war activist. Now we are publishing another abusive outburst from Mason at the same event, this time aimed at former Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn.

At a debate organised by Kensal & Kilburn – Better 2024, titled “Is it worth voting Labour in 2024?” Mason, who was arguing that it is worth voting for the party, attacked Corbyn during the Question & Answer session when the event Chair, Melissa Benn, asked him to explain “why Keir Starmer has made the left within the party the enemy instead of working with them as Biden worked with Bernie Sanders.”

Listen to Paul Mason’s response here:

Transcript: Continue reading →

Paul Mason Publicly Attacks Anti-Zionist in Kilburn

~ Urban Dandy London ~ 3 Comments

The high-profile journalist and Labour campaigner Paul Mason was in Kilburn tonight, part of a debate organised by Kensal & Kilburn – Better 2024 titled “Is it worth voting Labour in 2024?”

Chaired by Melissa Benn, the panel was made up of the Kensington independent candidate, Emma Dent Coad; former General Secretary of the National Education Union, Kevin Courtney, and Mason, who confirmed he is looking to become a Labour parliamentary candidate ahead of the general election. In 2022 Mason was apparently exposed plotting to take down the British left in collaboration with security agents, something he strongly denies.

Below is a transcript of part of the Q and A session at end of tonight’s meeting in which Mason accused an audience member of antisemitism. Within minutes of the meeting concluding, Mason had tweeted his slur against the audience member, a well-known North Kensington community campaigner, to his 611,000 followers. The audio can be heard here. Judge for yourself.

Audience member: “I can’t believe that there hasn’t been any mention here of the Labour Files, like you know the way that Jeremy Corbyn was outed and obliterated through the media because of Keir Starmer and his Israeli sponsors and the fact that so many in the Labour Party are supported and funded by Israel. How can anyone even consider voting Labour, they don’t stand for the people. The only hope that we have and why I’m here supporting Emma is because she’s local she would have stood for Labour again but Starmer and his Israeli body didn’t want her standing and that’s been the case as we’ve seen across the country and it means that Labour candidates in the wards aren’t locals known to locals, don’t understand the local situation and the issues that we’ve struggled through. She knows us, she’s out there with us, she stood alongside us through the atrocity of Grenfell, she never gave up when she was our MP at the time. She held meeting after meeting after meeting in the House of Commons and has constantly supported everyone. That’s what we want, that’s our hope so as far as I’m concerned, the more independent candidates that stand the better.”

Paul Mason: “See, why didn’t you just say Jew? Why didn’t you just say Jew? Because…why didn’t you just say “He’s a Jewish agent”? Why didn’t you just say it because that’s what you mean isn’t it. And I’ll say to you, anybody in this room who wants to be part of a left where you go around saying ‘Starmer’s an Israeli agent’ if you want to do that, fine, form a party together, form an alliance, support Emma, but don’t bother supporting the Labour party because we are anti-racists, we are anti-racists and I will never accept that Starmer is an agent of Israel, comrade. If the left wants to break with Labour, if the left wants to go down a little rabbit hole of all the other five, six, seven alliances that are being formed, good luck, not as good luck as to the Greens, but good look. But please work out that that that’s where you’re heading, you have to either decide you’re for it or against it. I am against it. I am against it. I am against it and I don’t need any lectures about genocide, I’ve been to Gaza, I’ve seen what the Israelis do, I’ve seen what they do I will not have Starmer being called an Israeli agent.”

Emma Dent Coad: “I’m just going to pass by that….”

Mason interrupts: “She’s your supporter”

Dent Coad: “We’ve marched together, I know exactly where she stands, and we are marching with our Jewish brothers and sisters. I’m not having that and you know that it’s a political ideology. It’s the easiest thing in the world to accuse somebody of anti-Semitism when they are against a political ideology. It’s a political ideology which is the issue and we all know that, so, you know, don’t fall down that rabbit hole please.”

by Tom Charles @tomhcharles @urbandandyLDN

RBKC & Zionist Propaganda

~ Urban Dandy London ~ 1 Comment

Kensington & Chelsea Council’s decision to cancel its annual diplomatic reception was a victory for anti-war campaigners. However, the council leadership’s claim that security threats were behind the move could suggest coordination between the local authority and bigger players in the war on Palestine.

13th February

We published this article on Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC)’s diplomatic reception for embassies based in the borough, the invitees including Israel’s genocidal ambassador Tzipi Hotovely.

Concerned locals, including members of the newly formed Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham branch of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, mobilised, planning a demonstration at the Town Hall and urging residents to contact their councillors to demand the reception’s cancellation. Continue reading →

From the River to the…

~ Urban Dandy London ~ 2 Comments

…Roundabout?

A campaign flyer has been catching the eye around Holland Park and Shepherds Bush in recent days. Invoking the Palestinian flag, symbol of resistance and unity in the face of colonialism and ethnic cleansing, at first glance you’d presume it relates to Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip. On closer inspection, it’s more parochial – encouraging people to oppose Transport for London’s proposed cycle lane on Holland Park Roundabout. Continue reading →

RBKC Honours Israel’s Genocidal Ambassador

~ Urban Dandy London ~ 1 Comment

Kensington & Chelsea Council (RBKC) will honour Israel’s UK ambassador, Tzipi Hotovely, at a diplomatic reception even as the country she represents intensifies its campaign of genocide in the occupied Gaza Strip.

Hosted by the RBKC’s mayor Preety Hudd at Kensington Town Hall on Tuesday, February 20th, the event – an annual reception for ambassadors based in the borough – is a fixture in the council’s calendar although scant information about it is shared with the residents who pay for it.   Continue reading →

How Kensington Labour Went Pro-Israel, Pro-Genocide

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Kensington Labour Party finally released a statement calling for a ceasefire in Palestine, over three weeks after local councillors wrote a first draft, and only after the criminal government of Binyamin Netanyahu had agreed to a temporary truce. Multiple Labour councillors have told Urban Dandy that interventions from local and regional Labour officials delayed the release of the statement and ensured the local party did not contradict and embarrass Labour leader Keir Starmer and Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy who have backed Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip. We have obtained the Kensington councillors’ original statement, which bears little resemblance to the published version, adding to the evidence of a crackdown on internal democracy and a prioritisation of Israeli government interests under Starmer. 

Original Statement

The original statement drafted by the Kensington Labour councillors was ready for publication on 7th November. In contrast with the version published three weeks later, the original is clear that Israel is responsible for the genocide it is carrying out. This put the Kensington group of councillors in alignment with international law as Israel has no right to use violence against a population that it occupies. Continue reading →

Sin Signalling

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When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the political-media establishment went wild with its virtue signalling; opposing Vladimir Putin’s government as a pariah and offering unrestrained moral support to the plucky underdog Ukrainians. When Israel accelerated its genocide of Palestinians in October, the same establishment did a 180. Instead of calling for international law to be upheld, or offering moral and military support to the victims of a decades-long occupation and siege, establishment figures went from virtue signalling to sin signalling. For Ukraine, there was one audience, for Palestine, another. One audience required virtue, the other something very different.

Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine triggered a full-spectrum psychological operation against the minds of the British population. A clean sweep of politicians, commentators and public figures demanded that we uphold human rights and support the Ukrainians at any cost short of direct British military confrontation with Russia. Continue reading →

Kensington Labour Running Scared over Palestine?

~ Urban Dandy London ~ 1 Comment

Kensington Labour Party appears to be avoiding public accountability over its refusal to call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Activists arranged a protest to be held outside Kensington Unitarian Church tonight, where the constituency party was due to meet. Labour has now switched its meeting to take place online .

With national, regional and local party bosses backing Israel’s policy in Palestine, the Labour group of councillors have come under scrutiny. Having agreed a statement opposing Israel’s crimes over two weeks ago, the group has failed to publish the document, which was expected to distance the Kensington group from the party’s de facto support for Israeli genocide


In an email sent to local members and seen by Urban Dandy, the party blames “unforeseen circumstances” for the cancellation of the in-person meeting. One of the speakers at the online meeting will be from GMB, the trade union that issued a statement two weeks after Israel had launched its massacre, carefully avoided naming Netanyahu’s apartheid government as the perpetrator. 

Israel has no right under international law to use violence against the population it occupies and subjugates. 

by Tom Charles @tomhcharles

 

Gaza Genocide: Kensington Labour Group MIA

~ Urban Dandy London ~ 16 Comments

Kensington & Bayswater Constituency Labour Party supports Israel’s genocidal military campaign in the Gaza Strip, reflecting the national Labour Party’s stance. But local Labour councillors are not obliged to support genocide and are free to resign from the party in protest or to speak out as a group. Why aren’t they?

Just one local Labour councillor, Mona Ahmed, has resigned in protest at Keir Starmer’s “endorsement of war crimes committed by Israel against civilians in Gaza.” Cllr Ahmed was Deputy Leader of the Labour Group in Kensington.

If other councillors want to oppose ethnic cleansing but not resign the whip, their other option is to speak out together to distance themselves from Starmer’s foreign policy. A source informed Urban Dandy that a statement to that effect was agreed between all Kensington Labour councillors on Monday 6th November.

But the statement, which calls for an immediate ceasefire, has remained unreleased. The issue was not that the statement was deemed too controversial. According to our source, some councillors pushed for a hard line against Israel and its crimes, while others were keen to appease national Labour officials and London Region officials who have effectively run the local party for the past 12 months.

The upshot is acquiescence from Labour in Kensington over Israel’s slaughter and a signal that Palestinian lives do not matter. At a vigil for Gaza and the victimes of the Grenfell Tower fire on Tuesday 14th November, several speakers called out the Labour Group’s silence.

Cllr Ali

The Leader of the Labour Group, Kasim Ali, is ultimately responsible for the non-publication of the statement. Last year, Ali’s candidacy to be Kensington’s next Member of Parliament was torpedoed by Labour officials who racially profiled British Somali party members to prevent them from voting for their preferred candidate. The same Labour officials also concocted an ‘antisemitism’ scandal to justify taking full control of the selection process, ensuring Ali could not win.

Despite this abusive treatment, Cllr Ali remained loyal to Labour and was elected Leader of the Kensington Group of councillors. Cllr Ali has not confirmed to us whether he is withholding the Gaza statement at the request of the London Region officials.

As we revealed last month, Kensington Labour Party was forced by London Region to disaffiliate from a raft of anti-war groups earlier this year. These included Stop the War Coalition; Peace & Justice Project; Jewish Voice for Labour and Palestine Solidarity Campaign, four organisations that have been prominent leaders in the huge protests against Israel’s killing in recent weeks.

by Tom Charles @tomhcharles

Kensington Labour Refusing to Oppose Israel’s Genocide

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For well over a month, Israel’s destruction of life in the Gaza Strip has been supported by much of the political elite in Britain using a new phrase in the war lexicon: “humanitarian pause.” It is the language of cowardice, propaganda, and fascism, used to buy time for Netanyahu’s slaughter of a defenceless population, and his ethnic cleansing of Gaza.

Kensington

A local Labour member recently sent Kensington & Bayswater Constituency Labour Party (CLP) a petition calling for an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s assault. In their email, which they also shared with Urban Dandy, the constituent pointed out that, in knowingly supporting Israel’s deliberate targeting of civilians, Britain is failing to meet its obligations under international law. But in her reply, CLP Chair Monica Press snubbed the call for a ceasefire, stating that “a humanitarian pause is more achievable”.    

Press’s stated reason for rejecting the call was that “neither Hamas or Israel will consider” a ceasefire. This is false, as Hamas has offered the return of hostages to Israel in exchange for a ceasefire. Israel rejected Hamas’s proposal.

Press drew further false equivalence between the two, saying that both Hamas and Israel are “authoritarian and extreme” governments that “endanger their own populations.” Yet there is a consensus among Palestinians in favour of resistance to the occupation as a means of liberation after decades of one-sided Western diplomacy that served as a cover for Israel to steal more land and imprison millions of people in the Gaza concentration camp. Israel has endangered its population by choosing expansion over peace.

Charity

Instead of demanding political change and the upholding of international law, the leadership of Kensington Labour asked local party members to make charitable donations that can be delivered to Gaza, during a “pause” in the killing. Judging by the absence of any statement to the contrary, this preference for charity is supported by the Labour group of councillors at Kensington Town Hall.

The CLP’s charity appeal has apparently raised £150 for the Palestinians so far. 

In her response to the party member, Monica Press stated that the CLP needs to “show and be seen to show our concerns.” But the CLP’s only real concern has been ingratiating itself to the Starmer regime, who in turn are busy doing likewise with the Israel lobby.

The CLP seems to have judged that Palestinian life is not worth the expenditure of any political capital. Like the leaders of the national Labour Party, the CLP will not oppose Israel’s industrial-scale murder. They would just like them to pause for a few hours so the victims can have something to eat before the genocide resumes.

by Tom Charles @tomhcharles