Jess Philips - what was happening locally?

[MidnightPatrol]

I have seen the video this morning of Jess Philips standing up to a baying mob, on announcement of her victory in Birmingham Yardley.

She refers to a campaign of harassment of her staff - slashing tyres and filming etc.

There is then clearly a mob of people in the venue shouting.

What is the wider story / background on this? Who are the people intimidating them? Is it another candidate?

It was a close call but I'm really glad she kept her seat

@CelesteCunningham No idea..they could do couldn’t they? Anyway , she is definitely a strong woman but nobody should have to tolerate the level of abuse she’s received.

Me too. They couldn't stop her even though they tried damn hard.

I'm glad JP kept her seat and the action of those men was reprehensible.

I'm disappointed because my local Worker's Party candidate seems decent. Pro free speech. Supporting a ceasefire in Gaza (which does not = pro Hamas). Supporting women (which does not = transphobic).

There are undoubtedly extremists and powerful men caught up in these divisive issues globally. But there are also a lot of ordinary people with passionate, nuanced views who care about other ordinary people.

On a similar theme, I was pleased to see Naz Shah hang on in Bradford West but it was damned close with her majority reduced from 27,000 to 700 with a pro-Palestine independent in second whose slogan was "from the river to the sea". She has been strong in standing up for the rights of Muslim women and has faced quite unpleasant campaigns in the past from George Galloway and his fellow travellers.

Living in a neighbouring constituency, my observation is that it's tribal. Little engagement with the many pressing issues in the city and the country, but I think the candidates knew they didn't particularly need to address any of that.

The one visit we had was hardly a model of open discussion. Adult DS went and advised my reasonable, cerebral DH to disengage before we got a brick through the window later. He was serious.

So I'm not totally surprised by what happened to JP but I'm very concerned where it leaves the democratic process. The Guardian article up thread was alarming enough.

"And let me make this clear because this matters deeply to me and my family: It is never acceptable to deny anyone their faith; to brand them an infidel

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4ng3j1pnpqo

Ah. Thanks for this. I'm in the same constituency as you and was a bit surprised to see police patrolling the area and several officers outside the polling station. I just put it down to the fact that the area doesn't have the best reputation for safety. That and the fact that police are frequently down that street.

I was aware that there had been a strong and controversial campaign run by the independent candidate, but thankfully my polling station didn't appear to have anyone outside advocating for either candidate. It's certainly been quieter up where I am. But that's no surprise given what I know of the independent candidate.

Birmingham has a big Pakistani Kashmiri population who for years had their own "peace and justice" party . They were complaining about being betrayed by labour as far back as the 90s

https://www.economist.com/britain/2000/04/20/kashmir-comes-to-birmingham

Although I have some sympathy with what Jess Philips went through during the course of the campaign, I really cannot forget her attitude towards these issues in the past.
Notice particularly the following comment she made back in February of this year when Paul Scully MP said that parts of Birmingham, "including Sparkhill", had become a kind of no-go zone because of religion. Philips tartly replied:

"My kids hang out in Sparkhill day and night, never had a moment's worry, I go there weekly and live literally five minutes walk from there and used to live there myself."

And yet just a few months later, large groups of lsIamic activists from Sparkhill were repeatedly intimidating her - to the extent that she called the police 'several times'. Additionally, she refused to let her children attend the count because of the 'poisonous atmosphere' caused by these activists (in other words, the count had been turned into a 'no-go zone' for her kids).
I have no schadenfreude in seeing her having to go through this, but how dare she rudely gaslight so many people by denying that these problems existed in the first place and being so dismissive of the man who courageously brought the subject up?
I spent many years of my adult life living either in neighbouring Sparkbrook or within a short walk of it. The Sparkhill ward is 84% MusIim. I can assure everyone that it is not a pleasant place to live for 'unbelievers'. Verbal abuse and aggression are daily realities and you never know at which moment this is going to tip over into physical aggression. I resent the fact that Philips felt the need to gaslight non-MusIims living in difficult circumstances by waving the issue away and suggesting it's a figment of our imaginations. I assume she did this for political/career reasons. Maybe, just maybe, her recent unpleasant experiences have given her pause for thought.

I believe Jody McIntyre was standing as an independent, albeit fully supported by the Worker's Party (Galloway). He was to all intents and purposes a Worker's Party candidate.

As of the 2021 census, the Muslim population in Birmingham Hodge Hill constituency is 62.4%, although I think the boundaries may have been redrawn slightly since then (it's now called Birmingham Hodge Hill and North Solihull) so that could have changed slightly. In any case, the MusIim vote is easily big enough to swing an election. Although it should also be noted that there is a longstanding and significant movement in these neighbourhoods to refuse to participate in elections at all, because the UK state (like all European states) is 'kufr' and non-lsIamic and therefore illegitimate. During this election, for example, the local lampposts were plastered with yellow stickers saying "Democracy is shirk [blasphemy] - don't vote for man-made law".

The popularity of these candidates goes far deeper than the 'Gaza' issue, which really is just symbolic or totemic of their wider ideology. They are immensely popular because they are considered to be truly MusIim, unmoved by Western liberalism or the 'kufr' state.

I missed this. That clip is bad

Your argument makes no sense.

The idea that areas with large black or Muslim populations are ‘no-go areas’ for white people is a is a long-standing racist trope. Jess was right to challenge it.

Jess experience of harassment is very different. She was the victim of horrific harassment, directly linked to standing against a candidate who was prepared to weaponise misogyny to target her. Jodi and his supporters were also very happy to stir up hate in the name of Islam, in a way that very few Muslims would be happy with.

Jess has not gas-lit anybody. If you feel uncomfortable in majority Muslim areas, that’s on you.

Please don’t suggest that what Jess Phillips went through during her political campaign is in any way the norm for non-Muslims living in areas with large Muslim populations.

Please don't gaslight, pp is not alone in their experience, there is a problem and it needs to be addressed not ignored.

Unless you are a white Christian living in an area that is 84% Muslim, I don't think that you can disregard Jacarezinho's experience.

Have there been any consequences for the intimidation/tyre slashing etc. during the campaign?

I was really surprised that they weren't removed until Jess asked for them to be removed. It should have been immediate, she was trying to give a speech.

Have there been any consequences for the intimidation/tyre slashing etc. during the campaign?

I don't think so. Fingers crossed the police make some arrests soon.

But there's this charming gentleman for now....

https://www.leics.police.uk/news/leicestershire/news/2024/july/man-charged-with-encouragement-of-terrorism/

https://news.sky.com/story/jonathan-ashworth-calls-on-new-leicester-south-mp-to-explain-dealings-with-man-charged-with-terror-offences-13176088

Electoral intimidation needs to be made a very serious offence, on a par with incitement to riot or beyond

There's been a huge problem with it where I live. The Mayor was investigated for corruption and any accusations were shouted down as racist. He was investigated and kicked out then disallowed from running again for five years. He's now back as Mayor and we had an independent party who used voter 'persuasion' and intimidation to get votes.

@jacarezinho how do you live in an area like that? What I'm asking is how do you cope? We don't have that but we've had instances where some kids in my child's class has called people horrible names for eating bacon, saying Father Christmas is a lie, etc. We spoke to the mother about respect for people. I cannot imagine living in such an area, so sorry you had to go through such horrible experiences.

Not surprising, Muslim vote had Muslim Association of Britain as one of it’s backers, it’s a muslim brotherhood outfit apparently. Theres a reason the Muslim Brotherhood is banned in some arab countries . They have form for trying to install themselves into institutions. Things like charities, mosques, local government and then government etc They are islamists (not muslim, islamists, extremists) and most moderates (read normal people) in the places I mention are very wary of them for a reason. Hamas is actually an offshoot of the brotherhood.

It’s not surprising that Independent candidates standing on a Gaza platform attract these sorts of people, they are insidious. I expect there will be more controversy before the next election around some of the candidates, not necessarily the candidates themselves but some of the people their campaigns have attracted.

I've been scared to post here in case I sound like a troll, etc. I understand virtually nothing about the Gaza situation and the dynamics at play here. Would it be valid to assume that most British people are in the same boat as me because we're largely not a religious country? And that some Muslims are trying to force us to prioritise Gaza via threats, etc? Have I understood the situation correctly?

So Muslim groups are prioritising religion over social cohesion/law?

This is a very interesting discussion. It is mostly focused on Islamist groups in US and Canada, but there will be very similar motivations here in UK and Europe. It provides crucial context for what has been happening for many years.