Madam,

Of course Mark Rees (‘Saddened to witness daily online abuse in Facebook groups’) is entitled to his political views, whether or not he is a member of the Labour Party. He is also now entitled to be publicly critical of the leadership of the Labour Party from ‘outside’.

However, he wrote a similar letter of criticism to the Cambrian News as a member, very soon after Jeremy Corbyn’s overwhelming election as leader (involving all the membership). That would suggest to me that he was never willing to give Corbyn a chance from the beginning.

Many of us (and in other parties too) try to keep people together despite some differences of opinion; that’s what keeps a semblance of democracy in our society functioning at all.

In the past, many of us worked for, and supported the party through a long succession of leaders that were much more to Mark’s liking, that is, more right-wing.

Whether or not the Party’s ‘Brexit’ strategy has been correct is still not clear, but it has been a fiendishly difficult issue to resolve in all parties.

Please allow me to deal with two specific criticisms in his letter. Anti-Semitism and other forms of racism are rife throughout society, unfortunately, but the Labour Party tends to attract members who are resolutely opposed to it, and in fact Jeremy Corbyn has a fine active record as an MP of challenging such attitudes.

That doesn’t mean there are not a number of anti-Semites among half a million members, but it certainly didn’t happen suddenly just as Corbyn was elected. He has repeatedly called out real anti-Semitic statements, and these have led to expulsions.

But the party as a whole rightly refuses to accept that pro-Palestinian action (and opposition to many brutal acts by the Israeli military) is in itself ‘anti-Semitic’.

Finally, the question of online abuse.

The only Facebook group that I have seen Mark contributing to is the Ceredigion Labour Party’s page, open to all members. It is not ‘Corbyn-supporting’ as a group, although naturally members tend to support the party leader to a lesser or greater extent.

Yes, there are some vociferous and argumentative contributors, as in all Facebook groups, but any real ‘abuse’ is dealt with by the moderator very effectively and in an even-handed way. Of course, we would prefer everyone to be polite, but unfortunately that tends not to be the way of the online world, as we all know.

Mark’s contributions have been interesting, often dealing with trade union matters, but all too often also containing statements whose clear sole purpose was to provoke a hostile reaction.

We have welcomed Mark’s involvement, and his alternative viewpoints. We would welcome his return, as he no doubt supports most of the party’s very reasonable and necessary policies.

Yours etc,

Maurice Kyle

Vice-chair, Ceredigion Constituency Labour Party.

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