9 December 2019|The Interregnum|Mohamed Elmaazi
A long-time anti-Zionist campaigner writes an open letter of solidarity to socialist Chris Williamson amid relentless smears and attacks from the right-wing of the Labour Party and mainstream media.
Featured image via Mohamed Elmaazi
Selma James, a co-founder of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), has penned an open letter to Chris Williamson calling out the “Witch-Hunt” that he and other members of the British Left have been subjected to.
James, writing in the Morning Star Online on 9 December, explains that:
“Many of us have to hold our tongues about the malicious fabricated attacks on the Labour leadership which have often gone unchallenged and have resulted, therefore, in wildly unjustified suspensions and expulsions like yours.”
Failing to ‘hold our tongues’, James says, is to, “risk being suspended just when we are needed to fight for Labour in the election”. She writes that she is “delighted to hear” that many Labour Party members in Derby North are backing Williamson:
“in order to get a Corbyn victory based on Labour’s terrific manifesto, which outlines a new start for Labour, for working-class people and for the country as a whole”.
In March 2019 the documentary WitchHunt was launched online. It examines the smearing of the anti-racist left in the UK through the case-study of Jackie Walker, author, playwright and activist of Jamaican-Portuguese-Russian-Jewish background. Walker, a pro-Corbyn socialist and co-founder of the Momentum lobby group, has been smeared, harassed, threatened, hounded and suspended, un-suspended, then ultimately re-suspended and expelled. Yet despite being subjected to vitriol for being Black, female, and the ‘wrong kind’ of Jewish, the mainstream press have often represented her as a perpetrator of bigotry, instead of as a victim of bigotry and a life-long anti-racist campaigner – which is what she is.
Yet her story, and that of Williamson, are not an isolated cases. As James’s letter points out anyone speaking out in solidarity with people like Williamson is themselves at risk of suspension from the Labour Party. These stories are emblematic of the ongoing battle within the British Labour Party in which the right-wing, pro-capitalist, pro-war factions, and their liberal allies, are fighting relentlessly to undermine Jeremy Corbyn and the anti-neoliberal, anti-war, progressive and pro-democratic forces elements back him . A big part of that battle is the constant (mis)use of the charge of antisemitism against Jeremy Corbyn and anyone who has shown support for or solidarity with the Palestinian people living under Israeli apartheid, including Williamson and Walker. Both of whom have essentially been forced-out of the Labour Party, with disappointingly little support from the Labour Party leadership.
“We thank you for campaigning for a Corbyn-led government” James says, noting that people like her are “terrified of what might happen to the NHS, the climate emergency and rights of all kinds if [Boris] Johnson is [re]elected”.
James characterises the Tory Prime Minister as:
“pro-fossil fuels, pro-hostile environment, pro-austerity, pro-arming the Saudi and Israeli governments, pro-occupation of Palestine, and friends of the racist anti-semitic Islamophobic far right in Europe”
How ironic that the mainstream press have spent barely a minute to cover genuine reaction in the Tory Party while badgering the likes of Jeremy Corbyn with the same baseless smears ad nasuem.
Selma James says she recognises that Williamson has been subjected to a relentless bullying campaign which has resulted in speaking engagements being shut-down after venues withdrew following harassing emails, phone calls, and visits. There has been a “contract against you, Chris” James writes, saying this is because he is “a vocal, effective and principled supporter of Corbyn and his policies”. The campaign of harassment against venues is not limited to those where Williamson is invited to be a speaker. As recently as September 2019 Waterstone’s cancelled a book-launch of Bad News for Labour: Antisemitism, the Party and Public Belief, at the last minute, following a sustained campaign of intimidation and harassment directed towards its staff. Despite the fact that at least one of the staff members who co-organised the event, as well as two of the authors, are Jewish next to no press coverage was to be found. A not-uncommon occurrence when the targets of harassment are associated with the Left.
This open letter comes at a crucial moment. Williamson has been compelled by the Labour Party National Executive Committee to stand as an independent, after more than 44 years as a “loyal member”. At a time when every vote counts, and facing relentless smears, James’s letter must be a breath of fresh air to Williamson and his campaign.