4 March 2019|The Canary|Mohamed Elmaazi
Right-wing and even liberal forces are levelling false charges of racism and antisemitism to destroy ‘the Left’ in the UK. This alliance of forces, which includes pro-Zionist Labour Party members, is also specifically targeting anti-racist campaigners who are critical of the State of Israel. This is one of the key messages to come out of a powerful new documentary called WitchHunt.
The tagline of the film says it all. WitchHunt is about:
The attempt to smash the most hopeful movement of our lifetime. And that movement is the one surrounding Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
WitchHunt
The Canary attended the film’s premiere on 10 February. The organisers simultaneously showed the film in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, and Cambridge, as well as on Facebook and YouTube. Attendance was invite-only, with a fair amount of security, largely due to safety concerns. A bomb threat terminated a previous screening of WitchHunt organised in Liverpool, by Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL). The bomb threat happened during the 2018 Labour Party conference, to shockingly minimal coverage from the ‘mainstream’ press.
Jackie Walker
The film’s director, activist and filmaker Jon Pullman, follows the story of Jackie Walker, an activist, playwright, actress, and long-time anti-racist campaigner. Walker’s father was a Russian Ashkenazi ‘White’ Jew and her mother was a Jamaican of Portuguese Jewish ancestry.
Yet Walker’s ethno-religious background, and her years as an anti-racist campaigner, didn’t protect her from the press and the political class who have repeatedly smeared her as an antisemite. Even progressive outlets such as Harper’s Magazine labelled Walker as anti-Jewish. Walker, who is also a campaigner for Palestinian rights, has been viciously trolled online, removed from her position as vice chair of pro-Corbyn group Momentum, and suspended from the Labour Party. The Labour Party re-instated Walker, after a lengthy review, only to suspend her for a second time after further allegations of antisemitism. Pullman uses Walker’s story to expose the political environment that the anti-racist left must deal with.
Read the full letter here: https://www.thecanary.co/opinion/2019/03/04/witchhunt-the-smearing-of-the-anti-racist-left/