UNITE on horns of dilemma over The Big Lie

Unite needs to stand up for free speech   

By Marion Roberts, Chair of Unite Community branch, Lambeth and Southwark, and Leah Levane, Equalities Officer, Sussex South Coast Unite Community branch

A standard email circulated to Unite regions, in response to complaints about a ban on showing Oh Jeremy Corbyn: The Big Lie on union premises, cites Unite’s proud anti-racist record and its consistent support for Palestinian rights. It says: “Unite has not ‘banned’ the film mentioned nor the book, however we have declined to use our buildings for its showing and a related book launch.”

Reasons given include:

– the film “has the potential to offend on issues that have proven previously to be extremely divisive”

–  Winstanley’s book argues that Labour’s antisemitism crisis was manufactured, and this too “will cause offence”

–  issues covered in the film “relate to internal Labour Party matters and that is not the focus of our union.”

This is an alarming stance for Unite to take. It seems that, despite its admirable position in support of Palestinian rights, including public opposition to the anti-BDS boycott bill, the union has bought into the smears that were used to derail the election of a left-wing Labour government and that still dominate the mainstream media. The false narrative of an antisemitism “crisis” under Jeremy Corbyn has not disappeared and remains a crucial subject for debate in the labour movement. How and why were malicious allegations weaponised and inflated out of all proportion, contributing to the defeat of a Labour leadership that would have upheld trade union rights if elected to government?

The Big Lie film and Asa Winstanley’s book both address these questions seriously, presenting well-founded evidence and opinions from a range of sources. And yet both are being suppressed on the basis that giving them an airing will give comfort to antisemites and cause offence to Jews. This is to accept the underlying premise about antisemitism being rife in the labour movement. It is a dangerous position for Unite to take, since the same arguments will inevitably be used against the union if and when its support for the Palestinian cause comes under increased scrutiny.

Many of the arguments revolve around fundamental disagreements about the definition of antisemitism and the right to express contentious views. Jews in Britain, like Jews anywhere including Israel, are not a homogenous group. We are not all represented by the communal bodies who identify with Israel and ignore or attempt to justify Israel’s racism towards Palestinians under its control within 1948 Israel and in the West Bank and Gaza.  That these groups of people, non-Jews as well as Jews, might be ‘offended’ by the arguments elaborated in the film and the book is unsurprising. Of course, they might feel upset by an examination of their role in exaggerating the scale of antisemitism in the Labour Party, which was in fact less than in society at large. Sequences in the film demonstrating how antisemitism was weaponised for political purposes might well make uncomfortable viewing for them. Indeed, some Unite members seeing the film might question why their union continues to fund a party capable of such cynicism.

This is not to say that we agree with every one of the views expressed in the film, or indeed in the book. Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi has written a review of the film that readers might be interested in. But it is important to note that nobody has found the film to be antisemitic, including lawyers who were asked to review it for the Glastonbury Festival. The film includes interviews with Jewish speakers, a fact that its detractors failed to mention. It is simply wrong to imply that the film is antisemitic or denies the existence of antisemitism.

Unite mentions in support of banning the film the views of Paul Mason, who has argued that it should not be shown because it might “cause offence”. They refer to him as a Corbyn supporter, ignoring the way in which Mason steadily revised his views from 2016 onwards, distancing himself from the Corbyn project.

Unite’s letter cites the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) Report. Readers of the JVL blog and our publications will know of our objections to this Report (See How did the EHRC get it so Wrong?). The letter also provides as evidence Jeremy Corbyn’s statement following his suspension from the Labour Party which referred to concerns about antisemitism – but crucially and critically, not about the scale of it. That Unite should cite this statement is disingenuous. The union’s previous General Secretary, Len McCluskey, helped to negotiate this statement as part of a deal to reinstate Corbyn’s Party membership after he was suspended. In a blow by blow account in McCluskey’s autobiography Always Red he explains that the deal was agreed and then reneged upon by the Starmer leadership, following pressure from Margaret Hodge and the Jewish Labour Movement.

Asa Winstanley’s book sets out how the definition of antisemitism was stretched to include criticisms of Israel and the Zionist project. His book has been painstakingly researched, vetted by lawyers and is not the subject of any libel claims that we know of. His attack on Zionism falls easily within the boundaries of legitimate and worthwhile debate. Anti-Zionism is a protected belief under the Equalities Act and many Jews as well as non-Jews are anti-Zionists. The right to express an opinion on contentious issues is upheld by the European Court of Human Rights. Legal opinion has asserted that the right to debate without causing offence is no right at all. “Division” clearly should not be allowed to eliminate free speech.

Unite argues that hosting such debates is a distraction from its main purpose of fighting for better wages and conditions for its members and for a fairer and just society. Yet in suppressing an examination of how a Labour leadership was brought down from inside and outside the Party, it is refusing to learn from history. It is suppressing freedom of speech and limiting an opportunity for members to learn and debate issues that are important for every trade union member in this country. The film was not made by a maverick outside our movement, but by a respected film-maker who has made films for trade unions themselves. Asa Winstanley is not a right-wing commentator but a former Labour Party member with an impressive track record as an investigative journalist. For them, for us, Unite is not our enemy – but it could be a much better friend.