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Corbyn actually got an easy ride in many ways, notably in the 2017 election where he inexplicably was able to stand as effectively the main Remain candidate wit

Corbyn actually got an easy ride in many ways, notably in the 2017 election where he inexplicably was able to stand as effectively the main Remain candidate without challenge, despite his record of Eurosceptism. All of the accusations of antisemitism were dismissed by his supporters out of hand, but some were legitimate, likely not in any personal antisemitism but in a willingness to turn a blind eye to antisemitism in ideological allies. David Graeber seems an impressive guy, but that doesn’t mean he’s right in everything.

simoom22 6y ago
I just watched a video where Graeber points out that Boris Johnson himself wrote a novel promoting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, but not a single article was written about Tory anti-Semitism in prominent papers during the height of that controversy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6oOj7BzciA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6oOj7BzciA
simoom22 6y ago
What's inexplicable about it? They're called the Labour party, not the Remain party.
fao_ 6y ago
Corbyn got invited to a Jewdas passover party - it's in literally no dispute that he was against anti-semitism. Labour's systematic problems were under investigation at the time and it was fair of him to not say anything until that investigation completed, however that itself was turned by the press into being viewed as an avoidant strategy, rather than an act of prudence. And as far as anti-semitism goes, the Tories have a much longer and much deeper history of islamaphobia. But at no point did it recieve the same 24/7 press attention, even though many of the incidents were happening concurrently. It was generally only ever mentioned as a sidenote to the Labour anti-semitism scandal. Hell, for a practical sample, just look at this article by the bbc[1], chosen at random (keywords: tory party islamaphobia general election), it is about Tory islamaphobia but the majority of the content present, per paragraph, is devoted to the anti-semitism accusations against Labour. Even at the end of the year, the Tory party had failed to address it in any meaningful sense[2] In no way did he get an easy ride. Every single tabloid and media outlet was, on the whole, against him from the start. There was a London School of Economics study a number of years back, showing definively that press coverage of Corbyn was nowhere near balanced[3]. That's not even to take into account that during the election debate, the BBC edited out laughs, by the audience, directed at Johnson's comments[4]. The bbc committed a number of "editorial mistakes" that represented themselves as Tory bias. [1]: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50561043 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50561043 [2]: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/islamophobia-conservative-party-racism-boris-johnson-muslim-inquiry-a9207191.html https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/islamophobia-conservati... [3]: https://www.lse.ac.uk/media-and-communications/research/research-projects/representations-of-jeremy-corbyn https://www.lse.ac.uk/media-and-communications/research/rese... [4]: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/nov/25/bbc-admits-mistake-in-editing-out-laughter-at-johnson-in-tv-debate https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/nov/25/bbc-admits-mis...
mercer 6y ago
While I understand it's much to ask, I can recommend this episode of the Trashfuture podcast that goes into the anti-semitism kerfuffle: https://trashfuturepodcast.podbean.com/e/anger-ramadan-feat-eleanor-penny/ https://trashfuturepodcast.podbean.com/e/anger-ramadan-feat-... or perhaps the article linked from the show notes: https://novaramedia.com/2020/04/14/i-feel-both-furious-and-vindicated-the-leaked-report-explains-why-labour-didnt-help-me-after-grenfell/ https://novaramedia.com/2020/04/14/i-feel-both-furious-and-v... I'm nowhere near qualified to assess how accurate all of this is, but it all feels eerily similar to how the supposed American left, the Democrats, actively undermined Bernie Sanders in ways that IMO went too far. While I'm sure that's also up for debate, I at least followed the Bernie campaign closely.

simoom22 6y ago

I just watched a video where Graeber points out that Boris Johnson himself wrote a novel promoting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, but not a single article was written about Tory anti-Semitism in prominent papers during the height of that controversy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6oOj7BzciA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6oOj7BzciA

simoom22 6y ago

What's inexplicable about it? They're called the Labour party, not the Remain party.

fao_ 6y ago

Corbyn got invited to a Jewdas passover party - it's in literally no dispute that he was against anti-semitism. Labour's systematic problems were under investigation at the time and it was fair of him to not say anything until that investigation completed, however that itself was turned by the press into being viewed as an avoidant strategy, rather than an act of prudence. And as far as anti-semitism goes, the Tories have a much longer and much deeper history of islamaphobia. But at no point did it recieve the same 24/7 press attention, even though many of the incidents were happening concurrently. It was generally only ever mentioned as a sidenote to the Labour anti-semitism scandal. Hell, for a practical sample, just look at this article by the bbc[1], chosen at random (keywords: tory party islamaphobia general election), it is about Tory islamaphobia but the majority of the content present, per paragraph, is devoted to the anti-semitism accusations against Labour. Even at the end of the year, the Tory party had failed to address it in any meaningful sense[2] In no way did he get an easy ride. Every single tabloid and media outlet was, on the whole, against him from the start. There was a London School of Economics study a number of years back, showing definively that press coverage of Corbyn was nowhere near balanced[3]. That's not even to take into account that during the election debate, the BBC edited out laughs, by the audience, directed at Johnson's comments[4]. The bbc committed a number of "editorial mistakes" that represented themselves as Tory bias. [1]: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50561043 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50561043 [2]: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/islamophobia-conservative-party-racism-boris-johnson-muslim-inquiry-a9207191.html https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/islamophobia-conservati... [3]: https://www.lse.ac.uk/media-and-communications/research/research-projects/representations-of-jeremy-corbyn https://www.lse.ac.uk/media-and-communications/research/rese... [4]: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/nov/25/bbc-admits-mistake-in-editing-out-laughter-at-johnson-in-tv-debate https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/nov/25/bbc-admits-mis...

mercer 6y ago

While I understand it's much to ask, I can recommend this episode of the Trashfuture podcast that goes into the anti-semitism kerfuffle: https://trashfuturepodcast.podbean.com/e/anger-ramadan-feat-eleanor-penny/ https://trashfuturepodcast.podbean.com/e/anger-ramadan-feat-... or perhaps the article linked from the show notes: https://novaramedia.com/2020/04/14/i-feel-both-furious-and-vindicated-the-leaked-report-explains-why-labour-didnt-help-me-after-grenfell/ https://novaramedia.com/2020/04/14/i-feel-both-furious-and-v... I'm nowhere near qualified to assess how accurate all of this is, but it all feels eerily similar to how the supposed American left, the Democrats, actively undermined Bernie Sanders in ways that IMO went too far. While I'm sure that's also up for debate, I at least followed the Bernie campaign closely.