Labour suspends Trevor Phillips because he identified who made up child grooming gangs

[jadefinch]

Trevor Phillips is the former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission - and he's recently been accused of 'transphobia' for saying women's same-sex spaces should be protected.

He's now been suspended by Labour for accurately saying that the majority of members of northern grooming gangs, which sexually abused tens of thousands of vulnerable girls, were Pakistani Muslim men.

One of the main reasons why the girls were put at risk was because the police and local authorities didn't want to intervene in case they were accused of Islamophobia.

Labour's war on both women and the freedom to say things that are true is not going away.

news.sky.com/story/labour-veteran-trevor-phillips-suspended-over-islamophobia-allegations-11953457

I would like to sign the petition but I want to know who George MacDonald is first. It's area where there is good work but there are also some I would chose not to be associated with.

Likewise, Eww. I'm sure if george reads the thread in AIBU on the "Save our children" protests, he'll see why we're hesitant, given the timing of his post in resuscating a zombie thread.

George - can you assure us that you and the petition you link to are in no way connected with the #saveourchildren protests (which seem, as far as I can tell, to be being stirred up by a bunch of QAnon/Pizzagate/Wayfair conspiracy nuts).

How is this new petition and proposed inquiry related to the older review which Sajid Javid instigated, and the government initially refused to publish? Latest I can find is that they agreed to publish it in May this year.

Curiously, the petition asking for the release of that goes out of date shortly. Could be the government are hoping for things to blow over?

This modern obsession with identity politics reminds me of all the religious wars that broke out in Europe for centuries. Many different denominations of Christianity were involved in bitter conflict over who got to control the levers of state power, and force their particular view on entire populations.

I think the solution now will have to be as it was then which is a separation between the various factions of identity politics, and the power of the state. Otherwise we’re likely to be at this for centuries.

@Dervel

This modern obsession with identity politics reminds me of all the religious wars that broke out in Europe for centuries. Many different denominations of Christianity were involved in bitter conflict over who got to control the levers of state power, and force their particular view on entire populations.

I think the solution now will have to be as it was then which is a separation between the various factions of identity politics, and the power of the state. Otherwise we’re likely to be at this for centuries.

That's a very interesting idea/observation.

I'm inclined to agree that we should be looking at some separation, but I wonder how we would accomplish that. One issue is that unlike your example, there aren't clear institutions involved. OTOH we've talked of FWR a lot about problems about lobby organisations essentially having policy turned over to them. So maybe becoming more scrupulous about that is a way forward.

It would be a process of secularisation really. What I think this shows is that it's really not "religious" bodies that are the issue. Everyone has a set of ideas about what is true and right, and in a fairly non-religious society most people will share sets of ideas that are non-religious. It's still quite possible for institutions representing these ideas to attempt to capture the state directly rather than working through the votes of individuals, as a secularised model would suggest is best. And many people don't realise that their non-religious worldview is as much a worldview as any religious one, rather than some neutral position that only includes true ideas. That misunderstanding allows them to think it is ok to impose those kinds of ideas on political and social institutions, even in a pluralistic society.

I do think though that we should attempt to destroy identity politics directly, as it is deeply corrupting to a society, and will have horrible outcomes. That will mean attacking CT, and it will mean a lot of painful disentangling within movements whose aims we support, because many of them have adopted some, or even a lot, of the language and ideas of CT.

There is a petition asking for a Public Inquiry into Grooming Gangs here is the link. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/327566

The petition is Supported by a Charity helping survivors, the Maggie Oliver Foundation

Last year we learned 57 young girls were thought to have been exploited by up to 100 members of a grooming gang. There is clear public concern, and appear to be failings by Police, Social Services, Local Authorities and the CPS to protect the most vulnerable.

A public inquiry should answer: What happened? Who is to blame? What can be done to prevent this happening again? Is there a racial/religious element to this type of offending? How are survivors being supported and should more be done.

Petition is at 8,000+ it needs to get to 10,000 for a written government response. Your help is much appreciated.

All about awareness and protecting children and young adults.

Click on the link. Click on sign, provide your email, and confirm your support by clicking the link that the parliamentary website send to your email address.

The Petition when over 10,000 signatures at the weekend, which is fantastic. Big thanks to all that have signed and shared the link.

The government will now respond. The response may be soon or in a few months time.

The current II CSE investigation has been criticized by professionals and survivors. Maggie Oliver recently called it a white wash.

Its now time for a proper Public Inquiry that does not shy aware from asking the difficult questions about grooming gangs. Three core questions all public inquiries seek answers to: What happened, Who is to blame, What recommendations to be put in place to prevent this every happening again.

Thanks again for all your support

George

Good news.

That's excellent news.