The Power of Narratives: Part 1: Antisemitism, the left, and Holocaust trauma

My grandmother and her two sisters. Along with their mother, all survived the Holocaust. All are gone now

I write this three-part series as a British Jew, and grandson of a late Holocaust survivor. I voted for and strongly supported Jeremy Corbyn when he was leader of the Labour Party; and also voted for and strongly support Keir Starmer now he is leader of the Labour Party. I am uncomfortable with a number of the moves Starmer has made since; but accept and understand most of them as strategically and electorally necessary in the wake of a shattering defeat 11 months ago. I am frantic, desperate for a Labour government; but utterly deplore the National Executive Committee (NEC)’s recent treatment of Corbyn: suspended from the Party he loves for, in effect, telling the truth.

Corbyn’s crime? It’s long been to challenge a narrative about antisemitism in Labour which has grown arms and legs: to such an extent that it’s accepted by most as cast iron fact, even when it’s not. So powerful is this narrative, parroted across the UK media and exploited by not only the Conservative Party, but many of Corbyn’s opponents within the Parliamentary Labour Party, it unquestionably played a significant role in the Party’s hammering last December. Amid a daily drumroll of ‘Labour is antisemitic! Labour is antisemitic!’, British Jews simply did not trust Labour; huge numbers were afraid of it. And naturally, many non-Jews were appalled at the very idea that a major British party could be endemically racist: so voted based on that (and other issues besides).

When flawed or false narratives are treated as fact, what happens? Subsequent leaders have to accept them too, or stand accused of enabling these horrors. In his leadership campaign, Starmer rightly pledged there would be zero tolerance whatsoever of antisemitism: but in practice, this meant accepting a deeply flawed, highly problematic set of pledges from the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Pledges which have since bound Starmer’s hands… despite these not only chilling pro-Palestinian speech, but in practice, all but denying the basic freedom of speech and presumption of innocence which we all, as citizens in a democracy, are supposed to enjoy.