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    Labour and Antisemitism: a crisis misunderstood

    Gidley, Ben and McGeever, Brendan Francis and Feldman, David (2020) Labour and Antisemitism: a crisis misunderstood. The Political Quarterly 91 (2), pp. 413-421. ISSN 0032-3179.

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    Abstract

    In this article, we argue that Labour’s antisemitism crisis has been misunderstood. We suggest that a more accurate and sophisticated understanding of antisemitism offers a way forward. There are three elements to this claim. First, by drawing on existing data on attitudes towards Jews, we criticise the widespread focus on individual ‘antisemites’, rather than on the broader problem of antisemitism. In turn, we conceive of antisemitism not as a virus or poison, as in so many formulations, but rather, as a reservoir of readily available images and ideas that subsist in our political culture. Second, following on from this understanding, we offer five ways forward. Finally, we set this analysis in the context of a historical parting of the ways between anti‐racism and opposition to antisemitism. An anti‐racism defined solely by conceptions of whiteness and power, we argue, has proven unable to fully acknowledge and account for anti‐Jewish racism.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Article
    Keyword(s) / Subject(s): Labour, antisemitism, anti‐racism, metaphor, Jewish community, the left
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Historical Studies
    Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences
    Research Centres and Institutes: The Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism
    Depositing User: Administrator
    Date Deposited: 14 May 2020 10:36
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 17:59
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/31928

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