Prior to his suspension in early May, David White was the secretary of the Croydon Central Constituency Labour Party. White still hasn’t received details of the timescale for the investigation or what Labour Party rules he is alleged to have breached.
Below is his submission to the Chakrabarti Inquiry, explaining that his local party has called for his suspension to be lifted but this has been refused.
The Party suspended White following complaints over a single tweet in defence of Ken Livingstone. He wrote “The odd thing is Ken’s references to Hitler were largely accurate (google Haavara agreement) but way it was put unfortunate,” but later deleted the message.
White has said, “The Labour Party should review its internal procedures so that people are not routinely suspended when anonymous accusations are made against them, and all investigations should conform to the principles of natural justice.” The antisemitism witch-hunt that accused so many advocates for Palestinian human rights, including Naz Shah MP and Tony Greenstein, appears this week to have come to a halt when confronted with real fascism.
SUBMISSION FOR SHAMI CHAKRABARTI INQUIRY – DAVID WHITE
Preliminary points
I have been a member of the Labour Party for 46 years and am Secretary of Croydon Central CLP, though currently suspended (please see below). Over the years I have held various positions in the Party and have been a Croydon councillor, Greater London councillor and Parliamentary candidate.
In my opinion there is no significant problem of anti-semitism or other forms of racism in the Party. The recent publicity about the issue is in my opinion largely driven by forces outside the Party for political reasons, or by elements within the Party who want to destabilise the leadership of the Party.
The Labour Party has always been at the forefront of campaigns against racism. I have almost never experienced anyone in the Party speaking or acting in an anti-semitic or racist way. There has been opposition in the Party to the actions of the Israeli Government in its treatment of the Palestinians, but that is a different matter.
Although I have not been given full details, I believe my suspension relates to one tweet which I wrote mentioning the Haavara Agreement between the Nazis and some Zionists in the early 1930s and saying that Ken Livingstone was largely accurate in describing this as a historical fact. My local party has called for the suspension to be lifted but this has been refused. After 6 weeks I have been given no indication of when the investigation into my case will be started, what the timescale is or who my accusers are. I comment later in this submission on what I regard as wholly unsatisfactory procedures which exist at the moment in the Party for dealing with allegations of anti-semitism or other forms of racism.
Boundaries of acceptable behaviour and language
I think free speech is very important and we should avoid setting down too prescriptive rules about behaviour and language. People should in general be free to put their point of view even if it offends, provided it is within the boundaries of the law and is not overtly hateful to a particular race or religion. Often these matters depend on the context and the intention of the person concerned, so cases need to be looked at individually.
Matters should be looked at objectively. It would in my opinion be a very dangerous route if we take action against people because someone else complains they feel offended on a subjective basis.
I think we should recognise that in this social media age people’s views and comments are seen and scrutinised much more that in the past. It is easy on Twitter or Facebook to feel you are talking to one other person or a small group when in fact you are publishing something in a public forum. Things that are written can look very different when taken out of context. On Twitter the 140 character limit often means that thoughts have to be expressed in a truncated way, which can lead to misinterpretation. For all these reasons we should be much more relaxed about what people put on social media and excuse the occasional slip. Obviously though this does not mean we should ignore postings which show entrenched racism.
I believe it is very important that your Inquiry affirms that it is NOT anti-semitism to criticise the actions of the Israeli Government. Many Jews are critical of the Israeli Government.
Likewise it is not anti-semitism to refer to or comment on historical facts, for example relating to the history of Zionism. If the facts are believed to be wrong other people are free to dispute them. Continue reading “David White: After 6 weeks I have been given no indication who my accusers are”