The threat posed by Jeremy Corbyn

Joe Duenas is a writer and independent filmmaker from south Florida. His latest documentary, "The Conspiracy Libel", explores the history of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and can be seen at Gofundme.com/the-conspiracy-libel

Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-Semitism has been difficult for some to swallow.  After all, he doesn’t fit the typical archetype of an anti-Semite. The traditional view of a Jew-hater, at least for the past two centuries,  is a militaristic and anti-liberal reactionary who views progress and liberalism as some sort diabolical conspiracy by shifty Jewish subverters.  He also tends to look down on other minorities and will commonly fetishize fictional and grandiose times past; to this particular Jew-hater, the clock needs to be rewound to the harmonious pastures of yesteryear.

Turn to Mr. Corbyn and that’s not what we find.  What we have in the leader of the British Labour Party is a leftist and self-described “anti-racist”, who claims to be a defender of the downtrodden victims of traditional institutions. Somehow, he manages to do this while simultaneously holding toxic views about members of the Jewish tribe and their homeland.  

His supporters, other self-described “anti-racists”, are dismissive towards any concerns about Corbyn’s anti-Semitism, insisting they are politically motivated and mal-intended.  Their logical path usually winds in the direction of something like this, “How could somebody (Corbyn) that’s a self-described anti-racist activist be anti-Semitic? Something doesn’t add up.  There must be some conspiracy of Zionist Jews trying to undermine our secular lord and savior!”

Even to reasonable, open-minded people though, there are some questions.  Even people who concede that Jeremy Corbyn has said terrible and stupid things and has associated and sympathized with monstrous people aren’t convinced that he’s an ACTUAL threat to British Jews. They’ll usually ask, “Even if he has said and done misguided things, what are you afraid will happen?”

I would like to address that question, as the people mentioned in the previous paragraph are almost certainly unreachable and irredeemable.  

To understand the threat that Corbyn poses, it’s necessary to unpack the worldview to which he fervently subscribes.  Corbyn supports the fringe and leftist viewpoint that the global disarray and conflict we see today is the fault of the West.  Similar to Barack Obama, he views the Islamic fascists in the Middle East, not for what they actually are, religious fundamentalists who want to kill and conquer the rest of us, but as victims of American foreign policy and/or a legacy of “white supremacy”.  

This isn’t to say that Corbyn and his ilk necessarily agree with or support the Jihadists, but in a condescending and, dare I say, racist tone, they would claim that the Islamic fundamentalism is some kind of backward liberation movement for brown-skinned people.  To the Corbynites, the Jihadists ought not to be held accountable for any of the heads that are hacked off by their pocket knives, they’re confused Third-Worlders who have been pushed to this barbarism by Western policies. If we can just fix or destroy the West, then they’ll stop hating us and abandon their dreams of establishing a worldwide Caliphate.

Corbyn is an artifact of the communist-inspired New Left of the 70’s and 80’s, which gobbled up anti-Western narratives and internationalist propaganda peddled by the Soviet Union and her satellites.  A core motif of Eastern Bloc propaganda was the promotion of national liberation of Third World countries from the evils of capitalism and Western imperialism. This was a revised and extended version of the worldwide worker’s revolution prompted by the Bolsheviks, and it was an effective Cold War tactic in mobilizing young Western leftists and idealists in the Third World against the “oppressive” West and her “oppressive” ally, Israel.  Among these, a young revolutionary named Jeremy Corbyn.

The main issue with this worldview is simply this: none of it is based in reality.  It’s delusional. It’s a narrow and simplistic retelling of the oppressor/oppressed model, a model that reliably paves the way for totalitarian projects and Jew-hate.  The Germans were oppressed, the Proletariat was oppressed, the Arab middle east is oppressed, etc. 

Conspiracy theory is common among these one-dimensional movements because the “oppressor” can be depicted as a diabolical and all-powerful force.  To the Germans everything was the fault of the Jew, to the Proletariat all problems could stem from the Jewish bourgeoisie, to the Arab middle east anything can be attributed to a Zionist plot. It’s in the conspiratorial and totalitarian potential of the Corbynite worldview that the threat of Jeremy becomes clear:

Jeremy Corbyn’s policies will most likely not directly target Jews, but what happens when his policies don’t achieve the desired results?  Will he and his supporters simply concede that this messianic worldview is ineffective? Will they merely accept that economic policies of raising taxes, increasing spending, and expanding welfare may not be the best way to stimulate the economy?  What happens when the open and warm embrace of Islamic Jihadists doesn’t actually stop the violence?

The Corbynites will either self-reflect - don't count on it - or blame their failure on a secret plot meant to undermine their mission.  It may just be the all-powerful Zionist Jews, who they claim wield immense influence over the international media, corporations and Western governments.  If that were to happen, then the Corbynite revolutionary mission could shift from a crusade to liberate all victims of oppression and poverty, to combatting the aggressive international oppressors, the Zionist Jews.

We’ve seen that type of crusade in the past.  We will not see it again, not without a fight.  This is the threat of Jeremy Corbyn, and this is what we are afraid of.