It is a dangerous moment for any institution - whether a church, a political party or a country - when it decides that its proud history lifts it above criticism. [Short thread] 1/4
Is Labour "institutionally racist"? I'm hardly qualified to judge. But the charge comes from an alarmingly wide range of voices, & a progressive party should want to debate this urgently & think about how to do better. Instead, Lab is dishing out the usual punishment beating. 2/4
Too often, Labour treats complaints about its conduct not as an issue to be debated, but as an attack to be crushed. It invokes Labour's history of anti-racism (which is more mixed than it likes to admit) as a free pass for the present, rather than as a standard to live up to.3/4
Like the Pharisee, Lab spends too much time in the Temple thanking God that it is not like other men. We don't have to agree with Chuka, but let's talk seriously about what he said. And let's strive to be better, rather than shouting at everybody that we're already perfect. [END]
