Shit-stirring Zionist cum buckets, bought and paid for by Israel.” According to the Labour party governance unit, as recently as last year, this statement made about Margaret Hodge and I was neither racist nor misogynist and didn’t warrant any action against the Labour party member who had written it. That is, until it appeared on the front page of a national newspaper and even then, the member wasn’t suspended until Jeremy Corbyn had to face MPs in parliament.
I have to say I find a search for Middle Eastern Eye’s ideological baggage a distraction in the current case. To take Oborne’s article seriously we have to assume that a journalist who has spent a day reading the report has a better grasp of the situation than the team of lawyers who spent months researching the case. And we have to make this assessment whilst also acknowledging the deep need for many on the left to downplay the findings in order to preserve their view of themselves as principled anti-racists, rather than people who looked the other way. I had a quick scroll through the report today. On my extremely brief reading, the allegation that someone else ran the NEC seems fairly minor. The leaders office claimed in their submission that they had every right to oversee politically sensitive cases, then rowed back when they realised they had broken their own rules. They thought it was perfectly acceptable for complaints against Corbyn to be dismissed by the leader’s office rather than going through the proper channels. They had people overseeing cases who also helped the alleged perpetrator - clearly completely corrupt and unfair.Nothing was written down formally but there was a massive exchange of information via private channels; information which Corbyn’s flunkies declared was too onerous to give to the EHRC but which they somehow managed to collate for their own private report.One paragraph stood out for me. Amongst the stuff they couldn’t investigate - because it pertained to members not “agents” for whom the Party was legally responsible - were allegations of Holocaust denial and praising Hitler. Something has gone very wrong in a left wing party when people like that believe they are welcome there.
However back on topic, my views on Corbyn and his suspension are almost identical to Ali K and JB further up the thread. I have no problem with his suspension.
Personally I wonder if he either wanted to try to bolster the left's cause by becoming some sort of a martyr and focus for them to rally around by being suspended, or alternatively that he is incredibly stupid and self centred and genuinely thinks that it really is all about him.
The generally Tory focused press have been pretty - err - generous to Starmer and Labour as a whole in their coverage...they could have had a field day with this... and they’ve not.
Plenty to go at I’d have thought. In the general “chaos at labour”, “civil war” stuff etc.. and that KS was a senior member of the Shadow cabinet when all of this was going on. Anyway - I’m not trying to shit stir - just surprised they’ve not gone for him more. I’ll put money on Boris bringing it up at PMQ’s though.
Thanks Brutus. I recognise the name, but don’t know much about Finkelstein.
Ok, here some altenrative viewpoints re - Corbyn from Jewish people
Quote from: mrjonathanr on November 02, 2020, 06:25:25 pmThanks Brutus. I recognise the name, but don’t know much about Finkelstein.Finkelstein wrote a book called The Holocaust Industry which made significant waves when it was published. I read it years ago at university and it made quite an impression on me. He is undoubtedly a polemicist and has a very forthright style on a podium which can put people off, but worth reading I think even if he probably isn't all that much fun to be around. His second book Beyond Chutzpah is basically a takedown of Alan Dershowitz, who defended OJ Simpson successfully. His books have the same give-no-quarter attitude as his speech but they are meticulously footnoted to back up his sometimes quite strident points. Haven't seen him crop up for a few years so thanks for the link Brutus.
Oborne in Middle East Eye, yes? It's nothing less than an antisemitic blog.
could you post some evidence of that please? I've googled and duck duck go to no avail
A spin through the editor's twitter account, if your stomach is strong enough,
Corbyn is emblematic of an egalitarian strand of politics and for that people love him very much. He also embodies a terrible lack of comprehension of how his politics is perceived more widely in society. Without an effective appeal outside of his natural electorate, the project was doomed.
JR under Corbyn the LP had over half a million members, add staff to that and union affiliates. How many instances of law breaches did the EHRC find amongst all that?? The answer is 2.
Is the prevalence of anti-semitism more than the whole of our society within the LP?
The number of members is irrelevant, as the party is not responsible for their actions. The EHRC was mandated to examine the behaviour of "agents", ie people employed by or representing the party - as I put in an earlier post. Hence your figure of half a million is purely a rhetorical flourish......Again, the report says it found instances of denying the scale of the Holocaust and support for Hitler amongst members' social media postings.
“the tip of the iceberg”.
I do not see that Starmer had much choice tbh, having just announced that denying the problem would not be tolerated - and then Corbyn went and did just that, and stuck to his guns rather than rowing back.[Corbyn] also embodies a terrible lack of comprehension of how his politics is perceived more widely in society.
