Harry’s Place

I agree with Peter. The issue of human relationships affects everyone who is … well …. Human!

There is nothing about being a Muslim that makes them unlikely to want to express or acknowledge their gay preferences. It seems as if this statement by Tony Gosling was pure opportunist behaviour which required saying what he thought his audience wanted to hear while throwing Peter under the bus (I must stop using Obama analogies!)

Peter - In the original post by Brett he pointed out:

“But it worries me that his statements were made back in April and no one noticed or did anything about it. It worries me that his website - with links to neo-nazi and antisemitic conspiracy theories - has been up for years. Did no one vet this man before selecting him to stand for the party?”

Have the remkarks been “the subject of an internal Green Party investigation and, if confirmed, will result in disciplinary action” since April, or only since Brett called this to your attention on the 29th of *this* month?
How long does such an investigation take (seriously, I wouldn’t know. Maybe it takes months and months and months)?!

So Gosling’s anti-Jewish statements are acceptable?

Well the Peter Tatchell statement is fair enough: motherhood and apple pie and all that. I fear the problem is it’s just a statement by him, not really a dependable or authoritative announcement by the Green Party.

The trouble is the Greens have never really had a sufficiently centralised or co-ordinated leadership structure meaningfully to tell us with confidence what their position is (or at least what the consensus amongst their activists is) on any issue, apart from obvious stuff like nuclear power etc.

There are all sorts of bizarre individuals lurking about in the Green Party including homophobes and nutters who want forced population control, people who effectively want to discriminate against various groups, anarchists and gawd knows who else. Nothing in Mr Tatchell’s statement makes me think that will change anytime soon.

And of course Tony is working this into his conspiracy theories as we speak.

posters above are right, it is NOT just Gosling’s views on books, etc.

Gosling is a Jew hating nut, just look at his video, “Bilderberg - an introduction”

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QLtETeooWds&e

Scan Gosling’s demented site, http://www.bilderberg.org/

what else do you need to see? Gosling site is full of strange references to 9/11, 7/7, the Illuminati, 666 and the anti-Christ, Mossad, End of Days, etc

Gosling is one sick individual, the Greens should disown him immediately

“And of course Tony is working this into his conspiracy theories as we speak.”

In which case I suggest we devote this comment thread to feeding absurdities into his feeble mind.

So, just to make this clear, the person who made the above statement, that’s Peter Tatchell, the Zionist neo-con MI6 agent, right? I remember him once trying to convince me of the tenets of creationism. In the Bullingdon Club. Those were the days…

ChrisC,

1) Tatchel is an official spokesperson.
2) I beleive they have conferences, and pass resolutions, and the like. you don’t need a leadership to know what the policy of a party is.

(Member of a leaderless party, with very clear positions).

Recognising the prejudice often experienced by Muslim people and gay people,

What on earth are you talking about?

There is absolutely no equivalence between the ‘prejudice’ experience by perpetually outraged Islamists in England and the horrendous treatment meted out to gays in Muslim countries.

Yet another reason NEVER to vote green.

Red Deathy, it isn’t a question of ascertaining Party policy, its a question of who is welcome in the Party. The Greens just lack the structure to identify, eliminate and rein in the activities of the sundry random nutters in their ranks, of whom Gosling is just one of the more egregious examples.

ChrisC,

in as much as he must have been elected to the position of candidate, we have to assume he was vetted and endorsed by a majority of ,local members, and hold them culpable. That his views are at variance with national policy, we don’t find against the national policy. Sorry to witter on, but the leader cult is pernicious and damaging, parties don’t need leaders to be held to account.

I do not know the British Green party. Here in Austria the GREENs were the only party voting in Austrian parliament against a candidate of the extreme right. The Austrian Greens are taking a clear stand on equal rights for homosexuals, even if that cost them in certain circles popularity.

John P, I think Peter was referring to the prejudice experienced by Muslim people and gay people in Britain, hence the rest of the sentence you half-quoted, which continues, “we campaign for a society where people of all beliefs and sexual orientations can live together in harmony and equality”.

In reply to Sonja:

Sorry, the Green Party does not have the resources to monitor every issue of the Muslim News (and many other media).

Tony Gosling’s comments in Muslim News were only drawn to my and the Green Party’s attention a few days ago, so we have acted quite swiftly. I cooperated with Brett, who wrote the article, even though it puts the Green party in a bad light. I think we are operating in an upfront and transparent way.

The letter was to Muslim News, to rebut the specific homophobic quotes attributed to Tony Gosling there. But there are also issues of his reported anti-Semitism and other prejudices in his various outpourings. They are also condemned by the Green Party, and are bring investigated too.

more fun for weirdos: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/401952.html

Peter, thanks for that detailed explanation.

OT, but realted: Here in the US we have not only the Green Party, who is running former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney for President; but also the Independent Party, who is running the guy who helped Bush Jr. become President in 2000, the Green Party Presidential candidate in both 2000 & 2004, Ralph Nader, and finally, at least here in Virginia and several other states, there is the Independent Green Party who is running Chuck Baldwin, (I do not think he is related to Alec Baldwin, etec) for President!

Insert jokes about the Peoples Front of Judea, Judean Peoples Front, etec.

In addition there is the Libertarian Pary who is running Himmler look-alike, Bob Barr for President.

Cynthia McKinney beat Nader for the nomination of the Green Party because she is definitely mad. She recently charged that the federal govt. in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, secretly killed 5,000 convicts! No way Nader could top somebody that crazy for the Green Party nomination.

The Independent Green Party seems to be a fiscally conservative, more socially tolerant and eco-friendly combination of the Libertarian and Green Parties. They also are interested in building more commuter railroads. See their website at http://www.votejoinrun.us
Unfortunately they sound too sane to attract much of the crazyies.

It only takes a few minutes to type his name into a search engine. And you don’t have to track down all the links, you just have to look at the domains to realise that the guy is very likely to be a liability.

If you were considering someone for a post as treasurer, and you typed his name into a search engine, you would be dismayed if all the domains pointed to newspaper crime reports and the Serious Fraud Office.

It looks like the Greens are either very slapdash, or so desperate for candidates they will take anybody.

John P, I think Peter was referring to the prejudice experienced by Muslim people and gay people in Britain,

Just what prejudice do Muslims living in the UK experience?

Muslims don’t ‘experience’ prejudice, they engage in it, and they do so because they believe it is their god-given right.

‘Prejudice’ for many Muslims amounts to little more that society telling them they cannot have privileges, and must be equal to everyone else.

Peter Tatchel may be gaydom’s pope, but he’d far from infallible.

No doubt, the UK’s Green Party will soon be fielding Muslim ( as is now the case with most leftist outfits) candidates who’ll spout the line that Islam’s advent was a boon to enviromentalism, and that mohammed recycled.

Personally, I like to generate as much fucking garbage as I possibly can.

Peter Tatchel may be gaydom’s pope, but he’d far from infallible.

Don’t use irony like that, you’re only going to injure yourself.

“Thank you sir, may I have another…”
WHACK
“Thank you sir, may I have another…”
WHACK
“Thank you sir, may I have another…”

The green party isn’t the only one with anti-Zio wingnut fascists crawling out of the woodwork - look at the lib-dems. If the greens are invoking disciplinary procedures then that certainly restores a lot of credibility, and compares favourably with the lib-dems who just let a fascist baggage like Tonge destroy their reputation for anti-racism. However in my experience the green party have got a LOT of work to do.

Peter,

do you and other Green leaders really feel happy with someone like Tony Gosling, when he publishes racist filth like this:

“The document known now as The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion is one of the most important documents ever to come to light in the world. In fact, it can be described as the blueprint for the domination of the world by a secret brotherhood.”

http://www.bilderberg.org/jewish.htm#Fast

then he proceeds to rant on about Khazars, which is common currency on most neo-Nazi web sites and Ayran Nation type forums:

“The Khazars were an Eastern European nation whose royalty converted to Judaism in late mediaeval times. Explains why many Jews are not of Semitic (Middle-Eastern) origin.

There is a strange anomaly in the tale of the Khazars since, according to Orthodox Judaism no-one can ‘become’ Jewish. It is a faith one must be born into. “

Peter, the Greens must do something about the re-publishing of these neo-Nazi tracts by its members

Peter Tatchell - this is just how anybody should respond to external criticism, so good for you and good for the Greens.

ChrisC: “There are all sorts of bizarre individuals lurking about in the Green Party including homophobes”

The GP isn’t a welcome place for homophobes and this response from Peter Tatchell will make it even less so. It is reassuring that the GP is investigating Gosling.

The Green Party does not tolerate prejudice of any kind, by any person.

In that case they do not tolerate human beings, since the latter are innately imperfect. Show me a human being without a prejudice.

Just what prejudice do Muslims living in the UK experience?

Muslims don’t ‘experience’ prejudice, they engage in it, and they do so because they believe it is their god-given right.

Well clearly your answer to your own question is that the amount of prejudice that Muslims in the UK experience is none whatsoever. I think it’s more than that. I’d say the answer was “some”.

Trofim: Blah.
jr: the point is that those who want to be part of the GP don’t WANT to look at the lib dems. The GP was meant to be the refuge where people take certain principles (like human rights etc) seriously…
The comparison with the libdems is then neither here nor there.

Sonja, in the past the lib-dems and greens were a potential voting alternative for me because I was against new labour thatcherism and the Iraq war, as well as motivated to support a string stance on the environment. However both fail for me because they harbour fascists. Lib dems as well as greens think that they are more “principled” than supporters of the major parties but I am afraid this is actually not the case. Lacking rootedness in a socio-economic interest group there is nothing to stop these parties from veering to extremes on some issues. The green party in the uk is also intellectually impoverished compared to, for instance, the German party. I can’t see it ever moving from being a fringe movement to having an impact on national policy, which is a tragedy. I really hope Peter Tatchell and other sensible members can wrest it away from the nutters for the sake of the planet, but I am not optimistic.

jr - we don’t disagree. I have an unreflective dislike for the libdems, is all. Not that I can vote all that much in this country (what with being an immigrant and all, stealing all your jobs), but in the few that I can i had always hoped that the GP was a safe bet (like it would have been in Germany). But … like you, I too am not optimistic.

Well done for stealing my job anyway Sonja - it was a crappy one. And wherever you’re from, vote early and often.

Wow. I knew of this Muslim News comment before it even went to print. To think, I had a good scoop right under my nose. What an idiot.

The Green Party supports legal and social equality for all persons

Crap. The Green Party has an official policy that is antisemitic.

A simple 10 second google search reveals gosling to be a complete nutter. Was there any vetting process at all?

“Well done for stealing my job anyway Sonja - it was a crappy one. ”

I iz in ur country, stealin all ur jobs.

Yes, you should thank me.

John P says “Personally, I like to generate as much fucking garbage as I possibly can.”

I think that is clear to all of us.

Here we have a thread where an antisemite is rightly exposed. Peter Tatchell is taking responsibility for making sure something is done about it but for John P it’s just a chance to spout his tedious and predictable garbage about Muslims.

“…. but for John P it’s just a chance to spout his tedious and predictable garbage about Muslims.”

I know, it’s bloody annoying, isn’t it? And so predictable.

Peter Tatchell The letter was to Muslim News, to rebut the specific homophobic quotes attributed to Tony Gosling there. But there are also issues of his reported anti-Semitism and other prejudices in his various outpourings. They are also condemned by the Green Party, and are bring investigated too.

Peter. The vast majority of posters admire you personally.

It would be so nice if you could post here saying that Tony Gosling is no longer a member of the Green Party or, failing that, that he is no longer a Green Party candidate in Bristol.

…or at least that he has flu. Oh, alright a bad cold then.

Give the guy a break. It needs to go the Green Party first.

“…. but for John P it’s just a chance to spout his tedious and predictable garbage about Muslims.”

so predictable.

And always spot on.
John, don’t stop. Many people like to hide their heads up their backsides. But some of us do not.

So, ‘admired Peter’, what are you doing to get rid of your party’s official antisemitic policy?

‘Internal disciplinary action’?

Why Peter don’t you just chuck the unspeakable piece of cack out straight away?

Given the persistence of antisemitic policy in the soi-disant ‘Green’ Party, Andrew, maybe it’s not that simple.

Sonja,

I’ve just checked but you haven’t stolen by job..yet!…but I’m watching you!

Nearly O, could you give a link to the official antisemitic policy part in the GP manifesto, or whatever, so that I may verify for myself? I find it hard to believe somehow, but am willing to look at reasoned evidence & argument. [unless this is an irony thingy i'm missing. again. cos i'm new]

Sheleylee - I’ll get there yet, give me time. Currently i’m in negotiations to take over Mr Danger’s

No irony, sadly …

Let’s see if this works:

http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/rops/ropsip.pdf

Inter alia, they are disseminating the Neo-Nazi style, Protocols of Zion/Stuermer-type lie that Sharon was the ‘instigator’ of Sabra & Chatila.
There is also the spurious ‘equivalence’ between Israel and suicide murderers.
There is also, of course, the boycott of Israel. I can’t find it. Perhaps your googling will be more successful. I know I saw it only as few weeks ago. I emailed them with detailed refutations of several other lies listed in that section. Of course, the cowardly bastards never bothered to reply.

It’s actually under (iii), but there is a whole new section devoted to it elsewhere.

Look under ‘Justice for the Palestinians’ towards the end of

http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/rops/ropsip.pdf

- full of the most outrageous antisemitic lies.

Tatchell, you have my admiration, and probably that of most of the posters here.
Please, please stop wasting your time and energy on the green party.
Everyone is pro green now; it ok, we’ve all bought in, and the major parties, never ones to miss a good thing, are on board.
Even if the green party wasn’t so cluttered with absolute nutters, and nutters of such varying colours that no political tent is large enough, in a ‘first past the post’ election system, which the u.k. has, it is particularly challenging to launch a new party. Where the greens have made progress, such as in germany, modified proportional representation is the system, and i would suggest that even in germany the greens will have their brief moment of very marginal glory and then fade of into the organic, redder than ever from the pollution, sunset.

The Greens tend to attract the obsessives.

Nearly Oxfordian - I’m afraid you’ll have to enlighten this green nutter as I’ve read that policy statement and don’t see what’s anti-semitic in it. Yes it’s critical of the Israeli government’s policy, but anti-semitic? How?

Sue, telling quite outrageous lies - lies that are easily refuted - about Israel in an attempt to smear it and portray it as a nation of war criminals is antisemitic in this geuinely green (but never ‘Green’) person’s eyes.
Sharon did not ‘instigate’ Sabra & Chatilla; that is a Goebbelsian lie.
Resolution 242 does NOT require Israel to withdraw from all the land occupied in 1967. A quick read-through will easily demonstrate this (quite apart from the nonsensical assertion that ‘failing’ to comply with 242 - a resolution with which Israel is the only one that HAS complied - is ‘a breach of international law’).
There are plenty of other smears and lies there. The hysterical lie about the ‘Apartheid wall’ - straight out of the Stuermer - is another example of antisemitic ranting from an absurd collection of jerks strutting around, pretending to be a serious political party.
Moreover, singling out Israel for boycotting - never Syria, never Iran, never China, never any of the other fascist nations sullying this earth - is classic antisemitism.

There is a detailed history of connections between conservation, environmentalism as we might call it today, and the far right in the United Kingdom during the 20th century. Many of the early writers who lamented the decline of the national environment were mixed up in various forms of extreme (or potty) beliefs – eugenics, mixed nude bathing for all ages, enforced vegetarianism, ‘work camps’, ‘leader’ worship and spiritualism amongst a crowded catalogue. A good deal of this was purely and innocently eccentric but it did leave an unfortunate legacy. Some otherwise estimable bodies devoted today to ‘purity of essence’ or ergonomic living have their early histories embedded with proto-fascist (admiration for the German Fuehrer was not an uncommon feature) leanings.

It is difficult not to ask why someone like Mr Thatchell is mixed up with this. I cannot agree with Peter on everything (perhaps not very much as it happens) but I must admire a man who has his courage. By its very nature the Green Party wide open to abuse from within, either of the kind outlined above or for more mundane and trivialising causes. It would seem being associated with it is more akin to joining a cult than a serious politicial party.

Indeed, Larkers.
Thanks for that list, potty indeed apart from nudism which I regard as perfectly natural although it’s rarely warm enough for me to consider joining in ;-)
Let’s see which ‘Green’ loonies will turn up to accuse Shimon Peres of being a ‘war criminal’ when he speaks in Oxford soon. The fair city is littered with losers handing out antisemitic leaflets in Cornmarket on Saturdays. They come in various shades of red, brown, black and swirly vanilla & raspberry, from common or garden 60-year old saddos of the kind tradionally associated with Oxford, to mentally adolescent eternal students sporting dreadlocks and kaffiyehs.

Nearly Oxfordian: I’m not convinced you’ve made the case as to why the policy is anti-semitic, as opposed to anti-Israeli government policy. I’m trying to understand where your coming from here, but your rude and aggressive accusations of anti-semitism, if anything, drive me further away from agreeing with what you are saying.

Can you expand a bit more on what you are saying about the wall - do you support the Israeli government’s policy of building it? If so, why? Well-respected NGOs such as Oxfam have been outspoken in their criticism of the wall, and the impact it’s had on communities divided by it, farmers cut off from their fields etc.

Ms. Luxton,

A few questions:

Is Tony Gosling still a member of the Greens? if so, why?

do you, or the Green Party, consider Gosling’s material to be antisemitic, in any way shape or form?

here’s his site, http://www.bilderberg.org/index.htm

I look forward to some straight answers to my direct questions :)

Well-respected NGOs such as Oxfam

Come on give us a break, these are infected with even more loony tune types than even the green party.

“Well-respected NGOs such as Oxfam have been outspoken in their criticism of the wall…”

Have they said that it is designed to force a separation of the races to protect the purity of Jewish blood? Because that’s what The Greens are implying.

Sue,
I was perfectly reasoned and factual. I showed the way in which the party policy is discriminatory against Israel, which happens to be the country of the Jews, in a way that is not mirrored even remotely by its stance vis-a-vis any other country, e.g. China and its ethnocidal policies in Tibet, which it has been occupying illegally for 60 years. I showed that the party policy contains outright lies (e.g. re Sharon and 242 - have you bothered to look up 242?).
Oxfam is a politically biased organisation, and relying on its propaganda is a reference to authority which it does not have.
Have you read 242?
Have you an answer to my comment about Sharon?
Clearly not. All you can come out with is denial and more lies.
You are an idiot, and I will waste no more time trying to educate you.

Nearly Oxfordian said:”Look under ‘Justice for the Palestinians’ towards the end of

http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/rops/ropsip.pdf

- full of the most outrageous antisemitic lies.”

Bloody hell! The passages about Israel / Palestine look like they’ve been written by some appeaser of Islamism from groups like STWC/SWP or the loons of the SPSC. Appalling. I have come to the decision that I wouldn’t support the Greens on the grounds that they are just as authoritiarian as Nu Lab and the behaviour of some of their supporters leave a lot to be desired. Now seeing this galvanises me to work against the Greens where I can.

I don’t know about the policy being overtly antisemitic but it certainly plays into the hands of those who are overtly antisemitic.

Funny I thought the Greens were supposed to be ‘progressive’.

Modernity said: “do you, or the Green Party, consider Gosling’s material to be antisemitic, in any way shape or form?

here’s his site, http://www.bilderberg.org/index.htm”

There is stuff on that site that could very much be considered antisemitic although dressed up in comments about Anti Zionism / Mossad etc.

The Greens need to ditch these sort of ’supporters’ asap if they are to be consdiered as a serious party.

OK, in the order the points were made:

Modernityblog: “Is Tony Gosling still a member of the Greens? if so, why?”
I don’t know if he is or not, I don’t have access to the party’s national membership list. However I’d imagine he probably is, as if an investigation/disciplinary procedures have been started, these things take their time to go through the process, we don’t just chuck people out without giving them a fair trial, so to speak.

“do you, or the Green Party, consider Gosling’s material to be antisemitic, in any way shape or form?”
I just took a look at his website for the first time and didn’t linger long - it’s pretty inaccessible and difficult to work out quite where he’s coming from. It just looked like a load of conspiracy theory nonsense to me, which I’ve got no time for, and pretty much anti- everything. Likewise I don’t know if his material is anti-semitic or not - I didn’t delve deep enough; it’s certainly gibberish though. I’ll happily leave whoever is dealing with any internal disciplinary procedure the dubious joy of ploughing through that!

I wasn’t ever questioning whether or not Gosling’s writing was anti-semitic, like I said I haven’t read it (and hadn’t previously even heard of the guy), I was just trying to work out what people found offensive and anti-semitic about the policy that was passed at Autumn Conference.

weety: we’ll have to agree to disagree over Oxfam - they’re not perfect, few organisations of that size are, but they do a lot of good work, and generally tell it as they see it. I’m not an expert in these things, so if Oxfam say farmers can’t get to their olive groves without fear of being shot at, or that water is being diverted to irrigate farms at the expense of villages getting access to drinking water, I tend to believe them, whatever country they are talking about, unless there is clear evidence to the contrary.

Nearly Oxfordian: just looked up UN resolution 242 on wikipedia and it seems there is a semantic dispute over the French/English translation of what “Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict” means. I don’t know enough about it to comment beyond that, and haven’t pretended to do so. I didn’t vote on the motion at conference precisely because I didn’t feel I knew enough about the issues either way, and I still don’t now.

I think I’ll probably make this my last comment, as my attempts so far to understand your point of view a bit better have just met with abuse. However I would like to stress that the vast majority of Green Party members are ordinary, reasonable people, not consumed by conspiracy theories about secret plots etc etc.

I also don’t feel the Green Party has just singled out Israel for criticism, we’ve flagged up concerns about human rights abuses all over the places over the past few years, including China, Iran, US, UK and Turkey. Jean Lambert, Green MEP for London, has been particularly active in this, winning Human Rights MEP of the year a few years back for her work.

The abuse came from you. I tried to quote facts. You simply laughed at them and claimed I was abusive and aggressive. I was not. But then, people like you don’t like Jews to be assertive when they are lied about: they should know their place and tug their forelocks.

The ‘dispute’ about 242 is completely fabricated by the usual suspects. (a) The definitive version has no definite article. This was stated quite categorically by Carrington. It was intentional. (b) 242 is bilateral. The Arabs have failed to fulfil their part of it. Therefore, and quite apart from all the other varied considerations, Israel is under no obligation to withdraw from one square inch - and yet it has!
You are right: you know nothing about the subject. But given the above facts, your refusal to countenance the plain fact that the Green Party is shamelessly lying about Israel supposedly being in breach of 242 is very telling. My party, right or wrong, even when they publish antisemitic lies …

Your reading comprehension skills are abysmal. I didn’t say simply that Israel was being singled out for criticism: I said it was singled out for boycotting. Now, which part of ‘boycott’ is causing you difficulty?

Oh yes, and you completely ducked the point about the flagrant lies about Sharon. Now, I wonder why …

I’m not an expert in these things, so if Oxfam say farmers can’t get to their olive groves without fear of being shot at, or that water is being diverted to irrigate farms at the expense of villages getting access to drinking water, I tend to believe them, whatever country they are talking about, unless there is clear evidence to the contrary

Utter nonsense. Oxfam has a political agenda. It published outright lies about the situation in Gaza, for example, blaming Israel for anything and everything which was nothing to do with Israel. Believing them as the default option is ignorant beyond words.

Good on you, Trundlemaster.

Nearly Oxfordian said:”Good on you, Trundlemaster.”

Thanks but maybe I should clarify. I’m not saying that there are no reasons to criticise Israel after all countries have problems or things that can be legitimately criticized but I was immediately suspicious of the language used in that policy. However, the language used in the policy is far too close to that used by left wing antisemites and their allies.

This policy DOES no matter how much the Greens would deny it, target only Israel and says little if nothing about the activities of the other players in the regi on. There are legitimate criticisms to make of Israel as there is of many of many other countries but there is a danger that organisations that do publicise legitimate criticisms of Israel are used by groups of an altogether more sinister nature.

Ms Luxton wrote:

“I just took a look at his website for the first time and didn’t linger long - it’s pretty inaccessible and difficult to work out quite where he’s coming from. It just looked like a load of conspiracy theory nonsense to me, which I’ve got no time for, and pretty much anti- everything. Likewise I don’t know if his material is anti-semitic or not - I didn’t delve deep enough; it’s certainly gibberish though. I’ll happily leave whoever is dealing with any internal disciplinary procedure the dubious joy of ploughing through that!

I wasn’t ever questioning whether or not Gosling’s writing was anti-semitic, like I said I haven’t read it (and hadn’t previously even heard of the guy), I was just trying to work out what people found offensive and anti-semitic about the policy that was passed at Autumn Conference.”

Ms. Luxton,

Thank you for your answers.

Please can you stand back for a moment and consider this paradox:

1.you can state with ABSOLUTE certainty that there is NO chance of any anti-Jewish racism entering the Green’s attitude towards Israel

2. yet when presented with Gosling’s web site you reply “Likewise I don’t know if his material is anti-semitic or not - I didn’t delve deep enough; it’s certainly gibberish though.”

Gosling’s web site is to anti-Jewish racism what the Daily Star and Page 3 of The Sun are to sexism, it is dripping with anti-Jewish content, which brings up the question:

if educated people can’t spot the content of such sites and the implications of it then you have to wonder WHY? and whether or not their judgments on these topics are objective, informed and sound?

I don’t say that last bit in a nasty way, as I’ll bet your views are fairly representative of many Greens, a raft of Guardian readers and a chunk of the chattering classes.

That is, some forms of anti-Jewish racism could be an inch from your collective noses and it simply would not register.

and I am left wondering WHY that is so?

it is not lack of education or deficiency of history, but here is something that impedes an understanding or sensitivity to certain forms of anti-Jewish racism.

I am NOT, I must stress, accusing you of racism or anything close to that, I am NOT.

but your attitude (and I appreciate it was an honest sentiment on your part) shows a certain indifference, an insensitivity

I am trying to comprehend WHY the educated white English middle classes have seemingly such a problem grasping the nature and motifs associated with modern anti-Jewish racism? particularly when it comes from unexpected sources (not the Far Right)?

Ms. Luxton, why do you think that is so?

I am sure that you and the Greens are familiar with sexism, anti-Black racism, anti-Irish, anti-Roma, etc undercurrents?

if so, why does Gosling’s material seem to slip under the Green radar?

Hi modernityblog
I don’t think it’s slipped under the radar in that people read it and thought this isn’t anti-semitic or whatever, just that either a) most of us in the party were blissfully unaware of either Tony Gosling or his website and b) that any member who did chance upon his website thought ‘blimey, what a load of inaccessible drivel’ and didn’t bother venturing further to actually read any of the stuff. We’re a small party with a small number of overworked activists and a tiny paid staff - we just don’t have the resources to monitor this kind of thing. However, now that it has been brought to the attention of the national executive, I hope that appropriate action will be taken.

Ms. Luxton,

Thanks for the reply.

let me put it another way,

IF Gosling had, hypothetically, stated that “Blacks cause crime” or “immigration is the root of all problems”, or that “women should be kept at home and not educated, just there to service man” (along with other racist nonsense)

then you and other Greens would NOT hesitate or say “Likewise I don’t know if his material is racist (sexist) or not” it would have been plain that it was and your Party would have acted quickly

and in the above hypothetical example, Gosling would be kicked out of the Greens before you could say “recycle”

yet when it comes to anti-Jewish racism there is some question, some puzzlement, some lack of understanding by otherwise educated people

had Gosling come out with unambiguous attacks on women, Blacks, the Irish, the Roma, etc there wouldn’t be any delay, no excuses or questions, but as he chooses Jews, well, hmm..

and I just wonder why?

why is there that indifference to anti-Jewish racism?

Just to say appropriate measures are going on as we speak and Gosling will be dealt with.

http://www.bristolgreenparty.org.uk/nr/081126suspension.htm