NOVEMBER 29, 2019
The Tories strategy for ‘hiding’ their deep-rooted
racism involves them perpetuating gratuitous acts of racism so regularly that
they are effectively normalized. Nothing to report here apparently.
Yet the corporate-owned, Tory-supporting media
can’t stop discussing Labour’s alleged racism, which has them furiously
salivating over Jeremy Corbyn’s covert anti-Semitism.
The main reason for this focus revolves around
Corbyn’s legitimate criticisms of the far-right government that maintains an
iron rule over Israel. But these views are not Corbyn’s alone and are
well-supported by the public and by hundreds of thousands of Labour members.
Hence it is significant that the Labour Party’s
current manifesto pledges that a Labour government would “immediately suspend the
sale of arms” to Israel, halting the flow of weapons that are currently being
used to violate the human rights of Palestinian civilians. This pledge also
extends to suspending the provision of arms to Saudi Arabia (with reference to
their use in Yemen), and as the manifesto adds: Labour will “conduct a
root-and-branch reform of our arms exports regime so ministers can never again
turn a blind eye to British-made weapons being used to target innocent
civilians.”
Such bold actions clearly enrage all those uncritical
supporters of Israel, which is why the Tory-supporting Chief Rabbi Ephraim
Mirvis made headlines today with his unfounded accusations that Corbyn was a
dangerous anti-Semite.
This smear
campaign, of course, informed the lead story on BBC Radio 2’s
flagship news program, with Jeremy
Vine allowing ex-Labour MP Ian Austin (and longstanding supporter of the
Israeli government) to meld nearly all of the false accusations of
anti-Semitism that has been laid against Corbyn into his own diatribe.
Compared to
the previous day’s radio show — where Vine had two Tories attack Corbyn and the
Labour manifesto under the guise of discussing the release of the Conservative
Party’s manifesto — Austin’s anti-Corbyn hate-speech was at least countered by
a Labour supporter. Thus Jonathan Rosenhead, a representative of Jewish Voice for Labour, successfully refuted some of Austin’s lies. And
importantly, when Vine asked Rosenhead why Corbyn had been slow on kicking
people out of the party, he pointed out:
“What happened in the early days was that the party
machine was still staffed by people who were employed under Tony Blair and were
actually undermining Corbyn, and they held-back on those disciplinary cases
[concerning anti-Semitism] to make the Labour Party look bad. I am afraid that
there are people in the Labour Party who have been trying to make sure that
Corbyn does not become Prime Minister.”
This Blairite problem is far from over, and a large
proportion of Labour MP’s and councilors still oppose both Corbyn and the
socialist policies backed by the vast majority of the Labour Party’s
membership. This is precisely why socialists have continually raised the need
for the reintroduction of mandatory reselection processes within the party to
allow genuine working-class fighters to replace many of the right-wing leaders
still ensconced in positions of leadership many of whom are keen supporters of
the actions of the Israeli government.
Irrespective
of the contorted views of such Labour right-wingers, there are many good
reasons why many people in both Britain and Israel fight against the brutal
actions of the Israeli state, and it is certainly not anti-Semitic to oppose
the oppression of the Palestinian people. Indeed, the deep-seated nature of
this problem reared its head again in yesterday’s news when it became clear that the Israeli
government had decided to deport the local Director of Human Rights Watch from
Israel because his organization has urged businesses to stop operating in
illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Hardly a reason for a so-called
democratic state to deport someone!
The Tories of
course do not take issue with such anti-democratic actions that are being
carried out by the Israeli government, which is why in their own latest attack
on British democratic rights, their manifesto commits to “ban[ning] public
bodies from imposing their own direct or indirect boycotts, disinvestment or
sanctions campaigns against foreign countries.” This pledge is clearly focused
upon Israel, which is precisely why Conservative Friends of Israel were so
quick to welcome the Tories commitment to “ban[ning[ councils
from boycotting products from Israel.”
Besides the ongoing tragedy’s in the Middle East,
there is much injustice across the globe, which is why electing a Labour
government will help provide much-needed sustenance to people fighting
oppressive regimes all over the world. Corbyn has already pledged to end our government’s
involvement in supporting human rights abuses worldwide which would represent a
massive step forward for working-class struggles everywhere, and Corbyn’s
policies to foreground workers’ rights and to nationalize key industries will
no doubt continue to inspire socialist action globally.
This is why
it is so critical that at this current juncture that we work towards building
vibrant mass movements to help elect a Labour government, and build the
necessary groundswell of popular support that will enable an incoming Corbyn
government to make good on its socialist promises. Moreover, if we are serious
about the restructuring of society along democratic and socialist lines than
there is no doubt that we will need to go
further than Corbyn has so far been willing to go in his manifesto demands, including not least the nationalization of the
finance sector under democratic workers' control. Now let’s get on with the task
of electing a Labour government and work towards building a mass movement for
socialist change that will really have the Tories quaking in their boots!
For further discussion of the anti-Semitism smears,
see my earlier articles:
“How Corbyn’s Critics
Use the Accusation of Anti-Semitism As a Weapon to ‘Embarrass the Left’” (July 28, 2018)
“Corbyn Attack-Piece in
The Times Inadvertently Traces Anti-Semitism to the Tories” (September 2, 2018)
Michael Barker is the author of Under the
Mask of Philanthropy (2017)
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario