Abbott pilloried for sharing Zoom platform with racists – by hypocrites

Last Updated: November 16, 2020By Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Diane Abbott: she has suffered more racist abuse than anybody you can name – along with any other criticism her detractors can throw at her.

Diane Abbott is under attack again (it’s a Sunday; presumably these people have nothing better to do) – for sharing a Zoom call with racists.

I’ll let her explain:

Before we get into the meat of this, let’s set one thing straight right away: some ignorants have claimed that she was wrong to refer to Uyghur as a place. They were wrong:

https://twitter.com/SotonFranny/status/1328045953711038464

Perhaps more serious is the allegation that she deliberately shares platforms with apologists for atrocities:

https://twitter.com/ToubeDavid/status/1327910061608407041

Some critics have claimed that she could have looked up the named people with whom she was sharing the call, and should have boycotted it when she found out it included atrocity apologists. However:

The reference to John Rentoul is accurate. See:

The point by “Marl Karx” is a good one, though: de-platforming is a recent phenomenon – and not a very clever one. If you leave an event because you don’t like some of the other people on it, you are giving them more space in which to put forward their views. Isn’t it better to attend, and challenge?

Finally, there is the issue of double-standards:

https://twitter.com/misslucyp/status/1327944914110394368

This claim about Starmer provoked a strong adverse response from people who claimed Starmer stuck around. However:

https://twitter.com/ScaryNewDad/status/1327978132188565509

There’s also this:

Inevitably there’s the spectre of Tony Blair. I wish I had Owen Jones’s research resources (or maybe the amount of spare time he seems to have) – although I obviously don’t share his views on what Abbott did. His comments on Blair are interesting and I include only the beginning and the end of them here, so take a look at the whole thread.

Finally, there’s the issue of unwitting support of atrocities by people who denounce them:

It’s possible that we are all guilty of this kind of behaviour. We cannot know that the products we buy are produced under duress, in circumstances we should deplore, if we’re not told.

But then, why aren’t we told?

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/


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7 Comments

  1. TERRY ALDERMAN November 16, 2020 at 12:46 am - Reply

    https://www.rt.com/uk/506806-labour-vaccine-disinformation-censorship/ Silencing discussion? UK Labour Party demands online crackdown on ‘anti-vax disinformation’ ahead of Covid-19 vaccine rollout

  2. john thatcher November 16, 2020 at 4:27 am - Reply

    Perhaps it would be useful if we saw some solid evidence of the mistreatment of Uyghurs to start with, and not the reports of a lone US right wing religious nutter, or pictures that could be of anything anywhere. What is certain is there were/are thousands of Uyghur head choppers in Syria who were not sent there by the Chinese government.

  3. mohandeer November 16, 2020 at 1:16 pm - Reply

    Diane Abbott aside, there were opinionated useful idiots aplenty denouncing her, throwing snide, sarcastic and totally uninformed comments regarding something they obviously know absolutely nothing about.
    If people want to be led by the nose and follow the misinformation campaign because they can’t be arsed to find out what is going on China, than they are nothing more than western imperialist stooges.
    There are plenty of articles available explaining what is going on with the Uyghur’s and even articles written by Uyghurs themselves IF and only IF people want the truth. It is far easier to jump on the bandwagon of hypocrisy and US/Western imperialist led disinformation rather than rely on informed knowledge and certainly they are too lazy to actually look for real information on the subjects. So many opinionated comments and not one of them has a clue as to what China is doing.
    I suggest a read of one of the articles I have found among my library and probably details the issue WITHOUT colourful insults to those who would rather believe the lies promulgated by the western elites and their egregious mouthpieces.
    What’s Left and Stephen Gowans: The Chinese Uyghur Dark Legend And Washington’s Campaign To Counter Chinese Economic Rivalry.
    https://gowans.blog/
    I won’t hold my breath, because I know just how slothful most of the commenters on both the right and faux left are(the self serving Owen Jones being a perfect example of the double standards being applied accusing detractors of what he himself is guilty of).

  4. john thatcher November 16, 2020 at 10:10 pm - Reply

    I notice you have seen fit to ignore my response. This is the second time you have done this Sivier, you will not get the opportunity to do it again. You are a charlatan and I now bitterly regret giving money to your fighting fund. Bye.

    • Mike Sivier November 17, 2020 at 12:26 am - Reply

      I keep telling people that I have to moderate all comments and sometimes I don’t have time to do it for a while after the comments are sent to me.

      This guy sent his comment between 4am and 5am on the morning of November 16 – yesterday, at the time of writing (because it’s just after midnight) – and seems to be demanding special treatment.

      I wasn’t ignoring anything – I simply had not seen it yet.

  5. Zippi November 16, 2020 at 10:12 pm - Reply

    As a man in the African Diaspora, I can say, with confidence and with certainty, that I share platforms with racists every single day. Must I apologise? Question. how can I hope to combat racism, or challenge the opinions of racists unless I engage with them? It seems to me that these persons who love to make meat of happenings such as this, have no interest in solving problems, or breaking down barriers; their aim, it seems, is to exploit existing discord and division conflict.

    • Mike Sivier November 17, 2020 at 12:23 am - Reply

      Very well put.

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