Important to remember this controversy was never about whether or not Labour has a problem with antisemitism among a small minority of its members. Neither @DerbyChrisW nor anyone with any credibility denied that.
But the dominant narrative was that both Corbyn and the Party as a whole was fundamentally and irrevocably racist. That line became central to the delegitimisation of a mass progressive political movement.
People who simply challenged it on the basis of overwhelming evidence were outrageously labelled as 'deniers' and 'part of the problem'. Liberal media and many leading left-wing commentators did little to call out that kind of pervasive repression and some, at times, amplified it
This was the anatomy of a dominant political discourse that bore all the hallmarks of McCarthyism and was, in some respects, even more vicious in its silencing the voice of dissent.
Above all, it hugely undermined the fight against real antisemitism. It trivialised and normalised deeply racist notions of the 'self hating' or 'useful' Jew and emboldened far right bigots who joined in the anti-Corbyn hysteria..
often attacking Jews and Labour's antisemitism problem in the same breath.
Few professional journalists will learn the lessons of this. But if journalism education has any integrity it should serve as a critical case study for current students, and for generations to come
Few professional journalists will learn the lessons of this. But if journalism education has any integrity it should serve as a critical case study for current students, and for generations to come
