BAME Officer – Shezan Renny

We decided to stand candidates for all posts. We would state our arguments for why we suited the post in our statements, but would use our speeches to give voice to the factionalism in our CLP. For the first time in a while we could say how we felt without being silenced.

Our speeches would be an opportunity for the left to articulate the experience of being in Holborn & St Pancras CLP, controlled by a right-wing anti-Corbyn faction endorsed by Keir Starmer.

Holborn Left

At the end a member who is loosely tied to the right-wing faction commented on how he could have predicted how every vote would go before it happened. He had listened to us and taken on board what we said. Only time will tell whether others have too.

Shezan Renny stood for BAME Officer. She and her family have been active in Labour Party politics especially since Jeremy Corbyn became leader. She was BAME Officer in her Branch for a few years and organised a well attended Windrush Event in that capacity. She is now Campaign’s Officer of her Branch. She lost the election, her votes were similar to all the other votes on the night. Here is her speech.

“Hi, I am Shezan Renny, I was BAME Officer of Highgate and am now the Campaigns Officer

I will make every effort to listen to the voice of the grassroots and reflect this through my actions. I have attended GC meetings for the last 4 years and have seen my Comrades and I being silenced and sidelined more and more each year. We are not ‘Trots’, ‘the loony left’, ‘the disrupters’ or ‘the less desirable elements’. We are ‘normal’ members who supported the popularly elected leader of our party and his foreign and national policies based on human rights for all. Corbyn was the true ‘unity candidate’ that many of our MPs unfortunately did not unite behind – this led to our defeat at the polls.

I was a single mother, homeless, lived in a refuge, known real poverty. I understand what Camden’s disadvantaged BAME women, are going through as I’ve experienced it.

A maths teacher – teaching bottom sets in Tottenham engaging, inclusive and accessible lessons. I’ll use these skills, to make our CLP a welcoming place for all members.

• I will support BAME campaigns , organise and host events (even though this CLP found reason to criticise my Windrush event and would not congratulate me).
• I will set up a BAME forum.
• I will work to protect the status of BAME officers in all branches and shall lobby for the BAME Officer Post to be reinstated in the branch where it was abolished.

Please vote for me as your BAME Officer.“