UPDATE
Ms Stella Creasy is offended by this article. At 8.14am this morning 5 December she tweeted:
“This is just an offensive and wrong article and I hope Mr Murray retracts.”
Nothing in it is wrong to the best of my knowledge, but if anything is, I should be most happy to retract it. Nobody has indicated anything is factually wrong so far. I have changed the title of the post to be literal rather than sarcastic, because that was the only thing about it that was “wrong”.
But offensive? Really? She must be a very shrinking violet indeed.
Given that the whole point of this article is to suggest that Ms Creasy believes she should be above criticism and above democratic accountability, for her to describe the criticisms in this article as “offensive” purely proves my point. It is not offensive. It is legitimate criticism of somebody who lives off my taxes.
For me, the inevitable conclusion is that a woman whose Wikipedia page states “Creasy has aristocratic family connections on her mother’s side, including with the Howards, Earls of Carlisle (through whom she is related to Polly Toynbee), the Cayzer family and the present (9th) Viscount Gort who is her fourth cousin” believes she is not answerable to the hoi polloi.
If she regards this article as “offensive” and something that should be retracted, and given she described the extremely polite vigil in the video below as “intimidation”, I think we can all form our own view of Ms Creasy and her sense of entitlement to rule.
For the benefit of the media, she is currently organising a “public meeting” with in fact a highly selected and vetted audience to be seen to be “open and democratic” and justify to her constituents her decision to blow up Syrian children. Expect wall to wall media coverage of stooges coming out saying she convinced them.
The original article of which she complained starts here:
There is a very natural temptation for members of the SNP to laugh without sympathy at the universal media hostility faced by Corbyn and his supporters. That is because we faced an equally massive and equally unrelieved torrent of biased media propaganda during the referendum campaign, and then the entire Labour Party, including its left wing, not only did not condemn the biased media but actively sought to promote it.
On top of which the corporate media is in utter confusion in Scotland, and still largely under instruction to boost Labour, it being at least unionist. The peculiar result of this is that an alien landing in Livingston and following the media would come to the conclusion that John McTernan must be leader of the country, given his ubiquity on media and the extreme deference shown to him, especially by the state broadcaster.
I am however of a peculiarly forgiving disposition, and take the view that two wrongs don’t make a right. What is by any standards fascinating is the way that the media use precisely the same tactics against Corbyn they used against the SNP. First you have the expressions of scorn, of incredulity that such a view could be held, the dismissive body language of presenters, the comment of “unelectable” presented as fact.
When all that does not work, you get the portrayal of anybody putting forward a view outside the neo-con consensus as fanatic, desocialised and violent. We experienced precisely this with the massive “cybernat” campaign of the mainstream media, in which independence supporters were presented as hideous thugs and bullies. This is precisely the narrative which is now being relentlessly deployed on all media for the last 24 hours against the supporters of Jeremy Corbyn. The narrative is reinforced by promoting a celebrity “victim”, preferably female and blonde. Step forward J K Rowling the first time, and Stella Creasy now.
Here is a shocking video of the hate-filled mob which besieged Ms Creasy’s constituency office, with the result that her staff dare not go to work and she herself felt intimidated.
Demonstration outside @stellacreasy’s Walthamstow constituency office against war in Syria – video @rhodri_jones
https://t.co/O9ULmc6ofU
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) December 1, 2015
Terrifying, wasn’t it? The truth is this was an extremely polite and quiet bunch organised in fact by the local vicar Stephen Saxby, who writes in Red Pepper:
This week I took part in a vigil with a wide section of the local community. I am deeply saddened by the misinformation about the vigil which has circulated in the media, and grateful to Sue Wheat for correcting the misreporting of the vigil.
I am also surprised that some in the party appear to be overly influenced by irresponsible coverage in the media, such as the Mail’s description of the peaceful people on our vigil being called ‘Hard-left hate mobs’ and the Mirror stating ‘Vicars, imams and net trolls target MPs’.
I am shocked by Tom Watson’s statement on Radio 4 today that ‘any Labour members on that demo should be removed from the party’.
At the same time as I condemn intimidation of MPs or their staff, I reiterate that the vigil was not intimidation, and condemn those who seek to portray democratic, peaceful actions as such. This is also is a form of intimidation.
For my part, I shall not be intimidated into not speaking on issues about which I am passionate and alongside others within and beyond the Labour Party.
I refute the erroneous allegations about me and about our peaceful vigil, and look forward to continuing to support Stella Creasy as MP for Walthamstow, and the campaigns to elect Sadiq Khan as mayor and Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister.”
It is astonishing that Tom Watson says that anybody in that video should be expelled from the Labour Party, and that the entire mainstream media has described it as “intimidation”. There really is a genuine attempt to delegitimise even the concept of dissent from the neo-con war agenda.
In truth, we all know that social media abuse does exist to a certain extent, just as abuse exists in every other form of human communication. But the one thing we learnt for certain from the Scottish referendum campaign, is that the media will report constantly any abuse allegedly from the anti-establishment camp, but will ignore the at least equally bad and quite possibly much worse torrent of abuse from supporters of the other side of the argument. The absolutely false connection of social media aggression uniquely to anti-establishment politics is an organised media propaganda trick as morally disgusting as it is pernicious.
The object to delegitimise a political view – be it Scottish Independence or Corbynism – is taken further in the current example. There is a concomitant media campaign to portray as an affront to democracy the idea of MPs facing reselection by party members – to portray the idea that an MP should have a lifelong right to the party nomination as norm.
This is a complete inversion of truth. The idea that MPs should be subject to reselection by members as the candidate at the end of the term for which they were chosen, is obviously in reality the more democratic. Should an MP be deselected, they have the democratic option to stand as an independent if they truly believe the voters were electing them, and not the party.
A final word on Ms Creasy. She has belatedly come out and denied the false reports all over the media that demonstrators gathered outside her home – though anyone who thought the Porsche Cayenne driving, Oxbridge Ms Creasy lives in a terrace in Waltham is very naïve. She is a fanatic supporter of Trident missiles and of any bombing opportunity going, and is precisely the sort of MP everybody should be trying to get rid of. Here is Andrew Neil exposing her for a shallow careerist fool:
Presumably that ranks as intimidation and abuse.
“I think you will find that the war started in 1939 (although I appreciate that supporters of Molotov-Ribbentrop may place the start date somewhat later).”
In 1939 Japan had already invaded China and Italy had invaded Ethiopia and a lot more had gone on. Britain joined in in 1939 which is why in Britain it is generally accepted that’s when it started.
Fred – Aren’t they just 2 separate conflicts. Didn’t really have an impact on the development of WW2.
“Fred – Aren’t they just 2 separate conflicts. Didn’t really have an impact on the development of WW2.”
They were different conflicts in the sense Britain wasn’t involved in them. I don’t think someone in Japan or China would see it as a different conflict.
“the war being waged by Assad against his own people for the last 5 years that has killed rather more people than our response to the terrorists attacking our allies”
It all depends how you see “our” doesn’t it.+ Over the same 5 year period?
Regarding who ‘us’ really is? I don’t know, And since the invasion of Iraq, going back further?……. I don’t think it was Assad who destabilised the middle east. Yet they want to do more. But the point I could not let stand is this notion that less is better.
The fact is this establishment, this corporate racket, is up to it’s eyeballs in innocent blood spilled in the name of justice.
The most I will let it do to me is get angry (just got mod’d on the guardian) But i’m not in any control of wmd’s, or any weapons actually, and I don’t advocate killing and aggressive brutality as a solution to anything. Yet those who do, they are allowed to say what the fuck they like as long as they sound official and polite. Don’t ‘offend’ anyone.
It doesn’t stop them being wankers deserving every contempt, you’ll never make me that debased to not see what i’m part of. Not feel what human being’s should feel…
BTW, it reminds me of John Berger, and i’d agree, you can choose to be tender, there is still lot’s of it among ordinary people. And that’s ultimately my response, how I live.
I mean, come on, so you’ve killed someone? what have your really accomplished in the grand scheme of things?
The thing that get’s me is they will actually paint people like me as appeasers, even as they continue to deal arms, drop bombs etc. Like people who don’t advocate violence are the problem. And yes, there are arguments to be made against Nazi fascism, but i’d say that was more an issue of self defense. This situation is clearly just escalation of aggression and increasing threat’s by doing so…
At want point, I wonder, will it be legitimate self defense to attack western forces in the middle east? Even now (though imo everyone should disagree with some methods and reactions of those effected in those countries, basically the same reaction as “us”) You’d have to say they a good fucking moral case for getting the west out.
Half a million children ffs, Through sanctions alone. I seriously don’t think people imagine what it must be like. And if they did all this would not be confusing at all.
Do people actually imagine ‘we’ can just move on from this? like this was yesterdays acts of mass murder on an industrial scale. Not if they are human beings like us. And aside from the few nut jobs in religion and that state (just like ‘us’, and most ‘we’ fund) most people are civilized despite being brutalized, ridiculed, portrayed as generally violent. Places that where much of the cradle of civilization, way before western ‘development’…
You go in, stir up loads of shit. Then say look at them, Like every bully does. And being human some react without your approval?…. No, some reacted just as you do, and as you wanted them to. And you focus on that tiny minority.
Nationalism is fundamentally racist. Btw…
*sigh* I hope that’s enough for this year, can’t stand these dead interactions on commuters.
…and it’s not fucking me doing this, there is no ‘us’ or ‘we’…What you are critically part of, your culturally part of. There is no national ‘we’ save in peoples imaginations. And that’s the very essence of fascism.
Best wishes to the rest of you more awake.
Just how many people have been killed by Assad’s forces in Syria?
You’ll never get a straight answer to that from the Loonies on this blog, RD.
Res Diss/Habba- The current formula extruded by your fellow neocons/liberal interventionists has repeatedly claimed that 90% of the number of deaths to date are the result of actions by Assad’s forces.(Several anti Assad spokespersons used this formula in the days preceding Wednesday’s vote for UK air strikes, and were not challenged about it by the MSM). Given that the total number of dead in the Syrian civil war to date is said to be in the region of 250,000, presumably the ‘straight answer’ you wish to elicit from the ‘loonies’ on this blog, is a figure of around 225,000 killings by Assad’s forces.
Two decades ago anti Milosevic ‘advocacy journalists’ such as Samantha Power, now risen to the rank of US envoy to the UN, used highly exaggerated figures (spookily, 250,000 was their favourite figure then also)for the number of Bosnian muslim war dead in the 1992-95 conflict, when the actual number was much lower-
http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/forever-bosnia-5095
What makes you so certain that the anti Assad advocacy groups, such as the Syrian Observatory on Human Rights, aren’t following the tactics used by Samantha Power and her friends in Bosnia 20 years ago, and massaging the Syrian death toll (awful as it undoubtedly is) for their own propagandist ends ?
The Tweet Massacre of the Labour Innocents – after Léon Cogniet
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2015/dec/03/steve-bell-on-labour-after-the-syria-airstrikes-vote-cartoon
http://www.linternaute.com/musee/diaporama/1/7335/musee-des-beaux-arts-d-orleans/5/35234/scene-du-massacre-des-innocents/
V good.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is a man in a flat above a shop in the Midlands.
Krishnamurti talking about ‘Man and Technology’ way back in 1982 including reference to armaments:
<10 minutes
http://www.jkrishnamurti.org/krishnamurti-teachings/view-video/man-and-technology-part-1-of-1.php
Ishmael I have lots of respect for genuine pacifists they have a intellectually coherent and ethically based position which they stand to. But I’m afraid it is not one that allows you to be selective and ignore perpetrators of war such as Assad and Milosevic (however you measure the numbers) and their shared ally Putin.
Ishmael – if I painted all who oppose action against ISIS as appeasers I apologise – some will be genuine pacifists – but they tend not to be those who remain silent in their condemnation of terrorist attacks and/or use them to attack western democraices and then employ selective pacifism whan it comes to other wars.
Mary, at 6:58am today. Absolutely. It’s absurd.
I am the Scottish Observatory for Human Rights. I am Scottish, I observe, I am human and I am right.
NATO and the GCC has been waging a war against the Syrian people for the past five years. We in NATO and the GCC bear the primary responsibility for this bloodbath and for the millions of Syrian refugees, both internally displaced and externally displaced, most of whom are running away from OUR Jihadist paramilitary death squads. Atrocities have been committed on all sides. Yet whatever ‘Assad’ (and here we go again, the propaganda of personification continues) is, whatever the Baathist regime is, we – NATO and the GCC – are far worse. He/it may not be the kettle, but we most certainly are the pot.
The BBC blurb says advisor to Osborne. This says Cameron. Bullingdon Boys are interchangeable and hard to tell apart.
‘Silva worked as a high-level advisor to David Cameron for nine years, starting when the Conservative party were in opposition. He later established London’s Tech City cluster of digital businesses, introduced tax breaks for angel investors and created the concept of entrepreneur visas “so that brilliant people from outside of Europe can come here and start a business”.
He left Downing Street in 2013 to co-found creative workspace Second Home, which opened its first building in London last year.
Rohan Silva is co-founder of Second Home, whose first workspace by SelgasCano opened in London last year
Designed by Spanish architects SelgasCano, Second Home’s converted carpet factory attempts to reinvent the office to reflect contemporary working habits, allowing tenants to linger after work and mix with a variety of different businesses.
Second Home is now planning to open an outpost in the USA and has chosen Los Angeles over New York.’
http://www.dezeen.com/2015/07/10/creative-people-designers-new-york-move-los-angeles-cautionary-tale-london-warns-rohan-silva/
Verily a whizz kid. Just what the UK needs and now he’s off to NY. Such a shame.
I meant to say LA. Not NY.
Now Tristram Hunt is on. He is tackling inequality in our society. Big speech coming tomorrow. LOL
I can write a letter to the UN (and have a green biro), it doesn’t make me a ‘Special Rapporteur to the United Nations’, nor even an ‘Independent Human Rights Commisioner’.
Hugo Chavez, by all accounts a fine judge of character, banned Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, another bought and paid for hatchet-man, from ever setting foot in Venezuela. Pinheiro is now on the case of Syria and again pontificates without ever having set foot there or anywhere in the middle-east, as with Venezuela. Not surprisingly he concludes (Chavez/Assad*) BAD.
*Delete as appropriate.
It’s a pity they can’t build homes with workspaces, instead of workspaces with bunk-beds.
What’s really sick here is the increasing abuse of the issue of gender to justify surveillance, war and other authoritarian agendas. It’s the perfect tool.
Some MPs are quoted as having said that we need to bomb children and families in order to liberate women and homosexuals from these jihadist groups – groups that their very own murderous policies created. Never mind the fact that men aren’t in need of liberation. As always, they can just be thrown to the dogs.
But now we also have an MP who is essentially telling us that any criticism of female MPs needs to be seen as abuse.
If anybody today working in the field of gender was actually serious about what they do, rather than paid or funded by government to push coercive agendas, they could do a lot with all this. There are so few though who have integrity.
“Now, as so often in the past, the similarities between the far left and far right are more striking than the differences.”
As is so often the case Nick Cohen hits the nail on the head
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/05/jeremy-corbyn-new-politics-self-righteous-left-wallows-in-cruelty
Worth noting that this comments thread has more than its share of “teenage vegetarians” who have failed to grow up.
It seems more likely Cohen has had a nail or similar instrument, inserted into his head, scrambling and scraping out the contents. And he recommended it to his friends.
Birds of a feather.
And what feather would that be? Just another baseless insinuation I’m afraid.
Resident moaning ziopagandsit, is besides himself as the copious numbers of his interjections convey.
Assad is the president of Syria live with it! Regardless of your numerous excuses to call him a thief because your sponsors Murdoch and Rothschild are busy in blatant thievery and smash and grab opportunisms in Golan. Assad ia Syrian elected yes Elected by Syrians live with it!
Fact that Labour is no longer the fiefdom of the necon new labor zionist sypmpatisers live with that too and your worst nightmare the closed shop no longer is holding and local Labour parties are getting back their old members back now that Corbyn is the leader and soon the likes of you will bee history!
PS don’t let the door hit you on the back on your way out!
I had not realised Ms. Creasy had the temerity to act in a critical manner to the particular article you wrote concerning democratising the selection process of Labour MPs, most of whom believe its a job for life, and further, it undermines the Labour Movement as a fair percentage of these MPs were parachuted into safe constituencies under Blair and Brown, they were/are “Blairs Babes” as the media used to refer to them. This in a nutshell is one of the prime reasons the PLP is so out of touch and out of synch with the Membership and why, despite many Labour Party members opposition to the Bombing of Syria, about one-third of the PLP voted for this disgrace warmongering measure.
My own anger at this is palpable, considering the fact that it’s actually quite straight forward to defang ISIS, by actually going after the money and arms suppliers. Obviously most of those nations supporting ISIS are not of the US Treasury Departments list of rogue nations for some unknown reason, suffice to say, measures do exist to prevent both money laundering and to close down completely banks doing business with terrorists or states that support terrorists. Although how the hell you can deal with the USA God only knows – such is the hypocrisy.
As such, Creasy et all who all voted to bomb Syria actually do have blood on their hands, and are guilty of war crimes in my humble opinion, as the bombing is certainly not covered by any UN Resolutions, and as such must be seen as against international law.
And talking about Ms. Creasy espousing crud, backing up her bullshite was a particularly underhand and offensive article in The Observer by Nick Cohen, one that scores an all time low for the Guardian Media Group, that ploughs new depths each day with its hysterical and false reporting on Jeremy Corbyn – whom at least I did try to vote for, but was banned by the Labour Party for allegedly not sharing Labour’s aims, despite being a lifelong democratic socialist. Any how, here’s a link to Cohen’s disgusting guttural Observer Article from Sunday, one which I commented on greatly, ultimately being placed in ‘special measures’ on CIF for once again mentioning some home truths – it seems we are now all banned from making any reference to Israel, or Cohen’s rabid Zionism, or indeed Jonathan Freedland’s censorship of CIF since he took over the boards – of course that old chestnut of Corbyn being an ‘anti-semite’ was one of the lower hanging fruits Cohen supplied us with, but evidently if you are slightly to the Left of one Herr Hitler, then evidently you are a leftwing extremist – how these buggers love labelling for we peasants actually telling the truth and pointing out the lies, deceit and outright propaganda.
Most sad, but sadder given the ones doing the accusing, namely the rightwing Blairite faction are the very group who played a hand in the death of Dr. David Kelly – but obviously that could not be attributed to bullying or intimidation!
I’ll leave it their, but had not realised you too had suffered under the Blairites, whom to a man, or women, seem a most despicable bunch unwilling to live with the past deeds or recognise them – hope it was/is worth the million-plus deaths since Blair decided to go total neocon on top of his neoliberalism – he really is a disgrace, or as I’m want to call him in the language of the South Wales Valleys, he’ a “greedy fucker.”
Regards and keep up the fine work you are doing, which has surprised me since I found your blog.
@Resident Dissident
I actually take offence that you can support the disgraceful article penned by Richard Cohen, and claim its: “Worth noting that this comments thread has more than its share of “teenage vegetarians” who have failed to grow up.”
As a 50 year old male, who’s contempt for the Tories knows no depth, I can assure you my contempt for the neoliberal faction in the PLP, and the Party at large, is greater than my detestation of the Tory. As per usual, when posters try and add balance, and a few home truths, of which I certainly don’t mince my words, one is usually “modded” or banned – buts facts are sacred are they not?
Indeed, if you are casting stones, i suggest you re-read many of the posts, see how much censorship there actually was, and note how despicable the rightwing trolls were, never mind those who pretend to be Labour, but obviously detest Corby with a venom I find disturbing, and I’m bloody thick skinned having been a longtime Party member and activist.
Still, if propaganda is your cup of tea, fine with me, but the fact remains many of the sheeple came out with the same bollocks that is espoused daily in our so called ‘free’ free press, even bring up the mob baying for blood outside Ms. Creasy home, which never even took place, never mind the fact it was a peace vigil, one hosted by a Church of England vicar – yes those fucking candles were intimidating, obviously they were molotov cocktails.
I wonder what Barbara Castle would of made of not only these thin skinned women MPs, but the likes of the MP for Rochdale, who fears for his life allegedly. Mind you, this is what happens when you fill the ranks of the PLP with Blairites and middle class tossers. Suffice to say, in the steel works we really did fear for our lives, which presupposed the chancre is but grandstanding and loves the attention. What a disgrace of a human being is all i can say, one very much with blood on his hands – this from a man who allegedly cares for kids!!!!
Richard Cohen? from the NSDAP Guardian? he must have had his Jackboots on writing it.
Chris Rogers
Take all the offence you wish – and the article was by Nick Cohen. You seem to be operating something of a double standard – you are offended, but when your friends give out threats you are happy to ignore them and seek the belittle the victim. BTW Real socialists never call people “sheeple”
“Resident moaning ziopagandsit, is besides himself as the copious numbers of his interjections convey.”
Not really I am just having a good laugh at the politically irrelevant.
RD,
Indeed it was Nick Cohen, and afraid to say, if people desire to be propagandised too, believe it, and then moan about outcomes – despite I add being warned continually, then afraid to say they are sheeple, and this simple fact was demonstrated on at least three of The Guardian’s boards people were allowed to post about politics, with imbeciles trotting off nonsense about baying mobs and Stella Creasy, despite the fact this was an outrageous lie – most of the posters were of a rightwing disposition.
And it gets worse, because it would seem, judging by many a rightwing poster, that its great to have a rightwing Labour Party virtually identical to the Tories, but not so great if an actual choice and difference is offered. Indeed, many of these ill informed fruit bats instruct us they they’ll be forced to vote Tory. Funny is it not, no one is forced to vote for anyone, although they are led by the nose by a most dishonest media – but this has been the case for generations, its just the propaganda and propaganda outlets are far greater than when Geobbels was around, but then too Geobbels did not have an internet to contend with, and the advent of the internet and many unbiased news and information outlets, means no one can have an excuse to vote Tory, and then have the temerity to deny they are Tories because the Labour Party forced them to vote Tory – something to do with ‘choice’ and major differences.
So, I despair, I despair of ignorance, I despair of lies, I despair of deception and I despair of propaganda.
Oh, and as you are no doubt aware, Keir Hardie despaired of the working class on his death bed, whilst I despair at the middle class for stating its forced to vote Tory because the opposition actually opposes and offers some leftwing solutions. It is after all a leftwing Party, something many seem to have forgotten.
One looks forward to your response, but annoyed one is when my nation bombs a sovereign country allegedly on my behalf, something quite a few idiots seemed in favour of, many of them allegedly of the Left!