Letters

Jellyfish Jez

Jeremy Corbyn has placed himself beyond the pale. He has settled some distance from his former political home. He has violated a principle of the working class and socialist movements: he has refused to be solidaristic when it is necessary. And he has done this meekly, without a fight. By his own standards he has been a traitor, reneging on his values, his beliefs, his political past, his comrades, his supporters, the Palestinian people. He has deserted Ken Livingstone. He has hung him out to dry. The significance of this cannot be underestimated.

The central point is this: it is proximately about the UK, and distally about Palestine. The hysteria and witch-hunt is about undermining Corbyn, stymying the pro-working class potential he has engendered, and installing a new leader to get back to business, with the focus on the Parliamentary Labour Party. But, whatever the motives of the reactionaries in Britain, it is being used as an extension of Israeli state policy, of its settler-colonial project to create a new people and maintain a state in someone else’s land.

Isaac Deutscher asked, “Who is a Jew?” And criteria differ - believers, practitioners, or enjoined by the mythic kin that is ethnicity - but perhaps they number 15 million. Their prominence obviously comes from the fascist European Judeocide and the subsequent creation of Israel. Since 1945, in North America, Europe and Australia, the topic of ‘the Jews’ has been laden intensely with similar emotions. Of all racisms, anti-Semitism has become the great taboo, trumping any other exploitation or oppression. In these countries it is social death to be declared an anti-Semite. And, as we have seen, blackening a person can be enough, however irrational the damning. (Oh dear, is that racist imagery?)

The ease of this has been greatly aided by two changes in the meaning of alleged anti-Semitic practice: definitional extension, and mode of operation. First, directing actions, images and words towards perceived Jews for their alleged misanthropic Jewish qualities or behaviour is one thing - that is to be anti-Semitic. But this conception has been expanded to include actions and words directed towards the institutionalised behaviour of a group of perceived Jews with access to a particular state: namely Jewish-Israeli supremacists and their supporters. This has involved changing the type of referent involved, from an inherent intrapersonal quality to collective behaviour, from alleged Jewishness to behaviour channelled through a supremacist state.

To appreciate how peculiar this extended conception is, just take an allegation, substitute French, German, Swiss or Sikh (the last one is there as a reminder of those, like the Roma and Kurds, who lack a state), and experience the outrage. It is true that of the alleged anti-Judaic acts, sometimes the language is inexact, sometimes it’s in poor taste, and, importantly, sometimes it’s inappropriate because it’s politically counterproductive (the placard becomes the mainstream-media focus, not why there’s a demonstration). But anti-Semitic? The criticism is not of people for being Jews, be they religious or ethnic Jews, but for their behaviour as human beings, behaviour deserving reproach. It’s applying a pan-human standard, not one pertaining to a certain group.

The second change in the content of alleged anti-Semitic practice is how it is achieved. It’s precisely because legal discrimination has ended - moreover, it has been criminalised - that the focus has turned to ‘hate speech’. With liberalisation the focus of racialised discrimination - and, yes, Jews and Sikhs are racialised in UK law - has shifted from the group to the individual and their mind: prejudiced attitude. Education is called for, awareness training. It’s about examining one’s unacknowledged prejudices. Being hateful is for extremists; for the rest of us it’s about being sensitive, not causing upset, making everyone feel safe, secure.

However, oppression (including discriminating against some because others are privileged) is in part about how political power is exercised in human relations, in class society. It’s not about intent: it’s about living in and through existing exploitative and oppressive relations, with some flourishing and others suffering. Palestinians in Jewish-Israelised Palestine are systematically exploited and oppressed, whereas Jewish Europeans are not. The result of these two changes is a conflation of so-called anti-Zionism and the abomination that is anti-Semitism. Our political task is to speak and organise efficaciously to keep them apart.

So, given the current climate, what’s next? All communists, all anarchists, and anyone else who doesn’t believe that any state has a right to exist - are they to be condemned as anti-Semites? Are all atheists to be castigated as anti-Semites for arguing that humanity should rid itself of religion?

Then there’s the whole matter here of irrationality in politics: the hysteria, the witch-hunting. Scientific communists don’t have much to say on irrationality. For too long we have been immersed in the enlightenment idea that reason is at work and that argument and action will prevail. Well, some who witnessed the political success of fascism in Germany knew that Marxism had a big hole: the fantastic and the affective. These dimensions of human living were largely ignored, often not recognised as powerful supra-individual forces. Political strategy and policy suffered as a result.

Which brings us back to Corbyn. As a marginalised MP, for decade after decade he defended his corner and was a valuable voice. But as leader he had to set the agenda, set the mood, ensure his support was organised efficaciously. But he’s been all at sea, swept here and there. Now he’s submerged himself.

Some are suited to lead. He was reluctant to stand after Miliband resigned. Everyone knows why. Galloway, Scargill, Crow - all would have relished the opportunity to present their politics to the whole country, from a platform that was theirs. Trying to smear the arty, to undermine the leader, cow criticism of Israeli state practice? Just try. Lacking an adequate strategy, policies and techniques is one thing, but in a leader-centred political formation like the LP that person needs to be up to the task. In part it requires that person to have the emotional resources to pursue a course of action and to weather the storm. Resilience, stubbornness, persistence. These can’t be bought off the shelf.

Jara Handala
email

Really Palestine

Labour shadow educational secretary Lucy Powell has claimed that Labour has a problem with anti-Semitism - “otherwise we wouldn’t have spent the best part of the last six days talking about it”. The Labour right has indeed spent this time talking up a storm - a whole farrago of hints, misrepresentations and false allegations.

The Telegraph claimed that 50 members had been “secretly suspended over anti-Semitic and racist comments, as officials struggle to contain the crisis engulfing the party”. Labour had been “swamped by complaints about hard-left supporters”. This has the smell of a witch-hunt directed against Corbyn and those who oppose the oppression of the Palestinians.

Anti-Semitism has a long history in the British ruling class including the 1905 Aliens Act, aimed at keeping out Jewish asylum-seekers fleeing tsarist programs, the Balfour Declaration, the support for Hitler by Edward VIII, sections of the aristocracy and the Daily Mail. If it was a major problem today, the pro-Hitler fascists would be using it to mobilise support on the streets.

The main problem today is prejudice against Muslims and Islamophobia. This is where the fascists and the rightwing parties are focused. It is how the Tories are trying to stop Sadiq Khan for London mayor. The Tories are a racist party, ready, when necessary, to exploit race issues for political advantage, as in the London mayoral election. The Labour right is using the charge of anti-Semitism as a political weapon to undermine Corbyn. They are no better than Cameron and the Tories, with their Islamophobic London mayoral campaign.

Anti-Semitism has been mainly a European problem. It adds to a sense of injustice in the Middle East that European imperialism and European anti-Semitism was responsible for creating the state of Israel. There is no reason to assume that British Muslims are any more anti-Semitic than the rest of the population and may indeed be less, since they are victims of racism themselves. But Muslims are more likely to speak out and demonstrate against crimes by the Israeli state in Palestine. Most of the alleged claims of ‘anti-Semitism’ relate to Muslim members.

Now we turn to Ken Livingstone. I am no fan, but I defend him one hundred percent against the witch-hunt. Defending him does not mean agreeing with everything or indeed anything he says. It does not mean not criticising him. But he is not a racist and not an anti Semite. There is no valid reason to suspend, expel him or remove him from office, especially when bully boy John Mann got away scot-free.

Criticism is the essence of science and truth seeking. I don’t criticise Livingstone for mentioning negotiations between the Zionists and the Nazis in 1933 because he might ‘offend’ people. His statements on this were crass. But, like anything that comes out of our mouths under pressure, it can be clarified, confirmed or modified.

I don’t like to see the bullying of Livingstone by Mann and the Tory press. But worse are his Labour left friends saying he is not allowed to clarify or explain his view, but must just “shut up” and apologise. The Corbynistas may think they can save themselves from the witch-hunt by throwing Livingstone to the wolves. They can’t. Once the Tory fox hunters have devoured Ken, they will want more blood.

Steve Freeman
Left Unity and Rise

Genuine debate

Further to the recent issues concerning alleged anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, I shall be proposing that the following motion be adopted by the Teesside branch of Momentum at its next meeting on May 10:

We note:

1. The Tory press and some Labour Party individuals are focusing on accusations of anti-Semitism in the party.

2. The statement by Ken Livingstone that in the early 1930s Zionists made a deal with the Nazis to relocate Jews to Palestine.

We believe:

1. Any political differences within the party must be addressed politically through discussion and education. That requires an atmosphere of free speech and debate, not bureaucratic measures, moralising, finger-pointing or witch-hunts.

2. The party and wider labour movement must take seriously our responsibility to confront anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry. The current accusations are being used as a cynical attack on the left, but that does not mean we discount anti-Semitism: we are aware that it can exist quite distinct from justified opposition to Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians. Those raising concerns of anti-Semitism must be taken seriously, yet criticisms of Israel are not to be automatically shouted down as anti-Semitic.

3. The historically true fact that in the early 1930s, some Zionists made a deal with the Nazi government to settle some German Jews in Palestine has been used by some to ‘prove’ some kind of affinity between Zionism and the Nazi Party. This ignores Jewish condemnation of the deal - despite the pressures to escape increasing persecution, many Jews including Zionists saw it as a betrayal. It also ignores the actual very close links the Nazis had with Arab regimes and nationalist movements. To talk about ‘Nazi Muslims’ or ‘Nazi Arabs’ as if all Arab nationalists or Muslims are inherently and eternally ‘pro-Nazi’ would be rightly offensive, but this is what is suggested by the ‘Nazis and Zionists’ argument.

4. We must fight against any party members cynically exploiting these real issues to undermine Jeremy Corbyn and derail our efforts to revitalise and transform the Labour Party.

We resolve:

1. To support a genuine debate within the party on anti-Semitism, including any related accusations of pro-Zionism, Islamophobia, racism or ‘pro-Nazi’ opinions. For accompanying analysis of and education on ‘Zionist conspiracy’ theories, the ‘Nazi-Zionist pact’ in context, and other issues to facilitate an informed debate.

2. To oppose calls to further empower bureaucratic or unaccountable parts of Labour Party structures, particularly the compliance unit, which has attempted to persecute the left, to suspend and expel members, as inimical to such debate.

Alan Theasby
Middlesbrough

Party or bust

Socialist Alternative’s front, ‘Movement for Bernie’, is distributing an online petition calling for Bernie Sanders to run as an independent (read Green Party) and, as a necessary consequence, “organise a new party for the 99%”. The petition, which can be seen at www.movement4bernie.org/run-all-the-way, presents the left with another dead end.

Ignoring the obvious facts that Bernie has already agreed to endorse Clinton and that ‘sore loser laws’ would put him at a massive handicap, let’s examine this perspective deeper.

Socialist Alternative and the International Socialist Organisation are the two largest advocates of independent political action devoid of working class politics, best embodied by the Green Party. The Green Party calls itself socialist to socialists and liberal to liberals. It is everything and nothing. The past three decades have shown this knock-off popular front to be nothing but a dead end to our movement. The liberals aren’t going to break with the Democratic Party for Green liberalism and the working class won’t turn out for it either.

Calling for Bernie to take up this mantle is simply another delay in forming a working class party. The Communist Party of the USA - formed with 20,000 militants, divided by a dozen languages and concentrated only among white workers in the north-east of the country - laid the groundwork for the mass unionisation and anti-racist campaigns of the 1930s, provoking the New Deal (that the Greens wish to emulate), among many other reforms.

Granted, these people are convinced that socialism is simply government control, but they are willing to break with the Democrats. They represent the raw material, the possible rebirth of a mass communist party-movement in the States. They represent a mass hearing for communism not seen since the 60s and 70s.

Socialist Alternative: You must dump the Green Party, recognise Bernie isn’t on board and declare a party of the working class for socialism. Anything less represents the criminal destruction of a great opportunity. We can change the whole game in one fell swoop.

Miah Simone
email

Dementia

The government’s record on caring for dementia patients is poor. The quality of treatment that sufferers receive is fragmented, with some counties giving better service others.

This state of affairs is not acceptable and needs to be changed with a clear and comprehensive plan. The number of dementia sufferers is estimated to increase from the current 766,000 to one million within the next decade. An extra 234,000 people will be diagnosed with suffering from dementia or one of its sister conditions.

Dementia suffers are not a burden or a problem. They are human beings with rights and feelings. Dementia care has been overlooked by the politicians and by society. We need to ensure that the correct treatment is available to any dementia sufferer anywhere in England and that the national health service has the budget and the skilled personnel required to care for sufferers.

Our NHS should be reformed, with fewer managers and a more sensible pension scheme, which excludes all earners over £50,000. We must plan ahead and put in place the equal funding per hospital that is required and ensure that GPs, when they suspect that a patient may have first-stage dementia, are duty-bound to refer that patient to a specialist. One solution proposed by myself is that we have a national memory test for all adults over a certain age to ensure that patients with signs of dementia are assessed and begin treatment and support early.

We need to ensure that dementia sufferers and their families are given full support, so they can live independent lives and enjoy a quality of life. Through reforming NHS pay and pensions, as outlined above, we will keep money in reserve for recruiting one thousand more specialist dementia care nurses and ensure that our hospitals have the space and money for specialist dementia clinics. Palliative care is equal to medical care and so we will ensure that dementia sufferers have access to specialist health visitors.

I believe that we should leave the European Union and invest the savings in NHS care for our elderly population.

Oliver Healey
Leicester

Illusions

I enjoyed ‘Establishment reaches a deal’ (April 28). I particularly like your observation: “But illusions in [Sinn Féin] are perpetuated by its inclusion as part of the left by the [People Before Profit Alliance].”

Unfortunately SF is a big problem for the growth of the left and this is not helped by PBPA and other left independents allying with SF. I suppose there are occasions to pose a front of opposition to the right, but the left have to be clear. Perhaps this inclusion may change during the elections in the north, where both PBPA and SF are competing.

James Quigley
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