Today, I attended the Reclaim the Internet conference in London. Yvette Cooper MP hosted the event and I’m looking forward to getting more involved in this campaign to make the internet a safer, more accessible space for everyone.
My own experiences, especially during my election for NEC and after I won, have shown that the Internet can be horrendous. Every time I express an opinion I have anonymous trolls and often fellow Labour members telling me how wrong and stupid I am. The worst part of the internet bullying I have found has came from people I know and work with. Whether that’s harassment on social media, or young members who spoke for my opposition during my election now wearing my campaign t-shirt to clubs or on TV with the sole purpose of mocking me, it’s hurtful. I knew my post-election life wouldn’t be easy, and I’ve tried to address situations in the most professional manner since. However, I have brushed off bullying, harassment and intimidation that I would never tolerate if directed towards another Young Labour member. This isn’t an acceptable manner to treat one another, its not acceptable that I’ve locked myself away crying when I’ve seen people I work with mocking me on Facebook statuses and tweets. I am the elected NEC Youth Rep, I was elected in Scarborough in February and young members have a right to hold me to account. But holding me to account is not harassing me by sending 20 emails within the space of two days asking how I will vote and threatening me that if I don’t vote “the right way” there will be consequences. Holding me to account is not flooding my status telling me how wrong and how stupid I am. And holding me to account is not mocking me on TV by wearing my campaign t-shirt when you actively supported my opposition. I will continue to be incredibly open by constantly updating young members with what I’m doing on social media, creating surveys to take into account young members views, asking your questions during my NEC meetings and sharing with you my NEC reports. But I’m not going to tolerate this anymore by remaining silent. I will be tackling all and any forms of bullying and abuse within Young Labour by working with the party and the NEC. Why? Because if I let people get away with treating me in this way then how can I stand up for other young members who have had the same experiences? The Reclaim the Internet conference today was eye opening seeing how other women in our party deal with similar forms of online harassment. As Yvette said today, we should not stand by whilst online abuse and hatred are widespread, and we in the Labour Party must urgently wake up to the online abuse within our party now.
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AuthorJasmin Beckett Archives
June 2017
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