In the aftermath of Labour’s May 6 “Super Thursday” electoral debacle, efforts are being made to rehabilitate Jeremy Corbyn as an alternative to the disastrous right-wing lurch of the party under Sir Keir Starmer.
Britain’s Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer delivers his keynote speech, during the party’s online conference in October 2020 (Stefan Rousseau/Pool Photo via AP)
Labour lost the Hartlepool by-election to the Conservatives and suffered its worst performance in local council elections since 1935, with Starmer held in popular contempt for his colluding with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government during the pandemic—a policy he famously described as “constructive criticism”. In response Corbyn, his former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, and others in his inner circle are portraying themselves as saviours who Starmer must now work with to get Labour back on track.
— Read on www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/05/15/corb-m15.html
Tag: Antisemitism
Are Zionist Terrorists a protected species? | Spotlight News
In the middle of the last century there was such a thing as Zionist Terrorism but today, criticising Zionism is considered anti-Semitic. Given that Zionism is an ideology supported by many non-Semites, you do have to question why challenging this ideology is considered anti-Semitic at all?
According to Wikipedia, Zionism is both ‘an ideology and nationalist movement’ but it is never described as a religion or a peculiar trait of a specific racial group. Of course that brings me neatly onto the question of how anti-Semitism has become a label that exclusively references people who observe the Jewish faith. Technically, the term ‘Semite’ references a specific Semitic speaking, ethnic, cultural, racial group that lived throughout the ancient Near East, including the Levant, Mesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa from the third millennium BC. In fact, according to Britannica, the term ‘Semites’ “came to include Arabs, Akkadians, Canaanites, Hebrews, some Ethiopians, and Aramaean tribes… Mesopotamia, the western coast of the Mediterranean, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Horn of Africa”
It’s as if, over the last few decades, the term Semite has been hi-jacked to exclusively reference people who observe the Jewish faith and even includes white European Jews, most of whom are unlikely to be able to trace their ancestry back to any of the historically Semitic ethnic, cultural or racial groupings. This then begs the questions that if most European Zionists are probably not even ethnically, culturally or racially Semitic, how has it become normalised to label any criticism of Zionism as anti-Semitic? For that matter, as Zionism is effectively an ideology that supports white European colonial occupation of Palestinian Arab lands, why is criticising white European Zionism considered anti-Semitic whilst the occupation and persecution of people who could actually trace their ethnicity, culture and racial grouping back to Semitic peoples not be considered anti-Semitic?
— Read on spotlight-newspaper.co.uk/politics/11/18/are-zionist-terrorists-a-protected-species/
Condensed Labour Party GLU report on anti-Semitism (PART 1) | Spotlight News
Spotlight is currently working through the recently leaked 851 Labour Party report into the Party’s Governance and Legal Unit (in relation to antisemitism) to produce a more condensed and accessible version. Below is the first part of this condensed report. It includes a broad overview and starts by explaining how, prior to Jennie Formby’s appointment as General Secretary, there was no consistent system for logging and recording complaints or logging and recording disciplinary investigations. It also explains how Ian McNicol and senior GLU staff appeared to deliberately sit on cases and how some senior staff effectively saw themselves at war with the Leader’s Office and were provided false and misleading information. It then breaks down the numerous factions within the Labour Party and goes on to outline how Jeremy Corbyn’s outstanding success and newly found support was seen as a significant threat to the “Blairite politics of Progress” and explains how Labour party staff were using party resources and funds “to further the interests of one faction” within the party.
In this section we cover everything from internal opposition to the party’s campaigns and manifestos, the actions of certain members of staff who actively worked to undermine Corbyn and keep the left from gaining any influence or control, the role regional staff played in disciplinary cases including initiating cases, proposing decisions on cases as well as investigating and progressing cases (including the extent to which staff would stalk new members on social media in an attempt to remove people identified as from left wing factions), how staff were selected for appointments to the GLU and to senior posts and the vile and demeaning behaviour of some members of staff, including senior staff members, who would target other members of staff and even prepared to sack anyone they considered to be too “trotty”.
— Read on spotlight-newspaper.co.uk/politics/05/11/condensed-labour-party-glu-report-on-anti-semitism-part-1/
EU removes reference to ‘disputed’ territories in statement on Israel settlements – Middle East Monitor
The European Union (EU) deleted a reference to “disputed lands” from a statement issued yesterday condemning Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, reported the Times of Israel.
The initial version of the statement by Brussel’s new foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, issued via his spokesperson Peter Stano, urged Israel to case settlement activity on “occupied or disputed lands”.
Shortly afterwards, a second version was published with the reference to “disputed” deleted.
Stano claimed that the earlier version’s reference to “disputed lands” was due to a “human error”.
Israeli officials, and pro-Israel advocacy organisations, have often referred to the occupied Palestinian territory as “disputed”, as opposed to occupied, their status under international law.
US envoy: Next plan is to let Israel annex West Bank
— Read on www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200110-eu-removes-reference-to-disputed-territories-in-statement-on-israel-settlements/
Left Field: a memoir: Letter to Jeremy Corbyn from Ken Loach, Brian Eno and others
Left Field: a memoir: Letter to Jeremy Corbyn from Ken Loach, Brian Eno and others
— Read on www.davidwilson.org.uk/2019/12/letter-to-jeremy-corbyn-from-ken-loach.html
To Jeremy Corbyn MP – leader of the Labour Party
As artists and writers, we would like to thank you for raising political awareness in our country to a level not seen since the end of World War II. Your humanity, courage and insight have mobilised a new generation of socialist activists
Much of our work reflects the world we live in and, as leader of the Labour Party, you have inspired and energised us for the future.
The media has been atrocious in the recent election and, in the face of provocation, we congratulate you for keeping your dignity and clarity.
You will never be forgotten.
Sincerely
The pro-Israel lobby in Britain: full text | openDemocracy
Every year, in a central London hotel, a very grand lunch is thrown by the Conservative Friends of Israel. It is often addressed by the Conservative leader of the day. Many members of the shadow cabinet make it their business to be there along with a very large number of Tory peers and prospective candidates, while the Conservative MPs present amount to something close to a majority of the parliamentary party. It is a formidable turnout.
This year’s event took place in June, with the main speech by Tory leader David Cameron and shadow foreign secretary William Hague in attendance. The dominant event of the previous twelve months had been the Israeli invasion of Gaza at the start of the year. So I examined Cameron’s speech with curiosity to see how he would handle that recent catastrophe.
— Read on www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/pro-israel-lobby-in-britain-full-text/
Public Services unions from across Europe call on European governments to suspend arms trade with Israel – Etun Palestine
Delegates at the European Public Service Union (EPSU) congress in Dublin on 5 June discussed the current situation in Palestine and the role of trade unions in peace building.
The overwhelming majority of trade unions present voted in favor of a resolution calling for an independent Palestinian state that provides quality public service to its citizens. The resolution emphasises that the occupation has denied any prospects of a viable Palestinian economy and has contributed to one of the world’s highest unemployment rates. The EPSU resolution also highlights the damaging impact of recent actions by the Trump administration, including the decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Is This The Epicentre of Corbyn’s Antisemitism Story? – TruePublica
the story of Jeremy Corbyn’s antisemitism that sits with the same lies we are all immersed in these days in Britain. They are the slogans of division
— Read on truepublica.org.uk/united-kingdom/is-this-the-epicentre-of-corbyns-antisemitism-story/
TOM WATSON MP PROFILE – Dorset Eye
TOM WATSON MP PROFILE
A thorough investigation of Tom Watson MP:
• In June 2017, The Jewish Chronical reported on a message that Tom Watson had sent out to members of The Jewish Labour Movement, along with their annual report, in which he claimed that the Labour Party’s antisemitism ‘crisis’ had gotten “worse” over the past year. The Jewish Chronical called it “a damning indictment of leader Jeremy Corbyn’s failure to tackle the issue”. Watson spoke of Ken Livingstone’s resignation, saying how he was “delighted that at long last” he was no longer a member of the Labour party and then added that he was also “pleased” that Marc Wadsworth had been expelled from the party. He then went on to say that, in his opinion, Jennie Formby had “staked her reputation” on dealing with antisemitism in the party and then he alleged that it wasn’t just a few individual cases of anti-Semitism. He believed, in fact, that it had “wider patterns of association” and he went on to say that in his opinion the leadership had a responsibility to consider what sort of messages they were sending out by their actions. By all accounts, this appeared to be a thinly veiled attack on the Labour Party leadership and on Corbyn’s allies.
— Read on dorseteye.com/tom-watson-mp-profile/
The American Jewish scholar behind Labour’s ‘antisemitism’ scandal breaks his silence | openDemocracy
Norman Finkelstein is no stranger to controversy. The American Jewish scholar is one of the world’s leading experts on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the political legacy of the Nazi holocaust. Apart from his parents, every member of Finkelstein’s family, on both sides, was exterminated in the Nazi holocaust. His 2000 book The Holocaust Industry, which was serialised in the Guardian, became an international best-seller and touched off a firestorm of debate. But Finkelstein’s most recent political intervention came about by accident.
stevemackieblog 