Diane Abbott

[Flowerly]

To say that Diane Abbott is doing her best to help the Labour Party to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?

Hideous antisemitism seemingly not gone away at all and add that to the horrendous misogyny in the Labour Party I wonder at this point why ANYONE would vote for them.

AIBU?

I thought it was No Blacks, No Irish, No dogs? Weren't travellers usually lumped in with Irish?

I don't understand why Labour keep her around. She's a MASSIVE liability for them, basically Manna from Heaven for the Tory media. They need to get rid, put up another candidate in Tower Hamlets, they might lose a few votes there but Abbott loses them votes all over the country.

Yes he hasn't really got the moral high ground has he.

What a thread. It's certainly reinforced my view that some ethnicities feel they get a free pass to make racist comments (old fashioned racism, not Critical Race Theory racism). And Diane Abbott has just found out that that is not the case.

It might be regional variations. In my area travellers and Irish are definitely viewed as 2 distinct but equally hated groups.

It's ironic that Baddiel is annoyed when he did the exact same - belittling any victims of the Holocaust who weren't Jewish. They are both too enmeshed in US identity politics and removed from the systemic racism and prejudice in the UK.
Abbott was wrong. Baddiel was wrong. The GRT communities experienced and still experience horrendous racism and prejudice - that is still enshrined in law in the UK.

Baddiel has done gypsy/pikey comments as well.

Yes. What of it ? Got a problem with free speech?

Have you ever spent a day walking around London as a black man.

No? Thought not.

This shouldn’t be a competition as to who has it worse.
Maybe there is an argument to say that not all Jewish or traveller people appear to be so at first glance and in some instances you wouldn’t know what someone was unless they told you. This is obviously different from non white people and therefore all non-white people could be immediately discriminated against without them saying anything.

BTW I’m not for a minute suggesting that anyone should have to hide what they are just saying that it’s not always obvious and that this is a point of difference.

Race vs ethnicity is just semantics. Most genocides in history have been based upon ethnic or religious differences rather than differences in skin colour e.g. the Bosnian genocide, Rwandan genocide. It really bothers me when people try to minimise discrimination based on ethnicity/culture and imply it's not worth paying attention to. To compare the oppression and poverty that Traveller people in this country face with prejudice against red hair is unhelpful and nobody benefits when you try to play the Oppression Olympics game.

@Abhannmor

Making racist comments is not " freedom
Of Speech" neither is supporting it. You're complicit. Congratulations.

Or she is not a member of the right ethnicity.

Neither am I apparently eh MNHQ?

That's not his finest hour is it.

@Flowerly
''Why do you assume that pointing out the (huge) issues with the LP means that one must automatically vote Tory? It's a very bizarre mindset.''

Because you are being disingenuous.

This is about Abbot, not with the Labour Party itself.

The fact that you are making this about the whole of labour rather than criticising her as an individual smacks of Tory propaganda.

High time she was booted out, absolute embarrassment to the party

I meant in the 50s and 60s which were referred to. I think they are viewed separately now but tended to get lumped together back then but that might be where I grew up.

I still thought the common sign was No Blacks No Irish No Dogs. On googling it that is what comes up lots, I just tried it, and the travellers much less so.

What annoys me is some people are using the Abbott incident to score points. It is rich from Conservatives trying to attack Labour to be a party of racists when they have people like Johnson who was racist to many groups of people but still got elected as PM. Racism unfortunately exists in all parties. The same people online are also the same people when other groups of people e.g. Muslims face Islamophobic attacks say things like "Islam is not a race" or that "it is made up and it is rational to fear and hate Islam." We also do see continuing suffering particularly to black women with quotes like "aggressive" "playing the race card" "slavery was a long time ago why are you bringing it up" "don't race bait" etc...

All forms of discrimination/racism etc should be called out I am glad she was suspended. But some people do have agendas e.g. making it a right vs left issue or this vs that when it should be called out for what it is.

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves to me you appear quite patronising, and lack some perspective. The world is a huge place and by asserting your privilege no matter where you might be in the world is one of the reasons why discrimination in its many forms is still around in the UK. The media is partly to blame. Many black people in Africa would have not a clue what you're talking about, have no interest in the West or being in the West and live happy lives without having to worry about bigotry and difference. That's what I mean.

Travellers wouldn’t be looking for accommodation though, which is where that sign would be displayed (mostly).

I don’t know what Diane Abbott was thinking, putting that response out without making sure her meaning was crystal clear.

What won the general election for Labour in 1997 was a charismatic and believable leader** and a team around him that looked fair and reasonable.

With Diane Abbott and Angela Raynor (who I actually quite like sometimes) Keir Starmer is going to be hampered come the big day in around 18 months time. I think you are right OP.

It will be down to three people whether or not Labour get elected - the editors of The Daily Mail, The Daily Express and The Sun.

** Blair was then before the power went to his head and he got in bed with Bush.

"Gypsies don't count" not coming to any bookshop anytime soon.

You are correct. I'm Irish and never heard remarks about Travellers until the 80s. Certainly they wouldn't have been mentioned separately on signs , classifieds ads etc. No need since they are Irish too.

Abbot is correct to say it was easier for white skinned minorities such as myself to assimilate. I was even told as much by a National Front member in the early 80s. It is self evident in any case.

She seems to have lost her mind completely - she has been the subject of frequent, disgusting racist abuse herself so quite why she feels that this empowers her to diminish the experience of others is beyond me

I'd have thought it fairly obvious that she either doesn't care about the experiences of other races, that she lacks the intellect to find out, or that she just plain resents someone suggesting that black people aren't the only ones to suffer - and possibly all three

FWIW I'm surprised she hasn't described today's action as racist in itself, but probably it'll come. In tthe meantime it's hardly surprising that so many are glad to see this total embarrassment removed at last

Sorry, but I honestly still don't know what you're talking about or what you have understood from my post.

I an not "asserting my privilege" in the slightest, but I am acknowledging it.

Of course, black people living in Africa will not experience systemic racism in their own countries in the way that black people are likely to experience it in the West. That wasn't the point I was making. But equally, as a white person who has lived as an ethnic minority in more than one majority non-white country, I recognise that, while I did experience prejudice sometimes, my experiences were not comparable to the systemic racism and historic oppression that minority communities experience in majority white countries.

I still don't understand why you think my post is patronising, or even who you think I'm patronising.

He is the biggest hypocrite going.
Also allegedly knew about certain dodgy DJs and said nothing in the 90s.