Diane Abbott

‘Show some humanity before it is too late,’ Lammy told as Palestine Action hunger striker rushed to hospital

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/show-some-humanity-it-too-late-lammy-told-palestine-action-hunger-striker-rushed-hospital

 Shut The System activists cover Justice Secretary David Lammy’s office in graffiti

Activists graffiti the 8 hunger strikers’ demands across the Deputy PM’s north London office 

A PALESTINE ACTION hunger striker was rushed to hospital some 24 hours after she reported needing urgent medical attention on her 46th day without food at HMP Bronzefield today.

Supporters including Zarah Sultana MP, doctors and trade unionists demanded immediate hospitalisation and independent medical assessment for 20-year-old Qesser Zuhrah for more than 12 hours before she was transferred out of the site by ambulance.

The Your Party MP said that Ms Zuhrah had been “refused an ambulance by the prison. She is critically ill and at immediate risk of dying.”

Online footage showed protesters chanting “let the doctor go” as a man was arrested around the time an ambulance left the scene at about 2.30pm.

Ms Zuhrah has been on remand at HMP Bronzefield awaiting trial over an August 2024 break-in at an Israeli defence firm near Bristol by the direct action group. 

She is among dozens of Palestine Action activists who have been detained well over the six-month custody threshold after it was proscribed in July.

Ms Zuhrah was reportedly unable to stand and began suffering “severe” pain that required urgent medical attention from Tuesday afternoon. 

Campaigners for her and other hunger strikers said that repeated calls for emergency care were made, but “prison staff have so far refused entry to ambulances and delayed treatment overnight.”

The demonstration was held outside the prison from 1.20am and the demands of the eight hunger strikers were graffitied across Mr Lammy’s north London office by Shut the System Activists.

The statement included a call for an end to media censorship, immediate bail, the right to a fair trial, the de-proscription of Palestine Action and to close all sites of Israel’s main arms supplier, Elbit Systems.

South East Coast Ambulance Service said that it did not comment on individual cases, and referred queries to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), which was contacted for comment.

PM Sir Keir Starmer was meanwhile accused of “a lack of humanity toward people at serious risk of death” by Jeremy Corbyn MP.

The former Labour leader asked him if the MoJ would meet lawyers for the hunger strikers in the Commons.

Mr Corbyn told Sir Keir that “these are all prisoners on remand, they’re not convicted of anything. A further prisoner has been taken to hospital, as have others. 

“Many people are very concerned about the regular breaches of prison conditions and prison rules in respect of these hunger strikers. 

…

Diane Abbott, Zarah Sultana, Ayoub Khan, John McDonnell and Lord Hendy KC were among those who signed the open letter telling Mr Lammy to take “responsibility and show some humanity before it is too late.”

Mr Lammy’s office was targeted by protesters from Shut The System today, who graffitied their demands in red on the north London building.

…

Amnesty International UK’s Kerry Moscogiuri said: “This cruel misuse of terrorism legislation is a shameful moment for the UK government.

“It must urgently do everything in its power to bring an end to this terrible situation.”

…

Original article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/show-some-humanity-it-too-late-lammy-told-palestine-action-hunger-striker-rushed-hospital

Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine 'Private Eye'.
Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Continue Reading‘Show some humanity before it is too late,’ Lammy told as Palestine Action hunger striker rushed to hospital

Abbott and Sultana to lead counter-demo against Robinson’s ‘festival of hate’

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/abbott-and-sultana-lead-counter-demo-against-robinsons-festival-hate

 People take part in a Stand Up to Racism protest in Epping, Essex, July 27, 2025

LEFT MPs Zarah Sultana and Diane Abbott and senior trade unionists will lead thousands of counterprotesters’s “far-right festival of hate” in London on Saturday.

A thousand people attended an online event to launch the Women Against the Far Right campaign on Thursday night, in the run-up to the march organised by Stand Up To Racism, with hundreds from the campaign set to join the march.

Ms Abbott, who is currently suspended from the Labour Party, said: “The far right are a menace to the whole of society. 

“Their first targets, asylum-seekers and Muslims, are broadening to all migrants, black people and on to trade unionists, all religious minorities and anti-racists. They must be stopped.”

Ms Sultana said: “The far right are not welcome on our streets. We see through their lies. 

“Their politics of hate and division make our communities weaker and women less safe. 

“That’s why thousands of us are marching on Saturday — to show that fascists will be met with resistance wherever they spread their poison.”

…

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/abbott-and-sultana-lead-counter-demo-against-robinsons-festival-hate

Climate science denier Nigel Farage explains that it's simple to blame asylum-seekers or Muslims for everything.
Climate science denier Nigel Farage explains that it’s simple to blame asylum-seekers or Muslims for everything.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Continue ReadingAbbott and Sultana to lead counter-demo against Robinson’s ‘festival of hate’

Labour’s attempt to find successor to Diane Abbott ‘under way’

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https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/aug/15/diane-abbott-suspension-labour-mp-successor

Diane Abbott is the the longest-serving female MP but lost the Labour whip in 2023 and again in July this year for her comments on racism. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA Archive

Exclusive: Contenders teed up for future contest, which MP says seems ‘to pre-empt results of investigation’

Moves to find a successor to Diane Abbott in the parliamentary seat she has represented since 1987 are under way, prompting concern that her fate has been decided before an investigation into her latest suspension has concluded.

Figures on Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) have spoken to potential contenders, teeing them up for a future contest in her constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington, and giving them informal advice on how to prepare, according to a party source.

Abbott was suspended from the party in July for repeating that Jewish people do not experience racism in the same way as Black people[*1], a statement that had earned her a previous suspension in April 2023.

Labour said there would be no discussion of potential successor as an investigation was ongoing. The party said there had been no discussions about alternative candidates at any NEC meetings and no proposals put to NEC members about a selection process.

Abbott said: “It does seem to be rather pre-empting the results of the investigation.”

…

Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/aug/15/diane-abbott-suspension-labour-mp-successor

*1 I suggest that it shouldn’t be reduced to “Jewish people do not experience racism in the same way as Black people.” While that is how it’s perceived and dealt with by the Zionist Labour party, it’s more about there being different forms and consequent experiences of racism and not addressing Jewish people specifically.

“Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about colour and other types of racism because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street, you don’t know.

“I just think that it’s silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism. I don’t know why people would say that.”

Continue ReadingLabour’s attempt to find successor to Diane Abbott ‘under way’

Labour accused of hypocrisy for suspending Diane Abbott on the same day as a far-right mob attacked police and anti-racists

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labour-accused-hypocrisy-suspending-diane-abbott-same-day-far-right-mob-attacked-police-and

 MP Diane Abbott addressing the People’s Assembly Britain is Broken national demonstration in central London, November 5, 2022

SUSPENDING Diane Abbott on the same day a far-right mob attacked police and anti-racists reveals Labour’s “rank hypocrisy,” Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) said yesterday.

The campaign group slammed the party for censuring Britain’s first black woman MP and leading anti-racist while its leader, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, stoked anti-immigrant sentiment with a speech implying Britain was becoming “an island of strangers.”

Anti-racists were surrounded by masked far-right thugs on Thursday night after staging a counter demonstration to an anti-immigration protest outside a hotel in Epping, Essex.

Riot police swarmed the streets after police vans were vandalised and officers assaulted by groups of men trying to reach the hotel.

SUTR co-convener Sabby Dhalu said: “On the same evening as a violent racist riot targeting asylum-seekers erupted outside the Bell Hotel in Epping Forest, Labour decided to suspend Diane Abbott, Britain’s first black woman MP and a leading anti-racist.

“The government has lost its bearings on racism.” 

Article continues

Keir Starmer chases Nigel Farage's racist bigot vote.
Keir Starmer chases Nigel Farage’s racist bigot vote.
Continue ReadingLabour accused of hypocrisy for suspending Diane Abbott on the same day as a far-right mob attacked police and anti-racists

Cuts to welfare and aid go hand-in-hand with the war drive

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/cuts-welfare-and-aid-go-hand-hand-war-drive

DIANE ABBOTT MP points out the false premises used by Rachel Reeves in the Spring Statement

THERE is a liberal cliche that the first casualty of war is the truth. In reality it is usually the working class, the poor, disabled people and ethnic minorities.

Typically, they face more pressure and exploitation, longer hours, higher prices or charges, they get less state support and face greater discrimination all as part of the war effort. Or, more accurately, the war effort is used as the excuse to implement long-desired changes which increase exploitation and discrimination of all kinds.

That is what it is happening now.

To give just one example, both the Chancellor and the Secretary for Work and Pensions separately have said many years ago that we should be tougher on welfare than the Tories.

But it is only now, against the backdrop of the Ukraine war and the rhetoric of rearmament that that they are finally able to realise their ambitions.

Tory commentators are amazed and admiring about the depth of the cuts to welfare. One called Rachel Reeves the new George Osborne

This is true across the board. So it seems strange that many on the left are currently unwilling to link the war drive with the attacks on welfare and the cuts to international aid.

…

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/cuts-welfare-and-aid-go-hand-hand-war-drive

Continue ReadingCuts to welfare and aid go hand-in-hand with the war drive