Election reaction

[liv]

I woke up this morning to news of the Labour victory. Well, to be honest, I knew when I went to sleep last night that Labour were going to win, and really, I was pretty certain when I voted at 9 o'clock yesterday morning that Labour were going to win. And it's not exactly like I'd be dancing in the streets if the shambolic, unelectable band of racist scum calling themselves the Conservative party had defied all expectations by winning this election.

But what really socked me when I was woken by the radio this morning was hearing that George Galloway has taken Oona King's seat. Most politicians are lying, toadying, power-hungry demagogues; it's depressing, but that's human nature. However, Oona King is, I believe, a genuinely good person, and George Galloway is, frankly, actively evil. King is quite a bit to the left of Blair, so if the consituency wanted a socialist, why not a sane, dedicated, principled socialist rather than a nutter?

I'm just hoping that the people who voted for him were unaware of his violently antisemitic views. It's not something he emphasized in his campaign, unlike in the 70s when he was elected in Dundee on an overtly antisemitic platform, and very nearly drove the century-old Jewish community out of Dundee altogether, as well as inciting violence and nastiness which continues to this day. Perhaps people voted for him as a protest against the Blair government and the Iraq war. I can sympathize to a point. But, you know, people, he was thrown out of the Labour party for what amounted to treason. Not treason against the Labour party, actual treason against this country where he is now an MP again. Ugh.

All I can say is, at this moment I'm extremely glad that I have skills and qualifications which should make it easy for me to live anywhere in the world. And if rysmiel wants to hold forth about why democracy is a poor method of government, or indeed why Montreal is a wonderful place, at this particular moment I'm likely to be more than usually susceptible to such arguments.

Today is the 12^th day, making one week and five days of the Omer.

Comments

anti-semitism of the left

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

interesting. over here antisemitism has become somewhat more acceptable in recent years, i feel, though "acceptable" isn't really the right word -- it's not actually acceptable, but one might hear a tossed-off remark, and nobody jumps on it. it sits on the fringes of pro-palestinian attitudes, and i think that in addition, some of those are perceived as anti-semitic when they're not actually so. it can be hard to walk that line sometimes.

oh, and rysmiel isn't a big fan of democracy? cool. that means i am not alone amongst the non-nutter contingent.

[liv]

I think I probably need to do a post about antisemitism at some point, actually; there's a lot of stuff I want to talk about scattered through these comments where I think not many people are going to see it.

over here antisemitism has become somewhat more acceptable in recent years
I think it's really hard to judge. My impression is that antisemitism is increasing, but there's a huge collective denial of it. A lot of it is at the level of 'I'm not racist but...' People will not admit to being antisemitic, and politically, if a public figure is accused of antisemitism, that's incredibly damaging. Someone can be called a liar, a fraud, a homophobe, or a xenophobe and manage to shrug it off, but there always seems to be desperate scurrying to deny any possibility of antisemitism. It's a bit Godwin, I'm afraid; being antisemitic is seen as somehow tantamount to supporting the Germans in WW2, which is a huge stigma.

The fact that the Respect PR people feel the need to make the point that they are merely anti-Zionist, not antisemitic, I think is indicative of this. (Other fringe political parties, such as Veritas, have no problem with admitting to being openly anti-Muslim / Islamophobic / anti-Arab, however you want to term it.)

it sits on the fringes of pro-palestinian attitudes, and i think that in addition, some of those are perceived as anti-semitic when they're not actually so.
I think this is a very important point, actually. The desire for Palestinian independence, much less criticism of the Israeli government, are not intrinsically antisemitic positions. However, there certainly are antisemitic elements who are trying to exploit people's justifiable strong feelings about these issues to build up resentment against Jews generally.

I'm automatically suspicious of anyone who draws an analogy between the illegal intervention in Iraq by the US and her allies, and the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. The connection between those two relies on the (usually, but not always) unspoken assumption that Zionist (which I'm afraid quite often means 'Jewish') influence is responsible for capitalism, globalization, imperialism, and every incidence of exploitation of the poor by the wealthy.

I have no time at all for the LGF school of political analysis where any possible support for Palestinian human rights is automatically antisemitism. However, a good friend of my brother's was murdered in 2003 by some extremists who had infiltrated the anti-war movement. So I no longer feel I can take this lightly.

[kathrid.livejournal.com]

A lot of it is at the level of 'I'm not racist but...'

Ah. That's something I meet at work fairly often. Last time was when a new guy said that the polish contingent of Wallwork was better than his last place. 'I don't want to sound racist, but it's nice to work with people who aren't black', was the part I particularly enjoyed. He kind of failed in his attempt, there. From his subsequent comments it seems like he objected more to the fact that almost none of them could speak english than their skin colour, but the above comment was a bad start.

I should like to see your views on anti-semitism (and racism generally) in this country. I've been thinking of posting about it myself from time to time and it would be nice to see your thoughts. Can you give me a heads up when you post it (leave a comment in my journal or something), because if it's a work week I might well miss it otherwise. In fact I might miss it anyway, given how often I've been checking LJ recently.

[liv]

Hey kathrid, my follow-up post to this discussion is now up.

[liv]

oh, and rysmiel isn't a big fan of democracy?
Well, I'm not sure; we've not got round to having that discussion yet. rysmiel has hinted at something along these lines in the past, but you'd pretty much have to ask rysmiel.

that means i am not alone amongst the non-nutter contingent.
I don't think you have to be a nutter to see the flaws in democracy as a political system. I am in favour of democracy, but only on balance, not as an absolute thing.