Opinion
Labour: a social experiment in how far you can push people
After an unceasing stream of antisemitic incidents, a number of decent Labour MPs have finally had enough
February 20, 2019 18:29
2 min read
After an unceasing stream of antisemitic incidents, a number of decent Labour MPs have finally had enough
February 20, 2019 18:29Over the past three and a half years, our community has reeled from pillar to post, assailed by an unceasing stream of antisemitic incidents from within the Labour Party.
In that time, our anger has grown. Unused to protesting, last year we found ourselves grimly holding “Enough is Enough” placards outside Parliament.
And we wondered, as this unfolded, how so many decent Labour members could bear to continue their association with the party.
There were small flurries of resignations every so often, like windswept leaves falling from autumn trees. The party’s prolonged failure to take proper action against Ken Livingstone was the sticking point for some. For others, it was the peerage for Baroness Chakrabarti after a report whitewashing Labour antisemitism. Later, memberships would be cancelled after the revelation that Jeremy Corbyn laid a wreath for masterminds of the Munich massacre, or during the party’s attempts to dodge adopting the full IHRA antisemitism definition, or after a video circulated of Mr Corbyn suggesting certain UK Jews “don’t understand British irony”.
Labour’s leadership has been conducting, consciously or subconsciously, a social experiment on how far you can push people devoted to a political party before they break.
This week, eight MPs were finally pushed too far.
Some – particularly Mike Gapes and Joan Ryan – are longstanding friends of our community.
But Luciana Berger’s resignation hit home hardest.
A generation of young Jewish Labour activists – especially women - regard Luciana as their inspiration. She was one of Labour’s brightest stars.
She has also been targeted by torrential antisemitic abuse, from far right and far-left, including within Labour.
For years she stood firm. The Jewish Labour Movement, of which she is chair, still features a social media recruitment poster quoting her:
“There have been Jewish people in the Labour Party since it was founded… Jewish Labour MPs since the 1920s.
“We are an integral part of the Labour family. This Labour movement is our rightful home and we’re going to fight for it.”
But many feel this fight has been lost; Luciana is now one of them. Announcing her resignation, she said: “I cannot remain in a party that I have come to the sickening conclusion is institutionally antisemitic.”
The JLM will hold two extraordinary general meetings next month, to "decide collectively where we go from here".
They may opt to remain affiliated to Labour – since leaving would cede the title of “Labour Jewish spokespeople” to the far-left fringe “Jewish Voice for Labour” group, who could blame them?
But for others, enough is finally enough. Like Adam Langleben, a former Labour councillor. In his resignation letter, he wrote: “My wife and I are having our first child in two weeks’ time.
"One day my son may ask me what I did to stop you from ever becoming Prime Minister. I can no longer look my family and friends in the face without complete shame.”
We should offer our sympathies and understanding to those who have finally left Labour.
And brace ourselves for further antisemitic incidents from the party undoubtedly still to come.
