An Appeal By David Graeber Re: Labour 'Antisemitism'

Steve Bell's cartoons now being censored by the Guardian!

Cartoon by Steve Bell - Is This Anti-Semitic?

C. P. Scott who served almost 50-years as the editor of the Manchester Guardian newspaper, wrote an essay in 1921 in which he expressed his opinion on the role of a newspaper. He said the "primary office" of a newspaper is accurate news reporting, saying "Comment is free, but facts are sacred." In recent weeks, under the editorship of Kathryn Viner, the Guardian has been criticized for having published a letter from over 100 prominent Jews including Noam Chomsky, supporting the Labour MP Chris Williamson and then withdrawing it, after receiving a letter of complaint from the British Board of Jewish Deputies. We are publishing below an email that was sent from the Guardian Cartoonist Steve Bell to Kathryn Viner after one of his cartoons was recently censored by the newspaper on Thursday 18th July. The cartoon featured Israel's racist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In his email, Steve Bell also refers to the spiked letter sent by supporters of Chris Williamson and the letter that was published in the Guardian from over 60 Labour peers calling on Jeremy Corbyn to resign. We understand that the £18,000 that was paid to the Guardian to publish the letter, may have come from the Jewish entrepreneur, Alan Sugar.

Who Will Defend Free Speech?

By Les May

AS a Labour supporter I ought to be pleased that Boris Johnson has got different sections of the Tory party at each others throats and embroiled in a row about ‘islamo-phobia’.  I’m not!

This row is following an all too familiar pattern.  Increasingly we have people trying to grab the moral high ground by claiming that something they read or hear, and do not like, is, racist, anti-semitic, islamo-phobic, mysoginistic, trans-phobic, homo-phobic, patriarchal or in the latest catch all phrase, ‘hate speech’, and should not be said.

This is the ploy Matthew Offord,Tory MP for Hendon, used to try to persuade the government to shut down the Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) events at British universities when he said in March this year, ‘This isn’t about preventing free speech, it’s about stopping hate speech, in this instance anti-Semitic hate-speech’.  He wants the UK government to enshrine into UK law both the definition of anti-semitism, which is not controversial, and the examples which are.  Some of these would effectively prevent any criticism of the behaviour of the state of Israel towards the Palestinians.

If free speech means anything it means having the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. Some people don’t like what Johnson has had to say so they have called it ‘islamophobic’ and are using it as an excuse to demand an inquiry into ‘islamophobia’.  Some people don’t like what some of us have to say about the behaviour of Israel towards the Palestinians and want to label it ‘antisemitic’ so as to shut us up.

Essentially all these people expect their views to be privileged, and the rest of us to sing from their hymn sheet or not sing at all. The Labour party readily accepted the 38 word long working definition of anti-semitism to which I do not think anyone can reasonably take exception.

'Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.'

The sticking point is some of the eleven examples which follow this definition.

This is what the ‘Jewish Voice for Peace’ has to say:

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which is increasingly being adopted or considered by western governments, is worded in such a way as to be easily adopted or considered by western governments to intentionally equate legitimate criticisms of Israel and advocacy for Palestinian rights with antisemitism, as a means to suppress the former.
This conflation undermines both the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality and the global struggle against antisemitism.  It also serves to shield Israel from being held accountable to universal standards of human rights and international law.

Some of the complaints about ‘antisemitism’ in the Labour party seem to start from the presumption that the eleven examples somehow define antisemitism.  This would include ‘tweets’ which are thought to cast doubt upon or belittle what is commonly known as The Holocaust.  Given the overwhelming evidence in the form of documents, books, court records, films, and interviews with victims and perpetrators, is that Hitler’s Nazi regime did murder 6 million Jews, nearly 8 million Russians, 2-3 million Poles and more than a million others, I find it difficult to believe that such a ‘tweet’ could have the slightest impact on anyone’s belief.  The only people who will take it seriously are those looking for something to be offended at. In other words anyone being kicked out of Labour for doing this is being punished for being a fool not for making a serious political comment.

My figures come from:

But see also:

If anyone in the Labour party thinks that meekly acquiescing to the demands of some sections of the press and the party that both the uncontroversial definition of antisemitism and the examples be adopted will end the ongoing row,  I think they are mistaken. Corbyn’s efforts so far have merely been greeted with further demands.  The sole effect of acquiescing would be that the Labour party would be tied in knots by disciplinary hearings following complaints of antisemitism and that could include legitimate criticism of Israel.  The Tory press would love it!

The problem is that the examples following the IHRA definition are prefaced by the words ‘Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to:’  What the last five words mean is that the list of ‘antisemitic’ behaviour is infinitely extensible and in the eyes of the beholder.

If you look at the IHRA web pages you will see that they take exception to my deliberately hyphenated ‘anti-semitic’ in the second paragraph, which was done to draw attention to the regularity with which some people use words as a weapon to halt discussion of anything they do not like.  I really don’t want people who think like this policing what I say or think.

The word ‘antisemitic’ has strong pejorative connotations.  In some cases labelling someone in this way could lead to them being shunned, disciplined or losing their job.  It should not be tossed around like confetti such as Margaret Hodge seems to have done after not getting her own way.  Any respect I had for this woman is gone.

In the meantime you might like to ponder what Matthew Offord, who seems to want the world to ignore Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians, might have to say about these.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2004/07/108912-international-court-justice-finds-israeli-barrier-palestinian-territory-illegalhttps://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-jewish-nation-state-law-passed-arabs-segregation-protests-benjamin-netanyahu-a8454196.html

As a politician I think Margaret Hodge could reasonably be asked to comment on both of these things.  Or would even asking her fall foul of one of the examples tagged onto the definition of antisemitism?

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Speaking your mind carries dangers in Corbyn's Labour Party!

Anti-Zionist Activist -Tony Greenstein

Speaking your mind has become a perilous activity in Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party. This month, Tony Greenstein a Jewish anti-Zionist activist, was expelled from the Labour Party after its national constitution committee (NCC), found that he'd broken the party's rules and was guilty of abusive behaviour.

The son of a Rabbi, Greenstein, regularly posts blogs on social media which are critical of Zionists and pro-Israeli Members of Parliament. He says that antisemitism is being used to silence people in the Labour Party who criticise the state of Israel over its policies towards the Palestinians and is a sham.

Greenstein's expulsion has been welcomed by Jewish Labour Movement and the Jewish Board of Deputies.  Ivor Caplin, south east chairman of the Jewish Labour Movement said:

"Deliberately harassing, intimidatory and hateful language of the kind Tony Greenstein has continually used has no place inside inside the Labour Movement."

Greenstein told the press that "Despite being Jewish, I was suspended as part of the false antisemitism witch-hunt in March 2016."

A row has broken out after it was announced that Ken Livingstone's two-year suspension is due to end on 27 April and that he's likely to be readmitted to the Labour Party within weeks. Livingstone was suspended when he was found to have brought the Labour Party into disrepute after stating that Adolf Hitler had supported Zionism in the 1930's. He says he was referring to the so-called Haavara agreement of 1933 between German Zionists and the Nazi government. Despite this being an historical fact, Labour's NEC is now planning to launch a new inquiry into allegations of antisemitism against him. Livingstone is threatening to take legal action if the party takes disciplinary action against him.

Over in Rochdale, Lancashire, Labour activist Mark Birkett, has been suspended by the Labour Party after raising issues about the election of Tony Lloyd in 2017 and his effectiveness as the Labour MP for Rochdale. Having claimed in emails that Lloyd was a 'shoe-in' MP, placed by Labour's NEC as the Labour candidate for Rochdale in order to find him a job, he also claims that Lloyd doesn't answer constituents letters or their queries. Labour refused to investigate his allegations and he was accused of threatening and intimidating Labour members. He now faces expulsion from the party.

Anarchists Attack Anarchists at M/c Bookfair

by Barry Woodling
 

ANARCHISTS within Campaign against the Blacklist found themselves blacklisted by Manchester Anarchist Bookfair.   An incredible happening took place at Saturday's bookfair.  

A meeting at the event on the blacklist was refused by the authoritarian clique in charge.  When two Unite members and Northern Anarchist Network (NAN) supporters Brian Bamford and Barry Woodling attended they were forcibly removed by one of the organisers Veg and several of his henchmen.  Remarkably both are citizen journalists on Northern Voices, indeed Brian is the editor and the magazine received an invitation to attend.  Spurious and bizarre reasons were given for their ejection ranging from anti-Semitism to Health and Safety.   

The resort to violence, bans and proscriptions is taken right out of the Stalinist textbook and seriously damages the credibility of the wider anarchist movement and therefore should be condemned unreservedly.

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Is Freedland's claim of antisemitism on the left, aimed at undermining Jeremy Corbyn?

Guardian Journalist - Jonathan Freedland

Labour MP's on the right of the Labour Party, are continuing with their relentless campaign to discredit and undermine Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the party, in spite of him being elected twice by a massive majority of Labour Party members in all three categories. Under his leadership, there have been accusations of bullying, misogyny, homophobia, sexism and anti-Semitism. The latter charge led to the Labour Party setting up an inquiry into anti-Semitism chaired by former Liberty director, Shami Chakrabarti, who was given a peerage and elevated to the shadow cabinet.

Many people remain dubious about these claims which they see as tendentious and aimed at smearing Corbyn's  leadership of the Labour Party. Among those who have been most vocal against Corbyn's leadership have been the virulent anti -Corbyn' hater and Guardian journalist, Nick Cohen, who speaks of Corbyn's 'gun club', which he insists, his targeting Jews, lesbians and homosexual's for de-selection. Fellow Guardian journalist, Jonathan Freedland, has also claimed that anti-Semitism is rife on the English left. However, a recent cross-party home affairs select committee report, stated that there was no reliable evidence to suggests that anti-Semitism was greater in the Labour Party than other parties.

Although many Jewish people oppose the racist policies of the Israeli government  vis-a-vis the Palestinian people and Zionism in general, there is a subtext which lies behind many of these accusations of anti-Semitism by the pro-Israeli lobby.  What it seems to say to many, is that if you oppose what the Israeli state is doing to the Palestinian people, then you are an anti-semite and pro-Palestinian activism, is anti-Semitic. Or anti-Semitism is whatever we want it to mean! As Noam Chomsky says: "Whoever captures the language captures the argument."

Many people may have objected to Ken Livingstone's remark that Hitler supported Zionism in the early 1930's,  but did this automatically make him an anti-semite ? Jewish representatives from the Board of Deputies, certainly thought so and called for his expulsion from the Labour Party. Jim Allen's play 'Perdition', also alleged collaboration between Zionist leaders and the Nazis. Just 36-hours before the opening night, the play directed by Ken Loach, was cancelled at the Royal Court theatre. By the late 1980's, Loach couldn't get anything commissioned or shown.

Over the years, there have been accusations that the English writer George Orwell, was anti-Semitic, because in April 1945, he wrote in the 'Contemporary Jewish Record' the following:

"Many Zionist Jews seem to me to be merely antisemites  turned upside-down."

Likewise, in his 'The Lion and the Unicorn', Orwell also wrote:

"Sir Oswald Mosley, a man barren of ideas- hollow as a jug. He (Mosley) started his movement with Jews among his most prominent followers."

Although a staunch anti-Fascist, this hasn't stopped the accusations against Orwell that he was antisemitic, misogynistic, and homophobic. Now-a-days, with no-platforming, safe-spaces and trigger-alerts, it is doubtful Orwell would have got published or even Evelyn Waugh.

We are publishing an article by local Tameside health campaigner and Labour Party member, Rod McCord, which is a response to the article written by Jonathan Freedland and which deals with some of these matters in more detail. To read the full article click on the link - READ MORE.