There’s always been left wingers in teaching unions. I know this because when I was at secondary school in the late 1970’s one of my school’s German language teachers was not just a full on Stalinist who used the East German propaganda magazine ‘GDR Review’ as a teaching aid, but was a big noise in the local National Union of Teachers (NUT).
The teaching profession has been a magnet for far left nutters but the Sun newspaper has revealed that Daniel Kebede the General Secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), the successor organisation to the NUT has been photographed with a ‘Palestinian’ teaching union representative at a shindig for trade unionists in Argentina. The problem for Mr Kebede is that the ‘Palestinian’ union leader in question has praised the pogrom of 7/10 and called this act of mass murder, rape and kidnapping ‘resistance’.
The Sun said:
THE HEAD of Britain’s biggest teachers union posed with a Palestinian activist who described the October 7 terror attack as a “bright day”.
Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the NEU, is on an all expenses paid trip to Buenos Aires in Argentina to meet with other union chiefs.
He has been photographed smiling and posing with Saed Erziqat – the head of the Palestinian teachers union.
Mr Erziqat posted a Facebook statement backing the October 7 slaughter by Hamas.
He also called on governments to “supply the courageous Palestinian resistance” with cash.
He wrote: “A bright day written with letters of honour and fatherhood in the record of the Palestinian strong resistance.
Whilst Mr Kebede has subsequently distanced himself from Erziquat’s comments I can’t help but think that Mr Kebede should have been a bit more careful about who he hobnobs around with and who he is photographed with. Before he got up in public and got himself snapped for posterity with this savage ‘Palestinian’ maybe Mr Kebede should have done a bit more research into this person. If he’d done that he’d certainly have saved himself a whole load of embarrassment. It’s scary to think that a man who is quite happy to stand next to some really awful people who promote awful causes was voted into office by the teachers who we trust to properly teach our children.
Yes, but noticing that Mr Kedebe is a pretty strong leftist, so disgusting anyway to some opinions regardless of who he was photographed with, but note also that he was elected as General Secretary of the union on only a 9% turnout of members. Can union influence be that strong if most of the members didn’t even bother to vote?
I dislike Leftism immensely as only someone who was once involved in it can be. However he’s entitled to his views but maybe he should be a bit more careful about his associates? I must admit that your 9% turnout figure for his election is absolutely shocking but also, speaking as someone who has been a member of several unions (NUJ,PCS and GMB) unsurprising. Branch/Chapel meetings are often so sparsely attended that it leaves them open for the Trots to take over region by region until they’ve got a slate of candidates for election to senior offices.