Green MP Caroline Lucas steps down from Stop the War Coalition role

The Green party’s only MP, Caroline Lucas, has announced that she has stepped down from the committee of patrons of the Stop the War Coalition “in light of some of [the group’s] recent positions”.

Lucas, who was formerly a vice-president of the organisation, released a statement on Tuesday saying she had stepped back from the organisation a few weeks ago because of the group’s statements following the Paris attacks and her concerns that Syrians had not been allowed to speak in one of the group’s meetings.

A statement from her office, which also stressed that the former Green party leader shared the group’s opposition to the bombing of Syria, said: “[Lucas’s] busy parliamentary and constituency schedule means that she doesn’t have time to fully engage with the role of a patron and, in light of some recent StWC positions that she didn’t support, she felt standing down was the responsible thing to do.”

The MP’s spokesperson said: “Caroline was specifically troubled by some Stop the War Coalition statements after the Paris atrocities. Though the pieces were subsequently taken down, she felt unable to associate herself with them.
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“She was also concerned that some Syrian voices were not given an opportunity to speak at a recent meeting organised by the StWC in parliament. StWC has played an important role in building the anti-war movement in Britain, and Caroline will continue to work in support of peace.”

Responding to Lucas’s announcement, a statement from the Stop the War Coalition said: “Caroline Lucas indicated a month ago that she wished to step back from involvement in Stop the War. However, we are delighted that both Caroline and Green party leader Natalie Bennett have spoken on Stop the War platforms since to condemn the bombing of Syria. We very much welcome their continued support and that of many Green party activists.”

The spokesperson for the group said there had always been disagreements within the movement: “We are a very big coalition with different organisations within it … and we have very different approaches within it and sometimes we have different approaches tactically.”

“The Greens as a party have been since 2002 affiliated to Stop the War and we don’t expect that to change,” the group added.

Jeremy Corbyn stepped down as chairman of Stop the War – which was formed to oppose military intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq – after he became Labour leader.

Lucas’s statement refers to a Stop the War Coalition meeting in parliament on 2 November, at which it has been claimed that Syrians who wanted to speak were ignored by the meeting’s chair, Diane Abbott, the shadow international development secretary. Lucas later wrote to the Stop the War Coalition to complain about the way the meeting was chaired.

A spokesperson from the Stop the War Coalition said the group disputed accounts given of the meeting. “Our disagreement with some Syrians is that they’ve supported intervention and we’ve taken the view that we should be against British intervention and that the speakers should reflect this ... But we do have contact with different Syrians and we don’t at all rule out having them speak at particular meetings.”

The Stop the War Coalition was heavily criticised when it published an article that claimed: “Paris reaps whirlwind of western support for extremist violence in Middle East, after Isis killed 130 people in the French capital.”

The article, which has since been taken down, added: “Without decades of intervention by the US and its allies there would have been no ‘war on terror’ and no terrorist attacks in Paris.”

The group was also criticised for an article – which has also been taken down – responding to the Commons speech by the shadow foreign secretary, Hilary Benn, on why he would be supporting airstrikes in Syria. It read: “Benn does not even seem to realise that the jihadist movement that ultimately spawned Daesh [Isis] is far closer to the spirit of internationalism and solidarity that drove the International Brigades than Cameron’s bombing campaign.”

Lucas’s announcement comes after Tristram Hunt, the former shadow education secretary, called on Corbyn to pull out of a Christmas fundraising event organised by what he called the “disreputable” group.

Hunt called on Corbyn not to attend the event in light of the group’s decision to picket Labour headquarters last week ahead of the parliamentary vote to extend anti-Isis airstrikes to Syria and the “ugly comments” it made about Benn.

Stop the War responded to Hunt’s comments by saying: “We did not picket Labour party offices, we have unequivocally condemned the terrible massacre in Paris, and we do not take a view on who should hold which office in the Labour party.

“Hunt has been wrong about all the wars Britain has fought this century. He is entitled to his errors, but Stop the War and others are entitled to peacefully protest against them, and we shall continue to do so.”

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/dec/08/caroline-lucas-steps-down-from-stop-the-war-coalition-role


They are allowed to protest and everyone has a right to view this organisation as the lowest form of scum going.

So much for allowing Syrians to speak eh?

Their comments on the Pairs attack must have had every single Daesh supporter in Glee.
Talk about this organisation being the Propaganda Minister for Daesh