By-election News. East Ham Central; The Runners and Riders
*This article has been amended to remove references to the Candy Shack. These were incorrectly included in connection with Ms Kamali. Ms Kamali has made it clear that she has no ongoing connection with the Candy Shack and we are happy to make that clear.
The Runners and Riders in the East Ham Central by-election hurdles are being drawn together. The party has decreed that this will be an all-women shortlist and by now, every female member of the local East and West Ham parties should have received an email inviting them to submit their names should they wish to stand for the council.
There is clearly so little trust in the local parties that the selection process is being run by the London Region Officers. They should all be declared by mid-February.
What the informed opinion is telling us (and by informed opinion we mean rumour) is that there are three women that Fiaz has offered support to. We are not sure if she has told all of them this or just given individuals a nod and a wink. All can be expected to offer their loyalty to her, (until there is a better offer).
Insofar as we understand it, the runners with the inside track are:
Shagufta Nasreen
Shagufta is an influential member of the ‘Pakistani faction’ of Green Street West. This will not be her first time seeking a nomination for a seat in a council by election.
We are told that 6-8 years ago Nasreen applied to stand as a councillor.
Not knowing much about her, it appears that one of the councillors decided to check out her Facebook page. This was unfortunate for her as her postings were somewhat worse than the items posted by two sitting councillors.
She was, we are told reported to the London Region of the Labour Party who took a dim view of her rampant antisemitic postings and they barred her from standing.
We continue to make enquiries to try to unearth the material that was submitted and will publish it if we are successful. We have been able to gather two references. Unfortunately, the videos that they refer to on YouTube have been removed because, well…
So, you get some idea of the nature of the content. In one she encouraged readers to check out an “important video” giving a history of why the Germans hated the Jews, and why ultimately the Jews were responsible for the second world war. In short, they were money grabbing plutocrats who impoverished ordinary Germans. On the other hand, they were revolutionary communists who undermined the German state. This was posted without any sense of irony.
The other post was in praise of her spiritual mentor in Pakistan. A Dr Qadri who founded the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), a right-wing Islamist party. When speaking in Urdu, Dr Qadri spoke at length about how he was responsible for instituting the Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan. “Whoever commits blasphemy, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, man or woman, Christian or Jew, whoever commits blasphemy should be killed”.
But when on one of his frequent trips to the west and speaking in English he said that the blasphemy laws were only applicable to Muslims. What? Is that supposed to mitigate the law? We won’t kill Christians (actually they do) but it's ok to kill Muslims who think the wrong way?
Shagufta swiftly took down her Facebook page. There is however, no evidence that she changed her mind on either her anti-Semitism nor on her support for a lying right-wing religious bigot.
But she will be supportive of Mayor Fiaz, so that’s ok. It is interesting that the supporter of a rabidly right-wing bigot in Pakistan can be considered part of the Labour mainstream in London.
You work it out.
Rohima Rahman
Rohima is the first of the Bangladeshi candidates. And is seeking to stand again having previously been dropped by Labour.
We have reflected on Rohima’s woes previously and on how her husband was suddenly dropped from all of the Labour Party leaflets prior to the election, only suddenly to reappear with the Labour Whip after he got elected.
Rohima and Mohammed had some unfortunate interactions with the police and Tower Hamlets social services with regard to the treatment of children they fostered. In the end it never went to court and the matter was dropped. However, at the time of the last local elections, matters were still in pending and the former Gen Sec, one Jenny Formby, upon hearing that two candidates were being threatened with prosecution for offences against a child, demanded that both stand down.
Husband, Mohammed Rahman was quicker off the mark and got his signed forms into the town hall before he could be stopped, (hence he stood as a Labour candidate but didn’t appear on the Labour material). Rohima was less fortunate. Having been hoisted onto the hapless members of Plaistow South, who were denied a say or a vote on the matter, she was suddenly dropped.
For Rohima, fame and glory now beckon in the shape of East Ham Central.
Whether they will get much back for their support is another matter.
Sabia Kamali
Sabia has a track record of fighting council elections, except that previously she fought them for a different party.
She is the second of the Bangladeshi women on Fiaz’s favoured list. She moved into Newham from Tower Hamlets where she had been active in the local communitarian political party, Tower Hamlets First (TH1); basically, a reincarnation of Respect. And in Tower Hamlets she stood for election against Labour.
So why would a sectarian politician in Tower Hamlets become a social democrat in Newham? There is a possibility that she didn’t.
TH1 once controlled Tower Hamlets, until unfortunately for them, Mayor Rahman was removed by the courts for corruption. Since then, Respect/TH1 members have filtered back into the Labour Party with the aim of taking over the party mechanisms and unseating Mayor John Biggs. The same process is occurring in Newham, save that this time they want to keep the mayor in office. Or at least, some do.
It is at least possible that Kamali sees her only route to elected office as being by way of the Labour Party, they do after all have 61 seats out of the 61 available.
She is linked to the leftie magazine The Chartist who are dedicated to the “struggle to find democratic alternatives to the oppression, exploitation and injustices of capitalism and class society”. Great to see the petit bourgeoisie complicit in their own destruction.
She is a regular presenter on a web based TV channel aimed at the Bangladeshi community.
We will bring news of the other riders as these become available.