Award-winning director Ken Loach has nailed the “biggest threat” to a Corbyn-led Labour government amid a controversial move from the Labour leader to appease his critics.
“The biggest threat”
Loach said Corbyn’s opponents within the Labour Party are letting their side down with their constant attempts to undermine him, stressing:
A broad church doesn’t work when the choir’s trying to stab the vicar in the back.
Ken Loach made cracking comment this evening…
"A broad church does not work when the choir is trying to stab the vicar in the back"#TWT19 #Lab19 pic.twitter.com/ZB339AWeC3
— Ben Claimant 💚 Join a Union (@BenClaimant) September 22, 2019
He also said:
KL – The right wing of the Labour Party is the biggest threat we face. These are the inheritors of Ramsay MacDonald, Neil Kinnock and Roy Hattersley, Blair and Brown. The right, embodied by Tom Watson, aims to destroy the socialist programme.
— Ken Loach & Sixteen Films (@KenLoachSixteen) September 24, 2019
KL – In the party there is the leadership and a core of socialists backing it. Then you have a huge membership which is very supportive of and excited by the socialist programme. And in the middle you have this layer of right-wing MPs doing all they can to frustrate it.
— Ken Loach & Sixteen Films (@KenLoachSixteen) September 24, 2019
KL – It’s not personal, it’s about the policies, but every time Jeremy makes a statement you see someone come out and say the opposite. It’s calculated. And the media love that disagreement. They offer the interview and the MP uses the platform to undermine the leadership.
— Ken Loach & Sixteen Films (@KenLoachSixteen) September 24, 2019
The issue of antisemitism
Loach also spoke about antisemitism allegations against Labour, stressing:
KL – Where there is evidence of anti-semitism that has been properly scrutinised, that has been looked at in a proper, open hearing, if someone is found guilty, then appropriate sanctions should be taken,
— Ken Loach & Sixteen Films (@KenLoachSixteen) September 24, 2019
KL – But this campaign has not been about that. We know from YouGov that Tory supporters are more likely to hold anti-semitic views than Labour supporters, but there is no mass demand for investigations into their party.
— Ken Loach & Sixteen Films (@KenLoachSixteen) September 24, 2019
KL – We have to get better at dealing with the media. And the focus has to be our social programme. That we will restore public services, end outsourcing and privatisation, rescue huge areas of the country, whole communities, abandoned by Thatcher, Blair and Brown
— Ken Loach & Sixteen Films (@KenLoachSixteen) September 24, 2019
These were important comments from Loach. But in a controversial move on 23 September, Corbyn responded to people who found offence in the following image:
I'm disgusted that this banner was displayed near our #Lab19 conference centre.
We asked the police to remove it and I'm glad they did.
This kind of antisemitic poison has no place whatsoever in our society.https://t.co/YvL3LloYC4
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) September 23, 2019
The veteran anti-racist was possibly trying to ensure that the focus at conference was on his bold left-wing policies rather than antisemitism allegations. But many people wondered exactly what the “antisemitic poison” was in the banner above. And that’s a fair question, which no media outlet covering the news seemed to answer convincingly. The cartoonist and progressive Jewish publisher of the image, meanwhile, also responded with confusion, saying:
No, Mr. @jeremycorbyn that banner was not disgusting.
Disgusting is:
-how the #Israel Lobby™ weaponize anti-Semitism to silence critics.
-how you bowed down to your detractors and ordered removal of a banner with a @Mondoweiss cartoon I made in defense of you!
Shame on you! https://t.co/HIUxZfw8Aq pic.twitter.com/T4IewVOH1p
— Carlos Latuff (@LatuffCartoons) September 23, 2019
Once again, any reference to the Israel lobby is deemed to be outside the lines of legitimate discourse. We don't accept those restrictions. We think the Israel lobby is an important factor in making foreign policy and we're going to call it out.
— Mondoweiss (@Mondoweiss) September 23, 2019
At the same time, Mondoweiss vigorously opposes anti-Semitism and will call that out when we see it as well. There should be no place for racism and anti-Semitism in movements for social justice and liberation.
— Mondoweiss (@Mondoweiss) September 23, 2019
The charge of antisemitism has perhaps been the most hurtful smear campaign that Corbyn and his supporters have faced from their opponents, with critics trying to convince the UK that there is an ‘institutional antisemitism crisis’ in the Labour Party today. As Jewish professor David Graeber recently insisted, Corbyn’s foes are ‘weaponising’ antisemitism accusations in a way “so cynical and irresponsible that I genuinely believe it to be a form of antisemitism in itself”.
In reality, numerous reports and polls show that antisemitism exists across society; but that it’s most common among far-right groups. Antisemitism allegations in the Labour Party reportedly relate to 0.06% of the party’s 500,000+ members. In fact, if anything, it seems antisemitism among Labour supporters may have actually fallen under Corbyn’s leadership. The party has also taken consistently firm action against such racism in recent years. The following charts shared by Jewish Voice for Labour reflect this picture:
Capitulating helps no one
Many of Corbyn’s opponents on the Labour right, however, have pushed and continue to push the idea of a crisis in the organisation. And mainstream media outlets have helped by putting out “misleading”, ‘distorted’, and “inaccurate” coverage exaggerating the scale of allegations.
Now, it seems Corbyn is doing his best to appease his foes. But the Labour right won’t stop until Corbyn is no longer the party’s leader, because they hate his progressive politics and hate him sticking up for Palestine and criticising Israel. That’s why, as renowned Jewish scholar Norman Finkelstein recently told The Canary, Corbyn’s attempt to appease them by playing along with their dangerous game is a “fatal mistake”.
The above cartoon from Carlos Latuff slams the weaponisation of antisemitism allegations to silence critics of Israeli crimes (like Corbyn). It’s not saying there is absolutely no genuine antisemitism in Labour; it’s simply highlighting that Corbyn’s foes are using allegations as a political football to attack him.
Apologists for Israel’s hard-right government like to suggest that it’s always antisemitic to use the Star of David to allude to the Israeli state. But as Latuff previously stated:
it’s not my fault if Israel chose sacred religious motifs as national symbols, such as the Knesset Menorah or the Star of David = in killing-machines like F-16 jets. I can’t be blamed for making an Israeli bomb-dropping warbird adorned with a religious symbol, because that’s the way Israeli air force planes are.
He also stressed:
My cartoons have no focus on the Jews or on Judaism.
And amid the current controversy, he poignantly tweeted:
– "Drawing soldiers with the Star of David on them is anti-Semitic".
– Soldiers of #Israel: pic.twitter.com/baFbtPLWUh
— Carlos Latuff (@LatuffCartoons) September 24, 2019
– "Drawing a tank with the Star of David on it is anti-Semitic".
– Tanks of #Israel: pic.twitter.com/Khbwvi3f4S
— Carlos Latuff (@LatuffCartoons) September 24, 2019
– "Drawing a warplane with the Star of David on it is anti-Semitic".
– Warplanes of #Israel: pic.twitter.com/5sO83VXomu
— Carlos Latuff (@LatuffCartoons) September 24, 2019
Be progressive. Don’t be afraid to call out the smears.
Like others on the global right, Boris Johnson and the Conservatives have long been cosying up to Israel’s racist, criminal government:
Unworthy of coverage in UK corporate media – “The Israel Air Force has just completed its first-ever deployment of fighter jets to Britain”. The de facto news blackout on the (extensive, increasing) UK/Israel military collaboration continues. pic.twitter.com/p0dOx9G1Vj
— Mark Curtis (@markcurtis30) September 23, 2019
Meanwhile, Labour is standing up against the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestine – and alongside refugees – like never before:
Labour Conference just voted almost unanimously for a motion that supports Palestinian right of return and moves us much closer to #BDS
— JewishVoiceForLabour (@JVoiceLabour) September 23, 2019
Award-winning Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, however, has stressed that Corbyn is facing a “systematic campaign” against him for ‘daring to criticise Israel‘. And it looks like this campaign is taking its toll. Because Corbyn’s right-wing opponents have apparently pushed him into crying wolf when looking at a sheep.
We desperately need a Corbyn-led government. But as Loach says, “the right wing of the Labour Party is the biggest threat we face”. And Corbyn can’t resist their attacks alone. That’s why all progressives need to stand up, call out the smears, and fight tooth and nail for radical transformation. Because without us, that simply won’t happen.
Featured image via Wikimedia – Georges Biard
