This was a piece I initially wrote for publication outside of the blog. It had a tumultuous journey, including being accepted in one newspaper before the editor withdrew the offer an hour later. Most recently, it spent two weeks in limbo after the editor who was considering it solicited the draft ... then immediately went on vacation for a week. When he returned, he promised to get to it "first thing Monday". I never heard from him again.
Anyway, the election is tomorrow and there's still no sign that he will get back to me, so you're getting the piece here. It's slightly less timely than I'd like -- though much more timely than if I posted it after election day.
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For the UK’s beleaguered Jewish community, it was a taste of
that elusive elixir: solidarity. The knowledge that Jews do not stand alone,
that we do have allies, that there are people who will not stand idly by and do
nothing as this wave of antisemitism comes bearing down. That the letter’s signatories
included figures like Islamophobia watchdog Fiyaz Mughal, who is intimately and
painfully aware of the direct dangers a Tory
government would do to him and his community, only makes it more powerful. In a
very real sense, this is what it means to have true allies.
These past few years have been rough on British Jews, but if
there is a silver lining, it is in moments like these: the public witnessing of
all those who remain willing to plant their banner and fight antisemitism. The statements of resignation from persons who
no longer can associate with a party that has become a force for hatred against
the nation’s Jews. The figures—some Jewish (like MP Ruth Smeeth), some not
(like London Mayor Sadiq Khan)—still bravely resisting antisemitism from within
the party.
And there is grim satisfaction to be taken in Corbyn’s
almost comically-high public disapproval ratings—which
have reached upwards of 75% in some polls. For this, too, is at least in
part a public and visceral repudiation of the brand of antisemitism Corbyn has
come to represent.
Yet it is the ironic misery of the Jewish fate that we
cannot even take unmediated satisfaction in those rejecting Labour
antisemitism. Why? Well, because of the primary alternative to Labour: the
Conservative Party, led by Boris Johnson.
The Tories have
their own antisemitism problems, although—and as a liberal it pains me to
say this—they pale in comparison to those afflicting Labour, at least today.
And for me, I’ve probably written more on Labour antisemitism than I have on
any other social problem outside of America or Israel.
But if the Tories are not today as antisemitic as is Labour,
where the Tories can be aptly compared to Labour is along the axis of racism,
Islamophobia and xenophobia. It is fair to say that on those issues, the
Conservative Party is institutionally xenophobic in a manner that is on par
with Labour’s own institutional antisemitism. Or put differently: Boris Johnson
is to Muslims, Blacks, and Asians what Jeremy Corbyn is to Jews.
This is hardly unknown, and the latent nativism of the
Conservative Party’s Brexit policy is only the tip of the iceberg. We saw the
ugliness of Conservative racism in
the Windrush Scandal, where Afro-Caribbean British citizens were harassed,
detained, and even deported as part of the Tories’ pledge to create a “hostile
environment” for undesired immigrants in the country (notwithstanding the fact
that the Windrush Generation consisted of natural-born British subjects). We
saw it in the game efforts by Muslim Conservative politicians to draw attention
to festering Islamophobia amongst Tory candidates and politicians, and the
grinding resistance of the Conservative political leadership to seriously
investigate the issue—surely, this resonates with Labour’s own
kicking-and-screaming approach to rooting out antisemitism inside its own ranks.
There is a terrible commonality here: the legitimate fears
Jews have about a Corbyn-led British government are mirrored by the equally
legitimate worries BAMEs (Blacks, Asians, and Minority Ethnics) about the
prospect of another term of Conservative rule.
To be clear: the Jewish community has not endorsed these Conservative
predations. They are overwhelmingly opposed to Brexit. They have spoken out and
stood out against racism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia, and have done so
consistently.
But there is another step that has not yet been taken. The
Jewish community might return solidarity with solidarity, and write their own
letter announcing that they cannot sanction voting for Labour—or the Tories. Twenty-four
Jewish luminaries, each pledging that just as Labour’s antisemitism means that
they cannot support Labour, Conservative racism and xenophobia preclude them
from backing the Tories.
The UK, after all, is not a complete two-party system, and in
many constituencies there are very live options that extend beyond Labour and
Tory. The resurgent Liberal Democrats, for one, bolstered by refugees repelled
by Labour antisemitism or Conservative xenophobia and showing renewed strength
particularly in marginal constituencies where Labour is flagging. Regionally,
the SNP or Plaid Cymru also are often competitive. Even the Greens, in some
locales, are a viable option.
But imperfections notwithstanding, none of these parties has
completely caved to gutter populism in the way that both Labour and Tory have.
They are cosmopolitan in orientation. They have faced antisemitism and other
forms of prejudice, but they’ve responded decisively to it. They are not
perfect, but they are viable choices,
in a way that neither the Tories nor Labour can at this point claim to be.
And yet, still this companion letter—rejecting Conservative
hatred with the same public moral clarity as The Guardian writers rejected Labour hatred—hasn’t been written. As
much as many dislike Conservative politics, as much as many loathe Boris
Johnson and the insular nativism he stands for—we have not forthrightly
declared that the bigotry of his party is of equal moral weight and equal moral
impermissibility at the bigotry of Corbyn’s party. We have not insisted that both be rejected.
Responding to the argument that Labour antisemitism had to
be overlooked because of the pressing necessity of avoiding the disasters of a
Tory government, the Guardian letter
writers asked “Which other community’s concerns are disposable in this way? Who
would be next?”
One could perhaps forgive the Windrush Generation for taking
a tentative step forward in reply.
So again: why hasn’t that companion letter been written? Why
hasn’t there been the declaration that the Windrushers, the migrants, the
Muslims—that these community’s concerns are indispensable
in the exact same way that the Jewish community’s concerns should (but often
are not) be viewed as indispensable? Why has the wonderful solidarity demonstrated
by the Guardian letter not been
returned in kind?
The
most common answer is that as terrible as Johnson is and as repulsive as Tory
policies are, only a Conservative majority can guarantee that Corbyn will not become Prime Minister. Even the
LibDems might ultimately elect to coalition with Labour if together they’d form
a majority (ironically, many left-wing voters who dislike Corbyn but loathe
Johnson express the same worry in reverse to explain why they can’t vote
LibDem—they’re convinced that Jo Swinson would instead cut a deal to preserve a
Conservative majority). As terrible as Johnson is, stopping Corbyn has to be
the number one priority for British Jews. And a vote for anyone but the Tory
candidates is, ultimately, a vote for Jeremy Corbyn.
Jewish voters who act under this logic, they would say, are
by no means endorsing Brexit, which they detest, or xenophobia, which they
abhor. They hate these things, genuinely and sincerely. But their hand has been
forced. In this moment, they have to look out for Number One.
I understand this logic. I understand why some Jews might
believe that in this moment, we cannot spare the luxury of thinking of others.
I understand it. But
it is, ultimately, spectacularly short-sighted.
But if the Jews reluctantly vote Conservative “in our
self-interest” and BAME citizens reluctantly vote Labour “in their
self-interest”—well, there are a lot more BAME voters in Britain than there are
Jewish voters. So the result would be a massive net gain for Labour. Some
pursuit of self-interest.
Meanwhile, those Brits who are neither Jewish nor members of
any other minority group are given no guidance by this approach. There is no
particular reason, after all, for why they should favor ameliorating Jewish
fears of antisemitism over BAME fears of xenophobia. From their vantage point,
these issues effectively cancel out, and they are freed to vote without regard
to caring about either antisemitism or
Islamophobia. At the very moment where these issues have been foregrounded in
the British public imagination in an unprecedented way, insisting upon the
primacy of pure self-interest would ensure that this attention would be
squandered and rendered moot.
Of course, all this does not even contemplate the horrible
dilemma imposed upon those persons who are both Jewish and BAME—the
Afro-Caribbean Jew, for instance. They are truly being torn asunder, told that
no matter how they vote they will be betraying a part of their whole self.
And finally, whatever we can say about the status of Tory
antisemitism today, painful experience demonstrates that tides of xenophobia,
nativism, and illiberal nationalism reflected in the Conservative Party will
always eventually swallow Jews as well. That day will come, and if history is
any guide it will come quickly. Jews should think twice and thrice before
contemplating giving any succor to that brand of politics, no matter what
seductive gestures it makes at us today.
So no—it will not do for Jews to back the Tories out of
“self-interest”, for doing so will ultimately fail even in protecting
ourselves. Ultimately, the reason that Jews should clearly and vocally reject
both Labour and Tory is not sentimentality, but solidarity—solidarity in its
truest and most robust sense. There simply are not enough Jews in the United
Kingdom to make going it alone a viable strategy. We need allies, and so we
need to find a way to respond to the reality of Labour antisemitism in a way
that binds us closer to our allies rather than atomizing us apart. The
solidarity they showed us must be reciprocated in kind.
If there is one theme I have heard over and over again from
UK Jews, it is the fear of becoming “politically homeless”: unable to stomach
voting for Tory nativism, unable to countenance backing Labour antisemitism.
But as The Guardian
letter demonstrated, Jews still have friends, and allies, and people who will
have our backs no matter what. And if you’ve got friends, allies, and people
who have your back, what do you do if you’re worried about homelessness?
I’d say, you start building a new house—one with room enough
for all of us.