#ItWasAScam: Open Letter to Sussex Police
Dear Sir or Madam,
You recently rang me up to issue ‘words of advice’ about a tweet I posted. I’ve made a formal complaint about the call, but I would like to explain this a little further, since I don’t appear to be understood.
I have been campaigning on twitter since 2016 about the alleged ‘Labour antisemitism crisis’. I have posted evidence that the ‘crisis’ was, and is, a fraud. The accusations used to create and sustain it are all provably fraudulent. The word ‘scam’ has been used to describe this fraud.
I have listed ten of these frauds on a blog post, and it is these ten frauds which are the subject of debate here.
https://twitter.com/simonmaginn/status/1384258661493608451
I began a twitter hashtag, #ItWasAScam, last year, which is now widely used on twitter in relation to this political debate. I have tweeted a great many times about it.
This is the recent tweet that has been objected to, and which you rang me up to issue ‘words of advice’ about:
https://twitter.com/simonmaginn/status/1490097886763393030
It is addressed to ‘Jew-hate scammers’. This is a shorthand for ‘those who propagate the “Labour antisemitism crisis” fraud’. It says, ‘If you try it [‘the scam’] on here [‘on twitter’] you will be confronted, and you will lose.’ This is plainly a statement about twitter activity: we engage in debates, and our opponents invariably lose.
The tweet then goes on to say this: ‘There are more and more of us all the time, we are informed, we are organised…’
This is simply true: the twitter following for #ItWasAScam is growing every day, there is now also a Facebook group, and we are increasingly organised as a debating team. The phrase, ‘we are informed’ here is key: what we are talking about is information. #ItWasAScam is solely about presenting publicly available information which has been suppressed. Thus, ‘We are coming for you’ can only here mean, ‘We are going to present you with this information on twitter’. If the words are interpreted as a threat, what threat is it? That those claiming to be threatened will be informed? How can being informed on twitter be ‘threatening’ to anyone?
‘Things have changed’ means we are no longer willing to accept the false ‘Labour antisemitism crisis’ accusations (‘the scam’), and will contest them openly on twitter.
I have been making this argument since 2016. I have received daily abuse, attempts at intimidation and threats of physical violence from opponents. I have been vilified as an antisemite without the slightest justification, since I have been crystal clear from the outset that we do not accuse Jews of anything at all. Many supporters of #ItWasAScam are Jewish, and many of the victims of false accusations of antisemitism are also themselves Jewish.
Those accused by #ItWasAScam are centrist and right-wing Labour MPs and the media. Not Jews. I published an FAQs document which explains exactly what we are and are not saying.
https://simonmaginn.medium.com/itwasascam-faqs-24f6b662e769
I hope this helps clarify the context around my tweet, which is no more than a simple statement that #ItWasAScam is a growing movement, and that we are going to continue to actively challenge the frauds that characterise the ‘Labour antisemitism crisis’ narrative.
In this context, I think it is of great importance that Sussex Police recognise my right to campaign peacefully and lawfully on twitter, and to understand that attempts by political opponents to criminalise the campaign raise serious issues around free expression and political free speech.
Yours sincerely,
Simon Maginn