By Fareed Khan and Jenn Courtney
When British Columbia premier John
Horgan announced his resignation earlier this year, thereby initiating a race
for the leadership of the province’s New Democratic Party, little did anyone expect that it
would end in controversy with the party disqualifying Anjali Appadurai, one of
the two candidates in the race.
Many NDP supporters reacted
to the decision by claiming that it smacks of racism and misogyny, and is the
latest example of how the party has strayed from its social democratic roots
under Horgan's leadership. The party
that prides itself on standing for progressive values, promoting diversity,
equity and inclusivity, fighting racism, and supporting women has done exactly
the opposite with this decision.
The reason given for
Appadurai's disqualification is that she broke rules set out by the NDP for the
leadership race by engaging with a third party to help sell memberships in
support of her candidacy. However, the
rules prohibiting third party engagement came into effect on August 31st and
were retroactively applied to an event Appadurai attended on August 6th. How can someone be disqualified for violating
a rule that did not exist at the time the alleged infraction took place? Appadurai's supporters and long-time party
members have called this retroactive application of the rule unjust and undemocratic,
and expressed disappointment and disgust by this betrayal of NDP values.
One has to wonder what
the party's top leaders were thinking when they made this decision, and how
they treated Appadurai in its aftermath.
According to leaked reports the party did not give her an opportunity to
appeal the disqualification, and a motion at the leadership council to allow an
appeal was dismissed outright.
On its face the
disqualification certainly appears to be an example of racism and misogyny, not
to mention that racialized communities which flocked to support Appadurai will
see it as further political disenfranchisement of people who are vastly
underrepresented in politics.
But the fix seemed to be
in from the beginning. The NDP attacked
Appadurai from the moment she announced her candidacy, and sabotaged her every
step of the way – a flagrantly anti-democratic move against a racialized woman
who dared to threaten the hold of the white boys club at the top of the party.
During the campaign
Appadurai was clearly more successful in selling party memberships than BC cabinet
minister David Eby, the only other candidate in the race who was supported by
the NDP establishment. She brought back
alienated former supporters while energizing new supporters from racialized
communities. She tirelessly recruited
members, who joined with the expectation that they would be able choose who
would lead the party. By disqualifying
Appadurai the party denied those members their democratic right, and damaged
relationships with new and returning supporters. Jagmeet Singh used a similar recruitment
approach when he ran for the federal NDP leadership. The only difference is that Singh was allowed
to run, and eventually became leader of the federal NDP, while Appadurai was
torpedoed for being too successful in her campaign.
What message does the
NDP decision send to young, racialized women in British Columbia? The answer is that they are welcome in the
party as long as they are prepared to be a prop, and they had better not get
uppity, or embarrass those who control the party. At its heart, the decision to terminate
Appadurai’s candidacy speaks directly to the issues faced by all racialized
Canadians in politics, especially racialized women.
With Appadurai’s
disqualification Eby was handed the leadership of the BC NDP on a silver
platter. He was anointed to preserve the
power of the party’s white elites, and we know this because his only opponent,
a Brown woman who was on track to win, was disqualified on the weakest of
pretenses.
It is beyond insulting
for the NDP to use racialized women members as fodder to propagandize support
from racialized communities. But it seems if those women dare to give voters
what they actually want then they had better watch out, because that would threaten
those who control the party, something that cannot be permitted.
In today’s Canada it is
crucial for young, racialized women to see themselves represented in political
leadership roles. The NDP in BC claims
to welcome such women, but in this instance it chose to silence a woman of
colour because she dared to challenge the old boys network. NDP supporters and
BC voters will not forget this betrayal, and the party will pay a political price
when the public realizes that its leaders cannot be trusted to live up to the
values it claims to support.
Fareed Khan is the Founder of Canadians United Against Hate / Canadiens Unis Contre la Haine.
Jenn Courtney is the British Columbia Director for Canadians United Against Hate / Canadiens Unis Contre la Haine.
©
2022 The View From Here. © 2022 Fareed
Khan. All Rights Reserved.
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