Using the law to delegitimise the left
JVL Introduction
Military coups d’état are one way of overthrowing democracies as Pinochet showed graphically in Chile in 1973.
But Lawfare is often a preferred weapon against a renascent left.
Britain is no stranger to such methods, as Daniel Finn shows here in tracing the recent highly successful campaign against the movement around Jeremy Corbyn.
State and para-state institutions, in particular the BBC and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) proved valuable allies of the Labour right as it sought to delegitimise Corbyn’s leadership and present it as a moral abomination.
These bodies have been shaped over time to be reliable “impartial” bodies who will come down on the “right side” when it really matters.
As Finn argues, citing the Widgery’s report on Bloody Sunday or Hutton’s report on David Kelly, you begin with the conclusions you want to reach and torture the evidence until it signs a full confession. And, as he points out, that “(t)his methodology can be used to condemn the innocent just as easily as it can be used to absolve the guilty.”
RK
This article was originally published by New Left Review, Sidecar on Thu 27 Jul 2023. Read the original here.
Torture the Evidence
Loading article text…
I agree with virtually every word of Daniel Finn. Illusions in the neutrality of the state is the major weakness of the left and the trade unions.
The EHRC, together with the Charity Commission which has refused, despite the abundant evidence, to take action against the Campaign Against Antisemitism despite the latter having brazenly ignored the rule that charities don’t get involved in party politics, exploited the naive belief that it was above the political fray to deliver a threadbare report lacking in any internal logic or consistency.
Even the Commissioner chosen to produce the Report and ‘investigation’ Alisdair Henderson, was a right-wing bigot who liked a tweet decrying “offence-taking zealots” who accused Roger Scruton of antisemitism, Islamophobia and homophobia, and one by Douglas Murray, who once called for Muslim immigration to Europe to be banned.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/nov/30/ehrc-board-member-under-scrutiny-over-social-media-use
In reality Corbyn should have refused all co-operation and challenged the decision to launch an investigation as partisan in itself. But to do that Corbyn himself would have had to stop apologising and stand up to his ‘antisemitism’ critics, which he never did.
As another example, the recent case of a councillor, most of whose views I disagree with, but who would have had a solid chance of winning or, at least, preventing Labour from winning the new parliamentary seat of East Wight, would appear to be a victim of political lawfare. Accused of the rape of a 13 year old girl 30 or so years ago when he would have been 14, was found guilty of rape by allegation and has been imprisoned and is, thus, unable to retain his council seat and is conveniently, for the Starmer faction of the Labour Party, placed out of the running to represent the least affluent members of the Island community in the House of Commons.
“But neither man would have ascended the career ladder without a finely honed sense of what they would be expected to do in a situation like that, should it ever arise.”. This reminds me of Noam Chomsky’s wonderful exchange with Andrew Marr. He broke down the fact that corporate journalists are often inadvertently responsible for peddling establishment propaganda (much to Marr’s obvious annoyance). As Chomsky noted, he didn’t think journalists like Marr “self-censor”. But that:
“if you believed something different, you wouldn’t be sitting where you’re sitting.”
and I think this is the interview you refer to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLcpcytUnWU
David Kelly was not a nuclear scientist, he was an expert on biological warfare. It’s unfortunate that this obvious howler dents the credibility of what is otherwise a characteristically shrewd and well-argued piece by Daniel Finn.
An excellent, insightful piece from Daniel Finn, making clear the commitment to the deep state of the BBC, the EHRC and Sir Keir Starmer as figurehead of the Labour Right. What a pity Finn did not acknowledge the debt his analysis owes to JVL for its indefatigable, detailed work on the EHRC. Particularly as he was a valued contributor to the panel at the launch in May 2021 of JVL’s book, How the EHRC Got it so Wrong. https://jewishvoiceforliberation.org.uk/article/how-the-ehrc-got-it-so-wrong-antisemitism-and-the-labour-party/
Is the US Supreme Court really such a negligible sock-puppet institution? If so, we’d have no worries that it now has a rightwing majority instead of the previous narrow majority of liberal judges who enabled desegregation and women’s reproductive rights. As so often with New Left Review, we get an Olympian standpoint…
You cannot hope to bribe or twist, thank God! the British journalist.
But, seeing what the man will do unbribed, there’s no occasion to.
(Humbert Wolfe)
The same also goes for, amongst others, approved Judges, KCs and politicians….. both men and women.
When the enormity of the long-established spheres of power and control is even partially identified and understood it’s amazing that the Corbyn episode was allowed to last for as long as it did. But persistent pretence by the LP leadership of the non-existence of an active ‘fifth column’ at work during the last two elections is the bitterest pill.
The media is the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses. The press is so powerful in its image making role, it can make the criminal look like he’s the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal. If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.
Malcolm X
I would add media as I’m sick of watching one sided media coverage of issues or no coverage at all. I look to social media and JVL for honest reporting.