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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/06/labour-tolerate-foreign-socialist-abuses-thornberry-venezuela-nicolas-maduro
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| Thornberry: Labour will not tolerate abuses by 'socialist' regimes | Thornberry: Labour will not tolerate abuses by 'socialist' regimes |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A Labour government would not indulge human rights abuses by Britain’s allies or by regimes that “call themselves ‘socialist’ but … betray every socialist ideal”, the shadow foreign secretary will say on Wednesday. | |
| The reference by Emily Thornberry, when she sets out her proposed policy under a Labour government, is intended as a clear rebuke to the record of the Venezuelan government led by Nicolás Maduro. | The reference by Emily Thornberry, when she sets out her proposed policy under a Labour government, is intended as a clear rebuke to the record of the Venezuelan government led by Nicolás Maduro. |
| JeremyCorbyn has so far opposed the decision made by a majority of European Union states, including the UK, to recognise the rival Venezuelan leader Juan Guaidó as interim president, but Thornberry is eager to ensure that Labour’s opposition to interference is not misconstrued as support for the Maduro regime. Guaidó’s party is a member of the Socialist International, with which Labour is affiliated. | |
| The key themes of Thornberry’s speech at the Institute for Government setting out her vision of a Labour foreign policy will inevitably draw parallels with the ethical foreign policy set out by Robin Cook as the first foreign secretary of Tony Blair’s 1997 government. | The key themes of Thornberry’s speech at the Institute for Government setting out her vision of a Labour foreign policy will inevitably draw parallels with the ethical foreign policy set out by Robin Cook as the first foreign secretary of Tony Blair’s 1997 government. |
| At the same time she will underline her aversion to trying to reshape the Middle East, or staking everything on UK relations with Washington. Corbyn has been reluctant to support military interventions in any crisis, including in Syria, leading to claims that his dislike of American imperialism leads him to soft-soap forces opposed to Washington, such as Russia. | |
| Chakrabarti defends Jeremy Corbyn's Venezuela remarks | Chakrabarti defends Jeremy Corbyn's Venezuela remarks |
| In her speech, Thornberry will say the current Foreign Office has lost its purpose with a “mission that has been muddied by an increasingly narrow focus on the promotion of trade and exports in anticipation of Brexit”. | In her speech, Thornberry will say the current Foreign Office has lost its purpose with a “mission that has been muddied by an increasingly narrow focus on the promotion of trade and exports in anticipation of Brexit”. |
| As a consequence, key principles around values and human rights have been downgraded, she will claim. | As a consequence, key principles around values and human rights have been downgraded, she will claim. |
| Promising to restore the morale of a department that has suffered cuts and the loss of key responsibilities, she will say that “our values will never again be sacrificed on the altar of our commercial interests”. | Promising to restore the morale of a department that has suffered cuts and the loss of key responsibilities, she will say that “our values will never again be sacrificed on the altar of our commercial interests”. |
| Maduro is the president of Venezuela. He served as the interim president upon the death of Hugo Chávez in March 2013, and won a hastily arranged general election in April 2013, narrowly defeating opposition candidate Henrique Capriles. | |
| Maduro was previously a bus driver and trade union leader. He was elected to the national assembly in 2000 and was appointed to a number of government positions by Chávez, including foreign minister | |
| The president, who lacks the charisma of his predecessor, has seen his approval ratings plunge amid widespread food shortages and triple-digit inflation. He stands accused of authoritarianism over his crackdowns on protests and attempts to shut off opposition paths to power. He claims he is the target of a US-backed economic war aimed at removing socialist control over the world's biggest oil resources | |
| She will say: “It has become a disturbing mantra in the last two decades that the maintenance of our strategic alliances – other than with Europe of course – is the consideration allowed to subsume all others. | She will say: “It has become a disturbing mantra in the last two decades that the maintenance of our strategic alliances – other than with Europe of course – is the consideration allowed to subsume all others. |
| “Theresa May doesn’t even have the misguided ideological fixation that Tony Blair had on reshaping the Middle East, just an instinctive panicked reaction to Brexit, which says this is not the time to lose friends elsewhere, no matter who those friends are or whether they behave as friends should. | “Theresa May doesn’t even have the misguided ideological fixation that Tony Blair had on reshaping the Middle East, just an instinctive panicked reaction to Brexit, which says this is not the time to lose friends elsewhere, no matter who those friends are or whether they behave as friends should. |
| “But a Labour government would, I guarantee, be different – simply by applying the principle I have spelt out that above our alliances, above the protection and pursuit of our commercial and security interests, there must be certain values and rules, which we take to be inviolable and that we will apply with consistency. And the keyword there is consistency. | “But a Labour government would, I guarantee, be different – simply by applying the principle I have spelt out that above our alliances, above the protection and pursuit of our commercial and security interests, there must be certain values and rules, which we take to be inviolable and that we will apply with consistency. And the keyword there is consistency. |
| “Because for too long, and this was as true of the past Labour government as it is true of this Conservative one, there has been a grave tendency to patronise and punish those nations with whom our trade links and strategic alliances are less important – because their human rights abuses are safe to criticise and their breaches of international law are easy to support UN resolutions against – while the stronger countries have had their own abuses and crimes ignored and indulged. | “Because for too long, and this was as true of the past Labour government as it is true of this Conservative one, there has been a grave tendency to patronise and punish those nations with whom our trade links and strategic alliances are less important – because their human rights abuses are safe to criticise and their breaches of international law are easy to support UN resolutions against – while the stronger countries have had their own abuses and crimes ignored and indulged. |
| “Kick-down and kiss-up has never been my personal style, and it would not be my policy as foreign secretary. But nor will we ever lurch in the other direction: the point is not to turn the tables, but to treat both sides the same. | “Kick-down and kiss-up has never been my personal style, and it would not be my policy as foreign secretary. But nor will we ever lurch in the other direction: the point is not to turn the tables, but to treat both sides the same. |
| “So, under a Labour Foreign Office, I can also guarantee there will be no indulgence of human rights abuses because they are committed by less powerful countries, or by governments who call themselves ‘socialist’ but who, by their actions, betray every socialist ideal.” | “So, under a Labour Foreign Office, I can also guarantee there will be no indulgence of human rights abuses because they are committed by less powerful countries, or by governments who call themselves ‘socialist’ but who, by their actions, betray every socialist ideal.” |
| Emily Thornberry | Emily Thornberry |
| Labour | Labour |
| Nicolás Maduro | Nicolás Maduro |
| Venezuela | Venezuela |
| Human rights | Human rights |
| Foreign policy | |
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