Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Anti-Semitism and the British Labour Party

Anti-Semitism has come to infest the British Labour Party. The new Western left seems to be slightly inconvenienced by the bigotry that it has actively fostered, but not too much. As always, the rot comes down from the top.

I opined on the topic last Saturday. For your edification I quote the view of The Economist’s columnist, Bagehot:

Too few are willing to face up to the reality that the wave of disgraces is one phenomenon, not many: a function, pure and simple, of Mr Corbyn’s leadership. A whole range of loony, self-destructive views and practices have thrived in the party since his win last September because his supporters, his advisers and the man himself have created an environment in which they can do so. His persistent failure to take on anti-Semitism is not some incidental quirk, like a stutter or an esoteric taste in music; it is fundamental to his leadership. The very essence of his politics is inflexibility about this sort of thing; one acquired over decades of brain-desiccating hours spent in lefty talking-shops where the same dusty people make the same dusty arguments and everyone agrees with everything else.  

1 comment:

Sam L. said...

And completely unsurprising.