Graeme Archer has a fine piece in CapX. It concerns Labour party
virtue signalling and that mural which caused Jeremy Corbyn so much easily avoided trouble.
You’ll have noticed that the Labour leader’s appeal to undecided
voters has been undermined by the news that he proclaimed the virtues of anti-Semitic
art. The mural praised by Corbyn was an act of undeniable Jew-hatred; you don’t
have take my word for this, because the artist himself wrote: “Some of the older
white Jewish folk in the local community had an issue with me portraying their beloved
#Rothschild or #Warburg etc as the demons they are.” Even Tower Hamlets council
thought this was a bit much, and arranged the mural’s erasure.
I’m sorry to repeat the adult-Tory-to-Labour-infant exasperation,
but it appears to be required. You can’t support the party that supports Corbyn
and claim “I don’t support Corbyn”. There isn’t some alternative Universe, with
a Labour Party that he doesn’t control, where your Labour vote safely lands and
a man who praises anti-Semitic art doesn’t inch closer to power. There isn’t a box
on the ballot paper that says “Labour, but not the anti-Semitic bits.” It says “Labour”.
It isn’t easy to see how Mr Corbyn failed to see the significance
of the mural. He comes across as dim, intransigent and somewhat idle but surely he has advisers
with a little more energy and nous. Perhaps he has and maybe that is where the intransigence
steps in. The CapX piece is well worth reading and quite disturbing in the way it
sets out what so many of us already see. It finishes with this.
How such people sleep at night or meet their reflection’s eye
is their own affair and not my problem, thank God. But as the repellent psychodrama
of their monstrous party staggers on to its terrifying conclusion, I’d ask them,
in the meantime, to shut up about how good they are, how nasty the Conservatives
are, how kindness entails a vote for Labour. Tories don’t succour anti-Semitism,
comrade. In my book, that makes them better than you.
5 comments:
Anti-semitism is a funny thing, isn't it? I've never knowingly met anyone who was anti-semitic. Apart from dullard blokes using "Jews" as a byword for tight-fistedness, rather as they would use "Scotsman", and a few jokes along the same lines, I've just never encountered it. There were Jews at my school, and University, and at work, and they didn't seem to have any common characteristic that was worth getting unhappy about. Antisemitism is one of those rare and odd conditions that one reads about, and is quietly glad that one is not oneself a participant; rather like a bizarre sexual fetish, or OCD.
God knows what motivates Corbyn. I suspect that this is another feature of complexity. He is aware that allies and potential allies are keen on Palestinians, and that there's this thing called Zionism which the left are against, and that America supports Israel and he doesn't like American imperialism, and his advisors have told him to court the UK Muslim vote etc., etc., and he has tried to construct some kind of workable position and persona based on those issues.
It worked for a time. But it was all too complex. Some of the materials he used to build his position are pure shit.
" Tories don’t succour anti-Semitism, comrade. In my book, that makes them better than you."
Well of course they haven't secured the voter base that Labour has which vehemently hates Jews !
No doubt given the chance, Cameron famously wanted a Muslim to be PM, things would change, we are at a stage politically where securing power by what ever means possible see'e them all selling their soul to the devil.
I grew up in a Jewish area, Stamford Hill in N. London was a mile away and my best man when I married was a Jew, they were well capable of absorbing Jewish jokes as well as any, it never meant anything, and their humour can be very funny and self deprecating.
My confusion lies with all the double-negatives which make anti-anything so difficult to understand.
Is semitism a hate or a love, so if you hate it, are you liking it or against it, or are labour just saying the first thing they think of then refute it another way round...
It becomes a racist issue eventually.
You see, I really am confused, but one thing I do understand is that as far as I'm concerned, Tottenham wouldn't be the same without all those Volvos...
Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
Sam - "It worked for a time. But it was all too complex." I agree and I think the problem emerged as he emerged from his unwillingness to expose himself to the complexities of actually achieving something on a bigger stage.
Wiggia - yes that voter base is part of the problem. Not easy to tackle now it has become a problem.
Scrobs - Labour is saying what it needs to say now Jeremy is in charge, hence the confusion.
Demetrius - those who invent the past too - as Jeremy does.
Post a Comment