ukpol; antisemitism Show more
Reading about the Chris Williamson controversy, and can't help thinking:
1. Why did Williamson think acting like a racist would make him popular with Corbyn?
2. Why did it (seemingly) work?
3. Why did Keith Vaz think readmitting an antisemite would make him popular with Corbym?
You can answer 1 and 3 by saying 'They thought Corbyn would like it, but they were wrong'. That doesn't work for 2.
ukpol; antisemitism Show more
@frankpodmore Have you seen the full version of what Williamson said that got him suspended? I read it and now I have no idea what the huge fuss is about.
ukpol; antisemitism Show more
@priryo It's not making swipes against the left in general. Nor does it make any such claim about Jewish leftists: the 'fringe' here is Jews who actively deny antisemitism in the Labour party. It is not attempting to dismiss them, but simply stating the fact that they are a minority in the Jewish community.
Williamson was suspended for a pattern of behaviour, which culminated in his 'too apologetic' comments, not for the comments themselves. It's bad faith to argue otherwise.
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ukpol; antisemitism Show more
@frankpodmore Not going to get mired in this. I'll just say that the article is tangling up antisemitism of Atzmon and the like with swipes against the left in general, is trying to delegitimise left Jewish voices as "fringe", positing a "mainstream" set of views that coincides with their editorial line and wraps its argument up in "if you disagree with this then you weren't reading in good faith," which is internet forum-level meta and just adds to the mud-cannon effect.