Get well soon Diane Abbott: You’re not alone

We all know that today’s politics is a ‘blood sport’; If you are faint hearted and or have thin skin, then don’t go into politics.

But what  Diane Abbott has been forced to endure, and not just in this election campaign but over many years, has gone way beyond the ‘punch and Judy’, hurly burly of British politics.

No other politician in the UK has had to endure so many  years of such personal misogynistic and racially aggressive, including  threats as Diane Abbott. Furthermore, unlike some politician who have led the country, political parties or held senior Government offices, Abbott has only been a Shadow Minister and or  for most of her time 24 years in Parliament, a back bench MP.

Three months ago for the first time ever, Diane Abbott’s office highlighted the level of threats and abuse she has sadly become accustomed to. Some threats had been reported to the police, but most just filled cabinet draws marked ‘abuses’.

At the time we wrote about it on our blog:

Anyone who knows Diane Abbot will testify she is a strong proud Black woman who has constantly faced hostility because of her race, gender and her socialist beliefs. But she is only human too, and this deluge of abuse and hatred not only affects her, but also her family and her ability to serve effectively as a Member of Parliament."

It now looks as though the politics of hateful abuse along with the added pressure of being in frontline politics have taken their toll on Diane, and she’s now unwell.

Not surprising many of you in the Black community are furious at the treatment Diane has been subject too. Writer Danielle Scott-Haughton recently wrote in her article, ‘Diane Abbott & Unrelenting Misogynoi'r':

Bridget  Minamore outlines clearly and succinctly “racism and misogyny explains why there are so few black women in politics.”

Minamore details Abbott’s experiences of misogynoir (the intersection of racism and sexism) as an example of the challenges all black women politicians face

all Members of Parliament (especially the female ones) get online abuse. But still, I’ve never seen a white female MP get abuse at the scale Abbott does.”

The online abuse Minamore’s article focuses on isn’t from your average, backwater troll. It is public figures “journalists who write about her and her parliamentary peers” and so confident are they in the acceptance of misogynoir by the British public, they do not even seek the protection of anonymity online trolls enjoy.'

If we are to have other Black women in frontline politics, whatever political persuasion they  have we must take a stand against the relentless abuse that Diane Abbott has been subjected to. Of course this is about Diane first and foremost, but it’s also about all of us. When they abue Diane they are abusing us too. Today it's Diane, tomorrow it's Dawn Butler or Helen Grant. And if we show they can get away with it, the next time it’s you or me.

Our message for Diane is that for a quarter of century you have unflinchingly stood by us. We are now resolutely standing by you.

For the hounds of racial hatred, you will not get a free pass on misogyny and racial abuse to our siste Diane.

Keep strong and get well Diane

Simon Woolley