To ask if you support the Black Lives Matter movement and also supported Corbyn

[Jenala]

I imagine a lot of the protest supporters also supported Corbyn when he was Labour leader. For clarity I support the protest but I didn't support Corbyn. It was regularly said that he was a lifelong anti-racist which may be true in some contexts but he certainly had antisemitic views which was why I couldn't support him. I didnt get this from the media, I actually voted for him in the leadership election. Then I heard about the antisemitism accusations and so I did a lot of research including reading old articles he's written etc and came to my own conclusions. Whatever you think of that, it's undeniable he presided over the party during a time of enormous amounts of antisemitism too.

Which brings me to why I find it hard to see how people reconcile both supporting him and supporting the protests. I've seen a lot on here about how the protests are about a group being systemically oppressed, being unjustly prejudiced against, and crucially that people who say they have experienced racism need to be believed, their experiences matter and their feelings are valid. All great. Yet arguably you can make all the same arguments about Jewish people. As a group they have been oppressed, brutalised and murdered for hundreds and hundreds of years. Nazism may be the most famous and awful example but Jewish people experienced regular pogroms and massacres throughout the world for years before that.

Before anyone suggests it, I'm not arguing one group is more victimised than the other, at all. I'm saying we have two groups who have experienced enormous injustice based on immutable characteristics ('those of Jewish heeitage are targeted as much as practicing Jews hence immutable) who I would argue should both be believed and supported when they name their experiences. Yet when the British Jewish community raised their concerns about Corbyn et al, they were disbelieved, ridiculed, accused of smears etc.

Why are one group rightly believed and supported by the majority (with a minority of people called out for their lack of understanding) when the other group were disbelieved and not supported by the majority? If you support both how do you reconcile it for yourself? I don't see how it's anything other than hypocritical to ignore the legitimate grievances of the Jewish community while being able to understand and support the grievances of the BAME community. I'm glad people are taking the protests seriously but it seems to be that all oppressed minorities should be heard - this did not happen when Corbyn was leader and many good people were willing to look the other way.

I support the non violent protests. I was not a fan of Corbyn.

Wondering why you are delving into Corbyn etc.... Personally I think any racism is dreadful. I am not fully versed on Corbyn and his views on racism (on any race) and not sure how relevant he is now. As you say there should be no hierarchy of racism. I do think there could be a lot more to educate us about black British experience and slavery in the Carribbean. I think there is a big gap there. I know a reasonable amount about the abhorrent Jewish holocaust but not much about slavery in the British context. I think I know more about American slavery.

I am with you OP: I am a Labour supporter and I voted Labour but Corbyn's failure to tackle antisemitism in the far left of the Party to put it kindly made me uncomfortable enough that I had to really hold my nose, and I'm extremely relieved he's no longer the Labour leader.

I think a lot of Labour voters are, or believe themselves to be, staunch anti-racists and also Corbyn supporters because they assume that the most left-wing candidate on the ballot paper is always the best bet. I have a large number of friends like this. I think its a combination of feeling that the further left you are, the more "credible" you are, plus the fact that Corbyn and a lot of his cronies paid a lot of lip service to antiracism. And a lot of people on the left are very blinkered about the left's shortcomings and therefore unprepared to accept that Corbyn could have been antisemitic.

I am not excusing it I came very close to not being able to vote Labour as a result but i think its a very entrenched mindset in the party and difficult to go against the groupthink.

Support BLM (would’ve attended my local socially-distanced protest had I not been shielding DS); voted for Corbyn - despite disagreeing with his stance on a few things (including his handling of the antisemitism issue) - as he’d have been a damned sight better than Boris et al (but then so would my collection of pot plants)

I support Black Lives Matter
However I do not agree with the protests due to COVID. The people that we elected to rule this country (Matt Hancock specifically - and no I did not vote Tory), have directly asked us NOT to protest, due to COVID. Ignoring the advice of the health secretary, who has asked for max. gathering number = 6 is absolutely against my principles.
I do not agree with vandalism (the statue in Bristol) because it is against the law.
I didn't support Corbyn and I don't support Bojo but I am prepared to obey the instructions that they provide for society because I believe that as a member of society, I am obligated to.

I supported Corbyn and support BLM. OP, could you please link the anti-Semitic articles you say Corbyn wrote? I would like to read them for myself.

Yes I do support BLM wholeheartedly and at the same time I really do like Jeremy Corbyn. He is/was an excellent MP, campaigner, intellectual and politician. Perhaps quite not up to the job of being party leader.

So I'm not sad that Keir Starmer is now leader of the Labour Party because JC could not garner the support he needed country-wide and of all the candidates for leadership of the Labour Party and leader of the opposition I do feel KS was the best choice (sad though I am that it could not have been a woman).

As the mother of a mixed raced Jewish girl I agree with you!
Maybe there is something in that when I walk into a room no one knows I’m Jewish, when my husband walks into a room they know he’s black. Perhaps it’s easier to align yourself to a cause you can see.

I fully support BLM and I'm a labour voter though not a massive supporter of Corbyn in particular.

I do find it hard to reconcile my beliefs in general with Labours role in the Iraq war.

Whenever BLM is in the news, there's always whataboutery. Interesting.

I supported JC. I vote Labour. I am black

I supported Corbyn and I support BLM. I don't believe that Corbyn himself is antisemitic.

Just because Corbyn does not like the Israeli government for what they are doing in Palestine does not mean he is antisemitic.

I support BLM and Corbyn though why he is relevant to this I have no idea being as he is no longer leader of the opposition. So just another thread to bash him because the media haven't found anything to have a go at Starmer over yet then.

Just because Corbyn does not like the Israeli government for what they are doing in Palestine does not mean he is antisemitic
100% - he’s actually antisemitic because he’s antisemitic. Did you watch the panorama episode on the issue? - helps explain it without Palestine!

I fully support BLM and have been a supporter of anti racist organisations for many years. I can’t bring myself to attend a protest in the current situation because it could inadvertently kill someone, but I can understand why people feel compelled to. I fully support the movement, however, and felt glad to see Colston toppled and thrown into the harbour - but would have preferred it to be done in a more formal way along with ridding his name from various venues. I think re-assessing most old statues through a more modern lens would be good. We could put any ‘bad guys’ in one museum with full history as a ‘how will we be judged by history’ type of thing and the statues could be replaced by those that did stand up to wrong-doing even when it was really difficult.

JC is a good man and was a good politician. He would have been kind and fair as well as knowledgeable and progressive as PM but the media did not represent him fairly (what he said and what was reported were very different) and unlike BJ he didn’t just repeat the same sound bite to every question to make sure it got into the news.

I think his views on Israel and Palestine reflect the complexity and history of the situation (I don’t profess to understand it fully) but his handling of the anti Semitic behaviour within the party was very weak and disappointing. I don’t believe he is anti-Semitic but rather he wanted to follow fair and due process but in that situation he should have come down hard and fast instead.

I'm more concerned that our PM is a racist.

Some people just won't drop it about Corbyn will they?
I don't support him and think he should have stepped down long ago but the accusations of racism and anti-Semitism against him were creations of the right wing media. He was the only advocate for the rights of Palestinians and some ppl don't like that just like you can't support women's rights without being called transphobic.

He is no longer relevant surely.

africansassenach I know what you mean about whataboutery around the BLM issue: but in this case I think its an entirely valid debate. When the leader of the party which has most explicitly identified itself as the anti-racist party has extremely questionable credentials with respect to support for a particular ethnic group (in this case the Jews), it poses a moral question for people who want to rid the UK of racism.

I think his views on Israel and Palestine reflect the complexity and history of the situation (I don’t profess to understand it fully) but his handling of the anti Semitic behaviour within the party was very weak and disappointing.

I agree with this. While not Corbyn’s biggest fan, I consider him to be a principled and decent person and politician. I would be very interested to see the articles you mention, OP, that helped you come to the conclusion that Corbyn is antisemitic.

Loathe corybn, loathe that period of labour history, hate momentum, nasty thugs, hate extremes... Cringe when I see, socialist worker banners... Latching onto another issue, piggy backing on it to cause hatred and violence!!

Totally 100 %support... Blm movement.

Tornado, if your that interested.... Google it yourself!!

Even Johnny rotten shouted '' fuck corybn ''.

Flash

The most damming info comes from many different places showing his action and total inaction.

However for many people the well known right wing organisation... Aka the BBC () showed the most damming program about it all.

Well its very noticable that the conservatives who were clearly so very concerned about anti-semitism are saying some stupid racist shit about BLM now. Im start to think that they maybe wernt being sincere. Surely not? its not as if they have a huge racism and islamophobia issue of their own.

We have a prime minister who calls black people 'piccaninies with watermelon smiles' and we're getting whataboutery about the former opposition leader.

I haven’t seen anything online that he’s written that’s led me to think he’s personally antisemitic, hence asking you what you’ve read that led you to think he is. During the run-up to the general election I didn’t see anything like that, despite the topic being all over the media. So it would be helpful if you could provide a link or more info.