Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Has it really come to this? From Jewish News...
Joe Goldberg, Labour councillor, Seven Sisters
Joe Goldberg
I have never called Jeremy Corbyn an anti-Semite. The problem is the ambivalence he appears to show to it. Indeed, the even bigger problem is that it is being tolerated, treated as an inconvenience, rather than a core challenge to the values of the wider Labour Party.
This, at least for me, is nothing to do with attitudes to Israel. It is everything to do with attitudes towards the Jewish community in general, attitudes to Jewish members of the party, and whether or not the party is prepared to treat anti-Semitism with the same contempt as homophobia, sexism and racism.
The issues with Corbyn are now well rehearsed. This is not about a one-off fringe, or someone who is a friend of friend. Jeremy has allowed himself to be associated, supported and shared a platform with people that would get a mere backbench councillor expelled from their group. Put simply it cannot become the new norm for committed anti-racists to share platforms with anti-Semites.
Of course you can associate yourself with Hamas and the Hezbollah without being anti-Semitic, but if this is really about dialogue I do wonder if Jeremy has ever met anyone from Meretz, let alone someone from the extreme right of Israeli politics? Either way I would never describe such people on either extremes as “friends”.
After Hamas and Hezbollah the blurred lines become increasingly defined. Supporting Lib Dem MP Jenny Tonge when she was sacked for condoning terrorism and suicide bombing is just unacceptable.
Then there was the letter of support for Stephen Sizer, who shared anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and which stated he was “under attack” for speaking out against Zionism. Who exactly is conflating anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism there?
Then there are the people Jeremy has shared platforms with. There is Sheikh Raed Salah, the convicted blood libeller who Jeremy described as an “honoured citizen”; or Paul Eisen, a self-confessed Holocaust denier. Most recently he was due to speak with Carlos Latuff, a cartoonist the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign recognise as an anti-Semite. It is of course possible to suspend judgement. It is possible to imagine that on one occasion Jeremy found himself, in the pursuit of justice for Palestine, in the company of one maybe even two unsavoury individuals – but six or seven?
That is why the questions do not sit with Jeremy alone. What, for example, have the whips office done about any of this? And what about ordinary members of his General Committee?
And rather than accepting that these are reasonable questions that need answers, why do colleagues like Diane Abbott simply accuse people of “nasty smears” for questioning Jeremy on events he does not deny happened? And why does Andy Burnham think it’s okay to find a “space for Jeremy in his team” when he has such questions hanging over him?
Nor does this start or end with Jeremy. Why is Len McCluskie’s chief of staff at Unite, Andrew Murray, also due to share a platform with Latuff? Why was it okay for Ken Livingstone to justify his friendship with the homophobic anti-Semite Yusuf al-Qaradawi by saying the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” and that Jews pretty much vote Tory anyway.
I could go on. The problem is no longer “just Ken”, or “just Jeremy.” It’s the Labour Party and the wider movement that is in danger of getting infected with a terrible virus, if it doesn’t act now to stamp it out.
I have been a loyal member of the party for more than 20 years. I have served as a councillor for the past seven, in a ward with a significant Jewish population, many who are suffering extreme poverty – not least because of the benefit cap. I have bitten my lip, presumed ignorance, positive intent, but no more. Something needs to be said and done, by the party and the community.
This has nothing to do with a handful of votes in a handful of constituencies. It is about principles. And while this is a problem in all parties, the party I joined states in its current Clause IV that we are here to pursue a society “where we live together, freely in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance, and respect.” We are in danger of failing to fulfil our own promise, our purpose, and our values.
This is why regardless of the result on 12 September, I know the vast majority of members recognise the time has come for the party to take action on an issue that is only growing.
The next deputy leader must commit to run a commission on this issue and ensure we show no tolerance to hate, no matter from what corner it may appear.
Tags for Forum Posts: Goldberg, Haringey, Joe, Labour, Seven, Sisters
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by maggie on
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Perhaps Justin, "Tory Chairman in Tottenham suspended for telling Conservative supporters to vote Lib Dem", is changing tack, to join other Tories in voting for Corbyn.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Let's see what Joe Goldberg may actually be saying in his "Opinion Piece". I don't mean the allegations against Jeremy Corbyn. Because as he says - these "issues with Corbyn have been well rehearsed". In other words endlessly repeated. And regardless of the answers Jeremy Corbyn gives and whether these answers are factual or not.
And of course, whoever makes allegations is careful to say - as Joe Goldberg also does - that they are not calling Jeremy Corbyn an anti-Semite.
So far so normal.
And if reading readers' comments is your sort of thing, then you may be curious to take a look at the comments in Jewish News under Joe's piece. Quite a vigorous pro-and-con exchange. So nothing surprising there.
But then we come to Joe's sweeping and somewhat cryptic statements. That "the even bigger problem is that it (anti-Semitism) is being tolerated, treated as an inconvenience, rather than a core challenge to the values of the wider Labour Party". And that while this is "nothing to do with attitudes to Israel. It is everything to do with attitudes towards the Jewish community in general, attitudes to Jewish members of the party, and whether or not the party is prepared to treat anti-Semitism with the same contempt as homophobia, sexism and racism".
Really? In my forty+ years in the Labour Party, I seem to have missed the gatherings Joe has attended where these attitudes have been voiced. Nor do I remember Joe or anyone else mentioning them.
But plainly Joe believes there is a serious issue. Because he goes on to ask: what the Whips office (of the Parliamentary Labour Party) have done about any of this? Though I'm unclear whether he means the "core challenge" or just the allegations against Jeremy Corbyn - the "questions hanging over him?"
But then I got a bit confused because Joe extends his attack to a Labour Party General Committee. By which I assume he means in North Islington. But perhaps not, as he then mentions Diane Abbott. And Joe goes on attack Andy Burnham. And Len McCluskie at Unite. And Ken Livingstone.
"I could go on", says Joe. Having gone on and on.
Finally pronouncing that the problem is that: "the Labour Party and the wider movement that is in danger of getting infected with a terrible virus, if it doesn’t act now to stamp it out".
So what has stopped Joe from speaking up against this virus for the past twenty years? Party loyalty, that's what.
Joe tells readers of the Jewish News that: "I have bitten my lip, presumed ignorance, positive intent, but no more. Something needs to be said and done, by the party and the community."
So what momentous plan of action has Joe in mind, now that he has ended his long loyal lip-buttoned silence? What exactly "needs to be said and done by the party and the community? Action for which the vast majority of members recognise the time has come for the party to take ... on an issue that is only growing"?
Here I admit, I felt a little let down. Unbuttoning his lips Joe the lion roared his terrible roar - which made the entire Labour Jungle, stand still. Roaring at . . . "the next deputy leader" - whoever that may be - that they must commit to run a commission on this issue and ensure we show no tolerance to hate, no matter from what corner it may appear".
A Deputy Leader committing to a commission. Makes Raa-Raa the noisy lion and all his jungle friends look pretty tame and timid, eh? But then, Joe's piece isn't really about action and substance, is it?
It's about the right-wing being scared of Jeremy Corbyn. And what a really strange thing that is.
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Permalink Reply by 1lt1j1e9vpo6f on
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Like ^
The only sensible response thus far.
Joe was AWOL when a Jewish employee of the Council was compared with Goering by Haringey School Chair of Governors. (said employee was deemed to have committed krimes against Kober)
Joe is PR man first, a politician second, and a man of principle...an increasingly distant third.
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Permalink Reply by Ruth on
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Thanks for posting this Joe. Jewish thinkers and activists have contributed so much to the Labour Party from its very inception.
We hear very little about poverty amongst Jewish communities in the UK, some right next to us as you point out.
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So, Ruth, can you please shed some any light on Cllr Joe Goldberg's statement that within the Labour Party:
"... the even bigger problem is that it [anti-Semitism] is being tolerated, treated as an inconvenience, rather than a core challenge to the values of the wider Labour Party". And that while this is "nothing to do with attitudes to Israel. It is everything to do with attitudes towards the Jewish community in general, attitudes to Jewish members of the party, and whether or not the party is prepared to treat anti-Semitism with the same contempt as homophobia, sexism and racism".
Before moving to Tottenham (some 33 years ago) I was a Labour Party member in Islington. I simply cannot square what Joe Goldberg writes with my own experience.
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