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Corbyn, Labour and anti-semitism. The latest news.


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Lots of discussion about this issue yesterday.

 

Quote

Jeremy Corbyn was embroiled in a fresh antisemitism row on Friday after conceding he was wrong to support a graffiti artist whose “offensive” work was scrubbed off a wall in London’s East End.

In a Facebook post in 2012, Corbyn offered his backing to Los Angeles-based street artist Mear One, whose mural, featuring several known antisemitic tropes, was due to be removed after complaints.

Mear One said on his Facebook page: “Tomorrow they want to buff my mural Freedom of Expression. London Calling, Public art.”

Corbyn replied: “Why? You are in good company. Rockerfeller [sic] destroyed Diego Viera’s mural because it includes a picture of Lenin.”

“In 2012, Jeremy was responding to concerns about the removal of public art on the grounds of freedom of speech,” said a statement released by the Labour party on Friday. “However, the mural was offensive, used antisemitic imagery, which has no place in our society, and it is right that it was removed.”

The mural, which was subsequently scrubbed off, pictured several apparently Jewish bankers playing a game of Monopoly, with their tabletop resting on the bowed naked backs of several workers.

Labour MP Luciana Berger raised the issue with Corbyn’s office after screenshots of the Facebook post emerged. She said on Friday afternoon that she was not satisfied with the statement issued by the Labour press office.

Corbyn’s office then released a second statement – shortly after announcing the sacking of the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, Owen Smith. In it, Corbyn said he had made, “a general comment about the removal of public art on grounds of freedom of speech”.

He said the case he cited, in which a mural by Mexican artist Diego Rivera in New York’s Rockefeller centre was plastered over, was “in no way comparable” with the mural in the Facebook post.

“I sincerely regret that I did not look more closely at the image I was commenting on, the contents of which are deeply disturbing and antisemitic,” he said. “The defence of free speech cannot be used as a justification for the promotion of antisemitism in any form. That is a view I’ve always held.”

Corbyn has been accused of failing to crack down on a series of cases of antisemitism.

He recently admitted being a member of a closed Facebook group called Palestine Live, in which a number of antisemitic posts appeared – though he did not join in the conversations and left the group in 2015.

When the existence of the group was revealed earlier this month, Corbyn told reporters: “Had I seen it, of course, I would have challenged it straight away, but I actually don’t spend all my time reading social media.

After Friday’s incident, Labour peer and former Ed Miliband adviser Stewart Wood said: “The German Social Democrats had an expression in the 1890s: ‘antisemitism is the socialism of fools’. Sadly, Labour’s leadership now faces the challenge of having to convince our party and country that they will not tolerate those who confuse the two.”

Dudley MP Ian Austin said the mural was one of the worst antisemitic images he had seen. “Jeremy would never have defended racist imagery aimed at any other group,” he said.

Some Labour MPs have also expressed concerns about the longrunning case of Ken Livingstone, who remains suspended over a series of controversial remarks.

At prime minister’s questions, on Wednesday, Theresa May sought to capitalise on the issue in the run-up to May’s local elections.

“The message is clear: if you believe in good local services, want to see more homes built and want to tackle antisemitism, there is no place for you in the Labour party,” May said.

But some of Corbyn’s allies, including Derby North MP Chris Williamson, have suggested that the issue of antisemitism is being “weaponised” by those critical of Corbyn’s leadership.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/mar/23/corbyn-criticised-after-backing-artist-behind-antisemitic-mural

 

977232473254977536

 

What do you all make of it?

Edited by ranger_syntax
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Doesn't sound very anti-Semitic to me.  More anti-banker.

 

Good to see Corbyn standing up for freedom of speech.  I hope he does the same for Lauren Southern and Tommy Robinson (guffaw).

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Corbyn is a flip-flopper extraordinaire.  He'll say whatever he thinks people want to hear, regardless of his own opinion.

 

The desire to apologise whenever accused of anything nowadays just shows how spineless we have become.

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There seems to be an instinctive tendency towards anti-semitism in this Labour Party, which nearly always draws profound apologies when exposed to voter scrutiny. I could well be missing something very obvious but I can't see why, from an ideological standpoint, Labour would be so immersed in anti-semitism. Except perhaps as a reflection of Labour's growing dependency on immigrant votes and the disproportionate number of muslims involved.

 

At the same time, even as someone who feels much sympathy with the Israeli state, I think the whole anti-semitism debate is a bit over blown. People should be free to like or dislike whoever they choose and should be free to express those views, at least verbally. Of course, that sentiment goes both ways.

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2 minutes ago, Bill said:

There seems to be an instinctive tendency towards anti-semitism in this Labour Party, which nearly always draws profound apologies when exposed to voter scrutiny. I could well be missing something very obvious but I can't see why, from an ideological standpoint, Labour would be so immersed in anti-semitism. Except perhaps as a reflection of Labour's growing dependency on immigrant votes and the disproportionate number of muslims involved.

This might offer some clues.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism_in_the_Labour_Party

 

At a glance you can see that most of the information is from 2015 onwards.

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The far right seem to hate Jews for ethnic/racial reasons and their involvement in corporate affairs/global finance and the modern left don't like them because of Israel and their involvement in corporate affairs/global finance.

 

Maybe they should form a large circle somewhere and hold hands in solidarity.  The Nazi Trotskyist Alliance?

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All nonsense - there IS no anti-semitism in Labour ( no socialist can be racist); it has become a tool for all those Blairite MPs to attempt to beat the Left with because they conflate anti-semitism with anti-Israel. Socialists are anti-Zionists, not the same thing. John Mann deliberately tried to entrap Ken Livingstone live on camera by goading him as he was on his way to give a radio interview and for that Livingstone was suspended.

 

Hopefully now that Corbyn has an NEC majority he can start dealing with these people who are indistinguishable from Tories. He has made a start by sacking Owen Smith who is calling a for 2nd referendum, contrary to the collective decision of the PLP. Corbyn only seems to 'flip-flop-' because hitherto he has had to tread a delicate balance between left and right. His views are consistent and clear: eg the Iraq War. He condemned Russia but not enough for some; would not be surprised if he turns out to be right on that nerve gas issue too.

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2 hours ago, ranger_syntax said:

This might offer some clues.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism_in_the_Labour_Party

 

At a glance you can see that most of the information is from 2015 onwards.

 

2 hours ago, Bill said:

There seems to be an instinctive tendency towards anti-semitism in this Labour Party, which nearly always draws profound apologies when exposed to voter scrutiny. I could well be missing something very obvious but I can't see why, from an ideological standpoint, Labour would be so immersed in anti-semitism. Except perhaps as a reflection of Labour's growing dependency on immigrant votes and the disproportionate number of muslims involved.

 

At the same time, even as someone who feels much sympathy with the Israeli state, I think the whole anti-semitism debate is a bit over blown. People should be free to like or dislike whoever they choose and should be free to express those views, at least verbally. Of course, that sentiment goes both ways.

Labour is not immersed in anti-semitism. As you say, no reason why they should be. Zionism is however, a different matter which is why some Jewish Labour members are trying to get members expelled for being opposed to the State of Israel and its policies, not Jews per se.

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1 hour ago, alexscottislegend said:

 

Labour is not immersed in anti-semitism. As you say, no reason why they should be. Zionism is however, a different matter which is why some Jewish Labour members are trying to get members expelled for being opposed to the State of Israel and its policies, not Jews per se.

OK, not immersed. How about up to its scrawny Marxist neck in it? ?

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