'Anti-Racist' Labour Activist Linked To Vile Attack On Diane Abbott
A Labour activist who claims to be fighting racism and misogyny is facing questions after it emerged that her husband posted a sickening attack on Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott on his Facebook account.
Gary Picken - who clearly does not share the views of his wife, self-styled 'fighter against antisemitism and misogyny' Emma Picken - posted the image shown above, of an overweight black woman on public transport, with the message:
"Poor old Diane Abbott is struggling with the commute to Parliament. She said 'It's hotter than the Antarctic Circle with temparaturs sawing (sic) to 600 degrees Celcienheit'"
Originally posted in April, the post was still on his timeline earlier this week - since the news emerged Mr Picken has hidden his Facebook posts, so it may well still be on his timeline.
Readers may be aware of Ms Picken's online activity as an 'activist' for Labour Against Antisemitism (LAAS) where she and her cohort mount concerted attacks against anyone who they feel does not meet their standards against prejudice.
(For those unfamiliar with her, this 'activism' mainly takes the form of attacks on Labour campaigners who express support for Palestinian rights and deplore the actions of the Israeli state)
That she has failed to condemn or even criticise such abhorrent racist and misogynist material posted by a member of her actual household must raise serious questions about her purported commitment to act against prejudice - or at least suggest that she is at best 'selective' about the kind of prejudice she considers to be 'worth' fighting.
Emma Picken campaigned for former Lewisham East MP Heidi Alexander (below, right). Ms Alexander was succeeded last year by Janet Daby MP (below, left), who has been contacted to ask for her views on a member of her CLP being linked to an attack on a fellow woman of colour in politics.
Ms Picken and LAAS were made aware of the post and concerns over her failure to condemn such obvious bigotry by dozens of Twitter users.
At the time of writing there had been no response from Ms Picken or LAAS - other than to have locked their Twitter profiles to non-followers...