Labour’s Disciplinary Practices a Disgrace

JVL has reprinted a letter from Dr Tali Marian Chilson resigning from the Labour Party after 11 years of active member She has been accused of Anti-Semitism.

In her letter she describes her background – an academic whose expertise is Jewish Studies, from a family of Holocaust survivors – and says “I hereby reject categorically the mendacious accusations of Anti-Semitism which have been made against me outrageously by anonymous accusers.”

This case has all the hallmarks of Labour’s unjustifiable disciplinary practices – no transparency, anonymity for the accusers, no presumption of innocence (but rather a presumption of guilt) and the usual call on people accused to incriminate themselves.

Tali Chilson’s letter highlights these authoritarian, inquisitorial procedures which Labour continues to deploy contrary to all considerations of natural justice.

These procedures are quite simply unacceptable.

The Governance and Legal Unit
The Labour Party

RE: Your Notice of Investigation Ref: L0119535 Case No: CN-3

Dear Unit,

I am writing to inform you that I have tendered my resignation from The Labour Party yesterday (12th March 2020) after 11 years of active membership. My resignation is with immediate effect.

I have supported the labour movement and its core principles, among them: Freedom of Speech, Equality before the Law, Social Justice and Due Process – for all my life, but I no longer feel that my party will support and uphold the very same principles, especially with respect to my membership.

As a woman who was born and raised in the bosom of the Jewish faith and who is both the daughter of – and married into – a family that has survived the Holocaust having faced the Nazi atrocities in the ghettos and concentration camps in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria (Lodz, Auschwitz, Terezin, Petrich and Karnobat), I hereby reject categorically the mendacious accusations of Anti-Semitism which have been made against me outrageously by anonymous accusers. The allegations are without any foundation or basis and challenge every sense of reasonableness and decency. The assortment of my 7 year old tweets, appended to your said letter, cannot be regarded as ‘evidence’ by any stretch of the imagination. Certainly not of ‘Anti-Semitism’ in any shape or form.

As the great-niece of the Jewish Bulgarian-born (and naturalised British) writer, the 1981 literature Nobel prize laureate, Elias Canetti (1905-1994) , it will not go amiss to remark that I can only wonder what Canetti would lived to see his own family members accused of the same anti-Semitism which he himself had endured in his lifetime.

I am not clear as to how the daughter of a Jewish family who was born and raised in Israel, can be at all ‘Anti-Semitic’. The Labour Party is bringing itself into disrepute by persecuting its most loyal members. If a Party that is purportedly a ‘broad church’ is purging its own loyal members, how can such a party hope to regain the trust of our nation?

Being an academic whose expertise is Jewish Studies, and having spent my entire career, studying and teaching the literature, history and culture of my Jewish heritage, I am certainly better placed than my anonymous accusers to recognise authentic Antisemitism wherever it raises its ugly head. I would also contend that I am more committed than my accusers to the continuation of the historical fight against persecution, racism, bigotry and genocide which my ancestors have been spearheading for generations. In fact, I consider myself a proud inheritor of this Jewish tradition.

In the UK, from Peter Benenson to Sir Gerald Kaufman, British Jews have been proactively involved in the on-going fight for Human Rights all over the world, including the State of Israel. I have endeavoured to do the same. I have spoken out against the apartheid and prejudice of the Palestinians within Israel, the cold-blooded murders of Palestinian children and the oppression of a nation who under international law is entitled to the same fundamental rights, once denied to my own family. This entails of course incisive criticism of the political and military establishment in the country of my birth. It is nothing short of disgrace that the Labour Party should fail to resist those who are pushing it to side with the oppressors, contrary to its very core values.

I once believed that the Labour Party would protect both the children of Holocaust survivors and their beliefs, rather than make the cynical and impertinent claim that they themselves are Anti-Semitic.

The decision of the Labour Party to entertain in earnest the claims made against me, reveals the extent to which the Labour Party misunderstands what Anti-Semitism really is, and how ill-equipped it sadly is when it comes to rooting out Anti-Semitism where it still lurks in our society. It’s political short-sightedness is reflected throughlut its choice to weaponise Anti-Semitism for serving the interests of those who wish to purge the Party from socialists and impose a reign of terror typified by suppressing the Membership’s entitlement for freedom of speech .

I can no longer hold confidence in the competence of the leadership of the Party if it is content with seeking expediencies such as using Anti- Semitism as a fig-leaf in a smear campaign aimed at purging the party of activists, especially those who remain committed to highlighting Human Right offences which to this day continue with impunity in Israel and the Palestinian occupied territories.

It is for these reasons, that I have tendered my resignation from the Labour Party. My membership should be considered as cancelled forthwith.

You are kindly requested to confirm receipt of this letter.

Sincerely,

Dr T. M. Chilson