#EnoughIsEnough - Thread. The latest Labour antisemitism revelation from last night is gobsmacking. The chair of the party’s panel which investigates antisemitism *sided with a holocaust denier*. Some thoughts:
1 - this holocaust denier was selected a Labour council candidate. Let’s dwell on that. A holocaust denier feels that his political home, the party he can best represent in local government, is Labour. And his local party chose him - a holocaust denier - to represent them.
2 - the chair of the panel who defended him, Christine Shawcroft, ousted her predecessor with the support of Momentum. At the time, Jews were concerned that the panel would no longer take antisemitism seriously. This was, as usual, dismissed as a Blairite smear. We were right.
3 - Shawcroft sent her email supporting the holocaust denier last Sunday. The same day that the Jewish community announced that #enoughisenough of antisemitism in labour. The total lack of empathy, the evident disdain for a minority community, is astounding.
4 - Shawcroft stepped down as chair last night, only after her incriminating emails were leaked to the media. But she remains a member of the party’s main governing body, the NEC. She remains a director of Momentum.
5 - The responsibility for this mess lays firmly with Momentum - who put her in the post of chair - and its activists. It also falls to Jeremy Corbyn, on who’s behalf Momentum campaigns.
Make no mistake, this is not just about individual incidents like Shawcroft and her holocaust denier. This is about a culture of victim blaming and racism-denial which is now endemic at every level of the Labour left.
From the 2000 grassroots activists who have endorsed a letter which says that a “powerful special interest group” (that’s us, the Jews) have “employed the full might of the BBC” to undermine Corbyn.
To council candidates like Alan Bull and NEC members like Shawcroft, MPs like Chris Williamson and activists like Jackie Walker
And all the way up to Jeremy Corbyn who remarkably “didn’t know” Raed Salah was a blood libel fanatic, “didn’t see” the antisemitic mural he defended, and now can’t bring himself to distance himself from his Jew-baiting friends in the party.
The default position among the Labour left, who now form the majority of the party, is that Jews are devious, privileged, conspirators, not a minority deserving of a liberation campaign, like any other BAME group.
This is going to require a cultural shift, not just better enforcement. Forgive me if I’m sceptical whether Corbyn is the leader who can deliver that.
On a more positive note, this week saw some incredible anti-racist allies taking the lead. Thank you, in particular @wesstreeting @DavidLammy @MikeGapes @jessphillips @HelenJonesMP @stellacreasy @CatherineWest1 @lisanandy @JWoodcockMP @HarrietHarman @JohnMannMP @joanryanEnfield
