It is with much sadness I have heard that Ken Livingstone has been driven out of the Labour Party by a concerted campaign of misrepresentations of what he has said.
He dramatically announced his resignation from the Labour Party on Monday evening.The former mayor of London and Greater London Council leader, was one of Labour's most recognisable faces for decades, Chris Williamson Labour Party MP for Derby North said " Ken Livingstone is a towering figure of the Labour movement ,who helped popularise progressive socialism , who was labelled a 'loony lefty' nearly 40 years ago for his efforts to champion public services, and stand up for marginalised groups and fight all forms of racism."
He had been suspended since April 2016 pending formal internal investigations into his conduct after refusing to apologise for statements he made about Adolf Hitler and zionism. Mr Livingstone, whose suspension was due to expire in April but was extended, said he was quitting the party as the row over his comments had taken attention away from other vital issues.
I personally do not believe, and he has demonstrated this time again that he is a antisemite but that his opponents want to
use his case to intimidate the rest of us into silence on Israel’s crimes.
They will fail.Anti-semitism has become increasingly weaponised by the Israel Lobby and pro-Israel supporters and is being used to shut down critics of Israel, pro-Palestine supporters and many innocent people like Ken Livingstone are being smeared with false claims of antisemitism. Anti-semitism used to apply to people who hated Jews, but is currently being used against critics of Israel, pro-Palestine supporters and the rising Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaigns. Ken Livingstone has been caught in this crossfire for simply quoting a historical fact. The Israel lobby is controlling freedom of speech and actually destroying peoples lives. In desperation the attempt is made to say that any critcism of Israel is antisemitic.
One should not forget that Anti Zionism and anti-semitism are not the same thing.And opposing a state that's built on systematic Palestinian oppression is not antisemitic, it is simply anti -injustice, and anti-racist.Zionism is a political ideology which has always been contested within Jewish lie since it first emerged in 1897. In my humble opinion it is entirely legitimate for non Jews as well as Jews to express opinions about it. Ken who I admit has used crass language at times, I do believe though, that like me, does not hate Jews, and I will continue to oppose clearly anyone who peddles this insidious point of view, we must all stand against this form of hatred, against racism wherever it comes from, and it must continually be exposed and fought against, while anybody who questions or mocks the Holocaust and puts forward their twisted conspiracy theories and peddles their hatred should be thoroughly ashamed.
l finally note that the Chakrabati inqury has already demonstrated that antisemitism is not endemic, in the Labour Party. Many believe this is a witch hunt to oust the 'old guard', the socialists and those critical of the occupation of Palestine, and an attempt to undermine Jeremy Corbyn's popular leadership, cementing an alliance between Labour's ardent Israel supporters and its neoliberal Blairites. Corbyn reacted to Livinstone's resignation by saying it was "sad after such a long and vital contribution to London and progressive politics" but that resigning was "the right thing to do " Sadly Corbyn has refused to speak out in support of other comrades, primarily Jewish non Zionists, who have been booted from the party by the right wing bureaucracy on bogus pretexts. And he has even rolled back his previous support for BDS. So its victory for some at the moment I guess. In the meanwhile lets keep fighting for justice for the Palestinians, fighting racism in all its forms, including antisemtism.
Below I post Ken Livingstone's dignified resignation statement in full.
Statement From Ken Livingstone; 21 May 2018
After much consideration, I have decided to resign from the Labour Party.The ongoing issues around my suspension from the Labour Party have
become a distraction from the key political issue of our time, namely
getting rid of a Tory government that is overseeing falling living
standards and spiralling poverty whilst starving our beloved public
services such as schools and the NHS from the resources they need. The
suspension has made it difficult for me to speak out on a range of
issues I care about. Whilst I have no plan to run for elected office, I
do wish to continue speaking up for social and international justice,
and I believe that taking this course of action will best enable this
We live in dangerous times and there are many issues I wish to speak
up on and contribute my experience from running London to, from the need
for real action to tackle climate change, to opposing Trump’s
war-mongering, to the need to end austerity and invest in our future
here in Britain.
I am not resigning because I accept the allegation that I have
brought the Labour Party into disrepute – nor because I am in any way
guilty of antisemitism (not that this has ever actually been put forward
by the Labour Party as a reason for my suspension). I reject both
allegations in the strongest terms.
I abhor antisemitism. Racism, including antisemitism, is a uniquely
reactionary ideology, used to justify the greatest crimes in history. I
believe that an ideology that starts by declaring one human being
inferior to another is the downward spiral which ends at Auschwitz. I
totally reject any such attitude, towards Jews, Muslims, black people or
any other group. believe that the Holocaust was the greatest racist
crime of modern times.
The contribution of Jewish people to human civilisation and culture
is extraordinary. You only have to think of giants such as Einstein,
Freud and Marx to realise that human civilisation would be
unrecognisably diminished without the contribution and achievements of
Jewish people.
I have fought racism and antisemitism all my life. When I have served
in public office I have not just given lip service but I have taken
real action to tackle antisemitism. As Leader of the Greater London
Council in the 1980s and as London Mayor in the 2000s, I ensured
London’s government resourced the fight against racism and antisemitism,
as well as supported Jewish community organisations and cultural
events.
When I was Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC), it funded a
number of Jewish community organisations, including the Jewish Social
Responsibility Council, the Jewish Association for the Physically
Handicapped, the Jewish Employment Action Group, the Redbridge Jewish
Youth Association and Agudas Israel in Hackney.
As London Mayor, I hosted, took part in and promoted events to mark
the annual Holocaust Memorial Day. I hosted the Anne Frank exhibition at
City Hall and the lighting of the Menorah ceremonies for the Hanukkah
festival. I organised, in partnership with Jewish cultural
organisations, a Jewish festival in Trafalgar Square – the Simcha on the
Square. I also supported the Jewish Museum’s exhibition on
multicultural Britain and published several guides to Jewish London.
t is wrong to accuse someone of antisemitism because they make a
historical argument about a part of the Zionist movement’s relations
with the Nazi regime in the 1930s.
I believe that a major reason for the attacks on me is that I support
the Palestinian people’s human rights, which can in no way be equated
with being anti-Jewish. I have strongly criticised the policies of
successive Israeli governments, and campaigned for Palestinian rights
for decades as part of a two-state solution for the Israel-Palestine
conflict.
The brutality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is
renowned. In 2008-9 and 2014 several thousand Palestinians, mostly
civilians, were killed by Israel’s military assaults on Gaza. This
violence continues to this day, as demonstrated when hundreds of
Palestinian civilians in Gaza were gunned down by the Israeli army this
month, with scores killed, including children. I am an opponent of the
political regime that is responsible for these crimes, not the Jewish
people.
I have been subject to numerous and hurtful smears and lies over the
years. As Mr Justice Andrew Collins stated, in his judgement in the 2006
High Court of Justice case between myself and The Adjudication Panel
for England,: ‘It could not sensibly be suggested that he [Ken
Livingstone] is or ever has been antisemitic. He has not approved of
some of the activities of the State of Israel and has made his views
about that clear. But that has nothing to do with antisemitism.’
Antisemitism in Britain
Recently the results of two surveys of public attitudes to
antisemitism were published by YouGov and by the Institute for Jewish
Policy Research. Both of these surveys showed that, unfortunately, there
is a worrying persistence of antisemitic attitudes in Britain. The
evidence is that it is much stronger on the right wing of politics than
among Labour supporters and voters.
But antisemitism, an ideology with potentially genocidal results,
must be fought wherever it is found, and I will continue to oppose it
wherever it rears its head.
What is misguided is the cynical exploitation of the issue for the
political end of attacking Jeremy Corbyn and others who are rightly
concerned at the plight of the Palestinians who have been unjustly
driven from their lands and kept in conditions of discrimination and
repression for the past 70 years.
In Britain we desperately need a government that will implement
policies along the lines of Labour’s popular manifesto at last year’s
general election on which the party achieved widespread public support.
The Tories and the newspaper barons are desperate that this should never
happen.
My suspension from the Labour Party
As I resign from the Labour Party I would like to use this
opportunity to set the record straight on what has happened over the
last two years and my thoughts below should be read in conjunction with
my defence from last year’s hearing, which can be read
here.
Between the election of Jeremy as Leader in September 2015 and my
suspension in April 2016 I was overwhelmed by media interviews to defend
Jeremy from attacks by the media and some Labour MPs.
As part of this, I was often asked if Labour had a problem with
antisemitism. I responded that I never heard or saw an antisemitic
incident in a Labour Party meeting. I’d heard a lot of criticism of the
state of Israel and its abuse of Palestinians, but I’d never heard
anyone say anything antisemitic in a Labour Party meeting. I am sure
however there are some antisemites in all parties, including Labour, and
I am totally opposed to their views as with every other form of racism.
In April 2016, 80 Jewish Labour party members wrote to the Guardian
saying ‘We do not accept that antisemitism is “rife” in the Labour party
… The tiny number of cases of real antisemitism need to be dealt with,
but we are proud that the Labour party historically has been in the
forefront of the fight against all forms of racism. We, personally, have
not experienced any antisemitic prejudice in our dealings with Labour
party colleagues.’
At 8.50am on 28th April 2016 I was asked by Vanessa Feltz on BBC
Radio London to respond to a social media post by the Labour MP, Naz
Shah, quoting Martin Luther King, that ‘what Hitler did was legal’.
King’s point, obviously, having been that just because something is
legal (talking in the context of racist segregation laws in the US in
the 1960s) does not mean it is right. I saw no relevance between Hitler
and Labour so I responded in under 40 words pointing out that in the
1930s Hitler had supported Jews leaving Germany – including moving to
Israel and he had arrived at a practical agreement with Zionist
organisations on this.
The Prime Minister of Israel had
told the
World Zionist Congress on 20th October 2015 that ‘Hitler did not want
to exterminate the Jews at the time. He wanted to expel the Jew.’
The 1930s Transfer Agreement, between the German Zionist organisation
and the Nazi government, is a documented matter of historical fact.
Anyone wishing to confirm that can for example access the Yad Vashem
Holocaust Memorial website and read the study by Y’Faat Weiss: ‘The
transfer agreement and boycott movement: a Jewish dilemma on the eve of
the Holocaust.’
In the hours that immediately followed my interview with Vanessa
Feltz no journalist asked me to comment on my statement. At Millbank at
11.45am I was confronted by Labour MP John Mann shouting that I was a
‘lying racist’ and a ‘disgusting Nazi apologist’.
This was followed by 39 Labour MPs demanding my suspension. The
Guardian reported that David Abraham had likened me to Oswald Mosley; Wes Streeting
tweeted that
I ‘had form on antisemitism’; and other Labour MPs denounced my views
as bigotry. On the Daily Politics Show John Mann claimed I had suggested
that Hitler was a Zionist. On 29 April, Ian Austin MP tweeted the
following ‘joke’: ‘This row about Ken Livingstone & Hitler is so
unfair. One was a horrible extremist obsessed with Jews. The other was
leader of Nazi Germany.’
These accusations are utterly false. Had I said Hitler was a Zionist I
would have apologised, as it is an evidently ridiculous idea. Hitler
loathed Jews all his life and I would never suggest he was ‘a Zionist’. I
simply stated the historical fact that Hitler was, for his own
loathsome reasons, prepared to do a deal with Zionists to remove Jews
from Germany.
At 1.20pm I received an email stating that I had been suspended. No
one from the Labour Party General Secretary’s office phoned to check
what I had said. My suspension was the lead story on the front pages the
following day distracting from the local election, at a time when
Jeremy’s critics were talking of a leadership challenge if we did badly
in the elections. Fortunately, Labour won the mayoral election in London
with a strong result.
My suspension gave credibility to the lie that my statement about
Zionism was antisemitic. At the 2016 House of Commons Home Affairs
Committee antisemitism enquiry, the Chairman of the Board of Deputies of
British Jews suggested to the Committee that I had said that Zionists
were ‘like Nazis’ and that ‘Hitler was a Zionist’ – both these notions
are factually incorrect and are not statements I have ever made as I
totally disagree with them.
Hundreds of people stopped me on the street to show their support and
express their dismay at the media smears against me. Many of these
people were Jewish. I had not experienced such a wave of support since
the 2000 mayoral election.
My interview by the Labour Party Disputes and Disciplinary Panel was
delayed by seven weeks thus preventing me standing for the NEC.
I handed evidence to the chair which showed what I said was true, but
she replied she was not interested in history, and was determined to
avoid what I said and whether it was true. In their report to the NEC
there was no reference to the claim that ‘Hitler was a Zionist’ nor did
it admit what I had said was true. It was suggested I considered Zionism
was equivalent to Nazism and that I ‘raised Hitler as a defence’ – all
entirely untrue. That this malign report was submitted to the NEC
without my being allowed to see it and challenge it is a violation of
justice.
It is quite clear that this campaign against me has nothing to do
with antisemitism, for which no evidence has been produced, to the point
that the legal representative for the Labour Party at my NCC hearing
did not accuse me of it. This campaign is in fact because of my
criticism of the massacres and discriminatory actions carried out by the
leaders of the Israeli state and is using the pretext of my accurate
statement of historical fact, that a practical agreement was arrived at
between Hitler and some Zionists in the 1930s.
My hearing at the NCC was delayed for 11 months until it coincided
with the launch of our 2017 local elections campaign. The barrister
representing the Labour Party stated I was not antisemitic and no one
claimed I had said Hitler was a Zionist even though that precise
allegation is repeated by my detractors to this day. Instead it was
claimed I was wrong to say that Labour MP Naz Shah’s social media posts
were not antisemitic. One post showed Israel as a 51st state in the USA.
This had also been posted by Norman Finklestein – who considered it a
joke. A second post was a quote from Martin Luther King saying what
Hitler did was legal.
I was also told I caused offence using the word ‘support’ when I said
Hitler supported Zionism. However, the respected professor of Holocaust
studies, Francis Nicosia, in his book Zionism and Antisemitism in Nazi
Germany, said ‘there was almost unanimous support in German government
and Nazi party circles for promoting Zionism among German Jews.’ Nicosia
detailed that support in his December 1978 article ‘Zionism in National
Socialist Jewish Policy in Germany, 1933-39’ (University of Chicago,
Journal of Modern History).
Before the NCC hearing the Jewish News website carried an opinion
piece by David Wolchover: ‘Kicking out Ken Livingstone for Hitler remark
would be a bad mistake,’ stating ‘he was widely misquoted as claiming
that Hitler was a Zionist but he has rightly emphasized that what he
actually said was that Hitler supported Zionism.’ The article concludes
with ‘Holocaust denial has alarmingly been on the increase among a vast
new generation of young people… should we not be thankful for small
mercies, that an influential and likeable public figure… has nonetheless
reminded them that the Holocaust is a historical fact.’
However, I recognise the fact that the way I expressed a historical
point caused real offence and upset in the Jewish community, and I
deeply regret that.
I told the panel that in my years as Mayor of London antisemitic
attacks in London had halved, whereas under Boris Johnson they had more
than doubled. Just as at the House of Commons enquiry (see my submission
to the Select Committee
here and further submission
here)
no one wanted to question why this had happened or to give me the
opportunity to further elaborate on my record as an anti-racist
politician.
In the hearing, I was supported by Jewish witnesses (see
here) and many others signed a letter in my defence (see
here.)
Everyone expected the panel to expel me and I said if they did I
would go for judicial review. The decision to merely extend my
suspension was a shock but I suspect their lawyers warned I would win
and it would be embarrassing for the NCC to have to explain to a judge
why I was expelled for stating a historical fact whilst Labour MPs who
libelled me faced no disciplinary action.
I appeared on that evening’s Newsnight to say that we should put this
behind us, concentrate on the local elections and that I would be doing
no more interviews after this. Unfortunately, Labour MP Wes Streeting
turned up denouncing the decision thus re-opening the issue. In the
following days, over 100 Labour MPs ensured it continued to distract
attention from our local campaign. This led to my being besieged by the
media demanding interviews and further distracted from the local
elections. No action was taken against the MPs who had denounced the NCC
decision.
In the 11 months the party spent investigating this issue no evidence
was found to confirm any allegation of antisemitism against me, which
is why at the NCC hearing this accusation was never made. This was never
about antisemitism but about undermining Jeremy.
Had my hearing been open to press and public it would have been
difficult for MPs to denounce the decision. In future, our disciplinary
procedures should incorporate Britain’s legal principles and basic human
rights by implementing the changes in our disciplinary procedures
proposed in Shami Chakrabarti’s report. We also need to recognise that
spurious claims of antisemitism undermine the importance of tackling
genuine antisemitism.
Labour needs to stop its party bureaucracy wasting so much time
investigating its membership. The Information Commissioners Office ruled
that Labour’s HQ should not trawl through members’ social media
accounts for disciplinary purposes as this is a breach of the Data
Protection Act. But in the run-up to Jeremy’s second leadership victory
the bureaucracy wasted a vast amount of time investigating 70,000 Labour
members for suspension. Those thousands of hours should have been spent
preparing for the general election. So, I would urge Labour to stop its
staff wasting their time in this way and instead concentrate on
preparing for the next election.
If the Tories had lost their seven most marginal seats (which they
held by a mere 2,227 votes) in the 2017 General Election, Teresa May
would not have her working majority with the DUP and Jeremy could be in
Downing Street. Had our party not wasted so much time with internal
schisms we could have won more than another seven seats from the Tories.
It is unbelievable that over two years have passed without this issue
being resolved. On just one day in April this year I saw the false
claim that I had said Hitler was a Zionist repeated by several
newspapers.
Under Labour’s new General Secretary I am sure there will be rapid
action to expel anyone who genuinely has antisemitic views, but it is
important too that false allegations made about others are rebutted.
Throughout my political career I have become used to bogus attacks on
my character as a way of trying to silence and discredit me. On the day
I became Leader of the GLC, Margaret Thatcher said I intended to impose
on Londoners a communist tyranny like those of Eastern Europe. When we
cut bus and tube fares the Daily Mail warned that this was the first
step to a full communist economy. I have also been accused corruption,
violence, and tax dodging. Not one of these allegations are true, which
is why they have never been proved.
There is nothing new in all of this. At the 1945 general election the
Tories claimed that a Labour government would create a British version
of the Gestapo, and when President Roosevelt introduced benefits to the
unemployed he was accused of taking the first step toward communism.
Whilst we will continue to have the Tories and the Tory press carry on
with their lies and smears our membership have the right to expect that
Labour MPs should not repeat those smears unless they have evidence that
they are true.
In the run up to this year’s local elections and since numerous
newspapers and individuals have continued to smear me as an antisemite.
It is now being widely reported that I am to face another disciplinary
hearing. This can only be to appease those who were not satisfied with
the severity of the penalty imposed on me at the first hearing. I had no
right of appeal, but, evidently, my detractors have unlimited rights of
prosecution until they are satisfied, which I suspect they will not be
unless and until the prospect of a Labour government under Jeremy has
been defeated.
Throughout this career, my family and friends have given me every
support, for which I am sincerely grateful. I am also grateful to the
thousands of Labour members and supporters who supported me during last
year’s hearing through signing petitions and sharing social media posts,
and all those labour movement activists who have supported me
throughout the last decades.
I no longer have the responsibilities of an elected politician.
However, I do have the responsibilities of a husband and a parent of
young children. It would be unfair for my wife and children to continue
to be impacted by the cynical and worthless campaign that has been
mounted against me in recent years.
The party must change urgently a process where prior to due process
taking place leading figures in the party declare people guilty in the
media and pre-empt the decision of the relevant bodies.
I also recognise that the way I made a historical argument has caused
offence and upset in the Jewish community. I am truly sorry for that.
I am loyal to the Labour party and to Jeremy. However any further
disciplinary action against me may drag on for months or even years,
distracting attention from Jeremy’s policies.
I am therefore, with great sadness, leaving the Labour Party.
We desperately need an end to Tory rule, and a Jeremy Corbyn-led
government to transform Britain and end austerity. I will continue to
work to this end, and I thank all those who share this aim and who have
supported me in my own political career.
KEN LIVINGSTONE
