By Mark Buckley
The response to the vile attack on Diane Abbott from the leadership of both Labour and the Tories shows the deep well of racism, sexism and hatred towards Black women that exists in British official politics.
Diane Abbott is an iconic figure in Black communities and beyond and over decades has become synonymous with the struggle against racism. Defending her against racist attacks therefore rises to a level of a defence of all Black people, and against sexism and misogynoir.
The role of the Labour leadership has been decisive in the unfolding scandal and has been wholly pernicious. Despite later attempts to rewrite history, the leadership’s initial approach was not to condemn racism or sexism at all, but to attempt to use it as an anti-Sunak, anti-Tory story, with a central demand that they should hand back their biggest donor’s money.
Labour party chair Anneliese Dodds refused to use either term, calling the comments simply ‘reprehensible’ and refused to mention Diane Abbott by name. Starmer delayed in criticising the comments, and then did so only on daytime TV as part of his own personal PR.
But for many, the key media moment was the Speaker of the Commons refusing to call Diane Abbott 46 times when Sunak and Starmer were debating what was said about her. It was a clear symbol of the cross-party consensus to silence Black women’s voices in wider society. Ed Balls, no friend of the left, was probably right when he publicly suggested that the Speaker would have known that neither Starmer nor Sunak wanted Diane Abbott to speak.
Silencing and demonising dissenting and anti-racist voices is inevitable in a period when both major parties are committed to even more austerity and the Labour response to Tories whipping up racism is to attack them from the right. So, Labour shadow ministers criticise the government for having ‘no plan for the 99% it will not deport to Rwanda’.
The Labour leadership’s own efforts to silence Diane Abbott began in earnest in April last year, for ‘an investigation into antisemitism’. There is no investigation into the spurious charge and it is widely understood now to be a manoeuvre to prevent her from re-standing as an MP.
Blocking her from standing, having been endorsed by her Constituency Labour Party, is a blatant attempt decapitate the anti-racist current in the labour movement. There is a striking similarity with the transparently anti-democratic manoeuvring to remove her ally Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the anti-austerity and internationalist currents in the Labour party.
It is relatively easy for an unscrupulous leader of the Labour party such as Starmer to remove leading opponents organisationally. But much more difficult is to expel their politics. In a five thousand-strong poll for the right-leaning LabourList, six out of seven respondents said they wanted Diane Abbott reinstated. The membership remains predominantly opposed to racism, a position far removed from the current leadership.
At the same time, disillusion with this Labour leadership is broadening from Muslim voters and anti-war campaigners to include Black communities and anti-racism campaigners. This will increase the pressures on reluctant Labour MPs to call publicly for Diane Abbott’s reinstatement.
The stakes are high but the key tasks are clear. Every possible political pressure should be brought to bear on the Labour leadership to stop marginalising Black and Asian members, to oppose racist Tory policies and to reinstate its leading anti-racist Diane Abbott.