The plot against Corbyn

 Jeremy Corbyn may have been a mistaken choice, electorally speaking, by the Labour membership, but he was democratically elected. His removal - according to this exposé (text version here) - was anything but, relying on smears, untruths and false reporting. Al Jazeera named at least half-a-dozen Labour activists and officials, who should have supported the leader but instead worked to undermine him. Their fake news, wittingly or unwittingly, was used by MPs Tom Watson, Angela Eagle and the late Tessa Jowell in their opposition to Corbyn. 

Corbyn was not the total innocent portrayed by the programme. He clearly sympathises with any group which seeks to overturn the establishment, including some who do not shrink from violence. Nor do his hopes for state socialism chime with most UK voters, though lately the under-performance of English train operating companies and the profits being made from the North Sea for multi-national energy companies may prove a partial exception. 

Al Jazeera of course has its own special interest in the story. As the major news organisation based in an Arab nation it has reporters both in Palestine and Israel. It regularly publishes descriptions of assaults on civil rights by the authorities throughout the region, including Israel. When people in the West blow the whistle on attempts to equate criticism of Israel, the state, with anti-Semitism, naturally it is interested. 

What appears to have happened in the Labour party is that Islamophobes have made common cause with those who regret the departure of Blair in order to oust Corbyn. So socialists, including Jews, were smeared as anti-Semites along with supporters of Palestinian rights. The purge has continued as the party has swung to the opposite extreme under Starmer, leading surely to the party's loss of many moderate Muslim members. Their activism will have to be replaced if Labour is serious about contesting its previous "Red Wall" seats in the north of England, not to mention holding on to its London seats.

That the theme of the programme is more than a Trotskyite protest is shown by the presence of Peter Oborne. This ultra-liberal's work is usually to be found in the pages of conservative periodicals, but also includes a biography of Basil d'Oliveira, the cricketer who triumphed over apartheid.

For the record, I support Israel's right to exist as laid out in the Balfour declaration. Racism and xenophobia, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, have no place in a civilised society.  And Watson, Eagle and Jowell had a perfect right to express their differences with Corbyn openly. 

I had supported Jeremy Corbyn's candidacy for the Labour party leadership in order to provide a socialist test of what might otherwise be a walk-over by a more establishment candidate. One could not have foreseen how a mistaken loosening of membership requirements would lead to a skewed result.

[Update 22:15] 

Commenting on al Jazeera news tonight, Kevin Craig, Labour influencer, stressed that Corbyn lost the Labour leadership because he did not have what it takes to be a prime minister, was shown to be indecisive and (music to my ears) was instrumental in the UK leaving the EU. I would not disagree with any of this, but query the necessity therefore of the subterranean dishonest campaign against him and his supporters.