Help Mike Sivier fight libel claim by Rachel Riley & Tracy-Ann Oberman
by Mike Sivier
Mike Sivier
Case Owner
I am a news reporter with more than 25 years' experience who currently runs the influential Vox Political website. I am also a full-time carer for my disabled partner.
27
days to go
£19,155
pledged of £25,000 stretch target from 1,078 pledges
This case is raising funds for its stretch target. Your pledge will be collected within the next 24-48 hours (and it only takes two minutes to pledge!)
Update 13
Mike Sivier
June 27, 2019
Musician's apology proves this fight is about wealth v justice
Today a musician from the band Reverend & the Makers caved to pressure from the legal team representing Rachel Riley and Tracy Ann Oberman and apologised for commenting on the issue for which they have been trying to sue me for libel.
I'm not going to comment on the text of Jon McLure's apology because it won't have been written by him.
I can tell you that I know why he made it: He had been so badly intimidated by the threat of court action by the Riley/Oberman legal team that he said he was becoming ill.
He told me, and others, he felt he was drowning, and could not handle a court case.
So he gave these people exactly what they wanted - an apology, and financial reward, without the exposure that court would have cost them.
He didn't have the cash to fight a legal action, he said. The complainants did, of course.
Mr McLure is not to be criticised for his actions. His health was at risk.
And his story shows the situation is exactly as I have stated since I started this crowdfunding campaign: This is an attempt by wealthy people to create a false impression of their own virtue by abusing the justice system to intimidate people who don't have as much money as them.
Put simply, this is a battle between wealth and justice - and in the case of Mr McLure, justice has lost.
I have no intention of buckling in the face of such appalling behaviour.
If anything, it merely illustrates most graphically the reason for donating to my campaign.
So please forgive me for repeating what I have stated many times before:
If you haven't done so already, please email five of your friends, asking them to pledge to this case.
You could also post a link to Facebook, asking your friends to pledge. Again, the address ishttps://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/
If you're on Twitter, you could tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.
And if you can afford it, please consider pledging some cash yourself.
Please don't let the wealthy abuse the justice system to make more cash - and spread flattering falsehoods about themselves.
Update 12
Mike Sivier
June 20, 2019
No news is BAD news for Mike's libel defence - so please donate!
It is nearly two months since I or my solicitors heard anything from those acting for Rachel Riley and Tracy Ann Oberman in their false claim of libel against me.
This does not mean they have given up. In fact, I think they are waiting to find out the result of my crowdfunding appeal before deciding whether to file proceedings against me.
It is a financial consideration, you see; it has nothing to do with whether I wrote anything defamatory about the two complainants - and we all know that I didn't, in any case.
I think they are waiting to see if I will have raised enough money to be able to defend myself against them in an expensive court case.
At the time of writing, it seems likely that I will not. Libel cases are incredibly expensive and donations to my CrowdJustice appeal have slowed to a trickle.
So my appeal today is for you to ask yourself: Do I want these two people to win, just because they are filthy rich? Am I happy to watch British justice lowering itself to the gutter in that way? Or will I do what I can to make sure that this does not happen?
Those of you who have donated already - many times, in some cases - have already done more than most. But you are best-placed to get the message out to the widest possible number of potential doners.
Here comes the important part that you may have read many times before:
If you haven't done so already, please email five of your friends, asking them to pledge to this case.
You could also post a link to Facebook, asking your friends to pledge. Again, the address ishttps://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/
If you're on Twitter, you could tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.
If the complainants file proceedings after this appeal closes, it will be too late for you to donate.
Please help give them a good reason to think twice about it.
Update 11
Mike Sivier
June 12, 2019
Libel case against Mike could drag on for another year so please donate
I have good news and bad news.
The good news is that neither I nor my solicitors have heard anything from those acting for Rachel Riley and Tracy Ann Oberman since late April. We sent a letter in early May that has received no response.
This suggests that they may have decided not to take any further action - and this would make sense as a court trial would involve discussion of the complainants' behaviour that would certainly prove to be deeply embarrassing to them.
The bad news is that the rules mean they may hold the threat of a trial over me until May 2020.
They have one year from the date I published my article to issue their claim form - and four months in which to issue it after that date.
This means I need to keep my defence fund topped up - which means I must ask you to keep donating to it and keep sharing the appeal so other people can find out about it and make their own contribution.
The response since I started this appeal has been overwhelming. I have no doubt that the fact it has received nearly 1,000 individual donations has given my opponents cause to reconsider their approach.
If they thought public opinion would be on their side, it seems clear they were wrong.
And as further posts on Twitter are solidifying views against them, it seems unlikely that public opinion will swing into their favour.
But I must plan for the possibility that they will continue their attack anyway.
Those of you who have been following this matter from the start may know the following by heart:
If you haven't done so already, please email five of your friends, asking them to pledge to this case.
You could also post a link to Facebook, asking your friends to pledge. Again, the address ishttps://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/
If you're on Twitter, you could tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.
It seems we have the initiative at the moment. Let's not lose it.
Please help ensure this nonsense is squashed.
Update 10
Mike Sivier
June 6, 2019
Another own goal for Rachel Riley and her impressionable friends
One would have thought a woman who is keen to take dozens of people to court for libelling her would be more circumspect about defaming someone else, but that seems not to be the case for Rachel Riley and Tracy Ann Oberman.
It seems they have swallowed a Guido Fawkes fabrication about Jeremy Corbyn hook, line and sinker.
The Fawkes blog has published a smear piece for the D-Day 75th anniversary commemorations, claiming that Mr Corbyn endorsed calls for the UK to disarm during World War II, in an article he wrote in 2003.
But it neglects to mention that Mr Corbyn was reviewing a book about the late Labour MP George Lansbury, who did indeed call for disarmament at an alarming moment in history.
So Mr Corbyn did quote extracts from George Lansbury: At the Heart of Old Labour, as he does here and as Guidoquotes: “As war broke out in 1939 he wrote ‘I am also quite certain that the first great nation that declares its willingness to share the world’s resources, territories and markets and also disarms will be the safest in the world’”
But he also wrote - omitted by Guido: “George lived out his years in frenetic activity for peace travelling across Europe and the United States preaching pacifism and calling for a world conference on economic justice. He controversially met both Hitler and Mussolini in this effort, to no avail. The dogs of war were already out”. That is hardly a ringing endorsement for Mr Lansbury's approach.
The paragraph that Guido claims shows Mr Corbyn's support for George Lansbury's views was in fact referring to the book, not the man: “I hope Tony Blair, on his travels on behalf of George Bush, reads at least that part of this wonderful work.”
It was a comment on the book - and a dig at the warmongering of the then-Labour leader, who at the time was heavily involved in military adventures in the Middle East that ended up causing nothing but more trouble.
Ms Riley failed to check the context and swallowed Guido's story whole:
This is a woman, let's not forget, who is currently suingLabour officer Laura Murray for defamation over her tweet following the egg attack on Jeremy Corbyn in March, in which she endorsed the opinion "If you don't want eggs thrown at you, don't be a Nazi" with the words "Good advice". She is claiming that Ms Murray's observation that she was calling Mr Corbyn a Nazi is "an appalling distortion of the truth", we are told.
Yet her own Twitter feed shows her supporting an appalling distortion of the truth by the Guido Fawkes blog.
And so, it seems, did Ms Oberman.
If you can find the relevant tweets on their respective Twitter feeds, look at the number of people who have supported Ms Riley and Ms Oberman - more than 478 in the former case, 247 in the latter. That's a lot of gullible people who have been taken in by a lie - because people they revere have repeated it?
Fuller details of this affair may be found on Zelo Street.
These are the people who are trying to sue me for defamation. If you think they should not be allowed to get away with it - which seems clear from this evidence alone - please contribute to my defence fund. They have wealth; I do not.
If you haven’t done so already, please email five of your friends, asking them to pledge to this case.
You could also post a link to Facebook, asking your friends to pledge. Again, the address ishttps://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/
If you’re on Twitter, you could tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.
Don't let them buy a win if you don't think they deserve it.
Update 9
Mike Sivier
June 4, 2019
Funds are rolling in but Riley is on her way to court
Nearly £1,000 has been added to my appeal for funds to fight false libel claims by Rachel Riley and Tracy Ann Oberman, since CrowdJustice extended the campaign by 30 days.
We now have nearly £16,000. It's a brilliant start to the extension period and a huge step towards the stretch target of £25,000.
And it may be vital. Last weekend it was revealed that Ms Riley is launching court action for libel - against a Labour Party officer who drew what many consider to be a logical conclusion about one of her tweets.
Is Ms Riley likely to win? I don't think so. But it shows that she will go through with her threats of litigation.
So let's make sure that, if she tries it on me, she has a fight on her hands.
Followers of this issue will know that I believe the complainants in this case are hoping I will not be able to raise enough money to put up a reasonable defence against them, while they have the advantage of substantially larger cash reserves.
This is a battle between wealth and justice, with wealth being used to hide the facts.
Please help ensure that the facts cannot be denied.
If you haven't done so already, please email five of your friends, asking them to pledge to this case.
You could also post a link to Facebook, asking your friends to pledge. Again, the address ishttps://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/
If you're on Twitter, you could tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.
Every penny helps. Every share on the social media helps. Please help.
Update 8
Mike Sivier
May 30, 2019
New lease of life for Mike's libel defence appeal
Just when I was getting ready to admit defeat, CrowdJustice has granted my funding campaign an extra 30 days.
The appeal - for funds to fight false allegations of libel by TV personalities Rachel Riley and Tracy Ann Oberman - had raised £15,000 of its £25,000 "stretch" target, and I thought that was a very good result.
After all, I'm not a well-known celebrity - just a minor internet political commentator - and I had been accused by hugely-popular media darlings.
So 60 per cent of the "stretch" target, in the fact of determined attempts by some of their supporters to deny my claims and belittle my case, seemed an excellent result.
Would it be enough? I doubted it.
But it was a declaration that many people - nearly 1,000 - are not prepared to let wealthy celebrities make a mockery of the British justice system and it gave me hope that my opponents in this matter might reconsider their apparent plan to use their financial resources to stifle the facts.
And then I received an email from CrowdJustice saying my appeal would be automatically extended for another 30 days.
Now it is possible that we can reach that £25,000 target after all.
If you haven't done so already, please email five of your friends, asking them to pledge to this case.
You could also post a link to Facebook, asking your friends to pledge. Again, the address ishttps://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/
If you're on Twitter, you could tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.
I'm sure there are many more people who would be willing to help this struggle for justice against privilege.
Please help me find them - because I'm still determined not to apologise to two bullies for the results of their own ill-advised acts.
Update 7
Mike Sivier
May 26, 2019
New developments mean Mike's libel defence needs your support!
With just three days left in my crowdfunding appeal, my case is still developing and funds are still desperately needed.
I'm not at liberty to say what the latest developments are, but they are highly encouraging.
And this means that the need for funds to ensure this case can be heard is as great as ever.
If you haven't done so already, please email five of your friends, asking them to pledge to this case.
You could also post a link to Facebook, asking your friends to pledge. Again, the address is <a href="https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/">https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/</a>
If you're on Twitter, you could tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.
The people who accused me of libel are continuing to behave in the same way that caused me to write about them in the first place.
They need to be sent a message - that what they are doing iswrong and that they must stop.
They won't do it of their own accord.
Please help me to make them see reason.
Update 6
Mike Sivier
May 25, 2019
Another milestone for Mike's libel defence appeal
My appeal for funds to fight false libel accusations by Rachel Riley and Tracy Ann Oberman reached another landmark yesterday: £14,000 raised!
I'm hugely grateful to the many hundreds of people who have contributed.
And with five days left before the end of the appeal, it is still possible to raise a significant amount more.
So please keep spreading the word, and encouraging as many people as possible to help
To recap: I have been accused of libel by TV personalities Rachel Riley and Tracy-Ann Oberman after I published an article criticising their characterisation of a teenage girl with anxiety issues as an anti-Semite. The girl suffered harassment and intimidation as a result of their attention.
All the details are on this CrowdJustice page, so please make sure as many people as possible get to see the link:https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/
I'm not going to apologise to two bullies for the results of their ill-advised actions.
But the legal bill they are forcing on me, to fight the nonsense of a case they are making against me, would be crippling for a person of my limited means.
They know this. It seems to me that they are deliberately targeting people like myself, who have little money, with the cynical intention of embroiling us in legal proceedings that will cost more than we can afford, in order to force us into giving up and paying them money they do not deserve.
That is not justice. That is abuse of the justice system.
So I launched a crowdfunding appeal on the CrowdJustice website - initially aiming to raise £5,000 towards my own legal fees (I have already put £5,000 of my own money towards my defence).
Thanks to the generosity of the public, that £5,000 target was reached in a single day.
There's a "stretch" target of £25,000. Can it be reached in five days? I don't know.
Let's try.
If you haven't done so already, please email five of your friends, asking them to pledge to this case.
You could also post a link to Facebook, asking your friends to pledge. Again, the address ishttps://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/
If you're on Twitter, you could tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.
This is a struggle between wealth and justice.
Let's make sure justice wins.
Update 5
Mike Sivier
May 18, 2019
Are supporters of my accusers invading my privacy to threaten me?
Here's a strange thing. I've started receiving emails from someone claiming to have infected my computer with a virus.
That's all I know as I found them in my junk mailbox and didn't open them. I deleted them instead.
Presumably there's a threat to do some kind of harm to my system, or to publish secrets that I don't want people to know, if I don't cough up some cash. There's always a threat of some kind involved in these things.
As I say, I deleted the messages so I don't know what it was. It's my policy, for reasons that should be obvious.
But then I thought: "Why now?"
We know that supporters of the two TV personalities who are alleging libel against me are skilled in tracking down people they want to target.
Those people, their relatives and friends, employers, and the heads of academic institutions where some are studying have been contacted with malicious messages. That fact is one aspect of my case.
I heard tonight that one person lost their job because of the lies these people peddle.
That revelation made me question whether the emails I had received might have been sent by supporters of my opponents, with the intention - at the very least - of knocking me off-balance; re-directing my concentration away from the case.
I wonder if those responsible will take this any further.
I wonder, also, if right-thinking people are prepared to accept that supporters of my opponents are invading the privacy of strangers in order to harm them.
Are you?
If not, I've got a remedy: Support my crowdfunding appeal so I can defend myself against the false claims levelled against me.
I cannot win this case on my own and the amount raised so far - while impressive - isn't enough to see a court case through to its conclusion.
Think of it this way: If you say something these people don't like, you could be next on their list.
And that is not a welcome thought!
If you have already contributed, please don't feel pressured into doing so again unless you genuinely have the spare cash to justify it. If you haven't - and you can - please do.
And please share the web address of the crowdfunding appeal - https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/ along with this message. Too few people know about this! We need the world to know what's happening here.
Update 4
Mike Sivier
May 16, 2019
Libel defence appeal is halfway to deadline - and bang on target!
Today I get to send heartfelt thanks to everybody who has donated to my libel defence appeal - nearly 700 of you!
You have raised more than half the "stretch" target of £25,000 - and in half the time allocated by the kind people at CrowdJustice to achieve it.
So we're exactly on course to reach that target!
I am extremely grateful - especially as these funds are already being used.
Crowdjustice has sent slightly more than £8,000 - nearly two-thirds of the total raised so far - to my solicitor, to fund vital work on the case.
Besides paying the cost of corresponding with the solicitor acting for the TV personalities who are accusing me, it will also be used to secure expert advice from a barrister on the merits of my case - and to obtain evidence from witnesses.
But you can see that, even though those of you who donated to the fund have achieved so much, there is a lot left to be done. I am left with slightly less than £5,000 - and it will be extremely difficult to mount an effective defence with only this much, if the case is brought to court.
So, please - if you haven't donated yet, please do. Every contribution, from the largest to the smallest, will help win this case for justice.
If you have donated already, please share information about the appeal on the social media you use, so that people who may not know about the case can come tohttps://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/and (hopefully) make their own contribution.
I've said it before but it bears repeating: This case pits justice against wealth. I have the facts of the case in my favour - but my opponents have money. It seems they are hoping I run out of funds before the facts can be aired in court.
I think that is an abuse of the justice system.
If you agree, please help:https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/
Update 3
Mike Sivier
May 13, 2019
Mike's libel defence: Don't let the bullies win with lies
I read an iNews article saying Rachel Riley and Tracy Ann Oberman "have called out antisemitism" - but that's not all they do, as we know.
They use the cover of "calling out antisemitism" to bully perfectly innocent people, such as myself and the teenage girl at the centre of the libel case I'm fighting.
The mainstream media don't see it that way, because they don't have any verifiable information to prove it.
That is another reason this case is so important.
It provides undeniable evidence of their unacceptable behavioiur.
And it also shows that they were quite happy for their followers to intimidate the people they picked on.
If you have contributed to my appeal, then you may have received a communication via Twitter, Facebook, or even one of the smaller social media platforms, suggesting that I'm a horrible person and you shouldn't have given me any money.
It's how they work - bullying, intimidation, pressure.
And it may be working for them. Donations have certainly tailed off over the last few days.
But I need the money as much as ever. I don't have a large TV company salary to splash around on my defence.
All I have is hard evidence of what these individuals have done. And I want the world to see it - especially mass media publications like iNews.
So, please, make a donation. Even if - especially if - you have been contacted and discouraged from doing so.
Don't let the bullies win because of lies.
And don't let them win because you forgot to tell your friends!
You can do this several ways:
- Email five friends who may be sympathetic, and encourage them to donate.
- Share the campaign on Facebook:https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/
- Tweet the campaign link to your followers.
Supporters of this campaign have done fantastically well so far - but there's still a long way to go and we're a long way from our target.
Together, we can make it.
Update 2
Mike Sivier
May 8, 2019
This is why your donations are so vital to Mike's libel defence
I heard from my solicitor today.
He has been trying to find a barrister we could pay to provide an expert opinion on the defence I'm putting forward against the false accusations of libel that have been made by Rachel Riley and Tracy Ann Oberman, and has offered me two choices.
One would cost most of the money that has been raised by my crowdfunding appeal so far. The other would require me to raise thousands more than I already have.
And then I may need even more cash to fund these lawyers' fees at court!
It is a wise move to have this advice as it could open up "no win, no fee" funding and/or insurance to protect me against the claimants' costs in the unlikely event that I lose.
This is why it is so important to raise as much cash as is humanly possible.
The case against me is flimsy, but my opponents are celebrities - which means they are extremely well-financed. I am not. We believe they are hoping I run out of money before the case reaches court and their behaviour is scrutinised - minutely - in the glare of the national media spotlight.
Please ask yourself: Do you want these people to have a free rein to perpetuate falsehoods - and to bully people like you into accepting them - because too few people thought it was worth supporting a strong defence against them?
This is a conflict between wealth and justice. It is winnable - but only if the arguments are heard.
Donations to the appeal are approaching another milestone figure - £10,000. And only a few hundred people have donated.
This case could be vital for thousands, but they probably don't even know about it.
Please tell them about it - any way you can. Email everyone in your address book; put it out on your Facebook page - and on any other pages where you think it would be relevant to other users; tweet about it on Twitter; and put it out on the other social media platforms you use.
And please add another donation yourself, if you can manage it.
This is about the people standing up to the privileged. Where do you stand?
Update 1
Mike Sivier
May 6, 2019
Massive support for Mike's libel defence fund!
What a difference a few days can make!
When I started this fundraising campaign, I thought it would be hard to reach even the initial target by the deadline. It was reached - and exceeded - the day after the appeal started.
And now, just six days into this campaign, you have helped raise more than one-third of the "stretch" target of £25,000.
I'm extremely grateful - but the campaign needs more. Let me tell you what I'm doing with the money:
My solicitors are already in contact with the representative of Ms Riley and Ms Oberman and are impressing on all concerned that their case lacks substance.
We also intend to use your money to seek the opinion of a specialist counsel. This will allow me to decide how best to use further funds that you raise to help me defend the facts.
And I will need more. We're still a long way away from the target - but you've made a great start.
Please keep giving if you can - and keep sharing this campaign with friends and contacts who may also wish to donate.
I'll keep you informed of further developments.
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