The suspension of Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party in Britain is a disgrace and an attack on the whole left and the Palestine movement. The suspension comes after comments made by Corbyn on a report published by the Human Rights Commission (EHRC) which was investigating instances of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party.
Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party in 2015. He had a long record as a socialist, an anti-racist campaigner, a defender of workers’ rights and a defender of Palestinian rights. This did not sit well with the establishment in Britain or Israel and its supporters.
Corbyn and campaigners in solidarity with Palestine, oppose Israel because of its decades-long racist persecution of Palestinians, and because of its key role as a supporter of US wars in the Middle East. However, there has been a systematic campaign to weaponise anti-semitism in order to discredit Corbyn and undermine Palestinian solidarity by conflating criticism of the State of Israel with anti-Semitism. Despite various YouGov polls showing there were less instances of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party than other parties and that cases of anti-Semitism had actually declined under Corbyn’s leadership.
From the outset, this has been a politically motivated campaign, delivered by the right-wing of the Labour Party, the Tories, much of the mainstream press, the Israeli lobby in Britain and the wider British establishment.
Moreover, the suspension of Corbyn yesterday should put paid to the idea that the Labour Party can be fundamentally changed – as had been the hope of many activists when he took over as leader. Their current leader Keir Starmer, although preaching ‘unity’ during his leadership campaign, is clearly on a mission to purge all reminisces of what was ‘Corbynism’ from the party.
As we have seen in the case of the Greens and the Labour Party in Ireland, no matter how left-wing much of the membership is, the party bureaucrats and parliamentary apparatus undermine the principles and aims held by many of its grassroots members.
The Left, inside and outside the Labour Party and the Trade Union Movement in Britain, must first and foremost defend Corbyn from this shameful attack. But they also need to use this as an opportunity to finally break from the shackles of the Labour Party and build a broad independent party of the Left that is truly accountable to its grassroots members.
Such a party would relate to the huge depth of anger that is felt in British society for the Tories mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, the obscene levels of poverty, the stripping of the NHS, their inaction on climate change and uphold the principle of solidarity with Palestinians.