the day after the deadline: can the union survive brexit and other deep questions

A lot of the people saying Corbyn 'just does not get it' are racist cnuts though. Boris Johnson for example. So it's difficult.

I saw something on twitter earlier that said out of 5 parliamentary motions condemning Antisemitism, Corbyn was of the paltry 8 % that actually signed them.

Haven't seen that tweet but I've no doubt his record is good and better than a lot of people criticising him.

I think what JC doesn't get is some of the mechanisms by which anti-semitism works its way into public discourse - and mainly to perhaps be thinking that ofc the left is better than this, when it isn't (that took me a while to see so myself..) And People on the right (like Boris) being racist doesn't excuse our side.

I do think the 2nd statement - although lacking - was Corbyn listening. That doesn't mean there is no work left - its there, for all of us to continuously work and re-work.

That 2nd statement has been spun as him saying "shouldn't laugh really" whereas it went a great deal further. In fact, pretty much says what people are saying it doesn't.

Idk speaking purely as an outsider the second statement struck me as pretty good and this whole thing just depresses me in terms of the unequal standards of conduct and opinion to which the left and right are held more broadly

The Smith/Brexit thing is just so fucking wilful and disingenuous on the part of centrist Westminster and people who orbit it - frontbenchers have to resign or be sacked if they can’t agree with a collective policy item, and advocate another position in public, whether it’s about housing or demanding a public vote on the Brexit deal. They know this, but it’s more important to shitstir.

That horrible mural is anti-Semitic and as awful as that is by itself, it’s the InfoWars/David Icke remix of conspiracy theory antisemitism. People who believe this crap are my least favourite people in the world to interact with, and (bonus) they’re also the watching-RT-at-their-dealer’s-flat demographic. If you’re into the horseshoe thing where extreme beliefs of both ‘wings’ meet, it’s not far off the people who make insinuations about George Soros - like Nick fucking Timothy, and look how close to power that guy has been.

otm on both counts, and as I say, the pro Palestine campaigners need to take a hard think about message and strategy

Hardcore anti-Corbyn remainer on my FB feed sharing tweet of "in a paralell universe, Owen Smith would now be expelling Corbyn from Labour for being an anti-semite". Sure, because a) anyone would've dug up a 2012 Corbyn story if Smith was leader now and b) Owen Smith would give a fuck about anti-semitism when it's not a stick to beat his opponents with. Good grief.

the unequal standards of conduct and opinion to which the left and right are held more broadly

Yeah I get you man but I think the general public in the UK is actually pretty aware that the tories are by and large a bunch of bigoted poshboys and I want ppl I vote for/support to be held to higher standards than that.

I feel ya.

I want ppl I vote for/support to be held to higher standards than that.
otfm.

In a parallel universe, Theresa May did get that 100 seat majority and Owen Smith didn't make it to a year for leader after campaigning on a 2nd referendum manifesto.

I don't know where fbpes live, but it's not the same reality as the rest of us.

I remember thinking during the leadership election that anti-semitism was one of the few areas where Corbyn appeared potentially vulnerable, but Smith handled it so incredibly badly - saying that he'd never seen/been aware of any anti-semitism in the Labour party before Corbyn became leader in 2015, demanding to know during one of the debates why Corbyn wouldn't give a clear condemnation of anti-semitism and then when Corbyn responded by doing exactly that saying that he didn't believe Corbyn was being sincere - just terrible

Just going by his dodgy conduct in that campaign, if he had been leader in GE '17 he would have made it all about May, and the fuckwit would have ended making her against all odds, look more competent and sympathetic.

there is so much shit on twitter that makes me want to vote Conservative. FFS, idiots retweeting pictures of Corbyn hugging an Hassid Jewish Man is just as embarrassing as the Beeb putting Russian hats on him for goodness sake.

Hasidic, I meant obv.

there's no question that this is the latest phase in the anti-socialist wing's war on Corbyn but he can end it really easily - take the allegations seriously, take a strong stance on antisemitism and deal with it wherever he comes across it. his own supporters are making this worse at the moment with the same old ostrich routine.

Is it really that easy to end? The demands tend to be so vague ('take more seriously", "make stronger statement" etc.) that at this point it's hard to see how or when opponents will be satisfied. A lot of it revolves around Corbyn having to directly police his entire base constantly.

Ayesha Hazarika
"If we speak up about sexual harassment or anti-Semitism in the party we are told it's just to criticize Jeremy. We have a situation where we can no longer speak. Jeremy must tell his supporters that this scrutiny is healthy"

Wes Streeting
"People ask what @jeremycorbyn could do. These people (Free Speech On Israel group) act in his name. If he's taking the message issued by @BoardofDeputies and @JLC_uk seriously he should tell those acting in his name to call off this rally against them. He could do that right now."

it's easy in the sense that there are clear direct steps he can take to demonstrate that he's taking this seriously. obviously nothing will ever be enough for the Blairmoaners but fuck them.

Not saying he shouldn't do those things really, just disputing the easiness given the agendas on both sides. Feel like Labour is very quickly back to its level of destroying itself from two years ago.

xxp Both of those are pretty specific 'demands', in fairness.

Definitely not helping: Nick suggested that it would imply a split in the party, as Yvette Cooper had criticised the leader, but Ms Wimborne-Idrissi (FSOI) insisted: "Yvette Cooper is one of Jeremy's leading enemies. She's been stabbing him in the back since the very beginning."

I mean, erasing decades of dogwhistles and defensiveness is not particularly "easy", no, but it's a moral responsibility and a project on the left that goes way beyond the Labour party or the UK political scene imo.

To be clear though, and depressingly enough, I doubt that this anti-semitism row has that much traction amongst the general public (though it should). I don't think the ppl pushing it have ever really backed down on Corbyn, they were just a bit muted after the election.

(the ppl pushing it to oust Corbyn, I mean - obviously there's lots of ppl who are sincerely and justifiably angry over the original Corbyn post)

Board of Deputies trying to relitigate the bullshit about ‘he calls Hezbollah and Hamas his friends’ is pure fuckery.

As a Jew I love it when non-Jews and right-wing Jews keep telling me what I should be offended by and what's in my interests.

In terms of things Corbyn could do, well, I wouldn’t be sorry for him to bin the cranks like Livingstone and Walker.

Unquestionable that some of this is politically motivated - saw the Telegraph shamelessly carrying this as their main story a few weeks after they ran the Soros story. I’m also thinking about Miliband, and how much of the briefing against him in the press was one long dogwhistle?

Anyway, I look forward to seeing how Corbyn goes on with this.

Apparently the BBC had Sebastian Gorka on R4 today? Mess.

well, who better to talk about anti-semitism than a guy who's really mucked in and worked at the coalface of hating jews

Of course the electorate doesn't give a flying fuck about any of this.

I tend to agree with Matt DC's view that a 2nd referendum on Brexit is not a great idea, partly because if it is lost, which is quite likely, the situation will get even worse than it is now.

It is odd how many people call for a 2nd referendum as though this is like calling for an end to Brexit, when it could mean almost the reverse.

I also tend to agree with DC that JC isn't that bothered about Brexit one way or the other.

let's cut out the middleman and have a referendum on whether david cameron should be hung, drawn and quartered

harsh on the gulag jc no doubt is building somewhere around sunderland or w/e

Good thread here:

What should Jeremy Corbyn do now about antisemtism in the Labour Party?

— Ben Judah (@b_judah) March 26, 2018

some of the Gammon electorate might have mixed feelings about this "how dare that twat pretend to be a racist, mark my words he isn't no proper bloody racist!"

lmao

i saw a telegraph commenter proudly boast 'i am a racist, because i'm not an idiot' the other day, which i guess was half-right

I got told off for calling racism idiotic the other day so far be it from me etc

mark my words he isn't no proper bloody racist!

There’s a bit of strife at the home of conservatism about this very thing. Lots of BUT IT ISN’T WRONG TO CRITICISE ISRAEL (which is no less moronic coming from the left, obvs.)

smart people are the real racists, wake up sheeple

Brendan O'Neill: "The freedom-hating leftie luvvies would have you believe racism is bad, but here is why it is, in fact, very good"

Cultural Marxism amirite

At the end of the day, & I speak very much as a German Jew here, the reason it is so frequent and possible to blur very legitimate anti-imperialist criticism of Israel with anti-semitic conspiracy theories is because of a failure to use materialist analysis in left-wing politics.

— James Harland (@DJMHarland) March 26, 2018

It seems to me the "failure to use materialist analysis in left-wing politics" is why Corbyn is perhaps not capable of giving the speech that Ben Judah wants, as he could when confidently talking about British foreign policy post-Manchester, or when pushing back against the mob on Russia.

Neil S - Brendan O Neill seems to be spending today defending Cambridge Analytica but I'm sure he'll move on to Corbyn and Jewish people when he works out a way to be against both of them.

glad to hear he's keeping busy

legitimately concerned centrist grandad Jeff Rooker on the radio just now telling us how he'd never come across any antisemitism in the Labour party until Corbyn was elected and offering his own solutions to the situation which were mainly "everything is Corbyn's fault the bastard"

wes streeting standing in solidarity with such noted anti-bigotry activists as [checks notes] ian paisley jr

Supporting our Jewish people against racism #EnoughisEnough pic.twitter.com/J897RbSByV

— Ian Paisley MP (@ianpaisleymp) March 26, 2018

Am looking forward to Wes Streeting's tweets on the ongoing threat presented by the Papists.

Mr Paisley Jr's concern is in no way connected to Rangers' fans taking up waving Israeli flags to troll Celtic fans waving Palestinian flags.

A pleasure to meet the legendary Norman Tebbit at the #EnoughIsEnough rally today pic.twitter.com/DXGitvCDkU

— George Reeves (@GeorgeReeves94) March 26, 2018

this tweet is the ne plus ultra of #followbackputinenthusiast tweets

The BBC has just contacted me to record a comment for Newsnight on cheating - in the cricket match! I said I would talk to them about cheating in the referendum, and asked why they were giving time to cricket balls & not this massive issue facing our country. Why, BBC?

— A C Grayling #FBPE #ABTV #WATON #OFOC (@acgrayling) March 26, 2018

Mr Paisley Jr's concern is in no way connected to Rangers' fans taking up waving Israeli flags to troll Celtic fans waving Palestinian flags.

― Buff Jeckley (Tom D.), Monday, March 26, 2018 11:09 AM (thirty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

settler solidarity

Am looking forward to Wes Streeting's tweets on the ongoing threat presented by the Papists.

Would love to hear his thoughts on North Antrim’s fondness for a bonfire covered in Irish flags and KAT signs.