Quote of the day 27th November 2019
"For as long as we think the problem we face is one of anti-Semites and not as one of anti-Semitism we will misdiagnose it.
The "virus" metaphor has been one factor - albeit one among several others - that has stood in the way of Labour facing up to its problem.
Jewish leaders and their allies habitually reach for the "virus" or "poison" metaphor, and this prevents them from calling Labour to account more effectively.
When Labour leaders and supporters say there are few anti-Semites in the party, they are right. But this leads them to imagine mistakenly that they can address anti-Semitism by ejecting "a few bad apples."
The reality is that Labour’s anti-Semitism problem is neither so simple nor contained: the issue is one of anti-Semitism, not anti-Semites.
This is something that will only be addressed by education, contrition and a leadership able to recognize and explain to members how racism can enter a political party, even one that conceives itself as the embodiment of anti-racist principles."
(David Feldman, Director of the Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism at Birkbeck, University of London where he is also a Professor of History. He was a Vice Chair of the Chakrabarti Inquiry into Antisemitism and other forms of racism in the British Labour Party.
This is the conclusion of an excellent and original article into how we can more effectively oppose Anti-Semitism and other forms of racism, which can be read in full here.)
The "virus" metaphor has been one factor - albeit one among several others - that has stood in the way of Labour facing up to its problem.
Jewish leaders and their allies habitually reach for the "virus" or "poison" metaphor, and this prevents them from calling Labour to account more effectively.
When Labour leaders and supporters say there are few anti-Semites in the party, they are right. But this leads them to imagine mistakenly that they can address anti-Semitism by ejecting "a few bad apples."
The reality is that Labour’s anti-Semitism problem is neither so simple nor contained: the issue is one of anti-Semitism, not anti-Semites.
This is something that will only be addressed by education, contrition and a leadership able to recognize and explain to members how racism can enter a political party, even one that conceives itself as the embodiment of anti-racist principles."
(David Feldman, Director of the Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism at Birkbeck, University of London where he is also a Professor of History. He was a Vice Chair of the Chakrabarti Inquiry into Antisemitism and other forms of racism in the British Labour Party.
This is the conclusion of an excellent and original article into how we can more effectively oppose Anti-Semitism and other forms of racism, which can be read in full here.)
Comments