Exposed: Labour-linked reparations activist’s controversial past
Esther Stanford-Xosei and Bell Ribeiro-Addy shared a platform
An activist who helped to launch an All-Party Parliamentary Group on reparations said that African-heritage people had “special rights” because they were in Britain first, GB News can reveal.
Esther Stanford-Xosei, director of the Maangamazi Educational Trust, was filmed speaking at an event in Brixton earlier this month where she called on black Britons to “claim land wherever we are” because “we are a nation in formation.”
Comparing African-heritage people to the Cornish national minority, Stanford-Xosei called on them to “leverage our access to land rights here.”
Later in her speech, she said: “And we can exercise forms of autonomy and self-determination even here. Jewish people do it. Muslim communities do it. Hindu communities do it. Why can’t we, as African people, do it? We can!”
Stanford-Xosei spoke after Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the chair of the APPG for Afrikan Reparations, which according to its website is focused on “exploring policy proposals on reparations and development, and how best to redress the legacies of African enslavement and colonialism.”
The activist was formerly the Public Enquiry Point of the parliamentary group at launch in November 2021 and her trust was listed on its official website at the time.
It is not known when Stanford-Xosei’s formal relationship with the APPG ceased. The Public Enquiry Point is now a staffer at Ribeiro-Addy’s parliamentary office.
The charged comments at the event in South London come amid a history of the activist making controversial claims and sharing panels with contentious individuals.
In footage seen by GB News, Stanford-Xosei took part in a panel discussion broadcast online in which she and other speakers made conspiratorial claims.
Stanford-Xosei said that, “just like we have seen with BLM [referring to campaign group Black Lives Matter],” the “movement” was being funded in order to distract people as part of an “agenda” involving the CIA, MI5 and MI6.
She added that this was, “all I can really say on this platform”.
Esther Stanford-Xosei helped to set up Parliament's All-Party Parliamentary Group on reparations
Another panellist, identified as Leo Muhammad, said that Jews weren’t the “real Jews” but black people were. Quoting from biblical scripture, he said Jews were “of the synagogue of Satan.”
Muhammad repeatedly referenced Louis Farrakhan and recommended a book about Jews and the slave trade which was published by the Nation of Islam, which the Anti-Defamation League has said has “maintained a consistent record of antisemitism”.
In later comments Muhammad said that “the Jewish community played a significant role in our enslavement process”, adding that Jews had been “profiting from our misery” and that “they have systematically worked over many years to prevent the growth and development of black people whilst masquerading as our friend”.
He added that there were “white Jews who I believe are genuine people trying to practise the faith of Judaism” and that if so they were “brothers and sisters in faith.”
Campaigner Warren Alexander-Dean, who also spoke but appeared off camera at the event, made a shocking claim that “homosexuality is part of the black genocide agenda.”
He continued: “I just want to say that with the Black Lives Matter, one of the key things is this homosexuality. It goes against the black agenda. If we all became homosexual tomorrow, i.e. all black people on the planet, there’d be genocide, we’d be extinct within about fifty to seventy years.”
Stanford-Xosei did not challenge Warren-Davies when he made his charged outburst. The host of the panel event responded by saying: “Thank you very much brother for sharing your thoughts.”
The comments were made at a rally in Brixton earlier this month
Alka Sehgal Cuthbert, director of campaign group Don’t Divide Us, said “The calls for reparations that activists like Esther Stanford-Xosei are calling for are frankly ridiculous.
“The far more worrying problem is the political irresponsibility shown by the APPG on Afrikan Reparations when they take these ideas seriously.”
She added: “These are ideas that are reintroducing racialised thinking into British society and seeing everything through a racialised lens.
“Absolutely no good can come from this at all. It’s extremely divisive.”
Stanford-Xosei did not respond to questions from GB News.
A staffer at Bell Ribeiro-Addy’s parliamentary office said that they could not comment or offer any information when contacted.
The remaining MPs on the APPG were contacted for comment.
Warren Alexander-Dean and Leo Muhammad were approached by this broadcaster and had not responded to our questions by the deadline provided.