danny la rouge
More like *fanny* la rouge!
I just did too. Didn’t learn much. Retired QC nobody’s heard of.I looked him up
Labour & Anti-Semitism.
- Thread starter cantsin
- Start date
Stephen Solley is a retired QC and former chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee. He is Jewish, a Labour Party member and a critic of Israel. On 28 January he received a campaign email from Miriam Mirwitch, chair of Young Labour, the party's youth section, and a candidate for the London Assembly.
"I know what it's like to face antisemitism every day," Mirwitch wrote, identifying herself as a national committee member of the Jewish Labour Movement. "I've had to fight antisemitism both inside and outside the Labour Party," she said.
Twenty-three minutes later, Mirwitch wrote to Solley's former chambers, accusing him of antisemitism. She also wrote to the Bar Standards Board. Both rejected her accusations. But three days after sending the email, Solley received notification from the Labour Party that he was under investigation for antisemitism, an investigation that appears to be ongoing.
Solley is aware that by speaking out he may have contravened the party's demand that he "keep all information and correspondence relating to this investigation private." His response? "I don’t give a damn. If they really want to expel the Jewish former chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee, so be it."
www.middleeasteye.net
"I know what it's like to face antisemitism every day," Mirwitch wrote, identifying herself as a national committee member of the Jewish Labour Movement. "I've had to fight antisemitism both inside and outside the Labour Party," she said.
Solley recalls: "I got this just a week after Holocaust Remembrance Day. I thought this was the most offensive thing. She lives in modern north-west London. It's absurd. Of course she doesn't face antisemitism every day. It's just whipping up anxiety. I was really upset by it." He replied to Mirwitch with a short, simple email. "The Jewish Labour Movement is, in my opinion, a force for ill and something of a con in that it is destructive of socialism. It is a pro Israel, anti Palestine group. It becomes imperative to vote against you."
'If they really want to expel the Jewish former Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee, so be it'
- Stephen Solley, retired QC
Twenty-three minutes later, Mirwitch wrote to Solley's former chambers, accusing him of antisemitism. She also wrote to the Bar Standards Board. Both rejected her accusations. But three days after sending the email, Solley received notification from the Labour Party that he was under investigation for antisemitism, an investigation that appears to be ongoing.
Solley is aware that by speaking out he may have contravened the party's demand that he "keep all information and correspondence relating to this investigation private." His response? "I don’t give a damn. If they really want to expel the Jewish former chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee, so be it."
'The wrong sort of Jew': How Labour pursued complaints against elderly Jewish opponents of Israel
Labour's investigations into antisemitism raise questions about the nature and definition of what the party is attempting to root out
www.middleeasteye.net
“It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”
― Epictetus
danny la rouge
More like *fanny* la rouge!
“Close your mouth please, Michael. We are not a codfish.” – Mary Poppins
Kevbad the Bad
Amiable Bowel Syndrome
It has been great, actually. We've mainly talked about other matters.
Raheem
Well-Known Member
They're not slow once they hear Greensleeves wafting across the estate. That Stephen Solley has a lot to answer for.
While the name wasn't familiar, I'm depressed to say that I am aware of this particular case, of which we only have Mr Solley (QC)'s version of events.
FWIW I'm absolutely certain that Miriam Mirwich, a relatively high profile female Jewish Labour Party officer, recieves daily antisemitic abuse of the most lurid type.
FWIW I'm absolutely certain that Miriam Mirwich, a relatively high profile female Jewish Labour Party officer, recieves daily antisemitic abuse of the most lurid type.
And I'm absolutely certain that Solley is not an anti Semite.
And I'm absolutely certain that Mirwich knows perfectly well that Solley is not an anti Semite.
Which makes me wonder how someone can feel so entitled, so empowered and so emboldened, as to think that it was appropriate to accuse him of being an anti Semite not just to the Labour Party, but also to the Bar Council and his former Chambers.
are you Stephen Solley QC?
danny la rouge
More like *fanny* la rouge!
There’s an ice cream van outside my flat right now. I don’t know the tune but it’s lots of arpeggios.
danny la rouge
More like *fanny* la rouge!
bimble
floofy
Heroin, I've always assumed.
danny la rouge
More like *fanny* la rouge!
Aye, but like killerb I suspect their best seller isn’t a double nougat slider.Ice cream vans go all year in Scotland?!
Is there anyone buying in December ?
I miss that sound, used to be one on my street in brixton, yankee doodle. But he'd park up and turn the music off without letting it finish the tune.
It is possible that, after being called an Israeli spy or a hook-nosed slut for the upteenth time that day, Mirwitch overreacted when she received an email from Stephen Solley (QC) telling her she doesn't deal with antisemitism daily. It's also possible that Stephen Solley (QC) isn't fully disclosing the content of his communications with her. Or maybe she is an israeli spy, who knows.
cantsin
Well-Known Member
I have one lifelong Jewish mate, mainly secular, but always did Shabbat dinners with fambo when we were young, and his wedding was joyously Jewish - centrist Labour at a push, Lib dem really, but v tolerant of my nonsense - and never minded my phone calls every now and again when this stuff was getting tense / intense, to discuss / gauge his thoughts / opinions etc.
This is purely anecdotal, so no one needs to believe it obvs.... but living with his fambo in a nice, jewish part of N Ldn, he was v straight fwd about it all, throughout 2015-2020 yrs - he felt near zero impact from the Corbyn / Left Labour AS hype himself, or any impact in the community ( not that he would pretend to be part of any tight knit community there, as with most people in leafier parts of LDN - people get on with their own thing ).
I'd be calling him up all flustered / pissed off etc when it was really kicking off, and quickly establish he'd barely noticed anything going on - the big difference between him and me ? He barely touches social media.
Am in no way claiming this says anything definitive, obvs, and have always acknowledged that we had a whole load of Palestine obsessed cranks in our ranks post 2015, a few of whom were straight up AS / conspira drek ( we've shed approx 95 % of them over 5 years I reckon ) , but he's a v sensible, impartial bloke, and I value his perspectives a lot.
So she maybe overreacted by reporting a Jewish man of 80, who was the former chair of the Bar's Human Rights Committee to the Labour Party, his former Chambers and to the Bar Council? Yeah sounds plausible.
Or maybe he wrote something to her that was anti Semitic but Solley is so thick that he thinks that if he didn't mention it in his version of events that it wouldn't come out? Again, yeah sounds plausible.
How about this? Maybe she detests Solly because he criticises Israel and supports the Palestinians and she thinks that the definition of anti Semitism is now so broad that what he wrote falls within it. Is that not far more plausible than your desperate justifications for her actions?
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
The we here is horrible. Fucking hell man.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
Aren't Zionists Palestine-obsessed cranks?
redsquirrel
This Machine Kills Progressives
Surely (adulterated) penicillin?
Shechemite
Be the sun and all will see you
zionists more obsessed with denying Palestine ever existed imo
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
Yeh Palestine-obsessed cranks
Shechemite
Be the sun and all will see you
i guess I’m just anti-semantics
Serge Forward
Just enjoyin' my coffee.
Years ago, when I lived in the Potteries, the local ice cream van played Purple HazeIce cream vans go all year in Scotland?!
Is there anyone buying in December ?
I miss that sound, used to be one on my street in brixton, yankee doodle. But he'd park up and turn the music off without letting it finish the tune.
Kevbad the Bad
Amiable Bowel Syndrome
Well, in various anarchist groups, Friends of the Earth, peace groups, anti GM, anti poll tax, eco groups, as well as trade unions I've not encountered antisemitism. The only racist views I can recollect openly espoused at meetings have been anti American and anti Kurdish. Gulf War 1 I was too much involved with being a brand new parent, Gulf War 2 quite active, but not with Stop the War. Maybe it's the company I keep.
cantsin
Well-Known Member
don't wan't to get sucked into a BA cryptic - hole here, but... just don't know what you mean ...'we ' , as in the LP I (rightly or wrongly ) joined in 2015 ?
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butchersapron
Bring back hanging
I wonder rummo
Yes
Treacle Toes
Time
Were there any Palestine obsessed members that weren't Anti-Semitic loons?
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