Open letter: Mothers Appeal To Mumsnet CEO Justine Roberts

[IwantToRetire]

Mumsnet is a powerhouse, and your advocacy for the protection of women and children carries real political weight. With every Prime Minister since David Cameron fielding your questions, it’s clear that when you speak, policymakers listen. No mother would turn away from the suffering of a child -and the children of Gaza are still suffering needlessly. Together as mothers, we can help.

While many parents may not feel confident enough to speak out themselves, your leadership now would galvanise them to demand tangible actions to get life saving supplies into Gaza and create safe conditions for women to give birth, giving those mothers and babies a chance at life. We cannot leave them alone in the New Year.

From https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XJv6qEHsa8XAQHfc_wjzUvNTqI2uCrvU0k45uk8H-UM/edit?tab=t.0

Irrespective of what they are asking, why aren't the asking politicians. Why are they asking Justine Roberts to do it for them.
https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/cultural-heavyweights-call-for-action-to-help-mothers-in-gaza-after-aid-ban

Cant find anything about this on mumsnet, not sure which forum it would be in. Or is it a pritvate matter. Nothing to do with mumsnet itself?

Mumsnet's responsibility for Gaza is clear. Yet are we not forgetting how Mumsnet has also failed to stop war in Sudan, Congo, Ukraine, Venezuela and Somalia in recent times??

Why are British mums asleep on the job? They defeated Hitler and won the Cold war after all. Why not end the conflict in Israel/Palestine? I fear British Mums are spending too much time worrying about babies/kittens/cream teas and cocktails and whether women actually are real and not enough about their responsibility to stop men fighting in the Middle East.

Get back to work wims.

The absolute folly of this letter is becoming clearer as the day goes on. It was so ludicrous, I couldn't believe that those women could pressure another woman like this to do their bidding.

I am still incredulous.

Yep. Why are they targeting Justine and mn when they have power to lobby directly?

Ignoring the el-Fattah mess up.

In case you missed it, it's being discussed over in AIBU:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5472605-in-wanting-mumsnet-to-help-judi-dench-and-joanna-lumley?page=1

Maybe it's a ploy to distract from the Mumsnet supports Reform story (it's late so conspiracy time).

Is Oxfam still 'one of the world's most respected charities'? What with all the sex-for-aid scandals and all.

All of you who described it as bullying and manipulative are on the nail. I struggle with the language surrounding social interactions, so all I could identify was "this feels bad" and take a stab as to a possible underlying motive.

I am reminded of "if you're not with us, you're against us", which is always a threat. I am also reminded of the perennial virtue-signalling student union motions to condemn <thing>, where <thing> is usually the fault of a foreign govt who doesn't even know that Smalltown Former Poly even exists, never mind pays attention to what its SU committee thinks. The SU motions about Palestine/conflict minerals/gay rights in Russia/etc are not only pointless, they distract from the task of representing and supporting the students. I'm lastly reminded of Catch-22's Great Loyalty Oath Crusade.

When they voiced objection, Captain Black replied that people who were loyal would not mind signing all the loyalty oaths they had to. To anyone who questioned the effectiveness of the loyalty oaths, he replied that people who really did owe allegiance to their country would be proud to pledge it as often as he forced them to.

It feels like there's a subtext of "if you don't cosign this, you must want to hurt babies", when that's not the case because there are plenty of other reasons not to cosign it.

I agree with this. It is public attempt at manipulating someone.

But also shows that those doing this have no idea what MN actually is, other than media cliches about it. ie the poltical interviews, the biscuit question.

First of all Justine Roberts owns the web site. She isn't the editor, nor the policy maker of what the site is substantially ie a wide range of posters who will argue every point, sometime for no reason than to have an arguement! Nobody speaks for MNers!

There isn't any precedent for JR to decide as an individual that MN (its thousand of users) say about an issue.

I said in an earlier thread trying to exploit her in public is disgusting.

But they could have, for instance, asked for a guest post (with a poll?). And be prepared to engage with the range of responses they would get. First of all it would make them have to be prepared to argue through what they believe, and do a lot more brain work than signing some virtue signally statement.

Even if, in some bizarre way, their attempt at manipulation means JR makes a policy statement, it will only be her own opinion.

And certainly one that the majority of posters on MN would then pick apaprt. In a sisterly way of course!

So as much as anything JR should NOT give in to this claque of luvvies as it would be a betrayal of what the web site actully represents.

Worse still if she did give in' and somehow appears to have responded to their pressure, she will leave herself open to a wide range of self important campaigners who will demand that she should promote their view point.

(I had thought of posting something like this on site stuff but cant quite make the points I want to make. But basically "free mumsnet from interferring outsiders"!)

but cant quite make the points I want to make

I posted on the AIBU thread citing the First Rule and describing the letter as coercive control. It took a while for that penny to drop for me. What I wrote there might help with your points?

Somebody here has said no organisation is banned from working in Gaza. This is a blatant lie. Israel has just banned 37 aid agencies, including Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders from working in Gaza. This is on top of decades of attrition - both in Gaza and the West Bank and the long-standing Israeli policy of compromising the work of aid agencies and human rights organisations, including Israeli human rights organisations. Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. There is no ceasefire: Israel is still actively bombing and shooting Palestinians on a daily basis. In addition to this, they have dismantled the health care system so catastrophically that disease, malnutrition and lack of sanitation, as well as the bitterly cold winter and rain, is now continuing their genocide. This letter has been put together in order to gather the strength of a 9 million strong community to put pressure on the government to stop selling arms to Israel. Ultimately, sanctions on Israel are required in order to stop its campaign of genocide and extermination. As mothers, surely the least we can do is to show empathy and love for the children and babies and mothers in Gaza. Infant mortality has gone up by 75% in the last 2 years and miscarriages by 300%. Mothers are severely malnourished and struggling to feed themselves and their children, to keep them warm, to protect them with shelter. This is an Israeli made humanitarian catastrophe on a scale that is unprecedented. Let us show our humanity and put our voices to this call to the government to end complicity in the Israeli genocide.

Oh i'm glad to know this shit storm is all Israel's fault, their was me thinking Hamas had a hand in it.

Why do we have to care about this "as mothers"? @AmyAbd (not all Mumsnet users are mothers, why not "as fellow humans"?)
Why only the mothers/ babies in Gaza and not Sudan?

And read up on why Israel asks aid agencies to make certain commitments before working in Gaza and why these organisations are refusing to do so rather than than scolding us for not immediately fawning over a group of privileged entertainers and their attempt to bully a female business owner.

It's clear that they know nothing about Mumsnet in general or @JustineMumsnet in particular if they think she'll roll over for this sort of emotional blackmail.

They’ve completely missed the grassroots, bottom-up nature of Mumsnet - and that mothers are autonomous people, not a homogeneous, command-able category.

Justine speaks on issues that represent a consistent groundswell of opinion on MN. She does not command us as our queen.

So cringe. So patronising. So manipulative. And MN is NOT the place to come and try to manipulate women - it’s the place women come to escape from that shit.

We’ll make up our own minds and act accordingly thanks.

There's nothing stopping any of the signatories making an account and starting threads on this on MN (as other famous people have done in their own name - usually people who have brilliant minds, facts to hand and the courage of their own convictions though). It reeks of not wanting to associate with the hoi polloi as they consider us lesser.

Or possibly being scared because women on here generally want receipts and proper argument, which maybe they can't do and secretly know a letter like this is all virtue signalling nonsense.

Not a good look either way. Makes them look either dimwitted or ignorant of what their name is being put towards at best and unpleasant snobs at worst.

@AmyAbd its currently 19 degrees in Gaza with an overnight low of 16

First of all Justine Roberts owns the web site. She isn't the editor, nor the policy maker of what the site is substantially ie a wide range of posters who will argue every point, sometime for no reason than to have an arguement! Nobody speaks for MNers!

Yes, be careful what you wish for!

As an example, I knew about Israel not letting some charities operate in Gaza before this letter, but it's only in reading discussions of the letter on here that I've found out their rationale. I bet I'm not the only one.

I do love mn when this happens..
Someone posts thinking that we'll naturally support their part of the Omnicause (thinking our little lady brains will immediately agree if some luvvie name is attached) gets itchy and calls us out as horrible meanies when we don't .
And gets their ass kicked down the road.

Men in the middle east are fighting. I know! It must be women in the UK's responsibility.

What an load of Aunt Lydia performative bollocks. Could only come from a profession that has spent the last 20 years making films where plucky Britishers solve war / poverty / sexism / the Miner's Strike / the lack of geriatric nude calendars / the problems of ballet dancing Geordie boys by just pulling their sleeves up, forming a team, writing a letter and marching to Downing street before punching the air in a cheery musical sequence.

Absolute asininity as Ed Reardon would say. BAFTAs all round.

War zones tend to have high levels of rape, and poor access to contraceptive services. Let's not blame the women for yet another thing.

Let us show our humanity and put our voices to this call to the government to end complicity in the Israeli genocide.

Ok, then go and write to the government. Although maybe you already have, as you care so deeply about an issue that's been going on for over 2 years. But all the marches, demonstrations, lobbying MPs hasn't worked, so now is the time to unleash Justine on them? Yeah that'll definitely get the government to change its mind.

Nicely put

Reposting this because a few facts never hurt anyone. Especially on FWR.

Reminder that Shiri Bibas was a mother too

Yes I know that. Who is raping the women in Gaza?

NB: to put this in context Save the Children says that around 47k babies are born in Gaza each year, in Manchester (slightly higher population) it's around 6-7k. It seems odd to me.

I am very cross about the stupidity of the letter to Justine but you must surely understand that in a war zone there is a horrific amount of rape quite often