An interview with Greg Philo
JVL Introduction
Greg Philo, lead author of Bad News for Labour: Antisemitism, the Party and Public Belief, is interviewed for Jacobin magazine.
He explains how Labour, all evidence to the contrary, has been constructed as an antisemitic party in popular belief with the media telling people that Labour is “riddled” with antisemitism and doesn’t want to remove it from its ranks.
As Philo remarks in the interview: “Both the BBC and even a paper like the Guardian have contributed to public misunderstanding of this issue. They have a moral duty to discuss the new evidence and analysis that we have offered. But both have not covered it. That is a key source of their power — they can impose silence and simply refuse to discuss their own role.”
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This article was originally published by Jacobin on Sat 5 Oct 2019. Read the original here.
How Labour Became “Antisemitic”
When pollsters asked the British public what share of Labour members faced complaints of antisemitism, the average guess was 34 percent — over three hundred times the real total. With media insistent that Labour is “riddled with antisemitism,” Jeremy Corbyn’s efforts to fight it have done nothing to placate his critics.
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‘Bad News for Labour’ is a must-read for anyone looking for a sane, referenced analysis of the ‘antisemitism’ scam.
I haven’t read the book as of yet, but a copy is on its way, but I wonder if the authors are aware that of the ten people who appeared on the Panorama program as ordinary Jewish LP members, seven of them were/are executive committee members of the Jewish Labour Movement, and one of the others was their former Campaigns Officer, and needless to say, the reason John Ware and the producers of the program didn’t name any of them or mention their involvement with the JLM is because it would have completely undermined the accusations and allegations each of them were making AND undermined the whole program itself.
I mean just imagine if they had had a caption that came up when Ella Rose said her piece right at the start of the program saying ‘Ella Rose, Equalities Officer and former National Director of the Jewish Labour Movement’, and then a few minutes later when Adam Langleben said HIS piece, a caption had come up saying ‘Adam Langleben, former Campaigns Officer of the Jewish Labour Movement’, and then five minutes or so later when Izzy Lenga recited HER allegations a caption had come up saying ‘Izzy Lenga, International Officer of the Jewish Labour Movement’, and so on, just about everyone watching it would have soon realised that it was all a stitch-up.
And THAT of course is precisely why they DIDN’T identify them as such AND concealed it from everyone who watched the program – ie several million people I assume – and John Ware and the producers knew of course that they could rely on the corporate media and the BBC not to mention the fact and, as such, completely undermine not only what THEY alleged, but everyone else who participated in the program as well. And needless to say they DIDN’T!
David Broder is completely wrong when he says “Yet even after Labour bowed to pressure and accepted all the IHRA examples, it doesn’t seem to have disciplined anyone for having called Israel a racist endeavor, even though many activists have chosen to use this exact form of words.” I ave been suspended for doing exactly that. See more of us at http://www.kidsnotsuits.com/rogues-gallery/
An excellent, clearly written book which lays bare the bones of the arguments and accusations. I’m no expert at all but I find the ignorance around anti semitism and anti racism – deliberate or not – of politicians and the media absolutely shocking. Crying wolf is dangerous for Jewish people and the IHRA definition of anti semitism alongside the examples is a backward step for all anti racism.