Keith Kahn-Harris
@KeithKahnHarris
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Author. Sociologist. Newsletter 'A Curious Miscellany' . Find me elsewhere via
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Joined April 2009
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If you are leaving here (or even if you aren't), these are the places you can find me. I am staying around for now but everyone has their limits...
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Churchill was a racist imperialist who also played a crucial role in defeating fascism in Europe, thereby paving the way for the eventual, albeit highly partial and erratic, reckoning with racism and imperialism in Europe. His legacy is complex. Colston's not so much.
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Thread: I'm starting to find western tankie discourse more chilling than the propaganda of the regimes they defend. In states like Belarus, figures like an 80% electoral victory free of rigging, are not meant to be literally believed 1/
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The viciousness with which Mendoza et al have turned on Owen Jones helps explain why, after writing nuanced pieces in the early years of the Corbyn project, he largely abandoned asking questions post-2017: There was no room anymore in the movement for even modest critique. 1/
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There's a lot of outrage at this letter but it's important to be clear about why it's so wrong: Irish, Jews and Travellers have historically been raciallised as non-white or racially inferior. 'Whiteness' is not static (and in any case many Jews and Travellers are dark skinned)
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The Starmer-landlord incident is symptomatic of a peculiarly Labour problem: Even when it isn't in government, the party's 'supporters' often treat the party as if it is responsible for everything. The Labour Party itself becomes the primary site of political struggle.
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Someone should write a movie about a titanic struggle over Labour Party rule changes against the backdrop of a giant asteroid about to hit earth.
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The real scandal of the David Miller case wasn't so much David Miller himself; it was the people who defended him, including senior academics who know exactly what antisemitism is.
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My take on the Royal Court issue? So engrained has denial of antisemitism become that even the most straightforwardly antisemitic tropes become invisible.
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I am sure that Jeremy Corbyn will see his engagement with The Canary as a liberation from the hostile mass media. Really though, it's a sign that he has thrown the towel in on any effort to engage with people who don't already adore him.
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Western tankies miss the point. They behave as if propaganda from dictatorships was actually supposed to be believed. Ironically, they are so imbued with western democratic norms that they have no ability to engage vin cynical doublethink. 3/
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Said it before and I will say it again: You need to read 26 books in order to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict
Kushner tells Sky News Arabia he has read 25 books on the Israel-Palestine conflict
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The Chief Rabbi's intervention has drawn attention to 2 incontrovertible facts: 1) His office does not represent all Jews, or even a majority and 2) Focusing in this way on Labour implies that the Tories don't have a racism problem. But...
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In dictatorships the absurdity of the lie is precisely the point - it is an expression of dominance. Citizens of such countries become adept at living with multiple truths simultaneously. Even regime supporters show bravura discursive skills. 2/
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Just discovered the extraordinary phenomenon of Corbynites claiming Corbyn was behind the Good Friday Agreement. As far as I can tell, no one in these screenshots is joking.
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In some ways that makes them more dangerous: Imagine how terrifying Belarus's regime would be if they actually believed their own propaganda. To be a western tankie is to yearn for dictatorship untempered by the leven of cynicism. Ends/
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The extraordinary Rabbi Cytron-Walker perfectly encapsulates the delusion at the heart of the antisemitism he confronted. How simultaneously comforting and terrifying it is to believe that power has 1 address; that any synagogue is but a node in a seamless web of dominance.
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Years ago I resolved to try and avoid talking in public about I/P out of disgust with the discourse and a refusal to allow myself to be made a pariah by one party or another. On days like today though, this feels like self-indulgence. What's happening in Jerusalem is criminal.
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@Sara_Rose_G
Through your bravery in sharing this, you have done both autistic and neurotypical people a service. I say this as someone with an autistic child who has also worried what the neighbours might here (and then felt ashamed for it). Thank you.
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Settler violence and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank is something that any remotely liberal Zionist in the Diaspora to should be worried about. At the moment, pro-Pals are focusing on Gaza. This is an opportunity for Jews to push back against our own terrorists.
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Well everyone else is doing it so here's my take on Michael Gove's bookshelf: 1) The presence of the Bell Curve is more disturbing than Irving as Gove is clearly not a Holocaust denier but we can't be so categorical about his attitude to Murray.
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So many British Jews I know are only one or two degrees of separation away from people killed or missing in Israel. That we are so closely bound up in Israel reflects, in part, the undeniable reality that it is the largest Jewish population on earth.
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Re the apalling record of David Miller at Bristol Uni: Antisemitism is the tip of the spear. His record of conspiracy theories and denialism (esp on Syria) raises wider questions about how we maintain academic freedom when scholars embrace the antithesis of scholarship.
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The scale of Keir Starmer's victory tells us that, for all of the cultiness of the Corbynite hardcore, they didn't purge the party. They achieved worst of all worlds: Stalinist atmosphere without Stalinist institutional competence.
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Not all British Jews set up small businesses that grew into large corporations or were radical anti-fascists who fought at Cable Street. Most of us were, are and always will be, incredibly dull. Sorry.
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One of the peculiarities of Twitter is that sense of guilt when you don't comment on something terrible in the world. There's that nagging fear that silence will be judged as complicity. But the alternative is to become a series of platitudinous press releases.
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It's a terrible indictment of Corbyn that he let a movement that promised so much descend so rapidly into abusive paranoia. And it's tragic how some of the brightest hopes of the left never had the strength to resist being sucked under.
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There are many anti-Zionist academics in UK university. 'They' did not 'target' Miller for that, but because in his teaching it was clear he would be unable to treat Jewish students who didn't renounce Zionism as people, rather than propagandists.
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Probably a good time to remind ourselves that the antisemitism controversy in the Labour Party has largely not been played out between Muslims and Jews. Most (although not all) the most notorious incidents were perpetuated by 'white' people.
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Today, one actor's comment derailed activism against the militarisation of US police and activism against globalisation of security infrastructure. If you are fortunate enough to have a public platform, speak carefully and don't use Israel as a lazy shorthand for all evil.
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I wrote this for the
@guardian
'Why I quit' series. The photo was taken on the day in 1993 when I was diagnosed with Epstein-Barr, from which I never fully recovered. It makes me sad for the younger me and proud for the life I have built nonetheless.
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I try not to fall into nostalgia but...I do miss music videos where there is a largely incomprehensible story and the artists try to act.
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Re: 'That' quote by Andrew Murray, one of the interesting things is how reductive it is: racism is only possible when the victims are economically disadvantaged.
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Holy shit. Corbyn suspended. My fear is that the wider questions about antisemitism raised by the report will now be ignored in favour of a conflict over one man and his legacy. This is, after all, one of the reasons why the Corbyn movement failed - it all came down to one man.
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This exchange (and it gets worse) features - in a crowded field - one of the most magnificent examples of goysplaining I have ever seen. And Allison Pearson is the new queen of selective anti-racism.
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@_roryturnbull
Hello, I'm a cop on stakeout in a movie. I can always find a parking place across from the building I'm watching. I can sit for hours with the windows rolled up in summer and with no heating in winter. I buy coffee at the only cafe that still serves it in Styrofoam cups
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It's also a disastrous approach to anti-racism: It's as unproductive to point out that Jews did not suffer as black people did in South Africa as it is to point out that the Nazis hated Jews more than black or Irish people.
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It became a choice between being in the movement and suppressing one's critical impulses or be cast out and be targeted for abuse. Most of us, including Owen Jones, don't have the strength for this. And that's why the likes of Mendoza ended up defining the culture of Corbynism 2/
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Pleased to see that horrible Melanie Phillips piece is being widely condemned in the Jewish community. It also obscures an important point: In the Labour antisemitism crisis most although not all offenders were 'white'. It waa not a Muslim-Jewish conflict
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The bit about antisemitism in Labour was a couple of paragraphs in Rafael Behr's quite lengthy article. It's a sign of the lingering toxicity of the issue that it's become the beginning and end of the whole thing.
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That closeness cuts across ideological lines. I know passionate anti-Zionist diasporist Jews who are grieving or worried right now. Jews cannot be extricated from Israel even if they want to be.
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One of the more pleasant revelations of recent months is that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a better man than anyone thought
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I am lukewarm about Starmer and hope he doesn't simply tack back to warmed-over New Labourism. But I am more comfortable with a leader who inspires lukewarm support than one who inspires adoration. Politicians should never inspire anything more than insipid conditional acceptance
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I've never viewed anti-Zionism as intrinsically antisemitic or a secular one state as a necessarily hateful vision. I do, however, wish that opponents of a Jewish state could recognise that Hamas's 7 October attacks constituted an existential threat to a non-nationalist future.
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I know it's painful to confront but I don't see how liberal Zionists in the Diaspora can continue to avoid the fact that this war - and the country - is being run by people who do not share their values. It's time to listen to the growing number of Israelis who want this to end
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Ceasefire. I really hope, now Hamas and Netanyahu have finished collaborating for their mutual benefit, attention can return to Sheikh Jarrah and the Israeli far right.
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The letter is also really really sad. Diane Abbott wasn't always this way. She hasn't been on top of her game for years and this is another sign that she needs to gracefully retire. The storm of criticism she will face for this will inevitably include ugly racism and misogyny.
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Seen some extraordinarily hateful comments re Desmond Tutu in pro-Israel social media. As with much I/P discourse, the proud, self-righteous, narcissistic futility of it all is depressing.
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Well, I finally wrote something. The title emphasises antisemitism but I am also talking about something broader: the presence of antithetical groups within the pro-Palestinian movement.
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Can I suggest that everyone, no matter where they are, drops everything and watches the
#Bros
documentary on BBC? I predict that in decades time we will all know every word of it by heart. Luke and Matt are the Shakespeare of psychobollocks.
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I would so like to meet the non-superb Jews who worked for Piers Corbyn.
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What I've learned from the last few years is to never write off anyone as marginal. As Claire Fox has triumphantly proved, yesterday's crank genocide denier is today's establishment genocide denier.
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In UK we aren't where the US is for now. But we are on a journey that could lead to the same place. We took a major step when the Tories knowingly chose a leader who was incompetent. Johnson isn't Trump but the process through which people who knew better enabled them is the same
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Can the Labour Party please find a way to be at war with itself over something other than Jews/Israel/antisemitism?
This really really isn't good for us Jews and the party is showing a real lack of imagination here. There are so many other divisive issues to choose from!
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This kind of denialism - passing up Syrian atrocity images as Gaza by those who deny Syrian atrocities -is so common that it can't be accidental. It's not like there is any shortage of real images of Gaza. Rarely has the cynical violence of denialism been more visible.
Jackson again, who denies Assad and Putin's crimes in Syria and Ukraine, shares misleading and false information.
Jackson shares a photo and claims it is from Gaza, but the photo is an old one from the city of Homs, Syria, when Assad and his allies Russia and Iran destroyed the
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When 'anti-racist' becomes an identity, it becomes smugness. Anti-racism should be an injunction to ceaseless personal and public struggle. None of us are anti-racist enough.
(This is a sub-tweet)
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One of the reasons I like
#EltonJohn
is that he has stuck with the same band members for decades. They have aged with him, they are entirely comfortable with each other and he gives them their due. As us Watford fans know, Elton is loyal.
#Glastonbury
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I really hope that UK Jewish communal orgs will start to wake up to who Julie Burchill is and stop inviting her to speak. Her self-professed philosemitism is an extension of her performative contrarianism and is inseparable from her Islamophobia.
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At the same time, I don't think 'speaking out' on its own has the efficacy that people think it does. It often feels utterly futile. And that futile pressure to speak seems to be the whole premise of Twitter.
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.
@AaronBastani
Do you understand the logic of your position is that only those with whom one is ideologically aligned should be listened to on racism? I'm sure plenty of other minorities who experience racism have dodgy views too. Do they not count either.
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Don't usually share stuff about my kids on Twitter but will make an exception for this: After months of work, my son has completed his Roman shield, made with authentic materials and no compromises. It looks simple - in fact it was unbelievably difficult. So so proud.
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SATIRE: I made a joke about Jeremy Corbyn. His supporters took it all in good spirits.
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You could have just said 'everyone'
Every Jew, and every gentile should read this. Very interesting exploration of Judaism.
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I don't see how anyone can deny it now: Whatever Corbyn's feelings towards Jews might be, he has a long long history of not seeing the antisemitism of others.
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Inter-communal violence imperils many different visions of I/P: Of Netanyahu-style normality at home and a 'quiet' occupation, of a liberal Zionist 2-states with content Arab minority, of a binational non-Zionist shared future. It empowers only those who yearn for genocide
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I do get frustrated by the lack of sophistication in parts on the left with regard to public rituals: That thousands of people have taken part in jubilee events does not imply ideological commitment to monarchy. Rituals are attractive and exciting for their own sake.
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Thanks for the likes and retweets. Here are some further thoughts by me in The Guardian
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Burgon is right - minorities within minorities do need to be heard. But they also don't need to be exploited as weapons against the majority of a minority. That's what the Board pledge is about. 1/
In deputy leader hustings, Richard Burgon says he believes in working with the Board of Deputies but “won’t be signing the 10 pledges”. Adds: “I’m concerned that the minorities within a minority... their voices need to be heard as well.”
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3) this whole episode should remind us that bookshelves are amoral things: they do not tell us what we think of the books we shelve. And that is why the tweet was so revealing: Vine assumed that presence of books is all it takes to be an intellectual.
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Also noteworthy that, while it is true that one's bookshelf does not denote agreement with what one reads, Gove's reading does not seem to extend to those he would disagree with on the left: For example, Pierre Bourdieu, Paul Gilroy etc
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I have been told that authors should pin a tweet to publicise their books. I have now pinned a tweet to publicise my book.
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What is revealing about this plan is how it treats the Labour Party membership as the main constituency to which a Labour government would be accountable. This is part of a wider poverty of ambition within sections of the Labour left: The Party as primary site of social change.
Great coverage of my pledge to change Labour's rules so that we won't back military action without the members having a vote.
With this pledge, Labour members will never again experience the shame of having to say "Not In My Name" against their own party.
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Neither the Jews who feel comfortable at pro-Palestinian matches, nor the Jews who feel threatened by them represent the totality of the Jewish people. And just because Jews love to delegitimise other Jews doesn't mean that non-Jews have the right to join the party.
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My God Wiley is still on his antisemitic rampage. Why hasn't his account been suspended? After all these years why does Twitter move so slowly in these cases (if they move at all)?
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As a Jewish communal body, it's the Board's job to develop workable relations with whoever is in government. But that doesn't mean public platforms, which implies a closer relationship. Selective racists like Patel thrive on the imprimatur from selected minorities.
Join us next Tuesday for a conversation with the Home Secretary, the Rt Hon
@pritipatel
MP, as part of our BoDCast series. We hope you will join us for this opportunity to hear directly from one of the most senior members of the Government.
More info👉
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Once again, I note that I posted a Corbyn-critical tweet and has a couple of negative, but not nasty comments. In contrast, some left Jewish women do similar and hate rains down on them (they do have more followers than me, but stil..)
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2) The photo reveals as much about Sarah Vine as it does Gove: her sense of lazy entitlement and pretension that lead her to think tweeting the photo was a good idea regardless of its consequences (and the possibility that she hasn't heard of Irving or Murray)
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The conditionality of anti-racism on sections of the left with regard to Jews should be of concern to all minorities. Jews are being told that they will only be listened to on antisemitism if they are politically in the right ballpark. 1/
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Most of the signatories for this letter seem now to be hidden, but when they were visible, they included some pretty distinguished scholars who should and could know better. It's heartbreaking to see. So how could it happen? 1/
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On weaponising antisemitism: THREAD.
The series of tweets that
@michaelgove
sent today to a variety of Labour outriders, challenging them on antisemitism in the party, appears to be a pretty naked attempt to 'weaponise' antisemitism in the election. And so it is, BUT 1/
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Unashamedly using
@AntheaTurner1
's apparent embrace of minor-league Covidiocy as an opportunity to re-up an article I am quite proud of: Read what happened when she visited a slave fort in Ghana...
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There was a period of a couple of hours where at least some on the Labour left took the EHRC seriously with a degree of humility. That period is now over
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Repeating a trope that originated in an antisemitic milieu - 'ciltural Marxism', 'Rothschilds', 'Soros' etc is still dangerous even if you do it without knowing it's history and you are not thinking specifically about Jews. Here's why.....
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I wrote something for
@ThinkJew
on Left Out by
@Gabriel_Pogrund
and Patrick Maguire, arguing that the book is further evidence that love, rather than hate, was the problem in Corbyn's Labour Party.
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This article by David Feldman has been widely praised, and rightly so. It demonstrates clearly how muddled much thinking about antisemitism is and the work of education that is needed.
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One addendum to this thread: I have done research on Holocaust denial and on other aspects of racist extremism. Wherever possible, I try and download freely available pdfs of dodgy texts, using pirate services where necessary. The same goes for my research on racist music.
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If I wasn't on holiday and definitely not checking Twitter I'd be expressing disgust at Jews dismissing Jews by choice because they have chosen to b the wrong kind of Jew. And I'd b reminding Twitter bullies that many of those attacked play a vital role in fighting antisemitism.
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This. I try and avoid whataboutery but sometimes the contradictions and hypocrisy are too big to ignore.
Really is depressing seeing Twitter accounts that actively and openly support the Assad regime’s aerial bombardment of civilians laundering their reputation on Twitter by pretending to oppose the aerial bombardment of Gaza, & racking up thousands of engagements in the process
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I started to write a response to David Miller's foul and antisemitic thread. Then I thought about the positive reactions to the lovely photos of Jews that Rob Stothard took as part of our 'What does a Jew look like?' project. For now, that's a decent response.
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I was the lecturer on this Zoom lecture. Wasn't a fun experience but I managed to keep calm and carry on.
Watching a live Zoom lecture by Reform Judaism on Zoom.
Anonymous person raises their hand to ask a question.
Anonymous person unmuted.
Anonymous person turns out to be a disgusting antisemite, who asks "What was it like in the gas chamber?"
Shocking.
#Antisemitism
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All right I'll bite: Even if you assume that antisemitism is simply a reaction to things Jews do and believe - which, rest assured, I do not - no social phenomenon is simply 'reversible'. Racism has its own dynamic that persists beyond its origins...
This sounds to me like a justification for antisemitism, potentially even incitement. I mean I can't even begin... these are supposed leftists and anti-racists whose usual mantra is that racism is never justified...Apart from now obv.
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We can now read the case against Lucy Letby's conviction. What strikes me is how difficult it is for non-experts - and a jury and solicitors in particular - to make head or tail of complex and disputed medical and statistical evidence.
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As so often in UK under this govt, it's hard to tell whether the scenes at the Clapham vigil were the result of police incompetence on ground or deliberate calculation higher up. But maybe we've reached the point where incompetence and repression have become indistinguishable.
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I really think that a bit more humility and thoughtfulness is called for amongst the factions of the Labour Party: The decline in 'heartland' support is a long-term trend and no one leader is wholly responsible or wholly absolved from blame.
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If you aren't scared of Covid because you are in good health, fine. But you should be scared of appendicitis, an inexplicable lump, a broken leg or anything else that can happen with no warning and requires urgent treatment in a hospital with no spare capacity.
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A provocation that illustrates how, among some western leftists, Palestinian struggle is treated as nationalism-that-is-not-nationalism. A binational state of Palestine would require the negation of Palestinian nationalism as well as Zionism if it were to work.
Looks like its time to crack out the Jewdas Peace Plan™️
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This is really vile and tells us something important about what has happened to the Jewish anti-Zionist left [Thread]
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The Queen knows something that those brought up in a world of ubiquitous media don't: If you have the discipline to reveal nothing of yourself for decades, the smallest signs of an inner capacity for fun are incredibly powerful.
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My son did great in his
#GCSEResults2019
More than great in fact. But fuck you Michael Gove for what you put him through by making the system crueler, more joyless and harsh. He barely survived with his mental health intact.
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