We are truly through the looking glass now. Keir Starmer – the man who just weeks ago was busy plagiarising the speeches of Enoch Powell – has seen fit to suspend Diane Abbott. The first Black woman MP and a lifelong anti-racist campaigner has now been thrown out of Labour based on her alleged ‘racism’ for the second time in two years.
This is a grotesque twisting of reality. The comments Diane Abbott made on Radio 4 to allegedly trigger this were not racist by any stretch of the imagination. They were not antisemitic. They were not even crass or insensitive. What Diane Abbott said in her interview was clearly true. Different forms of racism are obviously experienced differently. They have different origins and different expressions. Of course, there are similarities and commonalities in the experiences of various marginalised and oppressed groups. But the specifics of how different forms of racism manifest are not identical.
To point this out is simply to state the obvious. It does not in any way downplay the reality of anti-Jewish, anti-Irish or anti-traveller racism to explain how being visibly black or brown skinned can lead to particular problems of racial profiling, street violence or harassment. This makes antisemitism, anti-Irish or anti-traveller racism no less real and pernicious. Travellers in particular are some of the most marginalised people within our society. Though it is noteworthy that there is zero outrage being expressed on their behalf on the part of capitalist politicians.
Indeed, the only people who have a ‘hierarchy’ of racism are the Blairites themselves. For them, racism against black and brown people is not only rarely condemned, but regularly legitimised. Meanwhile their anti-traveller attitudes are often explicit. Yet a warped definition of ‘antisemitism’ which – in an ironically racist way – conflates Jewish identity with the capitalist Israeli state, has been used systematically as a weapon against left wing, anti-war and pro-Palestine activists, both inside and outside of Labour. This does no justice to the fight against real antisemitism, which Diane Abbot has been involved in for many decades.
This episode underlines the urgency of a new left party being launched, in line with the announcements made by Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn earlier this month. This should be a party that stands up to all forms of racism and rejects attempts to place oppression in some sort of crude hierarchy. It should be a natural home for Diane Abbott, alongside all other anti-war, anti-austerity, and socialist MPs in parliament.
But most importantly it should be a space to organise the masses of working-class people eager to play a part in fighting back all over the country. Its doors should be thrown open and a launch conference organised to bring together campaigners, trade unionists, anti-war activists and socialists to democratically decide the way forward. If you agree, get involved with Socialist Alternative and join us in the fight to help make this a reality!
