Read on Twitter
I’ve mostly stayed off Twitter, and a friend has been tweeting for me. I try not to post personal things on here, but a few days ago I lost someone incredibly close to me. To not be able to grieve in peace is a damning indictment of what this movement has become.
The past few weeks have been unbelievably difficult. More times than I can count I have wanted to step down because of the constant stream of subtweeting and callousness.
I stood in this election to fight for the 1000s of students like me. Alongside personal caring duties I worked 25 hours a week during my degree just so that I could afford to stay in uni. Towards the end of my degree, I was working full time.
Whichever group you’re from or whatever your politics are, my story isn’t different or new. Many candidates and countless comrades have experienced the same thing, but continue to organise on the ground because we know we have to.
Young Labour was meant to be an organising space for change, so the next generation of students wouldn’t have to face the same battles we did. Contested elections are a good thing. They push candidates to listen to each other and build a movement that makes place for everyone.
I was proud to stand alongside Fraser and Micaela who have incredible track records in the Labour and student movement. The Twitter fiasco that has built up surrounding this campaign has been entirely unnecessary and hurtful - not to mention damaging - to so many.
To have my eligibility questioned, asked if this was ‘something else I want to take on’, then be applauded for saying I’ll drop out & tweet defending your candidate to end hostility, but then not be worth respect when personal circumstances mean I don’t do this ‘on time’ is awful
The precedent that has been set for Young Labour elections is appalling. Whichever side you’re on, we need to build a culture of calling in, not calling out; to organise alongside and not organise against.
This thread is not an invitation for a new round of twitter recrimination, it’s a call for a socialist, anti-racist practice of honesty and accountability on all sides. We need to remember that, by design, Twitter will never be a real space for this.
Solidarity is a verb, and I’m so grateful to all the comrades for the messages, phone calls and reminders of the student wing we want to build. Thank you for nominating me, getting me on the ballot, and helping me top the ballot in Momentum’s primaries.
You deserve a Student Rep who is able to actively campaign with and for you, support you and represent you. But I’m too exhausted to deal with what’s said about me in campaign group chats or quote tweets on private twitters. You’re all accountable to yourselves.
We’re all fighting our own battles. I want to cry in peace, hold my family, and honour Afaf by carrying her spirit of activism in the most honourable way possible. If this election is going to stop me doing that, I want no part of it.
