“I think Yves should be allowed to run”. That would have been a simple, principled, statement from Avi Lewis. Nonetheless, his criticism of the unelected three person NDP vetting committee’s exclusion of our insurgent campaign adds to the pressure on the Federal Council to intervene against the subversion of party democracy.
Yesterday Lewis emailed a statement critical of the NDP brass’ decision to exclude me from the race to individuals who had previously contacted his campaign about the matter. The letter notes, “I’ve had a chance to review the reasons for disqualifying Yves Engler and honestly I’m disappointed by the way this vetting process was handled.” Lewis also committed to review the undemocratic vetting process if he becomes leader of the party.
Lewis has faced significant pressure over my exclusion in recent days. At a private Palestine focused forum in Toronto ten days ago he was asked about the matter and later that day a dozen rallied in front of his event calling on Avi to criticize the vetting committee. He refused to take questions at that event and an attendee’s extreme reaction to a question about my exclusion circulated widely.
On Sunday a handful of supporters with signs calling for my participation in the race attended Avi’s event in Vancouver. In a bid to minimize their influence, he spoke to them privately for 10 minutes.
A few days ago, I challenged him on the subject in a commentary. “Avi Lewis has driven his supporters down an authoritarian, anti-socialist, path”, began the column. “The NDP leadership candidate’s role in assisting the party establishment’s bid to crush an insurgent campaign doesn’t portend well for an individual whose family’s history is steeped in crushing the left.”
Yesterday’s statement is a response to this pressure. While a step forward, Avi should still be pressed to state “Yves should be allowed to run”.
Avi’s statement is contradictory. His campaign has repeatedly claimed or suggested we’ve broken NDP and/or Elections Canada rules. In a Breech podcast his advisor Martin Lukasc spent 10 minutes claiming my campaign was defying the rules and Avi expressed that position to the Globe and Mail and at an NDP social. Yet he’s now criticizing those same rules. As Jessa McLean opined, “Lol. So Yves Engler takes all these hits from the Lewis camp [for purportedly breaking rules] just for them to use his case as a rallying cry for the change they all knew it [NDP] needed.”
Whatever the circumstances Lewis is right to challenge the rules. The unelected, anonymous, three person vetting committee should be upended. It is anti-Palestinian, pro-imperialist and anti-socialist. I’m proud that my campaign has succeeded in highlighting the odious vetting process and Avi’s statement, which we hope other candidates will echo, will further discredit it.
But confronting the centralization of power within party isn’t without consequence. In denying my candidacy, for instance, the vetting committee actually cited the fact we challenged the undemocratic vetting. They accused me of “promoting baseless conspiracy theories about the fairness of the NDP’s leadership race process” even though many candidates have been excluded for opposing Canada’s complicity in apartheid.
When you seriously confront power — be it the billionaire class, Canadian imperialism or NDP brass — you will be vilified. It’s called a ‘struggle’ for a reason. In a follow-up post McLean added, “How nice it must be to challenge the system without taking any personal risks yourself… Neither Avi, nor most of his supporters, were willing to create even a little bit of space for Yves to challenge the vetting process in this moment. Gatekeeping it for Convention.”
The truth is there’s never been an easy route to upending the centralization of power within the NDP.
Please email the NDP Federal Council to urge councillors to them to investigate the deeply flawed vetting decision and defend members’ right to decide.
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