Tuesday 11 July 2017

Coup at Freedom?

IT seems that there has been a kind of coup at Freedom, with Simon Saunders (the acting editor of Freedom) getting rid of Andy [Meinke].  It's not easy to follow what's going on, but on his Facebook page on the 8th, June, Andy [Meinke] writes:
'
If the saga of my suspension was a sign of Freedom taking misogyny and patriarchy seriously it would be worth it.  In fact the majority of people involved in Freedom have just abdicated any responsibility for dealing with these issues.
  Meantime Freedom has another issue which illustrates perfectly what's wrong with the group at the moment.  Someone wrote an article for the Freedom website about the disruption of a pro Syrian government meeting at the Marx Memorial Library.  The acting Freedom editor (Simon Saunders) refuses to put it on the website saying attacking the far left is not what Freedom is concentrating on....   However the Editors paid job is for the Morning Star newspaper.  That should be something that he is aware of and reflects on his own potential and perceived bias however when this conflict of interest is pointed out by her he responds by saying she's "internet stalking him"....   Comrades are entitled to know what the Editor of Freedom does for a living.'


There's more, much more, but it just looks like a cheap power struggle between Andy Meinke and Simon Saunders.  We'll just have wait and see if the Friends of Freedom can do anything to improve things.


An Alternative View:

My own feeling is Andy wouldn't have been deposed by just one person. Others must have at the very least provided Simon with tacit support.

Simon shouldn't have any problems with either the CPB or the Morning Star. They're on fairly good terms with senior people in the Greens (esp those who have an anarchist bent), Stop the War and Corbyn's Labour.

To take a public position on Syria can invite intense harassment and denunciation from opponents.
Chances are the event at the Marx Memorial Library referred to is the one in this article. https://bsnews.info/bravo-marx-memorial-library-workers-school/

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