In wanting Mumsnet to help Judi Dench and Joanna Lumley

[GiantBranch]

Last week, Israel banned 37 international aid organisations from operating in the strip, including Oxfam, Save the Children and Medicine Sans Frontieres (MSF). MSF delivers one in three of Gaza’s babies, and experts warn that immediate action must be taken to prevent a catastrophe.

It has prompted more than 100 leading members of the arts, including Dames Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, Joanna Lumley, Sienna Miller, Suranne Jones and singer Paloma Faith, to sign a letter urging popular online platform Mumsnet to join them in demanding urgent government action ensuring maternity care is accessible in Gaza.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/gaza-israel-baby-birth-judi-dench-letter-b2896981.html

It's not about having more care for Justine over women in Gaza. It's about identifying how a group of powerful women are politically manipulating Mumsnet to suit their own political ends.
If they were genuinely interested in working with Mumsnet, they'd have approached Jutine privately and worked out a joint approach which could then be publicly announced.

They chose not to. They chose to write a public letter in the hope that Mumsnet (who's repeatedly under attack from all sorts) would be coerced into doing their bidding, That's the issue.

Fair enough didn’t know the weather had changed, busy keeping their children safe from collapsing buildings / waterborne diseases, weird yellow lines?

Yes and many women on THIS SITE, the ones Justine is supposed to rally are trying to keep their homes heated so their children don't freeze, having to use food banks to feed their children, are fighting to get support for their disabilities (or their children's disabilities). Some of which may have been caused by a failure of UK maternity care with no accountability.

Some are in, trying to leave, or recently have left abusive men and have no money and no power.

MANY women on here are in desperate circumstances too, you know.

Why are we supposed to put this cause that we have literally no power to change until the General Election first above our own or our children's wellbeing or our neighbours and friends when told to by people who have the money and power and time to DO IT THEMSELVES. Again, they can go to Gaza and make a documentary (and you know, maybe talk to some of the women there and find out what they want rather than presuming they know).

That approach could also be judged as non transparent, rich women pressure Justine in secret backroom deal, at least this way out in the open?

Again it’s possible to do two things at once, it is possible to effect change

Then maybe they should have done what was always the only sensible course of action and written an open letter to the foreign secretary or the prime minister.
They could also use their considerable public image to raise the profile of this issue in the media without targeting anyone directly.
They could also have come on mum's net themselves and posted about this either anonymously or in their own names

There were so many sensible grown up ways that they could have gone about this instead they went for playground bullying tactics

Mumsnet will never run a poll on Gaza issues. There are two many vocal people that equate criticising Isreal with criticising Judaism and being anti-semetic. The press would have an absolute field day if mumsnet came out as pro baby killing.

I do think it's extremely ironic that the FWR regulars are complaining that they don't like the tone and that a very valid campaign can be completely disregarded on that basis. I thought we weren't ok with tone-policing.

In the words of a meme posted by one regular: "I'm wrong, so let's focus on your tone."

thank you very much oh spokesperson for 'People'.

Again targetting a very aggressive choice of word as another poster pointed out they are Asking not targetting

They are banking on women being the soft touch.

Then why aren't they asking a whole host of different people? What about netmums? What about women's charities? Female Politicians? Although why just females it's not really clear.

It's mind boggling that people are continuing to defend this approach at rather than acknowledging it was stupid

I never go near the fwr board. So please don't assume this has anything to do with them

thank you very much oh spokesperson for 'People'
Just check the OP. Why should we care what Dench, et al, think about anything?
Why does the poster think we do?

That's not true though is it when you're struggling to get through the day and feed your kids and heat your house to a level where no-one gets ill whilst also not getting into debt? And you need to find something creative to do with a can of beans for tea again. Your statement tells me you don't know anything about poverty in the UK.

It's clear that Gaza matters more to the signatories of this letter than poverty and hardship in the UK, which is their choice but it's a bit rich to expect the normal women and other users of this site to just blindly agree with them.

Especially given the extreme certainty that anyone with half a brain can see that MN opinion will do absolutely sweet F A to sway the opinions or actions of either Hamas or the Israeli Government or indeed the UK government (maternity care in the UK is still pretty shit in many places and it wouldn't be if the Government listened to mumsnet).

I'd heartily recommend these signatories should actually go there and support Gazan women directly as well as listen to what Gazan women want, rather than presuming they know best. They're high profile enough that it's clear they're not secretly Hamas terrorists so they should be good to volunteer and have plenty of cash so win win really.

If you contact someone directly or privately, you ask (and I m sure MNHQ would have picked up the phone for Joanna Lumley or Judi Dench or Annie Lennox)

If you circulate a press release telling the world you want someone to do X, you put a target on their backs

It’s targeting, you don’t ask someone by trying to publicly shame and attempt to guilt them into taking your position by posting in a newspaper.

Can you say why not supporting this campaign would be so particularly shameful?

Giant branch, have you taken in anything on board from what posters have been saying?
Do you have any understanding, or are you so blinded by your cause that you can't see that this wasn't a good idea?

I don't understand your question, you obviously support the campaign, so why are you asking people who don't to explain how their position is shameful?

I personally don’t think it would be.
but the intention of that letter is to make it so.

you’ve demonstrated how she’s suppose to be shamed in your previous posts.

It's just emotional blackmail all round. Shaming women is something we are used to.

Imagine trying to shame men in the same way? They know it wouldn't even touch the surface.

When you're doing it in front of the whole world, it's definitely targeting rather than asking!

If someone did that to you, wouldn't you feel a little bit exposed?

I also note the signatories of the letter have said nothing about Afghanistan where women cannot now receive maternity care or indeed medical care AT ALL because women cannot be doctors or nurses (it is banned) and also women cannot receive care from men.

And this is an area the media seems to have completely forgotten, unlike Gaza where you can't move for celebrities throwing their profile behind humanitarian aid or making statements about how terrible it is. Which presumably is why Gaza has been picked, of all the terrible situations worldwide for women and children (that MN can do nothing much about), because it's trendy.

Not that I think they should try and blackmail Justine over any issue or speak for the women of mumsnet without their consent either (as if mummies are some homogenous mass to be told what to do).

They should really come on here as posters, I suspect they'd learn a lot.