[rad-green] The Vilification of Jeremy Corbyn

https://socialistproject.ca/2019/12/the-vilification-of-jeremy-corbyn/

The Vilification of Jeremy Corbyn

*ANTI-RACISM <https://socialistproject.ca/category/anti-racism/>, SOCIAL
MOVEMENTS <https://socialistproject.ca/category/social-movements/>  •
December 6, 2019  •  Leo Panitch
<https://socialistproject.ca/author/leo-panitch/>*

The vilification of the leader of the UK Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, as an
antisemite has intensified in the run up to the December 12 election in
Britain. What makes this especially troubling, not to say bizarre, is that
since he first became a member of parliament in 1983 Corbyn has been the
most consistent campaigner against all forms of racism.

In fact, while still a local councillor in London in 1977 Corbyn had
already organized a defense of the Jewish population of Wood Green from a
neo-Nazi march. A recent compilation of the number of early day motions he
advanced in Parliament to defend Jewish people, alongside other public
stances he took to tackle antisemitism – to denounce Holocaust deniers, to
commemorate Jewish resistance to fascism, to pressure the police to do more
to protect synagogues against vandalism – came to well over 50. And he did
all this not only in support of Jewish communities in the UK but also in
Iran, Turkey, France, Russia and Eastern Europe. Indeed, the recently
retired Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, himself Jewish,
unreservedly expressed <https://youtu.be/SVcWo-W60lU?t=3520> his belief
that Corbyn was in no way antisemitic, having in their 22 years in
Parliament together “never detected so much as a whiff of anti-semitism”
about him.
Smear Campaign

Indeed, there is no way that the antisemitic charge can be made any sense
of except as a means of deflecting Corbyn’s support of Palestinian rights
against actions by Israeli governments. The smear campaign has mainly
involved pointing to intemperate language of others who spoke beside Corbyn
at meetings about this over the decades. Scraping the barrel for anything
he said himself, one comment Corbyn made about pro-Israeli government
hecklers at one meeting not getting his “English irony
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEB9PwKYmmA>” has been highlighted.

Given the weak reed this provides for the personal attack on Corbyn,
attention has been focused on his allegedly not having done enough to weed
out “institutionalized” antisemitism in his party, even though a
parliamentary committee report on *Antisemitism in the UK*
<https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmhaff/136/13609.htm>
found
“no reliable, empirical evidence to support the notion that there is a
higher prevalence of antisemitic attitudes within the Labour Party than any
other political party.”

To be sure, there are instances of antisemitic tropes (mainly on the ‘rich
Jews’ theme) in some Labour-related social media circles, but much less
than in parties of the right. In any case, Corbyn has done more to address
this than any previous leader of any party.

Under his leadership, Labour grew to over 500,000 members; yet of some 1100
complaints of antisemitism the party received between April 2018 and
January 2019 almost half were found to have nothing to do with the party,
while another quarter were lacking in any basic evidence.
In Corbyn’s Own Words

In his leaders’ speech to the 2018 Labour conference, Corbyn spoke directly

“to all in the Jewish community: This party, this movement, will always be
implacable campaigners against antisemitism and racism in all its forms. We
are your ally. And the next Labour government will guarantee whatever
support necessary to ensure the security of Jewish community centres and
places of worship, as we will for any other community experiencing hateful
behaviour and physical attacks. We will work with Jewish communities to
eradicate antisemitism, both from our party and wider society. And with
your help I will fight for that with every breath I possess.”

Later in the speech, when dealing with Labour’s foreign policy, he added:

“And let me next say a few words about the ongoing denial of justice and
rights to the Palestinian people. Our Party is united in condemning the
shooting of hundreds of unarmed demonstrators in Gaza by Israeli forces and
the passing of Israel’s discriminatory Nation-State Law. The continuing
occupation, the expansion of illegal settlements and the imprisonment of
Palestinian children are an outrage. We support a two-state solution to the
conflict with a secure Israel and a viable and secure Palestinian state.”

Rather than being traduced, Corbyn deserves to be praised for making it so
clear that principled support for Palestinian rights does not preclude
principled opposition to antisemitism. •

Leo Panitch is emeritus professor of political science at York University,
co-editor (with Greg Albo) of the Socialist Register
<http://socialistregister.com/> and co-author (with Sam Gindin) of The
Making of Global Capitalism <https://www.versobooks.com/books/1527> (Verso).
His new book, co-authored with Colin Leys, Searching for Socialism: The
Project of the Labour New Left from Benn to Corbyn
<https://www.versobooks.com/books/3161>, is forthcoming from Verso.
Jeremy Corbyn <https://socialistproject.ca/tag/jeremy-corbyn/>

-- 

--- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sid-l" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected].
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sid-l/CACKppczW50iPhNE6V9cH8BNg%3Dp8ArBSg5%3DUV2%3DroZEdGpXCXDA%40mail.gmail.com.

---
To unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
List help: <https://riseup.net/lists>