Lib Dem MP Luciana Berger described her experience of anti-semitism in the Labour Party at a campaign event today. Watch here;
This came on the day Jo Swinson signed the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition on antisemitism, which all candidates are being asked to sign this Election.
I am today signing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition on antisemitism, which all candidates are being asked to sign this Election. pic.twitter.com/KsdFHrdT7p
— Jo Swinson (@joswinson) November 14, 2019
The party published its plan for Equalities and Human Rights today, which covers everything from protecting civil liberties, banning use of facial recognition technology for police surveillance, protecting the Human Rights Act, a Lovelace Code of ethics to cover use of personal data and ending the snoopers’ charter on communications data to extending equal marriage and abolishing the unfair spousal veto and reinstating marriages which were forced to be dissolved because of the gender recognition process.
Chuka Umunna said we would take on the right wing forces of nationalism:
You can take on the nasty, ugly nationalism we are seeing around the world and in our country, or you can turn a blind eye to it like Labour and the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats are clear – we will take it on because it is the patriotic and the right thing to do.
We will give no quarter in our defence of the liberal, progressive values of Britain. All those who want to build an open, progressive and inclusive society must vote for the Liberal Democrats in this election to stop Brexit and build a brighter future.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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One Comment
I think we have all said how appalling the treatment of Luciana was, and here she adds misogyny. A number of us have cautioned several times against using alleged levels of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party as a political weapon. As foreseen, Jews who remain committed to Labour have now started to hit back at Luciana and our Party. E.g. Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) has the following link on their FB page: https://web.archive.org/web/20190905150025/http:/www.lucianaberger.com/2014/05/21/you-cant-trust-the-lib-dems-vote-labour/
Shaun Lawson, grandson of Holocaust survivor, has written an open letter “Hello Luciana” in the Dorset Eye and reproduced: https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/hello-luciana/ With regard to the true numbers of Jews leaving labour and political demographics, Robert A. H. Cohen, with no party allegiance, but has voted Lib Dem has written a sober account: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/writingfromtheedge/2019/11/as-a-british-jew-im-not-fearful-of-a-corbyn-government-but-im-horrified-at-how-antisemitism-is-being-used-against-him
This article implies the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism is a gold standard, but even the Board of Deputies and Community Security Trust have issued a new booklet and much shorter definition https://www.bod.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Facebook-AntiSemitism-Brochure-03-DIGTIAL-SINGLEPAGE.pdf Luciana was present at the launch in Parliament in October. Of course the IHRA definition, rejected as a legal framework by Kenneth S Stern who wrote it to standardise reporting of anti-Semitic incidents from different countries, has been used by Zionists to allege anti-Semitism and curtail legitimate free speech in support of Palestine. There is therefore an incongruity in this piece with the fine sounding principles in the Party’s Plan for Equalities and Human Rights. https://www.libdems.org.uk/plan-equalities