Gender critical SNP candidate ditched by party

[BlackForestCake]

Two weeks before polling day the SNP has dumped a candidate and withdrawn all support for him: www.scotsman.com/news/politics/snp-withdraws-support-for-kirkcaldy-and-cowdenbeath-candidate-neale-hanvey-1-5054128

Neale Hanvey, standing in Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath, will still be on the ballot as the papers have already been printed. He is accused of having shared allegedly antisemitic content on Facebook in 2016.

I am not the only one who thinks allegedly antisemitic posts are not the real reason. Hanvey supports the Women's Pledge and has met ForWomen Scotland. I think he has been targeted from within the SNP for his support for women's rights. We know that there are genderist extremists who have infiltrated the party. We can now also see that they would rather hand the seat to a unionist than have an SNP MP who supports women.

(This hypothesis is now being denounced by sockpuppets on Twitter as a "conspiracy theory", which suggests that it's correct).

Sharing articles on social media seems like a bizarre reason to ditch someone,

I'm assuming he will still be a candidate, just an independent and not SNP. Suspending their representation in the ward seems like an own goal.

It could well help Labour hold the seat who only had a majority of 500 last time.

As I understand it it was a cartoon of George Soros acting puppet master to puppets of various world leaders.

I'm assuming he will still be a candidate, just an independent and not SNP.
Yes, he will be - just seen a tweet from him reminding everyone that he's still standing. Maybe some of the local SNP members will continue to canvass for him?

I guess what turns such a cartoon from a reflection on the undemocratic powers of the extraordinarily weathly into an antisemetic poster would be the representation of George Soros.

As I understand it it was a cartoon of George Soros acting puppet master to puppets of various world leaders.

If this is the case, then they absolutely did the right thing to drop him. My gender-critical feminism doesn't come with a side helping of anti-Semitic tropes, and I don't want to be associated in any way, shape or form with someone who shares those tropes.

I’ve been frustrated because my SNP candidate has been very tight lipped. I’ve been told privately he’s GC, if a bit under informed. I’m not frustrated with him now. Clearly it’s the right decision to stay quiet. Neale has been under attack for days and he’s been wholly clear that he stands for women’s rights.

The fact that they’ve allegedly done this to a popular candidate two weeks before a GE speaks volumes. I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that these tweets from two years ago came to light now.

Feel sickened. Chiochan, I wish your friend had asked for details.

Eesh for a moment I thought they had dropped someone decent like Joanna Cherry

Having had a quick look on twitter I'm seeing a lot of "Soros is Jewish? No one knew that" from people seeking to support Neale. If that's the defence it's probably best not to say it and instead to withdraw gracefully.

There seem to have been several candidates from various parties kicked out or suspended over social media posts lately.

But the prime minister makes the most egregious comments and it's apparently fine.

I'd hope everyone is against anti-Semitic tropes. And can put their support of/opposition to/indifference to Scottish independence to one side to observe what is going on. That's what is interesting about this case: who the people targeting Hanvey are, what allies they have and what is happening inside and outside the SNP.

As I said at the beginning, the stuff about Soros is not the real reason.

Well, I agreee it 's probably not the real reason, not least because we, worldwide, tolerate an immense amount of anti-semitism, and fail to take it seriously on a regular basis.

Still, I don't want to be associated with the kind of person who posts Soros tropes. I don't care if it's bad for GC's. I'm not paying for gender critical success with anti-Jewishness, even if that anti-Jewishness is in his past.

Others can feel differently, of course, and weight the issues in another way.

Anyone criticising Soros’s financial input into transactivism is smeared as anti-Semitic. I was called that on Twitter for mentioning him in relation to his transactivism. At the time, I didn’t even know he was Jewish.

Anyone mentioning Soros' financial input is an anti-Semite.

FTFY.

Sorry, you'd have to have lived in a cave for the last few years not to know that Soros is just the latest bogeyman for those anti-Semites who a decade ago would have referred to the Rothschilds. And references to Soros and money = anti-Semitic dogwhistles.

Profoundly depressing when women who should recognise discrimination because we get it ourselves all the time rush to defend anti-Semites.

And thank you, JanesKettle for standing against anti-Semitism.

Bloody hell, this election is depressing.

If I have one more Labour person telling me that anti-Semitism in Labour is a smear or asking my permission as a Jew to ignore it, I shall scream.

Welcome, xxyzz.

Never heard of the SNP candidate.

anti-Semitic tropes or cartoons are clearly not a good thing to be sharing on social media.

Is Soros beyond any criticism because he is Jewish? Especially if he is involved heavily in funding transgender ideology? How does one approach this aspect?

Seems like the right decision for the SNP to drop him if there was clear evidence of him sharing this image. Since he's still standing as an independent candidate, voters can decide if they wish to vote for him or not.

Of course Soros is not beyond criticism, but people do have to be careful how they do so, and make sure they are not invoking, even unwittingly, some really ugly anti-Jewish tropes as they do so. The one invoked here is of Soros as the shadowy puppet master.

Soros does fund, through his philanthropy, transgenderist causes, along with many other causes.

He should not be singled out for special opprobrium from other wealthy Americans and corporations doing the same, nor should he be used as the 'face' of pro-trans conspiracy, imo. That's sailing too close to the long and ugly history of Jew-blaming, imo.

Becoming an apologist for anti-semites because they happen to be gender critical is abhorrent. I really think some FWR posters need to consider the people they are allying themselves with in the name of GC.

Is this the article he shared sputniknews.com/world/201608151044266398-soros-dcleaks-russian-hacker-hillary/

oh my goodness, that image...not OK.

I'm really not interested in excusing SNP candidates for antisemitism because people think it's 'just a smear' and 'not the real reason' or whatever. I don't care what his other views are. Bad enough when Labour do this, we don't need two parties going down that road.

Joanna Cherry is clearly gender critical and she hasn’t been dropped. I think you’re looking for reasons that aren’t there.

Here's my suggestion. Criticise Soros for what he does but before you do that read up on what he does. Particularly that his support for pro-trans causes is in the context of vast support for all kinds of progressive causes.

And when you do criticise him, don't use anti-Semitic tropes.