What are Jeremy Corbyn and Nadia Whittome doing with the (German) Rosa Luxemburg Foundation?

More on "Commie WeWorks"

I first discovered the existence of the the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (and its London office) while researching the registered interests of Jeremy Corbyn and Carla Denyer (co-leader of the Green Party).

The register showed they had received donations from an organisation titled “We Deserve Better”.

Corbyn’s below (since repaid):

Denyer’s here (both received £15k total *with Corbyn repaying his)

The website for We Deserve Better spoke of 9 MPs working together.

Although I couldn’t find We Deserve Better on Companies House, I searched for the address it was associated with: Pelican House, 144 Cambridge Heath Road, London E1 5QJ.

I now call this address “Commie WeWorks”. It’s a cooperative where a load of left-wing organisations can be found.

One of them is Green New Deal Rising, which seems to be another name for We Deserve Better. Below are six “Green New Deal Rising Champions” listed on Green New Deal Rising’s website:

Several MPs campaigned for Green New Deal Rising right before the election:

gndrising

A post shared by @gndrising

Others apparently involved include Apsana Begum and Bell Ribeiro-Addy:

Perhaps explaining why Ribeiro-Addy is in this photo:

Also at Pelican House, 144 Cambridge Heath Road, London E1 5QJ is the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, which is “one of the largest political education institutions in the Federal Republic of Germany”…

It has a regional office, run by a woman called Johanna Bussemer:

Facebook suggests she lives in Berlin:

Whatever the case, her photos include some familiar faces:

Anyway, it’s worth pointing out that the (German) Rosa Luxemburg Foundation has pumped money into the 4 DAY WEEK CAMPAIGN LTD, which is based at Pelican House:

(You’ll also spot the Scottish government chipping in some funding. Mysterious!)

I haven’t yet had time to look at the accounts of the other companies at Pelican House but it’s clear Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung has a relationship with Corbyn and other MPs:

Last year Whittome’s register of interests include a trip organised by the foundation:

There appears to be a degree of coordination with this organisation, set up in London “to broaden and deepen the foundation’s work in Western Europe and English-speaking countries” and organise “Models for a Brave New World”.

The questions that arise from this are:

• Are these MPs working in concert and, if so, have they been transparent enough about this fact?

• Does this mean foreign (German) funding is influencing British democracy?

• Are campaign groups being given different names - We Deserve Better versus Green New Deal - to make “the few” (organisation wise) look like “the many”?

And there’s more to come…

Support my journalism with a paid subscription

I try to keep most of my content free - so that as many as possible can have the info. Please consider a paid subscription or PayPal/ Buy me a Coffee donation if you want me to keep nosing! (I am basically “crowdfunded”). Thank you to everyone who has supported my work to date!

---

More info here:

An introduction to "Commie WeWorks"

We Deserve Better (than not knowing who funds Jeremy Corbyn and Carla Denyer)

'Green New Deal' - that green deal you definitely remember voting for!