new authoritarianism

Labour tells 19 Leicester councillors they cannot stand in May election

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/mar/23/labour-tells-19-leicester-councillors-they-cannot-stand-in-may-election

The Labour party in Leicester has been left reeling after 19 sitting councillors, the majority of them from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds, were deselected by the national committee.

About 40% of Labour’s councillors in the city have been told they cannot stand in May’s election, after party figures decided to appoint an NEC board to choose Leicester’s council candidates rather than leave the decision to local members.

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There is particular anger over the fact the majority of deselected councillors are from BAME backgrounds, in a city where the 2021 census revealed 59% of residents are from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Fifteen of the party’s 26 BAME councillors in Leicester have been told they cannot stand, a total of 58%, compared with four of the 22 white Labour councillors.

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https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/mar/23/labour-tells-19-leicester-councillors-they-cannot-stand-in-may-election

Continue ReadingLabour tells 19 Leicester councillors they cannot stand in May election

Labour bans NEC members from meeting with Forde

Original article republished from the Skwawkbox for non-Commercial use.

Elected representatives told they can’t meet with barrister commissioned to investigate leaked Labour report – who has said party is not tackling racism and treats other forms as less important than supposed antisemitism

As Skwawkbox reported last week, Martin Forde KC has gone public on the Starmer regime’s lack of response to his report – commissioned originally as part of Keir Starmer’s ‘long grass’ tactics after the leak of a party report exposing widespread racism, fraud and sabotage by Labour right-wingers but one that inconveniently confirmed the leaked report’s accuracy and the endemic racism of the Labour right.

Labour has tried to claim that its national executive (NEC) is engaging with the report and to persuade us that everything is in hand as it should be, with the unsurprising collusion of right-wing NEC members. But the nonsense of this claim has been exposed by one of the elected left-wing members still on the NEC, who revealed that the NEC members supposed to be addressing Forde’s report and his recommendations has been blocked from meeting him:

Black Labour MP Dawn Butler confirmed that this refusal to allow a meeting has nothing to do with Forde’s availability or willingness to meet:

The Starmer regime’s whitewash of the deep-rooted and unchecked racism of its faction continues – eagerly aided and abetted by its media allies, who have resolutely ignored every revelation of the Labour right’s racism, war on democracy and the sabotage of the Corbyn leadership, despite the recent and detailed ‘Labour Files’ documentary series by Al Jazeera.

Original article republished from the Skwawkbox for non-Commercial use.

Continue ReadingLabour bans NEC members from meeting with Forde

Civicus rates UK civil liberties and democracy alongside Serbia, Kyrgyzstan, Hungary and Burkina Faso in annual survey, amid government’s war on civil rights – but there will be no improvement under a Starmer government

Original article republished from the Skwawkbox for non-Commercial use.

The map of Civicus-rated countries

The UK’s democracy and civil life have been downgraded to ‘obstructed’ in the Civicus annual survey of almost two hundred countries, because of the Tories’ assault on rights of protest and strike. ‘Obstructed’ is just one level above the ‘repressed’ status of countries such as Kazakhstan, Guatemala or Jordan and puts the UK on a par with countries like Burkina Faso, Hungary and Kyrgyzstan.

In fact, the UK’s rating should arguably be worse, as the Civicus index does not appear to take into account the importance of functional political media to hold governments to account and the UK’s media structure is fundamentally broken, with most media acting as Establishment mouthpieces, apologists and cheerleaders on many issues, keeping the public in the dark and suppressing unrest.

Tragically for the people of this country, the situation is likely to get worse rather than better. ‘Opposition’ leader Keir Starmer, a ‘long-time servant of the security state’ has amply demonstrated that is fully on board with the government’s attacks on democratic and civil rights and on proper journalism.

Since the assault on Corbyn’s Labour succeeded, the UK continues to slide into fascism.

Original article republished from the Skwawkbox for non-Commercial use.

Continue ReadingCivicus rates UK civil liberties and democracy alongside Serbia, Kyrgyzstan, Hungary and Burkina Faso in annual survey, amid government’s war on civil rights – but there will be no improvement under a Starmer government

Hundreds of experts sign letter against government’s anti-asylum seeker Bill

Demonstrators protesting against the Illegal Migration Bill in Parliament Square, London, during the second reading of the the bill in the House of Commons this evening. Picture date: Monday March 13, 2023.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/hundreds-experts-sign-letter-against-governments-asylum-seeker-bill

HUNDREDS of academic experts signed a joint letter today, condemning the Tory government’s anti-asylum seeker Bill as “not evidence based, workable or legal under human rights law.”

More than 300 scholars from mostly British universities warned that the Illegal Migration Bill will not stop small boats crossing the Channel but would increase “the chance of death” as people are funnelled into more dangerous journeys.

The letter – published online and in The Times newspaper – called the legislation, which cleared its first Commons hurdle on Monday, a “deterrence approach” by ministers in response to increasing numbers fleeing war and persecution.

But the experts warned that there is “no evidence that we are aware of to suggest that deterrence-based approaches are effective.”

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/hundreds-experts-sign-letter-against-governments-asylum-seeker-bill

Continue ReadingHundreds of experts sign letter against government’s anti-asylum seeker Bill

The **unofficial** Android update didn’t go well

Thanks for making my heightened surveillance status so obvious – you couldn’t have made it more obvious really. A dodgy unannounced Android update that refuses to install smoothly, browsers on my lappy refusing to work as before – so that I can’t make purchases from shops that I use regularly. Surely I wouldn’t notice that?

If anyone is overseeing Sue-Ellen Braverman, please ask her why she is putting a political opponent under intrusive surveillance for me.

15/3/23: political opponent is probably the wrong term. The point I’m making is that these actions are for political rather than any legitimate purpose.

Continue ReadingThe **unofficial** Android update didn’t go well

BBC will not broadcast Attenborough episode over fear of ‘rightwing backlash’

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/mar/10/david-attenborough-bbc-wild-isles-episode-rightwing-backlash-fears

Exclusive: Decision to make episode about natural destruction available only on iPlayer angers programme-makers

The BBC has decided not to broadcast an episode of Sir David Attenborough’s flagship new series on British wildlife because of fears its themes of the destruction of nature would risk a backlash from Tory politicians and the rightwing press, the Guardian has been told.

The decision has angered the programme-makers and some insiders at the BBC, who fear the corporation has bowed to pressure from lobbying groups with “dinosaurian ways”.

The BBC strongly denied this was the case and insisted the episode in question was never intended for broadcast.

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Caroline Lucas, the Green party MP for Brighton Pavilion, said: “For the BBC to censor of one of the nation’s most informed and trusted voices on the nature and climate emergencies is nothing short of an unforgivable dereliction of its duty to public service broadcasting. This government has taken a wrecking ball to our environment – putting over 1,700 pieces of environmental legislation at risk, setting an air pollution target which is a decade too late, and neglecting the scandal of our sewage-filled waterways – which cannot go unexamined and unchallenged by the public.

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Chris Packham, who presents Springwatch on the BBC, also criticised the decision. He told the Guardian: “At this time, in our fight to save the world’s biodiversity, it is irresponsible not to put that at the forefront of wildlife broadcasting.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/mar/10/david-attenborough-bbc-wild-isles-episode-rightwing-backlash-fears

Continue ReadingBBC will not broadcast Attenborough episode over fear of ‘rightwing backlash’

The danger ahead

There’s danger ahead. The Tories recent attacks on asylum seekers is going to fail since it’s totally ill-founded. Despite being very useless, I’m uncertain that the Tories are totally, absolutely uselss. Surely they know that this attack is doomed to failure? The danger is that the failure is expected, accounted for and part of a wider strategy towards what? With Sunak’s attacks on lefty lawyers i.e. an attack on the judicial process really the obvious guess is a power grab against the independence of the judiciary.

dizzy

9/3/23 Apologies, this should have occurred to me yesterday. Starmer is in every way as much a Tory as Winston Churchill, Boris Johnson or Tony Blair. It would be ideal for the Tories to transition to Starmer’s pretend Labour government for ten or fifteen years as a caretaker government looking after the interests of the rich and powerful. It very nearly happened after the total debacle of the short-lived Truss government but I feel that there wasn’t the demands expected for some reason ;) So, is yet another Tory debacle needed to sweep in Starmer’s new Labour (Tory) government?

There will be a further addition to this post

Continue ReadingThe danger ahead

Government’s plans to punish refugees branded ‘desperate and cruel’

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/government-plans-to-punish-refugees-branded-desperate-and-cruel

Amnesty International says ‘people fleeing persecution and conflict will be irreparably harmed by these proposals’

Image of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
Rish! Sunak

NEW government laws to punish refugees who arrive “illegally” in Britain after making perilous journeys across the English Channel in small boats were slammed as “desperate and cruel” today.

The Illegal Migration Bill, outlined by Home Secretary Suella Braverman in Parliament on Tuesday, will see migrants arriving on small boats “swiftly removed.”

Under the plans, people crossing the Channel will not be able to claim asylum in Britain and will face a lifetime ban on returning after they are removed.

They will also never be allowed to settle in the country or gain citizenship.

Ms Braverman admitted that she “can’t say definitively” if the new Bill complies with human rights laws.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/government-plans-to-punish-refugees-branded-desperate-and-cruel

Continue ReadingGovernment’s plans to punish refugees branded ‘desperate and cruel’

When governments can decide what journalists say, we should all be worried

Original article by Peter Geoghegan republished from openDemcracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence.

OPINION: UK National Security Bill is latest in long line of cynical attempts to maintain secrecy and stifle journalism

Journalism, as George Orwell famously said, is “printing what someone else does not want printed”.

But what happens if the someone who doesn’t want your story printed also has the power to put you in prison?

That sounds like the kind of question journalists in places like Iran or North Korea might have to contend with. But it’s a dilemma someone like me, living and working in the UK, could be asking soon, too.

The National Security Bill currently going through Westminster contains a clause saying that “providing” information that may “materially assist a foreign intelligence service” can be punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Here at openDemocracy we pride ourselves on publishing stories that the government and others in power would much rather never see the light of day.

We’ve revealed how the Treasury helped Putin’s sanctioned warlord to sue a British journalist in London, how Russian oligarchs have bankrolled the Conservatives, how dark money flows into British politics and more.

Investigative journalists like us at openDemocracy often receive sensitive information. Could our reporting be used by foreign powers to embarrass the British government?

The honest answer is ‘yes’. But does saving our government’s blushes mean the public shouldn’t know that the British army was aware of the dangers of ‘Snatch Land Rovers’, associated with the deaths of over 34 British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan? Or how the UK’s corporate secrecy vehicles are used to hide oligarchs’ ill-gotten gains?

Crucially, Sharpe’s promise that journalists won’t get caught in the security bill’s dragnet will not be enshrined in law

In recent days, Rishi Sunak’s ministers have made some minor amendments to the National Security Bill in the face of organised opposition by openDemocracy and other media outlets. (A huge thank you to the more than 8,000 oD readers who sent emails to their MPs demanding changes to the bill.)

The government has been at pains to say we shouldn’t be worried. In the Lords this week, one minister, Andrew Sharpe, said that it is “almost inconceivable that genuine journalism will be caught within the threshold for criminal activity”.

But it’s the “almost” that should worry all of us.

The National Security Bill replaces older secrecy legislation, and is supposed to counter the activity of hostile foreign powers in the UK. But the bill’s provisions are so wide-ranging that it is not hard to see how journalists – and whistleblowers – could be caught by it.

Crucially, Sharpe’s promise that journalists won’t get caught in the security bill’s dragnet will not be enshrined in law.

Why can’t we just trust our leaders when they say that hacks like us have nothing to worry about?

Well, their track record isn’t good. This is a government that ran an Orwellian ‘Clearing House’ that vetted Freedom of Information requests from journalists and others. When we revealed what was happening, Michael Gove, the minister in charge, smeared us and our journalism.

The Clearing House has now been closed down, but journalism is still under threat.

London’s libel courts are still being used by the world’s rich and powerful to silence public criticism. Last year, Dominic Raab pledged to legislate to end so-called “strategic litigation against public participation” cases, or SLAPPs.

But Raab’s rhetoric has not turned into reality. openDemocracy is currently subject to a SLAPP case, as are many of our journalistic allies.

Rishi Sunak has allotted no parliamentary time for anti-Slapp legislation – which means it’s very unlikely to happen. Should we be surprised when one of Sunak’s own appointments, former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, issued legal threats against journalists and campaigners who asked questions about his tax affairs?

Sunak and his ministers are fond of saying how much they care about free speech and the freedom of the press. But when the government gets to decide what information journalists can – and can’t – report, we should all be worried.

Original article by Peter Geoghegan republished from openDemcracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence.

Continue ReadingWhen governments can decide what journalists say, we should all be worried

Starmer’s Labour abstains on vote to protect journalists from state persecution, allowing Tory win

Original article republished from the Skwawkbox for non-Commercial use.

Yet another shameful episode from ‘long-time servant of the security state’ Starmer

Image of Keir Starmer, thanks to The Skwawkbox

The UK’s lurch toward fascism continued last night with yet another shameful – and shamefully unsurprising – episode of cowardice and betrayal by Keir Starmer and the shell of the Labour party under his control.

With the Tories’ repressive ‘National Security Bill’ in the Lords last night, the Green party tried to rally support to protect journalists – and investigative journalism and therefore the interests of the UK people – from persecution under a bill widely recognised to be a measure to give the government freedom to act without scrutiny or accountability, turning the UK into a mini-US in its treatment of journalists for doing their job.

Even a handful of Tories in Parliament have pointed out that such vital revelations as the ‘Panama papers’ would not have been possible under the new bill and that the rights of women, minority groups and the wellbeing of citizens are under severe threat from the proposed new law.

So the Greens in the Lords called a vote to protect journalists – for the sake of all this country’s people. It was defeated, because Keir Starmer whipped Labour peers to abstain.

Keir Starmer has been called a ‘long-time servant of the British security state’ and his affiliations have been expressed in votes to protect state agents from even such crimes as rape and murder, his attacks on environmental and human rights protesters, his support for immunity for soldiers who murdered civilians in Northern Ireland and more. So his action in the Lords vote last night should surprise no one, but his decision to whip for abstention and engineer the defeat of the motion rather vote against it directly is another manifestation of his fundamental spinelessness.

He is avidly helping push this country along the road to fascism, but doesn’t have the moral courage even to nail his colours to the mast, instead hoping that telling Labour representatives not to vote at all will lessen the backlash against his betrayal.

Original article republished from the Skwawkbox for non-Commercial use.

Continue ReadingStarmer’s Labour abstains on vote to protect journalists from state persecution, allowing Tory win